The present disclosure relates to bifunctional compounds, which find utility as modulators of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) proteins. In particular, the present disclosure is directed to bifunctional compounds, which contain on one end a ligand which binds to an E3 ubiquitin ligase and on the other end a moiety which binds a target protein, such that the target protein is placed in proximity to the ubiquitin ligase to effectuate ubiquitination, and therefore, degradation (and inhibition) of the target protein. The present disclosure exhibits a broad range of pharmacological activities associated with degradation/inhibition of target protein. Diseases or disorders that result from aggregation or accumulation of the target protein are treated or prevented with compounds and compositions of the present disclosure.

Most small molecule drugs bind enzymes or receptors in tight and well-defined pockets. On the other hand, protein-protein interactions are notoriously difficult to target using small molecules due to their large contact surfaces and the shallow grooves or flat interfaces involved. E3 ubiquitin ligases (of which hundreds are known in humans) confer substrate specificity for ubiquitination, and therefore, are more attractive therapeutic targets than general proteasome inhibitors due to their specificity for certain protein substrates. The development of ligands of E3 ligases has proven challenging, in part due to the fact that they must disrupt protein-protein interactions. However, recent developments have provided specific ligands which bind to these ligases. For example, since the discovery of nutlins, the first small molecule E3 ligase inhibitors, additional compounds have been reported that target E3 ligases but the field remains underdeveloped.
One E3 ligase with exciting therapeutic potential is the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor, the substrate recognition subunit of the E3 ligase complex VCB, which also consists of elongins B and C, Cul2 and Rbx1. The primary substrate of VHL is Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1α (HIF-1α), a transcription factor that upregulates genes such as the pro-angiogenic growth factor VEGF and the red blood cell inducing cytokine erythropoietin in response to low oxygen levels. The first small molecule ligands of Von Hippel Lindau (VHL) to the substrate recognition subunit of the E3 ligase were generated, and crystal structures were obtained confirming that the compound mimics the binding mode of the transcription factor HIF-1a, the major substrate of VHL.
Cereblon is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CRBN gene. CRBN orthologs are highly conserved from plants to humans, which underscores its physiological importance. Cereblon forms an E3 ubiquitin ligase complex with damaged DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1), Cullin-4A (CUL4A), and regulator of cullins 1 (ROC1). This complex ubiquitinates a number of other proteins. Through a mechanism which has not been completely elucidated, cereblon ubquitination of target proteins results in increased levels of fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) and fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10). FGF8 in turn regulates a number of developmental processes, such as limb and auditory vesicle formation. The net result is that this ubiquitin ligase complex is important for limb outgrowth in embryos. In the absence of cereblon, DDB1 forms a complex with DDB2 that functions as a DNA damage-binding protein.
Inhibitors of Apotosis Proteins (IAPs) are a protein family involved in suppressing apoptosis, i.e. cell death. The human IAP family includes 8 members, and numerous other organisms contain IAP homologs. IAPs contain an E3 ligase specific domain and baculoviral IAP repeat (BIR) domains that recognize substrates, and promote their ubiquitination. IAPs promote ubiquitination and can directly bind and inhibit caspases. Caspases are proteases (e.g. caspase-3, caspase-7 and caspace-9) that implement apoptosis. As such, through the binding of caspases, IAPs inhibit cell death.
The discovery of small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitors greatly enabled the study of these key proteins in normal and oncogenic signalling. Eukaryotic cell proliferation is driven by RTK activation following binding of cognate growth factors, and many forms of cancer are driven by the hyperactivation of specific RTKs due either to overexpression of the protein to super-physiological levels, or to mutations that confer growth factor-independent activation. For example, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is implicated in cancers and inflammatory diseases. Activated EGFR elicits downstream activation and signaling by several other proteins leading to DNA synthesis and cell proliferation.
In order to obtain RTK inhibition over an extended time, exposure to small molecule kinase inhibitors at sustained and saturating concentrations is required. Studies have shown that cancerous cells can co-opt other existing RTK signalling pathways in order to permit the inhibited RTK to continue to exist as a node, thereby restoring downstream oncogenic signalling.
Degradation of the RTK, as opposed to inhibition of the kinase activity, is a strategy with the potential to yield a more complete and lasting inactivation of downstream signalling and circumvent the problem of "kinome re-wiring", whereby inhibition of receptor signalling leads to compensatory feedback activation via alternate kinases. Indeed, RTK elimination would prevent the inactive kinase from persisting as a scaffolding node for oncogenic signalling. For example, Small molecule-mediated degradation of the protein itself rather than inhibition of the kinase domain could provide advantages, such as reduced drug exposure time required to suppress signalling and the ability to target kinase-independent functions.
Bifunctional compounds such as those that are described in U.S. Patent Application Publications 2015-0291562 and 2014-0356322 (incorporated herein by reference), function to recruit endogenous proteins to an E3 ubiquiuin ligase for degradation. In particular, the publications describe bifunctional or proteolysis targeting chimeric (PROTAC) compounds, which find utility as modulators of targeted ubiquitination of a variety of polypeptides and proteins, which are then degraded and/or otherwise inhibited by the bifunctional compounds. Through the specific degradation of the target proteins, the bifunctional compounds provide a therapeutic effect.
An outstanding question, however, has been whether the PROTAC methodology is able to induce degradation of transmembrane-spanning proteins, given their restricted cellular localization and the questionable accessibility of membrane-bound receptors for ubiquitination by the cytosolic machinery. PROTACs could provide key advantages such as improved physicochemical properties, reduced toxicity, facile modular design, and a defined mechanism of degradation.
There exists in the art an ongoing need for effective treatments for disease associated with overexpression or hyperactivation of RTK, e.g., EGFR, IGFR, and HGFR. As such, small-molecule therapeutic agents that target RTKs are highly desired for the treatment of RTK-related diseases.

EGFR proteolysis targeting chimeric molecules and associated methods of use


A lawn mower is provided with a lawn mowing mechanism, a grass collection box receiving grass mowed by the lawn mowing mechanism, a lift mechanism for lifting the grass collection box high, and a rear lid plate structured such as to openably close an opening in the rear surface of the grass collection box wherein an improvement is achieved in the stability of a support at a time of lifting up the grass collection box high in the case of discharging the mowed grass in the grass collection box in a state of lifting up the grass collection box high, and also achieves a downsizing and a weight saving. A bottom portion of the grass collection box is opened, the opened bottom portion being operably closed by a bottom lid plate, and the mowed grass is discharged from the grass collection box by an opening actuation of the bottom lid plate and the rear lid plate.

Conventionally, this kind of lawn mower has been structured such as to continuously mow lawn grass standing on a ground surface by the lawn mowing mechanism and collect the grass in the grass collection box via a discharge duct extending rearward from the lawn mowing mechanism. One example of the lawn mower is disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
The lawn mowers in the patent documents 1 and 2 are of a so-called high dump specification, and are provided with a lift mechanism for lifting up a grass collection box to a predetermined height position. A rear surface opening portion of the grass collection box is closed by a rear lid plate which can be opened and closed. In this case, since the grass collection box is rotated so as to change its attitude in such a manner that the rear surface opening portion is directed downward (faces to the ground surface) while opening the rear lid plate after lifting up the grass collection box filled with the mowed grass to the predetermined height position by driving the lift mechanism, the mowed grass in the grass collection box is discharged to a container, a loading platform of a truck or the like from the high position.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-275438    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-84950


An image pick-up apparatus includes a first stereo camera attached to a revolving unit and a second stereo camera attached to the revolving unit. The first stereo camera picks up an image of a first image pick-up range. The second stereo camera picks up an image of a second image pick-up range above or beyond the first image pick-up range.

During work by a work vehicle, existing topography varies with progress of the work. Therefore, existing topography data should be obtained in parallel to progress of the work. Measurement of a distance by a stereo camera is available as one of means for obtaining existing topography data.
An earth-moving machine including a stereo camera having a first image pick-up portion and a second image pick-up portion and image pick-up direction changing means capable of changing a direction of image pick-up by the stereo camera has conventionally been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2013-36243 (PTD 1)). In addition, an earth-moving machine obtaining a stereo image from a plurality of stereo cameras attached to a vehicular body has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2014-215039 (PTD 2)).


A method of converting ball grid array (BGA) modules to column grid array (CGA) modules comprises steps of heating a BGA module, brushing the BGA module to remove the balls, and attaching columns to the module to create a CGA module. A method of converting a first CGA module to a second CGA module comprises steps of heating the first CGA module, brushing the first CGA module to remove the columns, and attaching columns to the module to create the second CGA module.

