In P-channel MOS transistor comprising a gate insulating film composed of a high dielectric constant material and the gate electrode composed of polycrystalline silicon, a technology for preventing Fermi level pinning and providing a stable reduction of the threshold voltage is provided. The MOS transistor functions as a buried channel transistor formed by implanting In as a P-type impurity into the channel region. In addition, the gate electrode is composed of the polycrystalline silicon film, which is doped with N-type impurity. Thus, the gate depletion caused by Fermi level pinning can be effectively inhibited. Therefore the depletion in the gate electrode can be avoided and the threshold voltage can be stably diminished. In this case, the threshold voltage is stably reduced since electric charge is induced by applying a constant voltage to the gate electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a MOS transistor, which comprises a gate insulating film including a high dielectric constant film and a gate electrode comprising polycrystalline silicon.
2. Related Art
In recent years, the utilization of a thin film having high dielectric constant called high-k as a component material for the semiconductor devices is actively investigated. Typical high-k material includes oxides of elements such as Zr, Hf and the like. The use of such type of materials for a gate insulating film of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) reduces a silicon oxide equivarent thickness of the gate insulating film, even though the thickness of the gate insulating film is increased to a certain level, thereby providing a physically and structurally stable gate insulating film.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. JP-A-2003-289,140 discloses a MOSFET employing such high-k material. A N channel MOSFET of a surface-channel type is described in this disclosure. A metal silicate film is employed as a gate insulating film. A gate electrode is composed of N-type polycrystalline silicon.
However, a comprehension is obtained according to the recent study, in which a phenomenon called Fermi level pinning is caused when the gate insulating film is composed of a high-k film and the gate electrode is composed of polycrystalline silicon. (C. Hobbs et. al, entitled "Fermi Level Pinning at the PolySi/Metal Oxide Interface", 2003 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers) It is considered that Fermi level pinning is caused when an energy level is created on the basis of chemical bonding of silicon with the above-described metal composing the high-k film within polycrystalline silicon composing the gate, in vicinity of an interface of the gate insulating film in the gate electrode. The disclosure of this literature also describes that Fermi level pinning is caused when high-k films such as HfO2 or Al2O3 is provided so as to contact polycrystalline silicon.
When Fermi level pinning is caused in gate polycrystalline silicon of the MOSFET, a depletion layer is created in the gate polycrystalline silicon in vicinity of an interface thereof with the gate insulating film. In such condition, sufficient voltage cannot be supplied to the gate insulating film, even though sufficient gate voltage is applied, and thus it is difficult to induce enough amount of carrier in the channel region. As a result, a problem is arisen, in which a threshold voltage is increased, and further a fluctuation in the threshold voltage is also increased. In particular, such phenomenon considerably appears in the P-channel MOS transistor, which comprises the gate electrode including gate polycrystalline silicon that contains P-type impurity.


Imaging methods, imaging devices, transfer assemblies, and transfer member lubrication assemblies are described according to some aspects. According to one aspect, an imaging method includes forming a latent image using a first imaging member, using a marking agent, developing the latent image providing a developed image, after the developing, first transferring the marking agent of the developed image to an imaging transfer member, after the first transferring, second transferring the marking agent of the developed image from the imaging transfer member, and lubricating the imaging transfer member during the first and the second transferrings.

