An electric drive transmission for a skid steered vehicle has a central casing housing a pair of propulsion motors comprising respective stators and rotors, each rotor being coupled to drive a respective through shaft via a respective epicyclic gear change mechanism. The through shafts are coupled at their inboard ends to a controlled differential with an input from a steer motor, and are coupled at their outboard ends to respective epicyclic gear reduction mechanisms. The through shafts are supported in the casing by respective bearings and the propulsion motor rotors are supported on the through shafts by respective bearings. By supporting the rotors on the through shafts rather than in separate bearings to the casing the diameter and speed rating of the requisite rotor bearings can be reduced.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electric drive transmissions and more particularly to bearing arrangements therefor. It will be described hereinafter in terms of its application within an overall drive configuration for a battle tank, bulldozer or other skid steered vehicle of the kind described in WO-02/083483. This is not, however, to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention as defined below, which may be found more generally useful where an electric motor is required to deliver torque via a gear change mechanism to a shaft which may be coupled to a load or loads at either axial end of the motor.
(2) Description of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,591 discloses in FIG. 3 an electric drive transmission for a tracked vehicle where an electric propulsion motor is arranged coaxially around a main transverse shaft which is coupled at its opposite ends via differential gears to the driven tracks. The motor has a hollow shaft arranged coaxially around the main shaft. A reduction gear or shift gear is also arranged coaxially around the main shaft and connects the motor shaft to the main shaft via a hollow connecting shaft. The bearing arrangement for the various shafts is not disclosed. It would be conventional, however, for the motor shaft to be supported by bearings in the motor casing and for the main shaft to be supported by bearings in some other fixed part of the vehicle structure.
For high power density, electric propulsion motors are often designed to run at high rotational speeds (e.g. in the region of 12,000 RPM). Operating the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,591 with such a high speed motor would be problematical, however. By running the main shaft through the motor shaft the diameter of the latter must necessarily be greater than that of the main shaft, and it must necessarily be of equivalent torque capability. If borne within the motor casing it also follows that the motor shaft bearings must be of substantially larger diameter than the main shaft bearings. Achieving high rotational speeds with large diameter bearings is difficult, however, due to the high rolling speed of the bearing elements, the heat so generated, and other dynamic effects. In practical terms this is therefore likely to impose an undesirable constraint on the operational speed and hence power density of the propulsion motor in the indicated prior art arrangement.
It is one aim of the present invention to overcome the above-noted drawback of the prior art and accordingly in one aspect the invention resides in an electric drive transmission comprising:                a casing;        an electric motor comprising a stator fixed in the casing and an associated rotor borne within the casing;        a separate through shaft passing coaxially through the rotor for delivering torque from the motor to one or more loads; and        a gear change mechanism located within the casing and adapted to transmit torque from the rotor to the through shaft at selected gear ratios;        the through shaft being rotationally supported by bearings acting between said shaft and the casing; and        the rotor being rotationally supported by bearings acting between the rotor and the through shaft.
It is to be understood that the aforesaid bearings may act directly between the stated components or indirectly through other components of the transmission.
By supporting the motor rotor on the through shaft rather than in separate bearings to the casing the diameter of the requisite rotor bearings can be reduced. In addition, depending on the gear ratio selected through the gear change mechanism, the speed differential (if any) between the rotor and through shaft will be substantially less than that between the rotor and casing, meaning that the speed rating of the rotor bearings can be reduced accordingly. In these ways the problems of high speed large diameter bearings may be avoided. Furthermore by reducing the number of bearing points in the casing the complexity, mass and cost of the casing and the overall size of the transmission can all be reduced.
In another aspect the invention resides in a drive configuration for a skid steered vehicle comprising:                a respective drive member at each side of the vehicle;        a pair of electric drive transmissions according to the first aspect of the invention;        a controlled differential device located between said transmissions; and        a steer motor coupled to the controlled differential device;        the through shaft of each said transmission being coupled at one end to turn a respective said drive member; and        said through shafts being coupled at their opposite ends to respective sides of the controlled differential device.
It is to be understood that the coupling of the through shafts at either end may be direct to the stated components or indirect through other components of the configuration.
The two said transmissions may share a common casing which also houses components of the controlled differential device.


Nodes include controllers, management servers, and storages. Each of the controllers includes a first mapping table indicating management servers corresponding to logical extents that compose a logical volume that is provided for a host. The management servers include second mapping tables indicating which nodes include storages that store logical extents corresponding to the management servers. The storages include third mapping tables indicating which physical extents of physical volumes included in the storages store the logical extents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage system that is configured by a plurality of nodes including a node having a physical volume. More specifically, the invention relates to a storage system for processing an access request from a host and a method for doing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage system including a plurality of storage devices (e.g., disk storage devices) connected to each other has recently been developed. A storage cluster (storage cluster system) is known as a storage system of this type.
The feature of the storage cluster is as follows. The storage areas (each referred to as a physical volume hereinafter) existing in a plurality of storage devices (each referred to as a node hereinafter) are bound together over the nodes to provide a host with at least one transversal, virtual storage area (referred to as a logical volume hereinafter) over the nodes. Assume here that the volume is referred to as a block volume to be accessed for each block.
The nodes of the storage cluster are storage devices which are operating at all times. In other words, generally, the nodes in operation deliberately participate in/separate from the storage cluster or they suddenly separate therefrom due to their failure. In the storage cluster, there occurs no frequent participation/separation of nodes due to, for example, everyday power-on/power-off.
In the storage cluster, data (a segment of data) is frequently migrated/copied appropriately to the physical volume of a node that stores the data or the physical volume of another node (automatically or manually). The migration/copy of data aims at making the data redundant and improving access performance and reliability while ensuring the transparency of access to a logic volume from the host. The data redundancy is required in case of a sudden stop of any of the nodes that form the storage cluster, a disk failure, or the like.
The host can gain access to the entire logic volume all over a plurality of nodes simply by accessing a node in the storage cluster through a path. Assume here that a failure occurs on a node to which the host extends a path and the node (failed node) stops. In this case, too, if the data stored in the failed node is made redundant to another node (live node) in the storage cluster, the host can extend a path to the live node again and continue access to the logic volume.
In order to configure the above storage cluster, a system is required to manage which position on which physical volume of which node data on a logical volume is located in. In general, the nodes of the storage cluster functionally include controllers and storages. The controllers manage a path to the host and receive access. The host can gain access to the same logical volume even though it extends a path to any controller. The storages each have a physical volume for storing data.
The volume (block volume) includes a plurality of extents. Each of the extents is formed of a set of fixed-length blocks. Each of the nodes manages one physical volume. On the other hand, the controller of each of the nodes manages physical extents of a physical volume and logical extents of a logical volume in association with each other by a mapping table. A logic volume (logic volume space) is therefore configured. The association between the physical extents and the logical extents using the mapping table is disclosed in, for example, Jon. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-62452 (referred to as a prior art document hereinafter).
The above mapping table is called a Logical Extent to Physical Extent Mapping Table (LPMT). The LPMT is used to show which physical extents of the physical volume of which node (storage) logical extents of a logical volume is formed of. Each of the controllers of all the nodes in the storage cluster holds an LMPT of the same content. Each of the nodes manages the entire logical volume using the LPMT. The above is intended to continue access to the same logical volume immediately after a path set between a host and a controller is set between the host and another controller.
As described above, in the prior art storage cluster (storage system), each of the nodes has to manage the entire logical volume by the LPMT. However, the size of the LPMT becomes very large depending on the number of physical volumes and the number of extents that form the physical volumes. Thus, a great number of memories on the controllers are consumed.
A first logical extent stored in, e.g., a first physical extent of a node (referred to as a first node hereinafter) in the storage cluster is migrated to, e.g., a second physical extent of another node (referred to as a second node hereinafter). This migration is performed in order to reduce the load of the storage of, e.g., the first node. As described in the above prior art document, in order to improve the performance of access to the storage of a node, a first logical extent stored in a physical extent of the node is sometimes migrated to another physical extent of the node. This migration can improve the performance of access to the storage cluster and the reliability thereof.
According to the storage cluster described above, in order to improve the performance of access to the storage cluster and the reliability thereof, a logical extent stored in a physical extent is migrated/copied to another physical extent in the same storage or a physical extent in another storage. In this case, the controllers of the storage cluster have to be synchronized with each other to update their own LPMTs at once (simultaneously). The simultaneous updating complicates the management of the LPMT and adversely affects the performance of access to the storage cluster.

Storage system for processing access request from host and method for doing the same


An expert system is described for use in designing a connected collection of components which are available or can be made in different forms, e.g. which can be described by a selected number of variables. The expert system includes a knowledge base and an inference engine. The knowledge base includes records pertaining to constant and variable characteristics of connectable components and rules for combining a component with other components. The inference engine allows selecting a record for a first component, then a record for only those second components which can be connected to the first component, and storing information about the connections.

