In accordance with an embodiment, a system includes a digital calibration filter device configured to receive a digital input signal based on a sensor output signal from a sensor, receive a sensor-specific control signal, and perform digital filter processing of the digital input signal to produce a calibrated output signal, wherein the digital filter processing is based on the sensor-specific control signal; and a control device configured to select the sensor-specific control signal from a plurality of sensor-specific control signals based on an ascertained influencing parameter, and provide the sensor-specific control signal to the digital calibration filter device.

Sensor arrangements, such as e.g. MEMS sound transducers or MEMS microphones, are used for recording ambient noise or ambient sound. To provide a good level of quality for the recorded ambient sound or to meet customer requirements, a high level of linearity, a high signal-to-noise ratio SNR or concordance of the sensor output signal with a prescribed frequency response of the sound transducer may be required.
Real sound transducers have a frequently still considerable variation in the frequency response, for example owing to process variations during manufacture or owing to package variations or perhaps owing to ambient influences during operation of the sound transducer.
FIGS. 1a-1b show a graph 100 depicting the amplitude response 104 in dB (decibel) units as a function of the frequency 102 of the sensor output signals from a sound transducer for different temperatures T1-T4. FIGS. 1a-1b reveal that in particular the lower frequency response up to a frequency fB of approximately 200 Hz (see range B) is affected by the variation in the amplitude response over temperature.
In some applications, ambient sound is captured and evaluated using multiple microphones at the same time. To this end, the microphones are arranged in a microphone array in a specific, geometric arrangement in relation to one another, for example, in order to achieve what is known as "beamforming" for example. In this case, the individual microphones should have no or only slight variations in terms of frequency response. In particular the lower frequency range is then relevant for many microphone applications, the LFRO (Low Frequency Roll-off) property being referred to in this context. The LFRO property of a microphone in this case denotes, by way of example, the gradient of the transfer function over frequency in the low frequency range of the microphone, e.g. in the range up to 100 or 200 Hz. Real microphones have a significant variation in the LFRO owing to ambient influences, such as e.g. changes of temperature, as can be seen from FIGS. 1a-1b. FIGS. 1a-1b show the variation in the amplitude response of a microphone for a temperature variation T1-T4 from −20° C. to +70° C. by way of example.
Attempts are currently being made to use circuitry measures on the sensor arrangement to keep the variation in the frequency response of the sensor output signal as small as possible. This circuitry approach is subject to limits, however, which mean a corresponding level of additional extra sophistication for circuitry.

System and method for a digital calibration filter device


A locking blade for a rotor can include an airfoil portion with a root from which a tongue extends. Opposed bucket segments can engage the tongue and can be retained in a longitudinal direction of the blade by a fastener, such as a pin, that can extend through holes in the segments and tongue. Tines parallel to and on opposite sides of the tongue can extend from the root and include holes through which the fastener can extend, the bucket segments extending between respective tines and the tongue. The structure can eliminate an assembly gate in a rotor.

The disclosure relates generally to rotor assemblies, and more particularly to blade or bucket design and mounting in turbine rotors.
A rotor includes a plurality of blades or buckets whose roots are typically mounted on a rotating body, such as a shaft or the like, often referred to as a wheel. Each blade or bucket root may include a profile that is typically shaped to be retained against radial motion when mounted in a groove in the body so that the blade may slide in the groove but not come out of the groove. For example, the blade root and groove may include complementary dovetails including a bucket or blade hook and a wheel hook that cooperate to retain the bucket dovetails in the groove. To enable insertion of the bucket roots into the groove, the blade hook region is typically cut to form an assembly gate. The assembly gate is generally one bucket width along the circumference. Special arrangements must be made to retain the blade(s) at the assembly gate. The assembly gate is typically cut through wheel hooks in the groove, which may reduce the load bearing capacity of the gate area. Additionally, natural frequencies of the rotor may be affected by the assembly gate, as may balancing of the rotor.


A package for housing an optoelectronic device and an integrated circuit is disclosed. The package includes an insulating base having an upper surface. The optoelectronic device and the integrated circuit are mounted to the upper surface of the insulating base. The package also includes a metal sealing member having a top wall and a bottom wall. The bottom wall of the metal sealing member is attached to the upper surface of the insulating base. The package further includes a metal cover having a rim located at a bottom portion thereof. The rim of the metal cover is adapted to attach to the top wall of the metal sealing member to thereby hermetically seal the metal cover to the insulating base.

Optoelectronic components or active optical devices such as diode lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and photodiode detectors are used for printing, data storage, optical data transmission and reception, laser pumps, and a multitude of other applications. Most optoelectronic components are typically sealed inside a hermetically sealed package for performance requirements and operational stability. Optoelectronic packages are intended to provide a hermetic structure to protect passive and active optical elements and devices as well as related electrical components from damage resulting from moisture, dirt, heat, radiation, and/or other sources.
For high-speed applications (e.g., 2 Gbps and above), proper operation of the optical and/or electrical components inside the package may be affected unless careful attention is paid to the packaging of these components. Standard optical module packaging such as that used in optical telecommunication applications requires a hermetic enclosure. Sealed packages are necessary to contain, protect, and electrically connect optoelectronic components. These requirements have resulted in packages that are large, costly, and more difficult to manufacture than typical electronic packages. In fact, the cost of most optoelectronic devices is mainly dominated by the package rather than the optical devices themselves.
Current designs of optoelectronic packages and associated fabrication processes are not easily adapted for automated manufacturing techniques because conventional packages for optoelectronic components such as large so-called "butterfly" packages are characterized by numerous mechanical parts (submounts, brackets, ferrules, etc.), and three-dimensional (3D) alignment requirements. Butterfly packages are basically can-and-cover type arrangements that contain an optical subassembly mounted to a metallic baseplate, with leads coming out of the sides for electrical connections. The optical subassembly may be built up separately, outside of the can, and then later installed in the can. The circuits within the optical subassembly are wire-bonded to the leads of the butterfly can, which is then sealed with a lid to create a hermetic enclosure. Unfortunately, conventional butterfly cans are bulky, costly, and time-consuming to manufacture. In addition, the electrical components require a separate electrical subassembly that is located outside of the butterfly can. The requirement of a separate electrical subassembly that is separate and apart from the optical subassembly inside the butterfly can increases manufacturing costs significantly.
Transistor-Outline (TO) packages are also commonly used to house optoelectronic components. Conventional TO packages include a generally cylindrical metal cap and a metal header or base, to which the metal cap is attached. In such packages, metal-based bonding techniques such as, for example, brazing or fusion welding, are often required to provide a hermetic seal between the metal cap and the header. To weld the metal cap onto the header, the header is typically formed of a metallic material such as Kovar™ or stainless steel. However, it is advantageous to use ceramic bases in connection with high-speed applications because ceramic bases are ideal for RF applications. Particularly, ceramic headers provide easy routing of high-speed circuits. Unfortunately, ceramic is not compatible with metal with regard to weldability, and therefore has not been widely used as the material for the header or base in conventional TO packages.
In addition, when active optical devices (e.g., diode lasers) and integrated circuits adapted to control the active optical devices (e.g., diode drivers) are spaced too far apart from each other, parasitic capacitance, resistance, and/or inductance may affect electrical signals traveling between the components, thus resulting in degradation of the electrical signal. The electrical performance is of particular concern for high-speed applications. Consequently, electrical performance may be improved during high-speed applications when the distance between the active optical device and its associated driving or receiving integrated circuit chip is as short as possible. Although this arrangement improves the electrical signal integrity, it increases heat dissipation requirements of the assembly significantly.
As the power density increases in optoelectronic devices and/or electrical components used in high-speed applications, a suitable, optimal heat sink is necessary to dissipate heat efficiently from the optoelectronic device and/or electrical components. Heat sinks are devices capable of dissipating heat away from the optoelectronic and/or electrical components into the surrounding atmosphere by convection. Typical heat sinks include cooling fins attached to a heat sink base that is in contact with the header or base of the optoelectronic package. The fins of the heat sink may have any shape and size necessary to spread heat away from the optoelectronic device and/or electrical components, and may be oriented either parallel or perpendicular relative to the base of the optoelectronic package.
Commercially available heat sinks are generally square or rectangular in shape. As such, the circular headers of conventional optoelectronic packages require either modifications to the structural design of the heat sinks to be able to accommodate the circular headers, or manufacturing adjustments to attach the circular header to the square or rectangular heat sink. This configuration results in a complex, slow, and expensive manufacturing process. Additionally, the quality of the contact between the optoelectronic package and the attached heat sink has a great impact on the overall thermal performance. Lower thermal impedance between the optoelectronic package and the heat sink results in higher conductive heat transfer. Therefore, it is advantageous that the header of the optoelectronic package be in intimate, conformal contact with the attached heat sink to optimize the thermal characteristics, which results in increased efficiency.
Moreover, existing optoelectronic packaging techniques often involve manual or semi-automated manufacturing processes. Therefore, to reduce manufacturing costs, it is advantageous to employ automated batch packaging processes that can fabricate a large number of optoelectronic packages simultaneously.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved optoelectronic package and a process for making the optoelectronic package that can address some or all of the problems described above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Package for housing an optoelectronic assembly


