A process for resin finishing textile containing cellulosic fiber comprises the steps of using a resin finishing agent chiefly containing a cellulose-reactive N-methylol compound having two or more functional groups and a reaction catalyst, mainly reacting only one functional group of the cellulose-reactive N-methylol compound with cellulose, water washing, again imparting reaction catalyst, drying, garment making, and heat treating. The process eliminates the conventional postcuring method drawbacks of loss of color fastness and discoloration owing to dye decomposition and formaldehyde increase by unreacted resin and residual reaction catalyst during long storage before heat treatment, and simultaneously achieves high crease-resistant property, shrink resistance, good feeling, excellent pleating property, and anti-puckering property.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for resin finishing textile (i.e., a woven or knit cloth) containing cellulosic fiber which lowers the loss of color fastness, discoloration, rise in free formaldehyde concentration and the like occurring during long storage before heat treatment in postcuring owing to unreacted resin decomposition and/or dye decomposition caused by the action of a reaction catalyst and which ensures high crease-resistant property and shrink resistance, minimal processing discoloration and cloth strength loss, excellent pleating property, minimal puckering and good feeling.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many resin finishing agents and finishing processes have been considered for imparting crease-resistant property and shrink resistance to textiles containing cellulosic fiber.
These processes typically use glyoxalic resin or other so-called cellulose-reactive resin finishing agents. Generally, however, an attempt to enhance crease-resistant property and shrink resistance by imparting a larger amount of such a resin causes various problems owing to the formaldehyde and the like contained in the resin. Specifically, it markedly increases finishing discoloration and loss of color fastness and also hardens the textile feeling and lowers the strength of the finished cloth. On the other hand, reducing the amount of resin imparted improves such properties as finishing discoloration and color fastness but results in insufficient crease-resistant property and shrink resistance. The practice has therefore been to conduct the finishing within the range that gives the optimum mix among the incompatible properties of processing discoloration and color fastness on the one hand and crease-resistant property, shrink resistance and cloth strength on the other.
Resin finishing in postcuring involves making garments from cloth imparted with the resin finishing agent and then heat treating the garment to react and set the resin. At the time of cutting and sewing, the imparted finishing agent has not yet been crosslinked so the textile can be easily pleated and exhibits good anti-puckering property. When the cloth is stored for a long period between the imparting of the resin and the heat treatment for crosslinking the resin, however, decomposition of unreacted resin and the action of the reaction catalyst may reduce the color fastness and increase discoloration and the amount of free formaldehyde.
Different types of reaction catalyst differ considerably in their effect on color fastness. For instance, the effect of an acidic catalyst on the color fastness of a reactive dye is particularly great. Many reactive dyes are used for dyeing knits in view of their superb leveling and coloring performance. When an acidic catalyst is used in the resin finishing of cloth dyed with a reactive dye, however, some of the dye is likely to decompose owing to the action of the acidic catalyst if the cloth is stored for a long period following the imparting of the resin finishing agent. On the other hand, while use of a neutral metallic salt catalyst does not cause the dye decomposition encountered with an acidic catalyst, the neutral metallic salt catalyst must be used in a large amount when a large amount of resin is used to secure high crease-resistant performance. The reactive dye is therefore apt to suffer finishing discoloration and/or nitrogen oxide discoloration.
An object of this invention is to provide a process for resin finishing textiles which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks of the postcuring method, namely, the problems of loss of color fastness, discoloration owing to dye decomposition and formaldehyde increase by unreacted resin and residual reaction catalyst during long storage before heat treatment, and which simultaneously achieves high crease-resistant property, shrink resistance, good feeling, excellent pleating property, and anti-puckering property.

Process for resin finishing textile containing cellulosic fiber


An aqueous liquid chromate free primary composition for forming a protective coating on metals, particularly aluminum, is made by reacting cobalt(II) cations, carboxylate anions, at least one other type of coordinate complexing agent for cobalt(III) cations, and an oxidizing agent in an aqueous solution in which the molar ratio of carboxylate anions to cobalt(II) cations is from 0.10 to 6.8 and the aqueous solution contains no more than 1% of each of ammonia, ammonium ions, and nitrite ions. The primary layer formed by this or any other composition that forms a coating containing metal atoms and oxygen atoms on a metal substrate is advantageously sealed by further treatment with an aqueous solution of sodium ammonium decavanadate, optionally after an intermediate step of immersing in water for a few minutes between the primary treatment and the sealing treatment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to compositions and processes for forming a protective coating on metal, particularly zinc, aluminum and/or zinc and/or aluminum alloy, more particularly aluminum and/or aluminum alloy surfaces. In one embodiment of the invention, the primary coating formed is a metal oxide containing conversion coating that solid and adherent, often, although not always colored, provides good corrosion protection to the metal surface, and functions as an excellent base for painting or similar organic based protective coatings. The coatings formed, when applied to substrates of zinc, aluminum and their alloys that contain at least 45% by weight of zinc and/or aluminum, can impart at least as much corrosion protection as do conventional coatings formed by use of hexavalent chromium containing compositions, but the compositions and processes for forming a primary coating according to this invention cause less potential environmental damage because they do not need hexavalent chromium or other identified major pollutants.
In another embodiment of the invention, the corrosion protective effect of a primary coating is further enhanced by a sealing treatment. The sealing treatment is very effective on primary coatings according the other embodiment of the invention, but is not limited thereto; it may be advantageously applied to a wide variety of primary coatings, including those formed by anodization as well as those formed by chemical conversion. The sealing treatment is especially advantageous for surfaces that are not intended to receive any further protective organic based coating such as paint or the like, but is also useful for substrates that are to be further protected in this way.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The published art believed to be most closely related is that described in WO94/00619, particularly Table II thereof and text related thereto. This reference teaches that high quality coatings can be formed on metal substrates by contacting them with aqueous compositions believed to contain cobalt(III) complex anions; the effective compositions are formed by reaction among cobalt(II) salts, carboxylate ions, and various other substances in the presence of an oxidizing agent. Other closely related published art includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,838 of Sep. 16, 1975 to Ito and U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,092 of Mar. 29, 1994 to Schriever.
Many of the compositions taught in this related art, although they have avoided the use of hexavalent chromium and other pollutants of the general environment, nevertheless can have adverse environmental impacts on the immediate working area for the process and any workers in this area. For example, many of the formulations previously used include high concentrations of ammonia, which causes at least a severe odor nuisance and possibly a serious health hazard to workers in the vicinity, unless expensive ventilation equipment is installed in the process area. Furthermore, the concentration of ammonia in aqueous solutions is difficult to maintain constant, as is desirable for achieving the most consistent results from the process, at the high levels previously recommended by some related art. In addition, some of the previously recommended compositions contain both nitrite ions and amines, which are generally believed to be readily capable of reacting to form nitrosamines, many of which are known carcinogens.

Compositions and processes for forming a solid adherent protective coating on metal surfaces


The rotogravure cylinder comprising a rotary gravure base and thereon a copper engraving layer is refurbished to contain a zinc layer between a gravure base and a layer package suitable for engraving and printing. This layer package for instance comprises a metallic support layer, a copper engraving layer and suitably a protection layer. Deposition of the zinc layer may be tuned for thickness variation, in combination with deposition of the layer package in a fixed thickness.

Rotogravure cylinders (see FIG. 1 which shows such a cylinder, and FIG. 2 which shows a typical cross section of such a cylinder) comprise of the base 1, which is usually made of steel or aluminium with a diameter as required by the printing machine, an image carrying copper layer 2 usually of 0.1 to 1 mm thick where the packaging pattern is engraved upon, and a chrome layer 3 usually 6 to 8 μm thick to increase resistance of the cylinder to wear during the printing process. In FIG. 1 the dimensions shown are not in scale and are shown for descriptive purposes.
A rotogravure life cycle starts with the copper plating, engraving with the required packaging pattern and chrome plating of the cylinder before it is used in the printing machine. The cylinder life cycle continuous at the printing machine with the printing of packaging material. Finally, the cylinder life cycle ends when the industry using the particular cyclinder decides to modify of change the packaging pattern.
US 2011/0083570 describes a process for refurbishing cylinder rollers for use in printing machines wherein an intermediate polymer material layer is placed between the core surface and the image carrying layer of the cylinder, having a conductivity to permit electroplating. The disadvantage of the disclosed process is that an intermediate polymer layer is used for the construction of a refurbished rotogravure cylinder. The disclosed intermediate polymer layer is a soft material which leads to a limited life time in printing processes due to the constantly applied forces onto the rotogravure cylinder. Further, the process is problematic with regard to the diameter stability. More specifically, shrink tape is necessary to ensure an intermediate polymer layer having a stable diameter.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a simple and effective process for the refurbishment of user rotogravure cylinders, which provides rotogravure cylinders having a stable diameter and high wear resistance.
A further problem in relation to the prior art method is that the refurbishment does not result in cylinder having use-properties that are substantially the same as those of new cylinders. Particularly, cylinders are engraved with a engraving pattern and are thereafter used in printing processes with predefined use settings, such as at a predefined rotation speed, with a certain amount and type of ink and at a specific pressure. Preferably, the use settings are the same for all cylinders, or at least for a plurality of cylinders. Hence, the use-properties of refurbished cylinders, such as the hardness, are preferably at least substantially the same as those of new cylinders, so that the use settings can remain the same, and the risk of malfunctioning in printing due to variation of use-settings is minimized.

