The process disclosed separates light olefins from heavy oligomers in a distillation column with an intermediary having a boiling point between the light olefin and the heavy oligomer in the column feed. The invention contemplates separating C4 hydrocarbons from C8 hydrocarbons in an effluent from an oligomerization reactor. The effluent includes or is supplemented with an intermediary that can include C5 hydrocarbon, C6 hydrocarbon or mixtures of both. Consequently, the bottoms reboiler temperature can be lower.

This invention relates to a distillation process for separating C4 olefins from C8 olefins with a bottoms temperature that is lower than what is usually required for effective separation of C4 olefins from C8 olefins.
Processes for the oligomerization of light olefins to produce C8 olefin oligomers are known. Oligomerization processes have been long employed to produce high quality motor fuel from C4 olefins. Such oligomerization processes are also referred to as catalytic condensation and polymerization with the resulting motor fuel often referred to as polymer gasoline. Methods have always been sought to improve the C8 olefin number of the gasoline boiling range oligomerization products.
In the oligomerization method of the indirect alkylation process set forth in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,903 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,367 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,830 B1, light aliphatic olefins such as C4 olefins are contacted with solid phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyst in the presence of a heavy paraffin diluent such as cyclohexane or octane. The presence of the paraffin diluent is believed to promote the oligomerization in the liquid phase to yield predominantly dimerized oligomers such as C8 olefins. The heavy aliphatic olefins can be saturated to provide high octane fuel. Moreover, light paraffins feed can be dehydrogenated to provide the feed for the indirect alkylation process. Patents disclosing such dehydrogenation include U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,259 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,360 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,820 B1; U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,948 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,966 B1.
Other oligomerization processes using an ionic exchange resin catalyst to oligomerize light olefins to produce oligomers such as C8 olefins are also known. These processes often include an oxygenate such as tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) or sec-butyl alcohol (SBA) in the feed for modifying the catalyst to maintain desired selectivity. References disclosing resin catalyzed oligomerization include U.S. Pat. No. 5,877,372 B1 and EP 0994088 A1. The resin catalyzed oligomerization can also be preceded by a dehydrogenation zone to convert paraffinic feed into olefinic feed. The oligomerization can also be succeeded by a hydrogenation zone to convert heavy oligomeric olefins into heavy alkanes that can be blended with gasoline stock.
In such oligomerization processes, either before or after hydrogenation, it may be necessary to separate unreacted light olefins from the product heavy oligomers in the effluent from the oligomerization zone. Separation is conventionally performed in a distillation column.
In the distillation column typically after the oligomerization zone the lighter components comprising primarily unreacted light olefins such as C4 olefins and non-participating light alkanes such as C4 alkanes that were present in the feed stream exit from the overhead of the distillation column. The heavier components comprising primarily heavy oligomers such as C8 olefins and smaller amounts of C12 olefins along with a heavy paraffinic diluent, if the oligomerization catalyst is SPA, exit out the bottoms of the distillation column. If oxygenate is part of the feed to the oligomerization zone to moderate the resin catalyst instead of paraffinic diluent for SPA catalyst, the oxygenate may go out either or both of the overhead or the bottoms of the column. Because the heavy components such as C8 olefins have a relatively high boiling point temperature which is much higher than the boiling point temperature of the lighter components such as C4 hydrocarbons, the relatively high bottoms temperature of the distillation column will require a higher temperature heat source to boil the contents of the column. For example, if steam is used as a heating medium, steam will have to be delivered at higher pressures to generate the higher temperature. Hence, heating tubes having a sturdier construction are required to handle the higher pressure steam, thereby requiring more complex design and construction costs.
The necessity for the bottoms reboiler of the distillation column to run at a higher temperature is becoming more salient because of recent governmental regulations to decrease or eliminate the use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) as a gasoline blending component. Many MTBE producers are seeking to convert their MTBE plants to C4 olefin oligomerization plants. MTBE plants generally include a reactor filled with a resin catalyst followed by a distillation column which separates unreacted C4 olefins from MTBE which is brought out the bottoms. The boiling point temperature of MTBE is much less than the boiling point temperature of C8 olefins. Use of an existing C4 olefin/MTBE distillation column for a C4/C8 olefin distillation column would require a reboiler upgrade so the reboiler could handle the higher temperature operation.
Ways of adding agents to the influent for distillation columns to facilitate separation are known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,515 B1 discloses an extractive distillation column which adds a saturated alcohol sulfolane or glycol mixture to an alkane and a close boiling alkene to decrease the volatility of the alkene and facilitate separation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,330 B1 discloses adding an agent to a mixture of octane and octene to form an azeotrope between the agent and the octene to decrease the volatility of the octene which is brought out the bottom of the column.
EP 0994088 A1 discloses a distillation column with extra C6 hydrocarbons in the feed stream, but the predominant olefins are C5 olefins, not C4 olefins, and the disclosure does not teach reducing the bottoms temperature.
A creative way of dealing with unreacted butenes from an oligomerization effluent is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,533 B1. This patent discloses a distillation column in an oligomerization process that has a catalytic distillation section for oligomerizing unreacted olefins in the column.
An object of the present invention is to reduce the reboiler temperature needed for separating an oligomer from its unreacted olefin in a distillation column.
A further object of the invention is to reduce the reboiler temperature of a distillation column for separating unreacted C4 components from product C8 components.
A simple but effective solution for reducing the reboiler temperature required in a distillation column for separating unreacted lighter olefinic components from heavier oligomeric components has been discovered. The solution requires no modification to the column or the reboiler. Instead, an intermediary with a boiling point between those of the light components and the heavy components is added to the feed to the distillation column. For example, if the heavy components are C8 hydrocarbons and the lighter components are C4 hydrocarbons, C5 or C6 hydrocarbons may be used. Typical refiners have many sources of such materials on site. A predetermined amount of such C5 or C6 hydrocarbon intermediary may be supplemented to the oligomerization feed or effluent and be taken out the bottom of the distillation column with the heavy components. All the heavy components will go out the bottom of the distillation column and the distillative separation will then be effected between the C4 components and the C5 and/or C6 components. Accordingly, a higher temperature will not be required of the reboiler in the bottoms of the distillation column. Lastly, most of the added intermediary component would eventually be directed to the gasoline blending pool of a refinery anyway. Hence, the mere diversion of the intermediary through the column will not significantly change the composition of the refinery gasoline pool or substantially add to the cost of operating the unit.
In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for separating C4 olefin from C8 olefin by distillation. The process comprises feeding a mixture of C4 olefin and C8 olefin to a distillation column. An intermediary comprising a hydrocarbon having a boiling point that is greater than a boiling point of C4 olefin and less than a boiling point of C8 olefin at the same conditions is fed to the distillation column. An overhead distillate product containing a smaller volume percentage of the C8 olefin and the intermediary and a larger volume percentage of the C4 olefin than contained in the mixture is withdrawn. A bottoms product containing a larger volume percentage of the C8 olefin and the intermediary and a smaller volume percentage of the C4 olefin than contained in the mixture is withdrawn. Lastly, the process is performed with a bottoms temperature that is less than 300xc2x0 F. (149xc2x0 C.).
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for separating C4 olefin from C8 olefin by distillation. The process comprises feeding a mixture of the C4 olefin and C8 olefin to a distillation column. An intermediary comprising C5 hydrocarbons is fed to the distillation column. The intermediary has a concentration in the mixture that is less than the concentration of C4 olefin in the mixture. An overhead distillate product containing a smaller volume percentage of the C8 olefin and the intermediary and a larger volume percentage of the C4 olefin than contained in the mixture is withdrawn. A bottoms product containing a larger volume percentage of the C8 olefin and the intermediary and a smaller volume percentage of the C4 olefin than contained in the mixture is also withdrawn.
In a further embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for separating a monomer from an oligomer of the monomer by distillation. The process comprises feeding a mixture of the monomer and the oligomer to a distillation column. C4 olefin is the predominant monomer and C8 olefin is the predominant oligomer. An intermediary comprising a hydrocarbon having a carbon number that is greater than a carbon number of the predominant monomer and less than a carbon number of the predominant oligomer is fed to the distillation column. An overhead distillate product containing a smaller volume percentage of the predominant oligomer and the intermediary and a larger volume percentage of the predominant monomer than contained in the mixture is withdrawn. A bottoms product containing a larger volume percentage of the predominant oligomer and the intermediary and a smaller volume percentage of the predominant monomer than contained in the mixture is also withdrawn.
Additional objects, embodiments and details of this invention can be obtained from the following detailed description of the invention.

