A pressure relief valve includes a valve housing and a drop-shaped body with a conical valve surface that cooperates with a conical valve seat at an upwardly directed blow-off opening of the valve housing. The drop-shaped body is connected to a lifting disc in the housing. The inner configuration of the housing provides an annular passage around the lifting disc which is smaller in area when the lifting disc (and drop-shaped body) is in its uppermost, fully open positioning as compared to its lowermost, closed positioning.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pressure relief valve for pressure equalization between a closed space and the surrounding atmosphere, and particularly to such pressure relief valves used in tankers for oil products and chemicals. In and in the following explanation and description this field of use will be taken as point of departure, but it will be understood that the same principles will be equally applicable to other fields of use, e.g., for stationary storage tanks or for rolling transportion tanks for liquid petroleum products or chemicals.
2. Prior Art
When a certain volumetric quantity of product per time unit, e.g., measured in m.sup.3 /h, is loaded into a tank, the associated pressure relief valve is to be opened when the pressure in the tank has risen above a pre-set closing pressure, and thereafter a quantity of gas is to be blown off per time unit corresponding to the quantity of product loaded per time unit with an addition, where applicable, for evaporation from the liquid surface in the tank. The blow-off quantity per time unit depends on the flow resistance of the valve--and thereby on the lifting height of the valve--and on the pressure in the tank. The maximum blow-off quantity per time unit--with deduction of any addition for evaporation--which is obtainable without the pressure in the tank exceeding a certain safety limit is referred to as the capacity of the pressure relief valve, which is thus a measure of the maximum permissible loading quantity per time unit (e.g. m.sup.3 /h).
The volumetric quantity of product loaded per time unit is referred to as the loading rate (e.g. m.sup.3 /h), and the volumetric quantity of gas blown off per time unit as the blow-off rate (likewise e.g. m.sup.3 /h). The latter is not to be confused with the blow-off velocity, which means the linear velocity at which the gas is blown off through the valve opening, e.g., measured in m/sec..
More particularly, the invention relates to a pressure relief valve which includes a valve housing provided at its top with a blow-off opening formed with an upwardly-facing, substantially conical valve seat, a drop-shaped body suitable for concentrating a flow of gas impinging on its underside to an upwardly-directed jet, a substantially conical valve face for closing against the valve seat being formed on the downwardly-facing portion of the rounded surface of the drop-shaped body, which thereby constitutes a valve body, and a lifting disc connected with the drop-shaped body and located at a lower level within the housing, the lifting disc having an outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of the valve seat, stop means for defining a fully open position of the valve, the lifting disc being surrounded by a free passage slot in the closed position of the valve.
Such a pressure relief valve is disclosed and claimed in international patent application PCT/DK90/00050, published on 07.09.90 under No. WO 90/10168.
Due to the arrangement described, the lifting pressure is shifted at the initiation of the opening from the smaller area of the underside of the drop-shaped member within the valve seat to the larger area of the lifting disc, whereby a higher lifting speed is obtained.
In the embodiment disclosed in WO 90/10168, the valve housing has an inner configuration such that the free passage area around the lifting disc is increased when the drop-shaped body and the lifting disc are lifted, whereby also at increasing blow-off quantity, a lower pressure is obtained than would otherwise be possible, until the valve approaches its fully open condition.
It has been found, however, that in some circumstances, depending, i.e., on the type of product to be loaded and the facilities and practices of the loading station, situations may occur, particularly at relatively low rates of loading and correspondingly low flow-off rates from the tank being loaded, where the flow-control element consisting of the drop-shaped valve body and the lifting disc will be subjected to fluctuations of the rate of gas flow caused, e.g., by turbulence or non-uniform distribution of the flow. The resulting vibratory movement of the flow-control element will act back on the rate of flow, and thereby a reciprocal-amplifying effect may be initiated which may cause the valve to vacillate forth and back between the fully open and the closed position. Thereby the valve may be subjected to a rapid succession of heavy clashes of metal against metal, which is in itself undesirable for mechanical reasons, and besides may produce a loud noise, which may even be amplified by the tank wall as a reverberator.

Pressure relief valve for pressure equalization between a closed space and the surrounding atmosphere


