Transactions within a process model are determined by grouping a set of individual process activities into a single transaction. This effectively reduces the processing overhead, and, therefore, improves the overall throughput and latency of the execution of the process model. The transaction is determined by performing an optimization procedure that takes into account the structure of the process model as well as various properties of the single process activities of the process model. Analysis of the properties of the process activities as well as application of the optimization procedure is performed dynamically during execution of the process model by a workflow engine.

Workflow management systems (WFMS) support the modeling and execution of business processes. Business processes specify which piece of work of a network of pieces is carried out in which sequence and which resources are exploited to carry out this work. Individual pieces of work might be distributed across a multitude of different computer systems connected by some type of network.
A powerful and sophisticated workflow management system, such as the product "IBM MQSeries Workflow" supports the modeling of business processes as a network of activities. This network of activities, the process model, is constructed using a directed, acyclic, weighted, colored graph as a meta model. The nodes of the graph represent the activities, which define the individual tasks that need to be carried out. It is worth noting that any other meta model, such as a hierarchical meta model, can be used for constructing process models without departing from the spirit of the patent application. In general, each of the activities is associated with a piece of code that implements the appropriate task. The edges of the graph, the control links, describe a potential sequence of execution of the activities. Control links are represented as arrows; the head of the arrow describes the direction in which the flow of control is moving through the process.
The activity where the control link starts is called the source activity and the activity where the control link ends is called the target activity. Obviously an activity can be a source and a target activity for different control links. Activities that have no incoming control link are called start activities, as they start the process. Activities which have no outgoing control link are called end activities, as after their completion the process has ended. Obviously an activity can be start as well as end activity.
The workflow management system's internal processing of an activity is carried out as an ACID transaction, regardless whether the invoked activity implementation participates in the transaction or not. The ACID paradigm defines the set of operations carried out within a transaction features have the properties of: atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability. Atomicity specifies that either all operations of a transaction are applied to the system or none of them are. The consistency property specifies that all operations of a collection of operations lead to a new valid state of the system. The isolation property specifies that the operations of the collection do not affect operations outside the collection. The durability property finally specifies that the operations of the collection are not undone because of any later system failure.
Probably the most typical example of a transaction is the transfer of money from one bank account to another bank account. Here, the transaction consists of two operations; the withdrawal of money from one account and the deposit of money into the other account. In this case, both operations must succeed or none of them may succeed (atomicity). As the amount of money remains the same, the new state is a valid state of the system (consistency). The new state of the two accounts is not available to any other operation, until the transaction has completed (isolation). The changes that were due to the transaction must not be lost under any circumstances (durability).
The typical transaction that the workflow management system carries out when processing an activity consists of the following steps: starting of the transaction, reading from the process engine's persistent message queue, reading process state from a database, carrying out the appropriate logic, writing any process state changes to the database, putting a message into the persistent message queue, and finally committing the transaction. Storing the process state in a database and persistent message queues and carrying out the processing as a transaction provides for the desired recoverability of the business process in case an error occurs. Details about this processing can be found in Leymann/Roller: "Production Workflow: Concepts and Techniques", Prentice Hall PTR, 2000.
Processing pieces of code including access to data bases and message queues as a transaction is significantly more expensive than carrying out the same code non-transactional. The overhead for processing of a transaction consumes appreciable IT costs, such as CPU cycles, database access, and network and storage capacity.
The total processing overhead caused by transactional processing of the individual activities can be reduced by running a set of activities in a single transaction. The processing overhead of starting the transaction, reading the message from the persistent message queue, reading the process state from the database, writing process state changes to the database, putting a message into the persistent message queue, and committing the transaction is only performed once during the execution of the transaction that encompasses several activities. It is obvious, that by running a set of activities in a transaction the processing overhead is reduced by a factor. As a result both throughput and latency of the entire workflow management system are improved.
It should be noted that the transaction processing overhead is incurred regardless whether the invoked implementation is participating in the transaction or not.
The boundary of a transaction, the transaction boundary, is typically represented as a closed line surrounding the set of activities that are part of the transaction. The transaction is started when the first control link penetrates the transaction boundary from the outside; that means a control link whose source activity is not part of the transaction and whose target activity is part of the transaction is being followed. The transaction is committed, when the last control link penetrates the transaction boundary from within the transaction, that means a control link whose source activity is part of the transaction and whose target activity is not part of the transaction is being followed. It should be noted that outgoing control links that are transitively associated with subsequent incoming links are not taken into consideration for completing the transaction. Furthermore, the end of a transaction typically starts a new transaction with the exception of end activities. The points where the control link leaves the transaction, i.e. penetrates the transaction boundary, are also called commit points.
Combining a set of activities into a single transaction also has an important drawback. In case an activity fails, the transaction is aborted and all work already done by activities that have already run, is undone and must be redone when the transaction is restarted. This drawback must be taken into consideration when encompassing a set of activities into a single transaction, i.e. processing a set of activities as a single transaction.
In the opposite case in which each individual activity is processed as a transaction, no extra work is encountered when the activity fails. However, processing each individual activity as a transaction produces an appreciable processing overhead which is disadvantageous regarding throughput and latency of the workflow.
As defined in the prior art, the set of activities that should be processed in a single transaction need to be performed manually by a user, system administrator or process designer, quite often causing the re-structuring or re-modeling of the entire process model. Manual re-structuring is not only time consuming with required user interaction, but also depends heavily on the knowledge of the modeler. Furthermore in the prior art re-modeling or re-structuring of a process model can only be performed in a static rather than in a dynamic way, i.e. changes in the process model cannot be carried out until the modeled process has been deployed into the runtime environment.
Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a method, a data processing system and a computer program product for dynamically determining the transactions in a process model; i.e. determining the boundaries of a set of transactions that are established when the process is being carried out.

Dynamic determination of transaction boundaries in workflow systems


To provide a level shift circuit which has reduced power consumption. A level shift circuit includes level shifters and a control unit. The control unit generates control signals for controlling operation states of the level shifters, respectively. The control unit has an R memory Mr1, a G memory Mg1, and a B memory Mb1. The G memory Mg1 has a stored content which is set to an operation permission state by means of a low-amplitude selection signal RSEL and which is reset to an operation inhibition state by means of a low-amplitude selection signal BSEL. During a period from the time when the low-amplitude selection signal BSEL becomes active up to the time when the low-amplitude selection signal RSEL becomes active, the operation of the level shifter stops. As a result, power consumption decreases.

The present invention relates to a level shifter, a level shift circuit, an electro-optical device, and to an electronic apparatus which can reduce power consumption.
In recent years, electro-optical devices having an electro-optical element such as a liquid crystal or an organic light-emitting diode have been widely spread, instead of a display device having a cathode ray tube. The electro-optical devices are broadly classified as either a passive matrix type or an active matrix type. The active matrix type electro-optical device has scanning lines each extending in a row direction, data lines each extending in a column direction, and pixel electrodes provided corresponding to intersections of the scanning lines and the data lines. Furthermore, thin film transistors are provided between the data lines and the pixel electrodes at the intersections, which are turned on and off according to scanning signals supplied to the scanning lines. In addition, a counter electrode is provided corresponding to the pixel electrodes, and an electro-optical material is interposed between the pixel electrodes and the counter electrode.
In order to drive the electro-optical material or the thin film transistors, a relatively high voltage is needed. On the other hand, an external control circuit which supplies a clock signal, a control signal, and so on for driving to the electro-optical device typically has CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) circuits, and the amplitude of a logical signal is in a range of from 3 to 5 V. Accordingly, the electro-optical device generally converts a low-amplitude logical signal into a high-amplitude logical signal by using an amplitude conversion (hereinafter, simply referred to as a 'level shifter').
As the level shifter, a level shifter in which an input signal is input via an alternating current (AC) coupling is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-110420 (claim 1 and Abstract)
The level shifter converts the signal level, but it is not necessary to operate continuously according to an action of the signal to be converted. For example, in an electro-optical device for color display, there is a case in which a demultiplexer is used to output multiplexed data line signals corresponding to respective colors of R, G, and B from the data line driving circuit via one output terminal and distribute the multiplexed data line signals to data lines for R, G, and B. The demultiplexer outputs the data line signals to the data lines of the respective colors according to color selection signals of R, G, and B which become exclusively active. In this case, it is common practice to convert the signal levels of the color selection signals by means of the level shifter. As such, the level shifter is not needed to continuously operate, and it may operate only during a period in which the input color selection signal becomes active.
On the other hand, in a conventional level shifter, when a power is supplied, some of the transistors are not completely turned off, so that a small current flows between a source and a drain of the transistor. For this reason, there is a problem in that power is consumed during a period in which it is not necessary to operate originally.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a level shifter, a level shift circuit, an electro-optical device, and an electronic apparatus having reduced power consumption.

Level shifter, level shift circuit, electro-optical device, and electronic apparatus


A solution for protecting an electronic device from an electrical surge using a mounting structure is provided. In particular, the mounting structure comprises a conductive material and is electrically connected to the protected electrical device. The conductive material and/or mounting structure can have one or more properties that prevent the mounting structure from adversely impacting operation of the electronic device during normal operation, but enables the mounting structure to provide an alternative electrical path during the electrical surge.

