One embodiment of the present invention involves a roller drive control method for a fixing apparatus in which a separation claw for separating a recording paper and a cleaning unit for removing toner that has become residual on a surface of a heat roller are arranged near a surface of the heat roller that fixes toner onto the recording paper, wherein a predetermined period different from a fixing process period in which fixing of toner onto the recording paper is carried out is set as a toner removal period for removing toner that has adhered to the separation claw, and the heat roller is rotationally driven so that the rotation velocity of the heat roller is different in the fixing process period and the toner removal period.

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) on Patent Application No. 2006-318764 filed in Japan on Nov. 27, 2006, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to roller drive control methods of fixing apparatuses in electrophotographic image forming apparatuses.
These image forming apparatuses are provided with fixing apparatuses that melt and firmly fix unfixed toner onto a recording paper. In this type of fixing apparatus, a thermal fixing roller system is often used in which, while the recording paper is sandwiched and transported in a pressing area (nip region) between a heat roller and a pressure roller, the recording paper is subjected to heat and pressure by the heat roller and the pressure roller so that toner on the recording paper is thermally melted and fixed there.
In these thermal fixing roller system fixing apparatuses, the peripheral rotation velocity of the heat roller is generally controlled at a velocity of 1.005 to 1.03 times the print processing speed of the image forming apparatus. This velocity is a velocity for keeping the recording paper that enters the pressing area from being detained in the pressing area and is a velocity for eliminating the delay of nipping when the leading edge of the recording paper that is entering impacts against the pressing area.
On the other hand, not all the toner that is melted in the pressing area becomes firmly fixed onto the paper after passing through the pressing area, and a portion thereof is rotated while adhering to the heat roller, which then smears surfaces of components such as a separation claw for the recording paper that is in contact with the heat roller, a detection sensor for detecting a surface temperature of the heat roller, and the pressure roller. To eliminate such smearing in conventional fixing apparatuses, a cleaning unit for cleaning toner that has adhered to the surface of the heat roller is arranged downstream from the pressing area on an outer circumferential surface of the heat roller and downstream from the separation claw. The cleaning unit is provided with a cleaning member, such as a web sheet for example, that presses against the heat roller with a predetermined pressure and carries out collection of toner that adheres to the web sheet and cleaning of the heat roller.
However, as mentioned above, the separation claw is arranged on a downstream side of the pressing area and on an upstream side of the cleaning unit, and therefore under existing circumstances it is not possible to clean the toner that adheres to the separation claw.
Ordinarily, when the print processing speed is slow, the number of sheets processed per hour is small and the amount of toner that adheres to the separation claw is also small. Thus, when the toner that is in a melted state adhering onto the separation claw is moved in reverse to the heat roller and is transported, the cleaning capability of the cleaning member (web sheet) of the cleaning unit is sufficient to enable cleaning of the toner that has been subjected to reverse movement.
However, the print processing speeds of image forming apparatuses have increased in recent years, and conventional speeds of approximately 300 to 400 mm/sec have now become 500 to 700 mm/sec, thereby achieving high speed processing in which the number of sheets processed per unit of time is from 100 to 120 sheets per minute. Along with this, image forming apparatuses have also become more multifunctional, and developments in color print processing have also advanced as a part of this. For this reason, there has been a tendency for the amount of toner that adheres to the heat roller to increase from year to year and along with this the amount of toner that adheres to the separation claw is also increasing. And when the amount of toner that adheres to the separation claw increases, the amount of toner that re-adheres to the heat roller after the above-mentioned reverse movement also increases, and therefore the cleaning capability of the web sheet, which is the cleaning member of the cleaning unit, is undesirably exceeded, and this poor cleaning becomes a cause of smearing of other components (such as the detection sensor that detects the surface temperature of the heat roller as well as the pressure roller).
In order to address this problem, in JP H10-307503A, instead of a cleaning member such as a rubber blade or a felt cloth that are used in conventional fixing apparatuses, a web cleaning apparatus is disclosed in which a continually new cleaning region can be selected and, moreover, the contact surface area on the heat roller can also be set as desired.
In the web cleaning apparatus described in JP H10-307503A, the contact region between the heat roller and the cleaning web (web sheet) of the cleaning member is fixed, and also the web sheet itself is thin (ordinarily a cloth having a thickness of several tens to 150 μm is used) and therefore increases in the pressing force at the contact region cannot be expected. For this reason, there is a problem in that when a large amount of toner subjected to reverse movement from the separation claw to the heat roller as described above is transported in, there is a possibility of an occurrence of adhered toner escaping through the pressing area (nip region) at the heat roller.

Roller drive control method for fixing apparatus


Systems, methods, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, and devices for operating an autonomous vehicle are provided. For example, the disclosed technology can include receiving state data that includes information associated with states of an autonomous vehicle and an environment external to the autonomous vehicle. Responsive to the state data satisfying vehicle stoppage criteria, vehicle stoppage conditions can be determined to have occurred. A severity level of the vehicle stoppage conditions can be selected from a plurality of available severity levels respectively associated with a plurality of different sets of constraints. A motion plan can be generated based on the state data. The motion plan can include information associated with locations for the autonomous vehicle to traverse at time intervals corresponding to the locations. Further, the locations can include a current location of the autonomous vehicle and a destination location at which the autonomous vehicle stops traveling.

The operation of vehicles, including autonomous vehicles, can involve a variety of changes in the state of the vehicle, some of which are based on changes in the environment proximate to the vehicle. For example, an autonomous vehicle can traverse an environment in such a way that contact with static objects in the environment is avoided. Further, in response to moving objects, an autonomous vehicle can dynamically change its course to avoid contacting those objects.
However, the state of the vehicle and the environment are constantly changing and can be difficult to predict. Further, improving the operational safety of an autonomous vehicle may necessitate rapid changes in the path of an autonomous vehicle. Accordingly, there exists a demand for a way to more effectively change how an autonomous vehicle interacts with the environment including interactions in which a planned path of the autonomous vehicle is modified.


Systems and methods of the present disclosure facilitate updating the translation provided by one or more name servers from symbolic names to network addresses. In some embodiments, the system includes one or more remote devices, a management server, a configuration module, a detection module, and/or an update module. The management server may be configured to monitor and manage the remote device, which may be provided with network addresses by one or more address provisioning servers. Responsive to the detection module detecting a change in the network address of a remote device, the update module may update one or more name servers using an update program that includes templates for a control file, authentication information, and/or a template obtained from the management server. The detection and update modules can execute on remote devices or on the address provisioning server, and can be installed and configured automatically by the management server.

Computer networks may use a fixed numeric identifier for each machine in the network as the network address. For example, Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) uses a 32-bit number that is written as four 8-bit decimal numbers separated by periods, such as 192.168.10.1 as an example. Symbolic names for a network may be provided to facilitate identifying various computer networks.

Automated management of generalized central name services by distributed remote devices


A bidirectional synchronous interface for the reception of a first flow of digital data with a first coding from a communication channel, and for the transmission on the communication channel of a second flow of digital data with the first coding in synchrony with a local timing signal. The interface includes a synchronization circuit for synchronizing the interface with the first flow of digital data that includes a first circuit fed by the local timing signal to generate, starting from the local timing signal, a plurality of repetition timing signals delayed from one another by fractions of a period, and a second circuit means fed by the first flow of digital data and by the plurality of repetition timing signals suitable for determining, from the plurality of repetition timing signals, a pre-selected repetition timing signal substantially in synchrony with the first flow of digital data.

As is known, the SDH standard prescribes pre-established transmission velocities: 51.84 Mbit/sec. (base velocity), 155.52 Mbit/sec., 622.08 Mbit/sec. etc. The prescribed transmission velocities are all whole multiples of the base velocity.
Within the scope of the SDH standard, recommendation G.703 issued by the CCITT committee of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) prescribes the electro-physical characteristics of the hierarchical digital interfaces to be used for interconnecting components of digital networks which conform to the SDH standard. In particular, recommendation G.703 prescribes the type of coding of the data to be used for each transmission velocity: for example, for the transmission/reception interfaces (also termed bidirectional interfaces or "transceivers") at 155.52 Mbit/sec. the CMI coding should be used. The CMI coding is a code with two levels, A1 and A2, in which a binary "0" is coded so as to present the two levels A1 and A2 in succession, each for a time equal to half the bit time, while a binary "1" is coded by means of one or other of the two levels A1 or A2 maintained for the whole bit time; the two levels A1, A2 are alternated with each other for successive binary "1"s.
The interface is generally associated with digital circuits for processing the data received and/or to be transmitted, which typically operate on differently coded data, for example according to the NRZ (Non-Return to Zero) coding. In reception, the interface should therefore receive, from a remote analogous interface through a transmission/reception channel consisting, for example, of a pair of coaxial cables, a signal carrying CMI-coded data, recognize them and convert them into NRZ, and deliver them to the digital circuits which are to process them. In transmission, the interface should receive from the digital processing circuits NRZ-coded data, recognize them and convert them into CMI, and pass them to the transmission/reception channel.
It being a matter of synchronous data transmission, the question of timing is of maximum importance.
In transmission, it is necessary to have available a clock signal having a period equal to half the bit time. Since a high precision and a low "jitter" must be guaranteed, use is normally made of a local oscillator in a phase locked loop (PLL for short).
In reception, the CMI-coded signal is processed in order to extract, or recover, a clock signal (strobe), necessary for synchronizing the interface with the flow of data received, which is then used to recognize the bits of data and NRZ-code them.
There are three known techniques for the recovery of the clock signal in reception (RX clock recovery) by the interfaces. A first technique makes use of an analog PLL which tracks a signal having double the frequency with respect to the frequency of the bits of data. In a second technique, a resonator tuned to twice the bit frequency is used. In a third technique, use is made of quadri-correlator circuits. In all cases, it is necessary to start from a local clock signal, different from that used for transmission. In the interface there are therefore two separate time bases, one for transmission and one for reception.
The use of two separate time bases, one for transmission and the other for reception, has drawbacks from various points of view. Apart from the obvious problem of increase in the circuit area, in the cost in terms of components, and in power consumption, there are problems of interference (cross-talk) between the two clock signals, having a very similar frequency to each other, which can give rise to beating, with a negative effect on performances.

