The present disclosure relates to computer-implemented methods, software, and systems for providing extension application mechanisms. Memory is allocated for a virtual environment to run in an address space of an application that is to be extended with extension logic in a secure manner. The virtual environment is configured for execution of commands related to an extension functionality of the application. A virtual processor for an execution of a command of the commands is initialized at the virtual environment. The virtual processor is operable to manage one or more guest operating systems (OS). A first guest OS is loaded at the allocated memory and application logic of the extension functionality is copied into the allocated memory. The virtual environment is started to execute the first guest OS and the application logic of the extension functionality in relation to associated data of the application in the allocated memory.

Software complexity is increasing and causes changes in the software product cycles, requirements, and possibilities for delivery of software applications and platform systems. Customer's needs are being transformed to request flexibility in terms of processes, landscape, and software components. Development of new software applications often times relies on existing, previously developed functionality, or on integrations between software applications to perform more complex use cases. There are a number of scenarios where software components or entire applications are provided for reuse by customer, partner, developers, consultants, or other end users. For example, software platforms may provide functionality that can be extended and therefore new application can be built on top of them.
Applications may run as software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions and provide various services when requested by an end user (e.g., customer). In that manner, a customer of an on-demand application is free from the procurement and maintenance of the hardware and software that is needed for the execution of the application. Cloud application may be implemented as a set of application services that provide functionality to end user in different scenarios.

Extension application mechanisms through intra-process operation systems


System for analyzing a protein sample, comprising a reactor vessel, a chromatographic column, a mass spectrometer, and a computer system. The reactor vessel comprises an enzyme activity capable of digesting the protein sample in order to provide a plurality of peptide digests, an inlet port for receiving the protein to be digested, and an exit port for discharging the peptide digests. The chromatographic column comprises a chromatographic medium capable of chromatographically fractionating the peptide digests as the peptide digests are eluted through the column, wherein the chromatographic column comprises an inlet port for receiving the peptide digests, said inlet port being in flow communication with the exit port of the reactor vessel, and wherein the chromatographic column comprises an exit port for discharging an effluent comprising the chromatographically fractionated peptide digests. The mass spectrometer is capable of generating a mass spectroscopic data set comprising data from which a first plurality of selective ion chromatograms for the fractionated peptide digests can be generated. The mass spectrometer has an inlet port for receiving the chromatographically fractionated peptide digests. The inlet port is in flow communication with the exit port of the chromatographic column. The computer system is operationally coupled to the mass spectrometer such that the computer system is capable of analyzing the mass spectroscopic data set. The computer system comprises programming enabling the computer system to analyze protein samples using selective ion chromatograms derived from the mass spectroscopic data set.

Proteins have a diverse range of physical properties and perform a wide range of biological functions, including enzymatic catalysis, transport and storage, mechanical functions, movement, protection, information processing, and the like. Although proteins are manufactured naturally by living organisms to carry out these functions, many proteins can now be manufactured in large quantities using biological engineering technologies. Manufactured proteins have become important commercial products for treating disease and illness in human being and animal patients. For example, the protein insulin is used for treating patients with diabetes. Other commercially important proteins include tissue plasminogenactivator (TPA), erythropoieton (EPO), human growth hormone (hGH), interleukin II, and the like.
All proteins are composed of a linear sequence of amino acid residues. The amino acid residues are linked together by peptide bonds occurring between the amino group of one amino acid and the carboxyl group of the preceding amino acid. Molecules which are composed of a sequence of amino acid residues, such as proteins, are known generally as peptides. Proteins are a class of peptides referred to as polypeptides and typically comprise a sequence of fifty or more amino acid residues. As such, proteins are extremely large biological molecules having molecular weights typically exceeding 5000 amu. For example, insulin is characterized by a sequence of 51 amino acid residues and a molecular weight of 5808 daltons. As another example, human growth hormone is characterized by a sequence of 191 amino acids and a molecular weight of 22,125 daltons.
Each kind of protein has a unique sequence of amino acids. Additionally, the relative abundances of the various kinds of amino acid residues in a protein also tends to be unique. As such, the amino acid sequence and relative abundances of the amino acid residues are fingerprints of a protein molecule. Generally, the function or functions of a protein are often extremely dependent upon such fingerprint characteristics. Even minor changes in such characteristics may destroy the function or functions of a protein molecule. Examples of possibly deleterious changes include omission of an amino acid residue in a sequence, inclusion of an extra amino acid residue in sequence, a change in the amino acid order of a sequence, substitution of an incorrect amino acid residue in place of the desired amino acid residue, undesirable oxidation of one or more functional groups of one or more amino acid residues, N-terminal modifications, unintended addition, deletion, or modification of side chains, unintended cleavage, unintended hydroxylation, and the like.
Accordingly, when studying, developing, or manufacturing protein products, it is critical that the protein product under consideration is being, or has been, manufactured correctly and consistently. It is essential, therefore, to be able to qualitatively and quantitatively compare production material to product standards. Because of the enormous size of protein molecules, however, it is not practical to work with an entire protein molecule when performing such qualitative and/or quantitative analysis. Accordingly, it is desirable to first cleave a protein into smaller, more manageable pieces by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds between one or more amino acid residues. The result of such hydrolysis is an admixture comprising one or more peptides and/or one or more individual amino acids, depending upon the hydrolysis conditions that were used.
Proteins can be cleaved into smaller pieces using a variety of techniques, including chemical and enzymatic digestion. Enzymatic digestion is one of the most frequently used techniques for cleaving a protein molecule into smaller, more manageable pieces, because some specific enzymes tend to cleave a protein molecule at extremely specific cleavage sites. For example, the enzyme trypsin cleaves a protein molecule only on the carboxyl side of the amino acid residues of lysine (abbreviation K) and arginine (abbreviation R). As another example, the enzyme chymotrypsin cleaves protein molecules on the carboxyl side of the aromatic amino acid residues phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. Theoretically, digestion of two identical protein molecules by the same enzyme activity should yield two identical admixtures of peptide digests. Techniques for carrying out enzymatic digestion are widely known in the art and are generally described in G. Allen, Laboratory Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (R. H. Burdon and P. H. Knippenburg; eds.) Vol. 9, Sequencing of Proteins and Peptides, Elsevier Press, 1989.
Unfortunately, even if a protein is cleaved into smaller, more manageable pieces, comparing the resultant pieces of one protein molecule to those of another protein molecule is still a challenging problem. The problem is particularly vexing for qualifying commercial production material in which comparison between production material and product standards is desirably accomplished relatively quickly, because many of the previously known methods for characterizing a protein sufficiently to allow meaningful comparisons to be made are too expensive, too time consuming, too inaccurate, and/or yield too little information about the protein. Meaningful and practical comparisons between production material and product standards has remained on the wish list of the industry for a long time. Accordingly, methods allowing fast, accurate, repeatable, informative, and economical comparisons of protein molecules are needed.

System and methods for qualitatively and quantitatively comparing complex admixtures using single ion chromatograms derived from spectroscopic analysis of such admixtures


A water bottle in accordance with this invention comprises a liquid container, which may be identical to the containers presently used in known portable water bottles, and a lid assembly attached to the container and covering an upper opening therein. The lid assembly has an opening through which a flexible tube extends. The lid assembly has an upstanding wall that defines a liquid reservoir surrounding the straw separate from the liquid container. The lid assembly defines a path for the tube that is disposed exterior to an interior sidewall of the reservoir. The liquid reservoir may be filled with liquid from the container by directing the upper end of the straw into the reservoir and squeezing the container to force the liquid therein through the straw. This provides an open reservoir of liquid from which a pet can drink without contaminating the liquid within the liquid container.

Water bottles are well known for use in providing a thirst-quenching liquid to a person exercising or otherwise undertaking strenuous physical activity, although such water bottles also are commonly used as drink containers by people not undertaking strenuous physical activity. For convenience, the term "water" is used herein to refer to water and any other thirst-quenching liquids, such as soft drinks, sports drinks and the like. Known portable water bottles typically comprise a plastic water container having a lid secured to and covering an upper opening of the container to substantially seal the container. A flexible straw, nipple or the like extends from the container through a central opening in the lid. Water can be obtained from the container for drinking by squeezing the container to force the water through the straw. For this reason, such a water bottle is commonly referred to as a "squeeze bottle".
Squeeze bottles provide a suitable source of thirst-quenching liquid for humans. However, it has become commonplace for people to exercise with their pets--dogs, in particular. For example, people who jog, run, hike, or even ride a bicycle for exercise may bring along a pet dog or other animal as a companion. This not only provides the pet with useful exercise, but also provides companionship for the exercising person, and in the case of large dogs, protection from other animals of both the human and nonhuman varieties.
With known water bottles, a person can easily quench his or her thirst during or after exercise or other strenuous physical activity. However, it is difficult to sanitarily provide water to an accompanying pet using known water bottles due to the manner in which such pets typically drink by lapping up liquids. Therefore, a need exists for a means to sanitarily provide a source of water or other thirst-quenching liquid for use both by people and their pets.


