A method performed by a new joining peer device in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprises receiving a plurality of buffer maps, each of the received buffer maps associated with a respective other peer device in the P2P network. The method also includes discerning playback positions associated with the received buffer maps, generating a starting offset for the new joining peer using one or more of the discerned playback positions. Requests for portions of a media stream are scheduled in accordance with the starting offset, and the scheduler will build a buffer map from this offset and begin to request the media buffer.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of conventional P2P network 100. Network 100 includes source peer 101, receiving peers 102-108, and tracker server 110. In one example, receiving peer 108 is joining network 110 and begins the process by requesting information from tracker server 110. Specifically, peer 108 asks tracker server 110 for a list of neighboring peers that are sharing a particular stream, which source peer 101 provides. The list of neighboring peers generally includes other peer devices in P2P network 100 and may include some or all of peers 101-107.
Once receiving peer 108 receives the list of neighboring peers, it requests buffer maps from those neighboring peers. A buffer map is a set of data that generally conforms to the following format: <buffer offset, play offset, bitmap>. A given peer's buffer can generally be thought of as a memory that stores the received portions of the stream. The portions are numbered sequentially, and a portion's number serves as its identifier. A peer will typically request and save portions of the stream for some amount of time before the portions are played in order to provide a smooth and continuous playback for the user. The buffer also will typically keep portions of the stream that have been played for a certain amount of time in case other peers request the played portions. As additional portions are received, older portions can be dropped.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual representation of buffer map 200, which may be used by peers in conventional P2P network 100. For example, peer 108 may receive buffer map 200 from peer 102. When received, buffer map 200 takes the form <80,84, 1111 1111 0000 1010>. As shown, the buffer offset is 80, which identifies the portion of the stream where the buffer begins (i.e., the earliest-in-time portion that is currently buffered by the peer that sent buffer map 200). The playback offset is 84, which identifies the portion currently playing by the peer that sent buffer map 200. Bitmap 201 is a set of ones and zeros where a one indicates that the particular portion of the stream is currently buffered, and a zero indicates that the particular portion has not been received.
Returning to FIG. 1, peer 108 requests buffer maps from its neighboring peers and receives buffer maps in the format described above. It is generally expected that various peers receiving the same stream have varying buffer maps with different buffer offsets, play offsets, and bitmaps. Peer 108 "knows" which portions of the stream are available from each of its neighbors by examining the contents of the received buffer maps. Peer 108 then begins requesting portions of the stream from one or more of its neighboring peers and creating its own buffer.
An issue that arises in P2P network 100 is that if peer 108 begins requesting the stream beginning at the very latest portions, it may send many requests to source peer 101, thereby overloading source peer 101. On the other hand, if peer 108 begins requesting the stream at portions that are older, then the viewer of peer 108 sees a significantly time-delayed version of the stream (which may be unappealing for some live streams, such as for sports events). There is currently no satisfactory technique for selecting a starting offset for a peer device in a P2P network.

Synchronizing buffer map offset in peer-to-peer live media streaming systems

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.


In the method for the preparation of bicarbonate-containing hemodialysis fluids of individually adaptable compositions according to specific therapeutic requirements of patients a combination of a quantitatively greatly predominating basic concentrate of uniform standard composition is applied in conjunction with an individually selected additional or individual concentrate. The basic concentrate, mainly consisting of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate, supplies to the dialysis fluid a sodium concentration at or slightly below the lower limit of the physiological range, whereas the individual concentrate supplies the complementary concentration of sodium up to an individually selected physiological level as well as salts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium and also glucose in individually adapted concentrations. The individual concentrate is a 120- to 250-fold liquid concentrate, resulting in an easy to handle quantity of typically one liter for one dialysis treatment.

The invention relates to a method for the preparation of hemodialysis fluid containing bicarbonate ions. For one hemodialysis treatment approximately 120-180 liters of dialysis fluid are required, a typical composition of which is as follows:
______________________________________ Concentration Component (mmol/liter) ______________________________________ Na.sup.+ 139 K.sup.+ 2.5 Ca.sup.++ 1.65 Mg.sup.++ 0.6 Cl.sup.- 111 HCO.sub.3.sup.- 32 acetate.sup.- 3 ______________________________________
The problems in selecting a suitable composition of the dialysis fluid, adapted to the physiological requirements, are, for example, discussed in the publication "Replacement of Renal Function by Dialysis" (Editor: W. Drukker, F. M. Parsons, J. F. Maher; Martinus Nijhoff Medical Division, Den Haag 1978) in the chapter "The Composition of Dialysis Fluid" (Author: F. M. Parsons, A. M. Davison). More recent information is found in the book "Blutreinigungsverfahren" ["Methods of blood purification"] (Editor: H. E. Franz, 4th Edition; Georg Thieme Verlag; Stuttgart, N.Y., 1990) and the literature cited therin. It is well known and also apparant from these publications, that to adapt the composition of dialysis fluids to the individual state of disease of each single patient is one of the main requirements for an optimization of hemodialysis treatment.
This question requires increased attention with regard to patients suffering from additional acute or chronic diseases, while also considering children, elderly and weak patients, and cases of acute renal failure. In these cases it is frequently necessary to correct the composition of the dialysis fluid on the basis of actual diagnostic results and taking into account the additional therapeutical measures applied. But also for the "normal" patient the composition should be carefully adapted in order to prevent long-term damages.
The technical means for an individual adaptation of dialysis fluids are however still inadequate. There is no system available which would be easy to handle and solve the problem at an acceptably low cost and with simple technical equipment.
The occurence of negative dialysis side-effects may be reduced by changing the concentration of certain constituents of the dialysis fluid in the course of a treatment session continuously or in discrete steps. This method is known as "profiling" a dialysis fluid. With respect to cardiovascular instabiliy it has been found especially advantageous to apply a high sodium concentration (e.g. 150 mmol/liter) in the first phase and a low sodium concentration (e.g. 130 mmol/Liter) in the final phase. For patients with a high blood potassium level, particularly in cases of acute renal failure, a quick reduction of the potassium level may be dangerous. It is therefore recommended to use a dialyis fluid of high potassium concentration initally and to reduce the potassium level in steps down to zero until the end of the session.
Procedures of this kind, deemed important from the medical point of view, are not sufficiently supported by existing methods and equipment.

Method for the preparation of hemodialysis fluids containing bicarbonate


Disclosed herein is a method of projecting images using reflective light valves. Pixel patterns generated of the light valve pixels based on image data are projected at different locations at a time such that the perceived resolution of the projected images can be higher than the total number of pixels in the light valve.

Projection systems employing reflective light valves produce images by modulating light beams with individually addressable pixels of the reflective light valves. The number of addressable pixels in a reflective light valve predominately determines the resolution of the projected images. Specifically, the more addressable pixels a light valve has, higher resolution the projected images can be. However, the number of addressable pixels in a single light valve is subject to many limitations in both manufacturing and factors from other components of the light valve. Increasing the image resolution by enlarging the number of addressable pixels increases the cost and complexity of the pixels in the light valve.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of projecting images of higher perceived resolutions from a light reflective valve with less addressable pixels.

Method of projecting an image from a reflective light valve


A CAM system (2) stores a plurality of data sets in a plurality of pairs of CAM cells (4) and RAM cells (6). The portion of a particular data set stored in one of the RAM cells is accessed by inputting a tag to CAM cells that matches the portion of the data set stored in the CAM cell associated with the particular RAM cell. CAM system incorporates a novel two-stage matchline re-coding scheme to improve performance. Each of a plurality of first stage circuits (10) receives a plurality of matchline signals from a plurality of CAM sets and a plurality of data inputs from the corresponding RAM sets. Each output of the first stage circuits is further processed by a second stage circuit (12) which generates the final data output. The CAM system avoids the use of self-timed control signals and sense amplifiers.

A content addressable memory system (hereafter simply a CAM system) is a memory system in which individual memory elements are not exclusively indexed by a unique address. Instead, a memory element in a CAM system may be addressed by a portion of the data within the memory element. The way in which a memory cell in a CAM system is addressed distinguishes a CAM system from a conventional random access memory (RAM) or a read only memory (ROM) system.
A particular data word stored in a RAM cell or a ROM cell is accessed by supplying a unique address to the memory system associated with the desired memory element. In a CAM memory system, a "tag" is supplied to the memory system. The CAM memory system compares the tag to a subset of the data bits contained in each memory element. Generally, the portion of each memory element that contains this subset of memory bits is referred to as the CAM. The CAM portion typically has several CAM cells within it. Each CAM cell stores one data bit. Each CAM, or group of CAM cells, is associated with a conventional memory element storing other data bits. The CAM that contains data bits logically equivalent to the input tag "matches" and asserts a logic signal referred to as a "matchline." The asserted matchline causes the CAM memory system to output the other data bits associated with the matching CAM. These other data bits are the desired data bit, byte, word, etc.
CAM systems are particularly useful as caches in data processing environments. In such environments, CAM systems store a subset of frequently used data in a plurality of RAM memory elements. The frequently used data might be instructions to execute in the data processing system, operands of the executed instructions, or a combination of both instructions and operands. In these cases, the CAM system would be called an instruction cache, a data cache, or a unified cache, respectively. Or, the frequently data might be used to convert internal virtual memory addresses into external real memory addresses. In this case, the CAM system would be called a translation look aside cache (or buffer). In all cases, an associated tag identifies the data stored in each corresponding CAM portion. In the case of an instruction, data or unified cache, the tag identifies a memory address in memory space from which the data originated. In the case of a translation look aside cache, the tag identifies the virtual memory addresses for which the associated translation is valid.
Known CAM systems suffer several disadvantages arising primarily from their complexity. First, known CAM systems typically require two timing signals to operate properly. One of these timing signals gates the CAM matchlines before the matchlines reach the wordlines of the RAM cells. This first timing signal prevents the matchlines from indicating a false match during precharge and tag input equalization. A second of these timing signals may enable the sense amplifier connected to the output of the RAM array. This second timing signal prevents the sense amplifier from turning on until the voltages on the RAM bitlines begin to separate, preventing a false output. Both of these timing signals require circuits to generate them, resources to test them, etc. Second, the use of these two timing signals slows down the cycle time of the CAM system. Both signals must be generated to operate correctly in all situations, including the slowest matchline generation condition and the slowest bitline separation condition. Therefore, the two timing signals must be generated "conservatively," guaranteeing proper operation in all conditions and throughout all manufacturing process variations.


