An folded absorbent sanitary pad having a lower basis weight of superabsorbent polymer in correspondence with the folding lines which helps reducing the stiffness of the article caused by the folding lines.

Absorbent pads for absorption of body fluids such as urine, menses or blood or vaginal discharges are well known in the art, and comprise for example sanitary napkins, panty liners, as well as adult incontinence pads. These articles typically comprise a liquid pervious topsheet as wearer facing layer, a backsheet as garment facing layer and an absorbent core between topsheet and backsheet. The body fluids are acquired through the topsheet and subsequently stored in the absorbent core. The backsheet typically prevents the absorbed fluids from wetting the wearer's garment. Absorbent pads often comprise side flaps provided on the side edges of the napkin meant to be fold around the crotch edge of an undergarment during use in order to protect the undergarment from side leakages.
The absorbent core typically comprises one or more absorbent materials. Absorbent materials can be comprised typically in fibrous or particulate form, but also unitary elements formed by absorbent materials such as absorbent foam can be used.
Absorbent materials can be selected among all absorbent materials known in the art, for example natural fibres (such as for example cellulose fibres, typically wood pulp fibres), artificial fibres (such as rayon, viscose), absorbent and superabsorbent polymers (which can be used in the form of particles or fibres or foam layer or foam particles or combination thereof). Typically the absorbent core has a layered structure and is formed by one or more layers.
Absorbent pads typically comprise an adhesive on the garment facing side of the backsheet. Such adhesive is protected by a release film which can be for example a sheet of siliconized paper. Absorbent pads are commonly marketed in folded configuration wherein the article is folded 1, 2, 3, or more times around folding lines which are usually parallel to the transverse axis of the absorbent pad but can also be parallel to its longitudinal axis and/or have any other direction. In the most common configuration absorbent pads have two folding lines which are parallel to the transverse axis of the absorbent pad. Typically absorbent pads are folded and wrapped individually with a thin plastic film. Sometime the inner surface of the wrapper film is treated with a release agent such as silicone so that the film itself can also act as release film protecting the adhesive and releasing it when the wrapper of the absorbent pad is removed. Always sanitary napkins from The Procter & Gamble Company are currently marketed using this type or wrapper/release film.
The main purpose of such absorbent pads is clearly to absorb and retain body fluids and preventing as much as possible that such fluids escape from the article causing soiling of underwear and embarrassment of the user.
Especially in case of low flow modern absorbent articles are perfectly capable to protect the underwear of the users, however the presence of folding lines can have an impact on the internal structure of the absorbent material. Absorbent pads are folded and compacted using relatively high pressures machinery in order to compact them as much as possible so that, once packaged, the articles are thin and discrete to carry in a purse. However the portions of the absorbent core in correspondence with the folding line are subject to elevated stress when folding and we have surprisingly found that their internal structure can be deeply altered so that not only the fluid transport and absorption properties of these portion are very different from those of the flat unfolded portions, but also the flexibility of the article and the conformability of the article to the body and underwear are altered.
The present invention focuses on modifying the composition of the portions of the absorbent core which are in correspondence with the folding lines so that the properties of the absorbent article in terms of flexibility and stiffness are less altered by the presence of folding lines with respect to the same core having the same folding lines and a uniform composition. The folding line creates a densification of the core structure and such denser portions of the structure behave like rigid elements reducing the flexibility of the article especially as concerns its flexibility along the transversal direction i.e. across the crotch when the absorbent pad is used.
Specifically in the present invention the problem has been inventively solved by reducing the basis weight of the SAP in a small selected zone in correspondence with the folding lines of the article. It has been observed in fact that surprisingly it is sufficient to reduce the basis weight of SAP in a small defined area of the absorbent core as explained in detail in the invention description below to obtain a significant improvement reducing the stiffness of the compressed areas in the folding portions.

Absorbent pads comprising zones of differential absorbent capacity


A GeoNexus proximity network provides quick determination of proximity of a large group of associated mobile devices (e.g., ‘friends’, all devices associated with those who ‘like’ a given posting, etc.) To respond to a given proximity request, a list of identities is obtained for the group of associated mobile devices for which proximity is to be determined. A bucket index is determined of a place to which proximity is to be determined for each of the plurality of associated mobile devices. A target geonexus node associated with the determined bucket index is queried, which in turn queries geonexus nodes adjacent thereto, to quickly determine which of the group of mobile devices are proximate, without the need to individually query for location of each mobile device in the group.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to network location services, and more particularly to a network service that maintains information sufficient to provide a near-real-time determination of proximity of affiliated mobile devices.
2. Background of Related Art
Today, every mobile cellular (e.g. CDMA, GSM, LTE, etc.) device is being located all of the time. As a mobile device moves, a cellular network does a signal hand-off between the mobile device's current controlling cell site sector and the mobile device's new cell site sector (the cell site sector into which the mobile device is moving). Signal handoff enables continuous and unbroken signaling to be maintained for a mobile device. Every cell site sector has an associated location. Hence, by inference, a mobile device's general location is known by a respective cell site.
As cellular infrastructure technology becomes deployed in greater density patterns (picocells, a.k.a., "femtocells"), a general location inferred from a cell site with which a mobile device is primarily communicating becomes higher fidelity.
Many cellular carriers are currently in the process of adding location probes to all deployed macro-cell sites. Location probes will enable carriers to maintain much more accurate location information for mobile devices located within range of these macro-cell sites.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Apparatus and method for learning current network behavior and predicting future behavior which utilizes a state transition graph. The graph includes nodes which represent network states, and arcs which represent trends in observable network parameters that result in a transition from a current state to another state. For example, a watch service may be instituted on multiple ports of a router, and the observed network traffic on the ports over time may be transformed into a state transition graph that represents network behavior. The network states may be labeled such as "good", or "bad", etc., according to a predetermined performance criteria. Once a state transition graph is constructed, the system may then monitor the current state and current trends of the network parameters in order to predict and display future network states. The system may include an automatic warning signal for alerting a user that the network is headed in the direction of a problematic state. The prediction of future network behavior may be made from the state transition graph, the current state of the network, and the current network trends.

In the prior art, an averaging/thresholding method has been applied for learning the behavior trends of a network. Basically, this method observes the traffic in a network segment over a period of time, for example a month, in order to determine an average or norm of the behavior over time. For example, the average bandwidth utilization in a network segment backbone may be represented by an interval [x, y], where x is the lower threshold of utilization and y is the upper threshold. During a period of one month, the bandwidth utilization may for instance fall within an interval [25, 40], with only a few stray values falling outside the interval, where 25 is the lower threshold, and 40 is the upper threshold.
Commercial tools that implement the averaging method generally record bandwidth utilization data for some period of time and then use a statistical algorithm to calculate the norm. A current value of bandwidth utilization is then compared with the calculated norm. If the current value is outside the norm, an alarm is issued to warn the network administrator of the discrepancy.
The averaging/thresholding method can be extended to find norms for traffic occurring within multiple network segments, in trunks that connect segments, and between individual nodes in a network. An example of a commercial tool that uses the averaging/thresholding method is the HP Network Advisor, sold by Hewlett Packard Company, 4 Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, Md. 20850.
The averaging/thresholding method is useful for setting watches on network segments and for alerting the network administrator when the current traffic on a particular network segment exceeds a threshold. However, if the network administrator needs to understand the overall behavior patterns of the network, the averaging/thresholding method does not suffice. A method that predicts network behavior would be extremely helpful in providing the administrator more opportunity and time to intervene when the network appears to be moving toward a problematic state. With such a method, the administrator would be able to intervene before the problematic state occurred.

Method and apparatus for learning network behavior trends and predicting future behavior of communications networks


Novel methods of regulating cellular apoptosis by affecting the interaction of hepatitis B X-interacting protein (HBXIP) with Survivin are described. More specifically, these novel methods of enhancing apoptosis of neoplastic cells comprises inhibiting interaction of hepatitis B X-interacting protein (HBXIP) with Survivin.

