Disclosed is a flat-shaped battery including: a power generation element including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, and an electrolyte; a cylindrical case formed of a conductor, housing the power generation element, and having a circular bottom and a circular opening; a sealing plate formed of a conductor and closing the opening; an insulating member interposed between the case and the sealing plate; and a plate-shaped current collector disposed between the case and the positive electrode. The current collector is welded to the case and is in contact with the positive electrode. A welding point where the current collector is welded to the bottom is set so as to allow contact between the positive electrode and a center portion of the current collector to be maintained when the case is deformed such that a center portion of the bottom is displaced outward of the case.

Flat-shaped batteries, small in size and thickness, are widely used as power source for devices whose miniaturization is desired, such as watches and remote controllers for automotive keyless entry system. They are also widely used as power source for applications where long-term continuous supply of electric power is required, such as memory backup for office automation (OA) or factory automation (FA) equipment. They are also used as power source for various meters and measurement apparatus, and their applications are expanding. In recent years, there is a growing demand for them to be used in severe environments, for example, in automobiles parked outdoors in cold districts or under the hot summer sun, or industrial machines used in high temperature environments, and improvement is underway for their higher performance.
Flat-shaped batteries include a flat case serving as a positive terminal. Positive and negative electrodes and a separator interposed therebetween are housed in the case, and an electrolyte is poured into the case. The opening of the case is closed with a sealing plate serving as a negative terminal, with a gasket interposed therebetween. The positive electrode is, for example, a circular plate-shaped pellet of a positive electrode material mixture including an active material such as manganese dioxide or fluorinated graphite. The positive electrode pellet is housed in the case such that one bottom surface thereof faces the bottom of the case.
To improve the current collecting ability of the positive electrode, a plate-shaped current collector is disposed between the positive electrode pellet and the bottom of the case. The current collector, at one side thereof, is in contact with the positive electrode pellet, and at the other side thereof, for example, is spot-welded to a center portion of the bottom of the case, providing electrical connection between the positive electrode pellet and the case.
Disadvantageously, the battery internal pressure increases when the battery is placed in high temperatures or other extreme conditions. The increase in battery internal pressure may cause the case to "swell" such that the bottom of the case bulges outward. If the case swells as above, the current collector may deform as well to follow the deformation of the case, and the contact pressure between the positive electrode pellet and the current collector may drop. As a result, the internal resistance of the battery increases, and the discharge characteristics of the battery degrade.
To solve the above problem, Patent Literature 1 discloses forming a plate-shaped current collector such that the cross section at its center is U-shaped. This can impart a spring function to the current collector, and thus can improve the contact between the positive electrode and the current collector.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A telecommunication system including a receiver to receive a signal including a sequence of Np pulses, each pulse included in a separate time window, and each pulse enclosed within a time chip whose position within the corresponding time window is defined by a chip number that is included in a known signature; and a detector configured to detect Np pulses in each of the separate time windows by using Np detection windows, a location of the detection windows defined by the known signature, the detection windows being shorter than the separate time windows, and longer than the time chip duration of the time chips, to search an expected pulse sequence.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data in a telecommunication system including at least one transmitter and one receiver, said transceiver being intended to transmit a signal formed by at least one sequence of Np pulses over Np time windows, each pulse being enclosed within a time chip whose position within its relevant time window is defined by a chip number.
(b) Brief Description of the Related Art
Such data transmission methods are currently studied with the aim of assessing the relevance of so-called Ultra-Wide Band telecommunication systems (further referred to as UWB systems). In such a system each transmitter may be identified by a signature formed by the above-mentioned chip numbers, which signature is in itself quite sturdy and may thus be reliably and accurately communicated to all potential receivers.
The pulses used in UWB systems are very short, having for example a duration lower than 0.1 nanosecond, which offers to such systems bandwidths at least as large as 10 GigaHertz, entailing high flexibility and hence numerous possible applications for such systems.
The above-described signal may form a carrying signal on which information can be encoded by modulation of said carrying signal, for example by performing phase or amplitude modulation of one or more pulse sequences.
A major problem which hinders development of such systems lies in the detection of incoming carrying signals by a receiver. In the present state of the art, signal detection is often performed by correlating a received signal delivered at the output of a receiving antenna, which received signal may be exclusively constituted by noise or, alternatively, may include an incoming carrying signal, with a gliding model of the waveform such a carrying signal should have.
Such a gliding correlation technique is not realistically applicable as such to the detection of sequences of Np pulses lasting less than 0.1 ns each and enclosed in time windows having each a width of roughly 100 ns. In such an example, with for example Np=128 and a sampling interval of 10 ps, the scanning of the whole duration of a pulse sequence would require 1,28.106 successive pulse sequences for its completion and would then last 16 seconds, which is not acceptable.
It should be also be noted that, during the considerable time required for performing the detection of a pulse sequence according to the technique described above, communication conditions between the transmitter and the receiver may change, i.e. a communication channel between these devices may be altered, for example due to movements of one or both devices, so that the detection conditions may be altered in the course of a single signal detection step, with adverse effects on the accuracy of the results yielded by said signal detection step. The signal carrying the pulse sequences may even disappear before its detection is completed.
The invention aims at solving the aforementioned problems, by providing a method for transmitting data as described above, which method includes at least one signal detection step which may be carried out far more quickly than currently used signal detection techniques.
Indeed, a method for transmitting data according to the opening paragraph is characterized according to the invention in that it includes at least one signal detection step, in the course of which Np detection windows encompassing the time chips defined by the chip numbers are to be examined in search of an expected pulse sequence.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for detecting UWB pulse sequences and detection means suitable for this purpose


During the etching of a silicon-containing material using a halogen-containing etch gas, a silicon-hydride gas is added to the etch gas to provide increased sidewall protection during the etch. Suitably up to about 50 percent by volume of a silicon-containing gas such as silane is added to improve anisotropy of the etch and to prevent notching at the silicon-substrate interface.

In the manufacture of semiconductor devices such as transistors on a substrate such as a silicon wafer, silicon lines are needed to form the transistor gates. Silicon gates are made by depositing a polysilicon layer over a dielectric silicon oxide layer (the gate oxide). An additional metal silicide layer may also be added to reduce the resistivity of the interconnect. These layers are then etched so as to leave conductive polysilicon or polycide lines on the silicon oxide dielectric.
Many important device performance parameters are sensitive functions of transistor channel length for smaller devices. As a consequence, the physical dimensions of the etched polysilicon and polycide lines are critical, as the channel length of the transistors depends on the width of these lines. In order to maintain high device yield, precise control of the polysilicon and polycide linewidth is required. This control can be achieved by maintaining vertical sidewall profiles (anisotropic profiles) for all etched lines on the substrate, regardless of position or local environment (low profile microloading). An additional strict requirement is imposed by the gate oxide layer. To achieve high device densities while maintaining necessary electrical characteristics, thinner gate oxides are required. As a consequence of the reduced thickness, high selectivity of silicon to silicon oxide is required by the etch process to avoid erosion of the gate oxide layer. Generally the polysilicon and polycide lines have been etched in a plasma of a halogen gas, such as a chlorine-containing gas, a fluorine-containing gas, a bromine-containing gas, or mixtures of halogen-containing gases. Plasma etching can produce anisotropic profiles while maintaining high selectivity, and plasma etching of silicon-containing materials is now widely used.
Conventional plasma etch processes however have several problems; some isotropic etching takes place, causing an inward bowing of the lines, causing negatively sloped, or re-entrant sidewalls, and causing notching at the interfaces between the silicide and polysilicon layers as well as between the polysilicon lines and the silicon oxide layer.
When the polysilicon lines are required to be less than one-half micron in width, high density plasmas with independent plasma generation and ion energy control have been used. These etchers generally operate under high ion current and low ion energy conditions. The pressure in these chambers is also lower than conventional etching, in the range of 1 to 50 millitorr. These conditions, while producing vertical profiles, high selectivity and low profile microloading, result in reduced passivation of the polysilicon and/or polycide sidewalls during the entire etch process. The reduced passivation can lead to the undesirable sidewall features including linewidth loss, bowing and notching.
After a polysilicon or polycide line has been etched down to the silicon oxide layer, which is known as the main etch step, i.e., the etch endpoint has been reached, an overetch step is performed to remove any remaining silicon material on the exposed silicon oxide substrate. This overetch step is used to remove "stringers" and other silicon-containing material still remaining. The overetch is even more sensitive to sidewall attack than the main etch. During the main etch, the silicon-containing reaction byproducts of the polysilicon and silicon oxide removal may deposit on the polysilicon/polycide sidewalls to provide protection from lateral (isotropic) etching. Since the overetch conditions are chosen so that selectivity between the silicon-containing material being etched and the underlying layer material is high, and only the stringers remain from the initial layer, very little silicon-containing material is being removed during the overetch step, and the protective reaction by-products that deposited on the sidewalls during the main etch step are being formed only in very small amounts. Thus very little sidewall protection is available during the overetch step, with the result that lateral etching occurs. This lateral etching results in unsatisfactory profiles, including bowing, notching and line width loss. Such a sidewall is seen in FIG. 1, wherein the problems are seen slightly exaggerated. As shown in FIG. 1A, in a typical etched polysilicon line 12, there is a notch 14 at the interface between the polysilicon layer 12 and the substrate 16. As shown in FIG. 1B, bowing of the polysilicon sidewall is shown at 18. FIG. 1C illustrates linewidth loss at 20.
When the polysilicon line 12 is to be encapsulated, e.g., with a dielectric such as silicon oxide or silicon nitride, voids will be formed at the notch 14, and along the bowed sidewall 18. In addition, precise control of the linewidth is not possible because of the lateral etching.
Thus the search for an improved process that provides improved protection of the sidewall during etching, during both the main etch and the overetch, to produce straight sidewalls and eliminate notching has continued.

