The present invention provides systems and methods for processing foreign origin parcels through Customs and individuals through security checkpoints. The system includes a database stored on a computer readable medium having data records associated with each foreign origin parcel or individual. Associated with the database is a processor having a search engine for performing searches on the information in the data records based on criteria selected by a user. The system further includes an interface. The interface allows the user to select search criteria to be used by the processor to search the data records. The interface displays the results of the search to the user and allows the user to select parcels or individuals identified during the search for inspection. In addition, the processor and interface allows the user to electronically store notes taken during the inspection, such that the information related to the inspection can be electronically archived.

In many large parcel delivery systems, thousands of parcels are shipped every day from thousands of departure locations, routed to central hubs, and then redistributed and delivered to thousands of delivery locations. In many cases, parcels have committed delivery times, which can range from a few days to overnight delivery. For most parcel delivery companies, automation and electronic transmission and storage of information related to the parcels is a vital factor in processing and delivering parcels within shipment deadlines.
One area where automation has historically been a problem, however, is in the shipment of foreign origin parcels. Specifically, most of these parcels are subject to Customs regulations. This means that each parcel must be evaluated to determine whether Customs inspection is necessary. If inspection is necessary, the parcel must be routed to the Customs department in the hub for inspection prior to release for delivery. One problem is that the foreign origin parcels must be physically segregated from the domestic parcels prior to inspection. This typically requires that the parcel delivery company maintain a separate area for processing foreign origin parcels separate from its area for processing domestic parcels.
Another problem is that procedures for selecting shipments to be inspected and input of information concerning Customs' inspections have been mainly a manual operation. Given the fact, that as many as 100,000 foreign origin parcels may be processed through a hub on any given day, the delays caused by manual selection, routing, and reporting on Customs' inspections can jeopardize, if not delay shipping deadlines for these parcels.
FIGS. 1 and 2 provide a general illustration 10 of the conventional procedures used to process foreign origin parcels. When a shipment from a sender containing one or several parcels is originally provided to a parcel delivery company at a shipment location 12, information related to the shipment and each parcel in the shipment is stored electronically in data files. (See step 100). The information, once entered; is then transmitted to a central management system 14 at a central departure location 16. (See step 102). The shipments within the geographic area surrounding the departure location 16 are assimilated and transported to a central hub 18 by means of aircraft 20, ship, truck, or otherwise.
Importantly, as the shipments are of foreign origin many of them are subject to payment of duties and other taxes and also subject to Customs laws. For example, some of the shipments are considered imports as they are of foreign origin and are bound for delivery in the country where the central hub is located. Import shipments are typically subject to both duty taxes and Customs inspection. Other shipments are referred to as in-transit shipments. These are shipments that are merely passing through the central hub on their way to delivery in another country. For example, the shipment may have departed England for delivery in Mexico, but was processed in the U.S. during delivery. In-transit shipments are typically subject to Customs laws but not to duties.
With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, to speed processing of these shipments through brokerage and Customs, the data 22 associated with each shipment and each parcel in each shipment is typically transmitted ahead of the shipment to the central hub, where the shipment is to be processed and sorted for delivery. (See step 104). The data is transmitted and stored in the hub management system 28. At the central hub 18, information 24 for import shipments is provided from the hub management system 28 to a brokerage system 26. (See step 106). The brokerage system is used by individual brokers to assess duties and other taxes for each import parcel in an import shipment. The brokers add to the information 24 and transmit the information back to the hub management system 28. Following brokerage, information related to the import shipments, as well as the in-transit shipments, is made available to Customs 32 for determination of which shipments and which parcels of the shipment will be inspected when they arrive. (See step 108). It is at this point that severe time delays and inefficiency may be introduced into the system.
Specifically, with reference to FIG. 1, the brokerage system generates a hard copy of the information related to the foreign origin parcels. This printout is generally referred to as the manifest. The manifest includes information such as delivery address, shipment priority, weight, size, etc. for each parcel in an import and in-transit shipment. The manifest 30 is provided to Customs 32. (See step 108). Customs manually reviews the manifest and selects shipments or individual parcels from a shipment that they wish to inspect. The marked up copy of the manifest 34 is then provided to a user, which inputs the selections to the hub management system 28. (See step 110). Shipments having parcels selected for inspection are given a "hold" status.
After Customs has selected parcels from shipments for inspection, the shipments are then available for sorting at the hub. Specifically, in these conventional systems, foreign origin shipments are processed in a designated area apart from the domestic shipments. During unload and sorting, shipments having parcels selected for inspection are taken to a holding area, not shown. Parcels from the shipments selected for inspection are then manually routed to Customs 32 for inspection. (See step 114). The remaining shipments not having parcels selected for inspection are placed on the conveyor system 36 and sorted for delivery. (See step 112).
With reference to FIG. 1, when the parcels are routed to Customs, the Custom inspector is provided with a second hard copy manifest 38 containing information about the shipments and individual parcels selected for inspection. (See step 116). During the inspection process, the Customs inspector inspects the parcels and makes written notations concerning the inspection directly on the hard copy of the manifest 38 providing a marked up manifest 40. (See step 118). After inspection, the Customs inspector determines whether the parcels should be released, held, or confiscated. These notations are made on the marked up copy of the manifest 40. This marked up copy 40 is then used to manually update the status registers associated with each parcel in the hub management system 28. (See step 120). Shipments containing parcels that have been inspected and released are placed on the sort and conveyor system 36 and sorted for delivery, while shipments containing parcels that are either held or confiscated by Customs are warehoused or otherwise retained. (See step 122).
Importantly, with reference to FIG. 1, the marked up manifests 34 and 40 are both retained as a history of the Customs inspection. (See step 124). The marked up manifest 34 provides proof of presentation of the parcels to Customs, and the marked up manifest 40 provides proof of inspection by Customs. The hardcopies are placed in a physical filing system 42, such as warehouse, and retained for an extended period of time.
As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, conventional systems for processing and inspecting foreign origin parcels have significant drawbacks. They are prone to time delay and human error, as they require Customs inspectors to manually view all of the data from the foreign origin parcels in paper form and select from this manual inspection, parcels for inspection. Further, these conventional procedures require physical storage of the marked up manifests for record keeping. Physical storage and information retrieval can become a problem. Specifically, U.S. Customs requires retention for at least five years. Additionally, physical storage of paper copies of the inspection does not allow for easy retrieval of data or electronic searches of the data and is also not conducive to generation of reports concerning the inspection. Thus, in an industry where minimizing time delay in the shipment of parcels is a must, the current system for processing and inspection of foreign origin parcels is disadvantageous.
As also noted above, in conventional parcel delivery systems, the foreign origin shipments are typically segregated from domestic shipments. This requires separate handing and sorting systems for both types of shipments. The requirement for separate systems requires not only added cost in equipment, but also added plant space and real estate. Also, most conventional sorting systems still require manual sorting of parcels based on destination for delivery.
To this last point, United Parcel Service™ (UPS) is currently implementing an automated sortation system for sorting parcels. This new system uses information associated with the parcel, such as delivery address, shipment priority, weight, size, etc., to effectively route the parcel to its proper destination. When parcels are delivered to the central hub, a series of conveyor belts and other processing machinery read information concerning the parcels that is stored in bar codes on the parcel and stored in the automated sorting and conveyor system. The automated system distributes the parcels to proper bins, pallets, etc. where they are then loaded with other parcels having delivery locations in the same geographic area, and then shipped for delivery.
Given the advantages of this newly designed automated system, it would be advantageous to incorporate the processing of the foreign origin parcels into this system. Specifically, it would be advantageous to allow both domestic and foreign shipments to be processed on the same sortation system, with foreign origin shipments selected for inspection being routed to inspection using the system and routed for delivery after inspection is complete.
In addition to the need to expedite inspection of import shipments, there are also issues with exports. Specifically, there are considerable limitations on the export of goods. Some of these relate to the goods themselves, such as certain agriculture products, encrypted software, etc. Further, some issues relate to destinations for exports. There are restrictions on export of goods to certain countries and to certain individuals and entities. In light of this, close inspection of exports is typically required by various governmental agencies from Agriculture to the Department of Justice. As with imports, most inspection of exports is performed manually using data printouts, and inspection notes are handwritten. As such, similar to the issues with imports, more reliable and efficient means for inspection of exports is needed.
In addition to the need to expedite inspection of shipments, there is also an emerging need for increased inspection of items, people, etc. entering the country. Specifically, there has been a recent increase in many security measures, especially those related to air travel and package shipping, both foreign and domestic. As discussed above, with regard to import and intransit shipments, all information is currently handled in paper form. It would be advantageous to provide electronic information that could be searched based on criteria to identify shipments that may pose a security threat. Similarly, there has been a significant increase in transportation security for airports, bus lines, and trains. Many security measures are directed at point or origin of passengers, passengers' citizenship, etc. There are needs in this area for mechanisms that allow for electronic searches of passenger information.

