An exemplary receiver equalizer includes a first decision feedback equalizer (DFE) sampler coupled to a summer, the first DFE to latch an equalized output of the summer. The first branch includes a second DFE sampler coupled to the first DFE sampler, the second DFE to latch an output of the first DFE sampler. The first branch includes a third DFE sampler coupled to the second DFE sampler, the third DFE to latch an output of the second DFE sampler. The summer coupled to the first, second, and third DFE samplers of the first branch, the summer to integrate the output of said DFE samplers, the received signal, and equalized outputs from one or more other branches, wherein the integrating occurs over a plurality of unit intervals (UIs).

In serial data communication, the channel through which information is transmitted (e.g., chip-to-chip or backplane interconnects,) imposes a limit on the bandwidth capacity, or rate at which information may pass through the channel. One significant limitation on achievable bandwidth is known as inter-symbol interference (ISI), which occurs when a portion of a signal representative of one bit of information interferes with a different portion of the signal representative of a different bit of information.
To overcome bandwidth limited chip-to-chip and backplane interconnects at high data rates, conventional high-speed transceivers implement a combination of a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) on the Receiver (RX) side as well as a Feed Forward Equalization (FFE) on the Transmitter (TX) side. Although RX DFE has advantages such as not amplifying noise, it has a very strict timing constraint of one unit interval (UI) for the feedback path. Given the current transceiver data rates, one UI can be as small as 35.7 pico seconds (ps), which is very difficult to meet, even for cutting edge manufacturing processes.
For example, FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional architecture of a quarter-rate equalizer 100 comprising DFE samplers 031-034 for sampling/determining the value of an incoming signal based on the current integration performed by main taps 011-014 and DFE taps 021-024. The DFE taps 021-024 are constrained to integrate the current of signals from various DFE samplers 031-034 within one UI from when the sampler inputs become available.
A few techniques have been adopted in the industry to mitigate this timing constraint. For example, time-interleaving techniques such as half-rate or quarter-rate architecture can relax the DFE timing constraint for the second DFE tap and onward, but the DFE first tap timing constraint remains at one UI. Although loop unrolling can eliminate the analog settling time from the one UI timing constraint, loop unrolling adds incurs additional hardware resources, and also results in more power dissipation.
Recent transceiver designs use FFE in the TX side to equalize part of the channel losses. There are several drawbacks of putting FFE on the TX side. The first significant impact is related to the limit on the amplitude of the transmitted signal on the TX side. This limitation on the amplitude implies that, when equalization is used, the total energy sent from the TX to the far end receiver (RX) is reduced.
Conventional architectures implement back-channel communication between the RX and TX as a way to tune the TX FFE coefficients following the RX requests. Back-channel communication costs extra hardware. Additionally, it can be difficult to find a combined optimal solution for FFE and DFE, given a long feedback latency of the back-channel, as well as the limited resolution of the far-end TX. Moreover, after channel attenuation and reflection, TX FFE becomes less effective as compared to directly applying FFE in the far end RX. Given these and other disadvantages, putting FFE on the RX side is becoming more popular.
The impact of pre-cursor ISI on receiver performance becomes significant for interconnects operating at 10 Gbps and above. The higher the link speed, the higher the potential impact of the pre cursor ISI on the recovered eye diagram. An eye diagram is generated by superimposing a stream of pulses of "0's" and "1's." Ideally, an eye diagram has a rectangular shape because the "0's" and "1's" pulses have perfect edges (i.e., zero rise and fall time). Due to ISI, the received pulses become imperfect, and the resulting diagram looks more like an "eye." As ISI increases, the eye diagram looks more and more like a closed/narrower eye. Received signals having a closed-eye characteristic are less effective in driving the FFE filter, resulting in an equalizer having little benefit.
Unlike DFE, which can only equalize post cursors of impulse response, FFE is able to equalize pre cursors as well. Conventional architectures of RX FFE require analog elements (such as inductors and capacitors) in order to create a one UI distance between taps. These analog elements typically occupy a large area and are difficult to integrate into a System-on-Chip (SOC). Furthermore, at very high speeds, the insertion loss is significant, leading to a closed eye diagram at the receiver pads even, after a Continuous Time Linear Equalizer (CTLE) has been applied to the input signal.
More recently, some equalizers implement FFE filters by feed forwarding the input signal held at the SNH directly to the current integration logic. Such conventional architectures also result in a closed eye at the receiver at high data rates because the insertion loss is significant at high speeds. For example, the quarter-rate equalizer 101 of FIG. 1B consists of pre/post cursor taps 131-134 for integrating the current of the outputs of sample and hold (SNH) 121-124. As used herein, current integration refers to the process of summing/adding current onto a capacitive load. As illustrated, SNH 121-124 outputs are based on un-equalized outputs of SNH 101-104. Thus, the performance of pre/post cursor taps 131-134 is reduced because they integrate based on un-equalized signals, resulting in a closed eye at the receiver at high data rates.

Power and area efficient receiver equalization architecture with relaxed DFE timing constraint


This invention relates to shoes with an automatic shoestring tying/untying device, and particularly to an automatic shoestring tying or untying device which is synchronous with wearing/taking-off action, and in which the tightness is adjustable. The device has a tying mechanism, slidable action and adjustment mechanism in the sole space, and shoestrings are inserted in the tying mechanism and extending through a shuttle piece and adjustment mechanism. The shuttle piece slides back and forth to let shoestring be tightened when wearing the shoes or to be automatically loosened in accordance with taking off the shoes. Adjustment of the arm adjusts the shuttle piece moving stroke to adjust the tightness of the shoestrings.

Shoes are an essential product to every modern person. In order to make wearing comfortable and easy, manufacturers are working hard to present new products one after another not only in respect of fashion but also in respect to innovation relating to other functions. However, referring to a wearing/taking-off device, no improved design has been found, i.e. wearing/taking-off structure remains as tying shoestrings for wearing, shoestringfree wearing structure and zipper type wearing structure. Both of the latter are provided to solve the trouble arising from tying or untying shoestrings during wearing or taking off the shoes. For shoes with shoestrings, if it is desired to wear the shoes or take them off, one must tie up the shoestring for wearing, and has to untie it for taking off the shoes. Therefore, in order to avoid the trouble arising from tying and untying the shoestring, some consumers have chosen shoes without shoestring or with a zipper. There are other people who intend to avoid the trouble arising from wearing/taking off shoes, and thus they have not tightly tied up the shoestring to allow their feet to be inserted directly into the shoes or they may take off the shoes by raising their feet from the expansive mouth of the shoes. Nevertheless, in such a tying manner, the shoes would swing up and down following the feet moving forward resulting in deformation and damage of the shoe body. There is also known a winding assembly mounted on the vamp with a flexible false shoestring, whereby its flexibility can expand the shoes mouth to facilitate taking the shoe off. However, after using several times, its flexibility will become fatigued and cause discomfort.

Shoes with automatic shoestring tying/untying mechanism

No. 1, Alley 9, Lane 250, sec 2, Cheng Gung RD.


Various embodiments described in the disclosure relate to wireless sensor systems. Some embodiments specifically relate to unitary modules for sensing, power, processing, communication, and data storage; and that may be connected by a common interface to form a wireless sensor system.

The current operating methods used in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) depend on a large number of technical, operational, and managerial staff. This is due to the large number of non-automated systems, sub-systems and components, all of which require extensive manual monitoring and manual operation. The surveillance of the position of manual valves is typically performed to confirm the operating position. Human surveillance sometimes requires that a technician physically travel to a manual valve, make a first surveillance to verify the position (open/close, partially open in throttling position, etc.), and communicate this information to a remote location. This may be followed by a second independent technician to verify the position to meet the nuclear quality and documentation requirements of the nuclear industry. This presents human error opportunities, nuclear safety challenges, regulatory compliance impacts, and personnel safety hazards. In an NPP there are thousands of manually operated valves that do not have a position indication device, requiring manual surveillance to verify their position.
Although the manual valve positions are currently verified using manual methods, the possibility of incorrect information, regulatory non-compliance and personnel safety risk is high.
Wireless sensor technology is sometimes used to communicate the position of valves to a remote location without endangering personnel or from a location where personnel cannot enter. Wireless sensor technology is deployed for instrumentation and control applications in many industries. The promise of lower installation cost, while achieving reliable monitoring of process parameters at many locations drives many existing instrument and measurement vendors to incorporate wireless sensor technology. Conventional wireless sensors typically consist of a proprietary sensor integrated in an instrument that is used together with other instruments from the same manufacture, using the same power supplies, same processor and communication technology, and same system software.
Conventional wireless valve position sensors are typically integrated in a valve or are added to a valve before qualification. Notably, if the position sensor needs to be replaced in such systems then the entire valve must be requalified. Even if conventional wireless position sensors are retrofitted on to a valve, it requires valve body disassembly and modification, in such cases the entire valve must be requalified and it is a time consuming and expensive process.

