The present invention provides a structural adhesive sheet specifically for use in a mirror base of an automobile interior rear-view mirror and a method for producing the same, said structural adhesive sheet comprises in parts by weight of 20-100 parts of a nitrile-butadiene rubber, 10-70 parts of a partially cured polysulfide adhesive, 5-40 parts of a bisphenol A type epoxy resin, 0.1-2.5 parts of a crosslinking agent, 0.2-2.5 parts of a softening agent, 3-20 parts of a curing agent, 1-10 parts of an accelerator, 20-100 parts of an inorganic filler, and 0.1-3.0 parts of a silane coupling agent. The structural adhesive sheet of the present invention is obtained by subjecting the above-mentioned components to a compounding process and an extrusion film forming process. The advantages of said structural adhesive sheet include good film-forming property, and simple curing process, while having high structural strength, good toughness, and excellent heat-resistance and cold-resistance after cured.

Being one of the essential elements in an automobile, an automobile interior rear-view mirror is a means used for observing the interior of an automobile. An automobile interior rear-view mirror is usually affixed to the glass of a front windshield via a mirror base of the rear-view mirror. Generally, OEMs require the front windshield having the mirror base of the rear-view mirror installed thereon before they leave for delivery and sell. It is accordingly significant to select a method adaptable to the process of a windshield to mount a rear-view mirror base onto the front windshield glass of an automobile.
Currently, the most commonly used method involves the use of a structural adhesive to fix the mirror base onto the front windshield glass.
The mirror base of an automobile interior rear-view mirror is a metallic part, whereas the front windshield glass is a non-metallic part, and thus they exhibit very different chemical structure and mechanical properties. Accordingly, a structural adhesive demand of high performance requirements, and specific requirements are as follows: (1) the structural adhesive is required to have good adhesion with the surfaces of the two materials to meet the requirement for stress, and exhibits a certain degree of flexibility and toughness after cure to achieve shock absorption during the running and braking process; (2) in the process of curing, the structural adhesive is not allowed to show any displacements in order to meet the requirement for the appearance of the front windshield glass; (3) the structural adhesive is required to have good cold-resistance and heat-resistance after cure; (4) the structural adhesive is required to have good processing properties to facilitate the production and processing process; (5) the curing process of the structural adhesive should be adapted with the processing process of the automobile front windshield glass. Currently, many types of adhesives are on the market, but they still cannot satisfy the above requirements for being the structural adhesive for use in the mirror base of an automobile interior rear-view mirror. Accordingly, production of a rapidly-cured structural adhesive specifically for use in the mirror base of an automobile interior rear-view mirror has great significance.
Currently, in the manufacturing industry of automobile glass, two types of adhesive are generally used in the mirror base of an automobile glass rear-view mirror: the polyurethane structural adhesive and the 3M specialized double-side adhesive tape. (1) the polyurethane adhesive: the adhesive is cured with the moisture in the atmosphere, and the polyurethane adhesive after cure exhibits good flexibility, adhesion, cold-resistance, heat-resistance, which properties comply with the requirements for the adhesive used in the mirror base of an automobile glass rear-view mirror. However, the curing time of the polyurethane adhesive is relatively long (3˜7 days), which renders the production efficiency low, and severely restricts the expansion of the capacity of the automobile glass manufacturing plant. In addition, the curing process of polyurethane adhesive is independent of the processing process of the front windshield glass, which complicates the preparation process of the front windshield glass. (2) the 3M specialized double-side adhesive tape: the curing process of the adhesive tape can be conducted simultaneous with the preparation process of the laminated windshield glass. The adhesive tape exhibits high strength after cure, and has a certain degree of toughness, which, however, is too expensive, and demands for harsh storage conditions (must be stored at a temperature of 5° C. or lower), which causes inconvenience to transport and the practical application.
A patent application (No. 201010005140.X) discloses a method for attaching the mirror base of a rear-view mirror to glass. In this patent, it is disclosed that a photo-curable glue is applied evenly onto the surface of the mirror base to be bonded, followed by subjecting it to ultraviolet irradiation to initiate the reaction of glue such that the mirror base of the rear-view mirror is bonded together with the glass, by which the curing process is made simplified, but the entire method become complicated for reason that one additional process is involved, which is unfavorable to the expansion of the capacity of the automobile glass manufacturing plant.
To sum up, it is hard for the existing adhesives to meet the requirements for being a structural adhesive used in an automobile interior rear-view mirror. Accordingly, it is important to provide a structural adhesive sheet specifically for use in the mirror base of the automobile interior rear-view mirror.

Structural adhesive sheet specifically for use in a mirror base of an automobile interior rear-view mirror and a method for producing the same

ZHENGZHOU ZHONGYUAN APPLIED TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


The present invention provides a thermoplastic polymer composition mainly comprising a block copolymer prepared by extending, with a specific polyurethane component, the polymer chain of a block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, having a polymer block of an aromatic vinyl compound and a polymer block of a conjugated diene. The thermoplastic polymer composition according to the present invention is excellent in handling properties and melt-moldability, because it shows non-tackiness. By using the thermoplastic polymer composition according to the present invention, a molded article having high qualities can be produced with good productivity.

Block copolymers having a styrene polymer block and a conjugated diene polymer block [hereinafter referred to as "styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer"] and the hydrogenated products thereof can be readily formulated into a molded article, because they can be plasticized and molten by heating. They have rubber elasticity at an ordinary temperature and show excellent balance between flexibility and mechanical characteristics. Therefore, in recent years, they have been widely used in various fields as one of the thermoplastic elastomers.
The styrene-conjugated diene block copolymers and the hydrogenated products thereof, which have low polarity, can be used in melt-adhesion or integral molding with a plastic of the same type having low polarity, but can be hardly melt-adhesive to a plastic having high polarity or a metal.
The British Patent No. 1581167 [GB 1581167] describes a composition in which a thermoplastic resin having specific properties is blended with a styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer and/or a hydrogenated product thereof. The publication discloses that the composition is suitable to insulators for conductors and soldering wires, and that a thermoplastic polyurethane is used as one of the thermoplastic resins described above. However, since the styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, and the thermoplastic polyurethane is poor in compatibility, the properties of each polymer fail to be provided sufficiently, and a useful polymer composition cannot be obtained.
Further, various proposals have been made so far for the techniques with an aim of improving the melt-adhesiveness of the styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer or the hydrogenated product thereof. For example, a melt-adhesive composition comprising a styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, and a thermoplastic polyurethane has been known [see the U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,782 and the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 8-72204]. However, this melt-adhesive composition sometimes results in a problem of failing to give a sufficient bonding strength or the lack of the durability of a bonding strength depending on the kind of the material laminated therewith. Moreover, the compatibility between the styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, and the thermoplastic polyurethane in this melt-adhesive composition is not quite satisfactory, so that the composition has a problem such as delamination or instability of the bonding strength in the laminate structure obtained, for example, by composite injection molding.
Also, a polymer composition comprising a thermoplastic polyurethane and a styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, modified with hydroxyl group, carboxyl group or a derivative thereof has been proposed with an aim of improving the compatibility between the styrene-conjugated diene block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, and the thermoplastic polyurethane [see the U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,035 and the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 3-234755]. Further, there has been proposed addition of a phosphorus compound or a phenolic compound to the above-described composition to improve the thermal stability during processing [see the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-126474]. However, a satisfactory result has not yet been obtained, because these compositions are still poor in non-tackiness, melt-moldability such as melt-retention stability, and melt-adhesiveness to other resins upon lamination.
As a polymer composition which can solve the above-described problems, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,952 discloses the polymer composition comprising (1) a block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, of an aromatic vinyl compound and a conjugated diene, (2) a block copolymer having a polymer block (I) of a block copolymer, which may be hydrogenated, of an aromatic vinyl compound and a conjugated diene, and a polymer block (II) of a polyurethane, (3) a thermoplastic polyurethane and (4) a paraffin oil.