Electric surges and/or electrostatic discharges through an electronic device can cause a failure of the electronic device. As a result, electronic circuits frequently include protection circuitry that prevents many electric surges and electrostatic discharges from harming the electronic device(s). Typically, a diode, such as a Zener diode, a p-i-n diode, or a Schottky diode is included in the electronic circuit to protect other more sensitive electronic device(s). However, this solution requires additional circuit elements, thereby increasing the cost and complexity of the electronic circuit.
In an electronic circuit, an electronic device is often mounted on a submount. Typically, the submount will have good thermal conductivity to provide for efficient heat removal, thereby avoiding overheating and subsequent failure of the electronic device. The submount can include contact pads that are electrically connected to the contact(s) of the electronic device using bonded wires. To this extent, the submount typically comprises a non-conducting (i.e., insulating) material to avoid shorting two or more electronic device contacts. To date, submounts are not used to provide protection from electric surges, electrostatic discharges, and/or the like for electronic devices.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists to overcome one or more of the deficiencies in the related art.

Mounting structure providing electrical surge protection


To provide a muffler device capable of improving the discharge of exhaust gas, while discharging the exhaust gas in any desired direction. The muffler device is connected to a rear end portion of an exhaust pipe extending from an internal combustion engine of a vehicle. An exhaust outlet opening is provided that opens outwardly and laterally of the vehicle and is disposed at a rear portion of a muffler main body. The muffler main body is provided with a muffler side cover and an end cap as muffler covers. The muffler side cover includes a slit. The slit serves as an air intake guide shaped portion for guiding ambient air so that the ambient air crosses the exhaust outlet.

In a muffler device connected to a rear end portion of an exhaust pipe extending from an internal combustion engine of a vehicle, there has conventionally been known an arrangement, in which a tail pipe constituting an exhaust outlet is bent in a desired direction, for example, outward of the vehicle. See, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 5-38122.
A reduction in the size and weight of the bodies and a reduction in exhaust noise is at a premium in newly released vehicles. When an attempt is made to reduce the size of the muffler main body and enhance the noise reduction performance in line with the aforementioned needs, the arrangement cited above could result in the escape of exhaust gas.


A decorative holder for a baby bottle includes a flexible arm having a bottle receiver at one end and a clamp at the opposite end. A decorative cover in the form of an animal is removably wrapped around the flexible arm, with the animal's head near the bottle receiver and the animal's groin near the clamp. A baby bottle is placed in the bottle receiver, the clamp is attached to a support structure such as a crib, and the flexible arm is positioned so the baby can feed.

Devices designed to hold the bottle of a feeding baby are well known in the art. To avoid the tedious chore of continuously manually holding the bottle as the child feeds, one common practice is to wrap the bottle in a blanket or towel and prop the bottle in a feeding position. However, this method is oftentimes inadequate since the bottle can be easily moved away from or otherwise dislodged from the baby's mouth. To address this problem, a variety of bottle holders have been devised. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,491 illustrates a nursing bottle holder in which a bottle is carried in a pivot mount which is releasably secured on a support member, the support member being formed to straddle a baby. This allows the baby to feed from the bottle and also permits ready removal of the pivot mount from the support member. U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,293 discloses a nursing bottle holder. The device includes a main support member in the form of a shell which fits over the body of the infant when the infant is lying down, an upright bottle support having a caricature removably mounted on the main support for mounting the bottle, and a bottle carriage which is pivotable between an active feeding position and an inactive released position. The bottle support includes a music box which is activated in the inactive position. U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,883 defines a positionable toy/bottle holder comprising interchangeable head members with openings representing the mouth of the characterization which the head represents. The opening contains a groove or channel for receiving and holding a resilient ring member which grasps and firmly holds a baby bottle. An extension arm supports the head member at a distance spaced from a base member. The extension arm, head and base member attachments are pivotable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,732 consists of a flexible baby bottle holding animal. A single piece flexible holding device has four major components: a multi-use clamp, a flexible rod, a protective sheath cover which provides protection for safe use, beauty, and is designed to bend with the movements of the flexible rod, and a flexible holding grip for holding a bottle.


A rectangular substrate dry etching apparatus which etches a rectangular substrate of a large size with a high degree of accuracy. The dry etching apparatus comprises an etching chamber in which a rectangular substrate to be etched is held in position in the etching chamber, and a plasma generator disposed in the etching chamber for generating a pair of high density plasma bars on the outer sides of and substantially in parallel to a pair of opposing sides of the rectangular substrate in the etching chamber so as to etch the rectangular substrate with diffusion components of the high density plasma bars.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rectangular substrate dry etching apparatus for etching a rectangular substrate of a large size principally for use with a field emission display or a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a rectangular substrate of a large size for use with a field emission display or a liquid crystal display is to be worked finely by dry etching, a dry etching apparatus for the fabrication of ordinary semiconductor devices having a large etching chamber is employed.
As such dry etching apparatus, an ordinary plasma etching apparatus of the parallel flat plate type, a magnetron plasma etching apparatus, an electronic cyclotron resonance (hereinafter referred to briefly as ECR) plasma etching apparatus or the like is employed.
Also a distribution ECR (hereinafter referred to briefly as DECR) plasma etching apparatus is employed frequently. General structure of an exemplary one of conventional DECR plasma etching apparatus is schematically shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, microwaves of a frequency of 2.45 GHz generated by a magnetron oscillator 51 are transmitted by way of a waveguide 52 to a splitter 53, at which they are distributed into a plurality of coaxial cables 54. The microwaves thus distributed propagate along the coaxial cables 54 and are radiated from a plurality of bar-like antennae 56 disposed along an inner side wall of an etching chamber 55. High density plasma 63 is generated at a position spaced from a rectangular substrate 74 by the microwaves 61 radiated from the bar-like antennae 56 and a magnetic field 62 (magnetic flux density of 875 Gauss) satisfying an ECR requirement. The rectangular substrate 74 is etched with diffusion plasma 64 consisting of diffusion components of the high density plasma 63.
With a plasma etching apparatus of the parallel flat plate type, however, a rectangular substrate to be worked is liable to be damaged. If the bias current to be applied to a rectangular substrate is decreased in order to reduce damage, the etching rate is reduced and the etching uniformity is deteriorated.
Meanwhile, with an ECR plasma etching apparatus, it is difficult to generate plasma of a large diameter uniformly such that it completely covers a rectangular substrate. Consequently, the etching uniformity is low.
On the other hand, with such a DECR plasma etching apparatus as described above, a sufficiently high microwave power cannot be propagated because microwaves distributed by a splitter are propagated to antennae by way of coaxial cables. Consequently, the etching rate is low and much time is required for etching. If the size of the rectangular substrate increases, then the etching rate decreases as much.
Accordingly, whichever one of such conventional dry etching apparatus is used, it is difficult to etch a rectangular substrate of a large size with a high degree of accuracy.

Dry etching apparatus for rectangular substrate comprising plasma bar generation means


A method for interconnecting modules using a local area network daisy chained architecture is disclosed. The architecture includes point-to-point connections between the module and the two modules preceding and/or the two modules following such module in the chain. This architecture allows the chain to be extended and for modules to be removed from the chain without interrupting service to the other modules. A microprocessor and additional Ethernet port provide an additional gateway for connection to an external device.

A monitoring/control/data-acquisition system should be expandable according to the number of points needed, so as to require just a few modules or many modules. In addition, a system design that allows modules to be concentrated into a single location (such as a rack) or be distributed near the point of use reduces wiring costs. Failures in one module should not affect the operation of other modules and modules should be able to be swapped out without affecting other modules. High speed communication between modules is required. In this regard, serial communication keeps pin counts low and bandwidths high, but high speed serial links (such as Ethernet) are typically point to point and require a bridge or switch circuit. This switch circuit becomes a single point failure source that can take the entire system out of operation
In existing monitoring/control system designs, the single point failure issue has been solved using redundant networks. In the case of standard PICMG 2.16, two separate switch cards (referred to as "fabric cards") are installed into the rack holding monitoring/control cards, providing separate Ethernet links to each card. However, there are difficulties to with this approach. First, a switch card must have enough ports on it to service the full rack. For a small number of cards, the user must still purchase the two switch cards, thereby greatly increasing the buy-in cost of the rack. Second, the size of the rack is limited to the number of channels supported on the switch cards.
Other designs have solved the problem using a loop architecture in which the end module of the chain loops back to the first. This architecture requires identification of the last module in the chain and a long wiring run from the last module to the first.


A power conversion system for converting a dc voltage to a pulsed ac voltage includes a dc voltage source providing three or more electric potentials, and a switching circuit arranged to connect one of the potentials selectively to an output terminal. A controller produces a pulsed ac output voltage at the output terminal from the potentials of the dc voltage source by controlling an on time for connecting each of the potentials to the output terminal.

The present invention relates to apparatus and/or process for power conversion, and vehicles such as electric vehicle or fuel cell vehicle or vehicle having two or more power sources.
U.S. Ser. No. 2002/0038732 A1 (corresponding to Published Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2002-118981, paragraphs 0004–0006, FIG. 1) shows a vehicle equipped with a power supply system having a dc-dc converter for driving a motor with power from a fuel cell and a battery so as to improve the efficiency and response. A dc-dc converter is used also in a vehicle having two dc voltage sources.


