The present invention relates to an aglucone isoflavone enriched vegetable protein fiber wherein a vegetable protein material is extracted to form a slurry of protein, fiber and glucone isoflavones. The pH of the slurry is adjusted to about 6 to 8 and the slurry reacted with a beta glucosidase to convert the glucone isoflavones in said slurry to aglucone isoflavones. The fiber fraction is then recovered from the slurry by centrifugation or similar means to provide an aglucone enriched fiber.

The present invention relates to an aglucone isoflavone enriched vegetable protein fiber and process for producing the same.
Isoflavones occur in a variety of leguminous plants, including vegetable protein materials such as soybeans. These compounds include diadzin, 60 AC daidzin, daidzein, genistin, 60AC genistin, genistein, glycitin, biochanin A, formonoetin, and coumestrol. Typically these compounds are associated with the inherent, bitter flavor of soybeans, and in the production of commercial products, such as isolates and concentrates, the focus has been to remove these materials. For example, in a conventional process for the production of a soy protein isolate, in which soy flakes are extracted with an aqueous alkaline medium, much of the isoflavones are solubilized in the extract, and remains solubilized in the whey, which is usually discarded following acid precipitation of the protein, to form an isolate. Residual isoflavones left in the acid precipitated protein isolate are usually removed by exhaustive washing of the isolate.
It has been recently recognized that the isoflavones contained in vegetable proteins such as soybeans may inhibit the growth of human cancer cells, such as breast cancer cells and prostrate cancer cells as described in the following articles: "Genistein Inhibition of the Growth of Human Breast Cancer Cells; "Independence from Estrogen Receptors and the Multi-Drug Resistance Gene" by Peterson and Barnes Biochemical and Biophysical Research, Communications; Vol. 179, No. 1, pp. 661-667, August 30, 1992; "Genistein and Biochanin A Inhibit the Growth of Human Prostate Cancer Cells but not Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Auto-phosphorylation" by Peterson and Barnes: The Prostate 22: pp. 335-345 (1993) and "Soybeans Inhibit Mammary Tumors in Models of Breast Cancer" by Barnes, et al. Mutagens and Carcinogens in the Diet; p. 239-253 (1990).
Of the above isoflavones, several exist as glucosides, or as glucones, with a glucose molecule attached. Several of the glucones such as the 60AC genistin, contain an acetate group attached to the six position of the glucose molecule itself. While all of the isoflavones, including the glucosides are of interest in medical evaluation, the specific isoflavones of most interest are the aglucones, wherein the glucose molecule is not attached. These isoflavones are not as water soluble as the glucones or isoflavone glucosides. Specific isoflavones in this category are daidzein, genistein, and glycitein. These aglucones have the following general formula, ##STR1## wherein, R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 may be selected from the group consisting of H, OH and OCH.sub.3. It is therefore to the aglucones and enrichment of a vegetable protein fiber such as the spent flake residue from a soy isolate process with these materials to which the present invention is directed.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an aglucone isoflavone enriched protein fiber, and a process for producing the same. This, and other objects, are specifically achieved in the detailed description of the present invention set forth below.

Process for producing aglucone isoflavone enriched vegetable protein fiber

Protein Technologies International, Inc.


The present invention provides a therapeutic composition comprising:                (i) Trolox, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, H2PO4−, HEPES, lactobionate, sucrose, mannitol, glucose, dextran-40, adenosine, glutathione; and        (ii) stem cells or progenitor cells,wherein the composition does not comprise a dipolar aprotic solvent, in particular DMSO.

The development of cell therapies is the focus of investigations for the treatment of numerous indications with currently unmet needs. Such therapies administered as a cell suspension ideally require the use of a vehicle that is compatible with the cells, non-toxic to the recipient, and suitable for storage of the therapy for a sufficient time prior to and during administration.
Preservation of cell therapies in ambient or hypothermic (2° C. to 8° C.) conditions is necessary for early phase clinical trials of allogeneic therapies. It is also more likely to be used for autologous cell therapies, which utilize patients' own cells as a starting material.
Cryopreservation is likely to be necessary for long-term storage of cell therapies prior to administration. Later phase multi-centre trials will require substantially longer storage times than can be achieved using hypothermic storage, as the therapeutic cell product is likely to be manufactured centrally and distributed over a number of months. Ultimately, post-authorisation manufacture of cell therapy products will necessitate storage for numerous years.
The use of the cryoprotectant dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) has great utility in preserving cells in liquid nitrogen freezers (˜−195° C.). DMSO is a member of the class of dipolar aprotic solvents, which also includes dimethylformamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and hexamethylphosphoramide, and is the most common cryoprotectant used in the manufacture and banking of cell therapies. However, this solvent is toxic to the cell product and subsequently to the treated patient (Hubel, 2001; Sauer-Heilborn et al., 2004). For example, in bone marrow transplants, almost all patients receiving DMSO-cryopreserved cells suffer side effects and a small number experience serious complications. Direct effects during infusion and delayed-onset side effects have been observed in a dose dependent manner. The effects described occurred when the cell formulation was administered systemically and so any formulation ingredients are diluted and widely distributed. In contrast, administration via direct injection into tissue (for example, intracranial, intramuscular or intracardiac administration) would increase local toxicity effects. Methods to remove the DMSO content from cryopreserved cells have reduced DMSO-related complications and side-effects (Syme et al., 2004). However, these processes were inefficient with as little as 60% of the cell product recovered (Calmels et al., 2003).
The use of glycerol and trehalose has been shown to be effective in the storage of cryopreserved sperm (Storey et al., 1998), however this method has been found to be ineffective with different cell types.
Previous formulations of cells for administration have relied on cell culture medium and modified saline solutions. Although these formulations are suitable for administration, they do not preserve the viability of the cell product for more than a few hours. This precludes them from clinical studies, wherein the time taken to release the product for clinical administration, followed by transit, and the potentially lengthy process of implantation (up to 9 hours in total) may render the cells non-viable. Therefore there is necessity to increase the shelf-life of these products beyond this 9 hour period in order to overcome the immediate obstacles of early clinical trials. In addition, in order for a cell therapy product to be commercially viable, a much longer storage strategy is needed.
The excipient HypoThermosol®-FRS (HTS-FRS) (BioLife Solutions, Inc) is a hypothermic storage solution that was initially developed as a perfusate to be used during cardiac arrest coupled with profound hypothermia, in order to minimise ischemic injury. HTS-FRS is a commercially-available formulation designed to mediate the level of post-storage necrosis and apoptosis in cells undergoing prolonged periods of hypothermic (2° C.-10° C.) preservation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,633 discloses a method of preserving a cell, tissue or organ by contacting said cell, tissue or organ with a hypothermic storage solution comprising a composition that inhibits apoptosis and a sufficient concentration of vitrification composition to vitrify said solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,632,666 discloses a gel-based composition for use in the nanothermic, hypothermic or cryopreservative storage and transport of cell samples comprising HTS-FRS and a gelling agent.
WO2005/009766 discloses a pharmaceutical composition comprising liver cells, HTS and DMSO which can be stored at cryothermic temperatures.
Following storage of these compositions at hypothermic or cryothermic temperatures, substantial processing of the cell therapy product is required in order to remove the toxic cryoprotectants prior to administration. This may lead to additional release testing which is both burdensome and costly.
Therefore, there is a need for compositions and formulations which provide an alternative to DMSO and which can be stored at cryothermic temperatures and used as a vehicle for direct administration of cell therapies.

Cellular compositions for use in therapy

Abstract: The present invention also relates to methods of formulating said composition for cryopreservation and subsequent direct administration to a patient, and medicaments comprising said composition.


A relay device and a multi-split control system that achieve reliable communication between an outdoor air conditioning unit and multiple indoor units under the condition that the length of a communication bus is limited. The system expands the communication distance by a cascade path formed by a plurality of relay devices. The cascade path transmits control signals sent by a master control device/a specific slave control device (i.e. a slave control device communicating with the master control device or certain relay device) to corresponding slave control devices one by one, and the corresponding slave control devices transmit the signals to the master control device/specific slave control device according to a response signal fed back by the control signal, where the relay devices may respectively communicate with a source node device and a destination node device on the basis of the master-slave type communication mode.

In a multi-connection air conditioning system, each outdoor unit can communicate with a plurality of indoor units; for example, each outdoor unit can communicate with 64 indoor units. Specifically, the outdoor unit communicates with the indoor units in a master-slave communication mode. The outdoor unit, serving as a host machine, sends query instructions to some or all indoor units. The indoor units, serving as slave machines, can only feedback response information to the outdoor unit according to the query instructions, and the indoor units cannot communicate with each other. Based on the master-slave communication mode, although one outdoor unit can manipulate a plurality of indoor units, the number of indoor units is often limited by the length of a communication bus (the longer the communication bus is, the greater an attenuation degree of its transmitted signals will be, so the length of the communication bus has an upper limit). At the same time, in a scene with a complex spatial structure, normal communication between the outdoor unit and the indoor units cannot be realized due to the limitation of the length of the communication bus.
In order to overcome the defect of limited length of the communication bus, the patent application for invention with publication number CN104896658A discloses a communication method for an air conditioning system, in which a certain indoor unit can be used as a relay to realize the communication between other indoor units and the outdoor unit, thereby solving the problem of communication distance. However, when the relay indoor unit transmits the data of the unit itself and other indoor units at the same time, it is very easy to cause its network transmission congestion, and even cause transmission failure, thus resulting in a poor stability.

