A method for determining a rack force for a steering apparatus of a vehicle, in which the rack force is determined as a function of a steering angle variable which characterizes an actual wheel steering angle or a set point of the wheel steering angle. In order to specify a method for determining a rack force, with which a target steering torque can be generated such that a comfortable steering feel is imparted to the driver and the steering apparatus nevertheless gives the driver feedback that is as realistic as possible regarding the motion state of the vehicle, the method comprises: determining a variable which characterizes a lateral force on a shaft of the steering apparatus, and determining the rack force as a function of the lateral force, wherein the determination of the rack force comprises a filtering by means of a signal processing element having a proportional-differential transfer function.

The invention relates to a method for determining a rack force for a steering apparatus of a vehicle, in which the rack force is determined as a function of a steering angle variable which characterizes an actual wheel steering angle or a set point of the wheel steering angle. The invention also relates to a control and/or adjustment device for such a steering apparatus and to a corresponding steering apparatus.
In modern steering apparatuses, for example in an electric power steering (EPS) or a steer-by-wire (SbW) steering system, a target steering torque is determined. A steering torque on a steering means of the steering apparatus, for example on a steering wheel, is adjusted to the target steering torque so as to assist the force applied by the driver when steering the vehicle or to counteract the force applied by the driver. It is known to determine the target steering torque as a function of the rack force.
A method for determining a force acting on a steering gear is known from DE 10 2009 002 706 A1. Since in said method the force is determined directly on the basis of a force acting directly on the steering gear, this may include errors caused by properties of the road that is being traveled. For example, unevennesses, ruts or banking of the road lead to such errors. If the target steering torque is determined on the basis of the force that is subject to errors, in many cases this results in a steering feel that is perceived as uncomfortable by the driver.
The object of the invention is to provide a method for determining a rack force, with which a target steering, force can be generated such that a comfortable steering feel is imparted to the driver and the steering apparatus nevertheless gives the driver feedback that is as realistic as possible regarding the motion state of the vehicle. This object is achieved by a method, a control and/or adjustment device and a steering apparatus.

Method for determining a rack force for a steering apparatus and steering apparatus


A digital computer system for displaying a computer generated terrain representing a 3-dimensional depiction of the real world terrain surrounding a vehicle in real-time while the vehicle is in motion. This 3-D (3-Dimensional) image is rendered in real time while the vehicle is in motion and uses Global Positioning System (GPS) or differential GPS (dGPS) data available from a GPS unit and translates that data into virtual space within an Image Generation Processing block of the digital computer system. The digital computer system generates a virtual world 3-D image representing the eye-point position of the vehicle and directional vector into a terrain database. Using the latitude, longitude, and altitude supplied from the GPS unit as the eye point position into a virtual world using a terrain database, the Image Generation Processing block has a render engine capable of rendering a depiction of the terrain outside of the vehicle, as would be seen in high visibility conditions, regardless of weather, lighting and atmospheric conditions.

In the navigation of a vehicle over a prescribed route contour maps are commonly used to provide an indication of the terrain over which the vehicle is traveling. The information afforded by contour maps, assorted vehicle instrumentation, and visual observation enables the operator to navigate the vehicle as it travels along its prescribed route. Thus, a pilot navigating an aircraft, for instance, uses contour maps, instrumentation readings and visual observation in order to determine altitude and other course parameters have traditionally defined a navigational instrument used primarily to aid in the navigation of the vehicle along a pre-defined path.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,160 issued to Beckwith Jr. et al. on Jul. 21, 1987, describes a system which generates a real time perspective view of the terrain lying along an aircraft's flight path for the benefit of the pilot of an aircraft employing the system. The system of the Beckwith, Jr. et al. patent accesses terrain data stored as digital information in a digital map generator and then converts the digital data into the perspective representation of the terrain which may be viewed on an appropriate input/output device, such as a cockpit CRT (cathode ray tube) instrument panel. The real time perspective representation provided to the pilot of the aircraft approximates the view the pilot would have if actually looking out a window of the aircraft during high visibility conditions.
The Beckwith et al. patent defines a hardware device that accesses terrain data which is converted into a perspective representation of the terrain which is displayed on a display device, such as a CRT instrument panel, for the pilot to see. The contour representation of the terrain on the display device represents a perspective as if the pilot were actually viewing the terrain himself during high visibility conditions. The Beckwith et al. patent offers the advantage of allowing a pilot to fly during inclement weather conditions with the aid of a display which provides terrain information of the type that would be available to the pilot's naked eye during high visibility weather conditions.
The hardware implementation of the Beckwith et al. patent produces a wire-frame model of the terrain over which the aircraft is flying. The Beckwith et al. patent requires a great number of contour paths in order to generate a wire-frame model of the terrain is a limitation. Additionally, the hardware approach of the Beckwith et al. patent does not provide as flexible a solution as could be achieved with a software approach.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,563 issued to Chazelle et al. on Jan. 30, 1996 defines a device that correlates the terrain data with the flight path of an aircraft to define an anti-collision mechanism and warning system. Memory of the device stores terrain information of a very large area of the earth. As a function of the position of the aircraft, the appropriate local map is temporarily transferred into a fast access memory of the device and an altitude envelope of the aircraft is developed given local terrain information, velocity and acceleration vectors for the zone in which the aircraft is flying. The device further has anti-collision processing capabilities such that an alarm indicates if the flight path of the aircraft violates a predetermined relation between a protection field and the altitude envelope. The Chazelle et al. patent uses either an inertial navigational unit or a radio navigational instrument to generate a synthetic image representative of a flight path trajectory that will avoid collision with the terrain over which the airplane is flying. The synthetic image representative of a flight path trajectory is not a 3-D image of the terrain over which the airplane is flying.
The flight management technology of the Chazelle et al. patent studies terrain curves in order to calculate an exit path for the airplane. The positional information required in order to calculate the exit path necessarily includes flight information parameters that must be supplied by the flight management system of the aircraft. This is clearly shown by Informations in flight block 2 of FIG. 2 of the Chazelle et al. patent. Such flight parameters would include information with regard to the inertial unit 20, radio navigational instrument 21, and Radio-altimeter 22 all shown in FIG. 3. The inertial unit 20 provides information on the velocity and acceleration of the aircraft from which the angle of incidence, yaw, slope, pitch, heading, and bank may be determined. The angular values are used in the vicinity of the acceptable flight deck of the aircraft.
There is currently an unmet need in the art to be able to provide a navigator of a vehicle with terrain information over which the vehicle is traveling regardless of weather and visibility conditions in a manner that is not dependent upon trip information such as velocity and acceleration of the vehicle and in a manner that is more flexible than the hardware solution to be found in the prior art. There is a need in the art for the terrain information to be a 3-D, non-wire frame image different from the synthetic image representative of an exit path generated by the invention of the Chazelle et al. patent. Additionally, there is an unmet need in the art to provide such terrain information to navigators of a variety of vehicle types including, but not limited to, aircraft.

Method and system for assisting navigation using rendered terrain imagery


A host is coupled to a network via an intelligent network adaptor. The host is executing an application configured to receive application data from a peer via the network and the intelligent network adaptor using a stateful connection according to a connection-oriented protocol. The intelligent network adaptor performs protocol processing of the connection. Application data is copied from host memory not configured for access by the application (possibly OS-associated host memory) to host memory associated with the application (application-associated host memory). The application data is received from the peer by the intelligent network adaptor and copied to host memory not configured for access by the application. The operating system selectively provides, to the intelligent network adaptor, information of the memory associated with the application. At least one portion of the application data for the connection is provided directly from the intelligent network adaptor to the memory associated with the application.

High speed communications over packet-based networks can place a heavy burden on end-host resources.
A host may typically be connected to a network using at least one network adaptor. The network adaptor receives packets from the network that are destined for the host. The network adaptor causes the packets to be placed in host memory buffers associated with the operating system. When one or more packets have been placed, the adaptor notifies the host processor of this event, typically using an interrupt. The packets are then processed by the host operating system, including delivering application payload data of the packets from the operating system buffers to buffers of a destination application corresponding to the packets.
Each application data bearing packet received from the network includes the application data, encapsulated within a stack of headers according to a network communication stack. For example, the network communication may be via TCP/IP over Ethernet. In this case, the TCP/IP stack encapsulates application data in a TCP header, and the TCP encapsulated data are encapsulated in an IP header. The TCP/IP encapsulated data are encapsulated in a header according to a local area network technology protocol, such as Ethernet.
In the high-speed communications environment, there are several challenges for end-host resources. One challenge is the high packet arrival rate, which implies a high associated interrupt rate as the host is notified of the arrival of each packet. Another challenge is associated with the memory bandwidth resources to copy application payload data from the operating system buffers to application buffers. Yet another challenge is to achieve low communication latency between the network and the host via the network adaptor, such that application payload received from the network by the network adaptor is provided in a relatively expedient manner to the application.
The present invention in some aspects may be directed to one or more of these challenges identified above to result in high speed and low latency communication with reduced demands on host processing and memory resources.
The challenges of high-speed communications have led to enhancements to network adaptor capabilities, resulting in so-called "Intelligent Network Adaptors" that, for example, offload some or all network communication protocol processing. In addition, direct data placement (DDP) is known. It refers to the capability of some intelligent network adaptors to process network packets arriving from the network and place payload data contained within the network packets directly into pre-determined locations in host memory.

