A robotic joint for use in toys or other robotic assemblies to provide locomotion to animated figures, sub-assemblies, and toy construction building sets. The robotic joint is particularly adaptable because one side of the joint carries the motor that is powering the joint. It also provides for four-way action in a joint in a very compact space by attaching a motorized joint directly to the shaft of another motor. It can also provide omni-directional action in a joint, since each motor turns the shaft or turns the motor housing based on the amount of resistance applied to the shaft. This can be demonstrated in a joint that is used to support a leg in which the joint has two motors attached by their shafts, perpendicular to each other in the same joint. A joint structure is provided in which two parallelograms are placed substantially perpendicular to one another to distribute the weight.

The present invention relates generally to a robotic joint movement device and more particularly to a motorized joint for locomotion of a robotic limb.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it is desirous for robots to have joints that bend and move. Further, these joints must bend and move to simulate human movement. The limbs must be able to distribute the weight as a human limb does. To this end, several attempts have been made to provide for locomotion of a robotic joint that can occur without the robotic device losing balance or being too complicated.
One such attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,818, issued to H. Asada et al. on Jan. 17, 1984, for a robotic manipulator. Unfortunately, like much of the prior art, the motor that activates the joints is not placed at each of the joints to be moved. One motor moves several joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,764, issued to G. Crum et al. on Aug. 11, 1981, is for a manually programmable robot with power assisted motion during programming. Instead of teaching movement of a robotic joint, this patent generally teaches use of a transducer for sensing the position of each joint.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,367, issued to I. Ogawa on Jun. 20, 1978, discloses an articulated robot assembly. In this particular instance, the drive means is achieved by gears activating a harmonic scissor device which in turn moves a roller which moves the robot. No other movement is achieved. Human movements are not simulated.
The toy industry has provided a large number of toys with assemblies that have various degrees of independent locomotion and remote control motion. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,367 discloses a motor in the trunk assembly which is used to drive the transmission of various appendages. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,275 describes a self-walking doll having motors in each foot which are alternatively driven. However, the prior art has provided no robot assembly which allows the moving part to carry the motor that powers the same part. Also, the prior art has not produced a robotic joint that can have much the same direction movement and control of a human joint.
What is needed, then, is a robotic joint movement device which allows the moving part to carry the motor that is powering the same part. This needed robotic joint movement device must allow the joint to balance the shifting of the weight caused by the motor. This device must also allow for omni-directional pivoting. This robotic device must simulate human movements. This robotic device is presently lacking in the prior art.


A duct for leading air into a vehicle compartment is divided by a partition wall into two air passages. A first air passage is capable of taking in the exterior air while a second passage is capable of taking in only the interior air. In the duct, a cooling heat-exchanger is disposed at a downstream side of a blower unit, and a heating heat-exchanger is disposed at a more downstream side of the cooling heat-exchanger. A defroster air outlet opens at a downstream side of the first air passage, a foot-side air outlet opens at a downstream side of the second air passage, and a face-side air outlet opens between the cooling heat-exchanger and the heating heat-exchanger. A face-side door for opening and closing the face-side air outlet is capable of shutting off the air inlet side of the heating heat-exchanger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus for vehicles which air-conditions a vehicle interior compartment and, more particularly, an air conditioning apparatus for an electrically-powered vehicle having no engine coolant as a heating source.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as engine coolant cannot be used as a heat source for heating in electrically-powered vehicles having no engines, it is proposed as shown in FIG. 10 to use a refrigerant condenser 100 of a refrigeration cycle as a heat-exchanger for heating (heating heat-exchanger). In this system, the refrigerant flow is changed over by a four-way valve 110 in correspondence with operation modes (cooling, heating dehumidifying and the like). In the cooling operation for instance, as shown by the arrow C in FIG. 10, the refrigerant discharged by the refrigerant compressor 120 flows from the four-way valve 110 through a check valve 130, an exterior heat-exchanger 140, electric-type expansion valve 150, a refrigerant evaporator 160 used as a heat-exchanger for cooling (cooling heat exchanger), accumulator 170 and back to the refrigerant compressor 120. Thus, the air blown off from a blower 180 is cooled by a heat exchange with a low temperature refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant evaporator 160 and is blown off into the vehicle compartment through a selected air outlet (e.g., Face-side air outlet 190). The cool air cooled by the refrigerant evaporator 160 is not heated by the refrigerant condenser 100 at this time, because the refrigerant does not flow through the refrigerant condenser 100.
In the heating operation, as shown by the arrow H in FIG. 10, the refrigerant discharged by the refrigerant compressor 120 flows through the four-way valve 110, the refrigerant condenser 100, an electric-type expansion valve 200, a check valve 210, the exterior heat-exchanger 140, an electromagnetic valve 220, accumulator 170 and back to the refrigerant compressor 120. Thus, the air blown off from the blower 180 is heated by a heat exchange with a high temperature refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant condenser 100 and is blown off into the vehicle compartment through a selected blow-off outlet (e.g., Foot-side air outlet 230). The air blown off by the blower 180 is not cooled by the refrigerant evaporator 160 at this time, because the refrigerant does not flow through the refrigerant evaporator 160.
In the dehumidifying operation, as shown by the arrow D in FIG. 10, the refrigerant discharged by the refrigerant compressor 120 flows through the four-way valve 110, the refrigerant condenser 100, the electric-type expansion valve 200 (fully opened not to work as an expansion valve), the check valve 210, the exterior heat-exchanger 140, the electric-type expansion valve 150, the refrigerant evaporator 160, the accumulator 170 and back to the refrigerant compressor 120. Thus, the air blown off from the blower 180 is cooled (dehumidified) by the refrigerant evaporator 160 and then heated again by the refrigerant condenser 100. The air is blown off into the vehicle compartment through a selected blow-off outlet (e.g., defroster air outlet 240).
In the above heat pump cycle in which the refrigerant flow is changed over in correspondence with the operation modes, as the four-way valve 110 which is expensive is used, the entire cost of the air conditioner becomes high.
The inventors of the present application has considered a refrigeration circuit which eliminates the four-way valve 110 as shown in FIG. 11 to reduce product cost. In this refrigeration circuit, however, as the refrigerant under high temperature and high pressure discharged from the refrigerant compressor 120 continuously through the refrigerant condenser 100, the cold air cooled by the refrigerant evaporator 160 is heated again by the refrigerant condenser 100 and blown off from the Face-side outlet 190 as warm air during cooling operation. For overcoming this problem, it is possible to provide a refrigeration circuit in which the refrigerant discharged from the refrigerant compressor 120 flows bypassing the refrigerant condenser 100 during the cooling operation. However, as not only the refrigeration circuit becomes complicated but also the number of parts such as electromagnetic valves, check valves and the like greatly increases, the merit (cost-down) of eliminating the four-way valve 110 is cancelled.

Air conditioning apparatus for vehicles with continuous flow of refrigerant


An apparatus for holding laboratory tubes while in use, or while the tubes are being stored. The apparatus comprises a thermally conductive tube holding element disposed within an insulating member and a cooling element. The apparatus is capable of holding a large number of laboratory tubes and keeping them at a cool temperature for extended periods of time on a laboratory workbench. The apparatus is also useful for storing a large number of temperature-sensitive samples in laboratory tubes in a freezer, to protect the samples in case of freezer failure.

Scientific Laboratories use a large number of expensive samples which are kept in small laboratory tubes when in use. Samples herein is used to encompass analytical reagents, restriction enzymes, RNA, proteins, samples and other similar laboratory materials. If the samples are allowed to warm they will begin to deteriorate and become less effective possibly producing inaccurate results. Therefore, it is important to keep the samples at a constant cool temperature to preserve their effectiveness and extend their working life.
Scientists have taken various approaches to maintain the cool temperature of the samples while working with them. One such approach has been working with the samples in a temperature controlled room. This method, while effective, is very inconvenient for the scientist as extended periods of time must be spent in a cold environment. Another problem associated with this method is the cost of maintaining a room at a constant cold temperature.
Another method scientists have used is to keep the samples in a refrigerator or freezer while in use. To employ this method, the scientist would be required to leave the door to the refrigerator or freezer open, or constantly open and close it. This method is inconvenient for scientists for several reasons. First, if the tubes containing the samples are opened in the refrigerator or freezer, there is a high risk of contamination from other materials present. Second, the scientist is generally holding several pieces of laboratory equipment, such as pipettes, and therefore it is not convenient to constantly open and close the refrigerator or freezer door.
Another procedure scientists use to maintain the samples at a constant temperature is an ice-bath. The laboratory tubes containing the samples are placed in a beaker, bucket or other suitable container, in which ice has been added. This procedure suffers from several inconveniences. First, as the ice melts, new ice must be added to continue to cool the samples and water must be removed to provide room for the new ice to be added. Another problem is, as the ice melts and water builds up in the ice bath, the laboratory tubes may begin to float, become unsteady and could tip over, thereby losing or contaminating the sample. A further problem with this procedure is that it is impractical for use with a large number of laboratory tubes and is a very unorganized procedure.
There have been attempts in the prior art to address these problems, but these attempts suffer from additional drawbacks. One such apparatus is a Thermosafe Benchtop System laboratory tube holder with a base for placing a cold pack. This apparatus suffers from several disadvantages. First, the apparatus is large and takes up a substantial amount of laboratory bench and freezer space thereby not being efficient. Second, the only portion of the laboratory tube which may touch a cooling element is the bottom, the remainder of the laboratory tube is surrounded by air or the foam holder resulting in uneven cooling of the samples, and a shorter period of time the apparatus will keep the tubes cool. Furthermore, there is no assurance that the tubes will be in contact with the cooling element resulting in a slower cooling time. Third, the capacity of the apparatus for holding tubes is very low and not designed for compatibility with other standard laboratory equipment, inconveniencing a scientist using such an apparatus. Fourth, the holes for the laboratory tubes do not hold the tubes firmly and thus the tubes may fall out if the device is tipped at an angle. Fifth, the tube holder portion of the apparatus does not fit securely onto the base resulting in an unstable apparatus. Finally, the materials of construction and design do not provide a rigid and secure apparatus, qualities which, given the high cost of reagents and irreplaceable nature of many samples, are essential in a laboratory tube holder.
Accordingly there is a great need for a device that will quickly cool laboratory tubes and maintain them at a constant temperature wherein the device is durable, has a high capacity and small design, is convenient and easy to use, is not costly to manufacture and is compatible with other standard laboratory equipment.


