The present invention provides a method for RN switching and location updating, a method for updating location of UE and a method for paging UE. Application of the methods of the present invention, can present each UE under the relay from initiating a tracking area update process, reduce network congestion, and save system sources.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) system which supports the relay node (RN).
In the wireless access network of the LTE system, the wireless resource management entity includes a macro base station (i.e., evolved Node B (eNB)) 101 and a RN 102 which is connected with a core network through another macro base station (i.e., Donor eNB (DeNB)) 103. The eNB 101 and DeNB 103 are connected each other via an X2 interface, and each eNB 101 is connected with a Mobile Management Entity (MME)/Servicing GateWay (S-GW) 104 in the core network through an S1 interface, respectively. The RN 102 accesses the DeNB 103 via an Un interface. The DeNB 103 provides an X2 proxy function between the RN 102 and other eNBs. The DeNB 103 provides an S1 proxy function between the RN 102 and the MME/S-GW 104. The S1 and X2 proxy functionality includes passing UE-dedicated S1 and X2 signaling between the RN 102 and the eNB 101, between the RN 102 and the MME 104, and between the RN 102 and the S-GW 104.
The currently defined relay is used in a fixed position, and does not support mobility of the relay between different cells. What is currently considered is how to apply the relay in a fast-moving train, for example in a train with a movement speed of 250-350 km per hour, and the wireless environment of the fast-moving train is rather special, for example, high noise, high penetration loss, serious Doppler frequency shift, and so on. The service quality provided by the existing relay cannot meet the needs of the operators, while the mobile relay is to solve the problems existing in the existing relay, to improve the quality of the service which can be provided in the fast-moving train to better meet the needs of users.
In the existing LTE system, when a User Equipment (UE) enters a cell and a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) to which the cell belongs is not in a TAI list stored in the UE, the UE initiates a normal Tracking Area Update (TAU) process.
FIG. 2 illustrates a procedure for performing TAU process of the UE in the existing LTE system.
Step 201: a UE sends a TAU request message to an eNB. The UE sends the TAU request to the eNB through a Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages.
Step 202: the eNB sends the TAU request to an MME through an S1 message.
Step 203: the MME (i.e., new MME) obtains an old MME address according to a Globally Unique Temporary Identifier (GUTI) received from the UE. The new MME sends a context request message to the old MME to request for context information of the UE.
Step 204: the old MME sends context response message including context information of the UE to the MME.
Step 205: an authentication/certification process for the UE is implemented. This process is an optional step, is implemented only in certain circumstances.
Step 206: the MME sends a context confirmation message to the old MME.
Step 207: the MME sends a modify bearer request message to a S-GW/PDN GW.
Here, the detailed description of steps between the S-GW and PDN GW are omitted.
Step 208: the S-GW/PDN GW sends a modify bearer response message to the MME.
Step 209: the MME sends an update location request to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS).
Step 210: the HSS sends cancel location message to the old MME.
Step 211: the old MME sends a cancel location confirmation message to an old HSS.
Step 212: the HSS sends an update location confirmation message to the MME.
Step 213: the MME sends a TAU accept message to the UE.
Step 214: if the GUTI changes, the UE sends a TAU complete message to the MME to confirm to accept the new GUTI.

Method and apparatus for receiving tracking area identifier list


A snap-fit collar for coupling the end of a flexible coil to a part of an endoscopic instrument is a substantially cylindrical member having a first end portion with a stop flange, a resilient tapered locking flange spaced apart from the stop flange defining a waist or groove between the stop flange and the locking flange, and second end portion having a pair of cantilevered substantially semi-cylindrical legs. The first end portion is preferably frustroconical and flares diametrically outward to form the stop flange which has a first diameter. The waist or groove has a second diameter which is smaller than the first diameter. The tapered locking flange is also preferably frustroconical and tapers diametrically inward from a third diameter which is larger than the second diameter. Each of the legs is inclined diametrically outward and includes a plurality of coil engaging ribs on its inner surface. The outer surface of each leg is preferably provided with a longitudinal key and the free end of each leg is preferably tapered radially inward. The collar has a throughbore which extends through the first end portion to the space between the legs. An endoscopic instrument actuator and a clevis for use with the snap-fit collar each include a throughbore having a step and a pair of diametrically opposed keyways which extend into at least a portion of the throughbore wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to endoscopic surgical instruments which have a proximal actuator and distal end effectors which are coupled to each other by a flexible coil. More particularly, the invention relates to a snap-fit collar for coupling the end of a flexible coil of an endoscopic instrument to the actuator or to the end effectors of the instrument.
2. State of the Art
Endoscopic surgical instruments generally include a hollow tube member having a proximal end and a distal end and a control member such as a push rod or a pull wire which extends through and is reciprocally movable in the tube member. An actuator mechanism is coupled to the proximal ends of the tube and control member, and at least one of a pair of end effectors is coupled to the distal end of the tube and control member by means of a clevis. Operation of the actuator mechanism causes the control member to move relative to the tube member which in turn causes the end effector to rotate in the clevis. The hollow tube member is often a flexible coil which permits the end effectors of the instrument to be fed through a curved or tortuous path to the surgical site. The coupling of the flexible coil to the clevis and to the actuator mechanism is most often effected by crimping.
Parent application Ser. No. 08/275,291 discloses an actuator mechanism for an endoscopic instrument which includes a stationary handle having a stepped throughbore with a relatively smaller diameter at the distal end and a relatively larger diameter at the proximal end. A cylindrical rack member is slidably disposed in the larger diameter portion of the throughbore. The larger diameter portion of the throughbore has a lower slot opening, and a movable lever is pivotally coupled to the stationary handle and is provided with a toothed upper pinion which enters the slot in the larger diameter portion of the throughbore and engages the rack member. The actuator mechanism is particularly well suited for use in an endoscopic instrument having a flexible coil tube member and a control member extending through the flexible coil. The proximal ends of the control member and the flexible coil are coupled to the actuator mechanism which imparts reciprocal movement to the control member relative to the flexible coil. The distal end of the flexible coil is coupled to a clevis within which a pair of end effectors are rotatably mounted; and the distal end of the control member is coupled to the end effectors. Several different means for coupling the ends of the flexible coil to the handle and the clevis are disclosed in the parent application, including the use of a staple and press-fit ferrule. While these couplings are effective, their assembly is time consuming and increases the cost of manufacture of the instrument.

Snap fit collar for coupling the end of a flexible coil to the actuator or clevis of an endoscopic surgical instrument and an endoscopic surgical instrument incorporating the same


A method, a data storage system, and a computer-readable recording medium for disk array data distribution are proposed. The method includes the following steps. The space of a disk array composed of multiple flash storage devices is divided into multiple RAID extents with a same data distribution pattern, where each of the RAID extents includes a first region having multiple first stripes and first strips and also a second region having multiple second stripes and second strips. The first strips in each of the first stripes are evenly distributed among the flash storage devices in a first rotation pattern, and the second strips in each of the second stripes are unevenly distributed among the flash storage devices in a second rotation pattern.

Each erase block of a flash storage device has a limited number of writes.
Firmware of such device may evenly use each erase block by leveraging wear-leveling techniques to prevent any erase block from being worn out prematurely than others. Thus, limited write amount is posed to such device. When a same write pattern of I/O is applied to a group of brand-new flash storage devices, it is highly possible that all devices in the group may have one or more than one blocks to be entirely worn out within a short period. Some other devices may be worn out before data reconstruction finishes and thus thereby result in permanent data corruption.
Take a RAID 1 array as an example, write data is mirrored to each member device of the RAID 1 array, either in a sequential or random access mode. Hence, multiple flash storage devices having same capacity, model number, firmware version with concurrent initial usage would be likely all worn out within a short time span. Such issue would also happen in N-way mirroring arrays or RAID 10 arrays. As for RAID 5 arrays and RAID 6 arrays, if each write is stripe-aligned, each flash device would be subjected to a same write I/O pattern and would be possibly worn out concurrently. Moreover, since commonly-used file systems, such as EXT4 and XFS, would permit the data extent size to be equal to the stripe size, same issue would more likely happen.
Some existing RAID 5 schemes would prevent the disks from concurrently being worn out by distributing parity blocks unevenly. However, such approach may be suitable for random writes, but not for stripe-aligned writes. The reason behind is that the data amount and the data write I/O pattern for each physical flash storage device would be the same under stripe-aligned write, and thus it does not prevent the flash storage devices in an array from concurrently being worn out when the whole stripe is written.

Method, data storage system, and computer-readable recording medium for disk array data distribution


An antimicrobial substance containing an ethylene copolymer as an active ingredient and an antimicrobial resin composition containing the ethylene copolymer are disclosed. The ethylene copolymer comprises from 40 to 95% by weight of ethylene, from 5 to 60% by weight of at least one dialkylaminoalkylacrylamide comonomer represented by formula (I): ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group: R.sub.2 and R.sub.3, which may be the same or different, each represents an alkyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and n represents an integer of from 2 to 5, and up to 20% by weight of one or more of other ethylenically unsaturated comonomers, and has a number average molecular weight of from 5,000 to 50,000.

