A positive displacement article sorter and method of monitoring a positive displacement article sorter, wherein the article sorter includes a frame, an endless web traveling in a longitudinal direction about the frame and an electric motor driving the endless web. The endless web is defined by a pair of continuous chains and a plurality of cross members connected at opposite ends with the chain. The positive displacement sorter includes a plurality of pusher shoes, each laterally traveling along at least one of the cross members. A sensing assembly is provided that has first and second portions. The first portion of said sensing assembly is positioned at the web. The second portion of said sensing assembly is positioned at a stationary location. The first portion of said sensing assembly is sensed with the second portion of the sensing assembly as the first portion of said sensing assembly travels about the frame. A parameter of the web is determined from an output of the sensing assembly.

The present invention pertains to conveyor systems having an endless web that is defined by laterally extending parallel cross members that are connected at opposite ends, such as by chains, and in particular to a method of correcting skew in the cross members resulting from unequal expansion of the chains on opposite sides of the web. The invention is particularly adapted for use with article sorters, but may be applied to other such conveyor systems.
An article sorter, such as the RS200 positive displacement sorter marketed by Dematic Corporation of Grand Rapids, Mich., has an endless web that is made up elongated parallel slats that are interconnected by a matched pair of chains. The web is supported by carrier wheels attached to the sides of the chains. Because of the nature of a positive displacement sorter, wear on the chains tends to not be the same. Therefore, one chain tends to stretch more than the other chain. This can cause the slats to become skewed. Skew is where the slats, which are normally perpendicular to the direction of movement of the web, become non-perpendicular to such direction. Skew causes the carrier wheels to be at an angle to the direction of movement of the web. This causes an increase in chain drag resulting in additional energy required to propel the web as well as extra wear on the sorter. Also, excessive skew of the slats can cause problems with tracking articles on the sorter and proper diverting of the articles to the desired lanes for sortation.
Uneven elongation of the chains leads to one of the chains requiring replacement prematurely. As the chains are a matched set, uneven elongation of either chain leads to both of the chains being replaced prematurely. This is very expensive because it essentially requires an almost complete disassembly of the web.

Skewed slat control system for article conveyor


A method and apparatus for executing instructions in a pipeline processor. The method decreases the latency between an instruction cache and a pipeline processor when bubbles occur in the processing stream due to an execution of a branch correction, or when an interrupt changes the sequence of an instruction stream. The latency is reduced when a decode stage for detecting branch prediction and a related instruction queue location have invalid data representing a bubble in the processing stream. Instructions for execution are inserted in parallel into the decode stage and instruction queue, thereby reducing by one cycle time the length of the pipeline stage.

The present invention relates to data processing systems. Specifically, the present application describes a method for improving pipeline processing to avoid execution delays due to changes in execution sequence.
Pipeline processing has been successfully employed in microprocessor design. Pipeline architecture breaks the execution of instructions into a number of pipelines for executing different types of instructions. Each stage of a pipeline corresponds to one step in the execution of an instruction making it possible to increase the speed of execution. Utilizing pipeline processing, multiple instructions can be broken down into individual stages which are executed in parallel during the same clock cycle. As opposed to serial processing, where all stages complete the processing of one instruction before beginning the processing of the next instruction, pipeline processor architecture overlaps the stages by processing different instructions at the same time. The effective processing speed of each instruction remains unchanged, but the throughput for instruction processing is increased because several instructions are being processed by different individual pipeline stages at the same time.
The beginning stages for the pipeline processing include retrieving instructions from an instruction cache and decoding the instruction in a stage where branch prediction is performed. If a branch is predicted to be taken in the execution of an instruction, all instructions following the branch are invalidated and a new execution sequence begins with the instructions of the predicted branch.
The number of stages in a pipeline increases the latency between the first access of an instruction, and its execution. During sequential execution of instructions, this additional latency is not a problem, as eventually most pipeline stages become occupied. However, there are interruptions in the execution sequence which may be produced as a result of an instruction which branches execution to another set of instructions or interruptions caused by context switching which require switching of the program completely. During the processing of instructions, attempts are made to predict branches which the execution will take. However, prediction errors occur, and when a misprediction is determined, the pipeline may have to be cleared of its contents, and the instructions identified by the branch executed in their place.
The result of a branch misprediction produces a latency between the first access of the correct instruction, and its execution. The latency can be reduced by improving on the branch prediction. However, there is always uncertainty in the prediction, and they are never perfect. When a misprediction occurs, the pipeline encounters a bubble and its contents must be flushed before the new execution sequence may begin.
As one technique for dealing with a mispredicted branch, the system may execute two possible paths of execution, and the correct path is selected once the final branch determination has taken place. This technique is hardware intensive and unrealistic where pipeline depths are approaching state of the art. A related solution saves fetched instructions behind a predicted branch in a buffer for quick access should a branch misprediction be detected. In a machine that uses three pipelines, this has a limited value since any buffered instructions would be located after and on the same cache lines as the branch itself.
Another branch related technique is to shift the determination of branches as far towards the top of the pipeline as possible to reduce the time between branch prediction and branch determination. This reduces the time in which speculative execution is taking place of instructions which may ultimately be discarded. Unfortunately this approach is difficult to implement in the state of the art processing where the clock frequencies are increased and therefore cycle times for each stage are decreased and the number of pipeline stages are increased.
The present invention provides for a latency reduction between stages of a pipeline processor in the face of a mispredicted branch where the execution sequence is changed to a new set of instructions, and the pipeline must be refilled. The same concept can be applied to context switching cases where a latency reduction can be obtained when a new set of instructions are refilled.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for decreasing the latency between instruction cache and a pipeline processor

International Business Machines Corporation


Apparatus and methods implemented therein are disclosed for relocating data stored in pages of a non-volatile memory. The number of memory chunks with invalid data in an SLC type first page is determined and if the number is above a first threshold and above a second threshold, a bit error rate (BER) for the valid data in the set of memory chunks of the first page is compared with a first BER threshold. If the BER is below the first BER threshold, an error correcting code (ECC) for valid data in a set of memory chunks of a second page is computed and the invalid data of the first page with valid data is replaced with valid data from the second page and the computed ECC. The valid data of the first and second page is relocated to a third page.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Non-volatile memory systems, such as flash memory, are used in digital computing systems as a means to store data and have been widely adopted for use in consumer products. Flash memory may be found in different forms, for example in the form of a portable memory card that can be carried between host devices or as a solid state disk (SSD) embedded in a host device. These memory systems typically work with memory units called memory chunks, pages and memory blocks.
For efficient functioning of non-volatile memory systems it is often desirable to relocate data stored in one memory unit to another memory unit. Current methods of relocating data from a memory unit do not take into consideration the state of the data stored in the memory unit. As a result, relocation is performed unintelligently and inefficiently.

Method and apparatus for relocating data in non-volatile memory


An immersion lithography system and method exposes a substrate through a liquid. The substrate is exposed through the liquid, which is provided between a final optical element of a projection lens and the substrate. The liquid is recovered from an upper surface of the substrate via a recovery opening of an immersion apparatus under which the substrate is positioned, the immersion apparatus being disposed around the final optical element of the projection lens. The a pressure for recovering the liquid from the upper surface of the substrate via the recovery opening is controlled by a pressure control system, the pressure control system having a first tank connected to the recovery opening via a recovery flow line and a vacuum regulator to control a pressure in the first tank.

The invention relates generally to systems and methods for providing fluid for immersion lithography and, more particularly, for controlling the fluid flow and pressure to provide stable conditions for immersion lithography.
An exposure apparatus is one type of precision assembly that is commonly used to transfer images from a reticle onto a semiconductor wafer during semiconductor processing. A typical exposure apparatus includes an illumination source, a reticle stage assembly that retains a reticle, an optical assembly, a wafer stage assembly that retains a semiconductor wafer, a measurement system, and a control system. The resist coated wafer is placed in the path of the radiation emanating from a patterned mask and exposed by the radiation. When the resist is developed, the mask pattern is transferred onto the wafer. In microscopy, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is transmitted through a thin specimen to a resist covered plate. When the resist is developed, a topographic shape relating to the specimen structure is left.
Immersion lithography is a technique that can enhance the resolution of projection lithography by permitting exposures with a numerical aperture (NA) greater than one, which is the theoretical maximum for conventional "dry" systems. By filling the space between the final optical element and the resist-coated target (i.e., wafer), immersion lithography permits exposure with light that would otherwise be totally internally reflected at an optic-air interface. Numerical apertures as high as the index of the immersion liquid (or of the resist or lens material, whichever is least) are possible. Liquid immersion also increases the wafer depth of focus, i.e., the tolerable error in the vertical position of the wafer, by the index of the immersion liquid compared to a dry system with the same numerical aperture. Immersion lithography thus has the potential to provide resolution enhancement equivalent to the shift from 248 to 193 nm. Unlike a shift in the exposure wavelength, however, the adoption of immersion would not require the development of new light sources, optical materials, or coatings, and should allow the use of the same or similar resists as conventional lithography at the same wavelength. In an immersion system where only the final optical element and its housing and the wafer (and perhaps the stage as well) are in contact with the immersion fluid, much of the technology and design developed for conventional tools in areas such as contamination control, carry over directly to immersion lithography.
One of the challenges of immersion lithography is to design a system for delivery and recovery of a fluid, such as water, between the final optical element and the wafer, so as to provide a stable condition for immersion lithography.

