A communication system provides for an active handoff of a voice call between a packet switched network and a circuit switched network. An active handoff from the packet switched network to the circuit switched network is accomplished by multicasting the call over forward links of both networks during the handoff. An active handoff from the circuit switched network to the packet switched network is accomplished by multicasting the call over reverse links of both networks during the handoff. The former handoff further may be facilitated by routing the call for each network through a same packet data control switch, and the latter handoff further may be facilitated by routing the call for each network through a same mobile switching center. In order for a subscriber unit to operate concurrently in both networks, the subscriber unit may comprise multiple transceivers or a single transceiver that is rapidly switched between the networks.

The evolution of cellular communications has resulted in a proliferation of networks of different technologies and corresponding different air interfaces. As a result, during the course of a single voice call, a wireless subscriber unit may roam among multiple networks, wherein each such network implements a different technology than the other networks of the multiple networks. Among the different network technologies are packet switched CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technologies, such as CDMA 2000 1XEV-DO (1X Evolution Data Only) or packet switched CDMA 1XRTT (1X Radio Transmission Technology), that are capable of providing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services, and conventional, or legacy, CDMA cellular communication technologies, such as a CDMA 1X, that provide circuit switched voice communication systems.
As the subscriber unit roams among a packet switched CDMA communication network and a circuit switched CDMA communication network, it may be beneficial to system performance to handoff the subscriber unit from the former network to the latter system performance to handoff the subscriber unit from the former network to the latter network or from the latter network to the former network. For example, the channel conditions associated with one such network may be more favorable than the channel conditions associated with the other such network due to such factors as fading, adjacent and co-channel interference, and available power at a serving base station (BS) or radio access network (RAN). By way of another example, an operator of both a packet switched CDMA network and a circuit switched CDMA network may desire to move the subscriber unit from one such network to the other such network for purposes of balancing system loading.
Currently, the only defined method for executing a handoff between a packet switched CDMA or WLAN network and a circuit switched CDMA network is an execution of a hard handoff, wherein a subscriber unit must drop a radio resource of a network of a first CDMA technology prior to acquiring a radio resource of a network of a second CDMA technology. A result is a brief period of time during which the subscriber unit is not actively engaged in a communication session with either network. Further, when executing a hard handoff there is no linkage between the two networks as the subscriber unit must drop the first network and acquire the second network without any assistance from the BS or RAN of either network. As a result, voice traffic may be lost during the handoff, resulting in poor system performance and efficiency and disgruntled end users.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for an active handoff of a voice call between a packet switched CDMA or WLAN network and a circuit switched CDMA network that assures that the subscriber unit is actively engaged in a communication session with at least one network at all times.

Method and apparatus for inter-system active handoff of a hybrid subscriber unit


An invention is disclosed for collecting information on a specification of a computer program. A plurality of classes is provided, where each class is capable of performing a particular task related to obtaining information from a specification. Then a command is received from a user. The command requests a particular task to be performed. A class is then selected from the plurality of classes based on the task requested by the received command, and the selected class is run. In this manner, information on the specification is obtained. The plurality of classes can include a get assertion class that obtains assertions from the specification, and a reporting class that provides information on test coverage of the specification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Java testing, and more particularly to automated Java specification tracking in a Java compatibility-testing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, Java environments can be categorized into various Java technologies. A Java technology is defined as a Java specification and its reference implementation. Examples of Java technologies are Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE), Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE), and Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP). As with most other types of Java software, a new Java technology should be tested to assure consistency across multiple platforms. This testing is generally performed using compatibility testing.
Compatibility testing refers to the methods used to test an implementation of a Java technology specification in order to assure consistency across multiple hardware platforms, operating systems, and other implementations of the same Java technology specification. When this assurance is accomplished by means of a formal process, application developers can then be confident that an application will run in a consistent manner across all tested implementations of the same Java technology specification. This consistent specification-based behavior is a primary function of compatibility testing.
Compatibility testing differs from traditional product testing in a number of ways. Unlike product testing, compatibility testing is not primarily concerned with robustness, performance, or ease of use. The primary purpose of Java compatibility testing is to determine whether an implementation of a technology is compliant with the specification of that technology.
Compatibility test development for a given feature relies on a complete specification and reference implementation for that feature. Compatibility testing is a means of ensuring correctness, completeness, and consistency across all implementations of a technology specification that are developed. The primary goal of compatibility testing is to provide the assurance that an application will run in a consistent manner across all tested implementations of a technology.
To determine if the implementation of a particular Java technology is compliant with the specification for the particular Java technology, technology compatibility kits (TCK) may be used. A TCK is a suite of tests, tools, and documentation that allows an implementor of a Java technology specification to determine if the implementation is compliant with the specification.
A TCK typically includes a Test Harness, defined as the applications and tools that are used for test execution and test suite management, and a TCK Test Suite, which is the composite of the actual test cases in a TCK that are executed to test an implementation. A TCK can also include documentation that includes the specific TCK usage procedures, and the compatibility testing requirements that apply to the related technology release (usually in the form of a TCK user's guide). Also, a description of the TCK appeals process can be included, as well as an audit process, which is used to better ensure the integrity of a consistent self-testing compatibility program.
As mentioned above, a TCK usually includes a TCK test suite, which is a set of tests designed to verify that an implementation of a Java technology complies with the appropriate specification. Each test in a TCK test suite is composed of one or more test cases that are designated by a test description. A test case is the source code and accompanying information designed to exercise one aspect of a specified assertion. Accompanying information may include test documentation, auxiliary data files and other resources used by the source code.
In order to be complete, a test suite includes a test case to verify each and every testable assertion that is made by the API specification. Test developers must review the actual specification document and generate at least one test case for each testable assertion that appears in the API specification.
Unfortunately, the conventional method for determining assertions for a particular specification is a laborious process involving a manual inspection of the specification. Prior to the test design stage during conventional testing, the test developer must scan through the specification and split the entire text into logical statements. Each logical statement then needs to be examined by type to indicate if it is a testable assertion.
Of course, the process of manually inspecting the specification is a time consuming process prone to errors. Moreover, since one of the most important issues of the TCK development process is to keep TCK tests synchronized with their technology's current API specification, the manual inspection process is exacerbated whenever the specification changes. Upon any specification change, the corresponding TCK tests must be revised and corrected if their functionality has been affected by the change. To accomplish this, the specification must be re-inspected to confirm the current assertions and determine if particular assertions should be removed or additional assertions should be added.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for methods for tracking the specification to determine assertions. Preferably, the methods should be automated, and should provide tracking between different versions of a specification to identify TCK test that are affected by each change assertion.

System and method for specification tracking in a Java compatibility testing environment


A cutting tool for cutting jacketed pipes and other cylindrical objects comprising a handle attached to a guide and a blade translatably and rotatably secured within the handle. The blade is mounted to a blade mounting assembly. The blade mounting assembly is biased towards the guide by a spring. Extension of the blade in the direction of the guide is limited by an engagement arm of the blade mounting assembly which may be placed in slots radiating in different directions in the free end of the handle. Thus, the blade may be securely positioned at differing amounts of extension and at differing angles with respect to the handle.

Pipes, electrical wires, and the like often comprise an inner core covered by jacketing or insulating material. In the case of pipes it may be desirable to jacket the pipe with such material so as to insulate the pipe, to protect the pipe from damage from external sources, or to provide a secondary containment system for the pipe. Electrical wires, including coaxial cable, require jacketing insulation so as to avoid the possibility of short circuits.
The use of a jacketing material for pipes is of great use in providing a secondary containment system for the materials transported via the pipe, as well as in providing for a means to determine whether a failure or leakage of the primary pipe has occurred. This is accomplished by providing a jacketing material with an inner diameter greater than the outer diameter of the pipe so as to allow fluids which leak from the primary pipe to be contained within the void between the pipe and the jacketing material. Allowing such fluids to drain to a sump, and periodically inspecting the sump for fluid, provides a convenient method of determining if a pipe has failed or is otherwise leaking.
Although referred to as pipe, the conduit may be flexible and be considered a hose.
It is often necessary to couple together sections or links of such pipes, wires, or other jacketed material. To do so generally requires cutting through both the jacketing material and the pipe or wire to provide a mating surface perpendicular to the axis of the pipe or wire, and then to strip or remove portions of the jacketing material near an end so as to expose a portion of the pipe or wire to allow for the coupling of sections of the pipe or wire. In the case of pipes, it is of great importance not to puncture or otherwise damage the pipe when removing the jacketing material so as to avoid pipe failures and leaks. Similarly, it is undesirable to damage wires when removing insulation material from the wires as a loss of conductivity may occur.
One simple tool which may be used to perfume the described operation is a knife. A simple knife, however, provides no means to ensure that the primary pipe or wire is not cut or damaged while removing a portion of the jacketing material. Moreover, the user of the knife may be injured due to the exposed blade of the knife.
Cutting tools in which a cutting blade may be set at various distances via the use of set screws and the like are also known in the art. Such tools, however, require the operator to accurately set the blade location so as to avoid damaging the primary pipe. If the user is unaware of the specific dimensions of the pipe and the jacketing material, such an operation may be difficult. Additionally, the jacketing material may be such that multiple cuts through the jacketing material must be performed. In such a situation, the operator must adjust the position of the cutting blade multiple times.
Additionally, for ease of removal of the jacketing material, it is often desirable to longitudinally cut through the jacketing material in addition to making a circumferential cut. A longitudinal cut allows the jacketing material to be more easily removed. A cutting tool which provides the capability to cut both latitudinally and longitudinally through the use of separate blades set via set screws is known in the art. Such a tool, however, suffers from disadvantages associated with the use of set screws and requires a plurality of blades.
Thus, a cutting tool which allows an operator to safely cut a pipe and easily remove jacketing material from the pipe while not risking damage to the pipe is desirable.