Bidirectional synchronous interface with single time base


The present invention is a process for the preparation of (piperazinylorgano)silanes. The process involves the contact of an (aminoorgano)silane with piperazine or an organopiperazine, in the presence of palladium black as a catalyst. The process is run at a temperature within a range of about 50.degree. C. to 300.degree. C. in a standard low-pressure type reactor.

The present invention is a process for the preparation of (piperazinylorgano)silanes. The process involves the contact of an (aminoorgano)silane with piperazine or an organopiperazine, in the presence of palladium black as a catalyst.
Lisanke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,295. issued Jul. 24, 1962, teaches that (cyanoalkyl)silanes can react with a diamine, such as ethylene diamine, in the presence of a nickel catalyst and hydrogen to form N-(aminoalkyl)aminoalkylsilanes. The process requires elevated pressures to run.
Lukevits et al., Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii 50(2):388-389 (1980), describes two processes for the preparation of (piperazinylalkyl)silanes. The first process involves heating a trialkyl(chloroalkyl)silane with a 1-organopiperazine in the presence of a threefold excess of toluene and in the presence of potassium carbonate. The second process involves the addition of trialkylvinylsilane to organopiperazine in the presence of lithium.
The object of the present invention is to provide a process where palladium black is a catalyst for the reaction of an (aminoorgano)silane with piperazine or an organopiperazine. The present process offers advantages over the cited art in that no elevate pressure is required or chloride salts formed. In addition, there is no need for additives such as lithium or potassium carbonate.

Palladium black catalyzed process for preparation of (piperazinylorgano) silanes


An altered states engine executes in computer memory, controlling the execution of at least one software component based upon condition dependent rules. Responses to requests for system resources are modified, and code is executed such that the software components execute desired functionality, as specified by the rules.

1 Field of Invention
The present invention relates to flexibly altering computer software component behavior according to condition dependent rules.
1 Background of Invention
For various reasons, such as reduction in complexity and failure isolation, computer systems are usually created as stacked layers of services, where a service provides functionality to either other (client) services, or to client software components through an interface. Generally when a request is made to a service through its interface, the particular behavior of the service is determined by the specific function call and the invocation arguments passed to the service. When the service is complete, a result is generally returned to the requesting software component (potentially the result of the service behavior, or a status code).
One advantage of the "stacked services" structure of computer systems is that service implementation may change without any change in the service's clients, as long as the service interface is unchanged. This technique is described in Boehm, B. "Managing Software Productivity and Reuse," IEEE Computer, September 1999, 32(9): 111-113. One approach to changing service behavior is intercepting system service requests and redirecting or otherwise modifying the handling of the request. Interception is useful if changes need to be made in the implementation of an existing service.
Interception of system service requests has been applied for various purposes, since, at least, the Virtual Machine concept of the mid-1960s. Interception is discussed, for example, in Deutsch, P. and Grant, C. A., "A Flexible Measurement Tool for Software Systems," Information Processing (Proceedings of the IFIP Congress), 1971, pp 320-326 ("Deutsch"), and in Goldberg, R. P., "Survey of Virtual Machine Research," IEEE Computer, June 1974, 7(6): 34-45 ("Goldberg"). In general, there are three categories in which interception is typically applied: Virtual Machines, Access Control and Functionality Enhancement.
A Virtual Machine is a hardware-supported use of "alternate data, same code" semantics. Interception can be used to determine, for the purposes of virtualization, on which set of data the system will operate. This technique is described in Goldberg, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,477, entitled "Methods for Safe and Efficient Implementations of Virtual Machines," and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,085, entitled "Multiple Resource or Security Contexts in a Multithreaded Application."
Access Control is a security mechanism that either gives original semantics or failure (access denied) semantics. The decision of whether to permit or deny access is rule based, and can depend on runtime variables or any previous behavior. Interception can be used to query an access-control mechanism upon a service request to determine whether or not the specified operation is actually to be performed. Access Control is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,147 entitled "System for Providing High Security for Personal Computers and Workstations," in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,129 entitled "Protection Domains in a Single Address Space," and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,018, entitled "System and Method for Achieving Network Separation."
Functionality Enhancement involves modifying a specific service to provide enhanced functionality, e.g., providing crash protection by intercepting memory violations and changing the response in a fixed way, changing disk operations to compress data, encrypting and decrypting network data, etc. Interception can be selectively used to change behavior of certain service operations. Specific examples of Functionality Enhancement are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,893 entitled "System and Method of Communicating between Trusted and Untrusted Computers," and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,024 entitled "Secure Server Utilizing Separate Protocol Stacks."
Virtual Machines, Access Control and Functionality Enhancement are all useful, but each technique is limited. Virtual machines allow the same code to be executed utilizing different data, but do not allow the execution of different code. Furthermore, Virtual Machines are not dynamic. Although multiple computers are simulated by the use of alternative data sets, Virtual Machines cannot adjust the behavior of the code based upon historical or other conditions. Additionally, Virtual Machines cannot make rule based decisions in real-time as to which data set to use based upon current conditions.
Access Control allows a rule based access decision to be made in real-time, but does not allow any functionality beyond permitting or denying the access request. Access Control cannot allow the access on alternate data or simulate the access without actually permitting it. Furthermore, Access Control cannot implement alterative code on the target or alternative data, based upon the current conditions. Access Control merely allows called code to access targeted data, or prevents the called code from executing altogether.
Functionality Enhancement only enables alternative code to execute when specific service requests are made. This technique is useful, but like Virtual Machines, Functionality Enhancement is not dynamic. Alternative code accesses requested target data, but known Functionality Enhancement does not enable accessing alternative data, or making rule based decisions in real-time as to which code to execute, or as to what data or other resources to permit access.
Changing operation semantics (system service behavior) based on a set of rules is desirable, as it would be beneficial to flexibly allow one mechanism to be utilized for various purposes through simple rule changes. Access Control, while rule based, does not fully deliver this capability, as it either allows or disallows requested operations, but does not support the concept of otherwise changing their behavior, e.g., by doing something other than requested. Previous attempts at flexible behavior modification, (e.g. the work described in Badger, L. et al., "Hardening COTS software with Generic Software Wrappers," Proceedings of 1999 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, May 1999, pp 2-16), only mediate a limited set of services (e.g. system calls) and constrain the mediation structure into a set of independent system call wrappers.
What is needed is a methodology that combines the rule-based characteristics of Access Control, where decisions on how to respond to service requests are made at run-time (potentially based on arbitrarily complex computation on the service arguments and previous execution history), with both the alternate data set manipulation of Virtual Machines and the alternate service implementation of Functionality Enhancement.

Altered states of software component behavior


Methods and kits are provided for manipulating and predicting the reproductive capacity of a female subject. The presence of endogenous neurotrophins and addition of exogenous neurotrophins, particularly BDNF, NT-4/5, and NGF, increase the reproductive capacity of a female patient by binding to receptors on the oocytes and stimulating maturation of the oocytes. Administration of antagonists act as a contraceptive because the antagonists prevent the neurotrophins from binding to oocyte receptors. Neurotrophins may also be used to stimulate the maturation of oocyte in vitro.

