The invention includes a system and a method for maintaining a selected concentration of a sterilant vapor during vapor phase sterilization. The system includes a sterilization chamber with a source of multicomponent vapor containing a sterilant vapor, an electromagnetic radiation source capable of generating radiation at a plurality of wavelengths, a radiation detector for detecting and quantitating the electromagnetic radiation absorbed at the wavelengths, the detector generating absorbance signals proportional to the concentration of the sterilant vapor in the multicomponent vapor, a microprocessor programmed to compare the absorbance signals with reference absorbance signals, to calculate the sterilant vapor concentration therefrom and to generate an output signal, and a controller to receive the output signal and to control addition of the sterilant vapor to the sterilization chamber to maintain a selected concentration of the sterilant vapor in the sterilization chamber during the sterilization process. The method allows sterilization conditions to be optimized to reduce the time required for and to increase the sterilization efficacy of the sterilization procedure.

Reusable medical instruments and pharmaceutical and biological equipment are generally sterilized before each use. Additionally, reusable containers employed in medical, pharmaceutical, and biological applications, such as gloveboxes and incubators, are generally sterilized before each use. Containers such as cassettes are employed first for sterilizing articles and then for maintaining the sterility of articles during post-sterilization storage. In facilities and applications where these types of instruments and containers are used several times a day, it is important to achieve sterilization efficiently and economically.
Several different methods have been developed for delivering a vapor phase sterilant to an enclosure or chamber for sterilizing the load (e.g., medical instruments or other articles) or interior thereof. In one option, the "deep vacuum" approach, a deep vacuum is used to pull liquid sterilant into a heated vaporizer; once vaporized, the sterilant vapor is drawn into an evacuated and sealed chamber. In another option, the "flow-through" approach, vaporized sterilant is mixed with a flow of carrier gas that serves to deliver the sterilant vapor into, through and out of the chamber, which may be at slightly negative or positive pressure.
Bier, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,007, Aug. 1, 1989, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method of vaporizing a multicomponent liquid, such as hydrogen peroxide and water, and passing the vapor in successive small increments into a sterilization chamber.
Methods have been developed for optimizing vapor phase sterilization in a deep vacuum and/or flow-through system. Cummings, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,145, Sep. 11, 1990, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a deep vacuum method of vapor phase sterilization in which a predetermined concentration of hydrogen peroxide sterilant vapor is maintained in an evacuated, sealed chamber. The amount of liquid sterilant injected into a vaporizer is regulated or adjusted to account for the estimated decomposition of hydrogen peroxide sterilant vapor into water and oxygen in the closed system over time. In a different approach, a predetermined percent saturation is maintained in an open, flow-through sterilization system as disclosed in commonly assigned, copending application U.S. Ser. No. 08/237,406, entitled "Optimum Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor Sterilization Method," filed on May 2, 1994, and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,792 issued Aug. 29, 1995, incorporated herein by reference. This patent discloses regulation or adjustment of the rate of hydrogen peroxide vapor injection into a carrier gas in response to predetermined characteristics of the carrier gas.
Also, several systems and apparatus have been developed for conducting vapor phase sterilization. An open flow-through system designed to handle the disposition of residual sterilant vapors is disclosed in Cummings, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,999, Mar. 20, 1990, incorporated herein by reference. That system can be integrally associated with or releasably connected to a sealable container.
Childers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,258, Dec. 22, 1992, incorporated herein by reference, discloses another flow-through system in which vapor phase hydrogen peroxide is introduced into a recirculating, closed-loop flow of carrier gas. The hydrogen peroxide vapor is introduced and maintained at a predetermined concentration selected to optimize the sterilization cycle. The system includes a dryer to dehumidify the recirculating flow, preferably to at least about 10% relative humidity, and thereby prevent moisture build-up resulting from the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide vapor over time. By eliminating moisture build-up, the system can maintain the sterilization chamber at higher concentrations of vapor phase hydrogen peroxide sterilant for longer periods of time (i.e., the predried gas will accept more of the sterilant vapor). Further, to avoid condensation of the sterilant, the relative humidity in the chamber is preferably reduced (e.g., to at least about 10%) prior to introducing the sterilant vapor. After decontamination is complete, the enclosure may be rehumidified or conditioned if desired for the selected application.
Gas sterilization/decontamination systems rely on maintaining certain process parameters in order to achieve a target sterility or decontamination assurance level. For hydrogen peroxide gas sterilization/decontamination systems, those parameters include the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide vapor. By maintaining a sufficient concentration of hydrogen peroxide vapor and/or percent saturation at various temperatures and pressures for a sufficient period of time, desired sterility assurance levels can be successfully obtained while avoiding condensation due to vapor saturation. Existing systems typically monitor the amount of liquid delivered to the vaporization system over time, and, based on temperature, pressure, volume, and (where applicable) flow rate, calculate the theoretical concentration of hydrogen peroxide vapor, and then correlate some or all of these parameters with empirically derived estimates of hydrogen peroxide decomposition, to arrive at an estimate of the amount of hydrogen peroxide to inject into the system in order to maintain a sought theoretical concentration of hydrogen peroxide vapor. The sterilization performance is then validated empirically via microbiological efficacy testing.
Cummings, U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,867, Jul. 4, 1989, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for monitoring and controlling the concentration of one or more selected components in a multicomponent vapor, by measuring a property of the multicomponent vapor, such as dew point, measuring another property of the one or more selected components of the multicomponent vapor, such as relative humidity, and fitting the measured values for these properties into a model, thereby obtaining an estimate of the concentration of the selected component. The estimated concentration of the selected component allows Cummings to more closely control input of that component and thereby obtain a greater measure of control over its concentration in the sterilization chamber than was previously available. Cummings' method is an indirect approximation based on a number of empirical assumptions, including the estimated rate of loss of the component from the multicomponent vapor.
In actual practice several factors can affect the concentration of components of the vapor, such as decomposition, absorption and adsorption, all due to contact of the gas with various surfaces in the system, and dilution due to evaporation by water vapor from the loads being processed and to decomposition of the sterilant. These effects can vary from load to load and system to system. The need exists to adjust the supply of sterilant vapor to take these effects into account with a precise, real-time measure of the concentration of the sterilant vapor component of the multicomponent vapor in the sterilization chamber.
The foregoing methods and systems are effective at sterilization and/or provide an enhanced sterilization cycle. There exists, however, a need for further improvement in the measurement and control of the concentration of hydrogen peroxide vapor in the sterilization chamber.

Real-time monitor and control system and method for hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination


The present disclosure relates to a wireless charging transmitter system and its control method. The system includes at least two transmit coils, configured to simultaneously transmit power; at least two transmit circuits, wherein each of the transmit circuits is electrically connected to each of the transmit coils, and is configured to supply a current to the transmit coil; and at least one decoupling circuit, wherein the decoupling circuit is connected to any two coupled transmit coils of the at least two transmit coils. By controlling N switches in a first compensation circuit and/or M switches in a second compensation circuit in the decoupling circuit, compensation capacitors connected in parallel with two terminals of a first inductor and a second inductor are controlled such that the equivalent mutual-inductance of the decoupling circuit may be adjusted to improve decoupling precision and reduce power loss caused by coupling between transmit coils.

Due to safety and convenience, wireless power transfer technology is being widely applied to various electronic devices, for example, smart phones, medical equipment, electric automotive and the like. Smart terminals in particular, in recent years, with developments of the smart phones, the wireless charging function is gradually becoming a standard function configuration on high-end mobile phones. The state of the art wireless charging transmitter system supports wireless power transfer for mobile phones in any posture in a three-dimensional space. To achieve the wireless power transfer in any posture in the three-dimensional space, the transmitter needs to generate magnetic fields in multiple orientations to accommodate various possible distances and postures of the receive coil.
However, when a plurality of transmit coils operate collaboratively, due to strong coupling between the transmit coils, especially, in the scenario where metals exist in the external application environment, coupling between the transmit coils may be significantly changed. In the case that coupling between the transmit coils is strengthened, power loss of the transmitter system may be significantly increased.

Wireless charging transmitter system and method for controlling same


Described in an example embodiment herein is an apparatus, comprising a communication interface and authentication logic coupled with the wireless interface. The authentication logic authenticates with at least one neighboring device forming a trust relationship with the at least one neighboring device. The authentication logic obtains via the communication interface data representative of a user associated with a user device. The authentication logic sends a challenge to the user device, via the communication interface, the challenge requesting data associated with the user associated with the user device. The authentication logic receives a response to the challenge via the user interface and validates the response to the challenge. The authentication logic provides data to the at least one neighboring device indicating that the user associated with the user device has been authenticated, to enable access to the functionality and/or resources of the at least one neighboring device.

An individual may have a multiplicity of networked desktop and mobile devices that operate independently of the other devices and require end user authentication. Some of these devices may discover each other through technologies such as BLUETOOTH, but any trust relationships created as a result of these discoveries tend to be peering relationships between the endpoint devices such as a personal area network (PAN). A PAN or peer-to-peer trust establishment can suffer from an n-squared problem where devices participating in a PAN must be knowledgeable of the authentication mechanisms of all other devices that may wish to join the PAN.