A photographing control apparatus that controls a sensor for accumulating and reading out electric charge in order to obtain an image, includes: a deciding unit adapted to decide a frame period showing an image photographing interval, based on an input of an input unit; a determining unit adapted to determine, based on the frame period decided by the deciding unit, whether accumulation and reading out of electric charge not for use in an image generating process is set in the frame period; and a control unit adapted to control the sensor based on the determination by the determining unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing control apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been calls for a radiographic image photographing apparatus compatible with diverse photographic modes such as moving image photographing and energy subtraction photographing, rather than only still image photographing, with a single device configuration. A radiographic image photographing apparatus compatible with these diverse photographic modes is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-287773, for example.
Here, operations in a moving image photographing mode shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-287773 will be described using FIGS. 7 and 8.
FIG. 7, showing a conventional example, is a timing chart showing exemplary timing for irradiating X-rays and for accumulating and reading out electric charge in a sensor in moving image photographing mode. In FIG. 7, timing is shown in the case where, in the frame period of a single frame, reading out of electric charge in photoelectric conversion devices of the sensor is performed once after X-ray irradiation and then once without X-ray irradiation being performed.
Note that the reading out once after X-ray irradiation and once without X-ray irradiation, as shown in FIG. 7, both involve the reading out of electric charge from all of the photoelectric conversion devices (all pixels) of the sensor. Consequently, in FIG. 7, these readout periods are the same length (Tr). The reading out after X-ray irradiation is for obtaining an X-ray image, while the reading out without X-ray irradiation is for performing offset correction.
In FIG. 7, the relation of the following equation (1) holds, where Tf10 is the frame period of a single frame of an X-ray image, Tr is the charge readout period, Tw11 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is performed, and Tw12 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed. At this time, the frame period Tf10 of a single frame is equal to the X-ray irradiation cycle.Tf10=(Tw11+Tr)+(Tw12+Tr)  (1)
An offset correction value Vo10 can be calculated by the following equation (2), where Vx is the pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is performed, Vf is the pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is not performed, and Vo10 is the offset correction value.Vo10=Vx−Vf  (2)
Since the offset correction value is proportionate to the charge accumulation period, the following equation (3) desirably is satisfied to completely remove offset.Tw11=Tw12  (3)
In this case, the charge accumulation period Tw11 can be calculated by the following equation (4), when equation (3) is substituted into equation (1).Tw11=Tf10/2−Tr  (4)
Since the charge accumulation period Tw11 when X-ray irradiation is performed is greater than an X-ray irradiation period Tx, as shown in FIG. 7, the following equation (5) needs to be satisfied, where Tx is the X-ray irradiation period.Tw11>Tx  (5)
FIG. 8, showing a conventional example, is a timing chart showing exemplary timing for irradiating X-rays and for accumulating and reading out electric charge in a sensor in moving image photographing mode. In FIG. 8, timing is shown in the case where, in the frame period of a single frame, reading out of electric charge in photoelectric conversion devices of the sensor is performed once after X-ray irradiation and then three times without X-ray irradiation being performed.
In FIG. 8, Tf11 is the frame period of a single frame of an X-ray image, Tr is the charge readout period, Tw13 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is performed, and Tw14 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed. At this time, to completely remove offset, the following equation (6) desirably is satisfied, with similar effect to equation (3).Tw13=Tw14  (6)
Therefore, the frame period Tf11 of a single frame is given by the following equation (7).Tf11=k·(Tw13+Tr)  (7)
Note that k is a positive integer showing the number of times charge accumulation and readout is repeated in the frame period of a single frame, with k=4 in the case of FIG. 8, and k=2 in the case of FIG. 7.
In FIG. 8, an offset correction value Vo11 can be calculated by the following equation (8), where Vx is the pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is performed, Vf1, Vf2 and Vf3 are the pixel values read out when X-ray irradiation is not performed, and Vo11 is the offset correction value.Vo11=Vx−Vfn  (8)
Note that n is an integer between 1 and k−1.
The charge accumulation period Tw13 when X-ray irradiation is performed can be calculated by the following equation (9), based on equation (7).Tw13=Tf11/k−Tr  (9)
Since the charge accumulation period Tw13 when X-ray irradiation is performed is greater than an X-ray irradiation period Tx, as shown in FIG. 8, the following equation (10) needs to be satisfied, where Tx is the X-ray irradiation period.Tw13>Tx  (10)
Here, equation (4) is included in equation (9), since a comparison of equations (4) and (9) shows that equation (4) is equivalent to equation (9) with k=2 substituted therein.
While Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-287773 shows the case where low voltage X-rays and high voltage X-rays are irradiated once each as an energy subtraction photographing mode, energy subtraction photographing of a moving image is possible if this process is repeated. Here, the operations in energy subtraction photographing mode for a moving image in this case will be described using FIGS. 9 and 10.
FIG. 9, showing a conventional example, is a timing chart showing exemplary timing for irradiating X-rays and for accumulating and reading out electric charge in photoelectric conversion devices of a sensor in energy subtraction photographing mode for a moving image. In FIG. 9, timing is shown in the case where, in the frame period of a single frame, reading out is performed once after low voltage X-ray irradiation, once after high voltage X-ray irradiation, and once without X-ray irradiation being performed.
In FIG. 9, the following equation (11) holds, where Tf12 is the frame period of a single frame of an X-ray image, Txl is the low voltage X-ray irradiation period, Txh is the high voltage X-ray irradiation period, Tw15 is the charge accumulation period when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Tw16 is the charge accumulation period when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, and Tw17 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed.Tf12=(Tw15+Tr)+(Tw16+Tr)+(Tw17+Tr)  (11)
Offset correction values can be calculated by the following equation (12), where Vxl is the pixel value read out when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Vxh is the pixel value read out when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Vf is the pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is not performed, Vol is the offset correction value when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, and Voh is the offset correction value when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed.Vol=Vxl−Vf, Voh=Vxh−Vf  (12)
To completely remove offset, the following equation (13) desirably is satisfied, with similar effect to equation (3).Tw15=Tw16=Tw17  (13)
The low voltage X-ray irradiation period Txl and the high voltage X-ray irradiation period Txh may differ, provided that equation (13) holds.
Consequently, the charge accumulation period Tw15 when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed can be calculated by the following equation (14), when equation (13) is substituted into equation (11).Tw15=Tf12/3−Tr  (14)
Since the charge accumulation period Tw15 when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed is greater than the low voltage X-ray irradiation period Txl and high voltage X-ray irradiation period Txh, the following equation (15) needs to be satisfied.Tw15>Txl, Tw15>Txh  (15)
FIG. 10, showing a conventional example, is a timing chart showing exemplary timing for irradiating X-rays and for accumulating and reading out electric charge in photoelectric conversion devices of a sensor in energy subtraction photographing mode for a moving image. In FIG. 10, timing is shown in the case where, in the frame period of a single frame, reading out is performed once each after low voltage X-ray irradiation and without X-ray irradiation being performed, and once each after high voltage X-ray irradiation and without X-ray irradiation being performed.
In FIG. 10, the following equation (16) holds, where Tf13 is the frame period of a single frame of an X-ray image, Txl is the low voltage X-ray irradiation period, Txh is the high voltage X-ray irradiation period, Tw18 is the charge accumulation period when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Tw19 is the following charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed, Tw20 is the charge accumulation period when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, and Tw21 is the following charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed.Tf13=(Tw18+Tr)+(Tw19+Tr)+(Tw20+Tr)+(Tw21+Tr)  (16)
Offset correction values can be calculated by the following equation (17), where Vxl is the pixel value read out when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Vf1 is the following pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is not performed, Vxh is the pixel value read out when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, Vfh is the following pixel value read out when X-ray irradiation is not performed, Vol is the offset correction value when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed, and Voh is the offset correction value when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed.Vol=Vxl−Vfl, Voh=Vxh−Vfh  (17)
To completely remove offset, the following equations (18) and (19) desirably are satisfied, with similar effect to equation (3).Tw18=Tw19  (18)Tw20=Tw21  (19)
At this time, the low voltage X-ray irradiation period Txl and the high voltage X-ray irradiation period Txh may differ, provided that equations (18) and (19) hold.
Consequently, the following equation (20) is given, when equations (18) and (19) are substituted into equation (16).Tw18+Tw20=Tf13/2−2Tr  (20)
Since the charge accumulation periods when X-ray irradiation is performed are greater than the X-ray irradiation periods, the following equation (21) needs to be satisfied.Tw18>Txl, Tw20>Txh  (21)
Normally, the low voltage X-ray irradiation period Txl and high voltage X-ray irradiation period Txh are predetermined, often so that the following equations (22) and (23), for example, hold.Tw18=Txl+α  (22)Tw20=Txh+α  (23)
If the photographing frame rate is high (e.g., approx. 30 fps), α often takes a value of a few milliseconds.
When arranged using equations (20), (22) and (23), the charge accumulation period Tw18 when low voltage X-ray irradiation is performed is given by the following equation (24), and the charge accumulation period Tw20 when high voltage X-ray irradiation is performed is given by the following equation (25).Tw18=Tfl3/4−Tr+(Txl−Txh)/2  (24)Tw20=Tfl3/4−Tr+(Txh−Txl)/2  (25)
However, generally, with an X-ray photographing apparatus, photographing is performed at a reduced frame rate in order to lower the amount of radiation to which the subject (object) is exposed. There is a method that involves increasing the value of k in equation (7), for example, in the case where the frame rate is reduced, that is, in the case where photographing is performed with a longer frame period. Here, k=2 in FIG. 7, and k=4 in FIG. 8.
In the case of FIG. 8, the frame period Tf11 of a single frame shown in FIG. 8 will be twice that of the frame period Tf10 in FIG. 7, in order to satisfy the following equation (26).Tw11=Tw12=Tw13=Tw14  (26)
However, with the method that involves changing the value of k, the frame period Tf11 of a single frame can only be lengthened in integer multiples of the frame period Tf10 shown in FIG. 7. That is, it is difficult, in this case, to appropriately lower the frame rate in order to reduce the amount of radiation to which the subject (object) is exposed.
Another method in which photographing is performed with a longer frame period in order to reduce the amount of radiation to which the subject (object) is exposed involves lengthening the charge accumulation period. A timing chart thereof is shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 11, showing a conventional example, is a timing chart showing exemplary timing for irradiating X-rays and for accumulating and reading out electric charge in photoelectric devices of a sensor in moving image photographing mode. In FIG. 11, timing is shown in the case where k=2 and the charge accumulation period has been lengthened in comparison to the example in FIG. 7.
In FIG. 11, Tf14 is the frame period of a single frame of an X-ray image, Tr is the charge readout period, Tw31 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is performed, and Tw32 is the charge accumulation period when X-ray irradiation is not performed.
Here, the relation of the following equation (27) holds if the frame period Tf14 of a single frame is greater than the frame period Tf10 in FIG. 7.Tw31>Tw11  (27)
However, the amount of dark current flowing to the photoelectric conversion devices of the sensor increases when the charge accumulation period is lengthened, as shown in FIG. 11, which increases the amount of electric charge that accumulates in the photoelectric conversion devices. The signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio deteriorates when the amount of accumulated charge increases, narrowing the dynamic range. The same problems similarly exist in relation to energy subtraction photographing mode and stereo photographing mode.

Photographing control apparatus and method


Provided are an apparatus and method for implementing an IPSec engine in IXDP2851. The apparatus for implementing an IPSec engine in IXDP2851 which is an IXP2850 network processor development platform, includes: a packet classifier/forwarding microblock classifying packets into an inbound packet and an outbound packet, using received packet information; determining whether IPSec processing should be performed on the inbound packet and the outbound packet, and performing packet forwarding on a packet not requiring the IPSec processing; an outbound IPSec processing microblock; an inbound IPSec processing microblock; and an IPSec forwarding microblock receiving packet information of a packet subjected to IPSec processing and performing forwarding on the corresponding packet. Therefore, by separately processing packets requiring IPSec processing and packets not requiring IPSec processing, it is possible to implement an IPSec engine without influencing a processing speed of general packets not requiring IPSec processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for implementing an IPSec engine in IXDP2851, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for processing an IPSec protocol in IXDP2851, which are capable of implementing an IPSec engine without influencing a speed of processing general packets not requiring IPSec processing by separately processing packets requiring IPSec processing and packets not requiring IPSec processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network processors such as IXP2850 are used in network equipments requiring high speed data processing, and provide a function of upgrading existing algorithms or adding algorithms through a program.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the structure of IXDP2851 which is a conventional IXP2850 network processor development platform.
Referring to FIG. 1, IXDP2851 100, which is an IXP2850 network processor development platform, includes an Ethernet MAC 120 and an IXP2850 network processor 140. Here, the IXP2850 network processor 140 is manufactured by Intel Corporation.
The Ethernet MAC 120, which is an Ethernet interface card, receives or transmits data from or to a network.
The IXDP2851 100 can construct a new application using the IXP2850 network processor 140.
In detail, for example, Quality of Service (QoS), Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), etc. can be constructed using the IXDP2851 100.
However, a method and apparatus for implementing Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) which is a security protocol in a packet processing layer of network communication through such a network processor development platform IXDP2851 100, have not been developed.

Method and apparatus for implementing IPSec engine in IXDP2851

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


An exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine provided with an exhaust purification catalyst which reacts NOX and hydrocarbons. The exhaust purification catalyst includes an upstream side catalyst and a downstream side catalyst. The upstream side catalyst has an oxidation ability, while the downstream side catalyst carries precious metal catalyst particles on the exhaust flow surface and is formed with basic exhaust flow surface parts. The exhaust purification catalyst can make the concentration of hydrocarbons vibrate by within a predetermined range of amplitude and by within a predetermined range of period so as to partially oxidize the hydrocarbons or produce reducing intermediates at the upstream side catalyst. When the temperature of the upstream side catalyst is less than a first judgment temperature and the temperature of the downstream side catalyst is higher than a second judgment temperature, the temperature of the upstream side catalyst is made to rise.

