A method for creating a line drawing associated with a point cloud provides a line drawing representing a three-dimensional object and a point cloud of the same. The line drawing has line drawing coordinate data, and the point cloud has point cloud coordinate data. The point cloud also has point cloud distance data of the three-dimensional object. The method also associates the line drawing coordinate data with the point cloud coordinate data. Further, the method uses the associated coordinate data to apply the point cloud distance data to the line drawing.

Large facilities often have complicated infrastructure, including machines, piping, valves, and electrical wiring. During a facility's lifecycle, the infrastructure will need to be adjusted, updated, and/or overhauled. Having an up-to-date blueprint of the existing infrastructure facilitates planning for the changes to be made.
In the past, personnel have measured dimensions of the infrastructure's components by hand and drawn blueprints according to the measurements. In some cases, the blueprints have been kept on-site at the facility, where they may be lost or damaged. Further, due to working conditions at the facilities, components may expand or otherwise becoming distorted. The changes to components' dimensions and locations render prior blueprints inaccurate and obsolete.
Personnel have also attempted to use point cloud images to create schematics of the facilities. However, point cloud images are limited because for any given image, parts of components or entire components may be obscured. Further, schematics derived from point cloud images merely duplicate the outlines of the components in the images.

Associating a point cloud image with a piping line drawing and applying dimensions regarding the same


The RF impedance of a metal trace at gigahertz frequencies is reduced by forming the metal trace to have a base region and a number of fingers that extend away from the base region. When formed to have a number of loops, the metal trace forms an inductor with an increased Q.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to metal traces and, more particularly, to a dual damascene metal trace with reduced RF impedance resulting from the skin effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Metal traces are common integrated circuit elements that are used in a multi-level interconnect structure to connect together various elements of a circuit. In addition, a metal trace can be used to form an integrated circuit inductor by forming the trace to have a number of coils or loops. Inductors are common circuit elements in radio frequency (RF) applications, such as digital cellular telephones.
FIGS. 1A–1D show views that illustrates a prior art integrated circuit inductor 100. FIG. 1A shows a plan view. FIG. 1B shows a cross- sectional view taken along lines 1B—1B of FIG. 1A. FIG. 1C shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines 1C—1C of FIG. 1A. FIG. 1D shows a cross-sectional view taken along lines 1D—1D of FIG. 1A.
As shown in FIGS. 1A–1D, inductor 100 is formed on top of a four metal layer interconnect structure that includes a fourth layer of insulation material I4, and a metal trace 110 that is formed on insulation layer I4 from a fourth metal layer M4. In addition, the metal interconnect structure includes a fifth layer of insulation material I5 that is formed on metal trace 110, and a via 112 that is formed through insulation layer I5 to make an electrical connection with metal trace 110.
As further shown in FIGS. 1A–1D, inductor 100 includes a metal trace 114 that is formed on top of the fifth layer of insulation material I5 from a fifth metal layer M5. Metal trace 114, which has a width W and a depth D, has a first end 120 that is formed over via 112 to make an electrical connection with via 112, and a second end 122. Metal trace 114, which makes one and a half loops in the same plane, is typically formed on top of the metal interconnect structure to avoid inducing currents in the substrate.
One important measure of a metal trace is the RF impedance of the trace, which affects the quality factor or Q of an inductor formed from the metal trace. High Q inductors are desirable in a number of RF circuits, such as resonant circuits. The Q of an inductor is a measure of the ratio of magnetic energy stored in the inductor versus the total energy fed into the inductor, and is given by equation (EQ.) 1 as:Q=ωL/Z,  EQ. 1where ω is related to the frequency f of the signal applied to the inductor (ω=2(pi)(f)), L represents the inductance of the inductor, and Z represents the RF impedance of the inductor. (Impedance is the vector sum of resistance and reactance, and introduces a phase shift.) Thus, as indicated by EQ. 1, the smaller the impedance, the higher the Q of the inductor.
One problem with metal traces is that when gigahertz-frequency signals are placed on the trace, the skin effect causes current to flow primarily at the surface. This effectively increases the RF impedance of the trace which, in turn, lowers the Q of an inductor formed from the trace.
One common approach to reducing the impedance of an integrated circuit inductor is to increase the size of the metal trace. However, in integrated circuit applications, there are practical limitations to the size of the metal trace. As a result, there is a need for a metal trace with reduced RF impedance which, in turn, allows a high Q integrated circuit inductor to be realized from the trace.

Method of forming a dual damascene metal trace with reduced RF impedance resulting from the skin effect


A duplexer D1 or D2 to be used is appropriately selected from multiple duplexers D1 and D2. A mobile communication method of the invention is a mobile communication method for a mobile communication system 1 operated in a band F1. The method includes: a step A of causing a radio base station eNB in the mobile communication system 1 to notify a mobile station UE of information concerning a system X operated in a band 2 adjacent to the band F1 and information concerning a system Y operated in a band 3 adjacent to the band 1; and a step B of causing the mobile station UE to select a duplexer D1 (or D2) to be used from multiple duplexers D1 and D2 on the basis of the information concerning the system X and the information concerning the system Y.

An LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile communication system is required to be operated while satisfying protection standards for adjacent frequency bands.
As shown in FIG. 6, the LTE specifications permit the system to reduce the maximum allowable transmission power of a mobile station UE when it is difficult to comply with the protection standards. In general, such an amount of reduction is called "A-MPR (Additional-Maximum Power Reduction)."
In a region where the "A-MPR" is applicable, a radio base station eNB is configured to notify of a method for applying the "A-MPR" by broadcasting a network signaling value called "NS (Network Signaling)" or "additionalSpectrumEmission" which is defined for a supported band.
In an example of FIG. 6, in a region A, a frequency band in which a system X is operated has a sufficient gap from a frequency band in which a system Y is operated. Accordingly, an interference level from the system X is attenuated to an allowable interference level in the system Y.
On the other hand, in a region B, sufficient attenuation of the interference level from the system X cannot be expected in the system Y. Hence, the radio base station eNB in the system X notifies the mobile station UE of the "A-MPR" by using the NS.

Mobile communication method, radio base station, and mobile station


A column assembly preferably includes a tube member having a wall that defines an interior volume. The column assembly is preferably operable to convert external, axial compressive forces applied to the column assembly into at least tangential stresses within the wall of the tube member. In one embodiment, an external compressive force causes increased pressurization of a filler material located within the volume of the tube member. The pressurized filler material produces tangential, tensile stresses within the wall of the tube member rather than axial compressive forces within the wall of the tube member. In some embodiments, a reinforcing, tension member, e.g., a wire rope, may be helically wound around the outer surface of the tube member along at least a portion of its longitudinal length.