In transmitting a device trigger message operation, a core network device receives a device trigger message sent by a first device, where the device trigger message includes information that indicates validity time of the device trigger message; when it is determined that a timer exists, compares the validity time with duration of the timer; if the validity time is greater than the duration of the timer, sends the device trigger message to a user equipment UE after the timer times out; and if the validity time is not greater than the duration of the timer, sends a message to the first device and/or discarding the device trigger message, where the message is used to indicate that triggering is rejected, or transmission fails, or device triggering fails.

The M2M (Machine-to-Machine, machine-to-machine) communications technology can implement information transmission, collaboration, and processing between machines, between a machine and a person, and between a machine and another device, by using existing network hardware facilities. In addition, the technology is widely applied to application scenarios such as logistics management, electricity meter reading, and health supervision, thereby enhancing system and personnel working efficiency and reducing manpower costs.
In practical application, generally, an MTC (Machine Type Communications, machine type communications) device needs to be triggered to enable application of the M2M technology in a 3GPP system, and a specific triggering process needs to be performed by using an interface such as T4 and T5. However, if network congestion or overload occurs during the process of triggering the device by using the interface, a network element device such as an SGSN/MME (Serving GPRS Support Node/Mobility Management Entity, Serving GPRS Support Node/Mobility Management Entity) may not effectively send a trigger message to the MTC device.
In order to resolve a triggering overload problem, the prior art provides a triggering overload control solution:
When a network is congested or overloaded, a UE (User Equipment, user equipment), which serves as a triggered end, receives feedback information that includes a back-off timer (back-off timer), and the UE does not send request signaling before the back-off timer times out. In addition, a machine type communications interworking device MTC-IWF, which serves as a triggering end, also receives a message (for example, a transmission result message, a device trigger result message, or a message that is the same as the feedback information received by the UE) that carries a trigger-suppression timer, and the MTC-IWF does not re-send a trigger request before the trigger-suppression timer times out.
However, in many cases, the trigger message has a validity time for triggering, and the trigger message becomes invalid when the validity time expires. For example, the SGSN/MME sends the message that carries the trigger-suppression timer to the MTC-IWF. However, duration of the trigger-suppression timer may be longer than the validity time of the trigger message. When the timer times out, the trigger message has become invalid, so that a trigger message needs to be re-transmitted. This increases information load of a network and further reduces operating efficiency of the network when the network is already congested or overloaded. In addition, transmission of the invalid trigger message is equivalent to adding junk information to the network, which increases the information load of the network that is already congested or overloaded, and further reduces the operating efficiency of the network.

Method and core network device for transmitting device trigger message


Disclosed is a method for automatically detecting and selecting a time correction protocol and a time base, from among many possible protocols, in a master/slave clock system. A “self-teaching” feature is also disclosed, which includes a table stored at the slave clock containing data representative of characteristics, such as the relative frequency and spacing, of each one of numerous different time correction pulses that can be received by the slave clock from the master clock. Then, at a time of time correction, the slave clock selects the protocol most likely being used by the master clock, based on historical data. The time displayed by the slave clock is the then updated to match the time displayed by the master clock.

The present invention pertains to a timekeeping system commonly used in schools, hospitals, offices and industrial applications.
Many timekeeping systems are comprised of a master clock driving one or more "slave" or secondary clocks that are periodically updated to be time synchronous to the master. Older systems did not have the benefit of microprocessor technology, as do units produced today. In modern systems, both the master and secondary clocks frequently contain microprocessors, and it is advantageous to utilize this intelligence when performing installation and time correction. Secondary clocks in these systems may have either the traditional analog face or a digital display, or both.
Normally, timekeeping systems have several protocols, such as sync-wire 59 minute correction, sync-wire 58 minute correction, sync-wire National Time and Rauland correction, 2-wire digital communication, 3-wire digital communication, RS-485, and others. Currently, there are upwards of 40 or 50 different protocols in use around the world. Some are quite common whereas others are rarely used. These protocols frequently operate sending one or more voltage pulses from the master clock to the secondary clocks or sending data transmission from the master clock to the secondary clock. Depending on the protocol, the pulses vary in signal timing, such as pulse width, repetition rate, etc., that add complication when the system is first installed or new secondary clocks are later added to the system. Each secondary clock is capable of several protocols that must be set correctly at the time of installation.
Currently during system installation and correction, there are no tools available that automatically detect and select the correct protocol at the secondary clocks. In Blount et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,090, there is disclosed an adjustable master/slave clock system having a time keeping correction apparatus that may be used to select among several time keeping correcting schemes, such as a 59th minute correction scheme, a 58th minute correction scheme and a National Time correction scheme. The correction scheme is not, however, automatically detected or selected by the clock system itself. Rather, the particular scheme desired must be manually selected by a user, such as with a switch. This is a time-consuming and error-prone chore for the user, particularly if numerous secondary clocks, each based on a different protocol, are added to the system after initial installation.

Master/slave clock system with automatic protocol detection and selection


Share of Wallet (“SOW”) is a modeling approach that utilizes various data sources to provide outputs that describe a consumers spending capability, tradeline history including balance transfers, and balance information. These outputs can be appended to data profiles of customers and prospects and can be utilized to support decisions involving prospecting, new applicant evaluation, and customer management across the lifecycle. The outputs can be used as attributes to consider in developing a credit bureau scorecard.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure generally relates to financial data processing, and in particular it relates to credit scoring, customer profiling, consumer behavior analysis and modeling.
2. Background Art
It is axiomatic that consumers will tend to spend more when they have greater purchasing power. The capability to accurately estimate a consumer's spend capacity could therefore allow a financial institution (such as a credit company, lender or any consumer services companies) to better target potential prospects and identify any opportunities to increase consumer transaction volumes, without an undue increase in the risk of defaults. Attracting additional consumer spending in this manner, in turn, would increase such financial institution's revenues, primarily in the form of an increase in transaction fees and interest payments received. Consequently, a consumer model that can accurately estimate purchasing power is of paramount interest to many financial institutions and other consumer services companies.
A limited ability to estimate consumer spend behavior from point-in-time credit data has previously been available. A financial institution can, for example, simply monitor the balances of its own customers' accounts. When a credit balance is lowered, the financial institution could then assume that the corresponding consumer now has greater purchasing power. However, it is oftentimes difficult to confirm whether the lowered balance is the result of a balance transfer to another account. Such balance transfers represent no increase in the consumer's capacity to spend, and so this simple model of consumer behavior has its flaws.
In order to achieve a complete picture of any consumer's purchasing ability, one must examine in detail the full range of a consumer's financial accounts, including credit accounts, checking and savings accounts, investment portfolios, and the like. However, the vast majority of consumers do not maintain all such accounts with the same financial institution and the access to detailed financial information from other financial institutions is restricted by consumer privacy laws, disclosure policies and security concerns.
There is limited and incomplete consumer information from credit bureaus and the like at the aggregate and individual consumer levels. Since balance transfers are nearly impossible to consistently identify from the face of such records, this information has not previously been enough to obtain accurate estimates of a consumer's actual spending ability.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for modeling consumer spending behavior which addresses certain problems of existing technologies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.


A dehumidifier includes an elongated body in which a first open ended chamber and a second open ended chamber are defined parallel to each other along the longitudinal direction of the body. A first cover and a second cover are detachably secured to the ends of the body, to cover the open ends of the first and second chambers, respectively. An evaporator is housed in the first chamber. A pipe is disposed in the second chamber, and divides the second chamber into a precooling zone, which corresponds to the internal space of the pipe extending along the axis thereof, and a reheating zone which corresponds to the external space. A path connects the outlet of the precooling zone and the inlet of the first chamber, and is defined between the dehumidifier body and the second cover, for feeding the air from the precooling zone to the first chamber. Another path connects the outlet of the first chamber and the inlet of the reheating zone, and is defined between the body and the first cover, for leading the air from the first chamber to the reheating zone. The body, covers, evaporator and pipe are made of rust proof material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dehumidifier for removing the moisture in the air by heat exchange.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such type of a prior art dehumidifier is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-59820, in which a cooling zone is defined by an inner housing and an evaporator accommodated therein. A precooling zone is defined between the inner housing and a cylindrical outer housing in which a heat transfer pipe is accommodated. Both end openings of the outer housing are sealed by covers welded thereto.
Hot end moist air passes through the precooling zone, and thereafter through to the cooling zone. The air passing through the cooling zone is allowed to escape to the outside through the heat transfer pipe. The moisture in the air is removed when it is cooled in the cooling zone, and the dehumidified cool air flows through the heat transfer pipe. Accordingly, the hot and moist air flowing in the precooling zone can be precooled by the cool air in the heat transfer pipe.
The foregoing conventional dehumidifier consists mainly of iron members, and rust is caused by the hot and moist air passing through the dehumidifier. Accordingly, the wall thickness of the dehumidifier must be increased in order to take the rust effect into consideration. This will increase the size and weight of the dehumidifier. There is also a possibility that rust will contaminate the dry air to be discharged.
Both end openings of the outer housing are sealed by the covers which are welded thereto. However, the welding of the covers requires professional staffing, and also the welded products do not usually maintain their initial quality and reliability. Besides, most of the parts inside the outer housing are fixed by welding, so that intricate, laborious and time-consuming welding operations are required to produce the dehumidifier. Further, since the covers are directly welded to the outer housing, the apparatus cannot be easily disassembled to maintain the various components of the dehumidifier.
If the quantity of heat in the incoming hot and moist air is above the heat exchange capacity of the dehumidifier, an additional unit for assisting in cooling the dehumidifier will be required.


