An envelope assembly that is particularly suitable for return receipt requested mail (such as certified or registered mail) mounts the return receipt on a body portion of the envelope, opposite the envelope flap. The body portion and flap typically have tractor drive strips so that they can be processed by automatic printing equipment, and the return receipt is connected to the envelope in such a way that there is a minimal chance of the return receipt being "chewed up" by the printer or other handling equipment. The outgoing address is provided on the flap, and certified mail indicia may extend between the flap and the body of the envelope.

The production of envelope assemblies that include paper business forms attached thereto, particularly for return receipt requested mail pieces (such as certified and registered mail, or insured courier delivered packages, etc.) are common. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,827 to Murray shows a return receipt request attached to the front or back of an envelope which has a window in the side. However, the Murray mailer is not adapted to be used with automatic processing equipment, having no tractor drive holes or the like, and because of the orientation of the return receipt on the envelope difficulties could be encountered in the return receipt being "chewed up" or otherwise adversely acted upon via automatic processing equipment, including printers.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,824,685 shows that it is well known per se to provide tractor drive strips for envelopes, but the envelopes of this patent are not adapted to have forms attached thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,203 to Sanders discloses automatically processed envelopes which may have certified mail receipts associated therewith, but the certified mail receipts are mounted on the flap of the envelope. Mounting on the flap provides less stability for the envelope assembly during automatic processing, and typically requires the use of more adhesive on the flap to positively hold it in place since the flap must support the weight of the return receipt. Other envelope assemblies with return receipts mounted on the flap, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,491,675 and 1,568,880, have similar problems.
According to the present invention an envelope assembly is provided, which is particularly adapted for return receipt situations (such as certified or registered mail), that has none of the drawbacks of the prior art as described above. The envelope assemblies according to the present invention may be readily automatically processed, with minimal chance of the return receipts being damaged by the automatic processing equipment, with greater ease of handling of the envelope assembly during construction, easy application of the outgoing address indicia thereto, reduced use of adhesive on the envelope flap, and with a number of other advantages, yet the envelope assemblies according to the invention are typically at least as cost effective as those of the prior art.
According to one aspect of the present invention an envelope assembly is provided comprising the following components: A paper envelope comprising a substantially quadrate body having first and second portions with first through fourth edges each with the first and third edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second and fourth edges substantially parallel to each other. The first and second body portions connected together adjacent the first through third edges thereof, and open to define an envelope pocket adjacent the fourth edge thereof. Tractor drive strips provided adjacent the first and third edges of at least one of the body portions. An envelope flap connected to the fourth edge of the first portion of the body and having an adhesive portion remote from the fourth edge of the first body portion. A substantially quadrate paper form having first through fourth edges with the first and third edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second and fourth edges substantially parallel to each other, and first and second faces, the second and fourth edges longer than the first and third edges. Indicia imaged on the form first face. The form connected to the first body portion along both the second and fourth edges and positioned so that the second and fourth edges of the form are substantially parallel to the second and fourth edges of the first body portion, with the form first face facing outwardly. And lines of weakness formed in the form substantially parallel to the second and fourth edges thereof to allow detachment of the form from the envelope by tearing the form along the lines of weakness.
The indicia imaged on the form first face preferably comprises return receipt indicia (such as for certified or registered mail), including a signature line. Also, certified mail indicia may extend from the first body portion to the flap. The form is typically connected to the first body portion by adhesive strips adjacent the second and fourth edges of the form, the lines of weakness being provided immediately adjacent the adhesive strips and on the opposite side of the adhesive strips from the second and fourth edges, respectively.
Typically, the envelope flap is substantially quadrate and has substantially the same width as the first body portion. The tractor drive strips may also be provided adjacent the edges of the flap as a continuation of the tractor drive strips adjacent the first and third edges of the first body portion. Typically, the second body has a width less than that of the first body portion by an amount substantially equal to the widths of the tractor drive strips of the first body portion (the second body portion having no tractor drive strips). In the preferred embodiment the second body portion is adhesively secured to the first body portion adjacent each of the first, second and third edges of the second body portion.
The first body portion and the flap may be formed by an integral piece of paper, with a line of weakness provided at the juncture between the flap and the first body portion. The adhesive portion on the flap may comprise a strip of rewettable adhesive on a section of the flap substantially the most remote from the fourth edge of the first body portion. The strip of adhesive (whether rewettable or of another type) is desirably the only adhesive on the flap (that is no adhesive strips along the side edges of the flap are necessary).
According to another aspect of the present invention an envelope assembly is provided comprising the following components: A paper envelope comprising a substantially quadrate body having first and second portions with first through fourth edges each with the first and third edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second and fourth edges substantially parallel to each other. The first and second body portions connected together adjacent the first through third edges thereof, and open to define an envelope pocket adjacent the fourth edge thereof. Tractor drive strips provided adjacent the first and third edges of at least one of the body portions. An envelope flap connected to the fourth edge of the first portion of the body and having an adhesive portion remote from the fourth edge of the first body portion. An outgoing address imaged or provided on the envelope flap and readily viewable as an outgoing address when the adhesive portion of the flap is sealed to the second body portion. A substantially quadrate paper form having first through fourth edges with the first and third edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second and fourth edges substantially parallel to each other, and first and second faces. Indicia imaged on the form first face. The form connected to the first body portion along both the second and fourth edges, with the form first face facing outwardly. And lines of weakness formed in the form substantially parallel to the second and fourth edges thereof to allow detachment of the form from the envelope by tearing the form along the lines of weakness.
The envelope assembly as described above also preferably has the form positioned thereon so that the second and fourth edges of the form are substantially parallel to the second and fourth edges of the first body portion. This orientation minimizes the chances that the return receipt--which is the preferred construction of the form--will be damaged during automatic processing. Other details of this envelope assembly may be as set forth above.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention an envelope assembly is provided comprising the following components: An envelope comprising a substantially quadrate body having first and second portions with first through fourth substantially continuous edges each with the first and third edges substantially parallel to each other, and the second and fourth edges substantially parallel to each other. The first and second body portions connected together adjacent the first through third edges thereof, and open to define an envelope pocket adjacent the fourth edge thereof. An envelope flap connected to the fourth edge of the first portion of the body and having an adhesive portion remote from the fourth edge of the first body portion, the flap having a maximum dimension from the first portion fourth edge less than the length of the first portion first and third edges. An outgoing address imaged or provided on the envelope flap and readily viewable as an outgoing address when the adhesive portion of the flap is sealed to the second body portion. A paper form having first and second faces. Indicia imaged on the form first face. And the form detachably connected to the first body portion so that the first face is readily visible. The details of the envelope assembly according to this aspect of the invention also may be as set forth above.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an advantageous yet effective envelope assembly containing a business form, and most desirably a return receipt. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.