Systems and methods for use in electronic processing of foreign origin and export shipments and/or passengers and baggage at security check points


The present invention relates to a multi-touch display system that supports both multi-touch human input as well as input from a digital pen. The display system has a display panel that is configured to allow human touches along a front surface to be detected and tracked. The display panel also includes a location pattern that preferably covers the viewable areas of the display panel. The location pattern is configured to allow any location within the location pattern to be detected by analyzing a portion of the display pattern that is associated with the particular location. The digital pen is used to “write” on the display panel, wherein such a writing function involves detecting the location where writing occurs and controlling display content that is displayed on the display panel to reflect what is being written.

A touchscreen is a specially configured display device that is generally capable of detecting when a display panel is touched and the location of touches within the display panel. The touches may be provided by a stylus, human finger, or the like. A touchscreen provides an additional or alternative input device to a keypad, keyboard, or mouse for a wide range of electronic devices, such as point of sale devices, hand-held electronics, interactive displays, work stations, personal computers, automated teller machines, and the like. Historically, these touchscreen systems have employed different types of technologies to sense the location of touches, but have been limited to being able to detect the location of only a single touch at any given time.
In recent years, multi-touch touchscreens have been developed that are capable of sensing multiple touches at the same time. The ability for a touchscreen to detect and track multiple touches represents a revolutionary step forward in interface technology. One can readily imagine the freedom such technology can impart to specialty users, such graphics designers, presenters, photographers, and architects, as well as general computer users. With multi-touch touchscreens, one or more users can use multiple fingers to select, manipulate, and drag displayed objects at the same time. The potential for such applications is vast, especially as the size of the multi-touch touchscreens increases.
The most commercially notable multi-touch touchscreen to date is the primary interface and display on the Apple® iPhone. The iPhone allows a user to use two fingers at the same time to perform various functions through the touchscreen, including enlarging or shrinking an object being displayed by respectively sliding the fingers apart or sliding the fingers toward each other along the surface of the touchscreen. The iPhone touchscreen relies on a capacitive grid to detect the coordinates and movement of the different touches; however, the use of the capacitive grid means that the touchscreen cannot detect the touch of a stylus or human touches through non-conductive gloves. Further, the use of the capacitive grid substantially limits the scalability of the touchscreen and the number touches that can be tracked at any given time. For the iPhone, only two touches are generally used at any given time. As such, only relatively small displays are able to incorporate the iPhone's touchscreen technology. Many other current touchscreen technologies suffer from the same operational and size limitations.
Promising new multi-touch technologies are being developed for large display panels by corporations such as Perceptive Pixel, Inc. (www.perceptivepixel.com) and Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com/surface). These technologies employ rear projection technology to project display content on the back of a large display panel such that the display content is viewable from the front of the display panel. The touch detection relies on sensing infrared (IR) light being emanated or reflected from the back of the display panel in response to the front of the display panel being touched. The IR light is generally only emanated from the spots being touched, and IR sensors are capable of detecting the intensity, location, and any movement associated with the touches. An associated processor receives the corresponding touch information from the IR sensors and processes the touch information as user input. The processor is configured to control the display content based on the user input derived from the display panel being touched.
Although these technologies provide remarkable multi-touch interactivity, the technology is essentially limited to human touch and is generally not capable of tracking contact and movement of smaller, non-human objects, such as a stylus from a pen-type instrument or the like. The effective touch sensitivity of the display panel and the IR sensors is relatively low, thereby limiting the resolution at which a user may operate to the size of their fingers. Accordingly, multi-touch applications are limited to relatively high level selection, movement, and outlining functions. Small scale handwriting, drawing, selection, and the like that would require operating at higher resolutions is not currently feasible. Further, when multiple users are interacting with the display panel, these technologies are not capable of differentiating between different users who are touching the display panel.
Yet a further drawback for these technologies is the impact of ambient light on detecting IR light that is emanated or reflected from the rear of the display panel. Ambient light is often incandescent or natural light, which has a relatively high IR light content. The ambient IR light interferes with the IR light that is emanated or reflected from the rear of the display panel in response to a touch, and effectively reduces the ability of the IR sensors to detect when and how the display panel is being touched. For example, the ability to determine the relative intensity or force associated with the touch is generally inversely proportional to the amount of ambient IR light, and is difficult when ambient light is changing.
Accordingly, there is a need for a large-scale multi-touch touchscreen system that is capable of detecting touches and movement associated therewith from styluses and other non-human objects. There is a further need for a multi-touch screen system that is capable of differentiating touches from different users. There is still a further need for a multi-touch screen system that is capable of operating in a more efficient manner in incandescent and natural light environments.

Multi-touch touchscreen incorporating pen tracking


A method for producing a vehicle body or a vehicle body module, the method inclusing producing at least one sandwich component having a first metal sheet layer, a semifinished product layer formed by a non-cured semifinished product pre-impregnated with a matrix, and a second metal sheet layer, forming the vehicle body by joining the sandwich component into a vehicle body part, the matrix of the semifinished product layer of the sandwich component being uncured, and dip coating and drying the vehicle body, the matrix of the semifinished product layer of the sandwich component being cured during the dip coating and drying of the vehicle body.

For the production of vehicle bodies or vehicle body modules, it is known to use sandwich components. The sandwich components may use pre-impregnated semifinished products, in particular what are termed "prepregs", the matrix of the semifinished products being cured in a furnace, in particular in an autoclave, before the sandwich components are used further. The cured sandwich components are then joined to further vehicle body parts by known joining methods, such as spot welding, clinching, etc. The finished vehicle body or the vehicle body module is then coated, for example, by way of cathodic dip coating.
European Patent Publication No. EP 2529920 A2 discloses a method for producing a hybrid component for a motor vehicle, in which a metallic base profile is provided with a reinforcing element made of fibre composite material, these being pressed together in a pressing tool. In this process, the pressing tool is heated in order to achieve curing of the fibre composite material.
German Patent Publication No. DE 10 2011 113 319 A1 describes a method for producing a vehicle body component having a metallic main body and an areally connected reinforcement made of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP), the reinforcement being sprayed onto the main body. After the FRP has been applied, the curing of the resin takes place.

Method for producing a vehicle body or a vehicle body module


A disclosed a player tracking unit provides a multimedia interface with a display and an interface to one or more sound projection devices and a multimedia board for processing digitally formatted program files for output on the multimedia interface. The player tracking unit may provide menus of audio and video programs, such as a menu for a musical jukebox or a menu for a video-on-demand service. Using a “TV-like” interface, a user may be able to select a program to output on the multimedia interface and control playback features of the program.