Method of refurbishing rotogravure cylinders, rotogravure cylinders and their use


A method for manufacturing alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate, starting from a formate anion comprises at least the following sequential steps: A) conversion of a solid anion exchanger to formate form by feeding into it a solution containing a formate anion, B) exchanging the formate anion in the anion exchanger for a replacing anion by feeding into it an alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal salt solution of this replacing anion, C) recovering the alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate solution eluted from the anion exchanger during the exchange of the formate anion. The anion exchanger is converted to formate form by feeding into it a sodium formate solution, a formic acid solution or a solution which contains both sodium formate and formic acid. The method can be used for production of potassium formate or calcium formate.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate, starting from a formate anion.
At the present, for example potassium formate is normally manufactured as a neutralization reaction between formic acid and potassium hydroxide, wherein formic acid must always be available. Also a direct synthesis between CO and KOH is a possible manufacturing technique for obtaining potassium formate directly (Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3rd ed., vol. 18, p. 938). This latter reaction requires the application of a high temperature and pressure.
It is characteristic in all these methods that the raw material is potassium hydroxide, and when potassium formate is manufactured in a neutralization reaction, formic acid must always be used as a source of formate anion.
Sodium formate is obtained as a side product of pentaerythritol. Pentaerythritol is manufactured in a reaction between formaldehyde and acetaldehyde by using sodium hydroxide as a catalyst. A side product of this process is dilute sodium formate which can be further converted to formic acid with sulphuric acid.
In connection with this process, also electrodialytic manufacture of potassium formate from K2SO4 and HCOONa has been developed. An electrodialytic process with a concentrated sodium formate solution and a potassium sulphate solution as starting materials is described in international publication WO 96/01250. The electrodialytic manufacturing process starting from said materials requires various types of selective membranes. Furthermore, the electrodialytic device also requires much maintenance for securing its faultless operation, e.g. to prevent clogging of the membranes.
Swiss patent 439249, to which corresponds British patent 1033030, discloses a method for manufacturing inorganic and organic salts. Table 1 and example 5 of the patent present the conversion of formic acid into sodium formate with a weak-base anion exchanger in liquid form by mixing an aqueous solution of formic acid and sodium chloride with the weak-base anion exchanger dissolved in an organic phase. The manufacturing method requires the dissolving of the anion exchanger in a suitable organic solvent which is insoluble in water, mixing of the substances and separating the water phase for separating the final product.
Methods for manufacturing potassium formate, in turn, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,913,318 and DE application publication 4126730. The methods are based on reactions between calcium hydroxide and carbon monoxide and between calcium hydroxide and formaldehyde, respectively. The former method requires a pressure reactor, and the latter requires handling of formaldehyde.
It is an aim of the invention to eliminate the above-mentioned draw-backs and to present a simpler manufacturing method which is suitable for industrial use and in which it is possible to start from a suitable formate solution or formic acid, ie. in principle from any substance containing the formate anion, and to obtain an alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate as a final product.
A simple way of manufacturing potassium formate was surprisingly found when studying anion exchange with solid ion exchangers between potassium chloride and sodium formate, wherein the ion exchange produced a potassium formate solution from a sodium formate solution or even from formic acid. In a corresponding way, a possibility was found to produce a calcium formate solution from a sodium formate solution or from formic acid.
Anion exchange processes have been primarily used to purify substances, and examples that can be mentioned include for example the removal of nitrate from drinking water, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,877. It is also known to use a weakly basic anion exchanger to remove formic acid in the manufacture of pure formalin (J. T. McNulty, xe2x80x9cThe many faces of ion-exchange resinsxe2x80x9d, Chemical Engineering, June 1997, p. 99). The manufacture of alkali metal formate or alkaline-earth metal formate by anion exchange with a solid anion exchanger has not been previously disclosed.
In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate the steps of the anion exchange process under different conditions.
According to the invention, a solution containing formate ions is supplied to a solid anion exchange material, wherein they replace the anions bound to the material previously, e.g. in regeneration. Alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate can be eluted from the material by feeding an alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal salt of the anion which replaces the formate anion to the material. The selectivity of the anions used in the process towards the anion exchange material decreases in the following order:
A greater than HCOOxe2x88x92 greater than D,
in which D is an anion which is replaced with formate at the first stage, and A is an anion whose alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal salt is supplied to elute alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate, respectively, from the anion exchanger. For example, the order of selectivity for a (strong-base) anion exchanger is the following (Helfferich, F., Ion Exchange, p. 168):
NO3xe2x88x92 greater than Ixe2x88x92 greater than Brxe2x88x92 greater than Clxe2x88x92 greater than HCOOxe2x88x92 greater than CH3COOxe2x88x92 greater than OHxe2x88x92 greater than Fxe2x88x92
In the process, the anions passing through the anion exchange material are underlined. The anion exchanger cannot be directly converted from the Clxe2x88x92 form back to the formate form because of unadvantageous selectivity, but it must first be converted to OHxe2x88x92 form in a separate regeneration step.
The following is a description of a method according to a preferred embodiment step by step, relating to the manufacture of potassium formate.
An anion exchange, which contains Cl ions as a result of elution of potassium formate out in a preceding step, is first converted to OHxe2x88x92 form with NaOH:
Rxe2x80x94Cl+NaOHRxe2x80x94OH+NaClxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
With weak-base anion exchangers, it is also possible to use NH4OH as the hydroxide source.
After this, the formate ions are bound from a sodium formate solution to an ion exchange bed which contains anion exchange material. Instead of a sodium formate solution, it is possible to use a formic acid solution. It is also possible to use a mixture of formic acid and sodium formate. Similarly, it is possible to use any substance whose aqueous solution contains formate ions and whose aqueous solution is not too alkaline, if a weak-base anion exchanger is used.
Rxe2x80x94OH+HCOONaRxe2x80x94HCOO+NaOH, or
Rxe2x80x94OH+HCOOHRxe2x80x94HCOO+H2Oxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
By changing the anion exchanger back to Clxe2x88x92 form, a KCl solution can be used to elute potassium formate out of the anion exchange material:
Rxe2x80x94HCOO+KClRxe2x80x94Cl+HCOOKxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
After this, the same anion exchange material can be used again by replacing chloride with hydroxide according to step (1). Sodium hydroxide eluted out in step (2) can thus be recirculated to step (1). After each step, washing with water is performed. The washing can be intensified by raising the temperature.
In different steps of the process, solutions are used whose concentration is in the range from 0.1 to 5 M. Also, in the elution of potassium formate from the anion exchanger, the concentration of potassium salt solutions used can be in the range from 0.1 to 5 M.
Ion exchange for producing potassium formate can take place in a temperature range from 0 to 110xc2x0 C., typically from 20 to 60xc2x0C.
In a way analogical to that presented above, it is possible to prepare calcium formate. The reactions (1) and (2) take place as above, but in the reaction (3), the anion exchanger is converted to chloride form with a calcium chloride solution:
2Rxe2x80x94HCOO+CaCl22Rxe2x80x94Cl+(HCOO)2Ca
According to an advantageous alternative, the manufacturing process, in which the same anion exchanger is used several times, is as follows:
Use is made of an anion A, whose selectivity to the anion exchange material is higher than that of formate, and an anion D, whose selectivity to the anion exchange material is lower than that of formate.
Use is made of a starting agent containing formic acid and/or a formic acid salt whose cation (starting agent cation) is different from the cation of the alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate (product cation).
In the first step, the anion exchanger is regenerated by feeding into it a solution that contains the anion D, wherein the anion A left therein at the production stage can be eluted from the anion exchanger.
In the second step, a solution that contains the formate anion, such as formic acid and/or a formic acid salt whose cation is the starting agent cation, is fed into the anion exchanger.
In the third step, i.e. the production step, a solution which contains the anion A and in which the cation is the product cation, is fed into the anion exchanger.
All the steps are implemented in such a way that the solution is fed in a continuous flow through the anion exchange material, and the anion exchange between the solid anion exchanger and the solution takes place during this flow. The anion exchanger is preferably in aflow-through column, through which the solution is led. The solutions to be led in subsequent steps through the anion exchanger are preferably aqueous solutions.
These steps can be repeated several times in succession for the same anion exchanger. Furthermore, it is possible to circulate the anion D eluted in the second step to the first step, i.e. to the regeneration step. If in the second step the feeding solution contains a formate whose cation is the starting agent cation, a regeneration solution is obtained which contains the anion D and the starting agent cation.
Strong-base anion exchangers act in the pH range from 0 to 14, whereas the active range of weak-base anion exchangers is in the pH range from 0 to 9. Consequently, when selecting the formate ion source, one should take into account the strength of the ion exchange resin and the resulting active pH range. In a strong-base anion exchanger, the functional group is generally a quaternary ammonium ion, which is trimethylamine in type I and dimethyl-xcex2-hydroxyethylamine in type II presented below.
Type I is slightly more basic than type II, i.e. the anions are slightly more firmly bonded to the anion exchanger of type I. Consequently, the regeneration of type II to the OHxe2x88x92 form is slightly easier. In type II, the chemical stability and temperature resistance is slightly lower than in type I.
In a weak-base anion exchanger, the functional group is generally a tertiary aminexe2x80x94N(CH3)2.
Solid ion exchangers exist in various forms, having different porous structures and being based on different polymers. This invention is not dependent on the form, porous structure or polymer. The shape of the ion exchanger can be e.g. sphere, powder, fibre, or flake. Macroporous or gel-like ion exchanger resins work.
The invention will be described in the following examples which do not restrict the invention. The formate content is determined by ion chromatography according to the standard SFS-EN ISO 10304-01, and the chloride content by a chloride-selective electrode. The volume of the eluted solution is given in bed volumes BV, which in the tests was 100 ml or 200 ml. The water used, in which also the solutions were prepared, was ion-exchanged water whose conductivity was less than 3 xcexcS/cm.