Relay device and multi-split air-conditioning control systems

Qingdao Haier Air-conditioning Electronic Co., Ltd


A database management device includes: plural index blocks that have an index entry and an access counter including a read counter and a write counter; an access management unit that updates the read counter in response to a read access to an index block and updates the write counter in response to an update access to the index block; an extended block manipulation unit that acquires an extended block not identified with an index entry of another index block and serving as a destination of storing a new index entry on the basis of a result of comparison between the read counter and the write counter of a leaf block serving as a target of inserting the new index entry, and sets identification information for identifying the extended block to the leaf block serving as the target of insertion.

It is very common to add indexes to data to rapidly search a large amount of data for a small amount of data. As the target for which the searching process is frequently performed, databases are used. Of the databases, a relational database that manages data in a tabular form is one of the most widely used databases. A table is formed by rows and columns, and for example, one row contains data concerning one transaction. The row is formed by plural columns, and for example, a certain column contains date data, while another column contains a sales figure.
In this case, the total amount of sales at a specific date can be obtained, for example, through full scan or index scan. In the full scan, examination for all the rows is made as to whether the dates are matched or not, and the sales figures in the matched rows are added up. In the index scan, the rows having the date matched with each other are specified using indexes, whereby the total of the sales figures can be obtained from the specified rows. This index scan is efficient when the number of rows having the date matched is sufficiently small as compared with the number of all the rows.
A B-tree is known as a data structure that accommodates the indexes. For example, Non-patent Document 1 describes algorithms including searching with the B-tree, inserting of data into the B-tree, and deleting data in the B-tree. Non-patent Document 2 makes an explanation of the B-tree in ORACLE (trademark) in relation to the widely used relational database.
With the B-tree index, it is possible to search for the data with the calculation amount in proportion to "log n," where n is the number of rows. Note that the amount of calculation in the full scan is in proportion to the n.
Further, Patent Document 1 proposes an index management method of preparing indexes with plural tree structures and storing the key value in any one of the tree structures to reduce lock contention occurring when plural accesses occur to the same key value. With this method, the number of keys in the index is equalized, and the number of accesses is counted for each of the indexes, whereby it is possible to equalize the access load for each of the indexes.
Patent Document 2 proposes a method of managing a database, in which the number of lock contentions in the B-tree index is counted, and the B-tree is divided in the case where the large number of lock contentions occurs.
Patent Document 3 proposes a method of processing a record addition, in which, in the case where records are added to a balance tree such as the B-tree, the block is extended so as to have a size that can be read/written through one input/output process without the block being divided. Note that, with this method, the block division is performed after the block is extended to the maximum extendable size.
Patent Document 4 proposes a split control system in a data processing system managing data with a storage structure employing a non-dense B-tree cluster structure. With this method, the block division at the time of overflow is not immediately performed, and the target record is written into the overflow area, thereby reducing the overhead of the block division process.
Further, Non-patent Document 3 proposes a reverse-key index method designed so as to remove the hot spot in indexes in the inserting application. For example, in the case where the B-tree index is added to the column indicating the time when data is inserted, the write accesses are focused on the leaf block furthest to the right in the index (leaf block having the maximum value) and the branch block located above the leaf block. In order to avoid such a situation, which is called a right-growing index, the reverse-key index method is configured by reversing the key value in the index. More specifically, in the general index, a key value (102) and a key value (103) are inserted into the same block. However, in the reverse-key index, these key values are treated as the reversed values (201) and (301), and thus, are inserted into different blocks.

Database management device and database management method


A depressurization process for a packed separation column is provided where the column system experiences a rapid and/or severe drop in pressure that could potentially damage column components. The process provides a safe de-pressurization of the column on the outlet side by decreasing the outlet pressure in controlled steps while allowing the inlet pressure of the column time to lower after each decreased step.

In the technology of chromatography, the separation and collection of fractions of chemical compounds vary in process, instruments, and production capability. However, each type of system uses at least a fluid, called a mobile phase, that is pumped into the head of a separation column. A sample containing one or more chemical compounds is carried by the mobile phase flowstream through the column. The media in a column delays certain compounds from exiting the outlet of the column according to different retention times. These separated compounds can be detected and graphed as a "peak" of the injected sample. If the same temperature, pressure, flowrate, and injection composition is maintained in the chromatography system, then repeated injections into the column of the same mixture can produce repeated peaks of the same compounds exiting the column. These eluted peaks contain purified samples that can be collected in a collection system.
The parameters and instruments of the chromatography system can be adjusted in order to optimize the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of analyte collection. An advancement of liquid chromatography (LC) is HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography), which uses 20 mm to one inch diameter columns with flowrates optimized at 20 to 30 ml/min. While process and collection speeds are faster than LC, drawbacks to HPLC include high waste solvent production and slow effective process time for samples due to removal of solvent and water from collected sample fractions.
For many applications, an alternative separation technology called supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) has advanced past other chromatography technologies. SFC uses highly compressible mobile phases, which typically employ carbon dioxide (CO2) as a principle component. In addition to CO2, the mobile phase frequently contains an organic solvent modifier, which adjusts the polarity of the mobile phase for optimum chromatographic performance. Since different components of a sample may require different levels of organic modifier to elute rapidly, a common technique is to continuously vary the mobile phase composition by linearly increasing the organic modifier content. This technique is called gradient elution.
SFC has been proven to have superior speed and resolving power compared to traditional HPLC for many applications. This results from the dramatically improved diffusion rates of solutes in SFC mobile phases compared to HPLC mobile phases. Separations have been accomplished as much as an order of magnitude faster using SFC instruments compared to HPLC instruments using the same chromatographic column. A key factor to optimizing SFC separations is the ability to independently control flow, density and composition of the mobile phase over the course of the separation. SFC is finding significant advantages in the separation of enantiomers and is supplanting normal-phase HPLC for performing chiral separations.
Conventional LC columns, during manufacture, are constructed with end fittings such as a frit that act to retain the packing material inside the column. The packing media material is loaded to completely fill the column and retained at both ends by the fittings that each include a frit element. The frit acts as both a seal to hold the packing media inside the column and as a radial distribution element to distribute the incoming fluid substantially evenly across the cross-section of the column. In some commercial columns, the frit is initially press-fit into the fitting prior to the fitting being placed on the end of the column. In the prior art, columns are often machine tooled at the ends, which causes stresses and weakening at the ends that can cause premature breakage.
Problems occur with chromatography columns that are caused by rapid and/or uncontrolled pressure loss occurring downstream of the outlet side of the column in a process system. If the mobile phase flowstream contains a gas liquefied under pressure, such as carbon dioxide, then rapid depressurization will cause the gas to rapidly evaporate and freeze and in the case of carbon dioxide freeze form dry ice. The pressure differential between the inlet at full pressure and outlet at atmospheric pressure in a column can be as high as 100 bar. Expanding gas throughout the column media bed builds tremendous pressure forces against the outlet of the column. Since frits are commonly metal that are fitted into a column with a plastic ring, the freezing of the metal and the freezing of the plastic ring will cause differential swelling between the frit and its fittings. Further, if pressure is instantly relieved in a column of packed media bed containing a flowstream of carbon dioxide, dry ice will form in the media bed itself and disturb the packing consistency of the bed. The combination of differential shrinking of the frit and fittings and disturbance in the bed caused by expanding mobile phase under pressure force towards the column outlet could cause loss of packed media past the frit.
The instant release of pressure from an expanding mobile phase in a column can also damage the frit itself. A frit that is instantly frozen by dry ice becomes brittle, and its channels normally used for distributing fluid flowstreams become clogged up with dry ice, which blocks all flow out of the column. With a clogged outlet to the column and the column media still under rising high pressure, the failure of the frit along with damage to column media can occur. In larger columns, the larger diameter frit is even more susceptible structural to deflection caused by clogging and pressure from the packed media. A larger frit has less structural support at its center. If the frit freezes and becomes brittle, it can crack or break upon deflection from the upstream pressure forces attempting to escape the column. Further, the pressure differential between the ends of the column can cause an impulse force directly onto the frit whether or not the channels in the frit freeze, causing potential failure of the frit and its fittings.

