Techniques for segmented CDMA searching are disclosed. In one aspect, a searcher comprises a plurality of storage elements selectable for performing a plurality of segmentable search tasks, each storage element operable for storage of and access to state information for one of the plurality of search tasks. In another aspect, a first search task is interrupted in progress, the state information for the first task is stored, a second search task is performed, and the first search task is continued using the stored state information. In yet another aspect, a search task is segmented into smaller search segments, sized to fit within contiguous available time in the searcher. Various other aspects of the invention are also presented. These aspects have the benefit of circuit area and search-time efficiency which translate into reduced costs, increased standby time, increased acquisition speed, higher quality signal transmission, increased data throughput, decreased power, and improved overall system capacity.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice and data. These systems may be based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), or some other modulation techniques. A CDMA system provides certain advantages over other types of systems, including increased system capacity.
A CDMA system may be designed to support one or more CDMA standards such as (1) the "TIA/EIA-95-B Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System" (the IS-95 standard), (2) the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), (3) the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership 2" (3GPP2) and embodied in a set of documents including "C.S0002-A Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems," the "C.S0005-A Upper Layer (Layer 3) Signaling Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems," and the "C.S0024 cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification" (the cdma2000 standard), and (4) some other standards.
Pseudorandom noise (PN) sequences are commonly used in CDMA systems for spreading transmitted data, including transmitted pilot signals. Inherent in the design of direct sequence CDMA systems is the requirement that a receiver must align its PN sequences to those of a base station. In some systems, such as IS-95 and cdma2000, base stations are differentiated by transmitting a common PN sequence with a unique offset. Other systems, such as those defined by the W-CDMA standard, differentiate base stations using a unique PN code for each. The process by which a mobile station acquires the pilot signals of neighboring base stations in known as searching.
A mobile station may be in communication with a network of base stations, some of which may be transmitting on different frequencies, and some of which may use alternate air interface schemes. An example may include a system using equipment conforming to one or more of the above named standards. In such a scenario, occasional searches across multiple frequencies and systems may be needed for the mobile station to keep track of the best quality cell. Tracking and communicating with the best quality cells can result in better signal transmission and reception, often at reduced transmission power levels by both the base station and the subscriber unit. This, in turn, increases the capacity of the CDMA system (either in terms of support for an increased number of users, or higher transmission rates, or both).
One method for supporting multi-frequency, multi-system search is to deploy multiple parallel searchers to support the various frequencies and systems. This solution may prove costly in terms of the hardware required to support it.
Another solution is to time-share a single searcher, for use on a variety of frequencies and systems. One problem with this second solution is that an ongoing search can be interrupted by a new search request scheduled on a different frequency or system. Often this is handled by aborting the search in progress to make resources available for the new search. This is an inefficient use of the available resources. Another problem can arise when the search resources are only available for a limited time to search alternate frequencies and/or systems. In some cases, the limited time may not be sufficient to complete the alternate search. There is therefore a need in the art for a searcher that can perform segments of one or more search tasks, ultimately combining the results to generate one or more completed search tasks.


A nondestructive bond testing system is implemented using a pulse laser that sends a single or multiple pulse(s) of controlled magnitude and bombards an object of interest causing a thermoelastic excitation response. This excitation in turn induces an ultrasonic propagation along or through the surface material. By detecting, capturing and interpreting these thermoelastic propagation signatures, the attachment condition of the joining materials is determined. The technique is a significant improvement over traditional mechanical pull, shear or contact type techniques. The techniques are implemented in automated high speed inspection systems suitable for real time manufacturing application. Particular applications include evaluating material joining in microelectronics manufacture (such as ball bonds) and thin coating processes.

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for determining bond integrity (adhesion status) of joined materials at a micro-level.
There has been a long-felt need for non-destructive inspection methods that can be used to determine the integrity of a bond between two items. This need has been felt particularly in the case of bonds formed at the micro-level. The micro-level can be defined as involving at least one material with a dimension on the order of 0.005 inch or smaller. Such inspection methods might be applied to testing ball and wedge bonds, thin coatings, circuit traces, ribbon bonds, solder balls, surface mount components, PIN grid arrays, and MIMMs commonly used in microelectronics interconnects. The materials joined in these applications include, but are not limited to, silicon, silicon carbide, aluminum, gold, gallium arsenide and the like.
For example, ball bonds used in connecting silicon wafers to external circuits through very fine wires are typically tested, if at all, according to military specifications which require a pull test of each bond. This test is performed using a machine which sequentially hooks each wire and applies a predetermined pulling force to determine whether the associated bond will hold. This technique has significant limitations. In particular, the inventor has discovered that if this test is performed repeatedly on the wires of the same device, an increasing number of wires typically pull loose with each succeeding test. This result implies that the test does not truly qualify as non-destructive. That is, each application of a pulling force to a wire weakens its bond and repeated testing will actually break the bonds. It is possible that a bond might pass a single pull test of this type, but that the test would leave the bond precariously connected and destined for failure in the field when subjected to ambient vibration, shock, or temperature variations.
In the case of bonds having larger dimensions, such as pipe seams, welds used in automotive and marine manufacturing, etc. various x-ray and acoustic techniques have been applied to analyze the condition of an interface between two items. Laser ultrasound techniques have also been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,224 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,459 to Monchalin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,081,491, to Monchalin et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,361 to Heon et al. disclose the results of early research in this field. U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,676 to Garcia et al. shows a further method of laser ultrasonic process monitoring.
Laser techniques have also been considered for use with smaller bonds such as those found in semiconductor circuits. U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,841 to Lebeau et al. proposes a thermal gradient technique, and Japanese Patent Publication 62-7198 Jan. 14, 1987 by Hitachi Research Corp. appears to propose a laser technique.
The inventor""s prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,420,689, 5,424,838, and 5,302,836 disclose lighting methods and apparatus useful in small-scale laser ultrasonic measurement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,006 to Siu et al. builds on the inventor""s earlier work and discloses a method of evaluating integrity of adherence of a conductor bond to a substrate.
However, as far as the inventor is aware, none of these prior systems has provided an effective alternative to pull testing of wire bonds, or an effective method for analyzing thin film coating integrity at the micro-level. The results produced by the systems disclosed in the inventor""s own prior patents, while encouraging, were not consistent enough for industrial application.
Thus, there is a need in industry for improved methods and systems of this type that will provide repeatable, accurate, and truly non-destructive testing capability.
Therefore, it is a general object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for determining the bond integrity (adhesion) status of adjoining materials using laser ultrasonic techniques.
It is another general object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for determining the bond integrity (adhesion) status of adjoining materials using a pulse laser which applies heat onto the surface of interest, resulting in generation of a thermoelastic propagation (surface, bulk, air waves or combination thereof) in all directions from the pulse point, which can be detected using a stabilized continuous wave laser using interferometric techniques.
Another broad object of the invention is to provide an improved system and method that is particularly adapted to nondestructively test and evaluate the thickness and/or uniformity and adhesion characteristics of a thin coating of material applied to a substrate.
Another general object of the invention is to provide an improved system and method that is particularly adapted to nondestructively determine the bond integrity of joining materials at the micro-level, such as microelectronic interconnects, ball bonds, wedge bonds, circuit traces, surface mount components and MIMMs.
It is also an important object of the invention to provide an improved system and method for analyzing thermoelastic propagation signatures, single or in combination, to interpret bond integrity (adhesion) of adjoining materials, and determine whether they are fully bonded, partially bonded and touching yet non-bonded.
Another useful object of the invention is to provide a fully automated bond integrity determination system with particular applications in inspection and testing in microelectronics manufacturing processes.
An additional object of the invention is to provide improved operational timing and signature gathering methods and apparatus for use in a laser ultrasonic measuring system.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a laser ultrasonic measuring system with a vastly improved signal to noise ratio for detected wave propagation signatures.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method for correlating surface wave propagation to bond integrity in the context of a bond testing system.
These objects and others are achieved, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, by providing a pulse laser and a continuous laser detector forming a cause and effect sensing device. The pulse laser sends a single or multiple pulse(s) of controlled magnitude and bombards the object of interest causing a thermoelastic excitation response. This excitation in turn induces an ultrasonic propagation along or through the surface material. By detecting, capturing and interpreting these thermoelastic propagation signatures, the attachment condition of the joining materials is determined. The technique is a significant improvement over traditional mechanical pull, shear or contact type techniques. The object need not be contacted by mechanical means, the excitation is much gentler than that required in a contact test, and the speed of the test is much faster than other automated manufacturing process, making it suitable for real-time process control purposes.

System and method for laser ultrasonic bond integrity evaluation


A method and apparatus for file storage is disclosed, wherein the method comprises: recording meta-data information of a folder, and storing the meta-data information into key-value databases; and, when the folder includes at least one sub-folder list and/or file list thereunder, storing the contents of the at least one sub-folder list and/or file list included under the folder in secondary keys based on the primary key. The method achieves “open ended” unlimited expansion of data in a directory tree storage. The use of the “open ended” unlimited data expansion scheme avoids bottlenecks related to underlying data storage when accumulated data become large. In comparison with the prior art method, the method splits and stores large data into multiple secondary keys for uniform data distribution, thereby enhances storage stability of storage databases and facilitates data expansion and systems' transaction operations.