Many industries are faced with the problem of assembling diverse components into final products which generally are different for each customer or application. For example, in the office furniture business, several manufacturers, including Herman Miller, Steelcase and Westinghouse, offer lines of components which can be interconnected to assemble modules with partitions, writing surfaces, storage, lights, etc., in a nearly infinite variety of different configurations. In some office environments, different modules are assembled to provide work rooms, secretarial stations and offices for all levels of employees.
Another industry facing similar problems is the manufacture of perfusion kits. A perfusion kit is used by doctors during surgery to handle blood outside of the patient's body. A perfusion kit may include an assembly of any of a number of tubes, branch points, valves, needles, injection ports and monitoring options.
A persistent problem in designing and assembling collections of diverse components is the need to keep track of a large number of small components. For example, a typical modular secretarial station might consist of several wall units, multiple filing units, a typewriter surface, a desk, power inputs, lighting, plus numerous fasteners and plates which vary depending whether the module is free standing, adjacent to another module, or between two or more other modules. If a facility has 25 secretarial stations which are essentially identical but have some variations, the number of individual components can be very large. In order to keep track of all of these parts, the industry has developed specifiers or computer programs that facilitate counting how many of each type of component are needed. Some manufacturers distribute current pricing and other information periodically in a computer readable format, which can be read into a specifier to generate a purchase order.
The designer must order enough parts to assemble the modules, the manufacturer or distributor must ship enough parts and the assembly crew must be able to locate the parts to assemble each module. In practice, even with the assistance of a specifier it is difficult to keep track of the large number of discrete parts and industry practice is to order excess basic components, such as fasteners, to be sure enough are on hand to do the final assembly. This is wasteful of resources and adds to the cost of each assembly.
Others have used expert systems for layout and design (see Watanabe et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,651,284 and 4,700,317; Hartsog, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,060) or have sought to develop improved modelling or space planning methods (see Thomson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,780; Aish, U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,449). None of these references teach the present device or method or have been able to produce or manipulate the sophisticated and easily editable assemblies of the present device and method.

Design tool and method for preparing parametric assemblies


The present invention is a new technology for producing images which uses echoes of a single brief signal, or “click”. A “click” is transduced by multiple sensors and then digitally sampled. Digitized signals are computer analyzed for fine details of each rise and fall. The signal details, based on individual instants of time, from the various sensors of a set are referenced to points in space, producing 3D models of echoing objects from set-based entities of information. Mathematical methods of correlation and of Fourier analysis are thus avoided. Many of the methods may also apply to passive sonar as well as multiple other types of waves.

The present invention relates to a method and corresponding apparatus for detecting objects via echoes. The present invention is a process, inspired by dolphins, for making images from echoes. The process is designed to be implemented in computer software but also suggests a compatible geometric arrangement of sensors which may be used in any number of applications. The process, with appropriate adjustments in sensor geometry, can image either telescopically or microscopically.
Most commercial products known in the art for making images from echoes rely on echoes produced by transmitted signals, or "clicks," each of which travels to an echoing object down a path which is narrow in at least one of the two-dimensions of its cross sections; so, the path is either a narrow cone or a narrow fan (e.g. in sonar, an angle of one degree). The angle of a beam and the time of arrival of an echo combine to produce a point in an image. The full image might, thus, require a large multitude of transmitted clicks. By contrast, the present invention utilizes a computer and can make a 3-dimensional image-model from as few as one brief click which can have a broad beam (e.g. can be a cone whose angle of opening is approximately 15 degrees). The angle of the beam can be greater, as there is more computing power, or smaller should the expected environment have more noise.
Another distinguishing aspect of this work is that it uses time-instant based, rather than time-interval based, diffuse methods of analyzing signals and uses these instance-based methods in conjunction with sets of sensors (herein called "scopions") which output sets of signals. Properties of the sets of signals are created, which properties relate to specific points in space.
Prior art (notably in radar) includes instances of a single-transmitter combined with a set of receivers. The new art here is distinguished by how a set of signals from a set of receivers is processed. Prior art uses various forms of time-interval-based, or "diffuse," methods such as found in Fourier analysis and in statistics, correlation for example, while, such methods are absent here.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,245 describes a device which uses a single, broad beam insonifying signal and a multitude of sensors of "ultrasonic" echoes. The signal processing described or referred to in that patent seems to be "diffuse" and not at all of the time-instant form claimed herein. Further, that patent seems to totally miss the possibility of imaging via non-ultrasonic sound. Methods claimed herein can be used up to a range of several miles or more to image large, distant objects via a click whose "period" corresponds to "infrasound," a sound frequency too low for humans to hear.
A ubiquitous thread in this Description is time-constraint. Few applications would be worth the amount of computer time which would be demanded by unlimited application of all the methods claimed herein. This set of methods is sufficiently rich that they can be selected among, some being emphasized more than others, as time and target-situation allow and demand.
Another thread is phantom reduction. The new methods here involve separating "real" associations from the false among signals from several sensors. The false associations might easily greatly outnumber the real. The present invention may also utilize code, exemplifying the methods claimed herein, which rapidly finds most true associations while avoiding, or detecting and eliminating, most phantoms.


Methods and apparatus for removing swarf from machined components are described, in which a component is mounted on support means and the latter is vibrated in a manner to cause the component to be accelerated alternately in one direction and then the other, for a period of time. The acceleration is such as to cause the component to momentarily lift off the support means during at least part of each of the vibrations so as to bounce repetitively on the support means. The latter includes fingers adapted to engage non-critical regions of the components to reduce damage to machined surfaces or distortion of the machined component during vibration. A fluid flushing may precede and/or follow the vibration step. Apparatus for performing the method comprises a table with vibratory drive means fingers upstanding from the table to engage the underside (or apertures in the underside of) a machined component, transfer means for moving a machined component onto the fingers and for moving the component from the fingers after the vibration step, and control means for controlling the operation of the vibratory drive. The apparatus may be in addition to, or form part of, a process line along which machined components progress.

The removal of swarf from machined products is very important since by its nature the material can cause very rapid wear and abrasion or can block coolant and lubricant passageways in an engine or other piece of equipment to which the machined product is fitted.
Conventionally swarf is removed by wash systems in which liquid is injected into and around the machined component so as to dislodge and flush therefrom any swarf and products of the machining process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,155 discloses a wheel around which castings to be shaken of debris are clamped. At spaced angular positions round the rotating wheel vibrating devices 32 include pads pressed against the clamped castings to vibrate them. The castings are not mounted on a support which "generates" the vibration.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,537 describes an arrangement in which an engine block to be shaken of swarf is mounted on a support having resilient pads which locate the block in position. The support is both rotated and shaken during rotation.
In practice, unfortunately, minute traces of swarf have been found to remain in the passageways of a machined casting and it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for supporting and vibrating machined castings such as cylinder heads and engine blocks, for removing swarf therefrom.


A cyclone dust collecting apparatus for a vacuum cleaner includes a first cyclone, a second cyclone disposed inside the first cyclone, and an air guiding member to form an entrance of the second cyclone through which semi-clean air discharged from the first cyclone enters. The air guiding member includes a grill member to have a plurality of holes, and a plurality of guiding blades disposed inside the grill member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a cyclone dust collecting apparatus separating and collecting dust and dirt using centrifugal force.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a vacuum cleaner generates suction force using a motor so as to draw-in air containing dust, dirt and so on (hereinafter, referred to as dust-laden air) from a surface to be cleaned by the suction force. Dust, dirt and so on (hereinafter, referred to as dust) contained in the dust-laden air is separated from the dust-laden air when the dust-laden air passes through a dust collecting apparatus disposed in a cleaner body of the vacuum cleaner, and cleaned air is discharged outside the cleaner body.
Recently, cyclone dust collecting apparatuses have been widely used as a dust collecting apparatus that separates dust from dust-laden air and collects the separated dust. The cyclone dust collecting apparatuses separate dust from dust-laden air using centrifugal force.
The conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus includes an air suction pipe drawing-in dust-laden air, a cyclone body forcing the drawn-in dust-laden air to whirl, and an air discharging pipe discharging air having dust separated.
Therefore, the dust-laden air drawn in through the air suction pipe by suction force forms a whirling air current inside the cyclone body. Then, dust is separated and collected by the centrifugal force caused by the whirling air current, and cleaned air is discharged through the air discharging pipe.
The conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus can easily separate relatively heavy dust from the drawn-in dust-laden air because there is a great difference between the centrifugal forces operating upon each of the relatively heavy dust and the air. However, the conventional cyclone dust collecting apparatus cannot separate fine dust well from the dust-laden air because there is little difference between weights of the fine dust and the air.
To increase the fine dust collecting efficiency, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,748, 4,826,515, and 4,853,008 disclose a multi-cyclone dust collecting apparatus that has two cyclones and forces dust-laden air to whirl in two steps.
Because the conventional multi-cyclone dust collecting apparatus forces the dust-laden air to whirl in two steps, it has a higher fine dust collecting efficiency than the cyclone dust collecting apparatus having one cyclone. However, the conventional multi-cyclone dust collecting apparatus has a problem that a great pressure loss occurs when the dust-laden air is drawn-in from an inner cyclone to an outer cyclone.