The present invention relates to load-supporting structures. More particularly, the present invention relates to columns and methods for supporting compressive loads via contained pressurization of a filler material within a column.
Compression members are subject to some of the same failure modes as tension members. For example, members loaded in compression along their centroidal axis will deform until the elastic limit of the material is reached at which point they may plasticly deform or fracture.
However, as the longitudinal length of the compression member increases relative to its cross-sectional dimension, the compression member becomes susceptible to a unique failure mode known as column buckling. Buckling is the result of various influences including material imperfections and variations, slight eccentricities or movements in the location of the compressive load, and other factors. While there is no clear point at which a compression member becomes subject to buckling failure, compression members having a length greater than about ten times their smallest cross sectional width may be analyzed for this failure mode.
A column can buckle quickly and without warning, severely weakening and possibly destroying the structure of which it supports. Accordingly, columns are typically designed such that the maximum anticipated loading will be less than the critical buckling load (the load at which buckling will occur).
To prevent buckling, the cross-sectional dimension of the column is typically sized to provide adequate buckling resistance. While effective, increasing the size of the column may result in a heavier and more costly member. Alternatively, secondary support structures may be used in conjunction with the column. For instance, with architectural structures, columns may be reinforced with lateral bracing to avoid the unsupported spans that may result in buckling failure. In other applications, the restraint method used to secure the column ends (e.g., fixed, guided, pinned) may be selected to provide greater buckling resistance. Another option is to avoid or minimize compressive failure by the use of less conventional structures, e.g., catenary suspensions. However, these alternatives may also result in more complicated, costly, and heavier structures.
The use of reinforced concrete columns is also known for construction/architectural applications. However, such columns often require on-site fabrication which may include the forming of molds and the placement of reinforcing rods. Thus, assembly time and expense may be significant.
One column apparatus that seeks to address buckling failure is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,253 to Bitterly. Bitterly describes a pressure tube, which, in one embodiment, has a cable extending between its longitudinal ends. The cable is tensioned when the column is preloaded, i.e., pressurized by an external pressurization system. The internal pressure is reacted by hoop stress in the cylindrical wall of the tube. When compressive loads are placed on the Bitterly apparatus, it can support forces up to the corresponding preload without buckling.
While effective, some embodiments of Bitterly require the cable to prevent ejection of the piston from the tube during pressurization. Thus, in multiple column configurations, the length of the cable must be controlled to ensure each column apparatus has substantially the same overall length. Moreover, the ends of the cable must be adequately secured to prevent ejection of the piston.
Further, the pressure produced in the Bitterly column appears to be reacted mostly or entirely through tangential stress in the wall of the column. As a result, the wall thickness must be selected accordingly.
Another column apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,678 to Schoo. Schoo uses a highly pressurized column wherein the internal pressure brings about internal longitudinal tensile stress. When the column is then subjected to an external compressive load, the resultant state of stress is described as the composition of both states considered independently, as deduced from the principle of superposition.
In one embodiment, a column assembly operable to support a compressive load is provided. The column assembly includes a tube member having a first longitudinal end and a second longitudinal end. A first endcap operable to substantially seal the first longitudinal end of the tube member is also provided as is a second endcap operable to substantially seal the second longitudinal end of the tube member. The second endcap may be longitudinally movable relative to the tube member. The tube member, the first endcap, and the second endcap enclose a volume. The column assembly further includes a filler material operable to substantially fill the volume, wherein application of the compressive load across the first endcap and the second endcap results in increased pressurization of the filler material.
In another embodiment, a column assembly for supporting a compressive load is provided where the column assembly includes a cylinder assembly. The cylinder assembly includes: a tube member having a longitudinal length and an outer surface; and at least one reinforcing member circumscribing at least a portion of the outer surface of the tube member. The column assembly may also include a first endcap adapted to substantially cover a first longitudinal end of the tube member and a second endcap adapted to substantially cover a second longitudinal end of the tube member. In some embodiments, the second endcap is longitudinally movable relative to the tube member. Preferably, the tube member, the first endcap, and the second endcap enclose a volume that may be filled with a filler material. The filler material is operable to convert at least a first portion of the compressive load into tangential stress within a wall of the tube member.
In still another embodiment of the invention, a method for supporting a compressive load is provided. The method includes providing a column assembly having a tube member with an outer diameter and a longitudinal length, the longitudinal length terminated by a first longitudinal end and a second longitudinal end of the tube member. The column assembly further includes a reinforcing member surrounding the outer diameter along at least a portion of the longitudinal length. A first endcap adapted to substantially cover the first longitudinal end of the tube member is also provided as is a second floating endcap adapted to substantially cover the second longitudinal end of the tube member. The tube member, the first endcap, and the second floating endcap preferably substantially enclose a volume. The method also includes filling the volume with a filler material. By then applying the compressive load between the first endcap and the second floating endcap, a pressure of the filler material within the volume is increased. The method also includes generating tangential stress in the tube member in response to the increased pressure of the filler material.
In still yet another embodiment of the invention, a cylinder assembly is provided that includes: a hollow tube member having a longitudinal length and an outer surface; and one or more reinforcing members circumscribing at least a portion of the outer surface between a first longitudinal end of the hollow tube member and a second longitudinal end of the hollow tube member.
The above summary of the invention is not intended to describe each embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. Rather, a more complete understanding of the invention will become apparent and appreciated by reference to the following detailed description and claims in view of the accompanying drawings.

Column structures and methods for supporting compressive loads


A distortion compensation apparatus includes a calculation unit that acquires, from calculation performed by using a factor and an output signal from the amplifier, a distortion component that is associated with the distortion generated in the amplifier, and a comparing unit that compares a signal that is obtained by giving the distortion component acquired by the calculation unit to an output signal output from the amplifier, with an input signal input to the amplifier, to which a distortion component is previously given. The calculation unit adjusts, on the basis of a comparison result obtained by the comparing unit, the factor that is used for the calculation.

In general, amplifiers that amplify transmission signals are provided in wireless communication apparatuses, such as base station apparatuses. Normally, if an input level to an amplifier is relatively small, the linearity of an input and an output of signals is maintained, whereas, if an input level to an amplifier increases and an output level thus approaches the saturation level, an input and an output of signals become nonlinear due to inter modulation distortion. Consequently, when an amplifier is operated at around the saturation level in which the power efficiency is high, the amplifier needs to be operated in a nonlinear region in which an input and an output of signals become nonlinear.
When an amplifier is operated in a nonlinear region, it is preferable that a distortion compensation circuit that compensates the inter modulation distortion generated in the amplifier be provided in a wireless communication apparatus. Specifically, by compensating, using a distortion compensation circuit, inter modulation distortion that is generated at the time of amplification, it is possible to maximize the performance of the amplifier. In recent years, predistortion circuits are widely used as distortion compensation circuits.
A predistortion circuit compensates inter modulation distortion by previously distorting an input signal that is input to an amplifier. Specifically, distortion that has the inverse characteristic of inter modulation distortion generated in the amplifier is previously given to an input signal, distortion of the input signal is canceled out by inter modulation distortion that is actually generated in the amplifier and thus the input/output linearity is improved. When distortion given to an input signal is calculated, in some cases, for example, a memory polynomial calculation is performed. Specifically, by performing the memory polynomial calculation, a feedback signal from an amplifier is compared with an input signal to the amplifier and then distortion given to the input signal is adjusted.
Patent document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,437,644
However, in order to perform the calculation that uses the memory polynomial, there is a problem in that a circuit becomes complicated and the size of the device and the cost are increased. Specifically, when, for example, a feedback signal from an amplifier is represented by a memory polynomial, a bit resolution in accordance with the level of a feedback signal is needed. At this point, because the dynamic range of the feedback signal is relatively large, the number of bits that represents the level of the feedback signal tends to increase. Consequently, because a circuit that is used to perform predistortion becomes complicated or the processing amount of the circuit increases, the size of the device and the cost increase.

Distortion compensation apparatus and distortion compensation method


An apparatus with communication capability is connected to another apparatus through a communication path. The apparatus includes a transmitting unit that transmits specific data with a preemphasized component to the other apparatus, the preemphasized component being varied within a predetermined range by changing a setting of a preemphasis driver, and a preemphasis amount control unit that sets, for the preemphasis driver, optimal setting information about the preemphasized component of the specific data received from the other apparatus in response to the transmission of the specific data from the transmitting unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatuses with communication capability, a method for adjusting the apparatus with communication capability, and a medium recording adjusting programs executed in the apparatuses.
More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus with communication capability, a method for adjusting the apparatus with communication capability and a medium recording adjusting program, in which processing for optimally adjusting the amount of preemphasis on a high-frequency component according to various conditions can be realized by autonomous operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transmission path imposes greater attenuation on high-frequency components than on low-frequency components. To address this phenomenon, a known technique preemphasizes a high-frequency component in a transmitting apparatus before transmission. See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-177798.
The amount of attenuation of a high-frequency component varies with conditions such as the material and length of the transmission path. Therefore, to realize accurate information transmission, the amount of preemphasis on the high-frequency component needs to be adjusted according to these conditions. Especially in high-speed transmission paths that are becoming common in recent years, such as of 10 Gbps, it is very important to optimally adjust the amount of preemphasis because of the great attenuation of the high-frequency component.
However, conventionally, the amount of preemphasis on the high-frequency component has been adjusted by a human being, for example based on experiments. Therefore, human operation for readjusting the amount of preemphasis has been required every time the material, length, or the like of the transmission path is changed, and this has been laborious. In some cases, for reasons such as a mismatch between expected operational conditions and actual operational conditions, the transmission path has been operated with a non-optimal amount of preemphasis on the high-frequency component; this has prevented full utilization of the performance of the transmission path.
The present invention has been made for solving the above problems of conventional techniques. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus with communication capability, and an adjusting program, in which processing for optimally adjusting the amount of preemphasis on a high-frequency component according to various conditions can be realized by autonomous operation.

Apparatus with communication capability, method for adjusting the same, and medium recording adjusting program


Techniques are disclosed for clustering text. The techniques may be employed to cluster text blocks that are received in either sequential reading order or arbitrary order. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes receiving text blocks comprising elements that may include one or more of glyphs, characters, and/or words. The method further includes determining an order of the received text blocks as one of arbitrary order or sequential reading order. Text blocks received in sequential reading order progress from left to right and from top to bottom for horizontal oriented text, and from top to bottom and left to right for vertical oriented text. The method further includes performing z-order text clustering in response to determining that the received text blocks are in sequential reading order and performing sorted order text clustering in response to determining that the received text blocks are not in sequential reading order.

Design documents often include text, images, and artwork in various formats and orientations. As part of a workflow for the creation and modification of such documents, these design documents may be exported into different file formats (e.g., SVG, PDF, legacy formats, etc.). When this happens, text objects in the documents (such as sentences or paragraphs) are typically broken into smaller pieces during the exportation process, to preserve the layout. The smaller pieces of text may be, for instance, one line sentences, sentence fragments, words, or glyphs. In any such cases, and will be explained in turn, this breaking of text objects into smaller pieces can cause difficulties for other document manipulation tools that may be used downstream in the workflow, or for other applications that process or interpret the text, including machine learning applications. In particular, the number of smaller pieces can be relatively large; thus, editing the overall text object made up by those pieces now becomes more burdensome (each piece must be edited individually). Moreover, the relative ordering of the smaller pieces making up a given text object may not be preserved, for example, when converting an image or other document into an editable format, such as PDF or some other desired format attributable to a downstream application of the workflow. Thus, logically grouping the smaller pieces of the multipart text object back into a single cluster typically necessitates manual intervention, especially when the text object involves text oriented in a manner other than horizontal (such as vertical text or angled text), or when the text object is wrapped around or otherwise interrupted by another object such as a graphic or inset image.