De-pressurization scheme for chromatography columns


The present invention relates to a light emitting device module which can easily be made and can yield a stable output characteristic, and a method of making the same. The light emitting device module in according to the present invention comprises a semiconductor device in which an active region having a light exit facet and a light reflecting facet with a lower light reflectivity than the light exit facet respectively at both ends is fabricated along a predetermined reference axis, and an optical fiber having a grating provided along the longitudinal direction of the core region and an end facet arranged so as to face the light exit facet. In particular, in the light emitting device module according to the present invention, the light exit facet of the active region is inclined with respect to the light reflecting facet of the active region by a predetermined angle, thereby the light reflecting facet of the active region and the grating constitute an external cavity through the light exit facet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device module including a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor laser amplifier (SLA), which outputs light having a predetermined wavelength, and a method of making the same.
2. Related Background Art
A known example of the conventional light emitting device module comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, a semiconductor laser amplifier (SLA) A, which serves as a light emitting source, and an optical fiber B with a grating, which is a waveguide. In the SLA A, an active layer D is formed between cladding layers C, whereas a light exit facet E and a light reflecting facet F are respectively arranged at both end facets of the active layer D. The light exit facet E has a low light reflectivity, and the light reflecting facet F has a high light reflectivity. The optical fiber B is arranged such that its end facet faces the light exit facet E of the SLA A. In its core G, a diffraction grating H is a region such that the refractive index periodically changes along the longitudinal direction of the core G. The diffraction grating H and the light reflecting facet F constitute a resonator for laser oscillation. Here, the optical fiber comprises a core having a predetermined refractive index and a cladding, provided around the outer periphery of the core, having a refractive index lower than that of the core, and a grating in the core. The grating reflects light with a predetermined wavelength (referred to as "reflection wavelength of the grating" hereinafter). A method of making the grating is disclosed, for example, in International Publication No. WO 86/01303. In such a light emitting device module, light is generated in the active layer D when an electric current is injected into the SLA A. This light travels to-and-fro between the light reflecting facet F and the diffraction grating H of the optical fiber B as being reflected, so as to be amplified, thereby a laser beam I having a single wavelength (reflection wavelength of the grating) determined by the pitch of the diffraction grating H is outputted through the optical fiber B.


The accessory for a drum stick includes a pair of support members defining a parting plane and an elongate channel defined by elongated substantially parallel arcuate recesses on opposing sides of the parting plain. Biasing members, in the form of closed loops or rings, secure the support members and draw the support members together to minimize the cross-sectional dimensions of the elongate channel when the support members about against each other in a contracted condition. The cross-sectional dimensions of the elongate channel increase when the support members are separated and moved in opposing directions to an expanded condition, resulting in restoring forces in the biasing members that tend to revert the support members to the contracted condition. Sound producing elements are provided, such as steel shot within compartments formed in the supporting members or jingles attached to the support members. Insertion of a drum stick into the elongate channel separates the members and moves them from the contracted condition to an expanded condition against the action of the biasing members and the accessory can be reliably retained on the shaft of the drum stick as a result of frictional forces due to the restoring forces urging the support members against the drumstick. Hitting the drum stick as a percussion instrument provides additional sounds produced by the sound producing members, such as the steel shot or pellets or jingles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to percussion instruments and, more specifically, to percussion accessories adapted to be attached or removed from drum sticks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Drum sticks are objects that are typically used to strike drums or other percussion instruments to produce various sounds. The most widely used drum sticks are snare drum sticks usually made of wood, although other materials, including aluminum, nylon, plastic and cotton fiber have also been used. A typical drum stick is round 1.5 cm in diameter and 41 cm long, although drummers have wide range of shapes and sizes to choose from. Drummers sometimes are very particular about the exact shape, size, weight, balance, density and grain of the drum sticks they use as they all provide a different "feel" and sound the stick produces when it impacts on a percussion instrument.
There are numerous percussion accessories that have been proposed for use with drum sticks. While some such accessories, such cow bells, triangles and other percussion instruments are intended to be stricken with a drum stick, it has also been proposed that some percussion instruments be selectively mounted or supported on a drum stick while it is being used for striking another percussion instrument, such as a drum.
Thus, while drum sticks having a percussion component have been known (U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,709) none of these exhibit the simplicity and versatility demanded by drummers. Thus, the U.S. Pat. No. 2,466,554 discloses a combination drum stick and Maraca. The '554 patent discloses a device that includes two diametrically opposite openings for the passage of a drum stick. Each opening is surrounded on the interior of the ball by means of a sleeve-like flange that may be cemented or otherwise permanently secured to the drum stick. The patent, therefore, contemplates a permanently fixed connection with the maraca accessory. Clearly, this limits the ability to use the drum sticks by themselves or to modify or change the positions of the accessory after initial attachment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,097 patent discusses a percussion assembly consisting of a pair of symbols that are mounted on a clamp that can be adjusted and secured by a wing bolt 15. This device is not convenient to use and can damage the drum stick since the free or lower end of the threaded shank applies a compression force to the drum stick while it rotates, thus exerting forces that can stress and damage the drum stick.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,768 discusses a multi-purpose drum ball joint simulator that essentially consists of a spherical ball made of rubber or other elastic material with a diametrical channel extending through it to provide a ball grip to be held in the palm of a hand to balance the drum stick and provide enhanced performance. However, while the ball joint stimulator is intended to be slid onto a drum stick and frictionally engage the drum stick shaft, it does not include any percussion component or create any additional percussion sounds while a drum stick is used to strike a drum or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,709 discloses an adaptable percussion accessory or percussion tool. The percussion accessory uses attachment clamps or the like for attaching a percussion accessory to a drum stick. The clamps are used to attach a support to the drum stick, and a sound device such as a jingle is movably attached to the support. The jingles are moved and produce sounds when the user uses the drum stick on, for example, a drum. The patent also discloses a muffle device and a lever for muffling the sound when actuated when the user moves the lever. However, the disclosed percussion accessory is complex in construction and requires a tool to secure the accessory to the drum stick, such a screw driver or pliers to tighten the fasteners on the spaced clamps. Without the availability of such tools, therefore, the percussion accessory may not be readily removed from the drum stick when needed or desired to do so, thereby limiting the usefulness of the drum sticks and/or the percussion accessory.
Another jingle percussion accessory is known that uses a molded circular rigid plastic frame that supports jingles about its circumference and is provided with two aligned diametrically opposite holes for receiving the shaft of a drum stick. The holes have internal diameters greater than the external diameters of the shafts of the drum sticks so that any drum sticks having a smaller diameter than the diameter of the holes can be readily inserted through the holes to position the jingle accessory on the shaft of the drum stick. In order to secure the accessory to the drum stick a pair of generally radial set screws are used of the type having a hexagonal opening or socket at one end and a pointed tip at the other end. Although such set screws are typically used to fix two hard metallic members to each other the tip ends when used with a wooden drum stick penetrates the stick and forms depressions or holes on the surface. While such set screws prevent axial or sliding movements of the accessory relative to the axial direction of the drum stick, it also weakens the shaft and can promote breakage of the stick when the stick experiences substantial stresses when it impacts against a percussion instrument. Also, the use of two or four set screws on each accessory requires an Allen wrench or "Hex" key to drive or loosen the set screw. Such keys or wrenches are relatively small and can be easily misplaced or lost. Furthermore, the tightening or loosening of the set screws is an inconvenient and time consuming exercise—not one likely to be performed by a drummer, for example, in the middle of a concert. Therefore, effectively, the accessory will either be left off or left on the drum sticks and not selectively mounted on or removed from the drum sticks given different or varying musical requirements. The alternative is for a drummer to have multiple drum sticks some of which permanently carry the accessories while others do not.