Imaging devices capable of printing images upon paper and other media are becoming increasingly popular and used in many applications including color reproduction. For example, laser printers, ink jet printers, and digital printing presses are but a few examples of imaging devices in wide use today for black and white or color imaging.
Digital printing presses are relatively new compared with other printing technologies and may be used in place of other printing arrangements, such as analog printing presses. In one imaging example utilizing a press, a plurality of copies of the same image may be reproduced in relatively high volumes (e.g., printing business cards, catalogs, publications, etc.). Some analog systems may have relatively long set up times for different jobs to be imaged. In these implementations, it may not be desired to use analog systems if a relatively small number of copies of the job are to be reproduced.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Coat a starch-based surface-paper-strengthening agent on a base paper made from a paper material that contains at least chemically processed hardwood mechanical pulp and bulk-increasing agent; where it is desirable that the hardwood mechanical pulp with a single fiber density index of 0.20 or more be blended by 10 to 60 weight-% of the total weight of pulp, with the adding amount of bulk-increasing agent adjusted to 0.1 to 1.2 weight-% and the coating amount of starch-based surface-paper-strengthening agent, to 0.3 to 3.0 g/m2.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a high-bulk, wood containing printing paper offering high brightness, very low density, high flexibility (low stiffness), and excellent printability.
2. Description of the Related Art
High bulk (low density) is one of important qualities required by paper products of late. Responding to the growing pro-environmental sentiment, the users are demanding paper products that offer lower weight, or lower density, while maintaining sufficient thickness, in order to achieve more effective utilization of paper pulp produced from forest resource.
One traditional method for reducing paper density (increasing paper bulk) is to use high-bulk pulp. In general, wood pulp is used widely in paper production. It is known that ground pulp produced by grinding wood material using a grinder, or refiner mechanical pulp produced by refining wood material using a refiner, or yet mechanical pulp such as thermomechanical pulp, offers stiffer fibers and is therefore more effective in reducing paper density, compared with chemical pulp produced by extracting a reinforcing substance called lignin from wood fibers through chemical processing. However, today's mechanical pulp is mostly produced from softwood trees containing large amounts of lignin, which makes it difficult to produce pulp offering high brightness. A number of issues have therefore been encountered in the effort to produce a high-bulk paper offering high brightness.
Among various types of mechanical pulp, softwood thermomechanical pulp has relatively long and stiff fibers. Therefore, paper made from such pulp had poor formation and lower smoothness, and also caused ink impression problem during offset printing. Paper made from softwood thermomechanical pulp containing stiff fibers also resulted in lower foldability—a factor that affects offset printing efficiency—and made it difficult to turn pages of printed/bound books. Regarding the use of softwood thermomechanical pulp, therefore, improvement of flexibility, or reduction of flexural stiffness, of printing paper remained an issue.
To solve the above problems, the applicant filed a patent application regarding a technology used to produce from specific hardwood trees a mechanical pulp offering high bulk, high brightness and high relative scattering coefficient (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-27385). The applicant also filed a patent application regarding a printing paper containing hardwood mechanical pulp, which offers low density, high brightness, high opacity and excellent printability (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-49386). However, when what happens to the strength, printability and other properties of paper as a result of increasing paper bulk are put into overall perspective based on the use of hardwood mechanical pulp, these conventional technologies can only achieve a paper density of around 0.50 g/cm3 at the lowest for printing paper fit for practical use, and therefore further increase in paper bulk (reduction of density) remained difficult.
Another known method for reducing paper density is to use a bulk-increasing agent. Known bulk-increasing agents include a bulk-increasing agent for paper containing specified alcohol and/or its polyoxyalkylene adduct (PCT International Publication No. 98/03730), nonionic surfactant (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-200283) and bulk-increasing agent for paper consisting of polyvalent alcohol and fatty acid ester compound (Registered Japanese Patent No. 2971447), and a technology that applies these bulk-increasing agents for paper to paperboard is also disclosed (Registered Japanese Patent No. 3041294).
As for the bulk-increasing agent based on a non-surfactant, a bulk-increasing agent for paper that contains at least one type of compound selected from a cationic compound having a specified structure, amine, acid salt of amine, or amphoteric compound is disclosed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-269799). A bulk-increasing agent of fatty acid polyamide polyamine type is also known. Also known is a compound with a water separation degree of 4% or more that provides the effect of increasing two or more paper qualities including bulk, brightness and opacity (Registered Japanese Patent No.3283248). Additionally, a method for producing a pulp sheet is also disclosed, where the method uses a compound with a water separation degree of 4% or more that provides the effect of increasing one or more paper qualities including bulk, brightness and opacity (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-105685).
Efforts to increase paper bulk using these known bulk-increasing agents cannot reduce the density of obtained printing paper to levels below 0.50 g/cm3 or so, which is similar to the case when hardwood mechanical pulp is used as mentioned above, and therefore ways to further reduce paper density are needed.
Even if paper bulk can be successfully reduced and a low-density paper is obtained, when offset printed such paper would cause "bleeding," or oozing out of ink onto the back face over time. This problem, which affects printing quality, became a major issue in the effort to reduce paper density.
Based on the above background, development of a high-bulk, wood containing printing paper offering high brightness, low density, high flexibility (low stiffness) and excellent printability, while also preventing bleeding, has been awaited.