Logical grouping of exported text blocks


A request for a software service utilizes a service intermediary. The service intermediary 1) checks the request to confirm that it conforms to XML well-formedness, and 2) validates the schema of the request. If the request passes both tests, then flags are appended to the request, which is sent to a service provider. The flag indicates to the service provider that the request has already been checked and validated, such that the service provider only needs to provide the requested service, without redundantly checking and validating the request.

The present disclosure relates to the field of computers, and specifically to software. Still more specifically, the present disclosure relates to processing software service requests.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) has emerged as the de-facto standard for expressing self-describing data, particularly when requesting a service (e.g., software) from a service provider. XML documents are posted using underlying transport protocols such as HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and IBM's Websphere™ MQ to effect service invocations, generate events, and to exchange complex data types. Service Oriented Architecture Protocol (SOAP), built atop XML, provides a standard way of enabling Remote Procedure Calls (RPC), where services are programmatically invoked by consumers. Web Services, the corner-stone of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), are enabled using a SOAP facade that is described in a Web Services Description Language (WSDL). While Web Services and XML take a collective leap forward in providing self-describing application endpoints (and thus virtualized services), the abstraction comes with a substantial performance penalty. SOAP-based interactions are inherently many times more costly (in terms of computational cost) than home-grown Remote Procedure Call (RPC) systems. Much of this is due to expensive XML parsing and SOAP object de-serialization, including the creation of in-memory objects that represent the XML-encoded data. Often, XML processing is redundant, such as when the same XML is checked for well-formedness and validity.

Avoiding redundant computation in service-oriented architectures

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to an ergonomic exercise sash which is contoured to fit a torso of a user. Weight members may be placed in a plurality of pockets of the sash to increase the resistance and intensity of exercise.

Weighted vests are often used in strength, endurance, and muscle building exercises for increasing resistance and intensifying the workout. To enable a person to exercise solely, free the hands, and to carry the load more efficiently, weights have been attached to vests worn over the torso. Weighted vests are designed to burn calories at a quicker rate and increase muscle strength and mass during exercises that are typically known to only increase endurance.
Many vests exists which are based on the concept of carrying weight while having the hands and arms of a user to be unencumbered.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,608 B1 granted to Edith Winston entitled "Adjustable Weighted Vest" discloses an exercise vest which includes a plurality of weight receiving vest pockets disposed on the outer surface of the vest.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,135 B1 granted to Scott Irvin entitled "Exercise Vest with Flexible Weights" discloses a weighted exercise vest which is comprised of left and right front panels connected to a back panel by elastic sides and webbing straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,924 B1 granted to Patrick M. Ott entitled "Weighted Training Vest" discloses weighted vest capable of comfortably conforming to the body of a wearer utilizing stretchable shoulder harnesses or straps for full range of motion by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,270 granted to Anthony G. Shine entitled "Exercise Vest" discloses an exercise vest which comprises a body having a front, back and two sides all connected at the sides and the front to define an internal cavity and a plurality of pockets for weight placement.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,442 granted to Dick Tomlinson et al. entitled "Weight Vest" discloses a snugly-fitting, variable-weight vest for wearing while exercising.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,387 granted to Jacek M. Zakrzewski entitled "Weight Vest" discloses weight vest which is fully foam lined, sewn canvas that incorporates means for wearing an adjustable amount of weight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,012 granted to Jeffrey T. Egbert et al. entitled "Weighted Exercise Vest" discloses an exercise vest that selectively allows weight capsules to be inserted into pockets that are wrapped around the chest, back and shoulders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,917 granted to Emmett B. Massey entitled "Variably Weighted Vest" discloses a variably weighted vest for use in exercising comprising a plurality of pockets for holding various weighted materials.
It is desired to provide an ergonomic weighted garment which is designed so as to eliminate injury based on the location of the weights and has a secured and contoured fit.


A method for operating an electric machine of a ground vehicle includes periodically determining an aging parameter based upon a temperature of the electric machine and periodically determining a short-term aging effect based upon the periodically determined aging parameter. A long-term aging effect is determined based upon the short-term aging effect. A short-term temperature adjustment is determined based upon the short-term aging effect and a long-term temperature adjustment is determined based upon the long-term aging effect. A temperature-based derated motor torque is determined based upon the long-term temperature adjustment and the short-term temperature adjustment. Operation of the electric machine is controlled responsive to an operator command for torque based upon the temperature-based derated motor torque.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Powertrain systems employing electric machines for tractive torque derate motor torque based upon a single control parameter, e.g., motor temperature, with tractive torque effort derated as a function of the motor temperature to avoid reduced service life of the electric machine. In one embodiment, torque derating occurs in a temperature range between a minimum temperature for derating, e.g., 170° C. and a maximum permissible operating temperature, e.g., 190° C. This includes permitting maximum motor torque at motor temperatures below the minimum temperature for derating, linearly derating the motor torque as motor temperature increases thereabove, e.g., from 170° C. to 190° C. and permitting zero motor torque output, i.e., prohibiting motor torque output when the motor temperature reaches the maximum permissible operating temperature.
Under one known severe driving schedule, an electric machine can spend a majority of its operating time operating at motor temperatures slightly less than the minimum temperature for derating, e.g., at approximately 160° C. A motor control approach employing motor temperature as a single control parameter permits indefinite operation of an electric machine at motor temperatures that are slightly below the minimum temperature for derating, affecting its service life. Furthermore, a motor control approach employing motor temperature as a single control parameter prohibits short-duration high temperature excursions even though such excursions may not affect service life.

Method and apparatus for controlling an electric machine


3 The invention relates to a practice golf club which has strobing light sources mounted on its upper surface parallel to the club face. When swung in a dimly lit room, the strobing lights appear as a trail of spaced images which seem to hang briefly in the air. These "snapshots" of the club make readily apparent the face angle, point of impact, speed, and arcuate path of travel of the clubhead.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to practice golf clubs, specifically to a club which makes possible the visualization of: the arcuate path of travel of the club; the location and orientation of the club face at impact; and its speed. This new golf practice club utilizes strobing lights mounted on the top of of the club highlighting its perimeter (or a portion of its perimeter such as the face). During the golf swing, the lights turn on and off rapidly and are seen as a series of closely spaced images which seem to hang in the air briefly, apparently because of the persistence of images on the human retina.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
One problem in learning or teaching the golf swing is that the moving club is seen only as a blur due to the limitations of human sight. A golf club may average 108 mph in the impact area, with the ball remaining on the club face for only 5 msec. The teacher or student is forced to make assumptions about the golf swing based upon the reaction of the golf ball itself. If the golfer is practicing without actually hitting balls, there is even less feedback available.
The most important parameters of the golf swing are:
1) the angle of the club face at impact (open, square, or closed); PA0 2) the arcuate path of travel of the club during impact (inside-out, outside-in, or on-line); PA0 3) the speed of the club at impact; the location of the impact on the club face (toward the heel or toe, or centered). PA0 a) yields information about the club face angle during the swing, especially in the impact zone; PA0 b) yields information about the arcuate path of travel of the club throughout the swing; PA0 c) shows the site of impact on the club face, whether it be centered or toward the heel or toe of the club; PA0 d) yields information about the speed of the club head; PA0 e) is portable and self-contained, requiring no additional apparatus, wiring, or chemicals; PA0 f) is easy to use, requiring no mental gymnastics or calculations to achieve diagnostic value; PA0 g) is similar in weighty balance, and appe&rh-nce to a real golf club; indeed, with proper engineering for shock-proofing of its electronics, this practice golf club could be used in real play.
If these parameters are less than nominal during the golf swing, the ball may begin its flight in the wrong direction with a possible sidespin. For example, a "slice" may result from an open club face and/or an outside-in swing path. Any device which provides feedback about the above parameters would be of benefit.
There have been previous attempts to use lights (non-strobing) to help visualize the golf swing, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,795 issued to David L. Taylor on Jun. 28, 1974. His idea was the mounting of a light source to the club hosel, which serves as an indicator of the arcuate path of travel of the club. While it seems to do this well, it does not yield any information about the club face angle or speed.
Another golf practice club with lights was submitted by John R. Brandell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,9564, on Aug. 21, 1973. His approach uses two lights (non-strobing) mounted on top of the club, one toward the front and the other toward the rear. If the lights overlap perfectly during a swing which is neither inside-out or outside-in, then the club face alignment must be perfect. Alternatively, the lights may also overlap if the club face is not square for a swing which has an improper arcuate path (for example, an open face with an inside-out swing). This interesting approach yields information about both the swing path and club face angle, but it requires the user to analyze the light patterns to get that feedback. The club face angle can only be inferred after determining which light is proximal and which is distal, while factoring in the effect of the seen arcuate path of travel.
Yet another approach was taken by Eugene N. Worrell with U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,649,028 and 3,649,029 dated Mar. 14, 1972. He applied luminescent colored stripes to the top of the club, running parallel to the path of the swing. If the stripes appeared blurred during the swing, they must have been overlapping due to a club face angle error. As with Brandell's approach, the user must strain to get feedbacks not to mention the problems of using an ultraviolet light and gauzelike material impregnated with luminescent chemical.
Each of these previous approaches was essentially an attempt to illuminate the blur of a swinging golf club, which makes more visible the arcutate path of travel of the club. The latter two approaches additionally tried to inject some information into that blur so that the user could extrapolate and make an inference about the club face angle.


