A moveable media dam comprises a media dam rotatably connected to a dam shaft, the dam shaft extending from a lever. An arm has at least one camming member and the lever is engaged by the at least one camming member. The arm operably engages a gear train and further comprises an arm ring disposed over a gear of the gear train. The media dam is moveable between a first and second position. The device functions to clear a media feed zone and align leading edges of media sheets in order to inhibit multi-sheet feeds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a moveable media or paper dam. More specifically, the present invention provides a moveable media dam for a peripheral device which clears media from a feed zone and aligns leading edges of a stack of input media thereby inhibiting multi-sheet feeds.
2. Description of the Related Art
L-path media feed systems have been used for media handling devices such as stand-alone printers and multi-functions devices. In L-path media feed systems, the input media is positioned at the rear of the device in a nearly vertical orientation. The L-path media feed system further comprises a substantially horizontal output tray and a printing zone defined between the input tray and the output tray. The media is moved through a feed path from the near vertical orientation to a substantially horizontal orientation. Thus when viewed from a side, the media moves through a substantially L-shaped path.
However, L-path media feeds have several shortcomings. First, L-path media feed devices have a large height dimension because of the input tray extending upwardly from the peripheral to support input media. Thus, placement of the device on a shelf or cabinet may be difficult. In addition, media loading may also be problematic when the peripheral is placed within the shelf or cabinet because the media generally extends above the input tray. Second, since the media extends above the input tray it is visible to those around the machine, which is generally not aesthetically pleasing to many users. Finally, L-path media feeds are prone to multi-sheet feed problems because of the orientation of the input media. More specifically, the input media is continuously forced downward into a pick area by gravity due to the nearly vertical orientation of the media. As a result of the continuous force on the input media, friction bucklers are utilized to inhibit movement of more than one sheet of media from the input tray to a feed area. However, the friction bucklers may mark and/or bend the media in addition to being an added expense to manufacturers and consumer.
Alternatively, a C-path media feed has also been used in printers and multifunction devices. In general, a C-path media feed utilizes a substantially horizontally disposed input tray adjacent a substantially horizontally disposed output tray and because of this orientation friction bucklers may be removed. Typically, the input tray is positioned beneath the output tray and, as such, is also known as a bottom loading device. The feed path is generally curved from the input tray to the print zone and further to the output tray in order to move the media through a print zone and from a side resembles a substantially C-shaped path. Due to the construction of the C-path media feed, the height of the peripheral or printer is generally decreased because the large upwardly extending media tray used with L-path media feeds is removed. Further, the media is generally hidden from view within the interior of the printer or multi-function device, which is aesthetically pleasing. Finally, with the input tray oriented horizontally, the C-path feed device reduces multi-sheet feed problems due to gravity which are typically associated with L-path media feeds.
Upon changing to a C-path feed system and removing the friction bucklers a further difficulty has arisen. When the friction bucklers are removed, a user may not receive positive feedback that the media is completely inserted into the media tray. Previously such feedback was provided by the bucklers. Without such positive feedback, the user may force the media beyond the rear wall of the input tray and into the feed zone resulting in multi-sheet feeds and media jams. This is highly unacceptable.
Also problematic are multi-sheet feeds of next-to-top sheets caused by friction induced creep. When printing or scanning is performed by a media feed system the media may be continuously fed one sheet after another, starting with an uppermost sheet of the media stack. However, prior art media feeding mechanisms tend to simultaneously feed more than one sheet of the media which is commonly referred to as friction induced creep. The media creep of the next-to-top sheets is generally caused by friction between the uppermost sheet and the next-to-top sheets. Specifically, as the top sheet is picked from an input tray, the next-to-top sheet or sheets, are often partially drawn into the feed mechanism by frictional forces between the top fed sheet and those beneath it. If these next-to-top sheets are not cleared from the feed zone, then multiple sheets may be drawn into the feed zone during a pick cycle resulting in a multi-sheet feed. Multi-sheet feeds are a common problem associated with printers, copiers and other peripheral devices having media feed mechanisms.
Given the foregoing, it will be appreciated that an apparatus is needed which provides a user with positive feedback that a media stack is fully inserted into a media tray. It is further appreciated that a device is needed which aligns the leading edges of the media stack between sheets feeds to negate the effects of media creep and thereby inhibit multi-sheet feeds.


An instant service method and apparatus for deficit-round-robin (DRR) data packet scheduling are provided. The method includes servicing a current flow according to packet scheduling; activating a new flow according to an input of a new data packet; servicing the new flow immediately when the current flow service is completed; and servicing a next flow when the new flow service is completed. The apparatus includes a packet memory; a flow information storage; an active list processor; a main controller; and an output part.

1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention generally relate to flow service for data packet scheduling, and more particularly, to instant service for deficit-round-robin (DRR) data packet scheduling which is applied to a packet switching network, in which, when a new flow is activated within a service time of a current flow, the new flow is serviced immediately after the service time termination of the current flow and a next flow is serviced according to the flow scheduling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, service bandwidths are reserved with respect to a unit of traffic which is called a flow in a packet switching network where data packets are transmitted and received. To guarantee the reserved service bandwidth, the packet switching network applies the bandwidth accurately assigned, to the traffic of a specific flow using a scheduling algorithm. An example of the scheduling algorithm is a deficit round robin (DRR).
The DRR services the active flows in a round-robin manner. For instance, a packet switching device stores each flow of incoming data packets, and a scheduler services the flows in sequence according to the packet scheduling. The packet switching device reads out the data packets in each flow to be serviced from a memory and queues the read data packets. In doing so, a size of the packets to be serviced is compared with a predefined quantum for each flow. When the packet size is smaller than the quantum, the packets are serviced. Next, the packet size is subtracted from the quantum and the resultant value is stored as a deficit counter value. By contrast, when the packet size is greater than the quantum, packets are not serviced but may be serviced in the next round. In the next round, the size of the packets to be serviced is again compared with a summation of a distributed control (DC) value and the quantum value for each flow. When the packet size is smaller than the summation of the DC value and the quantum value, the packets are serviced. When the packet size is greater than the summation of the DC value and the quantum value, the packets are carried forward to the next round.
When servicing the data packets by flows in the DRR, a controller controls the output from an output port according to linked list information stored in a register. The linked list information includes information relating to a header flow, information relating to a tail flow, information relating to service order links between flows, and the like. For instance, as shown in FIG. 1, when a flow 101, a flow 102, a flow 103, a flow 104, and a flow 105 are serviced in sequence from an output of an output port, the flow 101 is designated to the header flow and the flow 105 is designated to the tail flow. The flow 101 is linked to the flow 102 as the next turn, and the flow 102 is linked to the flow 103 as the next turn. The flow 103 is linked to the flow 104 as the next turn, and the flow 104 is linked to the flow 105 as the next turn. The flow 105, which is the tail flow, is linked to the flow 101 being the header flow. The linked list information includes such information, and the controller controls the outputting from the output of the output port according to the linked list information.
In case that a new data packet is input to the packet switching device and a new flow 106 is activated accordingly, the controller designates the new flow 106 to the tail flow and adds it to the linked list information. According to the linked list information, the flow 101, the flow 102, the flow 103, the flow 104, and the flow 105 are serviced in order, and then the new flow 106 is serviced. However, disadvantageously, maximum latency is raised because, if at the moment the flow is activated the flow 101 was being served, the time the flow 106 has to wait for service is unnecessarily large. In this case it can be considered that the penalty is given to the new flow 106 until the other flows are serviced. Thus, the quality of service (QoS) is reduced in the multimedia transmission in the packet switching network.

Instant service method for deficit-round-robin (DRR) data packet scheduling


A system and method are disclosed for distributing and exchanging elements for planning and/or operating automation operating equipment, which include at least one interface device, at least one processing device and at least one data store, wherein the interface device effects an integrated connection to at least one engineering tool and/or an integrated link to at least one engineering tool such that functionalities of the at least one interface device and of the at least one processing device can be retrieved from the respective engineering tool and carried out. The respective processing device, the respective interface device, and the respective engineering tool, elements created and/or marked by a first engineering tool can be transferred to the respective processing device and processed and/or can be made available on the at least one data store to be retrieved and/or to be transferred to and/or implemented in at least one second engineering tool.

Creation and implementation of control logic units or of control logic elements can be comparatively elaborate and difficult on account of the generally ever more complex tasks and increasing demands, including the requisite tests for operation, suitability, safety and reliability. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, it would therefore be desirable for such elements to be interchanged and reused and/or used more than once.
Known methods and systems have afforded only limited and inadequate options in this regard to date.
Thus, at least two areas for the reuse of code elements are currently known. One is a method for producing and distributing libraries, and the other is "personal reuse" or individual, person-related reuse of solutions which have already been produced once, for example by "copy and paste".
The creation and maintenance or care of libraries can be very elaborate and subject to comparatively high costs. The setup and activation thereof in the respective organization or organization structure can be comparatively complex.
In the area of automation-engineering installations, the personal reuse of elements, for example, of logic elements, and hence also the "copy and paste" approach, can be used primarily when there are separate options for accessing such elements, for example, when the respective engineer has elements available from his own, earlier approaches to solutions and/or his own earlier projects for which it is known how they act and what they trigger.
Systematized and organized access to, for example, validated control logic elements for the planning and operation of automation-engineering resources has not been available with known systems and methods to date.
As a result, the disclosure provides an option for efficient and systematic interchange of, for example, control logic fragments and elements for the planning and operation of automation-engineering resources.

