An optical modulation system for externally modulating two independent optical signals with first, second, third and fourth electrical input signals with two modulators. The system includes a first modulator with a first electrode receiving the first electrical input signal, a second electrode receiving the second electrical input signal, a first optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the first electrical signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a first modulated optical signal, and a second optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the second electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a second modulated optical signal. The second modulator includes a third electrode receiving the third electrical input signal, a fourth electrode receiving the fourth electrical input signal, a third optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the third electrical input signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a third modulated optical signal, and a fourth optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the fourth electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a fourth modulated optical signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical modulator, and more particularly, to an external optical modulator. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of application, it is particularly suitable for converting N number (wherein N is positive even integer greater than 2) of electrical signal channels into N/2 independent optical channels by using N/2 modulators.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An external optical modulator (EOM) is an important component in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical transmission systems. In such systems, an electrical signal representing the information to be transmitted is applied to the EOM, which then modulates a continuous wave (CW) laser beam that propagates the modulated light through the transmission system. One of the advantages of external optical modulation over directly modulating the laser is that data can be transmitted relatively chirp-free, thereby reducing errors in long distance transmission. Chirp is an instantaneous change in optical frequency, which accompanies the process of directly modulating the laser diode. Chirp interacts with the dispersion profile of the transmission fiber to severely limit the distance over which error-free data transmission is possible. External optical modulators can be designed with little or no chirp, enabling a much higher transmission distance than can be obtained with direct modulation.
In a conventional optical modulator, the dual electrode design concept was developed so that the data and its complement can be separately applied to the two electrodes of the dual electrode modulator. This is also known as differential driving. By adjusting the relative amplitudes of the data and its complement, the chirp parameter of the modulator can be fixed to any desired value between xe2x88x92xe2x88x9d and +xe2x88x9d.
Conventionally, externally modulated WDM transmission systems have employed one EOM for each electrical input signal. Further, the external optical modulator is one of the more expensive optical components employed in an optical system. It would therefore be advantageous to provide an apparatus wherein two or more electrical input signals are used to modulate two optical channels with one external optical modulator.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an external modulator that substantially obviates one or more of problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that modulates two optical channels with four independent subcarrier channels on two modulators and has four modulated optical output channels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that modulates three optical channels with six independent subcarrier channels on three modulators and has six modulated optical output channels.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an economically more feasible apparatus for modulating more than one optical channel in a single modulator.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described, the present invention includes two Mach-Zehnder interferometer-type modulators for externally modulating two independent optical input signals with first, second, third and fourth electrical input signals, wherein a first modulator includes a first electrode receiving the first electrical input signal, a second electrode receiving the second electrical input signal, a first optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the first electrical signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a first modulated optical signal, and a second optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the second electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a second modulated optical signal, and wherein a second modulator includes a third electrode receiving the third electrical input signal, a fourth electrode receiving the fourth electrical input signal, a third optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the third electrical input signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a third modulated optical signal, and a fourth optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the fourth electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a fourth modulated optical signal.
In another aspect, the present invention includes three Mach-Zehnder interferometer-type modulators for externally modulating three independent optical input channels with first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth electrical input signals, wherein a first modulator includes a first electrode receiving the first electrical input signal, a second electrode receiving the second electrical input signal, a first optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the first electrical input signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a first modulated optical signal, and a second optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the second electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a second modulated optical signal, wherein a second modulator includes a third electrode receiving the third electrical input signal, a fourth electrode receiving the fourth electrical input signal, a third optical signal path co-propagating the third optical input signal with the third electrical input signal and counter-propagating the second optical input signal to generate a third modulated optical signal, and a fourth optical signal path co-propagating the second optical input signal with the fourth electrical input signal and counter-propagating the third optical input signal to generate a fourth modulated optical signal, and wherein a third modulator includes a fifth electrode receiving the fifth electrical input signal, a sixth electrode receiving the sixth electrical input signal, a fifth optical signal path co-propagating the third optical input signal with the fifth electrical input signal and counter-propagating the first optical input signal to generate a fifth modulated optical signal, and a sixth optical signal path co-propagating the first optical input signal with the sixth electrical input signal and counter-propagating the third optical input signal to generate a sixth modulated optical signal.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

Modulation systems using dual channel optical modulators


The invention relates to a dispensing system for use in cryogenic skin treatment that is capable of targeted delivery of a cryogen at a high rate, thereby achieving rapid freezing of targeted skin tissue. The dispensing system of the present invention uses a cryogen that contains dimethyl ether and is designed to deliver the cryogen in an accurate and very effective manner.

Skin treatments to improve the appearance of skin are widely applied. Skin conditions often targeted by such treatments include warts, moles, freckles, skin tags, age spots (also known as liver spots), lentigines, or other skin-related abnormalities.
There are several types of procedures available that treat these skin conditions, ranging from topical ameliorations to more aggressive treatments such as laser treatment or cryogenic treatment. Topical treatments include lotions, creams, acids, bleaching agents and vitamins. However, such treatments typically are slow, result in subtle improvement of the skin, may cause hypo- or hyper-pigmentation, and are often insufficient.
To provide a more complete treatment of the skin, it is known to use laser therapy. Laser treatment, however, can cause unnecessary pain and extensive scarring.
Cryogenic treatments are also known in the art, and such treatments generally involve direct application of liquid nitrogen or another cryogen to a portion of the skin. The procedure is used often because of its efficacy and limited side effects.
When using cryogenic treatment, it is important to cool the treatment region to the proper temperature for an appropriate time. Cooling the region to too low a temperature can cause excessive damage. Cooling the region for too long a period of time can cause conduction of the cold temperature to neighboring tissue, increasing the size of the affected area. In addition, while surrounding tissue can survive a brief exposure to the very cold temperatures, prolonged exposure can cause tissue necrosis or excessive damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,505 describes a method of cryogenically treating a lesion on the surface of skin comprising the steps of:                releasing a cryogenic agent from an aerosol or pressurized container in a manner such that the cryogenic agent accumulates into a synthetic plastic foam applicator,        contacting the skin surface of a lesion with the synthetic plastic foam applicator having the accumulated cryogenic agent for a period of time sufficient to freeze the skin tissue such that permanent, irreversible rupture of cellular membranes of cells of the skin lesion occurs while the cryogenic agent is evaporating,        subsequently removing the synthetic plastic foam applicator from the skin surface, and        thereafter permitting the frozen skin tissue of the skin lesion to slowly thaw.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,546 describes an aerosol discharge valve assembly for regulating the flow of a liquid product from an aerosol container pressurized substantially by a permanent propellant gas, said assembly comprising:                (a) a control valve mounted to said container;        (b) an exit nozzle;        (c) a tubular member projecting upwardly and outwardly of the container and defining a passage surmounted by said exit nozzle through which an atomized mixture of said propellant gas and liquid product can flow out of the container;        (d) a tubular member projecting downwardly in said container, said control valve being operable between open and closed positions for controlling flow through said control valve and through said tubular members;        (e) first passage means for conveying the liquid into said downwardly projecting tubular member under gas pressure for conveyance to a mixing region in said valve assembly; second passage means downstream of the first passage means for conveying the pressurized gas separately from the liquid product to said downwardly projecting tubular member for conveyance into said mixing region;        (g) at least one intermediate choke restrictor between the mixing region and the exit nozzle through which the mixture of liquid product and pressurized gas is forced to pass; and        (h) the size of the choke restrictor relative to said first and second passage means being selected to provide at least substantially sonic velocity choked flow through the choke restrictor at and above a selected minimum internal gas pressure, said mixed liquid product and propellant gas passing through said choke restrictor such that the liquid product, in response to changes from subsonic velocity flow to sonic velocity flow and the return to subsonic velocity flow, breaks up into fine liquid droplets comprising a highly dispersed foamed liquid product.
US 2004/102768 describes a cryotherapy apparatus adapted to be manipulated with one hand, using the expansion temperature and pressure of a liquefied gas sprayed in at least partially solid phase on a human or animal epidermis, contained under pressure in a removable cartridge, wherein the support of the cartridge and the controlled ejection and expansion system are disposed substantially in line and in the axis of the apparatus, inside an ergonomic housing whose axis corresponds to that of the apparatus, of which the median part serves as handle to be grasped by the adult user's hand and comprises the member for controlling the controlled gas ejection and expansion system of which the upper part presents an inlet for introducing into its support the cartridge, head down and in the axis of the housing, and for striking it or for withdrawing it after use, and of which the lower part comprises a calibrated opening forming a passage for the sprayed gas substantially in the axis of the housing and means for holding the outlet nozzle of the controlled ejection and expansion system at the required distance with respect to the zone of the epidermis to be treated.
WO 2016/010428 describes a nebulizer for the topical application of a liquid and/or solid to a surface, comprising:                a container designed for holding a colloidal substance and a medium;        an actuatable valve attached to the container; and        a nozzle attached to the valve, designed for generating a stream or spray,wherein the valve:        comprises a mixing chamber attached to the nozzle; and        comprises a first and a second inlet attached to the mixing chamber for the separate delivery of the colloidal substance and the medium to the mixing chamber, wherein the mixing chamber is designed for forming a colloidal mixture comprising the colloidal substance and the medium before delivering the colloidal mixture to the nozzle, characterized in that the colloidal mixture comprises a dispersed phase consisting of a liquid and/or a solid substance and a continuous phase consisting of a propellant gas.