A PLL synthesizer includes a reference oscillator, an controllable oscillator which generates an oscillation signal which varies in frequency according to a control signal, a phase comparator, and a loop filter. The loop filter includes an A/D converter, a digital filter, and a D/A converter. The digital filter removes high-frequency components from the output of the A/D converter according to setting data. The digital filter is set to a filter characteristic depending to a selected frequency of the oscillation signal. The digital output signal of the digital filter is converted to an analog signal which is used as the control signal of the controllable oscillator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a PLL (Phase-Locked Loop) circuit and, in particular, to a PLL synthesizer which selectively generates a plurality of frequency signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a PLL synthesizer employed in a mobile communication terminal, it is required to selectively generate a plurality of frequencies with high speed switching and high stability. To meet such requirements, there have been proposed several circuits.
A PLL synthesizer disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 5-335944 is provided with a plurality of low-pass filters one of which is selected by a first selector and a second selector to provide a different loop gain. A selected low-pass filter receives a tuning voltage from a phase comparator through the first selector, holds the tuning voltage, and then outputs the held tuning voltage to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) through the second selector.
Another PLL synthesizer disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 4-235416 is provided with a plurality of low-pass filters, first and second selectors and an initial setting circuit. The first and second selectors select one of the low-pass filters providing different loop gains when switching of frequencies. Just after the switching occurs, the initial setting circuit adjusts the phase of a variable-divided output of the VCO for synchronization with that of a reference signal generated by a reference oscillator. This results in high speed frequency switching.


A corrosion resistant sleeve joining abutted ends of lined pipe where corrosive or erosive gases, fluids or slurries may flow to provide a continuous corrosion barrier between the ends of adjacent pipe liners. The sleeve is preferably a cylindrical member having sufficient length to allow disposition of a protective material, such as biocide, corrosion inhibitor, or combination thereof between the sleeve and the pipe surrounding the sleeve. The elongated cylindrical section may provide a double set of O-rings separated by a distance that would allow an annular recess to be placed between them for disposing a protective material. The protective material is preferably soluble with any fluid material that is to be transported through the pipe and blends with any fluid that permeates the outer most O-ring and comes into contact with the protective material. The protective material preferably blends with the fluid prior to penetration of the inner O-ring and thereby prevents damage to the metal pipe in the area between the adjacent liners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of pipe connections. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of welded pipe connections normally useful in the oil and gas production, refining and transportation industries and flanged pipe connections normally useful in the chemical plant industry.
2. Background of the Related Art
Corrosion barriers are useful in conjunction with pipes by joining pipes whose interior regions are coated with protective materials, such as thin polymer based coatings or cement based liners, which form a protective barrier between the pipe material and the materials passing through the pipe. In some instances, as in highly corrosive environments, the protective barrier may be constructed of a tubular PTFE or other polymer based material.
In the oil and gas transportation industry, the most common method of connecting individual lengths of pipe is by welding the ends together. Welding of the pipe ends presents several pipe material protection problems. The Cylindrical Corrosion Barrier For Pipe Connections, U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,228 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,984 provide for methods of solving those pipe material protection problems.
Corrosion of the pipe material caused by anaerobic and/or aerobic bacteria is another common problem within the oil and gas industries. It is common practice in the oil and gas industry to enhance the productivity of their oil and gas gathering operations to inject fluids into the ground through wells placed near the perimeter of an existing, or new, oil or gas field. The purpose of this injection is to increase the pressure of the oil or gas at the well head thereby increasing the amount of oil or gas that is available for capture by the gathering system. The most common fluid injected into these wells would be water with a high saline content. Some of the common types of this type of water would be known as brine or sea water. Other types of fluids may be injected for this purpose. Some may have other types of ingredients mixed with the water such as specially designed polymers.
When the oil and/or gas is brought to the surface by using this injection method, some of the injection fluid is mixed with the oil and gas. This fluid is separated from the oil and gas before transporting the oil and gas to its refining destination. This separated material is often contaminated with by-products of the oil and gas and other sub strata minerals, chemicals and materials that have dissolved and blended with the solution. It is also a normal procedure for the oil and gas industry to recover these fluids and re-inject these materials into the injection well formation. This eliminates the costly and hazardous method of treating this fluid for environmental concerns.
Often the fluids that are injected into these wells contain contaminates such as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. These contaminants are very harmful to the unprotected areas of steel pipelines. The Cylindrical Corrosion Barrier as disclosed in the above referenced patents may effectively seal this unprotected area, as a result of the welding process, when it is installed. The product is designed to provide long term corrosion protection by preventing any fluid from penetrating the sealing design of the product. However, this protective design might not effectively protect the exposed metal surface of the pipe from attack by bacteria, specifically anaerobic bacteria, since the design is predicated upon the quick deoxygenation of the material penetrating the sealing system. Since anaerobic bacteria can survive in low oxygen or oxygen-depleted environments, there still exists a need for an apparatus to eliminate these bacterial elements before they can penetrate to the unprotected areas of the pipe. Furthermore, there exists a need for a corrosion barrier with antibacterial protection which also solves the problems of welding pipes joints.

Corrosion barrier with antibacterial protection for pipe connections


Fasteners for suspending aperture curtains, such as shower curtains, from a horizontal rod comprise pivotally connected top and bottom members adapted to close and lock through the insertion of a male protrusion on the bottom member into an aperture on the top member.

Curtains, in particular shower curtains, are typically hung from a horizontal rod and secured thereto with plastic or metal rings which encircle the rod and extend through apertures in the curtain. The most common ring designs in use today are of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,367,742, 4,308,637, and 1,034,630, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such rings typically consist of a unitary piece of flexible plastic in a split-ring construction having opposed ends wherein one end forms a male joint member and the other a female joint member which are snapped together the close the ring. Shower curtain rings of that type have several disadvantages Most notably, these rings have proven to be difficult to mount on a rod due to the unitary construction and low flexibility of the plastic materials from which they are made. Further, for some, the joints prove too difficult to close and prone to breaking under the forces required to snap together the male and female members.
In view of the deficiencies of conventional shower curtain rings, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide curtain rings, and in particular, shower curtain rings, that are simple to use, do not require undue physical force to close, and are not prone to breaking during attachment to a rod and subsequent closure.


A device for adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream, comprising a container for receiving adsorber material, wherein the container has a fluid inlet opening and a fluid outlet opening, and two fluid connection devices, wherein one of the fluid connection devices is provided at the fluid inlet opening and the other one of the fluid connection devices is provided at the fluid outlet opening, wherein the fluid connection devices are locked in a fluid-tight manner and are designed in such a way that they can each be connected to a fluid line connector and unlocked and, if they are connected to the respective fluid line connector they can be unlocked or are unlocked.

The present invention relates to a device for the adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream, a use of a device for the adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream, a method for regenerating and/or disposing of, filling and/or installing a device for the adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream and a method for the adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream, in particular natural gas or liquefied gas for fuel cells. The invention relates in particular to a device for desulfurizing a gaseous hydrocarbon stream and a corresponding method, in particular for use in combination with a fuel cell apparatus.
Most fuel cells require hydrogen or hydrogen-rich gases as fuel for producing heat and power. Therefore, significant efforts are currently being made to produce hydrogen from logistic fuels such as diesel, gasoline, naphtha, liquefied gas and natural gas in catalytic fuel-conversion systems. However, in the long term, the successful use of fuel cells depends on the availability of regeneratively-produced hydrogen.
The catalytic conversion of liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons to obtain a hydrogen-rich gas such as the so-called reformate gas takes place in several series-connected steps: the actual reforming reaction, a downstream water-gas shift reaction as well as possibly a CO fine purification reaction such as e.g. the selective CO methanation reaction.
However, most of the primary energy carriers which come into question for the catalytic production of hydrogen contain sulfur. These are sometimes added to the fuel intentionally as so-called odorants to warn people of possible leaks. Odorization serves as a safety measure when using otherwise odourless gases and denotes the addition of odoriferous substances (odorants) which are to have a smell typical of the danger. People associate odorants with alerts, even when the latter are highly diluted. Therefore, in addition to naturally occurring sulfur compounds such as H2 and COS, liquefied gas and natural gas typically contain sulfur-containing odorants such as tetrahydrothiophene (THT) or mercaptans or mixtures of methanethiol, ethanethiol, 1-propanethiol and 2-methyl-2-propanethiol, and tert-butylmercaptan (TBM).
However, it is known that sulfur compounds cause irreversible deactivations in reforming catalysts and in the actual fuel cells. A suitable desulfurization stage is therefore a prerequisite for using hydrocarbons as fuel in a fuel cell. The process-engineering conversions involved in the desulfurization differ greatly depending on the hydrocarbon used. To desulfurize natural gas and liquefied gas, the simplest possible adsorptive desulfurization stages are sought, which can be operated with the highest possible selectivity at room temperature and ambient pressure.
Adsorptive desulfurization methods with solid adsorbents are used in many fuel cell applications and are relatively simple to realize in terms of process requirements, e.g. room temperature and ambient pressure. For example WO 2010/023249 A1 describes an adsorber material and a method for desulfurizing hydrocarbon-containing gases. However, on the other hand, low temperatures and reaction pressures mean comparatively low sulfur-absorption capacities. The consequence is relatively large adsorber beds or rapid replacement intervals. The capacity of the respective adsorbent depends greatly on the composition of the hydrocarbon as well as on the concentration and type of the sulfur compounds. The materials used are e.g. standard and impregnated activated charcoals, zeolite systems, metal and mixed-metal (oxide) catalysts, clay minerals as well as combinations of the materials in mixed bed and multi-component systems.
There is a demand for devices for adsorption treatment, e.g. detoxifying, of fluids or fluid streams, or for desulfurizing hydrocarbons for fuel cells, which make possible the safety-relevant measures and functionalities when installing or removing the devices in or from the gas line. The safe installation or safe replacement of the device is a central question for a logistical plan for equipping and retrofitting e.g. fuel-cell systems with sulfur filter systems.
The transport of spent desulfurizing cartridges represents one of the most important challenges to be met when constructing a logistical concept for supplying and disposing of desulfurizing cartridges for fuel cells. Filters are generally replaced by service engineers or gas engineers, most of whom have received no special training in dealing with hazardous materials. For this reason, among others, desulfurizing adsorbents are developed which are not classified as hazardous materials. After use, however, depending on the material and according to the accompanying gas substances of the gas to be desulfurized, various other toxic gas constituents in addition to sulfur compounds can accumulate in the adsorbents and thus change their properties.
For this reason, there can be no generally valid classification of the adsorbent in a spent desulfurizing cartridge. Depending on the adsorbent and gas composition, in addition to the sulfur compounds, various other substances may or may not be adsorbed. To protect people from possible exposure it must be ensured that the spent adsorbent is replaced by arranging for only people with expertise and safety equipment to replace the cartridge. Therefore there is a demand for safe devices for adsorption treatment, e.g. devices for the desulfurization of gaseous hydrocarbons.