A metal heat transfer plate and heat pipe mounting structure includes a metal heat transfer plate and heat pipes embedded in the metal heat transfer plate in a flush manner. The metal heat transfer plate and heat pipe mounting method includes the steps of punching mounting slots in a metal heat transfer plate, processing each mounting slot into a respective flanged hole, reversely stamping each flanged hole to form top and bottom protruding flanges around each mounting slot, stamping each bottom protruding flange to create an insertion chamber, and press-fitting a flat heat pipe into each mounting slot and then stamping each top protruding flange into a respective deformed top protruding flange to wrap about one respective heat pipe and to keep each deformed top protruding flange flush with the top surface of the metal heat transfer plate and each heat pipe.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat sink technology, and more particularly to a heat transfer plate and heat pipe mounting structure and method for enabling a metal heat transfer plate and at least one flat heat pipe to be tightly fastened together in a flush manner.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
With fast development of modern technology, commercial mobile electronic devices, such as cell phone, notebook computer, tablet computer, iPad, PAD, GAS, etc., commonly have the flat, thin and compact characteristics with powerful computing capabilities. During operation of these mobile electronic devices, the internal CPU, IC and/or other heat generating components will generate a large amount of waste heat that must be quickly expelled to ensure normal functioning of the components and to prolong their lifespan.
For cooling a compact mobile electronic device, it is the common way to bond a metal heat transfer plate to the surface of the CPU, IC or any other heat generating component for absorbing waste heat and carrying waste heat away from the CPU, IC or any other heat generating component. However, this heat dissipation method has a low efficiency and cannot rapidly expel heat, and therefore a heat accumulation problem can occur easily, causing crash or component damage.
In order to accelerate heat dissipation, Taiwan Patent M459692 teaches the use of heat pipes with a metal heat transfer plate by means of directly bonding flat heat pipes to the surface of a metal heat transfer plate. A flat heat pipe for this application has a thickness about 0.6 mm. After the flat heat pipes are bonded to the metal heat transfer plate, the overall thickness of the combination will be larger than 0.6 mm. Thus, a mobile electronic device must provide a sufficient internal chamber for accommodating the metal heat transfer plate and heat pipe combination and other related components, increasing the device height. Therefore, the aforesaid prior art metal heat transfer plate and heat pipe combination is not practical for low profile application.

Heat transfer plate and heat pipe mounting structure and method


There is provided an electroconductive paste composition that can form a coating film having satisfactory thickness by single coating work. The electroconductive paste composition can form bumps having satisfactory height even by a smaller number of times of coating than that in the prior art technique. The electroconductive paste composition comprises a phenolic resin, a melamine resin, an electroconductive powder, a solvent, and a bump forming aid comprising a monohydric alcohol having a terminal methoxy group and having at least one ether bond. The electroconductive paste composition can be used in a printed wiring board.

Electroconductive paste compositions have hitherto been used in the field of electronics for various applications such as IC circuits, electroconductive adhesives, and electromagnetic wave shields. In particular, the following production process of a printed wiring board has recently been proposed. In the production process, a first board having conical electroconductive bumps, formed using an electroconductive paste, at predetermined positions of its at least one side is provided. Further, a second board having a wiring pattern on its at least one side is provided. The first and second boards are placed so that the electroconductive bump side of the first board inwardly faces the wiring pattern side of the second board. An insulator layer is disposed between the first and second boards to constitute a laminate assembly. The assembly is then lamination pressed to allow the bumps to pass through the insulator layer in its thicknesswise direction to form an electroconductive wiring part (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 350258/1994).
Further, a proposal has been made on an electroconductive paste composition for interlayer connection in a printed wiring board, comprising a melamine resin, a phenolic resin, an epoxy resin, an electroconductive powder, and a solvent, the epoxy resin having a softening point of 80° C. or above and 130° C. or below (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 270033/2002). The claimed advantage of the electroconductive paste composition is to provide an electroconductive paste that can prepare bumps having good prepreg penetration, does not cause cracking and breaking upon the penetration and pressing, and can realize large adhesive strength between the bump and a wiring pattern after the penetration, and, in the manufacture of a printed wiring board comprising a throughhole-type electroconductive wiring part, can realize high yield and good connection reliability.
Further, in order to provide an adhesive paste composition for interlayer connection in a printed wiring board which can form bumps having high hardness and free from cracking and poor connection with a wiring pattern, a proposal has been made on an electroconductive paste composition for interlayer connection in a printed wiring board, characterized by comprising at least a resin, selected from melamine resins, phenolic resins, and epoxy resins, an electroconductive powder, and a dihydric alcohol and/or trihydric alcohol with a boiling point of 180° C. or above (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 77337/2003).
An electroconductive resin composition characterized by comprising a water-soluble heat curable resin, electroconductive particles, and a dihydric alcohol is known as an example of a heat curable electroconductive resin composition that does not cause any problem even when an apparatus, a tool and a vessel are washed with water after screen printing (Japanese Patent No. 3588400).
As with Japanese Patent No. 3588400, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 286924/1997 discloses an electroconductive resin composition which does not cause any problem even when a screen plate and the like are washed with water after printing. The electroconductive resin composition comprises a water soluble thermoplastic resin, electroconductive particles having an average particle diameter of 0.05 to 50 μm, and a dihydric alcohol.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11388/2001 discloses an electrode paste composition for a stacked capacitor, which does not cause any problem even when a plate used for printing is washed with water. The electrode paste composition comprises a water soluble resin and glycols.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 331648/2003 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 265826/2004 disclose a metal paste, which can realize firing at a low temperature, comprising an organometal compound of a group 3 to 15 metal of the periodic table and an alcohol compound, preferably glycols.
The formation of electrode bumps by the method as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 350258/1994 is disadvantageous in that, when the electroconductive paste compositions as disclosed in patent documents Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 270033/2002 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 77337/2003 are used, bumps having a height large enough to penetrate the insulating layer cannot be formed by single coating work of the electroconductive paste composition and, thus, overprinting by repeating a plurality of times of coating work of the electroconductive paste composition was necessary. In particular, a paste, which forms bumps not having an excessively sharp tip, should be used for avoiding breaking or chipping of the bump during the penetration and pressing of the insulating layer, and, thus, satisfactory bump height could not be provided. Accordingly, in most cases, the number of times of overprinting should be increased.
The techniques described in Japanese Patent No. 3588400, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 286924/1997 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11388/2001 use water soluble resins, and the techniques described in patent documents Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 331648/2003 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 265826/2004 use firing-type metal pastes. Unlike these techniques, the electroconductive paste composition according to the present invention is of a water insoluble and non-firing-type and can realize satisfactory coating thickness by single coating work. So far as the present inventors know, such electroconductive paste composition has not hitherto been provided.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems of the prior art mainly by using a bump forming aid containing a specific compound.