Cyclone dust collecting apparatus for vacuum cleaner


Siding panels for mounting on a wall surface. Each siding panel includes a plurality of decorative elements integrally formed with the panel and disposed in at least one row, the decorative elements defining a front face of the siding panel; a top edge disposed above the decorative elements; a plurality of apertures formed in and extending through the siding panel disposed below the top edge and above the decorative elements; a bottom end; a plurality of downwardly depending tabs located on the front face of the siding panel, each tab having a plurality of projections; and an upwardly facing channel formed on a side of the siding panel opposite the front face, the channel configured for receipt of the tabs of an adjacent panel. In one embodiment, there are four rounded projections on each tab. The siding panel includes first and second side edges, and a horizontally extending tab. The first side edge may include a tongue, and the horizontally extending tab may be formed on a rear side forming a groove configured to receive the tongue of an adjacent panel. A feature in one embodiment is for the horizontally extending tab to terminate at a distance from the second side edge. The siding panel may include weep holes located in the channel at the bottom end of the siding panel.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/334,893 filed Oct. 31, 2001, the complete disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to decorative exterior wall coverings, and in particular, to injection molded siding panels having improved integrally formed attachment elements to facilitate easier installation and functional elements to improve the aesthetics and performance of the panels.
Many types of exterior wall panels are currently known and used in the construction and improvement of residual, commercial, industrial and other buildings. Typically, such panels are formed from a lightweight composite plastic material and are manufactured using conventional extrusion molding, injection molding, impression molding or thermoforming processes. Such panels may be formed in various shapes, such as individual elongated sections similar to standard aluminum siding or single panels incorporating one or more rows of individual decorative elements. Individual panels are often connected to other previously installed, identical panels through a vertical attachment and a horizontal attachment by which portions of the panel to be installed overlap portions of previously installed panels.
Some prior known panel designs employ vertical side and horizontal bottom connections that must be viewed and fitted simultaneously by the installer during installation. A problem with these designs is that the installation of such panels is difficult because the installer can only view one connection at a time. Often the installer would attempt to circumvent this problem by first connecting only the vertical side or the horizontal bottom, only to discover that the remaining connection either cannot be attached, or will cause the initial connection to slip out of place.
In addition, many prior known panel designs have both side and bottom connections that require precise fit. Installation of these panels requiring precise connections may be difficult for several reasons. For example, an entire row of connections may have to be attached along the vertical side or horizontal bottom of a panel, necessitating frequent checking and adjusting as the panel is maneuvered into its installed position. Also, this problem may be exacerbated by the need for such panels to overlap in order to conceal their attachment points. Accordingly, the connections may be hidden from the installer as they are attached during installation. The installer may be forced to either position his head in an awkward viewing position near the wall surface when fitting the panel into position, or even to blindly "feel" the panel into position with his hands by fitting each connection without actually viewing the connections as they are attached. In addition, this difficulty can be exacerbated if vertical side and horizontal bottom connections have to be viewed simultaneously when attached as described above.
Further, some prior panels have employed fastener attachments located on the rear of the panels that have no logical relation to reference elements on the front side of the panel. For example, one prior design comprises a series of tabs spaced at intervals on the rear side of the panels that do not correspond to the arrangement of any elements or reference points on the front side. This problem hampers installation because, as described above, those elements are hidden from the installer during installation and the installer cannot, by simply looking at the front of the panel, identify the locations of the attachment elements on the rear of the panel.
Prior known panel designs have also employed connections that lock firmly into place upon attachment. The problem with such a connection is that they are rigid, and cannot accommodate the inevitable movement associated with thermal expansion or the settling of the underlying wall surface after the panels are installed.
Finally, many prior panel designs have been difficult to cut, trim, or otherwise adjust to fit into tight areas along the wall surface, such as within the gable of a roofline or the area surrounding windows and other surface irregularities. Some existing panels may only be cut in certain structurally designated locations without comprising their overall structural integrity. Other panels are made of materials that are difficult to cut, occasionally requiring certain types of saws and saw blades.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a wall panel that is easy to install. It is a further object of the invention that the panel have sound connections, but will readily allow for the expansion and contraction of the panels without compromising the integrity of the connections or adversely affecting the panels. It is also an object of the invention that the panels may be readily installed by a single installer. Another object of the invention is to provide a panel having features to assist in installing the panels around tight areas such as around a window frame. These and other objects of the invention have been accomplished with a decorative wall panels set forth and described below.


This patent relates to a photomask and a method of forming an overlay vernier of a semiconductor device employing the same. The photomask includes a reticle formed of a first material through which light can transmit, a first pattern formed on the reticle and formed of a material through which light cannot transmit, a second pattern having a size smaller than the first pattern, and an auxiliary pattern formed to come in contact with the first pattern and formed of a second material different from the first material of the reticle. Thus, inclination is formed on side portions of the overlay vernier and a thin film may be easily formed on the overlay vernier.

Generally, when fabricating semiconductor devices, a patterning process of forming patterns on a semiconductor substrate is carried out. In this patterning process, a photoresist is first formed on an etching object layer of the semiconductor substrate. An exposure process for exposing the photoresist of regions to be removed is then performed by irradiating light to the photoresist through a photomask or a reticle. A development process is then performed in order to remove the exposed photoresist. Thus, the photoresist patterns are formed on the etching object layer.
Meanwhile, when fabricating a semiconductor device having a stack structure, it is necessary to correct an alignment state between a layer that was formed in a previous process and a layer that is formed in a current process. To this end, the photoresist patterns for forming real patterns and overlay vernier patterns, which are formed using the same photoresist in order to form overlay verniers, are formed over the etching object layer of the semiconductor substrate. Accordingly, when forming the real patterns by etching the etching object layer using the photoresist patterns, the overlay vernier patterns and the etching object layer are etched to form the overlay verniers. Here, the real pattern and the overlay vernier are formed by the same process, so that the overlay vernier has a vertical sidewall like the real pattern.
Typically, the overlay vernier is formed in a size, which is 10 times larger than that of the real pattern, and is formed independently.
The vertical sidewall of the overlay vernier may cause difficulties in a subsequent process of forming a thin film on the etching object layer over which the real patterns and the overlay verniers are formed. The real pattern has a small pattern size and a narrow gap therebetween. Hence, although the real pattern has a vertical sidewall, the thin film can be formed on the real pattern easily since the thin film is formed in a space between the real patterns. However, an overlay vernier makes it difficult to form the thin film on the sidewalls of the overlay pattern since it has a large pattern size and does not have neighboring patterns.
FIG. 2 is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) photograph of an overlay vernier formed according to the prior art. A side portion of an overlay vernier (indicated by "A") is formed vertically and has a steep step, which gives damage to a thin film (indicated by "B") formed on the overlay vernier. In this case, the degree of overlay accuracy when a lower layer is overlapped with an upper layer can be low or impossible to properly overlap the layers in the process.

Photomask and method of forming overlay vernier of semiconductor device using the same


A semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same includes forming a via pattern having a matrix form in a dielectric layer. The via pattern includes a via slit provided at the center of the via pattern and a plurality of via holes provided at an outer periphery of the via pattern and surrounding the via slit. Metal plugs are formed in the via holes.

Fluorine, which is used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, serves to lower a dielectric constant of a thin oxidized layer and restrict an RC time constant delay. This contributes to improvement in the operating speed of a semiconductor device. However, fluorine has a serious effect on the surroundings structure due to its strong reactivity and diffusion and therefore, requires sufficient capping to prevent the above effect. If fluorine deviates from a use region thereof and is exposed to surrounding metals or transistors or the like, it may shift the transistors or cause defects of the transistors due to strong reactivity thereof. Accordingly, diffusion of fluorine may have a serious negative effect on the performance of a semiconductor device due to causing corrosion of surrounding metals. In particular, when fluorine is exposed to metal, metal corrosion or blistering occurs, causing serious deterioration in the production yield and reliability of a semiconductor device.
FIGS. 1A to 1F illustrate depictions explaining blistering generated upon fabrication of a semiconductor device. FIG. 1A illustrates the appearance of a wafer on and/or over which a semiconductor device having a via pattern is formed. FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of FIG. 1A illustrating blisters 10. FIG. 1C is an enlarged view of FIG. 1B illustrating the blisters 10. FIG. 1D is an enlarged view of FIG. 1C illustrating the blisters 10. FIG. 1E is a sectional view of the semiconductor device shown in FIG. 1D. In addition, it will be appreciated from FIG. 1F which is an enlarged view of FIG. 1E that blisters 12 occur above vias 14. The blisters 12 further seriously occur at a region where via patterns are densely formed. More specifically, if fluorine escapes from an interlayer dielectric layer and attacks the surroundings, the blisters 12 occur.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of a via pattern produced by a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device. FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of FIG. 2A. Referring to FIG. 2B, in a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, neighboring vias 14 of a via pattern are spaced apart from each other by a constant distance. Accordingly, when the vias 14 are densely formed, blisters may occur.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same


A pneumatic radial ply tire 100 for use on aircraft has a radial reinforced carcass 20 having at least one axially inner ply 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D of textile cords 21 wound around a pair of bead cores 33. The improved bead structure 30 has a flipper 50 having an axially inner leg LI and axially outer leg LE. The ends LI, LE of the flippers 50 are above the bead core height Bh and below the apex A of an elastomeric strip 40 satisfying the relation Bh<LE<0.7 D and Bh<LI<0.7 D. Additionally, the tire carcass 20 has at least one axially outer ply 2E, 2F of textile cords 21 extending from bead 30 to bead 30 along the turn-ups 20A, 20B, 20C and 20D of the axially inner plies 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D. The plies 21 are closely spaced along the natural ply path.