Intelligent network adaptor with end-to-end flow control


A method and apparatus is disclosed for enhanced laser-induced plasma spectroscopic analysis of unknown heterogeneous materials. The apparatus has high power pulsed lasers with their beams focused on the material, typically two colinear lasers providing two pulses in the ultraviolet and in the near infrared spectral area. The first laser pulse vaporizes a small volume at the surface of the material and produces a plasma which is subsequently enhanced by the second laser pulse. The optical emission of the plasma is analyzed with a colinear optical spectrometer. The pulsed spectrum is detected by a gated photodiode array detector or by an array of photomultipliers each individually positioned to detect a line emission representative of a given element present in the material. The combination of the two laser pulses, appropriately synchronized, provides a plasma emission that is significantly stronger than a single laser pulse of the combined energy of the two pulses.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transient, rapid spectroscopic method for analysis of unknown heterogeneous materials by plasma spectroscopy.
2. Related Art
Most analytical techniques used in industry require taking samples to the laboratory, to be analyzed by time consuming procedures involving instrumentation such as Auger and mass spectrometers, EDS, liquid or gas chromatography, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy or inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Faster in-situ methods such as spark-discharge optical spectrometry are only applicable to electrically conductive materials, while X-ray backscattering probes are limited in sensitivity.
An emerging method, laser induced plasma spectroscopy, promises to provide rapid, in-situ compositional analysis of a variety of materials in hostile environments and at a distance. Basically, this method includes focusing a high power pulsed laser on the material, thus vaporizing and ionizing a small volume of the material to produce a plasma having an elemental composition which is representative of the composition of the material. The optical emission of the plasma is analyzed with an optical spectrometer to obtain its atomic composition. This method has been applied to a variety of materials and industrial environments, as exemplified in the following documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,342 in the name of Tanimoto et al. describes a probe for spectroscopic analysis of steel including focusing an infrared laser pulse on the steel material and collecting, at an angle of 16 degrees or more, the light emitted by the irradiated surface spot, such light being spectrally analyzed. The continuous spectral background is subtracted to obtain the net intensity of preset spectral lines representative of given elements, and the intensity of said spectral lines is related to the concentration of said elements in the steel material. The probe includes a single laser pulse not collinear with the collecting optics.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,658 to Kim describes a probe for molten metal analysis by laser induced plasma spectroscopy. The probe contains a high-power laser producing a pulse having a triangular pulse waveshape. When the probe head is immersed in the molten metal, the pulsed laser beam vaporizes a portion of the molten metal to produce a plasma having an elemental composition representative of the molten metal composition. Within the probe, there is provided a pair of spectrographs each having a diffraction grating coupled to a gated intensified photodiode array. The spectroscopic atomic emission of the plasma is analyzed and detected for two separate time windows during the life of the plasma using two spectrometers in parallel. The first time window analyzes the plasma plume before it reaches thermal equilibrium shortly after the termination of the laser pulse, typically 10 nanoseconds long, to detect line reversals caused by absorption of radiation emitted by the hotter inner portion of the plasma plume by relatively cooler outer portions of the plasma plume. Thereafter, after the plasma has reached thermal equilibrium, typically after 1 microsecond, a second time window analyzes the more conventional line emissions from the optically emissive plasma. The spectra obtained during either the first or the second time window, or a combination of both, can be used to infer the atomic composition of the molten metal. In this case the vaporizing laser beam and collecting optics are collinear, but only a single laser pulse is used to vaporize the molten metal surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,947 to Potzschke et al. describes an application of laser induced plasma spectroscopy for the sorting of solid metal particles, namely shredder scrap from automotive recycling processes. Multiple laser pulses are used to clean the surface from impurities, and up to 30 particles per second can thus be sorted depending on the resulting composition, typically aluminum, zinc, copper, lead and steel. Because the purpose is sorting rather than precise compositional analysis, a relatively low precision and sensitivity can be accepted. A single laser pulse is used to produce each laser spark.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,103 to Zigler describes a mobile laboratory for in-situ detection of organic and heavy metal pollutants in ground water. Pulsed laser energy is delivered via fiber optic media to create a laser spark on a remotely located analysis sample. The system operates in two modes, one being based on laser induced plasma spectroscopy and the other on laser induced fluorescence. In the first operational mode, the laser beam guided by fiber optics is focused by a lens on the sample to generate a plasma. The emitted spectrum is analyzed and used to detect heavy metals. In the second mode the focusing laser energy is removed allowing the laser beam via fiber optics to irradiate the sample, so that organic molecules with an aromatic structure emit absorbed ultraviolet energy as fluorescence. The emitted fluorescence light is transmitted via fiber optic media for further analysis. The measured wavelength and time characteristics of the emitted fluorescence can be compared against predetermined characteristics to identify the organic substances in the analysis sample. Again, only single laser pulses are used to analyze pollutants in ground water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,484 by Miles et al. describes a subsurface soil contaminant identification system using a cone penetrometer and based on laser induced breakdown spectrometry. An optical fiber link is used to couple the transmitted and collected beams through the penetrometer to the subsurface soil region to be analyzed. In all of the above patents, single laser pulses are used to vaporize, ionize and excite a portion of the material to be analyzed by laser induced plasma emission spectroscopy.
Piepmeier et al., Anal. Chem. 41, 700 (1969), discuss their work on multiple laser pulses for time and spatially resolved spectrometric observations of laser generated plumes from the surface of a solid aluminum alloy. The laser pulse sequences are random and cannot be controlled, therefore this work does not offer much assistance in quantitative spectrometric analysis.
Two temporally close sparks induced by two collinear lasers are used by Cremers et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,307 for the spectrochemical analysis of liquids. The laser light is not significantly absorbed by the sample so that the sparks occur in the volume inside the liquid. The spark produced by the first laser pulse produces a bubble in the liquid which stays in the gaseous state for hundreds of microseconds after the first spark has decayed, so that the second laser pulse, fired typically 18 microseconds after the first pulse, will produce a second spark within the gaseous bubble. The spark generated inside the cavity has excitation characteristics close to those of a non-ionized air spark. Due to the much lower density of the gas compared to the liquid, the temperature of the second spark, produced within the gas bubble, is much higher than the temperature of the first spark produced within the liquid. The emission spectrum of the second spark, detected by a spectrometer oriented at 90 degrees from the laser beam axis, is thus much more intense and exhibits reduced line widths compared to the first spark, so that a much increased detectability of the atomic species is obtained by sampling the bubble with the second laser spark. This approach is convenient to analyze relatively transparent liquids so that the first spark is produced in the bulk of the liquid, while the second spark is obtained after a convenient period of time, typically 18 microseconds, has elapsed so that the gas bubble produced by the first pulse has had the time to expand and stabilize. During this period of time the atomic or molecular components in the gas bubble become de-excited and cool down, for optimal line width and detectability. The second pulse thus substantially re-excites a relatively cool gas within a liquid-surrounded bubble.

Method and apparatus for materials analysis by enhanced laser induced plasma spectroscopy


An elongate medical device and methods for making and using the same. The elongate medical device may be a catheter that includes an elongate tubular shaft having a lumen defined therein. A scraping member is coupled to an inner wall surface of the shaft and extends into the lumen. The scraping member is configured to remove debris that may build up or otherwise be disposed on another medical device such a guidewire.

A wide variety of medical devices have been developed for medical use, for example, intravascular use. Some of these devices include catheters, guidewires, and other such devices that have certain characteristics. Of the known medical devices, each has certain advantages and disadvantages. There is an ongoing need to provide alternative designs and methods of making and using medical devices.


A ceramic fiber based fire barrier for vehicles contains and directs fires and prevents or substantially hinders fire or extreme heat from adversely affecting underlying materials. The fire barriers protect the vehicle and vehicle components from damage from fire and heat, and also provide increased protection to passengers. The fire barriers provide additional time to properly evacuate passengers from a vehicle in the case of an emergency.

Vehicles are currently provided with some level of heat and noise insulation. Typically, automotive insulation consists of pads made of spun bonded synthetic plastic or plant fibers. These are primarily used to control noise and heat in the passenger compartment, making the ride more comfortable and reducing the energy required for heating and cooling.
There is, however, a need for improved fire protection for vehicles. The insulating materials commonly used in vehicles often do little to prevent fire from damaging the vehicle and threatening the occupants of the vehicle. Additionally, many of the materials used for vehicle insulation, carpeting, and upholstery will burn and will emit toxic chemicals if exposed to fire or high heat, compounding the danger for the occupants of the vehicle.
There are several reasons for needing greater fire protection in vehicles. Primarily, however, is the need for greater occupant safety. Vehicles which catch fire are often quickly consumed by the fire and there is little time to remove occupants from the vehicle. This is particularly concerning in crash situations where a driver or passenger may be injured or unconscious, requiring outside help and additional time to safely remove the persons from the vehicle. As such, greater fire protection in vehicles may help reduce fire related injuries and fatalities as well as help reduce the damage to the vehicle.
There is thus a need for improve protection for vehicles and vehicular compartments from fire and extreme heat.

Use of ceramic fiber fire barriers in vehicular compartments


A method for establishing a service tunnel for private internet protocol services over a connectionless network. The private internet protocol services are transported over the service tunnel in accordance with selected respective private internet protocol services.