High-bulk, wood containing printing paper


A photographic camera comprises a camera body, a cartridge receiving chamber located inside the camera body, a door connected to the camera body for closing and opening movement to cover and uncover the chamber, and latching means connected to the camera body for locking and unlocking movement to lock the door closed and to unlock the door. According to the invention, actuating means connects the door and the latching means for initiating opening movement of the door in response to unlocking movement of the latching means and for initiating locking movement of the latching means in response to closing movement of the door. Preferably, the latching means includes a light sealing collar for the door which is shaped to partially surround the door when the door is locked closed to prevent ambient light from leaking under the door into the cartridge receiving chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of photography and in particular to photographic cameras. More specifically, the invention relates to a light seal/latch device for the loading door of a photographic camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known for a photographic camera to comprise a cartridge receiving chamber, a loading door supported for closing and opening movement to cover and uncover the chamber, and latching means supported for locking and unlocking movement to lock the door closed and to unlock the door. Typically, the latching means is manually actuated to unlock the door and then the door is manually opened.
Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,421, issued Sep. 4, 1984, discloses a photographic camera in which a bottom loading door is opened to uncover a cartridge receiving chamber. During opening movement, the loading door pivots a latching lever out of engagement with a rear door to permit the rear door to be opened. The latching lever then holds the loading door in an open position. When the rear door is closed, however, it pivots the latching lever out of engagement with the loading door to permit the loading door to be closed.

Photographic camera with light seal/latch device for loading door


In the nitride based semiconductor optical device LE1, the strained well layers 21 extend along a reference plane SR1 tilting at a tilt angle α from the plane that is orthogonal to a reference axis extending in the direction of the c-axis. The tilt angle α is in the range of greater than 59 degrees to less than 80 degrees or greater than 150 degrees to less than 180 degrees. A gallium nitride based semiconductor layer P is adjacent to a light-emitting layer SP− with a negative piezoelectric field and has a band gap larger than that of a barrier layer. The direction of the piezoelectric field in the well layer W3 is directed in a direction from the n-type layer to the p-type layer, and the piezoelectric field in the gallium nitride based semiconductor layer P is directed in a direction from the p-type layer to the n-type layer. Consequently, the valence band, not the conduction band, has a dip at the interface between the light-emitting layer SP− and the gallium nitride based semiconductor layer P.

Patent Document 1 discloses a semiconductor optical device. In the semiconductor optical device, a piezoelectric field in a strained layer does not occur at all in a direction tilted at an angle of about 40 degrees, 90 degrees, and 140 degrees defined with reference to the [0001] direction. Accordingly, a plane orientation is selected within the angle range of 30 to 50 degrees, 80 to 100 degrees, or 130 to 150 degrees. Epitaxial growth occurs onto the surface of a substrate on which little or no piezoelectric field is generated in a strained quantum-well structure.
Patent Document 2 discloses a semiconductor light-emitting device. This semiconductor light-emitting device is formed on a nonpolar plane. The nonpolar plane encompasses a {11-20} plane, a plane tilted from the {11-20} plane at an angle in the range of −5 to +5 degrees, a {1-100} plane, or a plane tilted from the {1-100} plane at an angle in the range of −5 to +5 degrees.
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a theoretical study of dependence of the piezoelectric effect on crystal orientation in an InGaN/GaN hetero structure of a wurtzite structure. A strained layer grown in a crystal orientation at an off-angle of 39 degrees or 90 degrees with reference to (0001) does not induce the longitudinal component of the piezoelectric field. Furthermore, Non-Patent Document 2 discloses the effect of crystal orientation in relation to electrical characteristics of an InGaN/GaN quantum-well of a wurtzite structure. The internal electric field of the InGaN/GaN quantum-well structure changes its sign around at an off-angle of about 55 degrees.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-112029 (Japanese Patent Application No. 09-263511)
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-135576
[Non-Patent Document 1] Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 39 (2000), pp. 413-416. Part 1. No. 2A, February
[Non-Patent Document 2] J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 91, No. 12, 15 Jun. 2002, pp. 9904-9908.

Nitride based semiconductor optical device, epitaxial wafer for nitride based semiconductor optical device, and method of fabricating semiconductor light-emitting device


Apparatus for providing cable-management comprising at least one bracket having a support member and a plurality of extensions protruding from the support member, where at least one pair of adjacent extensions define at least one receptacle. At least one cable holder is removably inserted into the at least one receptacle.

Telecommunications systems commonly include cables for interconnecting pieces of telecommunications equipment. Equipment racks typically hold a variety of different pieces of telecommunications equipment in a relatively small area. In some instances, thousands of cables are used to interconnect the various pieces of equipment mounted in the racks. As such, cable management is important for efficiently routing cables to minimize the space occupied by the cables, preventing damage or unexpected displacement of the cables, and avoiding excessive cable bending or other external forces that may damage a cable or its associated connector or connectors.
In general, cable management improvement has been sought, generally to efficiently and effectively manage cables by providing system adaptability, and ease of cable organization.