Apparatus and method for providing fluid for immersion lithography


An optical fiber evanescent wave fuel sensor, employing a light source with a wavelength selected to be at the strong infrared absorption lines of the fuel, typically hydrocarbons. The amount of light leaking from the optical fiber is an exponential function of the length of the fiber in the liquid, and is independent of the relative indices of refraction of the fuel and fiber cladding material.

The present invention relates to liquid level sensors and leak detectors for liquids held in a tank or container, such as a fuel tank.
The conventional device presently used to indicate the vehicle fuel tank level is the mechanical (float actuated) fuel gauge. Since it has mechanically moving parts, its reliability is relatively low. Moreover, the presence of mechanically moving parts and electrical connections to these parts can present a risk of unintentional fuel ignition, i.e., a fire hazard.
An evanescent wave absorption technique for measuring the length of a fiber immersed in a liquid is described in the issued and commonly assigned patent, number 5,077,482, issued Dec. 31, 1991, entitled "Fiber Optic Fuel and Liquid Gauge," by V. Vali et al., now U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,482, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. When the cladding thickness of an optical fiber is only a few wavelengths of light, as in an eccentric core fiber, the evanescent wave extends outside the fiber cladding. If such a fiber is covered by or immersed in a liquid with index of refraction larger than that of the fiber cladding, some of the light leaks out of the fiber core. The effect can be used to determine the height of the liquid level in a container, as described in the referenced co-pending application.
The fiber evanescent wave fuel gauge (liquid level sensor) described in the referenced pending patent application works only when the index of refraction of the fiber cladding is less than the index of refraction of the fuel.
The physics of a fuel gauge as described in the pending application is shown in FIG. 1. Here, the fiber comprises a core 20 and cladding 22. The core is made of a material with index of refraction n.sub.1, and the cladding of thickness d is made of a material with index of refraction n.sub.2. The fiber is immersed in a liquid with index of refraction n.sub.3. The light energy density profile in the fiber is indicated by line 24, with the darkened area under the line 24 indicating the light loss from the fiber due to the evanescent wave loss. The light intensity E in the cladding 22, the evanescent wave, decreases exponentially with increasing r, the distance from the core center. EQU E=E.sub.0 e.sup.-.alpha.r ( 1)
where E.sub.0 is the core intensity (i.e., the intensity of light within the fiber core) and .alpha. is determined by the core and cladding indexes n.sub.1 and n.sub.2 : ##EQU1## where .DELTA.n=n.sub.1 -n.sub.2, and n=(1/2)(n.sub.1 +n.sub.2)
Numerically, for .lambda.=1 .mu.m, the index of refraction of the fiber core n=1.5, and .DELTA.n=10.sup.-3 (the nominal values for an exemplary fiber), EQU (1/.alpha.)=3 .mu.m (4)
If the cladding thickness d is made small enough such that part of the wave extends outside the fiber and if the index of refraction of the liquid n.sub.3 is larger than the cladding index n.sub.2, some of the light is lost from the fiber. In case of n.sub.3 <n.sub.2 (for example, when the fiber in air) no light is coupled out. Therefore, the amount of light lost is an exponential function of the length of the fiber in the liquid and the quantity of fuel can be gauged.
Single mode fibers, however, cannot be made small enough (.about.15 .mu.m in diameter) to satisfy the condition that d be less than 5 .mu.m. For this reason an eccentric core fiber is used, as depicted in FIG. 2. The fiber 30 comprises a core 32 surrounded by a cladding 34. The normal fiber diameter (.about.120 .mu.m) is retained for handling and mechanical strength purposes; however, the core 30 is placed close to the fiber surface such that d<5 .mu.m.
In an exemplary system as described in the referenced pending application and calibrated for d.apprxeq.3 .mu.m, about 75% of the light leaked out over a fiber length of six inches. It has been found that the light leak rate was very sensitive to the variations of d, the cladding thickness.
The condition n.sub.3 >n.sub.2 can be satisfied for diesel fuel and oils (where the index of refraction n.sub.3 of the fuel and oils=1.45, and the index n.sub.2 =1.43 for quartz cladding).
When gasoline is the liquid the condition n.sub.3 >n.sub.2 is not satisfied and no light leaks out of the fiber. The present invention overcome this difficulty.
It is an object of this invention to provide a fiber optic fuel gauge with no electrical parts in the fuel tank, to reduce the probability of unintentional ignition of the fuel.

Fiber optic evanescent wave fuel gauge and leak detector using eccentric core fibers


The present invention provides a method of preparing sodium formyl acetone using acetone, methyl formate and sodium methoxide as raw materials. A mixture consisting of an acetone and a methyl formate is supplied to a methanol solution of sodium methoxide, or an acetone and a methyl formate are separately supplied simultaneously to the methanol solution of sodium methoxide. The resultant mixture is sufficiently stirred over a predetermined period of time so as to carry out the reaction to form sodium formyl acetone. Also provided is a method of preparing 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone. In this method, the reaction mixture obtained in the reaction to form sodium formyl acetone is directly charged into a reaction vessel simultaneously with sulfuric acid to neutralize and acetalize sodium formyl acetone contained in the reaction mixture so as to obtain 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of preparing sodium formyl acetone and 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone. Each of sodium formyl acetone, which has ketone and aldehyde group in the molecule, and 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone, which is obtained by neutralizing and acetalizing sodium formyl acetone, is useful as a raw material in the synthesis of organic materials such as medicines and agricultural chemicals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of preparing sodium formyl acetone using as raw materials acetone, methyl formate and sodium methoxide is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,985. In this method, a powdery sodium methoxide is used as a raw material. It should be noted that a powdery sodium methoxide tends to react with oxygen and tends to be decomposed by the moisture within the air. It follows that the loss of sodium methoxide, which is costly, leads to a high preparing cost of sodium formyl acetone. What should also be noted is that sodium methoxide, if attached to the human skin, causes scalding or the like, making it troublesome to handle a powdery sodium methoxide. Further, sodium methoxide in the reacting stage is in the form of a slurry having a very high viscosity, with the result that the mixing of the slurry for achieving a sufficient reaction within a reaction vessel is made difficult in the industrial production of sodium formyl acetone.
A method of preparing 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone by neutralizing and acetalizing sodium formyl acetone is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,985. In this method, sodium formyl acetone is isolated as a solid material and, then, dissolved again in methanol when used in the preparation of 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone. It should be noted that a solid sodium formyl acetone is deliquescent, making it troublesome to handle the solid sodium formyl acetone. Further, use of a solid material is low in productivity in unit operation of separation, feeding, transportation, mixing, etc., compared with use of a liquid material. Thus, it is not desirable to use a solid material in the industrial production of 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone. What should also be noted is that hydrochloric acid is used in this method as a neutralizing and acetalizing reagent. Naturally, it is necessary to use an apparatus formed of a material selected in view of resistance to corrosion caused by chlorine, leading to a high equipment cost.
As described above, a solid sodium methoxide is used in the conventional method of preparing sodium formyl acetone using as raw materials acetone, methyl formate and sodium methoxide. The solid phase catalytic reaction employed in the conventional method is poor in reproducibility and necessitates troublesome operations, compared with a liquid-liquid reaction. In addition, the conventional method, when employed in the industrial production of sodium formyl acetone, is not sufficiently high in yield.
The conventional method of preparing 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone by neutralizing and acetalizing sodium formyl acetone also leaves much room for further improvement when the method is employed for the industrial production of 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone. For example, the conventional method is unsatisfactory in operability and necessitates an apparatus formed of special materials.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of industrially producing sodium formyl acetone of high purity with a high yield using acetone, methyl formate and sodium methoxide as raw materials. For improving industrial operability, a liquid-liquid reaction is employed in the method of the present invention so as to simplify the industrial producing process.
Another object is to provide a method of industrially producing 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone with a high yield from sodium formyl acetone. The method of the present invention permits overcoming the above-noted problems inherent in the prior art.

Method of preparing sodium formyl acetone and 4,4-dimethoxy-2-butanone


An organic electroluminescent display device having integrated an NFC antenna (9). The NFC antenna is arranged on a display screen of the organic electroluminescent display device, where the NFC interface is equipped with an output line of the display screen and is connected to a control mainboard of the display screen. This combines the display screen and the NFC antenna (9) into one, and has the NFC antenna (9) provided directly on the organic electroluminescent display device, thus preventing the problem of signal quality deterioration and reception failure due to wearing of the NFC antenna (9) interface and inaccurate alignment. In addition, provided is a solution to facilitate reception of an NFC signal from a display panel of the display device or for when the NFC signal must be received from the display panel of the display device.

