An insulin analogue comprises an insulin A-chain polypeptide and an insulin B-chain polypeptide. The A-chain polypeptide contains a Glu substitution at a position corresponding to position A8, and an Ala, Glu, Gln, His, Tyr, Phe or Trp substitution at a position A13, relative to wild type insulin. The B-chain polypeptide contains a cyclohexanylalanine substitution at position B24, relative to wild type insulin. The analogue may be an analogue of a mammalian insulin, such as human insulin. A nucleic acid encoding such an insulin analogue is also provided. A method of lowering the blood sugar of a patient comprises administering a physiologically effective amount of the insulin analogue or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof to a patient.

This invention relates to polypeptide hormone analogues that exhibits enhanced pharmaceutical properties, such as target-organ specificity. More particularly, this invention relates to insulin analogues that are modified by the incorporation of non-standard amino acids. Even more particularly, this invention relates to insulin analogues additionally containing one or more amino-acid substitutions in its "Site-2 receptor-binding surface." Such insulin analogues may optionally contain standard amino-acid substitutions at other sites in the A or B chains of an insulin analogue.
Administration of insulin has long been established as a treatment for diabetes mellitus. Insulin is a small globular protein that plays a central role in metabolism in vertebrates. Insulin contains two chains, an A chain, containing 21 residues, and a B chain containing 30 residues. The hormone is stored in the pancreatic β-cell as a Zn2+-stabilized hexamer, but functions as a Zn2+-free monomer in the bloodstream. Insulin is the product of a single-chain precursor, proinsulin, in which a connecting region (35 residues) links the C-terminal residue of B chain (residue B30) to the N-terminal residue of the A chain (FIG. 1A). Although the structure of proinsulin has not been determined, a variety of evidence indicates that it consists of an insulin-like core and disordered connecting peptide (FIG. 1B). Formation of three specific disulfide bridges (A6-A11, A7-B7, and A20-B19; FIGS. 1A and 1B) is thought to be coupled to oxidative folding of proinsulin in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Proinsulin assembles to form soluble Zn2+-coordinated hexamers shortly after export from ER to the Golgi apparatus. Endoproteolytic digestion and conversion to insulin occurs in immature secretory granules followed by morphological condensation. Crystalline arrays of zinc insulin hexamers within mature storage granules have been visualized by electron microscopy (EM). The sequence of insulin is shown in schematic form in FIG. 1C. Individual residues are indicated by the identity of the amino acid (typically using a standard three-letter code), the chain and sequence position (typically as a superscript).
Aromatic side chains in insulin, as in globular proteins in general, may engage in a variety of hydrophobic and weakly polar interactions, involving not only neighboring aromatic rings but also other sources of positive- or negative electrostatic potential. Examples include main-chain carbonyl- and amide groups in peptide bonds. Hydrophobic packing of aromatic side chains can occur within the core of proteins and at non-polar interfaces between proteins. Such aromatic side chains can be conserved among vertebrate proteins, reflecting their key contributions to structure or function. An example of a natural aromatic amino acid is phenylalanine. Its aromatic ring system contains six carbons arranged as a planar hexagon. Aromaticity is a collective property of the binding arrangement among these six carbons, leading to π electronic orbitals above and below the plane of the ring. These faces exhibit a partial negative electrostatic potential whereas the edge of the ring, containing five C—H moieties, exhibits a partial positive electrostatic potential. This asymmetric distribution of partial charges gives rise to a quadrapole electrostatic moment and may participate in weakly polar interactions with other formal or partial charges in a protein. An additional characteristic feature of an aromatic side chains is its volume. Determinants of this volume include the topographic contours of its five C—H moieties at the edges of the planar ring. Substitution of an aromatic ring system by a corresponding aliphatic ring system would increase side-chain volume with loss of planarity and gain of one additional hydrogen atom at each carbon site (e.g., substitution of each C—H element with trigonal hybridization by CH2 with tetrahedral hybridization).
An example of a conserved aromatic residue in a therapeutic protein is provided by phenylalanine at position B24 of the B chain of insulin (designated PheB24). This is one of three phenylalanine residues in insulin (positions B1, B24, and B25). A structurally similar tyrosine is at position B26. The structural environment of PheB24 in an insulin monomer is shown in a ribbon model (FIG. 1D) and in a space-filling model (FIG. 1E). Conserved among vertebrate insulins and insulin-like growth factors, the aromatic ring of PheB24 packs against (but not within) the hydrophobic core to stabilize the super-secondary structure of the B-chain. PheB24 lies at the classical receptor-binding surface and has been proposed to direct a change in conformation on receptor binding.
It is known in the art that modifications or substitutions within the classical receptor-binding surface of insulin may impair the in vitro affinity of the hormone for its receptor by up to ca. fivefold (e.g., from a dissociation constant of 0.05 nM to a dissociation constant of 0.25 nM) without significant effect on in vivo potency as assessment by the ability of the variant insulin, when injected subcutaneously or intravenously, to cause a reduction in blood glucose concentration. Such robustness is, at least in part, attributed to a compensating relationship between affinity and rate of clearance of the hormone from the bloodstream. Because binding to the IR mediates both insulin action and, to a large extent, insulin clearance, a reduction in affinity leads to a proportionate increase in the circulatory half-life and hence opportunity to effect biological signaling. Examples of such compensation have been disclosed in relation to insulin analogues in which the Phenylalanine at position B24 is substituted by Cyclohexanylalanine (Cha), disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,487,572 and 9,725,493 the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. The non-planar aliphatic ring of Cha at position B24 (illustrated in FIG. 8) impairs receptor-binding affinity by ca. threefold but has no effect on the potency or pharmacodynamics properties of KP-insulin as tested in diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats (FIG. 3A). Additional examples have been provided by modified by fluoro-aromatic and chloro-aromatic substitutions at position B24 as illustrated in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B; (in relation to the wild-type dimer interface) and as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,079,975; 8,921,313; 9,200,053; 9,079,975; and International Application No. PCT/US2012/62423, which are incorporated by reference herein. Modification of PheB24 in insulin Lispro ([LysB28, ProB29]-insulin, also designated KP-insulin (the active component of Humalog®); Eli Lilly and Co.) by a single chloro-substitution at the ortho position of the aromatic ring (2-Cl-PheB24) thus impairs the biochemical affinity of the variant hormone for the isolated IR in vitro by ca. threefold without change in its in vivo potency as assessed in Sprague-Dawley rats rendered diabetic by streptozotocin or as assessed in anesthetized non-diabetic adolescent Yorkshire pigs in which endogenous insulin secretion was suppressed by intravenous octreotide (data not shown). Even more dramatically, whereas a derivative of [AspB10, LysB28, ProB29]-insulin (DKP-insulin) containing 2-F-PheB24 (ortho-monofluoro-phenylalalanine at position B24) exhibits a similar decrement in receptor-binding affinity (ca. 35(±5)% relative to KP-insulin), its potency and duration of signaling are enhanced in diabetic Sprague-Dawley rats (FIG. 9B) as disclosed in in U.S. Pat. No. 8,921,313 (which is incorporated by reference herein). It would be expected, therefore, that modifications or substitutions generally in the insulin molecule that introduce moderate perturbations to IR binding as evaluated in vitro would be well tolerated in vivo and be indistinguishable from wild-type insulin with respect to potency or (in the absence of effects on self-assembly) other pharmacological properties—or even more potent and prolonged as in the case of the 2-F-PheB24-DKP-insulin. It was therefore unexpected to discover that substitutions or modifications within Site 2 can markedly foreshorten the duration of insulin action in vivo (an alteration of pharmacodynamics) despite conferring perturbations to the biochemical affinity of the variant insulin for the IR of less than fivefold. Although side chains at positions B13, B17, A12, A13, and A17 are not thought to be engaged at the primary hormone-binding surface of the insulin receptor, alanine scanning mutagenesis has shown that single Alanine substitutions at Site-2-related positions affect relative receptor-binding affinities as follows: (position B13) 12(±3)%, (B17) 62(±14)%, (A12) 108(±28)%, (A13) 30(±7)%, and (A17) 56(±20)%.
The engineering of non-standard proteins, including therapeutic agents and vaccines, may have broad medical and societal benefits. Naturally occurring proteins—as encoded in the genomes of human beings, other mammals, vertebrate organisms, invertebrate organisms, or eukaryotic cells in general—often contain two or more functional surfaces. A benefit of protein analogues would be to achieve selective modification of one or the other of these functional surfaces, such as to provide fine-tuning of biological activity. An example of a therapeutic protein is provided by insulin. The three-dimensional structure of wild-type insulin has been well characterized as a zinc hexamer, as a zinc-free dimer, and as an isolated monomer in solution (FIGS. 5A, 5B and 6). Wild-type human insulin and insulin molecules encoded in the genomes of other mammals bind to insulin receptors (IRs), each of which containing multiple domains and associated domain surfaces. The IR is a dimer of αβ half-receptors (designated (αβ)2) wherein the α chain and β chain are the post-translational products of a single precursor polypeptide. The hormone-binding surfaces of the (αβ)2 dimer has been classified as Site 1 and Site 2 in relation to the non-linear binding and kinetic properties of the receptor. This binding scheme is shown in schematic form in FIG. 7. Recent advances in structural and biochemical analysis of fragments of the IR ectodomain have shown that Site 1 consists of a trans-binding element formed by both a subunits in the (αβ)2 dimer: the N-terminal L1 domain of one subunit and the C-terminal α-helix (αCT) of the other (Whittaker J, Whittaker L J, Roberts C T Jr, Phillips N B, Ismail-Beigi F, Lawrence M C, and Weiss M A. α-Helical element at the hormone-binding surface of the insulin receptor functions as a signaling element to activate its tyrosine kinase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 109, 1116-71 (2012)). The location of Site 2 is not well characterized but is proposed to comprise parts of the first and second fibronectin-homology domains.
Presumptive Site 2-related residues may be defined either based on kinetic effects of mutations or based on positions that are extrinsic to site 1 wherein mutations nonetheless impair binding. These criteria highlight the potential importance of non-classical residues A12, A13, A17, B13 and B17. Respective Site-1-related and Site-2-related surfaces are shown in relation to the surface of an insulin monomer in FIG. 8. Whereas substitutions known in the art to accelerate the absorption of insulin from a subcutaneous depot are ordinarily within and adjacent to the Site-1-binding surface of the hormone (such as at residues B24, B28 or B29), we envisaged that modification of the Site-2-binding surface could modulate the cellular duration of signaling by the hormone-receptor complex once engaged at the surface of a target cell or tissue. Although not wishing to be restricted by theory, we further envisioned that such foreshortening of the cellular duration of signaling would confer "fast-off" pharmacokinetic properties to a rapid-acting insulin analogue ("fast-on") whose disassembly in the subcutaneous depot had been accelerated by substitutions within or adjacent to the Site-1-binding surface as known in the art (see FIG. 9 for rationale). Thus, such a novel combination of Site-1/Site-2-related substitutions would together confer the desirable combination of fast-on/fast-off pharmacokinetic properties of novel utility in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
The present invention pertains to the use of a particular class of non-standard amino acids—an aliphatic ring system as exemplified by Cyclohexanylalanine (Cha)—to modify and improve distinct properties of insulin. During the past decade, specific chemical modifications to the insulin molecule have been described that selectively modify one or another particular property of the protein to facilitate an application of interest. Whereas at the beginning of the recombinant DNA era (1980) wild-type human insulin was envisaged as being optimal for use in diverse therapeutic contexts, the broad clinical use of insulin analogues in the past decade suggests that a suite of non-standard analogs, each tailored to address a specific unmet need, would provide significant medical and societal benefits. Substitution of one natural amino acid at a specific position in a protein by another natural amino acid is well known in the art and is herein designated a standard substitution. Non-standard substitutions in insulin offer the prospect of accelerated absorption without worsening of the resistance to degradation.
Protein engineering and the mechanism of insulin absorption. The major structural interface of the insulin hexamer is provided by an anti-parallel β-sheet at the dimerization surface. The component β-strands comprise residues B24-B28 and dimer-related residues B24′-B28′; this segment has the amino-acid sequence FFYTP. The core of the β-sheet is provided by the three aromatic side chains PheB24, PheB25, and TyrB26, which in the active insulin monomer also contact the insulin receptor. Substitutions known in the art to provide rapid-acting and active insulin analogues occur at positions B28 (ProB28 in wild-type insulin) and flanking site B29 (LysB29 in wild-type insulin). Standard amino-acid substitutions at core sites B24, B25, and B26 have not been employed in past design of insulin analogues intended for the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus since such substitutions, as known in the art, typically impair biological activity. Substitution of PheB24 by Tyr, for example, impairs activity by more than twentyfold despite its seemingly conservative character. The importance of these invariant aromatic residues has been highlighted by the finding of genetic (germ-line) mutations at positions B24 and B25 that cause diabetes mellitus in human patients.
While not wishing to condition patentability on theory, it is believed that prolonged residence time for insulin in the insulin-insulin receptor complex is associated with enhanced risk of carcinogenesis. It is further believed that the mitogenic effect is more closely associated with the A-isoform of the insulin receptor (IR-A) than the B-isoform (IR-B). It is further believed that a change in relative affinity of an insulin analogue for IR-A and IR-B could affect target organ specificity.
There is a need, therefore for an insulin analogue that exhibits altered properties with respect to target-organ specificity. There is a further need for an insulin analogue with decreased hepatic insulin signaling, for example for patients with fatty liver syndrome.