The radial carcass reinforcements of such tires generally comprise several plies of textile cords, which are anchored in each bead to at least one bead wire and generally have a single bead wire. The reinforcing elements of these reinforcements are wound around said bead wire from the inside to the outside, forming turn-ups, the respective ends of which are spaced radially from the axis of rotation of the tire. The severe conditions under which airplane tires are used are such that the life of the beads is short, particularly in the area of the turn-ups of the carcass reinforcement.
A substantial improvement in performance is obtained by the separating of the plies of the carcass reinforcement into two groups. The first group comprises the plies of the carcass reinforcement which are axially towards the inside in the region of the beads, these plies being then wound around a bead wire in each bead from the inside to the outside of the tire. The second group is formed of at least one axially outer ply in the region of the beads, which ply is generally wound around the bead wire from the outside to the inside of the tire. Such arrangements are known; for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,414.
The life of beads formed in this manner can be improved by the presence in each bead of an additional reinforcement ply, wound around the bead wire and thus forming an axially outer leg and an axially inner leg, said reinforcement ply, also known as an inner flipper, being the ply closest to the rubber filler, radially above the anchoring bead wire. A tire structure of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,835. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,982, the life of the beads of airplane tires can be further improved, particularly when they are subjected to heavy overloads which can result in a crushing of the order of 50% and more of their height, by having the arrangement of the ends of the turned-up portions or turn-ups of the inner carcass plies and the ends of the legs of the inner flipper with respect to the radial position of the radially upper end of the rubber filler located above the anchoring bead wire and the filler.
In accordance with that invention, an airplane tire, inflated to a high pressure, having a tread, a crown reinforcement, and a radial carcass reinforcement comprising at least two axially inner plies of textile cords wound around a bead wire in each bead from the inside to the outside forming turn-ups and at least one axially outer ply of textile cords superimposed on the inner plies below the crown reinforcement and along the turn-ups in said beads, said bead wire being radially surmounted by a filler of vulcanized rubber mix, having the shape substantially of a triangle, the apex of which radially furthest from the axis of rotation is at a distance D from a straight line parallel to said axis, passing through the geometrical center of the circle circumscribed on the cross-section of the anchoring bead wire, known as the reference line, and also comprising at least one inner flipper wound around the bead wire to form an axially inner leg and an axially outer leg which are axially adjacent to the filler above the bead wire, characterized by the fact that the end of the axially outer leg of the inner flipper is located at a radial distance LE from the reference line such that LE is between 0.40 D and 0.80 D; the end of the turn-up of the inner carcass ply arranged axially furthest to the inside is located at a distance HA from the reference line such that HA is between 0.15 D and 0.50 D, and by the fact that the ends respectively of the inner leg of the inner flipper and of the turn-ups of the inner carcass ply or plies which are axially furthest to the outside.
While this construction is durable, it limits the number of carcass plies that can be provided in the bead area and the extended length of the flipper means that the outer plies being turned down around the bead and the inner plies are spaced from the natural ply path of the tire in the region of the flipper. This spacing, while believed desirable, results in one less ply being available in the structure and in the case of very large aircraft the tire structure ideally may require the use of another ply which is effectively precluded by the use of the extend length flipper.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a lightweight efficient tire structure having superb durability.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved bead structure wherein the use of inside turn-up plies and outside turndown plies is optimized by the placing of the plies close to the natural ply path.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Aircraft tire with improved bead structure


The invention concerns a method and an apparatus (10) for treatment of water (26) to be injected into a subsea injection well, the apparatus (10) being disposed in water overlying the well, preferably on a water bed (12). The invention is characterized in that the apparatus (10) contains at least one receptacle (38, 40, 46, 48, 50) provided with at least one water-soluble solid-state chemical (42, 52, 54, 56) for treatment of the injection water (26). The water (26) is brought into contact with the at least one chemical (42, 52, 54, 56), causing it to gradually dissolve and mix with the water (26), after which treated water (26′) is led into an injection stream to the injection well.

In order to recover crude oil from offshore installations, large investments are required. The largest, simplest and/or most productive petroleum reservoirs therefore are most profitable to develop and produce. Many smaller, more complex and/or less productive reservoirs, however, are considered to be marginal, inasmuch as they are economically unattractive, and they therefore remain untouched. This is unfortunate.
When assessing the economic viability of a hydrocarbon reservoir, many factors are considered, including prior art available for development and recovery of the petroleum resource. Many marginal reservoirs are considered insufficiently cost-effective due to prior art techniques providing inadequate performance and/or poor technical efficiency and/or an unacceptable technical extent. Innovations in such technical fields, however, may open for profitable recovery of such marginal hydrocarbon reservoirs, but they may also increase the recovery factor and the profitability of existing production facilities.

Method and apparatus for treatment of water for an injection well


An apparatus and methods are provided for metering explosive fluid. The apparatus preferably has an explosive fluid distribution pipe for distributing explosive fluid and an explosive fluid meter in fluid communication with the explosive fluid delivery pipe. The explosive fluid meter preferably includes a housing and an explosive fluid metering device positioned within the housing for metering explosive fluid. The explosive fluid metering device includes a rotatably mounted shaft rotatable responsive to explosive fluid being distributed from the explosive fluid distribution pipe. An immune data converter is positioned within the housing of the explosive fluid meter and is connected to the rotatably mounted shaft for converting the rotation of the shaft into optical data communication.

Over the years, explosive fluid distribution, e.g., petroleum based fuels, chemicals, gases, has expanded nationally and internationally so that trucks, trains, boats, and various other transportation systems transport explosive fluid to and from explosive fluid distribution centers and customers. For example, one problem that continues to remain with fuel distribution systems, however, is that because various fuels are combustible the fuel distribution environments remain potentially explosive. This potential explosiveness, for example, can result from explosive fluid fumes, explosive fluid residue, or the explosive fluid itself igniting when exposed to electric sparks or intense heat. Accordingly, to address this risk, the explosive fluid distribution industry has designed systems over the years to be primarily mechanical in nature and to be heavily insulated from potentially explosive scenarios.
Nevertheless, like many other industries, the explosive fluid or fuel distribution industries also have a need to be automated so that explosive fluid or fuel distribution can more accurately be planned, tracked, and controlled. If electric components are added to explosive fluid distribution systems, however, electric sparks are always a potential occurrence which many companies do not want to risk. Adding heavily insulated electrical equipment to an existing explosive fluid distribution system such as a fuel meter, however, can be expensive, complex, and quite burdensome to existing fuel meter owners. Also, the noise and other interference from an industrial environment can make tracking and controlling these systems difficult.

Explosive fluid metering apparatus having immune data converter and method of metering explosive fluid distribution

Management and Report Technologies, Inc.