System and method for distributing and exchanging elements for planning and/or for operating automation operating equipment


Apparatus (12) for storing robotic tooling for vehicle body sheet metal robotic assembly operates a robot to transfer robotic tooling between an assembly station and a rotary storage rack (56) of a storage rack assembly (28). The storage rack (56) has vertically spaced storage locations and is rotated about a vertical axis to provide circumferentially spaced storage locations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for storing robotic tooling used for vehicle body sheet metal robotic assembly.
2. Background Art
Robots are conventionally used in vehicle body sheet metal assembly stations at which formed sheet metal parts are processed to provide assembly to each other. The processing is performed by the robots utilizing robotic tooling much of which involves end effectors that are mounted on the end of a robot arm to provide the required processing. More specifically, such robotic tooling conventionally includes welding heads which may be either of the laser or electric resistance type, adhesive applicators, sealant providers, material handling tooling, and part position tooling, etc. Often, any particular robot can perform more than one function such that the tooling utilized at the end of its robot arm has to be switched, which results in the need for storage and retrieval. In the past, such storage and retrieval has required considerable factory floor space, which is increased by flexible manufacturing when different model vehicle bodies are assembled at the same assembly station and thus necessitate more robotic tool switching.
Prior art patents noted by an investigation conducted in accordance with the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,815 Toyoda; U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,716 Bytow; U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,353 Monforte; U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,194 Schneider; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,145 Pollington et al.; and United States Published Application 2004/0167001 Hagihara et al.

Method and apparatus for storing robotic tooling for vehicle body sheet metal robotic assembly


The invention concerns a method for installing a hatch (34) to a subsea structure (10) by connecting the hatch to the subsea structure by at least one hinge (20) having a first mounting portion (21), a second mounting portion (22), a flexible portion (23) interconnecting the first and second mounting portion allowing a pivot connection between the first and second mounting portion. The installation steps comprise •—inserting a protrusion (23) of the first mounting portion (21) into an installation hole arranged in the subsea structure (10), •—inserting a protrusion (24) of the second mounting portion (22) into an installation hole arranged in the hatch (34), thereby •—engaging the first mounting portion (21) of the hinge (20) for anchorage with the subsea structure (10) and engaging the second mounting portion (22) for anchorage with the hatch (34) thereby arranging for the hatch to pivot between a closed and an open position about a pivot axis provided by the flexible portion of the hinge. The invention also concerns a hinge and an assembly for subsea use.

For access to the inside of these subsea structures hatches are normally provided in the roof or in a side portion of subsea structures.
The roof of the subsea structures may be made of a metallic material such as steel, of a composite such as a polymer composite or a combination of metal and composite. The hatch may be made in a light weight material such as Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GRP).
In accordance with prior art solutions a metallic hinge such as a steel hinge has customary been used for connecting the hatches to the roof of the subsea structures. The steel hinges are welded to the roof of the subsea structures which also may be made in a metallic material (for instance steel) and cathodic protection thus needs to be provided. Hinges made in Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GRP) have been suggested as an alternative to steel hinges. However with this suggested solution the GPR hinges need to be bolted to the hatch with bolts fabricated in a corrosion resistant material.
Currently a demand has evoked for subsea structures being provided in light weight material to reduce the weight of the subsea structures. Parts of or the whole of the subsea structures is made in a light weight material. The hatch may also be provided in a light weight material and this opens up the possibility for providing the hinge with a lower structural strength than the conventionally made hinge which is made to carry the weight of heavier material.
Various publications describe hinges made in another material than metal: DE4031665 shows a hinge with two attachment portions provided with pins to be pressed into holes of door panels making up a folding door. The hinge has a flexible portion connecting the two attachment portions and when mounted to the door panels, the flexible portion allows for articulated movement to take place when folding or unfolding the door.
The following documents show various examples of hinges made in a polymer material and having two attachment portions interconnected with a flexible member to obtain a pivoting movement when connected to structural elements: GB2162576 DE1238977 DE1964115 FR2885934, FR2951234, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,670,938, 4,574,425, JPH06307149, GB1022636 and GB1007683.
Within the subsea field, there is a today need for providing cost reducing solutions and thus an incentive to develop optimized and simplified solutions while at the same time satisfying the overall requirements for the aforementioned subsea use.
The object of the invention is to provide a solution that has low weight and low manufacturing costs. A further object of the invention is to provide a versatile solution that is easily applicable for use with various kind of subsea structures. The avoidance of costly arrangements to avoid corrosion has also incurred the development of the current solution.

Method for installing a hatch to a subsea structure, hinge and assembly for subsea use


An enhanced migration descriptor migrates a plurality of source sub-pages in a large source page accessible by direct memory access devices. A splitter and selector are integrated into a configuration of a computer. Responsive to a request to migrate a large page containing the plurality of source sub-pages in the source page, the splitter divides a plurality of high order page numbers from a plurality of low order page numbers. The selector selects the high order page number of the large page and creates an enhanced migration descriptor comprising the high order page number and a size of the large page. The selector, by the enhanced migration descriptor, combines the low order page number for a sub-page with the destination address and size of the enhanced migration descriptor to migrate the large page and each of the plurality of sub-pages.

1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to the data processing field and more specifically to migrating a source page containing a plurality of contiguous sub-pages that are subject to access by input/output devices, by means of a splitter, a selector, and an enhanced migration descriptor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reconfiguration of a computer system may be performed while the computer system is running. Doing so, however, frequently necessitates that data processing operations be disrupted. For example, if multiple operating systems are running on a computer, there may be a need to reallocate a block of memory being used by a first operating system so that it may be used by a second operating system. Traditionally, this situation has required that the first operating system stop using the block of physical memory before it is reallocated. As another example, when a problem is detected in a block of physical memory, it may be desirable to remove the memory from operation so it can be replaced. Again, the operating system that was using the block of memory must stop using it during the replacement process.
A computer system may often be reconfigured without disrupting data processing operations by using virtual memory management mechanisms that are available in current operating systems. These mechanisms, however, are not satisfactory when the block of memory to be moved is subject to access by input/output (I/O) devices, commonly referred to as direct memory access (DMA). In particular, blocks of memory that are subject to access by I/O devices are conventionally "pinned," that is, exempted from being moved, because access to them is maintained by essentially endless I/O programs that run as long as the operating system runs; and it would be disruptive to the system to stop such an I/O program.
It is possible to invalidate an I/O address translation entry for a block of memory (also referred to as a "page") that is to be migrated. Then, if an I/O device were to attempt to access the page, the invalid translation entry would cause an I/O page fault to be reported and the I/O device driver would have to respond. That is, the driver would restart the I/O operation after the page again becomes available. In order for this procedure to work, however, the device drivers of all I/O devices that could possibly have access to the page would have to implement I/O page fault recovery code, which is not a practical solution.
Prior mechanisms for migrating data subject to access by I/O devices have the problems discussed above. One solution involves a mechanism for migrating data in which DMA operations for I/O adapters that access the data being migrated are disabled for a short period of time. While this mechanism is effective in many applications, the industry standard PCI-E bus does not contain a mechanism for temporarily disabling DMA operations without adversely affecting other transfers to/from an I/O adapter.
Another solution, that allows migration of data without temporarily disabling DMA operations, is to use multiple migration descriptors. Methods to implement multiple descriptor functionality were originally disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/380,052. As will be explained further below, the method of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/380,052 requires the creation of a migration descriptor for each I/O mapped logical page that covers a real address range to be migrated.
Thus, when a block of data covers multiple real address ranges, a migration descriptor is required for each I/O mapped logical page covering a real address range to be migrated. In other words, a large page can have a number of sub-pages, each of the sub-pages having a different real address range. Presently, each of these source sub-pages requires its own migration descriptor in order to be migrated to a corresponding destination sub-page in a destination page. The allocation and management of multiple migration descriptors, where a migration descriptor is required for each I/O mapped logical page, introduces a significant overhead into the memory migration process. Therefore, a need exists for a way to migrate data without the memory load caused by multiple migration descriptors.