Network mediated multi-device shared authentication


A method and system for increased instruction dispatch efficiency in a superscalar processor system having an instruction queue for receiving a group of instructions in an application specified sequential order and an instruction dispatch unit for dispatching instructions from an associated instruction buffer to multiple execution units on an opportunistic basis. The dispatch status of instructions within the associated instruction buffer is periodically determined and, in response to a dispatch of the instructions at the beginning of the instruction buffer, the remaining instructions are shifted within the instruction buffer in the application specified sequential order and a partial group of instructions are loaded into the instruction buffer from the instruction queue utilizing a selectively controlled multiplex circuit. In this manner additional instructions may be dispatched to available execution units without requiring a previous group of instructions to be dispatched completely.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to improved data processing systems and in particular to improvements in instruction dispatch efficiency in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for increased instruction dispatch efficiency in a superscalar processor system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Designers of modern state-of-the-art data processing systems are continually attempting to enhance the performance aspects of such systems. One technique for enhancing data processing system efficiency is the achievement of short cycle times and a low Cycles-Per-Instruction (CPI) ratio. An excellent example of the application of these techniques to an enhanced data processing system is the International Business Machines Corporation RISC System/6000 (RS/6000) computer. The RS/6000 system is designed to perform well in numerically intensive engineering and scientific applications as well as in multi-user, commercial environments. The RS/6000 processor employs a superscalar implementation, which means that multiple instructions are issued and executed simultaneously.
The simultaneous issuance and execution of multiple instructions requires independent functional units that can execute concurrently with a high instruction bandwidth. The RS/6000 system achieves this by utilizing separate branch, fixed point and floating point processing units which are pipelined in nature. In such systems a significant pipeline delay penalty may result from the execution of conditional branch instructions. Conditional branch instructions are instructions which dictate the taking of a specified conditional branch within a application in response to a selected outcome of the processing of one or more other instructions. Thus, by the time a conditional branch instruction propagates through a pipeline queue to an execution position within the queue, it will have been necessary to load instructions into the queue behind the conditional branch instruction prior to resolving the conditional branch in order to avoid run-time delays.
Another source of delays within superscalar processor systems is the fact that such systems typically execute multiple tasks simultaneously. Each of these multiple tasks typically has a effective or virtual address space which is utilized for execution of that task. Locations within such a effective or virtual address space include addresses which "map" to a real address within system memory. It is not uncommon for a single space within real memory to map to multiple effective or virtual memory addresses within a multiscalar processor system. The utilization of effective or virtual addresses by each of the multiple tasks creates additional delays within a multiscalar processor system due to the necessity of translating these addresses into real addresses within system memory, so that the appropriate instruction or data may be retrieved from memory and placed within an instruction queue for dispatching to one of the multiple independent functional units which make up the multiscalar processor system.
In modern superscalar processors groups of instructions are often dispatched from the instruction buffer in a priority order as execution units are available to process those instructions. Often the instructions at the beginning of an instruction buffer are dispatched and the instructions within the remainder of that group remain in the buffer for several cycles waiting for execution units or other resources. Additionally, there may be available execution units of a type not required for the remaining instructions. It should thus be apparent that instruction dispatch efficiency may be increased if a method and system were available for shifting instructions within an instruction buffer in an application specified sequential order, such that additional instructions may be placed within the buffer for dispatch to execution units.

Method and system for increased instruction dispatch efficiency in a superscalar processor system


The present invention relates to specific regions of the N-terminal portion of the VAR2CSA protein and to the use of such specific regions in the prevention of pregnancy-associated malaria. The invention also provides immunogenic compositions and vaccines that are useful for preventing malaria in pregnant women.

Malaria is the most frequent parasitic infectious disease in the world. It is caused by a eukaryotic microorganism of the Plasmodium genus which is transmitted through biting by a female mosquito (Anopheles). Several species of Plasmodium can infect human beings, but Plasmodium falciparum is the most frequent and most pathogenic species and the species that is responsible for deadly cases. Once introduced in the blood, the parasite infects hepatic cells, in which it proliferates, before circulating again in the blood and invading red blood cells (erythrocytes). Malaria affects about a hundred countries in the world, in particular poor tropical regions of Africa, Asia and South America, Africa being by far the most affected continent. The World Health Organization estimates that malaria is responsible for 225 millions of cases of fever and approximately one million deaths annually (World Malaria Report, WHO, 2010). Currently available means of fighting against malaria infection include anti-malaria drugs (in particular chloroquine and quinine) and action against mosquitoes, vectors of the parasite. However, the situation is all the more worrisome that for several years, the parasites have developed increased resistance to drugs and mosquitoes have developed resistance to insecticide. Today, there are no vaccines available against malaria.
Malaria affects mainly children of less than 5 years of age and pregnant women, in particular primigravidae (i.e., women who are pregnant for the first time). Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable because the placenta constitutes a target where parasites can accumulate. In pregnant women, malaria infection can cause a large variety of damaging effects: spontaneous abortion, early delivery, low weight at birth, congenital transmission, and neonatal death. In the African regions where malaria is endemic, 3 to 5% of newborn deaths can be imputed to pregnancy-associated malaria. Furthermore, it is also a real danger for the mother who can suffer from sometimes severe, or even deadly, anaemia.
Today prevention of malaria in pregnant women is achieved by preventive administration of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (Cot et al., Br. Med. Bull., 2003, 67: 137-148). However, this intermittent treatment cannot provide a prevention against malaria during the entire pregnancy; firstly because administration of the drugs only takes place from the 20th week of pregnancy (the teratogenic risks during embryogenesis being too high); secondly because the treatment involves two curative doses of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine administered at one month interval, which only provides partial medicinal protection; and thirdly because the efficacy of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine is very strongly decreasing in all malaria endemic zones due to a rise in parasite resistance (Cot et al., Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 1998, 59: 813-822; WHO/HTM/MAL/2005.1103. Geneva: World Health Organization; ter Kuile et al., JAMA, 2007, 297: 2603-2616; Mockenhaupt et al., J. Infect. Dis., 2008, 198: 1545-1549; Briand et al., J. Infect. Dis., 2009, 991-1001; Harrington et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2009, 106: 9027-9032). Drugs are currently tested in this context, and numerous efforts are focused toward the development of a vaccine against placental malaria. The possibility of vaccinating pregnant women or prepubertal girls would offer several obvious advantages over the sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine treatment, since the preventive protection would be temporally extended, and probably of higher quality.
One of the contemplated vaccinal strategies to fight against pregnancy-associated malaria is to re-create the natural protective immunity. Indeed, the clinical severity of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is, at least partly, linked to alterations undergone by infected erythrocytes. These alterations are induced by proteins of the parasite that are exported to the surface of erythrocytes during the phase of development in blood. Some of these surface proteins of the PfEMP1 (Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein 1) family, confer novel cytoadherence properties to infected erythrocytes. The infected erythrocytes bind to the internal walls of blood vessels, thereby becoming unavailable for transport towards purging organs of the immune system, whose role is to destroy cells recognized as abnormal. In pregnancy-associated malaria, infected erythrocytes adhere to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA), a sulfated glycosaminoglycan present in the placenta. After several pregnancies, women acquire protective antibodies that block this adherence. One vaccinal strategy is to re-create this protective immunity by blocking the attachment of infected erythrocytes to the placenta.
The VAR2CSA protein, one of the members of the PfEMP1 family, is currently the object of numerous research projects with the goal of developing a vaccine specifically adapted to pregnant women (Tuikue Ndam et al., J. Infect. Dis., 2005, 192: 331-335; Chia et al., J. Infect. Dis., 2005, 192: 1284-1293; Tuikue Ndam et al., J. Infect. Dis., 2006, 193: 713-720; Dahlback et al., PLoS Pathogens, 2006, 2: 1069-1082; Badaut et al., Mol. Biochem. Parasitol., 2007, 15: 89-99; Khattab et al., Parasitol. Res., 2007, 101: 767-774; Guitard et al., Malaria J., 2008, 11: 7-10; Guitard et al., Malaria J., 2010, 9: 165; Gangnard et al., Mol. Biochem. Parasitol., 2010, 173: 115-122; Gnidehou et al., Mol. Biochem. Parasitol., 2010, 5(10): e13105). Although these studies are rendered difficult by VAR2CSA polymorphism, Phase I trials are nevertheless contemplated. Furthermore, the full-length extracellular domain of this protein has recently been expressed in a heterologous system (Srivastava et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2010, 107: 4884-4889; Khunrae et al., J. Mol. Biol., 2010, 397: 826-834), and antibodies induced against this construct showed a very high anti-adhesion IgG titer. However, technological constraints in the optimal production of such a large antigen question the use of full length VAR2CSA in vaccine development. Furthermore, the development of new vaccinal approaches will have to take into account the numerous immunodominant epitopes that do no induce "antiadherent" antibodies.
Therefore, it appears to be crucial to continue exploring and developing new strategies to fight and prevent pregnancy-associated malaria.

Vaccines against pregnancy-associated malaria

INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DéVELOPPEMENT (IRD)


A flow control apparatus for controlling fluid flow in a petroleum reservoir. The flow control apparatus has a flow control mechanism, a controller operable to control the flow control mechanism to adjust fluid flow through the flow control mechanism, the controller comprising a processor operable to execute according to a control algorithm, and a non-volatile memory connected to the controller. The non-volatile memory includes instructions to cause the controller to execute an authentication mechanism operable to authenticate a control computer and to prevent operation of the controller until the authentication mechanism authenticates the control computer.