Enterprises with remote sites, such as corporations, consulting firms, and law firms, have typically formed wide area networks ("WANs") using frame relay networks or time division multiplexing ("TDM") leased lines. Some larger enterprises have formed WANs using asynchronous transfer mode ("ATM") networks. Those enterprise WANs over the connection-oriented frame relay, TDM, and ATM networking technologies typically provide connectivity between computers in the various enterprise sites, reachability among users in the sites, guaranteed quality of service, priority schemes regarding communications, and relatively good security for data and addresses.
In contrast to the enterprise-oriented connection-oriented networking technologies with centralized control is the Internet, which has exploded in popularity in recent years. The Internet is a loose collection of networks organized into a multilevel hierarchy using a wide variety of interconnection technologies. The Internet is a connectionless datagram switching scheme bound together by addressing, routing, and IP but with decentralized control. Rather than focusing on enterprise communications, the Internet is focused on global packet transport, which involves the forwarding of packets. The Internet is widely used for accessing the World-Wide Web and for global email, but has generally been deficient with respect to certain communications services valued by enterprises, such as security, connectivity, and quality of service.
Because of the widespread use of different kinds of wide-area network technologies, such as frame relay, ATM, TDM, and IP, network providers have had to build and maintain several different networks to satisfy the needs of network users, such as individuals and enterprises. This has been very expensive. Moreover, enterprises have had to pay high fees to use the connection-oriented WAN technologies in order to get the level of service demanded by those enterprises.
Attempts have been made to make the Internet more enterprise friendly. For example, a virtual private network ("VPN") with an IP backbone is described in BGP/MPLS VPNs by E. Rosen and Y. Rekhter, Request for Proposal ("RFC") 2547, Network Working Group, Internet Engineering Task Force ("IETF") (March 1999) ("RFC 2547"). A VPN is an IP connection between two sites over a public IP network that has its payload traffic encrypted so that only the source and destination can decrypt the traffic packets. The RFC 2547 document discloses using multiprotocol label switching ("MPLS") for forwarding packets over the background and using border gateway protocol ("BGP") for distributing routes over the backbone. Although RFC 2547 briefly suggests some quality of service techniques, the focus of RFC 2547 is on the transport of packets. Moreover, the VPN scheme described in RFC 2547 is a transport tunnel that starts at the network side, rather than a scheme that starts at the end-user's side.
Another attempt to make the Internet more enterprise friendly is the layer two tunneling protocol ("L2TP") described in Layer Two Tunneling Protocol "L2TP" by W. Townsley et al., RFC 2661, Network Working Group, IETF (August 1999) ("RFC 2661"). The RFC 2661 document discloses a scheme for facilitating the tunneling (i.e., encapsulating) of point-to-point protocol ("PPP") packets across an intervening network in a way that is as transparent as possible to both end-users and applications. Although RFC 2661 describes a scheme that starts at the end-user's side, the focus of RFC 2661 is PPP and the transport of packets.

Service tunnel over a connectionless network


The fastening device has first and second fastening means fittable to the carpet and to the mat and which click together. The first fastening means are defined by a single part having two flanges integral with a hub and which are positioned on opposite sides of the carpet; and one of the flanges is shaped to permit passage through a hole in the carpet by rotating the single part. The second fastening means have a further two flanges integral with two corresponding hubs which fit together in a variable axial position through a hole in the mat to adapt the distance between the further two flanges to the thickness of the mat. The single part carries a male member which clicks inside an elastic female member carried by one of the flanges fitted to the mat.

The present invention relates to a fast-fit device for fastening a mat to a carpet fixed to the passenger compartment floor of a vehicle.
The passenger compartment floor of vehicles, in particular cars, is normally carpeted, and, being subjected to hard wear, the carpet is normally covered with an easy-change mat of synthetic material. When simply placed on top of the carpet with no provision for preventing it from slipping, the mat not only fails to adequately protect the carpet, but is also a source of annoyance to the user.
Various mat fastening devices for preventing the mat from slipping with respect to the carpet are known, and which normally comprise a fairly large number of parts made of plastic material and fitted partly to the carpet and partly to the mat. Such known devices involve several drawbacks.
In particular, being fairly complicated, the parts fitted to the carpet and the mat call for high-cost molds and are not normally suitable for automated assembly; the devices are relatively expensive to produce, also on account of the large number of parts involved; and fitting the parts to the carpet and the mat and then connecting the parts together are fairly complicated time-consuming operations requiring skilled personnel.
It is an object of the invention to provide a highly straightforward, low-cost fast-fit device for fastening a mat to a carpet, designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks typically associated with known devices.
According to the present invention, there is provided a fast-fit device for fastening a mat to a carpet fixed to the passenger compartment floor of a vehicle; the device comprising first fastening means fittable to said carpet, and second fastening means fittable to said mat; and being characterized in that said first and second fastening means click together.
More specifically, the first fastening means are defined by a single part having two flanges integral with a hub and positioned on opposite sides of said carpet.

