A call is originated from a mobile station being served by a visited mobile switching center (MSC) and associated with a particular MSC as a home MSC. A base station subsystem (BSS) connected to the visited MSC dynamically establishes an A-interface with an application module within the home MSC transparently through the visited MSC. Thereinafter, all subscriber transmitted data are routed from the serving BSS to the home MSC. The application module within the home MSC then processes the data to provide mobile service to the mobile station.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telecommunications system and, in particular, to the establishment of an A-interface within a mobile telecommunications network.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) telecommunications systems, mobile subscribers are able to freely travel within a particular country and utilize their mobile services Even if the mobile subscriber is roaming within a visited PLMN, the home PLMN associated with the roaming mobile subscriber keeps track of the current location of the mobile subscriber and accordingly makes the necessary arrangements and signaling communications to enable the mobile subscriber to receive and originate calls via another PLMN.
With the globalization of telecommunications networks and related human activities, more advanced mobile communications systems geographically encompassing the whole world are being developed. Such a system enables a mobile subscriber to roam not only within a particular continent or country, but throughout the world. One such system is the Personal Communications System (PCS). Another such system is a satellite based mobile communications system providing global coverage via satellite communications.
For both systems, a number of mobile switching centers (MSC) are strategically placed throughout the world to provide mobile service to a mobile subscriber anywhere in the world. Each MSC is, in turn, associated with one or more base station subsystems (BSS) for providing a radio connection with a mobile station traveling within the MSC coverage area. Once a BSS providing coverage for a particular geographic area detects or receives data from a mobile station, the data is automatically forwarded to the connected MSC. Applications within the MSC then analyze the received data and accordingly route the data to its intended destination. As a result of this application layer processing, a communications link known as an "A-interface" is effectuated between the serving BSS and its associated MSC. The A-interface in effect provides physical connection between a BSS and its assigned MSC and dictates that the serving BSS communicate with only one particular MSC. The connected MSC then identifies the received data from the BSS and processes the data to provide mobile service to the roaming mobile station.
Statistically, even when a mobile subscriber is traveling within a foreign country or continent, the majority of the call connections are made to or received from a single geographic location. For example, even when an American mobile subscriber travels to Europe, it has been shown that the majority of calls are made to or received from the United States. However, because the serving BSS is able to only communicate with its associated European MSC, whenever the mobile station roaming within Europe transmits data to the serving BSS, applications within the connected European MSC receives the data, identifies the received data by utilizing the subscriber information copied from the home location register (HLR) associated with the mobile station, and reroutes the data to the American PSTN upon determining that the calls are destined for America. However, such an implementation requires the applications within the visited MSC to always communicate with the HLR associated with the mobile station to retrieve the requisite subscriber information, to perform location update with that HLR, and to always identity and process the data, i.e., calls, even though the majority of calls are destined towards a different PSTN. It may further result in unoptimized use of speech circuits within the connecting telecommunications networks.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous for the European BSS to instead communicate all received data directly with the American MSC associated with the roaming mobile station. As a result, there is a need for a mechanism to break the A-interface that exists, for example, between the European BSS and the application modules within the European MSC, and to enable the European BSS to dynamically establish an A-interface connection with application modules of any other MSC associated with a particular mobile station.

Dynamically created A-interface within a mobile network


An information processor includes: a receiving unit that receives a place of a conference and a feature of a participant who is to participate in the conference; a person extracting unit that extracts persons corresponding to the feature of the participant received by the receiving unit; a cost calculating unit that calculates a cost necessary for the persons extracted by the person extracting unit to participate in the conference on the basis of the place of the conference received by the receiving unit; and a participant selecting unit that selects the participants who are to participate in the conference among the persons extracted by the person extracting unit on the basis of a choice reference in accordance with the cost calculated by the cost calculating unit.

1. Technical Field The present invention relates to an information processor, an information processing method, and a computer readable medium.
2. Related Art
When a conference is held, participants who are at least acquainted with are ordinarily previously determined and the participants are informed about the determination. However, when a knowledgeable person necessary for the conference is not previously known or a better knowledgeable person is desired to be obtained, the knowledgeable person needs to be searched.

Information processor, information processing method, and computer readable medium


A light irradiation head of the present invention includes: a propagation body having a tapered two dimensional shape axially symmetrical to a predetermined symmetrical axis, and consisting of a first kind material that propagates electromagnetic fields of light; and a covering body covering the propagation body so as to surround the symmetrical axis, and consisting of a second kind material different from the first kind material. The propagation body further includes: a bottom edge of projecting shape or recessed shape which is present on the symmetrical axis and which is axially symmetrical to the symmetrical axis; a tip edge which is present on the symmetrical axis and which is narrow relative to the bottom edge; and a pair of reflective edges which are present on both sides of the symmetrical axis and whose interval is gradually reduced in the direction from the bottom edge side to the tip edge side.

The amount of information has been increasing with the development of information society. In order to cope with the increase in the amount of information, an information recording method having a drastically high recording density, and a recording and reproducing device based on such recording method are expected.
As a recording method that realizes the high density recording, attention is directed to an optical recording method in which a minute opening smaller than a wavelength of incident light is produced, and the light emitted from the opening is utilized to form a beam spot smaller than the wave length of the light.
As conventional minute opening of the optical recording method, an opening which is provided at the sharpened tip of an optical fiber is known, as described in the Patent Document 1. That is, the optical fiber with the sharpened tip is covered with a metal film, and a part of the covered and sharpened portion is cut by a particle beam such as a focusing ion beam (FIB), for producing an opening.
As another prior art, a method that produces an opening having an inclined face on a planar plate is disclosed in the Patent Document 2. That is, a Si substrate is patterned by photolithography, and the resultant pattern is anisotropic etched to produce a reverse pyramid type recess, and the tip of the reverse pyramid, which is the deepest part of the substrate, is made to penetrate to the back side of the substrate. As the penetration method, a method of polishing the rear surface of the Si substrate and an etching method are known.
A vapor deposition method that deposits a metal on the tip of the sharpened core of an optical fiber that improves the light propagation efficiency is also disclosed in the Non-Patent Document 1.
Alternatively, a shape of an optical fiber that improves both the beam spot size and the propagation efficiency is disclosed in the Non-Patent Document 2.
In an example of the light irradiation head disclosed in the Patent Document 3, there is also disclosed a construction wherein the light irradiation head has a head shape of planer structure produced with a symmetrical two dimensional pattern in which a high refractive index dielectric material in the head is formed to be a trapezoidal shape, so that the spot diameter is reduced by the trapezoidal slope and the planer structure.
(Patent Document 1)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-206660
(Patent Document 2)
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,480
(Patent Document 3)
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-188579
(Non-Patent Document 1)
"Optical Review", 1998, Vol 5, No. 6, p 369–373
(Non-Patent Document 2)
"Applied Physics Letters", Vol 73, No. 15
The conventional methods that form a minute opening by sharpening the tip of an optical fiber have problems relating to an unevenly deposited metallic film and to an unstable etching rate caused by the concentration of the etching solution and by the material composition of the optical fiber.
Also, there are problems in the mass production process, such as the instability in producing an optical fiber with a conically sharpened apex angle, and the difficulty of control over cutting off the tip part by means of the FIB. Further, the use of the optical fiber makes it difficult to produce a multiple type head which is a means that enhances a data transfer rate.
The method that etches a semiconductor substrate to form a minute opening has such problems as the varying etching rate relative to the opening size of several tens of nanometers, the varying size of the opening due to an uneven thickness of Si substrate relative to a fixed etching amount, and the varying shape of the etched part due to the deviation in the crystal orientation when the semiconductor substrate is cut out. Also, the reverse pyramid form, which is defined by the crystal orientation unique to the semiconductor substrate, may be unable to be regulated to a desired optimum angle. In addition, there is a problem that many steps of stripping and melting the substrate accelerate consumption of materials, leading to a higher cost.
The track pitch in the high density recording, which is hereafter set to 0.1 micrometers or less, makes it difficult to perform positioning of a light irradiation head and a magnetic sensor head with such an accuracy.
In the prior art intended for enhancing efficiency utilizing an optical fiber, however, the conically shaped tip surrounded by a metal results in a position at which incident light causes an electric field concentration to take place due to the lens effect of the conical surface in the optical fiber.
In the above described Non-Patent Document 2, an open face is arranged at the surface on which the electric fields concentrate, for reducing the beam spot and achieving a high efficiency. Although this method is effective, it requires extremely high machining precision, thereby having a problem associated with processing as in the above described case.
In view of the above problems, in the light irradiation head disclosed in the above described Patent Document 3, the tip of the head is formed to be a two dimensional pattern and a high refraction index material is used as the light propagation material in the head, so as to reduce the light or electric field intensity. However, a simple linear form is used as a form of the joint portion between the head and the waveguide that propagates light from a light source to the head, and consideration for a better form is not made.