Techniques for endowing resin molded articles, fibrous resin products or synthetic paper products with antimicrobial activity include compounding of organic chemicals or metallic compounds having antimicrobial activity, e.g., compounds of copper, silver or zinc, into resins; and post-treatment of fiber or paper with chemicals as described in JP-A-62-184126, JP-A-62-250277, JP-A-59-66578, and JP-A-59-164342 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application").
The organic chemicals to be compounded into resins frequently involve problems of poor heat stability, toxicity, harmfulness, and short-duration.
The metallic ions having antimicrobial activity, when merely incorporated into resins, are liable to fall off the resin products during use and are therefore of short duration. In order to solve this problem, it has been proposed that metallic ions having antimicrobial activity are supported on inorganic solid particles having ion exchange ability, e.g., zeolite, and then the solid particles are incorporated into the resin as disclosed in JP-A-59-133235, JP-A-62-195037, and JP-A-62-195038. This technique is, however, disadvantageous, particularly when applied to production of fibrous products, in that the particle size of the inorganic solid particles should be small enough to maintain satisfactory spinnability, which would increase the cost and deteriorate dispersibility in the resin during the incorporation process.

Antimicrobial substance and antimicrobial resin composition containing ethylene copolymer


Compounds wherein 2-nitrobenzofuran is substituted by one or two phenyl groups and certain other substituents which are active as antimicrobial agents, a processes for their use and intermediates therefor.

This invention relates to a class of 2-nitrobenzofuran derivatives wherein the 3-position is substituted by a methyl, ethyl or phenyl group, the benzo ring is substituted by a phenyl group, and one additional substituent selected from carboxyl, hydroxymethyl, hydroxyethyl, carboxymethyl and ureidomethyl is present, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of the acids. It also relates to the use of the compounds as antimicrobial agents and to synthetic intermediates useful for the preparation of the compounds of the invention.
Compounds wherein 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofuran is substituted by a carboxyl group or an alkanoic acid group are known to have antimicrobial activity (see Belgian Pat. No. 846,502 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. P 2642877). The compounds of the present invention which contain such groups differ from these prior art compounds in that they additionally have a phenyl group bonded to the benzo ring. The prior art does not disclose compounds which are structurally similar to the remaining compounds of the invention (i.e. which do not contain a carboxyl group or an alkanoic acid group).

Certain mono-bromo bis-phenyl benzofurans


A radiation area monitor device/method, utilizing: a radiation sensor; a rotating radiation shield disposed about the radiation sensor, wherein the rotating radiation shield defines one or more ports that are transparent to radiation; and a processor operable for analyzing and storing a radiation fingerprint acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor. Optionally, the radiation sensor includes a gamma and/or neutron radiation sensor. The device/method selectively operates in: a first supervised mode during which a baseline radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor; and a second unsupervised mode during which a subsequent radiation fingerprint is acquired by the radiation sensor as the rotating radiation shield is rotated about the radiation sensor, wherein the subsequent radiation fingerprint is compared to the baseline radiation fingerprint and, if a predetermined difference threshold is exceeded, an alert is issued.

The monitoring of radioactive materials is of critical importance in many fields. Radioactive material accounting and control is often required by law and/or treaty. However, radioactive material monitoring is typically performed indirectly, by the observation of storage containers or the logging of RFID tags placed on the storage containers. In such situations, it is possible that radioactive material is removed while a storage container remains. Thus, it is not recognized that radioactive material is actually gone.
Thus, what are still needed in the art are devices and methods for directly monitoring the presence/location of a radioactive material by monitoring gamma and/or neutron emission from the radioactive material in real time. Preferably, these devices and methods would generate and utilize a three-dimensional (3D) map of a storage area and monitor changes over time with an alarm triggered by predetermined changes.

Radiation area monitor device and method


A method for designing a system on a target device includes mapping a high-level description of the system onto a model of a target device prior to generating a register transfer level description of the system. A visual representation of the mapping is generated.

Target devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), structured application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and ASICs are used to implement large systems that may include million of gates and megabits of embedded memory. The complexity of a large system often requires the use of electronic design automation (EDA) tools to create and optimize a design for the system onto physical target devices. Among the procedures performed by EDA tools in a computer aided design (CAD) compilation flow are design generation, synthesis, placement, and routing of the system on the target device.
Modern high-end target device designs aim to support bandwidth-heavy applications. For example, current generation communications processing designs implemented on target devices support 10 Gb to 40 Gb throughput. Future designs will be targeting 100 Gb to 400 Gb and then Tb processing. Such applications are enabled by increasing speeds of transceiver (serial input output) blocks which are keeping pace with the input output bandwidth needs of applications.
As target device architects create next-generation designs to support these high-bandwidth applications, and as system designers attempt to implement their systems on these target devices, tools for architecture exploration and design planning will play an important role for creating target devices and systems that successfully meet timing requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for implementing a system-level design tool for design planning and architecture exploration


An improved method and system for attaching a welded wire grid-work panel to a plurality of face panels of a retaining wall. The method first begins by providing a plurality of stackable face panels, each face panel having a plurality of anchor links fixed within a back portion of the face panels. Each of the anchor links forms a vertical loop extending outwardly generally perpendicular to the back portion of the face panels. Additionally, each anchor link includes two legs extending laterally from each anchor link within the face panel. Next, a first tier of the face panels is disposed at the bottom of the embankment being erected. Soil is then back-filled behind the first tier of panels to a level of the anchor links disposed within the first tier of face panels. A welded wire grid-work panel, which extends perpendicularly from the back portion of the face panels into a soil embankment, is positioned so that a plurality of wire loops at the edge of the grid-work panel aligns with the vertical loops. A connector rod is extended through the vertical loops of the anchor links and the wire loops of the grid-work panel. Next, additional soil is back-filled behind the first tier of face panels and over the anchor links, vertical loops, wire loops, and grid-work panel to a level at a top edge of the first tier of face panels. The method is repeated until the desired height of the embankment is attained.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved method and system for use with earth retaining structures, and more particularly, an improved retaining wall link and loop combination for attaching a welded wire gridwork panel to the face panels of the wall. This utility patent application claims the priority date of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/077,724 filed Mar. 12, 1998 and is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
A retaining wall is used for retaining earth and/or other backfill material placed behind the wall. Elongated support structures normally extend from various locations on the back surface of the wall into the backfill material. The support members are embedded into the backfill material and prevent the wall from buckling outwardly.
The retaining wall may be constructed of an unbroken stretch of concrete which usually is poured on site. Alternatively, the wall may be constructed of a plurality of modular concrete blocks which are assembled on site. Generally, modular blocks are less expensive to construct and assemble than a large, single piece of concrete because of the difficulty in transporting and pouring large amounts of concrete. Additionally, the amount of time required for assembling the modular blocks is generally less than that required for pouring concrete walls.
A major difficulty is encountered in attaching the support members to the modular blocks. Several methods and apparatus have been provided in the past for attaching the support members to the modular blocks. However, installation of these prior art devices onto retaining walls is often tedious and time consuming. In addition, difficulties are encountered in providing a strong enough connecting device connecting the retaining wall with the support members, in order to support the heavy forces placed on the retaining wall. A system and method are needed for attaching support members to a modular block which are easy to install, and provides the requisite strength necessary to reinforce a retaining wall.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiency and shortcoming such as that disclosed herein, prior art references that discuss subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein are U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,508 to Hilfiker et al. (Hilfiker I), U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,857 to Davis (Davis I), U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,170 to Davis (Davis II), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,125 to Hilfiker (Hilfiker II).
Hilfiker I discloses welded wire grid work mats which are positioned within an earthen formation. The mats are secured to precast elongated panels disposed at the face of the earthen formation. The mats serve as anchors for the panels, as well as reinforcing means for the formation. Plural connections secure the mats along the length of the panels. However, the mats may slip within the earthen formation, and Hilfiker I does not teach or suggest utilizing any method to prevent slippage of the grid work mats.
Davis I discloses a connection system for connecting an upright soil retaining wall formed of modular facing panels with a number of soil reinforcement panels formed of parallel wires. The parallel wires terminate in enlarged bulbous portions at one end and are interconnected by perpendicular crossbars. The mesh units are connected in tiers to the retaining wall and rest in the soil behind the wall. The connection is made by a female member embedded into the back side of the panel with internal threads, into a male member which is threadedly received with an internal bore of a suitable size to pass the wires but not the bulbous portions which bear against the forward end of the bolts. With the wires seated within a corresponding male member, the facing panels and mesh units are connected by screwing the male member into the female member. Davis I suffers from the disadvantage of a complex and time consuming process of threading the male members into female members in order to connect the wire mesh reinforcement units to the retaining wall.
Davis II discloses a soil retaining system which includes an upright soil retaining wall of modular facing panels and a number of horizontal wire mesh reinforcement units. Each unit includes spaced parallel wires ending in hole forming loops and interconnected by perpendicular crossbars. The mesh units are connected in tiers to the retaining wall and rest in the soil behind the wall. The connection of each wire in a mesh unit is made by a clevis member embedded into the back side of the panel and a bolt and nut assembly or an elongated pin member for attaching the wires and the clevis. However, Davis II is a more complex and expensive system than the present invention.
Hilfiker II discloses a reinforced soil embankment having precast face panels with cantilevered sections extending into the embankment to support the panels in an upright condition. Soil reinforcing elements are secured to the panels to reinforce the embankment and secure the face panels in place. Connectors are provided for securing and reinforcing the elements to the panels. Loops, formed on the ends of the elements, are extended through eyes on the panels formed by wire segment having legs which extend into the face panels. However, Hilfiker II requires very precise alignment of the wire segments embedded in the face panels with the soil reinforcing elements. Thus, Hilfiker II provides a very inflexible method of attaching soil reinforcing elements to a retaining wall.
Review of each of the foregoing references reveals no disclosure or suggestion of a system or method as that described and claimed herein. Thus, it would be a distinct advantage to have a system and method which inexpensively and simply attaches supporting elements to retaining walls. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.

