An optical transceiver and a method to setup the optical transceiver are disclosed, where the transceiver has a function to compensate the distortion and the dispersion due to the limited bandwidth of the electrical signal line, that of the active devices, and that of the optical fiber. The optical transceiver comprises a transmitter with an equalizer unit and a receiver also with an equalizer unit. The equalizer unit in the transmitter compensates the distortion due to the limited bandwidth of the transmission lines for the electrical signal and that of the semiconductor active device, while, the equalizer unit in the receiver compensates the dispersion due to the limited bandwidth of the optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transceiver that transmits and receives optical signals.
2. Related Prior Arts
One optical communication system, whose distance between the nearest terminal is shorter than several kilo-meter and transmission speed is relatively slow, below several hundreds of mega-bps, often uses multimode optical fibers and a light-emitting diode (LED) as optical sources. On the other hand, another type of the optical communication system with a long distance and a high transmission speed uses single mode fibers and a laser diode as optical sources.
The FDDI standard, which is one of international standards of the optical communication and rules a distance of 2 km and a transmission speed of 125 Mbps, has adopted the multimode fiber with a core diameter of 62.5 μm and a graded index profile. Another standard of the optical communication system, such as the SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) whose transmission speeds are 622 Mbps, 2.5 Gbps, 10 Gbps and so on, or the optical Ethernet with transmission speed faster than 1 Gbps, has adopted the single mode fiber and the laser diode (LD) as the optical source.
Recently, it has been requested that existing multimode fibers could be applied to the high speed optical communication system using the LD as the signal source. Because of its larger core diameter, the multimode fiber is easily coupled with the optical source, and consequently, some misalignment between the core and the light source does not result in the larger coupling loss, which makes it easy to produce an optical connector and reduces the production cost. On the other hand, the multimode fiber easily distorts the optical signal transmitted therein because the fiber may transmit a plurality of optical modes and respective modes show different transmission speed within the fiber, which is called as the dispersion. Thus, it has been unable for the multimode fiber to transmit a high speed optical signal.
In order to compensate the dispersion within the multimode fiber, an electrical equalizing process carried out in the optical receiver is known in the field. H. Bulow, et. al has presented this electrical equalizing process in the Optical Fiber Conference in 2002. The electrical equalizing process may be carried out by one type of digital filters with a plurality of delay blocks, a plurality of multipliers, an adder and some control units. The electrical equalizing may realize the high speed transmission over 10 Gbps.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,387 has disclosed another technique in addition to the electrical equalizing in the receiver, where the transmitter compensates the dispersion occurred within the optical fiber, which is called as pre-emphasis. K. Roberts, et al has reported another technique in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, volume 12 (2), pages 403-405 (2006), that, estimating the dispersion occurred within the optical fiber, the transmitter outputs a pre-distorted optical signal based on the estimation so as to compensate the dispersion of the optical fiber, which is called as the pre-compensation.
In the high speed transmission over 10 Gbps, the frequency bandwidth of the electrical signal lines in the transmitter and the receiver and that of the LD and the PD become a great factor to distort the signal waveform in addition to the dispersion of the optical fiber regardless of single mode or multimode. The electrical equalizing provided only in the receiver sometimes lacks its ability to compensate the distortion due to a limited frequency bandwidth of the electrical signal lines and that of the semiconductor devices. The semiconductor active devices with lower cost thereof that are positively applied in the optical system using the multimode fiber tend to show less bandwidth. Although the prior US patent mentioned above has disclosed the pre-emphasis technique where the optical output from the transmitter is pre-distorted so as to compensate the distortion and the dispersion of the transmission line as monitoring the output waveform from the transmitter, they have not described nor mentioned the relation between the pre-emphasized transmitter and the receiver, and between the pre-emphasized transmitter and the optical fiber.
Moreover, the pre-compensation technique reported by Roberts, et. al is necessary to compensate whole distortion and dispersion due to the signal line, the active devices and the optical fiber only by the pre-compensation, which inevitably requires a large dynamic range of the pre-compensation. A large power is necessary in the calculation to get optimal conditions, which inevitably brings a hard thermal condition for the devices installed within the transceiver.

Optical transceiver with equalizing function and a method to setup the optical transceiver


A module for a fuel cell arrangement having several stacked plates. At least two of the plates have a common seal element of polymer material which is injected onto the plates and by which the plates are at least partially joined to one another. The plates can be provided with openings into which the seal element extends. The plates can be configured so that a cavity is defined between the plates, with the openings communicating with the cavity. The seal element can also have different cross-sectional configurations.

Fuel cell arrangements are used to produce electrical energy by a chemical reaction and can be implemented, for example, in the form of a block which has a host of individual modules stacked on top of one another and in which the chemical reaction proceeds in each module. The reaction partners are often supplied to the fuel cell in a gaseous state, for example in the form of hydrogen and oxygen or air, and so reliable sealing of the fuel cell arrangement is necessary.
One example of a seal for fuel cells is described in German Offenlegungsschrift No. DE 100 28 395 A1. This document discloses a seal having a carrier body with elastomer material located on it. The elastomer material is applied to the support body in the form of a liquid rubber vulcanizate and is then cross-linked or vulcanized.
European Patent Publication No. EP 1 032 065 A2 discloses a seal arrangement especially for bipolar plates with interposed ion exchange-membrane units in fuel cells. In this seal arrangement, the seal elements of polymer material are injected into recesses of the bipolar plates and, with the pertinent bipolar plate, form an integral unit. The seal elements do not completely fill the recesses. Instead, empty spaces or gaps remain between the side walls of the seal elements and the adjacent walls of the recesses. This ensures that the seal elements can give when compressed. Moreover the seal elements project out of the recesses, i.e. the height of the seal elements is greater than the depth of the recesses.

Module for a fuel cell arrangement comprising plates joined by a seal


A system and method for provisioning presence application services using a customizable presence data model. An ontology depository having at least one domain-specific ontology model for a particular presence application is provided on a communications network. Presence client software associated with a general-purpose presence entity is customized by referencing a domain-specific ontology model of the ontology depository, whereby the presence entity becomes operable to engage in a particular presence application relating to the domain-specific ontology model.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to presence-aware communication networks. More particularly, and not by way of any limitation, the present invention is directed to a system and method for provisioning presence application services using a customizable presence data model.
2. Description of Related Art
With today's widespread use of the Internet as a major communication medium, data communication devices are now being designed so that they are capable of communicating over packet-switched networks. For instance, telephones, pagers, personal digital assistant devices, cell phones, handheld computers, and even fax machines can now be accessed and controlled from the Internet. Communication over a packet-switched network using communication devices that traditionally communicate over a circuit-switched telecommunications network is generally known as network telephony, or IP telephony when an IP network is involved.
Various types of user communication devices (e.g., a cell phone, laptop or handheld PC, desktop PC, and the like) can identify themselves to the network using a suitable identifier (e.g., firstname.lastname@example.com). "Presence" refers to, for example, the availability, proximity, activity level or operating state of a user on a network. The ability for users to monitor each other's presence is a feature offered in connection with many applications that support network telephony. For example, instant messaging applications such as MSN® or Yahoo® have an "available buddy" feature, in which a user of the application can determine whether select users are available for engaging in communication. The data retrieved and returned to the buddy list, e.g. "John OFFLINE" or "Susan ACTIVE", is known as "presence information," and is generally maintained by a presence server in the data network, often a dedicated server. Typically, the presence server supports network telephony protocols such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). Users can register their communication devices with the presence server in order to have their presence maintained and to allow various programs on the network to facilitate network telephony services. A first device user wishing to detect the presence of a second device user does so by "subscribing" with the presence server, such as via a SIP SUBSCRIBE message. The presence server intermediates between the first device user (also known as the watcher or subscriber) and the second device user to facilitate the communication of the second device user's presence information to the first device user.
Additional details about presence and presence modeling are set forth in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comment (RFC) 2778 entitled "A model for Presence and Instant Messaging," dated February 2002; RFC 2779 entitled "Instant Messaging/Presence Protocol Requirements," dated February 2002; and Internet-Draft identified as <<draft-schulzrinne-simple-rpids-01.ps>> and entitled "RPIDS—Rich Presence Information Data Format for Presence Based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)," dated Feb. 18, 2003, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Inasmuch as conventional presence systems have been useful in a variety of applications, only a few forms of presence are currently in use in today's telecommunications networks as exemplified hereinabove. On the other hand, as the technology evolves and more presence-aware networks become deployed in diverse fields, there arises a need to accommodate many forms and types of presence in the future. Newer forms of presence may appear whereas some old forms may disappear over time. Provisioning additional presence forms adaptable for multiple applications is particularly difficult in the existing systems, however, because of their hardwired application-specific implementation which necessitates expensive reconfiguration and recompilation.

System and method for provisioning presence application services


Methods, systems, and media for use in separating mixtures. A slurry including a separation liquid and one or more particulate media materials is provided. A classification separation is performed on the slurry to produce a classified media having a controlled particle size distribution of the particulate media materials. The classified media is combined with a mixture to be separated to generate a separation mixture. A density separation is performed on the separation mixture. The particle size distribution can be controlled based in part on characteristics of components of a separation system to be used in subsequent density separations.