The exhaust gas of diesel engines, gasoline engines, and other internal combustion engines includes, for example, carbon monoxide (CO), unburned fuel (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter (PM), and other constituents. The internal combustion engines are mounted with exhaust purification systems for removing these constituents.
Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2007-154794 discloses an exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine which is provided with a plurality of branch passages, exhaust purification catalysts which are arranged in the branch passages, and fuel addition valves which are arranged at the upstream sides of the exhaust purification catalysts. This exhaust purification system is provided with heater-equipped catalysts at the upstream sides of the exhaust purification catalysts of part of the branch passages among the plurality of branch passages and reduces the flow rates of exhaust of the branch passages which are provided with the heater-equipped catalysts when warming up the exhaust purification catalysts. Further, this discloses to concentratedly run the exhaust through the other branch passages to warm the exhaust purification catalysts at the other branch passages. For the branch passages reduced in exhaust flow rates, the heater-equipped catalysts are electrified to warm up the exhaust purification catalysts. Further, this publication discloses to stop the electrification and inject fuel from fuel addition valves when the heater-equipped catalysts reach the activation temperature so as to raise the temperature of the exhaust by the oxidation reaction of the fuel occurring at the heater-equipped catalysts.

Exhaust purification system of internal combustion engine


A linefeed on a subscriber loop is generated to generate a current on the subscriber loop. Whether a relationship between a voltage on the subscriber loop and a threshold voltage for an identified range of voltages satisfies a condition is identified. The linefeed on the subscriber loop is controlled to modify the current on the subscriber loop in response to identifying that the relationship between the voltage on the subscriber loop and the threshold voltage for the identified range of voltages satisfies the condition to help generate the voltage on the subscriber loop in the identified range of voltages. The identifying and controlling are continued to help generate and maintain the voltage on the subscriber loop in the identified range of voltages.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of linefeed control for subscriber loops.
2. Description of Related Art
Subscriber line (or loop) interface circuits (SLICs) are typically found in or near the central office exchange of a telecommunications network.
One typical SLIC provides a communications interface between a digital switching network for a central office exchange and an analog subscriber line. The analog subscriber line connects to subscriber equipment, such as a subscriber station or telephonic instrument for example, at a location remote from the central office exchange. The analog subscriber line and subscriber equipment form a subscriber loop.
The SLIC detects and transforms voiceband communications transmitted from the subscriber equipment in the form of low voltage analog signals on the subscriber loop into corresponding digital data for transmission to the digital switching network. For bi-directional communication, the SLIC also transforms digital data received from the digital switching network into corresponding low voltage analog signals for transmission on the subscriber loop to the subscriber equipment.
The SLIC also typically generates a linefeed on the subscriber loop to power the subscriber equipment. When a conventional telephone, for example, on the subscriber loop is off-hook, the SLIC should provide adequate direct current (DC) feed on the subscriber loop to help ensure proper operation of the telephone. When more than one telephone is off-hook on the same subscriber loop, however, one or more of the off-hook telephones may not receive adequate power.
The SLIC may be designed to provide adequate power to accommodate a larger load on the subscriber loop. The SLIC, however, would then unnecessarily waste power whenever a smaller load, such as only one off-hook telephone for example, is on the subscriber loop. Also, the SLIC would have to be designed to dissipate a maximum possible amount of wasted power to account for times when only a smaller load is on the subscriber loop. This maximum possible amount of wasted power typically increases as the load the SLIC is designed to support increases.
The SLIC may alternatively be designed to provide a resistive DC feed on the subscriber loop so that the power supplied to the subscriber equipment on the subscriber loop is generally proportional to the DC load on the subscriber loop. As additional telephones, for example, are switched off-hook on the same subscriber loop, the increasing DC load presented on the subscriber loop will draw from the SLIC an increasing amount of power generally in proportion to the DC load. Providing a typical resistive DC feed on a subscriber loop, however, generally elevates power dissipation for all DC load conditions and perturbs voice impedance synthesis performed by the SLIC.

Adaptive linefeed control for varying load on a subscriber loop


The present invention is directed to a method for extracting cholesterol from egg yolk. In accordance with the method, a mixture of egg yolk solids, water and oil is provided. The mixture is then subjected to moderate shear extraction conditions by repetitively pumping the mixture in a flowing stream through a conduit provided with at least one small diameter orifice and at least one screen mounted transversely to the direction of flow of the flowing stream. The mixture is then separated into water and oil phases by centrifugation to provide an oil phase which retains the cholesterol and a water phase which contains the egg solids.

Physicians and health organizations currently agree that the lipid phase of a diet should provide an optimal balance between polyunsaturated and saturated fats. There has been shown to be a correlation between heart and circulatory diseases and diets containing higher amounts of cholesterol and saturated fats. It is therefore desirable to reduce whenever possible, the amount of cholesterol and saturated fat in foods and in raw materials which are used in food production.
Egg yolk has a large application in foods and as it is an efficient emulsifying agent, it is an essential ingredient in mayonnaises, cake batters containing fats, cream puffs, bakery goods and candies.
Egg yolk contains a high level of cholesterol and saturated fats and is itself an emulsion comprising a dispersion of oil droplets in a continuous phase of aqueous components. It has a total solid content of approximately 50% to 52% composed of 15.5% to 16.5% protein, 31.5% to 34.5% lipid, 0.5% to 1.5% carbohydrate and 0.9% to 1.2% ash.
The egg yolk lipids comprise as their main components approximately 65% triglyceride, 29% phospholipid and 5% cholesterol. The high amount of self emulsifying -phospholipids, wherein the highest hydrophilic component is phosphatidylcholine representing 75% of the total, makes egg yolk a very stable emulsion in addition to being an emulsifying agent.
Substantial research effort has been directed to removal of cholesterol from egg yolks as well as food products which include these materials as ingredients. A variety of approaches to remove cholesterol from egg yolks have been tried. One approach utilizes microorganisms to enzymatically oxidize and degrade cholesterol [Japanese Patent 60-18375]. This method produces cholesterol oxidation products which may be undesirable. Organic solvents have also been used to extract cholesterol [Japanese 48/44458, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,104,286, 3,881,034, 3,563,765, 4,234,619 and Tokarska, et al., Can. Inst. Food Sci. Tech. J., 18:256-258 (1985)]. Such methods remove a substantial portion of the triglyceride oils, and may involve significant processing steps to remove solvents. These solvents are used to extract the cholesterol from the egg yolk. Even with supercritical carbon dioxide as the solvent, selectivity of cholesterol over triglycerides may be limited [Prepared Foods, 157:186 (1988); Japanese 59-135847]. Edible vegetable oils have also been used to extract cholesterol from egg yolks, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,717,414, 4,103,040 and 4,333,959. However, each of the processes described in these vegetable oil patents requires the use of high shear mixing treatment to attain adequate extraction transfer of the cholesterol from the egg yolk to the vegetable oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,555 discloses a process for the simultaneous deodorization and cholesterol level reduction of fish oils. The fish oil is deaerated, mixed with steam, heated, flash vaporized, thin film-stripped with a countercurrent stream and cooled. U.S. Pat. No. 2,234,619 discloses a method for cholesterol removal from eggs by dehydrating the eggs, extracting the cholesterol with liquid dimethyl ether under anhydrous conditions and removing the dimethyl ether by treatment under reduced pressure at low temperatures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,286 describes the isolation of cholesterol from eggs through extraction with ethanol, saponification in an aqueous ethanolic alkali metal hydroxide and concentration and purification with a hydrocarbon solvent and methanol.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide egg products having the desirable functional characteristics of egg yolk products (e.g., protein and phospholipids), while reducing the cholesterol level and increasing the polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat ratio. It would further be desirable to do this while retaining the functionality, appearance and taste of natural eggs which would yield good texture upon being cooked.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to produce egg yolks and egg products therefrom which are substantially lower in cholesterol than normal egg. It is a further object of the invention to produce egg yolk and egg products therefrom which have a polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat ratio of 1 or greater, i.e., the polyunsaturated fat content is equal to or greater than the saturated fat content. In achieving the above objects, it is an overall object of this invention to obtain egg products having the functionality of natural eggs.

Method for extracting cholesterol from egg yolk


A billet of extrudable metal, particularly an Al alloy is tapered at its back end. The billet is compressed longitudinally so that the metal of the tapered end is upset transversely. The compressed billet is hot extruded. The upsetting improves the fracture toughness of the back end of the extrusion. This is useful in long extrusions for the aircraft industry.