Electroconductive paste composition and printed wiring board


A method and system are provided for executing an application remotely on a server computer for a client computer in a computer network. The server receives at user input from the client computer associated with the application, and executes the application. The server processes display commands of the application to generate display primitives, and translates the display primitives into lower level display commands defining display updates using semantic information of the display primitives. The lower level display commands are selected from a predetermined set of lower level display commands. The lower level display commands are aggregated and ordered into one or more command queues. Each command queue is associated with a given display region. The server computer transmits the lower level display commands in the one or more command queues over the network to the client computer. The client computer is capable of translating the lower level display commands into hardware calls for causing the client computer to display the display updates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network computing and, more particularly, to a virtual display architecture for thin-client network computing.
2. Description of Related Art
In the last two decades, the centralized computing model of mainframe computing has shifted toward the more distributed model of desktop computing. However, as these personal desktop computers become prevalent in today's large corporate and government organizations, the total cost of owning and maintaining them is becoming unmanageable.
The use of mobile laptops and handheld devices to store and process information poses additional administration and security issues. These devices often contain sensitive data that must be carefully secured, yet the devices themselves often travel in insecure environments where they can be easily damaged, lost, or stolen. This management and security problem is particularly important for the medical community, given the increasing use of computing in medicine, the urgent need to comply with HIPAA regulations, and the significant privacy consequences for lost patient data.
Thin-client computing offers a solution to the rising management complexity and security hazards of the current computing model by leveraging continued improvements in network bandwidth, cost, and ubiquity to return to a more centralized, secure, and easier-to-manage computing strategy. A thin-client computing system includes a server and a client that communicate over a network using a virtual display protocol. The protocol allows graphical displays to be virtualized and served across a network to a client device, while application logic is executed on the server. Using the virtual display protocol, the client transmits user input to the server, and the server returns screen updates of the user interface of the applications to the client.
The thin-client approach offers several significant advantages over traditional desktop computing. Clients can be essentially stateless appliances that do not need to be backed up or restored, require little maintenance or upgrades, and generally do not store any sensitive data that can be lost or stolen. Mobile users can access the server from generally any client and obtain the same persistent, personalized computing environment. Server resources can be physically secured in protected data centers and centrally administered, with all the attendant benefits of easier maintenance and cheaper upgrades. Computing resources can be consolidated and shared across many users, resulting in more effective utilization of computing hardware.
The remote display functionality used in thin client computing systems to decouple display from application execution over a network enables remote users to travel and access their full desktop computing environment from generally anywhere. Applications written for one platform can be generally remotely displayed on a completely different one without rewrite. Scientists, e.g., can gain full access at their desktops to specialized computer-controlled scientific instrumentation located at remote locations. Since display output can be arbitrarily redirected and multiplexed over the network, screen sharing among multiple clients becomes possible. Thus, groups of users distributed over large geographical locations can seamlessly collaborate using a single shared computing session. Furthermore, by mirroring local display output and redirecting it over the network, quick technical support can be provided with the ability to see what the user sees on the desktop, enabling problems to be diagnosed and corrected more quickly. In addition, virtualized computing infrastructure such as virtual machines can leverage remote display systems to avoid display device dependencies, further decoupling their execution from underlying hardware.
However, thin-client computing faces a number of technical challenges before it can achieve mass acceptance. One challenge is to provide a high fidelity visual and interactive experience for end users across the vast spectrum of graphical and multimedia applications commonly found on the computing desktop. While previous thin-client approaches have focused on supporting office productivity tools in local area network (LAN) environments and reducing data transfer for low bandwidth links such as ISDN and modem lines, they do not effectively support more display-intensive applications such as multimedia video, and they are not designed to operate effectively in higher latency wide area network (WAN) environments. WAN performance is particularly important given the growing number of thin-client application service providers (ASPs) attempting to provide desktop computing services over the Internet.

Methods, media, and systems for displaying information on a thin-client in communication with a network

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


A communication uplink between a UAV and a base station is established using frequency division duplex (FDD) communication and a communication downlink between the UAV and the base station using time division duplex (TDD) communication. A determination of whether the UAV is located above an antenna height threshold is then made. When the UAV is located above the antenna height threshold, the communication uplink is transitioned from using the FDD communication to using the TDD communication while the use of the TDD communication is continued for the communication downlink. When the UAV is located at or below the antenna height threshold, the use of the FDD communication is continued for the communication uplink and the TDD communication for the communication downlink.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are aircraft that are controlled from a ground-based control device rather than an onboard human pilot. UAVs are being used in an ever-increasing number of roles in both the civilian and military sectors. These roles may include law enforcement surveillance, journalism, cinematograph, scientific research and monitoring, search and rescue, cargo transport, package delivery, etc. UAVs are also popular toys for recreational users and hobbyists. While some UAVs can perform limited autonomous flight, UAVs generally rely on control commands provided by ground-based control devices to carry out flight maneuvers and travel. Accordingly, a UAV operator may use a wireless carrier network provided by a mobile network operator (MNO) to communicatively link a ground-based control device of the UAV operator with UAVs that are performing flight operations. For example, the wireless carrier network may be used to continuously transmit flight control commands and guidance data to a UAV, as well as receive UAV telemetry and UAV operation status information from the UAV.
However, the use of a wireless carrier network by UAVs may occasionally cause problems for other user devices of the wireless carrier network. Due to a decreased number of terrain obstacles and increased line-of-sight at higher altitudes, the number of base stations for which a UAV may potentially establish communication with and switch between can greatly increase with flight altitude. For example, while a UAV may only detect uplink signals from 2-5 base stations on the ground, the UAV can detect uplink signals from up to 10-16 base stations when the UAV is at normal flight altitude. When there are multiple UAVs in an area, the large distances that their downlink radio signals can travel, as well as their abilities to detect a great number of uplink radio signals from nearby base stations and their subsequent attempt to communicate with such base stations via downlink radio signals, can result in significant radio interference in the area. Such radio interference may not only affect the UAVs themselves but also cause interference to ground-based communication devices in the area, such as mobile phones and infotainment systems in cars.


In various exemplary embodiments, a method for the distribution of content within a network of constrained capacity uses distributed content storage nodes functioning to achieve optimal service quality and maximum service session capacity. The method, which functions in unicast, broadcast, switched broadcast, and multicast mode networks, uses predictions of the utility of particular content items to download or record the highest utility items to distributed content stores during periods and in modes that will not increase demand peaks. These predictions of utility may be based on, for example, the number of potential users, the likelihood of their use, and the value to the service provider. The method uses signaling between network nodes to identify the best source for particular content items based on which nodes hold that content and the nature of network constraints.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to caching or temporary storage of information in one or more nodes of a content distribution network.
2. Description of Related Art
With the continued expansion of broadband Internet, the number of users seeking real-time delivery of multimedia content is constantly increasing. A content distribution network addresses this need by delivering digital content to end-users via a system of networked computers or nodes with the capability to cache content items. By harnessing geographically-dispersed storage, content distribution networks provide users with access to large amounts of content at high quality.
There are generally two reasons for constructing a network optimized for the distribution of content. A first objective is to improve the quality of the user experience through higher bandwidth and reduced latency and jitter. A second objective is to optimize the profitability of the network service.
In general, the profitability of a network service is driven by average utilization, while the cost is driven by the as-built network capacity, which is sized to meet peak traffic loads. When demand for content approaches the available network capacity, the service provider is unable to deliver more service sessions, thereby reducing revenue and service quality. This reduction in service quality can also decrease the price of the service or necessitate an expensive augmentation of network capacity.
A common technique for decreasing costs in a network is to shift traffic demand into off-peak periods to defer network expansion and avoid network congestion. Networks incorporating storage can smooth out the demand profile to eliminate peaks. These networks can enable greater service capacity, while minimizing the costs of implementing the content distribution network.
The hierarchical tiering of content stores is well established. In hierarchical tiering systems, when a user requests a piece of multimedia content, such as video or audio, the content distribution network maximizes efficiency by selecting the closest server measured in terms of network proximity. For example, the content distribution network may attempt to minimize the number of hops or network latency between the requesting node and the server node. Inefficiencies in the content distribution network can arise, however, if the content requested by the user is not available on a server node located in close proximity to the requesting node. In these situations, the server node must retrieve the content from another node, thereby placing increased traffic demands on the content distribution network as a whole.
Although many current content distribution networks achieve the objective of improving end-user performance, they can also result in increased costs to the network service provider by replicating and distributing content that is not used or by distributing it during peak periods. Current content distribution networks do not factor knowledge of network utilization or free capacity into the decisions about what content to cache, how much to cache, or when to re-populate the cache.
All caching in content distribution networks is based on the premise that the content stored in the cache will be used, but current implementations decide what content to cache assuming that a content item that has been used once will be used again or that a content item that was of interest to one user will be of interest to other users. These implementations only directly and in a very simplistic fashion attempt to predict future content consumption, for example, by tracking past content consumption to decide which past consumption items should be retained in the cache.
This simplistic process for deciding what content to cache may fail for a number of reasons. For example, a recently released movie might be expected to have many viewers in the future, but no viewers in the past. Accordingly, existing content distribution networks would generally fail to store such content. Conversely, most content distribution networks would not be able to determine that content that was popular in the past will not be popular in the future. For example, special coverage of an election that would be of widespread interest during the election would likely be of little or no interest once the election has passed.
As another example, a Cambodian woman who happens to be the only Cambodian living in a content distribution network local serving area might regularly request Cambodian language content. However, there is little utility in caching the items delivered to her because her content will not be of interest to neighboring users and she will likely not want to watch content she has seen before. Existing content distribution networks would generally fail to realize that her unique viewing patterns make caching of the content destined for her unhelpful.
Furthermore, even when existing content distribution networks correctly identify a content item that is likely to be frequently used in the future, these networks might send the item to a distributed storage point during a period of peak usage, thereby adding to the capacity shortage. In addition, existing content distribution networks generally operate with a single networking mode. As a result, these networks might request a unicast download of a movie to a distributed caching point even when it is possible to avoid the added network load of a unicast download by recording the movie from a broadcast network at the distributed caching point.
Accordingly, there is a need for a predictive caching content distribution network that reduces costs by using predictive knowledge of future content consumption to automatically cache content during off-peak periods or to capture content from a broadcast network when it is transmitted. In addition, there is a need for a self-adapting content distribution network that utilizes caching to maintain an inventory of content that is most likely to suit the current interests of users. There is also a need for caching selected content to shift demand peak within the content distribution network and thereby maximize the number of service sessions that can be delivered at a given network link capacity.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those that can be achieved by the various exemplary embodiments and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the various exemplary embodiments will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the various exemplary embodiments, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variation which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel methods, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described in various exemplary embodiments.