Silicon and polycide plasma etch appplications by use of silicon-containing compounds


An electrosurgical method for sterilizing chronic wound tissue, comprising: positioning an active electrode in proximity to the chronic wound tissue; delivering an electrically conductive fluid proximate the active electrode; and applying a high frequency voltage between the active electrode and a return electrode in the presence of the electrically conductive liquid sufficient to generate an ionized vapor layer at the active electrode, wherein the ionized vapor layer sterilizes at least a portion of the chronic wound tissue.

Wound healing is the body's natural response for repairing and regenerating dermal and epidermal tissue. Wound healing is generally categorized into four stages: 1) clotting/hemostasis stage; 2) inflammatory stage; 3) tissue cell proliferation stage; and 4) tissue cell remodeling stage. The wound healing process is complex and fragile and may be susceptible to interruption or failure, especially in the instance of chronic wounds. A wound that does not heal in a predictable amount of time and in the orderly set of stages for typical wound healing may be categorized as chronic. For instance, wounds that do not heal within approximately one month from the point of inception are often categorized as chronic, and in some cases chronic wounds may never heal or may take years to do so. A number of factors may overwhelm the body's ability to effectively heal a wound, such as repeated trauma, continued pressure, an overriding illness, infection, or a restriction in blood supply to the wound area. More specifically, because the body's response to chronic wounds is often overwhelmed, the healing response goes awry, resulting in instability and disorganization in the healing process.
Chronic wounds may become caught in one or more of the four stages of wound healing, such as remaining in the inflammatory stage for too long, and thereby preventing the wound healing process to naturally progress. Similarly, a chronic wound may fail to adequately finish one stage of healing before moving on to the next, resulting in interference between the healing stages and potentially causing processes to repeat without an effective end. By way of further example, during the stage of epithelialization in typical wound healing, epithelial cells are formed at the edges of the wound or in proximity to a border or rim surrounding the wound bed and proliferate over the wound bed to cover it, continuing until the cells from various sides meet in the middle. Affected by various growth factors, the epithelial cells proliferate over the wound bed, engulfing and eliminating debris and pathogens found in the wound bed such as dead or necrotic tissue and bacterial matter that would otherwise obstruct their path and delay or prevent wound healing and closure. However, the epithelialization process in chronic wounds may be short-circuited or ineffective as the epithelial cells, needing living tissue to migrate across the wound bed, do not rapidly proliferate over the wound bed, or in some instances do not adequately respond at all during this particular stage of wound healing. As such, a need arises with chronic wounds to sterilize the wound site, as well as to establish communication between healthy tissue and wound tissue to promote epithelialization, fibroblast and epithelial migration, and neovascularization, and to bridge the gaps (i.e., including but not limited to structural and vascular gaps) between vital tissue surrounding the wound bed and tissue on the periphery of and within the wound bed itself.
Certain chronic wounds can be classified as ulcers of some type (i.e., diabetic ulcers, venous ulcers, and pressure ulcers). An ulcer is a break in a skin or a mucus membrane evident by a loss of surface tissue, tissue disintegration, necrosis of epithelial tissue, nerve damage and pus. Venous ulcers typically occur in the legs and are thought to be attributable to either chronic venous insufficiency or a combination of arterial and venous insufficiency, resulting in improper blood flow and/or a restriction in blood flow that causes tissue damage leading to the wound. Pressure ulcers typically occur in people with limited mobility or paralysis, where the condition of the person inhibits movement of body parts that are commonly subjected to pressure. Pressure ulcers, commonly referred to as "bed sores," are caused by ischemia that occurs when the pressure on the tissue is greater than the blood pressure in the capillaries at the wound site, thus restricting blood flow into the area.
For patients with long-standing diabetes and with poor glycemic control, a common condition is a diabetic foot ulcer, symptoms of which include slow healing surface lesions with peripheral neuropathy (which inhibits the perception of pain), arterial insufficiency, damage to small blood vessels, poor vascularization, ischemia of surrounding tissue, deformities, cellulitis tissue formation, high rates of infection and inflammation. Cellulitis tissue includes callous and fibrotic tissue. Thus, due to the often concomitant loss of sensation in the wound area, diabetic patients may not initially notice small, non-lesioned wounds to legs and feet, and may therefore fail to prevent infection or repeated injury. If left untreated a diabetic foot ulcer can become infected and gangrenous which can result in disfiguring scars, foot deformity, and/or amputation.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A-B, a diabetic foot ulcer may develop on any position of the foot, and typically occur on areas of the foot subjected to pressure or injury and common areas such as: on the dorsal portion of the toes; the pad of the foot; and the heel. Depending on its severity, the condition can vary in size, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, from a relatively small inflammation on the toe with cellulitis and unhealthy tissue, to a larger neuropathic lesion on the ball of the foot characterized by cellulitis and unhealthy tissue. If the ulcer is accompanied by osteomeylitis, deep abscess or critical ischema, the condition may trigger amputation.
Typically, ulcer treatment is dependant upon its location, size, depth, and appearance to determine whether it is neuropathic, ischemic, or neuro-ischemic. Depending on the diagnosis, antibiotics may be administered and if further treatment is necessary, the symptomatic area is treated more aggressively (e.g., by surgical debridement using a scalpel, scissors, or other instrument to cut necrotic and/or infected tissue from the wound, mechanical debridement using the removal of dressing adhered to the wound tissue, or chemical debridement using certain enzymes and other compounds to dissolve wound tissue) to remove unhealthy tissue and induce blood flow and to expose healthy underlying structure. Often, extensive post-debridement treatment such as dressings, foams, hydrocolloids, genetically engineered platelet-derived growth factor becaplermin and bio-engineered skins and the like may also be utilized.
Additionally, several other types of wounds may progress to a chronic, non-healing condition. For example, surgical wounds at the site of incision may progress inappropriately to a chronic wound or may progress to pathological scarring such as a keloid scar. Trauma wounds may similarly progress to chronic wound status due to infection or involvement of other factors within the wound bed that inhibit proper healing. Burn treatment and related skin grafting procedures may also be compromised due to improper wound healing response and the presence of chronic wound formation characteristics. In various types of burns, ulcers, and amputation wounds, skin grafting may be required. In certain instances, patients with ischemia or poor vascularity may experience difficulty in the graft "taking" resulting in the need for multiple costly skin grafting procedures. Finally, in patients where the risk of infection is high due to a weakened immune system (i.e., tissue impacted by radiation, patients undergoing cancer treatments, patients affected by immune compromised diseases such as HIV/AIDS), inflammation of a wound may be prolonged thereby interfering with the wound healing process and leading to wounds more susceptible to develop into chronic wounds, particularly where the wound site is unable to be sufficiently sterilized.
Various methods exist for treatment of chronic wounds, including antibiotic and antibacterial use, surgical or mechanical debridement, irrigation, topical chemical treatment, warming, oxygenation, and moist wound healing, which remain subject to several shortcomings in their efficacy. Accordingly, there remains a need for new and improved methods for use in the treatment of chronic wounds that address certain of the forgoing difficulties.

Electrosurgical system and method for sterilizing chronic wound tissue


A mechanism for providing panel-based management of data. In accordance with instructions on a machine-readable medium, a computing system receives data objects from various sources such as various user devices and application servers. Further, the computing system causes a device to display a graphical user interface through which a user can define panels that will be associated with various received data objects, so as to define a record, by time or subject matter, of relevant data objects. Further, the computing system allows a user to readily switch from display of one panel to display of another panel, so as to assist the user with multi-tasking and associated context switching.

With advances in technology, people today are exposed to an ever-increasing quantity of information. Over the course of a single day, for instance, it is now commonplace for a person to interact with many different devices, both locally and through network communication, and to exchange data with those devices. For example, a person may locally interact with various applications on traditional computing or communication devices such as personal computers, cell phones, music players, media recorders, televisions, and gaming devices, and a person may interact via a network with traditional application servers, such as social networking servers, e-mail servers, text messaging servers, cellular network servers, travel management servers, photo or video management servers, and the like. Further, a person may interact with less traditional computing or communication devices, such as household appliances, vehicles, security system servers, and the like.
Given all of this information, it also becomes increasingly necessary for people to multi-task or often switch from focusing on one set of information to focusing on another set of information. For instance, at one moment, a person may be using a word processor on a personal computer to compose a particular document, and may have an open web browser session to assist in preparation of the document, while listing to soothing music from a music player. Yet at the next moment, the person may receive a phone call that causes the person to discuss a new topic and perhaps causes the person to browse to a different page and to engage in e-mail or text messaging communication regarding that other topic and to turn on a television program regarding that other topic. Further, the person may then log into a social networking account to view wall posts. And at some point thereafter, the person may switch back to composing the document with the assistance of the web browser, while listening to music from the music player.
Unfortunately, however, switching back and forth between data interaction like this, particularly when interacting with numerous different devices and applications, can become hard to manage. While it may be easy for a person to quickly switch from one project to another, it may be particularly difficult for the person to maintain continuity of individual projects when juggling so many projects over time.