A method for adhesively bonding an at least partially hollow first member to a second member received interiorly of the first member. Adhesive is applied to the second member and allowed to attain a substantially nonflowable condition. The first and second members are positioned such that the first member at least partially overlies the nonflowable adhesive on the second member. The adhesive is reactivated and then cooled to adhesively bond the first and second members together. An adhesive dispenser for applying the adhesive to the second member is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for adhesively bonding close fitting components, such as the mounting of a tubular sleeve, sheath, cover or grip over a cylindrical shaft, core or rod. The invention also relates to an applicator that is especially useful in practicing this method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many products for which a slip-resistant or cushioned grip is extremely desirable. Fishing rods, golf clubs, garden tools, and tennis and badminton rackets, to name a few, all benefit from having such grips around what would otherwise be a smooth and perhaps slippery shaft. At one time such grips were provided by adhering a spiraled leather strip at the desired location.
More recently it has been customary to secure a spiraled strip of pressure-sensitive adhesive transfer tape about the shaft, remove the tape's temporary carrier to expose the adhesive, render the adhesive temporarily slippery by applying an organic solvent, and slide the resilient grip over the adhesive. The solvent gradually evaporates to provide a strong adhesive bond between the grip and the shaft. This process is not only tedious and expensive, but releases environmentally undesirable organic solvent vapors into the atmosphere.
In an alternative approach, solvent-based adhesives and two-part structural adhesives have been applied to the shaft and the resilient grip slid over the "wet" adhesive. While fairly simple, adhesive that is "squeezed out" when the close fitting grip is positioned must be removed thereby wasting the adhesive. Moreover, organic vapors are released into the atmosphere when solvent-based adhesives are used.

Method for adhesively bonding close fitting components

Minnestoa Mining and Manufacturing Company


Processes for preparing color-stable, low-impurity tocopherol compositions are described, wherein the processes comprise: (a) providing a protecting group-substituted tocopherol compound, for example an acetate of a natural-source tocopherol compound; (b) purifying the protecting group-substituted tocopherol compound, for example through crystallization; and (c) solvolyzing the purified compound to form free tocopherol. Also described are the tocopherol compositions prepared thereby.

As concerns over maintaining proper health continue to grow, vitamin and antioxidant use and intake also continue to rise. As more evidence of the potential benefits associated with the use and intake of vitamins and antioxidants continues to be generated, demand for such substances increases, as does the demand for purer forms thereof. Many antioxidants and vitamins can be found in, and extracted from, natural sources. However, these natural sources, e.g., plants and vegetables, contain many undesirable components and impurities which are extracted along with the antioxidants.
Additionally, the incorporation of vitamins and antioxidants into more and more varied applications has generated further challenges. For example, consumers may prefer certain aesthetic qualities which make vitamins and antioxidants that are not color stable undesirable in certain formulations.
Tocopherol compounds are components of vegetable oils which exhibit vitamin E activity. Tocopherol compounds are found widely distributed in many organic substances, including grain oils and vegetable oils. However, the amount of tocopherol present in the natural oils may be small, and therefore, the oils are distilled to concentrate the tocopherol content. Unfortunately, the content of other undesirable co-boilers, as well as pesticides, fertilizers, etc. may also be concentrated. Moreover, the products are not necessarily color-stable.
As such, there have been many attempts to recover and purify antioxidants, such as tocopherols, from natural sources. For example, a method which involves mixing a tocopherol-containing material with a polar organic solvent and contacting this mixture with a strongly basic anionic exchange resin, whereby the tocopherols are absorbed onto the resin, and subsequently eluted with an acidic solution, has been described. However, such methods can result in resin fouling, and potential oxidation of the resins may result in a persistent amine odor. Moreover, resins are short-lived, expensive and provide relatively low capacity.
Other processes for the isolation of tocopherols involve treating deodorizer distillates, which comprise the "sludge" or distillate obtained in connection with the production of edible oils and fats subsequent to the deodorization step, with a lower aliphatic alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst, often with prior saponification of the sludge, for the purposes of esterifying the free fatty acids present in the sludge. Other processes have been disclosed wherein the tocopherols and/or sterols are esterified with the free fatty acids contained in the distillates. However, these processes are often complicated, time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, most prior art processes for the purification or isolation of tocopherols and/or sterols which involve the esterification of the tocopherols and/or sterols with free fatty acids present in the feed are incapable of adequately removing impurities and other components which co-distill with tocopherols and/or sterols, at sufficient yields.
Another process for the separation of tocopherols has been described wherein borate esters are formed, the mixture is distilled and the esters are subsequently hydrolyzed, with subsequent separation of the borate source from the tocopherol. While such a process generally removes a large portion of the impurities that co-distill with the tocopherol, significant amounts of the tocopherol in the original feed material can be lost during the purification, foaming during the esterification process is a significant problem, and undesirable borate solids can form requiring additional separation steps.
Other processes which may result in acceptable levels of certain impurities do not meet all currently desired purity specifications, and moreover, fail to provide color stability characteristics which are satisfactory in all applications.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a process by which tocopherol compounds can be purified in high yield from natural sources to provide color-stable tocopherol compositions.

Color-stable, low impurity tocopherol compositions and processes for preparing the same


An oil spill response lighter comprising a SWATH vessel or other high speed hull form includes onboard oil storage for transfer from recovery vessels to large capacity storage tanks. The lighter includes an oil loading and unloading conduit supported on a pivotable, extensible support arm mounted on the main hull. A solid waste or debris receptacle is mounted on the deck of the main hull for receiving and unloading debris by an onboard boom type crane. The lighter improves the rate of recovery of marine oil spills by rapid transfer of the contents of limited capacity recovery vessels to large capacity storage tanks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a high speed oil spill response vessel adapted to transfer recovered oil or similar liquids from a recovery or skimmer vessel to a storage vessel or shore based facility to minimize the delay in oil spill recovery operations resulting from low storage capacity recovery vessels.
2. Background
The continued development of equipment and facilities for the recovery of crude oil and similar liquids from marine oil spills has brought the realization that one factor which delays the recovery operations is the limited storage capacity of most types of available oil skimming or recovery vessels. The skimming and recovery vessels which have proven to be most attractive for use in recovery of oil in remote locations are those which may be rapidly transported by air or surface means to the site of the spill. Such recovery vessels are necessarily limited in their oil storage capacity since, once the recovery vessel's storage tanks are full, the recovery vessel must be taken out of service and transit to a storage ship or shore based storage facility.
The cost of providing large capacity oil recovery and storage ships, such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/798,469, filed Nov. 26, 1991, in the name of John L. Sullivan et al and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, makes it practical to base such ships only in areas where a high probability of a spill occurrence exists. Such ships are also limited to relatively deep water and open sea recovery operations. In all events, since a ship of the type described in the aforementioned patent application may also be used in regular liquids transport service, initial efforts to contain or recover spilled oil may also require the use of a number of small recovery and lightering vessels which are capable of working in shallow and relatively inaccessible waters and are easily transportable to the site of the spill until the vessel of opportunity has discharged its load and transited to the site of the spill.
Accordingly, there has developed an acute need for a type of vessel which is capable of repeated high speed transfer of recovered oil from limited capacity recovery or skimmer vessels to a storage vessel or shore based storage facility and return to the site of the spill to take on another load of recovered oil. Such a vessel should also advantageously include features such as fuel and water storage for replenishing supplies of same on the skimmer vessels, the ability to pick up and store debris and the ability to carry and facilitate exchange of skimmer crew. The present invention is directed to such a transfer vessel or lighter which has several unique features as will be described further herein.


An array antenna includes a feeder element, a parasitic element implemented by a slot line, a variable capacitance element, and a directivity switching unit. The variable capacitance element is loaded in the slot line. The directivity switching unit supplies a control voltage to the variable capacitance element in order to vary the capacitance, and switches directivity of the array antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an array antenna capable of controlling an antenna characteristic.
2. Description of the Background Art
A conventional array antenna includes a cavity resonator, a feeder element, and a plurality of slot lines. The cavity resonator has a substantially cylindrical shape and is made of metal. The feeder element is provided in the cavity resonator. The plurality of slot lines are arranged substantially in parallel to one another on a cylinder end surface of the cavity resonator in a direction of a rotation axis of the cylindrical shape.
An electromagnetic wave emitted from the feeder element by feeding electric power thereto is emitted outside the cavity resonator through the plurality of slot lines arranged on the cylinder end surface (see "Print Slot Yagi-Uda Antenna with Through-hole Cavity," Manabu Yamamoto, Naoki Kobayashi, and Kiyohiko Itoh, Communications Society Conference 2001, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, p 165).
In addition, a radial line slot antenna is known as a conventional array antenna (see "A Basic Study of Radial Line Slot Antenna for 60 GHz Band Wireless LAN," Akira Akiyama, Tetsuya Yamamoto, Makoto Ando, Naohisa Goto, and Eriko Takeda, Proceedings of the 1997 IEICE General Conference, B-1-85). The radial line slot antenna is a planar array antenna using a radial line as a waveguide. The terminal end portion is short-circuited, and provided with matching slots for canceling reflection. Fed from a central portion, electric power propagates through radial waveguides.
When slot elements are arranged concentrically in the radial line slot antenna, a conical beam is emitted when the element is excited in axially symmetrical manner. Meanwhile, when the element is excited in a rotating electromagnetic field mode, a beam in a front direction can be emitted.
Moreover, an H-type slot antenna including slots has conventionally been known as an antenna that can be mounted on a notebook-type PC (personal computer), a PDA (personal digital assistant) or the like (see "A Study on Double Resonance H-Type Slot Antenna," Akira Itakura, Yoshinobu Okano and Minoru Abe, The IEICE Transactions on Communications (B), Vol. J86-B, No. 12 (December 2003) pp. 2533–2542). The H-type slot antenna is implemented by a slot formed in an H-shape, and it can be adapted for use in both 2.4 GHz band and 5.2 GHz band. The H-type slot antenna is mounted on a surface of a notebook-type PC. In this manner, the H-type slot antenna can be arranged in the vicinity of metal.
Furthermore, an antenna apparatus including one feeder element and six parasitic elements has conventionally been known as an antenna allowing electrical switching of directivity (see Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-261532).
In this antenna, the feeder element has one end fixed to a dielectric support substrate and arranged substantially perpendicular to the dielectric support substrate. Six parasitic elements are divided into three groups of two parasitic elements, and respective groups are provided on three printed boards. Three printed boards are arranged substantially perpendicular to the dielectric support substrate.
Here, three printed boards are arranged on the dielectric support substrate such that six parasitic elements are arranged around the feeder element located in the center and on a perimeter of a circle having a prescribed radius.
As described above, a variety of antennas have conventionally been known.