Predictive caching content distribution network


A document with anti-counterfeiting means to prevent reproducibility by photocopying, having a sheet-like element that has, on its face, at least one region whereon an image that is visible or not visible in the visible-light range is printed and has, on the back, in register with the image provided on the face, the same image, printed with an ink that is not visible in the visible-light range.

The present invention relates to a document with anti-counterfeiting means to prevent reproducibility by photocopying.
It is known that photocopying machines capable of reproducing any document in the finest of details are currently commercially available. These machines have already been used for the fraudulent duplication of documents, such as for example checks and the like, obtaining a photocopy that is substantially identical to the original and cannot therefore be distinguished easily.
In order to solve this problem, various methods have already been marketed which, for example, produce on the document regions that are not visible within the normal spectrum of visible light but instead appear in the photocopy, thus making the counterfeiting evident.
However, these methods entail considerable complexity during production of the document and accordingly so far they have not been widely adopted.

Document with anti-counterfeiting means to prevent reproducibility by photocopying


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices, and computer readable medium for uplink signal transmitting and receiving. A method comprises: receiving a first downlink signal from a first transmission/reception point (TRP); receiving a second downlink signal from a second TRP; and transmitting an uplink control signal to at least one of the first and second TRPs, the uplink control signal comprising first control information associated with the first downlink signal and second control information associated with the second downlink signal, and the first control information and the second control information being included in the uplink control signal in an order determined by an identification related to reference signals associated with the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal. Embodiments of the present disclosure may avoid ambiguity in uplink control information bit ordering in uplink control signal transmission and reception.

This section introduces aspects that may facilitate better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Currently a new fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technique is being studied in the third generation partnership project (3GPP). An access technology called New Radio (NR) is adopted in 5G communication systems. NR supports various communication scenarios including multi-panel (MP) transmission, in which a terminal device communicates with more than one transmission/reception points (TRPs).
Some problems related to control signaling transmission and reception in NR are still open.

Method and devices for uplink signal transmitting and receiving in a wireless communication system


In an air conditioning economizer system outdoor air intake is reduced automatically by a control device based on a shut-off control setting for a measured outdoor air quality. A geographical location associated with the air conditioning economizer system is received (S2) in the control device. The control device defines automatically (S3) the shut-off control setting based on the geographical location. Thus, the air conditioning economizer system is adapted specifically for a geographic location and its climate zone, without the requirement for installing or operating personnel to determine a shut-off control setting for a specific climate zone and/or select a corresponding operating range.

In the building construction industry there exist many standards that are adopted into codes and by extension become local law. These codes govern mechanical and electrical systems, fire protection and life safety, structural, space, and envelop requirements, and energy conservation (Energy Code).
The Energy Code dictates requirements of a building envelop, Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, water heating, electrical power, and electrical lighting. Within this code are several references to the climate zone the building is being built in. Typically, the climate zones have been defined based on historical meteorological data collection of temperatures, humidity, snow fall, rain fall and other such weather occurrences. The Energy Code uses the climate zone to determine the materials and systems that are required to result in the best investment versus operating cost. Some building systems that are static such as the insulation and vapor barriers can be chosen and installed in the building to protect against extreme cold, heat, and humidity. Other systems such as air conditioning economizer systems are dynamic and have to be adjusted in the field rather than set in the factory in order to achieve the requirements of the Energy Code. The controls of these dynamic systems have to be parameterized such that they function to achieve highest operating energy efficiencies. If the controls are improperly set, they can reduce energy savings or in many cases increase energy use.
Within the Energy Code there are detailed requirements of the set points of operation of specific systems. In the case of air conditioning economizer systems, systems that use outdoor (outside) air to cool the building when conditions are suitable, the parameters of the control determine when air should be brought into a building and when it should not. For example, the specific climate zone setting as defined by the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 for the economizer system is shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1Required High Limit (Economizer Off When):Sensor TypeClimate ZonesEquationDescriptionFixed Dry1b, 2b, 3b, 3c, 4b, 4c, 5b, 5c, 6b, 7, 8TOA > 75° F.Outdoor air temperature exceeds 75° F.Bulb5a, 6a, 7aTOA > 70° F.Outdoor air temperature exceeds 70° F.All other zonesTOA > 65° F.Outdoor air temperature exceeds 65° F.Differential1b, 2b, 3b, 3c, 4b, 4c,TOA > TRAOutdoor air temperature exceeds return airDry Bulb5a, 5b, 5c, 6a, 6b, 7, 8temperatureFixedAllhOA > 28 Btu/lbOutdoor air enthalpy exceeds 28 Btu/lb ofEnthalpydry aira)ElectronicAll(TOA, RHOA) > AOutdoor air temperature/RH exceeds theEnthalpy"A" set-point curveb)DifferentialAllhOA > hRAOutdoor air enthalpy exceeds return airEnthalpyenthalpyDew-pointAllDPOA > 55° F. orOutdoor air dry bulb exceeds 75° F. orand dry-bulbTOA > 75° F.outside dew point exceeds 55° F.(65 gr/lb)temperaturesa)At altitudes substantially different than sea level, the Fixed Enthalpy limit shall be set tothe enthalpy value at 75° F. and 50% relative humidity. As an example, at approximately 6000 ft elevation the fixed enthalpy limit is approximately 30.7 Btu/lb.b)Setpoint "A" corresponds to a curve on the psychrometric chart that goes through a point at approximately 75° F. and 40% relative humidity and is nearly parallel to dry-bulb lines at low humidity levels and nearly parallel to enthalpy lines at high humidity levels.
To use Table 1, the installer has to know what sensor control type is being used in the system. This is listed in the 1st column. Listed in the 2nd column are the approved climate zones where these sensor control types can be used. The location of the climate zones are shown on a map, as illustrated in FIG. 1 for the USA, for example. The 3rd column indicates the allowed equations for the sensor types used. These equations set the high limit shut-off. This shut-off requires selection or parameterizing in the field.
The map in FIG. 1 (climate map and climate zones based in part on Köppen climate classification) shows not only the hot, moderate, and cold climate zones, but also indicates whether the zone is dry (B), moist (A), or very moist, i.e. marine (C). The setting of this system does not only determine when (seasonally) one should not bring hot air into a space to be cooled, but also when not to bring air that may be very moist. The moist air (humidity) will not only cause discomfort, but can result in conditions within the building that are suitable for mold growth, or provide other unhealthy air quality situations.
In a required climate zone setting according to the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 Energy Standard, all air economizers shall be capable of automatically reducing outdoor air intake to the design minimum outdoor air quantity when outdoor air intake will no longer reduce cooling energy usage. High-limit shut-off control settings shall be those listed in Table 1.
State of the art control devices require detailed review of the example table above by the installing or operating personnel to determine the correct set point, in order to meet the local law for the climate zone where the air conditioning economizer system is installed. Then the individual must select a corresponding operating range, e.g. through use of selector switch(es). If the individual does not have in his possession the tables and listing of climate zones, then the system can be incorrectly set up and result in energy waste and bad building conditions in moist climates. Multiple studies have proven this possibility to be true.