Sensor system and implementation of the same


The present disclosure relates generally to a system and method, and more particularly to a system and method of pre-approving applicants for visa processing using an emerging country's international travel approval control card, i.e. an electronic data card that includes biometric verification means for verifying a biometric identifier stored thereon, used to uniquely identify the card holder to a local foreign embassy as pre-approved for visa application processing.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001 many developed countries have implemented new security measures with more stringent rules in an effort to minimize and/or eliminate the threat of terrorism within their country's borders. One such recent measure requires permanent residents who would like to visit a G8 foreign country to return to their birth country to apply for visas from the foreign embassy of the intended destination country. However, many permanent residents have established their roots abroad in the countries in which they reside, with minimal or no ties with their birth country having migrated many years earlier. These visa applicants, who may be model permanent residents, are now at a disadvantage as foreign embassies generally require proof of residency in the birth country, i.e. demonstrate sufficient ties exemplifying an intent to return. Therefore, a visa applicant may be asked to produce documentary evidence like bank records for a local bank account, utility bills showing a local resident address, mortgage or lease statements, and/or demonstrate civic involvement and the like in an interview. With these requirements in place, a significant number of visa applicants will be unable to qualify for foreign visas as they lack the necessary documentation.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many permanent residents either cannot, or choose not to return to their birth country because of political reasons, threat of violence, e.g. robbery, kidnapping, etc. Accordingly, requiring permanent residents to return to their birth country to apply for foreign visas effectively places an unnecessary limitation on permanent resident's ability to travel. Thus, there needs to be a system and method for allowing permanent residents residing in foreign countries to obtain foreign visas without having to return to their birth country to obtain the same. It is understood that any such process needs to be implemented without compromising the approval process for granting visas.
Accordingly, the various embodiments and disclosures described herein satisfies these long felt needs and solves the limitations of the prior art in a new and novel manner.

System and method of pre-approving applicants for visa processing using an emerging country's international travel approval control card


An operations scheduler and a method of scheduling I/O operations to be processed by a memory drive are disclosed. The method includes receiving I/O operations, and for each one of them determining an estimated processing time, and an estimated processing period indicative of an estimated deadline. The method also includes determining a scheduled order of I/O operations based on the respective estimated deadlines. The method also includes monitoring an actual processing time for the I/O operations and adjusting a virtual time of the operations scheduler if a given actual processing time is above a given estimated processing time of a given I/O operation.

Storage requirements for storing digital data are continuously increasing due to the large volume of digital data that is being created everyday. For example, various types of user data, organization data and/or application data may need to be stored. This increases the demand for data storage capacity. Cloud storage systems may provide data storage capacity to users and/or organizations in order to cope with these increasing storage capacity requirements.
Generally speaking, cloud storage is a model of computer storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools. The physical storage, where the digital data is actually stored, spans multiple servers, possibly located in different locations (i.e. different data centers), and is typically managed by a company hosting cloud storage services. Users and/or organizations usually buy or lease storage capacity from cloud storage service providers in order to store their digital data. In return, cloud storage service providers are responsible for keeping the digital data available and accessible while ensuring that the physical storage is protected for avoiding data loss.

Method and system for scheduling I/O operations for processing


Method of supplying oil from a first floating structure to an offloading structure, includes providing a flexible duct extending between the two structures at a water depth of between 50 m and 500 m, the duct including a flexible elastomeric material and having an internal diameter of at least 600 mm and a length of between 1500 and 3000 m,                providing at least one pump at the first structure and pumping the oil through the duct at a pressure between 5 bar and at a flow rate between 1000 and 50,000 m3/hr,        providing a single flexible duct, and        providing a wall thickness of the duct such that at water temperatures between 2° C. and 20° C., the oil has at the first structure an inlet temperature Tin and at the second structure an outlet temperature T0 that Tin-T0 is smaller that or equal to 15° C., preferably smaller than 5° C.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of supplying oil from a first floating structure to an offloading structure, comprising the steps of:
providing a flexible duct extending between the two structures at a water depth of between 50 m and 500 m, the duct comprising a flexible elastomeric material and having an internal diameter of at least 600 mm and a length of between 1,500 and 3,000 m, and providing at least one pump at the first structure and pumping the oil through the duct at a pressure between 5 bar and 30 bar and at a flow rate between 1,000 and 50,000 m3/hr.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such flexible ducts are known from WO 02/44607, in which a marine hose is described which may have a length of 2 km or more, extending between an oil rig, FPSO, TLP, SPAR or Semi submersible, and an offloading buoy, such as a catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) buoy, at depths between 80 and 30 meters. The known hose consists of 12-meter elastomeric segments with an internal diameter of 600 mm having end coupling flanges. The known duct is applied as a bundle of parallel ducts for increased capacity.
Rigid steel pipes are also used for transfer of crude oil, and generally have a diameter of 24″ such that multiple ducts are used in parallel for obtaining sufficient capacity. The transfer pipes extending horizontally below water level between the floating structure and the offloading buoy are supported by floaters. Due to the weight of the steel pipes and their limited flexibility, these steel pipes are subject to metal fatigue.
When hydrocarbons, such as oils are transported through the known mid-water transfer pipes, heat loss through these pipes results in increased viscosity of the hydrocarbons and reduced flow capacity.

Method of supplying oil from a floating production structure to an offloading buoy via a thermally insulated flexible transfer duct


This invention provides a color silver halide photographic element having improved color saturation and a method of developing the photographic element. The photographic element comprises at least a first and a second silver halide emulsion layer each sensitized to a different region of the spectrum with at least one of the emulsion layers being in reactive association with a DIR compound which can release an anionic development inhibitor. The photographic element further contains a barrier layer containing an anionic latex polymer such that the barrier layer is positioned further from the support than the first and second silver halide emulsion layers.

Silver halide color photographic recording materials typically comprise a support onto which are applied distinct layers which vary in composition and function. Some of these layers include silver halide emulsions sensitized to a specific spectral region. Generally there are at least three sensitized silver halide layers in a color photographic material, a cyan dye layer, a magenta dye layer and a yellow dye layer. Additionally, these silver halide color photographic materials will often employ two, three or more layers which vary in the degree of sensitivity to a specific spectral region, for example a fast cyan layer and a slow cyan layer.
Other layers are incorporated for ancillary purposes which include, but are not limited to, isolating the light sensitive silver halide layers from one another and protecting the light sensitive silver halide emulsions from handling and environmental damage. Many arrangements and combinations of such individual layers are known in the art.
Various compounds, particularly couplers, that are capable of releasing a development inhibitor during photographic processing are known in the photographic art. Examples of such compounds are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,227,554; 3,384,657; 3,379,529; 3,615,506; 3,617,291; 3,620,746; 3,701,783; 3,733,201; 4,049,455; 4,095,984; 4,248,962; 4,409,323; and 4,962,018, as well as in "Development-Inhibitor-Releasing (DIR) Couplers in Color Photography", C. R. Barr, J. R. Thirtle and P. W. Vittum in Photographic Science and Engineering, vol. 13, page 174 (1969).
Development inhibitor releasing compounds, known as DIR compounds, are used in silver halide color photographic materials to influence many photographic properties. These uses include but are not limited to the control of intralayer developability, i.e. the control of the gamma of a photographic layer with which they are reactively associated and the control of interlayer interimage effects, i.e. the control of the developability or gamma of other photographic layers . They can also be used to control granularity and sharpness.
One use of development inhibitors is to affect the color saturation of a color image. The color saturation of an object is the colorfulness of that object as judged in proportion to the brightness of an otherwise similar gray object. In a like vein, the color saturation attained in a photographic image of an object is related to the differences between the color densities formed in photographically reproducing that object and the color densities formed in photographically reproducing an otherwise similar (as to brightness) gray object. These differences in color density formation resulting from differences in the color of an object can be augmented by several means. One of these means is by application of the Interlayer Interimage Effect (IIE) as induced by the imagewise release of a development inhibitor from a DIR compound during development of the photographic material.
In practice, high levels of color saturation can be attained when a color photographic material is designed such that development inhibitors released as a function of development in one color record have a large development inhibiting effect on development in the other color records. By this expedient, the color densities formed in photographically reproducing a colored object are caused to be greatly different from the color densities formed in photographically reproducing an otherwise similar (as to brightness) gray object. For example, the red density produced in a negative image of a red object will be greater than the red density produced in a negative image of an otherwise similar (as to brightness) gray object when development inhibitors released as a function of development in a green-light or blue-light sensitive layer (layers rendered developable by exposure to the gray object but not by exposure to the red object) have a large development inhibiting effect on the red-light sensitive layer. However, often during processing the development inhibitors diffuse out of the photographic element before they can fully enhance color saturation thus leaving a finished product which is dull and unappealling. One method of increasing color saturation is to retain the development inhibitor within the photographic element.
It is known to utilize scavenger layers for released development inhibitors to prevent the diffusion of such inhibitors. Such scavenger layers include the use of Lippmann emulsions in layers above, between or below image forming emulsion layers to inhibit the migration of development inhibitor either between layers or from the element to the developing solution other inhibitor adsorbing layers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,984,245 and 4,055,429. Polymers which mordant or scavenge development inhibitor, however, remove it from the system and the photographic material would require a higher concentration of DIR compound to provide the desired color saturation.
A need still exists for a color photographic silver halide element showing a high degree of color saturation and a means of conveniently adjusting the degree of color saturation provided by such an element. Use of DIR compounds alone has not proven adequate to fully meet the needs of users of such color recording materials while the use of scavenging or mordanting polymers or other mordanting species in combination with DIR compounds does not adequately address this need.