The problem of separating different polymeric materials from each other is the primary obstacle to economically recycling polymeric materials from durable goods. Three main separation techniques currently exist: hand sorting, optical/spectroscopic based sorting, and mechanical sorting based primarily on differences in material density. Hand sorting is labor intensive and cost-prohibitive in most cases. Optical-based sorting techniques, which include visible, near-infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray fluorescence, have many applications, and these systems will certainly play a role in future recycling plants as described, for example, in commonly assigned International Application No. PCT/US03/11642, filed Apr. 14, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference. However, no system available today is broadly applicable to polymeric materials containing fillers, paints, coatings, and other contaminants. Mechanical sorting systems take advantage of physical property differences between materials to segregate them. The most common physical property that these techniques exploit is a difference in material density.
Density sorting is used to upgrade a variety of raw materials including mixed plastics, coal and mixed metals. It is frequently necessary to perform these separations in a fluid with a density greater than that of water. The density of a fluid can be increased by adding a solid material (which will be referred to as "media",) to the fluid to create a slurry. Magnetite, titanium dioxide, sand, ferrosilicate or other materials are frequently added to water to adjust the density upwards so that material with a density as high as 2.6 g/cc or higher can be made to float. Separations making use of such slurried media will be referred to as "slurried dense media separations".
A hydrocyclone or other density separation device can be used to separate materials by density. Some density separation devices introduce liquid and particles that are to be separated (mixture particles) into a conical or cylindrical device. A vortex is created within the device causing the particles that are denser than the liquid to report to the bottom of the device (the underflow) and particles that are less dense than the liquid to report to the top of the device (the overflow). When using a separation fluid that is a slurry of dense mineral materials in water, the slurry can be unstable and subject to settling. The media particles used to increase the density of the fluid should be small enough that they will not settle as rapidly as the particles of the mixture to be separated. For example, if magnetite is used as a media, the particle size must typically be smaller than 200 microns to ensure that the magnetite does not settle so rapidly that the fluid does not behave as a dense fluid. A number of density separation devices are described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,579, which is incorporated by reference herein.
In addition to separating mixtures of particles, hydrocyclones can also be used to dewater solids and classify solids by size. FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a typical hydrocyclone 100. The particle size of solid that a hydrocyclone is capable of recovering from a slurry is determined by a combination of variables, including the cyclone diameter 110, the inlet area 120, the diameter of the vortex finder 130, the height of the classification section 140, the flow rate of feed into the cyclone, the density of the solid particles in the slurry and the density of the separation fluid.

Technique for enhancing the effectiveness of slurried dense media separations


Semiconductor devices containing group II-VI semiconductor materials are disclosed. The devices may include a p-n junction containing a p-type group II-VI semiconductor material and an n-type semiconductor material. The p-type group II-VI semiconductor includes a single crystal group II-VI semiconductor containing atoms of group II elements, atoms of group VI elements, and one or more p-type dopants. The p-type dopant concentration is greater than about 1016 atoms·cm−3, the semiconductor resistivity is less than about 0.5 ohm·cm, and the carrier mobility is greater than about 0.1 cm2/V·s. The semiconductor devices may include light emitting diodes, laser diodes, field effect transistors, and photodetectors.

The present invention provides group II-VI semiconductor devices and methods of fabrication.
As used herein, the group II-VI semiconductor devices include devices fabricated from group II-VI semiconductor compounds which include group II elements selected from zinc, cadmium, the alkaline earth metals such as beryllium, magnesium calcium, strontium, and barium, and mixtures thereof, and group VI elements selected from oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and mixtures thereof. The group II-VI semiconductor compounds may be doped with one or more p-type dopant. Such p-type dopants include, but are not limited to, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, copper, chalcogenides of the foregoing, and mixtures thereof. Zinc oxide and zinc sulfide are two presently preferred group II-VI semiconductor compounds.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc sulfide are wide band gap semiconductors with potential for use in electrically excited devices such as light emitting devices (LEDs), laser diodes (LDs), field effect transistors (FETs), photodetectors operating in the ultraviolet and at blue wavelengths of the visible spectrum, and other similar devices. Gallium nitride (GaN) is becoming more commonly used as a semiconductor material for the electronic devices mentioned above.
Zinc oxide has several advantages over GaN. For instance, ZnO has a significantly larger exciton binding energy than GaN, which suggests that ZnO-based lasers should have more efficient optical emission and detection. Zinc oxide drift mobility saturates at higher fields and higher values than GaN, potentially leading to higher frequency device performance. The cost and ease of manufacture of zinc oxide is attractive when compared to other common semiconductor materials. Zinc oxide has superior radiation-resistance (2 MeV at 1.2×1017 electrons/cm2) compared to GaN, which is desirable for radiation hardened electronics. Zinc oxide has high thermal conductivity (0.54 W/cm·K). Zinc oxide has strong two-photon absorption with high damage thresholds, rendering it ideal for optical power limiting devices. Unlike GaN, zinc oxide does not form polytypes or crystal lattice stacking irregularities.
N-type zinc oxide semiconductor materials are known and relatively easy to prepare, such as ZnO doped with aluminum, gallium, or other known n-type dopants. P-type zinc oxide semiconductor materials are theoretically possible, but have been difficult to prepare. D.C. Look et al., "The Future of ZnO Light Emitters," Phys. Stat. Sol., 2004, summarize data on p-type ZnO samples reported in the literature. The best reported ZnO samples have resistivity values of 0.5 ohm·cm (N/Ga dopants) and 0.6 ohm·cm (P dopant). Many of the reported p-type zinc oxide samples tend to be light, heat, oxygen, and moisture sensitive. Some convert to n-type material over time. Their stability has been questioned. Some of the more-stable p-type zinc oxide materials reported in the literature are prepared using complex and expensive fabrication processes, such as molecular beam epitaxy. No commercially viable p-type zinc oxide semiconductor materials are currently known. Therefore, it would be an advancement in the art to provide commercially viable p-type zinc oxide semiconductor materials. More particularly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide commercially viable p-type group II-VI semiconductor materials which may be used to prepare group II-VI semiconductor devices.


A power connector assembly is provided which comprises a plug connector and a mating receptacle connector. The plug connector includes an insulative plug housing having a plurality of passageways divided by division walls and a plurality of plug terminals accommodated in the corresponding passageways of the plug housing. The receptacle connector includes an insulative receptacle housing having a receiving space for receiving a part of the plug housing inserted therein and a plurality of receptacle terminals accommodated in the receptacle housing for mating with the plug terminals. Airflow channels are formed between the outer surface of the part of the plug housing in the receiving space and the inner surface of the receiving space for dissipation of heat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power connector assembly, and more particularly to an assembly of a receptacle connector and a plug connector interconnecting two separate circuit boards for transmission of power therebetween.
2. The Prior Arts
When designing an electronic circuit, the designer generally will concern two basic parts, i.e., the part of logic (or signal) and the part of power. Because of the current flows through a logic circuit are usually low, the circuit designer needs not to consider the effect of status (for example, temperature) on electrical characteristics (for example, circuit component impedance) when designing a logic circuit. However, the current flows in a power circuit are relatively high which may cause significant change of the electrical characteristics. Therefore, when designing an electronic power connector, the dissipation of heat (due to joule effect) must be taken into account to minimize change of electrical characteristics subject to change of electric current.
Taiwan patent publication No. M319540 discloses a power connector assembly which comprises a receptacle connector adapted to be mounted on one circuit board and a plug connector adapted to be mounted on the other circuit board and mating with the receptacle connector. The receptacle connector comprises an insulative receptacle housing and a plurality of receptacle terminals arrayed in the receptacle housing, and the plug connector comprises an insulative plug housing and a plurality of plug terminals arrayed in the plug housing. Each receptacle terminal and each plug terminal have a main base plate bent and jointed at the top thereof and a pair of mounting arms extending forwardly from one side of the plate. The mounting arms of the plug terminal have a flat-plate shape while the mounting arms of the receptacle terminal have a bending shape. When the plug connector mates with the receptacle connector, the mounting arms of the plug terminal and the mounting arms of the receptacle terminals elastically contact with each other so as to establish an electrical connection. When the power connector assembly is used to transmit high current power, the relatively big area of the main plate of each terminal and the space between two adjacent main plates of each terminal are both favorable to the dissipation of heat generated during transmission of power. Additionally, a plurality of heat-dissipating holes is formed respectively in the top wall of the receptacle housing and the plug housing, which also is favorable to the dissipation of heat.
Although the above-mentioned structure of the power connector assembly is favorable to the dissipation of heat, it still has some shortcomings. Firstly, the heat-dissipate holes are only formed on the top wall of the insulative housing, which will limit the dissipating direction of heat only on one upward direction. Secondly, firmness and solidity of the insulative housing will decrease if too many heat-dissipating holes are formed in the top wall of the housing.
Furthermore, both the receptacle terminal and the plug terminal of the above-mentioned prior art comprises a one piece U-shape main plate made of metallic material. The bending portion of the U-shape plate has a risk of chapping during its manufacturing process, which will influence electrical characteristics of the terminal during power transmission. Moreover, when soldering the terminal to the circuit board, the high temperature of the soldering process will release stress of the bending portion, which will lead to mismatch of the solder legs of the terminal with the solder hole in the circuit board, and will cause failure of the soldering process.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new power connector assembly which has improved insulative housings and improved terminals.