An overload protection apparatus for a small-sized tripod head which is capable of protecting the driving portion when overload is applied thereto without the need for a mechanical apparatus such as a slip mechanism and the like. Motors drive two driving shafts which are orthogonal to each other. Position sensors detect the rotating positions of the two driving shafts. When displacement of the driving shafts is not detected by the position sensors although a driving command signal is output by a microcomputer, it is judged that overload is applied to the motors and the motors are forcibly stopped. When the motors are forcibly stopped, the gears are reversed by a predetermined amount. When the gears are reversed, the backlash of the gear is corrected. Driving members are stored in the main chassis and a controller is stored in a storage portion which is formed by a sub-chassis outside of the main chassis.

This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 4-199171 filed on Jul. 2, 1992 which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an overload protection apparatus for a small-sized tripod head and, more particularly, to the structure of a measure for protecting the driving portion of a tripod head which directs a camera or the like to a desired direction by remote control, when overload is applied to the driving portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
In photographing by a television camera in broadcasting of ITV (Industrial Television), CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) or the like, the television camera is often remote-controlled in order to take a good picture of a subject or to take a picture in a predetermined range. As a means for turning the television camera, a tripod head is used.
FIG. 7 shows the structure of a conventional tripod head apparatus used by ITV. Two driving shafts 2 and 3 are provided to the tripod head apparatus in such a manner that they project from the side of a box body 1 produced by die casting or the like, and are orthogonal to each other at the right angle within the box body 1. Supporting disks 4 and 5 are attached to the projecting portions of these supporting shafts 2 and 3 through springs 6 and 7. A television camera is fitted to either of the supporting disks 4 or 5, and the other one is attached to a supporting wall (or a supporting stand) or the like. A motor driving portion (not shown) is connected to the other ends of the supporting disks 4 and 5, thereby rotating the driving shafts 2 and 3. For example, when the supporting disk 4 is attached to the supporting wall and a television camera is fitted to the supporting disk 5 by a special blacket so as to be in parallel with the front surface of the box body 1, the television camera is tilted (vertical direction) by the rotation of the supporting shaft 2, and panned (horizontal direction) by the rotation of the supporting shaft 3. In this way, it is possible to obtain a picture in a desired range by remote control.
In such a tripod head apparatus, a slip mechanism is used in order to protect the driving portion from overload. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, the supporting disk 4 (5) is connected to the driving shaft 2 (3) by using a fixing screw 8 in such a manner that the driving shaft 2 (3) can rotate within the box body 1, and the spring 6 (7) is fitted between a flange 9 and the supporting disk 4 (5) which are integrally attached to the driving shaft 2 (3). As a result, while the driving shaft 2 (3) and the supporting disk 4 (5) are connected to each other by the frictional force based on the urging force of the spring 6 (7), when overload is applied, the spring 6 (7) and the supporting disk 4 (5) slip, thereby reducing the load on the motor, the gears, or the like.
In the slip mechanism of the tripod head apparatus, however, since it is difficult to adjust and control the friction torque which is set by the springs 6 and 7, and the motor idles even when overload is applied thereto, electric power is wasted and the life of the motor is shortened.
The box body 1 of the tripod head apparatus is relatively large (the length and breadth are about 10 and several cm) and heavy. In response to the recent development of smaller-sized, lighter-weighted and simplified television cameras, the present applicant has proposed a smaller-sized tripod head apparatus. In this case, however, use of the slip mechanism is an obstacle to the reduction in the size and the weight of the tripod head apparatus.

Overload projection apparatus for small-sized tripod head


An instrument panel is provided for use in a vehicle interior. The instrument panel includes an outer surface, a vent and a step. The vent is arranged along the outer surface to direct forced air toward a specific area of a window in the vehicle. The step is formed along the outer surface of the instrument panel to promote formation of a turbulent buffer that reduces adhesion between air exiting the vent and the outer surface.

Vehicles typically include vents built into or formed in the instrument panel for directing forced air onto specific areas of a window or windshield in the vehicle. Modern instrument panels often have outer surfaces that are gently sloping or otherwise horizontal relative to the vents, which often results in adhesion between the air exiting the vent and the outer surface of the instrument panel. This results in air being drawn to areas other than the intended specific area of the window or windshield. Thus, it remains desirable to provide an improved design that eliminates the issue of adhesion between air exiting the vent and the outer surface of the instrument panel in order to improve the flow of air toward the intended specific area of the window or windshield in the vehicle.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


The invention is directed to a method of forming a sensitized high chloride silver halide emulsion comprising providing a high chloride emulsion bringing a Lippmann emulsion comprising fine grains of silver bromide doped with metal into contact with said emulsion at a temperature of above 50.degree. C. wherein said metal is present in an amount between 0.001 and 0.25 mg/silver mole, said bromide is present in an amount between 0.05 and 3.0 mole percent bromide and the relationship of bromide and metal dopant is. M percent Br=Xe.sup.-(Y.multidot.Mt), PA1 X=1.36.+-.0.65, PA1 Y=10.+-.5, PA1 Mt=metal.

In the formation of silver halide emulsions for use in photographic materials, a desirable characteristic is to have photographic materials that are capable of being rapidly processed. It is known that silver halide emulsions having high levels of chloride content (greater than 90 mole % chloride) are especially useful in achieving rapid processability due to their higher solubility compared to emulsions having greater than some minimum levels of other halides (for example, emulsions having greater than 10 mole % bromide or more than 3-5 mole % iodide or both).
Silver halide emulsions including those high in chloride content are also known to require some form of chemical sensitization in order to increase their photographic efficiency. Chemical sensitization of an emulsion involves the addition of one or more chemical sensitizing agents where the sensitizing agent is capable of undergoing a chemical reaction on the silver halide grain surface during the application of thermal energy for some time period. The chemical sensitization involving adding chemical sensitizer to an emulsion and heating is often referred to as chemical digestion of the silver halide emulsion. Emulsions, especially high chloride content emulsions also require spectral sensitization involving the addition of surface adsorbing sensitizing dyes to the emulsion grains which make the grains sensitive to specific wavelengths of light. In addition, silver halide emulsion grains are often treated with other photographically useful chemical compounds such as salts of other halides which can cause surface conversion of the host emulsion grains to a mixed halide composition. Other known photographically useful compounds which can be added are antifoggants, stabilizers, metal dopants, silver halide solvents, ripeners, supersensitizers, coating aids and surfactants. These photographically useful compounds can be added prior to, during, or after the chemical sensitization or the spectral sensitization steps.
It is known that silver halide emulsions, including those high in chloride content, often exhibit substantial reciprocity law failure which can limit their usefulness. That is, say these emulsions can exhibit a large change in photographic sensitivity and gradation due to a change in the illuminance of exposure. It is also known to incorporate certain metal dopant compounds to the silver halide emulsion grains in order to improve the reciprocity performance of these emulsions. It is further known that in order for the metal dopant to be effective in modifying silver halide emulsion performance such as reciprocity law failure, the metal dopant must be incorporated into the silver halide crystal which can be accomplished either during grain formation or during the sensitization process. It is also known that if the metal dopant is to be added after the emulsion grain formation as part of the finishing, it is necessary to perform a surface halide conversion to cause the dopant to be incorporated.
The terms photographic "sensitivity" and "speed" are used interchangeably herein, as are "gradation" and "contrast".
It has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,745 --Ohshima and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,474 --Haefner et al that high silver bromide content localized phases may be formed on high silver chloride content host emulsions by the use of fine grain silver bromide emulsions having iridium incorporated therein.
U.S. Ser. No. 08/390,450 filed Feb. 17, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,200, with inventors Hahm et al also discloses that iridium, as well as other materials, may be added by the use of Lippmann emulsions.

Doped fine grain silver halide grains as a means of incorporating metal dopant in emulsion finishing


A current mode device for an active pixel sensor includes a voltage to current converter which includes an operation that occurs inside a source follower. The device operates to draw no current while the current is incoming. The device uses two stages of double sampling--one before the current-mode op amp and one after.