The current invention is concerned with the field of packaging and interconnection of electronic components. More specifically, it deals with a method of converting electronic components packaged using ball grid arrays (BGAs) to a column grid array (CGA) form.
Many modern electronic components, for example, processor chips, have very large pincounts. These large pincounts are due to needs to interface with many other devices, processor word sizes (number of bits per each unit of information to be communicated to or from another device), and the like. When pincounts were smaller, more mature technologies, like wire bonding and tape bonding, were commonly used to perform the interconnection function. However, more recent devices with larger pincounts have caused manufacturers to resort to different technologies.
Among the more popular ways of dealing with the problems involved in providing connections for large-pincount devices is to use the ball grid array (BGA) technique. In a BGA, a small solder ball is bonded, during manufacture, to each contact point (pin) of the component. The balls provide a convenient way of then connecting the component to external leads.
FIGS. 1a and 1b show a representation of what such a BGA might look like. In FIG. 1a, a top view of a device packaged with BGA interconnects, device 1 is provided with an array of conductive balls 2 (made of solder and/or other conductive materials). Each of the balls is connected to a contact point of the device to provide an interconnection to another component (other device, power supply, ground, etc.). FIG. 1b shows a side view of the device shown in FIG. 1a.
Another way of providing interconnects for large-pincount devices is using column grid arrays (CGAs). In a CGA, a small column of solder is bonded, during manufacture, to each contact point (pin) of the component. The columns serve the same purpose as the balls in a BGA. FIG. 1c shows a side view of what the device of FIG. 1a packaged in a BGA configuration might look like if, instead, it were packaged in a CGA configuration. Note that each ball 2 is replaced with a column 2xe2x80x2 to form the CGA package.
BGA electronic modules have become quite prevalent in the commercial electronics industry, and many useful devices are packaged in this manner. In some industry sectors, such as aerospace, military, and satellite communications, however, BGA packaging is not always the best packaging method. In particular, in such applications, BGA packaging does not offer the life and reliability required, due to the fact that, because of their relatively low height, the balls of a BGA are not pliant enough to absorb the differential expansion, during thermal expansions and contractions, between the device and a circuit board to which it is connected.
In such applications as aerospace, military, and satellite communications, CGAs, which, as discussed above, use columns instead of balls, are favored. Columns are taller than balls and are, therefore, more flexible and can absorb the difference in expansions and contractions between the device and the circuit board by bending, instead of cracking, as is often the case with balls.
A problem that commonly arises is that a component manufacturer will choose to package the component only one way, either in BGA or CGA form. Typically, a manufacturer producing a component in large quantities in BGA form will be unwilling to produce the same component, generally in limited quantities, in CGA form, for economic reasons. Hence, it would be desirable for the industry sectors in which CGA packaging is needed to be able to purchase components in BGA form and to convert them to CGA form.
One feature of the invention is to provide a process by which devices normally packaged in BGA form can be converted to CGA form.
Another feature of the invention is to provide CGA-packaged devices from BGA-packaged devices using the aforementioned process.
The inventive process, most simply stated, is to remove the balls from a BGA-packaged device and to replace them with columns to produce a CGA-packaged device. In one exemplary embodiment, the inventive process for removing the balls from a BGA-packaged device and replacing them with columns to produce a CGA-packaged device is achieved through the following steps:
heating a BGA module such that the material comprising the balls in the BGA melts;
brushing off the ball array surface to remove the balls; and
joining columns to the I/O pads.
In another exemplary embodiment, solder flux is applied to the ball array surface prior to brushing off the surface to remove the balls.
In yet another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a step of dressing the I/O pads is performed after the balls have been removed. This may be done, for example, via the steps of applying further solder flux and brushing.
In further exemplary embodiments, the aforementioned inventive CGA-packaged device is one produced via the inventive method, and a similar inventive method is used to replace the columns of a first CGA module with new columns, to obtain a second CGA module.
These and other features of the invention will become apparent in the detailed description below.

Ball grid array (BGA) to column grid array (CGA) conversion process

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration, Inc.


System, methods and apparatus are described that reduce the power consumed by a multi-level encoded communications link. In one example, different logic states of a 4-level pulse amplitude modulation encoded transmission consume greater power than other logic states. The fraction of primary bits in a first logic state in multi-bit data symbols may determine whether the primary bits are inverted prior to transmission. The fraction of secondary bits in the first logic state in the multi-bit data symbols may determine whether the secondary bits are inverted prior to transmission. The primary bits may be swapped with the secondary bits is more secondary bits are in the first logic state than primary bits in the first logic state.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to high-speed data communications interfaces, and more particularly, to pulse amplitude modulation encoded data communication links.
2. Background
Manufacturers of mobile devices, such as cellular phones, may deploy various electronic components in one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices and/or on one or more circuit boards. The electronic components may include processing devices, storage devices, communications transceivers, display drivers, and the like. In one example, a processing device may be provided on a printed circuit board (PCB) and may communicate with one or more memory devices on the same PCB and/or on a different PCB. The processor may communicate with the memory devices using a high-speed communications link that supports unidirectional and bidirectional channels for data and control signals.
In a multi-wire interface, the power consumption associated with a communications link can be significant in relation to a power budget available in a mobile wireless device. The power consumed by the communications link may be determined to some extent by one or more of bus width, driver types used to transmit data on a transmission line, geometry and structure of the transmission line, encoding format, frequency of switching, logic states, which may be defined by voltage and current levels of an encoding scheme, and so on.

Methods and apparatus to reduce signaling power


The invention relates to a method for producing the nitrites of formula: R1—CN by reacting aldehyde oximes (R1CN═N—OH) with cyclic alkylphosphonic anhydrides at a temperature ranging from −100 to +120° C., wherein R1 represents H, a linear or branched C1-C12 alkyl group, a C3-C10 cycloalkyl, alkenyl or an aryl or heteroaryl group. The cyclic phosphonic anhydride preferably used is a 2,4,6-substituted 1,3,5,2,4,6-trioxatriphosphinane-2,4,6-trioxide of formula (I), wherein R′ independently represents allyl, aryl or open-chain or branched C1 to C12 alkyl groups. Optionally, the reaction can be carried out in the presence of a tertiary amine base NR23

Nitriles are important and extremely versatile intermediates in organic synthesis. This compound class exhibits a high reactivity of the C,N triple bond, which enables numerous addition reactions. The significance in modern organic synthesis is restricted only by limitations of the availability of these compound classes.
Standard processes for preparing nitrites are eliminations of correspondingly functionalized aldoximes. Numerous methods, including those using acetic anhydride, acetyl chloride, thionyl chloride or lead oxide, are used. Other water-eliminating agents used have been phosphorus pentoxide, benzenesulfonyl chloride, ethyl chloroformate or aqueous alkalis. Thermal elimination at 340-360° C. over a metal oxide catalyst is likewise possible. One-pot processes starting from aldehydes also find use. However, it is always necessary to work at 70-140° C. The conversion of aldehydes using hydroxylamine hydrochloride and trifluoroacetic anhydride takes place at 20° C. Another variant is the reaction of aldehydes with hydroxylamine hydrochloride in pyridine/water in the presence of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, Cu(II) salt and triethyl-amine. In addition to heavy metal salts, dicyclohexyl-urea which is removable only with extreme difficulty is also obtained.
In modern organic synthesis, the significance of chemo-, regio- and stereoselective reagents is increasing explosively. When, for example, the intention is to convert an oxime to a nitrile in a complex molecule with numerous functional groups, numerous methods of those mentioned are ruled out for selectivity reasons. The use of thermal dehydration is also restricted, since very high temperatures of up to 450° C. are required.
A selective and preferred method for eliminating oximes to nitrites is the reaction with a multitude of dehydrating agents.
There has to date been a lack of a highly selective solution to the problem of the transformations mentioned. Although the known reagents can accomplish the desired transformations, other moieties are often likewise influenced. In many cases, the drastic conditions required epimerize even far-removed stereocenters. In addition, the transformation should therefore be usable under very mild conditions, and particularly the removal of the conversion products of the reagent used should be very simple.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an economically viable process which allows the conversion of oximes to the corresponding nitrites by elimination of water, but at the same time permits the use of very mild reaction conditions and has a simplified workup.
The processes for preparing nitrites known in the prior art all have serious disadvantages:
For instance, when thionyl chloride is used, the reaction has to be performed at elevated temperature. This is disadvantageous in the case of sensitive compounds in particular. When lead oxide is used, the heavy metal is obtained in the waste stream.
Although the Voswinkel process has been found to be useful in the one-stage preparation of nitrites starting from aldehydes, the use of dicyclohexylcarbo-diimide harbors disadvantages since it is sensitizing, and it is often not possible to completely remove the reaction by-products.