Method for manufacturing alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal formate


A system, computer program product and method for managing a cache of a virtual machine. A cache is defined in memory, and a virtual machine is assigned to the cache. An identity of the cache is recorded in storage. The virtual machine terminates, and the cache and contents of the cache are preserved despite the termination of the virtual machine, such that if the virtual machine subsequently resumes operating, the virtual machine can access the cache and its contents. There is also a system, method and computer program product for managing a cache of an LPAR. A cache is defined in memory, and assigned to an LPAR. A record is made of an identity of the cache in storage. The LPAR terminates, and the cache and contents of the cache are preserved despite the termination of the LPAR, such that if the LPAR subsequently resumes operating, the LPAR can access the cache and its contents.

Computers configured as virtual machines are well known today. In this configuration, a hypervisor program logically divides physical resources of a real computer into separate virtual machines. A virtual machine is a virtual sharing of computer resources such as processor(s), memory, storage and I/O (i.e. network cards, printers and displays.) A guest operating system executes/runs on each virtual machine. One or more applications and middleware programs (such as a file manager) run on each guest operating system. Even though each application, middleware program and guest operating system are executing in a virtual machine, they operate as if they are running on their own private, real computer. In a known IBM z/VM operating system, the hypervisor program is called the Control Program ("CP"), and each virtual machine may be called a "virtual machine", a "user portion" or a "guest". It was also known for a logical partitioning program to logically divide the physical resources of a real computer into logical partitions ("LPARs"), and then for the hypervisor to logically divide each LPAR into virtual machines. In a known IBM zSeries computer, a known IBM Processor Resource/Resource Manager ("PR/SM") program logically partitions a real computer.
The known division of a real computer into virtual machines is further described as follows. The hypervisor allocates to each virtual machine a time share of one or more real processors. The hypervisor also allocates to each virtual machine a range of (virtual) private memory ("VPM") mapped to RAM. When a virtual machine addresses its own (virtual) private memory, the hypervisor translates the virtual memory address into a real address of real memory. The hypervisor also allocates memory to itself to store its own control structures.
The guest operating system in each virtual machine can be the Linux (™ of Linus Torvalds) operating system, IBM CMS operating system or other operating systems. The applications that execute on each guest operating system on each virtual machine can be an IBM DB2 data base management application, IBM Websphere application, or other applications.
The guest operating system and application(s) for each virtual machine are stored in the private memory allocated to the virtual machine. Each virtual machine also includes a cache in the virtual machine's private memory. The cache contains data recently accessed from (disk) storage via a file system by the application or middleware, and associated metadata. The metadata comprises a directory and sub directory path to the file, identities of records within the file currently being written or read, size of the file, size of records in the file, type (ASCII, EBCDIC or BINARY) of data in the file, where the file is stored on disk, etc.
As explained above, it is also known for a logical partitioning program to logically divide a single real computer into multiple logical partitions ("LPARs"), and then for a hypervisor to logically divide each logical partition into separate virtual machines. In other words, the logical partitioning program logically divides and virtualizes the computer resources (including the share of processor(s) and memory) to form each LPAR, and then the hypervisor further divides the logical share of computer resources of each LPAR to form the resource platform for each of the virtual machines. Typically, an administrator assists in defining each logical partition ("LPAR") by specifying to the logical partitioning program the amount of processors, memory and storage for each LPAR. Each LPAR could be allocated specific real computer resources or a share of the total computer resources. In some computers, a separate hypervisor was loaded into each LPAR to form multiple virtual machines in each logical partition. The virtual machines in each LPAR operate in the same manner as if they were formed directly from the real computer.
An existing IBM z/VM version 4.2.0 or 4.3.0 virtual machine operating system includes a known hypervisor program with capability to form each of the virtual machines from LPARs or real computers. The details of the existing z/VM 4.2.0 operating system are disclosed in IBM publication "z/VM 4.2.0 General Information" (Document Number: GC24-5991-03) which is available from International Business Machines Corp. at PO Box 29570, IBM Publications, Raleigh, N.C. 27626-0570 or on the WWW at www.IBM.com/shop/publications/order. This publication is hereby incorporated by reference as part of the present disclosure.
File manager programs, such as IBM DB/2 program, are also known. A file manager program may be considered "middleware". An application in a virtual machine can make a request to a file manager for a file, and the file manager accesses the file from storage for the application. The file manager may create a cache in memory to store pages of file needed by the application, and retain those pages according to a most recently used algorithm.
Occasionally, a virtual machine terminates. The termination may be "on purpose" when requested by a user of the virtual machine or by an administrator of the real computer. This purposeful termination is typically implemented as a standard "log off". The termination may also be accidental due to a failure of the virtual machine, guest operating system, hypervisor or real computer. When the virtual machine terminates due to a failure of the virtual machine or guest operating system or due to log off of the virtual machine, the known hypervisor automatically deletes the contents of the private memory (including the cache) of the virtual machine.
It was known for the guest operating system in each virtual machine to periodically "journal" or copying contents of its cache to nonvolatile disk. So, if the virtual machine terminates due to a failure of the virtual machine, guest operating system, hypervisor or real computer, the recently accessed data and metadata will be preserved. Consequently, when the virtual machine is restarted, the contents of the cache will be available from storage to resume processing. However, the periodic journaling/copying of data to storage is slow compared to other virtual machine operations, because of the nature of storage. This slows operation of the virtual machine.
An object of the present invention is to preserve contents of a cache of a virtual machine when the virtual machine terminates due to a failure of the virtual machine or its guest operating system.
A more specific object of the present invention is to preserve contents of a cache of a virtual machine without slowing operation of the virtual machine.

System, method and program to preserve a cache of a virtual machine

International Business Machines Corporation


The load measuring apparatus is arranged at an elevator car and detects the car load brought about by passengers and/or goods transported by the elevator car. An upper crossbeam together with vertically extending supports and a lower crossbeam forms a support frame suspended at traction cables and moves within an elevator shaft along suitable guide rails. A floor frame mounted on isolation pads at the lower crossbeam carries the elevator car. At the roof of the elevator car there is centrally arranged a reference plate member which is part of the load measuring apparatus. A proximity sensor centrally arranged at the upper crossbeam has a predetermined frontal spacing from the reference plate member in the no-load condition of the elevator car. When the elevator car carries a load this predetermined frontal spacing increases as a function of compression of the isolation pads. The proximity sensor then generates an electrical signal or potential which is dependent upon the momentarily prevailing frontal spacing of the sensor from the reference plate member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved load measuring apparatus for an elevator car of an elevator structure.
Generally speaking, the load measuring apparatus for an elevator car of the present development is of the type which is supported by a support frame suspended at hoist or traction cables or ropes. The support frame or frame member comprises a lower crossbeam or yoke carrying a floor frame, substantially vertically extending supports or carrier members and an upper crossbeam or yoke operatively connected with the hoist or traction cables or ropes.
2. Discussion of the Background and Material Information
European Published Patent Application No. 0,151,949, published Sept. 9, 1987, and cognate U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,542 issued Mar. 4, 1986, disclose an elevator car containing a car floor or base supported at each corner by a horizontally extending leg of an angle member. The vertically extending legs of the angle member are bolted to a floor frame. The forces acting upon each of the horizontally extending legs are transduced into electrical signals by strain gauges arranged at the associated horizontally extending leg, and such electrical signals are processed by an amplifier circuit.
A drawback of this prior art apparatus resides in the fact that the load measuring apparatus arranged at the region of the floor of the elevator car requires a relatively complicated mechanical construction of the cabin floor and the floor frame. Additionally, the car floor must be supported upon specially designed insulating elements arranged at the horizontally extending legs.