Active pixel sensors often are arranged in arrays of pixels. Each pixel represents one part of the image. The pixels are read out in groups, e.g., one column at a time. It is desirable that these columns be read out at high speed. It is also desirable that the active pixel sensors have as much resolution as possible. This requires a larger array--that means a larger number of columns and a larger number of elements in the columns. Each device in each column is in parallel with a switch controlling when the device is turned on. Therefore, adding more devices puts more devices in parallel.
An exemplary device is shown in FIG. 1. Each column 100 may have a large number of devices in the column. The source follower 102 drives the entire column, and hence drives the entire analog bus capacitance of the column. A column select switch 104 selects the column. A larger column requires a more powerful column select switch and a more powerful column source follower in order to drive the entire analog bus capacitance. The more powerful switch typically requires a larger transistor, with a longer channel. This itself makes a higher total bus capacitance, and makes it even harder to drive the bus. The stray capacitance 112 of the bus therefore increases. Therefore, the transistor size increases, causes the capacitance to increase, and therefore to require an even larger transistor to drive the capacitance. Eventually the system reaches a point of diminishing returns.

Active pixel sensor with current mode readout


A method of attenuating a molten thermoplastic polymer stream into polymer fibers for forming a non-woven fiber mat, and the non-woven fiber mat formed thereby. The method applying a gas stream to a molten polymer stream, and inducing a cyclic pulsation in the gas stream. The cyclic pulsation further comprises a discontinuous flow of the gas stream. The application of the gas stream to the molten polymer stream causes the attenuation of the molten polymer stream into a plurality of fibers which are collected onto a receiving surface thereby forming a non-woven fiber mat. The method may be used to impart a particularly unique or otherwise desirable configuration to the fibers or to the fiber mat produced from them. The gas stream may be comprised of a primary gas flow having a first stream and a second stream. The gas stream may be further comprised of a secondary gas flow having a first stream and a second stream. The gas stream may be further comprised of a plurality of gas flows each having one or more gas flows. The invention further comprises a model to predict the thermal and mechanical behavior of a polymer stream after it exits a melt blowing die. The model is a logical extension of the Uyttendaele and Shambaugh model for melt blowing. The model takes into account the fiber vibrations that become pronounced during high velocity melt blowing and can be used to estimate the experimental conditions that will cause fiber breakage, as well as the optimum frequency of the pulsation.

The present invention relates to processes for forming fibers and materials formed therefrom. Melt blowing and other fiber-producing processes are processes in which the final polymer shape is achieved with the aid of a fluid flow. In the melt blowing process, for example, a fine polymeric stream is extruded into a high-velocity gas stream. The force of the gas rapidly attenuates the polymer into fibers or filaments which typically have very fine diameters in a range of from 0.1 microns to 100 microns. This extreme fineness gives melt blown fibers advantages in uses such as insulation, absorbent material, and filters. An overview of the melt blowing process is given in Shambaugh, R. L., 1988, A Macroscopic View of the Melt-Blowing Process for Producing Microfibers, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. Vol. 27, No. 12, pgs. 2363-72. The performance characteristics of various melt blowing geometries are given in Kayser, J. C., Shambaugh, R. L., 1990, The Manufacture of Continuous Polymeric Filaments by the Melt-Blowing Process, Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 30, No. 19, pgs. 1237-51. Further discussion of the melt blowing process and other performance characteristics is found in Uyttendaele, M. A., Shambaugh, R. L., 1989, The Flow Field of Annular Jets at Reynolds Numbers, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 28, No. 11, pgs. 1735-40; Majumdar, B., Shambaugh, R. L., 1991, Velocity and Temperature Fields of Annular Jets, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 30, No. 6, pgs. 1300-06; and Mohammed, A., Shambaugh, R. L., 1993, Three-Dimensional Flow Field of a Rectangular Array of Practical Air Jets, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 32, No. 5, pgs. 976-80; and Uyttendaele, M. A., Shambaugh, R. L., 1990, Melt Blowing: General Equation Development and Experimental Verification, AIChE J., 36 (No. 2), 175. Each of the references cited herein is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Large amounts of air must be compressed, heated and recycled in a typical commercial melt blowing facility. Substantial cost savings would result if the air requirements needed to produce fibers of a given size or shape could be reduced.

Polymer processing using pulsating fluidic flow

The Board of Regents of The University of Oklahoma


A liposoluble antioxidant composition contains a group B vitamin-organic acid complex and a lecithin rich in phosphatidyl choline.

This invention relates to a liposoluble antioxidant mixture based on an organic acid.
The advantage of presenting antioxidant organic acids in a liposoluble form is due to the fact that they have an inhibiting effect on the oxidation of lipids in biological systems. In combination with vitamin E, vitamin C, for example, has a synergistic antioxidant effect because, as a reducing agent, L-ascorbic acid converts the tocopheroxyl derivatives into tocopherols which are capable of refixing the free radicals in the form of tocopheroxyl derivatives.
Hydrophilic L-ascorbic acid can be made liposoluble by esterification of its hydroxyl groups in the 5 or 6 position with a fatty acid. Thus, 6-O-palmitoyl-L-ascorbic acid or ascorbyl palmitate is used as an additive for protecting fats against oxidation and also as a source of vitamin C. However, this compound has the disadvantage of dissolving very slowly in fats at temperatures at which they are not degraded. Accordingly, it has been necessary to add partial glycerides or complex lipids, for example soya lecithin. Even with these additives, however, the incorporation of ascorbyl palmitate at a level guaranteeing an adequate antioxidant effect can only be carried out at a relatively high temperature of the order of 130.degree. C. for a certain time, for example 30 minutes, which induces degradation of the fats and the antioxidant itself, which has a melting point of 115.5.degree. C.
European patent application European Patent Application O 0 326 829, for example, relates to the production of a liposoluble antioxidant mixture containing ascorbic acid which is solid at room temperature, and which is based on polar lipids, such as lecithins. A mixture such as this may readily be used in dry solid products. However, its incorporation in oils rich in heat-sensitive polyunsaturated fatty acids requires the use of a polar solvent, for example ethanol, which has to be subsequently eliminated. In addition, its incorporation in products containing water, for example emulsions, is problematical because, in the presence of water, ascorbic acid has a tendency to cause degumming of lecithin which has an adverse effect on their stability.
In addition, according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,432,698 for example, vitamins A and B can be protected against oxidation by addition of niacinamide. In cases where these vitamins have to be stabilized with an oil as support, optionally in the presence of tocopherol, it is necessary according to this patent to add natural solvents, such as ethyl and lauric alcohols, for example, to the mixture as niacinamide is not liposoluble.


An apparatus and method for decoupling of the behavior of an aircraft which may determine a first control demand that is representative of the actuation of a control member, determine a transfer function that is representative of the behavior of an aircraft upon actuation of the control member, determine a second control demand that is capable of generating a decoupling based at least on a partial inversion of the transfer function and a non-inverted part of the transfer function, calculate an overall demand from the sum of the first and second control demands, and apply the overall demand to the aircraft.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for decoupling of the behavior of an aircraft, particularly a helicopter.
In the context of the present invention, coupling of the behavior is understood to mean the interaction which exists between various controls and/or attitudes of an aircraft, such that a change to a control (for example the actuation of the pitch control column of a helicopter with a view to altering the pitch trim) or of an attitude entails not only an associated corresponding alteration of the behavior of the aircraft (representative of the said change), but also moreover an interfering action generated on other attitudes.
Hence, a method or a device for decoupling of the behavior of an aircraft, in the context of the present invention, represents a method or a device intended, upon a change to a particular attitude or to a control, to eliminate the interfering action arising from the coupling of the aircraft.
It is known that, on a helicopter, the couplings of the behavior thereof are many and are essentially of two different origins, namely control couplings and axis couplings.
In a known way, the control couplings exhibit very clear-cut and instantaneous effects after action on the controls. A characteristic example is the collective-pitch/yaw coupling. The lift of the main rotor keeps the helicopter in the air. The drag of the rotor blades creates, by reaction, a torque which tends to make the helicopter turn in yaw. In the equilibrium state, this torque is compensated for by that generated by the rear rotor. Hence, if the position of the collective pitch is altered, the drag of the main rotor blades is also altered, and an interfering torque is created, generating the onset of yaw.
Moreover, in a known way, the axis couplings are of very varied origins and exhibit a significant effect appearing after the alteration to the flight configuration, for example a change of speed, incidence or sideslip. A characteristic example is the rotor/empennage interaction. It is known that, between about 50 km/h and 150 km/h, an empennage in the low position lies within the downwash from the rotor. This results in an increase in the pitch-up moment (and of the roll if the empennage is asymmetric).
These couplings of the behavior of the aircraft are consequently very troublesome.
Various methods intended to limit these couplings are known, particularly:
the control coupling can be combated by flat-rate control decoupling. In the case of the "collective-pitch/yaw" decoupling, the movement of the collective lever causes a proportional movement of the yaw control, which is added to the yaw control generated by the pilot of the aircraft; and PA1 the axis decoupling can be performed by a flat-rate feedback to the controls of parameters measured in flight, such as the lateral and vertical load factors, for example. PA1 a) a first control demand is determined, representative of the actuation of a control member; PA1 b) a transfer function is determined, representative of the behavior of the aircraft upon actuation of the control member; PA1 c) at least on the basis of a partial inversion of the said transfer function and of that part of the transfer function not taken into account by the partial inversion, a second control demand is determined, capable of generating the decoupling; PA1 d) an overall demand is calculated from the sum of the first and second control demands; and PA1 e) the overall demand thus calculated is applied to the aircraft. PA1 a control member capable of being actuated by a pilot of the aircraft; PA1 means for determining first control demands as a function of the actuation of the control member; and PA1 means for actuating a member controlled as a function of control demands received, PA1 a calculating unit which, by means of a transfer function representative of the behavior of the aircraft upon the actuation of the control member, determines a second control demand capable of generating the decoupling, at least on the basis of a partial inversion of the transfer function and of that part of the transfer function not taken into account by the partial inversion; and PA1 a calculating means calculating, from the sum of the first and second control demands, an overall demand which is conveyed to the means of actuating the controlled member as a control demand.
However, in practice, by reason of the complexity of the phenomena at play, these methods at best make it possible to attenuate the effect of a limited number of couplings. None of the preceding solutions is therefore totally satisfactory for overall decoupling.