Various publications or patents are referred to throughout this application or at the end of this specification to describe the state of the art to which the invention pertains. Each of these publications or patents is incorporated by reference herein. Complete citations of scientific publications are set forth at the end of the specification.
An individual's reproductive choices are among the most serious and personal choices made in a lifetime. It is important to be able to control fertility so that an individual is able to conceive when desired, but also to prevent pregnancy at all other times. Both infertility and unwanted pregnancy can have grave economic, emotional, and psychological impacts.
Infertility affects about 5.3 million people in the United States alone and is a disease of the reproductive system that impairs the body's ability to perform the basic function of reproduction. Infertility, defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse, can be attributed to the male, the female, or sometimes both parties. Women tend to be most fertile in their early 20s and fertility declines rather slowly until about age 35, after which it declines rapidly. If women turn to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to aid the conception process, the treatment is expensive and only has about a 30% success rate with the current state of the art. Contraception is another key reproductive choice that is the foundation of a multibillion dollar industry. Any improvement in the arts of treatment of infertility and providing contraception would be significant.
When focusing particularly on the female role in reproduction, one key factor in female fertility is the oocyte itself. The process of oocyte maturation and follicle development is a complex and carefully orchestrated phenomenon, involving gonadotropin hormones and a rapidly expanding list of other intraovarian regulators. (Giudice, et al. (1996)). These regulators include growth factors belonging to the insulin-like growth factor family and the transforming growth factor-beta family. Examples of other known intraovarian regulators include cytokines and factors influencing angiogenesis, such as vascular endothelial growth factor.
Neurotrophins are a family of soluble polypeptide growth factors widely recognized for their roles in the mammalian nervous system. They include nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-4/5 (NT-4/5) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). Although originally described in the nervous system, many members of the neurotrophin family are expressed in a variety of non-neuronal tissues including the cardiovascular, immune, endocrine and reproductive systems. (Tessarollo (1998) and Yamamoto, et. al (1996)). Several members of the neurotrophin family (NGF, BDNF, NT-4/5, NT-3) and their respective receptor tissue tyrosine kinases (Trk A for NGF, Trk B for BDNF and NT-4/5 and Trk C for NT-3) have been found to be expressed in the mammalian ovary. (Dissen, et. al (1996)). Researchers initially thought the action of neurotrophins within the rodent ovary was limited to their support of ovarian innervation. However, in recent years some of these neurotrophins and their respective receptors have been found to influence rodent ovarian function including ovulation (Mayerhoffer, et. al (1996)), steroid secretion (Waraksa, et. al (1995)) and follicular development (Lara, et. al (1990) Endocrinology. 126: 357-363 and 364-375, Dissen et. al (1995), and Ojeda, et. al (2000)). In the testis, neurotrophins and their receptors have been clearly associated with spermatogenesis, demonstrating distinct distributions between somatic and germ cells. (Vesa, et al. (2000) and Seidl, et al. (1996)). Nerve growth factor activation of Trk A in cultured thecal cells is involved in disruption of gap junctions (Mayerhoffer, et al. (1996)) and may stimulate cyclooxygenase II production, progesterone secretion and cell proliferation (Parvinen, et al. (1992)), events associated with ovulation. Until now, there has been no description in the art of using neurotrophins to manipulate the reproductive capacity of female subjects. With the impact for both individuals making personal reproductive choices, the doctors who treat the individuals, and the drug companies that manufacture pharmaceuticals, it would be a significant improvement in the art if neurotrophins could be utilized to manipulate fertility and as a diagnostic for reproductive capacity in female subjects. Any invention that can decrease the cost and reduce the emotional strain related to controlling fertility would be highly useful in the art.

Method of utilizing neurotrophins to manipulate reproductive capacity

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey


The present disclosure provides monoclonal antibodies against protein programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), which can block the binding of PD-1 ligands to PD-1, and therefore block the inhibitory function of PD-1 ligands on PD-1 expressing T cells. The antibodies of disclosure provide very potent agents for the treatment of multiple cancers via modulating human immune function.

Increasing evidences from preclinical and clinical results have shown that targeting immune checkpoints is becoming the most promising approach to treat patients with cancers. Programmed cell death 1, one of immune-checkpoint proteins, play a major role in limiting the activity of T cells that provide a major immune resistance mechanism by which tumor cells escaped immune surveillance. The interaction of PD-1 expressed on activated T cells, and PD-L1 expressed on tumor cells negatively regulate immune response and damp anti-tumor immunity. Expression of PD-L1 on tumors is correlated with reduced survival in esophageal, pancreatic and other types of cancers, highlighting this pathway as a new promising target for tumor immunotherapy. Multiple agents targeting PD-1 pathway have been developed by pharmaceutical companies, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Merck, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Data from clinical trials demonstrated early evidence of durable clinical activity and an encouraging safety profile in patients with various tumor types. Nivolumab, a PD-1 drug developed by BMS, is being put at center stage of the next-generation field. Now in 6 late-stage studies, the treatment spurred tumor shrinkage in three of 5 cancer groups studied, including 18% of 72 lung cancer patients, close to a third of 98 melanoma patients and 27% of 33 patients with kidney cancer. Developed by Merck, lambrolizumab is a fully human monoclonal IgG4 antibody that acts against PD-1, which grabbed the FDA's new breakthrough designation after impressive IB data came through for skin cancer. The results from a phase IB study have shown an objective anti-tumor response in 51% of 85 cancer patients, and a complete response in 9% of patients. Roche's experimental MPDL3280A demonstrated an ability to shrink tumors in 29 of 140(21%) advanced cancer patients with various tumor sizes.
However, the existing therapies may not be all satisfactory and therefore new anti-PD-1 antibodies are still needed.


Techniques within a network device to execute periodic packet management (PPM) used to determine the health of a network. The inline mode of periodic packet management may be more efficient than other modes of periodic packet management such as centralized mode or distributed mode. The number of inline entries for a given hardware table may be limited, which means that once the number of inline entries in the table has reached the size limit, then any new entries must be managed in the distributed mode or the centralized mode. The techniques of this disclosure may improve the efficiency of a network device by replacing inline entries handled at a lower frequency in the hardware table with entries for periodic packets that are handled with a higher frequency (shorter periodic interval). In this manner, the entries with shorter periodic intervals may be managed using the more efficient inline mode.

A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, such as the Internet, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets, which are individually routed across the network from a source device to a destination device. The destination device extracts the data from the packets and assembles the data into its original form. Dividing the data into packets enables the source device to resend only those individual packets that may be lost during transmission.
Certain network devices, including routers, switches and similar network devices, maintain routing information that describes available routes through the network and other network health information, such as protocol state. Each route defines a path between two locations on the network. For example, upon receiving an incoming packet, the network device examines information within the packet and forwards the packet in accordance with the routing information. In order to maintain an accurate representation of a network, network devices maintain control-plane peering sessions through which they exchange routing or link state information that reflects the current topology of the network.
Network devices may exchange periodic packets with each other via the peering sessions to confirm connectivity and to indicate operational status of each device. These periodic packets are sometimes referred to as "keepalives" or "hellos." For example, a network device may send periodic packets to a peer network device every 50 milliseconds (ms) to indicate that the network device is still operational. Likewise, the network device may detect reception of corresponding periodic packets from the peer network device within the same period of time (e.g., 50 ms). When a packet is not received in the allotted time frame, the network device determines that a network event has occurred, such as failure of the peer network device or failure of a link or node connecting the two network devices. Consequently, the network device may update various routing information, protocol state information, and so on to redirect network traffic and may issue a number of routing protocol update messages to neighboring network devices indicating a topology change.

Dynamic management of inline entries in hardware across protocols in a scaled environment


A discardable toilet pad for use in water closets, comprising an upper sheet and a lower sheet. In use, the toilet pad is stuck onto a toilet seat by way of some adhesive substance coated on its lower side, and the lower sheet extends naturally downwards forming a curved strip into the bowl of a toilet. The toilet pad of the present invention is meant for avoiding splashing by excrement falling into the bowl, and preventing contagion caused through direct touch of the skin with a toilet seat, as well as avoiding cold stimulus to the body in cold weather. The toilet pad according to the present invention is easy to manufacture, low cost, and is convenient to carry.

Flush toilets are at present very popular in use in common households and public places such as hotels, restaurants, etc.. However, they are unwholesome and may lead to spread of contagious diseases due to direct touch of the user's buttock skin with the toilet seat, and also splashing by excrements may occur since the user's buttocks usually go down much into the bowl when he sits on stool. Moreover, in winter season, cold stimulus would cause a very uncomfortable feeling when the user's skin is in touch with something cold and hard.
Inasmuch, toilet pads have been recently developed as daily sanitary articles. Nevertheless, all toilet pads in the prior art leave two problems unsolved:
1) Splashing by excrements; and
2) Proper fixing between the toilet pad and the toilet seat.

Discardable toilet pad for use in water closets

Sanyuanli, Guangdong Province, Guangzhou 510400


A computer memory subsystem and associated method are disclosed in which memory transaction latency and bandwidth in the memory subsystem are improved through the opportunistic transfer of write data from a data path to a memory buffer coupled to a targeted memory bank during an access latency period within a non-memory write operation, such as, e.g., a read or refresh operation. The opportunistic write data transfer operation utilizes otherwise unused memory data bus cycles within a read or refresh operation for performance of the write data transfer, without adding clock cycles to the read or refresh operation. Because the write data is transferred to the memory buffer coupled to the memory bank during the latency period of the memory operation preceding the write operation, the total turnaround time for, e.g., performing a read operation followed by a write operation is reduced.

