A PSA process involving the storage of products of various purities in segregated storage tanks for subsequent usage is disclosed. Products of increasing purities, admitted at the product end of the bed, are used during purging and repressurization steps. In addition, different composition streams collected at the feed end of the bed during the countercurrent depressurization step are admitted at the feed end of the bed, in the order of increasing product component content, during the rising pressure step(s). This cycle gives higher recovery and lower bed size factor than prior art PSA cycles.

There are a variety of known processes for producing hydrogen. Some examples include the following: (1) steam reforming of natural gas or naphtha, (2) catalytic reforming of hydrocarbons, e.g. gasoline and fuel oil, and (3) partial oxidation of heavy oils or natural gas. In the aforementioned processes, steam reforming of natural gas is probably the most widely used process for hydrogen production. FIG. 1 shows the key process units in a steam methane reforming process to produce hydrogen. Referring to FIG. 1, a feedstock, e.g., natural gas is compressed and fed to a purification unit to remove sulfur compounds. The desulfurized feed is then mixed with superheated steam and fed to a reformer to produce primarily H.sub.2 and CO. The effluent stream from the reformer is sent to a heat recovery unit, then to a shift converter to obtain additional hydrogen. The effluent from the shift converter goes through a process cooling and recovery unit prior to sending to a purification unit (e.g. PSA) to produce high purity hydrogen. The following gives a brief introduction of some of the prior art processes for producing hydrogen.
Sircar et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,779, describe an improved four bed hydrogen PSA process; wherein, a cocurrent displacement step, commonly referred to as high pressure rinse step, is used prior to depressurization of each adsorbent bed. By using a high pressure rinse step prior to depressurization of the bed, enhanced light component recovery is achieved. In addition, according to this invention, an evacuation step is used between the purging and repressurization steps, and high purity H.sub.2 (99-99%) can be produced at high recovery (96.5%) from a feed of 75% H.sub.2 and 25% CO.sub.2.
Fuderer et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,981, disclose a process for enhancing hydrogen recovery by combining shift conversion, scrubbing and PSA. Carbon dioxide is mainly removed by scrubbing. Hydrogen is then purified by PSA. The recycling of a portion of the waste from PSA system to shift conversion unit improves the hydrogen recovery. In an example case, H.sub.2 can be finally purified by PSA up to 99.99% from a feed typically around 97% after methanation. The recovery can reach 99% if 80% of PSA waste is recycled to the shift converter, 15% is recycled to the partial oxidation unit and 5% is discharged for use as fuel gas.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,975, Fong et al., disclosed a process for producing high purity hydrogen. The basic steps in the process include the following: (1) partially oxidizing a gaseous hydrocarboneous feedstock to produce a synthesis gas mixture of H.sub.2 and CO, (2) reacting the synthesis gas mixture with steam to convert CO into a raw gas mixture that primarily contains CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2, and (3) passing the raw gas mixture to a PSA process to produce high purity hydrogen and a reject gas mixture of impurities.
Kapoor et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,706, disclose a process for hydrogen and carbon monoxide production from hydrocarbons. It consists of partial oxidation and PSA separation, and cryogenic distillation as one possibility. The system provides a better performance by improving PSA separation and reducing starting materials. The partial oxidation reactor produces high purity hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide are separated from the gas mixture (containing carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor, etc.) by a combination of PSA and distillation or possibly only PSA. At least one stream rich in high hydrocarbons (and water vapor etc.) is recycled to the reactor. A preferred embodiment of PSA system comprises serially connected adsorption zones (or beds of zeolite 5A or 13X), in each zone carbon monoxide is less strongly adsorbed than higher hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and water vapor, but more strongly than hydrogen. According to this invention, a basic PSA cycle is used, and the depressurization/desorption step is divided into two parts: the first part, middle depressurization during which the top bed undergoes countercurrent depressurization while the bottom bed undergoes cocurrent depressurization, and carbon monoxide is withdrawn between two adsorption beds; the second part is a normal countercurrent depressurization for both beds. The process can produce, as claimed, at least 98% pure hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and the gas entering the PSA unit has about 55% H.sub.2 and 42% CO.
McCombs et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,018, disclose a pressure swing adsorption process utilizing at least two adsorption beds, and a storage tank that is either an empty tank or a packed bed. The storage tank is used for storing equalization falling gas from the top of the bed that is subsequently used to pressurize another bed during the equalization rising step. This invention practices a sequential refluxing strategy wherein the void gas captured during the equalization falling step is returned in the order of increasing purity during the equalization rising step. In addition, this invention discloses the use of bottom-to-bottom bed equalization step; wherein, the bed receiving the bottom equalization rising gas is also receiving feed simultaneously, i.e., uninterrupted feed during the bottom-to-bottom bed equalization step.
Yamaguchi et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,059, describe a PSA process using at least three adsorbent beds and a holding column (segregated storage tank) of the feed-in/feed-out sequence retaining type. The holding column is used for storing the void gas recovered during the cocurrent depressurization step of the cycle. This gas is then used for purging of the adsorbent bed during the regeneration step of the cycle. This holding column is specifically designed to prevent gas from mixing, i.e., an impurity concentration gradient exists in this holding column. This invention is restricted to the use of at least three adsorbent beds and a holding column to store cocurrent depressurization gas that is subsequently used for purging. It does not describe for example, how this holding column can supply both the purge gas and product pressurization gas in advanced PSA cycles.
Baksh et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,018, disclose the use of segregated external gas storage tanks to store gases of varying purity for later use, in the order of increasing purity, in the purging, equalization rising, and product pressurization steps of the PSA cycle. Significant reduction in both the bed size factor and power consumption are achieved with this novel PSA cycle.
Although, many modifications and variations of the basic PSA cycle have been studied and applied to commercial processes, such as for the production of hydrogen from synthesis gas, yet PSA processes remain inefficient and uneconomical for high purity production of hydrogen for large plants when compared to the alternative methods. In particular, current PSA processes (such as those disclosed above) both produce an enriched product having a purity that is averaged over the whole "make product" step and possess several inherent problems.
For example, during the top-to-top bed equalization step, the bed going through the equalization rising step receives product gas with decreasing purity. Consequently, at the end of this equalization rising step, the lowest purity gas is at the product end of the bed. Thus, during the subsequent make product step, the product purity spikes downwards, which when averaged over the whole production step, decreases the purity of the product. In addition, the gas used for purging is of decreasing purity when obtained from another bed currently in the make product step. If this purge gas was obtained from a storage tank, then a constant purity gas is used for purging. Also, a similar problem (using products of decreasing purity) exists in PSA cycles that utilized a product pressurization step in the PSA cycle, wherein, the product gas was obtained from another bed in the production step.
Typically, in prior art H.sub.2 PSA cycles, the bed going through the equalization rising step receives product gas with decreasing purity. Consequently, at the end of this equalization rising step, the lowest purity gas is at the product end of the bed. In addition, the gas used for purging of the adsorbent bed was obtained during a second stage equalization falling step, and is used in the order of decreasing purity. The statements made for the equalization and purging steps are equally valid for the gas used in PSA cycles that utilized a product pressurization step. In addition, during the bottom-to-bottom bed equalization step, the bed that is being pressurized is receiving gas of decreasing hydrogen concentration, starting with a H.sub.2 concentration that is equal to the feed concentration, and as the bottom-to-bottom bed equalization step continues, the hydrogen concentration at the feed end of the bed drops due to heavy component(s) desorption.
The aforementioned concentration degradation, i.e., gas of decreasing H.sub.2 concentration, is being used for refluxing and repressurization, giving rise to process irreversibility and mixing losses, viz, a degradation in the PSA process efficiency. For example, during the purge step and top-to-top bed equalization step, gas of decreasing H.sub.2 concentration is being used for refluxing. During the bottom-to-bottom bed equalization step, at the start of the equalization, the H.sub.2 mole fraction is about 0.7403 (same as the feed concentration in synthesis gas), and as the bottom-to-bottom equalization progresses, the hydrogen mole fraction at the feed end of the bed falls from about 0.74 to about 0.65. Thus, in order to maintain desired product purity in prior art PSA cycles, the production and equalization falling steps must be terminated much earlier than the time required for the bed to breakthrough. This results in a failure to fully utilize the adsorbent bed.
Further, by using products of decreasing purities, for example during purging and repressurization steps, additional contamination of the product end of the bed results, due to the use of the lowest purity product gas at the end of the refluxing steps. This added contamination of the product end of the bed brings about a significant reduction in the product purity in the early stage of the make product step. This causes a decrease of the average purity of the product, or for a given purity, a significant reduction in product (light component) recovery. In addition, by using product gas of decreasing purity, the spreading of the mass transfer zone is enhanced. Finally, in order to contain the mass transfer zone and maintain product purity, more adsorbent is required, resulting in higher bed size factor and a more costly PSA process.


The present invention relates to methods for screening of cellular responses of cellular components comprising: (a) providing cellular components on the surface of a substrate, said substrate having immobilized thereon an array of detector molecules; (b) delivering test compounds to positions on the substrate corresponding to the arrayed detector molecules on the surface of said solid substrate; (c) incubating said test compounds with said cellular components on the surface of the solid support, under conditions allowing the induction of cellular responses; (d) assaying said cellular responses; and, identifying and characterizing the cellular responses induced by said test compounds. The present invention further relates to the uses of said methods as well as microarrays and kits for carrying out said methods.