A mouthpiece assembly includes a base connected with a hose and the base has a base tube in which a spring is received and a seal member is inserted in the base tube. The base tube has two symmetrical outlet notches defined in a top edge thereof and the seal member has two outlet holes which can be in alignment with the outlet notches when the seal member is moved to compress the spring. A mouthpiece is mounted on the base tube and has an outlet which is sealed by the seal piece on the seal member so that when the user squeezes the mouthpiece to move the seal member, the outlet is opened. A cap is removably mounted on the mouthpiece and can be positioned on two lugs on the base when being removed from the mouthpiece.

There are two conventional mouthpiece assemblies and the first one is that the mouthpiece has a seal member with an inclined surface received therein and a spring is biased between the seal member and an inner end of the mouthpiece. A squeezing member radially connected to the mouthpiece and has an inclined surface which is matched with the inclined surface of the seal member. When the user wants to drink water, he or she has to push the squeezing member inward by his/her teeth such that the seal member is pushed a distance to allow the water to flow through the mouthpiece. However, the user has to precisely use his/her teeth to contact the squeezing member and this is not convenient for the user. Besides, a cap is mounted on the mouthpiece to prevent dust from entering the mouthpiece and a strip is connected between the mouthpiece and the cap. However, when the user removes the cap from the mouthpiece, the cap is not positioned and might hit the user's face. Furthermore, the shapes of the parts of the mouthpiece assembly are complicated and have to be manufactured by different machine and molds.
The second convention mouthpiece assembly includes a mouthpiece which includes a seal rod located therein and the seal rod is removably engaged with a base. When the user wants to drink water, he or she has to pull the mouthpiece away from the base such that the seal rod is disengaged from the base and the user can have the water. A cap is mounted on the mouthpiece so that the user has to hold the water bottle by one hand and remove the cap by the other hand, and then use the same hand to pull the mouthpiece. This is also not convenient for the users to use.
The present invention intends to provide a mouthpiece assembly with a simpler structure and the cap can be well positioned when being removed from the mouthpiece.


It is an object of the present invention to provide a screen apparatus having a function of dilute water which is suitable for a centripetal type screen which rotates inside the screen. A screen apparatus A comprises a tank 1 for receiving paper raw materials including an entrance 1c for the paper raw materials, a selection exit 1d and a foreign matter exit 1e, a cylindrical screen 2 fixed in the tank 1 and dividing the tank 1 into a primary chamber 1a and a secondary chamber 1b, and a stirring member 3 which is rotatably supported inside the screen 2 for stirring the paper raw materials. The entrance 1c for the paper raw materials and the foreign matter exit 1e face the primary chamber 1a, and the selection exit 1d faces the secondary chamber 1b, the screen 2 has a member R including an opening X facing the primary chamber 1a and the secondary chamber 1b, a water supply passage member 6 passes through the tank 1, the water supply passage member 6 includes a water supply passage 6a which is in communication with the opening X facing the secondary chamber 1b and which supplies water into the primary chamber 1a.

There is a centripetal type screen apparatus in which a stirring member (e.g., foil, agitator or the like) is located inside a cylindrical screen provided in a tank, paper raw materials are allowed to flow from inside to outside of the screen, and foreign matters are removed from the paper raw materials.
In such a screen apparatus, when the paper raw materials flow from inside to outside of the screen and foreign matters are removed from the paper raw materials, it is easy to pass through a screen located upstream of the paper raw materials, and a screen located more downstream of the paper raw materials has higher density in the paper raw materials and it becomes more difficult to pass through such a screen and thus, selection efficiency is deteriorated.
In such a case, in the centripetal type screen apparatus which rotates outside and near the screen, it is possible to supply dilute water to a primary chamber located on the supply side of the paper raw materials.
In the centripetal type screen apparatus, however, even if dilute water is provided while passing through the tank, there is a problem that a portion of the dilute water passing through the tank does not exhibit an effect of dilution in a secondary chamber of selected paper raw materials.


An auxiliary bearing assembly for selectively engaging a shaft, preferably in an energy storage flywheel system, is configured to include a vibration damping seal, and an axial preload spring. The vibration damping seal damps out vibrations from the rotating group, following engagement of the auxiliary bearing assembly, while the rotating group is spinning down. The axial preload spring absorbs any differential thermal expansion or contraction that may occur between components.

Many satellites and other spacecraft, as well as some terrestrial stationary and vehicle applications, such as seagoing vessels, can include one or more energy storage flywheel systems to provide both a backup power source and to provide attitude control for the vehicle. In such systems, each flywheel system is controlled and regulated to balance the electrical demand in the vehicle electrical distribution system, and may also be controlled in response to programmed or remote attitude (or torque) commands received by a main controller in the vehicle.
Many energy storage flywheel systems include one or more components that are rotationally supported within a housing assembly. These components, which may be referred to as the rotating group, include, for example, an energy storage flywheel, a motor/generator, and a shaft. In particular, the energy storage flywheel and motor/generator may be mounted on the shaft, which may in turn be rotationally supported in the housing assembly via one or more bearing assemblies. In many instances, the shaft is rotationally supported using one or more primary bearing assemblies, and one or more auxiliary, or back-up, bearing assemblies. For example, in many satellite and spacecraft applications, the flywheel system may include one or more magnetic bearing assemblies that function as the primary bearing assemblies, and one or more mechanical bearing assemblies that function as the auxiliary bearing assemblies. Typically, the primary bearing assemblies are used to rotationally support the rotating group, while the auxiliary bearing assemblies are otherwise disengaged from the rotating group. If one or more of the primary bearing assemblies is deactivated due, for example, to a malfunction, or otherwise becomes inoperable to rotationally support the rotating group, the auxiliary bearing assemblies will then engage, and thereby rotationally support, the rotating group.
When the auxiliary bearing assemblies engage the rotating group, the rotating group is, in many instances, rotating at relatively high speeds. During spin down of the rotating group, the auxiliary bearing assemblies may be subject to vibration as the rotating group rotates through certain speeds. Many of the auxiliary bearing assemblies presently used may not be configured to handle or dampen some of these vibrations. Thus the bearing assemblies, or other system components, may be damaged or worn. This can shorten system lifetime and increase overall system costs. Moreover, many of the auxiliary bearing assemblies may be constructed of materials having different thermal coefficients of expansion than the rotating group, as may many of the components that make up the rotating group. Thus, tolerances between the bearing assemblies and the rotating group can change with temperature. This can also lead to increased wear rate and/or damage, which can additionally lead to shortened system lifetime and increase overall system costs
Hence, there is a need for an auxiliary bearing assembly that improves on one or more of the above-noted drawbacks. Namely, an auxiliary bearing assembly that is configured to absorb and/or damp out vibrations from the rotating components following engagement thereby of the auxiliary bearing assembly, and/or that can absorb differential thermal growths between rotating and stationary components. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.