Separation of monomer from oligomer with lower bottoms temperature


The invention relates to a process for preparing standards and controls for immunoassays employing monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are used to isolate a restricted portion of an antigen containing an epitope that determines the specificity of the monoclonal antibody-antigen reaction so as to distinguish it from the antigen as a whole, following fragmentation of the complex antigen by procedures including proteolysis. Isolated epitopes are attached covalently or by physical adsorption to particles to immobilize and stabilize the epitope. The particles can be composed of iodipamide ethyl ester, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene and other inert substances and can be chemically activated to improve epitope binding and stability. Experimental details demonstrate the binding of lipoprotein epitopes to IDE, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene and the subsequent reaction of monoclonal antibodies to these particle-stabilized epitopes.. This invention is useful particularly for measuring the lipoprotein components associated with cholesterol, and includes a monoclonal based immunoassay kit for measuring the lipoprotein components in biological fluids to assess risk related to coronary artery disease complications.

Field of the Invention
Immunoassays of antigenic substances (antigens) present in biologic fluids are often used in the evaluation of physiologic or pathologic states in animals including humans. Components of immunoassays are the antigen and specific antibody, and the assay involves the binding of these components to each other in a way which is dependent on the concentration of each component.
An antigen has two properties: (1) the capacity to stimulate the formation of corresponding antibodies and (2) the ability to react specifically with the corresponding antibodies. Essentially all proteins, many polysaccharides, nucleoproteins, lipoproteins, synthetic polypeptides and smaller molecules, such as haptens, if linked to larger proteins, behave as antigens. A hapten is a small, incomplete antigen being incapable alone of causing the production of antibodies but capable of reacting with specific antibodies which are produced when the hapten, attached to a larger antigenic substance, is injected into an animal. Induction of antibody formation or immunization occurs when the antigen is introduced into a living body through the skin, muscle, intraperitoneal injection or intravenous injection. The ability of an antigen to stimulate antibody production is enhanced if the compound is retained in the tissues. Because of this finding, materials which allow for the slow release of the antigen for prolonged periods, also known as adjuvants, are used to increase the antibody response to antigen.
The ability to elicit an antibody response is dependent upon the biological system and conditions employed, dose, route of administration, etc. In response to an antigen, the animal produces antibodies which are capable of reacting to each and every site of the antigen it recognizes as foreign. The smallest portion of the antigen that can determine an antibody specificity is termed an antigenic determinant or epitope. The many antibodies produced against a given antigen is a result of a corresponding large number of different antibody-producing cell lines and are termed polyclonal antibodies or polyclonal antisera. Polyclonal antibodies are mixtures of many different antibody specificities against all the many antigens an animal has been exposed to in a lifetime. Because most of the antibodies present in antisera are not specific for any given antigen, there are difficulties associated with purifying antibodies specific for a given antigen. Polyclonal antibodies are extremely heterogeneous with respect to their affinities for antigen; the effects of temperature, pH and ionic strength on rates of immunoreaction and variability of the immune response to antigen from animal to animal. The use of monoclonal antibodies in the present invention, obtained by a process described by Kohler and Milstein in Nature 256 495-497, 1975, eliminates many problems associated with the heterogeneous nature of polyclonal antibodies and provides a homogeneous reagent that has a uniform binding affinity and specificity. A monoclonal antibody reacts with only a very small portion of the larger, more complex antigen called an antigenic determinant or epitope.
The presence of antigen in a biologic fluid can be estimated by comparing the reaction of the unknown sample to that of the same or similar antigen. By using standard quantities of antigen or standards in an immunoassay, the concentration of an unknown amount of antigen can be estimated by a process known as standardization. The reaction of the standards relate to their content of antigen and can be graphed on the Y-axis while their known antigen content can be graphed on the X-axis to produce a standard curve. The reaction of an unknown is then found on the Y-axis and used to fix a value for the unknown on the X-axis. This process of standardization relies on the similarity of reactivity of the standards added to the assay and the unknown antigen.
Standard antigens may be altered in their reactivity with a given antibody over time and therefore it is necessary to monitor or control the standardization process so that results of assays run at different times can be compared. This process of controlling immunoassays involves the assay of control samples which contain the antigen in a fluid similar to that of the test samples being measured. The control samples are assayed every time the assay is standardized and are assumed to react in a similar fashion over the course of time. Variability and trends in the assayed control values reflects differences in the standard curve which may occur due to deterioration of the standards. It is important to have stable materials for standardization and control of immunoassays to assure the reproducibility and accuracy of the immunoassay. Accuracy refers to the assessment of how close a value is to the true value while precision refers to the degree of spread of a series of observations or reproducibility where the spread is specifically stated, that is, within run precision, day-to-day precision, etc. These terms are discussed in detail by Theodore Colton in his book, Statistics in Medicine, Little, Brown and Company Publishers, p. 38 (1974). Controls and standards, therefore, become as important to the validity of any immunoassay as the antibody and the antigen.
Certain immunoassays are particularly difficult to standardize and control because the antigen of interest is unstable and does not show uniform reactivity to antibodies. Minor alterations of certain antigens as would be necessary for production of stable standards and controls may significantly alter the binding of antibody which is essential for immunoassay. Even more subtle changes may occur in the structure of antigens with respect to their tertiary or quaternary structure adversely affecting antibody-antigen reactions. A problem, therefore, exists in the preparation of controls and standards for certain immunoassays as it is necessary to store standards and particularly controls over extensive periods of time in order to be useful for the control of the accuracy and precision of the assay. The standards and controls must also be preserved in such a way that they maintain uniform reactivity with the antibody. This invention relates to a process whereby stable controls and standards are prepared which react uniformly with antibody and provide for the long-term standardization and control of immunoassays involving labile antigens.
One important aspect of this invention involves the isolation and purification of specific epitopes for use as standards and controls in immunoassays involving monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are specific for epitopes which are normally present only once, but can be repetitive on certain antigens. Epitopes of proteins may be as small as 5 to 7 amino acid residues and may represent a specific linear amino acid sequence or a spatial arrangement of amino acids dependent upon conformation. Using a monoclonal antibody of suitable affinity the corresponding epitope may be isolated and purified from a mixture of antigens or from modified or fragmented antigen. Generally, the larger the antigen, the more likely it is to be unstable and degraded into fragments or smaller pieces. Since epitopes are always smaller than the intact antigen, epitope stability is invariably greater than the stability of the native antigen. While polyclonal antibodies may be greatly affected by the breakdown of the native antigen, carefully selected monoclonal antibodies, particularly those reactive with a specific amino acid sequence, may remain unaffected because the epitope being defined by the monoclonal antibody resides completely within a fragment of the native antigen. An important aspect of this invention is selecting monoclonal antibodies whose epitopes are not destroyed after fragmentation of the native antigen.
The binding of substances to surfaces enhances the stability of that substance. Antigens and/or antibodies have been bound to solid surfaces previously in the prior art to facilitate the separation of antibody-bound antigen from free antigen following reaction. An important distinction in this invention is the binding of an antigen and/or epitope to particles so that the bound epitope is stabilized in such a way as to make it useful in the preparation of standards and controls for immunoassays. Additionally, the stabilization of epitopes on particles allows for a much larger surface area and a much higher concentration of epitope for subsequent reaction. This significantly reduces reaction time and makes kinetic assays practical.
There is a well recognized relationship between the amount of cholesterol in the blood and atherosclerosis or coronary artery disease as reported in the Complete Home Medical Guide, of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, [Crown Publishers, page 367, 1985]. Since cholesterol is a fatty substance (lipid) that is not soluble in blood, which is mostly water (and fats and water do not mix), cholesterol must associate with a detergent-like substance before it can travel through the blood. One such substance is a protein designated an apolipoprotein, which, when combined with lipid, forms a molecule called a lipoprotein. There are different types of lipoproteins, which are often classified by their size or density as determined by highspeed centrifugation (ultracentrifugation). The heaviest is high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which has the highest proportion of protein. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) is lighter than HDL, and carries a larger proportion of cholesterol. Very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) carries the largest proportion of triglyceride, a lipid that is important in fat metabolism. Recent studies suggest that HDL carries cholesterol away from arterial cells and is therefore important in balancing the accumulation of cholesterol and other fats within arteries. LDL carries cholesterol to arterial cells and is believed to be a major factor in the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, in blood plasma a high level of HDL cholesterol in relationship to LDL cholesterol, is now considered desirable. The higher the ratio of HDL to LDL cholesterol, the better.
Recent evidence indicates that the quantity of the major apolipoproteins of HDL (apolipoprotein A-I, apo AI) and LDL (apolipoprotein B, apo B) or apolipoproteins A-I and B (apo A-I and apo B), respectively, are even better measures of risk of developing heart attack than the measurement of HDL and LDL cholesterol. There is a strong correlation (positive) with apo B (LDL) and an inverse correlation (negative) with apo A-I (HDL) with respect to risk of developing clinically manifest coronary heart disease. Further refinements of the methods of quantitative determination of the associated apolipoproteins is expected to lead to the identification of more precise relationships relating to the causation of heart attacks in humans.
A particular problem in immunoassays involving lipoprotein apolipoprotein is the number of reactions that are well known to occur which alter protein structure and conformation of apolipoprotein antigens which may alter immunoreaction. Such reactions include lipid peroxidation, protein fragmentation due to peroxides and oxygen, enzymatic fragmentation and aggregation. Any of these reactions may adversely affect the immunoassay of apo B and apo A-I. There is a critical need for an improvement in standardizing and controlling assays involving apo B and apo A-I because they are particularly labile. Alteration of their lipid environment is well known to change conformation and immunoreactivity. Accordingly, one important aspect of this invention is to provide particle-stabilized epitopes specific for apo B and apo A-I for use as standards and controls in immunoassays of these important components of LDL and HDL.