Device for the adsorption treatment of a fluid or fluid stream


A belt holder for portable phones is disclosed. In the holder, the cover plate has a horizontal guide opening at its middle portion, with a guide channel being formed at the top center of the cover plate. A clip plate is assembled with the cover plate into a housing of the holder. A locker is vertically and movably set in the holder at a position between the cover and clip plates so as to be vertically movable in the gap between the two plates. The locker has two inclined guide portions at both side edges with the two inclined guide portions being converged downwardly. Two locking pieces are symmetrically and movably seated in the horizontal guide opening of the cover plate. The two locking pieces cooperate with both the locking button of a portable phone at their first slope surfaces and the inclined guide portions of the locker at their second slope surfaces. A coil spring is positioned between the side wall of the cover plate and each of the two locking pieces, thus normally biasing the two locking pieces to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to means for allowing a user to carry a portable phone on his body while out of the home or office and, more particularly, to a belt holder used for holding a portable phone on a waist belt, the holder being designed to have a simple construction and safely hold a portable phone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable phones, such as cellular phones or PCS phones developed in accordance with the growth of information and communication industry, are widely and generally used by people in recent years. Such portable phones have been provided with multi-functions capable of satisfying consumers' desires and this makes the portable phones somewhat expensive.
Most users want to safely and easily carry such expensive portable phones without having any fear of losing them while out of the home or office. In an effort to meet such desire of users, several types of belt holders are proposed to allow the users to carry the portable phone on their waist belts.
FIG. 1 shows the construction of a typical belt holder for portable phones.
As shown in the drawing, the typical holder for portable phones comprises a cover plate 1, a locking piece 5, a clip 8, a pate spring 9, a locker 13, and a compression coil spring 15. The cover plate 1 has a hole 3 at its lower center. A spring seat 4 is formed on the cover plate 1 at a position above the hole 3, thus seating the coil spring 15 on the cover plate 1. A locking shoulder 2 is formed at each side wall of the cover plate 1. On the other hand, the locking piece 5 has a locking projection 6 which is movably inserted in the hole 3 of the cover plate 1. An extension part 7 is formed at each side portion of the above locking piece 5. The clip 8 is assembled with the back of the cover plate 1, thus forming a housing of the holder. The plate spring 9 has a mount 10 at its top portion, so that the spring 9 is attached to the inside wall of the clip 8 at said mount 10. The lower end of the plate spring 9 is longitudinally slitted at two symmetric positions, thus having one push flap 12 at the center and two locking flaps 11 at both sides. The push flap 12 of the plate spring 9 elastically supports the back of the locking piece 5, thus normally biasing the locking piece 5 in a direction toward the outside of the cover plate 1. On the other hand, the two locking flaps 11 of the plate spring 9 engage with the two locking shoulders 2 of the cover plate 1, respectively. The locker 13, having a slitted and sharpened end 14 at its lower end, is positioned in the holder so as to vertically pass between the cover plate 1 and the two extension parts 7 of the locking piece 5. The locker 13 thus selectively biases the locking projection 6 of the locking piece 5 in a direction toward the inside of the cover plate 1. The compression coil spring 15 is seated between the locker 13 and the seat 4 of the cover plate 1, thus normally biasing the locker 13 upwardly.
When it is necessary to hold a portable phone on the holder, a locking button 16, provided on the portable phone or a phone case, is fitted into a vertical slot of the cover plate 1 from the top to the bottom by pushing the phone downwardly. In such a case, the locking button 16 presses the locking projection 6 of the locking piece 5 rearwardly while the button 16 passes over the projection 6. When the button 16 is finally seated in a predetermined position of the slot of the cover plate 1 with the projection 6 of the locking piece 5 being aligned with a locking slot 17 of the button 16, the locking piece 5 elastically returns to its original position by the pus h flap 12 of the plate spring 9. The locking projection 6 thus holds the locking button 16 and this allows the portable phone to be held on the holder.
In order to remove the portable phone from the holder as desired, the locker 13 is pressed down by a user so as to insert the sharpened end 14 of the locker 13 into between the cover plate 1 and the extension parts 7 of the locking piece 5. In such a case, the sharpened end 14 of the locker 13 biases the extension parts 7 of the locking piece 5 in a direction toward the inside of the cover plate 1. The locking projection 6 of the piece 5 is thus released from the locking slot 17 of the button 16 and this allows the locking button 16 of the portable phone to be removable from the holder.
However, the above holder is problematic in that it necessarily includes two types of springs: a plate spring 9 and a compression coil spring 15 used for respectively biasing the locking piece 5 and the locker 13 so as to allow them to selectively return to their original positions. Such two types of springs 9 and 15 increase the cost of the holder and complicate the process of manufacturing the holder. In addition, the above holder is designed to make the sharpened end 14 of the locker 13 repeatedly push the extension parts 7 of the locking piece 5, so that the extension parts 7, made of synthetic resin, may be undesirably broken, forcing a user to purchase a new holder.
It is also necessary for holders for portable phones to almost completely prevent the locking button 16 of a portable phone from being unexpectedly removed from a holder. That is, the holder must be designed to only allow the locking button 16 of a phone to be removed from the holder when the locking button 16 is released from the locking piece 5 by pressing the locker 13 downwardly.
However, the above-mentioned holder is problematic in that it sometimes fails to safely hold a portable phone, thus allowing the portable phone to be undesirably removed from the holder even when the locker 13 is not operated by a user.
That is, when a user, with a portable phone being held on his waist belt using such a holder, sits on a chair, the lower end of the phone is pressed against the pelvis of the user with the locking button 16 of the phone forcibly pressing the projection 6 of the locking piece 5. Therefore, the locking button 16 may be partially abraded at a position around the locking slot 17 or the front edge of the locking projection 6 may be abraded. This allows the portable phone to be unexpectedly removed from the holder, in which case the phone may be lost. The holder thus sometimes forces a user to purchase a new portable phone.

Joong-Ang Spring 192-30, Haengdang, Seongdong-ku


The systems and methods described herein disclose detecting objects in a vehicular environment using extracted high level features. As described here, a survey vehicle detects objects in the environment with a survey sensor. Vehicles can then use the extracted features from the survey sensor data to compare with extracted features from input sensor data. Thus, vehicles can benefit from different sensor data without employing said sensor. The systems and methods can include extracting one or more survey features from a survey data set, which can then be mapped to a feature-based map of an environment. An input data set can then be collected using an input sensor type with one or more input features being extracted from the input data set. The one or more input features can then be correlated to the one or more survey features to identify an object in the environment.

Operation of a vehicle is part of everyday life in modern society. As such, drivers and autonomous vehicles can benefit from being aware of changes which occur to the roads. Information regarding objects in an environment can be used for navigation of a vehicle, mapping, and other actions to allow an operator or an autonomous vehicle to navigate the said environment. Vehicles can use a plurality of sensors, varying in quality, cost, and capabilities, in detecting objects in a vehicular environment. Said sensor data can be compared to sensor data collected by the same sensor type in the determination of object detection in the environment.