Dual function, highly damped, structurally and thermally compliant auxiliary bearing assembly


Apparatus for optical communications (10, 110, 210) includes a low-temperature grown photoconductor (12, 140, 220) coupled to at least one resonant tunneling device (14, 120, 130, 230, 240). When exposed to an input light, low-temperature grown photoconductor (10, 110, 210) absorbs photons, which decreases the resistivity, and thus the resistance of the photoconductor. This decrease in resistance causes a decrease in the voltage drop across photoconductor (12, 140, 220), which causes a corresponding increase in the voltage drop across resonant tunneling device (14, 120, 130, 230, 140).

Optical communications systems typically require optical receivers capable of rapidly delivering large voltage or current responses to incident optical signals.
One approach for obtaining a high speed optical receiver is to use a low-temperature grown gallium arsenide MSM (metal-semiconductor-metal) photoconductor. For these devices, source and drain contacts are made directly to the low-temperature grown gallium arsenide, and an incident optical signal is used to increase the channel conductance. In operation, illumination causes the photoconductor to absorb photons, which decreases the resistivity of the device. For low-temperature grown gallium arsenide, photoinduced conductance increases by a factor of 10.sup.6 have been observed. Low-temperature grown photoconductors exhibit fast turn-on response times because the photogenerated carriers have a short lifetime, typically less than 20 picoseconds. A disadvantage to the low-temperature grown photoconductor, however, is that it exhibits a long turn-off transient, typically greater than 10 nanoseconds.
Another approach uses an optically switched resonant tunneling device. Certain resonant tunneling devices exhibit opto-electric characteristics. These devices switch between a high conductance and low conductance electrical state depending on the level of illumination thereon. In the absence of light, the detector quickly returns to its original high conductance operating state, unlike the photoconductor, which is plagued by a long turn-off transient. A disadvantage of the optically switched resonant tunneling devices, however, is that the response times are slow compared to low-temperature grown photoconductors. A further disadvantage is that it is difficult to optimize the resonant tunneling device structure for direct optical interaction since the tunneling distance is much less than the absorption length.
Still another approach uses a PIN photodiode integrated with a resonant tunneling device. This approach uses a PIN photodiode as an optical detector, and the resonant tunneling device as a switch. This combination operates in a photo-current mode, which creates a disadvantage of having to carefully match the PIN photocurrent to the peak current of the resonant tunneling device. A further disadvantage of this approach is that the combination requires a high intensity incident optical signal. Still another disadvantage of this combination is that it has a slower response time than the low-temperature grown photoconductor.


Systems and methods may provide for using an audio front end of a mobile device to sampled audio from an audio signal during a first portion of a periodic detection window, and reducing a power consumption of one or more components of the audio front end during a second portion of the periodic detection window. Additionally, a determination may be made as to whether voice activity is present in the audio signal based at least in part on the sampled audio. In one example, the length of the first portion and the length of the second portion are defined by a duty cycle of the periodic detection window.

Hands-free operation of mobile devices may be relevant in a variety of contexts such as in-vehicle operation and disability-related usage scenarios. Initiating mobile device interactivity in a hands-free setting, however, may present a number of challenges. For example, conventional solutions may designate a pre-arranged activation phrase (e.g., "hey computer") that enables a speech-based user interface for further interaction, wherein audio may be sampled continuously for analysis by a phrase recognizer until the activation phrase is detected. Such an approach may increase power consumption and have a negative impact on battery life.

Low power audio trigger via intermittent sampling


The invention relates to reactor systems and processes for producing synthesis gas. In one embodiment, a reactor comprises a first reaction zone comprising a combustion catalyst, wherein the first reaction zone is operated at conditions sufficient to produce a combustion zone product comprising heat generated by the combustion of a fuel. The reactor further comprises a second reaction zone comprising a partial oxidation catalyst, wherein the second reaction zone is adapted to receive the combustion zone product and a reaction feed comprising a hydrocarbon gas. The second reaction zone is operated at conditions sufficient for partially oxidizing the hydrocarbon gas to a product stream comprising synthesis gas. The heat of combustion is transferred directly to the reaction feed by mixing it in a feed mix region located in the reactor between the first and second reaction zones, in such a manner that the reaction feed does not need preheating prior to entering the partial oxidation zone.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of gas conversion and more specifically to the field of synthesis gas production.
2. Background of the Invention
Natural gas, found in deposits in the earth, is an abundant energy resource. For example, natural gas commonly serves as a fuel for heating, cooking, and power generation, among other things. The process of obtaining natural gas from an earth formation typically includes drilling a well into the formation. Wells that provide natural gas are often remote from locations with a demand for the consumption of the natural gas.
Thus, natural gas is conventionally transported large distances from the wellhead to commercial destinations in pipelines. This transportation presents technological challenges due in part to the large volume occupied by a gas. Because the volume of a gas is so much greater than the volume of a liquid containing the same number of gas molecules, the process of transporting natural gas typically includes chilling and/or pressurizing the natural gas in order to liquefy it. However, this contributes to the final cost of the natural gas.
Further, naturally occurring sources of crude oil used for liquid fuels such as gasoline and middle distillates have been decreasing, and supplies are not expected to meet demand in the coming years. Middle distillates typically include heating oil, jet fuel, diesel fuel, and kerosene. Fuels that are liquid under standard atmospheric conditions have the advantage that in addition to their value, they can be transported more easily in a pipeline than natural gas, since they do not require the energy, equipment, and expense required for liquefaction.
Thus, for all of the above-described reasons, there has been interest in developing technologies for converting natural gas to more readily transportable liquid fuels, i.e. to fuels that are liquid at standard temperatures and pressures. One method for converting natural gas to liquid fuels involves two sequential chemical transformations. In the first transformation, natural gas or methane, the major chemical component of natural gas, is reacted with oxygen and/or steam to form synthesis gas (or syngas), which is a combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In the second transformation, which is known as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, carbon monoxide is reacted with hydrogen to form organic molecules containing mainly carbon and hydrogen. Those organic molecules containing carbon and hydrogen are known as hydrocarbons. In addition, other organic molecules containing oxygen in addition to carbon and hydrogen, which are known as oxygenates, can also be formed during the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Hydrocarbons comprising carbons having no ring formation are known as aliphatic hydrocarbons and are particularly desirable as the basis of synthetic diesel fuel.
In the first transformation, the natural gas is typically partially oxidized to form the syngas. Catalytic partial oxidation processes typically include a feedstock that is preheated and mixed with an oxygen source, such as air, oxygen-enriched air, or oxygen, and introduced to a catalyst at elevated temperature and pressure. In order to initiate a catalytic partial oxidation process, the feed may be preheated upstream of the catalyst bed. However, a drawback to this practice is an increased safety hazard as the feed may have an increased chance of auto-ignition. As the pressure increases, the risk of auto-ignition may increase. Such preheating of the feed may also increase the cost of a syngas production unit. A pressure increase may be safely accomplished by reducing the preheat but may negatively affect the performance of the syngas reactor.
Consequently, there is a need for a syngas reactor that has a reduced use of pre-heated feed. In addition, there is a need for a more efficient process of producing syngas. Other needs include reducing the cost and increasing the performance of a syngas reactor.