A read transaction in the memory subsystem of a processor-based computing system consists essentially of the following steps: (1) initiating, via the memory controller, the read operation; (2) generating the row address strobe/column address strobe (RAS/CAS) memory timing signals, and applying them to the memory bank targeted by the read operation; (3) once the read data is available on the memory bank's memory data bus, buffering the read data into a buffer coupled to the memory bank; and (4) transferring the data from the memory buffer into a data path buffer for storage until the data is placed onto the processor bus for transmission to the processor or device requesting the data. The time period between the initiation of a read operation by the memory controller within the memory subsystem and the time at which the read data is available on the memory data bus constitutes an access latency.
A write operation in a memory subsystem consists essentially of the following steps: (1) transferring the write data from the data path in the memory subsystem to a buffer coupled to the targeted memory bank; (2) initiating, via the memory controller, the write operation; and (3) generating the necessary RAS/CAS memory timing signals, and applying them to the memory bank targeted by the write operation.
In conventional memory subsystems, when a read or refresh operation is followed by a write operation, all of the read or refresh operation steps are performed prior to the initiation of the write operation steps. This results in a large transaction overhead, or "turnaround time." It is desired, therefore, to minimize the turnaround time associated with a read or refresh operation followed by a write operation in a memory subsystem of a processor-based computing system.

Computer memory subsystem and method for performing opportunistic write data transfers during an access latency period within a read or refresh operation


The present invention employs a beam steering apparatus to isolate valuable cells from other cells, tissues, and contaminants. In one embodiment, the system balances optical trapping against biasing flow to parallelize cell sorting under the flexible control of computer program-directed traps which differentially manipulate cells based on their composition or labels to direct separation.

The present invention relates to a system and method of sorting materials using laser steering, and in particular using holographic optical trapping.
In United States industry, there is a large number of unmet sorting and separation needs involving material made up of particles or units smaller than 50 microns. These needs range across industries from particle sizing and sample preparation in the specialty chemicals and materials fields including manufacturing products of nanotechnology, to protein selection and purification in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Other examples include cell sorting and selection, in the medical, diagnostic and agriculture sectors.
The importance of these needs can be seen by exploring the annual expenditures in areas where specialized or partial solutions have been developed, as well as by estimating the market value of sorted/separated/purified output in areas where there is currently not even a partial solution. As an example of the former, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries annually spend a huge amount on equipment and supplies for protein purification.
As an example of the latter, in the agricultural sector, there is currently no way to efficiently select the gender of offspring in farm animals; however, it is estimated that in the cattle area alone, value would be added by enabling such sperm selection as a part of the current artificial insemination process widely used in the industry.
Outside of the animal husbandry market, the purification process of islet cells from human pancreases is currently a large concern of medical scientists developing new treatment methods for Type I diabetes. Significant progress in islet transplantation methods has been made, but the purification problem is one of the remaining stumbling blocks. Traditional methods for purifying islet cells are inefficient and result in damage to the cells.
Islet cell transplantation is important because, in the Type I form of diabetes, the existing islet cells in the patient's pancreas have become damaged and no longer produce the insulin which is required for human survival. The current treatment for Type I diabetes involves injection of insulin 1 to 5 times per day. In spite of the treatment, the disease often leads to complications including blindness, blood flow problems requiring amputation, renal failure, and death. Greater purity and reduced contaminants for islet cells used in transplantation is expected to reduce the occurrence of these complications.
Of the approximately 1 million current sufferers of Type I diabetes in the United States, at least 50,000 sufferers per year would submit to islet cell transplantation if it were available. Upon large-scale acceptance of islet cell transplantation as an effective therapy, costs would be expected to jump substantially. The jump would be driven by the difficulty of using today's treatment method (frequent injections) and the severe consequences even when the current treatment is adequately administered.
Thus, islet purification is but one important problem requiring the highly selective sorting of human cells in a non-damaging, non-invasive way.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is the purification of normal cells from cancer cells in the bone marrow of persons undergoing whole-body radiation treatment for cancer.
Still another is the selection of stem cells for research into the causes of, and therapies for, diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
Yet another concern is developing new ways to automatically interrogate large numbers of human cells and select ones having characteristics not amenable to fluorescent tagging, which would enormously widen the scope and power of medical diagnoses.
One conventional technique in manipulating microscopic objects is optical trapping. An accepted description of the effect of optical trapping is that tightly focused light, such as light focused by a high numerical aperture microscope lens, has a steep intensity gradient. Optical traps use the gradient forces of a beam of light to trap a particle based on its dielectric constant. "Particle" refers to a biological or other chemical material including, but not limited to, oligonucleotides, polynucleotides, chemical compounds, proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, ligands, cells, antibodies, antigens, cellular organelles, lipids, blastomeres, aggregations of cells, microorganisms, peptides, cDNA, RNA and the like.
To minimize its energy, a particle having a dielectric constant higher than the surrounding medium will move to the region of an optical trap where the electric field is the highest. Particles with at least a slight dielectric constant differential with their surroundings are sensitive to this gradient and are either attracted to or repelled from the point of highest light intensity, that is, to or from the light beam's focal point. In constructing an optical trap, optical gradient forces from a single beam of light are employed to manipulate the position of a dielectric particle immersed in a fluid medium with a refractive index smaller than that of the particle, but reflecting, absorbing and low dielectric constant particles may also be manipulated.
The optical gradient force in an optical trap competes with radiation pressure which tends to displace the trapped particle along the beam axis. An optical trap may be placed anywhere within the focal volume of an objective lens by appropriately selecting the input beam's propagation direction and degree of collimation. A collimated beam entering the back aperture of an objective lens comes to a focus in the center of the lens' focal plane while another beam entering at an angle comes to a focus off-center. A slightly diverging beam focuses downstream of the focal plane while a converging beam focuses upstream. Multiple beams entering the input pupil of the lens simultaneously each form an optical trap in the focal volume at a location determined by its angle of incidence. The holographic optical trapping technique uses a phase modifying diffractive optical element to impose the phase pattern for multiple beams onto the wavefront of a single input beam, thereby transforming the single beam into multiple traps.
Phase modulation of an input beam is preferred for creating optical traps because trapping relies on the intensities of beams and not on their relative phases. Amplitude modulations may divert light away from traps and diminish their effectiveness.
When a particle is optically trapped, optical gradient forces exerted by the trap exceed other radiation pressures arising from scattering and absorption. For a Gaussian TEM00 input laser beam, this generally means that the beam diameter should substantially coincide with the diameter of the entrance pupil. A preferred minimum numerical aperture to form a trap is about 0.9 to about 1.0.
One difficulty in implementing optical trapping technology is that each trap to be generated generally requires its own focused beam of light. Many systems of interest require multiple optical traps, and several methods have been developed to achieve multiple trap configurations. One existing method uses a single light beam that is redirected between multiple trap locations to "time-share" the beam between various traps. However, as the number of traps increases, the intervals during which each trap is in its "off" state may become long for particles to diffuse away from the trap location before the trap is re-energized. All these concerns have limited implementations of this method to less than about 10 traps per system.
Another traditional method of creating multi-trap systems relies on simultaneously passing multiple beams of light through a single high numerical aperture lens. This is done by either using multiple lasers or by using one or more beam splitters in the beam of a single laser. One problem with this technique is that, as the number of traps increases, the optical system becomes progressively more and more complex. Because of these problems, the known implementations of this method are limited to less than about 5 traps per system.
In a third approach for achieving a multi-trap system, a diffractive optical element (DOE) (e.g., a phase shifting hologram utilizing either a transmission or a reflection geometry) is used to alter a single laser beam's wavefront. This invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,106 to Grier et al. The wavefront is altered so that the downstream laser beam essentially becomes a large number of individual laser beams with relative positions and directions of travel fixed by the exact nature of the diffractive optical element. In effect, the Fourier transform of the DOE produces a set of intensity peaks each of which act as an individual trap or "tweezer."
Some implementations of the third approach have used a fixed transmission hologram to create between 16 and 400 individual trapping centers.
A fixed hologram has been used to demonstrate the principle of holographic optical trapping but using a liquid crystal grating as the hologram permitted 'manufacture' of a separate hologram for each new distribution of traps. The spatially varying phase modulation imposed on the trapping laser by the liquid crystal grating may be easily controlled in real time by a computer, thus permitting a variety of dynamic manipulations.
Other types of traps that may be used to optically trap particles include, but are not limited to, optical vortices, optical bottles, optical rotators and light cages. An optical vortex produces a gradient surrounding an area of zero electric field which is useful to manipulate particles with dielectric constants lower than the surrounding medium or which are reflective, or other types of particles which are repelled by an optical trap. To minimize its energy, such a particle will move to the region where the electric field is the lowest, namely the zero electric field area at the focal point of an appropriately shaped laser beam. The optical vortex provides an area of zero electric field much like the hole in a doughnut (toroid). The optical gradient is radial with the highest electric field at the circumference of the doughnut. The optical vortex detains a small particle within the hole of the doughnut. The detention is accomplished by slipping the vortex over the small particle along the line of zero electric field.
The optical bottle differs from an optical vortex in that it has a zero electric field only at the focus and a non-zero electric field in all other directions surrounding the focus, at an end of the vortex. An optical bottle may be useful in trapping atoms and nanoclusters which may be too small or too absorptive to trap with an optical vortex or optical tweezers. (See J. Arlt and M. J. Padgett. "Generation of a beam with a dark focus surrounded by regions of higher intensity: The optical bottle beam," Opt. Lett. 25, 191–193, 2000.)
The light cage (U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,716) is loosely, a macroscopic cousin of the optical vortex. A light cage forms a time-averaged ring of optical traps to surround a particle too large or reflective to be trapped with dielectric constants lower than the surrounding medium.
When the laser beam is directed through or reflected from the phase patterning optical element, the phase patterning optical element produces a plurality of beamlets having an altered phase profile. Depending on the number and type of optical traps desired, the alteration may include diffraction, wavefront shaping, phase shifting, steering, diverging and converging. Based upon the phase profile chosen, the phase patterning optical element may be used to generate optical traps in the form of optical traps, optical vortices, optical bottles, optical rotators, light cages, and combinations of two or more of these forms.
With respect to the manipulation of materials, tweezing of viruses and bacteria has been demonstrated in addition to tweezing of dielectric spheres. In addition to prokaryotes and viruses, a large variety of protists such as Tetrahymena thermophila has been successfully tweezed. Furthermore, both somatic cells such as eukocytes and epithelial cheek cells, and germ line cells such as spermatozoa have been trapped and manipulated.
Researchers have sought indirect methods for manipulating cells, such as tagging the cells with diamond micro-particles and then tweezing the diamond particles. Cell manipulations have included cell orientation for microscopic analysis as well as stretching cells. Tissue cells have also been arranged with tweezers in vitro in the same spatial distribution as in vivo.
In addition to the cells themselves, optical tweezers have been used to manipulate cellular organelles, such as vesicles transported along microtubules, chromosomes, or globular DNA. Objects have also been inserted into cells using optical tweezers.
A variety of sorting processes for biological purposes is also possible with optical tweezers. Cell sorting using traditional optical trapping for assays and chromosome collection and sorting to create libraries have already been demonstrated. Cell assays for drug screening have also been developed.
Accordingly, as an example of new types of sorting using laser steered optical traps, a method of cell sorting using a technique which isolates valuable cells from other cells, tissues, and contaminants is needed. Further, a way of achieving a unique contribution of optical trapping to the major industrial needs of (cell) sorting and purification is required. Still further, there is a need to separate sperm cells in the animal husbandry market.