Photographic silver halide material with improved color saturation


An apparatus for characterizing well effluents comprises coiled tubing, an artificial lift mechanism attached to the coiled tubing and a logging tool fitted with sensors capable of characterizing well effluents associated with operation of the artificial lift mechanism. Also a method for characterizing well effluents that includes lowering a logging tool fitted with a multitude of sensors capable of characterizing well effluents with a cable and lowering an artificial lift mechanism on coiled tubing capable of flowing well effluent past the logging tool. Further a method for treating a well including characterizing well effluents by lowering a logging tool fitted with a multitude of sensors capable of characterizing well effluents on a cable and lowering an artificial lift mechanism on coiled tubing capable of flowing well effluent past the logging tool; and injecting a treatment into a desired formation selected using information obtained while characterizing the well effluents.

A typical well has a metal lining called a casing that extends throughout several subsurface formation strata; each formation may contain different fluids such as water, gas, oil or a mixture thereof. The aim of the casing is to isolate the different formations and their fluids. To produce only the desired effluents, the casing is perforated at the depth the formation contains the desired fluids and the other zones are left unperforated to prevent unwanted fluids at other depths from flowing into the casing. The effluents are removed from the well through the use of a second pipe lowered inside the casing called production tubing by either the inherent pressure of the fluid in the formation or by the use of artificial lift mechanisms if the formation pressure is not sufficient to lift the well's effluents on its own. Typically the produced effluents are a mix of fluids such as oil, gas and water. Depending on the percentage of each type of effluent, the well will perform as expected or not. A high water production might produce sufficient hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore to counteract the formation pressure and therefore not allow the effluents to reach the surface on its own. A production facility may not be equipped to handle high production rates of gas. Most wells, at a given point of their life need to be evaluated to correct problems with the well's equipment, low production or excess of unwanted effluents.
To evaluate hydrocarbon or water well production, the industry regularly relies on what are commonly known as logging tools. Depending on the information required, these logging tools might also be called production logging tools. Such tools have packaged sensors to characterize formation and fluid properties. The logging tools are typically lowered into the wellbore via a cable through the well's production tubing. Alternatively the production logging tools can be lowered via slick line (a cable with no conductors), coiled tubing, production tubing or similar means. The reason for using production logging tools in a well are varied and common throughout the life of a well: to investigate water entry, a reduction of production rates, gas entry, paraffin production, casing collapse, commingled production, thief zones, bad cementing, perforating efficiency and many others. The use of production logging tools is the cheapest, widest used and most convenient way to evaluate possible current or future problems in the life of a producing well but there is one condition needed: the well has to be flowing at a minimum volume of effluents in order to evaluate it.
Typically wells logged with these production logging tools are capable of flowing by themselves by initially lowering the hydrostatic column but inevitably the producing formation will deplete as hydrocarbon, gas or water is produced so the pressure from the formation will eventually not be enough to push the effluents to the surface without help. Increasingly a vast number of producing wells are depleting to the point the hydrocarbon needs to be extracted by other means generally called artificial lift mechanisms. Such artificial lift mechanisms include gas lift, electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), downhole pumps, swabbing, "pumping jacks" and numerous other mechanisms which a person skilled in the art will have no problem recognizing. Some estimates widely used in the industry indicates 70% of the world's producing oil fields are in a depletion stage known as "brown fields" needing one or another artificial lift mechanism to produce as the formation pressure is insufficient to lift the effluents to surface at economical rates.
One of the preferred methods for artificially lifting effluents to the surface in these depleted or low rate producing wells is to use a downhole pump. These pumps are generally electrically driven by lowering a power cable from surface to the pump located at the lower end of the production tubing. The design of such pumps do not allow any logging tools to go through it and therefore making it impossible to evaluate the well without retrieving the downhole pump. With the downhole pump in place, the well may produce at the rate required to collect meaningful production logging information but there is not a physical path to lower the production logging tools to the producing formation in order to evaluate it. On the other hand if the downhole pump is retrieved from downhole to allow the production tools to reach the formation needing to be evaluated, then the lack of a downhole pump prevents the producing well from producing the minimum production of effluents needed to evaluate it.
The industry has tried for a long time to find ways to characterize the formation and produced fluids from this type of depleted wells. One such attempt is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,048 dated Feb. 16, 1993, entitled "Method and apparatus for logging a well below a downhole pump" issued to Brian Foster et al., where the inventors propose the use of a production logging tool below a downhole pump with all the equipment needed lowered via production tubing. The method described in the above mentioned patent requires the production logging tools to be lowered into the wellbore to a predetermined depth, then the wireline cable used for lowering and communicating with the production logging tools is cut and fed through a series of adapters designed to pass the wireline cable from the outside of the production tubing to the inside of the production tubing; as each of the joints of production tubing are lowered into the borehole the wireline cable is attached at surface to support the production logging tool, the production logging tool remains at the same depth as the joints of production tubing are lowered one by one; the cable is disconnected every time a new joint is fed at surface, the surface side of the cable is then passed through the new production tubing joint and re-attached to the downhole end of the wireline cable; once the bottom of the production tubing reaches the production logging tool, the tools is "housed" in a protecting sleeve while the well head equipment (blowout preventor, pressure gear, etc.) is rigged up at the surface to be able to flow the well safely. After the safety equipment is rigged up, the downhole pump is started so the well starts producing and the production logging tools are freed from the protective sleeve; the production logging tools is now free to go up and down recording the required data to characterize the formation and effluents.
A proposed alternate solution to logging wells that will not flow on its own is described in United Kingdom Patent Application No. GB2383357 filed on Dec. 17, 2002, entitled "A system and method for logging and modifying the flow of downhole fluids" by Peter Schrenkel et al. wherein an artificial lift mechanism is lowered into the wellbore together with a production logging tool and a retrievable fluid barrier. These components are lowered at the same time with the production logging tool "housed" inside a protective sleeve. The aim is to plug a segment of the wellbore, characterize the formation and effluents for that perforated interval and then retrieve the fluid barrier. The wireline cable is passed from the inside of the protective sleeve to the outside and the wireline cable and the means used to lower the inventive apparatus are lowered into the wellbore at the same time. Once the retrievable fluid barrier is set in place, the production logging tool is free to move up or down in order to characterize the formation and effluents. Once the required information is collected the production logging tool is returned to the protective sleeve and the retrievable fluid barrier is retrieved to be repositioned and the process started again as needed.
It is an object of the present application to provide an improved apparatus and method for characterizing well effluents and a method for treating a well that avoids one or more of the problems with prior art apparatus and methods and/or provides one or more benefits over prior art apparatus and methods.