Reactor and process for making synthesis gas


Continuous casting of steel strip by solidification of casting poo (68) onto chilled cooling rolls (16) of a twin roll caster. Steel is delivered to casting pool (68) by a refractory delivery nozzle (19) which dips into the casting pool. The refractory material of nozzle (19) contains a significant quantity of chemical compounds contains sulphur, such as molybdenum disulphide (MoS.sub.2), magnesium sulphide (MgS) and calcium sulphate (CaSO.sub.4).

This invention relates to the casting of steel strip.
It is known to cast metal strip by continuous casting in a twin roll caster. In this technique molten metal is introduced between a pair of contra-rotated horizontal casting rolls which are cooled so that metal shells solidify on the moving roll surfaces and are brought together at the nip between them to produce a solidified strip product delivered downwardly from the nip between the rolls. The term "nip" is used herein to refer to the general region at which the rolls are closest together. The molten metal may be poured from a ladle into a smaller vessel from which it flows through a metal delivery nozzle located above the nip so as to direct it into the nip between the rolls, so forming a casting pool of molten metal supported on the casting surfaces of the rolls immediately above the nip and extending along the length of the nip. This casting pool is usually confined between side plates or dams held in sliding engagement with end surfaces of the rolls so as to dam the two ends of the casting pool against outflow, although alternative means such as electromagnetic barriers have also been proposed.
Although twin roll casting has been applied with some success to non-ferrous metals which solidify rapidly on cooling, there have been problems in applying the technique to the casting of ferrous metals. One particular problem encountered in the casting of aluminium killed steel in a twin roll strip caster is the propensity for molten steel to produce solid inclusions, in particular inclusions which contain aluminates. Such inclusions can affect the surface quality of the strip as well as having the tendency to block any small casting passages in the metal delivery system. This has led to the use of manganese/silicon killed steels as an alternative, such as described in our New Zealand Patent Application 270147. However, such silicon/manganese killed steels have a significantly higher oxygen content than aluminium killed steels and this gives rise to problems in casters in which the delivery nozzle formed of refractory material containing carbon dips into the casting pool, the pool being disturbed by carbon monoxide bubbles generated by reactions between carbon in the submerged delivery nozzle and oxygen containing compounds in the molten metal of the casting pool. Such disturbance leads to the formation of discrete waves in the casting pool which are reflected in the cast strip as depressions in the strip surface. These defects are commonly referred to as meniscus marks. Moreover, carbon leaching from the refractory material of the metal delivery nozzle is enhanced.
Silicon/manganese killed steels will have an oxygen content in the range of 50-155 ppm at typical casting temperatures of the order of 1600-1700.degree. C. whereas the oxygen content of aluminium killed steels will generally be less than 10 ppm and the carbon leaching problem is a very significant one when endeavouring to cast silicon/manganese killed steel.
Our International Patent Application PCT/AU96/00244 describes a proposal to address this problem by the controlled addition of sulphur to the silicon/manganese killed steel melt at least in the start-up phase of a casting operation. However, the controlled addition of sulphur to the steel adds complexity to the process and results in the production of steel with high sulphur content which may not generally be acceptable to all markets. By the present invention the problem is addressed by modifying the chemical composition of the refractory material of the delivery nozzle rather than that of the steel melt.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company Ltd.


A harness making apparatus comprises a length measurement section to measure the length of a plurality of wires fed from a wire feeder and an insulation displacing section for insulation displacing the wires to a connector fed from a connector feeder. Additionally, the harness making apparatus is provided with a fusing section disposed adjacent to the insulation displacing section for fusing and intercoupling a plurality of wires in such a manner that adjacent wires substantially abut against one another.

It is known to bind or bond electrical wires and not to separate them from one another because a plurality of separated electrical wires extending between a pair of connectors in a harness make the harness difficult to handle due to entangling of the wires and the connectors of one harness or a plurality of harnesses.
The simplest technique to avoid the above problem is to bind a plurality of wires by manually taping around the wires of the assembled harness at desired locations. It is effective to bind at any desired location but a disadvantage is the manual operation which is not suited for quantity production. Also, automatic taping requires an additional taping machine separated from the wire harness making machine, thereby increasing cost, space and harness making steps.
In view of the above, it is proposed to use fused or intercoupled wires for making a harness. Such prior art technologies can be classified into two groups; one for using partly fused wires as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 96611/86 and the other for using completely fused wires as set forth in Japanese Patent No. 14708/92.
In case of using wires partly fused in advance, the pitch of the fused wires must be converted to be equal to the pitch of contacts of the connector before the wires are insulation displaced to the connector. It is typical to insulation displace at the portions of the wires where not fused to one another. However, a slitter to separate the fused wires is required so as to insulation displace at any location, especially when the harness length is preferably changed.
It is also true to use a slitter and/or a pitch converter to convert the wire pitch to the insulation displacing pitch when fully fused wires are to be used. Another disadvantage of using such fused wires is the wires are less flexible which is inconvenient in handling.
As described hereinbefore, in case of making a harness using partly or fully fused wires, there is a need for pitch conversion from the wire pitch to the insulation displacing pitch which often requires a slitting operation of the wires at the fused portion.
In case of using wires already fused in part or along their entire length, there arises the need for a device to fuse and bind the wires in advance separated from the harness making machine and also for a pitch converter and a slitter, thereby making the harness making apparatus complicated. Additionally, slitting the cut ends of a plurality of wires to convert the wire pitch into the insulation displacing pitch accompanies spreading the wire ends, thereby shortening the outer wires as compared with the central wires in the longitudinal direction. This results in improper insulation displacing the wires to a connector.
In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a harness making apparatus capable of continuously performing the steps of insulation displacing a plurality of wires to a connector and of fusing to couple the wires at desired locations.


High-speed serial interface or transceiver circuitry on a programmable logic device integrated circuit (“PLD”) includes features that permit the PLD to satisfy a wide range of possible user needs or applications. This range includes both high-performance applications and applications in which reduced power consumption by the PLD is important. In the latter case, any one or more of various features can be used to help reduce power consumption.