System and method of sorting materials using holographic laser steering


A packet-data FIFO buffer system comprises a FIFO buffer with a series of FIFO memory locations. Each FIFO memory location includes a data section for storing a packet data word and a flag section for storing an indication of whether or not the associated data section includes the last word of a packet. The FIFO buffer capacity is not limited to the number of maximum length packets it can hold; instead, a greater number of small packets can be stored. This increases the effectiveness of available FIFO memory and minimizes communication delays along the channels serviced by the FIFO. The FIFO design is simple and fairly self contained so that minimal external logic and control is required. In addition, an indication of the presence or absence of a complete data packet in the FIFO buffer can be easily obtained by logically adding (ORing) the contents of the flag sections.

The present invention relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to packet-data FIFO buffers designed to facilitate computer-device communications over packet-data channels. A major objective of the present invention is to provide more effective use of a packet-data channel for a given FIFO buffer capacity.
Society has been revolutionized by the widespread availability of personal computers. As personal computers have become more powerful, the range of applications they serve has broadened. Increasing with the range of applications is the variety of peripherals that can be attached to personal computers. Early personal computers provided for a keyboard, a display, mass storage, and a printer. More recently, modems, musical instruments such as MIDI synthesizers, analytical instruments, speakers, televisions, video sources such as camcorders, game controllers such as joysticks, scanners, mice, color calibration equipment, graphics tablets, as well as new types of printers, displays, and mass storage devices, are attached to computers.
Where only a few devices are to be attached, each can have its own dedicated port. However, with the proliferation of computer peripherals, it has become desirable to provide ports that handle many peripherals at once. Various network protocols have been developed that allow many computers and devices to interact with each other. However, more cost-effective solutions are available where the goal is for a single computer to manage many peripheral devices. High-performance solutions include both parallel, e.g., small computers systems interface (SCSI), and serial IEEE 1394 (Firewire) buses. More economical serial buses include the Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), developed by Apple Corporation, and the Universal Serial Bus (USB), jointly developed by Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation, IBM PC Company, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Northern Telecom. Of the more economical external buses, the USB is the most ambitious in terms of the number (127) of devices that can be attached and the varieties (isochronous, asynchronous) of data that can be handled.
A major challenge for external serial buses like the USB is that, while only one data stream can be handled at a time, the user must experience the effect of multiple concurrent data streams. For example, the user should be able to move the display cursor of a continuous controller, e.g., mouse, while a streaming audio-visual presentation is displayed. To provide the impression of concurrency, each data stream is divided into small packets, which can then be time multiplexed. The time multiplexing is governed by the host computer, which polls attached devices one at a time for data. To minimize interruption of other data streams, it is important that a device respond immediately to the polling. Correspondingly, the host computer may send data to a peripheral device, which should be ready to accept the host data immediately.
Data buffers help provide the desired immediacy to external bus communications. Data to be transmitted from a peripheral device can be pre-stored in a buffer so that it is ready for transmission whenever the device is polled by the host computer. A buffer can also be used to accept data as soon as it is transmitted from a host computer. Typically, first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffers are used to preserve the order of the data. A single device can have many FIFOs for both send and receive functions. The USB specification provides for up to 32 FIFOs per peripheral device.
Each data packet includes a number of data words. In the case of USB, the words are eight-bits each, so the words are referred to as bytes. Associated with each data source or destination (sink) within a USB peripheral device is a maximum packet data payload size between 1 and 1023 bytes. Each packet includes a header, referred to as a Packet ID, which indicates the type of packet, a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) error detection code, and an end-of-packet indicator. A CRC code generated by the receiver may be compared to the transmitted CRC code to determine if the data was received without error. If the CRCs disagree, there was an error in the received packet.
If an error is detected, another attempt should be made to transfer the packet. Packet-data FIFOs include means for recreating the state that existed at the start of the erroneous transfer. In the case of a transmission, the transmitted data is saved until the packet is acknowledged, unlike a regular data FIFO buffer that would discard each data word as it is transferred. In the case of reception, an erroneously received data packet is cleared while any previously received valid packets are preserved.
A typical FIFO data buffer can include a write pointer that indicates the FIFO location to which a word is to be written and a read pointer that indicates the FIFO location from which a word is to be read. A packet-data FIFO buffer can also include a first-word pointer that indicates the FIFO memory location of the first word in the packet being transferred. This is the memory location to which one of the other two pointers is to be reset in the event of a failed packet transfer. When a FIFO is receiving data over the external serial bus, the first-word pointer marks the location to which the write pointer is to be reset on a receive error. When a FIFO is transmitting over the external serial bus, the first-word pointer marks the location to which the read pointer is to be reset on a transmit error indicated by the host computer. In effect, the first-word pointer stores the state of the buffer prior to the current data packet transfer.
Buffers with greater capacity are more expensive but offer more effective utilization of the external bus. A packet-data FIFO buffer should at least have the capacity to hold one maximum-sized packet. However, loading a second packet into a one-packet FIFO cannot begin until the first packet has been acknowledged. Thus, the second packet will not be available if a request for it immediately follows acknowledgment.
Intel discloses unidirectional FIFO buffers that hold two packets at a time. Once the first packet is transferred, the second packet is immediately available for transfer. A third packet can be loaded as the second packet is transferred. However it is possible that the third packet will not be completely loaded by the time the second packet is acknowledged. If the Intel design could accommodate FIFOs that handle more than two packets, the potential latencies could be reduced. However, to eliminate the latencies for all possible permutations of packet sizes would require a capacity of many maximum-sized packets. This would be costly method of maximizing bus utilization.
Furthermore, the Intel design requires considerable management overhead on the part of the controller of the incorporating peripheral device. Increasing the number of packets that this design could support would increase the management overhead. This reduces the time the controller can attend to activities, e.g., data generation and processing, other than bus management. Additionally, this overhead makes it very difficult, or even impossible, for a single FIFO to swap between transmission and reception modes in time to service a superseding request. Accordingly, two FIFOs are used when only one needs to be used at a time. What is needed is a packet-data FIFO buffer system that provides more effective utilization of an external bus while minimizing external support requirements so that rapid mode switching is possible and allowing a local controller more time to attend to non-bus related functions.