Load measuring apparatus for an elevator car


The present invention is an improved method of making sequenced chemical chain compounds through the application of laser copy technology to UV light directed spatially addressed parallel chemical synthesis and is particularly useful in the production of numerous proteins of varying amino acid sequences on a restricted solid support. Chemical groups, such as amines, are attached to the surface of a solid sup- port, such as flat glass, and subjected to chemical reaction disposed to link chemical units to the attached groups that are protected from further reaction by photolabile groups. Such solid support and photolabile protected units are then selectively deprotected by irradiation with a UV laser beam. The support and attached units are then subjected to chemical reaction to link chemical units to the selectively deprotected units. By repeated such treatment it is possible to produce unlimited combinations of chain chemical units in less time and at greater efficiency than has previously been possible.

Chemicals of sequenced units, such as proteins which are composed of sequences of amino acids may be produced by solid phase chemistry wherein chemical units attached to a solid support are reacted with chemicals that attach other selected units to the units attached to the solid support to form unit chain compounds. Such two unit compounds may then be treated with the same or other chemicals repeatedly to form any predetermined number of units of sequenced compounds.
By providing photolabile protecting groups to the exposed units and sequentially unmasking certain areas of such units by light irradiation and exposing such unprotected areas to a reactive chemical disposed to attach a desired unit to the exposed units it is possible to create two unit chains in a confined area of the support. By repeating such steps in the same or other areas of the support and repeating varying chemical treatments as set forth above it may be readily seen that numerous differing chemical chain compounds may be effected in a confined space on a single support.
This technology is of particular significance in the biological production of antibodies with sequences of amino acid units that will exhibit a high level of binding and specificity for a protein. The binding of an antibody to a specific antigen is critically important in biological systems, since the specificity and strength of the antibody-antigen interaction is crucial to the operation of the immune system. The specificity of an antibody for a protein has been traced to highly variable segments in the antibody chain generally consisting of 6 to 10 amino acid sequences. It has been found that antibody segments containing one highly variable sequence, called a domain, exhibit high levels of binding and specificity for a protein ("Single-Domain Antibodies Promise New Chemical, Medical Applications" C&E News, Nov. 20, 1989).
The determination of the set of polypeptides that bind specifically to any given protein would be of obvious use in a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic treatments. Brute force determination of the sequences has been thought of as all but impossible. There are 20 common amino acids, so the number of possible 6 member polypeptides is 20.sup.6, or 64 million.
A recent development has shown promise in determining these sequences, through the synthesis of large numbers of peptides bound to a solid support. This method combines techniques of solid phase peptide synthesis, photolabile protecting groups, and photolithography to achieve light directed, spatially addressable parallel chemical synthesis. The method works as follows. A solid support (typically a glass microscope slide) is reacted with aminopropyltrie-thoxysilane to form amine groups on its surface. These groups are then reacted with an amino acid whose amine function is protected by a photolabile protecting group. The surface is then masked, for example, the surface is everywhere covered except for a rectangular strip exposing 5% of the exposed surface. The surface is then irradiated with UV light, activating only 5% of the exposed surface. The surface is then reacted with an amino acid whose amine function is also protected by a photolabile group; only the activated portion of the surface reacts with the amino acid. The masking, irradiation, and reaction step is repeated, with a different area exposed and a different amino acid reacted with the surface. After 20 steps, 20 parallel strips exist on the surface, each strip containing a different amino acid bound to the surface.
This process is then repeated, but with masks rotated to a position perpendicular to those used in the first masking sequence. At the end of the process all possible two member polypeptides have been synthesized on the solid support. Each polypeptide combination is located in squares formed from the intersection of the strips. The above procedure may be repeated to achieve any number of differing amino chain combinations in such intersecting squares.
This method has been used to prepare 1,024 different polypeptides on a square centimeter of surface. Utilizing the method of the present invention the potential exists for the synthesis of millions of polypeptides bound on a solid support. This method has also been used to synthesize different oligonucleotides on a solid support.


A substrate processing technology including: transferring a substrate to a process chamber and mounting the substrate on a substrate holder; heating the substrate with a heating device to perform predetermined substrate processing; determining the number of times of the predetermined substrate processing that has been performed that the predetermined substrate processing has been performed a preset number of times or more, determining whether it is necessary to adjust a mounting position at which the substrate is mounted on the substrate holder; and when it is determined that a mounting position adjustment is necessary, determining the mounting position by comparing the substrate temperature measured at the performing the predetermined substrate processing with a premeasured temperature of the substrate which corresponds to the mounting position and is stored in a memory.

As one of the processes of manufacturing a semiconductor device, for example, there is a reforming process, represented by an annealing process, of heating a substrate in a process chamber by using a heating device and changing a composition or a crystal structure in a thin film formed on the surface of the substrate or repairing crystal defects or the like in the formed thin film. In the recent semiconductor devices, a reforming process for a high-density substrate on which a pattern having a high aspect ratio is formed is required along with miniaturization and high integration. A heat treatment method using an electromagnetic wave has been studied as a reforming method for such a high-density substrate.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, substrate processing apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium


An encryption method and apparatus that provides forward secrecy, by updating the key using a one-way function after each encryption. By providing forward secrecy within a cipher, rather than through a key management system, forward secrecy may be added to cryptographic systems and protocols by using the cipher within an existing framework. A random-access key updating method can efficiently generate one or more future keys in any order. Embodiments are applicable to forward secret ciphers that are used to protect protocols with unreliable transport, to ciphers that are used in multicast or other group settings, and to protection of packets using the IPSec protocols.