There is a need within the aircraft and construction industries for long aluminium extrusions having a high and uniform fracture toughness throughout the length of the extrusion. However using conventional extrusion processes it is found that the fracture toughness may be reduced towards the back-end of the extrusion. The longer the extrusion the worse the problem becomes. In order to obtain extrusions having adequate fracture toughness along their length it is necessary either to discard a large portion from the back-end of the extrusion or for ease of production to discard a large part from the rear end of the billet. Since the size of billets is limited to those which can be accommodated by the extrusion press, the size of extrusions which can be reliably produced is also limited.
If a billet of smaller diameter than the internal diameter of the container of the extrusion press is used the extrusion ram compresses the billet along its length and the billet metal is displaced in a transverse direction to fill the container. This process is known as upsetting. It is known to increase the transverse ductility of extrusions by introducing a small degree of upset along the entire length of the extrusion billet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3455134 describes the use of tapered billets in a hydrostatic extrusion process. The billets remain tapered during extrusion and are not upset.
GB 769604 is concerned with the hot working of alloys which are not normally extrudable. A billet which may be frusto-conical is compressed axially, and then extruded with the head of the ingot extruded last. The purpose of the method is to reduce loss of metal as scrap.


An output portion of a charge pump receives control signals from a phase frequency detector and in response outputs positive current pulses and negative current pulses to a loop filter. A current control portion of the charge pump controls the output portion such that the magnitudes of the positive and negative current pulses are the same. Within the current control portion there is a “Charge Pump Output Voltage Replica Node” (CPOVRN). The voltage on this CPOVRN is maintained to be the same as a voltage on the charge pump output node. A capacitor leakage compensation circuit indirectly senses the voltage across a leaking capacitor of the loop filter by sensing the voltage on the CPOVRN. The compensation circuit imposes the sensed voltage across a replica capacitor, mirrors a current leaking through the replica, and supplies the mirrored current in the form of a compensation current to the leaking capacitor.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to capacitor leakage compensation circuits in Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs).
2. Background Information
The loop filter of a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) may involve a capacitor having a relatively large capacitance. Realizing this capacitor in integrated circuit form may consume an undesirably large amount of area on the integrated circuit. The capacitor may be implemented in different ways. If the capacitor is implemented in one way, then the capacitor will occupy a larger amount of integrated circuit area but will leak only to a small degree. On the other hand, if the capacitor is implemented in another way then the capacitor may occupy a smaller amount of integrated circuit area but will leak to a larger degree. In some cases, the capacitor is implemented as the relatively small but leaky capacitor, but then a capacitor leakage compensation circuit is provided. The capacitor leakage compensation circuit includes a small version of the leaking capacitor that is referred to as a "replica" capacitor. How the larger capacitor and the replica capacitors leak as a function of voltage is the same, only the replica capacitor leaks less in proportion to how much smaller it is than the larger capacitor. The capacitor leakage compensation circuit operates to maintain a voltage across the replica capacitor that is the same as the voltage across the leaking capacitor of the loop filter when the loop filter is operating. The capacitor leakage compensation circuit, however, detects the current that leaks through the replica capacitor. Because the relationship in size between the replica capacitor and the leaking capacitor in the loop filter is known, the compensation circuit operates to supply a multiple of the detected amount of leakage current onto the leaking capacitor in the loop filter. Ideally, the magnitude of this compensation current is the same as the magnitude of the current leaking through the leaking capacitor of the loop filter. Such a capacitor leakage current compensation circuit allows the capacitor of the loop filter to be realized as the smaller type of capacitor that is relatively leaky, thereby saving integrated circuit area as compared to the size that the loop filter would have were the loop filter implemented using the larger type of capacitor that leaks less. The overall amount of integrated circuit area consumed, the overall amount of current consumption, and the performance of the combination of the leaking capacitor and the compensation circuit should be preferable to the alternative amount of integrated circuit area, current consumption, and performance of the loop filter had the loop filter been implemented with the larger but less leaky capacitor.
A first example of a capacitor leakage compensation circuit is set forth in FIG. 10 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,417. This capacitor leakage compensation circuit 190 may be part of a phase-locked loop involving a phase detector, a charge pump, a loop filter, a Voltage Controlled Oscillator, and a loop divider. Resistor RREF and capacitor C1 make up the loop filter. Capacitor C1 is the leaking capacitor. Capacitor C4 is the replica capacitor. The voltage VC is the voltage across the leaking capacitor. The capacitor leakage compensation circuit 190 senses this voltage and supplies a compensation current back onto this same node VC. This circuit is an example of what is sometimes referred to as a "direct sensing" circuit because it senses the voltage on the leaking capacitor itself.
A second example of a capacitor leakage compensation circuit is set forth in
FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,963,232. Reference numeral 54 identifies the leaking capacitor. Current 57 is the current that leaks through capacitor 54. Capacitor 59 is the replica capacitor. The leakage compensation circuit 39 senses the voltage across the leaking capacitor indirectly at the input of VCO 42, places this voltage across the replica capacitor, detects a current 70 that leaks through the replica capacitor, and supplies a multiple of the detected leaking current onto node 67 in the form of a compensation current 58. Compensation current 58 compensates for the current 57 that leaks through capacitor 54 to ground. This circuit is an example of "indirect sensing" in that the leakage compensation circuit senses the voltage on the leaking capacitor indirectly.

Capacitor leakage compensation for PLL loop filter capacitor


The present invention relates to substituted pyrazoles, compositions containing such compounds and methods of treatment. The compounds are glucagon receptor antagonists and thus are useful for treating, preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The present invention relates to a process for synthesizing a substituted pyrazole. The compound is particularly useful as an anti-diabetic compound. In particular, the compound has demonstrated activity as a glucagon receptor antagonist.
Glucagon serves as the major regulatory hormone attenuating the effect of insulin in its inhibition of liver gluconeogenesis and is normally secreted by α-cells in pancreatic islets in response to falling blood glucose levels. The hormone binds to specific receptors in liver cells that triggers glycogenolysis and an increase in gluconeogenesis through cAMP-mediated events. These responses generate glucose (e.g. hepatic glucose production) to help maintain euglycemia by preventing blood glucose levels from falling significantly.
In addition to elevated levels of circulating insulin, type II diabetics have elevated levels of plasma glucagon and increased rates of hepatic glucose production. The compound that is the subject of the process described herein in an antagonist of glucagon, and thus useful in improving insulin responsiveness in the liver, decreasing the rate of gluconeogenesis and lowering the rate of hepatic glucose output resulting in a decrease in the levels of plasma glucose.
One object of the present invention is to provide a process wherein the protecting groups are easily removed without resort to harsh deprotection conditions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process which facilitates selective deprotection.
These and other objects will be apparent from the teachings contained herein.

Process for synthesizing a substituted pyrazole


Disclosed are a periodic payment system for service use fees and a control method thereof, and a service provider of the payment system and a control method thereof. The periodic payment system receiving information on credit of a subscriber from a payment information provider includes a payment acknowledgement server for determining whether or not a demanded payment is acknowledged based on the credit information of the subscriber provided by the payment information provider, and providing payment demand information to the payment information provider if it is determined that the demanded payment is acknowledged. The service provider demands a periodic fixed payment of the payment acknowledgement server irrespective of a payment application date when the subscriber applies for payment for the service use fee, and demands payment of an amount of money excluding an advance payment, which is overpaid on the payment application date, from a periodic fixed fee on a payment update date immediately after the payment application date, of the payment acknowledgement server. The payment acknowledgement server outputs a system error signal if a payment acknowledgement error occurs. Upon receiving the system error signal from the payment acknowledgement server on the payment update date, the service provider informs the subscriber of occurrence of an abnormality of payment acknowledgement. Accordingly, an ill-intentioned early secession of the subscriber from the service can be prevented and the subscriber is informed of an nonpayment due to a system error on a service fee payment.

A service provider refers to an enterpriser who provides various kinds of material and nonmaterial goods and services. In recent years, particularly, service providers have run businesses through the Internet to provides diverse service goods, such as on-line games, multimedia contents, and community services, most of which were provided without a fee at an earlier period of spread of the Internet.
However, with the recent increase of recognition of economic value of Internet service goods in the marketplace, a charging system has been employed for the Internet service goods. Such a charging system may be generally divided into a flat sum system in which a user can freely use services provided by a service provider with periodic payment of a fixed amount of money, and an individual payment system in which a user pays a fee for individual service goods to be used.
The flat sum system is divided into a pre-payment system and a post-payment system according to a payment date in a period of use of a service.
The post-payment system is a system of paying a service use fee, for example, at the end of every month if service subscribers pay the service use fee monthly. However, in many cases, service subscribers secede from the service after having used the service provided by the service provider, which may result in great economical damage to the service provider. Accordingly, for the purpose of avoiding such damage, the service providers have introduced the pre-payment system of the flat sum system.
However, in the pre-payment system of the flat sum system, for example if the service subscriber pays the service use fee at the beginning of every month for a period of one month, when the subscriber applies for first payment at the end of a month and pays a fee corresponding to a period of time remaining in that month, there arises a problem similar to the post-payment system of the flat sum system. That is, if a subscriber with ill intentions enjoys all services provided to subscribers who select the flat sum system for a short time and then secedes from the service before the next payment date, the service provider suffers an economic loss while the subscriber enjoys the service far more cheaply than the normal fee.
On the other hand, a payment system in the flat sum system includes a system in which a subscriber applies for payment for every period of payment and a system in which payment is automatically performed for every period of update of payment from a payment update date immediately after a payment application date as long as a subscriber does not apply for annulment of service use.
However, in the former payment system, it is inconvenient for a subscriber who continues to use services provided by the service provider to repeat a payment application procedure for every period of payment, particularly in the case of a small amount of payment. For that reason, the latter automatic payment system has been more frequently used.
However, in the automatic payment system, if a payment acknowledgement error occurs on a payment update date due to an abnormality of the service use fee payment system, the service provider annuls service use of the subscriber irrespective of intention of the subscriber for the reason that the subscriber has not paid a service use fee for the corresponding period.
In this case, a problem arises in that a subscriber who completes a payment application procedure must apply for payment again without being aware of the cause of the annulment of service. Particularly, such a problem become serious when continuity of service is important, as in a case where a subscriber receives a benefit only when he continues to use the service for more than a prescribed time, or when a subscriber who does not use the service from a payment update date on which a payment acknowledgement error occurs becomes aware of annulment of his service use after a certain period of time elapses.