Data-packet fifo buffer system with end-of-packet flags


A processor includes a physical register file having physical registers and an execution unit to perform an arithmetic operation to generate a result mapped to a physical register, wherein the processor delays a write of the result to the physical register file until the result is qualified as valid. A method includes mapping the same physical register both to store load data of a load-execute operation and to subsequently store a result of an arithmetic operation of the load-execute operation, and writing the load data into the physical register. The method further includes, in a first clock cycle, executing the arithmetic operation to generate the result, and, in a second clock cycle, providing the result as a source operand for a dependent operation. The method includes, in a third clock cycle, enabling a write of the result to the physical register file responsive to the result qualifying as valid.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to pipelined instruction execution in a processing device and, more particularly, to register file management during pipelined instruction execution.
Description of the Related Art
Register renaming often is used in pipelined processor architectures so as to dynamically map architected registers to a set of physical registers. As only a subset of architected registers are in use by the processor at any given time, register renaming typically allows the architected register set to be represented by a smaller set of physical registers, thereby saving the power and area that otherwise would be needed for a one-to-one mapping between physical registers and architected registers. However, in certain circumstances, there may be more architected registers in use in a processor than there are physical registers in the processor, thereby requiring the processor to stall until one or more physical registers are released for mapping to unmapped architected registers.

Register file management for operations using a single physical register for both source and result


An apparatus comprises a receiver configured to receive a reported queue depth for a current granting cycle, and a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to determine accumulated bandwidth credits from at least one granting cycle prior to the current granting cycle. An apparatus comprises a transmitter configured to transmit a reported queue depth for a second granting cycle, a processor coupled to the transmitter, and a receiver coupled to the processor and configured to receive a transmission grant size that is based on the reported queue depth and accumulated bandwidth credits from a first granting cycle prior to the second granting cycle.

In order to improve bandwidth efficiency, many broadband access networks provide a communications medium that may be shared among a plurality of nodes, or points, to form a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) network. In the area of optical networks, a passive optical network (PON) provides a P2MP network architecture with an optical line terminal (OLT) at a central office (CO), an optical distribution network (ODN), and a plurality of optical network units (ONUs) at customer premises. Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) is a PON standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is specified in IEEE 802.3ah, which is incorporated by reference. Gigabit-capable PON (G-PON) is a PON standard developed by the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Section (ITU-T) and is specified in the ITU-T G.984 series, which is incorporated by reference. In the area of wireless networks, Wi-Fi and Long Term Evolution (LTE), which are incorporated by reference, similarly provide P2MP network architectures.
In a media access control (MAC) layer of a P2MP network, an upstream bandwidth may be assigned based on polling. Polling may refer to arbitration of access to a network, particularly bandwidth assignment. Polling is an important mechanism that may directly affect network efficiency.

Bandwidth distribution based on prior granting cycles


A lens for a primarily-elongate distribution of light from a light emitter having an axis with a lens base being substantially normal to the axis. The lens includes a substantially-rectangular emitter opening to a cavity defined by a refracting inner surface. The lens further includes a refracting main output surface transverse the axis and a reflecting surface extending from the lens base away from the axis outwardly of and around the inner surface. The reflecting surface receives substantially all forward and rearward light and a portion of lateral light refracted by the inner surface for total internal reflection (TIR) toward the main output surface which refracts such light into the elongate distribution. The lens is configured such that the other portion of the lateral light exits the lens away from the axis for wide-angle distribution along the elongate distribution.

In recent years, the use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for various common lighting purposes has increased, and this trend has accelerated as advances have been made in LEDs. Indeed, lighting applications which have been served by fixtures using high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, halogen lamps, compact florescent light (CFL) and other light sources are now increasingly beginning to be served by LED modules. Such lighting applications include, among a good many others, interior lighting, such as for warehouse spaces.
Illumination of warehouse spaces have specific requirements which dictate the amount of light in certain areas. In particular, warehouse aisles have to be well illuminated with some illumination being directed along tall storage racks for efficient retrieval of stored items and, most importantly, for safe operation of the personnel.
Some efforts have been made to develop LED lenses for directing LED light into a desired light distribution. Some of such lenses are difficult and expensive to manufacture, which increases overall cost for LED lighting using such lenses. Yet such lenses fall short in providing light distribution required for proper illumination of elongate warehouse passageways with tall bordering shelving structures.
It would be highly beneficial to provide a lighting apparatus which produces a desired light distribution for illumination of areas like warehouse aisles and along storage racks accommodating appropriate visibility for stored bulky items with large labels and for small items with small labels. It is further desirable that such lighting apparatus has high efficiency with useful output of maximum emitted light and provides improved uniformity of the light distribution.

Lens for primarily-elongate light distribution


An apparatus comprising a first curved band portion and a second curved band portion. The first curved band portion has a first end, a second end, an inner curved side and an outer curved side. The first curved band portion defines a passageway between the first end and the second end of the first curved band portion. The passageway has a first opening. The second curved band portion has a first end, a second end, an inner curved side and an outer curved side. A motion-restraint portion is proximate to the first end of the second curved band portion. The first end of the second curved band portion is insertable into the first opening of the passageway of the first curved band portion. The first curved band portion has a range of motion within the passageway of the second curved band portion.

The invention in general relates to an ear protection device. More specifically, the invention relates to an ear protection device with adjustable bands.
Ear muffs that are worn over the top or around the back of a user""s head are generally known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,628,483 to Wiegand discloses an ear protector. The ear protector includes a pair of oval-shaped plates, each plate being formed with an inwardly extending continuous flaring flange. The flange provides a conical profile. The plates are connected together via slidably connected resilient arms. The ear protector includes a hold fast device or rivet for coupling each of the resilient arms to a respective oval plate. The resilient arms each include a band for slidably receiving the other overlapping resilient arm. The bands hold the resilient arms together and allow for the sliding movement between the two resilient arms to allow the ear protector to be adjusted for a specific user. The ear protector can be worn with the resilient arms extending around the back of the head.
This known ear muff, however, does not effectively maintain its position on a user""s head. In addition, this ear muff does not allow a fabric member to cover entirely the frame structure of the ear muff.
Thus, a need exists for frames for ear protection devices that maintain their position on a user""s head. In addition, a need exists for a shell (e.g., made of fabric) that entirely covers the ear-protection-device frame.
An apparatus comprising a first curved band portion and a second curved band portion. The first curved band portion has a first end, a second end, an inner curved side and an outer curved side. The first curved band portion defines a passageway between the first end and the second end of the first curved band portion. The passageway has a first opening. The second curved band portion has a first end, a second end, an inner curved side and an outer curved side. A motion-restraint portion is proximate to the first end of the second curved band portion. The first end of the second curved band portion is insertable into the first opening of the passageway of the first curved band portion. The first curved band portion has a range of motion within the passageway of the second curved band portion.


This invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for high-throughput, reproducible and inexpensive detection of virus infection using multiplexing technologies such as slide-based, microtiter plate-based and membrane-based microarrays and beads technologies. The apparatus and methods allow simultaneous detection of multiple viral infections in a plurality of test samples.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to detection of viral infection and, in particular, to apparatus and methods for high-throughput, reproducible and inexpensive detection of virus infection using multiplexing technologies.
2. Background of the Technology
Virus infection can be detected with a number of conventional approaches, such as Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA), and Western bolt, which typically detect the presence of a viral antigen or an antibody to a viral antigen. The limitations of conventional assays include low throughput, low automation, consumption of large amount of samples and reagents, and high assay cost. For example, a commonly used method for monitoring virus infections in laboratory mice and rats is an ELISA for detecting antivirus antibodies in the serum of the animal. The assay method, however, is time consuming and is capable of measuring only one antibody level per assay.
In recent years, multiplexed assays are gradually becoming a prevailing technology in the field of immunoassays, especially in the pharmacogenomics arena for drug discovery and clinical diagnostics purposes. The multiplexed assays allow simultaneous detection or quantification of multiple analytes from a single sample. One of the approaches to performing multiplexed assays is microarray, which was originally developed as a DNA/RNA based array system but has since evolved to include other array systems such as protein microarrays. Protein microarrays are compatible with hardware and software used by the DNA microarrays. Since protein microarrays facilitate the analysis of protein-protein, protein-ligand or protein-drug interactions, as well as enzymatic assays, they have been used in basic research and development, drug target identification and validation, drug screening, toxicity screening, lead optimization, and patient stratification for clinical trials and disease management (See, for example, Bussow. et al., Nucleic Acids Res, 26:5007-5008, 1998; Eisen et al., Methods Enzymol. 303:179-2000, 1999; Knezevic, et al., Proteomics, 1:1271-1278, 2001; Adam et al., Proteomics, 1:1264-1270, 2001; Zhu, et al., Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 5:40-45, 2001; and Ronald et al., Proteome Research, 1:233-237, 2002).
In addition to various protein microarrays, other multiplexed analysis approaches of proteins include bead-based technology, which performs discrete bioassays of multiple proteins on the surface of fluorescent color-coded or differently sized beads known as microspheres. During the bioassays, those beads are read in a compact analyzer/flow cytometer, which simultaneously identifies the bioassays and measures the results, all in real time when sample is directly labeled with fluorophores.
While the multiplexed assay technologies, such as the micro arrays and beads technology, have been employed in many research and clinical applications, they have not been used for the monitoring viral infections in animals.