Stream ciphers convert a plaintext to a ciphertext one bit at a time. In general, a stream cipher has a keystream generator that outputs a keystream consisting of a series of bits that, for perfect security, vary in value in an unpredictable manner. Each keystream bit is combined using a Boolean exclusive-OR operation (XOR) with an incoming bit of the plaintext, resulting in an output bit of the ciphertext. Thus, an additive stream cipher encrypts a plaintext by bitwise adding a pseudo-randomly generated keystream into the plaintext, modulo two.
For decryption, the ciphertext bits are XORed with an identical keystream to recover the plaintext bits. Accordingly, a stream cipher is ideally suited to encrypting a continuing stream of data, such as the data passing over a network connection between two computers or other network elements. Also, the security of a stream cipher resides in the randomness of the keystream, however, the keystream must be reproducible in identical form at decryption time. Therefore, design of the keystream generator is essential to security and practical operation.
FIG. 1A is a simplified block diagram of a stream cipher. A key K 401 is fed to keystream generator 402, which outputs keystream 410. Plaintext 412 is encrypted by an encryption function 416 based on keystream 410. As a result, ciphertext output 414 is produced.
The keystream generator of such a stream cipher can be described in terms of a state update function and an output function. For example, in FIG. 1A, keystream generator 402 has internal state information 404, a next state function 406 (state update function), and output function 408. The state update function maps the internal state of the keystream generator at one instant to its next value. The output function maps the internal state to a segment of keystream, and the keystream is defined as the concatenation of the values of the output function. Further background information on stream ciphers is provided in B. Schneier, "Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C," 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996).
Block ciphers such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) are popularly used for encryption of computer communications. However, empirical evidence indicates that stream ciphers are faster than block ciphers at equivalent security levels. For example, in practical evaluation, the stream ciphers RC4 and SEAL have been determined to be significantly faster than any secure block cipher when implemented on general-purpose computer processors. Further, RC4 and SEAL have survived years of scrutiny by cryptanalysts. SEAL is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,039; U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,652; U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,597; Rogaway, P. and Coppersmith, D., "A Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm", Proceedings of the 1994 Fast Software Encryption Workshop, Lecture Notes In Computer Science, Volume 809, Springer-Verlag, 1994, pp. 56–63; Rogaway, P. and Coppersmith, D., "A Software-Optimized Encryption Algorithm", Journal of Cryptology, Volume 11, Number 4, Springer-Verlag, 1998, Pages 273–287, and in the file named "seal-abstract.html" in the folder "˜rogaway/papers/" of the domain "cs.ucdavis.edu" on the World Wide Web (www). Both SEAL and RC4 are discussed in Schneier.
Further, theoretically, a stream cipher is inherently immune to a chosen plaintext attack, and can contain more state information than a block cipher. A block cipher needs to have both encryption and decryption to be secure, and needs to have the avalanche property from the middle to both ends. For example, changing a single bit in the middle of the cipher should change each bit of the input and the output with probability of about ½. Also, the stream cipher has the advantage that its outputs are ordered, while a block cipher must be able to efficiently compute every possible output in any possible order. As a result, for many applications stream ciphers are now clearly preferable over block ciphers.
Unfortunately, many stream ciphers have a significant limitation; most cannot efficiently seek to an arbitrary location in their keystream. In this context, seeking to an arbitrary location in the keystream means generating a segment of keystream that is conceptually located an arbitrary number of bits ahead of that portion of keystream that would be generated by ordinary operation of the keystream in its then-current state. This capability is required for numerous practical applications. For example, in a communications protocol that uses unreliable transport, there is no guarantee that data packets of a particular flow will arrive in order, or arrive at all. Examples of such protocols include Internet Protocol (IP), UDP, and RTP. Such protocols commonly experience loss and reorder of packets in practice. Therefore, for a flow that includes successive packets a, b, and c, a cipher may need to decrypt packet c before it decrypts packet b if packet c arrives before packet b. A stream cipher can be used to provide privacy for data communicated using such protocols, if the cipher can seek to the proper location in the keystream for packet c based on a sequence number.
Similarly, an encrypted disk partition or file system can use a stream cipher if the cipher supports the seek operation.
These examples do not require the random access capability of a block cipher, in which all inputs are equally simple to compute. Rather, the example applications require the capability to seek into the keystream, with a seek time that is not significant relative to the time required to generate the keystream itself. In this context, "seek" is used in the same sense as used in the POSIX and ANSI C functions for repositioning the offset of a file descriptor.
In one past approach to providing a stream cipher with a seek capability, the state update function is made linear in some field. In this approach, a seek is a composition of linear operations, and therefore is itself linear. This approach is similar to using a block cipher in counter mode, which imposes requirements on the output function that are similar to the requirements on block ciphers.
In an alternative approach, as taken by Rogaway et al. in the design of the SEAL cipher, a special seek function is defined that pseudo-randomly maps an index and a fixed key to an internal state of a keystream generator. Based on this state information, the keystream generator can generate a length of keystream. The keystream for the cipher is defined to be the concatenation of the keystreams generated for each index, with indices in ascending order. Effectively, this approach creates a stream cipher that can seek to some regularly spaced locations in its keystream.
While this approach is satisfactory for many applications, some applications may require the ability to seek to an arbitrary location in the keystream. For example, an encrypted database containing many small records could have this requirement. In addition, the seek function approach adds security requirements. The seek function itself must be secure, and the seek and advance functions must be such that they do not interact in an insecure way.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for an additive stream cipher method that can seek to an arbitrary location in its keystream.
There is a specific need for a stream cipher that provides a keystream seek capability without using a linear state update function, and without a special seek function.
There is also a need to provide such a stream cipher in an embodiment that achieves excellent performance when executed in software implemented for general-purpose computer processors.
Some cryptographic systems benefit from the property of forward secrecy, in which the compromise of a current key does not cause or imply the compromise of all messages that were previously encrypted with that key or another key. For example, the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) can, optionally, provide forward secrecy by establishing session keys using the Diffie-Hellman key exchange with ephemeral public keys, as described in D. Harkins et al., "The Internet Key Exchange (IKE)," RFC 2409, November 1998, and H. Orman, "The OAKLEY Key Determination Protocol," RFC 2412, November 1998.
In general, a cryptographic system that encrypts a sequence of messages m0, m1, m2 . . . provides forward security (or "forward secrecy") against an adversary A if the disclosure of all the secret state values of the system between the encryption of messages mi and mi+1 does not compromise to A any of the messages m0, m1, mi . . . , which were encrypted before such disclosure, provided that A was not capable of compromising such messages before such disclosure.
Forward security can be provided in a symmetric key encryption system through a process of key updating. Key updating is a technique for providing forward secrecy by using a pseudorandom function to update a key, thus producing a sequence of keys. A key updating function maps a key to another key. For example, a key updating function f may produce a sequence K0,K1=f(K0),K2=f(K1), . . . , kl of l keys. In a practical key updating function, it is computationally infeasible to compute Kj given Ki whenever j<i.
A segmented stream cipher such as SEAL, the cipher described above, and Counter Mode, is used in cryptographic systems in which the plaintext and ciphertext are segmented. Each segment is identified by a non-repeating integer. Symbolically, the keystream may be viewed as composed of 2t segments S0, S1, . . . , and the segments are indexed by a t-bit value. A segmented cipher that provides forward secrecy could associate a distinct key in a key updating sequence with each segment of the keystream. Thus,Si=g(Ki),wherein the function g maps keys to segments. Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need in this field for a way to provide forward security in a segmented stream cipher.
A cipher that provides forward security may have vulnerability to run-up attacks. A run-up attack is a denial-of-service attack against a protocol that uses the cipher. An adversary sends bogus ciphertexts with packet indices that are far in advance of the last valid index. The receiver of such packets cannot distinguish such packets as invalid without "running up" the cipher to the proper keystream location. Therefore, there is a need for a way protect against run-up attacks.
Embodiments described herein include a key updating process for providing forward security in a packet security protocol such as IPSec. Packet data communication is often carried using an unreliable data network transport protocol. Examples of unreliable transport protocols include IP, UDP, and RTP. Such protocols may deliver packets out of sequence, and may fail to deliver some packets at all. As a result, a cipher that provides forward secrecy, and is used by a node that receives packets, may need to generate segment keys out of order, for corresponding out-of-order packets. Further, the cipher cannot discard segment keys that have not been used and that may be needed.
In such an approach, a positive constraint is that actual security protocols for use over unreliable transport permit only a certain amount of packet reordering, and reject packets with indices that precede the most recently received index by too great a factor. For example, the IPSec encapsulating security payload (ESP) includes a sequence number in each packet, enabling a receiver to determine the proper sequencing of the packets, and to determine if a packet has been received before. Packets with a sequence number ("index") that precedes the most recently received index by too great a factor are dropped. The receiver maintains a replay window, which may be a list of which index values in a fixed range have been received, and the window moves forward as legitimate packets are received. Thus, such protocols enforce a sliding window within which keys may be generated. Keys are not generated for just-received packets that are too old. A pseudocode description of this approach is:
if the index I precedes the replay window thenreject the packetelseif i is already in the replay window thenreject the packetelseauthenticate and decrypt the packet;add i to the replay window;slide replay window forward if neededend ifend ifAccordingly, there is a need for a cipher providing forward security that can efficiently implement this approach, to provide resistance to run-up attacks.
Forward secrecy is desirable for use with group keys that protect communications among multiple nodes or devices, such as in Internet multicasting. When multiple devices have a key, the chance of compromising the key increases. Forward secrecy can solve this problem, by ensuring that compromise of a current key does not affect previous traffic.
Forward secrecy is also desirable to enhance the security of system logs, as described in M. Bellare et al., "Forward Integrity for Secure Audit Logs," Technical Report, 1997, and in a paper presented by B. Schneier et al., USENIX Security Symposium, 1997. By authenticating each log message with a forward authentication code, a logging system gains the feature that any modification or removal of log messages will be evident to an auditor who knows the authentication key. By updating the authentication key using a one-way function after each message is authenticated, the log system also gains forward secrecy, and an intruder who gains control of a system protected by such a log is unable to unalterably erase the log messages that betray his presence.
In the past, message authentication codes with forward security have been described, especially in the context of secure logging systems. Digital signature systems with forward security are also known. However, these descriptions do not relate to a security system that provides privacy, do not provide for key updating within a cryptographic protocol, and do not address key generation in the presence of imperfect synchronization.
Keystream generators with a random-access property are known. However, these generators do not provide forward security.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need in this field for a way to generate keystream or keystream segments for use in encipherment, with forward security.
There is also a need for an approach that provides random access, such that any segment of keystream can be generated on demand.

Encryption method and apparatus with forward secrecy and random-access key updating method