Method and device for decoupling of the behavior of an aircraft, particularly a helicopter


A system for dispensing packages from an underground storage facility is disclosed, more specifically to disclose systems for handling packages using gravity and buoyancy. An underground storage system comprises a storage facility and at least one open air fluid column. The storage facility has an above ground portion connected to a hollow underground portion with a bottom. A helical ramp extends from the above ground portion to the bottom of the storage facility. Devices are located adjacent to the helical ramp to dispense packages to the helical ramp. A conveyor is located at the bottom of the underground portion to receive packages from the helical ramp. An airlock is located adjacent to the bottom of the underground portion and is connected to a conveyor. Packages are discharged from the storage facility via the airlock.

The present invention relates to package handling systems, and more specifically to systems for handling packages using gravity and buoyancy.
Underground storage systems are known and in current production today. These systems have many advantages over the various aboveground storage systems. It is possible to have both underground and aboveground storage systems working together, thus creating a hybrid type of approach that allows for users to benefit from both systems simultaneously.
In any underground storage system, or in a large vending machine, the packages are stored in product shelves. If any package present in the shelves needs to be delivered to a user at ground level, the system must have a mechanism to lift the package from the bottom of the system. It would be beneficial for an underground storage system to use different types of energy, rather than traditional systems.
Additionally, as drone deliveries become commonplace, it would be beneficial to have a way to facilitate a complete end-to-end system of both aboveground and underground storage, through pick up by a drone, and quick delivery.

Underground storage system with gravitational and buoyancy force-based package delivery

International Business Machines Corporation


A grass conditioning device for a grass mowing machine which receives mown grass through an inlet, discharges the conditioned grass through an outlet, and consists of at least two rows of counter-rotating cylinders. The grass conditioning device is flat, compact and can be economically integrated in mass produced harvesters. For this purpose, several cylinders having substantially the same diameter form a first and at least a second row of cylinders. The cylinder rows are associated with each other, the first cylinder row can be driven separately from the cylinders of the other cylinder rows and the at least two cylinder rows have different peripheral speeds.

From German patent document DE 41 32 759, there is known a grass conditioning device in which a plurality of planetary cylinders are arranged about a central cylinder, the planetary cylinders having a substantially smaller diameter than the central cylinder. In a harvester (grass mowing machine), this arrangement disadvantageously requires space on account of its height, whereby, for example, an installation space provided for a drive motor of the harvester is restricted. Moreover, this design requires unequal cylinder sizes, whereby the production, and in particular the spare parts storage, of the various cylinders is complicated and cost-intensive.


A solar battery module (40) includes a stack of: a plurality of solar battery strings (30) and bus sections (32) connected to both ends of each of the plurality of solar battery strings (30); flexible resin layers (33a through 33c); and a flexible resin film (34). The flexible resin layers (33a through 33c) and the flexible resin film (34) have, on a light receiving surface side of solar battery cells (20), holes through which the bus sections (32) are each partially exposed. The exposed parts of the bus sections (32) serve as a respective plurality of electrically-connecting means (32a). A solar battery array (41) includes a plurality of solar battery modules (40). The plurality of solar battery modules (40) are electrically connected with each other via the plurality of electrically-connecting means (32a). This makes it possible to achieve a large-scale solar battery array (41) with high mechanical strength.

In recent years, a solar battery module has been attracting attention in view of effective use of resources and prevention of environmental contamination etc., because the solar battery module directly converts sunlight into electrical energy. In particular, since there has been increasing need for a lightweight and large-area solar battery module, development of such a solar battery module has been carried out.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a solar battery module mounted on a sheet member. The solar battery module shown in Patent Literature 1 is described below with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. 12 is a plan view illustrating (i) a sheet member 61 and a solar battery module 60 mounted on the sheet member 61. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the solar battery module 60.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, the solar battery module 60 is sewed on the sheet member 61 with a thread 62. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 13, the solar battery module 60 is configured such that solar battery cells 65 are sealed within a sealing resin 66, which is sandwiched between a light receiving surface protection film 63 and a back surface protection film 64.
According to Patent Literature 1, a large-area solar battery module is formed by sewing a plurality of the foregoing solar battery modules 60 onto the sheet member 61. Note however that, while volume of the light receiving surface protection films 63 and the back surface protection films 64 with respect to volume of the large-area solar battery module is approximately 66%, volume of the sheet member 61 with respect to the volume of the large-area solar battery module is approximately 33%. Further, the sheet member 61 is greater in weight than the light receiving surface protection films 63 etc., because the sheet member is made from material with high mechanical strength. Accordingly, total weight of the large-area solar battery module is markedly large because of the sheet member 61.
On the other hand, there has been developed a large-area solar battery sheet that is constituted by a combination of flexible solar battery modules without a sheet member. For example, a conventional solar battery sheet array illustrated in FIG. 15 is described below. (a) of FIG. 15 is a plan view illustrating the solar battery sheet array. (b) of FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I′ of (a) of FIG. 15.
The solar battery sheet array illustrated in FIG. 15 is constituted by a plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110. FIG. 14 illustrates one of the plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110. (a) of FIG. 14 is a plan view illustrating one of the unit solar battery sheet. (b) of FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line H-H′ of (a) of FIG. 14. The unit solar battery sheet 110 is configured such that (i) solar battery cells 104 are electrically connected in series with one another via inter connectors 105, and (ii) both ends of an electrical connection among the solar battery cells 104 are connected to respective bus sections 106a, which collect electric power.
Each of the bus sections 106a of the unit solar battery sheet 110 is protruded from a flexible resin film 101, a back surface protection member 102, and a silicon resin 103 so that the plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110 can be electrically connected with one another as illustrated in FIG. 15.
The solar battery sheet array shown in FIG. 15 is configured such that protruded parts of bus sections 106 of adjacent ones of the plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110 are welded together to form a welded part 107 and thereby the plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110 are electrically connected with one another via the welded parts 107. In addition, adjacent ones of the plurality of unit solar battery sheets 110 are physically connected with each other with use of an adhesive agent 108. The adhesive agent 108 fixes also a corresponding one of the welded parts 107, and has protection films 109 on its both surfaces.
According to the configuration as shown in FIG. 15, a large-area solar battery sheet array is formed without a sheet member. Therefore, with this configuration, it is possible to achieve a lightweight and large-area solar battery sheet array.

Solar battery module and solar battery array


A radiocommunication system is described in which DC offset and other slowly varying disturbances which that may impact a signal are suppressed. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention combine a difference circuit, e.g., a FIR filter, with a maximum likelihood sequence estimator, e.g., a Viterbi detector, to implement suppression techniques on binary signals.