A multi-mode mobile station includes a first interface for wireless communication with a first wireless network, such as a wireless local area network (WLAN), and a second interface for wireless communication with a second wireless network, such as a wireless wide area network (WWAN). When a call is placed to the multi-mode mobile station, a softswitch or other controller attempts to establish the call with the multi-mode mobile station via the first wireless network. If this attempt is unsuccessful because the multi-mode mobile station is inaccessible via the first wireless network, the controller then attempts to establish the call via the second wireless network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications and, more particularly, to a method and system for notifying a multi-mode mobile station of an incoming call.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an increased interest in using more diverse types of wireless access technologies for mobile devices. Different wireless access technologies may be used to provide wireless coverage in different geographic areas. In addition, different wireless access technologies may be used to provide different capabilities for transmitting and receiving voice, data, and/or other media. For example, wireless wide area networks (WWANs), which often use wireless access technologies such as CDMA, TDMA, or GSM, typically provide wireless coverage in relatively large geographic areas. However, in many cases, WWANs do not provide good wireless coverage in buildings. In addition, many WWANs have a relatively limited bandwidth for transmitting and receiving media. However, wireless local area networks (WLANs), which may use wireless access technologies, such as IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, HiperLAN, and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), have been used to provide wireless coverage in more limited areas, such as the inside of buildings. In addition, WLANs can often transmit and receive media at a higher rate than many WWANs.
With this increased interest in using diverse wireless access technologies to provide wireless coverage has come an increased interest in providing multi-mode mobile stations that can communicate using more than one type of wireless access technology. For example, a multi-mode mobile station may have one interface for communication with a WWAN, using a wireless access technology such as CDMA, and another interface for communication with a WLAN, using a wireless access technology such as IEEE 802.11. Thus, a multi-mode mobile station could use a WLAN for wireless communication when the multi-mode mobile station is operating in certain locations, e.g., indoor locations, but may use a WWAN for wireless communication when the multi-mode mobile station is operating in other locations, e.g., outdoor locations. The fact that a multi-mode mobile station could be accessible via different networks at different times can cause challenges. In particular, when a call is placed to a directory number associated with a multi-mode mobile station, the question becomes how best to try to reach the multi-mode mobile station and notify it of the incoming call. For example, in existing systems, if the incoming call is sent to the WWAN but the multi-mode mobile station does not answer the call, the call may be sent to voicemail—even though the multi-mode mobile station may have failed to answer because it was in communication with the WLAN, rather than the WWAN.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide improved methods and systems for notifying multi-mode mobile stations of incoming calls.

Method and system for notifying a multi-mode mobile station of an incoming call


A thermostatic working element has a housing in which an electric resistance heating element is arranged whose electric connecting wires are sealingly guided to the outside. The resistance heating element contains a carrier body on which a resistance layer is mounted to which the connecting wires are soldered. A base is molded to the carrier body and is sealingly arranged in the housing.

This invention relates to a thermostatic working element having a housing in which an electric resistance heating element is arranged whose electric connecting wires are sealingly guided through the bottom of the housing to the outside.
A thermostatic working element of the initially mentioned type is used particularly in connection with an electrically heatable thermostatic valve, as known, for example, from German Patent Document DE 42 33 913 Al (corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/133,368, filed Oct. 8, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,296.
It is an object of the invention to provide a thermostatic working element of the initially mentioned type which has the shortest possible reaction time and is securely sealed off to the outside.
This object is achieved according to preferred embodiments of the invention in that the resistance heating element contains a carrier body to which a resistance coating is applied to which the connecting wires are soldered, and in that a base made of an insulating material is cast onto the carrier body in the area of the connecting wires, which base surrounds the connecting wires and is arranged in a sealing manner in the bottom area of the housing, and in that a sealing mass which seals off the base with respect to the housing is entered into the interior of the housing.
In the case of the thermostatic working element, the resistance heating element has a relatively large surface so that a good heat transfer takes place from the resistance heating element to an expansion medium housed in the housing. As a result, a relatively high heat input can be introduced into the expansion medium within a short time without the occurrence of very high temperatures in the resistance heating element which may lead to damage to other elements housed in the housing, particularly a bag-type, rubber-elastic membrane. By means of the base and the sealing mass, a good tightness is achieved so that also in the case of the occurring high pressures, it is reliably prevented that the expansion medium comes out of the housing. A silicone may, for example, be provided as the sealing mass. Thus, it is ensured that the good sealing is also maintained for an extended operating time.
In especially preferred embodiments of the invention, the base is provided with a projection which surrounds the connecting wires and which penetrates an opening of the bottom of the housing. As a result, the soldering points are relieved by which the connecting wires are soldered to the resistance layer.
In especially preferred embodiments of the invention, the base is provided with a collar inserted into the housing with a press fit. As a result, a further supplementary sealing is achieved while, in addition, the resistance heating element is securely fixed in the housing.
In especially preferred embodiments of the invention, it is provided that the carrier body has the shape of a plate which is centrically aligned with respect to the base.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Thermostatic working element having an electric resistance heating element and method of making same


According to one embodiment, an electronics device generates first and second index information, the first index information including codes of character strings corresponding to strokes, the second index information including characteristic quantity of strokes. The device executes at least either one of a first search and a second search, according to character string likelihood of first strokes which is a search key. The first search is performed by using the second index information and characteristic quantity of the first strokes. The second search is performed by using the first index information and a code of a character string corresponding to the first strokes.

In recent years, various electronic devices such as tablets, PDA, and smart phones have been developed. Most of such kinds of electronic devices include a touch screen display to facilitate an input operation by the user.
The user can give instructions to the electronic device to execute a function related to a menu or object by touching the menu or object displayed on the touch screen display by a finger or the like.
However, most of existing electronic devices with a touch screen display are consumer products pursuing operability for various kinds of media data like images, music and others and are not necessarily suitable for use in business scenes like conferences, business negotiations, and product development. Thus, paper notebooks are still widely used in business scenes.
In recent years, technologies to recognize handwritten characters have also been developed.
However, technologies to search for desired handwritten document efficiently have not been well considered yet.

Electronic device and method for searching handwritten document


In the present invention, when one open or running software application having secured features enters an access signed-in or logged-in state, other open or running software applications having secured features enter a ready signed-in state automatically, without prompting user intervention. The same operation that signed-in or logged-in the initial software application will transition other software applications that are presently open, active to run, or that start in run mode to a ready signed-in state. The access signed-in state fully authenticates the user's identity and grants access to secured features. The ready signed-in state places the software application in a state of readiness to authenticate and access secured features without prompting user intervention. One feature of the present invention is the sharing of a sign-in or login credential (e.g. username and password) and the processing of the shared credential in order to provide a universal, shared sign-in session between open software applications having secured features. This feature helps provide a user experience that in effect, has only one sign-in or login session for software applications with secured features.

Today's software applications are manufactured with secured network service capability that requires users and computers to verify their identity by signing-in to access secured features within software applications and thereby connecting to authentication services.
Authentication services such as PASSPORT.NET available from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. are becoming an integral part of software applications needing to authenticate users for access to secured features. These authentication services control access to secured features within software applications and provide identity and authentication services for network users. For instance, a secured network fax service used from within a word processing application would require the entry of a username and password to authenticate the identity of a user and authorize use of the network fax service. Once identity is authenticated, the authentication operation acts as an authentication gateway by allowing users to securely access network services within the word processing application without entering a username and password at every network service or website they access during the signed-in session.
However users of a family of software applications each having secured features must still enter a username and password or click a sign-in button to initially reach a signed-in state within each software application. One drawback of current sign-in operations is their pervasiveness, requiring repetitive user intervention with user interface prompts to sign-in for access to secured software features. This must be done every time a user signs-in to one of the software applications with secured features. For instance, if a user wants to access the secured features of WORD, EXCEL, and POWER POINT from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash., the user must start each software application and either type in a username and password or click on an interface button to enter a saved password for every application. Because each software application has a separate sign-in prompt, repeatedly signing-in to utilize secured features has an annoying affect on users who access secured features on a regular basis.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sharing a sign-in among software applications having secured features


Consistent with one embodiment of the invention, a wireless mobile device is configured to receive a configuration file from a configuration server. After receiving the configuration file, the wireless mobile device establishes a wireless communication session with a computing device within proximity of the mobile device. The mobile device is configured to send the configuration file to the computing device so as to enable a configuration application executing on the computing device to configure the computing device in accordance with configuration information included in the configuration file.

