Disclosed is a method for transmitting a channel signal in a base station of a mobile communication system which scrambles a common channel signal using a primary scrambling code for identifying the base station. The method comprises determining an identifier (ID) of a secondary scrambling code, upon receipt of a dedicated channel assignment request from a mobile station; transmitting the determined ID of the secondary scrambling code to the mobile station and awaiting a response; upon receipt of a response message from the mobile station, generating a primary scrambling code and a secondary scrambling code using an ID of the primary scrambling code and said ID of the secondary scrambling code; and scrambling a common channel signal using the primary scrambling code, scrambling a dedicated channel signal using the secondary scrambling code, and transmitting the scrambled channel signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a channel communication method in a mobile communication system, and in particular, to a communication method for readily setting a secondary scrambling code in a mobile communication system which expands a channel capacity using a plurality of scrambling codes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) communication system uses scrambling codes for identification of base stations. The scrambling codes are also used for an increase in the channel capacity of the base stations as well as identification of the base stations.
A UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) communication system, which is a European W-CDMA communication system, uses a plurality of scrambling codes for identification of the base station and an increase in the channel capacity of the base stations. In the UMTS system, when a base station has used up all the orthogonal codes assigned to one scrambling code and thus has no more available orthogonal code, the base station uses another scrambling code to expand the channel capacity. That is, the base station sets a new scrambling code and then assigns orthogonal codes for the newly set scrambling code. To generate the scrambling codes, a Gold sequence of length 218-1 is typically used. In the Gold sequence of length 218-1, 218-1 different Gold codes constitute one group. For the scrambling codes, the Gold code of length 218-1 is repeatedly selected by 38400 bits from the first bit.
In general, the scrambling code used for identification of the base stations is referred to as a "primary scrambling code". The primary scrambling code and orthogonal codes using the primary scrambling code are then assigned. If the orthogonal code is insufficient to assign for newly adding channels using the primary scrambling code, another scrambling code is set and then orthogonal codes using the set scrambling code are assigned. The scrambling code used at that case is referred to as a "secondary scrambling code". That is, the number of the orthogonal codes which can be assigned using the corresponding scrambling code is determined by the data rate of presently communicating channels. Therefore, it is possible to expand the channel capacity by providing a plurality of the scrambling codes and setting an unused scrambling code when the channel capacity is insufficient.
The primary scrambling code is used for identification of the base stations and for scrambling the signal spread with the assigned orthogonal codes. It will be assumed herein that the number of the primary scrambling codes is 512. Therefore, adjacent base stations use different primary scrambling codes out of the 512 primary scrambling codes.
In general, the mobile stations identify the base stations by analyzing the primary scrambling codes. Therefore, the base station transmits the common control channels to the mobile stations using a unique primary scrambling code, and transmits the downlink channels using either the primary scrambling code or the secondary scrambling code according to the present channel capacity.
In general, the base station transmits the common control channels to the mobile stations using a unique primary scrambling code, and transmits the downlink channels using either the primary scrambling code or the secondary scrambling code according to the present channel capacity. Therefore, the mobile stations identify the base stations by analyzing the primary scrambling codes.
The secondary scrambling codes used to increase the channel capacity of the base stations correspond to the primary scrambling codes used in the base station, and the maximum number of the secondary scrambling codes is 512. The base station selects the secondary scrambling codes.
Reference will now be made to UMTS downlink transmission for which several scrambling codes are used.
FIG. 1 illustrates a downlink channel transmitter of a UMTS base station. Referring to FIG. 1, a dedicated physical control channel DPCCH and N dedicated physical data channels DPDCH1 to DPDCHN are applied to demultiplexers 100 to 104, respectively, after channel coding and interleaving. The demultiplexers 100–104 demultiplex DPCCH and DPDCH1–DPDCHN into I and Q signal components, respectively. The I and Q signal components output from the demultiplexer 100 are applied to multipliers 110 and 111, which multiply the received I and Q signal components by a first orthogonal code for channel separating of the I and Q signals. A scrambler 120 scrambles the multiplied signals. The demultiplexers 102–104 have the same operation as the demultiplexer 100, multipliers 114, 115, 118 and 119 have the same operation as the multipliers 110 and 111, and scramblers 124 and 128 have the same operation as the scrambler 120.
A scrambling code generator 150 generates scrambling codes and provides the generated scrambling codes to the scramblers 120, 124 and 128. The scrambling codes generated by the scrambling code generator 150 include the primary scrambling codes, and the secondary scrambling codes for increasing the channel capacity of the base stations. The scrambling code generator 150 provides the primary scrambling codes to the scramblers that use the primary scrambling codes, and the secondary scrambling codes to the scramblers that use the secondary scrambling codes.
The scramblers 120, 124 and 128 each complex-multiply the multiplied input signals by the corresponding scrambling codes, and provides the resulting real part components to a summer 130 and the resulting imaginary components to a summer 135. The summer 130 sums the real part components of the scrambled signals and the summer 135 sums the imaginary part components of the scrambled signals.
FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed structure of the scrambling code generator 150 of FIG. 1, which simultaneously generates several scrambling codes.
Referring to FIG. 2, the common control channels normally use the primary scrambling codes. However, when there is an insufficient number of the orthogonal codes, the downlink dedicated channels should use the secondary scrambling codes. Therefore, it is necessary for the base station to be able to generate a plurality of scrambling codes. In FIG. 2, control information #1 to control information #N of scrambling codes for several channels are applied to N Gold sequence generators 211–21N, respectively. The Gold sequence generators 211–21N generate Gold codes corresponding to the received control information #1 to control information #N, and output the I-channel components unchanged and provide the Q-channel components to corresponding delays 221–22N. The delays 221–22N delay the received Q-channel components for a specific chip period.
FIG. 3 illustrates a downlink channel receiver of a UMTS mobile station. The receiver be able to descramble the received down link common control channel signals that were scrambled with the primary scrambling code in the base station. And should also be able to descramble other received downlink channels, which were scrambled with the primary scrambling codes or the secondary scrambling codes in the base station. Therefore, the receiver should be able to generate a plurality of scrambling codes to descramble the received downlink channels.
In FIG. 3, the I and Q components of the signals received at the mobile station are applied to descramblers 310 and 315, respectively. A scrambling code generator 300 simultaneously generates primary scrambling codes and secondary scrambling codes for respective channels, and provides the generated scrambling codes to the descramblers 310 and 315. The descramblers 310 and 315 multiply the received signals I+jQ by conjugate values of the scrambling codes provided from the scrambling code generator 300 to despread (descramble) the received signals, and provide the descrambled I and Q components to multipliers 320–326. The signals output from the descramblers 310 and 315 are applied to the multipliers 320–326 where the signals are multiplied by orthogonal codes for the corresponding channels, for despreading. Thereafter, the despread signals are multiplexed by multiplexers 330 and 335.
FIG. 4 illustrates a detailed structure of the scrambling code generator 300 of FIG. 3, which simultaneously generates several scrambling codes. In the base station for the mobile communication system, which uses the scrambling codes, the common control channels are normally scrambled with the primary scrambling codes and other channels are scrambled with either the primary scrambling codes or the secondary scrambling codes according to the system capacity. Therefore, the mobile station should be able to generate the secondary scrambling codes as well as the primary scrambling codes. In addition, since the signal scrambled with primary scrambling code and the signal scrambled with secondary scrambling code can be simultaneously received, it is necessary for the mobile station to be able to simultaneously generate the primary scrambling codes and the secondary scrambling codes.
Referring to FIG. 4, upon receipt of control information #1 and control information #2 of scrambling codes for the respective channels, Gold sequence generators 411 and 412 generate Gold codes corresponding to the control information #1 and #2. At this point, the I components of the generated Gold codes are output unchanged, and the Q components are delayed by the corresponding delays 421 and 422 for a specific chip period.
FIG. 5 illustrates a detailed structure of the Gold sequence generators of FIGS. 2 and 4. In general, a Gold sequence is generated by XORing two different m-sequences. In FIG. 5, an m-sequence generator polynomial of an upper shift register 500 is f(x)=x18+x7+1, and a generator polynomial of a lower shift register 510 is f(x)=x18+x10+x7+x5+1.
The number of Gold codes generated by the Gold sequence generator of FIG. 5 is 512*512=262,144. The Gold codes generated by the Gold sequence generator are divided into the primary scrambling codes and the secondary scrambling codes. Of the 261,144 Gold codes, 512 are the primary scrambling codes, and 511 Gold codes are associated with each primary scrambling code, constituting a set of the secondary scrambling codes.
The 512 primary scrambling codes are generated by setting 512 upper shift register initial values and XORing the output of upper shifter register 500 and the lower shift register 510. Here, the upper shift register 500 has a binary value of a decimal number of 0 to 511 as an initial value, and the lower shift register 510 normally has a value of '1' at every shift register as an initial value. The secondary scrambling codes are generated by providing i+512*k as an initial value of the upper register 500, where 'i' denotes a code number of the primary scrambling code and 'k' denotes a value of 1 to 511. Therefore, each primary scrambling code is associated with 511 secondary scrambling codes. Each base station uses one primary scrambling code, and uses one or more secondary scrambling codes as occasion demands.
The primary scrambling codes are necessarily used when scrambling a primary common control channel (P_CCPCH). Other downlink physical channels are scrambled with either the primary scrambling signal or a secondary scrambling code selected from the secondary scrambling code set, before transmission.
As described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, there can be used several scrambling codes at the request of the base station. Therefore, the base station should include a scrambling code generator, which can simultaneously generate several scrambling codes, and the mobile station should also have a scrambling code generator, which can generate several scrambling codes, in order to correctly receive the signals transmitted from the base station.
Referring again to FIG. 5, the Gold sequence generator cannot simultaneously generate several scrambling codes, and generates only one scrambling code at a time. Thus, to generate several scrambling codes, it is necessary to provide a number of the Gold sequence generators equal to the number of the scrambling codes.
In addition, the number of the scrambling codes generated by the Gold sequence generator of FIG. 5 is 262,144 in total. Each base station can perform communication even with one primary scrambling code and 511 secondary scrambling codes associated with the primary scrambling code. It is not difficult for the base station to store 262,144 scrambling codes, considering its large memory capacity. However, the mobile station, which performs communication while traveling between base stations, cannot know which primary scrambling code and secondary scrambling code are used by the base stations, the mobile station should store all the 262,144 scrambling codes. A storage area for storing the 262,144 scrambling codes will occupy a considerable storage area of the mobile station, considering the small memory capacity of the mobile station.
Further, in the case where the scrambling codes are generated using the Gold codes of FIG. 5, when there are an insufficient orthogonal codes for the primary scrambling codes, the base station should inform the mobile station of information about a secondary scrambling code which will be using, while transmitting the channel signals which were scrambled with the secondary scrambling codes. However, since the base station should transmit one of the numbers of 512 to 262,144 indicating the secondary scrambling code, the base station should transmit 18-bit information about the secondary scrambling codes.