Panel-based management of data objects from a plurality of data sources


A method for decimal multiplication in a superscaler processor comprising: obtaining a first operand and a second operand; establishing a multiplier and an effective multiplicand from the first operand and the second operand; and generating and accumulating a partial product term every two cycles. The partial product terms are created from the effective multiplicand and multiples of the multiplier, where the effective multiplicand is stored in a first register file, the multiples being ones times the effective multiplier, two times the effective multiplier, four times the effective multiplier and eight times the effective multiplier and the partial product terms are added to an accumulation of previous partial product terms shifted one digit right such that a digit shifted off is preserved as a result digit.

This invention relates to decimal multiplication in a superscaler processor. Decimal multiplication is a complex procedure in computer hardware. Generally, the more hardware dedicated to decimal multiplication, the faster the operation can be executed. One hardware intensive method utilizes a linear array of digit multipliers such that each multiplier block is capable of multiplying one decimal digit by one decimal digit. These modules are often implemented with a programmable logic array (PLA), memory device, or combinatorial logic. Although considered fast, with this methodology, significant hardware resources are necessary to implement the solution.
A simple solution requiring a shifter, three registers and a decimal adder builds partial products terms by adding the multiplier to an accumulated sum each cycle. The number of cycles required to compute a partial product is equal to the multiplicand digit being processed. The number of partial products that need to be computed is equal to the number of digits in the multiplicand. Once each partial product is computed the accumulated result is shifted by one digit and the next multiplicand digit is used to compute the next partial product. Although this solution requires little dedicated hardware, it requires a significant number of processing cycles to complete a single multiplication.
There are also methods for reducing the amount of computation required to generate the partial product terms by utilizing additional registers (hardware that might already be available on the processor and was originally intended for other uses). For example, a register file may be used to store all the multiples from 0 to 9 times the multiplier, requiring a 10 register memory array.

Decimal multiplication for superscaler processors

International Business Machines Corporation


A method is described for transmitting files to a mobile communications device from an associated personal computer over one of a plurality of potential communication paths between the mobile communications device and the computer. The method includes receiving at the computer a user request that a selected file stored on the computer be transmitted to the mobile communications device; selecting a communications path from among the plurality of potential communication paths; and causing a copy of the selected file to be transmitted to the mobile communications device over the selected communication path.

For various reasons a person may have one or more electronic documents or media files stored on the person's computer that he or she would like to transfer to a mobile communications device. One way in which the person might try to carry out such a transfer would be to e-mail the files to him or herself. Another way in which the person might try to carry out the transfer would be to first upload the files from the person's computer to Internet-accessible storage, and then download the files to the mobile communications device. In addition to these methods requiring over-the-air (OTA) traffic, the methods are also tedious.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to improve access to a mobile electronic device from a personal computer.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.

Mobile communications device access from personal computer


The present invention discloses attenuated Clostridium perfringens organisms that express a substantially nontoxic alpha-toxin. The expressed alpha-toxin is a deletion mutein that relative to the alpha-toxin of the mature alpha-toxin of Clostridium perfringens strain 13, is missing at least nine consecutive amino acid residues including His68. The present invention also discloses attenuated organisms that encode the muteins, as well as the use of such attenuated organisms as vaccines.

Anaerobic bacterial pathogens are a serious economic burden on the agricultural industry. Bacteria of the Clostridium family represent a particular burden, because these bacteria cause serious diseases in poultry and other economically valuable domestic animals. Previous efforts to control these organisms have relied upon sanitary measures and the administration of antibiotics in the animal feed.
In particular, Clostridium perfringens ("C. perfringens") is an anaerobic bacterium that is found in the soil, decaying organic matter, and as part of the gut flora of humans and animals. Different strains of C. perfringens are designated as biotypes A through E, depending on the spectrum of toxins produced [Justin et al., Biochemistry 41, 6253-6262 (2002); McDonel (1986) PHARMACOLOGY OF BACTERIAL TOXINS; F Dorner and J Drews (Eds.) Pergamon Press, Oxford]. Biotype A strains are of particular importance as the etiological agents of various types of gangrene and enteric diseases. A particularly serious enteric disease caused by C. perfringens is enteritis necroticans (also art-known as, "necrotic enteritis"), a gangrene of the intestines resulting in necrosis, sepsis, and hemolysis, in both humans and domesticated animals [see, Pearson et al., J. Am. Vet. Med. 188(11):1309-10 (1986); Al-Sheikhy and Truscott, Avian Dis. 21(2):256-63 (1977)]. For avians, e.g., chickens (Gallus gallus), enteritis necroticans is a significant problem. C. perfringens of either type A or type C can cause major losses, especially in production broiler chickens [Ficken and Wages, Necrotic Enteritis, In Diseases of Poultry, 10th Ed. pps 261-264 (1997)]. In addition to losses associated with necrotic enteritis outbreaks, productivity is reported to be impaired in flocks with C. perfringens-associated disease [Lovl and Kaldhusdal, Avian Pathology 30:73-81 (2001)]. As noted above, antibacterial agents inserted in the animal feed are the most common method of control. However, antibacterial agents, e.g., antibiotics, are costly and subject to increasing concerns related to the promotion of bacterial resistance.
More recently, attempts have been made to provide vaccines against harmful Clostridium species. For example, Lovland et al. [Avian Pathology 33(1):83-92 (2004)] demonstrated candidate vaccines based on C. perfringens type A and type C toxoids with an aluminum hydroxide adjuvant. Vaccination of parent hens was reported to provide specific antibodies to protect progeny against enteric lesions induced by subclinical challenge with C. perfringens. Other toxoid-based vaccines prepared from detoxified C. perfringens toxins are known [see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,307, which describes toxoids of C. perfringens types A, B and D, Cl. oedematiens, and Cl. septicum].
Recombinant toxoid preparations also have been proposed. For example, Titball et al., [U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,851,827, 6,403,094, and 5,817,317] report nucleic acids that encode antigenic C. perfringens peptides, as well as the peptides themselves, and vaccines prepared from the peptides. Peptides are described for example, which have amino acid residues 261 to 300 of the natural C. perfringens alpha-toxin, but lack the phosphoplipase C and sphinogmyelin hydrolyzing domains of the natural toxin. It was further reported that these peptides induce immune protection against the natural toxin. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,300 describes a vaccine based on an antigenic fragment of a mutein C. perfringens beta-toxin.
However, no matter whether a toxoid vaccine is derived from the native organism or is obtained recombinantly, it is considered to be economically burdensome to produce and administer toxoid proteins to animals in need of immunization, except under special circumstances (e.g., treating humans who might be allergic or sensitive to other components of a whole organism vaccine). Further, protein/toxoid based-vaccines typically require repeated booster vaccinations in order to maintain full effectiveness.
Another proposed solution has been to engineer an antigenically active virus that will produce a mutein alpha-toxin, in place of the wild-type toxin. For example, Bennett et al. [Viral Immunol. 12(2):97-105 (1999)] have demonstrated a recombinant vaccinia virus vector that expresses a nontoxic C-domain of C. perfringens alpha-toxin. Unfortunately, while several recombinant vaccinia vaccines have been proposed during the past 20 years, there are still longstanding concerns about the safety of releasing live, infectious vaccinia viruses into an environment where they might be transmitted to those people who are not resistant to this virus.
The alpha-toxin (plc gene) of C. perfringens is known to possess several biological activities including hemolytic activity, phospholipase C, sphingomyelinase, phosphodiesterase, and lethal activities. There are a number of reports in the art concerning mutations to this alpha-toxin that reduce toxicity. Schoepe, et al. [Infect. and Immun. 69(11): 7194-7196 (2001)] describe a naturally-occurring C. perfringens strain that produces a non-toxic alpha-toxin. However, it would be difficult to modify this strain to elicit immune protection against other variant, but toxic wild-type C. perfringens species.
Williamson and Titball [Vaccine 11(12):1253-1258 (1993)] showed that the region of the toxin from amino acid residues 247 to 370 alone was sufficient to immunize mice against gas gangrene experimentally induced by C. perfringens. Alape-Girón et al. [Eur. J. Biochem. 267:5191-5197 (2000)] have reported that substitutions in Asp269, Asp336, Tyr275, Tyr307, and Tyr331 reduced alpha-toxin toxicity. Nagahama, et al. [Infect. and Immun. 65:3489-3492 (1997)] reported that replacement of Asp-56, Asp-130, or Glu-152 resulted in reduced alpha-toxin toxicity. Nagahama et al. [J. Bacteriology 177:1179-1185 (1995)] reported that substitution of the histidine at position 68 with a neutral amino acid, such as glycine, in the C. perfringens alpha-toxin resulted in a complete loss of hemolytic, phospholipase C, sphingomyelinase, and lethal activity of the mutein alpha-toxin. This single amino acid change was believed to inactivate one of the three zinc-binding domains of the protein. The zinc-binding domain inactivated by substitution of His68 was later denoted as Zn2 [Justin et al., Biochemistry 41:6253-6262 (2002)].
Despite the foregoing, there remains a need in the art for a safe, economical and effective method of protecting intensively cultivated domestic animals, including avians, such as chickens, from infection by Clostridium species, including C. perfringens.
The citation of any reference herein should not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as "prior art" to the instant application.