The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is an essential technology for the future electronic products and has a huge market. An antenna of a conventional NFC product is mainly provided on a certain side of a cell or is attached inside a housing. Generally, coils formed through a metallic wiring are provided on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or on a Flexible Printed Circuit (FPC), and then the PCB or the FPC having the coils is attached on the cell or the housing. Main problems of the above antenna are described as follows. Abrasion or misalignment is easy to occur at a wiring junction of the NFC antenna due to repeated dismantlement and mounting of the cell and the housing, resulting in the deterioration of antenna signal quality and affecting the use of a function of the NFC product. In addition, since the antenna of the NFC product is generally located inside the housing, transmission of an NFC signal may be affected if the housing is made of a metallic material. Thus sturdy metallic materials are excluded when selecting the material for the housing of the electronic product.
For example, the above problems present in many electronic products mounted with an NFC antenna and an Organic Light-emitting Diode (OLED) display. The OLED display is a new panel display having advantages such as active luminescence, high contrast, fast response and light weight, and is regarded as a next generation display displacing the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The luminescence principle of the OLED is that, various function layers, including a charge injection layer, a charge transport layer and a light-emitting layer, are interposed between a positive electrode and a negative electrode; and the OLED may emit light by applying a proper voltage on the electrodes.
Since the NFC antenna is not reasonably arranged in the electronic product mounted with the NFC antenna and the OLED display, abrasion or misalignment is easy to occur at the wiring junction of the NFC antenna, thereby resulting in deterioration of antenna signal quality and restricting selectable materials for the housing of the electronic product. Since the OLED display is integratable with the NFC antenna during the progress of manufacturing the OLED display, there is a need to design a new OLED display integrated with an NFC antenna to solve the above problems.

Organic electroluminescent display device having integrated NFC antenna


A modular tooling system having two or more base plates joined by elongated extender members and having a tubular member with opposite ends which are closed by cover members, each of which has an inner portion dimensioned to fit within the interior of the tubular member. The cover members are formed with through-holes with one of the cover members formed with threaded through-holes while the through-holes of the other cover member are non-threaded. An access opening, positioned in the side of the tubular member and proximate to the non-threaded through holes, permits the removal and insertion of fasteners into the non-threaded through holes for engagement with the threaded through-holes of the cover member attached to another tubular member or to threaded through-holes formed in one of the base plates. Alternatively, a double threaded, dowel fastener may be used to join the cover members each having threaded through-holes, of two tubular members. The dowel fastener includes a first threaded portion and a smaller threaded portion separated by a dowel section. The first threaded portion threadably engages the threaded through-holes of one of the cover members while the smaller threaded portion is dimensioned to pass through the through-holes of the abutting cover member and receive a rotating fastener. Each tubular member is preferably a quadrilateral with opposing sidewall pairs, each pair having matching through-holes defined in said sidewall pairs. The matching through-holes receive an insert formed with an enlarged head and elongated body with an matching axial opening running therethrough. The axial opening of the insert may be threaded to enable attachment of components to the sides of the tubular member. Alternatively, the axial opening of the insert is non-threaded, permitting attachment of a workpiece to one side of the tubular member.

This invention relates to machine tooling and, in particular, to fixturing used to support an object undergoing one or more steps in a manufacturing process. The invention is particularly adapted for supporting a component undergoing quality control inspection by a computerized measuring machine (CMM), but may also find application in supporting objects undergoing light to moderate manufacturing processing, such as assembling, soldering, laser- and water-jet cutting, welding, light-machining, and the like.
Support fixtures for objects undergoing manufacturing operations have, in the past, been provided in the form of custom-built fixtures which are capable of supporting only one object, or a series of related objects, for one or more steps in a manufacturing process. When the particular object is not in production, the fixture must be stored for possible use at a later date. Whenever a new component is introduced, or an old component substantially redesigned, a new custom fixture must be designed and built. Not only does this result in an ongoing expenditure for fixturing, but requires an ever-increasing facility to store the fixtures. Furthermore, the fixture is typically designed and built by persons who will not actually use the fixture and modifications to the fixture, once completed, are either difficult or not possible. Therefore, results are not always satisfactory.
Various attempts have been made at modular fixtures in order to overcome such deficiencies. Modular fixturing includes providing a series of components which may be interconnected in a virtually infinite number of ways in order to allow a particular fixture to be disassembled and the components reused in a different fixture configuration. Various techniques are known for recording the configuration of the components for each fixture such that a fixture may be reconstructed in the future when needed.
Modular fixtures that have been proposed have not been without their own difficulties. One type of modular fixture utilizes a vacuum source in order to retain objects on the fixture. Not only is such system expensive, it is prone to failure, especially when supporting parts in a vertical orientation, and is not useful at supporting all types of objects. Another modular system, which is made up of unique manufactured components, operates reasonably well. However, the manufactured components are built to close tolerances and are exceptionally expensive to produce. While this system is useful in supporting small objects, the nature of its components requires a large number of components to support large objects, such as fenders of vehicles, vehicle door panels, and the like with sufficient rigidity.
There is a need for a modular fixturing system which is capable of providing exceptional flexibility in the design and construction of object support fixtures. Such system should be capable of supporting objects, even large objects, in any orientation that is most advantageous to the manufacturing process. For example, vehicle side panels, such as fenders and door panels, must be supported in their vertical orientation during CMM inspection in order to avoid deviations resulting from the force of gravity on the object. Such modular fixturing system must additionally be inexpensive to produce without requiring precision manufacturing tolerances of the components making up the system.


The invention discloses a process for hydrogenation (alkenes, carbonyl compounds and aromatics) and hydrodeoxygenation (methoxy phenols) of organic molecules using hydrous ruthenium oxide (HRO) and its supported form as a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst in aqueous medium with good yield of desired products (70-100%) under mild reaction conditions.