In modern petroleum fields, fluid flow is controlled using downhole valves known as intelligent completions. An intelligent completion is a variable orifice valve. These valves may be adjusted at will. Typically, intelligent completions are deployed to control flow resistances at various zones in a well or system of wells, which is illustrated in FIG. 1. Generally, the aim is to deploy a combination of valves and sensors in the various production zones of a well to adjust flow distributions along the well-bore, either to achieve a desired fluid-front movement or to maintain a desired production or for conformance. The control strategy may be designed based on either pressure or flow-rate control. A detailed discussion of control strategies based on intelligent completions may be found in T. S. Ramakrishnan, "On reservoir Fluid-Flow with Smart Completions", SPE84219, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 2003, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Intelligent completion valves may be controlled from surface equipment or from controllers deployed in the downhole equipment. Other components are sensors for measuring pressure or flow-rate computer based controllers. Using a control algorithm in response to measured values, control the pressure or flow-rate by manipulating the valves to achieve a desired set point. The control algorithm, which is usually a feed-back controller, accepts a measured value as input and adjusts the valves in an effort to move the measured value towards the desired set point.
Usually control systems are designed for stability using a variety of methods, for example, those discussed in Process Dynamics, Modeling and Control by B. A. Ogunnake, W. H. Ray, 1994 and Process Systems Analysis and Control by Coughanowr, D. R., 1991. Downhole flow control is not amenable to standard linear theories. Therefore, the control system hardware used with a particular formation is designed based on simulations with the objectives of robustness and stability. After the control system has been deployed downhole to adjust flow within a formation, the control algorithm may be updated from the surface equipment or even remotely. The updates may include changing control parameters such as update time and sensitivity, for example, in response to measured production and injection data. A detailed discussion of intelligent completion systems may be found in Ramakrishnan, T. S., "On reservoir fluid-flow control with smart completions", SPE Paper SPE84219, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 2003 (Society of Petroleum Engineers).
Any networked computer system is inherently vulnerable to security threats. In the oilfield, such threats are compounded by many factors, including their importance to national and international economies their high monetary value, and the expense associated with exploration, extraction and production equipment.
These factors also contribute to, at least, the following specific threats to intelligent completion systems:                Unauthorized operation of an intelligent completions installation        Use of unauthorized equipment with an intelligent completions control system        Theft of intelligent completions systems        Theft of proprietary parameter settings and algorithms used to control an intelligent completions system
From the foregoing, it will be apparent that there is a need for an improved method to secure intelligent completions systems thereby overcoming foresaid security risks.

System and method for secure downhole intelligent completions


A single-functional shower head assembly includes a universal connector having a ball inserted into the top end of a shower head housing, and a fit ring having a slight elasticity fitted on the ball of the universal connector in a forcibly fit manner from the other end of the shower head housing, so that the universal connector is positioned in the shower head housing, and the other parts may then be assembled into the shower head housing, thereby decreasing cost of production and enhancing productivity. In addition, the quality of products can be enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single-functional shower head assembly, and more particularly to a single-functional shower head assembly, the quality of products can be enhanced.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional single-functional shower head in accordance with the prior art shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a universal connector 1a serially mounted with a shower head housing 2a, a sealing ring 3a, a connecting member 4a, and a water outlet panel 6a. The connecting member is provided with heat melted wires 5a, so that the shower head housing 2a is combined with the connecting member 4a in a heat melted manner.
However, the conventional single-functional shower head has the following disadvantages.
1. The universal connector la made of metal has a greater volume and a heavier weight, thereby increasing cost of material and fabrication.
2. The connecting member 4a is provided with heat melted wires 5a, so that the shower head housing 2a is combined with the connecting member 4a in a heat melted manner. However, the heat melted process needs a higher cost. In addition, the two combining parts have to stably contact during the heat melted process for obtaining a better effect. However, the connecting member 4a has to force the sealing ring 3a to urge the universal connector 1a as shown in FIG. 2. The sealing ring 3a made of plastic material has a determined volume and elasticity, whereby the heat melted process is easily affected by the sealing ring 3a, so that the combination process is unstable, thereby decreasing the heat melted effect, and so that the sealing ring 3a cannot closely abut the ball of the universal connector, thereby greatly influencing the sealing effect. Thus, the defective products easily produce during fabrication.
3. The sealing ring 3a is subjected to the high temperature of the heat melted process, thereby decreasing the lifetime of the sealing ring 3a and the shower head. In addition, maintenance and replacement are difficult when the sealing ring 3a is worn out, so that it is necessary to replace a new shower head.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantage of the conventional single-functional shower head assembly.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a single-functional shower head assembly including a universal connector having a ball inserted into the top end of a shower head housing, and a fit ring having a slight elasticity fitted on the ball of the universal connector in a forcibly fit manner from the other end of the shower head housing, so that the universal connector is positioned in the shower head housing, and the other parts may then be assembled into the shower head housing, thereby decreasing cost of production and enhancing productivity.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a single-functional shower head assembly, wherein the quality of products can be enhanced.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a single-functional shower head assembly, comprising:
a hollow universal connector having a first end formed with a water inlet and a second end formed with a ball;
a shower head housing having a first end formed with a water outlet and a second end formed with a first seat defining a hole, a second seat formed in the shower head housing and located beside the first seat;
a fit ring having a slight elasticity fitted on the ball of the universal connector in a forcibly fit manner, the fit ring being inserted into the first seat of the shower head housing by pressing of the ball of the universal connector;
a substantially cylindrical urging member mounted in the second seat of the shower head housing and having an end face recessed with a ring;
a buffer pad mounted in the second seat of the shower head housing and having a first end formed with a first flange fitted into the ring of the urging member and a second end formed with a second flange; and
a water outlet panel secured on the first end of the shower head housing and including a circular plate secured in the water outlet, and an annular wall mounted on the circular plate and rested on the second flange of the buffer pad.
Further benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after a careful reading of the detailed description with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.


There are disclosed compounds of the formula 1 ##STR1## wherein X is an oxygen atom or nothing and R1, R2 and R3 are as defined in the specification, useful in the prevention or treatment of HIV infection.

The human disease, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), particularly the strain known as HIV-1.
Like other viruses, HIV-1 cannot replicate without commandeering the biosynthetic apparatus of the host cell it infects. It causes this apparatus to produce the structural proteins which make up the viral progeny. These proteins are coded for by the genetic material contained within the infecting virus particle, or virion. Being a retrovirus, however, the genetic material of HIV is RNA, not DNA as in the host cell's genome. Accordingly, the viral RNA must first be converted into DNA, and then integrated into the host cell's genome, in order for the host cell to produce the required viral proteins. The conversion of the RNA to DNA is accomplished through the use of the enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT), which is included within the infecting virion along with the RNA. Reverse transcriptase has three known enzymatic functions; it acts as an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, as a ribonuclease, and as a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase. Acting first as an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase, RT makes a single-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA. Acting as a ribonuclease, RT frees the DNA just produced from the original viral RNA and destroys the original RNA. Finally, acting as a DNA-dependent DNA polymerase, RT makes a second, complementary DNA strand, using the first DNA strand as a template. The two strands form double-stranded DNA, which is integrated into the host cell's genome by another enzyme called integrase.
Compounds which inhibit the enzymatic functions of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase will inhibit replication of HIV-1 in infected cells.
A number of compounds that inhibit the enzymatic functions of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase are known. One class of known HIV-1 RT inhibitors is the nucleoside analogs. This class includes 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT), 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI), and 2',3'-dideoxy-cytidine (ddC). Another class is the non-nucleoside analogs. This class includes, inter alia, nevirapine, which is 11-cyclopropyl-5,11-dihydro-4-methyl-6H-dipyrido3,2-b:2',3'-e!1,4!-diaze pin-6-one. Nevirapine and other paricularly relevant compounds of the non-nucleoside class are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,972; by Hargrave et al.,"Novel Non-Nucleoside Inhibitors of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase. 1. Tricyclic Pyridobenzo-and Dipyridodiazepinones", J. Med. Chem., 34, 2231 (1991); and by Proudfoot et al., "Novel Non-Nucleoside Inhibitors of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase. 4.2-Substituted Dipyridodiazepinones are Potent Inhibitors of both Wild Type and Cysteine-181 HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Enzymes". J. Med. Chem., 38, 4830-4838 (1995).

5,11-dihydro-6H-dipyrido3,2-b:2',3'-e!azepine-6-ones and their use in the prevention of treatment of HIV infection

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.


A stamped film to be connected to an additional film has a stamped pattern defining at least one dividing line that is interrupted in a regular pattern by webs, wherein the webs each have a width that is, on average, less than an average spacing between two adjacently positioned ones of the webs, respectively. The stamped pattern has, at least in one direction, several dividing lines extending parallel to one another or has several dividing lines extending perpendicularly to one another. When mirroring the stamped film at a mirror plane that intersects the stamped film centrally and perpendicularly to the dividing lines, the webs of the dividing lines will not be superimposed on webs of a stamped film that has not been mirrored when superimposing the mirrored stamped film on the stamped film that has not been mirrored. The stacked films form electrochemical or electrochromic compounds.