Array antenna capable of controlling antenna characteristic

Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International


An abrasion resistant composite hose comprises (a) an outer layer composing a spiral tape of a soft synthetic resin, where adjacent side edges of the spiral tape join each other to form the outer layer, (b) a spiral reinforcement of a hard synthetic resin for retaining and reinforcing the outer layer, and (c) an inner layer comprising a spiral strip formed by a rubber, where adjacent side edges of the spiral strip join each other to form the inner layer, and the outer layer and inner layer join each other. In such a composite hose having this structure, at least a periphery of the strip except an exposed surface to an inner surface of the hose is covered with a covering element comprising a rubber adhesive to the soft synthetic resin constituting the outer layer, and the rubber strip is formed by a rubber having higher abrasion resistance than the covering element to obtain a composite hose having enhanced abrasion resistance.

In a muddy water-shield process, reverse process, or other general civil engineering works, inhalation and compression-transport of muddy water, sand or sludge are required. Therefore, a hose used for such applications should light-weigh and should have flexibility, and it requires excellent abrasion resistance in addition to superior pressure proof.
Thus, a composite hose has been proposed, which is formed from a synthetic resin material with light weight and excellent flexibility and a rubber material having superior pressure proof and abrasion resistance. By way of illustration, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52317/1984 (JP-B-59-52317) proposes a flexible hose as produced by adhering an outer layer and an inner layer to form a composite, in which the outer layer is formed by spiraling a soft resin strip embedded with a hard reinforcement, and the inner layer is formed by winding a rubber strip in a spiral form. Such flexible hose is available on the market. The literature refers to a hard poly(vinyl chloride) as the hard resin of the reinforcement, and a soft poly(vinyl chloride) as the soft resin of the strip. It also mentions that a polysulfide rubber is preferred as the rubber constituting the inner layer.
The polysulfide rubber has, however, poor abrasion resistance and low adhesion force with respect to the outer layer. Therefore, when such hose is used for inhalation and compression-transport of drainage or sludge in civil engineering works, the inner layer of the hose damages in an early stage.
It has been also proposed to form the inner layer in the flexible hose from a rubber material comprising an acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) as a main component to insure thermal adhesive properties with respect to a soft synthetic resin (e.g., a soft poly(vinyl chloride)) forming the outer layer. The rubber material (NBR) forming an inner surface of such a hose has abrasion resistance to some extent, which surface directly contacts transported substances as inhaled and compression-transported. The abrasion resistance of the rubber material (NBR) is, however, limited. Therefore, the hose has a short product-life when it is used in applications in which the inner surface abrades severely. Accordingly, a hose having an extremely improved abrasion resistance has been desired. On the other hand, when the inner layer is composed of a rubber having high abrasion resistance, thermal adhesive properties of the inner layer with respect to a constitutive soft synthetic resin (e.g., a soft poly(vinyl chloride)) of the outer layer deteriorates, and the inner layer and outer layer hardly adhere to each other with high adhesive force to form a composite.

Abrasion resistant composite hose and process for producing the same


A current display system comprises a plurality of computer blades, interconnected with each other and each hosting a graphics processor and a plurality of virtualized operating systems (OS) run by an hypervisor and sharing said graphics processor. Each computer blade is connected directly to a set of display devices including a part of a plurality of display devices. All computer blades are connected to all the display devices. Each virtualized OS runs a global compositor instance and at least one application. The global compositor instance of a first virtualized OS transmits a graphical output to a display device driven by a second virtualized OS, via the global compositor instance of said second virtualized OS, so that an application content from an application run by said first virtualized OS is displayed on said second display device.

With the development of distributed systems, it may be needed to distribute a graphical content to different places to be displayed. This requires important graphical rendering resources, such as graphical processors. Usually, a compositor, such as Weston© or X-Server©, manages a Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU, controlled by a Central Processing Unit, or CPU, and the graphical content is used locally on the CPU.
An object of the present disclosure is to improve the situation. More precisely, an object of the disclosure is to provide a system for distributing a content to different display devices to be displayed, without requiring important rendering resources.

Distributed system for displaying a content


A multiplex-packet band learning system and method wherein management of the transmission band of a trunk suitable for an actual packet communication amount can be established to contribute to efficient multiplex packet communication. The number of communication packets per unit time for each medium pattern corresponding one of combinations of call terminal attributes is measured for the trunk interface of each exchange, a normal distribution of the numbers of communication packets in actual communication is estimated on the basis of the measured number of communication packets per unit time for each medium pattern, and its estimated value is updatingly held as index data of permission or prohibition of a new call registration. The number of communication packets in the actual communication is measured at a terminal interface so that a terminal band table for the terminal interface has packet rates at which the terminal has been so far communicated, mean and variance values of the past packet rates are calculated on the basis of the actually measured number of communication packets, a normal distribution is estimated at packet rate estimation circuits PPLs of a controller with use of its measured statistical data, and it is judged whether the packet communication of a call requiring the registration to the corresponding trunk line is permitted or prohibited.