This invention relates to game playing methods for gaming machines such as video slot machines and video poker machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing player tracking services on a gaming machine.
There are a wide variety of associated devices that can be connected to a gaming machine such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these devices are player tracking units, lights, ticket printers, card readers, speakers, bill validators, ticket readers, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers and button pads. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including touch screens and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play.
After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game. A game outcome presentation may utilize many different visual and audio components such as flashing lights, music, sounds and graphics. The visual and audio components of the game outcome presentation may be used to draw a players attention to various game features and to heighten the players interest in additional game play. Maintaining a game player's interest in game play, such as on a gaming machine or during other gaming activities, is an important consideration for an operator of a gaming establishment.
One related method of gaining and maintaining a game player's interest in game play are player tracking programs which are offered at various casinos. Player tracking programs provide rewards to players that typically correspond to the player's level of patronage (e.g., to the player's playing frequency and/or total amount of game plays at a given casino). Player tracking rewards may be free meals, free lodging and/or free entertainment. These rewards may help to sustain a game player's interest in additional game play during a visit to a gaming establishment and may entice a player to visit a gaming establishment to partake in various gaming activities.
In general, player tracking programs may be applied to any game of chance offered at a gaming establishment. In particular, player tracking programs are very popular with players of mechanical slot gaming machines and video slot gaming machines. In a gaming machine, a player tracking program is implemented using a player tracking unit installed in the gaming machine and in communication with a remote player tracking server. Player tracking units are usually manufactured as an after-market device separate from the gaming machine. Many different companies manufacture player tracking units as part of player tracking/accounting systems. These player tracking/accounting systems are used in most casinos. Most casinos utilize only one type of player tracking system (i.e. from one manufacturer) while the type of player tracking system varies from casino to casino.
An example of a hardware and/or software implementation of a player tracking system with respect to a number of gaming machines is described as follows. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a number of gaming machines with player tracking units connected to servers providing player tracking services. In casino 150, gaming machines 100, 101, 102 and 103 are connected, via the data collection unit (DCU) 106 to the player tracking/accounting server 120. The DCU 106, which may be connected to up to 32 player tracking units as part of a local network in a particular example, consolidates the information gathered from player tracking units in gaming machines 100, 101, 102 and 103 and forwards the information to the player tracking account server 120. The player tracking account server is designed 1) to store player tracking account information, such as information regarding a player's previous game play, and 2) to calculate player tracking points based on a player's game play that may be used as basis for providing rewards to the player.
In gaming machine 100 of casino 150, a player tracking unit 107 and slot machine interface board (SMIB) 105 are mounted within a main cabinet 8 of the gaming machine. A top box 6 is mounted on top of the main cabinet 8 of the gaming machine. In many types of gaming machines, the player tracking unit is mounted within the top box 6. Usually, player tracking units, such as 107, and SMIBs, such as 105, are manufactured as separate units before installation into a gaming machine, such as 100.
The player tracking unit 107 includes three player tracking devices, a card reader 24, a key pad 22, and a display 16, all mounted within the unit. The player tracking devices are used to input player tracking information that is needed to implement the player tracking program. The player tracking devices may be mounted in many different arrangements depending upon design constraints such as accessibility to the player, packaging constraints of a gaming machine and a configuration of a gaming machine. For instance, the player tracking devices may be mounted flush with a vertical surface in an upright gaming machine and may be mounted flush or at a slight angle upward with a horizontal in a flat top gaming machine.
The player tracking unit 107 communicates with the player tracking server via the SMIB 105, a main communication board 110 and the data collection unit 106. The SMIB 105 allows the player tracking unit 107 to gather information from the gaming machine 100 such as an amount a player has wagered during a game play session. This information may be used by the player tracking server 120 to calculate player tracking points for the player. The player tracking unit 107 is usually connected to the master gaming controller 104 via a serial connection using a wire serial connector and communicates with the master gaming controller 104 using a serial communication protocol. The serial connection between the SMIB 105 and the master gaming controller 104 may be through the main communication board 110, through another intermediate device or through a direct connection to the master gaming controller 104. In general, communication between the various gaming devices is provided using wire connectors with proprietary communication protocols. As an example of a proprietary serial communication protocol, the master gaming controller 104 may employ a subset of the Slot Accounting System (SAS protocol) developed by International Game Technology of Reno, Nev. to communicate with the player tracking unit 107.
Typically, when a game player wants to play a game on a gaming machine and utilize the player tracking services available through the player tracking unit, a game player inserts a player tracking card, such as a magnetic striped card, into the card reader 24. After the magnetic striped card has been so inserted, the player tracking unit 107 may detect this event and receive certain identification information contained on the card. For example, a player's name, address, and player tracking account number encoded on the magnetic striped card, may be received by the player tracking unit 107. In general, a player must provide identification information of some type to utilize player tracking services available on a gaming machine. For current player tracking programs, the most common approach for providing identification information is to issue a magnetic-striped card storing the necessary identification information to each player that wishes to participate in a given player tracking program.
After a player has inserted her or his player tracking card into the card reader 24, the player tracking unit 107 may command the display 16 to display the game player's name on the display 16 and also, may optionally display a message requesting the game player to validate their identity by entering an identification code using the key pad 22. Once the game player's identity has been validated, the player tracking information is relayed to the player tracking server 120. Typically, the player tracking server 120 stores player tracking account records including the number of player tracking points previously accumulated by the player.
During game play on the gaming machine, the player tracking unit 107 may poll the master gaming controller 104 for game play information such as how much money the player has wagered on each game, the time when each game was initiated and the location of the gaming machine. The game play information is sent by the player tracking unit 107 to the player tracking server 120. While a player tracking card is inserted in the card reader 24, the player tracking server 120 may use the game play information provided by the player tracking unit 107 to generate player tracking points and add the points to a player tracking account identified by the player tracking card. The player tracking points generated by the player tracking server 120 are stored in a memory of some type on the player tracking server.
As suggested above, a player's incentive for using the player tracking services is awards provided by the gaming machine operator (e.g., the casino). Some incentives of a casino for providing player tracking services is to generate "brand" loyalty, gather valuable information that may be used for marketing and provide better customer services. Unfortunately, when player tracking identification information is not provided to the player tracking server 120 via the player tracking unit 107, player tracking points are not accrued for a game player participating in a game play session on gaming machine 100. For example, when a player tracking card is not inserted into the card reader 24, the player tracking card has been inserted incorrectly or the card reader is malfunctioning, or the game player does not have a player tracking card, a game player may not obtain player tracking points while participating in game play on gaming machine 100. This happens more frequently than one might imagine and may be discouraging to the player.
Player tracking cards and player tracking programs are becoming more and more popular. They have become a de facto marketing method of doing business at casinos. The programs allow a casino to identify and reward customers based upon their previous game play history. In particular, a goal of the casinos is to identify and then to provide a higher level of service to certain groups of players identified as especially valuable to the casinos. For instance, players that visit the casino, on average, once a week may be deemed as "special" customers and the casino may desire to cultivate a "special" relationship with these customers. As indicated, a disadvantage of current player tracking programs using player tracking cards is that a game player may simply forget to bring her card, forget to insert it into the gaming machine, insert the card incorrectly into the card reader or not may not have a card. In each of these cases, the player will fail to earn player tracking points and the player is deprived of awards that would otherwise be provided. Further, the casino is deprived of valuable marketing information and is unable to provide loyalty incentives. In addition, the casino is unable to cultivate a special relationship with the player because their playing attributes remain unknown. Thus, in view of the above, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for player tracking programs that allow both casinos and players to avoid and correct errors resulting from incorrect use of a player tracking system and that allow a casino to better serve "special" players.

Player tracking communication mechanisms in a gaming machine


It is disclosed herein that SPANX-B is uniquely expressed in a number of human tumors and that SPANX-B is an immunogenic antigen that is recognized by human T cells inducing helper CD4+ and cytolytic CD8+ T cell responses. Specific SPANX-B polypeptides and polynucleotides are disclosed that can be used to generate an immune response. In several embodiments, these polypeptides can be used for the treatment of a variety of cancers, including melanoma, colon carcinoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, myeloma, lung carcinoma and renal cancer.

Immunotherapy involves evoking an immune response against cancer cells based on their production of target antigens. Immunotherapy based on cell-mediated immune responses involves generating a cell-mediated response to cells that produce particular antigenic determinants, while immunotherapy based on humoral immune responses involves generating specific antibodies to cells that produce particular antigenic determinants.
Recent studies show that immunotherapy of cancer patients may be dramatically improved by the finding that CD8+ CTL recognize and kill tumor cells that display peptides from tumor-associated antigens within MHC Class I molecules. For example, in clinical studies it has been found that effector CD8+ T cells play a major role in tumor regression. Several tumor antigens in prostate cancer models have been identified and HLA allele-specific peptides from those prostate cancer-associated antigens have been identified as CD8+ T cell epitopes. For example, HLA-A2.1 binding peptides were described that were derived from prostate specific antigen (PSA) (Correale et al., J Immunol 161:3186, 1998), prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) (Tjoa et al., Prostate 28:65, 1996), prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) (Kiessling et al., Int J Cancer 102:390, 2002), and prostate acid phosphatase (Peshwa et al., Prostate 36:129, 1998). For PSA, clinical trials are in progress using different vaccine strategies.
However, there clearly is a need to identify additional antigens for use as therapeutic agents to treat other types of cancer.