Particle-stabilized epitopes for standardization and control of immunoassays


A robot apparatus including a mechanical system having at least one mechanical portion arranged to be operated by a drive portion; a mechanical-system-command converter arranged to receive a command which is independent from a mechanical system and which does not depend on the mechanical system to convert the command independent from the mechanical system into a command depending on the mechanical system and adaptable to the mechanical system; and a control portion for controlling the operation of the drive portion in accordance with the command depending on the mechanical system supplied from the mechanical-system-command converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot apparatus of various forms having mechanical systems of different types arranged to use a command, which is independent from a mechanical system and which does not depend on the mechanical system, and enabled to be controlled by a common control system and to a control method therefor.
2. Description of Prior Art
Hitherto, a variety of robot apparatuses have been disclosed which include tired-robots capable of self-running by dint of the tires, and bipedal or quadrapedal walking robots, each of the foregoing robot apparatuses having various mechanical systems.
A robot apparatus of the foregoing type has a mechanical system in which actuators each having a predetermined degree of freedom and sensors for each detecting a predetermined physical quantity are disposed at predetermined positions. A control unit having a microcomputer individually operates the various actuators in accordance with outputs from the sensors and the control program. Thus, the self-running operation of the robot apparatus is permitted. Moreover, the robot apparatus performs a predetermined operation. The above-mentioned robot apparatus is assembled into a predetermined form in such a manner that various component units including a body, legs and a head maintain predetermined relative positions.
When a variety of robot apparatuses each having various mechanical systems are controlled, each robot apparatus must be controlled by using commands defined to correspond to the mechanical systems of the apparatus. It leads to a fact that a control program for each of the various robots each having different mechanical systems must be prepared even if a common operation, such as moving forwards, moving backward or stoppage, is performed.


Hash value comparison during crash-tolerant incremental change tracking between backups of a source storage. In one example embodiment, a method includes assigning each block in a source storage into one of multiple zones, creating a nonvolatile zone map, tracking each of the zones that is changed between a first point in time and a second point in time, identifying, as potentially changed zone blocks, the blocks in the source storage assigned to any zone marked as changed in the nonvolatile zone map, identifying, as potentially outdated backup blocks, the most recently backed-up blocks in one or more prior backups that correspond to the potentially changed zone blocks, calculating source hash values of the potentially changed zone blocks, calculating backup hash values of the potentially outdated backup blocks, and comparing the source hash values to the backup hash values to determine which blocks in the source storage actually changed.

A storage is computer-readable media capable of storing data in blocks. Storages face a myriad of threats to the data they store and to their smooth and continuous operation. In order to mitigate these threats, a backup of the data in a storage may be created at a particular point in time to enable the restoration of the data at some future time. Such a restoration may become desirable, for example, if the storage experiences corruption of its stored data, if the storage becomes unavailable, or if a user wishes to create a second identical storage.
A storage is typically logically divided into a finite number of fixed-length blocks. A storage also typically includes a file system which tracks the locations of the blocks that are allocated to each file that is stored in the storage. The file system also tracks the blocks that are not allocated to any file. The file system generally tracks allocated and unallocated blocks using specialized data structures, referred to as file system metadata. File system metadata is also stored in designated blocks in the storage.
Various techniques exist for backing up a source storage. One common technique involves backing up individual files stored in the source storage on a per-file basis. This technique is often referred to as file backup. File backup uses the file system of the source storage as a starting point and performs a backup by writing the files to a destination storage. Using this approach, individual files are backed up if they have been modified since the previous backup. File backup may be useful for finding and restoring a few lost or corrupted files. However, file backup may also include significant overhead in the form of bandwidth and logical overhead because file backup requires the tracking and storing of information about where each file exists within the file system of the source storage and the destination storage.
Another common technique for backing up a source storage ignores the locations of individual files stored in the source storage and instead simply backs up all allocated blocks stored in the source storage. This technique is often referred to as image backup because the backup generally contains or represents an image, or copy, of the entire allocated contents of the source storage. Using this approach, individual allocated blocks are backed up if they have been modified since the previous backup. Because image backup backs up all allocated blocks of the source storage, image backup backs up both the blocks that make up the files stored in the source storage as well as the blocks that make up the file system metadata. Also, because image backup backs up all allocated blocks rather than individual files, this approach does not necessarily need to be aware of the file system metadata or the files stored in the source storage, beyond utilizing minimal knowledge of the file system metadata in order to only back up allocated blocks since unallocated blocks are not generally backed up.
An image backup can be relatively fast compared to file backup because reliance on the file system is minimized. An image backup can also be relatively fast compared to a file backup because seeking is reduced. In particular, during an image backup, blocks are generally read sequentially with relatively limited seeking. In contrast, during a file backup, blocks that make up individual files may be scattered, resulting in relatively extensive seeking.
A source storage may be initially backed up using an image backup operation to create a base backup and then in successive image backup operations, incremental backups of the source storage may be created. A new incremental backup may include only those blocks of the source storage that were changed subsequent to the creation of the most recent backup but prior to the creation of the new incremental backup. In order to easily back up only changed blocks during the creation of an incremental backup, it can be useful to incrementally track which blocks are changed between image backup operations instead of determining which blocks are changed by performing a full compare of every block in the source storage with corresponding blocks in base and incremental backups that were previously created.
One common problem that is encountered during successive image backup operations is the difficulty of reliably tracking incremental changes prior to the creation of each incremental backup. For example, incremental changes are typically tracked in volatile memory in order to avoid the performance degradation that would be caused by continually writing incremental changes to a nonvolatile storage. When a source system is gracefully shut down, the incremental changes tracking in volatile memory can be written once to a nonvolatile storage, and then read once from the nonvolatile storage and back into the volatile memory upon a graceful reboot. However, if the source system experiences an ungraceful loss of power or other crash, the incremental changes tracked in volatile memory are lost, and the only way to determine which blocks changed is to perform a full compare of every block in the source storage with corresponding blocks in base and incremental backups that were previously created. This full compare is time-intensive and resource-intensive.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


Disclosed is a car body of a two-door type including a center pillar provided on each side portion of the car body, a rear fender integrated with the bottom of the center pillar, a rear side glass elevatably provided along the center pillar, and a stiffener having a front wall, a side wall and a rear wall which are formed to have a channel shape in cross-section so as to fit on the inner surface of the center pillar. The stiffener is tightly arranged within the center pillar. The stiffener extends downwardly beyond the waist line of the rear fender. The rear wall of the stiffener is fixed through a flange formed at an edge of the stiffener to an inner panel of the bar body.

This invention relates to a car body structure, and more particularly relates to a reinforcing structure for a center pillar portion of a two-door type car with a rear side glass operable to be lowered or raised.
In a conventional two-door type automobile or car with an elevating type rear side glass, a center pillar 2 is integrated with a rear fender 1 as shown in FIG. 2. The back wall 2c of the center pillar 2 facing the front edge of a rear side glass 3 has to be made discontinuous to the rear fender 1 at the fender's waist line W, because the wall 2c must allow the glass 3 to enter and go out, differently from the case wherein the rear side glass 3 is fitted in said wall. As shown in FIG. 3, the center pillar 2 is joined with an inner panel 4 of the car body, and is reinforced by the closed cross-sectional structure formed by the joining. As mentioned before, however, because the back wall 2c of the center pillar 2 is discontinuous with the rear fender 1 at the waist line W, the discontinuous portion often has insufficient strength. Particularly because a belt anchor for a seat belt (not shown) is attached to the upper side portion of the center pillar 2, the discontinuous portion is apt to be deformed under the load exerted through the belt anchor.
The reinforcement of this center pillar 2 has not been completely neglected, but the only reinforcement attempted in the past has been the joining of a stiffener 5 with the center pillar 2, over the front wall 2a to the side wall 2b as shown in FIG. 3. Furthermore, the stiffener 5 is attached only to the center pillar 2, but is never extended to below the waist line W of the rear fender 1, and therefore is useless as the reinforcement of the discontinuous portion.