Method for communicating scrambling code ID in mobile communication system


An information transmission system includes a communication connection device and a server. The communication connection device includes a use determination unit, a first communicator, a second communicator, and a communication control unit. The use determination unit determines whether a movable object is in use. The second communicator communicates with the server for a larger volume of data than the first communicator at a time, or communicates with the server more frequently than the first communicator. The communication control unit causes the second communicator to transmit, selectively from transmission information, specific transmission information including predefined movable object information to the server when the use determination unit determines that the movable object is not in use and the second communicator is enabled to communicate with a communication base station.

In recent years, various communication devices complying with different communication standards have been developed and used for transmitting data. For example, low-power wide-area (LPWA) communication is increasingly used as low-cost, low-power-consumption communication across a wide area.
Although LPWA communication enables low-cost and low-power-consumption data transmission, LPWA communication can transmit a small volume of data at a time. Patent Literature 1 describes a remote monitoring system that performs, in addition to LPWA communication, 3G mobile communication or long term evolution (LTE) mobile communication to supplement LPWA communication. The remote monitoring system includes a server and monitoring apparatuses. The monitoring apparatus has the function of storing monitor images captured by a camera. The monitoring apparatus normally uses LPWA communication to communicate with the server to reduce the communication cost, and uses 3G mobile or LTE mobile communication enabling transmission of a large volume of data when transmitting monitor images to the server.


A computer-implemented method for combining static and dynamic code analysis may include 1) identifying executable code that is to be analyzed to determine whether the executable code is capable of leaking sensitive data, 2) performing a static analysis of the executable code to identify one or more objects which the executable code may use to transfer sensitive data, the static analysis being performed by analyzing the executable code without executing the executable code, 3) using a result of the static analysis to tune a dynamic analysis to track the one or more objects identified during the static analysis, and 4) performing the dynamic analysis by, while the executable code is being executed, tracking the one or more objects identified during the static analysis to determine whether the executable code leaks sensitive data via the one or more objects. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Traditional code analysis tools may implement either static or dynamic analysis to evaluate code for compliance with data loss prevention policies. Each type of analysis has various advantages and disadvantages. For example, dynamic code analysis may be able to detect leakage of sensitive data through network traffic and application programming interface call traces, but dynamic analysis may be resource intensive and cannot always determine the original source of the sensitive data. Static analysis may be more efficient than dynamic analysis and may be able to identify execution paths that can directly result in information leakage, but static analysis may not be able to determine the fate of sensitive data that is written to local files, placed on the clipboard, or is otherwise made available via inter-process communication mechanisms.
Both static and dynamic analysis may be ineffective in detecting data leaking in certain situations. For example, both static and dynamic analysis may fail to detect data leakage that occurs as a result of complex interactions between multiple applications or within a single application. What is needed, therefore, is a more efficient and effective mechanism for analyzing code to determine whether the code is capable of leaking sensitive data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for combining static and dynamic code analysis


A coolant jacket for an engine cylinder bank having longitudinally aligned cylinders includes upper, lower and side walls defining two inlet flow galleries extending along the intake and exhaust sides of the cylinder bank and communicating with the upper ends of the cylinders. Two outlet flow galleries extend along the intake and exhaust sides of the cylinders and communicate with the lower ends of the cylinders and pairs of side flow slots extend between the upper and lower galleries and around the intake and exhaust sides of each of the cylinders. The side flow slots are separated along longitudinal edges from the slots of adjacent cylinders. Preferably, cooling fins extend into the flow galleries, forming pockets at the ends of the flow slots, the fins being impacted by coolant flow directed into the pockets to improve cooling of siamesed portions of the cylinders. Additional features are disclosed.

It is known in the engine art to provide liquid cooling of the cylinders by flowing coolant through a coolant jacket surrounding the cylinders. Conventional systems for a cylinder bank generally direct coolant flow longitudinally past the aligned cylinders from one end of the bank to the other. The cylinders are cooled by the passing coolant through contact with the cylinder walls. Increasing temperatures of the coolant from the inlet end to the outlet end of the jacket tend to cool the cylinders unevenly and may allow steam pockets to form near the outlet end at high engine loads.


A system is provided for managing protected data resources. The system includes a resource server configured to store the protected data resources and an authorization module coupled to the resource server and configured to store access protocols. The authorization module further is configured to receive a service request from a user via a client module, evaluate the service request based on the access protocols, and send an access token to the client module if the user satisfies the access protocols.

Modern software development is evolving away from the client-server model toward network-based processing systems that provide access to data and services via the Internet or other networks. In contrast to traditional systems that host networked applications on dedicated server hardware, a "cloud" computing model allows applications to be provided over the network "as a service" supplied by an infrastructure provider. The infrastructure provider typically abstracts the underlying hardware and other resources used to deliver a customer-developed application so that the customer no longer needs to operate and support dedicated server hardware. The cloud computing model can often provide substantial cost savings to the customer over the life of the application because the customer no longer needs to provide dedicated network infrastructure, electrical and temperature controls, physical security and other logistics in support of dedicated server hardware.
Multi-tenant cloud-based architectures have been developed to improve collaboration, integration, and community-based cooperation between customer tenants without sacrificing data security. Generally speaking, multi-tenancy refers to a system wherein a single hardware and software platform simultaneously supports multiple user groups (also referred to as "organizations" or "tenants") from a common data store. The multi-tenant design provides a number of advantages over conventional server virtualization systems. The multi-tenant platform operator may make improvements to the platform based upon collective information from the entire tenant community, as well as improving collaboration and integration between applications and the data managed by the various applications. The multi-tenant architecture therefore allows convenient and cost effective sharing of similar application features between multiple sets of users.
In certain situations, it may be necessary or desirable to grant access to secure or protected data. If the "owner" of the protected data resources seeks access, then user credentials may be used (e.g., a username and password). If a "non-owner" of the protected data resources seeks access, then the non-owner may use the owner's credentials to gain access. Alternatively, authorization or authentication techniques or protocols may be employed to provide regulated access to the non-owner. For example, the OAuth authorization protocol may be used such that the owner's credentials need not be disclosed to the non-owner. In this regard, the OAuth authorization protocol calls for the use of access tokens that enable non-owners to access protected data resources without knowledge of the owner's credentials. The scope, duration, and amount of data access enabled by an access token may be configured and controlled as needed to limit, restrict, and/or prevent access to certain data. Unfortunately, the OAuth authorization protocol assumes that the end user is the owner of the data, and as such, only the end user may authorize access. However, if the end user is a member of an organization, the organization may want to place restrictions on, or otherwise administer access to, the protected data.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for administrating access in an on-demand environment, particularly an environment that uses an OAuth authorization protocol. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Systems and methods for administrating access in an on-demand computing environment


A feeding device includes a bottom plate defining a feeding hole, at least one first feeding mechanism, and at least one second feeding mechanism. The first feeding mechanism includes a first driving member mounted on the bottom plate, a first connection member connected to the first driving member, and a plurality of first support members. The first support member is mounted on the first connection member spaced from each other along a longitudinal direction of the first connection member, for supporting the workpieces. The second feeding mechanism has a similar structure to that of the first feeding mechanism. The first connection member and the second connection member are positioned above the bottom plate adjacent to each other. Each second support member is staggeredly positioned above one corresponding first support member.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to feeding devices, and particularly to a feeding device with a predetermined usage frequency configured for use in automated production lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In some automated production lines, products or workpieces are still fed manually to the production line. Because operators cannot control a feeding rate of the products or workpieces, a feeding frequency cannot be precisely controlled, such that other automatic devices, such as a robot, cooperating with the operators, is affected negatively.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.