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


A method and apparatus for establishing multiple network sessions over an arbitrary network topology comprises receiving network configuration information describing an initiator system and a target controller. The initiator system contains one or more initiator ports. The target controller contains one or more target ports. Each target port is associated with one or more target nodes. A set of pre-defined rules is identified. The set of pre-defined rules governs the establishment of network sessions between the initiator ports and the target nodes through the target ports. One or more network sessions are established based on the set of pre-defined rules and the network configuration information.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to managing network connections in a storage area network (SAN).
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, iSCSI is a storage area network protocol that defines how to flow SCSI storage protocol over an IP network. At one end of the network is an iSCSI initiator system, such as a diskless computer. At the other end of the network is an iSCSI target controller, which has physical ports providing access to logical entities called target nodes. The target nodes provide access to storage or other devices attached to the iSCSI target controller. To create an iSCSI session with a target node, an iSCSI initiator port sends a login message to a specific iSCSI target port. The login may succeed or fail. A successful login establishes an active session between the particular initiator port and target port. An iSCSI initiator system may use an active session to access storage associated with the target node. In complex networks, some iSCSI target ports may be reached only by some of the iSCSI initiator ports, and attempts from other iSCSI initiators will fail to establish an active session.
Further, multiple iSCSI sessions may be established between the initiator ports and the target ports. In such a case, a software application running on the initiator system may include support for a session-based MPIO (multipath input/output). The MPIO software coordinates the initiator system's use of multiple iSCSI sessions. Without this coordination, multiple sessions from the initiator system to the same target node could cause the same storage device to appear multiple times (looking like multiple separate devices) on the iSCSI initiator system. This could lead to data integrity issues and initiator system crashes. Thus, the MPIO software allows safe use of multiple sessions to the same target node.
Additionally, the MPIO software may in some cases perform load balancing and failover when there are multiple sessions to the same target node. One technique to increase for load balancing and failover is to allow the initiator system to access a target node via more than one target port. For example, if a target node may be reached via two physical target ports, the initiator system may establish a separate connection to the target node through each such port. Thus, the initiator system may still access the target node upon failure of either of the target ports. A given network topology may be designed with multiple switches, initiator ports, and target ports to eliminate any single point of failure in the network.

Automatic multipath iSCSI session establishment over an arbitrary network topology

International Business Machines Corporation


A process and apparatus for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in a genset comprising an engine and a generator and a shaft coupled to the engine and generator. The apparatus directs the generator to reduce load on the shaft while directing the engine to seek a steady state shaft speed for a desired energy transfer to the shaft when a shaft speed correction signal representing a shaft speed correction to reach the desired energy transfer meets a criterion.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to generator/engine sets (gensets) and more particularly to methods and apparatus for reduction of nitrogen oxides and other harmful emitted gases in genset systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional engines, high combustion chamber temperatures can provide conditions that facilitate the formation of nitrogen oxides (NOx). It is well known that nitrogen oxides have harmful effects on the environment.
To reduce the formation of nitrogen oxides in combustion engines such engines typically employ an exhaust gas recirculation system which feeds exhaust gas, particularly carbon dioxide, back into the combustion chamber to reduce the amount of oxygen drawn into the combustion chamber and thereby reduce one of the components required for combustion, to reduce combustion chamber temperatures. With lower combustion chamber temperatures, less nitrogen oxides are formed. However, with less oxygen being drawn into the combustion chamber, the available power from the engine is reduced.
Typically the recirculation of exhaust gas back into the combustion chamber is controlled by an EGR valve that varies the amount of exhaust gas recirculated into the combustion chamber. When particularly demanding loads are placed on the engine, EGR systems typically disable the EGR valve to prevent exhaust gas from being recirculated so that the engine can develop a suitable power output.
Certain applications of engines such as genset applications place continuous loads on an engine. If the genset is used in a hybrid vehicle, for example, additional loads for driving the vehicle are placed on the engine and these additional loads can require the engine to face greater transient loads overall, and these transient loads can require the engine to develop more power which requires more oxygen which can be obtained by simply disabling the recirculation of exhaust gas. This however, results in increased NOx emissions. The loads imposed by generators on engines in hybrid vehicles can be quite large and engines can require large variations in motive load, which can result in frequent disabling of the recirculation of exhaust gases causing a corresponding increase in production of NOx emissions.

Process and apparatus for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions in genset systems


A semiconductor ESD protection device comprising a vertical arrangement of alternating conductivity type layers, wherein the layers are arranged as silicon controlled rectifier and wherein the silicon controlled rectifier is arranged as vertical device and having top and bottom opposing contacts.

Electrical surges such as electrical overstress or electrostatic discharge (ESD) transient pulses are common causes of damage to electronic devices. To protect against such transient surges electronic devices are conventionally protected by surge or ESD protection devices. One type of protection device is the so called Transient voltage suppression (TVS) device.
TVS devices provide protection against electrical overstress or electrostatic discharges and are commonly used in portable/consumer electronic devices such as personal computers, audio and video equipment or mobile telephones. According to the International Electrotechnical Commission standard IEC 61000-4-2 such devices should be protected against system level ESD stresses.
Where protection is required at a system level, for example in a portable electronic device such as a smart phone or tablet computer ESD protection, devices must be adequately protected in accordance with the IEC standards whilst not hampering normal operation of the device. In applications with high speed interfaces such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) and High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) it is necessary that ESD devices have low device capacitance so that signal integrity is maintained. Such ESD devices also require a low clamping voltage in order to protect internal circuitry.
The requirement of low clamping voltage is related to the gate oxide thickness utilised in integrated circuits and devices used in electronic applications. The gate oxide is the dielectric layer that separates the gate terminal of a MOSFET from the underlying source and drain terminals as well as the conductive channel that connects source and drain when the transistor is turned on. Gate oxide is formed by oxidizing the silicon of the channel to form a thin (5-200 nm) insulating layer of silicon dioxide.
A conductive gate material is subsequently deposited over the gate oxide to form the transistor. As device and integrated circuit miniaturization continues the gate oxide thickness must be reduced accordingly. This reduction of gate oxide thickness can reduce the breakdown voltage of the device or IC.
By having a low clamping voltage it is possible to ensure that the gate oxide breakdown voltage is not exceeded. That is, it is possible to set the clamping voltage at an appropriate level to ensure that it does not exceed the gate oxide breakdown voltage. Typically the clamping voltage is set such that it is equal to the maximum voltage drop across the protection device during an ESD or overstress event.
The requirement of low capacitance is related to the high data transfer rates. If the capacitance of the ESD protection device connected to the high data transfer lines is too high the signal may be distorted and data transfer may be reduced or prevented.
Commonly, diodes such as zener diodes are used to provide surge or overstress protection. Whilst such diodes are easy to manufacture and provide a cost effective protection against surge or overstress they have a high capacitance typically in the range of one to several hundred Pico-farads. Due their high capacitance zener diodes are therefore unsuitable to high data rate applications.
So-called silicon controlled rectifiers (SCR) may also be used for on-chip protection however they are not used as discrete protection. Typically the ESD robustness is very different depending on the required application. Normally an internal (or on-chip) ESD protection only protects against overstress events during manufacturing. Discrete protection on the other hand protects devices during operation of a system, such as a HDMI or USB data transfer line. Furthermore SCRs used for surge protection in on-chip or integrated circuit (IC) applications are lateral devices of the type shown in FIG. 1, with contacts solely on the top of the device. Such arrangements are therefore not suitable for standard discrete packages such as SOD882 for example. Specifically, standard discrete packages are generally miniaturised and a lateral device with two top terminal contacts may be very difficult to assemble for a comparable miniaturised form factor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ESD protection device which solves or mitigates some or all of the above mentioned problems.


There is set forth a method and a system for recording and synchronizing audio and video signals. The audio signal and the video signal are stored together with time stamps from a respective associated system clock. The invention relates to an adaptation of the duration of the recorded audio sequence to the duration of an associated video sequence in order to level out differences in synchronization of the two system clocks. Alignment of the two system clocks is also introduced, which is based on a data transfer which has variable waiting times for the access to a transmission channel. This thus permits clock alignment with means as are available for example on a smartphone.