A data transmitting device transmits a print file showing file names of image files and print conditions to a data receiving device, and the data receiving device stores the received print file in a storage medium. Then, the data receiving device requests one of the image files from the data transmitting according to the file names shown in the print file, and the data transmitting device transmits the one of the image files to the data receiving device in response to the request. The data receiving device stores the one of the image files in a storage medium and prints the image in the print condition shown in the print file, and the data receiving device and the data transmitting device repeat the steps for each of the image files.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data communication method. Particularly, it relates to an image data communication method in which a data transmitting device transmits image files of image data stored in a storage medium to a data receiving device and the data receiving device prints images according to the image data
The present invention also relates to an image data communication method. Particularly, it relates to an image data communication method in which a data transmitting device transmits one of the image files of image data stored in a storage medium to a data receiving device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-150673 discloses a digital camera that stores a print file showing the number of prints in a storage medium with image data. When the storage medium is removed from the camera and inserted into a printer, the printer automatically makes the number of prints shown in the print file. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-341327 discloses a digital camera that communicates with a printer to transmit image data to the printer. However, in this printer, the user needs to operate both the camera and the printer, and the printer can not make the preset number of prints.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-215397 discloses a wireless communication method in which thumbnails are displayed on a data receiving device and the user selects an image according to the thumbnails. Image data of the selected image is transmitted from a digital camera to the data receiving device. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-308981 discloses a wireless communication method in which a wireless terminal receives an image file from a digital camera and transmits it to a base station. Image file information is displayed when the user selects the image. However, when the image file information is produced, tag information of all image files needs to be read, and it takes a long time.


Crystalline forms of free base 3-Z-[1-(4-(N-((4-methyl-piperazin-1-yl)-methylcarbonyl)-N-methyl-amino)-phenylamino)-1-phenyl-methylene]-6-methoxycarbonyl-2-indolinone and preparation methods thereof are provided; the pharmaceutical formulations containing the crystalline forms and their use in the treatment of diseases, particularly angiogenic eye diseases are also provided.

3-Z-[1-(4-(N-((4-methyl-piperazin-1-yl)-methylcarbonyl)-N-methyl-amino)-phenylamino)-1-phenyl-methylene]-6-methoxycarbonyl-2-indolinone, known by its drug name Nintedanib, is an effective inhibitor of the receptor tyrosine kinase family (RTK). Nintedanib can inhibit platelet-derived growth factor receptors (PDGFR), fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR), and Fms-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3). FGFR, PDGFR, and VEGFR are involved in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) pathogenesis, and by blocking these signal transduction pathways involved in fibrosis progression, Nintedanib can slow down the progression of IPF diseases by reducing the rate of lung function deterioration. WO 2016/209555 discloses an ophthalmic formulation containing Nintedanib for the treatment of ocular surface disorders.


An optical receiver system for processing signals output from a polarization diversity detector that includes a plurality of photodetector cells. Each cell provides an signal that includes a phase generated carrier signal having a modulation frequency ω and a sensor signal that has an in-phase component I and a quadrature phase component Q superimposed on the phase generated carrier signal. A plurality of variable gain amplifiers are arranged to produce a plurality of amplified signals. A feedback circuit is connected to the plurality of variable gain amplifiers for controlling the gains thereof. A plurality of demodulator circuits are arranged to receive the amplified signals. The demodulator circuits are arranged to provide for each photodetector cell an I signal output that indicates an amplitude of the in-phase component I and a Q signal output that indicates an amplitude of the quadrature phase component Q.

