Dedicated registers are arranged in a status LCD control gate array connected to a system bus, and the dedicated registers or register group and a keyboard controller are connected through a keyboard interface bus. The keyboard controller has two ports for communicating with a CPU. The keyboard controller transfers existing commands released to an application program or the like and transmits normal key data through the system bus. The keyboard controller transmits hot key data and transfers a command for realizing any other special function through the keyboard interface bus and the dedicated registers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laptop or notebook type portable computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of laptop or notebook type portable computers have been developed.
A portable computer of this type comprises a CPU, a memory, and a plurality of various peripheral controllers. The CPU is connected to the peripheral controllers through a system bus. In this case, various commands are exchanged between the CPU and each peripheral controller. All the commands are transferred through the system bus.
Communication between the CPU and the peripheral controllers through the system bus is realized in accordance with a so-called handshake scheme. Various communication control signals must be exchanged every time a command is transferred. For this reason, no problem is posed when the number of times of command exchange between the CPU an the peripheral controllers is small. When the number of times of command exchange is increased, the CPU and the system bus are occupied for a long period of time by command transfer. The processing performance of the system as a whole is undesirably degraded.
The number of times of command exchange is increased when a special function is assigned to a specific peripheral controller to expand the function of the portable computer. That is, when the special function is assigned to the specific peripheral controller, a command for realizing this special function is also added. The added command is transferred through the system bus as in commands for realizing the conventional functions. When function expansion is performed, the number of times of command exchange is increased accordingly.
The addition of the special function makes it possible to achieve the function expansion, but the operation time of the system bus and the CPU in command transfer between the CPU and a specific peripheral controller is prolonged. As a result, the operation performance of the system as a whole is undesirably degraded.
The CPU writes a command in the I/O register in the peripheral controller or reads out the command set in the I/O register by the peripheral controller to transfer data between the CPU and the peripheral controller. For this reason, when the special function is added to the specific peripheral controller, the command required to realize this special function is also exchanged through the I/O register of the peripheral controller as in other existing commands.
When a function required to start during execution of an application program is added as a special function, contention occurs in the read and write operations of the I/O register between the application program and the special function command, thereby causing the failure of execution of the application program. For example, when execution of the special function is requested while the application under execution sets a command in the I/O register, the command for executing the special function is overwritten on the application command, thus causing the failure of execution of the application program.
The influence on the application program by such a factor can be avoided when the contents of the I/O registers set by the application program under execution are temporarily saved upon requesting execution of the special function. When this processing is performed, however, the processing procedure for executing the special function is complicated, and it takes a long period of time until actual execution of the special function is started after the special function is requested by a user.
In recent years, in a laptop or notebook type portable computer, to meet contradictory requests, i.e., an increase in CPU processing speed, performance upon mounting a large-capacity hard disk (HDD), performance upon mounting a high-resolution, high-brightness display, improvements in performance of these devices, prolongation of the drive time of a battery, improvements of usability involving a compact, lightweight arrangement, system power supply control including battery charge control, power supply control of each input/output device, and the like using a special-purpose microprocessor (i.e., a power supply control processor) in power supply control has been performed.
In a conventional portable computer having a power supply control processor of this type, however, the interface between a CPU for controlling the system and the power supply control processor is not satisfactory. Therefore, fine adjustment in power supply control cannot be performed.
In a portable computer of this type, in data exchange between the power supply control processor arranged in a power supply controller and the system side (i.e., the CPU for controlling the system), the power supply control processor has only a means for informing the CPU of the OFF state of a power switch. This information is transferred to the CPU in the following manner. Output data from the power supply control processor is monitored by an NMI interrupt generator. When this data is set in a specific state, an NMI interrupt is supplied to the system side.
For example, in a portable computer which has a function of setting a power save mode and is capable of being operated with an AC adapter or battery power supply, assume that the power save mode is set/reset as follows. When an AC adapter is plugged into and connected to the main body, the power save mode is invalidated. When the AC adapter is disconnected from the main body (the plugged state is released), the power save mode is immediately validated. Under the above assumptions, the connected or disconnected state of the AC adapter upon connecting or disconnecting the AC adapter must be transmitted to the system side. In a conventional technique, the CPU on the system side must perform polling to check the AC adapter status because the power supply control processor cannot inform the CPU on the system side of the connected or disconnected state using an interrupt. In this case, the system performance is degraded by this polling.
In a conventional portable computer of this type, a CPU (main CPU) for controlling the system must involve in processing for changing the state of a device with a key operation, and therefore system performance is undesirably degraded.
Assume that the brightness of a display is changed with a key operation. In this case, a keyboard controller for executing a key operation must send a key operation status signal to the CPU (main CPU). The CPU analyzes this status signal to send a command for changing the brightness of the display to the power supply controller. For this reason, in the conventional computer, the CPU for controlling the system is overloaded to degrade system performance.
The most popular portable computer of this type has a so-called resume processing function of reproducing the previous use state immediately preceding a power-OFF operation when the power switch is turned on again.
In a conventional portable computer of this type, in a resume mode set condition (i.e., in the resume mode ON state), various data required to perform resume processing are stored in, e.g., an RTC (Real-Time Clock) memory (CMOS memory) backed up by a battery (suspend processing) when the system power switch is turned off.
In the data storage means by the above suspend processing, however, when the system is kept unused for a long period of time, the backup power supply (battery power supply) of the memory cannot be charged, and the voltage of the battery power supply is decreased. The storage data is therefore lost, and in this case, normal resume processing cannot be performed. various kinds of information required for resume processing are then stored in a hard disk (HDD) (storage in a freeze mode) arranged in the system to solve the above problem.
However, data storage processing in the freeze mode requires a longer period of time than that in the suspend processing because this storage processing involves with HDD access.
For example, when a power or reset switch, or the like is operated during execution in the freeze mode, data to be saved in the HDD may be damaged, and data storage in the freeze mode cannot be guaranteed.
In a portable computer such as a battery-driven personal computer, a function of displaying a remaining battery level to a user to allow the user to judge a remaining battery operation time of the computer is required to prevent the dead state of the battery during the use of the computer.
In a conventional personal computer or the like, this battery remaining level is displayed in percentage. A method of displaying the remaining battery level in percentage is as follows.
1) An A/D-converted value of a battery current is sampled with a period.
2) The sampled digital battery current value is accumulated in the form of an addition for charging and in the form of a subtraction for discharging in a battery level counter for counting the remaining battery level.
3) The remaining level count value in the fully charged state of the battery is calculated in accordance with the given battery specifications. This calculation value is defined as a 100% capacity value, and finite count values at, e.g., 90%, 80%, . . . , 0% are prepared.
4) The battery level counter value calculated every predetermined period is compared with each prepared count value in percentage to obtain the current battery level in the form of an "X percentage".
When the remaining battery level is displayed by the above method, the reference is defined by the given battery specifications. That is, this reference is based on the initial charging/discharging characteristics which can be supposed in the new state of the battery.
In general, the battery performance is greatly influenced by an application environment and is gradually degraded. When the degree of degradation is great, a difference between the displayed battery level and the actual battery level is increased.
Upon displaying the battery level in percentage, the user roughly figures out the remaining battery time in accordance with the displayed percentage and the battery time in the fully charged state. The user then continues to use the computer. In this case, it is more convenient to directly display a remaining battery time in numeric value.
This also applies to the battery charging operation. It is more convenient to display the charge time representing the charge level of the battery or the remaining charge time in numeric value in place of the percentage.
A portable computer of this type has various operation modes. For example, the portable computer can switch between speaker ON and OFF states and between the resume mode and the boot mode. To switch between these modes and check the current mode, a conventional arrangement requires to display a pop-up window on the screen upon execution of pop-up processing or the like. In this case, the application program is temporarily interrupted until the end of pop-up processing.
The displayed characters in the pop-up window may be disturbed by the application program because the pop-up window is displayed within the screen provided by the application program under execution. Pop-up processing is started using a maskable interrupt, and this interrupt is masked by the application program under execution. As a result, the pop-up processing cannot be performed.
Expanded memories of conventional personal computers are uniquely developed by different manufacturers. However, in recent years, demand has arisen for standardizing the expanded memories in the field of computer industries, and JEIDA standardized a DRAM card and issued a guideline ver. 1.0. In U.S.A., JEDEC approved the same DRAM card specifications as those of the guideline.
In a standardized Ver. 1.0 DRAM card (to be simply referred to as a DRAM card hereinafter), PD (Presence Detect) pins are defined to allow the system to identify the card configuration.
The PD pins consist of eight pins, i.e., PD8 through PD1 (eight bits). Unique meanings are assigned to the PD pins, respectively. First of all, the pin PD8 represents a refresh type DRAM, and the pins PD7 and PD6 represent a card access time. The pin PD5 represents the number of banks. The pins PD4 through PD1 represent a combination of row/column addresses and a device type (device configuration).
There is a possibility of introducing a DRAM card which cannot be expressed by these pieces of card configuration information. To prepare for a future expansion, an expansion PD pin is reserved as "EXPANSION" in the pins PD4 through PD1. A method of using this expansion PD pin is not yet defined.
To cope with a DRAM card which cannot be expressed by only the defined card configuration information, a serial EEPROM for storing an expanded card configuration information may be mounted on the same card, and the expansion PD pin may be assigned to the serial EEPROM. More specifically, if the pins PD4 through PD1 represent "EXPANSION", the pins PD8 through PD5 are used in communication between the system side and the serial EEPROM.
A battery-driven system mainly requires to operate a DRAM at a low voltage (3.3 V) so as to reduce the power consumption. An I/O (I/O port) may require a high voltage (5 V) in compatibility with other systems. When the serial EEPROM is mounted on the DRAM card, the EEPROM must be operated at a voltage different from the operating voltage of the DRAM because the PD pin interface is connected to the I/O (I/O port). This cannot be realized by the present definitions of the DRAM card.
When a DRAM operated at 3.3 V is applied to the DRAM card, the power supply voltage may be applied from a 3.3-V power supply pin of the DRAM card. When this card is inserted into a 5-V system (i.e., a system not connected to a 3.3-V power supply), the power supply (3.3-V power supply) of the DRAM is kept floating. Only a signal having a 5-V level is applied to the DRAM to cause an operation error or damage. This trouble also occurs when the power supply voltage is applied from the 5-V power supply pin of the DRAM card and the card is inserted into a 3.3-V system.
A DRAM having a wide range operative at 3 through 5 V cannot be conveniently used because the 5- and 3.3-V power supply pins are separated.
Many personal computers of this type can perform electronic mail exchange through a mail server with other personal computers or the like upon connection with a LAN or the like through a communication interface (communication board).
In a conventional arrangement, the user cannot know whether the electronic mail has been received during execution of an application program. The user may not notice even an emergency electronic mail.
To check the presence/absence of a received mail, the user must interrupt the application program under execution and starts a mail program (as one of the application programs). Upon executing this mail program, an electronic mail to him, which has been received by the mail server, must be read from the mail server and be displayed on the screen. After the user performs a confirmation operation for the display result at a keyboard or the like, the mail program is ended, and execution of the previous application program can be restored.
In the conventional arrangement described above, the application program under execution must be interrupted for a long period of time to check the presence/absence of the received electronic mail, resulting in inconvenience.
In a conventional portable computer, a key operation must be performed to switch between an internal display and an external display, as needed. The setup contents concerning the display switching are reset to the initial condition when the power switch is turned off. When the user wants to use an external display device, the key operation must be repeated every time the power switch is turned on, resulting in a cumbersome operation.

Portable computer having dedicated register group and peripheral controller bus between system bus and peripheral controller


Betaine surfactants of formula (I) and preparation methods and uses thereof are provided. The surfactant can decrease the interfacial surface tension of crude oil till 10−3 mN/m, have the capabilities of antiheating (130° C.), antimineralizing and antidiluting, and can be used in the field of tertiary oil recovery.

The main oilfields in China such as Daqing oilfield, Shengli oilfield, and Liaohe oilfield etc. have entered the late stage of secondary oil recovery having high water cut and extra-high water cut. In order to improve the ultimate recovery of the existing oilfields, it is desirable to exploit tertiary oil recovery technique. Combined chemical flooding technique is a new tertiary oil recovery technique developed in 1980's, which combines alkali, surfactant and polymer and takes advantage of the synergistic effect between each agent. Such technique not only can substantially reduce the interfacial tension of oil-water and increase the microscopic oil displacement efficiency, but also can increase the viscosity of the displacing fluid so as to have relatively high swept efficiency, thereby substantially improving the recovery efficiency. In practice, due to the use of the strong alkali and the too high dosage, sonic disadvantages are observed, such as the alkali consumption and scaling, damage of formation, decrease of the viscosity of displacing fluid, and the severe oil/water emulsification, which significantly increases the difficulty in the treatment of produced liquid and cost, affects the lifting technique in oil production and causes severe facility corrosion. Therefore, alkali, especially strong alkali should be avoided in combined flooding. The systems with weak alkali or without alkali have higher viscosity and elasticity than that of strong alkali ASP flooding, which can reduce the amount of polymer and increase the sweep efficiency. Moreover, the formulation on the spot, devices for injection and processing of such systems are easier than those of ASP systems, which can reduce the cost. Therefore, it is the developing trend of the combined flooding to use weak alkali and alkali-free systems, to which the oilfield developers have paid increasing attention. However, at present, the biggest constraint for developing weak alkali/alkali-free systems is the development of high efficiency surfactants. Compared with strong alkali ASP flooding, weak alkali/alkali-free combined flooding weakens the effect of alkali, thus making it more difficult to reach ultra-low interfacial tension. Presently, the surfactants in research remain at the stage of laboratory screening with high cost, which cannot satisfy the need of practical production.
Betaine surfactants are amphoteric surfactants. Due to their chelating effect on metal ions, most of the betaine surfactants can be used for oil displacement of high salinity and high temperature reservoirs, and are capable of substantially reducing the chromatographic separation effect which occurs when nonionic surfactant is combined with anionic surfactant. The betaine surfactants mainly include carboxyl betaine type and sulfo-betaine type. The use of sulfo-betaine amphoteric surfactants in tertiary oil recovery has been reported in US patents. Such surfactants solutions prepared by high salinity water with high divalent ion content are very effective in reducing the oil-water interfacial tension, and have good emulsification and solubilization properties. Darling Petroleum College has successfully developed a new carboxyl betaine BS13 surfactant system. The results of in-lab displacing experiment show that BS13 oil-displacing system has better oil-displacing effect than strong alkali ASP system. However, the synthetic routes of such surfactant BS13 is complicated, with high cost, and the production craft needs to be improved.

Betaine surfactants and preparation methods and uses thereof


A direction detection apparatus is disclosed. The direction detection apparatus includes a distribution obtainment section, an emphasis section, and a direction selection section. The distribution obtainment section obtains a distribution of intensities of sounds in a predetermined directional range. The emphasis section emphasizes sounds in the distribution of the intensities of the sounds obtained by the distribution obtainment section, wherein the emphasis section emphasizes the sounds in a second directional range which is a narrower directional range than the predetermined directional range and a center of the second directional range corresponds to a direction represented by selection information. The direction selection section decides a direction to be selected next based on the distribution of the intensities of the sounds which are output from the emphasis section and outputs the direction decided to be selected next as the selection information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direction detection apparatus, a direction detection method, and a direction detection program, and also relates to a direction control apparatus, a direction control method, and a direction control program particularly suitable for use with an imaging apparatus to automatically track an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a video camera shoots speakers of a conference, attendees of a party, playing children, or the like without the intervention of a dedicated camera man or camera woman, since it is necessary to fix the video camera with a tripod or the like, the video camera shoots images only in one direction. Since images shot in this manner are unidirectional, they are often become monotonous because they are shot regardless of speakers and cheers in the situations.
To solve such a problem, techniques that automatically select an object and an angle of field, pan and tilt a camera corresponding to the selected object and angle of field, and cause the camera to track a noticeable direction without necessity of its operation have been proposed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 5-56426 describes a technique of preventing shooting directions from being unnecessarily changed and capable of recording natural and comfortable images.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 5-56426, a speaker is detected with audio signals received from a plurality of microphones and a camera is controlled to shoot the detected speaker in close-up. In this method, after the speaker is detected, the detection operation is stopped for a predetermined period of time to prevent the camera from changing the shooting directions with input sounds such as noise and talking of other attendees (eg, a nod to a speech).
In this method, however, if the detection operation is set for a short stop time, the shooting directions of the camera are frequently changed. It is likely that recorded images would feel the audience uncomfortable. In particular, display apparatus that display recorded images are becoming large in recent years. Thus, if the shooting directions are frequently changed, images are rapidly moved. As a result, it is likely that the audience would feel very uncomfortable.
In contrast, if the detection operation is set for a long stop time to prevent such a problem, the camera is prevented unnecessarily from changing its shooting directions. Thus, in this method, it was difficult to set the detection operation for a proper stop time.

Direction detection apparatus, direction detection method and direction detection program, and direction control apparatus, direction control method, and direction control program


The present disclosure provides an optical touch system and an object analyzation method thereof. The optical touch system includes a panel and an image sensing apparatus installed thereon. The object analyzation method includes the following steps: capturing a first image across a touch surface of the panel with an image sensing apparatus, wherein the first image has an object image formed corresponding to the position of a pointer on the touch surface; defining an image window that corresponds to the image position of the object image in the first image captured; determining whether the pointer is touching the touch surface or hovering over the touch surface by analyzing the brightness difference among the plurality of pixels in the image window.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a touch system in particular, to an optical touch system and an object analyzation method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
As touch technology advances, touch panels have gradually integrated with display apparatuses to form touch-screen displays which enable users to operate touch-screen displays by direct touch. Optical touch systems have the advantage of high precision, high reliability, multi-touch support, low failure rate, fast response, and no manufacturing limitations, and have been widely used in a variety of mid-size and large scale electronic products.
A typical optical touch system includes at least an image sensor and a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), e.g., infrared LEDs (IR LEDs). During the operation of the optical touch system, the light-emitting diodes operatively emit a light to illuminate a touch surface of the optical touch system. Whenever an object, such as a finger or a stylus, touches the touch surface, the object blocks the light emitted from the LEDs and forms a shadow pattern on the touch surface. The optical touch system can through utilizing an image sensor to capture images across the touch surface and computing touch positions of the object relative to the touch surface thereafter based on whether the images captured have a shadow pattern formed therein and the image position associated with the shadow pattern, achieving touch control operation.

Optical touch system and object analyzation method thereof


Ophthalmic pharmaceutical compositions containing a pharmaceutically acceptable ophthalmic carrier and an inflammation-treating amount of a nitrone compound are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods for treating ocular inflammation conditions, such as uveitis, using pharmaceutical compositions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the treatment of ocular inflammation such as uveitis. More particularly, this invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising a nitrone compound and methods for treating ocular inflammation using such compositions.
2. State of the Art
Uveitis is an inflammation of the uvea, the middle layer of tissue behind the white of the eye. This condition is sight-threatening and causes about 10 percent of the blindness in the United States. The cause of uveitis is poorly understood, but a variety of systemic diseases are associated with it. In at least one form of uveitis, free radicals have been demonstrated to be part of the disease process.
Corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone, are currently used to treat uveitis. However, the prolonged use of corticosteroids to treat such inflammation is associated with ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma. Accordingly, a need exists for novel pharmaceutical compositions which safely and effectively treat ocular inflammation conditions, such as uveitis. It has now been discovered that certain nitrones compounds are useful for treating ocular inflammation, especially inflammation of the outer and middle eye, such as uveitis. The nitrone compounds useful for this purpose include, for example, .alpha.-(phenyl)-N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN), 5,5-dimethylpyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) and .alpha.-(4-pyridyl 1-oxide)-N-tert-butyl nitrone (POBN) and derivatives thereof.
Nitrone compounds have been previously reported to be useful as therapeutics. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,025,032; 5,036,097; 5,527,828; 5,532,277 and 5,445,272; and published PCT Patent Application Nos. WO 91/05552 and WO 92/22290. Nitrone compounds, such as PBN, have also been used as analytical reagents for detecting highly reactive free radicals using electron spin resonance (ESR). See, for example, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 1994, 67, 165; Appl. Magn. Reson., 1992, 3, 1021; and Aldrichimica Acta, 1979, 12, 23.

Ophthalmic pharmaceutical compositions comprising a nitrone compound and methods for treating ocular inflammation using such compositions


This invention relates to a device for receiving or rejecting coins or circular tokens, for example for coin- or token-operated telephone apparatus. It comprises, for the chute down which the coins drop, a pivoting flap of which the state, retracted or not due to the weight of an incidental coin, is determined by a piezoelectric element, such as a bimorph piezoelectric plate, which serves, or not, as anti-pivot support for this flap.

Coin- or token-operated telephone apparatus cannot be connected to the electricity supply network, as the majority of legislations prohibit it for obvious imperatives of protection of the telephone network. The only source of energy available for operating the slot paying mechanism of a telephone apparatus of this type therefore remains that of the telephone network itself, which, unfortunately, cannot furnish power as high as that of the 220 or 230 volt electricity network. In fact, the electrical power that the telephone network can furnish for operating the electro-mechanical elements of a slot paying mechanism of a telephone apparatus generally does not exceed some tens of milliwatts.
Document FR-A-2 494 011 can be cited as state of the art, which discloses a coin accumulator-receiver device which comprises a rejection member using an electromagnet with solenoid plunger acting as retractable stop for retaining the coins accumulated one behind the other or one on the other in an inclined slideway.
However, in order to be actuated, an electromagnet requires electrical power which cannot be considered as very low. Exploitation of such a device is therefore necessarily limited.
In addition, its response time is relatively long with respect to the requirements of rapidity which are required by the electronic sorting system.
Document EP-A-0 147 112 may also be cited as state of the art, which discloses, with reference to FIGS. 32 and 33 thereof, a coin-processing device comprising:
a runway, inclined with respect to the horizontal and in which the coins or tokens arrive one behind the other after having been tested by a selection member placed upstream and delivering an electric signal for controlling reception or rejection of each coin or token, PA1 and a retractable trap forming, at the location of the runway where it is placed, the bottom of said runway, this trap being actuated via a piezoelectric element whose deformation by bending is generated via said electric control signal, with the result that the coins or tokens are directed towards a rejection path when this trap is retracted, while, on the contrary, they continue their path on the runway, beyond this trap, when it has not retracted, i.e. when it remains in rest position. PA1 said retractable trap is a flap pivoting about a hinge parallel to the runway and returned into its rest position by an elastic member whose return force is less than the weight of a coin or token, PA1 and said piezoelectric element is positioned beneath this pivoting flap, perpendicularly to the position of rest of this flap, but so as not to hinder its pivoting when the assembly is at rest and on the contrary so as to slide beneath this flap, in order to serve as support therefor preventing it from pivoting, when it receives a signal controlling reception, while it returns to its rest position, in that case releasing the flap, when it receives a signal controlling rejection.
The present invention has for its object a device of this latter type, which is particularly simple and reliable to produce.

Device for receiving or rejecting coins or circular tokens


In an espresso coffee maker having an espresso brew unit (1) and a coffee outflow duct (18) in fluid-conductive connection with the espresso brew unit via a crema valve (15) and having an end sided coffee outflow (19), no brewed residual coffee should remain in the coffee outflow duct nor leak out, for instance as leakage, through the coffee outflow. In order to avoid this, a return-flow suction unit (21), which is preferably independent except for a drive means, is in fluid-conductive connection with the coffee outflow duct (18) between crema valve (15) and coffee outflow (19), which is automatically activated when a brewing process is finished.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an espresso coffee maker having an espresso brew unit and a coffee outflow duct in fluid-conductive connection with the espresso brew unit via a crema valve and having an end sided coffee outflow.
2. Description of the Related Art
In such prior art espresso coffee makers, when finishing the brewing process and hence closing the crema valve, residual coffee will remain in the coffee outflow duct which connects, as a hose and/or tubular duct, the espresso brew unit with the coffee outflow. This residual coffee will either leave the coffee outflow as a slow leakage even if there is no receptacle under it, or the residual coffee will remain in the coffee outflow duct until a further brewing process is initiated thus causing a quality loss of the espresso later freshly brewed. The slow leakage from the coffee outflow can soil its surroundings, and in case of careless or awkward handling, even the danger of scalding cannot be completely ruled out.

Espresso coffee maker having an espresso brew unit


Systems and methods are disclosed that provide for regular, periodic or continuous monitoring of fluid volume based on direct measurement of an inferior vena cava (IVC) physical dimension using a wireless measurement sensor implanted in the IVC. By basing diagnostic decisions and treatments on changes in an IVC physical dimension, information on patient fluid state is available across the entire euvolemic range of fluid states, thus providing earlier warning of hypervolemia or hypovolemia and enabling the modulation of patient treatments to permit more stable long-term fluid management.

A significant challenge in the treatment of acute heart failure patients is the management of the patient fluid volume. Similar challenges are also presented in the treatment of renal failure patients, and, in fact, studies have shown a direct correlation, and potentially causal relationship, between heart and renal failure conditions with respect to patient fluid management [e.g., Silverberg, et al., The association between congestive heart failure and chronic renal disease, Curr. Opin. Nephrol. Hypertens. (2004) 13:163-170]. Acute heart or renal failure can lead to peripheral and pulmonary edema if not properly treated, but too aggressive of a treatment can lead to a hypovolemic state in which the patient lacks sufficient fluid volume. Treatments may include dialysis, ultrafiltration, diuretics and other drug administration. For longer term patients, fluid and dietary intake also may be monitored and modulated. Traditionally, diagnostic techniques used in monitoring fluid status were based on various externally observable symptoms (e.g., jugular vein distention, edema, patient weight change). Also, central venous catheterization (CVC) to monitor central venous pressure (CVP) has been used as a fluid status indicator. However, there are a number of serious risks associated with CVC, such as infection and thrombosis, and reliance on externally observable or measurable symptoms presents an obvious drawback in that the observable response to a therapy is often significantly delayed relative to acute changes in physiological status.
Monitoring fluid status can also be used as a predictor for onset of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), which is a significant factor driving rehospitalization of heart failure patients. There is potential to significantly reduce hospitalizations if there is a sufficiently early signal of increasing patient fluid volume. However, drawbacks of traditional diagnostic tools as mentioned above make such tools relatively ineffective as early predictors of ADHF.
In an attempt to overcome risks and drawbacks associated with more traditional diagnostic techniques, different types of diagnostic devices or techniques have been developed to measure central venous pressure (CVP) [e.g., Shuros, et al., Coronary Vein Hemodynamic Sensor, US 20090/01497666, Jun. 11, 2009] or pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) [e.g., Abraham, et al., Wireless pulmonary artery haemodynamic monitoring in chronic heart failure: a randomized controlled trial, Lancet (2011) 377:658-66]. Also, research using external ultrasound observation of the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) has led to a general understanding of a correlation between the IVC volume and patient health in terms of proper fluid balance [e.g., Feissel et al., The respiratory variation in inferior vena cava diameter as a guide to fluid therapy, Intensive Care Med (2004) 30:1834-1837]. Based on this understanding, external ultrasound systems are now sometimes used in emergency treatment situations to provide the attending physicians with information on patient fluid state. In addition, more recent techniques have been proposed in which devices indirectly measure vessel pressure or volume based on changes in impedance in response to an applied current within the vessel.
While devices and techniques now available may offer advantages over more traditional techniques based on observation of externally visible symptoms, each has its own disadvantages that limit effectiveness as a diagnostic tool to support more aggressive therapies. Many newer monitoring devices or techniques either do not provide sufficiently accurate data to allow early warning of changes in patient stability or do not provide guidance with respect to a particular type of intervention [see, e.g., Marik, et al., Does Central Venous Pressure Predict Fluid Responsiveness?*: A Systematic Review of the Literature and the Tale of Seven Mares, Chest (2008) 134(1):172-178]. Examples include that impedance-based devices have not shown sufficient sensitivity and PAP measurements do not provide a warning of hypovolemia. External measurement of IVC dimensions with external ultrasound systems is heavily reliant on proper and consistent positioning of the patient and the imaging device, both initially and over the period of monitoring, and may not always provide accurate prediction of fluid state [e.g., Blehar, et al, Inferior vena cava displacement during respirophasic ultrasound imaging, Critical Ultrasound Journal (2012) 4:18]. It is also impractical for use as a longer term diagnostic tool for regular (e.g. daily) monitoring of patients who are not hospitalized.

Systems and methods for patient fluid management


Strontium-82 is recovered from spent strontium-82/rubidium-82 generators to provide a source of strontium-82 for additional strontium-82/rubidium-82 generators. The process involves stripping of the strontium-82 from used strontium-82/rubidium-82 generators followed by purification of the strontium-82 material to remove additional metal contaminants to desired levels.

Strontium-82/rubidium-82 biomedical generators are used for cardiovascular imaging applications. Rubidium-82 is the daughter of strontium-82 and is the radionuclide used in the cardiovascular imaging. The strontium-82 is produced through the irradiation of materials such as molybdenum or rubidium in particle accelerators. This process is expensive and requires unique facilities that are not always available.
The strontium-82 activity has then been recovered from the irradiated materials by chemical processing such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,957,945, 4,276,267, and 5,167,938. The earlier patents described processes involving the use of one or more organic solvents for the selective separation of the strontium. The later patent eliminated the need for organic solvents in the separation thereby eliminating a mixed hazardous waste product.
The strontium-82 from such processing is incorporated into strontium-82/rubidium-82 biomedical generators such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,406,877 and 4,597,951. Such generators generally include a housing (or column) for containing a support medium for the parent radionuclide, an inlet for introducing an eluant into the housing, and an outlet for withdrawing the eluted radionuclide from the housing. Such generators lose their potency over time as the parent radionuclide decays and eventually the generators are discarded. Such spent generators are themselves a radioactive waste stream with the associated costs. At this time, there are fourteen clinics in the United States using strontium-82/rubidium-82 biomedical generators distributed under the trade name CardioGen.RTM. generators. Each generator is initially produced with a strontium-82 loading of about 100 milliCuries. Each generator is then used for one month at which time there are about 50 milliCuries of strontium-82 remaining. After a month, the generator is considered used or spent. The present procedure has been to supply a new generator to each clinic, each month and to collect the used generator for disposal as waste.
As rubidium-82 has become more widely used for cardiovascular imaging, its regular, continual availability and supply have become essential. Periods of prolonged shutdowns of the few facilities capable of producing strontium-82 could threaten the supply of this needed radioisotope to produce the strontium-82/rubidium-82 biomedical generators. Alternative sources of irradiated targets have been investigated and targets from accelerators in Russia have now been used to supply or supplement the needed strontium-82 during periods of time when sources in the United States are not available. Yet, the concern for possible loss of irradiated targets for prolonged periods of time has maintained concerns for alternative sources of strontium-82.
During the present inventors' search for alternative sources, they have now investigated the recovery of strontium-82 activity from the spent strontium-82/rubidium-82 generators. Recovery of such strontium-82 activity from the spent generators could serve as an alternative source of strontium-82, while reducing the overall waste stream from the use of such biomedical generators.
It is an object of this invention to provide a technique to recover strontium radioisotopes from generators that are no longer useful due to low potency, and use the recovered material to produce new generators.
Another object of the present invention is to produce material (i.e., strontium-82) to manufacture generators at reduced cost without the need for accelerator irradiations.
Still another object of the present invention is to minimize what has previously been a radioactive waste stream and convert at least a portion of it into a useful product by recycling strontium activity from spent strontium-82/rubidium-82 biomedical generators.

Recovery of strontium activity from a strontium-82/rubidium-82 generator

The Regents of the University of California


A method for text entry in an electronic device is disclosed. As a user enters text, such as a URL, into a handheld device the entered text is matched to previously visited URLs and these matched URLs are displayed in a list. The entered text may also be matched to any stored list of URLs or text. Typically, the matching searches for any instances of the entered text no matter the location of the entered text in the matched string. If one of the listed URLs is the URL desired by the user, then the user may select that URL and navigate a web browser to the URL without entering any more text. One of the items in the list may be the entered text with an automatically added prefix and suffix. These features significantly reduce the difficulty of entering URLs, especially on a device with limited input capabilities.

As more handheld electronic devices, such as wireless telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), are able to browse the Internet, the need to enter a specific Internet address, such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL), on these devices becomes more common. Typically, the text input methods for handheld devices are inefficient. For example, a wireless telephone typically includes a keypad rather than a keyboard. Keypads are designed first and foremost for entering numerals, such as the numerals of a telephone number. Entering letters into a wireless telephone using a keypad is a slow and awkward process because the keypad may have to be selected numerous times to enter a single letter. For example, to enter the letter "c", the "2" button on the keypad is selected three times. Moreover, even if one of these handheld electronic devices includes a keyboard, the size limitations of the handheld device require that the keyboard have small keys that make the keyboard difficult to use.
Most web browsers for handheld devices do not focus on entering URLs because the text input is so difficult. Instead, users are encouraged to stay within a preset list of links that are provided by default. When a link from the preset list is selected, only navigation is necessary and text input is avoided. However, as more people use handheld devices to browse the Internet, the preset list of links is not enough to satisfy all users. These users often try to enter new URLs to get to the websites they want to view and encounter the input deficiencies described above.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method and system for entering text, such as a URL, into an electronic device with limited text entry capabilities.

Method for text entry in an electronic device


The invention relates to a shifting device for the selection of rotationally fixed non-rotational couplings of a plurality of coaxial shafts of a motor-vehicle transmission, comprising a displacement sleeve, which can be axially displaced in relation to a housing and which has internal teeth having two axial toothed sections spaced apart from each other by an axial gap, and which coaxially surrounds a plurality of toothed elements that are arranged axially adjacent to each other and that are each non-rotationally connected to one of the shafts and that each have external teeth corresponding to the internal teeth of the displacement sleeve, wherein the displacement sleeve has a first sleeve part and a second sleeve part that are connected to each other in a manner that is axially fixed and rotationally decoupled, wherein the first sleeve part is a carrier of the first axial toothed section and the second sleeve part is a carrier of the second axial toothed section.

The invention relates to a shifting device for the selection of non-rotational couplings of a plurality, especially three, coaxial shafts of a motor vehicle transmission, comprising a displacement sleeve which can be axially displaced relative to a housing, which has internal teeth having two axial toothed sections spaced apart from each other by an axial gap, and which coaxially surrounds a plurality, especially three, toothed elements that are arranged axially adjacent to each other, that are each non-rotationally connected to one of the shafts and that each have external teeth corresponding to the internal teeth of the displacement sleeve.
The invention also relates to a drive unit for a motor vehicle, comprising:                an electric machine having a stator and a rotor that is arranged rotatably in the stator,        a gear arrangement having a plurality, especially three, shafts that are arranged coaxially relative to each other and that each have a toothed element with external teeth at their connection ends that extend beyond each other in a stepped manner, and        a shifting device with an axially displaceable displacement sleeve, which coaxially surrounds the toothed elements and which has internal teeth corresponding to the external teeth of the toothed elements and having two axial toothed sections spaced apart from each other by an axial gap.
Such shifting devices and drive units for motor vehicles are disclosed in German patent application DE 10 2014 201 251 A1.
Modern motor vehicle transmissions are characterized by a plurality of selection options for the gear and/or mode of operation, along with a very compact design. This is achieved, among other things, by the coaxial nesting of shafts and the close proximity among relative rotational elements in the transmission. The term "relative rotational elements" in the present context refers to elements of a transmission that are mounted so as to be rotatable relative to each other. These can be, for example, shafts that can rotate relative to each other or else relative to a housing. On the other hand, housing-fixed elements that execute a rotation relative to the shafts are also encompassed by this term. As a rule, changes in the gear or mode of operation, which are referred to here as shifting procedures, are effectuated by changes in the coupling between such relative rotational elements. Here, typical shifting elements are brakes (for example, for the non-rotational coupling of a shaft to a housing) and couplings (for example, for the non-rotational coupling of two shafts to each other). Here, the tight nesting of the elements often allows the combination of multiple shifting functions in a shifting module or even requires such an integration.
The above-referenced generic publication discloses such a multiple shifting module that allows different, positively connected couplings between three coaxial shafts. Two of the three coaxial shafts are spaced axially apart from each other and a third shaft passes coaxially through both of them. The ends of the two shafts mentioned first each have a toothed element. The toothed element of the third shaft extends in the gap between these shafts. All of the toothed elements have identical external teeth. The three toothed elements are surrounded by a displacement sleeve that has corresponding internal teeth. These internal teeth, however, are not axially continuous but rather comprise two axial toothed sections spaced apart from each other by a gap. Depending on the displacement position of the displacement sleeve, its internal teeth can intermesh with the external teeth of one, two (in varying pairings) or all three toothed elements, thereby coupling them to each other. It is evident that the displacement sleeve has to be able to rotate along with the shafts, that is to say, it has to be mounted in the housing so as to be rotatable. In order to be able to bring about the axial displacement of the displacement sleeve that is required for a shifting procedure, that is to say, for a change in the coupling constellation of the shafts, said displacement sleeve is mounted in an actuation sleeve that surrounds it. It is mounted on radial bearings that absorb axial forces, that is to say, the displacement sleeve and the actuation sleeve are rotationally uncoupled from each other; by the same token, axial forces that act on the actuation sleeve can be transmitted to the displacement sleeve. The actuation sleeve, which, in turn is mounted so as to slide in a housing-fixed, slotted guide sleeve, is connected via a lever connection to a motor drive that effectuates the axial movement needed for a shifting procedure.
The prior art shifting device is relatively bulky and only allows coupling among the above-mentioned shafts. A coupling of one or more of these shafts to external relative rotational elements of the transmission such as, for example, the rotor of an electric machine and/or the transmission housing, is not possible with the prior-art device. The complexity of the coupling constellations that can be implemented with it is correspondingly limited.

Shifting device and drive unit for a motor vehicle


A system for processing the signals from a gamma or other radiation detector through a charge-sensitive preamplifier, makes use of a fast analog to digital converter at the input, preferably downstream of an anti-aliasing filter, and circuitry for the deconvolution of the signal in which the preamplifier transfer function is convoluted with the charge distribution function The deconvolution results which are free from any charge related to any radiation event are averaged and subtracted from the averaged value of the deconvolution results, which results contain completely the charge of the event under processing, and the subtracted signal through a register provides the output. The system represents a significant improvement with respect to the ballistic deficit suppression and with respect to the noise index-counting rate factor allowing a significant improvement in the counting rate for a given noise level or a higher resolution for a given counting rate.

The processing of signals from semiconductor detectors can be effected in high-resolution spectroscopic analysis systems as an optimization compromise to determine with the greatest possible precision, the energy of the radiation quanta (X-ray radiation, gamma radiation, charged-particle radiation) at the greatest possible throughput In gamma-ray spectroscopy, for example, because of the high intrinsic resolution (about 0.1%) of the germanium detector the analog detector signals have to be analyzed with an integral non-linearity of better than 0.02% and a differential nonlinearity of better than 0.3% over a dynamic range of about 70 dB. The targeted throughput or rate is 10.sup.4 -10.sup.5 events per second.
The range of applications of semiconductor spectroscopy systems is very wide and ranges from measuring systems for environmental protection, medicine and materials research to large scale experimental projects in nuclear physics and cosmology basic research
In conventional techniques for the processing of semiconductor signals, it has been common heretofore to make use of analog pulse amplifiers (spectroscopy amplifiers SA) in combination with high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADC). Within the spectroscopy amplifier a pulse shaping of the preamplifier signal is performed with the goal of optimizing the throughput and the signal/noise ratio to yield an output signal whose amplitude corresponded with the greatest possible precision to the charge generated in the semiconductor detector Additionally, the spectroscopy amplifier usually contains circuitry for zero-line stabilization (baseline restoration) and for elimination of pulse pile-ups (pile-up rejection). The output signal of the spectroscopy amplifier is digitalized by the ADC. The ADC contains, in addition to the peak detector/stretcher and a linear gate, to fix the signal amplitude during the conversion interval, an amplitude-to-time converter and, finally, a time-to-digital converter (Wilkinson ADC).
This conventional type of signal processing has a number of drawbacks The effective resolution of the semiconductor spectrometer is limited by the "ballistic deficit" and the "charge trapping" effects. The maximum throughput is limited by the pulse pile-up and the long conversion time of the ADC's. Finally the system has a high degree of sensitivity to temperature fluctuations and poor long-term stability because of the large number of analog components used in each signal channel.
The "ballistic deficit" effect is caused by differences in the charge distribution of the detector signal in the charge-collection interval and manifests itself in different shapes and rise times of the leading edge of the preamplifier output signal. The fixed transfer function of the preadjusted pulse-shaping network, in the spectroscopy amplifier SA compensates only partly these differences and transforms them into fluctuations of the pulse amplitude in the direction of decreasing values. It is this reduction in the pulse amplitude which is referred to as the "ballistic deficit." Recently various methods based upon analog circuitry has been developed to correct for these deficits in the pulse amplitude, as well as for the deficits caused by "charge carrier trapping" effects, (F. S. Goulding and D. A. Landis, IEEE 35 (1988) p. 119; M. L. Simpson et al, IEEE 36 (1989) p. 260; S. M. Hinshaw and D. A. Landis, IEEE 37 (1990) P. 374). The most common correction technique was the Goulding-Landis method.
The latter determines the correction factor based upon different time shifts of the pulse maxima after pulse shaping. It yields some improvement in the energy resolution, but nevertheless a significant energy dependency of the result remains and it is not able to account for minority charge carrier trapping effects.
In order to optimize the throughput of spectroscopy analyzer system, attempts have been made in both directions, namely on the one hand, to minimize the dead time of the analog spectroscopy amplifier, and, on the other hand, to minimize the conversion time of the analog-to-digital converter.
To reduce the dead time of the analog signal processing, a gated integrator (GI) has been introduced. In the gated integrator system, a pulse-shaping network with a comparatively small time constant is followed by the gated integrator. With this system, it is possible to obtain an improved behavior of the spectroscopy amplifier at high counting rates, but at the expense of a overall poorer energy resolution.
A reduction in the conversion time of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) can be achieved by replacing the Wilkinson method by a binary weighting (successive approximation) method (P. Casoli and P. Maranosi, Nucl. Instr. Meth. 166 (1979) p. 299). Since the last method has a significant inherent differential nonlinearity it must be combined with a sliding scale method (E. Gatti, Nucl. Instr. Meth. 24 (1963) p. 241). The combined method yields a significant reduction in the conversion time, but nevertheless has several drawbacks. One is, like with the Wilkinson method, the need of analog circuitry like peak-detector/stretcher and linear gate in order to fix the pulse amplitude for the conversion interval. This again gives rise to various drawbacks sensitivity with respect to count rate and temperature fluctuations. A second is that the advantage of the sliding scale method, which in principle is an averaging method requiring a statistical significant number of measured values is lost because in the case of low statistic or individual measurements due to the bad channel profile.
In general, practically all currently used methods for processing semiconductor detector signals have temperature and long-term instabilities which can have a significant effect upon the main system parameters like resolution and integral linearity. This can be mainly attributed to the large number of analog electronic components which one finds in conventional spectroscopic analyzer systems and to their sensitivity to external influences.
Recently efforts have been made to overcome the problem of the stability of spectrometer systems by replacing the gated integrator and the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with a fast digitalizer (flash ADC). In this method, the signal shape is digitalized after the analog pulse shaping. This technique also results in incomplete handling of the problems of "ballistic and charge carrier trapping" deficits, since these problems have their origin in the analog pulse shaping. In addition the method introduces a new, special "ballistic deficit" problem, whose origin is to be found in the uncorrelated time position of pulse maxima relative to the sampling raster. As a consequence, this method has to date found application only in cases in which a high energy resolution is not required.

Circuit arrangement for the digital processing of semiconductor detector signals


A bending brake apparatus having a bending brake, an attached foldable table, a coil holder for holding coiled aluminum or coiled vinyl sheet material positioned at an end of the bending brake before the table and facing down the length of the table, built-in cutting means separately provided on the bending brake and on the coil holder for cutting the aluminum or vinyl sheet material, and detachable brake support leg pairs. The built-in cutting means includes cutting tools mounted on sliding bars slideably captured within rimmed tracks. The cutting tools employ offset roller cutters and include outwardly extending sheet material support rollers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to a bending brake, and, more particularly, to a bending brake apparatus having a coil holder for holding coiled aluminum or coiled vinyl sheet material, built-in means for cutting the aluminum or vinyl sheet material, an attached worktable, and pairs of detachable brake support legs.
2. Background Art
Bending brakes are utilized in numerous industries, especially in the aluminum siding industry, to bend workpieces of substantially flat sheet material (eg. aluminum), in situ, through a wide range of angles. A bending brake is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,176 by the present inventor. Such bending brake is now also being used to bend vinyl material that, like aluminum, is formed into coils to promote transportability.
While coils of aluminum or vinyl material are easy to transport, they are awkward to work with, in conjunction with a standard bending brake, at a job site. Typically, more than one job station is needed for processing coiled material. Before placing a sheet of coiled aluminum or coiled vinyl stock into a standard bending brake located at a job site, one must cut off a portion of the sheet by hand using a utility knife or shears, place such portion on a separate work table, and then measure it and mark it for subsequent bending and/or cutting. This aggravating, time-consuming, and generally unwieldy process, colloquially known in the art as "rolling in the mud," has often been blamed for workproduct damage characterized by uneven (less than perpendicular) cuts, scratches, "scalloped" edges, burrs, and dents. The process also poses the threat of serious bodily injury to those who use utility knives or shears with unsteady hands.
Separate hand-held cutting tools employing offset roller cutters have been suggested as replacements for utility knives or shears for use in conjunction with bending brakes (eg. the PRO CUT-OFF manufactured by Tapco International Corporation of Plymouth, Mich.). Such separate cutting tools, however, are subject to certain disadvantages and/or operating difficulties. For example, it is difficult to accurately guide such a cutting tool during the cutting operation. This can result in uneven cuts. It is also difficult to generate workproduct free from other irregularities, such as the above-mentioned scalloped edges, scratches, and burrs, when using a separate cutting tool. Moreover, the roller cutters themselves tend to break easily--especially when the separate cutting tools are dropped. This happens quite frequently since workers tend to forget to remove the separate cutting tools from conventional bending brakes prior to bending material in such brakes thereby allowing the motion of the brakes during bending to knock the cutting tools to the ground.
Properly aligning material measured and marked for cutting in a typical bending brake is also difficult to accomplish. One must take additional measurements along the entire length of the material to be cut to predict where the roller cutters of a conventional cutting tool will slit such material. Usually, the material will shift during this process forcing one to recheck the alignment thereof. Because of this, more than one person is often needed to manually guide the material into the brake and hold it there to ensure that it does not shift before it is clamped into place prior to cutting.
Typical bending brakes also have pairs of support legs that are bolted or otherwise fixed thereon and usually foldable thereunder. Such fixed leg pairs tend to seriously impede the process of loading/unloading the brakes onto/from the roof racks of pickup trucks used to transport the brakes from job site to job site. Moreover, the fixed leg pairs prevent the brakes from being used directly on scaffolds forcing workers to pass aluminum or vinyl material down from the scaffolds every time they need to cut, bend, or otherwise manipulate such material.
There is a pressing need, therefore, for an apparatus that will allow coiled sheets of aluminum or vinyl material to be easily, safely, and accurately cut, bent, and/or otherwise manipulated, in situ, by a readily transportable bending brake apparatus, to generate workproduct free of irregularities.


Systems and methods are provided to facilitate lottery ticket transactions. A request to purchase a lottery ticket is received, the lottery ticket being associated with a lottery number combination, such as a limited number of lottery tickets or a limited number of players. An indication that the lottery number combination is to be associated with a limited number of occurrences is also received. For example, an indication that the lottery number combination is to be associated with only a single lottery ticket may be received. A price associated with the lottery ticket is determined based on the received indication. According to one embodiment, the price is increased by a predetermined amount based on the received indication.

Players enjoy playing lottery games in part because of the large prizes that can be won. In particular, players are attracted to the possibility of winning, and spending, such large prizes. This can be seen, for example, by the increased number of players who purchase lottery tickets as the size of a lottery prize increases. In some cases, a lottery prize reaches hundreds of millions of dollars and players spend a considerable amount of money and time purchasing lottery tickets. Moreover, even people who do not typically purchase lottery tickets are tempted to do so when a lottery prize grows large enough. This behavior is often reinforced by stories, such as news reports, about players who have won such large lottery prizes.
A problem with typical lottery games, however, is that if two or more players are both associated with a particular winning lottery number combination, the players are required to share the lottery prize. For example, in a "6/49" lottery game, there are approximately fourteen million potential lottery number combinations. If twenty million people purchase lottery tickets for such a game, it is more likely than not that two people will be required to share the lottery prize.
This risk increases as the size of the lottery prize, and thus the number of lottery tickets that are purchased, increases. That is, as the number of lottery tickets that are purchased increases it becomes more likely that one or more other players will be associated with the same lottery number combination. Thus, the largest lottery prizes are often divided among two or more winning players, reducing the incentive people have to play the lottery game in the first place. Therefore, a lottery game provider may be able to increase lottery ticket sales, and profits, if players who win could reduce the risk of, or completely avoid, having to share a lottery prize.
Note that, with respect to the cost of a lottery prize, a lottery game provider may not be concerned with whether the prize is won by a single player or is shared by a number of players. That is, the amount of the lottery prize the lottery provider pays out is the same in both cases. In some cases, a lottery game provider may prefer that a single player win a lottery prize because of the amount and type of publicity generated by such a result.
Another way to view the above problem is to consider the expected value of a lottery ticket. A first lottery ticket associated with a lottery number combination that is not associated with any other lottery ticket has a higher expected value to a player than a second lottery ticket associated with a lottery number combination that is also associated with one or more other lottery tickets. As a result, players may be willing to pay a higher price for the first lottery ticket. Moreover, the cost of the first and second lottery tickets to the lottery game provider may be the same (e.g., the lottery game provider may payout the same top prize whether or not the two lottery tickets are associated with the same lottery number combination). Thus, a lottery game provider may be able to increase profits if it can receive a higher price for the first lottery ticket. In addition, awarding large prizes to a single player may result in increased interest in the lottery game, and thus more lottery tickets may be sold further increasing profits and prizes.
As can be seen, a need exists for improved systems and methods to facilitate lottery ticket transactions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods wherein a lottery number combination is associated with a limited number of occurrences


A method for controlling a plurality of I/O devices being attached to a microprocessor by a special number and type of interfaces is provided. A generic configurable chip is connected to the I/O space of said microprocessor, said generic chip comprising a switch matrix being adapted to assign said special number and type of interfaces to each specific device when initializing said device.

The present invention relates, in general, to accessing I/O functions. More specifically, the invention relates to accessing a great variance of I/O devices in a control system. Still more specifically, the present invention deals with accessing such I/O functions in embedded control environments.
In embedded control applications it is not always possible to meet all wanted requirements with standard I/O chips. Very often, it is tried to fulfill these requirements with a custom design. This design then will end in realization of a special designed chip, based, e.g., on ASICs. However, typically the I/O connectivity of these chips and not the available space is limiting the integration of more functionality on the same chip.
Though I/O devices may have a high similarity according to their requirements with regard to the I/O protocols supported (e.g., IC bus (I2C), Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), General Purpose I/O (GPI/O) and the like), the number of I/O ports is different on each specific device.
In many applications, a certain number and type of I/O devices must be controlled (it is of no importance whether these devices are cards in a computer system, switches or hub-devices in a network or switching units in a luggage or parcel sorting system or similar systems). Typically, this controlling task is done by means of a microcontroller. However, in most cases, the industry does not offer out of the shelf a respective controller with enough or exactly the right I/O interfaces on the core chip. Accordingly, a chip (most probably an ASIC) will have to be developed that can be connected to the I/O space (memory mapped I/O, PCI, CAN-bus, Ethernet, etc.) of the controller as an extender chip. As already mentioned above, this chip would most probably be a custom design and is expanding the number and the type of the controller interfaces in order to exactly offer the right number and type of interfaces as required by the devices to perform their specific tasks. However, even if all of these devices would need the same sort or type of I/O interfaces (such as GPI/O, UART, IIC, and the like), the quantity of the interfaces may be different for each of the different device types to be controlled. The traditional methods to solve this problem would be to a) develop one individual chip (ASIC) for each device type or, b) develop one single chip (ASIC) providing a superset (in number and type) of all the interfaces needed for all the different device types.
The disadvantage of solution a) is obvious as it is clear that developing and producing n (assumed n being the number of different device types that shall be controlled) different chips (ASICs) is much more expensive then doing all this just once for one chip being produced in bigger volumes.
However, using solution b) would not only maximize the number of transistors on the chip, but would at the same time maximize the number of pins. Since industry is able to double the transistor density on a chip about every 18 months, the number of I/O pins is more and more determining the size and at the same time the costs (for each individual chip as well as for the space in the cards) of a chip.

Method and system for personalized I/O device initialization

International Business Machines Corporation


Live strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus HY2177 and Lactobacillus casei HY2743 maintained in nutritious foods, such as yogurt, imbue them with prophylactic and/or therapeutic properties. Such foods are beneficial in the prevention and/or treatment of gastritis, duodenal and gastric ulcers caused by infection from Helicobacter pylori (also referred to as H. pylori). The properties of these bacteria are boosted by the addition of egg yolk containing antibodies specific to H. pylori antigen derived from xe2x80x9cfractionated H. pylorixe2x80x9d and may be administered as active strains alone in a food supplement, or the active strains may be combined with H. pylori-antibodies (IgY).

A nutritional formulation in which non-toxic (to humans) bacteria thrive, is used to prevent and treat gastric disorders associated with Helicobacter pylori (also referred to as H. pylori) which are believed to be attacked by the non-toxic bacteria. Only particular strains of non-toxic comestible bacteria, when ingested by humans are effective against H. pylori. Optionally and preferably, the prophylactic and/or therapeutic effects of the comestible bacteria are boosted with egg yolk containing immunoglubins (antibodies) specific to H. pylori antigen (also referred to as xe2x80x9cH. pylori-antibodiesxe2x80x9d).
Much has been published regarding H. pylori which inhabits the human gastric mucosa. It is a gram-negative spiral rod-shaped bacterium having an outer membrane with four to six polar flagella which are sheathed and have bulbous ends; each H. pylori bacterium is about 0.85 xcexcm (micrometer) in diameter with an average length of 2.9 xcexcm. Known pathogenic (disease) factors of H. pylori are (i) urease (urea aminohydrolase) which is produced by the bacteria to allow it to thrive in a strong acid environment in the range from pH 1-3, (ii) flagella which provide the bacteria with mobility, and (iii) a protein-aceous outer membrane of the cells which membrane helps the cells to stick to the gastric mucosal cells. Survival of H. pylori relies upon creation of a relatively non-acidic microenvironment in the vicinity of the bacteria, and a relatively basic microenvironment is provided by the enzyme urease; the more basic the better, and the closer to neutral pH, the more difficult it is for the H. pylori to thrive. The ability to command a near-neutral microenvironment is an essential property of bacteria which effectively prevent and treat gastric disorders.
A result of interaction of H. pylori on the mucous membrane is the stimulation of numerous cytokines. The predominant immune response to infection is the production of interleukin-8 (IL-8). IL-8-induced neutrophils or macrophages are a direct cause of gastritis. To date, treatment to subdue secretion of gastric acid, for example with H2 isolator, is deemed unsatisfactory over the long term due to recrudescence which is now countered with medicines which act directly on the H. pylori. Presently, trends in the fight against infection by H. pylori may be categorized as follows: (a) development of antibiotics showing a direct effect against H. pylori, (b) development of vaccines for H. pylori, and (c) using anti-H. pylori antibodies which allow the live H. pylori to be terminated. For prophylaxis, (b) and (c) are preferred.
Bhatia et al in J. Clin. Microbiol. 27: 2328-2330, 1989, disclosed that L. acidophilus could inhibit the growth of H. pylori in vitro, and that this effect was due to lactic acid production. Midolo et al in J. Appl. Bacteriol. 79:475-479, 1995, disclosed that L. casei, L. bulgaticus, Pediococccus pentosaceus and Bifidobacterium bifidus could inhibit the growth of H. pylori in vitro, and that this effect was due to organic acids produced by these bacteria. However, as stated in European Patent Application EP 0 877 032 A1 to Kodama et al (hereafter, xe2x80x9cthe ""032 applicationxe2x80x9d), one cannot expect experiments conducted in vitro to be replicated in the stomach. An attempt to use Lactobacillus salivarius as a probiotic to inhibit growth of H. pylori is reported by Aiba et al in The Meeting of the 30th Japan Germ-free Animal Gnotobiology Society, Program and Abstracts, pp 22, Requested Title 18, xe2x80x9cNew Attempt for Inhibiting H. pylorixe2x80x9d (January 1997). They also used anti-H. pylori antibodies in the yolks of eggs of hens immunized with formalin-lidlled, whole H. pylori cells. In germ-free mice, the effectiveness of the L. salivarius was 2 to 3 orders of magnitude greater than that of the antibodies; effectiveness in the environment of the stomach of a mammal such as a normal mouse, or in the pH 1-3 of a human, was not investigated. Though the particular strain of L. salivarius was not identified, there is no reason to believe that any lactic acid bacteria will be comparably effective even in a germ-free mouse; data presented below in FIG. 1 indicate that several species of Lactobacillus show high in vitro activity, but are not as effective in vivo as others with comparably high in vitro activity. Moreover, as also shown in FIG. 1, strains which show desirably high in vitro activity, e.g. L. casei HY2743 and L. plantarum HY2207 are found to be far from equally effective in vivo.
In the prior art there are taught many immunization schedules under which growth of anti-H. pylori antibodies can be stimulated, most relevant among which are the disclosures of Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 4-275232 to Takahashi et al, which discloses antibodies obtained in eggs of hens immunized against H. pylori whole cells as an antigen; and, the disclosure of the ""032 application which discloses antibodies obtained in eggs of hens immunized against (i) flagella of H. pylori separated from the rest of the cells; and (ii) urease of H. pylori separated from the rest of the cells, these being pathogenic factors associated with H. pylori. Antibodies obtained from either (i) or (ii), by themselves, had no noticeable effect on the number of cells in the stomach of five mice; however, (i) and (ii) in combination eliminated the H. pylori cells from the stomachs of 5 out of 5 mice. (see Table 2 in the ""032 application).
Takahashi et al teach the use of a solution of shattered or comminuted H. pylori as antigen, but the beneficial effects are relatively small because the solution additionally contains many other different proteins which appear to dilute, if not diminish or negate, the ability of the antigen to generate effective antibodies.
Furthermore, Kodama et al teach that either the anti-urease antibodies or the anti-flagella antibodies, or both together, may be used in combination with at least one organism selected from the group consisting of lactic acid bacteria, Enterococci, yeasts and Bacillus to inhibit the growth of H. pylori in the stomach, teaching that the presence of any live organism unexpectedly enhances the effectiveness of the antibodies, though the live organism, by itself, was ineffective in the environment of the stomach. In particular, Kodama states that L. acidophilus, L. casei, L. bulgaricus, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Bifidobacterium bifidus were all reported to inhibit growth of H. pylori in vitro purportedly due to organic acids produced by these bacteria, but such effectiveness was of no help to assess the effect in the stomach. Evidence of the synergistic effect of anti-urease antibodies and Lactobacillus acidophilus administered in combination orally to H. pylori-infected mice is presented in Table 3 of EP ""032. Note however, that only one-half of the population of L. acidophilus is found after 14 days. Without considering the propriety of extrapolating those results to all live organisms tested, it is evident from results presented in Table 3 that one particular strain of L. acidophilus showed a synergistic effect with H. pylori-urease. However, one skilled in the art is unable, without undue experimentation, to reproduce the effect reported, because it is not reasonably possible to find the single strain among all the known strains of L. acidophilus which produces the synergistic result.
Confirmation of the ineffectiveness of the live organism, by itself, is stated as follows: xe2x80x9cL. acidophilus alone was almost the same as that of the control group, and there was no significant difference between the two groups, as shown in Table 3. Also, gastritis conditions were observed and L. acidophilus had no efficacy on suppressing gastritis.xe2x80x9d (see page 10, lines 49-52). The tests were performed on hairless mice (NS:Hr/ICR) having a high sensitivity to H. pylori infection. Such mice do not have the normal flora found in a BALB/c mouse which provides a better comparison with a human stomach.
Contrary to Kodama""s teaching, we found that to get the beneficial effects of a bacteria in vivo in the stomach, it is critical that we use a live bacteria which by itself is highly effective in vitro against H. pylori- and to boost its effect, to use antibodies produced by antigens of fractionated H. pylori. The term xe2x80x9cfractionated H. pylorixe2x80x9d refers to particular portions of H. pylori which portions are separated from the remainder of the cells; the separated portions are as follows: (i) urease; (ii) the outer membrane and (iii) the flagella; the remainder of the cells is discarded. Since it is not practical to conduct a very large number of in vivo experiments with H. pylori-infected mice using strains of various bacteria, we chose to use a combination of the three strains found after screening a limited number of strains set forth in Table 1 below. It is recognized that there may be S one or more specific strains of L. acidophilus, not suggested in the ""032 application, any one of which, by itself, may be effective against H. pylori not only in vivo but also in vitro; they chose to use a strain which was effective in neither.
It is now evident that, in the prior art, the problem of attacking the H. pylori in a stomach relied upon the H. pylori-antibodies collected from one or more constituents of fractionated H. pylori; or, in combination with a bacteria such as L. acidophilus used in the ""032 application, or any other bacteria which by itself had no noticeable effect in the environment of a stomach. The invention described hereunder derives from the realization that only particular strains of a genus have the ability, when ingested by humans, to survive the environment of the stomach for long enough to find the relatively less acidic zones around H. pylori attached in the stomach""s lining, and to excrete bacteriocins which would attack the H. pylori. A search was made for those bacteria which could be relied upon to provide a major portion of the desired attack, their effectiveness being supplemented with conventionally derived H. pylori-antibodies.
Further, the prior art typically obtained egg yolk powder by freeze-drying an aqueous solution, and was unconcerned with formulating a commercially marketable food fortified with egg yolk powder containing H. pylori-antibodies; this led to a lack of concern to stabilize the antibodies during spray-drying of egg yolk solution to make the powder, spray-drying to sterilize being the preferred commercial method of production of egg yolk powder. Sterilization requires spray-drying at a temperature of at least 65xc2x0 C. at which temperature the antibodies are unstable. The prior art did not provide a solution to the problem of finding a comestible, non-toxic water-soluble food ingredient which is able to stabilize the antibodies in the egg yolk solution at a pH and temperature which would not deleteriously affect the antibodies.
Despite the development of several medicines for the treatment of disorders due to H. pylori, the prior art has failed to suggest any logical basis for selecting an active strain of non-toxic, live bacteria for such treatment, except trial and error. By xe2x80x9cactive strainxe2x80x9d is meant a non-toxic strain of live bacteria which effectively kills or inhibits the growth of H. pylori grown as a lawn in a growth-conducive anaerobic or microaerophilic environment, on a medium in vitro, in an amount sufficient to provide a zone free of H. pylori, which zone is visually observable with the naked eye. Particularly because it was found that certain strains of lactobacillus were effective for our purpose, as set forth in Ser. No. 09/498,668, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,002 we chose to study additional strains to find specific strains which produced the appropriate H. pylori-specific bacteriocins, and specifically those strains which could be delivered in food routinely consumed by humans.
A natural or synthetic food is supplemented with particular strains of live bacteria which by themselves are effective against Helicobacter pyloti (also referred to as H. pylori) not only in vitro but in vivo. The effectiveness of such bacteria is strain-specific, that is, a specific strain of a species may be effective while other strains of that same species are not. Effectiveness of xe2x80x9cactive strainsxe2x80x9d identified herein may be preserved and/or enhanced with egg yolk containing antibodies specific to H. pylori antigens, so that consuming the food will prevent and/or treat gastritis, and/or gastric and duodenal ulcers.
It has been discovered that specific strains of non-toxic (to humans) live bacteria, by themselves, when maintained as xe2x80x9cactive strainsxe2x80x9d in comestible foods, such as yogurt and other bacteria-tolerant foods which may contain other living organisms, have the unique ability to imbue such foods with prophylactic and/or therapeutic properties because, it is hypothesized, active strains produce bacteriocins which directly attack H. pylori; they also compete for adhesion sites and produce organic acids which create a hostile environment for the H. pylori. In the genus of lactic acid bacteria, only the strains Lactobacillus acidophilus 1-2 HY2177, and Lactobacillus casei HY2743 (together referred to herein as xe2x80x9cactive lactic acid bacteria strainsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cactive strainsxe2x80x9d for brevity) have been found either to minimize the growth of, or to destroy H. pylori not only in vitro but also in vivo in the environment of a stomach, provided each strain is used, either individually or in combination, in an effective dosage amount. Their effectiveness is measured by the ability of these active lactic acid bacteria strains (i) to inhibit the attachment of H. pylori to gastric mucosal cells of the stomach""s mucous membrane; (ii) to inhibit the production of urease substantially completely, indicated by no significant increase in pH, and (iii) to inhibit the production of Interleukin-8 (IL-8) by as much as about 90%, indicated by an ELISA analysis.
It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a food for general human consumption, comprising a food stored at a temperature in the range from about xe2x88x9245xc2x0 C. but no more than 45xc2x0 C. and effective to inhibit and/or prevent the growth of H. pylori in a human stomach; the food is fortified with an active strain selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus acidophilus HY2177 and Lactobacillus casei HY2743, preferably a combination of both, optionally in combination with antibodies obtained in the yolk of an egg of a hen immunized against a pathogenic factor selected from the group consisting of fractionated H. pylori and urease of H. pylori. xe2x80x9cFractionated H. pylorixe2x80x9d consists essentially of a pathogenic factor selected from the group consisting of H. pylori-urease (hereafter referred to only as xe2x80x9cureasexe2x80x9d), flagella of H. pylori and outer membrane of H. pylori separated from the rest of the mass of H. pylori cells. Portions (ii) and (ii) are typically used together (referred to as xe2x80x9cflagella/outer membranexe2x80x9d) to avoid the effort of separating them, were each to be used individually. Urease, though not an integral portion of the H. pylori cells is referred to as a constituent of fractionated H. pylori because it is derived from, and separated from the comminuted cells.
It is a specific object of this invention to provide an improved food selected from the group consisting of a conventional food of lactic acid bacterial origin and a non-conventional food, in combination with an effective dosage amount of an active strain selected from the group consisting of Lactobacillus acidophilus HY2177 and Lactobacillus casei HY2743, the conventional food being selected from the group consisting of yogurt, buttermilk cream cheese and ice cream, and the non-conventional food being a nutritional yogurt drink. The useful concentration of active lactic acid bacteria strain(s) in the food is in the range from about 1xc3x97108 cfu/ml to about 1xc3x971010 cfu/ml, preferably in the range from 5xc3x97108 cfu/ml to about 5xc3x971010 cfu/ml, and optimally about 1xc3x97109 cfu/ml in a unit serving. The useful concentration of H. pylori-antibodies in egg yolk is in the range from 50 mg to about 250 mg per unit serving, typically in yogurt. The egg yolk is typically used in a fortified food in the range from about 0.05% to about 4% by weight of the food, preferably in the range from 0.5 to 2%, so that at 2% the food contains less than 125 mg of antibodies.
It is another specific object of this invention to provide a food or food supplement containing an effective dosage amount of at least one of L. acidophilus HY2177 and L. casei HY2743, which over a course of treatment, effectively (i) inhibits the attachment of H. pylori to gastric mucosal cells of the stomach""s mucous membrane; (ii) inhibits the production of urease substantially completely, indicated by no significant increase in pH, and (iii) inhibits the production of Interleukin-8 (IL-8) by as much as about 90%, indicated by an ELISA analysis.
It is another general object of this invention to provide a method of preventing and/or treating disorders associated with infection by H. pylori, the method comprising administering to a human a nutritional food in combination with an effective dosage amount of one or more of the active strains identified immediately hereinabove, in plural successive unit servings, each unit serving spaced apart from a prior one by a period in the range from 1 hour to 3 days; and, preferably to do so in combination with egg yolk powder containing H. pylori-antibodies derived from one or more of the aforespecified pathogenic factors, most preferably both in combination, wherein the antibodies have been stabilized with from about 5% to about 20% by weight of a water-soluble simple sugar. By a xe2x80x9cunit servingxe2x80x9d we refer to a conventional individual serving for the particular food being fortified; for example, for yogurt, a typical unit serving is 8 fl oz (fluid ounces) or about 450 ml, though it may range from 4 fl oz to 12 fl oz (250 ml to 950 ml). The term xe2x80x9csimple sugarxe2x80x9d refers to a carbohydrate containing an xcex1-hydroxy aldehyde or an xcex1-keto primary alcohol, preferably sucrose, fructose, lactose, glucose, dextrose and the like.
It is another specific object of this invention to provide a novel adjuvant which is more effective to potentiate an immune response to H. pylori antigens than conventionally used Freund""s adjuvant (complete or incomplete) and which not only produces more antibodies than with conventional adjuvants, but also produces more than 75% of the antibodies in the yolk of a hen immunized with an antigen of fractionated H. pylori in the novel adjuvant.

Food containing active strains for inhibiting infection and treating gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers


A method for producing a dual function protein includes a biologically active protein and an FGF21 mutant protein. The method allows stable production of a target protein by effectively preventing decomposition of the target protein, and thus has a high potential for commercial usage.

When an animal cell is used to produce a recombinant protein, there might be a problem that a specific region of the target protein may be clipped by a protease is secreted by an animal cell (host cell) to cause heterogeneity, reduction or inactivation of the recombinant protein. In addition, such clipping of the expressed protein also leads to the problem that it gets difficult to maintain "lot to lot" homogeneity during production and purification processes. For this reason, it is necessary to keep the protease at a low level or suppress the protease activity during the production of a recombinant protein.
As an alternative to solve the problem, a production method in which inhibitors against serine, cysteine, aspartic acid or aminopeptidase (such as aprotinin, bestatin, leupeptin, E-64 and pepstatin A, etc.) are added in the culture medium was proposed (see WO 1990-002175, EP 0,306,968, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,800). However, the use of these inhibitors in commercial production is not effective because of cytotoxicity and the need for extra efforts to prove that they have been completely removed from the final product. In addition, among conventional alternatives, a universal method applicable to all target proteins produced in host cells has not been found yet.

Method for producing dual function proteins and its derivatives


Described are dough packages and packaged dough products, wherein the package includes microvents.

A wide variety of leavenable dough products allow a user to "home bake" a dough to produce a desirable hot, fresh-baked item. Many such items are proofed prior to baking, and for consumer convenience may be partially or fully proofed prior to purchase and prior to use by the consumer. Such products, sold after proofing or partial proofing, are examples of products referred to as "pre-proofed." Examples of pre-proofed dough products include breads and bread-like products that generally contain a leavening ingredient and include but are not limited to loaves of bread such as French bread, white or whole wheat bread, bread sticks, biscuits, rolls, pizza dough, and the like.
One technique for preparing a pre-proofed dough product is by use of a package having a fixed volume and allowing a contained dough composition to proof and expand inside of the packaging, e.g., self-sealing packages such as canisters. Such products include dough formulations that can be, but are not necessarily, chemically-leavenable. For example, one way to accommodate proofing of a dough composition during refrigerated storage is to store a refrigerated dough composition in a canister of a fixed volume so the refrigerated dough product proofs or partially proofs inside of the canister. With expansion of the dough composition, the dough volume increases to fill the entire package volume, and upon further expansion will increase the pressure inside the canister. The canister is usually formed from composite paperboard spirally wound into a cylinder. The initial volume of dough packed into the canister is usually less than the canister volume and as the dough continues to proof, the pressure increases to force the dough against canister end caps to seal gas passages around the end caps of the canister.
Another form of packaging for food products, including those that may be refrigerated or frozen, is flexible packaging such as packages known in the food industry as "chubs," or packages known as "pouches." A pouch is generally a non-pressurized flexible package prepared from a sealed flexible film. A chub may usually include a cylindrical or tubular package of thin flexible material formed to contain a quantity of food item. Tubular package ends may be closed by any appropriate mechanical fastener such as crimped clips. International Publication Number WO 02/28746, for example, describes dough products packaged in chubs. Packaging of proofed refrigerated dough in flexible film containers, as well as other types of containers, often includes the use of a valve to vent carbon dioxide gas from the package headspace. These valves are prone to fouling and can be expensive. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,529, "High Raw Specific Volume Dough in a Chub," filed Oct. 2, 2000.
There is continuing need for new types of packaged pre-proofed dough products that may be refrigerator stable or freezer stable. Similarly, there is continuing need for new methods of packaging and preparing such packaged dough products. Particularly useful and economical packages are those that are simple and durable, such as flexible film packaging with no pressure release valve.