Sensor-agnostic detection using high-level feature extraction


The invention features a method of detecting a trace solute in a solution which contains a major amount of a dissolved product, the method including the steps of: flowing the solution through means for extracting the product to produce an effluent flow substantially free of product containing the trace solute; flowing the effluent through a trace solute adsorbing means to progressively accumulate therein the trace solute; and eluding the trace solute from the adsorber to produce an eluant fraction containing a detectable quantity of the trace solute.

Soluble contaminants may be present in a purified product sample in trace amounts that are difficult to detect by conventional means, but which may have significant physiological effects. Thus, the presence of trace solute impurities often needs to be determined during or after synthesis or purification of the product. It may be necessary to assess the quality of a product preparation, including the presence of trace solute impurities, at each step of a preparative procedure and at the end of the preparative procedure when the product is ready for use. Furthermore, federal regulations mandate purity specifications for many consumer products, particularly foods and pharmaceutical products. Generally, the quality of a product preparation is determined using a previously established criterion for identification, for example, a characteristic unit activity. If the product of interest is a protein, identification also may be by molecular weight, cryptic digest/peptide mapping, and/or immunoaffinity. The presence of soluble trace contaminants in the product preparation is often masked by the presence of the product itself, particularly if the product comprises a highly concentrated preparation.
Detection of trace solute impurities in a product preparation may be difficult, undesirably time-consuming, and even impossible without wasting large amounts of the product if the amount of product present in the sample is greatly in excess of the amount of impurity present. This can be a problem where minute amount of impurities present in a medically useful product can cause serious physical side-effects when administered to a patient. Detection of the trace contaminants should be accurate, rapid, adaptable, and repeatable.
Trace solutes have been detected using polyclonal antisera raised against the background components of a recombinant protein mix. For example, if the recombinant protein is produced in bacteria, antisera can be raised against the total proteins from an identical bacterial strain that has not been transformed with DNA encoding the recombinant protein. This antiserum will detect bacterial proteins only and not the recombinant product. However, the limit of sensitivity of an immunoassay utilizing this type of antiserum is the limit of sensitivity of the immunoassay itself (i.e., 10.sup.-12 moles). Also, the repeatability of such an assay exploiting polyclonal antisera raised to a complex mixture of antigens is extremely poor.
Chromatographic and electrophoretic techniques are well known in the art as means for separating components (solutes) present in a mixture. These techniques are particularly useful in the chemical and biotechnological arts. True chromatography describes the separation of solutes according to their different partitioning between two (or three) phases. The phases generally are solid and liquid, and solute partitioning results in their differing mobilities through a layer of solids, typically particulate, matrix in the presence of a flowing phase. Solute transfer through the layer may be along a pressure gradient, generally referred to as "liquid chromatography". In contrast, electrophoretic systems separate solutes on the basis of their electrophoretic mobility, isoelectric point, and/or differential migration through a size discriminating matrix. Solute transfer in these systems is driven by a voltage gradient from an applied electric field.
Chromatographic matrices can separate components by any of a number of criteria, including size, electrical charge, hydrophobic interaction, and/or specific affinity for the matrix or binding sites thereon. Because the components in the mixture will vary in their affinity for the matrix, their partitioning as they pass through the matrix separates the components so that they exit the matrix sequentially, separated temporally and spatially. Determination of the location of the various separated components, or of a given component of interest within the sequence, generally is achieved by collecting the fluid phase exiting the matrix (i.e., the effluent stream) as a series of fractions and sampling these fractions to identify their contents by any of a number of means known in the art.
Resolution of the various components in the mixture depends on several considerations, chief among them being the partitioning ability of the matrix and the system's theoretical plate height and plate number (see infra). In general, a large surface area-to-volume ratio is desired. Matrices for liquid chromatography systems typically are housed in cylindrical chromatography systems known as columns. In electrophoresis systems, high resolution also demands efficient removal of the heat generated by the applied electric field. Capillary electrophoresis, or other electrophoretic modules which provide a large surface area-to-volume ratio dissipate Joule heat well, allowing rapid analysis without significant loss of resolution.


A method of operating a memory storing data sets, and ECCs for the data sets is provided. The method includes when writing new data in a data set, computing and storing an ECC, if a number of addressable segments storing the new data and data previously programmed in the data set includes at least a predetermined number of addressable segments. The method includes storing indications for whether to enable or disable use of the ECCs, using the ECC and a first additional ECC bit derived from the ECC. The method includes reading from a data set an extended ECC including an ECC and a first additional ECC bit derived from the ECC, and enabling or disabling use of the ECC according to the indications stored for the data set. The method includes enabling use of ECCs for blank data sets, using the indications and a second additional ECC bit.

Field
The present invention relates to memory devices and systems including error correction code (ECC) logic.
Description of Related Art
Memory technologies used for integrated circuit memories are being developed at smaller and smaller technology nodes, and are being deployed on larger and larger memory arrays on a single integrated circuit. As the technology for memory cells advances, the margins for sensing the data can become tighter. Also, the ability of the memory cells to hold data values (i.e. endurance) in the presence of disturbance of the memory cell state caused by high speed and high volume accesses to the memory cells and to neighboring memory cells can be limited by the tighter margins.
To address issues like those that arise from tighter margins and memory cell disturbance as these technologies scale in size and density, use of error correcting codes (ECCs) embedded with integrated circuit memory has become more widespread.
Flash memory is usually configured so that it can be erased a block at a time by a block erase. When a block is erased, memory cells in the block are set to one logic value, such as 1. After a block is erased, memory cells in the block can be programmed to a different value, such as 0. Once a memory cell is programmed to 0, the memory cell can be changed back to 1 by a block erase of the block including the programmed memory cell. Once some memory cells in a block, such as cells in a selected byte or word in the block, are programmed to 0 during a first program operation, other memory cells in a different byte or word in the same block that are known to be in the erased state, can still be programmed to 0 during a second program operation without requiring a pre-erase of the block. A block erase, followed by a first program operation and the second program operation to different locations in the same block can be referred to as double patterning for the purpose of this description. Of course, the block erase operations could be followed by many program operations (more than two) when each program operation is directed to a different part of the block to accomplish a "multiple patterning operation."
In a double or multiple patterning operation, an error correction code (ECC) can be computed and programmed at a particular location in the block during the first program operation. However, the ECC cannot be changed safely for the second program operation in a memory that relies on block erase. The ECC cannot be safely changed in the second program operation because a re-computed ECC may require changing 0 (programmed state) to 1 (erased state) for at least one bit in the ECC, and that change could require a block erase that would erase data in the entire block.
It is desirable to provide a solution for reliably controlling utilization of ECC logic for error detection and correction for double patterning and multiple patterning operations.