A modular electric arrangement for central power supply and control of valves in a valve block including at least one base module having a housing with tow opposed open ends, at least one connection module, and at least one termination module; the base, connection and termination modules having an identical cross-sectional configuration and being releasably connected in-line; the base module accommodating a circuit board and having a side wall with at least one opening therein for access to a connector on the circuit board; the connection module providing a central electric power supply for other modules in the arrangement; and the termination module closing an open end of an adjacent module in the arrangement.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a modular electric part for the central power-supply and/or signal-control of valves assigned to a valve block.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modular configured valve blocks are already known. These, however, have in particular the disadvantage that a plurality of differing components needs to be made available for various applications, valve sizes and valve arrangements. Thus, for instance, each such valve block always needs to be conceived for a highly specific valve size, resulting in cost-intensive production and stockage.


A heat sinking module cover for use with a potted electronic module assembly is disclosed. An electronic module assembly contains heat generating electrical components. Typically the electrical components are held in relation to a module housing. The module housing, generally, not only provides support but also acts as a heat sink for heat generating electrical components. The electrical components are covered by a potting compound. The potting compound protects the electrical components from dust or any other particles that could affect the function of the electrical component. The present invention discloses a heat sinking module cover with a support portion and a thermal transfer portion. The heat sinking module cover is positioned with respect to the module housing to form a box-like structure. The thermal transfer portion contacts the potting material directly to provide an additional heat sinking means for the electronic module assembly.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to heat sink assemblies for electronic modules, and more specifically to module covers that provide additional heat sink capabilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic modules typically contain a module housing. Electrical components are generally held in relation to the module housing. The module housing, generally, not only provides support but also acts as a heat sink for heat generating electrical components. Some electronic modules contain a potting compound to protect the electrical components against dust as well as the environment. The potting compound is typically a polymer, flow-able reactants combine to produce a gelatinous substance that forms in the shape which is provided by the physical constraints of its surroundings. This potting compound covers the electrical components in these electronic modules. Typically, after the potting compound is formed in the electronic module a cover is positioned with respect to the module housing to form a box-like structure. Occasionally, the flow-able reactants are transported into the module via a hole located, typically, in the cover. After the reactants flow into the module, the potting compound is formed by gelatinization and the hole is capped. Both instances leave an air gap between the potting compound and the module cover, which essentially eliminates heat transfer from the electrical components though the module cover. Therefore, it is desirable to design a heat sinking module cover that displaces the air gap between the potting compound and the module cover while retaining the ability to employ a conventional method of inserting a potting compound into an electronic module.


An optical projection apparatus is provided, where a reflective light valve, a light deflecting device and a lens set are arranged on an optical path of the light beam providing by an illuminating system. The light deflecting device is located between the illuminating system and the reflective light valve, and the lens set is located between the reflective light valve and the light deflecting device. When the light beam is incident to the reflective light valve through the light deflecting device and the lens set, the light beam is converted into sub-image beams, and then the sub-image beams are reflected to the lens set. The projection lens set arranged on an optical path of the sub-image beams has a pupil located on the light deflecting device. The lens set converges the sub-image beams on the pupil and then the sub-image beams are incident to the projection lens set for imaging.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus. In particularly, the present invention relates to an optical projection display apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows an optical projection apparatus 100 disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,784,946. The optical projection apparatus 100 comprises an illuminating system 110, a reflective light valve 120, a prism 130, a lens set 140 and a projection lens set 150. The illuminating system 110 is used for providing a light beam that sequentially passes through the prism 130, the lens set 140, and then is incident to the reflective light valve 120. The reflective light valve 120 is a digital micro-mirror device (DMD). The reflective light valve 120 is used for converting the light beam 112 into a plurality of sub-image beams 112a, and then reflecting the sub-image beams 112a to the lens set 140. Then, the sub-image beams 112a are incident to the projection lens set 150 for imaging.
One key point for determining whether the imaging of the optical projection apparatus is clear is that whether or not the sub-image beams 112a is precisely projected to the projection lens set 150. This factor is determined by an arrangement of a relative position between the prism 130 and the lens set 140. If the relative position between the prism 130 and the lens set 140 has an error, the incident angle of the light beam 112 is changed. Thereby, the sub-image beams 112a deviates and is not correctly projected into the projection lens set 150. Although the elements of the optical projection apparatus 100 become miniaturized, the accuracy for assembling the optical projection apparatus 100 is not as good as expected. Therefore, the image quality is degraded.
FIG. 2 shows an optical projection apparatus 200 disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,356. The optical projection apparatus 200 comprises an illuminating system 210, a reflective light valve 220, a total internal reflection (TIR) prism 230, a lens 240 and a projection lens set 250. The illuminating system 210 is used for providing a light beam 212, sequentially passing through the TIR prism 230, the lens 240 and the reflective light valve 220. The reflective light valve 220 is a DMD. The reflective light valve is used for converting the light beam 212 into a plurality of sub-image beams 212a, and then reflecting the sub-image beams 212a back to the lens 240. The projection lens 250 has a pupil 252 located within or at a side surface of the projection lens set 250. The sub-image beams 212a are converged at the pupil 252 and incident to the projection lens set 250 for imaging.
FIG. 3 is a schematically enlarged diagram of the reflective light valve, the total internal reflection prism and the lens shown in FIG. 2. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when the light beam 212 is incident to the reflective light valve 220, such as a DMD (not shown), the reflective light valve 220 has a plurality of micro-mirrors (not shown) to convert the light beam 212 into a plurality of sub-image beams 212a. The ON-state micro-mirrors reflect the light beam 212 back to the lens 240, and the OFF-state micro-mirrors deviate the light beam 212 away from the lens 240. The lens 240 converges the sub-image beams 212 on the pupil 252, and then the sub-image beams 212a are incident to the projection lens set 250 for imaging. In addition, the optical projection apparatus 200 further comprises an aperture stop 260, which corresponds to the pupil 252 and is located within or at the side surface of the projection lens set 250. The function of the aperture stop 260 is used for determining a diameter of a light cone that light emitted from the optical projection apparatus 400 passes through, and an illuminance of the passed light. Further, the aperture stop 260 is further used for blocking environmental stray light from entering the projection lens set 250 to form images, so as to prevent blurred images. Since the TIR prism 230 is set within the optical projection apparatus 200, the design of an optical path is simplified and error in angle deviation for the optical path becomes smaller.
However, it is unavoidable that stray light is likely to occur in the optical projection apparatus 200. In the aforementioned apparatus, the pupil 252 and the aperture stop 260 are set at the rear end of the entire optical path to block and filter the stray light. However, such arrangement decreases the function of the aperture stop 260, and consequently, a large portion of the stray light is not efficiently blocked and the image quality is degraded.


A muffler of a work machine in the form of an engine blower includes: a muffler body; and a diffuser that covers an exhaust outlet of exhaust gas provided on the muffler body. The diffuser has a diffusion space to diffuse the exhaust gas and an exhaust surface on which a plurality of exhaust circular holes are provided to exhaust the exhaust gas to an outside. An opening ratio provided by the exhaust holes of the exhaust surface is gradually increased from a portion corresponding to the exhaust opening toward an outer periphery of the exhaust surface.

A brushcutter, an engine blower, and a chain saw have been conventionally known as a portable work machine driven by an engine. The engine of such a work machine is driven at a position relatively close to an operator, and may be subjected to environmental regulations on a temperature of exhaust gas from a muffler. Therefore, it has been requested to exhaust the exhaust gas at a low temperature. Specifically, the temperature of the exhaust gas from an engine cover that covers the engine and the muffler is regulated.
As a method for lowering the temperature of the exhaust gas from an exhaust opening of the engine cover, for instance, it has been known that the exhaust gas is diffused and exhausted from an exhaust outlet of the muffler itself and a distance between the exhaust outlet of the muffler and the exhaust opening of the engine cover is lengthened to lower the temperature until the exhaust gas is exhausted from the exhaust opening (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2001-50047


An image forming apparatus includes: a housing; and a process cartridge. The housing is formed with a first opening through which recording medium is to be introduced into an inside of the housing. The process cartridge is configured to be mounted in the inside of the housing and is provided with a photosensitive body. The process cartridge is provided with a process cartridge holding part configured to be held by a user so as to remove the process cartridge from the housing. The process cartridge holding part is configured such that in a state where the process cartridge is mounted in the inside of the housing, the process cartridge holding part prevents at least part of light that has entered the inside of the housing through the first opening from reaching the photosensitive body.