Light irradiation head and information storage apparatus


The invention relates to the area of computer vision video data analysis, in particular to the technologies aimed to search the required objects or events in the analyzed video originally received from a third-party device. An imported video analysis device consists of memory, database for metadata storage, a graphical user interface, and a data processing module. The data processing module is configured to upload a video in any available format into the memory and to import the uploaded video into software of the imported video analysis device. Software decompresses and analyzes the imported video to generate metadata characterizing the data in all objects in the video and to save the metadata in database. The search speed for the required event or object in the imported video received from a third-party device is increased.

Computer vision video analysis imposes strict requirements on equipment performance and, therefore, high equipment costs. As a result, many existing surveillance systems contain the cheapest devices for video recording, these devices lack means and capacities to process the recorded video with the necessary accuracy and speed.
The main objective of the claimed technical solution is to provide a fast search for an event or object of interest in a video if its specific time or the specific object is not known. In the context of prior art an operator of such a system had to look through the video archive and to identity the required events to solve this task; this takes a lot of time and lacks high accuracy of results. On the other hand, the task could be solved by buying more advanced and more expensive equipment capable of analyzing the video and performing a search quickly and with high quality, although this is not financially feasible, especially when the search task arises not very often, or when a company has not enough money to upgrade all its surveillance systems.
The state of the art provides a solution disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,336 B1, issued Apr. 6, 2004, which describes a data import system with access to the data of several types from several data sources and an interface for data import into a data analysis system. The interface helps the user to adjust the data formatting as the data is imported to the data analysis system. The user can select the first user parameters to work with the first set of data received during data import.
Although his technology defines the data import for further analysis, this solution is generic for any data and does not provide for the analysis of video data for event or object searches in the received analyzed data.
By its technical nature, the closest solution is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,460,149 B1, issued Dec. 2, 2008, which describes a surveillance system consisting of a surveillance video camera to capture the video; one or several locations for storing the video data; metadata storage; attribute storage and a processor configured for executing computer code capturing video data from one or several surveillance video cameras to generate the metadata by video analysis of the video data from the surveillance cameras; to weigh the attributes providing information about the relevance of metadata; to store the video data in video storage area; to store metadata indexed by date and time for video data in the metadata storage area; and to store the weights of the attributes in attribute storage area. Besides, this solution also describes a method of searching and extracting video data from a surveillance system, and this method contains the entry of the search criteria; search of metadata connected with the video data; receiving the metadata corresponding to the search criteria from the metadata module; extraction of video data indexed by metadata from a video storage module.
A disadvantage of this group of inventions is impossibility of importing the video into a specialized software for further analysis. So, in this case the problem is not about the lack of capacity to search with the existing equipment, and, therefore, all the operations are not performed with pre-imported video from a simpler system.

Imported video analysis device and method


An ear tip for use on stethoscopes, audio head sets and similar apparatus is shown having a relatively rigid inner body and an outer flexible soft body that can compress to accommodate outer ear canal configurations in comfort and efficient sealing contact without hinging or folding over so as to restrict sound transmission therethrough. A tubular guiding ferrule configuration insures proper alignment and maintenance of sound transmission efficiency with user comfort.

This invention relates to an ear tip for attachment to a sound transmitting device such as a stethoscope, audio headset, or similar device. Stethoscopes and audio headsets typically comprise a pair of ear tubes spring loaded together with a compressible ear tip mounted on the ends of the ear tubes so as to form a soundproof seal with the user's ear and the sound transmitting tube of the stethoscope or head set. It is generally desired to create a soundproof seal with the user's ear so that the wearer can hear the transmitted sound as free of ambient interference as possible. Two basic problems have been encountered with this type of device; namely, serious discomfort to the user from relative hardness of the ear tip when soundproof sealing is sought and sound transmission and sealing against ambient interference when user comfort is paramount.
A large number of patents directed to these general problems have been developed over the years. One of the more recent ear tips directed to this problem is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,684 issued Aug. 1, 1989 to Packard. This patent discloses a sophisticated and complicated ear tip having very specific requirements for wall thickness, hardness and flexibility of the ear contacting bulbous portion in order to provide the desired combination of comfort and acoustic sealing characteristics.


In an excavation tool of the present invention, an embedding hole is drilled in a distal end portion of a tool body which is rotated about an axis line O and is moved forward to a distal end side in a direction of the axis line O. In the embedding hole, an excavation tip in which an embedding portion having an outer cylindrical shape is formed integrally with a cutting edge portion inserts the embedding portion into the embedding hole and causes the cutting edge portion to protrude from the embedding hole. In this manner, the excavation tip is rotatable around a central axis C of the embedding portion during excavation, and is attached thereto by being locked so as not to slip toward a distal end side of the embedding portion 6 in a direction of the central axis C.

For example, as disclosed in PTLs 1 and 2, a known excavation tool includes those which form an excavation pit in the ground or in rock in the following manner. A steel tool body, to a distal end of which multiple excavation tips made of sintered alloys such as ultra-hard metal alloys are attached, is attached to a distal end portion of an excavation rod or is attached via a device to the distal end portion of the excavation rod. The excavation tool uses a rotating force about an axis line of the tool body, which is transmitted from an excavator via the excavation rod, a thrust force toward the distal end side in a direction of the axis line, and a striking force toward the distal end side in the direction of the axis line, which is transmitted from a down-the-hole hammer via the device in addition to the rotating force and the thrust force.
Incidentally, the excavation tool in the related art has a configuration as follows. In an embedding hole drilled in the distal end portion of the tool body, an excavation tip made of the sintered alloys is configured so that a cylindrical embedding portion is formed integrally with a spherical, conical or bullet-shaped cutting edge portion disposed in a distal end side of the embedding portion. The excavation tip protrudes the cutting edge portion from the embedding hole. The embedding portion is firmly fixed in the embedding hole by interference fit such as shrink fitting. In this manner, the embedding portion is embedded in and attached to the embedding hole.
Then, in this excavation tool used in excavating the ground or the rock, the cutting edge portion of the excavation tip which is protruded from the embedding hole in this way is used in excavating by being brought into contact with the ground or the rock and by being caused to penetrate the ground or the rock. Correspondingly, wear and abrasion of the cutting edge portion progressively occur. In the worn cutting edge portion, the radius of curvature increases on the curved surface thereof. Therefore, the sharpness of the cutting edge is impaired, thereby the excavation efficiency decreases. Furthermore, if the wear of the excavation tip progressively occurs until the diameter of the excavation pit becomes an acceptable diameter or smaller, the tool life of the excavation tool is finished.
However, the wear and the abrasion of the cutting edge portion of the excavation tip are not uniform. For example, among the multiple excavation tips embedded in the distal end portion of the tool body, especially in the excavation tip embedded in a gauge portion of an outer peripheral side of the distal end portion, the wear and the abrasion become significant on a surface facing the outer peripheral side. Since asymmetrical wear occurs, an excavation performance is likely to be impaired, thereby causing decreased excavation efficiency. This wear of the excavation tip in the gauge portion is relevant to a decrease in the diameter of the excavation pit, and thereby seriously affects tool life.
Then, this uneven wear of the cutting edge portion of the excavation tip is more significant under conditions where the cutting edge portion is seriously worn due to the hard ground or rock. As a result, the tool life is shortened and the cost for excavation increases. In addition, it also takes money and time to regrind the cutting edge portion of the excavation tip in order to recover the excavation performance. Furthermore, if the tool life of the excavation tool is finished before the excavation pit is excavated to reach a desired depth, it takes time, effort and money to replace the tool body. In addition, if the wear and the abrasion of the cutting edge portion progressively occur and yet the excavation is continued while the excavation performance remains impaired, the wear or damage may occur in the tool body, and an overload is imposed on the excavator.


A folding knife designed to be easily opened with one hand and having a thumb-actuated opening lever to pivot the blade from closed to opened positions. The thumb-actuated lever in a first preferred embodiment has an opening lever driving a sector gear that engages a drive gear for opening the blade. The opening lever remains within the plan-view outline of the knife body at all times. In another disclosed embodiment, the opening lever drives a cam which, in turn, causes a second lever to pivot within the body of the knife. Gear teeth on this second lever engage and rotate a blade drive gear, causing the blade to pivot between closed and opened positions. The opening lever in still another disclosed embodiment includes a thumb-operated slider having a cam surface engaging a follower to pivot a blade opening lever.