This invention relates generally to processing signals output from an interferometer sensor array. This invention relates particularly processing signals output from a fiber optic interferometer sensor array arranged to monitor a physical parameter by means of phase changes in such an array when it is exposed to the parameter. Still more particularly, this invention relates to processing signals output from an array of tri-cell photodetector array used to detect signals output from an interferometer sensor array.
Mismatched fiber optic interferometers are commonly used as sensing elements in fiber optic sensor arrays for measuring changes in a parameter such as fluid pressure, acceleration, magnetic field intensity, etc. Such sensing elements measure the time-varying phase delay between optical signals that have propagated along separate optical paths having unequal path length.
Mixing between a reference signal and a data signal is often necessary to extract information from an optical carrier. In interferometric sensing the mixing is typically between a reference signal and a signal whose phase has been modified, or modulated by the parameter being measured.
Modulation is commonly used to transmit information from an information source, such as a sensor system where information is detected, to an information destination, such as a receiver system where detected signals arc received and processed. According to conventional modulation techniques, a signal of interest detected by a sensor modulates a carrier signal by modifying one or more characteristics of the carrier signal, such as amplitude, frequency or phase, to form a modulated carrier signal. The modulated carrier signal is then more easily transmitted over the appropriate communication channels to the destination or receiver system where the modulated carrier signal is demodulated to recover the signal of interest and determine the information.
One type of sensor system that employs modulation techniques includes fiber optic sensors, for example, as used in fiber optic interferometers for distance measurements. The fiber optic sensors detect or sense light signals that modulate the output phase of the sensor system or interferometer. The modulated carrier can then be photodetected and transmitted to a receiver system. In a system having an array of sensors, the signals are often multiplexed, for example, using time division multiplexing (TDM) and/or wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
Fiber optic sensor systems acquire in the demodulation process a signal component proportional to the sine of the sensor phase shift and another signal component proportional to the cosine of the phase shift. The sine of the sensor phase shift is referred to as the quadrature term, Q; and the cosine of the sensor phase shift is referred to as the in-phase term, I. The angle of the phase shift is determined by calculating ratio Q/I, which is the tangent of the sensor phase shift. The amplitudes of the sine and cosine terms must be set equal by a normalization procedure to ensure the successful implementation of an arctangent routine to find the sensor phase shift.
One type of modulation technique used in interferometers and other sensor systems uses phase generated carriers. The sensor's time varying phase signal (signal of interest) modulates the phase generated carriers to form a modulated carrier. Both the signal of interest and the phase generated carriers can be mathematically represented as a Bessel series of harmonically related terms. During modulation, the Bessel series of the signal of interest modulates the Bessel series of the phase generated carrier. The number of terms in the Bessel series of the resulting modulated carrier will be dependent upon the level of the measured or detected signal of interest. The harmonically related terms in the Bessel series of the modulated carrier represent both the measured or detected signal of interest and the carrier signal.
Typical fiber optic sensor systems using phase generated carriers to transmit a detected or measured signal (signal of interest) to a receiver system have used a pair of quadrature carriers with frequencies of either ωc and 2ωc or 2ωc and 3ωc, where ωc is the phase generated carrier frequency. In multiplexed sensor systems, the sensor sampling frequency fs must be selected to ensure that frequencies greater than fs/2 are not aliased into the band of interest below fs/2.
In some systems the optical signal input to the interferometer is a phase generated carrier produced by producing time-dependent variations in the frequency of the optical signal output by a laser. A phase generated carrier may be produced by various techniques. One technique involves routing the source output through a phase modulator and applying a sequence of separate and different linear ramp voltages to the linear phase modulator to produce step changes in the optical frequency.
Another technique for producing a phase generated carrier uses sinusoidal phase modulation of the source signal. Instead of sampling signals associated with separate optical frequencies, the sampling of signals is associated with integration over portions of a period of the phase generated carrier.
Still another technique for producing a phase generated carrier involves the use of a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO). A problem with using an NCO in an array comprising a plurality of interferometric sensors is an uncertainty in the sign of the sensor response under certain conditions. In particular, carriers that are 180° out of phase with the NCO phase will produce sensor responses with opposite sign after demodulation different than those produced by carriers that are in phase with the NCO phase. When coherently combined, sensor responses with opposite signs will combine destructively, which results in an attenuation of the combined output and a reduction in overall system dynamic range.
A significant problem in systems that employ the reception of optical signals from an optical fiber is signal fading caused by changes in the polarization of the optical signals transmitted through the optical fiber. Specifically, phase information from two or more optical signals propagated through a fiber optic transmission line can be lost at the receiver if the polarizations of two signals of interest are crossed, resulting in no detector beat note. It is therefore necessary to provide some mechanism for treating the signal that yields a suitably large detector beat note for signal processing in all cases of polarization wander.
Polarization diversity detectors are used to detect an optical signal of uncertain polarization and produce an electrical output corresponding to a selected polarization component in the optical signal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,507, which issued Dec. 22, 1998 to David B. Hall and which is assigned Litton Systems, Inc., assignee of the present invention, discloses a tri-cell polarization diversity detector that produces multiple output signals from an incident beam that has two orthogonal polarization components. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,507 is incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,058, which issued Sep. 5, 1995 to Arab-Sadeghabadi and vonBierein and which is assigned Litton Systems, Inc., assignee of the present invention, discloses a polarization diversity detector that includes an array of three polarizers having axes of polarization spaced apart by selected angles such that an optical signal incident on the polarizer array has a component along at least one of the axes of polarization. A photodetector array is arranged such that each photodetector receives light from a selected one of the polarizers. At least one of the photodetectors receives parallel polarization components that form an electrical signal that indicates interference between the parallel polarization components. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,058 is incorporated by reference into the present disclosure.