The present invention relates to a spatial configuration of films with electrochemical properties, wherein the films can be used for producing layer compounds for use as batteries, electrochromic compounds or the like.
Since the beginning of the '70s, it has been attempted to produce electrochemical components such as batteries or the like in the form of thin films. The object is to obtain components that, on the one hand, are so flexible that they can be, for example, rolled up or matched to another desired shape and, on the other hand, can provide particularly beneficial charging and discharging properties by means of extremely large contact surfaces between the individual electrochemical parts, such as electrodes or electrolytes, relative to the employed volume of electrochemically active material.
The film technology fulfills the aforementioned requirements in an excellent way. Therefore, electrode materials or electrolyte materials in film form, for example, for batteries, are produced as fabricated material that are subsequently combined to a film compound with the desired electrochemical properties by lamination under suitable pressure action or temperature action. Examples for the manufacture of such films are known in many embodiments in the patent literature or in the relevant technical literature and are known to a person skilled in the art.
The manufacture of electrochemical components by means of (endless) films provides great economical advantages because film processing at high speed can be performed. In this connection, an advancing speed of several meters per minute is possible. However, for such a manufacture several boundary conditions must be observed that require a high technical expenditure. This is based in particular on the fact that, for obtaining a high throughput, the different films must be processed as long as possible from roll to roll or in the form of large sheets in order to reduce the number of manipulation steps. If it is desired to separate the complete stacked/laminated film compounds after their processing, it is necessary to perform stamping actions through the complete film compound. However, this results in significant problems because the separation by cutting tools generates edges of cut through the complete film compound. In this connection, the cutting tool can cause smearing of materials from different films across the edges of cut; this has negative effects with regard to the functionality of the electrochemical components. Separation of the different films already before lamination however requires a precise arrangement of the film elements relative to one another before they are laminated or connected in other ways. However, this can be realized only with great difficulty in particular for a high manufacturing throughput.

Film and compound films with an embossed pattern, particularly for producing electrochemical components

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for mapping a small computer system interface (SCSI) architecture model-3 (SAM-3) task priority to an IEEE Standard 802.1q tag control information (TCI) field. Four bits that define a SAM-3 task priority are mapped to the three user priority bits within a standard 802.1q TCI field. By enabling the SAM-3 task priority of a given SCSI command to determine the user priority within a related IEEE 802.1q Ethernet frame, the Ethernet network is enabled to substantially honor the requested task priority for the SCSI command.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to computer networks and more specifically to a system and method for SAM-3 prioritization in iSCSI using 802.1q Ethernet prioritization.
2. Description of the Related Art
In certain computing environments, storage resources on at least one storage server are provided through an Ethernet network to one or more client computing devices. The client computing devices gain access to non-volatile mass storage resources on the storage sever through a block-level protocol, such as Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI).
In an example scenario, a cluster of client computing devices communicates with a storage server through an Ethernet network, where each client computing device accesses one or more virtual disks on the storage server. In such a scenario, a given client computing device is configured to establish an iSCSI login session with the storage server and to access one or more specifically named virtual disks. The client computing device is able to interpret the block and file system structure of the virtual disk, which typically follows the block and file system structure of an otherwise locally attached disk drive. The client computing devices, along with other computing systems that share the Ethernet network, commonly run user applications such as web browsers, web servers, email client-server systems, and voice over IP (VoIP) applications. These user applications, which are generally less sensitive to latency, contribute a mix of non-iSCSI traffic that competes with iSCSI traffic for instantaneous bandwidth over the Ethernet network.
One drawback of existing iSCSI network architectures is that high-priority iSCSI traffic is forced to compete on an equal basis with other, lower-priority network traffic, leading to suboptimal iSCSI performance. For example, high-priority SCSI access operations, such as demand page requests, are typically marked as high-priority within a SCSI architecture model-3 (SAM-3) command, but there is no way to prioritize these requests relative to other Ethernet network traffic. Consequently, some applications that generate high-priority iSCSI traffic suffer significant performance problems with the increased network latencies caused by lower-priority traffic.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a more efficient technique for transmitting iSCSI traffic over Ethernet to improve the overall performance of applications that generate high-priority iSCSI traffic.

System and method for SAM-3 prioritization in iSCSI using 802.1q ethernet prioritization


A steel sheet having a specified chemical composition and a method for producing the steel sheet. The steel sheet has a microstructure including martensite and bainite. The total area fraction of the martensite and the bainite to the entirety of the microstructure is more than 90% and 100% or less. The microstructure includes inclusion clusters A and B, the content of the clusters A in the microstructure being 2 clusters/mm2 or less, and the content of the clusters B in the microstructure being 5 clusters/mm2 or less. The microstructure includes carbide particles including Fe as a main constituent which have an aspect ratio of 2.0 or less and a major axis of 0.30 μm or more and 2 μm or less. The content of the carbide particles in the microstructure is 4000 particles/mm2 or less. The microstructure includes prior γ grains having an average size of 6 to 15 μm.

With an increasing demand for reductions in the weights of automotive bodies, the application of high-strength steel sheets having a TS of 1320 to 1470 MPa to vehicle frame components, such as center pillar R/F (reinforcement), bumpers, impact beams, and the like (hereinafter, the above articles are referred to also as "components"), is becoming popular. In order to further reduce the weight of automotive bodies, studies of application of steel sheets having a TS of about 1800 MPa (about 1.8 GPa) and steel sheets having a TS of more than 1800 MPa are being conducted.
There have been extensive studies of application of high-strength steel sheets in which the steel sheets are formed into shape by being pressed at high temperatures, that is, hot-pressed into shape. On the other hand, the application of high-strength steel sheets in which the steel sheets are cold-pressed into shape is being reconsidered from the viewpoints of cost and productivity.
However, in the case where a high-strength steel sheet having a TS of about 1320 MPa or more is formed into a component by cold pressing, the steel sheet may undergo delayed fracture as a result of an increase in the residual stress inside the component and degradation in the delayed fracture resistance.
Delayed fracture is a phenomenon where, when a component is placed under a hydrogen-penetrating environment while a high stress is applied to the component, hydrogen that enters a steel sheet constituting the component reduces the interatomic bonding forces and causes local deformation, which leads to formation of microcracks, and the component is fractured as a result of the propagation of the microcracks.
As a technique for improving resistance to the delayed fracture described above, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which delayed fracture resistance is improved by achieving a composition containing, by mass, C: 0.08% to 0.18%, Si: 1% or less, Mn: 1.2% to 1.8%, P: 0.03% or less, S: 0.01% or less, sol. Al: 0.01% to 0.1%, N: 0.005% or less, O: 0.005% or less, B: 5 to 25 ppm, and one or more of Nb: 0.005% to 0.04%, Ti: 0.005% to 0.04%, and Zr: 0.005% to 0.04%, by satisfying the following relationship between Ceq and TS: TS≥2270×Ceq+260 and Ceq≤0.5, where Ceq=C+Si/24+Mn/6, and by adjusting the volume fraction of martensite in the microstructure (steel microstructure) to be 80% or more.
Patent Literatures 2, 3, and 4 disclose techniques in which resistance to hydrogen-induced cracking is reduced by reducing the S content in steel to a predetermined level and adding Ca to the steel.
Patent Literature 5 discloses a technique in which delayed fracture resistance is improved by achieving a composition containing C: 0.1% to 0.5%, Si: 0.10% to 2%, Mn: 0.44% to 3%, N≤0.008%, Al: 0.005% to 0.1%, and one or more of V: 0.05% to 2.82%, Mo: 0.1% or more and less than 3.0%, Ti: 0.03% to 1.24%, and Nb: 0.05% to 0.95% and dispersing fine alloy carbide particles, which serve as hydrogen-trapping sites, in the steel.

Steel sheet and method for producing the same


The invention relates to a wind turbine blade having integrated thermoplastic anchoring sites for attachment of surface mounted devices, a method for producing such blade and a wind turbine equipped with such blade.

Modern wind turbine blades may require surface mounted devices, also known as add-ons, attached to the aerodynamic shell of the blade.
Such add-ons are typically adhered to the aerodynamic shell of the blade at various positions by using different types of adhesives or double sided tape.
WO 13 060493 describes vortex generators fixed to a wind turbine blade by using adhesives.
It is thus known to adhesively attach various components such as spoilers and serrations to wind turbine blades.
One problem in this regard is that such add-ons may fall of the blade during operation or may loosen over time which may cause a drop in blade performance with regard to energy generation, operational noise and safety.
This in turn causes costly down time and repairs.
It is an objective of the present invention to lessen or ameliorate such problems.