A wind-powered vehicle having a longitudinal axis and being capable of traveling in the direction thereof across a generally horizontal and generally dense medium such as water, ice or land. The vehicle includes an air propeller assembly rotatable about a propeller axis by generally horizontal wind forces. A rotation of the propeller assembly is communicated by a rotary coupling to a rotary drive member. In one embodiment, the rotary drive member includes a water propeller for propelling a water vehicle. In another embodiment, the rotary drive member includes at least one wheel for propelling a land or ice vehicle. In yet another embodiment, the rotary drive member includes at least one bladed reel for propelling an ice vehicle. The air propeller includes at least two blades extending generally perpendicularly from the propeller axis, each blade being pivotable against a resilient bias and about a laterally adjustable blade pivot axis, which is generally perpendicular to the propeller axis, by generally horizontal wind forces. Manual adjustments are required only to steer the vehicle and to reverse its direction of travel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wind-powered vehicles and more particularly to vehicles having wind-driven propellers rather than traditional sails.
2. Background Art
When two streams are moving at different speeds or in different directions, a velocity differential is said to exist between the streams. Velocity differentials are plentiful in nature. Wind blowing over stationary water creates an air/water velocity differential A river flowing beneath still air or air at a different speed or direction also creates an air/water differential. The wind atop a sail is blowing faster than wind near a boat""s deck, an air/air vertical velocity differential exists. If a river is flowing faster at its surface near the middle of the stream as compared to deeper water or water near shore, a water/water differential exists which may be tapped.
Consider a vehicle traveling at some speed and direction that is unrelated to the direction of the two streams. The present invention provides a means of extracting kinetic energy generated by the velocity differential and redirecting it to propel the vehicle. A part of the mechanism is anchored or in direct contact with each of the streams, and the extracted energy minus frictional losses is used to accelerate the vehicle and overcome drag. Excess kinetic energy can alternately be converted to electrical energy, which is storable in auxiliary batteries, fuel cells or other devices for use in motoring the vehicle under calm conditions.
It is possible for such a vehicle of efficient design to travel at high multiples of the velocity differential in any direction relative to the direction of either stream. For example, a sailboat employing a modestly efficient design would be able to sail in any direction including directly into the wind and directly downwind at 3 to 5 times wind speed. The same boat on a river is also be able to run at multiples of river speed upstream, downstream and across the stream. A land vehicle with an air propeller could be used for recreational purposes on a solid surface.
An energy recovery and redirection mechanism is made up of one or more independent pivoting blades (IPB) air propellers and/or one or more IPB water propellers whose rotations are all linked together to a common drive. The mechanism is designed to self-adjust continuously in response to changes in the direction and speed of all the streams relative to the vehicle""s speed and direction without manual intervention as is required in traditional sailboats.
Multiple patents describe devices having two propellers, one in contact with a water stream, and the other in contact with an air stream. In all cases, the pitch of at least one of the propellers must be manually adjusted to provide propulsion under varying wind conditions. Prior art taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,346, to Vidal, describes a device requiring a minimum of four controls to operate. The first control is a steering device such as a rudder. The second, is means to position the air propeller so that it has a desired angular disposition relative to the wind. Lastly; means is provided to control independently two of the following three variables: the pitch of the air propeller, the pitch of the water propeller, or the gear ratio of a transmission that connects the two propellers. This design suffers from the following shortcomings:
The angular disposition of the air propeller relative to the wind must be continuously adjusted as the direction of the wind changes. This also requires deck space for the propeller to pivot 360 degrees about a supporting mast.
The propeller pitch and/or transmission ratio must be continually manually adjusted as the speed and direction of the air and wind streams change.
Since the pitches of all the blades change in unison, vertical components of stream energy cannot be used to provide propulsion, but rather impede progress.
Stream velocity gradients cannot be exploited to provide propulsion; forces in these gradients actually oppose one another instead of combining to extract maximum energy.
In accordance with the present invention, a wind-powered vehicle designed to travel across a generally horizontal relatively dense medium such as water, ice or land is provided. The vehicle includes a body having a longitudinal axis generally aligned with the vehicle""s direction of travel and extending within a vertically disposed plane. The vehicle further includes a propeller assembly rotatable about a propeller axis extending within the vertically disposed plane. The propeller assembly has at least two blades extending outward from the propeller axis and pivotally attached to a rotary hub that rotates about the propeller axis. The at least two blades each pivot about a blade pivot axis that is generally perpendicular to the propeller axis. The blades are biased by springs to an initial angular disposition about the blade pivot axis. Wind load caused by a wind moving relative to the vehicle and in a direction generally parallel to a horizontal plane causes each blade to rotate about its respective blade pivot axis until the torque loads on the blades caused by the wind and by the springs are balanced. The blades are thus efficiently positioned relative to the wind to cause the propeller assembly to rotate about the propeller axis.
The vehicle also has a rotary coupling having a first end driven by the rotary hub and a second end providing a rotary output spaced therefrom, and it has a rotary drive member driven and cooperating with the second end of the rotary coupling. The rotary drive member cooperates with a relatively dense medium to drive the vehicle body forward in response to rotation of the propeller assembly by a wind load.


The present invention relates generally to the field of aerated fat-based confectionery material. One aspect of the invention provides an aerated fat-based confectionery material having a continuous lipid phase and a porosity of between 1 and 80%, wherein, at a temperature at which the lipid phase has a solid lipid content between 0.1 and 80, the fat-based confectionery material comprises gas bubbles having at least 50% of their surface occupied by crystals, the crystals comprising a glyceride selected from the group consisting of monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, esters of monoglycerides, esters of diglycerides and combinations of these. Further aspects of the invention are a confectionery product comprising an aerated fat-based confectionery material and a process for forming an aerated fat-based confectionery material.

Aerated fat-based confectionery material has been used in confectionery products for many years. Aeration provides appealing textures and appearance and may positively influence taste. Processes for aerating fat-based materials such as chocolate were patented as long ago as 1935 (GB459583). More recently aerated fat-based confectionery material has been used to coat ice confections such as ice cream (EP2566345), providing better thermal insulating properties than un-aerated material and superior sensory properties. Aerating fat-based confectionery material also satisfies consumer demand for lower fat products as less weight of material needs to be used to create the same volume.
The major difficulty in generating stable aerated structures within fat-based materials as compared to water-based systems lies in the lack of suitable surfactants for forming stable interfaces between air and lipid. Those surfactants which have been proposed may not be suitable for stabilizing edible aerated materials due to toxicity or unpleasant taste. As a consequence, the most common approach for obtaining stable foams in a fat-based matrix is by forming a rigid network in the bulk material, for example by forming a rigid network of crystals in a liquid fat continuous phase or by rapidly cooling the fat so as to solidify the bulk material. As well as affecting the texture in a way which may not always be desired, both of these approaches lead to constraints when processing the aerated material in the fluid state. Having a rigid network in the liquid fat-continuous phase affects the ability of the aerated material to be pumped, deposited, or mixed with other components without destroying the stabilizing network and leading to coalescence of bubbles. An aerated fat-based material stabilized by solidifying the bulk is generally unstable before solidification and so can only be maintained as a flowable foam for a short period and cannot be subject to substantial shear forces during processing.
Hence, there is a need in the industry to find better solutions to produce stable aerated fat-based confectionery material, in particular edible aerated fat-based confectionery materials which taste good and are made from natural ingredients. An object of the present invention is to improve the state of the art and to provide an improved solution to overcome at least some of the inconveniences described above or at least to provide a useful alternative. Any reference to prior art documents in this specification is not to be considered an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field. As used in this specification, the words "comprises", "comprising", and similar words, are not to be interpreted in an exclusive or exhaustive sense. In other words, they are intended to mean "including, but not limited to". The object of the present invention is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims further develop the idea of the present invention.


A continuous process for the deposition of robust titanium-containing barrier layers comprises sputtering in a single substrate sputtering chamber a first layer of titanium, sputtering a layer of titanium nitride thereover, treating the titanium nitride layer with a plasma containing oxygen while continuing to sputter the titanium target to deposit a thin layer of TiON, and finally sputtering a layer of titanium over the titanium nitride. The latter step removes impurities from the titanium target, preventing poisoning of the target. Thus subsequent substrates can be continuously processed in said chamber without degrading the barrier properties or poisoning the titanium target.

Titanium nitride is a known barrier material used to prevent spiking of aluminum contacts into a silicon substrate. Titanium nitride can be deposited by sputtering; either by sputtering a layer of titanium in the presence of nitrogen gas, or, preferably, a contact layer of titanium is deposited first and a layer of titanium nitride sputtered thereover. Since the initial titanium layer sputtered in argon contains no impurities, the contact resistance is not adversely affected. However, untreated titanium nitride barrier layers can only be used to prevent spiking of an overlying aluminum contact layer below temperatures of about 350-450.degree. C.
Thus it is also known to enhance the barrier properties of titanium nitride by annealing or incorporating oxygen into the film. The oxygen fills the spaces between the grain boundaries of the titanium nitride. Annealing can be carried out in a Rapid Thermal Anneal (RTA) chamber, or by heating in a nitrogen atmosphere containing oxygen. This is known as "stuffing" the titanium nitride layer. Such titanium nitride barrier layers can be heated above the flow temperature of aluminum contacts, thus permitting the aluminum to be heated sufficiently to flow in contact openings, ensuring that the openings are completely filled and that voids are not present.
As substrate wafer sizes become larger, and devices made in the wafers become smaller and are placed closer together, many problems have arisen in filling small openings with material in a conformal manner that avoids the formation of voids. As the aspect ratio of openings becomes higher (the ratio of width to depth) it becomes more difficult to fill openings by sputtering.
Liao et al, in an article entitled "Ti/TiN Barrier Enhancement for Aluminum Plug Interconnect Technology", VMIC Conf. 1994 ISMIC-103/94 pp 428-434, disclosed an RTA treatment of a sputtered, low density titanium/titanium nitride stack, which formed a TiON layer at the titanium/titanium nitride interface. Their suggested process requires sputtering 550 .ANG. of titanium in the contact opening first, followed by sputtering 500 .ANG. of titanium nitride. These depositions can be carried out in the same chamber. However, the wafers are then exposed to air and heated to 650.degree. C. in an RTA chamber, which requires a break in the vacuum and transfer of the substrate to an RTA chamber prior to the deposition of the aluminum contact layer. This extra step and extra transfer of the substrate reduces the throughput of the system and thus increases the costs of producing the contact. Further, we have found that this process does not completely eliminate aluminum spiking.
Ho et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,871, describe the preparation of TiN barrier layers for MOS devices which are said to prevent aluminum contacts from interdiffusion or spiking into an underlying silicon layer. The TiN layer can be annealed or can be treated with an oxygen plasma that reacts with the titanium nitride layer. Aluminum is then sputter deposited, possibly in the same cluster tool. The annealing step or the oxygen plasma treatment require a separate annealing or plasma process chamber, which requires an additional transfer of the wafer, and thus increases the cost and decreases the throughput of this process.
Thus efforts to provide improved titanium nitride barrier layers with improved barrier properties and that can be operated in a continuous manner using a minimum number of processing chambers at low cost have continued.