Multi-channel optical receiver for processing tri-cell polarization diversity detector outputs


A hammer having a coupling rod extended from a neck at one end of the hammer body of the hammer, a bell detachably attached to the coupling rod, a rubber socket mounted in a transverse through hole of the bell and a transverse through hole of the coupling rod to accommodate a stud nut, and a screw threaded into the stud nut to affix the socket and the bell to the coupling rod of the hammer body.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hammer and, more particularly, to a hammer having a detachable bell.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A hammer is a tool with a head and a handle, used for driving in nails, etc. Different sizes of hammers of different materials are commercially available for different purposes. After a long use, the head (bell) of the hammer may start to wear. If the face of the head (bell) is damaged, the hammer may be unable to function well. Therefore, hammers with a capped head or attached working surface are developed. These hammers allow the user to replace the cap or working surface of the head thereof when damaged. Exemplars of these designs are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,457,384B1, entitled "Capped head hammer", U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,832B1, entitled "Capped head hammer", and U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,308B1, entitled "Tool having an attached working surface". However, these conventional designs are not easy to detach and replace.


A device for actuating a sun-roof of motor vehicles and the like, which comprises a frame which can be fixed at an opening provided in the roof of motor vehicles and the like. The frame forms two mutually opposite guiding rails. The device comprises, for each guiding rail, a slider which can be associated with translatory motion means for its sliding in the corresponding rail and is provided with two mutually spaced lateral pins which can engage two cam-like slots provided on a bracket for supporting the sheet-like element that can be arranged so as to close the opening. There is also provided a plate which is articulated to the bracket and is actuated by the slider in order to place the plate in a position for coupling to the frame, wherein the sliding of the slider causes the rotation of the sheet-like element, and in a movement position, in which the sliding of the slider causes the translatory motion of the sheet-like element arranged at an angle.

The present invention relates to a device for actuating a sun-roof of motor vehicles and the like.
Current commercially available sun-roofs for motor vehicles allow to perform, when the sun-roof is actuated, an initial step of oscillation of the sun-roof, which is arranged at an angle by lifting the part directed towards the rear region of the motor vehicle. The sun-roof can also optionally be made to slide so as to at least partially open the upper opening.
To perform closure, the above-described movements are of course performed in reverse.
These conventional solutions have generally proved themselves very complicated, both because they require the assembly of a considerable number of components and because their actuation is not easy.
Among conventional solutions, mention is made of those in which a frame is provided which is located at the opening of the roof and forms two mutually opposite rails in which a first and a second sliding elements for each rail can slide. A bracket is pivoted to one of the sliding elements and supports the sun-roof, and there is provided an opening lever which is pivoted to the sliding element at one end and to the bracket at the other end, whilst in a median portion it has a pivot which engages the other guiding element.
With this arrangement, rotation is performed through the mutual sliding of the sliding elements, whilst translatory motion during opening and closure is obtained by keeping the two sliding bodies or elements mutually close by means of locking devices which are structurally very complicated.
Another typical drawback of the solutions of the prior art is constituted by the fact that the components have a considerable bulk in terms of width, which thus significantly limits the useful region for the application of the sheet-like element that forms in practice the sun-roof closure element.

Device for actuating a sun-roof of motor vehicles and the like


A method and system for providing sports betting information, in real time, utilizing a standard Internet connection on a computer to display the odds from a plurality of sports books are provided. The system provides its users with a line seeker alert, a major line move alert, a bet tracker, and a fully customizable display. A method of gaining real time sports betting information without the use of a web browser, through the use of a separate program written in the C++ programming language is disclosed.

The business of sports gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry, especially in places, like Las Vegas and outside the United States, where it is legal. With the size of the industry comes the need for information, such as the current odds regarding the event to be bet on. Odds are used in order to balance the amount of money bet on each team, so as to protect the individual or establishment taking the bet from losing money. For example, games where there is a powerful team taking on a weaker team would obviously generate more bets for the more powerful team. Odds are introduced to deter some of those who would place bets on the powerful team. These odds can be in the form of a point spread (or line), which force the "favored" team to win by a certain amount of points or the "underdog" to lose by less than those points, in order for someone betting on them to collect. These odds fluctuate as bets are taken, so the total amount of money bet on one team is the same or very close to the same as on the other team. Each sports book, which takes bets, can therefore have different odds, depending on what bets they have already taken. For a prospective bettor, the current odds for each sports book are important because they may want to bet on a game at certain odds. Therefore, there is a need for real time odds information for the various Las Vegas and other international sports books.
Typically, in order to become aware of the lines/odds of a sports book, one must contact each sports book and inquire as to the odds. By the time one has contacted all of the sports books and decided on one to place a bet with, the line/odds may have changed. The present invention addresses this issue by allowing one to check all odds/lines, for each sports book, on-line, in real time. The present invention allows for the user to set predetermined lines he wants to bet on, alerts the user of major line movement between the sports books, keeps a record of the user's betting history, and allows for full customization of the display.
The first prior art is the old Don Best Sports program, DBS. This program is written in Java and accessed via the Don Best website on the World Wide Web, at www.donbest.com. The DBS Java program displays odds and lines from major Las Vegas and International sports books in real time, along with other sports gaming information. FIG. 1 shows a typical view of the DBS program, as would be viewed by the user. The new Internet program is written in the C++ programming language. It includes a line seeker feature, a major line move alert, a bet tracker, and other features that allow for customization of the display. These improvements allow for the original DBS program to be both more user friendly and practical in the acquisition of information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,977 to Algie teaches an apparatus for a betting parlor associated with a racetrack or totalizator company, including a display of a large amount of racing and parimutuel data, particularly periodic parimutuel or odds data and the history thereof. Racetracks or "off-track" betting parlors, in order to stimulate betting by its patrons, mainly use this prior art. It amounts to a scoreboard that relays information regarding horse racing, including real time odds for the races running at the particular track. The present invention differs from this prior art in that it allows for the real time odds for various sports over the Internet. The present invention also allows for the user to interact with the system through the line seeker, major line move alert, bet tracker, and customizable display features.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,409 to Brenner describes systems and processes for interactive off-track wagering. Odds, pools and payoff amounts can be viewed for a variety of complex wager types. The waging system uses totalizators to generate waging odds in real time based on the wagers. A user terminal alerts a user that a race is a bout to be run or a waging transaction is being sent. This system allows a user to get odds on, place bets on, and view horse races on one terminal. The present invention does not allow the user to place bets or watch races. The present invention provides the user with odds, for various sporting events, from several different casinos/sports books. The present invention comprises features that allow the user to customize the display of the odds and enter parameters for odds he is seeking.
The discussed prior art presents a database of information. However, this prior art does not attempt to solve the problems that the present invention is designed to answer. The present invention comprises new features to an on-line real time odds acquisition program. These features allow the user to customize the display of the odds and enter parameters for odds he is seeking.
It should be clear to one skilled in the art, that the above discussed prior art is used for the purposes of illustration and should not be construed as limiting in any way, except for the prior art elements claimed in the above patents.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for providing real time sports betting information


A hand tool comprising a body with a first end and a second end, a striking portion disposed at the first end of the body, a hand grip disposed about a portion of the body, the hand grip defining a first elongated recess, and a cutting device removable received in the first elongated recess of the hand grip.

Quite often, articles of furniture require partial, and possibly full, assembly once purchased. This is particularly the case with those items of furniture, i.e., baby cribs, home entertainment cabinets, bookshelves, etc., that are often purchased in superstores such as Walmart, K-Mart, Costco, etc., rather than more traditional furniture stores, as well as those furniture items that can be ordered online for at-home delivery. In addition to furniture, items such as toys, play sets, bicycles, lawn and garden equipment, etc., often require some assembly, not to mention repairs at times. Assembly of such items is frequently offered by the retailer, but at additional cost. Of course, to avoid these additional fees, the purchaser can assemble the item himself. However, assembly often requires multiple types of tools, and the purchase of the multiple sets can prove costly.
The present invention recognizes and addresses considerations of prior art constructions and methods.