A multimodal interaction apparatus for performing a predetermined process depending upon interaction with a user to output a result of the process. The multimodal interaction apparatus comprises an input section for interpreting information input from at least one input means selected from plural input means in accordance with input media allocation and generating correspondence information in accordance with the interpretation, a problem solving section for subjecting the correspondence information to a predetermined process and outputting a result of the process and an output section for outputting the result of the process from at least one output means selected from plural output means in accordance with output media allocation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a human-machine interaction apparatus adaptable to a data processing apparatus and having a plurality of input devices and output devices that can be combined with one another for use.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, computers have been provided with a plurality of different type input devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a touch panel, an image scanner, a video camera, a pen, a data glove and a human detection sensor to enable various information items to be input in various forms. Also an output device, such as a display unit and a speaker unit, has been provided with functions capable of outputting various information items in a variety of forms, such as spoken language, effect sound and music. Thus, there arises a requirement for realizing a human-machine interface which can easily be operated by effectively using the variety of the input and output devices.
In recent years, a multimodal interface has been researched and developed energetically. The interface includes an input means and a plurality of output devices. The input means is formed by combining a plurality of input devices and is capable of performing a complicated input, that is, input media using the foregoing input. The output device is capable of, for example, issuing a voice command from a user while pointing a subject on a display with the finger of the user, that is, output media. Moreover, an output means which uses a plurality of output devices, such as a display unit and a speaker unit, and which is capable of performing a complicated output formed by combining a plurality of output devices, the contents and forms of the outputs from the same such that, for example, a nuance is communicated with the expression of the face of a human being displayed on a display unit and effect sound from a speaker unit while announcing a message by a spoken language from the speaker unit, that is, output media is provided. Thus, the interface has been intended to be easily operated and the quality and efficiency in information transmission have been required to be improved.
Hitherto, in order to realize smooth and natural communication of information between a user and an application software on a computer, the communication of the information has been considered as interaction between the user and the application software and interaction plan has been developed in accordance with a predetermined stored interaction rule so that multimodal interaction has been realized by means of a combination of input and output methods determined by the interaction rule.
However, a method in which a combination of devices for use in the input and output to be employed in each stage of the interaction and a method of use of the devices, that is, a method in which media allocation is previously described in the interaction rule, sometimes encounters a problem. In a case where voice is determined as the input and output forms, use of voice as input and output means is unsuitable if the circumferential noise level is too high. However, the method cannot solve the foregoing problem. That is, there arises a problem in that an appropriate combination of input and output means suitable to the situation cannot be selected to perform interaction with a user because the media allocation is arranged fixedly regardless of the flow of the interaction.
A case will now be considered in which interaction apparatus permitting a user to perform voice input is operated. Since the level of the voice recognition technique has been unsatisfactory at present, a case will occur in which recognition fails even if a certain user repeatedly gives the same word depending upon the characteristic of the user. The foregoing case frequently takes place if the pronunciation of the user have excessive accents. Thus, the possibility for the interaction apparatus to succeed in recognition is lowered excessively.
Since the conventional multimodal interaction apparatus, however, repeatedly requires a user of the foregoing type to again perform the voice input, there arises a problem in that time is wasted and the user feels stress.
A tourist guide system employing voice instruction will now be considered with which recognition of a voice input of a place name is performed to retrieve a required tourist resort from a database and to output a result of the retrieval to an output means. In a case where the tourist guide system in Scotland has requested a user to voice-input a place name and the American tourist does not know the dialect pronunciation "lax ness or lok ness" of Loch Ness famous for Nessie thus pronounces "lak ness or lok ness", and thus the system has failed in the retrieval, the conventional multimodal interaction apparatus having no means, which is capable of dynamically performing input and output media allocation, encounters a difficulty in restoring the communication with the user.
That is, the fact that the user does not know the correct reading of the Loch Ness as "lax ness or lok ness" causes the failure to occur in the communication with the user. Although the communication will probably be restored if the mode of the system is switched to, for example, a character input selection mode, the input and output media allocation cannot be changed to be adaptable to the situation and thus the system is brought to a stiff state. As a result, the guidance service cannot be provided.
In a case where the conventional interaction apparatus makes a presentation of the contents of a result of retrieval of the database to a user, the output form is fixed as programmed previously. That is, one fixed output form is employed regardless of the number of outputs of the results of the retrieval. Thus, the input and output methods are sometimes difficult to be understood and operated for a user such that tens to hundreds of results of retrieval are one by one read by means of voice or only several results of retrieval are displayed in the form of a table.
Since the system cannot conduct interaction with a user by the allocated media required by the user, there arises a problem in that the user is required to perform input and output by the media allocated and instructed by the system.
Although a variety of input means are available, a common input means which can easily be operated for all users does not exist. For example, a certain user likes voice input, while another user likes input of a command character string by using a keyboard.
As described above, the optimum input and output means are different among users. However, the conventional interaction apparatus has not been structured to be adaptable to the difference existing among the persons. Thus, a fixed combination of input and output means is provided and the user cannot use required input and output means. Therefore, the conventional interaction apparatus cannot easily be operated.
With the conventional multimodal interaction apparatus having a plurality of input means, the input means to be employed and the input means which can be employed at a certain point of time cannot easily be recognized by a user. Thus, there arises a problem in that the user feels a stress or the user is perplexed when the user intends to perform the input.
In a case where voice cannot preferably be used with a conventional interaction apparatus which is capable of performing voice input and output due to intense external noise or the like, the conventional interaction apparatus, which cannot perform dynamic media allocation, encounters a problem in that the input and output methods cannot be changed so as to be adaptable to change in the environmental factors.
As described above, with the conventional multimodal interaction apparatus, a user is forced to conduct interaction with the system in accordance with the combination of the input and output modes determined previously in accordance with the interaction rule set to the system. Thus, the interface of the conventional interaction apparatus has been difficult for a user to understand and operate, thus resulting in the user feeling a stress when the user inputs information. Moreover, the user cannot easily understand the output from the apparatus. Thus, the interface sometimes causes a failure in input and output to take place. Even if a failure takes place in input and output due to the characteristic of a selected specific input and output means such that a failure of input or erroneous input is probable to occur due to a failure in recognition with the voice word recognition mode, the purpose of the interaction cannot be completed.

Intelligent multi modal communications apparatus utilizing predetermined rules to choose optimal combinations of input and output formats


An ultrasonic handpiece for use in operations comprises an oscillation source and a casing unit. The oscillation source has an ultrasonic transducer formed by plural piezoelectric layers layered one on another to form a substantially rod shape having both ends in an axial direction. A radially expanded flange is attached one end of the ultrasonic transducer. The casing unit has a cylindrical casing formed to contain the oscillation source therein, formed to have a blocking layer formed to have a predetermined length in, the axial direction, and positioned to cover both the flange and at least a first piezoelectric layer of the ultrasonic transducer in the axial direction. The casing unit also has a holder holding the oscillation source within the casing using the flange. The blocking layer is in charge of blocking (reducing or preventing) vibration and heat from being transmitted to the outer surface of the casing.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a handpiece for treating anatomy utilizing ultrasonic vibration generated by an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic treatment apparatus provided with the handpiece, and in particular, to the handpiece with a structure preventing transmission of heat and vibration caused when the ultrasonic transducer is driven to continuously generate ultrasound vibration and the ultrasonic treatment apparatus provided with the handpiece with the heat/vibration blocking structure.
2. Related Art
Ultrasonic treatment apparatuses have been known as devices which use ultrasonic vibration to conduct surgical operations including treatments, such as emulsification, incision, ablation, and coagulation, of anatomy of an object to be treated. In general, the ultrasonic treatment apparatus is provided with a main unit in charge of the drive and control necessary for the ultrasonic treatments, a cable connected to the main unit, and an operation apparatus with a handpiece connected to the cable for the treatments. This handpiece is provided with an ultrasonic transducer generating ultrasonic vibration, a thin and long probe receiving the ultrasonic vibration to transmit the vibration to the distal end thereof, and a casing covering the ultrasonic transducer as well as the outer surface of part of the probe other than the distal treatment device thereof. The ultrasonic transducer is incorporated within a gripping portion of the handpiece griped by an operator.
During use of the ultrasonic treatment apparatus, the vibration caused by the ultrasonic transducer is transmitted to the distal treatment device of the probe through its thin and long body. With the distal treatment device vibrating, the probe is operated to make the distal treatment device come in contact with anatomy to be treated, so that the anatomy is subject to the foregoing ultrasonic treatments.
The conventional handpiece of this kind is proposed by, for example, International publication No. WO 93/05715 (publication 1) and Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 2002-253568 (publication 2).
Of these, the publication 1 provides an apparatus that employs the above handpiece, in which there are formed a probe and an ultrasonic transducer through which an aspiration channel is formed. In this handpiece, there is also provided a casing with elongated outer and inner shells formed therein. Between the outer and inner shells, an irrigation channel is formed to supply cleaning fluid. In this apparatus, the cleaning fluid is supplied from the irrigation channel between the outer and inner shells to the tip of the probe, and the cleaning fluid is aspirated through an aspiration hole formed at an axial center part of the probe tip to the aspiration channel formed to axially pass the probe and ultrasonic transducer at the center thereat.
On the other hand, the publication 2 proposes a handpiece, wherein a casing incorporating therein an ultrasonic transducer and providing a gripping portion is placed to have an intermediate layer formed between an innermost layer and an outermost layer within the transducer cover. Both the innermost and outermost layers are formed of electrically insulative material and the intermediate layer is formed of material of which hygroscopicity is different from that of the outermost and innermost layers.
During use of the above ultrasonic treatment apparatus, the ultrasonic transducer located within the gripping portion held by an operator is driven to oscillate continuously. In this operation, the ultrasonic transducer is subjected to the continuous oscillation, resulting in that a fixing portion to fixedly hold a flange of the transducer in the casing of the handpiece will suffer from heat generated from the fixing portion as well as the transducer. This heat generation is an issue to be solved, because, during the use, the heat generated at the fixing portion holding the flange of the transducer in the gripping portion will be transmitted to the surface of the gripping portion, thereby raising the temperature of the gripping portion up considerably high. In addition, when the ultrasonic transducer is driven in a continuous oscillation mode, such vibration will also be transmitted to the gripping portion. The thus-transmitted vibration may reduce a skin friction coefficient of the gripping portion, so that the gripping portion becomes easier to slip from the hands. Thus the vibration on the griping portion may affect operations for the treatments performed under the probe.
Moreover, the configurations proposed by the foregoing publications 1 and 2 have other difficulties.
Within the casing of the handpiece employed by the apparatus proposed by the publication 1, the irrigation channel to supply cleaning fluid is placed between the outer and inner shells. Thus, the irrigation channel may provide a function to prevent the heat and vibration from being transmitted to the gripping portion. However, in this configuration, there should be formed the hole through the axial center part of the probe and ultrasonic transducer. The cleaning fluid also should be fed from the irritation channel between the outer and inner shells to the probe tip, and then the cleaning fluid should be aspirated through the aspiration hole formed at the axial center part of the probe tip to the aspiration channel formed at the center of the probe and ultrasonic transducer. Hence there is a problem that the handpiece itself becomes large in its size, particularly, in the radial direction thereof.
Meanwhile, the apparatus disclosed by the publication 2 should have the casing that not only covers the ultrasonic transducer but also becomes the gripping portion, in which the intermediate layer is formed between the outermost and innermost layers in the cover. However, since the intermediate layer is made of a material whose hygroscopicity is different from that of the outermost and innermost layers, a situation is inevitable where, during the use, the heat caused at the fixing portion fixedly supporting the ultrasonic transducer in the gripping portion finally reaches the outer surface of the gripping portion. Hence the gripping portion of the handpiece cannot be prevented from becoming heated in an effective manner, which is another difficulty that the conventional structure suffers.

Ultrasonic-treatment handpiece with heat/vibration blocking structure and ultrasonic treatment apparatus using the handpiece


A system, apparatus and application for providing robots with the ability to intelligently respond to perceived situations are described. A knowledge database is assembled automatically, based on distributed knowledge capture. The knowledge base embodies the “common sense,” that is, the consensus, of the subjects who contribute the knowledge. Systems are provided to automatically preprocess, or “clean” the information to make it more useful. The knowledge thus refined is utilized to construct a multidimensional semantic network, or MSN. The MSN provides a compact and efficient semantic representation suitable for extraction of knowledge for inference purposes and serves as the basis for task and response selection. When the robot perceives a situation that warrants a response, an appropriate subset of the MSN is extracted into a Bayes network. The resultant network is refined, and used to derive a set of response probabilities, which the robot uses to formulate a response.

Humanoid robots represent a major step in applying machine technology toward assisting persons in the home. Potential applications include assisted living, wherein a robot could help bring an elderly person his medicine or glasses or assist the handicapped. Additional applications may encompass a myriad of daily activities, such as performing household chores, attending infants and responding to calls and queries. Through visual and voice recognition techniques, robots may be able to recognize and greet their users by name. In addition, robots should be able to learn through human interaction and other methods.
Fundamental to these goals is the ability to endow robots in indoor environments with the ability to effectively interact with their users and with other people and the environment. In particular, robots must be able to respond "appropriately" to given situations, that is, so as to satisfy the perceived desires of their users. Importantly, the robot need not find the "right" response, but rather the one that reflects the majority consensus opinion. This is referred to as "common sense." Thus, a robot must be instilled with a knowledge base, and with a means of formulating responses to perceived situations. Furthermore, robots should be capable of adding to their knowledge bases online.
For example, a robot may observe a baby crying, as shown in FIG. 1. An internal knowledge base might indicate that several responses might be appropriate, including feeding, entertaining and calming the baby. A second database or algorithm may include or calculate some indicia of the relative likelihood that a particular response is most appropriate in this situation. The robot will initiate the most likely response according to distributed knowledge. Over time, the robot would modify the likelihood information according to changes in the knowledge base.
Conventional solutions to such problems have included rule-based systems, which represent an important part of reasoning in artificial intelligence (AI). Although rule-based systems provide efficient and elegant knowledge representation, they exhibit several weaknesses that reduce their usability in the large-domain, real-time reasoning applications of interest. First, the handcrafted rules require manual effort by specialists in the domain who are fluent in the pertinent representations. Second, maintaining the consistency of the large set of rules required to deal with a large domain becomes increasingly difficult as the number of rules grows. As a consequence, the rule sets are generally not scalable to the millions of pieces of knowledge required. Third, the systems may break down when rules conflict. Finally, when retrieving the knowledge from the knowledge base, the reasoning process is limited to literal matching of the preconditions of the rules.
Other conventional approaches have involved a variety of mechanisms for storing knowledge and for formulating responses to situations. For example, MindNet (Dolan, Richardson, & Vanderwende 1998) receives knowledge from a dictionary, but can comprehend only a limited number of relations (e.g. used_for). Cyc (Lenat & Guha 1990) relies upon manual formation of rules. Cyc includes more than a million rules entered by over 50 people over the last 15 years; it initially utilized a human-like reasoning system but has evolved to specialize in defense applications. The information embodied in the MIT Media Lab Common Sense reasoning project (Liu & Singh 2004) is too broad, and the knowledge is not dense enough for the deep inferences required. Similarly, other common sense knowledge bases have attempted to capture very broad but overly sparse human common sense knowledge (Liu, Lieberman, & Selker 2003; Eagle, Singh, & Pentland 2003; Mueller 1998; Guha et al. 1990).
Attempts to mitigate these shortcomings have involved alternative techniques including knowledge capture, linguistic tools and Bayesian reasoning. For example, common sense knowledge may be gathered from non-specialist "netizens," using distributed techniques, as with the Open Mind Initiative (Stork 1999; 2000). While offering advantages over other methods, distributed knowledge capture results in "messy" knowledge, e.g., having redundancy, missing relationships, mis-spelling and error. Thus, processing is required to refine such knowledge into a form useful for providing robots with knowledge.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for providing robots with the ability to satisfy perceived desires or requests of their users. The method should be reliable and flexible, guided by notions of common sense and instilled with the ability to learn through interaction with humans and the environment.

Responding to situations using multidimensional semantic net and Bayes inference


The invention relates to a method for displaying, for an array of storage elements, logical devices stored on the storage elements in which each element stores at least one logical device accessible to at least one host processor through a storage element controller, in particular a disk drive controller. In accordance with the invention, a host processor operates to visually display, in a first window of the host processor-controlled display monitor, a first mapping identifying for each controller host port at least the logical volumes available at said port. The system then visually displays in a second window of the monitor a second mapping identifying, for each controller storage port, the logical devices stored on the storage element attached to the controller storage port. The system then enables the user to highlight, at least, in the second window, for any selected host port identified in the first window, all of the logical devices accessible from the host port. In other aspects, the system allows the user to highlight any of the identified elements being displayed to provide a correspondence in the first and second windows so that views from the host port side and from the storage element side can be simultaneously displayed and highlighted.

The invention relates generally to mass storage systems, and in particular, to visualization of logical volumes at the host front end and storage back end of a mass storage controller.
To meet the growing data storage needs of today's computer systems, and, simultaneously to enable more than one computer processor to access the same stored data, disk drive controllers have been configured to have two or more independent storage ports, that is, two or more ports through which different computer processors (host computers) can access the same mass storage device(s). The mass storage device(s) can be one or preferably, a plurality, of disk drives configured in accordance with a predetermined or selectable structure.
In a typical disk drive system, large disk drive memories are typically divided into a plurality of logical volumes. Thus, a single disk drive can have 4, 8, or more logical volumes. In addition, each of the logical volumes can be accessed by plural host computers. Thus, for example, one host computer may be responsible for writing and maintaining a database in a first logical volume on the disk drive and other host computers ordinarily only expect to read the database for their varying purposes and applications. Other host computers may be responsible for yet other logical volumes.
In addition, various logical volumes may be protected in different ways. Thus groups of logical volumes may be written in accordance with a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) protocol, an n-way mirrored protocol such as that used in the EMC Symmetrix.RTM. system, or the logical volume may not be protected at all. When a logical volume is protected, it is typically written to different disk drives. This is all performed transparently to the host computer or processor, which identifies the logical volume with its own designation. The disk drive controller system, may, however, employ different identifications for each of the logical volumes and transparently access the data as requested by the host computer, in accordance with an internal protocol being used for the logical volume. Internally, the logical volumes are often referred to as logical devices to distinguish between a host designation and a controller assigned designation.
In any case, the host computers are not aware of which disk drive or disk drives store the data, which is being sent to or retrieved from the mass storage system. Thus, it may occur by chance or happenstance that the load balance to the disk drives is poor, which can result in substantial delays and slower throughput as some channels become clogged while others remain relatively free.
At present, various tools exist which enable a user to identify which host designated logical volumes are written at which host ports of the controller, and which device logical volumes (or logical devices) are identified at the various disk ports of the storage controller. This information has been typically available as raw data to the maintenance engineers, not to the users, and even when available to the user, was presented in such a poor manner that the user, with only great difficulty, if at all, through manual manipulation, would have a clear understanding of the load balancing or other distribution of the logical volumes between various host ports and the disk drive storage elements.

Front end/back end device visualization and manipulation


This invention details apparatus and methods for a unique integrated duct probe assembly system that enables multipoint sampling systems to cost effectively measure air parameters in partially confined locations such as ductwork, plenums, and air handlers with both remote and local sensors with a minimum of duct penetrations.

As is known in the art, there are various applications where air is transported through a tube or pipe for sampling or measurement purposes. For example, an air quality or an environmental air parameter measurement system may have remotely located sensors instead of at the sensed environment. In addition, a sensor or a single set of multiple sensors may be used to sense a plurality of locations creating a measurement system known as a multi-location or a multipoint air sampling system. For one class of these systems, multiple tubes may be used to bring air samples from multiple locations to a centralized sensor(s). Centrally located air switches and/or solenoid valves may be used in this approach to sequentially switch the air from these locations through the different tubes to the sensor to measure the air from the multiple remote locations. These octopus-like systems sometimes known as star-configured or home run systems use considerable amounts of tubing. An example of such a star-configured system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,950, which is incorporated herein by reference. Other types of systems known to the art of air monitoring include those that are designed to monitor refrigerants and other toxic gases, which also are star-configured systems. Additionally, these types of star-configured systems have been used to monitor particulates in multiple areas such as clean room areas with a single particle counter. Generally, these types of systems, however, have historically not been applied to general air quality measurement applications, even though they could easily be adapted to do so.
Another multipoint sampling system known as a networked air sampling system uses a central 'backbone' tube with branches extending to various locations forming a bus-configured or tree like approach similar to the configuration of a data network. Air solenoids are typically remotely located proximate to the multiple sampling locations. Networked air sampling systems can also include remote and/or multiple-location air sampling through a tube or pipe for sampling locations in a building, outdoor air or ambient sampling, and sampling in smokestacks and exhaust air stacks. An exemplary networked air sampling system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,710, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The multipoint sampling systems which have been described may be applied to monitor a wide range of locations throughout a building, including any kinds of rooms, hallways, lobbies, interstitial spaces, penthouses, outdoor locations, and any number of locations within ductwork, plenums, and air handlers.
One characteristic of these multipoint sampling systems is that some parameters such as temperature in particular, but some other parameters as well such as ozone can not always be effectively measured from a remote location with a shared sensor. Furthermore, other parameters may be accurately measured at a remote location with a shared sensor but, for various reasons such as the need for more rapid sampling, may be preferred to be sensed locally at one or more of the sensed locations. In these situations, separate sensors and either distinct signal wires or a digital data communications network with cable, optical fiber or wireless links can be used to connect remote sensors such as temperature sensors to either the networked sampling system or possibly a building management system.
When these multipoint sampling systems are used to sample ductwork, plenums, air handlers or any other applications where flowing air in a partially contained area such as a duct or pipe is to be sampled and measured with a remote sensor, a tube or hollow duct probe must be inserted into the duct or partially contained space to withdraw a sample. Additionally however, a separate temperature or other parameter sensing probe or probes are needed to make whatever local sensor measurements are desired from these ducts or partially enclosed areas. The use of multiple separate probes for both sensing and drawing air samples leads to extra costs as well as more duct penetrations that unfavorably increase the installation expense of the multipoint sampling system.
As such this invention provides solutions to enable multipoint air monitoring systems to cost effectively and reliably monitor air parameters both locally and remotely within many of the partially confined locations within a building, and is especially suitable but not limited to applications involving monitoring air parameters within ductwork, plenums, and air handlers.

Duct probe assembly system for multipoint air sampling


A method of remanufacturing a replaceable consumable unit includes providing the replaceable consumable unit including a first electronic circuit, with the first electronic circuit being at least partially inoperable; providing a second electronic circuit; communicatively connecting the second electronic circuit to the first electronic circuit; and intercepting, by the second electronic circuit, signals sent by an imaging system to the first electronic circuit.

Different imaging devices utilize various types of replaceable consumable units. Each type of xerographic or electro-photographic device may have unique requirements such as specific compatible toner, size requirements necessary to fit into a specific printer, power consumption, interface with the printer and so forth. A typical replaceable consumable unit such as a toner cartridge contains many different components such as toner, the OPC drum, developer roller and so forth. In addition, these replaceable consumable units are not limited to just toner cartridges but may also include intermediary OPC drum assemblies. The replaceable consumable units will also vary between monochrome and color based devices. As technology continues to improve, there is no end in sight to the variations of replaceable consumable devices that will be necessary to interoperate with the new and improved xerographic devices.
Along with the moveable parts, printer manufacturers have also moved data down to the replaceable consumable unit. Initially in some toner cartridges, the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM's) devised a way of detecting cartridge specific information from the cartridge itself. This was done via a mechanical process. With electronic circuits becoming smaller, more efficient and able to perform various tasks, printers are increasingly moving additional data to the replaceable consumable units. For example, information such as operating voltage, cartridge serial number, manufacturing history, printer history, toner consumption, and remaining toner may be stored locally on the cartridge. This allows the information associated with a specific cartridge to move with the cartridge should it be transported from one printer to another. It also allows the manufacturer to track the cartridge during its lifetime.
One method of obtaining information from the replaceable consumable unit and storing it on the cartridge is outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,774 issued to Applegate, et al. The patent describes a method and apparatus for storing data corresponding to the amount of toner remaining in an electronic circuit located on a xerographic toner cartridge. This circuit is in electrical communication with the printer via electrical contacts. The printer determines the amount of toner remaining as a value and this value is converted into "bucket levels" stored inside the memory of the electronic circuit. The initial bucket level corresponding to the amount of toner remaining in a new cartridge is full, and over the life of the cartridge, this value would be decremented down accordingly. The electronic circuit is designed such that the bucket levels may only be decremented and never incremented. Thus when the replaceable consumable unit reaches an empty state, the printer would recognize that there was no toner remaining and would designate the bucket levels to be empty. Once the bucket level had been declared empty, the cartridge was spent and subsequently it needed to be replaced.
Once a used replaceable consumable unit such as a toner cartridge has depleted its supply of toner it may be recycled. An industry known as the remanufacturing industry has arisen to take advantage of this fact. Remanufacturers take the used replaceable consumable units, clean them, repair damaged components, replace worn out components, add new toner, and reintroduce these refurbished units into the marketplace. Some of the many components that the remanufacturers replace may include the PCR, OPC drum, magnetic roller, wiper blades, agitators, seals, encoder wheels, and electronic control circuitry just to name a few.
In order to protect its profitability, the OEM's designed the replaceable consumable unit to be a single use product. Once the product had reached the end of its life, the OEM anticipated that the consumer would discard the used part and replace it with a new replaceable consumable unit. Additionally, the OEM has ensured that the replaceable consumable units may not simply be refilled with toner, refurbished and placed back into service, by installing protection measures on the replaceable consumable unit. For example, several OEM's have installed a one-time writable electronic circuit onto the replaceable consumable unit itself. The imaging device has the ability to interface with this electronic circuitry and once this circuit has been disabled, the replaceable consumable unit ceases to function.
One advantage of the present invention is that it provides a way to repair these electronic circuits in the various replaceable consumable units once they have been disabled during their normal course of life. The invention allows a second electronic circuit to communicate with the printer in conjunction with the existing nonfunctional electronic circuit. By taking advantage of the existing circuit's ability to talk to the printer, the secondary circuit can perform the functions that the initial circuit has been disabled from performing. The non-functioning electronic circuit will be connected to a second electronic circuit so that the second electronic circuit will be able to intercept electrical signals intended for the non-functioning circuit. By monitoring the communications coming from the printer, the second electronic circuit will intercept, process and resend the data to the first circuit. The first circuit will respond accordingly and it will reply with the proper sequence of data. The interplay between these circuits is described in greater detail in a later section.
In the preferred embodiment, a microprocessor will be used. It will be able to determine when the specific locations corresponding to the toner level are being accessed and will subsequently use its own memory locations to store this information. Once the cartridge using the second electronic circuit has depleted all of the usable toner the printer will once more write the appropriate value in the correct location in memory and the printer will disable the ability to change this location. The cartridge is then sent back to be recycled.
Another aspect of the present invention is that it provides the flexibility for various methods of attaching the second circuit to the non-functioning electronic circuit. The location of the contacts of the second electronic circuit is dictated by the location of the electrical contacts of the printer. However, the actual location of the second electronic circuit itself may be anywhere on the replaceable consumable unit, as long as there is space for mounting of the circuit as well as electrical connectivity to the printer contacts.
Another aspect of the present invention is that it encompasses the use of a replacement electronic circuit. This replacement circuit will provide additional functionality that the original OEM circuit did not employ. For instance, the replacement circuit will have the ability to make the replaceable consumable unit more reliable by providing a back-up or alternative path for the communications to the printer. By designing the circuit with redundant paths, which can be changed on the fly, the circuit becomes more robust. When this occurs, the present invention will notify the user that an error condition was detected and that the communications path has been switched. These types of errors would be undetectable in the existing circuitry of the replaceable consumable device due to hardware limitations. In addition, the replacement circuit will make the replaceable consumable unit recycle friendly by having the ability to be reprogrammed by using a special reprogramming dongle. When the replacement circuitry has been disabled by the imaging device, a remanufacturing service technician will have the ability to reprogram the device without removing the replacement circuit from the replaceable consumable unit. This gives the remanufacturer increased flexibility when refurbishing the cartridge.
Another aspect of the present invention is the ability of the invention to modify the voltage potential being applied to some of the developer components of the replaceable consumable. Over time, as the imaging device creates thousands of printed copies of images, the voltage potential being applied to the developer components will vary. The goal is that once a certain amount of toner has been used, the replaceable consumable unit will alter the voltage potential such that the printer may use less toner, thus conserving the remaining toner.
Another type of replaceable consumable unit utilizes a wireless configuration to communicate between the circuitry on the replaceable consumable unit and the printer. In this type of application, the replaceable consumable unit is written to and read from in a comparable fashion as discussed previously. As well, the same type of information may be stored on the cartridge for the printer to monitor and update. Similarly, in this application, once the toner supply is exhausted, the printer writes into a specific location on the circuit and disables the circuitry.
Without the present invention, hundreds of thousands of used replaceable consumable units are being thrown away instead of being recycled simply due to the non-functional electronic circuit. The availability of new OEM electronic circuits is completely at the discretion of the OEM's. Given that the OEM's make a healthy profit from the sale of new replaceable consumable units, and receive no monetary benefit from a remanufactured replaceable consumable unit, it has been very difficult for the remanufacturing industry to obtain new electronic circuits. The use of these one-time writable circuits, which employ an exclusive communications protocol was an attempt by some of the OEM's to restrict the remanufacturing of its cartridges.