A portable electronic device includes a housing and battery. The housing is formed with a battery-receiving compartment that has positive and negative electrodes. The battery is mounted in the battery-receiving compartment, and includes: a casing having positive and negative electrodes that are electrically and respectively connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the housing; a power storage unit having positive and negative electrodes that are electrically and respectively connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the casing; a switch having one end electrically coupled to one of the electrodes of the power storage unit; and a light-emitting element having two ends coupled respectively with another end of the switch and the other electrode of the power storage unit. The power storage unit is controllable through the switch for supplying power to the light-emitting element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a portable electronic device, more particularly to a portable electronic device having a battery provided with lighting functionality.
2. Description of the Related Art
During a power outage, it often proves difficult to find a flashlight or other emergency light source. Such inconvenience not only disrupts activities dependent on electric lighting, but also poses a safety concern, since poor visibility resulting from the power outage can lead to accidental injury. Clearly, a light source provided by an object frequently at hand, such as a notebook computer, would be more convenient and reduce risk of injury during the power outage.

Portable electronic device and battery with lighting functionality


An electronic package and method includes a substrate including a plurality of pads on a major surface. An electronic component including a plurality of pads on a major surface facing the major surface of the substrate. A stud bump electrically couples one of the plurality of pads of the substrate to one of the plurality of pads of the electronic component.

Electronic assemblies, such as electronic chips, can include various electronic components electrically coupled to one another. For instance, a package may include a system on a chip and a memory chip all electrically coupled to a package substrate. Various techniques, such as wirebonding, have been used for the electrical connections.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electronic package with stud bump electrical connections


A method for selecting a network interface card (NIC) to be used to send and receive data packets in an Internetwork Protocol Exchange (IPX) environment using a server computer system having a plurality of NICs coupled thereto. An outgoing data packet is addressed using an IPX address and a socket number. A load balancing scheme is executed in order to select a NIC from the plurality of NICs. In one embodiment, the load balancing scheme is a function of the IPX address; in alternate embodiments, the load balancing scheme is a function of the IPX address and either the destination or source socket number. The media access control (MAC) address that represents the selected NIC is inserted in the outgoing data packet. The data packet is then sent using the selected NIC. In one embodiment, the present invention also provides a system and method for fault tolerance and fail over support. The plurality of NICs each include a filter that is adapted to mask a portion of a MAC address in an incoming data packet received at a NIC such that the MAC address in the incoming data packet is equivalent to the MAC address representing the NIC.

The present invention relates to the field of computer system networks. In particular, the present invention pertains to a software-based module for augmenting a server computer system to perform network interface card load balancing and fail over support for fault tolerance.
Computer systems linked to each other in a network are commonly used in businesses and other organizations. Computer system networks (xe2x80x9cnetworksxe2x80x9d) provide a number of benefits for the user, such as increased productivity, flexibility, and convenience as well as resource sharing and allocation.
Networks are configured in different ways depending on implementation-specific details such as the hardware used and the physical location of the equipment, and also depending on the particular objectives of the network. In general, networks include one or more server computer systems, each communicatively coupled to numerous client computer systems.
One common type of network configuration includes a number of virtual local area networks (VLANs). VLANs provide numerous advantages, a primary advantage being that the client computer systems associated with a particular server computer system do not need to all be in the same physical location.
In contemporary networks, server computer systems are typically coupled to the network using more than one network interface card (NIC). Multiple NICs increase the total available bandwidth capacity for transmitting and sending data packets. Multiple NICs also provide resiliency and redundancy if one of the NICs fails. In the case of a failure of a NIC, one of the other NICs is used to handle the traffic previously handled by the failed NIC, thereby increasing overall system reliability. Accordingly, it is necessary to be able to detect when a NIC fails and, when a failed NIC is detected, to switch to a functioning NIC (this is referred to as fault tolerance and fail over support).
In addition, it is desirable to balance the traffic over each NIC when multiple NICs are used so that one NIC doesn""t handle too much traffic and become a bottleneck (this is referred to as load balancing). The use of load balancing allows the spare capacity provided by the multiple NICs to be effectively utilized. It is not necessary to hold a NIC in reserve in case one of the NICs fails; instead, all NICs can be used, thereby increasing the overall performance of the server computer system and hence the network.
Prior Art FIG. 1 is an illustration of exemplary network 50 including two VLANs. In network 50, client computer system 140 (e.g., a workstation) is in one VLAN, and client computer systems 141, 142 and 143 are in a second VLAN. Both VLANs are serviced by server computer system 160. A data packet sent by server computer system 160 contains address information that is used to identify the particular client computer system(s) to which the data packet is to be sent. In addition, the data packet is tagged with a VLAN identifier that identifies the destination VLAN. The methods for addressing a data packet in a network comprising multiple VLANs are well known in the art; one method is defined by the IEEE 802.1Q standard.
Switches 150 and 151 are able to read the VLAN identifier and the other address information contained in the data packet and direct the data packet accordingly. Thus, switch 150 reads the VLAN identifier and will direct the data packet to client computer system 140 if appropriate. Otherwise, the data packet proceeds to switch 151, which directs the data packet to the proper client computer system (e.g., client computer systems 141, 142 or 143) depending on the address information contained in the data packet.
One prior art technique for load balancing and fault tolerance with fail over support utilizes a switch-dependent protocol implemented using server computer system 160 and switches 150 and 151. This prior art technique also requires NICs that are specifically designed for compatibility with switches 150 and 151 and the switch-dependent protocol. This prior art technique is problematic because it requires that the switch be designed with the capability to implement the load balancing and fault tolerance schemes. Thus, the complexity and the cost of the switch are substantially increased. Even so, the capabilities of the switch are relatively limited, and so the schemes for providing load balancing and fault tolerance are also limited.
With regard to load balancing, other prior art techniques attempt to address the drawbacks identified above by implementing software-based load balancing methods implemented on a server computer system. The prior art load balancing methods used in these techniques are based on either a round-robin approach or an approach using the media access control (MAC) address that is associated with each NIC (a unique MAC address is assigned to each NIC by the vendor of the NIC).
In a round-robin load balancing approach, a first data packet is sent out using a first NIC, a second data packet with a second NIC, and so on; when all NICs have been used to send out a data packet, the sequence returns to the first NIC and the cycle is continuously repeated. However, the round-robin load balancing approach is problematic because multiple data packets are typically associated with a given session or transaction between a server computer system and a client computer system. Thus, multiple NICs may be used for a single transaction involving multiple data packets. Consequently, the data packets for that transaction often reach the client computer system out of order. Some computer system protocols are not able to properly handle out-of-order data packets and so the data packets have to be retransmitted until they are received by the client computer system in the proper order. Thus, the round-robin load balancing approach causes a high incidence of retransmissions that increase the time needed to complete a transaction and reduce the overall performance of the computer system network.
In the MAC-based load balancing approach, the selected NIC is chosen by applying some type of procedure that aligns a NIC with a particular MAC address so that, in essence, a data packet bound for the particular MAC address is always sent out over the same NIC. While this addresses the problem of out-of-order data packets associated with the round-robin load balancing approach, the MAC-based approach introduces additional problems. For instance, all client computer systems lying across a particular router will be assigned to the same NIC because the client computer systems all contain the same MAC address (the MAC address for the router); hence, if traffic across this router is normally heavy relative to other routers, the load over the associated NIC will not be balanced relative to other NICs. In addition, the MAC-based load balancing approach is based on the distribution of MAC addresses across the client computer systems, and because the MAC addresses may not be evenly distributed (e.g., one router may serve more client computer systems than another router), the load across the NICs will not be evenly balanced. Also, the bandwidth available to the client computer system is limited by the bandwidth of the NIC that the client computer system is associated with by the MAC address; for example, by virtue of its MAC address, a client computer system with a one gigabit/second NIC may be affiliated with a 100 megabits/second NIC, and consequently the bandwidth of the client computer system is limited to 100 megabits/second.
With regard to fault tolerance and fail over support, a problem exists in the prior art when certain protocols, such as Internet Protocol Exchange (IPX), are used to address outgoing data packets. With IPX, when a data packet is transmitted from a server computer system over a particular NIC, the response from the client computer system is automatically returned via the same NIC. Thus, if the NIC used for the outgoing data packet fails, the client computer system needs to respond to a different NIC.
However, the prior art is problematic because a mechanism is typically not in place for informing the client computer system of the failed NIC. Even if such a mechanism is present, the client computer system may send a data packet before it is informed of the failed NIC.
In addition, with IPX, if the address in the data packet does not correspond to the proper NIC address, then the data packet is dropped (e.g., not delivered to the server computer system). Therefore, the prior art is also problematic because a return data packet sent to a functioning NIC will be dropped if the address does not correspond to the proper NIC address. For example, a client computer system addresses a data packet with a particular NIC address and the data packet is transmitted; however, in the interim the addressed NIC fails, and so the data packet is routed to a different NIC. With IPX, because the NIC address in the data packet does not correspond to the NIC to which the data packet was routed, the data packet is dropped.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for load balancing and fault tolerance wherein the system and method are not limited by the capabilities of a switch. A need further exists for a system and method that satisfy the above needs and do not cause data packets to be transmitted or received out of order and also overcome the shortcomings associated with a MAC-based load balancing approach described above. In addition, a need exists for a system and method that satisfy the above needs and provide fault tolerance and fail over support for the IPX protocol.
The present invention provides a system and method for fault tolerance and for load balancing traffic across network interface cards (NICs) wherein the system and method are not limited by the capabilities of a switch. Furthermore, the present invention provides a system and method that satisfy the above needs and do not cause data packets to be transmitted or received out of order and also overcome the shortcomings associated with a MAC-based approach; namely, the present invention does not assign the same NIC to all traffic across a router, balances the load more evenly across all NICs, and does not unnecessarily limit the bandwidth available to a client computer system. In addition, the present invention provides a system and method that satisfy the above needs and provide fault tolerance and fail over support for the Internetwork Protocol Exchange (IPX) protocol.
Specifically, in one embodiment, the present invention pertains to a system and method implemented on a server computer system having a plurality of NICs coupled thereto, wherein the system and method are used to select a NIC for sending an outgoing data packet from the server computer system. The outgoing data packet is addressed using an IPX address and a socket number. A load balancing scheme is executed in order to select a NIC from the plurality of NICs. The media access control (MAC) address that represents the selected NIC is inserted in the outgoing data packet. The data packet is then sent using the selected NIC.
In one embodiment, the load balancing scheme is a function of the IPX address. In that embodiment, the load balancing scheme is defined by:
SelectedNIC=IPXAddress MOD NumberNICs;
wherein xe2x80x9cSelectedNICxe2x80x9d is the selected NIC, xe2x80x9cIPXAddressxe2x80x9d is the IPX address of the outgoing data packet, and xe2x80x9cNumberNICsxe2x80x9d is the number of NICs coupled to the server computer system.
In alternate embodiments, the load balancing scheme is a function of the IP address and either the destination or source port number. In these embodiments, the load balancing scheme is defined by:
SelectedNIC=(IPXAddressXOR DestIPXSocket)MOD NumberNICs; or
SelectedNIC=(IPXAddressXOR SourceIPXSocket)MOD NumberNICs; or
SelectedNIC=(IPXAddressXOR SourceIPXSocket XOR DestIPXSocket)MOD NumberNICs;
wherein xe2x80x9cSelectedNICxe2x80x9d is the selected NIC, xe2x80x9cIPXAddressxe2x80x9d is the IPX address of the outgoing data packet, xe2x80x9cSourceIPXSocketxe2x80x9d is the socket number for a source socket of the outgoing data packet, xe2x80x9cDestIPXSocketxe2x80x9d is the socket number for a destination socket of the outgoing data packet, and xe2x80x9cNumberNICsxe2x80x9d is the number of NICs coupled to the server computer system.
In one embodiment, the present invention also provides a system and method for fault tolerance and fail over support. The plurality of NICs of the server computer system each include a filter that is adapted to mask a portion of a MAC address in an incoming data packet received at a NIC such that the MAC address in the incoming data packet is equivalent to the MAC address representing the NIC.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after having read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are illustrated in the various drawing figures.

High performance load balancing and fail over support of internet protocol exchange traffic over multiple network interface cards


A system for receiving multipath signals is disclosed. The system includes an equalizer that includes an input for a received data signal, wherein the received data comprises a first multipath component and a second multipath component. The equalizer further includes a channel impulse response estimator coupled to the input configured to determine one or more channel impulse response (CIR) estimates for the first multipath component and the second multipath component. The equalizer further includes a statistical estimation module coupled to the channel impulse response estimator configured to estimate a state of the first multipath component and the second multipath component based on the one or more channel impulse response estimates. The equalizer further includes a detector coupled to the statistical estimation module configured to detect data from the received data signal based on an estimated future state of the first multipath component and the second multipath component.

Radio signal transmissions often become dispersed into multiple signals that arrive at a receiver at different times. For example, a radio signal may be split into a non-impeded beam, and a beam that bounced off of an RF reflective surface, with the reflected beam arriving at the receive at a later time that the non-impeded beam. In another example, an originating node may send an RF signal to two different relay nodes, resulting in the signal being received by a receiving node at different times based on the differences in distance of each relay node to the originating node and the receiving node. These multipath signals require specialized receiver equipment, such as equalizers, to demodulate the signal and resolve the original message.
Most modern high-performance equalizers break down the demodulation of a multipath signal through two mechanisms, where a channel impulse (CIR) estimate is first determined, then, based the CIR estimate, the data symbols from the signal are determined. For determining a CIR estimate in a fading multipath channel, the usual approach is to derive CIR estimates from the received signal, either from known signal components in the transmission such as probe or pilot symbols (e.g., within a decision block), or from detected symbols, or a combination of both approaches. Equalization approaches that incorporate time-varying CIRs into the detection have been developed where estimates of CIR before and after a data segment are developed and the CIR is modelled as changing smoothly from the prior CIR to the subsequent CIR.
When a multipath transmission originates from a single source, a frequency offset can usually be reduced to a low level by globally correcting the received signal for an estimated frequency offset. In some cases, when propagation results in time dispersion, accompanied by differing frequency offsets for the multipath components, a global frequency offset correction may still result in substantial residual frequency offsets for discrete multipath components. This is even more likely to be problematic with transmit diversity approaches like Avalanche relay, where the artificially created multipath components arise from separate relay transmitters, each of which may have different frequency offsets from individual Doppler or clock offsets.
An approach that may be used when constructing the mathematical model for incorporating time-variability of the CIR in the detection process is to initially assume that the taps of the impulse response vary linearly from an initial estimate to a final estimate. That is, anywhere that a channel estimate is used, it is constructed by incorporating values from the initial and final channel impulse response estimates in inverse proportion to their distance (e.g., in samples) from the location of the estimate. However, this method does not perform well when there is a substantial residual frequency offset component that is variable depending on the multipath delay, which may occur under relay conditions. Accordingly, there is a need for a more accurate method for determining the CIR estimate for these problematic diversity approaches than current methods.

Method for improving detection in multipath channels


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device is described. A substrate having a memory cell region and a high voltage circuit region are provided. First and second source/drain regions are formed in the substrate within these two regions. A silicon oxide layer, a first conductive layer and a top layer are sequentially formed over the substrate. A floating gate is defined in the memory cell region and the top layer and the first conductive layer of the high voltage circuit region are removed. The exposed silicon oxide layer is thickened. Thereafter, the top layer is removed and then a barrier layer is formed on the exposed surface of the floating gate. A second conductor layer is formed over the substrate, and then a gate is defined in the high voltage circuit region and a control gate is defined in the memory cell region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating an integrated circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a fabricating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of the special circuit design, non-volatile memory allows multiple data writing, reading and erasing operations and the stored data will be retained even after power to the device is removed. Furthermore, with the advantages of occupying a small volume, having a high access speed and consuming very little power, non-volatile memories have great demands in the market. The single-layered polysilicon one-time programmable device is presently the only conventional non-volatile memory that can integrate with high voltage devices in the same process. Because the single-layered polysilicon one-time programmable device has a structural design similar to a high-voltage device, processing integration is easier and mostly adopted by manufacturers. Yet, the single-layered polysilicon one-time programmable device has a low tolerance and the number of reuses of the device is not to exceed several tens. Obviously, this is a severe restriction on its widespread adoption.
Although most conventional electrically erasable programmable read-only-memory (EEPROM) can be accessed a large number of times, the memory cell needs to have at least two polysilicon layers, one serving as a floating gate layer while the other serving as a control gate. Since two polysilicon layers are required to form the memory cell in the EEPROM, the difference in height between the memory cell and the high-voltage devices in other circuit region is normally big. Hence, integrating the process of fabricating memory devices and high-voltage devices is difficult. Even when it is necessary to fabricate memories and high-voltage devices within the same chip, extra photomasks are often required resulting in more complicated steps, longer fabricating cycles and higher production cost.

Semiconductor device and fabricating method thereof


A method of manufacturing a flexible device includes joining a first surface of a support substrate to a back surface of a flexible substrate, the first surface being opposite to a second surface of the support substrate; forming an element layer on a front surface of the flexible substrate; and performing multidirectional oblique irradiation of an interface and its vicinity between the support substrate and the flexible substrate with laser light from the second surface of the support substrate to detach the support substrate from the flexible substrate.

The disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing a flexible device having a flexible substrate and an apparatus for manufacturing such a flexible device.
Various flexible devices have been proposed, in which different element layers are formed on a flexible substrate such as a plastic substrate or a resin substrate. One example of such flexible devices is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-125930.

Method of manufacturing flexible device using multidirectional oblique irradiation of an interface between a support substrate and a flexible substrate


A fuel dispensing spout for use in a fuel dispensing nozzle is provided. The fuel dispensing spout includes an inner cylindrical member and a concentric outer cylindrical member. The inner and outer cylindrical members are joined by a series of ribs which divide the space between the inner and outer members into a plurality of longitudinally and continually extending subchannels. Some of the subchannels are utilized for vapor recovery during operation of the spout, while one of the subchannels is utilized in detecting pressure increases in captured air contained therein as fuel dispensation takes place. The inside passageway defined by the inner cylindrical member is used for carrying fuel that is to be dispensed.

The present invention relates to a fuel dispensing nozzle, and more particularly, to an improved fuel dispensing spout for use in a fuel dispensing and vapor recovery nozzle that is suitable for dispensing fuel, sensing when the fuel tank is full and recovering fuel vapors.
There are numerous different types of spouts for fuel dispensing and vapor recovery nozzles which are utilized throughout the gasoline industry. Typically, a conventional fuel dispensing spout includes a channel or conduit for carrying fuel such as gasoline that is being dispensed. In order to recover fuel vapors and prevent them from escaping into the atmosphere, the nozzle itself typically includes bellows or some other type of channels. Such vapors propagate through the bellows or channels and are returned to the main fuel storage container.
A second channel may be provided in the spout in order to sense increases in the fuel level as the automobile tank fills towards capacity. A shut-off mechanism is activated in order to prevent fuel from being dispensed into the automobile tank. When the fuel level rises above the input port of the channel in the spout, a pressure differential is created across a diaphragm, causing a trigger mechanism to de-couple.
While most prior art spouts have proven somewhat satisfactory, they have disadvantages in that they are difficult and cumbersome to manufacture. Typically, the spouts are manufactured in separate pieces and require complex manipulations in order to fit the pieces together, seal the pieces correctly in order to avoid leaks, and assure proper sizing. Because of these drawbacks, the cost of manufacturing is increased and the reliability of the spout and nozzle in use is less than desired.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a fuel dispensing spout construction which overcomes the above disadvantages and which may be manufactured from a single extrusion of metal or other material.


A direction-recognizing apparatus has a photographing unit, an image database, an image-recognizing unit, and a direction-recognizing unit. The database stores registered images and direction-data items associated with the registered images. The image-recognizing unit receives an input image and compares the input image with the registered images stored in the database. The image-recognizing unit selects one registered image that is identical or similar to the input image. The direction-recognizing unit recognizes a direction from the direction data associated with the registered image selected by the image-recognizing unit. The database may store N direction-data items associated with N surface segments SN of the circumferential surface of a pole. If so, the images registered in the database represent direction-recognition regions ASN that are larger than the N surface segments SN.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direction-recognizing apparatus and a direction-recognizing method, in which a direction-indicating member recognizes a direction from an image input to it. The invention relates to a direction-recognizing system, too, which comprises a direction-indicating member and a direction-recognizing apparatus. The invention also relates to a robot apparatus that has a direction-recognizing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any apparatus that is electrically or magnetically drive to move like a man (animal) is called "robot." It is in 1960s that robots came into wide use. Most of them were industrial robots such as manipulators and transportation robots, which are designed to achieve automation or to save labor.
Recently, so-called "service robots" have been developed. They are designed to act as living partners to people, assisting and supporting people in social life and daily life. Unlike industrial robots, service robots are able to learn how to respond to the human friends who differ in personality, in various ways in accordance with the specific conditions in which the human partners are living. Of the service robots hitherto developed, so-called "pet-type robots" that look and act like a four-legged animal (e.g., dog or cat) and so-called "humanoid robots" that look, walk and act like man have been put to practical use.
Unlike industrial robots, pet-type robots and humanoid robots can act to entertain their human friends. This is why they are called "entertainment robots" in some cases. Some entertainment robots have various sensors such as a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) camera, a microphone and the like. They recognize the conditions of their environment by using the sensors and autonomously act in accordance with the environmental conditions they have recognized.
The entertainment robot is designed to perform various intelligent activities. For example, the robot recognizes the user's face, finds and avoids an obstacle, and finds and approaches an object. Some entertainment robots can identify its own position from the images that the camera has acquired and which show landmarks or the like. A position-detecting apparatus that enables a robot to recognize its position is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open Publication No. 10-109290. This position-detecting apparatus determines the position of the robot from the positional relation between three landmarks (e.g., three balls of different colors) placed in the region where the robot may walk around.
This method needs a plurality of landmarks in order to detect the position of the robot. In addition, the positional relation between the landmarks must be recognized to determine the position of the robot. If one landmark, for example, cannot be found, it is no longer possible to detect the position of the robot correctly. Since all landmarks must be recognized, it inevitably takes a long time to detect the position of the robot. Further, it is necessary to place a plurality of landmarks in the region in which the robot may walk. In view of this, the position-detecting method is not fit for use in entertainment robots.

Direction-recognizing apparatus, direction-recognizing method, direction-recognizing system, and robot apparatus


A photosensitive resin composition for optical waveguide formation, comprising:                (A) a di(meth)acrylate having the structure represented by the following general formula (1):

Because the multimedia époque has created a demand for increased volume and speed of information processing in optical communication systems and computers, transmission systems using light as a transmission medium have been finding application in public communication networks, LAN (local area networks), FA (factory automation), interconnectors between computers, household internal wiring, and the like. Among the elements constituting the transmission systems, optical waveguides are the basic structural elements, for example, in optical devices for realizing high-volume information transmission of movies and dynamic images, optical computers, optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEIC), and optical integrated circuits (optical IC). Optical waveguides have been actively studied because of a large demand for them. Especially, high-performance and low-cost products are especially required.
Quartz optical waveguides and polymer optical waveguides are known as optical waveguides.
Among them, quartz optical waveguides have an advantage of a low transmission loss. However, quartz optical waveguides have disadvantages of causing process-related problems which include a high temperature required in the processing of the manufacturing step, and difficulties encountered in the production of optical waveguides having large surface areas.
Further, the advantages of polymer optical waveguides include easiness of processing and a large degree of freedom in material design. For this reason, the use of polymer materials such as poly(methyl methacrylate), polycarbonate and the like have been studied. However, polymer optical waveguides usually have poor heat resistance. For this reason, fluorinated polyimides that have excellent heat resistance and transmission loss have been widely researched in recent years.
However, when polymer materials are used, it takes a lot of time to produce polymer optical waveguides, because dry etching is required for forming core portions of polymer optical waveguides as required similarly in the production of quarts optical waveguides.
Under these circumstances, photocurable materials such as epoxy UV-curable resins having photolithographic capability, and optical waveguides using such photocurable materials have been recently suggested (for example, see claim 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (JP-A) No. H6-273631).
As described above, the problems associated with the conventional polymer optical waveguides are that the waveguide loss in the region of a wavelength of 650-1600 nm is comparatively high, heat resistance is poor, and some of the characteristics required for the optical waveguides are unsatisfactory.
In order to resolve these problems, chemical treatment methods of the polymer such as fluorination or deuteration substitution have been studied. When such chemical treatment methods are used, adhesion to the substrate degrades, and long-term reliability deteriorates. Also, when the chemically treated polymer is used for the core portion, the refractive index may not be increased to the desired level.

Photosensitive resin composition for optical waveguide formation and optical waveguide

Abstract: (wherein R1 is —(OCH2CH2)m—, —(OCH(CH3)CH2)m—, or —OCH2CH(OH)CH2—; X is —C(CH3)2—, —CH2—, —O—, or —SO2—; Y is a hydrogen atom or a halogen atom; m is an integer of 0 to 4);                (B) a mono(meth)acrylate having the structure represented by the following general formula (2):

Abstract: (wherein R2 is —(OCH2CH2)p—, —(OCH(CH3)CH2)p—, or —OCH2CH(OH)CH2—; Y is a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, Ph-C(CH3)2—, Ph-, or an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms; p is an integer of 0 to 4; Ph is a phenyl group); and                (C) a photoradical polymerization initiator. The composition has excellent patterning ability, refractive index, heat resistance, and transmission characteristic.


A method of generating a composite signal in the form of a QPSK signal on which an additional carrier signal is superposed, wherein a carrier signal is conducted through two series connected, switchable phase shifters. One of the phase shifters is controlled by one of two data signals. Both data signals are logically linked with one another by a logic circuit, and the resulting linkage signal used to control the other phase shifter. The phase states into which each phase shifter can be switched are selected and the linkage signal formed from the data signals such that, with the available values of the data signals, the carrier signal passing through the phase shifters is brought into the phase positions that should exist with the additional carrier signal superposed.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a quaternary phase shift keyed (QPSK) signal on which an additional carrier signal is superposed. The carrier signal superposed on the QPSK signal may, for example, have the function of a beacon signal which is utilized for antenna follow-up at the receiving end of a data transmission path.

Method and circuit arrangement for producing a QPSK signal on which a carrier signal is superposed


A method in a user equipment (140) for assisting a first radio network node (110) in selection of one or more mobility parameters, a method in the first radio network node (110) for selecting one or more mobility parameters and a user equipment (140) and a first radio network node (110) configured to perform the methods are provided. The user equipment (140) sends (C001) an indication of a second part of a first operating frequency band to the first radio network node (110). The first radio network node (110) selects (C004) said one or more mobility parameters based on the received indication of the second part of the first operating frequency band. The user equipment (140) receives (C005) and applies (C006) said one or more mobility parameters from the first radio network node (110).

Usage of radio spectrum, or spectrum for short, is regulated independently within different countries, or regions. An authority regulating spectrum usage in a certain region may be referred to as a regulator. Radio communication systems, such as cellular telecommunication systems, are developed and designed for different spectrum ranges, or operating bands. An operating band may be referred to as an operating frequency band.
An operating frequency band supports a specific duplex mode of operation. The possible duplex modes are frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD) and half duplex FDD (HD-FDD). In FDD mode of operation, which is used in Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Networks (UTRAN) FDD and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Networks (E-UTRAN) FDD, the uplink and downlink transmission take place on different carrier frequencies. Reference is made to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TS 25.101, "User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (FDD)", 3GPP TS 25.104, "Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception (FDD)", and 3GPP TS 36.101, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception" and 3GPP TS 36.104, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception". Therefore, in FDD mode both uplink and downlink transmission can occur simultaneously in time. The carrier frequencies used in the uplink and the downlink are referred to as pass band for uplink and downlink, respectively. The minimum distance in frequency between the uplink and downlink pass bands is referred to as a duplex gap. The distance in frequency between the uplink and downlink carrier frequencies is referred to transmit-receive (TX-RX) frequency separation for the radio transmitter. The TX-RX frequency separation can be fixed, aka default, or variable. In the latter case the TX-RX frequency separation is configurable by the network.
On the other hand in TDD mode, which is used in UTRAN TDD and E-UTRAN TDD, the uplink and downlink transmission take place on the same carrier frequency channel but in different time slots or sub-frames. Reference is made to 3GPP TS 36.101, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception", 3GPP TS 36.104, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception" and 3GPP TS 05.05, "Radio Transmission and Reception".
HD-FDD, which is used in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), can be regarded as a hybrid scheme where the uplink and downlink are transmitted on different carrier frequencies and are also transmitted on different time slots. Reference is made to 3GPP TS 05.05, "Radio Transmission and Reception". This means uplink and downlink transmission do not occur simultaneously in time.
Returning to spectrum usage, one of the objectives of standardizing spectrum usage is to develop an operating band which can, preferably, be used globally. A global operating band leads to several advantages in terms of global roaming, reduced cost of the products due to the economy of scale, simplicity in building products/devices since the same, or at least at limited number of, platforms/devices can be reused globally or regionally etc. For each platform, a lot of research and development is required. Thus, a large number of platforms increase cost. However, certain region specific and even operator specific frequency bands are unavoidable due to the fact that the spectrum availability for mobile services may be fragmented in different countries and even within a country. The mobile services are typically operated by the cellular telecommunication systems. Furthermore, the regulators in each country independently allocate the frequency band in accordance with the available spectrum.
The spectrum below 1 GHz, might be scarce or fragmented due to higher demand by other competing technologies due to its favorable propagation characteristics. The assigned spectrum is eventually standardized in 3GPP in terms of frequency bands so that vendors can develop products, such as base stations and user equipments. Expressed differently, the standardized frequency band is written into 3GPP specifications. Hence, there may be a frequency band that is completely allocated in one region while a different region just allocates part of it. For example, Band 5 is widely used. However, only a sub-band of it is used in Region B, which is called Band 19. Band 5 and band 19 are known from 3GPP terminology. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating a frequency arrangement for band 5 and band 19. The numbers at the ends of each rectangle indicate frequency in MHz and the arrows in each rectangle indicate uplink for an arrow pointing upwards, and downlink for an arrow pointing downwards. The meaning of the arrows applies to FIG. 2 below as well.
One more example of a scarce or fragmented spectrum portion is that of the frequency allocation in the range of 700 MHz, i.e. 700-799 MHz. In the range of 700 MHz, there is potential for a new frequency band Asia Pacific region (APAC). Related to this new frequency band, it is desired to harmonize the use of a band in the range of 798-806 MHz. This band has previously been used mainly for TV broadcasting. The regulatory work is managed by APT (Asia Pacific Telecommunity) Wireless Group (AWG). Since the agreements made in the AWG are not legally binding for member states of the AWG, each individual country may still implement their own band arrangement.
One arrangement for the band is to use 703-748 MHz in uplink and 758-803 MHz in downlink when using FDD. There is also a TDD allocation for the band covering 698-806 MHz.
APAC is a large region and therefore it is difficult to have the same spectrum allocation in all countries in the region. Thus, in some countries it is expected that the allocation may be a subset of the full band of 798-806 MHz, and in some countries it is expected that the allocation may be the full spectrum of 798-806 MHz. For example, some region (e.g. region B) may allocate only parts of the band for communication according to International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). As an example, the uplink may be placed in 715-750 MHz and the downlink in 770-805 MHz in region B. FIG. 2 shows another block diagram illustrating the frequency arrangements relating to the 700 MHz band for AWG, say region A, and region B.
An operating frequency band comprises a number of carrier frequencies. The carrier frequencies in a frequency band are enumerated. The enumeration is standardized such that the combination of the frequency band and the carrier frequency can be determined by a unique number called absolute radio frequency number.
In GSM, UTRAN and E-UTRAN the channel numbers are called Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (ARFCN), UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (UARFCN) and E-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN) respectively.
In FDD systems separate channel numbers are specified for UL and DL. In TDD there is only one channel number since the same frequency is used in both directions.
The channel numbers (e.g. EARFCN) for each band are unique to distinguish between different bands. The channel number for each band can be derived from the expressions and mapping tables defined in the relevant specifications, such as 3GPP TS 25.101, "User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception (FDD)", 3GPP TS 25.104, "Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception (FDD)", 3GPP TS 36.101, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception", 3GPP TS 36.104, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception", 3GPP TS 05.05, "Radio Transmission and Reception". Based on the signaled channel numbers (e.g. EARFCN in E-UTRAN) and the pre-defined parameters associated with each band the UE can determine the actual carrier frequency in MHz and the corresponding frequency band. This is explained by the following example.
For example the relation between the EARFCN and the carrier frequency (FDL) in MHz for the downlink is pre-defined by the following equation in:FDL=FDL_low+0.1(NDL−NOffs-DL)
Reference is made to 3GPP TS 36.101, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception" and 3GPP TS 36.104, "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRAN); Base station (BS) radio transmission and reception".
Where FDL_low and NOffs-DL are pre-defined values for each band and NDL is the downlink EARFCN.
Consider E-UTRA band 5, whose EARFNC range (NDL) as pre-defined in the specifications above lies between 2400-2649. The pre-defined values of FDL_low and NOffs-DL are 869 and 2400 respectively. Assume the network signals downlink EARFCN to be 2500. Using the above expression the UE can determine that the downlink carrier frequency of the channel is 879 MHz. Furthermore, as stated above that the pre-defined EARFNC range being unique for each band, hence the UE can determine the frequency band corresponding to the signaled EARFNC. An expression to derive the E-UTRA FDD uplink carrier frequency, which is similar to that of the downlink carrier frequency, is also pre-defined. In E-UTRA FDD both fixed transmit-receive frequency separation (i.e. fixed duplex) and variable transmit-receive frequency separation (i.e. variable duplex) are supported. If fixed transmit-receive frequency separation is used by the network then the network does not have to signal the uplink EARFCN since the UE can determine the UL carrier frequency from the downlink carrier frequency and the pre-defined duplex gap. In an event the variable duplex is employed by the network for a certain band then both DL and UL EARFCN have to be signaled.
In the following, the use of channel number indication for mobility is explained.
In order to simplify the frequency search, or the so-called initial cell search, a center frequency of a radio channel is specified to be an integral multiple of a well defined, generally fixed, number, called channel raster. This enables UE to tune its local oscillator only at one of the raster points assuming it to be the center frequency of the channel being searched.
The channel raster in UTRAN FDD is 200 KHz but for certain channels and bands it is also 100 KHz. In E-UTRAN FDD and TDD, the channel raster for all channels and bands is 100 KHz. The channel raster directly impacts the channel numbering, which is described in the next section.
For the initial cell search or more specifically for the initial carrier frequency search the UE has to search at all possible raster frequencies e.g. with 100 KHz resolution in E-UTRAN frequency band. However for the UEs camped on or connected to the cell, the network signals the absolute radio frequency channel number(s) for performing measurements, mobility decisions such as cell reselection or commanding handover to certain cell belonging to certain frequency channel of the same or of different Radio Access Technology (RAT) etc.
Hence, the UE after camping on a cell in idle mode or when connected to a cell in connected mode can acquire the cell specific or UE specific system information, which contains information such as frequency band number (frequency band indicator), absolute radio frequency channel number(s) etc. More specifically in LTE the band number and the ARFCN (e.g. UL EARFNC in LTE) is signaled to the UE over the relevant system information blocks (SIB). For example in LTE the band number and the EARFCN of the cell are signaled to the UE over SIB1 and SIB2 respectively.
The SIB1 uses a fixed schedule with a periodicity of 80 ms and repetitions made within 80 ms. The first transmission of SIB1 is scheduled in sub-frame #5 of radio frames for which the SFN mod 8=0, and repetitions are scheduled in sub-frame #5 of all other radio frames for which SFN mod 2=0. The SIB1 also contains the scheduling information of the remaining SIBs e.g. SIB2, SIB3 etc. This means SIB2 scheduling information is determined by the UE by acquiring SIB1, which is transmitted with a periodicity of 80 ms. The contents of the SIB1 and SIB2 in LTE are known in the art.
The network can request the UE to perform handover to another frequency or another RAT in the frequency band, which can either be the same or different than the carrier frequency of the serving cell. Therefore, in order to assist the UE to perform the inter-frequency or inter-RAT handover the network signals the frequency channel number of the target carrier frequency in the handover command. For example for the UE in the connected mode the network the eNode B in LTE signals the SIB2 to the UE using the UE specific channel.
The standardization of a frequency band encompasses various aspects including the band numbering, raster, carrier frequency channel numbering, radio requirements for user equipments and base stations, performance requirements for user equipments and base stations, radio resource management (RRM) requirements etc. Some or all of these factors have to be taken into account by a manufacturer of for example user equipments and radio base stations. Examples of radio requirement for user equipments are requirement concerning out of band (OOB) emission, radio frequency (RF) exposure to human and more. As an example, performance requirements for user equipments and base stations may relate to mobility, e.g. mobility procedures, handover, cell reselection or the like.
The design and implementation of a duplexer becomes more difficult depending upon various factors. Notably, if a pass band is wide and if a duplex gap of the band is small, attenuation requirements in stop-band becomes large. The attenuation requirements relates to requirements for OOB, RF exposure and the like. The stop-band defines a frequency range in which reduced, or at least less than some threshold value, transmission from the transmitter is desired. As an example, an attenuation requirement may be a threshold level for OOB. In case of FDD 700 MHz, with full spectrum allocation, the pass band is very wide, i.e. 45 MHz in each direction, and the duplex gap is small. Presently, it is suggested that a user equipment configured for operation in such operating frequency band will use two duplexers. As a result, the attenuation requirements are believed to be fulfilled.
As mentioned above, a frequency band in the range of for example 700 MHz may have full spectrum allocation in certain regions, which herein are referred to as region A. On the other hand in some other regions, the spectrum allocation may be subset of the full band. Such regions are referred to as region B herein. Therefore, an issue is how to handle spectrum allocation in different regions.
To address this issue a first known solution is to define one frequency band based on the largest allocation. This approach simplifies mobility, such as roaming, and ensures the economy of scale, i.e. there is no need for devices designed, or configured, for specific regions. However, due to large allocation in full band, e.g. FDD UL/DL: 2×45 MHz with 10 MHz duplex gap, the user equipment will require two duplex filters to cover the entire band as mentioned above. This will increase the cost for user equipments in regions where it would be sufficient to have single duplexer in the user equipment due to partial allocation of the band. That is, cost of user equipments operating in region B will be unnecessarily high.
Therefore, in order to reduce cost of the user equipment operating mainly in region B, two bands are defined according to a second known solution. A first band band_X covers the entire frequency range, or the full spectrum, and a second band band_Y covers a subset of the full spectrum. Advantageously, cost of user equipments configured for region B may be kept lower since only one duplexer is needed. FIG. 3 shows a further block diagram illustrating another exemplifying frequency arrangement for the first band band_X, applied in region A, and the second band band_Y, applied in region B. In this general example, the first band band_X is an allocation to the full spectrum, or full band, and the second band band_Y is a partial allocation of the full spectrum. In this manner, multiple bands for overlapping frequency regions, or ranges, are defined.
A disadvantage of the second known solution is that a user equipment, supporting only a portion of the band, is not able to operate in a region where the entire band is allocated. Expressed differently, roaming of devices, such as the user equipment, between different regions is hampered.

Method and network nodes in a telecommunication system


In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a subterranean water and air collection and delivery device for facilitating the collection and delivery of air, natural ground water, manually supplied water, and/or pressurized water from an irrigation system to the roots of plants is provided. The device includes a plastic enclosure member including a plurality of apertures and having an interior volume within which water and air is collected and redirected. A porous insert member is located within the interior volume of the plastic enclosure member and substantially occupies the entire volume for facilitating collection and delivery of water and air while substantially preventing surrounding ground material from entering the interior volume of the enclosure member. The enclosure member is buried at a predetermined depth near the roots of the at least one plant such that the apertures throughout the device provide ingress and egress for water and air to and from within the interior volume at various depths for the efficient delivery of the water and air to the roots of the at least one plant and for reducing the potential for non-point source pollution.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to plant irrigation, oxygenation and feeding devices and feeding systems and, more particularly, to a subterranean water collection and delivery device and system for irrigating, oxygenating and feeding plants.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Regardless of whether a tree, bush, or shrub, i.e. plants in general, are planted properly or improperly, a potentially serious problem exists of how such plants receive water and oxygen from above ground level down to their roots where it is needed. Likewise, naturally flowing surface and subsurface ground water often is inhibited from traveling down to various depths where plants' roots have migrated because of varying soil conditions. Immediately after planting, there is less of a problem because the soil surrounding the newly planted plants is loose allowing surface and subsurface ground water and air to freely reach the plants' roots. However, after approximately two weeks, this soil will begin to become compacted and the surface and subsurface ground water and air may be inhibited from traveling freely through the soil to the roots as needed. In the situation where a single plant has been planted, the planter can leave a water hose running for days or weeks in the proximity of the plant and eventually some of the water will reach the roots, but if more than one plant is involved, the watering schedule becomes more critical. For example, a manually placed above ground sprinkler may be left running with a low flow rate for days or weeks. The same is true with commonly employed automatic underground sprinkler systems that water a given area periodically for a predetermined amount of time. However, such water schedules often provide only a fraction of the water necessary for the survival and on going growth of many types of plants. Additionally, in many planting areas where irrigation is not available and the soil conditions do not freely permit the penetration of water to depths commonly associated with the roots of many types of plants, such plants may refuse to grow, may be stunted or wilted, or may die from a lack of needed water and/or nutrients.
Unfortunately, regular surface watering often does not freely penetrate through the ground down to the roots of many plants, and the majority of the water runs past such plants due to soil strata densities. Also, the use of a slow running water hose is a wasteful and risky method of watering plants because running many gallons, sometimes hundreds of gallons, of water in a small area over days will often cause the water to travel in the proximity just below the ground surface on dense soil strata and migrate far away from the plants' deeper roots where it is needed. Surface watering may also enhance the possibility of non-point source pollution which occurs when pollutants are carried away from the plant by water and are deposited into rivers, lakes, coastal waters or ground water.
It is therefore desirable to provide a subterranean water collection and delivery device for efficiently routing natural surface water, naturally flowing subterranean water and nutrients and oxygen to a plant's roots which may extend a distance below ground level where the ground water and air does not freely migrate.
More particularly, it is desirable to provide a subterranean water and air collection and delivery device which is simply buried at a predetermined depth below ground level and in close proximity to the roots of a plant, typically near the drip line, for providing ingress and egress for surrounding ground water and air at various depths where the plant's roots are located.
It is further desirable to provide a subterranean plant root water and air collection and delivery device that delivers water, air and external substances from above ground level and collects and redirects naturally flowing subterranean water and air to a plant's roots and is easily integrated into an underground irrigation system.

Subterranean water collection and delivery device and system


In a method of making a leading edge component for an airfoil device, a first elongate sheet is provided and has a shape substantially conforming to a surface on one of a suction side or a pressure side of an airfoil. A second elongate sheet is provided and has a shape substantially conforming to a surface on the other of the suction side or the pressure side of the airfoil. The elongate sheets can be welded together at least along respective elongate edges thereof, in such a way as to form a leading edge base structure comprising a weld extending the length of the elongate sheets. Material deposits can be provided onto an outer surface of the leading edge base structure in such a way as to substantially cover the weld, whereby the leading edge component is formed.

In the aircraft industry, turbine engine manufacturers have been moving toward composite airfoils (e.g., fan blades) that utilize light-weight, low-cost composite materials. As a result, newly designed engines are becoming more cost-efficient and energy efficient. However, these light-weight composite materials can possess reduced strength as compared to their heavier, more costly metal counterparts, and thus are more vulnerable to impact from bird strikes and other typical hazards encountered during flight and other operation. Furthermore, aircraft engine airfoils (e.g., fan blades) typically involve highly complex, three-dimensional contoured shapes and surfaces, the forms of which must be precisely maintained in order to function properly and most efficiently. Such shapes and surfaces can include intricate twists, cambers, and other curvatures across the various dimensions of the leading edge of the airfoil (e.g., fan blade). These complex shapes make it difficult, time consuming, and costly to produce metal leading edges with conventional manufacturing processes or techniques. Non-metal leading edges, on the other hand, tend to lack adequate strength or durability, and result in undesirable wear, which reduces the performance of the airfoil. For instance, composite fan blades similar to carbon fibers do not perform well under impact conditions, and can suffer great damage as a result of strikes along the leading edge of the blade, e.g., from foreign objects like bird strikes.

Airfoil devices, leading edge components, and methods of making


A poly(ethylene glycol) derivative is disclosed that is activated with a sulfone moiety for selective attachment to thiol moieties on molecules and surfaces. The activated PEG is water soluble, hydrolytically stable for extended periods, and forms hydrolytically stable linkages with thiol moieties. The linkages generally are not reversible in reducing environments. The PEG derivative is useful for modifying the characteristics of substances including modifying biologically active molecules and surfaces for biocompatibility. Methods for synthesizing the active PEG and for preparing conjugates of the active PEG and other substances, including biologically active substances, are also disclosed.

Poly(ethylene glycol) ("PEG") has been studied for use in pharmaceuticals, on artificial implants, and in other applications where biocompatibility is of importance. Various derivatives of poly(ethylene glycol) ("PEG derivatives") have been proposed that have an active moiety for permitting PEG to be attached to pharmaceuticals and implants and to molecules and surfaces generally to modify the physical or chemical characteristics of the molecule or surface.
For example, PEG derivatives have been proposed for coupling PEG to surfaces to control wetting, static buildup, and attachment of other types of molecules to the surface, including proteins or protein residues. More specifically, PEG derivatives have been proposed for attachment to the surfaces of plastic contact lenses to reduce the buildup of proteins and clouding of vision. PEG derivatives have been proposed for attachment to artificial blood vessels to reduce protein buildup and the danger of blockage. PEG derivatives have been proposed for immobilizing proteins on a surface, as in enzymatic catalysis of chemical reactions.
In still further examples, PEG derivatives have been proposed for attachment to molecules, including proteins, for protecting the molecule from chemical attack, to limit adverse side effects of the molecule, or to increase the size of the molecule, thereby potentially to render useful substances that have some medicinal benefit, but are otherwise not useful or are even harmful to a living organism. Small molecules that normally would be excreted through the kidneys are maintained in the blood stream if their size is increased by attaching a biocompatible PEG derivative. Proteins and other substances that create an immune response when injected can be hidden to some degree from the immune system by coupling of a PEG molecule to the protein.
PEG derivatives have also been proposed for affinity partitioning of, for example, enzymes from a cellular mass. In affinity partitioning, the PEG derivative includes a functional group for reversible coupling to an enzyme that is contained within a cellular mass. The PEG and enzyme conjugate is separated from the cellular mass and then the enzyme is separated from the PEG derivative, if desired.
Coupling of PEG derivatives to proteins illustrates some of the problems that have been encountered in attaching PEG to surfaces and molecules. For many surfaces and molecules, the number of sites available for coupling reactions with a PEG derivative is somewhat limited. For example, proteins typically have a limited number and distinct type of reactive sites available for coupling. Even more problematic, some of the reactive sites may be responsible for the protein's biological activity, as when an enzyme catalyzes certain chemical reactions. A PEG derivative that attached to a sufficient number of such sites could adversely affect the activity of the protein.
Reactive sites that form the loci for attachment of PEG derivatives to proteins are dictated by the protein's structure. Proteins, including enzymes, are built of various sequences of alpha-amino acids, which have the general structure H.sub.2 N--CHR--COOH. The alpha amino moiety (H.sub.2 N--) of one amino acid joins to the carboxyl moiety (--COOH) of an adjacent amino acid to form amide linkages, which can be represented as --(NH--CHR--CO).sub.n --, where .sub.n can be hundreds or thousands. The fragment represented by R can contain reactive sites for protein biological activity and for attachment of PEG derivatives.
For example, in lysine, which is an amino acid forming part of the backbone of most proteins, an --NH.sub.2 moiety is present in the epsilon position as well as in the alpha position. The epsilon --NH.sub.2 is free for reaction under conditions of basic pH. Much of the art has been directed to developing PEG derivatives for attachment to the epsilon --NH.sub.2 moiety of the lysine fraction of a protein. These PEG derivatives all have in common that the lysine amino acid fraction of the protein typically is inactivated, which can be a drawback where lysine is important to protein activity.
Zalipsky U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,614 discloses that PEG molecules activated with an oxycarbonyl-N-dicarboximide functional group can be attached under aqueous, basic conditions by a urethane linkage to the amine group of a polypeptide. Activated PEG-N-succinimide carbonate is said to form stable, hydrolysis-resistant urethane linkages with amine groups. The amine group is shown to be more reactive at basic pHs of from about 8.0 to 9.5, and reactivity falls off sharply at lower pH. However, hydrolysis of the uncoupled PEG derivative also increases sharply at pH's of 8.0 to 9.5. Zalipsky avoids the problem of an increase in the rate of reaction of the uncoupled PEG derivative with water by using an excess of PEG derivative to bind to the protein surface. By using an excess, sufficient reactive epsilon amino sites are bound with PEG to modify the protein before the PEG derivative has an opportunity to become hydrolyzed and unreactive.
Zalipsky's method is adequate for attachment of the lysine fraction of a protein to a PEG derivative at one active site on the PEG derivative. However, if the rate of hydrolysis of the PEG derivative is substantial, then it can be problematic to provide attachment at more than one active site on the PEG molecule, since a simple excess does not slow the rate of hydrolysis.
For example, a linear PEG with active sites at each end will attach to a protein at one end, but, if the rate of hydrolysis is significant, will react with water at the other end to become capped with a relatively nonreactive hydroxyl moiety, represented structurally as --OH, rather than forming a "dumbbell" molecular structure with attached proteins or other desirable groups on each end. A similar problem arises if it is desired to couple a molecule to a surface by a PEG linking agent because the PEG is first attached to the surface or couples to the molecule, and the opposite end of the PEG derivative must remain active for a subsequent reaction. If hydrolysis is a problem, then the opposite end typically becomes inactivated.
Also disclosed in Zalipsky U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,614 are several other PEG derivatives from prior patents. PEG-succinoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester is said to form ester linkages that have limited stability in aqueous media, thus indicating an undesirable short half-life for this derivative. PEG-cyanuric chloride is said to exhibit an undesirable toxicity and to be non-specific for reaction with particular functional groups on a protein. The PEG-cyanuric chloride derivative may therefore have undesirable side effects and may reduce protein activity because it attaches to a number of different types of amino acids at various reactive sites. PEG-phenylcarbonate is said to produce toxic hydrophobic phenol residues that have affinity for proteins. PEG activated with carbonyldiimidazole is said to be too slow in reacting with protein functional groups, requiring long reaction times to obtain sufficient modification of the protein.
Still other PEG derivatives have been proposed for attachment to functional groups on amino acids other than the epsilon --NH.sub.2 of lysine. Histidine contains a reactive imino moiety, represented structurally as --N(H)--, but many derivatives that react with epsilon --NH.sub.2 also react with --N(H)--. Cysteine contains a reactive thiol moiety, represented structurally as --SH, but the PEG derivative maleimide that is reactive with this moiety is subject to hydrolysis.
As can be seen from the small sampling above, considerable effort has gone into developing various PEG derivatives for attachment to, in particular, the --NH.sub.2 moiety on the lysine amino acid fraction of various proteins. Many of these derivatives have proven problematic in their synthesis and use. Some form unstable linkages with the protein that are subject to hydrolysis and therefore do not last very long in aqueous environments, such as in the blood stream. Some form more stable linkages, but are subject to hydrolysis before the linkage is formed, which means that the reactive group on the PEG derivative may be inactivated before the protein can be attached. Some are somewhat toxic and are therefore less suitable for use in vivo. Some are too slow to react to be practically useful. Some result in a loss of protein activity by attaching to sites responsible for the protein's activity. Some are not specific in the sites to which they will attach, which can also result in a loss of desirable activity and in a lack of reproducibility of results.

Isolatable, water soluble, and hydrolytically stable active sulfones of poly(ethylene glycol) and related polymers for modification of surfaces and molecules


A prepreg comprising (a) reinforcing fibers and (b) a matrix resin which comprises specific epoxy resin composition, a curing agent with a specific structure and a highly heat resistant thermoplastic resin, the cured product of which has a low water absorption. An interlayer toughened prepreg containing reinforcing fibers and a matrix resin comprising a specific epoxy resin composition, a hardening agent with a specific structure and a highly heat resistant thermoplastic resin is also provided. In addition, a cured product can be obtained by curing any of the above prepregs, which product satisfies both impact resistance (residual compressive strength after impact) and heat and wet property (compressive strength of notched coupon at high temperature and high humidity) at high levels, even though these properties have been in contradictory relation in the conventional techniques.

Polymer based composite materials consisting of reinforcing fibers and a matrix resin are widely used for sporting goods, aerospace, general industries, etc. Fiber reinforced composite materials are produced by various methods, and among the methods, it is widely practiced to use intermediate sheets, in which reinforcing fibers are impregnated with an unhardened matrix resin, as a prepreg. In this method, usually, sheets of a prepreg are laminated and heated, to form a composite material. The matrix resins used for prepregs include both thermosetting resins and thermoplastic resins, and in most cases, thermosetting resins excellent in handling convenience are used. Above all, epoxy resins are used most frequently. Furthermore, maleimide resins, cyanate resins, and their combinations are also often used.
In general, polymer based materials decline in strength and elastic modulus at high temperature and/or high humidity. Therefore, fiber reinforced composite materials using a polymer as a matrix are also likely to decline in physical properties such as strength at high temperature or high humidity. However, the composite materials used as structural materials of airplanes, vehicles, ships, etc. are required to keep physical properties sufficiently even at high temperature and/or high humidity. When a fiber reinforced composite material is used as a structural material, compressive strength is an especially important physical property. The compressive strength can be measured by using a unnotched coupon, notched coupon or cylinder, etc. as a test piece, but in actual use, since the fiber reinforced composite material is often used as a plate with bolt holes, the compressive strength of a notched coupon especially at high temperature and at high humidity is important.
However, conventional polymer based composite materials are not always sufficient in the compressive strength at high temperature or high humidity even though they are advantageously light in weight. So, they are sometimes limited in applicability. To enhance the compressive strength at high temperature and high humidity, it is effective to enhance the elastic modulus of the resin, and it is considered important to prevent the decline of elastic modulus at high temperature and high humidity. For enhancing the elastic modulus of the resin, it has been proposed to use epoxy resins higher in crosslinking density, and for preventing the decline of elastic modulus at high temperature and high humidity, it has been proposed to decrease the percentage of water absorption and to introduce a heat resistant skeleton. As resin compositions for prepregs balanced in impact resistance, heat resistance and water resistance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-297316 and 62-297312 disclose resin compositions consisting of an epoxy resin composition mainly composed of an epoxy resin with triglycidylaminophenol skeleton, and diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS), polyether sulfone (PES) or polyether imide (PEI).
However, their heat resistance is evaluated in reference to glass transition temperature, and water resistance, to the percentage of water absorption, respectively separately, and the problem that an epoxy resin with triglycidylaminophenol skeleton declines greatly in physical properties at high temperature and high humidity is not solved at all. Furthermore, to prevent the decline of hardened epoxy resins in physical properties caused by moisture absorption, less hygroscopic diamine hardening agents and their epoxy resin compositions are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 59-215314, 59-215315 and 60-67526. It is disclosed that if any of the special diamine hardening agents is used, the hardened epoxy resin composition keeps high physical properties even at high temperature and high humidity, and has high impact resistance as a non-interlayer toughened prepreg.
However, if an actual application as a prepreg is considered, the amount of the special curing agent added to the epoxy resin must be larger than the amounts of the conventional curing agents, to obtain sufficient physical properties, since the special curing agent is large in molecular weight compared with the number of reaction points (the number of amine hydrogen atoms). For this reason, the viscosity of the composition becomes high, and as a result, the degree of freedom in resin formulation is significantly limited. For example, if it is attempted to enhance impact resistance by adding a thermoplastic resin or using an interlayer toughening technology for meeting the demand for higher impact resistance, the viscosity of the resin increases. So, the application of such a technology is considered to be practically impossible, and it is difficult to enhance the impact resistance higher than the disclosed level.
As a resin composition excellent in heat resistance and flow property during resin curing, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-78138 describes to combine 3,3'-DDS and a thermoplastic resin of 100.degree. C. or higher in Tg with epoxy resins, and also states that if heat resistance is especially important, it is preferable to let the content of tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane (TGDDM) account for 50 to 80% of all the epoxy resins. The main effect found by that invention is that if 3,3'-DDS high in the solubility in epoxy resins and high in reactivity is used instead of 4,4'-DDS, the reaction with the epoxy resins during heating for curing can be expedited to allow the minimum viscosity to be kept high. If an epoxy resin is cured by using 3,3'-DDS like this, the cured resin can be high in heat resistance, but on the other hand, the toughness of the resin decreases, to also decrease impact resistance. The above invention does not solve this problem at all.
As a prepreg excellent in impact resistance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-94515 discloses a particulate interlayer toughening technology of adding fine thermoplastic resin particles to a thermosetting resin used as a base resin. An example described in the patent gazette discloses a composition containing TGDDM by 90% in the epoxy resins as a thermosetting resin used as a base resin, 4,4'-DDS by 0.175 time the mole number of epoxy groups, and 10% of PES as a thermoplastic resin. The invention disclosed above is mainly intended to provide a technology for enhancing the toughness of a laminate selectively at its interlayer regions where stresses are concentrated most under impact, by adding a thermoplastic resin. The invention discloses a technology concerned with impact resistance, but does not solve anything about improvement of compressive strength. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 5-1159 and 4-268361 also disclose interlayer toughening technology, and describes cases of using an epoxy resin consisting of TGDDM and triglycidylaminophenol as a base resin, 3,3'-DDS as a curing agent, and a polysulfone or a PES oligomer with amine terminals as a thermoplastic resin. These inventions are also mainly intended to improve impact resistance by interlayer toughening. These resin compositions are improved in impact resistance as disclosed in the examples, but since triglycidylaminophenol used accounts for 40 to 50% of all the epoxy resins, the elastic modulus of the resin at high temperature and high humidity is not so high, and hence the compression property at high temperature and high humidity is not sufficient either.

Prepreg, and a fiber reinforced composite material