Periodical payment system, control method thereof, service provider of that payroll and control method thereof


An apparatus for automatic delay calibration of a forward clock. According to the invention, the apparatus includes control logic to receive a normal clock, a lead clock and a lag clock. The control logic therefore generates a delay control signal based on a timing relationship among the normal, the lead and the lag clocks. The apparatus also includes a delay calibrator to receive a reference clock having the same frequency as the forward clock. The delay calibrator generates the lead, the phase lag and the normal clocks from the reference clock and provides them as feedback to the control logic. According to the delay control signal, the delay calibrator can adjust the lead and the lag clocks. Once the timing relationship meets a predetermined condition, the delay control signal is provided to calibrate a delay for the forward clock.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to integrated circuits. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus for delay calibration of a forward clock for use in data capture at a receiving end.
2. Description of the Related Art
As operating speeds of processors and computer systems increase, communication between components such as memories and I/O devices must increase to reduce or eliminate bottleneck problems. One solution to this communications problem is to provide a source-synchronous environment in which components of a system operate. A source-synchronous timing architecture, also called clock forwarding, sends a forward clock or strobe signal along with data. The forward clock is then used to capture the data at receiving end. In a source-synchronous environment, data transfers may occur on both edges of the forward clock and therefore may have a higher transfer rate than other systems.
To capture the data in a register using the forward clock, the forward clock needs to be delayed to satisfy the data setup time requirement of the register. For 100 MHz memory devices, the required delay time is approximately ¼ period of the forward clock, i.e. 2.5 nsec. In general, delay elements are used to provide proper delay for clocking the data into a register. A prior art scheme programs an adjustable delay element at the factory so that the adjustable delay element may delay a forward clock by a fixed interval in aftertime. However, delay elements tend to have drift due to heat, aging, and other environmental factors. It is unfortunate that the prior art cannot compensate for these variations after shipping so the data setup time requirement may be unsatisfied. This causes the forward clock to clock the data into the register incorrectly.
Therefore, what is needed is a novel technique for automatic calibration delay of the forward clock.

Apparatus for delay calibration of a forward clock using three feedback clocks and a state transition table


An apparatus is provided which analyzes spatially-variable harvest data for one of the passes made by an agricultural harvesting vehicle through an agricultural field. The harvesting vehicle supports an implement for harvesting crop during each pass through the field. The apparatus includes a digital memory, an electronic display, a processor circuit and an operator-actuatable input device. The digital memory stores a geo-referenced map of the field including harvest data representative of at least one sensed parameter of the harvested crop and pass data representative of the plurality of passes of the harvesting vehicle through the field. The processor circuit is configured to read the geo-referenced map of the field from the memory and to generate a display signal therefrom which, when applied to the electronic display, generates visible indicia of at least a portion of the field and at least one sensed parameter of the harvested crop. The operator-actuatable input device is coupled to the processor circuit and configured to generate an input signal which identifies one of the passes of the harvesting vehicle. The processor circuit analyzes the harvest data representative of the at least one sensed parameter of the harvested crop that was harvested by the implement during the identified pass of the vehicle, and generates the display signal to cause the electronic display to display a result of the analysis in association with the identified pass of the vehicle.

The analysis of site-specific farming data is a complex task involving various characteristics of a field, known and unknown interactions between those characteristics, and the processing of large amounts of data. Current systems do not always provide easy-to-use tools for analyzing site-specific data in a flexible manner. The inability to correlate characteristics with each other may prevent the discovery of relationships and interactions between different characteristics that occur within fields. The inability to discover relationships may result in farming inputs being applied in a less than optimal manner, resulting in increased costs, reduced crop yield or excess environmental damage. The inability to quantitatively analyze the effect of farming inputs on yield may prevent the performance of an informed cost-benefit analysis to determine the optimum approach to take. In addition, the lack of flexible analysis tools may discourage a farmer from "experimenting" by applying certain farming inputs and determining the effect on field characteristics including yield since the farmer may not be able to fully analyze the results.
For example, a farmer may want to experiment by laying out several plots in a field which correspond to different levels or types of farming inputs, gather harvesting data associated with each of these plots, and then easily analyze the data to determine which farming inputs result in the greatest yield or cost margin. It would be desirable to provide a system wherein, as a field is harvested by a harvesting vehicle (e.g., a combine), each pass through the field is automatically assigned a value so that various statistics (e.g., yield and moisture content data) are calculated for each pass through the field. Thus, the farmer could obtain precise statistical data for any pass through the field, including average yield and average moisture content data for an identified pass. It would be desirable to provide tools for analyzing farming data on a pass-by-pass basis.
It would be desirable to assign values to the passes by automatically incrementing the number assigned to the current pass each time the combine header is raised above a predetermined height. Thus, when a pass extends through the length of the field, the pass number will be automatically incremented when the operator raises the header at the headland of the field. However, a farmer may want to lay out his experimental plots such that there is more than one pass through the length of a field, or such that a single pass does not extend for the entire length of the field. In this situation, it would also be desirable to allow the farmer to manually cause the pass number to be incremented by raising and then lowering the header to indicate the starting and ending locations of the pass. Thus, a farmer could lay out one, or several, experimental plots within the length of a field, and then generate statistics for each individual pass using the header to signal starting and ending locations of each pass. Unfortunately, current systems do not include the ability to easily analyze and manipulate data on a pass-by-pass basis. Currently, the farmer is required to fully specify the location of each plot prior to analyzing the data. It would be desirable to eliminate the need to manually enter location data for plots.

System for analyzing spatially-variable harvest data by pass


A negative active material for a lithium battery with an improved cycle characteristic and capacity retention rate, and the negative active material comprises a plurality of particles comprising a plurality of first particles comprising Si, Ti, and Ni; and composite particles comprising a plurality of second particles in which at least one element selected from the group consisting of Cu, Fe, Ni, Au, Ag, Pd, Cr, Mn, Ti, B, and P is partially or completely deposited on surface(s) of other of first particles, a method of preparing the negative active material, and a lithium battery including a negative electrode including the negative active material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relate to a negative active material, a method of preparing the negative active material, and a lithium battery including the negative active materials, and more particularly, to a negative active materials with an improved cycle characteristic and capacity retention rate, a method of preparing the negative active material, and a lithium battery including the negative active material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithium batteries used in portable electronic devices for information communication, such as personal digital assistances (PDAs), mobile phones, or notebook computers, electric bicycles, electric vehicles, or the like have discharge voltages that are at least two times greater than that of existing batteries. Accordingly, lithium batteries exhibit high energy densities.
A typical lithium battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and either an organic electrolytic solution or a polymer electrolyte filling the space between the positive and negative electrodes. The positive and negative electrodes each include an active material that allows lithium ions to be intercalated and deintercalated. In this structure, when lithium ions are intercalated and deintercalated in the positive and negative electrodes, oxidation and reduction reactions occur, and thus, electrical energy is generated.
The positive active materials of positive electrodes for lithium batteries may be, for example, oxides of lithium and a transition metal that allow intercalation of lithium ions, such as a lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), a lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2, or a lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (e.g., Li(NiCoMn)O2 or Li(Ni1-x-yCoxMny)O2 (0<x<1, 0<y<1, and 0<x-+y<1).
Research into negative active materials of negative electrodes for lithium batteries that allow intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions, such as various types of carbonaceous materials including artificial and natural graphite and hard carbon, and non-carbonaceous materials such as Si with a high capacity, has been conducted.
However, non-carbonaceous materials such as Si repeatedly undergo volumetric expansion and contraction during intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions, and thus, a negative electrode including such a non-carbonaceous material has an unstable structure and decreased cycle life. To address problems with carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous active materials, research into Si-based alloys has been conducted.
A Si-based alloy generally has an active Si phase and an inactive matrix phase. However, due to such two phases, Si-based alloys other than some non-Si-based alloys having a one-matrix phase have lower capacities than silicon.
Therefore, there is still a need to develop a negative active material such as a Si-based alloy with improved cycle characteristics and an improved capacity retention rate, a method of preparing the negative active material, and a lithium battery including the negative active material.

Negative active material for lithium battery, method of preparing the negative active material, and lithium battery employing the negative active material


A joint implant, includes a neck and a blade extending along a longitudinal axis and connected to the neck to form a blade plane. A plurality of bores is located in the blade, each of the bores having a central axis, the axes being oriented so that none project at the same angle relative to the blade plane.