Control method and device for an air conditioning economizer system


The performance of digital communication over a noisy communication channel is improved. An encoder combines bit modulation with error control encoding to allow the decoder to use the redundancy in the error control codes to detect uncorrectable bit errors. This method improves the efficiency of the communication system since fewer bits are required for error control, leaving more bits available for data. In the context of a speech coding system, speech quality is improved without sacrificing robustness to bit errors. A bit prioritization method further improves performance over noisy channels. Individual bits in a set of quantizer values are arranged according to their sensitivity to bit errors. Error control codes having higher levels of redundancy are used to protect the most sensitive (highest priority) bits, while lower levels of redundancy are used to protest less sensitive bits. This method improves efficiency of the error control system, since only the highest priority data is encoded with the highest levels of redundancy. The effect of uncorrectable bit errors is reduced by adaptively smoothing the spectral parameters in a speech decoder. The amount of smoothing is varied depending upon the number of errors detected during the error control decoding of the received data. More smoothing is used when a large number of errors are detected, thereby reducing the perceived effect of any uncorrectable bit errors which may be present.

This invention relates to methods for preserving the quality of speech or other acoustic signals when transmitted over a noisy channel.
Relevant publications include: J. L. Flanagan, Speech Analysis, Synthesis and Perception, Springer-Verlag, 1972, pp. 378-386, (discusses phase vocoder--frequency-based speech analysis-synthesis system); Quatieri, et al., "Speech Transformations Based on a Sinusoidal Representation", IEEE TASSP, Vol, ASSP34, No. 6, Dec. 1986, pp. 1449-1986, (discusses analysis-synthesis technique based on a sinusoidal representation); Griffin, "Multiband Excitation Vocoder", Ph.D. Thesis, M.I.T, 1987, (discusses an 8000 bps Multi-Band Excitation speech coder); Griffin, et al., "A High Quality 9.6 kbps Speech Coding System", Proc. ICASSP 86, pp. 125-128, Tokyo, Japan, Apr. 13-20, 1986, (discusses a 9600 bps Multi-Band Excitation speech coder); Griffin, et al., "A New Model-Based Speech Analysis/Synthesis System", Proc. ICASSP 85, pp. 513-516, Tampa, Fla., Mar. 26-29, 1985, (discusses Multi-Band Excitation speech model); Hardwick, "A 4.8 kbps Multi-Band Excitation Speech Coder", S. M. Thesis, M.I.T, May 1988, (discusses a 4800 bps Multi-Band Excitation speech coder); McAulay et al., "Mid-Rate Coding Based on a Sinusoidal Representation of Speech", Proc. ICASSP 85, pp. 945-948, Tampa, Fla., Mar. 26-29, 1985, (discusses the sinusoidal transform speech coder); Campbell et al., "The New 4800 bps Voice Coding Standard", Mil Speech Tech Conference, Nov. 1989, (discusses error correction in a U.S. Government speech coder); Campbell et al., "CELP Coding for Land Mobile Radio Applications", Proc. ICASSP 90, pp. 465-468, Albequerque, NM. Apr. 3-6, 1990, (discusses error correction in a U.S. Government speech coder); Levesque et al., Error-Control Techniques for Digital Communication, Wiley, 1985, (discusses error correction in general); Lin et al., Error Control Coding, Prentice-Hall, 1983, (discusses error correction in general);Jayant et al., Digital Coding of Waveforms, Prentice-Hall, 1984, (discusses speech coding in general); Digital Voice Systems, Inc., "INMARSAT-M Voice Coder", Version 1.9, Nov. 18, 1992, (discusses 6.4 kbps IMBE.TM. speech coder for INMARSAT-M standard), Digital Voice Systems, Inc., "APCO/NASTD/Fed Project 25 Vocoder Description", Version 1.0, Dec. 1, 1992, (discusses 7.2 kbps IMBE.TM. speech coder for APCO/NASTD/Fed Project 25 standard) (attached hereto as Appendix A). The contents of these publications (including Appendix A) are incorporated herein by reference.
The problem of reliably transmitting digital data over noisy communication channels has a large number of applications, and as a result has received considerable attention in the literature. Traditional digital communication systems have relied upon error correction and detection methods to reliably transmit digital data over noisy channels. Sophisticated error coding techniques have been developed to systematically correct and detect bit errors which are introduced by the channel. Examples of commonly used error control codes (ECC's) include: Golay codes, Hamming codes, BCH codes, CRC codes, convolutional codes, Reed-Solomon codes, etc. . . . These codes all function by converting a set of information bits into a larger number of bits which are then transmitted across the channel. The increase in the number of bits can be viewed as a form of redundancy which enables the receiver to correct and/or detect up to a certain number of bit errors. In traditional ECC methods the number of bit errors which can be corrected/detected is a function of the amount of redundancy which is added to the data. This results in a tradeoff between reliability (the number of bit errors which can be corrected) versus useable data rate (the amount of information which can be transmitted after leaving room for redundancy). The digital communication designer typically performs a sophisticated system analysis to determine the best compromise between these two competing requirements.
The reliable transmission of speech or other acoustic signals over a communication channel is a related problem which is made more complicated by the need to first convert the analog acoustic signal into a digital representation. This is often done by digitizing the analog signal with an A-to-D convertor. In the case of speech, where an 8 bit A-to-D convertor may sample the signal at a rate of 8 kHz, the digital representation would require 64 kbps. If additional, redundant, information must be added prior to transmission across the channel, then the required channel data rate would be significantly greater than 64 kbps. For example, if the channel requires 50% redundancy for reliable transmission, then the required channel data rate would be 64+32=96 kbps. Unfortunately this data rate is beyond what is practical in many digital communication systems. Consequently some method for reducing the size of the digital representation is needed. This problem, commonly referred to as "compression", is performed by a signal coder. In the case of speech or other acoustic signals a system of this type is often referred to as a speech coder, voice coders, or simply a vocoder.
A modern speech coder performs a sophisticated analysis on the input signal, which can be viewed as either an analog signal or the output of an A-to-D converter. The result of this analysis is a compressed digital representation which may be as low as 100 bps. The actual compressed rate which is achieved is generally a function of the desired fidelity (i.e. speech quality) and the type of speech coder which is employed. Different types of speech coders have been designed to operate at high rates (16-64 kbps), mid-rates (2-16 kbps) and low rates (0-2 kbps). Recently, mid-rate speech coders have been the subject of renewed interest due to the increase in mobile communication services (cellular, satellite telephony, land mobile radio, in-flight phones etc . . . ). These applications typically require high quality speech at mid-rates. In additions these applications are all subject to significant channel degradations including in high bit error rates (BER) of 1-10% and multipath fading. (Note the problem of bit errors is present to some extent in all digital communication and storage applications. The mobile communication example is presented due to the severity of the problem in the mobile environment)
As discussed above, there are numerous speech coding methods which have been employed in the past. One class of speech coders which have been extensively studied and used in practice is based on an underlying model of speech. Examples from this class of vocoders include linear prediction vocoders, homomorphic vocoders, sinusoidal transform coders, multi-band excitation speech coders, improved multi-band excitation speech coders and channel vocoders. In these vocoders, speech is characterized on a short-time basis through a set of model parameters. The model parameters typcially consist of some combination of voiced/unvoiced decisions, voiced/unvoiced probability measure, pitch period, fundamental frequency, gain, spectral envelope parameters and residual or error parameters. For this class of speech coders, speech is analyzed by first segmenting speech using a window such as a Hamming window. Then, for each segment of speech, the model parameters are estimated and quantized.
In noisy digital communication systems, the traditional approach is to protect the quantized model parameters with some form of ECC. The redundant information associated with the ECC is used by the receiver to correct and/or detect bit errors introduced by the channel. The receiver then reconstructs the model parameters and then proceeds to synthesize a digital speech signal which is suitable for playback through a D-to-A convertor and a speaker. The inclusion of error control capability allows the receiver to reduce the distortion and other artifacts which would be introduced into the synthesized speech due to the presence of bit errors in the received data. Unfortunately, with any error control code, there is some probability that too many errors will be introduced for the receiver to correct. In this case the remaining bit errors will affect the reconstruction of the model parameters and possibly introduce significant degradations into the synthesized speech. This problem can be lessened by either including additional error control codes, or by including additional error detection capability which can detect errors which cannot be corrected. These traditional approaches require additional redundancy and hence further increase the channel data rate which is required to transmit a fixed amount of information. This requirement is a disadvantage, since in most applications it is desirable to minimize the total number of bits which are transmitted (or stored).
The invention described herein applies to many different digital communication systems, some of which contain speech coders. Examples of speech coders which may be contained in such a communication system include but are not limited to linear predictive speech coders, channel vocoders, homomorphic vocoders, sinusoidal transform coders, multi-band excitation speech coders and improved multiband excitation (IMBE.TM.) speech coders. For the purpose of describing the details of this invention, we have focussed on a digital communication system containing the IMBE.TM. speech coder. This particular speech coder has been standardized at 6.4 kbps for use over the INMARSAT-M (International Marine Satellite Organization) and OPTUS Mobilesat satellite communication system, and which has been selected at 7.2 kbps for use in the APCO/NASTD/Fed Project 25 North American land mobile radio standard.
The IMBE.TM. coder uses a robust speech model which is referred to as the Multi-Band Excitation (MBE) speech model. The MBE speech model was developed by Griffin and Lim in 1984. This model uses a more flexible representation of the speech signal than traditional speech models. As a consequence it is able to produce more natural sounding speech, and it is more robust to the presence of acoustic background noise. These properties have caused the MBE speech model to be used extensively for high quality mid-rate speech coding.
Let s(n) denote a discrete speech signal obtained by sampling an analog speech signal. In order to focus attention on a short segment of speech over which the model parameters are assumed to be constant, the signal s(n) is multiplied by a window w(n) to obtain a windowed speech segment or frame, s.sub.w (n). The speech segment s.sub.w (n) is modelled as the response of a linear filter h.sub.w (n) to some excitation signal e.sub.w (n). Therefore, S.sub.w (.omega.), the Fourier Transform of s.sub.w (n), can be expressed as EQU S.sub.w (.omega.)=H.sub.w (.omega.)E.sub.w (.omega.) (1)
where H.sub.w (.omega.) and E.sub.w (.omega.) are the Fourier Transforms of h.sub.w (n) and e.sub.w (n), respectively. The spectrum H.sub.w (.omega.) is often referred to as the spectral envelope of the speech segment.
In traditional speech models speech is divided into two classes depending upon whether the signal is mostly periodic (voiced) or mostly noise-like (unvoiced). For voiced speech the excitation signal is a periodic impulse sequence, where the distance between impulses is the pitch period. For unvoiced speech the excitation signal is a white noise sequence.
In traditional speech models each speech segment is classified as either entirely voiced or entirely unvoiced. In contrast the MBE speech model divides the excitation spectrum into a number of non-overlapping frequency bands and makes a voiced or unvoiced (V/UV) decision for each frequency band. This approach allows the excitation signal for a particular speech segment to be a mixture of periodic (voiced) energy and aperiodic (unvoiced) energy.
This added flexibility in the modelling of the excitation signal allows the MBE speech model to produce high quality speech and to be robust to the presence of background noise.
Speech coders based on the MBE speech model estimate a set of model parameters for each segment of speech. The MBE model parameters consist of a fundamental frequency, a set of V/UV decisions which characterize the excitation signal, and a set of spectral amplitudes which characterize the spectral envelope. Once the MBE model parameters have been estimated for each segment, they are quantized, protected with ECC and transmitted to the decoder. The decoder then performs error control decoding to correct and/or detect bit errors. The resulting bits are then used to reconstruct the MBE model parameters which are in turn used to synthesize a speech signal suitable for playback through a D-to-A convertor and a conventional speaker.