Survivin represents one of the most tumor-specific genes in the human genome according to comparisons of the transcriptomes of normal and malignant cells (Velculescu, V. E. et al. 1999 Nature Gen 23:387-388). The 17 kDa protein Survivin is scarcely expressed in normal adult tissues, but is found at high levels in most human cancers (Ambrosini, G. et al. 1997 Nature Med 3:917-921). Normally, Survivin is expressed only during late stages of the cell cycle (particularly mitosis and anaphase), where it associates with the mitotic spindle and related structures, performing functions important for chromosome segregation and cytokinesis (Li, F. et al. 1998 Nature 396:580-587; Reed, J. C. & Bischoff, J. R. 2000 Cell 102:545-548). Many cancers, however, contain constitutively high levels of cytosolic p17 Survivin, and over-expression of this protein has been shown to block apoptosis both in vitro in cultured cells and in vivo in transgenic mice (Ambrosini, G. et al. 1997 Nature Med 3:917-921; Grossman, D. et al. 2001 J Invest 108:991-999; Reed, J. C. 2001 J Clin Invest 108:965-969). Antisense and dominant-negative experiments have provided proof of concept evidence suggesting that interfering with Survivin function could be a worthwhile strategy for promoting apoptosis of tumor cells (Reed, J. C. 2001 J Clin Invest 108:965-969; Li, F. et al. 1999 Nature Cell Biol 1:461-466; Mesri, M., et al. 2001 J Clin Invest 108:981-990). However, at present it is unclear how Survivin blocks apoptosis.
Survivin is a member of a family of proteins which all contain a characteristic zinc-binding fold called the BIR domain. Many of these BIR-containing proteins have been shown to suppress apoptosis when over-expressed, thus prompting the term Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins (lAPs). The principal mechanism of apoptosis suppression by IAP-family members such as XIAP has been defined. These proteins directly bind and potently suppress the activity of Caspases (Deveraux, Q. L. & Reed, J. C. 1999 Genes Dev 13:239-252), a group of intracellular proteases responsible for apoptosis (reviewed in Cryns, V. & Yuan, Y. 1999 Genes Dev 12:1551-1570). Though some studies have suggested that p17 Survivin also binds and suppresses Caspases, others have failed to demonstrate direct effects on these proteases (Shin, S. et al. 2001 Biochem 40:1117-1123; Verdecia, M. A. et al. 2000 Nature Struct Biol 7:602-608; Conway, E. M. et al. 2000 Blood 95:1435-1442; Banks, D. P. et al. 2000 Blood 96:4002-4003).
Because Survivin is over-expressed in the majority of tumors (Velculescu, V. E. et al. 1999 Nature Gen 23:387-388; Ambrosini, G. et al. 1997 Nature Med 3:917-921), this protein has emerged as a promising target for development of new cancer therapies. However, progress in devising strategies for nullifying Survivin has been hampered by a lack of knowledge about its biochemical mechanism of action.
HBXIP was originally isolated as a human protein which binds the viral oncogenic protein, HBX, of the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) (Melegari, M. et al. 1998 J Virol 72:1737-1743). HBXIP encodes a protein of 9.6-kDa with a putative leucine zipper motif. Expression of HBXIP mRNA has been demonstrated in essentially all tissues examined to date, and is not limited to the liver (Melegari, M. et al. 1998 J Virol 72:1737-1743). In the context of HBV-infection, HBXIP reportedly reduces viral replication and abolishes the transactivation function of viral HBX protein (Melegari, M. et al. 1998 J Virol 72:1737-1743), however, little is known about the physiological roles of HBXIP in human cells.
Thus, there is a need for investigation into the anti-apoptotic mechanism of Survivin and its role in neoplastic diseases as a means for developing novel cancer treatments.

Use of hepatitis B X-interacting protein (HBXIP) in modulation of apoptosis


A fluid sensor device includes a number of components integrated onto a substrate, such as a semiconductor substrate. The integrated components include analyte-detection transducers, signal processing circuitry for manipulating the signals from the transducers, an elevated interconnect scheme, and thermal regulation capability. The substrate is compatible with the use of integrated circuit fabrication techniques. The interconnect scheme enables dense vias that extend generally perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. The transducers are formed on a planarized side of the interconnect scheme opposite to the substrate. Inkjet printing techniques may be used in locating the transducer materials. Alternatively, the transducers may be photosensitive polymers that polymerize when exposed to light.

Electronic devices that are used to detect gases are sometimes referred to as "electronic noses" or "artificial noses." Similar devices are available for detecting liquids. Possible uses include identifying a presence of an unhealthy environment and identifying constituents of a liquid or gas. Goals in the design of gas-detection and liquid-detection devices include minimizing costs and maximizing reliability and speed.
There are a number of different approaches to detecting and/or identifying fluids (i.e., analytes). One approach is to employ conductive transducers that change electrically when particular molecules are introduced. The electrical change may be with respect to resistance or capacitance. The transducers may be an array of metal oxide pads or chemically absorbent pads which have different specific reactions to analytes. With properly designed arrays, each of a number of different gases will have a unique characteristic set of resistance/capacitance values when the array of transducers is exposed to the gas.
A second general-category approach to designing an electronic nose is to include absorbent polymers in a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) system. The absorbent polymers will have masses that vary as different molecules are absorbed. As a result, the resonant frequency of the system will change in dependence upon the molecules to which the polymers are exposed. A third approach is similar, since frequency changes are used to identify analytes. In this third approach, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) system is involved, with the frequency variations being with respect to travel along a surface, rather than through a bulk material.
There are at least two optical approaches. In one such approach, the electronic nose includes an array of transducers which are chemically active fluorescent dyes. As analytes interact with the fluorescent dyes, light is generated by the various dyes. The frequencies of the emitted lights are used to identify the gas or gas components. The other optical approach is to utilize dyes which merely change spectral characteristics (color) as a reaction to exposure to fluid molecules.
While the available approaches operate well for their intended purposes, one concern is that sensing results may be influenced by external factors, such as temperature.

Integration of thermal regulation and electronic fluid sensing

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


An RF receiver operates to receive broadcast RF signals that include at least one of an analog portion and a digital portion. The RF receiver performs processing of the analog portion and/or the digital portion to generate a digital path signal. The RF receiver performs further processing of the analog portion to generate a first audio signal. A digital modulation processing system may be electrically connected with the RF receiver. The digital modulation processing system may receive and process the digital path signal to generate a second audio signal. The RF receiver may selectively utilize at least one of the first audio signal and the second audio signal to generate an audio output.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to receipt of RF frequency broadcasts, and more particularly to a receiving system capable of receiving and processing analog audio broadcasts as well as digital audio broadcasts (DAB).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digital audio broadcasting (DAB) systems have been developed capable of providing digital signals broadcast on existing AM (amplitude modulation) and FM (frequency modulation) spectrum allocations. The ability to broadcast on these radio frequencies uses In Band On Channel (IBOC) technology. In general, IBOC provides the ability to transmit a broadcast on a radio frequency (RF) carrier with conventional AM or FM modulation (e.g. analog modulation) as well as digital modulation centered on the same RF carrier. As such, an RF signal generated with IBOC consists of an analog portion and a digital portion of the modulation sharing the same RF carrier frequency.
Since IBOC signals are sent on standard RF carrier frequencies, the signals may be received by a conventional AM and/or FM radio receiver. However, conventional AM and/or FM radio receivers process only the analog portion of the IBOC signal. To achieve the increased sound quality available from the digital portion of the RF signal, the radio receiver must include additional processing capability.
Radio receivers capable of processing both the analog and the digital portions of the RF signal may perform the processing in the analog domain, the digital domain or some combination thereof. These receivers include circuitry exclusively for processing the analog portion and parallel circuitry exclusively for processing the digital portion. This redundant functionality for independently processing the analog portion and the digital portion may increase the complexity of the receiver. The increased complexity may result in increased manufacturing and hardware costs as well as requirements for a larger space to accommodate such a receiver.


A system and method of processor type determination. A reset vector from a processor is identified. Responsive to characteristics of the reset vector, a processor type of the processor is determined.