Method for producing nitriles by elimination of water from aldehyde oximes with alkylphosphonic anhydrides


The multi-socket wrench includes a housing, first and second head portions extending from the housing, a plurality of main shafts having an exposed end extending through the second head portion, and a socket removably attached to each exposed end of each of the main shafts for engaging lug nuts on tire. A gearbox is disposed within the housing. The gearbox includes a drive assembly that is connected to the main shafts by a chain. The drive assembly drives the main shafts to rotate in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction. The drive assembly is configured to provide two different levels of torque to drive the main shafts to simultaneously tighten or untighten the lug nuts of a car tire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to automotive tools, and particularly to a multi-socket wrench that simultaneously tightens or loosens the lug nuts securing a wheel on an axle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stock car racing has become a popular sport, especially in the United States and Europe. During the multiple laps of a stock car race, each car must endure time-consuming pit stops for refueling and tire changes that are performed by the pit crew. The more efficient the pit crew is in accomplishing the refueling and tire changing, the less time the car is in the pit, resulting in improved lap times and enhancing the chances of winning the race. Since the stock car wheel is secured to the axle with multiple lug nuts (usually five, but sometimes four), the pit crew tire men are required to loosen and remove each of the twenty lug nuts (five per wheel) to remove the wheels and worn tires. Additionally, each of the twenty lug nuts must be replaced and tightened when the new wheels and tires are mounted. A tool that would allow the tire men to loosen or tighten the five nuts of each wheel simultaneously would certainly lessen the time in the pit per stop and create a tremendous advantage over pit crews using conventional means for servicing stock cars during races. Such a tool would also be useful for automobile tire centers and automotive repair garages.
Thus, a multi-socket wrench solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for splitting a bus target response between two devices in a computer system. In one embodiment, the computer system includes a bus having a first signal line and a second signal line, a third signal line, and two agents coupled to the bus and the third signal line. The first agent claims to be a target of a transaction on the bus without decoding the address associated with the transaction by asserting the first signal on the first signal line. The second agent responds to the transaction as the target. The second agent thereafter asserts a third signal on the third signal line to coordinate deassertion of the first signal on the first signal line by the first agent and concurrent assertion of the second signal on the second signal line by the second agent.

2. Description of Related Art
Generally, bus transactions in computer systems involve a "master" and a "target". The master is the bus agent that initiates the transaction, and the target is the bus agent that responds to or is selected by the transaction. If the bus protocol requires a determination of which agent is the target of a particular transaction, that determination can be centralized or distributed. When target determination is distributed, the target itself is responsible for claiming the transaction.
The protocol of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus includes distributed target determination (PCI Local Bus Specification, Revision 2.1, published July 1995). Bus masters initiate transactions by asserting the FRAME# signal and driving the address of the transactions onto AD lines. Normally, each transaction has one target, so one and only one agent on the bus has a responsibility to respond to the transaction as the target. That agent claims the responsibility to respond to the transaction by asserting the DEVSEL# signal. The responsibility to respond to the transaction includes a responsibility to assert the TRDY# signal to indicate that the target is ready to complete the transaction and either a responsibility to provide or accept data, depending on whether the transaction is a read or a write.
To determine which agent should claim a transaction, potential target agents decode the address to determine if they are the actual target. Potential target agents that perform such a decode operation are commonly referred to as "positive" decode agents. Assuming that no two targets reside at the same address, no more than one positive decode agent will claim the transaction. By limiting the amount of time available for address decoding, the PCI bus protocol allows a potential target agent to claim transactions without performing a decode by claiming any transaction that is not claimed by a positive decode agent after a finite period of time. Such an agent is commonly referred to as a "subtractive" decode agent. To prevent target conflicts, the prior art allows only one agent on the bus to implement a subtractive decode.
This limitation, which prevents the use of multiple subtractive decode agents on a bus, presents a problem in a system with multiple PCI buses. For example, FIG. 1 shows a system with PCI bus 101 and PCI bus 102 connected by PCI bridge 103. Bridge 103 transfers signals between buses with a delay of two clock periods. Agent 104 resides on bus 101, and is a positive decode agent requiring two clock periods for decoding. Agents 105, 106, and 107 reside on bus 102. Agent 105 is the slowest positive decode agent on bus 102, requiring three clock periods for decoding. Therefore, when agent 105 is targeted, it will claim the transaction on the third clock after the transaction is initiated. Agent 106 is the subtractive decode agent of bus 102, claiming all unclaimed transactions on the fourth clock after initiation of the transaction.
Referring to the timing diagram of FIG. 2 along with FIG. 1, assume that at time 201 agent 107 initiates a transaction that targets agent 104. Due to the delay across bridge 103, the address of the transaction is driven on bus 101 two clock periods after the address is driven on bus 102. Therefore, agent 104 begins decode at time 203, two clock periods after the transaction is initiated. Agent 104 completes decode at time 205, four clock periods after the transaction is initiated, and asserts the DEVSEL# signal on bus 101 to claim the transaction. The DEVSEL# signal is transferred across bridge 103, resulting in the assertion of the DEVSEL# signal on bus 102 at time 207. However, agent 106 will have already mistakenly claimed the transaction at time 205, four clock periods after the transaction was initiated.
One possible solution to this problem might be to increase the finite time period allowed for positive decode. However, that solution would violate the bus protocol, which allows only three clock periods for positive decode, as well as decrease performance by increasing the latency of transactions to the subtractive decode agent. Another possible solution might involve reducing the delay across bridge 103 and restricting the decode time of all agents on bus 101. However, that solution would require performance improvements to bridge 103 and certain agents on bus 101, and decrease flexibility of bus 101 by excluding slow decode agents. Another possible solution might be to require bridge 103 to act as a positive decode agent on bus 102 on behalf of all agents on bus 101. However, that solution would add complexity to bridge 103, as well as decrease flexibility of bus 101 by limiting the available address space and device configuration model to that which can be accommodated by bridge 103.
The present invention overcomes the problems of the prior art described above by providing support for two subtractive decode agents on the same bus in a computer system.

Method and apparatus for splitting a bus target response between two devices in a computer system


Proteases derived from Nocardiopsis dassonvillei subsp. dassonvillei DSM 43235, Nocardiopsis prasina DSM 15649, Nocardiopsis prasina (previously alba) DSM 14010 Nocardiopsis sp. DSM 16424, Nocardiopsis alkaliphila DSM 44657 and Nocardiopsis lucentensis DSM 44048, as well as homologous proteases; their recombinant production in various hosts, including transgenic plants and non-human animals, and their use in animal feed and detergents. The proteases are acid-stable, alkali-stable, and/or thermostable.

Proteases derived from Nocardiopsis sp. NRRL 18262 and Nocardiopsis dassonvillei NRRL 18133 are disclosed in WO 88/03947. The DNA and amino acid sequences of the protease derived from Nocardiopsis sp. NRRL 18262 are shown in DK application no. 1996 00013. WO 01/58276 discloses the use in animal feed of acid-stable proteases related to the protease derived from Nocardiopsis sp. NRRL 18262, as well as a protease derived from Nocardiopsis alba DSM 14010.
JP 2-255081-A discloses a protease derived from Nocardiopsis sp. strain OPC-210 (FERM P-10508), however without sequence information. The strain is no longer available, as the deposit was withdrawn.
DD 2004328 discloses a proteolytic preparation derived from Nocardiopsis dassonvillei strain ZIMET 43647, however without sequence information. The strain appears to be no longer available.
JP 2003284571-A discloses the amino acid sequence and the corresponding DNA sequence of a protease derived from Nocardiopsis sp. TOA-1 (FERM P-18676). The sequence has been entered in GENESEQP with no. ADF43564.
It is an object of the present invention to provide alternative proteases, in particular for use in animal feed and/or detergents.


The present invention relates to a method of automated process control operation wherein a physical object is directed into a read zone, information stored on an ID Container attached to the physical object is retrieved, physimetric property of the physical object is captured, the retrieved information is processed to provide recorded physimetric property specific to the physical object, the recorded physimetric property and captured physimetric property are passed to an analysis algorithm for comparison, and the results of the comparison are delivered to a controlling device. The results of the comparison will determine whether the physical property will continue to pass through the read zone or require to be rotated by the operator.

In current process control operations for products, including quality control, content, or quantity checking, a highly accurate reading of an ID tag is required for determining the authenticity or identity of a target product. Presently, however, readings within the operation are not fully accurate as some goods are not detected during the reading. The lack of complete accuracy may result from improper attachment of ID tags, wave reflection, absorption, interference, etc. As there is no automatic process to flag errors of non-detection of one or more items during the tracking process, it is common practice to stop and manipulate all items that enter a reading zone to ensure that all the items are accurately read. The requirement to stop and manipulate all items increases the length of time in which an item can be read, and is especially time consuming when large numbers of items must be read. Identity can further by compromised when ID tags can be detached from one product and attached to another, allowing from fraud representation of products.
Physimetric property identification is a method of verifying and recognizing the identity or authenticity of a physical object based on that object's physical properties. The use of physimetric property identification as applied to process control operations would allow an identification device to become part of an object as opposed to merely attached to it. This would ensure that fraudulent removal of an ID tag from one product and attachment to another would not be successful. However, in current process control operations, because every object must be stopped and manipulated, until now physimetric property identification could not be utilized because it is an automated identification process.
It is an object of the present system to overcome these and other disadvantages in the prior art.