Dispensing system for use in cryogenic skin treatment


The invention relates to a system for power control in a cellular communication system. The power control may be operated (201) in a first mode of operation wherein power control data are determined in response to a quality parameter, such as a desired signal to noise ratio. The method further comprises entering (205) a reduced power mode of operation by communicating power down power control data between a base station and a communication unit. The base station and/or communication unit then proceeds to operate (207) in the reduced power mode by communicating power control data corresponding to a reduced transmit power level. The reduced transmit power level may specifically be zero. After a given duration, the base station and/or communication unit proceeds to exit (211) the reduced power mode by communicating power up power control data between the base station and the communication unit.

FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of a conventional cellular communication system 100 in accordance with prior art. A geographical region is divided into a number of cells 101, 103, 105, 107 each of which is served by base station 109, 111, 113, 115. The base stations are interconnected by a fixed network which can communicate data between the base stations 109, 111, 113, 115. A mobile station is served via a radio communication link by the base station of the cell within which the mobile station is situated. In the example of FIG. 1, mobile station 117 is served by base station 109 over radio link 119, mobile station 121 is served by base station 111 over radio link 123 and so on.
As a mobile station moves, it may move from the coverage of one base station to the coverage of another, i.e. from one cell to another. For example mobile station 125 is initially served by base station 113 over radio link 127. As it moves towards base station 115 it enters a region of overlapping coverage of the two base stations 113 and 115 and within this overlap region it changes to be supported by base station 115 over radio link 129. As the mobile station 125 moves further into cell 107, it continues to be supported by base station 115. This is known as a handover or handoff of a mobile station between cells.
A typical cellular communication system extends coverage over typically an entire country and comprises hundreds or even thousands of cells supporting thousands or even millions of mobile stations. Communication from a mobile station to a base station is known as uplink, and communication from a base station to a mobile station is known as downlink.
The fixed network interconnecting the base stations is operable to route data between any two base stations, thereby enabling a mobile station in a cell to communicate with a mobile station in any other cell. In addition the fixed network comprises gateway functions for interconnecting to external networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), thereby allowing mobile stations to communicate with landline telephones and other communication terminals connected by a landline. Furthermore, the fixed network comprises much of the functionality required for managing a conventional cellular communication network including functionality for routing data, admission control resource allocation, subscriber billing, mobile station authentication etc.
Currently the most ubiquitous cellular communication system is the 2nd generation communication system known as the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). GSM uses a technology known as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) wherein user separation is achieved by dividing frequency carriers into 8 discrete time slots, which individually can be allocated to a user. A base station may be allocated a single carrier or a multiple of carriers. One carrier is used for a pilot signal which further contains broadcast information. This carrier is used by mobile stations for measuring of the signal level of transmissions from different base stations, and the obtained information is used for determining a suitable serving cell during initial access or handovers. Further description of the GSM TDMA communication system can be found in 'The GSM System for Mobile Communications' by Michel Mouly and Marie Bernadette Pautet, Bay Foreign Language Books, 1992, ISBN 2950719007.
Currently, 3rd generation systems are being rolled out to further enhance the communication services provided to mobile users. The most widely adopted 3rd generation communication systems are based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wherein user separation is obtained by allocating different spreading and scrambling codes to different users on the same carrier frequency. The transmissions are spread by multiplication with the allocated codes thereby causing the signal to be spread over a wide bandwidth. At the receiver, the codes are used to de-spread the received signal thereby regenerating the original signal. Each base station has a code dedicated for a pilot and broadcast signal, and as for GSM this is used for measurements of multiple cells in order to determine a serving cell. An example of a communication system using this principle is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), which is currently being deployed. Further description of CDMA and specifically of the Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) mode of UMTS can be found in 'WCDMA for UMTS', Harri Holma (editor), Antti Toskala (Editor), Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN 0471486876.
The frequency band allocated for a cellular communication system is typically severely limited, and therefore the resource must be effectively divided between mobile stations. A fundamental property of a cellular communication system is that the resource is divided geographically by the division into different cells. Thus, a certain amount of resource (for example a frequency band) may at a given time be allocated to a given cell thereby reducing the resource allocation to neighbouring cells. In order to optimise the capacity of a cellular communication system, it is important to minimise the impact of interference caused by or to other mobile stations. An important advantage of a cellular communication system is that due to the radio signal attenuation with distance, the interference caused by communication within one cell is negligible in a cell sufficiently far removed, and therefore the resource can be reused in this cell. In addition, the resource is typically divided within one cell and between cells by division of the resource in the time domain, the frequency domain and/or the code domain. Different communication systems use different principles for this division. The resource allocation may be static or dynamic dependent on the current load of the communication system, and typically a combination of static and dynamic resource allocation is used.
Hence, it is of the outmost importance for cellular communication systems to optimise the use of the available radio resource. However, the allocation of resource to different services and different mobile stations tend to require complex management and control involving significant signalling. This is particularly unsuitable for efficient resource utilisation in the presence of significant fluctuations in the radio environment.
For example, circuit switch calls predominantly seek to cope with severe fading conditions by changing the communication parameters to ensure a suitable quality. Specifically, calls may be handed over to neighbouring cells. However, handover is a slow process that requires significant signalling between base stations and mobile stations. Therefore, repeated handovers must be avoided and consequently handovers are best suited to permanent changes in the radio environment and less suited for dealing with short term variations. As another example, packet based communications seek to cope with interference variations by sophisticated scheduling algorithms. However, these algorithms require complex signalling and are therefore unsuitable for short term fluctuations in the parameters of the radio environment.
Hence, an improved system for controlling the radio interface resource utilisation would be advantageous and in particular a system allowing for increased flexibility, lower complexity, less signalling overhead, faster operation and/or improved resource utilisation in view of fluctuations in the characteristics of the radio environment would be advantageous.

Method and apparatus for transmission power control


A method to produce cheese chips provides that cut cheese slices are frozen and then raised by means of rapid water evaporation due to the application of microwave and vacuum drying. The freezing step is preceded by drying and cooling, and the raised cheese chips containing cheese and flavourings are characterised in that their density does not exceed 0.46 g/cm3, the porosity does exceed 40%, and the crunchiness does exceed 4.