1. Field of the Invention PA1 2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention relates to a system and method for learning the transmission band of a multiplex packet transmitted through a trunk of a packet exchange or an asynchronous transmission mode exchange.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a functional block diagram of a general packet exchange system, in which a terminal 110 belongs to a packet exchange 100 with which a packet exchange 100' is connected through a trunk 109, and a terminal 111 belongs to the packet exchange 100'.
Assume now that the terminal 110 generates a communication request directed to the terminal 111. In this case, prior to its communication, the terminal 110 informs a controller 101 provided in the exchange 100 of a call message via a call signal line 105. The controller 101, in response to the call message, secures the necessary communication route, communication channel, etc. between the terminals 110 and Ill and informs the adjacent exchange 100' of the call message through a call signal line 107 of the trunk 109 according to preset route information on different destinations, while performing various sorts of controls to be described later.
On the side of the adjacent exchange 100', a controller 101' in the exchange 100', when receiving the aforementioned call message, secures the necessary communication route and channel up to the destination terminal 111 and informs the terminal Ill of the call message through a call signal line 105'.
Thereafter, when it is desired to perform a packet communication between the terminals 110 and 111, the packet communication is carried out in accordance with the communication route set by the exchange 100 based on the call message received from the terminal 110.
More specifically, when the terminal 110 is sending a packet through a data line 106 to a trunk interface 103 for example, the exchange 100 functions to further transmit the packet from the trunk interface 103 through a trunk interface 103' of the opposing exchange 100' to the terminal 111. In this connection, if another packet is already being transmitted through the corresponding trunk, then the packet to be next transmitted is once stored in a memory 102-for later transmission after the trunk becomes not in use.
Shown in FIG. 2 is an exemplary format of the call message used in this sort of packet transmission control, and FIG. 3 shows the structure of a packet actually transmitted in the control.
In FIG. 2, the illustrated call message comprises a call number for identification in a call exchange; a message code indicative of the sort of the message such as, e.g., `01` (call setting), `02` (call acceptance) or `03` (call release)(in the case of the call acceptance and release, constituent data which will be explained become unnecessary); destination number data indicative of a destination exchange number and a destination terminal number; a seized-channel number seized as the corresponding terminal line or trunk according to the route data with respect to the destination number of the packet receiver; a medium code indicative of the medium type of the communication terminal as the call-message issuer such as, e.g., `01` (voice), `02` (data) or `03` (television conference terminal); a request packet rate (for example, 125 packets/sec.) required by the call message; and additional data such as other terminal communication attributes.
FIG. 4 shows a functional structure of the controller 101 of the prior art exchange for processing such a call message as containing these data elements. In operation of the controller 101, when a `call setting` message is supplied to a call message buffer 201 of the controller 101 in the exchange through the call signal line 105, this causes the buffer 201 to send a request packet rate to a subtracter 210 through a signal line 209. At the same time, the subtracter 210 also receives an output of a residual-trunk- capacity register 204 through a signal line 208. The output of the residual-trunk-capacity register 204 indicates the current residual trunk capacity value which is set as its initial value at a maximum packet rate value of associated one of trunks predetermined for each trunk and which is sequentially modified through such control as to be described later. The subtracter 210 performs a subtraction of the residual trunk capacity value minus the request packet rate value and applies its subtraction result to a comparator 203. The comparator 203 compares the received subtraction result with zero.
When the subtraction result is equal to or larger than zero, the comparator 203 applies the subtraction result through a signal line 207 to the residual-trunk- capacity register 204 to modify the residual trunk capacity value. The comparator 203 also informs the trunk interface 103 and the terminal interface 104 of a `call acceptance` message via a signal line 205, the call message buffer 201 and the other of the call signal line 105 for call registration.
On the other hand, when the aforementioned subtraction result value is smaller than zero, the comparator 203 cancels the subtraction result value and informs the terminal interface 104 of a `call release` message via a signal line 206, the call message buffer 201 and the call signal line 105 for call release. In this case, the residual trunk capacity value is kept at the previous value. Thereafter, if the call is accepted, then a packet communication is carried out between the terminals 110 and 111.
As has been already explained above, the exemplary format of the communication packet is expressed, as shown in FIG. 3, in terms of the channel number seized at the time of the call setting and communication data.
Using communication packets having such a format as mentioned above, packet communication is carried out between the terminal 110 and the exchange 100 and between the exchanges 100 and 1001. At this time, when the exchange 100 temporarily receives many packets from its terminals, the exchange 100 might not be able to immediately send them to the trunk 109. For the purpose of avoiding such a situation, such packets are temporarily stored in the memory 102 (refer to FIG. 1) of the exchange 100 so that as the trunk 109 becomes empty, the packets stored in the memory 102 are sent onto the trunk 109.
Shown in FIG. 5 is a transmission characteristic showing how to transmit each call generated based on such conventional control operation.
It will be clear from FIG. 5 that, in the prior art, the request packet rate at the stage of the call setting is set usually at the maximum transmission packet rate (in other words, transmission bearer rate), which results in that the request packet rate becomes extremely large when compared with the packet rate (measured packet rate) at which communication is actually effected. In other words, the transmission characteristic of the trunk through which such requested calls are multiplexed has such an idle band as shown in FIG. 5.
Such transmission characteristic adversely affects greatly a communication efficiency. For this reason, it has been impossible to realize such effect unique to the packet multiplex communication as obtained, e.g., when a call communication packet becomes temporarily idle, by transmitting another communication packet during the temporary idle period.
In this way, the prior art system of managing the transmission band of multiplex packets is arranged so that when a terminal issues a communication request, its residual trunk capacity is found usually on the basis of the request packet rate given as the maximum packet rate of the associated terminal so that a call is accepted during zero or more of the residual trunk capacity. As a result, the prior art system has had such a problem that not only the request trunk capacity per call becomes much larger than the actual packet communication amount (traffic) of the trunk per call in the actual communication but also the packet multiplex effect of the trunk cannot be obtained, thus making it impossible to manage and operate the trunk transmission band efficiently.

System and method for learning transmission band of multiplex packet


An integrated multi-band antenna has a first radiating element and a second radiating element. The first radiating element has a slot and a feeding conductor having a first feeding point. A first ground portion is arranged to close to the feeding conductor. The second radiating element has a first radiating segment, a second radiating segment extending from one end of the first radiating segment, a third, a fourth, a fifth and a sixth radiating segments connecting end to end in sequence wherein one end of the third radiating segment connects to the other end of the first radiating segment, and one end of the sixth radiating segment remains free. A second feeding point is arranged at the corner between the fourth and fifth radiating segments. A second ground portion is arranged to close to the corner. Operation of the integrated multi-band antenna can obtain various wireless communication bands.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an integrated multi-band antenna and more specifically, to an integrated multi-band antenna for use in a portable electrical device, especially a notebook.
2. The Related Art
According to the progress of the communication technology, the key development is the transfer from wired to wireless communication, such as the popularization of the wireless household phones, mobile phones and personal digital assistants. In the field of wireless communication, the signal is carriered through invisible electromagnetic wave. Therefore, the bridge between electrical signal and electromagnetic wave is an antenna. So the antenna is certainly needed by a wireless communication device to transmit or receive electromagnetic wave. The antenna is therefore an essential component in the wireless communication device.
A conventional antenna configured in the wireless communication devise can send and receive four bands wireless signal such as GSM850 (Global System for Mobile communications), EGSM (Extended Global System for Mobile communications), DCS1800 (Digital Cellular System) and PCS1900 (Personal Conferencing Specification). It is necessary that an antenna adapting to configure in the wireless communication device operates at various wireless communication bands further comprising W-CDMA2100 (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity).


A method for compensating for power variations in satellite communications includes measuring or estimating power variations for signals received at an earth-based terminal. The method also includes measuring or estimating changes in carrier-to-noise levels by a number of satellite terminals. The power variations may then be used to adjust the measured/estimated changes in carrier-to-noise (C/N) levels. The adjusted C/N levels may then be used to more accurately reflect actual network conditions and may be used in downlink power control related processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to satellite communications and, more particularly, to estimating beacon power variations in satellite communications.
2. Description of Related Art
In satellite communications, a satellite periodically transmits a beacon signal to earth-based satellite terminals. The beacon signals may be used by the satellite terminals in establishing communications with the satellite. Each satellite terminal may also determine the carrier-to-noise (C/N) ratio of the beacon signal for use in downlink power control (DLPC) related processing.
One problem with using the C/N ratio of the beacon signal in DLPC related processing is that the beacon power (e.g., the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)) may vary during the course of each day and may also vary over time (i.e., with the age of the satellite). In such a case, the variation in beacon power may be considered to be noise, the result of rain or some other problem. These variations in beacon power may adversely impact the DLPC related processing. For example, in some systems, beacon power variations may result in determining that the satellite must increase power levels for transmissions to one or more cells. Such increases in transmission power levels may reduce the efficiency associated with managing the satellite's power resources and may lead to availability reductions in situations which require efficient control of the satellite's power resources.
Therefore, a need exists for systems and methods that estimate beacon power variations and adequately compensate for these variations.

Method and apparatus for estimating beacon power variations


When there is an access passing between unit disk controllers, the band of a mutual connecting network must be very large in order to exhibit the performance sufficiently, so that the cost is increased. In the present invention, the access number of a logical volume is monitored, the change of an access path is suggested to an upper class device, and the logical volume is moved or copied to each unit disk controller, so that the mutual connecting network is used mainly for copy of the logical volume, thereby reducing the necessary band.