This invention relates to programmable logic integrated circuit devices ("PLDs"), and more particularly to input/output (transceiver) circuitry for use on PLDs.
PLDs are typically intended to be relatively general-purpose devices. This means that a PLD product is typically designed to be able to support any of a range of uses to which various users may wish to put the device. By enabling one PLD product to satisfy such a range of possible uses, the size of the market for the product can be increased. Increased sales volume can help lower the unit cost of the product.
Giving a PLD product a range of capabilities has a tendency to increase power consumption of the PLD. This can be a significant issue for some potential users of the product. Accordingly, it can be desirable to find ways to give a PLD product a wide range of capabilities and at the same time to reduce power consumption of the PLD, especially when certain of its capabilities are not needed by users who are concerned about power consumption. The input/output (transceiver) portion of a PLD can be especially subject to considerations of this kind. This is so because there are so many different communication protocols that it may be desirable to enable a PLD product to support. Certain aspects of being able to do this may significantly contribute to PLD power consumption. But potential users who are concerned about power consumption may not need the more advanced communication capabilities of the PLD, and so it would be useful to provide a PLD transceiver architecture that can be configured for either advanced communication or reduced power operation.

Low-power transceiver architectures for programmable logic integrated circuit devices


A computer system includes a plurality of printed circuit boards, each printed circuit board having one or more processor chips attached to the printed circuit board, wherein the number of printed circuit boards is an even number greater than or equal to 4, wherein the printed circuit boards are arranged in two groups, each group being arranged in a different stacking direction, and wherein the one or more processor chips which are attached to each one of the printed circuit boards of one of the groups are connected for communication to the processor chips of each printed circuit board of the other group.

The present invention relates in general to data processing systems, and in particular, to a computer system with processor boards arranged in groups with different stacking directions and a method for communicating across the processor boards.
In enterprise computer and networking systems, it is often advantageous to utilize high-density computer processing, data storage and telecommunication hardware components for the processing, storage, switching, routing and transport of high speed data in the form of digital signals. It is also advantageous for a plurality of these various components to communicate with each other at very high speed signaling rates. The use of a component-based system having separation of functions such as processing, storage, switching, and input/output interfaces allows individual components to be updated or upgraded independently from other components as well as allows customization for specific tasks. Furthermore, the use of components is cost effective since developing or purchasing a new component is less expensive than developing or purchasing an entirely new integrated hardware system that is not based on component design. Some such existing systems are hardwired and use a central switching architecture to allow components to communicate with one another.
Furthermore, the modern data center is suffering from the constraints of cabled, fixed-lane architectures. The concept of interconnecting racks of computing/storage servers through switching equipment with high-speed cables/fibers is taken for granted as the only method for providing connectivity. The fundamental technique used to provide random server-to-server communications is dominated by the Ethernet switch, and in modern data centers the switching architecture is typically implemented through a tiered tree design. A typical equipment rack contains twenty to forty servers that connect with Ethernet cables to the top-of-rack (TOR) switch. The TOR switches are then interconnected to the next tier in the switching system to an end-of-rack (EOR) switch (also known as a cluster switch). The EOR switch is normally a 10 gigabit Ethernet (10 GigE) switch with hundreds of ports. The EOR/cluster switches are then interconnected with 10 GigE (heading towards 40 GigE in the near future) uplinks to the next tier.
US 2013/0107853 A1 discloses a system and method for wireless communication in a backplane fabric mesh network architecture. A backplane network comprises a first antenna system located in a first network device cabinet including at least one first network device configured to transmit a data message over a high speed backplane. The first antenna system includes a first millimeter wave antenna of the first antenna system located external to the first device cabinet and configured to communicate with the first network device. The first millimeter wave antenna is configured to wirelessly transmit the data message from the first network device over the high speed backplane using emitted millimeter wave electromagnetic radiation. The network includes a second antenna system located in a second network device cabinet including at least one second network device, wherein the first and second device cabinets are positioned spatially apart from one another. The second antenna system includes a second millimeter wave antenna of the antenna system coupled to the second antenna system and located external to the second device cabinet. The second millimeter wave antenna is configured to wirelessly receive the data message over the high speed backplane using millimeter wave electromagnetic radiation emitted from the second millimeter wave antenna, wherein the received data message is handled by the second network device, the entire communication being handled without a central switch.

Computer system with groups of processor boards

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A luminaire and a method of operating a luminaire is provided. The luminaire includes a light source emitting a plurality of light rays. A collimation device is arranged to receive a portion of light from the light source and transmits the portion of light through an exit aperture towards an illuminated area. The exit aperture includes a planar portion and at least one lenslet formed thereon. The lenslet is arranged having a first profile and a second profile, where the portion of light is refracted on a plurality of angles to form a twisted profile by the lenslet.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to optical luminaires for generating light and in particular to a luminaire that eliminates die imaging caustics such as undesirable non-uniform concentrations of light, and improves spatial uniformity by using means for twisting a profile of a bundle of light rays.
Lighting devices, such as incandescent or halogen sources for example, are used in many retail and product display venues due to the high light directionality and high color rendering index ("CRI") they can achieve. These lighting devices use a standard receptacle, such as MR-16 for example, to receive a light source. The designation MR-16 stands for "Multifaceted Reflector" where the "16" represents the number of eighths of an inch for the outer diameter of the lighting device, in the case of MR-16 the diameter is 2 inches.
A CRI for a lighting device is an average of the color shift exhibited by the light reflecting from a color reference grid, typically comprised of 8 or 14 tiles. This reflected light is compared to the same grid reflecting an ideal illuminant. The ideal illuminant is a plankian radiator for color temperatures less than 5,000° K and a daylight source spectrum for sources having color temperatures of 5,000° K and greater. It is desirable to have a CRI of at least 90 for lighting applications such as a retail display for clothing and food or for applications requiring attentive examination of detailed features, such as illumination in a surgical operating room.
The MR-16 lamp is a light source typically used for highlighting, product display and where attentive examination of detailed features is desired. Exemplary power levels of an MR-16 lamp are 20, 35, 50 or 72 watts. A typical 20 W halogen MR-16 lamp producing 300 lumens has a disadvantage of a short life span and poor luminous efficacy. The typical lifetime of a halogen MR-16 lamp is 2,000 hours, while the typical luminous efficacy is 15-23 lumens/watt.
While existing luminaires are suitable for their intended purposes, improvements may be made in providing a replaceable luminaire having similar CRI output light characteristics and light distribution patterns to existing lighting devices while increasing luminous efficiency and life-span.