Continuous process for forming improved titanium nitride barrier layers


An electromagnetic-field-focusing remote-field eddy-current probe for inspecting anomalies in a conducting plate. The probe is designed to have the electromagnetic energy released from an excitation coil penetrate through the plate twice, so that the signals received by one or more receiver units (pickup coils, magneto-resistors or SQUIDs) have passed twice through the plate wall; from one side of the plate at the excitation coil to the other side, then back to the original side at the receiver units. The probe detects flaws, with good and substantially equal sensitivity, irrespective of their depth in the plate. It can detect, from one side of a plate, flaws located on the other side of the plate, which is useful for inspecting the bottom plate of a huge tank which is sitting on the ground. The thickness of inspected plates can go up to one inch for aluminum plates and to 3/8" for ferromagnetic plates. The probe generates a periodic magnetic field. The excitation coil and an auxiliary device direct the electromagnetic field into the plate being inspected. In one embodiment, the auxiliary device is a coil driven by a signal having a phase and amplitude relationship to the excitation coil's signal. The excitation and the receiver units are covered by one or more shields made of highly conducting materials, or of highly conducting materials laminated with alternating layers of ferromagnetic materials.

The need and demand for inspection of metallic plates in an aging infrastructure has been increasing within the last decade due to an increase in both public awareness and concern for the environment. The non-destructive evaluation ("NDE") techniques currently in use do not meet all the requirements for such inspections. Recent market research indicates that there is a call for better inspection techniques. The technique and apparatus described herein provide for improved inspections of flat-shaped conducting structures.
Inspection of Above-Ground Storage Tanks ("ASTs") is one exemplary use for the present invention. Newspaper headlines have reported about AST failures and leakage plumes from some older structures. ASTs have the possible hazard of (and have actually caused) contaminating underground water supplies or generating run-off contamination into streams and rivers used as water supplies. The brittle fracture of a large AST near Pittsburgh, Pa., in January 1988, serves as a prime example of such catastrophes. About one million gallons (see Moore, Patrick O., "Report on Oil Spill Affirms Importance of Material Identification NDT", Materials Evaluation, Vol. 46, August 1988, P. 1128.) of petroleum products were discharged into the Monongahela River. A 1993 report from Environmental Defense Fund (see EDF Report, "Last But Not Least: Leaking Aboveground Storage Tank Threats, Costs, and Answers", Environment Defense Fund, Washington, D.C., Mar. 16, 1993.) indicated that a bulk fuel tank farm in spark, Nev., had 4-40 millon gallons of petroleum plumes and that there had been petroleum releases estimated to be from 80-252 millon gallons from a single California refinery.
There are approximately 300,000 (see EDF Report, "Last But Not Least: Leaking Aboveground Storage Tank Threats, Costs, and Answer", Environment defense Fund, Washington, D.C., Mar. 16. 1993.) to 1.2 millon (see Cater, Will, "Keynote and Overview of API653 Conference Proceedings", at API653 Conference, Jun. 10-11, 1993, sponsored by CEEM Information Services, Fairfax, Va.) tanks within the United States. This also includes tanks in chemical and other industries. Seventy percent of these tanks are twenty or more years old. Assuming each tank is inspected only once every twenty years, there is a need for inspecting 15,000-60,000 tanks per year in United States alone!
There are three NDE techniques that are popular and used for tank inspections:
(1) Acoatstic Emission ("AE"). PA0 (2) Ultrasonic Technique ("UT"). PA0 (3) Magnetic-Flux-Leakage ("MFL") Method.
AE work well for leak detection, but does anaiot tell the tank wall thickness, which is important for advanced awareness of possible impending leaks and for the prevention of any such leaks before they occur.
UT measures wall thickness accurately; however, manual UT is too slow for large area 100% coverage scanning. Automatic UT is able to inspect up to 500 ft.sup.2 /h, but it does not work well with bad surface conditions in the area to be scanned. Also, there are problems of using couplant (the material used to couple the ultrasonic energy from the probe to the plate under test) in the working site.
This method provides a high scan speed up to 1500 ft.sup.2 /h, so it is currently the most popular technique used for tank bottom inspection. However, as this method is sensitive to lift-off and has different sensitivity to near-side and far-side defects, it is used only as a tool for qualitative flow detection.
One remote field eddy current ("RFEC") technique was invented in 1951 (see MacClean, W. R., U.S. Pat. N0. 2,573,799, Nov. 1951, and Schmidt, T. R., "The Remote Field Eddy Current Inspection Technique.", Materials Evaluation, 42, pp. 225-230, February 1984) and is widely used as a nondestructive evaluation tool for inspecting metallic pipes and tubing. Essentially, the RFEC phenomenon can be observed when a coil is AC excited inside a conducting tube (see RFEC system 90 in prior-art Figure 1, in which excitation coil 91 is driven with an AC signal and creates direct signal path 95 and indirect signal path 96 which are detected by pick-up coil 94; defects in tubing 99 having center line 92 create signal changes as coil 91 and 94 are moved in tandem down the tubing 99). The RFEC signal can be sensed by a pick-up coil located 2-3 diameters away (i.e., 2 to 3 times the inner diameter dimension of the tubing) from the excitation coil. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a prior-art RFEC probe system 90 for tube inspection and two signal paths 95 and 96, between the excitation coil 91 and the pick-up coil 94. The pick-up signal is closely related to the tube wall condition, thickness, permeability, and conductivity. The signal phase, especially, has approximately linear relationship with the tube wall thickness.
For tubing inspection, the RFEC technique is characterized by its substantially equal sensitivity to either an inner diameter ("ID") or an outer diameter ("OD") defect, its insensitivity to probe wobble or lift-off, and not being limited by the penetration depth, which has traditionally been a major disadvantage for conventional eddy-current techniques, especially in ferromagnetic material inspection. However, RFEC applications have been restricted to inspection of metallic tubing, although there is a need and demand for accurate and fast inspection for many flat-shaped metals, such as tank bottoms and vessel walls.
FIG. 2 shows the basic characteristics of the RFEC effect in a tubular product. Shown are two curves representing the logarithm of signal magnitude and the signal phase angle, respectively, as functions of the distance between the excitation and the pick-up coils. There are apparently two distinct regions, a near-field region and a remote-field region, separated by a transition zone. In the near field region, the signal magnitude attenuates exponentially, while the phase keeps approximately a constant value close to -90.degree.. In the remote-field region, the magnitude attenuation rate is significantly reduced, while the phase keeps a constant value, but on which is different from that in the near-field region. The phase difference is approximately proportional to twice the wall thickness. In the region between the two regions, the transition zone, there is a rapid change in the magnitude attenuation rate and the phase value.
Users desire probes and techniques that are fast, reliable, accurate, easy to operate, and not expensive. One purpose of the present invention is to extend the RFEC technique to planar metallic plates. The proposed plate remote field eddy current ("PRFEC") technique herein meets all of the above requirements.
There is also a need therefore for an analysis of the PRFEC effect to be observed on metallic plates, and for a PRFEC probe for inspection of objects with flat geometry, or objects with approximately flat geometry in a least a local area.

Electromagnetic-field-focusing remote-field eddy-current probe system and method for inspecting anomalies in conducting plates


A charge pump is provided. The charge pump may include an oscillator, a first switch, a second switch, a capacitor/switch network, an error amplifier, an adjustable resistance circuit, a first switch driver, and a second switch driver. In one embodiment, the first and second drivers each receive the oscillator voltage, and drive the first and second switches, respectively. Further, the adjustable resistance circuit is connected in series with the first and second switch circuits. The charge pump is arranged in a closed loop with the error amplifier driving the adjustable resistance circuit. The resistance of the adjustable resistance circuit is modulated to regulate the output voltage.

A charge pump typically employs switched capacitor(s) for voltage conversion. For example, a voltage doubler type charge pump typically operates as follows. During a first phase, a flying capacitor is switched to sample a voltage, e.g., the voltage between the power supplies. During a second phase, the flying capacitor is switched so that the bottom terminal of the flying capacitor is coupled to the power supply voltage, and the top terminal is connected to the output capacitor. Accordingly, the voltage doubler provides an output voltage that is greater than the supply voltage.