Method and apparatus for logging a well below a submersible pump deployed on coiled tubing


A method and apparatus for signaling power management events between integrated circuit devices in a computer system. The method includes the step of receiving in a first device one of a plurality of signals indicating a power management event that affects power management of a second device. The method also includes the step of encoding the signal received and transmitting the encoded signal to a power management device. The encoded signal is decoded in the power management device and a particular power management signal is transmitted to the second device from the power management device. In one embodiment, the step of encoding includes configuring a plurality of serial bits for transmission to the power management device, wherein the particular configuration of the serial bits indicates particular power management information.

As computer systems become larger and more complex, power management continues to be a major design concern. This is true regardless of whether the computer system is on a large industrial hardware platform or a compact, mobile hardware platform. Power management concerns vary in type and in number between different system platforms. For example, power management is most critical in a mobile system because the system may be required to operate for extended periods on power supplied by a lightweight battery. In mobile systems, power to system components may be shut off under a greater number of conditions than in other systems. In addition, power management schemes differ between hardware platforms depending upon their complexity. A large industrial platform, for example, may use a particular computer system to perform many more tasks involving many more devices than would a mobile platform using a similar computer system.
Prior computer systems have commonly been designed as a set of integrated circuit components that perform different system tasks and are designed to be interconnected. The components of a typical computer system include a processor, a cache memory, a main memory, and one or more bridge devices for handling communications between devices on different buses of the system. For example, in a system with components on an industry standard architecture (ISA) bus and components on a peripheral component interface (PCI) bus, a bridge component is connected to both of the buses and provides a signal path between them.
A typical bridge component between a PCI and an ISA bus includes buffers for temporary storage of data to be transferred, arbitration circuits for gaining control of the PCI bus and the ISA bus and power management circuitry. Power management circuitry typically generates power management signals for transfer to system components from peripheral components. Examples of power management signals are interrupt signals sent to the processor and direct memory access signals sent to the main memory. Power management signals often require the receiving component to exit a low power state.
There are disadvantages associated with the traditional arrangement of computer systems that locates power management circuitry in a system component such as a bridge component. One disadvantage is that such an arrangement requires the component comprising the power management circuitry to include a separate physical path for each inter-component signal indicating a power management event. Different component packages use different arrangements for transmitting signals to and from the component package. An example of a traditional physical signal path is a pin of a dual in-line package (DIP). More recently, components are designed with small solder connections, or balls. Regardless of the component package style or the particular signal paths used, it is desirable to provide a minimum number of inter-component signal paths because they represent space taken in a system and expense in manufacture.
In prior systems, approximately 30 inter-component signal paths are devoted to transmitting signals that indicate power management events.
Another disadvantage is that integrated circuit area is used by the power management circuitry, making the computer system itself larger and more expensive to produce. Another, significant disadvantage exists with prior computer systems that have power management circuitry located on a system component. Power management circuitry is typically designed for the computer system as used with a particular hardware platform, e.g., a desktop platform. If it is desired to use the same system in another platform, e.g., a mobile hardware platform, the power management circuitry is typically not capable of handling the additional power management functions required. When this is the case, it is necessary to adapt the computer system to the hardware platform somehow.
Currently, separate components are used in addition to the computer system components when the computer system components can not handle all power management functions. Usually, these components are microcontrollers that include microcode designed for a particular application. The prior microcontroller components have disadvantages and limitations. A disadvantage is that the microcontroller requires a separate inter-component signal path for each signal it may receive indicating a power management event. This makes the microcontroller component large. A limitation of prior microcontroller power management components is that they are coupled to the ISA bus rather than to the PCI bus. For this reason, prior power management components cannot monitor the PCI bus, detect central processing unit (CPU) and PCI bus activity relating to power management and respond by transmitting appropriate signals.
What is needed is a computer system that is portable between hardware platforms and that does not require extensive circuitry and inter-component signal paths for power management. A separate power management component is also needed to operate with the computer system on different hardware platforms and efficiently handle all power management events associated with the hardware platform.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a particular computer system to operate on different hardware platforms without the addition of extra circuitry or inter-component signal paths to handle power management events that are unique to a particular hardware platform.

Method and apparatus for signaling power management events between two devices


A naphthopyran compound represented by the formula (I):

Photochromism is a well known physical phenomenon that is observed with certain classes of chemical compounds. A detailed discussion of this phenomenon can be found in "Photochromism: Molecules and Systems", Studies in Organic Chemistry 40, edited by H. Durr and H. Bouas-Laurent, Elsevier, 1990.
A number of substituted 3H-naphtho[2,1-b]pyrans are known to be capable of exerting a reversible photochromic effect as described for example in WO 99/31082, U.S. Pat. No. 6,630,597, U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,090, U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,853, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,005. However, none of these 3H-naphtho[2,1-b]pyrans compounds are reported to have dichroic properties.
Passive photochromic devices, i.e. devices containing photochromic dyes whose absorbance depends only from the presence or absence of UV light, typically exhibit rather quick activation (coloration) but it generally takes several minutes or even tens of minutes to revert from the coloured to the bleached state. This slow fading is a severe drawback for the user of photochromic glasses who has to take them off to have clear vision when leaving the sunlight and entering dimmer light conditions.
Therefore, there is a need for photochromic dyes exhibiting not only good photochromic properties, such as high absorption in the coloured state, fast colouring and fading rates, but which also may be capable of dichroism and linear light polarization when in a spatially ordered condition, for example when incorporated into liquid crystals or oriented polymer host materials.

3H-naphtho [2,1-B] pyrans as photochromic dichroic dyes and optical article containing them

Abstract: wherein:                n1, n2, p, q is an integer comprised from 0 to 5 inclusive; m is an integer comprised from 0 to 4 inclusive;        R1 and R2 represent a group selected from halogen, —Ra, —OH, —ORa, —SH, —SRa, —NH2, —NRaRa1, —NRbRc, —CO—Ra, and —CO2Ra1, wherein Ra, Ra1, Rb and Rc, are as defined in the description;        R3 represents a group selected from halogen, —Ra, —OH, —ORa, —SH, —SRa, —NH2, and —NRaRa1;        R4 represents a group selected from halogen, —Ra, —OH, —ORa, —SH, —SRa, —NH2, —NRaRa1, —CO—Ra, and —CO2Ra1;        R5 represents a group selected from:                    halogen, —Ra, —OH, —ORa, —SH, —SRa, —NH2, and —NRaRa1, wherein Ra and Ra1 are as defined hereinbefore,            or when q is equal to 2, then two R5 together represent further a group —O—(CH2)q1—O— wherein q1 represents an integer comprised from 1 to 3 inclusive.

Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d'Optique)


A method of performing a medical procedure includes providing a radiation-shielding cubicle having an interior defining a medical personnel region and including a first wall having an opening therein, locating the cubicle with respect to an x-ray table so a portion of the x-ray table extends through the opening into the interior of the cubicle, and separating medical personnel from an x-ray emitter disposed outside of the cubicle using the first wall to shield the medical personnel from radiation emitted by the x-ray emitter.