As an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, there is known a printer provided with an apparatus body and a process cartridge removably mounted in the apparatus body.
As an example of such a printer, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-224507 has proposed a printer, in which the apparatus body is formed with an opening for introducing sheets such as recording papers and in which the process cartridge accommodates toner and supports a photosensitive drum.
In the printer having the above-described configuration, during an image forming process, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum, and toner is supplied to the electrostatic latent image, whereby a visible image (developer image) is carried on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum.

Image forming apparatus having housing formed with opening and process cartridge mounted in the housing


A method of and a system for variable pitch CT scanning for baggage screening and variable pitch image reconstruction are disclosed. The method comprises decelerating conveyor belt speed when additional time is needed to render a decision on a complex bag; accelerating conveyor belt speed to its normal speed when decisions are reached on undecided bags; generating cone-beam projection data at variable scanning pitch corresponding to variable conveyor belt speed; computing a tilt angle and a distance offset for each tilted slice using the pitch values at which the cone-beam projection data is acquired for that tilted slice; generating fan-beam projection data for each tilted slice using the tilted angle and the distance offset; generating correction projection data to compensate for the error between the source trajectory and the tilted reconstruction plane; generating the corrected fan-beam projection data by adding the correction projection data to the fan-beam projection data; reconstructing tilted slices using the corrected fan-beam projection data; and interpolating the reconstructed tilted slices into axial slices.

Constant pitch helical cone beam (CB) computed tomography (CT) is used for most applications. The pitch is defined as the ratio of the conveyor or table displacement per gantry rotation to the size of the detector array along the direction of conveyor or table movement.
For example, CT based explosive detection systems (EDS) for checked baggage screening use a constant pitch. However in carry-on baggage screening at checkpoint, the distance between the entrance of a bag and the exit of a bag is much shorter than the corresponding distance in checked baggage screening. Screeners may have to stop the conveyor belt from time to time in order to have enough time to resolve complex alarmed bags on screen.
When a line scanner is used for pre-screening followed by a CT scanner in carry-on baggage screening, it is advantageous for the CT scanner to vary the belt speed: when a bag is cleared by the line scanner, the CT scanner speeds up the belt to its maximum speed to carry the bag to the exit of the scanner without further examination; when a bag can not be cleared by the line scanner, the CT scanner returns to its normal speed to scan the bag, reconstruct CT images, and perform threat detection on the bag.
Variable pitch scanning schemes have been proposed in the prior art. Woloschek et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,228) use additional sensors to obtain dynamic parameters such as the table speed and integrate these parameters into the projection data stream for image reconstruction.
Hsieh et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,984) use a helical weighting method of reconstructing CT images with projection data acquired at variable pitch. The helical weighting method suffers significant cone beam artifacts for the CT scanners with more than eight rows of detectors. Furthermore, the method does not provide a continuous reconstruction of continuous data acquisition in the baggage screening application.

Method of and system for variable pitch computed tomography scanning for baggage screening


A push-to-connect coupler has a cylindrical coupler body with first and second radial flow passages separated by an internal partition, an inner valve assembly, and an outer sleeve assembly. The inner valve assembly includes a valve sleeve which cooperates with a cylindrical extension extending axially downstream from the partition to prevent leakage from the coupler body. When the nipple is inserted into the coupler socket, the nipple moves the valve sleeve axially upstream away from the distal end of the extension to allow fluid to flow between the extension and the valve sleeve to the nipple. The outer sleeve assembly includes a locking sleeve and a cylindrical slide valve surrounding the coupler body. The locking sleeve is spring-biased to urge locking balls into a groove on the nipple and retain the nipple in the coupler socket. The slide valve is slidable to selectively allow fluid to bypass a partition in the coupler body and flow to the nipple. The locking sleeve automatically engages the slide valve at disconnect to prevent accidental disconnect without shutting off flow through the coupler.

Couplers (or couplings) are well-known devices to interconnect hoses or tubes in a fluid flow system. A coupler typically includes a coupler socket (female element) and a nipple (male element). The coupler socket is attached by a first conduit to a source of fluid, e.g., a pressurized tank, while the nipple is attached by a second conduit to e.g., a tool, machine or dispense head. When the nipple is inserted into the coupler socket, a closure valve mounted within the socket opens to provide a fluid flow path through the coupler. At the same time, a catch or coupling mechanism automatically engages the nipple to retain the nipple within the socket. The coupling mechanism can be manually released to disconnect the nipple from the coupler socket. Such a coupler is typically referred to as a "push-to-connect" coupler.
The nipple for the coupler includes a tubular shank or plug circumscribing a central bore, and a downstream port which enables the nipple to be connected to the conduit. The shank of the nipple narrows down and includes a circumferential groove or channel toward the inlet end. When the nipple is inserted into the socket, the coupling mechanism is received in the groove and engages the shank to retain the nipple within the coupler socket.
A number of different types of coupler sockets have been developed for retaining the nipple within the coupler. One popular type of coupler socket includes a cylindrical body having an internal wall or partition extending perpendicular to the axis of the coupler which fluidly separates the inlet end of the body from the outlet end of the body. A first radial passage is formed axially along the body on one side of the wall, while a second radial passage is formed axially along the body on the other side of the wall. A sleeve surrounds the cylindrical body and includes a cylindrical channel along the inside surface. When the sleeve is in a first position (the closed position), the channel is aligned with only one of the radial passages and fluid is prevented from flowing through the coupler. When the sleeve is moved axially with respect to the coupler into a second position (the open position), the channel is aligned with both of the radial passages, and fluid can bypass the internal wall and flow through the coupler. Movement of the sleeve allows the user to pressurize or depressurize the conduit from the coupler as desired. Movement of the sleeve (or a separate sleeve surrounding the coupler body) also allows the user to disengage the coupling mechanism, such that the nipple can be removed from the coupler socket. The above-described coupler is shown for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,477,688; 3,106,378 and 3,106,379.
While the above couplers might be appropriate for certain applications, when the sleeve on the coupler is moved to the closed position and the nipple is separated from the coupler socket, a certain amount of fluid can be present in the outlet or downstream side of the coupler which can leak out of the coupler and dirty the user's hands and/or contaminate the surrounding area. Also, certain of the prior couplers, for example the coupler shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,688, only provide for movement of the valve sleeve into a "fully open" or "fully closed" position where there is a maximum or minimum flow, and do not allow for the easy manual movement of the valve sleeve into intermediate positions for the controlled metering of fluid through the coupler (at least without having to actually hold the valve sleeve in the desired position).
As such, it is believed there is a demand in the industry for a push-to-connect type coupler which prevents leakage on the outlet side of the coupler when the nipple is removed from the coupler socket. It as also believed there is a demand for a simple coupler socket which provides quick connect and disconnect and prevents accidental disconnect without shutting off flow through the coupler. It is further believed there is a demand in the industry for a coupler which allows the metering of fluid through the coupler across a range of rates between the "fully open" and "fully closed" positions. It is still further believed that there is a continual demand in the industry for a push-to-connect type coupler which is reliable and which is easy to manufacture, assemble and use.


A downlink data transmission method and apparatus, where the method includes receiving, by a network device, carrier aggregation (CA) capability indication information from a terminal device, where the CA capability indication information indicating, to the network device, that the terminal device supports a first-type intra-band non-contiguous (NC) CA combination on a first frequency band and a maximum downlink spectrum width supported by the terminal device, determining, by the network device based on the CA capability indication information, a first CA combination from at least one first-type intra-band NC CA combination of the first frequency band, where the first CA combination includes at least two component carriers (CCs), and sending, by the network device, downlink data to the terminal device using the first CA combination.

In a licensed-assisted access using Long Term Evolution (Licensed-Assisted Access using Long Term Evolution, LAA-LTE for short) system, a 5 GHz license-free frequency band 46 may be used, based on a carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA) technology, to extend an existing LTE service; that is, the license-free frequency band 46 is used to bear some data services in the LTE system.
In the prior art, when using the license-free frequency band 46 to send data to a terminal device, a network device in the LAA-LTE system may first determine, based on a supported carrier aggregation (Carrier Aggregation, CA for short) combination type reported by the terminal device, a specific CA combination type supported by the terminal device, so that the network device may select, based on the CA combination type supported by the terminal device, a CA combination corresponding to the CA combination type to send downlink data to the terminal device, so as to improve a downlink data transmission rate. The foregoing CA combination type may be: a CA combination type in which two component carriers (Component Carrier, CC for short) are included in the frequency band, a CA combination type in which three CCs are included in the frequency band, a CA combination type in which three CCs are included between frequency bands, and the like.
However, when the network device selects, based on the CA combination type reported and supported by the terminal device, a CA combination to send the downlink data to the terminal device, spectrum utilization of the license-free frequency band is relatively low, and a downlink throughput of the terminal device is relatively low.

Downlink data transmission method and apparatus


This application provides a communication method and a communications apparatus. The method includes: receiving, by a terminal device, a configuration message from a network device, where the configuration message is used to configure a plurality of uplink BWPs and a plurality of downlink BWPs; determining, by the terminal device, a first BWP in the plurality of uplink BWPs, where the first BWP is used to transmit feedback information of downlink information that is on a second BWP, and the second BWP is any one of the plurality of downlink BWPs; receiving, by the terminal device, the downlink information on the second BWP; and sending, by the terminal device, the feedback information of the downlink information by using the first BWP, so that a BWP on which the feedback information is sent can be determined in a scenario in which a plurality of BWPs are activated.