A pressure sensor assembly for measuring the pressure of a first fluid. The assembly having a first housing including a pressure sensing device arranged therein. A diaphragm is arranged on a surface of the first housing and is configured to transmit a force exerted on a first side thereof to the pressure sensing device. A second housing is provided and attached to the first housing. The second housing may be arranged generally circumferentially around the diaphragm. A compressible element is provided and arranged within a compressible element space defined within the second housing. The compressible element is configured to transmit a force exerted thereon by the fluid to the first side of the diaphragm.

Pressure sensors (or transducers) are used in various applications to measure the pressure of gases and liquids. Pressure sensor designs must take into consideration the possibility that the element being measured will undergo a phase change in response to a corresponding temperature change (e.g. a fluid being measured may freeze). In the case of a fluid freezing, ice may form in and around the pressure sensor, as well as in the associated plumbing interface. The volumetric expansion of these ice formations may cause large forces to be exerted both within internal portions of the sensor as well as on external portions of the sensor exposed to the fluid. These forces can be hundreds to thousands of times the rated pressure of the sensor, and thus, can lead to significant damage to the sensor.
In one particular application, urea injection systems use a mixture of urea and liquid water injected into a catalytic reactor to reduce mono-nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels in diesel and other internal combustion engine exhaust. In order to accomplish this, a storage tank of urea must be onboard, in addition to a pump, pressure sensors, plumbing and the like. Pressure sensors are required for measuring the urea injection pressure and to aid in precisely controlling the mixture of urea and exhaust gases. If urea is allowed to freeze (typically at −11 degrees C.) in the plumbing of the system, it can create significant pressures (e.g. in excess of 100,000 psi) depending on the specific system geometry, and may destroy sensitive system components including the pressure sensors themselves. To combat the freezing of urea, early systems implemented a pump down sequence for purging a system's urea lines. However, newer systems are required to be rated for multiple freeze cycles in case the purge cycle does not occur, such as in the case of a dead battery.
Alternative systems and methods for protecting pressure sensors from pressure overload and mechanical damage due to freezing conditions are desired.

Freeze proof protection of pressure sensors


An example material testing system includes: a crosshead configured to be actuated to transfer testing force to a test specimen during a material test; an actuator configured to actuate the crosshead and to apply the testing force to the crosshead; a force sensor configured to measure force applied by the crosshead to the specimen; and a control processor configured to: determine a reference force range based on a first force measurement from the force sensor in response to initiation of movement of the crosshead; and in response to a second force measurement by the force sensor that is outside of the reference force range, controlling the actuator to apply a braking force to the crosshead.

This disclosure relates generally to materials testing, and more particularly, to collision mitigation apparatus and material testing systems having collision mitigation apparatus.
Universal testing machines are used to perform mechanical testing, such as compression strength testing or tension strength testing, on materials or components. While performing dynamic testing on materials, typically a sample of the material is tested through subjecting the sample of the material to a variety of test loads. For example, the sample of the material may be subjected to tensile forces or compressive forces. The sample of material may also be subjected to torsion forces. It is possible that during certain testing procedures the sample of the material is subjected simultaneously to tensile, compressive and torsion forces. In order to perform these material testing procedures on a sample of the material, the sample of material must be held securely in the material testing machine, sometimes referred to as the material testing system, that is designed to perform the material testing procedures on the sample of the material. An operator or system may control moving components of a material testing system to move to appropriate positions, such as a position for mounting a test specimen.

Collision mitigation apparatus material testing systems having collision mitigation apparatus


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide apparatuses, methods, computer program products, and systems for data perspective generation and visualization. Some example embodiments provide advantages of exploring various ideas, represented by and/or associated with one or more perspective data objects, without utilizing a complex re-configuration stage for one or more machine learning models, and/or without utilizing one or more team members conventionally required to ensure proper implementation of the idea(s). Similar advantages are obtained when desiring to change an existing idea, change the level of granularity associated with the processing, and/or the like. Some embodiments are configured to cause rendering of interfaces associated with the processing, and/or enable a user to user interaction for inputting the desired level of granularity of the generated perspectives and/or desired granularity for the analysis of the data set. Some embodiments generate various graphical data objects to enable such processing.

Traditionally, data processing to explore various ideas associated with a data set is a complex, resource-intensive, and time-consuming task. One or more engineers are utilized to annually fix and/or clean a data set, and design, implement, and/or analyze exploratory ideas via one or more computing systems. The complexity of such a process makes it hard to explain, and/or justify, the reasons behind the ideas for analyzing the data set as well as the models for implementing such ideas. Similarly, the complexity and resource-intensive nature of such analysis makes it difficult to enable users, such as customers, to change the focus of the ideas or generate new ideas, since such changes would require re-design and/or re-training of the analysis models associated with the idea(s). Such problems increase in instances where significantly large data sets are to be analyzed, often referred to in the context of "big data," and/or when analyzing data sets in accordance with various ideas of varying levels of granularity. In this regard, implementation of such data analysis ideas and subsequent changes often involve consultation by a full stack developer, data engineer, and/or data visualization expert to perform various tasks, adding to the complexity and resource-intensive nature of such processes. Applicant has discovered problems with current implementations of processing data sets in accordance with one or more ideas for analyzing the data set. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, Applicant has solved many of these identified problems by developing embodied in the present disclosure, which are described in detail below.

Apparatuses, methods, and computer program products for data perspective generation and visualization


When a player starts playing a game by operating a MAXBET button (e.g. when the bet count is 30 bets) and determined that the currently owned credit count is insufficient to the credit count required for the MAX bet, the current game rate set in a slot machine (the credit count per bet required for betting) is changed to a lower game rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine for a player to bet a predetermined bet count on a game based on a value of a game medium per bet previously stored and in particular to a gaming machine such as a slot machine for improving the convenience of the player by changing the value of a game medium per bet based on the credited game medium value.
The present invention relates to a gaming machine for a player to bet based on the previously stored value of a game medium of a minimum unit that can be bet and in particular to a gaming machine for improving the convenience of the player and securing the profit of the game arcade by changing the value of a game medium of the minimum unit based on the credited game medium value.
The present invention relates to a gaming machine for a player to play a game by setting a predetermined number of pay lines as activated pay lines by betting and in particular to a gaming machine such as a slot machine for improving the convenience of a player by changing the value of a game medium required for setting one pay line as an activated pay line based on the credited game medium value.
2. Description of the Related Art
With a gaming machine (e.g., a slot machine, a roulette game machine, and a card game machine) for a player to use a coin such as a five-cent coin and a 25-cent coin as a game medium, the player can start to play a game by inputting a coin into the gaming machine, and if the player wins the game, a predetermined number of coins are paid out to the player. The gaming machine in the related art is provided with a hopper for storing input coins, counting a predetermined number of coins, and ejecting the coins. However, the hopper ejects the coins depending on the size and the thickness of each coin, and only one type of coin can be used with one gaming machine.
However, some players want to bet a five-cent coin at a time to play a game and some players want to bet one dollar at a time to play a game. Therefore, to meet such player's demands, the game arcade must install a plurality of gaming machines different only in the type of coin that can be input (denomination of coin to be bet), and a wide installation space is required.
In consideration of such circumstances, recent gaming machines often have adopted a method of printing out a receipt describing the number of coins or the value instead of the method of directly paying out coins using the hopper as a coin payout unit, for example, as shown in JP-A-4-058965. When the coins are paid out, the player can carry the printed receipt to a counter of an game arcade for exchanging the receipt for a prize, conforming to the number of coins or the value descried on the receipt. As the need for carrying coins is eliminated, the burden on the player is lightened.
Therefore, to use the payout unit with a receipt as described above, it is made possible to pay out based on any other coin denomination than the type of input coin (for example, even a slot machine which allows the player to use only a one-dollar coin can pay out 25 or 50 cents to the player based on the receipt), and if more than one type of consumed game medium per bet (so-called game rate) is adopted, a problem does not occur at the payout time. Then, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,116 describes a slot machine including a rate change switch for enabling a player to select any desired game rate from among different game rates for allowing the player to play a game at any of the different game rates with the single gaming machine.