The present invention relates to a computer system using a disk controller of a disk array for storing data into a plurality of disk devices and an operating service thereof.
Currently, a data center or the like handling a large volume of data introduces various storage devices such as a large disk array connected to a mainframe as well as a small and medium disk array connected to a tape backup device or an open system servers, and stores information in each of the devices. At present, it is hard to say that the stored information is organically strongly linked to the respective devices. Thus, active has been a movement to introduce a concept SAN (Storage Area Network), and to connect various storage devices through the network, thereby managing information. A large data center has used a large disk array to build a storage system which has high reliability, high performance and high functionality. With SAN, a larger storage system than ever is being built in addition to a small and medium disk array.
On the other hand, in the future, a small and medium disk array will be required to have high performance and high reliability. A current disk array will need scalably supporting from a small storage system such as SOHO to a large storage system such as a bank, and also a service capable of operating this effectively.
A prior art disk array centers on a disk controller as shown in FIG. 1. The disk controller has a plurality of channel interface (hereinafter, channel IF) parts 103 for executing data transfer between a host computer 101 and a disk controller 109, a plurality of disk interface (hereinafter, disk IF) parts 104 for executing data transfer between a magnetic disk device 102 and the disk controller 109, a cash memory part 107 for storing data read and written between the channel IF and the disk channel IF, and a common memory part 108 for storing control information on the disk array controller 109 (for example, control information on data transfer between the channel IF part 103 and the cash memory part 107). The channel IF part 103, the disk IF part 104 and the cash memory part 107 are connected by a mutual connecting network 105. The channel IF part 103, the disk IF part 104, and the common memory part 108 are also connected by a mutual connecting network 106. The mutual connecting network herein means all connection means such as a switch, loop, and bus. Herein, the numeral 412 denotes an SVP (Supervise Processor) part and, as described later, collects information on the access number per each channel path number of information transmission between the host computer 101 and the disk controller 109.
When one disk controller is formed by such a construction, scalability is a form of adding a component to its minimum construction as a basic device, i.e., of sequentially adding an optional component for extension. In other words, its minimum construction needs to have an extension mechanism for adding an optional component up to its maximum construction, and its small construction is also provided with a mechanism required for extension. They are unnecessary mechanisms when operated by its basic construction. The device cost can be inevitably relatively high for its basic construction. Further, to meet speeding up of a host computer and improvement in connectivity (an increase in the number of connectable host interfaces), it is also necessary to respond to speeding up of the connection mechanism for the extension components and improvement in extensionality (an increase in the number of the extendable components). The cost is increased, so that there is a high possibility that the cost may be relatively high for its basic construction.
With respect to this, as shown in the overview of FIG. 2, an SAN (Storage Area Network) environment using a disk array makes a system construction efficient. Host computers 101 are connected through a common mutual connecting network 210 to a disk controller 109. The disk controller has a plurality of channel IF parts 103, a plurality of disk IF parts 104, a plurality of common memory parts 107, and a plurality of cash memory parts 108, which are connected to mutual connecting networks 105 and 106, respectively. The disk IF part is connected to a plurality of disk devices 102. The disk controller 109 and the disk device 102 connected thereto function as a disk array. The common mutual connecting network 210 can connect many kinds of storage devices, and can also connect a magnetic tape memory 212. Specifically, there are considered every kind of network such as a fiber channel switch, loop and LAN. In such a form, for example, tens of or hundreds of small disk array devices are connected to from an aggregate of a large number of logical volumes, which can show the system to an upper class host computer. It is possible to realize a large volume equal to that of a prior art large disk array with high availability and high reliability as well as high function such as logical volume copy between the disk controllers, as shown by a path 211 in the drawing. However, there is the problem that the small disk array device does not pursue high availability and high reliability of the large disk array. On the other hand, there is a merit in cost because of the aggregate of inexpensive small disk arrays. Also herein, the numeral 412 denotes an SVP (Supervise Processor) part, which collects information on the access number per each channel path number of information transmission between the host computer 101 and the disk controller 109.
As shown in FIG. 3, as a similar construction, a unit disk controller 309 functions as a disk array by consisting of a disk controller provided with mutual connecting networks 105 and 106 to connect a channel IF part 103 and a disk IF part 104 for connecting host computers 101 and disk devices 102, respectively, a common memory part 107, and a cash memory part 108, and is smaller than the disk controller shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. A plurality of the unit disk controllers can be connected by a common mutual connecting network 310 so as to construct a disk array functioning as a disk controller 315 on the whole. In this case, the unit disk controller is about ¼ to ½ times the prior art disk controller and is mounted in a compact manner. The cost can be thus low. Further, the common mutual connecting network 310 as its center part has a minimum band required. The cost of the entire device can be reduced. Also herein, the numeral 412 denotes an SVP (Supervise Processor) part, which collects information on the access number per each channel path number of information transmission between the host computer 101 and the disk controller 315, more strictly, all the unit disk controllers 309.
There can be a system integrating the system construction shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, although the illustration thereof is omitted. In other words, the host computers 101 in FIG. 3 are connected by the common mutual connecting network 210 shown in FIG. 2. The host computer not through the unit disk controller directly connected to itself can access a unit disk controller directly connected to other host computer. Consequently, it is unnecessary to pass through the mutual connecting network between the unit disk controllers, whereby access can be improved.

Computer system using disk controller and operating service thereof


A logic circuit the functions of which have been expressed by a Boolean expression is subdivided, and then each of the subdivided logic circuit portions corresponds to each of the Boolean expressions. A plurality of logic circuits whose functions are equal to each other, whose delay times and gate numbers are different from each other, are synthesized every subdivided circuit portions, and a restriction condition formula is formed by employing the synthesized logic circuit under a restriction condition of the delay time designated by a user. While a linear programming is applied under the restriction condition and the number of gates is used as an objective function, such a logic circuit that the objective function takes a stationary value (a minimum value in the present invention) is selected with respect to each of subdivided portions, whereby an overall logic circuit is constructed.

The present invention relates to a method for shortening delay time of a synthesized logic circuit and also for reducing the number of gates employed therein, in a logic synthesis system in which a logic design of a digital logic system is performed by a computer.
In the conventional method for shortening the delay times with respect to the Boolean expressions indicative of the functions of the logic circuit, the logic circuit to be processed is subdivided into plural portions or sections, slacks in the delay times for the subdivided sections are calculated, and while reconstructing the logic circuit from a region having a small slack, the delay time is shortened. This conventional method is described in detail in, for example, "Timing Optimization of Combinational Logic" (ICCAD 88, 1988, pages 282 to 285).
In the conventional method, since the delay times are sequentially improved every subdivided portions of the logic circuit to be processed, a distribution of the delay times is restricted, as compared with such a case that an overall logic circuit is handled as a single logic circuit so as to improve the delay times. As a consequence, there are some possibilities that such a logic circuit having a redundant logic is synthesized. To the contrary, there has been no proposal that an overall logic circuit is handled as a single logic circuit to be processed, and logic optimization is carried out to simultaneously reduce both the delay time and the number of gates.


A UV-emitting, Ce,Pr-coactivated calcium pyrophosphate phosphor is provided wherein the Pr activator increases the phosphor's sensitivity to excitation by 185 nm radiation. The improved sensitivity to the 185 nm radiation allows the phosphor to make better use of the approximate 10% of the UV radiation that is emitted at 185 nm by a low pressure mercury discharge.

The ultraviolet spectrum generally is divided into three regions: UVA (400 nm-320 nm), UVB (320 nm-290 nm) and UVC (290 nm-200 nm). The UVA and UVB regions are important for suntan lamps and medical phototherapy applications and the UVC is important for germicidal lamp applications. The phosphors used in these applications are typically intended for stimulation with the type of low pressure mercury discharge used in conventional fluorescent lamps which generates primarily 254 nm radiation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,233 describes a ultraviolet (UV)-emitting cerium-activated calcium pyrophosphate phosphor. The phosphor formulation is given as Ca(2−w−x−y)(NSF)wCexNayP2O7, where NSF is the nonstoichiometric factor, and w ranges from 0 to 0.1, x ranges from 0.05 to 0.20, and y ranges from 0.05 to 0.20. The nonstoichiometric factor is an idea common to many phosphors where a small excess of anionic species is used in the formulated phosphor blend and results in improved brightness for the fired phosphor material. The amount of Na+ in the phosphor formulation is approximately equal to the amount of Ce3+ in the phosphor for overall charge balance. The Ce-activated calcium pyrophosphate phosphor is stimulated by 254 nm radiation and has an emission peak in the UVB region at about 330 nm.

Ce,Pr-coactivated calcium pyrophosphate phosphor and lamp containing same


A state store having state information therein is stored on a computing device. Information at least nearly unique to the computing device is obtained, and a number of locations at which at least a portion of the state store is to be stored at is determined. Pseudo-random file names and corresponding paths are generated based at least in part on the obtained information, whereby the generated file names and corresponding paths are likewise at least nearly unique to the computing device, and the generated file names and path are paired to form the locations. Thereafter, the state store is stored according to the generated locations.

As is known, and referring now to FIG. 1, a rights management (RM) and enforcement system is highly desirable in connection with digital content 12 such as digital audio, digital video, digital text, digital data, digital multimedia, etc., where such digital content 12 is to be distributed to users. Upon being received by the user, such user renders or 'plays' the digital content with the aid of an appropriate rendering device such as a media player on a personal computer 14, a portable playback device or the like.
Typically, a content owner distributing such digital content 12 wishes to restrict what the user can do with such distributed digital content 12. For example, the content owner may wish to restrict the user from copying and re-distributing such content 12 to a second user, or may wish to allow distributed digital content 12 to be played only a limited number of times, only for a certain total time, only on a certain type of machine, only on a certain type of media player, only by a certain type of user, etc.
However, after distribution has occurred, such content owner has very little if any control over the digital content 12. An RM system 10, then, allows the controlled rendering or playing of arbitrary forms of digital content 12, where such control is flexible and definable by the content owner of such digital content. Typically, content 12 is distributed to the user in the form of a package 13 by way of any appropriate distribution channel. The digital content package 13 as distributed may include the digital content 12 encrypted with a symmetric encryption/decryption key (KD), (i.e., (KD(CONTENT))), as well as other information identifying the content, how to acquire a license for such content, etc.
The trust-based RM system 10 allows an owner of digital content 12 to specify rules that must be satisfied before such digital content 12 is allowed to be rendered. Such rules can include the aforementioned requirements and/or others, and may be embodied within a digital license 16 that the user/user's computing device 14 (hereinafter, such terms are interchangeable unless circumstances require otherwise) must obtain from the content owner or an agent thereof, or such rules may already be attached to the content 12. Such license 16 may for example include the decryption key (KD) for decrypting the digital content 12, perhaps encrypted according to another key decryptable by the user's computing device or other playback device. Because the content 12 can only be rendered in accordance with the rules in the license 16, then, the content 12 may be freely distributed.
The content owner for a piece of digital content 12 would prefer not to distribute the content 12 to the user unless such owner can trust that the user will abide by the rules specified by such content owner in the license 16 or elsewhere. Preferably, then, the user's computing device 14 or other playback device is provided with a trusted component or mechanism 18 that will not render the digital content 12 except according to such rules.
The trusted component 18 typically has an evaluator 20 that reviews the rules, and determines based on the reviewed rules whether the requesting user has the right to render the requested digital content 12 in the manner sought, among other things. As should be understood, the evaluator 20 is trusted in the DRM system 10 to carry out the wishes of the owner of the digital content 12 according to the rules, and the user should not be able to easily alter such trusted component 18 and/or the evaluator 20 for any purpose, nefarious or otherwise.
As should be understood, the rules for rendering the content 12 can specify whether the user has rights to so render based on any of several factors, including who the user is, where the user is located, what type of computing device 14 or other playback device the user is using, what rendering application is calling the RM system 10, the date, the time, etc. In addition, the rules may limit rendering to a pre-determined number of plays, or pre-determined play time, for example.
The rules may be specified according to any appropriate language and syntax. For example, the language may simply specify attributes and values that must be satisfied (DATE must be later than X, e.g.), or may require the performance of functions according to a specified script (IF DATE greater than X, THEN DO . . . , e.g.).
Upon the evaluator 20 determining that the user satisfies the rules, the digital content 12 can then be rendered. In particular, to render the content 12, the decryption key (KD) is obtained from a pre-defined source and is applied to (KD(CONTENT)) from the content package 13 to result in the actual content 12, and the actual content 12 is then in fact rendered.
Particularly with regard to the aforementioned rules, it is oftentimes necessary for an RM system 10 to maintain on the computing device 14 a state store 22 having therein state information relating to the usage of a particular license 16. For example, if a license 16 includes a rule specifying that associated content 12 can be rendered only 10 times, then the number of renderings must be stored in the state store 22 and incremented after each rendering, even if such renderings take place across multiple use sessions, days, weeks or even longer. Likewise, if a license 16 includes a rule specifying that associated content 12 can be rendered for only a set number of days after a first rendering, then the first date of rendering must be stored in the state store 22 for reference by the license evaluator 20 when such evaluator 20 is evaluating the license 16. Of course, other examples of state information that may be stored in the state store 22 are many and varied, and it is to be recognized that the present invention as set forth below is not limited to any particular type of state information stored in the state store 22.
Note that a nefarious entity attempting to avoid a rule in a license 16 may attempt to alter the state information pertaining thereto as stored in the state store 22. For example, and with regard to the aforementioned license 16 that includes a rule specifying that associated content 12 can be rendered only 10 times, the nefarious entity may attempt to alter the associated number of renderings as stored in the state store 22, or may even attempt to delete the state store 22 entirely. Likewise, and with regard to the license 16 that includes a rule specifying that associated content 12 can be rendered for only a set number of days after a first rendering, the nefarious entity may attempt to alter the first date of rendering as stored in the state store 22, or again may even attempt to delete the state store 22 entirely.
Many schemes are known to defeat attempts by a nefarious entity to modify the state store 22. For example, the state store 22 may be encrypted and/or may include a verifying signature or hash. However, it is more problematic to prevent a nefarious entity from deleting the state store 22 in its entirety.
Accordingly, a need exists for an architecture and method that hides the state store 22 by storing same in one or more seemingly random locations. Moreover, a need exists for such an architecture and method that stores the state store 22 in such one or more seemingly random locations that vary from computing device 14 to computing device 14. Further, a need exists for such an architecture and method that stores the state store 22 in a retrievable manner.

Obfuscated state store for rights management system and the like


A glass composition for forming a blue colored glass is disclosed. The glass composition is made up of a base glass portion, iron oxide, and at least one first additive compound selected from Nd2O3 in an amount up to 1 weight percent and/or CuO in an amount up to 0.5 weight percent. The base glass portion has the following components: SiO2 from 66 to 75 weight percent; Na2O from 10 to 20 weight percent; CaO from 5 to 15 weight percent; MgO from 0 to 5 weight percent; Al2O3 from 0 to 5 weight percent; B2O3 from 0 to 5 weight percent; and K2O from 0 to 5 weight percent. The total iron in the glass composition ranges from 0.3 to 1.2 weight percent, and the glass composition has a redox ratio ranging from 0.15 to 0.65.

Glass is used in a variety of products ranging from buildings to automotive products. Depending on the end use of the glass, the glass will be required to have certain color and other performance properties like infrared radiation absorption, ultraviolet radiation absorption, visible light absorption, total solar energy absorption, etc.
In order to produce glass having a specific color and other performance properties, various additives are added to a base glass composition. A typical base glass composition comprises Na2O, CaO, MgO, Al2O3, SiO2 and K2O. Typical additives to a base glass composition include compounds containing iron, cobalt, nickel, selenium, chromium, titanium, etc.
For certain commercial applications, blue colored glass having certain solar performance is required. A multitude of compositions for forming blue glass are well known to those of skill in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,053 discloses a composition that yields a blue colored glass. To form the blue glass, additives such as ferric oxide (Fe2O3) and a reducing agent such as coal are added to a base glass composition. The reducing agent is used to control the amount of ferrous oxide (FeO) in the composition.
Glass compositions having a lower redox ratio are generally preferred over those having a higher redox ratio because glass compositions having a lower redox ratio are easier to melt, refine, and cool, therefore generally less costly to process.
The present invention provides a novel glass composition for forming blue colored glass comprising iron oxides, neodymium oxide and/or copper oxide. The glass composition of the present invention can have an iron redox ratio of 0.15 to 0.65, for example, from 0.25 to 0.50, and solar energy blocking properties.


Test circuitry and test methods performing supply current measurement is presented. The test circuitry can be but is not limited to be on-chip. The supply current, also denoted test current, can be transient. The test circuitry and methods do not cause additional power supply voltage degradation. The test circuitry and methods provide detection capabilities for open defects, causing significant reduction of the transient supply current.

The invention relates to electronic device testing via supply current monitoring.
In recent years, it has been shown that some physical defects, which do not affect the logic behavior of an electronic circuit or device (for instance a CMOS device) usually cannot be detected using voltage oriented test techniques. However, they often apparently reduce the reliability of the circuit. No doubt that testing is best performed using a combination of test techniques, with each method dedicated to detect a class of defects. Quiescent power supply current monitoring has been used to detect a variety of such defects See S. McEUEN, xe2x80x9cReliability benefits of IDDQxe2x80x9d, Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications, Vol. 3, No. 4, December, 1992, pp. 41-49; W. Mao, R. K. Gulati, D. K. Goel and M. D. Cilleti, xe2x80x9cQUIETEST: A Quiescent Current Testing Methodology for Detecting Leakage Faultsxe2x80x9d, Proc. of Inter. Conf. on Computer Aided Design, 1990, pp. 280-283; C. F. Hawkins and J. M. Soden, xe2x80x9cElectrical characteristics and testing consideration for gate oxide shorts in CMOS ICsxe2x80x9d, Proc. of The 1985 Test Conf, Philadelphia, Pa., 1985, pp. 544-555; W. Maly and M. Patyra, xe2x80x9cBuilt-in Current Testingxe2x80x9d, IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, Vol. 27, No. 3, March 1992, pp. 425-428.
Nevertheless, the efficiency of Quiescent Current Testing for detecting open defects presents some limitations due to the fact that these failures may prevent changes of the quiescent power supply current. See C. L. Henderson, J. M. Soden and C. F. Hawkins, xe2x80x9cThe behavior and testing implications of CMOS IC logic gate open circuitsxe2x80x9d, Proc. of Inter. Test Conference, November, 1991, pp. 302-310; V. H. Champac, A. Rubio and J. Figueras, xe2x80x9cElectrical model of the floating gate defect: Implications on IDDQ testingxe2x80x9d, IEEE Trans., 1994, CAD-13 (3), pp. 359-369.
Therefore, the transient power supply current testing (IDDT testing) [S-T. Su and R. Z. Makki, xe2x80x9cTesting of SRAMs by Monitoring Dynamic Power Supply Currentxe2x80x9d, JETTA, Vol. 3, 1992, pp. 265-278.][S-T. Su, R. Z. Makki and T. Nagle, xe2x80x9cTransient Power Supply Current Monitoringxe2x80x94A New Test Method for CMOS VLSI Circuitsxe2x80x9d, JETTA, Vol. 6, February 1995, pp. 23-43.] can be conveniently used to augment the existing test methods and to enhance the defect coverage. On the other hand, the on-chip measurement of the dynamic current presents a more complex issue than performing IDDQ testing.
So far, only a few transient built-in current (BIC) monitors have been proposed See J. Segura, M. Roca, D. Mateo and A. Rubio, xe2x80x9cBuilt-in dynamic current sensor circuit for digital VLSI CMOS testingxe2x80x9d, Electronics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 20, Sept. 1994, pp. 1668-1669; J. Arguelles, M. Martinez, and S. Bracho, xe2x80x9cDynamic IDD test circuit for mixed-signal ICsxe2x80x9d, Electronics Letters, Vol. 30, No. 6, March 1994, pp. 485-486; Y. Maidon, Y. Deval, J. B. Begueret, J. Tomas, and J. P. Dom, xe2x80x9c3.3V CMOS Built-In Current Sensorxe2x80x9d, Electronics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 5, February 1997, pp. 345-346.
In the state of the art, no current test monitors not influencing the operation of the DUT (Device Under Test) are available in the context of both static and dynamic (transient) currents and being either on-chip or off-chip.
The Philips Patent Application EP 0386804 A2 shows an arrangement for measuring the quiescent current of a digital circuit wherein the digital circuit under test is incorporated in the branches of a current mirror. Between the supply voltage and the voltage applied to said digital circuit under test an active element is found, resulting in a supplementary voltage drop, influencing the normal operation of the DUT.
The Texas Instruments Patent Application EP 0525421 A2 measures a voltage drop over a test object, and generates a voltage, being the voltage difference over two branches of a three branch current mirror. The connections of two branches of said three branch current mirror are made at an opposite side of the test object and are thus connected to another connection wire.
It is an aim of the invention to present an apparatus and methods for testing electronic devices via supply current measurements. Said apparatus and methods are not substantially influencing the normal operation of the electronic Device Under Test and can be implemented either on-chip or off-chip. Both static and dynamic (transient) currents are considered. Said devices can be digital, analog or mixed digital analog.
It is also an aim of the invention to present an apparatus and method wherein a fixed, non-time varying current is sent through a test object and thus influences the normal operation of the test object.
In a first aspect of the invention, a test device for testing an electronic device by measuring a supply current flowing in said electronic device is presented. Said supply current flows in a supply line from the powerline through the electronic device to ground. Powerline and ground can be reversed. Said test device comprises at least of a current mirror, having at least two branches. Each of said branches have at least one end. One end of the first branch is connected to said supply line at a first connection point. One end of the second branch is connected to said supply line at a second connection point. Said first and second connection point are located at a substantially different location of said supply line. Said current mirror is adapted for generating an output current. Said output current is related to said supply current. From the generated output current conclusions about occurrences of defects in said electronic device under test are drawn.
A typical operation of a current mirror known in the art is to generate currents in said branches of said current mirror in such a way that said current are proportional to each others. In the invention said typical operation of a current mirror is not exploited. Indeed the current mirror generates a output current being related to the supply current, therefore no proportionality between the currents in said branches is found while such a supply current flows. Still the terminology current mirror can be exploited as the circuitry still matches the current mirror layout.
In a first embodiment of this first aspect of the invention the test device further comprises circuitry for generating an offset voltage being applied to a first node of a capacitive element and means for measuring the voltage on a second node of said capacitive element with respect to a reference voltage, said means generating an output voltage. Said capacitive element is charged by said output current. From the measured voltage on said second node of said capacitive element conclusions about occurrences of defects in said electronic device under test are drawn.
In a second embodiment of this first aspect of the invention said test device is integrated with said electronic device on one integrated circuit.
In a third embodiment of this first aspect of the invention said test device comprises means for feeding said output voltage outside said one integrated circuit.
In a fourth embodiment of this first aspect of the invention said output voltage could also be combined with built-in self test circuitry, scan circuitry or boundary scan circuitry such that not necessary an additional output is required.
In a fifth embodiment of this first aspect of the invention said test device is adapted for testing a CMOS electronic device.
In a sixth embodiment of this first aspect of the invention said test device is adapted for testing an analog electronic device.
In a seventh embodiment of the invention said supply current is transient (dynamic).
In an eight embodiment of the invention said supply current is quiescent.
In a ninth embodiment of the invention said test device comprises means for discharging said capacitive element. Said means can be a switch.
In a tenth embodiment of the invention said reference voltage, exploited for the comparison, can either be applied from an external source using a dedicated input or be generated on board.
In a second aspect of the invention, a method for testing an electronic device by measuring a supply current flowing in said electronic device is presented. Said supply current flows from the powerline through the supply line and through the electronic device towards ground. Powerline and ground can be reversed. Said method comprises at least a step of generating an output current with a current mirror. Said current mirror comprises at least two branches. At least one end of each of said branches of said current mirror are connected to a different location of the supply line with connection lines. Said output current is related to said supply current. From said output current conclusions about occurrences of defects in said electronic device under test are drawn.
In a first embodiment of this second aspect of the invention in a further step an offset voltage is applied to a first node of a capacitive element. Then said capacitive element is charged with said output current. Said charging of said capacitive element results in a particular voltage on a second node of said capacitive element. Then an output voltage is generated by a means, comparing said voltage on said second node with a reference voltage. From said output voltage generated conclusions about occurrences of defects in said electronic device under test are drawn.
In a second embodiment of this second aspect said output voltage is feed outside the one integrated circuit on which at least said electronic device, said current mirror, the offset voltage generator and the output voltage generator are integrated.
In a third embodiment of this second aspect of the invention said supply current being measured in said methods is transient (dynamic).
In a fourth embodiment of this second aspect of the invention said supply current being measured in said methods is quiescent.
In a fifth embodiment of this second aspect of the invention in said methods comprise a step wherein said capacitive element is discharged.
In a sixth embodiment of this second aspect of the invention in said methods one repetitively switches from charging to discharging and vice-versa of said capacitive element.
In a seventh embodiment of said second aspect of the invention said electronic device is a CMOS device.
In an eight embodiment of said second aspect of the invention said electronic device is an analog device.
In a ninth embodiment of said second aspect of the invention the control of said switch which discharges the capacitor can be done by an externally applied signal fed in into the integrated circuit using a control input, or it can be controlled from an internal source such as but not limited to built-in self test circuitry, scan circuitry or boundary scan circuitry or dedicated circuitry.
In tenth an embodiment of said second aspect of the invention the evaluation of said output voltage signal can be done externally or internally using one of the following methods, but not limited to built-in self test circuitry, scan circuitry or boundary scan circuitry or dedicated circuitry.