A process in accordance with the invention minimizes the number of heat steps to which an source-drain extension region is exposed, thus minimizing source-drain extension region diffusion and allowing more precise control of source-drain extension region thickness over conventional processes. In accordance with the invention, spacers are formed abutting the gate and then heavily doped source and drain regions are formed. The gate and source and drain regions are silicided. The spacers are subsequently removed and source-drain extension regions are then formed. In one embodiment of the invention, a laser doping process is used to form the source-drain extension regions.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to semiconductor device formation and particularly to the formation of source-drain extension regions.
2. Related Art
One trend of the semiconductor industry is to make semiconductor devices as small as possible. Often, however, process technology or the methods used in forming many devices impose limitations on how small a device can be made.
A typical semiconductor device and a primary building block in the semiconductor industry is the metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). A cross-section of a MOSFET is shown in FIG. 1. A MOSFET is typically composed of a gate 120 and an insulating gate oxide layer 115 both formed over a silicon substrate 110. Gate 120 is usually composed of polysilicon. Within substrate 110 are formed deep source-drain regions 150 (sometimes referred to as heavily doped source and drain regions) and source-drain extension regions 130 (sometimes referred to as lightly doped source and drain regions). Generally, doped regions are regions containing a higher concentration of p-type or n-type dopants than the substrate. Source-drain extension regions 130 generally have a lower concentration of dopants compared to deep source-drain regions 150, although some technologies allow the regions to be doped at equivalent levels. Further source-drain extension regions 130 have a thickness t.sub.1 which is smaller than thickness t.sub.2 of deep source-drain regions 150. Shallow source-drain extension regions 130 are important for reducing hot carrier injection (HCI), which often occurs in scaled down (e.g., sub-micron) devices, and for maintaining other device characteristics such as threshold voltage rolloff, punchthrough, and other short channel characteristics. Thicker deep source-drain regions are generally important for lowering device resistivity, for maximizing drive current.
In reducing the size of MOSFET devices much of the focus has been on reducing the length L of the gate 120. As the gate length L is reduced, however, the device size must also be reduced in the vertical direction--that is, the source-drain extension region thickness t.sub.1 must be reduced. Formation of shallow source-drain extension regions, however, requires precise control of dopant distribution on a fine scale. Unfortunately, while technology will allow other portions of MOSFET devices to be scaled smaller, e.g., gates scaled to sub-micron lengths, limitations in forming finely scaled source-drain extension regions have prevented semiconductor devices from reaching their smallest dimensions.
Typically conventional processes of forming a MOSFET device will have the following steps. Gate oxide 115 and gate 120 are formed on substrate 110. Source-drain extension regions 130 are next formed, often by ion implantation. Once source-drain extension regions 130 are formed, oxide spacers are formed abutting the gate 120 to protect the source-drain extension regions from further doping. Deep source-drain regions are then formed, often by ion implantation. These regions (both source-drain extension and deep source-drain) are then annealed by heating to form the proper lattice structures and to electrically activate the dopants in these regions. Before removing the spacers, and usually after annealing, a silicide or other conductive layer is formed on the deep source-drain regions 150 and gate 120 to increase conductivity. Silicidation generally requires two additional heating steps.
There are generally two ways to make a doped region shallower. One way is to implant ions at a lower energy (e.g., 1 keV instead of 20 keV). The second way to reduce the amount of dopant diffusion is to reduce anneal time and/or temperature. Annealing and other heat steps cause the doped regions to diffuse, thus causing the doped regions to expand and deepen in thickness. The longer the time and the higher the temperature of a heat step, the deeper the doped regions become.
In common processes, both deep source-drain and source-drain extension regions are annealed simultaneously, or source-drain extension regions are annealed and then re-exposed to anneal temperatures during the deep source-drain region anneal. These anneal steps cause both types of regions to deepen as a result of diffusion. By annealing for a shorter time or at a lower temperature, the source-drain extension region thickness can be minimized, especially if a low energy implant of the source-drain extension region is also used. Nonetheless, a reduced anneal would also cause the deep source-drain regions to be formed too shallow. Too shallow a deep source-drain region is undesirable because it alters device characteristics (e.g., device resistivity and drive current) and makes formation of reliable contacts difficult. Silicidation of deep source-drain regions eats into the deep source-drain depth, causing an already shallow deep source-drain region to be even further reduced.
Thus, even using a low energy source-drain extension implant with conventional device formation processes, the manufacturer has very limited control over maintaining shallow source-drain extension thickness because of diffusion resulting from subsequent anneal and other heat steps and because deep source-drain depth must be maintained.
Other methods of forming source-drain extension regions have been put forth as allowing more control in the formation of such extension regions. One such method is laser doping. These methods, however, have not been generally used because of serious process problems, including melting the polysilicon gate in the case of laser doping.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a process which allows for more controlled shallow source-drain extension formation without affecting deep source-drain region depth or negatively influencing other device characteristics.

Silicidation and deep source-drain formation prior to source-drain extension formation


A method is disclosed for attaching a ferrule to a dragline rope. The method comprises locating the dragline rope in a die of a die-press, locating over the dragline rope a ferrule that is lined internally with a deformable material, and forcing the ferrule longitudinally through the die. The ferrule is caused to be internally expanded and be extruded back over the dragline rope, causing the lining to deform directly against the dragline rope and fastening the ferrule to the dragline rope.

Large capacity mining draglines subject a dragline bucket to enormous forces and loads. The ropes (also referred to as "cables") are employed in draglines to control the various movements of the bucket, and accordingly experience extreme and rapid wear, especially at the sheaves in components of the dragline. For example, hoist ropes may need to be replaced every 3-6 months, drag ropes every 1-3 months and dump ropes every 1-2 weeks. Rope replacement is time consuming, with "downtime" of the dragline representing a significant cost in mining operations.
Minimizing the rope changeover time and improving rope integrity so as to decrease the incidence of ferrule-to-rope failure can each contribute to downtime reduction and improved operating cost and efficiency.
It is known to connect ferrules to wire ropes by a swaging method or a jaw-pressing method. Such methods have been observed to provide sufficient securement of the ferrule to the wire rope for a number of applications in which wire ropes may be employed. However, such methods are unlikely to provide sufficient securement of a ferrule to a wire rope for dragline conditions.
GB 1,369,211 discloses a ferrule on a wire rope. The ferrule can be secured to the wire rope by swaging or by a type of die-pressing that imparts a shaped profile to the ferrule. In other words, the ferrule is die-pressed by a die set that is laterally directed to press the shaped profile onto the ferrule. The profiling of the ferrule necessitates a lateral pressing, hence the method of GB 1,369,211 is not concerned with nor able to address the securement requirements of a ferrule to a dragline rope.
GB 2,113,732 discloses a connecting device for the end of a wire rope to enable the end to be connected to a hook or bolt. A ferrule is secured to the wire rope by a swaging operation. The secured ferrule retains a proximal end of a connecting coupling onto the end of the rope, with a distal end of the coupling being internally threaded for receiving therein an externally threaded shank of the hook or bolt. Again, the method of GB 2,113,732 is not concerned with addressing the securement requirements of a ferrule to a dragline rope.
The above references to the background and prior art do not constitute an admission that such art forms a part of the common and/or general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The above references are also not intended to limit the application of the method disclosed herein.