Mobile devices like smartphones are frequently equipped with a powerful camera. A zoom function makes it possible to film even events at a relatively great distance from the camera. That can involve for example a performance on the stage in a school auditorium, in which the user of the mobile device (camera unit) is sitting in the audience and makes a video recording of what is happening on the stage. An audio recording using a microphone included in the camera unit often gives unsatisfactory results as much unwanted ambient noise from the direct surroundings of the camera unit is recorded while the desired audio signal—for example the words spoken on the stage—is recorded too quietly and is lost in the ambient noise.
An external microphone can be used as a remedy for that. That can be for example a clip-on microphone which a performer on the stage has fastened to his clothing and which records the audio signal which is spoken or sung by the performer or an overall audio signal from the immediate vicinity thereof. If an external microphone is connected to the camera unit by way of a cable the audio signal from the external microphone can be stored directly at the same time as and thus synchronously jointly with the recorded video signal. In many situations of use—for example in the auditorium—wired transmission of the audio signal however is not practicable.
There is a wish to be able to receive the wirelessly emitted audio signal without additional hardware with a normal camera unit like for example a smartphone. Individualized wireless data transfer protocols are available for such mobile end-user devices. Examples that may be mentioned here are WLAN, Bluetooth, DECT, LTE or Wi-Fi, in which a data stream is respectively provided for a given end device and transmitted subdivided into individual data packets to the receiving user device. In the case of those data transfer protocols however an unpredictable time delay is tolerated in the transfer of each individual data packet as the use of a transmission channel in accordance with the protocol is coordinated as between a plurality of transmitting devices so that variable waiting times are involved for access to the transmission channel. In addition the transfer is normally bidirectional, in which respect a receiving device acknowledges successful reception and in the event of faulty transfer a data packet is transmitted afresh, which in addition results in unpredictable delay. Overall a delay of several seconds can occur. An audio signal received in that way is time-shifted by an unknown amount in relation to the video signal recorded by the camera unit, to such an extent that the time shift is perceived as being disturbing upon later consideration of the video/audio signal. Without additional synchronization measures it is not possible for the audio signal to be subsequently shifted to the correct place with respect to the video signal.
As a further alternative to wireless transfer storage of the audio signal in the external microphone unit can also be considered. The audio signal from the external microphone unit is then subsequently brought together with the video signal from the camera unit. In this case also the problem that arises is that of subsequently bringing the audio signal to the correct place on the time axis with respect to the video signal.
DE 10 2010 038 838 A1 discloses a wireless microphone system in which a microphone unit records an audio signal and stores it jointly with "time stamps" and wherein a camera unit stores corresponding time stamps jointly with the video signal and wherein the camera unit emits synchronization signals, on the basis of which the microphone unit produces time stamps matching the video signal.
WO 2016/162560 A1 discloses a method of synchronizing audio and video signals by means of optical synchronization signals.
On the German patent application from which priority is claimed the German Patent and Trade Mark Office searched the following documents: US 2015/0 104 151 A1, US 2016/0 269 136 A1, JP 2007-81 686 A and SCHMALENSTROEER, JOERG [et al:]: A gossiping approach to sampling clock, synchronisation in wireless acoustic sensor networks. In: International Conference on Acoustic, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Florence, Italy; IEEE Transactions, 14 Jul. 2014, pages 7575-7579.

Method and system for recording and synchronizing audio and video signals and audio and video recording and synchronization system


Three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices are provided. A three-dimensional semiconductor memory device includes a plurality of word line blocks including a plurality of cell strings that are connected in parallel between a bit line and a common source line. Each of the cell strings includes a plurality of memory cell transistors that are stacked on a substrate in a vertical direction, a plurality of ground selection transistors that are connected in series between the plurality of memory cell transistors and the substrate, and a string selection transistor that is between the plurality of memory cell transistors and the bit line. In each of the cell strings, at least one of the plurality of ground selection transistors has a first threshold voltage, and remaining ones of the ground selection transistors have a second threshold voltage different from the first threshold voltage. Related methods of operating three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to semiconductor memory devices and methods of operating the same. Higher integration of semiconductor devices may be used to satisfy consumer demands for superior performance and inexpensive prices. In the case of semiconductor devices, since their integration is an important factor in determining product prices, increased integration may be especially beneficial. To meet such technical demands, three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices including three-dimensionally arranged memory cells have recently been proposed.

Three-dimensional semiconductor memory devices and methods of operating the same


Managing a plurality of states of metadata. Each of the states stores one or more items of metadata that have been automatically matched and obtained for media content (e.g., for rendering by a media player). The invention resolves the matched metadata by selectively applying some or all of the matched metadata items without user intervention (e.g., based on a user-specified threshold). In one embodiment, the invention selectively applies some or all of the matched metadata items based on a trustworthiness rating associated with the metadata match. The invention displays the remaining metadata items to the user for review and acceptance or rejection.

Due to recent advances in technology, computer users are now able to enjoy many features that provide an improved user experience, such as playing various media and multimedia content on their personal or laptop computers. For example, most computers today are able to play compact discs (CDs) so users can listen to their favorite musical artists while working on their computers. Many computers are also equipped with digital versatile disc (DVD) drives enabling users to watch movies.
In some multimedia environments, a computer has access to a computer-readable medium storing compressed media files such as Moving Picture Experts Group audio layer-3 (MP3) files and WINDOWS MEDIA technologies audio (WMA) and video files. The computer typically organizes the media files into playlists when the compressed media files are played on the computer. The files may be organized according to metadata or other property data associated with the media content. Metadata for a digital media file such as an audio file includes general information pertaining to the media file itself. This information is typically stored within the file. For example, an audio file may have metadata tags for the song title, song artist, album title, and a rating. For example, in the case of audio media files, the files may be organized by album, artist, genre, date, or some user-specified selection and ordering. A user easily navigates through this organization using menus and graphical displays to render the desired media files.
However, some media files lack metadata or have metadata that needs to be updated. The organization of such media files without sufficient metadata is limited. Some existing systems request metadata for audio content. However, these existing systems fail to obtain metadata for media content in a way that is compelling to users while not being overly intrusive. There is a need for a metadata service that automatically, without user intervention and in the background, updates all of the media content of the user as specified by the user regardless of the quality of the metadata currently in the file storing the media content. Existing systems further fail to provide the user with the same metadata experience when inserting any computer-readable medium storing content. The quality of the metadata is important because selecting music can be the bulk of the work in listening to music (e.g., users often listen to the radio because someone else has taken on the burden of selecting the music), particularly when users have access to large music collections (e.g., digital formats, P2P, etc.).
Accordingly, a system for resolving metadata matched to media content is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.

Resolving metadata matched to media content


The present disclosure relates to novel Lactobacillus curvatus WIKIM55 isolated from kimchi, and a composition containing the same. The Lactobacillus curvatus WIKIM55 according to the present disclosure is a probiotic having activities of promoting hair growth and can be diversely applied for intestinal regulation and promotion of hair growth in humans or animals.

Hair is a body organ which plays the roles of protecting the head, maintain the head temperature, etc. and determines appearance, which draws a lot of interests recently. Accordingly, the interest in hair loss and hair loss treatment is increasing, and research and development on hair loss treatments are being carried out actively. Hair grows and sheds through the hair cycle of 4 stages: anagen (growth phase), catagen (transitional phase), telogen (resting phase) and exogen (shedding phase). Hair loss refers to a loss of hair caused when hair shedding excels hair growth for various reasons. The currently known causes of hair loss include genetic factors, problems with blood flow, endocrine disorders caused by the male hormone testosterone, etc. Also, stress is known as an external cause.
As typical hair growth promoting agents, minoxidil (6-amino-1,2-dihydro-1-hydroxy-2-imino-4-phenoxypyrimidine, percutaneous liniment), finasteride (oral agent), etc. are used. Minoxidil is known to induce hair growth by promoting supply of nutrients through vasodilation. Finasteride has a mechanism of action of inhibiting the death of dermal papilla cells through inhibition of the activity of 5α-reductase, which is an enzyme involved in testosterone metabolism. However, both drugs are effective only during their use and the effect disappears if the use is stopped. Therefore, they have to be used for a long period of time. But, because minoxidil has the side effect of sticky feeling and skin irritation and finasteride has the side effects of decline in energy, sexual dysfunction, etc., there are many limitations in their long-term use.
Under this background, studies on skin and hair health using lactic acid bacteria are underway, recently. But, the lactic acid bacteria that directly affect hair growth have not been found yet and the development of a composition containing excellent lactic acid bacteria capable of leading to hair health and hair growth is required.