An oil pump system and method of a hybrid vehicle stably supplies an operating hydraulic pressure to an automatic transmission using only an electric oil pump. The oil pump system of the hybrid vehicle, which supplies an operating hydraulic pressure to an automatic transmission of the hybrid vehicle, includes: an automatic transmission control unit controlling operation of the automatic transmission; an electric oil pump pumping oil to generate an operating hydraulic pressure which is to be supplied to the automatic transmission; and an oil pump control unit receiving information on a state of the automatic transmission from the automatic transmission control unit and controlling operation of the electric oil pump. The operating hydraulic pressure supplied to the automatic transmission may be generated solely through the electric oil pump which is electrically operated.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an oil pump system of a hybrid vehicle and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly, to an oil pump system of a hybrid vehicle, which is provided to supply a hydraulic pressure to an automatic transmission using only an electric oil pump, and a method for controlling the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an automatic transmission is connected to an oil pump system for supplying an operating hydraulic pressure to the automatic transmission. The oil pump system includes one or more oil pumps.
Conventionally, an oil pump system which supplies an operating hydraulic pressure to an automatic transmission using a mechanical oil pump and an electric oil pump together has been mainly used. In particular, hybrid vehicles have mainly employed a control method of an oil pump system, which divides a running state of a vehicle into a stoppage section, a low-speed section, and a high-speed section, and selectively operates a mechanical oil pump and an electric oil pump. According to the control method of the oil pump system, only the electric oil pump may be operated during the stoppage section, the mechanical oil pump and the electric oil pump may be simultaneously operated during the low-velocity section, and only the mechanical oil pump may be operated during the high-velocity section.
However, when two or more oil pumps such as the mechanical oil pump and the electric oil pump are used, the production cost may excessively increase. Furthermore, the mechanical oil pump operated by driving torque of an engine may serve as a factor having a bad influence on the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. When one of the mechanical oil pump and the electric oil pump is omitted, an operating hydraulic pressure may not be stably supplied to the automatic transmission. In particular, when only the electric oil pump is used, it is not easy to perform a control operation for dealing with a defect which may occur in supplying a hydraulic pressure to the automatic transmission, due to a trouble of a solenoid or the like. Furthermore, when a hydraulic pressure required for the electric oil pump is set to be fixed to an excessively high hydraulic pressure at the time at which a hydraulic pressure supply defect occurs, power may be wasted to drive the electric oil pump, and parts may be damaged by over-current.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Oil pump system of hybrid vehicle and method for controlling the same


A cartridge for a firearm includes a cavity at the rear end with an inwardly extending flange. The cartridge includes a cylindrical member having a first end for receiving a bullet and a second end defining a second end wall having an aperture. The second end of the cylindrical member includes a flange portion and defines a cavity with an inwardly extending flange around the circumference of an outer end of the cavity. The flange has an inwardly angled surface which is at an angle sufficient to allow an extractor member, associated with a firearm, to engage the cavity behind the flange.

It is a continuing goal of firearm manufacturers to increase the performance level of their products. It is often a goal to increase the velocity of the bullet exiting the firearm.
A typical firearm includes a barrel, a receiver, and a breech block or bolt. The barrel is generally a tubular member out of which the bullet exits after firing. The receiver of the weapon is connected to the barrel and the ammunition is placed into an opening or chamber in the receiver prior to firing. The ammunition may be placed in the chamber either manually or automatically, with the use of a magazine. The ammunition is placed in the chamber of the receiver so that the bullet faces the entrance to the barrel. The rear end of the ammunition, which generally houses gun powder, faces the bolt or breech block. The bolt or breech block typically houses the firing pin which is used to ignite the primer in the ammunition. The primer then ignites the gun powder. The bolt or breech block is also used to close off the rear end of the ammunition so that when the ammunition is fired, the bullet goes out the barrel, not through the rear end of the firearm.
There are two types of ammunition which are commonly used, caseless cartridges and cartridges with cases. With both types of ammunition, the gun powder is usually ignited by a primer which is located on an outside surface of the ammunition. With rim-fired ammunition, the primer charge is located around the rim, or external edge, of the ammunition. With center-fire ammunition, the primer is located in the rear of the ammunition in the vicinity of the bolt.
With caseless ammunition, the projectile exits through the barrel of the gun so that after the ammunition is fired, nothing remains in the chamber of the receiver. With cartridges with cases, the projectile or bullet exits through the barrel and the empty casing remains in the receiver. In both cases, there is a need to extract the remaining ammunition from the receiver in order to fire another round of ammunition. With caseless ammunition, there is a possibility that the ammunition in the receiver chamber will misfire and will require manual removal. With cartridge cases, the empty casing must be removed before the next cartridge can enter the receiver chamber. Therefore, it is known to provide means for extracting both caseless ammunition which has misfired and empty casings from the chamber of the receiver of the weapon. With automatic or semi-automatic weapons, the extractor works in combination with an ejector to automatically eject the casing from the chamber. An ejector arm in the receiver strikes the case from the side, ejecting it out a port in the receiver.
There are several ways to extract casings and misfired ammunition from the chamber of the receiver. The first involves the use of external extractors and the second involves the use of internal extractors.
With external extractors, the cartridge casing or caseless cartridge typically includes a rim or exterior groove on the cartridge for gripping by an extractor. The rim or groove may also be used for positioning and maintaining the cartridge in the chamber. For proper extractor functioning, the rim or groove must be accessible from the face of the bolt to enable the extractor to grip the rim or groove. When the extractor is positioned behind the rim or within the groove on the cartridge and the bolt is moved rearward within the receiver of the gun, the cartridge may be removed from the chamber either manually or automatically.
One problem which is associated with cartridges used with external extractors is that the rim or groove may cause a weakened or defective cartridge to fracture along the rim or groove during firing. When the cartridge fractures during firing, the cartridge explodes or blows back into the weapon receiver. This may result in damage to the weapon and injury to the user. The likelihood of blow-back is more common with reloaded ammunition where firings have weakened the cartridge. In order to avoid damage to the weapon and the user from blowback, conventional weapons with external extraction have bolt ends which have a diameter greater than the cartridge case head at the rear of the cartridge so that the extractor can grab the external rim for extraction. Receivers for conventional weapons must be sized to accommodate these bolt ends, which results in heavy bolts with proportionally larger receivers. The combination results in a heavy weapon. Cartridge diameter along with bullet weight has, therefore, been an important factor in the design of firearms, which for lighter weapons means smaller diameter cartridges.
In conflict with the desire to keep weight down has been the desire to increase bullet velocity. A shorter, wider cartridge case is more efficient than a longer, narrower cartridge case of the same powder capacity. A shorter, wider cartridge case has a larger powder surface area to burn. A longer, narrower cartridge case, at the moment of ignition, requires greater energy to push the unburned powder weight along with the bullet weight through the throat of the barrel. A shorter, wider case reduces the height of the column of powder that is pushed with the bullet. The result, with the shorter wider casing, is more efficient energy utilization and higher bullet velocity from the same weight of powder.
A greater powder burn area and a shorter powder column also provides for a faster, more complete burn, driving a greater burn efficiency that also translates to an increase in gas production and a greater bullet velocity. In earlier cartridges, greater powder charges have been used to produce higher bullet velocities, but this creates a pressure condition in the cartridge case which can result in blowback.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a weapon with a shorter, wider cartridge case, but without increasing the size and weight of the weapon.
U.S. Pat. No. 29,836 to Maxim, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,017 to Hurlemann et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,016 to Smith describe external extractors. U.S. Pat. Nos. 125,830 to Milbank, 674,751 to Bailey, 2,083,665 to Pihl et al., 2,573,451 to Keller et al., and 4,149,465 to Verkozen describe ammunition cartridges which incorporate an external rim or groove for external extraction.
With internal extractors, the cartridge casing or caseless cartridge typically includes a rim or groove on the interior of the end of the cartridge for gripping by an internal extractor. With internal extractors, the end of the extractor and bolt end may be inserted into a cavity inside the cartridge so that the bolt end fits closely in the cavity of the cartridge. This may reduce the likelihood of blowback.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,713,954 to Destree describes an internal extractor for use with a cartridge having an inwardly extending flange at the bolt end. The extractor in this invention is part of the firing pin so that the extractor/firing pin strikes the primer in a cavity of the cartridge. The extractor/firing pin is biased upwardly and the extractor end of the firing pin has an angled edge. When the extractor/firing pin is being inserted into the cartridge, a sloped surface on an upper edge of the extractor/firing pin engages the flange on the cartridge against the upward force of a spring which allows the extractor/firing pin to enter the cavity of the cartridge. Once the extractor/firing pin has passed by the flange, the spring forces the extractor/firing pin upward to engage the cavity behind the flange so that the casing may be removed from the chamber after firing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,242 to Wiese describes an internal extractor which is pivoted upward to engage a flange formed on the rear end of the projectile when the firing pin moves forward to fire the charge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,838 to Civolani describes an ejector for use with caseless cartridges in conjunction with a cartridge design. The ejector engages an interior surface of the cartridge to hold the cartridge in position when the cartridge has not fired but allows the cartridge to exit the barrel when the charge in the cartridge is fired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,064 to Marzocco describes an internal extractor in combination with a cartridge where the extractor extends from the face of the bolt to engage an inner chamber of a caseless cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,246 to Woodring discloses a caseless cartridge having an inwardly extending flange at one end of the cartridge for engaging an extractor.
Among other things, it is desirable to provide an improved extractor system wherein the end of the bolt and the extractor effectively enter the cavity of the cartridge. It is, likewise, preferred to provide a cartridge which is the same diameter as the bolt. It is also desirable to provide an extractor which exerts a positive rotational force on the cartridge to more reliably remove the cartridge from the chamber. In addition, it is desirable to provide a method for manufacturing a cartridge for use with internal extraction. Further, it is desirable to provide a reinforced receiver for mating with the barrel which reduces the amount of machining necessary to provide a precision fit between the barrel and receiver and to further reinforce the chamber of the firearm.


