A method and apparatus for digital epitaxy. The apparatus includes a pulsed gas delivery assembly that supplies gaseous material to a substrate to form an adsorption layer of the gaseous material on the substrate. Structure is provided for measuring the isothermal desorption spectrum of the growth surface to monitor the active sites which are available for adsorption. The vacuum chamber housing the substrate facilitates evacuation of the gaseous material from the area adjacent the substrate following exposure. In use, digital epitaxy is achieved by exposing a substrate to a pulse of gaseous material to form an adsorption layer of the material on the substrate. The active sites on the substrate are monitored during the formation of the adsorption layer to determine if all the active sites have been filled. Once the active sites have been filled on the growth surface of the substrate, the pulse of gaseous material is terminated. The unreacted portion of the gas pulse is evacuated by continuous pumping. Subsequently, a second pulse is applied when availability of active sites is determined by studying the isothermal desorption spectrum. These steps are repeated until a thin film of sufficient thickness is produced.

Thin filmed materials are often utilized in semiconductors, ceramics, metals and superconductors. For example, thin layer materials are utilized in the production of highly complex silicon integrated circuits. A number of methods are known for producing thin films including vacuum evaporation, molecular beam epitaxy, and atomic layer epitaxy (ALE), etc. Additionally, such materials are useful in the development of electronic devices based upon bandgap engineering.
Particularly, atomic layer epitaxy has been used for growth of compound semiconductors and other thin film structures. C. H. L. Goodman and M. V. Pessa, Atomic Layer Epitaxy, Journal of Applied Physics 60(3) , Aug. 1, 1986, R65-R81; M. Ozeiki et al., New Approach to the Atomic Layer Epitaxy of GaAs Using Fast Gas Stream, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 53, Number 16, Oct. 17, 1988, pp. 1509-1511; U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,430 to Suntola et al.. However, such growth has only been achieved with ionically bonded compounds. The growth of other than ionically bonded compounds by ALE has not been successful. Specifically, layer-by-layer growth of materials from non-elemental sources (gaseous chemical compounds) can not be achieved using ALE.
ALE was developed for the growth of ionically bonded materials, such as compound semiconductors. In its present form, ALE has only successfully been used for compound semiconductor growth. ALE achieves monolayer-by-monolayer growth by chemisorption of one gas phase component onto a saturated surface having a monolayer coverage of the other component. The reaction proceeds until the surface is saturated with the one gas phase component. At this point the saturation cover is believed to be only a monolayer thick because once the strong chemisorption bonds are saturated, physisorption is too weak to build up further layers. The role of the two components is then exchanged and the reaction is repeated. A film of finite thickness is built up by alternating the exposure of the surface to the constituent components.
ALE growth is conducted at growth conditions collectively known as the "ALE processing window", which is arrived at by systematic empirical study. Generally, the only analytical feedback on layer control in ALE is provided by external, remote analysis of the grown films. In other words, the article must be removed from the process chamber and place in a separate and distinct testing device. The exposure times of the growth surface are then readjusted until this trial and error procedure produces a material that consists of alternating monolayers of constituent elements. The procedure for establishing the "ALE processing window" for compound semiconductor growth cannot be directly extended to metals or semiconductors with covalent bonding. In order to produce layer-by-layer growth materials from other than ionically bonded materials from gaseous molecular sources, a different controlling mechanism must be utilized.
Another disadvantage of existing ALE technology is that ALE is limited to binary systems that can simultaneously exhibit strong chemisorption and weak physisorption at temperatures appropriate for thin film growth. This constraint has limited the application of ALE to ionically bonded compound semiconductors.
Further, the static nature of ALE is determinative of its capabilities. Therefore, only a fully saturated surface satisfies the requirements for controlled growth.
A further disadvantage of existing ALE technology is that film growth in ALE occurs per cycle of exposure. Frequently one cycle of exposure is referred to as a pulse. One cycle of exposure produces a complete atomic layer of material.
Pulsed supersonic jets have been used to provide rapid deposition of a thin film upon heated substrates for the preparation of semiconductors and similar electronic devices. While the pulsed supersonic jet process grows a large amount of deposits in a short time, there is difficulty in controlling the process without feedback data.
As demonstrated by the patents to Hall (U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,485), Aspnes et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,931,132 and 4,332,833), Siegmund et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,755), Keller et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,920), Hartley (U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,895), Tien (U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,140), Strand et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,646), and Cole (U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,431), the use of optical methods for monitoring the development of materials is known in the art.
The disadvantages and limitations of the prior art techniques discussed above indicate the need for an efficient, versatile, and controllable method and apparatus for layer-by-layer production of thin films. The subject invention provides such a method and apparatus.

Method of digital epilaxy by externally controlled closed-loop feedback


A mute device for use with music drums including tom-toms, snares, and the like. The device includes a drum stick strike plate, and at least one sound post projecting from the strike plate. The sound post contacts the drum skin at a location where the skin is supported on the drum shell housing, when the strike plate is mounted on the drum.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mute devices for musical instruments, and particularly to a mute device for a drum.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
Musicians who must practice on their instruments at home, where the neighbors may not always care to listen, have to make certain compromises. For drummers, so-called drum practice pads are available. These pads are placed directly on the drum head or skin, and the drummer strikes the pad with his/her drum sticks instead of striking the drum skin directly.
It has been found that besides greatly reducing the amplitude or level of the natural drum sound,, the known pads distort the tonal quality of the drum and yield a relatively dull, "thud-like" sound when struck. Accordingly, there is a genuine need for a drum mute device that does not distort natural drum overtones and which decreases only the amplitude of such tones during at-home practice sessions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,924 (Jul. 8, 1969) discloses a drum mute including a round drum pad surrounded by a rim, and a number of support feet radially inward of the rim. If used on a tom-tom drum, the drum mute of the '924 patent has been found to deaden the drum sound and to suppress natural drum overtones significantly.
A number of other drum mute devices in the form of pads that lay directly on top of an existing drum head are disclosed, for example., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,323 (May 20, 1986); U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,047 (Feb. 20, 1996); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,235 (Jul. 25, 1978). See also French Patent 604,233 (Apr. 30, 1926).
Thus, there remains a need for a light weight, relatively inexpensive drum mute device which when used with tom-tom and other drums including snares, substantially preserves the tonal qualities and characteristics of the unattenuated drum sound, i.e., a mute device that acts only to soften the intensity of a drum sound without distorting the drum's natural overtones. There is also a need for a drum mute device that allows the user to adjust the intensity of the muted drum sound within a certain range.


Method and device for stopping of an elevator cage due to a deviation of the elevator position, acceleration, or speed from a travel curve in excess of a certain predetermined safety margin. Travel parameters, computed by the elevator control, may be passed on to a drive control of a cage drive for moving and positioning of the elevator cage, and may also be passed on to a drive control of a reference drive for moving and positioning a trigger part. Accordingly, each of the elevator cage and the trigger part may be driven by individual discrete drivers, but, due to each driver receiving the same travel parameters, the elevator cage and the trigger part move in synchronization. The trigger part may be coupled to the elevator cage to be movable when the elevator cage deviates from the computed travel curve. When the deviation from the travel curve exceeds a predetermined safety margin, the trigger part may actuate a safety switch to stop the cage or reference drivers or to arrest movement of the elevator cage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and a device for increasing elevator safety by triggering appropriate emergency stops or other safety devices in the event the elevator cage deviates from the travel curve by more than predetermined safety margins.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Modern elevators have an elevator control which computes travel parameters for a travel of an elevator cage for an individual elevator cage and/or for groups of cages according to optimized algorithms and applicable safety regulations. The elevator control passes these travel parameters to a control for a cage drive, as described in, for example, patent specification EP 0 100 095, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. Usually, and as evident from patent specifications DE 3 818 083 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,695, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties, additional means for monitoring the travel curve of the elevator cage are used for control of the cage drive. The travel curve represents a certain position of the cage at a certain time, and is corrected by control of the cage drive. In that case, only such deviations from the travel curve are permissible as lie within a certain, mostly prescribed, safety margin. When the safety margin is exceeded, safety is endangered.
Although these means for monitoring the travel curve for the control of the cage drive can ascertain deviations of the elevator cage from the computed travel curve, they are not, due to their direct connection with the cage control, suitable and/or permitted as a safety device for monitoring current failure, for example, for triggering a safety switch. Consequently, additional means, which are independent of the control of the cage drive, are necessary to monitor failure of the cage drive, cable fracture, current failure, excessive speed of the elevator cage, or any other impermissible disturbance, and to trigger an emergency stop or another safety device of the elevator cage.
Speed limiters are known in particular which, as described in, for example, patent specification EP 0 498 597, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, at excessive speeds of the elevator cage in one of the directions of travel, mechanically trigger a braking system, denoted as an arresting device. Tachometers, which have a voltage dependent on speed for the triggering of a braking system (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,045 or DE 2 128 662) are known. It is also known to utilize acceleration sensors for the recognition of disturbances (see, e.g., DE 3 934 492). The disclosures of each of the above-noted documents are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. A significant disadvantage of these safety systems is that the emergency stop, which is triggered in the case of a corresponding disturbance, always takes place through an arresting device of the elevator cage. This often leads to a substantial jerking or jarring of the elevator cage, to difficultly releasing wedging of the brakes with the guide elements of the elevator cage and/or to damage of these parts. Moreover, in certain cases these safety systems have a relatively large delay. Thus, for example, a cable fracture or a current failure leads to a triggering of the arresting device only when excessive acceleration or speed triggers the corresponding system. None of the known safety systems is capable of recognizing deviations from the position, the speed and the acceleration of the elevator cage. Optical, electronic, electromagnetic or other sensors, for example, a distance-measuring device operating with laser beams, are known and can ascertain position, speed, and acceleration. However, these devices cannot ensure the required safety. Further, these systems are very susceptible to faults, for example, due to electromagnetic fields, dust, or vibrations, and therefore, require a very high effort for maintenance, calibration and upkeep. These devices have a direct as possible mechanical connection between the recognition of an impermissible deviation and the triggering of a safety device, which is usually required.