Physimetric property identification of physical object for process control


A system for preventing the accumulation of excess lubrication in the form of lubricant lines on magnetic media disks for hard disk drives uses a mandrel design that produces negligible surface waves when the disks are dipped in lubricant baths. The mandrel has inverted tear drop shaped supports for the disks. The supports are smaller in overall size than an inner diameter hole formed in the disks and diminish the formation of waves in the lubricant bath.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to hard disk drives and, in particular, to an improved system method, and apparatus for preventing the accumulation of excess lubrication in the form of lubricant lines on magnetic media for hard disk drives.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data access and storage systems generally comprise one or more storage devices that store data on magnetic or optical storage media. For example, a magnetic storage device is known as a direct access storage device or a hard disk drive (HDD) and includes one or more disks and a disk controller to manage local operations concerning the disks. The hard disks themselves are usually made of aluminum alloy, glass or a mixture of glass and ceramic, and are covered with a magnetic coating that contains the bit pattern. Typically, one to five disks are stacked vertically on a common spindle that is turned by a disk drive motor at several thousand revolutions per minute. Hard disk drives have several different typical standard sizes or formats, including server, desktop, mobile and micro drive.
A typical HDD also uses an actuator assembly to move magnetic read/write heads to the desired location on the rotating disk so as to write information to or read data from that location. Within most HDDs, the magnetic read/write head is mounted on a slider. A slider generally serves to mechanically support the head and any electrical connections between the head and the rest of the disk drive system. The slider is aerodynamically shaped to glide over moving air in order to maintain a uniform distance from the surface of the rotating disk, thereby preventing the head from undesirably contacting the disk.
A slider is typically formed with an aerodynamic pattern of protrusions on its air bearing surface that enables the slider to fly at a constant height close to the disk during operation of the disk drive. A slider is associated with each side of each disk and flies just over the disk's surface. Each slider is mounted on a suspension to form a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The HGA is then attached to a semi-rigid actuator arm that supports the entire head flying unit. Several semi-rigid arms may be combined to form a single movable unit having either a linear bearing or a rotary pivotal bearing system.
The head and arm assembly is linearly or pivotally moved utilizing a magnet/coil structure that is often called a voice coil motor (VCM). The stator of a VCM is mounted to a base plate or casting on which the spindle is also mounted. The base casting with its spindle, actuator VCM, and internal filtration system is then enclosed with a cover and seal assembly to ensure that no contaminants can enter and adversely affect the reliability of the slider flying over the disk. When current is fed to the motor, the VCM develops force or torque that is substantially proportional to the applied current. The arm acceleration is therefore substantially proportional to the magnitude of the current. As the read/write head approaches a desired track, a reverse polarity signal is applied to the actuator, causing the signal to act as a brake, and ideally causing the read/write head to stop and settle directly over the desired track.
As the areal density of magnetic media in hard disk drives increases, the thickness of the lubricant used to coat the media must be decreased to avoid adverse effects on the performance of the disk drives. The thickness of media lubricants has been reduced to such a level (e.g., on the order of 10 Å for some applications) that the uniformity of the lubricant layer is a significant issue.
One particular concern is the formation of wide lubricant "lines" on disks during the lubricant application process. Lubricant lines can be several angstroms thicker than the overall lubricant coating on the disks. The lubricant lines remain on the disks, even after pad burnishing and temperature and/or humidity treatments. These relatively thick lubricant lines are potentially damaging to the flight characteristics of sliders. In addition, lubricant lines cause head smear/lubricant pick-up on the sliders, thereby reducing their durability.
Conventional disk holders produce surface waves in the lubricant bath that cause the lubricant lines to form on the disks. One type of prior art design uses a cover for the bath in an attempt to suppress the magnitude of surface waves. Unfortunately, that design requires precise positioning and careful operation throughout the process, which can cause inadvertent scratches on the disks and give rise to even bigger problems during manufacturing. Although this conventional design is workable, a more effective solution for preventing the formation of lubricant lines on magnetic media would be desirable.

System, method and apparatus to prevent the formation of lubricant lines on magnetic media


A method of displaying Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data in substantially a grid format, without using xe2x80x9cchannelxe2x80x9d information as an axis. Instead of being presented by channel and time, the data is presented only by time. Thus, program information from multiple channels may be displayed in a single row. Various truncation algorithms allow program descriptions to be shortened, enabling placement of the descriptions into gaps or empty cells in an available row, whereas without the truncation the program description would not have fit into the gaps. For example, when there is a program X in the grid on a first line with at least one gap, and another program Y in the grid on a second line, where Y spans a time slot corresponding to at least one of the gaps on program X""s line, either X""s title or Y""s title, or both, can be truncated, and Y""s title can be moved to X""s line. Another opportunity occurs when there is a program X that runs for an extended period of the day, representing xe2x80x9congoingxe2x80x9d content, such that the exact start and end time of the program adds little value to an EPG display. Its listing in the EPG grid may be truncated at start and/or end as needed, to allow its placement in any available empty cell or cells. Another aspect of the invention involves using the techniques described above to display EPG data for multiple categories on the same display.