Setting up a new computing device to work in an existing computer network environment can be difficult for a variety of reasons. First, the computing device that requires configuring needs to have, or be connected to, some sort of input device (e.g., keyboard and/or pointing device) and user interface (e.g., display or monitor) so as to allow an administrator to input and view configuration information. This requirement does not usually pose a problem for certain computing devices, such as personal computers and workstations, as they are designed to operate under normal circumstances with a connected keyboard and display. However, a wide variety of application specific computing devices are designed to operate without conveniently located input devices and user interfaces.
For example, some servers, network-connected appliances, embedded computer systems, and mobile or handheld devices may not be equipped with input devices and/or user interfaces (e.g., displays) suitable for set up and configuration. Often these devices are configured by establishing a terminal session by means of a serial connection to the device's serial port, and then issuing configuration commands at a command line interface. This method of configuration is less than ideal. If multiple devices need to be configured, a serial connection must be established with each device, thereby requiring the plugging in and unplugging of the serial cable. It is often the case that a device is inconveniently located (e.g., in a server room) where it can be difficult to access. Even when the device itself is accessible, the device's serial port may be inconveniently located on the device. In the case that a device does have an input mechanism and/or display, typically the input mechanism is limited to a few buttons and the display is small. Regardless of whether the device includes an input mechanism, entering configuration commands and/or information can be tedious, repetitive, and susceptible to human errors. Even in a best case scenario, when a device has a suitable input mechanism and user interface, extensive knowledge of application and network configuration parameters is generally required in order to properly configure a device. Often the configuration settings for a new device are dependent upon the configuration settings of one or more existing devices. Consequently, configuring a new device may require querying one or more other devices for configuration settings. Accordingly, an improved configuration method and system are desirable.

Method and system for configuring a device with a wireless mobile configurator


A flexible binary pump system for a motor vehicle transmission includes a shaft, a first vane pump mounted on the shaft and having a first rotor with a first diameter and a first width and a second vane pump mounted on the shaft and having a second rotor with a second diameter and a second width. The first vane pump provides hydraulic fluid to the transmission at a first pressure, and the second vane pump provides hydraulic fluid to the transmission at a second pressure. The first diameter, first width, second diameter, and second width are selected to optimize power consumption of the binary pump system and hydraulic fluid budget for the transmission.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
Many modern motor vehicle automatic continuously variable transmissions (CVT) utilize controlled hydraulic fluid (transmission oil) to actuate CVT belt and pulleys (or chain and pulleys) to achieve a desired ratio in downsized turbo boosted engines to optimize fuel economy. The control of such hydraulic fluid is achieved by a valve body which comprises a plurality of spool valves which direct hydraulic fluid flow through a complex of passageways to CVT pulley pistons as well as other clutch and brake actuators. The valve body is supplied with pressurized hydraulic fluid from, typically, a gear or vane pump, which is driven by the engine output shaft or the transmission input shaft.
Because this is such a common transmission configuration and because of the manufacturing volume of such automatic transmissions, extensive research and development has been undertaken to reduce the cost and optimize the performance of such pumps. For example, simplifying such pumps to reduce their weight and cost, reducing their size to improve packaging, improving low speed performance, improving low temperature performance and reducing high speed energy losses have all been areas of development and improvement.
A fixed displacement pump provides flow proportional to engine speed. The pump is often sized to meet hydraulic pressure and volume demands of the transmission at low speed idle engine conditions. Friction forces inside the pump increase as the size of the surface area of the pump rotor increases. Accordingly, larger diameter higher displacement pumps that meet hydraulic demands of the transmission near engine idle speed often contribute to undesirable transmission spin losses and decrease efficiency of the transmission. A large pump will provide much greater oil flow than what is consumed by the transmission at higher engine speeds, with higher pump power consumption leading to loss in overall transmission efficiency.
The present invention is directed to improvements that reduce pump spin losses and improve transmission efficiency while meeting hydraulic demands of the transmission.

Balanced binary pump for CVT transmission


A method for inspecting the stripped condition of an electric wire permits inspection of electric wires having a tip portion of various configuration with high accuracy and reliability. In this method, stripped condition is judged to be good or not good by: illuminating a core 6 at a tip portion of the electric wire 4 and its vicinity by means of illumination means 11; imaging the core and its vicinity by means of imaging means 12, the imaging means disposed in opposite relation to the illumination means 11 with the electric wire 4 therebetween; determining coordinate position of stripped end of the sheath in an imaging plane using illumination data of a picture obtained by the imaging means; determining coordinate position of the tip end of the core 6 in the imaging plane, as well as shape of the core 6, such as inclination of the core 6; determining as to whether the coordinate position of the stripped end is within a standard range, whether length and thickness of the core are within a standard range, or whether strands come out of the core.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for inspecting the stripped condition of electric wires.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
Conventionally, it is known that the stripped condition of a tip of electric wire, for use in wiring harnesses or the like, is inspected by means of a conductibility inspection method. For convenience of illustration, such a method will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. FIG. 13 is a schematic circuit diagram for a prior art conductibility inspection method. FIG. 14 is a view illustrating operation of the conductibility inspection method. FIG. 15 is a view illustrating various stripped conditions of electric wires.
As shown in FIG. 13, a prior art conductibility inspection circuit includes a battery 1, a resistor 2 and a light emitting diode 3, all connected in series. The conductibility inspection circuit is connected at one end thereof to a conductor of an electric wire 4, and connected at the other end to a contact 5. The contact 5 is contacted with a core 6 of the electric wire 4 which has been stripped of its cover so as to check if the light emitting diode 3 will be lighted due to the electric current through to the light emitting diode 3 in the conductibility inspection circuit. When the tip portion of the electric wire 4 has been stripped of its cover to some extent, the core 6 and contact 6 are securely contacted with each other, so that the light emitting diode 3 will be lighted.
Thus, it is determined that the stripped condition of an electric wire is "good" when the light emitting diode 3 is lighted. On the other hand, if the light emitting diode 3 is not lighted, it is determined that the stripped condition of the electric wire is "not good" or "poor".
Another method for inspecting the stripped condition of electric wire is shown in FIG. 14. According to this method, a box 7 housing therein a light source and an additional box 8 in opposed relation to the box 7 are provided. The box 7 is formed with two slits 9a and 9b. The box 8 includes light receiving elements at positions opposite to the slits 9a and 9b, respectively. Electric wire 4 is moved at a constant speed between the boxes 7 and 8 in a manner such that a core 6 of the wire will block a beam of light from one slit 9a, while the sheath of the wire will block a beam of light from the other slit 9b. A cross-sectional area of the core 6 having been stripped off can be calculated using the variations in waveform of output signals from the light receiving elements, so that the stripped condition of the wire may be determined.
With the above method, it is merely determined whether or not the tip portion of the wire 4 is stripped of its sheath so as to expose its core. It is, however, not possible to determine the shape or configuration of the core 6, i.e., length or thickness of the core exposed or stripped off.
Another method for inspecting stripped condition of electric wire is also known, which utilize a picture processing technique. For example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 57-198850 discloses a method for inspecting looseness of sheath material and deviation of stripped position by a binary processing of a picture obtained from a one-dimensional image sensor. Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 59-216044 also discloses an inspection method in which collimated light is illuminated onto a tip portion of a wire which is clamped, the shade behind the wire is received by a one-dimensional light receiving means oriented perpendicularly to the wire, and moving the light receiving means along the length of the wire so as to determine the good or not good condition of the wire end on the basis of light information received by the light receiving means.
It is noted, however, that, actually, a tip portion of a stripped wire 4 may take a various configuration as shown in FIG. 15. For example, the tip portion may have strands coming out, dispersion, or expansion of a core (a, b and c, respectively), defects in sheath (d), deformation of a core (e) and the like. These shapes may cause a problem during installation of a crimp-style terminal thereon, so that such wires should be determined to be in a not good stripped condition. The above method utilizing conventional picture processing technique is incapable of detecting such detailed configuration of the tip portion of wires as mentioned above, so that they are disadvantageous in carrying out inspection with high accuracy and reliability.