The traditional folding knife, sometimes also known as a pocket knife, has one or more blades pivotably mounted within a housing or casement. To prevent accidental opening of the knife, each blade typically is biased in the closed position by a mechanism such as a spring or detent. To open the blade, the user must insert the thumbnail of one hand into a notch or groove provided for that purpose near the back edge of the blade, and manually rotate the blade around its pivot point at one end of the knife body while holding the body with the other hand. This opening technique can be difficult to accomplish, particularly for those having short thumbnails or for a handicapped person who may not have full use of both hands, or with knives whose blade pivot mechanism is relatively stiff. Women, who customarily have longer fingernails than men, are hesitant to use a pocket knife because they are apt to damage or break the thumbnail used to open the blade. Moreover, it is essential in some jobs, such as commercial fisherman and paratrooper, to open and use a knife with one hand while the other hand is otherwise occupied.
Folding knives with various mechanisms for opening or assisting with opening the blade are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 249,896 discloses a knife equipped with a handle for unloading the spring force that normally keeps the blade closed. The blade also has the conventional thumbnail notch; the user, after first manipulating the handle to remove spring force from the blade, must then open the blade using the thumbnail notch as usual. This arrangement appears relatively awkward to implement, because the user must grasp the knife in one hand while manipulating the handle with the other hand, and then use the thumb and forefinger of that other hand to pivot the blade outwardly from the handle.
The so-called switchblade knife, where the closed blade is under spring tension and opens at the touch of a button, is illegal in many jurisdictions. Furthermore, the side-opening switchblade requires a safety device, usually a sliding button, so that the knife will not open accidentally in one's pocket. This safety must be manually moved to the off position prior to opening the knife, so that one must initially position the knife in one hand to operate the safety and then reposition the knife to press the button which releases the spring-tensioned blade. This is a time-consuming and awkward movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 22,620 discloses a folding knife with a handle directly connected to the pin which pivotably mounts the blade in the handle. U.S. Pat. No. 2,416,277 shows a pocket knife having a rack-and-pinion arrangement for opening or closing the blade when a sliding bar is moved longitudinally along the blade housing. These arrangements, in common with the first-mentioned prior patent, have various practical disadvantages, among which is the need for using two hands when opening the blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,700 by the present inventor discloses a folding knife designed for opening a blade by moving an actuator button longitudinally along the blade housing. This arrangement represents a step forward in the art, as it allows the user to open the knife with only one hand. However, the operating mechanisms employed with the knife disclosed in that patent required a considerable amount of straight-line force applied to the sliding actuator, particularly when overcoming the inertia of the blade at rest. Furthermore, a knife using the rack and pinion drive disclosed in that patent would be much thicker than the conventional pocket knife and would be less appealing in appearance.


The present invention has for its object to provide a curable composition which, despite its low viscosity, gives a cured product with a high gel fraction, low residual tack, low modulus, high elongation, and good flexibility.

Referring to vinyl polymers produced by radical polymerization, in contrast to those polymers which are produced by ionic polymerization or polycondensation, few polymers having functional groups, particularly vinyl polymers at molecular chain terminus such functional groups, are available as of today. Among such vinyl polymers, (meth)acrylic polymers have certain characteristics not shared by polyether polymers, hydrocarbon polymers or polyester polymers, such as high weathering resistance and transparency, and said (meth)acrylic polymers having an alkenyl or crosslinking silyl group in the side chain have been utilized in weather-resistant coatings, among other applications. Meanwhile, the control of polymerization reaction of acrylic polymers is handicapped by side reactions and the introduction of a functional group into the molecular chain terminus, for instance, is extremely difficult.
Should it be possible to produce an alkenyl group-terminated vinyl polymer by an expedient method, cured products having superior physical properties as compared with those obtainable from ones having crosslinking side-chain groups could be obtained. From this point of view, attempts to establish such a technology have been made by many, workers to this day but actually it has proved difficult to produce such polymers on a commercial scale. By way of illustration, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-1-247403 and Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-5-255415 disclose processes for synthesizing alkenyl-terminated (meth)acrylic polymers using an alkenyl group-containing disulfide as the chain transfer agent.
Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-5-262808 discloses a process for producing an alkenyl-terminated (meth)acrylic polymer which comprises synthesizing a vinyl polymer having a hydroxyl group at both termini by using a hydroxyl-containing disulfide and, then, converting the terminal hydroxyl group to an alkenyl group by utilizing the reactivity of the hydroxyl functional group.
Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-5-211922 discloses a process for producing a silyl-terminated (meth)acrylic polymer which comprises synthesizing a vinyl polymer having a hydroxyl group at both termini by using a hydroxyl-containing polysulfide and converting the terminal hydroxyl groups to silyl groups by utilizing the reactivity of the hydroxyl functional group.
By these processes, however, it is difficult to certainly introduce functional groups into both termini of the molecular chain, hence to give cured products having satisfactory characteristics. In order that a functional group may be introduced into both termini with certainty, the chain transfer agent must be used in a large amount, which is disadvantageous process-wise. Furthermore, since the reaction involves a standard radical polymerization reaction in these processes, the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution (the ratio of weight average molecular weight to number average molecular weight) of the product polymer cannot be easily controlled.
In view of the above conventional technology, the inventors already did several inventions relating to vinyl polymers having various crosslinking silyl groups at its terminus, processes for producing the polymers, curable compositions and uses [e.g. Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-080249, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-080250, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-005815, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-116617, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-116606, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-080571, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-080570, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-130931, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-100433, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-11-116763, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-9-272714, Japanese Kokai Publication Hei-9-272715, etc.].
For example, a vinyl polymer having a crosslinking silicon-containing group (hereinafter referred to sometimes as "crosslinking silyl group") comprising a hydroxyl or hydrolyzable group bound to a silicon atom and capable of siloxane bonding or a cured product obtainable from this has excellent heat resistance and weather resistance, therefore these can be used in various fields such as architectural elastic sealants and composite-glass sealants, coatings, sealing materials or members and so on.
However, cured products available from such a vinyl polymer having a crosslinking silyl group tend to have the drawback of a conflict between hardness and surface tackiness (also referred as to tacky or residual tack); that is to say, products which is required to be low hardness, i.e. elastic, express a greater residual tack on its surface and tend to be easily soiled. For example., in use as an architectural sealant, the residual tack attracts soil and dust to the surface to adversely affect the appearance of buildings. The first aspect of the present invention, therefore, has for its object to reduce the surface tackiness (residual tack) of cured products obtainable from vinyl polymer having a crosslinking silyl group.
Meanwhile, cured products obtainable by using a vinyl polymer having a crosslinking functional group such as a crosslinking silyl group as the curable component have satisfactory heat resistance and weather resistance and exhibit good coatability when a coating is applied thereon. However, when a well-known plasticizer of comparatively low molecular weight, such as a phthalic acid ester, is used for the purpose of lowering the viscosity of the formulation, the gradual elution of the plasticizer by heat or rain water from the cured product makes it difficult to maintain the initial physical properties of the product for a long time. The additional disadvantage is that when a coating known as "alkyd coating" is applied, the coating is hard to be dried and cure easily.
Therefore, the second aspect of the present invention has for its object to reduce the surface tackiness (residual tack) of the cured product obtainable by using a vinyl polymer having a crosslinking silyl group as the curable component to thereby minimize the settlement of dust thereon while upholding the satisfactory mechanical properties of the cured product and, at the same time, improve the coatability of the product, to an alkyd coating. The third aspect of the present invention has for its object to maintain the heat resistance and weather resistance of the cured product available from the crosslinking functional group-containing vinyl polymer over a protracted time period and, at the same time, improve the coatablilty of the cured product to an alkyd coating.
Meanwhile, in order to impart flexibility to such cured products through reduction in the modulus thereof, it is generally necessary to increase the molecular weight of the polymer but this entails an increased viscosity of the polymer, thus detracting from workability. An alternative approach comprises lowering the rate of introduction of a crosslinking silyl group instead of increasing the molecular mass of the polymer but, in this case, the uncrosslinked fraction is increased to cause a reduced cure speed and a reduced gel fraction of the cured product, thus exerting adverse effects on physical properties other than flexibility. Therefore, in order to reduce viscosity while sustaining flexibility, it is common practice to add one of various plasticizers.
As such plasticizers, there can be mentioned aromatic carboxylic acid esters, aliphatic carboxylic acid esters, phosphoric acid esters, glycols, epoxy plasticizers and chlorinated paraffin, among others. However, these plasticizers have migrating properties so that when used for sealants or adhesives, they tend to cause such troubles as fouling at and around sealed joints, adverse influences on adhesion, and a decrease in flexibility due to extraction of the plasticizer on prolonged curing. The fourth aspect of the present invention, therefore, has for its object to improve workability in a compounding stage or a curable composition application stage, to impart flexibility to cured products, and inhibit adverse influences of plasticizer migration.
As means for reducing the crosslinking silyl group content of a vinyl polymer without reducing the amount of introduction of the crosslinking silyl group to thereby impart flexibility to cured products through a reduction in modules, Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-61-34067 and Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-64-9268, among others, disclose the technology involving addition of a compound having one silanol group per molecule and/or a compound capable of reacting with moisture to give a compound containing one silanol group per molecule (hereinafter sometimes these are collectively referred to as "silanol-containing compound").
However, the organic vinyl polymer containing at least one reactive silicon functional group per molecule as described in Japanese Kokai Publication Sho-61-34067 is produced by the standard free radical polymerization reaction using a chain transfer agent and, therefore, has a high viscosity as well as the disadvantage that in order to attain flexibility while retaining a high gel fraction, it is necessary to use an unsaturated organosilicon monomer in a large amount and a silanol-containing compound also in an increased amount. The fifth aspect of the present invention, therefore, has for its object to provide a curable composition which, despite its low viscosity, gives a cured product with a high gel fraction, low residual tack, low modulus, high elongation, and good flexibility.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a curable composition comprising the following two components:                (A) a vinyl polymer having at least one crosslinking silyl group on the average per molecule: and        (B) a photocurable substance, (C) an air oxidation-curable substance, (D) a high molecular plasticizer, (E) a reactive plasticizer or (F) a compound having one silanol group in its molecule and/or a compound capable of reacting with moisture to give a compound having one silanol group in the molecule.