The invention provides a bifurcated endoluminal prosthetic assembly. The assembly includes a trunk body including a body lumen and at least one access port. At least one branch body is positioned adjacent the access port. The branch body includes a branch lumen in communication with the body lumen. The assembly further includes a ring including at least one connector operably attached to the branch body. The ring is sized to operably engage the trunk body. The ring retains the branch body adjacent the access port. The invention further provides a method of retaining a branch body adjacent a bifurcated endoluminal prosthetic assembly. A ring operably attached to the branch body is compressed. The ring is positioned within the endoluminal prosthetic assembly. The compressed ring is expanded into operable engagement with the endoluminal prosthetic assembly.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) represent one of the most common types of aneurysms and result in about 15,000 deaths annually in the United States. An aneurysm is produced when a thinning or weak spot in a vessel wall dilates eventually posing a health risk from its potential to rupture, clot, or dissect. An aneurysm frequently occurs in arteries, but may also form in veins. The etiology of aneurysm formation is not entirely understood, but is thought to be related to congenital thinning of the artery, atherosclerotic vessel degeneration, vessel trauma, infection, smoking, high blood pressure, and other causes leading to vessel degeneration. Left untreated, AAA may lead to gradual vessel expansion, thrombus formation leading to stroke or other vessel blockage, vessel rupture, shock, and eventual death.
AAA are generally localized on long abdominal aortic sections below the renal arteries and oftentimes extend into one or both of the iliac arteries. The aneurysm may begin with a small vessel distension that progressively enlarges at a variable and unpredictable rate. An AAA may enlarge at an average rate of about 0.3-0.5 cm per year. The AAA may continue to enlarge in a silent fashion until a catastrophic event, such as a rupture, occurs. The best predictor of rupture risk is size, wherein rupture is relatively uncommon in AAA less than 5 cm. Once reaching about 8 cm, however, there is about a 75 percent chance of rupture within a year. Besides rupture, another risk of AAA is thrombus dissection. As the vessel enlarges, a thrombus may develop in the aneurysm due to perturbations in blood flow dynamics. Pieces of the clot may eventually loosen and carry away, eventually forming blockages in the legs, lungs, or brain.
AAA are most commonly treated in open surgical procedures, where the diseased vessel segment is bypassed and repaired with an artificial vascular graft. While considered to be an effective surgical technique, particularly considering the alternative of the usually fatal ruptured AAA, conventional vascular graft surgery suffers from a number of disadvantages. The surgical procedure is complex and requires experienced surgeons and well equipped surgical facilities. Even with the best surgeons and equipment, patients suffering from such aneurysms are often elderly and weakened from cardiovascular and other diseases. This factor reduces the number of patients eligible for surgery. Even for eligible patients prior to rupture, conventional aneurysm repair has a relatively high mortality rate, usually from 2 to 10%. Morbidity related to the conventional surgery includes myocardial infarction, renal failure, impotence, paralysis, and other conditions. Even with successful surgery, recovery takes several weeks and often requires a lengthy hospital stay.
To overcome some of the drawbacks associated with open surgery, a variety of endovascular prosthesis placement techniques have been proposed. Without the need for open abdominal surgery, patient complications and recovery time may be significantly reduced. One endovascular AAA repair technique involves a tubular prosthesis deployed by remote insertion through a femoral artery. The prosthesis may include a synthetic graft sheath body supported by an expandable structure such as a stent. The stent may be self-expanding or balloon-expanding and typically is the means for anchoring the prosthesis to the vessel wall. The stent-graft prosthesis acts as a shunt to carry blood flow from a healthy portion of the aorta, through the aneurysm, and into one or both of the iliac artery branches. The prosthesis excludes any thrombus present in the aneurysm while providing mechanical reinforcement of the weakened vessel reducing the risk of dissection and rupture, respectively.
A number of endovascular AAA stent-graft prosthesis designs are known. For aneurysms proximal to the iliac arteries, many of the designs utilize bifurcated structures. Bifurcated stent-graft prostheses generally have a trunk portion with a relatively large lumen deployed in the aorta, and first and second branch portions with smaller branch lumens deployed within each of the iliac arteries. The deployed trunk and branch portions preferably seal to each other and to the healthy vascular walls beyond the aneurysm to isolate the aneurysm from the bloodstream. Advantageously, the aortic blood flow enters the trunk prosthetic lumen, is separated into the two branch prosthetic lumens, and then flows into each of the iliac arteries in a path that approximates that of a normal, healthy vascular system.
A variety of minimally invasive techniques have been suggested for deployment of these bifurcated prostheses, including in situ assembly of multiple prosthetic modules. The primary stent-graft module may include a trunk, a first branch, and a shortened branch. A secondary stent-graft module may include a second branch for operable attachment to the shortened branch of the primary module. In a number of stent graft designs, the second stent-graft module is operably attached by slipping onto or into the shortened branch thereby providing a length of surface overlap. Frictional forces between the overlapping surfaces usually prevent the second branch from detaching from the primary stent-graft module.
Endovascular deployment and assembly of the multiple prosthetic modules may begin whereby the primary stent-graft module is deployed by catheter through a vessel, such as the femoral artery. The trunk may be positioned and attached to the aorta while the first branch may extend into a single iliac artery. The shortened branch may be oriented toward the contralateral, or alternate, iliac artery. The second branch may then be deployed by catheter through the contralateral iliac to the shortened branch of the primary module. The second branch may be operably attached to the shortened branch thereby completing assembly of the continuous bifurcated prosthetic lumen. Such deployment of the second branch can be very straightforward, and in situ assembly of bifurcated prostheses appears to hold significant promise for many abdominal aortic aneurysm patients.
One shortcoming associated with the multi-module prosthetic stent-graft relates to module separation. The AAA may vary widely in location, size, and the distended shape of the aneurysm itself. Particularly after treatment, the aneurysm and associated vessels may drastically change morphology thereby exerting stress forces on the deployed stent-graft. A significant amount of stress may be exerted on the joint between the shortened branch and second branch. With sufficient change in aneurysm morphology and subsequent stress placed on the joint, the module pieces may separate. The patient may have to undergo another treatment given the problem is detected early. Undetected module separation may lead to continued leakage, aneurysm regrowth, and even the more serious problems associated with AAA. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to prevent separation of the stent-graft modules.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a bifurcated endoluminal prosthesis including improved contralateral branch docking that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.

Bifurcated endoluminal prosthetic assembly and method


A method for manufacturing a ferroelectric memory device includes the steps of forming an active element on a substrate; forming an interlayer dielectric film on the substrate; forming a contact hole in the interlayer dielectric film; forming, in the contact hole, a contact plug that conductively connects to the active element; reacting trimethyl aluminum with the contact plug; applying an oxidation treatment to the contact plug reacted with the trimethyl aluminum; applying an ammonium plasma treatment to the contact plug treated with the oxidation treatment; forming a film of conductive material having a self-orientation property to form a conductive layer on the contact plug treated with the ammonium plasma treatment; and laminating a first electrode, a ferroelectric layer and a second electrode above the conductive layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a ferroelectric memory device.
2. Related Art
A ferroelectric memory device (FeRAM) is a nonvolatile memory that is capable of low-voltage and high-speed operation, and its memory cell can be composed with one transistor and one capacitor (1T/1C). Accordingly, ferroelectric memory devices can be integrated to the level of integration of DRAMs, and therefore are highly expected as large-capacity nonvolatile memories.
In order for a ferroelectric capacitor composing a ferroelectric memory device to exhibit its ferroelectric characteristics to the full, the crystal orientation of each layer composing the ferroelectric capacitor is very important. Japanese laid-open patent application JP-A-2000-277701 is an example of related art.

Method for manufacturing ferroelectric memory device


The present invention discloses a time/wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (TWPON), which has an optical splitter (21) and a waveguide grating router (WGR) (22) disposed at a remote node (RN) (20). The optical splitter (21) and the WGR (22) can be connected in a cascade or in a parallel such that the present invention can use less number of wavelengths to increase transmission capacity or increase the number of users. A channel fault monitoring (CFM) module provided at an optical line terminal (OLT) is utilized to locate fiber breaks among distribution fibers. The TWPON of the present invention can provide TDM-PON, WDM-PON, and Hybrid PON co-existing platform with less wavelengths channel fault monitoring mechanism.

Generally, a passive optical network comprises an optical line terminal (OLT), a remote node (RN), and a plurality of optical network units (ONUs). A terminal such as a personal computer (PC) is connected to the ONU and the ONU will transform a signal transmitted from the terminal into an optical signal. The optical signal is split by an optical splitter at the RN and then transmitted to a central office (CO) of a service provider, i.e., the aforesaid OLT, through an optical fiber. After the OLT performs various types of signal processing, communication between one ONU and another ONU or communication between the ONU and another terminal on network can be carried out.
Currently, an optical access network can be classified into a time-division multiplexed passive optical network (TDM-PON), a wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON), and a hybrid passive optical network (Hybrid PON).
For TDM-PON, 10G-PON was accomplished and standardized in 2010 and next generation will be 40G-PON or 100G-PON. For 10G-PON, each concurrent user can have 10/N Gb/s bandwidth in average, where N is the number of ONUs. In another aspect, the WDM-PON is not standardized yet. Current technology can offer each user with 1.25 to 10 Gb/s bandwidth. The WDM-PON is a virtual point-to-point topology, which needs a pair of transceivers at the OLT for each ONU.
The TDM-PON structure may not serve the needs when the demand for larger bandwidth is increased. This is because it might be more difficult in system design and costly to use higher speed transceivers that are required in 40G-PON or 100G-PON. Especially, it might require burst mode transceivers for higher data rate. Also, power budget might be a problem. It may need avalanche photo-diode (APD) receivers, forward error correction (FEC) encoders, or optical amplifiers at the OLT or even at the ONUs. Further, it may eventually need to use cooled laser sources to avoid signal fluctuation caused by temperature variation.
The advantages of the WDM-PON structure is that it has larger bandwidth and gives much flexibility for different types of services and different bandwidths, and at the same time has better security. However, the WDM-PON structure is costly. If services are provided to N users, N dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) transceivers and N colorless ONU light sources are needed at the OLT. However, the DWDM transceivers and colorless light sources are still quite expensive. In addition, different wavelength bands may be needed for upstream and downstream transmission. For example, assuming that the channel spacing is 0.8 nm and the structure is designed to provide for 32 users, the total optical bandwidth in use is required to be 51.2 nm, and this occupies a quite large optical bandwidth.
Further, for the channel fault monitoring (CFM) issues for TDM-PON, special high-sensitivity OTDR (optical time-domain reflectometer) such as a photon-counting OTDR needs to be used for the monitoring due to large splitting loss of the optical splitter at the RN. Meanwhile, it is also proposed to add optical filters or wavelength-selective reflectors (e.g., fiber Bragg gratings, FBG) to the distribution fibers and use tunable OTDR (T-OTDR) to locate fiber breaks among the distribution fibers. The tunable OTDR is relatively high in cost and the use of the tunable OTDR requires a larger optical bandwidth for the channel monitoring.
For the channel fault monitoring issues for WDM-PON, a large optical bandwidth for the channel fault monitoring is needed because it requires an OTDR with a tunable light source or a broadband light source to reach each distribution fiber due to the wavelength selective characteristic of the WGR at the RN. For example, assuming that the channel spacing is 0.8 nm and the WDM-PON structure is designed to provide for 32 ONUs, the required optical bandwidth for the channel fault monitoring is 25.6 nm besides the possible 51.2 nm bandwidth for the upstream and downstream transmission. Optical bandwidth might be very tight if more service channels (e.g., video, audio, or radio over fiber (RoF)) are going to be added to the WDM-PON structure.
In addition, Hybrid PON generally has following two types: (1) cascading WDM-PON with a TDM-PON for extended services to more users and/or longer distance with an extended box; (2) connecting WDM-PON and TDM-PON in parallel to provide both point-to-point (i.e., WDM) and broadcasting (i.e., TDM) services.