Method for inspecting stripped condition of electric wire


The self-injection guide tablet for subcutaneous injections includes adhesively mounted templates with headings indicating a particular day and body injection area. Each template further includes a grid guide, designed to cover the body injection area, along with instructions for placing the grid guide on the particular body injection area. Each grid guide includes a plurality of injection grids, in column or row format, with indicia marking a predetermined injection grid. Upon removing the grid guide from the specific template, the predetermined injection grid remains on the template, so the vacated injection grid forms the injection area for the subcutaneous injection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly to a self-injection guide tablet that provides a guide, template or grid applied directly to a body area for rotating subcutaneous injections for individuals who must administer such injections.
2. Description of the Related Art
Persons afflicted with diabetes and other medical conditions may receive a subcutaneous injection of medicine daily, or at some other regular interval. A subcutaneous injection, also sometimes called a "sub Q injection", is a "shot" of medicine injected into a layer between skin and muscle. Subcutaneous injections are a relatively convenient way to deliver medication that would otherwise be absorbed too slowly or be made ineffective if taken by mouth. Examples of such medicines include insulin injections for people with diabetes, epinephrine injections for people with severe allergic reactions, and administration of low molecular weight heparin (e.g., Lovenox).
It is known that only certain parts of the human body may be safely used for such self-injections without excessive discomfort or an inordinate risk of penetrating major veins or arteries. Generally, the body parts used for self-injections are on thighs, the fleshy area of the upper hips, the fleshy area of the backs of each arm, and portions of the lower abdomen. Each of these body parts has an area known as an injection area, in which a plurality subcutaneous injections may be made. However, it is also known that such injection irritates the body tissue and adjacent muscle at the point of self-injection. In fact, it may take up to two months for the skin and muscle in the injection area to heal. If another injection is made less than 5.08 centimeters, or less than two inches, to the previous injection before it is healed, a hard spot or knot will develop in the area of the injection as a result of the additional injection.
It has been found that it is difficult for the self-injection user to determine which body areas have recently received an injection because the wounds caused by the injections visibly heal quickly at the surface of the skin. Also, it is difficult to tell which body injection area has been used recently until after the second injection, because a knot develops. As a result, it is not unusual for the self-injector to make double injections and have several painful knots at any one time. Thus, a self-injection guide tablet solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention all remote units (113–118) participating in a group call can actively transmit uplink communications to their respective base stations (101–102) via low-data rate traffic channels (103–108). The remote units having the highest transmit energies are summed and broadcast to all remote units (113–118) participating in the group call. Because only those remote units having the highest transmit energies are summed and broadcast, network congestion is greatly reduced.

Next generation wireless communication system architecture must be able to provide an array of services comparable to wire-line services. One such service envisioned for the next generation Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) architecture is multicasting. By definition, multicasting is a method which provides the delivery of information to multiple destinations without transmitting the same information content to each destination separately.
Typically, multicasting generates a great deal of traffic in a network. More particularly, large amounts of traffic are generated because each individual involved in a multicast session passes uplink information through the network. The magnitude of traffic is directly related to the amount of data that is transmitted through the network. Thus it is beneficial for a communication system to transmit as little as possible in order to reduce the network congestion. Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for transmission in a wireless communication system that minimizes network traffic.

Method and apparatus for multicasting in a wireless communication system


A patient enclosure, comprised of at least two spaced-apart side walls, a top wall, and a front wall, the side walls, the top wall, and the front wall defining a predetermined area surrounding a location where a patient is positionable. At least one of the walls has a panel of electrochromic glass that is switchable between a clear state, an opaque state and a reflective (mirrored) state. UV radiators are provided within the area of the enclosure. An air circulation system is provided for circulating air through the area defined by the enclosure. A controller controls the UV radiators and the air circulation system. The controller is programmed to create one of a higher pressure or a lower pressure within the area as compared to the environment surrounding the enclosure.

A major concern of medical facilities, namely, hospitals and clinics, is the transmission of harmful organisms and bacteria within the facility. In this respect, hospital environments are known to contain organisms, such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C. Diff), that are known to be resistant to currently available antibiotics. These organisms are particularly troublesome in hospitals because patients with open wounds, invasive devices, and weakened immune systems are at greater risk of infection than the general public. With the significant interaction between patients and medical staff, as well as patients, family members, and visitors, reduction of hospital-acquired infections is particularly important.
Because the foregoing organisms are generally resistant to currently available antibiotics and can exist on surfaces within a room, including furniture, hospital bedding and medical equipment, infected patients are often isolated from other patients within the medical facility, and rooms and equipment are cleaned following release of the patient.
One current method of killing organisms within a room involves the use of vaporized hydrogen peroxide. Because of the hazardous nature of vaporized hydrogen peroxide, the patient care room or patient isolation room must be made leak-tight to insure that hydrogen peroxide gas remains within the room and levels of hydrogen peroxide outside the room do not exceed one part per million (ppm). Another problem with using vaporized hydrogen peroxide is that a vaporized-hydrogen-peroxide sterilization cycle typically takes upwards of two to three hours to complete, including a lengthy aeration phase to break down the vaporized hydrogen peroxide to safe levels. Moreover, the risk of hydrogen peroxide leaking into adjacent areas of the medical facility through the HVAC system is a significant concern. Even when a room is sterilized using vaporized hydrogen peroxide, once the room is open, airborne organisms and bacteria can enter the room as a result of normal circulation of air in the medical facility. In this respect, in some instances, it is necessary to protect patients (such as burn victims) who are highly susceptible to airborne bacteria and organisms from being exposed to bacteria, organisms, and viruses in the atmosphere typically found in the hospital environment.
The present invention overcomes these and other problems and provides a patient enclosure that can be quickly decontaminated using UV radiation and that can control the atmosphere within the enclosure to confine the atmosphere within the enclosure from migrating out of the enclosure or can maintain the environment atmosphere outside the enclosure from entering the enclosure.


A device capable of controlling a supply voltage and a supply frequency using information of a manufacturing process variation includes a data storage device storing data indicating performance of the device, a decoder decoding the data stored in the data storage device and outputting decoded data, and a frequency control block outputting a frequency controlled clock signal in response to the decoded data output from the decoder. The device further includes a voltage control block outputting a level controlled supply voltage in response to the decoded data. The voltage control block outputs a body bias control voltage controlling a body bias voltage of at least one of a plurality of transistors embodied in the semiconductor device in response to the decoded data. The performance is operational speed of the device or leakage current of the semiconductor device.

1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a supply voltage/frequency control scheme and, more particularly, to a device controlling supply voltage/frequency using information of production process variations of a semiconductor and methods thereof.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As the technology of communication has developed, mobile systems, such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a moving picture mobile phone, or a notebook computer have become more and more important. Once a battery is fully charged, possible continuous operation time, that is, displaying how long the battery can be used, is one of the most important performance standards in a mobile system. Also, reducing power consumption of the mobile system has become one of the most important factors in designing a Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) system or System on Chip (SoC).
More specifically, as a VLSI system or Sac is designed for high performance and high integration, power consumption of the VLSI system or the SoC rapidly increases, but on the other hand battery capacity or possible successive operation time is not increased as much as the power consumption. Therefore, it is a trend that the technique of reducing power consumption of the VLSI system or SoC, rather than an improvement of a battery itself, is studied as a priority.
High power consumption in a VLSI system or SoC may lower the performance of the VLSI system or the SoC by generating a lot of heat in the VLSI system or the SoC. Power consumption of a general VLSI system or SoC is mostly dynamic power consumption of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit, which is embodied in the VLSI system or the Sac, and presented as the power consumption, Pd∝CLVDD2fp.
Here, CL is the load capacitance of the CMOS circuit, VDD is a supply voltage, and fp means a number of cycles or the operating frequency at which a predetermined program is performed. Since the power consumption Pd is proportional to the square of the supply voltage VDD, it is very efficient to lower the supply voltage VDD for reducing the power consumption.
FIG. 1 is a graph that displays the relationship between supply voltages and maximum operable frequencies. Referring to FIG. 1, when the supply voltage supplied to the VLSI system or Soc becomes lower, the maximum operable frequency of the VLSI system or the SoC also decreases. In other words, if the supply voltage supplied to VLSI system or Soc becomes lower, the calculation speed of the VLSI system or the Soc falls. Accordingly, a dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) scheme (or method), which can reduce power consumption of the VLSI system or the Soc while avoiding a decline of calculation speed of the VLSI system or the SoC, is extensively applied to the VLSI system or the SoC.
Operational speed of the CMOS circuit embodied in the VLSI system or the SoC is influenced by the maximum operable frequency, temperature, leakage current, or production process variations, and so on.
FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the relationship between supply voltages and maximum operable frequencies according to a process variation. Referring to FIG. 2, maximum operable frequency (or operational speed) of a processor, for example, a CPU, according to a production process variation has a bigger variation range than that of a processor, for example, a CPU, according to a temperature variation. Also, referring to FIG. 2, when a supply voltage is low, the variation range of maximum operable frequency of the processor depending on temperature is not large.
Accordingly, when deciding upon a supply voltage supplied to a VLSI system or SoC, a process variation occurring in a production process of producing the VLSI system or the SoC is much more important than temperature variation of the VLSI system or the SoC. Therefore, it is required to have a device or method, which can control a supply voltage/frequency, or clock frequency, reflecting the maximum process variation occurring in a process of producing the VLSI system or Soc.

Device and method for controlling supply voltage/frequency of process variation


A method of filtering a tunneled data packet including an outer header and an outer payload, the outer payload including an inner data packet including an inner header and an inner payload, where the value of at least one outer header field of the tunneled data packet is matched to a first rule, and the action defined in the first rule is taken. Taking the action defined in the first rule includes detecting the inner data packet within the tunneled data packet, matching the value of at least one field of the inner data packet to a second rule, and taking the action defined in the second rule.