Conventional personal computer systems generally adopt a conventional tree-structure data storage mode or a "directory tree folder+file" structure for file storage. An example of such file storage structure implementation may be found in a Network File System (NFS), which an administrator configures a file to follow a hierarchy naming structure such as: drive\directory\parent folder\child folder\file. Such hierarchy arrangement sets up a way to index a file and makes possible file management.
For example, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a prior art "directory tree folder+file" structure (10) of a storage system (11). The folders (12-14) at the top layer may be referred to as root directories, and the corresponding sub-folders (15-20) under the root directories may be referred to as sub-directories. Each of the corresponding sub-folders (15-20) is capable of storing more respective sub-folder lists (15a, 17a) and file lists (19a) (if no sub-folder exists under a root directory). Accordingly, the various folders (12-14), sub-folders (15-20), sub-folder lists (15a, 17a) and file lists (19a) form a recursive data structure or file index.
FIG. 2 illustrates the aforementioned conventional tree-structure data storage mode, which data is stored using key-value databases (50). For example, the key-value data base may be set up to have each folder (51-53) (i.e., directory) being stored as a Folderkey, and a "value" is designated to include a sub-folder list (51a, 52a) (i.e., sub-directory) and a file list (51b, 52b) which belong to their respective current folder (51, 52). The respective "value" of a storage record is represented by an elliptical ring (61, 62) which corresponds to the respective Folderkey of folders (51, 52) on the left.
Therefore, when the number of folders or files of a user have been increased, data access performance may encounter bottlenecking at the bottom layer, especially for existing network file systems, such as QQ album, social network sites, network drives such as Skydrive for cloud storage and other applications. Such bottlenecking is often caused by writing to or accessing a large amount of data which exceeds a threshold value supported by the storage system. In addition, in the existing data storage structures, data distribution is uncontrollable, and key-value databases are routed based on keys. Consequently, different folderkeys must be written to different network storage modules, and the network storage modules are allocated using fixed rules without considering data storage expansion and specific requirements.

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company, Limited


A pumping device includes a main body having a passage defined therein through which air passes, a head connected to the main body, and a retainer slidably received in the head. The retainer includes a first compartment communicated with the passage. The second end of the retainer includes a conical recess defined therein, and a nozzle is slidably mounted in the second end of the retainer. A nozzle head is securely mounted in the second end of the head and includes a second compartment communicated with the first compartment via the nozzle. The nozzle head includes a hollow conical section for engaging with the conical recess of the retainer. A retaining pin is mounted in the first compartment and has a first end secured to the first end of the nozzle to slide therewith. A lever includes a first end pivotally connected to the first end of the head and a second operative end for switching the first end of the retaining pin and the retainer between a first operative position in which the first end of the lever bears against the first end of the retainer and the first end of the retaining pin and a second inoperative position in which the first end of the lever neither engages with the first end of the retainer nor engages with the first end of the retaining pin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retaining pin for pumping devices of the type having a pivotal lever for various valves to provide a more reliable retaining effect during pumping.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,781 to Wu issued on Oct. 13, 1998 discloses a pumping device with a pivotal lever for various valves. However, problems are found during operation of the pumping device. No problem is found during pumping with an American valve when the spring 142 has a greater elasticity, yet the user has to apply a relatively large force to overcome the spring force when used on a French valve. On the other hand, no problem is found during pumping with a French valve when the spring 142 has a smaller elasticity, yet the spring force is insufficient to move the needle of the American valve extended into the compartment 152 of the nozzle head 15 such that inflation is impossible. The present invention is intended to provide a retaining pin to solve this problem.

Retaining pin pumper devices of the type having a pivotal lever for various valves


A method of modifying a test nuclear receptor (NR) polypeptide is disclosed. The method provides a test NR polypeptide sequence having a characteristic that is targeted for modification; aligning the test NR polypeptide sequence with at least one reference NR polypeptide sequence for which an X-ray structure is available; building a three-dimensional model for the test NR polypeptide using the three-dimensional coordinates of the X-ray structure(s) of at least one reference polypeptide and its sequence alignment with the test NR polypeptide sequence; examining the three-dimensional model of the test NR polypeptide sequence for characteristic differences with the reference polypeptide; and mutating at least one amino acid residue in the test NR polypeptide sequence at a characteristic difference, whereby the test NR polypeptide is modified.