Method and device for increased safety in elevators


A system and process are disclosed for encoding selected data structures in browser cookies. The data structures may contain a variety of different types of data elements, including N-bit integers and other non-character elements. A version tracking scheme provides forward and backward compatibility between client and server software. The process is implemented without the need for any browser extensions, and without the need for users to download any special code to their computers.

Commercially available Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator support a mechanism by which a Web server can store persistent information on a user's machine for subsequent retrieval. This information is commonly referred to as a "cookie," and typically includes information about the user's identity. The cookie is stored on the user's computer as a name-value pair (NAME=VALUE), together with a URL (or range of URLs) to which the cookie corresponds and an optional expiration date. When the user initiates a request for a URL that corresponds to the cookie, the browser automatically sends the cookie (and any other cookies that correspond to the requested URL) to the host Web server with the URL request.
One common application for cookies involves dynamically customizing Web pages and functions for known users of a Web site. Typically, this involves storing known information about the user, such as a user ID, on the user's computer in response to a page request. When the user subsequently accesses the Web site, the information contained within the cookie is used to access a back-end database to retrieve additional information about the user, such as the user's preferences or account information. This database information may then be used to customize the requested Web page.
One problem with the above approach is that it requires frequent accesses to the database. For Web sites that experience many thousands of hits per day, the need to access the database can produce a significant performance degradation. The performance degradation may be the result of a limited load capacity of the database system, increased network traffic between physical Web servers and the database system, or both.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Use of browser cookies to store structured data


The invention provides seed and plants of the pea line designated 08510617. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of pea line 08510617, and to methods for producing a pea plant produced by crossing a plant of pea line 08510617 with itself or with another pea plant, such as a plant of another line. The invention further relates to seeds and plants produced by such crossing. The invention further relates to parts of a plant of pea line 08510617, including the seed, pod, and gametes of such plants.

The goal of vegetable breeding is to combine various desirable traits in a single variety/hybrid. Breeding techniques take advantage of a plant's method of pollination. There are two general methods of pollination: a plant self-pollinates if pollen from one flower is transferred to the same or another flower of the same plant or plant variety. A plant cross-pollinates if pollen comes to it from a flower of a different plant variety.
Plants that have been self-pollinated and selected for type over many generations become homozygous at almost all gene loci and produce a uniform population of true breeding progeny, a homozygous plant. A cross between two such homozygous plants of different varieties produces a uniform population of hybrid plants that are heterozygous for many gene loci. Conversely, a cross of two plants each heterozygous at a number of loci produces a population of hybrid plants that differ genetically and are not uniform. The resulting non-uniformity makes performance unpredictable.
The development of uniform varieties requires the development of homozygous inbred plants, the crossing of these inbred plants, and the evaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection are examples of breeding methods that have been used to develop inbred plants from breeding populations. Those breeding methods combine the genetic backgrounds from two or more plants or various other broad-based sources into breeding pools from which new lines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new lines are evaluated to determine which of those have commercial potential.
One crop species which has been subject to such breeding programs and is of particular value is the pea. Peas are the round embryos which grow in a pod of a leguminous vine, belonging to the family Leguminosae (Fabaceae). The most well known species is Pisum sativum L., which includes the edible garden pea, a vegetable, and the field pea—grown especially for animal feed. Depending on taxonomic interpretation, other members of the genus Pisum L. include Pisum elatius Steven ex M. Bieb. (wild pea), Pisum fulvum Sibthorp & Sm. (tawny pea), and Pisum syriacum Lehman. (Syrian pea). There are many varieties of garden peas. These can be grouped into those with low-fiber, edible flat pods, such as snow peas and sugar peas, those with low-fiber, edible, thick pods, such as snap peas, and those with fibrous stringy pods, intended to be shelled for the edible embryos inside, such as English peas.
As with other legumes, pea plants are able to obtain fixed nitrogen compounds from symbiotic soil bacteria. Pea plants therefore have a substantially reduced fertilizer requirement compared to non-leguminous crops. This advantage adds to their commercial value, particularly in view of increasing fertilizer costs, and has generated considerable interest in the creation of new pea plant cultivars.


A collapsible shoe horn includes a shoe horn tongue having a generally thin and smooth body portion for aiding the user in putting on a pair of shoes. The side edges of the shoe horn tongue are slightly curved upwardly in a concave manner so that the shoe horn tongue conforms to the shape of the heel of a human foot. A neck portion is integral with and extends from the bottom of the shoe horn tongue. The neck portion has a pair of opposing flanges, each flange having a dap opening formed within the interior side thereof for receiving opposing ends of a shoe horn handle. The dap openings have a smooth dimple-like dap surface extending from the outer exposed surface of each neck flange for protecting the shoe horn user from the sharp ends of the shoe horn handle.

This invention relates generally to shoe paraphernalia, and more particularly to a collapsible shoe horn having a wire-like shoe horn handle pivotally connected to a shoe horn tongue. The handle is movable between a first open and extended position wherein the shoe horn is operable for more easily sliding a shoe onto a person's foot and a second closed and collapsed position wherein the wire shoe horn handle is folded adjacent the shoe horn tongue for easy transportation of the shoe horn from one place to another. The invention is directed to a pair of daps formed in the outer exposed surface of opposing flanges of the shoe horn neck which provide a protective covering for the free ends of the shoe horn handle, which previously extended outwardly from open apertures in the neck flanges and presented dangerously sharp edges when the shoe horn was in use, or was being transported.
For convenience, shoe horns were created many years ago to aid the average person in putting on a pair of shoes. Shoe horns are most often used with dress shoes or the like as opposed to a pair of sneakers which are traditionally easier to fit over the human foot. Traditionally, shoe horns help to eliminate the action of having to fit the human heel over the rigid heel portion of a shoe. Often times, without the aid of a shoe horn, the top edge of the rear portion of the shoe will turn under the person's foot when inserting same inside the shoe structure which results in uncomfortable fitting of the shoe as well as unnecessary bending and wear and tear of the rear portion of the shoe. In order to effectively put on a pair of dress shoes, the use of a shoe horn is practically mandatory. The instant invention relates to a collapsible shoe horn that may be easily folded and carried in a persons pocket when the shoe horn is not in use, but may also be easily unfolded and used to aid the user in putting on a pair of shoes. The shoe horn of the present invention has a pair of protective daps which cover the wire ends of the shoe horn handle so that the sharp edges thereof are not exposed.
Collapsible shoe horns and the like have heretofore been known in the prior art. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 655,417 issued to E. J. Randall, U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,948 issued to C. R. Redheffer, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,242,615 issued J. L Sommer are the closest prior art to the subject matter of the instant invention to which the applicant is aware. The Randall patent shows a shoe horn device that is secured to the heel portion of the sole of the shoe. The device further includes a supporting bail which is secured to the rear portion of the shoe so that it does not bend under the heel of the foot when inserting same into the interior of the shoe structure. The Redheffer patent shows a collapsible shoe horn having a hinge mechanism which extends across the width of the shoe horn body and allows the shoe horn to be movable between an open and operable position and a closed and folded position. The device further includes a locking tab which catches the front edge of the shoe horn tongue and maintains same in the closed and folded position when the device is not in use. The Sommer patent shows yet another type of collapsible shoe horn wherein the handle portion of the device is pivotal around a hinge pin and may have any number of different utility functions, i.e., a button hook as shown in the preferred embodiment. However, none of the above-discussed patents show a collapsible shoe horn as disclosed in the instant invention having a pair of daps for protecting the shoe horn user from the sharp edges of the outwardly extending shoe horn handle.
The instant invention is directed to a collapsible shoe horn which is operable for more easily fitting a shoe on a human foot. The shoe horn includes a tongue portion of metallic construction having a generally thin and flattened body wherein the body is curved upwardly in a concave manner to conform to the shape of the human heel for sliding the heel down the body of the tongue and into a shoe structure. The shoe horn further includes an integral neck portion which extends downwardly from the bottom of the shoe horn tongue and has a pair of opposing flanges having a pair of dapped openings formed therein for receiving opposing ends of a wire shoe horn handle. The dap openings have a smooth dimple-like surface extending from the outer exposed surface of the neck flanges for protecting the shoe horn user from the sharp ends of the shoe horn handle wire. The shoe horn handle is pivotal within the dap openings between a first extended and operable position and a second closed and folded position.
Accordingly, among the several objects of the instant invention are: the provision of a collapsible shoe horn having a shoe horn handle that is pivotal between an extended and operable position and a folded and inoperable position; the provision of a collapsible shoe horn wherein said shoe horn handle is pivotal within a pair of opposing dap openings; the provision of a collapsible shoe horn having a pair of protective dimple-like dap covers which protect the user from the sharp end edges of the shoe horn wire handle; the provision of a collapsible shoe horn that is neat and attractive in appearance; the provision of a collapsible shoe horn that is simple and easy to use; and the provision of a collapsible shoe horn that is cost efficient and easy to manufacture.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.