In accordance with the invention, gradation display is performed for each picture element in capacitive display apparatuses such as EL display apparatus by means of pulse width modulation. In doing so, pulse duration of the voltage applied to one group of electrodes among the a plurality of electrodes arranged in matrix is so set as to span over two scanning periods, during which another group of electrodes which are grouped into pairs each of two adjacent lines are scanned successively. This reduces the number of drive voltage charge and discharge cycles. Consequently power consumption of the display apparatus of PWM system can be controlled to a low level.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drive method and drive apparatus for capacitive display apparatuses such as EL (electroluminescent) display apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A thin form EL element of double insulation type (or 3-layer structure), for example, is constituted as follows.
As shown in FIG. 1, transparent electrodes 2 made of In.sub.2 O.sub.3 strips are formed in parallel on a glass substrate 1. Over these electrodes 2, a dielectric material layer 3a such as Y.sub.2 O.sub.3, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, TiO.sub.2 and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, for example; an EL layer 4 made of ZnS which is doped with activating agent such as MN; and a dielectric material layer 3b such as Y.sub.2 O.sub.3, Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, TiO.sub.2 and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 similar to a dielectric material layer 3a are formed to thickness from 500 to 10000 .ANG. each, to make a 3-layer structure by means of thin film forming technology such as evaporation deposition or sputtering. On this 3-layer structure, back electrodes 5 made of parallel aluminum strips are formed in the direction perpendicular to the above-mentioned transparent electrodes 2.
Because the thin film EL element is made of a structure where the EL material 4, sandwiched by the dielectric material layers 3a and 3b, is interposed between the electrodes 2 and 5, it can be regarded as a capacitive element in terms of an equivalent circuit. Also as will be clear from the brightness-voltage curve shown in FIG. 2, the thin film EL element is driven by applying a relatively high voltage of about 200 V. The thin film El element has features of emitting light of a high brightness with an alternate electric field, and lasting for a long service life.
In a display apparatus which uses the thin film EL element as the display element, one of the transparent electrode 2 or the back electrode 5 is used as a data electrode, and the other is used as the scanning electrode. The data electrode is fed with a modulation voltage in accordance to the data to be displayed, and the scanning electrode is line-sequentially fed with writing voltage. A method (so-called symmetrical drive method) for driving the EL element, where a scanning cycle of one display frame completes with a 1st field scanning period when the writing voltage has a polarity with respect to the data electrode, and a 2nd field scanning period when it has another polarity, is generally adopted to drive a thin film EL element which is of alternate voltage-driven type and is capable of maintaining a good display quality.
With this drive method, writing voltage and modulation voltage superimpose to enhance or cancel each other at each pixel, corresponding to an intersection of data and scanning electrode among the EL layer 4, resulting in the effective drive voltage applied to a pixel being above or below the light emission threshold voltage. Thus, each pixel emits or does not emit, to thereby provide the specified display.
When creating a gradation display by changing the brightness of each pixel in multiple steps with such a display apparatus as described above, a pulse width modulation method, which changes the pulse duration of the modulation voltage applied to the data electrode in accordance with the gradation data to be displayed; an amplitude modulation method where the amplitude of the modulation voltage is changed in accordance with the gradation data to be displayed; or the like have been thus far adopted.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram explanatory of a prior art thin film EL display apparatus using the above-mentioned pulse width modulation method.
In FIG. 3, the display section 21 consists of, for example, a thin film EL element shown in FIG. 1. Scanning electrodes Y1, Y2, . . . , Ym-1 Ym of the display section 21 are connected to a scanning electrode drive circuit 22. Data electrodes X1, X2, . . . , Xn-1, Xn of the display section 21 are connected to data electrode drive circuit 23. The scanning electrode drive circuit 22 and the data electrode drive circuit 23 are connected to a display control circuit 24 which controls these circuits.
The data electrode drive circuit 23 variably sets the rising and falling timings of the modulation voltage V.sub.M which is applied to each of the data electrodes X1-Xn in accordance with the gradation display data sent from the display control circuit 24. The scanning electrode drive circuit 22 applies writing voltage -V.sub.N and Vp, which are of different polarities across adjacent scanning electrodes Y. It further differentiates the polarities of the writing voltages applied to a same scanning electrode Y in the 1st field scanning period and 2nd field scanning period.
FIGS. 4(A)-4(C) shows a voltage waveform which is applied to an arbitrary picture element during the 1st field scanning period in driving the thin film EL display apparatus. FIGS. 5(A)-5(C) shows a voltage waveform applied to an arbitrary picture element during the 2nd field scanning period. Among these, FIG. 4(A) and FIG. 5(A) show the waveforms of the modulation voltages V.sub.M which are applied to the data electrodes X. FIG. 4(B) and FIG. 5(B) show the waveforms of the writing voltage -V.sub.N, Vp which are applied to the scanning electrodes Y, respectively. FIG. 4(C) and FIG. 5(C) show the waveforms of the drive voltages which are applied to the picture elements.
In the 1st field scanning period, as shown by the solid and dashed lines of the FIG. 4(A), the greater the value of gradation display data, the faster the rise time is set for the modulation voltage V.sub.M, to obtain long pulse duration. Because the writing voltage at this point is -V.sub.N of negative polarity as shown in FIG. 4(B), in the case of the drive voltage shown in FIG. 4(C) the period of time when the light emission threshold V.sub.th is exceeded (period during which the modulation voltage is additionally superimposed onto the writing voltage) increases as the pulse duration of the modulation voltage V.sub.M increases. Thus gradation display is achieved in accordance with the pulse duration of the modulation voltage V.sub.M.
On the other hand, in the 2nd field scanning period, as shown by the solid and dashed lines of the FIG. 5(A), the larger the value of display data, the faster the fall time is set for the modulation voltage V.sub.M, to obtain short pulse duration. Because the writing voltage at this point is Vp of positive polarity as shown in FIG. 5(B), in the case of the drive voltage shown in FIG. 5(C) the period of time when the light emission threshold -V.sub.th is exceeded (period during which the modulation voltage V.sub.M and the writing voltage cancel each other) increases as the pulse duration of the modulation voltage V.sub.M decreases. Thus gradation display is achieved in accordance with the pulse duration of the modulation voltage V.sub.M.
However, in the drive method of the prior art described above, considerable electric power is consumed because the writing voltage -V.sub.N and Vp and the modulation voltage V.sub.M are charged and discharged once every time one line of the scanning electrodes Y is driven. This results in an unfavorably large power supply apparatus and poor reliability of the display apparatus.
In the case of an EL display panel of 640 * 400 picture elements, power consumption is calculated as follows. The calculation is made by next equation (1) based on the assumption that the EL display panel can be equivalently regarded as a capacitor, with the capacitance of the scanning electrode being 2200 pF per one line, threshold voltage V.sub.th of light emitting being 200 V, modulation voltage V.sub.M being 50 V and field frequency f being 60 Hz. EQU (Power consumption)=(Field frequency)*(Capacitance)*(Voltage).sup.2( 1)
Then power consumption through charging and discharging of writing voltage Vp and -V.sub.N, that is the power P.sub.W required in writing, is given as EQU P.sub.W =60(Hz)*2200(pF)*400(lines)*200.sup.2 (V).apprxeq.2.1(W)(2)
Further power consumption through charging and discharging of modulation voltage V.sub.M, that is the power P.sub.M required in modulation, is given as EQU P.sub.M =(400 lines*60 Hz)*(2200 pF*400 lines)*(50 V).sup.2 .apprxeq.52.8(W)(3)
As the above calculations show, modulation power P.sub.M accounts for a large part of the power consumption (P.sub.W +P.sub.M).

Method and apparatus for driving display apparatus


A video memory stores a plurality of image data, and an attribute storage means stores image attributes indicating whether or not the respective image data require expansion of a luminance range. An image data conversion means receives an image data digital signal output from the video memory and an image attribute signal output from the attribute storage means. When the image attribute signal provides an instruction to expand the luminance range, the image data conversion means outputs, to a display unit, a display data analog signal representing a higher luminance value, as compared with the display data analog signal to be output therefrom when the image attribute signal provides no instruction to expand the luminance range.

The present invention relates to a multi-window apparatus for displaying a motion video image, a photograph, a character image and the like on the same screen. More particularly, the invention relates to a multi-window apparatus in which a window for displaying a motion video image or a photograph is provided with an expanded range of display luminance to obtain a very realistic image, and a window for displaying a character image or the like displays an image easy to see.
A multi-window apparatus is an apparatus for displaying a plurality of images on a single screen.
FIG. 21 shows a specific example of the configuration of such a multi-window apparatus. The reference numeral 201 denotes a central processing unit, 202 a main memory, 203 a graphics control means, 204 a video memory, 205 an image data conversion means, and 206 a display unit.
The central processing unit 201 reads a program from the main memory 202 and executes it, thereby giving instructions to the graphics control means 203 for the input/output of image data, controlling the image data conversion means 205, and also controlling other operations.
The main memory 202 stores programs to be executed by the central processing unit 201 and also stores image data. A plurality of image data are stored in the video memory 204 which outputs the image data as an image data digital signal 20a.
The graphics control means 203 receives instructions for the input/output of image data from the central processing unit 201, thereby controlling the video memory 204.
In the image data conversion means 205, the image data digital signal 20a output from the video memory 204 is subjected to color conversion and is also converted into a data form suitable for the display unit 206. The details of these conversion processes are set by the central processing unit 201.
FIG. 22 shows the configuration of the above-mentioned image data conversion means 205. The image data conversion means 205 consists of a color conversion means 211 and a D/A conversion means 212. The color conversion means 211 receives the image data digital signal 20a and performs color conversion of the image data, thereby outputting a color-converted image data digital signal 21a. The D/A conversion means 212 receives the color-converted image data digital signal 21a and converts it from digital to analog form, thereby outputting a display data analog signal 20b.
It is herein assumed that the image data digital signal 20a input to the image data conversion means 205 carries three sets of 8-bit data (24 bits in total), each representing one of the three primary colors: red (hereinafter referred to as "R"), green ("G") and blue ("B").
The color conversion means 211 has a color-correspondence table for each of the colors R, G and B, containing data on the color conversion of each color. Each color-correspondence table has 256 (=2.sup.8) entries. In each entry, color data to be obtained after color conversion is set. In accordance with the three sets of data respectively representing R, G and B in the input image data digital signal 20a, three sets of color data to be obtained after color conversion are respectively read out from the entries of the three color-correspondence tables, and then output as the color-converted image data digital signal 21a. The contents of the color-correspondence tables are set in accordance with a table update signal 20c sent from the central processing unit 201.
There is also a multi-window apparatus in which a color conversion means has a plurality of color-correspondence tables for each color, so that display images in different windows are allowed to have different color tones (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 60-209786 and 62-136695).
The D/A conversion means 212 converts the color-converted image data digital signal 21a from digital to analog form, and outputs the result of the conversion as the display data analog signal 20b.
An image is displayed as follows: In accordance with an instruction given by the central processing unit 201, image data are input to the video memory 204 by the graphics control means 203. The image data stored in the video memory 204 are read out as the image data digital signal 20a under the control of the graphics control means 203, and then input to the image data conversion means 205. In the image data conversion means 205, the image data digital signal 20a is subjected to data conversion, and then output as the display data analog signal 20b to the display unit 206, where the image is displayed accordingly.
A conventional multi-window apparatus such as described above, however, involves the following problem.
Since the image data digital signal carries three sets of 8-bit data respectively representing R, G and B, the luminance of each color is represented by a value of 0 to 255 (=2.sup.8 -1). The value "0" represents the lowest luminance value, while "255" represents the highest luminance value.
FIG. 23 shows the pixel distribution with respect to luminance in each set of image data. The solid line indicates the pixel distribution of an image which is produced by using a camera (hereinafter referred to as a "camera image"). The broken line indicates the pixel distribution of an image which is produced by computer (hereinafter referred to as a "CG image"). Camera images include photographs of landscapes or people, motion video images, and the like. CG images include character images, images created by so-called computer graphics, and the like.
For example, in the case of a character image, for the purpose of making the image easy to see, high contrast between characters and the background is often provided by, for example, allowing black characters to be displayed on the white background. Thus, in the pixel distribution with respect to luminance in the character image, a large number of pixels are concentrated in the vicinity of the highest luminance value (255) and in the vicinity of the lowest luminance value (0), as shown by the broken line of FIG. 23. On the other hand, in the case of a camera image, objects with various levels of brightness are used as the image data to be displayed. Accordingly, in the pixel distribution of the camera image, a large number of pixels are concentrated at intermediate luminance values, as shown by the solid line of FIG. 23.
In cases where such camera and CG images as described above are displayed on the same screen, the camera image becomes relatively dark if the brightness of the screen is set so as to make the CG image easy to see. Conversely, if the brightness of the entire monitor screen is increased to make the camera image easy to see, the contrast of the CG image becomes too high, which makes the CG image too bright and accordingly makes it difficult to see. The reason for this is that the CG image and the camera image require different levels of screen brightness in order to be clearly seen by the human eye. The optimum screen brightness for the camera image is of such a level that the pixels with the intermediate luminance values are allowed to be clearly seen. On the other hand, the optimum screen brightness for the CG image which is suitable for the human eye is of such a level that the pixels with luminance values in the vicinity of the highest luminance value (255) are not too bright and can be seen clearly.
As described above, in the conventional multi-window apparatus, when a camera image and a CG image are displayed on the same screen, it is impossible to obtain both the optimum levels of screen brightness which allow the camera and CG images to be easily seen. Most users adjust the brightness of the monitor in accordance with the luminance of the characters. This causes a defect in the conventional multi-window apparatus; the camera image becomes dark and difficult to see.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A host station apparatus (10) generates band allocation information including identifications of slave station apparatuses (20-1 through 200-n) and types of data to be transmitted by the slave station apparatuses and posts the information to the plural slave station apparatuses (20-1 through 20-n). The plural slave station apparatuses (20-1 through 20-n) identify as to whether or not the band allocation information is band allocation information about the data types of the slave station apparatuses respectively, and when the band allocation information is band allocation information about the data types of the slave station apparatuses, they control to transmit data to the host station apparatus (10) according to the data types represented by the band allocation information.