Fast-fit device for fastening a mat to a carpet fixed to the floor of a vehicle


A linear light-emitting diode (LED)-based solid-state universal lamp using a frequency sensing and control mechanism operates normally with both an electronic ballast and the AC mains. The frequency sensing and control mechanism automatically detects voltage types associated with output voltages from the ballast and the AC mains in a single-ended or a double-ended lamp fixture and makes proper management so that the universal lamp works for either case and in either fixture without operational uncertainty. When two shock protection switches are used in two lamp bases, the universal lamp fully protects a person from possible electric shock during initial installation and re-lamping.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to linear light-emitting diode (LED) lamps that work with linear tube lamp fixtures configured to electrically connect either instant-start electronic ballast or the AC mains, and more particularly to a universal, shock and fire hazard-free linear LED tube lamp with a shock-protection mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid-state lighting from semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has received much attention in general lighting applications today. Because of its potential for more energy savings, better environmental protection (with no hazardous materials used), higher efficiency, smaller size, and longer lifetime than conventional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes, the LED-based solid-state lighting will be a mainstream for general lighting in the near future. Meanwhile, as LED technologies develop with the drive for energy efficiency and clean technologies worldwide, more families and organizations will adopt LED lighting for their illumination applications. In this trend, the potential safety concerns such as risk of electric shock and fire become especially important and need to be well addressed.
In today's retrofit application of a linear LED tube (LLT) lamp to replace an existing fluorescent tube, consumers may choose either to adopt a ballast-compatible LLT lamp with an existing ballast used to operate the fluorescent tube or to employ an AC mains-operable LED lamp by removing/bypassing the ballast. Either retrofit application has its advantages and disadvantages. In the former case, although the ballast consumes extra power, it is straightforward to replace the fluorescent tube without rewiring, which consumers have a first impression that it is the best alternative to fluorescent tube lamps. But the fact is that total cost of ownership for this approach is high regardless of very low initial cost. For example, the ballast-compatible LLT lamps work only with particular types of ballasts. If the existing ballast is not compatible with the ballast-compatible LLT lamp, the consumer will have to replace the ballast. Some facilities built long time ago incorporate different types of fixtures, which requires extensive labor for both identifying ballasts and replacing incompatible ones. Moreover, a ballast-compatible LLT lamp can operate longer than the ballast. When an old ballast fails, a new ballast will be needed to replace in order to keep the ballast-compatible LLT lamps working. Maintenance will be complicated, sometimes for lamps and sometimes for ballasts. The incurred cost will preponderate over the initial cost savings by changeover to the ballast-compatible LLT lamps for hundreds of fixtures throughout a facility. When the ballast in a fixture dies, all the ballast-compatible tube lamps in the fixture go out until the ballast is replaced. In addition, replacing a failed ballast requires a certified electrician. The labor costs and long-term maintenance costs will be unacceptable to end users. From energy saving point of view, a ballast constantly draws power, even when the ballast-compatible LLT lamps are dead or not installed. In this sense, any energy saved while using the ballast-compatible LLT becomes meaningless with the constant energy use by the ballast. In the long run, ballast-compatible LLT lamps are more expensive and less efficient than self-sustaining AC mains-operable LLT lamps.
On the contrary, an AC mains-operable LLT lamp does not require a ballast to operate. Before use of an AC mains-operable LLT lamp, the ballast in a fixture must be removed or bypassed. Removing or bypassing the ballast does not require an electrician and can be replaced by end users. Each AC mains-operable LLT lamp is self-sustaining. If one AC mains-operable tube lamp in a fixture goes out, other lamps in the fixture are not affected. Once installed, the AC mains-operable LLT lamps will only need to be replaced after 50,000 hours. In view of above advantages and disadvantages of both ballast-compatible LLT lamps and AC mains-operable LLT lamps, it seems that market needs a most cost-effectively solution by using a universal LLT lamp that can be used with the AC mains and is compatible with an electronic ballast so that LLT lamp users can save an initial cost by changeover to such a universal LLT lamp followed by retrofitting the lamp fixture to be used with the AC mains when the ballast dies. Electronic ballasts have several different types. However in the US, instant-start electronic ballasts are most popular in lamp fixtures because they are more efficient and less expensive than other types of electronic ballasts and have few wires for installation. In this sense, the instant-start electronic ballast is emphasized in the present disclosure although the electronic ballast will be used hereafter to represent the instant-start electronic ballast for simplicity.
The AC mains-operable LLT lamp does not need a high voltage to ionize the gases inside the gas-filled fluorescent tube before sustaining continuous lighting. However, such LLT lamps operating at the AC mains, 110, 220, or 277 VAC, have one construction issue related to product safety and needed to be resolved prior to wide field deployment. This kind of LLT lamps always fails a safety test, which measures through lamp leakage current. Because the line and the neutral of the AC mains apply to both opposite ends of the tube when connected, the measurement of current leakage from one end to the other consistently results in a substantial current flow, which may present a risk of shock during re-lamping. Due to this potential shock risk to the person who replaces LLT lamps in an existing fluorescent tube fixture, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) uses its standard, UL 935, Risk of Shock During Relamping (Through Lamp), to do a current leakage test and to determine if LLT lamps under test meet the consumer safety requirement.
In the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/135,116, filed Dec. 19, 2013, two double shock protection switches and a degenerate voltage sensing and control mechanism are adopted in an LLT lamp such that AC power from any two pins of four pins in the LLT lamp can operate the lamp without operational uncertainty and fire or shock hazards due to misapplications of a power supply connection. In other words, no matter what a lamp fixture is configured as single-ended or double-ended, the LLT lamp automatically detects it and works for either configuration. However, such an LLT lamp can only operate with the AC mains and is not compatible with an electronic ballast.
FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively depict an AC mains-operable LLT lamp installed in double-ended and single-ended fixture lamp holders. The LLT lamp 300 comprises a housing having two ends; two lamp bases 660 and 760 having respective bi-pins 250 and 350 at each end of the housing; two actuation mechanisms 640 and 740 of shock protection switches 610 and 710 in the two lamp bases 660 and 760, respectively; two degenerate voltage sensing and control devices; an LED driver 400 having two inputs; and LED arrays 214 on an LED PCB. Essentially the degenerate voltage sensing and control devices are embodied in two bridge rectifiers 603 and 604, wherein each bridge rectifier comprises four diodes. The two bridge rectifiers 603 and 604 are connected to an LED driver 400 in parallel such that the positive and the negative input/output ports 503 and 504 of the first bridge rectifier 603 respectively connect to the positive and the negative input/output ports 505 and 506 of the second bridge rectifier 604. Furthermore, the eight diodes in the two bridge rectifiers are partially paired to perform a full wave rectification of the AC voltage from the AC mains according to single-ended or double-ended wiring configuration in the lamp fixture.
A diode conducts an electric current if it is forward biased but blocks a current flow if it is reverse biased. Taking advantage of this property, each diode in the bridge rectifiers 603 and 604 can sense an electric potential difference between its two ports and convert AC to DC if an AC voltage is applied to a circuit with a diode connected in a proper manner. With the eight diodes configured in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the two bridge rectifiers 603 and 604 can control the electric current flows to the LED driver and the electric current return, thus delivering a power to the LED driver.
In FIG. 1, when the lamp bases 660 and 760 are respectively installed in the fixture lamp holders 810 and 820, the actuation mechanisms 640 and 740 are actuated to turn on both sets of electrical contacts on the shock protection switches 610 and 710. The diodes 611 and 612 in the bridge rectifier 603 detect an electric current path and conduct a positive cycle of an electric current from the socket 255 of the fixture lamp holder 810 (where "L" of the AC mains is designated), the electrical contacts 401 and 403, the input/output ports 402 and 404, the diodes 611 and 612, the input/output port 503, the first input 501 of the LED driver 400 to the LED driver 400, returned from the LED driver 400, through the second input 502 of the LED driver 400, the input/output port 506, the diodes 617 and 618, and the electrical contacts 405 and 407 to "N" of the AC mains, thus delivering a power to the LED driver 400. In this electric current path, the diodes 611 and 612, 617, and 618 are forward biased whereas the diodes 613, 614, 615, and 616 are reverse biased, so the electric current can go through a correct path from "L" to "N" of the AC mains. Similarly for a negative cycle except that the diodes 613, 614, 615, and 616 are forward biased whereas the diodes 611, 612, 617, and 618 are reverse biased, an electric current can start from the fixture lamp holder 820, the diodes 615 and 616, the input/output port 505, the first input 501 of the LED driver 400 to the LED driver 400, returned from the LED driver 400, through the second input 502 of the LED driver 400, the input/output port 504, the diodes 613 and 614 to the fixture lamp holder 810, thus delivering a power to the LED driver 400. In FIG. 1, any electric current will not leak out from the exposed bi-pins because once, for example, the lamp base 660 is out of the socket of the lamp holder 810, the actuation mechanism 640 will be deactivated, turning off the switch 610, thus disconnecting the electric current—no electric shock hazard. Similarly for the lamp base 760, when the lamp base 760 is out of the socket of the lamp holder 820, the actuation mechanism 740 is deactivated, turning off the switch 710, thus disconnecting the electric current from flowing out to electrically shock an installer.
In FIG. 2, the LLT lamp 300 is installed in a single-ended fixture in such a way that the lamp bases 660 and 760 respectively connect to the fixture lamp holders 910 and 920, to which "L" and "N" of the AC mains are respectively connected. The actuation mechanisms 640 and 740 are actuated to turn on both sets of electrical contacts on the shock protection switches 610 and 710. The diode 611 in the bridge rectifier 603 detects an electric current path and conduct a positive cycle of an electric current from the socket 255 (where "L" of the AC mains is designated) in the fixture lamp holder 910, the electrical contact 401, the input/output port 402, the diode 611, the input/output port 503, the first input 501 of the LED driver 400 to the LED driver 400, returned from the LED driver 400, through the second input 502 of the LED driver 400, the input/output port 504, the diode 614, the input/output port 404, and the electrical contact 403, to the socket 256 (where "N" of the AC mains is designated) in the fixture lamp holder 910, thus delivering a power to the LED driver 400. In this case, the diodes 611 and 614 are forward biased whereas the diodes 612 and 613 are reverse biased, so the electric current can go through a correct path from "L" to "N" of the AC mains. Similarly for a negative cycle except that the diodes 612 and 613 are forward biased whereas the diodes 611 and 614 are reverse biased, an electric current can start from the socket 256 in the fixture lamp holder 910, the electrical contact 403, input/output port 404, the diode 612, the input/output port 503, the first input 501 of the LED driver 400 to the LED driver 400, returned from the LED driver 400, through the second input 502 of the LED driver 400, the input/output port 504, the diode 613, the input/output port 402, and the electrical contact 401, to the socket 255 in the fixture lamp holder 910, thus delivering the negative cycle of the power to the LED driver 400.
When the two pins of bi-pin in the lamp base 660 of the LLT lamp 300 are first inserted into the sockets 255 and 256 of the fixture lamp holder 910, the LED driver 400 immediately obtains a power via the bridge rectifier 603 no matter whether the lamp base 760 is installed in the fixture lamp holder 920 or not. However, the electric current returned from the LED driver 400 can flow from the input/output port 506, the diodes 617 and 618 in the bridge rectifier 604 to the two pins of the bi-pin 350 in the lamp base 760. If there is no shock protection switch 710 along the path in between the input/output ports 406 and 408 and the two pins of the bi-pin 350, when the two pins of the bi-pin 350 are exposed, the leakage current can flow out, creating an electric shock hazard if an installer touches the bi-pin 350. Therefore, the shock protection switch 710 and the actuation mechanism 740 in place can prevent the electric shock hazard from happening because only when the lamp base 760 is installed in the fixture lamp holder 920, is the actuation mechanism actuated to turn on the switch 710. Although "L" and "N" are connected to the lamp base 660 in FIG. 2, the LLT lamp 300 can still operate when the AC mains connect to the lamp base 760 rather than the lamp base 660 because the two bridge rectifiers 603 and 604 are connected to the LED driver 400 in parallel through the two inputs 501 and 502 of the LED driver 400, and the two bridge rectifiers 603 and 604 are symmetric at the two ends of the LLT lamp. Similarly for double-ended linear fixtures, when "L" and "N" shown in FIG. 1 are exchanged, the LLT lamp can still operate. The embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 have an advantage of being simple and also passive without pre-power to operate. Thus, it is easy to implement.
Misapplications of power supply connections for conventional LLT lamps that substitute for linear fluorescent lamps are main causes of fire and electric shock hazards today, where the conventional LLT lamps are incorrectly connected to a supply source, the lamp base is either inserted incorrectly into a lamp holder or inserted into a lamp holder not intended for the conventional LLT lamp, or a conventional LLT lamp is connected to lamp holders with supply connections that do not match the lamp configuration. All of these misapplications may result in fire and shock hazards.
To completely remove these hazards from conventional LLT lamps, manufacturers need to ensure at first no electrically shorted ends in either single-ended or double-ended LLT lamps. For double-ended LLT lamps that operate in an AC-mains configuration, double protection switches on both ends of the LLT lamps must be used without compromise, the same for the lamps operable in both double-ended and single-ended fixtures. Whereas a lamp fixture may be wired single-ended or double-ended with the AC mains, or wired for operating with an electronic ballast, an LLT lamp may be configured internally in the similar fashion. However, any incompatible combinations of the conventional LLT lamps and the fixtures lead to failure of operation. These kinds of operational uncertainty, inconvenience, and possible hazards may severely affect the willingness of the consumers to adopt conventional LLT lamps. Therefore, it is believed that a universal LLT lamp is needed to work not only with the AC mains but also with an electronic ballast without uncertainty and hazards when installed in either single-ended or double-ended fixtures during initial installation or during lamp replacement when the above-mentioned misapplications may occur.