The present invention relates generally to methods of displaying data, and more particularly to methods of displaying electronic program guide (EPG) data in a grid format.
Generally, as used in this application, xe2x80x9ccontentxe2x80x9d refers to the substance or material being viewed or heard, such as an actual TV program, movie, etc. The content is typically identified intuitively by title, such as Seinfeld, Gone With The Wind, etc., and this type of identifying information is referred to as xe2x80x9ctitle-basedxe2x80x9d information. This is to be distinguished from information that identifies the physical hardware characteristics of the location or source of the information, including but not limited to channel, frequency, track, CD slot, etc. Though the two types of information (title-based versus source-based) are generally mutually exclusive, there are situations where they may overlap. For example, phrases such as xe2x80x9cFOX Newsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cChannel 11 Newsxe2x80x9d do in fact contain source-based information, but the phrases are generally considered title-based, because a viewer would use such a phrase when referring to the content of the program, to distinguish the program from other news broadcasts. Basically, the identifying information in the title of news programs is generally an indication of the actual source or channel of the news, because xe2x80x9cnewsxe2x80x9d would not in and of itself convey to a user which news broadcast the title xe2x80x9cnewsxe2x80x9d would be referring to.
The concept of title-based information, along with associated benefits of its use such as xe2x80x9ctitle-based direct access controlxe2x80x9d, are discussed in more detail in the above-referenced related applications, and particularly in the ""873 application. For ease of reference, however, xe2x80x9ctitle-based direct access controlxe2x80x9d may be briefly described as the ability of a viewer to choose entertainment content by directly selecting the title of the desired content, as opposed to having to select based on source-based criteria such as channel.
Also as used in this application, the terms xe2x80x9cuserxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cviewerxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cconsumerxe2x80x9d are used interchangeably depending on the context, to refer to a person using the methods and devices described herein. A xe2x80x9clogical userxe2x80x9d may be a single user, or a group of users having shared or aggregated program preferences. For example, xe2x80x9ckidsxe2x80x9d may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a parent. Or xe2x80x9ccritics"" choicexe2x80x9d may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a group of program critics. Or xe2x80x9cdefaultxe2x80x9d may be a logical user, for which program preferences are determined by a predetermined or random algorithm.
xe2x80x9cProgramxe2x80x9d is used to refer to a television broadcast program, satellite broadcast program, cable broadcast program, or any other program that is generally scheduled to begin airing at a predetermined time, and air for a predetermined time, as determined by the program content provider. A program is said to air substantially continuously for a period if it airs during that period without interruption by any other scheduled program. This is despite interruptions in the program due to commercials, news flashes, or other temporary and/or unscheduled events.
xe2x80x9cDisplayed periodxe2x80x9d is used to refer to the time that is represented on the axis of a given display. For example, if the given display showed program content airing from 11 am to 1 pm, then the displayed period is 11 am to 1 pm.
xe2x80x9cCellxe2x80x9d refers to a logical space in a logical grid. Thus, a logical grid merely defines the logical boundaries that separate the logical cells. It is common in the art to physically represent a logical grid by a series of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines, which delineate columns and rows. Typically, the physical representations of the horizontal lines, which typically delineate channels, are complete, while the physical representations of the vertical lines, which typically delineate time boundaries, may be discontinuous due to programs that span across more than one continuous cell within a single row. A cell holds program description or program content information such as a title. The program description or program content information may comprise a title, a graphic representation of the program content, or any other descriptive information to convey at a glance the actual program content referred to. A single cell, or a group of continuous cells within a row, is also referred to sometimes as a xe2x80x9ctime slotxe2x80x9d within the given row, because generally the horizontal axis on the display grid represents time.
The traditional method of displaying TV program information for multiple TV channels is to show a grid with the time of program on one axis (typically the X-axis), and the program""s channel on the other axis (typically the Y-axis), with program content displayed in the associated cells that represent the intersection of a time""s column and a channel""s row. This is a natural way to organize this information for the traditional control procedure, wherein the user presses numbers on a TV remote controller that correspond to the channel for the desired program, or changes through neighboring channels sequentially using the channel xe2x80x9cupxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdownxe2x80x9d buttons until arriving at the desired channel. Thus, identification of the TV channel carrying a desired program is necessary to locate the desired program for viewing, whether from broadcast, cable, satellite, internet video, video on demand, or other distribution mechanism.
However, channel numbers are not the most intuitive decision criterion in determining what to watch on TV. That is, viewers typically do not determine that they want to watch channel 87, and then tune to channel 87 and watch whatever is there. Instead, viewers typically determine the content of what they want to watch, usually based on title such as Seinfeld, Gone With The Wind, Wheel of Fortune, etc., or at least they choose a category of entertainment such as drama, comedy, suspense, etc. The primary and most intuitive criterion for deciding what to watch is thus program content, and only after viewers decide which program content they want to watch, does it become important to know on what channel that content is available. Knowledge of the channel is needed to view the desired content because viewers must send commands to the TV or other device indicating on what channel the desired content can be found, so that the tuner can tune to the desired channel.
Thus, it is more intuitive for viewers to see, browse, select, and perform other functions using title-based information, than to do the same functions using source-based information. Additionally, it is beneficial for the title-based information to be sorted by category or other similar factor, so that the overall view of information identifies the content of each program, and also groups programs of a similar category together. In general, the grid format can be used to present information such as EPG data in this manner, allowing the viewer to see information about multiple programs simultaneously in a manner that is intuitive and easy to work with.
Websites are available that present TV schedule information, and include the content category information in some way. For example, http://www.excite.com (xe2x80x9cEXCITExe2x80x9d) shows grid listings with programs in different categories shown in different colors. EXCITE, however, displays the program information using traditional time/channel axes.
Complete application programs downloadable to a PC are also available, which present TV schedule data in the traditional grid format (plus colors for categories as with the website grids), and which further allow sophisticated user searching for specific programs, actors, etc. For example, http://www.tvhost.com (xe2x80x9cTVHOSTxe2x80x9d) allows the user to see programs listed in very specific categories (e.g. subcategories of sports such as xe2x80x9cGymnasticsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cLive Horse Eventxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cMotor Sportsxe2x80x9d etc.). TVHOST, however, also displays the program information based on channel, and merely provides simple vertical lists of programs giving time, channel, and program title on each line.
Another known website, http://www.theGIST.com (xe2x80x9cGISTxe2x80x9d), attempts to organize TV schedule information in grids that are grouped according to categories. FIG. 1 illustrates one such grid, G1, displaying xe2x80x9cComedyxe2x80x9d programs. (For convenience, xe2x80x9cGxxe2x80x9d, where xe2x80x9cxxe2x80x9d is a number, is used herein to refer to the grid of FIG. xe2x80x9cxxe2x80x9d.) In FIG. 1, it can be seen that the information still follows the time/channel layout necessitated by the traditional TV control mechanisms as discussed herein. This leads to empty cells or gaps 5 in the schedule, where the channels listed in the rows are not airing program material in the xe2x80x9cComedyxe2x80x9d category at the time indicated by the associated column.
Thus, the prior art method of organizing TV schedule grids does not use display space efficiently when showing program information sorted by category. For analytical purposes, the amount of wasted space using the prior art method may be calculated by abstracting away the stylistic elements, and even other factors for which correction techniques are known in the art, and then analyzing only the logical structure of the grid as will be described herein.
Referring to prior art grid G1 of FIG. 1, the stylistic elements include the title bar and time slot identifier rows, 10 and 15 respectively, as well as particular font types, font sizes, cell size, screen size, etc. By eliminating all stylistic elements, various display methods may be compared based on their actual display efficiency.
One measure of display efficiency is to compare, for a given amount of program information (x), the number of cells needed in a first grid to display the information, versus the number of cells needed in a second grid. This measure is referred to herein as cell-reduction percentage. If P represents the number of logical cells in the first grid prior to performing truncation or compaction methods described herein, and Q represents to the number of cells in the resulting second grid after performing the truncation or compaction methods described herein on the first grid, then the cell-reduction percentage of the second grid from the first grid is (Pxe2x88x92Q)/ P. As an example, if a first grid has 100 logical cells, and after applying the methods described herein the resulting grid has only 90 logical cells, then P=100, Q=90, and the cell-reduction percentage of the second grid from the first grid is (100xe2x88x9290)/100 or 10%. That is, the truncation methods would have eliminated 10% of the logical cells from the first grid.
Another measure of the benefits of the present invention is known herein as representational efficiency. This is a measure for a single grid, and is represented by dividing the amount of information represented in the grid by the number of logical cells used. Thus, using the same example grids as above, the representational efficiency of the first grid is x/100, and that of the second grid is x/90. Converting from the first grid to the second grid would thus provide an improvement in representational efficiency of (x/90)/(x/100)=100/90. In ratio form, this equates to 1.11 to 1. As can be seen, the formula for improvement in representational efficiency when comparing two grids can be stated simply as P/Q.
The significance of measuring efficiency at the logical level will be apparent from the examples and discussion that follow. The two formulas just described, cell-reduction percentage and representational efficiency, provide alternative views of measuring the desired efficiency.
In practice, it is worth noting that cell size and font size in EPG grid displays are generally chosen such that each half-hour time slot is at least wide enough to convey basic program identity in the majority of cases. Additionally, it is known in the art to lessen the amount of wasted vertical space in certain situations by merely truncating text. Thus, as seen in FIG. 1, the vertical space 20 required due to the program title listing xe2x80x9cMovie Movie . . . xe2x80x9d 25, and the vertical space 30 required due to the xe2x80x9cWGNSAT 24xe2x80x9d source-based identifier 35, may both be reduced by merely truncating the associated texts so they occupy only a single line. This is done, for example, in the on-screen TV grids displayed on the PreVue channel.
Turning back to grid G1, when it is reduced down to its logical structure for analytical purposes, the result is grid G2 as seen in FIG. 2. As can be seen in grid G2, many gaps 5 still remain, taking up precious screen or display space on an EPG display. In addition, the entire first column 40 is devoted to merely conveying channel information, which as discussed herein is unnecessary in a system that implements title-based direct access control. In total, the 5-column, 13-row grid G2 contains 65 cells, only 32 of which contain program content information. Thus more than half of the logical space of grid G2 is wasted.
The inefficient use of display space is a shortcoming for any system that aims to convey large amounts of information quickly and easily. For any home that receives more than twenty channels of TV programming, displaying the program contents for those channels requires the representation of large amounts of information, which requires efficient display usage even on a full-sized personal computer screen or a large TV screen. However, it is especially important to use display space efficiently when presenting information on a small screen, or on a TV screen viewed at normal viewing distances. For these types of display devices, including hand-held devices which necessarily require relatively small screens, the inability to display category-sorted program information efficiently is a severe drawback.
Methods and devices that overcome the above-mentioned deficiencies in the prior art would thus be desirable, to enable viewers to view a larger amount of category-sorted and/or title-based information on a display such as a hand-held EPG display, by eliminating unnecessary gaps in the display.
The present invention relates generally to methods of displaying data, and particularly to methods of displaying EPG data that is sorted by category or is otherwise limited to selected programs, such as only black and white movies, only movies released within a certain date range, only programs with specified audio characteristics, or any other criteria. Program content information is displayed with improved efficiency of display space use. Since title-based direct access control renders sorting by channel unnecessary, the logical program content information in grids that do not use channel as an axis may be compressed into a much more efficient space, instead of leaving gaps at locations representing time slots wherein a particular channel is not airing a program of interest. The amount of program information that can fit on a given display is thereby increased. This is especially useful with systems having relatively small display areas, such as the hand-held devices described in the ""873 application and in the ""841 application.
In its simplest form, the methods of the present invention involve eliminating the program channel column 40 of a prior art grid such as grid G2, and packing program information from multiple programs originating from multiple channels into single rows. In one embodiment of the present invention, the horizontal axis of the grid represents time, but the vertical axis is unused. In this embodiment, the program information may still be arranged vertically according to a criterion such as a user-preference ranking, TV rating, or any other selected characteristic or preference. In another embodiment, the vertical axis is used to represent program categories. Prior art methods of representing TV schedule grids do not do this, because without title-based direct access control, it would be extremely confusing and non-intuitive for a user to access a desired program. With title-based direct access control, however, this method provides an easy, intuitive, and efficient way to view EPG data sorted by content-based criteria that are meaningful to each individual user.
In addition to removing source-based information as an axis, various truncation algorithms, some of which are known in the art, allow for the elimination of even more potential gaps in the EPG display. For example, a first technique, (a), is used to truncate the program description when the program description cannot fit completely within its associated logical timeslot due to the number of characters, graphical icons, etc. associated therewith. A second technique, (b), is used to xe2x80x9ctruncatexe2x80x9d a timeslot when a program""s actual timeslot covers a period not within the displayed period. This would occur, for example, if a program that aired during a part of the displayed period either: (1) began during a time in the displayed period and ended at a time beyond the displayed period; or (2) began at a time not in the displayed period and ended at a time in the displayed period; or (3) began at a time not in the displayed period and also ended at a time not in the displayed period.
Both techniques (a) and (b) are known in the art, but have been used only with grids utilizing time/channel axes. Additionally, these techniques are used only after program descriptions to be displayed are assigned to their respective cells. These techniques then merely determine the actual text to be displayed in those cells. These techniques do not consider whether program information for a particular program may be displayed in a cell other than the cell to which it has already been assigned. Thus, neither technique (a) nor (b) directly affect reducing the number of logical cells required to present a given amount of logical information. Instead, they both involve merely taking program information for particular programs assigned to particular cells, and determining the actual text to be displayed in those cells.
The techniques of the present invention, on the other hand, directly concern reducing the number of logical cells in an EPG grid. They allow for program information for a particular program to be placed in any one of many available cells in the EPG grid, thus providing more flexibility in the overall arrangement of how the necessary information will be displayed. One of these techniques, (c) is used when there is a program X in the grid on a first line with at least one gap, and there is another program Y in the grid on a second line, where Y spans a time slot that corresponds to at least one of the gaps on program X""s line. In that situation, either X""s title, Y""s title, or both can be truncated, and Y""s title can be moved to X""s line. The result is that program title descriptions for multiple programs from multiple channels appear on the same line. This is not feasible with grids using time/channel axes, due to the requirement in such grids that each entry on a given line must air from the same channel.
Another technique, (d), of the present invention, is used when there is a program X that runs for an extended period of the day, representing xe2x80x9congoing contentxe2x80x9d, such that the exact start and end time of the program adds little or no value to an EPG display. Its listing in a category-oriented grid may be truncated at start and/or end as needed, to allow its placement in any available empty cell or cells.
Another aspect of the present invention involves using the techniques described above to present EPG data for multiple categories on the same display.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, when read in conjunction with the associated drawings.