The present invention relates to joint prostheses, and more specifically to a hip joint prosthesis configured for being anchored in a femur, however other joint implants are contemplated as being suitable with the present invention.
Hip prostheses, also referred to as hip joint implants, are known having a blade-like shaft or stem which is anchored in a patient's femur. A ball is fitted to an upper end of the shaft and is disposed at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the shaft to simulate the upper end of the natural femur. In some cases, the shaft is anchored in the femur in a cement-free manner by jamming and/or wedging the shaft into the cortex of a surgically prepared femur. This jamming takes place primarily in the area of the diaphysis, that is, in the distal part of the shaft and requires that the surgically hollowed space and the shaft form and size be carefully matched and adjusted relative to each other. Alternately, some shafts are held in the femur with cement.
During initial installation of the hip implant, it is important to properly align the implant relative to the femur, so that the ball end does not easily become disengaged during the patient's normal range of motion. An artificial hip joint can dislocate if the ball disengages from the socket. There is greater risk just after surgery, before the tissues have healed around the new joint. A hip that dislocates more than once may have to be revised to make it more stable. This requires supplemental surgery.
In some cases, it may also be necessary to remove and re-insert the shaft several times during a surgical procedure. For this reason, the shafts have been provided with a bore in the roof-ridge shaped proximal end which is perpendicular to the sides of the blade to permit the use of a hook-shaped instrument for pulling or driving out the shaft from the femur.
Often, conventional hip joint implants wear out and require surgical intervention to make repairs or to replace worn components. To facilitate the presurgical ordering of spare components, conventional hip joint implants are often provided with a plurality of holes or bores in a manufacturer or designer-specific pattern, so that the particular brand of implant can be recognized on X-rays. The holes are specifically designed to facilitate identification of the implant under X-ray. In many cases, the number, alignment and relative positioning of adjacent bores on the blade are indicative of a particular implant manufacturer.
Regardless of the reason, the removal of an existing hip implant stem is a laborious process, since the patient's bone has usually grown around, and has become integral with the implant. Due to the problems and stress on the patient when an implant is removed, surgeons typically take great pains to obtain a correct initial alignment of the implant relative to the femur to reduce dislocations and subsequent adjustments or removal.
Thus, there is a need for a system to more accurately align hip implants in the femur.


The interconnects in a semiconductor device contacting metal lines comprise a low resistance metal, such as copper, gold, silver, or platinum, and are separated by a material having a low dielectric constant, such as benzocyclobutene or a derivative thereof A tri-layer resist structure is used, together with a lift-off process, to form the interconnects. The low dielectric constant material provides a diffusion barrier to the diffusion of the low resistance metal. The tri-layer resist comprises a first layer of a dissolvable polymer, a second layer of a hard mask material, and a third layer of a resist material. The resulting structure provides an integrated circuit with increased speed and ease of fabrication.

Concepts of low dielectric constants integrated with low interconnect resistance metal structures have been proposed by many technologists. Those ideas include "pillar plugs", "anti-contacts/vias", spin-on-low-dielectric-constant insulators (either organic and/or inorganic), spin-on layered low dielectric constant materials and technology, damascene of metal interconnects and dual damascene of metal interconnects. By "damascene" is meant a process in which trenches or contact/via openings are formed and then filled with metal using CVD (chemical vapor deposition) or PVD (physical vapor deposition) or other techniques, followed by a polish to remove any overfilled areas. The term is based on a process developed by goldsmiths in ancient Damascus, comprising crafting a pattern or design on a hard surface and then hammering fine gold wires onto the designed pattern.
Many ideas have been proposed for combinations of low dielectric constant and low interconnect resistance metal structures, but none have been introduced into commercial practice at this time. The only demonstration of these new advanced concepts is work done by IBM on BPDA-PDA integration with copper interconnects. "BPDA-PDA" refers to a polyimide available from E.I. du Pont de Nemours, under the trade designation PI-2610. The BPDA-PDA is intended to replace silicon dioxide. However, since copper is a source of contamination, then special care has to be taken to prevent copper from diffusing into other parts of the IC structure and causing failures. This is done by using a Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer to separate the copper layer and the BPDA-PDA layer. However, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 has a dielectric constant of about 8, which increases capacitance over that of structures employing silicon dioxide. Further, a barrier metal, comprising approximately 1000 .ANG. of refractory metal cladding is added, which increases the interconnect resistance. While this technology employs very advanced processing techniques such as dual damascene and chemical vapor deposited (CVD) copper and provides reliable interconnects, nevertheless, the final result is a very minor improvement over the existing system. The composite dielectric constant of BPDA-PDA is about 3.8 and the copper/refractory metal has a composite resistance of about 2.6 .mu..OMEGA.-cm, as compared to the conventional SiO.sub.2 dielectric and Al interconnect (4.0 dielectric constant and 2.8-3.2 m.OMEGA.-cm resistance, respectively). The slight improvement in overall capacitance and resistance is achieved at a high process cost, and thus is not cost-justified.
Thus, there remains a need for providing a comparatively simple process that results in increased device speed.

Processing techniques for achieving production-worthy, low dielectric, low interconnect resistance and high performance ICS


Provided are a method for preparing metallic nickel powders capable of decreasing the content of an alkaline metal in the metallic nickel powders, metallic nickel powders with the low content of an alkaline metal, a conductive paste including metallic nickel powders with the low content of an alkaline metal, and a multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) including a nickel inner electrode with the low content of an alkaline metal. The method for preparing the metallic nickel powders includes heating a mixture including an organic base, a nickel precursor compound, and a polyol. Wherein, the nickel precursor compound is converted to the metallic nickel powders through reduction by the organic base and the polyol. In the method, the organic base is used instead of the hydroxide of an alkaline metal such as NaOH and KOH. Therefore, the content of an alkaline metal such as sodium and potassium that can be incorporated as an impurity into the metallic nickel powders can be significantly reduced.

This application claims the priority from Korean Patent Application No. 2003-21919, filed on Apr. 8, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to metallic nickel powders and a method of preparing the same. The present invention also relates to a multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC).
2. Description of the Related Art
Multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are stacked structures of multiple thin dielectric layers and multiple inner electrodes. Such MLCCs can achieve a large capacitance even in a small volume, and thus, have been widely used in various electronic equipments such as computers and mobile communication devices.
An Ag—Pd alloy has been used as a material for inner electrodes of MLCCs. Due to its sinterability in the air, the Ag—Pd alloy can be easily utilized in manufacturing MLCCs. However, the Ag—Pd alloy is costly. Since the late 1990s, to decrease the manufacturing cost of MLCCs, inexpensive nickel has been used as a material for inner electrodes. A nickel inner electrode for MLCCs is made from a conductive paste containing metallic nickel powders.
Metallic nickel powders are prepared by a gas phase method or a liquid phase method. Due to relatively easy control of the shapes of metallic nickel powders and impurities, the gas phase method has been widely used. However, the gas phase method is unfavorable for fine powder formation and mass production. On the other hand, the liquid phase method is favorable for mass production, and its initial capital and process costs are low.
The liquid phase method is classified into two types. In the first type, nickel hydroxide is used as a starting material to be converted into metallic nickel powders. In the second type, a nickel precursor material, such as nickel salt and nickel oxide, except nickel hydroxide, is used as a starting material to be converted into metallic nickel powders.
The first type is relatively simple. However, there are disadvantages in that nickel hydroxide, which is the staring material, is expensive and the particle size of metallic nickel powders is not easily controlled.
Even though the second type is relatively complicated, there are advantages in that an inexpensive nickel precursor material such as nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, and nickel acetate can be used as the starting material and the particle size of powders can be easily controlled in the range of several nanometers to several hundreds nanometers.
Illustrative examples of the liquid phase method are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,539,041 and 6,120,576.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,041 discloses a method for preparing metal powders by dispersing the oxide, hydroxide, or salt of gold, palladium, platinum, iridium, osmium, copper, silver, nickel, cobalt, lead, or cadmium in liquid polyol which is a reducing agent, followed by heating.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,576 discloses a method for preparing metallic nickel powders, which includes the steps of mixing an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution with an aqueous solution of nickel sulfate to produce nickel hydroxide; reducing the resultant nickel hydroxide with hydrazine to produce nickel; and recovering the nickel thus produced.
Nickel hydroxide is often used as a starting material or an intermediate in the liquid phase method because it is easily reduced, relative to other types of nickel compounds.
In the second type, an alkaline is added to convert a nickel precursor compound to nickel hydroxide. The alkaline that is generally used is either sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH). In this case, impurities such as sodium (Na) and potassium (K) may remain on the surfaces of metallic nickel powders. Since sodium and potassium have low surface energy, they are not easily removed from the metallic nickel powders.
Metallic nickel powders for high capacitance MLCCs must have more enhanced electric conductivity and contain a smaller quantity of impurities that adversely affect the capacitance of dielectrics. An alkaline metal such as sodium and potassium lowers both the electric conductivity of nickel electrodes and the capacitance of dielectrics.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Metallic nickel powders, method for preparing the same, conductive paste, and MLCC


A longitudinally extending seal is provided which provides circumferential sealing of a motor cylinder in a bore and further provides retention orientation and alignment for the motor cylinder and end plates within the motor housing.