The computer industry is continually creating new types of processors and new generations within families of processors to meet an appetite among computer users for increased speed, additional features, and other improvements. Manufacturers of computer systems are constantly challenged to provide new computer systems that take full advantage of such new processors.
Unfortunately, each different type of processors typically requires a corresponding and different type of software because of the differences in the processor architectures from processor to processor. For example, a first type of processor cannot typically operate with or execute software designed for a second type of processor. One specific type of software common to most computer systems is firmware, or initialization software. Firmware typically controls the processor, and often other peripherals, from the point that a processor is "turned on" or starts execution until higher level software, e.g., an operating system, is loaded and assumes control. Firmware may also provide certain baseline functionality or "system calls" utilized by an operating system to minimize the operating system's dependence upon particular system hardware features. Firmware is typically stored in read only memory, e.g., read only memory (ROM) or electrically erasable programmable memory, devices. Sometimes only a first portion of firmware is stored in such devices and subsequent portions are read into random access memory (RAM) from other storage devices, e.g., magnetic media.
For successful system initialization, the firmware should have an awareness of certain aspects of a system's configuration, for example, a system's memory map. Consequently, the system manufacturer typically provides the firmware in a system. Conventionally, system manufacturers match a processor or processor type with a corresponding firmware during system assembly. For reasons of design and production efficiency, a computer system manufacturer will typically design such systems to support different types of processors with as much commonality in design and production process as possible.
After manufacture, it may be desirable to change processor types in a computer system. For example, a manufacturer may have not predicted demand for systems with a first type of processor, instead producing systems with a second type of processor. In such a case, it may be desirable to convert existing system inventory from systems with processors of the second type to systems with processors of the first type. Additionally, it may become desirable for a customer to change processors or types of processors.
Unfortunately, changing processors and/or processor types typically also requires changing firmware to correspond to the new processor. Since the firmware is typically separate from a processor, e.g., in a ROM chip, changing a system's firmware requires additional effort in addition to replacing the system's processor. For example, in some cases ROM chips may be replaced. Alternatively, an entire system board containing the firmware may be replaced. It is to be appreciated that such replacement can be difficult, time consuming, expensive and error prone, particularly when upgrading multiple computers.
A method and/or system that facilitates changing processors while addressing the aforementioned problems would be of value.

Processor type determination based on reset vector characteristics

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention pertains to an electronic control module (3) for a motor vehicle electrical circuit (1), intended to be linked in a galvanically isolated manner to a motor vehicle electrical circuit (1) comprising at least one functional module (5) powered at high voltage, the control module comprising: —a connection bus (9), intended to be linked to an exterior interface (7), configured so as to conduct low-voltage electrical setpoint signals, emanating from the exterior interface (7) to the elements of the control module (3) to which they are addressed, —a microcontroller (1), configured to control the at least one functional module (5) as a function of the setpoint signals, characterized in that the microcontroller (11) and the connection bus (9) are linked by a non-galvanic coupler (13), provided with a low-voltage part (131) and with a high-voltage part (133), which are able to exchange at least one signal and are galvanically decoupled, and in that the control module furthermore comprises an electrical transformer (15), linked via outputs (153, 155, 157) to the high- and low-voltage parts (131, 133) of the non-galvanic coupler (13) and to the microcontroller (11) so as to provide their power supply, the transformer (15) being linked to a low-voltage source (17) via a breaker switch (19), and the connection bus (9) comprising a switching member (91) controlling the open or closed state of the breaker switch (19).

In an electric or hybrid motor vehicle, one part of the electrical circuit is powered at a high voltage of the order of 400 volts, while the power supply for the control circuits generating and carrying the control signals is made with low voltage, of the order of 5 to 12 volts.
The part powered with high voltage generally comprises all of the functional power modules, such as the propulsion motor of the vehicle and the heater of the vehicle. The high voltage enables, for equal power, intensity, and therefore losses due to Joule effect, to be lowered. The part powered with low voltage for its part comprises in particular the control elements, such as a connection bus.
The two parts of the electrical circuit are separated by an isolation, called a galvanic barrier, allowing prevention of a discharge of high voltage into the low voltage part. Passages through the galvanic barrier are made by means of electrical transformers, located between the high and low voltage lines that are called upon to interact.
In order to control the functions of the circuit, the latter comprises a microcontroller, which controls the different functional modules of the circuit, according to instructions applied by the user via switching modules and/or signals emanating from sensors linked by the low voltage bus. In particular, it is impossible to make analog voltage or intensity measurements pass through the galvanic barrier without resorting to a costly converter.
Therefore, if the microcontroller is located on the low voltage side of the galvanic barrier, it will only be able to receive measurements concerning the high voltage functional modules of the circuit through interposed converters, which adversely affect precision and/or are costly.
If the microcontroller is located on the high voltage side of the galvanic barrier, it will be impossible for it to control the disabling of the device without implementing additional galvanically decoupled lines, controlling the elements forming the galvanic barrier is then particularly problematic.

Method and system for disabling and enabling an electric motor vehicle control module


Disclosed are a device and a method of drilling a hydrate micro-borehole and performing fast completion, which belongs to the technical field of a hydrate extraction device and a hydrate extraction method. The method includes a continuous operation machine, a power control mechanism, a high pressure water jet pump, a guider, a continuous pipe, a parent pipe and a child pipe, the parent pipe is connected with the continuous operation machine, and an end of the child pipe is connected with a water jet nozzle; the working method basically includes the following: firstly, a large main borehole is formed by drilling to a destination layer at one time with a large size drill bit; secondly, a horizontal micro-borehole is drilled in a natural gas hydrate reservoir by a high pressure water jet device formed by the child and parent pipes and then the child pipe is heated to enable its skin to fall off and leave a screen; finally, the child and parent pipes are disconnected to perform well completion. The present disclosure is applicable to different natural gas hydrate extraction manners. In this way, well drilling and completion is integrated, sand production is effectively inhibited, and the production of the hydrate reservoir is increased with a small effect on the hydrate reservoir. Thus, drilling is accelerated.

Natural gas hydrate which is also called combustible ice is a non-stoichiometric cage compound formed by natural gas and water molecule under the condition of low temperature and high pressure. In an ideal state, each standard cubic meter of the hydrate may contain gas molecules equivalent to 180 times its own dissolved water in volume. China is the largest energy consumer in the world, which takes 23% of the global energy consumption. Today, along with increasing depletion of petroleum resources, it is urgent to find a new energy with advantages such as large resources volume, high energy density and low pollution to replace the traditional energy. As a result, natural gas hydrate becomes hotspot of different countries due to its large reserve, cleanness and high efficiency and widely recognized as an important subsequent clean energy with good prospect. Realizing development and utilization of natural gas hydrate resources is greatly significant for pushing energy industry development, improving energy consumption structure, guaranteeing safe energy supply, promoting ecological civilization construction and maintaining sustained economic and social development.
At present, the extraction method of the hydrate includes a depressurization method, a thermal excitation method and a chemical reagent injection method. In a natural gas hydrate extraction device and method disclosed in the patent numbered CN106837258A, the device mainly includes an extracting ship, a compressor, a gas engine, a vortex pipe and a gas-liquid separator and the extraction method mainly includes drilling through a hydrate overburden layer and a reservoir to form two gas injection wells which form a communication well, performing well completion for a horizontal section by a screen pipe, transporting natural gas to the vortex pipe after pressurizing the natural gas with the compressor on the extraction ship, injecting hot fluid of a hot end pipe outlet of the vortex pipe to the gas injection well by a gas injection pipe and allowing a hot current to enter the hydrate in the hydrate reservoir through the screen pipe so that the hydrate is decomposed into natural gas by heat and extracted out of a production well. A patent numbered CN109252833A discloses a natural gas hydrate extraction method. In this method, a water injection well and an extraction well are placed in sea, a hydrate reservoir is heated by the water injection well, the water injection well and the extraction well is communicated at a water surface through a first water pipe so that water discharged by the extraction well enters the water injection well, the extraction well and the water injection well are communicated by the first water pipe so that hot water separated from the extraction well is re-injected into the water injection well, thereby allowing part of hot water to form heat circulation, that is, low temperature water initially injected into the water injection well is heated and injected into the hydrate reservoir, the hydrate reservoir is heated so that a mixture extracted by the extraction well is of high temperature, and water separated from the mixture is re-injected into the hydrate reservoir.
However, these extraction methods may damage a stable structure of the hydrate when the hydrate reservoir is opened, resulting in decomposition of the hydrate. Further, during an extraction process, problems such as collapse of the overlying rock layer and sand production arising from loose hydrate reservoir and poor particle cementing strength may occur. Furthermore, frequent drill bit trips will lead to time and labor-consuming completion, affecting work progress and production. These problems have to be faced frequently during the extraction process of the hydrate.