Time/wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical network (TWPON)

NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A method of responding to failures in a tiered storage system is provided. The method includes (a) rebuilding a set of failed storage extents belonging to a first storage tier; (b) receiving a notification that a particular storage extent has failed while rebuilding the set of failed storage extents belonging to the first tier; and (c) upon determining that the particular storage extent belongs to a second storage tier that has a higher priority than does the first storage tier: (1) pausing rebuilding the set of failed storage extents belonging to the first storage tier, (2) rebuilding the particular storage extent, and (3) resuming rebuilding the set of failed storage extents belonging to the first storage tier after rebuilding the particular storage extent. An apparatus, system, and computer program product for performing a similar method are also provided.

A data storage system is an arrangement of hardware and software that typically includes one or more storage processors coupled to an array of non-volatile data storage devices, such as magnetic disk drives, electronic flash drives, and/or optical drives. The storage processors service host input/output (I/O) operations received from host machines. The received I/O operations specify storage objects (e.g. logical disks or "LUNs") that are to be written to, read from, created, or deleted. The storage processors run software that manages incoming I/O operations and that performs various data processing tasks to organize and secure the host data received from the host machines and stored on the non-volatile data storage devices.
Many conventional data storage appliances use RAID (redundant array of independent disks) arrangements to store large volumes of data across numerous physical storage drives. As is known, RAID systems typically store data redundantly so that data loss can be avoided even if one (or sometimes more) of the storage drives fail unexpectedly.
Some data storage appliances provide extra storage drives, which are reserved as "hot spares" in case one or more storage drives in a RAID system fail. In the event of a drive failure, the contents of the failed drive can be "rebuilt" onto a spare drive, e.g., by reconstructing data from the failed drive using data from the remaining drives. Once all the recovered data has been written to the spare drive, the RAID array can resume operation at its designed level of redundancy.

Prioritized rebuilding of extents in multiple tiers


An optical three-dimensional profilometry method in which are recorded SPECKLE images formed by the interference, due to different optical paths, of the rays reflected/diffused by a rough object and the rays generated by a beam source. The method presents a number of processing steps including the steps of digitizing a first SPECKLE image, modifying the optical path difference, and digitizing a second SPECKLE image recorded after modifying the optical path difference. The difference in the modulus of the corresponding pixels of the first and second digitized images is determined to generate a difference image which is subsequently analyzed. A first arbitrary value is assigned to all the difference image pixels exceeding a given threshold value, and a second arbitrary value is assigned to all the difference image pixels of a value below the threshold. The binary image so generated is processed to generate an artificial image in which all the binary image pixels equal to the second arbitrary value are assigned a zero value, and all the binary image pixels equal to the first arbitrary value are assigned a current processing step value. The processing steps are repeated cyclically for a predetermined number of steps to generate a depth map presenting a number of pixels. Each pixel represents a grey level corresponding to the last processing step in which the threshold was exceeded. The depth map contains three-dimensional information relative to the profile of the rough object under examination.

The present invention relates to an optical three-dimensional profilometry method based on processing SPECKLE images in partially coherent light, and to an interferometer implementing such a method.
When laser sources first came into use in the 60's, a curious phenomenon, known as the SPECKLE effect, was observed, and which is produced when the surface of an object of a roughness comparable with the wavelength of visible light (450-700 nm) is illuminated by a beam of coherent light, in which case, the surface of the object presents a granular appearance of randomly distributed light and dark speckles. The SPECKLE effect is caused by multiple interference of the rays reflected by the object, which present randomly distributed phases due to the roughness comparable with the wavelength; and theoretical analysis of the effect is extremely complex, mainly due to the statistic characteristics of the roughness of the object and the coherence properties of the light employed.
As the statistic distribution of the light intensity of a SPECKLE image is not directly related to the microscopic structure of the rough surface generating the image, traditional interferometry techniques are of no avail for determining the profile of the object.

Optical three-dimensional profilometry method based on processing SPECKLE images in partially coherent light, and interferometer implementing such a method


The technology described herein is directed to methods of treating and diagnosing bronchial premalignant lesions, e.g. by determining the lesion subtype using one or more biomarkers described herein.

Lung squamous cell cancer develops from non-cancerous lesions in the airway known as bronchial premalignant lesions. The presence of persistent or progressive dysplastic bronchial premalignant lesions is a marker of increased lung cancer risk both at the lesion site (where they are the presumed precursors of squamous cell lung cancer) and elsewhere in the lung. Not all bronchial premalignant lesions progress to invasive cancer, and those that do, progress at variable rates with variable outcomes. At present, there are no tools available in the clinic to identify which lesions will progress to cancer and which will not. Additionally, the current technology for detecting bronchial premalignant lesions is via autofluorescence and white-light bronchoscopy. A bronchoscopy procedure is invasive and is only moderately sensitive and specific at detecting small bronchial premalignant lesions as it requires visualization of the lesions. Finally, to date, the only treatment for bronchial premalignant lesions is to remove the lesions via surgery or bronchoscopy.

Methods related to bronchial premalignant lesion severity and progression


A semiconductor non-volatile memory device, particularly a flash memory array, having a chip configuration with a plurality of pins including a write protect pin, a serial in pin and an optional parallel data bus with input-output pins (I/O7-0), plus other pins, all electrically communicating with the memory array and particularly a sector protection register of variable size and location. The sector protection register defines which sectors or group of sub-sectors to protect and is controlled by the use of commands via the serial in pin or the optional input-output pins. The sector protection may be selectably controlled by either use of a signal to the write protect pin or use of commands via the serial in pin or the optional input-output pins to the command and control logic. A logic circuit instantly determines whether the write protect pin or the commands are controlling the sector protection.

In certain flash non-volatile memories of the prior art, it has been customary to provide a "write protect" pin associated with a memory chip package to prevent program and erase operations to certain locations, such as a boot block sector. A sector in a flash memory device is simply a partition of the memory array itself. Flash memory devices are comprised of an array of memory cells grouped into a series of rows and columns. Each row contains a number of memory cells that represent a number of bytes. Most flash memory arrays are arranged so that a number of rows are then grouped into sectors or blocks in which each sector or block contains thousands of bytes (kilobytes).
It is common for a flash memory array to be divided into several sectors, and in some flash memory devices, the size of the sectors will vary from one another. For example, an 8 megabit device may incorporate a sector arrangement of a single 32 kilobyte sector, eight 4 kilobyte sectors, a single 64 kilobyte sector, and seven 128 kilobyte sectors. In a particular system design, the first sector in the array, the 32 kilobyte sector, may be allocated to store boot code, while the smaller 4 kilobyte sectors may be allocated for configuration data and parameter storage. Some of the larger sectors in the array may be used to store the system's main program code with the remaining sectors allocated for user data storage.
In many system design, it is desirable to protect some of these sectors against unintentional or malicious program and erase operations. In the example described above, the sectors storing the boot code, the configuration data, and the main program code would most likely need to be protected. If any of these sectors were to be inadvertently erased or programmed with erroneous information, then the system would not function properly. The sectors allocated for user data storage are less critical and would not have an impact on the basic system operation if they were erased and reprogrammed, so they would most likely not need to be protected.
Previously defined methods for write protection schemes have been limited in their flexibility and function. An object of the invention was to provide a write protection method for a non-volatile memory device that is much more versatile and flexible than previously existed.

Selectable block protection for non-volatile memory


Methods for the stereospecific synthesis of chirally pure organophosphorus dinucleotide derivatives and nucleoside monomer synthons used in their synthesis are provided. These methods allow for conversion of nucleoside intermediates of unchosen sense of P-chirality to nucleoside monomer synthons of chosen sense of P-chirality. Also provided are novel nucleoside intermediates useful in such methods.