Typically, various organizations protect their internal networks by means of a firewall, which connects the internal network of the organization to public networks and filters and selectively discards the data packets entering and exiting the internal network according to predefined rules. Thus, a firewall is a gateway which operates at the same time as a connector and a separator between the networks in a sense that the firewall keeps track of the traffic that passes through it from one network to another and restricts connections and packets that are defined as unwanted by the administrator of the system. Physically a firewall is a machine with appropriate software to do the tasks assigned to it. It can be a router, a personal computer (PC), or whatever that can be used for such purposes.
Frequently, the filtering rules of a firewall are expressed as a table or list (rule base) of rules comprising data packet characteristics and related actions. Data packet characteristics are parameter values that are obtained from header field of a data packet and may be e.g. source IP (Internet Protocol) address, destination IP address and service (or protocol) or some other values. The action gives information about how to handle a data packet, which corresponds the data packet characteristics defined in the respective rule (i.e. which matches the rule). This means that for a data packet, which has the header information indicated in a rule, the action indicated in the rule is carried out. In a firewall, the action is typically deny or allow, which means the data packet is discarded or allowed to proceed, correspondingly.
The rules of a rule base are examined in certain order until a decision how to process the data packet is reached. The order of the rules in the rule base typically defines the order in which characteristics of a data packet are compared to the rules, that is, the rules are examined one by one from the beginning of the rule base. When a rule, to which the characteristics of a data packet match, is found, the action that is related to that rule is taken and often there is no need to continue examining the rules. However, the action defined in the rule may be continue, in which case examining the rule base is continued from the next rule, or jump, in which case examining the rule base is continued from the rule specified in the jump action. The action of the firewall may be as well reject, which is similar to deny action. The difference is that deny action results in simply discarding the data packet and in reject the sender of the data packet is notified of discarding the data packet.
FIG. 1A illustrates as an example a rule base 10, having 5 rules. In each rule, a rule number, source IP address SRC ADDR, destination IP address DST ADDR, service (or protocol) and action are defined. However, this is only an example structure of rules, and also some other data packet characteristics may be defined in the rules. The rule #1 allows HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) data from any address to a server with IP address 172.16.1.10. All other HTTP traffic is denied with rule #2. That is, if HTTP traffic does not match the rule #1, it is denied. Rules #3 and #4 allow FTP (File Transfer Protocol) traffic from network 10.1.1.0 to FTP server at IP address 192.168.1.15 and Telnet connections from network 10.1.1.10 to any address, respectively. The firewall rule bases are commonly designed to prohibit all that is not expressly permitted in the rules. Therefore, the last rule in the rule base is usually designed to deny any data packet. Rule #5 in the rule base 10 is such rule, that is, it denies data packets of related to any service from any source address to any destination address. So, if a data packet does not match any of the first four rules, it matches this last one and is denied.
In summary, when a data packet is received in the firewall, some of the header field values of the data packet are compared to the rules, which are stored in the firewall, and when a matching rule is found, the action related to the matching rule is taken.
In a stateful firewall, information about connection history is maintained. In general, a data packet opening a connection is compared to the rules in the rule base, and if the data packet is allowed, a state is created for the opened connection. The state is created by making into a connection state table an entry that includes information for identifying the connection (e.g. source and destination address, ports and/or protocol), and the state of the connection. Other than data packets opening a connection are then compared to the connection state table and allowed, if a corresponding entry is found and the data packet is in accordance with the state of the connection. At the same time the state of the connection in the connection state table may be updated. If a corresponding entry is not found in the state table, the data packet may be compared to the rules in the rule base and possibly allowed on the basis of rules or simply discarded. Stateful inspection makes processing of data packets belonging to open connections faster than simple packet filtering on the basis of rules. Additionally, state of the connections (the data packets that have already been allowed and possibly their content) can be taken into account in processing data packets, which makes stateful firewall more secure than simple packet filter. Therefore stateful processing is desirable.
Data packet tunneling is a technique in which a data packet is encapsulated within another data packet. This means, that an additional outer header is attached to the original data packet, and the original data packet including its header(s) is transmitted as payload of the outer data packet. FIG. 1B shows a schematic diagram of a tunneled data packet, that is, of a data packet encapsulated within another data packet. Therein the data packet having an outer header HEADER_tunnel 112 has as its outer payload PAYLOAD_tunnel a data packet consisting of an inner header HEADER_orig 114 and an inner payload PAYLOAD_orig 116. At the end of the tunnel the data packet is decapsulated, that is, the outer header is "pealed off" the data packet and the original data packet is revealed.
Traditionally, the main reasons for using tunneling have been enabling transport of non-IP packets (such as IPX) in IP networks, transporting encrypted data packets and enabling connectivity between networks over a network which does not allow the use of addresses used in the communicating networks. With regard to transferring encrypted data packets, a data packet (including header) may be for example encrypted in a gateway, tunneled to another gateway, which decapsulates the tunneled data packet and decrypts the contents for obtaining the original data packet for delivery to the designated recipient.
Tunneling encrypted data packets is used for example in connection with IPsec (Internet Protocol Security), which is especially useful for implementing virtual private networks (VPN).
Other tunneling mechanisms are for example Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) and Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP). PPTP is a protocol (set of communication rules) that allows corporations to extend their own corporate network through private "tunnels" over the public Internet. L2TP is an extension of the PPTP used by an Internet service provider (ISP) to enable the operation of a virtual private network (VPN) over the Internet. Additionally, there are other vendor-specific tunneling solutions.
Traditionally many of the connections within the tunnels (data inside the tunnel) were either encrypted, and therefore not accessible by an intermediate gateway element, or not understood by an IP firewall. Due to these features, firewalls have not been able to or required to filter data packets within tunnels. Instead filtering has been conducted on the tunnel level (on the basis of the headers of the outer data packet).
Mobile IP is a protocol for enabling an entity to change its point of attachment to the Internet without changing the IP address it is using. That is, an entity can use the same IP address even if its location in the network changes. From the network point of view, this means that the path used to deliver the traffic for the entity can change. Mobile IP creates a need for tunneling standard IP packets encapsulated in IP packets. IP-OVER-IP is a protocol for encapsulating IP packets to IP packets and is used for example in mobile IP. In the following some features of mobile IP are presented.
Traditionally, IP address of an entity uniquely identifies the entity's point of attachment to the Internet. Therefore, the entity must be located on the network indicated by its IP address in order to communicate using the IP address. Otherwise, the data packets destined to the entity by using its IP address would not be deliverable.
According to mobile IP, each mobile node (or entity) is always identified by its home IP address, regardless of its current point of attachment to the Internet. When the mobile node (MN) is outside its home network and therefore not directly reachable by its home IP address, a care-of address, which provides information about its current point of attachment to the Internet, is assigned the mobile node in addition to the home IP address. The care-of address may be the IP address of a foreign agent (FA) located in the network the mobile node is visiting or it may be a co-located care-of address, which is an address of the network the mobile node is visiting, which is dynamically assigned to the mobile node (e.g. by means of DHCP, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). The mobile node registers the care-of address with a home agent (HA) in its home network by sending a Registration Request message (UDP, User Datagram Protocol, data packet to port 434) to which the home agent responds with a Registration Reply message in IPv4, which is the "current" version of Internet Protocol. In IPv6, which is the next generation of Internet Protocol, the registration is done by means of specific Extension Headers. FIG. 1C shows the fields of an example IPv6 data packet. For example Extension Header 121 can be used for registering the care-of address by means of Binding Update and Binding Acknowledgement Destination Options. When the mobile node is in its home network, it communicates with other entities by using its home IP address normally. When the mobile node is outside its home network, that is, in a foreign network, other entities still reach the mobile node by using its home IP address. After the home agent has been notified that the mobile node is in a foreign network with a Registration Request message/Binding Update Destination Option giving the mobile nodes current care-of address, the home agent intercepts the data packets destined to the mobile node's home IP address. The home agent then encapsulates these data packets to data packets destined to the mobile node's care-of address (tunnels data packets) for delivery to the mobile node. If the care-of address is the address of the foreign agent, the foreign agent is the endpoint of the tunnel and it decapsulates the data packet and delivers the original data packet to the mobile node. Similarly, if the care-of address is a co-located care-of address, the mobile node is the endpoint of the tunnel and it decapsulates the data packet for obtaining the original data packet. The mobile node sends reply packets directly to the other end. In IPv6, the mobile, node sends reply packets by using its care-of address as source address, and attaches its home address to a Home Address Extension Header. In this way the data packets are routed correctly (correct source address) and the other end is able to identify the mobile node by extracting the static home address form the Home Address Extension Header. After this the other end may communicate directly with the mobile node; this is done by using the care-of address of the mobile node as a destination address, but including also mobile node's home address in data packets in a Routing Extension Header.
The methods of mobile IP are deployed also in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) is the protocol used between GPRS Support Nodes (GSNs) in the UMTS/GPRS backbone network. It includes both the GTP signaling (GTP-C) and data transfer (GTP-U) procedures. In GPRS, special support nodes called Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN) and Gateway Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSN) are deployed. SGSNs provide the direct access point for GPRS phones, subtending from GGSNs that provide the gateway to SGSNs across mobile networks that the user may visit. The GGSN also is the access point for other packet data networks, such as Internet, and therefore enabling communication between "normal" IP networks and GPRS devices. GTP is used to forward packets from GGSN to SGSN to reach a mobile device, dynamically setting up tunnels between GGSN and its home network and allowing the mobile unit to have its home network served beyond the GGSN Internet Gateway.
Thus there is an increasing amount of tunneled data packets containing data packets that can be understood by firewalls. However, with current methods matching a data packet within a tunneled data packets to rules is difficult, since both the outer and the inner header need to be examined and matched. This requires that a separate rule is defined for each possible combination of the outer and inner header. The reason for this is that in general, the aim is to filter the connection inside the tunnel (the inner data packet), but in order to filter the inner data packet also the characteristics of the outer header need to be taken into account. Then again, one connection may be transferred in a plurality of different-tunnels, and therefore a plurality of different combinations needs to be considered in the rules.
In addition the tunnel in which a connection is transferred may change without terminating the connection. In this case, if a stateful firewall has accepted the combination of the tunnel and connection (outer and inner header characteristics) and included it into its connection state table, the firewall inevitably fails the connection after change of the tunnel, since after the change the combination of the outer and inner header has changed.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show two different scenarios of how a firewall has been able to process data packets transferred within a tunnel. In FIG. 2A, firewall 204 connects internal network 200 to public network 202 and conveys data packets between a first entity 206 in the internal network and a second entity 208 in the public network. The data packets from the first entity destined to the second entity are transferred as "normal" data packets though a normal connection 210 from the first entity to the firewall. The firewall intercepts the data packets, filters them and if they are allowed, tunnels them to the second entity through a tunnel 212. The firewall may also encrypt the original data packets before tunneling them. In the other direction, the firewall receives tunneled data packets, decapsulates them and then filters them. Thus, the firewall is filtering the inner data packet and does not need to take care of the outer data packets in the filtering process. This scenario is suitable for VPN for example. But this scenario clearly does not suit for situation where the tunnel starts at some other point than the firewall.
In FIG. 2B, firewall 214 connects the internal network 200 to the public network 202 and conveys data packets between a first entity 216 in the internal network and a second entity 218 in the public network. The data packets from the first entity destined to the second entity are transferred to the firewall in a tunnel 220. The firewall is the endpoint of this tunnel and thus it intercepts the data packets and decapsulates them. After this the firewall filters the data packets and if they are allowed, tunnels them to the second entity through a tunnel 222. That is, the firewall acts as an endpoint of one tunnel and starting point of another. Thus, the firewall is filtering the inner data packet and does not need to take care of the outer data packets in the filtering process. The disadvantage of this method is that it is not transparent to the users. For example, the first entity 216 needs to be aware of the firewall 214 and its IP address in order to be able to create the tunnel 220 to the firewall.
Due to deficiencies described above, a method for transparently filtering connections within a tunnel is needed.