The present invention relates to imidazopyridine compounds which inhibit, regulate and/or modulate tyrosine kinase signal transduction, compositions which contain these compounds, and methods of using them to treat tyrosine kinase-dependent diseases and conditions, such as angiogenesis, cancer, tumor growth, atherosclerosis, age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, inflammatory diseases, and the like in mammals.

The present invention relates to imidazopyridine compounds which inhibit, regulate and/or modulate tyrosine kinase signal transduction, compositions which contain these compounds, and methods of using them to treat tyrosine kinase-dependent diseases and conditions, such as angiogenesis, cancer, tumor growth, atherosclerosis, age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, inflammatory diseases, and the like in mammals.
Tyrosine kinases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of the terminal phosphate of adenosine triphosphate to tyrosine residues in protein substrates, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,759 B1 (hereby incorporated by reference).
Angiogenesis is characterized by excessive activity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,245,759 B1). KDR mediates the mitogenic function of VEGF whereas Flt-1 appears to modulate non-mitogenic functions such as those associated with cellular adhesion. Inhibiting KDR thus modulates the level of mitogenic VEGF activity. In fact, tumor growth has been shown to be susceptible to the antiangiogenic effects of VEGF receptor antagonists. (Kim et al., Nature 362, pp. 841–844, 1993).
Solid tumors can therefore be treated by tyrosine kinase inhibitors since these tumors depend on angiogenesis for the formation of the blood vessels necessary to support their growth. These solid tumors include histiocytic lymphoma, cancers of the brain, genitourinary tract, lymphatic system, stomach, larynx and lung, including lung adenocarcinoma and small cell lung cancer. Additional examples include cancers in which overexpression or activation of Raf-activating oncogenes (e.g., K-ras, erb-B) is observed. Such cancers include pancreatic and breast carcinoma. Accordingly, inhibitors of these tyrosine kinases are useful for the prevention and treatment of proliferative diseases dependent on these enzymes.
The angiogenic activity of VEGF is not limited to tumors. VEGF accounts for most of the angiogenic activity produced in or near the retina in diabetic retinopathy. This vascular growth in the retina leads to visual degeneration culminating in blindness. Ocular VEGF mRNA and protein are elevated by conditions such as retinal vein occlusion in primates and decreased pO2 levels in mice that lead to neovascularization. Intraocular injections of anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies or VEGF receptor immunofusions inhibit ocular neovascularization in both primate and rodent models. Regardless of the cause of induction of VEGF in human diabetic retinopathy, inhibition of ocular VEGF is useful in treating the disease.
Expression of VEGF is also significantly increased in hypoxic regions of animal and human tumors adjacent to areas of necrosis. VEGF is also upregulated by the expression of the oncogenes ras, raf, src and mutant p53 (all of which are relevant to targeting cancer). Monoclonal anti-VEGF antibodies inhibit the growth of human tumors in nude mice. Although these same tumor cells continue to express VEGF in culture, the antibodies do not diminish their mitotic rate. Thus tumor-derived VEGF does not function as an autocrine mitogenic factor. Therefore, VEGF contributes to tumor growth in vivo by promoting angiogenesis through its paracrine vascular endothelial cell chemotactic and mitogenic activities. These monoclonal antibodies also inhibit the growth of typically less well vascularized human colon cancers in athymic mice and decrease the number of tumors arising from inoculated cells.
Inhibition of KDR or Flt-1 is implicated in pathological angiogenesis, and these receptors are useful in the treatment of diseases in which angiogenesis is part of the overall pathology, e.g., inflammation, diabetic retinal vascularization, as well as various forms of cancer since tumor growth is known to be dependent on angiogenesis. (Weidner et al., N. Engl. J. Med., 324, pp. 1–8, 1991).


A new and distinct Guzmania hybrid plant named ‘AROSA’ characterized by solid growth habit; funnel-form rosette plant, measuring about 45 cm in height (above the pot when flowering); numerous, green color foliage, measuring about 50 cm in length and about 3.5 cm to 4.5 cm in width; superior floral bract production; bracts have a unique, compound red-purple inflorescence which distinguishes this cultivar from typical Guzmania; compound inflorescence, measuring about 11 cm in height and about 11 cm in diameter; and long-lasting habit.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct hybrid cultivar of Guzmania plant, botanically known as Guzmania hybrida, of the family Bromeliaceae, and hereinafter referred to as 'AROSA'.
Guzmania is native to tropical America. Guzmania is predominantly epiphytic with a few terrestrial species and is native to the tropics. For the most part, species vary in diameter from 7 or 8 inches to 3 or 4 feet and have rosettes of glossy, smooth-edged leaves. Floral bracts of Guzmania frequently have brilliant colors and may last for many months. The range of colors for Guzmania is generally from yellow through orange but may also include flame red and red-purple. White or yellow, tubular, three-petalled flowers may also appear on a stem or within the leaf rosette but are usually short-lived. Guzmania may be advantageously grown as pot plants for greenhouse or home use. Typically, the plants are shaded from direct sunlight. During the spring to autumn period, the central vase-like part of the leaf rosette is normally filled with water.
The new Guzmania 'AROSA' originated from a cross made in a controlled breeding program by the inventors in 1997. The female or seed parent is the Guzmania hybrid identified by code 973018393 (unpatented). The male or pollen parent is the Guzmania albo-rosea cultivar identified by code 97301017 (unpatented). The new Guzmania 'AROSA' was discovered and selected by the inventors in 2000 as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Assendelft, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Guzmania cultivar was first performed by off-shoots beginning in 2001 and then by tissue culture beginning in 2003 in Assendelft, The Netherlands, with first flowering after asexual reproduction occurring in 2007 in Assendelft, The Netherlands. Asexual reproduction of the Guzmania 'AROSA' has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true to type.
Methods for cultivation and crossing of Guzmania are well known. For a detailed discussion, reference is made to the following publications, which are incorporated herein by reference: Benzing, David H., THE BIOLOGY OF THE BROMELIADS, Mad River Press, Inc., Eureka (1980); Zimmer, Karl, BROMELIEN, Verlag, Paul Parey, Berlin (1986); and Rauh, Werner, BROMELIEN, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (1981).


A cam shaft assembly is provided which includes a rolling bearing providing for effective oil feeding to a raceway. The assembly includes: a shaft 1; the rolling bearings 3 rotatably supporting the shaft 1; and cams 2 fitted on the shaft 1. The rolling bearing 3 includes a circumferential groove formed on an outer periphery of an outer ring 5 and an axial groove extending from place in the circumferential groove and opening on a lateral side of the outer ring 5.