The present invention pertains to systems and methods involved in radiocommunication systems and, more particularly, to systems that employ binary signal streams of known amplitude which are disturbed by, for example, DC offsets, drifts, and other slowly changing disturbances superimposed on the desired binary signal. The techniques described herein are particularly well-suited for the detection of binary FM or binary FSK modulated signals in the presence of such disturbing signals, but can also be used in conjunction with other types of modulation.
The cellular telephone industry has made phenomenal strides in commercial operations in the United States as well as the rest of the world. Growth in major metropolitan areas has far exceeded expectations and is rapidly outstripping system capacity. If this trend continues, the effects of this industry""s growth will soon reach even the smallest markets. Innovative solutions are required to meet these increasing capacity needs as well as to maintain high quality service and avoid rising prices.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a conventional cellular radio communication system 100 in which the present invention can be implemented. The radio communication system 100 includes a plurality of radio base stations 170a-n connected to a plurality of corresponding antennas 130a-n. The radio base stations 170a-n in conjunction with the antennas 130a-n communicate with a plurality of mobile terminals (e.g. terminals 120a, 120b and 120m) within a plurality of cells 110a-n. Communication from a base station to a mobile terminal is referred to as the downlink, whereas communication from a mobile terminal to the base station is referred to as the uplink.
The base stations are connected to a mobile telephone switching office (MSC) 150. Among other tasks, the MSC coordinates the activities of the base stations, such as during the handoff of a mobile terminal from one cell to another. The MSC, in turn, can be connected to a public switched telephone network 160, which services various communication devices 180a, 180b and 180c.
In conventional cellular radiocommunication systems such as that illustrated in FIG. 1, the signal transmitted over the air interface does not travel along a single, straight path. Instead, the radiated energy reflects and travels in many directions so that different portions of the radiated energy arrive at the receiver (i.e., either that of terminals 120 or base stations 170) at different times. As a result, the receiver receives a distorted signal that is very different from the original signal. This distortion problem, which is commonly referred to as multipath fading, can be viewed as a smearing of the transmitted pulses.
In such conventional systems, the effects of the radio channel are measured and taken into account in the receiver when attempting to correctly determine the originally transmitted information. Channel estimates are calculated based upon known information which is periodically transmitted over the radio channel to the receiver. Since radio channels may change rapidly, e.g., due to movement of the terminals 120, the channel estimate can be regularly updated.
Channel estimation can be used in conjunction with an application of the Viterbi algorithm to determine the originally transmitted information as shown in FIG. 1(b). Therein, the received signal is used to produce channel estimates at block 200. The channel estimates are provided to the Viterbi detector 220, wherein they are employed to determine metrics associated with the likelihood of various state transitions. Those skilled in the art will readily understand the operation of Viterbi detector 220 and, therefore, a fuller discussion of this device is not provided here. A filter 240 may also be provided upstream of the Viterbi detector 220 to whiten the noise associated with the earlier processing (not shown) on the received signal, since it has been shown that Viterbi detectors provide optimal results in the presence of white, rather than colored, noise.
Although channel effects are a dominant disturbance in conventional cellular systems, in other types of systems the dominant disturbance to transmitted signals may arise from other sources. For example, a new relatively low cost, low range wireless transmission system (defined by the recently developed xe2x80x9cBluetoothxe2x80x9d technology) has been proposed for localized two-way data transmissions. Bluetooth systems are envisioned as a universal radio interface in the 2.45 GHz frequency band that enable portable electronic devices to connect and communicate wirelessly via short-range, ad hoc networks. Readers interested in various details regarding the Bluetooth technology are referred to the article entitled xe2x80x9cBLUETOOTHxe2x80x94The universal radio interface for ad hoc, wireless connectivityxe2x80x9d authored by Jaap Haartsen and found in the Ericsson Review, Telecommunications Technology Journal No. 3, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated here by reference. Of particular interest for this discussion is the fact that channel effects associated with the Bluetooth air interface may not be the dominant disturbance to transmitted signals in such systems, due to the short-range nature of the air interface links. Accordingly, other slowly varying disturbances may be more problematic than channel effects in such systems.
Such disturbances can have several origins. In many instances, the disturbance cannot be filtered out when the desired signal itself has low-frequency components. Examples of such disturbances include DC offset in homodyne receivers, offset in FM discriminators due to inaccuracies in the local oscillator frequency, drift (in otherwise presumably constant signal levels) due to temperature and aging, all of which represent situations where special attention has to be given to obtain error-free recovery of the desired signal.
There are several methods for performing DC offset suppression. The simplest methods use DC blocking capacitors to high-pass filter the signal. However, these filters have long response times which result in long settling times after turning on the receiver. Such long settling times are unacceptable in TDMA receivers where the receiver is switched on and off repetitively. Another technique for performing DC offset suppression is differentiation followed by integration. The differentiation removes all DC components since it has a zero at DC. Integration inverse filters the differentiated signal. The differentiation and integration can conveniently be carried out using adaptive delta modulation (ADM) techniques, e.g., as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/578,251, entitled xe2x80x9cDC Offset Compensationxe2x80x9d, filed in September of 1990 to Paul W. Dent. However, this technique requires considerable oversampling and can only be used to suppress DC offset. Drifts and other slowly varying, unwanted signals cannot be suppressed. Other suppression techniques are carried out in the digital domain, but require a high dynamic range of the A-to-D converter since no suppression has taken place prior to the digital processing.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a solution to address the problems associated with slowly varying disturbances, such as DC offset, drift, etc.
These, and other, drawbacks, limitations and problems associated with conventional techniques for compensating for slowly varying disturbances are overcome by the present invention which removes slowly varying disturbances superimposed on streams of binary symbols with known separation. According to one exemplary method, the signal is first sampled at the symbol rate. The symbols are then fed into a discrete, finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter that removes the disturbance. The effects of the filter on the desired binary signal (e.g., intersymbol interference) are undone in a decoder that applies a Viterbi algorithm and acts like an equalizer. The Viterbi algorithm uses the knowledge of the constant amplitude separation of the binary signals, and forms estimates of the filter response for different possible desired input sequences.
The complexity of the exemplary systems according to the present invention depends on the length of the FIR filter. The longer the FIR filter, the more states are required in the Viterbi algorithm. The performance of the system depends on the coefficients of the FIR filter. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention describe how to tailor the trade-off that can be made between the noise performance and the suppression performance of the FIR filter.

Method and system for detection of binary information in the presence of slowly varying disturbances


An above grate based inlet filter system for erosion and sediment control comprises a natural fiber filter mat configured to extend beyond the perimeter of the grate and a securing mechanism, such as magnets, configured to securing the filter mat around the perimeter of the grate. The system may include a filter berm secured in vicinity to the mat, and a rectangular array of magnets coupling the filter mat to the grate. The natural fiber filter mat may effectively be a coir fiber filter mat extending beyond the perimeter of the grate, wherein the coir fiber filter mat is formed of vertically aligned coir fibers. The optional filter berm may be effectively formed as triangular in cross section and formed of 100% reticulated polyether foam and formed to be at least 3″ in height.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to erosion and sediment control for inlet grates, and more particularly to above grate based inlet filter systems for erosion and sediment control.
2. Background Information
The present invention relates to erosion and sediment control filtration system and method finding particular utility in reducing the amount of silt, sedimentation and debris in water entering storm drains via the grate inlets.
In response to tighter guidelines imposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act, additional regulatory attention is being focused on controlling silt and sediment found in storm, construction site and other sources of water runoff. Various federal and state agencies have issued mandates and developed guidelines regarding the prevention of non-point source pollution. These mandates affect water runoff from storms, construction sites, and other sources. Such laws and regulations have a significant impact on not only how runoff water may be channeled and diverted, but also on, for example, the ways that contractors can dispose of excess or unwanted water from constructions sites. With respect to construction sites, the EPA has a goal of having developers prevent eighty percent of general contaminants, such as unwanted, site-generated sediment, from entering inlet drains.
One conventional type of inlet drain protection is referenced as a filter bag or "silt sack", which is generally shown in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) manual reproduced in FIGS. 1A-D. The inlet drain 10 includes a grate 12 over a vault or box 14 leading to the drain pipe 16. The inlet drain 10 may also include an above grade curb opening 18 within a curb 20. The conventional silt sack includes a filter bag 22 supported on a frame 24 (generally rebar members) that are held in place by the grate 12 on the box 14. The curb opening 18 may be blocked by a compost filter sock 26 or sand bags. The bag 22 may include a restraining mechanism 28 (nylon rope) to prevent excessive expansion of the bag 22. Many jurisdictions require an additional curb 30 to be used for below grate bag 22 installations. Other representative examples of the these known drain filter bags, silt sacks or drain inserts is found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,575,925, 6,086,758, 6,093,314, 6,059,964, and 6,045,691, and 7,201,843, and 8,017,005.
The applicant, headquartered in Pennsylvania, is involved with erosion and sediment control for the construction industry and has repeatedly seen the challenges of using below grate silt sacks for inlet sediment containment in residential developments during build-out. One of the drawbacks to existing filter bag filtering devices is the time and effort of installing, cleaning and replacing the filter bag filtering systems. Further in such systems silt, sedimentation, mud and other debris can build up quickly, causing the filtering devices to clog. As clogging begins, water flow decreases, which leads to a back-up of excess, unfiltered water. Back-ups may create additional regulatory, environmental, aesthetic and structural problems. Many systems have circumvented back-up of excess water by providing by-pass overflow features; however, while an overflow feature solves the immediate problem, the overflow water remains unfiltered, thereby defeating the primary intent of the filtration device.
When a filtering device's capacity is reduced to the point that it no longer adequately functions, the filter must be removed and either be disposed of or cleaned. Filtration devices can be difficult and time consuming to remove. For example, when a filtration device is attached to the underside of an inlet grate 12, such as bags 22, sediment is collected underneath the grate 12. Thus to change or clean a filter, the inlet grate 12 must first be removed. Next, either the bag 22 must be removed (to be cleaned or disposed of) or the sediment must be removed from the bag 22. Removal of the bag 22 can be difficult, as it may have a large mass of sediment that is very heavy. In this case, removal is at least taxing and time-consuming, possibly cumbersome and may even require lifting machinery. If the bag 22 does not hold a large volume of sediment, then removal will be more easily accomplished, but such remediation also must be done more frequently. In addition to the constraints and problems associated with cleaning or changing a filtering bag 22, timing also creates a problem. Oftentimes, clogging of filtering devices occurs during periods of heavy water flow, such as seasonal or other flooding periods. This presents an immediate need for cleaning or replacing a filter bag 22 coupled with circumstances that make the task even more difficult, onerous, and time-consuming.
Some have attempted to address the deficiencies of the prior art with primarily above grate filter systems, (also may be references as above grade—but above grate is more accurate) such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,481,921, which is incorporated herein by reference. The '921 patent teaches the use of a randomly aligned coir fiber filter member 40 formed preferably of two generally 1 inch high filtering segments secured to the grate 12 via a plurality of zip-tie or cable-tie members 42. This is generally shown in FIG. 2.
Coir is a natural fiber extracted from the husk of coconuts used in a variety of products such as floor mats, brushes, mattresses, etc. Specifically, coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut. The '921 patent teaches a primary filter of portion having a described preferable density between "3 oz./sq. ft. (sic) and 4.5 oz./sq. ft. (sic)", and a secondary filter of portion having a density preferably between "4 oz./sq. ft (sic) and 6 oz./sq. ft. (sic)". The '498 patent, discussed below, has noted that "although the [921 patent] apparatus [40] succeeds in preventing the passage of sediment and small debris that would otherwise bypass the grating [12], it is likely that such a fibrous mat would need to be continuously cleaned and would quickly clog in high flow situations or if left untended for any significant period of time. Moreover, the [921 patent] apparatus [40] provides no method of filtering liquid contaminants, such as motor oil, that may commonly find their way to storm drains [10]." U.S. Patent Publication 2008-0296211, which is incorporated herein by reference, also teaches the use of a randomly aligned coir fiber filter member formed preferably of two generally 1 inch high filtering segments secured to the grate via a plurality of zip-tie or cable-tie members, and the '211 publication seems largely to follow the teachings of the '921 patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,043,498, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a curb inlet storm drain protector having: a first, top layer comprising a generally horizontal surface having a plurality of holes formed therein, and a plurality of substantially vertical projections emanating from said horizontal surface, wherein said holes allow passage of water vertically through said first layer, and wherein said vertical projections extend a height sufficient to prevent passage of debris across said top layer while permitting passage of water over said horizontal surface, thereby preventing the drain inlet from being clogged; a center layer composed of a screen or mesh having apertures of approximately one-eighth inch or greater in diameter; and a third layer composed of a felt material having hydrophobic properties; wherein said first, second and third layers are fastened together and act as a single barrier that is coextensively laid over said grate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,051,568 and 8,216,453 disclose storm water grate cover for attaching over a storm water grate. The grate cover includes an expanded metal screen sized to fit over the storm water grate; a U-shaped edge trim having a plurality of barbs thereon; a high flow monofilament fabric filter sized to fit over the expanded metal screen and being attached to said expanded metal screen; and a plurality of bolts attaching the expanded metal screen and monofilament fabric filter to said storm water grate.
U.S. Patent Publications 2002-0130083 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,411 are also of interest in the above grate filter fields.
Accordingly, there exists a need for better devices, systems and methods for filtering sediment from water entering storm drains, specifically those which provide ease of installation; can be easily cleaned or changed, even during periodic flooding; prevent unwanted back-up of excess water; filter nearly all or all of the water that comes through the inlet; and are cost effective.