Device and working method for drilling hydrate micro-borehole and performing fast completion

CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM (EAST CHINA)


The invention relates to a microfluidic switch for stopping a liquid flow during a time interval with the following features: the switch has at least one first channel and at least one second channel; the first channel and the second channel have a common end area; the first channel in the end area has a stopping mechanism for stopping of a liquid flow flowing in the first channel; the stopping mechanism can be controlled by means of a liquid flow flowing in the second channel for continuing the liquid flow in the first channel. Transport in the first and the second channel takes place advantageously by the capillarity acting in the channel.

This invention relates to a microfluidic switch for stopping a liquid flow during a time interval in a first channel. The liquid flow is to be stopped at the end of the first channel by a stopping means for the defined time interval. After the time interval expires the liquid flow is to be continued. The first channel of the microfluidic switch as well as other channels can be a widening such as for example a cavity and/or a chamber. This channel can be a groove in the surface, which is preferably closed with a cover. Likewise it is possible for the channel to be made as a tube. A channel for the purposes of the invention can fundamentally be any structure, which is suited for routing a liquid or a gas in one certain direction during transport.
A microfluidic switch of the initially mentioned type can be used for example in microfluidic arrangements as known among others from documents WO 99/46045 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,126 B1.
For various wet chemical, biochemical and diagnostic analyses it is necessary for the sample liquid to be mixed with reagents for example in a the reaction chamber of a microfluidic arrangement during a defined time interval, during this time interval then the sample liquid being reacted with the reagents into a product. This product is then removed from the reaction chamber in order to be analyzed. The stopping means for known microfluidic arrangements are generally made as mechanical valves, which must be triggered from the outside. These valves are used to fluidically separate individual reaction chambers or also analysis chambers from one another. Via external time control, for example via a computer, the corresponding incubation times, i.e. the time intervals of the residence of the sample or products in the reaction chambers and/or analysis chambers, can be adjusted.
These microfluidic switches with microvalves have the property that they have mechanically moving parts, which for example are accordingly electrically triggered. This leads to high hardware complexity. In addition, integration of these microvalves into the microfluidic switches is complex, especially when the microfluidic switch is made of plastic.
An object of the invention is to propose a microfluidic switch, which makes it possible to stop the liquid flow at the end of the first channel for a predetermined time interval without the need for electrically triggerable microvalves to restart the liquid flow.

Microfluidic switch for stopping a liquid flow during a time interval


A method and apparatus for detecting the C-bit parity application of DS3 makes use of the relative state of the CP-bits and the P-bits in one or more M-frames alone or in combination with the state of the AIC signal. In one implementation, the invention is a detector circuit that is adapted to receive a CP-bit and a P-bit from each of a group of one or more M-frames of a DS3 service. For each M-frame in the group, the detector circuit performs a logical XOR between the CP-bit and the P-bit for that M-frame. The detector circuit further performs a logical OR between the XOR results from each M-frame in the group and outputs a C-bit parity format detect signal if the result is zero.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications networks and, more specifically, to application identification within digital service hierarchy level 3 networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital service hierarchy level 3 (DS3) is a digital, dedicated, private-line service that provides high-capacity transport for combinations of data, voice, and video applications. DS3 is a North American standard developed and standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T1 sub-committee. Relevant specifications include "Network and Customer Installation Interfaces—DS3 Metallic Interface Specification," T1.404-2002 (herein "T1.104") and "Digital Hierarchy—Formats Specifications", T1.107-2002 (herein "T1.107"). Each specification is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
DS3 was initially designed to assist voice carriers in consolidating multiple, lower-speed voice connections into a single high-speed communication path between a data source and a data sink. Most carriers moved to DS3 technology in the late 1970s. Today, DS3 serves as the physical interface for a wide variety of point-to-point and site-to-site communication applications.
It should be noted that, in the literature and in this document, the terms "DSn" where n is one of {3, 2, 1, 0} will be used synonymously with the terms "Tn." However, strictly speaking, DSn is actually the contract between a carrier and an end user at a particular level n of the digital service hierarchy, the contract defining a service level and cost, while Tn is a DSn signal that is sent over terrestrial lines.
DS3 is a multiplex of lower-speed digital services (namely levels 0, 1, and 2 of the digital service hierarchy). A DS3 is typically formed by multiplexing together seven digital service hierarchy level 2 (DS2/T2) services in an M23 multiplexor. Each of these DS2 services is, in turn, formed by multiplexing together four digital service hierarchy level 1 (DS1/T1) services in an M12 multiplexor. Generally, each DS1/T1service is formed by multiplexing together 24 DS0/T0 services. A DS0/T0 is a 64 kbps service typically used to carry a digital representation of a roughly 3 kHz analog voice signal sampled with an 8-bit companding A/D at 8 kHz.
Each frame (also known as an M-frame) of a DS3 service is composed of seven sub-frames (also known as M-subframes) corresponding to the seven DS2s that contribute to the DS3 multiplex. Among various overhead bits added to DS2 and DS3 frames, "stuffing" or "C-bits" are provided to deal with synchronization of the services at each level, given that the timing for the multiplexed services can potentially be based on clocks that are asynchronous to each other. There are twenty-one C-bits provided per M-frame. These are labeled Cij where iε {1,2,3},j ε {1,2,3,4,5,6,7}, where j corresponds to the M-subframe. So, for example, C11 (also known as application identification channel (AIC) signal) is the first C-bit of the first M-subframe and C37 is the third C-bit in the seventh M-subframe.
There are two primary applications for DS3 specified in T1-107. The first, termed M23, uses the C-bits as stuffing bits to accommodate synchronization between multiplexed streams as described above. The second, known as C-bit parity, assumes either that the incoming pseudo DS2 bitstreams are synchronous or that the DS3 is unchannelized data at 44.210 Mbit/s. In the C-bit parity case, the C-bits are not needed for stuffing purposes. They are thus utilized to improving management and performance functions. T1.107 (section 9.3.1) declares that the first C-bit in M-subframe 1 (the AIC signal) shall be set to 1 to identify the application of the DS3 service as C-bit parity. Thus, it is suggested by the standard that an endpoint (i.e., sink) for a DS3 link could use the state of this signal to detect the application; C-bit parity if the AIC signal is logical one, and M23 if the AIC signal is logical zero.
However, in an M23 application, there remains a small probability that the AIC signal will be set to logical one as alluded to in a footnote in T1.107 (section 9.3.1). This can lead to a false-positive indication of the C-bit parity application. Such a detection error might eventually be resolved, but only after delays in synchronization at the sink end of the DS3 stream.

Digital service hierarchy level 3 (DS3) application detection


The present invention relates to methods and systems of snapshot management of a file system in a data storage system. To represent the snapshots, the invention maintains pointers to the root block pointer of each snapshot. When the active file system is modified, this invention avoids overwriting any blocks used by previous snapshots by allocating new blocks for the modified blocks. When the invention needs to put an established block in a new location, it must update a parent block to point to the new location. The update to the parent block may then require allocating a new block for the new parent block and so forth. Parts of the file system not modified since a snapshot remain in place. The amount of space required to represent snapshots scales with the fraction of the file system that users modify. To maintain snapshot integrity, this invention keeps track of the first and last snapshots that use each block in space map blocks spread throughout the file system data space. When users delete snapshots, this invention may use a background process to find blocks no longer used by any snapshot and makes them available for future use.

The present invention relates to snapshots of file systems in data storage systems.
This application incorporates herein by reference as follows:
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/354,797, Methods and Systems of Host Caching, filed on Jan. 29, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,965,979 B2;
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/440,347, Methods and Systems of Cache Memory Management and Snapshot Operations, filed on May 16, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,243 B2; and
U.S. application Ser. No. 10/600,417. Systems and Methods of Data Migration in Snapshot Operations, filed on Jun. 19, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,136,974 B2.
Files exist to store information on storage devices (e.g., magnetic disks) and allow the information to be retrieved later. A file system is a collection of files and directories plus operations on them. To keep track of files, file systems have directories. A directory entry provides the information needed to find the blocks associated with a given file. Many file systems today are organized in a general hierarchy (i.e., a tree of directories) because it gives users the ability to organize their files by creating subdirectories. Each file may be specified by giving the absolute path name from the root directory to the file. Every file system contains file attributes such as each file owner and creation time and must be stored somewhere such as in a directory entry.
A snapshot of a file system will capture the content (i.e., files and directories) at an instant in time. A snapshot results in two data images: (1) the active data that an application can be read and write as soon as the snapshot is created and (2) the snapshot data. Snapshots can be taken periodically, hourly, daily, or weekly or on user demand. They are useful for a variety of applications including recovery of earlier versions of a file following an unintended deletion or modification, backup, data mining, or testing of software.
The need for high data availability often requires frequent snapshots that consume resources such as memory, internal memory bandwidth, storage device capacity and the storage device bandwidth. Some important issues for snapshots of file systems is how to manage the allocation of space in the storage devices, how to keep track of the blocks of a given file, and how to make snapshots of file systems work efficiently and reliably.