Conventionally, as a system where a plurality of slave station apparatuses commonly use a transmission medium and a transmission band and the respective slave station apparatuses transmit data to a host station apparatus according to band control by the host station apparatus, for example, an optical network having n-numbered ONUs (Optical Network Units) and one OLT (Optical Distribution Termination) shown in FIG. 5/G.983.1-Generic physical configuration of the Optical Distribution Network of Recommendation G. 983. 1 (Broadband optical access systems based on Passive Optical Networks (PON) 1998/10) is known.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of the above-mentioned optical network. In FIG. 7, OLT is a host station apparatus, and a plurality of ONUs are slave station apparatuses. Moreover, ODN (Optical Distribution Network) is a transmission medium composed of an optical fiber, an optical multiplexer/branching filter and the like. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing formats of data in a direction from OLT side to ONU side (downstream) and data in a direction from ONU side to OLT side (upstream) shown in ITU-T Recommendation FIG. 11/G. 983. 1-Frame format for 155.52/155.52 Mbit/s PON. As shown in FIG. 8, the downstream data are composed of a fixed length cell of 53 bytes, and the upstream data are composed of a fixed length cell of 56 bytes. The downstream data are multiple-addressed from one OLT to all ONUs, and as for the upstream data, data transmission to one ONU is allowed to be transmitted by OLT for each time slot of each cell.
The permission of the data transmission for each upstream time slot, namely, the post of the band allocation information is defined by the format of the downstream data, and is inserted into a monitor and control (PLOAM: Physical Layer Operations Administration and Maintenance) cell which is transmitted in a cycle of 28 cells. This band allocation information is inserted as each byte of "GRANT 1" through "GRANT 27" of PLOAM cell as described in Table 8/G. 983. 1-Payload content of downstream PLOAM cell of ITU-T Recommendation. As shown in FIG. 8, since the upstream data exist in 53 slots for each frame, "GRANT 1" through "GRANT 27" which are inserted in the first PLOAM cell in the downstream frame show band allocation information for the first through 27th time slots in the upstream frame, and "GRANT 1" through "GRANT 27" which are inserted in the second PLOAM cell in the downstream frame show band allocation information for the 28th through 53rd time slots in the upstream frame. Namely, the allocation to the 53 time slots in the upstream frame is instructed by "GRANT 1" through "GRANT 27" which are inserted in the two PLOAM cells in the downstream frame.
The format of "GRANT" is shown in Table 10/G. 983. 1-Specification of the grants in ITU-T Recommendation. In "Table", a type of "GRANT" allocated to use of the upstream slots of ONUs is "DataGRANT" or "PLOAMGRANT". "PLOAMGRANT" is allocated to transmission of PLOAM cell in the upstream direction, and for allocation for transmission of normal data, "Data GRANT" is used. A value to be used in "Data GRANT" is arbitrary except for partial reserved values. Values of "Data GRANT" to be previously used by respective ONUs as well as values of "PLOAM GRANT" are posted to the respective ONUs from OLT by messages included in the downstream PLOAM cells in order that the respective ONUs themselves recognize the band allocation. The formats of the messages are shown in Grant allocation message in Downstream message formats ITU-T Recommendation, 22.214.171.124.1. One of these messages is transmitted to ONU, and a value of "Data GRANT" and a value of "PLOAM GRANT" to be used by this ONU are shown. The ONU receives this message and stores the value as initial setting, and as a result, in the case where stored "GRANT" exists in "GRANT 1" through "GRANT 27" in the PLOAM cells transmitted from OLT, the ONU recognizes that band allocation of the upstream time slot exists for the ONU itself.
In such a manner, OLT sets "Data GRANT" and "PLOAM" which are individual values for the respective ONUs, and before the respective ONUs transmit upstream data, they transmit messages so as to manage the band allocation for the respective ONU in the upstream slots. ONU does not transmit data in a slot where band allocation to this ONU does not exist so as to prevent conflict of data in an upstream transmission line.
Incidentally, in the optical network, since a type of data transmitted by ONU cannot be discriminated, services stored in ONU cannot be occasionally satisfied sufficiently. For example, in the case where periodic data such as sound data which require periodic transmission upon real-time request and burst data which are transmitted in a burst manner such as file transmission between computers coexist, it is occasionally difficult to hold the periodic transmission of the periodic data such as sound data securely.
With reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, there will be explained below the case where the periodic transmission of the periodic data becomes difficult. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a structure of a conventional optical burst transmission/reception system, and FIG. 10 is a time chart showing a data transmission state in the case where ONU (slave station apparatus) stores a service which requires data transmission of the periodic data and a service which requires data transmission of the burst data.
In FIG. 9, a host station apparatus 10 is connected to a plurality of slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n via a main fiber 31, an optical splitter 30 and branch fibers 32-1 through 32-n. The optical splitter 30 branches an optical signal from the host station apparatus 10 and transmits the branched signals to the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n, and multiplexes the optical signals from the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n and transmits the multiplexed signal to the host station apparatus 10.
Firstly the host station apparatus 10 has a code allocation section 14, and the code allocation section 14 previously sets codes as values of "GRANT" for the respective slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n, and transmits the values of "GRANT" to a management signal transmission section 12. The management signal transmission section 12 allows the input values of "GRANT" to be contained in a PLOAM cell (management signal) in a format that the values can be identified by the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n, and transmits the management signal to an optical transmitter-receiver 11. Here, as for a corresponding relationship between the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n and the values of "GRANT", sets of preset identification numbers of the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n and the values of "GRANT" are posted from the host station apparatus 10 to the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n respectively.
The optical transmitter-receiver 11 converts the management signal into an optical signal, and transmit the optical signal to the optical splitter 30 via main fiber 31. The optical splitter 30 distributes the optical signal via the branch fibers 32-1 through 32-n so as to transmit it to the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n. Respective optical transmitter-receivers 21 in the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n convert input optical signals into electrical signals, and transmit them to at least code identification sections 22 and allocation identification sections 23. The code identification section 22 fetches a management signal from the input electrical signal, and fetches the identification number preset in its slave station apparatus and a value of "GRANT" relating to this identification number and stores them.
Thereafter, the band allocation section 13 of the host station apparatus 10 transmits the values of "GRANT" presets for the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n to the management signal transmission section 12 with frequency according to bands required by the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n, and the management signal transmission section 12 inserts the values of "GRANT" into the slot allocation areas in the upstream direction in the management signal, and multiple-addresses the management signal to the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n via the optical transmitter-receiver 11. In the case where the band allocation is large, a lot of areas containing codes (values of GRANT) of the slave station apparatuses with large band allocation appear in the slot allocation areas in the upstream direction, and in the case where the band allocation is small, areas containing codes of the slave station apparatuses with small band allocation are less in the slot allocation areas in the upstream direction. Namely, an interval of appearance of the codes allocated to the slave station apparatuses change due to the band allocation. The band allocation is posted from the host station apparatus 10 to the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n repeatedly.
The code identification sections 22 of the slave station apparatuses 20-1 through 20-n detect the values of "GRANT" in the management signal and posts them to data reading sections 24. The data reading sections 24 check the values in the allocation areas in the respective slot input from the allocation identification sections 23, and when the values match with the codes posted from the code identification sections 22, the data reading sections 24 execute data reading process on the upstream time slots corresponding to the matched slots. This data reading process attempts to read the data from a buffer memory 25a, and when there exist no data to be read, the process reads data from a buffer memory 25b. The read data are multiplexed by a multiplexing section 27, and are transmitted to the data reading section 24. The data reading section 24 transmits the multiplexed data to the optical transmitter-receiver 21, and transmits them to the host station apparatus 10 via the branch fibers 32-1 through 32-n, the optical splitter 30 and the main fiber 31. When there exist no data to be read in the buffer memories 25a nor 25b, the data reading section 24 generates empty data so as to transmit them to the optical transmitter-receiver 21.
The data to be input into the buffer memory 25a of the slave station apparatus 20-1 are periodic data 26a, and the data to be input into the buffer memory 25b are burst data 26b.The data reading section 24 makes control so as to read the periodic data 26a in the buffer memory 25a in preference to the burst data 26b in the buffer memory 25b. This is because the burst data to be input in the burst manner do not normally require real-time property unlike sound data, and even if transmission is delayed to a certain extent, all of the burst data may be transmitted, but as the periodic data require real-time property, it is necessary that the periodic data have periodicity and are transmitted in a state that a delay is reduced as much as possible.
There will be explained below the data reading process in the case where the periodic data 26a ("a1" through "a4") shown in FIG. 10(a) and the burst data 26b ("b1" through "b4") shown in FIG. 10(b) are input respectively into the buffer memories 25a and 25b. The data reading section 24 reads the data from the buffer memories 25a and 25b with an interval equivalent to a sum of the bands required for transmission of the periodic data and the burst data (interval of data reading signals shown in FIG. 10(c)) correspondingly to the codes identified by the allocation identifying section 23 (band allocation information) . In this case, since the periodic data 26a are read in preference to the burst data 26b, as shown in FIG. 10(d), the read data, which are read by the data reading section 24 and are transmitted to the optical transmitter-receiver 21, are read with an interval equal with or double interval of a data reading signal shown in FIG. 10(c). As a result, the transmission interval of the periodic data 26a is not periodic. For example, the periodic data "a4" deviate from the periodicity.
In order to solve this problem, the band allocation section 13 of the host station apparatus 10 generates values of "GRANT" with the same period as the periodic data and additionally generates values of "GRANT" for the burst data in the burst manner, and the slave station apparatus 20-1 transmits their multiplexed result to the host station apparatus (see FIG. 11). In this case, the periodicity of the periodic data "a1" through "a4" is maintained. Particularly in the case where time difference between the periodic data to be input into the buffer memory 25a and "GRANT" generated for the periodic data, namely time difference between the periodic data and the data reading signal is small, the periodic data "a1" through "a4" transmitted from the slave station apparatus 20-1 keep the periodicity.
However, as shown in FIG. 12, the in the case where time difference between the periodic data input into the buffer memory 25a and the data reading signal is large, at the time of the reading by means of the data reading signal corresponding to "GRANT" allocated for the burst data, the input periodic data exist and they are read preferentially. For this reason, there arises a problem that the periodicity of the periodic data is not ipso facto maintained unlike the periodic data "a2" (see period Tv1 and period Tv2 in FIG. 12).
The difference between the system shown in FIG. 11 and the system shown in FIG. 12 is only a time relationship between the periodic data input into the slave station apparatus 20-1 and the value of "GRANT" generated from the host station apparatus 10 (data reading signal) . In this case, the host station apparatus 10 can recognize a slot interval Tc required for electric transfer of the periodic data, but difficultly recognizes timing at which the periodic data are input into the slave station apparatus 20-1. This is because the transmission time of the periodic data capable of being recognized by the host station apparatus 10 is only a slot position allocated by the host station apparatus 10 originally. For this reason, it is difficult to securely avoid collapse of the periodicity of the periodic data shown in FIG. 11.
Here, there considers a system which once stores data whose periodicity is collapsed into a buffer memory and reads periodic data from this buffer memory periodically so as to compensate the periodicity. However, in this case, there arises a problem that transmission delay due to the storage of the periodic data occurs and the original characteristic of the periodic data which requires real-time property cannot be kept securely.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical burst transmission/reception control system in which in the case where periodic data and burst data are multiplexed so as to be transmitted from one slave station apparatus to a host station apparatus, periodicity of the periodic data is maintained and delay of the periodic data can be suppressed minimally, a host station apparatus and a slave station apparatus to be used in the system, and an optical burst transmission/reception control method.