Methods and apparatus for detection of viral infection


An oven includes a steam input arrangement with a thermal mass and one or more water flow directors to more effectively deliver water onto the thermal mass so that less water ends up bypassing the thermal mass.

In ovens that include steam production, water consumption is an issue. In some ovens (e.g., baking ovens) it is common to cook without steam for a period of time and then deliver steam into the cooking chamber at a specified time during the cooking process to achieve desired food product quality. Often times a thermal mass is used to create steam by directing water onto the thermal mass. The impingement of the water onto the hot thermal mass causes nearly instantaneous conversion of the water to steam, which then fills the oven cooking chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,712 discloses one embodiment of an oven of this type. However, as general rule not all of the water is converted to steam, and the unconverted water passes to a drain, resulting in undesired waste of water.
It would be desirable to provide an oven with a steam input arrangement that more effectively converts incoming water to steam.


The present invention relates to a data information display method of a data broadcasting receiver and an apparatus thereof, in particular to a data information display method of a data broadcasting receiver and an apparatus thereof which is capable of selecting a simple data information picture or a data information picture or a general television picture according to a viewer select in a digital data broadcasting, and knowing overall content of the present receiving data information without switching the present audition television picture into the data information picture when the viewer selects the simple data information picture. The present invention comprises a parsing unit for analyzing the data information, a summary information extracting unit as an additional module of the parsing unit for detecting the abridged data content of the data information, a formatting unit for formatting the data information outputted from the parsing unit in order to display it, a displaying unit for displaying and transmitting the data information formatted on the formatting unit to a screen, and a user interface for transmitting and receiving signals with the parsing unit according to the input of the viewer. Accordingly, the viewer can watch the television picture faithfully and at the same time can use the data appropriately also.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data information display method of a data broadcasting receiver and an apparatus thereof, and in particular to a data information display method of a data broadcasting receiver and an apparatus thereof which are capable of displaying data information corresponding to the present audition television picture as a simple data information picture without changing the size of the present audition television picture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a digital data broadcasting, additional data information is transmitted from a transmitter to a receiver with an A/V (Audio/Visual) stream for a television by using digital signals.
In the digital data broadcasting, the transmitter compacts separately the video and audio, encodes it, multiplexes it, and transmits the data stream to the receiver. Then the receiver receives the data stream, corrects all errors, decodes it, and demultiplexes it into the original video and audio.
In order to watch the digital data broadcasting, an additional data processing S/W program for a digital broadcasting (hereinafter, it is referred to as a data browser) is required for the receiver in order to process the A/V stream and data and to support collectively various kinds of user support services, and the format and function of the data browser is similar to the format and function of an internet web browser.
The internet web browser is a S/W program based on the internet. It comprises a plurality of internet protocols, a HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) document, a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Paser, a Java Script, a JAVA related engine, a formatting function for display, and its own program, and it supports most of e-mail protocols.
In addition, basic functions of the data browser used for the data information display apparatus of the data broadcasting receiver will now be described.
The data browser judges whether or not data is received related to the present audition broadcasting, detects the data when the data is received, informs the data receipt to a viewer by displaying an icon on a screen, and prepares a parsing, formatting, displaying of the received data information.
After that, when the viewer wants to watch the data information receiving at the present and selects a "television and data broadcasting simulcast audition" item by using a remote-controller or an external input device, the data information picture is displayed. When the viewer does not watch the receiving data information, the present audition general television picture is displayed.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the conventional data information display apparatus of the data broadcasting receiver. It comprises a tuner 10 for tuning signals received through an antenna, an A/V decoder unit 20 for converting the signal tuned on the tuner 10 into an A/V stream, a screen 30 for displaying the A/V stream outputted from the A/V decoder unit 20, a data receiving unit 40 (listener) for searching whether there is the data information among the signals tuned on the tuner 10, and a PE (Presentation Engine) unit 50 for parsing and formatting the data information detected by the data receiving unit 40 and outputting the data information having the displayable format to the screen 30.
Herein, the PE unit 50 comprises a user interface 57 for receiving an input signal of the viewer, a parsing unit 51 for receiving the user input signal though the user interface 57 and parsing the data information outputted from the data receiving unit 40, a formatting unit 53 for formatting the data information outputted from the parsing unit 51 in order to display, and a display unit 55 for processing the data information formatted on the formatting unit 53 so as to have the displayable format and transmitting it to the screen 30.
Herein, the parsing unit 51 parses the data information outputted from the data receiving unit 40 by using the HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) document, CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) Paser, Java Script, etc.
The operation of the data information display apparatus of the general data broadcasting receiver having the above-mentioned construction will now be described.
First, the signal received through the antenna is tuned on the tuner 10, the tuned A/V signal is outputted to the A/V decoder unit 20, and the A/V decoder unit 20 converts the tuned signal into the A/V stream. The A/V stream is displayed on the screen 30.
Meanwhile, the data receiving unit 40 detects whether there is data information among the signals tuned on the tuner 10, and stores it when the data information is detected. After that, when the viewer requests the data information output through the user interface 57 while the data receiving unit 40 receives the data information, the parsing unit 51 detects and parses the data information stored on the data receiving unit 40, and outputs the parsed data information. And, the formatting unit 53 formats the data information outputted from the parsing unit 51, and then the display unit 55 receives the data information formatted on the formatting unit 53, processes the formatted data so as to have the displayable format, and transmits it to the screen 30.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the general data information display method of the data broadcasting receiver. First, it is detected whether the data information is received among the signals tuned on the tuner 10 through the antenna (ST1). The general television picture is displayed when the data information is not detected (ST6). When the data information is detected, as depicted in FIG. 3A, the icon (for example, 'i') for indicating the presence of data information is displayed on the right upper portion of the screen 30 (ST2). At the same time, in order to output the received data information to the screen 30, the parsing, formatting, displaying are prepared (ST3). When the viewer selects the data information (ST4), in other words, when the viewer selects the "television and data information simulcast audition" icon through the remote-controller or external input device, as depicted in FIG. 3B, the data information is displayed on the screen 30 (ST5).
Meanwhile, when the viewer does not select the "television and data broadcasting simulcast audition" icon, the present audition general television picture is continually displayed (ST6).
FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate the general data information display method of the data broadcasting receiver, where the construction of the picture can be changed according to the setting of the viewer.
Generally, because the switching of the picture is differently defined according to the received data information, when the data information picture is displayed, the size of the present audition general television picture decreases or only the data information picture is displayed. But, the viewer can check the size of the data information picture only after switching into the data information picture.
In addition, when the general data information display apparatus of the data broadcasting receiver generates the icon for indicating the data information receipt, before the viewer selects the "television and data broadcasting simulcast audition" item by using the remote-controller or external input device, the viewer can not know the content of the data information received at the present.
In addition, when the viewer selects the "television and data broadcasting simulcast audition" item by using the remote-controller or external input device, the present audition television picture is switched into the television picture and data information picture, wherein an interrupt for replacing the present audition television picture occurs because the size of the present audition television picture has to be adjusted again. Accordingly, the present audition television picture can not be displayed for a certain time.
Therefore, when the present audition television picture is an important information, the viewer probably would not switch into the data information picture. Further, it is impossible to use the data information after a certain time. Accordingly the viewer can not check the data information finally.

Data information display method of data broadcasting receiver and apparatus thereof


An air bag apparatus includes a folded air bag, an inflator arranged to discharge a high pressure gas into the air bag at a collision of the vehicle, and a container member receiving the air bag, covering a non-deployment side of the air bag, and retaining the inflator. The container member includes a rigid base plate supporting the inflator and the air bag, covering one part of the non-deployment side of the air bag, and supporting a reaction force of the air bag at a deployment of the air bag, and a flexible panel including a connecting portion connected with the base plate, covering the other part of the non-deployment side of the air bag, and being arranged to restrict inflation of the air bag on the non-deployment side at the deployment of the air bag.