Within the pharmaceutical industry, there is a significant number of compounds, available in compound repositories, through the use of combinatorial chemistry. Hits from these compound libraries are identified through the use of high throughput screening (HTS). The primary function of HTS is to test various chemical compounds from a compound repository against multiple disease targets in many different biological assays. Traditional HTS commonly utilizes 96-well microtiter plates. There is a large incentive in the pharmaceutical industry to miniaturize these microplate assays to reduce cost, reduce waste, and speed up timelines. There has been a change from the 96-well format to higher well densities such as 384- and 1536-well formats, however these can present challenges in relation to liquid handling, signal detection instrumentation, and assay technology. In addition, typical difficulties encountered when using microtiter plate based screening assays include e.g. (i) differential growth and/or gene expression of identical clones in separate wells of the microtiter plate and (ii) differential stress exposure (e.g. heat treatment, humidity) across the plate.
Efforts have been made towards resolving the aforementioned difficulties. For example, WO 99/35496 provides a method and apparatus for high density format screening for bioactive molecules with a much simplified technique for test compound delivery to a layer of cells, i.e. without the need of complicated fluid handling. In the said method, up to 6144 test compounds may be simultaneously screened for bioactivity.
Nevertheless, there is a need for even higher density cell-based functional biological assays which remain one of the most difficult types of assays to miniaturize due to the limitations of delivering microliter quantities of cells consistently without shearing the cells or activating stress responses of the cells themselves, therefore interfering with the biological assay.
With the advent of combinatorial chemistry approaches to identify pharmacologically useful compounds, it is increasingly evident that there is a need for methods and apparatuses at microarray levels, capable of performing high throughput characterization of pharmacological profiles and corresponding potencies of the compounds in synthesized combinatorial libraries.
Microarrays of living cells could provide a shortcut to the development of safer and more customized personal drugs and a better understanding of the molecular pathways encountered in the functioning of cellular organisms. As an example, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge developed microarrays of living cells for high-throughput analysis of gene function in mammalian cells (Nature, Vol. 411, 3 May 2001). While said technology is highly effective, there are, however, a number of limitations to its use including, the relative high reagent quantities needed of which a substantial amount is never in contact with the array and is therefore wasted, and the requirement of cumbersome and time-consuming handlings.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,479 discloses a further example of a microarray of living cells. The disclosed miniaturized cell arrays characterized by a reduced well and array size allow for high content screening. The non-porous character, however, does not allow the cells growing in/on the wells or cell binding sites on the array to overcome spreading under standard growth conditions which obviously interferes with proper cell sample discrimination.
As will be appreciated in the art, there is a continuous need for improved methods which overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a highly efficient and cost-effective method for integrated cell-based assays using microarrays.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for high-throughput cell-based assays requiring minimal amounts of sample and reagents.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide microarrays or kits to perform such methods.

Method for high throughput cell-based assays using versatile living microarrays


An integrated circuit and method for making it are described. The integrated circuit includes a first insulating layer formed on a substrate and a body strap of a first conductivity type that is formed on the first insulating layer. A second insulating layer is formed on the first insulating layer adjacent to the body strap and a film is formed on the second insulating layer. The integrated circuit also includes a gate electrode formed on the film. A plurality of doped regions of a second conductivity type are formed within the film that extend from the surface of the film to the surface of the second insulating layer. The doped regions have junctions that are each spaced from the body strap by at least about 500 angstroms.

The present invention relates to integrated circuits and a method for making them.
As transistor gate lengths continue to shrink, threshold voltages (Vt) continue to decrease. Below 1.0 volts, it may become difficult to balance adequate current drive with acceptable leakage current. One way to address this problem is to design a device that has a dynamic threshold voltage, i.e., a device that has a lower Vt when the device is turned on than when the device is turned off. By varying the threshold voltage in this way, even a low voltage device may provide a high drive current while continuing to maintain low subthreshold leakage.
Devices having a dynamic threshold voltage may be made by tying a body strap formed below the transistor""s channel to the transistor""s gate electrode, as described by Hu, et al., xe2x80x9cA Dynamic Threshold Voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) for Ultra-Low Voltage Operation,xe2x80x9d Int""l Electron Devices Meeting Technical Digest, 1994, pp. 809-812; and Hu et al., xe2x80x9cChannel Profile Optimization and Device Design for Low-Power High-Performance Dynamic-Threshold MOSFET,xe2x80x9d Int""l Electron Devices Meeting Technical Digest, 1996, pp. 113-116.
Such devices may use silicon-on-insulator (xe2x80x9cSOIxe2x80x9d) technology to electrically isolate the body strap from the junctions and adjacent transistors. FIG. 1 illustrates such a device, which includes relatively thick silicon film 104 formed on oxide 103. As shown, body strap 102 is separated from junctions 181 and 111, which correspond to the lower boundaries for source 106 and drain 107, respectively. Because of that separation, the capacitance that may result, when the device is turned on, can slow down the rate at which the body potential increases in response to an increase in the voltage applied to gate electrode 105.
One way to address that problem is to use a relatively thin silicon layer instead of a relatively thick layer. FIG. 2 illustrates such a device, which includes relatively thin silicon film 204 formed on oxide 203. When a thin film is used, however, misalignment between body strap 202 and gate electrode 205 can cause a short circuit between body strap 202 and one of the junctions, e.g., junction 211 in the device shown here.
There is a need for a device that does not include such short circuits, or produce unacceptable capacitance that slows down the rate of body potential increase when the device is turned on. There is also a need for a method for making such a device.
An integrated circuit and method for making it are described. The integrated circuit includes a first insulating layer formed on a substrate and a body strap of a first conductivity type that is formed on the first insulating layer. A second insulating layer is formed on the first insulating layer adjacent to the body strap and a film is formed on the second insulating layer. A gate electrode is formed on the film and a plurality of doped regions of a second conductivity type are formed within the film that extend from the surface of the film to the surface of the second insulating layer. The doped regions have junctions that are each spaced from the body strap by at least about 500 angstroms.

Integrated circuit with dynamic threshold voltage


One object of the present invention is to provide a natural gas liquefaction device which uses noncombustible gas as a refrigerant, and can reduce the power consumption a range of relatively low refrigerant pressure, and the present invention provides a natural gas liquefaction device including a compressor which is configured to compress a refrigerant containing noncombustible gas by a plurality of compression stages; a heat exchanger which is configured to cool and liquefy a natural gas to be a liquefied natural gas; a natural gas liquefaction line which is configured to introduce the natural gas into the heat exchanger and supply the liquefied natural gas to an outside; a first refrigerant line which is configured to introduce a refrigerant-1 passed through the compressor into the heat exchanger, and then further introduce the refrigerant-1 into a decompressor; a second refrigerant line which is configured to introduce the refrigerant-2 decompressed by the decompressor into the heat exchanger, and further introduce the refrigerant-2 into any one of a second compression stage and subsequent stages of the compressor; a third refrigerant line which is configured to be branched from the first refrigerant line and introduce at least a part of the refrigerant-1 into an expansion turbine; and a fourth refrigerant line which is configured to introduce the refrigerant-3 expanded by the expansion turbine into the heat exchanger, and further introduce the refrigerant-3 into a first compression stage of the plurality of compression stages provided in the compressor.