Apparatus and method for charge pump control with adjustable series resistance


A gaming device may perform various electronic games, such as a keno game, and may include a game controller configured to control operations of the performed electronic games. During the course of a game performed on the gaming device, the game controller may control various winning scenarios, including alternate winning scenarios. At certain stages in a keno game, a number of markers may be selected. Before, after, or while these markers are selected, the game controller may determine how many bonus markers will be selected. Based on the number of selected bonus markers, the game controller may initiate a bonus draw phase where an additional number of markers may be selected. After all markers have been selected, any selected bonus markers may be added together and the calculated sum may be added to a credit balance associated with a player of the gaming device.

Electronic gaming machines ("EGMs") or gaming devices are used to provide a variety of wagering games such as: slot games; video poker games; video blackjack games; roulette games; video bingo games; keno games; and other types of games that are frequently offered at casinos and other locations. Play on EGMs typically involves a player establishing a credit balance by inputting money, or another form of monetary credit, and placing a monetary wager from the credit balance on one or more outcomes of an instance (or single play) of a primary or base game. In some cases, a player may qualify for a special mode of the base game, a secondary game, or a bonus round of the base game by attaining a certain winning combination or triggering event in, or related to, the base game, or after the player is randomly awarded the special mode, secondary game, or bonus round. In the special mode, secondary game, or bonus round, the player is given an opportunity to win extra game credits, game tokens, or other forms of payout. In the case of "game credits" that are awarded during play, the game credits are typically added to a credit meter total on the EGM and may be provided to the player upon completion of a gaming session or when the player wants to "cash out."
Typical games may use a random number generator (RNG) to randomly determine the outcome of each game. The game may be designed to return a certain percentage of the amount wagered back to the player over the course of many plays or instances of the game, which is generally referred to as return to player (RTP). The RTP and randomness of the RNG ensure the fairness of the games and are highly regulated. Upon initiation of play, the RNG randomly determines a game outcome and symbols are then selected which correspond to that outcome. Notably, some games may include an element of skill on the part of the player and therefore may not be entirely random.

Keno games with bonus markers and alternative winning scenarios


A communication circuit for providing a bi-directional data transmission over a signal line, thereby receiving a first digital data stream and transmitting a corresponding first signal into a near end of a signal line to a remote device, the remote device being connected to a far end of the signal line, receiving a second signal at the near end of the signal line from the remote device and deriving a second digital data stream therefrom, having a replica generator for providing, in response to the first digital data stream or a signal derived therefrom, a replica signal, and an extraction circuit for extracting the second digital data stream from the second signal in response to the replica signal and a comparator signal deduced from the near end of the signal line and an automatic test equipment having a plurality of communication circuits each providing a bi-directional data transmission.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a bi-directional data transmission.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
In communication systems, it is often necessary to transfer data in both directions over the same physical communication link. In communication systems with such bi-directional communication links, the communication terminals provided at each end of a bi-directional communication link comprise each a transmitter and a receiver associated to each other for transmitting and receiving data respectively.
Transferring data in both directions over the same physical line necessitates separating the data flow of the both directions; it is thus necessary to prevent a receiver from mixing of a signal transmitted by the associated transmitter and a signal received from another transmitter.
To avoid a signal mixing, it is well known to establish a method, wherein a transmitter is only allowed to transmit data if no data is received at the same time. However, due to a transmission time depending on the length of the line, a corresponding waiting time, also referred to as roundtrip time, has to be additionally taken into account.
Integrated circuits with high data rates, also referred to as high speed integrated circuits and further also generally referred to as device under test -DUT., face the problem that an automatic test equipment -ATE- for testing such circuits needs to take into account increasing roundtrip times, as for high-speed testing the data direction between ATE and DUT is changing frequently. Therefore, to avoid the impact of roundtrip times, U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,242 describes a test setup wherein a driver and a comparator in an ATE are separated and each connected over independent lines to a device under test.
In the article "An 8-Gb-/s Simultaneous Bidirectional Link With On-Die Waveform Capture", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 38, No. 12, December 2003, a method is disclosed that allows for simultaneously transmitting and receiving digital data over a physical link. According to this article, a comparator threshold at a receiver for detecting a received digital data stream is switched according to the actual value of a transmitted digital data stream.

Communication circuit for a bi-directional data transmission


The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for rebuilding a storage array. The method comprises: replacing, in response to a failing storage device occurs in the storage array, the failing storage device with a first spare storage device; performing component rebuild by using other storage devices in the storage array than the first spare storage device, so as to restore within the first spare storage device data in the failing storage device; performing, in parallel with the component rebuild, smart rebuild by using a second spare storage device, so as to copy data in the failing storage device to the second spare storage device; replacing the first spare storage device with the second spare storage device in the storage array upon completion of the smart rebuild.

The present invention relates to storage array, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for rebuilding a storage array.
With the rapid development of Information Technology, the amount of data that needs to be stored and processed becomes larger and larger. For this reason, in addition to the increasing of storage density and storage capacity of individual storage devices, a storage array formed by a plurality of storage devices is often employed to store data. Typically, a storage array is formed by a plurality of independent non-volatile storage devices such as disk, SSD, etc; these storage devices are collectively connected to a storage array controller and perform operation related to data storage under control of the controller.
On the other hand, to ensure security of the stored data, certain redundancy is often provided in a storage array, such that data recovery can be conducted when corruption occurs in a portion of data. Such storage array is also referred to as Redundant Disk Array (RAID). Multiple levels of RAID have been provided in the art.
RAID 1 is also referred to as Disk Mirroring Array. In such an array, when data is stored on a primary disk, same data is also written to a mirroring disk. When the primary disk fails, the mirroring disk will take the place of the primary disk. Data security of RAID 1 is the highest among all the RAID levels since there is a mirroring disk to perform full data backup. However, it is appreciated that, disk utilization of RAID 1 is relatively low.
RAID 2 encodes data by Error Correction Code (ECC), then partitions the encoded data into separate bits, and writes them to disks. RAID 3 and RAID 4 further utilize data interleaving storage technology to partition the encoded data, store them to disks respectively, and store parity data of different bits in a separate disk.
RAID 5 is a storage solution that comprehensively considers storage performance, data security and storage cost in balance. RAID 5 improves parallelism of data access by stripping the data and distributing data stripes to different storage devices. Specifically, in RAID 5, data and corresponding parity information are stored to respective disks forming RAID 5, and parity information and corresponding data are stored on different disks respectively. Since RAID 5 uses one parity chunk in each stripe to store parity information, RAID 5 can tolerate failure of one disk. That is to say, when data in one disk corrupts, the corrupted data can be restored by using data and corresponding parity information in the remaining disks. Since RAID 5 takes both data security and storage cost in consideration, it is widely applied.
RAID 6 improves data security by increasing number of parity chunks in each stripe to two. Accordingly, RAID 6 can tolerate failure of two disks at the same time. Moreover, other levels of Redundant Disk Array such as RAID 10 and RAID 50 are also provided, which possess their own features in different aspects such as data security, disk utilization, read/write speed etc.
As mentioned above, a RAID array has data recovery capability due to its redundancy. The process of restoring data in a failed disk in RAID is also called 'rebuild'. FIG. 1A illustratively shows the rebuild of data chunks in RAID 5. In a RAID 5 having N storage devices (such as disk), there are N−1 data chunks and 1 parity chunk in each stripe. When a certain data chunk Dn corrupts, the corrupted data chunk Dn can be restored through calculation using other data chunks Di (i is not equal to n) and a corresponding parity chunk P in the same stripe. If what is corrupted is the parity chunk, then that parity chunk can be re-obtained by performing parity operation on data chunks in the same stripe again. Therefore, when any one of disks in the array fails, data in the failing disk may be restored by using data in the remaining disks. Such rebuild process is also called component rebuild. Generally, component rebuild will not influence input and output (I/O) between RAID array and hosts. However, it is appreciated that, since component rebuild needs to read data in respective disks and perform calculation thereon, it normally takes a long time (several hours). For this reason, smart rebuild is further proposed as a supplement, so as to rapidly rebuild data in a failing disk.
FIG. 1B shows a diagram of smart rebuild. Smart rebuild mainly applies to the case in which a storage device begins to fail but access can still be performed. As shown in FIG. 1B, assume in a RAID 5 array formed by N storage devices (such as disk), disk n begins to fail, for example, having medium errors occurred. To avoid component rebuild, in case that disk n can still be accessed, a mirror relation is established between that disk n and a spare disk, that is, the disk n and the spare disk are made to form a RAID 1 array, so as to copy data of the disk n to the spare disk. At this point, disk n belongs to both the RAID 5 array (original array) and the RAID 1 array (mirroring array). Although FIG. 1B merely illustrates RAID 5 array as an example, smart rebuild may also be similarly applied to other RAID types such as RAID 6, RAID 10 etc. Since smart rebuild only involves data copy between the failing disk n and the spare disk, the rebuild process is much faster than component rebuild.
However, it is appreciated that, during the process of smart rebuild, the failing disk needs to be frequently accessed to copy data therefrom, which sometimes accelerates corruption of the failing disk that has medium errors occurred. Therefore, sometimes, such a case occurs: when smart rebuild has not been completed yet, the failing disk is further corrupted and data can not be read therefrom, so that smart rebuild has to be terminated. As stated above, when smart rebuild begins, a mirror relation is established between the failing disk and a spare disk. Establishment of the mirror relation involves writing of many configuration data, including metadata of the original RAID array, metadata of the mirroring array, various bitmap data etc. Accordingly, to terminate the smart rebuild, the mirror relation established between the failing disk and the spare disk needs to be removed, and the above configuration data needs to be cleared. To avoid introducing further complexity, during the time of clearing the configuration data, usually, it needs to quiesce I/O between the original RAID array and hosts, so as to ensure that correlation between the failing disk and the spare disk is cleaned up as soon as possible. In case that the failing disk is seriously damaged, the above clean up process needs a relatively long time, during which I/O between RAID and hosts of the storage array is completely suppressed, so that its read/write will be seriously affected.
Therefore, it is desired to propose a more advantageous rebuild scheme that is capable of reducing influence on a RAID array when restoring corrupted data in the array.