A computer controlled engraving system having a non-volatile memory loaded with error coefficients. The error coefficients represent previously experienced differences between computed cell configuration values and corresponding configuration values for cells actually engraved. Sets of error coefficients are tabulated and stored in the memory along with associated setup parameters. Setup of the engraving system for a new job is swiftly accomplished by using values of the setup parameters to retrieve sets of approximate error coefficients, from which interpolated values are obtained. The interpolated values of the error coefficients then are used for calculating configuration control parameters such as AC gain, video gain and white offset.

This invention relates to the field of engraving, and more particularly to engraving of gravure printing cylinders. Even more particularly, the invention relates to an engraving system comprising an engraving stylus and apparatus for causing the engraving stylus to engrave cells of accurately controlled size in the surface of a gravure printing cylinder.
An engraving stylus for such an engraving system is carried in a holder mounted on an engraving head supported against the surface of the workpiece by a shoe. The stylus holder is pivotally suspended within a magnetic field which oscillates under the influence of an AC head current modulated by a video signal. Variations in the head current drive the stylus into engraving against the surface of the cylinder. The depth of stylus penetration is controlled by variations in the video signal, as well as by settings of configuration parameters such as an AC gain, a video gain and a white offset. The white offset is the nominal spacing between the stylus tip and the surface of the workpiece when the head current goes to zero.
In order to engrave black cells, highlight cells and connecting channels of desired configuration, it has been necessary to undertake a tedious setup process prior to commencement of engraving. This process has involved trial and error engraving of test cells, inspection of the results and adjustment of the configuration control parameters. Frequently it has been necessary to repeat the process numerous times before satisfactory results have been achieved. It is a principal object of this invention to shorten that process.

Engraving method and apparatus for generating engraving drive signals for engraving engraved areas of accurately controlled size in the surface of a workpiece using coefficient values and associated set up parameter values


Cheese is prepared using rennin obtained from insoluble refractile bodies of a recombinant microbial host cell. The rennin is obtained by rupturing the recombinant hose cell, isolating and solubilizing the insoluble refractile bodies, and recovering active rennin. Recombinant techniques involve preparing cDNA corresponding to the coding sequence for calf rennin, introducing into an expression vector and expressing in a host cell. As much as 200 mg rennin per liter of culture may be recovered. Prorennin or preprorennin may be produced and rennin derived therefrom.

The present invention relates to the field of cheese production through the use of proteolytic enzymes, and in particular to the use of rennin, to coagulate milk. More specifically, the invention relates to producing rennin suitable for use in preparation of cheese, and to cheese production using rennin produced in microbial systems through the use of recombinant DNA techniques.

Preparation of cheese with rennin from recombinant microbial cells


A memory device comprising a memory cell for storing data, at least one bit line connected to the memory cell, and a switch normally held in a first condition connecting the bit line to a voltage source. The switch is in a second condition disconnecting the bit line from the voltage source in the presence of a control signal. The memory device also includes a program device for producing the control signal to change the switch from the first condition to the second condition when the bit line has a leakage trouble.

This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device arranged to overcome a leakage trouble.
For semiconductor memory devices such as SRAM (static random access memory) or the like having bit lines connected to a power source in a stand-by condition, a leakage trouble, such as a defective bit line operation, occurs when dust or the like causes a short circuit between one of the bit lines and the ground. It is the conventional practice to overcome such a leakage trouble by replacing the defective memory cell with a redundant memory cell. When the leakage trouble includes a defective stand-by current along with the defective bit line operation, however, it is impossible to overcome the leakage trouble merely by replacing the defective memory cell with a redundant memory cell.


An absorbent article is provided having an adhesive on the bodyfacing surface for securement of the article to the wearer. The adhesive has a rheological property tan .delta. at 20.degree. C. ranging from about 0.01 to about 0.6 at a frequency of about 0.1 radian per second and a tan .delta. ranging from about 0.1 to about 1.7 at a frequency of about 1000 radians per second. Preferably the adhesive is a hot melt adhesive.

All manner and variety of externally positioned disposable absorbent articles configured for the absorption of body fluids such as menses, urine, feces and the like are well known. For simplicity of describing the invention, such articles will be collectively referred to herein as a sanitary napkin. Those skilled in the art understand the differences in these structures and will readily appreciate the adaptability of this invention to these other structures.
Securement of the sanitary napkin during use is often accomplished by attaching the sanitary napkin to the wearer's undergarment by a pressure sensitive adhesive. Securing a sanitary napkin to an undergarment can exhibit a number of drawbacks. One drawback is that the adhesive can stick too aggressively to the inside surface of the undergarment leaving residue. Another disadvantage is the napkin will tend to move with the undergarment rather than associating with the bodily movements of the wearer. This can result in a less secure fit and increase the incidence of fluid leakage, irritation, chafing and discomfort.
In the past, attempts have been made to adhere a sanitary napkin to the wearer. However, the sanitary napkins have been large enough so as to avoid the adhesive being placed in contact with the wearer's pubic hair and sensitive genitalia. This is because in securing the sanitary napkin to the wearer, the prior art teaches using adhesives of the type used in various surgical applications. Removal of these adhesives typically causes sudden pain and discomfort to the wearer. Thus, avoiding such sensitive areas has been desirable.
It would therefore be desirable to have a sanitary napkin that can be secured to the wearer's body that would be comfortable to wear, would be discrete, give the wearer a feeling of security during use and would not cause discomfort upon removal.


The invention relates to an air bridge and an evaporative process for making air bridges. A first layer of photoresist is patterned to create two openings over the contacts to be connected, separated by a strip of photoresist. The photoresist strip is hard baked to allow it to soften and to cause further cross linking. The softening allows surface tension to reshape the photoresist strip to create a gradually sloping arcuate surface between contact openings upon which a metal layer of nearly constant thickness may be evaporated. A second layer of photoresist is then applied, and patterned to create a single large opening embracing both contacts and the now arcuate hard baked photoresist strip. An arch within the large opening connecting both contacts is formed by evaporation. Excess metal and both photoresist layers are then removed, leaving a novel, arch shaped air bridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to monolithically integrated circuits, and more particularly to an air bridge which interconnects certain conductors on an integrated circuit, while crossing over others. The invention also relates to a photolithographic process incorporating an evaporation step to form an air bridge suitable for monolithically integrated circuits.
2. Prior Art
Air bridges provide a choice to the designers of monolithic integrated circuits, who in laying out point to point circuit runs, find it necessary to continue a conductive path to another point on a chip, which cannot be reached without crossing other conductors.
A second choice is to add another dielectric layer, another metallization, and via holes to get from the original metallization to the second metallization.
The solution of another dielectrically supported metallization is not always the better choice, particularly for circuits carrying radio frequency energy. The dielectric layer increases the capacitive coupling between the overlapping conductors, and may add to losses in r.f. propagation. The air bridge, on the other hand, provides a simple technique for cross overs where they are needed, and as the name implies, it is constructed to have only an air dielectric between the overlapping conductors.
The air bridge solution requires additional process steps and should avoid the danger of contaminating the existing integrated circuit. The conventional air bridge approach is to use photolithographic processing, including a sputtering and an electroplating step. The conventional process requires a large processing time, has the potential for contaminating the surfaces with the wet chemicals used in electroplating. The electroplating is not accurate and usually requires ion milling to define the critical features. The ion milling produces stringers which if not carefully removed, may cause circuit failure.
An evaporative process is preferable in these respects, and the present invention is of this nature.

Process for making air bridges for integrated circuits


This invention relates to coatings for application to glass lenses to provide a tint thereto. The coatings at a thickness of no more than 10 microns in conjunction with organic dyes conventionally used to tint organic plastic lenses will impart a visible transmission of less than 50%, preferably less than 30%. The coatings consist essentially of an alkyl siloxane containing a dipolar silane selected from the group consisting of an ester-functional silane, a hydroxy-functional silane, amino-functional silane, a carboxylic acid-functional silane, and a halide form of those silanes.

A major marketing advantage which plastic ophthalmic lenses currently enjoy over glass lenses is the capability of accepting, on their surfaces in the finished state, organic tints exhibiting a wide range of colors. That is, purchasers of plastic lenses have the option of selecting lenses custom tinted in a substantially infinite spectrum of colors and styles, and those lenses can be readily surface tinted by the eyeglass dispenser, e.g., by an optician, optometrist, or ophthalmologist, in his office or laboratory within a relatively short time. As an apparent corollary to that situation, the ready capability of surface tinting plastic lenses provides the eyeglass dispenser with the opportunity to add value to a finished lens with minimal cost and effort.
Numerous attempts have been made to apply surface tints to glass lenses utilizing organic dyes operable with plastic lenses. Unfortunately, those efforts to date have not provided tints of acceptable visible transmissions, i.e., less than 50% and, preferably, less than 30% transmission, where the coatings also satisfied five other practical requirements. Hence, the basic requisites for a tintable coating comprise: (1) it must be tintable with dyes operable with CR-39 plastic, CR-39 is a registered trademark of PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, Penna., referring to [poly(dially diglycol carbonate)], the material most commonly used commercially in the production of ophthalmic lenses, inasmuch as the eyeglass dispenser does not wish to stock two different sets of dyes; (2) it must demonstrate resistance to abrasion superior to that exhibited by CR-39 plastic; (3) it must be sufficiently adherent to glass to withstand boiling water to which it is exposed during the tinting operation, and to withstand surface abuse and environmental stresses encountered in normal wear; (4) it must be optically clear, i.e, essentially free from haze and other visual defects; and, from a practical point of view, (5) it must be relatively easy and inexpensive to apply. Coatings operable on glass surfaces would impart to glass lenses such capabilities as fashion tints, gradient tints, sunglass tints, and ultraviolet radiation blocking tints.
As was observed above, the search for a tintable polymer coating for use with glass ophthalmic lenses has been ongoing for a number of years. Various melamine, alkyd, and polyester resins have been investigated, some of which demonstrated greater affinity for CR-39 dyes than CR-39 itself. Unfortunately, those resins exhibited a lower resistance to abrasion than CR-39 and, hence, were deemed unacceptable on that score.
Based upon that previous work, we focussed our experimentation on resins which are acknowledged to manifest high abrasion resistance. Such resins fall into two general classes, viz., silicones and polyurethanes. Silicones employed as abrasion-resistant coatings typically consist of highly crosslinked alkyl siloxanes reinforced with colloidal silica copolymerized into the matrix. Thus, abrasion resistance is derived from a combination comprising a very rigid matrix and a hard filler. Two mechanisms are available in polyurethanes to impart scratch resistance. The first group generally relies on toughness. Those materials are also highly crosslinked and can be either air or moisture cured. The second group is composed of lightly crosslinked urethanes which exhibit cold-flow characteristics. The latter confer self-healing capabilities to the resin so that, although the resin can be scratched fairly easily, the scratches become less noticeable with time.
Several resins from each class were screened for chemical durability, hardness, and tintability. Chemical durability was evaluated as a set of pass/fail tests by exposing the coating to boiling water and to several such common household chemicals as acetone, isopropanol, and liquid detergent for about 30 minutes. Hardness was evaluated employing a pencil hardness method following Dow Corning Corporate Test Method CTM-0214. Tintability was evaluated qualitatively after immersion in BPI blue tint CR-39 dye for about five minutes at 95.degree. C. Those tests demonstrated the substantial superiority of silicones with respect to chemical durability and hardness, but they were somewhat inferior to the polyurethanes with respect to tintability. Because it was not believed that the chemical durability and hardness of a polyurethane could be improved to match that of the silicones, we sought means to enhance the tinting capability of the silicones.
Various silicone resins are currently employed commercially as scratch resistant coatings for plastic (CR-39) lenses. Unfortunately, when applied to glass surfaces, those coatings do not tint to acceptable levels with dyes operable with CR-39 plastic. The above-described screening tests indicated that the tinting capacity of the coating was actually much less than that of CR-39. Accordingly, it was conjectured that the acceptable tinting of the CR-39 lens was the result of the dye passing through the silicone and impregnating the CR-39 plastic. Because no like mechanism exists between the dye and glass, the level of tinting of glass lenses was insufficient.
Because silicone resins provide the other physical and chemical characteristics desired in coatings for ophthalmic lenses, the primary objective of the present invention was to develop means for improving the tintability of those resins by dyes operable with CR-39 plastics such as to render them acceptable for tinting glass lenses.

Tintable coatings for glass ophthalmic lenses


A method for assisting a memory cell in an access operation is provided. The method includes: setting a supply voltage to a first supply voltage level to determine a reference probability value of the memory cell applied by the first supply voltage level; applying an assist voltage to an access line coupled to the memory cell, and setting the supply voltage to a second supply voltage level to determine a relationship between the assist voltage and the access failure probability of the memory cell applied by the second supply voltage level; determining, from the relationship, a target assist voltage level of the assist voltage corresponding to the reference probability value; and providing an assist circuit configured to apply the target assist voltage level to the access line during the access operation, wherein the memory cell is applied by the second supply voltage level during the access operation.

The present disclosure relates to memory access, and more particularly, to a method for assisting a memory cell in an access operation, a memory device having an assist circuit capable of providing a target assist voltage, and a method for operating a memory cell.
Static random access memory (SRAM) devices have become increasingly popular in various applications, such as communication, image processing and other system-on-chip (SOC) applications, which require high speed operation and low power dissipation. Reduction in the supply voltage reduces the dynamic power dissipation but renders an SRAM cell unstable. For example, low supply voltages reduce the static noise margin (SNM), which is the most commonly used metric for SRAM cell stability. When an external noise is larger than the SNM, a state of the SRAM cell can change and stored data is lost. In addition, process variations in deeply scaled CMOS technologies further degrades the SRAM cell stability.

Method for assisting memory cell in access operation and operating memory cell, and memory device having assist circuit with predefined assist strength


An organic electroluminescent element which is highly precise and minute, uniform in light emission, free from cross talk, resistant to external pressure, and further excellent in sealing properties and a process for producing the above element. The organic electroluminescent element 1 which is equipped, between a lower electrode 3 and a counter eletrode 4 each on a substrate 2, with an intervening organic layer 5 comprising a light-emitting layer, comprises an inter-insulator film 6 having a coefficient of water absorption of at most 0.1% in a non-light-emitting element portion; step portions 9 in the inter-insulator layer 6 which define the boundary between a light-emitting element portion and a non-light-emitting element portion and which comprise rising parts almost perpendicular to the surface of the lower electrode 3; and a sealing plate or a sealing lid 7 which is placed over the inter-insulator layer 6 and which is attached to the substrate 2 via an adhesive layer 8.

Organic electroluminescent elements have heretofore been developed for use as a display. The organic electroluminescent element to be used as a display is required to have high precision and minuteness in patterning, uniformity in a light-emitting surface and precision in the edge of a light-emitting surface. The organic electroluminescent element is also required to solve such problems by a minute short-circuit occurring at an edge of an electrode, thereby causing cross talk in a display. There is known an element in which a sealing plate is clad to a substrate for the purpose of sealing an organic EL element. The sealing plate has the tendency to be thinner, as a display is required to be thinner, that is, minimized in thickness.
However, a thin sealing plate results in a problem that the sealing plate is brought into contact with an element by impact or external pressure with the result that the plate is destroyed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.250583/1991 ( Hei-3) discloses an organic EL element which is equipped with an interlaminar insulating film, and thus has favorable pattern precision as well as high uniformity in a light-emitting surface. However, since a masking vapor deposition method is applied to the production of a counter electrode, it has been still difficult to produce a highly precise and minute display having a line pitch of 300 .mu.m or less.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.101884/1993 (Hei-5) discloses an organic EL element which is equipped with an inter-insulator layer, and the outside surface of which is covered with a moisture-resistant film. Nevertheless the organic EL element thus disclosed has still a problem that because of the insufficient sealing power of the moisture-resistant film, a cathode is attacked by moisture or oxygen after being allowed to stand for several thousands hours, thus bringing about a dark spot, that is, defective light emission.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 275172/1993(Hei-5) discloses a highly precise and minute display having a line pitch of about 100 .mu.m , by equipping an organic EL element with an inter-insulator layer in the form of a wall, and also forming a cathode by means of oblique vapor deposition. However, the display disclosed above has still the problem that a minute short circuit is caused by reason of the deviation of the alloy composition in the edges (the end away from the inter-insulator layer) of the electrode that is formed through vapor deposition in an oblique direction to the substrate.