X-rays are used in a wide variety of medical procedures, many of which require medical personnel to be in direct contact with the patient, thereby exposing such personnel to radiation.
As presently configured, x-ray laboratories produce x-ray exposure to the patient and to the operator and associated technicians. Since patients undergo a limited number of exposures, cumulative radiation exposure to the individual patient is rarely a significant health concern. However, operators and health care personnel performing numerous procedures per year over many years may be exposed to significant cumulative radiation doses over time, which may have adverse effects. See David A. Clark, Editorial Comment, 51 Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 265 (2000); Stephen Balter, An Overview of Radiation Safety Regulatory Recommendations and Requirements, 47 Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 469 (1999).
For this reason, both fixed and mobile lead shields are employed in fluoroscopic procedures to minimize radiation exposure. Such shields typically are constructed of radiation resistant plates suspended on bars that are adjusted to be interposed between the operators and the patient on the x-ray table. Despite the use of these shields, medical personnel are still exposed to radiation. It is therefore imperative that personnel wear leaded protective clothing (including full lead aprons, thyroid collars and leaded glasses). In addition, the doctors or other operators perform these radiologic procedures many hours per day and several days per week over many years throughout their medical careers. This long term, cumulative exposure may cause adverse effects. Furthermore, the wearing of heavy lead aprons may have long term deleterious effects resulting in disabling disorders of the spine in a significant number of operators. See Allan Mr. Rose, et al., Prevalence of Spinal Disc Disease Among Interventional Cardiologists, 79 American Journal of Cardiology 68 (1997).
There are patents teaching systems for protecting and shielding against radiation in x-ray laboratories. The patents describe various shields made of radiation resistant material that are either mobile or attached to the x-ray table and can be adjusted between the operators and the x-ray source. Though there are numerous shapes and designs for these shields, and although they may be constructed of various materials, they do not sufficiently protect against radiation exposure, and medical personnel must still wear heavy and encumbering leaded protective clothing. Furthermore, such leaded protective aprons, collars and glasses do not fully protect the operator as they leave substantial portions of legs, arm and head exposed.
Despite dramatic technological evolution of the imaging systems employed for diagnostic and therapeutic radiological procedures, the fundamental architecture of the radiological x-ray laboratory and its ancillary components have not changed appreciably over the last 50 years. For example, in the present configuration of a typical cardiac catheterization laboratory, there is a fixed floor or ceiling mounted radiological C-arm along with the ancillary electrical and computer equipment necessary to run the x-ray system. However, in order to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, such a laboratory requires multiple other capital equipment items, as well as disposables. These items may include a fluoroscopy table, manual controls for the table, fluoroscopy monitors positioned some distance away from the procedure site and out of the operator's preferred line of site, physiological sensors and instruments for monitoring the patient, at least one staging area often located behind the surgeon or at the patient's groin area, and various other surgical tools and medical disposables. In the present configurations, neither these items nor the laboratory itself are optimized for procedural efficiency or radiation protection of the medical personnel within the laboratory.
When working with a patient on an x-ray table, doctors and other medical personnel can be exposed to primary radiation that emanates directly from the source or can be exposed to secondary radiation that is reflected or scattered by an object such as the x-ray detector, the x-ray table, and even the patient. No prior invention has sufficiently reduced the primary and secondary radiation exposure of operators in an x-ray laboratory and addressed its inefficiencies of such a lab by using a radiation protection system comprising a shielding cubicle, screen, flexible interface and integrated operations environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The container can be locked into a stack of containers. A container cover locks onto the top of a container base to define a sealed area for storage. Additionally, the bottom of a second container base can be locked onto the top of the cover of a first container. In this fashion, when closed containers are stacked, they form a locked stack that is more structurally rigid and therefore less precarious than a traditional, non-locked container stack. When not in use, the bases can be formed into a nested stack, and their covers can be locked together to form a locked cover stack. The locked cover stack can be locked to either the top or bottom of the nested base stack to form a rigid stack. In some embodiments, a cover can be turned upside down and its bottom face locked onto the bottom face of a base.

Rigid, thermoplastic food containers are generally known. Users often accumulate a large number of these containers in different sizes and shapes. When not in use, the containers are often stored haphazardly into drawers. In this case, the unused containers take up a great deal of room, and finding a matching base and cover in a disarranged drawer may be difficult. To avoid this, some users stack the containers in cabinets. While the bases of the containers usually nest and therefore take up less room than in a disorganized drawer, it may still be difficult to match a base with a cover. In addition, the covers may not stack and the covers may tend to topple down. When the containers are in use to store food, the containers are often stacked one on top of another in cabinets or in a refrigerator. These stacks may be precarious, and their fall may cause food to spill from the container. Many users would find it desirable if the containers, whether empty or in use, could be stored in a manner space efficient, less precarious, and more structurally rigid. The present invention has as a general aim to provide such containers.


An improved process for the organ cultivation of a Mishima-saiko root is provided. In the cultivation of a Mishima-saiko root, by carrying out the cultivation while regulating the saccharide concentration to be less than 2%, until the adventitious roots have spread out, and optionally adding an additional saccharide, the productivity of saiko-saponin can be enhanced.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of culturing an organ of Mishima-saiko, plants belonging to genus Bupleurum using their root as an explant. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved method of culturing said organ while regulating the concentration of carbohydrate in a medium over a specific culturing period.
2. Description of Related Art
The tissue (or organ) culture of saponincontaining plants for galenical has attracted attention in terms of providing a stable supply of galenical resources. Among these, since ginseng is very expensive, extensive attempts have been made to effectively produce saponin by culturing a callus derived from a root of ginseng, Panax Schinseng Nees, or an adventitious root or hairy root thereof.
Saiko (root of Mishima-saiko) is a galenical formulated in a wide variety of Chinese medicines, and has been known to contain as its components saiko-saponin a to d comprised of triterpenoids as genin. From the viewpoint of a stable supply of the galenical resources as described above, attempts also have been made to cultivate the tissue (or organ) of the Mishima-saiko. In the production of a useful substance by tissue (or organ) culture, the contents of the useful substance are generally enhanced by hormone regulation, etc., but in the case of Mishima-saiko, it is difficult to produce saiko-saponin by callus culture (Syoyaku Gaku Zasshi (Society of Galenicals) 28 (2) pp 152-160, 1974).
On the other hand, there was also an attempt made to produce saiko-saponin with Mishima-saiko cultured root. In this case, the production of saponin was enhanced by varying the ratio of nitric ions to ammonium ions as nitrogen sources (Nippon Nogeikagaku Zasshi (Agriculture Society of Japan), 63, 35, page 496, March, 1989)
However, there has been no investigation into the influence of carbohydrates, which are the most essential components among the medium components, upon the production of saponin.
Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide an organ culturing process which enables the effective production of saiko-saponins using root of the Mishima-saiko as the explant of the same.
In the course of the examination of the culture conditions in the culturing process using the root of Mishima-saiko as an explant of same, for example, the influence of various hormones, the present inventors unexpectedly found that the regulation of the carbohydrate concentration to be added to the medium depending on the culturing periods significantly influences the productivity of saiko-saponins, to thereby achieve this invention.


The substitute component is made of two mating layers of VELCRO.TM. material shaped in planform to resemble the body of a bait fish. The component can be manipulated during or after assembly to curve it to cause it to simulate the motions of an injured fish as it moves through water. The layers can be impregnated with material which provides fish attracting odors.

1. Field
The subject invention is in the field of fish lures, particularly those comprising a head assembly to which a bait fish component is attached.
2. Prior Art
There is much prior art, patented and not, in the general field of the subject invention and considerable prior art in the particular field of lures which comprise a head assembly to which a bait fish component is attached. However, in recent years, for a variety of reasons, the cost of bait fish has increased considerably. Also, at times in various locations the availability of suitable bait fish is noticeably limited. Accordingly, a prime objective of the subject invention is to provide a substitute for the bait fish component used in lures as described. Corollary objectives are that the substitute component be durable, economical, easy to use, adjustable to user's requirements and at least as effective as actual bait fish components.

Substitute bait fish component for fishing lures


The present invention provides a method for recovering flatness of a web material which comprises heating a side edge portion of the web material at a temperature in a range from a glass transition temperature minus 40.degree. C. to a melting point of the web material for a period of from 1 to 600 seconds, and an apparatus for recovering flatness of a web material which comprises a plurality of conveying rollers for conveying the web material and a side edge portion heating means which surrounds and heats the side edge portion of the web material traveling through conveying rollers. According to the method and apparatus, the side edge portion(s) elongated by the previous heat treatment is recovered to a state similar to the central portion by reheating to correct the side edge portion(s), and thereby, flatness of the web material can be improved.

This invention relates to a method for recovering flatness of a web material which corrects elongation at side portions of the web material occurring caused by heat treatment, for the purpose of the improvement in properties and dimensional stability, and an apparatus therefor.
There are laminated plastic films containing a light-selective membrane, a transparent conductive membrane, etc. which are used in optical or electrical technical fields The laminated plastic film is heat-treated for, the purpose of the improvement in dimensional stability upon heating, of the adjustment of strength, elongation or shrinkage, of drying, polmerization or curing a surface layer coated onto a surface of the film.
Several heat treatment methods of the laminated plastic film are disclosed in Japanese Patent KOKAI 61-74828, 62-127229, etc. In the heat treatment disclosed in Japanese Patent KOKAI 61-74828, one or both side edges of the plastic film are thickened so as to form a space between adjacent film turns upon being wound. In the heat treatment disclosed in Japanese Patent KOKAI 62-127229, the plastic film is heated in an oven up to almost the heat treatment temperature, meanwhile spacers are superposed at least on both side edges of the plastic film. The plastic film heated in the oven is wound up into a roll together with the spacers, and the roll containing spacers which intervene between adjacent film turns is kept at the heat treatment temperature for a predetermined time.
In the above conventional methods, the plastic film is wound to form a roll in a state that either one side edge or both side edges are thickened or accompanied with spacers, and then, heat-treated. Therefore, stress generated in the roll is concentrated on the one side edge or both side edges Since the roll is heated up to around a glass transition temperature, creep elongation occurs at the side edges greater than the central portion, to degrade flatness. As a result, coating suitability in a subsequent process and transportation suitability are degraded, and loss in product yield increases.