An engine for use in vehicles such as an automotive vehicle includes a cam shaft for operatively opening/closing intake/exhaust valves. The cam shaft is a shaft body having a plurality of cams arranged in an axial direction thereof and is disposed in a valve operating chamber enclosed by a cylinder head and a head cover of an engine. The cam shaft is supported rotatably relative to the cylinder head by means of a cam shaft supporting apparatus including a plurality of sliding bearings axially arranged with regular spacing.
However, the sliding bearing of the cam shaft supporting apparatus may sometimes have a relatively great frictional resistance in a state where an engine speed is low, so as to be increased in rotary torque. The sliding bearing constitutes one causative factor to decrease the mileage performance of the engine. In this connection, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. H6(1994)-8704 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H4(1992)-12102 have disclosed structures wherein the cam shaft is supported by rolling bearings in order to improve the mileage performance of the engine. In this manner, the approaches have been made to decrease the frictional resistance for decreasing the rotary torque.
The conventional structures for rotatably supporting the cam shaft in the cylinder head include one wherein the sliding bearing is used as set forth in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H8(1996)-218817 and one wherein the rolling bearing is used as set forth in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. H5(1993)-6104. In the case where the sliding bearing is used, a lubricant is fed to an outer periphery of the sliding bearing via an oil feeding hole formed at the cylinder head and then is delivered to space between an outer periphery of the shaft and an inner periphery (journal surface) of the sliding bearing via a radial through-hole formed in the sliding bearing. However, the sliding bearing so lubricated has a greater frictional resistance with respect to the shaft as compared with the case where the rolling bearing is used. It is therefore more favorable to use the rolling bearing in the light of achieving a greater reduction of the frictional resistance.

Rolling bearing, cam shaft assembly and cam shaft supporting apparatus


An insert for a nursing bottle is disclosed. It is placed between the bottle and the nipple. The insert has a channel that communicates with the air passage holes in the nipple. The channel itself has air passage holes that are sized to allow air into the bottle but prevent the liquid in the bottle from exiting. This arrangement prevents the creation of a vacumn in the bottle when the liquid exits through the nipple.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to nursing implements from which an infant or other suckling animal takes sustenance. In particular, the invention relates to improvements in such implementation so as to permit the ready flow of air into the nursing container as liquid is drawn therefrom by an infant or suckling animal.
2. Prior Art
When an infant or animal suckles at a bottle to draw liquid therefrom through a nipple, the withdrawal of liquid produces a partial vacuum within the nursing bottle. As the vacuum builds up within the nursing bottle, it becomes extremely difficult for the suckling to draw liquid from the bottle.
This phenomenon is well known to parents of infants that draw sustenance by nursing at a baby bottle. As the baby nurses and draws liquid from the bottle, the partial vacuum is created and the nipple collapses because of the differential air pressure within and without the bottle. When the nipple is removed from the infant's mouth and the bottle rotated to an upright position, a squeal of air entering the bottle through the nipple can be heard. This squeal is often thought to be created by air entering the small opening in the nipple through which liquid is drawn. In fact, once the nipple has collapsed, very little, if any, air can be drawn into the nursing bottle through the nursing opening in the nipple. Rather, the manufacturers of nursing nipples have provided one or more fine holes in the base of the nipple through which air enters into the nursing bottle.
These air vent openings, the fine holes at the base of the nipple, are so narrow in diameter they appear to have been made by puncturing the nipple base with a needle. While they function well to permit air to flow into the bottle, while the bottle is in an upright position, they seldom function as an air vent when liquid within the bottle covers these openings, as is the case when the baby is nursing.
If the air venting holes at the base of the nipple are enlarged, air will vent there through while the baby is nursing. However, the manipulation of the nipple by the sucking action of the child causes liquid to be expelled through these enlarged openings in the base of the nipple and the overall functioning of the nursing system is significantly degraded.
Because a simple enlargement of the air vent openings in the base of the nipple proves unsatisfactory in practice, many persons skilled in the prior art have thought to incorporate check valves at the base of the nursing bottle or other nursing liquid container. Unfortunately, check valves eventually provide a source of contamination of the liquids placed within the bottle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide air venting of a nursing liquid container in a manner which utilizes the existing fine venting holes in the base of the nipple already provided by the nipple manufacturer. It is the intent of the present invention to provide means whereby liquid within the container does not come in contact with these fine vent openings in the nipple while the nipple is being suckled, yet air enters through these fine openings to bubble through the liquid and prevent the build up of a partial vacuum within the nursing container.


A relatively rugged and simple solenoid-actuated valve (100) is disclosed having a coil assembly (150), including a bobbin (152), a winding (160) for generating a magnetic field, and a flux path bracket (162). A fixed pole piece (110) extends into the axial volume defined by the bobbin. The coil assembly may be encased in a plastic outer body (101). An armature (120) is slidably disposed in the axial volume and a valve seat (130) closes the opposite end of the axial volume. A conical spring (140) biases the armature toward a first position against the valve seat. An inlet fitting (106) and an outlet fitting (104) fluidly connect to the axial volume. The armature is movable by the magnetic field generated by the winding from the first position to a second position away from the valve seat, such that the valve can be selectively opened and closed.

Solenoid-actuated valves are known and widely used in the mechanical arts and are used in a wide variety of applications. For example, solenoid-actuated valves are used in refrigerant circuits, electro-hydraulic braking systems, evaporative control systems, and in compressed air systems. Solenoid-actuated valves provide a mechanism for electronically controlling the flow of a fluid in various hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
In a conventional solenoid-actuated valve, a movable armature is slidably disposed in a chamber defining a longitudinal aperture that is surrounded in the longitudinal direction by a coil that can be energized to produce a desired magnetic field within the chamber. A magnetic pole piece is provided in one end of the chamber and a spring—for example, a coil spring—is disposed against the armature, providing an elastic force urging the armature away from the pole piece. The pole piece and the armature are made substantially from ferrous material(s), and positioned in the chamber such that when the coil is energized, the magnetic field will tend to urge the armature toward the pole piece, against the elastic force of the spring. In the desired operation, therefore, when the coil is not energized, the slideable armature is urged toward a first position away from the pole piece, and when the coil is energized, the armature is urged toward a second position, toward the pole piece. The chamber containing the armature is adapted to take advantage of the motion of the armature to open and close a valve, which may be accomplished in a variety of ways.
There are many design considerations in developing a functional solenoid-actuated valve. For example, the strength of the elastic spring and the properties of the magnetic circuit generated by the coil must be designed such that when the coil is not energized, the armature will be urged to the first position sufficiently to close (or open) the valve, and when the coil is energized the armature will be urged toward the second position with sufficient force to overcome the force of the spring and open (or close) the valve. A particularly important parameter in the design of solenoid-actuated valves is the design distance between the armature and the pole piece when the armature is in the first position, which is commonly referred to as the "magnetic gap." The magnetic force urging the armature toward the pole piece, upon energizing the coil, drops off rapidly as the magnetic gap increases. Therefore, the magnetic gap must not be too wide. On the other hand, the magnetic gap must be wide enough to accommodate the desired movement of the armature in order to achieve the valving function. Establishing the desired magnetic gap, therefore, may require precise and expensive machining operations.
To overcome this expense, in some conventional solenoid-actuated valves the pole piece is adjustably disposed in the chamber, such that the maximum magnetic gap can be adjusted—for example, with use of a positioning set screw or with mating threads formed both on the pole piece and in some portion of the body of the valve. This positional adjustability of the pole piece has some disadvantages, however. The adjustability of the pole piece adds complexity, and therefore expense, to the valve design. Also, in some applications, the pole piece may not be readily accessible for adjustment.
Another aspect of conventional solenoid-actuated valves is the use of flux path components that typically surround the coil. The efficiency of the magnetic circuit for the solenoid can be significantly enhanced by providing a magnetic path extending generally from the pole piece along a path generally around the coil. The flux path provides a magnetically permeable path for the magnetic flux lines, thereby improving the magnetic field inside the chamber. Commonly used cylindrical flux path components, however, are difficult and expensive to fabricate. Other forms of flux paths either require assembly of multiple pieces and/or additional seals to close the pressurized chamber against leakage.
There remains a need, therefore, for reliable solenoid-operated valves that are relatively simple and inexpensive.


An exemplary system and method are provided to sell a plurality of limited perishable products. The method may include offering to sell the first perishable product at first defined conditions that include an initial price and a minimum refund schedule; or an initial price, an incentive relative to another offer to sell the product, and a purchaser agreement to receive a directed offer. The method may include receiving an acceptance from a first purchaser; and making the first perishable product again available for sale if a first refund opportunity is exercised by purchaser. The method may include determining and offering a directed offer related to the first perishable product that may include a hold incentive or a release incentive option. The method may continue for additional products of the limited perishable products that are of the same (or similar) type and each having the same (or similar) expiration date.

Many products and services are subject to significant price volatility based on the laws of supply and demand. This is particularly true of perishable products and services (hereinafter collectively "products") that have a significant capacity value that becomes worthless once the capacity, or event, has expired. For example, an empty airline seat has no value once the plane has departed, and a concert event seat is worthless once the concert is over. These all represent limited perishable products (the number of seats) with a common expiration date (the event or flight date). So it goes for other products such as theatre tickets, sporting events, hotel nights, and cruise staterooms. Consumers have limited options today when faced with the decision to purchase these products, and sellers often are not able to optimize or properly manage their revenues when selling such products.
Using the airline example, consumers typically must choose between expensive refundable fares including first class, business class, and full coach fares; or deeply discounted, non-refundable fares. Often, consumers feel pressured to purchase tickets well in advance of their flight in order to obtain pricing that fits within their budget, even though they may have considerable uncertainty regarding their plans. With deeply discounted fares, most airlines charge a significant transfer or change fee to make schedule changes, and often offer limited or no refund options on such fares. This situation presents problems for both consumers and airlines, and often results in consumers deciding not to purchase tickets at all and/or suffering the risk and uncertainty of fare increases or fare volatility as the time for the flight approaches. Airlines, similarly, do not sell as many tickets as reluctant consumers choose not purchase tickets under such terms, and airlines lose the opportunity to fully optimize and manage revenue yields.
Furthermore, there presently exists no meaningful market for airlines to facilitate the transfer of (or to create a market for) previously sold seats from existing ticket purchasers that do not place as high a value on tickets as later potential purchasers do based on changing or increased later demands. This situation results in a loss of significant potential revenue and reduced revenue yields that otherwise could increase an airline's profitability. Ticket agents and/or ticket brokers and market makers also suffer from these same problems and disadvantages.
Similar problems and disadvantages exist in connection with the auctioning of the same or similar items, products or services. For example, the sales of products on the Internet through an Internet auction site often present consumers with the difficult choice of immediately buying an item outright, which may result in paying too high a price, or waiting for the auction to take place resulting in not winning the auction and having to wait to get the product, possibly losing the opportunity to purchase the product altogether, or possibly paying a much higher price. Auction sellers that sell the same or similar items have the problematic choice of running numerous simultaneous auctions expiring at or near the same time resulting in a possible oversupply and lower bid amounts, or running fewer auctions and running the risk of losing sales to others and resulting in increased overall inventory costs.

System and method for selling perishable products


A zoom lens system, in sequence from an object side to an image side, includes a first lens group having positive refractive power and fixed for gathering incoming light; a second lens group having negative refractive power for changing a focal length of the zoom lens system; a third lens group having positive refractive power and made stationary; a fourth lens group having positive refractive power and movable for compensating for a fluctuation of an image plane position; and a fifth lens group having positive refractive power and movable for focusing purpose. During zooming from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end, the second and fourth lens groups are moved independently toward the third lens group in such a manner that spacing between the first lens group and the second lens group increases and spacing between the third lens group and the fourth lens group decreases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens system, and more particularly to a compact zoom lens system having a high variable magnification ratio and a high resolution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to effect downsizing and to improve the image quality and function of video cameras, downsizing of high performance and high function zoom lenses and image pick up devices is required. Consequently, a high zoom ratio obtained by reducing the wide angle focal length of the system and extending the telescopic focal length of the system, and a high image quality, attained by compensating aberrations, are necessitated. On the other hand, a lens system manufactured at low cost while maintaining high performance is called for in order to maintain economic competitiveness. Consequently, a zoom lens capable of providing a wide view angle, a high zoom ratio, and a high resolution with a smaller F number of lenses is needed.
A conventional zoom lens disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,678 comprises five lens units of positive, negative, positive, positive, and negative refractive powers in sequence from the object side to the image side. Each lens unit comprises a single lens element or cemented lens. The total number of lens elements of the conventional zoom lens is about 16 to 20. Another conventional zoom lens is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,186, also comprising five lens units of positive, negative, positive, positive, and negative refractive powers. The number of lens elements of the conventional zoom lens is about 17 to 19. It is clear that number of lens elements of above-mentioned conventional lens units is relatively large, the total length of the lens system is great, and the production cost is high.
Hence, it is desired to have a zoom lens that overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks.


A method for routing messages having a routing indicator across linked master/slave configured piconets. At each master node, a routing table is stored and at each hop a receiving master node performs a reception algorithm on the routing indicator, the result enabling the receiving node to identify a target node and whether that node is local to the receiving piconet or a node accessible through a piconet with which the receiving piconet is linked. In the latter instance, the receiving node performs a transmission rule on the result to generate a new routing indicator replacing the routing indicator, which is then transmitted with the message to the identified piconet.

Short range radio networks having a master radio device which subsequently registers or associates slave radio devices with itself to form a master/slave piconet are generating much interest. The interoperability of such master/slave devices (or network nodes) depends on each device having a predetermined and standardised radio protocol, such as those defined in the 802 family of radio standards adopted by the IEEE. A well-known example of such a protocol is the Bluetooth™ protocol. Another protocol in development at the time of this patent application is that being developed by the ZigBee Alliance group of companies (www.zigbee.org). The main aims of the ZigBee Alliance are to define a protocol and radio stack suitable for low data rate, low power applications such that radio devices incorporating the ZigBee standard are of low cost and interoperable. It is hoped that such low cost self-configuring radio device piconets will open up many home consumer and industrial control markets, for example in heating and lighting applications. The ZigBee alliance group of companies are aiming to produce radio devices with a target cost of less than $2 at the time of writing, with such devices having relatively simple microcontrollers acting as a microprocessor and a limited amount of on-board memory available.
However, a ZigBee radio piconet comprising a master node and associated slave nodes has, at the time of making this application, limited radio coverage related directly to the radio broadcast range of the master node which is estimated to be in the region of a few tens of meters for a ZigBee piconet communicating in one of the 16 channels defined in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Another shortcoming exists in that no scheme for routing messages from one ZigBee piconet to another has been defined, and known ad-hoc mobile network routing methodologies typically require significant resource capabilities to be available in each node, to store for example forwarding/route information which must be inserted into a message en route, such information identifying intermediary and destination node addresses (each address being typically a unique six or eight byte number).
It is therefore an object of the present invention to mitigate the above shortcomings.


The invention provides a method and apparatus for increasing the efficiency of data transfer between a host computer and a disk array in a RAID system. The invention operates by splitting up large I/O requests from the computer into smaller, more manageable pieces and processing the pieces as though they were individual I/O requests. In one embodiment, the invention keeps only a limited number of these smaller individual I/O requests "active" at any particular time so that a single large I/O request cannot preclude other I/O requests from making progress in the controller. Both the size of the smaller I/O request pieces and the limited number of these pieces which will be "active" at any one time may be tunable parameters. The invention improves the efficiency of data transfer between the host computer and the array of disk drives by providing for increased overlap of activity in the controller. This increased overlap of activity results in increased controller throughput.

Magnetic disk storage is currently the most widely used method of mass storage for computer systems. Traditionally, systems using this method of mass storage have included a single disk capable of storing large amounts of data. However, systems using an array of smaller capacity, less expensive disk drives are currently emerging as a low cost alternative to large single disk systems. These array systems are known as RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks systems.
When used in conjunction with a host computer, a RAID system appears to behave just like a single disk system. RAID systems, however, offer many advantages over single disk systems. Among the advantages of RAID technology are improved reliability and performance. Reliability is improved through the use of redundancy information in the array which allows the system to continue operating even though one of the drives in the array has failed. The failed drive may then be replaced, and the lost data regenerated, without having to shut down the system. Conversely, if the one disk in a single disk system fails, the system is rendered inoperable and valuable data may be lost. RAID systems may achieve improvement in performance over single disk systems by, among other things, allowing data to be read from and written to multiple disks in the array in parallel. This greatly increases the speed with which I/O operations can be performed.
RAID technology encompasses a series of techniques for managing the operation of multiple disks. These techniques are discussed in an article entitled "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)" by Patterson, Gibson, and Katz of the University of California (Report No. UCB/CSD 87/391, December 1987) which categorizes the different techniques into five RAID "levels" and is hereby incorporated by reference. Each RAID level represents a different approach to storing and retrieving data and the associated redundancy information across the array of disk drives.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical RAID system 10. This system 10 may be used to implement any of the five RAID levels. As seen in the figure, the system 10 includes: a host computer 12, a disk array controller 14, and an array of disk drives 16. The host computer 12, in addition to other tasks, is operative for sending I/O commands to the disk array controller 14, instructing the controller 14 to perform certain read and/or write operations. The disk array controller 14 receives the commands from the host computer 12 and coordinates the transfer of data between the host computer 12 and the array of disk drives 16 in accordance with specific stored algorithms. The array of disk drives 16 includes a plurality of drives which are each independently coupled to and controlled by the disk array controller 14 for receiving, storing, and retrieving data delivered to it by the controller 14.
As described above, the disk array controller 14 includes stored algorithms which the controller 14 uses to coordinate the transfer of data between the host computer 12 and the array 16. The algorithms perform such tasks as determining and reserving an adequate amount of buffer space to perform a particular transfer, controlling the delivery of data between the buffer and the host computer 12, calculating the redundancy data to be stored in the disk array 16, distributing write data and redundancy data to the separate drives in the array 16, and retrieving data from the disk array 16. It should be apparent that the algorithm used to perform any particular transfer will depend on both the I/O function being requested and the RAID level being implemented.
In performing its function of coordinating the transfer of data between the host computer 12 and the array of disk drives 16, it is desirable that the disk array controller 14 operate as efficiently as possible. Improved efficiency of operation in the controller 14 will result in improved data transfer bandwidths between the host computer 12 and the array 16.

Apparatus and method for analyzing and modifying data transfer reguests in a raid system


A separator for use in zinc/bromine secondary batteries comprising a polyethylene having an overall viscosity average molecular weight of not less than 350,000 and not more than 2,000,000 containing not less than 10 wt. % and not more than 80 wt. % of a polyethylene having a molecular weight of 1,000,000 or more and fine particulate silica, wherein the ratio by weight of polyethylene/fine particulate silica is more than 1 and less than 1.5, and the ratio of the number of silicon atoms (Si) to the number of carbon atoms (C), Si/C, exposed on the surfaces of said separator excluding cross-sectioned surfaces thereof is not less than 0.01 and less than 0.2 as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

In general, a separator to be used in zinc/bromine secondary batteries should have the following characteristics:    1) having an ionic conductivity, a low resistivity, and functions of reducing self-discharges with zinc and bromine which occur at both electrode compartments;    2) comprising a membrane having a stability which prevents the bromine dispersion from generating at an anode and does not cause deterioration of the membrane due to the strongly oxidizing bromine;    3) comprising a membrane insusceptible to swelling and flexure and capable of lengthen the life of the batteries;    4) having a lower production cost.
In the current art, it is considered that separators having the aforementioned characteristics which have been put in use include ion-exchange films, fluorinated resin porous films, and polyolefin porous films. Among them, separators made of polyethylenes and fine particulate silica as disclosed in JP-B-5-27233 are cheap and excellent in resistance to oxidation.
However, the separators as disclosed in the JP-B-5-27233 have a thermal resistance problem that the step of attaching an electrode frame to the separator by injection molding causes cracking of the separator due to heating, as described in JP-A-62-17945. Moreover, these separators suffer from cracking of films, i.e., deficiency in resistance to stress-cracking after they have been used for a long period of time as those in zinc/bromine secondary batteries.
In order to overcome these problems, an attempt has been proposed to incorporate ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes, as disclosed in JP-A-9-231957. However, this art cannot be said sufficiently satisfactory in electrical properties though it could increase the thermal resistance and the resistance to stress-cracking.
Moreover, when polyolefin based fine porous films containing primarily polyolefins and silica are used, the separators have usually insufficiently low bromine permeability to make it impossible to achieve sufficient coulomb (Ah) efficiency. To overcome this difficulty, a technique of rendering the ratio of the number of silicon atoms (Si) to the number of carbon atoms (C) which are exposed on the surfaces including the separator's wall surfaces, i.e., Si/C, not less than 0.2 as determined with an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been proposed, as described in JP-A-1-157071.
However, these separators are disadvantageously deteriorated drastically during the use thereof with a great reduction in coulombic efficiency resulting in a short life of the cells, though they have certainly a high initial coulombic efficiency.

Separator for zinc/bromine secondary batteries and production process thereof


A steering shaft is rotatably mounted within a steering column housing and is formed of two telescopingly engaged steering shaft members. A portion of one of the steering shaft members is deformed into a notch formed at one end of the other steering shaft member to mechanically and non-separably interconnect the two shaft members together during normal operating conditions, and allowing separation and telescoping collapse of the steering shaft members under axial force on the steering column shaft. A longitudinally extending projection is formed in the outer steering shaft members and engages the inner disposed steering shaft member to rigidly interconnect the two steering shaft members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a vehicle steering apparatus and, more particularly, to an energy absorbing, collapsible steering apparatus.
2. Description of the Art
In today's vehicles, steering columns are typically designed to collapse during a collision so as to dissipate energy due to the occupant's impact with the steering wheel. Various steering columns have been devised to collapse when a certain force level is applied to the steering wheel by the occupant. Such steering columns are designed of two telescoping, tubular members. Various elements, such as frangible members, collapsible bellows, bearings, perforated sleeves, etc., are interposed between the overlapping portions of the tubular members to control the rate of collapse and to establish a predetermined force level required for the start of collapse of the steering column.
Recent federal standards requiring passive occupant restraint, which have resulted in the installation of inflatable air bags in the steering wheel, have imposed new requirements on the design of energy absorbing steering columns. Mechanically actuated air bags require that an impact force be transmitted from the bumper, through the frame, steering gear and steering column to an initiating sensor in the steering wheel. Thus, the steering column must remain intact for a certain amount of time prior to the initiation of any collapse in order for the deployment of the air bag to properly occur. The previously devised steering columns, while collapsible, do not sufficiently control the force versus displacement curve of the steering column to permit reliable use with an air bag.
Further, in such a collapsible steering apparatus, the steering shaft itself which is interconnected between the steering gear and the steering wheel must also collapse. Accordingly, such steering shafts have been formed of two separate shaft sections which are telescopingly engaged at one end. Various means have been employed to interconnect the overlapping ends of the two steering shafts to provide for simultaneous rotation of the shafts during normal use of the steering apparatus as well as to prevent any backlash or play between the two shafts. Grooves and through bores have been formed in the overlapping portions of the two shafts and filled with a moldable plastic to secure the shaft sections initially in place. The plastic is sheared by force applied to the steering wheel to enable telescoping collapse of the steering shafts. However, this technique is time consuming and requires additional manufacturing operations which add to the cost of the steering apparatus.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a collapsible steering shaft apparatus which is easier and less costly to construct than previously devised collapsible steering shaft apparatuses. It would also be desirable to provide a collapsible steering shaft apparatus which eliminates any looseness or backlash between the telescoping shaft members. Finally, it would be desirable to provide a collapsible steering shaft apparatus which prevents axial outward separation of the telescoping shaft members when such are in a normal operation position.


A method of protecting a system from attack that includes monitoring processes running on a system, identifying behavior of the processes and attributes of the processes, grouping the processes into process sets based on commonality of attributes, and generating behavior control descriptions for each process set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to host-based protection, and more particularly, to host-based protection that prevents attacks based on application behavior.
2. Related Art
There is a growing awareness that existing security infrastructure that guards the perimeter (e.g., firewalls) or uses signatures (e.g., anti-virus and intrusion detection) is no longer adequate protection against new and unknown attacks or hostile insiders. With the advent of the Internet and organizational mandates to open internal systems to customers, suppliers and partners, the concept of a perimeter has changed forever. Because of these mandates and the inability of perimeter security to protect applications and servers, critical computing resources are exposed to severe and frequent damage.
When a new attack appears (and all attacks are new and unknown at first) it slips past existing defenses (firewall, intrusion detection, and anti-virus software) and exploits some vulnerability in an application or operating system (e.g., buffer overflow) and then causes damage to critical computing resources. Historical data about operating system and application vulnerabilities, viruses, worms and insider attacks in the past 3 years shows that the majority of attacks obtain some system level privilege (e.g., administrator, or root) they should not have. Once the attack or attacker gains this privilege, it can then modify system files, change registry settings, access devices, and control network connections, and steal or alter proprietary information. In the case of a worm or virus, if a new attack propagates quickly, as many do (e.g., NIMDA, Melissa, I Love You), it damages thousands of servers before the defenses can be updated. In addition to automated attacks, such as viruses and worms, there is a significant risk from malicious insiders. Existing security products provide little defense against a malicious insider with legitimate privileges doing damage to servers. Viruses, worms and hostile insiders cause substantial damage and loss of productivity and proprietary information and require each of the damaged servers to be repaired by reformatting, reconfiguring, recovering data or even replacing the server.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the existing perimeter security solutions solve some, but not all, of these problems. Each solution has specific strengths and weaknesses:
Network firewalls 101 provide perimeter defense, ostensibly keeping malicious activity out of the network. This type of defense does not account for damage caused from inside the network. Many studies have shown that internal attacks account for a large percentage of damage. Additionally, network firewalls work by examining network behavior, but even legitimate network traffic can take advantage of application vulnerabilities.
Intrusion detection systems (IDS) 102 work by examining various types of system behavior, e.g., network traffic and system logs, looking for patterns that indicate attacks. Typically IDS's 102 define attacks based on signatures of known attacks or on vague notions of "normal" activity. Signature-based systems only protect against attacks seen previously. Definitions of normal activity must be very loose to avoid generating false alarms.
Anti-virus scanners 103 examine files or email messages and look for matches to known attack signatures. As with all signature-based products, these scanners 103 cannot deal with a new type of attack until it is known, a new signature is defined and then distributed by the vendor. Anti-virus scanners 103 also cannot detect attacks that are not carried in files or email messages.
Security, however, is not a top priority for application software vendors in today's market. Market pressures force the vendors to deliver new features so rapidly that it is impossible to build software without inherent security flaws. The requirements for today's applications are so complex that simply delivering a working product within deadlines is difficult. The additional effort required to create a secure design and perform security testing is not practical.
Even if application vendors decided to make security a top priority for their products, there are significant barriers to developing secure applications. Most software developers do not have the expertise to design and build secure software. Training developers in these skills will not happen overnight. Additionally, secure applications are pointless without a secure foundation to host them. Today's operating systems do not provide a secure foundation to protect applications or allow them to protect themselves. Operating system vendors release new security patches each week to improve their products. But applying patches is not a strategic solution, because they are published only after the fact, only address known flaws, and are very cumbersome to deploy.
Even solving these problems cannot guarantee freedom from attacks. Enterprises today require complex software that permits interaction with a wide variety of other organizations for needs such as supply chain management, messaging, and customer relationship management. There will always be people who misuse legitimate features of the software and cause damage to critical information. The misuse might be accidental or malicious but the result is the same—loss of information or services and downtime to which critical are the enterprise.
Independent reports published by Computer Security Institute/FBI, CERT/CC, and Gartner determined that known users accessing the corporate network from the outside cause 70% of all security breaches; 57% of the breaches are unintentional and the balance are malicious. Further, because of the significant rise in identity theft, it is impossible to be certain whether or not a known user is the legitimate user or an imposter exploiting the access rights of the legitimate user's identity. This means that the definition of an insider has come to mean virtually any customer, supplier, partner, consultant, employee or identity thief who has access to the network. To make things even more difficult, the corporate mandate is to further open systems to access from anywhere, anyway and at anytime. This means that applications will need to be more extensible and as a consequence more complex and vulnerable.
A need therefore exists to enhance existing security infrastructure with technology that prevents new and unknown attacks and hostile insiders from compromising critical computing resources.
There has been significant research in the past 30 years related to adding system-wide security controls to operating systems. Often the solutions require modification of the operating system itself to support additional data structures or system calls. These modifications are necessary either for completeness or efficiency or both. By requiring modification to the operating system, these solutions limit themselves to vendors who distribute their source code, and even in those cases, since they aren't part of the basic product development process, the solutions typically lag behind the most current versions of the operating systems.
Most of the solutions also create system-wide tables of access control information. This limits their usefulness in complex system deployments. Since every change to the system-wide information has the potential to affect every other part, it is impractical to create very large or complex configurations. Beyond a certain size, the author will not be able to determine whether a change has detrimental ramifications on another part of the configuration. For this reason, the previous solutions either never reached commercial viability, or if they did, only provide simple, basic configurations and cannot be easily expanded for complex situations.
Other solutions currently available concentrate on a small area of protection, e.g., HTTP filtering or network connection control. While they do a good job within their target area, they leave large portions of the system unprotected. As a result, customers desiring overall protection of their computer systems must deploy a combination of products, each dealing with a part of the security problem.

Behavior-based host-based intrusion prevention system


A system determines three-dimensional attitude of a moving platform using signals from two closely spaced Global Positioning System (GPS) antennas. The system includes three rate gyroscopes and three accelerometers rigidly mounted in a fixed relationship to the platform to aid in determining the attitude. The system applies signals from one of the two GPS antennas to sufficient channels of a GPS receiver to support navigation. The system applies signals from a second of the two GPS antennas to the additional receive channels to support interferometry. The system resolves the ambiguity normally associated with the interferometric heading solution by having closely spaced GPS antennas, and uses interferometry to refine a coarse heading estimate from a GPS plus Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) transfer alignment solution. The system achieves sub-meter spacing of the two GPS antennas by merging many temporal interferometric measurements and the attitude memory provided by the IMU time-history solution.

The present invention relates to moving platforms, specifically, to a system for determining the geodetic attitude of an arbitrarily moving platform. Moving platforms include vehicles, such as aircraft, ground vehicles, boats or spacecraft or equipment mounted to vehicles that can be reoriented relative to the vehicle body. The platforms may be traveling at fast or slow speeds, may be maneuvering or non-maneuvering, and may be occasionally stationary relative to geodetic space. These platforms require knowledge of their geodetic attitude in order, for example, (i) to support safety or stability control systems, (ii) to point an antenna or sensor boresight at a geodetically known target, (iii) to control their geodetic position or attitude movement, or (iv) to register the information sensed along the boresight onto a map projection with geodetic coordinates. The sensor or antenna boresight is the centerline of some signal collection or signal transmission aperture.
Earth-rate sensing through gyrocompassing, GPS interferometry, and transfer alignment (TA) are possible implementation approaches for precision geodetic orientation measurement systems for arbitrary moving platforms. Each technique is in widespread use, but each technique alone has significant limitations for precision pointing.                Earth rate sensing requires the use of a gyroscope with accuracy much better than the earth's 15-deg/hr-rotation rate. The gyroscopes used for conventional gyrocompass systems have drift specifications of less than 0.1 deg/hr. Modem military gyroscopes, currently used on missiles, can achieve a 1 deg/hr accuracy with prices of about $5000 in large quantities. For a 1-deg/hr tactical weapon grade gyroscope, the north seeking accuracy is about 4 deg and is not sufficiently accurate for broadband pointing.        GPS interferometry measures GPS carrier phase to GPS satellites from multiple spaced antennas. Carrier phase differencing removes all common mode ionospheric corruption from the differenced signals. The remaining phase difference can be used to infer range to GPS satellites to millimeter (mm) accuracy. The measurement is corrupted by cable-induced phase differences, on-vehicle multipath, and a whole-cycle GPS wavelength ambiguity that is 19 cm for commercial GPS. A method not based on interferometry is often used to get close to the correct attitude and reduce whole-cycle ambiguity. Commercial motion characterization systems that use GPS interferometry are available, but impose installation difficulties by requiring multiple antennas dispersed over several square meters. Also, the lack of wide-bandwidth attitude memory prevents any accuracy enhancement through data averaging unless the system is perfectly stationary.        Transfer alignment is the most widely used precision orientation measurement method for military applications. Transfer alignment synergistically combines an Inertial Navigation System (INS) with single-antenna GPS system to estimate position and attitude. The INS, traditionally used only in military applications and high-end aircraft, has an internal instrument suite that provides measurement of three axes of acceleration and three axes of rotation rate. Mathematical manipulation of the acceleration and rotation rate measurements provides the position, velocity, and attitude of the platform at a high bandwidth. However, the navigation solution will drift unless some external corrections are incorporated. For low cost inertial components, the drift will occur rapidly. GPS external measurement is most often used for the INS corrections. For GPS transfer alignment, INS-derived velocity and GPS-derived velocity are differenced, and the time-history of the differences is then used to infer errors in assumed geodetic alignment of the INS axes. The need to maintain persistent changing velocity to enable attitude measurement and the traditional high cost of the INS make TA unsuitable for most commercial applications. TA uses a mathematics model where attitude errors propagate into the IMU-derived platform position and velocity in geodetic coordinates. By independently measuring the geodetic position and velocity with the navigation GPS solution, the attitude errors are observed and corrected. However, the attitude errors are observable through the velocity, such that a change in attitude produces a change in geodetic velocity. The presence of a specific force acting on the platform must be present to impart attitude observability. A specific force is almost always present in the vertical direction since a force must be imposed to maintain the platform from falling towards the center of the earth. Thus, attitude orthogonal to the vertical direction, the platform roll and pitch angles, are readily observed for any platform not in a free-fall condition. However, a platform at a constant velocity in the horizontal plane will have no observability of attitude about the vertical direction, the platform yaw angle. For successful transfer alignment, the horizontal plane motion must be sensed by the GPS carrier phase measurements from the navigation GPS antenna. Because integrated carrier phase measurements are accurate to millimeter (mm) levels, even for a very low cost commercial receiver, only a slight platform motion is sufficient for some level of heading attitude measurement. Most moving platforms will have some motion from external disturbances for attitude estimation to an accuracy of several degrees.
In addition to the techniques just described, the prior art also includes patents teaching techniques to determine geodetic attitude from moving vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,316 to Buchler describes a generalized motion characterization system employing multiple GPS antennas and receivers and an IMU device. Key to Buchler's preferred embodiment of this device, and clearly stated throughout his sample embodiment and claims, is a requirement to overcome a large uncertainty in the initial platform heading. This initial heading error, coupled with a 1 m GPS antenna spacing, causes the GPS interferometric range-to-satellite ambiguities to produce ambiguous platform heading measurements. The large initial heading error of 10 deg stated by Buchler results from the use of gyrocompassing to ascertain initial platform heading independent of GPS interferometry. Gyrocompassing, as is understood in the art, relates to sensing the rotation rate of the 15-deg/hour-earth vector. The LN-200 IMU rate gyro employed in the Buchler invention has a gyro drift of 1 deg/hr that produces the 10 deg heading error following a gyrocompass event. The majority of the Buchler invention relates to the refinement of the initial attitude uncertainty to a level where no ambiguities are present in the final measurement.
The Buchler invention poses at least six considerations that prevent low manufacturing cost, ease of installation, and operation with arbitrary platforms:                Two independent GPS receivers are required to determine double difference relationships used for the interferometric processing. This means that two oscillators are used in the GPS RF front-end downconversion process. The use of two oscillators causes added measurement noise when carrier phase from the two channels are differenced. Also, the use of two independent GPS receivers increases the cost.        The use of a 1 deg/hr IMU, necessary for gyrocompassing attitude initialization, demands a relatively high-cost IMU unsuitable for most commercial applications.        The use of a gyrocompass stage to initiate the attitude measurement process is not suitable for arbitrary platform operations. Gyrocompassing restricts the platform motion and requires a significant period of initialization time.        The Buchler invention assumes the use of a barometric altimeter for independent altitude measurement. Such a measurement is problematic for all platforms because of the need to maintain a clean and precisely oriented passage to ambient airflow.        The Buchler invention assumes that all GPS satellites visible on one antenna are also visible to the second antenna to arrive at the double differences used by a Kalman filter. This suggests a requirement for use of either two standard GPS receivers, each tracking the same GPS satellites, or specialized, more costly, receiver architecture with twice the standard number of channels.        A problem is posed by the Buchler invention that relates to achievable accuracy of the attitude solution. The bulk of the embodiment relates to the use of a double-difference phase function, which Buchler claims to treat as a scalar measurement to the Kalman filter. Double differences result in M-1 scalar measurements for M GPS satellites being tracked. However, the measurements are correlated because common GPS satellite ranges are used in multiple measurements. Treating such correlated measurements as uncorrelated scalar measurements by the Kalman filter leads to a suboptimal filter, as is well known in the art. The embodiment mentions the use of a single-difference measurement formulation but does not describe how this mechanization will produce uncorrelated scalar measurements for the Kalman filter.
In another patent example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,317 to Ignagai describes a generalized motion characterization system employing multiple GPS antennas and receivers and an IMU device. The Ignagai invention assumes the existence of a separate Inertial Sensor System on the platform, distinct from the dual-antenna GPS system. Ignagai does not fully integrate the IMU rotation rate and acceleration measurements into the attitude measurement processing; instead, the Ignagai invention takes independently derived attitude information from the Inertial Sensor System and combines it with differential range information determined from a two-antenna interferometric GPS system. Ignagai uses a simple three-state Kalman filter to smooth the angular misalignment between the two independently derived heading angles. As in the Buchler invention, two independent GPS antenna/receivers are used coupled to a differential range processor. The Inertial Sensor System is said to be an Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS), which is known with the art to be a self-contained navigation system employing a separate air-data system, as explained by Ignagai.
Ignagai describes three types of interferometric measurement processing: differential range, differential carrier phase, and differential integrated Doppler counts. Ignagai discusses antenna separations of 10–20 m for the differential range measurement, 1–2 m for the integrated Doppler count method, and "a possibility" of 3.75 inches separation for the differential carrier phase measurement. However, the embodiment develops only the formulations for the differential range and the integrated Doppler count methods. Ignagai makes little mention of the interferometric heading ambiguity problem treated extensively by Buchler.
Ignagai discusses the heading initialization as using the aircraft cockpit magnetic compass for a stationary aircraft, or by using the aircraft track heading while the aircraft is taxiing on the ground. The aircraft track heading initialization process assumes that the IMU and antenna baseline are aligned with the taxi velocity so that the heading alignment is equal to the ground velocity vector as measured from GPS. Ignagai notes that this is problematic for an in-air initialization of the heading because the aircraft body attitude is not aligned with the velocity vector.
Seven considerations are posed by Ignagai that prevent achieving low manufacturing cost, ease of installation, and ease of operation with arbitrary platforms:                Two independent GPS receivers are required to determine the interferometric relationships used for the interferometric processing. This means that two oscillators are used in the GPS RF front-end downconversion process that contributes to the phase measurement noise. Also, two GPS receivers increase the cost.        Ignagai assumes a separate and distinct Inertial Sensor System, such as an AHRS, that will be too costly for general commercial applications.        The use of an aircraft track heading procedure for initializing the heading measurement process is not generally suitable for platforms where the IMU and GPS baseline are arbitrarily oriented with respect to the platform velocity vector.        Ignagai assumes the use of an Air Data Sensor. Such a measurement sensor is problematic for all platforms because of the need to maintain a clean and precisely oriented passage to the ambient airflow.        Ignagai assumes that all GPS satellites visible to one antenna are also visible to the second antenna to arrive at the interferometric differences used by the Kalman filter. This suggests the requirement for either using two standard GPS receivers that each tracks the same GPS satellites or using a tailored receiver architecture with twice the standard number of channels.        Ignagai uses a simple three-state Kalman filter for smoothing the inertial sensor and GPS interferometric angle errors. Such a simplistic filter form cannot exactly represent the precision attitude memory achievable when a more complete IMU and GPS integration is mechanized. This prevents the optimal merging of past interferometric measurements and restricts the achievable measurement accuracy.        Ignagai integrates the Inertial Sensor System and interferometric range system through a filter applied to a Euler angle. This approach results in a mathematical problem as the system crosses the earth poles. A coordinate system switch is required as the platform reaches higher latitudes. This is undesirable and reduces the generality of the invention for general platform geodetic motion.
Two more patent examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,872 to Yeong-Wei and U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,457 to Yee. Both Yeong-Wei and Yee describe a generalized motion characterization system employing a GPS antenna and receiver integrated to an IMU device via a Kalman filter. Both Yeong-Wei and Yee inventions use a single GPS antenna rather than the dual antennas of the Buchler and Ignagai inventions. Yeong-Wei specifically describes the well-known problem of such single-GPS-antenna mechanizations: persistent maneuvers are required to enable the heading attitude to be observable. Purposeful aircraft maneuvers are described as necessary for the example aircraft embodiment. Yee is specialized to an application where the GPS antenna and IMU are located to the boresight of a sensor or antenna system. However, Yee makes no reference to the problem of heading errors when persistent horizontal plane maneuvers are not present. Yee makes no mention of intentional maneuvers for achieving the heading alignment. Neither Yeong-Wei nor Yee mentions the use of dual GPS antennas for the purpose of avoiding the heading drift when horizontal plane motion is not present.

Attitude measurement using a GPS receiver with two closely-spaced antennas