A method for treating mammals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and other tissue-destructive (chronic inflammatory or other) conditions associated with excess metalloproteinase activity comprising administering to the mammal an amount of a tetracycline that is effectively anti-metalloproteinase, but that is not effectively antimicrobial, and an amount of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent which, when combined with the effectively anti-metalloproteinase amount of tetracycline, results in a significant reduction of tissue destruction and/or bone loss.

Tetracyclines constitute a family of well known natural and synthetic broad spectrum antibiotics. The parent compound, tetracycline, exhibits the following general structure: ##STR1##
The numbering system of the ring nucleus is as follows: ##STR2##
Tetracycline as well as the 5-0H (terramycin) and 7-C1 (Aureomycin) derivatives exist in nature, and are well known antibiotics. Natural tetracyclines may be modified without losing their antibiotic properties, although certain elements of the structure must be retained. The modifications that may and may not be made to the basic tetracycline structure have been reviewed by Mitscher in The Chemistry of Tetracyclines, Chapter 6. According to Mitscher, the substituents at positions 5-9 of the tetracycline ring system may be modified without the complete loss of antibiotic properties. Changes to the basic ring system or replacement of the substituents at positions 1-4 and 10-12, however, generally lead to synthetic tetracyclines with substantially less or effectively no antibacterial activity. For example, 4-dedimethylaminotetracycline is commonly considered to be a non-antibacterial tetracycline.
The use of tetracycline antibiotics, while effective, may lead to undesirable side effects. For example, the long term administration of antibiotic tetracyclines may reduce or eliminate healthy flora, such as intestinal flora, and may lead to the production of antibiotic resistant organisms or the overgrowth of yeast and fungi.
In addition to their antibiotic properties, tetracyclines are also known to inhibit the activity of collagen destructive enzymes such as mammalian collagenase, macrophage elastase and bacterial collagenase; Golub et al., J. Periodont. Res. 20, 12-23 (1985) and Golub, et al., J. Periodont. Res. 1989, submitted for publication. Collagen is a major component of connective tissue matrices such as those in bone, synovium, eye, skin, tendons and gingiva. Collagenase, which is naturally produced by only a few types of bacteria and in a number of tissues and cells in mammals, degrades collagen.
The degradation of collagen by mammalian collagenase is a natural part of the normal growth-degradation-regeneration process that occurs in connective tissue. The production of collagenase, however, may become excessive. Such excessive collagenase production often results in the pathologic and debilitating destruction of connective tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,383 to McNamara et al. discloses that tetracyclines having substantially no effective antibacterial activity inhibit collagenolytic enzyme activity in rats. McNamara et al. also report that non-antibacterial tetracyclines reduce bone resorption in organ culture, although no clinical studies were reported.
Earlier, U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,897 to Golub, et al. disclosed that tetracyclines in general, including commercially-available antimicrobial forms of the drug, inhibit excessive bone resorption.
There have been a number of suggestions that tetracyclines, including non-antibacterial tetracyclines, are effective in treating arthritis in rats. See, for example, Golub et al., "Tetracyclines (TCs) Inhibit Metalloproteinases (MPs): In Vivo Effects In Arthritic And Diabetic Rats, And New In Vitro Studies," abstract presented at Matrix Metalloproteinase Conference, Destin, Fla., Sep. 11-15, 1989; Breedveld, "Suppression Of Collagen And Adjuvant Arthritis By A Tetracycline," Northeastern Regional Meeting of The Amer. Rheum. Assoc., Atlantic City, N.J., Oct. 23-24, 1987. For related commentary regarding the effect of non-antibacterial tetracyclines on bone loss see Sipos et al., "The Effect Of Collagenase Inhibitors on Alveolar Bone Loss Due To Periodontal Disease In Desalivated Rats," abstract presented at Matrix Metalloproteinase Conference, Destin, Fla., Sep. 11-15, 1989.
An effect of tetracyclines independent of antibiotic effects has, however, not been established for human patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Thus, Skinner et al., Arthritis and Rheumatism 14, 727-732 (1971), reported no significant benefit from tetracycline therapy for human sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis even though Greenwald et al., reported in J. Rheumatol 14: 28-32 (1987) that the oral administration of a tetracycline to humans with severe rheumatoid arthritis decreased the collagenase activity in the joint tissues.
It is known that, unlike tetracyclines, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents are useful in the symptomatic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis as well as other inflammatory diseases. Such agents, however, do not effectively prevent long term destruction of joint-connective tissues including tendons, cartilage and bone caused by the presence of excessive amounts of collagenase.
Excessive collagenase activity has also been implicated in certain skin disorders. According to White, Lancet, Apr. 29th, 1989, p. 966 (1989) the tetracycline minocycline is effective in treating dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, which is a life-threatening skin condition believed to be related to excess collagenase.
The effectiveness of tetracycline in skin disorders has also been studied by Elewski et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 8, 807-812 (1983). Elewski et al. disclosed that tetracycline antibiotics may have anti-inflammatory activity in skin and speculate that a portion of the therapeutic effect in skin diseases associated with bacteria, e.g., acne, may be due to inhibition of bacterially induced inflammation rather than a direct anti-bacterial effect.
Similarly, Plewig et al., Journal of Investigative Dermatology 65, 532-532 (1975), disclose experiments designed to test the hypothesis that anti-microbials are effective in treating inflammatory dermatoses. The experiments of Plewig et al. establish that tetracyclines have anti-inflammatory properties in treating pustules induced by potassium iodide patches.
There has also been speculation that collagenase is involved in bone resportion. For example, Cowen et al., Biochemistry International 11, 273-280 (1985), hypothesize that osteoblast production of collagenase might be an initiating event in bone resorption, leaving minerals to be phagocytosed by osteoclasts.
Further, Dellaisse et al., Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 133, 483-490 (1985), propose that collagenase plays a critical role in bone resorption. The work of Dellaisse et al., shows that inhibition of mammalian collagenase and related tissue metallo-proteinases prevent the degradation of bone collagen, thus inhibiting the resorption of explanted mouse bones in tissue culture.
The use of tetracyclines in combination with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents has been studied in the treatment of inflammatory skin disorders caused by acne vulgaris. Wong et al., Journal of American Academy of Dermatology 11, 1076-1081 (1984), studied the combination of tetracycline and ibuprofen and found that tetracycline was an effective agent against acne vulgaris while ibuprofen was useful in reducing the resulting inflammation by inhibition of cyclooxygenase. Funt, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 13, 524-525 (1985), disclosed similar results by combining the tetracycline minocycline and ibuprofen.
In most of the above studies, the tetracycline was believed to be useful for its antibiotic effect. Therefore, with the exception of the disclosure in the McNamara et al. patent, antibacterial tetracyclines were used despite their undesirable side effects.
Despite the above studies, an effective long term treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other tissue-destructive conditions associated with excess collagenolytic activity has remained elusive. It is an object of this invention to provide such a treatment. Another object of this invention is to provide such a treatment while avoiding the side effects of antibacterial tetracycline therapies.

Composition comprising fluriprofen and effectively non-antibacterial tetracycline to reduce bone loss

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


A semiconductor memory device having a hierarchical input/output (I/O) line structure may include a plurality of core blocks, with each core block including a plurality of memory banks sharing an input/output sense amplifier. Data input/output lines may be arranged on each of the plurality of core blocks.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a semiconductor memory device, for example, a semiconductor device including distributed data input/output lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
A word line and a bit line may generally be arranged so as to intersect at right angles on a memory cell array of a semiconductor memory device, for example, Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). The bit line may be connected to an input/output (I/O) line via which data may be input or output with a switch circuit. Also, a memory cell that may store data may be located in a region where the bit line and the word line intersect. An increase in the capacity of a semiconductor memory device may be accompanied by higher densities and a peripheral circuit to control data written to or read from the memory cell.
For higher-speed operation of I/O lines in a semiconductor memory device, the I/O lines may be arranged according to a hierarchical I/O line structure, in which they may be divided into local and global I/O lines. A hierarchical I/O line structure may reduce the loading on the I/O lines, and may increase bandwidth for a more highly-integrated semiconductor memory device. The bandwidth may refer to the amount of data that may be transmitted in a given period of time, for example, per second.

Semiconductor memory device including distributed data input/output lines


Embodiments of the present invention relate to communications technologies and disclose a tunnel management method, a tunnel management apparatus, and a communications system so that a node that causes failure of a tunnel management request can be determined. According to the present invention, a response returned by a tunnel management node to an initiating node includes not only a cause value of tunnel management request failure but also information of the node that causes failure of the tunnel management request, so that the initiating node can find the node that causes failure of the tunnel management request and determine the error checking direction. The present invention is applicable to network devices in a communications network.