A bat includes a handle portion, tubular impact portion and tubular insert mounted co-axially within the impact portion. A thin tubular composite member is bonded either to the inner or outer surface of the insert. Alternatively the composite member-reinforced insert may be mounted co-axially around the outer surface of the impact portion. In other embodiments, the composite member may be bonded directly to either the inner or outer surface of the impact portion.

The present invention relates to softball and baseball bats and more particularly relates to bats formed at least in part from a composite material(s).
Recent years have seen an emergence of new and improved tubular metallic softball and baseball bats. The most common tubular bat is the aluminum single-wall tubular bat. Such bats have the advantage of a generally good impact response, meaning that the bat effectively transfers power to a batted ball. This effective power transfer results in ball players achieving good xe2x80x9csluggingxe2x80x9d distances with batted balls. An additional advantage of such aluminum bats is the improved durability over crack-prone wooden bats.
Despite the advantages of tubular aluminum bats, there is an ongoing effort to improve the performance and durability of the conventional design. Generally speaking, bat performance is a function of the weight of the bat, the size of the hitting area or xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d of the bat, and the impact response of the bat. The durability of a bat relates, at least in part, to its ability to resist denting and depends on strength and stiffness of the tubular frame. While recent innovations in bat technology have increased performance and durability, most new bat designs typically improve performance or durability at the expense of the other because of competing design factors. For example, an attempt to increase the durability of the bat often produces an adverse effect on the bat""s performance.
More specifically, the impact response of a bat depends on the bat wall""s elasticity, rebound recovery time, and rebounding force. Generally, impact response is optimized when the bat undergoes maximum elastic deflection and then rebounds with the greatest force in the shortest amount of time. The elasticity of a bat can be increased by reducing the thickness of the bat""s tubular frame. In contrast, the durability of a bat generally is improved by increasing the thickness of the tubular frame. Consequently, a bat having a relatively thin tubular wall is capable of large elastic deflection, but may be vulnerable to undesirable local plastic deformation (or xe2x80x9cdentingxe2x80x9d). On the other hand, a relatively thick tubular wall is more durable but may be too stiff to achieve optimum slugging performance. Thus, enhancing one design aspect of a bat often compromises another.
Another example of competing design factors concerns the bat""s optimum hitting area or xe2x80x9csweet spot.xe2x80x9d The sweet spot is typically located near the center of the impact area of the bat. The performance of the bat drops off considerably when a ball impacts the bat outside the sweet spot, for example, near the end of the bat. When this occurs, the batter feels greater vibrations and transfers less energy from the bat to the ball. An obvious way to increase the sweet spot of a bat is to increase the length and circumference of the bat. This option is constrained by institutional rules and regulations. In addition, an increase in the overall size of the bat undesirably adds weight, often causing reduced bat speed and less slugging distance. (A hitter often can increase bat speed by using a lighter bat, thereby increasing the force transferred to the ball upon impact.
An example of a bat incorporating a composite insert is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,095. This patent discloses a tubular aluminum bat having a carbon composite insert to increase the xe2x80x9cstiffnessxe2x80x9d of the metal tube. The insert is made of multiple fiber layers, each layer having bidirectional woven fibers directed at 0 and 90 degrees relative to the axis of the bat. The insert is bonded to the barrel portion of the surrounding metal tube or frame and presses outwardly on the frame to produce a pre-load stress of several thousand pounds per square inch. The insert appears to be formed from multiple layers of glass and carbon fiber material (thickness of 0.03 to 0.05 inch) so as to be a self-supporting structure capable of withstanding several thousand pounds of compressive stress. This design gives the bat a relatively stiff, rigid tubular frame which appears to be capable of limited elastic deformation, a less than ideal trait if the goal is to optimize slugging performance. (One would expect this design to behave like a single-wall bat in which the compressive stress must be overcome before the wall begins to deflect.)
While composite materials offer the advantage of a high strength to weight ratio, such materials also present design challenges. Composite inserts and bat frames are prone to wear and tear due to the inter-laminar shear which can occur between bonded layers of composite material. The deflection caused when a ball impacts the bat produces shearing stresses between the composite layers, sometimes causing the bond between adjacent layers to fracture or separate (especially over time). When this occurs, the bat""s performance deteriorates. This is particularly disadvantageous when one considers the relatively high cost of manufacturing composite inserts.
Thus, despite the advantages offered by composite materials, there are two constraints associated with using such materials: a reduced elastic deflection potential which compromises bat performance and a tendency of the composite layers to separate over time due to inter-laminar shear.
As a result, there is a need for a tubular bat that offers at least some of the advantages of composite materials without the constraints. There is a need for a tubular bat that provides excellent slugging performance and improved durability. There also is a need for a multi-wall bat which has a relatively thin barrel wall and yet exhibits excellent durability. Further, there is a need for a single wall bat having the excellent durability characteristic of most single wall bats as well as improved slugging performance.
The present invention provides an improved baseball or softball bat with superior durability characteristics and little or no reduction in bat performance. The invention does so by providing a relatively thin, light (but strong) composite material, with directional strength characteristics to resist dent-causing forces, in bonded relationship to a metal carrier. For example, the present invention includes a single- or multi-wall tubular bat having at least one composite layer, with its greatest strength in a substantially circumferential direction, bonded directly to a tubular member which deflects upon ball impact.
In one embodiment, the bat has a tubular frame and a tubular insert reinforced with at least one composite layer. The composite layer has its greatest strength in a substantially circumferential direction and is bonded to at least a portion of the outer surface of the insert. The composite layer provides several advantages, including improved durability with little or no reduction in performance. Because the composite layer adds strength and stiffness to the insert in the circumferential direction, it helps prevent local plastic deformation caused by circumferential stresses while allowing the frame and insert to deflect sufficiently in the axial direction to transfer substantial energy back to the ball as it leaves the surface of the bat. In another embodiment, the composite layer(s) is bonded to at least a portion of the inner surface of the insert.
The present invention also contemplates the use of multiple composite layers of varying lengths and different strength characteristics bonded to the impact portion and/or the insert of a bat so that a manufacturer can add strength and stiffness to a bat where it is needed and in the direction that it is needed. Because the intended use of a bat often drives its design, the various attributes of the composite layers, such as length, thickness, location on a bat, or orientation of fibers, may be selected to suit a particular application.
Another embodiment, which exhibits excellent durability and performance characteristics for hitting a softball, has two composite layers bonded to the outer surface of a tubular sleeve. A longer, first composite layer having its fibers oriented substantially at 0 degrees relative to the axis of the bat is applied directly to the outer surface of the sleeve. A shorter, second composite layer having its fibers oriented substantially at 90 degrees relative to the axis of the bat is placed on top of the first layer, with the second layer being positioned closer to the xe2x80x9csweet spot.xe2x80x9d
Various advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are particularized in the claims forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention and its reference should be had to the drawings and to the accompanying description in which there is illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.


