A process of causing a targeted integration of DNA of interest into a plant cell nuclear genome, comprising; i) providing plant cells with an amplification vector, or a precursor thereof, capable of autonomous replication in plant cells, said vector comprising; a) DNA sequence(s) encoding an origin of replication functional in plant cells, b) DNA sequence(s) necessary for site-specific and/or homologous recombination between the vector and a host nuclear DNA, and c) optionally, further DNA of interest; ii) optionally providing conditions that facilitate vector amplification and/or cell to cell movement and/or site-specific and/or homologous recombination, and iii) selecting cells having undergone recombination at a predetermined site in the plant nuclear DNA.

With current levels of research in the field of plant molecular genetics and functional genomics, plant transformation is likely to become an increasingly important tool for plant improvement. Limitations of current transformation procedures are numerous but one most important deficiency of currently used techniques is that they result in random insertions of target genes in host genomes, leading to uncontrolled delivery and unpredictable levels of transgene expression. As a result, existing methods require many independent transgenic plants to be generated and analyzed for several generations in order to find those with the desired level or pattern of expression. The vectors for such non-targeted transformation must necessarily contain full expression units, as the subsequent transformation to the same site is impossible, thus limiting engineering capability of the process. A number of different approaches have been investigated in an attempt to develop protocols for efficient targeting of DNA at specific sites in the genome. These efforts include:                (i) attempts to improve the process of homologous recombination (that relies on the endogenous cellular recombination machinery) by over-expressing some of the enzymes involved in recombination/repair;        (ii) attempts to decrease non-targeted recombination by down-regulating enzymes that contribute to non-specific recombination;        (iii) use of heterologous recombinases of microbial origin;        (iv) development of chimeraplasty for targeted DNA modification in plants.
A brief description of these efforts is summarized below.
Homologous recombination occurs readily in bacteria and yeast, where it is used for gene replacement experiments. More recently it has been developed as a tool for gene replacement in mammals (Mansour et al, 1988, Nature, 336, 348-336; Thomas et al, 1986, Cell, 44, 419-428; Thomas et al, 1987, Cell, 51, 503-512), and the moss Physcomytrella patens (Schaefer & Zryd, 1997, Plant J., 11, 1195-1206). However, it is inefficient in plants. Targeted DNA modification by homologous recombination is accomplished by introducing into cells linear DNA molecules that share regions of homology with the target site. Homologous recombination occurs as a result of a repair mechanism induced by the double-strand breaks at the ends of the DNA fragment. Unfortunately, a competing repair mechanism called non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) also takes place at a much higher frequency in many organisms and/or cell types, rendering selection of the desired site-targeted events difficult (Haber, 2000, Curr. Op. Cell. Biol., 12, 286-292; Haber, 2000, TIG, 16, 259-264; Mengiste & Paszkowski, 1999, Bio.l Chem., 380, 749-758). In higher plants only a few cases of successful targeted transformation by homologous recombination have been reported, and all were obtained with efficiencies of targeted events over non-targeted events in the range of 10−3 to 10−5 (Paszkowski et al., 1988, EMBO J., 7, 4021-4026; Lee et al., 1990, Plant Cell; 2, 415-425; Miao & Lam, 1995, Plant J., 7, 359-365; Offringa et al., 1990, EMBO J., 9, 3077-3084; Kempin et al., 1997, Nature, 389, 802-803). This means that the screening procedure will involve a very large number of plants and will be very costly in terms of time and money; in many cases this will be a futile effort.
Attempts to increase homologous recombination frequencies have been made. Investigators have over-expressed some of the enzymes involved in double-strand break repair. For example, over-expression of either the E. coli RecA (Reiss et al., 1996, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 93, 3094-3098) or the E. coli RuvC (Shalev et al., 1999, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 96, 7398-402) proteins in tobacco has been tried. However, this has only led to an increase of intrachromosomal homologous recombination (of approximately 10 fold). There was no increase of gene targeting (Reiss et al., 2000, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 97, 3358-3363.). Using another approach to increase homologous recombination, investigators have induced double-strand breaks at engineered sites of the genome using rare cutting endonucleases such as the yeast HO endonuclease (Chiurazzi et al, 1996, Plant Cell, 8, 2057-2066; Leung et al., 1997, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 94, 6851-6856) or the yeast I-Sce I endonuclease (Puchta et al., 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 93, 5055-5060). Site targeted frequency of 2×10−3 to 18×10−3 was obtained using the I-Sce I endonuclease. Although an improvement, this is still inefficient. In addition, many of the targeted events contained unwanted mutations or occurred by homologous recombination at one end of the break only. Incidentally, there is an interesting recent publication describing a hyperrecombinogenic tobacco mutant demonstrating three orders of magnitude increase of mitotic recombination between homologous chromosomes, but the gene(s) involved has not been identified yet (Gorbunova et al., 2000, Plant J., 24, 601-611) and targeted recombination is not involved.
An alternative approach consists of decreasing the activity of enzymes (e.g. Ku70) involved in non-homologous end joining (U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,850) to increase the ratio of homologous/non-homologous recombination events. This approach has been far from being practically useful.
A recently developed approach called chimeraplasty consists of using DNA/RNA oligonucleotides to introduce single-nucleotide mutations in target genes. This approach is highly efficient in mammalian cells (Yoon et al., 1996, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 93, 2071-2076; Kren et al., 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 96, 10349-10354; Bartlett et al., 2000, Nature Biotech., 18, 615-622) with a success rate of more than 40%. Unfortunately, the efficiency is much lower in plants (Zhu et al., 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 96, 8768-8773; Beetham et al., 1999, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA., 96, 8774-8778; Zhu et al., 2000, Nature Biotech., 18, 555-558; WO9925853) and reaches only a frequency of 10−5-10−7. A further severe drawback of using the chimeraplasty approach in plant systems is that it is limited to the introduction of single-nucleotide mutations and to the special case where the introduced mutation results in a selectable phenotype.
Another approach has been to use heterologous site-specific recombinases of microbial origin. When these recombinases are used, specific recombination sites have to be included on each side not only of the DNA sequence to be targeted, but also of the target site. So far, this has been a severely limiting condition which gives this approach little practical usefulness. Examples of such systems include the Cre-Lox system from bacteriophage P1 (Austin et al., 1981, Cell, 25, 729-736), the Flp-Frt system from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Broach et al., 1982, Cell, 29, 227-234), the R-RS system from Zygosaccharomyces rouxii (Araki et al., 1985, J. Mol. Biol., 182, 191-203) and the integrase from the Streptomyces phage PhiC31 (Thorpe & Smith, 1998, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 95, 5505-5510; Groth et al., 2000, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 97, 5995-6000). Wild-type Lox sites (LoxP sites) consist of 13 bp inverted repeats flanking an 8 bp asymetrical core. The asymmetry of the core region confers directionality to the site. Recombination between LoxP sites is a reversible reaction that can lead to deletions, insertions, or translocations depending on the location and orientation of the Lox sites. In plants, the Cre-Lox system has been used to create deletions (Bayley et al, 1992, Plant Mol. Biol., 18, 353-361), inversions (Medberry et al., 1995, Nucl. Acids. Res., 23, 485-490), translocations (Qin et al., 1994, Proc. Natl. Aced. Sci., 91, 1706-1710); Vergunst et al, 2000, Chromosoma, 109, 287-297), insertion of a circular DNA into a plant chromosome (Albert et al., 1995, Plant J., 7, 649-659), interspecies translocation of a chromosome arm (Heather et al., 2000, Plant J., 23, 715-722), and removal of selection genes after transformation (Dale & Ow, 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sc., 88, 10558-62; Zuo et al., 2001, Nat Biotechnol., 19, 157-161). One problem encountered when the Cre-Lox system (or a similar recombination system) is used for targeted transformation is that insertion of DNA can be followed by excision. In fact, because the insertion of DNA is a bimolecular reaction while excision requires recombination of sites on a single molecule, excision occurs at a much higher efficiency than insertion. A number of approaches have been devised to counter this problem including transient Cre expression, displacement of the Cre coding sequence by insertion leading to its inactivation, and the use of mutant sites (Albert et al., 1995, Plant J., 7, 649-659; Vergunst et al., 1998, Plant Mol. Biol., 38, 393-406; U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,994). Some site-specific recombinases such as the Streptomyces phage PhiC31 integrase should not suffer from the same problem, theoretically, as recombination events are irreversible (the reverse reaction is carried out by different enzymes) (Thorpe & Smith, 1998, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 95, 5505-5510), but they are limited to animals), but the use of this recombination system in plant cells has not been confirmed yet. There are other flaws that render the site-specific recombination systems practically unattractive. First, one needs to engineer a landing or docking site in the recipient's genome, a procedure that is currently done by random insertion of recombination sites into a plant genome. This eliminates most of benefits of the site-specific integration. Second, the frequency of desired events is still very low, especially in economically important crops, thus limiting its use to tobacco and Arabidopsis. Expression of recombinant enzymes in plant cells leads to a toxicity problems, an issue that cannot be circumvented with commonly used systems such as Cre-lox or Flp-frt.
WO 99/25855 and corresponding intermediate U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,545 disclose a method of mobilizing viral replicons from an Agrobacterium-delivered T-DNA by site-specific recombination-mediated excision for obtaining a high copy number of a viral replicon in a plant cell. It is speculated that said high copy number is useful for site-targeted integration of DNA of interest into a plant chromosome using site-specific recombination. However, the disclosure does not contain information on how to test this speculation. The examples given in the disclosure do not relate to site-targeted integration. Moreover, the examples cannot provide cells having undergone site-targeted integration, but only plants showing signs of viral infection such as appearance of yellow spots and stripes at the base of new leaves indicative of the decay of the infected cells. Therefore, the teaching of these references is limited to the infection of cells leading to the destruction of the cell by the viral vector. The teaching of these references neither allows the determination as to whether or not integration into the nuclear genome has taken place, let alone the selection of successful site-targeted integration events. This is underlined by the fact that the references do not contain a disclosure of selection methods for recovering site-targeted transformants. Selection and recovery of transgenic progeny cells containing said DNA of interest site-specifically integrated into the nuclear genome is simply impossible based on the teaching of these references. Moreover, WO 99/25855 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,545 are silent on this problem. Further, these documents are silent on homologous recombination. Moreover, the method is limited to replicon delivery by way of Agrobacterium.
Therefore, it is the problem of the invention to provide a process for targeted transformation of plants which is sufficiently efficient for practical purposes.
It is a further problem of the invention to provide a method of targeted integration of DNA of interest into a plant cell nuclear genome that allows recovery of integration events, i.e. selection of cells having undergone recombination in the plant nuclear DNA.
It is a further problem of the invention to provide a method of targeted integration of DNA of interest into a plant cell nuclear genome by homologous recombination.
It is therefore a further problem of the invention to provide a method of targeted integration of DNA of interest into a plant cell nuclear genome by delivery methods independent from Agrobacterium-mediated methods.

Site-targeted transformation using amplification vectors


An automated method and apparatus for galvanizing threaded rods, comprising conveying threaded rods while horizontally oriented through a bath of molten zinc, then simultaneously spinning the threaded rods in horizontal orientation at sufficient rotational velocity to remove excess molten zinc therefrom by centrifugal force and conveying the threaded rods to a cooling bath. The automated apparatus then conveys the zinc coated threaded rods through a cooling bath to solidify the molten zinc coating and then collects cooled zinc coated threaded rods to permit efficient removal thereof from the apparatus. A rotary conveyor mechanism of the automated apparatus conveys the threaded rods through a molten zinc bath and removes excess molten zinc therefrom by rolling the coated threaded rods down an inclined zinc removal platform. As the rods roll down the zinc removal platform they achieve sufficient rotary velocity to develop predetermined centrifugal force for removal of the minute excess molten zinc that remains after removal of the threaded rods from the molten zinc bath. After excess molten zinc removal the apparatus conveys the threaded rods through a cooling trough to solidify the zinc coating.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to processes and equipment for galvanizing threaded rods and more particularly concerns a method and apparatus for dipping cleaned and prepared threaded rods in molten zinc, efficiently removing excess molten zinc from the dipped threaded rods and then cooling the threaded rods to solidify the molten zinc coating thereof. Even more particularly the present invention concerns a method and apparatus for achieving sufficient rotational velocity of threaded rods, immediately following molten zinc dipping, to cause removal of excess molten zinc by centrifugal force as the rods move from a zinc dipping station to a cooling station.
2. Background of the Invention
Within the hot-dip galvanizing industry, there exists a need to galvanize threaded rod material in large quantities. Manual hot-dipping of threaded rods is too slow and too labor intensive to allow for competitive pricing of the rods when sold to the end user. In addition, it is imperative that the threads of the finished galvanized rod be clean and smooth so as to allow for the application of a nut. This is known as `nut-ability` and is the single, most crucial requirement in the process of hot-dip galvanizing of threaded rods. To achieve nut-ability the excess molten zinc that typically adheres to threaded rods after the rods have been removed from the molten zinc bath must be removed so that the resulting solidified zinc material will not interfere with application of nuts to the threads of the rods.
Existing Methods Within the Industry
Currently, two methods are typically used to achieve hot-dip galvanizing of threaded rods. One method is to manually dip the rods in molten zinc using hooks and to then "sling" off the excess molten zinc as best as possible using a variety of manual methods. As mentioned above, this process is slow, quite costly from the standpoint of labor and the results are varied, producing a very low yield of usable product. The second most common method is to hang the rods vertically, typically in rod support cage devices, depending on rod thickness, and then dipping them into a molten zinc bath. As the threaded rods are lifted from the zinc, a motorized device above spins cage device containing the rod or rods and slings off the excess molten zinc from the threads, thus removing the excess molten zinc centrifugally. This zinc removal process is followed by dipping the hot rods in cold water to quench the rods and solidify the molten zinc. This process produces superior results from the standpoint of quality but the process is limited by the number of rods that the spinning device can handle at one time. In addition, the cages for holding the rod or rods must be cleaned of excess zinc and manually loaded and unloaded for each batch so that labor requirements for this type of galvanizing process are typically significant. This cleaning, loading and unloading is a time consuming process that depends on significant human interaction and is therefore susceptible not only to various yields of finished product, but increases the chance for injury to workers and damage to the product.

Method and automated apparatus for galvanizing threaded rods


A novel communication channel structure and method in a wireless communication system is provided. In an embodiment of the invention, the communication system includes a base station and a plurality of subscriber stations and the subscriber stations are given access to a variety of channels, including at least one uplink data channel. The uplink data channel can operate in at least a random access mode and a polled access mode. The base station informs each subscriber station it serves of the current mode of the uplink channel via an associated downlink signaling channel and, in random access mode, each subscriber station is able to randomly access the shared uplink channel. In polled mode, each subscriber station waits for permission from the base station before sending data over the shared uplink channel. A method of operating the system monitors the collisions which occur on the uplink channel in random mode and/or the amount of data and/or the data's priority level and/or QoS requirements and switches the system between random and polled modes as appropriate. In polled mode, the method determines which subscriber stations should access the uplink and when.

Telecommunication services have undergone tremendous advancement in the last decade. As an example, wireless or cellular telephone systems have now become largely ubiquitous. The advancement from analog cellular telephones, to more sophisticated digital telephones that utilize multiple access techniques such as CDMA or GSM has been very rapid.
Cellular digital telephone networks have been engineered primarily to carry voice communications, meaning the connections provided have a fixed maximum data rate, a low latency (as voice communication is sensitive to latency) and the connections can tolerate relatively high error rates (as voice communication can tolerate such error rates).
More recently, attempts have been made to offer data services (i:e. such as web-browsing) over existing cellular digital telephone networks, but in general these services are unacceptably slow, because such services have different requirements than voice communications. Specifically, while data services can accommodate relatively high latencies, they generally require low error rates.
Indeed, another example of recent advances in telecommunication services has been the deployment of IP protocol networks (such as the Internet and other networks), which have been primarily designed to transmit data. The Internet is an example of a network that is optimized for a relatively low error rate, but which is generally tolerant of latency. This optimization has lead to the result that the Internet is a poor medium for carrying voice services.
Recently, much has been written about "convergence", wherein the next generation of telecommunication networks will be engineered to carry voice, data and other services. Such networks are expected to be 'smart', in that they will dynamically vary their prioritization of errors and delay, according to the quality-of-service ("QoS") requirements of the service being carried over that network. Indeed, much hope was expressed for the so-called "3G" or third-generation of wireless phones, which were to offer good quality voice service and data services at high speeds and low error rates. To date however, the expectations of 3G have not been met, as the challenges of providing such networks have proven more greater than expected.
It is recognized, however, that the communication structures that will be required to deliver voice, data and other services at a appropriate QoS can be divided into two categories: delivering the service from the network to the subscriber, and delivering the service from the subscriber to the network. In wireless networks having a base station which communicates with a plurality of subscriber stations, the former category is typically known as the "downlink" and is a one-to-many link, and the latter category is known as the "uplink" and is a many-to-one link.
The 3G standard, available from a variety of sources including the web site of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organization (www.3gpp.org) includes a channel structure that is intended to provide an uplink for voice, data and other services at a high QoS. The 3G channel structure includes a DDCH (dedicated data channel) which is intended to provide low latency connections for voice services in both the downlink and uplink directions by reserving transmission resources and a CPCH (common packet channel) which is intended to provide low error rate connections for bursty, latency tolerant, packet-based data on the uplink. In simple terms, the CPCH allows a plurality of subscriber stations to share an uplink to a base station by allowing them to randomly access that common channel. The CPCH is described in detail in the 3G documents and is also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,169,759 and 6,301,286 to Kanterakis et al.
In a very simplified explanation, the subscriber stations served by the Kanterakis CPCH transmit a low power pre-defined sequence to the base station, the sequence representing a request by a subscriber station for permission to transmit on the CPCH at a future time. Once the sequence is transmitted, the subscriber station listens to a corresponding downlink channel from the base station for an authorization or denial to transmit. If the subscriber station does not receive either an authorization or denial from the base station, it will rebroadcast the request sequence to the base station at a higher power level, repeating the process until it receives a denial or authorization. If the subscriber station receives a denial of permission, it makes another request to the base station after a random delay. If the subscriber station receives an authorization, it sends a second request to the base station to confirm the authorization which reduces the chance that two different subscriber stations have made the same request at the same time. If it then receives a second authorization on the corresponding downlink channel, the subscriber station can commence transmitting on the CPCH at the appropriate time and power control information for the transmission on the CPCH is transmitted from the base station to the transmitting subscriber station on yet another channel designed for this purpose. Each of these circumstances and the operation of the CPCH is described in more detail in the above mentioned documents.
The inventors of the present invention have determined that, while the CPCH structure can provide low latencies and a reasonable bandwidth utilization efficiency at low utilization levels (i.e.—few users with little data to send), the performance and efficiency of the CPCH structure decreases significantly at higher utilization levels (i.e.—many users and/or large amounts of data to send). As will be apparent to those of skill in the art, as is the case with all random access techniques, as more subscriber stations attempt to access the CPCH, more collisions will result wherein two or more subscriber stations request permission to transmit at the same time. Because the mechanism for dealing with such collisions in the CPCH is to have the denied subscriber stations retry their request at random intervals, the mechanism quickly degrades to a very low level of efficiency when the number of subscriber stations increases and the latencies and bandwidth utilization efficiency can quickly reach unacceptable levels.
In the 3G system, the CPCH channels are typically over-provisioned in an attempt to mitigate this degradation. It is contemplated that bandwidth utilization efficiencies for the CPCH will not often surpass thirty percent of the maximum theoretical channel capacity.
Another technique for dealing with congested CPCH's is to transfer certain subscriber stations to DDCHs for their uplinks but, while this can result in good latency times, it results in poor utilization of radio resources as DDCH channels are not shared and are not radio resource efficient when transmitting bursty data.
In general, the inventors of the present invention believe that the CPCH can offer good performance for bursty data traffic at low levels of utilization, but is not suitable for higher levels of utilization.
It is therefore desired to provide a communication channel structure and method which makes efficient utilization of radio bandwidth and which is capable of providing low latency and/or low error rate communications.

Communication channel structure and method


Embodiments relate to guiding medical care based on detected gastric function. For example, gastric acid stimulant or suppressant is administered, and then a change in the gastric juice H+ concentration is measured. This change is compared to a guidance H+ concentration differential indicative of relatively healthy gastric function. Medical care is guided based on a relatively healthy gastric function if the measured H+ concentration differential is equal to or exceeds the guidance H+ concentration differential, while medical care is guided based on a relatively unhealthy gastric function if the measured H+ concentration differential is less than the guidance H+ concentration differential. Disclosed embodiments implementing this procedure include, but are not limited to, methods, apparatus, processors, computer programs, and computer-readable mediums.

Many patients receive care in an intensive care unit or similar setting following surgery, injury, trauma, or acute medical illness. These and other patients may suffer from dysfunction or failure of one or more organ systems. Although some patients succumb from their illness and die, most eventually recover, albeit after application of intensive care techniques and prolonged hospitalization.
During application of intensive care techniques and/or hospitalization, decisions are made as to whether and when patients are ready for normalization (or accelerated normalization) of their care. Normalizing care can involve several types of clinical problems and intensive care techniques, some of which are discussed below.
I. Initiation of Enteral Feeding
Enteral feeding, i.e., instilling food into the stomach or intestines via a feeding tube or the mouth, is beneficial to some patients but deleterious to those patients whose gastrointestinal perfusion and function is suboptimal. Failures in enteral feeding can be classified as either "underfeeding" or "overfeeding". Underfeeding results when a critically ill patient is either not started on enteral feeds or else is administered suboptimal calories. Underfeeding can result in malnutrition and its associated complications (e.g., infections, low colloid oncotic pressure), resulting in prolongation of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) treatment and hospitalization. Overfeeding, in contrast, results when a patient is enterally fed but the patient's gastrointestinal tract (or overall circulatory system) is not yet sufficiently healthy to tolerate the increased stress of enteral feeding. Overfeeding can result in vomiting and aspiration of enteral feeds into the lungs, leading to aspiration pneumonitis/pneumonia. Overfeeding can also lead to ileus, fever, and abdominal tenderness, which can mimic other serious disorders, such as abdominal abscess/infection, and dead bowel syndrome.
II. Weaning from Mechanical Ventilation
Mechanical ventilation is used to support adequate oxygenation and ventilation in patients with pulmonary dysfunction. Providing mechanical ventilation to a patient when it is not necessary can lead to recognized complications, such as muscle weakness and aspiration pneumonia, resulting in unnecessarily prolonged hospitalization. Discontinuing or weaning mechanical ventilation in a patient prematurely can lead to complications, such as pulmonary failure, intestinal dysfunction, cardiac arrhythmias, and a general setback in a patient's recovery.
III. Weaning of Vasoactive Medications
Vasoactive agents, such as epinephrine, dobutamine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and milrinone, are commonly administered to critically ill patients in order to insure adequate perfusion of vital organs. Unnecessary administration of these agents can result in prolonged hospitalization and may cause complications, such as cardiac arrhythmias. In contrast, insufficient administration of these agents can result in inadequate organ perfusion, resulting in organ dysfunction and death.

Methods and apparatus for guiding medical care based on detected gastric function


A process is disclosed for correcting wave front deformations caused by an optical system (5). The wave front deformations are measured by means of a wave front measurement instrument. Based on the measurement results, at least two optical components are selected as optical correcting elements (1, 2) from a series of prefabricated optical components, for example cylindrical, with form errors of different types and magnitudes. They are then mutually aligned and brought into the path of the rays of the optical system (5). This process meets high tolerance requirements an may be easily and quickly applied in the course of manufacture of an optical system (5).

The invention relates to a process for correcting wavefront deformations which are caused by an optical system and which are measured with the aid of a wave-front-measuring instrument.
An optical system is to be understood both as an arrangement of optical components to form a functional unit, and as an individual optical component.
In accordance with its particular function, each optical system effects a specific variation in incident wavefronts. For example, plane wavefronts are converted into spherical wavefronts by an imaging optical system. However, there are deviations from the ideal shape of the wavefront upon passage through a real optical system. Wavefront deformations are produced whose causes are grounded chiefly in the non-ideal characteristics of the surfaces of the individual optical components which form the optical system. These errors in the surfaces are denoted as surface form errors or simply as form errors. Material inhomogeneities and the cementing of the optical components also play a role in causes form errors.
The errors caused in the wavefronts are composed of different error components. In particular the surface roughnesses unavoidably produced on optical components during polishing processes cause disturbed wavefronts whose disturbance or deformation is classified as 3/A (B) in accordance with DIN Standard Sheet 3140, Part 5, October 1978, pages 3-4, code number for permissible form errors. In this case, A is a measure of the spherical form error, that is to say the deviation of the surface shape from a test glass, specified by the number of Newton rings, where B describes the oval form error, that is to say the astigmatic component, likewise in the same units. The remainder of the wavefront deformation is mostly negligible in the case of the production process at issue.
The wavefront deformations can be measured with wavefront-measuring instruments such as are described, for example, in DE 40 03 698 C2 or in DE 40 03 699 C2. If the wavefront deformations measured at individual optical components or at a group of composite optical components exceed a prescribed tolerance limit, these components are taken out of the further production process and returned for reworking to a preceding process step. The reworking is performed generally only at very specific points of the optical component, which have been determined from measurement of the wavefront deformations. During the reworking, an appropriate correction is polished into the optical component. The correction acts on the wavefront as a counterdisturbance, as a result of which the original wavefront deformation is corrected up to a certain degree.
However, difficulties arise when there are high requirements for correcting the wavefront deformations. If there is a requirement for deviations from the desired ideal shape of the wavefront, where the deiration which are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light, there is an increase in the number of the optical components which exceed this tolerance limit and which therefore have to be removed from the production cycle. If, however, the rate of rejection is too high, it is no longer sensible to return the rejected optical components to a preceding process step for the purpose of correction. Firstly, frequent intervention in the fabrication cycle is very expensive in terms of time and cost and hampers fluid production. Secondly, there is a rise in the risk that a subsequent polishing process will produce additional errors. In some circumstances, more new errors will be produced than there were original errors present. Since the original errors can no longer be satisfactorily limited, limits of mastering the process have been reached. In order to achieve substantial improvements, a basically different production method would have to be developed at great expense.

Process for correcting wave front deformations


Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for role-based failure response training for distributed systems are disclosed. A failure response training system determines a failure mode associated with an architecture for a distributed system comprising a plurality of components. The training system generates a scenario based at least in part on the failure mode. The scenario comprises an initial state of the distributed system which is associated with one or more metrics indicative of a failure. The training system provides, to a plurality of users, data describing the initial state. The training system solicits user input representing modification of a configuration of the components. The training system determines a modified state of the distributed system based at least in part on the input. The performance of the distributed system in the modified state is indicated by one or more modified metrics differing from the one or more initial metrics.

Large-scale computing systems, such as those associated with network-based production services, have become widely available in recent years. Examples of such systems include online merchants, internet service providers, online businesses such as photo processing services, corporate networks, cloud computing services, web-based hosting services, etc. These entities may maintain large numbers of computing devices (e.g., thousands of hosts) which are hosted in geographically separate locations and which are configured to process large quantities (e.g., millions) of client requests daily or even hourly. Systems that use interconnected computing devices to perform tasks may be referred to as distributed systems. Distributed systems may include many services and subsystems that interact with one another in a variety of ways to perform tasks on behalf of clients.
A distributed system may experience reduced functionality or become unavailable to clients for a variety of reasons. For example, a distributed system may be subjected to a denial-of-service cyberattack in which the system is flooded with malicious requests such that genuine requests cannot be processed. As another example, a distributed system may experience high latency and dropping of client requests due to a misconfiguration of software or a hardware failure. When such a failure occurs, it is vital for the operator of the distributed system to restore the functionality of the system as soon as possible. A team of users may be tasked with performing the failure response.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning "having the potential to"), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning "must"). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean "including, but not limited to."

Role-based failure response training for distributed systems


A layered device including a substrate; an adhering layer thereon. An electrical conducting layer such as copper is deposited on the adhering layer and then a barrier layer of an amorphous oxide of TiAl followed by a high dielectric layer are deposited to form one or more of an electrical device such as a capacitor or a transistor or MEMS and/or a magnetic device.

Copper is drawing much attention as an electrode and interconnect material for integrated sub-micron circuit technology due to its low resistivity and high electro- and stress-mitigation resistance which are superior to Al and Al-alloys. Cu is also a promising candidate to replace Pt due to its low-cost, high conductivity and easier reactive etching properties. However, the successful substitution of Cu into thin-film devices requires the solution to critical issues such as adhesion of Cu layers to Si, SiO2 and ferroelectric layers, Cu diffusion, and elimination of oxidation of the Cu during growth of oxide films. A significant problem is that Cu oxidizes at relatively low temperatures at a significant rate, which results in degradation of the electrical conduction properties of the Cu electrode layers. Thus protection against oxidation is necessary when growing ferroelectric or high permittivity oxide films on Cu electrode layers, since synthesis of those layers requires high temperature and oxygen ambient or oxygen plasmas.
The invention, for preventing oxidation of the copper layer during growth of the oxide layer on the copper layer, is to put down a TiAl oxygen diffusion barrier on top of the copper layer before growing the oxide layer. The TiAl layer absorbs oxygen preferentially binding it to the constituent elements (Ti and Al) of the layer and inhibiting the diffusion of oxygen atoms towards the copper layer while growing the oxide film in an oxygen environment at high temperature. The TiAl oxygen diffusion barrier layer can be deposited by MOCVD, molecular beam epitaxy, atomic layer deposition or physical vapor deposition or any other method suitable for growing oxide thin films.
Various attempts have been made to avoid the problem solved by the present invention, for instance U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,174 issued to Akram et al. Dec. 14, 1999 relates to diffusion barriers but requires the combination of a transition metal such as titanium or aluminum plus silicon plus nitrogen. The patent does not disclose the barrier as effective against oxygen and in fact, nitrogen containing barriers degrade quickly when exposed to oxygen leading to replacement of oxygen in the lattice of the material.
Another attempt at providing barrier materials is disclosed in the McTeer U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,137 issued Apr. 16, 2002. In this patent, McTeer teaches that a TiAl layer is provided but must be annealed in a nitrogen environment to form a TiAl, Cu, N alloy which is susceptible to the same problems associated with the Akram et al. patent. Moreover, as disclosed in the McTeer patent annealing may additionally be performed in an ammonia atmosphere. Accordingly, while various barrier layers have been suggested, none has all the attributes of the amorphous material disclosed herein.

Layered CU-based electrode for high-dielectric constant oxide thin film-based devices


A molybdenum salt-palladium salt solution for CO detection is made reversible by addition of ferric ion. The system is made more CO specific by adding an interference control salt which forms white or colorless precipitates with interfering species. The operational and shelf life are extended by a mixture of counterions; the acetate counterion is particularly useful.

The invention relates generally to chemical sensors and more particularly to carbon monoxide sensors.
The reaction of Carbon Monoxide (CO) with a variety of molybdenum compounds is reported as early as 1910 [C. Zenghelis, Z. Anal. Chem, 40, 429, (1910)] and the literature is reviewed in 1935 by J. Schmidt, "Das Kohlenoxyd", Akad. Verlag, Leipzig, p 186, (1935). It is further presented in "Spot Tests in Inorganic Analysis" by F. Feigel in 1937. [F. Feigel, V. Anger, R. Oesper, "Spot Tests in Inorganic Analysis", Elsevier Publishing Company, New York, p. 168 (1972)].
In this relevant literature, three (3) basic equations are pointed out: EQU Mo.sup.+6 +CO.fwdarw.Mo.sup.+3 +CO.sub.2 (1) EQU Pd.sup.+2 +CO+H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.Pd.sup.0 +CO.sub.2 +2H.sup.+ (2) EQU Pd.sup.0 +Mo.sup.+6 .fwdarw.Pd.sup.+2 +Mo.sup.+3 (3)
The reaction in Equation (1) is very slow and, therefore, a catalyst (Pd.sup.+2) is used. The Pd.sup.+2, even in very small quantities, adsorbs and simultaneously gets reduced by CO as shown in Equation (2). Pd.sup.0, in turn, enters into the reaction, Equation (3), producing molybdenum blue. Thus, a slightly yellow solution is changed to a blue color with the intensity of the blue color being directly related to CO exposure. As presented in Equations (1), (2) and (3), the reaction is not reversible and, therefore, has limited application in sensor technology.
To make the system reversible, therefore, there must be a secondary
The invention relates generally to chemical sensors and more reaction which converts Mo.sup.+3 back to Mo.sup.+6, i.e., an oxidizer must be present.
The question of the reversible CO sensor is addressed by M. K. Goldstein in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,164. That patent suggests several possible chemical recipes for this type of sensor, but does not address the criteria or requirements for a successful reversible sensor; nor does it address the chemistry or mechanisms to make the CO sensor completely specific.
Goldstein shows a solid state CO sensor having five components: (1) palladium salt, (2) molybdenum and/or tungsten salt or acid salt, (3) copper salt, (4) cyclodextrin molecular encapsulant which encapsulates at least one but not all of the other components, and (5) chloride salt, all impregnated into a substrate.

Specific and reversible carbon monoxide sensor


A fan holder for mounting a fan, includes two opposite sidewalls defining a receiving area therebetween, each of the sidewalls defining a through hole therein; two or more polygonal auxiliary members arranged in the through hole of each of the sidewalls and located about an axis; and wherein the polygonal auxiliary members are rotationally offset from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fan holders, and particularly to a fan holder capable of alleviating noise disturbances caused by the fan.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, a fan is mounted to an electronic device for dissipating large amounts of heat generated by components of the electronic device. The fan is generally mounted to the electronic device via a bracket. The bracket defines two circular openings in opposite sides thereof. An inlet of the fan aligns with one of the openings of the bracket, and an outlet of the fan aligns with the other opening of the bracket.
Generally, the vibration generated from the movement of the fan, along with air passing therethrough, may lead to noise disturbances.
Consequently, it is desired to provide a fan holder capable of alleviating noise disturbances caused by the fan.


A protective helmet having a dome-shaped body and air vent structure in the body comprising a body consisting of molded, synthetic resin sections, a first the section having relatively higher density and a second the section having relatively lower density; the first section extending in strengthening adjacency to the second section, laterally of the vent structure.

This invention relates generally to helmets, and more particularly to helmet structures worn by cyclists and consisting of different density materials, as for example foamed synthetic resin.
Safety helmets, as worn by bicyclists, motorcyclists, skaters, and others, typically employ a thick (20 to 50 mm) layer of crushable, synthetic resin foam, extending over and about the wearer's head to mitigate impact. In many designs, ventilation openings or holes are formed to extend in or through the helmet body. It was found that such holes reduced the impact strength of the helmet body, and particularly proximate the holes. In order to prevent reduction in impact strength, a stiff, outer shell was employed, the helmet body itself would be made thicker, or the entirety of the crushable foam would be made of higher density material. However, all of these approaches increase substantially the overall weight of the helmet. No way was known to achieve increased strength, without increasing helmet body thickness or weight.

Multiple density helmet body compositions to strengthen helmet


A method includes receiving a data packet from a data interface and comparing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the data interface to a destination IP address associated with the packet. Further, the method includes dropping the data packet when the IP address of the data interface does not match the destination IP address.

I. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to network devices. More particularly, the disclosure relates to multi-homing network devices.
II. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the number of wireless handsets in operation has increased dramatically. With the increase in demand for these mobile devices, the manufacturers are building these devices to include numerous data services. This convergence of data services can make wireless devices powerful resources for data networking. However, due to the increase in data services provided by wireless devices, the number of nefarious attacks on wireless devices has also increased. Hence, there is an increasing concern to protect these devices from malicious attacks.
Wireless telephones have become multi-homing devices that include many data interfaces through which the wireless telephones can accept and send data. At any time, within a particular wireless telephone, more than one of these data interfaces can be open for direct data transfer with the Internet, or another data network. The data protocol stack in the mobile device is mostly transparent to the multiple data interfaces of the device. Further, the data protocol stack can accept data from any of the data interfaces as long as the protocol address of the incoming data matches the protocol address of the phone. As such, the wireless telephone is open and vulnerable to many attacks from the Internet and other data networks.
For example, when a packet is received on a data interface at a multi-homing device, the packet can be routed to an appropriate socket, or application. In general, for a socket that is connected using transmission control protocol (TCP), a packet is routed to the socket based on four (4) tuples, e.g., source address (src_addr), source port (src_port), destination address (dst_addr), and destination port (dst_port). For a socket that is connected using user datagram protocol (UDP), a packet is routed to the socket based on two tuples, e.g., destination address (dst_addr) and destination port (dst_port). For other protocols, such as Internet control message protocol (ICMP) or non-Internet Protocol (IP) based protocols, other fields in the network and transport layer headers can be used.
Unfortunately, in a multi-homing device the parameters described above may not be able to uniquely identify a data interface for several reasons. For example, the data interfaces within a multi-homing device may be assigned duplicate private addresses. Also, multiple applications within the multi-homing device may try to access the same service using different network data interfaces. In such scenarios, the applications may bind to the same service access point (SAP), e.g., the same port number in case of UDP or TCP. As such, it may not be possible to correctly route a packet to the appropriate destination application.
A multi-homing device may also be vulnerable to spurious attacks via the different data interfaces available at the multi-homing device. For example, in a typical multi-homing device, an application installed therein can receive data from any network data interface as long as the data interface is open for data transfer and the data protocol addresses, e.g., IP address, port number, etc., match with that of the application.
Apart from security considerations, data network providers are also concerned about the billing and usage of various services and technologies available to the mobile telephones on the data networks. For example, there is a certain cost associated with each new service and technology that a data network provider provides and carriers are typically interested in hassle free discrete billing of various services used by the mobile phone user. If an application within a mobile telephone is restricted to use certain data interfaces available at the mobile telephone for data transfers, it can be easier for the carrier network to track the billing and cost associated with the usage of the different technologies and services distinctly, based on per-data interface usage.
Additionally, in a multi-homing networking device, the port space for networking applications is usually shared between all of the data interfaces available to the device. If an application is using a particular port number for data transfer on a particular data interface, no other application can use the same port number—even if the other application is using a completely different data interface. This can be an unnecessary restriction for a device that may need to run different services on different data interfaces but with the same port number. For example, the network device can include two different web servers that use the same port number, e.g., port eighty (80), but on different data interfaces. Most network devices do not allow this flexibility. Some implementations allow binding to a port for all of the data interfaces or for a specific data interface, i.e., one interface or all interfaces.

System and method to support data applications in a multi-homing, multi-mode communication device


A system for cleaning up and preparing an image for segmentation is disclosed. An image transmitting device is configured to transmit a first image to an image receiving device. The image receiving device is configured to: receive the first image; apply a Dual Tree Complex Wavelet transform to the first image to form a plurality of sub-images; generate a high pass image based on the plurality of sub-images; generate a rotational invariant resultant image based on the high pass image; generate a low pass image based on the plurality of sub-images; and combine the rotational invariant resultant image and the low pass image to form a pseudo-fluorescent image.

Generally, when live cells or microorganisms are examined to determine their characteristics they are placed under a microscope for analysis. Live cells are analyzed to find cures for many illnesses or diseases that exist today, such as cancer. For example, a person or scientist may put a breast lymph node cell on a specimen plate under a microscope to determine how the lymph node cell functions under various conditions in order to discover a method for treating the lymph node cell so it will not be cancerous.
A microscope that may be utilized to view cell function is a fluorescent microscope and the like. The typical fluorescent microscope utilizes a light source to transmit light through a dichroic mirror to excite fluorescent dyes in stained living cells or a sample specimen that absorbs radiation from the light and emits radiation at a lower frequency, whereby this emitted light will be reflected back through the dichroic mirror to an optical detector. The optical detector will then receive an image of the living cells. Normally, the optical detector will send the image to a computer that would reconstruct the image of the living cells based on an algorithm or equation.
Alternatively, one can use microscopy techniques other than fluorescence to view the cells, such as phase contrast microscopy, differential interference (DIC) microscopy, brightfield transmitted light microscopy and the like. Phase contrast microscopy is a contrast enhancing optical technique that can be utilized for generating high-contrast images of transparent specimens such as living cells, microorganisms and sub-cellular particles. This phase contrast technique employs an optical mechanism to translate minute variations in phase into corresponding changes in amplitude, which can be visualized as differences in image contrast. This type of microscopy enables one to observe low-contrast specimens that are either transparent or semi-transparent, which is often difficult, especially without proper illumination. The application of suitable contrast enhancement provides a substantial increase in contrast of barely visible low-contrast specimens in positive or negative relief. The illumination utilized by the phase contrast microscopy is standard brightfield transmitted light, oblique brightfield transmitted light and single-sided darkfield illumination. When a person utilizes standard brightfield transmitted light for illumination he avoids harmful exposure of the specimens to toxic dyes associated with staining living cells so the specimens will not die. However, the problem with utilizing this type of illumination is that brightfield images of the specimens look colorless and washed out. Moreover, in order to ensure that the specimen does not die it is necessary to keep the level of exposure the specimen receives from harmful light and bleaching to a minimum. Moreover, low intensity inevitably leads to noise being a severe problem.
Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscopy is a mechanism for increasing contrast in transparent specimens. DIC microscopy is a beam-shearing interference system in which the reference beam is sheared by a miniscule amount. This technique produces a monochromatic shadow-cast image that effectively displays the gradient of optical paths for both high and low spatial frequencies present in the specimen. The regions of the specimen where the optical paths increase along a reference direction appear brighter (or darker), while regions where the path differences decrease appear in reverse contrast. As the gradient of optical path difference grows steeper, image contrast is dramatically increased. Also, this type of microscopy enables one to observe low-contrast specimens that are either transparent or semi-transparent, which is often difficult especially without proper illumination. This DIC microscopy also utilizes standard brightfield transmitted light that causes the same problems discussed above for the phase contrast microscopy.
For brightfield transmitted light microscopes, light is aimed toward a lens beneath a stage called the condenser, through the sample specimen, through an objective lens, and to the eye through a second magnifying lens, the ocular or eyepiece. The object to be inspected is normally placed on a clear glass slide and light is transmitted through the object, which makes the object appear against a bright background hence the term "brightfield." The objects in the light path are seen because natural pigmentation or stains absorb light differentially, or because they are thick enough to absorb a significant amount of light despite being colorless. The interior of the cells in the brightfield image is barely discernible so one can not tell the difference between the cells and the background. Also, the noise is a severe problem which inhibits segmentation of the cell. If one could segment cells in such brightfield images this would provide a wealth of information about cells that can be used as a diagnostic tool. For example, the utilization of the brightfield imaging technique is very useful in cancer research because this technique allows cancer cells to be kept alive, which is necessary in order to perform cancer research. On the other hand, when other imaging techniques are utilized living cells are killed when they are stained, which prohibits scanning of cells for cancer research.
In order to detect, diagnose and treat living cells in brightfield images these cells, such as cancer cells must be analyzed by segmenting and reconstructing the image of living cells. Therefore, there is a need for a system that is able to analyze living cells in brightfield images where the living cells can be discerned from the background of the sample specimen.

System for preparing an image for segmentation


A wound dressing bandage having an integral support and adhesive carrying body with a central absorbent dressing pad for positioning over a skin wound. The support and adhesive body member has a tough flexible resilient sheet defining a perimeter band about the dressing pad. An engagement tab extends beyond the perimeter for frangible release and removal of the release sheet during application.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to wound dressings and self-adhesive bandages that are used to selectively cover skin wounds. Such adhesive bandages combine a sterile absorbent pad with an adhesive caring sheet with release sheets thereon.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art devices of this type have been directed to a variety of different structural designs in which adhesive strips of flexible synthetic material are combined with a pre-positioned gauze absorbent sterile pad to be placed directly over the skin wound adhering to the surrounding area so as to prevent environmental matter from coming in direct contact with the wound until it is healed. Such devices can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,917,112, 5,086,764, 5,180,360, 5,722,943, 6,120,792, 6,436,432, and 6,607,799.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,996 is directed to a bandage with a protective member having a central pad portion with oppositely disposed end extensions for adhesively securing the bandage to the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,112 discloses a bandage with a transparent dressing area surrounded by an adhesive surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,764 claims an absorbent dressing having wound covering base with an absorbing fabric wound engagement area therewithin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,360 is directed to an eye patch with a central inflatable bladder to maintain the eyelid in closed position once it is positioned on the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,943 is non-stretching wound dressing having multiple positioning and release sheets configurations and a process for manufacturing same.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,792 shows a medicated skin patch and use method which utilizes several alternate forms having different shape configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,432 is an absorbent pad dressing frame with the pad on a carrier frame having multiple overlapping structural layers thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,799 illustrates a surgical dressing with delivery system and manufacturing method. A would dressing is shown having multiple layer hinge configuration for positioning of a catheter in a patient.
Pat. No. D265,423 discloses an I.V. bandage having an upper access flap and applicant's own U.S. Pat. No. D372,787 shows integral circular bandage configuration with a central raised absorbent pad compartment with a pair of overlapping tab extensions extending therefrom.


The present disclosure involves reconfigurable circuits that include an asynchronous data path with asynchronous control and at least one logic element coupled with the asynchronous data path that allows the circuit to be configured to more than one logical implementation through data and control token. In one particular example, the asynchronous data path with asynchronous control includes an interconnection of memory elements, such as latches, with each memory element including a corresponding asynchronous control element, such as a GasP element. One or more logical elements are coupled at one or more points of the data path, such coupling may involve feed-back, feed-forward, or combinations of both, and may include external data connections. Through distribution of data items and control tokens to the asynchronous data path with asynchronous control, the fixed logical coupling to the data path may be reconfigured to provide various logical arrangements.

Logic configurability is impractical, and in many instances not possible, with traditional synchronous shift register circuits, especially those that incorporate feed-back paths. The impracticality in providing configurability to synchronous shift register based circuits is a result of the fact that the number of data storage elements in synchronous shift register based circuits strictly governs the number and distribution of logical data bits in the circuit.
In many applications, a system, such as a processor chip or the like, may involve many different permutations of a particular logic algorithm. For example, an encoder may apply different formulae to implement different encoding schemes; a cyclic redundancy checker may apply different formulae to compute different checksums; and spread-spectrum communication systems and cryptographic engines may generate many different random code words.
It is possible to use software to implement variations in the configuration of logic based on a conventional shift register circuit. However, due to performance issues, such as real-time requirements, software based solutions are often not sufficient or compatible with other system requirements. Another possibility, is to implement different permutations of a logic algorithm by simply designing and building a distinct logic circuit for each permutation. Of course, this solution, while likely meeting performance requirements, greatly increases design effort, chip complexity, and the valuable chip real estate.
A conventional synchronous shift register 10 involves a series of data storage elements connected such that data bits propagate serially through the register. FIG. 1 shows one example of a conventional circuit implementation of a synchronous shift register 10, where each data storage element is a latch labeled "L". On every positive clock edge or a clock input of a given latch, each latch copies a data bit from an input to an output of each latch.
A fundamental property of such a synchronous shift register circuit is that the data bit at the input of each storage element is assumed to be valid on every clock edge. Therefore, every register stage stores a valid data item, and the number of register stages (e.g., the number of latches strictly governs the number of data items in the register. An N-stage register stores N bits, and every bit shifts down the register (from one latch to the adjacent latch) by one position on every clock cycle.
Many computational circuits apply combinational logic on bits stored in a shift register. Two conventional shift register circuit families, feed-forward and feed-back, are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows an example of a feed-forward shift register circuit 12, where some combinational logic block 14 may operate on bits M(3) and N(5) of the shift register. In general, the logic can operate on any number of bits in the register. The logic, however, is limited to operating on bits where there is a connection to the combinational logic, e.g., M(3) (after the third latch L3) and N(5) (after the fifth latch L5). FIG. 3 shows a circuit 16 in a feed-back configuration, where a combinational logic block 18 may operate on an input, e.g., bits M (3) and N (5) of the shift register; the result is fed back to the beginning of the register. In both cases, the combinational logic block may produce one or more outputs. Notably, each circuit is limited by the number of register elements (latches) in the circuit and the position of the connections or taps between the shift register circuit and the combinational logic. A tap copies the value of a data bit and feeds it elsewhere. In the circuits of FIGS. 2 and 3, bits M(3) and N(5) have taps to provide the data to the combinational logic 14 and 18, respectively.
FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples of actual circuits that share the same basic structures as the ones in FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively. The feed-forward circuit 20 of FIG. 4 generates the outputsout0[t]=bk[t]bk+2[t]out1[t]=bk[t]bk+2[t]  (1)where t denotes the clock cycle, and bk and bk+2 represent two data bits two positions apart, represents the logical AND operation performed by the AND gate 22, and Λ represents the logical OR operation performed by the OR gate 24.
Because the number and order of bits in a shift register are strictly bound to the structure of the circuit, each circuit can only implement a set combinational formula. For instance, the circuit of FIG. 4 always produces outputs according to (1). The circuit cannot implement another formula without additional circuitry.
It is possible to attach a tap to every register stage, and include a multiplexer to select a subset of the tapped bits and feed them into different combinational logic blocks. However, this involves a large overhead in circuit complexity and latency, especially if the shift register is very long, i.e., includes a relatively large number of registers. As a result, it is usually more efficient to design a separate register and combinational logic circuit for each permutation of logic to be implemented. While addressing the complexity and some of the latency issues, both the use of a multiplexor as well as deploying separate circuits, can involve substantial chip real estate.
The feed-back circuit 26 of FIG. 5 illustrates another aspect of configurability that is restricted by the use of a simple shift register. The circuit generates the next input bit b1 to the register according to the formula:b1[t+1]=(b2[t]⊕b5[t])⊕in [t].  (2)The symbol + represents the functions performed by the XOR gates 28 and 30, because the input to the register is a function of its current state, the number of data bits in the shift register is pertinent to the correctness of the computation. For example, the circuit of FIG. 5 computes the remainder of a binary division of the input polynomial by the polynomial represented by the shift register structure, in this case x5+x2+1. It is not possible to use the same circuit to compute the remainder of a division by a polynomial of a different order, for example, x7+x3+1. This is because there are always five data bits in the shift register, and therefore the circuit can only compute the remainder by a fifth order polynomial. Thus, conventionally, a different circuit must be designed and built for each and every computation. As discussed in greater detail below, polynomial computations of different orders occur in a wide variety of applications.
It may also be possible to build a synchronous pipeline with multiple parallel bypass paths, each with a different number of pipeline stages, and select between these stages to allow configurability. However, as with other conventional solutions set out above, this is complex and may involve a prohibitive amount of overhead and real estate driving designers to implement separate circuits for different computations.
In light of these and other problems in the art, the following disclosure describes various reconfigurable circuit implementations as well as discusses how to build on the base of reconfigurable circuit knowledge set out herein to implement other implementations. Reconfigurable circuits as set out below alleviate the need to build multiple circuits for each computational effort or to deploy other impractical circuit implementations. Further, some of the solutions set out below illustrate how it is possible to decouple the logical data distribution from the physical circuit structure using asynchronous control protocols. By loading different distributions of control tokens into a circuit, it is possible to use one circuit to implement many different desired logical permutations of an algorithm.


Detailed information about a particular used motor vehicle is quickly provided to a potential buyer having a personal digital assistant equipped with a receiving means. To provide the information, it is first necessary to obtain standard information about used motor vehicle values in digital form from a provider of such information. It is then necessary to obtain specific information about an inventory of used motor vehicles from the owner or seller of the vehicles. The standard information and the specific information are then integrated on a server computer and transmitted to the potential buyer.

Millions of used motor vehicles are sold each year in the United States. The term "motor vehicles" is used herein to include automobiles, trucks, sport utility vehicles, motorcycles, boats, and the like. The value of a used motor vehicle depends on many factors, including its make and model, its original value, its age, its mileage, its condition, its options, etc. A number of services provide information about the value of used motor vehicles, including the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), Kelley Blue Book, and Black Book. These services provide the information in the form of guidebooks and also digitally. Dealers of used motor vehicles typically use one or more of the used motor vehicle value services.
Dealers of used motor vehicles buy, sell, and trade used motor vehicles to enlarge, reduce, and reconfigure their inventory on a regular basis. To facilitate this, large dealer-only auctions are held periodically throughout the United States where dealers buy and sell used motor vehicles. Dealers who plan to sell motor vehicles typically provide information about the vehicles to the auction beforehand so a list can be prepared and distributed to dealers who plan to buy motor vehicles. Each motor vehicle is auctioned on an auction block for a very short period of time, typically less than a minute. The larger dealer-only auctions have several auctions occurring simultaneously. A variety of tools are available to enable the potential buyer to place a bid at an auction. For example, Berent et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,873, issued Jun. 30, 1998, discloses a system of computer workstations at remote locations that communicate with a host computer network that enables potential buyers to receive information about vehicles being auctioned and to bid on them.
In order to make an informed buying decision, a potential buyer of a used motor vehicle must gather specific information about the vehicle and then refer to one or more of the used motor vehicle value services. As a result of this time-consuming process, the potential buyer at a dealer-only auction may not have sufficient time to make an informed buying decision while a vehicle is being auctioned.
Potential buyers also need to have information about their own inventories. Dealers of used motor vehicles typically have information about their inventory stored in a database that is accessible at computers located at their dealership. While having such information at an auction would be highly desirable, there are many other situations in which it would be desirable for a dealer to retrieve the information when physically away from the dealership computers.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a method of quickly providing detailed information about a particular used motor vehicle to a potential buyer or seller.

Method for providing vehicle information at a live auction


A plasma torch and method for cutting a workpiece under water directs a primary gas through a primary gas flow path in the torch to a central exit opening of the torch disposed on a longitudinal axis of the torch for exhaustion from the torch onto the workpiece in the form of an ionized plasma. The workpiece is submerged in water while the plasma torch is operated in closely spaced relationship with the workpiece to direct the ionized plasma upon the workpiece. A secondary gas flow path in the torch receives a secondary gas separate from the primary gas and directs it through the torch. Concentrically arranged first and second sets of secondary exit openings are disposed in the torch separate from the central exit opening and in generally radially spaced relationship with the longitudinal axis of the torch. The secondary exit openings exhaust secondary gas from the torch in a direction generally toward the workpiece. The secondary gas is exhausted from the first and second secondary exit openings at a flow rate sufficient to displace water surrounding the ionized plasma exiting the central exit opening of the torch to inhibit quenching of the ionized plasma.

This invention relates to plasma cutting torches, and more specifically to a plasma cutting torch and method that provides high performance cutting of a workpiece under water.
Plasma torches, also known as electric arc torches, are commonly used for cutting and welding metal workpieces by directing a plasma consisting of ionized gas particles toward the workpiece. In a typical plasma torch such as that shown in FIG. 1, a gas to be ionized is supplied to a lower end of the torch and flows past an electrode before exiting through an orifice in the torch tip. The electrode, which is a consumable part, has a relatively negative potential and operates as a cathode. The torch tip (nozzle) surrounds the electrode at the lower end of the torch in spaced relationship with the electrode and constitutes a relatively positive potential anode. When a sufficiently high voltage is applied to the electrode, an arc is caused to jump the gap between the electrode and the torch tip, thereby heating the gas and causing it to ionize. The ionized gas in the gap is blown out of the torch and appears as an arc that extends externally off the tip. As the head or lower end of the torch is moved to a position close to the workpiece, the arc jumps 6r transfers from the torch tip to the workpiece because the impedance of the workpiece to the positive side of the power supply is lower than the impedance of the torch tip back to the power supply. During this xe2x80x9ctransferred arcxe2x80x9d operation, the workpiece itself serves as the anode. A shield cap is typically secured on the torch body over the torch tip and electrode to complete assembly of the torch.
The conventional plasma torch illustrated in FIG. 1 is a dual gas torch in which a secondary gas flows through the torch concurrently with the primary working gas for purposes of cooling various parts of the torch. The secondary gas exits the torch through the shield cap, impinging on the plasma arc and the workpiece to increase the stability of the plasma arc and/or the quality of the cut made in the workpiece.
Plasma arc cutting of a workpiece is often performed with the workpiece submerged under water. This reduces glare from the plasma arc, reduces noise and smoke pollution and improves cooling of the workpiece being cut, resulting in improved dimensional stability and ease of handling. One disadvantage of cutting under water is that water tends to reduce the cutting effectiveness of the plasma arc by quenching the arc. The head of the plasma torch is placed in the water close to the workpiece. As such, heat generated by the plasma arc and used for cutting is dissipated by the water surrounding the plasma arc.
Among the several objects and features of the present invention is the provision of a plasma arc torch for cutting a workpiece under water; the provision of such a torch which improves the quality of the cut made by the torch under water; the provision of such a torch which inhibits water from quenching the plasma arc as the arc exits the torch; the provision of such a torch which forms a pocket of air surrounding the plasma arc as the arc exits the torch; and the provision of such a torch in which the secondary gas flow rate exiting the torch is optimized.
A plasma torch of the present invention for cutting a workpiece under water generally comprises a primary gas flow path in the torch for receiving a primary working gas and directing it through the torch to a central exit opening of the torch disposed on a longitudinal axis of the torch for exhaustion from the torch onto a workpiece in the form of an ionized plasma. A secondary gas flow path in the torch receives a secondary gas separate from the primary working gas and directs it through the torch. A first set of secondary exit openings in the torch separate from the central exit opening is spaced a first radial distance from the longitudinal axis of the torch. The first set of secondary exit openings is in fluid communication with the secondary gas flow path for exhausting secondary gas from the torch and is oriented for directing secondary gas exhausted from the torch through the first set of secondary exit openings generally toward the workpiece. A second set of secondary exit openings in the torch is spaced a second radial distance from the longitudinal axis of the torch greater than the first radial distance of the first set of secondary openings. The second set of secondary exit openings is in fluid communication with the secondary gas flow path for further exhausting secondary gas from the torch and is oriented for directing secondary gas exhausted from the torch through the second set of secondary exit openings generally toward the workpiece.
In another embodiment, a shield cap for use in a plasma arc torch of the type having a primary gas flow path and a secondary gas flow path comprises a hollow body having a central longitudinal axis, an upper end and a lower end having a central opening on said central longitudinal axis and in fluid communication with the primary gas flow path for exhausting primary working gas from the torch onto a workpiece in the form of an ionized plasma. An inner surface of the shield cap at least partially defines the secondary gas flow path. A first set of secondary openings separate from the central opening is spaced a first radial distance from the central longitudinal axis of the shield cap and a second set of secondary openings is spaced a second radial distance from the central longitudinal axis of the shield cap greater than the first radial distance of the first set of secondary openings. The first and second sets of secondary openings are arranged for fluid communication with the secondary gas flow path of the torch for exhausting secondary gas from the torch and are oriented such that secondary gas is exhausted from the torch via the first and second sets of secondary openings in the shield cap in a direction generally toward the workpiece.
A method of the present invention of cutting a workpiece under water using a plasma torch of the type having a gas flow path for directing working gas through the torch comprises submerging the workpiece to be cut under water and operating the plasma torch in the water in close proximity to the workpiece. The step of operating the plasma torch includes directing working gas through the gas flow path to a central exit opening of the torch disposed on a longitudinal axis of the torch for exhaustion from the torch onto the workpiece in the form of an ionized plasma. Additionally, either working gas or a secondary gas is directed toward the workpiece in generally radially spaced relationship with the longitudinal axis of the torch at a flow rate sufficient to displace water surrounding the ionized plasma exiting the central exit opening of the torch to inhibit quenching of the ionized plasma.
Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

Plasma torch and method for underwater cutting


The present invention relates generally to a method of inducing, stimulating or otherwise facilitating bronchoprotection in humans and animals by modulating bronchial constriction and/or inflammation. The present invention is predicated in part on the identification of receptors in airway epithelium which mediate inhibition of bronchoconstriction and/or inflammation following their activation. More particularly, the present invention identifies that activation of protease activated receptors (PARs) results in relaxation of airway epithelium. Activation of airway epithelium PARs inhibits bronchoconstriction and/or inflammation and thereby mediates bronchoprotection of the airways. The present invention further provides a method for the prophylaxis and treatment of disease conditions in airways such as asthma and bronchitis and further provides methods for the diagnosis and screening of agents useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of airway disease conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of inducing, stimulating or otherwise facilitating bronchoprotection in humans and animals by modulating bronchial constriction and/or inflammation. The present invention is predicated in part on the identification of receptors in airway epithelium which mediate inhibition of bronchoconstriction and/or inflammation following their activation. More particularly, the present invention identifies that activation of protease activated receptors (PARs) results in relaxation of airway epithelium. Activation of airway epithelium PARs inhibits bronchoconstriction and/or inflammation and thereby mediates bronchoprotection of the airways. The present invention further provides a method for the prophylaxis and treatment of disease conditions in airways such as asthma and bronchitis and further provides methods for the diagnosis and screening of agents useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of airway disease conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many receptors for biologically-active effector molecules are large proteins embedded in biological membranes. They serve as transducers of information mediated by effectors such as hormones and cytokines, and are also important in the mechanism of action of pharmaceutical agents. For example, receptors located within the outer regions of the cellular membrane act to transduce such information into the cell, which may then respond in a number of different ways via specific secondary messenger systems. Therefore, these types of receptors have specific extracellular and intracellular domains which allow information, such as hormonal signals, to be appropriately detected and processed by cells.
Protease-activated receptors (PARs) are a relatively new subtype of a superfamily of membrane receptors which have seven membrane-spanning regions and are coupled to intracellular second messenger mechanisms via G proteins. The three known members, respectively designated PAR1, PAR2 and PAR3, have been cloned, and shown to be expressed in vascularised tissues comprising endothelial and smooth muscle cells (PAR1 and PAR2) and platelets (PAR1 and PAR3). A fourth receptor, designated PAR4, has also recently been demonstrated on platelets of PAR3 deficient mice and has been cloned (Kahn et al, 1998); the human homologue has also been cloned (Xu et al, 1998).
PARs are activated in a unique manner, which is illustrated in FIG. 1. As the name indicates, limited proteolysis by specific proteases (proteinases) removes part of the extracellular N-terminal region of the receptor, so that the newly-shortened N-terminal acts as a ligand for an as yet undefined binding region on the remainder of the receptor in order to signal the cell to respond. Thus, PARs have their own inbuilt or "tethered" ligands, and the specific protease activity reveals that these latent, intrinsic ligands act as ligands in their own right rather than as exogenous effectors.
PAR1 (Vu et al, 1991; Coughlin et al, 1992) and PAR3 (Ishihara et al, 1996) are activated primarily by the blood-borne protease, thrombin, which is believed to be involved in thrombosis, inflammation and mitogenic growth (De Catering & Sicari, 1993; Dennington & Berndt 1994; Fager, 1995). For example, thrombin causes smooth muscle in the airways to proliferate, which may cause the airway to thicken and become obstructed. PAR1 is also located on vascular endothelial cells, where, like many other receptor types, stimulation leads to release of nitric oxide (NO) and other factors which then cause the muscle in the wall of the vessels to relax (Muramatsu et al, 1991; Tesfamariam et al, 1993; Tesfamariam, 1994; Hwa et al, 1996; Saifeddine et al, 1996). Under normal circumstances, the enzymatic activity of thrombin is strongly suppressed by a number of endogenous inhibitors.
PAR2 differs from both PAR1 and PAR3 receptors in that it is activated not by thrombin, but by trypsin and trypsin-like enzymes, such as mast cell-derived tryptase (Molino et al, 1997). Trypsin is usually confined to the upper gastrointestinal tract after its generation by activation of its pancreatic precursor, trypsinogen. Trypsinogen is induced in vascular endothelial cells by tissue plasminogen activator [TPA] (Koshikawa et al, 1997). Tryptase is released in large concentrations from mast cells (Caughey, 1994). Mast cells are believed to have a central role in the pathogenic manifestations of asthma. Tryptase stimulates mucus release and can inactivate some peptides such as vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) that relax airway smooth muscle in experimental animals. This suggests that the PARs play a role in the aetiology of airway disease by inducing contraction of smooth muscle cells.
In addition to tryptase, tryptase-like enzymes are released by clara cells (Yasuoka et al, 1997), which are common in the epithelium lining the small bronchi of most mammals, including humans, the trachea of the mouse, and by lymphocytes which enter the inflamed airway in large numbers. Trypsin has been localised to normal airway epithelium (Koshikawa et al, 1997). In addition, tryptase-like enzymes are thought to be involved in a number of inflammatory responses and diseases, such as atherosclerosis (Atkinson et al, 1994; Kovanen et al, 1995) and varicosis (Yamada et al, 1996). Furthermore and importantly, as well as directly activating mast cell degranulation via IgE-antigen recognition, the antigens of some dust mites and pollens are proteases with trypsin-like activity (Caughey, 1997). Therefore, allergens which are central to, and the causal agents of, many airway diseases have the potential to directly and indirectly activate PAR2.
PAR1 and PAR2, but not PAR3 (Isihara et al, 1997) can also be activated by short synthetic peptide sequences corresponding to those of the tethered ligands. For PAR1, this tethered ligand is SFLLRN—NH2 (SEQ ID NO:1), which is also known as TRAP (thrombin receptor-activating peptide)). The tethered ligand sequence for mouse PAR2 is SLIGRL—NH2 (SEQ ID NO:2), and is referred to herein as PAR2 activating peptide (PAR2-AP). Therefore, these peptides can be used to mimic enzyme mediated PAR activation and to study the effects of PAR activation.
The genes for PAR1, PAR2 and PAR3 have been cloned (Vu et al, 1991; Nystedt et al, 1994; Bohm et al, 1996a; Saifeddine et al, 1996 and Ishihara et al, 1997). PAR2 mRNA has been shown to be highly expressed in vascularised or endothelialised tissues such as the stomach, intestine, pancreas, kidney and liver. In the gut, PAR2 mRNA is located mainly in epithelial cells (Bohm et al, 1996b). In blood vessels, functional PAR2 has been localised nearly exclusively to endothelial cells, where, like PAR1, it mediates endothelium-dependent vasodilation (Hwa et al, 1996; Saifeddine et al, 1996). It has been proposed that PAR2 acts as a trypsin sensor in the pancreas (Bohm et al, 1996a) and is involved in a possible cytoprotective mechanism for gut epithelia exposed to trypsin (Bohm et al, 1996b). Apart from these proposed activities, little is known of other physiological roles for these receptors.
Following activation, PARs are inactivated by rapid internalization, which also provides the signals for rapid generation of new receptors from intracellular pools and de novo protein synthesis (Hoxie et al, 1993; Bohm et al, 1996b). This provides a powerful self-replenishing system to maintain adequate tissue levels of receptors.
Like PAR1, PAR2 mediates relaxation of arteries via the release of nitric oxide (NO; Moncada et at, 1991) and of endothelium-derived hyperpolarising factor (EDHF: Garland et al, 1995), although the EDHF-dependent mechanism for PAR1 is different from that for PAR2. The mechanisms of receptor recycling also regulate the way in which endothelial cells recover their ability to respond to further protease challenge, at least within two to three hours after the first challenge. For PAR1, this recovery process involves rapid recycling of receptors (30 min–150 min) without the tethered ligand sequence, but no new N-terminal receptors are produced. For PAR2, however, fully intact new receptors are rapidly synthesized from stable mRNA, and are inserted into the plasma membrane (Bohm et al, 1996a).
Only PAR1 has been identified in the human vasculature (Nelken, 1992), where expression was reported to be isolated to endothelial cells in atheroma-free arteries. In vessels affected by atherosclerosis, PAR1 mRNA was found in endothelial, smooth muscle and mesenchymal-appearing cells. Studies on human endothelial cell PAR function have been limited to the measurement of calcium fluxes in transfected cell lines (Marl, 1995) and umbilical vein endothelial cells (Ngaiza et al, 1991; Kruse et al, 1995). An atypical PAR has also been identified in human coronary arteries (Hamilton et al, 1998).
The incidence and prevalence of airway diseases such as asthma and bronchitis, which are characterized by airflow obstruction, inflammation and pathological changes in airway tissue are increasing globally (Barnes et al, 1996a). However, it is unknown why some people develop these types of airway diseases, while other people exposed to the same environmental factors do not. One possibility is that the airway defenses of patients who develop the disease are less efficient than those of non-afflicted subjects.
Asthmatic patients suffer from episodic airflow limitation caused by bronchospasm, oedema and thickening of the airway walls. In addition, one of the hallmarks of asthma is that the bronchi are hypersensitive to specific and non-specific stimuli, causing them to contract too much and too sensitively, thereby narrowing the airways and making breathing difficult (Barnes, 1996b; Barnes et al, 1996c). The most widely-used treatment for asthma is administration of drugs that cause the bronchial muscles to relax and the airways to dilate, thus restoring the ability to breath. The most commonly used drugs for this purpose are the so-called beta-2 agonists. These drugs stimulate another subtype of the seven transmembrane, G protein-coupled receptor superfamily, the beta-2 adrenoceptors, which are located on the muscle and mediate relaxation via well-defined biochemical mechanisms. While beta-2 agonists are effective in most patients, it has recently been discovered that some asthmatics respond poorly to beta-2 agonists, and the agonists may mediate down-regulation of patient responses during chronic treatment due to genetic mutations in the beta-2 adrenoceptor sequence. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the possibility that regular use of beta 2-adrenoceptor agonists may increase the risk of death from asthma.

Method of treatment and agents useful for same


An input buffer includes an n-channel FET having a drain region coupled to the V.sub.cc voltage supply, a source region coupled to the output terminal and a gate electrode coupled to the input terminal. A bias circuit maintains a voltage at the source of the n-channel FET which is greater than the V.sub.SS supply voltage when a logic low voltage is applied to the input terminal.

Integrated circuits (IC's) include input pads which receive external signals. Each input pad is typically connected to a corresponding input buffer circuit. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a typical input buffer circuit 100 which includes pull-up PMOS transistor 101, pull-down NMOS transistor 102, input pad 103 and internal input node 104. In response to the signal received on input pad 103, input buffer circuit 100 selectively connects internal input node 104 to a V.sub.CC voltage supply rail (i.e., a voltage supply rail which receives a first voltage, V.sub.CC, during normal operating conditions) or to a V.sub.SS voltage supply rail (i.e., a voltage supply rail which receives a second voltage, typically ground, during normal operating conditions).
Even if the V.sub.CC supply voltage has a voltage of 3.3 volts or less, it is desirable to allow a high input voltage (e.g., 5 volts) to be applied to input pad 103. However, when a high input voltage is applied to input pad 103, NMOS pull-down transistor 102 turns on. As a result, the source and drain of NMOS transistor 102 are each held at the V.sub.SS supply voltage (e.g., 0 volts), and the high input voltage is applied across the gate oxide of NMOS transistor 102. The high input voltage across the gate oxide of transistor 102 disadvantageously degrades the lifetime of the gate oxide of NMOS transistor 102.
One method used to solve this problem is to fabricate the gate oxide of each transistor on the IC to a thickness which is sufficient to withstand the applied high input voltage. However, such a thick oxide is typically not compatible with high speed advanced technology.
Another method is to form thick oxide transistors and thin oxide transistors on the same IC. Transistors required to receive high voltages are fabricated with a thick gate oxide. Conversely, transistors which are not required to receive high voltages are given a thin gate oxide to improve the speed of these transistors. However, this method disadvantageously increases process complexity.
It would therefore be desirable to have an input buffer circuit which is capable of receiving a high input voltage without experiencing degradation of gate oxide lifetime. It would further be desirable if such input buffer circuit does not reduce the operating speed of other transistors on the IC, or increase the complexity of the process used to fabricate the IC.


The present application discloses to a control method and system of an applet, a server, a terminal device, an electronic device, and a storage medium, which relate to artificial intelligence technology, voice technology, cloud technology, automatic driving technology, and information flow technology. The method includes: parsing audio information sent by a terminal device to obtain attribute information of the applet, where the audio information is used to instruct to open the applet; sending a request for acquiring page data to an applet server based on the attribute information; receiving the page data fed back by the applet server, generating a target page according to the page data and the attribute information, and sending the target page to the terminal device.

With the rapid development of applet technology and terminal technology, applets are widely used in terminal devices to meet different requirements of users.
In prior art, it is generally necessary for the user to open the applet manually, and then the user may realize the interaction with the applet through voice or text.
However, the way to open the applet manually is relatively single and not convenient.

Control method and system of applet, server and terminal device

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