Method of data display for electronic program guides (EPGs)


Embodiments provide for cut-aware UV transfer. Embodiments include receiving a surface correspondence map that maps points of a source mesh to points of a target mesh. Embodiments include generating a set of functions encoding locations of seam curves and wrap curves from a source UV map of the source mesh. Embodiments include using the set of functions and the surface correspondence map to determine a target UV map that maps a plurality of target seam curves and a plurality of target wrap curves to the target mesh. Embodiments include transferring a two-dimensional parametrization of the source UV map to the target UV map.

This disclosure relates to computer animation and computer generated imagery. More specifically, this disclosure related to techniques for transferring UV maps between meshes with different connectivity.
Animators and computer graphics artists can rely upon computers to assist in the animation and computer generated imagery process. This may include using computers to represent shapes with virtual models in computer memory. This may also include using computers to facilitate animation, for example, by the designing, posing, deforming, coloring, painting, or the like, of characters or other computer-generated models.
The production of animated features and computer generated imagery (CGI) may involve the extensive use of computer graphics techniques to produce a visually appealing image from the geometric description of an object or model that can be used to convey an element of a story. One issue with the production process is the time and effort involved when an animator undertakes to create the geometric description of a model and the model's associated textures, paint data, deformations, and the like. For example, textures are often mapped onto three-dimensional models by creating "UV maps", which map two-dimensional texture images to meshes of models. "U" and "V" are the names of the axes of a two-dimensional plane, as "X", "Y", and "Z" are the names of axes in a three-dimensional space. Because UV maps are defined with respect to particular meshes, adding textures to new models with distinct meshes generally requires creating new UV maps. In some cases, it may take several hours to several days for an animator to create a UV map for a model.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for techniques of transferring UV maps between three-dimensional models with different meshes.


A method and system for continuous, mobile, ambulatory diagnostic monitoring for heart rate disease and abnormal conditions is disclosed herein. This device overcomes the prior art problems and allows for a continuous heart rate to be collected and recorded for extended time frames equivalent to a Holter monitor or special pulse oximeter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to real-time vital sign monitoring devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a device for monitoring a user's vital signs and using an accelerometer to filter the vital sign signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a need to know how one is doing from a health perspective. In some individuals, there is a daily, even hourly, need to know one's health. The prior art has provided some devices to meet this need.
One such device is a pulse oximetry device. Pulse oximetry is used to determine the oxygen saturation of arterial blood. Pulse oximeter devices typically contain two light emitting diodes: one in the red band of light (660 nanometers) and one in the infrared band of light (940 nanometers). Oxyhemoglobin absorbs infrared light while deoxyhemoglobin absorbs visible red light. Pulse oximeter devices also contain sensors that detect the ratio of red/infrared absorption several hundred times per second. A preferred algorithm for calculating the absorption is derived from the Beer-Lambert Law, which determines the transmitted light from the incident light multiplied by the exponential of the negative of the product of the distance through the medium, the concentration of the solute and the extinction coefficient of the solute.
The major advantages of pulse oximetry devices include the fact that the devices are non-invasive, easy to use, allows for continuous monitoring, permits early detection of desaturation and is relatively inexpensive. The disadvantages of pulse oximetry devices are that it is prone to artifact, it is inaccurate at saturation levels below 70%, and there is a minimal risk of burns in poor perfusion states. Several factors can cause inaccurate readings using pulse oximetry including ambient light, deep skin pigment, excessive motion, fingernail polish, low flow caused by cardiac bypass, hypotension, vasoconstriction, and the like.
In monitoring one's health there is a constant need to know how many calories have been expended whether exercising or going about one's daily routine. A calorie is a measure of heat, generated when energy is produced in our bodies. The amount of calories burned during exercise is a measure of the total amount of energy used during a workout. This can be important, since increased energy usage through exercise helps reduce body fat. There are several means to measure this expenditure of energy. To calculate the calories burned during exercise one multiplies the intensity level of the exercise by one's body weight (in kilograms). This provides the amount of calories burned in an hour. A unit of measurement called a MET is used to rate the intensity of an exercise. One MET is equal to the amount of energy expended at rest.
For example, the intensity of walking 3 miles per hour ("mph") is about 3.3 METS. At this speed, a person who weighs 132 pounds (60 kilograms) will burn about 200 calories per hour (60×3.3=198).
The computer controls in higher-quality exercise equipment can provide a calculation of how many calories are burned by an individual using the equipment. Based on the workload, the computer controls of the equipment calculate exercise intensity and calories burned according to established formulae.
The readings provided by equipment are only accurate if one is able to input one's body weight. If the machine does not allow this, then the "calories per hour" or "calories used" displays are only approximations. The machines have built-in standard weights (usually 174 pounds) that are used when there is no specific user weight.
Current outpatient continuous, mobile, ambulatory diagnostic monitoring for Heart Rate disease and abnormal conditions such as Bradycardia (slow heart rate), Tachycardia (high heart rate) heart arrhythmia and sleep apnea among others, use an Electrocardiogram (ECG) type device such as a Holter Monitor or a finger mounted pulse dosimeter specially configured for data collection. These devices are normally worn for an extended period by the patient, often as much as 24-48 hours. Holter Monitors consist of a body harness, multiple stick-on electrodes and a large battery and data collection module. The device monitors and collects heart rate data as well as collecting the ECG waveform signal for post analysis and diagnosis by a cardiologist. The finger mounted pulse oximeter has a chest strap that holds a large battery and data collection module. Both devices are cumbersome and restrictive of movement and performance of simple daily tasks. The pulse oximeter is susceptible to motion artifacts eradicating the heart rate signal.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Motion resistant device to monitor heart rate in ambulatory patients


An apparatus for deferred handling of a message in a publish/subscribe system comprises a publisher for publishing the message and a subscriber for receiving the message. The apparatus comprises a handier for handling a first message published by a publisher, the first message comprising an instruction associated with said publisher, the instruction comprising topic data, and a generator, responsive to handling of the first message, for using first data associated with the instruction to generate topic data.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for deferred handling of a message.
Publish and Subscribe (pub/sub) is an effective way of disseminating information to multiple users. Pub/Sub applications can help simplify the task of getting business messages and transactions to a wide, dynamically changing and potentially large audience in a timely manner.
In a pub/sub system such as WebSphere Message Broker (WebSphere is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation), publishers are not concerned with where their messages are going, and subscribers are not interested in where the messages they receive have come from. Instead, a message broker typically assures the integrity of the message source and manages the distribution of a message according to subscriptions registered in the message broker.
Message topics typically provide the key to the delivery of messages between publishers and subscribers. With reference to a pub/sub system (100) as shown in FIG. 1A, instead of including a specific destination address in each message, a publisher (105) assigns a topic to a message. A message broker (110) comprises a matching engine (115) for matching a topic of a published message with a list of subscribers (120) who have subscribed to receive messages that are published to that topic. In response to a match, the message broker (110) sends the published message to the subscriber (120).
Topics are often associated with a hierarchical structure, known as a topic tree. An example of a topic tree is shown in FIG. 1B, wherein the topic tree comprises one root topic. Each character string in the topic tree represents a node of the topic tree. A complete topic is created by aggregating nodes from one or more levels in the topic tree. Levels are separated by a "/" character. The format of a folly specified topic is "root/level2/level3". Valid topics in the topic tree are shown in FIG. 1B. Each topic can comprise data associated with particular locations, values etc.
It should be understood that the message broker (110) does not interpret or attempt to derive meaning from the topic. Rather, the message broker (110) uses the topic to send messages to subscribers who have subscribed to that topic.
In typical pub/sub systems, a topic associated with a message is specified by a publisher at the time of publishing the message. This is rather inflexible for publishers and it would be desirable to provide an improved apparatus.