The method to produce cheese chips known from Polish patent application No. P.396326. consists in checking the cheese with a metal detector, slicing it with a slicer to the thickness of 1 mm to 7 mm, and checking it with an optical detector for foreign bodies after which the cheese slices are frozen to the temperature of minus 5° C. to minus 30° C. by blowing cool air with a temperature of minus 20° C. to minus 150° C. for 5 to 40 minutes. The frozen cheese slices are raised by rapid water evaporation resulting in the occurrence of characteristic smaller and/or larger air pockets increasing the volume of the products, raising being carried out in a microwave and vacuum drier for 1 to 20 minutes at the pressure of 15 to 100 hPa and with the supplied microwave power of 5 to 120 kW. After raising, the cheese slices are mixed with a topping, and then the slices are finally dried at a temperature of 20° C. to 65° C. for 0.5 to 2 hours to a humidity of 1 to 9% providing the crunchiness effects, and after the additional drying, the cheese slices are sifted on a sieve screen and the accepted fraction is bagged.
The method to produce extruded chips, containing cheese grains, known from Russian patent specification No. RU2312521, consists in mixing ground Cheddar cheese in the amount of 15% and particle size in the range of 0.32 mm to 0.63 mm with rice in the amount of 85% by weight after which the mixture is moisturized to 15-18% and processed in an extruder at a temperature of 150-160° C. and a pressure of 7.5-8.5 MPa, and the surface of the resulting extruded product is sprinkled with vitamins containing salt in the amount of 2.5% of the cheese chips weight. According to another version, Cheddar cheese in the amount of 10% is mixed with wheat in the amount of 90% by weight or a dry Cheddar cheese mixture in the amount of 20% by weight is mixed with 80% by weight of triticale.
The method to produce a food product, coextruder to produce a food product and the food product, known from Polish patent specification No. PL203664, is obtained with the use of cheese pastes containing a large amount of dry mass, in particular 50-60%. In the case of known systems for coextrusion, the shear forces present at the coextruding nozzle are too high for obtaining a well formed product. A method to produce a food product consisting of a solid shell surrounding at least one filling, with the application of a base food product to form the product shell and at least one food product constituting the filling, is performed in a coextruder comprising a coextruding nozzle, fed with the base food product and at least one filling material, characterized in that it is implemented with the application of two-section coextruding nozzle, wherein the solid shell is formed at the first step implemented in the first section of the said nozzle, solidified by cooling of the base food product, and then the said solid formed shell is filled in the second step implemented in the second section of the said nozzle with at least one filling material, resulting in finished product consisting of a shell filled with the said at least one filling material, and the said finished product is collected. The basic food ingredient is usually a protein ingredient, but it may also be polysaccharide. Cooling of the shell is carried out using water or a similar liquid circuit. Natural cheese, fresh milk curd or unprocessed cheese products, processed cheese or processed cheese products with homogenising salts or without homogenising salts can be used as the shell material. The filling and the shell are made at a temperature of about 90° C. in feeding hoppers, the filling is cooled to the temperature of about 80° C. and the shell is cooled to the temperature of about 60° C. between the feeding hoppers and the co-extruding die; the shell is extruded and cooled to the temperature of about 50° C. to solidify the shell in the first nozzle section; the filling to fill the shell produced in the first section is extruded and cooled to the temperature of about 30° C. in the second nozzle section, the product leaving the nozzle having the temperature of about 38° C.
From Polish patent application No. PL396326, a method to produce cheese chips is known, consisting in checking the cheese with a metal detector, then slicing it with a slicer to a thickness of 1 mm to 7 mm, and checking if it does not contain foreign bodies, after which the cheese slices undergo a freezing process in a cool air stream with a temperature below minus 20 to minus 100° C. for 5 to 40 minutes. The frozen cheese slices are raised by rapid water evaporation resulting in the appearance of characteristic smaller and/or larger air pockets increasing the volume of the product, wherein the raising is carried out in a microwave and vacuum drier for 1 min to 20 mins at a pressure of 15 to 100 hPa. Products obtained with the above described method did not have an appropriate texture and crunchiness. A snack obtained from various kinds of cheese, including e.g. Gouda type and other matured cheeses was less crunchy. Therefore, a method to produce cheese snacks that can be obtained from any type of cheese, including e.g. Gouda and other matured cheeses, wherein the obtained product is characterized with appropriate crunchiness, porosity, and density all over its volume, is still being sought. Unexpectedly, the problems mentioned above have been solved by the present invention.

Method to produce cheese chips and raised cheese chips

PAULA Ingredients Spolka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia Spolka Komandytowa


The present disclosure provides a system and method for managing data using semantic tags. The method may include providing a data model corresponding to a first set of tangible objects where the data model includes a first template class having both properties describing the set of tangible object and a set of semantic tags corresponding to the properties. The method may include receiving a class definition for a second template class for a second set of tangible objects where the second template class inherits, by the class definition, the properties and the semantic tags for the second set of tangible objects.

The process of software development involves research, new development, prototyping, modification and reuse. Additionally, developing dynamic applications requires the content developer to organize, manage and deploy a large quantity of content artifacts. In order to accurately develop the content artifacts, the content developer must create a logical model that reflects the physical world. That model is then broken down into common objects in order to provide the highest level of re-usability of artifacts and the lowest cost of maintaining the application(s). As the complexity of the application increases, the number of the common objects also increases thereby making the process of tracking and maintaining these common objects important.
Currently, existing technologies typically store these common objects at many different memory locations. As a result, a content developer has to manually search through a large number of locations for content artifacts to identify common objects relevant for the development of the application. This manual search process is inefficient, time consuming and tedious.

Methods for managing applications using semantic modeling and tagging and devices thereof


A power system and method utilizes two independent AC lines to power an N+1 power supply configuration. The AC lines are selectively switched to supply power to the N+1 power supply configuration in response to power failure on one of the AC lines. The distribution system takes advantage of the N+1 configuration by always powering at least N power supplies. Sequencing of the switching is also monitored for incorrect power switching. Upon detection of incorrect power switching relays are forced open.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to providing robust power, and in particular to apparatus and methods for providing robust power using switching to selectively distribute alternating current (AC) power to several direct current (DC) power supplies.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Many power systems need robust backup power to minimize, or eliminate, power outages. A fault may occur along one of the lines, such as overloading or shorting, causing the corresponding circuit breaker to clear at the main circuit breaker box and trip open. Other failures are also possible. For example, a service technician working on something may accidentally grab the wrong power cord and unplug it, a line cord from the subsystem to the wall outlet could become damaged, or the circuit breakers (denoted by "CB") could malfunction and open. It is also possible that a line filter which conditions the power coming from an AC box could quit operating, open up, and not let all the power through. These and other faults along the line, all the way back to the main circuit breaker in the building, could cause AC power to not be available on an AC line.
One common approach to providing more robust power uses a primary AC power source and a standby AC power source. The standby AC power source is switched in when the primary AC power source goes down. In this configuration, however, all power supplies are connected, via a switch, to the primary and standby AC power sources. The switch is thrown from the primary supply to the standby supply when a problem occurs in the primary AC power source. Switching to the other supply, however, introduces a delay because all power supplies are down for at least a period of time. This system also fails to compensate for problems in a single power supply.
An alternate approach to power supply robustness is to have redundant power supplies. If a power supply goes down, a redundant supply is switched in. This system is referred to as a "2N" system because N AC power supplies are needed to operate the system, and N additional supplies provide redundancy for each supply.

Apparatus and methods for providing robust powering


A method is described of manufacturing ferroelectric bismuth-titanate layers Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 on a substrate, A solution containing bismuth and titanium is provided, in a stoichiometric ratio, in the form of a metallo-organic or inorganic compound which is homogeneously mixed in an organic solvent, being brought into contact with the substrate and thermally treated at a temperature in the range from 500.degree. C. to 650.degree. C., thereby forming bismuth-titanate Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing ferroelectric layers of bismuth titanate Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12 on a substrate.
Thin ferroelectric layers are important for many electrical and optical applications such as, for example, the manufacture of memories, displays or capacitors. It is known that for such layers ferroelectric compounds having the perovskite structure are used. For ferroelectric memories use is made of, for example, lead-containing perovskite materials. However, these materials have the disadvantage that in their manufacture lead oxide is evaporated, in particular at high temperatures, as a result of which it is often very difficult to control the composition. Lead-containing perovskites such as, for example, PbTi.sub.0,5 Zr.sub.0,5 O.sub.3 exhibit high dielectric constant values .epsilon. of approximately 1500. However, materials having a high dielectric constant can be used for ferroelectric memories only under certain conditions.
A ferroelectric material system which, in the manufacture, exhibits no lead-evaporation problems and which, in addition, has a relatively low dielectric constant (.epsilon.<150) is bismuth titanate Bi.sub.4 Ti.sub.3 O.sub.12. A further distinctive feature of this material is that on switching the ferroelectric material, a rotation through only 9.degree. takes place along the c-axis of the polarization vector.
Up to now thin bismuth titanate layers have been manufactured by means of high-frequency cathode-sputtering methods in which MgO substrates are used. However, cathode-sputtering methods have the disadvantage that an accurate control of the stoichiometry of the layer composition in a multicomponent system is very difficult. In addition, carrying out experiments with these methods involves high costs because they must be conducted in a high vacuum. The deposition of multicomponent systems further requires a very accurate process control. An additional disadvantage of cathode-sputtering methods is that they are not suitable for continuous production processes. The known layers manufactured by means of cathode-sputtering methods had a thickness in the range from 12 to 32 .mu.m. At such layer thicknesses, however, the ferroelectric layers cannot be used as memories.

