Use of an immune modulator composition and/or pharmaceutical composition comprising a whole cell of a bacterium from the genera Rhodococcus, Gordonia, Nocardia, Dietzia, Tsukamurella and Nocardioides, for use in the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of an autoimmune disease or autoimmune disorder, including certain vascular disorders.

The immune system is a complicated network of cells and cell components (molecules) that normally work to defend the body and eliminate infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and other invading foreign bodies. If a person has an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks self, targeting the cells, tissues and organs of a person's own body. A collection of immune system cells and molecules at a target site may be broadly referred to as inflammation.
There are many different autoimmune diseases, and they can each affect the body in different ways. Many of the autoimmune diseases are rare. As a group, however, autoimmune diseases afflict millions of people.
Some autoimmune diseases are known to begin or worsen with certain triggers such as viral, parasitic and chronic bacterial infections. Other less understood influences affect the immune system and the course of autoimmune diseases include ageing, chronic stress, hormones and pregnancy.
Autoimmune diseases are often chronic, requiring lifelong care and monitoring, even when the person may look or feel well. Currently, few autoimmune diseases can be cured or made to go into remission with treatment.
Physicians most often help patients manage the consequences of inflammation caused by the autoimmune disease. In some people, a limited number of immuno-suppressive medications may result in disease remission. However, even if their disease goes into remission, patients are rarely able to discontinue medication. The long-term side effects of immunosuppressive medication can be substantial.
Initiation and progression of vascular injury is a complex, multi-factorial process, but there is growing evidence that inflammatory responses play a key role. Vascular injury is involved in the development of atherosclerosis, and in thrombotic processes that lead to acute ischaemic syndromes such as myocardial infarction, stroke and peripheral artery occlusion.
Immune mechanisms may be important in the development and maintenance of atherosclerosis and myointimal hyperplasia (MIH).
Myointimal Hyperplasia (MIH) can be considered as an exaggerated healing response to injury such as balloon angioplasty. A cascade of events results in: loss of the basement membrane, migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from the media into the intima, VSMC proliferation and phenotypic change to a more secretory fibroblastic cell type and increased production of extracellular matrix, which eventually leads to stenosis or occlusion of the vessel. It occurs after bypass grafting and balloon angioplasty and affects approximately 30% of such cases in clinical practice. It is the major cause of failure of such procedures and treatment of the resulting stenosed and blocked vessels/grafts is problematic. The underlying cellular mechanisms leading to MIH are not well understood and to date no therapy had been developed which can effectively prevent it. The clinical relevance of the current patent relates to the very large numbers of coronary artery angioplasties which are performed annually in the UK and world-wide. Although drug eluting stents are currently producing promising results they are unlikely to prevent restenosis completely. Any safe, relatively inexpensive adjunctive therapy, such as the immunotherapy proposed in this patent, would have a major clinical impact.
The mechanisms involved in immunotherapy against restenosis are complex and not completely elucidated The endothelial injury caused by angioplasty may be exacerbated by the host immune response to hsp's. Hsp's are proteins produced by stressed cells which have been implicated in the pathogenesis and the pathophysiology of various immunological disorders including atherosclerosis (Xu Q et al. Arterioscler Thromb 1992; 12: 789-799). It is likely that they will be present on endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the region of an angioplasty. In effect the hsp acts as an autoantigen which can then be attacked by the immune system. This situation can be induced experimentally by immunizing with a cross-reactive mycobacterial hsp (hsp65) which leads to endothelial damage in rabbits and mice (Xu Q, et al. Arterioscler Thromb 1992; 12: 789-799 and George J, et al. Circ. Res. 2000; 86: 1203-1210). The effect appears to be dependent on IL-4 secreted by Th2 lymphocytes, and is probably mediated by antibody (George J, et al. Circ. Res. 2000; 86: 1203-1210 and Schett G, et al. J. Clin. Invest. 1995; 96: 2569-2577). The relevance of these observations to man is suggested by the ability of affinity-purified human antibody eluted from hsp65 columns to damage stressed human endothelial cells in vitro. This finding suggests that the antibody cross-reacts with hsp60 which is the human homologue of hsp65, and may be accessible to antibody when expressed on the membranes of stressed endothelial cells. It has been suggested that such antibodies binding to stressed endothelial cells may be a factor in producing coronary artery disease after heart transplantation (Crisp S J et al. J Heart Lung Transplant 1994; 81-91). Mukherjee et al (Thromb Haemost 1996; 75: 258-60) showed no association between preoperative antibody levels to hsp65 and coronary restenosis, but did show that those patients where levels of such antibodies dropped after angioplasty were less likely to restenose. In fact the role of antibodies to hsp could be complex, because patients with vascular disease have not only raised antibody, but also raised levels of the hsp themselves (Wright B H, et al Heart Vessels 2000; 15: 18-22). Thus an apparent fall in antibody levels may merely reflect an increase in levels of the protein. Moreover the hsp have regulatory effects, and bind to arterial smooth muscle cells, leading to enhanced survival without a requirement for internalization (Johnson A D et al. Atherosclerosis 1990; 84: 111-119).


The present invention provides a method and system for dynamically building a protocol stack for use by a communication program to establish a data transfer protocol. The method of creating the protocol stack first establishes a set of protocol layer descriptions. One protocol layer description is used to establish an initial protocol layer that has a protocol interface. For each other protocol layer description, a current protocol layer having an interface is established using the protocol layer description, and the current protocol layer is connected to a previously established protocol layer using one of the interfaces from the previously established protocol layer. In this manner, the protocol layers are connected in pairs. These connected protocol layers make up a protocol stack. Finally, the method provides the interface from a protocol layer, e.g., the top layer, to the communication program. When the communication program prepares data for transmission, the methods of the protocol stack are invoked against the data by invoking the interface provided to the communication program. In this manner, the data is processed by each layer of the protocol stack in turn as the protocol layers pass the data via the interfaces. The protocol stack is readily modifiable by modifying the protocol layer descriptions and rebuilding the protocol stack.