Systems and methods for remanufacturing imaging components


Cellular transcription is modulated by increasing or decreasing the amount of active HEXIM1 in the cell. The methods are applied to the treatment of HIV infection and cardiac hypertrophy. Assays using reconstituted 7SK:P-TEFb snRNP screen for agents that modulate HEXIM1-P-TEFb binding.

Hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) induces cellular differentiation (e.g. Wang et al., Chin Med Sci J 2002, 17, 27–31), and has been shown to modulate the expression of a wide variety of genes (e.g. Zhang et al., August 2004, Int J Biochem Cell Biol, 36, 1613–23). It has also been reported to activate viruses, such as HSV (Yura et al., J Natl Cancer Inst 1991, 83, 186–9; McFarelane et al., J Gen Virol 1992, 73, 285–92) and HIV (e.g. Vlach et al., J Gen Virol. 1993, 74, 2401–8), and to inhibit human vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation (e.g. Ishikawa et al., Coron Artery Dis. 1997, 8, 28–32). Accordingly, HMBA and related compounds have been intensively studied as anti-cancer agents (e.g. Marks et al. C R Acad Sci III. 1999, February-March;322(2–3):161–5).
One HMBA-inducible protein of VSMCs, HEXIM1 (Kusuhara, et al. 1999, Biomed. Res. 20, 273–279), also known as HIS1, CLP1, MAQ1 and EDG1, has been reported to inhibit NFkB-activated transcription in VSMCs, and overexpressed HEXIM1 has been proposed as a strategy to therapeutically inhibit VSMC proliferation (Ouchida et al., Genes Cells (2003) 8:95–107). Independently, CLP-1 (cardiac lineage protein-1), the chicken and mouse ortholog of HEXIM1, has been suggested to play a role in cardiogenesis (Ghatpande et al., 1999, Dev Biol 208, 210–221; Ghatpande et al., 1999, Mol Cell Biochem. 96, 93–97; Huang et al., 2002, Gene 292, 245–259). Overexpression of CLP-1 inhibits the cardiac MLC-2v gene transcription (Huang et al., Mech Dev., 2004, 121:559–572; 2002). Also independently, increased expression of HEXIM1 has been reported to inhibit transcriptional activity in breast endothelial cells (Wittmann et al., Cancer Res. (2003) 63:5151–5158; Montano et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,418; wherein HEXIM1 is referred to as EDG1). Also independently, Michels et al. (EMBO J., 2004, 23:2608–2619; and Mol Cell Biol., 2003, 23:4859–4869; wherein HEXIM1 is referred to as MAQ1) report that in HeLa cells, a HEXIM1-7SK RNA complex can bind CDK9/CyclinT (P-TEFb) as part of the 7SK snRNP.
P-TEFb serves not only as a general transcription factor but also a specific cellular cofactor for the HIV-1 Tat protein. Preventing Pol II from stalling is essential for HIV-1 transcription, during which P-TEFb is recruited to the nascent mRNA by Tat through formation of a ternary complex containing P-TEFb, Tat, and the HIV-1 TAR RNA, a stem-loop structure formed by the 5′ end of the nascent viral transcript. Once recruited, P-TEFb phosphorylates the CTD and stimulates transcriptional elongation to produce the full-length HIV-1 transcripts.
Besides HIV-1 replication, the activation of P-TEFb also promotes cardiac hypertrophy, a disease characterized by the enlargement of cardiac myocytes. P-TEFb activity has been shown to be limiting for normal cardiac growth. Hypertrophic signals induce the release of 7SK and an increase in the cellular level of active, 7SK-free P-TEFb (Sano et al., Nat. Med., 2002, 8:1310–1317; Sano et al., Cell Cycle. 2003, 2, 99–104).
Practical utilization of HEXIM1 has been limited without any functional assignment for the protein. We disclose that P-TEFb is inhibited by HEXIM1 in a process that specifically requires 7SK for mediating the HEXIM1:P-TEFb interaction. We demonstrate that cellular transcription can be directly manipulated by increasing or decreasing HEXIM1 activity in the cell. More particularly, we show that HEXIM1 inhibits CDK9/Cyclin T, and can be used to inhibit cardiac hypertrophy and inhibit HIV replication. The disclosed methods for targeting fully differentiated cells, particularly non-proliferating cell types, such as hypertrophic cardiac myocytes provides unexpected therapeutic venues.
Relevant Literature
We have reported aspects of the present invention in Chen et al., J Biol Chem. 2004 Feb. 6;279(6):4153–60. Epub 2003 Nov. 19; Yik et al., Mol Cell Biol. (2004) 24:5094–105; and Yik et al., Mol Cell (2003) 12:971–982.

HEXIM1 as a suppressor of HIV replication and cardiac hypertrophy


There is described a biocompatible implant for the filling of a cavity in a living organism such as, for example, a bone defect or an extraction wound, comprising an open porous scaffold and/or a composite matrix comprising a plurality of inorganic or synthetic granules and a synthetic polymer matrix, and further comprising a biodegradable membrane which is interconnectibly sealed to a surface portion of the scaffold or composite matrix such, that the scaffold or composite matrix and the membrane form a single piece of matter. In one embodiment, the implant is biodegradable.

Bone defects can be treated by the implantation of an autograft, an allograft, or a xenograft in the healing site. However, these biological implants suffer of many drawbacks, among them, for example, shortage of donor tissue, bacterial and viral contamination, etc. Biocompatible synthetic implants may present a safe and effective alternative for many indications.
In dental treatment, for example, the extraction of a tooth leaves an open wound that might be contaminated by bacteria. Moreover, it is a known problem, that due to the absence of the tooth, alveolar bone spontaneously undergoes remodeling, leading to its atrophy. Such atrophy may then cause many complications for subsequent reconstruction. In order to prevent this process, it has been suggested to implant into the extraction site a biocompatible, biodegradable open porous implant, which is configured and dimensioned to fit inside the tooth extraction socket. Unfortunately, the process of bone tissue regeneration competes with faster-growing soft tissue and epithelial cells, which tend to fill the bone repair site before sufficient bone growth is induced even when a osteoconductive scaffold is present.
To overcome this problem it is known from the prior art to employ a barrier material which is applied over the implant to exclude competitive cells and to avoid the migration of microscopic materials. This process is known as guided bone regeneration and involves a surgical placement and insertion of a barrier membrane which prohibits the in-growth of soft tissue and epithelial cells. Usually, after the initial surgical procedure, a removal of the membrane is necessary in order to avoid later inflammation and infection. There are also known biodegradable membranes which obviate the need for a subsequent removal operation. Nevertheless, these membranes are difficult to handle and implant. The surgical process is time consuming, cumbersome to the patient and involves considerably high costs.
In order avoid the drawbacks of the known prior art treatments with surgically placed membranes in WO 00/35510 it is suggested to provide the osteogenic bone graft with a zone of impermeability to soft tissue. The osteogenic bone graft comprises a coherent mass of bone particles from porcine or bovine bone. The zone of impermeability is obtained by reducing the porosity of a portion of the surface of the bone osteogenic graft This is achieved, e.g., by heating a portion of the surface area of the coherent bone mass, by crosslinking a portion of the surface area of the coherent bone mass and/or by applying one or more biocompatible masses to a portion of the surface area of the coherent bone mass to provide a microporous layer thereon and by combinations of the processes. By this treatment the zone of impermeability is formed as an integral, indivisibly interconnected portion of the osteogenic bone graft so as to form a single, unified whole which distinguishes from bone grafts which are combined with a separate barrier membrane material.
While the osteogenic bone grafts of WO 00/35510 avoid the drawbacks of prior art bone grafts which may be or may not be combined with surgically placed barrier membranes they too suffer from drawbacks. The base material for the bone particles usually is a natural, organically obtained porcine or bovine bone with all naturally occurring inadequaties. The obtaining of the bone particles from bones of organisms necessitates careful purification steps in order to avoid organic and genetic impurities. The production process may also require demineralization procedures to ensure that the inorganic mineral content is reduced to the required extent to obtain the desired porosity. These procedures are time consuming, cumbersome and involve considerable apparative and laborious efforts. The resultant product, thus, is rather scarce and costly. Moreover, the bone grafts from bone particles degrade very slowly and are rather incorporated in the host bone tissue.
While the problems of the prior art have been described with reference to dental problems it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that implants are also used as treatments for other skeleton parts. If, for example, a part of the skeleton is stricken by a tumor, the area stricken by the tumor may be removed and replaced by an implant. In that case with the implants known from the prior art similar problems as those described with respect to dental treatments may arise.