In an existing packet-switched communications network, a forwarding path must be set up between network nodes to forward service packets. A forwarding path is implemented through a tunnel management procedure, and is created or updated between network elements through a tunnel management request. However, it is possible that the tunnel management request fails for certain reasons. For example, an error occurs in the request message or resources of an associated network node are exhausted. In a prior art, a cause value is generally used to indicate the processing result of the tunnel management request. The cause value indicates whether the processing of the tunnel management request succeeds or fails and indicates the reason of failure when the tunnel management request fails.
In an evolved packet system (EPS), when the mobility management element is a mobility management entity (MME), signaling exchanged between the MME and a packet data network gateway (PDN-GW or P-GW) must cross a serving gateway (S-GW). When a mobile terminal initiates a mobility management or session management procedure that includes a tunnel management request, such as an EPS attach, routing area update, tracking area update, handover, or external PDN connectivity procedure, the MME sends a tunnel management request and the S-GW and PDN-GW cooperate to process the tunnel management request. No matter whether the processing of the tunnel management request is successful or not, the S-GW will send a response which includes a cause value to the MME, indicating the processing result to the MME.
In the tunnel management procedure, however, the inventor finds at least the following problem in the prior art:
If the tunnel management request fails, the node that initiates the tunnel management request receives a response but cannot determine the error of which node has caused the tunnel management request failure according to the response. As a result, the node that initiates the tunnel management request cannot perform processing according to the tunnel management failure caused by different nodes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tunnel management method, tunnel management apparatus, and communications system


A hover touch controller device includes a touch sensor having a touch surface with a first aspect ratio and a proximity sensor. Information on when and where a user touches the touch surface is detected. Additionally, information on hover-input events is detected. The hover input events correspond to a user's finger hovering over the touch surface within some maximum depth. The hover touch device further includes a controller. The processor communicates three-dimensional spatial information to a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The GUI generates visualizations based on the hover events and the touch events on a display having an interactive surface with a second aspect ratio. The processor further corrects for any issues associated with supporting a variety of GUI designs. This can include correcting for a difference between the first aspect ratio and the second aspect ratio.

A variety of displays of varying forms and sizes can limit the user interface interactions that they support. In particular, many types of direct touch interactions are not supported by a variety of displays. For example, television monitors and Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) are not well suited for direct touch interaction, such as due to proximity. Televisions are typically viewed at a comfortable viewing distance away from the user. This distance is typically too far away from the user to allow direct touch interaction with the television. In contrast to a television, the display of an HMD is typically viewed at a distance that is in close proximity to the user's face. This distance is typically too near the user to allow direct touch interaction with the display of HMD. In a Virtual Reality (VR) environment, wearing an HMD may further prevent the user from directly seeing their hands or handheld input devices. This severely limits the variety and quality of interactions that the user can perform. Even when the user's hands are visible in Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) goggles, performing all virtual world interactions with free hand gestures is cumbersome. For example, alphanumeric input is especially difficult to perform with free hand input.
The alternatives to direct on-screen touch input also have limitations. For example, while traditional remote controllers and game controllers may have buttons, d-pads, knobs, joysticks and other physical input elements suitable for simple tasks these inputs are typically not well suited for direct spatial input. Touch remotes, while small, are not suitable for direct spatial selection because the user does not know where they are going to touch, until they make their first touch. While remotes with motion tracked input allow orientation and/or position to be used as inputs they perform poorly with alpha numeric and textual inputs. While second screen devices may be used as digital remote controls and input devices for displays, they divide the user's attention between screens adversely affecting the viewing experience.
In contrast to the traditional controllers described above, a hover touch controller device is better suited to be an alternative to direct on-screen touch input. The hover touch controller device includes a touch sensor and a proximity sensor. A touch event, including information on when and where a user touches the surface of the touch sensor is detected. Additionally, hover-input events, including information on pre-touch events and post-touch events are detected. The hover-input events correspond to a user's finger hovering over the touch sensor within some maximum depth. A display device generates visualizations based on the hover events and the touch events. This can include providing visual feedback in a hover mode where a user's finger is hovering over the touch sensor. However, current hover touch controller devices exhibit issues with supporting a variety of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) designs that need to be addressed to fully exploit their potential.

Dynamically adaptive sensing for remote hover touch


To facilitate carrying by making a sphygmomanometer combining a blood-constricting cuff band with a sphygmomanometer unit thin and compact when not engaged in measurement, a sphygmomanometer combines blood-constricting cuff band 1 with sphygmomanometer unit 2, and constitutes a structure that can be switched between measurement position (I) with sphygmomanometer unit 2 overlapping blood-constricting cuff band 1 and storage position (II) with blood-constricting cuff band 1 and sphygmomanometer unit 2 placed side by side.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a sphygmomanometer and a sphygmomanometer storage case. More particularly, this invention pertains to technology for facilitating carrying and the like by making a sphygmomanometer combining a blood-constricting cuff band with a sphygmomanometer unit thin and compact when not engaged in measurement.
2. Background Art
In conventional sphygmomanometers combining a blood-constricting cuff band with a sphygmomanometer unit, air is fed under pressure from a pump installed on the sphygmomanometer unit to the blood-constricting cuff band, and air in the blood-constricting cuff band is expelled from an air release valve installed on the sphygmomanometer unit. For this purpose, the blood-constricting cuff band is fixed to the sphygmomanometer unit by means such as screws or hooks.
The sphygmomanometers combining the blood-constricting cuff band with the sphygmomanometer unit, however, have the problem that they are difficult to make thin and cannot be made compact because of the overlapping thickness of the two parts, making them unwieldy to carry and ill-suited for portability.

Sphygmomanometer and sphygmomanometer storage case


A laparoscopic lens cleaner which is suitable for maintaining the lens of a laparoscope in a clean, dry condition during a laparoscopic surgical procedure is disclosed. An illustrative embodiment of the laparoscopic lens cleaner includes an elongated cleaner sheath having a sheath interior, a fluid conduit provided in the cleaner sheath, a fluid discharge nozzle provided in the sheath interior and communicating with the fluid conduit, a gas conduit provided in the cleaner sheath and a gas discharge nozzle provided in the sheath interior and communicating with the gas conduit.

Laparoscopes are surgical instruments through which anatomical structures in the abdomen and pelvis can be viewed by a surgeon. Laparoscopic surgery has become increasingly popular in recent years because it eliminates the need to cut a large surgical incision in a patient. This reduces patient recovery time and discomfort as well as the deleterious side effects associated with major surgery. In a laparoscopic surgical procedure, a small incision is initially cut in the abdominal wall of the patient to facilitate insertion of the laparoscope into the patient's abdomen or pelvis. Cannula sleeves can be inserted into the same incision or an adjacent incision or incisions to serve as entry ports for the extension of probes and other laparoscopic surgical instruments into the abdomen or pelvis. Laparoscopic surgery can be used to repair or remove internal tissues or organs as well as to aid in diagnostics since the contents of the abdomen or pelvis, including such anatomical structures as the fallopian tubes, ovaries, uterus, small and large intestines, appendix, liver and gallbladder, for example, can be viewed through the laparoscope.
A typical laparoscope includes a housing. An elongated lens shalt extends from one end of the housing, and a lens is provided in the distal end of the lens shaft. A camera viewfinder extends from the other end of the housing. A camera is connected to the housing and transmits images sighted through the lens to a television monitor on which the images are displayed. During a surgical procedure, the distal end portion of the lens shaft is extended into an incision in the patient's abdominal wall, while the proximal end portion of the lens shaft, the housing and the camera viewfinder remain outside the patient. One of the limitations of conventional laparoscopes is that the laparoscope lens frequently contacts and is obscured by blood, tissue and other matter during a laparoscopic surgical procedure. This adversely affects the quality of the images displayed on the television monitor.