A textile interlacing slide jet (2), (102) includes a jet body (10), a jet carriage (40, 140) on which a ceramic jet nozzle insert (30, 130) is mounted, and a spring housing (52) that includes a stack of compression spring washers (70,170), such as Belleville washers. The spring housing (52) is rotatable, relative to an upper arm (20) of the jet body (10), to a tilted position to permit insertion and removal of the jet carriage (40, 140) and the jet nozzle insert (30, 130) without the use of special tools. The compression spring washers (70, 170) are located in the spring housing (52) directly above a ceramic plate (66, 166) located on the bottom of the spring housing. These springs (70, 170) urge the ceramic plate or bottom layer into engagement of the top surface of the jet nozzle insert (30, 130) so that the ceramic plate (66, 166) can close a yarn channel when the jet carriage (40, 140) and the jet nozzle insert (30, 130) have been moved to a closed position by rotation of an actuating lever (80, 180).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to textile jet's in which a high pressure stream of air is directed into engagement with a yarn passing through the textile jet. More specifically, this invention is related to textile interlacing jets.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One form of conventional textile interlacing jet is the slide jet. This device employs a jet nozzle insert having a yarn channel intersected by an orifice through which a high velocity air jet is directed. Yarn strands passing through the yarn channel are interlaced or entangled.
The jet insert in a slide jet can be moved linearly between an open position in which yarn can be positioned within the exposed channel and a closed position in which the yarn is subjected to that air jet blowing into a yarn channel in which the top has been closed. Hence the name slide jet has been employed for this type interlacing jet assembly. In a conventional slide jet, movement between the open and closed positions imparted by rotation of a lever that is mounted on a jet body. The lever engages a jet carriage on which the jet nozzle insert is mounted, and as the lever is rotated the jet carriage moves or slides along a linear patent between open and closed positions.
The jet carriage and the jet nozzle insert move between the jet body base on which the jet carriage is mounted and an upper sprint, loaded arm that extends above the jet carriage and is spaced from the jet body base. A ceramic plate is mounted on the end of the spring loaded arm and this ceramic plate slides along the top of the nozzle insert, which is also a ceramic member. This ceramic plate closes the top of the yarn channel when the jet carriage and the insert have been moved to the closed position.
In the most common slide jet configuration, the jet body base includes an rear arm that extends at right angles to a lower base arm on which the jet carriage reciprocates. The rear arm includes a spring cavity in which a spring in mounted. This spring engages a rear end of the spring loaded arm that extends along the top of the jet carriage. This spring arm is pivoted, and the spring urges the ceramic plate, located at the opposite end of the spring loaded arm, downward against the top of the ceramic insert.
When it becomes necessary to remove the jet nozzle insert, a special tool in the form of a key having offset cylindrical sections is inserted into an opening extending through both the upright portion of the jet body base and the spring loaded arm. These aligned openings are located between the pivot point of the spring loaded arm and the ceramic plate. Rotation of the key forces the spring loaded arm upward to relieve the force exerted by the ceramic plate on the jet nozzle insert. The jet carriage and the jet nozzle insert can then be removed from the end of the jet body base. The jet nozzle can be replaced by inserting the jet carriage back on the base while the spring loaded arm is cammed to its release position by the special key or tool.
The instant invention represents an improvement over this conventional slide jet configuration in at least two respects. First the instant invention permits removal of the jet nozzle insert, and the jet carriage on which it is mounted, without the need for special tools. Indeed in the preferred embodiment of this invention, no tool is need to remove or insert the jet carriage and insert. The instant invention also comprises a simpler and less expensive structure than the conventional slide jet configuration described above. The jet body can be formed from an extruded blank that can be cut into segments. Relatively simple secondary machining operations can then be use to fabricate a one-piece jet body.


A main device receives program data provided through broadcasting, internally stores the received program data, and transfers the stored program data to a portable device. Herein, one program data is constituted by a plurality of program components (video, audio, closed caption, and the like). The main device assigns transfer priorities to each program component constituting one program data, and then discretely transfers the program components respectively in the direction of a time axis in the order of the assigned transfer priorities. By discretely transferring data, some of the program components may possibly be entirely transferred to the portable device even when data transfer is discontinued in a short time. Therefore, users can enjoy the entire program by playing-back the already-transferred program components.

Thanks to multi-channeled broadcast and developing video services through communications, the number of programs which are available for general users has been increasing. However, the users' spare-time for watching the programs is limited within a day. Accordingly, the users cannot always watch every program that they are interested in.
Recently, a portable viewing/listening system which enables the users to watch programs in their spare time (during lunch or in transit) has been proposed. A conventional portable viewing/listening system is constituted by a main device which is installed in a house and an easy-to-carry portable device. The main device is at least capable of receiving program data that is provided through broadcasting, internally-storing the received program data, and transferring the stored program data to the portable device.
The conventional portable viewing/listening system, however, takes a long time to transfer the program data from the main device to the portable device. Accordingly, if the users run out of time and thus stop data transfer halfway through, the program data is not entirely transferred, and thus the users cannot enjoy the entire program.
FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a data transfer mode which is adopted in the conventional portable viewing/listening system. Hereinafter, by referring to FIG. 18, problems that are associated with the conventional system are described in more detail.
FIG. 18(a) shows a time transition of data constituting a program to be broadcast. In FIG. 18(a), a lateral axis indicates a lapse of time during broadcast, and a vertical axis indicates a bit rate during broadcast, respectively. To be more specific, FIG. 18(a) shows that Program 1 is broadcast between Time t0 and Time t1, Program 2 is broadcast between Time t1 and Time t2, and Program 3 is broadcast between Time t2 and Time t3, respectively. The Program 1, Program 2, and Program 3 are respectively provided with audio, closed caption, and video as program components (mono-media constituting a program). For the sake of clarity, it is herein assumed that a length of broadcast time for the Program 2 (t2−t1) is equal to the length of broadcast time for the Program 3 (t3−t2), and a length of broadcast time for the Program 1 (t1−t0) is exactly twice the length of broadcast time for the Program 2 (or the Program 3). It is also assumed that a bit rate for the respective program components remains invariant no matter which Program, and thus a ratio among a bit rate of closed caption bc, bit rate of audio ba, and bit rate of video by is always 1:2:4.
FIG. 18(b) shows a time transition which takes place when the program data is transferred from the main device to the portable device in the conventional portable viewing/listening system. In FIG. 18(b), a lateral axis indicates a lapse of time in a data transfer operation, and a vertical axis indicates a bit rate during transfer, respectively. As shown in FIG. 18(b), transfer of the program components of the Program 1, Program 2, and Program 3 is completed between Time t4 and Time t9. In FIG. 18(b), unlike the bit rate during broadcast shown in FIG. 18(a), the bit rates for the program components during transfer are each compressed or extended in the direction of a time axis according to characteristics of data for the respective program components. However, the program components herein are basically transferred in the same order as those during broadcast. This means that every program component of the Program 1 is transferred between Time t4 and Time t7, every program component of the Program 2 is transferred between Time t7 and Time t8, and every program component of the Program 3 is transferred between Time t8 and Time t9, respectively. A ratio among (t7−t4), (t8−t7) and (t9−t8), all of which indicate a length of time which is taken to transfer each Program, is 2:1:1. This is equal to the ratio among (t1−t0), (t2−t1) and (t3−t2), all of which indicate a length of broadcast time for each Program. Assuming that a total bit rate for closed caption, audio and video during transfer is a -time as much as a total bit rate during broadcast, a ratio between a length of broadcast time of a certain program and a length of time which is taken to transfer the program is always α:1.
FIG. 18(c) shows a case where a transfer of program data is discontinued halfway at Time to in the conventional portable viewing/listening system. In this example, the Time ta is assumed to satisfy t7<ta<t8. As transfer of the program data is discontinued in the middle of the Program 2 between Time t7 and Time t8, the entire data of the Program 1 and a partial amount of the data of the Program 2 from its beginning to Time ta is transferred to the portable device. However, as to the remaining portion of the data of the Program 2 and the entire data of the Program 3, none of the program components, i.e., closed caption, audio and video, included therein is transferred to the conventional portable viewing/listening system. As to the not-transferred part of data, the portable device does not inform the users what the non-transferred data is. Therefore, the users cannot even know whether or not the non-transferred data is interesting enough to watch.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to a method for applying titanium dioxide-based photocatalytic coatings to a carrier material without using binders. The invention also relates to the use of a coating. According to the invention, a titanium dioxide suspension together with a carrier liquid is sprayed onto a hot carrier in the form of a fine aerosol so that the carrier liquid flash evaporates and titanium dioxide particles of the titanium dioxide suspension are flash sintered onto the carrier material, water being used as the carrier liquid and the carrier material having a temperature of 150 to 250° C. during spraying. According to the invention, a porous and yet stable layer for a catalyst for an efficient and rapid degradation of pollutants is produced.

Titanium dioxide-based photocatalytic coatings are of great economic significance for diverse fields of technical application. Important spheres of application are, for example, the production of coatings on glass and glazing elements in dwelling construction or for products of the automobile industry for generating superhydrophobic layers in a variety of support materials. A disadvantage affecting the production of highly active photocatalytic layers with a high concentration of titanium dioxide is the poor mechanical integrity of the coating.
For titanium dioxide coatings it is known practice to apply a suspension of titanium dioxide in volatile solvents, such as methanol, and then to sinter the layer in a high-temperature environment. With this method, however, the layers that can be produced are inevitably mechanically unstable, with low abrasion resistance, thus greatly limiting the fields of use and necessitating renovation of the coatings at regular intervals.
To this end, for example, K. Amini, "Manufacturing dye-sensitized solar cells", discloses a coating method in which a titanium dioxide suspension is sprayed on as a coating for a solar cell and sintered.
One known technique for generating more robust and more stable layers involves the admixing of a binder, such as water glass or siloxanes, for example. Disadvantages in this case are that the titanium dioxide particles become enveloped by the binder used, and hence that the photocatalytic coating has only restricted efficacy.
Furthermore, DE 10 2014 100 385 A1 discloses a plasma coating method for depositing a functional layer of a substrate, and a device for carrying out the method. In this case an atmospheric plasma and an inert carrier gas are used, enabling on the one hand the introduction of very high energies into the coating material in order to initiate a chemical reaction, and on the other hand a controllable chemical reaction in the absence of atmospheric oxygen in the plasma. The coating material for forming the functional layer is fed directly via a feed into the plasma, which is generated in a nozzle, in the absence of oxygen.
With this method it is possible to generate very stable, planar surfaces which, however, have a low photocatalytic activity, because the surfaces have very low porosity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,866A discloses a method for producing a multifunctional material. US 2012/019917 A1 discloses a method for producing a translucent composite material. EP 1 118 385 A1 discloses a method for producing a photocatalytically active material. US 2009/0062109 A1 discloses a method for producing a catalytic material. US2016/0107152 A1 discloses a method for producing a photocatalytic substrate. DE 36 10 338 A1 discloses a platelike catalyst for diminishing the oxides of nitrogen in flue gases.