A 5G communications system may support a carrier with a bandwidth of up to 400 MHz. To reduce a requirement on a bandwidth capability of a terminal device and reduce energy consumption of the terminal device, a concept of a bandwidth part (BWP) is proposed in 5G. The BWP supports the terminal device in performing data transmission and related operations on a bandwidth part of a wide carrier.
To improve a throughput of the terminal device, carrier aggregation (CA) is introduced into long term evolution (LTE). To be specific, in addition to a primary cell (PCell), a base station may further configure a plurality of secondary cells (SCell) for the terminal device. The PCell includes one downlink carrier and one uplink carrier. Each secondary cell includes one downlink carrier and a maximum of one uplink carrier. A cell in which the terminal device that initially accesses the base station is referred to as the primary cell (Pcell). The terminal device feeds back a transport block decoding result to the base station through a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) on the uplink carrier. A feedback process is referred to as a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback.
In an existing HARQ feedback solution, only one of a plurality of BWPs configured on one carrier is in an active state, so when a cell whose uplink carrier is used to perform a HARQ feedback corresponding to PDSCH transmission is determined, an uplink BWP whose PUCCH resource is used to transmit the HARQ feedback may be determined. However, if concurrency of data of a plurality of different service types (for example, ultra reliable & low latency communication (URLLC) data and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) data) is supported on one carrier, a plurality of BWPs may be simultaneously activated on one carrier. In a scenario in which the plurality of BWPs are activated, the plurality of activated BWPs are supported on one uplink carrier. However, in the prior art, a BWP used to transmit the HARQ feedback cannot be determined.

Communication method and communications apparatus


A system and method for managing provisioning parameters in a cable network. A dynamic TFTP (DTFTP) server and a CMTS manage the provisioning of devices in a cable network. The DTFTP server and the CMTS share common provisioning parameters. A provisioning parameter has a name and a value. When changes are made in the value of a provisioning parameter that is also used by a CMTSs supported by that DTFTP server, the DTFTP server securely communicates the new provisioning parameter values to each such CMTS. In one embodiment of the present invention, the DTFTP server pushes the new provisioning parameter values to the CMTSs. In another embodiment of the present invention, a poller pulls the provisioning parameters from the DTFTP server to a central datastore where changes in provisioning parameters used by the CMTSs supported by the DTFTP are identified. The changed provisioning parameter values are pushed from the central datastore to the CMTSs.

The modern cable network has evolved a long way from its humble beginnings. In 1948, the first community antenna system delivered television signals over twin-lead strung from house to house. In 1950, a coax system was built in which the coax cable was strung on utility poles. These systems were intended to solve reception problems caused by weak signals (rural areas) or by ghosting from multiple reflected signals (urban areas). In the seventies, communications satellites breathed new life into the cable industry by providing access to programming not otherwise available in the cable operator's service area.
Until recently, the cable network was still predominantly a vehicle for delivering entertainment. With the advent of the Internet and the rise in demand for broadband two-way access, the cable industry began to seek ways of utilizing its existing plant. Pure coax cable networks were replaced with hybrid fiber networks (HFNs) using optical fiber from the headend to the demarcation with the subscriber coax (usually at a fiber node).
A major problem for a cable operator desiring to provide digital service was the configuration of its network. Designed for one-way delivery of broadcast signals, the existing cable network topology was optimized for downstream (toward the subscriber) only service. New equipment would have to be added to the network to provide two-way communication. To reduce the cost of this equipment and to simplify the upgrade of the broadcast cable for two-way digital traffic, standards were developed for a variety of new cable-based services. The first of these standards, the Data Over Cable System Interface Standard (DOCSIS), was released in 1998. DOCSIS establishes standards for cable modems and supporting equipment.
A DOCSIS compliant modem (DCCM) must be "provisioned" before the DCCM may be operated on the network. Provisioning involves a process by which a network device is initialized, authenticated, registered, and configured to operate with a cable network. A network device receives a boot file as part of the provisioning process.
Referring to FIG. 1, the provisioning of a DOCSIS-compliant cable modem (DCCM) with a boot file is illustrated. Each time a DCCM is powered-on or reset, it must be initialized 100 through a series of "handshakes" and transfers of data between itself and a cable modem termination system (CMTS) at the cable headend. During this process, the DCCM receives channel and sync information to allow it to establish communications with the CMTS. It also receives a temporary service identification (SID) number. The modem power is set and the CMTS and the DCCM are now "known" to each other and able to communicate.
Following initialization, the DCCM is then authenticated 120 to confirm that the DCCM is entitled to receive service. The next provisioning step is registration 130, where the DCCM is configured as an Internet device. During this process, the DCCM synchronizes its clock with that of the CMTS and obtains an Internet protocol (IP) address from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The DHCP server also provides the DCCM the network address of a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server and where a device configuration file (or "boot file") for that modem can be found and downloaded. The DCCM requests its device boot file 140 by the sending the TFTP a request message comprising a device boot file filename. Upon receipt of the device boot file, the DCCM sends a registration request (REG-REQ) to the CMTS. This REG-REQ includes the current service identification (SID), IP address, operational attributes, upstream and downstream channel IDs, time stamps, and other configuration settings, as well as a message integrity check (MIC) value (described below). If the information is accepted, the CMTS responds with a new SID and completes the registration process.
In general, then, the CMTS is not configured with the attributes of its DCCMs. Rather, the CMTS will acquire these attributes and the attribute values through the registration request message.
In a DOCSIS environment, the device boot file comprises device attributes that are expressed in type-length-value (TLV) format and information necessary for the DCCM to operate on the cable network to which it is connected. By way of illustration, attributes identified by the DOCSIS standard for a DCCM include the maximum upstream and downstream data rates (based on the service level to which the customer has subscribed), the number of devices supported by the DCCM that require IP addresses, and information necessary to identify and authenticate the DCCM to the cable network. The device boot file is received by the DCCM in binary format. The DCCM uses the device boot file to populate device attributes with specific values.
As previously noted, the boot file provided by the TFTP server to the DCCM includes a message integrity check (MIC) value. The MIC is an MD-5 hash of certain device attributes plus a shared secret. The CMTS uses the same shared secret used by the TFTP server and the device attributes in the REG-REQ message it receives from the DCCM to compute the MIC value. The CMTS then compares the MIC value it computed to the MIC value computed by the TFTP server and included in the REG-REQ message sent by the DCCM. If the MIC values match, the registration request is granted. If the MIC values do not match, the registration request is denied.
In order for the MIC process to be effective, the TFTP server and the CMTS must use the same shared secret. Changing the shared secret is not a simple task. Currently, updating the shared secret in the CMTS is a manual process fraught with possibilities for human error. An operator typically manually logs into each of the CMTSs one after another to update the shared secret value. Most CMTSs in use today CMTSs permit up to two shared secrets to be stored at one time. If the CMTSs used by an MSO permit only one shared secret to be stored, the shared secret is first removed from the CMTS. The CMTS will then ignore the MIC and continue to register CMs, albeit without the security offered by the shared secret and the MIC. The old shared secret on the DCS is replaced with a new shared secret. Finally, the new shared secret is added to each CMTS supported by the DCS.
If the CMTSs used by the system operator allows two shared secrets to be stored, the new shared secret will be stored on the CMTS leaving the original shared secret value in place. Once all of the CMTSs are configured with both the old and new shared secret value, the boot file server configuration is changed so that the new shared secret value is used. Then the old shared secret value is removed from each CMTS supported by the DCS. Due to the manual nature of the process, mistakes are unavoidable, resulting in service problems, inefficient use of engineering time, and a bias against modification of provisioning parameters. Further, until all of the CMTSs have been updated with the new shared secret, some registration requests will be accepted using an old, and possibly compromised, shared secret.
Under the DOCSIS standards, the traffic that a DCCM may send and receive may be regulated at the DCCM by filters set to either "pass" or to "do not pass" traffic based on IP address (source or destination), port (source or destination), protocol, or packet type (multicast or unicast). The filter group that is enforced at a DCCM is determined by bootfile attributes that can be set in the static file. Use of filters at the DCCM offers the system operator a reasonable level of protection from intentional and unintentional behavior of its subscribers. Port filters, for example, protect the network from a rogue DCHP server established on a subscriber's customer premises equipment (CPE) by permitting only DHCP client transactions through the DCCM. DHCP client activity requires the DCCM to permit inbound (to the CPE) packets destined to port 68 on the DHCP client (located on the CPE) and outbound packets destined to port 67 on the DHCP server. The DHCP filter blocks all other combinations of ports 67 and 68 to prohibit subscribers from running their own DHCP server in competition with the DHCP server of the system operator. Blocking these other combinations permits a subscriber to run a DHCP server on its CPE without interfering with the operation of the network.
Similarly, access to other DCCMs on the network can be prevented by setting the IP filter to block access to the IP addresses that are not routable. As most DCCMs are provisioned with non-routable IP addresses (e.g., in the form 10.x.x.x), setting a filter to preclude access to these addresses can provide a measure of security against one subscriber "snooping" another subscriber's DCCM.
However, depending on filters at the DCCM for security is not risk free. The DCCM is not under control of the network operator and a determined subscriber may defeat the filter settings with serious results. Additionally, the development of CPU controlled cable modems (CCCMs) increases the vulnerability of the filter configuration to tampering. For this reason, the more desirable location for filter enforcement is the CMTS. In this implementation, filter settings are established at the CMTS and arranged by type and by groups within filter types. The DOCSIS boot file attributes relating to filter groups may include four indices:                one identifying the upstream filter group for packets originating from the cable modem (i.e., those packets whose source MAC address matches that of the cable modem).        one identifying the upstream filter group for packets originating from subscribers attached to the cable modem (i.e., those packets whose source MAC address does not match that of the cable modem).        one identifying the downstream filter group for packets destined to the cable modem (i.e., those packets whose destination MAC address matches that of the cable modem).        one identifying the downstream filter group for packets destined to subscribers attached to the cable modem (i.e., those packets whose destination MAC address does not match that of the cable modem).
A subscriber is assigned to a filter group based on policies established by the network operator and by requirements established by the Internet service provider (ISP) that services a subscriber. As in the case of the shared secret, once a filter group is defined, changing the filter group definition is a difficult and risky operation.
Typically, DOCSIS device boot files are pre-generated and stored in a file library on a server as static files. Thus, a device boot file is created for each possible configuration of a network device. The permutations of the various service levels coupled with other subscriber-specific elements makes management of this library a significant task. Additionally, large networks must maintain multiple file library servers, requiring that all servers be updated with changes to the file library. In order to establish a new configuration for a device, even for a single customer, a new device boot file must be added to the file library and populated to all of the boot file library servers.
Service providers are increasingly moving toward dynamically generating boot files based upon the content of the device boot file request message. (A dynamic TFTP (DTFTP) server meeting the requirements of the present invention is described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,293,078, entitled "System And Method For Provisioning A Provisionable Network Device With A Dynamically Generated Boot File Using A Server" and filed Jul. 14, 2003, which application is incorporated herein in its entirety and for all purposes.) For example, a DTFTP server may parse the file name of the device boot file in the device boot file message to determine what configuration attributes are required in the device boot file and what values are to be assigned to those attributes.
While the introduction of DTFTP servers for boot file generation greatly improves the ability of service providers to manage boot file generation, use of DTFTP servers alone does not solve problems of managing changes in provisioning parameters that affect the boot file generation server and the CMTS. What is needed is a system and method for updating and synchronizing changes in provisioning parameters used by DTFTP by servers and CMTSs that does not require manual intervention.

System and method for managing provisioning parameters in a cable network


An electric shaver including a single electric motor and a plurality of, for instance three, inner and outer cutters. The output shaft of the motor meshes with gear chains coupled to the inner cutters so that the inner cutters are rotated by the motor; and the output shaft of the motor is further coupled to a speed reduction mechanism that has a gear meshing with gears provided on the peripheries of the outer cutters so that the outer cutters are rotated by the motors at a slower rotation than the inner cutters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric shaver and more particularly to a rotary type electric shaver.
2. Prior Art
Electric shavers, especially rotary type electric shavers, generally include outer cutters and inner cutters; and the inner cutters are rotated on the undersurfaces of the outer cutters and cut hairs such as hairs on the head, whiskers, etc. (merely called "hairs"), which are introduced through the slits (hair entry openings) formed in the outer cutters, by a shearing force that is generated by the rotating inner cutters and the stationary outer cutters.
In today's commercially marketed electric shavers, as seen from the above, only the inner cutters, which are provided inside the head part of the shaver body, are rotated by an electric motor installed inside the shaver housing; and the outer cutters, which are also provided in the shaver head, are not rotated.
When these shavers are used, it is necessary that the hairs be introduced into the hair entry slits formed in the outer cutters; accordingly, the person using the shaver needs to constantly move the shaver head over the surface of the skin while holding the shaver housing with one hand.
However, such constant movement of the shaver during shaving while holding it with one hand over a period of several minutes to ten or so minutes causes fatigue of the arm muscles and, therefore, pain.
In view of these problems, an electric shaver that includes rotary outer cutters for smoothly bringing hairs into the hair entry slits has been proposed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Pre-Examination Publication (Kokai) No. H7-16360.
However, this electric shaver uses a plurality of electric motors as driving sources for rotating the outer cutter and inner cutter. Accordingly, it is difficult to construct a compact electric shaver.
Furthermore, since the outer cutter is, like the inner cutter, attached directly to the output shaft of an electric motor, the rotational speed is generally high, and this causes the skin to be abraded and injured. Furthermore, the outer cutters of electric shavers make direct contact with the skin and are therefore subjected to resistance by the skin. Thus, in order to directly drive such outer cutters, a high-torque electric motor is required However, such high-torque electric motors are generally large in size and thus conflict with the required compactness of the electric shaver. Also, such high-torque electric motors are more expensive.


Systems and methods for energizing an electrical resistance igniter are disclosed. The systems and methods determine the line voltage into the system and control the voltage being applied to the electrical resistance igniters so a first voltage is applied initially and for a time period and thereafter a second voltage is applied, the second voltage being the operating voltage for the igniter. The systems and methods decrease the amount of time required to heat-up the electrical resistance igniter to a temperature sufficient to ignite the gas while regulating the output voltage being delivered to the igniters to prevent over voltage damage to the igniters.

There are a number of appliances such as cooking ranges and clothes dryers and heating apparatuses such as boilers and furnaces in which a combustible material, such as a combustible hydrocarbon (e.g., propane, natural gas, oil) is mixed with air (i.e., oxygen) and continuously combusted within the appliance or heating apparatus so as to provide a continuous source of heat energy. This continuous source of heat energy is used for example to cook food, heat water to supply a source of running hot water and heat air or water to heat a structure such as a house.
Because this mixture of fuel and air (i.e., fuel/air mixture) does not self-ignite when mixed together, an ignition source must be provided to initiate the combustion process and to continue operating until the combustion process is self-sustaining. In the not too distant past, the ignition source was what was commonly referred to as a pilot light in which a very small quantity of the combustible material and air was mixed and continuously combusted even while the heating apparatus or appliance was not in operation. For a number of reasons, the use of a pilot light as an ignition source was done away with and an igniter used instead.
An igniter is a device that creates the conditions required for ignition of the fuel/air mixture on demand, including spark-type igniters such as piezoelectric igniters and hot surface-type igniters such as silicon carbide hot surface igniters. Spark-type igniters that produce an electrical spark that ignites gas, advantageously provide very rapid ignition, which is to say, ignition within a few seconds. Problems with spark-type igniters, however, include among other things the electronic and physical noise produced by the spark.
With hot surface igniters, such as the silicon carbide hot surface igniter, the heating tip or element is resistively heated by electricity to the temperature required for the ignition of the fuel/air mixture, thus when the fuel/air mixture flows proximal to the igniter it is ignited. This process is repeated as and when needed to meet the particular operating requirements for the heating apparatus/appliance. Hot-surface-type igniters are advantageous in that they produce negligible noise in comparison to spark-type igniters. Hot surface-type igniters, however, can require significant ignition/warm-up time to resistively heat the resistance igniter sufficiently to a temperature that will ignite gas. In some applications, this warm-up time can vary between about 15 and about 45 seconds.
In recent years, efforts have been made to develop a robust, low-noise igniter that can ignite gas rapidly, which is to say within a few seconds. There is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,386 a control system for electrical resistance-type igniters, and more specifically for tungsten heater elements embedded in a silicon nitride insulator. The relatively narrow temperature operating range of silicon nitride igniters necessitates such a control system. Indeed, the operating range of silicon nitride igniters must remain between the lowest temperature that will ignite gas and the temperature at which the igniter fails, i.e., the tungsten heater element breaks down.
Over time, this narrow range of operating temperatures is further narrowed due to a process referred to as "aging". As the tungsten heater elements are repeatedly heated to relatively high temperatures, the tungsten filaments oxidize or "age". Aging manifests as a cross-sectional change, i.e., decrease, in the tungsten filament. As a result, acceptable operating temperatures routinely decrease and continue to decrease with further aging. The described control system includes a microprocessor and a learning routine to control and modulate a solid-state switching means so that the igniter can be heated rapidly to and maintained at or near a suitable ignition temperature, which is below the maximum operating temperature. Moreover, the described learning routine maintains the temperature of the igniter just above the temperature needed to ignite the gas, to provide quick ignition, while continuously monitoring the maximum allowable temperature to prevent damage to the igniter.
Similarly, there is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,368 a refined control system that controls the energizing of a silicon nitride igniter that, purportedly, enables ignition within approximately two seconds. The described control system includes a microcomputer in combination with a triac in series with an igniter and a learning routine. The microcomputer determines the level of power to be applied to the igniter as a function of the voltage available to energize the igniter and the resistance of the igniter. The triac delivers time-dependent power to the igniter using an irregular firing sequence.
There are, however, several shortcomings with these two control systems. First, they are drawn to a specific igniter type that is subject to "aging". As a result, the systems require hardware and software to enable the learning routine. They also continuously maintain the temperature of the igniter slightly above the minimum ignition temperature, e.g., about 1200 degrees Centigrade. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a robust control system for energizing a hot surface-type igniter of a type that is not susceptible to significant aging and does not have to maintain the igniter continuously at about 1200 degrees Centigrade.

Systems for regulating voltage to an electrical resistance igniter


Numerous embodiments of a method and apparatus for laser annealing are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of laser annealing includes performing one or more annealing processes on one or more portions of a semiconductor device, where one or more annealing processes performed on one or more portions of the semiconductor device are varied based at least in part on the particular portion of the semiconductor device being annealed, and/or on one or more desirable characteristics of the particular portion of the semiconductor device being annealed.

As part of the fabrication process for semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits (ICs), these devices typically undergo a heat treating or thermal annealing process following implantation or doping of one or more components of the IC, such as transistors. Annealing may serve several purposes, including physical repair of the silicon lattice structure following doping, and activation of the dopant, resulting in formation of source/drain regions in the transistors. Several different annealing processes have been developed and implemented, but each technique carries with it certain disadvantages.
Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and diffusion furnace annealing are two processes that may be utilized to anneal semiconductor devices. Both processes typically raise the temperature of the entire silicon wafer on which the device is fabricated for particular period of time using, for example, heat lamps, which radiate the doped wafer surface. However, the RTA and diffusion furnace processes may be time consuming as well as difficult to control, due at least in part to the nature of radiative heating processes.
Laser annealing is a more recent annealing process, which was developed to provide rapid annealing of semiconductor devices, as well as greater thermal control. However, state of the art laser annealing techniques may have certain limitations, and may be in need of improvement. A need exists for an improved method and apparatus for laser annealing.

Method and apparatus for laser annealing


The present invention provides a process for preparation of Ag—W oxide catalyst for the direct and selective conversion of propylene to propylene oxide. The process provides a direct single step selective vapor phase oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide using molecular oxygen over Ag—W oxide catalysts. The process provides propylene conversion of 10-50% and selectivity for propylene oxide up to 100%.

Propylene oxide (PO) is a versatile chemical intermediate used in a wide range of industrial and commercial products including polyether polyols, propylene glycols and propylene glycol ethers. By volume, it is among the top 50 chemicals produced in the world with the annual production of about 5 million tons. Industrial production of propylene oxide is mainly from co-oxidation of propylene with other chemicals but these technologies create additional side products. The major conventional manufacturing methods of PO are the chlorohydrins•process and the Halcon process. The chlohydrin process is being phased out because of environmental pollution, while the latter has the by product limitation. So a new technology with environmentally benign has to be developed for the production of propylene oxide. The main concern in the fine chemical and drug intermediates are the amount of waste generated per unit weight of desired product (called E-factor by R A Sheldon in Chemsitry & Industry, 6 Jan. 1997, P 13) and poor atom efficiencies (kg of product produced per Kg of reactants used) due to the use of stoichiometric reagents and minerals acid/base catalysts. In this context, the use of solid catalysts which are eco-safe and reusuable become important. Moreover a major problem with this process is that it produces phenol is driving its price down and also hurting the economics of phenol as well. This concern is the impetus for researchers to develop a direct single step co-product free and environment friendly route to propylene oxide.
There are reports on the production of propylene oxide by direct oxidation of propylene with different oxidants over different solid catalyst but to the best of our knowledge there is no reference for the use of molecular oxygen only for this purpose.
Reference may be made to article in the Science 2001, 292, 1139-1141 by Chinese group Zuwei et al the use of H2O2 as the oxidizing agent for the conversion of propylene oxide from propylene to achieve ˜85% yield over W containing heteropolyacid.
Reference may be made to article in the Journal of Catalysis 2002, 211, 552-555 by Can Li and his group reported the use of mixture of H2 and O2 for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve ˜1% conversion and 43% propylene oxide selectivity over Nacl-modified VCe1-xCux oxide catalyst.
Reference may be made to article in the Journal of Phys. Chem. B., 2005, 109, 19309-19319 by Nijhuis et al reported the use of H2+O2 as oxidants for the conversion of propylene to propylene oxide with ˜4% propylene conversion and 95% propylene oxide selectivity over Au supported titania catalyst.
Reference may be made to article in the Journal of Catalysis, 2005, 232, 85-95, in which Oyama et al and his group reported the use of molecular oxygen for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve ˜30 propylene conversion with ˜10% propylene oxide selectivity over Ag supported CaCO3 catalyst.
Reference may be made to article in the Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 1546-1548, in which Japanese worker Prof Haruta and his group reported the use of mixture of H2+O2 for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve 10% conversion and ˜90% selectivity over Ba(NO3)2-Au/titanosilicate catalyst.
Reference may also be made to article in the Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45 412-415, in which the same Japanese worker Prof Haruta and his group reported the use of mixture of H2+O2 for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve 9% conversion and ˜90% selectivity over gold supported titanosilicate catalyst, where small amount of trimethyl amine was introduced with the feed mixture.
Reference may be made to article in the Catalysis Lett. 2007, 119, 185-190 in which Lu et al reported the use of molecular oxygen as the oxidizing agent for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve 4% propylene conversion and 46.8% propylene oxide selectivity over Ag—Y2O3—K2O/Al2O3 catalyst.
Reference may also be made to article in the Journal of Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112, 7731-7734 in which Wang et al reported the use of molecular oxygen as the oxidizing agent to convert propylene to propylene oxide with a propylene conversion of ˜4% with a propylene oxide selectivity of 55% over CuOx—SiO2 catalyst.
Reference may also be made to article in the Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2010, 49, 2614-2637 in which Bettina et al reported the use of nitrous oxide as the oxidizing agent for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve ˜10% conversion and ˜75% propylene oxide selectivity over Fe/SiO2 catalyst.
Reference may also be made to article in the Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48 1546-1548, in which the same Japanese worker Prof Haruta and his group reported the use of mixture of H2O+O2 for the oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide to achieve 0.8% conversion and ˜57% selectivity over gold supported TS-1 catalyst.
The drawback of the processes reported so far is that they do not exhibit sufficiently high conversions of propylene for high selectivity of propylene oxide to be of interest for industrial application. In most of the cases hazardous oxidizing agent N2O, H2O2 or expensive H2 with O2 was used and also lots of unnecessary by-products was formed. In addition, the catalysts used have a limited activity under the operating conditions. There is, therefore, an evident necessity for further improvements in the process for the selective conversion of propylene to propylene oxide.

Process for preparation of Ag—W oxide catalyst for the selective conversion of propylene to propylene oxide with molecular oxygen

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


An apparatus and method for storage and retrieval of memory content including a storage structure containing a plurality of memory elements addressable as a two-dimensional array of memory content values, a reading circuit capable of retrieving the memory content values from a region of the two-dimensional array varying in size according to the desired memory readout resolution, an aggregating circuit capable of totaling the memory content values of the memory elements addressed by the reading circuit to produce an aggregate memory content value and a normalizing circuit capable of scaling the aggregate memory content value according to the number of memory elements in the contiguous region to produce an average memory content value of the desired memory readout resolution.

Aspects of the present invention relate to memory storage and retrieval. Memory storage devices are used in many modern devices, including personal computers, cameras and web servers. Removable storage such as memory sticks, multimedia cards, and CompactFlash are useful not only for storing the information but for moving the data between different devices. In either case, these storage devices may contain a variety of data including images, sound and experimental data.
Many times, content in these data files are subject to various types of computation-intensive processing. For example, digital cameras read image data from an image sensor, compress the image as JPEG, MPEG or another format and then store the resulting compressed version of the image in a memory device. The compressed version of the image takes less storage and requires less communication bandwidth to transport yet has increased computational requirements.
Reading compressed images and data takes time as the entire image is read from memory, uncompressed and then viewed as a series of successive refinements in resolution. Latency for viewing a batch of images on a camera or other device using flash type memory is often noticeable due to the slow access times of this medium. Often the image is displayed briefly for a user to decide whether to delete, download or transfer the image from the camera to a computer or other device. Unfortunately, the fine details of an image—which take time to access and generate—are often discarded once the user has made a selection.
One conventional approach to this problem is to create a thumbnail copy of the image for quicker access. Thumbnails are useful for display in an image directory or use in dynamically-formatted web pages. However, thumbnails require the allocation of additional memory for each of the underlying images. Further, having multiple copies of the same image (i.e., one full scale image and a thumbnail copy) requires tracking changes from the full scale image and propagating those changes between the two or more versions of the same image. Tracking the images and making sure the thumbnails are updated to accurately reflect the full scale image requires additional processing and data management. Additionally, the resolution of both the thumbnail and the full version may also need to be scaled to the display, bandwidth and processing capabilities of different applications and display devices.
An image displayed by successive refinement propagation appears first in low-resolution and then in successively finer resolution as more image data arrives. Wavelet compression achieves this successive refinement from a coarse resolution image to a fine version without a significant burden on the transmission resources and network. However, wavelet compression does have significant computational requirements on the devices involved in these refinement operations.
Conventional datastorage and retrieval burden general-purpose processors and dedicated computing hardware with compression, decompression, thumbnail creation and many other tasks. This reduces the processor cycles available to perform other tasks or requires more powerful processors with increased device complexity, power consumption and cost.

Method and apparatus for variable-resolution memory

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.