Method for recovering flatness of web material and apparatus therefor


In order to satisfy both signal stability and high-speed operation of an amplification circuit, the amplification circuit includes first and second differential means, a first driving means for driving to flow a current from an output terminal to a low potential power supply at a low impedance on the basis of an output from the first differential means, a first constant current means connected in parallel with the first driving means to flow a current from the output terminal to the low potential power supply at a high impedance, a second driving means for driving to flow a current from a high potential power supply to the output terminal at a low impedance on the basis of an output from the second differential means, and a second constant current means connected in parallel with the second driving means to flow a current from the high potential power supply to the output terminal at a high impedance, wherein the noninverting input terminal of the first differential means has a lower offset voltage than that of the inverting input terminal thereof, and the noninverting input terminal of the second differential means has a higher offset voltage than that of the inverting input terminal thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an amplification circuit and, more particularly, to an amplification circuit using negative feedback.
2. Related Background Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an amplification circuit using negative feedback comprises a differential amplification circuit 101 as the initial stage driven by a constant current source to stabilize a bias, a transimpedance circuit 102 for receiving an output current from the differential amplification circuit 101 as the initial stage and performing current-to-voltage conversion using a current mirror circuit, and an output buffer circuit 103 for receiving the output from the transimpedance circuit 102 and performing impedance conversion to obtain a low impedance output. This amplification circuit includes transistors Q1 to Q4 and Q11 to Q14, resistors R1, R2, and R5 to R8, a capacitor C1, and a current source I1. The circuit also includes a power supply terminal 1, a reference potential such as the GND (ground) potential 2, a buffer amplifier 3, an output terminal 4, a noninverting input terminal 5, and an inverting input terminal 6.
In the above circuit example, to perform a stable operation without any oscillation while certain negative feedback is performed from the output to the input, the frequency characteristics of the magnitude and phase of an amplifier gain in the absence of negative feedback (this gain is called an open loop gain hereinafter) must have a phase rotation amount of 180.degree. or less for the gain in the negative feedback state (0 db in FIGS. 2A and 2B), as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. To obtain higher stability, the phase rotation amount is preferably 120.degree. or less. For this purpose, the frequency (to be referred to as a first pole hereinafter) lower than the low-frequency gain of the open loop gain by -3 db must be lowered using the phase compensation capacitor C1. For this reason, the value of the phase compensation capacitor C1 increases. The current of the transimpedance circuit 102 for driving the phase compensation capacitor C1 is determined by the bias current value of the differential amplification circuit 101 as the initial stage. The charge/discharge rate of the phase compensation capacitor C1 lowers. In the amplification circuit using the negative feedback, stability trades off for high speed. Basically, when the stability is determined, the speed is determined accordingly. A problem may be posed depending on a circuit application condition in terms of the operation speed.


A method of generating comfort noise in a communications includes selecting a packet of data from a stream of packets being received across a communications network, the packet comprising a selected number of data samples. Ones of the data samples from the selected packet are played out in a sequence as comfort noise to fill a dead gap. The sequence is reversed when a randomly selected sample in the packet is reached and corresponding ones of the data samples are transmitted across the network as comfort noise after the order is reversed.

Global computer networks, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web are commonly used to exchange digitized audio, video, graphics and text between end-user terminals. Moreover, networking technology has now advanced to the point where telephony over these platforms is also practical. In the case of the Internet, voice data input from a microphone at the transmitting terminal is digitally packetized per the Internet Protocol (IP) and transmitted via the Internet to the receiving terminal where it is unpacked and reconverted back into voice. While having many advantages, computer networked-based telephony is still subject to a number of disadvantages vis a vis traditional telephony.
In IP telephony, only packets carrying active speech samples are transmitted to save bandwidth. Consequently, the data reaching the receiving terminal is discontinuous, resulting in audible "clicks" and "pops," in the speaker or headset. Another undesirable effect at the receiving end is echo caused by feedback between the speaker and the microphone at the sender's terminal. An echo suppressor can be used to alleviate this effect, however, echo suppression often results in modulated noise and a "dead-set" phenomenon at the receiving end.
Given the increasing popularity of computer network-based telephony, techniques are required to reduce or eliminate echo without introducing the "dead-set" phenomenon. Further, the problem of clicks and pops caused by gaps in transmission of active data must also be addressed. In other words, techniques are required for improving echo suppressor performance and receiving terminal performance in light of discontinuous signal transmission.

Systems and methods for improving sound quality in computer-network telephony application


A method for signing up a person for biometric verification purposes is provided, the method including: acquiring an image of a biological attribute of the person, the biological attribute including a set of characteristic elements, defining, within the acquired image, at least one area that includes at least part of the biological attribute, and storing, in a biometric database, at least one piece of information indicating that the number of characteristic elements included in said defined area is less than a respective predetermined integer. A related biometric verification method is also provided.

Biometric verification traditionally means the authentication or identification of individuals, whether human or animal, from biometric data concerning characteristics of one or more biological attributes of these individuals, such as the minutiae of fingerprints, the general shape of the fingers, the veins of a hand or finger, voice characteristics, iris characteristics, etc.
Such biometric verification conventionally uses a database in which biometric data are stored. These data concern individuals having previously undergone an enrollment (signup) phase so that they can be issued a certain right after biometric verification (driver's license, ticket for mass transit, remuneration, authorization to access a room, etc.).
A very simple example of biometric verification is illustrated in FIG. 1, which shows a database 1 storing a set of biometric data b1, b2, . . . , bN for enrolled individuals.
These biometric data b1, b2, . . . , bN are, for example, images representing some biological attribute for each of the different individuals (for example images of fingerprints, irises, etc.), characteristics relative to a biological attribute (for example a type, position, and orientation of minutiae in the case of fingerprints), or some other data.
Advantageously, a digital representation of biometric data can be used in order to simplify manipulation and allow these data to be used in a cryptographic algorithm.
As a non-limiting example, biometric data b1, b2, . . . , bN stored in the database 1 may each consist of a digital vector, for example a binary vector. Numerous ways of obtaining a digital vector from biometric information are known.
In the example in FIG. 1, the biometric verification occurs in the following manner for a given individual. A biometric data item b′ is obtained, for example in digital vector form, for the individual considered. This data item b′ is compared (reference 2) to all or part of the data b1, b2, . . . , bN stored in the database 1.
In case of a match or sufficient proximity thereto, one can infer that the individual concerned corresponds to an enrolled individual (identification) or to the enrolled individual he or she is claiming to be (authentication). This result is labeled R in FIG. 1.
Such a biometric verification is therefore based on an inclusive model, which tends to retain an enrolled individual as soon as his or her biological attribute reveals characteristics sufficiently close to those of the individual who is being verified.
Such a model is likely to pose certain problems.
In particular, it may require storing a large amount of information to be effective. As an example, for fingerprint minutiae it may be necessary to store the minutiae type (ridge ending or bifurcation), position, and orientation.
Such information could make it possible to find an individual by reconstructing his fingerprint, particularly if a dishonest person succeeds in accessing the contents of the database 1. This conflicts with the protection of individual privacy and freedom.
In addition, the number of operations performed during the biometric verification can be high, which is costly in terms of computational power and processing time. For a fingerprint, the comparison 2 between b′ and some or all of the data b1, b2, . . . , bN stored in the database 1 may require a comparison of the type, position, and orientation of each minutia of each fingerprint tested.
In the case of authentication, the biometric database 1 must be connected to an identity database (for example in alphanumeric form), to enable deciding whether or not an individual is the enrolled individual he or she is claiming to be. A one-to-one relationship between the biometric data and identity data stored in these databases could allow a dishonest person to find the correspondence between these two types of data too easily. Such a person could make use of this correspondence to steal the identity of enrolled individuals.
To overcome this problem, the use of a "weak link" between a biometric database 1 and an identity database has been proposed. Such a weak link does not allow establishing a one-to-one correspondence between biometric data and identity data, but still authorizes an authentication with an acceptable level of success. It is relatively complex to set up this weak link technique, however.