Computer programs often carry out a specific function such as word processing, database management and inter-system communications. Communication programs provide inter-program or inter-system communication capability among other functions. An example of such a communication program is Microsoft Mail, developed by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. Microsoft Mail provides for the transfer of electronic information between connected computer systems. Programs such as Microsoft Mail include protocol components that control how the program communicates with other programs.
A set of requirements that define communication between programs is commonly referred to as a communication protocol. Protocols include X25 for modems and integrated services digital network (ISDN), which are standards developed by the computer industry. These protocols will dictate how data is formatted when it is to be transmitted over computer connections. For example, a protocol will dictate the amount of data in a packet (i.e., the size of a data chunk that is transmitted), the header information for a packet, and any other reliability or encoding that is to be done to the data that is being transmitted. Thus, when a program is described as conforming to X25, the user knows that the program can communicate with other "X25" programs since they all conform to the same protocol, e.g., they all handle data in the same manner. In addition to such industry protocols, there are other communication elements that improve or change the data transmission protocol such as encryption and compression. These two functions provide improved security and increased bandwidth, respectively. In practice, any set of requirements that is agreed on between two programs is the communication protocol for those programs. As an example, a protocol might be X25 with a particular type of run length encoding. The computer systems sending and receiving data pursuant to this protocol must be able to understand the X25 packaging and to compress and decompress the data according to the particular run length encoding scheme.
Although it might be referred to as a distinct part of a communication program, the protocol component is usually a combination of functions integrated into the communication program. Thus, once created, the protocol component is static within a communication program and cannot be changed without replacing or modifying the entire program. In order to change the protocol component of a communication program, the entire program would have to be recompiled or relinked. Thus, it is usually the case that a communication program's protocol is set when the program is created, e.g., coded by the company producing the program. To change the protocol, whether because of errors in the original protocol or because of modifications to the protocol, the entire program must be replaced. For users of multiple communication programs who need to interconnect computer systems operating these programs, this limitation on modifying protocols can be an absolute roadblock to system interconnection. Further, such integration of the protocol component makes it difficult if not impossible for third parties to provide enhancements to another company's communication program with respect to the protocol. This makes it difficult for third parties to add value to existing communication programs.
The general problem of separately developing and modifying program components is dealt with by some programmers by adopting object oriented programming techniques. The use of object oriented programming techniques can facilitate the development of complex computer programs by allowing key functions to be created as separate entities, which are testable and replaceable separate from the other program parts. One such programming language is C++. Object oriented programming basics are introduced herein for ease in understanding certain characteristics of the present invention.
Object oriented programming is based on class definition and usage. A class is a user-defined type that includes both data and the methods (procedures and functions) to operate on the data. The class definitions are used to create objects which are used in actual programs. To create and use an object, a class is declared, then an object of a class is declared (the object is instantiated) and then the object is used. The data is said to be encapsulated within the object to protect it from outside access except by means of the predefined method calls. When in use, an object is a component of a running program; the object has an internal state defined by the state of the object's variables and a published interface that allows other components to interact with the object. (The term "published" refers to the fact that the interface information is known to and can be used by other programs or clients.) The interface to an object is generally defined by the set of methods defined by the object's class. The interface is a set of methods which abide by certain input, output, and behavior rules. If an object supports a particular interface, the client program using the object can invoke the methods of that interface to effect the defined behavior. A client is bound to an object through a pointer to an interface.
Calling an object's methods is similar to sending the object a message--it causes the object to do something. In this sense, an object can be likened to a functions in a programming language such as Pascal. When a function is called from a client program it carries out the procedures it is programmed to perform; the particular procedure might depend on how the function is actually called.
There are several types of classes: concrete, abstract, and pure virtual classes. If an instance of the class can be made then it is a concrete class. In contrast, if an abstract class is being dealt with, an instance of the class cannot be made. Rather, an abstract class is useful because it defines an object's interface but does not define all of its behavior. It is the responsibility of the program implementing the class to provide the actual code for the methods available to manipulate the class instance data. Abstract classes are also called pure virtual classes in C++ programming terminology. An abstract class has one or more method undefined. In contrast, a pure virtual class has no methods defined. Therefore, to use an abstract class, some of the methods must be provided, where a pure virtual class requires that all methods are provided.
Class declarations and object instantiation are illustrated by the following example. A class named CIRCLE is declared as follows:
class CIRCLE PA1 {public PA1 int x, y; PA1 int radius PA1 void draw( );}; PA1 CIRCLE a, b; PA1 a.x=2; PA1 a.y=2; PA1 a.radius=1; PA1 b.x=4; PA1 b.y=5; PA1 b.radius=2; PA1 a.draw( ); PA1 b.draw( );
In the declaration, variables x and y specify the center location of a circle and variable radius specifies the radius of the circle. These variables are the data members of the class CIRCLE. The function draw is a user-defined function that draws the circle having the radius and location identified by the variables. The function draw is a method of the class CIRCLE. The data and methods of a class are bound together in that the method operates on an instance of the class, i.e., on the actual data. As noted above, an instance of the class is known as an object.
In C++ syntax, the following statement declares the objects a and b to be of type class CIRCLE.
This declaration causes the allocation of memory for the objects a and b, thereby creating two instances of the class CIRCLE. The following statements assign data to the data members of objects a and b.
Given those data assignments, the following statements are used to draw the circles defined by objects a and b.
This is a simple example of creating a class, creating an object or instance of the class, then assigning values to the data within the object and calling the methods of the object to carry out the object's function. These are standard object oriented processes illustrated with C++ type commands.
Another programming concept that is becoming quite common is the use of link libraries. A link library is an executable module containing services that programs can call to perform useful tasks. For example, a user identification library might be provided; a number of program could then incorporate the library into their programs with a simple set of calls, thereby avoiding the reinvention of the user identification process. The benefits of using libraries include: not having to recode the same or a similar function in a number of programs; less storage space is taken up because, at least initially, only one copy of the library code is required; and a number of program can have consistent functionality. These libraries play an important role in operating systems which use them to make their services and resources available to the programs that are executed in conjunction with the operating system.
Link libraries are often static-link libraries. These are used in C-language programs. When linking such a program before use, the compiler incorporates information from the appropriate static-link library directly into the program's executable file. The primary advantage of static-link libraries is that they make a standard set of services available to programs, and do not require the programs to include the original source code for those services. However, because static-link libraries are incorporated into the executable code of programs, the static-link libraries and programs lose their physical distinctiveness when linked. As a result, neither the programs nor the static-link libraries can be updated without having to re-link the static-link libraries with the programs. Re-linking is much like recompiling in that the process is necessary to create an executable program. Thus, the re-linking must be performed before the program can be used.
Dynamic-link libraries are similar to run-time libraries, such as C-language run-time libraries. However, dynamic-link libraries are linked with programs at run time, not when the programs' files are linked with a compiler. Since a dynamic-link library is linked at run time, not at compile time, a copy of the library is not inserted into the programs' executable files. Instead, a copy of the library is loaded into memory while the programs are actually running. As a result, the programs and dynamic libraries are always physically distinct. Such distinctness allows the programs and dynamic-link libraries to be updated, compiled, and tested separately from each other.
By using dynamic-link libraries, several programs can share a single copy of a service. If two programs are running at the same time and both use a particular service both can share a single copy of the source code for that service. In addition to being able to share a single copy of code, programs using dynamic-link libraries can share other resources, such as data and hardware.
Some object oriented languages also support the concept of a dynamic class. A dynamic class is similar to a conventional C++ class but allows a class object to be instantiated at run time, rather than during initial coding, thereby making it possible to build object oriented, run-time replaceable, run-time extendible code. A dynamic class can be fully defined in a dynamic-link library (DLL).
The present invention recognizes that these programming techniques provide tools that are particularly useful for creating dynamic protocol stacks. Particularly, the invention recognizes that protocol layers can be defined such that each layer performs a specific protocol function and that the interfaces between these protocol layers are necessarily consistent. By implementing a consistent object model, the protocol layers are interchangeable and independently modifiable, and the protocol stack is dynamically modifiable. This solves the current problem of fixed protocol functionality.


Disclosed is a system for performing online data queries. The system for performing online data queries is a distributed computer system with a plurality of server nodes each filly redundant and capable of processing a user query request. Each server node includes a data query cache and other caches that may be used in performing data queries. The data query, as well as request allocation, is performed in accordance with an adaptive partitioning technique with a bias towards an initial partitioning scheme. Generic objects are created and used to represent business listings upon which the user may perform queries. Various data processing and integration techniques are included which enhance data queries. An update technique is used for synchronizing data updates as needed in updating the plurality of server nodes. A multimedia data transfer technique is used to transfer non-text or multi-media data between various components of the online query tool. Optimizations for searching, such as the common term optimization, are included for those commonly performed data queries. Also disclosed is a system for targeting advertisements that are displayed to a user of the system.

This application generally relates to data update techniques used in computer systems, and more specifically to integrating changes in data records into an existing database in computer systems.
Data which is stored, as in a database, may be required to be updated. For example, an existing database may require additional records to be inserted, existing records to be deleted, or an existing entry to be modified.
One technique for updating an existing database includes applying various update records and changes to the database. For example, a thousand entries need to be updated, where an update includes a modification, an insertion or a deletion. One drawback, however, with this technique of applying updates is that as the number of records to be modified or updated increases, the amount of time required to update the database also increases. For example, to integrate changes on a daily basis for a database may require that the total amount of time required to update the database and apply all of the changes be done within a certain time period. As the amount of transactions required to update the database increases, the database may not be able to be updated within a defined amount of time in a particular system.
A second technique by which databases are updated is to simply replace an entire system database with a new fresh copy of the database. Thus, rather than apply update changes to an existing database, a new fresh copy of a database is supplied and simply replaces a prior version. One drawback with using this technique is that the amount of time required to produce an entire new database when the amount of updates or changes required to the database is relatively small means that an inefficient use of resources within a computer system occurs.
Additional complexities may arise when performing updates in a distributed computing environment, such as, for example requiring synchronization of transactions over multiple nodes in a computer system.
Thus, there is required an efficient technique which facilitates data updates to an existing database, as in a computer system.
In accordance with principles of the invention is a method of performing an update of a first database from a second database. A normalized copy of the first database is updated in accordance with specified update transactions. An ad repository that includes text and non-text data is updated in accordance with those advertisements which have been modified. Updated term lists are provided which include identifiers indexing into the first database in accordance with a particular keyword. A second updated copy of the term lists is built. A second copy of the ad repository is produced. A denormalized form of the primary database and a denormalized form of a secondary database are produced. The updated advertisements included in the ad repository are made available for use. The updated identifiers as included in the second copy of the updated term lists are also made available for use.
Thus, there is provided an efficient technique which facilitates data updates to an existing database, as in a computer system.

Techniques for performing incremental data updates


A sensor system for detecting gloss levels of a printed image on a substrate generated by a print engine, including: a fixing member for fixing marking particles on the substrate; an optical sensor for sensing a gloss value of the surface of the fixing member; and means for correlating the gloss value of the surface of the fixing member to a gloss value of the printed image on the substrate.

This invention relates generally to a tightly integrated parallel printing architecture containing at least a first print engine and a second print engine and more particularly concerns calibration system for maintaining uniform gloss characteristics between printed images generated by the first print engine and the second print engine.
In the office equipment industry, different customers have different requirements as to their business relationship with the manufacturer of the equipment or other service provider. For various reasons, some customers may wish to own their equipment, such as copiers and printers, outright, and take full responsibility for maintaining and servicing the equipment. At the other extreme, some customers may wish to have a "hands off" approach to their equipment, wherein the equipment is leased, and the manufacturer or service provider takes the entire responsibility of keeping the equipment maintained. In such a "hands off" situation, the customer may not even want to know the details about when the equipment is being serviced, and further it is likely that the manufacturer or service provider will want to know fairly far in advance when maintenance is necessary for the equipment, so as to minimize "down time." Other business relationships between the "owning" and "leasing" extremes may be imagined, such as a customer owning the equipment but engaging the manufacturer or service provider to maintain the equipment on a renewable contract basis.
A common trend in the maintenance of office equipment, particularly copiers and printers, is to organize the machine on a modular basis, wherein certain distinct subsystems of a machine are bundled together into modules which can be readily removed from machines and replaced with new modules of the same type. A modular design facilitates a great flexibility in the business relationship with the customer. By providing subsystems in discrete modules, visits from a service representative can be made very short, since all the representative has to do is remove and replace a defective module. Actual repair of the module takes place away at the service provider's premises. Further, some customers may wish to have the ability to buy modules "off the shelf," such as from an office supply store. Indeed, it is possible that a customer may lease the machine and wish to buy a succession of modules as needed.
In order to facilitate a customer demand for even higher productivity and speed has been required of these image recording apparatuses. However, the respective systems have their own speed limits and if an attempt is made to provide higher speeds, numerous problems will occur and/or larger and more bulky apparatuses must be used to meet the higher speed demands. The larger and bulkier apparatuses, i.e. high speed printers, typically represent a very expensive and perhaps uneconomical apparatus. The expense of these apparatuses along with their inherent complexity can only be justified by the small percentage of extremely high volume printing customers. Therefore the utilization of plurality of print engine modules (IMEs) to provide higher printing speeds are highly desirable, such a system is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/924,459 entitled "PARALLEL PRINTING ARCHITECTURE CONSISTING OF CONTAINERIZED IMAGE MARKING ENGINE MODULES".
In tightly integrated parallel printing, machines have multiple fusers in a system so the generally low reliability of color fusers is a major concern for such systems. A second important consideration for these systems is gloss uniformity from fuser to fuser. Due to the tolerances in manufacturing, fuser conditions and components, deviation in gloss from marking engine to marking engine vary thereby providing a system to accomplish uniform gloss in a parallel printing system is an acute need.

Glossing system for use in a printing system


A Relationship scoring and Incentive Reward awarding process determines a Relationship score for the Relationships between a Bank and each of its customers. Such Relationships may include deposit accounts, loan accounts, and customer referrals. Customer data describing the Relationship between the Bank and its customers is furnished by the customers and extracted from a Bank customer information file. Incentive Rewards, such as reduced loan rates or increased deposit account interest, are awarded to customers based on the Relationship scores. Management reports summarize the Relationships between the Bank and its customers and provide marketing information.

There is a recognized need in the financial services industry to attract and retain loyal customers. A loyal customer is one who establishes all or a significant number of his Relationships with a single Bank and does so over an extended period of time. This need is particularly important to Banks in small and medium sized communities where regionally and nationally marketed financial services have attracted customers away from the local institutions. This need is also important to Banks in highly competitive markets where customers are offered a wide variety of investment and Relationship options, some of which may individually be very enticing to existing customers of other Banks.
Incentive programs for rewarding repeat or ongoing customers have become increasingly common in a variety of industries. Well known examples of the use of incentives to attract and reward repeated customer patronage are airline frequent flyer programs. In airline frequent flyer programs the customer is awarded points, often expressed in terms of "miles traveled" for each use of a particular airline or its affiliates. Additional points or "miles" are awarded for use of ancillary services such car and hotel room rentals. Other examples of customer incentive programs include the trading stamp programs once popular in the grocery retail trade.
The assignee of the present invention has developed a Bank customer incentive program called the "Loyalty Banking.RTM. Program." Under the Loyalty Banking Program a Bank rewards customers who have Relationships with the Bank and who maintain those Relationships for extended periods of time. A portion or all of the Bank's customers may be enrolled or participating in the program. Other customers may not be enrolled in the program. A score card is manually maintained for each customer enrolled in the Loyalty Banking Program. Points are manually calculated based on the information manually entered on the score card, and Incentive Rewards are manually awarded on a periodic basis for the number of Relationships maintained by the customer at the Bank. The point awards may be increased in relation to the length of time the customer maintains the Relationships at the Bank. Based on the points accumulated by the customer as represented by the score on the score card, the customer periodically receives Incentive Rewards.
The implementation of a customer incentive program for Bank customers has complexities not found in customer incentive plans in other industries. The Relationships between the Bank and any customer may be quite numerous and complex, involving a number of different kinds of accounts and interactions. Most other incentive programs require tracking of only one customer factor such as miles travelled in a frequent flyer program or the total dollar volume of purchases in a grocery store trading stamp program.
Implementation of the assignee's manual Loyalty Banking Program is difficult, time consuming and labor intensive. There is always the increased risk of incorrect calculations resulting from human computations. Maintaining a manual Relationship score card on each Bank customer duplicates much of the data available in the computer data bases maintained by most modern Banks.
There can exist a great deal of variation among Banks in the types of financial services offered and emphasized. In particular, different Banks may wish to establish different scoring systems for the various types of Relationships, depending on which Relationships they find to be most profitable. Further, each Bank may wish to establish a different award structure of incentives, depending upon that Bank's perception of the benefits of the program in relation to the costs of the incentives and to the needs of its particular community.
Furthermore, for an incentive program to be fully effective as a tool for attracting and retaining long-term customers, it is desirable for the Bank's management to be able to monitor the Relationships between the Bank and the customers as individuals and in groups. The Bank may thus be able to identify significant opportunities for marketing its financial services by evaluating the Relationships and their appeal to customers.
It is against this background that the present invention has evolved.

Data processing technique for scoring bank customer relationships and awarding incentive rewards


A compressible boot seal for sealing the side of a vertical traveling water screen with flights. The boot seal is formed by a U-shaped, bent nylon plate having a bottom base that resides in the boot section at the lower end of the traveling water screen and two upwardly extending arms that are attached at their distal ends to a side of the water screen support. The plate is bent at the intersection of the base and the arms to form a living hinge that allows the plate to deflect toward the side of the support on contact with side edges of the flights. The hinge seals the plate against the side edges of the flights. A resilient filler material fills the void between the plate and the side of the support to prevent sand and debris from interfering with the deflection of the side seal.

The invention relates generally to water screens and, more particularly, to traveling water screen systems with boot seals.
Water drawn into an industrial plant from a lake or river must be filtered to prevent debris from fouling equipment and causing damage. Traveling water screens are used to filter out and remove debris and fish from an influent channel before the debris can enter the plant or fish impinged on the upstream face of the screen die. A typical traveling water screen comprises a motor-driven screen, such as a foraminous conveyor belt, extending laterally across the width of the channel and vertically from the bottom of the channel to a height above the level of the water to ensure that all the water flowing in the channel passes through the screen. The screen travels a circuitous path around a motor-driven head shaft above the level of the water and a lower idle shaft in a boot section of the water screen at the bottom of the channel. The screen travels upward along the upstream portion of its circuitous path and downward along the downstream portion. A series of lift elements, such as baskets, scoops, or flights, extending outward of the screen at periodic intervals along its length lift debris or fish trapped on the upward-moving upstream portion of the water screen out of the channel for disposal in the case of debris and safe transit in the case of fish. Seals prevent unfiltered water containing fish and debris from flowing into the boot section of the water screen system between the screen and the bottom of the channel. A rubber flap or a metal plate attached at one end upstream of the boot section and extending over the upstream lip of the boot section are used as boot seals. The flap or plate backflexes by contact with the upwardly advancing flight exiting the boot section, its downstream end sliding along the tip of the flight to maintain the seal. Once the flight passes, the flap or metal plate, biased against the upward advance of the water screen, returns to its unflexed, sealed position with its downstream end close to the upstream face of the screen. While these seals form a seal with the tips of the flights, they do not form a seal at the side edges of the flights without custom modification. Furthermore, the biased metal plate seal allows the water screen to be advanced in a single direction and can be damaged if the water screen's direction of motion is reversed.

Water screen system with compressible boot seal


An interpolation system interpolates image positions in an original image to produce an interpolated output image, wherein the original image is represented by digital input pixel data. A first filter with a sharp interpolation characteristic, that interpolates a selected image position in the image to generate a sharp interpolation output value. A second filter having a smooth interpolation characteristic, that interpolates the selected image position in the image to generate a smooth interpolation output value. A controller that calculates a weighting coefficient for the output of each filter. And, a combiner selectively combines the output values from the filters as a function of the weighting coefficients, to generate an interpolation output value for the selected image position of an interpolated output image.

Image interpolation is widely used in applications such as video deinterlacing, video scaling, etc. in digital TV systems. An effective image interpolation technique is important for the overall image quality in a digital TV system. There are image interpolation techniques that generate a sharp image, but they give rise to ringing artifacts around sharp edges. And, existing techniques that generate a smooth image without ringing artifacts, tend to smooth the sharpness of edges and make the edges blurring.
In order to solve those problems, some adaptive image interpolation techniques have been proposed, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,693, that provide an interpolation method based on a manually operated switch for switching between different interpolation algorithms depending on the type of image being interpolated. However, such a manual operation is not suitable for a digital TV system.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,752 provides several interpolation kernels including cubic convolution, bilinear and nearest neighbor interpolation that are selected by a control unit based on the difference between two neighboring image pixel values. Such a control unit can be sensitive to image noise. In addition, bilinear and nearest neighbor interpolation methods generally produce too smooth interpolated images.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,257 provides a technique whereby an image is interpolated by combining a sharp result and a smooth result based on a scaling factor with a value from 0 to 1. In this method, 2D filters are used to obtain a sharp result and a smooth result from the original image. The scaling factor is calculated based on lookup tables according to local image contrast and image density. For a given application, this method requires that the contrast and density lookup tables be predetermined and stored in system memory.
Yet in another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,651 provides a method of interpolating images depending on whether a new image pixel belongs to an edge area or a flat image area. In order to accurately check if a pixel belongs to an edge area as well as the direction of the edge, a relatively complicated mechanism is required.
Polyphase filters have been widely used for image interpolation purposes due to their computation simplicity and good performance. Generally, a polyphase filter used for digital signal interpolation comprises a low pass filter having a cutoff frequency determined by the interpolation ratio. For example, to expand a digital signal L times, a low pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 1/L can be used. The referred frequency is normalized where the normalized frequency value of 1 corresponds to half sampling frequency. The low pass filter used in this case can be separated into L sub-filters, with each sub-filter used for a different phase of interpolation. More detailed explanation of the polyphase filter concept can be found in "Multirate Systems and Filter Banks", P. P. Vaidyanathan, Prentice Hall, 1993, incorporated herein by reference.
However, such existing image interpolation techniques based on polyphase filters have similar problems mentioned above. This is because when the filter is designed to have a sharp frequency transition band, it provides a sharp interpolated image. But it also generates ringing artifacts around sharp edges. FIG. 1A shows an example frequency response 10 of a low pass filter with a sharp frequency transition band.
When the filter is designed to have a smooth frequency transition band, it provides a smooth interpolated image without ringing artifacts. However, the filter tends to smooth and blur the sharpness of edges. FIG. 1B shows an example frequency response 20 of a low pass filter with a smooth frequency transition band. The filters in FIGS. 1A-B, are both 8 tap 4 phase polyphase filters with a cutoff frequency of ¼. When they are used for image interpolation, they generate the undesirable results as mentioned above.

Method and apparatus for image interpolation based on adaptive polyphase filters


A method and apparatus for enabling registration of an endpoint device that is incapable of supporting a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration are disclosed. For example, the method performs a static registration of the endpoint device in a plurality network elements associated with an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network by provisioning that is initiated by a service provider of the IMS network. The method processes an originating call request or a terminating call request associated with the endpoint device by an Application Server (AS) using the static registration, wherein the application server is one of the plurality network elements.

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) capabilities or services allow a subscriber to access the same or near-equivalent features over both mobile and wireline devices. Many existing wireless phones are incapable of performing SIP based Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registrations and are treated as unregistered endpoint devices by an IMS network and, therefore, cannot take advantages of advanced services provided by an IMS network.
In addition, individual endpoints behind a Public Branch eXchange (PBX), whether it is an Internet Protocol (IP) PBX or a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) PBX, or a Class 5 End Office (EO) switch are usually not capable of performing SIP based IMS registration as well. These endpoints are also treated as unregistered endpoints by an IMS network.
Unregistered endpoint devices are unable to fully utilize feature rich services provided by an IMS network and receive inconsistent service treatment depending on the individual IMS network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for enabling registration of endpoint devices through provisioning


The present disclosure describes a polyester that contains plural pendant adjacent carboxylic acid or acid salt side groups for use in making a toner for use in imaging devices.

Polyester resins are one of the two generally used chemistries in emulsion aggregation (EA) techniques for constructing toners for imaging devices. For example, sulphonated polyester resins self-assemble to form nanoparticles in an aqueous medium. With at least 4 mole % up to 20 mole % of a sulphonated diol or a sulphonated diacid monomer, the resulting polymer chains in an aqueous medium at elevated temperatures demonstrate chain association and assemble into nanoparticles ranging in size from about 30 to about 50 nm on cooling. The resulting emulsions are used in the EA process to produce micron-sized polyester toner particles. The development of sulphonated polyester EA toners is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,830,860; 7,312,011; and 7,335,453, herein incorporated by reference in entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,749,672 and U.S. Publ. Nos. 2010/0222521 and 2011/0014564 teach polyesters with a single terminal carboxylic acid group.

Carboxylic acid or acid salt functionalized polyester polymers


The present invention is directed to methods of producing substituted pyrazole based compounds through novel intermediates and unique processes for preparing such intermediates which enables synthesis of final product through commercially viable route of synthesis. The present invention is also directed to novel methods of producing substituted pyrazole based thyroid like compounds, and solid forms of 3-{4-[(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-indan-4-yl)methyl]-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl}-propanoic acid, its pharmaceutical compositions, and methods of preparation thereof.

Substituted pyrazole based thyroid like compounds are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,143,424 and 8,378,118. The synthetic route described in these patents include protecting hydroxy group of intermediate with methyl iodide, thereafter subsequent synthetic conversions are carried out. The methyl protecting group is eventually deprotected with boron tribromide to yield final product. Methyl iodide and boron tribromide are highly hazardous in nature. Hence, there is a need in the art to provide alternate methods of producing substituted pyrazole based thyroid like compounds which avoid use of these reagents and also suitable for commercial manufacturing.
Furthermore, the synthetic method for production of intermediates described in the aforementioned U.S. patents involve use of hazardous reagents such as zinc-mercury and aluminium chloride. The method also involves reaction at elevated temperature, high vacuum distillation, and column chromatography for purification which makes the drug product synthesis not viable at commercial scale because it consumes more solvent, time, and energy. Accordingly, the present inventors have developed novel routes of synthesis which is devoid of above drawbacks and the final product is produced through commercially viable route of synthesis.
Solid forms of 3-{4-[(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-indan-4-yl)methyl]-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl}propanoic acid are also described herein. The properties of a solid relevant to its efficacy as a drug can be dependent on the form of the solid. For example, in a drug substance, variation in the solid form can lead to differences in properties such as dissolution rate, oral absorption, bio availability, toxicology results, and also clinical efficacy. The solid forms of 3-{4-[(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-indan-4-yl)methyl]-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl}-propanoic acid described herein are crystalline forms, salts, solvates, and hydrates of 3-{4-[(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-indan-4-yl)methyl]-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl}propanoic acid.


The process of generating regular elements in a CAD drawing is accelerated by providing a CAD designer with graphical user interface (GUI) tools to generate regular elements for a CAD drawing interactively, dynamically, and in real-time. The GUI tools allow the CAD designer to preview the regular elements that he or she will be adding to the CAD drawing and modify the number of regular elements to be added interactively and in real-time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer-aided design and, more particularly, to a method for generating regular elements in a computer-aided design drawing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term computer-aided design (CAD) generally refers to a broad variety of computer-based tools used by architects, engineers, and other construction and design professionals. CAD applications may be used to construct computer models representing virtually any real-world construct. For example, CAD applications are frequently used to compose graphical representations of civil engineering constructs such as beams, walls and columns. Using a CAD application, a user may compose a CAD drawing by selecting drawing elements and positioning them within the drawing. Typically, drawing elements are provided to represent elements of the object being modeled.
In composing a drawing for a building, there are often sets of elements that are laid-out in regular fashion. This is particularly true of structural members. For example, columns often conform to a regular grid and beams typically connect columns at each floor. In a similar manner, floor and roof joists span floor beams and roof girders at regular intervals.
The process of creating these elements is time-consuming and often tedious. In the example of structural members, a discrete drawing process must be undertaken for each structural member drawn. For each structural member to be drawn, a start point and an end point must be identified first, and then the structural member will be drawn between the start and end points. In other words, the structural members must be drawn one at a time.
A software product provided by VisionREZ partially automates the process of drawing regular elements. With this software, the user selects a bay and then enters into a dialog mode. While in this mode, the user makes numerical inputs into an input window, e.g., to specify the number of beams or floor joists to add to the bay, and the spacing between them. When the user submits these inputs for processing, the regular elements are generated in accordance with the inputs and saved into the drawing. For any modifications, the user will need to re-enter the dialog mode and edit the prior inputs.

Method for generating regular elements in a computer-aided design drawing


A composition of matter is disclosed wherein the composition comprises a hydrazide compound of the formula:

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the protection of organic materials, such as rubber, plastic, lubricating oils, petroleum fuels, waxes, organic liquids, and the like, from oxidation by the use of antioxidants that are hydrazides and derivatives thereof
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is directed to lubricants, especially lubricating oils. More particularly, the invention relates to a class of dispersant additives having antioxidant and viscosity index improving credit that are preferably derived from an ethylene-propylene diene modified terpolymer (EPDM) or an ethylene-propylene copolymer and a hydrazide or hydrazide derivative.
2. Description of Related Art
Organic materials such as rubber, plastic, lubricating oils, petroleum fuels, waxes, and organic liquids are well known to need protection from oxidation.
Currently, many of these organic materials are being exposed to higher operating temperatures and mechanical shear. New stabilizers that can protect organic materials from premature oxidation and degradation under these advanced operating conditions are being sought.
Further, in developing lubricating oils, there have been many attempts to provide additives that provide a lubricating oil with dispersancy of sludge and soot as well as high temperature deposit control. In addition, the formulation of an oil to meet high and low temperature viscosity requirements is critical and, in most cases, a viscosity index improver is employed to achieve this goal. Most multifunctional additives of the prior art provide one or two of these features.
It is well-known that internal combustion engines operate under a wide range of temperatures, including low temperature stop-and-go driving service, as well as high-temperature conditions produced by continuous high speed driving. Stop-and-go driving, particularly under cold, damp weather conditions, leads to the formation of sludge in the crankcase and in the oil passages of a gasoline or a diesel engine. This sludge seriously limits the ability of the crankcase engine oil to lubricate the engine effectively. In addition, the sludge, with its entrapped water, tends to contribute to rust formation in the engine. These problems can be aggravated by engine manufacturers' lubrication service recommendations, which typically specify extended oil drain intervals.
The polymers utilized in this invention can be obtained by a variety of methods known in the art. Such art can be represented by, but is not limited to, the following.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,497 discloses a process for preparing a graft-modified ethylene polymer or copolymer with a dicarboxylic acid graft-copolymerizable therewith or its graft-copolymerizable derivative in an alkyl-substituted aromatic hydrocarbon solvent in the presence of a radical initiator, characterized in that the reaction is performed while adding the dicarboxylic acid or its derivative gradually to the solvent in which the starting ethylene polymer or copolymer is present.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,104 discloses oil soluble viscosity index improving ethylene copolymers, such as copolymers of ethylene and propylene; and ethylene, propylene and diolefin; etc., that are reacted or grafted with ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid moieties, preferably maleic anhydride moieties, and reacted with polyamines having two or more primary amine groups and a carboxylic acid component, preferably alkylene polyamine and alkenyl succinic anhydride, such as polyisobutenyl succinic anhydride. Or the grafted ethylene copolymer can be reacted with already formed salts, amides, imides, etc. of the polyamine and acid component, preferably imides of alkylene polyamine and alkenyl succinic anhydride. It is said that these reactions can permit the incorporation of varnish inhibition and dispersancy into the ethylene copolymer while inhibiting cross-linking with resulting viscosity increase, haze or gelling. The grafting reaction may be carried out thermally, or more preferably with a free radical initiator, such as a peroxide in a mineral lubricating oil, in which case the acid component, preferably also acts to solubilize insoluble compounds formed by side reactions, such as maleic anhydride grafted oil molecules reacted with amine, to thereby inhibit haze formation, particularly when preparing oil concentrates of the V.I.-dispersant additive for later addition to lubricating oils. Preferred methods of grafting maleic anhydride onto the ethylene copolymer by periodic or continuous addition of maleic anhydride and initiator charge, so as to maintain the maleic anhydride in solution during the grafting reaction are also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,838 discloses the reaction of hydrocarbon polymers, such as ethylene copolymers, with unsaturated nitrogen-containing monomers or unsaturated carboxylic acids in a synthetic hydrocarbon lubricating oil in the presence of a free radical initiator, such as a peroxide. The copolymer grafted directly with the nitrogen-containing monomers may be utilized as an additive for oil compositions, particularly lubricating oil compositions as a V.I.-dispersant additive. The polymer reacted with carboxylic acid may be further reacted with amines or amino-alcohols to also form a multifunctional V.I.-dispersant additive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,689 discloses a process for grafting functional organic groups onto EPM and EPDM polymers wherein the grafting reaction is carried out in the cement in which the polymer is originally formed by solution polymerization.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,768 discloses dispersants and dispersant viscosity index improvers which include polymers of conjugated dienes which have been hydrogenated, functionalized, optionally modified and post treated. The dispersant substances include a copolymer of two different conjugated dienes. The polymers are selectively hydrogenated to produce polymers which have highly controlled amounts of unsaturation, permitting highly selective functionalization. The polymers may be functionalized by grafting of heteroatom-containing olefins. Also provided are lubricant fluids, such as mineral and synthetic oils, which have been modified in their dispersancy and/or viscometric properties by means of the dispersant substances. Also provided are methods of modifying the dispersancy and/or viscometric properties of lubricating fluids such as mineral and synthetic lubricating oils. The dispersant substances may also include a carrier fluid to provide dispersant concentrates.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,282 discloses hydrocarbyl substituted carboxylic compositions and derivatives thereof that are said to be useful as dispersant/viscosity improvers for lubricating oil and fuel compositions. Carboxylic compositions are derived from (A) a hydrocarbon polymer having Mn ranging from about 20,000 to about 500,000, and (B) an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic compound prepared by reacting (1) an active methylene compound of a formula (I), and (2) a carbonyl compound of a general formula (II), and lower alkyl acetals, ketals, hemiacetals and hemiketals of the carbonyl compound (2). Carboxylic derivative compositions are obtained by reacting the carboxylic compositions with a reactant selected from the group consisting of (a) amines characterized by the presence within their structure of at least one condensable H—N<group, (b) alcohols, (c) reactive metal or reactive metal compounds, and (d) a combination of two or more of any of (a) through (c), the components of (d) being reacted with the carboxylic composition simultaneously or sequentially, in any order.
U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0030033 discloses a composition comprising an N-aromatic substituted acid amide compound selected from the group consisting of compounds of a specified formula (I). These compositions may be used as such or they may be bound to a polymer backbone via a linking moiety. In either case, they are useful as antioxidants, particularly in lubricating oil compositions.
WO 03/025034 discloses a process that comprises solution grafting a hydrocarbon polymer prepared from at least one C2 to C28 polymerizable hydrocarbon, said polymer having a number average molecular weight in the range of from about 5,000 to about 500,000 with an ethylenically unsaturated C3 to C10 carboxylic acid material, using a free radical initiator in the presence of a structurally defined ester oil.
Metal deactivators for polyolefins based on hydrazides are also known in the art, e.g., Copper Deactivators For Polvolefin Insulation, Chan, M. G. et al., Bell Lab., Murray Hill, N.J., USA. Proceedings of International Wire and Cable Symposium 27:99-106 (1978); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,132, which discloses certain imido-oxamide-type compounds and derivatives thereof which are useful for preventing metal catalyzed oxidative degradation of polyolefins. The specification also relates to olefin homopolymer and copolymer compositions containing such compounds and derivatives thereof and to a method for enhancing the resistance of olefin homopolymers and copolymers against metal-catalyzed oxidative degradation by incorporating these compounds therein.
These references describe imido-oxamide-type compounds and derivatives thereof, which are useful for preventing metal catalyzed oxidative degradation of polyolefins. The disclosed structure is below:
wherein Z is a bivalent radical which together with the dicarboximide group forms a monocyclic or polycyclic ring system and is selected from the group consisting of phenylene, cyclohexylene, cyclohexenylene, cyclohexenylene substituted by a methyl group, norbornenylene, ethylene, vinylene and tetradecenylene.
These compounds are effective in deactivating metals in plastic materials, but are limited by two factors: (1) they do not exhibit any primary antioxidant performance on their own, and (2) they are substantially insoluble in oil.
It is an object of the present invention to address both of these issues around hydrazide metal deactivators, either by providing metal deactivation (MD) activity as an oil soluble additive or MD/antioxidant activity as an oil soluble additive. Another objective is to provide hydrazide monomers that provide antioxidant performance.
The disclosures of the foregoing are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Antioxidant hydrazides and derivatives thereof having multifunctional activity

Abstract: wherein:

Abstract: R1 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkyl ether, and phenyl;

Abstract: R2, R3, R4, R5, and R6 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, alkyl ether, and aryl; and

Abstract: n is an integer of from 0 to 10;

Abstract: and wherein:

Abstract: when R1 is phenyl, it is of the structure:

Abstract: wherein R7, R8, and R9 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, alkyl ether, and aryl, or R7 can be combined with R8 to form a ring of 5 or 6 carbon atoms.

Abstract: The hydrazides are useful as stabilizers for lubricants, greases, and polymeric systems, particularly lubricating oils, as are maleated polymers that have been functionalized with them.


A U-nut in which a pair of axially aligned collars are formed on the opposed plate members of the nut with one of the collars having internal threads for accommodating a bolt and the other of the collars is provided with a reversely bent radially inwardly extending circular projection which serves as a locator for properly locating the nut relative to hole formed in a support panel.

One type of sheet metal nut which has been proposed for securing panels in place can be see in U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,818, issued on Feb. 11, 1969 in the name of Marshall T. Derby. As shown in the U.S. Pat No. 3,426,818 patent, the Derby nut is formed of a single-thickness metal and includes a top portion, a bottom portion, and a connecting portion that integrally joins the top and bottom portions to define a bifurcation space. The bottom portion is integrally formed with a resilient retainer having an end portion which has a thickness larger than that of the metal of the nut. During installation of the nut on a panel, the end portion on the retainer engages a hole of a panel and positions the nut for receiving a bolt.
The sheet metal nut according the present invention has certain functional similarities to the Derby nut, however, differs therefrom structurally in that, rather than utilizing a resilient retainer of a type described above for locating the nut relative to a hole in a support panel, one of the plate portions is formed with collar provided with a crimped portion. The crimped portion defines a circular nib which is axially aligned with the opening formed in an internally threaded collar provided on the opposed plate portion of the nut. During installation of the nut onto a sheet metal support panel, the crimped portion is adapted to drop into an accommodating hole of the support panel. Thus, the crimped portion serves as a locator for the nut and, in addition, the collar which includes the crimped portion has a similar function with respect to the article being attached to the support panel.


A method for reducing device discovery delays in frequency hopping based ad-hoc networks is disclosed. According to the method, an activity being performed is periodically interrupted to scan for inquiry messages from other devices for a pre-determined period time period. Processing of a received inquiry message, in accordance with normal procedures applicable to the particular frequency hopping based ad-hoc network, occurs after expiry of a random time period. At the end of the predetermined time period, the original activity is returned to. A device for use in frequency hopping based ad-hoc networks that embodies the described method and a computer program product for such a device, are also disclosed.

In recent times there has been a trend in wireless communications towards ad-hoc networks where telecommunications and computing devices (such as PCs, pagers and mobile phones) are intended to be freed from fixed or subscription-based cellular networks so as to have flexible operability and modality.
One such example described on the Bluetooth™ web site (http:\\bluetooth.com) is the 'three-in-one', which can operate in the home as a cordless phone, outside the home as a mobile (cellular) phone, and as a two-way walkie talkie device. This illustrates the ad-hoc nature of the radio links that may be formed.
Although the following discussion focuses on Bluetooth™, it will be appreciated that the invention has general application to other forms of frequency hopping-based ad-hoc networks.
Reference can be made to the Bluetooth™ Core Specification Volume 1, Version 1.0B (available from the noted web site).
Bluetooth™ technology allows for the formation of networks called piconets and interconnection of such networks, called scatternets without the involvement of a central infrastructure, in an ad-hoc fashion. This is made possible using distributed algorithms for inquiry and paging. While device discovery in this document refers to the process of obtaining Bluetooth™ addresses and clocks of neighboring devices using inquiry procedures, paging is used to setup a connection with a particular Bluetooth™ device.
The Bluetooth™ physical layer uses frequency hopping which conforms to FCC regulations for the 2.4 GHz ISM band. It uses a 79 hop system with each hop occupying 1 MHz. These restrictions have implications on the device discovery process. One implication is: when a device wakes up to scan for inquiry messages, it cannot do so at a fixed dedicated frequency. Instead, the wake up frequency could be any of the 32 frequencies in the inquiry hopping sequence. The actual frequency used depends upon the clock of the scanning device, which is not known to the inquirer. Moreover, since the onus of finding a new device is deliberately kept with the inquirer, the scanning device does not do continuous scanning. Hence, in the inquiry procedure there is uncertainty in both time and frequency at which the scanning device(s) might be listening.
The Baseband Specifications of the Bluetooth™ Version 1.0 specifications specify device discovery procedures (henceforth called the BT algorithms) using inquiry and inquiry scan in which the inquirer has no information about the address or clock of the devices around it. The procedures work well when there are no simultaneous inquirers. The performance is difficult to predict in the case of multiple simultaneous inquirers.
Due to the above factors, the inquiry procedure becomes time and energy consuming for the device doing inquiry. Even in an error-free environment, it can take 10.24 sec for an inquiring device to collect all responses. These delays could be bottlenecks in setting up individual connections and ad-hoc networks. Many application scenarios envisioned for Bluetooth™ require a large number of terminals to operate in overlapping areas. Under such conditions even the average delays are increased, prohibiting the use of the technology for these applications. Some modifications to the device discovery algorithms are thus required which can enable such applications by a reduction of these delays.
Due to the interaction of several devices during inquiry, the problem of finding the delay distribution or even average delays is not easily tractable. These delays depend upon the number of devices participating in an inquiry procedure, the number of inquiring devices, the bandwidth reserved for inquiry, the number of responses required from an inquiry, etc.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device discovery procedure which results in a faster exchange of inquiry responses than in the prior art, in a system having multiple simultaneous inquirers, yet maintaining performance otherwise.

Reduction of device discovery delays in frequency hopping-based ad-hoc networks

International Business Machines Corporation


A monitoring method to detect a state of a door provided with a locking system. The method comprises the following steps: a measurement step during which a mechanical wave sensor measures a signal corresponding to a mechanical wave propagated in the door; a step of comparison between a reference signal stored in the memory and the mechanical wave signal in order to detect a state of the door. The reference signal is measured by the mechanical wave sensor while the locking system of the door is actuated.

There are currently devices with which to detect a state of a door. State of a door includes a state of locking, unlocking or even opening and closing of the door. Generally, this detection is done by means of one or more sensors included in the device. The device can then send a notification with the state of the door to a user through an interface.
In particular the document US 2011/016971 is known which describes a device integrated in a door or inside a door. The device is able to detect a state of the door, but can also directly influence the state of the door by actuating its bolt.
However, the use of the device described in this document is specific to the type of door described in US 2011/016971. Thus, a user cannot use this device on their door without carrying out work.

Method and device for door monitoring and door monitoring system including such a device


An aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles includes as Components, (A) cured silicone rubber particles with an average particle size of 0.1-500 xcexcm; (B) a surface active agent; (C) a thickening agent; (D) an antiseptic agent (i) consisting of phenoxyethanol, chlorphenesin, methylparaben, and benzoic acid, or an antiseptic agent (ii) consisting of phenoxyethanol, chlorphenesin, and sorbic acid; and (E) water. It has superior antiseptic properties and superior anti-mildew properties without impairing the overall stability of the aqueous dispersion.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention relates to an aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles, more particularly to an aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles which is imparted with superior antiseptic properties and anti-mildew properties, without impairing stability of the aqueous dispersion.
Aqueous dispersions of cured silicone rubber particles have been used as raw materials for cosmetics and in various coatings. Reference may be had, for example, to U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,057 (Jan. 13, 1998), U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,761 (Feb. 16, 1999), 5,928,660 (Jul. 27, 1999), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,656 (May 25, 2001). To improve their stability, it is often necessary to increase the content of surface active agents and add more thickening agents to these aqueous dispersions. This, however, has stimulated the growth of mildew and fungi. There is, therefore, a need to improve their antiseptic properties and anti-mildew properties, while at the same time to maintain the stability of the aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles possessing superior antiseptic properties and anti-mildew properties without impairing the stability of the aqueous dispersion.
These and other features of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the detailed description.

Aqueous dispersion of cured silicone rubber particles


A sailboat comprising at least one hull that is connected to a deck that has a line formed in a closed loop connected thereto. A sail, defined as a jib, being attached at its lower corners to the line so that moving the line moves the sail therewith, presenting the sail to the wind as a starboard jib, a spinnaker, or a port jib.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of sailboats, particularly to sailboat craft having one or more hulls. More particularly, the invention relates to steering control through articulated hulls and positioning of sails in relation to the wind.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The most common apparatus used to control the movement of a sailboat comprises sails and a rudder. The rudder is usually attached to the stern of the sailboat. The angle that the rudder makes with the longitudinal axis of the sailboat is usually controlled directly by a tiller, indirectly by a wheel connected by cables, to a rudder or by other well known means. Sails must be constantly adjusted to present the proper sail angle in relation to the wind as it relates to the particular course to be steered. The adjustment of sails is largely a manual operation. Lines that are attached to the sails or to a boom to which the sail is attached, are tied to various points on the deck holding the sails against the force of the wind. The sails are adjusted to drive the sailboat as efficiently as possible in a particular direction. A sailboat will maintain its heading with its rudder amidships when the sails are in balance. A change in the wind direction will require a change to the sails to keep the sails in balance. To change the heading in which a sailboat is traveling, a change in the position of the rudder is made and the new course is maintained by the rudder until the sails are brought back into balance. Multiple sails are difficult for a lone sailor to efficiently manage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,910 issued to John G. Hoyt, discloses a triangular sail having its head attached to a mast and the two lower points attached to a boom that is pivotally mounted to the bow of a sailing vessel. By pivoting the boom the sail may be presented to the wind at a variety of angles. The boom is unwieldy and difficult for a single sailor to manage.
Multi-hulled craft, such as a trimaran, frequently use a single rudder attached to a central hull, or on the rear hull on a triple hulled vessel utilizing a tetrahedral frame. Some sailboats, such as that disclosed in the patent to McKenna, U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,897 have three separate hulls with a deck suspended therebetween. In this configuration, a single hull, defined as a bow hull, precedes a pair of port and starboard hulls that are spaced apart from one another. The bow hull, having a rudder attached thereto, pivots around a vertical support member to provide steering, but pivots only in the horizontal plane. When a multi-hulled sailboat is in operation, the wind forces on the sail frequently lift one of the rear hulls from the water. If the McKenna 897 sailboat were to ride on one rear hull and the forward steering hull, the hulls will remain fixed to the frame and will tilt as the boat frame tilts, exposing a large portion of the bottom surface of the hulls and wetting a side and even a portion of the top surface of the hulls. The bottom surface of the hulls is designed to efficiently cut through the water and plane on the water surface. When the bottom surface of the hulls lose contact with the water surface in favor of the side of the hulls, the effectiveness of the hulls is reduced. Rudders attached to the stern of multi-hulled vessels become inefficient and often ineffective when the hull to which it is attached rotates longitudinally in the water due to lifting of one of the rear hulls out of the water.
The U.S. Pat. No. 858,093 to Mitchell, discloses a forward hull that rotates about an axis that is horizontal and perpendicular to the longitudinal length of the hull, which allows the forward end of the steering hull of the sailboat to rise to meet oncoming waves. This particular vessel is not designed to ride on the forward steering hull and one of the pair of rear hulls.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,566,819 issued to James Keddie, when the mast of the vessel is tilted, levers cause the twin hulls to rotate about a longitudinal axis that is parallel to the longitudinal length of the hulls. There is no steering hull disclosed, as the sailboat is steered by a standard rudder mounted on each hull.
Therefore, notwithstanding the existence of such prior art there is a need, particularly on craft with multiple hulls, to provide greater flexibility in steering a sailboat by adjustment of sail and by adjustment of a bow hull with a rudder attached thereto.


The invention relates to a method of performing coronary magnetic resonance angiography with signal separation for water and fat, the method comprising: acquiring coronary magnetic resonance angiography datasets using multi-echo Dixon acquisition, processing (314; 316; 318) the datasets for reconstruction of a first (320) and second (322) image data set, the first and second image data set comprising separate water and fat image data, wherein the processing of the datasets comprises a Dixon reconstruction technique.

Image-forming MR methods which utilize the interaction between magnetic field and nuclear spins in order to form two-dimensional or three-dimensional images are widely used nowadays, notably in the field of medical diagnostics, because for the imaging of soft tissue they are superior to other imaging methods in many respects and do not require ionizing radiation and they are usually not invasive.
According to the MR method in general, the body of a patient or in general an object to be examined is arranged in a strong, uniform magnetic field B0 whose direction at the same time defines an axis, normally the z-axis, of the coordinate system on which the measurement is based. The magnetic field produces different energy levels for the individual nuclear spins in dependence on the applied magnetic field strength which spins can be excited (spin resonance) by application of an alternating electromagnetic field (RF field) of defined frequency, the so called Larmor frequency or MR frequency. From a macroscopic point of view the distribution of the individual nuclear spins produces an overall magnetization which can be deflected out of the state of equilibrium by application of an electromagnetic pulse of appropriate frequency (RF pulse) while the magnetic field extends perpendicularly to the z-axis, so that the magnetization performs a precessional motion about the z-axis.
Any variation of the magnetization can be detected by means of receiving RF antennas, which are arranged and oriented within an examination volume of the MR device in such a manner that the variation of the magnetization is measured in the direction perpendicularly to the z-axis.
In order to realize spatial resolution in the body, linear magnetic field gradients extending along the three main axes are superposed on the uniform magnetic field, leading to a linear spatial dependency of the spin resonance frequency. The signal picked up in the receiving antennas then contains components of different frequencies which can be associated with different locations in the body. The signal data obtained via the receiving antennas corresponds to the spatial frequency domain and is called k-space data. The k-space data usually includes multiple lines acquired with different phase encoding. Each line is digitized by collection a number of samples. A sample of k-space data is converted to an MR image, e.g. by means of Fourier transformation.
Coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) has been shown to allow accessing the status of the coronary tree or the patency of corresponding bypass grafts. Whole heart approaches, benefiting from parallel reception have also been introduced to image the entire coronary tree in a single acquisition. To improve the visibility of the coronaries in their epicardial bed, fat suppression is usually employed in CMRA.
For fat suppression basically two types of approaches are used. Chemical shift selective pre-saturation uses the principle that the longitudinal magnetization of fat is selectively excited and subsequently dephased and thus suppressed. Spatial excitation is an alternative, exciting only the resonance of interest, e.g. water, ignoring the fat. Also for other cardiac scan protocols fat is often suppressed to increase the overall image contrast.
However, the suppressed fat signal also contains helpful diagnostic information for a number of cardiac diseases. For example in myocardial infarction or in the presence of suspicious cardiac masses, the intra-myocardial fat represents an important diagnostic indicator. It was even reported that fibro-fatty infiltration of the myocardium is associated with sudden death. Thus, the fat signal and its distribution may have higher prognostic value.
To address coronary artery disease and potential myocardial fat infiltration, today basically two individual scans have to be made. However, the performance of two scans has the disadvantage that it takes a rather long period of time in order to perform the scans.
An alternative way to obtain both information on water and fat contributions to the MR signal is chemical shift encoding, in which an additional dimension to the measurement data is defined and encoded, by performing a couple of additional image data acquisitions with slightly different echo times. For water-fat separation these types of experiments are often called Dixon-type of measurements. By means of Dixon imaging or Dixon water/fat imaging, a water-fat separation can be obtained by calculating contributions of water and fat from two or more corresponding echoes, acquired at different echo times. Dixon imaging usually relies on the acquisition of at least two echoes to separate water and fat signals. In general these kind of separations are possible because there is a known precessional frequency difference of hydrogen in fat and water. In its simplest form, water and fat images are generated by either addition or subtraction of the 'in phase' and 'out of phase' datasets, but this approach is rather sensitive to main field inhomogeneities. More advanced water/fat Dixon separation methods allow also an estimation of the main field inhomogeneity map. In that respect these chemical shift encoding techniques can have serious advantages over the above mentioned chemical shift selective approaches which might have image quality problems in case of large main field inhomogeneities.
Consequently, chemical shift-based water-fat separation methods require the acquisition of two or more images at different echo times, which is also prolonging the total scan time. The acquisition of several images (3D) could take too long to be performed which may cause inconsistencies between images at different echo times for example due to motion artefacts in coronary imaging. Consequently, Dixon-type of measurements have rarely been used in cardiac magnetic resonance.
For example Kellmann et al, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 61, pages 215-221, 2009 discloses a multi-echo Dixon fat and water separation method for detecting fibro-fatty infiltration in the myocardium. However, only standard inversion recovery pulse sequence have been used to detect the fatty infiltration in chronic myocardial infarction which only provides MR image data at rather limited quality which again limits the visibility of the coronaries in their epicardial bed.
From the forgoing it is readily appreciated that there is a need for an improved MR imaging method. It is consequently an object of the invention to enable MR imaging in a fast manner by providing combined information on the coronary tree as well as on potential fibro-fatty infiltration of the myocardium. Further, from the forgoing it is readily appreciated that there is a need for an improved MR imaging system and an improved computer program product adapted to carry out the method according to the invention.

Coronary magnetic resonance angiography with signal separation for water and fat


A reactive plastisol composition includes a one component, solventless, storage stable, low temperature curable polyurethane composition and a thermoplast plastisol. The urethane composition is formed from a blocked isocyanate prepolymer and a curing agent. The isocyanate prepolymer is the reaction product of a polyol, a diisocyanate, and a ketoxime blocking agent. The diisocyanate has the formula ##STR1## in which R.sub.1 -R.sub.4 are each a C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl which can be linear or branched, R.sub.5 is a phenylene or naphthalene ring which is unsubstituted or substituted by one or more C.sub.1 -C.sub.12 linear or branched chained alkyl groups or halo groups, and m and n are each integers from 0 to 6. A polyurethane curing catalyst can also be used.

This invention relates to a composition and process for forming a storage-stable, one package, blocked polyurethane which is highly compatible with thermoplast plastisols such as polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plastisols.
Thermoplast plastisols are commonly used in the automotive industry as sealants and underbody coatings. A preferred use is as a secondary coating applied over a primary coating formed by electrodeposition (E-coat). The secondary coating provides additional corrosion protection and coverage over areas missed by the electrodeposition process.
In order to develop the full strength of the plastisols so that they can be useful, they generally require baking temperatures of 130.degree. C. or higher. Due to the increased use of automotive plastic parts which have lower service temperatures and also for energy conservation purposes, the recent trend has been to drop the oven baking temperatures in automotive plants to 120.degree. C. or lower. At these lower baking temperatures, plastisols that are storage stable cannot develop their full strength due to poor fluxing (i.e., plasticization), and hence they are poorly adherent to E-coats and generally have poor abrasion resistance. Plastisols that can develop full strength at low bake temperatures, however, do not provide any adhesion and generally are not storage stable.
In order to improve processing characteristics, it is known in the art to blend thermoplast plastisols with polyurethanes. The polyurethanes used, however, are not highly compatible with the plastisols, are generally not storage-stable, and do not provide improved abrasion resistance and adhesion when the blends are baked at lower temperatures such as 120.degree. C.
Examples of blocked isocyanate compositions can be found in various patents. These include U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,943, which teaches a curable coating composition comprising (a) a ketoxime-blocked, isocyanate terminated reaction product of a polyhydroxyl compound with an isocyanate, the reaction product having a molecular weight of from about 8,000 to about 15,000 and (b) a tertiary amino alcohol having at least two hydroxyl groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,389 teaches a thermosetting coating composition comprising a ketoxime-blocked isocyanate and a solution copolymer of a mixture of ethylenically unsaturated and active hydrogen-containing compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,355 teaches novel thermosetting resin powders which can be molded to form urethane cross-linked products which are prepared by reacting hydroxy-functional, acrylic polymer particles with a mono-blocked diisocyanate. U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,402 teaches octaalkylstannoxanes as regenerative agents of an isocyanate group and a blocked isocyanate compound at temperatures lower than previously possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,818 teaches a powdered coating composition comprising a free flowing mixture of a solid, ketoxime-blocked isocyanate prepolymer and one or more solid, hydroxy functional resins such as a polyester resin. U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,365 teaches an aqueous solution of bisulfate-blocked polyisocyanate prepolymers having storage stability up to about 45.degree. C. by incorporation of about 0.5 to 20% by weight of the prepolymer of an aromatic or alkyl aromatic, sulfonic acid. U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,744 teaches a low temperature, one component, thermosetting coating composition comprising a ketoxime-blocked polyisocyanate and an oxazolidine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,086 teaches high solid, solvent-based thermosetting resin coating compositions comprising chain-extendable, cross-linkable, low molecular weight polyol, deblocked diisocyanate and cross-linking agent reactive with a polyol, but substantially unreactive with the isocyanate functionality. U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,340 teaches a heat curable, coating composition comprising a prepolymer with ketoxime-blocked NCO groups which are linked to the prepolymer via cycloaliphatic and/or aliphatic groups, a diamine cross-linker and an organic solvent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,081 teaches thermally cross-linkable, coating compositions which are liquid and storage stable at room temperature and which contain combinations of dialkyl-malonate-blocked polyisocyanates and organic polyhydroxyl compounds as binders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,991 relates to blocked isocyanurates which are curable at low temperatures to form coatings. The blocking agent can be an oxime.
Patents disclosing low temperature cure include U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,166 and German Offenlegungsschrift DE No. 32 28 670. However, most of the compositions cited do not provide sufficient shelf life. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,166, although it is disclosed that the polyurethane composition can be cured at 80.degree.-100.degree. C., the cure time is two to four hours and the composition is not storage stable because the polyisocyanates used are not blocked. In a case where storage stability is disclosed (for 2 months at room temperature) in German Offenlegungsschrift DE No. 32 28 670, the curing temperature is significantly higher, i.e., 140.degree. C., for 20 minutes.
Blocked isocyanates prepared from m-xylylene diisocyanate are known as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,925. This patent discloses blocked isocyanate curing agents prepared by reacting m-xylylene diisocyanate with a ketoxime. The curing agents are used in combination with active hydrogen-containing materials to form curable compositions such as coatings. This patent does not teach combining a blocked polyurethane prepolymer with a plastisol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,686 relates to coating compositions which include polyvinyl plastisols, polyisocyanates with retarded activity, and one or more plasticizers. The polyisocyanates are used as bonding agents for the plastisols.
The use of an amine curing agent is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,996. This patent teaches a one package polyurethane composition in which a polyurethane prepolymer is blocked with an oxime. The prepolymer can be formed from one or more polyisocyanates. None of the polyisocyanates mentioned are hindered polyisocyanates and there is no disclosure that the use of hindered polyisocyanates provides any improved result. This patent also does not disclose the use of thermoplast plastisol compositions.
Prior art systems have been developed which improve the performance of PVC plastisols at lower curing temperatures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,969 relates to blocked urethane compositions which, when blended with plastisols, allows curing of plastisol coatings at temperatures of 100.degree.-120.degree. C. for 10-30 minutes. In addition, the blends are storage stable for at least 3 days at 40.degree. C. or for 2 months at room temperature, i.e., at 25.degree. C. The polyurethanes of this patent are prepared from a branched isocyanate prepolymer blocked with a ketoxime blocker, a polyol cross-linking agent, a deblocking and curing catalyst and a desiccant to prevent foaming.
While plastisol blends prepared with the polyurethane compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,969 exhibit good and in some cases outstanding performance, there remains room for improvement in some respects. For example, the polyurethane compositions of this patent are not 100% compatible with PVC plastisols. Also, the use of an amine curing agent results in inadequate shelf life.
There thus remains a need in the art for a polyurethane composition which can form highly compatible blends with PVC and/or other thermoplast plastisols in proportions higher than 30 parts thermoplast per 100 parts polyurethane without substantial degradation of physical properties. Also there remains a need in the art for a polyurethane composition which can employ an amine curing agent while retaining adequate storage stability, i.e., shelf life.
These needs are met by the present invention.

One package polyurethane/thermoplast plastisol composition


Managing a plurality of document versions saved in a cloud-based structured database management system. Allowing the user of a document creation application to add intelligence to objects within a document, thereby allowing the user to reconcile changes made to the document during a negotiation lifecycle.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of business management. More specifically, the invention relates to using structured data in a document creation application.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increased availability of computer systems and the ability to connect the computer systems using various networks such as intranets and the Internet, for example, has made vast repositories of information and cloud-managed software applications available to a large number of people. In many instances, having such a large amount of information at one's fingertips greatly enhances productivity.
These advances in information accessibility and processing have created other challenges, e.g., how to manage such a large collection of information. Many new tools have been developed to deal with the ever-expanding volume of information that is now available for consumption in an electronic form.
Some approaches to managing vast amounts of information utilize a structured database management system. Indeed, it is highly useful to access a structured database management system and run applications thereon, i.e. applications for managing customer or partner engagement, managing the contract process/lifecycle, and for automatically generating documents.
However, despite the ability to manage business relationships through an application with access to a structured database management system, most business relationships are memorialized using word processing software and managed by manual human analysis.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 13/423,280, filed Mar. 19, 2012, entitled "LINKING STRUCTURED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS WITH DOCUMENT CREATION TOOLS," discusses systems and methods of linking structured database management systems with document creation tools. Some embodiments of the invention involve a computer architecture including an add-in for linking document creation application with a structured database management system.