Mechanical interlocking means for retaining wall


An electrophoretic display having a plurality of individual characters which are individually addressable for writing and erasing. The anode of the display has a plurality of character blocks which correspond to the character positions of the display. The character blocks are interconnected by a series of character column and row control lines which are insulated from each other. Each character block is connected to one row line and one column line, respectively, by a resistor and a diode which are arranged in parallel. A further resistor is connected in series with the diode. An individual character block is erased by applying a negative voltage to the specific column line and row line which cross at the desired character block.

This invention relates to electrophoretic display devices in general and, more particularly, to an electrophoretic display apparatus which employs means for selectively erasing and rewriting individual characters on the display panel thereof.
Electrophoretic displays (EPIDS) are now well known. A variety of display types and features are taught in several patents issued in the names of the inventors herein, Frank J. DiSanto and Denis A. Krusos and assigned to the assignee herein, Copytele, Inc. of Huntington Station, N.Y. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,897 and 4,732,830, each entitled ELECTROPHORETIC DISPLAY PANELS AND ASSOCIATED METHODS describe the basic operation and construction of an electrophoretic display. U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,345, entitled ELECTROPHORETIC DISPLAY PANELS AND METHODS THEREFOR, describes a display having improved alignment and contrast. Many other patents regarding such displays are also assigned to Copytele, Inc.
The display panels shown in the above-mentioned patents operate upon the same basic principle, viz., if a suspension of electrically charged pigment particles in a dielectric fluid is subjected to an applied electrostatic field, the pigment particles will migrate through the fluid in response to the electrostatic field. Given a substantially homogeneous suspension of particles having a pigment color different from that of the dielectric fluid, if the applied electrostatic field is localized it will cause a visually observable localized pigment particle migration. The localized pigment particle migration results either in a localized area of concentration or rarefaction of particles depending upon the polarity and direction of the electrostatic field and the charge on the pigment particles.
The electrophoretic display apparatus taught in the foregoing U.S. Patents are "triode-type" displays having a plurality of independent, parallel, cathode row conductor elements or "lines" deposited in the horizontal on one surface of a glass viewing screen. A layer of insulating photoresist material deposited over the cathode elements and photoetched down to the cathode elements to yield a plurality of insulator strips positioned at right angles to the cathode elements, forms the substrate for a plurality of independent, parallel column or grid conductor elements or "lines" running in the vertical direction. A glass cap member forms a fluid-tight seal with the viewing window along the cap's peripheral edge for containing the fluid suspension and also acts as a substrate for an anode plate deposited on the interior flat surface of the cap. When the cap is in place, the anode surface is in spaced parallel relation to both the cathode elements and the grid elements. Given a specific particulate suspension, the sign of the electrostatic charge which will attract and repel the pigment particles will be known. The cathode element voltage, the anode voltage, and the grid element voltage can then be ascertained such that when a particular voltage is applied to the cathode and another voltage is applied to the grid, the area proximate their intersection will assume a net charge sufficient to attract or repel pigment particles in suspension in the dielectric fluid. Since numerous cathode and grid lines are employed, there are numerous discrete intersection points which can be controlled by varying the voltage on the cathode and grid elements to cause localized visible regions of pigment concentration and rarefaction. Essentially then, the operating voltages on both cathode and grid must be able to assume at least two states corresponding to a logical one and a logical zero. Logical one for the cathode may either correspond to attraction or repulsion of pigment. Typically, the cathode and grid voltages are selected such that only when both are a logical one at a particular intersection point, will a sufficient electrostatic field be present at the intersection relative to the anode to cause the writing of a visual bit of information on the display through migration of pigment particles. The bit may be erased, e.g., upon a reversal of polarity and a logical zero-zero state occurring at the intersection coordinated with an erase voltage gradient between anode and cathode. In this manner, digitized data can be displayed on the electrophoretic display.
Accordingly, in order to erase the image in an electrophoretic display of this type, the cathode is biased positively with respect to the anode, i.e. to create an electric field of opposite polarity. In the aforementioned type of electrophoretic display device, the anode is a unitary planar structure to which one voltage is applied in the write mode and a different voltage is applied in the erase mode. All lines of the displayed image are erased simultaneously upon application of the erase voltage anode, and all lines of the display must be rewritten to form the next image frame. The next frame may often have character lines for image portions which are the same as the previous frame, which results in the redundancy of rewriting numerous identical lines from frame to frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,946, issued on Nov. 19, 1991, to Frank J. DiSanto and Denis A. Krusos, entitled "Electrophoretic Display Panel With Selective Line Erasure", which is also owned by the assignee of the present application, discloses an electrophoretic display panel which provides for selective line erasure. The electrophoretic display apparatus of this patent has grid and cathode conductors arranged as an X-Y matrix spaced from an anode with an electrophoretic dispersion in between them. Pigment particles in the dispersion become charged at selected intersection areas of the X-Y matrix and migrate towards the anode to form a display image thereon by biasing the cathode negatively with respect to the, anode, and the display image is erased by oppositely biasing the cathode and anode. The anode is formed by a plurality of parallel line segments corresponding to image lines of the display. Each anode line segment is a longitudinal rectangular conductor having a height which corresponds to the height of a text character line. Line control means are also provided and have a plurality of switch elements for individually switching the potential applied to an anode line segment to be erased from a first potential for writing to a second, different potential for erasing the line segment, while all the other line segments that are not to be erased are maintained at the first potential.
Although single line erasure is preferable to erasure of all the lines in the display, it is not an optimally efficient manner when it is desired to change only select image characters in the display.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an electrophoretic display which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art devices. In particular, the object of the invention is to provide an electrophoretic display in which individual characters of the display can be selectively erased and rewritten without disturbing the other image characters which remain the same from one frame to the next.

Electrophoretic display panel with selective character addressability


A portable computer enclosure with a bumper rail on the sidewalls, the rail being of such width in relation to the height of the sidewalls and being of such height above the surface of the sidewalls that the rail is effective to provide bump protection to the sidewall. The portable computer enclosure with the bumper rail is built to withstand bumping and accidental latch releases, thereby protecting the computer.

The invention relates to portable computer enclosures and particularly to protective bumper rails for portable computer enclosures.
Portable computers are subject to more movement, knocking, and dropping than other types of computers due to their portability. Some portable computers are designed to be transported in carrying cases to protect them during movement. However, the computer is still subject to knocking and dropping when it is removed from the case and even when it is in use.
A more particular problem arises for portable computers that have latches extending from their enclosures for opening and closing the computer. Accidental contact between the latches and a surface can accidentally release the latches, causing the computer enclosure to open and thus subjecting the computer to damage.
There is therefore a need for a portable computer enclosure that is built to withstand such treatment without adding significantly to the cost of the computer. In particular, there is a need to protect the latching mechanism of the computer against accidental release.

Molded bumper rail for a portable computer


A linkage arrangement (10) is provided for moveably connecting an attachment (6) to a work machine (8). The linkage arrangement (10) includes linkage group (12) having an upper arm (14) with a machine pivot point (20) for connecting to the work machine (8) and an attachment pivot point (22) for connecting to the attachment (6). The linkage group (12) further has a lower arm (16) with a machine pivot point (24) for connecting to the work machine (8) and an attachment pivot point (26) for connecting to the attachment (6). An actuator (30) extends between the upper and lower arms (14, 16), whereby during normal operation an increase in the length of the actuator (30) results in the attachment (6) being lowered relative to the work machine (8).