A three-dimensional FSS fabrication system is described. FSS elements are pre-mapped in two-dimensional form and constructed on a flat FSS panel that is then formed into a desired three-dimensional shape. The 2-D flat surface of the designed FSS is mapped into a desired three-dimensional curvature so that when formed from 2-D into the 3-D shape, the FSS elements are moved into a desired position and/or orientation. In one embodiment, the mapping from 2-D to 3-D is performed using the elastic properties of a desired substrate material. In one embodiment, one or more flat FSS panels are constructed on a formable or thermo-formable substrate. In one embodiment, the substrate includes a thermoplastic. In one embodiment, the substrate includes a thermoplastic material with fiber reinforcement. The FSS elements can be created by printing, deposition, photo-etching, etc. The flat FSS layers are thermoformed or chemically formed over a tool having the desired shape. In one embodiment, the FSS layers are formed to the shape of the tool by using vacuum techniques. In one embodiment, the FSS layers are formed to the shape of the tool by supporting the FSS layer between male and female tools.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods for thermoforming Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) for antennas, radomes and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Frequency selective surfaces (FSS) are useful in many radio-frequency and optical applications. Such applications include antennas, radomes, canopies, and other aircraft structures and the receiving surfaces of satellite dishes. A surface may be made frequency selective by forming a pattern on the surface, for example, by applying a patterned metal layer to the surface. The accuracy of the frequency selectivity of the surface depends on the precision of the pattern formed on the surface. Curvature in the surface complicates the pattern and makes fabrication difficult. Currently, there is no known method for patterning curved surfaces to achieve precise frequency selectivity in a cost effective manner.

Thermoformed frequency selective surface


An image forming apparatus has a recording head forming an image on paper by jetting ink, a conveying part conveying the paper to a position opposite to said recording head, and a reversing ejection part provided downstream in a paper conveyance direction with respect to the position opposite to the recording head, and said reversing ejection part reversing the paper so that a recorded side thereof on which an image has been recorded may face downward and ejecting the paper on an ejecting table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and, in particular, to an image forming apparatus used in, for example, a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, a composite machine or such, and carrying out image forming by jetting recording liquid such as ink on a recording medium such as recording paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet recording apparatus used as one of various types of image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copier, a plotter or such includes a serial-type image forming apparatus which has a liquid jetting head (recording head) which jets recording liquid (for example, ink) via microscopic nozzles mounted on a carriage, moves the carriage in a main scanning direction and forms (records) an image on a recording medium (which may be simply referred to as 'sheet' hereinafter, and for which, material thereof is not limited to paper, and the term 'recording medium' is used here to mean even various types of sheets called recording paper, transfer paper, a recording medium or such) with the recording head.
A non-impact recording method is advantageous in terms of a noiseless method in which, even at a time of recording, noise is so small that it may be ignored. Especially, an ink jet recording method is very advantageous recording method in which printing can be carried out at a high speed, and also, printing can be carried out even on a so-called ordinary paper without requiring any special recording liquid (or ink) fixing treatment. Further, for the ink jet recording method, various types of color recording methods employing color ink have been proposed and improved recently.
According to the ink jet recording method, a plurality of colors of ink droplets are made to fly, to be made to adhere to recording paper so as to carry out recording. For this purpose, an ink jet head is used.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 8-110660 discloses an image forming apparatus having such a type of an ink jet head, for example. This image forming apparatus is roughly shown in FIG. 9. As shown, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a paper supply cassette 3 provided in a bottom part of a body 2 and holding recording paper, a paper supply roller 4 which separates one sheet from the recording paper stored in the paper supply cassette 3 and supplies it, conveying rollers 5 conveying the sheet supplied by the paper supply roller 4, a conveying roller 7 which reverses the paper sheet conveyed by the conveying rollers 5 and supplies it to an ink jet head 6, and ejecting rollers 9 which eject the recording paper on which printing is carried out with the ink jet head 6 to a pressing plate 8 provided at a top part of the body 2.
In this image forming apparatus 1, the ink jet head 6 is disposed above a printing side of the recording paper, jets ink on the recording paper with the use of gravity force naturally applied to the ink itself, and thus, prints on the top side of the recording paper.
However, in the image forming apparatus 1 in the related art, since the ink jet head 6 is disposed above the recording side of the recording paper, and carries out printing on the top side of the recording paper which is then ejected on the pressing plate 8, a subsequent recording paper sheet on which printing is subsequently carried out is ejected on the printed side the recording paper sheet on which printing has been previously carried out. As a result, it is not possible to keep the original page order of the recording paper sheets. Accordingly, it is necessary to correct the page order of the recording paper sheets after the printing thereon by means of the image forming apparatus 1 is finished for all the pages.

Image forming apparatus with conveying part arranged to allow drying


An LCD module principally has an LCD, a backlight module including an LED section, an optical waveguide, and a light reflector. The side faces of the backlight module are provided with fixing sections to mount and fix the LCD module to a case by fastening screws. Since the LCD's display section has a smaller outward form than the LCD, the LCD module is fixed to the case using the fixing sections on the side faces of the backlight module so as not to affect the LCD display section. This enables a space for packaging any other functions to be secured, the frame to be narrowed, and the device to be miniaturized without the need for any special attaching parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display module, a mobile communication device using the same, and a method of mounting a liquid crystal display (hereinafter referred to as LCD) module to be used as a display section in the mobile communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional LCD module 12 of a mobile communication device is assembled so that the LCD module 12 is sandwiched between an upper case 11a and a lower case 11b of the mobile communication device as shown in FIG. 1. With regard to a method of mounting the LCD module 12, the LCD module 12 is mounted in the cases 11 by fixing four corners of each of the cases 11a and 11b by screws 13a through 13d with the LCD module 12 sandwiched between the cases 11 (11a, 11b) as shown in FIG. 2.
Further, for miniaturization of a liquid crystal display unit, technologies of decreasing the width of a peripheral edge portion (frame portion) which surrounds a liquid crystal display section, i.e., so-called frame-narrowing technologies have been proposed. For the purpose of such frame narrowing technologies, the following method of mounting an LCD module to a case has been proposed (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 11-184392). Namely, U-shaped brackets are placed so that their central main portions overlap both the right and left sides of the LCD module, and then the U-shaped brackets are attached to the LCD module by fixing the bended portions at both ends of the U-shaped brackets to the upper and lower sides of the LCD module by screws. The LCD module is then mounted to the case of the liquid crystal display unit by fixing the case to the U-shaped brackets through screws holes provided in the main portions of the U-shaped brackets.
However, according to a conventional method of mounting an LCD module, the LCD module comprises an LCD, an optical waveguide, a backlight module including a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED), and a main substrate. In this configuration, when a larger LCD screen and increased functions of a mobile communication device are demanded, an increase in the number of parts to be mounted in the liquid crystal display unit tends to cause a problem of having difficulty in mounting the LCD module in the mobile communication device.
On the other hand, according to the method described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 11-184392, the U-shaped brackets are used to fix the LCD module to the case, and therefore a space for setting the U-shaped brackets is needed. For this reason, the above-mentioned method does not provide a satisfactory solution to the problem of having difficulty in mounting the LCD module in the mobile communication device, as well as has limitations in the frame narrowing.

Liquid crystal display module, mobile communication device, and method of mounting liquid crystal display module