Organic electroluminescent element and method for manufacturing the same


A defoaming agent comprising: a polymer comprising a repeating unit represented by the following general formula (1):

Lubricating oil is used in various kinds of machinery so as to improve lubricity between members. Increase of foaming of the lubricating oil may lead to insufficient lubrication, failure to control hydraulic pressure, deteriorated cooling efficiency, and so on. Thus, lubricating oil is required to suppress foaming.
For example, automobile engines, transmissions, and axle units are demanding increasingly more from lubricating oil, accompanying their recent improvements in performance and fuel efficiency. Continuous high-load operation or high-speed driving increases foaming in engine oil, transmission oil, or axle unit oil, and as a result, leads to problems such as: failure to control hydraulic pressure due to incorporation of foam in hydraulic circuits; deteriorated lubricating performance or cooling efficiency due to foaming; wear and seizure due to breakage of oil films in friction portions; and promoted deterioration of lubricating oil due to oil temperature increase. Thus, there is demand for engine oil, transmission oil, and axle unit oil which can maintain high defoaming performance so as to suppress foaming for a long time from the initial stage of use.
Generally, lubricating oil contains base oil, and various additives incorporated according to desired characteristics. Examples of additives include defoaming agents to prevent foaming of lubricating oil. Polysiloxane defoaming agents (silicone defoaming agents) are conventionally known as defoaming agents. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a lubricating oil composition formed by incorporating (a) polydimethylsiloxane having kinematic viscosity at 25° C. of 300,000 to 1,500,000 mm2/s, and (b) fluorinated polysiloxane having kinematic viscosity at 25° C. of 500 to 9,000 mm2/s. Patent Literature 2 discloses incorporating polydimethylsiloxane having a specific molecular weight distribution into lubricating oil to obtain defoaming effect on foam generated due to high-speed stirring.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Defoaming agent and lubricating oil composition

Abstract: where in the general formula (1), X1 is a repeating unit obtainable by polymerization of an ethylenic unsaturated group; Y1 is a side chain comprising a linear or branched polysiloxane structure, the polysiloxane structure comprising a repeating unit represented by the following general formula (2) and having a polymerization degree of 5 to 300; and Z1 is a linking group linking the repeating unit X1 and the side chain Y1;

Abstract: wherein in the general formula (2), R1 and R2 are each independently an organic group having a carbon number of 1 to 18.


An apparatus for updating software or changing configuration of software installed in a plurality of terminals, including: a recognition unit for recognizing that the software installed in a first terminal has been successfully updated or the configuration of the software installed in the first terminal has been successfully changed; a selection unit for selecting, in response to the recognition that the software installed in the first terminal has been successfully updated or the configuration of the software installed in the first terminal has been successfully changed, a second terminal in a case where a degree of similarity between a configuration of the first terminal and a configuration of the second terminal is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference value; and an instruction unit for giving an instruction to update the software or to change the configuration of the software installed in the second terminal.

Along with development of IT technology, a wide variety of devices are used in organizations such as companies. Under the circumstance, burdens of management of devices (endpoints) on the organizations such as companies are rapidly increasing, and hence an endpoint management product is attracting attention (see, for example, Non-patent Literature 1).
In general, the endpoint management product provides a function of performing a configuration change on an endpoint. Here, the configuration change on the endpoint refers to a configuration change of a system or an application in the endpoint, and includes patching and application introduction. The endpoint management product also provides a function of remotely applying a configuration change to a plurality of endpoints at a time.
Further, in the endpoint management product, an endpoint as an application target of a configuration change can be generally designated using a conditional expression and the like. Specifically, the endpoint as the application target can be selected by designating the version of an operating system (OS), an application and patching conditions concerning the configuration change, and the configuration of the system (such as the value of a particular registry).
In the case of applying a configuration change to endpoints using the endpoint management product as described above, the following method is generally adopted. That is, a system department or the like applies in advance the configuration change to a test environment of an endpoint having a general configuration. After sufficiently testing that a trouble does not occur, the system section or the like applies the configuration change to endpoints of general users.
In addition to the above, a technique of setting up software in common for a plurality of apparatuses is known (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique in which an analysis apparatus determines common software to be set up for its own apparatus, reads out configuration information corresponding to the common software from a storage medium, compares configuration information on its own apparatus with the read-out information, determines an apparatus having the same configuration or an apparatus having a similar configuration from among apparatuses for which the common software has been set up, reads out set-up result information on the apparatus having the same configuration or the apparatus having a similar configuration from the storage medium, and outputs the read-out information as set-up success/failure information on the common software.
Moreover, a technique of making a processing program common to different database groups is also known (see, for example, Patent Literature 2).
Patent Literature 2 discloses a database system in which: an operating system reads setting information and determines which database is to be connected; when a compiler complies a database processing program (source format) in which a database to be processed is not specified, the compiler identifies a database to be processed in each step, on the basis of description of environment information recorded in a currently connected database; and the database processing program (object format) thus compiled is executed on a database group.
Further, a technique of constructing a calculator environment equivalent to various user PCs is also known (see, for example, Patent Literature 3).
Patent Literature 3 discloses an execution environment construction apparatus including: an environment configuration data creation unit for calculating the degree of demand of environment configuration data close to a user environment information DB demanded by a user, and constructing an execution environment on an execution terminal on the basis of the calculated degree of demand; and an environment configuration data selection unit for selecting environment configuration data having a degree of environment similarity close to the user environment information, from the execution terminal on which the execution environment is constructed. The execution environment construction apparatus constructs an execution environment configured by a software resource including at least one operating system, on an execution terminal.

Updating software based on similarities between endpoints

International Business Machines Corporation


According to one embodiment, a gripping device grips a rim of a workpiece by opening and closing gripping plates. The device includes a gripping unit, a hoisting and lowering unit and a motion control unit. The gripping unit includes a first and a second gripping plate. The first gripping plate has a first gripper to contact the rim. The second gripping plate has a second gripper to contact the rim. At least one of the first and second gripping plates is moved and the first and second gripper are spaced from each other. The hoisting and lowering unit is configured to hoist and lower the gripping unit. The motion control unit is configured to control open/close operations and hoisting and lowering operations. The motion control unit mechanically controls first first hoisting and lowering operations, controls second the open/close operations, and controls third second hoisting and lowering operations.

1. Field
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a gripping device, a transfer device, a processing device, and a manufacturing method for an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In manufacture of electronic devices such as a semiconductor device, flat panel display, or the like, the transfer, supply, and so on of a plurality of workpieces (for example, wafers, glass substrates, or the like) are performed as the workpieces are stored in a storage unit such as a dedicated case, cassette, etc.
In manufacture using this storage unit, an unprocessed workpiece stored in the storage unit is unloaded and processed, and then the processed workpiece is again stored in the storage unit. A transfer device vertically having a plurality of arms is known as one that efficiently performs the delivery (unloading, storage, or the like) of workpieces in this manner. See JP-A 2008-178924 (Kokai), for example.
In this transfer device, a hoisting and lowering unit for the arms is shared, and the plurality of arms are hoisted and lowered at the same time. Because of this, in the case where workpieces are passed and received at a plurality of delivery positions, it is difficult to pass and receive workpieces at the same time using the plurality of arms, and it is necessary to pass and receive workpieces one by one.
In this case, if the hoisting and lowering unit is provided for each of the plurality of arms, workpieces can be passed and received at a plurality of delivery positions at the same time. However, the arm is provided with a gripping device that grips a workpiece. If a hoisting and lowering unit is separately provided, which is independently driven, this causes the complication, an increase in weight, or the like of mechanisms.

Gripping device, transfer device, processing device, and manufacturing method for electronic device


A variable displacement transmission pump having a controller for adjusting the displaced volume, which controller actuates corresponding adjuster actuators of the adjustable pump via a control valve, so that the pump can be adjusted from minimum to maximum displaced volume in order to achieve a constant pump outlet pressure for supplying a hydraulically operated transmission, wherein for different operating points of both the adjustable pump and the transmission, the input variables of the controller are adjusted in such a way that, independently of the individual operating points, the overall damping of the control system comprising pump and transmission—that is, using corresponding influence variables from these systems—can be maintained substantially constant under variable operating conditions by means of adjustable controller amplification.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In modern passenger car automatic transmissions, the trend is toward wide pressure spreads (1 to 40 bar) and small delivery quantities (10 L per minute), in order to achieve the lowest possible power consumption by the pump and therefore greater efficiency of the transmission. Especially in the case of a pressure-controlled pump, this presents numerous problems. Above all, robust control stability is necessary for reliable operation of the pump in the transmission. However, with a constant controller gain designed for the critical operating point of the total system, a corresponding inertia in the dynamics and a huge controller deviation/hysteresis of the total system at non-critical operating points must necessarily be accepted.