Catalytic hydrogenation is an important transformation in organic synthesis and many reports and processes are available and practiced using homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. Continued research is attempted both by academicians and industrial researchers on the preparation and exploration of different catalytic materials for efficient hydrogenation reactions. Depletion of fossil resources poses many countries to work on biomass as a viable substitute for making chemicals and fuels. Transformation of biomass building blocks mainly invokes dehydration, hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation reactions. Thus, catalytic hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation are important both in conventional petroleum based as, well renewable biomass-based industries. Developing efficient, recyclable, inexpensive catalyst to enable these reactions is a challenge.
Generally d-block metals such as Ni, Mo, Ir, Co, Rh, Cu, Pd, Ru, Pt and Au are explored for the hydrogenation reactions and among them Pt, Pd, Ru and Au are comparatively more active. For gas phase hydrogenation reactions, Pt and Pd have good catalytic activity while in liquid phase Ru is more catalytically active, preferably in aqueous medium, where it exhibit good stability as well.
F. E. Kuhn et al. in their paper titled "Ruthenium catalysed hydrogenation of oxygen functionalized aromatic compounds in water" in ChemCatChem. 2013, 5, 3241-3248 reported that ruthenium complex containing sulfonated bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand as an active catalyst for hydrogenation of lignin derived aromatics at 40 bar H2 at 60° C. in water (0.1M KOH solution). The drawbacks of the work are high pressure, longer reaction time, poor selectivity, and necessity of additional chemicals. In addition, the complexes are homogeneous and hence not recyclable and poses separation and disposal problems.
R.P.Beatty et al. in a U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,003 have disclosed bulkier ruthenium complex Ru(n3-C6H8—PCy2)(PCy3)Cl as catalyst for the conversion of nitriles and nitro compounds to amines. The drawbacks of the work are high energy and chemical consumption for bulky catalyst synthesis, and necessity of additives. In addition, the complexes are homogeneous and hence not recyclable and poses separation and disposal problems.
W. Leitner et al. in their paper titled "Selective and flexible transformation of biomass derived platform chemicals by a multifunctional catalytic system" in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2010) 49, 5510-5514 reported that Ru (PnOct3) as active catalyst for the conversion of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone at 160° C., 100 bar H2 pressure in 18 h in presence of NH4PF6 as additive. The drawbacks of the work are high temperature, high pressure, longer reaction time and necessity of additional chemicals. In addition, the complexes are homogeneous and hence not recyclable and poses separation and disposal problems.
A.Dyke et al. in US Patent US 2012/0123142 A1 have disclosed hydrogenation of carbon-heteroatom double bond using bulkier ruthenium monosulfonated diamine complex as catalyst. The drawbacks are high energy and chemical consumption for bulky catalyst synthesis and are homogeneous and thus are not recyclable and poses separation and disposal problems.
R. M. Bullock et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,462,206 B1 have disclosed hydrogenation of ketones and aldehydes using organometallic ruthenium complexes, for example {[Cp*Ru(CO)2]2(μ-H)}+OTf. The drawbacks of the work are longer reaction time, low yields, use of expensive chemicals for catalyst synthesis and use of hazardous organic solvents (dichloro benzene) in the reaction.
To avoid separation problem of catalysts from the reaction mixture other group of researchers have developed various ruthenium based heterogeneous hydrogenation catalysts in the last two decades.
T. Haas et al. in a U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,255 B1 disclosed hydrogenation of aldehydes and ketones using ruthenium supported on TiO2, SiO2, ZrO2, MgO, and silicates. Among them, ruthenium supported on TiO2 and SiO2 catalysts showed longer shelf life (long term stability). The drawbacks of the work are poor selectivity of desired products and necessity of prior reduction of catalyst.
P. N. Rylander et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,177, 258 disclosed hydrogenation of different aliphatic and aromatic functional organic compounds using ruthenium along with another platinum group metal such as Pd, Pt and Rh supported carbon catalyst. The drawbacks of the work are poor selectivity of desired products and use of expensive other metals (Pd, Pt and Rh) along with Ru.
G.A. Vedage et al. in a U.S. Pat. No. 0,066,849A1 disclosed ruthenium supported lithium aluminate (LiAl5O8) as efficient hydrogenation catalyst for anilines to cyclohexylamines without prior reduction of catalyst. The drawback of the work is high energy requirement for catalyst support synthesis (LiAl5O8) and no mention on the catalyst recyclability.
C.S. Tan et al. in their paper titled "Aromatic hydrogenation of benzyl alcohol and its derivatives using compressed CO2/water as the solvent" in Green Chem. (2012) 14, 682-687 reported a green approach for hydrogenation of benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde to cyclohexanemethanol using 5% Ru/MCM-41at 30-60 bar H2 pressure for 5 h in aqueous medium. The drawbacks of the work are high energy and use of expensive chemicals for catalysts synthesis, and necessity of high temperature and pressure for the reaction.
K. Tomishige et al. in their paper titled "Selective production of cyclohexanol and methanol from guaiacol over Ru catalyst combined with MgO" in Green Chem. (2014) 16, 2197-2203 disclosed preparation of cyclohexanol and methanol from aqueous guaiacol using 5% Ru/C catalyst along with MgO and achieved >80% product yield at 160° C., 15 bar H2 in 2 h. The catalyst was also tested for the conversion of phenol and catechol to cyclohexanol derivatives. The drawbacks of the work are necessity of additional co-catalyst (MgO), higher temperature and lesser selectivity of desired cyclohexanols.
B. Chaudret et al. in their paper titled "How to modulate catalytic properties in nanosystems: The case of iron-ruthenium nanoparticles" in ChemCatChem. 2013, 5, 3241-3248 reported preparation of ultra-small FeRu bimetallic nanoparticles by co-decomposition of two organometallic precursors namely {Fe[N(Si—(CH3)3)2]2}2 and (η6-1,5-cyclooctadiene)(η6-1,3,5-cyclooctatriene)ruthenium(0)(Ru(COD)(COT)) under H2 at 150° C. in mesitylene. The synthesized fine bimetallic nanoparticles were applied for the preparation of ethyl benzene from styrene and 2-butanol from 2-butanone at room temperature, at 3 bar H2 in 24 h. The drawbacks of the work are high energy and use of expensive chemicals for catalysts synthesis, longer reaction time and use of high boiling carcinogenic solvent (mesitylene) in the reaction.
A.M.R. Galletti et al. in their paper titled "A sustainable process for the production of γ-valerolactone by hydrogenation of biomass-derived levulinic acid" in Green Chem. (2012) 14, 688 disclosed performance of Ru/C catalyst along with combination of various heterogeneous acid co-catalysts and found that Amberlyst A70 as efficient co-catalyst that showed higher yield (99.5%) at 70° C., 5 bar H2 within 3 h in aqueous medium. Further the two catalytic systems were applied for the conversion of ketones to alcohols such as 2-butanone and 2-pentanone to corresponding alcohols with 91-92% product yield at 70° C., 5 bar H2 for 1 h in aqueous medium. The drawbacks of the process are necessity of large amount of acid co-catalyst (Amberlyst A70) and longer reaction time.
T. Wettling et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,646 disclosed selective hydrogenation of aromatic groups of organic molecules carrying at least one aromatic group and one epoxy group with hydrogen in the presence of a ruthenium-containing catalyst, in which invention used hydrous ruthenium oxide as catalyst at 250 bar. The drawbacks of the work are limited substrate scope, high pressure and lack in recyclability of catalyst.
Besides those cited above in the prior-art, many research groups and industries have reported several ruthenium catalytic systems for selective hydrogenation of organic molecules into variety of products using hydrogen. However, many reported catalytic systems have several drawbacks such as high energy and necessity of hydrogen for prior reduction of catalysts, additional expensive raw materials such as co-catalysts, ligands, supports, and additives and chemicals involved in the preparation of catalysts, metal leaching, poor selectivity of desired products, harsher reaction conditions (high temperature and pressure), and longer reaction time and often in organic solvents.
Kannan et al. in WO 2016/056030 disclosed efficient catalytic performance of hydrous ruthenium oxide (HRO; RuO2.xH2O) for the selective hydrogenation of levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone. Although this work avoided many drawbacks mentioned above, it is very limited in substrate scope and industrial applicability without any flexibility on the control of hydrogen pressure.
To avoid or minimize the above mentioned drawbacks for hydrogenation reactions of organic molecules using reusable catalysts, in particular ruthenium based catalysts, it is mandatory to design and develop a catalyst that performs the reaction under near ambient or energy less intensive conditions in shorter time which is required in smaller quantity and is also recyclable and render good yield of the desired products. Furthermore, it is important to have a control on hydrogen pressure that in turn has significant implications on the product yield/selectivity pattern.
In the present invention, the utility of hydrous ruthenium oxide (HRO) and its supported forms as catalysts is disclosed for the transformation of many organic molecules comprising, but not limited to, alkenes, ketones and substituted aromatics that involves hydrogenation and lignin derived methoxy phenols that involves hydrodeoxygenation reaction in aqueous medium. The catalysts showed excellent activity for diverse substrates with high conversions of reactants and selectivity of the desired products.

Eco-friendly process for hydrogenation or/and hydrodeoxygenation of organic compound using hydrous ruthenium oxide catalyst

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research


The present invention provides a secondary electrochemical cell comprising a body of aprotic, non-aqueous electrolyte, first and second electrodes in effective electrochemical contact with the electrolyte, the first electrode comprising active materials such as a lithiated intercalation compound serving as the positive electrode or cathode and the second electrode comprising a carbon material on carbon-based substrate and serving as the negative electrode or anode; whereby they provide a secondary non-aqueous electrochemical cell having improved overdischarge and overcharge acceptance ability as compared with similar secondary non-aqueous electrochemical cells having carbon anodes with metal substrate.

The present invention relates generally to non-aqueous lithium ion secondary electrochemical cells and batteries formed of such cells and, more particularly, to such cells and batteries in which an anode comprising a substrate formed of carbon based material provides the cells and batteries with overcharge and overdischarge acceptance ability.
Since its introduction and commercialization in 1991, lithium-ion battery systems have received considerable interest not only to the battery community but also to the to electronic industries. In lithium-ion batteries, carbon or graphite is used as an anode, a lithiated transition metal intercalation compound is used as a cathode and LiPF6 is used as an electrolyte in carbonate-based organic solvents. For example, the reactions at the electrodes and overall cell reaction of an oxide-containing lithium intercalation compound are as follows:
where LiMO2 represents the lithiated metal oxide intercalation compound.
The electrochemical process is the uptake of lithium ions at the anode during charge and their release during discharge, rather than lithium plating and stripping as occurs in metallic lithium rechargeable battery systems. As metallic lithium is not present in the cell, lithium-ion cells have enhanced safety and a longer cycle life than the cells containing metallic lithium. Because of their advantageous characteristics, lithium-ion batteries are widely used for consumer electronics applications such as cellular phones, laptop computers, camcorders, and personal digital assistant.
At present, hard carbon or graphite is used as active anode material in commercial lithium-ion batteries. Polyvinyledene fluoride (PVDF) is used as a binder to improve the mechanical integrity of the electrode. Copper is universally used as the substrate for anode. Hard carbon or graphite material is mixed with PVDF in an organic solvent and the mixture is coated on the copper substrate to produce the anode.
The present state-of-the-art lithium-ion cells require overcharge/overdischarge protection circuits and/or devices so that the cells can charge and discharge within certain voltage regimes. Overdischarge causes dissolution of copper that is used as the substrate for carbon anode and degrades cell performance.
During overcharge, more lithium-ions are transported to the carbon anode and since the anode does not have enough room to accommodate them, overcharge may cause metallic lithium deposition on the anode, heat build-up, and ultimately thermal run away of the cell.
Overcharge/overdischarge protection circuits and/or devices also increase(s) the weight and cost of the lithium-ion cell. Reliable and inexpensive overcharge/overdischarge protection for multi-cell lithium-ion battery is a major obstacle to commercialization of the systems in electric vehicle and other high voltage applications.
Accordingly, it is the primary objective of the present invention to improve the overcharge/overdischarge acceptance ability of lithium-ion cells and battery systems.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide such overcharge/overdischarge acceptance ability in the anodes of the cells, and thereby eliminate the need for overcharge/overdischarge protection circuits and/or devices, thus reduce the cost and weight of lithium-ion cells.
Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved rechargeable lithium-ion cell and battery system that utilizes carbon-based substrate to produce an anode which provides such overcharge/overdischarge acceptance ability.
Briefly stated, this invention provides a rechargeable electrochemical cell comprising a body of aprotic, non-aqueous electrolyte, first and second electrodes in effective contact with said electrolyte, the first electrode comprising a positive material such as lithiated intercalation compound and the second electrode comprising carbon on carbon-based substrate. In accordance with this invention, commercially available carbon based films of high electronic conductivity are chosen for the substrate, and on which carbon material having high lithium-ion intercalation capacity is coated to produce the negative electrode, i.e., anode of the electrochemical cell. Commercially available carbon-carbon composite of high electronic and thermal conductivity can also be chosen as the anode of the electrochemical cell. The substrate of the carbon-carbon composite anode is carbon and, therefore, the lithium-ion cells made in accordance with the present invention can accept repeated overdischarge without performance degradation.
The anode substrate and anode itself each comprises carbon material, and each can accept lithium-ions during charge from cathode of lithiated intercalation compounds. The substrate can, therefore, act as a sink of lithium-ions. During overcharge, additional lithium-ions from the cathode can, therefore, be stored to the anode substrate without causing metallic lithium deposition.
Thus, the anode made according to the present invention allows the acceptance ability for overcharge and overdischarge of a lithium-ion cell.