Methods of snapshot and block management in data storage systems


In order to provide an information security policy evaluation system in which information security policies can be efficiently and appropriately defined and operated in an organization, such as a corporation, treated threats operated on a second site are transmitted from a second information processing apparatus on the second site to a first information processing apparatus on a first site, threat information is transmitted from a third site collecting information on threats to the first information processing apparatus on the first site. The first information processing apparatus extracts treated threats which have been effective for threats having occurred actually, and untreated threats, out of the received treated threat and generates an evaluation report in which these are described. Moreover, a compensation amount of insurance against threats is changed based on the generated evaluation report.

The present invention relates to an information security policy evaluation system and a method of controlling the same. In particular, the present invention relates to technologies for efficiently and appropriately defining and operating information security policies in an organization such as a corporation.
With the advances of IT related industries, threats for information processing systems have become problems. In organizations, such as corporations, countermeasures against these threats are being advanced. Organizations promoting information security management which is compliant with BS7799 (British information security management standard) are increasing. The information security management system (ISMS) conformity assessment scheme and the like promoted by the Japan Information Processing Development Corporation (JIPDEC) are drawing attention, and information security policies have come to be defined and operated in many organizations.

Information security policy evaluation system and method of controlling the same


A filtration system and methods for using same are disclosed. The filtration system can include a frame, and a plurality of filters coupled to the frame and coupled to each other in series. A pump can provide a pressure differential that causes fluid to flow through the filters in series. The first filter can be provided as a pre-filter, and one or more additional filters can include pleated, calendared, micro-fiber filters. Another filter can be a percentage removal nano-filter that is adapted to remove sub-micron particles from the fluid. The nano-filter can include three pleated filter layers. Each pleated filter layer can be oriented approximately concentrically about a common longitudinal axis.

Filters are widely used to remove contaminates from a fluid stream, gas, or liquid. For example, fluid that has been contaminated during an industrial application can be passed through one or more filters of a filtration system that operates separately from the industrial process. The filtration system removes contaminating particles from the contaminated fluid and outputs filtered fluid to the industrial application that has a lower level of contaminants than the contaminated fluid.
Unfortunately, conventional filtration systems are expensive and do not reliably remove contaminating particles, particularly particles of small sizes. As a result, the particles can amass within the industrial application, causing contamination, and/or clogging and ultimately inefficient downtime resulting from shutting down the application to perform maintenance.
It is desirable to provide a filtration system that can reliably and cost-effectively remove contaminants from a fluid associated with an industrial process.


Targeting uncontrolled cell proliferation and resistance to DNA damaging chemotherapeutics with at least one reagent has significant potential in cancer treatment. Replication Protein A, the eukaryotic single-strand (ss) DNA binding protein, is essential for genomic maintenance and stability via roles in both DNA replication and repair. Reported herein are small molecules that inhibits the in vitro, in vivo, and cellular ssDNA binding activity of RPA, thereby disrupting the eukaryotic cell cycle, inducing cytotoxicity and increasing the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents damage DNA, and/or disrupt its replication and/or function. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of RPA-ssDNA interactions in chromosome maintenance and stability. This represents a molecularly targeted eukaryotic DNA binding inhibitor and demonstrates the utility of targeting a protein-DNA interaction as a means of studying the cell cycle and providing a therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment.

Replication protein A (RPA) is a heterotrimeric single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein made up of 70, 34, and 14 kDa subunits (1). The ssDNA binding activity of RPA is required for several DNA metabolic pathways including DNA replication, recombination and repair. High affinity interactions with DNA are sustained by the numerous oligosaccharide/oligonucleotide binding (OB)-folds present on each of the three subunits (2; 3). The DNA binding pocket of a single OB-fold accommodates 3-4 bases of ssDNA (4; 5). The main OB-folds, DNA binding domains A and B (DBD-A and DBD-B) are present in the central region of the p70 subunit and contribute most of the binding energy for RPA-ssDNA interactions (2). Individual OB-folds are compact modular domains populated with hydrophobic and basic amino acids. These structural features make the OB-folds an attractive target for development of small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) of DNA binding activity. Given RPA's central role in cell growth and DNA repair, it is an attractive target for the development of compounds that can interfere with its activity. Some aspects of the instant invention include compounds that interact with RPA and methods of using the same to influence cell growth and death.

Materials and method for inhibiting replication protein A and uses thereof

Indiana University Research and Technology Corporation


A technique for managing data storage operations in a data storage system having a file-based front end system and a block-based back end array includes provisioning a set of storage resources on the array for use exclusively with one or more virtualized storage processors (VSPs), where each VSP identifies multiple file systems. In response to a management command to perform a data storage operation on a VSP, the back-end array performs the specified operation on the provisioned set of storage resources. Thus, the back-end array performs the data operation exclusively on the VSP (or on multiple VSPs) and therefore on all of its constituent file systems as one.

Data storage systems are arrangements of hardware and software that include one or more storage processors coupled to non-volatile storage devices. In typical operation, the storage processors service storage requests that arrive from users. The storage requests specify data elements to be written, read, created, or deleted, for example. The storage processors each may run software that manages incoming storage requests and performs various data processing tasks to organize and secure user data stored on the non-volatile storage devices.
Some data storage systems take the form of file-based systems, such as NAS (network-attached storage) systems. Such systems communicate with users of host computing devices ("hosts") using one or more file-based protocols, such as NFS (Network File System), CIFS (Common Internet File System), and/or SMB 3.0 (server message block), for example. File-based systems allow users to create and store file systems, and to export those file systems for access over a computer network. File-based systems typically provide advanced features, such as replication and snap, for protecting data and for allowing hosts to roll back their data to earlier points in time. These advanced features may be operated at the file system level, such that users may specify and direct performance of replication and snap operations on individual file systems.
Other data storage systems take the form of block-based arrays. Such arrays communicate with hosts using one or more block-based protocols, such as Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and/or InifiniBand, for example. In some examples, block-based arrays include multiple disk drives, electronic flash drives, and the like, and allow hosts to provision logical storage volumes from such drives. The arrays may export such volumes, called logical unit numbers, or "LUNs," to hosts using one or more of the above protocols, or some other protocol. Hosts may then access data on LUNs, e.g., for reading or writing, by specifying the particular LUN and a block offset range relative to the LUN. Arrays may also provide advanced features, such as replication and snap, for example, which operate at the level of individual LUNs.
In some arrangements, a file-based system provides a front end and connects to a block-based array, which operates as a back end. Hosts access one or more storage processors in the file-based system using a file-based protocol, and the file-based system accesses the array using a block-based protocol. Thus, the file-based system services requests from hosts while the block-based array efficiently stores host data.