A dental root canal diagnostic and treating equipment with which specific position/s, which serve/s as the reference positions, can be set arbitrarily and such positions can be displayed. With the equipment, therefore, operation can be proceeded with knowledge of not only the position of the tip of the root canal instrument, which also serves as the measuring electrode, but also the remaining distance to the reference position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvement of a dental root canal diagnostic and treating equipment having a root canal length measuring function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For treatment of root canal in dental practice a root canal instrument such as reamer or file is used for enlarging the root canal. The depth of the root canal enlargement, which is called "working length", is generally preferred to be up to -0.5 mm (up to 0.5 mm short of an apical position). It is, however, a usual practice that the operator sets it at a position considered optimum on the basis of his experience and in accordance with the therapeutic policy determined for the case or the technique selected therefor and in some extreme cases it is possibly set at -1 mm. When the operator does root canal enlargement by the use of a root canal diagnostic and treating equipment having a root canal length measuring function, it is necessary to do it confirming the position of the tool's tip by means of the display element of the equipment and stop the operation when his preset position has been reached.
With this kind of prior art equipment, however, generally used as display element is an analog meter of the pointer type or a like photoelectric meter. This type of meter is so designed that the displayed value increases steadily as a measuring electrode is inserted into the root canal and it agrees with the reading showing the apical position when the electrode has reached the apical position and has no function of displaying the working length set short of the apical position or of arbitrarily setting this working length.
Also, when a scaler of the ultrasonic type is used, it is necessary to stop or reduce the output of ultrasonic wave a little short of the aforementioned working length, but no conventional equipment has a function of setting and displaying the position at which the output is to be stopped or reduced ("changed" hereinafter). This output changing position is to be set as necessary according to the operator or his treating policy, the change is to be made according to the case, root canal condition, thickness of file used and whether the work to be done is enlargement or washing, and this change is done relatively frequently. Especially, since this root canal enlargement and washing by ultrasonic wave is known to be highly efficient, there is an increased risk of irregular enlargement taking place in the vicinity of the apical position when the output changing position cannot be grasped definitely or of steps or ledges being formed with the output changing position as boundary.
With a prior art equipment without function of displaying the working length or output changing position, therefore, it was necessary to proceed with the operation carefully grasping the position of the tip of the root canal instrument such as reamer or file by means of the display element and to change the output of ultrasonic wave or stop the operation at the present output changing position or working length without fail. This resulted in increased difficulty of operating the equipment and increased burden on the operator as well as lowering of the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment.

Dental root canal diagnostic and treating equipment


A method of etching tantalum oxide layer in the fabrication of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The method comprises the steps of forming the lower electrode structure of a capacitor on a semiconductor substrate. Then, a tantalum oxide layer, a barrier layer and a conductive layer are sequentially formed over the lower electrode structure and the substrate. Next, the conductive layer is patterned using a first reactive gas that includes a gaseous mixture of boron trichloride, chlorine and nitrogen (BCl.sub.3 /Cl.sub.2 /N.sub.2). Thereafter, the barrier layer is patterned using a second reactive gas that includes a gaseous mixture of boron trichloride, chlorine and nitrogen (BCl.sub.3 /Cl.sub.2 /N.sub.2). Finally, the tantalum oxide layer is patterned using a third reactive gas that includes a gaseous mixture of boron trichloride, chlorine and nitrogen (BCl.sub.3 /Cl.sub.2 /N.sub.2).

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for etching a tantalum oxide (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5) layer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing dynamic random access memory (DRAM) that involves the sequential etching of a polysilicon layer and a tantalum oxide layer to form a pattern without having to switch etching stations.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional dynamic random access memory (DRAM) structure at least includes a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor and a capacitor. The gate of the transistor is connected to a word line, and one of the source/drain regions is connected to a bit line BL. The other source/drain region is electrically connected to a capacitor, which in turn is connected to a ground. The capacitor structure in a DRAM can be regarded as a critical component in data storage. If the number of charges stored by a capacitor is large, the data bit stored in the capacitor is more stable. When the data bit stored in the capacitor is read out by an amplifier, a large capacitance is more capable of combating external noise.
In semiconductor manufacturing, a DRAM capacitor is formed by several steps. First, at least one transistor structure is formed on a semiconductor substrate, and then a storage node is formed above one of the source/drain regions of the transistor, thereby forming the lower electrode structure of a capacitor. Next, a tantalum oxide layer, a titanium nitride layer (TiN) and a polysilicon layer are formed sequentially over the lower electrode structure. The titanium nitride layer is formed above the tantalum oxide layer, and the two layers together constitute a composite dielectric layer for the capacitor. The polysilicon layer acts as an upper electrode structure of the capacitor. Finally, the tantalum oxide layer, the titanium nitride layer and the polysilicon layer are patterned to complete the DRAM capacitor structure.
FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the conventional manufacturing steps in patterning a multi-layered capacitor structure. First, step 10 represent the beginning of the operation where the multi-layered structure of the capacitor, including the lower electrode structure, the tantalum oxide layer, the titanium nitride layer and the polysilicon layer, has already been deposited. Next, step 12 is carried out by first performing a photolithographic operation, and then etching the polysilicon layer to form the upper electrode structure of the capacitor. Preferably, the etchant for etching the polysilicon layer is a gaseous mixture containing HBr/Cl.sub.2 /He--O.sub.2. Thereafter, a change in etching station is performed in step 14. The change is necessary because the etchant for etching the polysilicon layer is unsuitable for etching the tantalum oxide layer and the titanium nitride layer. Next, step 16 is carried out etching the titanium nitride layer and the tantalum oxide layer (TiN/Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5), thereby patterning the composite dielectric layer of the capacitor.
In patterning the tantalum oxide layer, the titanium nitride layer and the polysilicon layer, some problems often arise. The most severe problem occurs when etching of the polysilicon layer is finished, and the titanium nitride layer needs to be etched next. The etchant for etching the polysilicon layer is a gaseous mixture containing HBr/Cl.sub.2 /He--O.sub.2, which is unsuitable for etching titanium nitride. Therefore, both the processing station and the etchants need to be changed before subsequent etching of the titanium nitride layer and the tantalum oxide can be performed. This switchover of processing station and etchants increases the number of processing steps. Moreover, some residual etchants used in etching the polysilicon layer may be carried over into the next etching operation. When they come into contact with the titanium nitride layer, some metallic ion dissociation may occur. Consequently, the reaction chamber may be contaminated.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to improve the process of etching the polysilicon layer, the titanium nitride layer and the tantalum oxide layer.


An I/O unit access switching system and its method are implemented on a plurality of servers respectively having a baseboard management controller (BMC) and an intelligent platform management system (IPMI). The servers are connected to a switching device, itself connected to a set of I/O devices such as keyboard, mouse, and monitor. When the control module of one server is activated, the BMC of the server delivers an activation signal to the switching device. According to the received activation signal, the switching device transmits an interrupt signal to the microprocessor unit. The microprocessor unit accordingly outputs a switching signal to an I/O function multiplexer that, in response, switches access to the I/O devices to the requesting server from which the activation signal was received. Through the I/O function multiplexer, the I/O devices can then be used in conjunction with the selected server.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to input/output (I/O) unit access switching systems and methods, and more particularly, to a system and a method which enable switching access to I/O devices between computer servers supporting an intelligent platform management interface (IPMI).
2. Description of the Related Art
Keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) switches are used to connect several computers or servers to a set of input/output (I/O) devices (i.e. keyboard, mouse, and monitor), so that the same set of I/O devices can be used for each computer or server via switching their respective I/O signals.
KVM switches have the advantages of reducing equipment cost, decreasing power consumption, and conserving space. In addition, users provided with KVM switches no longer need to move from place to place in order to access computers or servers that are installed at different locations.
However, the KVM switches currently known in the art necessitate the provision of keyboard and mouse signals to each computer or server connected to the KVM switches. Therefore, the number of output connections of the KVM switch is high, particularly for KVM switches for blade servers where a large number of servers are stacked in racks. Due to the increase in the number of output connections, the functions, and, in particular, the operations of the microprocessor unit of the KVM switch are negatively affected. Therefore, a need exists for a system that can reduce the number of output connections required for the KVM switch which does not adversely affect the operations of the microprocessor unit inside the KVM switch.

Input/output unit access switching system and method


In a computer system that uses a “snapshot-at-the-beginning” garbage collector and in which write barrier code is generated for pointer write instructions in order to support the operation of the garbage collector, a static analysis of the computer program source code is performed prior to generating compiled code for the application and garbage collector in order to identify source code instructions that, at runtime, will perform initializing pointer writes as indicated by the fact that they overwrite memory locations that contain a predetermined pre-write value, such as NULL. The identified instructions are then compiled in a conventional manner, but no write barrier code is generated for them. Thus, at runtime, those instructions that perform initializing writes will incur no write barrier cost penalty.