Method for applying photocatalytic coatings without using binders, and use of a coating


Systems and methods are disclosed for aligning data in memory access and other applications. In one embodiment a system is provided that includes a memory unit, a shifter, and control logic operable to route data from the memory unit to the shifter and to send an indication to the shifter of an amount by which the data is to be shifted. In one embodiment, the control logic provides support for speculative execution. The control logic may also permit multiplexing of big endian and little endian data alignment operations, and/or multiplexing of data alignment operations with non-data alignment operations. In one embodiment, the memory unit, shifter, and control logic are integrated within a processing unit, such as a microengine in a network processor.

Advances in networking technology have led to the use of computer networks for a wide variety of applications, such as sending and receiving electronic mail, browsing Internet web pages, exchanging business data, and the like. As the use of computer networks proliferates, the technology upon which these networks are based has become increasingly complex.
Data is typically sent over a network in small packages called "packets," which may be routed over a variety of intermediate network nodes before reaching their destination. These intermediate nodes (e.g., routers, switches, and the like) are often complex computer systems in their own right, and may include a variety of specialized hardware and software components.
For example, some network nodes may include one or more network processors for processing packets for use by higher-level applications. Network processors are typically comprised of a variety of components, including one or more processing units, memory units, buses, controllers, and the like.
In some systems, different components may be designed to handle blocks of data of different sizes. For example, a processor may operate on 32-bit blocks of data, while a bus connecting the processor to a memory unit may be able to transport 64-bit blocks. Similarly, many computing and networking standards indicate that data should be stored in one format, while other standards, architectures, and conventions indicate that data should be processed in a different format. For example, many networking standards deal with data streams of 8-bit bytes, while many computing architectures process data in 16, 32, or 64-bit words. As a result, proper translation between the differing data formats is generally needed to ensure efficient and/or correct operation of the system.

Data alignment micro-architecture systems and methods


A method, system and computer program product for mapping and retrieving XML code is presented. Each line of XML code is associated with a node in a node tree. Based on the depth and breadth of the node, the starting and ending positions of the line of XML code are calculated, in order to allow direct access to a particular line of XML code.

The present disclosure relates to the field of computers, and specifically to software. Still more specifically, the present disclosure relates to managing Extensible Markup Language (XML) code
Markup programming languages include text mixed with structure and/or layout information that corresponds to the text. Extensible markup language (XML) enables users to encode, serialize, and exchange data across a computer network, such as the Internet. The XML data generated by computer applications can often be represented as fixed byte length data. For example, a user interface for a data entry form may include a maximum length limit for one or more values and/or attribute names. Furthermore, computer applications may add padding characters to one or more element and/or attribute names, such that XML data received from a data entry form has a fixed length equal to a pre-defined maximum length limit.
Conventional computer applications read an entire XML file into local memory when performing navigation and or reading operations of one or more portions (i.e., data nodes) of an XML file. File input/output (I/O) operations is time-intensive and consumes local memory resources. Consequently, reading an entire XML file into local memory when navigating and/or reading a particular data node is inefficient and impairs system performance.

Structure-position mapping of XML with fixed length data


A logo displaying miniature football pylon is disclosed. The pylon includes an elastomeric body having a greater longitudinal, height-wise dimension than a transverse dimension. The pylon has a height-wise bottom portion, which includes a height-wise bottom surface for being seated on a tabletop, and a weighted mass substantially concealed therein, providing stability to the pylon when positioned on the tabletop. The pylon includes a top surface which height-wise opposes the bottom surface, and at least one side surface that includes at least one logo portion, which is at or adjacent to the pylon top surface, and contains logo indicia. From this, the pylon is capable of stably displaying the logo indicia in an upright configuration above the tabletop.

1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
The disclosed embodiments relate to a logo displaying miniature football pylon.
2. Background of the Disclosed Embodiments
Elastomeric end zone pylons are known. Having such pylons at one's disposal, for example, on one's desk, as a souvenir, would symbolize the devotion to and support for a professional sports club or high school or college team. That is, sports memorabilia, at the fingertips of a sports fan in the comfort of their own home, is a concept every sports fan is familiar with for expressing loyalty to or support for a particular team or school.
The size of such typical field pylons is too great to realistically place on one's desk and carry, for example, from a home office to a TV den when watching a sports game. Accordingly, a souvenir sized pylon is desired having a substantially similar look and feel of the actual field pylon. As can be appreciated, the pylon, with an elongated or oblong shape, would need to be vertically stable. Sports memorabilia which easily tips on an office desk or tips into snacks while watching a sports event would quickly become relegated to a closet.
To increase the team spirit and pride of ownership of such pylons by a sports fan, it is desired to have such pylons identify a favorite team or plural teams of the sports fan. Such identification may be in the form of logos embedded in the sides of the pylons. With a souvenir sized pylon, the location of the logos would need to be raised enough, in a pylon height-wise direction, such that the owner, and acquaintances, may easily see and recognize the team logos.

Logo displaying miniature football pylon


A corrosion resistant weldable boss includes a body portion having a lower portion formed of a sintered powder, e.g., ferrous powder, which is readily welded to a vehicle structure surface. A capping member is sintered to an upper portion of the body portion and is formed of a corrosion resistant material such as sintered stainless steel powder. Also disclosed herein are processes for inhibiting corrosion of a sensor operating in a corrosive environment about a vehicle.

The present disclosure generally relates to corrosion resistant bosses for use in the automotive industry, and more particularly, to corrosion resistant bosses welded to a vehicle structural surface and exposed to a corrosive environment during operation of the automobile.
In general, bosses, e.g., sensor bosses, are attached to various structural surfaces within a vehicle. One ongoing problem with bosses is that they are continually exposed to a corrosive environment during the operating lifetime of the vehicle and eventually corrode, which can lead to failure. In addition to the corrosion issues, bosses are oftentimes welded in place, which requires care in the selection of the materials used to manufacture the boss and provide an effective weld. In the past, mild steel has been employed, which has been found to present the corrosion issues noted above. Stainless steel, although known for its corrosive inhibiting properties, has not been used due to well-known welding incompatibility issues.
Like bosses, sensors are also attached to vehicle structural surfaces to sense various vehicle parameters such as wheel speed, vehicle height, crankshaft and/or camshaft position, valve position, wheel position of four wheel steer vehicles, and the like. For example, sensors can be attached to axles, framing members, various engine components and the like. Precision machining of the sensor boss, prior to installation of the sensor, allows for the sensor to be installed with very tight tolerances with respect to the position about the part to be sensed, e.g., a tone wheel. Some of these sensors are exposed to the external environment during use of the vehicle resulting in corrosion. Corrosion of the sensor boss can physically perturb the sensor position, increasing the air gap between the sensor and the component being sensed resulting in measurement errors.
Accordingly, there is a need for corrosion resistant bosses that can be welded in place for use in the automotive vehicle, wherein the boss is exposed to the external environment in which the vehicle is operated. Desirably, the boss can be used with vehicle sensors.


An optical dispersion sensor for sensing optical dispersion introduced by the atmosphere in near real-time and an optical system using the dispersion sensor to compensate for atmospheric dispersion are described. The input signal to the dispersion sensor is the image of the scene being viewed by a scanning optical system. The image of the scene is passed through an aperture near the image plane of the optical system and then onto at least two individual light detecting systems. One of the detecting systems is adapted to detect light of a first wavelength band. The other detecting system detects light of a second wavelength band. The sensor computes the relative time delay between the signals derived from the two detecting systems. The time delay indicates the spectral dispersion introduced by the atmosphere. In an optical system, a control circuit adjusts a variable dispersive element contained within the optical system to compensate for the atmospheric dispersion by driving the relative time delay between signals towards zero.

In many optical systems, it is necessary to gather light from very distant scenes at oblique viewing angles through the atmosphere. These systems include ground-based telescopes which view astronomical objects as well as airborne or space-borne surveillance systems which monitor the ground.
As the light travels through the atmosphere, it is spectrally dispersed. This spectral dispersion can have negative effects on the operation of the optical system. It is desirable to sense the amount of dispersion introduced by the atmosphere so that the dispersion, and thus its deleterious effects on the optical system, can be compensated.