There are disclosed certain 1-[2-(aminomethyl)benzyl]-2-thioxo-1,2,3,5-tetrahydro-4H-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-one compounds of formula (I),

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a heme-containing enzyme found in neutrophilic granulocytes (neutrophils) and monocytes. MPO is one member of a diverse protein family of mammalian peroxidases that also includes eosinophil peroxidase (EPO), thyroid peroxidase (TPO), salivary peroxidase (SPS), lactoperoxidase (LPO), prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS), and others. The mature enzyme is a dimer of identical halves. Each half molecule contains a covalently bound heme that exhibits unusual spectral properties responsible for the characteristic green color of MPO. Cleavage of the disulphide bridge linking the two halves of MPO yields the hemi-enzyme that exhibits spectral and catalytic properties indistinguishable from those of the intact enzyme. The enzyme is activated by hydrogen peroxide, the source of which can be superoxide dismuatase (SOD)-catalyzed NADPH-derived superoxide anion and xanthine oxidase-derived superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide formed upon purine oxidation. The main physiological substrates of MPO are halides (e.g. chloride) and pseudohalides (like thiocyanate), forming microbicidal hypohalous acids like hypochlorous acid (bleach) and hypothiocyanous acid (J. Clin. Biochem. Nutr., 2011, 48, 8-19).
Neutrophils play an important microbicidal role by phagocytosing (engulfing) and killing microorganisms. The engulfed load is incorporated into vacuoles, termed phagosomes, which fuse with granules containing myeloperoxidase to form phagolysosomes. In phagolysosomes the enzymatic activity of the myeloperoxidase leads to the formation of hypochlorous acid, a potent bactericidal compound (Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 2010, 49, 1834-1845). Hypochlorous acid is oxidizing in itself, and reacts most avidly with thiols and thioethers, but also converts amines into chloramines, and chlorinates aromatic amino acids.
MPO can also be released to the outside of the cells where the reaction with chloride can induce damage to adjacent tissue. In addition to this controlled release of MPO, neutrophils can also cast webs of decondensed DNA interspersed with intracellular proteins such as MPO into the extracellular space, so called neutrophil extracellular traps (NET). These NETs are thought to play a role in host defense towards extracellular microbes and has also been suggested to be an important pathophysiological mechanism in acute inflammatory diseases such as the immunothrombosis occurring in sepsis (Nature Rev. Immunol, 2013, 13, 34) and in autoimmunity, such as in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)(J. Immunol., 2011, 187, 538-552). Notably, MPO is required for NET formation (Blood, 2011, 117, 953).
Systemic levels of MPO is a well-described risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases (e.g. heart failure, acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, stable coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis related conditions (Circulation, 2003, 108, 1440-1445; N. Engl. J. Med., 2003, 349, 1595-604; J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 2007, 49, 2364-70). The role of MPO in these morbidities is not only related to the oxidative damage caused by the enzymatic products, but also a due to a consumption of nitric oxide, an important regulator of vascular and cardiomyocyte relaxation. Importantly, the contribution of MPO to cardiovascular diseases is not only via infiltration of neutrophils and monocytes into the vasculature and the myocardium, but also via the strategic deposition of extracellular MPO on proteoglycans on the basolateral side of the endothelium (Science, 2002, 296, 2391).
A causative role of MPO for the development of cardiovascular disease is also supported by the lower cardiovascular morbidity in MPO-defective subjects (Acta Haematol., 2000, 104, 10-15) and reduced coronary flow reserve (J. Biomed. Sci., 2004, 11, 59-64) and increased mortality in subjects carrying a gain-of-function mutation in the MPO-promotor (New Engl. J. Med., 2004, 350, 517; Free Rad. Biol. & Med., 2009, 47, 1584; J. Biol. Chem., 1996, 271, 14412-14420). A direct effect on vascular flow and relaxation was also observed after administration of MPO in pigs (Eur. Heart J., 2011, 33, 1625).
Linkage of MPO activity to diseases has thus been implicated in cardiovascular diseases with microvascular inflammation and reactive fibrosis including heart failure such as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, stable coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis related conditions.
Although considerable progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of heart failure (HF), morbidity and mortality due to HF remain high. The main cause of cardiac remodeling, which underlies HF development, is increased ventricular wall stress as a result of sustained hypertension, myocardial infarction, valvular insufficiency or other events. Cardiac remodeling is referred to as any change in cardiac structure, dimension, mass or function and, although it is initially a compensatory mechanism to maintain cardiac output it may result in decompensation and HF development (J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 2000, 35, 569-582). Main processes that contribute to cardiac remodeling are cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (growth), fibrosis and inflammation (Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell. Biol., 2006, 7, 589-600; Circ. Res., 2010, 106, 47-57).
Currently, the cornerstone of HF treatment is based on reduction of ventricular wall stress and it consists mainly on the use of inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone systems, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitors (ACE-I), of β-adrenergic blockers and of diuretics (Eur. Heart J., 2012, 14, 803-869). Despite treatment, HF mortality is still high and about 50% of all patients die within 5 years after first diagnosis (J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 1999, 33, 734-742). New treatment options directly focused at the major molecular and cellular processes driving cardiac remodeling are therefore urgently needed.
Heart failure can be sub-divided in HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) (Curr. Heart Fail. Rep., 2012, 9, 363-368). HFrEF and HFpEF differ with regard to pathophysiology, clinical characteristics and treatment. HFrEF is often referred to as systolic HF and treatment with ACE inhibitors, β-blockers and diuretics have successfully reduced mortality and morbidity rates in patients with HFrEF. In contrast, for HFpEF, which is often denoted as diastolic HF, no treatment has to date convincingly shown to reduce mortality or morbidity. This is alarming, since the incidence and prevalence of HFpEF is rising, both in absolute terms and relative to HFrEF (Eur. Heart J., 2013, 34, 1424-1431). A key characteristic of HFpEF is reduced contractility and relaxation of the ventricular wall. Cardiac fibrosis is an important contributor of this stiffening of the ventricular wall. Targeting cardiac fibrosis is therefore an potential therapeutic strategy for HFpEF patients, but also in HFrEF patients fibrosis plays an important role. Moreover, HFpEF may transit into cardiac dilatation and into HFrEF. It will therefore be important to investigate whether pharmacological targeting of cardiac fibrosis could halt or attenuate HFpEF and its potential transition into HFrEF. Microvascular inflammation, resulting in interstitial fibrosis appears to play an important role in HFpEF development (J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 2013, 62, 263-271) and an association has been demonstrated between HF and the inflammatory enzyme, myeloperoxidase (MPO)(J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., 2007, 49, 2364-2370). In terms of fibrosis, there are data suggesting that the MPO-product hypochlorous acid (HOCl), is an important regulatory switch modulating extracellular matrix proteins, including metalloproteinases (MMPs) (J. Biol. Chem., 2001, 276, 4127941287; J. Biol. Chem., 2003, 278, 28403-28409). This is also supported by the attenuation of angiotensin II-induced atrial fibrosis and reduced MMP-activity observed in MPO-deficient. Moreover, addition of recombinant MPO to Mpo−/− mice resulted in atria fibrosis indicating that increased MPO activity is sufficient for induction of fibrosis (Nat. Med., 2010, 16, 470-474). In a post-myocardial infarct (MI) model Mpo−/− mice also showed diminished ventricular remodeling and improved function (J. Exp. Med., 2003, 197, 615-624). Together these results indicate that MPO activity is a key player for structural remodeling of the myocardium under pathological conditions.
Pharmacological inhibition of MPO activity could attenuate cardiac fibrosis and preserve cardiac function under conditions that may trigger (diastolic) HFpEF and (systolic) HFrEF. In particular stiffening of the heart as a result of extensive fibrosis could be prevented and may preserve cardiac function.
There is a need for an orally active inhibitor of MPO for the treatment of e.g. heart failure and coronary artery disease related conditions. In order to increase the therapeutic index of such a medication, it is necessary to obtain an MPO inhibitor being selective for MPO over other peroxidases such as for instance TPO to reduce the risk of thyroid related adverse events. It is considered that a high selectivity for MPO over TPO may reduce the risk of a growth of the thyroid gland (Pharm. Res., 2013, 30, 1513-24. Furthermore, it is desirable that an MPO inhibitor for the use in cardiovascular therapy would have limited blood brain barrier penetrating properties as to minimize its effect in the central nervous system (CNS).
WO2003/089430, WO2005/037835, WO2007/120097, WO2007/120098 and WO2007/142576 disclose thioxantine derivatives and the use thereof as MPO inhibitors in therapy.
WO2006/062465 and WO2007/142577 disclose 2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-one derivatives claimed to be inhibitors of MPO. It is stated that the compounds may show selectivity against related enzymes such as TPO.
WO2009/025618 discloses thioxantine and 2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-one derivatives and the use of MPO inhibitors for the treatment of multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Huntington's disease (HD) and for neuroprotection.
J. Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, 2012, 55, 393-399, discloses some tritiated, 13C and 14C labeled thioxantine derivatives as well as a 14C labeled pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-one compound. The compounds are stated to be inactivators of MPO.
J. Biol. Chem., 2011, 286, 37578-37589, discloses certain thioxantine derivatives. The compounds are stated to inhibit MPO in plasma and decrease protein chlorination in a mouse model. The compounds are also claimed to be poor inhibitors of TPO.
WO2013/068875 discloses thiopyrimidone derivatives claimed to be MPO inhibitors.
An object is to provide novel MPO inhibitors useful in therapy. A further object is to provide novel compounds having improved selectivity for the MPO enzyme over the TPO enzyme and/or having limited blood brain barrier penetrating properties.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