It is well known that most of the bodily states in animals, including disease states, are effected by proteins. Such proteins, either acting directly or through their enzymatic functions contribute to many disease states in animals and man.
Classical therapeutics have generally focused upon interactions with such proteins in an effort to moderate their disease causing or disease potentiating functions. Recently, however, attempts have been made to moderate the biosynthesis of such proteins by interactions with the molecules (i.e. intercellular RNA) that direct their synthesis. These interactions have involved the hybridization of complementary "antisense" oligonucleotides or certain analogs thereof to RNA. Hybridization refers to the sequence-specific hydrogen bonding of oligonucleotides or oligonucleotide analogs to RNA or DNA. When hybridization occurs biosynthesis of proteins can be interrupted. This interference with the production of proteins, has been expected to effect therapeutic results with maximum effect and minimal side effects. Oligonucleotide analogs may also be utilized to moderate the production of proteins by a similar mechanism.
The pharmacological activity of antisense oligonucleotides and oligonucleotide analogs, like other therapeutics, depends on a number of factors that influence the effective concentration of these agents at specific intercellular targets. One important factor for oligonucleotides is the stability of the species in the presence of nucleases. It is rather unlikely that unmodified oligonucleotides will be useful therapeutic agents because they are rapidly degraded by nucleases. Modifications of oligonucleotides to render them resistant to nucleases therefore are greatly desired.
Modifications of oligonucleotides to enhance nuclease resistance have generally taken place on the phosphorus atom of the sugar-phosphate backbone. Phosphorothioates, methyl phosphonates, phophoramidates, and phosphorotriesters have been reported to confer various levels of nuclease resistance. However, phosphate-modified oligonucleotides of this type generally have suffered from inferior hybridization properties (Cohen, J. S., ed. Oligonucleotides: Antisense Inhibitors of Gene Expression, CRC Press, Inc. Boca Raton Fla., 1989)
Another key factor is the ability of antisense compounds to traverse the plasma membrane of specific cells involved in the disease process. Cellular membranes consist of lipid-protein bilayers that are easily permeable to small, nonionic, lipophilic compounds yet inherently impermeable to most natural metabolites and therapeutic agents (Wilson, D. B. Ann. Rev. Biochem. 47:933, 1978) The biological and antiviral effects of natural and modified oligonucleotides in cultured mammalian cells have been well documented. Thus, it appears that these agents can penetrate membranes to reach their intercellular targets. Uptake of antisense compounds by a variety of mammalian cells including HL-60, Syrian Hamster fibroblast, U937, L929, CV-1 and ATH8 cells, have been studied using natural oligonucleotides and certain nuclease resistant analogs, such as alkyl triesters (Miller P. S. et al., Biochem. 16:1988, 1977); methylphosphonates (Marcus-Sekura, C. H. et al., Nuc. Acids Res. 15:5749, 1987; Miller P. S. et al., Biochem. 16:1988, 1977; and Loke S. K. et al., Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 141:282, 1988).
Modified oligonucleotides and oligonucleotide analogs may be less readily internalized than their natural counterparts. As a result, the activity of many previously available antisense oligonucleotides have not been sufficient for practical therapeutic, research or diagnostic purposes. Two other deficiencies recognized by the prior art are that many of the previously designed oligonucleotide antisense therapeutics hybridize less efficiently to intercellular RNA and lack the defined chemical or enzyme-mediated event to terminate essential RNA function.
Modifications to enhance the effectiveness of the antisense oligonucleotides and overcome these problems have taken many forms. These modifications include base ring modifications, sugar moiety modifications, and sugar-phosphate backbone modifications. Prior sugar-phosphate backbone modifications, particularly on the phosphorus atom, have effected various levels of resistance to nucleases. However, while the ability of an antisense oligonucleotide to bind with fidelity to specific DNA or RNA is fundamental to antisense methodology, modified phosphorus oligonucleotides have generally suffered from inferior hybridization properties.
Replacement of the phosphorus atom has been an alternative approach in attempting to avoid the problems associated with modification on the prochiral phosphate moiety. Some modifications in which replacement of the phosphorus atom has been achieved are discussed by Matteucci, (Tetrahedron Letters 31:2385, 1990), wherein replacement of the phosphorus atom with a methylene group is limited by available methodology which does not provide for uniform insertion of the formacetal linkage throughout the backbone, and its instability, making it unsuitable for use; Cormier, (Nuc. Acids Res. 16:4583, 1988), wherein replacement of the phosphorus moiety with a diisopropylsilyl moiety is limited by methodology, solubility of the homopolymers and hybridization properties; Stirchak (J. Org. Chem. 52:4202, 1987), wherein replacement of the phosphorus linkage by short homopolymers containing carbamate or morpholino linkages is limited by methodology, the solubility of the resulting molecule, and hybridization properties; Mazur (Tetrahedron 40:3949, 1984), wherein replacement of the phosphorus linkage with a phosphonic linkage has not been developed beyond the synthesis of a homotrimer molecule; and Goodrich (Bioconj. Chem. 1:165, 1990) wherein ester linkages are enzymatically degraded by esterases and are therefore unsuitable to replace the phosphate bond in antisense applications.
Another key factor are the stereochemical effects that arise in oligomers having P-chiral centers. In general, an oligomer with a length of n nucleosides will constitute a mixture of 2.sup.n-1 isomers in successive non-stereospecific chain synthesis.
It has been observed that Rp and Sp homochiral chains, whose absolute configuration at all internucleotide methanephosphonate phosphorus atoms is either Rp or Sp, and non-stereoregular chains show different physicochemical properties as well as different capabilities of forming adducts with oligonucleotides of complementary sequence. In addition, phosphorothioate analogs of nucleotides have shown substantial stereoselectivity differences between Oligo-Rp and Oligo-Sp oligonucleotides in resistance to nucleases activity (Potter, Biochemistry, 22:1369, 1983; Bryant et al., Biochemistry, 18:2825, 1979).
Lesnikowski (Nucl. Acids Res., 18:2109, 1990 observed that diastereomerically pure octathymidine methylphosphonates, in which six out of seven methylphosphonate bonds have defined configuration at the phosphorus atom when complexed with the matrix of pentadecadeoxyriboadenylic acid show substantial differences in melting temperatures. The Oligonucleotide compounds with predetermined configuration at the phosphorus atom, used in these studies, were prepared by the stereocontrolled process between the 5'-hydroxyl nucleoside group activated by means of the Grignard's reagent, and the diastereomerically pure nucleoside p-nitrophenylmethylphosphonate (Lesnikowski et al., Nucl. Acids Res., 18:2109, 1990; Lesnikowski et al., Nucleosides & Nucleotides, 10:773, 1991; Lesnikowski, Nucl. Acids Res., 16:11675, 1988). This method, however, requires long reaction time, and has been verified only in the case of the synthesis of tetramer homothymidine fragments and heteromeric hexamers.
Attempts to prepare diastereomerically pure oligomethylphosphonate compounds by reacting at low temperatures (-80.degree. C.) with methyldichlorophosphine and appropriate nucleosides protected at 5' or 3' positions, resulted in the formation of Rp isomers of relevant dinucleoside methylphosphonates at a maximum predominance of 8:1 (Loschner, Tetrahedron Lett., 30:5587, 1989; and Engels et al., Nucleosides & Nucleotides, 10:347, 1991).
However, longer stereoregular chains cannot be prepared by this method because intermediate nucleoside 3'-O-P-chloromethylphosphonites, formed during the condensation, have a labile configuration even at low temperatures.
The limitations of the available methods for modification and synthesis of the organophosphorus derivatives have led to a continuing and long felt need for other modifications which provide resistance to nucleases and satisfactory hybridization properties for antisense oligonucleotide diagnostics, therapeutics, and research.

Compositions and methods for the synthesis of chirally pure organophosphorus nucleoside derivatives

Polska Akademia Nauk Centrum Badan Molekularnych I Makromolekularnych


A method for reclaiming and reusing a substantial portion of the waste water creating during the backwashing of a pool filter. The system uses a separate floating debris filter to remove solids before pumping the waste water into a sediment retention tank. The waste water is stored in the sediment retention tank for about a day, during which time the suspended solids settle to the bottom. The water in the sediment retention tank is then pumped back into the circulating pool system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of swimming pool filtration. More specifically, the invention comprises a method for reclaiming an reusing most of the water used to "backwash" a pool filter.
2. Description of the Related Art
Swimming pools generally include a filtration system for removing contaminants. The pool water is forced through such filters for a substantial part of each day. One common form of filter is a sand filter. A sand filter is formed by partially filling a pressure vessel with sand filtration media. Pool water is forced through the filtration media and the sand traps the unwanted contaminants.
As the filtration media becomes more saturated with contaminants, the pressure differential across the filter rises. The filter is in effect becoming clogged by the contaminants it is designed to remove. Water flow is progressively reduced by the clogging of the filtration media and the filter becomes progressively less efficient. The filtration also tends to aggregate resulting in the formation of water "tunnels" that allow flow to pass through the media without being effectively filtered. In order to eliminate this problem, a sand filter must periodically be "backwashed."
"Back washing" generally refers to the process of reversing the flow through the filtration media in order to stir the media and remove the trapped contaminants. Air injection may be added during the backwashing process to lift the filter media off the bottom of the pressure vessel and promote agitation. The water carried through the filter during backwashing is dumped out of the recirculating pool filtration system through a "backwash line." This water is often discharged onto a lawn area surrounding the pool. It may also be dumped into a sewer line. In any event, the dumped water contains undesirable contaminants. It contains the particles the sand filter is intended to remove. It also often contains chlorine and other potentially harmful pool chemicals.
There is an increasing recognition that backwash waste water should not be dumped into the area surrounding a pool nor into the sewer system serving the area. Some regulating authorities are now passing rules prohibiting such dumping. Thus, there is a need for a system which reduces the unwanted dumping of backwash waste water. The present invention proposes such a system.