Secondary non-aquenous electrochemical cell configured to improve overcharge and overdischarge acceptance ability


A tackified, mixed rubber, hot melt PSA deinking composition and an improved process for removing inks and other contaminants from printed wastepaper are provided. A preferred deinking composition contains a mixture of SB and SIS rubbers, tackified with at least one hydrocarbon resin tackifier and at least one rosin-based tackifier. In an improved deinking or recycling process, the novel composition is added to a paper slurry, either directly or as PSA-coated paper or label stock, and significantly reduces the number of contaminants that remain after screening and forward cleaning.

For decades, paper fiber contaminated with inks, adhesives, dirt and other contaminants has been a persistent problem to the recycling industry. Impact inks are particularly difficult to remove, and result in brightness losses in recycled paper products. During recycling, tacky materials such as pressure-sensitive and non-pressure-sensitive adhesives and the like contribute to the formation of what are commonly referred to in the trade as "stickies." Stickies tend to deposit on the felts, wires, drier cans and other paper machine parts, and disrupt the smooth operation of paper machines. They also degrade the functional and cosmetic properties of paper products made with recycled paper fiber.
Although stickies are introduced into the wastepaper stream from many different sources, the predominant contributors are pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs), non-pressure-sensitive binding and packaging adhesives, paper coatings, waxes, and thermoplastic non-impact print toners. Stickies and other contaminants can be removed from paper pulp using physical and chemical means, but their inherent physical properties reduce the overall efficiency of these processes.
Printed wastepaper is deinked and recycled into pulp by a combination of pulping, screening, cleaning (forward and flow-through), floatation, washing and solids concentrating process steps. The sequence and redundancy of each step in the process varies at each mill and depends upon the nature of the incoming wastepaper stream and the product specifications of the outgoing pulp. The screening operation is the preferred operation for removing contaminants, because it enables the contaminants to be permanently removed from the pulp as solid materials early in the process. This simplifies subsequent processing of the pulp.
Unfortunately, the complete removal of PSA contaminants from paper fiber is complicated by several inherent properties common to all normally self-adhesive materials. Under conditions of shear, as are encountered in the pulping operation and during the transfer of pulp between deinking steps, conventional PSAs fragment or disperse into small to moderate size particles (about 100 to 5000 microns in diameter). Such particles can easily deform with heating and/or pressure, allowing the contaminants to pass through conventional screens and filtering equipment. Such deformation is quite prevalent under the high pressure drops and high temperatures (>37.degree. C.) common to commercial deinking operations.
The smooth operation of subsequent washing and floatation operations is hindered by the presence of the fragmented or dispersed, tacky globules, where the globules are dispersed or fragmented PSA particles. It is believed that the globules are in the form of discrete particles after contact with water. The particles' inherent tackiness causes them to adhere to other contaminants and to paper fibers, and further complicates the recycling process. In addition, many PSA products have densities between 0.95 and 1.05 g/cm.sup.3, reducing the efficiency of removal with centrifugal cleaners.

Process for removing contaminants from paper pulp using a deinking composition comprising pressure-sensitive-adhesive


Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are disclosed that improve the performance of multi-threaded computer applications that use objects (within an object collection) which require exclusive thread access. The invention monitors interrelationships between the objects in the object collection and provides mechanisms to lock the minimal set of these objects for the exclusive thread access. When these objects are locked, independent or unrelated objects are left unlocked and can, in turn, be locked by other threads. Because a minimal set of objects are locked other threads that access the object collection are less likely to be blocked by the lock. Thus, these other threads are more likely to be able to simultaneously access objects in the object collection.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of locking data structures in a multi-threaded computing environment. Specifically, this invention is a method, apparatus, and computer program product for locking interrelated groups of data structures in a multi-threaded computing environment.
2. Background
Data structures contain organized information in a computer's memory. Each of these data structures can be independent or interrelated to other data structures. Access to the data structures is simple when the access occurs in a computing environment that has a single flow of execution (thread-of-execution) because the data in the interrelated data structures is always consistent during the execution of the single thread. However, if an asynchronous operation occurs (such as an interrupt, process context switch or similar operation that allows for concurrent access to the data structure) the contents of the data structure may be made inconsistent if an asynchronous operation changes the data structure while another operation is accessing the data structure. Modem computing systems often use threads-of-execution to parallelize computer operations.
A thread-of-execution (a thread) is a sequence of control within a programmed-process. A traditional single-threaded programmed-process follows a single sequence-of-control while executing. A multithreaded programmed-process has several sequences of control, and is capable of several independent actions. A particular implementation of a multi-threaded computing environment is discussed in SunOS Multi-thread Architecture, by Powell, Kleiman, Barton, Shah, Stein and Weeks, USENIX, Winter 1991, page 65. Posie.RTM. threads are described in Programming with POSIX Threads, by David R. Butenhof, .COPYRGT. 1997 by Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., ISBN 0-201-63392-2, pages 35-95.
The subsequently disclosed invention is described within the context of an object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigm. The OOP paradigm uses objects. Objects associate an object's data with OOP methods for operating on that object's data Usually, OOP objects are instantiated in a heap memory area and are based on classes that reference the programmed methods for the OOP object. Instantiated OOP objects are accessed through pointers and contain data (in instance variables) specific to that particular instantiated OOP object. Conceptually, an OOP object contains object-related information (such as the number of instance variables in the object), data structures for storing the object's instance variables, and addresses of called-routines (OOP methods) that access and/or manipulate the contents of the instance variables in the object. However, because objects often share called-routines and object-related information, this shared information is usually extracted into a class. Thus, the instantiated object simply contains its instance variables and a pointer to its class. Further information about OOP concepts may be found in Not Just Java by Peter van der Linden, Sun Microsystems Press/Prentice Hall PTR Corp., Upper Saddle River, N.J., (1997), ISBN 0-13-864638-4, pages 136-149.
Data structures also can be treated as objects within the OOP paradigm. Such data structure objects include the instantiated data that make up the data structure, programmed methods to access this data and potentially links to other data structure objects.
A useful data structure for image processing purposes (and many other purposes) is a modified directed acyclic graph (DAG) that represents images and the operations applied to these images. The DAG elements can be represented as objects. One or more DAGs can be constructed by an imaging library as the library captures a series of imaging operations directed to one or more source images. The resulting DAGs are contained within an object collection. The object collection generally contains both independent and interrelated DAG objects. Independent objects are those that do not depend on other objects. Interrelated objects access each other to perform their operation. An independent object can be locked by a thread to assure exclusive access to the thread. However, to lock an interrelated object, each interrelated object must also be locked to assure that the information in the object is not changed by a second thread while a first thread is processing
One prior art approach to locking objects uses a mutex to serialize thread access to the object collection. The difficulty with this approach is that while one thread processes objects in the object collection other threads cannot. Thus, independent operations, controlled by threads, that need to access an object in the object collection cannot make the access until the locking thread releases the object collection. This approach limits the advantages of a multithreaded computing environment by making the object collection a blocking resource.
Another prior art approach assigns a mutex (generally within a control object) to serialize access to each group of objects that may be interrelated in the object collection. Thus, the object collection may have multiple control-objects each controlling access to an independent group of the object collection where each group contains objects that may be interdependent. The difficulty with this prior art approach is that the control-object is used to control access to a group of objects that are believed to be interrelated but often are not actually interrelated. This means that the control-objects are over inclusive and lock more than the required objects. This results in increased thread blocking and thus reduced performance.
It would be advantageous to monitor which objects in the object collection are actually interrelated and thus use each control object to limit access to the minimal group of the interrelated objects.

Method, apparatus and computer program product for locking interrelated data structures in a multi-threaded computing environment


A method of an apparatus for controlling production process which is capable of predetermining a standard production term of every process, of detecting an actual advance situation at a completion time of every process or every predetermined term, of collating the detected advance situation with the predetermined standard production term, and of detecting delay of production at every process over the standard production term. Thereby, a counterplan for recovering delay can be considered in its early stages, delay over the appointed date of delivery can be prevented before it happens, and actual results of orders in the future can be heightened. In addition, as the detection of the production delay is automatically carried out using computers or the like, the apparatus can contribute to reduction of labor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for controlling production process, particularly to the method and apparatus which is capable of detecting production delay at every process.
2. Description of Related Art
A producer is required to deliver products ordered by an orderer on exactly the day of delivery. Accordingly, the producer makes a production plan so that the products are in time for the day of delivery, and produces products according to the production plan.
When there is a rush order for products which was received later than the other orders, in actual, the rush order sometimes goes ahead of the other to produce the products with priority, or there are sometimes immeasurable accidents such as a trouble of a production apparatus. Thereby, production in accordance with the initial plan is not carried out and sometimes there are products which are not delivered on the delivery date. When there are such products that are not delivered on the delivery date, they cause a great annoyance to a user, lose reliance of the user, reduce orders and lower actual results of orders.
When it is not until the day after the delivery date that the fact that such products have not been shipped yet is discovered, it is too late to consider the counterplan. Accordingly, in the conventional production controlling method, in order to prevent the above, a process control table which determines a completion time and the like at every production process concerning all of the products is made and the advance situation based on the table is investigated by a man every day or every predetermined term. In the case where the production delay is discovered, a counterplan for recovering the delay is considered. The investigation of the advance situation, however, requires many persons and much time, which affects the products cost and raises the products cost.