1-[2-(aminomethyl)benzyl]-2-thioxo-1,2,3,5-tetrahydro-4H-pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidin-4-ones as inhibitors of myeloperoxidase

Abstract: and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, together with compositions containing them and their use in therapy. The compounds are inhibitors of the enzyme MPO and are thereby particularly useful in the treatment or prophylaxis of cardiovascular disorders such as heart failure and coronary artery disease related conditions.


A security module is provided in a data recording medium, data to be written to the data recording medium is encrypted with an content key different from one data to another, and the content key is safely stored in the security module. Also, the security module makes a mutual authentication using the public-key encryption technology with a drive unit to check that the counterpart is an authorized (licensed) unit, and then gives the content key to the counterpart, thereby preventing data from being leaked to any illegal (unlicensed) unit. Thus, it is possible to prevent copyrighted data such as movie, music, etc. from being copied illegally (against the wish of the copyrighter of the data).

Recently, the recorder and recording medium, which can digitally record data, have been popular. Since video data and music data can be recorded to and played back from the recorder and recording medium without quality degradation, such data can be copied over and over again. Since such a digitally copied data keeps the very quality that the original data has, it will sell in the market. Because of this fact, however, the copyrighter of the video data or music data is afraid that his or her data will be copied many times and put on the market. In this circumstance, the recorder and recording medium are required to incorporate a feature of preventing copyrighted data from being illegally copied as above.
For the copyright protection, a method called "Serial Copy Management System (SCMS)" is applied for the mini-disc (MD) (traded mark). In this system, SCMS data is transmitted along with music data. It indicates that the music data is a one allowed to freely be copied (will be referred to as "copy free"), a one allowed to be copied only once (will be referred to as "copy once allowed") or a one prohibited from being copied (will be referred to as "copy prohibited"). When a mini-disc (will be referred to as "MD" hereinafter) recorder receives music data from a digital interface, it will detect the SCMS data having been transmitted along with the music data. If the SCMS data is "copy prohibited", the MD recorder will not record the music data to the MD therein. If the SCMS data is "copy once allowed", the MD recorder will change the SCMS data to "copy prohibited" and record the SCMS data along with the received music data to the MD. If the SCMS data is "copy free", the MD recorder will record to the MD the SCMS data as it is along with the received music data.
Using the SCMS data as in the above, the MD system prevents copyrighted data from illegally being copied.
For prevention of copyrighted data from illegally being copied, another method is also available. It is called "content scramble system" and applied for the digital versatile disc (DVD) (trade mark). In this system, all copyrighted data in a disc are encrypted and only a licensed recorder is given an content key to decrypt the encrypted data for acquisition of meaningful data. For getting licensed, the recorder is designed to conform an operation prescription against illegal copying etc. Thus the DVD system prevents copyrighted data from illegally being copied.
In the method applied for the MD system, however, there may possibly be produced illegally a recorder which is not in conformity to the operation prescription that when the SCMS data is "copy once allowed", it should be changed to "copy prohibited" and recorded along with received data.
The method adopted in the DVD system is effective on a read-only memory (ROM) medium, but not on a random-access memory (RAM) medium to which the user can record data. That is, even if the user cannot decrypt data in a RAM medium, he or she can illegally copy all data in the RAM medium in consideration to a new RAM medium which can be played in a licensed (legal) recorder.
Thus, the Applicant of the present invention proposed a technique for prevention of illegal copying. This technique will briefly be described in the following. Namely, data intended for identification of individual recording media (will be referred to as "medium identification data" hereinafter) is recorded in each recording medium to allow only a licensed recorder to access the medium identification data as disclosed in the Applicant's Japanese Patent Application No. 10-25310 (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 11-224461, issued on Aug. 17, 1999). More specifically, data in a recording medium is encrypted using both a key based on a secret acquired through licensing and a medium identification data such that the data will be meaningless even if any unlicensed recorder can read it. Further, with this technique, when a license is granted to a recorder, the operation of the recorder is prescribed not to make any illegally copying. Thus, with the above technique, the unlicensed recorder cannot access the data and the medium identification data for each medium takes a unique value, so that even if the unlicensed recorder copies all accessible data to a new medium for example, a licensed recorder will not be able to correctly read the data from the new medium, whereby illegal copying can be prevented.
With the above conventional technique, however, to assure that a recording medium to which data has been recorded by a recorder can be read by another recorder, an content key for encryption of data in the recording medium is to be generated based on a common secret key (maser key) for the entire system. That is, if the master key is fraudulently stolen through analysis of a legal or licensed recorder, all data recorded by any recorder included in the system will possibly be decrypted and thus the system as a whole will be destroyed.