Linear solid-state lighting with frequency sensing free of fire and shock hazards


The present invention provides novel assays for determining the ability of a test compound to inhibit intercellular adhesion mediated by a selectin receptor, such as the LHR. The assays involve contacting the test compound with the receptor and an isolated receptor-binding agent. The receptor-binding agent is a sulfated polysaccharide, a sulfated glycolipid, or a compound comprising the extracellular region of an endothelial cell surface glycoprotein. Also provided are compositions comprising a compound comprising the extracellular region of an endothelial cell surface protein, which is specifically recognized by lymphocyte homing receptors.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods for identifying compounds useful in the inhibition of cellular adhesion involved in a number of pathological responses. In particular, the invention relates to assays for inhibitors of a class of receptors which mediate leukocyte extravasation and other responses.
Recent work has established that specialized cell surface receptors (termed here selectins) on endothelial cells and various circulating cells are involved in a number of intercellular interactions. For instance, an adhesion molecule on the surface of leukocytes, lymphocyte homing receptor (LHR), is known to be involved in the adhesive interactions of leukocytes with the endothelial lining of blood vessels. This adhesive interaction is a prerequisite for the movement of leukocytes from the blood to tissue sites where immune reactions and inflammatory reactions occur.
LHR (also known as gp90.sup.MEL, gp100.sup.MEL, gp110.sup.MEL, Mel-14 antigen, Leu8 antigen, TQ1 antigen, DREG antigen, LAM-1, selectin1, LECAM-1 and LEC-CAM-1, depending on animal species, leukocyte, and laboratory preference) is expressed on the surface of leukocytes, such as, lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and eosinophils (Gallatin, et al., Nature 303:30 (1983) and Lewinsohn, et al., J. Immunol. 138:4313 (1987), which are incorporated herein by reference). LHR is known to mediate the adhesion of lymphocytes to specialized endothelial cells in lymph nodes, leading to the migration of blood-borne lymphocytes into the lymph node. On neutrophils and monocytes, it mediates the early interaction of these cells with endothelium of blood vessels at sites of inflammation.
LHR is a lectin-like protein which performs its adhesive function by recognizing carbohydrate-containing ligands on endothelial cells. Lectin-like receptors have also been found on endothelial cells and platelets. Endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 (ELAM-1) is present on endothelial cells and is involved in the recognition of various circulating cells by the endothelium. Granule membrane protein-140 (GMP-140) is present on the surface of platelets and endothelial cells, where it mediates platelet-leukocyte and endothelium-leukocyte interactions.
Recent work has established that these receptors share certain structural features. Each of the receptors in this class is a glycoprotein with a lectin-like domain, a region with homology to epidermal growth factor, and a region with homology to complement regulatory proteins (see, Springer, Nature, 346:425, 1989, which is incorporated herein by reference). The term "selectin" is used herein to refer to this class of lectin-like receptors.
There is currently an interest in developing highly specific competitive inhibitors of selectin-mediated cellular adhesion. Such inhibitors are useful in therapeutic regimens to treat various selectin-mediated disease responses. The inhibitors could also be used to target other pharmaceutical compounds, such as anti-inflammatory agents or anti-oxidants, to the sites of injury.
To date, however, insufficient understanding of the interaction of selectin receptors and their ligands has hindered these efforts. In addition, the prior art lacks rapid, economical methods for identifying inhibitors of selectin-mediated interactions. For example, in vitro intercellular adhesion assays have been used to test inhibition (see, e.g., Stamper and Woodruff, J. Exp. Med. 144:828-833 (1976), which is incorporated herein by reference). These assays, however, are difficult to carry out and do not lend themselves to screening large numbers of test compounds. Also, comparisons of active compounds by quantitative dose-response studies is difficult using these assays. The present invention addresses these and related needs.

Assays for inhibitors of leukocyte adhesion

The Regents of the University of California


The present disclosure discloses a coaxial connector including a female connector and a male connector, which have free ends. The female connector includes: a first inner conductor; a first outer conductor; and a first insulator arranged between the first inner conductor and the first outer conductor. The male connector includes: a second inner conductor, a second outer conductor, and a second insulator for isolating and supporting the second inner conductor and the second outer conductor, arranged between the second inner conductor and the second outer conductor, wherein the first outer conductor includes an inner main body circumferentially surrounding the first insulator, the inner main body includes a resilient finger-shaped element located at the free end of the first outer conductor, and the first outer conductor and the second outer conductor form electrical contact by means of the resilient finger-shaped element, wherein the first insulator extends longitudinally at least as far as the resilient finger-shaped element.

A coaxial cable is commonly used in a radio frequency (RF) communication system. A coaxial connector is typically attached to an end of the cable, so that the cable can be connected to a device or other cable. It can be generally understood that a radio frequency coaxial connectors are port elements for connections between functional modules in a wireless communication device, between an antenna and a receiving and sending module, and between radio frequency coaxial cables. The functions and performance index requirements of the radio frequency coaxial connector are as follows: in addition to the connection and disconnection functions, the requirements of electrical properties, mechanical properties and environmental resistance in a connection state must also be satisfied. Specifically, in order for the radio frequency coaxial connector to effectively transmit radio frequency electromagnetic signals and energy, the characteristic impedance thereof should be matched with the characteristic impedance of the connected radio frequency system, and the reflection coefficient and insertion loss of the radio frequency coaxial connector need to be small. Meanwhile the radio frequency coaxial connector should have good radio frequency shielding efficiency and low intermodulation distortion.
The existing N type connector and SMA type connector realize electrical and mechanical connections by using the longitudinal contact of an outer conductor of a female connector and an outer conductor of a male connector. The existing connector interface using the longitudinal contact of the outer conductors has the disadvantages that the mechanical and electrical planes thereof are associated. Therefore, in order to achieve optimal electrical contact, a high degree of mechanical face-to-face contact must be achieved simultaneously between matching interface main bodies. If a sufficient contact pressure is not applied, passive intermodulation (PIM) distortion will result. In addition, a sealing ring is disposed between the mechanical contact surfaces, and thus a very large torque may be needed to compress the sealing ring.
In addition, air is generally used as an insulating medium between the inner conductor and the outer conductor of the existing female connector and male connector, so that both the inner conductor and the outer conductor are in a suspended state. Shaking and accidental damage are prone to occur in the case of vibration in the peripheral environment.
In view of the above problems, it is desirable to provide a connector with positive PIM performance capable of separating mechanical and electrical interfaces. The connector can provide good protection for the inner conductor and the outer conductor.


The present invention is a machine for use in attaching first and second handles to a gift box. Each of the first and second handles having first and second end portions and an upper portion. In one embodiment, the machine comprises a base member and first and second side walls extending upward therefrom. The machine further comprises first and second handle support members rotatably connected with the first and second side walls and each being adapted to retain the first and second handles, respectively. The first and second handle support members are operable from a first and normally horizontal position wherein the handles may be inserted thereon and provided with an adhesive to a second substantially vertical position wherein the handles may be attached to the gift box.

Gifts boxes and/of bags typically have one or more handles to allow a person to carry the gift box. A variety of handles have been used in connection with such gift boxes, including flat handles, small diameters strings, and cords. Conventionally, such handles have been attached to the gift box by a variety of means, including the handle being formed as part of the gift box itself or connected through holes provided in the gift box, or attached by a strap which is adhesively attached to the gift box. Such conventional gift boxes are unattractive to consumers and the machines and processes used to manufacture the same are time-consuming, inefficient, and costly.

Machine for attaching handles to a gift box


An intravascular device (100) includes an elongated shaft (3) extending in an axial direction and an expandable braided arrangement (110) of a plurality of filaments. The braided arrangement has a proximal end, a distal end (1), and an intermediate region therebetween. The intravascular device can include an endpiece (112-1) located proximate an intersection of the elongated shaft and the braided arrangement. The endpiece can be configured to orient the filaments in a substantially single file continuum. At a junction with the endpiece, the filaments can initially extend in a substantially parallel, non-crossing manner, and as the filaments extend toward the intermediate region, the initially extending non-crossing filaments can cross each other.

An aneurysm is an abnormal local dilatation in the wall of a blood vessel, usually an artery, due to a defect, disease, or injury. One type of aneurysm is an intracranial aneurysm (IA). IAs have a risk of rupturing, which can result in a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a serious medical condition, often leading to severe neurological deficit or death.
A treatment goal of IAs is the prevention of rupture. Treatment methods can include two intervention options: clipping of the aneurysm neck and endovascular methods such as coiling and flow diversion. Traditionally, surgical clipping has been the treatment modality of choice for both ruptured and unruptured IAs; however, since the introduction of controlled detachable coils (GDC) for packing of aneurysms, endovascular aneurysm therapy has become an acceptable alternative to conventional neurosurgical treatment.
The technique of standard coil embolization can be limited by the shape of some of these aneurysms. For example, wide-necked aneurysms can be difficult to treat because of their unfavorable geometry, which can reduce the possibility of achieving dense packing and elimination of the aneurysm from circulation. One risk is the possibility of coil herniation through the broad neck into the parent vessel. This can cause thromboembolic events, which can be the most frequent and serious complications associated with endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms,
Various adjunctive techniques have been developed for the treatment of large, wide-neck and other complicated aneurysms. One technique is balloon-assisted treatment, in which a balloon is temporarily inflated across the aneurysm neck during coil insertion. In recent years, stents for intracranial use have become available, first as balloon-mounted stents and later as self-expandable stents with an open-cell or closed-cell design.

Devices and methods for assisting medical treatments


A novel variety of Botryococcus distinct from the previously cultured variety in color, biochemistry, size, shape, and habit.