Leveraging array operations at virtualized storage processor level


Disclosed herein are an oil separator and a cooling-cycle apparatus using the oil separator. To a casing of the separator is connected an inflow tube to supply gaseous refrigerant and oil into the casing for allowing them flowing in a swirl pattern, thereby being separated from each other in a cyclone separation manner. Such a separation manner results in an improved oil separation efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil separator for separating oil from gas and a cooling-cycle apparatus using the oil separator, and more particularly, to an oil separator for separating oil from gas in a cyclone separation manner, and a cooling-cycle apparatus using the oil separator.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a cooling-cycle apparatus is an apparatus installed in an air conditioner, refrigerator, etc. for cooling or warming a room, or keeping food at low temperatures.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional cooling-cycle apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, the cooling-cycle apparatus comprises a compressor 2, a condenser 4, an expander 6, an evaporator 8, and refrigerant conveyance tubes 9. The compressor 2 compresses a gaseous refrigerant having a low-temperature and low-pressure to a high-temperature and high-pressure gas, and the condenser 4 condenses the high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant to a liquid by taking heat from the gaseous refrigerant. The liquefied high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant is depressurized by means of the expander 6 to a two-phase refrigerant. Here, the two-phase refrigerant is a mixture of gas and liquid and has a low-pressure and low-temperature. The depressurized refrigerant flows into the evaporator 8, and is then vaporized while absorbing heat from air around the evaporator 8. The compressor 2, the condenser 4, the expander 6 and the evaporator 8 are connected to one another by way of the refrigerant conveyance tubes 9 to enable the refrigerant to circulate therethrough.
The compressor 2 comprises a compression unit having a refrigerant compression chamber, a motor unit for driving the compression unit, and an oil pump for the lubrication of both the compression unit and the motor.
Installed between the compressor 2 and the condenser 4 is an oil separator 10. The oil separator 10 serves to separate oil, discharged from the compressor 2 as shown in a dash-lined arrow, from the gaseous refrigerant, likewise discharged from the compressor 2 as shown in solid-lined arrows.
Not described reference numeral 2a designates an accumulator, which is mounted at the refrigerant conveyance tube 9 near an inlet of the compressor 2. The accumulator 2a is adapted to catch the liquefied refrigerant, not evaporated in the evaporator 8, so as to prevent it from flowing into the compressor 2.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the conventional oil separator.
The oil separator 10 comprises a casing 12 defining an interior space, an inflow tube 14 for supplying the oil and the gaseous refrigerant into the casing 12, a filtering member 16 mounted in an intermediate region of the casing 12 and adapted to filter oil while allowing the passage of the gaseous refrigerant, causing the filtered oil to drop into a lower region of the casing 12, an oil outflow tube 18 for delivering the dropped oil in the lower region of the casing 12 to the compressor, and a refrigerant outflow tube 20 for supplying the refrigerant, passed through the filtering member 16, to the condenser.
Now, the operation of the conventional cooling-cycle apparatus configured as stated above will be explained.
When the compressor 2 starts to drive, the high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant (shown in the solid-line arrows) and the oil (shown in the dash-lined arrow) are simultaneously discharged from the compressor 2, and then are supplied into the casing 12 of the oil separator 10 through the inflow tube 14.
Within the casing 12 of the oil separator 10, the oil collides with the filtering member 16 and forms oil droplets. The oil droplets are easy to drop into the lower region of the casing 12 by gravity, and then return back to the compressor 2 through the oil outflow tube 18.
Meanwhile, the gaseous refrigerant, supplied into the casing 12 of the oil separator 10, is discharged through the refrigerant outflow tube 20 after passing through the filtering member 16.
The gaseous refrigerant, discharged from the outflow tube 20, is condensed while passing through the condenser 4 by discharging heat thereof to the outside, and is successively depressurized while passing through the expander 6 to a two-phase, namely, liquid-containing gaseous refrigerant having a low-pressure and low-temperature. The depressurized two-phase refrigerant flows into the evaporator 8 and is then vaporized by absorbing heat from air around the evaporator 8. Finally, the gaseous refrigerant returns to the compressor 2.
The above described conventional oil separator 10 having a configuration in that the filtering member 16 is mounted therein to filter the oil from the gaseous refrigerant, however, suffers from increased manufacturing costs and complicated installation operation due to the existence of the filtering member 16, and also has a limitation to reduce the overall size thereof. Furthermore, the filtering member 16 fails to completely intercept the passage of the oil, resulting in a low degree of oil separation efficiency.
Accordingly, with the use of the oil separator as stated above, part of the oil supplied into the casing 12 passes through the filtering member 16 and inevitably circulates through the cooling-cycle apparatus together with the refrigerant, causing only a small amount of the oil to return to the compressor 2 through the oil separator 10 and the oil outflow tube 18. This requires filling the cooling-cycle apparatus with an excessive amount of oil over an appropriate value. The greater the amount of the oil circulating through the cooling-cycle apparatus, the lower the efficiency of the cooling-cycle apparatus.

Oil separator and cooling-cycle apparatus using the same


A system for processing a workpiece includes a base having a bowl or recess for holding a liquid. A process reactor or head holds a workpiece between an upper rotor and a lower rotor. A head lifter lowers the head holding the workpiece into contact with the liquid. Sonic energy is introduced into the liquid and acts on the workpiece to improve processing. The head spins the workpiece during or after contact with the liquid. The upper and lower rotors have side openings for loading and unloading a workpiece into the head. The rotors are axially moveable to align the side openings.

The invention relates to surface preparation, cleaning, rinsing and drying of workpieces, such as semiconductor wafers, flat panel displays, rigid disk or optical media, thin film heads, or other workpieces formed from a substrate on which microelectronic circuits, data storage elements or layers, or micro-mechanical elements may be formed. These and similar articles are collectively referred to here as a xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cworkpiecexe2x80x9d.
The semiconductor manufacturing industry is constantly seeking to improve the processes used to manufacture microelectronic circuits and components, such as the manufacture of integrated circuits from wafers. The objectives of many of these improved processes are decreasing the amount of time required to process a wafer to form the desired integrated circuits; increasing the yield of usable integrated circuits per wafer by, for example, decreasing contamination of the wafer during processing; reducing the number of steps required to create the desired integrated circuits; and reducing the costs of manufacture.
In the processing of wafers, it is often necessary to subject one or more sides of the wafer to a fluid in either liquid, vapor or gaseous form. Such fluids are used to, for example, etch the wafer surface, clean the wafer surface, dry the wafer surface, passivate the wafer surface, deposit films on the wafer surface, etc. Controlling how the processing fluids are applied to the wafer surfaces, is often important to the success of the processing operations.
Various machines and methods have been used for carrying out these manufacturing processes. However, existing machines have several disadvantages. These disadvantages include relatively large consumption of process chemicals and water. This consumption of process chemicals increases manufacturing costs, which ultimately increases the cost of the final product, such as e.g., computers, cell phones, and virtually all types of consumer, industrial, commercial and military electronic products. In addition, many process chemicals are toxic and require special handling, storage, and disposal methods. These can be costly and difficult, but are necessary for health, safety and environmental reasons. Consequently, reducing consumption of process chemicals has many advantages.
Reducing consumption of water is also beneficial. In many areas, water is becoming increasingly scarce. Due to population growth, there is greater competition for water. Disposing of waste water in environmentally friendly ways has also often become more difficult or costly. Accordingly, reducing water consumption in the manufacturing process is also important.
In many process manufacturing steps, the process chemicals used should be applied evenly onto the wafers, to avoid having too much or too little etching, film removal, etc. Existing machines often are not able to sufficiently uniformly apply process chemicals. This can result in lower yields. Moreover, many existing machines try to compensate for variations in applying process chemicals by using larger amounts of process chemicals. This inefficient use of process chemicals leads to the disadvantages described above. Accordingly, improved machines and methods which provide improved yield, consume less process chemicals and water, and offer better results in performing manufacturing operations, are needed.
Manufacturing semiconductor and similar products on a commercial scale requires a fab or manufacturing facility often costing hundreds of million dollars to build and equip. Operating and maintenance costs are also very high. Consequently, the output or yield of the fab is critical to successful operations. Faster processing can help increase the fab output. While conventional processing with liquids may produce the desired results, it can be time consuming. Accordingly, faster process methods and machines are very advantageous.
Machines and methods have now been invented which overcome the disadvantages described above. In one design, the machine includes a workpiece housing having a processing chamber. Processing fluids are distributed across the surface of the workpiece in the processing chamber, by centrifugal force.
In a preferred design, a process head holds a workpiece with the bottom of the workpiece uncovered or open. A base has a bowl for containing a liquid. A sonic energy source, such as a megasonic transducer, is associated with the bowl. The head moves to place the workpiece into contact with the liquid in the bowl. Sonic energy from the sonic energy source moves through the liquid to the workpiece, improving workpiece processing. The process head optionally rotates the workpiece while it is in contact with the liquid.
The use of sonic energy in these aspects expedites processing and provides more efficient processing. The use of sonic energy with reactors, such as described in International Patent Application No. WO 99/46064, (published Sep. 16, 1999 and incorporated herein by reference) which are currently in use is generally counter-intuitive, due to the often closed configuration; spinning rotors; and/or lack of a continuous liquid volume around the workpiece, in these reactors. It has now been discovered, however, that sonic energy can indeed be used in these types of reactors, providing improved processing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for processing a workpiece. The invention resides as well in subcombinations of the steps and features described. The features described and illustrated in connection with one embodiment may or course be used in other embodiments as well.