In a musical tone waveform generation apparatus for outputting musical tone signals generated by a software program at predetermined time intervals, sound source methods can be selected in units of tone generation channels. In the musical tone waveform generation apparatus, the sound source method or the tone color of a musical tone signal to be output is determined in accordance with performance data (pitch data, touch data, music part data, and the like). A musical tone signal is generated by CPU upon execution of a sound source processing program, associated with a modulation method stored in a memory. The generated musical tone signal is output at predetermined time intervals. As for sound source processing based on the modulation method, at least one operator processing, and algorithm processing for determining an input/output relationship among the operator processing operations are independently executed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus for electronic musical instruments, and, more particularly, to the architecture of a data processing apparatus for electronic musical instruments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although recent electronic musical instruments are computerized, that portion associated with tone generation which requires a high-speed computation of a vast amount of data, is still excited by exclusive or special-purpose hardware called a sound source circuit. A microcomputer merely processes control inputs to a musical instrument, such as an input from a keyboard or console panel, input from a MIDI or other external units and input from an internal or external unit, and sends proper commands to the sound source circuit.
Sound source circuits, which have different structures depending on the system for generating musical tones, normally have a large circuit scale irrespective of the structure of the sound source systems. The circuit scale of typical sound source circuits is about two times that of a microcomputer (central processing unit).
FIG. 1 exemplifies in a block diagram of a sound source circuit involving a PCM sound source (refer to the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 226,936, filed on Aug. 1, 1988 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,323). A microcomputer 2, which controls a PCM sound source 1, sends data (command) necessary for tone generation to the PCM sound source 1. Such a command is set in individual sections in the sound source through a sound source command analyzer 3.
For instance, data is set through the following procedures at the beginning of tone generation.
(a) Addresses (normally consisting of a start address, end address and loop address) to be waveform memory 8, in which waveforms to be generated are stored, are sent and set in an address controller 5.
(b) Pitch data of a musical tone to be generated is sent and set in a pitch controller 6.
(c) Envelope data is sent and set in an envelope controller 7.
(d) Channel control is set ON (data is set in a channel ON/OFF controller 4).
With the use of a polyphonic sound source, these data should have a matched channel number and the individual sections of the sound source 1 should be operated in time-sharing manner. When the above data is set the PCM sound source 1 produces a musical tone in the following manner. The address controller 5 reads out from the waveform memory 8 waveform data located at two adjacent addresses closest to an accumulated result of the pitch data from the pitch controller 6, the waveform data representing an immediately preceding waveform value and an immediately following waveform value. The waveform data is sent to a waveform processor 9 which in turn computes the difference between these two waveform values. The difference and the immediately preceding waveform value are sent to a multiplier 10, which multiplies the computed difference by a decimal point portion PD of the address of the waveform memory (given from the pitch controller 6 in the diagram) and adds the immediately preceding waveform value to the resultant value to thereby provide an interpolation value. The multiplier 10 then multiplies this interpolation value by an envelope value ED produced in the envelope controller 7, thus providing an instantaneous value of a tone waveform of the channel. This instantaneous value is accumulated by an adder 11 for all the channels, and the resultant data is sent to a D/A converter 12 to be an analog tone signal.
As is obvious from this example, it is necessary to provide an arithmetic operation unit and a memory for temporary storage of data, here and there at the data processing storage, thus requiring a large-scale circuit. A specific sound source circuit has a structure to simply realize a specific sound source system and 1 or combination of a specific number of polyphonic sounds, so that changing the polyphonic number necessitates great alteration of the circuit and/or addition of a circuit. It is also necessary to design a set of commands to be sent to the sound source circuit from the microcomputer in accordance with the sound source, thus requiring a significant time for developing a sound source control program.
There may be a controller for an electronic musical instrument whose architecture permits a microcomputer alone to simultaneously execute processing of control inputs to a musical instrument and tone generation. To realize such a controller, there is a demand for a microcomputer having an architecture to ensure tone generation that requires a high-speed data processing of a vast amount of data.
For instance, typical microcomputers use an internal register or a general-purpose internal register, called an accumulator, as memory means for temporary storage of computing data. The accumulator may hold data from a data memory on one occasion, and holds the result of computation (e.g., addition) of two pieces of data from the data memory performed by a computing circuit on another occasion. Data temporarily held in the accumulator is sent back to the memory location specified on the data memory. Using a microcomputer with such a structure for tone generation requires a considerable time for frequent data transfer between the data memory and the accumulator (or general-purpose register) and thus becomes a hindrance to achieving tone generation processing that should deal with a vast amount of data.
A description will now be given of the envelope controller 7 (envelope generator) which is incorporated in hardware of a sound source circuit. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical envelope controller. Various values from a microcomputer are set in an envelope .DELTA.x register 24, an envelope .DELTA.y register 25 and a target envelope register 26 via the sound source analyzer 3 which serves as an interface. In operation, the content of an envelope .DELTA.x timer 21 is counted up by an INC counter 22. When the count value of this timer 21 coincides with the content of the envelope .DELTA.y register 24, a comparator 23 outputs a coincidence signal to clear the INC counter 22. The coincidence signal further opens an AND gate G1, and data .DELTA.y from the envelope .DELTA.y register 25 is input to an adder-subtracter 27. This data .DELTA.y is added to or subtracted from a present envelope value from a present envelope resister 29 in accordance with an adding/subtracting flag (a specific bit of the envelope .DELTA.y resister 25). The result of the computation is compared with a target envelope level from a target envelope register 29 by a second comparator 28. The comparison result is used to determine a new present envelope value. In other words, if the computed result has not reached the target envelope, it is output as a new present envelope value via a gate G2 and set back to the resister 29. If the computed result reaches the target envelope, however, the coincidence signal from the comparator 28 opens a gate G3 through an inverter INV to output the target envelope as a new present envelope value, which is then set back to the register 29. The coincidence signal from the comparator 28 is held in a coincidence signal holding circuit 30 to request setting of data of the next envelope step (.DELTA.x, .DELTA.y, a target envelope).
The envelope generator as shown in FIG. 2 has a shortcoming that it is part of the hardware of the sound source circuit. Once the microcomputer sets data of .DELTA.x, .DELTA.y and the target value, therefore, it cannot grasp a present envelope value thereafter. (Permitting the microcomputer to read out the present envelope value, though possible, requires a significantly complex circuit.) When it is necessary to jump the envelope step, therefore, it is difficult to set .DELTA.x, .DELTA.y, the target value) suitable for the present envelope value. Assuming that data for a release envelope which consists of three segments is on the microcomputer side as shown in FIG. 3, due to the present envelope value unclear, the microcomputer cannot determine data (.DELTA.x, .DELTA.y, the target value) to which segment should be sent to the sound source. A conventional solution to this problem is to send an envelope step update signal (the output of the coincidence signal holding circuit 30 in FIG. 2) to the microcomputer to request updating of the step and to transfer data for the next step to the sound source from the microcomputer. With this arrangement, although the microcomputer cannot grasp the present envelope value being produced by the sound source, it can grasp the envelope step being executed by the sound source. This permits the microcomputer to select release envelope segment corresponding to a value which this envelope step can take at a tone release time, i.e., a release envelope segment having a target value lower than but closest to the target value of the present envelope, then transfer data for the selected release envelope segment to the sound source. This particular design, however, has a problem that a zigzag line characteristic of a release envelope is restricted by another envelope portion. This is because that release envelope data should be prepared in advance to match with the range of the envelope value of another step, thus limiting characteristic that the envelope can have.
With a design to allow a microcomputer itself to generate musical tones, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to completely keep constant the period of the sample sequence of digital musical tones to be sent to a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter from the microcomputer due to the nature of a program-controlled operation. In other words, since the amount of processing that should be done by the microcomputer varies with time by inputs to the microcomputer, the amount of processing required for tone generation included in intended data processing also varies. This means a variation in period for generating a digital musical tone. When a digital musical tone varying in an unstable period is converted into an analog signal, the resultant musical tone would be distorted, which is very crucial to electronic musical instruments.

Data processing apparatus outputting waveform data in a certain interval


A sensor assembly for a gas turbine engine includes a telemetry module mounted at a rotor bearing compartment for sensing engine operational parameters and a cooling system for cooling the telemetry module separate from a rotor bearing lubricant flow.

The present invention relates to sensor assemblies and methods of collecting data. More particularly, the present invention relates to assemblies and methods for obtaining operational data regarding a gas turbine engine.
Traditionally, data regarding the components of a gas turbine engine is gathered in a piecemeal fashion, before the engine is assembled for operation. Operating characteristics of the engine are estimated from pre-operational component data. A disadvantage of this approach is that these estimations may vary from actual values under operating conditions. However, it is desired to obtain operational data from a gas turbine engine in a fully operational state. An impediment to achieving such desired data collection is the difficulty in mounting a suitable sensor apparatus on a gas turbine engine in a manner that does not adversely affect engine operation. A sensor apparatus that adversely affects engine operation can lead to engine damage and can distort or otherwise affect the data collected. For example, cooling the sensor apparatus may disrupt cooling oil flows to bearings located adjacent to the data collection apparatus, which can undesirably affect engine performance as well as sensed engine data.


A driving circuit of a plasma display panel (PDP) and a reset circuit thereof are disclosed. The above-mentioned driving circuit includes a reset circuit and a sustaining circuit. The reset circuit is connected to a display cell of the PDP and generates a reset signal for the above-mentioned display cell by means of an LC resonance. The sustaining circuit provides a sustaining voltage to the above-described display cell during the sustaining period of the display cell.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a driving circuit of a plasma display panel (PDP), and particularly to a reset circuit of a PDP.
2. Description of the Related Art
When driving a Plasma Display Panel (PDP), a cycle of a sequential reset period, addressing period and sustaining period is repeated for driving operations. Wherein, the operation during the reset period is used for clearing and resetting wall charges of PDP display cells; the operation during the addressing period is used for addressing the display cells; the operation during the sustaining period is used for sustaining luminance of the addressed display cells.
FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a conventional PDP driving circuit. For simplicity, only one display cell 103 and the driving circuit thereof are shown in FIG. 1, and the circuit for the operation during the addressing period is omitted. The display cell 103 has three electrodes, i.e. a scan electrode, a bulk electrode and an addressing electrode. In FIG. 1, a sustaining circuit 101 and a reset circuit 102 are electrically connected to the scan end of the display cell 103, while the sustaining circuit 104 is electrically connected to the bulk end of the display cell 103. The sustaining circuits 101 and 104 are symmetrical.
The sustaining circuits 101 and 104 serve for providing the display cell 103 with AC sustaining voltage during the sustaining period. The reset circuit 102 serves for producing a reset signal to the display cell 103 during the reset period, wherein the reset signal is used for clearing and resetting wall charges. Cp represents an equivalent capacitance of the PDP in the display cell 103. As a switch Q1 is on, the current from a voltage source Vd would pass through a diode D1 and the switch Q1, which results in a RC resonance of a resistor R and the capacitance Cp, further producing a reset signal for clearing and resetting wall charges. In this embodiment, the reset signal is an exponential waveform. The detail for controlling switches Q1˜Q7 during driving the display cell 103 should be known to those skilled in the art and are not repeated herein.
The disadvantage of the above-described conventional scheme is when the wall charges are to be effectively cleared and reset, a feeble discharge is essentially needed, making the voltage applied to the capacitor Cp slowly fall. The slowly falling of the voltage requires a longer reset time, but the longer the reset period, the longer the backlight is up. Thus, the sustaining period affecting the average luminance of a display cell would be accordingly shorter and the display quality degrades. On the other hand, the equipped resistor R requires a more complex process and a higher cost.
Although the sustaining circuit 101 may provide an LC resonance between an inductor Ls and a capacitor Cp, the resonance frequency and reset waveform required by each is different. The resonance of the sustaining circuit 101 actually plays a much different role from the resonance to build up the reset signal, limiting and confining the application of the resonance of the sustaining circuit 101.