Light burst transmission/reception control system, parent station device used in the same, child station device, and light burst transmission/reception control method


A device for reading, transporting, and storing playing cards that have been collected after a card game at a gaming table. The system includes an input compartment to receive the collected playing cards, a reader, a conveyor system to transport the playing cards past the reader one at a time, an output compartment to store the collected playing cards after reading, and an elevator mechanism to raise the output compartment to the table surface. In addition, the system may include a modular erasing and printing device to erase portions of the playing cards and then print over the erased portions and/or print onto blank playing cards.

1. Field of the Invention
This description generally relates to the field of gaming, and more particularly to systems and methods of automating table gaming, for example, games played with playing cards such as blackjack, baccarat, and poker.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing devices store playing cards in a stack, which is supported at an angle to simultaneously expose portions of each of the playing cards. A reader images or scans an exposed portion of each of the playing cards to read one or more markings carried by the playing cards. The markings may take a variety of forms, for example the markings may take the form of standard rank and suit markings such as the ranks two-ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, or the suits Clubs, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds. The markings may alternatively or additionally take the form of one or more machine-readable symbols carried on a portion of the playing cards, for example, carried along one or more edges of the playing cards. One possible drawback to this approach is that adjacent playing cards may be stuck together for any number of reasons, which prevents the exposure and consequently the successful reading of the markings from all of the playing cards. Consequently, it is estimated that the read accuracy associated with these type of discard readers may be as low as approximately 80%.

Systems and methods for processing playing cards collected from a gaming table


A system and method for determining a weight of a postal item from information associated with the generation of the postal item. A processor-based system accepts input of information including parameters associated with the context in which the postal item is being generated. These parameters may be accepted directly from a process which is generating the postal item or may be manually input. From these parameters, the system determines attributes of the postal item from which a determination of its weight may be made. The attributes may be specific to postal items generated by a particular user of the system or may be attributes found to generally represent postal items generated in the particular context indicated by the parameters.

Presently, it is common for individuals or businesses to have residing within their offices a system for generating and printing various forms of correspondence, or other postal items, and a postage meter to apply the postage necessary to mail such items. This arrangement is very convenient, since correspondence may be generated, printed, addressed, postage applied, and mailed directly from the office.
Quite naturally, postage meters were developed to relieve the manual application of stamps on mail and to automate the above process. Nevertheless, a postage meter residing within an office is not as convenient and efficient as it may first seem to be. As the meter is typically not interfaced with the system generating postal items, a postage meter must either be supplied with a correct amount of postage or must be supplied with the postal item's weight so that the postage amount may be calculated. This is so, even though the system generating the postal item may have information sufficient to allow a determination of weight and/or necessary postage.
Lesser expensive postage meters typically do not have a balance or scale integrated therein, thus requiring the user to estimate the amount of postage necessary to mail the item. This results in inefficiency as often an excess of postage will be applied to avoid the item's return for insufficient postage. Alternatively, a scale and, typically a manual, calculation of the necessary postage may be utilized with a lesser expensive postage meter to aid in the application of a proper amount of postage. However, this solution still requires the user of the metering system to perform steps in addition to the metering of postage.
A more expensive meter may have, incorporated therein, a postage scale to allow the weighing, calculation and application of postage as a single metering step. Meters offering this solution typically suffer from not only the added expense associated with the more complicated unit, but also the inability to determine and apply postage to a yet to be completed postal item. For example if a postal item is known to include multiple pages, but some or none of these pages have actually been produced, the meter is unable to weigh and, therefore, unable to calculate a correct amount of postage. The user must wait for the postal item to be completely assembled in its final form for application of postage or forego the convenience of the meter calculating the postage amount.
A more recent solution to postage metering is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,992 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY PRINTING POSTAGE ON MAIL, assigned to Post N Mail, L. C., Houston Tex., hereby incorporated by reference. There the disclosed metering system provides for the sale of postage credit on portable processor devices to be later utilized in a processor-based postage metering system. However, such a system, although considerably more convenient than the traditional metering systems discussed above, still requires the input by an operator or a coupled device, of a weight or desired amount of postage. Although typically more convenient that a traditional metering device, this more recent solution still suffers from the disadvantage of requiring input of either a postage amount or weight by various means.
A need in the art therefore exists for a system and method that determines the weight of a postal item from information available within a system or process which creates the postal item, or a significant portion thereof. Moreover, there is a need in the art for a system which provides for the determination of this weight utilizing an interface with a separate process associated with the generation of the postal item.
A further need in the art exists for a system and method which calculates a correct amount of postage automatically from this determination of postal item weight.
It is, therefore, advantageous for the determination of postal item weight to be accomplished by a system coupled to a postage metering device which can be coupled to other programs, such as word processing, spread sheet, accounting, database, or graphics programs.

System and method for determination of postal item weight by context