Method of manufacturing ferroelectric bismuth-titanate layers on a substrate from solution


Frosting coating materials and methods, frosted articles, and, in certain aspects, a frosting coating that includes thermoset acrylic resin, polymethyl methacrylate, polyacrylate copolymer and methylated melamine-formaldehyde resin, and, optionally, UV absorbent material and/or light stabilized material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to frosting coating materials, coated articles, coating methods, and, in certain particular aspects, to coating methods and materials useful in producing a frosted plastic or glass article.
2. Description of Related Art
A substrate of glass or plastic may become frosted when a surface temperature thereof is heated, e.g. to 355-365 degrees F. and then cooled to room temperature. In certain prior art methods, a frosting coating is provided with, e.g. thermosetting polymers and other chemicals which produce a frosting effect due to moisture adjustment (expulsion) by heating. The prior art discloses a wide variety of systems and methods for coating articles to produce a frosted article. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,476,093; 6,777,092; 6,641,755; 5,916,938; 6,193,831; U.S. Applications published with numbers 20040049052, 20040058078, and 20040067311; and the references listed in these patents and applications provide a sampling of related art and of frosted articles (e.g. lenses, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,015,523 and 5,458,820; mirrors and prisms, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,898,435 and 5,513,039; and optical elements, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,582,884, 5,933,273, and 5,621,838).
Frosted articles and frosted glass plastic containers are well known and are used for foods, beverages, alcoholic liquors, cosmetics and other materials because they prevent UV transmission and/or improve a design with decoration and an impression of quality or artistry. In many prior art methods, to finish a surface of a glass container so it is frosted, a method is used in which the surface is etched with a hydrofluoric acid solution with added salts such as ammonium fluoride, or a mixed solution of hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid with added salts such as ammonium fluoride. Such a method can provide a frosted surface, but the use of a strong acid, such as hydrofluoric acid as an etching agent, can make the handling of agents difficult and can require washing with an acid and water. The treatment of resulting acidic waste water can present problems regarding safety, environment, productivity, and cost.
A method for finishing a surface of a glass container without using such harmful agents includes mixing a fine silica particle as a matting agent into a thermosetting resin or a photocurable resin to form a frosted coating on the surface of the glass container (see, e.g. JP-A 2518/1978 and JP-B 68418/1993); but when such a frosted glass container is immersed into a washing solution such as an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution in a step of alkali washing, the coating can turn white and can peel from the container and, when such a glass container passes through an alkali washing line or a bottling line, cracking and peeling of the coating can occur by collision between bottles due to insufficient impact resistance of the coating.
One attempted solution to these problems disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,093 is a frost-coating composition, which includes a hydrophobic silica particle or a polymer particle, in addition to a photocurable compound; and a frosted glass container coated with such a composition.
One such frost-coating composition includes 5-50 parts by weight of a hydrophobic fine silica particle based on 100 parts by weight of a photocurable compound, such that said frost-coating composition forms a frosted coating having alkaline resistance.
Certain coatings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,093 include a solvent-based solution with a relatively high VOC content and, in certain manufacturing processes an epoxy polymer solution is heated for a minimum of two hours at one hundred fifty degrees centigrade.
There is a need, recognized by the present inventor, for efficient and effective materials and methods for frosting coatings.
There is a need, recognized by the present inventor, for such frosting coating materials and methods useful for producing a coating with high surface hardness to combat undesirable etching, e.g. acid etching, of an article.

Frosting coating materials, articles, and methods


A portable furniture base for attaching a base stand to a deck surface form having a plurality of spaced apart planks so that the stand can be moved to various locations. The portable furniture base includes an upper member, an upper support portion and is mounted on the upper end of a base member. An elongate tension wire disposed in the hollow interior of the base member attaches the base member to a deck by extension of its lower anchoring end through a space between two adjacent planks of the deck. The tension wire anchoring end is rectangular in shape to form a pair of opposing anchoring flange portions which may positioned so that they abut the lower surface of the deck. The tension wire upper end is coupled to a threaded bolt. An adjustment nut disposed on the threaded bolt and is mounted to permit rotation on the base member upper end to provide an adjustment of the tension within the tension wire.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to floor stands and more particularly pertains to a new Portable Furniture Base for attaching a base stand to the floor so that the stand can be moved to various locations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of floor stands is known in the prior art. More specifically, floor stands heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art floor stands include U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,460; U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,405; U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,705; U.S. Pat. No. 259,551; U.S. Pat. No. 289,779 and U.S. Pat. No. 327,788.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new Portable Furniture Base. The inventive device includes a tension nut and a tension wire.
In these respects, the Portable Furniture Base according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and into doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of attaching a base stand to the floor so that the stand can be moved to various locations.


A solar concentrator comprising: a light-transmissive sheet including: a plurality of luminescent particles capable of becoming excited by absorbing light within at least a first spectrum of absorption frequencies and, once excited, capable of being stimulated to emit light having a spectrum within at least a first spectrum of emission frequencies; and a first light-guide; and a light source for generating a pulsed probe light having a spectrum, at least a portion of which is within at least the first spectrum of emission frequencies, for stimulating at least one of the excited luminescent particles having absorbed light within the first spectrum of absorption frequencies such that when the probe light traveling in a first direction of travel stimulates the excited luminescent, the excited luminescent particles emit emitted light having a spectrum within the first spectrum of emission frequencies in the first direction of travel of the probe light.

The harvesting of solar energy is a field with a multiplicity of different technologies for converting sunlight to electricity. To date, none of the technologies has become sufficiently inexpensive to displace traditional means of generating electricity, and as a result solar energy remains a marginal contributor to global power needs. The main cost driver in solar power systems is the high cost of the photovoltaic (PV) cells, which are the semiconductor junctions that convert light into electricity.
One of the many avenues being investigated for reducing the cost of electricity produced by solar power is called "Concentrated Photovoltaics", or CPV. The basic idea behind CPV is to use some sort of optic, generally a Fresnel lens or another focusing optic, to concentrate sunlight onto tiny, high-efficiency PV cells. The PV cells employed are compound semi-conductor cells with multiple junctions in a stack and electrically connected in series. The most typical conventional cells for CPV are three junction cells using indium gallium phosphide, indium gallium arsenide, and germanium cells all arranged in an electrical series connection. Each of these cells converts a portion of the solar spectrum into electricity. CPV systems are very energetically productive but they have a major downside in that they require trackers to orient them to face the sun at all times in order for their optics to function. This need for trackers makes these systems practical for use in solar farms, where large post-mounted trackers are mounted on the ground. Trackers are impractical, however, for systems intended for building integration and roof mounting (which represents a massive portion of the solar market). CPV systems use high sunlight concentration, as high as 2000 suns, meaning that only a tiny amount of photovoltaic material would be required as compared with a conventional non-concentrated PV system.
Another approach to concentration is the use of luminescent solar concentrators. These devices consist of a sheet of glass that contains either a layer of luminescent particles or has luminescent particles impregnated throughout the glass. Luminescent particles typically absorb light over a wide band of frequencies and emit light at lower frequencies over a narrower band. Examples of luminescent particles are organic dyes, laser dyes and nano-crystals.
When these luminescent particles emit light, the light emitted travels in a random direction. Because this light is emitted evenly in every direction from inside the glass, any emitted radiation which strikes the top or bottom faces of the glass sheet, and which has an angle of incidence with respect to the surface normal of the glass sheet greater than the critical angle for total internal reflection, will be trapped within the glass sheet by total internal reflection. (If the glass has an index of 1.5 and the surrounding media is air then the critical angle is approximately 41.8 degrees.)
In fact, the only light which will not become trapped within the glass is any light that is emitted within one of two cones of emission centered on the normal of the top and bottom glass surfaces and with base angles of 83.6 degrees in the foregoing example. The critical angle is given by Snell's law:n1 sin θ1−n2 sin θ2
Light thus trapped will travel in all directions within the glass to the four edges of the glass where it can be harvested for energy production by photovoltaic cells. Because the frequency of the emitted light is relatively narrow, it is possible to use single junction cells in this instance in a very efficient manner, provided the single junction cells have a band-gap closely matched to the energy of the emitted photons. In principal, infinite concentration could be achieved in this manner except there are two fundamental limitations: absorption within the glass and re-absorption by the luminescent particles. The first, absorption within the glass itself, limits the practical optical path length and thus the size of the glass sheet and the concentration. Re-absorption and emission also limit the practical concentration. To date the best-predicted concentration by this means is on the order of 150 suns. This is far lower that the concentrations achievable by CPV as noted above. Thus cost savings in a luminescent concentration system achieved by not having a tracker are greatly overwhelmed by the extra cost of requiring several times more photovoltaic cell material. Thus, luminescent concentration systems are not in widespread commercial use and improvements in this technology are desirable, given its inherent advantages noted above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Pulsed stimulated emission luminescent photovoltaic solar concentrator


A method of forming an integrated circuit structure including providing a wafer comprising a front surface and a back surface, wherein the wafer comprises a chip; forming an opening extending from the back surface into the chip; filling an organic material in the opening, wherein substantially no portion of the organic material is outside of the opening and on the back surface of the wafer; and baking the organic material to cause a contraction of the organic material.