Method of and apparatus for controlling production process


A device (D) is dedicated to controlling the power of optical signals in a transparent switching node of an optical communication network that switches bands of wavelengths. The device includes, firstly, a controller (12) for comparing input optical power measurements to a selected first threshold and generating instructions representative of the comparison result, secondly, a measuring device (10A) for delivering measurements representative of the input optical power of the optical signals at one output at least of the switch (4), and thirdly, a processor between the switch (4) and the multiplexer (6) of the node and which control the optical power of the signals coming from the switch (4) as a function of the instructions they receive, so that the optical power of the signals at the input of the multiplexer (6) is maintained substantially constant.

The field of the invention is that of optical transmission of signals, more particularly that of controlling the power of optical signals fed into optical fibers at the outputs of switching nodes of an optical network that switches bands of wavelengths.
Transient effects induced by power fluctuations frequently occur in optical fibers fed by transparent switching nodes in reconfigurable optical networks that switch bands of wavelengths. These fluctuations have a number of causes.
First of all, some switching operations applied by the switching nodes to optical signals (wavelengths or bands of wavelengths), for example rerouting from one optical fiber to another, rerouting from one wavelength band of a fiber to another, adding, dropping, or reserving bands, or progressively filling a band, always induce significant power variations in the "downstream" optical fiber concerned that is fed by the operative switching node, and more specifically power variations in other bands in the downstream fiber.
Secondly, faults in the switching matrices of the optical switching nodes generally induce a reduction in the optical power in the downstream optical fiber concerned that is fed by the faulty optical switching node.
Finally, faults (partial or total breaks) in the upstream optical fibers that feed the optical switching nodes generally induce a large power reduction in each downstream optical fiber concerned that are connected to the faulty switching node.
Moreover, regardless of its cause, and because of gain coupling within amplifiers along the optical fiber, any fluctuation in the optical power of some of the channels in a downstream optical fiber systematically affects all the channels already present in the optical fiber. In particular, the disappearance or dropping of certain channels can lead to an increase in the optical power of other channels that, beyond a certain threshold, is liable to generate non-linear effects compromising the transmission of data on those channels.
In an attempt to remedy these drawbacks, it has been proposed to measure defects and the excess optical power in the downstream optical fibers and to maintain the optical power of each channel substantially constant by adjusting the current of the pump lasers in the optical amplifiers (OA) of the downstream optical fiber. It has also been proposed to insert, upstream of the optical fiber amplifiers, a dummy channel generated by a continuous laser emitting optical power at a given frequency and carrying no information.
However, in the event of optical power losses on a large number of optical channels, for example in the event of the complete disappearance of one or more bands, the variation in the optical power at the output of the optical amplifiers induced by adjusting the pump current of the amplifiers may be insufficient to maintain the individual optical power of each channel constant. Furthermore, modifying the current of the pump lasers of the amplifiers, which are erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), for example, modifies the operating point of the amplifier, which results in an increase in the noise figure (NF) and degrades the flatness of the amplifier's gain. These two effects impact on the optical performance of the channels passing through the amplifier. Moreover, if rapid optical power compensation is required, adjusting the pump current can cause overshoots or undershoots in the downstream amplifiers.
What is more, although dummy channels can compensate the optical power loss of several channels, or even an entire band, they are of no use if a high overshoot is induced by a sudden increase in the optical power of a band after switching it.

Method and an improved device for controlling the power delivered at the output of a node of an optical network that switches bands of wavelengths


A method of insulating pipeline bundles used in recovering hydrocarbons from wells is disclosed. A polymeric substance, such as an orthophosphate ester, is injected into the annulus between a carrier pipe and the hydrocarbon conveying tubulars. A ferric salt, such as ferric sulphate, may be added as a gelling agent. The mixture results in a gel having a dynamic viscosity of greater than (1000) PaS. The gel insulates the inner hydrocarbon-conveying tubulars from the surrounding seawater thus helping to maintain the relatively high temperature therewithin. This in turn reduces the likelihood for chemicals, such as hydrates, to be precipitated out of the oil phase.

A plurality of conduits or pipes of relatively small diameter typically extend from a seabed structure to a service platform and are enclosed within an outer 'carrier' pipe. Such an arrangement is known as a 'pipeline bundle', and is adapted to convey produced fluids from the well.
Additionally having flowed along the pipelines or bundles, hydrocarbons are then transported to the surface for processing via vertical structures which can be either single pipes or a plurality of pipes. Such an arrangement is known as a 'riser' and is adapted to convey fluids from the seabed to the surface for processing and treatment.
When fluids are extracted from subsea reservoirs, their temperature is normally higher than that of the surrounding water. As the fluids cool in the pipes to the temperature of the water, certain compounds come out of solution, and this causes problems with precipitates such as waxes or gas hydrates that build up within the pipelines and can reduce or prevent the flow of hydrocarbons. Moreover, the viscosity of the produced fluids increases as their temperature decreases, which also reduces the rate of flow through the pipeline. Additionally if gas comes out of solution it can, under certain conditions of pressure and temperature, combine with water to form clathrate structures known as 'Hydrates' which can accumulate within the pipeline causing blockages reducing or preventing the flow of hydrocarbons.
It is known to insulate pipeline bundles in several ways to offset these problems—for instance pipes are often insulated using solid syntactic foam preformed insulating coatings. Alternatively the pipe-in-pipe annular spaces are evacuated, or are filled with silica-based materials or hollow spheres of plastic material in a synthetic resin matrix.
These and similar techniques have serious disadvantages in the way of investment cost, difficulty of handling, and the requirement for specialist equipment to manufacture the materials, and as a consequence the materials needed for the techniques are not routinely made up at the point of manufacture of the pipeline. Also some of the materials needed for the insulation are limited with respect to the depth of water in which they can be applied. For example, at depths beyond around 1500 metres the hydrostatic pressure of the water column will collapse foam and its insulating qualities will be lost.
A further attempt to solve this problem is disclosed in European Patent Publication No 0,336,493. In this application, a liquid hydrocarbon gel is provided in the outer pipe to insulate the smaller diameter pipes running therethrough. However, the use of a fluid gel requires the provision of a pressure balancing system which is prone to failure.
Other subsea structures, such as trees provided at a wellhead, can also require insulation.


A method for producing an adhesive connection between a workpiece having a metal surface and a workpiece having a plastic surface with the steps of providing a workpiece having a metal surface that has a coating which includes a thermoplastic, at least at a melt surface; providing a workpiece having a thermoplastic surface; placing the melt surface of the first workpiece having the metal surface and the workpiece having the thermoplastic surface against each other; and welding the workpiece having a metal surface and the non-metallic workpiece having the thermoplastic surface at the melt surface by exposure to ultrasonic.

The invention relates to a method for producing an adhesive connection between a workpiece having a metal surface and a workpiece having a plastic surface.
Adhesive connections, particularly welded connections are not easy to produce between workpieces composed of different materials. Welding methods were developed for connecting workpieces composed of metal and of plastic, or workpieces having surfaces composed of metal and of plastic, that produce adhesive connections by exposure to ultrasonic. For this purpose, the plastic surface of the workpiece is provided with an overlay composed of metal, at least at the location or area to which the adhesive connection is to be produced (melt surface). This coating composed of metal is made to soften or melt, using ultrasonic waves, as is the surface composed of metal of the workpiece to be connected. The boundary surfaces composed of metal connect together and remain connected together even after cooling. The basis of such methods is disclosed in DE 40 24 941 and DE 10 2005 005 480. GB 2 121 355 A discloses the application of a lacquer at a metal surface, wherein the lacquer is compatible with the plastic. Ultrasonic welding methods are used in industrial, automated production methods.
The application of metal coatings on plastic surfaces is costly. It requires special production steps, particularly the application of coatings or overlays.

Method for producing an adhesive connection


An X-ray analysis assistance device with an input and operation device 24 for arbitrarily inputting and setting the value of one from among the distance L between a sample S and a two-dimensional detector 2 and the maximum detection range Xmax for X-rays scattered or diffracted by the sample S, and a central processing unit 20 for automatically setting the other setting item on the basis of the value of the one setting item set by the input and operation device 24. Further, the maximum measurement frame Hmax for the X-rays is displayed on a display screen 22 of a display device 21 on the basis of the distance L and maximum detection range Xmax. Additionally, an X-ray detection area A indicating the range within which it is possible for the detection surface of the two-dimensional detector 2 to detect X-rays is displayed on the display screen 22 of the display device 21.

For example, a small-angle and wide-angle X-ray measurement apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-2805 is an X-ray analysis device for detecting X-rays scattered by a sample when X-rays are made incident to the sample, and the structure of the sample can be analyzed based on X-ray information obtained by the X-ray analysis device.
In order to analyze the structure of a sample by using this type of X-ray analysis device, it is natural to know an operation procedure of the device in advance, and it is further necessary to master the operation of the device to some extent. The time required to set conditions for the device greatly changes depending on the degree of skill (i.e., the degree of experience), and the accuracy of obtained X-ray information also changes. Accordingly, in order to obtain X-ray information with high accuracy by a measurement which is as short as possible, it is preferable that a skilled operator operates the X-ray analysis device.
On the other hand, if there is a device for assisting setting of conditions for the device, even a less experienced operator could set appropriate conditions in a short time. However, this type of X-ray analysis assistance device has not yet been developed.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides an X-ray analysis assistance device capable of performing setting of appropriate measurement conditions in a short time even by an operator who has little experienced the operation of an X-ray analysis device.

