There is provided an enzymatic detergent composition comprising a surfactant, a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase and an antibody or antibody fragment which is directed at one or more surface amino acid residues of said oxidoreductase, characterised in that the molar ratio between said antibody or antibody fragment and said oxidoreductase is less than 1.

The present invention generally relates to bleaching detergent compositions. More in particular, it relates to enzymatic bleaching detergent compositions comprising a surfactant, a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase and an antibody which is directed against said oxidoreductase. The invention also relates a process for enhancing the activity and/or stability of a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase in detergent compositions.
Enzymatic bleaching detergent compositions have been described in the prior art. For instance, GB-A-2 101 167 (Unilever) discloses an enzymatic bleach composition in the form of a hydrogen peroxide-generating system comprising a C1-C4 alkanol oxidase and a C1-C4 alkanol. Such enzymatic bleaching compositions may be used in detergent compositions for fabric washing, in which they may provide a low-temperature enzymatic bleach system. In the wash liquor, the alkanol oxidase enzyme catalyses the reaction between dissolved molecular oxygen and the alkanol to form an aldehyde and hydrogen peroxide. In order to obtain a significant bleach effect at low wash temperatures, e.g. at 15-55xc2x0 C., the hydrogen peroxide must be activated by means of a bleach activator such tetra-acetyl ethylene diamine (TAED), which yields peracetic acid upon reacting with the hydrogen peroxide.
WO-A-98/56885 (Unilever) discloses detergent compositions comprising a bleaching enzyme capable of generating a bleaching chemical and having a high binding affinity for stains present on fabrics. It is suggested to use a bispecific agent, comprising one specificity for stains and one specificity for the bleaching enzyme. It is shown that by using a specific antibodies, one can achieve targeting of the bleaching enzyme towards the stains.
Although this and several other enzymatic bleaching detergent compositions have been proposed, there is still a need for alternative or improved enzymatic bleaching detergent compositions. In particular, there is a need for compositions having enhanced activity and/or stability of the bleaching enzyme. It will be understood that with such improved compositions, it could be possible to enzymatically bleach stains which are otherwise difficult to remove, in particular the so-called xe2x80x9cproblem stainsxe2x80x9d such as tomato, tea, blackberry juice, or red wine. Such stains normally require a significant amount of bleaching for their removal, which might negatively affect the colours of the garment.
In conventional, non-enzymatic laundry bleach systems, fabrics are everywhere exposed to the same concentration of bleach, whether xe2x80x9cproblem stainsxe2x80x9d are present or not. Repeated washing with such conventional bleach systems, which may contain relatively high concentrations of bleach, may cause damage to garments such as the fading of dyes.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide alternative or improved enzymatic bleaching compositions. In particular, they should provide enhanced activity and/or stability of the bleaching enzyme and they should be capable of bleaching stains which are otherwise difficult to remove, and should preferably be more selective in its bleaching action. It is a further object of the present invention to provide an alternative or improved enzymatic process for bleaching stains on fabrics.
We have now surprisingly found that it is possible to enhance the activity and/or stability of a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase by adding antibodies directed against any surface amino acid residues of said oxidoreductase, whereby the molar ratio between said antibody and said oxidoreductase is less than 1.
The new bleaching compositions are particularly attractive for treating xe2x80x9cproblem stainsxe2x80x9d which occur only occasionally, such as fruits and vegetables. These stains are not present on most garments and when they are present they are likely to be present in different positions than habitual stains such as those found on collars and cuffs. According to the invention, it is possible to optimise the in-use concentration of the new bleaching enzyme so that threshold concentrations of bleach are only reached if stain is present and the new bleaching enzyme binds to and accumulates on said stain. When this happens, the high local concentration of enzyme generates a high local concentration of bleach near to the stain and thereby exerts a selective bleaching action where it is required. Therefore, the unstained part of the garment (typically the majority) is not exposed to high levels of bleach and thereby this fabric is protected from any bleach-associated damage. Moreover, the next time the same garment has a stain such as fruit or vegetable stains, it is likely to be in a different position on the garment. Therefore, a different position on the garment will be exposed to high levels of bleach. Therefore, problems associated with several washes in conventional bleaching systems, such as dye-fade, will be reduced or eliminated altogether. This is in stark contrast to conventional bleaching systems where all garments are uniformly exposed to high concentrations of bleach, in every wash, regardless of whether problem stains are present or not.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an enzymatic detergent composition comprising a surfactant, a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase and an antibody which is directed against said oxidoreductase, characterised in that the molar ratio between said antibody and said oxidoreductase is less than 1.
According to a second aspect, there is provided a process for enhancing the activity or stability of an cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase, by adding an antibody which is directed against at any surface amino acid residues of said oxidoreductase, whereby the molar ratio between said antibody and said oxidoreductase is less than 1.
According to a third aspect, there is provided a process for bleaching stains present of fabrics, wherein stained fabrics are contacted with the detergent composition of the invention.
1. The Cofactor-dependent Oxidase
In its first aspect, the compositions of the invention comprise a cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase. Preferably, the oxidoreductase is a flavoenzyme, in which case the cofactor FAD. It is especially preferred if the enzyme belongs to the so-called glucose-methanol-choline or GMC-family of structurally related oxidoreductases. Two recent papers describing the GMC family are: (1) Kiess, M. Hecht, H. J. Kalisz, H. M. European Journal of Biochemistry (1998) 252 (1) 90-99. Glucose oxidase from Penicillium amagasakiensexe2x80x94Primary structure and comparison with other glucose-methanol-choline oxidoreductases and (2) Cavener, D. R., Journal of Molecular Biology (1992) 223 (3) 811-814. GMC oxidoreductasesxe2x80x94a newly defined family of homologous proteins with diverse catalytic activities. The most preferred oxidases are glucose oxidase, galactose oxidase and alcohol oxidase.
The above mentioned hydrogen peroxide generating enzymes may be used in combination with activators which generate peracetic acid. Such activators are well-known in the art. Examples include tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) and sodium nonanoyl-oxybenzenesulphonate (SNOBS). These and other related compounds are described in fuller detail by Grime and Clauss in Chemistry and Industry (Oct. 15, 1990) 647-653. Alternatively, a transition metal catalyst could be used in combination with a hydrogen peroxide generating enzyme to increase the bleaching power. Examples of manganese catalysts are described by Hage et al. (1994) Nature 369, 637-639.
2. The Antibody or Antibody Fragment
As a second element, the new detergent compositions comprise an antibody or antibody fragment which is directed at the cofactor-dependent oxidoreductase. Preferably, the antibody is directed at the surface amino acids that are not involved in cofactor binding or substrate binding. Taking the residue numbering of glucose oxidase, the antibody is preferably directed at one or more of the following surface amino acid residues: 1-18, 26-28, 39-45, 50-227, 233-241, 246-248, 257-262, 273-274, 282, 288-543 or 547-560.
It is especially preferred if the antibody is directed at one or more of the following surface amino acid residues: 1-18, 26-28, 39-45, 50-115, 125-210, 214-227, 233-241, 246-248, 257-262, 273-274, 282, 288-329, 339-346, 359-361, 383-388, 405-408, 417-419, 428-543 or 547-560 of glucose oxidase.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the antibody or antibody fragment is a bi-functional antibody having a high binding affinity for the oxidase and for coloured or non-coloured compounds present in stains on fabrics, said coloured or non-coloured compounds having a molecular weight of at least 100, preferably at least 1,000, more preferably of at least 5,000 Daltons. It will be understood that the coloured or non-coloured compounds may also have higher molecular weights of at least 10,000, 100,000 or even 1,000,000 Daltons or more. Methods for obtaining such bi-functional antibodies or bi-heads are described in WO-A-99/23221.
The degree of binding of a molecule A to another molecule B can be generally expressed by the chemical equilibrium constant Kd resulting from the following reaction:
[A]+[B][Axe2x89xa1B]
The chemical equilibrium constant Kd is then given by:       K    d    =                    [        A        ]            xc3x97              [        B        ]                    [              A        ≡        B            ]
Whether the binding of a molecule to a coloured or non-coloured compound present in stains on fabrics is specific or not can be judged from the difference between the binding (Kd value) of the molecule to stained (i.e. a material treated so that stain components are bound on), versus the binding to unstained (i.e. untreated) material. For applications in laundry, said material will be a fabric such as cotton or polyester. However, it will usually be more convenient to measure Kd values and differences in Kd values on other materials such as a polystyrene microtitre plate or a specialised surface in an analytical biosensor. The difference between the two binding constants should be minimally 10, preferably more than 100, and more preferably, more that 1000. Typically, the compound should bind the stain, or the stained material, with a Kd lower than 10xe2x88x924 M, preferably lower than 10xe2x88x926 M and could be 10xe2x88x9210 M or even less. Higher binding affinities (Kd of less than 10xe2x88x925 M) and/or a larger difference between the coloured or non-coloured substance and background binding would increase the selectivity of the bleaching process. Also, the weight efficiency of the molecule in the total detergent composition would be increased and smaller amounts of the molecule would be required.
Several classes of molecules can be envisaged which deliver the capability of specific binding to colored or non-coloured compounds present in stains one would like to bleach. In the following we will give a number of examples of such molecules having such capabilities, without pretending to be exhaustive.
2.1. Antibodies