Linkage arrangements are used to moveably connect attachments to machines such as excavators and the like. One such linkage arrangement is for example know from U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,827. Further linkage arrangements are known from FR 1 308 449 A, GB 2 172 037 A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,698. Such linkage arrangements may have some drawbacks in for example the kinematics it exhibits or the manner of attachment to the machine. The current disclosure is aimed at providing an alternative linkage arrangement.


A well test burner system includes a plurality of burner nozzles. At least one of the burner nozzles includes a well product inlet, an air inlet, an air/well product mixture outlet, and an automatic valve. The automatic valve is responsive to a remote signal to cease flow of well product to the air/well product outlet.

Prior to connecting a well to a production pipeline, a well test is performed where the well is produced and the production evaluated. The product collected from the well (e.g., crude oil and gas) must be disposed of. In certain instances, the product is separated and a portion of the product (e.g., substantially crude) is disposed of by burning using a surface well test burner system. For example, on an offshore drilling platform, the well test burner system is often mounted at the end of a boom that extends outward from the side of the platform. As the well is tested, the crude is piped out the boom to the well test burner system and burned. Well test burner systems are also sometimes used on land-based wells.
From an environmental standpoint, it is desirable to have efficient, complete combustion of the product with minimal smoke or oil fallout. The efficiency of the combustion is tied to the air-to-product ratio produced by burner nozzles of the well test burner system. Some well test burner systems have multiple burner nozzles, each sized to produce the proper air-to-product ratio at a specified product flow rate. Therefore, as the volume of product changes, the number of burner nozzles used in burning the product is adjusted by manually opening and closing air and well product supply valves to the burner system to turn burner nozzles or sets of burner nozzles on or off. To operate the system effectively, the production flow rate must be monitored and the number of burner nozzles used adjusted accordingly.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.


The present invention involves a system and method of reducing allocated vehicle warranty costs from a stored historical repair database of repairs wherein the database contains information related to repair areas, repair costs, and repair descriptions. The method includes inputting the information into the database for subsequent downloading. The method further includes downloading the information into a file of a computer-based program from the database, ranking the information by repair cost, and sorting the ranked information by repair area to define groups of repair areas having repairs ranked by cost. The method further includes identifying within each group of repair areas those repair descriptions having a relatively high cost within each respective group so that work to be performed on the repairs may be prioritized in accordance with the ranking in order to reduce the warranty costs.

The present invention relates to a system and method of reducing allocated vehicle warranty costs from a stored historical repair database containing information related to repair areas, repair costs, and repair descriptions.
Automotive manufacturers maintain allocated or unexpended warranty reserves which hold an amount of allocated reserves for manufactured vehicles during a predetermined time period or mile usage in which the vehicles are warrantied. An unexpended warranty covers repairs involving labor costs and part costs of a warrantied vehicle. One purpose of the unexpended warranty reserve is to provide the customers with adequate service and parts during the predetermined time period or mileage usage without charging the customer. Such unexpended warranty reserves include enormous amounts of money. Such reserves may amount to millions or billions of dollars annually.
The amount of the unexpended vehicle warranty for vehicle models is annually determined by considering historical costs of warrantied services and parts of previous respective vehicle models. The amount of the unexpended vehicle warranty for a given year is directly affected by the historical costs of previous vehicle models. Thus, reducing the costs of warrantied services and parts reduces the amount of a subsequent unexpended vehicle warranty to be allocated.
As historical repair information significantly affects the allocations made toward subsequent unexpended warranties, improvements made on such repairs would also significantly affect the allocations thereof.
Thus, what is needed is an improved method of reducing vehicle warranty costs from historical repair information in order to reduce an unexpended warranty reserve.
What is also needed is an improved method of reducing money allocated for warranty reserves.
A specific object of the invention is to provide for an improved method of reducing allocated vehicle warranty costs from a stored historical repair database containing information related to repair areas, repair descriptions, and repair costs. The method includes downloading the information into a computer-based program from the database and ranking the information by repair cost. The method further includes sorting the information by repair area to define repair area groups having repairs ranked by cost. The method further includes identifying within each group of repair areas those repair descriptions having a relatively high cost within each respective group so that work to be performed on the repairs may be prioritized in accordance with the ranking in order to reduce the warranty costs.
Another specific object of the invention is to provide for an improved method of reducing allocated vehicle warranty costs from a stored historical repair database containing information related to repair areas, repair descriptions, and repair costs. The method includes downloading the information into a computer-based program from the database and sorting the information by repair area to define groups of repair areas. The method further includes ranking by repair costs those repair descriptions within each repair area group and identifying within each group of repair areas those repair descriptions having relatively high costs within each respective group so that work to be performed on the repairs may be prioritized in accordance with the ranking in order to reduce the warranty cost.
Yet another specific object of the invention is to provide an improved system for reducing allocated vehicle warranty costs from a stored historical repair database containing information related to repair areas, repair descriptions, and repair costs. The system comprises a mechanism for downloading the information into a computer-based program from the database, a mechanism for ranking the information by repair cost, and a mechanism for sorting the ranked information by repair area to define groups of repair areas having repairs ranked by cost. The system further includes a mechanism for identifying within each group of repair area those repair descriptions having relatively high costs within each respective group so that work to be performed on the repairs may be prioritized in accordance with the ranking to reduce the warranty costs.
Determining the repairs that result in relatively high costs and reducing such costs results in a significant reduction of money allocated in unexpended warranties. Aimed toward a multiplicity of repairs having relatively high costs, the unexpended warranty reserve is significantly reduced, resulting in increased efficiency.

System and method of reducing unexpended warranty costs


The inventive method of preparing an insulation article comprises providing a sealed first container comprising aerogel particles under a first air pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure. The unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the first air pressure is less than the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles under a second air pressure that is greater than the first air pressure. The sealed first container then is placed within a second container, and the sealed first container is breached to equalize the air pressure between the first and second containers at the second air pressure and to increase the volume of the aerogel particles, thereby forming the insulation article.