X-ray analysis assistance device and x-ray analysis device


A process for catalytically reacting a fluid reactant mixture in a multi-tubular reactor system to form a fluid product, whereby the reactant mixture is led through at least one reactor tube containing a fixed bed of solid particulate catalyst and surrounded by a heat-exchange fluid, and whereby an upstream portion of the reactor tube is dedicated to pre-heating the reactant mixture and/or a downstream portion of the reactor tube is dedicated to post-cooling the product, characterized in that the upstream portion and/or downstream portion of the reactor tube contains a heat-exchanging essentially rod-shaped insert, the insert having a length of from 1 to 20%, preferably 1 to 5%, of the total length of the reactor tube.

Catalytically enhanced reaction processes are used in the synthesis of hydrocarbons and their oxygenated derivatives by the catalytic hydrogenation of carbon monoxide (the Fischer-Tropsch process) and in the epoxidation of alkenes. Such reactions are typically highly exothermic. They are generally performed in a vertical shell-and-tube exchanger type reactor comprising a multitude of reaction tubes, each containing a solid particulate catalyst and surrounded by a heat-exchange fluid.
Typically, a production of ethylene oxide can be performed by the catalytic oxidation in the vapour phase of ethylene with a molecular oxygen-containing gas. Shell-and-tube reactors used for ethylene oxidation contain several thousands of reaction tubes, each 6–15 m long and each having an inside diameter of between 20–50 mm. The ethylene oxidation solid particulate catalysts are generally based on silver supported on an inert carrier material, to which promoters and co-promoters may be added. Supported ethylene oxidation catalysts comprising silver and one or more of the alkali metals K, Rb and Cs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,136 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,115. Supported ethylene oxidation catalysts comprising silver, rhenium, at least one further metal and optionally a rhenium co-promoter are disclosed in EP-B 0 266 015. A heat-exchange fluid can be a hydrocarbon or a mixture of hydrocarbons, or it can be water.
The reaction of ethylene oxidation is conducted at a temperature which is broadly in the range of from 150 to 350° C. Depending on the reactor design, the catalyst composition, the feed composition and the further reaction conditions a narrow reaction temperature range has to be maintained within any given reactor. The operation involves the pre-heating of the incoming feed gases in the upstream portion of the reaction tubes to the required reaction temperature, removing excess heat during the reaction, and cooling down the effluent of the reaction.
For greater efficiency of the pre-reaction heating and post-reaction cooling, the upstream and/or downstream portions of the ethylene oxidation reactor tubes are traditionally packed with particulate material (also termed packing). Such particulate material may or may not be the same as the particulate catalyst used. In the former case, expensive catalyst is being used as an inert. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,904 the use is disclosed of inert particles as packing material in an upstream pre-heating zone and in a downstream cooling zone of multi-tubular reactors for the production of ethylene oxide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,659 is directed to a process for the production of ethylene oxide in a multi-tubular reactor, whereby the downstream portion of the reactor tubes is filled with an inert refractory particulate material having a surface area of 0.1 m2/g or less.
Japanese patent publication JP2000-169463-A envisages the use of stainless steel packing as inert material, the main advantage being that stainless steel is less prone to by-product formation. It should be noted that it is well known, see e.g. Wakao & Kaguei, Heat transfer in packed beds; Gordon & Breach, 1982), that for tubes filled with particulates, the thermal conductivity of the packing material has little influence on the heat transfer under turbulent flow conditions. Therefore, there would be no significant improvement of heat transfer expected when applying (stainless) steel as compared to low conductivity materials such as silica.
When inert particles are used in the upstream and/or downstream portion of the reactor tubes, they have the advantages of being less expensive and having a longer useful life than catalyst particles. On the other hand, their separation from exhausted catalyst introduces a complication.
There exists therefore a need for the use of a different kind of inserts in the upstream and/or downstream portion of the reactor tubes. These inserts should be at least as efficient as the known particulate filling materials in promoting the pre-heating and/or post-cooling of the feed gases. In particular, their heat transfer coefficient should be high and the gas pressure drop caused by them should be low. Moreover, they should be inexpensive and easily separable from the catalyst particles.
The use of coherent inserts of varying and more or less complicated shapes is known in the art of heat exchange, but not in chemical reactors. They are generally designed to cause maximal turbulence of the fluid—mostly liquid—flowing through. Indeed, they are frequently called turbulators or turbulence inserts.
An example of an insert having a complicated shape is to be found in EP-B 0 061 154, wherein an insert for placement in a vessel is disclosed, comprising an elongated core having a plurality of loops disposed longitudinally therealong and angularly thereabout wherein a portion of each loop lies in close proximity to a conceptual enveloping surface, so that laterally rectilinear lines (L) extending from the core to the midpoint of said portion are disposed at different longitudinal positions along the core, characterised in that each line (L) of each loop lies at an acute angle to the core. Preferably, the core comprises two elongated elements twisted together, a part of each of said loops being held between the twisted together elements.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,429 a forced-flow heat exchanger is disclosed, comprising a housing as part of an outer thermal cycle and at least one tube attached in parallel to the longitudinal housing axis as part of an inner thermal cycle, wherein each of said tubes comprises a loosely inserted flexible rod which is freely movable and rotable in the axis and radial tube directions. The flexibility of the rods and their being freely movable are stated to be very essential features, since the resulting vibrations promote a turbulent flow inside the tubes. The rods according to this disclosure are relatively thin, the preferred ratio between the inside tube diameter and the rod diameter being from 1.4 to 2.5. The rods occupy the entire length of the tubes.
This and the further art searched contains no reference to the use of any type of coherent (as opposed to particulate) insert for promoting the pre-heating of reactants in a chemical multi-tubular reactor, in particular when the reactants are gaseous and more in particular when they comprise a carbon monoxide/hydrogen or an ethylene/oxygen reaction mixture.


A process of reducing the cholesterol content in cholesterol-containing organic oils or fats, particularly animal oils or fats. The process comprises the steps of: adding at least one of demineralized water and distilled water having a set pH-value to the oil cholesterol containing oils or fats, thereby forming a mixture; and separating the mixture into a cholesterol-containing aqueous phase and a cholesterol-reduced oil or fat phase.

The present disclosure relates to a process of reducing the cholesterol content in cholesterol-containing organic oils or fats, particularly animal oils or fats.
In order to be able to subject organic oils or fats, particularly animal oils or fats, preferably beef drippings, to a processing of the highest possible quality, it is desirable to reduce the cholesterol content in these oils or fats in a simple manner.
A process of reducing the cholesterol content in cholesterol-containing organic oils or fats is addressed in the present disclosure, the process comprising the following steps: adding at least one of demineralized water and distilled water having a set pH-value to the cholesterol-containing oils or fats, thereby forming a mixture; and separating the mixture into a cholesterol-containing aqueous phase and a cholesterol-reduced oil or fat phase.
The process-related and time-related expenditures for reducing the cholesterol content are extremely low in this simple process. A receptacle for mixing the oil or fat with the water and a separating device connected behind the latter are sufficient. Tests have shown that clear reductions of the cholesterol content in oil or fat can be achieved by this process. According to the present disclosure, beef drippings may represent a product suitable for treatment by the process. The separation of the cholesterol-containing aqueous phase takes place fast and effectively by a separating centrifuge, particularly a separator with a vertical axis of rotation with a disk stack.
The demineralized and/or distilled water added in the process may have a fixedly set pH-value either in an acidic or an alkaline range.
Good results with respect to reducing the percentage of the cholesterol content can be achieved when the demineralized and/or distilled water added in the process has a pH-value of between 4 and 6, and possibly between 5 and 6. The demineralized and/or distilled water added may have a pH-value between 6.5 and 8.
The separating step takes place immediately after the addition of the water. In this case, "immediately" may mean a time period of maximally 5-10 minutes but may be up to 120 seconds or up to 60 seconds. The use of a buffer tank before the separation of the aqueous phase is also conceivable, according to the present disclosure.
A still further lowering of the cholesterol content can be achieved when the steps of adding the water and separating the aqueous phase are repeated once or several times.
Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method for reducing cholesterol in oils or fats


A method is provided for writing to a memory cell having a read access circuit that is separate and isolatable from a write access circuit. The method comprises providing a logic state to be written to the memory cell onto a write bit line coupled to the memory cell through the write access circuit, changing a write word line that controls the write access circuit from a deactivated low voltage state to an activated high voltage state, and changing a read word line that controls the read access circuit from an activated low voltage state to a deactivated high voltage state, wherein the change in voltage on the read word line provides a voltage boost to the voltage on the write word line caused by the electrical coupling between the read word line and the write word line to provide write assist to the memory cell during a write operation.