Erosion and sediment control above grate based inlet filter system


First and second, complementary andirons supporting opposite ends of fuel logs in a fireplace are adapted to increase heat transfer to a room. Each andiron comprises a hollow, U-shaped andiron housing with adjacent ends forming, respectively, an inlet and an outlet. A blower attached to the inlet establishes a stream of forced air within the housing and through the outlet into the room. A heat exchanger, formed of a solid rod member with adjacent members in contact with each other, is distributed along the interior of the housing to transfer stored heat energy to the air stream. An adjustable air director at the outlet enables the heated air to be directed toward any portion of the room.

Numerous systems have been developed in recent years for increasing the amount of heat transfer from a stove or fireplace to a room in order to reduce total heating requirements by the home heating plant. These devices have typically been provided in the form of andirons or grates having blowers for establishing a stream of heated air from the stove or fireplace to the room to thereby heat the room by convection. This approach has substantially increased the heating efficiency of conventional stoves and fireplaces since, in the absence of such devices, heat transfer between a stove or fireplace and room is principally by radiation. Radiation constitutes only about five percent of the heat generated by the fuel, the remainder being wasted through the chimney.
One type of andiron design of the prior art, as shown in Hamilton U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,208, has included a hollow, C-shaped andiron through which air is blown. Heat transfer to the forced air is principally at the interface between the air and inner wall surface of the andiron. In order to increase the heat transfer from the hollow andiron to the air stream, Young et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,542 has proposed filling a hollow grate with a sheet metal, fin matrix. The fin matrix structure, however, has been found to be difficult to manufacture. Also, it has been observed that there is a tendency for ashes and particulate matter to be recirculated into the grate through the blower and to accumulate on the fins, thereby reducing the amount of air flowing through the system. The fin type matrix is difficult to thereafter clean, and any crimping of the fin structure during cleaning permanently decreases air flow and reduces the efficiency of heat transfer to the room.
The fin type heat exchange structure, although having a high surface area-to-volume ratio which does efficiently transfer heat to the air stream, is not capable of storing a substantial amount of heat. After combustion of the fuel has been completed, therefore, no substantial amount of heat can be drawn from the fins for continued heat transfer to the room.


Methods, systems, and computer program products for sending and receiving frames associated with different VLANs over a secure layer 2 broadcast transport network are disclosed. According to one method, a layer 2 frame is received at a transmit port of a layer 2 forwarding device. The layer 2 frame is to be sent over a secure layer 2 broadcast transport network. A VLAN identifier corresponding to a first VLAN is extracted from the layer 2 frame. The first VLAN identifier is mapped to a second VLAN identifier used by the secure broadcast transport layer 2 network to identify the first VLAN. A portion of the layer 2 frame including the first VLAN identifier is encrypted. The layer 2 frame is transmitted over the secure layer 2 broadcast transport network with the second VLAN identifier in a cleartext portion of the frame.

Layer 2 forwarding devices, such as Ethernet switches, typically forward packets based on layer 2 destination addresses. For example, a layer 2 forwarding device may perform a lookup in a layer 2 forwarding table based on a layer 2 destination address in a received packet or frame. If the layer 2 destination address is present in the table, the packet or frame is forwarded to the output port associated with the entry. If the destination address is not present in the forwarding table, the frame is typically flooded to all ports other than the port on which the frame was received. Similarly, when a packet is addressed to a broadcast layer 2 address, the packet is typically flooded to all output ports other than the port on which the packet was received.
IEEE standard 802.1Q specifies that a virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier may be placed in a layer 2 frame and used to limit the broadcast domain of the layer 2 frame. For example, if a layer 2 frame includes a VLAN tag and a broadcast MAC address, the layer 2 frame will only be flooded over ports of a device that are associated with the VLAN tag in the frame. Similarly, when a layer 2 frame is addressed to a non-broadcast layer 2 address, and an entry is not present for the address in the layer 2 forwarding table, the packet is only flooded over ports that are associated with the VLAN corresponding to the VLAN tag. Thus, a VLAN is one way to limit the broadcast domain of a layer 2 frame.
The IEEE 802.ae standard describes a mechanism for encrypting layer 2 frames for transmission over a layer 2 network. The standard requires that the entire frame other than the layer 2 header and some additional fields be encrypted. According to the standard, the 802.1Q VLAN tag is encrypted. Thus, when a layer 2 frame that is encrypted according to the 802.ae standard is transmitted over a broadcast network, such as a metro Ethernet, there is no visible VLAN tag for which the broadcast domain can be restricted. This can be problematic if it is desirable for different VLANs to be transmitted to different devices connected to a transport network. For example, it may be desirable to send layer 2 frames across the transport network from site A to site B, but not to site C. However, because the transport network treats all layer 2 frames as being part of the same VLAN, the frames will be flooded to site B and site C. If site B receives packets that are not destined for it, the packets will simply be discarded. However, site B must decrypt the packets and examine the 802.1Q VLAN identifiers to determine that the packets are not destined for site B.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties associated with transmitting frames associated with different VLANs across a secure layer 2 broadcast domain, there exists a need for improved methods, systems, and computer program products for transmitting and receiving frames associated with different VLANs over a secure layer 2 broadcast transport network.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for transmitting and receiving layer 2 frames associated with different virtual local area networks (VLANs) over a secure layer 2 broadcast transport network


A shared memory blocking method and particularly applicable to a system in which protected data is transmitted to a recipient computer. The method comprises reserving a memory page for a requesting application, committing a memory page to the requesting application""s address space, which call may be made by the process providing the page reserve call or by a subsequent process, and providing security checks to complete the requests. The security checks include determining whether the process is secured by consulting a secured process list and determining whether the page is shared by consulting a shared memory list. Further disclosed are a computer readable medium and computer programmed to block shared memory, shared memory blocking system and secured data transmission system.

The invention relates to the protection of data stored in a computer, and more particularly to data which has been imported from an outside source.
Shared memory may be used to communicate between two or more concurrently running jobs or threads. One program creates a memory segment which other processes may access.
Shared memory may be exploited for leaking data. xe2x80x9cLeaking dataxe2x80x9d as used herein means transferring data out of a system in which it is desired to have the data secured. A data leak may occur if a process writes information to a shared memory location and another process accesses the information from that location.
It is known to lock shared memory, usually to avoid processes accessing data out of sequence to ensure use of only updated shared data. Access to shared memory space is prohibited during use by a first process and thereafter unlocked to allow processes sharing the space access to updated data. Memory locking as known in the art is not a solution to data leakage. Accordingly, where data security is important, there is a need to limit data leakage from shared memory.
The invention discloses a shared memory blocking method particularly applicable to a system in which protected data is transmitted to a recipient computer. An illustrative embodiment of the invention comprises reserving a memory page for a requesting application, committing a memory page to the requesting application""s address space, which call may be made by the process providing the page reserve call or by a subsequent process, and providing security checks to complete the requests. The security checks may include determining whether the process is secured by consulting a secured process list and determining whether the page is shared by consulting a shared memory list.
Further disclosed are a shared memory blocking system, secured data transmission system, computer readable-medium programmed to block shared memory and computer configured to block shared memory.