Antibodies are well known examples of molecules which are capable of binding specifically to compounds against which they were raised. Antibodies can be derived from several sources. From mice, monoclonal antibodies can be obtained which possess very high binding affinities. From such antibodies, Fab, Fv or scFv fragments, can be prepared which have retained their binding properties. Such antibodies or fragments can be produced through recombinant DNA technology by microbial fermentation. Well known production hosts for antibodies and their fragments are yeast, moulds or bacteria.
A class of antibodies of particular interest is formed by the Heavy Chain antibodies as found in Camelidae, like the camel or the llama. The binding domains of these antibodies consist of a single polypeptide fragment, namely the variable region of the heavy chain polypeptide (HC-V). In contrast, in the classic antibodies (murine, human, etc.), the binding domain consist of two polypeptide chains (the variable regions of the heavy chain (Vh) and the light chain (Vl)). Procedures to obtain heavy chain immunoglobulins from Camelidae, or (functionalized) fragments thereof, have been described in WO-A-94/04678 (Casterman and Hamers) and WO-A-94/25591 (Unilever and Free University of Brussels).
Alternatively, binding domains can be obtained from the Vh fragments of classical antibodies by a procedure termed xe2x80x9ccamelizationxe2x80x9d. Hereby the classical Vh fragment is transformed, by substitution of a number of amino acids, into a HC-V-like fragment, whereby its binding properties are retained. This procedure has been described by Riechmann et al. in a number of publications (J.Mol.Biol. (1996) 259, 957-969; Protein. Eng. (1996) 9, 531-537, Bio/Technology (1995) 13, 475-479). Also HC-V fragments can be produced through recombinant DNA technology in a number of microbial hosts (bacterial, yeast, mould), as described in WO-A-94/29457 (Unilever).
Methods for producing fusion proteins that comprise an enzyme and an antibody or that comprise an enzyme and an antibody fragment are already known in the art. One approach is described by Neuberger and Rabbits (EP-A-194 276). A method for producing a fusion protein comprising an enzyme and an antibody fragment that was derived from an antibody originating in Camelidae is described in WO-A-94/25591. A method for producing bispecific antibody fragments is described by Holliger et al. (1993) PNAS 90, 6444-6448.
A particularly attractive feature of antibody binding behaviour is their reported ability to bind to a xe2x80x9cfamilyxe2x80x9d of structurally-related molecules. For example, in Gani et al. (J. Steroid Biochem.Molec.Biol. 48, 277-282) an antibody is described that was raised against progesterone but also binds to the structurally-related steroids, pregnanedione, pregnanolone and 6-hydroxy-progesterone. Therefore, using the same approach, antibodies could be isolated that bind to a whole xe2x80x9cfamilyxe2x80x9d of stain chromophores (such as the polyphenols, porphyrins, or caretenoids as described below). A broad action antibody such as this could be used to treat several different stains when coupled to a bleaching enzyme.
2.2. Peptides
Peptides usually have lower binding affinities to the substances of interest than antibodies. Nevertheless, the binding properties of carefully selected or designed peptides can be sufficient to deliver the desired selectivity in a oxidation process. A peptide which is capable of binding selectively to a substance which one would like to oxidise, can for instance be obtained from a protein which is known to bind to that specific substance. An example of such a peptide would be a binding region extracted from an antibody raised against that substance. Other examples are proline-rich peptides that are known to bind to the polyphenols in wine.
Alternatively, peptides which bind to such substance can be obtained by the use of peptide combinatorial libraries. Such a library may contain up to 1010 peptides, from which the peptide with the desired binding properties can be isolated. (R. A. Houghten, Trends in Genetics, Vol 9, no and, 235-239). Several embodiments have been described for this procedure (J. Scott et al., Science (1990) 249, 386-390; Fodor et al., Science (1991) 251, 767-773; K. Lam et al., Nature (1991) 354, 82-84; R. A. Houghten et al., Nature (1991) 354, 84-86).
Suitable peptides can be produced by organic synthesis, using for example the Merrifield procedure (Merrifield (1963) J.Am.Chem.Soc. 85, 2149-2154). Alternatively, the peptides can be produced by recombinant DNA technology in microbial hosts (yeast, moulds, bacteria) (K. N. Faber et al. (1996) Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 45, 72-79).
It can be readily envisaged that other molecular structures, which need not be related to proteins, peptides or derivatives thereof, can be found which bind selectively to substances one would like to oxidise with the desired binding properties. For example, certain polymeric RNA molecules which have been shown to bind small synthetic dye molecules (A. Ellington et al. (1990) Nature 346, 818-822). Such binding compounds can be obtained by the combinatorial approach, as described for peptides (L. B. McGown et al. (1995), Analytical Chemistry, 663A-668A).
This approach can also be applied for purely organic compounds which are not polymeric. Combinatorial procedures for synthesis and selection for the desired binding properties have been described for such compounds (Weber et al. (1995) Angew.Chem.Int.Ed.Engl. 34, 2280-2282; G. Lowe (1995), Chemical Society Reviews 24, 309-317; L. A. Thompson et al. (1996) Chem. Rev. 96, 550-600). Once suitable binding compounds have been identified, they can be produced on a larger scale by means of organic synthesis.
3. The Compounds Present in Stains on Fabrics
For laundry detergent applications, several classes of substances one would like to bleach can be envisaged, in particular coloured substances which may occur as stains on fabrics can be a target. It was also found to be advantageous to target the bleaching enzymes not directly to such coloured stains themselves, but rather to macromolecular compounds which themselves are not coloured but which are associated with the stains. Such macromolecular compounds have the advantage that they can have a more immunogenic nature, i.e. that it is easier to raise antibodies against them. Furthermore, they are more accessible at the surface of the stains than coloured substances, which generally have a low molecular weight. Finally, it is important to emphasise that although many stains are heterogeneous, certain non-coloured compounds are commonly present in a variety of stains.
It the context of the present invention, a non-coloured compound is defined as a compound which, in purified form in solution and after correcting for effects such as the scattering of light, has an optical density (or adsorption) for all wavelengths in the visible spectrum (i.e. from 325 nm to 900 nm) and for a light path of 1 cm at a concentration of 1 mg/ml in solution of less than 0.2 and preferably less than 0.05.
An important embodiment of the invention is to use a binding molecule (as described above) that binds to several different, but structurally-related, coloured or non-coloured molecules in a class of xe2x80x9cstain substancesxe2x80x9d. This would have the advantage of enabling a single enzyme species to bind (and bleach) several different stains. Some examples of classes of non-coloured compounds associated with stains are given below:
3.1. Pectins
Pectins are a heterogeneous group of polysaccharides which are rich in D-galacturonic acid. They are one of the most important components in the cell wall matrix of plant cells. For a review see A. Jauneau et al. (1998) Int. J. Plant Sci. 159 (1) 1-13.
3.2. Beta-lactoglobulin
Beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) is the major whey protein in the milk of various species including cows, sheep, goats, horses, and pigs. For a review see J. Godovac-Zimmermann and G. Braunitzer (1987) Milchwissenschaft 42 (5) 294-297.
Some examples of classes of coloured stain substances are given below:
3.3. Porphyrin Derived Structures
Porphyrin structures, often co-ordinated to a metal, form one class of coloured substances which occur in stains. Examples are heme or haematin in blood stain, chlorophyll as the green substance in plants, e.g. grass or spinach. Another example of a metal-free substance is bilirubin, a yellow breakdown product of heme.
3.4. Tannins, Polyphenols
Tannins are polymerised forms of certain classes of polyphenols. Such polyphenols are catechins, leuantocyanins, etc. (P. Ribxc3xa9reau-Gayon, Plant Phenolics, Ed. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1972, pp.169-198). These substances can be conjugated with simple phenols like e.g. gallic acids. These polyphenolic substances occur in tea stains, wine stains, banana stains, peach stains, etc. and are notoriously difficult to remove.
3.5. Carotenoids
(G. E. Bartley et al. (1995), The Plant Cell 7, 1027-1038). Carotenoids are the coloured substances which occur in tomato (lycopene, red), mango (xcex2-carotene, orange-yellow). They occur in food stains (tomato) which are also notoriously difficult to remove, especially on coloured fabrics, when the use of chemical bleaching agents is not advised.
3.6. Anthocyanins
(P. Ribxc3xa9reau-Gayon, Plant Phenolics, Ed. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 1972, 135-169). These substance are the highly coloured molecules which occur in many fruits and flowers. Typical examples, relevant for stains, are berries, but also wine. Anthocyanins have a high diversity in glycosidation patterns.
3.7. Maillard Reaction Products
Upon heating of mixtures of carbohydrate molecules in the presence of protein/peptide structures, a typical yellow/brown coloured substance arises. These substances occur for example in cooking oil and are difficult to remove from fabrics.
4. The Detergent Compositions
4.1 The Surfactants
The bleaching enzymes of the invention can be used in a laundry detergent composition which is specifically suited for stain bleaching purposes, and this constitutes a further aspect of the invention. To that extent, the composition comprises one or more surfactants and optionally other conventional detergent ingredients. The invention in its second aspect provides an enzymatic detergent composition which comprises from 0.1-50% by weight, based on the total detergent composition, of one or more surfactants. This surfactant system may in turn comprise 0-95% by weight of one or more anionic surfactants and 5-100% by weight of one or more nonionic surfactants. The surfactant system may additionally contain amphoteric or zwitterionic detergent compounds, but this in not normally desired owing to their relatively high cost. It was found to be advantageous to also include cationic surfactants into the composition. Examples of suitable cationic surfactants are given in WO-A-97/03160 and WO-A-98/17767 (ProcterandGamble).
In general, the nonionic and anionic surfactants of the surfactant system may be chosen from the surfactants described xe2x80x9cSurface Active Agentsxe2x80x9d Vol. 1, by Schwartz and Perry, Interscience 1949, Vol. 2 by Schwartz, Perry and Berch, Interscience 1958, in the current edition of xe2x80x9cMcCutcheon""s Emulsifiers and Detergentsxe2x80x9d published by Manufacturing Confectioners Company or in xe2x80x9cTenside-Taschenbuchxe2x80x9d, H. Stache, 2nd Edn., Carl Hauser Verlag, 1981.