The invention concerns a light module with a light source, a primary optical system and a reflector. The primary optical system contains a lens element that is embodied as a sector of an imaginary rotation body formed by the rotation of an imaginary rotation base surface around a rotation axis, wherein the rotation base surface is designed such that the lens element contains a light entry surface that faces the rotation axis and that surrounds the rotation axis and a light emitting surface that is located radially exterior to the rotation axis, wherein the reflector has at least one reflector zone that is embodied as a segment of the surface of a rotation symmetric imaginary associated circular cone, and wherein the axis of symmetry of the circular cone extends parallel to the rotation axis of the lens element.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention concerns a light module of an illumination device of a motor vehicle. In the present case, a light module is understood to be the core light-emitting unit of an illumination device that emits the desired distribution of emitted light.
2. Description of the Related Art
The state of the art consists of various illumination devices for motor vehicles. A distinction is made here between headlights and lighting devices. Headlights serve primarily for the illumination of the road ahead of the vehicle, but also to increase road safety by making the vehicle visible to other drivers. Consequently, headlights are normally designed for the front of the vehicle. In contrast, lighting devices are primarily designed for road safety purposes by making the vehicle visible to other drivers. Lighting devices may include front lighting devices on the front of the vehicle (such as position light, blinkers) or as rear lighting devices on the rear of the vehicle (such as brake light, back-up light, blinkers). Lighting devices on the side of the vehicle, such as side running lights, are also known.
Depending on the specific application, the distribution of emitted light must satisfy characteristic intensity patterns that will normally be specified by law. Headlights will normally be required to emit a low beam distribution (low beam, fog lights) with a characteristic separation of light and dark or a high beam distribution with illumination of spot areas. Lighting devices may also be desired to have emitted light distributions that illuminate areas with curved or narrow cross sections. Lighting devices may also be designed for wider area coverage or for fan-shaped coverage. The lateral extent of coverage may significantly exceed the density of the area coverage or of the light fan, for example.
In order to produce emitted light distributions with such unconventional spatial dimensions, it is often necessary to use relatively costly designs with several lenses, with fiber optics, with prisms and/or with a large number of reflectors. Given the number of components and the complexity of the design, such solutions will often be very expensive and may require much room.


A ferroelectric memory device has a high performance, includes no Pb, and can be directly mounted onto an Si substrate. The ferroelectric memory device includes a (001)-oriented BiFeO3 ferroelectric layer 5 with a tetragonal structure, which is formed on an electrode 4 made of a perovskite material formed on an Si oxide film. The electrode 4 with a perovskite structure is formed by an ion beam assist method.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a ferroelectric memory device including a BiFeO3 ferroelectric layer.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-173247, filed Jun. 18, 2003, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Ferroelectric materials are beginning to be put to practical use as recording materials in nonvolatile memory devices because they have a large capacity and low power consumption. Pb(Zr1-xTux)O3 (PZT) which is a perovskite-type oxide and SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) which is a Bi layered compound are representatives of ferroelectric materials used in nonvolatile memory devices. For a nonvolatile memory device using such ferroelectric materials, namely a ferroelectric memory device, it is expected that its dielectric polarization moment and Curie temperature (transition temperature from paraelectric to ferroelectric), which are characteristics of the device, are large and high.
For example, it is expected, for better sensitivity of a sense amplifier, that its residual dielectric polarization moment Pr is at least larger than 10 μC/cm2. Especially, the dielectric polarization moment is expected to be even larger for a memory device with a higher density including a capacitor with a smaller area than that of capacitors in existing devices. From the viewpoint of reliability of recorded data, the Curie temperature is expected to be more than 200° C. Especially, recording materials are expected to be able to hold memory near the operating temperature range (e.g., from −10° C. to +100° C.), that is, it is expected that structural phase transition does not occur in the temperature range of the recording materials. Additionally, it is necessary that the materials can record and reproduce data repeatedly more than 1012 times, preferably 1015 times. From the viewpoint of future miniaturization, the thickness of the recording film (ferroelectric layer) is expected to be 50-200 nm, followed by 10-50 nm. In this case, leak current through the ferroelectric layer is expected to be as low as 10−8-10−6 A/cm2 at the time of a 100 kV/cm application.
Ferroelectric materials belonging to the PZT family exhibits a large dielectric polarization moment, e.g., 30-50 μC/cm2, and have a Curie temperature of more than 400° C. and therefore the structural phase transition does not occur in the operating temperature range of the materials. However, composition control of Pb is difficult because Pb can easily evaporate from the ferroelectric layers. Additionally, the evaporation of Pb leads to deterioration of the environment because Pb is harmful thereto. For these reasons, production of ferroelectric memory devices including these materials needs to be reviewed.
Ferroelectric materials belonging to the SBT family exhibits a dielectric polarization moment of 20 μC/cm2 at maximum. However, its orientation control in the materials is difficult because of a layered structure, and miniaturization of devices made of these materials is difficult because of the existence of crystal grains in the materials. Additionally, the materials are damaged by hydrogen at the time of formation of a passivation film in a post-process. Under these circumstances, BaTiO3 is also one promising ferroelectric material. This material exhibits a dielectric polarization moment of 30 μC/cm2 along the c-axis at room temperature. BaTiO3 has a low Curie temperature of 120° C. and therefore structural phase transition from the tetragonal phase to the orthorhombic phase occurs near 0° C. in the materials. Since BaTiO3 has such a transition temperature near the operating temperature, the value of the dielectric polarization moment is unstable and the materials may degrade easily with the structural phase transition.
In light of these circumstances, BiFeO3 is proposed as a new ferroelectric material for a ferroelectric memory device (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-210794). It has been confirmed in recent reports that BiFeO3 has a high ferroelectric characteristic of dielectric polarization moment of 60-70 μC/cm2 (see, e.g., Science, Vol. 299, 1719-1721, 2003). In the article in Science, upper and lower electrodes between which a ferroelectric layer is sandwiched are made of SrRuO3, and the ferroelectric layer made of BiFeO3 has a perovskite structure in a tetragonal system.
Recently the demand for high performance and high-density integration of semiconductor devices is increasing. Accordingly, the high performance is demanded also for a ferroelectric memory device, and additionally, directly mounting onto a Si substrate or implementation to a Si substrate is expected. For this reason, BiFeO3 is thought to be a very promising candidate for a ferroelectric material because it has a high ferroelectric characteristic as described above, and does not contain Pb that is detrimental to the environment.
However, there is a problem to be solved in a ferroelectric memory device using BiFeO3, that is, it is very difficult to directly implement the ferroelectric memory device including a lower electrode on an Si substrate. This is because normally a natural oxide film is formed on an Si substrate, and it is difficult to make a lower electrode film and a BiFeO3 film grow epitaxially on the natural oxide film. For this reason, under the existing circumstances, implementation of a ferroelectric memory device using BiFeO3 with a tetragonal structure on an Si substrate has not been realized yet.
In view of these circumstances, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a ferroelectric memory device which has high performance and does not contain Pb and which is directly implementable on an Si substrate.


A device and methods for inducing apoptosis in precancerous, cancerous and hyperproliferating cells by applying ultrasonic energy. The methods can include use of ultrasonic energy in combination with antioxidants and/or conventional therapies such as hormonal therapy, radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The device for the ultrasonic energy source can include a transmitter and a control unit.

The invention relates generally to a device and method for preventing and treating diseases and more particularly to devices and methods for preventing and/or treating diseases with the application of ultrasound to targeted sites within a mammalian body. The present invention relates to devices and methods for preventing or treating cancers and other cell proliferative diseases such as arteriosclerosis, in mammals, by inducing or stimulating apoptosis within the target cells with ultrasonic energy. In particular, the devices and methods of the invention are useful in the stimulation of cell death and/or the inhibition of cell proliferation in cancer and other target cells. In the practice of the invention, ultrasonic energy can be further applied to antagonize the growth-factor-induced repression of apoptosis, to enhance the pro-apoptotic function of cytotoxic agents or hormonal or radiation therapy and/or to stimulate the pro-apoptotic actions of antioxidants.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 450,000 deaths annually. Cancer is characterized primarily by an increase in the number of abnormal cells derived from a given normal tissue, invasion of adjacent tissues by these abnormal cells, and lymphatic or blood-borne spread of malignant cells to regional lymph nodes and to distant metastatic sites. Thus, insight into the complex events and strategies that lead from normal cellular growth and death to cancer, invasion and metastasis is important for the development of therapeutic strategies.
The complications of arteriosclerosis account for one half of all deaths in the United States and are the leading cause of permanent disability (Circulation 70:153A, 1984). A primary initiating factor in the formation of the atheromatous plaques is the proliferation of smooth muscle cells in the intima. Other conditions involving abnormal proliferation of target cells include vascular and fibrotic proliferative diseases, retinopathies, eczema or psoriasis. "Target cells" as used herein include, but are not limited to, precancerous cells, cancerous cells, cells having specific growth receptors and surrounding stromal cells in different tissues. The receptors for growth factors may include, but are not limited to, the epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factors (TGF alpha and beta), nerve growth factor (NGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), or insulin-like growth factors (IGF, I and II) or platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF).
Apoptosis is a mechanism by which cells are programmed to die under a wide range of physiological, biochemical and developmental stimuli. From the perspective of cancer, apoptosis is both a mechanism which suppresses tumorigenesis and is a predominant pathway in antineoplastic therapy. Many cancer cells circumvent the normal apoptotic mechanisms to prevent their self-destruction because of the many mutations they harbor. Thus, disarming apoptosis and other surveillance mechanisms is of fundamental significance in allowing the development of the malignant and metastatic phenotype of a cancer cell (Kerr, J. F. R. et al., 1994, Cancer 73:2013; and Williams, G. T., 1991, Cell 65:1097).
Apoptosis is also an important cellular response to a large variety of stress signals including, but not limited to, ionizing radiation, UV radiation, heat, growth factor deprivation, certain cytokines (like tumor necrosis factor (TNF) .alpha. and interferon (IFN) .beta.), as well as many chemotherapeutic drugs (Fisher, D. E., 1994, Cell 78:539-542). However, none of the modalities currently employed to induce apoptosis involve the use of ultrasonic energy.