Nuclear receptors reside in either the cytoplasm or nucleus of eukaryotic cells and represent a superfamily of proteins that specifically bind a physiologically relevant small molecule, such as a hormone or vitamin. As a result of a molecule binding to a nuclear receptor, the nuclear receptor changes the ability of a cell to transcribe DNA, i.e. nuclear receptors modulate the transcription of DNA. However, they can also have transcription independent actions.
Unlike integral membrane receptors and membrane-associated receptors, nuclear receptors reside in either the cytoplasm or nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Thus, nuclear receptors comprise a class of intracellular, soluble, ligand-regulated transcription factors. Nuclear receptors include but are not limited to receptors for androgens, mineralcorticoids, progestins, estrogens, thyroid hormones, vitamin D, retinoids, eicosanoids, peroxisome proliferators and, pertinently, glucocorticoids. Many nuclear receptors, identified by either sequence homology to known receptors (See, e.g., Drewes et al., (1996) Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:925–31) or based on their affinity for specific DNA binding sites in gene promoters (See, e.g., Sladek et al., Genes Dev. 4:2353–65), have unascertained ligands and are therefore commonly termed "orphan receptors".
Glucocorticoids are an example of a cellular molecule that has been associated with cellular proliferation. Glucocorticoids are known to induce growth arrest in the G1-phase of the cell cycle in a variety of cells, both in vivo and in vitro, and have been shown to be useful in the treatment of certain cancers. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) belongs to an important class of transcription factors that alter the expression of target genes in response to a specific hormone signal. Accumulated evidence indicates that receptor associated proteins play key roles in regulating glucocorticoid signaling. The list of cellular proteins that can bind and co-purify with the GR is constantly expanding.
Glucocorticoids are also used for their anti-inflammatory effect on the skin, joints, and tendons. They are important for treatment of disorders where inflammation is thought to be caused by immune system activity. Representative disorders of this sort include but are not limited to rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, glomerulonephritis, and connective tissue diseases like systemic lupus erythmatosus. Glucocorticoids are also used to treat asthma and are widely used with other drugs to prevent the rejection of organ transplants. Some cancers of the blood (leukemias) and lymphatic system (lymphomas) can also respond to corticosteroid drugs.
Glucocorticoids exert several effects in tissues that express receptors for them. They regulate the expression of several genes either positively or negatively and in a direct or indirect manner. They are also known to arrest the growth of certain lymphoid cells and in some cases cause cell death (Harmon et al., (1979) J. Cell Physiol. 98: 267–278; Yamamoto, (1985) Ann. Rev. Genet. 19: 209–252; Evans, (1988) Science 240:889–895; Beato, (1989) Cell 56:335–344; Thompson, (1989) Cancer Res. 49: 2259s–2265s.). Due in part to their ability to kill cells, glucocorticoids have been used for decades in the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, breast cancer, solid tumors and other diseases involving irregular cell growth, e.g. psoriasis. The inclusion of glucocorticoids in chemotherapeutic regimens has contributed to a high rate of cure of certain leukemias and lymphomas which were formerly lethal (Homo-Delarche, (1984) Cancer Res. 44: 431–437). Although it is clear that glucocorticoids exert these effects after binding to their receptors, the mechanism of cell kill is not completely understood, although several hypotheses have been proposed. Among the more prominent hypotheses are: the deinduction of critical lymphokines, oncogenes and growth factors; the induction of supposed "lysis genes"; alterations in calcium ion influx; the induction of endonucleases; and the induction of a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (McConkey et al., (1989) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 269: 365–370; Cohen & Duke, (1984) J. Immunol. 152: 38–42; Eastman-Reks & Vedeckis, (1986) Cancer Res. 46: 2457–2462; Kelso & Munck, (1984) J. Immunol. 133:784–791; Gruol et al., (1989) Molec. Endocrinol. 3: 2119–2127; Yuh & Thompson, (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264: 10904–10910).
Polypeptides, including the glucocorticoid receptor ligand binding domain, have a three-dimensional structure determined by the primary amino acid sequence and the environment surrounding the polypeptide. This three-dimensional structure establishes the polypeptide's activity, stability, binding affinity, binding specificity, and other biochemical attributes. Thus, knowledge of a protein's three-dimensional structure can provide much guidance in designing agents that mimic, inhibit, or improve its biological activity.
The three-dimensional structure of a polypeptide can be determined in a number of ways. Many of the most precise methods employ X-ray crystallography (See, e.g., Van Holde, (1971) Physical Biochemistry, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, pp. 221–39). This technique relies on the ability of crystalline lattices to diffract X-rays or other forms of radiation. Dffraction experiments suitable for determining the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules typically require high-quality crystals. Unfortunately, such crystals have been unavailable for the ligand binding domain of a human glucocorticoid receptor, as well as many other proteins of interest. Thus, high-quality diffracting crystals of the ligand binding domain of a human glucocorticoid receptor in complex with a ligand and a peptide would greatly assist in the elucidation of its three-dimensional structure.
Clearly, the solved crystal structure of the ligand binding domain of a glucocorticoid receptor polypeptide would be useful in the design of modulators of activity mediated by the glucocorticoid receptor. Evaluation of the available sequence data shows that GRα is particularly similar to MR, PR and AR. The GRα LBD has approximately 56%, 54% and 50% sequence identity to the MR, PR and AR LBDs, respectively. The GRβ amino acid sequence is identical to the GRα amino acid sequence for residues 1–727, but the remaining 15 residues in GRβ show no significant similarity to the remaining 50 residues in GRα. If no X-ray structure were available for GRα, then one could build a model for GRα using the available X-ray structures of PR and/or AR as templates. These theoretical models have some utility, but cannot be as accurate as a true X-ray structure, such as the X-ray structure disclosed here. Because of their limited accuracy, a model for GRα will generally be less useful than an X-ray structure for the design of agonists, antagonists and modulators of GRα.
The solved GRα-ligand-co-activator crystal structure would provide structural details and insights necessary to design a modulator of GRα that maximizes preferred requirements for any modulator, i.e. potency and specificity. By exploiting the structural details obtained from a GRα-ligand-co-activator crystal structure, it would be possible to design a GRα modulator that, despite GRα's similarity with other steroid receptors and nuclear receptors, exploits the unique structural features of the ligand binding domain of human GRα. A GRα modulator developed using structure-assisted design would take advantage of heretofore unknown GRα structural considerations and thus be more effective than a modulator developed using homology-based design. Potential or existent homology models cannot provide the necessary degree of specificity. A GRα modulator designed using the structural coordinates of a crystalline form of the ligand binding domain of GRα in complex with a ligand and a co-activator would also provide a starting point for the development of modulators of other nuclear receptors.
Although several journal articles have referred to GR mutants having "increased ligand efficacy" in cell-based assays, it has not been mentioned that such mutants could have improved solution properties so that they could provide a suitable reagent for purification, assay, and crystallization. See Garabedian & Yamamoto (1992) Mol. Biol. Cell 3: 1245–1257; Kralli, et al., (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 92: 4701–4705; Bohen (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270: 29433–29438; Bohen (1998) Mol. Cell. Biol. 18: 3330–3339; Freeman et al., (2000) Genes Dev. 14: 422–434.
Indeed, it is well documented that GR associates with molecular chaperones (such as hsp90, hsc70, and p23). In the past, it has been considered that GR would either not be active or soluble if purified away from these binding partners. In fact, it has even been mentioned that GR must be in complex with hsp90 in order to adopt a high affinity steroid binding conformation. See Xu et al. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273: 13918–13924; Rajapandi et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275: 22597–22604.
Still other journal articles have reported E. coli expression of GST-GR, but also noted a failure to purify the purported polypeptide. See Ohara-Nemoto et al., (1990) J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol. 37: 481–490; Caamano et al., (1994) Annal. NY Acad. Sci. 746: 68–77.
What is needed, therefore, is a purified, soluble GRα LBD polypeptide for use in structural studies, as well as methods for making the same. Such methods would also find application in the preparation of modified NRs in general.
What is also needed is a crystallized form of a GRα ligand binding domain, preferably in complex with a ligand and more preferably in complex with a ligand and a co-activator. Acquisition of crystals of the GRα ligand binding domain polypeptide permits the three-dimensional structure of a GRα ligand binding domain (LBD) polypeptide to be determined. Knowledge of the three dimensional structure can facilitate the design of modulators of GR-mediated activity. Such modulators can lead to therapeutic compounds to treat a wide range of conditions, including inflammation, tissue rejection, auto-immunity, malignancies such as leukemias and lymphomas, Cushing's syndrome, acute adrenal insufficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, rheumatic fever, polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatous polyarteritis, inhibition of myeloid cell lines, immune proliferation/apoptosis, HPA axis suppression and regulation, hypercortisolemia, modulation of the TH1/TH2 cytokine balance, chronic kidney disease, stroke and spinal cord injury, hypercalcemia, hypergylcemia, acute adrenal insufficiency, chronic primary adrenal insufficiency, secondary adrenal insufficiency, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, cerebral edema, thrombocytopenia, Little's syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, polyartitis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis, giant cell arteritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, hay fever, allergic rhinitis, urticaria, angioneurotic edema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, tendonitis, bursitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, organ transplantation, hepatitis, cirrhosis, inflammatory scalp alopecia, panniculitis, psoriasis, discoid lupus erythematosus, inflamed cysts, atopic dermatitis, pyoderma gangrenosum, pemphigus vulgaris, bullous pemphigoid, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, herpes gestationis, eosinophilic fasciitis, relapsing polychondritis, inflammatory vasculitis, sarcoidosis, Sweet's disease, type 1 reactive leprosy, capillary hemangiomas, contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, exfoliative dermatitus, erythema nodosum, acne, hirsutism, toxic epidermal necrolysis, erythema multiform, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Other applications of a GR modulator developed in accordance with the present invention can be employed to treat Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), cell apoptosis, and can be employed in treating cancerous conditions including, but not limited to, Kaposi's sarcoma, immune system activation and modulation, desensitization of inflammatory responses, IL-1 expression, natural killer cell development, lymphocytic leukemia, treatment of retinitis pigmentosa. Other applications for such a modulator comprise modulating cognitive performance, memory and learning enhancement, depression, addiction, mood disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia, stroke, sleep disorders, anxiety, immunostimulants, repressors, wound healing and a role as a tissue repair agent or in anti-retroviral therapy.

Crystallized glucocorticoid receptor ligand binding domain polypeptide and screening methods employing same


A gripper device particularly suitable for positioning an annular member onto a workpiece that includes a housing having a pair of piston chambers, each of the piston chambers having a piston reciprocally mounted therein. A cover plate, having a plurality of radial slides mounted therein for radial movement, is connected to the housing. A plurality of through holes are also formed in the cover plate. One of the pistons has a piston rod to which each of the radial slides is connected thereto by an interconnecting link. The other piston is provided with a pusher disposed in alignment with each of the through holes to extend therethrough in the operative position. The piston actuating the slides is fluid actuated between operative and inoperative positions and the pusher piston is fluid actuated toward operative position and spring biased toward inoperative position. A gripping finger is adjustably positioned on each of the slides for handling annular members of different sizes.

A gripper device, and more specifically to a gripper device which is particularly suitable for placing an annular member onto a workpiece.
Various types of mechanical grippers for use on automatic machines and/or robotic tools for holding, positioning and/or locating a particular workpiece or part are known. Some of the known grippers are disclosed in various U.S. Letters Patents, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,611,846; 4,913,481; 5,125,708; 5,163,729; 5,620,223 and 5,967,581. While the grippers disclosed in these patents may be satisfactory for positioning or gripping a workpiece of a given configuration or shape, they are not suitable for gripping an annular member such as a washer, O-ring and the like, or to position the same onto a workpiece.
An object of this invention is to provide a gripper for use with a machine or robotic tool that is particularly suitable for gripping an annular shape member, e.g. an xe2x80x9cOxe2x80x9d ring and/or for placing the same onto a workpiece.
Another object is to provide a gripper for positioning an annular member that is relatively simple, inexpensive to manufacture, and positive in operation.
Another object is to provide a gripper particularly suitable for gripping and/or positioning an expandable annular member which can be readily adjusted to handle expandable annular members of various sizes within a given range of sizes.
The foregoing objects and other features and advantages are attained by a gripper assembly which includes a housing having formed therein a pair of piston chambers, each having a piston reciprocally mounted therein. A cover plate provides a closure for the housing. The cover plate is formed with a plurality of radial slideways, each having a slide reciprocally disposed within a corresponding slideway. Each of the slides has a plurality of apertures or holes for adjustably positioning a gripper finger thereon.
The piston in one of the piston chambers is provided with a piston rod which extends beyond the associated piston chamber. A plurality of links interconnects each of the respective slides to the projected end of the piston rod whereby actuation of the piston imparts a relative radial sliding movement to each of the slides. Also formed in the cover plate are a plurality of through holes.
The piston in the other piston chamber includes a piston head having a plurality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending arms having connected thereto a pusher disposed in alignment with the through holes formed in the cover plate. Between the adjacent pairs of piston arms there is a spring for exerting a spring bias on the piston head. A compression ring is supported within the housing to maintain the springs in compression. The arrangement is such that fluid pressure applied to the first mentioned piston will effect the displacement thereof causing the links to radially displace the connected slides outwardly whereby the fingers mounted on the respective slides will grip and hold an annular member thereon. Subsequent actuation of the other piston will cause the pushers to project through the through holes of the cover plate to push the annular member off the slide fingers and onto a workpiece positioned to receive the annular member. Upon the push off of the annular member from the slide fingers, the springs acting on the pusher piston will bias the pusher piston and associated pushers toward the inoperative position or retracted position.