This invention pertains to a method of preparing an insulation article.
Insulation articles are used in a variety of applications to provide an insulation layer. For example, insulation articles, typically in the form of panels, are used in refrigerators to provide the necessary insulation between the cold interior and the warmer exterior. Insulation articles are formed in many ways, though, typically, insulation articles are formed by filling panels and other cavities with insulating materials, such as insulating fibers and powders. Such a preparation process, however, is often cumbersome and does not result in an insulation article with the most optimum thermal conductivity characteristics.
In particular, the filling of containers with insulation materials typically requires the manual handling of the insulating materials. The drawbacks of handling such insulating materials include potential health hazards and user inconvenience.
The invention provides a method of preparing an insulation article that minimizes the handling of the insulation material and maximizes the thermal conductivity characteristics of the resulting insulation article. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.
The inventive method of preparing an insulation article comprises providing a sealed first container comprising aerogel particles under a first air pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure. The unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the first air pressure is less than the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles under a second air pressure that is greater than the first air pressure. The sealed first container then is placed within a second container, and the sealed first container is breached to equalize the air pressure between the first and second containers at the second air pressure and to increase the volume of the aerogel particles, thereby forming the insulation article.
The invention provides a method of preparing an insulation article. The method of preparing the insulation article comprises providing a sealed first container and a second container. The sealed first container comprises aerogel particles under a first air pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure. The unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the first air pressure is less than the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles under a second air pressure that is greater than the first air pressure. The sealed first container then is placed within the second container that is at an air pressure greater than the air pressure present in the sealed first container. Upon breaching the sealed first container, the air pressure between the first and second containers is equalized at the second air pressure. The volume of the aerogel particles accordingly increases to fill the second container, thereby forming the insulation article.
The first and second containers can be any suitable containers. In particular, the first container must be capable of containing aerogel particles under an air pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure. In addition, the first container must be capable of being breached so as to allow the volume of the aerogel particles to expand upon being exposed to the higher, equalized air pressure between the first and second containers. The second container is larger than the first container so that the first container can be placed within the second container. While the second container need not be sealable, the second container desirably is sealable to retain the aerogel particles within the second container upon the breach of the sealed first container and the expansion of the volume of the aerogel particles upon being exposed to the higher, equalized air pressure between the first and second containers. The first and second containers can be formed of any suitable material(s) and can be rigid or flexible. It is particularly desirable that the first container consist essentially of, preferably consist of, a film, e.g., a polyester or shrink-wrap film, that is of a relatively thin gauge so as to be easy to breach by puncture or by exposure to heat. It is similarly desirable that the second container comprise, preferably consist of, a film that is of a relatively thicker gauge or of a material that does not breach upon exposure to the same level of heat as would cause the breach of the first container and desirably is sealed by that same heat.
The aerogel can be any suitable aerogel. A xe2x80x9cgelxe2x80x9d refers to a coherent, rigid, continuous three-dimensional network of colloidal particles. Gels are produced by the aggregation of colloidal particles (typically under acidic conditions when neutralizing salts are absent) to form a three dimensional gel microstructure. When a gel is dried (i.e., when liquid is removed from the pores) by means in which the coherent gel microstructure is preserved, such as by supercritical drying, a low-density gel or an xe2x80x9caerogelxe2x80x9d is formed. A suitable process for the production of an aerogel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,520. The aerogel preferably is a metal oxide aerogel, particularly a silica aerogel.
Aerogel particles have highly desirable properties such as, for example, optical transparency, extremely low density, and very low thermal conductivity. Accordingly, aerogel particles are advantageously used as an insulating material. The aerogel particles can have any suitable diameter. Preferably, the diameter of substantially all of the aerogel particles is about 0.5 mm or more (e.g., about 1 mm or more). More preferably, the diameter of substantially all of the aerogel particles is about 5 mm or less (e.g., about 0.5 or 1 mm to about 5 mm). The aerogel particles can have any suitable density, preferably about 0.05 g/cm3 to about 0.15 g/cm3. The aerogel particles also can have any suitable surface area, preferably at least about 200 m2/g. The surface area described herein is calculated based on the amount of nitrogen adsorbed at five different relative pressures over the range 0.05 to 0.25 atm according to the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) model, referenced in Gregg, S. J., and Sing, K. S. W., xe2x80x9cAdsorption, Surface Area and Porosity,xe2x80x9d p. 285, Academic Press, New York (1991).
The aerogel particles in the sealed first container are under a first air pressure that is less than atmospheric pressure, which generally can be regarded as about 100 kPa (but which varies depending on the altitude at which the sealed first container comprising the aerogel particles is prepared). The air pressure in the first container, i.e., the first air pressure, can be obtained in any suitable manner, e.g., by establishing at least a partial vacuum within the first container, which vacuum can be created using conventional equipment. The air pressure within the first container desirably is about 50 kPa or less (e.g.; about 10-50 kPa), preferably about 20 kPa or less (e.g., about 1-20 kPa), and more preferably about 10 kPa or less (e.g., about 1 kPa or less or even about 0.1 kPa or less).
The air pressure in the second container, i.e., the second air pressure, can be obtained in any suitable manner. Desirably, the air pressure in the second container will be atmospheric pressure (e.g., about 100 kPa), although the air pressure in the second container can be different from atmospheric pressure, i.e., lower or higher than atmospheric pressure.
The unrestricted volume of the aerogel particles within the sealed first container at the first air pressure is less than the unrestricted volume of the aerogel particles under a second air pressure that is greater than the first air pressure. The term xe2x80x9cunrestrainedxe2x80x9d is meant to exclude the effect of any restraint by the container, so that the volume of the aerogel particles is considered based on the effect of the air pressure alone. The aerogel particles in the first container typically will have an unrestrained volume that is less than the unrestrained volume at substantially atmospheric pressure, which usually will be the second air pressure to which the aerogel particles are subjected in the final product of the insulation article.
The unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the second air pressure can be less than, greater than, or substantially the same as the volume of the second container. In other words, aerogel particles can underfill, overfill, or merely fill the second container. Desirably, the aerogel particles merely fill or overfill the second container, such that the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the second air pressure is substantially the same as or, more preferably, greater than the volume of the second container. The overfilling of the second container with the aerogel particles is preferred because of the improvement in the insulating characteristics of the resulting insulation article. Thus, the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the second air pressure preferably is about 10% or more (e.g., about 10-30%) greater than the volume of the first container. Such an overfilling of the second container can be accomplished by ensuring that the unrestrained volume of the aerogel particles at the second air pressure is larger than the volume of the second container and then ensuring that the actual volume of the aerogel particles at the first air pressure can be made small enough by a reduction in air pressure in the first container and optionally restraint on the volume of the aerogel particles (e.g., by the first container itself) so that the sealed first container comprising the aerogel particles can fit within the second container. The breaching of the sealed first container and the exposure of the aerogel particles therein to the second air pressure will cause the aerogel particles to expand and fill (desirably, overfill) the second container to its volume capacity.
The second container need not be sealed, but desirably is sealed to form the insulation article. In that respect, the second container can be sealed before, after, or while breaching the sealed first container. Since it is desirable to overfill the second container with the aerogel particles, the second container desirably is sealed before or while breaching the sealed first container.
The breaching of the sealed first container can be accomplished in any suitable manner. Suitable techniques for breaching the sealed first container include puncturing the sealed first container with a physical device and heating the sealed first container. The heating of the sealed first container to cause a breach is preferred, because such heating can take place while the sealed first container is present in a sealed second container (i.e., a second container that is sealed before the breaching of the sealed first container). Heat can be applied to the sealed first container to cause a breach of that container by any suitable technique, e.g., sonic or microwave energy. Indeed, the manner in which the second container is sealed can be the same manner in which the sealed first container is breached. Thus, for example, if the second container is amenable to heat sealing, then the heat used to seal the second container can be used to breach the sealed first container, desirably in the same procedural step.
The first and second containers can comprise other things in addition to the aerogel particles. For example, the first and/or second containers can contain thermally reflective layers to improve the insulating characteristics of the resulting insulation article in certain applications. Similarly, the first and/or second containers can contain opaque materials, such as carbon black, to improve the insulating characteristics of the resulting insulation article in certain applications. The invention insulation article can have any suitable properties, e.g., thermal conductivity, light transmission, and handling characteristics. For example, the insulation article desirable has a thermal conductivity at 2.5xc2x0 C. and/or 12.5xc2x0 C. of about 20 mw/mk or less (e.g., about 19 mw/mk or less, or even about 18 mw/mk or less). Also, the insulation article desirable has a light transmission/cm thickness of the insulation article of about 50% or more (e.g., about 70% or more, or even about 80% or more). Other desirable characteristics of insulation articles are known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and the invention insulation article can be tailored to possess such desirable characteristics to fit particular end-uses for the insulation on article.
The following examples further illustrate the invention but, of course, should not be construed as in any way limiting its scope.

Method of preparing aerogel-containing insulation article


Various constructs that absorb exudates and enhance browning and crisping of a food item during heating in a microwave oven are provided.

Microwave ovens commonly are used to cook food in a rapid and effective manner. Many materials and packages have been designed for use in a microwave oven. During the heating process, many food items release water, juices, oils, fats, grease, and blood (collectively referred to herein as "exudate"). Typically, the exudate pools beneath the food item. While some pooling may enhance browning and crisping of the food item, excessive pooling of exudate may impede browning and crisping. Thus, there is a need for a structure that absorbs the food item exudates during storage and cooking. There is further a need for a structure that absorbs exudates and enhances browning and crisping of the food item in a microwave oven.