A method with corresponding circuit arrangement is disclosed, whereby for evaluation of a measured signal arising as an analogue value with a potential greater than zero potential in a measuring device requiring a supply current, the measured information therefrom is transmitted as a digital signal to an analytical unit lying at earth potential after an A/D conversion. The generated digital signal thus provides the clock signal for a modulation of the supply current and thus also carries out the function of the carrier for the information content of the measured signal. Curved characteristic lines for compression/decompression of the signals are used. Suitable devices for temperature compensation may be similarly provided.

One known method for current measurement involves measuring the voltage drop across a shunt resistor. Digital/analog converters (ADCs), which convert the analog measurement signal into a digital measured value, are frequently used in modern measuring and switching devices for the purpose of measurement. In this case, the following problems may arise:    a) The measurement signal has a high dynamic range, since small currents (<10% of the rated current) still have to be measured with an acceptable resolution and large currents (≧10 times the rated current) also still have to be detected.    b) Accuracy must not be inadmissibly impaired by the effect of ambient temperature.    c) The electronic components (ADC, processor etc.) need to be supplied with current. In this case, two (DC) decoupled power supplies are frequently required, since there are components both at a low potential (zero potential or artificial star point) and at a high outer conductor potential.    d) In addition to the outer conductor current, the outer conductor voltage must also frequently be measured against zero potential.    e) In the event of an overload or a short circuit, the main circuit must be disconnected.
The applicant's earlier specification DE 101 05 982 A1, which was unpublished at the priority date of the present application, discloses a method in which a measurement signal is at a higher potential than zero potential. Further, there is a measuring device that requires a supply current. The measurement signal occurrs in the form of an analog value and its measurement information is transmitted, after A/D conversion, in the form of a digital signal to an evaluation unit which is at ground potential. Further, after A/D conversion of the measurement signal, the digital signal produced providing the clock for modulating the supply current, which thus likewise performs the function of the carrier for the information content of the measurement signal.
In order to overcome the abovementioned problems, the following measures are taken in this case:    a) High dynamic response: analog/digital converters having a linear characteristic curve and a correspondingly high resolution (number of bits) are used.    b) Effect of ambient temperature on accuracy: (expensive) special alloys which have a low temperature coefficient are selected for the shunt.    c) The voltage is supplied directly to an ADC at a low potential using either voltage converters, i.e. transformers, or voltage dividers.

Method and circuit arrangement for current measurement


A vacuum heat-insulator (6) formed by tightly packaging a shaped product comprising acicular crystals of calcium silicate entangled in a three dimensional manner in a reduced pressure state in a container (2), (3), (4) composed of a composite film formed by laminating a metal foil, or vapor-depositing a metal or metal oxide to a plastic film, and having a thermal conductivity at 20.degree. C. of not more than 0.015 Kcal/m.hr..degree.C. This vacuum heat-insulator (6) brings about no environmental problems upon discarding caused by dusting, and is capable of displaying an excellent heat-insulating performance without using Freon.

Freon-polyurethane foam heat-insulator utilizes low heat conductivity of Freon and has been used generally as an excellent heat-insulator. Since the use of Freon has been restricted in recent years, a heat-insulator capable of exhibiting an excellent heat-insulating performance without using Freon has been demanded.
The preparation of a heat-insulator has recently been provided, prepared by incorporating fine inorganic particles such as silica powder as a heat-insulating core material into a flexible container (bag) having gas barrier property, then evacuating the inside of the container to a reduced pressure state, thereby closely adhering the fine inorganic particles to the container, and sealing the container.
For example, in the case where such a vacuum heat-insulator is used in a refrigerator or device for cool storage or for cold preserving storage, it is preferred that the thermal conductivity at 20.degree. C. of the vacuum heat-insulator be 0.005 to 0.008 Kcal/m.multidot.hr.multidot..degree.C. When the thermal conductivity is more than 0.008 Kcal/m.multidot.hr.multidot..degree.C., excess electric power and current is required for maintaining the cold storage temperature. If a vacuum heat-insulator having a larger thermal conductivity is used, a much more thicker heat-insulator must necessarily be used, undesirably reducing the size of the storage area.
However, the vacuum heat-insulator described above involves a problem of emitting powdery dusts upon discarding to bring about an environmental problem. The present invention has been accomplished in view of the foregoing situations and an object thereof is to provide a novel vacuum heat-insulator bringing about no environmental problem caused by dusting upon discarding and capable of exhibiting an excellent heat-insulating performance without using Froen, as well as a method of preparing the same .


The invention relates to (hetero)arylsulfonylamino based peptidomimetics of formula (I), wherein R1, R2, R3, A, B, D, Q, k and n are defined as disclosed, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester thereof. Compounds of formula (I) possess high affinity and selectivity for the somatostatin receptor subtypes SSTR1 and/or SSTR4 and can be used for the treatment or diagnosis of diseases or conditions wherein an interaction with SSTR1 and/or SSTR4 is indicated to be useful.