Methods for prevention and treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases with ultrasonic energy


A method of producing human metabolites of simvastatin or lovastatin, and more particularly, a method of producing human metabolites of simvastatin and lovastatin by using bacterial cytochrome P450 BM3(CYP102A1) or mutants thereof, and a composition and kit therefor.

Simvastatin and lovastatin are well known anti-hyperlipidemic or anti-hypercholesterolemic drugs and cholesterol lowering agent. Simvastatin is metabolized to at least four primary metabolites, namely 6′β-OH simvastatin, 6′-exomethylene simvastatin, 6′-hydroxymethyl metabolite, and 3′-OH simvastatin. Although CYP3A4 is the main enzyme involved in the primary metabolism of simvastatin, CYPs 2C8 (Tornio et al., 2005), 2C9 (Transon et al., 1996), and 2D6 (Transon et al., 1996) are also involved in the formation of simvastatin metabolites.

The extensive oxidative metabolism of lovastatin in the human liver is primarily mediated by CYP3A enzymes, particularly CYP3A4, to generate three known metabolites, namely 6′β-OH lovastatin, 3″-OH lovastatin, and 6′-exomethylene metabolites (Garcia et al., 2003; Caron et al., 2007).

After oral ingestion, simvastatin and lovastatin, which are inactive lactones, are hydrolyzed to the corresponding mvastatin and lova (Vickers et al., 1990a). This is a principal metabolite and an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. This enzyme catalyzes the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonate, which is an early rate limiting step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. In addition to the P450-mediated oxidation and β-oxidation processes, glucuronidation constitutes a common metabolic pathway for statins (Prueksaritanont et al., 2002). It was found that the metabolites resulting from microsomal oxidation of simvastatin (Vickers et al., 1990) and lovastatin (Vyas et al., 1990) by P450 enzymes are effective inhibitors of the HMG-CoA) reductase. Therefore, it was suggested that the metabolites may contribute to the cholesterol lowering effect of simvastatin and lovastatin. However, systematic studies of safety, efficacy, and toxicity of the metabolites have not yet been carried out. The major metabolites including 6′β-OH statins, have not been prepared by chemical synthesis previously.
Cytochrome P450 enzymes (P450s or CYPs) constitute a large family of enzymes that are remarkably diverse oxygenation catalysts found throughout nature, from archaea, bacteria, fungi, plants, animals and humans http:drnelson<dot>utmen<dot>edu/CytochromeP450<dot>html). Due to their catalytic diversity and broad substrate range, P450s are attractive as biocatalysts in the production of fine chemicals, including pharmaceuticals (Guengerich 2002; Urlacher et al., 2006; Yun et al., 2007; Lamb et al., 2007). In spite of the potential use of mammalian P450s in various biotechnology fields, they are not suitable as biocatalysts mainly because of their low stability and low catalytic activity.
If prodrugs are converted to biologically 'active metabolites' by human liver P450s during the drug development process (Johnson et al., 2004), the pure metabolites are required to understand the drug's efficacy, toxic effect, and pharmacokinetics. When the pure metabolites are difficult to synthesize by chemical methods, using the P450s is a useful alternative to generate the metabolites of drugs or drug candidates. Metabolite preparation has been demonstrated using human liver P450s expressed in Escherichia coli (Yun et al., 2006) and in insect cells (Rushmore et al., 2000; Vail et al., 2005), but these systems are still costly and have low productivities due to limited stabilities and slow reaction rates (Guengerich et al., 1996). It was shown that engineering bacterial P450 BM3 could produce human drug metabolites (Yun et al., 2007 and references therein; Kim 2009; Kim 2010; Park 2010). Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modified its standards for evaluating drug toxicity, particularly with regard to the toxicity of drug metabolites. In February 2008, the FDA issued the Guidance for Industry: Safety Testing of Drug Metabolites (Food and Drug Administration, Guidance for Industry: Safety Testing of Drug Metabolites; www<dot>fda<dot>gov/downloads/Drugs/Guidance ComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm079266<dot>pdf). According to this guide, any human drug metabolites " . . . formed at greater than 10 percent of parent drug systemic exposure at steady state should be subject to separate safety testing, that is, by synthesis and administration to test animals (Guengerich, 2009 and references therein). The issue of human metabolites in safety testing (MIST) has presented a challenge at the early stages of drug development for the pharmaceutical industry. Some metabolites of concern can be prepared by chemical methods, but the others may not be easily prepared by the chemical methods. In the later cases, human liver microsomes, heterologously expressed human enzymes in bacteria, and purified human enzymes might be good candidates for biocatalysts to prepare human drug metabolites. However, they have several weaknesses such as low catalytic activity and low stability for industrial use to prepare the metabolites.
All the cited references are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The information disclosed herein is intended to assist understanding of the technical background of the present invention, and cannot be prior art.

Preparation method of human metabolites of simvastatin or lovastatin using bacterial cytochrome P450 and composition therefor


Disclosed is a water distiller of the type having a raw water container, a heater for boiling water in the container and a thermostat for disabling the heater. In the improvement, the container includes a water cavity having a upper perimeter around a panel and the heater is mounted in heat-transfer relationship to the panel. The container includes a thermostat in heat-transfer relationship to the panel and connected to the heater. When water diminishes to a level at which the panel is no longer submerged, the panel temperature rises and trips the thermostat.. A heater retention member secures the heater to the panel and a reflective heat shield has a first portion spaced from the retention member. The heater is between the panel and the first portion. The thermostat projects through an aperture in the retention member and an opening in the heat shield so that such thermostat is in intimate, heat-transfer relationship to the panel.

Reasonably-pure drinking water is an absolute necessity of life and clean, fresh-tasting drinking water is one of its pleasures. Most persons in well-developed countries like the United States have access to safe, reasonably-pure drinking water. But even in areas having water suitable for human consumption, such water may contain minerals, e.g., iron and calcium, and/or chemicals and other substances.
While such non-water constituents may not be harmful to humans, they often impart an unpleasant taste or odor to the water. And normally-high-quality drinking water sometimes contains bacteria or other microorganisms which may impart a bad taste to the water or otherwise impair its quality. Often, such an eventuality results from a temporary deficiency in the water treatment facility.
One well-known approach for removing impurities from drinking water is distillation. Distillation involves boiling water to form water vapor and then cooling such vapor to a temperature below the condensation temperature, i.e., below about 212.degree. F. The resulting liquid, sometimes referred to as condensate or distillate, is collected for drinking or the like. Distillation separates pure water from the entrained minerals and other potentially bad-tasting impurities. And quite aside from improving the sensory quality of water, the high temperatures involved in the process are sufficient to kill many types of potentially-harmful microorganisms.
Water distillers commonly use a heating coil to boil, as steam, the water from a raw water container. A fan blows air across condensing coils which cools the steam and condenses it back to now-purified water. The distiller electrical circuit usually has some type of automatic shutoff apparatus involving a thermostat to shut down the distiller when the water in the raw water container is nearly exhausted.
A reason for doing so (rather than let the distiller "boil dry") is that retention of residual water helps reduce the amount of scale and deposits which form in the raw water container. And shutting off the apparatus while some residual water remains may also prolong the life of the water heating element.
The distiller disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,663 (McFee), a type of batch distiller, has a thermostat and auxiliary heater on its exterior. At a sufficiently-low water level, the temperature of the auxiliary heater rises and such rise is sensed by the thermostat which opens to disable the main heater.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,102 (Diebel) discloses a distillation apparatus having a spring-biased support platform. When the water level diminishes sufficiently, a spring biased the platform upwardly to a position which shuts off the thermostat. The distiller discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,287 (Harkey, Sr.) controls heating element shutoff by sensing air temperature above the heating element which is exposed because of water depletion. A seeming difficultly with the Harkey, Sr. distiller is that because the thermostat is not in surface contact with a good heat-transfer medium, i.e., metal, reaction time may be slow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,602 (Vogelman et al.) discloses a water purifier with a three-step tray having a heater element at the tray bottom. A side-mounted temperature sensor senses when water above the two upper steps has been evaporated and opens an infeed valve to flow more water into the tray. The Vogelman et al. purifier may be characterized as a continuous, rather than a batch, purifier.
While these prior art arrangements have been generally satisfactory for the intended purpose, they are not without disadvantages. For example, the McFee distiller requires both main and auxiliary heaters. Plural heaters adds to cost and circuit complexity. And, seemingly, the auxiliary heater is exposed for inadvertent touching by the user.
The apparatus of the Diebel patent has a number of electrical components including two arm-operated microswitches and a float-operated microswitch. The electrical circuitry connecting such microswitches and other components seems relatively complex and difficult to manufacture.
The purifier of the Vogelman et al. patent also seems relatively complex in that it uses a microprocessor-based controller coupled to a switch, demister electrodes, a temperature indicator and an on-off function. The microprocessor controls a valve, a fan and other functions.
A distiller having an improved automatic shutoff feature which addresses shortcomings of the prior art would be an important technical advance.