Firewall for filtering tunneled data packets


The present invention relates to methods of producing recombinant molecules including the nucleotide sequence for the structure of the preS1 region of the surface glycoprotein of the hepatitis B virus, and to compositions of the molecules. Compositions of the recombinant molecules may include a promoter and a marker gene. Cloning vectors are used to incorporate the recombinant molecules into hosts. Cells infected with the chimeric vaccinia produce high levels of preS1 protein. Isolation and purification of the preS1-containing protein is facilitated by the use of a recombinant molecule in which the myristylation site has been deleted by a modification of the nucleotide sequence. The purified preS1-containing protein is useful for development of vaccines, diagnostic kits and therapies.

Prevention and treatment of viral infections is a major medical goal. Diseases caused by non-passageable (NP) viruses are particularly intractable because the causative agents cannot be readily grown in laboratories for investigation of disease-causing mechanisms or for development of vaccines or therapies. The diseases caused by NP viruses are often quite serious, including cancers, derangement of the immune system, and debilitation.
Hepatitis B virus, or HBV, is a highly infectious NP virus of humans. In many African and Asian countries, HBV infection is endemic. Large portions of these populations are carriers of the virus and, therefore, spread of the disease is extremely difficult to control. In more developed countries, blood transfusion is one of the major modes of transmission.
HBV contains three surface glycoproteins of different size that are encoded by a single open reading frame. Each utilizes a different ATG start codon but all three employ the same TAA stop signal. Ganem & Varmus, 1987; Robinson, 1990. For HBV strain ayw, the small surface antigen, S-sAg, or major protein, contains 226 amino acids. The middle surface glycoprotein, preS2-S-sAg or middle protein has an additional 55 amino acids at the amino terminus of the S-sAg. Likewise, the large surface glycoprotein, preS1-S2-S-sAg or large protein, has 108 amino acids linked to the amino terminus of the preS2-S-sAg. The use of the terms "preS1" or "preS2" regions hereafter are references to the additional 108 and 55 amino acid segments seen in the large and middle antigens, respectively.
The large protein is myristylated at its N-terminal glycine residue. Persing et al. (1987). The molecular weight of each antigen depends on glycosylation and is 24 or 27 kD for the small protein, 30 or 33 kD for the middle protein and 39 or 42 kD for the large protein. Ganem & Varmus, 1987.
The preS regions bind to receptors on the surface of liver cells either via polymerized human serum albumin, in the preS2 region, or by direct binding of the preS1 region to the receptor molecule. Pontisso et al., 1989a; Neurath et al., 1990; Pontisso et al., 1989b; Petit et al., 1992. PreS1-S2-S-sAg remains associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and leaves the infected cell only as a component of an infectious virus particle (22 nm) or as a component of filamentous, non-infectious particles (42nm) late in infection. Hollinger, 1990. By contrast, the middle and the major antigen are secreted efficiently and assemble into infectious 22 nm particles. Mechanisms that mediate translocation of the middle and the major antigen through the membrane of the ER, or that prevent secretion of the large antigen, have been described. Ou & Rutter, 1987; Masuda et al., 1990; Prange et al., 1992.
All three HBV surface proteins induce B cell- and T cell-specific immune response in infected individuals. In approximately 90% of cases, these responses result in a complete clearance of infectious virus. Hollinger, 1990. Detailed analysis of the surface glycoproteins has identified discrete B cell- and T cell-specific neutralizing epitopes in both the major antigen and the preS regions. Neurath et al., 1985; Milich et al., 1985a; Milich et al., 1985b; Neurath et al., 1989.
Hepatitis B virus antigen consists of a group-specific antigen, a, and at least two subtype determinants, d/y and w/r (Le Bouvier, 1971; Bancroft et al., 1972) resulting in several distinct antigenic genomic subtypes: adw, ayw, adr and ayr. The geographic distribution of subtypes has been described by Nishioka et al. (1975). Subtype cross-protection has been shown by Szmuness et al. (1982). Some of the subtype-specific determinants are located in the preS regions (e.g., Milich et al., 1990a & 1990b).
Vaccination studies with several mouse strains have shown that the response to certain S-sAg epitopes is dependent on the presence of defined molecules of the major histocompatibility complex. Certain strains not responding to the major protein, however, do respond to additional epitopes in the preS regions of the large protein. Nonresponsiveness of mice to vaccines based on the major antigen alone, therefore, can be circumvented by including the large protein in vaccine preparations. Milich et al., 1985a & 1985b.
In humans, the immune response varies from nonresponding to low-responding to high-responding. This effect appears to be haplotype-dependent. Egea et al. (1991). While vaccines based on the major antigen alone are, in most cases, sufficient to induce an antibody response in humans resulting in protection from disease (Szmuness et al., 1980), a certain percentage of hosts, do not respond to S-sAg-based vaccines. In one study, 7-15% of those vaccinated with S-sAg did not respond by producing antibodies. Nowicki et al., J. Infect. Dis. 152: 1245-58 (1985). Vaccines partially, primarily or exclusively based on the large antigen are therefore desirable for the vaccination of patients that respond poorly to vaccines containing only the major antigen.
In some reports, combinations of antigens have been found to show improvement in responder rates, suggesting that to be most effective, a candidate vaccine should contain the antigenic components of all three surface glycoproteins. To determine the optimum combinations of antigens and optimum ratios of those antigens, it is necessary to be able to isolate and purify various antigenic components of HBV, and to have sufficient quantities to conduct appropriate research.
Despite intensive efforts in this regard, the antigenic structure and function of various HBV antigens remains largely unknown. One of the barriers to gaining information on HBV antigens is the difficulty of obtaining sufficient quantities these polypeptides. A further problem is the isolation of individual HBV components for the development of vaccines and drugs of general efficacy against a variety of infectious HBV strains.
Some components of the antigens may be painstakingly isolated from serum or tissues of infected humans or other primates, but these efforts yield unacceptably small quantities. Antigens prepared from infected cells, blood or purified virus also run the risk of contamination with active virus. Therefore, it appears that isolation and purification of antigenic components of HBV in useful quantities is feasible only by recombinant technology. Large quantities and more pure samples of antigenic components relative to those obtainable from tissues of infected individuals are expected from recombinant methods. Thus, preparation of vaccines and development of therapies should be aided by the improved production and purification capabilities afforded by in vitro expression of recombinant HBV proteins.
Expression of the small, middle and large HBV surface glycoprotein in various prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems has been demonstrated. Yu et al. 1990; Lin et al. 1991; Schodel et al. 1991; Kumar et al. 1992. These systems include yeast (Dehoux et al. 1986; Imamura et al. 1987; Shiosaki et al. 1991; Kuroda et al. 1992), mammalian cells (Ou & Rutter, 1987; Lee et al. 1989; Youn et al. 1989; Korec et al. 1992) and viral expression systems (McLachlan et al. 1987; Yuasa et al. 1991; Shiraki et al. 1991; Belyaev et al. 1991). However, yeast expression systems produce overglycosylated HBV large antigens and non-glycosylated major proteins, neither of which are secreted. Prokaryotic systems do not glycosylate polypeptides nor do they secrete recombinant proteins.
The current system for commercial expression of HBV surface glycoproteins for the production of vaccines involves a yeast expression system that constitutively expresses these proteins. Transformed yeast cells produce the small HBV surface glycoprotein with characteristics similar to the 22 nm particles seen in the blood of naturally-infected persons. The major protein produced in yeast, however, is not glycosylated (see EP 0 414 374 A2, p. 16), while the large antigen is overglycosylated. To overcome this disadvantage, large antigens with deleted glycosylation sites have been constructed (EP 0 414 374 A2, Example F.3). Such modifications, however, are likely to reduce the natural immunogenicity of the antigen.
In natural infections with HBV, the large surface glycoprotein is translated from a preS1-specific mRNA, whereas the middle and the small protein are translated from a preS2-specific mRNA (Robinson 1990). The transcriptional promoter elements for the preS1-S2-S gene are located upstream of this gene while the preS2-S gene has its own promoter elements located within the preS1 region. In transformed cell lines containing an integrated preS1-S2-S gene, both the preS1-S2-S 2.4 kB mRNA and the preS2-S 2.1 kB mRNA are transcribed, and all three antigens are expressed. Permanent cell lines having incorporated the preS1-S2-S gene secrete particles consisting predominantly of the major S antigen with varying amounts of the M and the L antigen (PCT WO 90/10058). HBV surface glycoproteins expressed in eukaryotic cells are secreted more efficiently, but the yield of recombinant protein is less than in prokaryotes or yeasts. Thus far, only Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells have shown continuous expression of recombinant HBV surface glycoprotein genes. Ou & Rutter, 1987; Lee et al., 1989; Youn et al., 1989; Korec et al., 1992.
In the vaccinia virus expression system, HBV surface glycoproteins have been expressed mainly under the control of the weak vaccinia P7.5 promoter. Since expression levels using this promoter are low, the large antigen has been detected only using sensitive detection methods such as radioactive labeling and autoradiography. Cheng et al., 1986; Cheng et al., 1987; Kutiniva et al., 1990; Nemeckova et al., 1991. It was reported that expression of the small and middle antigens in a vaccinia virus system results in a efficient secretion of both polypeptides. Cheng et al., 1987. The large antigen expressed via vaccinia virus, however, is not secreted, but remains associated with intracellular membranes. Cheng et al., 1986.
In an effort to improve results using vaccinia virus as an expression vehicle, Fuerst et al. (1987) replaced the normal P7.5 promoter with a bacteriophage T7 promoter. In addition, a T7 RNA polymerase gene was incorporated into a separate plasmid or virus to facilitate transcription from the heterologous T7 promoter. The results showed that with three different proteins, E. coli .beta.-galactosidase, HBV small antigen and HIV gp160, expression from a T7 promoter by a T7 polymerase was higher than that seen with native vaccinia promoters.
Elroy-Stein et al. (1989) provided yet another -variation on the vaccinia virus expression system. Using the hybrid T7/vaccinia system described above, they further included an encephalomyocarditis virus 5' untranslated region (UTR) to help improve translation of the RNA produced by the T7 polymerase. The results showed improved expression of a recombinant chloramphenicol transferase (cat) gene with protein levels approaching 10% of total cell protein.
An interesting result of cloning of the preS1-preS2-S-sAg gene into a vaccinia expression vector is expression of the large antigen without expression of the small or middle antigens. This is in contrast to transformed cell lines where all three antigens are expressed from the preS1-preS2-S-sAg gene. Thus, the present invention shows that vaccinia systems allow for the expression of pure preparations of the large protein alone, increasing the content of the important preS1-region epitopes.
In contrast to virtually all other reports, Li et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,213, demonstrates that a recombinant vaccinia virus (strain Guang), carrying the preS1-S2-S gene from HBV strain adr, drives the efficient secretion of small, middle and large antigen from TK.sup.- osteosarcoma cells infected with this recombinant. It is not apparent from Li et al. what factors account for the reported results when in other reports, vaccinia is (i) shown not to secrete large antigen and (ii) fails to produce small and middle antigens from the native HBV promoter. In addition, it is difficult to discern any general principle(s) in this regard because Li et al. used neoplastic (osteosarcoma) cells as hosts. The unusual characteristics of these cells may well be responsible for the different results reported by Li et al.