Shared memory blocking method and system


A test fixture for testing printed circuit boards comprises an array of electrically conductive test probes mounted within the fixture, a marker probe mounted for contact with the board, and a marker probe drive motor for rotating the marker probe in response to an input signal from a circuit board tester. During testing, the test probes contact the board to produce a test signal indicating pass/fail status of the board. At the same time the marker probe is drawn into spring-biased contact with the board. For each board that passes the test, the test signal operates the drive motor for a short time interval to rotate the marker probe to apply an identifying mark to the board, indicating that the board has passed the test. In one embodiment, the marker probe includes a plunger on an output shaft of the drive motor, in which the marker probe is secured to the plunger eccentric to the motor shaft axis of rotation. A spring biases the plunger when the plunger moves axially relative to the motor output shaft, thereby producing spring biased contact between the marker probe and the board. Operation of the drive motor rotates the plunger and thereby rotates the eccentrically mounted marker probe which is held in spring-biased contact with the board. This produces a permanent identifying mark on the board, preferably by the marker probe being rotated for a fraction of a second, which removes a small area of the board's plastic coating to expose the underlying copper layer that provides the permanent and easily visible mark on the board.

Automatic test equipment for checking printed circuit boards has long involved use of a large number of spring-biased test probes arranged in a test fixture to make electrical contact under spring pressure with designated test points on the circuit board under test. Any particular circuit laid out on a printed circuit board is likely to be different from other circuits, and when the circuit to be tested is designed, a pattern of test points to be used in checking it is selected, and a corresponding array of test probes is configured in the test fixture. This typically involves drilling a pattern of holes in a probe plate to match the customized array of test probes and then mounting the test probes in the drilled holes on the probe plate. The circuit board is then mounted in the test fixture during testing, superimposed on the array of test probes. During testing, the spring loaded test probes are brought into spring pressure contact with the test points in the circuit board under test. Electrical test signals are then transferred from the board to the test probes and then to the exterior of the fixture for communication with a high speed computer operated electronic test analyzer which detects continuity or lack of continuity between various test points in the circuits on the board. At the end of each test, the test unit produces a pass/fail signal to indicate that the board has either passed or failed the test.
It has been common in the prior art for the operator to visually monitor a display or other means for indicating the results of the pass/fail test. The operator then manually separates the good boards from the bad boards. The good boards may be identified by manually stamping an identifying mark on the board. This approach leads to human error; experience has shown that some boards that have been tested will end up in the wrong group of boards.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a system for separating good boards from bad boards that leaves no room for human error. The procedure for identifying the good boards and bad boards should be accomplished not only with complete reliability, but also with minimal delay time in the testing process. In addition, any procedure for identifying the good boards should be done in such a way that an identifying mark on the board is permanent so it can distinguish the good boards from those that failed the test with 100% reliability.


An electronic parts mounting apparatus, has a part mounting head on which nozzles for holding different sized electronic parts can be exchangeably mounted; the suction nozzles each having a reflection member thereon for receiving light from below a suction end of the nozzle and reflecting it past the suction end of the nozzle; a recognizing device below the part mounting head for receiving light from the direction of the part mounting head; a first illuminating device adjacent the recognizing device for directing illuminating light to a reflection member on a nozzle on the part mounting head for causing the reflecting member to reflect the illuminating light past a part held on the suction nozzle to direct a transmitted light image of the part to the recognizing device; a shutter movable toward and away from the part mounting head adjacent a position of a nozzle thereon for, when the shutter moves toward a nozzle, engaging the nozzle and blocking light from the first illuminating device from reaching a reflecting member, the shutter absorbing light directed against a surface thereof facing the recognizing means device said shutter is in engagement with a nozzle; and a second illuminating device around the periphery of the recognizing means for directing illuminating light against a part held on a nozzle on the part mounting head for causing the part to reflect a reflected light image of the part to the recognizing device.

The present invention generally relates to a parts mounting machine provided with a parts mounting head which is capable of detaching or selection-switching a plurality of types of suction nozzles, and more particularly, to a parts engaging machine provided with a recognizing means for recognizing parts held on the suction nozzles.
Conventionally, in an electronic parts mounting machine for mounting various sizes of electronic parts on a printed circuit substrate, a plurality of types of suction nozzles are provided for either free detaching or selective switching on a parts engaging head. A large diameter suction nozzle is used for large-sized parts. A small diameter suction nozzle is used for small-sized parts.
A parts recognizing means b for recognizing electronic parts a and a parts illuminating means c for illuminating electronic parts a are provided at a parts recognizing station as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 for recognizing the shape, posture on the suction nozzle and so on of the electronic parts held by the suction nozzle. A reflection member e for reflecting the illumination from the parts illuminating means c towards the electronic parts a is provided for the recognition of the small sized parts shown in FIG. 5 on a suction nozzle d. Shutter type reflection members f, f which are freely openable and closable are provided in connection with the recognition of the large sized parts shown in FIG. 6 so that the suction nozzle d may be grasped from both the sides, and are adapted to reflect the illumination towards electronic parts a when in the closed condition at the parts recognizing station.
Conventionally, a mounting portion for small sized parts with a suction nozzle d provided with a reflection member e mounted thereon, and a mounting portion for large sized parts with a suction nozzle d having no reflection member e mounted thereon have previously been provided on a parts mounting head having a plurality of nozzle mounting portions thereon. When the suction nozzle d mounted on the mounting portion for small sized parts use is used, the electronic parts a are illuminated by the use of the reflection member e on a suction nozzle d and the shutter type reflection members f, f remain open. When an adsorption nozzle d mounted on the mounting portion for large sized parts is used, the electronic parts a are adapted to be illuminated by the use of the shutter type reflection members f, f.
As the parts recognition is effected by transmission of optical images, when a lead is present on the under side of the electronic parts a in the above described conventional embodiment, the whole lead cannot be directly recognized. The outer shape of the electronic parts a must be recognized. Therefore, the outer shape of the parts is varied, and a problem occurs that the engagement accuracy required cannot be attained. Because the outer shape of the suction nozzle cannot be made larger than the outer shape of the parts in a case of the small sized parts, there is a problem that the suction strength of the nozzle may be weak.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A temperature-controlled fluid coupling for intermittently driving a cooling fan of an internal combustion engine. The coupling comprises a drive input shaft having a rotor thereon, a housing for supporting a cooling fan, a plurality of radial vanes accommodated within the rotor, and a valve member within the housing. The vanes are movable in radial directions within an elliptic chamber in the housing. The rotor and the vanes provide a kind of vane pump system. A temperature sensitive element is disposed outside of the housing and connected to the valve member. The element operates to open and close the valve in response to a change of ambient temperature. The fan rotates to cool the engine only when the temperature goes up to a predetermined level.

This invention relates to a temperature-controlled fluid coupling for intermittently driving a cooling fan attached to an automotive engine or similar equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,445 (Rockey) discloses a typical design of a temperature-controlled fluid friction coupling According to this design, a housing is rotatably supported on a drive input shaft adapted to connect with an internal combustion engine. The interior space of the housing is separated by a partition into a fluid reservoir chamber and a fluid operating chamber. On the drive input shaft, a rotor is fixed so as to form mutually opposite shearing gaps between the housing and the rotor. A cooling fan is mounted on the housing. To the outer surface of the housing, is mounted a temperature-sensitive element made of a bimetallic coil which curves in response to a change of ambient temperature. In the partition, a valve opening is provided which is opened and closed by a valve arm connected to the bimetallic coil. As the bimetallic coil is deformed by a change of the ambient temperature, the valve arm is operated to open or close the valve opening. Then, viscous fluid flows into or out of the shearing gaps to effect or break a torque transmitting performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,495 (Brunken) discloses a similar fluid friction coupling in which a bimetallic plate is used.
In those types utilizing viscous resistance between the shearing gaps, silicone oil is generally charged within the housing. However, silicone oil has a disadvantage that its viscosity varies depending upon its temperature. This results in a lack of stability for performance, and a degradation of oil.
In conventional fluid friction couplings, it is almost impossible to utilize air and inactive gas for charging fluid within the housing.

Fluid coupling having a vane pump system


Methods are provided for large-scale purification of recombinant AAV (rAAV) virions that were produced in the absence of infectious adenovirus. Preferably, the rAAV is produced in a host cell line via triple-transfection with an accessory function vector, an AAV vector, and an AAV helper vector. The methods include preparing a lysate from the host cell line and passing that lysate over various combinations of ion exchange chromatography media and/or affinity chromatography media. The affinity chromatography medium is an AAV receptor or an antibody with binding affinity for AAV, e.g., heparin sulfate. A variety of cation exchange and anion exchange media are contemplated by the present invention. In certain embodiments, optional purification steps may be included, such as filtering the lysate through one or more filters, or treating the lysate with a nuclease.