Digital transmission of acoustic signals over a noisy communication channel


A black panel assembly for use in an accelerated weathering test device having a specimen table includes a platform disposed on the specimen table, the platform including a plurality of standoffs and a mounting surface, wherein the plurality of standoffs elevate the mounting surface relative to the specimen table. The black panel assembly additionally includes a black panel having an exposure side and a mounting side, wherein the black panel is mounted on the platform from the mounting side. The black panel assembly further includes a temperature sensor connected to the exposure side of the black panel.

Manufacturers of exterior coatings, such as paints and finishes, as well as plastics and other components which tend to degrade under exposure to solar radiation and other weathering effects, often want to know how such products will perform following years of exposure. However, such manufacturers typically require such information in a much shorter time than it would take to expose such materials to weathering effects under normal conditions. Accordingly, accelerated weathering test devices have been developed which accelerate the effects of weathering due to outdoor exposure in a much shorter time so that manufacturers need not actually wait five or ten years in order to determine how their products will hold up after five or ten years of actual outdoor exposure.
Weathering test devices can be categorized into outdoor devices that utilize solar radiation for testing, and indoor devices that generate artificial radiation for testing. Indoor test devices typically include a test chamber, in which test specimens can be exposed to accelerated weathering conditions. These test chambers typically include one or more sources of artificial radiation, such as high intensity plasma lamps, that can direct high intensity radiation toward test specimens that are placed in the test chambers. Additionally, indoor accelerated weathering test devices include a black panel temperature probe that is disposed in the test chamber near the test specimens. The black panel temperature probe typically includes a black painted metallic panel that has a temperature probe mounted thereon. The temperature sensed from the black panel temperature probe typically represents the highest temperature that may be experienced by the test specimens during accelerated weathering tests.
A type of indoor accelerated weathering test device that is commonly used includes a test chamber, in which the test specimens are horizontally arranged on static arrays of specimen trays. These weathering test devices include a generally rectangular test chamber having a ceiling, a floor and a pair of side walls. One or more high intensity plasma lamps, such as Xenon lamps are typically positioned in the ceiling and configured to direct radiation toward the floor of the test chamber. The specimen trays are placed near the floor of the test chamber so that an exposed surface of each specimen receives radiation from the lamps. However, the bottom sides of the test specimens are not exposed to any airflow that may be present in the test chamber. The black panel temperature probe is placed in one of the test specimen trays, and similarly, the bottom side thereof is not exposed to or airflow in the test chamber.
The ASTM 6151 (American Society for Testing and Materials, designation 6151), which is directed to standard practice for exposing nonmetallic materials in accelerated test devices that use laboratory light sources, advises that the back side of the black panel "shall be open to the atmosphere within the exposure chamber." However, in the above-described indoor accelerated weathering test device, the back side of the black panel is not open to the atmosphere within the exposure chamber. Accordingly, the black panel may experience static and dynamic temperatures that are unrealistic compared to the actual temperatures that are experienced by the test specimens.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a black panel that can be placed in the above-described type of indoor accelerated weathering test device such that the backside of the black panel is open to the atmosphere within the exposure chamber of the device.

Elevated black panel for accelerated weathering test device

Atlas Material Testing Technology, L.L.C.


A system and method for using plasma to treat a substrate are described. The system includes a substrate holder disposed within a plasma processing system, and arranged to support a substrate, a first signal generator for coupling a first signal at a first frequency to plasma in the plasma processing system, and a second signal generator for coupling a second signal at a second frequency to plasma in the plasma processing system, wherein the second frequency being less than the first frequency. The system further includes an amplitude modulation circuit for modulating the first signal between a high amplitude state and a low amplitude state in response to an amplitude modulation signal, and a timing circuit configured to define the amplitude modulation signal that synchronizes the amplitude modulation of the first signal with a target phase for each cycle of the second signal.

Plasma processing is a standard technique used to manufacture semiconductor integrated circuitry by assisting the depositing or etching of material to and from a workpiece. In the reactor design for both etch and deposition applications, an important requirement is to achieve acceptable metrics, such as etch rate, deposition rate, etc., and the spatial uniformity thereof, in order to meet yield requirements. Spatial uniformity is easier to achieve if the plasma density is known to be uniform across the substrate from center to edge. In many situations, it is desirable to use plasma generated at an RF (radio frequency) frequency in the VHF (very high frequency) range (30-300 MHz), as opposed to 13.56 MHz that has been a standard RF frequency for producing plasma in semiconductor processing.
Some advantages of higher frequency include plasma generation efficiency to achieve higher plasma density. The RF voltage of the plasma sheath is also smaller, leading to lower ion energies and less bombardment of the chamber walls and substrate where sputtering and damage are considerations. These advantages are particularly useful for next generation etching requirements.
High density plasma is of particular use to dissociate the primary molecules in a deposition application. It has been found experimentally however that plasmas generated by VHF generally have non-uniform radial profiles. In the case of 100 MHz plasmas this can be quite pronounced with a sharp center peak in the plasma density. It is also the case that often processes require a mixture of high frequency and low frequency RF. The low frequency RF power provides higher ion energies. It has been found that the addition of low frequency RF power to high frequency RF power changes the plasma density profiles in ways which are unexpected and vary from application to application.

Plasma processing system with synchronized signal modulation


Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for providing Quality of service to RFID. In one embodiment the present invention includes a method of providing quality of service in an RFID network comprising storing RFID priority information corresponding to the RFID network, wherein the RFID network comprises one or more tags and one or more readers mapping the RFID priority information into priority information corresponding to a second network.

The present invention relates to radio frequency identification ("RFID"), and in particular, to systems and methods for providing quality of service ("QoS") to RFID.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless technology that uses electronic tags for storing data. RFID tags are read when they are close to a transmitted radio signal from an RFID reader. RFID readers manage RFID tags and pass their information onto network servers, corporate databases and business applications. The readers typically act like a gateway between the tags and the corporate servers/databases by providing an RF interface to the tags on one side and another network interface on the other side.
As the price of tags drops, RFID tags will become prevalent in the future and as such will provide large volumes of network traffic through the readers. RED applications include short range and long range communication and cover areas such as supply chain automation, asset tracking, medical smartcard applications, people tracking, manufacturing parts tracking, supermarket active shelves and trolley tracking, warehouse inventory management, security and access control, and livestock tracking. Telemetry applications include gathering data for temperature, motion, sound, video, light and moisture. RFID data from these different industries and have different requirements in terms of guaranteed delays and required bandwidth. Since network bandwidth is limited and congestions can occur it is important to differentiate between different types of RFID network traffic. A best effort type of RFID network is not acceptable for mission critical RFID data because it does not provide for guaranteed bandwidth or priority-based treatment of RFID data. It is therefore necessary to provide QoS for RFID data where the accuracy and urgency of the RFID data is important.
The present invention provides systems and methods for providing quality of service ("QoS") to RFID to improve RED network performance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mapping the determined RFID priority level of an RFID first network to a priority level corresponding to a second network to provide quality of service to RFID


1,3,4-Oxadiazoles of the formula ##STR1## are prepared by cyclization (dehydration) of the corresponding diacylhydines of the formula R.sub.1 C(O)NHNHC(O)R.sub.2 with phosphorous pentachloride or phosphorous oxychloride wherein R.sub.1 is --CF.sub.2 CF.sub.2 CF.sub.2 SF.sub.5, --CF.sub.2 CF.sub.2 SF.sub.5, or --CH.sub.2 SF.sub.5 and R.sub.2 is --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 C(NO.sub.2).sub.3, --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 C(NO.sub.2).sub.2 F, --CF.sub.2 CF.sub.2 CF.sub.3, --CF.sub.2 CF.sub.3, --CF.sub.3, or --CH.sub.2 SF.sub.5.

This invention relates to plasticizers and more particularly to energetic plasticizers for plastic bonded explosives.
A number of new fluorinated binders [for example, perfluoroalkyl polyformals as described by H. G. Adolph and J. M. Goldwasser; U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,579 (1988) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,628 (1988)] have recently become available and energetic formulations that contain these new fluorinated binders along with nitro oxidizers/explosives (HMX, for example) have been prepared. These new highly fluorinated binders exhibit quite different chemical properties compared to the nitro oxidizers/explosives. Because of these differences in properties, the usual nitro plasticizers (FEFO, NG, TMETN) used in the formulations are attracted toward the nitro oxidizer/explosive and not the fluorinated binder. These differences in the attraction of the nitro plasticizer for the binder and oxidizer can cause the plasticizer to migrate during storage of the formulations. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/901,621, filed on Jun. 15, 1992 by Michael E. Sitzmann (identical to the current inventorship) discloses 2-polynitroalkyl-5-perfluoroalkyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole plasticizers which solve the migration problem.
It would be desirable to provide low melting plasticizers which do not migrate in fluoropolymer/nitroexplosive composites and which possess low melting points but which have lower volatilities but greater densities and energies than the 2-polynitroalkyl-5-perfluoroalkyl-1,3,4-oxadiazoles. Moreover, it would be desirable to provide plasticizers which possess the general properties (such as low melting points) of conventional fluoroplasticizers but which are less volatile and more dense and energetic than the conventional fluoroplasticizers.

1,3,4-oxadiazoles containing the pentafluorothio (SF.sub.5) group

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A two-dimensionally periodic, color-filtering grating has a contiguous high-refractive. In an embodiment, the color-filtering grating includes a metallic ground layer defining a grating plane and above the ground layer a two-dimensionally regular pattern of individual high-refractive, such as metallic areal elements that respectively extend parallel to the grating plane and respectively are spaced apart from the ground layer through an intermediate dielectric by a distance that is greater than the thickness of the ground layer and of the areal elements. The regular pattern has in at least two directions, which run parallel to the grating plane, a periodicity between 100 nm and 800 nm, and preferably between 200 nm and 500 nm.

The invention relates to a two-dimensionally periodic, color-filtering grating. For security elements of value documents one-dimensionally periodic gratings are known, for example from DE 102009012299 A1, DE 102009012300 A1 or DE 102009056933 A1. They may have color filter properties in the subwavelength region, when the grating profile is designed such that resonance effects emerge in the visible wavelength region. Such color filter properties are known both for reflective and for transmissive subwavelength structures. These structures have a strongly polarizing influence on the reflection or the transmission of an incident light beam. When the incident light is unpolarized, the color saturation for these gratings is considerably weakened. Further, the color in reflection or transmission of such subwavelength gratings is relatively strongly angular-dependent.

Two-dimensionally periodic, color-filtering grating


METHOD FOR BANK EQUIPMENT REINFORCEMENT AND FIXATION THROUGH AN ANCHORAGE BASE”, which is intended for the reinforcement and clamping of ATMS and “Cash Dispensers” type equipment, being characterized by envisioning the installation of jackets (1) in the equipment, being that the jackets (1) are protective plates installed in the safes, being basically composed by a box (2) made of metal plate, having material layers in its internal part having the objective to provide resistance against burglary, being the first layer of material contained in the box (2) forming the jacket (1) a chemical compound (3) providing resistance against the effects of a blow torch while the second layer is preferably produced with concrete (4), providing mechanical strength to the parts; the chemical protection which constitutes the layer (3) is, essentially, a flammable compound, preferably containing bitumen, pitch and sulfur at duly specified layer amounts and thicknesses; in its turn, layer (4), which constitutes the mechanical protection is preferably obtained with reinforced concrete containing cement, aluminum oxide with a number of granulations and steel stretched wires, at the specified amounts.

As it is generally known, bank institutions, over several years have made available a number of facilities to their customers, such as the ATMs, which are self-service external facilities where a number of operations can be conducted, being cash withdrawal one of the most executed.
Bank institutions also make equipment known as "Cash Dispenser" available, allowing cash withdrawal and other operations and which can be installed in large public circulation places.
In general, both ATM type installations and "Cash Dispensers" have a construction project which shall provide safety against sinister attempts.
It happens that, recently, there have been a significant increase in violence rates, particularly in large urban centers, there's a clear demonstration that the currently used equipments do not provide an appropriate safety level suitable to the techniques used by specialized gangs.

Method for bank equipment reinforcement and fixation through an anchorage base


Cables having a conductor with a polymeric covering layer and a non-extruded coating layer made of a material based on a liquid composition including a polymer resin and a fatty acid amide. Methods of making cables are also provided.

Cables, particularly those used outdoor, tend to attract and to pick up dirt and contaminants that adhere to the cable. That is especially true when the cable is moved frequently by being dragged on the ground, such as charging cables for boats and yachts. The cable, overtime, accumulates dirt and contaminants on its outer surface and is rendered unsightly, but is difficult to clean without scuffing and/or destroying the surface of the covering. Scuffing of the covering generally exacerbates the problem by making the cable more attractive to dirt and contaminants.
Therefore, there remains a need for a cable that is resistant to dirt and contaminants, and whose outer surface can easily be cleaned without scuffing and/or damaging the covering.


Provided is an A.C.C. extract from a combination of medicinal herbs, which are Phellodendron bark, Scutellaria baicalensis, Paeonia lactiflora Pall, Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Alumen, Dryobalanops aromatica Gaertner, Mentha arvensis var. piperascens, Inula helenium, Syringa velutina var. kamibayashii, Corydalis incisa, Eclipta prostrata, Lonicera japonica, and Glycyrrhiza uralensis, and a composition having the same as an active ingredient. The A.C.C. extract of the present invention reduces production of TNF-α IL-1β and IL-6, thereby regulating the expression of iNOS and thus exhibiting an anti-inflammatory effect inhibiting NO production. Also clinically, the A.C.C. extract of the present invention is a substance that alleviates symptoms such as diaper rash and miliaria through anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activitities and can be used as an effective anti-inflammatory agent.