The disclosure includes a computer-implemented method for providing fast data access after a drive failure, a computer program product, and a RAID controller. One embodiment may comprise identifying a RAID array, the RAID array comprising a plurality of storage volumes, identifying an unused block of a provisioned volume in the RAID array, and copying a redundant copy of high value host writes to the unused block. The copying may comprise, for primary strips in the RAID array, creating one or more secondary strips mirroring the primary strips such that each of pair of primary-secondary strips reside on different storage volumes from each other.

The present disclosure relates to data storage systems, and more specifically, to data storage virtualization.
The development of the EDVAC system in 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computer systems typically include a combination of sophisticated hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push performance higher and higher, even more advanced computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of those capabilities, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Today's computer systems typically include one or more storage devices, such as solid state drives (SSD), disk drives, etc., which may be configured into a logical storage group, such as a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system. In some RAID systems, the underlying data may be stored redundantly across multiple storage devices in a variety of configurations to provide data security in the event of a hardware or software failure.
One example RAID topology is RAID-5. In a RAID 5 topology, the RAID system reads and writes data segments across multiple data drives and writes parity to the same data disks. Within any stripe of a five device RAID-5 topology, one device contains parity information while the remaining devices contain data. If any one of the drives fails, the remaining four drives may be used to regenerate both user data and parity, which improves data protection. Another RAID topology, RAID-6, improves the data protection of RAID-5 by providing two parity strips, typically called the "P" parity strip and the "Q" parity strip.
Yet another RAID topology is Distributed RAID ("DRAID"), in which the capacity of the spare drives is distributed across all the drives in the array as rebuild capacity. As a result, any rebuild workload may be spread across all the drives, rather just to a single spare drive, which may result in faster rebuilds on an array.
The parity strips in a DRAID system determines how many times the distributed array can recover failed drives without risking data loss. For example, a DRAID-6 system can handle two concurrent failures. After the failed drives have been rebuilt, the array can tolerate another two drive failures, as long as there is still sufficient rebuild capacity. However, if all of the rebuild areas are used to recover data, the array becomes degraded on the next drive failure.

Fast recovery with enhanced raid protection

International Business Machines Corporation


Methods of forming proteinaceous products such as cell culture supplement capable of supporting the growth and culturing of cells, tissue, and organs, are generally disclosed. One method generally provides for the collection of the internal tissue of an animal, such as a bovine, and the processing of the internal tissue to degrade and/or lyse the tissue components. A cell culture supplement or other proteinaceous product can be prepared from the processed tissue. A proteinaceous product can include, for example, a complete protein profile of the tissue or only certain biological factors extracted from the tissue. Collected internal tissue can be lymphatic tissue such as the supramammary glands of a dairy or beef cow or the thymus gland of a veal calf.

Culture serum, such as Fetal Bovine Serum ("FBS"), is a culture medium supplement commonly used for in vitro culturing of cells and tissue. For instance, FBS can be utilized to promote cell growth and facilitate protein production. Culture serum is generally derived from blood via removal of the clotting factors and blood cells, typically by centrifugation after the red blood cells have been allowed to clot.
Unfortunately, culture serum, especially FBS, is expensive. Furthermore, serum has a limited range of components to support cell growth, with albumin and gamma globulins being the primary proteinaceous components. As such, additional materials have been used in combination with or as replacement for serum to help control and promote cell growth and lower costs. For example, natural animal-derived biological factors, such as purified primatone and albumin, have been used as serum replacements as well as serum additives in cell culturing. However, the quality of known animal-derived materials can vary from batch to batch, which can lead to inconsistent or even unpredictable cell growth in the culture. Moreover, these materials can also be extremely expensive to produce.
A need currently exists for culturing supplements that can be inexpensively provided in commercially useful amounts. Also, a need exists for culture supplements that can provide consistent and predictable cell growth in the utilizing cultures. Also, a need exists for economical methods for providing specifically designed and tailored preparations, and specifically preparations including a well defined protein profile and/or a minimum number of purified biological factors such as proteins, lipids, fatty acids, and the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of isolating specific compounds from supramammary lymph node tissue


The systems and methods described herein provide a redundant communication path. The systems and methods can provide a second source for the same data under many circumstances. These circumstances can include, for example, 1) when data incurs errors during transmission in the communication link network, 2) when a communication link in the communication link network experiences transient blockage, 3) when a communication link experiences prolonged or indefinite blockage, and 4) when an optical transceiver unit within the communication link network experiences a hardware failure and is unable to perform its tasks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for a redundant path communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, the primary method for data transmission between remote locations utilizes wired lines or fiber-optic cables. Some of the costs associated with this method are due to the expense in obtaining rights-of-way for the cable runs as well as installing the cables by burying or hanging. While this method has proven successful where great distances separate two locations, it is prohibitively expensive between locations that are within close proximity to one another. The dramatic growth and a demand for broadband services and the time and expense associated with deploying traditional wired lines or fiber-optic cables have led to the development of new wireless broadband access technologies. One of these new wireless technologies employs a light amplification stimulated emission of radiation (laser) beam to transmit information. Such a system may consist of at least two optical transceivers accurately aligned to each other with a clear line of sight to deliver the information using such a laser beam.
However, such communication laser beams may be viewed as being unreliable because of the possibility of link interruptions. Such interruptions include actual optical link interruptions due to flying objects, window washers, etc., and can be of short or long duration and occur at unpredictable frequencies. Additionally, communication laser beams employ complicated electronics which are exposed to severe environmental conditions. These environmental conditions can further contribute to the potential unreliability of such systems. Such systems are often subject to a single point of failure.

Redundant path communication methods and systems


A cart for use with an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, comprising: a supporting part, a cart body and a bottom part; said cart body is connected to the supporting part and the bottom part; said supporting part is provided with an interface thereon for supporting and connecting the ultrasonic imaging apparatus; said cart body is an elevator structure provided with a power cable therein for supplying power to the ultrasonic imaging apparatus; the lower portion of the supporting part and the upper portion of the bottom part are both provided with a power socket; said power cable is a coiled cord structure, and its two ends are connected to the two power sockets; a stretchable elastic component having elastic recovery is provided inside the coiled cord structure of the power cable.

The present invention relates to the field of ultrasonic imaging apparatus, in particular to a cart in an ultrasonic imaging apparatus.
A cart-type ultrasonic system comprises a cart for supporting an ultrasonic imaging apparatus, the height of the cart is up-down adjustable. The cart is provided with a power cable therein in order to supply power to the ultrasonic imaging apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, the power cable 10 connects an inlet and outlet of a DC current, the power cable 10 is a coiled cord which is retractile when the cart moves up and down. However, since the main material of the cable is resin, the ductility of the resin makes the power cable 10 could not return its original length but become longer after a period of use. When the cart lowers, the elongated power cable 10 may be in tangle, which can cause serious damage to the power cable 10 and cause safety problems.

Cart for ultrasonic imaging apparatus and ultrasonic imaging system

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


An imaging guidewire can include one or more optical fibers communicating light along the guidewire. At or near its distal end, one or more blazed or other fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) directs light to a photoacoustic transducer material that provides ultrasonic imaging energy. Returned ultrasound is sensed by an FBG sensor. A responsive signal is optically communicated to the proximal end of the guidewire, and processed to develop a 2D or 3D image. In one example, the guidewire outer diameter is small enough such that an intravascular catheter can be passed over the guidewire. Techniques for improving ultrasound reception include using a high compliance material, resonating the ultrasound sensing transducer, using an attenuation-reducing coating and/or thickness, and/or using optical wavelength discrimination. Techniques for improving the ultrasound generating transducer include using a blazed FBG, designing the photoacoustic material thickness to enhance optical absorption. Techniques for distinguishing plaque or vulnerable plaque may be used to enhance the displayed image.

Vardi et al. PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US99/04913, which published on 18 Nov. 1999 as International Publication No. WO 99/58059, discusses an optical-acoustic imaging device. In that document, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including its disclosure of a guidewire optical-acoustic imaging device, an elongated imaging guidewire includes an elongated optical fiber driven by light from a laser. A distal end of the guidewire includes a polyvinyldiene fluoride (PVDF) film piezoelectric ultrasound transducer. The ultrasound transducer transmits ultrasound to an imaging region of interest about the distal tip of the guidewire, and also receives the returned ultrasound energy. The received ultrasound energy deforms a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG or "Bragg grating") at the distal end of the guide wire, which, in turn, modulates the optical signal through the optical fiber. Imaging information about the region of interest is then obtained at the proximal end of the guidewire from the modulated optical signal.
Among other things, the present applicant has recognized that a piezoelectric ultrasound transducer may be difficult to integrate with a minimally-invasive guidewire because of electrical signal losses in ultrafine electrical conductors extending longitudinally through the guidewire assembly. Moreover, the present applicant has recognized that the field of view of the Vardi et al. device may be limited by the size of apertures around the PVDF ultrasound transducers and/or the spacing between FBGs. Furthermore, the present applicant has recognized that the sensitivity of the Vardi et al. device may limit its usefulness in an imaging application. For these and other reasons, the present applicant has recognized that there is an unmet need in the art for improved systems and methods for performing optical-acoustic imaging.

Systems and methods for minimally-invasive optical-acoustic imaging


The invention relates to a geoscientific observation technology, especially relates to a ground surface tiltmeter by using microscope for micro measuring. In order to solve the problems such as low reading accuracy and enormous error of the traditional ground surface tiltmeter, the invention provides a ground surface tiltmeter by using microscope for micro measuring, comprising a main body of the ground surface tiltmeter and a micro-measuring device, the main body of the ground surface tiltmeter is a vertical pendulum ground surface tiltmeter or a horizontal pendulum ground surface tiltmeter, the micro measuring device comprises an optical microscope, the focus of objective lens of said microscope is coincident to the reading point of the ground surface tiltmeter. The invention adopts optical microscope to amplify the ground gradient of the ground surface tiltmeter, ensures high measuring accuracy of the ground surface tiltmeter, and also makes the assembly simple, and the production cost reduced.

The ground gradient is an important parameter for earthquake prediction and monitoring the security of dams or slopes. In order to get an accurate forecast, high accurate ground gradient changing parameters are required. The main devices presently used for observing ground gradient changes are horizontal pendulum ground surface tiltmeter and vertical pendulum ground surface tiltmeter, when using these two kinds of devices for measuring ground gradient changes, people often use their eyes to capture data, namely use eyes directly capturing the indicating value from the dial disc of the ground surface tiltmeter. As a result of resolution of human eyes, its reading often has some error. When a slight ground gradient change of the earth crust occurs, such reading is not easy to cause people's attention, and the sensitivity is not high. Presently electronic transducer is also used to convert the slight displacement change of the ground surface tiltmeter to electrical signal, which greatly improving the measuring accuracy and sensitivity of the ground surface tiltmeter, but this kind of transducer requires high precision, accurate processing and installation, thus the cost of the ground surface tiltmeter increases and its price will be high.


The invention is comprised of a coil group arranging a plurality of terminal-integrated type coils (1), (4) formed by bending a metal sheet in a preset development form and having a predetermined positional relationship, and a magnetic material (7) burying therein the coil group. For example, axes of the plurality of coils (1), (4) constituting the coil group, are arranged in parallel wherein the center point of at least one coil selected from the plurality of coils (1), (4) and the center point of a coil other than the selected coil are in an staggered arrangement. Due to this, an array type choke coil can be realized which is thin overall and operable with a large current in a high frequency band.

In inductors such as choke coils, there is a desire for size and thickness reduction in order to cope with size and weight reduction of electronic apparatuses. For speed and integration increase in LSIs such as CPUs, the inductor is desired for use on large current at several amperes to several tens of amperes in the high frequency region.
Accordingly, there is a desire to inexpensively supply an inductor which is reduced in size and lowered in electric resistance for suppressing heat generation, reduced in loss in high-frequency region and less in inductance value lowering due to direct current superimposition even on large current.
Recently, in DC/DC converters or the like, a circuit scheme called the multi-phase scheme is adopted as a power supply circuit for achieving current increase in the high-frequency band. This circuit scheme is a scheme for sequential operation in parallel by use of a switch while phase-controlling a plurality of DC/DC converters. This scheme has a feature capable of realizing the reduction of ripple currents and increase of current in the high-frequency band with efficiency.
However, the above circuit structure solely is not necessarily sufficient in realizing the increase of current in the high-frequency band. For the choke coil for use on such a power supply circuit apparatus, size reduction and current increase in the high-frequency band is required.
In respect of such a problem, the choke coil disclosed in JP-A-2002-246242 is structured in that in a magnetic material is buried a hollow-cored coil formed by winding in a coil form a conductor wire having an insulation film such as of polyurethane. This magnetic material is made by solidifying magnetic powder whose surface is coated with two kinds or more of resin materials. The magnetic material is fitted with a metal terminal worked by bending. The hollow-cored coil and the metal terminal are electrically connected together by welding, soldering or a conductive adhesive or the like.
However, the conventional choke coil structure requires post-fixing of a metal terminal, making it difficult to reduce direct-current resistance value. Meanwhile, arranging the foregoing coils in plurality corresponding to the number of multi-phases results in an increased setup space, making size reduction difficult. Furthermore, in the case of use in multi-phase, there is a problem that characteristic cannot be fully exhibited because of inductance variation between the plurality of coils.
Meanwhile, when using in the multi-phase scheme a hollow-cored coil formed by winding in a coil form a conductor wire having an insulation film such as of polyurethane, in case a plurality of hollow-cored coils are vertically arranged in line, for example, the total height is increased thus making it impossible to reduce the thickness. Furthermore, such a hollow-cored coil requires to increase the number of turns in order to increase the inductance value, raising a problem of size-increasing of the choke coil itself.

Multiple choke coil and electronic equipment using the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention provides an electrical adaptor for transmitting current from a standard seven prong trailer plug power source to a female cigarette lighter plug. The adaptor uses two of the seven prongs of the seven prong trailer plug power source to supply current to the female cigarette lighter plug. The electrical adaptor provides a way of using a standard trailer plug, normally located external to a vehicle, to supply electrical current to an accessory. The adaptor is contained within a cylindrical plastic housing. A thermal insulator is positioned around the female cigarette lighter plug to thermally insulate it from the cylindrical plastic housing.

I. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an electrical adaptor and, more particularly, to an electrical adapter which converts a 7-way connector to an accessory power outlet connector.
II. Discussion
Individuals such as campers, hikers, and picnickers sometimes find themselves in locations which have no electrical power source. These individuals are often in need of an electrical power source to power electrical accessories such as portable grilles, lights or coolers. However, many of these accessories have male cigarette lighter plugs which are engageable to the female cigarette lighter plug of a motor vehicle. Thus, if an individual has an accessory with a male cigarette lighter plug and also has a motor vehicle, it is possible to supply power to the accessory by use of the female cigarette lighter plug located in the vehicle.
However, the electrical cord, which electrically connects the accessory to the male cigarette lighter plug, is usually fairly short. Because of the short length of the electrical cord, the accessory must be placed in close proximity with the female cigarette lighter plug. Typically, female cigarette lighter plugs, located in motor vehicles, are positioned on or around the dashboard area. This location is remote from the external environment of the vehicle. Therefore, in order to engage the male cigarette lighter plug, having a relatively short electrical cord, with the female cigarette lighter plug, the accessory must be either positioned in the vehicle and close to the female cigarette lighter plug or the accessory must be provided with some form of cable extension. The present invention was developed in light of these drawbacks.


A combination of a drill and a device for securing the drill in a chuck which has a body with a central passage and three slots inclinedly defined in a periphery defining the passage. Three clamping members are inclinedly and movably received in the slots and engaged with an annular member rotatably mounted to the three clamping members. The body has at least one aperture defined radially therethrough which communicates with the passage in which the drill is received which has a plan surface defined in an outer periphery thereof such that a positioning member received in the aperture contacts the plan surface to position the drill in place.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combination of a drill and a means for securing the drill in a chuck and the means comprises a bolt threadedly extending through a body of the chuck and contacting a surface defined in the drill so as to prevent the drill from rotating when in use.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a conventional chuck for receiving a drill 70 therein, the chuck generally includes a body 31 having a passage 310 defined centrally therethrough, three inclined slots 311 defined in an inner periphery defining the passage 310, a shaft 50 connected to an upper end of the body 50 so as to be connected to a drill machine for example. A casing 33 is mounted to the shaft 50 with an annular member 35 disposed between the shaft 50 and the casing 33. Three clamping members 40 are respectively inclinedly and movably received in the slots 311 of the body 31 and each have a first toothed portion 41 defined in an outer periphery thereof which is engaged with a second toothed portion 351 of the annular member 35. The annular member 35 has a third toothed portion 34 defined in an underside thereof. A locking tool 60 is inserted into a recess 32 defined in the body 31 at a distal end thereof and has a bevel gear 61 co-axially disposed thereto which is engaged with the third toothed portion 34. When rotating the locking tool 60, the three clamping members 40 are moved inwardly about an axis of the body 31 to clamp the drill 70 in the passage 310. However, the drill 70 is a cylindrical member and clamped by the three clamping members 40 at three limit areas so that when a large torque is applied to the drill 70, a slide movement could happen and a user has to retighten the drill 70 again.
The present invention intends to provide a combination of a drill and a means for securing the drill in a chuck, which includes a bolt extending through a body of the chuck and contacting against a plan surface of the drill so as to effectively mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.

Combination of a drill and a means for securing the drill in a chuck

No. 15-3, Chungnan Rd., 5 Lin, Taiping Tsun


A new trash receptacle for permitting easy removal therefrom of a filled trash bag. The inventive device includes outer and inner portions each having a base and a side wall. The inner and outer portions are spaced apart to define an air space therebetween. The inner base of the inner portion has a plurality of apertures therethrough into the air space between the inner and outer bases to permit air flow from the air space into the interior space of the trash receptacle to help relieve the vacuum formed when a trash bag is removed from the interior space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to trash receptacles and more particularly pertains to a new trash receptacle for permitting easy removal therefrom of a filled trash bag.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of trash receptacles is known in the prior art. More specifically, trash receptacles heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art trash receptacles include U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,241; U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,717; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 355,742; U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,755; U.S. Pat. No. 2,060,468; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,379.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new trash receptacle. The inventive device includes outer and inner portions each having a base and a side wall. The inner and outer portions are spaced apart to define an air space therebetween. The inner base of the inner portion has a plurality of apertures therethrough into the air space between the inner and outer bases to permit air flow from the air space into the interior space of the trash receptacle to help relieve the vacuum formed when a trash bag is removed from the interior space.
In these respects, the trash receptacle according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of permitting easy removal therefrom of a filled trash bag.


A method and system for visualizing a system. The method includes obtaining a context managed entity from a client system, wherein the context managed entity corresponds to software executing on a computer system, querying a managed entity repository to obtain a plurality of managed entities linked to the context managed entity, wherein the plurality of managed entities comprises a software managed entity and a hardware managed entity, and generating a node in a topology model object for each of the plurality of managed entities. The method further includes generating a link object in the topology model object for each link between managed entities in the plurality of managed entities and rendering a topology graph comprising each node and each link object in the topology model object.

Modern enterprise-level server systems can include a number of different components that interact with each other. Such components include many different types of hardware components and many different types of software components. System administrators must constantly monitor the interactions between the different components on the system. Further, due to the complexity of such systems, problems involving communication between system components can be difficult to locate.

Interactive topological views of combined hardware and software systems


A laparoscopic surgical ligation and electrosurgical coagulation device has an elongated handle sized to be received in a trochar and having a central passageway extending therethrough. A first channel is provided in the handle along one side of the passageway and is generally parallel thereto. A second channel is provided in the handle which is generally parallel to the passageway and spaced from the first channel. A suture extends through the central channel passageway and has a loop with a slip knot on the distal end thereof and a pull on the proximal end thereof, so that by pulling on the pull the loop can be drawn tightly about a tissue to be ligated. An electrosurgical wire is slidably received in the first channel and has an electrically insulated body extending through the first channel with an exposed wire hook formed at the distal end thereof for grasping the tissue to pull it through the suture loop. An electrical connector is attached to the proximal end thereof for connection to a source of electrosurgical power. A ligation assist device is slidably received in the second channel which may be in the form of a hypodermic needle for providing anesthesia to the tissue to be ligated or in the form of an optical fiber for carrying laser energy for fulgurating the ligated tissue.

There are several manufacturers of laparoscopical surgical devices for tubal ligation. These devices generally utilize a hollow plastic tube containing a pre-formed loop of suture material with a slip knot at the terminal end. The other end of the suture terminates in a plastic handle or puller which allows easy application of traction to the device to close the loop around the tissue to be ligated inside the patient's body. A tapered distal end on the plastic tube forces the closure of the slip knot as the surgeon applies pressure to the puller causing strangulation of the tissue within the loop. Once the strangulation is sufficient to satisfy the surgeon utilizing the device, scissors are inserted through another trochar and excess suture material is cut-off adjacent the slip knot.
These devices have proven particularly helpful in endoscopically ligating blood vessels, appendix stumps and similar structures. Suture material used in the devices includes both absorbable suture material such as cat gut and non-absorbable suture materials such as silk. Other proprietary types of suture material have also been used.
The disadvantages of these devices is that at least two additional portals, formed with trochars, are required. One is for viewing via a laparoscope and the third portal is for a surgical clamp and/or surgical scissors. The laparoscope is used to visually monitor the procedure being done. A surgical clamp is used to grasp the tissue to be ligated by the suture loop and the scissors are used to cut away excess suture material after the ligation has been completed.
The following patents are exemplary of the prior art:
Komiya, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,229, shows a rather complex tool for internally attaching a loop and securing it around an affected part in a coeloma.
Shannon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,476,114; Mulhollan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,635, and Ferguson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,434, each show ligating instruments used to tie a knot to secure the structure being held.
West German Patent No. 2,804,070 and USSR Patent No. 552,077 also show ligature knot tying devices.
Takamatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,489, shows an endoscope having an electrode loop for clamping a tissue. The endoscope also includes means for viewing the operative site.
Wheeler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,621, discloses an endoscopic device utilizing a loop for extending around a body tissue and has an electrode plate upon which the patient rests during the operative procedure for completing an electrical path. The endoscope also has viewing means.
Thus, while the foregoing patents are suitable for their intended purpose, they do not overcome the disadvantages set forth above.

Laparoscopic surgical ligation and electrosurgical coagulation and cutting device


Medical devices are disclosed. For example, a medical device includes an elongated member. The medical device includes a hole forming surface along a portion of the elongated member. The medical device includes an open cell element in physical communication with the elongated member. The open cell element is configured to house at least a first portion of a biocompatible substance.

During many orthopedic surgeries, holes need to be created in bone or cartilage prior to fastener installation. Examples of fasteners installed during orthopedic surgeries include but are not limited to: bone screws and anchors. Creating a hole and securing a fastener are often two distinct tasks. During these surgeries, especially those that include arthroscopy, orthopedic surgeons often lose time trying to locate a hole that was drilled prior to the fastener installation. This may be due to, for example, fluid and surrounding tissue obscuring the hole after the device used to create the hole is removed. Many orthopedic surgeons use biocompatible ink from a pen to color a cutting surface of a cutting tool (for example, a drill bit or a punch) just prior to use. There are many shortcomings with this technique which may include, but are not limited to: additional time required to load the ink onto the cutting surface, the cutting surface may hold a limited amount of ink that is insufficient, the ink may be quickly removed once the cutting surface is engaged in the bone or cartilage, most if not all of the ink may be applied to material that is removed, and the mark, if any, left by the ink on the surrounding tissue may not be sufficient to see with a naked eye during surgery. In many cases, a hole may be filled or covered with fluid or surrounding tissue after the hole is created and before a fastener can be located in the hole.
Many existing hole forming medical devices may not be configured to house biocompatible substances for eventual delivery during their use in the target physiological environment. Many existing hole forming medical devices may comprise closed cells such as, for example, a syringe. Many existing hole forming medical devices may not be configured to deliver biocompatible substances to a surgical site simultaneously or near simultaneously with the primary hole forming function.
Many existing biopsy tools configured to employ dye to mark a biopsy site may not be configured to successfully mark surrounding bone, cartilage, and/or soft tissue. Many existing tools configured to inject dye into a tumor may not be configured to successfully mark surrounding bone, cartilage, and/or soft tissue. Many existing surgical marking methods require multiple steps to form a hole or trim a portion of bone, cartilage, and/or soft tissue, and mark the hole or tissue surrounding the trimmed portion. Additional steps may be required to treat an affected area. For example, a plunger of a syringe may need to be drawn back and/or advanced. Many existing devices configured to deliver biocompatible substances may require physical containment of the biocompatible substance during introduction to a physiological environment. Many existing devices configured to deliver biocompatible substances may require a physical action by the user to load the biocompatible substance into the device prior to use.
What is needed are improved devices and methods configured to deliver a substance.


A process and apparatus for forming three-dimensional containers from a continuous flat web of paper, coated paper, paper board, or laminated paper board ("paper") in which the paper is first scored to define the shape of the container and, thereafter, the scored stock is simultaneously cut and formed into a container. Containers so produced have improved uniformity. The apparatus is less expensive and easier to operate than conventional equipment, and it is easier to change from one style of tray to another. The apparatus also makes possible tray styles which could not be made with machines which cut and transfer paper blanks to a separate forming station.

This invention relates to the method and apparatus used to manufacture three-dimensional containers. More particularly, the invention relates to making three-dimensional trays from flat stock by cutting and pressing it into the desired form.
Trays of paper, coated paper, paper board, or laminated paperboard (hereinafter "paper") are commonly used as food containers; for example, in frozen food packaging and as fresh food containers in supermarkets and delicatessens. These inexpensive trays are made in large quantities by machines designed to transform rolls of flat paper stock into three-dimensional containers. High quality containers are not required by all customers, but very often the containers must meet strict uniformity standards in order to be acceptable. In such instances, each finished tray must be identical with the others. Achieving a highly uniform product in large quantities has proven to be very difficult.
Machines which have been developed to make three-dimensional containers (i.e., trays) from rolls of flat paper stock are quite complex. They feed the stock into the machine intermittently and movement of the paper stops while the tray is being made. After each tray (or set of trays depending on the machine design) has been made, it (or they) is ejected and the paper stock moved into position for the next tray to be formed.
Such machines normally cut blanks from a sheet of flat paper stock after first scoring the paper in a pattern which is appropriate for the type of tray to be formed. If the trays are shallow and do not require scoring, it is possible to slit the paper stock and then cut off pieces which are formed at the same time. The present invention relates to the manufacture of deeper trays which are scored before the trays are formed. The scoring permits the paper to be formed into the desired shape more easily. Scoring does not mean cutting through the paper stock, but refers to an operation in which a set of knives are pressed down into corresponding recesses in an opposed plate. The edges of the knives press into the paper to form indentations where the sides of the tray are to be made, particularly at the corners. The effect of the scoring will be familiar to anyone who has handled a tray made by pressing. After scoring, the paper stock is usually moved into another station where a scored blank is removed from the stock, either by punching or cutting. The separated blanks then are moved to a tray-forming station where they are formed over a mandrell, i.e., the male part of a die set having the shape of the tray.
Conventional paper tray-forming machines have a number of deficiencies. Some of the problems experienced with such machines should be mentioned so that the advantages achieved by the present invention can be appreciated. As just described, previous machines score the paper stock first, then cut and separate blanks from which the trays are formed and finally transfer the blanks to the tray-forming station. It is difficult to assure that each separated blank is moved to the forming station with the proper orientation. Blanks may turn, and it is common for blanks to reach the forming die improperly aligned. A tray produced from a misaligned blank may be rejected for defects, such as being misshapen or as having improper orientation of imprinted designs. Even if not rejected, the trays may be undesirably non-uniform. Non-uniform trays give a poor impression to the customer who receives them and do not work well in automated equipment. Also, non-uniform trays can stack poorly and take up more space in shipping containers, thereby increasing material and transportation costs.
Another problem associated with misalignment of paper blanks is related to the orientation of the fibers in the paper stock. It typically has the fibers principally aligned in one direction (the "machine direction"), as is the case with wood, and it is stronger in that direction. When the paper is formed over a die, force is applied to the paper while it is held by the edges of the blank. If the blank is misaligned, the paper may tear because of the variation in strength related to the fiber orientation. If the paper fibers in each blank are always aligned in the same direction when a tray is formed, then the effect of the variation in paper strength is always the same. Consequently, any variation in the final product resulting from the orientation of the fibers could be compensated for by changing the shape of the dies. This is not possible without consistent alignment of the blanks.
Still other problems relate to the moisture content of the paper. The paper stock may be preconditioned to provide a desired amount of moisture so that the paper can be formed over a die. If there is too little moisture, the paper may tear. If there is too much moisture, the paper will be distorted during the forming process. Also, just after the tray has been formed, relief of residual stresses from the forming process and drying of the paper can cause the tray to change shape. The tray will form the desired shape if it was properly oriented when it was formed. If not, then a permanently deformed tray may result.
It is common to heat the dies over which the paper stock is drawn during forming to assist removing the moisture and to help fix the shape of the tray. Excessive heating can cause softening of plastic coatings leading to sticking of the trays in the forming dies. Non-uniform thermal expansion of the dies may also cause problems in the manufacturing process. It will be appreciated that the clearances between the die parts are close and that heating one die may change such clearances.
Conventional tray-forming machines are difficult to adjust and maintain. Many of these problems are associated with the need to transfer a cut paper blank to the forming dies. It is typical that the blank is cut, and then transported by gravity to forming dies mounted at an angle to the horizontal. In that case, since the forming die set is mounted at an angle, it is very difficult to position and adjust in place because of its weight and size. Furthermore, mounting the die at an angle causes non-uniform wear on the moving parts. An important factor in properly forming a three-dimensional tray from a flat paper blank is maintaining the clearances between the die parts. They are more difficult to adjust and control when the forming die is mounted at an angle.
It was clear that a need existed for an improved tray-forming machine which would be easier to set up and adjust. If tray quality could be improved at the same time, making possible higher quality products and fewer rejects, a major advance in the tray-forming technology would have been made. The present inventors have achieved such results with a new tray-forming process and machine. It adopts a different principle of operation compared with that of the prior art machines. These benefits are made possible by simultaneously cutting and forming a tray from a strip of paper stock in a single die with a single stroke. This eliminates the problems relating to the cutting and transfer of a paper blank, as will be seen in the discussion which follows.


A comparator with output that responds quickly to changes in input. The comparator is made up of three stages, an input sampling network, a first amplifier stage, and a second amplifier stage. The input sampling network interfaces the two voltage levels that are to be compared with the first amplifier stage. The first amplifier stage then generates a low level signal that is dependent on the relative levels of the two inputs and passes the low level signal to the second amplifier stage. The second amplifier stage amplifies the output of the first amplifier stage to a usable level. Superior response time is achieved through by dividing the input sampling network into two stages, an input stage and an offset stage, and decoupling the two stages during offset cancellation.

Comparators are well known in the field of electronics. A typical comparator has two input terminals (a first input terminal and a second input terminal) and an output terminal. The voltages on the two input terminals are compared and the output depends on which of the two input voltages is greater. For example, if the input on the first terminal is larger than the input on the second terminal, the output is 2.5 volts (logic level 1); while if the input on the second terminal is greater than that on the first terminal, the output is -2.5 volts (logic level 0). The use of comparators is well known in the art of electronic signaling. For example, in the telecommunications industry, comparators are employed to recover signals that have been degraded by noise. FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C are provided to illustrate how a data recovery process works. FIG. 1A shows a stream of digital data in the form of an ideal square wave with a peak to peak value of 5 volts. The square wave is used to represent data generated by a differential signaling digital source, such as a computer. The data may be transmitted to a digital receiver through any number of possible transmission media, such as copper wire, fiber optic lines, coaxial cable, or wireless links. Regardless of the media used, the data signal will be attenuated by the media and corrupted by noise as it travels to the receiver.
FIG. 1B shows the signal of FIG. 1A as it appears upon arrival at a receiver. For purposes of illustration, the received signal is modeled as a sine wave of period 2T, although in practice the received signal is likely to have a more irregular shape. To recover the original data from the received signal, one input terminal of a comparator is coupled to the received signal while the other input terminal of the comparator is coupled to a reference (e.g. 0 volts). The comparator then compares samples of the received signal to the reference. If a sample is greater than the reference, the output of the comparator is 2.5 volts (logic level 1), and if a sample is less than the reference, the output of the comparator is -2.5 volts (logic level 0). This sampling technique works best if the received signal is sampled at its peaks and valleys, since sampling at the peaks and valleys provides the greatest differential between the samples and the reference, and thus the greatest margin for error. However, the time of arrival of the signal is generally not known, and therefore sampling at the peaks and valleys can not be assured.
FIG. 1C illustrates the sampling of a received signal. As can be seen from the figure, a first sample 10 occurs just before the received waveform has crossed the 0 voltage point. The remaining samples occur regularly at periodic intervals following the first sample. Since the frequency of the original signal may be known a priori, the sampling frequency may be set to match the original frequency. Thus, once the first sample is adjusted such that it occurs at a peak or valley, the remaining samples will also occur at peaks or valleys. A method that is commonly used to find the peak and valley points of a received signal is to find the zero crossing point of the signal and then take the first sample at a point that is one quarter period removed from the zero crossing point.
Detection of the zero point may be accomplished through successive approximation. Upon taking of the first sample in FIG. 1C, the output of the comparator should be logic level 1 (2.5 volts) since the sample value is greater than the reference value of 0 volts. Normally, the second sample (1 period later) would again occur just before the received signal dipped below zero (sample 12). However, if the sampling time of the second sample were shifted right (sample 14), the second sample would occur just after the received waveform dipped below zero, and therefore the output of the comparator for the second sample would be -2.5 volts, thereby indicating that the zero crossing occurred some time between the time at which the unshifted second sample would have occurred and the time at which the second sample was actually taken. If the amount of shift is made small a zero crossing might not occur before the second sample. Accordingly, a small shift may be applied to successive samples until a zero crossing is detected; the smaller the shift, the more accurate the determination of the time of zero crossing.
The above-described zero crossing detection scheme is limited by the comparator's ability to respond to a zero crossing. The comparator output does not change instantaneously when the relative levels of the comparator inputs require that the output change. For example, when a comparator is comparing a received signal to a 0 volt reference and the received signal changes from a positive value (output is 2.5 volts) to a negative value (output should be -2.5 volts), the output does not change instantly to 2.5 volts. The received signal must be negative for some period of time (the "response time") before the comparator output changes from 2.5 volts to -2.5 volts. Therefore, the precision in detecting the time of zero crossing can only be as great as the response time of the comparator. Currently comparator response times are on the order of 4 ns.


Transparent electroconductive coating compositions, methods to prepare such coating compositions, and substrates coated with these coating compositions. The coatings are based on polymeric resins containing finely dispersed electroconductive powders. The coatings can be characterized by the following: thermoformable while retaining transparency and electrical conductivity that is insensitive to humidity; low chloride extractability, stable to exposure to isopropanol or water/soap solutions.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,764 describes coating compositions comprising an electroconductive powder of tin oxide and antimony wherein the antimony is present as antimony oxide, and a thermoplastic or thermosetting binder resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,361 describes antistatic transparent plastic films which are conductive at low humidity having high mechanical strength. The coating composition comprises an electroconductive powder which is comprised of at least one crystalline oxide of Zn, Ti, Sn, In, Si, Mo or W of particle size 0.01-0.7 microns which can include dopants such as Al, In, Nb, Ta, Sb, at concentrations of 0.01-30 mole %.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,319 describes a transparent plastic molded article in the form of a sheet or film or various molded articles produced by injection or press molding which has on its surface (a) an electrically conductive coating layer that is transparent, containing 60-80% of an electroconductive powder, 0.2 microns or less in particle size; 20-40% of a solvent or emulsion type resin, a transparent film forming coating composition capable of forming a cross linking-hardened resin film, hardenable with light, energy or heat and (b) a topcoat containing 0-50% by weight of conductive powder and 50-100% by weight of a resin.
U.S. Pat. No 5,204,177 describes a conductive coating composition consisting of a solution or dispersion in a solvent of conductive fine particles of tin or indium oxide and a binder resin.
The disclosure of the previously identified U.S. patents is hereby incorporated by reference.

Transparent, static-dissipative formulations for coatings


The present invention describes a system and method for supplying electrical power to a device, such as a filter element, located within a housing. In one embodiment, a conductive coil is embedded into the housing base, and a second coil is embedded into the filter element. Current is then passed through the coil in the housing base. Through induction, a current is created in the second coil in the filter element, in much the same way as a transformer functions. This inductive field may interfere with the operation of the various electronic functions, such as communications, sensing or other activities. To overcome this issue, an energy storage component, such as a capacitor, is included in the filter electronics. In this way, the power generated by the inductive field can be stored, and used when the inductive field is no longer present.

The use of wireless communication has become prevalent, especially in the management of assets, particularly those applications associated with inventory management. For example, the use of RFID tags permits the monitoring of the production line and the movement of assets or components through the supply chain.
To further illustrate this concept, a manufacturing entity may adhere RFID tags to components as they enter the production facility. These components are then inserted into the production flow, forming sub-assemblies in combination with other components, and finally resulting in a finished product. The use of RFID tags allows the personnel within the manufacturing entity to track the movement of the specific component throughout the manufacturing process. It also allows the entity to be able to identify the specific components that comprise any particular assembly or finished product.
In addition, the use of RFID tags has also been advocated within the drug and pharmaceutical industries. In February 2004, the United States Federal and Drug Administration issued a report advocating the use of RFID tags to label and monitor drugs. This is an attempt to provide pedigree and to limit the infiltration of counterfeit prescription drugs into the market and to consumers.
Since their introduction, RFID tags have been used in many applications, such as to identify and provide information for process control in filter products. U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,381, issued to Den Dekker in 1997, discloses the use of "electronic labels" in conjunction with filtering apparatus and replaceable filter assemblies. Specifically, the patent discloses a filter having an electronic label that has a read/write memory and an associated filtering apparatus that has readout means responsive to the label. The electronic label is adapted to count and store the actual operating hours of the replaceable filter. The filtering apparatus is adapted to allow use or refusal of the filter, based on this real-time number. The patent also discloses that the electronic label can be used to store identification information about the replaceable filter.
A patent application by Baker et al, published in 2005 as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US2005/0205658, discloses a process equipment tracking system. This system includes the use of RFID tags in conjunction with process equipment. The RFID tag is described as capable of storing "at least one trackable event". These trackable events are enumerated as cleaning dates, and batch process dates. The publication also discloses an RFID reader that is connectable to a PC or an internet, where a process equipment database exists. This database contains multiple trackable events and can supply information useful in determining "a service life of the process equipment based on the accumulated data". The application includes the use of this type of system with a variety of process equipment, such as valves, pumps, filters, and ultraviolet lamps.
Another patent application, filed by Jornitz et al and published in 2004 as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0256328, discloses a device and method for monitoring the integrity of filtering installations. This publication describes the use of filters containing an onboard memory chip and communications device, in conjunction with a filter housing. The filter housing acts as a monitoring and integrity tester. That application also discloses a set of steps to be used to insure the integrity of the filtering elements used in multi-round housings. These steps include querying the memory element to verify the type of filter that is being used, its limit data, and its production release data. This application also describes an internal transponder for relaying information to an external monitoring and test unit. An antenna is arranged adjacent to the transponder on the filter housing.
Many of these applications require that the devices within the housing be electrically powered. While the use of small batteries may be sufficient for some applications, in many applications, and even more potential future applications, this small amount of power provided by such batteries is insufficient to power the electronics within the housing.
Incorporating a power connector in the filter element to connect to a suitable mating connector in the housing may be problematic. Such a solution requires mating connectors that are capable of tolerating extreme conditions, such as temperature (particularly during molding and steam cleaning), and fluid flow. Therefore, issues such as the quality and integrity of the seal between these connectors may be suspect.
Thus, there is a need to reliably provide power to devices, such as filter elements, enclosed in a housing without sacrificing quality and safety, and without having to add new materials particularly where wetted surfaces are involved.

Powered cartridges and other devices within housings


A method for processing the surface of a work roll, comprising forming a pattern coated with a cured product of a photosensitive resin composition on the surface of a work roll only at a predetermined portion, chemically etching the surface of the work roll at the remaining uncoated portions and peeling the cured product to form an uneven pattern on the surface of the work roll, wherein the composition comprises a visible light curable photosensitive resin composition and is cured by visible light irradiation.

In general a steel plate or sheet is coated with a paint and then supplied as a product for use as a body of, for example, automobiles, an outer plate or sheet of domestic electric appliances. In recent years, not only the quality of products but also the appearance of products, which appeals to the sense of sight has become regarded as being of importance. With respect to factors having an effect on appearance, it is said that appearance is greatly influenced by the surface roughness of the steel plate or sheet, although it depends also upon the thickness of the coating.
The roughness on the surface of the steel plate or sheet is formed by transferring unevenness of the surface of the roll to the surface of the steel plate or sheet at the time of cold rolling or skin pass rolling. In order to improve this fact, Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 62-11922, for example, discloses a method for processing a roll which comprises coating the surface of a roll with an ultraviolet curing photosensitive resin to form regular marks. In this method, however, the sensitivity of the photosensitive resin is so low that an energy of several tens to several hundreds of mJ/cm.sup.2 is necessary for curing the photosensitive resin. For this reason, when the photosensitive resin is cured by using an ultraviolet laser having an output of 100 W or more as an energy radiation, an exposure time of 50 msec is necessary, for example, in the case of a photosensitive film having a thickness of 7 .mu.m, and it takes a lot of time for a fine uneven pattern to be formed on the surface of the roll, which leads to a problem of remarkably poor productivity.
Further, in the conventional ultraviolet laser device, since it is difficult to continuously ensure a stable energy at a high output for a long period of time, the use of a high performance ultraviolet laser device requiring a high equipment cost becomes necessary for continuously ensuring a stable energy at a high output for a long period of time.

Method for processing surface of work roll


Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, to rasterize an image by generating assignments and allocating the assignments among multiple processor threads such that no two processor threads are rasterizing concurrently into overlapping regions of a pixel array. Multiple assignments are generated. Each assignment specifies one or more graphics objects and a region of the pixel array into which the specified graphics objects are to be rasterized. Multiple processes are established for rasterizing objects into a pixel array. Each process is operable to receive an assignment and to rasterize the objects of the assignment into the region of the assignment. Assignments are selected for concurrent execution by processes so that no two selected assignments have overlapping regions. The selected assignments are concurrently executed by separate processes to rasterize the respective objects of the assignments into their respective regions.

The present invention relates to rasterizing images into pixel arrays.
An image includes graphics objects, also called primitives, that describe visual elements of the image. When the image is rasterized into a pixel array corresponding to a page or a screen, the graphics objects are rendered into pixels from the pixel array such that pixel values, typically representing colors, are specified for the pixels.
For rasterization, a large image is typically divided into multiple disjoint bands whose size depends on memory and system restrictions. During rasterization, each band of the image can be assigned to a processor thread. The processor thread is a coherent sequence of processing steps that can be performed by a single processor. To rasterize the assigned band, a processor thread may access additional resources, such as display lists or font data.
The image can be rasterized sequentially or in parallel. In a system having a single processor, typically a single processor thread rasterizes all bands of the image sequentially, i.e., one band after the other. In a system having multiple processors, typically bands of the image are rasterized in parallel, i.e., by concurrently running processor threads that rasterize disjoint bands.
Alternatively, the pixel array can be divided into disjoint regions, such as tiles, and different regions can be assigned to different processor threads that rasterize only the portion of the image that lies inside the assigned region. If the image covers multiple document pages, different pages can be assigned to different processor threads.
In an alternative technique, graphics objects of the image are arbitrarily assigned to processor threads for parallel rasterization. Each processor thread rasterizes its assigned graphics objects into a buffer array corresponding to the entire pixel array, and, in a final processing step, the rasterized graphics objects in the buffer arrays are composed into a single rasterized image.