The invention relates to methods for producing and purifying recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV). More particularly, it relates to methods for producing commercial grade rAAV at large scale where rAAV was generated in the absence of infectious helper virus. The methods employ a plurality of column purification steps that yield purified rAAV. One embodiment of the invention is a two-column purification system comprising purification over an anion exchange column and over an affinity column. In another embodiment, a cation exchange column purification step is included.
Gene delivery is a promising method for the treatment of acquired and inherited diseases. A number of viral-based systems for gene transfer purposes have been described, including adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based systems. AAV is a helper-dependent DNA parvovirus that belongs to the genus Dependovirus. AAV requires co-infection with an unrelated helper virus, e.g., adenovirus, herpes virus, or vaccinia, in order for a productive infection to occur. In the absence of a helper virus, AAV establishes a latent state by inserting its genome into a host cell chromosome. Subsequent infection by a helper virus rescues the integrated viral genome, which can then replicate to produce infectious viral progeny.
AAV has a wide host range and is able to replicate in cells from any species in the presence of a suitable helper virus. For example, human AAV will replicate in canine cells co-infected with a canine adenovirus. AAV has not been associated with any human or animal disease and does not appear to alter the biological properties of the host cell upon integration. For a review of AAV, see, e.g., Berns and Bohenzky (1987) Advances in Virus Research (Academic Press, Inc.) 32:243-307.
The AAV genome is composed of a linear, sing-stranded DNA molecule that contains 4681 bases (Berns and Bohenzky, supra). The genome includes inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) at each end that function in cis as origins of DNA replication and as packaging signals for the virus. The ITRs are approximately 145 bp in length. The internal nonrepeated portion of the genome includes two large open reading frames, known as the AAV rep and cap regions, respectively. These regions code for the viral proteins that provide AAV helper functions, i.e., the proteins involved in replication and packaging of the virion. Specifically, a family of at least four viral proteins is synthesized from the AAV rep region, Rep 78, Rep 68, Rep 52 and Rep 40, named according to their apparent molecular weight. The AAV cap region encodes at least three proteins, VP1, VP2 and VP3. For a detailed description of the AAV genome, see, e.g., Muzyczka, N. (1992) Current Topics in Microbiol. and Immunol. 158:97-129.
The construction of infectious recombinant AAV (rAAV) virions has been described. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,173,414 and 5,139,941; International Publication Numbers WO 92/01070 (published Jan. 23, 1992) and WO 93/03769 (published Mar. 4, 1993); Lebkowski et al. (1988) Molec. Cell. Biol. 8:3988-3996; Vincent et al. (1990) Vaccines 90 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press); Carter, B. J. (1992) Current Opinion in Biotechnology 3:533-539; Muzyczka, N. (1992) Current Topics in Microbiol. and Immunol. 158:97-129; and Kotin, R. M. (1994) Human Gene Therapy 5:793-801.
Contemporary rAAV virion production involves introduction of an AAV vector plasmid and an AAV helper vector plasmid into a host cell. After the AAV helper plasmid and the AAV vector plasmid bearing the heterologous nucleotide sequence of interest are introduced into the host cell (generally by stable or transient transfection), the cells can be infected with a suitable helper virus in order to provide the required accessory functions. Most typically, the helper virus will be infectious adenovirus (type 2 or type 5) or herpes virus, and will, among other functions, transactivate the AAV promoters present on the helper plasmid directing the transcription and translation of AAV rep and cap regions.
AAV vectors can be engineered to carry a heterologous nucleotide sequence of interest (e.g., a selected gene, antisense nucleic acid molecule, ribozyme, or the like) by deleting, in whole or in part, the internal portion of the AAV genome and inserting the DNA sequence of interest between the ITRs. The ITRs remain functional in such vectors allowing replication and packaging of the rAAV containing the heterologous nucleotide sequence of interest. The heterologous nucleotide sequence is also typically linked to a promoter sequence capable of driving gene expression in the patient""s target cells under the certain conditions. Termination signals, such as polyadenylation sites, can also be included in the vector.
AAV helper functions can be provided in trans via an AAV helper vector. For example, such helper vectors can be plasmids that include the AAV rep and/or cap coding regions but which lack the AAV ITRs. Accordingly, such a helper vector could neither replicate nor package itself. A number of vectors that contain the rep coding region are known, including those vectors described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,941, having ATCC accession numbers 53222, 53223, 53224, 53225 and 53226. Similarly, methods of obtaining vectors containing the HHV-6 homologue of AAV rep are described in Thomson et al. (1994) Virology 204:304-311. A number of vectors containing the cap coding region have also been described, including those vectors described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,941.
After culturing the host cells with the necessary components for rAAV production, the host cell is harvested and a crude extract is produced. The resulting preparation will contain, among other components, approximately equal numbers of rAAV virion particles and infectious helper virions. Although rAAV virion particles produced via adenovirus infection can be purified away from some of the contaminating helper virus, unassembled viral proteins (from the helper virus and AAV capsid), and host cell proteins using known techniques, such preparations contain high levels of contaminants. Approximately 95% of the contaminants are derived from adenovirus, and 50% or greater of the total protein obtained in such rAAV virion preparations is free adenovirus fiber protein. Because free adenovirus fiber protein tends to co-purify with rAAV virions, this association makes separation of the two especially difficult, lowering rAAV virion purification efficiency. Moreover, adenovirus contaminants may be particularly problematic since many adenoviral proteins, including the fiber protein, have been shown to be cytotoxic and highly immunogenic. Preparations of rAAV containing adenoviral contaminations therefore may damage the target cell or provoke undesired immune responses in the host. Varying amounts of several other unidentified adenoviral and host cell proteins are also present in the preparations. Importantly, significant levels of infectious adenovirus virions are also obtained. To inactivate the infectious adenovirus, the preparation is heat inactivated (56xc2x0 C. for 1 hour). Heat inactivation, however, results in an approximately 50% drop in the titer of functional rAAV virions.
Therefore, production of rAAV virions using infectious helper viruses (such as adenovirus type-2, or a herpes virus) is undesirable for several reasons. Such production methods require the use and manipulation of large amounts of high titer infectious helper virus that present a number of health and safety concerns. Also, concomitant production of helper virus particles in rAAV producing cells diverts large amounts of cellular resources away from rAAV virion production likely lowering rAAV virion yields. Finally, the rAAV yields are even furthered lowered by the extensive purification required to remove contaminating infectious helper virus.
Current Purification Methods for rAAV
Several methods for purifying rAAV have been described in the literature. While rAAV purified by CsCl density gradients has been successfully used in human clinical trials, the method is not suitable for producing commercial scale quantities of rAAV. A method of purifying rAAV using only cationic column-chromatography has been described. However, the method fails to remove enough contaminating DNA and protein to be suitable for commercial use. A second chromatographic technique designed to purify rAAV produced using infectious adenovirus has also been described.
In order to effectively remove and/or inactivate potentially dangerous helper virus, this method involves several steps, including chromatography over anion or cation exchange columns as well as purification through tangential flow filtration or affinity purification. Even after extensive column purification, the resulting product typically will require heat inactivation to destroy any remaining helper virus particles at the expense of a substantial loss of rAAV, as much as 50%.
Because this purification system is designed primarily to remove infectious helper virus (particularly adenovirus), the system is not optimized to purify rAAV produced without infectious helper virus. Specifically, many steps are required and each of the steps results in loss of product rAAV virions, thus reducing the final yield of the recombinant product. Therefore, significant rAAV loss is unavoidable using such rAAV purification protocols increasing both the difficulty and cost of the procedure.
In sum, all prior purification systems have been designed primarily to remove and/or inactivate contaminating infectious helper virus, or are otherwise not suitable for commercial use. Thus, such systems are unsatisfactory for purifying rAAV produced in the absence of infectious helper virus, especially for large-scale production of commercial-grade rAAV. Consequently, there remains a need to provide a scalable and efficient purification system capable of separating contaminating protein and nucleic acid from rAAV prepared in the absence of infectious helper virus.
The present invention involves large-scale purification of recombinant AAV (rAAV) virions that were produced in the absence of infectious adenovirus. The methods include preparing a lysate from the host cell line then passing the lysate over various combinations of ion exchange chromatography media and/or affinity chromatography media. The host cell line is preferably cultured in roller bottles, a bioreactor, or using another technique suitable for large-scale cell culture.
In certain preferred embodiments, the rAAV is generated in a host cell line by triple-transfection with an accessory function vector, an AAV vector, and an AAV helper vector. The accessory function vector generally includes accessory functions provided by one or more adenovirus early region sequences, particularly, the E1b, E2a, E4, and/or VA RNA regions. The AAV vector includes one or more heterologous nucleotide sequences of interest flanked by at least one functional inverted terminal repeat (ITR) sequence. Finally, the AAV helper vector generally includes the AAV rep and/or the AAV cap sequences. In certain embodiments, the AAV helper vector may also have a modified AAV p5 promoter. After harvesting the transfected cell line, a lysate is formed using techniques suitable for large-scale production, such as microfluidization.
The affinity chromatography medium used for purifying rAAV will preferably be an AAV receptor or an antibody with binding affinity for AAV. In a preferred embodiment, heparin sulfate is used as the affinity chromatography medium. A variety of cation exchange and anion exchange media are contemplated for use with the present invention. Suitable cation exchange media include sulfo-, phospho, carboxy-, and carboxy-methyl-based resins. In one embodiment, a cation exchange chromatography module is used that contains a medium known as MUSTANG S(trademark). Suitable anion exchange media include N-charged amino or imino resins such as STREAMLINE Q XL(trademark), MUSTANG Q(trademark), POROS 50 PI, SEPHAROSE Q, any DEAE, TMAE, tertiary or quaternary amine, or PEI-based resins.
Several optional purification steps may also be used with the present methods, such as filtering the lysate through one or more filters or treating the lysate with a nuclease. In the certain embodiments, the methods are optimized to purify rAAV that was produced in a host cell line cultured in the absence of serum.

Large-scale recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) production and purification