A graph based on a data traffic matrix represents the occupancy of a set of virtual output queues to an optical crosspoint packet data switch. Edges in the graph are assigned to a matching in order of decreasing weight, provided that the edges do not conflict with other edges previously placed in the matching. If a conflict is found for a particular edge, a new matching is created and the conflicting edge is placed in the new matching. The process iterates until all edges are covered, resulting in creating a collection of matchings. The collection of matchings is transformed into a schedule such that each matching defines a switch configuration and the weight of the heaviest edge determines its holding time. The length of the obtained schedule equals the total cost of the collection. The cost of the collection is the total weight of the matchings plus the product of the re-configuration delay and the number of matchings.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The Internet is built around a large variety of transmission and switching systems and the information transfer is aggregated into packets, which are individually forwarded and switched toward their destinations. The main tasks of a router or switch are to receive a packet from the input port, find its destination port with regard to the routing table, transfer the packet to the output port via the switch fabric and finally transmit it on the output line. If a burst of packets destined to the same output port arrives, all packets cannot be transmitted on the fly and thus some of them need to be buffered. A critical aspect of the switch architecture is the placement of buffers.
In the Input Queuing (IQ) switch architecture packets arriving from the input lines are queued at the input ports. The packets are then extracted from the input queues to cross the switch fabric and to be forwarded to the output ports. The IQ architecture is used extensively in the design of high-speed routers. An optical switch operates on fixed-size cells and the time that elapses between two consecutive switching decisions is called a time slot. Each arriving packet is divided into cells at the input, and these cells are scheduled across the switch fabric separately. When the last cell arrives, the packet is reassembled and sent on the output link.
A major issue in the design of IQ switches is the scheduler that controls the access to the switching fabric in order to avoid contention at the input and the output ports. Every time slot, the scheduler determines the configuration of the switch, that is a matching between the inputs and the outputs, and each input queue is allowed to forward a cell to the output port it is matched to, if any.
Underlying the design of a wide range of switch architectures is the assumption that the switch configuration time is negligible compared to the cell transmission time. However, in optical switches the configuration time dominates over the cell transmission time.
In an optical switching fabric, input data modulates a tunable-wavelength laser that is directed toward a plurality of tuned-wavelength receivers. Switching one of a plurality of inputs to reach one of a plurality of outputs is achieved by tuning the lasers to one of a plurality of different wavelengths that matches a desired receiver. However, tuning any of the lasers requires a non-zero amount of time. In such a switch, reconfiguring the switching fabric makes it unavailable for a number of time slots equal to the configuration delay. Minimizing the effects of reconfiguration overhead on the switch performance requires specially designed schedulers that hold each configuration for several time slots, thus reducing the number of reconfigurations.
Therefore, in an Input-Queued (IQ) architecture, data packets are held in input queues while the lasers are tuned, then released to the lasers for transmission. Packets in the input queues are divided into cells of unit length. Each cell requires switching to one and only one output port associated with one receiver. When multiple cells need to be switched to the same output port, a first cell may be switched to the receiver associated with the output port, but transmitting one or more of the other cells is pre-empted until the first cell is transmitted and the receiver becomes available.
To achieve maximum efficiency, the scheduler must find a laser tuning arrangement that allows transmitting as many cells as possible to receivers and that minimizes the number of cells that must wait. The problem is complicated since in optical switches so-called configuration delay, which is the time required to reconfigure the switching fabric, is non-negligible with respect to the cell transmission time. In general, a scheduler selects a new matching of lasers to receivers, a non-zero configuration delay C occurs as the lasers are tuned, and the configuration is held for a pre-determined period of time as cells are transferred to the receivers.
Selecting which cells to transmit, using which laser and frequency, is performed by a scheduler in the optical switch. An arbitration sub-task performed by the scheduler, in which a cell at an input queue is selected for an available receiver associated with the correct output port, may be viewed as a bipartite matching. In bipartite scheduling, given a set of packets in the input queues, the makespan of the schedule is determined by a sum of the total configuration holding time and the configuration overhead C. Restated, a goal of efficient optical switch operation is to find a schedule of minimum makespan that forwards all packets to the output ports.
In pre-emptive scheduling, cells from one queue can be scheduled in different configurations, but scheduling complexity depends to an extent on the number of packets in the input queues. In non-preemptive bipartite scheduling, all cells from a single queue are scheduled in just one configuration; therefore, all cells in the queue can be transmitted serially using that configuration until the queue is empty.
A non-preemptive bipartite scheduler has a number of advantages over pre-emptive scheduling approaches. First, the complexity of the scheduler does not depend on the number of packets in the input queues, but only on switch size. The number of re-configurations of the switching fabric is minimized. High-speed operation is possible, and the scheduler can efficiently handle variable-size packets without maintaining packet reassembly buffers.
While non-preemptive bipartite scheduling is theoretically superior for the reasons just given, prior approaches have not adequately solved the Non-Preemptive Bipartite Scheduling (NPBS) problem. Relevant literature in the field, which is further discussed in the provisional application from which priority is claimed herein, includes:
N. McKeown, "The iSLIP Scheduling Algorithm for Input-Queued Switches," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 188-201, April 1999. The Non-Preemptive Bipartite Scheduling (NPBS) problem was studied in the context of matrix decomposition for zero configuration delay.
C. C. Ribeiro, M. Minoux and M. C. Penna, "An Optimal Column-Generation-with-Ranking Algorithm for Very Large Scale Set Partitioning Problems in Traffic Assignment," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 41, pp. 232-239, 1989, proposes solving the NPBS problem optimally using a branch and bound procedure.
M. Prais and C. C. Ribeiro, "Reactive GRASP: An Application to a Matrix Decomposition Problem in TDMA Traffic Assignment," INFORMS Journal on Computing, Vol. 12, pp. 164-176, 2000, propose a heuristic called Reactive Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP).
V. Vokkarane et al., "Segmentation-Based Non-Preemptive Scheduling Algorithms for Optical Burst-Switched Networks," an online publication available at the time of this writing in the file WOBS03_Sch.pdf of the folder /˜jjue/publications/ of the domain utdallas.edu on the World Wide Web, states that data channel scheduling in OBS networks is the process of assigning an outgoing data channel for the unscheduled arriving burst. Data channel scheduling in OBS networks is different from traditional IP scheduling. In IP, each core node stores the packets in electronic buffers and schedules them on the desired output port. In OBS, once a burst arrives at a node, it must be sent to the next node without storing the burst in electronic buffers. The authors assume that each OBS node supports full-optical wavelength conversion.
Preemptive batch scheduling is considered in Shlomi Dolev and Alexander Kesselman, "Bounded Latency Scheduling Scheme for ATM Cells," Proceedings of The 4th IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC'99), pp. 273-277.
F. Afrati, T. Aslanidis, E. Bampis, and I. Milis, "Scheduling in Switching Networks with Set-up Delays," ALGOTEL'2002, Muze, France, May 2002.
M. S. Borella and B. Mukherjee, "Efficient Scheduling of Nonuniform Packet Traffic in a WDM/TDM Local Ligthwave Network with Arbitrary Transceiver Tuning Latencies," IEEE J. on Selected Areas on Communication, Vol. 14, pp. 923-934, June 1996.
G. Bongiovanni, D. Coppersmith, and C. K. Wong, "An Optimal Time Slot Assignment for a SS/TDMA System with Variable Number of Transponders," IEEE Transactions on Communication, Vol. 29, pp. 721-726, 1981.
S. Chalasani and A. Varma, "Efficient Time-slot Assignment Algorithms for SS/TDMA Systems with Variable Bandwidth Beams," IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 1359-1370, March 1994.
M. Chen and T. S. Yum, "A Conflict-free Protocol for Optical WDMA Networks," in Proc. GLOBECOM'91, pp. 1276-1281, 1991.
P. Crescenzi, X. Deng, C. Papadimitriou, "On Approximating a Scheduling Problem," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Vol. 5, pp. 287-297, 2001.
S. Dolev and A. Kesselman, "Bounded Latency Scheduling Scheme for ATM Cells," Journal of Computer Networks, Vol. 32(3), pp 325-331, March 2000.
S. Even, A. Itai, and A. Shamir, "On the complexity of timetable and multicommodity ow problems," SIAM J. Computing, Vol. 5, pp. 691-703, 1976.
A. Ganz and Y. Gao, "A Time-wavelength Assignment Algorithm for a WDM Star Network," in Proc. INFOCOM'92, pp. 2144-2150, 1992.
M. R. Garey and D. S. Johnson, "Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP Completeness," W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1979.
T. Gonzalez and S. Sahni, "Open Shop Scheduling to Minimize Finish Time," Journal of the ACM, Vol. 23, pp. 665-679, 1976.
S. Gopal and C. K. Wong, "Minimizing the Number of Switchings in a SS/TDMA System," IEEE Trans. Commun., Vol. COM-33, pp. 497-501, June 1985.
T. Inukai, "An Efficient SS/TDMA Time Slot Assignment Algorithm," IEEE Transactions on Communication, Vol. 27, pp. 1449-1455, 1979.
R. Jain, K. Somalwar, J. Werth, and J. C. Browne, "Scheduling Parallel I/O Operations in Multiple-Bus Systems," J. Parallel and Distributed Computing, special issue on Scheduling and Load Balancing, December 1992.
R. Jain, K. Somalwar, J. Werth, and J. C. Browne, "Heuristics for Scheduling I/O Operations," IEEE Trans. on Parallel and Distributed Systems, Vol 8(3), 1997.
X. Li and M. Hamdi, "λ-ADJUST Algorithm for Optical Switches with Reconfiguration Delay," in Proc. of International Conference on Communications (ICC'03), 2003.
M. A. Marsan, A. Bianco, E. Leonardi, F. Neri and A. Nucci, "Efficient Multi-Hop Scheduling Algorithms for All Optical WDM Broadcast-and-Select Networks with Arbitrary Transceivers Tuning Latencies," in Proc. of IEEE GLOBECOM'98, Sydney, Australia, November 1998.
M. Prais and C. C. Ribeiro, "Reactive GRASP: An Application to a Matrix Decomposition Problem in TDMA Traffic Assignment," INFORMS Journal on Computing, Vol. 12, pp. 164-176, 2000.
F. Rendl, "On the complexity of decomposing matrices arising in satellite communication," Operations Research Letters, Vol. 4, pp. 5-8, 1985.
C. C. Ribeiro, M. Minoux and M. C. Penna, "An Optimal Column-Generation-with-Ranking Algorithm for Very Large Scale Set Partitioning Problems in Traffic Assignment," European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 41, pp. 232-239, 1989.
G. N. Rouskas and M. H. Ammar, "Analysis and Optimization of Transmission Schedules for Single-hop WDM Networks," IEEE/ACM Transaction on Networking, Vol. 3, pp. 211-221, April 1995.
G. N. Rouskas, V. Sivaraman, "Packet Scheduling in Broadcast WDM Networks with Arbitrary Transceivers Tuning Latencies," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 5(3), pp. 359-370, June 1997.
B. Towles and W. J. Dally, "Guaranteed Scheduling for Switches with Configuration Overhead," in Proc. Twenty-First Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies INFOCOM'02, pp. 342-351, June 2002.
T. Weller, B. Hajek, "Scheduling Nonuniform Traffic in a Packet-switching System with Small Propagation Delay," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 5(6), pp. 813-823, December 1997.

Non-preemptive scheduling in network elements


An article of manufacture is disclosed having a first part constructed or powdered metal and having a lip which extends outwardly from one end of the first part. A second part, for example a steel stamping, has a first side, a second side and an opening extending between its sides. The opening is dimensioned so that, with the second part positioned on the end of the first part, the lip extends through the opening and outwardly from the second or outer side of the second part. The first and second parts are then mechanically secured together by deforming the lip so that a portion of lip overlies and entraps an edge portion of the second part between the deformed lip and the end of the first part.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article of manufacture having a powdered metal part which is mechanically secured to a second part by mechanical deformation of a lip on the first part.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Components manufactured from powdered metal have enjoyed increased popularity in industry for a number of reasons. One principle reason, however, is that complex shapes can be relatively inexpensively manufactured with powdered metal components as opposed to machining the component from standard metals. Furthermore, powdered metal components minimize the amount wastage of material in sharp contrast to machining operations of conventional metal.
Even though powdered metal components can be manufactured in complex configurations, in many situations it is necessary to mechanically secure a powdered metal part to a second part, typically constituted of standard metal. For example, in automotive applications, the main body of a pulley is oftentimes constructed from powdered metal. Thereafter, an annular belt retainer constructed from a metal stamping must be secured to one end of the main body. Furthermore, due to the shape of the main body when assembled to the belt retainer, it is not possible to manufacture the belt retainer and main body as a single powdered metal component.
There have been several different previously known ways for mechanically securing a powdered metal part to a non-powdered metal part. One such method has been to weld the parts together. This method, however, is only effective where the powdered metal part, or at least the portion which is to be welded to the other part, has a low carbon content. Otherwise, the carbon content of the powdered metal part precludes welding the parts together.
Still a further method of securing the powdered metal part and non-powdered metal part together has been to assemble the part together and then stake the junction in between the parts. In doing so, the deformation of the non-powdered metal part caused by the staking operation attaches the parts together. Such staking, however, creates a relatively weak mechanical bond between the powdered metal and non-powdered metal part so that even a relatively axial force between the parts is sufficient to separate them. This is particularly true for large components.

Article of manufacturing using a powdered metal component


A bearing component formed from a steel composition and providing carbon, silicon, manganese, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, and at least one of the following elements sulphur, phosphorous, molybdenum, aluminum, arsenic, tin, antimony, and the balance iron, together with impurities.

Bearings are devices that permit constrained relative motion between two parts. Rolling element bearings comprise inner and outer raceways and a plurality of rolling elements (balls or rollers) disposed therebetween. For long-term reliability and performance it is important that the various elements have a high resistance to rolling contact fatigue, wear and change in dimensions.
Conventional techniques for manufacturing metal components involve hot-rolling or hot-forging to form a bar, rod, tube or ring, followed by a soft forming process to obtain the desired component. Surface hardening processes are well known and are used to locally increase the hardness of surfaces of finished or semi-finished components so as to improve, for example, wear resistance and fatigue resistance. A number of surface or case hardening processes are known for improving rolling contact fatigue performance.
An alternative to case-hardening is through-hardening. Through-hardened components differ from case-hardened components in that the hardness is uniform or substantially uniform throughout the component. Through-hardened components are also generally cheaper to manufacture than case-hardened components because they avoid the complex heat-treatments associated with carburizing, for example.
For through-hardened bearing steel components, two heat-treating methods are available: martensite hardening or austempering. Component properties such as toughness, hardness, microstructure, retained austenite content, and dimensional stability are associated with or affected by the particular type of heat treatment employed.
The martensite through-hardening process involves austenitising the steel prior to quenching below the martensite start temperature. The steel may then be low-temperature tempered to stabilize the microstructure.
The bainite through-hardening process involves austenitising the steel prior to quenching above the martensite start temperature. Following quenching, an isothermal bainite transformation is performed. Bainite through-hardening is sometimes preferred in steels instead of martensite through-hardening. This is because a bainitic structure may possess superior mechanical properties, for example toughness and crack propagation resistance.
Numerous conventional heat-treatments are known for achieving martensite through-hardening and bainite through-hardening.
WO 01/79568 describes a method for the production of a part for a rolling bearing.


The present invention relates to a method for controlling a frequency in a receiver, in particular in a receiver used in a telecommunications system. To keep precise clock frequency even when the synchronization signal from base-station is missing the method comprises the steps of: determining a change of an internal reference oscillator frequency relative to the frequency of the received signal from a transmitting station, determining a frequency control value for controlling the internal reference oscillator frequency, storing at least one value indicating the change of the internal reference oscillator frequency, and controlling the internal reference oscillator frequency in accordance with the frequency control value, that has been determined either in accordance with the change of the internal reference oscillator frequency relative to the frequency of the received signal in case that the signal from the transmitting station has been received (S20), or in accordance with the stored value(s) indicating the change of the internal reference oscillator frequency in case that the received signal has been missed (S30).

Conventional mobile phone apparatuses often use a temperature compensated quartz crystal oscillator (VCTCXO) to control the master clock frequency needed for demodulating the received signal, according to base-station synchronization signal. However, such a temperature compensated quartz crystal oscillator is expensive, big in size and can not be made on an integrated semiconductor IC.
According to another implementation, a mobile phone apparatus uses an uncompensated quartz crystal oscillator that is frequency controlled depending on the carrier frequency used by a base station and derived from the received signal. In this case there are problems to keep precise clock frequency accuracy when base station synchronization gets lost, i.e. during a temporary reception gap period. Such reception gaps occur whenever a mobile phone user leaves the coverage area of a base station so that connection between the mobile phone and the base station is lost suddenly, e.g. when the user is moving through a tunnel etc.
A receiver known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,409, e.g. a receiver of a mobile telephone comprises a high-frequency stage and an intermediate-frequency stage for mixing down a signal received by an antenna to obtain two quadrature signals, i.e. an inphase signal and a quadrature phase signal. The mixing frequencies are supplied to the high-frequency and an intermediate-frequency stages from a local oscillator. This oscillator is controlled by a control processor in accordance with a frequency error signal derived from the two quadrature signals so that it operates in synchronism with the transmitting station.
Such a prior art mobile phone apparatus is suffering from poor accuracy. When such mobile phone loses synchronous operation to the base station it can not immediately get the link back when coverage reappears again, i.e. when the mobile phone user enters the coverage area of a base station again. Instead it takes some unacceptable long time to become synchronized again and to continue mobile link services.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,604 a method and an apparatus for automatic frequency correction acquisition is described that is used in a subscriber receiver of a wired TV and telephone system. This apparatus comprises an automatic frequency correction loop that can be operated in two different modes, i.e. in an acquisition mode and in a tracking mode. The former provides an estimate of the frequency offset relatively rapidly, but in the latter mode the automatic frequency correction loop follows changes in the frequency offset more accurately.
In operation, when the receiver first attempts to acquire a new modulated carrier, either upon power up or upon a change of the carriers at the transmitter, the automatic frequency correction loop is switch into the acquisition mode. When the frequency offset obtained by this mode becomes more accurate, the automatic frequency correction loop is switched into the tracking mode to further increase the accuracy of the frequency offset estimate. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,604 is silent about determining the frequency offset in case of a temporary reception gap.

Frequency offset correction based on the presence or absence of a received signal


An intravascular catheter for peri-vascular or peri-urethral tissue ablation includes multiple needles advanced through supported guide tubes which expand with open ends around a central axis to engage the interior surface of the wall of the renal artery or other vessel of a human body allowing the injection an ablative fluid for ablating tissue, such as nerve fibers in the outer layer or deep to the outer layer of the vessel, or in prostatic tissue. The system also controls the depth of penetration of the ablative fluid into and beyond the tissue of the vessel wall. The preferred embodiment of the catheter includes structures which provide radial and lateral support to the guide tubes so that the guide tubes open uniformly and maintain their position against the interior surface of the vessel wall as the sharpened injection needles are advanced to penetrate into the vessel wall.

Since the 1930s it has been known that injury or ablation of the sympathetic nerves in or near the outer layers of the renal arteries can dramatically reduce high blood pressure. As far back as 1952, alcohol has been used for tissue ablation in animal experiments. Specifically Robert M. Berne in "Hemodynamics and Sodium Excretion of Denervated Kidney in Anesthetized and Unanesthetized Dog" Am J Physiol, October 1952 171:(1) 148-158, describes painting alcohol on the outside of a dog's renal artery to produce denervation.
Because of the similarities of anatomy, for the purposes of this disclosure, the term target vessel will refer here to the renal artery, for hypertension or congestive heart failure (CHF) applications and the urethra for BPH and prostate applications.
Recent technology for renal denervation include energy delivery devices using radiofrequency or ultrasound energy, such as Simplicity™ Medtronic, EnligHTN™ from St. Jude Medical which are RF ablation catheters and One Shot system from Covidien. There are potential risks using the current technologies for RF ablation to create sympathetic nerve denervation from interior the renal artery for the treatment of hypertension or congestive heart failure. The short-term complications and the long-term sequelae of applying RF energy from interior the renal artery to the wall of the artery are not well defined. This type of energy applied within the renal artery, and with transmural renal artery injury, may lead to late restenosis, thrombosis, renal artery spasm, embolization of debris into the renal parenchyma, or other problems interior the renal artery. There may also be uneven or incomplete sympathetic nerve ablation, particularly if there are anatomic anomalies, or atherosclerotic or fibrotic disease interior the renal artery, such that there is non-homogeneous delivery of RF energy This could lead to treatment failures, or the need for additional and dangerous levels of RF energy to ablate the nerves that run along the adventitial plane of the renal artery. Similar issues may also be present with the use of ultrasound.
The Simplicity™ system for RF energy delivery also does not allow for efficient circumferential ablation of the renal sympathetic nerve fibers. If circumferential RF energy were applied in a ring segment from within the renal artery (energy applied at intimal surface to kill nerves in the outer adventitial layer) this could lead to even higher risks of renal artery stenosis from the circumferential and transmural thermal injury to the intima, media and adventitia. Finally, the "burning" of the interior wall of the renal artery using RF ablation can be extremely painful. The long duration of the RF ablation renal denervation procedure requires sedation and, at times, extremely high doses of morphine or other opiates, and anesthesia close to general anesthesia, to control the severe pain associated with repeated burning of the vessel wall. Thus, there are numerous and substantial limitations of the current approach using RF-based renal sympathetic denervation. Similar limitations apply to ultrasound or other energy delivery techniques.
The Bullfrog® micro infusion catheter described by Seward et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,547,803 and 7,666,163, which uses an inflatable elastic balloon to expand a single needle against the wall of a blood vessel, could be used for the injection of a chemical ablative solution such as alcohol but it would require multiple applications as those patents do not describe or anticipate the circumferential delivery of an ablative substance around the entire circumference of the vessel. The greatest number of needles shown by Seward is two and the two needle version of the Bullfrog® would be hard to miniaturize to fit through a small guiding catheter to be used in a renal artery. If only one needle is used, controlled and accurate rotation of any device at the end of a catheter is difficult at best and could be risky if the subsequent injections are not evenly spaced. This device also does not allow for a precise, controlled and adjustable depth of delivery of a neuroablative agent. This device also may have physical constraints regarding the length of the needle that can be used, thus limiting the ability to inject agents to an adequate depth, particularly in diseased renal arteries with thickened intima. Another limitation of the Bullfrog® is that inflation of a balloon within the renal artery can induce transient renal ischemia and possibly late vessel stenosis due to balloon injury of the intima and media of the artery, as well as causing endothelial cell denudation.
Jacobson and Davis in U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,870 describe a catheter for medication injection into the interior wall of a blood vessel. While Jacobson includes the concept of multiple needles expanding outward, each with a hilt to limit penetration of the needle into the wall of the vessel, his design depends on rotation of the tube having the needle at its distal end to allow it to get into an outward curving shape. The hilt design shown of a small disk attached a short distance proximal to the needle distal end has a fixed diameter which will increase the total diameter of the device by at least twice the diameter of the hilt so that if the hilt is large enough in diameter to stop penetration of the needle, it will significantly add to the diameter of the device. Using a hilt that has a greater diameter than the tube, increases the device profile, and also prevents the needle from being completely retracted back inside the tubular shaft from which it emerges, keeping the needles exposed and potentially allowing accidental needlestick injuries to occur. For either the renal denervation or atrial fibrillation application, the length of the needed catheter would make control of such rotation difficult. In addition, the hilts, which limit penetration, are a fixed distance from the distal end of the needles. There is no built in adjustment on penetration depth which may be important if one wishes to selectively target a specific layer in a vessel or if one needs to penetrate all the way through to the volume past the adventitia in vessels with different wall thicknesses. Jacobson also does not envision use of the injection catheter for denervation. Finally, FIG. 3 of the Jacobson patent shows a sheath over expandable needles without a guide wire and the sheath has an open distal end which makes advancement through the vascular system more difficult. Also, because of the hilts, if the needles were withdrawn completely inside of the sheath they could get stuck inside the sheath and be difficult to push out.
As early as 1980, alcohol has been shown to be effective in providing renal denervation in animal models as published by Kline et al in "Functional re-interiorvation and development of supersensitivity to NE after renal denervation in rats", American Physiological Society 1980:0363-6110/80/0000-0000801.25, pp. R353-R358. Kline states that "95% alcohol was applied to the vessels to destroy any remaining nerve fibers. Using this technique for renal denervation, we have found renal norepinephrine concentration to be over 50% depleted (i.e. <10 mg/g tissue) two weeks after the operation." Again in 1983 in the article "Effect of renal denervation on arterial pressure in rats with aortic nerve transaction" Hypertension, 1983, 5:468-475, Kline again publishes that a 95% alcohol solution applied during surgery is effective in ablating the nerves surrounding the renal artery in rats. Drug delivery catheters such as that by described by Jacobson which are designed to inject fluids at multiple points into the wall of an artery have existed since the 1990s.
McGuckin in U.S. Pat. No. 7,087,040 describes a tumor tissue ablation catheter having three expandable tines for injection of fluid that exit a single needle. The tines expand outward to penetrate the tissue. The McGuckin device has an open distal end that does not provide protection from inadvertent needle sticks from the sharpened tines. In addition, the McGuckin device depends on the shaped tines to be of sufficient strength so that they can expand outward and penetrate the tissue. To achieve such strength, the tines would have to be so large in diameter that severe extravascular bleeding would often occur when the tines would be retracted back following fluid injection for a renal denervation application. There also is no workable penetration limiting mechanism that will reliably set the depth of penetration of the distal opening from the tines with respect to the interior wall of the vessel, nor is there a preset adjustment for such depth. For the application of treating liver tumors, the continually adjustable depth of tine penetration may make sense since multiple injections at several depths might be needed. However, for renal denervation, the ability to accurately adjust the depth or have choice of penetration depth when choosing the device to be used is important so as to not infuse the ablative fluid too shallow and injure the media of the renal artery or too deep and thus miss the nerves that are in the adventitial and peri-adventitial layers of the renal artery.
Although alcohol has historically been shown to be effective as a therapeutic agent for renal denervation and is indicated by the FDA for use in the ablation of nerves, there is need for an intravascular injection system specifically designed for the peri-vascular circumferential ablation of sympathetic nerve fibers in the outer layers around the renal arteries with adjustable penetration depth to accommodate variability in vessel wall thicknesses and to account for the fact that many renal artery nerves are situated at some distance outside of the artery's adventitia.
Throughout this specification any of the terms ablative fluid, ablative solution and/or ablative substance will be used interchangeably to include a liquid or a gaseous substance delivered into a volume of tissue in a human body with the intention of damaging, killing or ablating nerves or tissue within that volume of tissue.
Also throughout this specification, the term inside wall or interior surface applied to a blood vessel, vessel wall, artery or arterial wall mean the same thing which is the inside surface of the vessel wall inside of which is the vessel lumen. Also the term injection egress is defined as the distal opening in a needle from which a fluid being injected will emerge. With respect to the injection needle, either injection egress or distal opening may be used here interchangeably.
The terminology "deep to" a structure is defined as beyond or outside of the structure so that "deep to the adventitia" refers to a volume of tissue outside of the adventitia of an artery.

Transvascular methods of treating extravascular tissue


A stackable pallet comprises a rectangular planar base member which has two opposing ends and two opposing sides. Extending into one of the ends of the base member is a recess which is defined by two side edges and a transverse edge. A pair of smooth curved members extend downwardly from the other end of the base member. A pair of spaced apart elongated beams extend downwardly from the base member between the ends of the same. A handle member is pivotally secured to the base member between the side edges of the recess. The handle member is adapted to be pivoted from an inoperative position, wherein the handle member is folded on top of the base member, to an operative position, wherein the handle member extends upwardly from the base member.

The present invention is directed toward a stackable pallet and, more particularly, to such a pallet which is adapted to be inserted into an open end of a shipping container and which can be compactly stacked on top of an adjacent pallet when not in use.
In order to transport a plurality of packaged goods it is common to first place the goods on top of an article supporting platform or pallet which includes a substantially planar support surface. Such pallets are required to comply with I.S.O. Standards promulgated by the International Standards Organization. U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,000 shows an example of that kind of pallet. Once the pallet is loaded, it is pushed or pulled into a shipping container to be carried by a truck, ship, train or plane. Such pallets are typically rather large and are adapted to support loads of several tons. Accordingly, specialized loading vehicles, e.g. PLS (pallet load and unload system) trucks, are utilized to either push or pull the loaded pallet into the cargo area of the shipping vehicle or container.
Existing article supporting platforms often include a pair of opposing end walls. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,099,640, 4,162,737, 4,355,732, 4,638,744, 4,911,318, 4,964,349, 5,275,301, 5,398,832, 5,494,182 disclose examples of such platforms. It is desirable for the end walls of the article supporting platforms to be placed in a collapsed condition after the goods are unloaded from the same so that a plurality of platforms can be stacked on top of one another. The stacking of the platforms is important for the convenient storage and transportation of the same. In order to position a platform of the type described above in the collapsed condition, the end walls are typically folded inwardly so that they rest on top of the planar support surface of the platform. Accordingly, when a similarly collapsed platform is stacked on top of an adjacent collapsed platform, the end walls of the lower platform frequently interfere with the proper alignment of the upper platform which is positioned on top of the same.
Another problem which typically arises when stacking a plurality of planar platforms on top of one another, whether or not they have end walls, is that they cannot be readily fastened to one another. This makes transportation of the stacks difficult.
Even further, a stack containing a plurality of platforms is quite heavy and is cumbersome to transport. However, the stack typically does not include means for allowing a conventional PLS truck to readily engage the stack so that it can be pushed or pulled to a desired location.


The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a terminal communication system, and more particularly to, a mobile terminal, which allows multimedia contents service for waiting for call connection to be provided in a terminal communication system, and a multimedia contents service providing system and method for call connection waiting using the same. The mobile terminal comprises: a wireless communication unit which receives multimedia contents from a multimedia contents providing server during a call connection waiting time to process the same upon originating a call; an audio processing unit which outputs audio signals of the multimedia contents received through the wireless communication unit; a control unit which controls the multimedia contents set according to time intervals so as to be outputted during the call connection waiting time; and a display unit which displays the multimedia contents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a terminal communication system, and more particularly to, a mobile terminal, which allows multimedia contents service for waiting for call connection to be provided in a terminal communication system, and a multimedia contents service providing system and method for call connection waiting using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, in a conventional terminal communication network, when a caller attempts to establish a telephone call connection through its terminal, the caller hears a ringing tone, that is, a ringback tone until the call connection between a calling terminal and a receiving terminal is completed.
Recently, instead of standardized ringback tones, specific sound sources are often provided.
Ringback tones currently in service are largely divided into two categories.
First, if a user sets a specific sound source as a ringback tone, the other party hears the specific sound source set by the user as a ringback tone while attempting a call to the user's terminal.
Second, if a user sets a specific sound source as a ringback tone, the user hears the specific sound source set by the user itself as a ringback tone while attempting a call to the other party through its terminal.
A ringback tone service currently in service in accordance with the prior art will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a ringback tone service method to and system in accordance with the prior art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a caller originates a call to a base station 12 in order to make a phone call to a recipient's receiving terminal 14 through its calling terminal 11 (S11).
The base station 12 having received the call requests a ringback tone providing server 13 whether any ringback tone preset as authentication information of the receiving terminal 14 is present or not (S12).
Upon being requested about the presence of a ringback tone, if any ringback tone preset as authentication information of the receiving terminal 14 is present, the ringback tone providing server 13 transmits the preset ringback tone to the base station 12 (S13).
The base station 12 transmits the received ringback tone to the calling terminal 11 during a call connection waiting time. On the other hand, if no ringback tone preset as authentication information of the calling terminal 11 is present, a typical ringback tone is transmitted to the calling terminal 11 (S14).
Also, the base station 12 makes a call request to the recipient by forwarding the received call to the receiving terminal 14 (S15).
As the ringback tone service as described above is provided, instead of standardized and mechanical ringback tones, terminal subscribers can hear Korean pop music, pop songs, bird calls, rushing water, and further their own voice as a ringback tone, thereby giving them auditory satisfaction.
However, there is a problem in that while the spread of terminals having the external speaker and/or multimedia functions is increased, the prior art ringback tone service only offers auditory satisfaction.

Mobile terminal and multimedia contents service providing system and method for call connection waiting using the same


A shape memory polymer material composition comprises: (1) a plurality of inorganic core nanoparticles as netpoints to which is connected; (2) a switching segment that comprises a polymer network. The polymer network comprises: (1) a corona component bonded to each inorganic core nanoparticle through a first chemical linkage; (2) a canopy component bonded to each corona component through a second chemical linkage; and (3) a plurality of cross-linking components cross-linking between different canopy components through a third chemical linkage. Given various selections for the inorganic core nanoparticles, the corona component, the canopy component, the cross-linking component, the first chemical linkage, the second chemical linkage and the third chemical linkage, various performance and composition characteristics of the shape memory polymer material compositions may be readily tailored.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate generally to shape memory polymer (SMP) material compositions, related methods and related applications. More particularly, embodiments relate to shape memory polymer material compositions, related methods and related applications that provide shape memory polymer material compositions with enhanced performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shape memory polymer material compositions represent a class of external stimuli responsive material compositions that have a capability to remember a pre-programmed shape imprinted during preparation or synthesis. Thus, shape memory polymer material compositions may, for example, be shape reformed at a higher temperature to impart a desired temporary shape, and subsequently recovered to an original shape when influenced by a particular external stimulus, such as but not limited to an external thermal stimulus, an external optical stimulus and/or an external magnetic radiation stimulus.
Shape memory polymer material compositions are attractive for a growing variety of applications in diverse fields, where such applications may include, but are not limited to, biomedical component applications and optical component applications.
While shape memory polymer material compositions are thus desirable within various applications due to their permanent shape retention and recovery characteristics within the context of transitory shape deformation, shape memory polymer material compositions are nonetheless not entirely without problems. In that regard, shape memory polymer material compositions do not necessarily provide enhanced or optimal shape memory retention and recovery characteristics within the context of shape memory polymer material compositions that have enhanced mechanical properties, such as but not limited to enhanced storage modulus.
Since a shape memory characteristic may be a desirable characteristic within a polymer material composition that otherwise possesses enhanced mechanical properties, desirable are additional shape memory polymer material compositions with enhanced properties, such as but not limited to enhanced mechanical properties.

Shape memory polymer material compositions, methods and applications


Scores are calculated for each of a plurality of preselected evaluation items for each image, and the plurality of scores are weighted and combined to produce combined scores. Then a plurality of candidate images are selected and displayed from a group of images based on these combined scores. A user selects one or more images to be processed from these candidate images, and the degrees of correlation between user selected images and evaluation items are found based on the scores for a plurality of evaluation items in the images selected for processing. Then the weightings of evaluation items having high degrees of correlation are increased.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to technology for selecting video and static images for image processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known image processing technology includes that disclosed in JP2001-119649A. In this conventional technology, numerical data is extracted from the footage in question, and the importance of each scene is determined based on this numerical data. A summary is then created from those sections having an importance that is greater than a threshold value.
However, in conventional methods, it was not necessarily possible to suitably reflect user preferences, which were expressed by image selection operations, in subsequent image selection. This problem is not limited to video processing, but it is a common problem when selecting suitable images for processing from any group comprising a plurality of images.

Selection of images for image processing


The sulfoneamide compounds having the following Formula (1), which can be used as an effective component of a CaSR antagonizing agent useful for prophylaxis and/or treatment of bone disorders including osteoporosis and etc., are provided. The compounds have an excellent activity of promoting PTH secretion. In addition, the compounds are useful as an effective component of a medicament for the prophylaxis and/or treatment of bone disorders such as osteoporosis, bone fracture, hypoparathyroidism and the like.

Osteoporosis is defined as a "disorder characterized by decreased bone strength and high risk for bone fracture". Bone fracture often occurs at metaphyseal region of limb bones or at spine. In particular, femoral neck fracture, vertebral fracture, distal radial fracture, and proximal humeral fracture are the four major fractures caused by osteoporosis. In general, due to fragile nature of a bone, bone fracture accompanied with osteoporosis cannot be completely cured by a treatment. In addition, there is other problem that a sufficient level of fixation cannot be obtained even when osteosynthesis is carried out. Further, a various kind of serious complications such as muscle weakness, articular contracture, decubitus ulcer, dementia, urinary tract infection, impaired cardiopulmonary function and the like may easily occur due to disuse of a human body which follows the fracture. Still further, an unfavorable cycle in which simultaneous occurrence of disuse bone atrophy causes further progress in osteoporosis may not be avoided.
As described in the above, bone fracture that is accompanied with osteoporosis impairs quality of life (QOL) of patients, and also has a significant effect on prognosis. At the same time, it imposes significant social problems relating to attending patients and high medical cost, etc. Therefore, object of treating osteoporosis is to accelerate bone formation so that bone mass is increased and bone fracture is prevented.
Until now, as a prophylactic and/or therapeutic agent for osteoporosis, estrogen preparation, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) like raloxifen, etc., a calcitonin preparation like elcatonin, etc., and a bisphosphonate preparation like alendronate, etc., have been clinically used. Most of these preparations contribute to increasing bone mineral density during bone remodeling process by inhibiting bone resorption. Recently, excellent efficacy of a parathyroid hormone (PTH) preparation, which restores a lost bone dimension by actively stimulating bone formation, is getting new attention.
To a patient having postmenopausal osteoporosis who had been already suffering from vertebral body fracture, PTH (20 μg) was administered subcutaneously everyday for 19 months in average. As a result, bone mineral density was increased as much as 9.7% in lumbar spine (1.1% for placebo administration group), and 2.8% in neck of femur (−0.7% for placebo administration group). In addition, frequency of occurrence of new vertebral body fracture was inhibited as much as 65% and frequency of occurrence of non-vertebral body fracture was also inhibited as much as 53% [Non-patent Document No. 1]. Considering that the inhibitory effect of an agent for inhibiting bone resorption, such as bisphosphonate, raloxifen and the like, on vertebral body fracture is about 50% when it is administered for 3 to 4 years, bone fracture inhibiting effect of PTH is believed to be very potent. In fact, from a comparative test in which PTH (20 μg, subcutaneous injection everyday) or alendronate (ALN; 10 mg, oral administration everyday) was administered to a patient having postmenopausal osteoporosis, it was found that bone mineral density of lumbar spine was increased up to 10.3% for PTH administration group 18 months after the administration, while only 5.5% increase was recognized for the ALN administration group [Non-patent Document No. 2], thus indicating potent efficacy which has not been obtained from previous drug compounds. However, the PTH preparation is a peptide preparation and needs to be subcutaneously injected to a subject every day. Thus, as an administration method for patients suffering from osteoporosis, who are predominantly elderly people, it is not necessarily a convenient method. For such reasons, several attempts are made to provide compliance of dosing and convenience for patients, such as developing a preparation which can be administered once a week (Non-patent Document No. 3), developing an intranasal dosage preparation (Non-patent Document No. 4), etc. A study relating to an antagonist for a calcium-sensing receptor is one of such attempts.
Calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) is a G protein coupled receptor which was cloned in 1993, and it plays an essential role for the control of PTH secretion in parathyroid gland. Activation of CaSR by extracellular calcium (Ca) inhibits secretion of PTH via activation of Gq protein [Non-patent Document No. 5]. In this connection, an idea of producing a preparation that can promote secretion of PTH by inhibiting CaSR function was presented. In fact, the first antagonist for CaSR was reported by Gowen et al. (Non-patent Document No. 6). As a result of single oral administration of an antagonist for CaSR referred to as NPS2143 to a rat, Gowen et al. confirmed that PTH concentration in blood is continuously increased. Further, after the oral administration of NPS2143 to a model rat having osteoporosis (rat with removed ovary) everyday for eight weeks, they also learned that bone formation evaluated by bone morphometry is increased but bone mineral density remained almost the same. Meanwhile, when NPS2143 and estrogen are administered together, increase in bone resorption that was found for administration of NPS2143 only was inhibited, and even compared to a group administered with estrogen only, a significant increase in bone mineral density was found. In general, it is believed that intermittent administration of PTH increases bone mineral density while continuous administration of PTH decreases it [Non-patent Document No. 7]. As such, it was considered that the reason why no activity of increasing bone mineral density was found when only NPS2143 was administered is due to the persistent activity of increasing the PTH concentration in blood by the compounds. Therefore, unlike NPS2143, an ideal antagonist for CaSR preferably has a transient activity of increasing PTH concentration in blood. Further, an essential requirement for an ideal antagonist for CaSR includes excellent safety having no cell toxicity, mutagenicity, drug interaction, etc. However, at the present moment there is no antagonist for CaSR that is approved as a pharmaceutical preparation by authorities.
Meanwhile, as a compound which has a similar function as the compounds of the present invention, those disclosed in the following Patent Documents have been known. However, they are all different from the compounds of the present invention in terms of characteristics of a chemical structure.
[Prior Art Literatures]
[Non-Patent Document]
[Non-patent Document No. 1] Neer R M., et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 344. 1434-1441. 2001.
[Non-patent Document No. 2] McClung M R., et al., Arch. Intern. Med. 165. 1762-1768. 2005.
[Non-patent Document No. 3] Miki T., et al., J. Bone Mineral Metab. 22. 569-576. 2004.
[Non-patent Document No. 4] Matsumoto T., et al., Osteoporosis Int. 17. 1532-1538. 2006.
[Non-patent Document No. 5] Brown E M., et al., Nature. 366. 575-580. 1993.
[Non-patent Document No. 6] Gowen M., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 105. 1595-1604. 2000.
[Non-patent Document No. 7] Uzawa T., et al., Bone 16. 477-484. 1995.
[Patent Document]
[Patent Document No. 1] International Publication No. WO97/37967 pamphlet
[Patent Document No. 2] International Publication No. WO02/14259 pamphlet
[Patent Document No. 3] International Publication No. WO04/69793 pamphlet
[Patent Document No. 4] International Publication No. WO04/106296 pamphlet
[Patent Document No. 5] International Publication No. WO04/047751 pamphlet
[Patent Document No. 6] International Publication No. WO04/017908 pamphlet


System(s) and method(s) that facilitate utilizing biometric sensors (e.g., fingerprint, hand scan, voice recognition . . . ) in manufacturing systems in order to maintain accurate safety audit trails. A safety audit system, utilizing a biometric sensing device, facilitates determining if a user is allowed to access and change the configuration of the manufacturing system. Once a user is allowed to change the configuration (e.g., programmable electronics, tooling changes, software updates, etc.) the changes are automatically recorded in a safety audit database. Automatic storage of configuration changes mitigates manual recording of changes thereby enhancing the safety audit data often necessary to meet safety standards for manufacturing systems.

Companies are continuously developing systems and methods for managing hazards in manufacturing systems (MS) to ensure personnel safety and minimize equipment damage. Such is critical for companies that certify safety of manufacturing systems according to accepted standards. The need for safety is typically coupled with the necessity for innovative production approaches that allow companies to deliver low cost products with short production cycles. These approaches include automotive assembly, line efficiency, life science process, improved plant performance, varied consumer goods, supply chain improvements, etc. Safety is driven by legal requirements, industry codes, voluntary efforts, etc.
One approach for tracking changes is the creation of an internal company safety procedure. Company safety audit trails are often recorded for internal revision control, insurance requirements, ensuring worker safety, etc. The company can recognize the need for recording MS configuration changes and the individuals making those changes. Such configuration changes can be recorded in various ways, e.g., sending change notice e-mails, recording changes in a notebook, engineering change notices (ECNs), etc. However, using internal safety procedures results in company unique approaches, which are typically inflexible, and require cumbersome paperwork.
Still another approach is creating a safety audit trail defined by standards, which require recording of configuration changes. For example, two such safety systems standards include International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard IEC-61508 and EN954-1. Safety standards are typically developed for systems by employing expertise and lessons learned involving previous fatalities, injuries and incidents or near misses. In general, IEC-61508 and EN954-1 require safety audits, which record configuration changes to the MS throughout the system's life. Safety auditing enables a company and/or equipment manufacturer to investigate configuration changes that contribute to accidents, and to mitigate such occurrences.
IEC-61508 is a standard for electrical, electronic and programmable electronic (PE) safety related systems, specifying requirements for how PE systems are to be designed, implemented, operated and maintained to meet required safety integrity levels (SIL). SILs are defined according to the risks involved in the specific system application. SIL 1 indicates that a failure's likely outcome is a non-emergency injury to persons and/or damage to equipment requiring non-extensive repairs, for example. Likewise, SIL 2 designates that a failure is prone to result in a serious injury necessitating emergency care and/or property damage requiring modest repair. SIL 3 indicates that a failure will have an expected outcome of life-threatening injuries to persons and/or damage to property requiring extensive repairs and/or prolonged shutdown of operations. Such requirements are defined with respect to programmable electronics, e.g., embedded controllers, microprocessors, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), software, etc.
Similarly, EN954-1 applies to electro-sensitive protective equipment (ESPE) and is a European harmonized standard. The standard requires that a machine's or manufacturing system's PE safety risk be assessed and a determination made to eliminate or reduce alleged risks. The safety risk is determined by three factors: 1) severity of the injury, 2) frequency and exposure time to the hazard, 3) possibility of avoiding the hazard. For example, Category 4 (Cat 4) requires the highest level for safety performance capable of accommodating the most hazardous conditions.
A manufacturing system that can employ IEC-61508 and EN954-1 certifications is a flexible manufacturing work-cell. Work-cells are typically designed to provide enhanced productivity, minimal downtime, a wide range of manufactured products, reduced costs to consumers, etc. Many work-cells integrate robots, machine tools, material handling equipment, packaging devices, sensors, actuators, controllers, other hardware and software. Safety standards and safety audit requirements for work-cells vary by industry; however machine safety audits are often performed in order to meet strict safety standards. Many companies conduct safety audits on manufacturing systems using software that creates sophisticated reminder systems, e.g., check lists for audits, inspection sheets, maintenance records, etc. However, there is in general no guarantee, e.g., that the paperwork will be filled out properly or that a required inspection is performed.
In addition, existing highly automated and sophisticated manufacturing systems are not without deficiencies with respect to tracking commissioning, configuration changes, safety audits, etc. In particular, conventional manufacturing systems are complex in nature, including sensors, actuators, material handling equipment, machine tools, versions of software, various software configurations, multiple maintenance personnel, etc. In many manufacturing systems, the versions of software have typically changed numerous times, and multiple users have accessed the system to change the software or hardware configurations, sometimes without proper tracking and authorization.
Even when the MS requires a password to gain access, the passwords can be shared, compromised, forgotten, and the like. Similarly, if the system requires a key, access card or badge, such items can be stolen, duplicated, lost, forgotten, etc. Additionally, once a user has gained access to the MS, it is possible that the user fails to record the configuration changes made, and so if there is a safety issue it is difficult or impossible to determine the configuration of the manufacturing system at the time of the incident.
Furthermore, in environments requiring safety audits, for example, SIL 3, CAT 4 or others, it is cumbersome to provide a safety audit report, since various users of the manufacturing system fail to keep adequate records. As explained earlier, with larger MS, it becomes more difficult to establish a safety audit database and in many cases the database is untrustworthy. In other words, even if a safety audit system is in place it may have only captured a small percentage of the configuration changes made to the MS.
Moreover, employing programmable electronics can also create new hazards and/or exacerbate existing hazards. It is anticipated that fatalities, injuries, and near misses will increase as the number and complexity of programmable electronics increases with the need to remain competitive. It is critical that safety systems evolve along with programmable electronics in order to reduce safety issues. Moreover, cooperation of a user is typically required to record the configuration changes electronically using a PDA, laptop computer or computing device, and for the change record to be stored in a database. As the user makes configuration changes to the MS the user is required by the company to record those changes electronically. Again it incumbent on the user to record and changes so that an accurate safety audit trail is established. If the user fails to record the change to the system the database is incomplete.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome the aforementioned exemplary deficiencies associated with conventional systems and devices.

Audit trail in a programmable safety instrumented system via biometric signature(s)