Signup and biometric verification methods, and related systems and devices


A cloud services application executing on a cloud computing platform receives from a browser application executing on a customer computer system a request of a user to login to the cloud services application. The cloud services application further receives an indication via the browser application that biometric identifier authentication of the user is supported by the customer computer system, and transmits an indication to the browser application that biometric identifier authentication of the user is enabled for a session that is to be established. The cloud services application transmits a response to the login request, responsive to receipt of the login request, the response prompting the user to input a biometric identifier, and receives a unique identifier (UID) associated with the biometric identifier. The cloud services application searches a list of user profiles, each with an associated one or more UIDs, for a UID that matches the received UID associated with the biometric identifier and transmits an indication to the browser application allowing access to the web service application responsive to finding a UID that matches the received UID associated with the biometric identifier.

The subject matter discussed in this background section should not necessarily be construed as prior art merely because of its mention in this section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in this section or associated with the subject matter of this section should not be construed as being previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in this section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to claimed embodiments.
Biometric identifier-based user authentication on a local device does not necessarily involve the transmission of biometric identifier information across a transmission medium such as the Internet. However, if the user is attempting to login to a cloud-based application services using biometric identifier-based information to authenticate the user, it is possible that the biometric identifier information may be intercepted, modified, or forged, when transmitted from a web-browser at which the user is providing the biometric identifier information across the Internet to the cloud-based application. What is needed is secure way to provide for biometric identifier-based user authentication, for example, when the user is logging on to a website, into a cloud community, into a cloud organization, attempting to make a an online purchase, or the like.
The present state of the art may therefore benefit from the systems, methods, and apparatuses for implementing secure biometric identifier authentication within a cloud based computing environment as is described herein.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for secure biometric identifier authentication within a cloud based computing environment


Methods and systems for controlling a three(3)-dimensional distribution of structural reinforcement elements in a polymer-matrix composite. One embodiment of the invention provides a method that includes adding and curing a shape memory polymer in a plurality of flexible preforms attached with each other after preforming each of the flexible preforms to form a spatially controlled preform and variable stiffness material composite laminate. Here, in this embodiment, at least one of the preforms includes a flexible support formed from a patterned supporting material on a first surface of a stiff-structural sheet and the stiff-structural sheet that has been patterned on the support.

Over the last several years, significant interest has built up over the use of variable geometry structures to improve performance of vehicles and sub-components. Reconfigurable or morphing structure technology, which permits structural components to undergo large-scale, in-service changes in component geometry, could provide game-changing performance enhancements over broad operating conditions. The benefits of this technology include high performance components, improved and optimized wave interactions (EM, shock, sound, air flow), and deployable systems. Applications that may benefit from such a capability are those needing aerodynamic optimization (such as airplane wings), control surfaces, inlets/outlets, tunable EM surfaces (such as reflectors, antennas, gratings, mirrors) and deployable structures. Existing static shape structures have evolved to be very mass efficient by using exterior panels and surfaces to provide torsional stability and enhanced bending stiffness as in the typical box wing design used for aircraft. In order to preserve this high structural performance in reconfigurable systems, new materials are required which can both accommodate large deformations necessary to achieve performance gains in the component itself, and sustain a large working stiffness which is necessary to retain structural efficiency and low weight.
FIG. 1 is a graph surveying material properties for morphing applications based on intrinsic modulus and reversible elastic strain.
As shown in FIG. 1, various thresholds exist for combinations of strain and stiffness in available materials to build morphing systems. Each of these thresholds is related to the intrinsic mechanism of the material's strength and/or strain reversibility. Traditional structural materials such as metallic alloys and fibrous composites largely obtain their strength from atomic bonding and large deformations only though irreversible dislocation motion. Traditional active materials, based on phase change mechanisms, generally provide large stiffness but are limited in reversible strain magnitude by the relatively small changes in lattice supported by phase changes. Polymers, generally accommodating deformation through reputation (i.e., creep), cannot generally decouple the deformation and stiffness mechanisms and thus result in tradeoff of reversible strain and stiffness that does not provide enough stiffness for structural reconfiguration. Elastomers reside at the far end of the polymer spectrum, providing significant deformation capability through polymer chain unfolding mechanisms, but with very low stiffness that result in significant penalties to structural efficiency.
Given the lack of available constant stiffness materials for morphing applications, variable stiffness materials would be very useful in improving morphing capabilities. Variable stiffness materials potentially can be operated at high stiffness, appropriate for structural efficiency, and operated at low stiffness where large deformations without minimal mechanical energy input can be achieved.
As such, there is a need for variable stiffness materials that can be stiffened and softened with ease, and, more particularly, a polymer-matrix composite or laminate of structural reinforcement elements (constant stiffness component) and a thermosetting polymer (variable stiffness component) to provide exemplary variable stiffness material (VSM) structures. Such structures allow a softened state (or mode) to achieve large reversible deformation with relatively small input energy while maintaining high stiffness in a structural mode. The stiffness and reversible strain of a segmented composite are largely determined by geometrical and spatial variables. For example, the composite stiffness varies with the aspect ratio of the reinforcement segments and with the volume fraction of the stiff component in the overall composite. The maximum reversible strain is limited by the capacity of the matrix material to reversibly accommodate the local shear strain which is a function of the length of the reinforcement segments and the interlaminar spacing (matrix layer thickness). Furthermore, modeling and experiment have shown that the low temperature storage modulus of the VSM composite is sensitive to the gap size, or edge-to-edge distance between reinforcement segments. In order to tailor the properties of the composite to different application requirements, it is desirable to provide a system and method for precisely controlling a three-dimensional distribution of the structural reinforcement elements in the polymer-matrix composite.

Methods for creating spatially controlled composite materials


Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for generating hash slot subdirectories within a file system, identifying each hash slot subdirectory by a unique identifier, receiving a document, hashing a name of the document to generate a hash value, selecting a hash slot subdirectory that corresponds to the hash value, generating a document subdirectory within the selected hash slot subdirectory, identifying the document subdirectory by the name of the document, and storing the document in the document subdirectory. Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, receiving a request for a document, hashing a name of the document to generate a hash value, selecting a hash slot subdirectory having a unique identifier that corresponds to the hash value, locating a document subdirectory within the selected hash slot subdirectory that is identified by the name of the document, and retrieving the document from the document subdirectory.

This invention relates to file system storage. Documents can be stored in a hierarchical or tree-structured file system. A tree structure is a method for placing and locating files (called records or keys) in a database. The method typically finds data by repeatedly making choices at decision points called nodes. A node can have as few as two branches (also called children), or as many as several dozen.
In a tree, records are stored in locations called leaves. This name derives from the fact that records always exist at end points; there is nothing beyond them. The starting point is called the root. The maximum number of children per node is called the order of the tree. The maximum number of access operations required to reach the desired record is called the depth. When a hierarchical file system is used to store millions of documents, the tree structure will become very complex and difficult to navigate.

File object storage and retrieval using hashing techniques


The invention concerns a loading system for an aircraft, wherein the loading system comprises a control computer; a multiplicity of cargo conveying devices for conveying a piece of cargo on a cargo loading deck of the aircraft, wherein to control the cargo conveying devices, the control computer is communicatively connected with the cargo conveying devices; at least one input device which is communicatively connected with the control computer to transfer user inputs to the control computer. An aspect of the invention is that the one input device may be formed as a touchscreen.

The invention concerns a loading system for an aircraft and a method for conveying a piece of cargo on a cargo deck.
For air freight transport, the pieces of cargo to be transported, in particular containers or pallets which are preferably produced to specific standards, are secured in the hold by means of lock elements on the cargo deck of the hold. Such lock elements frequently form cargo loading tracks between which the standardised pieces of cargo can be positioned. To position the pieces of cargo at the positions provided for them, loading systems are used which support the ground staff during loading and unloading. The loading systems are intended to accelerate the loading and unloading process and frequently have a multiplicity of actuators and sensors and a control computer which is adapted to analyse the signals received, where applicable emit signals, and implement a suitable strategy for the actuators. The loading systems used must be very simple to operate since the ground staff frequently receive no instructions concerning a specific loading system. In addition both the loading and unloading take place under great pressure of time, whereby incorrect operation can easily occur. Such incorrect operation must absolutely be prevented.
A defective loading system—either due to incorrect operation or due to natural wear—can lead to substantial costs since maintaining wide-bodied aircraft is very expensive. Every minute which a wide-bodied aircraft spends on the ground costs the operator money. Furthermore a defective cargo loading system or incorrect operation can for example lead to damage to sections of the cargo hold. Repair of the cargo hold is very costly.
Frequently pieces of cargo are loaded on a cargo deck which have dimensions such that it is necessary to rotate the pieces of cargo, in particular in the region close to the door. The region close to the door, here also called the loading and unloading region, is for this reason fitted with particular function elements, comprising cargo conveying devices (e.g. PDUs or power drive units) and roller mats. There are various strategies for achieving the rotation of the pieces of cargo in the physically very restricted loading and unloading region. Corresponding cargo loading systems or loading systems for rotating pieces of cargo are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,655, DE 10 2005 008 443 B4, DE 10 2005 021 078 B4, DE 10 2008 052 468 A1 and DE 101 58 298 C1.
Thus for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,655 discloses a loading system for an aircraft which comprises a control computer and a multiplicity of cargo conveying devices communicatively connected with the control computer. The control computer actuates the cargo conveying devices such that the pieces of cargo are positioned suitably on the cargo loading deck. Furthermore the control computer allows rapid and simple unloading. The control computer is also in communicative connection with an input device, namely a panel with a multiplicity of buttons and a joystick which enables the user to undertake the loading and unloading process manually. The proposed input device can only be actuated with difficulty when wearing the gloves prescribed for loading and unloading. Furthermore operation of the input device is not necessarily intuitive, so that the users must be trained accordingly.
Starting from U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,655, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved loading system which in particular can be operated easily and intuitively and which guarantees an at least partially automatic loading and unloading of pieces of cargo. This object is achieved by a loading system according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 10.
In particular the object is achieved by a loading system for an aircraft which comprises:
a control computer;
a multiplicity of cargo conveying devices for conveying a piece of cargo on a cargo loading deck of an aircraft, wherein to control the cargo conveying devices the control computer is communicatively connected with the cargo conveying devices;
at least one input device which is communicatively connected with the control computer to transfer user inputs to the control computer.
A central concept of the present invention is to form the input device in the form of a touchscreen.
To this extent it is possible to make inputs comfortably directly on a screen using the fingers. The elements displayed on the touchscreen can be modified depending on the loading phase (e.g. loading or unloading) to increase the user comfort. Furthermore a touchscreen allows the display of decisive information while at the same time functioning as an input device. This can help avoid incorrect operation.
The cargo loading system can comprise sensor devices to detect an actual position of the piece of cargo to be loaded. For example by means of sensor devices, it can be established where a piece of cargo is located on or in relation to the cargo deck. The sensor devices can for example report to the control computer that a portion of the piece of cargo has just passed the cargo loading hatch, so that from this information the control computer can determine the actual position of the piece of cargo.
This is particularly advantageous if the touchscreen is formed and/or controlled by the control computer such that the touchscreen shows at least an outline of the piece of cargo. The user of the loading system can then, by means of the touchscreen, select the piece of cargo or a portion of the piece of cargo and/or specify at least one transport direction and/or conveyor track. Preferably the user input can also consist of the user, for example with his finger, selecting the outline of the piece of cargo shown on the touchscreen and then dragging it into a specific nominal position. Alternatively only portions of the outline of the piece of cargo are selected and moved using a finger. Preferably the control computer implements a suitable control strategy as a function of user input so that the piece of cargo is transported accordingly on the cargo deck by means of the cargo conveying devices. The specified transport direction need not necessarily correspond to a vector. Theoretically it is also possible to specify a curved track or similar.
The touchscreen can also be formed to detect at least two contact points simultaneously so that a user of the loading system can specify a rotation movement. For example it is possible to form the touchscreen such that it detects the coordinates of two fingers on the touchscreen and follows their movement over time. Thus rotation movements can be specified in a simple and efficient manner.
The control computer can be formed, taking into account user inputs, to calculate a transport strategy and actuate the cargo conveying device to implement the transport strategy. The control computer thus implements a movement specified on the touchscreen and/or a rotation of the piece of cargo by suitable control of the cargo conveying devices.
The control computer can also be formed to actuate the cargo conveying devices only as long as a contact by the user is detected by the touchscreen. Thus the user can for example specify a movement direction by means of a finger. The control computer then begins to actuate the conveying devices such that the piece of cargo is suitably moved and/or rotated on the cargo deck. The control computer can be formed such that it actuates the transport of the piece of cargo only until the target position specified by the user has been reached or the latter has removed his finger from the touchscreen. To this extent a safety mechanism can be implemented which allows rapid stoppage of the piece of cargo on the cargo deck in order to avoid damage to the aircraft or pieces of cargo, and/or danger to personnel.
Insofar as the touchscreen is formed to determine the coordinates of at least two contact points, actuation of the conveying devices can then be interrupted if only one finger is in contact with the touchscreen or no fingers are in contact with the touchscreen.
The touchscreen can be formed and/or controlled by the control computer such that the touchscreen displays at least a portion of the cargo loading deck so that a user of the loading system, by means of the touchscreen, can select at least one target position, in particular a cargo loading track. Preferably the loading system according to the invention supports a manual and an automatic loading of pieces of cargo. For automatic loading, the user merely specifies a target position, for example in the form of selection of a cargo loading track, wherein the control computer automatically develops a control strategy which leads to the piece of cargo being moved from its current position to the specified target position. On unloading, this target position can also lie outside the aircraft.
The loading system can comprise sensor devices to detect the type and/or a dimension of a piece of cargo, in particular the base surface of the piece of cargo. In one embodiment example the base surface can be measured for example on introduction into the aircraft and be taken into account by the control computer on development of a suitable control strategy. Alternatively corresponding dimensions can be stored in a digital memory on the piece of cargo, so that the dimensions can be read by the control computer. Furthermore it is possible to store identification numbers, which relate for example to the type of cargo, in or on the piece of cargo and compare these numbers with a database which provides the dimensions as a function of the identification number. It is conceivable to obtain by means of the sensor devices information relating to dimensions of the base surface of the piece of cargo. Secondly information can also be obtained which allows the generation of a three-dimensional image of the piece of cargo, so that a collision for example with the outer skin of the aircraft can be effectively avoided on loading or unloading of the piece of cargo.
The object cited initially is furthermore achieved by a method for conveying a piece of cargo on a cargo deck which comprises the following steps:
reception by a control computer of at least one user input entered by means of a touchscreen;
calculation of a control strategy as a function of the user input;
actuation of a number of cargo conveying devices according to the control strategy.
Similar advantages arise to those already discussed in connection with the device.
The method can also comprise reception by the control computer of a plurality of sensor signals to determine an actual position of the piece of cargo on the cargo deck, and display on the touchscreen of the actual position of the piece of cargo, in particular in relation to the design of at least one part of the cargo deck. For the user it is therefore possible to derive an actual position of the piece of cargo from the display on the touchscreen, and by suitable inputs specify a transport direction or transport strategy.
Preferably the actual position of the piece of cargo is updated in real time so that the user is always shown on the touchscreen the current position of the piece of cargo.
In one embodiment example, actuation of the number of cargo conveying devices can take place only as long as the touchscreen detects a contact by the user. As soon as the touchscreen establishes that the user is no longer touching this, transport of the piece of cargo can be stopped.
The method can comprise detection by at least one sensor device of a type and/or at least one dimension of the piece of cargo, and taking into account the type and/or dimension of the piece of cargo in calculation of the control strategy. For example the control computer can generate a digital image of the piece of cargo and develop a suitable control strategy which transports the piece of cargo from the current position into a nominal position specified by the user without collision with the aircraft. The user input can comprise a predefinition of an acceleration direction and an acceleration force, and from the user input the control computer can determine a transport direction and a transport time period. For example it is possible that by his input the user specifies a movement vector of a particular length. The control computer can then develop a control strategy to transport the piece of cargo in the specified direction. The distance over which the piece of cargo is transported in the specified direction can for example be determined as a function of the vector length. Preferably first a rapid transport of the piece of cargo takes place in the specified direction, wherein the speed diminishes slowly as the time increases so that the piece of cargo "rolls out" onto the cargo deck.
The above object is furthermore achieved by a loading system for an aircraft comprising a remote control to receive user inputs and a wireless communication interface to pass on the user inputs to a control computer.
Preferably the wireless communication is achieved at least by a transmission device on the remote control and a receiver device on the at least one cargo conveying device. Preferably this wireless communication takes place by means of light waves, in particular in the infrared range. The cargo conveying device for this can have corresponding photo diodes. These photo diodes can also be used as sensor means to detect the presence of a piece of cargo, in particular above the cargo conveying device. The sensor means thus fulfil a dual function, firstly as receiver and/or as transmitter, and secondly as a detection device.

Loading system for an aircraft and method for conveying a piece of cargo on a cargo deck