Variable displacement transmission pump and controller with adaptive control


The present invention provides a device for cleaning tubes, in particular the internal surfaces of tubes in heat exchange systems. The device comprises a mass (2) with an optionally provided central through-hole (10) disposed thereon, and optionally provided a plurality of protrusions (20, 21) mounted and/or moulded on the mass (2). The through-hole (10) is preferably of a conical shape-like configuration. A plurality of first protrusions (20) is disposed in a fin-like arrangement on the mass (2). A plurality of second protrusions (21) is disposed in a spiral arrangement on the mass (2), and the lengths of the second protrusions (21) are relatively longer than the length of the first protrusions (20). The mass may consist of an asymmetrically positioned weighted core (15) of different weights and sizes to provide a variety of relative density to the device and to serve as a geometrical manipulation to impart rotational momentum and random dynamic motion to the device.

Heat exchangers are employed throughout various installations in different industries with the primary purpose of gaining or rejecting heat. Some of the most common applications of heat exchangers are found in condensers and evaporators for air conditioning systems and production plants. They are also used in other industries like power plants, refineries, desalination plants and petrochemical installations.
Typically, heat exchange systems achieve the purpose of heat transfer by circulating fluid through a bundle of tubes in the system. The nature of fluids flowing within the tubes can result in fouling, for example accumulation of debris, biological growth, build-up of scale and corrosion. As a result, periodic cleaning of the tubes is essential to maintain optimal performance of the heat exchange system. Techniques of tube cleaning are broadly categorized into on-line and off-line methods.
Off-line cleaning methods, for example rod-and-brush method, chemical cleaning method and high-pressure water jetting method, involve an external cleaning process that requires shutting down the entire heat exchange system before cleaning can be initiated. These off-line cleaning methods are time consuming and labour intensive which make them undesirable for installations requiring short turn-around time. In contrast, on-line cleaning methods utilize cleaning systems that clean heat exchanger tubes while the heat exchange system is in continuous operation. On-line cleaning methods are normally automatic, rendering an extended continuous length run between each regular maintenance shutdown. Hence, they are suitable for implementation into installations that either operates for long hours or sensitive to long system shutdown time.
One type of on-line cleaning method involves circulating multiple foam balls through the heat exchange system, whereby the foam balls will remove and push out fouling deposits in every tube they travel through. U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,712 disclosed an abrasive cleaning ball made from sponge rubber material and constituted by short lengths of abrasive material. J.P. Pat. No. 58,244,423 discloses another type of cleaning ball with an oval spherical shape containing fibers. In J.P. Pat. No. 58,016,125, fibers are fixed on a hollow cleaning ball having small holes. This type of cleaning ball was claimed to be much better than conventional sponge ball with respect to the displacement of water and air. Although the aforesaid cleaning balls are used in cleaning conventional tubes with smooth internal surfaces, they may not be as effective in cleaning evolutionary heat exchange systems that employ enhanced tubes.
Traditionally, tubes used in heat exchange systems are manufactured with a smooth internal surface (smooth bore). With the advancement of heat transfer technologies, new features are incorporated onto the tubes to improve the performance and efficiency of heat exchange systems. These hew improved tubes are known as enhanced tubes and super enhanced tubes. In contrast with the conventional smooth bore tubes, the enhanced tubes have an internal "rifling" feature, which is basically a spiral groove inside the tube. The spiral groove provides more surface area for heat transfer and creates more turbulence in the fluid passing through the tubes. In addition, the enhanced tubes have thinner tube walls in comparison with conventional tubes so as to provide a more efficient overall heat transfer.
Efficiency of the heat exchange system is determined by the cleanliness of the heat transfer surfaces of the tubes. In order to maintain the efficiency and life span of the heat exchange system, it is vital to remove any fouling within the tubes. Over the years, the improvement in heat transfer rates by enhancing the tubes has greatly increased the performance and efficiency of heat exchange systems. However, cleaning these enhanced tubes is more difficult and complicated due to its internal spiral groove. The enhanced tubes are more prone to foulings. Their thin tube walls are also more susceptible to localized pitting failure due to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) and under-deposit corrosion. To prevent these types of corrosion, cleaning of the tubes must be constantly and consistently implemented in order to remove the foulings as they occur.
Currently, conventional foam balls are not effective in removing the foul deposits formed on the spiral grooves of internal rifling in enhanced tubes. The conventional foam balls merely translate through the tubes and do not provide positive physical contact to the spiral grooves to effectively remove any foul deposits accumulated there. In order to fully harness the advantages of an on-line cleaning method, there is an imperative need to have a device that is capable of cleaning the spiral grooves of enhanced tubes efficiently and effectively. This invention satisfies this need by disclosing a device for cleaning tubes, in particular enhanced tubes. Other advantages of this invention will be apparent with reference to the detailed description.


A piezoelectric fuel injection system and a method of controlling same are provided which include a piezoelectric fuel injector having a piezoelectric element, a power source adapted to provide power to the piezoelectric element to actuate the piezoelectric fuel injector, and a controller adapted to charge the piezoelectric element to an initial voltage to begin said injection event, to decrease the voltage from the initial voltage to an intermediate voltage, and to increase the voltage from the intermediate voltage to a primary voltage to thereby control the injection rate shape. The initial voltage level is at least approximately equal to said primary voltage level and preferably approximately equal to a maximum voltage rating. The initial voltage duration, the intermediate voltage duration and the magnitude of the intermediate voltage can be changed or varied to modify the injection or rate shape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to piezoelectric injection systems having a mechanism for controlling rate shape, and to methods for controlling such piezoelectric injection systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In most fuel supply systems applicable to internal combustion engines, fuel injectors are used to inject fuel pulses into the engine combustion chamber. A commonly used injector is a closed-nozzle injector which includes a nozzle assembly having a spring-biased nozzle valve element positioned adjacent the nozzle orifice for allowing fuel to be injected into the cylinder. The nozzle valve element also functions to provide a deliberate, abrupt end to fuel injection thereby preventing a secondary injection which causes unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. The nozzle valve is positioned in a nozzle cavity and biased by a nozzle spring so that when the pressure of the fuel within the nozzle cavity exceeds the biasing force of the nozzle spring, the nozzle valve element moves outwardly to allow fuel to pass through the nozzle orifices, thus marking the beginning of the injection event.
In another type of system, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,704, the beginning of injection event is controlled by a servo-controlled needle valve element. The system includes a control volume positioned adjacent an outer end of the needle valve element, a drain circuit for draining fuel from the control volume to a low pressure drain, and an injection control valve positioned along the drain circuit for controlling the flow of fuel through the drain circuit so as to cause the movement of the needle valve element between open and closed positions. Opening of the injection control valve causes a reduction in the fuel pressure in the control volume resulting in a pressure differential which forces the needle valve open, and closing of the injection control valve causes an increase in the control volume pressure and closing of the needle valve.
Internal combustion engine designers have increasingly come to realize that substantially improved fuel supply systems are required in order to meet the ever increasing governmental and regulatory requirements of emissions abatement and increased fuel economy. Specifically, it is known that improved control of fuel metering into the combustion chamber, is essential in reducing the level of emissions generated during combustion process while minimizing fuel consumption, for example, in combustion of diesel fuel. In addition, it is known that improved control of the rate of fuel injected during the course of an injection event, i.e. the rate shape of the injection, is also very important in reducing the level of emissions generated, especially in diesel fuel combustion. As a result, many proposals have been made to provide fuel metering control and rate shape control for closed nozzle fuel injector systems, including such systems that utilize piezoelectric fuel injectors.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,149 to Hayes, Jr. discloses a piezoelectric controlled common rail fuel injector. The piezoelectric actuator controls the movement of an inwardly opening poppet-type control valve for controlling the flow of fuel from a control volume and ultimately, the movement of the nozzle valve element. The reference further discloses that fuel metering is variably controlled by controlling the duration and modulation of the electrical signal that is provided to the piezoelectric actuator. Although the above-described reference provides some control over fuel metering, and thus, control over the amount of fuel injected, the reference does not provide a solution for effectively controlling rate shape of the fuel injections.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,736 to Crofts et al. discloses a piezoelectric fuel injector nozzle assembly having feedback control with a nozzle valve control arrangement that operates to control the movement of the nozzle valve element. The reference discloses that the nozzle valve control arrangement functions to control the quantity of the fuel metered, and also functions as a rate shaping control device for producing a predetermined time varying change in the flow rate of fuel injected into the combustion chamber during an injection event so as to improve combustion and minimize emissions. The reference further discloses that the injection rate shape is controlled by varying the voltage supplied to the piezoelectric actuator based on engine operating conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,129 to Takigawa et al. discloses an injector with an electroexpansive actuator. The actuator voltage is controlled to ultimately vary the movement of a nozzle needle thereby enabling fuel injection at different injection rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,453 to Igashira et al. discloses a method of controlling injection rate shape by applying voltage to piezo actuator such that the injection rate increases slowly when voltage is applied to the piezo actuator and decreases rapidly when voltage is applied to the piezo actuator is stopped, thereby creating a triangular rate shape. The injector uses a three-way valve and a specific size ratio of main and sub orifices to achieve slow needle opening and quick needle closing motion.
Methods of controlling fuel injectors such as that disclosed in Crofts et al. typically provide an input signal, i.e. voltage, current, etc., to a piezoelectric element, an electromagnetic actuator, or a magnetostrictive actuator to thereby operate the fuel injector. As disclosed in Crofts et al., rate shape of fuel injections is also controlled in the same manner by changing the magnitude of the input signal. However, controlling the rate shape of fuel injections by varying the input signal in the manner known has been found to not provide the desired results in various instances when accurate rate shaping would be desirable.
Thus, despite the teachings of the art discussed above, alternative systems and methods for controlling injection rate shape using piezoelectric fuel injectors are desirable to provide further control of combustion and emissions generated by such combustion, and to further improve fuel economy. Therefore, there still exists an unfulfilled need for a piezoelectric fuel injection system having enhanced rate shape control, and a method for controlling a piezoelectric fuel injector in which enhanced rate shape is attained.