A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for handling an SR configuration in a wireless communications network is provided. The UE is configured with at least one SR configuration associated with any of: a respective logical channel and a respective radio bearer. When an event where the UE has reached its given maximum transmission attempts for one or more of the at least one SR configurations occurs, the UE is configured (202) with an action to be performed. The action relates to how to handle the at least one SR configuration associated with any of: the respective logical channel and the respective radio bearer.

In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a WiFi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a W-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in 5G. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node.
Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, for example to specify a Fifth Generation (5G) network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR). The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs used in 3G networks. In general, in E-UTRAN/LTE the functions of a 3G RNC are distributed between the radio network nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially "flat" architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-UTRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio network nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.
Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.
In addition to faster peak Internet connection speeds, 5G planning aims at higher capacity than current 4G, allowing higher number of mobile broadband users per area unit, and allowing consumption of higher or unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user. This would make it feasible for a large portion of the population to stream high-definition media many hours per day with their mobile devices, when out of reach of Wi-Fi hotspots. 5G research and development also aims at improved support of machine to machine communication, also known as the Internet of things, aiming at lower cost, lower battery consumption and lower latency than 4G equipment.
BSR and SR Framework in LTE
3GPP TS 36.321 specifies a framework for buffer status reporting. Buffer status reporting is used by the UE to report to the eNB the amount of data stored in its buffers for transmission. The eNB uses these reports to allocate resources to the UE, and to prioritize resource allocation between different UEs.
The UE triggers a Regular Buffer Status Report (BSR) when uplink data becomes available for transmission and this data belongs to a Logical Channel Group (LCG), or radio bearer group, with higher priority than those for which data already existed in the buffer or if the UE buffers were empty just before this new data became available for transmission. If no UL grant is available, a SR transmission will be triggered.
A Scheduling Request (SR) is either sent on a Random Access Channel (RACH), also referred to as a Random Access (RA)-SR, or on a dedicated resource on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) also referred to as a Dedicated (D)-SR). A D-SR is typically used when the UE uplink is time synchronized. The purpose is to enable UE to rapidly request resources for uplink data transmission. In 3GPP, a dedicated solution for the scheduling request has been agreed. For the dedicated approach, each active user is assigned a dedicated channel for performing the scheduling request. The benefit with this method is that no UE Identity (ID) has to be transmitted explicitly, since the UE is identified by the channel used. Furthermore, no intra-cell collisions will occur in contrast to the contention based approach.
As a summary, the D-SR is repeatedly transmitted on consecutive SR opportunities on PUCCH until the UE receives an UL grant on Physical downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The transmission is stopped at least when PUCCH resources are released and/or UL synch is lost even if the UE has not received any UL grant on PDCCH.
In LTE, each SR configuration carries the information as below (see 3GPP TS 36.331)
SchedulingRequestConfig ::= CHOICE { release NULL, setup SEQUENCE { sr-PUCCH-ResourceIndex INTEGER (0..2047), sr-ConfigIndex INTEGER (0..157), dsr-TransMax ENUMERATED {  n4, n8, n16, n32, n64, spare3, spare2, spare1} }}
Where each SR configuration comprises:
1) one sr-PUCCH-ResourceIndex, which identifies the PUCCH resource location,
2) SR-Configuration Index (ISR), which is used to determine the subframe where SR shall be transmitted based on following table and formula.
SR configuration indexSR periodicity (ms)SR subframe offsetISRSRPERIODICITYNOFFSET,SR0-45ISR 5-1410ISR-515-3420ISR-1535-7440ISR-35 75-15480ISR-75155-1562ISR-1551571ISR-157
<36.213 Table 10.1.5-1: UE-Specific SR Periodicity (SRPERIODICITY) and Subframe Offset (NOFFSET, SR) Configuration>
A UE may transmit SR at the subframe where following condition is met:(10×nf+[ns/2]−NOFFSET,SR)mod SRPERIODICITY=0 wherein
nf represents System frame number, and ns represents Slot number within a radio frame.
3) dsr-TransMax: Maximum number of SR transmission count (See 3GPP 36.321 5.4.4 Scheduling Request)
Multiple Service Support
The flows of a UE are mapped to logical channels in Layer 2 and each logical channel has been assigned a priority (i.e. logical channel priority, LCP). Layer 2 refers to a layer just above Physical (PHY) layer to take care of media access functionalities in the radio access protocol stack. A Medium Access Control (MAC) scheduler then schedules the transmissions for the logical channels according to the descending order of LCPs for the logical channels. To optimize the user experience, it was agreed that a logical channel can be further configured with preferred numerology and/or slot duration to fulfil differentiated delay requirements.
In 3GPP RAN2#99, the agreements concerning SR configurations are referred to as underlined as below:
Agreements:
1. One or multiple logical channel(s) are mapped to SR configuration (e.g. not LCG)
2. RAN2 understanding is that numerology of the SR transmission need not be the same as the numerology of the Logical Channel (LCH) which triggered the SR
3. For the single-cell case, one single LCH is mapped to none or one SR configuration per BWP. This agreement is pending confirmation from RAN1 that a single BWP can support multiple SR configurations and understanding of how BWP is switched.
FFS how to handle SR configuration, mapping and transmission for CA case
4. sr-ProhibitTimer is independently configured per SR configuration. Whether a single timer or multiple timers are running at the same time are FFS.
5. drs-TransMax is independently configured per SR configuration. FFS whether SR COUNTER is maintained for each SR configuration independently
According to above agreements, a single LCH may be mapped to none, or multiple SR configurations. In one example, a single cell may be split into multiple active Bandwidth Part (BWP)s, then each BWP may contain a SR configuration. In another example, a UE is connected to multiple serving cells, in a carrier aggregation scenario, where a serving cell is located on each component carrier. Then, a LCH may be connected to multiple SR configurations, which may belong to different serving cells.
SR Failure Handling in LTE
In LTE, if an SR is triggered and there is no other SR pending, the MAC entity shall set the SR_COUNTER to 0. As long as one SR is pending, the MAC entity of the UE shall for each TTI:                if no UL-SCH resources are available for a transmission in this TTI:                    if the MAC entity has no valid PUCCH resource for SR configured in any TTI and if rach-Skip for the MCG MAC entity or rach-SkipSCG for the SCG MAC entity is not configured: initiate a Random Access procedure (see subclause 5.1) on the SpCell and cancel all pending SRs;            if SR_COUNTER<dsr-TransMax:                            increment SR_COUNTER by 1;                instruct the physical layer to signal the SR on one valid PUCCH resource for SR;                start the sr-ProhibitTimer.                                    else:                            notify Radio Resource Control (RRC) to release PUCCH for all serving cells;                notify RRC to release SRS for all serving cells;                clear any configured downlink assignments and uplink grants;                initiate a Random Access procedure on the SpCell and cancel all pending SRs.
The UE actions highlighted in underlined italic above are performed when the SR_COUNTER reaches dsr-TransMax for the SR configuration.

User equipment, network node and methods in a wireless communications network


Synchronizing requests with a respective context includes, responsive to a determination that there are more pages to explore, performing regular crawling operations for a current page, recording a current page in a list of explored pages and extracting links from the current page. Responsive to a determination that there are more links to extract, a next link to analyze is selected to form a selected link and responsive to a determination that there is a new request associated with the selected link, a new request identifier is created and saved as an entry in a hashmap. Responsive to a determination that there is not a new request associated with selected link, a request associated with the selected link is updated with a new link value when the link value differs.

During dynamic analysis of web applications for security issues attacks on hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) requests are typically executed disconnected from an HTML object from which the HTTP requests were generated. The disconnected execution is performed for performance reasons and to eliminate any validations performed by the code of the web page. For example, rather than entering a cross site scripting payload in a text box of a search form and clicking on a search button, a scanner tests an HTTP request directly and repeatedly as in the statement: GET/search.jsp?query=<script>alert(1)</script>.
However the approach used in the example can cause problems when an HTTP request taken out of context has a dependency on the HTML from which it originated.
A typical example of this situation occurs when links are updated in the HTML with a new session identifier as in the following statement: <a href="/search;jsessionid=1234?profile=jsmith">Profile</>. In this example, HTTP requests disconnected from the HTML are sent with an invalid jsessionid value and are receive Out of Session messages.
Web application scanners typically provide a solution for the situation of the example in a simplistic manner. Typically scanners have a configuration setting instructing the scanner that jsessionid is a session identifier and when the scanner processes a response the scanner searches the response for the jsessionid value and updates all the requests with a new value identified.
The solution however requires expert knowledge and many complicated heuristics to identify session identifiers that the scanner has not predefined. In another example a web application uses a unique identifier to identify links. The identifier is referred to as sessnav because the identifier controls navigation for each session. Links are then defined as follows:
http://site.com/index?sessnav=1234
http://site.com/index?sessnav=9762
http://site.com/index?sessnav=3242
Each link has a different sessnav value and a link changes whenever a user logs into a session. Using current solutions of updating the sessnav identifier from the HTML (which is disconnected) would update sessnav with the first encountered value of 1234 for all links, which would accordingly be an incorrect setting for the remaining link references.

Synchronizing HTTP requests with respective HTML context

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION