An embodiment of a system for securing media content includes a digital media device comprising a memory associated with a secure element. The memory contains a private key and storage for at least one group key. The private key is used to decrypt transmissions from a remote access control system that are encrypted by a corresponding public key. The digital media device further comprises logic configured to respond to a first message received from the remote access control system encrypted by the public key and including a first group key, the logic responding to the first message by decrypting the first group key and storing the first group key in the memory of the secure element. The digital media device further comprises logic configured to decrypt a content key with the first group key. The content key is used to encrypt media content stored on a medium accessible by the digital media device.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to securing data, and more particularly, to securing data associated with a digital media device using an encryption key.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage device, such as a hard drive of a digital media recording device, can be used to store media data associated with received audio and/or video content. For example, one such digital media recording device is a digital video recorder (DVR). A DVR application executed by the DVR provides user interface screens that can be used to manage the media data stored to the storage device. The DVR application can also be used to playback recorded media at a later time, while also having the ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward through the recorded media.
The media data stored to the DVR can be encrypted in order to protect the media content from unauthorized playback. A secure microprocessor can be used to protect the encryption keys that are used by DVR encryption processors to encrypt the content. The secure microprocessor includes a private key stored therein, useful for decrypting data encrypted using an associated public key. The secure microprocessor can also be used to generate a content instance key of suitable strength to encrypt the media data on the storage device. The content instance key could be a random value (or passphrase, etc.) for example. The content instance key is then encrypted using the secure microprocessor's public key and stored on the storage device in association with the encrypted content and any other digital access rights elements.
Upon request for playback of the media content embodied in the media data, the encrypted content instance key associated with the media data is retrieved from the storage device and decrypted by the private key of the secure microprocessor. The media data can then be retrieved and the content key can then be used to decrypt the media data for playback.
However, because the encrypted content instance key is associated with the private key of a particular secure microprocessor, when a DVR fails it may not be possible to access the secure microprocessor to allow decryption of the stored content from the failed DVR's storage device. Thus, a cable subscriber's library of recorded and encrypted media content becomes inaccessible for playback. This may be so, even though the user may be legally entitled to play the media content, e.g., after paying for that right. Additionally, tying the media content to a particular DVR introduces problems with respect to the sharing of digital media between devices. For example, in some cases, a subscriber may be authorized to view content recorded by a first DVR within the subscriber household on another, second DVR within the subscriber household. However, because the encrypted media content is tied to the secure microprocessor in the first DVR used to record the media, such sharing becomes difficult.
Further, subscribers to media services, such as cable-television, among others, may be authorized and de-authorized for the viewing of media content based on a subscriber's subscription status. For example, this change in authorization may be carried out through the transmission of media access signals from a cable-operator's head-end system to an associated set-top box. However, these media-access signals may simply set a flag or other non-secure logical switch within the set-top that allows or disallows the specified service. However, those wishing to steal the service may be able to easily overcome such trivial barriers, allowing the media data already stored on the DVR associated with the set-top box to be accessible.
Therefore, what is needed are systems and methods that can potentially address one or more of the aforementioned deficiencies.

Securing media content using interchangeable encryption key


A work processing apparatus upwardly turns a wrist of a vertical articulated robot to retract a hand that is holding a work to a position where the hand and work do not interfere with a press brake. In this state, an engaging projection arranged at a front end of an upper arm or at the wrist is inserted into an engaging hole of a lower die of the press brake and the vertical articulated robot is operated to move the lower die along a groove of a die holder.

A widely-known work processing apparatus is a combination of a processing machine such as a press brake for achieving a predetermined process on a work with a die attached to a die holder and a carrier robot for carrying the work. The work processing apparatus of this type uses a hand (gripper) of the carrier robot to move the die as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-254728.

Work processing apparatus and die moving method for work processing apparatus


The present invention describes methods and systems to provide a liquid oxygen delivery system that efficiently delivers therapeutic oxygen in accordance with a patient's respiratory cycle. An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a portable liquid oxygen delivery system having a liquid oxygen device, an oxygen conserving device, and an accumulator device. The portable liquid oxygen delivery system has a collective gaseous oxygen volume and the accumulator device is enabled to actuate and reduce the collective gaseous oxygen volume.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of liquid oxygen storage and delivery systems, and, specifically, to systems and methods to efficiently and effectively operate liquid oxygen storage and delivery systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A growing number of people suffer from chronic hypoxemia as a result of having a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as asthma and emphysema, as well as cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, lung injuries, cardiovascular diseases, and otherwise diseased or damaged lungs. Presently, there is no cure for COPD. However, the detrimental impact of chronic hypoxemia is mitigated by the prescription of oxygen therapy in which oxygen enriched gas or pure oxygen is delivered to the airway of the user. The oxygen therapy serves to compensate for the poor function of the patient's lungs in absorbing oxygen.
The delivery of supplemental oxygen may be provided utilizing one of three predominant methods. For non-ambulatory patients, or for use during non-ambulatory periods, oxygen may be provided from a stationary oxygen concentrator, which typically makes use of a pressure swing adsorption system to generate the oxygen. Oxygen concentrators utilizing pressure swing adsorption ("PSA") systems are advantageous in that they can process ambient air, containing approximately 21% oxygen, and separate that oxygen from the ambient air. Thereby, the patient can be supplied with gas containing higher concentrations of oxygen. While suitable for their intended purpose, oxygen concentrators are generally bulky and require access to a power source, such as an electrical outlet. Thus, oxygen concentrators are ill-suited for portability and are not intended for use with an ambulatory individual.
Compressed oxygen systems are generally prescribed when oxygen is not needed all the time, such as only when walking or performing physical activity. One significant disadvantage of a compressed oxygen system is that because the oxygen is stored under pressure, the tank may be hazardous if dropped. In addition, small portable compressed oxygen tanks are limited in how long they will last depending on the prescribed flow rate and type of tank.
An alternative to compressed oxygen systems is a liquid oxygen ("LOX") system. Liquid oxygen is advantageous because it occupies a tenth of the space of compressed gaseous oxygen. To maintain a liquid state, however, oxygen must be kept at a relatively cool temperature around 300 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.
A conventional LOX system includes a large stationary LOX storage canister that stays in the home. The conventional system also includes a small, portable delivery apparatus that can be filled from the stationary unit for trips outside the home. Many first generation systems have limited utilization due to the low LOX capacity of the portable delivery apparatus and the administered LOX flow rate. Furthermore, even when not in use, the LOX within the portable delivery apparatus evaporates at a typical rate of one pound per day, thereby emptying the portable delivery apparatus LOX supply over time. Consequently, a disadvantage of a conventional portable LOX system includes the requirement that the user must return home by the end of the day to refill the portable delivery apparatus from the home stationary LOX storing canister.
Many first generation LOX systems provide a constant flow of oxygen to the patient. In these LOX systems, a flow-meter or fixed orifice can provide a desired level of oxygen to the patient at a constant flow rate. Although successful in delivering oxygen therapy at adequate levels, these LOX systems waste a significant amount of oxygen. This is due to the nature of the cycle of pulmonary gas exchange by a patient. Typically, it is only the gas inhaled during the half a second at the beginning of an inspiration that delivers oxygen to the blood stream of a patient. More specifically, it is only the oxygen that reaches the pulmonary alveoli, or spherical outcroppings of the respiratory bronchioles, that is exchanged and received within the blood stream. Therefore, for LOX systems that provide a constant flow of oxygen, the oxygen delivered at times other than the first half second of inspiration is wasted. This is highly significant to portable LOX systems that have a limited capacity of oxygen to supply to the patient.
To limit the amount of oxygen wasted by constant flow LOX system, oxygen conserving devices ("OCD") have been designed to attempt to interrupt the flow of oxygen in accordance with the patient's breathing cycle. Therefore, these oxygen conservers had to be capable of sensing inspiration by the patient to permit the therapeutic flow of oxygen during the beginning of inhalation and stop the flow of oxygen during the end of inhalation and during exhalation. It should be noted that the terms "oxygen conserving device", "conserving device", and "conserver" are used interchangeably.
Oxygen conserving devices are generally of two types, those which operate electronically, and those which operate pneumatically. Each type presents different benefits and disadvantages.
Electronic conservers require a power source, generally a battery, in order to operate, thus necessitating periodic replacement or recharging of the power source. Further, electronic conservers have integrated circuitry that most often has temperature range limitations. Electronic oxygen conservers sometimes have further disadvantages related to durability and cost.
Pneumatic oxygen conservers, however, make use of the pressurized gas and its flow within the conserver to intermittently block the delivery of gas to the person. Therefore, pneumatic conservers generally dispense with the need for power sources and complex electronics. Conventional pneumatic conservers, however, are oftentimes bulkier and generally require more complex gas lines or cannulas in order to operate.
Many conventional pneumatic conservers utilize a dual lumen cannula. Examples of conventional pneumatic conservers and their associated dual-lumen cannulas are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,133 to Myers and U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,000 to Carter. One lumen of the cannula is for supplying oxygen to the person wearing the cannula, whereas the other lumen generally connects to a sensing port on the conserver. The pneumatic conserver generally responds to changes in the pressure in the sensing lumen to provide oxygen to the person during inhalation and to interrupt the flow of oxygen to the person in response to exhalation. Unfortunately, dual lumen cannulas are more expensive, bulkier, and generally not as comfortable to the patient as single lumen cannulas used in electronic conservers and many other medical devices.
Conventional pneumatic conservers suffer from a significant drawback in that while they do aid in preventing the waste of some therapeutic oxygen, they often permit and even contribute to the waste of oxygen. More particularly, conventional pneumatic conserver devices typically operate by sensing negative pressure at the outlet of the conserver. When negative pressure is present at the outlet, corresponding to inhalation by the patient, the sensing valves of the pneumatic conserver will open, causing the control valves to open and permit the flow of oxygen from the output. Thus, when the patient begins inhalation, the control valve will open for the first pulse. If the patient continues to inhale, a negative pressure at the outlet will still be present and the control valves may remain open, or open again, and continue to output oxygen. As only the first half second of oxygen is therapeutic, the oxygen passed through the control valve and output after this first half second is wasted.
As a result of these and other drawbacks, pneumatic oxygen conserving devices have not enjoyed widespread use despite certain advantages of such pneumatic conservers over electronic ones. The various attempts to overcome the drawbacks of pneumatic conservers have had mixed results and have generated their own drawbacks and disadvantages.
There are a number of oxygen delivery systems that have attempted to overcome the drawbacks associated with pneumatic oxygen conserving devices. One such oxygen delivery system is disclosed in PCT application no. PCT/US00/29374 (PCT publication no. WO 01/33135)("the '374 application"). The commercial name of the product described in the '374 application is the HELiOS®. As identified at the HELiOS® website, www.heliosoxygen.com, the HELiOS® H300 portable LOX delivery unit has a limited capacity for storing a content of liquid oxygen enabling eight to ten hours of usage before the LOX is depleted when the device has a setting of two. The HELiOS® weighs approximately 3.6 pounds when full with LOX, and 2.75 pounds empty.
Another oxygen delivery system with a pneumatic oxygen conserver is the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System sold by Precision Medical, Inc. According to Precision Medical, Inc.'s website, www.precisionmedical.com, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System is 3.6 pounds and provides a single lumen system that utilizes an oxygen conserving regulator. Furthermore, the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system sold by Chad Therapeutics, Inc. includes a pneumatic oxygen conserver. All three of these devices, the H300, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System, and the Chad Cypress, attempt to overcome some of the drawbacks associated with pneumatic oxygen conservers.
While suitable for their intended purposes, the prior art oxygen delivery systems with pneumatic oxygen conservers suffer from many drawbacks. The most significant drawback is that the pneumatic oxygen conservers of these oxygen delivery systems still permit oxygen to be wasted. More specifically, the pneumatic oxygen conservers generally deliver oxygen in a manner inconsistent with the oxygen consumption profiles of a person breathing through a cannula. Thus, the conventional pneumatic oxygen conservers are incapable of conserving oxygen at a desired level.
FIG. 1 provides an illustration of the pulse flow waveform of oxygen in standard liters per minute versus time for certain conventional oxygen delivery systems with conventional oxygen conservers. In FIG. 1, the time value of zero represents the beginning of inhalation by the patient. Oxygen conserving devices are typically triggered by sensing a negative pressure, corresponding to an inhalation by the patient. Therefore, most oxygen conserving devices are configured to trigger at a negative pressure level achieved at some time period after the patient begins to inhale. The pulse flow waveforms shown in FIG. 1, provided in units of Standard Liters Per Minute ("SLPM"), are representative of delivery triggered by a typical inhalation during a patient's respiratory cycle.
Waveform 105 is a plot of the pulse flow of the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system. As illustrated by waveform 105, the delivery of oxygen to the patient occurs at a relatively low flow rate over a relatively long period of time. As previously discussed, it is generally only the oxygen delivered within the first half second (0.5 seconds) after inspiration (time 0.0 on the graph of FIG. 1) that provides therapeutic benefit. As shown in FIG. 1, oxygen flow profile for the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system graphed by waveform 105 does not begin until around 0.3 seconds and peaks at only 2 SLPM of oxygen. Furthermore, as shown by waveform 105, the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system continues to provide oxygen for at least 1.2 seconds after the beginning of inspiration. The majority of the oxygen output by the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system after 0.5 seconds is wasted. Thus, the pneumatic oxygen conserver of the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system wastes oxygen by delivering during non-therapeutic periods of the respiratory cycle.
FIG. 1 also provides a plot of the pulse flow of Precision Medical, Inc.'s Easymate Liquid Oxygen System in waveform 110. As shown by waveform 110, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System does not begin delivering oxygen until at least 0.3 seconds after inspiration. For delivery shown by waveform 110, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System delivers at a rate of about 10 SPLM initially and steadily decreases from its initial peak rate. Although the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System delivers more oxygen than the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system before 0.5 seconds after inspiration, it still continues to deliver oxygen after the 0.5 seconds mark. As shown by waveform 110, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System continues to deliver oxygen until around 0.65 seconds. Thus, the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System wastes oxygen by delivering during non-therapeutic periods of the respiratory cycle.
FIG. 1 further provides a graph of the flow rate of oxygen by the HELiOS® H300 LOX system as waveform 115. As shown by waveform 115, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system begins delivering oxygen before the other two units at around 0.2 seconds after the beginning of inspiration. Furthermore, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system delivers a relatively large impulse of oxygen in a relatively short period in comparison to the other pneumatic devices shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system delivers oxygen at around 19 SLPM for an initial short impulse period and then tapers off to a lower flow rate of oxygen. For the particular delivery cycle shown by waveform 115, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system does, however, continue to deliver oxygen at around 1 SPLM for a time period after the therapeutic cutoff of 0.5 seconds.
The HELiOS® H300 LOX system, like the majority of dual lumen systems, continues to provide oxygen until the patient exhales. Therefore, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system will waste gas until the patient begins to exhale. As illustrated by the example cycle shown in waveform 115, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system continues to deliver oxygen until around 0.6 seconds. Thus, while demonstrating superior flow dynamics to that of the Easymate Liquid Oxygen System and the Chad Cypress oxygen delivery system, the HELiOS® H300 LOX system wastes oxygen by delivering during non-therapeutic periods of the respiratory cycle.
An additional waveform 120, shown on FIG. 1, illustrates a compressed oxygen system (high pressure tank system) employing an electronic oxygen conserver device, namely the Respironics' electronic Pulse Oxygen Device (ePOD™). This device is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/096,993 (publication no. 2006 0219245). The ePOD system with an electronic oxygen conserver device has a distinctly different pulse image, shown by waveform 120, than those of the pneumatic oxygen conserving devices of waveforms 105, 110, and 115. The pulse flow of the ePOD electronic oxygen conserving device begins relatively quickly, around 0.15 seconds after the beginning of inspiration, and ends around 0.4 seconds. Waveform 120 illustrates that the electronic oxygen conserving device delivers a consistent burst of oxygen at around 11 SLPM for around 0.12 seconds and then quickly tapers off. Furthermore, waveform 120 illustrates that the compressed oxygen system employing an electronic oxygen conserving device does not deliver oxygen after a half second from inspiration.
The pulse of the electronic oxygen conserving device can be described as a pulse dose or box pulse, in that a relatively large amount of oxygen is delivered by a flow dynamic that starts and stops abruptly. Therefore, some electronic oxygen conserving devices can be relatively successful at delivering oxygen only during the therapeutic period of the respiratory cycle.
As shown by FIG. 1, conventional oxygen delivery systems with conventional pneumatic conserving devices, while suitable for their intended purposes, are insufficient at preventing oxygen waste. As shown by FIG. 1, the pulse dose characteristics of the oxygen delivery systems with an electronic oxygen conserving device provide an oxygen delivery pulse that is superior to that of the conventional oxygen delivery systems with pneumatic conserving devices shown in FIG. 1. As discussed above, however, oxygen delivery systems with electronic oxygen conserving devices suffer from many of their own drawbacks, relating to power consumption and complexity, among other issues.
Accordingly, a need exists for a liquid oxygen delivery system incorporating a pneumatic oxygen conserver capable of matching a patient's needs for oxygen as closely as possible. Additionally, a need exists for a pneumatic based oxygen delivery system capable of providing an oxygen delivery pulse similar to that of an efficient oxygen delivery system incorporating an electronic oxygen conserving device. In other words, a need exists for a pneumatic conserver system capable of mimicking the oxygen delivery of an electronic conserver system. Furthermore, a need exists for a oxygen delivery system capable of overcoming the drawbacks of both conventional pneumatic conserving device oxygen delivery systems and electronic oxygen conserving device oxygen delivery systems.


A method and apparatus for optimizing redundant link usage allows a portion of the wasted bandwidth in a redundant link system to be utilized for additional data traffic without compromising the ability of the system to respond to and correct for a failure of a link. In one embodiment, one of two independent, individually addressable links is selected as a nominal communication path, and the other as a standby communication path. The path independent traffic is sent via the nominal communication path, while the path dependent data is sent via the nominal communication path or the standby path, in accordance with the dependence of the traffic. In another embodiment, critical time sensitive traffic is sent via a nominal and standby time sensitive paths, while normal traffic is sent via nominal normal path, and non-critical traffic is sent via a standby normal path.

1. Multi-Shelf Network Elements
An example of a multi-shelf network element with which the present invention may be used is multi-shelf switch system 100 shown in schematic block form in FIG. 1. Switch system 100 comprises peripheral shelves 110a-n, switching shelves 120a-b, and control complex 130. Peripheral shelves 110a-n provide input/output (I/O) interfaces for connection to data paths 115a-n for which switching services are provided by switch system 100. Switching shelves 120a-b provide the switching services for the system. Control complex 130 provides central management for the switch system. The various shelves of switch system 100 are interconnected by intershelf links 140a-h and 150a-f. An example embodiment of the switch system 100 of FIG. 1 is the Alcatel 7670 Router Switch Platform (RSP) Multi-Shelf system (Alcatel 7670). The Alcatel 7670 is a multiprotocol backbone system designed to switch ATM cells and route IP traffic through the same switching fabric. Depending on its configuration, the Alcatel 7670 provides from 14.4 Gbps up to 450 Gbps of switching capacity.
In one embodiment of switch system 100 of FIG. 1, each of switching shelves 120a-b contains a switching fabric core and up to 32 switch access cards (SAC), each providing 14.4 Gbps of cell throughput to and from the core. Switching shelves 120a-b are configured as a redundant pair and are referred to as switching shelf X and switching shelf Y.
In one embodiment, two types of peripheral shelves 110a-n may be used in switching system 100. The first type, called a high speed peripheral shelf (HSPS), comprises high speed line processing cards (HLPC) each providing 10 Gbps throughput, high speed I/O cards (HIOC), high speed fabric interface cards (HFIC) and two high speed shelf controllers (HSC). The second type, called simply a peripheral shelf (PS), comprises lower speed line processing cards (LPC) each providing 2.5 Gbps throughput, I/O Cards (IOC) and dual or quad port fabric interface cards (DFIC/QFIC). Each of peripheral shelves 110a-n also typically includes a shelf control system which may comprise control complex 130 (in the case of peripheral shelf 110a) or one or preferably two redundant peripheral shelf controllers (PSC).
In one embodiment, switching shelves 120a-b connect to the peripheral shelves 110a-n in the system via fabric interface cards (FIC) to provide cell switching to the line processing cards (also referred to as "line cards") in the peripheral shelves. Examples of these connections are illustrated in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 includes two switching shelves 120a (designated "switching shelf X") and 120b (designated "switching shelf Y") and three peripheral shelves: two normal speed peripheral shelves 110a (designated "PS1") and 110b (designated "PS2") and one high speed peripheral shelf 110c (designated "HSPS3"). In one embodiment, each of the peripheral shelves may comprise up to sixteen (16) line processing cards. In FIG. 2, two line cards 225a-b are shown for peripheral shelf 110a, four line cards 235a-d for peripheral shelf 110b, and four high speed line cards 245a-d for high speed peripheral Shelf 110c. Each pair of line cards in each peripheral shelf communicate with an associated pair of I/O cards, which connect to the data stream for which switching services are being provided. Thus, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, line cards 225a-b communicate with associated I/O cards 220a-b, line cards 235a-b communicate with I/O cards 230a-b, line cards 235c-d communicate with I/O cards 230c-d, high speed line cards 245a-b communicate with I/O cards 240a-b, and high speed line cards 245c-d communicate with I/O cards 240c-d. Each line card is also connected to two redundant fabric interface cards (FIC) which provide high speed connections between each line card and each switching shelf 120a and 120b. One of each pair of FIC's is designated FIC "X" and the other is designated FIC "Y". Three types of FIC's are shown in FIG. 2. Peripheral shelf 110a contains two dual FIC's (DFIC) 270a and 270b. Peripheral shelf 110b contains two quad FIC's (QFIC) 275a-b, and high speed peripheral shelf 110c contains four high speed FIC's (HFIC) 280a-d.
In one embodiment, each switching shelf 120a-b comprises a switch core and up to 32 switching access cards (SAC). In the embodiment of FIG. 2, switching shelf X 120a comprises switch core 250a and SAC's 255a-h, and switching shelf Y 120b comprises switch core 250b and SAC's 265a-h.
In one embodiment, the connections between the various components within a shelf are provided via one or more circuit boards in each shelf, referred to as "midplanes," to which the respective components are mounted.
In the embodiment of FIG. 2, each "X"-designated FIC on a peripheral shelf is connected to one or more SAC's on switching shelf X 120a, and each "Y"-designated FIC on a peripheral shelf is connected to one or more SAC's on switching shelf Y 120b. A DFIC connects to up to two SAC's, a QFIC to up to four SAC's, and a HFIC to a single SAC. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the connection between the FIC's on a peripheral shelves 110a-c and the SAC's on switching shelves 120a-b is via high speed intershelf links (HISL) 290a-p, which carry the cell-switched data path traffic. Thus DFIC X 270a of peripheral shelf 110a is connected to SAC's 255a-b on switching shelf X 120a via HISL's 290a-b, and DFIC Y 270b of peripheral shelf 110a is connected to SAC's 265a-b on switching shelf Y 120b via HISL's 290i-j. Similarly, on peripheral shelf 110b, QFIC X 275a is connected to SAC's 255c-f on switching shelf X 120a via HISL's 290c-f, and QFIC Y 275b is connected to SAC's 265c-f on switching shelf Y 120b via HISL's 290k-n. Finally, on high speed peripheral shelf 110c, HFIC's X 280a and 280c are connected via HISL's 290g-h to SAC's 255g-h on switching shelf X 120a, and HFIC's Y 280b and 280d are connected via HISL's 290o-p to SAC's 265g-h on switching shelf Y 120b, respectively.
The switch cores 250a-b, SAC's 255a-h and 265a-h, HISL's 290a-p, and FIC's 270a-b, 275a-b and 280a-d comprise the system's "switching fabric."
In the switch system of FIGS. 1 and 2, peripheral shelf 110a, designated "Peripheral Shelf 1," contains control complex 130. In one embodiment, control complex 130 comprises a logical grouping of cards that provide the central management for all features of switch system 100. The local and remote user interfaces to the system are provided by control complex 130 via user terminals 160 and 170. In addition, control complex 130 maintains a database for all cards on the system. One embodiment of control complex 130 is illustrated in FIG. 3.
In the embodiment of FIG. 3, control complex 130 comprises two control cards 300a-b (designated "Control Card A" and "Control Card B", respectively), two intershelf connection (ICON) cards 310a-b, two control interconnect (CIC) cards 315a-b, two intershelf connection I/O (ICON I/O) cards 320a-b, and two intershelf connection I/O expansion cards (ICON I/O Exp) 330a-b. Control complex 130 also comprises a facility card (FAC) that provides an RS232 management port and two timing ports that can be attached to a timing source for system synchronization. In addition to control complex 130, peripheral shelf 110a also comprises its own set of line processing cards 340 that communicate with control complex 130 via CIC cards 315a-b.
Control complex 130 communicates with each shelf in the switch system via shelf controllers on the peripheral and switching shelves. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, peripheral shelf 110b comprises a redundant pair of shelf controllers 340a-b, high speed peripheral shelf 110c comprises a redundant pair of high speed shelf controllers 350a-b, and switching shelves 120a and 120b each comprise a switching shelf controller 360a and 360b, respectively.
ICON I/O cards 320a-b and ICON I/O Exp cards 330a-b provide interfaces for connecting control complex 130 to other shelves (such as peripheral I/O and switching shelves) in the switch system via physical connections. In one embodiment, these connections are referred to as Control Services Links (CSL) 370a-h. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, each ICON I/O and ICON I/O Exp card contains eight CSL ports. ICON I/O A 320a and ICON I/O B 320b provide ports for CSL connections to the two switching shelves X and Y 120a-b and to the first six peripheral I/O shelves (designated peripheral shelves 2 to 7), while ICON I/O Exp A 330a and ICON I/O Exp B 330b provide ports for CSL connections to eight additional peripheral I/O shelves (designated peripheral shelves 8 to 15). ICON cards 310, ICON I/O cards 320, ICON I/O Exp cards 330, CSL's 370, and shelf controllers 340, 350 and 360 provide an intershelf connection (ICON) infrastructure that allows the transfer of control traffic between control complex 130 and the controllers and cards in peripheral shelves 110 and switching shelves 120 without using any bandwidth on the main data path. Data path traffic goes through the switching fabric shown in FIG. 2 whereas the control traffic uses the out of band ICON infrastructure (also sometimes referred to as the "control infrastructure") of FIG. 3 to transfer data. Operation of the control infrastructure is not affected by the switching fabric, and the switching fabric is not affected by the control infrastructure.
In one embodiment, a CSL link is physically embodied in a twelve-conductor cable comprising three separate, internal 4-conductor Cat-5-type cables. Each 4-conductor internal cable provides one of three different types of communications channels: a time division multiplexed (TDM) channel (providing E1-type capabilities), a full duplex (Ethernet) messaging channel, and a simplex differential channel.
The TDM channel (also sometimes referred to as the "E1 channel") is used by the ICON infrastructure to transport time sensitive transport activity, shelf numbering control and system timing information throughout the system. In one embodiment, the TDM channel operates at a frequency of 8000 Hz, providing 32 time slots with 8-bits per slot at a 125 microsecond refresh rate resulting in a data rate of 2.048 Mbps. In this embodiment, the TDM channel provides a guaranteed point-to-point channel between the ICON cards on peripheral shelf 1 and any shelf connected to one of peripheral shelf 1's CSL ports.
The full duplex messaging channel (also sometimes referred to as the "Ethernet channel") is used for general communications with any shelf in the system. In one embodiment, the Ethernet channel operates at 100 Mbps. Each Ethernet link to a shelf is shared among all components (cards) within the shelf. As a result, every element in the system is capable of communicating with the control complex via the Ethernet channel.
The Ethernet channel may be used for a large variety of communications, including connection information, software downloading to the individual components, debugging, alarm management, and configuration transfers. Communications between the control complex and the shelf controllers that does not travel over the TDM channel in general travels over the Ethernet channel.
The simplex differential channel (also sometimes referred to as the "RTS channel") is used to distribute a real time stamp (RTS) from the controller to each of the shelves in the system. The simplex differential channel is used instead of the TDM channel or the Ethernet channel because the RTS is sensitive to time delays that result from the applications running on the TDM and Ethernet channels. The RTS is used to align all elements of the system to the same time stamp for purposes such as debugging and billing. The RTS signal is generated by the control complex and is provided to the ICON cards via a direct circuit board (mid-plane) connection. The ICON cards are responsible for extracting the signal and transmitting it via the differential channel to all shelves in the system.
The use of redundant pairs of control cards and icon cards in peripheral shelf 1 and redundant shelf controllers in other peripheral I/O shelves creates redundant pathways over which control traffic can flow between each control card of the control complex in peripheral shelf 1 and each line card of each peripheral I/O shelf. Examples of redundant pathways between control card 300a and a line card 550 of high speed peripheral shelf 110c are shown in FIGS. 5a-b. For simplicity, only the main relevant components are shown in FIGS. 5a-b. For the same reason, the ICON I/O and ICON I/O Exp cards are not shown separately but are included as part of the respective ICON cards.
A first pathway, shown in FIG. 5a, comprises midplane link 505 between control card A 330a and ICON card A 310c in peripheral shelf 1 110a, CSL link 370c between ICON card A 310c on peripheral shelf 1 110a and shelf controller A 350a on peripheral shelf 2 110c, and midplane link 515 between shelf controller A 350a and line card 550 on peripheral shelf 2 110c. A second pathway, shown in FIG. 5b, comprises midplane link 530 between control card A 330a and ICON card B 310b on peripheral shelf 1 110a, CSL link 370d between ICON card B 310b on peripheral shelf 1 110a and shelf controller B 350b on peripheral shelf 2 110c, and midplane link 525 between shelf controller B 350b and line card 550 on peripheral shelf 2 110c.
FIG. 4 illustrates the control traffic flow of the pathway of FIG. 5a. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, controller card a 300a comprises a microprocessor 405, a real time stamp source 415, and an Ethernet port 410.
Microprocessor 405 exchanges time sensitive control data and normal control data with line card 420 on peripheral shelf 2 110c. Time sensitive control data travels over a set of "n" direct links 420 to a field programmable gate array (FPGA) 450 on ICON card A 310a. FPGA 450 assembles the data for transmission via TDM, and transmits the time sensitive data via E1 channel 485 of CSL 370c to FPGA 470 of shelf controller A 350a on peripheral shelf 2 110c. FPGA 470 extracts the time sensitive data for line card 420 from the TDM stream, and passes it via direct midplane links 495 to line card 420.
Normal control data, on the other hand, travels from microprocessor 405 to Ethernet port 410 of control card A 300a, and from there via midplane Ethernet link 425 to switch 445 of ICON card A 310a. Switch 445 passes the data via CSL Ethernet channel 490 to switch 465 on shelf controller A 350a of peripheral shelf 2 110c. Switch 465 in turn transmits the data to Ethernet port 482 on line card 420. A microprocessor 466 of shelf controller A 350a on peripheral shelf 2 110c is coupled to FPGA 470 via connection 467, switch 465 via connection 468, and Ethernet port 482 via connection 469, allowing microprocessor 466 access to the time sensitive data and the normal control data and/or allowing microprocessor 466 to exert control over the operations of FPGA 470, switch 465, and/or Ethernet port 482 (or, more generally, line card 420 via Ethernet port 482).
Real time stamp (RTS) source 415 may generate its own time signal, or may receive a time signal from an external source. RTS source 415 communicates its time signal via midplane link 430 to RTS transponder 455 on ICON card A 310a. RTS transponder 455 converts the time stamp into proper form for transmission over the differential channel of CLS 370a and sends it to RTS transponder 475 on shelf controller A 350a of peripheral shelf 2 110c. RTS transponder 475 extracts the RTS signal from CSL 370c's RTS channel and distributes it to line card 420 via midplane link 497.
Even though FIG. 4 only shows the control data pathways between one control card and one ICON card, it will be understood that the same pathways exist between each control card and both of the ICON cards in peripheral shelf 1 110a.    2. APS Automatic Protection System
A common method used to prevent data communications interruptions is known as Automatic Protection Switching (APS) 1+1. In an APS 1+1 system, components are connected via redundant, mirrored links. Each transmitting component sends the identical data over both links, and each receiving component listens to both links. One of the links is the normal "work" link, while the other is the "protection" link. As long as the work link is operating properly, the receiving component processes the data received from that link and discards the data received via the protection link. However, if at any time the work link becomes inoperable or defective, the receiving component immediately begins processing the data received over the "protection" link. Both links must carry identical data so that no data loss occurs when such a switch is made.
APS is useful because it prevents communications failures resulting from a single link failure. However, it does so at the expense of bandwidth: because the same data is sent simultaneously over two separate links, the total bandwidth needed is twice the what is required by the data stream itself, even though the data transferred over the protection link is used only during the infrequent times when there is a failure of the work link, and is otherwise discarded.

Method and apparatus for optimization of redundant link usage in a multi-shelf network element


The improved battery for reversible operation at ambient temperature comprises a negative electrode, a composite positive electrode which is composed of an ion-conductive high-molecular weight compound that has at least one ionic compound dissolved therein and that has a polyether structure and ion conductivity, an electrochemically active material and, optionally, an electron conductive material, and an electrolyte which is made of an ion-conductive high-molecular weight compound that has at least one ionic compound dissolved therein and that has a polyether structure and ion conductivity. The improvement is such that said composite positive electrode and said electrolyte are formed by exposure to an active radiation such as ultraviolet rays or ionizing radiation. Thanks to the improvement in electrolyte and positive electrode, the battery can be fabricated with great ease, is entirely free from the possibility of electrolyte leakage and has high long-term reliability and safety.

This invention relates to a battery that operates reversibly at ambient temperature. More specifically, this invention relates to an improvement of the electrolyte and positive electrode.
The recent advances in microelectronics technology have been remarkable and as is typically seen in memory backup power supplies for various electronic apparatuses, it is common practice today to accommodate batteries within the apparatus and to make an integral assembly with electronic devices and circuit. Under the circumstances, a need has arisen to reduce the size, weight and thickness of batteries and to increase their energy density. In the field of primary batteries, small and lightweight lithium batteries have already been commercialized but their utility is quite limited. This may be explained as follows: liquid electrolytes, in particular those which have ionic compounds dissolved in organic electrolytes, have conventionally been used with batteries that utilize an electrochemical reaction or other electrochemical devices such as electric double layer capacitors and electrochromic devices but such liquid electrolytes suffer from problems such as low long-term reliability and splashing in the sealing step because there is high likelihood of electrolyte leakage from parts of the battery and dissolution or evaporation of electrode materials.
With a view to improving the liquidtightness and long-term storage stability of electrochemical devices, ion-conductive high-molecular weight compounds having high ion conductivity have been reported and are still being studied as a means of solving those problems. The ion-conductive high-molecular weight compounds that are under the current review include straight-chained, reticular crosslinked or comb-shaped homopolymers or copolymers comprising ethylene oxide as building blocks. With a specific purpose of increasing the ion conductivity at low temperatures, it has been proposed that crystallization be prevented by using reticular crosslinked or comb-shaped polymers and this idea has already been implemented. In particular, ion-conductive high-molecular weight compounds using such reticular crosslinked polymers are useful since they have high mechanical strength and good ion conductivity at low temperatures.
When one wants to use those ion-conductive high-molecular weight compounds as electrolyte in electrochemical devices, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the electrolyte in order to lower the internal resistance. In the case of ion-conductive high-molecular weight compounds, thin films of uniform thickness can be easily worked into a desired shape but not all methods are completely satisfactory for use in practical applications. Examples of the methods that have so far been proposed include: i) casting a solution of an ion-conductive high-molecular weight compound and removing the solvent by evaporation; ii) coating a polymeric monomer or macromer onto a substrate and polymerizing it thermally; and iii) curing an ion-conductive high-molecular weight compound by exposure to active radiation. The second method (thermal polymerization) is convenient and has been used most commonly. However, the time required to complete thermal polymerization is very long, making it difficult to accelerate the production rate. Further, a temperature gradient tends to develop in the heating furnace and the need to heat in an inert gas atmosphere has unavoidably increased the size of the heating furnace and associated equipment.


The invention provides compounds, methods, pharmaceutical compositions, and kits for the treatment of proliferative disorders such as cancer. In one aspect, the methods comprise compounds that inhibit the activity of protein kinases, such as cell division cycle (Cdc) kinase. In another aspect, the methods comprise compounds that inhibit Cdc7 and/or Dbf4 activity. In another aspect, the methods comprise compounds that exhibit anti-proliferative properties useful in treating diseases such as cancer. Compounds useful for any of the methods include compounds of the Formula (A) or (B) or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. Exemplary compounds of Formula (A) or (B) include granaticin A, granaticin B, dihydrogranaticin A, dihydrogranaticin B, medermycin, and actinorhodin.

Understanding how the genomes of eukaryotes are duplicated during each cell cycle is a fundamental problem of modern biology and is a critical aspect of the more general problem of understanding the mechanisms that control cellular proliferation. The transition from G1 into S phase is a major decision point for the cell and is subject to elaborate controls whose mechanisms are not yet understood at the molecular level. (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta (2002) Annu Rev Biochem 71: 333-74; Dutta, A. and S. P. Bell (1997) Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol 13: 293-332; Jallepalli, P. V. and T. J. Kelly (1997) Curr Opin Cell Biol 9(3): 358-63; Kelly, T. J. and G. W. Brown (2000) Annu Rev Biochem 69: 829-80; Stillman, B. (1996) Science 274(5293):1659-64) The stability of the genome depends upon the precise operation of the DNA "replication switch," as well as upon the proper coupling of DNA replication to other events in the cell. It has become quite clear that perturbation of any of these mechanisms can contribute to cancer. (Sherr, C. J. (1996). Science 274(5293): 1672-7)
During the last decade, work in a number of laboratories has led to a dramatic advance in our understanding of cellular DNA replication (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta, et al.; Kelly, T. J. and G. W. Brown, et al.). The analysis of simple model systems, particularly Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and Xenopus laevis, has resulted in the identification of proteins that act at origins of DNA replication to initiate DNA synthesis. A significant breakthrough was the discovery by Stillman and Bell of the six-subunit origin recognition complex (ORC), which binds to specific origins of DNA replication in S. cerevisiae and recruits additional initiation factors to form the pre-replication complex (pre-RC). The ORC has been conserved throughout eukaryotic evolution. (Chuang, R. Y., L. Chretien, et al. (2002) J Biol Chem 277(19): 16920-7; Gossen, M., D. T. Pak, et al. (1995) Science 270(5242): 1674-7; Moon, K. Y., D. Kong, et al. (1999) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96(22): 12367-12372; Rowles, A., J. P. Chong, et al. (1996) Cell 87(2): 287-96; Vashee, S., P. Simancek, et al. (2001) J Biol Chem 276(28): 26666-73) We now know that a common set of initiation proteins assemble at replication origins in all eukaryotes and that the activities of these proteins are regulated by specific protein kinases. However, despite this progress, our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication remains quite superficial.
Genetic studies in yeasts and biochemical studies in Xenopus have demonstrated that the initiation of eukaryotic DNA replication takes place in two stages. (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta, et al.; Kelly, T. J. and G. W. Brown, et al.) In the first stage, which lasts from late M through the G1 phase of the cell cycle, pre-RCs are assembled at origins of DNA replication. At the beginning of S phase, pre-RCs are activated by the action of two heterodimeric protein kinases, Cdc7-Dbf4 and S phase cyclin-dependent kinase (S-CDK). This event marks the transition to the second stage of initiation, during which the origin is unwound and additional proteins are recruited to form active replication forks. The presence of cyclin dependent kinase activity (and perhaps other inhibitory factors) prevents further assembly of pre-RCs during the second stage of the initiation reaction. This mechanism constitutes a "replication switch" that ensures that origins of DNA replication fire only once each cell cycle, thus preserving genomic integrity.
As noted above, the activation of the pre-RC requires the activities of Cdc7-Dbf4 and S-CDK. Both kinases are activated at the G1/S boundary when their respective regulatory subunits accumulate to sufficient levels, and both appear to associate with the pre-RC. (Brown, G. W., P. V. Jallepalli, et al. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA 94: 6142-6147; Dowell, S. J., P. Romanowski, et al. (1994) Science 265(5176): 1243-6; Jallepalli, P. V. and T. J. Kelly; Jares, P. and J. J. Blow (2000) Genes Dev 14(12): 528-40; Johnston, L. H., H. Masai, et al. (1999) Trends Cell Biol 9(7): 249-52; Leatherwood, J., A. Lopez-Girona, et al. (1996) Nature 379(6563): 360-3; Walter, J. C. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275(50): 39773-8) Although the regulation of S-CDK activity has been shown to be quite complex with multiple cyclin subunits pairing with multiple Cdk subunits, Cdc7 activity is strictly regulated by the expression of the Dbf4 subunit, which is very tightly cell cycle regulated with peak expression occurring at the G1/S boundary. (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta, et al.) The activity of Cdc7 has been shown to be required for entry into S phase of the cell cycle. Studies in yeast have shown that cells depleted of this kinase activity progress from G1 to M phase without an intervening S phase, resulting in cell death (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta, et al.; Kelly, T. J. and G. W. Brown, et al.), and conditional knockout mouse Embryonic stem (ES) cells for Dbf4 have recently been shown to undergo S phase arrest with resultant apoptosis when gene expression is silenced. (Yamashita, N., Kim, J-M, et al. (2005) Genes to Cells 10: 551-563) Genetic evidence has shown that the six subunit Minichromosome Maintenance complex (MCM2-7), the presumed helicase activity required for origin unwinding and the initiation of DNA replication (Bell, S. P. and A. Dutta, et al.; Kelly, T. J. and G. W. Brown, et al.), is a target of regulation by the Cdc7-Dbf4 kinase, and the Mcm2 protein is an excellent substrate for the Cdc7:Dbf4 kinase in vitro. (Sclafani, R. A. (2000) J Cell Sci 113(Pt 12): 2111-7) The MCM proteins and Cdc7 have been shown to be overexpressed in the majority of cancers including both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. (Hess, G. F., Drong, R. F., et al. (1998) Gene 211 (1):133-40; Velculescu, V. E., Madden, S. L., et al. (1999) Nature Genetics 23: 387-88) Importantly, it has recently been shown that overexpression of Cdc7 in cutaneous melanoma samples was associated with poor risk disease and chemotherapy resistance. (Nambiar, S., Mirmohammadsadegh, A., et al. (2007) Carcinogenesis 12: 2501-2510) In addition, Cdc7 overexpression has also been shown in aggressive undifferentiated papillary thyroid carcinoma and in aggressive head and neck cancers that are positive for human papillomavirus (Fluge, O., Bruland, O., Akslen, L. A., et al. (2006) Thyroid 16 (2): 161-175; Slebos, R. J. C, Yi, Y., Ely, K., et al. (2006) Clin Cancer Res 12(3): 701-709). In fact, sensitive assay systems are being developed in Europe and the United States to detect the presence of MCM proteins in the urine of patients with genitourinary malignancies as well as breast cancer patients, and this seems to correlate with a more aggressive malignancy. Cdc7 activity is also conserved from yeast to man making it an attractive candidate for a therapeutic target. The logical interpretation of this data is that Cdc7:Dbf4 is a bona fide therapeutic target.

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research


A running and working robot for performing a prescribed work while it runs includes a body with a running unit, and a working unit for working, and the body is coupled to the working unit by means of a coupling member with a buffer member. As a result, even when an excessive force or shock is given to the coupling portion between the working unit and the body, damage to the coupling portion can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a running and working robot and, more specifically, to a running and working robot including a working unit and a body having a running unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various running and working robots for performing prescribed operations while running along an object such as a wall have been developed, including those for cleaning and conveying.
In such a running and working robot, the working unit may be made slidable in left and right directions with respect to the body so as to enable working at every corner even in a small space. In such a case, it is necessary to couple the body with the working unit only at one portion at the center of the working unit so as to ensure as wide a range as possible for sliding.
When a shock is given to the working unit, the shock is concentrated on the coupling unit, possibly resulting in damage at the coupling unit.
Especially when the running and working robot is light and compact and portable by a handle with the wheels of the working unit being wider than that of the body, it may be possible that a carrier's leg may hit the working unit while the robot is carried, giving shock at the coupling unit between the working unit and the body. It becomes necessary to prevent damage to the coupling unit.

Running and working robot not susceptible to damage at a coupling unit between running unit and working unit


An anti-theft system comprises a digital code in a key ring. The code is transmitted to a client box installed in a car. The box analyses the code and, in the case of theft, transmits a distress signal to a surveillance station. The surveillance station is equipped with a receiver and a display to display information concerning the stolen vehicle. A person at the surveillance station can stop the stolen vehicle or can use a switch on the surveillance station unit that sends a signal to a receiver in the client box and thus turns off the fuel pump of the car.

Prior art vehicle anti-theft systems concentrate on providing good tracking methods once the vehicle has been declared as stolen. Their methods necessitate the following steps: declaration by the owner that the vehicle is stolen, activation of the tracking system by the anti-theft system provider; emission of a signal from the stolen vehicle, tracking of the vehicle by the anti-theft system provider, communication with the police to request support and authority to seize the vehicle, arrival of the police on the location of the stolen vehicle and seizing of vehicle. An example of such a tracking system is U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,998 to Apsell and Stapelfeld and assigned to Lo-Jack Corporation for a Method of and System and Apparatus for locating and/or tracking stolen or missing vehicles and the like.
Other prior art systems are aimed at locating objects or people by using the same principle: the lost of the object or person must be communicated to the system for a transceiver on the object or person to start emitting a signal and therefore allowing tracking of the transceiver. An example of such a locating system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,794 to Lawrence which discloses a personal emergency locator system.
A classic example of a stolen vehicle scenario is as follows: a person goes shopping at a shopping center and parks his vehicle in the parking lot. He enters the shopping mall and stays in the mall for about two hours. When he exits the mall to go back to his vehicle, he realizes that his vehicle is gone. After having alerted the mall security, he contacts his anti-theft service provider and gives the pertinent information allowing a search for the vehicle to be conducted. A tracking vehicle is dispatched to the location of the stolen vehicle. Almost two and a half hours have elapsed since the moment of the theft. The thief, if a professional thief, has had time to drive the car through the city, into a van headed for a freight boat or across a border and has even had time to disassemble portions of the vehicle, including the tracking system transceiver, which is left somewhere along the road. If the tracking vehicle reaches the location of the transceiver, they will usually solely find the transceiver. Most of the time, they will not be able to dispatch the tracking vehicle to the location of the transceiver because it will be emitting from a different jurisdiction or from the sea. The owner will therefore have paid for the installation of the system and the annual membership fee plus service charges for the actual tracking of the vehicle without being able to retrieve the vehicle. If the vehicle is located, the service provider then contacts the police to obtain the authority of seizing the vehicle. If the vehicle is moving, the tracking vehicle must engage into a pursuit of the stolen vehicle until the police can take over the chase and seize the vehicle. This is hazardous for both the service provider and the police.
The main problems with these prior art systems are therefore that the transceiver can be easily removed from the stolen or lost object, that by the time the location of the object can be tracked down, the object has been transported in unreachable locations, that arresting the thief involves dangerous car pursuits.
This is caused by the delay in reporting the stealing of the object by the owner and by the fact that police intervention is delayed.
Driving a car is a privilege subject to laws made by the State, such as the possession of a driver's license. The motorist is licensed under the State that is represented by the police. So the vehicle belongs to the licensee that has a delegate authority. In absence of the motorist, the vehicle belongs to the authority that may stop it. This is why a police officer can stop and seize a vehicle if it is properly identified as stolen.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A neuro-muscular electrical stimulator includes a signal generator that generates at least one neuro-muscular stimulation signal and a programmable channel sequencer having six or more output channels. The channel sequencer couples the stimulation signal to the sequencer output channels in a predetermined sequence. A programmer that communicates with the sequencer allows a physician to individually program, for each sequencer output channel, the length of the time period during which the stimulation signal is coupled to the output channel so as to provide a patient specific therapy prescription.

The present invention is directed to a portable muscle/nerve stimulation system and more particularly to such a system having a programmable channel sequencer with a sufficient number of output channels to which electrodes are coupled to allow a complete programmed therapy to be performed without requiring the electrodes to be moved.
Portable neuro-muscular electrical stimulators have been known to provide a stimulation signal on two channels where each channel is coupled to a pair of electrodes that are attached to the patient's skin so as to stimulate a muscle or nerve. One such stimulator is the NeuroTech NT2000 manufactured and/or sold by Bio-Medical Research Ltd. The stimulation signal of the NT2000 has a contraction cycle and a relaxation cycle, each cycle formed of a number of pulses. The NT2000, in one mode, provides a stimulation signal on each of the two channels at the same time so that the contraction and relaxation cycles coincide but the individual pulses on the two channels are offset. In another mode, the stimulation signal alternates between the two channels. Various parameters of the NT2000 are programmable including frequency, pulse width, contraction cycle, length, relaxation cycle length, ramp up period, ramp down period, amplitude limit and a delay period between the ramp up time on the two channels. The treatment time for one therapy session is also programmable. Upon termination of the treatment time, the unit must be turned off and then turned on to start a new therapy session.
One of the main problems with known neuro-muscular stimulators is that they have a very limited number of output channels. As such, in one therapy session, the electrodes may have to be manually moved a number of times so as to treat different muscles/nerves. Moreover, in many cases, each time the electrodes are moved, the stimulator has to be reprogrammed because the treatment time for various muscles/nerves varies. Known stimulators with more than one channel are still not flexible enough for many applications because the treatment time for each channel is not individually programmable. Instead, it is only the total time that the unit is generating signals that is programmable.
For facial muscle toning, the disadvantages of prior neuro-muscular stimulators is particularly apparent. For facial muscle toning, a large number of electrodes of small diameter is desired. Moreover, the length of time that a given electrode pair should be active can vary considerably from one electrode pair position to another electrode pair position for a single patient as well as from patient to patient. Therefore, one therapy prescription is not suitable for all patients.

Neuro-muscular stimulattor channel sequencer


This invention prepares two control voltage to be input to a VCO circuit. The first control voltage is used to continuously change the oscillation frequency of the VCO circuit. The second control voltage is used to continuously change the first control voltage/oscillation frequency characteristics. The invention also includes a phase detecting circuit for comparing the phase of the data read from a disk with that of the output from the voltage-controlled oscillator, a frequency detecting circuit for comparing the frequency of the data read from the disk with that of the output from the voltage-controlled oscillator, a first filter circuit for equalizing signals representing the detection results obtained by the phase detecting circuit and the frequency detecting circuit, and a second filter circuit for extracting only a low-frequency component from the output from the first filter circuit. The output from the first filter circuit is used as the first control voltage. The output from the second filter circuit is used as the second control voltage. The second control voltage is changed to always keep the first control voltage at a predetermined voltage.

The present invention relates to a high-performance active wide-range PLL device used for an optical disk reproducing apparatus or the like such as a CD (Compact Disk) or CD-ROM driving system.
At present, in the field of acoustic equipment, a digital recording/reproducing system (disk reproducing apparatus) is known, which converts an audio signal into a digital signal by a PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) technique, and recording/reproducing this signal on/ from a recording medium such as a disk or a magnetic tape so as to perform a high-density, high-fidelity recording/reproducing operation. CDs have been used most widely. A CD is a disk having a diameter of 12 cm on which bit strings corresponding to digital data are formed, and from which the bit strings are optically read. Such a disk reproducing apparatus is designed to move an optical pickup element incorporating a semiconductor laser or a photoelectric conversion element from the inner periphery side to the outer periphery side in the manner of linear tracking, end rotate a CD at a constant linear velocity (CLV) sc as to read data recorded on the CD.
A CD-ROM driving system is a typical disk reproducing apparatus. The CD-ROM driving system is an apparatus for reproducing an audio signal and ROM data such as image information and a character code which are recorded together on a disk. The audio signal is reproduced at a normal reproduction speed (single speed) to output a sound. In contrast to this, the ROM data is reproduced at the double speed or higher to read the data as fast as possible. When the disk having such an audio signal and ROM data recorded together thereon is to be played, the reproduction speeds must be frequently switched (e.g., from the single speed to the double speed, and vice versa).
A CD system was originally an audio reproducing system, and hence was rotated at the single speed. However, ever since the CD system was used as a CD-ROM driving system, the drawback of this system has been the low transfer rate as compared with general computer storage media. Furthermore, in consideration of the reproduction processing of current large-capacity moving image data, it is important to increase the transfer rate. Recently, quadruple-speed reproducing apparatuses have been taken for granted, and the reproduction speed has increased from the quadruple speed to the sextuple speed and the octuple speed; there is no end to speed competition.
In general, however, the disk specifications of a CD are determined on the basis of the single speed, and constant linear velocity recording (CLV recording) is performed. For this reason, the number of revolutions of the disk differs at the inner and outer peripheries. In the single speed mode, the inner periphery of the disk rotates at 8 Hz; and the outer periphery, at 3 Hz. In the double speed mode, the inner periphery rotates at 16 Hz; and the outer periphery, at 6 Hz. In the octuple speed mode, the inner periphery rotates at 64 Hz; and the outer periphery, at 24 Hz. That is, the disk must be rotated at very high speeds. In addition, an expensive, high-performance motor with a larger torque is required for a seek operation because this number of revolutions must be corrected within a short period of time.
Recently, however, as the rotational speed of a disk has approached its limit, a driving apparatus designed to perform CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) control to rotate a disk at a constant angular velocity has been developed. In this system, the number of revolutions of the disk motor need not be changed. In the CAV system, however, the transmission rate of data varies. For example, when the disk is rotated such that the data transfer rate at the inner periphery becomes the quadruple spewed, the transfer rate at the outer periphery becomes 25 times that at the outer periphery at the same number of revolutions. In addition, in the CAV system, a mechanical part such as an FG (Frequency Generator) serving as a circuit for generating pulses in accordance with the number of revolutions of the motor is required to rotate the motor at a constant speed. In addition, since the reproduction speed (data transfer rate) changes from the inner periphery to the outer periphery, the frequency range in which the PLL can be locked must be expanded. Furthermore, CAV control must be switched to CLV control to reproduce normal musical sounds.
As described above, in the case of CAV control, the data transfer rate at the outer periphery becomes twice or more that at the inner periphery. In addition, since data are sequentially recorded on most dicks from the inner periphery to the outer periphery, data tracks concentrate on the inner periphery side of the disk. For this reason, in the case of CAV control, the system often operates at low transfer rates, resulting in disadvantages.
If, however, data can be read by rotating a disk at a constant angular velocity (CAV), the motor required to rotate the disk need not have a very large capacity. In addition, since rotation variations need not be corrected even in a seek time, the system can operate at higher speeds. In order to realize a data read operation by rotating the disk under CAV control, the variable width of the VCO circuit in the disk driving system may be increased. When a disk on which data is recorded at a constant linear velocity is rotated at a constant angular velocity, the data rate of signals extracted from the inner periphery differs from that of signals extracted from the outer periphery by 2.5 times. That is, the transfer rate at the outer periphery is 2.5 times higher than that at the inner periphery. In order to read this data, therefore, the capture range of the VCO circuit must be expanded. In other words, the oscillation range of the VCO circuit must be expanded.
To increase the variable width of the VCO circuit if to increase the conversion gain of the VCO circuit and the gain of the PLL. In general, as the gain of the PLL increases, the response speed of the PLL in a closed state increases to follow a slight change in input signal with time. As a result, the jitter in a sync clock CK deteriorates, and the error rate of data increases. The variable width of the VCO circuit must be increased to shorten the seek time. However, this increase is not preferable in consideration of the reliability (the error rate of data) of the CD-ROM driving system. In the normal reproduction state, a variable width of several % is sufficient for the oscillation frequency at each lock position of the PLL. Assume that the disk is rotating at a perfectly constraint angular velocity. In this case, in order to absorb variations in data rate in a seek operation, very wide variable widths of xe2x88x9260% and +260% are respectively required when the seek operation is performed from the outer periphery to the inner periphery, and from the inner periphery to the outer periphery. For this reason, the condition for this normal reproduction mode contradicts the condition for the optimal seek time in the high-speed reproduction mode; it is very difficult to satisfy both the conditions.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an active wide-range PLL device, a phase lock loop method, and an optical disk reproducing apparatus using the PLL device, which can satisfy both the condition for the normal reproduction mode and the condition for the optimal seek time in the high-speed reproduction mode.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an active wide-range PLL device comprising: a voltage-controlled oscillator which continuously changes an oscillation frequency in accordance with a first control voltage, and continuously changes first control voltage/oscillation frequency characteristics in accordance with a second control voltage; a phase detecting circuit for comparing a phase of data read from a disk with a phase of an output from the voltage-controlled oscillator; a frequency detecting circuit for comparing a frequency of the data read from the disk with a frequency of the output from the voltage-controlled oscillator; a first filter circuit for equalizing signals representing the detection results obtained by the phase detecting circuit and the frequency detecting circuit; and a second filter circuit for extracting only a low-frequency component from an output-from the first filter, wherein the output from the first filter circuit is input to the first control voltage, and an output from the second filter circuit is input to the second control voltage to change the second control voltage to always keep the first control voltage at a predetermined voltage.
According to the present invention, there is provided a phase lock loop method comprising: the step of causing first filter means to equalize detection results obtained by phase detecting means and frequency detecting means, the phase detecting means comparing a phase of data read from a disk with a phase of an output from a voltage-controlled oscillator which continuously changes an oscillation frequency in accordance with a first control voltage, and continuously changes first control voltage/oscillation frequency characteristics in accordance with a second control voltage, and the frequency detecting means comparing a frequency of data from the phase detecting means with a frequency of an output from the voltage-controlled oscillator; the step of extracting only a low-frequency component from an output from the first filter means by using second filter means; and the step of inputting an output from the first filter means to the first control voltage, and inputting an output from the second filter means to the second control voltage, thereby changing the second control voltage to always keep the first control voltage at a predetermined voltage.
According to the present invention, there is provided a disk reproducing apparatus having a PLL device in which two control voltages to be input to a VCO circuit are prepared, one control voltage is input to one input voltage to perform conventional control, and the other control voltage which changes gradually to follow changes in data rate is input to the other input terminal, thereby satisfying both the conditions required for the VCO circuit in the normal reproduction mode and the seek mode.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Disk reproducing apparatus having active wide-range PLL device


A handheld power tool has a tool holder, which is received displaceably in a housing and is drivable via a drive unit that can be switched on and off upon an axial adjusting motion of the tool holder. A lighting unit on the handheld power tool can be switched on and/or off via the adjusting motion of the tool holder.

The invention relates to a handheld power tool, in particular to a power drill or power screwdriver, such as a battery-operated screwdriver.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,990, a battery-operated screwdriver is described, which includes a tool holder, received displaceably in a housing, for receiving a tool; the tool holder is driven by an electric drive motor. The battery-operated screwdriver is provided with a push-start mechanism, which enables automatic starting of the drive motor as soon as the tool in the tool holder is placed with pressure on the screw to be screwed in or unscrewed and the tool holder has been displaced axially backward some distance into the housing, whereupon a switching mechanism is actuated that switches on the electric motor. A radially projecting actuating element is axially displaced by the tool holder and pressed against a microswitch by way of which the electric motor is to be switched on and off; with the aid of a spring element, the tool holder is displaced backward to its original position as soon as the screwdriver is moved away from the screw. The actuating element, which is acted upon by the tool holder and switches the microswitch on and off, is located in the housing of the power tool on the axial face end of the tool holder and is pressed by the spring element against the face end of the tool holder.
Furthermore, from German Patent Disclosure DE 10 2004 051 913 A1, a battery-operated screwdriver is known, whose tool holder is located axially fixedly in the housing and is driven by the rotor shaft of an electric drive motor. On the housing of the battery-operated screwdriver, there is a switch key for switching the drive motor on and off; the switch key can assume various switching positions, in which different current circuits of different current consumers are switched on and off. Via one of these current circuits, workplace lighting can be activated; depending on the position of the switch key, the workplace lighting can be activated either by itself or jointly with the motor rotation.

Handheld power tool, in particular a power drill or screwdriver


An oil burner control system is disclosed in which recycling between a loss of combustion to re-establishment of combustion is limited by counting the number of times recycling occurs and causing a the system to stop recycling and go to lockout after the count reaches a predetermined value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil burners and more particularly to an oil burner system that will prevent or reduce problems such as soot accumulation due to unlimited recycling under inadequate combustion conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In our co-pending patent application entitled xe2x80x9cPump Purge for Oil Primaryxe2x80x9d, Ser. No. 09/621,257 filed and Jul. 21, 2000 assigned to the assignee of the present invention, an oil burner system which provides hardware and software that allows the system to be quickly primed or purged when necessary without entering a number of unwanted lockouts is described and claimed. In the normal operation of that system, after xe2x80x9cPower Onxe2x80x9d occurs and various checks are made, an xe2x80x9cIdle Statexe2x80x9d is entered where the system awaits a xe2x80x9ccall for heatxe2x80x9d from a thermostat. When this arrives, a controller starts the ignition process, the flame is established and the system goes to a normal xe2x80x9cRun Statexe2x80x9d in which the furnace supplies heat until the call for heat from the thermostat disappears. Sometimes in the normal Run State, the flame can go out before the call for heat from the thermostat ends. This is usually caused by a transitory condition such as an air bubble in the fuel line. When the flame in the burner goes out after having been established and before the thermostat stops calling for heat, the system goes into a xe2x80x9cRecycle Statexe2x80x9d which, after a delay (recycle time), the system reverts to the Idle State where it receives the continued call for heat from the thermostat and the controller starts the ignition process and again initiates a flame. The system then returns to its normal Run State. Unfortunately, the condition causing the flame out may not have disappeared; for example when the system does not support combustion after the igniter turns off. When this occurs, the flame will again extinguish putting the system back in the Recycle State again and an endless cycle to the Run State, the Recycle State, the Idle State etc. may occur. This endless recycling is often due to a poor combustion situation and thus excessive soot may develop, excessive wear on components may result, and other damage may occur.
The present invention overcomes the above problems by providing a recycle limit on the number of times that the system can recycle during a predetermined period.
This is accomplished with a recycle timer and logic for the microprocessor in the Primary Control so that the oil burner is restricted to going through the recycle mode a predetermined number of times (for example three), unless the call for heat is satisfied or power is removed. If the system enters the Recycle State more than the predetermined number of times it will go into a xe2x80x9cLockout Statexe2x80x9d that requires manual intervention to reset the control.


An oilfield material reservoir is disclosed. The oilfield material reservoir has a body, the body having an upper end, a lower end, a sidewall extending between the upper and lower ends, the sidewall defining a recess within the body, an opening defined by the upper end, and a first orifice defined by the lower end. The oilfield material reservoir is also provided with a metering gate connected to the body at the lower end. The metering gate has a base having a second orifice aligned with the first orifice, and a knife gate connected to the base. The second orifice has a substantially trapezoidal shape. The knife gate is configured to slidably cover the second orifice. A method is also disclosed for controlling a discharge rate of oilfield material within the oilfield material reservoir by adjusting a metering open area of the second orifice according to mathematical modeling equations.

The statements made herein merely provide information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art, and may describe some embodiments illustrating the invention.
In hydraulic fracturing, fracturing fluid is injected into a wellbore, penetrating a subterranean formation and forcing the fracturing fluid at pressure to crack and fracture the strata or rock. Proppant is placed in the fracturing fluid and thereby placed within the fracture to form a proppant pack to prevent the fracture from closing when pressure is released, providing improved flow of recoverable fluids, i.e., oil, gas, or water. The success of a hydraulic fracturing treatment is related to the fracture conductivity which is the ability of fluids to flow from the formation through the proppant pack. In other words, the proppant pack or matrix may have a high permeability relative to the formation for fluid to flow with low resistance to the wellbore. Permeability of the proppant matrix may be increased through distribution of proppant and non-proppant materials within the fracture to increase porosity within the fracture.
Some approaches to hydraulic fracture conductivity have constructed proppant clusters in the fracture, as opposed to constructing a continuous proppant pack. These methods may alternate the stages of proppant-laden and proppant-free fracturing fluids to create proppant clusters in the fracture and open channels between them for formation fluids to flow. Thus, the fracturing treatments result in a heterogeneous proppant placement (HPP) and a "room and pillar" configuration in the fracture, rather than a homogeneous proppant placement and consolidated proppant pack. The amount of proppant deposited in the fracture during each HPP stage is modulated by varying fluid transport characteristics, such as viscosity and elasticity; the proppant densities, diameters, and concentrations; and the fracturing fluid injection rate.
Proppant placement techniques based on the fracture geometry have been developed for use during traditional proppant pack operations. However, proppant placement in HPP is considerably more challenging and the art is still in search of ways to improve the proppant placement techniques in HPP operations.
Prior to injection of the fracturing fluid, the proppant and other components of the fracturing fluid may be blended. The current state of technology for enabling existing blending equipment for performing HPP and slickwater fracturing operations relies on the use of automatic proppant concentration control based on proppant metering gate percentage opening in a gravity-fed system. Automatic proppant concentration control based on densitometer feedback is the most commonly used mode for proppant metering in conventional fracturing work, but cannot be used in certain applications due to excessively slow densitometer response times. Additionally, current gate designs in existing blending equipment generally have irregular metering orifice geometries with respect to gate percentage opening that do not allow highly accurate and consistent proppant flow control. A means for achieving consistent, well-behaved proppant metering due to consistent, well-behaved metering orifice geometry for optimal performance is desirable.
Many proppant addition systems use one or more augers to supply proppant or a mixture of proppant and fluids, such as slickwater, gels, or hydrocarbons. In these systems, the proppant may be delivered to the fracturing fluid, pumps, or mixer from an oilfield material reservoir, commonly called a proppant hopper or receiver. The auger meters the proppant volumes and rates into a fluid stream or mixer. The auger may meter the proppant by calculating the known amount of proppant an auger may move at a given auger speed in revolutions per minute (rpm). The density of fracturing fluid including the proppant therefore may be determined, in auger systems, based on the rpm at which the auger is operating in combination with the density of the fracturing fluid determined prior to the addition of the proppant. Auger systems may require a larger area in order to accommodate an auger capable of providing a sufficient volume of proppant to the mixer or the fluid stream.
An alternative to the auger fed proppant addition systems is the use of a gravity fed proppant addition system. Gravity fed proppant addition systems may transfer proppant via gravity free fall to a mixer in order to be added to fracturing fluid. Metering the proppant volume in a gravity fed system may be calculated by determining the flow rate of the proppant through an orifice of a known size, often called a metering gate, when the proppant is in gravity free fall through the orifice. Gravity fed systems may also employ the use of pressurization to aid in transferring proppants into the fluid stream or mixer. Pressurization methods in gravity fed systems may include pressurizing the proppant container subject to the gravity feed or utilizing a venturi effect where a smaller diameter pipe is connected to a larger diameter pipe to draw the proppant from the proppant container into the mixer or fluid stream. Gravity fed systems may require a smaller area, as they may not employ an auger.
Gravity fed proppant addition systems may use automatic proppant concentration control based on the orifice of a known size. Blending equipment has been adapted for slickwater fracturing jobs by use of automatic proppant concentration control based on the metering gate percentage opening in the gravity fed proppant addition system. This automatic proppant concentration control may be called Auto-Concentration in Gate Percentage Mode. Automatic proppant concentration control may be based on densitometer feedback; however, densitometer feedback may not be an effective control mechanism for slickwater applications due to the inability of densitometers to differentiate between the density of low proppant concentration slurries common to slickwater fracturing and the density of the base fluid carrier itself.


A sodium peroxide production method and process layout design integrated with sodium extraction unit from sea water, salt lake, and sodium production by electrolysis, and integrated with exothermic reactor based power generation unit with a stepwise and batch wise method of producing sodium peroxide from 115° C. to 450° C. under oxygen and nitrogen gas mixture isolated from atmospheric conditions and humidity. A sodium peroxide production facility is designed to have modular process units which is installed as an independent facility or connected to another chemical plant or refinery. A sodium peroxide production facility having reduced dependency to pure sodium and offering flexible installation location including oil platforms and ships. A sodium peroxide production method from sea water, brine or sodium salt.

Sodium peroxide is a main pure chemical source compound for widely used chemicals like sodium hydroxides. Since alternative methods and sources have been discovered for producing sodium hydroxide, sodium peroxide production has been declined to supply only particular industrial purposes. Sodium peroxide was a solid fuel for rockets and no longer in use. Another previous application is the production of oxygen in submarines and for scuba diving which than lithium peroxide is replaced with.
Regarding my non-provisional patent application for exothermic reactor based thermal cycle (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14,622,827) which is designed for power generation by using exothermically reactant products in order to produce overheated steam and/or gas to be supplied to turbine systems, one of the said exothermically reactant for exothermic reactors; which is then called as "exothermic fuel"; is selected as sodium peroxide. Regarding my provisional application (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 61/940,832) for exothermic fuel, large scale of sodium peroxide is needed to be produced systematically. The said exothermic fuel, herein sodium peroxide, is needed to be produced under standard methods in order to be served as universally standard product.
Regarding my provisional application (U.S. No. 61/940,832), sodium peroxide may be used as an alternative fuel in marine and power generation.
Former sodium peroxide production methods were based on supply of pure sodium to the plant. As being the sodium was widely used in leaded gasoline fuels until 21st century and its usage is now in decline in other parts of the world, sodium production is also very limited to produce large scale amount of sodium peroxide to be used as a worldwide scale fuel production.
The object of the invention is to enable producing sodium peroxide from sea water and brine and from byproducts of sodium peroxide exothermic reaction products coming from the exothermic reactors like oxygen gas and sodium hydroxide aqueous solution with water.
The object of the invention is to enable the installation of a least pure sodium source dependent sodium peroxide production facility.
The object of the invention is to enable production of sodium peroxide in a more cost effective way by benefiting the best practices from the industry and previously known methods.


An incremental patch is generated as a set of delta files or sector-specific patches, intended to be applied incrementally to an old binary image. Each sector-sized patch takes into account changes to the binary image made by previous patches in the series, such that cyclic dependencies are eliminated. The sector-sized patches are generated by applying a binary difference algorithm to the then-current partially patched image, until each sector has a corresponding delta file. The order for patching sectors may be determined by selecting sectors for patching based on first overwriting those sectors making the least contribution of data to generation of the new binary image.

A common practice in the computer software industry is to update binary code by way of a patch. Application of a patch to existing binary code results in updated binary code. In its simplest form, a patch is a set of commands for creating the updated binary code using the existing binary code. For example, the patch may include a set of copy and insert commands. A copy command includes a reference to a section of the existing binary code that matches a section of the updated binary code. The copy command is useful when a portion of the updated binary code can be obtained from the existing binary code. An insert command provides data to be inserted in the updated binary code. The insert command is used to create portions of the updated binary code that cannot be found in the existing binary code.
In practice, the "copy" command in a patch rarely involves copying an exact portion of the existing binary code for inclusion in the updated binary code. Usually, the "copied" portion of the existing binary code is similar, but not exactly the same, as the desired portion of updated binary code. Accordingly, the patch may also include an associated difference file. The copy command is used to indicate that a portion of the updated binary code is similar to the existing binary code, and the associated difference file contains the byte-wise differences. Each copy command may specify an offset in the existing binary code and a length. The specified portion of the existing binary code is read and added to the same number of bytes from the associated difference file to create the desired portion of the updated binary code.
The conventional method of patching a binary image is to create a backup of the old image, generate a new image by applying the patch to the old image, and then overwrite the old image with the newly generated image once it has been completed. This approach requires a substantial amount of free memory space, which may not be available In memory-scarce environments, such as mobile electronic devices.
One option for conserving memory space is to apply the patch incrementally to the existing binary image in memory, overwriting portions of the image as the patch executes. This option can produce viable patches but the incremental overwriting of the old portions of the image can result in a patch that must inject (rather than copy) substantial portions of the new image. Because the patch is implemented incrementally, the old image is incrementally overwritten, meaning that old sections of the image are not available for copying into the new image. The reduced amount of data available for copying may result in a larger patch.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system for generating an incremental patch that improves the amount of reuse of data that will be available during the patching process. It would also be advantageous to provide a method and device for incrementally patching a binary image.
Similar reference numerals may have been used in different figures to denote similar components.

Method and system for incremental patching of binary files


A binary ink developer (BID) for a liquid electro-photography (LEP) printing device includes a sponge roller to absorb unused ink. The BID includes a squeezer roller to release the unused ink absorbed by the sponge roller for reuse. The squeezer roller releases the unused ink absorbed by the sponge roller by compressing the sponge roller. Compression of the sponge roller results in ink foam. The BID includes a mechanism having a wall, and a housing that together with the wall of the mechanism defines a passageway between the housing and the wall. The passageway is exposed externally to the BID. The BID includes one or more suction cavities defined within the wall of the mechanism through which the ink foam moves back from the passageway.

An electro-photography (EP) printing device forms an image on media typically by first selectively charging a photoconductive drum in correspondence with the image. Colorant is applied to the photoconductive drum where the drum has been charged, and then this colorant is transferred to the media to form the image on the media. Traditionally, the most common type of EP printing device has been the laser printer, which is a dry EP (DEP) printing device that employs toner as the colorant in question. More recently, liquid EP (LEP) printing devices have become popular.
An LEP printing device employs ink, instead of toner, as the colorant that is applied to the photoconductive drum where the drum has been charged. An LEP printing device typically includes a binary ink developer (BID) that applies the ink to the photoconductive drum where the drum has been charged. Any ink that is not applied to the photoconductive drum may be recycled for reuse. However, the ink recycling process can result in undesired ink foam to be generated. Left unchecked, the ink foam can migrate outside of the BID, causing image quality issues and other problems.

Liquid electro-photography printing device binary ink developer having suction cavities

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.