As integrated circuit technologies are scaled, stability in a static memory cell becomes a major concern affecting the design of reliable memory arrays, including, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) arrays. Most static memory cells employ a conventional six-transistor (6-T) architecture. While this memory cell arrangement offers a compact structure, the 6-T memory cell has many disadvantages, particularly its potential inability to scale with overall technology advancements due, at least in part, to stability problems which are often exacerbated as integrated circuit process dimensions shrink. Stability problems generally arise whenever stored voltages on internal nodes of the memory cell are disturbed. As process technologies scale, process-induced variations, as well as fundamental variation sources (e.g., dopant fluctuation effect on threshold voltage, etc.), may result in large threshold voltage variations across a given wafer. This threshold voltage scatter effect essentially magnifies the disturb voltage in 6-T memory cells, which can lead to stability failures in the SRAM array in which the 6-T memory cells are employed.
A recent trend is to employ an eight-transistor (8-T) architecture as illustrated in FIG. 1. The 8-T memory cell 10 is a read assist mechanism that advantageously eliminates disturbs in the memory cell during a read operation. The exemplary 8-T memory cell 10 comprises a static storage element 12 which is selectively connectable to first and second write bit lines (WBL) 14 and 16 via first and second N-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) write access transistors 18 and 20, such that a source terminal of transistor 18 is connected to write bit line 14, and a drain terminal of transistor 18 is connected to a first internal node N1 of the storage element 12 and a source terminal of transistor 20 is connected to write bit line 16, and a drain terminal of transistor 20 is connected to a second internal node N2 of the storage element 12. Gate terminals of write access transistors 18 and 20 are connected to a corresponding write word line (WWL) 22 for conveying a write signal. The write access transistors 18 and 20 function to selectively connect the storage element 12 to the write bit lines 14 and 16 in response to the write signal. The static storage element 12 comprises first and second inverters 24 and 26, respectively, configured such that an output of the first inverter 24 is connected to an input of the second inverter 26 at node N2, and an output of the second inverter 26 is connected to an input of the first inverter 24 at node N1.
In order to eliminate read disturbs of the memory cell 10 during the read operation, the memory cell 10 includes a separate read access circuit 28 connected to a corresponding read bit line (RBL) 30 and read word line (RWL) 32 for selectively activating the read access circuit 28. The read access circuit 28 comprises first and second NMOS transistors 34 and 36, respectively, connected in a stacked arrangement. Specifically, a drain terminal of first NMOS transistor 34 is connected to the read bit line 30, a source terminal of the first NMOS transistor 34 is connected to a drain terminal of the second NMOS transistor 36, and a source terminal of the second NMOS transistor 36 is connected to ground. A gate terminal of the first NMOS transistor 34 is connected to the read word line 32 and forms a first input of the read circuit 28, and a gate terminal of the second NMOS transistor 36 is connected to internal node N2 of the storage element 12 and forms a second input of the read access circuit 28.
When reading memory cell 10, an active read signal (e.g., VDD) is applied to the corresponding read word line 32, thereby turning on NMOS transistor 34 in the read access circuit 28. Furthermore, the read bit line 30 is precharged to a high voltage state. When a logical "1" is stored at node N2, NMOS transistor 36 in the read access circuit 28 is turned on, thereby creating an electrical path and allowing current to flow from the read bit line 30 through the read access circuit 28, when the corresponding read bit line 30 is raised above ground potential, between the read bit line 30 and ground through NMOS transistors 34 and 36. However, when a logical "0" is stored at node N2, transistor 36 is turned off and thus the electrical path between read bit line 30 and ground is effectively broken, thereby preventing current from flowing between the read bit line and ground. A sense amplifier, or alternative sensing circuitry, connected to the read bit line 30 is preferably operative to detect a voltage and/or current difference on the read bit line and to equate this difference with the logical state of the memory cell 10.
During the read operation, write access transistors 18 and 20, which are enabled during the write operation, are disabled, such as, for example, by applying a logical "0" to the corresponding write word line 22. Disabling write access transistors 18 and 20 during the read operation serves to electrically isolate the static storage element 12 from the corresponding write bit lines 14 and 16. Furthermore, since the gate terminal of transistor 36, which is connected to node N2 of the storage element 12, has a substantially high impedance, the internal node N2 is essentially electrically isolated from the read bit line 30 during both the read and write operations. The 8-T memory cell 10 provides a mechanism for reading the memory cell which is beneficially decoupled from the mechanism used to write the memory cell. However, as a demand for lower power applications increases, the 8-T memory cell becomes increasingly difficult to write to employing lower voltages.

Memory cell having improved write stability


In order to incorporate a new device in an information processing apparatus, a) dividing a control system of the information processing apparatus into a plurality of control system; one control system of the plurality of control systems carrying out processing for controlling the new device by directly accessing the same; c) another control system of the plurality of control system controlling the one control system directly accessing the new device and carrying out processing for controlling the same, are carried out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for incorporating a new device in an information processing apparatus, an information processing apparatus having a function of executing the method, a program for executing the method, and a computer readable information recording medium storing the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in information processing apparatus such as a server for which high quality processing and high performance are required, adding of hardware resource without interrupting the system is required.
For example, for a server which is applied for online banking, network shopping or such, the following items may be demanded:
1) System interruption is not allowed for 24 hours.
2) A hardware can be added according to a work load without system interruption.
3) Limited hardware resources can be dynamically allocated for a work of a higher load.
4) Hardware cost reduction is required.
In order to meet these requirements, a minimum necessary hardware resource should be safely added without interruption of an operating system (simply refereed to as an 'OS', hereinafter) in a system upon operation by the OS.
In this case, in the related art, a system board in which a set of devices including a CPU, a memory and an input/output unit (simply referred to as an IO, hereinafter) is incorporated in an existing system as a unit. By thus including a CPU in the unit to add, diagnosis, initialization and device configuration information creation of various types of devices such as a memory mounted to this additional hardware can be previously carried out by the CPU under the control of a firmware. As a result, the additional hardware can be safely incorporated in the existing system.
However, in a cost saving viewpoint, incorporating a hardware resource such as a system board, not having its own CPU, in an existing system is preferable.
When hardware resources, such as a CPU, a memory and an IO will be incorporated in an existing system one by one separately, the following problem may occur. A case is assumed in which, when such an additional hardware will be incorporated in the existing system, a CPU upon operation under the control of an OS of the existing system directly accesses the additional hardware, for which diagnosis, initialization and device configuration information creation have not been carried out yet. In such a case, if an access error occurs when the direct access is thus made to the additional hardware by the CPU, a system down may occur in the existing system.
Therefore, a scheme, allowing safely incorporating a hardware resource having no its own CPU, in a condition under the control of an OS, in an existing system, is demanded.
The above-mentioned problem is described in detail as follows:
First a computer system below is assumed.
This system is configured by a plurality of system boards, and each of the respective system boards have its own CPU, IO, and memory, mounted thereto.
When the system is started up, a firmware is expanded in the memory, this firmware produces device configuration information for the system in the memory, and starts up an OS.
The OS applies the device configuration information produced by the firmware to control various devices belonging to the system.
'The OS applies the device configuration information produced by the firmware to control various devices belonging to the system' means the following state:
That is, in this state, when processing of software S, for example, is carried out under the control of the OS, a device D, for example, can be applied actually for the processing of the software S under the control of the OS.
Further, in this state, when the device D has a trouble by some cause for example, predetermined trouble handling processing can be carried out in the processing of the software S under the control of the OS.
FIG. 1 shows one example of such a system.
In FIG. 1, SYS(X) 100 denotes a system upon operation under the control of an OS 132, and a CPU(A) 110 and a CPU(B) 120 operate in the system SYS(X) 100. MEM(X) 130 denotes a memory mounted to the system SYS(X) 100, and stores a firmware 133 (FIRM 133), device configuration information (Devinfo(X) 135) for the system SYS(X) 100 created by the firmware 133.
SB(Y) 200 denotes a system board to be newly incorporated into the existing system SYS(X) 100. MEM(Y) 230 denotes a memory on the system board SB(Y) 200, and IO(Y) denotes an IO on the system board SB(Y) 200.
It is assumed that the various devices, the firmware 133 and the OS 132 shown in FIG. 1 are under the following condition:
That is, the OS 132 and the firmware 133 operate from the memory MEM(X) 130 in the system SYS(X) 100.
The device configuration information Devinfo(X) 135 for the system SYS(X) 100 is created by the firmware 133, and is stored in the memory MEM(X) 130.
The CPU(A) 110 and the CPU(B) 120 operate under the control of the OS 132. A control system under the control of the OS 132 is expressed as a 'control system C1' in FIG. 1.
The system board SB(Y) 200 is connected to the system SYS(X) 100 in a manner of hardware connection, and thus, is accessible by the CPU(A). 110 and the CPU(B) 120.
The memory MEM(Y) 230 and the IO(Y) 240 are mounted to the system board SB(Y) 200. However device configuration information thereof has not been created. As a result, the memory MEM(Y) 230 and the IO(Y) 240 are not yet under the control of the OS 132 in the system SYS(X) 100.
In the system shown in FIG. 1, no CPU is mounted to the system board SB(Y) 200 to be additionally incorporated in the existing system SYS(X) 100. Therefore, diagnosis, initialization and device configuration information creation of the devices (i.e., the memory MEM(Y) 230 and the IO(Y) 240) on the system board SB(Y) 200 should be carried out by the CPU(A) 110 or the CPU(B) 120 of the existing system SYS(X) 100, for the purpose of placing these devices (i.e., the memory MEM(Y) 230 and the IO(Y) 240) on the system board SB(Y) 200, thus connected to the existing system SYS(X) 100, under the control of the existing system SYS(X) 100.
Therefore, in the related art, as shown in Steps S1 and S2 of FIG. 2, the CPU(A) 110 or the CPU(B) 120 under the control of the OS 132 directly accesses the hardware resources (the memory MEM(Y) 230 and the IO(Y) 240) to additionally incorporate, and carries out diagnosis, initialization and device configuration information creation.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2002-132741 discloses the related art.

Method for incorporating new device in information processing apparatus, information processing apparatus and computer readable information recording medium