International Business Machines Corporation


Natural gas produced from a well by executing a multiple-phase gas recovery cycle which includes a phase during which a relatively lower evacuation pressure is applied within three chambers in the well to assist in accumulating liquids at a well bottom, followed by a liquid reduction phase which clears the liquid from two of the chambers while leaving the liquid in the third chamber. The remaining liquid is thereafter lifted in subsequent liquid capture and liquid removal phases. The liquid reduction phase clears the fluid from the well more effectively with less interruption in the production of gas from the well while maintaining the full gas productivity of the well.

The production of oil and natural gas depends on natural pressure within the earth formation at the bottom of a well bore, as well as the mechanical efficiency of the equipment and its configuration within the well bore to move the hydrocarbons from the earth formation to the surface. The natural formation pressure forces the oil and gas into the well bore. In the early stages of a producing well when there is considerable formation pressure, the formation pressure may force the oil and gas entirely to the earth surface without assistance. In later stages of a well's life after the formation pressure has diminished, the formation pressure is effective only to move liquid and gas from the earth formation into the well. The formation pressure pushes liquid and gas into the well until a hydrostatic head created by a column of accumulated liquid counterbalances the natural earth formation pressure. Then, a pressure equilibrium condition exists and no more oil or gas or water flows from the earth formation into the well. The hydrostatic head pressure from the accumulated liquid column chokes off the further flow of liquid into the well bore, causing the well to "choke off" or "die," unless the accumulated liquid is pumped or lifted out of the well.
By continually removing the liquid, the hydrostatic head pressure from the accumulated column of liquid remains less than the natural earth formation pressure. Under such circumstances, the natural earth formation pressure continues to move the liquid and gas into the well, allowing the liquid and gas to be recovered or produced. At some point when the natural earth formation pressure has diminished significantly, the cost of removing the liquid diminishes the value of the recovered oil and gas to the point where it becomes uneconomic to continue to work the well. Under those circumstances, the well is abandoned because it is no longer economically productive. A deeper well will require more energy to pump the liquid from the well bottom, because more energy is required to lift the liquid the greater distance to the earth surface. Deeper wells are therefore abandoned with higher remaining formation pressure than shallower wells.
To keep a well in production, it is necessary to remove the accumulated liquid to prevent the liquid from choking off the flow of gas. Because a considerably greater volume of gas is usually produced into a well compared to the amount of liquid produced into the well, the greater volume of gas can be recovered more economically by removing a relatively lesser volume of the accumulated liquid. Consequently, there may be an economic advantage to recovering natural gas at the end of a well's lifetime, because the gas is more economically recovered as a result of removing a relatively smaller amount of accumulated liquid. These factors are particularly applicable to recovering gas from relatively deep wells.
Gas pressure lift systems have been developed to lift liquid from wells under circumstances where mechanical pumps would not be effective or not sufficiently economical. In general, gas pressure lift systems inject pressurized gas into the well to force the liquid up from the well bottom, rather than rely on mechanical pumping devices to lift the liquid. The injected gas may froth the liquid by mixing the heavier density liquid with the lighter density gas to reduce the overall density of the lifted material. Alternatively, "slugs" or shortened column lengths of liquid are separated by bubble-like spaces of pressurized gas, again reducing the overall density of the lifted material. In both cases, the amount of energy required to lift the material is reduced, or for a given amount of energy it is possible to lift material from a greater depth.
One problem with injecting pressurized gas into a well casing is that the pressurized gas tends to oppose the natural formation pressure. The injected gas pressure counterbalances the formation pressure to inhibit or diminish the flow of liquids and natural gas into the well. Once the injected gas pressure is relieved, the natural earth formation will again become effective to move the liquid and gas into the well. However, because the casing annulus is pressurized for a significant amount of time during each production cycle, the net effect is that the injected gas pressure diminishes the production of the well. Stated alternatively, producing a given amount of liquid and gas from the well requires a longer time period to accomplish. Such reductions in the production efficiency in the later stages of the well's life may be so significant that it becomes uneconomical to work the well, even though some amount of hydrocarbons remain in the formation.
One type of pressurized gas lift apparatus, method and gas recovery cycle which is particularly advantageous for use with wells having relatively low down-hole natural earth formation pressure is described in the above-identified U.S. patent. In that technique, a three chamber evacuation phase is included in each gas recovery cycle to create a relatively low pressure throughout the well and thereby augment the natural earth formation pressure to draw more gas and liquid from the surrounding earth formation into the bottom of the well. The relatively low pressure is communicated from the earth surface down into the well through a casing chamber, a production chamber and a lift chamber. Liquid is forced from the casing chamber into the production and lift chambers and is then lifted to the earth surface through the lift chamber by applying a relatively high pressure to the production chamber. A one-way valve at the bottom of the production chamber allows fluid to flow from the casing chamber into the production chamber, but the one-way valve confines the relatively high pressure in the production chamber when the liquid is lifted up the lift chamber to the earth surface. After the liquid is lifted in this manner, at least a significant portion of the gas is produced through the same path up the casing chamber, down the production chamber and then up the lift chamber.
The three chamber evacuation phase in the gas recovery cycle is particularly advantageous in improving the efficiency and maintaining the productivity of relatively deep wells having relatively low natural earth formation pressures and which produce liquid at a relatively low rate. Because liquid is produced at a relatively low rate, it is possible to use the three chamber evacuation phase as a primary gas production phase. The gas is produced directly up the casing chamber, and the gas is not subject to the flowing friction losses created by the relatively lengthy flow path down the smaller diameter production chamber and then up the even smaller diameter lift chamber. The flowing friction losses through the shortest flow path and largest diameter casing chamber are substantially less than the more circuitous and friction-engendering path up the casing chamber, down the production chamber and then up the lift chamber.
The technique of the above-identified U.S. patent is best implemented in these low earth formation pressure-low liquid production wells by minimizing the amount of time or proportion of each gas recovery cycle required to perform the liquid capture, liquid removal and production phases during which the liquid is removed from the casing chamber and lifted to the earth surface. The relatively low rate of liquid production by the well permits minimizing these phases while maximizing the more efficient gas producing three chamber evacuation phase.

Gas recovery apparatus, method and cycle having a three chamber evacuation phase and two liquid extraction phases for improved natural gas production


A stored gas inflator having a chamber. The chamber houses a quantity of stored gas. The chamber is sealed by a burst disk. A frangible support is also added. The frangible support is designed to support the burst disk. The frangible support breaks during deployment of the inflator. The inflator is further constructed such that when the temperature of the inflator exceeds a threshold level, the gas is vented out of the chamber through the frangible member.