The present invention is a novel and distinct variety provided as a potential source of hydrocarbons.
For decades, Botryococcus braunii has been suggested as a potential source of liquid transport fuels and although the hydrocarbon content has been as high as 30% of biomass, such high hydrocarbon content occurs during a period of dwindling green pigmentation, the loss of chlorophyll concomitant with a resting phase of exceedingly slow growth rates. In the practice of solar irradiated mass culture, optimization of green chlorophyll pigmentation would be beneficial for the efficient capture of light for continuous rapid growth and may be accomplished by vegetative breeding to increase pigmentation. The novel variety of the present invention is anatomically distinguished by the presence of an apical depression in cells of its colonies.


An apparatus for holding a cabin attendant seat in a cabin of a vehicle includes a base body attachable to a wall surface in the cabin, at least one holding mechanism for holding a cabin attendant seat, at least one linear movement mechanism, and at least one arresting mechanism. The at least one linear movement mechanism is attached to the base body and supports the at least one holding mechanism. The at least one linear movement mechanism is configured for laterally moving the at least one holding mechanism between at least two laterally distanced discrete positions. The at least one arresting mechanism is coupled with the at least one linear movement mechanism and is configured for arresting the at least one linear movement mechanism in the at least two discrete positions. By this apparatus a very space effective provision of a cabin attendant seat especially on a monument is given.

In the layout of a passenger cabin of a vehicle, an important objective frequently is the maximization of the available number of passenger seats that is limited by the number of mandatory seats for crew members, as well as mandatory safety devices, arbitrary service equipment and toilets. The proportion of the number of passenger seats to the remaining equipment in passenger cabins is a factor that influences the determination of the operating efficiency of an aircraft in scheduled air traffic. In addition to official regulations for the type certification and the operating permit of vehicles, the operators of the vehicles also need to take into account customer's needs such as, for example, customized special installations in the selection of seat sizes, seat spacings, service equipment and toilets. Depending on the design of fixtures in the passenger cabin and their space requirement, intelligent construction and configuration solutions can optimize the number of passenger seats.

Apparatus for holding a cabin attendant seat, cabin arrangement in a vehicle and vehicle having a cabin and such a cabin arrangement


The present disclosure relates to the re-sampling of pixel data, with one application being micro-lithography. In particular, it relates to a first pixel map, including a plurality of white, black and grey scale pixels and gradient directions for one or more of the grey scale pixels, that is resampled to produce a second pixel map using edge geometry data generated from the gradient directions and grey scale values.

The present disclosure relates to the re-sampling of pixel data, with one application being micro-lithography. In particular, it relates to the extraction of modulator pixels from a rasterized image, as a function of how the modulator moves across the rasterized image.
Micro-lithography is the process of writing a circuit design (so-called geometry) onto a workpiece having a radiation sensitive layer, typically either a photomask for use in exposing equipment or directly onto a wafer or substrate. The lithographic write equipment writes the geometry onto the workpiece, using a laser or charged beam to expose a resist layer. This exposure changes the molecular composition of the resist. During the developing process for a positive resist, any resist that has been exposed will be removed. In some applications, a negative resist is used where the resist that was not exposed will be removed in development.
Photomasks are high precision plates containing microscopic images of electronic circuits. Photomasks typically are made from very flat pieces of quartz or glass with a layer of chrome on one side. Etched in the chrome is a portion of an electronic circuit design. This circuit design on the mask is also sometimes called the geometry.
Photomasks are used in wafer fabrication, mostly to make ICs (integrated circuits). ICs are used in many products like computers, calculators, cars, cameras, and stereos. Photomasks are also used to make flat panel displays, thin film heads, PC boards, etc.
During development, a customer designs a circuit using tools that digitally store the information. The customer then sends the digitized data containing the design for each layer to the mask maker or direct writing vendor. The data can be sent on a disk, magnetic tape, via Internet or dedicated lines.
The mask maker takes the customer's data and formats it for the actual tools or systems in which the masks will be made. This includes fracturing the data, sizing the data if needed, rotating the data if needed, adding fiducials and internal reference marks, and making a jobdeck, which includes instructions for the placement of all the different patterns on the mask.
Fracturing the data means translating the customer data into a language the write tool can understand. The write system typically uses rectangles, trapezoids and/or triangles. The customer data is divided up (fractured) into these shapes. The jobdeck with the fractured data is put on a data media and sent to the write area or pulled directly to the machines using network software.
Before the pattern can be printed, additional pattern processing is needed. The geometries are spatially reorganized to match the writing sequence of the tool. For some systems, this means rendering the geometries into pixels to be imaged by the exposure system. For other systems, this means translating the geometries into a format appropriate for vector shaped beams (VSBs) or laser scanning.
For a pixel-based exposure system, the number of pixels to be printed is proportional to the area the pattern cover. Even though the number of pixels is constant, there may be a significant difference in computational resources needed to process the pattern. Resource demands are heavily dependent on pattern, thus complicating component sizing of the pattern processing system.
For applications where same pattern is printed several times, either on the same mask/substrate (multipass printing) or on separate masks/substrates, it is desired to not repeat the entire pattern processing for each print, even though the actual pattern printed could differ from piece-to-piece.
The technology disclosed usefully addresses the two problems above for pixel-based exposure systems by introducing a data processing architecture using a processor to produce an intermediate pixel, a so-called Geometrical Pixel Map (GPM) from which the actual printed pixels, the so-called Modulator Pixel Map (MPM) is derived.
The data processing architecture is henceforth referred to as the data path. The data path is the combination of execution units, data transportation, data storage, software, firmware and algorithms, organized to transform the designer's description of the image to be printed by modulator pixels of writer systems.

Gradient assisted image resampling in micro-lithographic printing


Described herein, are in-wash fabric conditioning compositions, comprising: from about 0.5 to about 40 wt % of an aminopolysiloxane; and water, wherein the aminopolysiloxane and water are present in the form of an emulsion. In-wash fabric conditioning compositions comprising an emulsion comprising from about 0.1 to about 5 wt % of an aminopolysiloxane, based upon the total weight of the in-wash fabric conditioning composition, wherein the aminopolysiloxane comprises amino substituted alkyl moieties, an effective amount of a solvent, and a synthetic wax, are also disclosed. Methods of making and using these compositions are also described.

A conventional laundry cycle tends to wear down fabrics and garments over time due to the agitation of the washing and drying cycles. For example, fabrics that undergo cumulative washing and drying cycles tend to exhibit pilling over time, which is the formation of small balls of fabric on the surface of the fabric item, causing them to look dull and worn down. Such pilling is due to the repetitive mechanical forces of the laundry cycle, particularly as experienced in washing and drying machines. Color fading is also a problem due to the repeated exposure of the fabric to soaps and water in an agitated washing cycle, which breaks down fabrics and causes them to lose their color. Conventional fabric conditioning compositions are typically utilized during the rinsing or drying step of the washing cycle to minimize the effects of pilling and color fading. Many known fabric conditioning compositions provide some level of protection against pilling and color fading, but improved fabric conditioning compositions are needed that better protect fabrics and garments from wear out caused by cumulative laundry washes.
Further, many conventional fabric conditioning compositions may only be utilized during the rinsing or drying step due to their chemistry, requiring that they be separately added during a particular step of the wash cycle. Some fabric conditioning compositions are not compatible with cold water used during some washing cycles, and many fabric conditioning compositions are not compatible with water having a high hardness value. As such, fabric conditioning compositions that may be added during the washing step at any water temperature, including relatively cold temperatures, and which can be used together with laundry detergents, are desired. Fabric conditioning compositions that are compatible with water having a high hardness value are also desired.


Compact dispenser for chemicals and other concentrated liquid is disclosed. The dispenser is compact and with is attractive design you can use it anywhere from home to office, restaurants, cafe', etc.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the cleaning tools.
Description of the Related Art
Our planet is reaching a critical tipping point of deterioration due to high pollution levels caused by global population, over the years we have been concerned about consuming products without thinking about the negative consequences that leave non-degradable plastic containers and packaging of products we consume. The cleaning area is not immune to contribute massively to the pollution of our environment, which is why the present invention (Greenspenser) is an innovative solution that helps us to collaborate with the preservation of our planet.
Imagine how many containers of cleaning products we have thrown away again and again, would find a fairly high number, which surely would make us reflect, if we add the products of our family, friends, neighbors, our city, our continent, industrial companies, this figure will make us faint. The important point at this time is not what we did in the past, But what is needed from now on for the conservation of our planet Earth, and therefore the life of future generations, we must change our mentality selfless to a green mentality, the present invention is dispensing super concentrated certified green cleaning products very easy to use, aesthetically designed and can become the starting point for new ecological culture in our homes, offices, shops restaurants, hotels and businesses in general. This dispenser allow us the opportunity to use a green cleaning solutions of high quality that leave us with cleanness and nice fragrance, and most importantly eliminate the waste of plastic containers and hazardous waste, as we know it takes years to decompose in nature and landfill. The present invention understands the cost sensitive nature of the proportioning market, and the important part that a dispenser plays in delivering the correct amount of chemical. The present invention has designed an elegantly simplistic proportioner that delivers chemical accurately and at an economical price. This compact, durable dispenser is designed with minimal number of parts, nonmoving parts which making servicing and operation simple. Can easily be introduced into our homes and businesses, create environmental awareness is the task of each and every one of us. The present invention consider an innovative solution is practical and functional, the characteristics of not only individuals but provide global benefits, and today is a good day to decide to make significant contributions to our planet and that together we can stop pollution.

