The present disclosure discloses a data transmission method, a device, and a system, relates to the communications field, and can resolve a prior-art problem that a receive end cannot correctly receive data because a starting moment of sending information on a license-exempt spectrum cannot be determined. A specific solution is as follows: A first device detects first information of a first serving cell in a preset time period of a first subframe on a first time resource or a first time set of a subframe on a first time resource, determines a starting position of a second time resource according to the first information, and detects second information of the first serving cell in a second time set of a subframe on the second time resource. The present disclosure is used for data transmission.

In a wireless communications network, each device needs to transmit information by using a frequency resource, and the frequency resource is referred to as a spectrum. The spectrum may be categorized into a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, and the unlicensed spectrum is called a license-exempt spectrum. The licensed spectrum is some operator-dedicated frequency resources, and the license-exempt spectrum is common frequency resources in the wireless communications network. With development of communications technologies, an amount of transmitted information in the wireless communications network is ever-increasing, and using a license-exempt spectrum to transmit information can improve a data throughput in the wireless communications network, and better meet a user requirement.
However, when a device preempts a license-exempt spectrum to transmit information, a moment of preempting the spectrum is random, that is, a starting moment of sending the information by the device by using the license-exempt spectrum is random. Therefore, a receive end cannot correctly receive data because the starting moment of sending the information on the license-exempt spectrum cannot be determined.

Data transmission method, device, and system


A reaction product of the co-dehydration of a sugar alcohol and a reactant polyol having a number average hydroxyl functionality less than 4.0 is disclosed. In some aspects the sugar alcohol comprises mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, or mixtures thereof. In some preferred aspects the sugar alcohol comprises sorbitol. In some aspects the reactant polyol has an average molecular weight of from 40 to 500 Daltons. In some aspects, the reaction product may be suitable for the manufacture of polyisocyanurate foam. In some aspects the reaction product may be mixed with diluent polyols, such as diols, glycols, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol and mixtures thereof.

Sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol, have been dehydrated in order to produce isosorbide, which is a 6-carbon and heteroatom containing bicyclic ring compound with fused rings. It is formed by the removal of two water molecules by dehydration of sorbitol. During the first dehydration step the sorbitol is converted to sorbitan; and during the second dehydration step the sorbitan is converted to isosorbide. The final reaction mixture resulting from the dehydration typically contains greater than 70 percent isosorbide, which is typically purified to at least 99% through distillation to obtain isosorbide suitable for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and use in polymer applications. Purified isosorbide is a crystalline solid having a melting point of about 61 to 63° C. The purified isosorbide typically is distributed in solid crystalline form.

Reaction product from the co-dehydration of a sugar alcohol and a polyol


A method of making a non-woven fibrous media, combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability, includes the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation and have a wide heat of fusion range distribution, and calendering the fabric to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The polymer is preferably isotactic polypropylene.

The present invention relates to a method of making fibrous media of controlled porosity, a media having a controlled pore size and a narrow pore size distribution, and a media which combines high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability, and the products thereof.
It is well known to produce a laminate made from various polymers and textiles for use in a wide variety of product applications. For example, meltblown and spunbond materials afford a high level of vapor permeability and liquid permeability when used either by themselves or in combination with one another and/or other porous materials.
Meltblowing is a method for economically producing very small fibers which are mostly suitable for filtration and insulation applications. Fibers smaller than 1 micron in diameter may be produced by meltblowing, and the average fiber diameter in conventional meltblowing is about 4 microns, with fiber size distribution ranging from xc2xc micron to 8 microns. To form such small fibers one must start with polymer resins of very low molecular weight. In this process the nonwoven fabric is formed in one step from the polymer resin into the final meltblown nonwoven fabric. Meltblown fabrics are porous and,. significantly, do not have either a controlled pore size or a narrow pore size distribution. Instead, pore size is random and non-uniform, such that a typical meltblown fabric will have a random distribution of pores of various sizes. A meltblown fabric having a controlled pore size and a narrow pore size distribution would have great utility in particular applicationsxe2x80x94filtration applications, for example. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a meltblown fabric having a controlled pore size and a narrow pore size distribution.
In contrast, spunbonding is very similar to conventional fiber spinning where several processing steps are required to form the spunbond fabric. Spunbond fibers go through a drawing stage and then a laydown stage wherein the drawn fibers are laid down into a matt and the matt is then bonded by a thermobonding calender or mechanical entangling to form the nonwoven fabric. The resins used in the spunbonding process have lower molecular weight than those used in the conventional melt spinning process and higher molecular weights than those used in the conventional meltblowing process. Fibers smaller than 10 microns in diameter are very difficult to produce economically by spunbonding, and the average fiber diameter for conventional spunbonding processes is about 18 microns.
However, for particular applications, such as those in the health care industryxe2x80x94e.g., infant diapers, sanitary pads, adult incontinence wear, medical surgical dressings, and the likexe2x80x94the product must perform three distinct functions: First, a front or top sheet intended to contact the patient""s skin must allow the passage of moisture (e.g., blood, urine and like liquids) therethrough while at the same time providing an acceptable feel to the wearer""s skin. Second, an absorbent core, intermediate the topsheet and the backsheet, must be capable of absorbing the moisture which has been received through the topsheet. Third, a backsheet, on the back of the absorbent core, prevents leakage of moisture outwardly of the laminate. Another embodiment of the present invention relates specifically to the backsheet component.
The barrier properties of the backsheet (i.e., the trapping of moisture and other liquids) are typically achieved by incorporating into the backsheet a plastic layer or film which acts as a moisture barrier. Various major disadvantages associated with the utilization of such barrier films are the low moisture vapor transmission rates (MVTR) of the barrier films, undesirable crinkling noise created by the barrier film during usage of the product, and a stiffening of the product (due to the barrier film) which reduces its conformability to the area to which it is applied.
Porous films are typically permeable to both liquid water and water vapor. They may be made by the incorporation of different organic or inorganic additives into a polymer film, the film then being stretched or fillers removed therefrom chemically. Other conventional methods include mechanical perforation and/or radiation techniques to form the desired holes or slits in the polymeric film. Formation of uniform pore size in a film is very difficult, and porous plastic films are generally more expensive than non-wovens.
On the other hand, non-porous barrier films are typically impermeable to both liquid water and water vapor. As a result, using the impermeable film in a diaper backsheet, for example, makes the diaper hot before exposure to liquid (as the barrier film prevents air circulation) and clammy after exposure to moisture (because the barrier film precludes moisture evaporation). Indeed, the use of an impermeable barrier film in a diaper may cause severe dermatological problems, such as skin rash on infants, and skin sores on adults wearing such non-porous products.
It is also known to form a semi-porous barrier film of controlled porosity which is permeable to water vapor, but impermeable to liquid waterxe2x80x94that is, breathable. However, the method of manufacturing such a microporous film of controlled porosity is typically complex and expensive, and requires a relatively specialized polymeric input (for example, conjugate fibers formed of two separately manufactured polymeric materials or laminates formed of two separately manufactured polymeric materials).
Clearly the need remains for a method of economically manufacturing a media of controlled porosity, and in particular a media of controlled porosity that includes high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability, without the use of chemical binders, additives or coatings. Such breathable media would find use in products which are sold in such quantity that any reduction in the cost thereof (e.g., which makes it sufficiently economical for manufacture for use in disposable products) is highly desirable.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide, in one embodiment, a method of making of a media of controlled porosity.
Another object of the invention is to make, in one embodiment, a media of controlled porosity combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability.
Still another object is to provide such a method which, in one embodiment, does not require a specialized polymeric input.
A further object is to provide such a method which, in one embodiment, does not require the use of chemical binders, additives or coatings to provide the desired permeability or porosity.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide, in one embodiment, a material made by the aforesaid method.
It is another object to provide, in one embodiment, such a material which does not produce noise during use and which exhibits cloth-like feel (hand).
It is a further object to provide, in one embodiment, such a material which is economical to manufacture (e.g., for use in disposable products).
It has now been found that the above and related objects of the present invention are obtained in a method of making a non-woven fibrous media of controlled porosity, the method comprising the step of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein having relatively higher heats of fusion. In a preferred embodiment, the fabric is a meltblown fabric formed from meltblown fibers.
The present invention also includes a method of making a non-woven fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystalized during web formation and have a wide heat of fusion range distribution, and then calendering the fabric to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability.
The present invention additionally comprises a non-woven fibrous media providing a controlled porosity with a narrow pore size distribution and/or a non-woven fibrous media providing high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The media is a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystalized polymer and have a wide heat of fusion range distribution. To achieve high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability, the fabric is then calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively large polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability.
In a preferred embodiment the polymer is polypropylene, and optimally isotactic polypropylene, although other isotactic polymers may be used. The polymer is prematurely crystalized, preferably by quenching it prior to completion of fiber structural formation so that the polymer exhibits a bell-shaped heat of fusion range distribution (prior to calendering). Pore size is controlled by the speed of quenching. The faster the quenching, the smaller the pore size. The temperature, pressure and roller speed of the calendering operation are selected to soften the small polymer crystals, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals. For example, the fabric is preferably calendered at a temperature of about 25-110xc2x0 C., a pressure of about 25-150 Newtons, and a roller speed of up to 200 meters/minute. The fabric is calendered to retain a moisture vapor permeability of at least about 1200 g/m2 @ 24 hours and to provide a hydrostatic head of at least about 10 millibars (about 100 mm H2O). The calendered material may be made into a composite with, for example, at least one spunbond, spunmelt or other nonwoven fabric layer.
The present invention also relates in particular to five separate process modifications and the products thereof.
The first process modification is a method of making a fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. A laminate is formed of the caleridered fabric and a non-woven, and the laminate is passed through an embossing station to impose a pattern of depressions and projections on the calendered fabric wherein the non-woven enters the depressions of the embossed calendered fibers. Preferably, the laminating station includes a heated hard roll adjacent the non-woven and an unheated soft roll adjacent the calendered fabric, and the calendered fabric retains after lamination a high MVTR and substantially no holes therein. Preferably, the non-woven is a spunbond.
The product of the first process modification is a non-woven fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The media comprises a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The non-woven fabric is a component of a calendered laminate with a spunbond, the non-woven fabric having an embossed pattern of depressions and projections, with the spunbond entering the depressions of the non-woven fabric.
The second process modification is a method of making a fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The prematurely crystallized fibers of the fabric are passed through an addition station where at least one polymeric addition material is deposited on the fibers. The fabric is then calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability, and to integrate the fabric and the addition material. Preferably, the fibers are polypropylene of a given diameter range, and the addition material is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polyurethane, ethyl vinyl alcohol, polypropylene of a different diameter range, and combinations thereof. Substantially each addition material is added at a respective separate addition station.
The product of the second process modification is a non-woven fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The media comprises a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The calendered fabric includes at least one polymeric addition material deposited on the fabric. Preferably, the at least one polymeric addition material is deposited on the fabric before or after calendering.
The third process modification is a method of making a fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The size of the pores in the calendered fabric is increased, and the pores in the calendered fabric are shaped so as to maximize strikethrough of bodily fluids and minimize rewetting. Preferably, the increasing and shaping step comprises hot needle perforation of the calendered fabric such that insertion of the hot needle plasticizes the calendered fabric thereabout and, upon withdrawal of the hot needle, allows freezing of the plasticized calendered fabric. In another embodiment, the method comprising the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. A perforated rotating screen under suction is used to receive the fibers of the fabric and form enlarged and shaped pores therein to maximize strikethrough and minimize rewetting. The fabric is then calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability.
The product of the third process modification is a non-woven fibrous media combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The media comprises a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The non-woven fabric defines enlarged and shaped pores to maximize strikethrough and minimize rewetting.
The fourth process modification is a method of making a fibrous media combining controlled vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften substantially all of the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, and a controlled proportion of the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to control vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability.
The product of the fourth process modification is a non-woven fibrous media combining controlled vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The media comprises a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften substantially all of the small polymer crystals, and a controlled proportion of the relatively larger polymer crystals, thereby to control vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability.
The fifth process modification is a method of making a fibrous laminate combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The method comprises the steps of providing a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals therein of low heats of fusion, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The multi-layer laminate is formed of the calendered fabric with a high strength spunbond on each side of the calendered fabric.
The product of the fifth process modification is a non-woven fibrous laminate combining high vapor permeability and low liquid permeability. The laminate comprises a non-woven fabric formed from fibers that are prematurely crystallized during fabric formation to form small polymer crystals therein having low heats of fusion and relatively larger polymer crystals therein of relatively higher heats of fusion. The fabric is calendered to soften the small polymer crystals, but not the relatively larger polymer crystals, thereby to retain high vapor permeability while providing low liquid permeability. The calendered fabric is an intermediate layer of a multi-layer laminate having a high strength spunbond layer on each side thereof.