Absorbent microwave interactive packaging


A startup protocol is provided for use in a communications system having a communications line with a master transceiver at a first end and a slave transceiver at a second end, each transceiver having a noise reduction system, a timing recovery system and at least one equalizer all converging at startup of the system. The operation of the startup protocol is partitioned into stages. The first stage includes the step of converging the equalizer and the timing recovery system of the slave while converging the noise reduction system of the master. Upon completion of the first stage the protocol enters a second stage which includes the step of converging the equalizer and the timing recovery system of the master, converging the noise reduction system of the slave, freezing the timing recovery system of the slave, and resetting the noise reduction system of the master. Upon completion of the second stage, the protocol enters a third stage which includes the step of reconverging the noise reduction system of the master. The protocol then enters a fourth stage in which the master transceiver and the slave transceiver are ready to communicate with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods of enabling the transmission and reception of signals through unshielded twisted pairs of wires within a communications system. The invention particularly relates to a startup protocol for initiating normal transmission between transceivers within a high throughput communications system. A "high throughput" as used within the context of this disclosure may include, but is not limited to, one gigabit (GB) per second.
2. Description of Related Art
A basic communications system is illustrated in FIG. 1. The system includes a hub and a plurality of computers serviced by the hub in a local area network (LAN). Four computers are shown by way of illustration but a different number of computers may be contained within the system. Each of the computers is usually displaced from the hub by a distance which may be as great as approximately one hundred meters (100 m.). The computers are also displaced from each other. The hub is connected to each of the computers by a communications line. Each communication line includes unshielded twisted pairs of wires or cables. Generally, the wires or cables are formed from copper. Four unshielded twisted pairs of wires are provided in each communication line between each computer and the hub. The system shown in FIG. 1 is operative with several categories of unshielded twisted pairs of cables designated as categories 3, 4 and 5 in the telecommunications industry. Category 3 cables are the poorest quality (and lowest cost) and category 5 cables are the best quality (and highest cost).
Associated with each communications system is a "throughput". The throughput of a system is the rate at which the system processes data and is usually expressed in bits/second. Most communications systems have throughputs of 10 megabits (Mb) Aecond or 100 Mb/second. A rapidly evolving area of communications system technology enables 1 Gb/second full-duplex communication over existing category-5 unshielded twisted pair cables. Such a system is commonly referred to as "Gigabit Ethernet."
A portion of a typical Gigabit Ethernet is shown in FIG. 2. The Gigabit Ethernet provides for transmission of digital signals between one of the computers and the hub and the reception of such signals at the other of the computer and the hub. A similar system can be provided for each of the computers The system includes a gigabit medium independent interface (GMII) block which receives data in byte-wide format at a specified rate, for example 125 MHz, and passes the data onto the physical coding sublayer (PCS) which performs scrambling, coding, and a variety of control functions. The PCS encodes bits from the GMII into 5-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) signals. The five signal levels are -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2. Communication between the computer and hub is achieved using four unshielded twisted pairs of wires or cables, each operating at 250 Mb/second, and eight transceivers, one positioned at each end of a unshielded twisted pair. The necessity of full-duplex bidirectional operation dictates the use of hybrid circuits at the two ends of each unshielded twisted pair. The hybrid controls access to the communication line, thereby allowing for full-duplex bidirectional operation between the transceivers at each end of the communications line.
A common problem associated with communications systems employing multiple unshielded twisted pairs and multiple transceivers is the introduction of crosstalk and echo noise or impairment signals into the transmission signals. Noise is inherent in all such communications systems regardless of the system throughput. However, the effects of these impairment signals are magnified in Gigabit Ethernet. Impairment signals include echo, near-end crosstalk (NEXT), and far-end crosstalk (FEXT) signals. As a result of these impairment signals the performance of the transceivers, particularly the receiver portion, is degraded.
NEXT is an impairment signal that results from capacitive coupling of the signals from the near-end transmitters to the input of the receivers. The NEXT impairment signals encountered by the receiver in transceiver A are shown in FIG. 3. The crosstalk signals from transmitters B, C, and D appears as noise to receiver A, which is attempting to detect the direct signal from transmitter E. Each of the receivers in the system encounter the same effect and accordingly the signals passing through the receivers experience signal distortion due to NEXT impairment signals. For clarity of FIG. 3, only the NEXT impairment experienced by receiver A is illustrated.
Similarly, because of the bidirectional nature of the communications systems, an echo impairment signal is produced by each transmitter on the receiver contained within the same transceiver as the transmitter. The echo impairment signal encountered by the receiver in each transceiver is shown in FIG. 4. The crosstalk signals from transmitters appear as noise to the receivers, which are attempting to detect the signal from the transmitter at the opposite end of the communications line. Each of the receivers in the system encounter the same effect and accordingly the signals passing through the receivers experience signal distortion due to the echo impairment signal.
Far-end crosstalk (FEXT) is an impairment that results from capacitive coupling of the signal from the far-end transmitters to the input of the receivers. The FEXT impairment signals encountered by the receiver in transceiver A are shown in FIG. 5. The crosstalk signals from transmitters F, G, and H appears as noise to receiver A, which is attempting to detect the direct signal from transmitter E. Each of the receivers in the system encounter the same effect and accordingly the signals passing through the receivers experience signal distortion due to the FEXT impairment signal. For clarity of FIG. 5 only the FEXT impairment experienced by receiver A is illustrated.
Four transceivers at one end of a communications line are illustrated in detail in FIG. 6. The components of the transceivers are shown as overlapping blocks, with each layer corresponding to one of the transceivers. The GMII, PCS, and hybrid of FIG. 6 correspond to the GMII, PCS, and hybrid of FIG. 2 and are considered to be separate from the transceiver. The combination of the transceiver and hybrid forms one "channel" of the communications system. Accordingly, FIG. 6 illustrates four channels, each of which operate in a similar manner. The transmitter portion of each transceiver includes a pulse-shaping filter and a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter. The receiver portion of each transceiver includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, a first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer, a digital adaptive equalizer system including a feed-forward equalizer (FFE) and a detector. The receiver portion also includes a timing recovery system and a near-end noise reduction system including a NEXT cancellation system and an echo canceller.
One of the most critical phases of the operation of a Gigabit Ethernet transceiver is the startup. During this phase adaptive filters contained within the transceiver converge, the timing recovery subsystem acquires frequency and phase synchronization, the differences in delay among the four wire pairs are compensated, and pair identity and polarity is acquired. Successful completion of the startup allows normal operation of the transceiver to begin.
In one startup protocol, known as "blind start", the transceivers converge their adaptive filters and timing recovery systems simultaneously while also acquiring timing synchronization. A disadvantage of such a startup is that there is a high level of interaction among the various adaptation and acquisition algorithms within the transceiver. This high level of interaction reduces the reliability of the convergence and synchronization operations which occur during startup.
Thus there exists a need in the art to provide a startup protocol for use in a high throughput communications system, such as a Gigabit Ethernet, that uses the optimal sequence of operations and minimizes the interaction among the various adaptation and acquisition algorithms. The present invention fulfills these needs.

Startup protocol for high throughput communications systems


In the process of embossing film by continuously passing the film through a nip formed by cooperating pattern and backup rolls, the improvement of passing the embossed pattern while in registration with the pattern roll through a second nip to improve the pattern detail. The apparatus includes a second backup roll in pressurized contact with the pattern roll forming the second nip. The surface configuration of the rolls may be such as to locally perforate the film within the pattern.

This invention relates to embossing and more particularly to process and apparatus for continuously embossing and preferably perforating film.
Systems are known in the art for continuously embossing, and for perforating in combination with embossing, thermoplastic film in forming various products such as disposable diapers, surgical dressings, bandages, sanitary napkins, towels, incontinent pads, hospital underpads, breathable garments, ground cover for moisture preservation and the like. However, to the best of our knowledge no presently known system is capable of embossing difficult patterns at high speeds and wide widths with a high degree of uniformity in terms of embossing detail. This is particularly so with respect to completeness of perforation in patterns where the film is systematically pierced at preselected localized points at the extremities of the embossed pattern to form a multiplicity of through-holes, as in providing the absorptive device top-sheet design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,135.

Process of embossing and perforating thermoplastic film


A communications node for handling circuit and packet switching and capable of expansion to include multiple switching matrices, multiple network processors and multiple packet processors is disclosed. Each switch matrix has multipile I/O ports and communications with user interfaces, network interfaces and other system components via bidirectional data links. At least one switch matrix is connected via a bidirectional data link to a packet processor and a network processor. All processors are interconnected via a computer bus. Switch matrices are connected to each other either by a backplane bus or via bidirectional data links.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to communication processing systems and more particularly to an expandable communications node providing processing of integrated voice, data and fax.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art communications switching systems typically consist of a plurality of communications processing nodes connected via telephone lines, local area networks or wideband span bands. The number of nodes and processing capacity of each node is usually based on the present and, to some degree, the anticipated near term growth in the number of mainframes, users, terminals, voice trunks and other devices supplying data to the nodes. Each node typically contains at least (a) one or more user interfaces for handling user input, output and reformatting, (b) one or more network interfaces to handle the input, output and reformatting of data from the network (c) a switch matrix to interconnect the appropriate user interface with the appropriate network interface, and (d) a processor for controlling the switch matrix connections and, in some systems, for handling packet processing and other overhead functions.
Prior art nodes commonly are not designed for and have little, if any, provision for incremental, modular increases in processing capacity to meet increasing user needs. Adding additional system functionality or enlarging the capacity of the system when a node can no longer meet user demands typically requires significant reconfiguration of the existing system or complete replacement of the existing nodes with nodes of larger capacity. Either of these approaches usually results in significant undesirable disruption in system services. Furthermore, the purchase and installation of nodes that have sufficient flexibility and reserve processing power to handle substantial future growth in demands on the system is generally not a practical solution, even if such nodes are available, because of the extra expense involved in purchasing excess capacity and the uncertainty of trying to accurately forecast demand in the future.
The present invention relates to a novel circuit for resolving the above and other prior art problems.

High speed communication processing system


Methods are provided for producing large volumes of small antenna arrays. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of creating an antenna array pattern as a computer file, printing the created pattern onto the surface of a suitable transfer paper, placing the printed image surface in contact with the surface of a material to be etched, and transferring the printed image to the surface of the material to be etched. The transfer can be effected by any combination of chemicals, heat, and/or pressure. After transfer of the printed image, the transfer paper is removed. The step of removing the transfer paper optionally includes wetting the transfer paper in a manner that dissolves the transfer paper leaving the printed antenna pattern on the surface of the material to be etched. The method further includes the step of etching the non-printed portions of the material, preferably by chemical etching, and removing the printed pattern from the surface of the material to yield an antenna array comprising a non-etched portion of the substrate surface. Arrays, and substrates having an etch-resistant mask for making the arrays, are also provided.