Piezoelectric fuel injection system with rate shape control and method of controlling same


A method of displaying a medical image includes displaying a first image that is generated by rendering volume data of an object in a first direction, displaying on the first image a viewer tool for generating a second image, wherein the viewer tool indicates a section of the object, generating the second image by rendering sub-volume data included in the volume data in a second direction which is different from the first direction and indicated by the viewer tool, and displaying at least a part of the second image.

1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments relate to an apparatus and method of displaying a medical image, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of displaying a three-dimensional medical image that is generated by rendering volume data of an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasound system having properties of being non-invasive and non-destructive has been widely used in a medical field to obtain information about the inside of an object. Since the ultrasound system may provide a doctor with a high resolution image of the inside of an object without a surgical operation for directly incising the object to observe the inside of the object, the ultrasound system is very important in the medical field.
In general, the ultrasound system in a state in which a probe is in contact with a surface of the object transmits an ultrasound signal to the object and receives an ultrasound signal (hereinafter, referred to as an echo signal) reflected from the object. The ultrasound system generates an ultrasound image of the object based on the echo signal received through the probe and displays a generated ultrasound signal through a display.
For example, the ultrasound system may generate and display a brightness mode (B Mode) image that represents the strength of the echo signal reflected from the object in terms of brightness or a Doppler mode (D Mode) image that represents a Doppler component extracted from the echo mode in terms of color or waveform. Also, the ultrasound system may generate volume data based on the echo signal reflected from the object and may generate and display a three-dimensional ultrasound image by rendering the volume data.
In providing a three-dimensional ultrasound image, a general ultrasound system generates and displays only three-dimensional ultrasound images of predetermined cross-sections. Accordingly, since a user receives only the three-dimensional ultrasound images rendered in a predetermined direction with regard to the predetermined cross-sections, it is difficult to precisely observe a desired portion in detail.

Apparatus and method of displaying medical image


A method for the transmission of a message by a server of a multimedia IP core network is disclosed. In one aspect, following the reception, by the server, of a request from a terminal to register with the core network, the registration request proposing an authentication method for the establishment of a secure tunnel between the terminal and an entity for the connection of the terminal to the core network. The transmission method may comprise identifying an access network used by the terminal for registering with the multimedia IP core network, drawing-up, according to the identified access network, a recommendation concerning the establishment or otherwise of the secure tunnel between the terminal and the connection entity for the authentication method, and inserting said recommendation into the message transmitted by the server.

The invention relates to the general field of telecommunications, and more particularly to the field of multimedia IP (Internet Protocol) network architectures, such as, notably, network architectures using the technology known as "Voice over IP" (or VoIP).
It has a favored but non-limiting application in the context of multimedia IP core networks based on an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) architecture, as proposed by the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) standard, and implementing the multimedia session initiation protocol SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). The SIP protocol, defined by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard, is described in detail in the document RFC 3261 titled "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", June 2002, published by the IETF.
The invention can, however, be used in association with other multimedia IP core network architectures, such as for example proprietary architectures, which may or may not implement the SIP protocol for the establishment of multimedia sessions (voice, text, video, data, etc.).
The invention more precisely relates to the security of communications between a terminal and a multimedia IP core network.
Telephone companies today have begun the migration of their circuit switching telephone networks to packet switching Voice over IP networks, such as for example VoIP networks based on an IMS architecture.
In these VoIP networks, a terminal may be connected and registered with the IMS core network by way of several access networks, such as, notably, via a 3GPP, xDSL (x Digital Subscriber Line), EPC (Evolved Packet Core), WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), cable, WiMAX (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access) or CDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000) access network.
The 3GPP standard, in its current definition, provides the possibility of establishing a secure link between a terminal and its server for connecting to the IMS core network, in other words between the terminal and the P-CSCF (Proxy-Call Session Control Function) server that is associated with it. This secure link, also known by the name of "secure tunnel" or "security association", results in the encryption (i.e. the enciphering) of the data conveyed between the terminal and the P-CSCF server, and the control of integrity of this data. As described in specifications RFC 3329 and TS 33.203 from the 3GPP, the parameters of this secure link (security protocol used, enciphering or signature algorithms, port numbers used, etc.) are exchanged between the terminal and the P-CSCF server when the terminal registers with the IMS core network. Once this secure link is established, a security association exists between the terminal and the P-CSCF server which guarantees that data transmitted or received by the terminal will not be spied on.
More precisely, when a terminal proposes a method of authentication comprising the establishment of a secure tunnel, it transmits a registration request comprising a "header" (field in the registration request) called "Authorization", as well as a "security-client" header containing:                either the value "ipsec-3gpp", associated with the IPsec (Internet Protocol security) protocol (cf. Section 184.108.40.206.2 of the specification TS 24.229),        or the value "tls", associated with the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol (cf. Section 22.214.171.124.4 of the specification TS 24.229),which are the two secure tunnel mechanisms provided by the 3GPP (cf. Appendix H of the specification TS 33.203). The IPsec protocol is associated with the authentication method known as "IMS AKA", and the TLS protocol is associated with the authentication method known as "SIP digest with TLS".
However, the establishment and maintenance of such a secure tunnel is relatively expensive in resource terms, at terminal level and P-CSCF server level alike. Indeed, enciphering algorithms consume a good deal of CPU (Central Processing Unit) resources, which has an impact on the life of the batteries of the mobile terminals and requires the P-CSCF servers to be dimensioned in consequence.
The impact on the resources of the mobile terminals is further increased by the fact that the secure tunnel provided by the 3GPP standard is superimposed on the enciphering procedures already implemented by certain mobile access networks, such as the enciphering procedures provided for the protection of the information transmitted by the mobile terminals to SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) nodes for the control plane and BTS (Base Transceiver Station) or Node B nodes for the user plane of GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network) and UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) networks, or to MME (Mobility Management Entity) entities for the control plane and e-NodeB entities for the user plane of LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks.
In other words, for these access networks, the data exchanged between the terminal and the multimedia IP core network are enciphered a first time by the enciphering procedures set up by the access networks, then the enciphered data obtained are enciphered a second time in the secure tunnel established between the terminal and the multimedia IP core network.
It should moreover be noted that one and the same terminal will be required to establish several communication channels on the user plane according to the services used (Internet, Voice over LTE, etc.), and for each of them a secure tunnel could be installed between the terminal and the access network.
If this multiple enciphering of data guarantees maximum protection of the data transmitted or received by the terminals, it also considerably reduces the autonomy of the terminals.

Method for the transmission of a message by a server of an IMS multimedia IP core network, and server