A computer implemented method is disclosed, for modeling a frequency assignment for a radio communications system, comprising a plurality of radio transmitters. The method comprises assigning a frequency to one of said plurality of radio transmitters based on a probability of said radio transmitter being assigned a predetermined frequency. Also disclosed are computer implemented methods and computer program products for determining frequency usage probabilities, frequency reuse, expected signal strengths, quality-of-service and station relationships in connection with cell, capacity and frequency planning procedures.

The network infrastructure of a known radio communications system, e.g. a system for cellular or telephony, includes a plurality of fixed, spaced-apart radio base stations (referred to as "stations"), each of which transmits signals to and receives signals from a plurality of mobile users, within its geographic coverage area.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network infrastructure of a typical radio communications system, comprising radio base stations R0, R1, R2, R3, R4. The system in FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a mobile unit U, such as a cellular telephone handset, which is served by a serving station R0. Each of the radio base stations R0, R1, R2, R3, R4 is associated with a respective operating range L0, L1, L2, L3, L4, which indicates an area in which the radio base station is capable of communicating with mobile units. As is clear from FIG. 1, the operating ranges may overlap within certain geographical areas. For example, in FIG. 1, the operating range of station R1 partially overlaps with the operating ranges of stations R0, R2 and R3, but not with station R4.
Each station may have a plurality of radio transmitters that communicate with mobile users over either a single frequency or, in the case of a synthesized frequency hopping radio transmitter, a plurality of frequencies. Because the plurality of stations are positioned at given intervals throughout the geographic area, communication signals, both downlink signals generated by a station and uplink signals generated by a mobile user, need only be of relatively low power levels for the base station and mobile user to effectively communicate with each other.
A significant advantage inherent in radio communications systems is the ability to reuse the available frequencies. A spectrum of available frequencies is typically assigned to a radio network operator of a radio communications system by a controlling authority. In a case where a number of radio network operators are to operate similar systems using similar equipment, there may be only a relatively narrow range of frequencies, which is to be distributed between the operators. Thus, each radio network operator need to utilize its available frequencies as efficiently as possible.
The relatively low power levels of the communication signals, allow the same frequencies to be allocated for communications in different stations within the radio communications system. Thus, the same frequency can be used concurrently at a plurality of locations throughout the geographical area of the radio communications system, which permits a plurality of different communications between a plurality of different mobile users to be carried out at the same frequency at any given time. For example, in FIG. 1 the stations R1 and R4 could be assigned the same frequencies, since their respective operating ranges L1, L4 do not overlap.
The stations whose communications are activated at the same frequencies must be carefully selected so that concurrent reuse of communication signals in the various stations do not interfere significantly with one another. If frequencies are reused at locations that are too close to one another, interference between the signals transmitted on the same frequencies might result.
In order to optimize the performance of radio communications systems it is important to predict accurately how the reuse of frequencies impacts the quality-of-service in the network.
Quality-of-service may be expressed in terms of a carrier-to-interference ratio between the signal strength from a serving station and the compound of signal strengths from one or many interfering stations, or by mapping this carrier-to-interference ratio to a probability of interference. Typically, the quality-of-service is specific to each physical location within the geographic area served by the radio communications network.
It is known, from e.g. Halonen, T. et al.: GSM, GPRS and EDGE Performance-Evolution Towards 3G/UMTS, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2002, page 575, to predict quality-of-service by deriving carrier-to-interference ratios for a carrier frequency k where a plurality of interfering signals Ijk are received from a plurality of interfering stations j, by a signal strength comparison between a carrier signal at the carrier frequency k and the compound of all interfering signals Ijk at this same k frequency and adjacent frequencies k±1. The interfering signals at adjacent frequencies are considered after attenuation by a factor that reflects the level of interference at a frequency from an adjacent frequency in the technology of the present radio communications system. By an "adjacent frequency" is meant any frequency, other than the predetermined frequency, which is capable of interfering with e.g. the carrier frequency. This could be expressed by the following formula:CIRk=Ck/(Σj(Ijk+adj*(Ij,k−1+Ij,k+1))+N0)  (1),wherein:    CIRk is the carrier-to-interference ratio at carrier frequency k;    Ck is the serving signal strength at carrier frequency k;    ΣjIjk is the sum of all signal strengths from interfering stations j at frequency k;    adj is the adjacent frequency protection on the first adjacent carrier frequency; and    N0 is the receiver noise floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,043 B1 discloses a method of deriving the interference at a carrier frequency with consideration of transmission probabilities of the stations, where the frequency assignments have been allocated. However, the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,043 B1 is not applicable in a situation when frequency assignments have not been allocated.
It is also known from e.g. Snyman, M.: The Challenges of Obtaining an Accurate Model of your Network for Input to AFP Tools, Optimizing GSM Networks, Conference Proceedings, IIR ltd., 1999, page 2 ff, to predict quality-of-service at carrier frequency by mapping the carrier-to-interference ratio to a probability of interference using a CIR-weights function, ciw (CIRk).
FIG. 2 provides an example of a known CIR-weights function for mapping from carrier-to-interference ratio to probability of interference. The ciw-function of FIG. 2 provides a mapping of a carrier-to-interference ratio in dB (x-axis) to a probability of interference (y-axis). The figure indicates the probability of interference in case of reuse on the same frequency (co-curve—right curve) and adjacent frequency (adj-curve—left curve).
There are several procedures that use quality-of-service predictions in the design and optimization of a radio communications system, such as a mobile network.                Cell planning procedures are used to optimize the quality-of-service by configuring the stations in the radio communications system.        Capacity planning procedures aim at predicting the quality-of-service for a given level of capacity growth, or at determining a possible capacity growth before the quality-of-service is degraded to a predetermined minimum value.        Frequency planning procedures are used to optimize quality-of-service by efficiently assigning the frequencies that are available to the radio network operator.
In cell planning procedures, the frequency assignments of the stations have typically not yet been allocated. Instead stations, each serving a particular geographic area, referred to as a cell, are typically placed and configured without any consideration of the frequency assignments. The rationale behind this is that the frequency parameters are relatively easy to change in radio communications systems and are therefore assigned after the stations have been placed and configured. Thus, a frequency planning procedure will have to take place subsequent to the cell planning procedure. The configurations of the stations within the radio communications system will therefore be unbiased in terms of their frequency assignments.
With additional mobile users added to the radio communications system, it is required that additional radio transmitters and thereby frequencies are allocated to the stations. In capacity planning procedures, when e.g. additional capacity in terms of new stations and/or radio transmitter are added to an existing system, such stations and/or radio transmitters need to be assigned frequencies. However, to accommodate these new frequency requirements it is typically necessary to reallocate the frequency assignments of all radio transmitters in the area, subject to this capacity growth in order to ensure a good overall frequency plan in this area.
Frequency planning procedures aim at allocating frequencies optimally in radio communications systems. This is typically an iterative process, wherein frequencies are manually assigned, evaluated and then reassigned, depending on the outcome. In this process, station relationships are used as indications of how communications are impacted in case any pair of two stations reuses either the same or adjacent frequencies. This impact is expressed either as the amount of traffic (Erlangs) or as the amount of area (square kilometers or square miles) that would be interfered if the two stations reused. Note that the frequency assignments of the stations have not yet been allocated when the station relationships are derived. The calculation is solely based on the assumption that the serving and interfering station are reusing frequencies, without specifying which specific frequencies they are reusing. An algorithm is known for deriving these station relationships by aggregating over all locations the mapping of signal strength comparisons between pairs of a serving station and a single interfering station to interference probabilities.
This known algorithm is outlined below with reference being made to FIG. 3.
In step S0, traffic (ticij, tiaij) and area (aicij, aiaij) accumulators are initially set to zero. These accumulators identify the amount of traffic/area that would be interfered if a serving station i and an interfering station j reuse either the same frequency or adjacent frequencies.
In step S1, a location is selected for evaluation.
Step S2 constitutes a sub-step of step S1, which comprises identifying and evaluating a serving station i at this location, with the probability of serving at this location equal to spi.
Step S3 is a sub-step of step S2, and comprises evaluating each station j which interferes with the serving station i at this location.
In step S4, lpc, the probability of interference at the location assuming reuse with station j on the same frequency is calculated: lpc=spi*(ciw(Ci/Ij)).
In step S5, lpa, the probability of interference at the location assuming reuse with station j on adjacent frequencies is calculated: lpa=spi*(ciw(Ci/Ij−adj)).
In step S6, the amount of traffic that would be interfered at this location on the same frequency, ticij, and on adjacent frequencies, tiaij, is added to the traffic accumulators:ticij=ticij+lpc*lt; tiaij=tiaij+lpa*lt.
In step S7, the amount of area that would be interfered at this location on the same frequency, ticij, and on adjacent frequencies, tiaij, is added to the area accumulators:aicij=aicij+lpc*la; aiaij=aiaij+lpa*la.
In step S8, the flow returns to step S3 in case there are more interfering stations at the present location.
In step S9, the flow returns to step S2 in case there are more serving stations at the present location.
In step S10, the flow returns to step S1 in case there are more locations to evaluate.
In step S11, the flow terminates, with the traffic (ticij, tiaij) and area (aicij, aiaij) accumulators as the derived result between all combinations of a serving station i and an interfering station j.
In the above described algorithm, the following abbreviations are used:    ticij designates traffic interfered if station i reuse with station j on the same frequency,    tiaij designates traffic interfered if station i reuse with station j on adjacent frequencies,    aicij designates area interfered if station i reuse with station j on the same frequency,    aiaij designates area interfered if station i reuse with station j on adjacent frequencies,    Ci expresses the signal strength of serving station i at the location in dBm,    Ij expresses signal strength of interfering station j at the location in dBm,    adj represents in dB how much a frequency interferers with an adjacent frequency in the technology used by the radio communications system,    lt expresses the amount of traffic at the location in Erlangs, and    la expresses area of the location in e.g. square kilometers or square miles.
A limitation in this known way of deriving station relationships is that it calculates the carrier-to-interference ratio between a serving station and a single interfering station without consideration of how other interfering stations affect this carrier-to-interference ratio. The problem with this method is that the station relationships do not accurately estimate the negative impact when a serving station and an interfering station are reusing frequencies.
A common problem to all the above-described cell, capacity and frequency planning procedures is that any quality-of-service prediction needed in these procedures require that a frequency plan is known. This is a significant disadvantage, as it is a very time consuming and labor intensive exercise to produce a frequency plan. The problem of evaluation of the expected quality-of-service due to stations configurations in cell planning processes and capacity expansions in capacity planning processes is aggravated by the fact that it is very difficult to find the theoretically optimal frequency plan, which means that this estimation will be dependent on the quality of a frequency plan, which is not only very difficult to find but which also does not guarantee that the quality-of-service of such a plan will represent the best quality-of-service of the network.