Stevia extracts with selected major steviol glycosides (Reb A, stevioside, Reb D, Reb C) and minor steviol glycosides and glycosylated diterpene derivative plant molecules, derived from Stevia rebaudiana plant are found to improve the perception of flavor and taste perception, which includes the sweet, savory and salty perception in a wide range of food and beverage applications.

High intensity sweeteners possess sweetness level many times exceeding that of sucrose. They are essentially non-caloric and used widely in manufacturing of diet and reduced calorie food. Although natural caloric sweetener such as sucrose, fructose, and glucose provide the most desirable taste to consumers, they are caloric. High intensity sweeteners do not affect the blood glucose level and provide little or no nutritive value.
However, high intensity sweeteners that generally are used as substitutes for sucrose possess taste characteristics different than that of sugar, such as sweet taste with different temporal profile, maximal response, flavor profile, mouthfeel, and/or adaptation behavior than that of sugar. For example, the sweet taste of some high-potency sweeteners is slower in onset and longer in duration than that of sugar and thus changes the taste balance of a food composition. Because of these differences, usage of high-potency sweetener in replacing such a bulk sweetener as sugar in a food or beverage causes imbalance in temporal and/or flavor profile. If the taste profile of high-potency sweeteners could be modified to impart desired taste characteristics, it can provide low calorie beverages and food products with taste characteristics more desirable for consumers. To attain the sugar-like temporal and/or flavor profile, several ingredients have been suggested in different publications.
Non-limiting examples of synthetic sweeteners include sucralose, potassium acesulfame, aspartame, alitame, saccharin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone synthetic derivatives, cyclamate, neotame, dulcin, suosan, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)propyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-3-methylbutyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, N—[N-[3-(3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)propyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, salts thereof, and the like.
Non-limiting examples of natural high intensity sweeteners include Stevioside, Rebaudioside A, Rebaudioside B, Rebaudioside C, Rebaudioside E, Rebaudioside F, Steviolbioside, Dulcoside A, Rubusoside, mogrosides, brazzein, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC), glycyrrhizic acid and its salts, thaumatin, perillartine, pernandulcin, mukuroziosides, baiyunoside, phlomisoside-I, dimethyl-hexahydrofluorene-dicarboxylic acid, abrusosides, periandrin, carnosiflosides, cyclocarioside, pterocaryosides, polypodoside A, brazilin, hernandulcin, phillodulcin, glycyphyllin, phlorizin, trilobatin, dihydroflavonol, dihydroquercetin-3-acetate, neoastilibin, trans-cinnamaldehyde, monatin and its salts, selligueain A, hematoxylin, monellin, osladin, pterocaryoside A, pterocaryoside B, mabinlin, pentadin, miraculin, curculin, neoculin, chlorogenic acid, cynarin, siamenoside and others.
High intensity sweeteners can be derived from the modification of natural high intensity sweeteners, for example, by fermentation, enzymatic treatment, or derivatization.
A growing number of consumers perceive the ability to control their health by enhancing their current health and/or hedging against future diseases. This creates a demand for food products with enhanced characteristics and associated health benefits, specifically a food and consumer market trend towards "whole health solutions" lifestyle. The term "natural" is highly emotive in the world of sweeteners and has been identified as one of key trust, along with "whole grains", "heart-healthy" and "low-sodium". 'Natural' term is closely related to 'healthier'.
Stevia rebaudiana is a perennial shrub of the Asteraceae (Compositae) family native to certain regions of South America. The leaves of the plant contain from 10 to 20% of diterpene glycosides, which are around 150 to 450 times sweeter than sugar. The leaves have been traditionally used for hundreds of years in Paraguay and Brazil to sweeten local beverages, foods and medicines.
At present there are more than 230 Stevia species with significant sweetening properties. The plant has been successfully grown under a wide range of conditions from its native subtropics to the cold northern latitudes.
Steviol glycosides have zero calories and can be used wherever sugar is used. They are ideal for diabetic and low calorie diets. In addition, the sweet steviol glycosides possess functional and sensory properties superior to those of many high potency sweeteners.
The extract of Stevia rebaudiana plant contains a mixture of different sweet diterpene glycosides, which have a single base—steviol and differ by the presence of carbohydrate residues at positions C13 and C19. These glycosides accumulate in Stevia leaves and compose approximately 10%-20% of the total dry weight. Typically, on a dry weight basis, the four major glycosides found in the leaves of Stevia are Dulcoside A (0.3%), Rebaudioside C (0.6%), Rebaudioside A (3.8%) and Stevioside (9.1%). Other glycosides identified in Stevia extract include Rebaudioside B, C, D, E, and F, Steviolbioside and Rubusoside (FIG. 1).
The chemical structures of the diterpene glycosides of Stevia rebaudiana are presented in FIG. 1. The physical and sensory properties are well studied only for Stevioside and Rebaudioside A. The sweetness potency of Stevioside is around 210 times higher than sucrose, Rebaudioside A around 300 times, and Rebaudioside C and Dulcoside A around 30 times. The Stevia extract containing Rebaudioside A and Stevioside as major components showed sweetness potency around 250 times. Rebaudioside A and Rebaudioside D are considered to have most favorable sensory attributes of all major Steviol Glycosides (TABLE 1).
TABLE 1TMelt, Mol.Solubility in RelativeQuality NameFormula° C.Weightwater, %sweetnessof tasteSteviolC20H30O3212-213318.45NDNDVery bitterSteviolmonosideC26H40O8ND480.58NDNDNDSteviosideC38H60O18196-198804.880.13210BitterRebaudioside AC44H70O23242-244967.010.80200-400Less BitterRebaudioside BC38H60O18193-195804.880.10150BitterRebaudioside CC44H70O22215-217951.010.2130BitterRebaudioside DC50H80O28248-2491129.151.00220Like sucroseRebaudioside EC44H70O23205-207967.011.70170Like sucroseRebaudioside FC43H68O22ND936.99NDNDNDDulcoside AC38H60O17193-195788.870.5830Very bitterSteviolbiosideC32H50O13188-192642.730.0390UnpleasantRubusosideC32H50O13ND642.73ND110Very bitter
In addition to the commercially known steviol glycosides (Table 1), several new steviol glycosides (glycosylated diterpene) have been found in stevia leaf extracts, as shown in Table 2a.
TABLE 2aSummary of formula and R-groups of identified steviol glycosides(see FIG. 1 for backbone structure)Common TrivialMol.#nameformulaWt.R1R2Reference1. Steviol + Glucose (SvGn)1.1SteviolmonosideSvG1481HGlcβ1-Ohta et al.(2010)1.2SteviolmonosideSvG1481Glcβ1-HGardena etAal. (2010)1.3RubusosideSvG2643Glcβ1-Glcβ1-Ohta et al.(2010)1.4SteviolbiosideSvG2643HGlcβ(1-2)Kohda etGlcβ1-al. (1976)1.5SteviosideSvG3805Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Bridel &Glcβ1-Lavielle(1931)1.6Stevioside ASvG3805Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ1-Wu et al.Glcβ1-(2012)1.7Rebaudioside BSvG3805HGlcβ(1-2)Kohda et[Glcβ(1-3)]al. (1976)Glcβ1-1.8Rebaudioside GSvG3805Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-3)Ohta et al.Glcβ1-(2010)1.9Stevioside BSvG3805Glcβ(1-3)Glcβ1-ChaturvedulaGlcβ1-& Zamora(2014)1.10Rebaudioside ESvG4967Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)SakamotoGlcβ1-Glcβ1-et al.(1977a)1.11Rebaudioside ASvG4967Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Kohda et[Glcβ(1-3)]al. (1976)Glcβ1-1.12Rebaudioside A2SvG4967Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-6)ChaturvedulaGlcβ(1-2)& PrakashGlcβ1-(2011d)1.13Rebaudioside DSvG51129Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)SakamotoGlcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)]et al.Glcβ1-(1977a)1.14Rebaudioside ISvG51129Glcβ(1-3)Glcβ(1-2)Ohta et al.Glcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-1.15Rebaudioside LSvG51129Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-6)Ohta et al.Glcβ(1-2)(2010)[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-1.16Rebaudioside Q2SvG51129Glcα(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)ChaturvedulaGlcα(1-4)Glcβ1-& PrakashGlcβ1-(2011c)1.17Rebaudioside QSvG51129Glcβ1-Glcα(1-4)—Glcβ(1-2)[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-1.18Rebaudioside I2SvG51129Glcβ1-Glcα(1-3)ChaturvedulaGlcβ(1-2)et al.[Glcβ(1-3)](2011c)Glcβ1-1.19Rebaudioside Q3SvG51129Glcβ1-Glcα(1-4)ChaturvedulaGlcβ(1-3)et al.[Glcβ(1-2)](2011c)Glcβ1-1.20Rebaudioside I3SvG51129Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)Chaturvedula[Glcβ(1-6)]Glcβ1-et al.Glcβ1-(2011c)1.21Rebaudioside MSvG61291Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)Ohta et al.[Glcβ(1-3)][Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-Glcβ1-2. Steviol + Rhamnose + Glucose (SvR1Gn)2.1Dulcoside ASvR1G2789Glcβ1-Rhaα(1-2)KobayashiGlcβ1-et al.(1977)2.2Dulcoside BSvR1G2789HRhaα(1-2)Ohta et al.[Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-2.3Rebaudioside CSvR1G3951Glcβ1-Rhaα(1-2)Sakamoto[Glcβ(1-3)]et al.Glcβ1-(1977b)2.4RebaudiosideSvR1G3951Rhaα(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaC2aGlcβ1-Glcβ1-(2016)2.5Rebaudioside SSvR1G3951Rhaα(1-2)Glcα(1-2)Ibrahim etGlcβ1-Glcβ1-al (2016)2.6Rebaudioside HSvR1G41112Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-3)Ohta et al.Rhaα(1-2)](2010)[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-2.7Rebaudioside KSvR1G41112Glcβ(1-2)Rhaα(1-2)Ohta et al.Glcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-2.8Rebaudioside JSvR1G41112Rhaα(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)Ohta et al.Glcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-2.9Rebaudioside NSvR1G51274Rhaα(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)Ohta et al.[Glcβ(1-3)][Glcβ(1-3)](2010)Glcβ1-Glcβ1-2.10Rebaudioside OSvR1G61436Glcβ(1-3)Glcβ(1-2)Ohta et al.Rhaα(1-2)[Glcβ(1-3)](2010)[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-Glcβ1-2.11RebaudiosideSvR1G61436Glcβ(1-4*)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaO2aRhaα(1-2)[Glcβ(1-3)](2016)[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-Glcβ1-2.12RebaudiosideSvR1G41112Glcβ(1-6)Rhaα(1-2)PurkayasthaK2aGlcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-3. Steviol + Xylose + Glucose (SvX1Gn)3.1Stevioside FSvX1G2775Glcβ1-Xylβ(1-2)ChaturvedulaGlcβ1-& Prakash(2011b)3.2Rebaudioside FSvX1G3937Glcβ1-Xylβ(1-2)Starratt et[Glcβ(1-3)]al. (2002)Glcβ1-3.3Rebaudioside F2SvX1G3937Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Chaturvedula[Xylβ(1-3)]& PrakashGlcβ1-(2011b)3.4Rebaudioside F3SvX1G3937Xylβ(1-6)Glcβ(1-2)ChaturvedulaGlcβ1-Glcβ1-et al.(2011d)3.5Rebaudioside RSvX1G3937Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Ibrahim et[Glcβ(1-3)]al (2016)Xylβ1-3.6RebaudiosideSvX1G41099Xylβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaUaGlcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-3.7RebaudiosideSvX1G41099Xylβ(1-2*)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaU2a[Glcβ(1-3)]Glcβ1-(2016)Glcβ1-3.8RebaudiosideSvX1G51261Glcβ(1-2)Xylβ(1-2*)PurkayasthaVa[Glcβ(1-3)][Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-Glcβ1-3.9RebaudiosideSvX1G51261Xylβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)Prakash &V2a[Glcβ(1-3)][Glcβ(1-3)]ChaturvedulaGlcβ1-Glcβ1-(2013)4. Steviol + Arabinose + Glucose (SvA1Gn)4.1RebaudiosideSvA1G41098Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaWa[Araβ(1-3*)]Glcβ1-(2016)Glcβ1-4.2RebaudiosideSvA1G41098Araβ(1-2*)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaW2aGlcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-4.3RebaudiosideSvA1G41098Araβ(1-6)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaW3aGlcβ1-[Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-4.4RebaudiosideSvA1G51260Glcβ(1-2)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaYa[Araβ(1-3*)][Glcβ(1-3)](2016)Glcβ1-Glcβ1-5. Steviol + Fructose + Glucose (SvF1Gn)5.1Rebaudioside A3SvF1G3967Glcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Chaturvedula[Fruβ(1-3)]et al.Glcβ1-(2011b)6. Steviol + galactose + Glucose (SvGa1Gn)6.1RebaudiosideSvGa1G41128Glcβ(1-2*)Glcβ(1-2)PurkayasthaTaGlcβ1[Glcβ(1-3)](2016){circumflex over ( )}Glcβ1-7. Steviol + de-oxy glucose + Glucose (SvdG1Gn)7.1Stevioside DSvdG1G2789Glcβ1-6-deoxyGlcβChaturvedula(1-2)& PrakashGlcβ1-(2011a)7.2Stevisoide ESvdG1G3951Glcβ1-6-deoxyGlcβChaturvedula(1-2)& Prakash[Glcβ(1-3)](2011a)Glcβ1-7.3Stevioside E2SvdG1G39516-deoxyGlcβ1-Glcβ(1-2)Chaturvedula[Glcβ(1-3)]et al.Glcβ1-(2011e)
Besides diterpene glycosides, a number of flavonoids, labdane diterpene, triterpenes, sterols, and volatile oils have also been found in the extracts of Stevia rebaudiana, collectively referred to as plant molecules, as shown in Table 2b.
TABLE 2bChemicalClassesChemical ComponentsMonoterpenoidsBorneolDiterpenoidsAustroinulin, 6-0-acetyl austroinulin, 6-acetylaustroinulin 7-0-acetyl austroinulin, SterebinA, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, JhanolTriterpenoidsAmyrin beta acetateSesquiterpenesα-bergamotene, Bisabolene, β-bourbonene,δ -cadinene, γ -cadineneEssential oilsβ-caryophyllene, Trans β-tarnesene, α-humulene,δ-cadiene caryophyllene oxide, Nerolidol, Linalol,α-terpineol, Terpinen-4-olSterolStigmasterol, β-sitosterol, CampesterolderivativesFlavonoidsGlucosyl-4′-O-apigenin, Glucosyl-7-O-luteolin,Rhamnosyl-3-O-kaempferol, Quercetin, Glucosyl-3-O-quercetin, Arabinosyl-3-O-quercetin, 5,7,3′-methoxyflavone, 3,6,4′-methoxyflavone,Centaureidin, avicularin
All steviol glycosides provide sweetness and other taste attributes at a higher than certain threshold level of concentrations in water. Below the threshold level of concentration, the steviol glycoside components and their mixtures as found in a typical non-limiting stevia extract as shown below has no recognizable sweetness taste. But such stevia extract below the threshold level of significant sweetness recognition show remarkable characteristics of sweet and flavor profile modification in food and beverage applications.
This invention relates to use of the following stevia extracts (Table 3) with the varying level of different steviol glycosides and other stevia plant-derived glycosides, the combination of which contributes no significant sweetness but modifies flavor and sweetness profile at certain concentration in typical food and beverage applications.
TABLE 3MinorSteviolGlycosidesandSteviol Glycosides*, %relatedSteviaStevio-Dulco-Rubu-Steviol-TSG*plantExtractsReb AsideReb DReb FReb Cside A sosideReb BbiosideReb EReb NReb O(%)moleculesPCS-500110-204-121-4 1-510-251-51-40.5-50.5-5  1-40.5-4  0.5-4  45-6535-50PCS-101518-255-108-200-11-30-10-10.5-50-12-64-83-855-6535-45PSB-500515-303-121-100-5 5-150-50-5  0-80-50-50-60-545-70 30-55%*TSG or Total Steviol Glycosides contain the Steviol Glycosides that are recognized by Codex Alimentarius (a commission of FAO and WHO) and major regulatory authorities
The present invention also relates to the stevia extracts that contain major steviol glycosides (Table 3) and other minor steviol glycosides and glycosylated diterpene derivatives (water soluble molecules). The non-limiting examples of such minor molecules are Reb E, Reb G, Reb H, Reb I, Reb K, Reb L, Reb M, Reb N, Reb O (M. Ohta, S. Sasa, A. Inoue, et al. "Characterization of Novel Steviol Glycosides from Leaves of Stevia rebaudiana Morita." J. Appl. Glycosci., 57, 199-209 (2010)).
The present invention is also directed to a method of making a specific stevia extract composition, including: extracting steviol glycosides and other water soluble molecules from leaves of a Stevia rebaudiana plant, and separating the excess steviol glycosides than the amount and type of steviol glycosides required to contribute the taste and flavor modifying characteristics of the stevia extract.
This invention combine the different natural sweeteners, especially steviol glycosides in certain proportion along with other water soluble molecules to provide enhanced sweetness and flavor profile in food and beverage application, which can be blended with other natural caloric sweeteners to impart more desirable sweetness profile. Non-limiting examples of caloric sweeteners include dextrose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, corn syrup, gluco-syrup derived from different carbohydrates, cane syrup, flavored sugar, honey, molasses,
This invention combine the different natural sweeteners, especially steviol glycosides in certain proportion along with other water soluble molecules to provide enhanced sweetness and flavor profile in food and beverage application, which can be blended with other natural non-caloric sweeteners to impart more desirable sweetness profile. Non-limiting examples of natural high intensity sweeteners include steviol glycosides, brazzein, monatin and its salt, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC), glycyrrhizic acid and its salts, thaumatin, mogrosides and lu han guo extracts, perillartine, mabinlin, pentadin, miraculin, curculin, neoculin, chlorogenic acid, cynarin, siamenoside and others.
This invention combine the different natural sweeteners, especially steviol glycosides in certain proportion along with other water soluble molecules to provide enhanced sweetness and flavor profile in food and beverage application, which can be blended with other synthetic non-caloric sweeteners to impart more desirable sweetness profile. Non-limiting examples of synthetic sweeteners include sucralose, potassium acesulfame, aspartame, alitame, advantame, saccharin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone synthetic derivatives, cyclamate, neotame, dulcin, suosan, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)propyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, N—[N-[3-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-3-methylbutyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, N—[N-[3-(3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)propyl]-L-α-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester, salts thereof, and the like.

Stevia extract containing selected steviol glycosides as flavor, salty and sweetness profile modifier


Example embodiments relate to autonomous metric tracking and adjustment. In some examples, a computing node may include a processor to run a main operating system and an application that runs on top of the main operating system. The computing node may include a hardware-level controller that dynamically adjusts individual hardware components of the computing node via control signals that do not pass through the main operating system. The adjustments may be based on a target metric from a scheduling service external to the computing node and individual performance metrics from the computing node.

A common goal of IT and application administrators of large infrastructures is to balance various performance goals, for example, such as maximizing the execution of tasks/operations and minimizing operating costs (e.g., energy/power consumption, etc.).
A distributed application is a software program that is composed of multiple individual parts running in a coordinated manner on multiple networked computing nodes. These parts may collectively contribute to a unified objective, such as serving web pages, running a distributed database, and running a high-performance computing (HPC) task.

Autonomous metric tracking and adjustment

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A liquid fertilizer is described. The fertilizer comprises a mixture of soluble and insoluble forms of nutrients. The fertilizer provides both quick release and slow release nutrients to plants, meaning that a single application of the fertilizer supplies nutrients to growing plants for an extended period of time, from 1-28 days.

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur are the primary elements essential to all life. Soils contain all of these elements in addition to other macro and micronutrients which are needed for plant growth. Typically, such elements are not present in the soil in sufficient quantity or in forms that can support maximum plant growth and yield. In order to overcome these deficiencies, fertilizers having specific chemical constituents in specific amounts are often added to the soil, thereby enriching the growth medium. The fertilizers may be supplemented with certain trace elements such as copper, iron, manganese, zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, and boron, as oxides or salts containing the elements in the cationic form.
Agriculturally, metal ions are essential nutrients for plant growth. Soil deficiency because of the unavailability or exhaustion of metal ions is very often the cause of poor plant growth. Both soil and foliar application of metal ions are routinely used to prevent, correct or minimize soil deficiencies.
The prior art teaches two basic types of fertilizers—fast uptake fertilizers and slow uptake fertilizers. The fast uptake fertilizers are typically liquid fertilizers which are easily assimilated by plants and can be easily and evenly applied either to the soil or directly onto the plants. The slow uptake fertilizers are typically dry fertilizers which are pellets or granules. The dry fertilizers are generally applied to the ground. The dry fertilizers are often coated in either clay or other biodegradable coatings. Over time, typically up to three weeks, the coating decays due to exposure to moisture and other elements, causing the fertilizer to be released into the soil where it is taken up by the plant. Liquid or fluid fertilizers are generally preferred due to the ease of handling, versatility of application and uniform application.
The prior art teaches several examples of liquid fertilizers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,021 teaches a liquid fertilizer composed of ammonium thiosulfate and zinc oxide; U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,626 teaches a composition comprising metal ions and citric acid which is applied to plant roots; U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,600 teaches fertilizer additives including chelated metal ions, specifically, metal oxides; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,146 teaches a method of making metal oxyalkylates for use in supplying said metal to plants or animals, which involves reacting the metal with carboxylic acid and hydrogen peroxide in an aqueous reaction mixture.
Similarly, the prior art also teaches several examples of slow release fertilizers or coated fertilizers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,821 teaches a vegetation enhancement agent comprising a mixture of at least one macronutrient, micronutrient, slow release fertilizer or nitrogen fertilizer and a pesticide, which is then coated with a sulfonated polymer which acts as a controlled release coating; U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,630 teaches a method for preparing a liquid fertilizer containing alkanoic acids which is subsequently mixed with a granular carrier, producing a dry granule fertilizer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,936 teaches a process for producing granular fertilizer using a slurry of clay in water, followed by screening to remove granules of undesired size; U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,601 teaches a method for preparing a suspension fertilizer wherein nutrient material and at least one crystal growth inhibitor are mixed with potassium chloride and clay is subsequently added as a suspending aid; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,781 teaches a controlled release fertilizer formed from nutrient granules coated in first an organic oil and second a polymeric encapsulating coating.
However, the prior art does not teach a fertilizer or supplement that combines both quick uptake and slow uptake. Furthermore, simply combining a liquid fertilizer and a dry fertilizer as known in the art does not produce a desirable product, due to obvious difficulties with mixing and subsequent application of the product.
The prior art teaches the use of oxide forms of nutrients as slow release liquid fertilizers arranged for foliar application. Typically, the oxides are in a highly basic form. Similarly, the use of sulfate forms of nutrients for quick release fertilizers is also known. However, the sulfates are typically very acidic, meaning that simply combining the oxide fertilizer and the sulfate fertilizer leads to precipitation of nutrients and a non-functional product.
This is a concern, as it is often necessary or desirable to apply fertilizers and/or supplements several times over the course of a growing season. As will be appreciated by one knowledgeable in the art, with each application, there is an inherent risk that damage will occur to the plants, thereby reducing crop value. This does not include the inherent cost involved in dedicating time and resources to the task of fertilizing. Furthermore, with multiple applications, there is significant risk that the required nutrients may not be available during an important stage in the plant's development.
Clearly, a single fertilizer having both short term, quick uptake nutrients and long term, slow uptake nutrients that can be applied in a single application is needed.


Systems and methods for forwarding data packets in a communications network, the method comprising: providing information included in a first portion of a data packet to a network policy unit, in response to a forwarding device receiving a data packet to be forwarded over one or more network routes; forwarding the data packet according to a flow policy, in response to the forwarding device receiving the flow policy from the network policy unit, wherein the flow policy applied to the data packet by the forwarding device is determined by the network policy unit based on the network policy unit performing an analysis of the information included in the first portion of the data packet in view of policy information provided to the network policy unit.

Modern networks may be configured for the purpose of data communication and to provide advanced services such as firewall protection, intrusion detection, acceleration, encryption, multiplexing, steering, load-balancing, caching, compression and optimization. Traditionally, advanced services were implemented as hardware appliances and were inserted at or near the relevant network components, such that all the traffic entering or leaving a network was enforced by a set of pre-installed appliances.
Virtualization has led to large-scale consolidated data centers running multi-tenant workloads. In such environments, a relatively large portion of the data flow is internal to the data center. As such, advanced network services are inserted inside the data center to take into account workload life cycle changes (e.g., migration, elastic growth, etc). Network functions (NF) that support the advanced network services may be virtualized for the purpose of dynamic deployment and migration. As a result, in modern networking environments (e.g., enterprise data centers), both hardware and software NF appliances may be deployed in the path of network traffic.
Unfortunately, hardware and software NF appliances are data and computation intensive and introduce substantial overhead in network management and traffic, leading to an increase in the response time latency. In a virtualized environment, the latency is even worse due to the additional virtualization overhead. When network size increases, the overall network load increases as well and more data requests must be serviced by the appliances. This increases the computational and the management costs and results in bandwidth shortage in the network, thus limiting the possibility for scaling the availability of the advanced services.

Reducing network and appliances load through cooperative control plane decisions

International Business Machines Corporation


A product dispenser for the dispensing of a product which will show active visual content to proximate viewers. A visual display module is attached to a user-facing surface of the dispenser cover of a product dispenser, to display active visual content to viewers. The active visual content displayed on the active media surface of the dispenser cover could take many forms including changing electronic displays or a translucent surface which can be optionally illuminated or emphasized based on a controller and power source. The product dispenser can be supplied with the visual display module in place on the dispenser cover, or an OEM product dispenser with an insert blank in place on the dispenser cover could also be sold into which the visual display module could be later installed. A media-ready dispenser cover which could be used to retrofit an existing product dispenser with the ability to receive a visual display module is also disclosed. An advertising method using the product dispenser is also disclosed, with a novel revenue model for no-cost supply of the dispenser to the venue.

Companies are always searching for novel opportunities to advertise their products or services, or otherwise provide informational updates, to consumers in their establishments. Traditional advertising channels in business establishments included printed advertising which might be displayed on the walls, or printed leaflets, pamphlets or the like which could be distributed.
Many personal services businesses, including any type of retail business, restaurant or the like, have been looking for additional locations at which advertising material could be displayed to their customers. One of the places where this type of advertising has evolved over the last number of years is in public restroom environments, where in addition to locations for static wall signage, product dispensers for cleaning products and personal hygiene products including soap, paper products and the like, provide additional surfaces on which signage can be mounted. There are other similar locations in public spaces where similar types of product dispensers provide novel advertising opportunities.
One of the problems with printed advertising material is that it is static or fixed in nature—once it is printed, the content is determined until the new material can be printed and replaced. Static advertising such as this is in some applications considered sufficient, although the development of dynamic advertising hardware and opportunities, in which the advertising media can be changed on a periodic basis without the need to constantly reprint and incur the labour of replacement, is in many circumstances considered desirable. One of the dynamic advertising approaches which is taken in many such applications is the mounting of tablets, or computer screens, which can display video advertising or constantly scrolling video-based material. Dynamic advertising installations which use computer displays such as this are one option but they are an option which is significant in terms of cost as well as complexity of installation-specific hardware and requirements are often required to be met to deploy this type of a method which can result in significant expense and complexity which is beyond the resources of many businesses wishing to employ a nonstatic advertising approach.
If it were possible to come up with a means by which active or dynamic advertising material could be displayed to viewers without the cost of a significant hardwired installation such as one which would used traditional computer display hardware, it is believed that this would be considered widely acceptable in the market. in the context of this type of active or dynamic advertising material it is specifically contemplated that active advertising material would be any material which include some type of display state change or the like, which could catch the eye of a viewer in the vicinity—for example the entire display could change, such as changing the image on the computer display, or it may also be the case that advertising media which is displayed could have different areas of the media which would light off or otherwise to be emphasized by a controller and a power source connected thereto. It is believed that in addition to making the actual active advertising media easier and more cost effective to change as well as potentially having a longer lifespan if finished in an active format, active advertising material such as is discussed herein is also more eye-catching to a consumer and may yield greater advertising results to the advertiser.
In addition to finding a more cost-effective way of deployment of active advertising media or material in public spaces and applications, it is also specifically contemplated that there would be a great market opportunity to come up with a way to deploy this type of advertising media or material in relation to pre-existing product dispensers. If it was possible to come up with a means by which active advertising material could be displayed on a product dispenser, in a way that pre-existing product dispensers could be retrofitted with this capability, it is explicitly contemplated that there would be an even greater potential for uptake on this advertising method in the marketplace. The actual advertising method itself, in addition to the hardware associated therewith, might represent a novel improvement over the current state-of-the-art.
Often the installation of static or dynamic advertising and such applications are present is a service provided by third-party advertising companies, who will contract with a particular venue for the access to that venues public spaces for installation of their desired advertising media, and they will pay some type of compensation to the venue for providing that advertising access. In some circumstances where the venue themselves however wish to place their own visual content or otherwise, they would not have any ability to recover the cost of installing the equipment to do so. If it were possible to provide a method of advertising which would enhance the ability of a venue to display active visual content to viewers in their location without the need to incur the cost of purchasing and installing advertising equipment, it is again thought that there would be a significant market segment who would be positively inclined towards acceptance of this type of an approach.

Product dispenser with active media display


A method is provided for retarding the movement of the flip-out target tracker during a final part of a flip-out without the contents or journalling of the target tracker being damaged. The flip-out target tracker is on a sub-combat unit which is transported by a carrier body to a predetermined target area in order to be activated at the target area during flip-out of the target tracker. The target tracker scans the target area during the braked fall of the sub-combat unit and identifies and combats targets by means of an integrated warhead. The retardation is effected with a flexible brake band. The brake band is initially folded and attached to the target tracker at a first anchorage point in the proximity of a portion of the target tracker which, during flip-out, moves the longest distance. The brake band is stretched past an elastically deformable damper body secured in a main portion of the sub-combat unit. The damper body is caused to be at least partially deformed by the brake band during the final stage of the flip-out phase so that the brake band is stretched between the first anchorage point and a second anchorage point in the main portion of the sub-combat unit on another side of the damper body compared with a point on the damper body where the body and the brake band first meet.

The characterizing feature of the sub-combat unit described in the above patent is that it is provided not only with a flip-out target tracker and triggering sensor but also with a similarly flip-out designed carrier surface. In their flip-out positions, the target tracker and carrier surface together provide for the sub-combat unit a suitably balanced retarding area which imparts to the unit its predetermined fall velocity combined with the previously mentioned spiral fall trajectory, which makes it possible for the sensor to scan the pertinent target area for targets to be combatted.
SE-A0-8903473-0 and SE-A0-9001227-9 describe further variations of flip-out carrier surfaces intended for sub-combat units of the type contemplated here. Such carrier surfaces may also consist of parachutes.
As will be apparent from the above disclosure and in greater detail from the above-mentioned references, the sub-combat units are provided with a plurality of flip-out parts which, during ejection from the vehicle, must be protected from damage, while at the same time, the preplanned scanning of the target area requires that the flip-out of these parts takes place exactly as planned.
The flip-out of the target tracker implies no specific problems in such sub-combat units that have, at the desired flip-out time, at least a certain inherent rotation. In such an event, the flip-out operation can be left to the rotation forces and, thus, it is sufficient to simply release the target tracker in order to activate the flip-out operation. For example, this may be combined with the sub-combat unit being forced, by a powder charge adapted to this purpose, out of a protective canister in which it was initially discharged from that vehicle which had transported it to the pertinent target area. The rotation which is required in order thereafter to flip out the target tracker need not be particularly powerful. In one specific embodiment, we expect that the target tracker can be reliably flipped out at a rotation of the order of magnitude of 10 revolutions/second.
On the other hand, a problem may be experienced in realizing efficient and space-saving means for retarding the flipped-out target tracker in its flipped-out state and in locking the tracker in this position. Sub-combat units are of extremely limited size within which a complex electronics system must be accommodated, as well as one or more bulky warheads. The space which is available for means for retarding the target tracker in its flipped-out position and locking it there against further movement is, as a result, limited to the extreme. Moreover, the target tracker (which contains the major portion of the relevant electronics) must be retarded gently so that neither the electronics nor the anchorage of the target tracker is damaged, while at the same time the target tracker must be locked without any play in its flipped-out position. The object of the present invention is, therefore, to solve the above-outlined problems.


A wafer carrier for transporting a plurality of wafers includes a pair of end panels provided In parallel with each other at opposite sides of the wafer carrier. The wafer carrier further includes a wafer supporter for supporting the plurality of wafers. The wafer supporter has two opposite side walls in parallel with each other and extending in a direction normal to the pair of end panels. Each of the side walls has two end portions respectively secured to the two end panels. The wafer supporter has a plurality of grooves which are provided, at predetermined intervals, on an inner surface thereof in parallel with one another and In parallel with the two end panels. The grooves support corresponding semiconductor wafers at their peripherals. One groove, nearest to one of the two end panels, is separated from the one of the end panels by a distance selected to minimize the number of airborne particles which become attached to a surface of a wafer facing the end panel.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved wafer carrier for use in carrying a plurality of semiconductor wafers in a wafer processing environment, and more specifically Lo a wafer carrier which can effectively reduce the number of airborne particles which become attached to or deposit on a surface of the wafer which faces one end panel or wall of the carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known in the art, IC (integrated circuit) fabrication consists of a variety of processing steps that add, alter, and remove thin layers in the selected regions. During the wafer processing, it is necessary to transport a plurality of wafers using a wafer carrier from one wafer processing station to another. Many of the water processing sequences for integrated circuits are Implemented in a clean room. However, it is impossible to completely prevent airborne particles from becoming attached to the wafers.
A wafer carrier has usually a rectangular box-like structure with no top cover and is provided with a plurality of grooves so as to vertically support a plurality of wafers in parallel at predetermined intervals.
With a conventional wafer carrier, attention has been paid to accommodating as many wafers as possible without preventing any contact between two adjacent wafers. However, the outermost wafers in the wafer carrier are well spaced from the corresponding carrier front and rear panels. This is because the location of each outermost wafer is not important in increasing the wafer transportation efficiency.
Japanese Patent (JP) Application No. 3-143523 which was laid-open under publication No. 4-36724, discloses a wafer carrier which is made of quartz and which is used for immersing the wafers into a processing bath filled with hydrogen fluoride (HF). This arrangement is directed to overcoming the problem caused by a wafer-exposed type carrier and which is therefore not provided with any front and rear panels (and also any side panels). During the processing of wafers using hydrogen fluoride, microscopic particles are released from the carrier and accumulate especially on lower horizontally extending structure bars which form part of the carrier. After immersion, the wafers are washed using clean water while being retained in the same carrier.
When the wafer carrier is rapidly immersed into the cleaning water, the microscopic particles tend to be washed off the upper portions of the lower supporting bars and float upwardly toward the wafer surface. These microscopic particles thus tend to become attached to the wafers.
In order to reduce this drawback, the above mentioned JP Application 3-143523 proposes to provide, in place of the lower supporting bars, a pair of end panels each of which has the same height as the wafer and is arranged in parallel with the wafers which are vertically supported in the carrier. That is, the fine particles tend to accumulate on the upper edges of the front and rear panels and accordingly, when the carrier is quickly immersed into the water, the contaminants (viz., microscopic particles) swiftly reach the water surface without traveling in the vicinity of wafers. Thus, the contaminants can be removed together with surface water.
It is understood that the above mentioned related art is irrelevant to reducing airborne particles which become attached to the wafer surfaces during transport.