Enhanced memory migration descriptor format and method

International Business Machines Corporation


At least one method, apparatus and system disclosed herein involves performing power reduction process on a FinFET device. A first design is provided. The first design comprises a process mask definition, a FinFET device that comprises a plurality of fins characterized by said process mask, and a timing requirement relating to an operation of said FinFET device. A timing parameter of said operation of said FinFET device is determined. Based upon said timing parameter, a determination is made as to whether a drive capability of said FinFET device is above a level required to maintain said timing requirement. The process mask is modified for reducing at least one of said fins in response to said determining that said drive capability is above said level required to maintain said timing requirement.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to the manufacture of sophisticated semiconductor devices, and, more specifically, to various methods of reducing power consumption in semiconductor devices, such as FINFET devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of advanced integrated circuits, such as CPU's, storage devices, ASIC's (application specific integrated circuits) and the like, requires the formation of a large number of circuit elements in a given chip area according to a specified circuit layout, wherein so-called metal oxide field effect transistors (MOSFETs or FETs) represent one important type of circuit element that substantially determines performance of the integrated circuits. A FET is a device that typically includes a source region, a drain region, a channel region that is positioned between the source region and the drain region, and a gate electrode positioned above the channel region. Current flow through the FET is controlled by controlling the voltage applied to the gate electrode. If a voltage that is less than the threshold voltage of the device is applied to the gate electrode, then there is no current flow through the device (ignoring undesirable leakage currents, which are relatively small). However, when a voltage that is equal to or greater than the threshold voltage of the device is applied to the gate electrode, the channel region becomes conductive, and electrical current is permitted to flow between the source region and the drain region through the conductive channel region.
To improve the operating speed of FETs, and to increase the density of FETs on an integrated circuit device, device designers have greatly reduced the physical size of FETs over the years. More specifically, the channel length of FETs has been significantly decreased, which has resulted in improving the switching speed of FETs. However, decreasing the channel length of a FET also decreases the distance between the source region and the drain region. In some cases, this decrease in the separation between the source and the drain makes it difficult to efficiently inhibit the electrical potential of the channel from being adversely affected by the electrical potential of the drain. This is sometimes referred to as a so-called short channel effect, wherein the characteristic of the FET as an active switch is degraded.
In contrast to a planar FET, which has a planar structure, there are so-called 3D devices, such as an illustrative FinFET device, which is a 3-dimensional structure. More specifically, in a FinFET, a generally vertically positioned, fin-shaped active area is formed and a gate electrode encloses both of the sides and the upper surface of the fin-shaped active area to form a tri-gate structure so as to use a channel having a 3-dimensional structure instead of a planar structure. In some cases, an insulating cap layer, e.g., silicon nitride, is positioned at the top of the fin and the FinFET device only has a dual-gate structure.
FinFET designs use "fins" that may be formed on the surface of a semiconductor wafer using selective-etching processes. The fins may be used to form a raised channel between the gate and the source and drain of a transistor. The gate is then deposited such that it wraps around the fin to form a trigate structure. Since the channel is extremely thin, the gate would generally have a greater control over the carriers within. However, when the transistor is switched on, the shape of the channel may limit the current flow. Therefore, multiple fins may be used in parallel to provide greater current flow for increased drive strength.
FIG. 1 illustrates a stylized cross-sectional depiction of a state-of-the-art FinFET device. A FinFET device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a plurality of "fins" 110. The semiconductor device may be position to a vertical orientation, creating one or more fins 110. The source and drain of the FinFET are placed horizontally along the fin. A high-k metal gate 120 wraps over the fin, covering it on three sides. The gate 120 defines the length of the FinFET device. The current flow occurs along an orthogonal crystal plane in a direction parallel to the plane of the semiconductor wafer. The electrically significant height of the fin (labeled H) is typically determined by the amount of oxide recess in the fin reveal step and hence is constant for all fins 110.
The thickness of the fin (labeled Tfi) determines the short channel behavior of the transistor device and is usually small in comparison with the height H of the fin 110. The pitch (labeled P) of the fins is determined by lithographic constraints and dictates the wafer area to implement the desired device width. A small value of the pitch P and a large value of the height H enable a better packing of the devices per square area resulting in a denser design, or more efficient use of silicon wafer area.
Unlike a planar FET, in a FinFET device, a channel is formed perpendicular to a surface of the semiconducting substrate so as to reduce the depletion width under the channel and thereby reduce so-called short channel effects. Also, in a FinFET, the junction capacitance at the drain region of the device is greatly reduced, which tends to reduce at least some short channel effects. However, FinFET devices still exhibit some performance-limiting characteristics. One such characteristic that is detrimental to all forms of semiconductor devices, both FinFETs and planar FETs, is off-state leakage currents. Ideally, off-state leakage current is minimized to increase device performance.
FinFET technology has emerged as a solution to reduce problems associated with leakage currents, gate leakage, excessive power consumption, etc. Compared to conventional MOSFET technology, FinFET technology can offer superior short channel effects. For example, FinFET technology may allow for more efficient flow of carriers through the channel underneath the gate electrode, therefore, efficiently turning off the FinFET transistor.
One problem associated with the FinFET device is that the freedom to select the drive strength is reduced. The drive strength can only be improved during layout by adding more fins. Therefore, the effective width of the FinFET device may become quantized. Generally, at least two fins are formed in FinFET devices, sometimes more. Due to the dense nature of modern semiconductor devices, a large number of fins may be present. The fins may cause high active power-consumption.
In a FINFET, the device-width quantum is determined by the height H of the fin, with each fin providing 2H of device width. With such quantization in device width, it becomes more difficult to achieve desired beta ratios using FinFETs, which places a constraint on the power-performance tradeoffs associated with the designs.
State-of-the-art solutions include fine-tuning various blocks formed on a semiconductor device, such as a FINFET device for lower power. However, these state-of-the-art solutions may require redesigning the layout of the semiconductor device after an analysis of the performance-power tradeoff parameters is performed. The redesign cycle would generally cause delays and expense during the manufacturing and testing processes. For example, an estimate of the amount of current flow (saturation drain current) may be made during the design stage of a semiconductor device. Based upon this estimate, a number of fins may be designed into the FinFET device. However, after the product design, a better understanding of the floor plan and the routing of the device is obtained, which leads to a better estimate of the amount of current flow. Upon this new, more accurate estimate, it may be apparent that the number of fins that were used in the design may be excessive in some portions of the semiconductor device, thereby causing needless power consumption in the semiconductor device. However, changing the design or the product to correct this problem at this stage may be time consuming and costly.
The present disclosure may address and/or at least reduce one or more of the problems identified above.

Methods, apparatus and system for reduction of power consumption in a semiconductor device


In a VCR including a timer microprocessor for counting capstan frequency signals or reel pulses from a VCR mechanism and a system control unit for communicating with the timer microprocessor and supplying predetermined signals to the VCR mechanism and a servo system, a method for executing predetermined assembly programs adapted to assembly edit several recorded programs according to the order desired and inserting titles in respective recorded programs. In order to carry out title inserting for respective recorded programs during execution of predetermined assembly programs, a memory is provided which is adapted to store data corresponding to the assembly programs and titles of recorded programs, in accordance with the control of timer microprocessor. In accordance with the method and apparatus, titles can be automatically and conveniently inserted in respective recorded programs during the execution of predetermined assembly programs, thereby avoiding any poor screen quality caused by repeated playback and recording of programs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for automatically inserting program titles in VCR, and more particularly to method and apparatus for automatically inserting program titles in predetermined positions between title start and end points of assembly-edited recorded contents in VCR.
2. Description of Prior Art
FIG. 1, show a conventional VCR with a function of assembly editing recorded contents. The VCR comprises a timer microprocessor 1 for counting output signals from a capstan frequency signal generator or a reel pulse generator (not shown) which constitutes a part of VCR mechanism 4 for carrying out inserting, ejecting, loading and unloading operations for a VCR tape; a system control unit 2 adapted for continuously communicating with said timer microprocessor and generating control signals so that the VCR can accomplish normal functions (Play, Fast Forward, Rewind and Reverse modes); and a servo system 3 for controlling the speed and phase of VCR mechanism 4 according to the control of said system control unit 2 so that the VCR mechanism 4 can carry out inserting, ejecting, loading and unloading operations for VCR tape, in accordance with the control of said servo system 3. The VCR also comprises a display unit 5 for displaying function conditions of VCR and time; an on-screen display control circuit 6 for displaying characters by its overlapping on a screen played back from a VCR tape according to the control of timer microprocessor 1 or a TV screen displayed through a tuner; a key signal input unit 7 for supplying various key signals for assembly editing recorded programs and automatically inserting titles into respective recorded programs; and a remote controller signal receiving unit 8 for receiving various signals outputted from a remote controller (not shown) to perform required functions and for transmitting them to the timer microprocessor 1. The assembly editing procedure for recorded programs in the above-mentioned arrangement will now be described in conjunction with FIG. 2.
First, when respective recorded programs which have been recorded according to the order of A, D, C, B and E are desired to be edited according to the order of A', B', C', D', and E', they are played back according to the original recording order while start point and end point of each recorded program is reset in the order desired, according to the assembly program. Thereafter, the programs are recorded again.
At this time, the start and end points of each recorded program is determined by using counted values of the timer microprocessor 1 counting output signals from a real time counter or reel pulse counter which outputs respective time signals converted from frequency signals generated by a capstan. If a title should be inserted into the screen of each program, under the condition that the assembly editing of recorded programs is executed according to the order desired, as above-mentioned, the title inserting position is accurately preset on the screen of each recorded program by using a jog or shuttle disposed at external while the programs are played back. Then, the title making routine of the on-screen display main routine is executed to make the title of each recorded program. The formed title is inserted in the preset title inserting position, and then the recording of program is executed.
Thereafter, respective recorded contents in which titles have been inserted are played back according to the order of A", B", C", D", and E".
The above-mentioned prior art requires one recording process for assembly editing recorded programs according to the order desired, which programs were originally recorded in the VCR tape according to a certain order, and another recording process for inserting respective titles in the predetermined positions of respective assembled programs. As a result, the obtained screen quality becomes poor since the title-inserted programs are obtained by the twice recordings.
Furthermore, there is an inconvenience, because for accomplishing the functions for assembly editing and title inserting of recorded programs, all steps of assembly editing recorded programs, presetting respective title inserting positions of programs, making titles and playing back respective title-inserted programs are manually and repeatedly carried out.