As is well known in the art, most integrated circuits are manufactured on wafers, typically semiconductor wafers, and more typically silicon wafers. Over the past decades, wafers have grown from a mere two inches in diameter to eight inches in diameter and, more recently, to twelve inches in diameter, also known as 300 mm wafers. While some devices manufactured today are manufactured on eight-inch wafers, most new integrated device manufacturing facilities will be designed to manufacture on twelve-inch wafers.
As the area of a circle is related to the square of its diameter, a fifty percent increase in the diameter (as in moving from an eight-inch wafer to a twelve-inch wafer) results in more than double the available surface area for manufacturing devices.
Another trend in integrated circuit device manufacturing relates to packaging technology. With the move toward surface mount technology and so called low profile packages, wafers are being ground to increasingly lesser thicknesses as part of the packaging process.
As wafers become larger in diameter and thinner in thickness, previously unknown or at least unappreciated forces play an increasingly important role. These forces include the compressive or tensile stress applied to the wafer, and to the chips in the wafer, by the thin films that are formed thereon as part of the integrated circuit manufacturing processes.
The combination of a greater number of thin films applying stress to thinner wafers/chips results in significant warpage of the wafer/chip and of the subsequently formed integrated circuits. (As is known, the wafers are diced into individual chips that, when packaged, form complete integrated circuit devices.)
The warpage has several deleterious effects. One of the negative effects is that the warpage of chips or wafers can significantly impact the electrical performance of the devices formed in the chips/wafers. As is known, strain in the semiconductor layer in which MOS transistors are formed can significantly impact charge carrier mobility. The strain caused by warpage of chips/wafers can adversely impact charge carrier mobility.
Conventionally, the warpage problem of wafers/chips were solved by coating a film on the front surface or the back surface of the wafer, with the film having an inherent stress, which causes the wafer to warp against the existing warpage direction, hence compensating for the existing warpage. A flat wafer may thus be formed. After the dicing process, the resulting chips are also flat. However, not all of the wafers can be fixed using such a method. For example, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) devices need to be exposed to the external environment out of the resulting chips, for the purpose of, for example, sensing acoustic wave (in MEMS microphones), or allowing the flow of fluid (in micro inkjet heads or bio flow pumps). Such chips cannot be coated with films.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and structure for overcoming the above-described shortcomings in the prior art.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A central determination gaming system with a keno game. Upon a player initiating a game play at gaming terminal, the gaming terminal enables the player to select a plurality of symbols. The gaming terminal accesses a standard set of predefined symbols for the specific game played. The gaming terminal bidirectionally maps the player's selected symbols with the standard set of predefined symbols. The gaming terminal receives a predetermined game outcome seed from a central controller. The gaming terminal utilizes the selected game outcome seed to generate a plurality of game symbols. The gaming terminal determines if each of the generated game symbols needs to be modified. If so, the gaming terminal modifies these generated game symbols based on the bidirectionally mapping, presents the modified game symbols to the player and provides the player a game outcome that is determined based on the selected game outcome seed.

The present invention relates in general to a central determination gaming system, and more particularly to a central determination gaming system with a keno game. The majority of the contemporary wagering gaming devices or gaming terminals randomly generate awards and other outcomes. Such gaming terminals typically include a relatively low probability associated with obtaining the highest award, relatively medium probabilities associated with obtaining medium range awards and relatively higher probabilities associated with obtaining low range awards. These gaming terminals also include probabilities associated with obtaining losses or no award at all. The probabilities of obtaining the awards and the amount of the awards determine the average expected pay out percentage of these wagering gaming terminals. Because the outcomes of these gaming terminals are completely randomly determined, there is no certainty that a player will ever obtain any particular award. That is, no matter how many times a player plays the game, since the gaming terminal generates outcomes randomly or completely based upon a probability calculation, there is no certainty that the game will ever provide the player with a rare outcome, such as a jackpot award, or any other specific value for that matter. On the other hand, due to the random determination, the gaming terminal can provide the rare outcomes, such as jackpot awards, numerous times in a small number of plays. For example, a probability-based $1 gaming terminal may be programmed to payback 95% of all wagers placed with a 1% chance of generating a $10 win outcome, a 5% chance of generating a $5 win outcome, a 10% chance of generating a $2 win outcome, a 40% chance of generating a $1 win outcome and a 44% chance of generating a $0 loss outcome. However, when one hundred game outcomes are generated by the probability-based gaming terminal, the actual payback may be 137% of all wagers placed and the actual generated outcomes may be six $10 win outcomes, one $5 win outcome, eighteen $2 win outcomes, thirty-six $1 win outcomes and thirty-nine $0 loss outcomes.
This uncertainty is faced by players and casinos or other gaming establishments. For example, certain casinos prefer that a relatively high number of players hit low awards while a relatively low number of players hit high awards. When players hit high awards periodically, casinos attract more players, because of the positive publicity large wins generate. By using desired payback percentages or probabilities, the casinos can also expect to make a certain level of profit. The random determinations can, however, unexpectedly cause casinos to suffer a loss or, on the other hand, to reap great profit in the short run and lose business in the long run due to a reputation for only paying out low awards.
Regulatory bodies in certain jurisdictions do not permit the use of probability-based gaming terminals, in part for these reasons. These regulatory bodies permit the use of wagering gaming terminals which are guaranteed to provide certain or definite awards, so that, for example, a certain number of wins is guaranteed and the overall amount paid back to players is guaranteed. That is, the payback percentage is fixed and not an average expected amount. One type of gaming terminal which complies with this requirement is an instant-type lottery gaming terminal. An instant-type lottery gaming terminal includes a finite pool or set of electronic tickets with each electronic ticket assigned to or having a predetermined outcome. Alternatively, each electronic ticket could be assigned to a random number or game play seed. Each seed is deterministic of a predetermined outcome. That is, the gaming terminal utilizes the random number or game play seed in a random number generating algorithm to generate random numbers that the gaming terminal then uses to determine and provide the predetermined outcome. In an instant-type lottery gaming terminal, as the predetermined outcome for each electronic ticket is revealed to a player on the gaming terminal, the ticket is removed (i.e., flagged as used) from the finite pool or set of electronic tickets. Once removed from the pool or set, a ticket cannot be used again to determine another game outcome. This type of gaming terminal provides players with all of the available outcomes over the course of the play cycle and guarantees the actual wins and losses.
Since an instant-type lottery gaming machine has a finite pool of predetermined win/loss outcomes, it is possible to configure the pool to specific conditions or criteria requested by the casino or gaming establishment. An example of these conditions or criteria are the number of tickets included in the pool and the exact payback percentage or payback sum for the pool as a whole. The payback percentage or sum represents the guaranteed payout for the entire pool of predetermined outcomes. Other examples of conditions or criteria are what prizes will be awarded and the frequency of winning outcome tickets amongst the total number of tickets for the pool. For example, if a predetermined pool includes twenty $1 tickets and the pool has a payback sum of $10, then the pool might consist of one $5 win outcome, one $2 win outcome, three $1 win outcomes and fifteen $0 loss outcomes and may be represented as the following outcomes: 5, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. It should be appreciated that the above described pool of twenty tickets is for illustration purposes only and a pool could include any suitable desired number of tickets including a large number such as one million or more.
Central determination gaming systems are also generally known. A central determination gaming system provides a plurality of individual gaming terminals, located in a gaming establishment, such as a casino, coupled by one or more communication links, to a central processor or controller. When a player plays a game on one of the gaming terminals, a game outcome is randomly generated based on probability data by the central controller. The generated game outcome and how the game outcome is to be presented or displayed to the player are communicated from the central controller to the individual gaming terminal and then provided to the player. It should be appreciated that one central processor may continuously run hundreds or thousands of individual gaming terminals at once. Additionally, each individual gaming terminal may include a plurality of different types of games played at a plurality of different denominations.
In order to comply with the above mentioned regulatory rules that do not permit the use of probability-based gaming terminals, central determination gaming systems have been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of game outcomes. Each game outcome in each set or pool includes a game outcome component (i.e., a win, a lose, a secondary game trigger or other suitable outcome) with an associated value or payout amount, if any, and a game presentation component (i.e., how the game outcome is displayed or presented to the player). In these systems, when a player makes a wager on one of the gaming devices, the central system independently selects a game outcome from a set or pool of game outcomes and flags or marks the selected game outcome as used. Once a game outcome is flagged as used, it is prevented from further selection from the set or pool and cannot be selected by the central controller upon another wager. The selected game outcome is communicated to the individual gaming terminal. The individual gaming terminal displays or presents the game presentation component and provides the player the game outcome component with the associated value, if any, for the selected game outcome. Additionally, certain central determination gaming systems have also been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of random number or game outcome seeds.
There are a number of advantages to providing for centralized production of game outcomes at individual gaming terminals. Central production or control can assist a casino or other entity in maintaining appropriate records, controlling gaming, reducing and preventing cheating or electronic or other errors, reducing or eliminating win-loss volatility and the like.
Gaming devices having a primary or base game and a secondary or a bonus game are also well known. A secondary or bonus game may be any type of suitable game, either similar to or completely different from the primary game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a triggering event or a selected outcome in the primary game. The secondary or bonus game enables the player to obtain a prize or payout in addition to the prize or payout, if any, obtained from the primary game. A secondary or bonus game may produce a significantly higher level of player excitement than the primary game because it provides a greater expectation of winning than the primary game and is accompanied with more attractive or unusual features than the primary game.
Keno games are also generally known. Keno is similar to a lottery game. The goal, like a lottery, is to choose a winning number or winning numbers from a plurality of numbers. In most standard versions of paper or video based Keno, the player receives a card with eighty squares numbered one to eighty, arranged in rows of ten. The player can bet on any number or numbers, up to a designated amount, such as fifteen numbers, which the player does by marking selected numbers on a Keno card or selecting the numbers on a keno display. A clerk or the processor of the video display records the player's bet(s), wherein the player pays for each number played or wagered.
In the casino version, the Keno numbers also appear on eighty ping pong type balls, which can be tossed about in a clear plastic sphere or spun around in a wire bird cage. In an alternative video version, a computer using a random number generator generates the Keno numbers. When a number is chosen, the number is shown electronically on Keno boards throughout the casino or on the video display. An award is provided to the player based on the amount of matches between the player selected number(s) and the game generated number(s).
Known variations of Keno, for example 'multi-race' keno, 'walk away' keno and 'way' ticket keno, do not affect the mathematics, payout or expected return of the game. It does not mathematically matter how many numbers the player chooses or if the player combines wagers. The player can choose less numbers if the player likes to win a smaller amount but a little more often. The player can choose more numbers if the player does not care about the frequency of the wins but wants bigger payouts.
As the game outcome in a keno game is randomly determined and the game outcome in a central determination gaming system is predetermined, no known keno game has been implemented with a central determination gaming system. That is, in a keno game since the game or gaming terminal randomly generates at least one and preferably a plurality of numbers, the game outcome provided to the player is therefore also randomly determined (i.e., based on the number or amount of player picked numbers that match the game or gaming terminal randomly generated numbers). On the other hand, the game outcomes of a game in a central determination gaming system are not randomly determined, but are predetermined and stored in a set or pool until being provided to the player. Therefore, a need exists for a central determination keno gaming system that enables the player to play any available numbers, enables the game or gaming terminal to randomly generate any of the available numbers and still provides a predetermined game outcome to the player.