Suitable nonionic detergent compounds which may be used include, in particular, the reaction products of compounds having a hydrophobic group and a reactive hydrogen atom, for example, aliphatic alcohols, acids, amides or alkyl phenols with alkylene oxides, especially ethylene oxide either alone or with propylene oxide. Specific nonionic detergent compounds are C6-C22 alkyl phenol-ethylene oxide condensates, generally 5 to 25 EO, i.e. 5 to 25 units of ethylene oxide per molecule, and the condensation products of aliphatic C8-C18 primary or secondary linear or branched alcohols with ethylene oxide, generally 5 to 40 EO.
Suitable anionic detergent compounds which may be used are usually water-soluble alkali metal salts of organic sulphates and sulphonates having alkyl radicals containing from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms, the term alkyl being used to include the alkyl portion of higher acyl radicals. Examples of suitable synthetic anionic detergent compounds are sodium and potassium alkyl sulphates, especially those obtained by sulphating higher C8-C18 alcohols, produced for example from tallow or coconut oil, sodium and potassium alkyl C9-C20 benzene sulphonates, particularly sodium linear secondary alkyl C10-C15 benzene sulphonates; and sodium alkyl glyceryl ether sulphates, especially those ethers of the higher alcohols derived from tallow or coconut oil and synthetic alcohols derived from petroleum. The preferred anionic detergent compounds are sodium C11-C15 alkyl benzene sulphonates and sodium C12-C18 alkyl sulphates. Also applicable are surfactants such as those described in EP-A-328 177 (Unilever), which show resistance to salting-out, the alkyl polyglycoside surfactants described in EP-A-070 074, and alkyl monoglycosides.
Preferred surfactant systems are mixtures of anionic with nonionic detergent active materials, in particular the groups and examples of anionic and nonionic surfactants pointed out in EP-A-346 995 (Unilever). Especially preferred is surfactant system which is a mixture of an alkali metal salt of a C16-C18 primary alcohol sulphate together with a C12-C15 primary alcohol 3-7 EO ethoxylate.
The nonionic detergent is preferably present in amounts greater than 10%, e.g. 25-90% by weight of the surfactant system. Anionic surfactants can be present for example in amounts in the range from about 5% to about 40% by weight of the surfactant system.
The detergent composition may take any suitable physical form, such as a powder, a tablet, an aqueous or non aqueous liquid, a paste or a gel. The enzymatic bleaching detergent composition according to the invention will generally be used as a dilution in water of about 0.05 to 2%.
The bleaching enzyme used in the present invention can usefully be added to the detergent composition in any suitable form, i.e. the form of a granular composition, a liquid or a slurry of the enzyme, or with carrier material (e.g. as in EP-A-258 068 and the Savinase (TM) and Lipolase (TM) products of Novo Nordisk). A good way of adding the enzyme to a liquid detergent product is in the form of a slurry containing 0.5 to 50% by weight of the enzyme in a ethoxylated alcohol nonionic surfactant, such as described in EP-A-450 702 (Unilever).
The enzymatic bleaching compositions of the invention comprise about 0.001 to 10 milligrams of active bleaching enzyme per litre. A detergent composition will comprise about 0.001% to 1% of active enzyme (w/w).
The enzyme activity can be expressed in units. For example, in the case of glucose oxidase, one unit will oxidise 1 xcexcmole of xcex2-D-glucose to D-gluconolactone and H2O2 per minute at pH 6.5 at 30xc2x0 C. The enzyme activity which is added to the enzymatic bleaching composition will be about 2.0 to 4,000 units per litre (of wash liquor).
4.2 Additional Enzymes
The detergent compositions of the present invention may additionally comprise one or more enzymes, which provide cleaning performance, fabric care and/or sanitation benefits.
Said enzymes include transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases and ligases. Suitable members of these enzyme classes are described in Enzyme nomenclature 1992: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology on the nomenclature and classification of enzymes, 1992, ISBN 0-12-227165-3, Academic Press. The most recent information on the nomenclature of enzymes is available on the Internet through the ExPASy WWW server (http://www.expasy.ch/)
Examples of the hydrolases are carboxylic ester hydrolase, thiolester hydrolase, phosphoric monoester hydrolase, and phosphoric diester hydrolase which act on the ester bond; glycosidase which acts on O-glycosyl compounds; glycosylase hydrolysing N-glycosyl compounds; thioether hydrolase which acts on the ether bond; and exopeptidases and endopeptidases which act on the peptide bond. Preferable among them are carboxylic ester hydrolase, glycosidase and exo- and endopeptidases. Specific examples of suitable hydrolases include (1) exopeptidases such as aminopeptidase and carboxypeptidase A and B and endopeptidases such as pepsin, pepsin B, chymosin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, enteropeptidase, cathepsin B, papain, chymopapain, ficain, thrombin, plasmin, renin, subtilisin, aspergillopepsin, collagenase, clostripain, kallikrein, gastricsin, cathepsin D, bromelain, chymotrypsin C, urokinase, cucumisin, oryzin, proteinase K, thermomycolin, thermitase, lactocepin, thermolysin, bacillolysin. Preferred among them is subtilisin; (2) glycosidases such as xcex1-amylase, xcex2-amylase, glucoamylase, isoamylase, cellulase, endo-1,3(4)-xcex2-glucanase (xcex2-glucanase), xylanase, dextranase, polygalacturonase (pectinase), lysozyme, invertase, hyaluronidase, pullulanase, neopullulanase, chitinase, arabinosidase, exocellobiohydrolase, hexosaminidase, mycodextranase, endo-1,4-xcex2-mannanase (hemicellulase), xyloglucanase, endo-xcex2-galactosidase (keratanase), mannanase and other saccharide gum degrading enzymes as described in WO-A-99/09127. Preferred among them are xcex1-amylase and cellulase; (3) carboxylic ester hydrolase including carboxylesterase, lipase, phospholipase, pectinesterase, cholesterol esterase, chlorophyllase, tannase and wax-ester hydrolase. Preferred among them is lipase.
Examples of transferases and ligases are glutathione S-transferase and acid-thiol ligase as described in WO-A-98/59028 and xyloglycan endotransglycosylase as described in WO-A-98/38288.
Examples of lyases are hyaluronate lyase, pectate lyase, chondroitinase, pectin lyase, alginase II. Especially preferred is pectolyase, which is a mixture of pectinase and pectin lyase.
The activity of the oxidoreductases in a process for bleaching stains on fabrics and/or dyes in solution and/or antimicrobial treatment can also be enhanced by adding certain organic compounds, called enhancers. Examples of enhancers are 2,2xe2x80x2-azo-bis-(3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulphonate (ABTS) and Phenothiazine-10-propionate (PTP). More enhancers are described in WO-A-94/12619, WO-A-94/12620, WO-A-94/12621, WO-A-97/11217, WO-A-99/23887. Enhancers are generally added at a level of 0.01% to 5% by weight of detergent composition.
A different process for enhancing the efficacy of the bleaching action of oxidoreductases is by targeting them to stains by using antibodies or antibody fragments as described in WO-A-98/56885. Antibodies can also be added to control enzyme activity as described in WO-A-98/06812.
A preferred combination is a detergent composition comprising of a mixture of conventional detergent enzymes such as protease, amylase, lipase, cutinase and/or cellulase together with one or more plant cell wall degrading enzymes.
Endopeptidases (proteolytic enzymes or proteases) of various qualities and origins and having activity in various pH ranges of from 4-12 are available and can be used in the instant invention. Examples of suitable proteolytic enzymes are the subtilisins, which can be obtained from particular strains of B. subtilis, B. lentus, B. amyloliquefaciens and B. licheniformis, such as the commercially available subtilisins Savinase(trademark), Alcalase(trademark), Relase(trademark), Kannase(trademark) and Everlase(trademark) as supplied by Novo Industri A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark or Purafect(trademark), PurafectOxP(trademark) and Properase(trademark) as supplied by Genencor International. Chemically or genetically modified variants of these enzymes are included such as described in WO-A-99/02632 pages 12 to 16 and in WO-A-99/20727 and also variants with reduced allergenicity as described in WO-A-99/00489 and WO-A-99/49056.
Suitable lipases include those of bacterial or fungal origin as described in WO-A-99/11770 pages 33, 34, such as the commercially available Lipolase(trademark), Lipolase Ultra(trademark), LipoPrime(trademark) (from Novo Nordisk) or Lipomax(trademark) (from Genencor). Chemically or genetically modified variants of these enzymes are included.
Suitable amylases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified variants of these enzymes are included as described in WO-A-99/02632 pages 18, 19. Commercial cellulase are sold under the tradename Purastar(trademark), Purastar OxAm(trademark) (formerly Purafact Ox Am(trademark)) by Genencor; Termamyl(trademark), Fungamyl(trademark) and Duramyl(trademark), all available from Novo Nordisk A/S.
Suitable cellulases include those of bacterial or fungal origin. Chemically or genetically modified variants of these enzymes are included as described in WO-A-99/02632 page 17. Particularly useful cellulases are the endoglucanases such as the EGIII from Trichoderma longibrachiatum as described in WO-A-94/21801 and the E5 from Thermomonospora fusca as described in WO-A-97/20025. Endoglucanases may consist of a catalytic domain and a cellulose binding domain or a catalytic domain only. Preferred cellulolytic enzymes are sold under the tradename Carezyme(trademark), Celluzyme(trademark) and Endolase(trademark) by Novo Nordisk A/S; Puradax(trademark) is sold by Genencor and KAC(trademark) is sold by Kao Corporation.
Detergent enzymes are usually incorporated in an amount of 0.00001% to 2%, and more preferably 0.001% to 0.5%, and even more preferably 0.01% to 0.2% in terms of pure enzyme protein by weight of the composition. Detergent enzymes are commonly employed in the form of granules made of crude enzyme alone or in combination with other components in the detergent composition. Granules of crude enzyme are used in such an amount that the pure enzyme is 0.001 to 50 weight percent in the granules. The granules are used in an amount of 0.002 to 20 and preferably 0.1 to 3 weight percent. Granular forms of detergent enzymes are known as Enzoguard(trademark) granules, prills, marumes or T-granules. Granules can be formulated so as to contain an enzyme protecting agent (e.g. oxidation scavengers) and/or a dissolution retardant material. Other suitable forms of enzymes are liquid forms such as the xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d type liquids from Novo Nordisk, slurries of enzymes in nonionic surfactants such as the xe2x80x9cSLxe2x80x9d type sold by Novo Nordisk and microencapsulated enzymes marketed by Novo Nordisk under the tradename xe2x80x9cLDPxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cCCxe2x80x9d.
The enzymes can be added as separate single ingredients (prills, granulates, stabilised liquids, etc. containing one enzyme) or as mixtures of two or more enzymes (e.g. cogranulates). Enzymes in liquid detergents can be stabilised by various techniques as for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,868 and 4,318,818.
The detergent compositions of the present invention may additionally comprise one or more biologically active peptides such as swollenin proteins, expansins, bacteriocins and peptides capable of binding to stains.
The invention will now be further illustrated in the following, non-limiting Examples.