Method and apparatus for automatically inserting titles for video programs on video tape


Systems and methods are provided herein for restraining sink and shower handles. In a first aspect of a sink handle restraint, a first sink handle cuff fits over a first sink handle of a sink faucet, and a second sink handle cuff fits over a second sink handle of the sink faucet. The first sink handle cuff and second sink handle cuff slide along an elongated element that locks the first sink handle cuff and second sink handle cuff into place, preventing the first and second sink handles from being rotated into an “on” position.

Generally, control handles for residential sink and shower water valves are within reach of small children. A child that can reach a water valve control handle for a sink or shower may trigger undesired water use that can cause overflow of water, scalding, or even drowning. Reports have shown that significant numbers of children have been scalded due to excessively hot water and have drowned in bathtubs. Many of these injuries and deaths have occurred when a caregiver was not present and many could have been prevented. A device that prevents such accidents is needed.
It is with respect to these and other general considerations that embodiments have been disclosed herein. Also, although relatively specific problems have been discussed, it should be understood that the embodiments should not be limited to solving the specific problems identified in the background.


Described are in vivo methods for testing the activity of vitamin D.sub.3 (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3) and analogs thereof in human skin and for testing the effect of a test compound on said activity. Also described are methods for enhancing the in vivo activity of vitamin D.sub.3 and analogs thereof by coadministering vitamin D.sub.3 or an analog thereof with an RXR ligand, a 24-hydroxylase inhibitor, or a mixture thereof. Preferred RXR ligand materials are retinoids, such as 9-cis retinoic acid, and precursors thereof, such as all trans retinoic acid. Preferred 24-hydroxylase inhibitors are imidazoles, especially those inhibiting cytochrome-P450 oxidative enzymes, such as ketoconazole. Also included is a method for determining whether a candidate compound inhibits 24-hydroxylase activity or induction thereof.

Vitamin D3 was discovered as a result of efforts to determine the nutritive factor responsible for the antirachitic property (i.e., ability to prevent rickets) of cod liver oil. Vitamin D3 (also called cholecalciferol) is photosynthesized from 7-dehydroxycholesterol (previtamin D3) in skin by UV-induced cleavage of the carbon-carbon bond between C9 and C10, enters circulation, and binds to vitamin D binding protein (DBP) for transport. DBP-bound vitamin D3 is biologically inert and requires activation. In the liver vitamin D3 is hydroxylated at the C-25 position by a cytochrome P-450 enzyme system to monohydroxyvitamin D.sub.3, 25(OH)D.sub.3, the major circulating form of vitamin D. This metabolite is hydroxylated again in the kidney at the C-1 position to form dihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3, 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3, the hormonally active vitamin D metabolite. Dihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3 is metabolized by 24-hydroxylase at the C-24 position to form 1,24,25-trihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,24,25(OH).sub.3 D.sub.3), which is biologically inert. The trihydroxyvitamin D.sub.3 is ultimately metabolized to calcitroic acid. In vitro studies of the metabolism of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 indicate that it catalyzes its own catabolism, but a mechanism therefor has not been suggested. Ray, S., et al., J. Cell Biochem (1995) 59:117-122.
The cellular receptor for 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 (designated VDR, for Vitamin D Receptor) is a member of family II of the hormone receptor superfamily of transcription factors. VDR has been fully characterized and is primarily localized in the nuclear compartment of the cell. In the cell nucleus, VDR, in the presence of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3, heterodimerizes with the retinoid X receptor (RXR). This dimeric complex binds to a vitamin D responsive element (VDRE, characterized by direct repeats of the hexamer AGGTCA spaced by three nucleotides) and activates vitamin D responsive genes.
9-cis retinoic acid is the native ligand for RXR. Its effect in vivo on the above-described intracellular action of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 is not known.
1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 's antirachitic activity is based on its enhancement of intestinal absorption of dietary calcium and its mobilization of calcium stores from bone. More recently it has been found to decrease proliferation and increase terminal differentiation of human keratinocytes, and to exhibit immunosuppressive activity on Th.sub.1 cells. These findings have led to its use to treat dermatological disorders such as psoriasis. The use of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 to treat dermatological disorders is tempered, however, by its potent calcemic effects. Those effects have led to the development of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 analogs, such as calcipotriene, that have reduced calcemic effects. Even so, the search continues for ways to improve the therapeutic efficacy of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 and its analogs in dermatology.

Compositions for treating skin conditions by enhancing the activity of 1,25(OH).sub.2 D.sub.3 using an RXR ligand and/or a 24-hydroxylase inhibitor

Dept. of Dermatology, University of Michigan 1910 Taubman Center

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Worldwide


The present invention provides compositions and methods for treating or preventing vascular-associated disorders.

The deleterious effects of vascular-associated disorders such as stroke, heart attack, and artherosclerosis are thought to be caused, at least in part, by the inappropriate triggering of a vascular inflammation and repair response. The vascular inflammation and repair response involves adhesive interactions between various cell types normally found freely circulating in blood. Examples of such interactions include those that can occur between platelets, leukocytes and the inner wall of blood vessels (i.e., the vascular endothelium). Under conditions of high fluid shear forces, platelets adhere to the endothelium via an interaction between the glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX-V complex on their surface and von Willebrand factor (vWF) present on exposed vessel subendothelium. In addition, platelets adhering to the vascular endothelium can bind and capture freely circulating platelets via vWF-mediated tethering, enabling thrombus growth through successive layers of platelets. The GPIbα chain of the GPIb-IX-V complex can also facilitate the binding of α-thrombin to the platelet surface, enhancing the thrombin-mediated cleavage of GPV and protease-activated receptors (PARs).
In contrast, leukocytes can adhere to activated endothelium either directly, or indirectly by first adhering to vWF-immobilized platelets. In both instances, leukocyte cell surface molecules that bind to either the selectin or integrin classes of adhesion receptors mediate these adhesion events. Leukocyte-platelet adhesion is thought to occur, in part, via interaction of the leukocyte surface integrin molecule MacI and the GP1b component of the platelet surface GPIb-IX-V complex.
In response to vascular disturbances such as atherosclerotic plaque rupture or mechanical injury, e.g., such as that caused by angioplasty, stent placement, cardiopulmonary bypass procedures, ischemic damage or stenosis, leukocytes and platelets can accumulate at a vascular lesion site and provide multiple adhesive substrates for one another. This accumulation of leukocytes and platelets leads to the local production of factors including, e.g., mitogens, cytokines and chemokines, causing the further undesirable progression of a vascular disease.
Therapeutic polypeptides including a vWF-binding region derived from GPIbα have been described. One such polypeptide is based on a sequence containing two amino acid substitutions (G233V M239V) in the amino acid sequence of wild-type human GPIbα. An Ig fusion protein containing 290 amino acids of the extracellular, vWF-binding domain of this variant (named GPIb2V-Ig) of this variant inhibits coronary artery thrombosis.

Platelet glycoprotein Ib alpha variant fusion polypeptides and methods of use thereof


A system and method for transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal in a RF bandwidth over a low bandwidth medium, e.g., in-building unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling, which has a transmission bandwidth below the RF bandwidth. The system has a unit for receiving the RF signal and a global reference oscillator for distributing a global reference tone of high stability to the entire system. Local oscillators controlled by this global reference tone deliver RF reference tones of high stability required for mixing the RF signal to obtain an intermediate frequency (IF) signal which is fed through the low bandwidth medium to remote sites. A 10 base T cable network, often pre-existing in many building structures, provides a suitable, cost effective low bandwidth medium for such RF communication. Two of the four twisted pair cables of a UTP cable are sufficient to support bi-directional communication. The remaining twisted pair cables are used to control remote site antenna functions or support other types of communication services such as data LAN, video, wired voice, or other wireless services such as PCS or wireless LAN.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of radio-frequency (RF) signal distribution, and in particular to an apparatus and method for distributing RF signals through low bandwidth infrastructures for re-transmission by antennas, wherein additional signals for controlling the antennas are transmitted over same low bandwidth infrastructures.
2. Description of Prior Art
The need for efficient and low-cost systems for distributing radio frequency (RF) signals has continued to increase as the demand for wireless communications has rapidly grown. Distribution of RF signals is particularly difficult and expensive in areas with many natural and man-made obstacles which scatter or absorb RF radiation. For example, the problem of RF distribution is especially acute inside and around building structures.
Current in-building distribution systems consist of two major parts. The first is a set of antennas and associated accessories required for re-transmitting the RF signals inside a building. The second is a cabling system, e.g., an optical fiber network, used for interconnecting the in-building antennas with a main antenna. The latter is usually installed on top of the building or at some location where the external RF signals can be easily received. In cases where the RF signals are supplied via a high transmission bandwidth cable the main antenna can be replaced by a direct interface with the RF network, e.g., in the basement.
The cost of installing and maintaining such in-building distribution networks is very high. One of the major cost factors is the cabling network. Not only must cable for carrying RF signals be installed but another set of cables and wiring is needed to incorporate any monitoring and diagnostic features into the system, e.g., the ability to control the gain of the re-transmitting antennas or check if the antennas are operational from a centralized building location. In addition, running new cables between various rooms, floors, or wings of a building is usually time-consuming and disruptive. For these reasons, desirable solutions to in-building RF distribution systems should incur minimal installation cost, require no special tooling (as necessitated, e.g., in fiber optic networks), and produce no undue disturbance in the building during installation and operation. It would also be advantageous for such distribution networks, including monitoring and diagnostic subsystems, to be consistent or implementable with common in-building cable infrastructure.
The most effective manner of satisfying these criteria would be to use an existing or standard in-building cable infrastructure. To find in a typical building a pre-exiting cable which can transmit RF signals bi-directionally, let alone accomplish this and simultaneously be used to monitor antenna functionality, may seem especially surprising to most. The only conceivable candidates for pre-existing media for consideration would be standard in-building cabling such as unshielded or shield twisted pair (UTP and STP) used for local area networks (LAN), telephone cables, multi-mode optical fiber links, and power lines.
Unfortunately, several obstacles must be overcome to make use of standard in-building cabling. The major problem is related to the frequency bands used for transmitting RF information signals. Cellular communications presently utilize a carrier frequency around 1 GHz. For, example, the AMPS protocol uses the bandwidth from 824-894 MHz and GSM is transmitted between 890-960 MHz. Recent legislation has allowed PCS services to move to even higher frequencies (e.g., 1,850-1,990 MHz). In comparison, the standard in-building unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables are limited to much lower transmission bandwidths.
The most common standard cable category 5 (10 base T) UTP cable, for example, has signal loss and cross talk properties that limit the bandwidth to approximately 0-100 MHz for distances <100 m. Although these parameters suffice for LAN applications, they are clearly inadequate for the delivery of cellular and PCS signals to and from remote antenna sites. This is especially unfortunate in that 10 base T cable contains four twisted pair cables each of which, as suggested by the parent application cited above, could otherwise be used to transmit signals for radio communication or for antenna monitoring and control.
Prior art solutions, therefore, employ wide bandwidth media such as coaxial cables and optical fibers. These media have to be installed separately, and require specially trained personnel, as discussed above.
Thus, the challenge is to transmit high frequency RF signals over the standard low bandwidth infrastructures, especially 10 base T cable. The common method of accomplishing this goal is to initially down-convert the band of the RF signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) which is within the bandwidth of the cable. Then, the IF signal is fed through the standard low bandwidth cable found in the building. At the remote antenna site the IF signal is up-converted to recover the original RF signal and the recovered RF signal is re-transmitted by the remote antenna. This solution is illustrated in FIG. 1 and will be discussed in the detailed description.
A major problem encountered in implementing this solution involves the stability of local oscillators. These provide the reference signals required by the mixers to down-convert and up-convert the signals. To ensure proper operation the local oscillators must generate a stable tone at the selected high RF frequency (e.g., 800 MHz). It is critical that the frequency of the two oscillators be matched to within at least the channel spacing of the RF signals. In fact, it is desirable that the oscillators be "locked" to each other to preserve the frequency of the RF signal band. This issue becomes even more crucial at higher frequencies, e.g., the PCS bandwidth centered around 2 GHz where the relative width of the communication channels is small in comparison to the carrier frequency.
The two solutions to this problem are to either use very stable oscillators (e.g., <1 part per million stability), which are prohibitively expensive, or to distribute the oscillator tone from a central location. The second option is not viable either, since the media under consideration does not have the bandwidth required for the implementation of such a system.
The existing solutions to distributing a stable oscillator tone are limited. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,135 Hatcher shows how to eliminate frequency instabilities in a receiver frequency converter due to inherent local oscillator instability by adding a marker signal at the down-conversion stage. The marker signal is distorted in the same manner as the IF signal and a second stage down-converter computes this distortion by comparison with the marker signal before undertaking any further down-conversion.
This solution is complicated, since it breaks down the conversion process into two steps and requires the addition of a marker tone in addition to the oscillator frequencies and the signal. Moreover, it cannot be employed in conjunction with the low bandwidth media found in buildings. Indeed, the main purpose of the invention is to gradually and reliably down-convert very high-frequency signal received, e.g., from satellites in orbit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,862 issued to Davidov et al. addresses a novel scheme for the delivery of FM modulated subcarriers over a fiber-optic link for cable television transmission (CATV). Conventional CATV systems use vestigal sideband amplitude modulation (VSB-AM) for transmission of analog video channels to home users. In comparison, frequency division multiplexed frequency modulated (FDM-FM) signals can provide a higher signal to noise ratio and a longer transmission distance. Davidov et al. describe a method for the conversion of VSB-AM channels to FDM-FM channels before transmission over the fiber-optic link. After transmission, the FM signals are re-converted back to AM signals before transmission to the home. A 4 MHz "global reference" is distributed along with the FM signals to AM signals.
Although Davidov et al. address the idea of a global signal which can be used for reference ("locking") of conversion stages, this idea is inapplicable to the problem at hand. First, the reference signal is high frequency and is distributed to the remote antenna sites for the purpose of FM to AM signal conversion. It is not a signal which is compatible with a system based on a limited and low bandwidth medium for transmitting RF signals. In fact, Davidov et al. emphasize the fact that this system uses a fiber-optic medium which is broadband. Moreover, in Davidov's system architecture it is not necessary to use the global reference, rather it is provided for convenience. The only advantage Davidov et al. derive from using a centralized oscillator is the reduction of oscillator phase noise.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,532 Petrovic et al. discuss the transmitter and receiver of a radio communication link. This link requires up- and down-conversion of the signals to be transmitted to and from the radio band of interest. The frequency and phase of the oscillators used for up- and down-conversion are a large cost and performance consideration.
The problem is solved by adding a radio frequency pilot tone to the up-converted signals before transmission. At the receiver, a local oscillator is used to down-convert both the RF signal and the pilot tone. Any phase or frequency deviations of the local oscillator affect the RF signal and the pilot tone equally. Therefore, both signals can be used to cancel the phase and frequency variations, resulting in a clean recovered signal. This cancellation method solves the problem of local oscillator stability at the receiver.
Although the disclosure is intended to solve a similar problem as the present invention, namely the stability of a remote oscillator, the method by which the problem is solved is quite different. Furthermore, the method does not describe, nor is it obvious, how one would implement this technique over a low-bandwidth medium, since the pilot tone is at a RF frequency.
In addition to devising a system for proper "locking" of oscillators to be able to transmit RF signals through low bandwidth infrastructure there are additional unsolved problems. In a typical RF distribution system multiple remote antennas re-transmit the up-converted RF signal. To ensure complete coverage the coverage areas of the individual antennas overlap. Thus, a user will frequently receive signals from multiple antennas simultaneously. When the individual oscillators used for the up-conversion at those antennas are not exactly frequency matched the user will hear a baseband tone or beat at the difference between the frequencies of the two local oscillators.
Thus, efficient and reliable distribution of RF signals over low bandwidth infrastructures remains an unsolved problem.

Method and system providing increased antenna functionality in a RF distribution system


The present invention relates to a supported catalyst composition and a method for making the supported catalyst composition and its use in a process for polymerizing olefin(s). In particular, the invention is directed to a method for making a supported catalyst composition by contacting a supported activator with a bulky ligand and a metal compound.

Advances in polymerization and catalysis have resulted in the capability to produce many new polymers having improved physical and chemical properties useful in a wide variety of superior products and applications. With the development of new catalysts the choice of polymerization-type (solution, slurry, high pressure or gas phase) for producing a particular polymer has greatly expanded. Also, advances in polymerization technology have provided more efficient, highly productive and economically enhanced processes. Especially illustrative of these advances is the development of technology utilizing bulky ligand metallocene catalyst systems. In particular, in a slurry or gas phase process where typically a supported catalyst system is used, there are a variety of different methods described in the art for supporting bulky ligand metallocene catalyst systems.
Illustrative methods for producing supported bulky ligand metallocene catalyst systems include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,332,706 and 5,473,028 have resorted to a particular technique for forming a catalyst by incipient impregnation; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,427,991 and 5,643,847 describe the chemical bonding of non-coordinating anionic activators to supports; U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,975 discusses polymer bound metallocene catalyst systems; PCT publication WO 97/06186 published Feb. 20, 1997 teaches removing inorganic and organic impurities after formation of the metallocene catalyst itself; PCT publication WO 97/15602 published May 1, 1997 discusses readily supportable metal complexes; U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,217 generally describes a mixture of trimethylaluminum and triethylaluminum added to an undehydrated silica then adding a metallocene catalyst; EP-B1-0 308 177 generally describes adding a wet monomer to a reactor containing a metallocene, trialkylaluminum and undehydrated silica; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,912,075, 4,935,397 and 4,937,301 generally relate to adding trimethylaluminum to an undehydrated silica and then adding a metallocene to form a dry supported catalyst; U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,253 describes adding trimethylaluminum to undehydrated silica, adding a metallocene and then drying the catalyst with an amount of hydrogen to produce a polyethylene wax; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,008,228, 5,086,025 and 5,147,949 generally describe forming a dry supported catalyst by the addition of trimethylaluminum to a water impregnated silica to form alumoxane in situ and then adding the metallocene; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,808,561, 4,897,455 and 4,701,432 describe techniques to form a supported catalyst where the inert carrier, typically silica, is calcined and contacted with a metallocene(s) and a activator/cocatalyst component; U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,892 describes forming a dry supported catalyst by mixing a metallocene with an alkyl aluminum then adding undehydrated silica; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,894 generally pertains to forming a supported metallocene/alumoxane catalyst system by forming a metallocene/alumoxane reaction solution, adding a porous carrier, and evaporating the resulting slurry to remove residual solvent from the carrier.
There are a variety of techniques discussed for preparing a supported activator and to its use in a catalyst system for polymerizing olefin(s). The following non-limiting examples of patent publications discussing supported activators, which are all fully incorporated herein by reference, include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,855 directed to the forming a supported oligomeric alkylaluminoxane formed by treating a trialkylaluminum with carbon dioxide prior to hydrolysis; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,831,109 and 5,777,143 discusses a supported methylalumoxane made using a non-hydrolytic process; U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,451 relates to a process for making a supported alumoxane by oxygenation with a trialkylsiloxy moiety; U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,255 discusses forming a supported auxiliary catalyst (alumoxane or organoboron compound) at elevated temperatures and pressures; U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,368 discusses a process of heat treating alumoxane and placing it on a support; EP-A-0 545 152 relates to adding a metallocene to a supported alumoxane and adding more methylalumoxane; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,756,416 and 6,028,151 discuss a catalyst composition of a alumoxane impregnated support and a metallocene and a bulky aluminum alkyl and methylalumoxane; EP-B1-0 662 979 discusses the use of a metallocene with a catalyst support of silica reacted with alumoxane; PCT WO 96/16092 relates to a heated support treated with alumoxane and washing to remove unfixed alumoxane; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,912,075, 4,937,301, 5,008,228, 5,086,025, 5,147,949, 4,871,705, 5,229,478, 4,935,397, 4,937,217 and 5,057,475, and PCT WO 94/26793 all directed to adding a metallocene to a supported activator; U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,766 relates to a supported activator having a specified distribution of alumoxane on the silica particles; U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,702 relates to aging a supported activator and adding a metallocene; U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,864 discusses treating a solid with alumoxane and introducing a metallocene; EP 0 747 430 A1 relates to a process using a metallocene on a supported methylalumoxane and trimethylaluminum; EP 0 969 019 A1 discusses the use of a metallocene and a supported activator; EP-B2-0 170 059 relates to a polymerization process using a metallocene and a organo-aluminum compound, which is formed by reacting aluminum trialkyl with a water containing support; U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,232 discusses the use of a supported alumoxane and a metallocene for producing styrene based polymers; U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,797 discusses a polymerization process using a solid component of a zirconium compound and a water-insoluble porous inorganic oxide preliminarily treated with alumoxane; U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,463 relates to a process for preparing a catalyst support by combining a dehydrated support material, an alumoxane and a polyfunctional organic crosslinker; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,332,706, 5,473,028, 5,602,067 and 5,420,220 discusses a process for making a supported activator where the volume of alumoxane solution is less than the pore volume of the support material; WO 98/02246 discusses silica treated with a solution containing a source of aluminum and a metallocene; WO 99/03580 relates to the use of a supported alumoxane and a metallocene; EP-A1-0 953 581 discloses a heterogeneous catalytic system of a supported alumoxane and a metallocene; U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,749 discusses a process for preparing a polyhydrocarbylalumoxane using a porous organic or inorganic imbiber material; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,446,001 and 5,534,474 relates to a process for preparing one or more alkylaluminoxanes immobilized on a solid, particulate inert support; and EP-A1-0 819 706 relates to a process for preparing a solid silica treated with alumoxane. Also, the following articles, also fully incorporated herein by reference for purposes of disclosing useful supported activators and methods for their preparation, include: W. Kaminsky, et al., "Polymerization of Styrene with Supported Half-Sandwich Complexes", Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 37, 2959–2968 (1999) describes a process of adsorbing a methylalumoxane to a support followed by the adsorption of a metallocene; Junting Xu, et al. "Characterization of isotactic polypropylene prepared with dimethylsilyl bis(1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride supported on methylaluminoxane pretreated silica", European Polymer Journal 35 (1999) 1289–1294, discusses the use of silica treated with methylalumoxane and a metallocene; Stephen O'Brien, et al., "EXAFS analysis of a chiral alkene polymerization catalyst incorporated in the mesoporous silicate MCM-41" Chem. Commun. 1905–1906 (1997) discloses an immobilized alumoxane on a modified mesoporous silica; and F. Bonini, et al., "Propylene Polymerization through Supported Metallocene/MAO Catalysts: Kinetic Analysis and Modeling" Journal of Polymer Science, Vol. 33 2393–2402 (1995) discusses using a methylalumoxane supported silica with a metallocene.
While all these methods have been described in the art, a need for an improved method for preparing supported bulky ligand metallocene catalysts has been discovered.

Method for preparing a catalyst system and its use in a polymerization process


Circuits and methods convert parallel data into a serial data stream. A serializer according to the present invention generally includes a high speed section and a low speed section. The high speed section generally comprises a tree-based serializer configured to serialize an N-bit parallel data stream, where N is a power of two. The low speed section generally includes a data bank configured to load one or more samples of an M-bit parallel input stream, and a multiplexer configured to produce the N-bit parallel data stream from the data bank. The present invention advantageously provides high speed and relatively low power serialization of M-bit parallel data streams where M is not a power of two. In particular, the present invention advantageously provides high speed and relatively low power serialization of 10-bit parallel data streams.

Serializers (also known as parallel-to-serial converters or parallel-in serial-out [PISO] circuits) are widely used in data communication systems to convert parallel data into a serial data stream. Serializers are important components in communication network transmissions. A serializer converts a relatively low speed parallel data stream into a relatively high speed serial data stream. Since such a circuit produces high speed serial data, it consumes a significant amount of power in a serial communication network. Improvements made to reduce the power consumed by such a circuit will generally reduce the power consumed by serial communication network equipment.
Serial communication systems often employ an 8b/10b encoding scheme. 8b/10b encoding encodes 8-bit data into 10 bits. The encoding generally improves the physical signal and facilitates bit synchronization, error detection, and control character (i.e., the Special Character) encoding. 8b/10b encoding is used in high speed data communication protocols including Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and ATM transmission interfaces. An 8b/10b encoder typically provides a 10-bit parallel output. Therefore, serializers used in such systems generally must serialize 10-bit parallel data.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional parallel load and shift register circuit 100 for serializing 10-bit parallel data. This circuit loads the 10-bit parallel data during the first clock cycle and then shifts the data for the next 9 clock cycles. Output 130 of last flip-flop 120 thereby produces a serial data stream corresponding to the parallel input data.
FIG. 2 shows a timing diagram corresponding to serializer circuit 100 of FIG. 1. When load signal 203 is high, circuit 100 loads a sample of the 10 bit parallel input stream (e.g., Data<0:9>) into flip-flops 120 to 129. When the load signal is low, the flip-flops are connected as a shift register. Thus, during 10 clock cycles, 10 bits are shifted out of the last flip-flop, generating the serialized data stream. Serializer 100 also includes divider 154 configured to generate a divide-by-10 signal (e.g., signal 202 of FIG. 2) and a load signal 150 (e.g., signal 203 of FIG. 2). Divider 154 generally runs at the clock frequency. A divide-by-10 divider typically employs 4 flip-flops, so serializer circuit 100 typically requires 14 flip-flops (10 flip-flops 120-129 in the data-path, and 4 flip-flops in divider 154) operating at the clock frequency. The power dissipated by the switching of the clock signal generally contributes a majority of the power consumed in such a circuit. Therefore, average power dissipated by the clock signal Ps may be calculated according to the equation:
                                                                        P                s                            =                                                10                  *                                      CV                    2                                                      f                                +                                  4                  *                                      CV                    2                                                      f                                                                                =                                  14                  *                                      CV                    2                                                      f                                            ;                                                          (        1        )                            where C is the input capacitance of the clock pin of the flip-flop,        V is the power supply voltage, and        f is the clock frequency.
A similar equation can be derived for an 8-bit parallel load and shift serializer:
                                                                        P                s                            =                                                8                  *                                      CV                    2                                                      f                                +                                  3                  *                                      CV                    2                                                      f                                                                                =                              11                *                                  CV                  2                                                                  f                  .                                                                                (        2        )
A tree-based serializer generally dissipates or consumes less power than a conventional parallel load and shift serializer. FIG. 3 shows conventional tree-based serializer circuit 300, which includes MUX 311 operating at half clock frequency (Cdiv2), and MUXs 312 and 313 operating at ¼th of clock frequency (Cdiv4). In circuit 300, only the last flip-flop 301 operates at the clock frequency (Clock). Flip-flops 302 and 303, in the previous stage, work at Cdiv2. By extension of the 4-bit serializer shown in FIG. 3, an 8-bit serializer may have one flip-flop (e.g., flip flop 301) operating at clock frequency (Clock), two flip-flops (e.g., flip-flops 302 and 303) operating at half clock frequency (Cdiv2), and 4 flip-flops (not shown in 4-bit serializer 300) operating at ¼th of clock frequency (Cdiv4). In the dividers (e.g. divide-by-2 dividers 320 and 321) one flip-flop operates at clock frequency (Clock), one at half clock frequency (Cdiv2), and another at ¼th of clock frequency (Cdiv4). Therefore, average power dissipated by the clock signal, Pt may be calculated according to the equation:
                                                                                P                  t                                =                                                                                CV                      2                                                            f                                    +                                      (                                          2                      *                                              C                        1                                                                                V                        2                                                                                f                        /                        2                                                              )                                    +                                      (                                          4                      *                                              C                        1                                                                                V                        2                                                                                f                        /                        4                                                              )                                    +                                                                                CV                      2                                                            f                                    +                                                            CV                      2                                                                                f                      /                      2                                                        +                                                            CV                      2                                                                                f                      /                      4                                                                                =                                                                                (                                              2.75                        *                                                  CV                          2                                                                        f                                            )                                        +                                          (                                              2                        *                                                  C                          1                                                                                V                          2                                                                        f                                            )                                                                      ;                                                                        (        3        )                            where C is the input capacitance of the clock pin of the flip-flop,        C1 is the sum of C plus the capacitance of the select pin of the multiplexer (normally C1<2*C),        V is the power supply voltage, and        f is the clock frequency.
The first three terms in Equation (3), (CV2f+(2*C1V2f/2)+(4*C1V2f/4)) correspond to the clock power dissipated in the tree-based serializer. The last three terms of Equation (3), (CV2f+CV2f/2+CV2f/4), correspond to the clock power dissipated in the divider. Comparing the average power dissipation of an 8-bit parallel load and shift serializer to the average power dissipation of an 8-bit tree-based serializer, the tree-based serializer architecture reduces average power dissipated by between 40% (in the worst case, when C1=2*C) and 55% (in the best case, when C1=C). Unlike the parallel load and shift serializer, the tree-based serializer includes only one flip-flop operating at the clock frequency in the data path. In addition to improved power consumption, this feature reduces constraints (e.g., timing constraints) on the circuit layout of the tree-based serializer, in comparison to the parallel load and shift serializer.
A tree-based serializer, however, generally requires parallel input data of 2r bits, where r is an integer of at least 1 (e.g., 2 bits, 4 bits, 8 bits, 16 bits, etc.). As described above, many digital communication systems demand serializers for 10-bit parallel data. Thus, a conventional tree-based serializer cannot be used, because 10 is not a power of two. Therefore it is desirable to provide high speed and relatively low power serialization of M-bit parallel data streams, where M is not a power of two.

Circuits and methods for high speed and low power data serialization


A method for performing Power Headroom Reporting (PHR) in a user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system is disclosed. The wireless communication system supports Carrier Aggregation (CA), which enables the UE to perform transmission through multiple carriers. The method includes steps of configuring a plurality of uplink carriers, and generating at least one PHR values, each corresponding to one of the plurality of uplink carriers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for Power Headroom Reporting, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing Power Headroom Reporting to support carrier aggregation in a user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Long Term Evolution wireless communication system (LTE system), an advanced high-speed wireless communication system established upon the 3G mobile telecommunication system, supports only packet-switched transmission, and tends to implement both Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and Radio Link Control (RLC) layer in one single communication site, such as in base stations (Node Bs) alone rather than in Node Bs and RNC (Radio Network Controller) respectively, so that the system structure becomes simple.
In LTE system, a MAC Protocol Data Unit (PDU) consists of a MAC header, zero or more MAC Service Data Units (SDUs), zero or more MAC control elements, and optionally padding. A MAC PDU header consists of one or more MAC PDU sub-headers, each corresponding to either a MAC SDU, a MAC control element or padding. The MAC PDU sub-headers have the same order as the corresponding MAC SDUs, MAC control elements and padding.
According to the current specifications (3GPP TS 36.321, 36.213, 36.133), MAC control elements transmitted by a UE include a buffer status report (BSR) MAC control element and a power headroom report (PHR) MAC control element. The BSR MAC control element is generated by a Buffer Status reporting procedure, and is used to provide the serving base station, or called enhanced Node B (eNB), with information about the amount of data in the uplink (UL) buffers of a UE for scheduling of uplink transmission. The PHR MAC control element is generated by a Power Headroom reporting procedure, and is used to provide the serving eNB with information about the difference between the maximum UE transmission (TX) power and an estimated TX power for Uplink Share Channel (UL-SCH). With the BSR and PHR information sent by the UE, the network can allocate radio resource to the UE and make schedule decision more efficiently.
In general, a PHR is triggered if any of the following events occurs: (1) a timer "prohibitPHR-TIMER" for prohibiting power headroom reporting expires or has expired and a path loss of the UE has changed more than a predetermined value "DL_PathlossChange" since the last power headroom report; and (2) a periodic timer "PeriodicPHR-Timer" expires, in which case the PHR is referred below to as "Periodic PHR". After the PHR is triggered, if the UE has UL resources allocated for a new transmission for this TTI, the UE obtains the value of the power headroom from the physical layer to generate a PHR MAC control element, and restarts the timer "prohibitPHR-TIMER". Besides, if the triggered PHR is a "Periodic PHR", the UE restarts the periodic timer "PeriodicPHR-Timer". Detailed operations of the PHR procedure can be referred to in related specifications (3GPP TS 36.321, 36.213, 36.133) and are not narrated herein.
On the other hand, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has started to work out a next generation of the LTE system: the LTE Advanced (LTE-A) system, to meet future requirements of all kinds of communication services. Carrier Aggregation (CA) is introduced in the LTE-A system, which enables the UE to aggregate multiple carries for transmission, such that the transmission bandwidth and spectrum efficiency can be enhanced.
At present, the characteristics of carrier aggregation are quoted as below:
(1) Supporting carrier aggregation for both contiguous and non-contiguous component carriers.
(2) The aggregated number of component carriers in the uplink (UL) and the downlink (DL) can be different. For backward-compatible configuration, the aggregated numbers of component carriers in the UL and the DL should be the same.
(3) It is possible to configure a UE to aggregate a different number of component carriers in the UL and the DL to obtain different bandwidths.
(4) From a UE perspective, there is one transport block and one hybrid-ARQ (HARQ) entity per scheduled component carrier. Each transport block is mapped to a single component carrier only.
However, after the carrier aggregation is introduced, how to report the PHR value for different carriers and how to trigger the power headroom reporting are not specified. When multiple carriers are configured for transmission (due to the support of CA), if only one PHR value is reported by the UE, the eNB cannot know the power status of each uplink carrier of the UE and thus is hard to schedule radio resources to the UE efficiently. Therefore, there is a need to have the PHR procedure under carrier aggregation be specified.

Method and apparatus for power headroom reporting


This invention relates to the inhibition of expression or function of Men1 gene or its encoded proteins for the purpose of treating diabetes and screening and researching agents capable of inhibiting expression or function of Men1 gene or its encoded proteins for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) describes several syndromes of abnormal carbohydrate metabolism, characterized by hyperglycemia. It is associated with a relative or absolute impairment in insulin secretion, along with varying degrees of peripheral resistance to the action of insulin. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with long-term damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels.
There are two major forms of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes, also referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes; and Type 2 diabetes, also referred to as noninsulin dependent diabetes. When inadequate amounts of insulin are present to compensate for insulin resistance and adequately control glucose, a state of impaired glucose tolerance develops. In a significant number of individuals, the plasma glucose level rises, resulting in the clinical state of diabetes. Insulin stimulates glucose uptake by skeletal muscle and adipose tissues primarily through translocation of the glucose transporter 4 from the intracellular storage sites of the cell surface
Diabetes is often associated with high fat diet and obesity. The majority of diabetic patients are treated either with hypoglycemic agents which act by stimulating release of insulin from beta cells, or with agents that enhance the tissue sensitivity of the patients towards insulin, or with insulin.
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) is a dominantly inherited tumor syndrome that results from the mutation of the tumor suppressor gene Men1, which encodes menin. Menin interacts with multiple proteins that play critical roles in the regulation of cell proliferation, including JunD, Smad 3, and activator of S-phase kinase. Activator of S-phase kinase is the crucial regulatory factor for protein kinase cdc7 that is required for initiation of DNA replication and menin functionally represses the activity of activator of S-phase kinase. In addition, menin interacts with a protein complex containing the mixed lineage leukemia protein and up-regulates transcription of various target genes, including the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors p27Kip1 and p18Ink4c, in transformed fibroblasts and insulinoma cells. Whereas these observations provide a potential mechanistic link between menin and cell cycle regulation, a direct link between menin function and cell cycle progression has not been established. An obstacle to answering this question has been the lack of synchronizable cells in which Men1 can be conditionally inactivated in vitro so that the effect of Men1 deletion on the cell cycle progression can be examined.
Mouse models have greatly increased understanding of molecular pathology of the MEN1 syndrome. Tumors derived from mice heterozygous for Men1 display loss of heterozygosity, confirming the role of menin as a bona fide tumor suppressor. Tumors arise in the parathyroid, pituitary, and pancreatic islet cells from the mice in which Men1 is conditionally inactivated in these respective organs, establishing an important role for menin in suppressing tumor development in endocrine organs. However, because the excision of Men1 is not under temporal control in these mice, it is challenging to study the acute effects of deletion of Men1 on proliferation of pancreatic islet cells. Thus, although tumor cells in insulinomas of the mice display enhanced cell proliferation as shown by 5′-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine-5′-triphosphate (BrdUrd) uptake, it is difficult to determine how soon after Men1 deletion, increased islet cell proliferation occurs. If increased islet proliferation is an acute consequence of Men1 deletion, then this would suggest that loss of menin-mediated repression of cell proliferation is at least in part responsible for the early events of islet cell proliferation observed in MEN1.
While current drug therapy may provide reduction in blood sugar, it often promotes obesity as well as, in the long term, may lead to accelerated exhaustion of the endogenous production of insulin in diabetics Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods and compositions for treating various forms of diabetes.

THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA


A holder, mountable on the back of a truck tractor cab, has two electrical plug receptacles and two gladhand keepers. The gladhand keepers are vertically directed and angled with respect to the mounting surface of the cab, so that an operator can store in the keepers the hose-end gladhands associated with the tractor without climbing on, leaning over, or stretching across the frame of the truck behind the cab. The electrical plug receptacles are at an angle away from the surface, making it easier for an operator to insert the plugs into the electrical plug receptacle and thereby reducing wear to the cables.

Trailer trucks are conventionally provided with air brakes on the trailer which require connection to the trailer of air lines extending from an air compressor on the truck tractor cab to the brakes at the wheels of the trailer. For this purpose, air hoses extend from cab coupling units known as gladhands to gladhand couplings at their rear or trailer ends. The air lines extending from the brakes of the trailer also end in gladhands at the front of the trailer. The hose end gladhands together with the gladhands of the trailer form fixed coupling units on the forward end of the trailer. A complete gladhand connection is composed of a pair of essentially identical gladhand couplers which conform to an applicable standard developed and promulgated by the Society of Automotive Engineers so that any one gladhand coupler will cooperate with any other gladhand coupler. The face-abutted gladhands fully mate by turning one on the other. The use of gladhand couplers permits the rapid, pneumatic communication to air brakes of the trailer from the pump on the truck cab. The standard gladhand is adapted to serve as a quick connect and disconnect coupling for the two high-pressure air brake hoses which are known as service (signal) and emergency hoses.
Further, trailer trucks are conventionally provided with a multi-conductor electrical cable extending from the truck cab to the trailer to power the electric lamps and other electrical apparatus on the trailer. When the cab is disconnected from the trailer, the electric cable and air hoses must also be disconnected from the trailer. It has been common practice to provide a dead or dummy electrical socket on the rear of the cab for storing and holding the plug carried at the rear end of the electric cable when it is not connected to a trailer, and it is also common to provide gladhand keepers on the back of the cab to hold the gladhands carried at the rear ends of the two air hoses carried by the tractor when those hoses are disconnected from a trailer.
A simpler solution has been provided where a holder having two gladhand keepers and one electrical plug receptacle is mounted on the back of the cab toward the driver's side of the cab. Generally, it is easier to engage the gladhands in the keepers when the operator is positioned in alignment with the plane in which the gladhands are rotated as they are attached to and disconnected from the keepers. To be aligned with the engagement plane of the gladhands in the keepers, a current keeper design requires the operator to be positioned directly behind the cab while storing and releasing the gladhands. Thus, the operator must climb onto the frame extending from the back of the cab. Climbing on the frame behind the cab increases the risk of injury to the operator. If the operator is large enough, it may only be necessary to lean over, or stretch across the frame over the fuel tank and the battery box, but leaning over or stretching across the frame can lead to a loss of footing especially in adverse weather conditions. Thus, for even the large operator, the current gladhand holder design creates a significant risk of injury. At a minimum, location of the operator to the side of the gladhand/keeper engagement plane is ergonomically undesirable, affords poor leverage on the gladhand, and can cause muscle strain.
Further, the current design orients the electric plug vertically. When the tractor is moving and the electric plug is in the receptacle, the cable bounces around and gravity pulls down on the cable thereby bending the cable at the junction between the plug and cable. Because the plug is oriented vertically, the forces of gravity and motion combine to bend the cable up to 180.degree.. Thus, the vertical orientation of the plug has caused cables and their casings to wear at the junction between the plug and the cable, thus requiring replacement. Further disadvantages of a vertical disposition of a stored electrical cable plug in a cab-mounted plug storage receptacle are described below.
With the increasing number of electrical circuits in them, many trailers, particularly those having automatic braking systems, require that two electrical cables be connected to them to adequately power all trailer circuits. Thus, tractor cabs have been modified to provide two electrical umbilical cables to such trailers. Therefore, the current holder designs are insufficient to store the required number of electrical cables and air hoses.
Thus, securely storing all the required electrical cables and air hoses in a convenient manner is desirable to prevent damage to the cables and air hoses, simplify storing the cables and air hoses, and reduce the risk of injury during storage and removal of the cables and air hoses in and from cab-mounted storage devices.

Truck cable plug and hose gladhand holder


Disclosed is a compact battery clamp suitable for attachment to a high-amperage, two-conductor, insulated electrical cable, the compact battery clamp comprising: a clamp handle having a first clamp handle end and a second clamp handle end; a contact arm having a first contact arm end and a second contact arm end; a pivot pin passing through the clamp handle and through the first contact arm end so as to hingedly connect the contact arm to the clamp handle; a first terminal contact pad rotatably attached to the first clamp handle end; a second terminal contact pad rotatably attached to the second contact arm end; and an electrical socket attached to the second clamp handle end, the electrical socket configured for electrically coupling with an end of the insulated electrical cable.

Battery cables, or booster cables, such as used in "jump starting" a vehicle, have been known in the art for some years. A set of booster cables typically includes a six-foot length of a two insulated electrical conductors of sufficient gauge to safely conduct starting current amperage. Four booster clamps, or battery clamps, resembling clothes pins and referred to as "crocodile clips," are provided at respective ends of the booster cable electrical conductor pair so as to electrically couple either two batteries, or one battery and a battery charger.
A conventional booster cable configures the battery clamps with serrated jaw ends to make mechanical and electrical contact with: (i) battery terminals or posts, if the battery is not installed in a vehicle, or (ii) vehicle battery cable terminals, if the battery is installed in a vehicle with the vehicle battery cable terminals secured onto the battery posts or terminals. The battery clamps are spring-loaded to force the clamp jaw serrations against the battery post or against the vehicle battery cable terminals, so as to provide a positive electrical connection to the respective battery post or to the vehicle battery cable terminal.
However, conventional battery clamps suffer from the shortcoming that the serrated ends of the battery clamps, typically made from copper or a copper alloy, cause indentations and other surface damage to the battery posts or vehicle cable terminals, which are typically made from lead—a softer metal than copper. Over time, the appearance and effectiveness of the battery posts or the vehicle cable terminals may suffer from repeated attachment of the booster cable.
Another shortcoming is that one of the battery clamps may be accidentally dropped into the vehicle chassis or engine compartment when a user is in the process of connecting or disconnecting the booster cable from a battery. If the vehicle is a negative-ground system, and it is the negative battery clamp that is dropped, a short circuit may result by conducting electrical current from the positive battery terminal into the chassis or engine components, and back into the battery, producing electrical arcing or sparking, and possibly igniting hydrogen gas being expelled from the charging battery.
A further shortcoming is that the connection of the booster cable to the battery typically requires using both hands to hold apart the booster clamps when securing the booster cable to the battery so as to not short out a battery connected to the other end of the booster cable. What is needed is a battery clamp configuration that overcomes the limitations of the prior art by providing a method to secure a booster cable to a battery without causing surface damage to lead-based components, while providing a good electrical contact, and which requires only one hand to attach or to remove the booster cable from a battery.