Reactor for processing a workpiece using sonic energy


A novel information reproducing apparatus and information recording/reproducing apparatus capable of searching and selecting information with ease through common manipulations independent of recording media. A recording medium is employed from which start positions of recorded picture programs and start positions of scenes composing each picture program can be read out as data. Symbols corresponding to the picture programs recorded on the recording medium are displayed in an array on a single display screen. A given one of the symbols being displayed is selected, and reduced start pictures of plural scenes, respectively, which compose a picture program affixed with the selected given symbol are displayed in a partitioned array on the single display screen. A desired one of the plural start pictures of reduced size which are being displayed is selected and determined for reproducing the scene corresponding to the determined start picture fully over the single display screen.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for recording picture information on a recording medium and reproducing the picture information therefrom. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with an information reproducing method, an information reproducing apparatus and an information recording/reproducing apparatus which allow a picture or program of interest to be selected from a select-enabling picture array for reproducing the same under the conditions which can be set selectably.
As the system for reproducing picture information from a recording media such as disks, there may be mentioned in addition to the popular VTR (Video Tape Recorder) systems, a video CD (Compact Disk) system or the like in which an optical disk of 12 cm in diameter is employed as the recording medium. In recent years, there has been developed a DVD (Digital Video Disk) system in which an optical disk of a same diameter as that of the video CD system and having a recording capacity about seven times as large as that of the latter is employed.
In the DVD reproducing apparatus, a so-called head indexing operation can be performed for displaying a picture of interest at the start. To this end, from the identification numbers affixed, respectively, to picture programs recorded on the optical disk (incidentally, the picture program is referred to as the title in the DVD system, and thus the term xe2x80x9ctitlexe2x80x9d will also be used in the following description), the identification numbers assigned, respectively, to a plurality of scenes composing each title (incidentally, the scene is referred to as the chapter in the DVD system, and thus the term xe2x80x9cchapterxe2x80x9d will also be used herein) and the frame identification numbers assigned, respectively, to the frames which constitute basic units of the picture program, the user inputs the title number, the chapter number and the frame number of the picture of interest for determining the reproducing position on the disk, whereon the picture is reproduced from that position. In this conjunction, reference may be made to, for example, JP-A-7-312737.
Further, when a plurality of additional or accompanying information (e.g. a plurality of pictures taken at various or multiple angles, i.e., so-called multi-angle pictures, right- and left-channel sounds, languages such as Japanese and English and the like) are recorded together with the pictures on a same time base, selection of the accompanying information can be determined in dependence on the selection of the condition(s) for reproduction. Heretofore, selection of the condition for the reproduction of the accompanying information has been realized by changing over the pictures on an information-by-information basis and confirming or checking the content of every information. In some applications, the accompanying information such as mentioned above is recorded in precedence on the disk in terms of a menu containing the conditions for reproduction. In this conjunction, reference may be made to, for example, JP-A-8-251531.
The conventional techniques mentioned above have proven effective in some application such as disks for karaoke system (a system allowing a person or persons to sing along to a music video, e.g. one from which the original vocals have been electronically eliminated) or other systems in which manufacturers of disks have assigned the identification numbers meaningfully (e., assigned the identification numbers to pieces of music, respectively, so that correspondences between the identification and the contents implied by the identification numbers can be clearly understood from data materials annexed to the disk). However, when a picture of interest is to be searched without availability of such auxiliary data material, difficulty is encountered in searching the picture of interest by making access to undetermined locations or positions on the disk, giving rise to a problem. Besides, it is impossible to check en bloc a plurality of accompanying information recorded on the same time base, involving thus, a problem that lots of time is taken for selection of the picture of interest. Furthermore, even in the case where the menu of information has previously been recorded on the disks, the method of displaying the information as well as the method of selecting the information may differ in dependence on intentions of the producers of programs. Consequently, the user is forced to take trouble of checking the individual disks concerning the information displaying/selecting method on a disk-by-disk basis.
In the light of the state of the art described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel and improved information reproducing method, information reproducing apparatus and information recording/reproducing apparatus which are capable of searching and selecting information with ease through common manipulation.
The above and other objects of the invention which will become apparent as the description proceeds can be achieved by providing a system which includes a unit or module for displaying symbols corresponding to picture programs (titles) recorded on a recording medium in an array on a single display screen, a unit or module for selecting a given one of the symbols being displayed, a unit or module for displaying reduced-size start pictures of plural scenes composing the picture program affixed with the selected symbol in a partitioned array on the single display screen, a unit or module for selecting a given one of the plural reduced-size start pictures which are being displayed, and a unit or module for reproducing the scene corresponding to the reduced-size start picture selected and determined fully over the single display screen. In that case, such a recording medium is employed from which both address data of the start positions of the recorded picture programs and address data of the start positions of the plural scenes composing each of the picture programs can be read out. Further, the screen display in which a plurality of reduced size pictures are displayed in a partitioned array can serve as a select-enabling picture array for allowing a user to select a picture of his or her interest.
By virtue of the arrangement according to the present invention, all the contents and information of a picture program can be checked en bloc while allowing the picture programs to be changed over speedily from one to another, which in turn means that search, selection and determination of a picture program of interest can be realized through simplified manipulation procedure.
Furthermore, because the display of the symbols of picture programs and the start picture of a scene can be realized through common procedure on the basis of data available from the recording medium independent of intention of manufacturers of the recording media. Thus, such inconveniences can be avoided that the displaying method as well as manipulating procedure vary in dependence on the intentions of producers of programs or in dependence on the recording media or other factors.
The above and other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will more easily be understood by reading the following description of the preferred embodiments thereof taken, only by way of example, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Information reproducing method, information reproducing apparatus and information recording/reproducing apparatus


A method for making a unitary label suitable for attachment to an object with a circumference, including forming the label with first and second contiguous label portions. The first and second label portions each have top and bottom surfaces. The first and second label portions have a combined length which is greater than the circumference of the object. The method further includes printing ink on at least one of the top surface of the first label portion and the top surface of the second label portion and the bottom surface of the second label portion, while also applying pressure sensitive adhesive to the bottom surface of the first label portion.

Labels, typically in the form of flexible sheet or web material attached to an object, have long been used to identify the object, its contents and/or display other information associated with the object. Such labels, which are normally fabricated from paper or plastic, are usually adhesively secured to the object by a contact or pressure sensitive adhesive material.
Many objects such as jars, bottles, cans and similar receptacles support "wrap" labels which cover substantially all of their circumferential side wall surfaces. With these labels, essentially the entire outer surface of the label is available as an indicia bearing surface. A label covering all or nearly all of the circumferential area of an object such as a product container is oftentimes sufficient to convey desired advertising, content information, instructions, warnings, and the like. In many circumstances, however, an object's physical dimensions detrimentally limit the available print space of the label borne thereby.
A common solution to the problem of limited label print area, as taught for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,458,374, 5,439,721 and 5,403,636, is to affix an additional multi-sheet leaflet or "outsert" to the exterior of the label. While generally effective for providing additional print space, such leaflets complicate the label assembly process in that at least three fabrication steps must be performed, apart from printing and placement of any necessary adhesive and release layers, in order to manufacture the label. That is, the base label must be cut to desired dimensions, the leaflet must be similarly cut and/or folded, and the leaflet must be secured to the base label. Moreover, the multiple layers of the leaflet may add considerable thickness and bulk to the label construction. Such label designs may also be unwieldy to the end user of the product if the leaflet is folded in a complicated pattern and is difficult to refold into its compact folded initial configuration. Further, because the base label and leaflet are discrete parts which must be joined to one another during the assembly process, the possibility exists that the leaflet may become detached from the base label and thereafter become misplaced. In that event, the additional printed information borne by the leaflet and, thus, the utility of the leaflet itself are lost.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a unitary, i.e., one-piece, label construction which offers enhanced printable surface area capacity versus wrap labels of conventional design.
Other details, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description of the presently preferred embodiments and presently preferred methods of practicing the invention proceeds.