Method for driving a plasma display panel


Systems and techniques to improve workflow using worksets. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes: providing a data object directed to a particular work role. The data object includes task data for performing the work role, portal environment data for presenting information to a user via a portal, and meta-data descriptive of the work role.

The following description relates to data processing, for example, systems and techniques for improving workflow by processing data.
Portal computing systems combine disparate resources into an integrated interface. Users interact with the resources via user interface elements on portal pages, which may be embodied in web browser windows. Portal systems allow a user to view and interact with information and tools from a wide variety of sources such as word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, databases, and other sources.
Portal computing systems can improve workflow by allowing workers to more easily access resources and information needed to perform their jobs. For example, role-based portal systems strive to improve workflow by providing user interfaces that allow a worker with a particular job role to access data and resources usually associated with the particular job role. A role-based portal system may provide a number of pre-defined roles, where the included resources and information represent the developer's "best guess" of the resources needed to perform each particular job role. For example, in a role-based portal system, an executive role may include resources that enable the user to access company-wide strategic information such as competitive analyses and profitability forecasts. A manager role may include resources for project management and/or people management. A developer role may include software development tools.
However, role-based portal systems may not accurately reflect the particular work goals of particular users. For example, two different managers may have different responsibilities associated with particular work goals, and so need to access a different set of resources and information. A single pre-defined role cannot typically meet the needs of both managers: it would tend either to lack some useful resources, or to include extraneous resources.
The ability of a role-based system to accurately reflect users' work goals may be improved by adding more granularity in the type of roles represented. For example, rather than having a single "manager" role, a role-based system may include a product manager role, a sales manager role, an engineering manager role, and so on.


A method and structure for the distribution and utilization of synchronization within an asynchronous network is described herein. Synchronization is distributed through an asynchronous network via a synchronization symbol periodically inserted on the MAC layer. The priority of this symbol ensures that this symbol is inserted in the MAC layer data stream ahead of all other types of symbols. The insertion of the synchronization symbol in the middle of an ongoing data frame is supported. In addition, a method for synchronization symbol distribution throughout an asynchronous network is presented, along with a method for switching to a new synchronization path (in the event of loss of original synchronization path) based on minimum number of hops from the synchronization source. In addition, a method is described for utilization of the count and interval of received synchronization symbols and the count and interval of transmitted synchronization symbols to generate an error correction signal used in the process of frequency locking of a device's internal hardware to received synchronization symbols from another device. Using the prioritized insertion capability required for synchronization symbols, a variety of other MAC layer control symbols are defined to perform other functions, such as propagation time measurement between adjacent nodes.

Transport of leased-line services has traditionally occurred over optical networks utilizing the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) protocol. This is because a fundamental characteristic of a SONET network is synchronous operation, e.g. the availability of a common synchronization or frequency source at SONET network elements. SONET networks rely on the distribution of synchronization from a common clocking source.
The source of common clocking is a highly accurate clock known as a Stratum clock. The different levels of the Stratum hierarchy and the characteristics of each are described in the Telcordia GR-1244-CORE specification, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. A commonly used external synchronization source is a Stratum 1 global positioning system (GPS) clocking source. For a SONET optical metropolitan access network, the external synchronization source may be attached directly to a device within the network known as the synchronization source device. If there is no external synchronization source directly attached, the synchronization source device may also derive synchronization from any of its external leased line interfaces, as configured by the network operator. Each of the other devices in the network is configured to accept synchronization from one of its high-speed SONET interfaces. An example is shown in FIG. 1 for a metropolitan access bi-directional ring. In FIG. 1A, the paths over which synchronization is distributed originate from a synchronization source device 12 that obtains synchronization from one of its external interfaces. All other devices in the SONET ring derive synchronization from the synchronous frame structure of the incoming data on one of its high-speed SONET interfaces. Devices external to the SONET ring such as device 13 (external to the SONET ring) connected to node 10 and the device 14 (external to the SONET ring) connected to node 12 can derive timing from the nodes within the SONET network.
SONET networks, unfortunately, are not the best solution for the transport of packetized data in metropolitan access networks. Connectionless, asynchronous, packet-switched networks are the most cost-efficient and capacity-efficient solutions for this transport. However, these networks have never required the distribution of synchronization for their operation. It is only now that synchronization distribution within asynchronous networks has become important, as service providers strive to implement a network infrastructure optimized for the transport of packetized data but also capable of the transport of leased-line services. A mechanism to perform this function is critical to reduce the infrastructure cost of metropolitan access networks.
In this specification, the term "synchronization" will be used in phrases such as "synchronization source" interchangeably with the terms "timing" or "clocking".
The mechanism described in this specification utilizes novel functions and capabilities on the media access control (MAC) layer. Some general capabilities required for network synchronization, such as prioritized insertion of control symbols on the MAC layer, enable other novel functions to be performed on the MAC layer that are unrelated to network synchronization.

Synchronization of asynchronous networks using media access control (MAC) layer synchronization symbols


Methods for generating and providing a full arch prosthesis from a pre-existing prosthesis are presented, starting from the pre-existing prosthesis. This prosthesis is removed from the mouth, scanned, and replaced within the mouth. An intermediate prosthesis is generated from the scan, and modified to match a final physiological target configuration of the patient's mouth. The intermediate prosthesis is used to generate a final virtual representation of the target configuration, from which final virtual representation the final working prosthesis is fabricated. The intermediate prosthesis is mounted in the patient's mouth in sections, for desirable repositioning, sections then being bonded together. Copings can be digitally subtracted to enable press fit new copings to be installed. Alternatively, the intermediate prosthesis can include integrated false copings. The intermediate prosthesis is scanned to generate a final digital model or virtual representation of the desired final prosthesis. The final working prosthesis may then be fabricated using the final virtual representation.

Full arch implant rehabilitation entails a number of time consuming issues. These include multiple patient visits numbering between five and twelve or more. Also, the many steps impose a considerable time burden in maintaining proper records.
There exists a need for a method providing a full arch prosthesis, wherein geometric and positional accuracy are provided, dental visits and healing times are minimized, and the prosthesis enables immediate use thereof.

Intermediate prosthesis for dental prosthesis installation


An automatic Internet access method using a digital subscriber line includes: upon receiving an automatic Internet access program install request from a user, installing a PPPoE device driver including a PPPoE adapter and an NDISWAN (Network Driver Interface Specification Wide Area Network) miniport driver, and an ADSL monitoring tool which is an application program for informing the user whether ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line) is connected, in a user PC; upon power on of the user PC, attempting automatic Internet access by the PPPoE device driver on WINDOWS™ over a device driver, and interposing between TCP/IP and the PPPoE device driver a PPP/PPPoE module for informing the user of a current connection state through the ADSL monitoring tool under the control of the device driver; receiving a user ID and a password input by the user through a user interface while installing the PPPoE device driver in the user PC, and storing the received user ID and password in a registry; and upon power on of the user PC, attaining by the device driver user authentication from a NAS server on the Internet using the user ID and the password stored in the registry, and performing Internet access.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a transmission system, and in particular, to an automatic Internet access method using a digital subscriber line.
2. Description of the Related Art
An xDSL (x-Digital Subscriber Line) technology is used to provide a high-speed data service using an existing telephone line. Major xDSLs include ADSL (Asymmetrical DSL), UADSL (Universal Asymmetrical DSL), HDSL (High bit rate DSL), SDSL (Symmetrical DSL), MSDSL (Multirate Symmetrical DSL), RADSL (Rate Adaptive DSL), IDSL (ISDN (Integrated services digital network) like DSL), and VDSL (Very high DSL).
The ADSL transmits both a high-speed data service and a standard voice service through a twisted-pair copper wire. The ADSL is characterized by providing the high-speed data communication service as well as the existing telephone service, using the existing telephone line and telephone set. However, the existing modem cannot be used for both the telephone service and the data communication service. The ISDN, though it can be used for both the telephone service and the data communication service, decreases in a data rate to the half. In contrast, the ADSL uses a low frequency for the telephone service and a high frequency for the data communication service on a single telephone line, thus preventing interference and securing a data rate. The ADSL is called an asymmetrical digital subscriber line, because a data rate of a forward signal from a telephone office to a subscriber is different from a data rate of a reverse signal from the subscriber to the telephone office. Compared with the existing CATV (Cable Television) in which a forward data rate is identical to a reverse data rate and the high-speed data communication service can be supported, the ADSL is disadvantageous in that its data rate is ⅓ times lower than the data rate of the CATV. However, the ADSL is advantageous in that the data rate is constant regardless of an increase in number of the subscribers. Each subscriber can transmit data at a data rate of up to 12 Mbps (bits per second). Due to this advantage, the ADSL is generally used for the high-speed data service.
However, Internet access using the ADSL has the following problems.
First, Internet access using the ADSL depends upon the type of a modem in use. That is, an internal modem uses PPPoA (Point-to-Point Protocol over Asynchronous transfer mode) and an external modem uses PPPoE (Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet). Thus, the internal modem must use a telephone connection adapter (or a PPP (Point-to-Point) module basically provided in WINDOWS™ for PPP communication) in a personal computer (PC), and the external modem must use a WinPoET connection program, an NTS connection program or other connection programs.
Second, the modems have different installation methods according to their types, so it is difficult to maintain and repair the modems after installation. In the case of internal modems, each modem has a unique installation driver, so a driver proper to an operating system of the user PC must be installed during installation of the modem. After installation, an operation of linking the installed internal driver to a telephone connection adapter of the user PC must be performed. In the case of external modems, a connection program used is different depending upon an operating system of the user PC. After the external modem is installed, a PPPoE server should be searched and registered in a connection window of the user PC, for proper connection. Accordingly, the installation time is increased and the installation method is complicated. When the PPPoE server name is incorrect or a proper server name cannot be found, the modem must be reinstalled.
Third, in many cases, the Internet access using the ADSL has operation trouble due to mis-operation of a connection program by the user. According to statistics, the failure due to the mis-operation by the user accounts for 40% of the total computer failure. In the case of the external modem, the user is allowed to manipulate the connection program, causing a frequent failure due to mis-manipulation by the user. In the case of the internal modem, the user may wrongly manipulate the telephone connection adapter while using the user PC. The telephone connection adapter is a module which is installed separately from a modem device deriver. If the user, not knowing that the telephone connection adapter is used for ADSL connection, mistakenly uninstalls the telephone connection adapter module or changes the set value, the ADSL communication will get into trouble.
Fourth, an Internet access program using the ADSL requires an excessive connection time, and the user must input his or her ID (identification) and password at each access.

Automatic internet access method using digital subscriber line


A suck back valve includes a fitting having a fluid passage formed with a first port at one end thereof and a second port at another end, a valve actuator having a suck back mechanism for sucking a fluid from inside the fluid passage according to a negative pressure action of a diaphragm displaced by a pilot pressure, and first and second electromagnetic valves which increase/reduce the pilot pressure supplied to a diaphragm chamber in accordance with supply and discharge actions. A controller is provided for energizing and deenergizing the first and second electromagnetic valves, wherein said fitting, said actuator and said controller are assembled together as an integral unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suck back valve which makes it possible, for example, to avoid liquid drip from a liquid supply port by sucking a predetermined amount of a fluid flowing through a fluid passage in accordance with a displacement action of a diaphragm.
2. Description of the Related Art
The suck back valve has been hitherto used, for example, in a production process for forming semiconductor wafers. The suck back valve has a function to prevent so-called liquid drip, i.e. a phenomenon in which a minute amount of coating liquid drips toward the semiconductor wafer from a supply port when the supply of coating liquid to the semiconductor wafer is stopped.
A suck back valve according to a conventional technique is shown by FIG. 5, further details of which may be seen, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 8-10399.
The suck back valve 1 includes a main valve body 5 formed with a fluid passage 4 for making communication between a fluid-introducing port 2 and a fluid-discharging port 3, and a bonnet 6 coupled to an upper portion of the main valve body 5. A diaphragm 7, which comprises a thick walled section and a thin-walled section, is provided at a central portion of the fluid passage 4. The bonnet 6 is formed with a pressurized fluid supply port 8 which is connected to an unillustrated pressurized fluid supply source and to which a pressurized fluid is supplied in accordance with a changeover action of a directional control valve.
A piston 9 is fitted to the diaphragm 7, wherein a v-packing 10, which is slidable on an inner wall surface of the main valve body 5 and which functions as a seal, is installed on the piston 9. Further, a spring 11, which constantly presses the piston upwardly, is provided in the main valve body 5. Reference numeral 12 indicates a screw member which abuts against the piston 9 to adjust the displacement amount of the piston 9 so that the flow amount of the fluid sucked by the diaphragm 7 can be adjusted.
Operation of the suck back valve 1 shall now be explained in outline. In an ordinary state in which the fluid is supplied from the fluid-introducing port 2 to the fluid-discharging port 3, the piston 9 and diaphragm 7 are displaced downwardly in an integrated manner in accordance with action of the pressurized fluid supplied from the pressurized fluid supply port 8. The diaphragm 7, which is coupled to the piston 9, protrudes into the fluid passage 4 as shown in FIG. 5 by the two-dot chain lines.
When flow of the fluid through fluid passage 4 is halted, the piston 9 and diaphragm 7 are raised in unison under the action of the elastic force exerted by the spring 11, by stopping the supply of pressurized fluid from the pressurized fluid supply port 8. A predetermined amount of fluid remaining in the fluid passage 4 is sucked under action of a negative pressure produced by the diaphragm. Thus, dripping of liquid, which would otherwise be caused at an unillustrated fluid supply port, is prevented.
Incidentally, in the suck back valve according to the above-described conventional technique, for precise adjustment of the flow rate of pressurized fluid supplied to the pressurized fluid supply port, a fluid flow control device 14 is connected through a conduit 13, for example a tube. The flow control device 14 is formed separately from the suck back valve 1, and in addition to preventing pressure variations in the pressurized fluid supplied with respect to the pressurized fluid supply port of the suck back valve, also provides a function to control flow rate of the pressurized fluid supplied to the pressurized fluid supply port 8.
However, when using the suck back valve according to this conventional technique, an operation for interconnecting supply pipes between the suck back valve and the fluid control apparatus 14 becomes necessary, resulting in inconvenience. In addition, a dedicated space for installing the fluid pressure control apparatus 14 separately from the suck back valve 1 becomes necessary, resulting in the disadvantage that the installation space must be increased overall.
Further, as a consequence of the supply pipe (conduit 13) connected between the suck back valve 1 and the fluid pressure control device 14, flow passage resistance increases, with the disadvantage that the precision and responsiveness of the diaphragm is weakened.


The present invention provides methods and compositions for modulating the activities of metabotropic glutamate receptor intracellular signaling molecules. The present invention provides methods and compositions for modulating the activities of casein kinase I and/or cyclin-dependent kinase 5 in cells or tissues. The present invention provides methods of modulating the function of calcium channels in cells or tissues. The present invention provides methods of treating calcium channel dysfunction. The present invention provides methods of identifying agents that modulate the activities of the metabotropic glutamate receptor intracellular signaling molecules casein kinase I and/or cyclin-dependent kinase 5 for use in such treatments.

Casein Kinase I ("CKI" or "CK1") was one of the first serine/threonine protein kinases to be isolated and characterized (Gross, S. D. and R. A. Anderson. 1998. Cell Signal 10:699–671). It is a ubiquitous enzyme that can be found in the nucleus and the cytosol of cells and bound to the cytoskeleton or to cell membranes. The CKI (CK1) family is a family of multiple isoforms encoded by at least seven distinct genes (CKIα, β, γi, γ2, γ3, δ, E; Desdouits, F. et al. 1995. J. Biol. Chem. 270:8772–8778). These isoforms exhibit more than 50% amino acid identity within the catalytic domains, but contain divergent carboxy-termini (Graves, P. R. and P. J. Roach. 1995. J. Biol. Chem. 270:21689–21694; Cegielska, A. et al. 1998. J. Biol. Chem. 273:1357–1364; Gietzen, K. F. and D. M. Virshup. 1999. J. Biol. Chem. 274:32063–32070). It has been reported that at least two CKI isoforms, CKIδ and CKIε, are regulated by auto-phosphorylation at their COOH-termini. These studies suggest that the phosphorylated COOH-terminus may act as a pseudo-substrate that inhibits enzyme activity. Elimination of autophosphorylation by either truncation of the COOH-terminus or by dephosphorylation has been found to result in increased kinase activity (Graves, P. R. and P. J. Roach. 1995. J. Biol. Chem. 270:21689–21694; Cegielska, A. et al. 1998. J. Biol. Chem. 273:1357–1364).
In the central nervous system (CNS), CKI appears to play a role in regulation of circadian rhythm (Camacho, F. et al. 2001. FEBS Lett. 489:159–165) and intracellular trafficking (Murakami, A. et al. 1999. J. Biol. Chem. 274:3804–3810; Panek, H. R. et al. 1997. EMBO J. 16:4194–4204; Wang, X. et al. 1996. Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:5375–5385). In the neostriatum, CKI has been found to phosphorylate DARPP-32 (Dopamine and cAMP-Regulated Phosphoprotein, molecular mass 32 kDa; also known as "DARPP-32") at Ser137 (Desdouits, F. et al. 1995. J. Biol. Chem. 270:8772–8778). Phosphorylation at Thr34 by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) converts DARPP-32 into an inhibitor of protein phosphatase-1 (PP1), a process that is critical for the actions of dopamine in the neostriatum (Greengard, P. et al. 1998. Brain Res. Rev. 26:274–284; Greengard, P. et al. 1999. Neuron 23:435–437). Phospho-Thr34 is dephosphorylated by PP2B (also named calcineurin or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase) and the phosphorylation of Ser137 influences the ability of phospho-Thr34 to be dephosphorylated by PP2B (Desdouits, F. et al. 1995. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:2682–2685; Desdouits, F. et al. 1998. Biochem. J. 330:211–216). Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 ("cdk5," "Cdk5" or "CDK5") was originally identified as a homologue of p34cdc2 protein kinase. Subsequent studies have shown that unlike Cdc2, Cdk5 kinase activity is not detected in dividing cells. Instead, the active form of Cdk5 is present only in differentiated neurons, where it associates with a neuron-specific 35 kDa regulatory subunit, termed p35. Cdk5/p35 plays a variety of roles in the developing and adult nervous system.
Studies of mice in which the gene encoding either Cdk5 or p35 has been disrupted have indicated that both mutants exhibit abnormalities in the laminar structure of the cerebral cortex (Chae, T. et al. 1997. Neuron 18:29–42; Ohshima, T. et al. 1996. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93:11173–11178). Cdk5/p35 is localized at the leading edge of axonal growth cones, and inactivation of Cdk5 in cultured neurons inhibits neurite outgrowth. Recent studies have linked mis-regulation of Cdk5 to Alzheimer's disease (Kusakawa, G. et al. 2000. J. Biol. Chem. 275:17166–17172; Lee, M. S. et al. 2000. Nature 405:360–364; Nath, R. et al. 2000. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 274:16–21; Patrick, G. N. et al. 1999. Nature 402:615–622). In these studies, conversion of p35 to p25 by the action of calpain causes prolonged activation and altered localization of Cdk5. In turn, Cdk5/p25 can hyperphosphorylate tau, disrupt cytoskeletal structure and promote apoptosis of primary neurons. Recent studies have shown that Cdk5 also phosphorylates DARPP-32 at Thr75 (Nishi, A. et al. 2000. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:12840–12845; Bibb, J. A. et al. 1999. Nature 402:669–671). Phosphorylation of DARPP-32 at Thr75 by Cdk5 influences phosphorylation of Thr34 in DARPP-32 by PKA and plays an important modulatory role in the DARPP-32/PP1 cascade (Bibb, J. A. et al. 1999. Nature 402:669–671). Finally, recent studies have suggested that glutamate antagonists are anti-carcinogenic, an effect that was calcium dependent (Cavalheiro, E. A. et al. 2001. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:5947–5948; Rzeski, W. et al. 2001. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:6372–6377).
Hence, despite the knowledge about the actions of CKI and Cdk5 in the CNS, as discussed hereinabove, surprisingly little is known about the regulation of these two kinases by first messengers. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide new methods of screening that can be used to develop novel compositions or drugs that can be used to treat diseases or disorders related to the regulation of CKI and Cdk5. Furthermore, there is a need to develop treatments for such diseases or disorders that are due, at least in part, to an aberration or dysregulation of an intracellular signaling pathway regulated by CKI and/or Cdk5. The present invention provides such methods and compositions.
Citation or identification of any reference in Section 2, or in any other section of this application, shall not be considered an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention.

Regulation of neuronal function through metabotropic glutamate receptor signaling pathways


An equalizer (60) processes, in the electrical domain, a signal obtained from a path of an optical transmission system. The equalizer comprises N cascaded stages (where N≧1). At least one of the stages comprises a cascade of a linear equalization element (61) and a non-linear equalization element (62). The equalizer (60) is able to compensate for both linear impairments, such as dispersion, and non-linear impairments. The cascaded linear and non-linear elements can simulate the effect of signal propagation through a fiber which has the opposite propagation parameters (e.g. attenuation, dispersion, non-linearity) to those of the propagation path experienced by a signal in the transmission system. The non-linear equalization element (62) can be a non-linear phase rotator which rotates phase of an input signal proportional to the squared modulus of the input signal amplitude. The linear equalization element (61) can comprise a digital filter, such as an Infinite Impulse Response (HR) filter or a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter.

The performance of fibre-optic transmission systems is affected by amplifier noise and transmission impairments, such as Chromatic Dispersion (CD), Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD), and non-linear effects. Transmission impairments become more relevant as the bit-rate increases. The compensation, or mitigation, of transmission impairments by electronic processing in direct-detection systems is not simple and may be ineffective because of the information loss caused by direct-detection. On the other hand, in coherent systems, all linear impairments such as CD or PMD could be exactly compensated by electronic equalisers. The use of coherent systems with electronic processing at the receiver also allows for reducing the symbol-rate by deploying efficient multilevel modulation formats, such as DQPSK and QAM, which are more resilient to CD and PMD. In addition, phase, frequency, and polarization locking of local oscillators, previously required in coherent receivers, can be conveniently substituted by electronic post-processing. For these reasons, coherent systems have been recently proposed again as a promising solution for next generation high-capacity fibre-optic links.
Techniques are known for equalisation of signals to compensate for impairments during transmission. These techniques include linear equalization based on feed forward equalisers (FFE), decision feedback equalisers (DFE), maximum likelihood sequence detection (MLSD), and Non-linear Tapped Delay Line (TDL) equalisers based on Volterra kernels. Most solutions of electronic processing/equalisation in fibre-optic systems refer to the mitigation of linear impairments (CD and PMD) in direct detection systems by means of FFE+DFE (H. Bulow and G. Thielecke, "Electronic PMD mitigation—From linear equalization to maximum-likelihood detection," in Proc. OFC, 2001, vol. 3, pp. WDD34-1-WDD34-3), MLSD (T. Foggi, E. Forestieri, G. Colavolpe, and G. Prati, "Maximum-likelihood sequence detection with closed-form metrics in OOK optical systems impaired by GVD and PMD," J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 3073-3087, August 2006), or non-linear TDL (C. Xia, and W. Rosenkranz "Nonlinear electrical equalization for different modulation formats with optical filtering," J. Lightwave Technol., vol. 25, no. 4, April 2007). Recently, the exact compensation of linear impairments in coherent systems by means of FFE has been investigated and some MLSD strategies for the exact compensation of linear impairments in systems with differential detectors have been also proposed.
High transmission bit-rates (e.g. ≧40 Gbit/s) require high-speed digital processing. Computational cost is a driving factor and it is desirable that the complexity of an equaliser in transmission equipment is kept as low as possible. Linear equalisers, such as FFE, are not able to compensate for non-linear impairments and so have a limited effectiveness, while MLSD has a high complexity (exponential with channel memory). Proper metrics and suitable channel estimation techniques for the non-linear fibre-optic channel are still unknown. Non-linear TDL equalisers based on Volterra kernels have a high complexity (exponential with non-linearity order).

Equalizer for an optical transmission system


A plated module is for an IC card and includes a printed circuit having a plurality of conductive areas, delimited by a network of insulating channels, for covering an integrated circuit chip intended to be hosted in a recess of a plastic support of the IC card. At least some of the conductive areas are connected to a corresponding contact points of the integrated circuit chip. At least some of the conductive areas are linked to corresponding extended areas by one or more bridges. The conductive areas are separated from the extended areas by an insulating channel crossed by the bridges. The insulating channels surround the conductive areas as a protection frame for the contact points. At least a major side of at least one of the conductive areas may be curved. Several of the advanced extended areas form a rounded border of the plated module.

As is well known, a plated or protective module is generally formed by two elements: an integrated circuit chip, and a printed circuit over the chip. With reference to FIG. 1, a plated module comprising a printed circuit 2 and an integrated circuit chip 3, is represented and globally indicated with numeral reference 20.
More particularly, the printed circuit 2 comprises a plurality of conductive areas a1, . . . , an, generally glued through an epoxy resin 9. The integrated circuit chip 3 is fixed and electrically connected through wires bonding beneath the printed circuit 2, before being sealed in a recess 6 of a generic plastic support 1, as schematically represented in FIG. 2. The electrical connections are clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, representing respectively a top view of the printed circuit 2, sealed inside the recess 6 with the integrated circuit chip 3 beneath, and the corresponding lateral cross section.
A plurality of bond wires w1, . . . , wn connects some or all of the conductive areas a1, . . . , ak (if all, n=k) to the integrated circuit chip 3 at a plurality of contact points c1, . . . , ck. These contact points c1, . . . , ck provide communication connection between an external read write device 4 and the integrated circuit chip 3.
Generally, the plastic support 1, in which the plated module 20 is hosted, may be kept by the user in a wallet or envelope that might be protective, subject to bending or stressing forces on the plastic support 1 itself. Therefore, in order to avoid breakage, the integrated circuit chip 3 is restricted to only a few millimeters in size and is protected through the printed circuit 2 from physical pressures and static electricity.
More particularly, to hold the integrated circuit chip 3 assembled with the printed circuit 2, the recess 6 is milled into the plastic support 1 using a CNC machine with multiple drill bits, the dimension and location of the recess 6 being carefully controlled to meet with ISO standards.
Nevertheless, since the plastic support 1 is usually kept by hand and hidden in a wallet, it is subject to damage and stress mainly with respect to the printed circuit 2 and the integrated circuit chip 3, especially around the recess 6 wherein they lie. More particularly, when the plastic support 1 is deformed or stressed, the forces act in proximity to the external circumference of the recess 6, sometimes causing the partial detaching of the integrated circuit chip 3 from the plastic support 1.
Even if these forces do not cause the detaching, the contact points c1 . . . ck may be damaged, causing the communication between the integrated circuit chip 3 and the corresponding external read write device 4 to fail.