Compact dispenser for chemicals and other concentrated liquids


A ceramic filter containing at least one functional material and method of manufacturing, a ceramic filter whose surface through which a liquid to be purified flows into is densest and the average particle size of the filter continuously increases toward the interior thereof, a method of manufacturing the ceramic filter including ultrasonic vibration, an extrusion molding die used to manufacture the ceramic filter and an extrusion molding apparatus using the die.

Conventionally, there have been proposed and used many types of filtrating apparatuses for filtrating various polluted substances, smelled (nasty) substances and impurities which are unsuitable for drinking to obtain drinking water from river water, seawater and drained water. Further, there are commercially available water purifying devices and the like for removing a nasty smell (foul smell) and a bad taste caused by organic substances, inorganic substances and the like contained in well water and tap water in a slight amount. Many of the water purifying devices use a filter unit.
Additionally, a filtrating process is indispensable to food industries to remove solid substances and impurities from fermented products for making beer, wine, Japanese sake, soy sauce etc. and to remove solid substances and impurities to obtain sauce, juice, fruit juice, cooking oil etc. from a food material.
In particular, since drinking water, liquors, fruit juice, juice, sauce, cooking oil etc. are used for drinking or eating, a very high performance is required of a purifying apparatus, thus a high performance is also required of a filtrating device.
Further, with the recent fitness boom, many persons enjoy swimming as an exercise of every part of the body regardless of age and sex and the number of persons visiting swimming pools is increasing.
With this trend, there is an increasing interest in the sanitary state of the swimming pool and in particular in the quality of water to enjoy swimming more safely and sanitarily. Thus the requirements for a purifying apparatus by which the quality of water in the swimming pool is established is made more and more strict and thus the performance of a filtrating device used meet this requirement must be of the highest level.
Further, filtrating devices are now being widely used in processing water from a low purity level to a high purity level in such fields as the water purification in zoos, aquariums and the like, the pre-processing in the manufacture of pure water used for the production of semiconductors and the desalination of seawater, the quahouse and 24-hour open bath, water processing for an intermediate water supply, decolorization processing required by the environmental standards and the like.
Many porous ceramic filters are used as the filter element of the filtrating apparatus. The porous ceramic filter (hereinafter, referred to as a ceramic filter) has very fine three-dimensional filtrating spaces (holes) which are very preferable to the filtration of water in the swimming pool and in particular in the warm water swimming pool and can preferably filtrate organic substances such as oil and the like, structures, protein, bacteria, viruses and the like discharged from human bodies.
The purifying capability of a ceramic filter is determined by the size of micropores used in filtration, wherein the smaller the micropore size, the more excellent the purifying capability of the filter. Further, when the ease of cleaning the filter by reverse washing and the like is taken into consideration it is preferable that impurities and the like in a liquid to be purified are captured on the surface of the ceramic filter.
Therefore, it is preferable that a ceramic filter is particularly close on the surface thereof through which a liquid to be purified flows in. However, since the ceramic filter is usually manufactured by preparing a compound made by mixing and kneading fine particles with a binder, forming the compound to a molded product having a predetermined shape by compacting and molding it and sintering the molded product, manufacturing a ceramic filter having the above structure is not feasible.
To manufacture a ceramic filter having the above structure (having an average particle size which is made smaller toward the surface thereof), it is contemplated to manufacture a ceramic filter having a preferable particle distribution in which the filter surface through which a liquid to be purified flows into is particularly close, in such a manner that a compound (slurry) composed of still more ultrafine particles is coated on the surface of a molded product, dried and then sintered to thereby form a layer composed of the ultrafine particles on the surface of the filter.
However, this manufacturing method is troublesome and time consuming. Additionally, the manufacturing cost of the ceramic filter is high. Moreover, the slurry must be repeatedly coated and dried many times to sufficiently form the layer composed of the ultrafine particles on the surface. Further, the thus made ceramic filter has a two-layered surface structure or a multi-layered structure as FIG. 9 schematically shows. Thus, the coated layer located on a base member is not perfectly arranged as an integral part thereof. Therefore, the coated thin layer is easily exfoliated while the filter is subjected to reverse washing or executes filtration and the exfoliation expands. As result, the purifying capability of the exfoliated portion is lowered and the portion cannot exhibit a desired purifying capability, by which serious problems such as short life of the ceramic filter and the like are caused in practical use.
On the other hand, since the conventional ceramic filter is made more coarse toward the surface thereof, when it is used for filtration without using a filtration assistant, impurities enter from a surface to the filter deep interior and cause clogging. Thus, it is very difficult to clean (reversely wash) the filter.
To cope with this problem, a filtration apparatus using the ceramic filter forms the layer of a fibrous filtration assistant such as pulp fibers, asbestos or the like or the layer of fine particle filtration assistant such as diatom earth, lime or the like, that is, a so-called filtration assistant layer on the surface of the filter through which water to be filtrated flows in to thereby make the surface of the ceramic filter to a close state for the prevention of clogging of the ceramic filter and cleaning effected by reverse washing easy. In this instance, a problem arises in that the filter cleaning becomes a time-consuming job.
Further, it is desired that a filter fulfills other functions such as, for example, heating, sterilization, control of a specific component, pre-processing for a special process used to the manufacture of pure water, the desalination of seawater, and the like.

Porous ceramic filter, method of manufacturing the same, ceramic filter manufacturing extrusion molding die and extrusion molding apparatus using the die


An oven door includes upper fixtures, lower fixtures and middle frames which are attached to a front glass of the door. One or more panes of glass are mounted behind the front glass and are spaced from the front glass. As a result, air can circulate through a space behind the front glass. In addition, a door handle is coupled to the front glass using a through-hole formed in the front glass, spacers formed on the upper fixtures, and screws going through the spacer and the through-hole, and into the door handle. Outside air introduced from a bottom of the front glass goes out through a side of a space contacting the front glass and thus cools only the space contacting the front glass. Since the heavy division members are supported by only the lower fixture, the oven door can be easily assembled and disassembled when damaged.

1. Field
The present invention relates to an oven door, and more particularly, to an oven door that is easily assembled/disassembled and that provides selective insulation or selective cooling.
2. Background
Two common kinds of modern ovens are gas ovens and electric ovens. An electric oven heats food using heat generated by various heaters operated by electricity. Electric ovens may also make use of an apparatus that generates high frequency electromagnetic waves. Examples of heaters include ceramic heaters, sheath heaters, and halogen heaters. The electric ovens simultaneously heat the inside and the periphery of food to speed the cooking of the food and increase heat efficiency. In addition, the electric ovens are safe. Therefore, the electric ovens are widely used.
The electric oven typically has a cubical shape, with a cavity in which food is cooked. A front opening of the oven cavity is covered by a movable oven door. Typically, the door is hinged so that it can rotate to open the cavity. A handle is usually formed at an upper portion of the oven door.
A portion of an oven door may be formed of a transparent material to allow a user to look into the cavity. The oven door must provide good insulation so that heat is contained inside the cavity. Also, the door must not allow any external parts that can be touched by a user get too hot.
In addition, the oven door is required to be easily assembled and disassembled for repairs. However, because the door requires a hinge mechanism, and because it must by transparent, most oven doors are difficult to assemble/disassemble, and their insulation characteristics may be less than desirable.


A sensor for detecting the presence of a target analyte, ligand or molecule in a test fluid, comprising a light transmissive substrate on which an array of surface plasmon resonant (SPR) elements is mounted is described. A multi-channel sensor for detecting the presence of several targets with a single micro-chip sensor is described. A multi-channel sensor including collections of SPR elements which are commonly functionalized to one of several targets is also described. The detectors sense changes in the resonant response of the SPR elements indicative of binding with the targets.