Airbag and airbag systems are now a requirement on all new motor vehicles sold in the United States. These systems have been credited in saving many lives and preventing many serious injuries. In many vehicles, multiple airbag systems are used. Some of the commonly known airbag systems include driver's airbag systems (which are usually positioned in the steering wheel), passenger airbag systems, inflatable curtain airbag systems, knee airbag systems, overhead airbag systems, etc.
Airbag systems are generally designed such that in the event of an accident or crash, an airbag will be inflated and deployed into the interior of the vehicle. This airbag will be positioned in front of the steering wheel, the dashboard, the vehicle door, and/or other portions of the vehicle interior. Accordingly, during the crash, the occupant impacts the inflated airbag rather than the surface of the vehicle interior, and as such, the likelihood that the occupant will be injured in the crash is greatly diminished.
Airbag systems will generally include an airbag inflator (which is also referred to simply as an "inflator"). An inflator is a device that is capable of rapidly producing and/or channeling a large quantity of gas into the undeployed airbag. When the vehicle is experiencing crash conditions, a signal is supplied to the inflator which causes the inflator to produce and/or channel the inflation gas into the undeployed, stowed airbag. In turn, this influx of gas into the undeployed airbag causes the airbag to deploy and become positioned within the interior of the vehicle.
Some inflators are referred to as "stored gas" inflators in that they include a chamber that houses a quantity of stored gas (such as nitrogen gas). This chamber is generally sealed such that the stored gas is housed under pressure. Accordingly, in the event of an accident, the stored gas chamber is "unsealed" and the stored gas is allowed to rapidly vent out of the chamber. Upon exiting the chamber, the gas is channeled into the airbag and used to inflate the airbag.
Because the gas is housed within the stored gas inflator under pressure, regulations have been imposed which are designed to ensure the safety of stored gas inflators during a fire. Such fire conditions may occur while the inflator is being shipped, while the inflator is being stored in a warehouse or other facility, or after the inflator has been installed onto a vehicle. Specifically, if the stored gas inflator is involved in a fire, the heat associated with the fire may cause the pressure of the stored gas inside the inflator to increase. If the pressure of the gas increases beyond a threshold level, the structural integrity of the inflator may be compromised and the inflator may become propulsive (i.e., explode). Accordingly, some governmental agencies have imposed regulations which require that all stored gas inflators have a method to safely vent the stored gas out of the inflator in the event that the inflator is involved in fire conditions. By venting this gas out of the inflator, the internal pressure of the inflator is drastically reduced and the inflator is prevented from becoming propulsive.
To date, the mechanisms used by manufacturers to vent the gas out of the inflator in the event of a fire are complex and costly. Accordingly, a new type of stored gas inflator is needed that includes a simple and cost-effective mechanism for venting the gas out of the inflator in the event of a fire. Such a device is disclosed herein.


A logic gate is described that implements complex logic within a memory array. The logic gate receives at least three of a first storage cell signal, a second storage cell signal, a first external signal, or a second external signal at a first input circuitry and second input circuitry. The logic gate then performs one of a set of logic functions using the first storage cell signal, the second storage cell signal, the first external signal, or the second external signal. The set of logic functions includes at least one of a matching function, an OR-AND function, or an AND function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to memory arrays. More specifically, the present application relates generally to a method and apparatus for implementing complex logic within a memory array.
2. Description of the Related Art
Content-addressable memory (CAM) is a special type of computer memory used in certain very high speed searching applications. Content-addressable memory may also be known as associative memory, associative storage, or associative array.
Unlike standard computer memory, random access memory (RAM) in which the user supplies a memory address and the RAM returns the data word stored at that address, a CAM is designed such that the user supplies a data word and the CAM searches its entire memory to see if that data word is stored anywhere in it. If the data word is found, the CAM returns a list of one or more storage addresses where the word was found, and in some architectures, it also returns the data word or other associated pieces of data. Thus, a CAM is the hardware embodiment of what in software terms would be called an associative array.
Because a CAM is designed to search its entire memory in a single operation, it is much faster than RAM in virtually all search applications. Unlike a RAM chip, which has simple storage cells, each individual memory bit in a fully parallel CAM must have its own associated comparison circuit to detect a match between the stored bit and the input bit. However, some CAMs require more than just a bit-to-bit comparison. A bit-to-bit comparison can be achieved with a XNOR gate and then ANDing each result to find if an entire line matches. A XNOR gate is a digital logic gate that implements logical equality. For more complicated CAMs, just a XNOR gate itself is not sufficient to perform the desired logical function.

Method and apparatus for implementing complex logic within a memory array


A detector for electromagnetic radiation in the range 80 GHz to 4 THz comprises a laser light source (115) an optical modulator (13) arranged to modulate light from the laser light source (11) and a filter system (17) for selecting a defined range of frequencies of the modulated light. The optical modulator is an electroabsorption modulator (13) with an antenna (15) which is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in the range 80 GHz to 4 THz. The signal received by the antenna (15) modulates the electric field across the electroabsorption modulator (13), whereby to modulate the light from the laser light source (11).

The present invention relates to the detection of electromagnetic radiation in the 80 GHz to 4 THz range. This region of the electromagnetic spectrum has potential for a wide range of medical, pharmaceutical and communications commercial applications as well as being scientifically useful across a wide variety of research fields. Whilst THz systems have been constructed they generally use large and expensive pulsed lasers to generate pulsed THz radiation. While several techniques have been put forward for detecting THz radiation, such as electro-optic sampling, photoconductive sampling and use of bolometers, they are complicated by the need for the pulsed lasers and/or cryogenic cooling.
High speed electroabsorption effects have previously been used to detect THz radiation by W. Sha et al, (Appl. Phys. Lett. 61 (15), 12 Oct. 1992). In Sha et al's scheme the THz radiation was propagated directly onto the multiple quantum well absorber region of the THz detector. In Sha et al's scheme the optical probe signal was a train of 75 fs pulses focussed onto the sample using a lens from a direction perpendicular to the plane of the multiple quantum well absorber region.
In co-pending patent applications GB 0502108.4 and PCT/GB2006/000360, a novel means of extending the operating frequency of optical modulators was outlined and it was stated that such a device could be used to detect radiation in the frequency range 80 GHz to 2 THz. The present invention builds upon this idea by outlining, at least in the preferred embodiments, a promising approach for high sensitivity detection of radiation typically in the frequency range 80 GHz to 2 THz using a high bandwidth optical modulator.

The Centre For Integrated Photonics Limited


A unique attachment mechanism whereby a base platform of a janitorial cart can be affixed to the underside of a mop bucket by an interconnection mechanism by a simple rolling motion so that it is not necessary to lift a heavy mop bucket filled with water to interconnect the mop bucket and the base platform of a janitorial cart.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of janitorial supplies and in particular to a rolling dolly on which a trash can is retained or alternatively to a janitorial cart used by a cleaning person when performing janitorial cleaning services, usually in a commercial building, combined with a rolling mop bucket which retains water and cleaning solution so that a mop is placed into the bucket and the water and cleaning solution are absorbed onto the mop strands which is then used to clean a floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, rolling dollies on which a trash can is retained are known in the prior art. Rolling mop buckets are also known in the prior art. When a janitor uses both, the janitor must separately roll the mop bucket to the location where cleaning is to be performed and separately roll the trash can dolly to the location where cleaning is to be performed.
Janitorial carts are also known in the prior art. Rolling mop buckets are also known in the prior art. When a janitor uses both, the janitor must separately roll the mop bucket to the location where cleaning it to be performed and separately roll the janitorial cart to the location where cleaning is to be performed.
There is a significant need to provide a mechanism wherein the trash can dolly and mop bucket can be efficiently linked together so that both can be simultaneously rolled to a location where cleaning is to be performed. There is also a significant need for a mechanism wherein the janitorial cart and mop bucket can be efficiently linked together so that both can be simultaneously rolled to a location where cleaning is to be performed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Combination trash can dolly and mop bucket and combination janitorial cart and mop bucket


A transmit antenna (3) is supplied with energy by a power supply unit (2). An electrical value characteristic for the transmit power is compared to a comparison value and the length of a time interval is measured in which the characteristic value at least reaches or exceeds the comparison value. Depending on the length of this time interval the transmit power is set.

An anti-theft system for a motor vehicle is known from DE 44 30 360 C1, where a stationary transmitter in a lock comprises a resonant circuit which is inductively linked to an resonant circuit of a portable transponder in a key. In the transmitter an oscillation is triggered by an excitation variable of which the energy is transmitted to a transponder which, for its part, transmits coded data back to the transmitter.
Below a specific power threshold the energy transmitted to the transponder device is too small for a transmission of code information by the transponder device. To guarantee a secure exchange of energy and data between the base station and the transponder unit the transmit power of the base station must thus be set to a specific minimum value.
DE 196 02 316 C1 discloses a device for transmission of data or energy which can be used especially for an anti-theft system for a motor vehicle, in which coded information is sent from a key to a lock and in the opposite direction. The document proposes the use of a stationary transceiver with a first resonant circuit which is excited to an oscillation by an excitation variable with an excitation frequency. During the manufacturing of the transceiver, deviations from required values in components of the resonant circuit can occur as a result of component tolerances. After the transceiver has been manufactured it must therefore be first established whether its resonant frequency deviates by more than a specified amount from the excitation frequency. To this end the amplitude of the current through the antenna or the voltage at a capacitor of the resonant circuit is measured. If the current or the voltage deviates from a required value, a correction value is created. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment described in DE 196 02 316 C1, after the transceiver has been manufactured, it must first be established whether a resonance frequency deviates from the excitation frequency by more than a specified amount. The antenna resonant circuit can be changed in two different ways independently of the correction value so that energy and data are transmitted in the most effective way possible. On the one hand the resonant frequency of the antenna resonant circuit can be approximated to the excitation frequency and on the other hand the current through the antenna, i.e. the excitation current, can be increased. A measuring device with a microprocessor can be used for measuring current and voltage, which records the current via an A/D converter and undertakes to connect a capacitor and/or an inductor or to control the excitation current.

Arrangement and method for setting a transmit power