Central determination gaming system with a keno game


Novel glycolipid derivatives, where the substituent of the sphingosine base part is a short carbon chain alkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group and efficient synthetic methods for practical mass production of the same and intermediates useful for the synthesis of these compounds.

Autoimmune diseases, both for visceral organ or neuronal cells, are defined as "diseases where the destruction of one's own cells triggers the production of one's own antibodies against the destroyed cells or their ingredients and the destruction by one's own leucocytes is continued". Further, as typical autoimmune diseases, for example, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, chronic rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren syndrome, systemic scleroderma, insulin-dependent diabetes, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Basedow's disease (Graves' disease), pernicious anemia, Addison's disease, atrophic gastritis, hemolytic anemia, ulcerative colitis, etc. are known.
For treatment of autoimmune diseases, steroid hormones, immunosuppressants, etc. are widely used, but at the time of use, sufficient cautions are required over side-effects. Safety and highly effective drug has not yet been found. On the other hand, regarding the cause of autoimmune diseases, the involvement of T-cells has been pointed out. This is believed to arise when the helper T-cell type 1 (Th1)/helper T-cell type 2 (Th2) immune balance is lost. For example, it has been reported that before the relapse of one of the autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, the production of the Th1 type cytokines IFN-γ, IL-12, etc. is observed and that the administration of IFN-γ increases the frequency of relapse of multiple sclerosis. That is, in conditions of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, the shift of the Th1/Th2 immune balance toward Th1 bias may be considered to play a central role (P. Kidd, Altern. Med. Rev. 2003, 8, 223: Takashi Yamamura, Notoshinkei, 2001, 53, 707). On the other hand, as Th2 type cytokines shifting the Th1/Th2 immune balance toward Th2 bias, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10 are known, but their administration of itself causes the appearance of systemic side-effects, and clinical application of itself is therefore believed to be substantially impossible.
NKT cells are lymphocytes which express both NK cell markers (i.e., NKT receptors) and T-cell antigen receptors (TCR). T-cells recognize peptides bonded to major histocompatibility complexes (MHC), while NKT cells recognize glycolipids bonded to the CD1d molecules and produce a large amount of cytokines in an extremely short period of time, when stimulated from TCR.
For example, the (2S,3S,4R)-1-O-(α-D-galactosyl)-2-(N-hexacosanoylamino)-1,3,4-octadecanetriol (α-GalCer) having the formula (XIV):
is the first substance reported, as a ligand presented by the monomorphic CD1d expressed on dendritic cells and activating the NKT cells expressing T-cell receptors having semi-invariant α-chains (Vα14). It has been shown that it has a powerful antitumor activity and immunization action (see T. Kawano et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1998, 95, 5690). Recently, the novel glycolipid OCH discovered by Yamamura et al. is a derivative in which the carbon chain of the sphingosine base part of α-GalCer is shortened and a ligand which similarly bonds to CD1d to stimulate the NKT cells, but α-GalCer causes NKT cells to produce IFN-γ and IL-4, while OCH more selectively promotes the production of IL-4 and shifts the Th1/Th2 immune balance toward Th2 bias (see K. Miyamoto et al., Nature 2001, 413, 531). Further, OCH effected in oral administration in a mouse experimental autoimmunological encephalomyelitis (EAE) model, and therefore, so is expected to be a new medicine in the area of autoimmune diseases. For the synthetic method of glycolipids as represented by α-GalCer, the Wittig reaction, as the key step, is in general used for constracting the carbon chain of the sphingosine base part (see M. Morita et al., J. Med. Chem. 1995, 38, 2176). However, the glycolipid having the formula (I) is a derivative, in which the carbon chain of the sphingosine base of α-GalCer is shortened, and therefore, so similar synthetic procedures like with α-GalCer proved to give low yields. Further, the glycolipid having the formula (I) was originally obtained by purification using ion exchange resin or HPLC, then converting into freeze dried materials. However, by the above method, large-scale facilities are required at the time of large-scale synthesis, and therefore, not only is there a problem of synthetic costs, there is also the major problem that the quality of the products may not be stable. Therefore, an efficient synthetic method for the large-scale production of the compounds having the formula (I) has not been known yet. Further, the synthesis of a glycolipid, where the substituent of the sphingosine base part is a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group has not yet been reported.

Glycolipids and synthetic method thereof as well as their synthetic intermediates, and synthetic method thereof

Abstract: Glycolipids having the formula (I):

Abstract: where R3 indicates a substituted or unsubstituted C1 to C7 linear alkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted aryl group, or substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group and R8 indicates a substituted or unsubstituted C1 to C35 alkyl group, substituted or unsubstituted aryl group or substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group are chemically synthesized.

Japan as Represented by President of National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry


An integral heat pipe, heat exchanger, and clamping plate. A base plate functioning as an evaporator has disposed in it a multiplicity of intersecting parallel and perpendicular internal channels extending laterally substantially across the base plate. A sintered copper thermal wick is applied to all channels. Thin-walled condenser tubes forming a condenser region are joined to the base plate at intersections of width wise and cross wise channels contained in the base plate. A multiplicity of fins extend to all condenser tubes. For heat pipe arrangements operating in horizontal configurations, all wick-lined channels within the base plate remain open. For heat pipe arrangements intended to operate in oblique or vertical configurations, horizontally extending channels vertically displaced relative to other horizontal channels are isolated from the latter by a multiplicity of plugs. The vertically isolated horizontally extending channels constrain the working fluid and its vapor to remain within a single horizontal channel and yet disperse laterally within the maximum internal dimensions of the evaporator. Condensed working fluid returning from the condenser region to the base plate and subsequently to the heated region via capillary action is cycled more rapidly through the evaporation and condensation phases, thereby increasing the efficiency of the integral heat pipe arrangement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat transfer devices, and more particularly heat transfer devices for use with electronic instrumentation and computation systems.
2. Art Background
Heat producing devices including electronic circuit elements commonly require heat dissipation facility to draw away heat sourced by the heat producing components during operation of the system. Frequently, heatsinks having an array of fins or other surface area extending geometry are firmly connected to the heat producing bodies, the thermal mass of the heatsink drawing away heat from the device and the fins transferring the heat to ambient or convective air. More recently, heat pipe technology has become more prevalent in application to commercial or industrial heat transfer applications, particularly where efficient heat transfer must be accommodated in a compact or limited physical space, or where liquid cooling techniques are impractical. Heat pipes, although known for at least twenty years and having their roots in work done in the 1940's, are just recently finding application to general commercial and industrial environments. A heat pipe is essentially a hollow thin-walled thermally conductive material, for example copper, which is evacuated and a small amount of an inert working fluid introduced into the thin-walled element, whereafter the element is hermetically sealed. Once surface of the heat pipe element draws heat away from a heat producing body in contact with the heat pipe element, and transfers it to the sealed working fluid. The working fluid is caused to locally boil, the resultant vapor moving rapidly away from the heated region through passages in the heat pipe to cooler regions where the vaporized working fluid is condensed. Capillary action in a thermal wick applied to interior surfaces of the heat pipe returns the condensed working fluid to the heated region. A fundamental feature of heat pipes is that the entire external surface of a heat pipe contacting a heat producing body may be maintained to within 1.degree. C. for reasonable power densities. The isothermal characteristic of heat pipes is of particular interest to solid state instrumentation or computation electronics, where device junction temperatures must be maintained with in relatively narrow temperature ranges, and wherein temperature differences between chips on one circuit module must not vary significantly.
Although heat pipes have been previously used to cool computer and electronic systems components, the applicability of heat pipes to particular operating environments has been limited due to physical constraints of the heat pipe itself. For example, because a heat pipe element is typically fabricated of a thin-walled metallic material, there exists little if any structural strength in the heat pipe element itself. Accordingly, heat pipes are commonly attached to a solid base plate which is in turn clamped or otherwise brought into intimate contact with the object to be cooled. The base plate in addition to providing structural integrity for the heat pipe arrangement also provides heatsinking capability for drawing the heat away from the heated body and into the heat pipes. Representative examples of heat pipes for electronic and semiconductor cooling applications include those produced by Thermacore Incorporated, 780 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pa. 17601.
More recently it has been suggested by North and Avedisian in Cornell University technical report E-91-06 entitled "A Heat Pipe for Cooling High Flux Multichip Modules", published April, 1991, that a base plate configured as a manifold having multiple flowpaths between heat pipe elements connected to the base plate may offer improved performance over previous base plate designs. The heat pipe of North and Avedisian is illustrated in FIG. 1. With reference to FIG. 1, North and Avedisian report that a base plate 2 containing parallel sets of three wick-lined holes 8 connecting condenser elements 6 was able to dissipate high heat fluxes (greater than 20 W/cm.sup.2) and high total power (greater than 800 W) while maintaining moderate surface temperatures (less than 100.degree. C.), where the heat pipe was operating in an environment having a temperature difference between heat pipe surface and cooling air of approximately 30.degree. C. Significantly, as North and Avedisian report in the above-cited technical paper, the heat pipe and base plate combination are able to achieve high heat fluxes and power dissipation due to large physical size, thereby rendering the heat pipe arrangement generally unsuitable for compact instrumentation or computation electronics.
Although the heat pipe assembly as developed and reported by North and Avedisian improves upon prior heat pipe designs, the reported design continues to suffer from two limitations frequently encountered in the prior art. The first limitation is that high heat fluxes and total power dissipation are generally obtained by having large base plate surface areas through which heat is transmitted via conduction to heat pipe elements mounted on an opposing surface. Alternatively, heat is conducted through a thin wall and into a working fluid residing directly in the base plate and then evaporated and later condensed on the aforesaid condenser elements. The channel design of North and Avedisian improves upon the prior art by essentially configuring the base plate as the evaporator region by providing channels in the base plate so that the working fluid may be locally evaporated and later condensed in the heat pipe condensing region. However, the design is self-limiting by providing no facility for the working fluid to transfer between adjacent condenser bundles formed by the multiple heat pipe elements. Moreover, the design of North and Avedisian does not permit the heat pipe arrangement to be operated in any orientation except with the base plate horizontal. This result stems from the condensate flow being returned via gravity to the evaporator region and hence to the wick-lined holes.
As will be explained in the following detailed description, the present invention significantly improves upon the heat transfer capability of the base plate by increasing the mobility of the evaporated working fluid within the base plate evaporator region. In addition, the present invention permits heat pipe assemblies to be optimized for either horizontal or vertical operation.

Integral heat pipe, heat exchanger and clamping plate


The invention relates to a method of producing parts for woodwind and brass musical instruments using briarwood, either from the root or branch thereof, said wood being kept moist from the moment it is cut until it is boiled in water for 16 hours, dried in anaerobic conditions and cured under cover for at least six months and for up to two or more years. The following parts can be thus produced: mouthpiece, tongue, clarinet barrel, flute head or bell. The aforementioned parts, which are not affected by humidity, better produce and carry the sound. In addition, a wide range of sounds is possible, such as jazz, classical, soloist, orchestra and band.

I. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a mouthpiece of the type used in woodwind and brass-wind musical instruments and other components of those instruments.
The present invention concerns mouthpiece manufacture in root and branch of briar boiled and dried in different duration, and 6 months of curing, up to two years and more than two years, with a waxed finish, for the coupling thereof in any woodwind and brass-wind musical instrument, accordingly, in addition to other components of those instruments, manufactured in the same material.
II. Description of Related Art
The mouthpiece, fundamental component of the musical instruments treated herein, is used in the saxophone, clarinet, transverse flute, recorder, etc., for the production of sound by forced conduction of the air expelled by the player into the body of the instrument. Both in the woodwind and brass-wind instruments the practice is to use mouthpieces of ebonite in diverse shapes and sizes, in terms of the pitch and tone it is sought to obtain.
The only advantage that is obtained with the ebonite mouthpiece is the specialty of its sound, jazz, classic, etc., obtained with standard different measures of opening and depth of the mouthpiece.
In spite of that advantage, ebonite mouthpieces have certain disadvantages. For example; they can cause allergy problems; their changeability for excessive cold or heat, which produces mistuning of the instrument; excessive taste and smell of a synthetic product; excessive diversity in opening and depth measurements of the mouthpieces for the production of different pitches, which entails a certain difficulty for a proper selection and excessive effort from the players for producing the sound, more so for beginners. With reference to the sound, this does not manage to be as enveloping and balanced as could be desired, producing very irregular waves in the same note, of different length and depth, at the same time as undesirable harmonics.

Method of producing parts for woodwind and brass musical instruments using briarwood


A method is provided for combining the process steps for forming a resistor and interconnect into one process layer, thus eliminating the need for at least two mask steps. An oxide layer is formed over a region of a polysilicon layer in which the resistor will be formed. The oxide protects the resistor from further processing. A conductive layer is then deposited at least over the exposed portion of the polysilicon layer. In a first preferred embodiment, a refractory metal forms the conductive layer. The refractory metal is sintered or heated to form silicide over the exposed portion of the polysilicon layer, and the non-silicided metal is removed. The underlying layer may be doped as desired, before or after silicidation, for the first preferred embodiment. Thus, a resistor and conductive interconnect is formed within the same layer. Also disclosed is an embodiment in which the conductive layer need not be sintered, and an embodiment in which the resistor is formed in the sidewalls of a vertical cavity.

The present invention relates to the fabrication of resistors and interconnect layers, and more particularly to the fabrication of resistor loads and interconnect layers for memory cells.
As is well known in the art, integrated circuits often make use of multiple interconnecting layers. Such arrangements reduce chip area for a given number of devices or circuit elements. Resistors, forming one class of those elements, are often used as load elements in circuits and particularly in static random access memory (SRAM) cells.
Additionally, circuit elements and layers must be electrically connected to one another by way of conductive interconnect lines. Traditionally, these lines have been fabricated by depositing at least one metallization layer. Long connections are ideally formed of materials having very low resistivity, such as aluminum. For local interconnect of nearby elements and interlayer connection, such extremely low resistivity is not critical, though resistivity should not be excessively high.
Polycrystalline silicon, or polysilicon for short, provides fairly good conduction for interconnection over short distances, especially when heavily doped. More importantly, it may be doped with n- or p-type dopants to provide good ohmic (low resistance) contact to similarly doped active areas.
Alternatively, silicide may be used as an interconnect layer. Refractory metal silicides, and especially titanium silicide (TiSi.sub.2), are increasingly used to form interconnects for integrated circuits. Like doped polysilicon, refractory metal silicides form good ohmic contact with silicon, but suicides also have lower sheet resistivity and thus low overall resistivity. Furthermore, silicides can form good ohmic contact, without doping, to both n- and p-type device regions.
One common method of forming metal silicide is a self-aligned silicidation process, often referred to as "salicidation." A thin layer of refractory metal, such as tungsten or titanium, is deposited over a polysilicon layer or other silicon source. For example, titanium metal may be deposited over a dielectric layer and into a contact window formed through the dielectric. The titanium thus contacts an underlying polysilicon layer at the contact window. During a high temperature first sinter step in a nitrogen environment, titanium reacts with the silicon exposed at the contact to form titanium silicide (predominantly TiSi.sub.2). The titanium which overlies the dielectric reacts with ambient nitrogen to form titanium nitride (TiN). After the first sinter, the TiN and unreacted titanium may be removed in a wet etch and a final sinter is performed to lower the silicide's sheet resistance to acceptable levels. The final sinter converts the titanium from the C49 phase to the lower resistance C54 phase.
The multiple layers required to form integrated circuits require several mask steps. Each additional mask which is required entails additional expense and time. For example, fabrication of an SRAM memory cell, including load elements, typically requires at least four layers on top of the substrate: (1) a first polysilicon layer to form transistor gates; (2) a second polysilicon layer for providing local interconnect; (3) a third polysilicon layer to form the resistor; and (4) a metallization layer for forming interconnect with other circuit elements outside the memory array.
Thus, a need exists for a low cost process for forming resistors and interconnect in the same layer, thereby requiring fewer mask steps than past processes have required.