A significant trend in medicine is the introduction of point of care (POC) devices for rapid, bedside diagnosis. These devices enable rapid diagnosis by first responders or medical staff for time-critical diagnoses, such as for indicating whether patients are presenting with cardiac symptoms. Tests have been developed for other indications, such as infectious diseases, drugs of abuse, cerebrovascular disease, that are intended to circumvent the lengthy processing hours and high costs accompanying conventional in-house laboratory assays. Current POC devices are single use only. While this is suitable for many applications, there is an unmet need for continuous monitoring devices.
An initial clinical need is a device that can monitor and detect the presence of infections in intensive care patients. Currently, many intensive care patients develop infections that are not detected quickly, often leading to sepsis or shock and resulting in a large mortality rate. There is a significant need for a device that can continuously track the concentration of specific protein markers in a patient's bloodstream that are indicative of an infection, for instance.
Devices that are capable of detecting the presence of selected chemicals or biological substances include biosensors that interact directly with a sample molecule to provide a signal identifying the test molecule. Biosensors are often functionalized chemically to make them selective. The readout can be electrochemical, as is often the case for small molecules (e.g. glucose), or can utilize fluorescence or other optical techniques for molecules such as proteins or DNA. Typical biosensors can often operate in a continuous reading mode or can be used multiple times, which differs from conventional laboratory assays requiring bulk reagent handling, usually yielding only a one-time test result.
The miniaturization possibilities afforded by biosensors compared to conventional laboratory assays suggests that point of care (POC) tests could provide dramatically enhanced diagnostic capabilities. The benefits of POC testing include: rapid turnaround which aids therapeutic decisions; quick dissemination of test results to patients, thereby reducing physician workload and increasing patient satisfaction; reduced paper work and simplified sample tracking; and reduced need for specialized technicians. POC tests administered as panels provide further significant benefits. For example, screening for several cardiac markers simultaneously saves time and provides useful additional data. Screens for various types of influenza would aid diagnosis compared to more limited tests on only single strains.
Emerging applications of biosensors include food and water testing, drugs of abuse, bio-defense and "white powder" detection, and veterinary testing, to name a few. Some of these applications have unique needs such as the need for ultra-fast response time in conjunction with bio-defense measures, or high sensitivity necessary in food or water testing to detect a very low number of E. Coli colony-forming units. Typical water testing products use reagents that must be incubated in flasks for 18-24 hours or longer, changing color to indicate pathogen presence. While these products are very effective, the lengthy, 24 hour incubation time can be problematic. When the contaminated water is in a public drinking supply, the water may be in use for extended periods before a pathogen problem is detected. A product that continuously monitors water quality can provide a warning within minutes of actual contamination.
Bio-defense presents unique issues as governmental and military agencies search for ways to rapidly and interactively detect anthrax, botulism, malaria, Ebola virus, ricin, and other potential terrorist agents. Expensive test kits are currently used by the US Postal Service that incorporate real-time PCR to amplify and analyze crude samples obtained from air or suspicious "white powder" on packages and envelopes.
A new breed of biosensors utilizes a phenomenon arising from the interaction of light with a metal surface. This phenomenon is called "surface plasmon resonance" and embodies a charge-density (electron cloud) oscillation that may exist at the interface of two media with different dielectric constants or dielectric constants of opposite signs. This condition is usually met at the interface between a dielectric (glass) and a metal (typically gold or silver). The charge density wave (the electron cloud) is associated with an electromagnetic wave (the incoming photons), and this coupling reaches a maxima at the interface and decays exponentially into both media. This coupling is, in effect, a surface bound plasma wave (SPW).
This coupling cannot be excited directly by incident optical photons at a planar metal-dielectric interface because the propagation constant of an SPW is always higher than that of the wave propagating in the dielectric. Therefore to enhance this coupling, attenuated total reflection (ATR), prism couplers and optical waveguides, or diffraction at the surface of diffraction gratings is used. As the excitation of SPWs by optical photons results in resonant transfer of energy into the SPW, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) manifests itself by resonant absorption of the energy of the optical photons. Owing to the strong concentration of the electromagnetic field in the dielectric (an order of magnitude higher than that in typical evanescent field sensors using dielectric waveguides) the propagation constant of the SPW, and consequently the SPR formation, is very sensitive to variations in the optical properties of the dielectric adjacent to the metal layer supporting SPW, namely the refractive index of the dielectric media which may be determined by optically interrogating the SPR. The thickness of the region of sensitivity varies with the wavelength off the applied energy, but is typically about 500 nm for wavelengths in the visible light range. The refractive index is modified by the presence of materials or impurities at the surface. This is the fundamental effect that can be used to identify the materials or impurities with great precision.
Metals are materials that can provide the negative sign dielectric constant. They have a resonant mode at which the constituent electrons resonate when excited by electromagnetic radiation having the right wavelength. Gold, in particular, has a spectrum with a resonance at visible wavelengths around 510 nm. In the case of the attenuated total reflection in prism couplers, the evanescent wave is sensitive to the metal surface in contact with the media within approximately 200-400 nm of the surface, enhanced by the presence of a surface plasmon wave. Such material effectively modifies the index of refraction and thus the precise angle of critical attenuated total reflection. Interactions between a bound substrate and a sample can thus be probed, measuring small variations in the reflection angle at maximum SPR production.
This effect can be harnessed to study binding between molecules, such as between proteins, RNA and/or DNA, or between proteins and viruses or bacteria. For example, a surface functionalized with a specific antibody will probe for only one antigen (e.g. antigen A) and discriminate specific binding from non-specific binding. That is, antigen A will be detected but weaker interactions between the functionalized protein bound to the surface and another antigen, say antigen B, can be distinguished. Typically, angular resolution of a few millidegrees is required to discriminate between selective and non-selective binding. Thus the detection of protein A in solution as dilute as 1 pg/ml may be achieved. In addition, the reaction kinetics of the binding between the surface protein and antigen A can be elucidated.
Most commercial SPR instruments comprise a sample introduction device or sensor that includes a semispherical dielectric prism coated with a thin layer (50 nm) of a noble metal such as Au or Ag. This metal coating in turn is coated with molecules that will specifically bind a target analyte. These commercial devices further comprise a light source on a goniometric mount, an array detector, and various collimation and filtering optics, as depicted generally in FIG. 1.
Using a semispherical prism, the angle of incidence at the dielectric/air interface is the same as at the first air/dielectric interface where the ray from the light source enters the prism. At the precise incidence angle at which light couples to a non-radiative evanescent wave (surface plasmon) in the metal film, the reflectivity of the film decreases roughly 90% creating an evanescent plasmon field which is localized at the metal surface away from the glass. The evanescent wave's properties depend on the properties of the medium (e.g., biomolecules) in contact with the free metal surface of the sensor. Subtle changes in the refractive index of the medium, such as those associated with molecular absorption onto the surface, induce detectable changes in the surface plasmon resonance angle φ. The SPR instrument then adjusts the detector position to find this new angle and thus measures the change in SPR angle.
These types of SPR devices have a number of inherent limitations involving sensitivity, sample size, complexity, and cost. Existing commercial instruments require large, complex, and delicate moving parts in order to optimize the incident beam and detector positions. For instance, the goniometric mount for the light source is relatively big and heavy, but delicate. Moreover, the light source itself must provide polarized light. Typical sensitivity limits are on the order of 10−6 refractive index units which is usually sufficient to detect targets with a concentration of 1 pg/mm2 of adsorbed molecule and a size of at least 200 Da, but is not sensitive enough to provide useful detection for bio-terrorism agents in concentrations of 0.01 parts per billion as required by certain government standards. The typical planar sensor footprint is in the range of a few mm2 ( 1/16th mm2 in the Biacore Flexichip and 2.2 mm2 in the Biacore 3000) which creates a technical constraint on the ability to miniaturize these sensors. A larger sensor area means that more test fluid must be provided to flow over the planar sensor. Moreover, the constraints on accuracy also require more test fluid to provide sufficient molecules or microparticles to be detected. Because of an SPR sensor's macroscopic size, arrays of sensing elements for multiplexed analysis require sample volumes too large for most technologies used for analytical integration. All of these limitations of conventional planar sensors reduce the throughput capability of the sensors.
Additionally, most current SPR sensors require p-polarized light (i.e., the electric vector component is parallel to the plane of incidence) and precise alignment of their optical parts, which are comparable in complexity to those of a tabletop spectrometer. This results in high cost, typically on the order of several hundred thousand dollars.

Sub-micron surface plasmon resonance sensor systems

Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation


A bulb is adapted to fit over and around a light-emitting diode emitting a light of a first hue in a generally Lambertian radiation pattern. The bulb has a generally spherical shape and a substantially circular external cross-sectional geometry, and further defines an inner cavity with a substantially circular cross-sectional geometry for housing the light-emitting diode. The bulb is composed of a light-transmitting material and a light color-converting material, with the light color-converting material converting the light of the first hue into a light of a desired hue, which is then viewed along an external surface of said bulb.

The present invention is a generally spherical bulb that fits over and around an LED emitting light of a first hue in a generally Lambertian radiation pattern, converting the light emitted from the LED into light of a desired hue, with a substantially consistent and generally uniform hue then being observed along the external surface of the bulb.
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are now commonly used for a wide variety of general illumination and special effects illumination. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,592,238; 6,953,262; and 7,188,970, which are incorporated in their entirety herein by this reference, each describe an illumination device for simulating neon lighting having a plurality of spaced LEDs positioned adjacent the light-receiving surface of a rod-like member or waveguide. The rod-like member/waveguide is made of a material that preferentially scatters light entering the light-receiving surface such that the light intensity pattern exiting a light-emitting surface of the rod-like member/waveguide is substantially uniform.
Nevertheless, the available visible color spectrum for illumination devices that use LEDs is limited by the finite availability of LED colors. Therefore, in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,011,421; 7,264,366; and 7,264,367, each of which is also incorporated herein by this reference, illumination devices are described that use LEDs in conjunction with fluorescent and/or phosphorescent dyes, allowing for the emission of light in hues that cannot ordinarily be achieved through the use of LEDs alone.

Spherical bulb for light-emitting diode with spherical inner cavity


Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to hibernating a client of an instant messaging service. A user wishing to conserve battery life and connection overhead in a mobile device may transmit a hibernate command to a chat server. Although the user's connection is torn down, the user will still maintain a presence on the instant messaging service and be able to receive messages.

Instant messaging on mobile devices is nearly ubiquitous. Users often install multiple clients such as AOL instant messenger, Yahoo! messenger, Google gchat, MSN messenger, Kik messenger, BlackBerry messenger, etc. on their mobile devices to remain in constant connection with their friends, family, and co-workers. However, maintaining the data connection from a mobile device to an instant messaging server requires a constant data connection, which is expensive both from a traffic and battery life standpoint. Therefore, users may wish to power down their device to save battery life while still maintaining a presence on the IM server so that they may continue to receive messages.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.