The present invention relates to an air bag apparatus arranged to protect an occupant at a collision of a vehicle, and an instrumental panel for supporting the air bag apparatus.
The air bag apparatus for absorbing the impact at the collision of the vehicle is installed inside the instrument panel of the vehicle compartment.
In the recent year, the social and technical request to reduce the weight of the overall vehicle is increased. That is, from a viewpoint of social requirement, the reduction in the emission gas of the vehicle is recognized as an important problem for the preservation of earth environment. It is considered that it is the most rational solution to improve fuel economy by the weight reduction of the vehicle. Therefore, it is requested to reduce the weight of whole components of the vehicle, and also the air bag apparatus.
From the viewpoint of the technical request, the air bag apparatuses are mounted to various parts of the vehicle because of the spread of a side air bag, a curtain air bag, and so on. Through the weight of one air bag apparatus does not have great effect, the weight of all the air bag apparatuses mounted on the vehicle can not be disregarded because many air bag apparatuses are mounted on the vehicle. Even if the air bag apparatuses for lessening or losing the occupant's injury may increase in number in the future, it is not thought that the number of the air bag apparatus decreases, therefore the needs for the art for the weight reduction are by no means small.
Moreover, from the viewpoint of the technical request, it is important to downsize the air bag apparatus. The progress of IT (Information technology) applies in the vehicle, and there is a request to bring an operation function and a control function together in the instrument panel. However, even in the conventional vehicles, the instrument panel has devices for vehicle control (for example, ECU), an air conditioner, and control devices for the air conditioner, and audio systems. Moreover, the air bag apparatus is disposed in the instrument panel, and it is in a difficult situation on a layout. In order to add IT devices and so on to such instrument panel, there are needs to miniaturize already-existing built-in apparatus more highly because there is a limit also in the size of an instrument panel naturally from the function.
For this reason, the development for attaining a weight saving, without spoiling the function of the air bag apparatus is progressing, and the air bag device aiming at a weight saving is also proposed, for example with patent documents 1, 2 and 3.
A patent document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-97162) shows an air bag apparatus including a folded air bag, a case having an upper chamber opened in an upper surface, and a lower chamber connected with a lower portion of the upper chamber, and an inflator received in the lower chamber.
The case is made of a sheet of metal plate by stamping with deep drawing. The folded air bag is received in the upper chamber.
The case includes a pair of flange portions each formed by bending from a periphery of the upper surface of the upper chamber. These flange portions are fixed to an instrument panel by fastening members to fix an upper part of the case. A bottom portion of the lower chamber is a vehicle body by fastening members to fix a lower part of the case. The case is made of a sheet of the metal sheet, and accordingly it is possible to reduce manufacturing cost and weight of the air bag apparatus.
A patent document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 1993 (H05)-193432) shows an air bag apparatus including an air bag, a inflator of cylinder type or bomb type, and a case having a reinforcement frame member made of metal, and a cover member made of resin material, and located inside the reinforcement frame member. The cover member has a substantially U-shaped cross section. The air bag is received in the case.
A fitting hole is formed in a first end surface of the reinforcement frame member. One end of the inflator is inserted from the fitting hole to the reinforcement frame member, and engaged with a keyhole formed in a second end surface of the reinforcement frame member. Consequently, the inflator is fixed to the reinforcement frame member. The inflator serves as a reinforcement member for the reinforcement frame member.
In the apparatus described in the patent document 2, part of the case is skeleton structure, and it is possible to downsize the air bag apparatus without spoiling the intensity of the case.
A patent document 3 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-165409) shows an air bag apparatus including a cylinder type or bomb type inflator, a pair of brackets, fixing members, and a separation cloth. Each end of the inflator is fixed to one bracket. Each fixing member connects between upper portions of the brackets. Each end of the separation cloth is retained, by claws, to one fixing member.
The separation cloth is suspended, in the form of U-shape, between the fixing members to cover a lower opening portion between the brackets. The folded air bag is received above the inflator.
The air bag apparatus described in the patent document 3 does not use the conventional metal case, and it is possible to achieve the light weight of the air bag apparatus.

Air bag apparatus and instrument panel structure for supporting air bag apparatus


A wheel rim processing machine which includes an oscillating table rotation base. A workbench is provided on an extending section of the oscillating table rotation base. A power source is provided on the work bench. A connecting element is connected to the workbench for connecting a power cylinder provided at a bottom side thereof and a plurality of gripping jaws lined with a griping jaw arrangement at a top side thereof. The connecting element is provided with an outer gear. The retaining arrangement on the connecting element has a connecting rod shaft element which is penetratedly fastened to the gripping jaw arrangement via pin elements. A block, which is provided below the connecting element at an inner side thereof, is connected to a pivot connecting element connected which retains the power cylinder below the connecting element via at least one screw element.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a wheel rim processing machine.
2. Description of Related Arts
Wheel rims are more or less indispensable components in the car industry. The wheel rims, whatever the size, play an important role and have been widely used in a car configuration.
A manufacturing process of a wheel rim mainly comprises the plurality of steps including a 1st Operation (OP1), a Pitch Circle Diameter (PCD), and a 2nd Operation (OP2), so as to process the raw materials of a wheel rim into a wheel rim with a desired rim pattern, as described in Taiwan patent I369301.
Referring to FIG. 8 of the drawings, in the manufacturing process of a conventional truck wheel rim 82, in order to obtain surface heat dissipating holes 83 with an incline angle of 15 to 45 degrees of the wheel rim 82, aiding equipment tool 8 with gripping jaws is employed to retain the wheel rim 82 in position. The wheel rim 82 is then adjusted to a position with a desired processing angle through the manual rotation of an operator, so that the heat dissipating holes 83 of the wheel rims 82 are formed in a milling process through the rotation of the tool 8 with the cooperation of a lathe. Therefore, the manufacturing procedures become more complex and the manufacturing costs are increased.
In a processing machine disclosed in Japanese patent publication 2007-176016 and US patent publication US2006270540, a work piece to be processed is milled into a finished product by means of shifting the axial angles of an oscillating table rotation base B of a machine body, together with multidirectional movements along X-axis, Y-axis, C-axis, and Z-axis. However, a wheel rim is not easy to be firmly held in position via this type of processing machine.
In view of the above disadvantages, combined with many years researching, designing, and practical manufacturing experiences in the related industry; a wheel rim processing machine developed for overcoming the disadvantages of the conventional structure is provided by the inventor herein in an aim of obtaining more practical utility value.


A housing accommodates a motor and a deceleration mechanism. The deceleration mechanism includes a support axis extending perpendicularly to an output shaft of the motor. The housing includes a case and a cover. The case is in a bottomed tubular shape to have an accommodation chamber and a holder portion. The holder portion surrounds a bottom of the accommodation chamber and is in contact with the motor. The cover is mounted to the case to surround an opening of the case and to form a hollow portion with the holder portion to accommodate at least the motor. The motor and the deceleration mechanism are mountable into the accommodation chamber through the opening in one direction from a side of a mounting surface of the case, on which the housing is to be affixed to a support portion of an affixing member.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a conventional intake air system including a variable intake air control valve and an actuator. The variable intake air control valve manipulates the length or the cross-sectional area of an intake passage to control intake air supplied to a combustion chamber of each cylinder of a multi-cylinder engine, such as a 4-cylinder engine, according to an operating condition of the engine. In this way, the variable intake air control valve enhances a charging efficiency of intake air to increase an engine power. The actuator drives multiple valves, which are valve elements of the variable intake air control valve.
For example, Patent Document 2 discloses an intake air system including a tumble control valve and an actuator. The tumble control valve generates a swirl flow (tumble flow) in a vertical direction in intake air supplied to a combustion chamber of each cylinder of a multi-cylinder engine, such as a 4-cylinder engine. In this way, the tumble control valve enhances combustion efficiency in the combustion chamber thereby to reduce fuel consumption and emission such as HC. The actuator drives multiple valves, which are valve elements of the tumble control valve.
(Patent Document 1)
Publication of unexamined Japanese patent application No. 2007-068378
(Patent Document 2)
Publication of unexamined Japanese patent application No. 2013-160164
It may be desirable in an actuator to reduce a number of components and/or to reduce manufacturing cost.

Actuator and method for manufacturing the same


A method and apparatus for configuring identity federation configuration. The method includes: acquiring a set of identity federation configuration properties of a first computing system and a set of identity federation configuration properties of a second computing system; identifying one or more pairs of associated properties in the first and the second sets, where the pairs of associated properties include one property from each set of identity federation configuration; displaying, properties that need to be configured manually from the each sets of identity federation configuration properties, where the properties that need to be configured manually do not include the property in any pair of associated properties for which the value can be derived from the value of another property in the pair; automatically assigning a property that can be derived from the value of another property; and providing each computing systems with each set of identity federation properties.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to identity federation configuration across computer systems.
Description of the Related Art
Identity federation is used for managing the identity and as well as resource-access authorization across computing systems. A typical example of access to cross-computing system resources is the application of cloud services. With the popularity of cloud services, more and more customers, such as enterprises, leverage cloud services to satisfy their business needs. Identity federation enables users to seamlessly access cross-domain applications, which provides a way for enterprises to access a variety of applications of cloud services using internal accounts of the enterprises. The work of configuring the identity federation at both sides of the enterprise and the cloud service is done by system administrator from the enterprise itself (or so-called "client administrator"). As providers of cloud services usually provide their cloud services in proprietary environments using proprietary data formats even in proprietary protocols, in other words, the enterprise and the cloud service provider may adopt different identity federation standards, and the style of user interface and the data format at the enterprise side may completely different from the cloud service side. Thus, the system administrator has to be familiar with not only the identity federation configuration standards and the user interface at the enterprise side, but also the identity federation configuration standards and the user interface at the cloud service side. Moreover, there are often a lot of repetitive data existing in the identity federation configuration of both sides, leading to unnecessary workload for the system administrator.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Configuring identity federation configuration

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION