Provided are mechanisms and methods for performing actions associated with a portion of portal content provided to a user. These mechanisms and methods for performing the actions associated with the portion of the portal content can enable an improved user experience, increased efficiency, optimized productivity, etc. Further, the actions associated with the portion of the portal content can include manipulations requested by the user, such as an addition to, a removal of, and a rearrangement of the portion of the portal content.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Conventional systems may desire to present data associated with the system to a user. For example, systems may retrieve system data from a database and present it to a user utilizing a display. Unfortunately, data presentation techniques have been associated with various limitations.
Just by way of example, traditional methods of presenting system data to a user may involve a static layout and static display of one or more data elements that may not be in a format preferred by the user, and may not convey information desired by the user. Additionally, the display may be slow to load due at least in part to one or more data requests associated with the display. Accordingly, it is desirable to allow a user to manipulate a display of presented system data and to optimize the presentation of such system data.

System, method and computer program product for performing actions associated with a portal


There is disclosed a synthetic resin powder comprising a polymer made from an ethylenically unsaturated monomer or a diolefinic monomer and a polyvinyl alcohol chemically bonded through a sulfide bond at an end thereof to the surface of a particle of the polymer. Although the synthetic resin powder of the present invention can be in the form of powder during transportation, it can easily be dispersed in water by adding water thereto under stirring, because it is excellent in dispersibility in water and blocking resistance. The synthetic resin powder is excellent also in film forming properties, and thus can preferably be used as an admixture for a mortar, etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a synthetic resin powder excellent in dispersibility in water.
2. Description of the Related Arts
An aqueous emulsion comprising an aqueous medium and polymer particles with small particle diameters dispersed therein has been employed in a variety of uses such as admixtures for cement or mortar, adhesives, binders for coating materials and the like. However, such an aqueous emulsion has involved the problems of a high transportation cost because of water as a dispersion medium contained in an amount of about 50% by weight, and disposal of the containers after use.
Under such circumstances, there is a demand for a synthetic resin powder which, although being in the form of powder during transportation, can easily be dispersed in water by adding water thereto under stirring at the time of use.
As a synthetic resin powder having dispersibility in water, there are known a vinyl ester polymer powder obtained by spray-drying an aqueous emulsion obtained through an emulsion polymerization of a vinyl ester monomer by the use of a polyvinyl alcohol (hereinafter abbreviated as "PVA") as a dispersant (disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 185606/1992); and a (meth)acrylic ester polymer powder and a diolefinic polymer powder each obtained by spray-drying an aqueous emulsion obtained through an emulsion polymerization of a (meth)acrylic ester monomer or a diolefinic monomer by the use of a low molecular weight surfactant as a dispersant.
However, any of the conventional synthetic resin powders has involved the problem of low dispersibility in water. In addition in the case of a vinyl ester polymer powder, there has been the problem of low alkali-resistance when used as an admixture for a mortar.


An apparatus estimates charge/discharge electricity amount without being affected by current measurement error. Under specific selection conditions, a no-load voltage calculation part uses pairs of data consisting of current data I(n) and voltage data V(n) corresponding to the current data to calculate a no-load voltage Vsep as the voltage intercept at a current of zero in a straight-line approximation obtained by statistical processing such as regression analysis using a least squares method. If specific current conditions exist for a certain amount of time, an open circuit voltage calculation part calculates the terminal voltage of the secondary battery as the open circuit voltage Voc. An estimated charge/discharge electricity amount calculation part uses a preset change-in-voltage adjustment constant ΔVbc/adjustment coefficient Kb, change-in-electromotive-force constant Keq and polarization voltage generation constant Kpol to calculate the estimated charge/discharge electricity amount ΔQe as a function of the change ΔVb in the no-load or open circuit voltage over a predetermined period of time.

Conventionally in an HEV, the state of charge (SOC) of a secondary battery is estimated by computation from the detected voltage, current, temperature and other aspects of the secondary battery, and then SOC control is performed in order to optimize the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. In order to perform SOC control accurately, the SOC of the secondary battery must be estimated accurately as it is discharged and charged.
A conventional method for performing this SOC estimation is carried out as follows. First, the battery voltage V and the discharge or charge current I are measured over a predetermined period of time, and the integral ∫I of that current is calculated. In addition, a temperature T, a battery voltage V, and a function of the current integral ∫I are used to update the previous estimate of the polarization voltage of the cell Vc(t−1) to Vc(t), and find a correction voltage V′(=V−Vc(t)), and then a plurality of pairs of data, each pair consisting of the correction voltage V′ and the current I, are obtained and stored. From these pairs of data, regression analysis is used to find a first-order straight-line approximation (voltage V′-current I straight-line approximation), and the V intercept of the V′−I straight-line approximation is estimated to be the electromotive force E. The SOC is then estimated from the previous estimate of SOC, electromotive force E, the temperature T and the function of the current integral ∫I (e.g., JP 2001-223033A).
However, the conventional method for estimating SOC described above has the following problems.
First of all, the discharging or charging current flowing through the secondary battery is measured by a current sensor in order to estimate the SOC. When used in a HEV or the like, this current sensor must measure a large current and using a high-precision sensor would mean increased cost, so that the practical situation is such that it is necessary to use a low-cost and relatively imprecise sensor. For this reason, the current value detected by the current sensor contains a measurement error and this current error results in an error in the estimation of the SOC. Particularly in cases in which the rate of discharging or charging is smaller than the current error (cases such as when the current error is ±2 A compared to a rate of discharging or charging of 1 A), the behavior of the estimated SOC becomes extremely strange.
In addition, in the conventional method for estimating the SOC described above wherein the previous estimate of the polarization voltage of the cell Vc(t−1) is updated to Vc(t) as a function of the integral of the current measured by this current sensor so that the effect of the polarization voltage is taken into consideration, the previously calculated polarization voltage contains a current error, so that this current error becomes an error in the estimation of the polarization voltage and these errors accumulate, resulting in a problem wherein the error between the estimated value and the true value of the SOC becomes greater with the passage of time.

Method and apparatus for estimating the charge/discharge electricity amount of secondary batteries


A method for probabilistic packet marking in a network includes encoding Internet Protocol (IP) traceback information using b bits located in a packet header. The IP traceback information includes information on an IP traceback path back to a source system and a count of each type of packet. The method also includes forming the IP traceback path as packets are received by a destination system and completing the traceback path after a determined number of packets are received by the destination system.

On a network of computers such as the Internet, a denial of service (DoS) attack is an incident in which a user or organization is deprived of the services of a resource they would normally expect to have. Typically, the loss of service is the inability of a particular network service, such as e-mail, to be available or the temporary loss of all network connectivity and services. In the worst cases, for example, a Web site accessed by millions of people can occasionally be forced to temporarily cease operation. Although usually intentional and malicious, a DoS attack can sometimes happen accidentally. A DoS attack is a type of security breach to a computer system that does not usually result in the theft of information or other security loss. However, these attacks can cost the victim a great deal of time and money.
In some cases, to find the attacker, an Internet Protocol (IP) traceback path is constructed. The traceback path is the path from the victim's site back to the attacker's site. It is often useful to learn the path that packets take through the network (e.g., Internet) between sites. This is especially important for dealing with certain DoS attacks, where a source IP is forged. There are other uses as well, including path characterization and detection of asymmetric routes. There are existing path tracing tools, such as traceroute. However, the traceroute is initiated at the attacker's site and is therefore useless to the victim's site. When forwarding packets, routers can, with a low probability, generate a traceback message that is sent along to the destination. With enough traceback messages from enough routers along the path, the traffic source and path can be determined. However, traceback generates additional traffic over the network.
One IP traceback technique is called a probabilistic packet marking (PPM) technique. PPM is the process of setting the bits allocated to IP traceback randomly, and then using this to determine the path of attack. The process of using these bits to store a router ID and a hop count is one example of PPM. In a packet-switching network, a hop is the trip a data packet takes from one router or intermediate point to another in the network. On the Internet (or a network that uses TCP/IP), the number of hops a packet has taken toward its destination (called the "hop count") is kept in the packet header. Every router forwards a packet independently of other routers with some probability, p, that it writes its unique router ID to those bits and sets the hop count to zero. Thus, a probability that the router ID is left unchanged and the hop count is incremented is equal to 1−p. When the attacker is performing a DoS operation on the target system (e.g., victim) by sending a stream of packets along a path, L, if p=(1/L), then after the victim has received L(log(L)) packets, the victim knows the entire traceback path to the attacker.


A lever assembly is connected to a wiper arm and holds a wiper strip together with a backing plate, which is installed in the wiper strip. The lever assembly includes a plurality of levers. Each lever has a finned portion, in which a fin is integrally formed. The finned portion of each lever forms a mountain fold that has a top ridge. The top ridge of the lever is offset from the center line of the wiper strip on one side of the center line of the wiper strip in a transverse direction that is perpendicular to the center line of the wiper strip. The fin is formed in the finned portion of the lever on the other side of the center line of the wiper strip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiper blade, which includes a fin that receives a head wind to limit lifting of the wiper blade from a surface of a glass at the time of driving a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a wiper blade, which wipes a front glass (windshield glass) of a vehicle, has a lever assembly. The lever assembly includes a plurality of levers that are linked together in tournament style. Furthermore, a wiper strip, to which a backing plate is installed, is installed to the lever assembly. Such a wiper blade could be lifted away from a surface (a wiping surface) of the front glass by a head wind, which is applied to the wiper blade from a front side of the traveling vehicle. To address the above disadvantage, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-234353 discloses a wiper blade, which includes a fin member (a blade spoiler). The fin member has a slant surface for generating a resistive urging force upon receiving the head wind applied to the wiper blade from the front side of the traveling vehicle. The resistive urging force, which is generated by the fin member, urges the wiper blade against the surface of the front glass to limit the lifting of the wiper blade from the surface of the front glass.
However, in the case of the wiper blade recited in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-234353, the fin member is provided separately from the lever assembly and thus needs to be installed to the lever assembly. This requires additional work for installing the fin member to the lever assembly.
Alternatively, a fin, which functions in a manner similar to that of the above fin member, may be formed integrally in each lever of the lever assembly. However, a size of such a fin needs to be increased to achieve a sufficient urging force for urging the entire wiper blade against the surface of the front glass by receiving the head wind at the time of driving the vehicle. Furthermore, when the size of the fin is simply increased, the fin significantly protrudes in a transverse direction of the wiper blade, causing obstruction of the field of view of the driver on his/her front side during the operation of the wiper at the time of driving the vehicle.


This invention relates to compounds, compositions, and methods useful for reducing C5 target RNA and protein levels via use of dsRNAs, e.g., Dicer substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) agents.

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH; also called Marchiafava-Micheli syndrome) is a rare, generally acquired (Luzzatto, L. Blood 122 (7): 1099-1100), life-threatening disease of the blood characterized by complement-induced intravascular hemolytic anemia (anemia due to destruction of red blood cells in the bloodstream), red urine (due to the appearance of hemoglobin in the urine) and thrombosis.
PNH is the only hemolytic anemia which is most often caused by an acquired (rather than inherited) intrinsic defect in the cell membrane (deficiency of glycophosphatidylinositol leading to absence of protective proteins on the membrane; Kumar Vinay et al. Robbins Basic Pathology (8th ed.). Saunders Elsevier. p. 432). It may develop on its own ("primary PNH") or in the context of other bone marrow disorders such as aplastic anemia ("secondary PNH"). Only a minority (26%) have the telltale red urine in the morning that originally gave the condition its name (Parker et al. Blood 106 (12): 3699-709). Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is the only curative therapy, but has significant rates of both mortality and ongoing morbidity.
The monoclonal antibody eculizumab (Soliris) has been found to be effective at reducing the need for blood transfusions, improving quality of life, and reducing the risk of thrombosis (Brodsky, R A Blood 113 (26): 6522-7). Eculizumab specifically binds to the terminal Complement component 5, or C5, which acts at a late stage in the complement cascade. When activated, C5 is involved in activating host cells, thereby attracting pro-inflammatory immune cells, while also destroying cells by triggering pore formation. By inhibiting the complement cascade at this point, the normal, disease-preventing functions of proximal complement system are largely preserved, while the properties of C5 that promote inflammation and cell destruction are impeded (Brodsky et al. (2009) Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice (Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone): 385-395).
A need exists for additional therapies that target C5, for use either as a substitute or in combination with eculizumab.
Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) agents possessing strand lengths of 25 to 35 nucleotides have been described as effective inhibitors of target gene expression in mammalian cells (Rossi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,084,599 and U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0277610). dsRNA agents of such length are believed to be processed by the Dicer enzyme of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway, leading such agents to be termed "Dicer substrate siRNA" ("DsiRNA") agents. Additional modified structures of DsiRNA agents were previously described (Rossi et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0265220). Effective extended forms of Dicer substrates have also recently been described (Brown, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,349,809 and 8,513,207).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and compositions for the specific inhibition of complement component 5(C5) by double-stranded RNA


A VoIP device has at least one programmable button to enable the user to initiate a VoIP or SIP call to another device. The button can be programmed by the device user, the device manufacturer, and/or a VoIP service provider. The VoIP device does not have a dial pad, visual numbers display, or other certain standard features on a SIP phone. Thus, the VoIP device allows simplified dedicated communication. Numerous uses are possible, which result in advantages over conventional SIP phones.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to Voice over IP (VoIP) devices.
2. Related Art
Broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services are becoming more and more prevalent in today's communications. VoIP enables voice calls using Internet Protocol ("IP") networks, such as the Internet, corporate intranets, or any IP network, as an alternative to traditional public switched telephone networks ("PSTN"). Unlike the PSTN, which is circuit-switched, the Internet is packet-switched. As such, communication on the Internet is accomplished by transmitting and receiving packets of data. In addition to data, each packet contains a destination address to ensure that it is routed correctly. The format of these packets is defined by the IP. One type of allowable data is encoded, digitized voice, known as Voice over IP. VoIP is voice that is packetized as defined by IP, and communicated over the Internet for telephone-like communication. Individual VoIP packets may travel over different network paths to reach the final destination where the packets are reassembled in correct sequence to reconstruct the voice information.
As broadband penetration continues to rise, device manufacturers and service providers are looking towards increased uses for VoIP services. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) enables multi-user sessions regardless of media content using VoIP networks. SIP is a signaling protocol that can initiate, manage, and terminate voice sessions across packet networks, resulting in increased functionality and capability over traditional analog phones, digital phones, and even VoIP phones. A common feature in these types of phones, including SIP phones, is a dial pad, which enables the user to connect to a desired destination device by entering the appropriate sequence of numbers.
However, this has some inherent disadvantages. For example, when the user is in a hurry, remembering a desired phone number may be difficult and then entering the number can also add increased delays. Many phones now have speed dial buttons or pre-programmed buttons that enable the user to dial a number by simply pressing one button. However, a dial pad is still required in order to program the buttons, and a display is typically present, both of which increase the cost of the phone. Such phones can add additional cost since they can be used to call virtually any number and may have many other features other than just calling. The ability to call any number, while providing the user increased flexibility, also makes it hard to limit the types of calls from the phone.
Therefore, there is a need for a VoIP device that allows communication with another device while overcoming the disadvantages of conventional devices and methods discussed above.
Embodiments of the present invention and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures.

Voice over IP device with programmable buttons


An image capture apparatus includes an internal recording unit and a communication unit. The internal recording unit starts recording AV data including image and sound data on a recording medium in response to a record start instruction, and stops recording the AV data on the recording medium in response to a record stop instruction. If the image capture apparatus determines that an external storage device is connected to the communication unit, the image capture apparatus starts outputting the AV data to the external storage device in response to the record start instruction. If the image capture apparatus determines that the internal recording unit becomes unable to record the AV data on the recording medium and the communication unit is outputting the AV data, the image capture apparatus stops outputting the AV data to the external storage device in response to the record stop instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus for outputting AV (Audio Video) data including image data and sound data to an external, and to its control method.
2. Related Background Art
Camera-integrated digital video recorders have been developed recently which have a digital interface (IEEE1394 interface) in conformity with the IEEE1394-1995 standards.
External storage devices have also been developed recently which can record AV data digitally output from an IEEE1394 interface of a camera-integrated digital video recorder.
If a user desires to record AV data recorded by a camera-integrated digital video recorder in an external storage device, the user interconnects the camera-integrated digital video recorder and external storage device, instructs the camera-integrated digital video recorder to start recording, and at the same time instructs the external storage device to start recording.
With this method, a user is required to instruct both the camera-integrated digital video recorder and external storage device to start recording. This operation is cumbersome and a user load is large.

Image pickup apparatus and method for the output of AV data and the control of the output of AV data to an external storage device


Systems, methods, devices and subassemblies for creating and delivering a GNSS augmentation service include one or more reference stations for receiving signals transmitted by navigation beacons and an augmentation server coupled to the reference stations. At least one of the reference stations is able to receive at least one of the signals from a low earth orbit satellite. Each of the reference stations determines first navigation observables based on the received signals and transmit information associated with the first navigation observables to the augmentation server. The augmentation server is configured to determine and distribute augmentation information to a receiver. The augmentation information is based on the received information associated with the first navigation observables, locations of the reference stations, and computational models. The distributed augmentation information is usable by the receiver to determine a high-precision position, velocity, and time solution for the receiver based on second navigation observables associated with the receiver.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the determination and generation of models and/or other augmentation information that may be used to support high-precision position, velocity, and/or timing (PVT) solutions based on signals received from overhead assets such as satellites and, in particular, to techniques suitable for providing rapid acquisition access to such PVT solutions without resort to a generally proximate, terrestrial ground station with a fixed and precisely known position.
Description of the Related Art
Radio signals have been used as an aid to navigation and to obtain position estimates for decades. In much the same way that sailors could navigate near land using two or more light houses, the earliest systems used a directional antenna that determined a bearing to two or more radio transmitters. As long as line of sight could be maintained between the receiver and the two or more radio transmitters, a location of the receiver could be determined by triangulating the known locations of the two or more radio transmitters and the bearings to each of those radio transmitters. And although this approach may generally provide just a horizontal location (latitude and longitude) of the receiver, this may be adequate for localized navigation, such as the landing of aircraft or the navigation of ships around nearby navigational hazards.
Limiting radio navigation systems to local two-dimensional positioning, however, does not address many interesting positioning problems. For example, surveyors often desire to know the height/altitude of a location as well as its latitude and longitude, and pilots of aircraft often desire to know their altitude. To address these desires, more complex and longer distance radio navigation systems are typically utilized. Many of these radio navigation systems rely on the basic principle that radio waves generally propagate through the air at a known speed. By measuring the length of time it takes for a radio wave to propagate between a transmitter and a receiver, a distance between the transmitter and the receiver may be determined. By using the distance between the receiver and several transmitters with known locations, it is possible to determine the position of the transmitter by trilateration. For example, by using three transmitters, it is possible to determine the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the receiver. As additional transmitters are used and detected by the receiver, additional variables may be removed from the solution. For example, by adding time information to the radio signals, a fourth transmitter may be used to solve for the current time at the receiver.
Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) navigation, and more broadly Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) navigation, has become the standard for most military and civilian radio navigation applications. There exist in both military and civil sectors hundreds of millions of GPS or GNSS receivers that are used daily to provide real-time positioning and navigation. The GPS system is based on a constellation of approximately 24 to 32 middle-earth orbit (MEO) satellites that broadcast continuous carrier wave signals. A GPS receiver typically relies on the ability to receive signals from four or more satellites allowing the receiver to determine latitude, longitude, altitude, and time error at the receiver. For a typical GPS receiver, accuracy in location to within about 10 meters may be rapidly obtained.
To obtain higher precision PVT solutions for a GNSS receiver typically requires an augmentation to the general GNSS infrastructure. Traditional augmentation approaches for satellite navigation techniques include real time kinematic (RTK) and differential GPS (DGPS) precise point positioning (PPP) techniques that are commonly used in surveying and high accuracy timing applications. In a typical RTK system, a base station is installed in a fixed and known location. Once the base station is able to obtain a PVT solution from the satellite transmissions, it is able to transmit any differences between its known location and the PVT solution as a correction signal to a nearby mobile or roving unit. RTK systems are typically fairly expensive, require time to set-up the base station, and the base station and mobile unit need to stay within a close proximity to each other. In a typical PPP system, a network of fixed reference stations receive the satellite signals and generate correction information that is distributed to the GNSS receiver using satellites or other terrestrial-based wireless technology, such as a cellular network. While less expensive than RTK systems, a GNSS receiver in a PPP system generally takes up to 30 minutes to converge on a high precision PVT solution and provides poor coverage at high latitudes or in challenging environments such as cities, steep terrain, and heavily wooded areas.
Improved techniques are desired.


A method and apparatus for preventing starvation in a slotted-ring network. Embodiments may include a ring interconnect to transmit bits, with one of the bits being a slot reservation bit, and nodes coupled to the ring interconnect, with each node comprising a starvation detection element and a slot reservation element to reserve a slot for future use. In further embodiments, each node may also comprise a slot tracking element to track the location of the slot reserved by that node.

A network is a group of two or more nodes that are linked together. Flow control mechanisms in networks govern the transfer of data packets from a source node to a destination node. One type of network is a slotted-ring network, in which there are a fixed number of time slots ("slots") rotating around a transmission medium in a circular (or ring) topology. The transmission medium carries packets within these slots from source nodes to destination nodes. A slot may be referred to as "available" if it is not carrying a valid packet, and may be referred to as "busy" if it is carrying a valid packet. A slotted-ring network is said to exhibit the characteristic of "spatial reuse" if after a destination node sinks a packet from a slot, that slot become available so that another node on the ring can inject a packet into that slot.
In a slotted-ring network, traffic already on the ring has priority over traffic entering the ring. A slotted-ring network may be referred to as in a "starvation" situation if one of the nodes n on the network repeatedly fails to inject a packet onto the ring because the ring is continually busy carrying packets past that node n. This situation could persist indefinitely and may prevent the node that is suffering from starvation from ever making forward progress.
Slotted-ring networks having spatial reuse that have been employed in local area networks ("LANs") have implemented starvation management techniques that focus on maintaining fairness. Such fairness schemes ensure that the nodes on the ring network are allocated an equal amount of ring bandwidth.

Method and apparatus for preventing starvation in a slotted-ring network


A touch sensing display device includes: a display panel; a capacitive touch panel disposed on a front surface of the display panel; a digitizer disposed on a surface of the display panel; a sensor driving unit which sequentially applies scanning signals to the capacitive touch panel and the digitizer, where each of the scanning signal is applied simultaneously to the capacitive touch panel and the digitizer; and a sensing unit which senses sensing signals of the capacitive touch panel and the digitizer, in which the sensing unit receives the sensing signal of the capacitive touch panel and the sensing signal of the digitizer at different times.

(a) Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a touch sensing display device, and more particularly, to a touch sensing display device which may sense touches by a finger and a pen.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, a flat panel display having a touch sensor embedded therein has been developed. The touch sensor senses a change in pressure or intensity of light, which occurs due to a touch by a user's finger, a touch pen, a stylus or the like, and provides an electrical signal corresponding to the sensed change to a display device. The display device having the touch sensor generally determines whether a touch occurs and a position of the touch based on the electrical signal, and transmits information on the touch to an external device which transmits an image signal based on the touched information to the display device.
Generally, the display device which senses a touch by the finger does not recognize a touch by the pen, and the display device which senses the touch by the pen does not recognize the touch by the finger.
Recently, the display device which senses all of the touches by the finger and the pen is being developed, and such a display device typically includes two separate sensing devices, e.g., a touch panel which senses a finger and a digitizer which senses the pen.

Touch sensing display device for sensing different touches using one driving signal


In a system and method for the frequency management of processors or blades to allow capacity on demand a requestor of the computer system develops a need for an increased performance from the computer system. The requester then sends a request to the grantor of the computer for an increase in the computer performance. If the grantor authorizes the request, the grantor sends the requestor the requisite information needed to increase the frequency associated with blades or processors in the computer system. The computer system is then operated at an increased frequency to satisfy the demand.

Bladed servers, or bladed computer systems, are computing systems that provision servers or other computer resources on individual cards, or blades. There are many types of blades—server blades, storage blades, network blades, etc.—and one or more of each type of blade is typically housed together in a single structure, thus creating high-density computing systems with modular architectures, ensuring flexibility and scalability of the systems, and reducing space requirements. Server blades, along with storage, networking, and other blades, are typically installed in a rack-mountable enclosure, or chassis, which hosts multiple blades. The multiple blades share common resources such as cabling, power supplies, and cooling fans.
The telecommunications industry has been using blade server technology for many years. More generally, the condensed blade server architecture benefits people and businesses that: (1) use the Internet to generate revenue and to provide services to customers; (2) are moving some of their business processes to the Web; and/or (3) need the flexibility to deploy Internet-edge applications in their own data center. Because of recent developments in technology, blade servers are now used for applications such as Web hosting, Web caching, and content streaming.
In Web caching applications, frequently-requested Web content is stored closer to the user, thus allowing for quicker retrieval of objects by the user and reducing the time and bandwidth required to access the Internet. Since companies and individuals are now streaming media (e.g., video and audio) to more effectively communicate both internally and externally, a massive growth of rich media content delivery on the Internet has occurred. Bladed servers are being used to meet the new demands created as a result of this growth.
Though bladed servers provide many advantages, several engineering challenges arise when using bladed servers. Among these challenges is the challenge of designing and operating a bladed system such that sufficient heat is dissipated in the limited space available in the chassis that hosts the system. Some known power limiting strategies include powering down a CPU functional unit, e.g., a floating-point unit or an on-die cache, or trading off speed for reduced power consumption in a hard drive. To address heat dissipation challenges, bladed server systems are designed within an underlying power and thermal envelope. For example, when a chassis that hosts a bladed system has a limited amount of airflow available to cool the blades (i.e., when the system can only dissipate a limited amount of heat), then the chassis is designed for a limited amount of power consumption and an associated limited performance of the blades.
Engineering challenges currently occur in bladed systems when a user wishes to increase the capacity or performance of a bladed system, i.e., increase the capacity of the system on demand. Some bladed computer systems are sold with an infrastructure in place for a specific amount of capacity based on future requirements. Initially, only a portion of the system is turned on and available for the customer to use. As the user's future requirements increase, e.g., performance or memory, the user may request more capacity on demand and alter the system to increase the performance of the system.
Prior solutions required a user to purchase new, additional, or upgraded hardware to add to the system. This method of increasing the capacity on demand requires an expert in hardware configuration to reconfigure the hardware.
Another known method of increasing the capacity on demand includes shipping a bladed system to a customer that includes components that are not turned on or available for use by the user of the system. For example, a typical application of this method would be to turn on an additional processor as the user's need increased. This method requires the component or processor to sit for an undetermined amount of time, and therefore, the capacity of the system to be increased in discrete units, i.e., by one or more processors.

System and method for the frequency management of computer systems to allow capacity on demand

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A rebounder for rebounding a ball includes a base; a frame pivotally connected to the base for adjusting an angle of the frame relative to the base, the frame including a first member having a first maximum dimension and a second member having a second maximum dimension less than the first member, the second member structurally supported by the first member; a rebounding mat; a plurality of springs coupling the rebounding mat to the first member, and wherein the second member is disposed forward of the springs and configured to protect the springs from contact by the ball.

Sports ball rebounders include a rebounding surface and a frame that carries the rebounding surface. A sports ball is thrown by a user at the rebounder and the rebounder returns the sports ball back to the user. A sports ball rebounder can be used for sports and/or exercise training for a wide variety of sports and/or exercising purposes.


A marking system surface material includes a fluoroelastomer including grafted fluorinated polymers. The fluoroelastomer is a perfluoropolyether-grafted fluoroelastomer formed using an alkoxy-terminated fluorosilicone component, and exhibiting high contact angle and low sliding angle.

Many composites of fluoroelastomers and fluoropolymers have been used in a variety of marking subsystem technology over the years. Fluoroelastomers are attractive for their excellent thermal and chemical properties, as well as their release properties when used with some toner and ink marking materials. There is a need for new fluorinated polymers that enable development and production of enhanced marking system materials.

Fluoroelastomers for marking system components, including grafted fluorinated polymers


In a membrane distillation process in which a liquid to be concentrated is separated from a vapor space (11) by a vapor-permeable liquid- or water-tight membrane or membrane wall (13), to set the absolute pressure of the liquid to be concentrated a reduced pressure is imparted to this which lowers the absolute pressure of the liquid to be concentrated. A corresponding membrane distillation device is also specified.

During the distillation liquid is vaporized and the vapor is condensed. It is suitable for the separation of liquids having differing vapor pressure and for the full or partial separation of liquids from salt solutions.
A distillation apparatus which can be used, realized and is practicable must be both favorably priced and also energy-efficient. A distillation process is only expedient when both conditions are satisfied.
In classic thermal distillation processes such as the multi-effect relaxation vaporization or multi-stage relaxation vaporization (Multiple Stage Flash MSF) and in thermo-mechanical processes such as the vapor compression process (Vapor Compression VR) the liquid to be concentrated and the vapor are in one space and essentially at the same absolute pressure.
In the membrane distillation process the liquid to be concentrated is bounded at least at one side by a vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane. This membrane wall is followed by a vapor space which is located at a lower vapor pressure than the liquid to be concentrated. Through the pressure difference vapor arises at the boundary surface of the liquid to be concentrated to the membrane and passes through the membrane.
In the known membrane distillation process the vapor is precipitated at the side of the membrane remote from the liquid in the adjacent colder condensate or the vapor is condensed at a colder surface in the vapor space or it is sucked off and condensed outside.
In the membrane distillation a porous, vapor permeable material is used. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,186 an apparatus is described which utilizes an air-filled, micro-porous, hydrophobic membrane. The method described here is based on a direct contact membrane distillation. The warm flow of sea water and the cold flow of distillate are in direct contact with the membrane.
In EP-A-0 088 315 an apparatus is described for the continuous distillation of a hot salt-containing solution or of liquid mixtures with differing vapor pressure.
This apparatus consists of a thermally conductive, vapor impermeable layer which forms an elongate wall, a hydrophobic, vapor permeable membrane which forms an adjacent or oppositely disposed wall and forms an elongate distillate collection chamber or passage together with the vapor impermeable layer. The chamber has an outlet for the distillate. For the preferred embodiment of this membrane distillation a spiral coil configuration is used. Cold sea water or feed flows in a spiral-shaped chamber into the middle and thereby takes up heat from the condensation surface. The feed preheated by the condensation process of the distillate is now further heated by a heating system and then led into the concentrate channel. The hot solution flows outwardly through the channel bounded by the membrane. On flowing through the concentrate channel a part of the solution vaporizes through the membrane.
In EP A 1 185 356 a process for the cleaning of a liquid by membrane distillation is described, in which vapor from a liquid flow arises and passes through a porous wall bounding the liquid flow. The vapor condenses at a cold condenser surface whereby a flow of condensate is formed. The condenser surface separates a supplied liquid flow from the distillate flow. This supplied liquid flow flows in counter-flow to the vapor yielding liquid flow. In order to enlarge the distillate flow a pressure is maintained in the gas channel which, however, lies below the environmental pressure, but above the vapor pressure of the liquid yielding the vapor.
There are now a series of problems which arise in connection with the known membrane distillation processes.
In all known membrane distillation processes in which a vapor space is used this vapor space is separated from the liquid to be vaporized by a vapor permeable, water-tight membrane. This leads in all known membrane distillation processes to a situation in which the vapor space and the space containing the liquid to be concentrated which is bounded by the vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane are at different absolute pressures.
In membrane distillation processes in which the vapor space is located at a pressure in the region of the environmental pressure the solution is at a pressure level above the environmental pressure, with this pressure level being composed of by the static pressure and the hydraulic pressure loss. This leads to an absolute pressure difference between the space containing the liquid to be vaporized and the space containing the vapor which is separated by the vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane.
In membrane distillation processes in which the vapor space is at a pressure level below the environmental pressure the absolute pressure difference between the space containing the liquid to be concentrated and the space containing the vapor which is separated by the vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane is increased by the negative pressure.
This pressure difference between the space containing the liquid to be concentrated and the vapor space, in many applications also associated with a temperature loading of the vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane by the heated liquid to be concentrated, leads to a high mechanical and thermal loading of the membrane. This substantially reduces the lifetime of the membrane which mainly consists of plastic.
A further problem results in membrane distillation processes in which the heat transfer essentially takes place by condensation and subsequent vaporization. If the heat transport namely takes place through the liquid space, which is bounded on one side by a vapor permeable, liquid-tight membrane and on the other side by a vapor-tight and liquid-tight condensation surface, essentially only by heat conduction in the liquid then, in relation to the condensation and vaporization, only a small quantity of heat can be transferred. The heat quantities comparable to the heat of condensation can only be transferred in the space containing the liquid to be concentrated when boiling can be achieved in this space.

Membrane distillation process and membrane distillation device


A method and a system for creating a collective point-cloud data from a plurality of local point-cloud data including the steps of: providing scanner data containing a plurality of local point-cloud data and relatively low-precision positioning data of the scanner providing the local point-cloud data, creating a relatively medium-precision collective point-cloud data from the plurality of local point-cloud data using external (medium-precision) positioning data associated with each of said plurality of local point-cloud data, and then creating a relatively high-precision collective point-cloud data from said medium-precision collective point-cloud data.

It is well known in the art to produce a three-dimensional (3D) point-cloud model of a physical entity. Such point-cloud can be produced by a probing device, which probes the surface of a physical object. Such probing can be tactile, optical, electro-magnetic, etc. The 3-D probing machine, namely a scanner, and typically a laser-scanner, creates a set of 3D points, namely a point-cloud, describing the shape and/or surface features of the object.
Creating a point-cloud for a large object or entity (these terms can be used in this documents interchangeably unless differentiated explicitly), such as a building or an urban environment, requires a large number of scans producing a large number of partial or local point-clouds, that have to be fused together to create a complete or global point-cloud of the entity. The terms object and entity, and the terms partial and local (with respect to point-cloud) can be used in this document interchangeably unless differentiated explicitly.
Typically, at least some of these scans require moving the scanner about the entity, therefore creating a problem of alignment of the plurality of local point-clouds to produce a complete and accurate global point-cloud.
Currently, the process of aligning local point-clouds is highly complex and requires massive processing power, human involvement, and time, and yet produces an imprecise global point-cloud.
There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a system and a method for fusing a plurality of local-point clouds into an accurate global point-cloud devoid of the above limitations.


A network for transporting power and multiplexed data and digital telephone signals. The network includes at least three nodes and first and second wiring segments in a building for carrying the multiplexed data and digital telephone signals, and at least one of the segments is configured to additionally carry a power signal. A power consuming component is connected to the at least one wiring segment and is powered by the power signal carried by that segment. Each wiring segment connects a different pair of the nodes together to form, with nodes nodes, a packet based bi-directional communication link. One of the nodes contains communication link composed of a repeater, a bridge, or a router connectable to a data unit. At least one of the nodes is connected to a remote data unit external to the building for coupling the remote data unit to at least one of said communication links.

FIG. 1 shows the wiring configuration for a prior-art telephone system 10 for a residence or other building, wired with a telephone line 5. Residence telephone line 5 consists of single wire pair which connects to a junction-box 16, which in turn connects to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) 18 via a cable 17, terminating in a public switch 19, apparatus which establishes and enables telephony from one telephone to another. The term "analog telephony" herein denotes traditional analog low-frequency audio voice signals typically under 3 KHz, sometimes referred to as "POTS" ("plain old telephone service"), whereas the term "telephony" in general denotes any kind of telephone service, including digital service such as Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The term "high-frequency" herein denotes any frequency substantially above such analog telephony audio frequencies, such as that used for data. ISDN typically uses frequencies not exceeding 100 Khz (typically the energy is concentrated around 40 Khz). The term "telephone line" herein denotes electrically-conducting lines which are intended primarily for the carrying and distribution of analog telephony, and includes, but is not limited to, such lines which may be pre-existing within a building and which may currently provide analog telephony service. The term "telephone device" herein denotes, without limitation, any apparatus for telephony (including both analog telephony and ISDN), as well as any device using telephony signals, such as fax, voice-modem, and so forth.
Junction box 16 is used to separate the in-home circuitry from the PSTN and is used as a test facility for troubleshooting as well as for wiring new telephone outlets in the home. A plurality of telephones 13a, 13b, and 13c connects to telephone line 5 via a plurality of telephone outlets 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d. Each telephone outlet has a connector (often referred to as a "jack"), denoted in FIG. 1 as 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d, respectively. Each telephone outlet may be connected to a telephone via a connector (often referred to as a "plug"), denoted in FIG. 1 (for the three telephone illustrated) as 14a, 14b, and 14c, respectively. It is also important to note that lines 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, and 5e are electrically the same paired conductors.
There is a requirement for using the existing telephone infrastructure for both telephone and data networking. In this way, the task of establishing a new local area network in a home or other building is simplified, because there would be no additional wires to install. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,402 to Crane (hereinafter referred to as "Crane") teaches a way to form LAN over two-wire telephone lines, but without the telephone service.
The concept of frequency domain/division multiplexing (FDM) is well-known in the art, and provides means of splitting the bandwidth carried by a wire into a low-frequency band capable of carrying an analog telephony signal and a high-frequency band capable of carrying data communication or other signals. Such a mechanism is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,448 to Reichert et al. (hereinafter referred to as "Reichert"). Also is widely used are xDSL systems, primarily Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop (ADSL) systems.
Relevant prior art in this field is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,443 to Dichter (hereinafter referred to as "Dichter"). Dichter is the first to suggest a method and apparatus for applying such a technique for residence telephone wiring, enabling simultaneously carrying telephone and data communication signals. The Dichter network is illustrated in FIG. 2, which shows a network 20 serving both telephones and a local area network. Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) units 24a, 24b, and 24c are connected to the local area network via Data Communication Equipment (DCE) units 23a, 23b, and 23c, respectively. Examples of Data Communication Equipment include modems, line drivers, line receivers, and transceivers. DCE units 23a, 23b, and 23c are respectively connected to high pass filters (HPF) 22a, 22b, and 22c. The HPF's allow the DCE units access to the high-frequency band carried by telephone line 5. In a first embodiment (not shown in FIG. 2), telephones 13a, 13b, and 13c are directly connected to telephone line 5 via connectors 14a, 14b, and 14c, respectively. However, in order to avoid interference to the data network caused by the telephones, a second embodiment is suggested (shown in FIG. 2), wherein low pass filters (LPF's) 21a, 21b, and 21c are added to isolate telephones 13a, 13b, and 13c from telephone line 5. Furthermore, a low pass filter must also be connected to Junction-Box 16, in order to filter noises induced from or to the PSTN wiring 17. As is the case in FIG. 1, it is important to note that lines 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, and 5e are electrically the same paired conductors.
However, the Dichter network suffers from degraded data communication performance, because of the following drawbacks:                1. Induced noise in the band used by the data communication network is distributed throughout the network. The telephone line within a building serves as a long antenna, receiving electromagnetic noise produced from outside the building or by local equipment such as air-conditioning systems, appliances, and so forth. Electrical noise in the frequency band used by the data communication network can be induced in the extremities of telephone line 5 (line 5e or 5a in FIG. 2) and propagated via telephone line 5 throughout the whole system. This is liable to cause errors in the data transportation.        2. The wiring media consists of a single long wire (telephone line 5). In order to ensure a proper impedance match to this transmission-line, it is necessary to install terminators at each end of telephone line S. One of the advantages of using the telephone infrastructure for a data network, however, is to avoid replacing the internal wiring. Thus, either such terminators must be installed at additional cost, or suffer the performance problems associated with an impedance mismatch.        3. In the case where LPF 21 is not fitted to the telephones 13, each connected telephone appears as a non-terminated stub, and this is liable to cause undesirable signal reflections.        4. In one embodiment, LPF 21 is to be attached to each telephone 13. In such a configuration, an additional modification to the telephone itself is required. This further makes the implementation of such system complex and costly, and defeats the purpose of using an existing telephone line and telephone sets 'as is' for a data network.        5. The data communication network used in the Dichter network supports only the 'bus' type of data communication network, wherein all devices share the same physical media Such topology suffers from a number of drawbacks, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,360 to the present inventor, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Dichter also discloses drawbacks of the bus topology, including the need for bus mastering and logic to contend with the data packet collision problem. Topologies that are preferable to the bus topology include the Token-Ring (IEEE 803), the PSIC network according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,360, and other point-to-point networks known in the art (such as a serial point-to-point 'daisy chain' network). Such networks are in most cases superior to 'bus' topology systems.
The above drawbacks affect the data communication performance of the Dichter network, and therefore limit the total distance and the maximum data rate such a network can support. In addition, the Dichter network typically requires a complex and therefore costly transceiver to support the data communication system. While the Reichert network relies on a star topology and does not suffer from these drawbacks of the bus topology, the star topology also has disadvantages. First, the star topology requires a complex and costly hub module, whose capacity limits the capacity of the network. Furthermore, the star configuration requires that there exist wiring from every device on the network to a central location, where the hub module is situated. This may be impractical and/or expensive to achieve, especially in the case where the wiring of an existing telephone system is to be utilized. The Reichert network is intended for use only in offices where a central telephone connection point already exists. Moreover, the Reichert network requires a separate telephone line for each separate telephone device, and this, too, may be impractical and/or expensive to achieve.
Although the above-mentioned prior-art networks utilize existing in-home telephone lines and feature easy installation and use without any additions or modifications to the telephone line infrastructure (wires, outlets, etc.), they require dedicated, non-standard, and complex DCE's, modems, and filters, and cannot employ standard interfaces. For example, Ethernet (such as IEEE802.3) and other standards are commonly used for personal computers communication in Local Area network (LAN) environments. With prior-art techniques, in order to support communication between computers, each computer must be equipped with an additional modem for communicating over the telephone line. Whether these additional modems are integrated into the computer (e.g. as plug-in or built-in hardware) or are furnished as external units between the computer and the telephone line, additional equipment is required. The prior-art networks therefore incur additional cost, space, installation labor, electricity, and complexity. It would therefore be desirable to provide a network which contains integral therewith the necessary standard interfaces, thereby obviating the need to provide such interfaces in the DTE's.
There is thus a widely-recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a means for implementing a data communication network using existing telephone lines of arbitrary topology, which continues to support analog telephony, while also allowing for improved communication characteristics by supporting a point-to-point topology network.
Furthermore, there is also a need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a means and method for implementing such an in-house data communication network using existing telephone lines, wherein the DTE's (e.g. computers, appliances) can be interconnected solely by using standard interfaces, without the need for modifications or adding external units to the DTE's.

Telephone outlet for implementing a local area network over telephone lines and a local area network using such outlets


A method and apparatus for managing page-response intervals. When a network entity receives a paging trigger signal, the entity determines a page-response interval to use for paging the mobile station, based on one or more factors such as (i) whether the communication is to be provided to the mobile station over the same air interface and/or same air interface protocol that will carry the paging to the mobile station and/or (ii) what network, interface, or other entity the trigger signal comes from and/or what network communication module receives the trigger signal. The network entity then uses the determined page-response interval when paging the mobile station, waiting that determined period of time after each page attempt before attempting to page again or before concluding that the paging effort failed.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical cellular wireless network includes a number of base stations that radiate to define wireless coverage areas, such as cells and cell sectors, in which mobile stations such as cell phones, tablet computers, tracking devices, embedded wireless modules, and other wirelessly equipped communication devices, can operate. In turn, each base station may be coupled with equipment that provides connectivity with one or more transport networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a mobile station operating in coverage of the network may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other mobile stations served by the base station.
In general, a cellular wireless system may operate in accordance with a particular air interface protocol or "radio access technology," with communications from the base stations to UEs defining a downlink or forward link and communications from the UEs to the base stations defining an uplink or reverse link. Examples of existing air interface protocols include, without limitation, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, MMDS, WI-FI, and BLUETOOTH. Each protocol may define its own procedures for initiation of calls, handoff between coverage areas, and functions related to air interface communication.
In accordance with the air interface protocol, each coverage area may operate on one or more carrier frequencies and may define a number of air interface channels for carrying information between the base station and served mobile stations. These channels may be defined in various ways, such as through frequency division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, and/or code-division multiplexing for instance.
By way of example, each coverage area may define a reference channel or other resource on which the base station may broadcast a reference signal that mobile stations may measure to evaluate coverage strength. As another example, each coverage area may define an uplink control channel or other resource on which mobile stations may transmit control messages such as registration requests and access requests to the base station. And each coverage area may define a downlink control channel or other resource on which the base station may transmit control messages such as system information messages and page messages to mobile stations. Each coverage area may then define one or more traffic channels or other resource for carrying communication traffic such as voice data and other data between the base station and mobile stations.
When a mobile station first powers on or enters into coverage of the network, the mobile station may detect presence of coverage and may register with the network by transmitting a registration request or attach request to a base station. At that point, the mobile station may operate in an idle mode in which the mobile station periodically reads a downlink control channel to receive overhead information from the network and to check for any page messages destined to the mobile station. In the idle mode, the mobile station may have no assigned traffic channel resources on which to receive incoming communication traffic from the network.
When the network has a communication such a voice call or other traffic to provide to a mobile station that is registered with the network but is operating in the idle mode, the network may page the mobile station in an effort to then facilitate assigning traffic channel resources to the mobile station. In particular, the network may transmit on the downlink a page message addressed to the mobile station. Assuming the mobile station receives this page message, the mobile station may then transmit to the network a page response message on the uplink. And upon receipt of the page response message, the network may then assign traffic channel resources to the mobile station, for use to carry the communication.
Once a network transmits a page message to a mobile station, the network may wait a defined period of time for the mobile station to respond. If the mobile station does not respond to the page message within that period of time, the network may then re-page the mobile station, possibly increasing page message transmission power and/or broadening the coverage area scope of the page. Further, the network may repeat this re-paging process a defined number of times before concluding that the paging effort failed. Upon concluding that the paging effort failed, the network may then abort the effort to provide the communication to the mobile station. For an incoming voice call, this may mean that the call may instead be connected to voice mail. For other communication traffic, this may mean that the network may discard or otherwise handle the communication. Other examples are possible as well.

Dynamic management of page-response interval in a wireless communication system


A blank template form generation method and system may employ synthetically generated blank template forms, differing from each other in one or more respects, to train a neural network to recognize relevant differences between otherwise similar forms, including types and locations of keywords and potential locations of values corresponding to the keywords. In an embodiment, filled or partly filled forms as well as blank template forms may be used later in training. Forms are input in pairs to identify differences between the two. Depending on the differences, weights of a neural network may be adjusted. After training, when a form is input into the system, whether the form is filled or blank, a blank template may be generated for future use.

Automated form processing often relies on the existence of blank forms (templates) to guide data extraction from the corresponding filled forms. Automatic information extraction from documents such as forms can be important to obtaining improvements in business efficiency. Traditional form processing often has required manually created templates on a blank form to guide data extraction for a particular type of form, thus significantly improving data extraction accuracy.
A template can provide locations of fixed regions of a form, hereafter referred to as "keywords," and the location of the corresponding regions to be filled in, hereafter referred to as "values". In the following discussion "template" will refer to an image, as well as to corresponding metadata, i.e. keyword and value pair locations.
A user may create a blank form for building a template manually, to enable the automated extraction of information from the corresponding filled forms. However, such a blank form for building a template is not always available, and when available, can be time-consuming. Manual creation of blank forms from a filled form can be tedious and labor-intensive, as well as time consuming. It would be desirable to automate the manual template creation process to the extent possible.

Template-based intelligent document processing method and apparatus

KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS U.S.A., INC.


This vehicle periphery monitoring device appropriately determines whether or not an animal detected by an imaging device is a high-risk animal which may possibly contact the vehicle. For example, compared with an animal in a posture with the head facing downwards, an animal in a posture with the head facing upwards is determined to be a high-risk animal which may suddenly bolt, so the latter animal is enclosed in a thick red frame and highlighted as a warning, and an alarm is emitted from speakers.

As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2003-284057 (hereinafter referred to as "JP2003-284057A"), it has heretofore been customary for a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus to detect an object such as a pedestrian or the like that may possibly collide with a vehicle, from images (a grayscale image and a binary image converted therefrom) of the periphery of the vehicle, which are captured by infrared cameras, and to provide information about the detected object to the driver of the vehicle.
More specifically, the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus disclosed in JP2003-284057A detects, as an object, a high-temperature area in images in the periphery of the vehicle, which are captured by a set of left and right infrared cameras (stereo cameras), and calculates the distance up to the object by determining a parallax of the object in the left and right images. In addition, the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus detects an object such as a pedestrian or the like that is likely to affect the travel of the vehicle, i.e., that may possibly collide with the vehicle, based on the direction in which the object moves and the position of the object, and issues a warning concerning the detected object (see paragraphs [0014] and [0018] of JP2003-284057A).
Japanese Patent No. 4267657 (hereinafter referred to as "JP4267657B") discloses a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus, which captures at least two images (two frames) of an object in the periphery of a vehicle at a predetermined time interval, using a single infrared camera mounted on the vehicle. If the size of a present image of the object changes from the size of a preceding image of the object, the change in size becomes greater as the relative speed between the object and the vehicle is higher. As the relative speed between the object and the vehicle is higher, an arrival time, which any object that is present in front of the vehicle takes to arrive at the vehicle, becomes shorter. Consequently, even though a single infrared camera is used, the vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus can monitor the periphery of the vehicle by estimating the arrival time from the rate of change between the sizes of images of the object that are captured at the predetermined time interval (see paragraphs [0006], [0007], and [0061] of JP4267657B).
Japanese Patent No. 4173901 (hereinafter referred to as "JP4173901B") discloses a vehicle periphery monitoring apparatus, which detects animals other than people from among objects, because objects that are present in the periphery of a vehicle and that may possibly collide with the vehicle are not limited to pedestrians. Large animals such as a deer or the like may also be present on the road and may collide with the vehicle (see paragraph [0006] of JP4173901B).


The present disclosure relates to a curing agent for a curable resin which is a reaction product obtained from the reaction of a liquid epoxy and a polyamine component. The curing agent may be used as part of a two component curable system for the curing of unmodified epoxy resins.

Curable compositions are utilized for providing high quality, permanent bonding or protection in many different commercial and industrial settings. These compositions are especially useful because of their ability to strongly resist corrosion and adhere to a variety of materials, including metal, glass, plastic, wood and fiber.
Two forms of epoxy-based compositions are commercially available. The first form, one component compositions, are available as rigid epoxy compositions, frozen pre-mix flexible epoxy compositions, and room-temperature stable flexible epoxy compositions. While one component compositions provide the convenience of storage as a single component, they also require elevated curing temperatures. The second form, two component compositions, are stored as two separate components that are mixed just prior to application. Two component compositions overcome the often inconvenient curing requirements of one component compositions since they can be cured at room temperature.
Examples of two component epoxy compositions can be found in:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,737 which discloses a two component formulation containing (i) an epoxy plus a polyisocyanate or anhydride and (ii) a mixture of amido amines, primary or secondary amines having tertiary amine groups or ether groups in their backbone and bisphenol A;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,204 which discloses a room temperature curable two component formulation of an epoxy resin and a polyether amine-based hardener;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,157,143 which describes a two component epoxy adhesive composition containing an epoxy resin and a curing agent, with each component optionally containing a flexibilizer; and
U.S. Pat. No. 7,834,091 which discloses a two component adhesive composition consisting of two epoxy resins and an amine compound having a molecular weight of less than 450 g/mol.
One drawback to conventional two component epoxy-based compositions containing amine curing agents for curing at ambient conditions is the cured compositions exhibit less than ideal thin-film cure times and pot lives (gelation time). It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a novel two component curable system containing an amine curing agent which provides a relatively fast thin-film cure time in combination with a long pot life.