Inflammatory response occurring in the body is one of the body's defense mechanisms that are important for restoring damaged areas caused by physical and chemical stimuli such as wounds or bacterial infections. When stimulation is applied, vascular active substances are released and vascular permeability increases, causing inflammation. In addition, the inflammatory response is a restoration process that occurs in vivo by external stimuli and is clinically accompanied by redness, fever, swelling, and pain. Cells involved in the inflammatory response include macrophages, monocytes, lymphocytes, mast cells, fibroblasts, platelets, etc., and macrophages are known as major cells that induce inflammatory response. These cells are activated by stimulation or by cytokines secreted from immune cells to produce nitric oxide (NO) and cytokines, which play an important role in biodefense. In addition, during inflammatory response, inflammatory mediators such as histamine, serotonin, arachidonic acid metabolites, reactive oxygen species, cytokines, etc. are produced and released.
Repetitive inflammatory responses also cause excessive generation of reactive oxygen species in inflammatory cells, resulting in permanent genetic modification which results in irreversible lesions. That is, the inflammatory response is a defense mechanism occurring in vivo, but when inflammatory response occurs continuously, it promotes mucosal damage, resulting in edema, pain, redness, fever, etc., and can cause diseases associated with chronic inflammation, such as cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, bronchitis and cancer.
In general, iNOS of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) is known to be involved in inflammatory response, and is expressed by stimulation of interferon-γ, inflammatory cytokines, and LPS. NO in the body plays an important role in antibacterial activity and tumor removal, but NO produced by iNOS is known to induce an increased vascular permeability, edema, etc., and to stimulate the synthesis of inflammatory mediators to exacerbate inflammation.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is well known as an endotoxin in the extracellular membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. It catalyzes inflammatory response by stimulating the secretion of inflammatory-mediated cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-6, from macrophages or monocytes. TNF-α is a cytokine produced by macrophages, lymphocytes, and white blood cells in the body, and is not produced under normal conditions, but is synthesized and secreted when macrophages are stimulated. IL-6, a representative pro-inflammatory cytokine, is secreted from various types of cells, including monocytes, and plays an important role in the initial immune response. IL-1β constitutes a representative group of inflammatory cytokines along with IL-6 and TNF-α, is a mediator that produces NO, and is known as a cytokine that causes local inflammation, activates T cells, matures B cells and activates NK cells. It has been reported that synthesis of these inflammatory mediators is involved in the process of conversion of arachidonic acid to leukotriene, prostaglandin, thromboxane, etc. by cyclooxygenase (COX) and in the production of nitric oxide (NO), resulting in fatal consequences to the host. Particularly, NO is a highly reactive substance and is known to play an essential role in the innate immune response against pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. NO is produced from L-arginine by NO synthase (NOS). NOS is divided into constitutive NOS (cNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS). Among them, iNOS is known to produce a large amount of NO by external stimulation or the stimulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines or the like, causing vascular permeability and edema, which induce inflammatory response, and leads to immunological disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune disorders, in severe cases. In this regard, there is a demand for the development of effective anti-inflammatory therapeutic agents along with the development of natural product extracts having anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory activities.

A.C.C. extract having anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effect and composition comprising same as active ingredient


There is provided inter alia a compound of formula (I):

Four p38 MAPK isoforms (alpha, beta, gamma and delta respectively) have been identified, each displaying a tissue-specific expression pattern. The p38 MAPK alpha and beta isoforms are ubiquitously expressed throughout the body and are found in many different cell types. The p38 MAPK alpha and beta isoforms are inhibited by certain known small molecule p38 MAPK inhibitors. Earlier generations of compounds were highly toxic due to the ubiquitous expression pattern of these isoforms and off-target effects of the compounds. More recent inhibitors are improved to be highly selective for p38 MAPK alpha and beta isoforms and have a wider safety margin.
Less is known about the p38 MAPK gamma and delta isoforms. These isoforms are expressed in specific tissues/cells (unlike the p38 alpha and p38 beta isoforms). The p38 MAPK-delta isoform is expressed more in the pancreas, testes, lung, small intestine and kidney. It is also abundant in macrophages (Smith, S. J. (2006) Br. J. Pharmacol. 149:393-404) and detectable in neutrophils, CD4+ T cells and endothelial cells (www.genecard.org, Karin, K. (1999) J. Immunol.). Very little is known about the expression of p38 MAPK gamma but it is expressed more in brain, skeletal muscle and heart, as well as in lymphocytes and macrophages (www.genecard.org).
Selective small molecule inhibitors of p38 MAPK-gamma and p38 MAPK-delta are not currently available, but one existing compound, BIRB 796, is known to have pan-isoform inhibitory activity. The p38 gamma and p38 delta inhibition is observed at higher concentrations of the compound than those required to inhibit p38 alpha and p38 beta (Kuma, Y. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280:19472-19479). BIRB 796 also impaired the phosphorylation of p38 MAPKs or JNKs by the upstream kinase MKK6 or MKK4. Kuma discussed the possibility that the conformational change caused by the binding of the inhibitor to the MAPK protein may affect the structure of both its phosphorylation site and the docking site for the upstream activator, therefore impairing the phosphorylation of p38 MAPKs or JNKs.
p38 MAP kinase is believed to play a pivotal role in many of the signalling pathways that are involved in initiating and maintaining chronic, persistent inflammation in human disease, for example, in severe asthma and COPD. There is now an abundant literature which demonstrates that p38 MAP kinase is activated by a range of pro-inflammatory cytokines and that its activation results in the recruitment and release of further pro-inflammatory cytokines. Indeed, data from some clinical studies demonstrate beneficial changes in disease activity in patients during treatment with p38 MAP kinase inhibitors. For instance Smith, S. J. (2006) Br. J. Pharmacol. 149:393-404 describes the inhibitory effect of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors on TNFα (but not IL-8) release from human PBMCs. Use of inhibitors of p38 MAP kinase in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is proposed. Small molecule inhibitors targeted to p38 MAPKα/β have proved to be effective in reducing various parameters of inflammation in cells and tissues obtained from patients with COPD, who are generally corticosteroid insensitive, (Smith, S. J. (2006) Br. J. Pharmacol. 149:393-404) and in vivo animal models (Underwood, D. C. et al. Am. J. Physiol. (2000) 279:L895-902; Nath, P. et al., (2006) Eur. J. Pharmacol. 544:160-167). Irusen and colleagues also suggested the possibility of involvement of p38 MAPKα/β on corticosteroid insensitivity via reduction of binding affinity of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in nuclei (Irusen, E. et al., (2002) J. Allergy Clin. Immunol., 109:649-657). Clinical experience with a range of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors, including AMG548, BIRB 796, VX702, SCIO469 and SCIO323 is described in Lee et al. (2005) Current Med. Chem. 12:2979-2994.
COPD is a condition in which the underlying inflammation is reported to be substantially resistant to the anti-inflammatory effects of inhaled corticosteroids. Consequently, a superior strategy for treating COPD would be to develop an intervention which has both inherent anti-inflammatory effects and the ability to increase the sensitivity of the lung tissues of COPD patients to inhaled corticosteroids. The recent publication of Mercado et al (2007; American Thoracic Society Abstract A56) demonstrates that silencing p38 gamma has the potential to restore sensitivity to corticosteroids. Thus there may be a "two pronged" benefit to the use of a p38 MAP kinase inhibitor for the treatment of COPD and severe asthma.
However, the major obstacle hindering the utility of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors in the treatment of human chronic inflammatory diseases has been the toxicity observed in patients. This has been sufficiently severe to result in the withdrawal from clinical development of many of the compounds progressed, including all those specially mentioned above.
There remains a need to identify and develop new compounds therapeutically useful as p38 MAP kinase inhibitors which have improved therapeutic potential, in particular which are more efficacious, longer acting and/or less toxic at the relevant therapeutic dose. An objective of the present invention is to provide compounds which inhibit p38 MAP kinase, for example with certain sub-type specificity, which show good anti-inflammatory potential, in particular suitable for use in therapy.

Abstract: wherein R1, J, Ar, L, X, R3 and R4 are as defined in the specification, for use in the treatment of inflammatory disorders.


A shell-side feed, hollow fiber, fluid separation module arranged for counter-flow includes a hollow fiber membrane bundle with each individual hollow fiber membrane in the bundle having an open fiber end and a sealed fiber end. The open fiber ends are encapsulated in a tubesheet located toward the permeate fluid outlet end of the module. The sealed fiber ends are tubesheet-free, uniformly spaced, and located toward the non-permeate fluid outlet end of the module.

The present invention relates to shell-side feed, gas separation devices or modules which use hollow fiber membranes that exhibit selective permeability to fluids such as gases. The invention may also be used in vaporization or liquid separation devices or modules.
Prior art shell-side feed, hollow fiber, gas separation modules have each end of the hollow fibers encased or encapsulated in a tubesheet, with one tubesheet located toward a feed gas inlet side of the device and the other tubesheet located toward a permeate gas flow outlet. If a counter-current flow arrangement is desired—i.e., between the gas flowing on the permeate side of the hollow fibers and that flowing on the non-permeate side—then one tubesheet has the permeate gas flow to it blocked, thereby blocking the hollow fiber bores on the non-permeate fluid outlet end. This blocked tubesheet then becomes an obstruction to the feed gas flow.
Usually the fiber bore blocking is done by encasing the entire end of the fiber bundle in a tubesheet where the fibers do not extend all the way through. If the fiber ends were open while this non-permeate side tubesheet is formed, then the fibers will be plugged with the tubesheet potting material as well as being collectively encased.
The hollow fiber bores are only required to be open on the non-permeate fluid outlet end if a sweep gas will be introduced. If the tubesheet is finished to have both ends of the fibers opened then the tubesheet located toward the non-permeate fluid outlet end will have to be blocked by another means such as a plate or painting the tubesheet face with a material that plugs the fibers.
Some designs attempt to mitigate the obstruction problem by using tubes to create discrete flow paths through the blocked tubesheet (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,906 to Auvil et al.). Other designs include fiber loops which begin and end in the same tubesheet, thereby eliminating the blocked tubesheet.
A need exists for a shell-side feed, hollow fiber, fluid separation module that can efficiently handle a counter-current flow arrangement without obstructing feed fluid flow while preventing feed fluid from leaking into the bore of the hollow fiber membranes.

Single end, shell-side feed, hollow fiber membrane separation module