There is provided a PN (Pseudorandom Noise) hypothesis moving apparatus and method in a high speed searcher. In the PN hypothesis moving apparatus, a PN sequence generator system has a PN sequence generator for generating a PN sequence and a PN state register for storing information about a PN state. A correlation counter counts the number of correlations, and a comparator receives the output of the correlation counter, a correlation length, and a search speed, compares them, and provides a PN state saving point and a PN state loading point to the PN sequence generator system according to the comparison to change a PN hypothesis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a searcher used to synchronize a mobile station in an IS-95/cdma2000 system and a method thereof, and in particular, to a searcher which can reduce a dummy time using an improved method of moving a PN (Pseudorandom Noise) sequence offset.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an IS-95/cdma2000 system, a base station transmits a pilot signal on a forward link and a mobile station synchronizes its timing to the base station by acquisition of the pilot signal. For acquisition and tracking of the pilot signal, the mobile station uses a searcher. The searcher detects the strength and position of the pilot signal by calculating the energy of a received signal while changing a PN sequence offset by the same short PN(Pseudo-random Noise) code generator as used in the base station. Here, each PN sequence offset used for pilot acquisition is called a PN hypothesis.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a prior art searcher. Referring to FIG. 1, the searcher is comprised of despreaders 101 and 102 for despreading I and Q data with a PN sequence, respectively; correlators 103 and 104 for accumulating the despread data respectively; squarers 105 and 106 for calculating accumulated energy values; an adder 107 for adding the outputs of the squarers 105 and 106; a non-coherent accumulator 108 for non-coherently accumulating the sum received from the adder 107; a comparator 109 for comparing the energy of the non-coherent accumulation value with a threshold, the comparator 109 generating a pilot detection signal if the energy exceeds the threshold, and generates a PN delay signal if the energy is equal to or smaller than the threshold, a PN clock generator 111 for generating a PN delay clock by the PN delay signal of the comparator; and a PN sequence generator 110 for delaying a PN sequence as much as the delayed clock and outputting that to the despreaders 101 and 102 when the delayed clock is inputted from the PN clock generator 111.
A PN sequence is generated using characteristic polynomials like Eq. 1 in the IS-95/cdma2000 system. The PN sequence is of period 215 chips (26.66 ms) and produces 215 (32,768) PN hypotheses.PI(x)=x15+x14+x9+x8+x7+x5+1PQ(x)=x15+x14+x11+x10+x6+x5+x4+x3+1  (1)
The prior art searcher as shown by FIG. 1 changes a PN hypothesis by delaying and applying the PN sequence with respect to a received signal. FIG. 2 is a detailed construction of the PN clock generator 111 and the PN sequence generator 110 of FIG. 1.
The comparator 109 of FIG. 1 generates the PN delay signal to shift to a next PN hypothesis if an energy value related with the present PN hypothesis does not exceed the threshold and feeds the PN delay signal to the PN clock masking block 202 to thereby preventing block a PN clock signal from being fed to the PN sequence generator 203.
FIG. 3 is a signal diagram illustrating a PN hypothesis moving method in a one-multiple speed searcher. Referring to FIG. 3, if the present PN hypothesis is an Nth PN hypothesis, the memory state of a PN sequence generator is delayed by one chip to shift to an (N+1)th PN hypothesis.
FIG. 4 is a signal diagram illustrating a PN hypothesis moving method in an M-multiple speed searcher. Referring to FIG. 4, the M-multiple speed searcher checks M PN hypotheses at the same time for one correlation length, thereby searching for a pilot signal M times faster than the one-multiple searcher. If the present PN hypothesis is an Nth PN hypothesis, the M-multiple speed searcher despreads the M PN hypotheses by delaying a corresponding PN sequence using an M-tap shift register. Then, the M-multiple speed searcher calculates energy values related to the M PN hypotheses by time-multiplexing the despreading results using a clock signal faster than a chip rate. Since the M-multiple speed searcher applies from Nth PN hypothesis to (N+M−1)th PN hypothesis, if the correlations of the M PN hypotheses are calculated and an energy value related with the present PN hypothesis does not exceed the threshold, the M-multiple speed searcher should shift to (N+M)th PN hypothesis to detect a next PN hypothesis. That is, As shown in FIG. 4, the M-multiple speed searcher holds the memory state of the PN sequence generator by M chips to use the M PN hypotheses after applying the M PN hypotheses. As a result, the PN sequence is delayed from the received data by M chips.
In this method, a 16-multiple speed searcher must wait for 16 chips and a 32-multiple speed searcher must wait for 32 chips in order to shift to a next PN hypothesis. As compared to a one-multiple speed searcher, the M-multiple speed searcher consumes an M-chip dummy time to shift to a next PN hypothesis.
As described above, the conventional searchers delay PN sequences to shift to next PN hypotheses. Therefore, a dummy time required for changing a PN hypothesis increases in proportion to a search speed.

Apparatus and method for moving PN hypothesis in high speed searcher


The present disclosure provides a method for producing a population of regulatory T cells comprising culturing an initial population of regulatory T cells obtained from umbilical cord blood in a media comprising an oligonucleotide having the sequence of AATCGTAACCGTCGTATCGGCGAT (SEQ ID NO: 1) to expand the initial population of regulatory T cells, and a method of treating an autoimmune disease comprising administering to a subject in need thereof an effective amount of a composition comprising the regulatory T cells prepared by the above method.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) compose a small portion of the immune cell population and they can be divided into two subpopulations. One is generated and educated in the thymus and termed natural Tregs (nTregs). The other is generated in peripheral sites and termed induced Tregs (iTregs) (Schmitt E G and Williams C B Front. Immunol. 2013; 4(152):1-13). They are dedicated to deactivating excessive immune response and maintaining immune homeostasis (Sharvan Sehrawat, Barry T. Rouse J Leukoc Biol. 2011; 90(6): 1079-1087). Patients who suffer from Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD) or autoimmune diseases are known to have fewer Tregs than healthy donor or their function is abnormal (Roncarolo M G, Battaglia M., Nat Rev Immuno., 2007; 7(8):585-598; Riley J L, June C H, Blazar B R, Immunity, 2009; 30(5):656-665). With this reason, Treg transfusion can be a potential therapy to them. The preventive/therapeutic effect of Treg adoptive transfer was proved in mouse experiments (Hoffmann P, Ermann J, Edinger M, Fathman C G, Strober S, J Exp Med, 2002; 196(3):389-399). To apply the Tregs for a cell therapy or a clinical trial for the same, it requires large numbers and stable function of Tregs derived from peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood (UCB).
In an aspect of personalized cell therapy using a Treg, there are two major hurdles to overcome. First, the recipient needs a large number of cells of highly purified expanded Tregs. Second, Foxp3, which is the most important characteristic of Treg for its function, is easy to be lost in human Tregs during the expansion process. Many approaches have been used to address these problems. For instance, the combined use of CD127lo and CD25high was found to help isolating enriched populations of Foxp3+ T cells without contamination of CD25int T cells (Liu W, Putnam A L, Xu-Yu Z, et al., J Exp Med. 2006; 203(7):1701-1711). In addition, adding the mTOR inhibitors, such as rapamycin, was found to inhibit contamination of conventional T cells during expansion and enable the expansion of Tregs with high purity. (Hippen K L, Merkel S C, Schirm D K, et al., American Journal of Transplantation, 2011; 11(6): 1148-1157).
As compared to expanded peripheral blood-derived Tregs, umbilical cord blood-derived expanded Tregs showed a more naïve phenotype by expressing a high level of CD45RA, a marker of naïve T cells. Naïve Treg produced a low level of a pro-inflammatory cytokine such as IFN-γ after activation. Moreover, naïve Tregs maintain long-term phenotypic stability as compared to memory Tregs and it was proved by animal models and in vitro studies with the human specimens (Hoffmann, P, Eder, R, Boeld, T J, Doser, K, Piseshka, B, Andreesen, R, et al. Blood 2006; 108: 4260-4267).
Therefore, there has been a need for an efficient method of isolating and expanding stable regulatory T cells from human cord blood (umbilical cord blood).

Method of producing regulatory T cells by culturing regulatory T cells obtained from umbilical cord blood


A method of producing activated carbon fibers (ACFs) includes the steps of providing a natural carbonaceous precursor fiber material, blending the carbonaceous precursor material with a chemical activation agent to form chemical agent-impregnated precursor fibers, spinning the chemical agent-impregnated precursor material into fibers, and thermally treating the chemical agent-impregnated precursor fibers. The carbonaceous precursor material is both carbonized and activated to form ACFs in a single step. The method produces ACFs exclusive of a step to isolate an intermediate carbon fiber.

Carbon fibers are currently generally produced from carbon precursors comprising non-renewable fossil sources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, using time-consuming, energy-intensive, and expensive processes. Such carbon fibers are utilized in engineering applications, such as reinforcement of polymer materials and carbon-carbon composites, where properties such as high tensile strength and/or modulus are key prerequisites, notably in aerospace applications of carbon fibers. However, such engineering properties are not required for applications of the activated form of the carbon fibers; indeed, the engineering properties are essentially destroyed during the process of making the activated form of the carbon fibers.
Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) are generally produced from carbon fibers through a high-temperature carbon gasification process which proceeds in an oxidizing atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide or steam. This process burns away carbon to create high surface area and pore volume in the activated form of the fiber, but in the process decreases product yield and thus further enhances production cost. Given that the major part of the cost of producing a carbon fiber for engineering applications is associated with the creation of those engineering properties, the cost of the activated form of the carbon fibers is inflated by the processing steps to create the unnecessary engineering properties, which results in an overall cost of ACFs that is generally too high for all but a few high-value, niche applications. Moreover, because conventional ACF products are produced from conventional carbon fibers through a high-temperature carbon gasification process, the chemical composition of the ACF is dependent on, and therefore limited by, the composition of the original carbon precursor.
Although uncommon, some references disclose production of ACFs from lignin or lignocellulosic materials. JP 2002038334 entitled "Method for producing fine activated carbon fiber and fine activated carbon fiber produced thereby" discloses a method for producing an ACF containing a step to prepare a dissolved or molten polymer material obtained by dissolving or melting a pyranose-ring or lignin-based polymer material, a step to spin the dissolved or molten polymer material and obtain a fiber of the dissolved or molten polymer material having an average fiber diameter of <=3 μm, a step to produce a fine carbonized fiber derived from the pyranose-ring or lignin-based polymer material by the heat-treatment of the fiber and a step to activate the fine carbonized fiber to obtain the ACF. JP 57118376 entitled "Zinc-halogen battery" discloses using various materials, such as cellulose series fiber, acrylic series fiber, lignin series fiber, special pitch of petroleum series, vinylon series fiber, etc. and processing these materials by burning into carbonized fiber, or they are further heat treated at a high temperature to get carbon fiber. This carbon fiber is used as an electrode in a woven fabric, a non woven fabric, or a felt like shape formed under pressure, being cut in desired electrode shapes. The electrode is processed by dipping in concentrated nitric acid or electrolyzing in a halogen aqueous solution, then the surfaces of carbon fiber are activated. The term "activated" is used in the context of surface-treating the carbon fiber fabric formed from the carbon fibers to obtain a suitable electrode material for zinc-halogen batteries; not in the context of producing porous, high surface area ACFs for adsorptive applications. The agent (HNO3) used to "activate" the carbon fiber cannot create the characteristics desired of "activated carbon fibers", nor is it a chemical activation agent that is suitable for producing activated carbon products.

Activated carbon fibers and engineered forms from renewable resources


A wet gas measuring system for calculating mass and volume of a gas and a liquid independently and simultaneously, having one or two hollow bodies, each hollow body having conical section mount interrupting the flow of a mixture of gas and liquid, a conical area ratio changer conditioning the gas to a uniform geometric shape; a protruding dome upstream of the first conical area ratio changer; a ram inlet bore through the dome unaffected by changes in gas viscosity, changes in Reynolds' number, changes in gas and liquid turbulence, and an upstream static pressure sensor; downstream pressure sensor for detecting a differential pressure; a temperature sensor; a ram velocity sensor with a processor and computer instructions for calculating velocity and mass of the gas using a detachable and re-attachable conical area ratio changer.

A need exists for an improved wet gas measuring device that can measure volume and mass individually for a gas and a liquid in a flowing stream.
A need exists for an improved rugged and reliable fluid measuring device to measure accurately and continuously flowing mass and volume for mixtures of fluid having liquid and gas coming from a wellbore.
A need exists for an improved fluid measuring device to continuously measure volume and mass for fluid mixtures coming from a pipeline.
A need exists for an improved fluid measuring device for geothermal fluids containing steam, and water.
A need exists for an improved fluid measuring device with a conical section mount that is self-centered and self-aligned.
A need exists for an improved fluid measuring device with a detachable and re-attachable area ratio changer allowing for replacement and maintenance without affecting the alignment of the conical section mount within the hollow body.
A need exists for an improved fluid measuring device that has a temperature port for recording temperature at an optimal location proximate the pressure measurement ports without disrupting fluid flow.
A need exists for an improved gas and liquid measuring device that conditions the gas in the center of a chamber, such as a ram port, enabling accurate volume and mass measurement of the gas in the center of the chamber.
A need exists for a centrally mounted ram port for measuring fluid velocity of the gas core section in order to calculate volume and mass for the gas core section.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.


Embodiments include an apparatus, system, and method related to a switch circuit. Specifically, embodiments relate to a low noise amplifier (LNA) drain switch circuit that includes a first field effect transistor (FET) where the drain contact of the first FET is coupled with a gate contact of a second FET. The drain contact of the second FET may also be coupled with the gate of the second FET through a resistor. The source contact of the second FET may be coupled with a diode which may be coupled with an LNA.

Some integrated circuits (ICs) may include separate transmit and receive paths. In some cases, a low noise amplifier (LNA) may be positioned in the receive path of the IC. In some cases where the IC is in transmit mode, that is signals are being transmitted along the transmit path of the IC, it may be desirable to turn off or shut down the LNA. Specifically, because the receive path may not be fully isolated from the transmit, it may be desirable to turn the LNA off to prevent a signal from feeding back through the receive path due to unintended amplification by the LNA. In some cases, the signal feedback may result in a degraded transmission signal, for example by causing discontinuities in the compression mode characteristics of the IC.

Low noise amplifier drain switch circuit


A receiver comprising a sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (.SIGMA..DELTA. ADC) can be utilized in one of four configurations, as a subsampling bandpass receiver, a subsampling baseband receiver, a Nyquist sampling bandpass receiver, or a Nyquist sampling baseband receiver. For subsampling .SIGMA..DELTA. receivers, the sampling frequency is less than twice the center frequency of the input signal into the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. For Nyquist sampling .SIGMA..DELTA. receivers, the sampling frequency is at least twice the highest frequency of the input signal into the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. For baseband .SIGMA..DELTA. receivers, the center frequency of the output signal from the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC is approximately zero or DC. For bandpass .SIGMA..DELTA. receivers, the center frequency of the output signal from the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC is greater than zero. The sampling frequency can be selected based on the bandwidth of the input signal to simplify the design of the digital circuits used to process the output samples from the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. Furthermore, the center frequency of the input signal can be selected based on the sampling frequency and the bandwidth of the input signal. The .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC within the receiver provides many benefits.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved receiver comprising a sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter.
II. Description of the Related Art
In many modern communication systems, digital transmission is utilized because of the improved efficiency and the ability to detect and correct transmission errors. Exemplary digital transmission formats include binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK), offset quaternary phase shift keying (OQPSK), m-ary phase shift keying (m-PSK), and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Exemplary communication systems which utilize digital transmission include code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems and high definition television (HDTV) systems. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. An exemplary HDTV system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,104, U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,345, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,891, all three entitled "ADAPTIVE BLOCK SIZE IMAGE COMPRESSION METHOD AND SYSTEM", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,767, entitled "INTERFRAME VIDEO ENCODING AND DECODING SYSTEM", all four patents are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
In the CDMA system, a base station communicates with one or more remote stations. The base station is typically located at a fixed location. Therefore, power consumption is less important consideration in the design of the base station. The remote stations are typically consumer units which exist in high quantity. Therefore, cost and reliability are important design considerations because of the number of units produced. Furthermore, in some applications such as a CDMA mobile communication system, power consumption is critical because of the portable nature of the remote station. Tradeoffs between performance, cost, and power consumption are usually made in the design of the remote stations.
In digital transmission, the digitized data is used to modulate a carrier sinusoid using one of the formats listed above. The modulated waveform is further processed (e.g. filtered, amplified, and upconverted) and transmitted to the remote station. At the remote station, the transmitted RF signal is received and demodulated by a receiver.
A block diagram of an exemplary super-heterodyne receiver 2100 of the prior art which is used for quadrature demodulation of QSPK, OQPSK, and QAM signal is illustrated in FIG. 1. Receiver 2100 can be used at the base station or the remote station. Within receiver 2100, the transmitted RF signal is received by antenna 2112, routed through duplexer 2114, and provided to front end 2102. Within front end 2102, amplifier (AMP) 2116 amplifies the signal and provides the signal to bandpass filter 2118 which filters the signal to remove undesired signals. As used in this specification, undesired signals comprise noise, spurious signals, undesirable images, interference, and jammers. The filtered RF signal is provided to mixer 2120 which downconverts the signal to a fixed intermediate frequency (IF) with the sinusoid from local oscillator (LO1) 2122. The IF signal from mixer 2120 is filtered by bandpass filter 2124 and amplified by automatic gain control (AGC) amplifier 2126 to produce the required signal amplitude at the input of analog-to-digital-converters (ADCs) 2140. The gain controlled signal is provided to demodulator 2104. Within demodulator 2104, two mixers 2128a and 2128b downconvert the signal into the baseband I and Q signals with the sinusoid provided by local oscillator (LO2) 2134 and phase shifter 2136, respectively. The baseband I and Q signals are provided to lowpass filters 2130a and 2130b, respectively, which provide match filtering, adjacent channel rejection, and/or anti-alias filtering of the baseband signals. The filtered signals are provided to ADCs 2140a and 2140b which sample the signals to produce the digitized baseband samples. The samples are provided to baseband processor 2150 for further processing (e.g. error detection, error correction, and decompression) to produce reconstructed estimates of the transmitted data.
The first frequency downconversion with mixer 2120 allows receiver 2100 to downconvert signals at various RF frequencies to a fixed IF frequency where more signal processing can be performed. The fixed IF frequency allows bandpass filter 2124 to be implemented as a fixed bandpass filter, such as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, to remove undesired signals from the IF signal. Removal of undesired signals is important since these signals can fold into the signal band (e.g. the band where the input signal is present) at the second frequency downconversion stage. Furthermore, the undesired signals can significantly increase the amplitude of the signal into various active components, such as the amplifiers and mixers, which can cause higher level of intermodulation products from the non-linearity in the active components. Undesired signals and intermodulation products can cause degradation in the performance of the communication system.
The quadrature demodulator of the prior art has several major drawbacks. First, the required filtering by bandpass filter 2124 and/or lowpass filters 2130 can be complex. These filters may require a flat passband, high attenuation in the stopband, and sharp roll-off in the transition band. These filters are implemented with analog circuits. Component tolerance of analog circuits is difficult to maintain and can cause distortion in the frequency response of these filters. The performance of receiver 2100 can be degraded as the result of the distortion. Second, quadrature balance is difficult to maintain over many production units because of component tolerance in phase splitter 2136, mixers 2128, lowpass filter 2130, and ADCs 2140. Any mismatch in the two signal paths results in quadrature imbalance and degradation in the performance of receiver 2100. Path mismatch results in cross-talk of the I signal onto the Q signal, and vice versa. The cross-talk signal behaves as additive noise in the desired signal and results in poor detection of the desired signal. Third, the prior art receiver architecture has DC offset because the analog filters are at baseband. And fourth, ADCs 2140 can cause degradation in the performance of receiver 2100 for various reasons described below.
In most demodulators, one or more ADCs are required to convert an analog waveform in continuous time into discrete samples at evenly spaced time intervals. Some important performance parameters of an ADC include dynamic range, linearity, and DC offset. Each of these parameters can affect the performance of the communication system. Dynamic range can affect the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the receiver because the noise from the ADC degrades the ability of the ADC to properly detect the input signal. Linearity relates to the difference between an actual transfer curve (e.g. digital output versus analog input) and the ideal transfer curve. Good linearity is more difficult to obtain as the number of bits in the ADC increases. Poor linearity can degrade the error detection/correction process. And DC offset can degrade the performance of the phase locked loop in the receiver and of the error correcting decoder, such as the Viterbi decoder.
In the prior art, flash ADCs or successive approximation ADCs are used to sample the baseband signals. Within the flash ADC, the input signal is divided by a resistive ladder to produce L-1 comparison signals, where L=2.sup.m and m is the number of bits in the ADC. The comparison signals are compared against L-1 reference voltages, which are generated by a second resistive ladder, by L-1 comparators. Flash ADCs are bulky and consume high power because L-1 comparators and 2L resistors are required. Flash ADCs can have poor linearity and poor DC offset characteristics if the resistors in the resistive ladder are not matched. However, flash ADCs are popular because of their high operating speed.
Successive approximation ADCs are also popular for communication systems. These ADCs minimize complexity by performing approximations of the input signal over two or more stages. However, these ADCs can also exhibit poor linearity and poor DC offset characteristics similar to those of the flash ADCs. Thus, flash ADCs and successive approximation ADCs are not ideal candidates for use in many communication applications.
Sigma delta analog-to-digital converters (.SIGMA..DELTA. ADCs) have better performance than flash and successive approximation ADCs because of the inherent architecture of the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC performs analog-to-digital conversion of the input signal by making successive one-bit approximations of the input signal at a sampling frequency which is many times higher than the bandwidth of the input signal. The output samples comprise the input signal and the quantization noise. However, the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC can be designed such that the quantization noise in the signal band (e.g. the band where the signal is present) is pushed to out-of-band frequency (or noise shaped) where filtering is more easily performed. The out-of-band quantization noise is normally not an additional concern because filtering is typically provided in communication devices to remove undesired signals, such as jammers.
.SIGMA..DELTA. ADC can provide high dynamic range, good linearity, and low DC offset because of the inherent structure of the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. For example, high dynamic range can be obtained by selecting a sufficient oversampling ratio (OSR) and the proper noise shaping filter characteristic. For bandpass sampling, the oversampling ratio is defined as the sampling frequency divided by the two-sided bandwidth of the input. Additionally, good linearity can be obtained because of the simple one-bit quantizer within the .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC. For bandpass sampling.SIGMA..DELTA. ADC, DC offset is still present but is located away from the desired signal.
Because a high oversampling ratio is required for high performance, .SIGMA..DELTA. ADCs have been traditionally limited to applications where the input signal is a low bandwidth signal, such as audio application. However, with the advent of high speed analog circuits, .SIGMA..DELTA. ADCs can be implemented to operate at high speed. High speed bandpass and baseband .SIGMA..DELTA. ADC designs and implementations are disclosed in detail in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/928,874 entitled "BANDPASS SIGMA-DELTA ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER", filed Sep. 12, 1997, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.