Curing agents providing a low ratio of thin-film cure time to gel time

Huntsman Advanced Materials Americas LLC


A method for providing information to a client device includes receiving a first status request from the client device and communicating status information to the client device in response. The status information specifies a first refresh interval. The method also includes detecting an input of the client device and determining a second refresh interval in response to detecting the input. The method further includes receiving a second status request from the client device after the expiration of the first refresh interval and communicating updated status information to the client device in response to the second status request. The updated status information specifies the second refresh interval.

Many web-based applications are designed to monitor the status of a remote component, such as a web-server, and to display the results in near real-time. Such applications often include some mechanism for conveying updated status information from the remote component to the monitoring application. A common technique for updating the status information displayed by the monitoring application is to design the monitoring application to repeatedly query the remote component.
For example, the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) includes "refresh timer" semantics to inform monitoring applications, such as web browsers, how often to reload status information. Web servers provide configuration files and Application Program Interfaces ("APIs") that can be designed to specify a refresh interval for a particular webpage. When status information is requested by a web browser, the web server specifies this value in the HTTP header information for that webpage. After loading the webpage, the web browser begins timing the refresh interval. When the refresh interval expires, the web browser reloads the webpage to acquire updated information.
When several applications are monitoring a particular web server, the web server may become overwhelmed by status requests if the refresh interval is set too short. On the other hand, if the refresh interval is too long, the information provided by the monitoring applications may become so outdated as to be useless. Furthermore, a user relying on the information may need the information updated more frequently under certain circumstance and less frequently under others.

System and method for dynamically adjusting a refresh interval


A process for the chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride from reactant gases O.sub.2, O.sub.3, N.sub.2 O, NO, NO.sub.2, NH.sub.3 and a silane of the formula: (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2. A process whereby a stack of silicon containing dielectrics ranging from silicon nitride to silicon oxide may be deposited successively (at the same pressure and temperature) by changing the reactants O.sub.2, O.sub.3, N.sub.2 O, NO, NO.sub.2, NH.sub.3 while maintaing a constant flow of (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2. The films are suitable for use in the semiconductor and related industries.

The present invention is directed to the field of chemical vapor deposition of silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride films using bis(tertiarybutylamino)silane, a novel organosilicon source material. It allows for the deposition of different dielectrics using the same organosilicon source, temperature, and pressure simply by varying reactant gases.
In the fabrication of semiconductor devices, a thin passive layer of a chemically inert dielectric material such as, silicon dioxide, silicon oxynitride and silicon nitride films, is essential. Thin layers of these dielectric films function as diffusion masks, oxidation barriers, trench isolation, intermetallic dielectric material with high dielectric breakdown voltages and as passivation layers.
The present semiconductor industry standard for silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride growth methods is by low pressure chemical vapor deposition in a hot wall reactor at >400.degree. C.
Deposition of silicon dioxide over large numbers of silicon wafers has been accomplished using silane and oxygen above 400.degree. C., by dichlorosilane and N.sub.2 O above 800.degree. C., and by tetraethoxysilane above 650.degree. C. Deposition of silicon oxynitride has been obtained using dichlorosilane, N.sub.2 O, and NH.sub.3 above 750.degree. C., see Semiconductor and Process technology handbook, edited by Gary E. McGuire, Noyes Publication, New Jersey, (1988), pp 289-301; and Silicon Processing for the VLSI ERA, Wolf, Stanley, and Talbert, Richard N., Lattice Press, Sunset Beach, Calif. (1990), pp 20-22, 327-330.
Higher deposition temperatures are typically employed to get the best film properties. There are several drawbacks in these processes, and some of these are as follows:
i) Silane and dichlorosilane are pyrophoric, toxic compressed gases; ii) Oxide depositions with dichlorosilane require very high temperatures and have very low deposition rates. The films may contain chlorine and there is a significant particle contamination problem. iii) Films formed using silane are not dense and are hygroscopic. This process requires expensive "caged boats" to obtain usable deposited film uniformities. Small deviations in oxygen to silane ratios may produce homogeneous reactions that will produce significant particle contamination.
A. K. Hochberg and D. L. O'Meara, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc,. Vol. 204, (1991), pp 509-514, report deposition of silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride by using diethylsilane with ammonia and nitric oxide by LPCVD. The deposition was carried out in the temperature range of 650.degree. C. to 700.degree. C. Usable deposition rates are obtained at temperatures above 650.degree. C. and the deposition rate drops to below 4 .ANG./min at lower temperatures. In the LPCVD process, precursors which contain direct Si--C carbon bonds result in carbon contamination in the films. Carbon free deposition requires greater than 5:1 NH.sub.3 to precursor ratios. At lower ammonia concentrations, the films were found to contain carbon. Diethylsilane+ammonia processes typically require covered boats to improve wafer uniformities.
Japanese Patent 6-132284 describes deposition of silicon nitride using organosilanes with a general formula (R.sub.1 R.sub.2 N).sub.n SiH.sub.4-n (where R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 range from H--, CH.sub.3 --, C.sub.2 H.sub.5 -- C.sub.3 H.sub.7 --, C.sub.4 H.sub.9 --) by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and thermal chemical vapor deposition in the presence of ammonia or nitrogen. The precursors described here are tertiary amines and do not contain NH bonding as in the case of the present invention. The deposition experiments were carried out in a single wafer reactor at 400.degree. C. at high pressures of 80-100 Torr. The Si:N ratios in these films were 0.9 (Si:N ratios in Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 films is 0.75) with hydrogen content in the deposited films. The butyl radical is in the form of isobutyl.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/942,996 filed Oct. 2, 1997 discloses a process for the low pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon nitride on a substrate using ammonia and a silane of the formula: (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,869 and R. G. Gordon and D. M. Hoffman, Chem. Mater., Vol. 2, (1990), pp 482-484 disclose other attempts to reduce the amount of carbon involved aminosilanes, such as tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane. The temperature of deposition is in the range of 300-1000.degree. C. with pressures in the range of 1 mTorr-10 Torr. The presence of direct Si--N bonds and the absence of Si--C bonds were expected to give lower carbon concentrations in the films. Howeve, there are three main disadvantages with precursors of this class.
1) They contain N-methyl groups, the methyl groups tend to migrate to the silicon surface readily and contaminate the films with carbon during a CVD process. In order to reduce the amount of carbon, the process involves high temperatures (>700) and high ammonia ratios (>10:1). With increased ammonia ratios the deposition rates dramatically reduce due to reactant depletion. PA1 2) They do not contain NH bonding and they do not involve secondary silanes. PA1 3) At lower temperatures the deposition rates and uniformities are very poor (>5%). PA1 a) heating a substrate to a temperature in the range of approximately 500-800.degree. C. in the zone; PA1 b) maintaining the substrate at a pressure in the range of approximately 20 mTorr-1 atmosphere in the zone; PA1 c) introducing into the zone a reactant gas of O.sub.2 and a silane of the formula: (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2 and reacting the reactant gas with the silane; and PA1 d) maintaining the conditions of a) through c) sufficient to cause a film of silicon dioxide to deposit on the substrate. PA1 a) heating a substrate to a temperature in the range of approximately 500-800.degree. C. in the zone; PA1 b) maintaining the substrate at a pressure in the range of approximately 20 mTorr-1 atmosphere in the zone; PA1 c) introducing into the zone reactant gases selected from the group consisting of N.sub.2 O, NO, NO.sub.2, and mixtures thereof, ammonia and a silane of the formula: (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2 and reacting the reactant gases with the silane; and PA1 d) maintaining the conditions of a) through c) sufficient to cause a film of silicon oxynitride to deposit on the substrate. PA1 a) heating the substrate to a temperature in the range of approximately 500-800.degree. C. in the zone; PA1 b) maintaining the substrate at a pressure in the range of approximately 20 mTorr-1 atmosphere in the zone; PA1 c) introducing into the zone a silane of the formula: (t-C.sub.4 H.sub.9 NH).sub.2 SiH.sub.2 ; PA1 d) introducing into the zone varying amounts of a reactant gas selected from the group consisting of O.sub.2, O.sub.3, N.sub.2 O, NO, NO.sub.2, NH.sub.3 and mixtures thereof appropriate to deposit multiple stacked layers of a film of a silicon compound containing silicon and one or more of oxygen, nitrogen and mixtures thereof, wherein each stacked layer can have a different amount of oxygen, nitrogen and mixtures thereof and reacting the reactant gas with the silane; PA1 e) maintaining the conditions of a) through c) sufficient to cause the multiple stacked layers of a film of the silicon compound to deposit on the substrate.
The prior art has attempted to produce silicon dioxide or silicon oxynitride or silicon nitride films at temperatures >550.degree. C., at high deposition rates and low hydrogen and carbon contamination. However, the prior art has not been successful in achieving all these goals simultaneously with one silicon precursor. The present invention has overcome the problems of the prior art with the use of a single precursor for the formation of silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride (as well as silicon nitride), which avoids the problems of plasma deposition, operates at low thermal conditions (<600.degree. C.), avoids Si--C bonds to reduce carbon contamination of the resulting films, has low hydrogen contamination, as well as avoiding chlorine contamination and operates at low pressures (20 mTorr-2 Torr) and up to atmospheric pressures in a manufacturable batch furnace (100 wafers or more) or a single wafer reactor, as will be described in greater detail below.

Deposition of silicon dioxide and silicon oxynitride using bis(tertiarybutylamino) silane


An improved concrete is provided having a concrete formed from a wet concrete mixture; and a non-chemical admix added to the wet concrete mixture and configured to contain bubbles in order to control the amount of entrained air formed in the concrete when the wet concrete mixture cures into the improved concrete. The non-chemical admix includes a multiplicity of hollow objects, bodies, elements or structures, each configured with a respective cavity, unfilled space, or hole to trap and maintain a bubble inside. The hollow objects, bodies, elements or structures include hollow cylinders, or spheres, or capillary tubes, or some combination thereof. Each hollow object, body, element or structure is configured with a dimension so as not to absorb liquid, including water, including where the dimension is in a range of about 20-30 microns, and is made of glass or a glass-like material.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to concrete; and more particularly to a method and apparatus for making an improved concrete using a non-chemical admix.
2. Description of Related Art
Concrete is known in the art as a hard strong building material made by mixing a cementing material and a mineral aggregate with sufficient water to cause the cement to set and bind the entire mass. Concrete has been in use since Roman times, and is made up of four main ingredients: coarse aggregate (gravel, usually between 0.5 to 1.5 inch in diameter), fine aggregate (sand, usually between 0.005 and 0.25 inch in diameter), cement (e.g., Portland cement), and water. Air also plays an important part, and often special additives (called admixtures or admixes) are also added to improve or modify the concrete's properties. Concrete is one of the most versatile construction materials available in the world.
Cement for making concrete is known in the art, and cement used in construction is characterized as hydraulic or non-hydraulic. Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement) harden because of hydration, chemical reactions that occur independently of the mixture's water content; they can harden even underwater or when constantly exposed to wet weather. The chemical reaction that results when the anhydrous cement powder is mixed with water produces hydrates that are not water-soluble. In comparison, non-hydraulic cements (e.g., lime and gypsum plaster) must be kept dry in order to retain their strength. Portland cement is produced by pulverizing clinkers consisting essentially of hydraulic calcium silicates, usually containing one or more of the forms of calcium sulfate as an inter ground addition. Clinkers are nodules (diameters, 0.2-1.0 inch [5-25 mm]) of a sintered material that is produced when a raw mixture of predetermined composition is heated to high temperature. The low cost and widespread availability of the limestone, shales, and other naturally occurring materials make Portland cement one of the lowest-cost materials widely used over the last century throughout the world.
Admixtures for making concrete are known in the art and include materials in the form of powder or fluids that are added to the concrete to give it certain characteristics not obtainable with plain concrete mixes. Admixtures made from powder or fluid are known in the art as "chemical" admixtures. In normal use, admixture dosages are less than 5% by mass of cement, and are added to the concrete at the time of batching/mixing. The common types of chemical admixtures are as follows: accelerators, retarders, air entrainments, plastercizers, pigment, corrosion inhibitors, bonding agents and pumping aids. The accelerators speed up the hydration (hardening) of the concrete. Typical materials used are CaCl2, Ca(NO3)2, and NaNO3. However, use of chlorides may cause corrosion in steel reinforcing and is prohibited in some countries and therefore nitrates may be favoured. The retarders slow the hydration of concrete, and are used in large or difficult pours where partial setting before the pour is complete is undesirable. Typical polyol retarders are sugar, sucrose, sodium gluconate, glucose, citric acid, and tartaric acid. The air entrainments add and entrain tiny air bubbles in the concrete, which will reduce damage during freeze thaw cycles thereby increasing the concrete's durability. However, entrained air is a trade-off with strength, as each 1% of air may result in up to a 5% decrease in compressive strength. The plastercizers increase the workability of plastic or "fresh" concrete, allowing it be placed more easily, with less consolidating effort. Typical plasticizers are lignosulfonate. Plasticizers can be used to reduce the water content of a concrete while maintaining workability, and are sometimes called water-reducers due to this use. Such treatment improves its strength and durability characteristics. Superplasticizers (also called high-range water-reducers) are a class of plasticizers that have fewer deleterious effects, and can be used to increase workability more than practical with traditional plasticizers. Compounds used as superplasticizers include sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde condensate, sulfonated melamine formaldehyde condensate, acetone formaldehyde condensate, and polycarboxylate ethers. The pigment can be used to change the color of concrete, for aesthetics. The corrosion inhibitors are used to minimize the corrosion of steel and steel bars in concrete. The bonding agents are used to create a bond between old and new concrete. The pumping aids improve pumpability, thicken the paste, and reduce separation and bleeding.
Consistent with that stated above, the durability of concrete is a strong function of the entrained air levels within the mix. Inadequate levels reduce the freeze thaw durability and too high of level reduces its strength. It is estimated that entrained air can typically reduce the strength of concrete by about 2-4% per 1% entrained air. The nominal levels of entrained air are in the 4% to 6% range. In order to achieve this, concrete manufacturers typically add admixes to control the air level. Generally, there is significant variation in the entrained air levels from mix to mix and tight control is difficult to maintain. It is also known in the art to add fishing line into the wet concrete mixture in order to improve the durability of concrete.
There is a need in the industry to control the air levels as well as improve the strength of aerated concrete.


A clutch cable lever operating system having a cable adjusting mechanism including a clamp for mounting the system on the handlebars of a motorcycle. The clutch cable lever fulcrum mounting flange to allow more or less free travel when the cable operating lever is used. The clutch cable adjusting mechanism is comprised of a coarse sleeve threaded into a cable adjusting cylinder that abuts the end of a cable outer sleeve. A manually adjusted threaded star nut or thumb wheel is fitted in a slot in the cable adjusting cylinder and threads on the coarse threaded sleeve. Rotation of the threaded star nut or thumb wheel incrementally extends or retracts the coarse threaded sleeve abutting the end of cable to adjust the slack that occurs when clutch plates expand due to heat. A resilient washer in an annulus intersecting the threads in the star nut or thumb wheel prevents free movement of the star nut on the coarse threaded sleeve to maintain the adjusted position. The resilient washer prevents free movement of the star nut from an adjusted position which might be caused by vibration during operation of a motorcycle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to clutch lever systems for motorcycles and similar vehicles, and more particularly, relates to a clutch cable adjustment mechanism for motorcycles.
2. Background Information
Lever operated cable systems are used on motorcycles and similar vehicles for operation of clutches. The cable systems used to operate clutches often need adjustment due to temperature related component expansions. The clutch is operated by pulling a lever to pull a cable and operate the clutch. Slack in the cable can make operation of the clutch difficult, or prevent operation altogether. In many cases, adjustments can be performed when the vehicle is not in use. However, in certain situations these adjustments can become critical and there is a need to make adjustments while the vehicle is in motion.
When motorcycles are used for racing, adjustment of the clutch mechanism can be critical. Motorcycle clutch plates expand under use due to the heat generated. This can cause the clutch lever mechanism to slacken and ultimately become almost useless. This, of course, can be a serious situation if it occurs during a race. The motorcycle operator cannot stop to make an adjustment, and difficulty in operating the clutch can sufficiently slow the motorcycle to result in a loss of time and probably, the loss of a race. Therefore, it would be advantageous if adjustments could be made while the motorcycle is in motion.
Presently, adjustment mechanisms for these motorcycles are comprised of a threaded shaft attached to the end of the cable which is tightened by tightening a nut on the threaded shaft. The nut is then clamped in place with a second nut to maintain the tension on the cable. However, when a cable becomes lose due to excessive heat causing the clutch plates to expand, there is no way to make these adjustments while the vehicle is in motion.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a clutch cable mechanism adjustment that can be performed while the vehicle is in motion.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a clutch cable adjustment mechanism having a manually operated star nut to adjust the tension on the clutch cable while a vehicle is in motion.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a clutch cable adjustment mechanism having universally applicable to all motorcycles.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a clutch cable adjusting mechanism having its free length adjusted by a threaded star nut set by an interval resilient washer to prevent it from freely rotating.
Still another object of the present invention is to have a clutch cable adjustment mechanism of a star nut with a resilient washer to maintain an adjusted position and prevent movement from vibration.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a clutch cable adjusting mechanism having a lever bracket housing large enough in diameter to accept complete motorcycle clutch cable assemblies.