Data transmitting system and method, drive unit, access method, data recording medium, recording medium producing apparatus and method


The present invention provides an apparatus and method for converting font outlines to rasterized bit maps. The method accesses stored outline data representing the object in a first coordinate space and transforms the outline data to corresponding data representing the object in a second coordinate space, maintaining regional relationship information in both coordinate spaces, through a non-linear transformation expressed as a plurality of linear transformation matrices, to generate a bit map suitable for displaying the object.. The present invention includes an apparatus to analyze Bezier curves and subdivide them as necessary until each portion is sufficiently flat to be approximated as a straight line, and then to calculate where line segments cross pixel midlines in order to fill the outline and generate the bit map.. From another perspective, the method takes an outline of an object in a first coordinate space, scales the outline to a second coordinate space, identifies the coordinates of one or more select points in the second coordinate space and compares those coordinates with desired coordinates in the second coordinate space, calculates the difference in device space for the desired versus the actual coordinate in the second coordinate space, derives a plurality of piecewise linear transformation matrices to approximate a non-linear transformation, applies an appropriate linear transformation matrix to map essentially any point on the outline in the first coordinate space to corresponding coordinates in the second coordinate space, and fills and stores the outline of the object in a form suitable for display on a raster device.

Rendering an image on a raster display requires the formation of the raster image at some point in the printing process. In the case of characters, a raster bit map of each needed character can be stored in memory and then simply copied from memory to a printer input buffer whenever that character is required. A complete set of characters can be maintained in memory, but this requires storing each particular character in every needed point size and resolution, which can use up large quantities of memory. Alternatively, a set of characters can be encoded in some way, then converted into a bit map for a particular size character at a particular resolution appropriate for a selected display device. Characters which will be reused can be stored in cache memory to facilitate faster printing. A typical printing job requires a full set of lower case characters and many but not all capital letters at a single size and resolution. Thus bit maps of each of these characters can be generated and held in cache memory for the duration of the job, after which the cache memory can be flushed and filled with characters needed for the next job. Typical printer memory can accommodate a small number of fonts, enough for a simple job. When a job calls for a large number of fonts and/or point sizes, the capacity of cache memory may be exceeded, requiring some character bit maps to be generated multiple times.
In a preferred embodiment, the device is used to convert PostScript.RTM. Type 1 font outlines to bit maps. PostScript was developed by Adobe Systems Inc. (hereinafter "Adobe"), the assignee of the subject invention. The PostScript system was developed to communicate high-level graphic information to digital laser printers. It is a flexible, compact and powerful language for rendering characters from stored outline fonts, for expressing graphic regions and for performing general programming tasks. The preferred embodiment of the device of this invention is described in the context of a PostScript printer, typesetter or image-setter.
The PostScript language, use and applications are thoroughly described in a number of books published by Adobe, including POSTSCRIPT LANGUAGE REFERENCE MANUAL (Second Edition, 1990) and POSTSCRIPT LANGUAGE PROGRAM DESIGN (1988), each of which is incorporated herein by reference. PostScript and related page description languages are useful with typesetters, image-setters, color printers and high throughput printers as well as high-resolution video or other display devices.
The present invention is useful in many currently available printing environments. Outline fonts are used in conjunction with many typesetting and printing combinations, using Apple.RTM. Macintosh.RTM., IBM.RTM. PC, Sun.RTM. and other UNIX-based computers with one or more of several marking (printing) or display devices. Current software includes Adobe's PostScript and ATM.TM. software and hardware, and outline font programs from Bitstream and Compugraphic. Page description languages used to control printers include Adobe's PostScript language, Hewlett Packard's PCL, Canon's LIPS, NEC's NPDL and other languages by Kyocera and Xerox.
Printers, video display and other such devices are sometimes called marking devices or marking engines. A raster image processor (RIP) associated with a marking engine converts input information and commands into a rasterized (bit-mapped) region suitable for display on the associated output device. Commercially available devices include the Apple LaserWriter.RTM., the Linotronic.RTM. 100 and 300, the Adobe Atlas RIP, the Emerald RIP and Hewlett-Packard DeskWriter.TM. and LaserJet.TM.. A marking engine generally prints characters from stored bit maps by simply transferring the pattern of bits from memory to the output device. This requires a bit map of the character in the correct size and resolution.
The main advantage of outline fonts over bit mapped fonts is also the main disadvantage. An outline font can be used to generate a bit map for a character of any size from a single outline font. This provides flexibility and compact storage, but costs time in preparing each required bit map and incurs the added burden of ensuring that all bit map renditions have aesthetic appeal. A bit mapped font can be specifically edited to produce optimal results, but only for a specific size. Additional sizes require additional bit maps. Bit mapped fonts have traditionally enjoyed a speed advantage as well in that the bit map can be printed directly. The trade-off is speed vs. storage capacity requirements.
Essentially all programs using outline fonts must convert outline information into a bit map before printing a character on a raster printer. In a typical application, outlines are defined in a high resolution coordinate system, generally called character space. In order to print on a marking engine, the outline must be scaled to the required size and mapped to a coordinate system appropriate for the marking engine. The second coordinate space is generally called device space. The outline in device space is filled with a series of pixels to approximate the original outline. Characters may be adjusted or "hinted" in either character space or device space to improve alignment of the final character on the device space pixel grid.
Previous methods of converting character outlines to scaled character bit maps were software based, which allowed flexibility but significantly limited the speed at which character bit maps could be generated. The limitations of software based renderers become particularly acute for printing jobs which require a large number of different fonts or sizes, since each character at each size in each font must be available to the marking engine as a bit map. If a required character is not available in the required size and font, then the corresponding outline must be adjusted and converted. The limitations of software-based renderers are also significant in printing foreign languages such as Japanese which use a large number of characters with only limited repetition. Each time a character bit map is not available in cache memory, a new bit map must be generated. The bit map is usually stored, displacing a previously stored character bit map if the available memory is full.
The problem of scaling outlines to produce bit maps has been a challenge for many years. Many of the problems of analyzing outlines to produce bit maps at an arbitrary scale have been solved in the Adobe ATM product. The methods used in ATM are described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 388,336 and 388,339 by Paxton et al. and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 539,222 and 552,788 by Byron et al., all assigned to Adobe and all incorporated herein by reference. Some of the methods described therein, such as analyzing outlines, identifying crosses and tracing paths have been improved and form the basis for the present invention.