Water distiller with improved automatic shutoff feature


A connector mounting structure includes a circuit board and a male connector. The male connector is surface-mounted to the circuit board and has a housing and terminals. The housing includes a body member and a fixing member fixed to the body member. The fixing member has a tube portion and a protection portion. The tube portion receives a housing of an external female connector. Each terminal has first and second ends. The first end is exposed to a surface of the body member and soldered to the circuit board. The second end is also exposed to the surface of the body member to be electrically connectable to the female connector. The protection portion is placed between the first and second ends in a thickness direction of the circuit board to cover facing area between adjacent first ends.

A connector mounting structure for mounting a male connector to a circuit board is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,524 corresponding to JP-A-2004-206924. In the mounting structure, connector terminals extending from a connector housing are electrically connected (i.e., surface-mounted) to conductive lands formed on a mounting surface of a circuit board by reflow soldering to achieve high circuit density, miniaturization, and efficient manufacturing process.
The connector terminals have first end portions exposed to a first side of the connector housing and soldered to the circuit board and have second end portions exposed to a second side opposite to the first side to be connectable to a female connector. In short, the first and second end portions are exposed to the different sides of the connector housing. Therefore, as the number of the connector terminals (i.e., circuit density) is increased, the connector housing is longitudinally elongated so that the size of the circuit board is increased in a direction along the mounting surface. Accordingly, the size of an electronic apparatus employing the circuit board is increased. If the first and second end portions are exposed to the same side of the connector housing, the number of the terminals may be increased without increasing the size of the electronic apparatus.
However, in the case where the first and second end portions are exposed to the same side of the connector housing, the first end portions need to be soldered to the circuit board through inside the connector housing in view of the fact that temperature becomes high in the reflow soldering. Therefore, the connector housing needs to be placed on the circuit board, and the mounting surface is reduced accordingly. The size of the circuit board cannot be reduced, and the size of the electronic apparatus cannot be reduced.
Further, in the case where the first and second end portions are exposed to the same side of the connector housing, the first end portions are exposed to outside before the male connector is mated with the female connector. Therefore, short-circuit between adjacent first end portions may be caused by a conductive foreign matter that falls on the first end portions before the male connector is mated with the female connector. The short-circuit may be caused by the foreign matter that sticks to the female connector and falls on the first end portions after the male connector is mated with the female connector.
In a connector mounting structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-55383 filed by some of the present applicants, the connector housing is assembled as one piece from separate pieces to reduce the size of a circuit board, i.e., to increase circuit density of the circuit board. However, the short circuit cause by the foreign matter is not taken into consideration.


Disclosed is a method for communication with no power feed in an exchange. (1) A calling subscriber unit transmits a special service code designating the disuse of a direct current loop together with the numeric information on the called subscriber unit to the exchange after formation of a direct current loop. (2) When the special service code is received, an on-hook transmission state in which the transmission and reception of an alternating current signal is possible between the subscriber line interface circuit and the calling subscriber unit even if no direct current loop is formed is established in the subscriber line interface circuit to which the calling subscriber unit which has transmitted the special service code is connected. (3) The calling subscriber unit disconnects the direct current loop, and the exchange maintains the speech path between the calling subscriber unit and the called subscriber unit even after the direct current loop is disconnected. (4) An alternating current signal is transmitted and received between the subscriber line interface circuit and the calling subscriber unit in the state in which no direct current loop is formed.