Method of manufacturing self-aligned resistor and local interconnect


The network monitoring system includes a monitor device coupling to a network switch through a mirror port interface of the network switch. The network switch supports a number of regular port interfaces connected to different network components and the mirror port connected to the monitor device. The mirror port mirrors all network traffic of any selected regular port interfaces of the network switch. When the monitor device receives a data packet from the network switch, the monitor device extracts the network address information from such as the source and destination address from the data packet. The monitor device then examines internal lookup tables to determine whether there are corresponding physical port interface for the network address information. If the corresponding physical port interfaces for the network address information are not available in the lookup table, the monitor device interrogates the network switch for the corresponding physical port interface. The network address information is placed in a first-in-first-out buffer temporarily until the network switch responses to the monitor device's request. Finally, the monitor device uses the physical port interface to perform further network analysis functions.

The present invention relates to network monitoring systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method to analyze the performance of a network switch by monitoring port interfaces of the switch.
In a switched network, the problems and solutions of a shared network do not always apply. Each node may have a dedicated switched port, so bad packets from that node do not affect the rest of the nodes on the network. This feature is somewhat offset by the fact that troubleshooting switched networks is more difficult and requires more specialized tools. No longer can a conventional local area network (LAN) analyzer see all packets and determine which node is the cause of the problem. For this reason, measuring overall traffic levels and studying individual frame statistics is not straightforward in a switched environment. Several switch vendors have proposed ways to remedy this problem with innovative techniques, such as internal RMON data collection and switch port aliasing.
A packet is only forwarded to one port on the switch, so a LAN analyzer connected to one port of a switch will not, by definition, catch all packets flowing through the switch. Many switch vendors have attempted to solve the traffic-monitoring problem by designing statistic collecting modules into the switch. These modules are either based on RMON statistics or a proprietary collection mechanism. For instance, some commercially available network switches keep RMON and SNMP statistics on each packet and can report overall switch traffic levels to any SNMP agent or any proprietary management software.
These modules can diagnose traffic-level problems on a switch with the previously mentioned techniques. Unlike shared networks, however, switched networks do not suffer from throughput degradation due to faster nodes and too many nodes, so these may not cause problems on a switched network. In a workgroup switch, each new user receives a certain amount of dedicated bandwidth. As long as the high bandwidth connection to the switch can handle the traffic, no traffic-level problems should occur.
Individual frame analysis on a switch provides an interesting proposition. Packets are not forwarded to all ports on a switch, so there is no logical place to plug in a LAN and view all packets. Switch vendors have designed many ways to overcome this troubleshooting drawback. Two ways are port aliasing and adding a repeater to monitor a port.
Port aliasing, also called port mirroring or port spanning, is a mechanism by which a switch monitors all traffic flowing through one or any combination of selected ports and mirrors the network traffic to a special alias port. In additional, in some designs, only a portion of the network traffic of the selected port(s) is mirrored to the alias port for analysis. This allows a LAN administrator to examiner switch traffic one port at a time. If problematic packets are coming from a switch, they can usually be isolated in this fashion. FIG. 1 shows how port aliasing works.
Even if a switch does not have advanced troubleshooting features, such as statistics-gathering modules and port aliasing, a few tricks can still be used to troubleshoot problematic switched networks. Adding a repeater is one such method. Adding a repeater refers to cascading a suspected problem node through a repeater into a switch, as shown in FIG. 2. A port and a LAN analyzer are both connected to the repeater, and the repeater is, in turn, connected to the switch port. In this fashion, the analyzer can monitor any port on a switch for bad frames and other error conditions.
Although adding a repeater is a cheap and simple way to troubleshoot a switched network, it does have its drawbacks. When a repeater is inserted between the end node and the switched port, it is effectively changing the characteristics of the connection. For instance, collisions may now occur on the wire, whereas before they did not. If the switch-to-client connection was full-duplex before, it will become half-duplex after adding a repeater. These subtle changes in the connection could change the dynamics of the problem the system is trying to troubleshoot. There have also been some recent developments in using optical links to passively tap the switched port so that the basic characteristics of the connection are not changed.
However, unfortunately, the data produced by the protocol analyzer does not accurately reflect the traffic patterns with the switch, especially if more than one port is being mirrored. This is because the protocol analyzer is unable to distinguish the port that the packet was received on or sent to. Understanding how the packets are flowing through the switch is crucial to properly understanding which resources within the switch are being stressed. Ideally measurements should be made within the switch that captures these relationships. A novel method of monitoring and measuring the network traffic is disclosed in a copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/438,680, titled "INTELLIGENT COLLABORATION ACROSS NETWORK SYSTEM," filed by the same inventor of the present invention, and the patent application is hereby incorporated entirely by reference.

Method to associate input and output interfaces with packets read from a mirror port


According to a remote control device of the present invention, the operation situation according to the transmission of the remote control signal is judged based on a changing brightness of the image, and the information of the content according to the result of judgment is displayed. Thereby, it is possible to investigate a reaction of the apparatus to be controlled to the remote control signal, and visually indicate the reaction to the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for acquiring information inherent to an apparatus using an image pickup element, and remotely controlling a desired apparatus based on the acquired information inherent to the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been developed various techniques for simply controlling a desired apparatus among plural apparatuses using a single controller. For example, with Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-284168, a physical topology map describing the physical arrangement of plural apparatuses is accumulated beforehand in a memory within a remote controller, and the user manipulates a directional button of the remote controller according to the apparent arrangement. The remote controller selects a desired apparatus by pursuing or referring to the physical topology map according to the input of the directional button. Thereby, the user can intuitively select the desired apparatus quickly. The remote controller has a map creation part for automatically collecting the physical arrangement information of apparatuses required to create the physical topology map using the radio or network characteristics.
Also, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-291072, a server apparatus for storing the remote control operation information corresponding to each of the remote control object apparatuses is provided, in which a portable remote control terminal has a transmitting part for transmitting the remote control operation information request data requesting the remote control operation information corresponding to the remote control operation object apparatus selected beforehand via radio communication device or a public communication line for the server apparatus, and the server apparatus transmits, to the portable remote control terminal, the remote control operation information corresponding to the remote control operation object apparatus selected based on the remote control operation information request data.
Also, according to a Non-Patent Document "Proposal for home information appliance multi remote control "Opto navigation" system using an ID reception CMOS image sensor of low power consumption having a fast reading function for partial area" (Video information media institution journal, Vol. 59, No. 12, pp. 1830-1840 (2005)), ID is received from an information home appliance, while picking up the normal image in real time, using a custom image sensor mounted on a portable telephone. The received ID is superimposed on the picked up background image and displayed on a display screen. The user can perform the operation while viewing the object apparatus on the display screen.

Remote control device, method and system


Polyether modified fluoroalkylsiloxanes having the general structure of Formula (I), Formula (II) or Formula (III): ##STR1## wherein x is about 0 to 500, y is about 1 to 50, z is about 1 to 50, R=C.sub.p H.sub.2p --(OC.sub.2 H.sub.4).sub.n --(OC.sub.3 H.sub.6).sub.n).sub.m --OR' in which p is about 2 to 5, n is about 0 to 50, N is about 0 to 50, and one of n or m must be >0, and R'=H, an alkyl group with 1-4 carbons, or an acetyl group and R.sub.f =C.sub.a H.sub.2a --O.sub.b --C.sub.c H.sub.2c --C.sub.d F.sub.2d+1 in which a is 3 or 4, b is 0 or 1, c is 0 or 2-4 and d is 4-12 with the provisos that if b=0, then c=0, and that if b=1, then c=2-4; z.sub.1 is about 0 to 50 and y.sub.1 is about 0 to 50, are useful to reduce the coefficient of friction and to increase mar resistance of coatings, to increase spreadability and wettability of coating formulations, and as foam control agents.

Fluoroalkyl-substituted siloxanes are known in the art, and have been used to modify the surface characteristics of a substrate, usually providing water and/or oil repellency or lubrication. For example, JP 07-053719, assigned to Shin-Etsu Chem. Co., Ltd., illustrates a process for preparing fluoroalkylsiloxanes by hydrosilation with a corresponding polysiloxane containing MeSi(H)O.sub.2/2 Units. Yamamoto, et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,828) demonstrate the preparation of disiloxanes containing both a terminal fluoroalkyl moiety and a terminal SiH moiety, useful as modifiers for improving the surface properties of various materials. Saho, et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 5.047,491) demonstrate a process for the preparation of polysiloxanes which are endcapped with fluoroalkyl and polyether substituents. O'Lenick (U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,114) demonstrates the synthesis of some specific fluorinated dimethicone copolyols which pass water and air but not oil when applied to textiles.