It is known that antenna arrays have a wide range of applications. They are commonly used in items as diverse as cell phones, aircraft radio and radar systems. Antenna arrays are used to provide directional transmission of an electromagnetic signal as well as to enhance electronic signal recognition. It is known to incorporate antenna arrays into aircraft components, such as microwave antenna arrays. Such arrays can be incorporated into the external surfaces of aircraft assemblies, such as, for example, the fuselage, wings, tail, and other low temperature assemblies.
Known methods to produce antenna arrays utilize photoetching technology. Exemplary prior art methods of photoetching are briefly described U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,767, for example. In such known methods, an image of the desired design is focused on a metallic surface (or other material desired for the antenna) that is covered with photoresist. The photoresist is then developed, leaving the desired pattern of resist to protect areas of the surface intended to become the antenna array. The surface is etched using a suitable etchant in order to remove the unprotected surfaces. Finally, the photoresist material that protected the antenna array design during the etching process is removed.
However, known methods such as the above-described photoresist methodology are not suitable for high-volume production of small antenna arrays, due to the complexity and labor-intensive steps involved. Therefore, there exists an unmet need for simple and inexpensive methods of fabricating large volumes of small antenna arrays.

Low cost antenna array fabrication technology


Systems, methods and compositions of matter according to the present invention, can be used in capture/enrichment, gene expression profiling and targeted sequencing. Provided are systems, methods and compositions concerning the enhancement of nucleic acid hybridization specificity and controlling the shapes of melting curves revealed by nucleic acid hybrid pairs to optimize nucleic acid analysis. These systems, methods and compositions comprise producing a positively charged surface or surface coating, on the surface of microarray slides or other types of surfaces similarly purposed, which enhances melting curve analysis to the point of allowing detection or differentiation of small changes in sequences between nucleic acid binding partners. The accuracy or resolution of melting curve analysis was to be sufficient to distinguish between the melting of perfect matched dsDNA and dsDNA with the smallest possible change in sequence, a one base pair mismatch.

Nucleic acid hybridization methods are currently used to detect the presence of nucleic acid regions known or suspected to be associated with the natural functioning of a living organism or nucleic acid residues obtained from various sources. Nucleic acid hybridization can also be used to detect sections of nucleic acid regions known or believed to be associated with an organism's disease state, metabolic state or life stage that the organism is experiencing during its life cycle. The accuracy of hybridization typically can be revealed during melting curve analysis of hybridized nucleic acid regions. Still further, there is a need for systems, methods, and compositions of matter to improve the specificity of binding between nucleic acid regions of nucleic acid sources.
Microarray technology has been the dominant genomics methodology but suffered from problems with repeatability and inaccuracy. In the quest for superior methods for genomics analysis, an abundance of next generation sequencing (NGS) methods were developed since the late 2000s. This allowed sequencing the human genome to drop in price from about $3 billion (2004) to approximately $20 k per genome as of early 2010. Genomics is certainly one of the fastest developing areas of the life sciences but large gaps continue to exist in the price performance of NGS in relation to other genomics techniques. While there have been dramatic pricing drops for the actual sequencing process, the price of NGS when used for gene expression profiling and SNP analysis is not competitive with microarrays that range in the hundreds of dollars per assay.
Furthermore, NGS techniques were developed for whole genome sequencing and sequence all DNA present in the sample. Analysis of specific parts of the genome or a subset of genes requires capture-enrichment assays. These consist of standard microarray chips which hybridize specific sequences but allow other unwanted sequences to be washed away. While, enrichment can be over 100 fold using this methodology, only between 30% to 60% of the captured DNA can come from the desired sections of the genome. As a result, capture enrichment assays typically are not very efficient and the depth or redundancy of sequence coverage varies with each experiment.
The melting curve microarray originated as a method for improving the accuracy of microarray gene expression profiling. The use of its technology is envisioned to simplify and lower cost for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. Melting curve analysis of double stranded DNA (dsDNA) has been practiced since the early 1960s in single tube reactions also referred to as liquid phase reactions. These experiments were done in tubes or liquid phase with the DNA free in solution. Since the discovery of melting analysis, the bulk of research has been spent studying liquid phase reactions. A common limitation to liquid phase melting curves is the inability to achieve one base pair resolution of detection. However, the application of melting curve analysis to the microarray or solid phase reaction is a relatively new and not completely understood process.
At the present time, there exists a need for a method and apparatus that can utilize measurement of the melting of target DNA away from probes bound to a glass microarray and that should distinguish between perfect match and mismatches on an individual probe spot and approximate the relative amounts of each species at a very low cost. Still further, it would be advantageous to have systems, methods and compositions for enhancing the specificity of nucleic acid hybridization. Further, it would be advantageous to have a method that can simultaneously analyze DNA sequence data while functioning as capture-enrichment tool, has sensitivity, is not time-consuming and is efficient, safe, and effective. Moreover, these methods, systems and compositions can be useful for improving the specificity of nucleic acid hybridization and their applications in health care, environmental research, pharmaceutical industry and food industry and are applicable for many other diagnostic, biotechnical and scientific purposes.

Systems, methods, and compositions for enhancing the specificity of nucleic acid hybridization


A hot wire TIG welding apparatus has a current detector for detecting the peak period and base period of the arc current. The welding apparatus further has a controller which controls, in response to the detection signal from the current detector, the operation of the wire heating power supply such that the wire heating power is supplied only during the base period of the arc current. According to this arrangement, a hot wire switching TIG welding apparatus can be produced using commercially available power supply systems for TIG arc welders, without requiring substantial change or modification of the control circuits in the TIG arc welders.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hot-wire TIG arc welding apparatus and, more particularly, to an inexpensive and widely usable hot-wire TIG arc welding apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, in a hot-wire TIG arc welding method, a tungsten electrode and a base metal disposed in an inert shield gas such as argon gas are connected to an arc generating electric power source having a D.C. drooping characteristic such that the tungsten electrode and the base metal constitute a negative electrode and a positive electrode, respectively, so that an arc is formed in the argon shield gas to melt the base metal. In ordinary TIG arc welding, a wire of the welding material is simply fed to the melt of the base metal continuously. On the other hand, in a specific form of TIG arc welding generally known as "hot-wire TIG arc welding", a D.C. or an A.C. power is supplied to the wire which is being fed to the arc generating area from the wire feeding device such that Joule heat is generated in the wire thereby increasing the rate of melting of the wire.
In the TIG arc welding there has been caused a problem of magnetic blow phenomenon of arc which phenomenon is caused due to wire current. That is, when supplying wire heating current, the arc largely swings back and forth due to the electromagnetic interaction between the arc and wire heating current, with the result that a molten pool of a weld metal becomes unstable so that suitable welding can not be effected. Even in the case where A.C. is used as wire heating current, the arc can not be set to the center of the molten pool, so that suitable welding can not be effected. In order to effect suitable welding without substantial influence of the magnetic blow phenomenon, it is necessary to reduce the value of wire heating current to become one-half or less of arc current value, so that the rate of wire-melting is limited to the degree of 20 g/min. On the other hand, in order to minimize the magnetic blow phenomenon while increasing the rate of wire-melting, there is a hot-wire switching TIG welding as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,974 Specification dated Dec. 14, 1971. The inventors of the present invention have already invented a modified method of the hot-wire switching TIG welding in which the arc current is made to become pulsed current having both a peak value period and a base value period, power supply to the wire being not effected at the time of the peak current period, the power supply to the wire being effected only at the time of the base current period. According to the modified method, it becomes possible to obtain a wire melting rate of not less than 100 g/min without substantial influence of the magnetic blow phenomenon.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the power supply system for the hot wire switching TIG arc welding system which needs no exclusive power source. Namely, in the power supply system shown in FIG. 1, a switching unit employing a gate turn off (GTO) thyristor is combined with a commercially available TIG arc welding power supply system such that the hot wire switching welding may be effected. More specifically, a welding power source 3 having a D.C. drooping characteristic is connected between a torch 4 and a base metal 2 such as to form an arc 5 therebetween, and a first GTO thyristor 16 is connected to the wire 6 in parallel to the arc, so that the wire is heated periodically by consecutive turning on and off of the first GTO thyristor 16. Namely, when the first GTO thyristor 16 is turned on, the electric current supplied from the power source 3 as the arc current is short-circuited through the wire 6 thereby heating the wire 6. The welding cannot be restarted once the arc 5 is extinguished. Thus, in order to prevent extinction of the arc 5 during the heating of the wire 6, a base power source 18 is connected between the torch 4 and the base metal 5. The control for the optimum heating of the wire 6 is conducted by suitably short-circuiting the heating current through a second GTO thyristor 17 which is turned on and off in a controlled manner. The power supply system shown in FIG. 1 employs various other constituents such as a tungsten electrode 1, contact tip 7, wire feeding reel 11, gate control circuit 19, and a switching unit 20.
The power supply system shown in FIG. 1, however, is rather expensive due to the use of expensive current switching device of large capacity such as the GTO thyristors, although it can make use of a commercially available power source as the arc power source.
Under this circumstance, a hot wire switching TIG arc welding method has been proposed in which the wire heating power supply system is constituted by inexpensive semiconductor switches, e.g., triac, composed of usual thyristors, designed to effect the control of the phase of electric power supplied to the wire. FIG. 2 shows the principle of this type of wire heating power supply system. Namely, this power supply system incorporates an external controller 22 which produces a signal in the form of pulses which controls the TIG arc power source 21 and the wire heating power source 23 in such a manner that the wire is not supplied with the power during a period in which the current of the arc 5 takes the peak level (referred to as "peak period", hereinunder) but is supplied with the power during another period in which the current of the arc 5 takes the base level (referred to as "base period", hereinunder).
This type of power supply system, however, suffers from the following disadvantage. Namely, since this power supply system makes use of various types of commercially available TIG arc power supplies as the arc power supply 21, it is necessary to effect a suitable modification of the control circuit in the TIG arc welder used. The manner of modification of the control circuits varies one-by-one depending on the type of the welder and a study from a technical point of view is necessary for the determination of the manner of modification of the control circuit for the individual TIG arc welder.