This invention relates generally to pneumatically operated power tools and more particularly to a method for sealing an air motor that intakes and exhausts through its cylinder walls when assembled in a drafted or loose fit housing bore. Previous air motors of similar design are sealed by a close fit between the outside diameter of the motor and the diameter of the housing bore. This restricts the flow of air between the inlet and exhaust areas of the motor. Accurate dimensions on the outside diameter of the motor and the housing bore ID are required. To date, the only means of obtaining these tolerance requirements is to machine both dimensions in costly and time-consuming processes or by the use of compliant seals which are costly and difficult to assemble.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present devices and methods. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully discussed hereinafter.


Systems and processes for recovering alkylene oxide, including an alkylene oxide recovery column including a stripping section located in the column to convert a portion of a feed stream to a gas phase including alkylene oxide; a reabsorption section in the column above the stripping section including a water stream to reabsorb the alkylene oxide in the gas phase portion and to produce an aqueous solution, a first stripping gas to strip carbon dioxide and oxygen from the aqueous solution by converting a portion of the aqueous solution to a gaseous portion, producing an alkylene oxide stream, and a side take-off located at a bottom portion of the reabsorption section for removal of the alkylene oxide stream; a condenser to partially condense the gas phase portion; and a top take-off for removal of a light impurity fraction.

When ethylene oxide is prepared by a silver catalyzed, vapor phase, partial oxidation of ethylene with molecular oxygen, a gaseous reaction effluent is obtained. This effluent can be extremely dilute with respect to the desired ethylene oxide product, containing, for example, from about 0.3 mole percent to about 5 mole percent of the desired material.
Recovery of the ethylene oxide from the gaseous reaction effluent can involve an initial water absorption step, followed by a stripping step, which is in turn followed by a reabsorption step. In some instances, each of the steps is carried out in separate distillation columns, which can lead to high equipment costs and safety concerns where areas of concentrated vapor phase or liquid phase ethylene oxide exist. One exemplary area where concentrated liquid phase ethylene oxide can exist is when vapor phase ethylene oxide coming out of the top of an ethylene oxide stripper is condensed, giving liquid ethylene oxide. The liquid ethylene oxide produced in the stripper can be transported to another piece of equipment to be further refined. However, handling and/or transporting concentrated ethylene oxide, for example, liquid ethylene oxide, can be dangerous due to the risk of contamination since contaminated liquid ethylene oxide can lead to a runaway polymerization which generates heat and can be explosively violent. As such, avoiding and/or alleviating the areas of concentrated and/or contaminated liquid ethylene oxide can increase safety in the recovery of ethylene oxide.


An apparatus for diagnosing motor damping network integrity, the motor damping network configured for selective short-circuiting of the windings of a motor in a motor control system. The apparatus includes a motor controller with a motor drive portion thereof electrically isolated from the windings of the motor. A resonant network is based on the windings of the motor, the damping network, and a remaining non-isolated portion of the controller. An amplifier circuit applies an excitation signal to the resonant network. A detector circuit detects a response of the resonant network based on the excitation signal. A state of the damping network is determined based on the response.

This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for motor damping. In particular, detecting the integrity of a damping network for a motor to ensure its operation.
Direct current (DC) brushless motors are synchronous machines having a permanently magnetized rotor free to rotate within fixed stator coils. Phased alternating currents passing through the stator coils generate a magnetic field that rotates the rotor. In certain applications using DC brushless motors, such as electric power steering systems, it may be necessary to rapidly stop the rotation of the motor. In order to achieve a rapid stopping or damping, the kinetic energy of the rotating motor shaft must be quickly dissipated. One simple method of motor braking uses a mechanical brake in which friction, such as between brake pads and a rotating surface, dissipates the kinetic energy of the rotor as heat. Alternatively, dynamic braking takes advantage of the fact that a coasting DC motor acts like an electrical generator. In dynamic braking, a resistance is shunted across the stator windings, thereby allowing the energy of the coasting rotor to be converted to electrical energy and dissipated within the resistance as heat.
Electromagnetic relays are often used to provide a shorting capability for one or more stator windings of a DC brushless motor. A typical electromagnetic relay features an electromagnet which, when energized, attracts a moveable iron member to the core of the electromagnet. In turn, the moveable member may separate a moveable electrical contact from a stationary contact (or join a moveable contact to a stationary contact). An electromagnetic relay, being an electromechanical device, may be susceptible to wear and tear and hence may experience degraded performance.
In addition, arcing during the switching of the relay contacts may cause degradation in the conductive properties of the contacts through the deposition of carbon or the creation of oxides at the point where the contacts meet. Carbon deposits and oxides can increase the contact resistance and affect the damping operation of the relay, if used in such an application. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a technique that provides assurance of the operability of the damping network at low cost.

Method and apparatus for diagnosing motor damping network integrity


The invention concerns a multi-stage process for producing polyethylene having a bimodal and/or broad molecular weight distribution in the presence of an ethylene polymerizing catalyst system in a multistep reaction sequence, in which the first reaction step is a liquid phase polymerization step and the second reaction step is formed by one or more gas-phase polymerization steps. According to the process of the invention in the first reaction step ethylene is polymerized in a loop reactor (10) in an inert low-boiling hydrocarbon medium the residence time being at least 10 minutes, reaction mixture is discharged from the loop reactor (10) and at least a substantial part of the inert hydrocarbon mixture is separated and the polymer is transferred into one or more gas-phase reactors (30), where the polymerization is completed in the presence of ethylene and optionally hydrogen and a comonomer. As an inert hydrocarbon medium in the loop reactor (10) propane can be used and the polymerization can be carried out also so that the mixture of inert hydrocarbon, monomer, hydrogen and optional comonomer is under supercritical conditions.

The invention relates to a process for producing polyethylene having a bimodal and/or broad molecular weight distribution in a multi-stage process.
In certain applications, where films, bottles, cables and pipes are produced by extrusion or blow moulding, the polyethylenes having a narrow molecular weight distribution are not satisfactory because of their low melt flow properties and poor processability. Therefore different approaches have been suggested for manufacturing polyethylenes having a broad molecular weight distribution.
One approach to widen the molecular weight distribution is to blend a low molecular weight ethylene polymer with a high molecular weight ethylene polymer either mechanically or in solution. However according to this method it is very difficult to achieve sufficient homogeneity and/or expensive equipment is necessary for solution mixing, which makes these methods uneconomical and unpractical.
Attempts have been made to broaden the molecular weight distribution by a proper selection of catalysts. However the degree of broadening the molecular weight by this way is rather small. Also the activity of the catalyst tends to decrease quickly and therefore it is necessary to remove the catalyst residuals by washing.
There are also known various multi-stage processes for broadening the molecular weight distribution by carrying out the polymerization using different hydrogen concentration in each stages. This can be achieved either by polymerizing at a high hydrogen concentration in the first stage and at a low hydrogen concentration in the second phase, or vice versa. In the former case it is necessary to remove the unreacted gases and hydrogen after the first stage. In the latter case the conventional Ziegler-Natta catalysts tend to lose their activity during the progress of polymerization already at the first stage. The rate of polymerization, which is initially high, decreases at the second stage reactor because of the lowered activity of catalyst and high hydrogen concentration. As a consequence the residence time in the second stage becomes much longer than in the first stage. This means larger size of reactor at the second stage and difficulties in the control of the whole process.
Different polymerization methods can be used in multistep processes. Known multistep processes are for example slurry-slurry processes, gas phase-gas-phase processes or slurry-gas phase processes. As examples of slurry-slurry processes can be mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,880, EP 057 420, EP 237 294, GB 2 020 672, U.S. Pat No. 4,352,915 and EP 057 352. As examples of gas phase-gas phase processes GB 1 505 017, EP 040 992 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,592 can be mentioned. As examples of slurry-gas phase processes GB 1 532 231, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,368,291, 4,309,521, 4,368,304 and EP 283 512 can be mentioned.
The present invention relates to a multi-stage process, in which a slurry-gas phase process is used. Therefore the last mentioned group of patent publications is reviewed here in more detail to clarify the state of the art in this field.
GB 1 532 231 discloses a two-step liquid-gas phase process, where in the first stage an olefine is polymerized in liquid monomer. The liquid phase is partially separated from the polymer and the resulting concentrated mixture is transferred to the gas-phase reactor. Because in the slurry phase according to this publication the polymerization is carried out in liquid monomer, it is evident that this process cannot be used for ethylene polymerization. Another disadvantage in this process is the formation of a solution of low molecular weight polymer in liquid monomer which causes problems related to product stream handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,291 discloses a two-step liquid-gas phase process, in which an olefine is polymerized in liquid hydrocarbon medium in a stirred tank type reactor. After the first polymerization step the mixture containing polymer particles and liquid hydrocarbon is as a whole transferred to the gas-phase reactor. One disadvantage of this process is that a great amount of hydrocarbon medium used in the first step is transferred to the gas-phase reactor disturbing polymerizing conditions there. The molecular weight control is also difficult in a conventional stirred tank reactor. Separation of heavier diluent is also more difficult and uneconomical.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,309,521 and 4,368,304 concern special catalysts, which can be used in liquid-gas-phase processes. These publications do not afford any useful information about the processes as itself.
Lastly EP 283 512 concerns a multi-stage process using certain specified catalyst. According to this publication liquid propylene or other liquid olefine is first prepolymerized in a liquid-phase reactor, for example in a loop reactor, the residence time being from 10 seconds to 400 seconds, after which the polymerization mixture as a whole is transferred to a gas-phase reactor, where polymerization is continued in gas phase. This process is thereby similar to GB 1 532 231 mentioned above and the process cannot be used in ethylene polymerization. The loop reactor step is merely a prepolymerization step. This patent publication is referred to here only because a loop reactor is mentioned in connection with a gas-phase reactor.