Receiver with sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter for sampling a received signal


A method of preparing a trace element solution includes the steps of providing at least one EDTA-complex, providing a sodium selenite solution, and combining the EDTA-complex(es) and the sodium selenite solution to form a trace element solution. A EDTA complex is prepared by using disodium EDTA or EDTA acid, selenium, and any other suitable mineral.

It has been found that there is a deficiency of certain trace elements in pastures for livestock in particular areas in South Africa and also in other countries. Various suggestions have been made to provide the required trace elements to such animals. Different chemical compounds and complexes have been investigated for applying the trace elements by way of licks, drenches or injections.
In general the problem with injectable solutions is that there are too low concentrations of the minerals in the solutions. This means that relatively large quantities have to be injected, which in turn cause tissue damage and also abscesses at the site of injection. Furthermore, it is generally the case that different trace elements seldomly are individually sufficient. This means that two or more trace element solutions have to be provided by way of separate injections.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,116 (Howard) discloses mineral-containing therapeutic compositions containing EDTA complexes of trace elements. Notably, U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,116 utilises tetra-sodium EDTA, a selenium glycine complex, and metal chlorides for the preparation of the EDTA complexes. Unfortunately, the chloride ions cause contamination and each complex solution is to be made individually. Furthermore, overnight time is required for complexing and heating up afterward to speed up the process requires extra apparatus. If mixtures are required, the individual solutions are to be blocked. If various concentrations as well as compositions are to be made, it can only be done in a cumbersome way, requiring extra apparatus. A further problem may arise when mixtures of high concentration are needed. In certain cases it would be impossible to deliver them, because mixing is always accompanied by dilution.
It is an object of the invention to suggest methods and means for overcoming these problems.
In the specification and claims the expression EDTA refers to ethylene diaminotetraacetic acid (C10,H16O8N2 or (HO2CH2C)2NCH2CH2N-(CH2CO2H)2).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An inventive identification band includes a tube with a constant circular cross-section along the majority of its outer circumference. The tube holds an indicia, and the information on the indicia is magnified by the generally circular shape of the tube. The circular shape also minimizes contact between the band and the wearer. Contact is limited to line contact with the skin, and irritation of the skin is reduced by eliminating any edges which may cut or scrape the skin. A method of forming the identification band includes the steps of cutting a predetermined length of tube, placing an indicia therein, and completing the assembly by inserting an untapered cylindrical plug into each end of the tube.

This invention relates to improved identification bands.
Identification bands have a variety of functions. The most common use of identification bands is in hospitals to identify and provide information on a patient. In hospitals in particular, the patient may often wear the band over an extended period of time. Prior art identification bands are generally flat, increasing contact with the skin. Flat identification bands also include edges which may cut or scrape the skin adjacent to the band. Over an extended period of time these bands can cause irritation to the skin. It would be a great advantage to reduce the contact area by even a small amount, and to eliminate any edges.
One known prior art identification band had a circular cross-section over a portion of its circumference. A generally planar flex section connects two separate tubular cross-section portions. This structure is an improvement over the basic prior art, however, the flex section still results in undesirable amounts of contact, and sharp edges. Further, this prior art device had an integral connecting plug on one of its tubular portions which is received within the other tubular portion. This structure would be undesirably expensive to manufacture.
Such bands may also be used on children during field trips, on people in nursing homes, and even on pets. Many prior art identification bands include complicated structures which make them expensive to manufacture, and difficult to use. Since these bands are used in large numbers, it would be desirable to reduce the costs of the band, and simplify their use.


A portable desk for a laptop computer or similar device. The desk has a rigid panel with a central cutout. Pads are provided on the top surface to receive the computer case to provide friction. Cushions on the underside of the panel engage and stabilize the desk on the user's legs in a sitting position. A mouse pad is hinged to the desk and in a stored position is received in the center cutout and may be deployed to a position adjacent the desk when in use. Heat is dissipated through the central cutout and also along air troughs between the bottom of the case and upper surface of the desk. In one embodiment, the desk may be provided with folding legs which may be deployed to impart an inclination to the working surface. The desk is compact, lightweight and can be conveniently stored in a carrying case alongside the computer when not in use.

Over recent years the computer industry has significantly reduced the size of personal computers to provide users with portable devices. As a result, many computer users now rely on notebook or laptop computers which, because of their portability, allow users to work while traveling or when away from the office of home. Advancements in the speed of micro processing chips, battery technology and increased storage capacity have resulted in portable computer devices which are small, light weight and possess the processing capability of earlier desktop PC's.
Because of their portability, these computers are frequently used in locations such as on airplanes, at seminars, in classrooms, between classes and other locations which require the user to operate the notebook or laptop computer by placing the computer in their lap. Typically the portable computer is positioned on the user's lap and the user is required to stabilize the computer in this position while either entering commands by a keyboard or by a mouse. The user is required to balance the computer on his or her knees while performing computing operations which require a great deal of balance and dexterity. While the portable computer provides convenience and accessibility, using a computer in this manner can be awkward, uncomfortable and may also impose excessive strain on the hands and arm muscles of the user due to the position of the computer. It is difficult to maintain a computer in this position and it is not unusual for a computer to slide from a user's lap onto a floor surface causing damage to the computer.
Another problem which occurs with using laptop computers in this way is discomfort and fatigue to the arms and hands. Resting the computer directly on the user's lap can also result in discomfort due to a substantial amount of heat dissipated from the computer. Because users of portable computers are faced with these difficulties, there has developed a need for a laptop table or desk for supporting a laptop computer during use. The prior art contains a number of patents on such devices and a number of products are available which attempt to address this problem but, in most cases, these devices do not satisfactorily solve the various problems discussed above.
The Laptop Desk is commercially available and it is plastic and folds for storage. The product has non-skid rubber on its top and bottom surfaces which will grip the clothes and the computer. When deployed, the Laptop Desk will hold the laptop and will also accommodate a mouse and other devices, such as a cell phone and the size of the computer.
Sharper Image offers a product called the Lap Dog which is a laptop computer carrying case and includes zippered bags which unfold across the user's legs to provide balance and stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,241 shows an apparatus which is a laptop stand and comprises a concave member having a first portion and a second portion to receive the computer. The first portion is at a height which is substantially higher than the second portion. The invention cantilevers the laptop for cooling. The device is intended to provide cooling and not necessarily intended for use on the lap of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,869 shows a lap table for a portable computer having a supple body with a filling material. The filling material may be an inflating gas or Styrofoam beads. The table includes a wall integral with the top surface that receives a footprint of the portable computer and exerts a securing force on the computer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,652 discloses a laptop computer support for supporting a laptop computer on the lap of a user and is adjustable within a defined range of support surfaces angles. The device has three or more hinged panels which can be selectively folded and secured relative to one another in a preferred operational configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,360 relates to a laptop portable computer desk which is supported on web strapping that passes over the upper legs of the operator when seated. The strapping is attached to foldable and telescopic sides and center supports of the structure that slide into and fold over the structure forming a package comparable in size to the computer.
The above are representative of the various approaches found in the prior art but nevertheless do not provide satisfactory designs which alleviate the problems outlined above.

Juggernaut Design, LLC AZ limited liability company


Various embodiments of a computer system employing bundled prefetching are disclosed. In one embodiment, a cache memory subsystem implements a method for prefetching data. The method comprises the cache memory subsystem receiving a read request to access a line of data and determining that a cache miss with respect to the line occurred. The method further comprises transmitting a bundled transaction on a system interconnect in response to the cache miss, wherein the bundled transaction combines a request for the line of data and a prefetch request. In response to the bundled transaction, the method further comprises determining that a second cache is an owner of the first line of data, determining whether the second cache is also an owner for any of the selected lines of data beyond the first line, the second cache transmitting to the first cache any of the selected lines for which the second cache is an owner, and the second cache transmitting a null-data packet to the first cache for each of a remainder of the selected lines of data for which the second cache is not an owner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of multiprocessor computer systems and, more particularly, to mechanisms and methods for prefetching data in multiprocessor computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cache-based computer architectures are typically associated with various features to support efficient utilization of the cache memory. A cache memory is a high-speed memory unit interposed in a memory hierarchy between a slower system memory and the microprocessor to improve effective memory transfer rates and, accordingly, improve system performance. The name refers to the fact that the small memory unit is essentially hidden and appears transparent to the user, who is aware only of a larger system memory.
An important consideration in the design of a cache memory subsystem is the choice of key design parameters, such as cache line size, degree of subblocking, cache associativity, prefetch strategy, etc. The problem in finding an "optimum setting" for these design parameters is that while improving one property, some others may be degraded. For example, an excessively small cache line may result in a relatively high number of capacity misses and in relatively high address traffic. A slightly longer cache line often decreases the cache miss rate and address traffic, while the data bandwidth increases. Enlarging the cache lines even more can result in increased data traffic as well as increased address traffic, since misses caused by false sharing may start to dominate. A further complication is that application behavior can differ greatly. A setting which works well for one application may work poorly for another.
Much research effort has been devoted to reducing the number of cache misses using various latency-hiding and latency-avoiding techniques, such as prefetching. Numerous prefetching schemes have been proposed, both software-based and hardware-based.
Software prefetching relies on inserting prefetch instructions in the code. This results in an instruction overhead, as well as resulting address traffic and snoop lookups.
Hardware prefetching techniques require hardware modifications to the cache controller to speculatively bring additional data into the cache. They often rely on detecting regularly accessed strides. A common approach to avoid unnecessary prefetches in multiprocessors is to adapt the amount of prefetching at run time. These proposals introduce small caches that detect the efficiency of prefetches based on the data structure accessed. Systems have been proposed to predict the instruction stream with a look-ahead program counter. A cache-like reference predictor table may be used to keep previous predictions of instructions. Correct branch prediction is needed for successful prefetching.
Another hardware prefetch approach is to exploit spatial locality by fetching data close to the originally used cache line. A larger cache line size can achieve this. Unfortunately, enlarging the cache line size is not as efficient in multiprocessor systems as in uniprocessor systems since it can lead to a large amount of false sharing and an increase in data traffic. The influence of cache line size on cache miss rate and data traffic has been the focus of various research. To avoid false sharing and at the same time take advantage of spatial locality, sequential prefetching fetches a number of cache lines having consecutive addresses on a read cache miss. The number of additional cache lines to fetch on each miss is called the prefetch degree.
A fixed sequential prefetch scheme issues prefetches to the K consecutive cache lines on each cache read miss. If the consecutive cache lines are not already present in a readable state in the cache, a prefetch message for each missing cache line is generated on the interconnect. The prefetch degree K is fixed to a positive integer in this scheme.
An adaptive sequential prefetch scheme is similar to the fixed sequential prefetch scheme, except that the prefetch degree K can be varied during run time. The prefetch degree is varied based on the success of previous prefetches. For example, one approach derives an optimal value of K by counting the number of useful prefetches. The protocol uses two counters that keep track of the total number of prefetches and the number of useful accesses to prefetched cache lines. Prefetched cache lines are tagged for later detection. Every sixteenth prefetch the useful prefetch counter is checked. If the number of useful prefetches is larger than twelve, K, is incremented. K is decremented if the number of useful prefetches is lower than eight or divided by two if less than three prefetches are useful. The scheme also has a method of turning prefetching on, since no detection can be carried out if the prefetch degree is lowered such that no prefetches are performed.
While most existing prefetch techniques efficiently reduce the amount of cache misses, they also increase the address traffic and snoop lookups, which are scarce resources in a shared-memory multiprocessor. This is especially true for systems based on snooping coherence, where each device has to perform a cache lookup for every global address transaction. The address networks of systems based on directory coherence are more scalable, since the address transactions are sent point-to-point. Still, systems based on snooping are often preferred because of their superior cache-to-cache transfer time. There is typically no difference in scalability of the data network between systems based on snooping coherence and systems based on directory coherence, since data packets can be sent point-to-point in both cases. Indeed, many commercial snoop-based systems have been built where the data network handles 50 percent more traffic than the available snoop bandwidth supports.
Thus, although various prefetch strategies have been successful in reducing the miss penalty in multiprocessing systems, it would be desirable to implement prefetching in a manner that reduces the cache miss rate without causing appreciable increases in address traffic and snoop lookups.

Computer system employing bundled prefetching and null-data packet transmission


Provided herein are processes for the preparation of 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles and salts thereof comprising reacting a N-hydroxyamidine with an acyl chloride in a reaction mixture comprising a water-immiscible organic solvent and an aqueous base at relatively low reaction temperatures.

1,2,4-Oxadiazoles, and in particular, 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles, have been shown to have biological activity in pharmaceutical and agricultural fields. For example, 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles are disclosed as disease suppression and treatment agents (U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,096), as therapeutic agents for hepatitis C (Pub. No. US 2005/0075375 A1), and for nematode control in agriculture (Pub. No. US 2009/0048311 A1).
3,5-Disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles can be prepared in a number of ways. One is preparation of 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles via reaction of an aryl amide oxime and an acyl chloride (Pub. No. US 2008/0269236 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,678,922, Pub. No. US 2008/0113961 A1, JP 2008120794 and Bioorg. Med Chem Lett. 19, 4410). Another method for preparation of 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles is reaction of a benzamide oxime or propionamidoxime with a carboxylic acid or ester (WO 2011/141326, WO 2012/012477, and WO 2011/085406). Other routes to 3,5-disubsituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles include reaction of a benzamide with a Weinreb amide (Pub. No. US 2010/0048648 A1) and reaction of a hydroxyamyl halide and a nitrile (U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,742).
While methods for preparing 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles exist, alternative routes that may result in a more efficient synthesis are highly desirable. In particular, synthetic processes with fewer isolation steps and/or solvents can be more efficient and less expensive. In addition, processes that reduce and/or eliminate solids handling, reduce reaction time and/or use fewer reaction intermediates can significantly reduce capital equipment expenditures in large scale manufacturing. Finally, the use of milder reaction conditions (e.g. lower temperatures) may prevent degradation of desired intermediates and products resulting in fewer unwanted side products and ultimately a better product purity profile.
Citation of any reference above is not to be construed as an admission that such reference is prior art to the present application.

Processes for the preparation of 3,5-disubstituted-1,2,4-oxadiazoles