Computer implemented methods and computer program products for evaluating radio communications systems


The present invention relates to a system and a method for protecting a circuit between batteries, in which counter-electromotive force generated from the lead-storage battery is prevented from being applied to a MOSFET switch when power is cut off through the MOSFET switch in a circuit in which a vehicle lead-storage battery and a lithium polymer battery are connected to each other to prevent the MOSFET switch from overcurrent and prevent current, which leaks from the lead-storage battery when the lead-storage battery is charged, from being conducted to a path other than a determined path in advance.

In general, in a lithium polymer battery connected to a vehicle lead-storage battery, a lithium polymer battery supports an output of the vehicle lead-storage battery and needs to cut off current generated from the lithium polymer battery when external power is short-circuited.
To this end, such a cut-off operation is performed by using a switching element called a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, that is, MOSFET in the related art. In this case, when the power is suddenly cut off between the vehicle lead-storage battery and the lithium polymer battery using the MOSFET, counter electromotive force is generated in a direction (reverse direction) opposite to a current flow direction in the related art in a motor for a vehicle and the counter electromotive force generated in this way has a problem in that the current is conducted on a circuit through the vehicle lead-storage battery.
In general, since a rotation speed of a vehicle motor is very high, a change amount of magnetic flux passing through an inner coil of the motor also rapidly increases proportionally, and accordingly, the counter electromotive force exhibits a very high electric power amount.
That is, since the counter electromotive force conducted on the circuit corresponds to overcurrent having the very high electric power amount, when such counter electromotive force is conducted on the circuit, various elements mounted on the circuit may be damaged by the overcurrent.
In order to prevent the various elements from being damaged, a free wheeling path in which the counter electromotive force can be freely wheeled is implemented and used by using a plurality of MOSFETs is implemented in the related art. However, since a directionality of a parasitic diode is unified by one MOSFET due to a feature of the MOSFET, a direction can be controlled only in one direction. Therefore, there is a limit that multiple MOSFETs cannot but be applied in order to control a current directionality. This causes a variety of electrical problems due to the complexity of the circuit and an increase in element integration in the circuit.
Therefore, in order to solve the problems of the circuit having the free wheeling path in the related art, the present inventor has invented a system and a method for protecting a circuit between batteries, wherein counter electromotive force generated from the lead-storage battery is prevented from being applied to a MOSFET switch when power is cut off through the MOSFET switch in which a vehicle lead-storage battery and a lithium polymer battery are connected to each other to prevent a MOSFET switch from overcurrent and prevent current, which has leaked from a lead-storage battery when the lead-storage battery is charged, from being conducted to a path other than a determined path in advance.

System and method for protecting inter-battery circuit by using free wheeling path


A dam member and display apparatus including the same. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a dam member includes an interception block having a long side and a short side, and a cover sheet attached to an upper surface or a lower surface of the interception block, wherein the cover sheet includes a surface extending in a direction of the long side of the interception block.

1. Field
The following description relates to a dam member and a display apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of information age, various display panels, such as an organic light emitting display panel (OLED panel), a liquid crystal display panel (LCD panel), an electrophoretic display panel (EPD panel), or an electrowetting display panel (EWD panel), have been applied to display devices.
Here, a display device may include the above-described display panel and a window, and the window may be bonded to the display panel through the medium of a bonding member, such as resin. However, since the resin itself has fluidity, an overflow of the resin may occur due to insufficient curing or excessive spreading of the resin.

Dam member and display apparatus including the same


Systems, devices, methods, and computer-readable media for horizon-based navigation. A method can include receiving image data corresponding to a geographical region in a field of view of an imaging unit and in which the device is situated, based on the received image data, generating, by the processing unit, an image horizon corresponding to a horizon of the geographical region and from a perspective of the imaging unit, projecting three-dimensional (3D) points of a 3D point set of the geographical region to an image space of the received image data resulting in a synthetic image, generating, by the processing unit, a synthetic image horizon of the synthetic image, and responsive to determining the image horizon sufficiently correlates with the synthetic image horizon, providing a location corresponding to a perspective of the synthetic image as a location of the processing unit.

In some situations, such as tactical environments or medical situations, to navigate without a typical navigation system. Typical navigation systems include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) (e.g., global positioning system (GPS), Galileo, or the like), map and compass, or the like. Such navigation systems can fail for a variety of reasons, such as by being denied by the natural environment or by an adversary. For example, an urban canyon can distort a local magnetic field rendering a magnetic compass solution unreliable. An urban canyon can also cause multipath effects rendering a GNSS solution unreliable. Meanwhile, the personnel relying on the navigation can need accurate position information.


The invention concerns an optical security element and a system for visualising items of concealed information comprising such an optical security element. The optical security element has a substrate layer in which a relief structure defined by relief parameters, in particular relief shape, relief depth, spatial frequency and azimuth angle, is shaped in the surface region defined by an X-axis and a Y-axis, for producing an optically perceptible effect. One or more of the relief parameters defining the relief structure are varied in the surface region in accordance with a parameter variation function. The surface region is divided into one or more pattern regions and a background region. One or more of the relief parameters defining the relief structure are varied in the one or more pattern regions in accordance with a parameter variation function which is phase-displaced in relation to the parameter variation function of the background region. There is further provided a verification element which has a verification grating which is defined by a periodic transmission function and whose period corresponds to the period of the parameter variation function.

The invention relates to an optical security element having a substrate layer in which a relief structure defined by relief parameters, in particular relief shape, relief depth, spatial frequency and azimuth angle, is shaped out in a surface region defined by an X-axis and a Y-axis, for producing an optically perceptible effect, and a system for visualising items of concealed information with such an optical security element.
The ever improving photocopying technology and the ongoing development of electronic scanning and printing apparatuses mean that there is an increasing need for optical security elements which are as forgery-proof as possible.
Now, U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,537 B1 describes an optical security element which combines a hologram and a concealed image to increase the level of copying security. The hologram used is a daylight hologram which is generated by an optical-diffraction structure shaped in a photopolymer film and is visible without the use of a monochromatic, coherent light source. The concealed image and the hologram are preferably arranged in adjacent relationship on a substrate. The concealed image is rendered visible by means of a decoding device. In that respect the decoding device used can be digital copiers or scanners but also transparent carriers on which a line grating with a line spacing corresponding to the desired scanning frequency is printed. In that case the concealed image is produced from a starting image by a procedure whereby firstly the frequency components of the starting image, which are greater than half the scanning frequency of the decoding device, are removed and the remaining frequency components are then mirrored at the frequency axis which corresponds to half the scanning frequency.
In that way the optical security element affords a first security feature, namely the hologram, and a second security feature, namely the concealed image. That enhances the level of safeguard against forgery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,280 describes a holographic process for enhancing the level of safeguard against forgery, in which a concealed image which can be perceived only by means of a special decoding device is shaped in a hologram. When the decoding device is moved over the hologram the concealed pattern can then be visually detected by the viewer.
In that case such a hologram is generated in an encoding process from a background image and from the image to be concealed in the hologram. The background image comprises a line grating with a plurality of parallel black stripes. Now, in the encoding process, those parts of the image to be concealed, which are over the black stripes of the background image, are converted into white. Those parts of the image to be concealed, which are over the white part of the background image, are left black. Conversion into a hologram is effected by means of classic holographic technologies, in respect of which there are limitations in respect of the grating structures which can be produced, by virtue of the underlying physical principle.
Here however there is the disadvantage that such a security element can be imitated by the use of holographic procedures.

Optical safety element and system for visualising hidden information