Multi-stage process for producing polyethylene


Disclosed herein is an adjustable width drive axle including: a main axle body including a telescoping portion disposed at each end of the main axle body; a sprocket affixed to each end of the main axle body, the sprocket designed to engage a drive unit; a first spacer removably affixed to the sprocket, the first spacer disposed around the telescoping portion of the main axle body; and a hub removably affixed to an end of the first spacer opposite the sprocket, wherein one or more additional spacers may be interposed between the first spacer and the hub or between the sprocket and the first spacer to adjust the width of the axle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive unit for use with an adjustable width drive axle.
2. Description of Related Art
A crop sprayer is a machine that includes a storage tank for storing chemical such as herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers that are to be sprayed onto crops that are growing in a farm field. The chemical within the storage tank is sprayed onto the crops growing in the field by use of a nozzle assembly secured to a number of booms as the crop sprayer is advanced along the rows of the field.
Preferably, the crop sprayer should be able to operate in a number of varying field conditions. For example, the distance between rows of plants varies from field to field. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a crop sprayer that is capable of adjusting the distance between its two right wheels and its two left wheels to allow the crop sprayer to move down the rows associated with the field without damaging or destroying the crops. In order to accommodate this need, crop sprayers have been designed with adjustable-width axle assemblies. However, the current designs of adjustable-width axle assemblies have a number of drawbacks. For example, adjustable-width axle assemblies are relatively mechanically complex and include a relatively large number of components thereby increasing the costs associated with manufacture and operation of the crop sprayer. Moreover, certain adjustable-width axle assemblies are susceptible to mechanical failure thereby reducing the useful life of a number of the components associated with the crop sprayer.
It should be appreciated that the crop sprayer must also be configured to easily and efficiently traverse varying surface topography when being operated in the field. For example, due to the long boom arms which crop sprayers require in order to cover many rows of crops with a single pass, a small change in the angle at which the chassis of the crop sprayer is oriented results in a large height change at the end of the boom arm thereby reducing crop clearance of the lowered boom arm. Crop damage may occur if the boom arms sway back and forth across a relatively large distance as the crop sprayer encounters varying surface topography or if the boom arms are significantly moved upwardly and downwardly as the crop sprayer executes a turn. Moreover, the environment in which the crop sprayer is operated, a farm field, is particularly prone to having varying surface topography.
What is needed therefore is an adjustable width axle drive and drive unit that overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. What is further needed is an adjustable-width axle assembly that can be quickly and easily utilized to change the operational width of the drive axle.

Adjustable width drive axle and drive unit


A novel control automation system for enabling I/O boards to access communication networks for receiving and transmitting real time control information over a communication network is disclosed. The system includes a control bus, a node controller and a development system. External hardware that connects to I/O devices such as sensors, motors, monitors, machines, etc. can be connected to the invention via I/O boards that receives and transmit digital signals, representing control information, to the bus. The bus functions as the hub of operation, receiving network communications, processing cooperative logic and transmitting information over the communication network. The bus enables single or multiple controllers to access real time information generated by the attached hardware. The bus also enables the execution of I/O operations that originated in external controllers and transmitted over the communication network. The bus allows any I/O control board having a common interface, such as ISA, PCI, Compact PCI, etc., to connect to the bus by attachment to one of its slots. An intelligent embedded implementation process provides the logic necessary to enable the connectivity between the I/O boards and the communication network. The development system includes a real-time compiler for generating p-code to be executed on the real-time kernel running in the node controller. The real-time compiler generates p-code from the combination of event triggers, event actions and program logic making up the user's application.

Openness in the world of automation means being able to buy a variety of products from a variety of vendors and have everything work together seamlessly. To be truly open, however, means the network or platform is accessible to anyone and there is more than one source of enabling technology, i.e., microprocessors and application code. Openness promises significant savings in both time and money. However, recent attempts at openness have not lived up to the promise.
The current market trend is to move to an open, modular architecture controller that will include a horizontal integration of the currently existing fragmented technologies. Currently, most computerized numerical control (CNC), motion and discrete control applications incorporate proprietary control technologies. There are numerous difficulties associated with using proprietary technologies. These include such things as vendor dictated pricing structures, non common interfaces, higher integration costs and the requirement of specific training for troubleshooting and operation. Separate controller elements, a modularity concept and higher level requirements for various elements of an open modular architecture controller are becoming a necessity in a growing number of industries.
The expected benefits of having open and modular architecture controllers include reduced initial investments, low life cycle costs, maximized machine uptime, minimized machine downtime easy maintenance of machines and controllers, easy integration of commercial and user proprietary technologies, plug and play of various hardware and software components, efficient reconfiguration of controllers to support new processes, incorporation of new technologies and the integration of low cost, high speed communication in machining lines for transferring large amounts of data.
The technology that can enable the new trends and requirements supplied by the personal computer (PC) standards connectivity and communications, the `Plug and Play` standard for PC cards is becoming a way of life. Within the control industry, the PC is becoming increasingly recognized as a viable technology that will enable the required flexibility and performance.
In today's large automation market, there is a growing number of PC board manufacturers that produce a variety of boards. These boards are targeted towards automation implementation that use the PC and the control platform. Since automation data networks implements a proprietary technology that are not very open for `Intranet communication.`
Traditional Automation and Control Layer networks are typically medium sized and function to connect PLCs or PCs to related devices within cells or throughout the plant. These networks send small to medium sized packets of data repetitively and have millisecond response times.
A high level block diagram illustrating an example prior art proprietary control network including proprietary programmable logic controllers, sensors and I/O devices is shown in FIG. 1. A proprietary network 33 (e.g., Fieldbus) forms the core of the automation control system. Connected to this network are programmable logic controllers (PLCs) 34 which as also proprietary. Connected to the PLCs 34 are the sensors and other I/O devices 32. The proprietary PLCs implement the Automation and Control Layer functionality and the sensors and I/O devices implement the Information and Device Layer.
Traditionally, a single manufacturer was able to provide the necessary connectivity with its own network and PLC products and those of qualified third parties. This is not a trivial task as the lead manufacturer must assist these third parties throughout the development process and even after products start to ship. The lead manufacturer, typically the one making the controllers, assumes network ownership by providing specifications, enablers, e.g., chips and software, and test suites for compliance and interoperability.
Examples of previous attempts at openness in the field of industrial networking include the Fieldbus and manufacturing automation protocol (MAP). Both buses are open networks that are not currently meeting user expectations. The MAP bus is not in widespread use today and most vendors have dropped development of MAP products. One of the problems is that although the products have been designed in accordance to a standard specification, many versions of a specification are in use at any one time. In addition, many so called open products require unique configuration software which is only available from the manufacturer of the product. Thus, it becomes a difficult task to get products from different vendors, all built to different versions of a specification, to interoperate together correctly.
Fieldbuses are a special form of local area networks dedicated to applications in the field of data acquisition and the control of sensors and actuators in machines or on the factory floor. Fieldbuses typically operate on twisted pair cables and their performance are optimized for the exchange of short point to point status and command messages. Numerous other Fieldbuses are in existence such as Filbus, Bitbus, FIP, CAN and Profibus standard networks.

Openbus system for control automation networks


A method may include storing a number of programs on a digital video recorder (DVR) and assigning a score or ranking to each of the programs. The method may also include receiving a request to store another program on the DVR and determining whether the DVR has adequate storage space for the other program. The method may further include forwarding, when the DVR does not have adequate storage space for the other program, one of the programs having a lowest score or ranking to a secondary storage located remotely from the DVR.

Service providers offer customers a wide range of video-related services, such as a large number of programming channels, as well as video-on-demand programming. In addition, service providers offer customers digital video recorders (DVRs) that allow the customers to record and store video programming for watching at a later time.
The storage space on the DVR limits the number of programs that a customer can record. As a result, customers that record a significant amount of programming face the frequent chore of deleting old programs to make sure that the DVR has adequate storage space for new programming that has been selected for recording. Customers, however, often forget to clear storage space on the DVR or inadvertently delete a recorded program that has not been watched. Such problems lead to customer frustration and dissatisfaction with respect to use of the DVR.