Real-scene dispersion sensor detecting two wavelengths and determining time delay


A two-stage process method for removal of impurities such carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, hydrogen, and methane from inert gases at ambient temperature (0.degree.-60.degree. C.). In the first stage the inert gas is contacted with a nickel catalyst, and in the second stage the inert gas is passed over a getter alloy. Purified gas exiting the second stage of the purifier contains less than one part per billion (ppb) levels of the impurities. The nickel catalyst and getter alloy are initially activated at elevated temperature. The catalyst and getter may be reactivated by heating and purging, and hydrogen previously removed from impure gas can be used in the reactivation process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for removal of impurities from inert gases, such as noble gases and nitrogen. In particular, the invention relates to a two-stage purification process conducted at room temperature which achieves removal of contaminants to less then one part per billion (ppb). The first stage contains nickel on a substrate, and the second stage contains a getter alloy.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Numerous methods are disclosed in the prior art for removal of impurities from inert gases. Many methods use a getter material, elevated to high temperatures, for removal of the impurities. In co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/505,136, filed Jul. 21, 1995 (published as WIPO Publication No. WO 97/0345), there is disclosed a method for removal of impurities from noble gases and nitrogen using three temperature zones in a single purifier vessel. In the first zone of the vessel, the gas is preheated to a temperature greater than 400.degree. C.; in the second zone, the preheated gas is contacted with a getter material at greater than 335.degree. C. for removal of impurities such as methane, water, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide; in the final zone, the gas being purified is contacted with a second getter material at a temperature greater than 150.degree. C. for removal of hydrogen. While this method is effective, the high temperature, three-step purification process requires a relatively expensive purifier.
Another well known method used to purify inert gases uses three different purification beds. The first bed contains palladium or platinum on an alumina/silica substrate. As the unpurified inert gas passes over this catalyst bed at a temperature of at least 350.degree. C., hydrogen combines with added oxygen to form water, methane combines with added oxygen to form carbon dioxide and water, and carbon monoxide combines with added oxygen to form carbon dioxide. The second stage of the purifier uses nickel on an alumina/silica substrate. Once the catalyst is activated, it operates at room temperature allowing the following reactions to occur: nickel combines with carbon monoxide to form nickel carbon monoxide, nickel combines with added oxygen to form nickel oxide, and nickel oxide combines with hydrogen to form elemental nickel and water. The third stage of the purifier is a molecular sieve absorption bed, in which water and carbon dioxide are reversibly absorbed. This stage is operated at room temperature with regeneration at 350.degree. C. Purity in the less than 1 ppb range is achieved with this method. There are two disadvantages with this type of purifier. The first is that oxygen is required, which necessitates introduction of oxygen into the gas stream. The second disadvantage is that the catalyst must be maintained at a temperature of at least 350.degree. C. for these reactions to occur.
A third method for purifying an inert gas stream uses a one-step process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,224 teaches a method whereby an inert gas is passed over a catalyst of nickel and an inert material. The catalyst is at least 5% by weight nickel and the method is operated at temperatures of between 0.degree. and 50.degree. C. This method removes carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, and water vapor to levels on the order of 0.1-1.0 ppm, and does not remove methane and other hydrocarbons.


A gaming machine and a gaming system is described. Gaming machines may be reserved by operating a button panel. In certain embodiments the reserved gaming machine or a head system causes the printing of a ticket and when that ticket is read by a bill acceptor, the gaming machine unlocks. In other embodiments, reservation is made by other means, including player cards.

A line-of-sight gaming system operates with cashless transfers between a cashier and gaming machines. A player gives money to a cashier who instructs the system to place credits on the players selected machine. The gaming machine is (or should be) in the cashier's line-of-sight so they can see the machine is not currently being played and that once the player has paid that no one else uses the machine.
A disadvantage of these systems is that the number of machines on the gaming floor is limited to those visible to the cashier.
Gaming machines may have a reservation button, enabling players to reserve a gaming machine for their use. The player presses the reserve button and the gaming machine enters the reserve mode, and displays a reserve message. When the reserve button is pressed again the machine exits the reserve mode.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,361 describes a gaming system in which a magnetic card is used as a reservation lock. This patent describes a traditional gaming system using magnetic cards, where the reserve key only works when the player's magnetic card is inserted. If they press reserve, then remove their card the machine cannot be unreserved until the card is reinserted. After a predetermined timeout period the machine will automatically unreserve.
Any reference in this specification to the prior art does not constitute, nor should it be considered, an admission that such prior art was widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia, or in any other jurisdiction, before the priority date of any of the appended claims.

Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited


Vehicles are provided with a first air conditioning system adapted to condition at least air in the driver compartment and a second air conditioning system distinct from the first air conditioning system and adapted to operate independently of the first air conditioning system. The second air conditioning system is adapted to condition at least air in the sleeper compartment and includes an exterior assembly mounted to a location outside the interior area and an interior assembly operably connected with the exterior assembly and mounted within the interior area. The exterior assembly includes an auxiliary condenser coil and an auxiliary condenser fan and the interior assembly includes an auxiliary evaporator coil, an auxiliary evaporator fan and an auxiliary compressor. Air conditioning kits are also provided with an exterior assembly including a condenser fan and a condenser coil precharged with refrigerant fluid and an interior assembly including an evaporator fan, a compressor and an evaporator coil precharged with refrigerant fluid. Methods of installing an air conditioning system are also provided.

Motor vehicles, such as a long distance or over the road trucks may not be configured to readily provide heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) needs when parked. Specifically, such vehicles may not provide for a desired air handling, such as air conditioning, when the vehicles are not being driven. For example, if the vehicle is parked and conditioned air is desired, the engine of the vehicle, which drives the associated engine driven air-conditioning unit, may need to be operated. This results in air pollution, sound pollution, and engine wear concerns. As such, there is some need to address issues concerning air conditioning which is typically used when the vehicle is stationary.
Reconfiguring a vehicle to include HVAC equipment may be labor intensive and may require cutting, fitting, or other modification of existing parts. Space constraints within the vehicle may also be problematic.

Air conditioning system with interior and exterior assemblies


An aircraft is disclosed with an aircraft divan that comprises a back rest, an upright side rest extending from the back rest and forming a side of the aircraft divan, and a seat rest having a first seat section connected to the back rest and a second seat section displaceable translationally relative to the first seat section between a first position and a second position, a gap defined between the first seat section and the second seat section in the first position to receive therein legs of a seated occupant between the first and second seat sections, and the first and second seat sections being adjacent one another to close the gap and form an elongated sitting surface in the second position. A method of adjusting such aircraft divan is also provided.

There exists various cabin layouts designed to optimize the relatively limited cabin space in an aircraft, especially in business aircrafts which have a narrower body than typically larger commercial aircrafts. Furniture such as seats, chairs, tables, and divans may be part of the cabin interior and located within the cabin in a manner to facilitate usability and operability of the cabin. Some safety or other regulatory requirements of aircrafts may be strict when relating to take-off and/or landing of the aircraft, for instance. These requirements may limit or prevent freedom of design in connection with cabin interior configurations, for instance seating configurations and locations, which may affect the comfort of occupants and/or limit the adaptability of the cabin space to the occupants' needs.


A refractory body assembly includes a refractory container, a refractory body having multiple gas passageways and positioned within the container, and a barrier layer in the intermediate space. The barrier layer is a rigid foam which, in a basic form, may be composed essentially of a crystalline aluminum phosphate, and may be produced by heating a mixture of a source of phosphorous, an organic liquid buffer and a source of aluminum. The assembly may further include a positioning ring for positioning and maintaining the refractory body in a central position until the barrier layer becomes rigid.

The past two decades have seen the introduction of particulate filters and catalytic converters as cleansing means for exhaust gases, and the rapid growth of such use.
A catalytic converter is a porous, or multichannel, refractory body having a catalytic material, e.g., platinum particles, deposited on the walls of the body. The body may also be referred to as a honeycomb body. Exhaust gases are passed through the body to catalytically convert the gases to a non-toxic form. For example, carbon monoxide (CO) may be oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2). The particulate filter also utilizes a porous, or multichannel, refractory body, but does not require a catalyst.
It is common practice to mount the refractory body in a metal container known as a can. The can may then be inserted in a vehicular exhaust line by welding end portions of the can into the line.
When thus installed in a vehicle, the refractory body may be subject to considerable vibration. Since the body must have very thin walls, it tends to be rather fragile, particularly when formed from fired ceramic material.
Accordingly, it has become common practice to provide a barrier layer between the can and the refractory body. For this purpose, a can somewhat larger than the body is employed to leave an intermediate space between the body and the can. The body is then wrapped in a refractory fabric, or other packing, to fill the space and act as a cushion.
This practice entails a separate operation, which is time consuming and adds to the cost. The need for a more efficient practice has been evident. Nevertheless, the wrapping procedure has continued in use for lack of an effective alternative.