Somatostatin is a cyclic peptide found endogenously in two major forms made up of 14 (sst-14) or 28 (sst-28) amino acids. The shorter sst-14 is identical in sequence to the C-terminal half of sst-28. Somatostatin is produced widely in the body and acts both systemically and locally to inhibit the secretion of various hormones, growth factors and neurotransmitters. The biological effects of somatostatin are mediated by a family of G protein-coupled receptors, of which five subtypes (SSTR1-5) have been cloned in humans (Reisine and Bell 1995; Patel 1999). The affinities of the two endogenous forms of somatostatin on the five subtypes are relatively similar (sst-28 has been reported to have a moderate preference for the SSTR5). However, the five subtypes are differentially expressed in different tissues and do also show some differences in their interaction with a number of signalling pathways. Thus, the pleiotropic physiological responses mediated by somatostatin are a reflection of its widespread distribution and the existence of multiple receptor subtypes.
Based on their sequence similarity and their affinity towards a number of octapeptide and hexapeptide analogs to somatostatin, the family of five somatostatin receptor subtypes can be divided into two subfamilies: one subfamily made up of SSTR2, SSTR3 and SSTR5 and another subfamily made up of SSTR1 and SSTR4. The former possesses high and the latter rather low affinity towards the aforementioned hexapeptide and octapeptide analogs (Hoyer et al. 1995). Due to the availability of high affinity and selective ligands, the physiology of the SSTR2,3,5 subfamily has been more thoroughly characterized and it appears that the 'classical' effects of somatostatin, such as very potent inhibition of growth hormone, insulin, glucagon and gastric acid release, are mediated either primarily or exclusively via members of this subfamily.
Even though the physiology and pathophysiology of the subtypes SSTR1 and SSTR4 are less well understood, there have been a number of findings about the role of these subtypes described in scientific publications and the patenting literature. U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,256 reported that, given their localisation in the vascular wall and their time-related induction during the proliferative stage, SSTR1 and/or SSTR4 may be the optimal subtypes to prevent fibroproliferative vasculopathy via a somatostatin receptor based therapy. In agreement with this, Curtis et al. (2000) have described SSTR1 and SSTR4 to represent the predominant subtypes expressed in human blood vessels and have proposed the use of SSTR1- or SSTR4-selective agonists for the treatment of endothelial cell-mediated proliferative diseases. Aavik et al. (2002) have demonstrated that a purportedly SSTR1- and SSTR4-selective peptide analogue of somatostatin (CH-275) is able to prevent intimal hyperplasia after rat carotid denudation injury. Taken together, these findings may explain why two peptide analogues of somatostatin, octreotide and lanreotide, which possess very high preferences for the subtypes SSTR2 and SSTR5 but have rather low affinities for the subtypes SSTR1 or SSTR4, failed to show efficacy in clinical trials aiming at the prevention of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (Eriksen et al. 1995; von Essen et al. 1997).
Due to the fact that SSTR1 activation causes antiproliferative effects, SSTR1-selective agonist may be useful for the treatment of SSTR1 bearing tumors. For example, it has been described that SSTR1 receptors are expressed in prostate cancer (Sinisi et al. 1997; Reubi et al. 1998; Reubi et al. 2001) but not in normal prostate tissue. Independent of its functional properties as an agonists or an antagonist, any SSTR1 selective ligand may be useful for the diagnosis of prostate tumors or tumors in other tissues expressing the SSTR1 subtype.
WO97/03054 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,870 describe benzo[g]quinoline-derived (WO097/03054) or ergoline-derived (U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,870) SSTR1-selective antagonist as lowering aggressive behavior in mice and, based on this observation, suggest such compounds to be useful for the treatment of depression, anxiety, affective disorders and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders.
According to Bito et al. (1994) the SSTR4 subtype is expressed at high levels in the rat hippocampus where somatostatin has been reported to play a significant role in the regulation of membrane conductance. Since the hippocampus is a brain structure closely linked to learning and memory, as well as mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, the prominent role of the SSTR4 subtype in the hippocampus suggests that SSTR4 selective agonists or antagonists with the ability to pass the blood-brain-barrier may have therapeutic potential.
Employing in situ hybridisation, Mori et al. (1997) have shown that in the rat eye SSTR4 expression predominates in the posterior iris epithelium and ciliary body. In addition, the authors have observed that somatostatin lowers intraocular pressure (iop) and, based on these observations, they have suggested that SSTR4-selective ligands may be useful as anti-glaucoma agents.
Somatostatin has a very short biological half-life and is therefore unsuitable for therapeutic use. A number of shorter hexa- and octapeptide analogs of somatostatin with improved biological stability have been identified (e.g. patents U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,101, U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,894 or WO97/47317). However, these abbreviated peptide analogs are heavily biased in favour of the SSTR2,3,5 subfamily and do not show any significant interaction with the subtypes SSTR1 or SSTR4. In contrast, WO97/14715 and Rivier et al. (2001) describe a group of SSTR1 preferring undecapeptide agonists. However, besides their often rather short biological half-lifes peptides also possess other problematic properties, which make them unsatisfactory as medicines. For example, peptides have a very limited ability to penetrate membranes. This is one of the reasons, why it is in most cases impossible to apply peptides via an oral route and why peptides generally do not reach the central nervous system.
In recent years, a number of nonpeptide somatostatin agonists have been identified. Besides the already mentioned SSTR1-selective antagonists reported in WO97/03054 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,870, WO97/43278 describes a number of thiourea-based compounds that preferentially interact with the somatostatin SSTR4 and the histamin H3 subtype. U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,389 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,982 provide SSTR4-selective compounds centred around tetrahydroquinoline or 4,1-benzoxazepine scaffolds. Rohrer et al. (1998) have been able to identify subtype-selective agonists for each of the five somatostatin receptor subtypes by employing a combinatorial chemistry strategy which incorporated the generally accepted hypothesis on the structure-activity-relationship of somatostatin receptor active compounds that the amino acid residues 8 and 9 in sst-14 (which consist of a tryptophan and a lysine) are essential for proper ligand-receptor interaction.
The current invention describes a new class of somatostatin receptor ligands in the form of sulfonamido-peptidomimetics. These compounds are in part related to sulfonamido-peptidomimetics, which have been presented in Brussaard et al. (1989), WO02/24192 and WO03/026575 in the context of another G-protein coupled receptor family, namely neuropeptide FF receptor. Sulfonamide derivatives of monocyclic or bicyclic amino acids have also been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,271,252 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,888 as cell adhesion molecule (CAM) antagonists which inhibit leukocyte adhesion and leukocyte adhesion-mediated pathologies.

Somatostatin receptor 1 and/or 4 selective agonists and antagonists


A baculovirus that infects a host cell without lyzing the host cell and related protein expression method. Within the scope of this invention are in vitro and in vivo methods for detecting protein folding or a cell lysis activity of a sample. Also within the scope of this invention is a method of screening for a compound for treating a disease associated with misfolding of a protein.

Baculoviruses are a group of rod-shaped, enveloped, double-stranded DNA viruses having a circular, supercoiled genome varying from 90 to 160 kb in size. They have been successfully used for efficient expression of engineered proteins. A baculovirus system is more attractive than other protein expression systems because of its high level expression, posttranslational modification ability, and safety for use in humans (Smith et al., 1983, Mol. Cell Biol. 3, 2156-2165).
However, the conventional baculovirus expression system has one disadvantage. More specifically, host cells infected with baculoviruses lyse upon maturation of viral progenies. During the cell lysis, (1) the engineered protein leaks and is difficult to recover, leading to low protein yields; (2) the host cell lysosomes break down and release proteases, causing degradation of the engineered protein; (3) endoplasmic reticules and Golgi bodies also break down, resulting in poor posttranslational modification and blockade of intracellular trafficking of a membrane or secretory engineered protein. Thus, there is a need for a non-lytic baculovirus.


The present invention provides a new (ATD) address transition detection circuit for use on an address bus having any number of address lines. An ATD circuit is disclosed which comprises a first and second circuit and an interval timer. The first circuit has a first and second input and an output. The first circuit receives, at the first input, a change signal corresponding to transitions in one or more addresses of an address bus. In response, the output of the first circuit transitions from an initial first state to a second state. The first circuit is also responsive to a reset command at the second input to return the output to the first state. The interval timer has an output coupled to the second input of the first circuit and an input. The interval timer responsive to an initialize command at the input initiates a timed interval and after the timed interval generates the reset command at the output. The second circuit has an output coupled to the input of the interval timer and an input. The second circuit responsive to the change signal at the input generates an initialize command at the output. The circuit provides a second state at the output of the first circuit, for all including the last received in a series of change signals. This assures that all address transitions have been detected before a memory access is allowed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital circuits and more particularly to (ATD) Address Transition Detection circuits.
2. Description of Related Art
ATD circuits are employed in memory devices to detect a change in any one of the address lines of memory. When a new address is supplied by the user to memory, that address is received by both a memory controller and by the row and column decoders for the memory array. As the address transition is detected by the memory device, a new address has been supplied by the user, and this address must be decoded by the decoding circuitry of the memory device in order to access the actual memory address. When a memory address is to be accessed, the data path to and from the memory address must be precharged in preparation for the transfer of this data. This precharging may involve charging a capacitor in a row and column to be addressed. Typically, a pulse from the ATD circuit is used in the memory to begin precharging this path.
A device for precharging a memory circuit in response to an ATD circuits is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,538, issued on Feb. 20, 1996, and entitled Minimum Pulse Width Address Transition Detection Circuit, which is herein incorporated by reference. This patent discloses a device for detecting a change of address and latching the change for a period of time sufficient to precharge a memory. The address changes are detected by an edge detect and output as a series of pulses to the set input of a latch. Provided the latch has been reset before a pulse is received, the output of the latch will transition to a set condition. The set condition initiates memory precharge. The set condition also initiates a delayed feedback to the reset input of the latch. Precharge continues until the latch is reset. The problem with this device, however, is that when pulses are spaced apart in time by an interval less than the maximum delay interval, the pulse immediately after a pulse that placed the latch output in a set condition, will not be operated on. The '538 device will not therefore precharge memory for a sufficient period of time. This can lead to the need to resend an address in order to properly precharge memory. It can also lead to incorrect data being written to or read from memory if the memory has not been adequately precharged. The shortcomings of the '538 device are compounded in memories having address buses with a large number of address lines. In this environment the occurrence of narrowly spaced address changes is relatively frequent and the inability of the '538 device to detect each pulse results in delayed or incorrect memory accesses.
In memory applications, the ATD pulse is also used to pre bias the sense amplifier, to boost the wordlines, or to precharge the output driver.
If the ATD does not detect each narrowly spaced address change, it may lead to delayed or incorrect memory accesses in the above application. For example, if two address transitions are narrowly spaced and only first address transitions are detected, the memory control circuit will not bias the sense amplifier to the optimized timing corresponding to the second address change since its address transition is not detected.
In the event the ATD circuit is used to boast or wordline, a specified time interval must exist between the final address transition and the boost of the wordlines. Otherwise, the wordlines may be boosted before the decoded wordlines have settled to their final state. This may cause the wrong set of wordlines to be boosted and can also lead to incorrect data being read from the memory. What is needed is an ATD circuit that will detect each address transition under all conditions.

Address transition detection circuit for a semiconductor memory capable of detecting narrowly spaced address changes


Disclosed are methods for converting a first morphinan alkaloid compound into a second morphinan alkaloid compound in the presence of a neopinone isomerase enzyme under reaction conditions permitting the conversion of the first alkaloid compound into the second alkaloid compound. The first alkaloid compound can be neopinone or neomorphinone. The second alkaloid compound can be codeinone or morphinone. Related compositions are also disclosed.

The following paragraphs are provided by way of background to the present disclosure. Except where expressly stated, they are not however an admission that anything discussed therein is prior art or part of the knowledge of persons skilled in the art.
Alkaloids are a class of nitrogen containing organic chemical compounds that are naturally produced by opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), and a range of other plant species belonging to the Papaveraceae family of plants, as well as other plant families including, for example the Lauraceae, Annonaceae, Euphorbiaceae and the Moraceae. The interest of the art in alkaloid compounds is well established and can be explained by the pharmacological properties of these compounds, as well as their utility as feedstock materials in the manufacture of pharmaceutical compounds.
The manufacture of a class of compounds known as alkaloid morphinan compounds, for example, codeine and morphine, can involve the conversion of precursor alkaloid compounds into one or more intermediary alkaloid compounds to yield the desired morphinan alkaloid compound. In biosynthetic production systems, enzymes can catalyze the conversion reaction of precursor compounds into intermediate compounds, or into a desired product. However in many biosynthetic production systems, alkaloid compounds are not efficiently converted into the desired products, for example, due to substrate inhibition, or they can be converted into products other than the desired alkaloids products, each of which results into low alkaloid product yields.
Thus, for example, in a biosynthetic production system in which it is desired that morphine or codeine is produced, wherein the system involves the alkaloid morphinan compounds neopinone or neomorphinone as a precursor compound, the reaction can be inefficient. In particular, it has been observed that substantial quantities of neopine and neomorphine can accumulate in such systems, at the expense of morphine and codeine (see: Nature Chemical Biology, 2014, 10: 837). The accumulation of neopine and neomorphine is believed to occur as the precursor compounds neopinone and neomorphine are converted to neopine and neomorphine, respectively, rather than to the desired intermediate reaction compounds, namely codeinone and morphinone.
It is noted that in biosynthetic systems for the production of morphine or codeine, the undesirable conversion of neopinone and neomorphine to neopine and neomorphine, respectively, is believed by the prior art to be catalyzed by codeinone reductase, while the desired reaction from neopinone and neomorphine to codeinone and morphinone, respectively, is believed by the prior art to the prior art to proceed spontaneously (see: Tetrahedron Letters, 1993, 34: 5703).
There exists therefore a need in the art for improved processes to produce morphinan alkaloid compounds. In particular, there exists a need in the art for production systems in which the alkaloid compounds neopinone or neomorphinone are efficiently converted to codeinone and morphinone, respectively.

Neopinone isomerase and methods of using


A user interface application, such as a sidebar application or web page, receives content from a set of plug-in modules. The user interface handles the display of the content and manages any user interaction with the content, thus abstracting these features from the plug-in modules. The plug-in modules may thus be device-independent and possibly used to display the same or corresponding content in other interfaces and/or other devices. One or more of the plug-in modules may also be designed to obtain and populate their content automatically based on user activity, including web browsing or interactions with documents on the local system.

This disclosure relates generally to computer software, and in particular to a computer software architecture employing plug-in modules for displaying informational content in a user interface of one or more applications, such as a sidebar application.
A variety of software applications provide a user interface that allows users to accumulate, organize, and view content from a number of different sources. Such applications include sidebar applications, which run in a desktop environment and present content in the user interface. A user can typically customize the content in the sidebar as well as its formatting and other presentation attributes. Another type of user interface that allows users to customize content is a web page, such as a personalized home page, in which a user can select content from the Internet to display via a web browser. In this way, sidebar applications, personalized web pages, and other types of user interfaces can provide a more useful, tailored presentation of information that is relevant to each individual user.
The developers of these user interfaces allowing for the customization of content may not necessarily provide all, or any, of the content displayed on the user interface. In many cases, it may be desirable to allow third-party software developers to produce software modules that provide content for use with these applications. For example, a maker of a sidebar application may provide standard types of content with the sidebar application, such as the contents of the user's email inbox, the current performance metrics for the computer system, and a slideshow of pictures stored on the computer system. But to increase the utility of the sidebar application, the sidebar application may also accept content from "plug-in" modules made by the developer of the sidebar application or by third-party developers. For example, a provider of weather information on the Internet may produce a plug-in module that obtains selected weather information online and then presents that information through the sidebar's user interface. It can be appreciated that many other types of third-party content modules can be developed for many other useful purposes.
Plug-in architectures exist for sidebars and other types of user interfaces, where third-party content developers provide content using plug-in modules that interact with the main application. In this context, plug-in modules are software modules that obtain content and present the content to the user via the user interface of the main application. Existing plug-in architectures provide basic drawing commands and user input messages, which can be used by the software code of the plug-in module to manage the presentation of and interaction with the plug-in's content on the user interface. Because these plug-in modules manage the content display and the user interaction, the plug-ins are developed for a particular type of user interface and possibly for a particular target device. Accordingly, a plug-in developed for a sidebar application may not be suitable for providing content for other user interfaces, such as a web page, or other devices, such as a cellular phone running a WAP browser.

Software architecture for displaying information content from plug-in modules in a user interface


The invention relates to a process for producing a connection between a hollow shaft and design elements slid on to the shaft and having an aperture which corresponds to the outer diameter of the hollow shaft, especially for producing assembled camshafts, crankshafts or transmission shafts by hydraulically expanding the hollow shaft, a process which results in plastic deformation and permanent elastic pretension in the surface layer of the aperture of the slid-on design elements and in the case of which the compressive force in the connected region between the hollow shaft and the aperture is very much higher during the hydraulic expansion process than the remaining compressive force after completion of the expansion process. As a result, there occurs a material-locking connection between the material of the surface layer of the aperture of the design element and the material of the plastically deformed hollow shaft.

The invention relates to a process for producing a connection between a hollow shaft and design elements slid on to the shaft and having an aperture which corresponds to the outer diameter of the hollow shaft, especially for producing assembled camshafts, crankshafts or transmission shafts by hydraulically expanding the hollow shaft, a process which results in plastic deformation and permanent elastic pretension in the surface layer of the aperture of the slidon design elements, as well as to design elements suitable for this process.
The process of the above type for connecting design elements with hollow shafts has been found to be particularly successful in the field of camshafts. As compared to so-called shrink connections it is advantageous in respect of the transmission of torque as the achievable tension is not restricted by temperature limit values for the materials which must not be exceeded when joints are produced. As compared to soldered connections, the advantage essentially consists in the fact that the process is simplified; in principle it can be carried out under cold conditions and is therefore more cost-effective. Furthermore, the individual components may be manufactured with smaller tolerances.

Process for joining a hollow shaft and elements slid thereon

Emitech Gesellschaft fur Emissionstechnologie mbH


Surface features for device retention are disclosed herein, e.g., for retaining an access port within a patient during a surgical procedure. The surface features can prevent ejection of the access port from a body of a patient. The surface features can be positioned along the access port and configured to glide along body tissues with minimal friction so as not to hinder travel of the access port in an insertion direction. After insertion of the access port, the surface features can engage with surrounding tissue to increase friction therebetween and to prevent ejection of the access port from the patient. Deployment of the surface features can occur due to friction with the surrounding tissue and/or via activation of the surface features to protrude from the access port. The surface features can include teeth, hooks, scales, fins, bristles, braids, and/or threads for engaging tissue. The surface features can be disengaged from the tissue to enable withdrawal of the access port without damaging the surrounding tissue.

Access systems can be used in orthopedic surgery or neurosurgery to enable surgeons to introduce devices and/or instruments into a surgical site of a patient. For example, in spinal surgery, an access system can be implanted in situ to allow dilators, scalpels, and/or bone anchors to be passed to the surgical site to the one or more vertebrae. A typical access system can be advanced into the patient until it reaches the surgical site and secured therein, after which instruments and devices can be passed therethrough. Implantation of the access system, while invasive, can provide a clear path of access to the surgical site while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue that can be caused by operating tools.
Existing access systems can have numerous shortcomings. Muscle tissue, e.g. spine muscle, is very strong and can be prone to resisting advancement of the access system therethrough. Muscle activity can also exert a force that can dislodge or even eject the access system back out of the patient, which can cause slippage of surgical instruments that would damage surrounding tissue and increase time spent in the operating room reinserting the system. Securing the access system to the patient by way of anchors or staples can be overly invasive and hinder frequent repositioning of the system that may be required during surgery. Such modifications can also make removal of the access system difficult and cause excessive tissue damage.
Accordingly, there is a continual need for systems and methods that can discourage ejection and retain access systems within surgical sites while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue.


A semiconductor light emitting element includes a laminated semiconductor layer including a light emitting layer that emits light by passing a current, the laminated semiconductor layer has a lower semiconductor bottom surface, a semiconductor side surface that rises from an edge of the lower semiconductor bottom surface upwardly and outwardly of the laminated semiconductor layer, and a lower semiconductor top surface that faces upward by extending inwardly of the laminated semiconductor layer from an upper edge of the semiconductor side surface, an edge of the lower semiconductor top surface includes first and second linear portions extending linearly and plural connecting portions connecting the first and second linear portions, and, when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the lower semiconductor top surface, each connecting portion is positioned inside a point of intersection of extended lines of the first and second linear portions connected to the connecting portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting element and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor light emitting element.
2. Related Art
A semiconductor light emitting element in which a group III nitride semiconductor layer containing a light emitting layer that emits light by passing a current is laminated on a substrate is known.
In such a semiconductor light emitting element, there is a technique that improves light extraction efficiency in the semiconductor light emitting element by causing a side surface of the group III nitride semiconductor layer to be inclined outwardly with respect to a normal to a top surface of the substrate so that a shape of a cross section of the group III nitride semiconductor layer becomes narrow toward a substrate side (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-116114).
Incidentally, in the case where the side surface of the semiconductor layer is inclined outwardly with respect to the normal to the top surface of the substrate in the semiconductor light emitting element, there is a possibility that cracking occurs in an end portion of the semiconductor layer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor light emitting element that suppresses cracking in the semiconductor layer.

Semiconductor light emitting element and method of manufacturing semiconductor light emitting element


A compressor, more particularly, a scroll compressor provides structures that may enhance centrifugal stiffness at a contact point between a fixed scroll and an orbiting scroll. The compressor may include an orbiting scroll having an orbiting scroll wrap wound around a radial-direction inner area from a radial-direction outer area; and a fixed scroll having a fixed scroll wrap wound around the radial-direction inner area from the radial-direction outer area. A surfacing part may be configured to narrow a distance between the orbiting scroll wrap and the fixed scroll wrap may be formed in a predetermined section of the orbiting scroll or fixed scroll wrap.

Generally, a compressor is applied to a refrigerant compression type refrigeration cycle (hereinafter, a refrigeration cycle) such as a refrigerator and an air conditioner.
Such a compressor may be categorized based on a refrigerant compressing method into a reciprocating compressor and an orbiting scroll. The orbiting scroll includes a scroll compressor.
The scroll compressor may be categorized based on positions of a drive motor and a compression part into an upper compression type and a lower compression type. In the upper compression type, the compression part is positioned higher than the drive motor. In the lower compression type, the compression part is positioned lower than the drive motor.
Specifically, the compressor may be named differently based on the relative positions of the drive motor and the compression part. The compressor may be horizontally mounted, not vertically mounted. Accordingly, the compressor may be more generalized based on the relative positions of the drive motor and the compression part and named as general types. Based on the flow direction of the refrigerant in the compressor and the position of the drive motor, the compressor may be categorized into an upstream compressor and a downstream compressor. The upstream compressor may compress the refrigerant along the upstream with respect to the drive motor and discharge the refrigerant along the downstream with respect to the drive motor. The downstream compressor may compress the refrigerant along the downstream with respect to the drive motor and discharge it along the upstream with respect to the drive motor.
The scroll compressor may compress the refrigerant as the orbiting scroll is rotating on the fixed scroll. The fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll have a wrap from the outside to the inside with respect to a radial direction. The fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll may contact with each other based on an angle of the orbiting scroll rotating on the fixed scroll. The number of the contact points may be variable based on a section of the orbiting angles of the orbiting scroll.
The wrap thickness of the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll may be variable with a preset profile. A contact area may increase more and more at a contact point between the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll, as getting farther from the center of the scroll compressor such that the scroll compressor might be subject to the concentration of a centrifugal force.
Such the concentration of the centrifugal force occurring in an area where the wrap is thin might break the scroll disadvantageously. Especially, it is more likely that the wrap might be deformed and damaged in the area where the contact area is wide with a small number of wrap contact points during a high-speed operation.
Accordingly, there are increasing demands for an invention structured to prevent the damage to the area where the wrap of the fixed scroll and the orbiting scroll is thin

Compressor with enhanced stiffness at contact point between fixed and orbiting scrolls


An extractor mechanism with improved reliability is provided having an extractor arm pivotally mounted within a pocket in a firearm slide. The extractor arm includes a body portion and a hook portion, the body portion being disposed within the pocket and the hook portion extending out of the pocket from an opening proximate to the breech face. The hook portion is biased toward the firearm's firing axis and includes a distal edge sized to engage a cartridge rim. The hook portion preferably has a height greater than the body portion and the portions are preferably connected by a curved portion. Two surfaces preferably meet at the distal edge of the hook portion, with the surface more proximal to the breech face being substantially parallel to the breech face and the surface more distant from the breech face, diverging from the breech face at an acute angle.

Various types of extractor mechanisms for removing cartridges or casings from the firing chambers of semiautomatic pistols or handguns exist. One type of extractor mechanism comprises a substantially flat elongated spring steel member that is mounted to the slide of the handgun. A hook or claw is positioned on the forward end of the member to engage the rim of the cartridge casing as the casing is contained within the firing chamber of the handgun. When engaged, the hook positions the rim of the casing in the space (known as the headspace) between the hook and a breech face of the slide. Upon operation of the handgun, the firing pin projects through the breech face to contact the primer of the casing and fire the cartridge.
Upon firing the cartridge (or manually drawing the slide from its forward (battery) position to its rearward (retired) position), the hook of the extractor mechanism removes the cartridge or spent casing from the chamber and ejects it through an ejection port, thereby throwing it clear of the handgun.
One operable feature of the extractor mechanism is the extractor arm from which the hook depends to extend into the firing chamber to grasp the rim of the cartridge and eject it as the slide moves in the rearward direction. The axial distance between the engaging surface of the hook and the breech face, which forms the rear wall of the firing chamber and supports the cartridge in the firing position, ensures the proper ejection of a spent cartridge. When the handgun is fired, the hook travels in the rearward direction with the slide and engages the cartridge rim to pull the cartridge from the rear of the barrel. As the cartridge is pulled over a shoulder protruding from the frame assembly, the cartridge is forced out through the ejection port in the slide and thrown clear from the handgun.
Occasionally, however, such extractor mechanisms fail to properly eject the spent cartridge, resulting in a firearm jam or other malfunction that is potentially dangerous to clear and can delay further use of the firearm in time critical situations (e.g., military or law enforcement use). Accordingly, there is a need for an extractor mechanism for a handgun that enhances consistent, reliable operation during the cycling of the slide.


A memory addressing method and system is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a 48-bit wide memory array is provided wherein eight, 32-bit groups of data are addressable at six (6) memory address locations. Six of the eight 32-bit data groups are addressable at the six memory address locations, while the remaining two 32-bit groups are addressable at aligned, memory address pairs. No page break will occur across the memory address pairs. The contents of the memory are accessed through linear and contiguous addressing. No divide by three operation is required.

Computer system memory architectures are typically arranged with word bit widths that are a power of two (such as thirty-two and sixty-four) which provide for easy translation of linear byte addresses to word addresses by simple binary shift operations. Presently, thirty-two bit wide architectures are commonly provided by four "by eight" dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) or two "by sixteen" DRAMs. As computer system applications become more demanding, computer memory system sizes have grown. In expanding a 32-bit wide memory system, typical prior art approaches have required a jump to 64-bits or an increase in address width. In both cases the minimum expanded size is typically twice the baseline 32-bit memory size. For many applications the baseline 32-bit memory size may be too small, but twice the memory baseline is more than needed, resulting in unnecessary cost in a system.
It is possible to implement memory sizes having widths that are not a power of two. For example, a 32-bit wide memory can be increased by a factor of 1.5 by employing six "by eight" or three "by sixteen" DRAMs to provide a 48-bit wide architecture. While such an approach increases memory size without having to double memory size, such architectures are typically avoided, due to the difficulty of implementation, and of providing acceptable performance.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a 48-bit wide memory array 1 is illustrated. The memory 1 consists of a series of 48-bit wide addressable locations 2, each corresponding to a particular word address (shown as 0-6 in the figure). The memory 1 is "packed", with each addressable location 2 being entirely filled by byte addressable data. The byte addressable data are represented by the symbol Bn, where n is a hexadecimal number. The inherent drawback of the memory arrangement in FIG. 1 is that the translation from a linear byte address to the word address used to access individual memory devices requires a divide-by-three operation. For example, to access byte Bn would require generating memory address n/6, which is the equivalent to a binary shift and divide by three. Such an operation is difficult to implement, and adds unwanted delay and complexity, whether implemented in software or hardware. Therefore, 48-bit wide architectures have typically been avoided.
Commonly-owned, U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,526 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING IMAGES USING DYNAMICALLY RECONFIGURABLE DISPLAY MEMORY ARCHITECTURE and issued to Andrew D. Daniel et al, on Jan. 28,1997 incorporated by reference herein, discloses a memory system having a 48-bit wide architecture wherein 8-bit, 16-bit and 24-bit pixel regions share the same memory. The memory system makes a 48-bit wide memory array usable for 24-bit RGB pixel data, while at the same time, being reconfigurable to 32-bit or 64-bit pixel depths. A drawback to the system disclosed in Daniel et al. is that in reconfiguring the 48-bit wide system for use with non-24-bit pixel data, one third of available RAM storage is lost.

48-bit wide memory architecture addressing scheme reconfigurable for 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit data accesses


A circuit board unit includes: a circuit board; a connector mounted on and electrically connected to the circuit board via a cable; a support member which supports the connector on the circuit board; and an installation component mounted on the circuit board to support the support member. The circuit board has a pair of openings passing through front and rear surfaces of the circuit board on both sides of an area on which the connector is mounted. The support member has an upper plate adjoining an upper surface of the connector, a pair of side plates that are bent from the upper plate and extending along a pair of side surfaces of the connector and each have a leading edge inserted into each of the pair of openings, and a fixed section extending from the upper plate and fixed to the installation component.

Generally, an electronic device is designed to store, in a casing, a circuit board unit on which a variety of electronic components are mounted. Since power is supplied to activate the circuit components mounted on the circuit board included in the circuit board unit, a power connector is mounted on the circuit board, and the power connector is connected to a counterpart connector disposed in the tip of a power cable connected to an AC adaptor.
Although the connector is directly mounted on the circuit board through a soldering process or the like, errors or abnormality may occur in operation when the cable connected to a counterpart connector is pulled or when the counterpart connector is hit by something, which gives an impact on the connector mounted on the circuit board, thereby removing the connector from the circuit board. In order to address this problem, a reinforcing clamp supporting the connector can be secured to the circuit board after the connector is fixed on the circuit board through a soldering process or the like. This makes it possible to remarkably reduce errors caused by the connector on the circuit board. However, since a number of electronic components are densely disposed in an area of the circuit board, it is not affordable to allocate a large space only for reinforcement. Therefore, even such a conventional reinforcing clamp cannot guarantee sufficient reduction of errors in the connector.
Examples of a heat sink having a connector are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-152419, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 06-245542, and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 06-252574. In some cases, a heat sink for cooling the heat-generating electronic components is provided on the circuit board. However, the heat sink also becomes hot as it absorbs the heat from the heat-generating electronic components, possibly resulting in a deformation of the connector. In addition, in the case where a connector is to be mated with another external connector like the power connector described above, the heat sink needs to be arranged next to an inner wall of the casing of the electronic device. Therefore, a portion of the casing where the heat sink is arranged becomes hot. This would cause problems such as deterioration of the casing or making a user feel unpleasantly hot when he/she touches that portion.

Circuit board unit and electronic device


Optical waveguides facing each other with a layer-to-layer spacing kept not to permit the occurrence of a proximity effect perturbation within a gap section formed in an intermediate layer are configured so that at least one of the optical waveguides is moved toward the other facing the one optical waveguide with drive to cause the occurrence of the proximity effect perturbation between the optical waveguides. Thus, optical signal switching or translation takes place by coupling optical signals transmitted through the optical waveguides with each other by the proximity effect perturbation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide switch, which is formed on optical waveguides for optical signal transmission to perform optical signal switching or translation and the like, and also a method of manufacturing the optical waveguide switch.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various digital electronic apparatuses such as personal computers, mobile phones, video apparatuses and audio apparatuses, for instance, are mounted with a large number of integrated circuit elements such as various kinds of Integrated Circuit (IC) elements, Large Scale Integration (LSI) elements and memory elements. In the integrated circuit elements, efforts have been made to attain increased functionality, multi-functionality, increased speed processing with sharply increasing operation speed, etc., in addition to form-factor reductions such as size, weight and thickness with micro-fabrication of interconnect patterns, downsizing of IC packages, rapid progress of integration scales, implementation of multi-pinning or improvement of packaging methods such as packaging technologies of chip size package (CSP).
Signal transmission in integrated circuit elements and the like, including relatively short-distance signal transmission such as transmission between intra-board integrated circuit elements, for instance, takes place typically with electrical signals transmitted through electrical interconnects. In the signal transmission, efforts are being made to further increase a transmission performance in consideration of needs of increased speed transmission of information signals, increased density of signal patterns and the like in the future. However, an approach to an increased transmission performance with electrical interconnects has transmission performance limitations. Specifically, the signal transmission with the electrical interconnects needs to take measures against intra-interconnect pattern problems such as delayed signal transmission with a Capacitance Resistance (CR) time constant, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) noise and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) or problems such as inter-interconnect pattern crosstalk and so on.
In the signal transmission, the use of optical signal transmission with an optical interconnect technology realized with optical interconnects, optical interconnections or the like has been noted to settle the above electrical signal transmission problems attributable to the electrical interconnects. The optical signal transmission may ensure that transmission of information signals and the like between apparatuses, intra-apparatus boards or intra-board integrated circuit elements is attainable at high speed. Particularly, in the short-distance transmission such as inter-integrated circuit element transmission, for instance, the optical signal transmission forms an optical waveguide formed on a substrate with the integrated circuit elements packaged to attain high-speed large-capacity optical signal transmission with the optical waveguide as a transmission line, and thus enables suitable building of a transmission system for the information signals and the like to be attained.
For the above optical signal transmission, the various electronic apparatuses, etc. need to be mounted on a hybrid circuit substrate with electrical and optical interconnects embedded together. The hybrid circuit substrate employs a substrate such as a silicon substrate and a glass substrate, for instance, having a surface obtained by planarization. The hybrid circuit substrate has, on a surface thereof, an optical waveguide together with accurate micro-fabricated multi-thin layered electrical interconnect patterns. In the optical waveguide, a photoconductive resin material that is applicable to a low temperature process for patterning with a photolithography, for instance, is suitably used as a material for forming of the optical waveguide.

Optical waveguide switch and method of manufacturing the same


Coded data are inputted from a stream analyzing unit to an entropy decoding unit. A group of peripheral information registers stores peripheral information on a target pixel for estimating a context used for arithmetic decoding of the coded data. Based on the peripheral information stored in the group of peripheral registers, a context estimation unit estimates a context and delivers the estimated context to an arithmetic decoding unit. The arithmetic decoding unit decodes the coded data based on a context label, then derives a decision and supplies the decision to an inverse quantization unit. The peripheral information stored in the group of peripheral registers is updated by a decoding result of the arithmetic decoding unit in the same cycle as the decoding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image decoding apparatus, and it particularly relates to a decoding apparatus for decoding coded image data that contain a group of data having a plurality of properties.
2. Description of the Related Art
At ISO/ITU-T, JPEG2000 using a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is being standardized as a successor to JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group), which is a standard technology for compression and coding of still images. In JPEG2000, a wide range of image quality, from low bit-rate coding to lossless compression, can be coded highly efficiently, and a scalability function, in which the image quality is gradually raised, can be realized easily.
The coding processing in JPEG2000 includes block division processing, coefficient bit modeling processing and arithmetic coding processing. In block division processing, sub-bands generated by performing a discrete wavelet transform on an original image are each divided into small regions called code-blocks. In coefficient bit modeling processing, binary symbols and contexts for arithmetic coding are generated by decomposing the quantized values of wavelet transform coefficients into bit-planes from the most significant bit (MSB) to the least significant bit (LSB). In arithmetic coding processing, entropy coding is carried out according to the occurrence probability of a symbol sequence based on the generated symbol and context.
In this manner, arithmetic coding processing requires input of a context in addition to data to be coded. Reference (1) in the following Related Art List discloses an arithmetic coding apparatus and an arithmetic decoding apparatus structured such that a plurality of candidates for possible context are prepared and a selection is made by a selector according to the result of arithmetic coding.
Also, in the processing of arithmetic coding processing, coding is carried out by dividing the bit-planes for each pass as disclosed in Reference (2) in the following Related Art List.
Related Art List
    (1) Japanese Patent Publication No. 3406550.    (2) Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-32496.
Parallel processing is necessitated if faster coding and decoding in JPEG2000 scheme are to be realized. In JPEG2000 arithmetic coding, peripheral information on pixels needs to be provided for the determination of a context. In the case of coding, data on all the pixels are already known, and therefore all the necessary peripheral information is ready, which facilitates parallel and faster processing. In decoding, however, peripheral information on pixels is not known until decoding is actually done, so that it is difficult to implement parallelization and the processing must be done sequentially.
With an arithmetic decoding apparatus disclosed in Reference (1), while there are candidates for context prepared beforehand, selection of a candidate for the context involves complex control. Another problem with this apparatus is that parallel processing with it may result in an exponential increase in the number of candidates for context, which in turn causes an increase in circuitry scale and complexity of control.
There are two computing methods for arithmetic coding for each pass, namely, one for computing independently for each pass and the other for computing across two passes. For data coded by the former method, decoding can be carried out independently for each pass. On the other hand, for data coded by the latter method, decoding cannot be carried out independently for each pass. Nevertheless, decoding processing must be done in parallel if it is to be performed at high speed.