A roof insulation support for a building roof of the type having a parallel array of longitudinally extending roof supporting purlins, each of the purlins including a longitudinally extending upturned lip. The roof support comprises a plurality of elongated longitudinally extending hangers, each hanger including a generally vertical web and a hook disposed on the top of the vertical web for supporting the hanger from the upturned lip of the purlins. First and second lower hanger flanges depends from both sides of the bottom of the vertical web and first and second upper hanger flanges are spaced upwardly on the vertical web from the first lower flange. A plurality of transversely extending beams of roughly I-shape cross section extend between the hangers. The ends of the beams are received between the upper and lower hanger flanges of adjacent hangers. The beams include lower and upper beam flanges defining a vertical height equal to the spacing between the lower and upper hanger flanges of the hangers to torsionally stabilize the transversely extending beams. A plurality of planar roof insulation supporting panels are supported by the lower flanges of both the longitudinally extending hangers and the transversely extending beams.

The invention relates generally to insulated roof structures and more particularly to a roof insulation support for a metal building.
In the construction of metal buildings, generally a plurality of transversely extending main roof support beams are provided for defining a peaked, sloped or flat roof. These transversely extending main roof support beams support a plurality of longitudinally extending purlins, the purlins being arranged in a generally parallel array. The purlins are of a channel or Z-shaped cross section and are usually provided with a longitudinally extending upturned lip disposed on the bottom of the purlin. The lower surface of the purlins is firmly secured to the transversely extending beams. Metal roof panels forming the exterior surface of the roof are then secured to the tops of the purlins.
These types of metal roof building structures have been insulated by a number of prior art arrangements. For example, it is not uncommon for a layer of rolled insulation and/or a layer of rigid closed cell foam insulation to be laid over the tops of the purlins before the metal roof panels are secured thereto. Problems with this roof insulating arrangement stem from the fact that the batts or rivets that are used to secure the metal roof panels to the purlins provide a thermal "short circuit" causing the purlins to be in good thermal conductivity with the exterior surface of the building. In addition to increasing heating and cooling costs, in the winter condensation of moisture on the purlins can become a problem. Other problems with this type of roof insulation include difficulty providing a layer of insulation of sufficient thickness to achieve the high insulation factors desirable with todays high energy costs and difficulty in upgrading the insulation factor of existing insulation of this type.
It has also been known to secure roof liner panels to the bottoms of the purlins with bolts, rivets, or the like and to fill the space between the roof liner panels and the metal roof panels with fiberglass insulation or the like. However, the process of attaching the roof liner panels to the lower flanges of the purlins by means of rivets or screws is a very time consuming one, resulting in high labor costs. Thus, a variety of prior art roof insulating systems evolved, employing longitudinally extending roof liner panel hangers which are provided with resilient clips for gripping the bottoms of the purlins. These hangers are generally provided with an inverted T-shaped cross section defining a bottom flange upon which the roof liner panels rest. The roof liner panels extended between adjacent hangers and, in some cases where the distance between hangers is great, transversely extending beams, also supported by the hanger flanges, are disposed between adjacent roof liner panels. These transversely extending beams are also provided with T-shaped cross sections to define lower flanges for supporting the transversely extending edges of the roof liner panels.
While this latter type of roof insulation support system is easier to install then systems involving the attachment of roof liner panels with screws, rivets or the like, and in fact, this system can be retrofitted on an existing building structure, the resilient clips of prior art hangers often do not fit purlins of varying thickness or accommodate sections of the roof structure where the purlins were overlapped. In cases where the distance between purlins is great and additional support for the roof liner panels is provided by transverse beams, installation is made awkward by the poor torsional stability of the beams. The torsional stability of the transversely extending beams is important since if a transversely extending beam rotates during installation of the panels, a tight pack of the panels will not be achieved. Also, the poor torsional stability of the beams makes reentry into the insulated space for maintenance on pipes and other fixtures in the insulated space difficult since removal of one or more of the panels may loosen the packing of the panels, allowing one or more of the beams to rotate as the panels are manipulated. The poor torsional stability of the transversely extending beams hamper installation of the beams and made reentry into the insulated space somewhat more tedious.


A telemetry system in which a plurality of transmitters are frequency shift keying modulated. A receiver including an overlapping detector retains the transmitted data when there is no overlap in data transmitted and discards the transmitted data when there is an overlap in data transmitted.

This invention relates to a single frequency multi-transmitter telemetry system in which the transmitted data is retained when only one transmitter is transmitting and is discarded when more than one transmitter is transmitting.
Research programs in general aviation require the instrumentation of aircraft for test flight purposes. Space, weight, and power consumption are critical factors to be considered in the design of the system and instrumentation of the aircraft. Installation rapidness is also a design consideration in order to make the system cost-effective; primarily because of manpower and aircraft leasing costs.
It is the primary object of this invention to provide a telemetry system that will improve the test flight data availability, accelerate the installation process, and reduce data cost.
Another object of this invention is to provide a simple single frequency telemetry system that will deliver a substantial amount of data at low cost.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent hereinafter in the specification and drawings.

Single frequency multitransmitter telemetry system

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Embryonic stem cell lines C-6 and C-2, Cr/A-3, DB1, and B6-26 have been derived from the inbred mice strains C3H/HeN, BALB/c, DBA/1J, and C57BL/6N, respectively. The embryonic stem cells are alkaline phosphatase positive and express a C3H specific antigen. The embryonic stem cell lines are useful in genetic research and the production of knockout mice.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel embryonic stem cells derived from mice.
2. Description of the Related Art
Embryonic stem cells, sometimes referred to as ES cells, are derived from inner cell mass (ICM) of fertilized eggs in blastocyst phase, and can be cultured and maintained in vitro while being kept in an undifferentiated state. Embryonic stem cells are extremely useful biological materials for preparing transgenic animals. For example, a gene knockout mouse in which a specific gene is inactivated can be produced by replacing an active gene in an embryonic stem cell chromosome with an inactivated gene by means of a homologous recombination system.
Embryonic stem cells derived from mice, hamsters, and pigs were previously reported. However, processes for establishing embryonic stem cells have not been sufficiently developed, and the sorts of embryonic stem cells are undesirably limited compared to the numbers of mouse strains that have been developed for wide variety of numerous purposes. Currently, researchers most widely use the cells derived from mouse strain 129/Sv as embryonic stem cells. However, the mice of 129/Sv are not always sufficiently bred, and accordingly, if a gene knockout mouse is established, the mouse must be disadvantageously made into a hybrid by crossbreeding with other strains. There is also a problem that the origin of embryonic stem cells established from the strain 129/Sv cannot be completely specified from a genetic viewpoint, since various kinds of substrains are involved in the strain.
Function of a certain gene is generally influenced by other genetic backgrounds in a whole-body level. Accordingly, for close comparative researches by means of gene knockout mice, it is indeed ideal to establish embryonic stem cells from an inbred mouse strain, whose basic data has sufficiently been accumulated, and compare the influence of the knockout of a gene of interest with results obtained from original strain. For these reasons, it has been desired to establish novel embryonic stem cells from inbred mouse strains. However, this class of embryonic stem cells has not been reported yet. As embryonic stem cells derived from mouse strains, embryonic undifferentiated cells disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (KOKAI) No. (Hei) 5-328878/1993 and the like are known. However, these cells are characterized as embryonic stem cells derived from F1 hybrid, and are not those established from inbred strains.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide novel embryonic stem cells. More specifically, the object of the present invention is to provide embryonic stem cell established from inbred mouse strains.

The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research