Semiconductor wafer carrier featuring effective reduction of airborne particles become attached to wafers


The present invention provides a reusable spring driven autoinjector. The drive mechanism of the autoinjector of the present invention includes one or more drive springs formed of a shape memory alloy. Therefore, by alternating the shape memory alloy forming the one or more drive springs between austenite phase before an injection and a martensite phase after injection, the reusable autoinjector of the present invention is capable of providing an injection force that is higher than the compressive force required to cock the drive mechanism in preparation for a subsequent injection operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reusable automatic injection devices. In particular, the present invention relates to automatic injection devices including a spring-loaded drive mechanism that incorporates one or more drive springs formed of a shape memory alloy.
2. State of the Art
Automatic injectors (hereinafter referred to as "autoinjectors") incorporating needled injection mechanisms are well known and are thought to exhibit several advantages relative to simple hypodermic syringes. For instance, because autoinjectors may be designed to automatically and reliably deliver a desired dose of medicament, they facilitate quick, convenient, and accurate delivery of medicaments. In particular, autoinjectors are well suited for use by subjects who must self-administer therapeutic substances or by healthcare workers who must inject multiple subjects over a relatively short period of time. Moreover, autoinjectors incorporating a needled injection mechanism may be designed so that the needle is hidden from view before, during, and even after an injection operation, thereby reducing or eliminating any anxiety associated with the act of penetrating a visible needle into the subject's tissue. Though their precise specifications vary widely, needled autoinjectors generally include a body or housing, a needled syringe or similar device, and one or more drive mechanisms for inserting a needle into the tissue of the subject and delivering a desired dose of liquid medicament through the inserted needle.
The drive mechanisms included in state of the art needled autoinjectors generally include a source of energy capable of powering the drive mechanism. This energy source may be, for example, mechanical (i.e., spring-loaded), pneumatic, electromechanical, or chemical, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,149,626, 6,099,504, 5,957,897, 5,695,472, 5,665,071, 5,567160, 5,527,287, 5,354,286, 5,300,030, 5,102,393, 5,092,843, 4,894,054, 4,678,461, and 3,797,489, the contents of each such patent being incorporated herein by reference. International Publications numbered WO 01/17593, WO 98/00188, WO 95/29720, WO 95/31235, and WO 94/13342 also describe various injectors including different drive mechanisms. Nevertheless, needled autoinjectors more often incorporate drive mechanisms that utilize a coil spring as an energy source. Such spring-loaded drive mechanisms are desirable because they are thought to facilitate the creation of reliable autoinjectors that are relatively simple in design and inexpensive to manufacture.
In light of the growing desire to deliver increasingly viscous medicaments via a needled injection device, however, known spring-loaded drive mechanisms exhibit significant disadvantages. Specifically, the spring-loaded drive mechanisms included in state of the art needled autoinjectors are typically designed to generate forces sufficient for the injection of low viscosity medicaments, such as insulin and epinephrine, which generally exhibit viscosities near that of water (i.e., about 1 centipoise at 20° C.). Consequently, the spring-loaded drive mechanisms included in known autoinjectors are designed to exert only small injection forces (e.g., ranging from about 1 lb. to about 5 lbs.), which are not suitable for the delivery of emerging, injectable medicaments, such as bioerodible depot formulations, having viscosities much higher than that of water. As can be predicted using the Hagen-Poiseuille Law (F=8QμL(R2/r4)), wherein "F" represents the injection force required, "Q" represents the flow rate of the material injected, "μ" represents the viscosity of the material injected, "L" represents the length of the needle used, "R" represents the internal diameter of the reservoir containing the material to be injected, and "r" represents the internal diameter of the needle used, the injection forces required to deliver a dose of medicament through a needle of desirable gauge will easily exceed those typically provided by state of the art spring-loaded autoinjectors if the viscosity of the medicament to be delivered increases significantly beyond 1 centipoise.
A possible solution to the need for a spring-loaded drive mechanism capable of generating injection forces suitable for delivering higher viscosity medicaments would be to simply provide a drive mechanism including a heavier conventional spring capable of exerting a higher injection force. Yet, such an approach is not without difficulties. In particular, where the injector is designed as a multiple use device, the spring-loaded drive mechanism must be cocked such that the drive spring is held in a compressed position before each use, and in order to cock a conventional spring-loaded drive mechanism, a force that is equal to or greater than the maximum force exerted by the drive spring must be applied to the drive mechanism. It can be appreciated, then, that as the viscosity of the medicament to be delivered increases, not only does the injection force required to deliver the medicament increase, but the force required to cock the drive mechanism also increases. Where the material to be injected exhibits viscosities that approach those of proposed depot materials, the force required to cock a spring driven mechanism designed for delivery of the medicament could exceed that which could be reasonably applied by a user, even if the injector is provided with a cocking mechanism that provides some mechanical advantage that reduces the force that must be directly applied by the user to cock the drive mechanism.
It would be an improvement in the art, therefore, to provide a multiple use, spring-loaded autoinjector that includes a drive mechanism that can be cocked by a force that is lower than the injection force provided by the drive mechanism. Such an autoinjector could be designed to provide an injection force that is higher than the injection forces typically exerted by state of the art spring-loaded autoinjectors, while still allowing the user to cock the drive mechanism for reuse through the application of a force that is practically applicable.


The present invention relates to a device and a method for the preparation of data to be sent as a continuous stream via a communication network. The device comprises means for obtainment of the data originating from a database, which contains at least two data stream entities for data associated respectively with different transmission throughputs, means of transfer of these data to a sending system, means of connection to one of these entities, and means of switching of the means of connection from one of the entities to another. The preparation device also comprises means of regular addition to the data transferred, of error correction codes. The means of switching switch from a first entity to a second entity of greater throughput, when this augmented data stream reaches the sum of the sending throughput associated with the second entity and of an additional throughput associated with an initial input of error correction codes of the second entity, and the means of addition reinitialize the addition of the codes to this initial input upon this switching.

Networks of IP type are based on a grid of interconnected nodes which perform data packet routings, called routers. Such a network is generally exposed to delays, jitter and packet losses, which result from the resources of the routers not being infinite and from the traffic possibly being subject to heavy variations in load. In particular, routers have their capacities restricted by the sizes of FIFO (standing for First In, First Out) memories and the durations of the various processings, such as in particular address resolutions, error corrections and/or retransmissions, checksums and management of network administration protocols (updates of routing tables, quality of service, multicast groups, etc). The resources of the routers are also affected by faults, the existence of which is all the more probable when the number of nodes of the network is high and when the latter is used over a long period.
Another penalizing consequence of this situation is that the applications that use the network employ a bandwidth that turns out to be both limited and highly variable.
Data losses may be partially corrected by verification mechanisms with automatic repetition of errored messages, also called "ARQ" (standing for "Automatic Repeat and Request"), or by adding error correction codes such as in particular error correction codes with no return path, called "FEC" codes (standing for Forward Error Correction). However, these techniques themselves introduce extra delays, further decreasing the available bandwidth.
These difficulties have led to two types of developments, one type pertaining to the sharing of resources between users, and the other type relating to the adaptation of each transmitter to the bandwidth available over time.
As far as the first point is concerned, to be able to equitably share the resources of the network (bandwidth per user) while also limiting packet losses as far as possible, users must follow "fairness" rules. In particular, they must use protocols complying with the principle designated by "AIMD" (Additive Increase, Multiplicative Decrease). According to the latter, a transmitter of content over the network must slowly and linearly raise (at constant stepsize) his sending throughput so long as his estimation of the state of the network so permits, by taking account of the parameters such as: estimation of the value of a loss rate, outward/return duration (or "RTT" standing for "Round Time Trip"), useful throughput (or "goodput"), etc. On the other hand, he must drastically reduce his sending throughput ("Multiplicative Decrease") as soon as a loss has been detected.
The AIMD principle for IP network is integrated into the TCP (standing for "Transmission Control Protocol") communication protocol. However, using a system for acknowledging and retransmitting lost packets, it is generally considered to be unsuited to the transport of audiovisual streams, since it introduces unacceptable delays and does not allow the multicast mode. This is why, for transmission as a continuous stream (streaming), the combined utilization of RTP (standing for "Real Time Transport Protocol") and UDP (standing for "User Datagram Protocol") protocols is preferred to it. However, this involves building an AIMD system onto this transmission technique. In particular, one speaks of "TCP-friendly" regulation (that is to say equitable with respect to TCP) when the throughput used is not larger than that which would have been used by a TCP source under similar conditions.
As far as the second type of developments made to take account of the difficulties of communication over network is concerned, there are traditionally two ways of adapting a video stream to the available bandwidth. The first consists in using a real time coder with an efficient regulation module. It is thus possible to generate on the fly a video stream complying with a throughput preset.
However, such encoders are generally less efficient than so-called "off-line" encoders (non real time). Specifically, the latter may be put in place with coding algorithms capable of employing the desired complexity (since they are not constrained by time) and therefore be much more efficient (better quality of decoded images for the same throughput). The coding algorithms may consist for example of a multipass mode (multipass coding) or of a choice of the type of coding for each block. For similar reasons, an "off-line" coder often complies better with the throughput presets.
The second traditional way of adapting a video stream to the available bandwidth consists in generating a set of streams of the same video, that are coded at different throughputs. The video server then selectively transmits one stream rather than another as a function of a desired throughput preset. As indicated previously, the "off-line" streams possibly being of better quality than the "real timer" streams, this mode of transmission generally affords a better quality of service for the customer.
It is possible to distinguish essentially two branches for the practice of procedures of this type. According to a direct selective transmission technique, called "simulcast" or "stream switching", several versions of one and the same sequence are encoded directly at different throughputs. During a transmission and as a function of the available bandwidth of the connection, one stream rather than another is then dispatched. For example, we have three streams encoded at constant bit rates (CBR mode standing for "Constant Bit Rate" mode), associated respectively with three different throughputs. If at a given instant the second stream is transmitted and packet losses appear, then we switch automatically to the first stream, of lower throughput. If conversely the bandwidth available becomes large enough, we can switch to the third stream, of higher throughput.
According to a second technique of selective transmission, by hierarchization or "scalability", a base layer and one or more extra enhancement layers are provided. These extra layers make it possible to increase the quality of transmission and/or the temporal and/or spatial resolution. Depending on the availability of bandwidth, one or more enhancement layers are thus added to the base layer.
In the industry, it is observed that the various video coding standards of recent years, such as H263, MPEG2 and MPEG4 (standing for "Moving Picture Experts Group") or AVC (standing for "Advanced Video Coding"), are of growing complexity and that the first implementations of associated coders are "off-line". Moreover, even after several years and despite the ever growing power of computers, "off-line" coders still remain substantially better than "real time" coders. The simulcast and hierarchization techniques are therefore particularly beneficial for taking efficient account of the bandwidth availability.
However, they have the drawback, in their generic form, of violating the AIMD principle of progressive increase of throughput. Specifically, the disparity between two simulcast streams or corresponding to the addition of a hierarchization layer produces throughput augmentation tiers, during bandwidth availability phases. These disparities are the larger when the number of streams envisaged (encoding according to several throughputs or with enhancement layers) is relatively restricted. Specifically, in practice, the sequences are encoded only a reduced number of times, or only a reduced number of layers is envisaged, in the interests of saving memory space and processing, and for simplicity of management and of implementation.
Moreover, in case of congestion (loss of packets), the switching from one stream to another of lesser throughput requires specific processing operations on the part of the server. During this time, the customer receives a degraded stream.
Certain other "off-line" stream procedures make it possible to assuage these problems. Thus, the technique of fine hierarchization or FGS (standing for "Fine Grain Scalability") allows real-time adjustment of the throughput of the stream sent by truncating the upper enhancement layer. However, this technique turns out to offer a rather reduced effectiveness of coding as compared with the generic techniques of selective transmission.
The technique of sub-band coding also relies on a truncation of an enhancement layer and turns out to be rather efficient. However, it involves a level of complexity greater than that required for the coding algorithms customarily used (based on DCT procedures, standing for "Discrete Cosinus Transforms").
In order to remedy the problems of throughput jumps of the simulcast and hierarchization techniques, a person skilled in the art could be tempted to multiply up the number of streams envisaged (that is to say of versions of different throughputs in the simulcast technique or of layers in the hierarchization technique). Thus, the disparities in throughput between two successive entities could be reduced accordingly. However, such a solution turns out to be very expensive in terms of necessary storage and in terms of stream management, all the more so as it makes it possible to get nearer to the AIMD principle of progressive increase of throughput.

Device and method for the preparation of sending data and corresponding products


An energy harvesting apparatus is described that utilizes hydraulic actuation and creates a continuous, revolving motion of a chain of energy-producing elements within an energy-producing channel (the channel being in the form of a tube, for example). In particular, the arrangement of the present invention is based upon a specially-designed dual-loop channel topology that allows for efficient conversion of a unidirectional flow of a fluid entering the energy-producing channel into a smooth, continuous revolving motion of a chain of energy-producing elements within the channel.

Currently, the majority of autonomous and mobile electronic systems are powered by electrochemical batteries. Although battery quality has substantially improved over the last two decades, their energy density has not greatly increased. At the present time, however, factors such as cost, weight, limited service time and waste disposable problems (all intrinsic to electrochemical batteries) are impeding the advance of many areas of electronics. The problem is especially acute in the portable electronics space, where rapidly growing performance and sophistication of mobile electronic devices lead to ever-increasing power demands that electrochemical batteries are unable to meet.
One of the technologies that holds great promise to substantially alleviate the current reliance on electrochemical batteries is high-power energy harvesting. The concept of energy harvesting works towards developing self-powered devices that do not require replaceable power supplies. In cases where high mobility and high-power output is required, harvesters that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy are particularly promising as they can tap into a variety of high-power-density energy sources, including human locomotion.
High-power harvesting of mechanical energy is a long-recognized concept which has not been commercialized in the past due to the lack of a viable energy harvesting technology. Traditional methods of mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion such as electromagnetic, piezoelectric, or electrostatic do not allow effective direct coupling to the majority of high-power environmental mechanical energy sources. Bulky and expensive mechanical or hydraulic transducers are often required to convert a broad range of aperiodic forces and displacements typically encountered in nature into a form that is accessible for conversion using those methods.
Recently a new approach to energy harvesting using microfluidic devices that substantially alleviates the above-mentioned problems has been proposed. In particular, a high-power microfluidics-based energy harvester is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,096, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENERGY HARVESTING USING MICROFLUIDICS, inventor: Thomas Nikita Krupenkin, granted Mar. 1, 2011, and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,053,914, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENERGY HARVESTING USING MICROFLUIDICS, inventor: Thomas Nikita Krupenkin, granted Nov. 8, 2011, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. The disclosed Krupenkin energy harvester generates electrical energy through the interaction of thousands of microscopic liquid droplets with a network of thin-film electrodes and is capable of providing several watts of power. In one preferred embodiment of this technique, a train of energy-producing droplets is located in a thin channel and is hydraulically actuated by applying a pressure differential between the ends of the channel. Such an energy generation method provides an important advantage as it allows efficient direct coupling with a wide range of high-power environmental mechanical energy sources including human locomotion.
A new method for energy harvesting using microfluidic devices that improves on the teaching of the above-cited Krupenkin patents has also been under development by the inventors and provides a new energy generation method and an apparatus that combine, in a synergistic way, the microfluidic-based electrical energy generation method described in these patents with the classical magnetic method of electrical power generation based on Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. The resulting approach has a number of substantial advantages over the teaching of these Krupenkin patents, since it allows for effective energy generation without the need for an external bias voltage source. This improves the reliability and simplifies the harvester design in comparison with the teaching of U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,898,096 and 8,053,914.
However, the energy generation methods disclosed in these various references are not free from some shortcomings. In particular, no provision is made in any of these disclosures for allowing a continuous revolving motion of a chain of energy-producing elements within an energy-producing channel. The revolving motion of an energy-producing chain has a number of important advantages over the other types of motion of the chain, such as reciprocating motion. In particular, the revolving motion of an energy-producing chain allows the use of energy-producing chains and channels with substantially shorter lengths, thus enabling a more compact design of the harvester device. Another advantage of utilizing revolving chain motion is the ability to sustain a smooth, continuous motion by inertia for some time after the hydraulic actuation of the chain stops. This sustained motion extends the power generation time, and thus leads to a better energy harvesting efficiency.
Therefore, a method and an apparatus that can provide continuous revolving motion of a chain of energy-producing elements within an energy-producing channel would be highly beneficial, as it would improve the energy harvester device design and increase its efficiency.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for footwear-embedded mechanical energy harvesting system based on dual-loop channel


Embodiments are directed to providing attribute-based data access. In an embodiment, a data request specifies one or more search data attributes describing requested data that is to be found in a data store. The data store is configured to provide access to secured data according to access controls defined by one or more clients. The secured data includes data that is associated with a particular client and that is encrypted using attribute-based encryption, which associates the data with one or more encryption data attributes and that enables the data to be provided if conditions in the corresponding access controls are met. The particular portion of data is provided based on determining that the conditions in the corresponding access controls are met, and that at least one of the search data attributes is determined to be relevant to at least one of the encryption data attributes.

Computers have become highly integrated in the workforce, in the home, in mobile devices, and many other places. Computers can process massive amounts of information quickly and efficiently. Software applications designed to run on computer systems allow users to perform a wide variety of functions including business applications, schoolwork, entertainment and more. Software applications are often designed to perform specific tasks, such as word processor applications for drafting documents, or email programs for sending, receiving and organizing email.
In some cases, software applications may be designed to interact with other software applications or other computer systems. For example, an application may be designed to store files on a network server. Those files may be stored in one or more directories on the network server. As data storage needs increase, the corresponding directories grow increasingly larger, and may include information that is out-of-date, or is otherwise incorrect. Moreover, customers wishing to share data stored on these directories may only be able to share the data in an all-or-nothing fashion, such that their data is available to all users or to no users.

Cloud key directory for federating data exchanges