Method of making media of controlled porosity and product thereof


A method for manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser formed by laminating a plurality of layers on a substrate, includes coupling two layers of the plurality of layers by joining at room temperature or joining while heating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser and a multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, a multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, and an optical communication system. In particular, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing a vertical cavity surface emitting laser and a multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, a vertical cavity surface emitting laser, a multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, and an optical communication system, with improved wavelength reproducibility and excellent mass productivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the high-speed optical communication, WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) for multiplexing the wavelengths of communication semiconductor lasers and transmitting them has been widely used. In the present circumstances, however, WDM is limited to the use in the backbone or metro area network and has not reached the practical use stage for use of office or home.
However, in recent years, it has become possible to perform the high-speed optical communication using an optical fiber even in office or home. By FTTH (Fiber To The Home), a high-speed communication network at maximally 100 Mbps has begun to be served and introduced in SOHO (Small Office Home Office). In general, the optical fiber is drawn into offices or residences via utility poles and the link from the station. Optical signals transmitted to the office or home by the optical fiber are converted into electric signals using ONU (Optical Network Unit) placed in the home or in the vicinity thereof, thereby constructing LAN (Local Area Network) utilizing an Ethernet (a registered trademark) system and achieving communication with PC (Personal Computer). In this case, PC is connected to HUB by a metal UTP (Unshielded Twist Pair) cable.
On the other hand, in constructing LAN, a system using all optical networks without metal UTP cables, etc. is also being studied. In particular, in the short-range optical communication in an office, etc., studies on the wavelength division multiplexing system using POF (Plastic Optical Fiber), which is cheaper than a quartz based optical fiber, are advancing. This is because the capacity of communication information becomes large and it is demanded to more easily share motion images or large-capacity databases.
In such a demand, VCSEL's (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) play an important role as optical devices. VCSEL's are different from edge emitting semiconductor lasers broadly used and can providelight emitting from the surface of a semiconductor substrate. In this way, since many elements can be prepared simultaneously on the same substrate, it is possible to obtain light sources which are strongly in favor of mass productivity, that is realization of low costs and have stable performance.
In VCSEL, for example, an active layer is sandwiched between DBR (Distributed Bragg Reflector) structures formed of a semiconductor multilayered film to reflect light, thereby realizing an optical resonator. Usually, the semiconductor multilayered film includes several tens semiconductor layers, and by changing a composition ratio of AlGaAs, the DBR structures are formed. Light is usually output from the upper DBR side, and 100% of the light is reflected in the lower DBR. On the other hand, in the upper DBR portion, for the purpose of picking up light, the reflectance is designed to an extent of about 99%, thereby picking up the light. The reason why the reflectance is high in this way resides in the matter that VCSEL has a very narrow thickness of the active layer as about 50 nm due to its structure so that it is difficult to obtain a high gain. Also, in general, an MQW (Multi Quantum Well) structure is employed in the active layer.
The DBR structures are simultaneously prepared over the whole of the substrate by the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. For that reason, the oscillation wavelength is entirely the same over the whole of the substrate. However, as described previously, when used in the wavelength division multiplexing system, it is necessary that plural VCSELs provided adjacent to each other on the same substrate have wavelengths different from each other.
As to such a multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, for example, there has been proposed a method for preparing a mesa structure in which the diameter is different among the adjacent VSCELs on the substrate and then preparing DBR structures or light emitting layers by the MOCVD method (for example, see IEEE Photonics Technology Letters Vol. 7, p. 10-12 "Wavelength control of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers by using nonplanar MOCVD" Koyama, F.; Mukaihara, T.; Hayashi, Y.; Ohnoki, N.; Hatori, N.; and Iga, K.). In such VSCELs, the film thickness changes at the time of film formation by MOCVD, depending upon a difference in the size of the mesa of the substrate to cause a change of the film thickness structure of DBR or MQW, whereby the oscillation wavelength changes.
Also, there has been known a surface emitting device having a construction prepared by successively laminating a lower clad layer, an active layer, an upper clad layer and an upper reflection film on a lower reflection film and forming a wavelength tuning layer made of a material whose refractive index changes by a chemical change on the upper clad layer (JP-A-Hei. 9-135051 (paragraphs 0013 to 0022; and FIG. 2)).
Also, it has been known that when a dielectric mask such as SiO2 is grown in the doughnut shape in at least a part of the light emitting region by, for example, the MOCVD method or CBE method, the growth speed and composition of a crystal growing in an opening at the center can be changed in accordance with the width (wall thickness) of the doughnut shape, whereby the cross-sectional shape, the growth film thickness, the oscillation wavelength, and the like can be flexibly designed (JP-A-Hei. 10-233559 (paragraph 0034; and FIGS. 1 and 2).
As described above, various researches regarding VCSEL are advancing, and it is considered that light sources for high-speed communication using VCSEL will become important in the future. Taking into account such backgrounds, it is considered that realization of high-speed communication technologies, which can be employed in offices and homes, is important. Then, development of technologies of an optical communication system using an optical fiber such as POF is advanced.
POF has such a characteristic feature that POF can be easily connected and used. It has been proven that when POF is combined with VCSEL, communication of 2 GHz or more can be achieved so far as the communication distance is short. POF is used in the multiple mode, and its core size is several hundreds microns and large as compared with quartz based single mode fibers. Therefore, though POF has such characteristic features that alignment between fibers can be easily performed and that its handling such as connection and removal is easy, its transmission loss is large and its transmission distance is restricted. In general, it is considered that the transmission distance is about 50 m and that the transmission speed is limited to several Gbps. However, if VCSEL emitting light of multiple wavelengths is realized and is applied to POF, wavelength division multiplexing communication becomes possible, and ultrahigh-speed transmission can be realized.

Method for manufacturing vertical cavity surface emitting laser and multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, vertical cavity surface emitting laser, multiple wavelength surface emitting laser, and optical communication system


A precedence constraint solving means generates a set of authorities without a precedence constraint into a temporary storing means from a set of authorities having a precedence constraint extracted for a role. At this moment, the precedence constraint solving means derives an authority in accordance with an order satisfying the precedence constraint from the set of authorities having the precedence constraint and, when an object of the derived authority includes an object of an authority having the same action already generated in the temporary storing means and permission/denial identifiers of both the authorities are different from each other, divides the derived authority into a plurality of authorities having objects of the same granularity as that of the included object, and stores only an authority having a different object from the included object into the temporary storing means.

In a computer, access control using an access authority is executed for the purpose of preventing unauthorized access. An access authority is formed by a combination including a subject as the subject of access, an object as the object of the access, an action as the type of the access, and a permission/denial identifier representing whether to permit or deny the subject to execute the action on the object.
In a computer with a number of subjects, the number of access authorities necessary for access control is huge. Thus, a method for generating access authorities with efficiency by using the concept of role is proposed (e.g., refer to FIG. 20 of Patent Document 1). In this method, in a form without specifying a subject, information of permission or denial of a specific action for a specific object is described as an authority. Moreover, one or more authorities are grouped and each provided with an identifier "role." On the other hand, the relation between a role and a subject is managed separately. Then, a user such as a manager of the computer generates, for each role, authorities each formed by a combination including an object, an action, and a permission/denial identifier representing whether to permit or deny the action on the object. The generation system expands the authorities generated for each role, for each subject belonging to the role, and thereby generates an access authority for each subject.
For example, it is assumed that there are n-pieces of tables from a table T1 to a table Tn as objects. Moreover, it is assumed that a subject S1 and a subject S2 belong to a role R1. Then, in the case of automatically generating access authorities that permit the subjects S1 and S2 to write into the table T1, the user generates an authority P that permits to write into the table T1, in association with the role R1. When this authority P is inputted, the generation system judges that the subject S1 and the subject S2 belong to the role R1 and generates an access authority that permits the subject S1 to write into the table T1 and an access authority that permits the subject S2 to write into the table T1. Consequently, the user does not need to describe a number of access authorities defining actions that can be permitted for each of the subjects, and a burden on the user is reduced.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-313102
As a method for efficiently describing authorities in a case that objects subjected to access control are hierarchized, there is a method using an inclusion relation in the object hierarchy to describe an authority targeting on an upper object. For example, it is assumed that an object in the upper hierarchy including the aforementioned n-pieces of tables T1 to Tn is database DB. In this case, according to the method described above, an authority that permits to write into the database DB is described when writing into all of the tables T1 to Tn is permitted. Consequently, only one authority is required, though n-pieces of authorities are necessary in a case that tables are targets.
However, according to the method described above, it is impossible to make an authority for some objects among a plurality of objects in the lower hierarchy different from that for the other objects. Thus, there is a method of describing, for some objects among lower-hierarchy objects, another authority competing with an authority for an upper-hierarchy object, and setting a constraint so as to preferentially apply the former authority than the latter authority. A constraint so as to preferentially apply one authority than another authority is called a precedence constraint.
For example, in a case that access by the role R1 to (n−1)-pieces of tables T1 to Tn−1 excluding the table Tn from the aforementioned n-pieces of tables T1 to Tn is permitted, two authorities P1 and P2 as shown below are generated.
Authority P1 (priority 1): an authority associated with the role R1, prohibiting writing into the table Tn.
Authority P2 (priority 2): an authority associated with the Role R1, permitting writing into the database DB.
These two authorities P1 and P2 relate to writing into the table Tn, and compete with each other because one prohibits and the other permits. However, because of the precedence constraint, the authority P1 with a higher priority is applied with respect to writing into the table Tn. Therefore, the subjects S1 and S2 belonging to the role R1 are prohibited from writing into the table Tn. On the other hand, because the authority P2 is applied with respect to writing into the tables T1 to Tn−1, the subjects S1 and S2 belonging to the role R1 are permitted to write into the tables T1 to Tn−1.
By describing an authority by using the inclusion relation of the objects and the precedence constraint as described above, it is possible to reduce the number of necessary authorities, and it is possible to reduce the burden on the user. However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 does not deal with an authority described by using the inclusion relation of the objects and the precedence constraint. Therefore, in a case that the authorities P1 and P2 with the precedence constraint as described in the above example are processed based on the technique described in Patent Document 1, access authorities competing with each other are generated. That is to say, when the authorities P1 and P2 are processed, an access authority that permits writing into the database DB and an access authority competing therewith that prohibits writing into the table Tn are generated for the subjects S1 and S2.
Among the computers executing access control using an access authority, some computers cannot process access authorities competing with each other, and some computers can process the competing access authorities but processes in different manners from the other computers. Therefore, in order to ensure that all of the computers execute accurate access control, there is a need to generate access authorities that do not compete with each other.


The method and system of adapting speech recognition models to a speaker environment may comprise receiving a spoken password (52) and getting a set of speaker independent (SI) speech recognition models (54). A mapping sequence may be determined for the spoken password (56). Using the mapping sequence, a speaker ID may be identified (58). A transform may be determined (66) between the SI speech recognition models and the spoken password using the mapping sequence. Speaker adapted (SA) speech recognition models may be generated (68) by applying the transform to SI speech recognition models. A speech input may be recognized (70) by applying the SA speech recognition models.

Speech recognition systems that employ Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) are well known in the art. HMM models are generally trained for some training database of speech, which fixes the parameters of the HMMs based on statistical information within the training data. During recognition, the HMM models do not change depending on the characteristics of the incoming speech. Thus, while the HMM models may be able to explain the typical expected environment, they may not be able to describe the encountered environment well.
Differences between the expected and the encountered environment may result from variabilities encountered in the speech signal. Such variabilities may be caused by any combination of background noise or interference, channel or handset noise, filtering characteristics, and even effects due to speaker differences such as dialect.
To compensate for the variabilities encountered in a speech signal, many speech recognition systems rely on a mixture of HMM models where each state of the model has a corresponding probability distribution defined by a mixture of a large number of distributions to count for the variabilities. These models have a large number of parameters and become unwieldy when attempting to use them in many practical real-time applications.

Method and system of adapting speech recognition models to speaker environment


The invention provides a DNA construct comprising a DNA sequence encoding a fusion protein of the formula: TetC-(Z)a-Het, wherein: TetC is the C fragment of tetanus toxin, or a protein comprising the epitopes thereof; Het is a heterologous protein, Z is an amino acid, and a is zero or a positive integer, provided that (Z)a does not include the sequence Gly-Pro. The invention also provides replicable expression vectors containing the constructs, bacteria transformed with the constructs, the fusion proteins per se and vaccine compositions formed from the fusion proteins or attenuated bacteria expressing the fusion proteins.

This invention relates to DNA constructs, replicable expression vectors containing the constructs, bacteria containing the constructs and vaccines containing the bacteria or fusion proteins expressed therefrom. More particularly, the invention relates to novel DNA constructs encoding the C-fragment of tetanus toxin, and to fusion proteins containing tetanus toxin C-fragment.
It is known to prepare DNA constructs encoding two or more heterologous proteins with a view to expressing the proteins in a suitable host as a single fusion protein. However, it has often been found that fusing two proteins together in this way leads to an incorrectly folded chimaeric protein which no longer retains the properties of the individual components. For example, the B-subunits of the Vibrio cholerae (CT-B) and E. coli (LT-B) enterotoxins are powerful mucosal immunogens but genetic fusions to these subunits can alter the structure and properties of the carriers and hence their immunogenicity (see M. Sandkvist et al. J. Bacteriol. 169, pp4570-6, 1987, Clements et al. 1990 and M. Lipscombe et al. Mol. Microbiol. 5, pp 1385, 1990). Moreover, many heterologous proteins expressed in bacteria are not produced in soluble properly folded or active forms and tend to accumulate as insoluble aggregates (see C. Schein et al. Bio/Technology 6, pp 291-4, 1988 and R. Halenbeck et al. Bio/Technology 7, pp 710-5, 1989.
In our earlier unpublished international patent application PCT/GB93/01617, it is disclosed that by providing a DNA sequence encoding tetanus toxin C-fragment (TetC) linked via a xe2x80x9chinge regionxe2x80x9d to a second sequence encoding an antigen, the expression of the sequence in bacterial cells is enhanced relative to constructs wherein the C-fragment is absent. For example, the expression level of the full length P28 glutathione S-tranferase protein of S. mansoni when expressed as a fusion to TetC from the nirB promoter was greater than when the P28 protein was expressed alone from the nirB promoter. The TetC fusion to the full length P28 protein of S. mansoni was soluble and expressed in both E. coli and S. typhimurium. In addition, the TetC-P28 fusion protein was capable of being affinity purified by a glutathione agarose matrix, suggesting that the P28 had folded correctly to adopt a conformation still capable of binding to its natural substrate. It was previously considered that a hinge region, which typically is a sequence encoding a high proportion of proline and/or glycine amino acids, is essential for promoting the independent folding of both the TetC and the antigenic protein fused thereto. However, it has now been discovered, surprisingly in view of the previous studies on CT-B and LT-B referred to above, that when the hinge region is omitted between the TetC and a second antigen such as P28, the proteins making up the fusion do exhibit correct folding as evidenced by affinity purification on a glutathione agarose matrix.
Accordingly, in a first aspect, the invention provides a DNA construct comprising a DNA sequence encoding a fusion protein of the formula TetC-(Z)a-Het, wherein TetC is the C fragment of tetanus toxin, or a protein comprising the epitopes thereof; Het is a heterologous protein; Z is an amino acid, and a is zero or a positive integer, provided that (Z)a does not include the sequence Gly-Pro.
Typically (Z)a is a chain of 0 to 15 amino acids, for example 0 to 10, preferably less than 6 and more preferably less than 4 amino acids.
In one embodiment (Z)a is a chain of two or three amino acids, the DNA sequence for which defines a restriction endonuclease cleavage site.
In another embodiment, a is zero.
Usually the group (Z)a will not contain, simultaneously, both glycine and proline, and generally will not contain either glycine or proline at all.
In a further embodiment, (Z)a is a chain of amino acids provided that when a is 6 or more, (Z)a does not contain glycine or proline.
The group (Z)a may be a chain of amino acids substantially devoid of biological activity.
In a second aspect the invention provides a replicable expression vector, for example suitable for use in bacteria, containing a DNA construct as hereinbefore defined.
In another aspect, the invention provides a host (e.g. a bacterium) containing a DNA construct as hereinbefore defined, the DNA construct being present in the host either in the form of a replicable expression vector such as a plasmid, or being present as part of the host chromosome, or both.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a fusion protein of the form TetC-(Z)a-Het as hereinbefore defined, preferably in substantially pure form, said fusion protein being expressible by a replicable expression vector as hereinbefore defined.
In a further aspect the invention provides a process for the preparation of a bacterium (preferably an attenuated bacterium) which process comprises transforming a bacterium (e.g. an attenuated bacterium) with a DNA construct as hereinbefore defined.
The invention also provides a vaccine composition comprising an attenuated bacterium, or a fusion protein, as hereinbefore defined, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
The heterologous protein xe2x80x9cHetxe2x80x9d may for example be a heterologous antigenic sequence, e.g. an antigenic sequence derived from a virus, bacterium, fungus, yeast or parasite.
Examples of viral antigenic sequences are sequences derived from a type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) such as HIV-1 or HIV-2, the CD4 receptor binding site from HIV, for example from HIV-1 or -2., hepatitis A, B or C virus, human rhinovirus such as type 2 or type 14, Herpes simplex virus, poliovirus type 2 or 3, foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), rabies virus, rotavirus, influenza virus, coxsackie virus, human papilloma virus (HPV), for example the type 16 papilloma virus, the E7 protein thereof, and fragments containing the E7 protein or its epitopes; and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV).
Examples of antigens derived from bacteria are those derived from Bordetella pertussis (e.g. P69 protein and filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) antigens), Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus anthracis, and E.coli antigens such as E.coli heat Labile toxin B subunit (LT-B), E.coli K88 antigens, and enterotoxigenic E.coli antigens. Other examples of antigens include the cell surface antigen CD4, Schistosoma mansoni P28 glutathione S-transferase antigens (P28 antigens) and antigens of flukes, mycoplasma, roundworms, tapeworms, Chlamydia trachomatis, and malaria parasites, eg. parasites of the genus plasmodium or babesia, for example Plasmodium falciparum, and peptides encoding immunogenic epitopes from the aforementioned antigens.
Particular antigens include the full length Schistosoma mansoni P28, and oligomers (e.g. 2, 4 and 8-mers) of the immunogenic P28 aa 115-131 peptide (which contains both a B and T cell epitope), and human papilloma virus E7 protein, Herpes simplex antigens, foot and mouth disease virus antigens and simian immunodeficiency virus antigens.
The DNA constructs of the present invention may contain a promoter whose activity is induced in response to a change in the surrounding environment. An example of such a promoter sequence is one which has activity which is induced by anaerobic conditions. A particular example of such a promoter sequence is the nirB promoter which has been described, for example in International Patent Application PCT/GB92/00387. The nirB promoter has been isolated from E.coli, where it directs expression of an operon which includes the nitrite reductase gene nirB (Jayaraman et al, J. Mol. Biol. 196, 781-788, 1987), and nirD, nirC, cysG (Peakman et al, Eur. J. Biochem. 191, 315323, 1990). It is regulated both by nitrite and by changes in the oxygen tension of the environment, becoming active when deprived of oxygen, (Cole, Biochem, Biophys. Acta. 162, 356-368, 1968). Response to anaerobiosis is mediated through the protein FNR, acting as a transcriptional activator, in a mechanism common to many anaerobic respiratory genes. By deletion and mutational analysis the part of the promoter which responds solely to anaerobiosis has been isolated and by comparison with other anaerobically regulated promoters a consensus FNR-binding site has been identified (Bell et al, Nucl, Acids. Res. 17, 3865-3874, 1989; Jayaraman et al, Nucl, Acids, Res. 17, 135-145, 1989). It has also been shown that the distance between the putative FNR-binding site and the xe2x88x9210 homology region is critical (Bell et al, Molec. Microbiol.4, 1753-1763, 1990). It is therefore preferred to use only that part of the nirB promoter which responds solely to anaerobiosis. As used herein, references to the nirB promoter refer to the promoter itself or a part or derivative thereof which is capable of promoting expression of a coding sequence under anaerobic conditions. The preferred sequence, and which contains the nirB promoter is:
AATTCAGGTAAATTTGATGTACATCAAATGGTACCCCTTGCTGAATCGTTAAGG TAGGCGGTAGGGCC (SEQ ID NO: 1)
In a most preferred aspect, the present invention provides a DNA molecule comprising the nirB promoter operably linked to a DNA sequence encoding a fusion protein as hereinbefore defined.
In another preferred aspect of the invention, there is provided a replicable expression vector, suitable for use in bacteria, containing the nirB promoter sequence operably linked to a DNA sequence encoding a fusion protein as hereinbefore defined.
The DNA molecule or construct may be integrated into the bacterial chromosome, e.g. by methods known per se, and thus in a further aspect, the invention provides a bacterium having in its chromosome, a DNA sequence or construct as hereinbefore defined.
Stable expression of the fusion protein can be obtained in vivo. The fusion protein can be expressed in an attenuated bacterium which can thus be used as a vaccine.
The attenuated bacterium may be selected from the genera Salmonella, Bordetella, Vibrio, Haemophilus, Neisseria and Yersinia. Alternatively, the attenuated bacterium may be an attenuated strain of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In particular the following species can be mentioned: S.typhixe2x80x94the cause of human typhoid; S.typhimuriumxe2x80x94the cause of salmonellosis in several animal species; S.enteritidisxe2x80x94a cause of food poisoning in humans; S.choleraesuisxe2x80x94a cause of salmonellosis in pigs; Bordetella pertussisxe2x80x94the cause of whooping cough; HaemoDhilus influenzaexe2x80x94a cause of meningitis; Neisseria gonorrhoea the cause of gonorrhoea; and Yersiniaxe2x80x94a cause of food poisoning.
Examples of attenuated bacteria are disclosed in, for example EP-A-0322237 and EP-A-0400958, the disclosures in which are incorporated by reference herein.
An attenuated bacterium containing a DNA construct according to the invention, either present in the bacterial chromosome, or in plasmid form, or both, can be used as a vaccine. Fusion proteins (preferably in substantially pure form) expressed by the bacteria can also be used in the preparation of vaccines. For example, a purified TetC-P28 fusion protein in which the TetC protein is linked via its C-terminus to the P28 protein with no intervening hinge region has been found to be immunogenic on its own. In a further aspect therefore, the invention provides a vaccine composition comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or diluent and, as active ingredient, an attenuated bacterium or fusion protein as hereinbefore defined.
The vaccine may comprise one or more suitable adjuvants.
The vaccine is advantageously presented in a lyophilised form, for example in a capsular form, for oral administration to a patient. Such capsules may be provided with an enteric coating comprising, for example, Eudragit xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d, Eudragit xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d, Cellulose acetate, Cellulose acetate phthalate or Hydroxypropylmethyl Cellulose. These capsules may be used as such, or alternatively, the lyophilised material may be reconstituted prior to administration, e.g. as a suspension. Reconstitution is advantageously effected in buffer at a suitable pH to ensure the viability of the organisms. In order to protect the attenuated bacteria and the vaccine from gastric acidity, a sodium bicarbonate preparation is advantageously administered before each administration of the vaccine. Alternatively, the vaccine may be prepared for parenteral administration, intranasal administration or intramammary administration.
The attenuated bacterium containing the DNA construct or fusion protein of the invention may be used in the prophylactic treatment of a host, particularly a human host but also possibly an animal host. An infection caused by a microorganism, especially a pathogen, may therefore be prevented by administering an effective dose of an attenuated bacterium according to the invention. The bacterium then expresses the fusion protein which is capable of raising antibody to the micro-organism. The dosage employed will be dependent on various factors including the size and weight of the host, the type of vaccine formulated and the nature of the fusion protein.
An attenuated bacterium according to the present invention may be prepared by transforming an attenuated bacterium with a DNA construct as hereinbefore defined. Any suitable transformation technique may be employed, such as electroporation. In this way, an attenuated bacterium capable of expressing a protein or proteins heterologous to the bacterium may be obtained. A culture of the attenuated bacterium may be grown under aerobic conditions. A sufficient amount of the bacterium is thus prepared for formulation as a vaccine, with minimal expression of the fusion protein occurring.
The DNA construct may be a replicable expression vector comprising the nirB promoter operably linked to a DNA sequence encoding the fusion protein. The nirB promoter may be inserted in an expression vector, which already incorporates a gene encoding one of the heterologous proteins (e.g. the tetanus toxin C fragment), in place of the existing promoter controlling expression of the protein. The gene encoding the other heterologous protein (e.g. an antigenic sequence) may then be inserted. The expression vector should, of course, be compatible with the attenuated bacterium into which the vector is to be inserted.
The expression vector is provided with appropriate transcriptional and translational control elements including, besides the nirB promoter, a transcriptional termination site and translational start and stop codons. An appropriate ribosome binding site is provided. The vector typically comprises an origin of replication and, if desired, a selectable marker gene such as an antibiotic resistance gene. The vector may be a plasmid.


The present invention relates to thermoplastic reinforced elastomeric blend compositions which exhibit improved tensile strengths, wherein the elastomeric blend compositions comprises a blend of a metal neutralized sulfonated polymer with about 1 to about 40 weight percent of a metal neutralized copolymer of ethylene and methacrylate.

Over the past several decades, polymer blend technology has achieved an important position in the field of polymer science from both a scientific and technology viewpoint. With regard to binary component blends, a large number of possibilities exist in which either miscibility or immiscibility is observed. Superimposed on these myriad of possibilities is the likelihood that one or both of the components are crystalline.
Typically, blends with crystallizable components are generally heterogeneous below the melting temperature. In fact, it has been noted compatible blends within these systems would require the formation of mixed crystals in which both polymer chains would cocrystallize. Therefore, if miscibility would occur, it would occur in the amorphous phases since cocrystallization is an unlikely occurrence.
The literature also teaches that tough amorphous-type blends could be formed with the "addition" of low levels of interacting functionalities. Ionic groups, especially transition metal neutralized sulfonate or carboxylate groups, are able to coordinate with a wide variety of bases, such as 4-vinylpyridine, contained within a separate copolymer structure. The initial thrust focussed on the incorporation of rubbery materials into an amorphous, brittle matrix. The physical properties, especially toughness, was dramatically enhanced through these coordination-type interactions. More recently, a similar approach was utilized to enhance the properties of semicrystalline polymers, specially polyethylene. In both of the above mentioned family of blends, interactions between otherwise immiscible components, resulted in markedly improved properties. The level of functionality was typically less than 10 mole percent, which is not sufficient to form completely miscible systems. As anticipated, the nature of the transition metal counterion had a marked influence on the blend properties. Non-transition metal counterions, such as sodium, form blend systems having poor properties closely approximating those found in unfunctionalized, noninteracting blends.
The unblended metal neutralized ionomeric materials previously described also have interesting solution and bulk properties. The incorporation of even very low levels of ionic groups profoundly influences properties through both intra- and inter-molecular associations. It is now virtually indisputable that low order aggregates and clusters exist in some form in the bulk state. The exact nature of the ion-rich regions, however, are still an object of considerable debate. It is certain that in ion-containing polymers with low ion concentration, the ionic groups aggregate as multiple ion pairs which give the polymer properties similar to a crosslinked system. The junction points are due to physical interactions (and not to chemical bonding). Furthermore, a critical concentration is reached where the properties become dominated by ionic clusters or aggregates of multiplets.
In this invention, solution blending was used to prepare semicrystalline blends containing an ionomeric polyethylene, specifically ethylene-methacrylate copolymer, and an amorphous component, specifically metal neutralized sulfonated ethylene-propylene diene rubber. Melt blending was also an effective blending technique. The instant invention details formation of blends through the interaction of ion-containing copolymers. The ionically-associating units are located on otherwise immiscible blend systems. In the blend compositions described here, the ionomeric associations are purely coulombic in nature and not specific interactions as in blends formed through coordination-type complex formation. These blend compositions can be useful in a variety of structural applications, packaging, home or office appliances, automotive parts, medical applications and the like.

Polyethylene reinforced elastomeric blend compositions


A first array of disk drives overlaps with a second array of disk drives in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives (RAID) system, in which the first and second arrays share at least one disk drive. A first stripe of data from a first client is stored in the first array, and a second stripe of data from a second client is stored in the second array. The shared disk drives are less than the number of drives needed to reconstruct a full stripe. Thus, in the event of a drive failure in the first array, the first client can reconstruct the first data stripe, but is never able to reconstruct the second stripe. Likewise, in the event of a drive failure in the second array, the second client can reconstruct the second data stripe, but is never able to reconstruct the first stripe.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for sharing a computer resource provided on a network among plural users, and more particularly to data protection when a storage device is shared.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, a variety of services have been made available, including a hosting service for lending computer resources (server, storage device, circuit, application and so on) provided on a network, using the network such as the Internet that is widely spread and a utility computing service in which computer resources can be purchased by a necessary amount, as needed. These services reduce a load on the economy and human resources for maintaining the computer resources from the viewpoint of the user, and are meaningful for the company, because the company is relieved of the load or waste by outsourcing them.
As one of the hosting/utility computing services, there is a service for providing a data storage area of the storage device to the user. In this service, it is important to assure the reliability (fault or failure counter plan) and safety (measure to prevent leakage of information to other companies) of information recorded in the storage device. As a failure counter plan, there is a technique for recording the record information with redundancy, including the RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks).
On the other hand, the existent schemes for preventing leakage of data include the encryption of recorded data and the access control (authentication). Moreover, to be safer, there is a method for physically separating the recording medium for writing information for each user. For example, information of each user is recorded on different magnetic disk assigned to each user, when the storage device is a magnetic disk device.
FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a hosting server in which physically different magnetic disks are assigned to plural companies.
As shown in FIG. 10, the hosting server has a disk pool composed of plural magnetic disk devices. Data from different companies are stored in different magnetic disks, such that information Aa of client A is stored in magnetic disks for client A, information Ba of client B in magnetic disks for client B, and so on. In FIG. 10, for example, information Aa of client A is divided into four blocks of data Aa1, Aa2, Aa3 and Aa4, with the parity data added, and are stored in five magnetic disks.
In the conventional hosting service, various methods for assuring the safety of recorded data are taken. However, in the case where the recording medium is shared among plural users to permit only the maintenance under access control, all the information for the users sharing the recording medium may be accessed, if the access control is broken.
Also, when the recording media for recording data for each user are physically separated, it is not possible for plural users to share individual recording medium. That is, the recording medium assigned to a certain user is only usable to record the information of the user, even if a large empty area remains. Therefore, the recording medium has a lower utilization efficiency.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to assure the safety of recorded data while sharing the recording medium among plural users, and improve the utilization efficiency of the recording medium.

International Business Machines Corporation


In one embodiment, by way of example only, a resource threshold limits the resource usage of each of the multiplicity of clients. The resource threshold of each of the multiplicity of clients increases over time and decreases when the resources deplete and a resource request of a client is rejected. A subset of clients is created from the multiplicity of clients having a resource usage greater than the resource usage of the rejected client. A dynamic average of a normalized number of resources is calculated from the subset of clients. The resource threshold of each client from the subset of clients is decreased based on the dynamic average of the subset of clients, and further acquisition of resources is restricted from each client from the subset of clients in order to bring the resource usage of each of the subset of clients under the resource threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to computers, and more particularly to dynamically balancing resource resources according to a client's requirement for a multiplicity of clients with unpredictable loads based on a prior resource usage (e.g., resource usage history) by a processor device in a computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's society, computer systems are commonplace. Computer systems may be found in the workplace, at home, or at school. Computer systems may include data storage systems, or disk storage systems, to process and store data. Data storage systems, or disk storage systems, are utilized to process and store data. A storage system may include one or more disk drives. These data processing systems typically require a large amount of data storage. Customer data, or data generated by users within the data processing system, occupies a great portion of this data storage. Many of these computer systems include virtual storage components.
Within the computing environment, system resources may be required to perform a variety of operations and services. Systems that maintain simultaneously running activities by multiple clients are often constrained by their dependency on resources that may only be used by one activity at a time. The challenge in such systems is to distribute a limited number of resources between the multiple clients, while considering the resource availability and the multiple clients' need and priority.

Dynamically balancing resource requirements for clients with unpredictable loads

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


In a multi-channel digital wireless audio system with at least one transmit node and at least one receive node, each node can both receive and transmit digital audio signals. Signals sent from a receive node to a transmit node may acknowledge satisfactory signal receipt, or may requesting retransmission of data packets received in a corrupted state. Original and retransmitted signals may be sent in compressed form to enable use of narrow-band digital radios. The system preferably incorporates a dual control channel to enable transmission of meta data. Each system node preferably incorporates a hardware-multithreaded processor adapted to implement various functions such as baseband functions, RF protocol functions, error correction functions, and audio processing functions, with each independent thread being adapted to implement a different functional block.

A variety of wireless audio systems may be found in the prior art. The following general categories of prior art wireless audio systems are of particular relevance to the present invention, especially as they pertain to creating good quality of service, in the domain of audio information transmission and delivery:                DIGITAL AUDIO—CD audio and techniques for dealing with surface damage on CDs, causing bits to be read incorrectly.        DIGITAL WIRELESS AUDIO—Digital cordless phones are prior art. Digital radios in this application include static channel, FHSS and DSSS.        NETWORK-BASED AUDIO—Audio over Internet techniques (e.g., RealNetworks,® iTunes,™ and various others); Audio over Ethernet; Audio over wireless Ethernet (such as music mover products from Creative, Apple etc.).        ANALOG WIRELESS HI-FI AUDIO—For example, 900 MHz FM (analog) wireless stereo systems (e.g., Recoton,® Sennheiser)        PRO AUDIO—There are specific frequencies available for pro audio (analog FM solutions). These typically overlap with VHF and UHF TV channels, forcing users to determine whether or not there is a conflict in each city. The microphones have 2 FM radio transmitters and the receivers also have 2 radios (and 2 antennas), such that if interference or multipath occurs on one, the audio path continues on the other. Samson, Shure,® and AKG® are examples of companies that sell products in this category.        DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCAST (DAB)—In the UK and increasingly in other countries, the old AM and FM radio is being slowly replaced by DAB stations that transmit high fidelity content over the air in digital form.        SATELLITE RADIO—XM and Sirius are examples of "satellite radio" companies.        DIGITAL AUDIO COMPRESSION—The telephone industry has been using digital audio for decades, and has adopted several simple time-domain compression techniques called μlaw and A-law. These techniques basically apply a table-driven logarithmic representation to the raw data—typically reducing 16-bit samples to 8-bit samples (2 to 1 compression). Digital cordless telephones have applied ADPCM compression to voice audio signals in order to reduce the amount of digital payload.
Pro Audio (FM analog) solutions achieve high quality of service (QoS) by using two transmit frequencies at the receive side, to ensure continuity of signal transmission if one of the frequencies fails (e.g., if a frequency is interfered with or experiences extreme path loss such as with a multipath null). An objective of the present invention is to provide a wireless audio system capable of achieving levels of QoS and frequency diversity comparable to those achievable with Pro Audio, but using digital, frequency-agile radios; i.e., digital wireless audio (DWA). It is a further objective to provide a wireless audio system that does not require multiple radios at each system node, thus reducing system cost compared to known wireless systems.
One aspect of fidelity in multi-channel audio solution is synchronization between channels. For example, without precise synchronization between left and right channels of a stereo signal, the sound image will be grossly distorted.
Another objective is to provide high QoS using busy ISM bands that do not have licensing requirements (such as the 2.400-2.483 GHz band) while coexisting with other signal traffic in the target radio band. This objective makes it desirable to use relatively low-data-rate, narrow-band radios; i.e., having a narrow footprint in the band, such radios are more likely to be able to find "clean" operating frequencies within the band that will not be interfered with by traffic from other devices. The basic rule here is that the fewer bits of payload that are sent, the less exposed the data is in the air, and thus the greater the QoS.
Achieving desirable performance in audio fidelity in a DWA system entails consideration of generally known principles of digital audio. Fidelity can be measured with such metrics as frequency response/pass band ripple, total harmonic distortion, signal-to-noise ratio, and the like. The challenge comes in implementing the general case in which fidelity and QoS must be maintained at or above desired minimum levels while end-to-end system latency is kept to at or below a desired maximum level. There are other global considerations such as system size, cost, and power consumption that typically have hard constraints in practical embodiments. In view of such constraints, it is commonly necessary to make tradeoffs between fidelity, QoS, and latency. There is accordingly a need for new DWA systems having improved fidelity, QoS, and latency characteristics, but without increasing system size, cost, or power consumption compared with known systems of similar performance. The present invention is directed to the foregoing needs and objectives.

Multi-channel digital wireless audio system


A computer program product including computer readable program code embodied on a computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer readable program code for obtaining a fuel tank size, amount of fuel in the tank, and a fuel efficiency for an automobile; accepting user entry of a destination for traveling in the automobile; and automatically identifying a current location and determining a route to the destination. Additional computer readable program code acquires, for each of a plurality of refueling stations along the route, a location and a current fuel price being offered at the refueling station. Computer readable program code also provides output recommending one or more refueling stations at which to stop and a quantity of fuel to purchase at each of the one or more refueling stations in order to reach the destination without running out of fuel and minimizing the price of fuel purchased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to travel planning and navigation.
2. Background of the Related Art
As automotive fuel prices have risen, the cost of traveling by automobile has also risen to become a greater proportion of a person's monthly expenses. Accordingly, there has been an increase in various efforts to purchase fuel at a low prices. Radio stations may announce low fuel prices reported by their listeners and websites may describe fuel prices at various locations around the country. Furthermore, online map programs or mobile navigation systems make it possible to quickly determine the distance from one address to another, while a GPS-enable mobile device can track its current location. Even the current design of automobiles reflects an increased focus on fuel efficiency, as many models now include systems that will calculate an estimated fuel efficiency of the automobile under actual driving conditions.


A cylindrical filter bag including a wire mesh cage is provided with an access opening in the cage proximate to the open end of the filter bag. A resilient snap band is provided around the outer circumference of the cylindrical filter bag. The snap band includes a pair of felt rings formed around the band and an annular groove between the rings. The snap band thus provided can be depressed into the access opening in the wire mesh cage to allow the filter bag to be readily positioned in an airtight manner within a circular hole provided in the tube sheet of a dust collector. The hole in the tube sheet is provided with a collar having a radially extended flange portion that is attached to the top surface of the tube sheet to center the collar above the hole. The wire mesh cage of the filter bag is further provided with a reinforcing sleeve that mates with the tube sheet collar, and a venturi that is positioned concentrically within the sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to industrial dust collectors and, in particular, to an improved bottom loading filter bag assembly for the baghouse of an industrial dust collector. More specifically, but without restriction to the particular description shown, this invention relates to a snap band provided at the open end of a filter bag having an internal support cage, the band and cage allowing the bag to be quickly mounted and sealed within the tube sheet of a baghouse from beneath the tube sheet.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Demand from various industries for effective environmental control systems has recently been greater than heretofore because of the advent of increasingly stringent environmental regulations. One area of particular concern has been air quality control. In a wide variety of industries dealing with the processing of bulk materials such as cement, chemicals, fertilizers, food grains, paper and minerals, dust collectors well known in the art have typically been employed to remove airborne particulate matter from the processing environment.
These dust collectors commonly include a hopper and an upper housing having a baghouse. A tube sheet is provided in the upper housing to support a number of cylindrical filter bags. The filter bags typically include an internal wire cage or stiff ribbing for structural support. The tube sheet effectively divides the upper housing into two distinct regions. These two regions include a filter bag region or baghouse situated below the tube sheet and a clean air chamber above the tube sheet. In this known configuration, the filter bags are suspended downwardly from the tube sheet. The bottom end of each bag is closed while the top end is open. A circular hole for each filter bag is provided in the tube sheet so that the open end of the bag can be placed in communication with the clean air chamber. The hopper of the dust collector typically contains an inlet connected to an internal baffle while the clean air chamber includes an outlet in communication with an exhaust or draft fan.
In operation, dust laden air is removed from the processing environment by an air duct connected to the hopper inlet. This dirty air is distributed within the upper housing by the internal baffle, which reduces air velocity and disperses the air uniformly throughout the housing. Heavier dust particles are separated from the airstream and fall into the hopper. Lighter, airborne particles are collected on the outside surface of the filter bags while the air is drawn through the bag fabric and upward inside the bag, past the tube sheet, and then into the clean air chamber. From there it is continually drawn through ducts to be induced draft fan. At this point, the filtered air is either discharged to the atmosphere or returned to the processing environment. Periodically, the bags are cleaned by a jet of high pressure air emitted through blow tubes placed horizontally in the clean air chamber above the open top of a row of bags. The downward flowing air jet causes accumulated dust to be dislodged from the outside surface of the bags. This dust then falls into the hopper. All the dust and particulate matter collected in the hopper is removed therefrom by an airlock or a screw conveyor and airlock combined.
The above-described dust collector is typically placed on the exterior of the facilities that contain the processing environment. In this type of installation, the outlet and inlet of the dust collector would have potentially long air ducts leading to and from the facility or building containing the processing environment. When the dust collector is so positioned without any overhead obstructions, the 5 to 8 foot filter bags can easily be installed and replaced through access panels provided in the top of the dust collector.
In some applications, however, the dust collector is better positioned within the interior of the building or structure containing the processing environment. Overhead obstructions are often encountered in these installations, thus making it desirable to be able to install and replace the long filter bags from beneath the tube sheet rather than through access panels in the top of the baghouse. To accommodate the installation and replacement of these bottom loading filter bags, the baghouse is provided with a side access panel positioned below the tube sheet.
Prior bottom loading filter bags include a wire mesh cage that extends from the bottom of the filter bag to its open end. A collar is placed around the open end of the wire cage. The material forming the filter bag is folded over the collar and tucked into the interior of the wire cage. To mount this type of bottom loading filter bag, the tube sheet is provided with a downwardly projected collar welded around the hole provided in the tube sheet. These known bottom loading filter bags are mounted by sliding the cage collar over the tube sheet collar and then securing the assembly by use of a hose clamp. In this arrangement, the filter material of the bag is sandwiched between the two collars.
These prior bottom loading filter bags are limited in that the portion of the filter material folded over into the interior of the supporting wire cage will crimp thereby creating small folds around the interior of the filter bag opening. The small folds create paths between the cage and tube sheet collars that allow dirt or dust laden air to enter directly into the interior of the filter bag and then into the clean air chamber. This leakage can occur even when the hose clamp is fully tightened. The baghouse of an industrial dust collector could typically contain over a hundred filter bags. The leakage occurring at one filter bag is thus increased by the total of bags contained in the baghouse. In addition, the use of a hose clamp, needing to be tightened manually for each individual filter bag, results in an excessive amount of time for installation and replacement of the filter bags.
Since dust collectors are increasingly required to capture virtually every particle of finer and finer dusts in a variety of environments, the above-discussed prior art filter bag assemblies are becoming outmoded.

Snap-in filter bag assembly for bottom loading in dust collector


A wide angle large reflective unobscured system (10) has a primary (12), secondary (14), tertiary (18) and fold (16) mirror. The primary (12) and secondary (14) mirrors act as a non-reimaging afocal telescope of the Galilean type and relay a virtual entrance pupil to the fold mirror (16) which is positioned at the system aperture stop. The fold mirror (16) directs the energy to the tertiary mirror (18) which acts to direct and focus the energy at a viewing plane. The resulting telescope provides a wide two dimensional field of view which can exceed 20.degree..times.40.degree., and operates at optical speeds about F/1.0.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a reflective optical system and, more particularly, to a compact all-reflective optical system with a wide field of view and very fast optical speed.
2. Discussion
All-reflective optical systems are often utilized in certain imaging applications where chromatic aberrations, thermal behavior, size, weight or cost restricts the use of conventional refractive lenses. Additionally, certain imaging applications require optical systems with large unobstructed two dimensional fields of view in order that particular operations or functions such as navigation, pilotage or driving can be accomplished based on the images provided by the optical system. Further, certain imaging applications require optical systems with expanded light gathering capability. Such optical systems must therefore operate at fast optical speeds.
One such type of telescope is a wide angle large reflective unobscured system (WALRUS) which forms a high quality image of an extremely wide angle object field on a flat image surface. The WALRUS is all-reflective and thus has no chromatic aberrations. An eccentric portion of the rotationally symmetric field of the telescope is typically used, such that no part of the aperture is obscured. The mirrors are surfaces of revolution described exclusively as flats, spheres or conic sections, all of which are easily tested and verified in manufacturing using well known conventional tests. Each mirror shares a common axis of rotational symmetry facilitating telescope alignment. Occasionally, one mirror is used twice providing the function of a secondary and tertiary mirror while eliminating the need to fabricate and align a separate tertiary mirror.
One such type of WALRUS optical system is illustrated in the article entitled "Easily Fabricated Wide Angle Telescope" by R. Calvin Owen, 430 SPIE, Volume 1354, International Lens Design Conference (1990). While this WALRUS provides a wide field of view, it is large and functions at a relatively slow optical speed. The system provides a planar fold mirror and the mirror surfaces are only spherical and conic. Further, the system provides a circular aperture.
Another wide angle large reflective unobscured system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,981. This patent illustrates a three-mirror system which provides a long telescope. Also, the mirrors of the system are spherical or conic surfaces and the system optical speed is relatively slow.
Thus, there exists a need in the field to provide an optical system which provides a requisite wide angle field of view, is relatively compact reducing the length of the design, corrects all aberrations and significantly increases the optical speed of the system.

Fast folded wide angle large reflective unobscured system


With regard to a slot machine, in a case that a predetermined amount of credits has been inserted, the game mode is switched from a non-insurance mode to an insurance mode according to the player's input operation via a touch panel. The number of games is counted in the insurance mode. When the counted number of games has reached a predetermined number, a predetermined amount of credits is paid out. In the insurance mode, determination of whether or not the game stage is to be switched to the bonus game stage is made based upon a value determined at random. When the game stage has been switched to the bonus game stage, the counted number of games is reset.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine that provides a game via a gaming medium (gaming value) such as coins or the like.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, amusement facilities having slot machines or the like (see Patent documents 1 through 44, for example) provide amusement services in which players play games via various kinds of gaming media such as coins, cash, or the like, which are inserted into the slot machines. With such amusement services, each slot machine provides a payout according to the award (game results) won by the player on his/her game.
Some casinos having multiple slot machines provide a known amusement service, that is, a so-called jackpot award, as follows. That is to say, a portion of the credits spent at these slot machines are reserved. When the reserved credits reach a predetermined value, some slot machines provide a great amount of payout, much greater than normal awards. In the normal state, each slot machine provides a normal award at a predetermined probability. Accordingly, each player plays a game to win the normal game. Furthermore, a jackpot award is provided at a predetermined time according to another award determination that differs from that of the normal award.    Patent document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,459    Patent document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,697    Patent document 3: U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0069073    Patent document 4: European Patent Application Publication No. 1192975    Patent document 5: U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,483    Patent document 6: U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,730    Patent document 7: U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,088    Patent document 8: U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,981    Patent document 9: U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,896    Patent document 10: U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,016    Patent document 11: U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,820    Patent document 12: U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,482    Patent document 13: U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,731    Patent document 14: U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,957    Patent document 15: U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,048    Patent document 16: U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,402    Patent document 17: U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,013    Patent document 18: U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,709    Patent document 19: European Patent Application Publication No. 0631798    Patent document 20: German Patent Application Publication No. 4137010    Patent document 21: British Patent Application Publication No. 2326830    Patent document 22: German Patent Application Publication No. 3712841    Patent document 23: U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,638    Patent document 24: U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,980    Patent document 25: U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,909    Patent document 26: U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,303    Patent document 27: U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,409    Patent document 28: U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,533    Patent document 29: U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,817    Patent document 30: U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,704    Patent document 31: U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,707    Patent document 32: U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,728    Patent document 33: European Patent Application Publication No. 1302914    Patent document 34: U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,459    Patent document 35: U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,700    Patent document 36: PCT International Publication No. WO 2003/083795    Patent document 37: German Patent Application Publication No. 3242890    Patent document 38: European Patent Application Publication No. 0840264    Patent document 39: German Patent Application Publication No. 10049444    Patent document 40: PCT International Publication No. WO 2004/095383    Patent document 41: European Patent Application Publication No. 1544811    Patent document 42: U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,963    Patent document 43: European Patent Application Publication No. 1477947    Patent document 44: European Patent Application Publication No. 1351180
However, conventional slot machines provide a jackpot award in which only the player who has been playing a game at the slot machine at which the jackpot award has been won can receive the benefit of the jackpot award. Such a jackpot award provides no benefit to other players having spent a great amount of coins. In some cases, a player receives the jackpot award immediately after he or she has started to play the game. In some cases, such a situation causes the other players to feel distrust or displeasure with respect to the amusement service, leading to a loss of interest in the amusement service.
In addition, conventional slot machines are known that provide a cashback service. With the cashback service, when the amount of credits thus spent by the player reaches a predetermined amount, the player can receive the cashback service (see Patent document 15, for example). That is, when the amount of credits thus spent by the player reaches a so-called upper limit, a predetermined amount of credits are paid out. However, with such slot machines, when the player has spent a great amount of credits, the player receives a profit according to the cashback service, even if the player has not won the game. In some cases, such a cashback service incurs a sense of unfairness among the players who have won profits according to the awards won in the games, leading to loss of interest in the amusement service.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problem. Accordingly, it is an object thereof to provide a slot machine that provides an amusement service without incurring a sense of unfairness with regard to players who can win in a game, thereby preventing a situation in which players who have spent a great amount of credits, such as coins or the like, feel distrust or displeasure with respect to the amusement service, or a situation in which such players lose interest in the amusement service.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method to read (N) sequential files written to an information storage medium, and then skip the next (M) sequential files. The method initially identifies the (M) files to be skipped. After identifying the (M) files to be skipped, the method reads the (N) files.

Automated media storage libraries are known for providing cost effective access to large quantities of stored media. Tape cartridges containing a moveable magnetic tape are often used in automated data storage libraries. Tape media, such a magnetic tape, is a common medium for the storage of data to be utilized by a computer. Magnetic tape has found widespread use as a data storage medium because it provides a relatively inexpensive solution for storing large amounts of data.
Over time, certain information comprising historical files and/or historical logical volumes becomes antiquated and no longer of use. Such historical files are rarely accessed and read. Nevertheless, the information storage media comprising those historical files remain stored and catalogued in a media storage library.
What is desirable is an improvement in the amount of time required to recycle an information storage medium, where that method includes reading and copying one or more sequentially encoded files comprising current information written to the information storage medium, and then skipping over one or more sequentially encoded files comprising historical information written to the information storage medium which is to be abandoned. Thereafter, the information storage medium may be reused to store new information.

Apparatus and method to read information from an information storage medium


A fuel injection valve includes: a valve seat provided at one end of a hollow valve main body and having an injection hole; a valve body separated/contacted from/with the valve seat to open/close the injection hole; and a swirler for surrounding the valve body to slidably support the valve body and for giving swirling to a fuel flowing into the injection hole, the swirler being produced by metal powder injection molding.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of a fuel injection valve for injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber in an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a fuel injection valve of the type attached to a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine for injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber, the fuel must be appropriately sprayed into the combustion chamber. As one means therefor, there was an apparatus in which a swirler gives swirling energy to a fuel flow to be injected so that fuel is injected from a fuel injection hole.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 64-36972 discloses a conventional fuel injection valve. In FIG. 10A and 10B, a moving valve 101 is driven vertically by an electromagnetic drive means to be separated/contacted from/with a conical seat surface 105b of a valve guide 105 so that the valve is opened/closed to thereby inject fuel from a fuel injection hole 105a. On the other hand, a swirler 102 having a conical surface at the same angle as that of the seat surface 105b is disposed on the conical seat surface 105b of the valve guide 105. Two or more volute fuel grooves 102b are spirally formed in an outer circumferential portion of the swirler 102. The moving valve 101 is slidably disposed in a through-hole 102a along the center axis of the swirler 102. An elastic member 103 is interposed between the bottom surface of the conical surface of the swirler 102 and a stopper 104 integrally fixed to a yoke 107 so that the swirler 102 is urged toward the conical seat surface 105b by the elastic member 103.
In the apparatus depicted in FIGS. 10A and 10B, fuel introduced through a fuel passage of the yoke 107 passes through a stopper 104, a passage 103b of the elastic member 103 and is injected into a cylinder of an engine from the fuel injection hole 105a of the valve guide 105 through the fuel grooves 102b of the swirler 102. That is, a fuel flow is given swirling energy through the swirling grooves 102b, narrowed by the fuel injection hole 105a of the valve guide 105, atomized, and injected.
In the conventional fuel injection valve, the swirler for giving swirling energy to a fuel flow is generally machined and produced by cutting machining, or the like. In the case where such cutting is used, however, there arises a problem that the cost of production becomes high even if mass-production is carried out.

Fuel injection valve with swirler for imparting swirling motion to fuel


For restoring data, a system with uninterrupted block-based restore has a hybrid container. The hybrid container has an operational buffer and a virtual container unit. The system receives blocks of data from a target device into the hybrid container and sends the blocks of data from the hybrid container to a destination device for a restore session. The system writes information about the blocks of data into one or more virtual containers. If there is an abort of the restore session, the system freezes state of the hybrid container and the virtual container(s). For a next restore session that resumes from where the aborted restore session stopped, the system resumes receiving blocks of data from the target device into the hybrid container and sends only leftover blocks of data to the destination device in accordance with the information in the virtual container(s).

Regular backups protect computers and data systems from data loss, worldwide. When backup data is available, a restore session restores the data to a system that has experienced a loss. Unexpected events causing restores to abort are problematic. The need to start successive restores from the point of interrupt to avoid a restore window increase has become of great interest nowadays. For example, while a restore is in progress, and due to some random unintended event, the restore could be aborted abruptly, causing the data to be half written back to the destination device. The restore would then be rolled back after this point resulting in unusable data and a corrupted production environment. Such a situation would also lead to an increase of restore window. Another problem resulting from an aborted restore is that the restore must be restarted from the beginning even though there is some portion of the restore that was already completed.

Uninterrupted block-based restore using a virtual container