The present invention relates to a method for communication with no power feed and an exchange for realizing the method and, more particularly, to a method for enabling communication with no power feed, that is, without feeding a direct current (speech current) to a calling subscriber unit and an exchange for realizing this method.
In a conventional protocol for connecting a subscriber telephone and an exchange, a direct current loop is first formed by the switch circuit (hook switch) of the telephone via the telephone and the subscriber line interface circuit (SLIC) of the exchange, and a destination telephone number is then input through the telephone. The exchange identifies the calling subscriber telephone by detecting the direct current loop formed in the subscriber line interface circuit, and forms a speech path between the calling subscriber telephone and the called subscriber telephone so as to enable communication. When the exchange detects the disconnection of the direct current loop in the subscriber line interface circuit, the exchange regards it as the end of communication and disconnects the speech path between the calling subscriber telephone, which is connected to the subscriber line interface circuit, and the called subscriber telephone. A direct current loop is formed and a call is begun when the handset of the telephone is lifted (off-hook) and it is disconnected and the communication is finished when the handset is restored (on-hook). In addition, when the bell of the called subscriber telephone rings, a direct loop is also formed by the off-hook operation.
FIG. 13 shows the structure of a conventional exchange and FIG. 14 shows the entire structure of connection including a subscriber line interface circuit and telephones. In FIGS. 13 and 14, the reference numerals 1a.sub.1 to 1a.sub.n represent telephones, 2 an exchange, 2a.sub.1 to 2a.sub.n an subscriber line interface circuits connected to the respective telephones 1a.sub.1 to 1a.sub.n, 2b a PCM switch circuit constituted by a space switch, a time switch and the like, 2c a processor for controlling a calling process such as the connection/disconnection of the path by controlling the PCM switch circuit, 2d a main memory for storing various data, 2f a centralized supervisory equipment for discriminating the off-hook/on-hook of a telephone (connection/disconnection of a direct loop), identifying a dial number and transferring the information to the processor 2c, and 2g.sub.1, to 2g.sub.m trunk circuits.
In the telephone 1a.sub.1 in FIG. 14, the reference numeral 1.sub.1 denotes a hook switch, which is turned on when the handset of the telephone 1a.sub.1 is lifted so as to form a direct current loop (indicated by the broken line) for connecting the telephone 1a.sub.1 and the subscriber line interface circuit 2a.sub.1, and which is turned off when the hand set is restored to the original position so as to disconnect the direct current loop. The reference numeral 1.sub.2 represents a dial circuit for generating a dial pulse DP by disconnecting the direct current loop the number of times which corresponds to the dialed number, 1.sub.3 a speech circuit provided with a function of distributing the telephone cable to the signal lines of the transmitter and the receiver (not shown).
In the subscriber line interface circuit 2a.sub.1, the reference numeral 2.sub.1 represents a BSH circuit, and 2.sub.2 a CODEC (coder/decoder) for converting an analog speech signal (alternating current signal) into a PCM digital signal (A/D conversion) and converting a digital signal from a PCM highway 5 into an analog speech signal (D/A conversion). The BSH circuit 2.sub.1 is provided with a battery feed function for supplying a speech current to the telephone so as to operate the transmitter (microphone), etc., a supervisory function for supervising the state of the telephone so as to detect calling, answering, on-hook, dial pulse, etc., and a hybrid function. In the BSH circuit 2.sub.1, the reference numeral 2.sub.11 denotes a battery feed circuit (B) for supplying speech current, 2.sub.12 a supervision circuit (S) and 2.sub.13 a hybrid circuit (H). The transmission system on the telephone cable is a two-wire full duplex system for transmitting an electrical signal simultaneously in two ways through two wires.
When a direct current loop is formed via the hook switch 1.sub.1 of the telephone 1a.sub.1 and the battery feed circuit 2.sub.11 of the BSH circuit 2.sub.1, an alternating current signal as a speech signal of the telephone 1a.sub.1 is transmitted on the telephone cable superimposed with the direct loop current. In the subscriber line interface circuit 2a.sub.1, the alternating current signal passes through the hybrid circuit 2.sub.13 and it is converted into a digital signal by the CODEC 2.sub.2 and supplied to the PCM highway 5 in the form of a PCM signal. Thereafter, the PCM signal is processed by an exchange, it is input to the called subscriber telephone. The speech signal of the called subscriber telephone is input to the CODEC 2.sub.2 via the PCM switch circuit 2b (FIG. 13) and the PCM highway 5. The CODEC 2.sub.2 converts the digital signal into an analog signal and inputs the analog signal to the calling subscriber telephone superimposed with the direct loop current.
FIG. 15 is a flow chart of a conventional communication processing. When the handset of the telephone 1a.sub.1 is lifted so as to call, the off-hook switch 1.sub.1 is closed and a direct current loop is formed via the telephone 1a.sub.1 and the subscriber line interface circuit 2a.sub.1 (step 101). A destination telephone number (numeric information) is then transmitted in the form of a dial pulse signal (dial pulse system) or a PB signal (push-phone signal system) (step 102). In FIG. 15, the dial pulse system is shown.
The centralized supervisory equipment 2f of the exchange 2 is supervising the calling by scanning so as to find in which telephone the direct current loop is formed by operating the hook switch (step 201). When the telephone in which the direct loop current is formed is detected, the centralized supervisory equipment 2f reports the fact (SCN ON) to the processor 2c (step 202). When the processor 2c receives the report, it analyzes the information on the calling subscriber (e.g., whether or not the calling subscriber has paid the telephone bill) with reference to the calling subscriber data. If the processor 2c judges that communication is permissible, it connects a dial tone transmission circuit (not shown) to the calling subscriber telephone via the PCM switch circuit 2b so that the calling subscriber may hear the dial tone.
Thereafter, the centralized supervisory equipment 2f is in a numeric information receiving state (step 203). In this state, if the centralized supervisory equipment 2f receives the destination telephone number, it sequentially transmits the numerals to the processor 2c (step 204). The processor 2c disconnects the connection of the dial tone transmission circuit when it receives the first numeric information. When the processor 2c has received all the numerals of the telephone number, the processor 2c analyzes the information on the called subscriber (e.g., whether or not the called subscriber has paid the telephone bill, whether or not the telephone is occupied, and whether or not the telephone number is now in use). If the connection of the speech path is possible, the processor 2c starts to call the called subscriber and connects a ring back tone transmission circuit to the calling subscriber telephone so that the calling subscriber may hear the ring back tone (step 205).
If the processor 2c detects the off-hook of the called subscriber telephone (formation of a direct current loop), it stops calling the called subscriber telephone, disconnects the connection of the ring back tone transmission circuit, and forms a speech path between the calling subscriber telephone and the called subscriber telephone. Thereafter, the calling subscriber telephone and the called subscriber telephone are in a communication state (step 206). The exchange 2 continues the connection of the PCM highway 5 with the called subscriber telephones as long as the direct current loop is formed.
When the communication is finished and the handset is restored to the original position, the hook switch 1.sub.1 is turned off, and the direct current loop is disconnected (step 103). The telephone assumes the on-hook condition (step 104). The centralized supervisory equipment 2f assumes an on-hook supervisory state and supervises by scanning in which telephone the direct current loop has been disconnected. When the centralized supervisory equipment 2f detects the disconnection of the direct current loop of the telephone 1a.sub.1, it reports the fact (SCN OFF) to the processor 2c (step 207). When the processor 2c receives the report, it executes an on-hook processing such as the disconnection of the speech path between the telephones (step 208).
As described above, the direct current loop has not only (1) a function of providing a state signal indicating the off-hook/on-hook state of a telephone to the exchange (signalling function), but also (2) a function of supplying a speech current for operating the transmitter (microphone) of the telephone (battery function) and (3) a function of transmitting an alternating current signal (speech signal) superimposed with a direct current (alternating current transmitting function).
FIG. 16 shows the structure of the connection including a personal computer provided with a modulator-demodulator (MODEM) and a subscriber line interface circuit. The same reference numerals are provide for the elements which are the same as those shown in FIG. 14. The reference numeral 3a represents a personal computer, 4a a connecting apparatus containing a MODEM for connecting the personal computer 3a with the subscriber line interface circuit 2a, 4a.sub.1 a MODEM (modulator-demodulator) and 4a.sub.2 a switch for connecting/disconnecting a direct current loop. The symbol R denotes a direct current load resistance, and C a capacitor for disconnecting a direct current. The MODEM 4a.sub.1 transmits an alternating current signal (analog signal) in a voice band (300 to 3400 Hz) to a telephone cable after it is subjected to a predetermined modulation such as amplitude modulation, phase modulation, frequency modulation and QAM modulation with an I/O digital signal input from the personal computer 3a, and the MODEM 4a.sub.1 also demodulates an analog signal input from the telephone cable into a digital signal and inputs it to the personal computer 3a.
In order to start personal computer communication (electronic mail communication in an internet, etc.), a switch 4a.sub.2 is turned on under the control of the personal computer 3a so as to form a direct current loop in the same way as in a telephone, and then the switch is turned on and off in accordance with the destination telephone number so as to generate a dial pulse. The exchange connects the calling personal computer 3a with the called personal computer, and continues the connection of the PCM highway 5 with the called personal computers as long as the direct current loop is formed. Thereafter, the MODEM 4a.sub.1 modulates the analog signal with the digital signal input from the personal computer 3a and transmits it to the called personal computer. In order to end the personal computer communication, the switch 4a.sub.2 is turned off so as to disconnect the direct current loop in the same way as in a telephone.
Since the MODEM and the personal computer uses commercial power source (e.g., AC 100 V) as the power source, they need not use a direct current loop as a power source unlike the transmitter of a telephone. In addition, once the MODEM is connected to a line, it is possible to continue the alternating connection between the MODEM and the line even if the direct current loop is disconnected. For this reason, although the disconnection of a direct current loop during communication may be thinkable, since communication is started and finished in the similar protocol as in a telephone, and since an alternating current signal is transmitted and received through a subscriber line interface circuit, a direct current loop is continuously formed during personal computer communication.
Therefore, in the communication using a personal computer and a modem, the direct current loop has (1) a function of providing a state signal indicating the start/middle/end of communication to the exchange (signalling function), and (2) a function of transmitting and receiving an alternating current signal in the subscriber line interface circuit (alternating current transmitting function).
Although a dial pulse system is explained in the above, the same can be said with a push-phone signal system using a PB signal. In the case of a push-phone signal system, however, a PB receiver circuit (PB-REC) is necessary in the exchange.
As described above, when communication is made with a destination unit through a conventional exchange, a direct current loop is constantly formed during communication. The direct current loop is used for the detection of a state signal of a subscriber apparatus (telephone, personal computer, MODEM), as described above, and it is also used for the battery feeding in a telephone. A comparatively large current such as 20 to 100 mA is necessary as a speech current, and the subscriber line interface circuit of the exchange supplies the speech current by using -48 V. In the case of a MODEM and a personal computer, since they use a commercial power source, it is not necessary to use a direct current loop as a power source, but it is necessary to continuously form a direct current loop, as described above, so that about a current of 20 to 100 mA constantly flows through the direct current loop during communication.
Therefore, the power consumed by the exchange as a whole is very large. For example, if it is assumed that a current of 40 mA flows at 48 V per circuit, the electric power consumed is 1.92 W. In the exchange accommodating 10,000 circuits, the electric power consumed reaches 19,200 W (400 A). The conventional activity ratio of a subscriber telephone is about 0.15 erl (erlangs) on the average, so that the electric power consumed is reduced to 19,200 W.times.0.15=2880 W with the traffic taken into consideration. An exchange is generally designed on the basis of a traffic theory, and the power source and the heat of an exchange are designed on the basis of 0.15 erl. That is, they are designed on the assumption that the activity ratio of 1 erl never occurs, that is, on the assumption that all the subscribers never use the telephones simultaneously.
However, due to the spread of internets and electronic mails, the state in which subscribers uses their apparatuses for many hours has occurred. In personal computer communication or the like, computers are used for a much longer time in an off-hook state than telephones on which persons talk, and the activity ratio has a tendency to coming close to 1 erl. If it actually comes close to 1 erl, the electric power consumed by the exchange increases so much that it becomes a large problem with the exchange which is designed on the basis of the above-described traffic theory.

Method for communication with no power feed and exchange for realizing the method


A process for preparing a firm bond between copper layers and aluminum oxide ceramic without coupling agent layers wherein the aluminum oxide ceramic is subjected to a plasma etching process in a first vacuum chamber in the presence of oxygen and immediately thereafter plated with copper by sputtering in a second vacuum chamber.

In the field of electronic components, the bonding of copper, a metal having very good electroconductive properties, to aluminum oxide ceramic, an electrical insulator but good thermal conductor, is of particular technical significance. The copper layer finds utility as a conducting track layer, electrode layer, sensor layer, or as a bonding layer when the aluminum oxide ceramic is soldered as a heat sink to other, heat-evolving devices.
There are basically two different processes in existence for directly applying copper to the ceramic material. DE-A-3 824 249 describes a process comprising electroless deposition following prior roughening of the ceramic surface and a subsequent palladium nucleation followed by heat treatment, while DE-A-3 036 128 relates to a direct copper bonding (DCB) process wherein copper plating from 100 to 900 .mu.m in thickness is applied to the ceramic surface at about 1070.degree. C. Both processes are technically complicated and, in addition, are not suitable for producing copper structures of a very precise geometry because of the necessary roughening of the ceramic or because of the thickness of the copper layer. Moreover, the ceramic-copper bonds produced by the existing processes are of only very limited usefulness in high frequency technology.
For this reason a frequently adopted approach has been to apply the basic metal layer by the method of cathode sputtering in a vacuum, hereinafter simply referred to as sputtering.
However, it has been known for a long time that copper applied by this technique to ceramic shows only very poor adhesion. For this reason it has been common for some years to interpose between the ceramic and the copper a thin layer, a few 10 to 100 nm in thickness, of a coupling agent comprising a reactive metal applied by sputtering. The usual coupling agents used are metals such as chromium, titanium, nickel, tantalum, tungsten, and alloys such as TiW or NiCr. Although these metallic coupling agents result in an excellent adhesion of 50 MPa or more, this technique has two crucial disadvantages. First, the sputter coater must contain two separately controllable targets, namely the coupling agent and copper. Secondly, the later structuring of the metal layer requires an additional etching step, since none of the coupling agents is structurable with an etching medium suitable for copper. There is yet a further disadvantage in that the etching media for the coupling agents are usually very aggressive and hence very difficult to handle, particularly on a industrial scale.

Preparation of a firm bond between copper layers and aluminum oxide ceramic without use of coupling agents


Class IV caramel color with reduced 4-MeI content is formed by combining carbohydrate with ammonium bisulfite and acid in an amount effective to establish a pH of less than 5. This is heated in a closed reactor vessel and heated to a temperature and for a time effective to provide the desired intensity caramel color. A base is injected into the closed reaction vessel during heating to control the caramelization reaction.

Caramel is one of the primary color components added to food products. Due to the wide variety of food products, a wide variety of different caramels are required. There are four general classifications of caramel. Caramel color I, also known as plain or spirit caramel, is formed without ammonia or sulfite compounds. Caramel color II, also referred to as caustic sulfite caramel, is formed with sulfite compounds and without ammonium compounds. Caramel color III, also referred to as ammonia or beer caramel, as well as bakers' or confectioners' caramel, is formed with ammonium compounds and without sulfite compounds. And, finally, caramel color IV, also known as sulfite ammonia, or soft drink caramel, or acid proof caramel, utilizes both ammonia and sulfite in the production of the caramel. Due to stability, caramel color I should not be used, for example, in a soft drink, and, likewise, caramel color IV would not be utilized in beer.
In any caramel color that utilizes ammonia as a reactant, there is an issue with the production of 4-methylimidazole, also referred to as 4-MeI. It is generally preferable to form a caramel product that has as little 4-MeI as possible. Caramel color I and II do not require any special steps to eliminate 4-MeI because ammonia is not employed. Because the method used to form caramel color III is different than the method used to make caramel color IV, methods to avoid formation of 4-MeI in caramel color III are not applicable to class IV caramels.


Methods and systems detect objects of interest in a spatio-temporal signal. According to one embodiment, a system processes a digital spatio-temporal input signal containing zero or more foreground objects of interest superimposed on a background. The system comprises a foreground/background separation module, a foreground object grouping module, an object classification module, and a feedback connection. The foreground/background separation module receives the spatio-temporal input signal and, according to one or more adaptable parameters, produces foreground/background labels designating elements of the spatio-temporal input signal as either foreground or background. The foreground object grouping module is connected to the foreground/background separation module and identifies groups of selected foreground-labeled elements as foreground objects. The object classification module is connected to the foreground object grouping module and generates object-level information related to the foreground object. The object-level information adapts the one or more adaptable parameters of the foreground/background separation module, via the feedback connection.

Surveillance systems typically employ video cameras or other sensors to collect spatio-temporal data. In the simplest systems, that data is displayed for contemporaneous screening by security personnel and/or recorded for later reference after a security breach. In those systems, the task of detecting objects of interest is performed by a human observer. A significant advance occurs when the system itself is able to perform object detection itself, either partially or completely.
In a typical outdoor surveillance system, for example, one may be interested in detecting objects such as humans, vehicles, animals, etc., that move through the environment. Different objects might pose different threats or levels of alarm. For example, an animal in the scene might be perfectly normal, but a human or a vehicle in the scene might be cause for an alarm and might require the immediate attention of a security guard. In addition to legitimate activity in the scene (humans, vehicles, animals, etc.), the environment might be susceptible to significant lighting changes, background motion such as moving foliage and camera jitter due to a strong wind. An effective object-of-interest detection algorithm should be able to discern objects of interest in a highly dynamic environment in a timely fashion. A powerful surveillance system ideally has the capability to detect objects of interest while scoring high on the following benchmarks: (1) accuracy; (2) computational efficiency; and (3) flexibility. An accurate system detects objects of interest with high probability while achieving a very low false alarm rate. The computational workload should be manageable enough to provide its detection results and raise alarms while not missing any relevant activity in the environment and guiding a human operator's attention to the activity as it is happening. A flexible system can handle multiple input modalities and multiple operating conditions seamlessly.
There are presently a variety of algorithms and strategies for automatic object detection in a spatio-temporal signal. Most of those detection methods cater to a subset of the operating conditions underlying the intended applications of the algorithm. It is known, for example, to employ a classification mechanism that maps a given spatial region of a spatio-temporal signal to one of a finite set of object types. Algorithms differ in how they process or search the spatio-temporal signal prior to the classification stage. Some algorithms employ a focus-of-attention mechanism to limit the extent of the search to less than the signal's full spatial extent.
A focus-of-attention mechanism that identifies possible regions that could contain an object of interest is often referred to as foreground/background separation. Foreground/background separation in prior art fundamentally relies on some notion of an outlier. This notion is typically quantified in terms of some probability threshold. Almost all the existing algorithms either rely on outlier metrics completely (memory-based algorithms) or rely on conceptual classification mechanisms completely (memory-less algorithms). The latter tend to be computationally overwhelming and not suitable for real time algorithms. The former tend to be fast, but not as robust. Using sophisticated models for outlier detection such as multi-modal distributions, accounts for the dynamic and periodic nature of the background component, but it does not explicitly account for the statistics of the foreground component. Furthermore, outlier-based techniques are not sensitive to subtle differences in the chromatic signatures of objects of interest and that of the environment. Overall, then, existing techniques suffer from one or both of (1) a lack of performance, i.e., high false positives and negatives; and (2) a high computational cost.

Methods and systems for detecting objects of interest in spatio-temporal signals


Disclosed is an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording comprising: a support and an image receiving layer thereon, wherein the image receiving layer comprises an outermost layer being farthest from the support and a layer other than the outermost layer, and a glass transition temperature of a first binder used in the outermost layer is higher than that of a second binder used in the layer adjacent to the outermost layer.

This invention relates to an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording, which can receive a thermally transferred dye, more specifically to an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording, which can provide a high density transferred image and can maintain the transferred dye image stably relative to heat and light.
In the prior art, there has been known a thermal transfer system in which a dye or an ink is transferred by a heat source such as a thermal head or a laser. Recently, attention has been paid to a thermal transfer system using a sublimable dye (or a thermally diffusible dye). The transfer system using these dyes has an advantage that gradation can be given to picture elements by controlling energy of a heat source, whereby it has been used more widely as a means for obtaining a color image with high image quality.
However, in the sublimation type thermal transfer system, much energy is required to sublimate or thermally diffuse a dye, so that progress of techniques concerning sensitivity has been expected. Further, storage stability of an image is inferior to that of the so-called silver halide photography which has been highly completed, so that high durability of a transferred image has been demanded.
As a means for improving sensitivity, there has been proposed a technique of plasticizing a binder in a dyeing image receiving layer to be used in an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording (by adding the so-called heat solvent or internally plasticizing a binder) to improve diffusibility of a dye. However, storage stability of an image relative to heat is worsened due to increased diffusibility of a dye, whereby evil influences such as bleeding of an image are brought about.
Thus, there has been proposed a system in which a chelate type dye is used as a dye to be transferred, and the dye has a small molecular weight during transfer and reacts with a metal compound in an image receiving layer after transfer to form a chelate dye. According to this system, a selection range of a binder can be broadened to a great extent as compared with the case where a conventional dye is used. However, there is a limit in plasticizing a binder in an image receiving layer, and when a glass transition temperature (Tg) is extremely small, there is a problem that blocking of an image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording is caused.

Image receiving sheet for thermal transfer recording


According to various embodiments, exemplary interconnects and methods for interconnection are provided that can include contacts formed by fiber bundles. The exemplary interconnects can be used to form separable or non-separable electro-mechanical connections between one or more of the generally accepted six levels of interconnection. In various embodiments, the exemplary interconnects can allow management of the thermal properties of the electronic devices. Exemplary interconnects can also provided reduced thickness allowing redundancy and additional compliance as desired.

Interconnections allow communications between various electronic devices that form an electronic system. An electronic system can be thought of as a hierarchical interconnection network that can include up to six generally accepted levels of interconnection. The six levels include interconnections between: (1) chip bonding pads to a package leadframe, device substrate, a circuit board, or an LCD or display substrate; (2) an electronic component and a printed circuit board (PCB); (3) a first PCB and a second PCB; (4) a first subassembly and a second subassembly; (5) a subassembly and the input-output (I/O) for a system; (6) an electronic system and a peripheral device.
For example, to electrically connect an electronic component such as an integrated circuit (IC) to a PCB, a permanent solder or adhesive joint can be used. Alternatively, a conventional component socket or "interposer," consisting of sockets to receive the pins or pads of the IC on one side and the pins or pads of the PCB on the other side can be used. A conventional component socket can have thousands of connections. Failure of any one of the individual contacts in the IC, the PCB, or the component socket can result in failure of the entire assembly. Conventional interconnects including torsion wire contacts, compressive spring wire contacts, and pogo pin contacts are often unreliable and can cause short assembly lives. One solution to this problem is to use metal (solder) bonds or conductive adhesive, which of course renders the interconnect permanent and thereby makes removal of the IC or separation of the IC-component socket-PCB difficult and expensive.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art to provide interconnects and methods for electrical connection that enable higher reliability in high density electronic assemblies.

Electromechanical device having a plurality of bundles of fibers for interconnecting two planar surfaces