As one method of liquefying natural gas and supplying it as liquefied natural gas (hereinafter, also referred to as "LNG"), a method is known in which noncombustible gas such as nitrogen is used as a refrigerant, and natural gas is cooled and liquefied by the refrigerant expanded by an expansion turbine. Such a method is mainly adopted in a small-scale liquefaction device. There may be a case in which a plurality of expansion turbines are provided, but particularly in a small-scale liquefaction device, a configuration that has only one expansion turbine is adopted.
Non-Patent Document 1, FIG. 4, left figure shows the simplest conventional process in which nitrogen, which is a refrigerant for cooling natural gas, is expanded and cooled by one expansion turbine and introduced into a heat exchanger to cool and liquefy natural gas.
In addition, FIG. 4, right figure shows a conventional process in which the performance (power consumption) is improved as compared with the figure on the left side. In this process, in addition to cooling the natural gas using nitrogen of which the temperature has been lowered using one expansion turbine, the nitrogen is decompressed using a Joule-Thomson valve (hereinafter sometimes referred to as JT valve), and the natural gas is further cooled by using liquid nitrogen of which the pressure has been reduced a lower temperature region.
According to the process shown in Non-Patent Document 1, FIG. 4, right figure, compared with the process shown in the left figure, the temperature at the inlet of the expansion turbine can be increased, so that the flow rate of the refrigerant can be reduced and the power consumption of the compressor for compressing the refrigerant can be reduced.
In the process shown in Non-Patent Document 1, FIG. 4, right figure, when the conditions are determined so as to minimize the power consumption, it is necessary to increase the pressure of the refrigerant (nitrogen) system. Therefore, when designing the device, it is necessary to set the design pressure of a pipe and the like high, and the specifications of the compressor and the heat exchanger used in the device are limited to models with high withstand voltage. Therefore, there are problems in that it is difficult to downsize the device and the cost of the device increases. Also, if the pressure is set low to avoid these problems, there is a problem in that the power consumption will increase significantly.
Patent Document 1 discloses a process using a mixture of nitrogen and methane as a refrigerant in the process disclosed in FIG. 4, right figure of Non-Patent Document 1. The invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 aims to reduce the required energy for liquefaction by using the refrigerant above, as compared with the case of using a refrigerant consisting of only nitrogen. However, in Patent Document 1, since the refrigerant containing methane, which is a combustible substance, is used, the cost to make a safe refrigerant system increases as compared with the case in which only nitrogen, which is a noncombustible gas, is used as the refrigerant.
Further, in the field of liquefaction technology of natural gas, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, many proposals have been made on a technology that divides a refrigerant into different pressure systems and returns into the compressor. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2, the liquefaction method according to claim 5 of Patent Document 2 comprises compressing a second expanded gaseous refrigerant flow (174) in a second compressor (130), and mixing the second expanded gaseous refrigerant flow (174) with a first portion (154) and a second portion (160) from a first expanded gaseous refrigerant steam (152). Patent Document 2 discloses that the purpose of adopting the configuration above is to reduce the power consumption of a compressor by introducing a gaseous refrigerant stream from an outlet of the high-temperature expander at high pressure into a stage of a gaseous refrigerant compressor, while achieving a low temperature by lowering a discharge pressure of a low-temperature expander lower than a discharge pressure of a high-temperature expander.
However, according to Examples and FIG. 3 of Patent Document 2, the flow rate of the high-pressure refrigerant compressor (132) is 217,725 Ibmol/hour, which is the total of 21,495 Ibmol/hour and 196,230 Ibmol/hour. In contrast, the flow rate of the low-pressure refrigerant compressor (130) is 53,091 Ibmol/hour, which is the same as the flow rate of the upstream flow (170), which is as small as 24% of the flow rate of the high-pressure refrigerant compressor (132). For this reason, it is difficult to integrate these two compressors due to the large difference in the flow rate, so that a plurality of compressors are used, and there is a problem in that the installation area and cost increase.
Further, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, since the ratio of the flow rate of the flow (170) is small as described above, the flow rate of the expander (138) and the low-pressure refrigerant compressor (130) are extremely small in a small-scale device. However, this technology cannot be applied because such a small model does not exist in the market as yet.

Natural gas liquefaction device and natural gas liquefaction method


The present invention is directed by a capacitor comprising of dielectrics formed of a plastic film in which ceramic particles are dispersed. The plastic film is manufactured by the processes comprising the steps of coating the ceramic particles with wax, dispersing the wax-coated ceramic particles in a molten plastic, and extruding the molten plastic in which ceramic particles are dispersed into a think film.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plastic capacitor, particularly to a compact plastic capacitor with a large capacitance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic products are getting lighter, thinner, and compacter in recent years, while at the same time their performance is rapidly improving. To keep up with these advancements, there have been strong demands for compacter capacitors. In order to make the size of capacitors smaller, however, it is essential to increase the capacitance. This is achieved by increasing the surface area of electrodes, by decreasing the distance between electrodes, and by adopting materials of a high dielectric constant for dielectrics.
Materials used for the dielectrics in capacitors include paper, plastic, and ceramic. Plastic is advantageously used because it can be easily processed into a thin film, has high resistivity, and, due to its low hygroscopic property, has higher insulation resistance than paper.
Ceramic, on the other hand, has a higher dielectric constant than plastic. It has a disadvantage, however, that the overall size of a capacitor using ceramic becomes larger, due to its hard processability into a thin film, than that of a capacitor made from plastic.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plastic capacitor that is compact and has large capacitance. This is achieved by using dielectrics formed of plastic with an improved dielectric constant and high processability.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the capacitor is composed of dielectrics formed of a plastic film containing ceramic particles, which have been pre-coated with wax.
According to another aspect of the present invention, said ceramic is selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide, barium titanate, aluminum oxide, magnesium silicate, strontium oxide, zircon, aluminum nitride, carbon nitride, silicon carbide, zinc borosilicate glass, tantalum, and mixtures thereof
The capacitor of the present invention includes dielectrics formed of plastic in which fine ceramic particles are dispersed. The ceramic particles are, prior to dispersing in the plastic, pre-coated with wax on the surface by being immersed in the molten wax.
The plastic is selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polycarbonate and polytetrafluoroethylene.
The ceramic is selected from the group consisting of titanium oxide, barium titanate, aluminum oxide, magnesium silicate, strontium oxide, zircon, aluminum nitride, carbon nitride, silicon carbide, zinc borosilicate glass, tantalum, and mixtures thereof, preferably from titanium oxide, barium titanate and aluminum oxide.
In the embodiment of this invention, said ceramic is applied in fine particles whose diameter is practically 0.1-0.4 xcexcm, though it is more desirable that said diameter be smaller.
The wax is selected from the group of petroleum wax such as paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax, polyethylene wax obtained by cracking polyethylene, and natural fat such as fatty acids. The boiling point and the freezing point of the wax are important factors when the wax is selected, because the wax coating on the ceramic particles should be stable at room temperature and when immersed into the molten plastic. The boiling point and the freezing point of the wax depend on the components included, especially on the hydrocarbon length therein. In the present invention, the boiling point of the wax should be higher than the melting temperature of the plastic, practically higher than 200xc2x0 C. The freezing point should be higher than room temperature.
The objective of coating the surface of the ceramic particles with wax is to increase the affinity of the ceramic to the plastic. Therefore, the wax should be selected considering the properties of the plastic being used. For example, polyethylene wax or petroleum wax is preferably selected for polyethylene and polypropylene, while natural fat such as beeswax or carnauba wax is suitable for polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, and polycarbonate.
Coating of the ceramic particles with wax is attained by immersing the particles in the molten wax, and stirring thoroughly the mixture. The temperature of this treatment varies depending on the wax selected and on the plastic selected, but typically is 70-100xc2x0 C.
Alternatively, coating of the wax is also attained by immersing the particles into the solution prepared by dissolving the wax in an organic solvent having a relatively low boiling point, and by evaporating the solvent later to make the ceramic particles coated evenly with a small amount of the wax.
The ratio of wax to ceramic particles may be extremely small, considering it is sufficient for the wax component to cover only the surface of the particles. Practically, though, a larger amount of wax is used. The amount in weight is 0.1-2.0 parts of wax, preferably 0.3-0.5 parts of wax, for each 100 parts of ceramic particles.
Dispersing the ceramic particles into the plastic is attained by introducing the particles into the plastic that is molten by heating, and then mixing the mixture well.
An alternative method is to first prepare a xe2x80x9cmaster batchxe2x80x9d of the plastic that contains a high-concentration of the ceramic particles, and then melt said master batch mixing with the plastic that has no ceramic particles. The xe2x80x9cmaster batchxe2x80x9d method is advantageous for facilitating the dispersion of the ceramic particles in the plastic.
The amount of the ceramic particles added to the plastic is preferably 2-15 wt. %, more preferably 5-10 wt. %, in the mixture. If said amount is less than 2 wt. %, it is sometimes insufficient for the effect expected in this invention, and if said amount is more than 15 wt. %, it sometimes causes difficulty in producing a thin film.
The plastic in which ceramic particles are dispersed is then extruded into a thin film to be applied to a capacitor. The thickness of said film is, though it varies depending upon the capacitor to which said film is applied, typically 2-16 xcexcm. The film may be stretched in one or two axial directions.
In the present invention, the ceramic particles are pre-coated with wax to increase said particles"" affinity to organic plastic to promote uniform dispersion of said particles in the plastic. When the ceramic particles do not undergo a wax coating prior to being dispersed in the molten plastic, the association of the particles may not be sufficiently broken, which prevents uniform dispersion. The uniform dispersion gives the capacitor a preferable performance, particularly in its capacitance.
All these processes at a high temperature, mentioned above, should be performed under an inert atmosphere in order to prevent the plastic from being oxidized.
The capacitor is manufactured by first piling up the films and electrode foils, such as aluminum or tin, in alternate layers, and then rolling up the resulting multi-layered sheet. Alternatively, it is also attained by first depositing some metal on the film, and then rolling it up.


The invention concerns a router associated to a secure device (DC) and included in a communication network (RC), comprising an interface (IRT) to communicate with the secure device following an authentication of the router by the secure device, and comprising a protocol interpreter (INT) to command the execution of the critical operations of one or more routing protocols by the secure device. The sensitive or critical portions of a routing protocol are executed in a secure and reliable manner in the secured device, for example of a chip card type.

A router is an information technology device included in a given communication network, such as a packet based network, whose function it is, in particular, to provide a junction between the given network and at least one other network, to direct data packets through the given network, and to transmit data packets from the given network to another network.
An attack against a router can bring about a malfunction of the router and various detrimental consequences, such as breakdown of the network, an interruption of service, a disruption to the activities of the users of the network, and substantial cost and negative advertising.
Such attacks often target routers because of their critical role in a network, and they can be of different types, such as a "man in the middle" attack to monitor data traffic within the network, a denial of service attack, or a subversion attack.
In subversion attacks, the attacker can be connected to the router with current user rights or possibly with administrator rights. Such rights authorize the attacker to modify the router's configuration and to control all processes executed in the router.
There are various routing protocols, such as the OSPF ("Open Shortest Path First"), the BGP ("Border Gateway Protocol"), or the RIP (Routing Information Protocol") protocols to direct data traffic through networks. During a subversion attack, the attacker can modify the process that generates messages of the routing protocol in order to use fake addresses and to direct data packets over bad routing. For example, data packets can be directed towards equipment belonging to the attacker so that the latter can access such data packets in order potentially to be able to modify them. Such bad routing information can be propagated to all routers in the network.
To ensure secure data exchanges between two routers of a network, certain mechanisms authenticate all messages generated by the routing protocol used by the network. This authentication is carried out by means of secret keys that are deployed and memorized in all routers of the network and which can be changed by each router's administrator. Such authentication mechanisms have the following disadvantages:                when an attacker is in possession of a router's administrator rights, he/she can modify the secret keys required for the router's security functions,        an attacker can potentially change the implementation of the routing protocol to modify the content of messages sent or received, and        secret key management is very onerous, to the extent that secret keys are generally never changed.
There is therefore a need for a packet based network operator to prevent or limit the consequences of an attack against a network router, in which an attacker could direct all or part of data traffic to a corrupted network address.


The invention provides a compactly built solid state laser, which can be pumped by high power semiconductor laser diodes and uses two or more laser crystals as the laser gain or amplification media, which crystals can also contain the resonator mirrors. As desired per the invention, linear, monolithic folded or ring-shaped laser resonators can be formed to provide very efficient production of frequency doubled laser radiation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compactly constructed solid-state laser, particularly one that is efficient and of high power.
2. The Prior Art
Solid state lasers are known. See for example in the publication "Laser 89" (New Orleans), the Article entitled "CW-Frequency-Doubled Nd: YAG Laser with High Efficiency" by W. Rupp and P. Greve. The development and manufacture of high-power semiconductor laser diodes has made possible the design of compact, high-power and efficient solid-state lasers, wherein the laser diode is used as the pump light source of the solid-state laser. The spatial beam properties of the solid-state laser, e.g. divergence and beam profile are improved considerably over laser diodes. Laser diodes are used for the excitation of the solid-state laser, where in an optic-to-optic conversion efficiency .eta. of more than 40% can be attained. Since the emission wavelength of the laser diode can be tuned exactly to the absorption maximum of the solid-state crystal, the thermal loading of the laser crystal is reduced significantly in comparison to lamp pumps. For example, a lamp-pumped solid-state delivers as much as 40 W infrared light in CW operation or 14 W green light in multimode CW-operation, as indicated from the above-cited publication.
However, the total degree of efficiency of the above type of system is quite low. Several kilowatts of input power are required to create a few Watts of output power. Moreover, the system components, such as pump lamps, high voltage power supply, coolant system necessary for the pump lamps and laser crystal(s), are bulky. In addition, there is the disadvantage of a short life expectancy for the pump lamps.
The resonator of a diode-pumped solid-state laser normally has a linear, folded semi-monolithic, or ring-shaped design. One refers to a semi-monolithic design when a mirror, generally the input mirror, is formed directly on a laser rod crystal. The separate output mirror is provided with an optical coating, which has a transmission of a few percent for the fundamental wavelength.
In order to focus the semiconductor laser diode light in the laser crystal a lens system must be used. This lens system is optimized such that the overlapping of the pump light with the TEM.sub.00 -resonator mode in the laser crystal guarantees an efficient basic-mode operation. Thus the pump light should be imaged to the greatest extent possible within the resonator-mode space.
To double the fundamental frequency of the laser, up to now it has been necessary to employ an additional non-linear crystal, for example, a KTP crystal, in the resonator. A solid-state laser can be pumped by a diode laser either longitudinally or transversely. Transversely pumped systems generally exhibit a low degree of efficiency due to the unsuitable overlapping of TEM.sub.00 mode-and pump-volumes.
Most solid-state lasers use a single laser diode to end-pump the laser crystal. A few systems have been developed, which make it possible to couple more pump light in the laser crystal. In one such linearly-designed system, an Nd:YAG crystal is pumped from both sides by two GaA1As laser diodes, as has been shown in "Solid-State Laser Engineering" by W. Koechner, page 316, Springer Press, New York (1988). The crystal is located in the middle of the resonator between two mirrors. An outcouple mirror, external to the resonator, is required to outcouple the laser light which, however, makes it difficult to couple the pump light into the crystal efficiently.
A further possibility to pump a laser resonator longitudinally with several laser diodes, is yielded by polarization coupling of two laser diodes, as recommended in the Article "End-pumped Nd:BEL Laser Performance" by R. Scheps, J. Myers, E. K. Schimitschek, and D. F. Heller in "Optical Engineering 27" (1988), p. 830. In this case, however, the use of a beam-splitter cube leads to pump light losses of about 30%. As an alternative, the state of technology in fiber coupling recommends itself. Here the pump light of several laser diodes is coupled to the laser crystal longitudinally via fibers. However, this solution also exhibits considerable (light) losses.
The present invention overcomes the above shortcomings by providing a solid state laser system of improved efficiency and of reduced size, wherein multiple configurations and pulse operation, are possible and birefringent effects, through heat losses, are eliminated.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


Reliable call hand-offs from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi network. A hand-off controller detects a hand-off condition (e.g., hand-off request, potential/predicted hand-off request) and, in response, initiates a test call. For example, a telephone call made through a smart phone, using a cellular network (e.g., Verizon, AT&T or Sprint) can be handed over to a hot spot at a Starbucks. In response to detecting an available data network, transmission quality for VOIP conditions is automatically tested. If the network conditions meet a certain predetermined threshold, the VOIP hand-off is executed. If the predetermined threshold is not met, the VOIP hand-off may not be executed, or may be delayed.

The advancement of VOIP technology allows mobile devices to move bandwidth from voice networks, such as GSM/CDMA/LTE to Wi-Fi portions of data communication networks. Traditionally, voice calls were conducted completely over voice networks. However, VOIP calls, bolstered in part by faster, more reliable, networks, are being utilized more and more to handle voice calls. Free hot spots and unlimited data plans make data voice calls an attractive alternative to the tolled cellular networks.
Currently available applications for switching to a data network require manual intervention. Once an access point of a sufficient RSSI is identified, a hand-over can be initiated. Problematically, the reliability of some data networks can be low, due to network congestion, time of day, and various other factors. Network reliability can change over time as network conditions change. Accordingly, it may not always be desirable to change networks during a single voice call.
What is needed is a robust technique for more reliable call hand-offs from cellular networks to Wi-Fi networks. The technique can use a test VOIP call, for quality control, prior to the hand-off from a cellular network to a data network.

Reliable call hand-off from cellular networks to Wi-Fi networks


Optical sensors for physical parameters use a parameter-dependent relative distribution of the intensity of interrogating light of wavelengths .lambda..sub.1 between two light-guiding regions of a light-guiding probe. The relative distribution can be determined by a plurality of means including the spatial separation of the lights carried by the two light-guiding regions, and/or the conversion of one of the lights into light of wavelengths .lambda..sub.2 different and easily separable from light of wavelength .lambda..sub.1. The sensors can be adapted to measure diverse physical parameters, including but not limited to temperature, and to measure infrared radiation by measuring its heating effect on the sensing probes.

The present invention relates to improved methods and devices for sensing temperature and other physical fields, based on the effect of the physical field on the relative distribution of the intensity of interrogating light between two distinct components of an optical light guide. The physical fields covered by this invention include, in addition to temperature, anything which can cause a change in said relative distribution, including infrared radiation and the spatial distribution thereof.
The term "thermal sensing" as used in this application has a broad coverage. It covers the sensing of a thermal condition, like temperature, or any agent or process which can produce a temperature change, including as examples infrared radiation and exothermic chemical reactions.

Optical systems for sensing temperature and other physical parameters


The object of the present invention is to enable detecting operation states of numerous switches in a cordless coordinate reading system. The coordinate reading system body is provided with the switching circuit for selecting the excitation signal, so that one of the groups of sense lines can be excited with a plurality of frequencies. The coordinate indicator is provided with the resonant circuit and the groups of devices for setting frequency which modify the resonance frequency of the resonant circuit in accordance with the press of the switch, enable the resonant circuit to resonate with any one of a plurality of the resonance frequencies, and further slightly modify the resonance frequency. Further, the coordinate reading system body is provided with the circuit for detecting the phase contrast between the induced signal from the coordinate indicator and the excitation signal. Thereby, it is possible to detect the switch which is pressed down among the numerous switch from the excitation frequencies and the phase contrast data.

The present invention relates to a wireless coordinate reading system using an electromagnetic coupling phenomenon. More specifically, the invention relates to a coordinate reading system which can detect operation states of numerous switches provided on a coordinate indicator.
Various methods have been proposed for detecting operation states of switches of a coordinate indicator in the conventional wireless coordinate reading system. One known method is to transfer a switch signal by using infrared rays. Another known method is to modify a resonance frequency of a resonant circuit and make the resonant circuit resonate with an excitation signal, and then detect the operation states from a degree of the phase shift.
Further, as to a method for detecting a position of a coordinate indicator, a cord can be eliminated from the coordinate indicator because of the existence of the invention (hereinafter referred to as Prior Application No. 1) which was proposed by the applicant of the present invention before the present application. Brief description will be given for this invention. Two groups of sense lines are arranged along each of xy rectangular coordinate axes respectively, and each line of the one group of sense lines is sequentially excited by an excitation circuit. When a coordinate indicator having a resonant circuit which resonates with the above excitation signal is brought close to the sense lines, induced signals which are induced on the other group of sense lines are sequentially processed by a signal processing circuit. Then, a position of the coordinate indicator, that is, a coordinate is detected from the level of the induced signals which are processed.
The method using infrared radiation to transfer the switch signal has directivity, and therefore has the following drawbacks. The structure becomes complicated and the system becomes heavier and larger, so that the operability deteriorates. For instance, the coordinate indicator itself requires a transmitter and a large capacity cell. Further, there is another drawback that the difference in phase data between respective switches is too small to detect operation states of numerous switches only from the degree of a shift in phase, and therefore stable detection is difficult.

Coordinate reading system for detecting operation states of numerous switches


Tearing of a weft thread between the main nozzle and the insert side of the selvage or insert end of the loom shed is to be avoided when the weft thread has not been properly woven into the fabric. The detection of a faulty weft thread stops the loom and such stopping must not tear the weft thread. For this purpose the signal caused by a faulty weft thread for the loom stoppage is also used for holding available a defined length of weft thread, whereby thread tearing is avoided. The loom is provided with a prespooling device equipped with an electrically controllable thread stopper and a second thread stopper which is adjustable in the circumferential direction and radially on the thread winding body of the prespooling device for providing the defined weft thread length.

Methods and devices are known for removing of broken weft threads from air nozzle weaving looms, see among others DE-OS 2,228,131, EP-Application 0,284,766, EP-Application 0,322,576, EP-Application 0,318,861, and EP-Application 0,319,026.
All these methods and devices are based on monitoring the proper insertion of the weft threads and on automatically removing any weft thread not properly inserted. These weft threads are inserted into the loom shed by the main nozzle of an air nozzle weaving loom under the control of a thread storage. The monitoring of the weft thread insertion takes place by means of so-called thread monitors which provide information to the loom control at least regarding the beginning of the weft thread insertion into the loom shed and regarding the arrival or non-arrival of the weft thread at the exit of the loom shed. If the arrival of the weft thread is not signalled, then the loom control automatically stops the loom. Generaly, the cause for the absence of an arrival signal is a breaking of the weft thread, either on its way into the loom shed, or in the loom shed itself.
In a high speed loom in which the main nozzle and the reed are rigidly connected with the back and forth swinging sley, a predetermined length of the made ready weft thread is released when the loom suddenly stops. The released length of weft thread is held taut in the area between the main nozzle which moves along with the sley and the fabric selvage. This feature makes sure that the made ready weft thread is not torn off by the faulty inserted weft thread when the sley is moved back. This solution is known from European Patent Publication 0,310,804.
European Patent Publication 0,310,804 relates to a method for removing a faultily inserted weft thread in an air weaving loom and to an apparatus for performing the method. The known method aims at solving the technical problem to provide a method that makes it possible to separate a faultily inserted weft thread with relatively large forces from the beat-up edge of the fabric, whereby these relatively large forces are to be applied substantially along the entire length of the loom shed. This problem has been solved, in said European Application, in that the made available weft thread is released sequentially in several length sections, whereby each section is smaller than twice the weft thread length, and wherein these length sections are shot through the loom shed together with the faultily inserted weft thread by means of the main nozzle and the auxiliary nozzles applying several transport impulses to the weft thread. In a modification it is provided that following a signal by the weft thread monitor indicating a faulty weft thread, a predetermined length of the made available weft thread is released and held taut in the area between the main nozzle that moves along with the sley and the selvage of the fabric. Thereby, it is achieved that the made ready weft thread is not torn off of the faultily inserted weft thread when the sley is moved back, because the length of thread is made available for this motion. Thereby, it is also prevented that the thread length enters into the area of the already newly formed shed so that a disturbance could occur in the further work sequence.
In order to make it possible to hold the weft thread taut while simultaneously preventing its tearing, it is known that the weft threads which are provided by a supply spool, and which are spooled off by means of a prespooling device, are made available in a predetermined number of turns which correspond to the length of the weft thread to be inserted. For this purpose, the prespooling device is equipped with a magnetic clamping mechanism which is also referred to as thread stopper by means of which the made available weft thread is clamped to the prespooling device or released.
Downstream of the prespooling device in the direction toward the loom, there is arranged a preblowing nozzle which is so constructed that when the breakage of a weft thread occurs, the preblowing nozzle is capable of exposing a portion of the weft thread winding pulled off the prespooling device, to pressurized air directed opposite to the spooling off direction. Thus, the section of the weft thread between the fabric selvage and the main nozzle can be held taut in a controlled manner, whereby tearing of the weft thread and formation of loops of the weft thread are avoided.
However, the known solution is subject to a disadvantage nevertheless in that namely between the prespooling device and the main blowing nozzle, a preblowing nozzle is arranged, having a complicated construction, and such nozzle is needed as an additional structural component, which requires a specialized pneumatic control.

Method and apparatus for readying a defined weft thread reserve when there is a loom stoppage


The present invention discloses an organic light-emitting diode display device. More particularly, the present invention relates to the structure of an organic light-emitting diode display device for suppressing a vertical crosstalk phenomenon in the organic light-emitting diode display device having an internal compensation structure for threshold voltage variations in driving transistors. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a shield electrode may be formed using the same metal layer as that of scan lines or data lines, thereby providing an organic light-emitting diode display device in which the effect of coupling between the gate electrode of driving thin-film transistors and the data lines is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light-emitting diode display device, and more particularly, to the structure of an organic light-emitting diode display device for suppressing a vertical crosstalk phenomenon in the organic light-emitting diode display device having an internal compensation structure for threshold voltage variations in driving transistors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display devices proposed for replacing the existing cathode ray tube display devices may include liquid crystal displays, field emission displays, plasma display panels, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, and the like.
Of the types proposed, organic light-emitting diodes may provide advantages such as high brightness and low operation voltage characteristics, and a high contrast ratio because of being operated as a self luminous type that spontaneously emits light, and allowing the implementation of an ultra-thin display. Furthermore, the organic light-emitting diodes have characteristics such as facilitating the implementation of moving images with a response time of several microseconds (μs), having no limitation in viewing angle, and having stability, even at low temperatures.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an equivalent circuit diagram of one pixel in an organic light-emitting diode display device in the related art.
As illustrated in the drawing, in the organic light-emitting diode display device, a scan signal (Scan) line and a data signal (Vdata) line are formed in a crossed manner with each other, and a line for supplying a power voltage (VDD) is formed to be separated from the data signal (Vdata) line by a predetermined distance to form one pixel (PX).
Furthermore, the organic light-emitting diode display device may include a switching thin-film transistor (SWT) for applying the data signal (Vdata) to a first node (Ni) in response to the scan signal (Scan), and a driving thin-film transistor (DT) for receiving the driving voltage (VDD) at the source electrode and applying a drain current to the organic light-emitting diode (EL) according to a voltage applied to the first node (N1), and a capacitor (C1) for maintaining a voltage applied to a gate electrode of the driving thin-film transistor (DT) for a period of one frame.
Furthermore, the organic light-emitting diode (EL) may include an organic light-emitting layer formed between the cathode electrode and anode electrode, the anode electrode being connected to the drain electrode of the driving thin-film transistor (DT), and the cathode electrode being grounded (VSS). The organic light-emitting layer may include a hole transporting layer, an light emitting layer, and an electron transporting layer.
The foregoing organic light-emitting diode display device controls a current amount flowing through the organic light-emitting diode (EL) to display the gradation of an image, and the image quality is determined by the characteristics of the driving thin-film transistor (DT).
However, a threshold voltage variation between the driving thin-film transistors of different pixels may occur, even within one display panel, and a current flowing through each organic light-emitting diode (EL) may be changed, thereby causing a problem in which the desired gradation cannot be implemented. In order to address this problem, an internal compensation type pixel structure in which one or more sampling thin-film transistors (T1, T2) and a plurality of capacitors (C1, C2) for applying a reference voltage (VREF) are added, as illustrated in FIG. 2, to compensate a threshold voltage variation by sensing the threshold voltage of the driving thin-film transistor (DT) and removing a threshold voltage component sensed on the drain current of the driving thin-film transistor (DT) has been proposed.
However, the foregoing internal compensation type pixel structure requires that a larger number of thin-film transistors are provided compared to the related art FIG. 1, and therefore it has a disadvantage of reducing the aperture ratio.
Furthermore, the pixel may be designed in such a manner that the maximum aperture ratio can be secured in a limited pixel space, and therefore, a line connected to the gate electrode of the driving thin-film transistor (DT) is disposed adjacent to the data line (DL), and a voltage applied to the gate electrode is fluctuated due to the effect of coupling caused by a voltage change of the data line (DL) according to the parasitic capacitance, thereby varying the gate voltage of the driving thin-film transistor. It may change the drain current of the driving thin-film transistors, thereby causing image quality deterioration such as a vertical crosstalk.

Organic light-emitting diode display device


A device includes a host including a main memory, and semiconductor memory including a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, memory unit, and controller. The nonvolatile semiconductor memory stores first address information. The memory unit stores second address information as part of the first address information. The controller accesses the nonvolatile semiconductor memory based on the second address information. Third address information is stored in the main memory, and is part or all of the first address information. The controller uses the third address information when accessing the nonvolatile semiconductor memory if address information to be referred is not stored in the second address information.

A semiconductor memory device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) often stores a logical-physical conversion table (MMU: to be also referred to as an L2P in some cases hereinafter) in, e.g., a buffer (memory) of the SSD. In this case, as a memory capacity of the SSD increases, a capacity and area of the buffer for storing the logical-physical conversion table tend to increase. Also, a manufacturing cost often increases because it is necessary to secure the capacity for storing the logical-physical conversion table in the buffer.
There is a technique called a UMA (Unified Memory Architecture). In the UMA, one memory is shared between a plurality of arithmetic processors. The UMA is used in a GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) or the like. The arithmetic processors are integrated in the GPU. The UMA can reduce the memory cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Memory system with block rearrangement to secure a free block based on read valid first and second data


Structures composed at least partially of an organic substrate may be protected from oxidation by applying a catalyst onto said substrate for promoting the combination of atomic oxygen to molecular oxygen. The structure may also be protected by applying both a catalyst and an atomic oxygen shielding layer onto the substrate. The structures to be protected include spacecraft surfaces.

Atomic oxygen protective coatings typically include SiO.sub.x (where x is between 1.9 and 2.0), fluoropolymer-filled silicon dioxide films, and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. These coatings may be deposited as thin films by ion beam sputtering, electron beam evaporation, chemical vapor deposition, RF magnetron deposition, reactive DC magnetron sputter deposition and the like. Protective coatings for atomic oxygen have been applied over polyimides, graphite epoxy, fluorinated ethylene propylene, and various forms of carbon (such as pyrolytic graphite and carbon-carbon composites).
Abrasion and flexure however, of these protective coatings lead to defects which are susceptible to oxidation. In addition, defects occur as a result of particulate contaminants contacting the surface of the organic material; microscopic roughness and undulations on the protective coating surface; and micrometeoroids or other debris which impact on the protective coating in low earth orbit. These defects enable atomic oxygen to react with the underlying organic, polymeric, substrate.
Atomic oxygen gradually undercuts at defect sites in protective coatings thus oxidizing the underlying polymer. A cavity is formed with portions of the protective coating overhanging this cavity.
For typical spacecraft materials such as polyimide, only about 14% of the incident atomic oxygen will react with the polymer at the bottom of each defect site. Most of the unreacted atomic oxygen that leaves the organic surface is ejected out of the defect opening and back into space. However, as the undercut cavity grows larger around each defect, more and more atomic oxygen, which does not react upon first impact, scatters off the bottom of the atomic oxygen shielding layer. As the atomic oxygen scatters, it again has an opportunity to react with the polymeric material.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,560,577, 4,604,181 (Mirtich et al.) and 4,664,980 (Sovey et al.) disclose coating a polymeric substrate with metal oxide to provide protection from oxidation in low earth orbits. Such metal oxide coatings are, however, subject to undercut cavities caused by atomic oxygen.
Protective coatings such as the coating disclosed in the '577, '181 and '980 patents do not recombine atomic oxygen. Consequently, the undercut cavities which inevitably form are continuously exposed to atomic oxygen, which results in a dramatic reduction in the functional lifetime of the underlying structure. Unchecked undercutting ultimately leads to structural failure of protected organic substrates. In the case of solar arrays, this could lead to limiting the duration of the mission or the useful life of the solar array.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,100 (Lindberg, Jr.) discloses using a heat-dissociable material for layers which alternate with metal layers in a space vehicle nose cone. The heat dissociable material is selected from hydrides and silver oxide. The outer layer is preferably constructed of ceramic so that upon dissociation of silver oxide, the oxygen does not oxidize the carrier material, but rises to the surface of the nose cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,411 (Bergen) discloses inhibiting stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steel, particularly upon exposure to chloride, by coating the steel surfaces with an oxide film containing silver, lead and/or cobalt ions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,512 (Macken) discloses silver oxide as a catalyst for oxidizing carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. There is however, no suggestion of protective coatings for aircraft.

Atomic oxygen protective coating with resistance to undercutting at defect sites

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


An ambient-heat engine has a substantially thermally-conductive housing whose interior is divided into a high-pressure chamber and a low-pressure chamber by a substantially gas-impermeable barrier. An ionically-conductive, electrical-energy-generating mechanism forms at least a portion of the barrier. First hydrogen-storage medium is disposed within the high-pressure chamber and second hydrogen-storage medium is disposed within the low-pressure chamber. An electrical-energy storage device connected to the ionically-conductive, electrical-energy-generating mechanism is operable between a charge condition and a discharge condition. In a charge condition, hydrogen atoms within the high-pressure chamber are converted to hydrogen ions and conducted through the electrical-energy-generating mechanism to the low-pressure chamber causing electrical-energy to be generated to the electrical-energy storage device. When the electrical-energy storage device is in a discharge condition an electric current is passed through the electrical-energy-generating mechanism causing hydrogen in the low-pressure chamber to convert to hydrogen ions and conduct through the electrical-energy-generating mechanism to the high-pressure chamber.

It has long been a goal to develop an engine that operates on thermal energy that is freely available in the ambient environment. Consistent with the second law of thermodynamics, prior attempts at such thermal-energy-harvesting devices required two distinct sources of thermal energy, namely, a heat source and a heat sink for supplying and removing heat, respectively, at different temperatures simultaneously. A heat-source and heat-sink pair having two distinct, spaced-apart temperatures typically does not occur naturally and/or plentifully, and thus are generally difficult to access. Therefore, because ambient heat at a single atmospheric temperature is more abundant and available than a simultaneous dual-heat source, a device for harnessing single-source ambient heat is more desirable than a device that requires a dual-heat source.
The present inventor disclosed a device in U.S. Pat. No. 6,899,967. That device relies on cyclic temperature changes in the environment to produce the needed simultaneous dual-heat source. The needed temperature difference was provided through the use of a mass of material that has significant heat capacity. The prior device is a thermo-electrochemical converter that operates on a pressure difference between two metal-hydride chambers separated by a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). In the prior invention, one metal-hydride chamber is exposed to the ambient environment while the other is insulated and thermally stabilized. A thermal mass is coupled to the stabilized chamber to act as a heat source/sink material. Insulation may be used to thermally isolate the thermal-mass material from the environment in order to enhance the temperature difference produced. It absorbs heat and stores it during periods of elevated ambient temperature and releases that heat to function as an elevated-temperature heat source during periods of reduced ambient temperatures. As such, changes in the temperature of the thermal mass will always lag temperature changes in its environment. Thus a converter coupled between the thermal mass and the environment will be subjected to a simultaneous temperature differential needed for the device to operate.
The open-circuit electrical potential due to a hydrogen pressure differential across a proton-conductive membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is a linear function of temperature and proportional to the natural logarithm of the hydrogen pressure ratio and can be calculated using the Nernst equation (Fuel Cell Handbook, Fourth Edition, 1999, by J. H. Hirschenhofer, D. B. Stauffer, R. R. Engleman, and M. G. Klett, at pp. 2-5:VOC= RT/2F ln(PHi/PLow)  Equation 1where VOC is open circuit voltage, R is the universal gas constant, T is the cell absolute temperature in degrees Kelvin, F is Faraday's constant, PHi is the hydrogen pressure on the high-pressure side and PLow is the hydrogen pressure on the low-pressure side.
The hydrogen pressure produced by a metal-hydride bed depends on temperature. When the ambient metal-hydride chamber is at a higher temperature, H2 gas is desorbed from its metal hydride content and flows through the MEA into the thermally stabilized chamber, thus generating power. During the next half cycle, when the temperature of the ambient chamber falls below the temperature of the insulated chamber, the opposite takes place, hydrogen flows through the MEA back to the ambient temperature chamber. Hydrogen thus cycles back and forth under a pressure differential across the proton-conductive membrane generating power in the process.
A major limitation encountered with the prior invention is associated with the need to have a device that is capable of scavenging power in a relatively efficient manner. A major limitation in achieving efficient operation is associated with the difficulty of creating a significant temperature difference between components. This is particularly true for a small device. The close proximity of the components in a small device allows parasitic heat transfer losses between the two metal-hydride beds that are too high whenever a significant temperature gradient is present. In larger devices, the need for insulation and heat sink/source material can result in a large, bulky device that is difficult to implement. Thus it can be appreciated that a need remains for a device for producing electrical power using heat from its ambient environment that overcomes the disadvantages and shortcomings of previous chemical and thermal converters that need a simultaneous temperature difference in order to operate.


A capacitive discharge welding system includes at least one capacitive discharge-based power supply that is adapted to provide alternate polarity pulses from a first weld to a subsequent weld, and to be compatible with iron-core transformers used for alternating current resistance welding; at least one iron core transformer adapted to receive electrical discharges from the capacitive discharge-based power supply; a polarity switching network that includes at least two sets of silicon controlled rectifiers that are arranged in pairs for facilitating current flow in alternate directions; a pair of engagable, properly biased shunt diodes that are operative to shunt reflected current for protecting the silicon controlled rectifiers when the system is in use; and a control network configured for simultaneous engagement of the properly biased shunt diodes and firing the silicon controlled rectifiers for current flow; and tracking polarity for assuring that subsequent pulses use opposite direction current flow for preventing saturation of the iron core transformer.

The described invention relates in general to resistance and solid state solid-state welding systems and the components thereof, and more specifically to a welding system that includes a capacitive discharge based power supply coupled with a polarity reversing firing mechanism and iron-core transformer arrangement for providing a fine level of impedance matching between capacitive-based stored energy and a secondary resistive/inductive load of a workpiece.
Capacitive discharge (CD) welding is a variation of resistance projection welding, wherein electrical power is stored in a capacitor, and then discharged through a transformer into one or more workpieces. Each workpiece itself nominally contains some variant of an energy concentrator, thereby facilitating localized heating and subsequent forging. CD welding is used in various applications including, for example, specialized automotive components, industrial instruments, sensors, and appliances. However, broader application of the technology has been limited by a number of factors including: (i) large scale of required equipment (e.g., physical size of the power supplies); (ii) excessive cost; (iii) and limited system flexibility. CD welding is known to be cost effective and robust; however, systems are relatively inflexible and are typically configured with only the end application or use being considered with regard to system design.
Particularly problematic are the types of transformers typically used with CD welding systems. Most production CD welding systems currently in use employ air core style transformers that typically include very limited turns-ratios for matching capacitor output to the workpiece load. In such systems, the delivered power is notionally unipolar, thereby preventing the use of more flexible stacked core transformers. The result is that there is often insufficient matching between capabilities of the system power supply and the requirements of the application for which the welding system is to be used. Thus, there is an ongoing need for a capacitive discharge welding system with enhanced impedance matching capability for making the system generally more flexible for use in various applications.


A portable urinal apparatus comprises a urine-receiving member having an inlet and an outlet, the inlet being sized and shaped for receiving a flow of urine from an individual using the apparatus. A first flexible fluid conduit has an inlet end and an outlet end, the inlet end being detachably connected to the outlet of the urine receiving member, the outlet end having a male quick-disconnect fitting. A valve is provided that has an inlet and an outlet, the inlet being connected to the outlet end of the first flexible conduit, the inlet and outlets having female quick disconnect fittings. A second flexible fluid conduit has an inlet end and an outlet end, the inlet end of the second conduit having a male quick-disconnect fitting which mates with the quick-disconnect fitting at the outlet of the valve. Included is a urine specimen container that has a male quick-disconnect fitting at the inlet thereof which mates with the female quick-disconnect fitting at the outlet of the valve, the specimen container being thereby connectable to the outlet of the valve in place of the second conduit. A urine collecting receptacle has a fluid inlet region to which the outlet end of the second conduit is detachably connected. A screen is disposed between the urine receiving member and the first conduit for catching and retaining foreign material in the flow of urine from the urine receiving member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of portable urinals and, more particularly, to the field of portable urinals adapted for use in sick rooms, hospitals, campers, travel trailers and/or for use by handicapped or partially immobilized individuals.
2. Background Discussion
As long as an individual remains alive, there exists the necessity that the individual periodically relieve himself or herself by urinating. For most individuals this bodily function, while often a nuisance, is of no special consequence.
This is not, however, the situation for individuals confined to bed or a wheelchair and for those who are either not ambulatory or, for some reason or another, have great difficulty moving about. For such individuals, the task of relieving himself or herself is usually a trying and complicated process, often requiring the assistance of others and not infrequently engendering in the individual a sense of helplessness, inferiority and dependency.
Some efforts have been made to alleviate this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,922 to Terauchi, for example, discloses a urine collector for a wheel chair and U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,795 to Johnson discloses a portable urinal, as does U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,599 to Nilsson. While such urinals as are disclosed in these patents are considered to be useful, they do not completely solve the problem of many individuals. As an illustration, the portable urinals disclosed in the above-referenced Johnson and Nilsson patents are considered to have a limited fluid capacity and may be difficult for some individuals to use in an easy and sanitary manner.
An associated problem is that some individuals having to use a portable urinal, such as those disclosed in the patents mentioned above, are required, because of the nature of their infirmity or other health problem, to frequently collect urine specimens for analysis. To the knowledge of the present inventor, there are no portable urinals that enable the collecting of urine specimens in a clean, sanitary and easy manner.
For these and other reasons, the present inventor has invented an improved portable urinal that not only is easy and convenient to use in a wide variety of applications but also enables the easy and sanitary collecting of urine sample.

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The invention provides a liquid detergent composition which is safe, has an excellent detergency and contains a hydrophobic organic solvent stable despite of a large water content. The present invention relates to a liquid detergent composition comprising (a) a specific compound having an alkyl or alkenyl group having 3 to 11 carbon atoms and a group having 4 to 30 carbon atoms in total and 2 to 10 hydroxy groups, (b) a hydrophobic organic solvent which is liquid at 20° C. and (c) water, wherein (b)/(c)=0.05/9.95 to 4/6 (mass ratio) and (b)+(c)=50 to 99 mass %.

Generally, detergents are used to remove different soils corresponding to hard surfaces such as bathrooms, kitchens and floors and therefore those having compositions suitable to each of these hard surfaces are used. For instance, as detergents for kitchen facilities, those containing surfactants, solvents, alkali agents and the like are used in order to remove oily soils denatured by the actions of heat, sunlight, oxygen in the atmosphere and the like. Also, as detergents for bathrooms, detergents containing surfactants, solvents, metal ion sequestering agents and the like are used to remove soils such as sebum, metal soaps, particularly, calcium salts of fatty acids. Many technologies have been developed so far.
It has been also known that excellent detergency is obtained by compounding a polyol type compound having an alkyl or alkylene chain in these detergents. As the polyol compound, alkyl glyceryl ether type compounds, saccharide type compounds such as alkyl glycosides and fatty acid ester type compounds of (poly) glycerol are known. For example, with regard to alkyl glyceryl ether type compound, a liquid detergent using a monoalkyl monoglyceryl ether having 5 or less carbon atoms in the alkyl group is described in the publication of JP-A No. 7-3289. It is described in Japanese Patent Application National Publication (Laid-Open) No. 7-500861 that a glyceryl ether of an alkyl group having 12 to 18 carbon atoms wherein 50 mol % or more of the glycerol ether is di-isomers is contained and compounds such as high-molecular hydrocarbons such as a paraffin, fatty acid esters, fatty acid esters of monohydric alcohols and aliphatic C18 to C40 ketones may be contained as a non-surfactant foaming resistant agents though these compounds are optional components. Liquid detergents exhibiting more excellent detergency by using a mixture consisting of a combination of monoalkyl monoglyceryl ethers having 1 to 11 carbon atoms in the alkyl group and differing in the number of carbon atoms or a combination of isomer alkyls among these ethers are described in the publication of JP-A No. 11-189796. In the publication of JP-A No. 11-256200, there are descriptions concerning a liquid detergent composition containing a monoglycerol ether derivative having any one of an alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group, a benzyl group or a phenyl group, a terpene type hydrocarbon, a surfactant and a builder. As to other liquid detergent compositions containing a glyceryl ether derivative, there are descriptions concerning a liquid detergent composition which is formulated with a monoalkyl monoglyceryl ether having a methyl-branched alkyl group and exhibits excellent detergency effected on oily stains and sebum soils in JP-A No. 57-133200, and concerning a detergent containing a monoalkyl (mono, di or tri)glyceryl ether having 8 to 16 carbon atoms in the publication of U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,237. Also, examples of detergents containing a polyol compound represented by the formula containing a glycerol ether derivative may include detergents disclosed in each publication of U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,248, JP-A No. 64-67235 and JP-W No. 5-502687.
As detergents containing an alkyl glycoside type compound, liquid detergents containing an alkyl glycoside type surfactant, a monoterpene or sesquiterpene type hydrocarbon and other components are described in each publication of JP-A Nos. 2-182793, 2-32197 and 3-269097.
In the meantime, as technologies concerning a liquid detergent using a hydrophobic organic solvent, those described in the publication of JP-A No. 2-29498 besides the aforementioned liquid detergents compounded with a terpene type hydrocarbon may be exemplified. A liquid detergent composition containing 0.01 to 1.0% by weight of an anionic surfactant, 0.01 to 1.0% by weight of terpene or sesquiterpene type hydrocarbon solvent and 0.001 to 0.1% by weight of water-soluble divalent metal is described in this publication. It is to be noted that hydrocarbons such as paraffin is compounded as a foam resistant agent and it is described in the publication of the aforementioned JP-W No. 7-500861 that these hydrocarbons may be compounded as optional components.
However, a part of current polyol type compounds is one exhibiting excellent detergency effected on denatured oily stains and the like, but are highly soluble in water and therefore, only insufficient effect is obtained in the case of detergents having a large water content. Although there is also an idea that the concentration of a solvent is increased, not only an economical problem arise but also sticky feeling remains, requiring wiping with water for finishing.
On the other hand, current liquid detergents using a hydrophobic organic solvent are stabilized by incorporating the hydrophobic organic solvent into the micelle of a surfactant, namely, by forming an o/w emulsion to obtain a uniform and stable liquid and therefore satisfactory detergency cannot be obtained. This is considered to be because the surfactant surrounds the hydrophobic organic solvent with the lipophilic group being positioned inside and the hydrophilic group being positioned outside, thereby confining the hydrophobic organic solvent. Therefore, one which is brought into contact with soils when cleaning is the solvent confined in the micelle of the surfactant. For this, the effect that the solvent originally has can be exhibited insufficiently.
In view of this, there is an idea that the amount of a water-insoluble solvent to be compounded is increased to make a w/o emulsion. For example, a liquid detergent containing orange oil as its major component has been already known. However, when the amount of the hydrophobic organic solvent is increased, this is undesirable not only from an economical problem but also from the viewpoint of safety in generally domestic uses in the case of using a flammable hydrophobic organic solvent such as hydrocarbon solvents. If a hydrophobic organic solvent having low volatility is used, however, not only the solvent is a cause of sticky feeling after used but also it is difficult to wipe the solvent because it cannot be wiped with water.
It is disclosed in the publication of JP-A No. 6-306400 that a near three-critical point composition constituted of (1) an amphipathic solvent such as triethylene glycol monohexyl ether, (2) a non-polar solvent or less-polar solvent such as a hydrocarbon and (3) a polar solvent such as water is used as a detergent. However, a system containing a large amount of a compound such as triethylene glycol monohexyl ether and diethylene glycol butyl ether used for the example of the technique in the publication in which the number of hydroxyl groups is only one cannot exhibit sufficient detergency.
Also, in the publication of JP-A No. 2002-20791, a liquid detergent forming a bicontinuous phase is disclosed. However, the polarity of a hydrophobic component to be used is high and therefore only insufficient detergency can be obtained.


The invention is a haptenized tumor vaccine for the treatment of cancer. Treatment of cancer patients with an autologous, vaccine preceded by low dose cyclophosphamide (CY) induces delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) to melanoma cells, and in some cases, regression of metastatic tumors. The efficiency of the process has been increased by immunizing with tumor cells conjugated to the hapten such as DNP, TNP or AED.. Additional embodiments of the vaccine include: 1) combining the vaccine with immunomodulating drugs, such as, interleukin-2 (IL2); and 2) purifying the active components of the vaccine by extracting antigens from cancer cells to produce a chemically-defined, haptenated vaccine. The treatment may also be extended to include other types of human cancer.

It was theorized in the 1960's that tumor cells bear specific antigens (TSA) which are not present on normal cells and that the immune response to these antigens might enable an individual to reject a tumor. It was later suggested that the immune response to TSA could be increased by introducing new immunological determinants on cells. Mitchison, Transplant. Proc. 2:92-103 (1970). Such a "helper determinant", which can be a hapten, a protein, a viral coat antigen, a transplantation antigen, or a xenogenous cell antigen, could be introduced into a population of tumor cells. The cells would then be injected into an individual who would be expected to be tolerant to the growth of unmodified tumor cells. Clinically, the hope was that an immunologic reaction would occur against the helper determinants, as a consequence of which the reaction to the accompanying TSA is increased, and tumor cells which would otherwise be tolerated are destroyed. Mitchison (1970) also suggests several modes of action of the helper determinants including 1) that the unmodified cells are merely attenuated, in the sense that their growth rate is slowed down or their susceptability to immunologic attack increased; 2) that helper determinants merely provide points of attack and so enable the modified cells to be killed by an immune response not directed against TSA; 3) that the helper determinants have an adjuvant action such as binding to an antibody or promoting localization of the cells in the right part of the body for immunization, in particular, in lymph nodes.
Fujiwara et al., J. Immunol. 132:1571-1577 (1984a) showed in a murine system that tumor cells conjugated with the hapten, trinitrophenyl (TNP), could induce systemic immunity against unmodified tumor cells, provided that the animals were first sensitized to the hapten in the absence of hapten-specific suppressor T cells. Spleen cells from the treated mice completely and specifically prevented the growth of tumors in untreated recipient animals. Flood et al., J. Immunol. 138:3573-3579 (1987) showed that mice immunized with a TNP-conjugated, ultraviolet light-induced "regressor" tumor were able to reject a TNP-conjugated "progressor" tumor that was otherwise non-immunologic. Moreover, these mice were subsequently resistant to challenge with unconjugated "progressor" tumor. In another experimental system, Fujiwara et al., J. Immunol. 133:510-514 (1984b) demonstrated that mice sensitized to trinitrochlorobenzene (TNCB) after cyclophosphamide (CY pretreatment could be cured of large (10 mm) tumors by in situ haptenization of tumor cells; subsequently, these animals were specifically resistant to challenge with unconjugated tumor cells.
The common denominator of these experiments is sensitization with hapten in a milieu in which suppressor cells are not induced. Spleen cells from CY-pretreated, TNCB-sensitized mice exhibited radioresistant "amplified helper function" i.e., they specifically augmented the in vitro generation of anti-TNP cytotoxicity. Moreover, once these amplified helpers had been activated by in vitro exposure to TNP-conjugated autologous lymphocytes, they were able to augment cytotoxicity to unrelated antigens as well, including tumor antigens (Fujiwara et al., 1984b). Flood et al. (1987) showed that this amplified helper activity was mediated by T cells with the phenotype Lyt-1+, Lyt-2-, L3T4+, I-J+ and suggests that these cells were contrasuppressor cells, a new class of immunoregulatory T cell.
Immunotherapy of patients with melanoma has shown that administration of CY, either high dose (1000 mg/M.sup.2) or low dose (300 mg/M.sup.2), three days before sensitization with the primary antigen keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) markedly augments the acquisition of delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) to that antigen (Berd et al., Cancer Res. 42:4862-4866 (1982); Cancer Res. 44:1275-1280 (1984a)). Low dose CY pretreatment allows patients with metastatic melanoma to develop DTH to autologous melanoma cells in response to injection with autologous melanoma vaccine (Berd et al., Cancer Res. 46:2572-2577 (1986)). The combination of low dose CY and vaccine can produce clinically important regression of metastatic tumor (Berd et al. (1986); Cancer Invest. 6:335-347 (1988a)). CY administration results in reduction of peripheral blood lymphocyte non-specific T suppressor function (Berd et al., Cancer Res. 44:5439-5443 (1984b); Cancer Res. 47:3317-3321 (1987)), possibly by depleting CD4+, CD45R+ suppressor inducer T cells (Berd et al., Cancer Res. 48:1671-1675 (1988b)). The anti-tumor effects of this immunotherapy regimen appear to be limited by the excessively long interval between the initiation of vaccine administration and the development of DTH to the tumor cells (Berd et al., Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res. 29:408 (#1626) (1988c)). Therefore, there remains a need to increase the therapeutic efficiency of such a vaccine to make it more immunogenic.
Most tumor immunologists now agree that getting T lymphocytes, the white cells responsible for tumor immunity, into the tumor mass is a prerequisite for tumor destruction by the immune system. Consequently, a good deal of attention has been focused on what has become known as "TIL" therapy, as pioneered by Dr. Stephen Rosenberg at NCI. Dr. Rosenberg and others have extracted from human cancer metastases the few T lymphocytes that are naturally present and greatly expanded their numbers by culturing then in vitro with Interleukin-2 (IL2), a growth factor for T lymphocytes Topalian et al., J.Clin. Oncol. 6:839-853 (1988). However this therapy has not been very effective because the injected T cells are limited in their ability to "home" to the tumor cite.
The ability of high concentrations of IL2 to induce lymphocytes to become non-specifically cytotoxic killer cells has been exploited therapeutically in a number of studies (Lotze et al., J. Biol. Response 3:475-482 (1982); West et al., New Engl. J. Med. 316:898-903 (1987)). However, this approach has been limited by the severe toxicity of high dose intravenous IL2. Less attention has been given to the observation that much lower concentrations of IL2 can act as an immunological adjuvant by inducing the expansion of antigen activated T cells (Talmadge et al., Cancer Res. 47:5725-5732 (1987); Meuer et al., Lancet 1:15-18 (1989)). Therefore, there remains a need to understand and attempt to exploit the use of IL2 as an immunological adjuvant.

Treatment of melanoma with a vaccine comprising irradiated autologous melanoma tumor cells conjugated to a hapten


Pairing information is automatically exchanged over a temporary cable in a wireless high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) system. Subsequently, the cable is disconnected and a source of HDMI (such as a disk player) wirelessly sends HDMI A/V to a sink (such as a HDTV).

There is no ambiguity about what devices are connected in a multimedia system when the attachment is via wire. However, connectivity for wireless devices requires a means to specify valid/authorized communication combinations. Each device must be able to recognize a legitimate partner and have shared secrets used to safeguard high value content. This pairing information is usually established as a genetic imprint at the factory or can be done as part of an adoption procedure in the field.
Hard pairing at the factory makes field repairs difficult and may preclude support for multiple pairings. Manual pairing by the end user can be complicated, cumbersome, annoying and subject to human error. Manual pairing is also vulnerable to security compromises. Any pairing needs to be as secure a process as HDCP.

Wired exchange of control information in wireless system