Method and apparatus for testing electronic devices

Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende (KHBO)


A method for detecting ischemic states in a patient by contacting a sample of serum, plasma, fluid or tissue with a metal ion capable of binding to metal ion binding sites in the sample to form a mixture, and then detecting the presence of unbound metal ions to determine the occurrence of ischemia. The reagents required to perform the method are incorporated into a test kit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rapid method for the detection of ischemic states and to a kit for use in such a method. More particularly, the invention relates to the measurement of protein bound thiol (SH) groups to determine the presence or absence of ischemia.
2. Discussion of the Background
Progressive coronary artery disease may be well advanced without significant clinical symptoms such as chest pain or dyspnea. The sudden occlusion of a branch of a coronary artery resulting in a myocardial infarction (MI) dramatically signals the presence of long standing arterial wall disease such as calcification of the intima and wall, as well as progressive stenosis of the lumen of the artery.
Immediately following an ischemic heart event, proteins are released into the blood. Well known proteins released after an ischemic heart event include creatine kinase (CK), serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (SGOT) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). One well known method of evaluating the occurrence of past ischemic heart events is the detection of these proteins in a patient's blood. U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,753 relates to a similar method of assessing the risk of future ischemic heart events. Injured heart tissue releases proteins to the bloodstream after both ischemic and non-ischemic events.
Patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery may experience perioperative ischemia. Electrocardiograms of these patients show ST-segment shifts with an ischemic cause which are highly correlated with the incidence of postoperative adverse cardiac events. However, ST-segment shifts also occur in the absence of ischemia and, therefore, this method does not distinguish ischemic from non-ischemic events.
Ischemia is frequently caused by arterial vessel disease. One feature of arterial vessel disease is the progression from the atheromatous state to the sclerotic state in which large quantities of calcium enter the arterial musculature. With the passage of time, arteriosclerosis progresses. The quantity of intracellular calcium increases while cardiac output remains essentially normal. The intracellular calcium activates the protease calpain which converts xanthine dehydrogenase to xanthine oxidase. Xanthine oxidase acts on xanthine and hypoxanthine to form free radicals, including the hydroxyl radical (OH.) and the superoxide radical (O.sub.2.). These free radicals in turn oxidize cell membranes and proteins in the regions of the molecule which are rich in thiol groups. See "The Role of Perfusion--Induced Injury in the Pathogenesis of the Crush Syndrome", New Engl. J. Med., 324:1417-1422 (1991).
A need exists for a method of distinguishing between ischemic and non-ischemic events, particularly in cardiac patients. After substantial research, the present method, based on metal-protein binding interactions, has been discovered which is capable of detecting ischemic states or events in a patient.
It is well known that metal ions are capable of binding to metal-binding groups in proteins ("Multiple Equilibria in Proteins", J. Steinhardt and J. Reynolds, Acad. Press, CH-VI, p 214 et seq.). Metal ions may form covalent linkages with proteins or, alternatively, form coordination complexes where the metal ion is chelated by ligands of the protein molecule (Enzyme and Metabolic Inhibitors, Vol II, J. L. Webb, (1966), Acad. Press, Chapt. 4, page 635 et seq.).
The ability of metal ions to bind proteins forms the basis of silver stains for proteins in polyacrylamide gels. U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,466 pretreats a gel with dithiothreitol (DTT) prior to staining with silver ions to reduce background staining. U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,234 provides a subsequent treatment with carbonate or sulfate salts to obtain different color stains.
In some instances, metal ions react with proteins to form precipitates. Metal-protein precipitation reactions have been used in methods for the quantitative determination of protein (U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,605) and in the total or fractional precipitation of proteins from a protein-containing solution (U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,282).

Test for the rapid evaluation of ischemic states and kit


A method is described for generating a digital checksum signature for a collection of data. According to the method, a first operation is performed on the collection of data to generate a first encoded result. The first encoded result is used to define a first portion of the digital checksum signature. A second operation is performed on the collection of data to generate a second encoded result. The second encoded result is used to define a second portion of the digital checksum signature.

In modem data processing and communication systems, it is often desirable to transfer data between separate and often disparate devices. A common problem arises in such systems when a collection of data transferred from a source device is altered in some way before reaching its destination. The alteration may have various possible causes, including environmental noise, defective or noisy communication transmission lines, a defective data channel, or malicious tampering.
To guard against alteration, error checking mechanisms have been used to verify the correctness of bits received at the receiving device. These mechanisms often included the use of checksums. Checksums involved computing a digital signature for blocks of data to be transmitted. As a block of data was sent over the bus, circuitry at the source device computed a quasi-unique string of data called an "expected signature". A similar signature was computed at the receiving device called an "error detection signature". The error detection signature was compared with the expected signature to determine whether the original collection of data had been altered.
In the past, simple checksum codes were used in error checking mechanisms. A system employing the use of a simple checksum code performed an algorithm such as an exclusive-OR operation between each sequential byte within the collection of data. The checksum was defined as the net resultant binary quantity obtained from these repetitive exclusive-OR operations. A system employing the use of a simple checksum code may have also performed an algorithm such as a summing operation between each sequential byte within the collection of data. The checksum was defined as the net resultant binary quantity obtained from the sum of the bytes in the collection of data.
The use of simple checksum codes had the drawback of not providing the adequate security computer systems required for error detection. For example, the simple checksum code performing exclusive-OR operations had inherent pattern sensitivity for short burst errors randomly distributed throughout the collection of data. Thus, use of an exclusive-OR operation between sequential bytes within the collection of data rendered it possible for errors to cancel one another, and therefore not be detected. Similarly, the simple checksum code performing summing operations was easy to break. A malicious party wishing to insert corrupted data into the collection of data could have easily calculated the expected signature and altered the appropriate bits such that the error detection signature would match. This problem existed for digital checksum signatures which were short as well as long.
Thus, an improved method and apparatus for generating digital checksum signatures where the signatures are difficult to break is needed. It is also desirable to be able to use the digital check signatures to identify the version number of the collection of data and when changes have been made to the collection of data.

Method and apparatus for generating digital checksum signatures for alteration detection and version confirmation


A collapsible rifle stock which provides a significantly shorter and more compatible stock designs. The stock includes a recoil pad, a buffer tube assembly, a buffer-receiving cavity, a track, a locking mechanism, and a release mechanism. The buffer-receiving cavity traverses through the recoil pad to facilitate a short collapsed configuration for the stock. The track is adjacently connected to the recoil pad, oriented parallel to a central axis of the buffer-receiving cavity. The buffer tube assembly attaches the stock to the rifle. The buffer tube assembly is slidably engaged along the track to allow for relative movement. The locking mechanism in conjunction with the release mechanism allow the user to position the stock into a collapsed and an extended configuration. The locking mechanism is mechanically integrated in between the track and the buffer tube assembly. The release mechanism is mechanically integrated in between the track and the recoil pad.

The popularity of the M4 and AR-15 rifle platforms is mainly due their highly customizable design, allowing user to construct and accessorize a rifle for specific missions, applications, or based on his or her personal preferences. A large number of manufacturers produce and sell aftermarket internal and external components for M4 and AR-15 rifle platforms, each offering specific features and benefits not seen in the traditional rifle design. This allows many owners to assemble rifles which reflect their personal needs and preferences.
One of the aspects which owners of M4 and AR-15 rifle platforms desire is a smaller and easier to store design. This aspect is sought after by the military, the police, and civilian owners of M4 and AR-15 rifles. The main way this aspect is achieved is through the use of collapsible stocks. Collapsible stocks provide a means for decreasing the overall length of the rifle in order to facilitate transport and storage. For the M4 and AR-15 rifle platforms, collapsible stocks had long been thought to have reached their minimum length. Recently some manufacturers have developed collapsible rifle stocks that are now significantly shorter than previously available. However, these products require the replacement of a component that the owners would prefer not to or cannot replace. This component is the bolt carrier. The bolt carrier is the main part of the bolt carrier group assembly which facilitates the extraction of the fired shell case and the loading of a fresh round into the firing chamber from the magazine. The bolt carrier greatly influences the reliability of the rifle, hence the resistance to changing the bolt carrier for shorter stock designs.
One of the main limiting factors for shortening the rifle stock is the minimum compressed length of a buffer spring. While combustion gases from the firing of the rifle drives the bolt carrier group rearward, the buffer spring becomes compressed behind it inside the buffer tube; the buffer tube is the replaceable, rearmost portion of the bore in which the bolt carrier group reciprocates. The compressed buffer spring then drives the bolt carrier group forward, reloading the chamber in preparation for firing the next round. The distance traveled by the bolt carrier group is actually the limiting factor for shortening the stock of a rifle. This limit is directly reflected in the minimum compressed length of the buffer spring. As mentioned above, one of the main ways that current designs achieve a shorter rifle stock is through the modification of the bolt carrier component. As this necessitates the exchange of the bolt carrier, the rifle owner must make the choice between the shorter stock and the preferred bolt carrier that they had previously purchased.
Additionally, the method of unlocking the mechanism for extending or collapsing these new short stocks has been placed on the fixed portion of the stock, which is a location significantly different from traditional designs, which operators have become accustomed.
The present invention is a collapsible stock which provides a means for selectively shortening the overall length of the rifle easily and efficiently without requiring the user to switch bolt carriers. Additionally, the present invention utilizes a release mechanism positioned on the butt pad portion of the stock.