This invention relates to garbage collectors that mark live objects concurrently with the operation of user application programs. In general, memory reclamation may be carried out by a special purpose garbage collection algorithm that locates and reclaims memory which is unused, but has not been explicitly de-allocated. There are many known garbage collection algorithms, including reference counting, mark-sweep, mark-compact and generational garbage collection algorithms. These, and other garbage collection techniques, are described in detail in a book entitled "Garbage Collection, Algorithms For Automatic Dynamic Memory Management" by Richard Jones and Raphael Lins, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
An object may be located by a "reference", or a small amount of information that can be used to access the object data structure. Objects can themselves contain references to yet other objects. In this manner, a chain of references can be created, each reference pointing to an object which, in turn, points to another object. Some garbage collection techniques determine when a data structure is reachable by an executing program thread by starting at external roots (for example, program stack entries) and following chains of references and marking all objects encountered. After all reference chains have been followed, the memory occupied by unmarked objects can be reclaimed and reused. Object marking may be carried out by a single collector thread or may be carried out by several collector threads operating in parallel. Reclamation of unused memory is generally performed during a "sweep" phase of garbage collection that follows the marking phase.
Some marking garbage collectors stop all application threads while the marking is being performed. However, many applications cannot tolerate the significant pauses that can be introduced while marking is being performed. For example, some applications have multiple gigabytes of live data and must run continuously for months or years with maximum garbage collection pauses measured in milliseconds. A common solution to enabling garbage collection for systems in which such applications run is to employ concurrent collection, in which garbage collection and the user application execute simultaneously. Examples of such collectors are described in "A parallel, incremental and concurrent GC for servers", Y. Ossia, O. Ben-Yitzhak, I. Goft, E. K. Kolodner, V. Leikehman, and Avi Owshanko. Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 2002 Conference on Programming language design and implementation, pages 129-140. ACM Press, 2002 and "A generational mostly-concurrent garbage collector", A. Printezis and D. Detlefs, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Memory Management, Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 15-19, 2000.
Since the collector and the application threads are operating concurrently and the application threads may modify pointer locations that are used to perform marking by the collector, in any concurrent marking garbage collector, the application threads must inform the collector of pointer updates performed during collection. The aforementioned concurrent marking collectors use a continuous update interaction between the application threads and the collector. In particular, during their operation, application threads inform the collector of pointer locations that they modify, and the collector re-examines the locations of which it has been notified.
Other collectors use an alternative mechanism to manage application thread and collector interactions. This alternative mechanism is called "snapshot-at-the-beginning (SATB) technique, in which at the start of the marking process a logical "snapshot" is taken of a graph representing the existing objects and their relationships. The collector then follows pointers and marks objects in this graph. The application threads help to track changes to this logical snapshot by informing the collector of their actions that might disconnect parts of the original object graph and, thus, prevent the collector from reaching these parts. SATB collectors are described in the aforementioned Jones and Lins book, in particular in section 8.3.
Collectors that use SATB style marking have a major advantage over collectors that use continuous update style marking. In particular, in a SATB style marking collector, all new objects allocated after the marking process has started are considered live, so only modifications to objects already allocated at the start of the marking process need cause collection activity. In contrast, collectors that use continuous update marking must examine all modified marked objects, since any such object could hold a pointer to objects that would otherwise be "hidden" from the concurrent marking process. In general, most programs are "mostly-functional" in that a large proportion of object modifications are initializations of newly-allocated objects. Collectors that use SATB style marking can safely ignore such modifications, while collectors that use the continuous-update marking style must examine them.
In order to determine when a modification has been made to a pointer, a "write barrier" is typically used. A write barrier comprises extra code that is generated by a compiler when it is compiling any application thread code that would produce a write to a pointer location. At runtime, before a write is performed by an application thread, the write barrier code is first executed. The write barrier code can then take an appropriate action, such as informing the collector of the write operation. However, collectors that use SATB style marking have a significant drawback versus collectors that use continuous update style marking because the cost of executing the write barrier code is typically much higher for collectors that use SATB style marking.
More particularly, in collectors that use the continuous update marking style, a common approach is to use a card-marking write barrier, which can require as few as two instructions to be executed in the write barrier code that is executed for each pointer write. Such card marking write barriers are discussed in detail in "A fast write barrier for generational garbage collectors", U. Hölzle, OOPSLA/ECOOP '93 Workshop on Garbage Collection in Object-Oriented Systems, E. Moss, P. R. Wilson, and B. Zorn, editors, October 1993. In the generational garbage collectors discussed above, card marking write barriers are particularly efficient, since a write barrier must already be present to track the possible creation of old generation to young generation pointers. On the other hand, write barriers for use with collectors that use SATB style marking usually execute much more complicated barrier code that reads the pre-write value of the pointer field and adds this value a data structure that will later be read by a concurrent marking thread.
One method of reducing the code that must be executed by write barriers for use with collectors that use SATB style marking is to check the pre-write value of the pointer field prior to executing the remainder of the write barrier code. Many programming languages provide a special value, here referred to as "NULL", indicating that a location of pointer type currently contains no pointer value. If the SATB write barrier determines that the write overwrites NULL, there is no pre-write pointer value to log, so the remainder of the barrier code need not be executed. In many languages (e.g., Java and C#), pointer fields of newly allocated objects are initialized to contain NULL. In many applications, the majority of pointer writes are initializing writes and, in these programs, the latter modification can significantly reduce the write barrier cost. Nonetheless, even with this modification, the pointer field must still be retrieved and its value checked. Therefore, write barrier code for use with collectors that use SATB style marking is still more costly than write barrier code for use in collectors that use continuous update style marking.

Method and apparatus for selectively eliminating write barriers in snapshot-at-the beginning concurrent-marking garbage collectors


Techniques are provided for individually adjusting the on-chip termination impedance that is generated by input and output (IO) buffers in an input/output (IO) bank on an integrated circuit. The IO buffers in an IO bank can generate different on-chip termination impedances. And as a result, an IO bank can support more than one class of memory interfaces. An OCT calibration block generates a digital on-chip termination (OCT) calibration code. In some embodiments, circuitry in the IO banks can be configured to shift the OCT calibration code by one or more bits to adjust the series and/or parallel on-chip termination impedance in one or more IO buffers.

The present invention relates to on-chip termination impedance, and more particularly, to techniques for providing adjustable on-chip termination impedance on integrated circuits.
Signal reflection can occur on transmission lines when there is a mismatch between the impedance of the transmission line and the impedance of the transmitter and/or receiver. The reflected signal can interfere with the transmitted signal, causing distortion and degrading signal integrity.
To solve this problem, transmission lines are resistively terminated by a matching impedance to minimize or eliminate signal reflection. Input/output (IO) pins on an integrated circuit package are often terminated by coupling external termination resistors to the appropriate IO pins. However, many integrated circuit packages require a large number of termination resistors, because they have a large number of IO pins. Therefore, it is becoming more common to resistively terminate transmission lines using on-chip termination (OCT) to reduce the number of external components.
The Stratix® II field programmable gate array (FPGA) made by Altera, Corporation of San Jose, Calif. has calibrated on-chip termination to support a wide range of high-speed memory interfaces in a single device. Because different memory interfaces require different power supply voltages, input and output buffers are arranged in input/output (IO) banks in order to support memory interfaces flexibly. Each bank has its own power supply independent of other IO banks. Buffers within the same IO bank share the same power supply. Calibrated on-chip source (series) termination (Rs) and parallel termination (Rt) are supported in some of the IO banks to achieve higher memory interface performance.
In the Stratix II FPGA, one calibration circuit controls the on-chip termination impedance in an IO bank, and all of the buffers in the IO bank have the same termination impedance at any particular time. However, class I and Class II memory interfaces typically require different series and parallel termination impedance values. As a result, one IO bank cannot support both class I and class II memory interfaces.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide techniques for supporting multiple classes of memory interfaces in the same IO bank on an integrated circuit.

Techniques for providing adjustable on-chip termination impedance


A sports lighting system for a large area at which a sporting event occurs includes light structures at the large area to illuminate at least that portion of the large area where the sporting event occurs. A lighting control unit is disposed at the large area. Included are power connector modules connected to a power bus in a cavity of a housing of the unit. Electrical conductors for each of the light structures connect to a respective one of the power connector modules and to lighting on the respective light structure such that electrification of lighting on all the light structures occurs through the lighting control unit. The cavity preferably accommodates expansion or a remote diagnostic unit and mounting on a ground-mounted concrete stanchion. A related method is also disclosed. The present invention also provides an electrical control unit and a power connector module. The power connector module includes: a mounting member to removably connect to a housing; a breaker unit connected to the mounting member and to a power bus in the housing; a contactor unit connected to the mounting member and to the breaker unit; landing lugs connected to the mounting member and to the contactor; and an identification member connected to the mounting member and having indicia identifying the respective electrical equipment from which the respective set of electrical conductors connect to the landing lugs.

This invention relates generally to electrical control for electrical equipment used over a large area and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to sports lighting systems and components thereof, such as used at arenas and stadiums.
Many sporting events are conducted at large area sports facilities such as arenas and stadiums. Non-limiting examples include basketball and hockey arenas; football, baseball and soccer stadiums; and racetracks. These locations typically have lighting equipment distributed around the large area for illuminating at least the portion of the area where the playing of the event occurs (and frequently also to illuminate the spectator portions of the area as well).
To centralize control of such electrical equipment, electric conductors may be run from each of the lighting structures to a single location where all the lights are to be controlled (at least with regard to turning the lights on and off by switching respective light circuits into and out of connection with a power main). The type of installation at such common location has heretofore typically been left to whomever installs the equipment. This leads to non-standardization and no uniformity, to say the least. Other shortcomings may include lack of consistent organization and color coding of the wiring at the control location, lack of facilitating repairs (e.g., replacing a malfunctioning circuit breaker), lack of quality control, and sometimes even a lack of safety (including possible code violations). In view of these shortcomings, there is the need for an improved technique for coordinating the control of lighting at a large area facility, particularly a sports event facility. More broadly, there is the need for an electrical control unit and a power connector module which can be used in a large area facility or in other environments in which centralized electrification control is needed (non-limiting examples include parking lots, fairgrounds and other festival or community gathering places).
The present invention overcomes the above-noted and other shortcomings of the prior art, and satisfies the aforementioned needs, by providing a novel and improved sports lighting system and method, electrical control unit and apparatus, and power connector module. The present invention facilitates: consistent organization and color coding of wiring, installation and repairing, quality control, code compliance, and safety at an electrical control location.
The present invention provides a sports lighting system for a large area at which a sporting event occurs. This system comprises a plurality of light structures located at the large area to illuminate at least that portion of the large area where the sporting event occurs, and it also comprises a lighting control unit disposed at the large area. The lighting control unit includes: a housing providing a protected cavity; a main circuit breaker disposed in the cavity of the housing and connected to a three-phase power main; a three-phase power bus disposed in the cavity of the housing and connected to the main circuit breaker; and a plurality of power connector modules connected to the three-phase power bus in the cavity of the housing. The sports lighting system further comprises respective sets of electrical conductors for each of the plurality of light structures, wherein each respective set connects to a respective one of the power connector modules of the lighting control unit and to lighting on the respective light structure such that electrification of lighting on all the light structures occurs through the lighting control unit. In a preferred embodiment, the cavity of the housing includes a region providing means for receiving a remote diagnostic unit for monitoring operation of the plurality of light structures. The system may further comprise a ground-mounted concrete stanchion at the large area; and the lighting control unit further may include a plurality of brackets connected to the housing and mounted on the concrete stanchion.
The present invention also provides a method for illuminating at least a sports event portion of a large area sports facility. This method comprises activating and deactivating a plurality of light structures, which structures are disposed throughout the sports facility to provide light for at least the sports event portion of the sports facility, from a unitary enclosed lighting control unit located at the sports facility and having a plurality of power connector modules removably disposed therein. This includes conducting electric current through a respective one of the power connector modules to activate a respective one of the light structures and identifying the respective light structure with indicia on the respective power connector module. This method may further comprise sensing current flow through each of the power connector modules from within the unitary enclosed lighting control unit and transmitting out of the unitary enclosed lighting control unit data about the sensed current flow.
The present invention also provides apparatus for controlling lighting for a large area at which a sporting event occurs. The apparatus comprises: a ground-mounted concrete stanchion installed at the large area; and a lighting control unit connected to the concrete stanchion, the lighting control unit including a housing providing a protected cavity in which main electrical power control connections are made to a plurality of light structures located at the large area to illuminate at least that portion of the large area where the sporting event occurs. In a preferred embodiment the lighting control unit further includes: a main circuit breaker disposed in the cavity of the housing to connect to a three-phase power main; a three-phase power bus disposed in the cavity of the housing and connected to the main circuit breaker; and a plurality of power connector modules connected to the three-phase power bus in the cavity of the housing.
An electrical control unit of the present invention comprises: a housing providing a protected cavity; a main circuit breaker disposed in the cavity of the housing to connect to a three-phase power main; a three-phase power bus disposed in the cavity of the housing and connected to the main circuit breaker; and a plurality of power connector modules connected to the three-phase power bus in the cavity of the housing. Such electrical control unit may further comprise a plurality of brackets connected to the housing to mount on a ground-mounted concrete stanchion.
A power connector module of the present invention comprises: a mounting member to removably connect to a housing; a breaker unit connected to the mounting member and to a three-phase power bus in the housing; a contactor unit connected to the mounting member and to the breaker unit; landing lugs connected to the mounting member and to the contactor for connecting to a respective set of electrical conductors connected to electrical equipment to be electrified through the power connector module; and an identification member connected to the mounting member and having indicia identifying the respective electrical equipment from which the respective set of electrical conductors connect to the landing lugs.
Therefore, from the foregoing, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved sports lighting system and method, electrical control unit and apparatus, and power connector module. Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of the preferred embodiments is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Sports lighting system and method, electrical control unit and apparatus, and power connector module


A bar code reader system includes a record, a bar code reader, a decoder, a processor, a transferring element, and a printer. The record includes a substrate with an information area containing first data removably encoded on the substrate in an error-correctable machine readable format and text. The bar code reader converts the first encoded data from the record into electrical signals which are decoded by the decoder. The processor encodes second data entered through a keyboard, and generates transfer drive signals for controlling the transfer of the second encoded data onto the record. The transferring element detects the presence of the first encoded data on the record, and in response to the drive signals when the first encoded data is present on the record, subjects the record to an erasing operation to remove the first encoded data. The printer then prints the second encoded data on the record.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The use of encoded data placed on certain types of records is advantageous in that a large amount of information can be placed in a relatively small area. Also, encoded information can be kept confidential and revealed only to persons having the appropriate decoding apparatus.
Prior to the present invention, the only type of records that could best utilize the benefits of having encoded data placed thereon were records where the data did not change over the life of the record; or where there were relatively large time gaps before the record or such encoded data became outdated. Such records, which include price tags, package identifiers, or train car identifiers for example, did not require frequent updating of the data. Another alternative was to make the record large enough to accommodate additional encoded data representations for supplementing the information from time to time.
There are several types of records where the benefits of having encoded data thereon were offset by the necessity of frequent updating of the encoded information. For example, health cards and records could beneficially include encoded data because they required large amounts of necessary information and the need for confidentiality. Charge cards, where the remaining available credit could be printed on the card as each purchase is made, could beneficially include encoded data. Admission tickets useful for multiple events could include the used or unused events as encoded data on the ticket. This would include tickets for seminars with several workshops, or an admission ticket to an amusement park that includes several rides and shows. In all of the above instances, the necessity of frequent updating of the encoded information would either result in an oversized cumbersome record, or the frequent replacement of the record with a new record having updated encoded data.

Reader system for removable two dimensional code


In a vehicle air conditioner having a variable displacement compressor, a control unit calculates a target cooling temperature of air to be cooled by an evaporator, and controls a discharge capacity of the compressor such that a detected air temperature of the evaporator approaches the target cooling temperature. When a deceleration running state of the vehicle is detected, the control unit sets a corrected target cooling temperature lower than the target cooling temperature by a predetermined temperature, and controls the discharge capacity of the compressor such that the detected air temperature approaches the corrected target cooling temperature when the detected air temperature is lower than the corrected target cooling temperature, or controls the discharge capacity of the compressor approximately at the maximum capacity regardless of the corrected target cooling temperature when the detected air temperature is not lower than the corrected target cooling temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle air conditioner with a discharge capacity control of a compressor. The vehicle air conditioner performs a cool storage in a cooling heat exchanger during a vehicle deceleration to recover deceleration energy of the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional vehicle air conditioner, a temperature of air cooled by an evaporator is detected by a temperature sensor, and a driving control of a compressor is performed so that a detected temperature of the temperature sensor becomes a target cooling temperature (e.g., JP-A-57-44511, JP-A-2001-105846). Furthermore, during a vehicle deceleration, the target cooling temperature is decreased more than that before the vehicle deceleration and, an operation ratio (working ratio) of the compressor is increased, so that deceleration energy of the vehicle is recovered.
In this vehicle air conditioner, when a variable displacement compressor is used, the displacement (discharge capacity) of the compressor is gradually increased in accordance with the detected temperature when the target cooling temperature is reduced. Accordingly, when the vehicle deceleration is finished, the discharge capacity of the compressor may be not increased to the maximum capacity, and the deceleration energy cannot be recovered sufficiently.

Vehicle air conditioner with discharge capacity control of compressor