High level expression of polypeptide that contains modified preS1 region of hepatitis B virus large antigen


A method for manufacturing a thermal interface material includes the following steps: providing a carbon nanotube array formed on a substrate, the carbon nanotube array having a number of carbon nanotubes and a number of interstices between the adjacent carbon nanotubes; filling a liquid state first base material into the interstices; curing the first base material, thereby achieving a carbon nanotube/first base material composite; dripping a liquid state second base material onto the surface of the carbon nanotube/first base material composite, the first base material melting and flowing out of the carbon nanotube/first base material composite, until the carbon nanotube array being substantially submerged in the second base material; and curing the second base material, thereby achieving a thermal interface material.

Electronic components such as semiconductor chips are becoming progressively smaller with each new product release, while at the same time the heat dissipation requirements of semiconductor chips are increasing due to their improved capacity to process more data faster. Commonly, a thermal interface material is utilized between an electronic component and a heat sink in order to efficiently dissipate heat generated by the electronic component.
A conventional thermal interface material is made by diffusing particles with a high heat conduction coefficient in a base material. The particles can be made of graphite, boron nitride, silicon oxide, alumina, silver, or other metals. However, a heat conduction coefficient of the thermal interface material is now considered to be too low for many contemporary applications, because it cannot adequately meet the heat dissipation requirements of modern electronic components.
An article entitled "Unusually High Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Nanotubes" and authored by Savas Berber (page 4613, Vol. 84, Physical Review Letters 2000) discloses that a heat conduction coefficient of a carbon nanotube can be 6600 W/m·K (watts/meter·Kelvin) at room temperature. However, if carbon nanotubes are filled in a base material randomly, each of heat conduction paths within the base material may include two or more adjoining carbon nanotubes. The junction between each two adjoining carbon nanotubes represents a point of thermal resistance when heat travels from one of the carbon nanotubes to the other carbon nanotubes. If a heat conduction path contains more than one point of thermal resistance, the sum total of thermal resistance for the heat conduction path may be significant. Further, if the base material contains a large proportion of heat conduction paths having points of thermal resistance, the overall thermal resistance of the filled base material may be unacceptably high.
Because of the above-described problems, a method for producing an aligned carbon nanotube thermal interface structure has been developed. In a batch process, a capacitor is immersed in a bath containing a slurry of thermoplastic polymer containing randomly oriented carbon nanotubes, and is then energized to create an electrical field to orient the carbon nanotubes prior to curing. However, the method necessarily involves rearranging the randomly oriented carbon nanotubes by application of the electrical field. Variations in the electrical field intensity and direction are liable to occur, and this can lead to asymmetric distributions of the carbon nanotubes in the thermal interface structure. Furthermore, the more air exists in thermal interface structure, and thereby the carbon nanotubes cannot completely contact with the base material. When this happens, the overall thermal resistance of the thermal interface structure is increased.
What is needed, therefore, is a method for manufacturing a thermal interface material which ensures that carbon nanotubes in the thermal interface material have good alignment and less air.

Method for manufacturing thermal interface material having carbon nanotubes


A display medium includes: a first substrate having transparency and provided with a transparent electrode on one face thereof, a member having a plurality of penetration holes, the member being placed on a surface of the transparent electrode, the penetration holes penetrating the member from the transparent electrode surface side, the ratio of the length of each of the penetration holes to the largest hole diameter being two or more; a second substrate placed so as to face the transparent electrode side of the first substrate; an electrolytic solution containing a metal ion and placed so as to fill a space between the first and second substrates; and a counter electrode placed in a position so as to be insulated from the transparent electrode and in contact with the electrolytic solution.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display medium, a display device and a display method.
2. Related Art
As repeatedly rewritable display media, a display medium implementing display by rotating particles each painted in two different colors, a display medium making use of electrophoresis of particles, and a display medium utilizing a liquid crystal having a memory property have been known.
On the other hand, taking into account that display media utilizing the above described techniques are utilized in applications such as electronic paper, black and white display is basically most important, while it is also important that color display can be made for looking more attractive and enabling more colorful display.

Display medium, display device and display method