A printing unit is provided for a web fed printing machine having at least two cylinders where at least one of the cylinders is adjustable with respect to another of the cylinders; a machine frame having at least one load bearing wall arranged laterally beside an end of the cylinders; a drive motor corresponding to each cylinder; at least one guide element operably attached to the load bearing wall at a surface of the load bearing wall that runs perpendicular to a plane through the end faces of the cylinders; and a plurality of carriages attached to the guide element. At least one of the cylinders is connected to the carriages so that a distance from another of the cylinders can be adjusted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a printing unit for a web-fed rotary printing machine, having at least two printing-unit cylinders each having its own drive motor and of which at least one can be set linearly at a distance from the other by means of a carriage guide system on the machine frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
German Patent Application No. 195 34 651.3 discloses a printing unit of this type which has two frame walls running parallel to the end faces of the printing-unit cylinders. The printing-unit cylinders can be fitted with sleeves of different diameter, so that the length of the printed image can be changed. A carriage is provided on the frame walls on both sides of the cylinder to mount the ends of a printing-unit cylinder. The carriages can be adjusted by working cylinders operated with a pressurized means. This design has a relatively complicated structure.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, cost-effective structure for a generic printing unit.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a compact, space-saving structure for a printing unit.
The present invention is a printing unit for a web fed printing machine having at least two cylinders where at least one of the cylinders is adjustable with respect to another of the cylinders; a machine frame having at least one load bearing wall arranged laterally beside an end of the cylinders; a drive motor corresponding to each cylinder; at least one guide element operably attached to the load bearing wall at a surface of the load bearing wall that runs perpendicular to a plane through the end faces of the cylinders; and a plurality of carriages attached to the guide element. At least one of the cylinders is connected to the carriages so that a distance from another of the cylinders can be adjusted.


Centralized management of both host-side storage objects on multiple heterogeneous host-side servers and logical data containers on a storage system is performed by a management server. In one embodiment, the management server automatically provisions a logical data container on the storage server according to the storage virtualization strategy without administrator interaction at the storage system. In another embodiment, the management server automatically performs a snapshot operation on logical data containers on the storage system according to the storage virtualization strategy without administrator interaction at the storage system. In another embodiment, the management server centrally monitors for out-of-space events in the storage system and automatically correlates the out-of-space events in the storage system to out-of-space events for the host-side file systems.

Various forms of network data storage systems are known today. These forms include network attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SANs), and others. Network storage systems are commonly used for a variety of purposes, such as providing multiple users with access to shared data, backing up critical data (e.g., by data mirroring), etc. These data storage systems use storage virtualization to abstract the logical storage from the physical storage to provide a resource pool of storage resources. However, host-side servers, which interact with these data storage systems, use various types of different virtualizations than the storage virtualization on the storage systems. For example, every vendor of resources, such as vendors of applications, databases, servers, and storage devices, attempts to add value from virtualization, but has consequently adopted a different storage virtualization strategy for their particular resource. Storage virtualization, as used herein, refers to the process of abstracting logical storage from physical storage. Each of the host-side servers employ different host-side virtualization strategies, which include a set of rules that govern how host-side storage objects are represented logically on the host-side server. The set of rules may be stored in memory of the host-side server.
One goal in storage resource management (SRM) is to have the ability to deliver peak resource utilization on a shared resource pool to thereby minimize wasted idle storage resources. Due to the competition among the various vendors to virtualize resources, most systems are not complete data center management solutions, resulting in computing environments that include multiple heterogeneous virtualization strategies that may not take full advantage the storage virtualization of the underlying storage system. Since the host-side file systems include one of multiple heterogeneous virtualization strategies, they are referred to herein as heterogeneous host-side servers. For example, a typical computing environment may include multiple heterogeneous host-side servers that utilize a storage system that employs a storage virtualization strategy that is different than the host-side virtualization strategies of the host-side servers. In conventional computing systems, a conventional data center environment may have a host-side server and a storage system, which are both separately managed by the server administrator and the storage administrator, respectively, such as illustrated in FIG. 1. The server administrator is responsible for managing the physical and software resources of one or more host-side servers. Part of those software resources is the server 10 stack (host-side file system, volume manager, virtual disks, NFS mounts, etc). The storage administrator, on the other hand, manages the physical and software resources of one or more storage systems, such as logical units of data (e.g., logical unit numbers (LUN), logical containers (e.g., volumes, aggregates, etc), and NFS exports). The server administrator has a set of challenges. The first is that the server 10 stacks are different and are there are no tools for effectively managing them as anything but distinct host-side file systems. The second is that the server IO stack is dependent on physical and software resources managed by a different administrative group, the storage administrator. As a result the server administrator is unable to exploit the virtualization value of centralized storage resources without involving the storage administrator. Although host-side storage objects can be manually mapped to storage objects in the storage system, conventional systems do not provide any tools to allow a server administrator to manage the data in the storage object without administrator interaction, such as by a storage administrator, at the storage system. For example, to perform an operation like a snapshot or a snapshot restore, the entire set of storage resources (e.g., storage objects) must be manipulated, requiring both human co-ordination and software that can map between the two sets of storage resources—the host-side storage resources of the host-side server and the storage resources of the storage system. A snapshot operation creates a copy of a set of files and directories as they were at a particular point in time.
For example, the conventional SRM tools require administrator interaction at the storage system to provision storage resources on the storage system. Conventional SRM tools, which may be used in such environments as described above, simply connect an initiator host bus adapter (HBA) to a target HBA in provisioning storage. That is, the server administrator notifies the storage administrator that a storage resource of a specified capacity is needed, and the storage administrator allocates the appropriate storage resource, notifying the server administrator of the target location for the particular storage resource. The target HBA of the storage resource in the storage system is then manually mapped to the initiator HBA of the storage resource on the host-side server using the SRM tool. The conventional SRM tools are not used to create and/or manage file system on the host-side server, nor create and/or manage the storage resources on the storage system, but to manually map the host-side storage objects using human coordinate between the server and storage administrators. Also, the conventional SRM tools do not provision storage according to the underlying storage system, and thus, do not take advantage of the benefits of the storage virtualization, such as thin provisioning and snapshot operations. Thin provisioning is a provisioning operation that allows space to be allocated to servers, on a just-enough and just-in-time basis, as compared to pre-allocating a large amount of space to account for possible data growth. Thin provisioning may be used in many applications where access to the same storage resource pool is used, allowing administrators to maintain space in the resource pool to service the data growth requirements of the many applications on an ongoing basis. Thin provisioning may allow organizations to purchase less storage capacity up front, and defer storage capacity upgrades with actual increase in usage. In contrast, in fat provisioning, typically large amounts of storage capacity are pre-allocated to individual applications. Most of the storage resources in fat provisioning remain unused (e.g., not written to), resulting in poor utilization rates.
Similarly, conventional SRM tools may not take advantage of such features of the underlying storage systems, such as snapshot operations. Snapshot operations may generate a copy of a set of files and/or directories as are at a particular point in time. As described above, to perform an operation like a snapshot or a snapshot restore, the entire set of storage resources (e.g., storage objects) must be manipulated, requiring both human co-ordination and software that can map between the two sets of storage resources—the host-side storage resources of the host-side server and the storage resources of the storage system.
Also, since the conventional provisioning tools in servers do not provision storage according to the underlying storage system, but are limited to provisioning storage according to their own specific virtualization strategy, the conventional provisioning tools do not provide a heterogeneous tool for multiple heterogeneous host-side servers that employ different virtualization strategies. Some other conventional systems attempt to provide tools for achieving end-to-end provisioning, however, these tools are limited to the specific virtualization strategy employed for the particular system, and do not allow centralized storage provisioning for multiple heterogeneous host-side servers that employ different virtualization strategies.
Also, since the conventional SRM tools do not provision storage according to the underlying storage system, the conventional SRM tools cannot detect and report out-of-space conditions, especially when there are storage-based snapshots and thin provisioning. From a traditional file system perspective, the storage space is entirely contained within the file system, but in a centralized file system of multiple heterogeneous host-side servers, the out-of-space conditions on the storage system need to be correlated to the out-of-space conditions on each of the host-side servers.

Centralized storage management for multiple heterogeneous host-side servers