Unilever Home and Personal Care USA division of Conopco, Inc.


Integrated circuits and methods of producing the same are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a capacitor, where the capacitor includes a first capacitor plate and a second capacitor plate. The first capacitor plate includes a first memory cell, and the second capacitor plate includes a second memory cell. The capacitor is utilized as a functional capacitor in the integrated circuit.

Integrated circuits are becoming smaller and smaller as time goes by, so many components must fit within limited space. One technique used to reduce the footprint of a capacitor is to form the capacitor plates vertically, relative to a substrate, so the capacitor plates occupy a smaller footprint on the substrate. The overall integrated circuit manufacturing process includes many steps that are performed in a predetermined sequence. Adding new steps into the process increases cost and complexity. The vertical space available without modifications or additions to an existing design and manufacturing process is limited to the existing design dimensions. Higher capacitance is desirable for many capacitors, such as capacitors in electrostatic discharge protection circuits, but increasing the vertical distance within the integrated circuit for taller capacitor plates increases costs. Larger capacitor plates increase the capacitance, but the desire to produce smaller integrated circuits, and the desire to limit the manufacturing process to existing process steps, limits the size of the vertical capacitor plates.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits with vertical capacitors having increased capacitance compared to traditional vertical capacitors. In addition, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits with vertical capacitors using manufacturing processes that are already within the process flow for producing an integrated circuit, and methods of producing the same. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present embodiment will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Integrated circuits with vertical capacitors and methods for producing the same


A tee-nut comprises a flange head, a plurality of prongs extending from the flange head, and a hollow barrel extending from the flange head. The hollow barrel has an internally threaded portion provided at one end of the barrel connecting to the flange head, and an enlarged flarable portion extending from the internally threaded portion and provided at a free end of the barrel. The present invention further discloses a method of forming a tee-nut with an enlarged barrel end, by first swaging out and expanding the free end of the barrel and thereafter threading the unexpanded portion of the barrel.

Fastener members, having a flange portion and a hollow barrel portion with a flarable end, are known and are commonly referred as tee-nuts, or rivet type tee-nuts. In In this specification, the term "tee-nut" is used to describe such fastener members.
Such tee-nuts are usually formed of sheet metal, and provide a flanged portion, a threaded sleeve or barrel portion, and a plurality of fastening teeth or prongs, all formed out of a single piece of sheet metal.
Typically such tee-nuts are used, for example, in furniture frame, for fastening the arms and legs of the furniture to the frame. They do have a variety of other uses, both in furniture and in many other industries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,432 granted to Nagayama on Sep. 20, 1994 discloses a tee-nut having a sleeve in the form of a hollow cylinder with a relatively thin-walled flarable end portion and a relatively thicker-walled threaded portion. The thin-walled flarable hollow sleeve end is formed by counter boring an entirely internally threaded hollow sleeve. The disadvantage of this product is that counter boring is uneconomical to perform. Also, tiny metal scraps are likely to be left behind within the internal threads. Also, when flared outwardly, the flarable counter-bored end has a tendency to split.


A modular platform floor system for advantageous use at trade shows and conventions includes a plurality of interconnectable floor modules, wherein each module includes a supporting rectangular frame and a panel supported thereon, the platform having cutout, notched corners defining openings between two or more adjacently located floor modules, and plastic plugs which seat within these openings to interconnect the adjacently located modular units via downwardly depending prongs which engage the supporting frames of the modular units. Carpet pieces are secured separately to the top surfaces of the panels and to the plugs, to provide an aesthetic and comfortable surface for the floor. The plug is integrally formed, preferably of injection molded thermoplastic, to provide a unitary one piece plug for interconnecting the adjacently located floor modules. Compared to multi-piece plugs for floors of this type, an integrally formed plastic plug represents lower manufacturing costs per unit, fewer manufacturing steps, lower shipping costs due to lighter weight, lower susceptibility to loosening of the prongs, and better adherence to carpet secured thereto.

Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,946 discloses a modular platform floor system particularly suitable for setting up a temporary, elevated display floor at trade shows and conventions. Generally, the platform floor includes a plurality of modular units, with each unit having a panel supported in an elevated position by a frame. If desired, the modular units used along the periphery, where heavy pedestrian traffic is expected, are ramped to facilitate stepping onto and off of the elevated floor.
At each corner of the floor unit, the system uses a locking member, or locking plug, to interconnect the unit to adjacently located units. The locking members provide a flush upper surface with the surrounding upper surfaces of the surrounding units, and the locking members also include downwardly directed portions which co-act with the respective frames to hold the floor together. Typically, a section of carpet is secured to each modular unit and to each separate locking member along the top surfaces thereof. Applicant expressly incorporates by reference herein, in its entirety, the disclosure of its prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,946.
The floor system shown in this patent has proved to be tremendously successful because of its simplicity in design and construction and its aesthetic appearance when in use. Nevertheless, applicant set out to improve upon the construction of this floor system in an effort to reduce the overall cost of the floor, to further simplify its manufacture and to further reduce maintenance.

Plastic connector plug for modular floor


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide various methods, apparatuses, and systems for providing a radio frequency signal transfer system. One embodiment includes a number of radios, a number of antennas, electrical/optical shelves, a number of fiber optic paths to carry an optical RF signal, at least one optical switch to route an optical RF signal, and a host computing device. The electrical/optical shelves can transmit and receive electrical and optical RF signals, convert electrical RF signals to optical RF signals, and convert optical RF signals to electrical RF signals. The optical RF signals transmitted by an electrical/optical shelf are routed through at least one optical switch on any number of the fiber optic paths to another electrical/optical shelf. The electrical RF signals received by an electrical/optical shelf from a radio or antenna and are transmitted by an electrical/optical shelf to a radio or antenna.

Radio systems are used to perform multiple functions in various environments, including environments that result in less than ideal operating conditions. In such environments a robust radio system is used. Such radio systems have to be able to operate under exposure to extreme temperatures, vibrations, and/or moisture that can be constantly changing and be different at various locations throughout the radio system.
Also, radios with different functions can be used to create a multi-function radio system. A multi-function radio system can, for example, perform all or some of the desired radio-type functions for a given application, while reducing the amount of equipment utilized to perform the desired radio-type functions.
In various radio systems, a radio network utilizing many radios and antennas can be used to allow a given radio in the system to operate in a given location for a given function. Many radios can be combined to function as a system that can meet the operational and environmental demands for the radio system. Currently, a typical radio system has several radios and several, wherein each radio is connected to a single antenna in the system. Therefore, these radio systems require an antenna and a radio for each desired function of the system. However, such systems have not been able to perform all of the desired functions for an application yet withstand the rigors of an extreme operating environment due to the inflexible nature of the system and the large amount of equipment the system utilizes.


A fully parallel CCD memory chip of N address lines which detects in just one clock cycle, a perfect match between an input pattern and any of a plurality of stored patterns and also detects in less than (N+1)-comparison cycles and still just one XOR operation, the best matching in case a perfect one does not exist. The chip disclosed herein has a fully parallel architecture in which an input word is compared to all stored words at one time. A preferred embodiment of the invention uses a four phase CCD, wherein each stored word occupies one row of the CCD and each such bit of each such word occupies two cells. Where perfect matches exist, only one comparison clock cycle is needed to compare the input word with all stored words and where there is no perfect match, the best match will be detected on a subsequent comparison pulse. Charge packets represent binary words generated by external pulses that are applied to the chip through data input lines and then are compared to the data applied to the address lines. The sensing is done directly on the cells in a non-destructive sensing process in parallel, rather than at the end of each row.

The retrieval of data from a conventional memory, based upon the matching of a stored pattern with a given one, is a very time-consuming task. One way of significantly reducing the time involved in providing such a matching capability is to use parallel processing in which an input word may be compared to a plurality of stored words at the same time. CCD devices are especially appropriate for parallel processing. Such devices consist basically of long rows of electrodes which move charge packets from one end of the row to another or back and forth along the row. At one end of the row is a charge injecting device, normally a diode and a few control gates. At the other end of the row is a dump diode which removes the charge from the chip. The other main component is a charge sensing device which detects the charge packets before they are dumped, such as in video cameras or in parallel over the whole row in a parallel processing application. The use of CCD technology for parallel processing is not new per se. Thus for example, CCD's are shown used in a parallel processing application for vector-matrix multiplication in an article entitled "A Parallel Analog CCD/CMOS Neural Network IC" by Neugebauer and Yariv in the proceedings of the IJCNN July, 1991 and as described in an article entitled "The CCD Neural Processor: A Neural Network Integrated Circuit with 65536 Programmable Analog Synapses" by Agranat, Neugebauer, Nelson and Yariv, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Volume 37, No. 8, August, 1990, Page 1073-1075. However, the applicants herein know of no prior art disclosure for using a parallel processing CCD for pattern matching and the like as disclosed herein.

Parallel CCD memory chip and method of matching therewith


An improved configuration for the nose portion of a gripper shuttle is disclosed. A recess, which may be a concave depression, is formed in the arcuate edge of the tapered front end portion of a tubular shuttle having a gripper clamp mounted therein with the weft gripping jaws positioned even with or in close proximity to the open trailing end thereof. The recess is so shaped and dimensioned as to preclude contact between the front edge of the shuttle with the weft gripping jaws of a similar shuttle when the front and rear ends of the shuttles contact each other in the same plane. Thus, in the event of a machine malfunction causing one shuttle to crash into the rear end of a preceding shuttle, the force of impact of one shuttle on another in this manner is borne by the body portions of the shuttles rather than being borne by the body portion of one of the shuttles and the gripper clamp of another.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement in gripper shuttles of the type used in weaving machines wherein the weft package remains outside the shed. The invention is more particularly concerned with a modification of the nose portion of such shuttles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The known gripper shuttles normally comprise a tubular housing within which is mounted a gripper clamp. The lead end of such shuttles have a closed nose portion and an open trailing end. Normally, the nose, at least, is made of metal, such as steel and may be an integral part of the housing or may be a separate part secured to the front of the housing by welding or in some other known manner. As a rule, the nose has top and bottom surfaces which slope downwardly and upwardly respectively toward the longitudinal axis of the shuttle, the front edge has a transverse arcuate configuration and is blunt and rounded to facilitate passage of the shuttle through the teeth of a shuttle race which serves as a guide for the shuttle in its flight. The gripper clamp is generally U-shaped and has two spaced resiliently biased arms extending toward the trailing end of the housing and culminating in jaws adjacent the opening therein. During operation, the gripper clamp is opened by introducing a wedge-shaped or conical gripper clamp opener at an appropriate place between the arms of the gripper clamp. A weft yarn end is then introduced between the opened jaws and the clamp opener removed, whereby the jaws grip the yarn and the shuttle is passed into the shed through the teeth of the shuttle guide. The shuttle is brought to a stop in a receiving unit, and returned to the picking position by a conveyer underneath the shed. A number of shuttles are used in each machine, so that they can be returned at moderate speeds despite the rapid picking sequence. In modern weaving machines, shooting speeds of up to something like 30 meters per second and picking rates of more than 300 picks per minute are used. Known shuttles of this type generally have standard dimensions of approximately 90.times.14.times.16 millimeters and weigh about 30 to 60 grams.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,506 relates to a gripper shuttle wherein the shuttle housing is made of a tough impactresistant plastic while the gripper clamp and the nose at one end of the clamp are made of steel. The gripper clamp and the nose can be formed as a single unit. The shuttle housing is provided with a partition between the arms of the gripper clamp to reinforce and stiffen the housing. At least one of the clamp arms is provided with a thickened part to abut the partition when in the clamping position and thereby prevent premature wear of the arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,237,653 relates to a shuttle for looms comprising a housing having an open lead and then an open trailing end, a gripper spring in the housing, the gripper spring having an arcuate nose portion and a yoke portion. The arcuate nose portion is connected to the yoke portion from which spaced arms extend toward the trailing end of the housing and culminate in jaws adjacent the trailing end of the housing. Flange means connected to the housing extend over and partially close the opened trailing end to provide additional surface area to distribute the impact of the picker thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,878 relates to a gripper shuttle for weft yarns. The shuttle is formed with a nose member which overlaps the front edges of the housing while being disposed within the projected plane of the housing. A gripper mechanism is mounted within the housing and has gripper jaws located adjacent the open end portion of the trailing end of the shuttle. The means for securing the nose member to the housing is in the form of a spigot which is received in the front end of the housing and which is integrally formed with the nose member. In addition, the securing means includes a pin which is disposed in bores of the spigot and housing to retain the spigot in the housing.
In the past, when the above-described shuttles were used in modern weaving machines at the speeds indicated, there have been times when the machines would jam or malfunction causing a shuttle to be retained in the receiving unit while another shuttle was being shot or picked through the shed. This resulted in the latter shuttle crashing into the rear of the preceding shuttle. Since the jaws of the gripper clamp in the preceding shuttle are located adjacent the open trailing end of the shuttle and since the nose portion of the shuttle crashing into it was shaped as described above, the arcuate nose portion of a second shuttle would strike the jaws of the gripper clamp of the preceding shuttle with sufficient force to cause breakage thereof. This, of course, resulted in extra expense, inconvenience, and loss of time. This is the problem overcome by the present invention.


An apparatus and method are presented for a maximum speed criterion for a velocity gesture. The apparatus includes a processor, a memory, a determination module and a transmission module. The determination module determines, through a wireless communication infrastructure mode, an amount of wireless network activity. The transmission module sets a rate of data transmission in a peer to peer mode based on the amount of wireless network activity.

1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to data transmission in a peer-to-peer mode and more particularly relates to setting a rate of data transmission in a peer-to-peer mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain software protocols, such as WiFi Direct, allow certain wireless local area network ("WLAN") devices to communicate directly with other WLAN devices in peer-to-peer mode without an external wireless access point. Devices capable of communicating with these software protocols may include personal computers, pads, notebooks, phones, displays, media players, printers, handheld computing devices, and the like.
One such use for these software protocols may include transmitting video from a device to a display. However, transmitting large amounts of data, such as video, in peer-to-peer mode may impact network performance of other nearby WLAN devices.

Setting a rate of data transmission in a peer-to-peer mode


A method of processing a carbon fiber tow includes the steps of providing a carbon fiber tow made of a plurality of carbon filaments, depositing a sizing composition at spaced-apart sizing sites along a length of the tow, leaving unsized interstitial regions of the tow, and cross-cutting the tow into a plurality of segments. Each segment includes at least a portion of one of the sizing sites and at least a portion of at least one of the unsized regions of the tow, the unsized region including and end portion of the segment.

Glass fibers are currently used in sundry composite structural materials that are comprised of a resin matrix having fibers dispersed therein, often called Sheet Molding Composite (SMC). Examples of the large range of SMC applications include automotive, watercraft, and aircraft bodies, building structures, and containment structures. Although widely employed with glass fibers, SMC processes are not typically practiced with carbon fiber due to the insufficient wetting (wet-through, infiltration) of the carbon fiber which causes poor processability resulting in poor mechanical properties.
Multifilament carbon fiber tows (also called a bundles or ropes) comprising a plurality of carbon fiber filaments (hereinafter called filaments) are typically sold in tows, fully sized along the length thereof. Sizing is a usually proprietary coating material that is applied to an entire carbon fiber tow at 0.5 to 5 percent of the weight of the carbon fiber. A general purpose of sizing is to protect the carbon fiber during handling and processing (winding and weaving, for example) into intermediate forms, such as dry fabric and prepreg. Sizing also holds filaments together in the tow to reduce disintegration (for example, fraying, unraveling, tattering, and the like), thereby improving processability of the tow. Moreover, sizing increases interfacial shear strength between the fiber and matrix resin.
Carbon fibers have heretofore been limited in the applicability thereof to SMC materials. Current industrially adopted surface treatment processes are not sufficient to produce adequate surface functionality for desired low-cost carbon fibers that are compatible with both thermoplastic and thermoset matrix resins. For example, use of sized carbon fibers for SMC produces has been difficult because the sizing prevents sufficient wet-through of the fiber tow by the matrix resin. Thus, inadequate wet-through causes poor bonding of the matrix to the carbon fibers and significantly weakens the SMC, resulting in insufficient mechanical properties for intended applications.
Moreover, use of unsized carbon fibers is not desirable because of a condition known as fuzz and/or disintegration. The carbon fiber tows tend to fuzz and/or disintegrate when mixed with the matrix resin and become entangled and/or agglomerated, causing blockages, voids, and breakages, which significantly weaken the SMC, resulting in insufficient mechanical properties for many intended applications.
It is desirable to improve carbon fiber wettability in order to achieve a more thorough and sufficient resin wet-through into a carbon fiber tow while minimizing fuzz and disintegration.

Carbon fiber reinforcements for sheet molding composites


Enforcing data policy using style sheet processing. A Document Type Definition (DTD) associated with an Extensible Markup Language document is modified to specify a reference to stored data policy to be applied to document elements. Each data element may specify a different data policy. This technique uses minimal network transmission overhead, as the policy itself is not transmitted through the network until the DTD reaches the node where the data policy will be applied. Programming code implementing the data policy is then retrieved, using the references, by an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) processor instrumented according to the present invention. Data policy is preferably enforced by overriding the existing XSL xe2x80x9cvalue-ofxe2x80x9d method. DTD information describing a document element may be suppressed from a DTD being generated for the output document of the data policy enforcement process, providing privacy protection for the details of the associated policy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and deals more particularly with a method, system, and computer program product for enforcing data policy using style sheet processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
xe2x80x9cData policyxe2x80x9d, as used herein, refers to the procedures and rules used to control access to stored data. Prior to the advent of distributed network computing, data policy was something left to the data source to enforce, and often was limited to a simple access control check based on the identity of the requester. (As used herein, xe2x80x9cdata sourcexe2x80x9d refers to an application program executing at an application server from which the data is available, servicing user requests for the stored data.) With the move toward highly distributed networks of applications, devices, and users, this simplistic model for access control is no longer acceptable. This is due to the fact that as applications have become more decentralized, it often becomes unclear what exactly may be the source of particular data. For example, it may be possible that the data was originally obtained by gathering portions thereof from a variety of disparate sources. In this case, what appears to be the data source may be simply the data gatherer instead of the data creator. Furthermore, this data may go through some form of transformation, and because of this, the perceived source of the transformed data may be the data transformer instead of the true data source. In a similar fashion, the true target for the data may be unclear as the data flows through intermediate points (such as gateways) in the network. Because of these factors and the complexity they add, the need to enforce usage policies using more sophisticated techniques than simple access control has become critical.
To illustrate this problem, suppose a target user xe2x80x9cSamxe2x80x9d requests some data such as xe2x80x9ccontact information for Smithxe2x80x9d from a data source such as an employee directory. In this scenario, Sam""s request is sent from his client machine to a server executing an application program which responds to requests for information from the data source (i.e. this employee directory). This application program enforces data policy to decide what, if any, contact information Sam should see about Smith. In the existing art, pertinent factors might be whether Sam has provided a valid password; whether Sam works within the company for which the employee directory is maintained; whether Sam works in a particular department of this company (such as the human resources department) that gives Sam broader access to Smith""s information; etc. In this example, if Sam provides a valid password and is an employee not working in human resources, then one type of filtering process may be applied to Smith""s information (filtering out all personal and salary data, for example) before the result is delivered to Sam; if Sam works in the human resources department, then a different filter (or perhaps no filter) is applied to Smith""s information. Techniques for controlling access in this manner are well known. Sam has provided a valid password; whether Sam works within the company for which the employee directory is maintained; whether Sam works in a particular department of this company (such as the human resources department) that gives Sam broader access to Smith""s information; etc. In this example, if Sam provides a valid password and is an employee not working in human resources, then one type of filtering process may be applied to Smith""s information (filtering out all personal and salary data, for example) before the result is delivered to Sam; if Sam does works in the human resources department, then a different filter (or perhaps no filter) is applied to Smith""s information. Techniques for controlling access in this manner are well known.
A distributed networking computing environment, however, introduces the need for having more sophisticated access policies in place. For example, it becomes necessary to view Sam in light of additional factors such as the device he is using and the location of that device. That is, while the access policy in place may permit Sam to see one set of information regarding Smith on his office computer attached to a secure local area network (LAN), it may be inappropriate for him to see some of the details of this same set of information on his cellular phone screen in a public airport. In this case, the target context (e.g. Sam is using a cell phone, and is connected using a cellular network) may be needed for correct policy enforcement. Pertinent factors in a target context include the user""s identification, device type, network connection type, and any application-specific limitations of the application being executed. This target context may not be available to the server application handling requests for information from the employee directory (the true source of the data), and thus the server application is unable to enforce data policy correctly based on the requester""s target context. For example, if the data for Smith is voluminous and the server application is unable to detect (as is highly likely) that Sam is using a cell phone with a relatively expensive wireless network connection, then this large amount of data will be transmitted to Sam in an expensive, time-consuming transmissionxe2x80x94even though he will likely give up trying to view it because of the inherent display limitations of his end-user device.
While sufficient target context information for enforcing data policy is typically not available to a server application, in today""s distributed environments this target context is often known to at least some portion of the distributed network such as the gateway into a wireless or wired network and other intermediaries (such as transcoding proxies or transcoding Web servers) in a complex delivery chain between the client and the server. Modifying these intermediaries to forward the target context to the server applications so that the server applications can enforce the data policy is not a viable solution in a distributed networking environment, however, as will now be discussed.
To further illustrate the problems of enforcing data policy in a distributed environment, suppose Sam is not an employee of the company to which the employee directory pertains, but is merely an Internet Web user accessing this directory through the company""s Web site. Data policy based upon classifications of users, such as employee vs. non-employee, are common. While it may be appropriate to provide Sam with an external telephone number or e-mail address of an employee to facilitate communications, other information stored in the directory (such as the employee""s department title or office location) may be inappropriate for providing to non-employees. Or, it may be desirable to restrict the volume of data provided to non-employees, for example to prevent advertisers from sending electronic mass mailings to the employees (by obtaining large numbers of e-mail addresses) or to prevent employment agencies from extracting a large portion of the company""s stored phone book information. The true data source of this company""s employee directory information is likely to be multiple data sourcesxe2x80x94that is, a collection of geographically dispersed directory servers in various divisions of the company, each having only a subset of the complete company-wide employee directory. For requests from users such as Sam who are interacting with the company""s Web site, the Web application servicing these requests is then merely an information gatherer. Moreover, it is possible that these distributed directory servers may have different implementations whereby different information is stored for employees; they may use different formats for the data that is stored; and they may have different restrictions regarding the use of the data they contain (i.e. different data policies). For example, the sales division might allow external users such as Sam to see an employee""s job title in order to facilitate customer service, but the manufacturing division may not permit this information to be seen for its employees.
Many other scenarios can be envisaged in which sophisticated data policies which account for many types of variable factors are necessary. For example, a company which supplies products may have multiple pricing structures, whereby other companies buying these products have various discounts applied based on their purchasing volume. In this situation, the data policy must use the relevant factors to apply the correct price for each purchaser""s order.
When an application server servicing user requests has to gather data from diverse sources distributed throughout the network, and then assemble a single response to a request, the problems of enforcing data policy are compounded. The various (true) sources of the data may not have enough information to perform some types of policy enforcement. For example, if a data policy states that at most ten e-mail addresses or ten telephone numbers may be retrieved (in order to protect a company""s resources, as in the scenario described above), each individual server has no way of knowing how may addresses or numbers it may release when it has no knowledge of how many addresses or numbers other servers are releasing.
Based on these factors, it would be advantageous to be able to apply data policy at an intermediate point in the delivery chain. As stated above, certain intermediaries have access to relevant target context. Examples of this type of intermediary are Web servers, transcoders, proxies, and gateways. In addition, because any necessary data gathering from multiple sources has already occurred before the data reaches the intermediary, an intermediary has the complete set of information to which the policy should be applied. However, in the current art, data policy is typically represented in application programming code that is specific to each type of data. It would be a monumental task to distribute this application-specific code to intermediaries, and execute and maintain the code in this dispersed fashion.
Accordingly, what is needed is a technique with which data policy can be efficiently enforced in a complex distributed network computing environment, incorporating many complex factors such as those described above.
An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for enforcing data policy efficiently in a complex distributed networking environment.
Another object of the present invention is to provide this technique whereby data policy is enforced at an intermediate point in the delivery chain from a server application to a client.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide this technique by applying style sheets to documents encoded in tag languages such as the Extensible Markup Language.
A further object of the present invention is to provide this technique whereby a different data policy may be applied to each different tagged data item to provide maximum flexibility.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide this technique in a backward-compatible manner, such that existing style sheets continue to function properly.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description and in the drawings which follow and, in part, will be obvious from the description or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as broadly described herein, the present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for use in a computing environment having a connection to a network, for efficiently enforcing data policy using style sheets. This technique comprises: providing an input document representing a response to a user request; providing a Document Type Definition (DTD) corresponding to the input document, wherein the DTD has been augmented with one or more references to one or more stored policy enforcement objects, wherein each of the stored policy enforcement objects enforces a data policy for an element of the input document; and executing an instrumented style sheet processor, wherein this execution further comprises: loading the augmented DTD; resolving each of the one or more references in the loaded DTD; instantiating the policy enforcement objects associated with the resolved references; and executing selected ones of the instantiated policy enforcement objects during application of one or more style sheets to the input document, wherein a result of this execution is an output document reflecting the execution.
Executing the instrumented processor may further comprise generating an output DTD corresponding to the output document.
The input document as well as the output document may be specified in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) notation.
The stored policy enforcement objects may further comprise code for overriding a method for evaluating the element of the input document, and executing selected ones of the instantiated policy enforcement objects may further comprise executing an overridden method.
The style sheets may be specified in an Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) notation. The method may be a value-of method of the XSL notation, and overriding the value-of method may be done by subclassing this value-of method. The overridden method may return an input value of the element of the input document or a changed version of the input value, or may return a null value.
Executing selected ones of the instantiated policy enforcement objects may further comprise may further comprise considering a target context of a user making said user request, or may further comprise determining whether an output DTD element in the output DTD will be generated for the element of the input document (where this determination then may further comprise considering a target context of a user making said user request). The determination may further comprise suppressing the output DTD element in the output DTD when the output DTD element is not to be generated.

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention concerns a circuit comprising: a first transistor (102) having first and second main current nodes, and a gate node adapted to receive a first timing signal (CLK) for causing the first transistor to transition between conducting and non-conducting states; a biasing circuit (108) coupled to a further node of said first transistor; and a control circuit (110) adapted to control said biasing circuit to apply a first control voltage (VCTRL) to said further node to adjust the timing of at least one of said transitions.

In the fields of signal sampling and other high frequency applications, timing signals of up to 10 GHz or more are often used to control switches or other circuit elements. In such applications, it is generally desirable to avoid any skew, in other words timing mismatch, between the timing signals, which can result in the addition of unacceptable spurs.
One example is sampling circuitry, such as track and hold circuits, of a time-interleaved analog to digital converter (ADC). In such an ADC, a number of ADC cores are arranged in parallel, each having an input coupled to a corresponding track and hold circuit controlled by a clock signal to store an input signal at a given time instant. The clock signal of each track and hold circuit is offset with respect to the others such that the overall sampling rate applied to the input signal is higher than that of each clock signal.
In some applications the presence of skew between clock signals can be detected and corrected by feedback circuitry.
However, a problem with existing solutions for correcting skew is that they tend to add noise in the form of jitter to the clock signal, which is undesirable. There is thus a need in the art for a solution without such a problem.


A pressure sensitive touch panel in which the position of an inner periphery of a window frame is disposed opposite to spacers, whereby a conductive film, which bends together with a flexible insulating plate when an operator presses the window frame, is caught by the spacers. In addition, protrusions are provided above the surface of an insulating layer, and inserted between the window frame and the flexible insulating plate or between the insulating layer and the conductive film, whereby the conductive film does not contact the upper edge of the end portion of the insulating layer. Thus, it is possible to avoid the damage to the conductive film due to the bending of the window frame and to avoid input of unintended and erroneous position data of input coordinates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure-sensitive touch panel and particularly, to a pressure-sensitive touch panel adopted to an input unit or the like of information equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional pressure-sensitive touch panel, a flexible insulating plate in which first transparent conductive film is formed on an inner surface side and a glass plate in which second transparent conductive film is formed on an inner surface side in a similar manner are disposed oppositely so as to sandwich a predetermined gap.
In the pressure-sensitive touch panel, an operator partially contacts the first and second transparent conductive films by pressing the flexible insulating plate with a finger or a special pen. Then, position signals in a X axis direction and a Y axis direction of contacting positions of the first and second transparent conductive films are detected.
Incidentally, in the case of being built in a portable terminal, the pressure-sensitive touch panel is set under window frame of a cabinet and often used, normally, in a manner that the operator holds the window frame with fingers.
However, pressing force of the operator who inputs while holding the window frame bends the window frame and might cause unintended and erroneous position data of input coordinates.


A method for optimizing the operation of a drawbridge is disclosed. The location of each a set of land vehicles approaching the drawbridge via a global positioning system calculation is determined. Each land vehicle, determining a cell corresponding to its determined location. Each land vehicle broadcasts a message at a time slice allocated for the cell. Similarly, a ship approaching the drawbridge determines its position via a global positioning system calculation, determines a cell corresponding to the location of the ship and broadcasts a message at a time slice allocated for the cell. The drawbridge controller receives broadcasted messages from the land vehicles and the ship. Using the received broadcasted messages, the drawbridge controller determines the optimal period to lift the drawbridge.

This invention relates generally to determining position by electromagnetic radiation. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved system for using sensed position data to control vehicle barriers.
As the world becomes a more crowded and busy place, there are an increasing number of other vehicles on the road, on the rail, on the sea and in the air. Very early in the development of our roadway system, the traffic light was developed to control the flow of traffic at intersections. The earliest traffic lights were simply controlled by timers, each light was on for an allotted period of time within a cycle which repeated over and over. Some level of sophistication was added when the traffic patterns at a particular intersection were studied at the timers, no computer controlled, varying the timing of the traffic lights according to the predicted average traffic load for different times of the day. Yet it was recognized that the average load was frequently not the actual load for a given moment in time. Sensors in the road were developed and coupled to the traffic light controller so that the timing of the traffic light could be at least somewhat sensitive to the actual road conditions.
In addition, the land based and seagoing vehicles while they predominantly stay on their own mediums of transport sometimes will intersect each other. One example of this interaction is at a drawbridge. Because of the expense associated in building bridges which are high enough to accommodate the tallest of ships, the drawbridge has become a fixture on many coastal waterways. When a ship beyond a certain height must pass, the drawbridge operator must raise the drawbridge. When this happens traffic across the bridge will stop. As this is typically a highly manual operation, the occupants of the ship or the vehicles wishing to cross the bridge are subjected to long delays.
The Applicants propose an improved method of controlling crossings where two modes of conveyance intersect such as a drawbridge using position sensing. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the most precise positioning system generally available to the general public and has significantly dropped in price in recent years. More and more vehicles come equipped from the factory with GPS and this trend is expected to continue. The GPS comprises a network of 24 satellites orbiting the earth. Each satellite transmits a ranging signal modulated on a 1.575 Ghz carrier. By monitoring the signal from a plurality of satellites, a GPS receiver can determine its position, i.e. latitude, longitude and altitude, to an accuracy of about 15 meters. In general, this degree of accuracy would be attained if signals from three or four of the GPS satellites were received. More accurate GPS signals are available to the military. Differential GPS, also available to the public, is more accurate than standard GPS, but requires an additional land based transmitter and special permission from the government.
Many of the uses for GPS-based systems known to the Applicants are in the realm of mapping or collision avoidance applications. Notably one such GPS-based system is taught by "Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Coding System", U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,123 to Rich et al. In the Rich system, the airspace is divided up into a grid of volume elements. A collision avoidance signal is transmitted wherein the carrier signal is modulated by a psuedonoise code which is function of the volume element in which the aircraft is located. Each aircraft only tracks collision avoidance signals from vehicles in its own and immediate surrounding cells. Based on the calculated paths of the aircraft, a warning of an impending collision can be provided to the pilot.
The Applicants have proposed an improved tracking and collision avoidance system in "Time Multiplexed Global Positioning System Cell Location Beam System" Ser. No. 09/239,335, filed the same day as the present application, is commonly assigned and is hereby incorporated by reference. Although the invention described in the incorporated application does not address the problems of controlling traffic lights, it does share an overall cell structure with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
This invention solves these and other important problems.

Vehicle scheduling and collision avoidance system using time multiplexed global positioning system

International Business Machines Corporation


In a device for starting an AC load powered by an AC generator and designed so that, prior to starting the load, the magnetic circuit of the generator is saturated to prevent an abrupt large drop of terminal voltage thereof when starting the load, and that in this state the load is started. A starting device comprising a coil for saturating the magnetic circuit of the generator and a starter coil both of which are wound in a same direction around a common closed magnetic path to couple these two coils magnetically, and operative so that, after saturating the magnetic circuit of the generator by the saturating coil, the connections of the two coils are switched over to start the load, and that by the reverse voltage induced in the starter coil by the energized saturating coil, the surge current which is produced, when the load is started, at the time of switching the coil connections is suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvement of a device for starting an AC load powdered by supply, an AC generator driven by either an engine or a motor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that, when an AC load is started by the use of, as a power supply, either an engine generator or a motor generator, especially in case the load has lagging power factor such as an induction motor or an AC arc welder, the terminal voltage of the generator exhibits an abrupt large drop.
Generators of this type are usually provided with an automatic voltage regulator to regulate voltage drops due to load fluctuation. However, such automatic voltage regulator cannot fully counteract the abrupt and large initial voltage drop.
For the above-said reason, it has been practiced in general to use a generator having a capacity large enough to compensate for the voltage drop at the start. However, such counter-measure leads to expansion in the size of the system and increased cost.
In order to improve the above-mentioned inconvenience and disadvantage, there has been proposed and known a method of saturating the magnetic circuit of a generator by such means as a saturating coil prior to starting, and of starting the load in this state.
This known method is such that the load is started at the moment that the terminal voltage of the generator has temporarily leaped up to the non-loaded voltage by saturation of the magnetic circuit. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the initial voltage drop supplied to the load which is connected to the generator and to thereby elevate the voltage supplied to the load. In order to insure this pattern of operation, however, it is necessary that, at the moment of energization of the starter, the saturating coil is still connected to the generator. Because of this, the current flowing through the saturating coil will momentarily overlap the current of the starting coil on the power supply side at the moment this starting coil is energized. Moreover, the initial current of the starting coil has a surge current characteristic for the period of 1 to 3 Hz. The overlap value of this surge current of the starting coil and the current of said saturating coil is intensive and momentarily causes a drop in the terminal voltage of the generator, giving rise to possible adverse effect on other related loads.

Device for starting AC load using AC generator as power source


A siding installation tool for the installation of horizontally overlapping siding boards on the exterior of a building structure. The tool includes a J-shaped hook that is integrally formed to an elongated body member at a terminal end thereof for attachment to an upper edge of a siding board that has been previously installed on the building. The tool includes an inverted L-shaped handle that is pivotally attached by a connecting rod that can be inserted through one of several adjustment apertures in the body member to provide predetermined amounts of overlap of the siding boards. To enable removal of the tool from between two siding boards after aligning them, the L-shaped handle is pivoted 180 degrees about an offset axis creating a clearance gap between the body of the L-shaped handle and a lower edge of the siding board being installed. This gap permits the tool to be pushed upwardly so that the end of the J-hook clears the upper edge of the siding board whereon the tool has been positioned. The overlapping siding board can be flexed outwardly at a bottom edge by advantageous use of the handle so that the tool can be extracted from between the siding boards. The L-shaped handle is provided with a frictional locking mechanism to prevent unwanted rotation of the handle during the installation procedure.

It is difficult for one person to install horizontally overlapping siding boards because each siding board must be precisely horizontal and uniformly placed with respect to each adjacent siding board.
As a result a substantial number of tools and gauges have been invented to permit one person to install siding. Typically, these tools are secured to installed lengths of siding and function to support a second, overlapping siding board to be installed in a predetermined position.
However, many of the siding installation tools of the prior art are relatively complex in construction and are not readily releasable from the siding boards after installation. The present invention provides a tool that is relatively simple in construction and can be utilized for the convenient installation of overlapping siding boards.


A coupling system and method for a powered component on a vehicle includes a powered component, a rotating member mechanically driven by an engine on the vehicle and a radial coupling between the powered component and the rotating member for mechanically powering the powered component.

Vehicle oil pumps are generally either mechanical or electrical. Mechanical oil pumps are typically mechanically coupled to the engine, particularly to the crankshaft thereof. For example, known mechanical oil pumps include those that are gear-driven directly off the crankshaft of the vehicle's engine and those that are spaced apart from the crankshaft (e.g., located in the engine sump or oil pan) and driven by a force transfer element, such as a chain or belt. Electric oil pumps are typically electrically coupled to the vehicle's battery for powering thereof and are typically mounted external to the engine and only coupled to the engine via fluid connections (i.e., input and output). Electric oil pumps generally allow for a greater control of oil flow and pressure characteristics resulting in greater engine efficiency and life.
As the electric oil pump is not mechanically coupled to the engine, the engine will lose oil pressure in the event electrical power to the pump is interrupted. Notwithstanding the potential engine efficiency benefits, the loss of oil pressure associated with an interruption of electrical power is a primary reason why many vehicle manufactures do not apply an electric oil pump.

Coupling system and method for a vehicle


A system for managing utility meters via internet. The system includes a central station able to communicate over the internet, and a plurality of meters. The central station includes an intelligent agent. Each meter includes a communication device connectable to the internet and is positioned at a predetermined remote location for monitoring a utility supply to the remote location. The intelligent agent is able to autonomously acquire meter data from each of the plurality of meters over the internet. The plurality of meters are at least one of power, water and gas meters. Each of the meters have a unique Universal Resource Locator and the intelligent agent is able to display data acquired from said meter in a desired format. The meters may each include a receiver for receiving data from the intelligent agent, communication between the intelligent agent and meter being bi-directional. The central station also includes a load forecasting agent able to predict an amount of power used at the remote locations based upon data acquired by the intelligent agent. The intelligent agent and load forecasting agent are able to optimize operation of the meters and supply of a utility to the remote location via the meters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a process of energy management and, more particularly, to a process and apparatus for enabling energy industries to effectively manage their operations via the use of intelligent programming agents, also called programming robots or "bots", for autonomously performing tasks such as collecting information from utility meters, detecting operating problems and analyze data collected from the utility meters on behalf of the user over the Internet or some other computer network, within the framework of the energy or utility industry operations. These intelligent agents can be mobile, e.g. they roam the Internet or a system of computers, or they can be fixed. The agents are written in a high-level computer language and are set up to operate across many different computer platforms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are 265,000,000 existing utility meters, e.g. electric, gas and water, using the Transmission Control Program/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) program as nodes on the internet with their own universal resource locator (URL) or Internet Protocol (IP) address. Reading of the electric meter has been a major function of the utility company since this is the only real physical connection with the customer and it is the major revenue source for the utility and provides a security of supply and the orderly availability of electric power. There is an entire allied industry specializing in meter reading and meter reading tools. Meter reading and meter service accounting has been literally a "chore" for these companies and they have tried many ways to improve this function, these have historically included:                1) Drive-by readers where the specially fitted meter transmitter sends out a radio signal which a truck picks up with a special receiver;        2) Radio frequency metering which includes a broadcast from the meter to a central station on a low power system;        3) Cellular and wireless systems, which read the meter, transmitted signal over the wireless network; and        4) Powerline carrier systems like the Turtle or TWACS system which send a signal down the transmission power line back to the utility.
Several applications of energy management exist today at various levels of sophistication and at different levels of operation from a single building to a whole utility system. Operationally, they vary from manually controlled systems which physically read and tabulate the electric power use in buildings and at enduser sites to fully interactive computer controlled systems that have massive amounts of dedicated computer resources interacting with the meters and sensors at a given site. The latter are large complex systems that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and must be manned by a staff of real-time technicians. At the utility level, energy management is basically load forecasting. Load forecasting is a necessary part of resource management for these power generating companies. The better the load forecasts the more efficiently can the resources of the utility be configured to minimize operating costs.
Load forecasting which is critical to efficient allocation of utility resources has been utilized by several utilities using various algorithmic processes with historical data, but to date, none have used the ubiquitous nature of the internet to leverage the knowledge of their customer base to optimize forecasting and thereby minimize fuel use, their greatest cost center. None of these systems have any rudimentary attempts of intelligent agent use. Some of the current load forecasting approaches use fuzzy logic, regression and neural networks to develop forecasts.
The present invention can integrate all the current computational functions along with real time Internet derived data into a cohesive whole that runs on computer servers and uses the Internet as the basic communication backbone. By integrating the historical data and the accepted technologies with our real time information the present invention provides, a more realistic load forecast for resource allocation and optimization can be developed. The method of the present invention allows for 1-hour, 24-hour and 120-hour load forecasts by the utility. The present invention allows for a forward looking energy assessment (FLEA) to be made and updated continuously as part of the normal operating practices of the utility or power generator/provider.
The use of intelligent agents in the energy management and power generation industries has not been attempted because of the inherent nature of the industry in the past. Most power companies have been regulated utility operations with a preset and known rate of return provided by the regulatory agencies that oversee these entities and there was no need to innovate. Today with the looming deregulation in most states and by Federal mandate these companies have to be economically competitive and more cost conscious. To meet this need, various approaches have been attempted to outsource operations and use more modern approaches for operations but in general there has been no major shift internally in these companies. The use of intelligent agents has been focused in other areas not related to energy and power generation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,848 shows the use of intelligent agents in financial transactions and accounting. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,200 uses an intelligent agent to perform delegated tasks. U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,798 uses agents in on kine commerce on the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,202 intelligently monitors power consumption with a set of computer software modules. None of these approaches have focused on the use addressed by the subject invention, e.g. the energy generation and distribution industry.

Method and system for energy management using intelligent agents over the internet


Techniques are provided to compute the carrier to interference-plus-noise ratio (CINR) in a wireless communication system using log-likelihood ratio (LLR) data generated from a received transmission. The LLR data are collected as they are sent from a detector to a forward error correction (FEC) decoder in a wireless communications device. In one embodiment, decision-aided LLR based CINR is computed using the decoded bits output from the FEC decoder as feedback. In another embodiment, blind LLR based CINR is computed without feedback. The CINR may be used to adjust a modulation and/or coding parameters associated with wireless communication between wireless communication devices.

Link adaptation is an important feature in modern wireless communication systems. Utilizing link adaptation, a first communication device, e.g., a base station (BS), adapts the modulation and/or coding parameters for the radio channel conditions when communicating with a second communication device, e.g., a mobile station (MS). Link adaptation systems require knowledge of the channel conditions at the transmitting device. Channel information can be measured at a receiving device, e.g., the MS and fed back to the BS, or vice versa.
Generally, there are two methods for adapting modulation and/or coding parameters. Both methods involve measuring a carrier to interference-plus-noise ratio (CINR) at the receiving device, e.g., the MS. The first method involves the MS transmitting the measured CINR to the BS in the form of what is referred to as a "physical" CINR (PCINR) report. The second method is called an effective CINR (ECINR) report, and involves the MS determining adjustments to the modulation and/or coding parameters, and transmitting the adjustments to modulation and/or coding parameters to the BS.
Most existing CINR measurement methods are transmission scheme and detection scheme dependent. CINR for single antenna systems, like single-input single-output (SISO) systems, is simply defined as the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver. For multiple antenna systems, e.g., multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the CINR is dependent on the channel condition, transmission scheme, and detection scheme. In addition, current CINR measurements are not accurate in certain situations. For example, in the WiMAX™ communication standard, CINR measurement for MIMO spatial multiplexing with maximum likelihood detection is defined according to channel capacity. However channel capacity is an ideal quantity that does not account for systemic imperfections such as frequency offset or clock/time offset.
Accordingly, a technique for generic CINR measurement, independent of transmission scheme, detection scheme, and one that accounts for systemic imperfections in a wideband wireless communication system would be useful for making adjustments in the wireless communication system modulation and/or coding parameters.

Link adaptation based on generic CINR measurement according to log-likelihood ratio distribution