A storage container for an item of recorded media includes a centrally disposed hub surrounded by and spaced from an outer wall. The hub includes a pair of cantilevered resilient arms that cooperate to loosely but securely retain an item of recorded media. The top of the hub is disposed at a height higher than the tops of the arms such that force on the hub will fail to move the resilient arms. The hub also includes a first support platform that includes a plurality of raised bumps that essentially frictionlessly support the item of recorded media from below. The outer wall includes a second support platform that also includes a plurality of bumps that supports the item of recorded media from below about its outer periphery. The outer wall also includes a blocking wall that extends above the outer edge to prevent the user from grasping the outer edge of the item of recorded media. The outer wall further contains a finger access hole that extends through the blocking wall that allows the user to grab the edge of the item of recorded media in a selected position.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to storage containers for recorded media and, more particularly, to a storage container having a centrally disposed hub that engages and selectively retains an item of recorded media. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a storage container for recorded media employing a hub that releasably secures an item of recorded media such as a compact disc or DVD while substantially preventing the compact disc or DVD from experiencing bending stresses while the item of recorded media is stored in the storage container.
2. Background Information
In recent times, most recorded music is purchased by the consumer either on a cassette tape or a compact disc. Cassettes tapes and compact discs have supplanted vinyl records and 8-track tapes as the dominant forms of recorded music. Along with the growth of compact discs, numerous storage containers have been developed to hold the discs during shipping, display for sale, and subsequent home storage of the discs. A disc may spend over 99% of its life stored in one such storage container because the same storage container is typically used to ship the disc, to display the disc, and to store the disc at the home of the consumer. Most of the storage containers known in the art hold the compact disc on a hub that engages the center hole of the disc to hold the disc in place in the storage container.
Digital versatile discs (DVDs) have recently been developed and are expected to grow as more consumers are exposed to the benefits of a digital video picture combined with a digital audio track on a single DVD. DVDs also have a larger storage capacity than a compact disc and may be used to hold feature length films as well as multiple music recordings. It is likely that DVDs may also be used to hold data in computer readable forms. One problem with DVDs is that they currently trade durability for their increased storage capacity. It is believed that a DVD may be damaged over time by the forces that are commonly created in a compact disc storage container. These forces are the outwardly directed forces created by the hub that typically radially engages the interior wall that forms the center hole in a disc. Compact discs are durable enough to be insensitive to this force but it is believed that a DVD will eventually warp as a result of these constant radial forces. Such warping can prevent the data on a DVD from being correctly read by a DVD player.
In view of the perceived problems with the constant bending forces, the industry has moved in the direction of requiring all DVD storage containers to loosely retain the DVD such that it may freely rotate while securely retained by the storage container. The storage container thus must retain the DVD in a manner that allows it to freely rotate while also securely holding the DVD during a standard drop test. It is thus desired in the art to provide a storage container for a DVD that holds the DVD without creating constant bending stresses in the DVD while securely retaining the DVD to prevent it from coming loose.
Another problem with storage containers used for DVDs is that segments of the industry have moved in the direction of requiring a centrally-disposed button to be depressed before the DVD is released by the storage container. Although these devices are functional and adequately retain the DVD during drop tests, some consumers find the requirement of depressing the center button annoying. Most consumers are accustomed to simply grasping the edge of a compact disc and pulling the compact disc off of the centrally-disposed hub of a storage container. These same consumers feel that they should be able to remove a DVD in the same manner especially because a DVD is similar to a CD in appearance. The center-button DVD storage containers prevent such removal by preventing the consumer from grabbing the edge of the DVD. The storage containers having the center button require the user to hold the storage container with one hand while depressing the center button with the index finger of the other hand. The DVD is then lifted by the thumb and middle finger of the hand depressing the center button. Such removal is difficult for people having weak hands, long fingernails, small hands, or large fingers. In particular, a person with long fingernails or large fingers may have difficulty in depressing the center button adequately to release the DVD from the center hub.
It is thus desired in the art to provide a storage container for a DVD that allows the DVD to be easily removed from the storage container without requiring the user to depress buttons.
Another problem with existing storage containers that allow compact discs and DVDs to be easily removed from a hub is that some of these devices create large bending forces in the discs when the disc is removed from the hub. These storage containers typically allow a person to grasp the edge of the disc at any location about its perimeter and pull upwardly causing the disc to engage the hub, compress a portion of the hub, and then pop off of the hub. Although these discs certainly allow for easy removal, the stresses experienced by the disc during the removal process are thought to be large enough to damage a DVD. It is thus desired in the art to provide a storage container for a DVD that allows the DVD to be quickly and easily removed without creating significantly large bending stresses in the DVD during the removal process.


A moving image recording device comprising, an item superimposition unit configured to superimpose a superimposition item over a moving image in accordance with an input from a user, a storage control unit configured to cause a storage unit to store the moving image together with the superimposition item; and a control unit configured to control the storage unit to store information of an image over which the superimposition item has been superimposed in association with the moving image so that the image over which the superimposition item has been superimposed is used as a representative image of the moving image based on a change in a superimposed state of the superimposition item superimposed over the moving image by the item superimposition unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a moving image recording device, a control method therefor, and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information devices equipped with touchscreens that enable intuitive operations have become widespread, and the functions that make use of the features of touchscreens have been increasing in number. Imaging devices such as video cameras and digital cameras have, for example, a hand-drawn input function that allows superimposing texts and graphics over an image through freehand input.
In order to make it easy to search for captured images, many imaging devices have a mode for displaying a list of thumbnails as representative images of a moving image. In general, out of frame images included in a moving image, a frame image at a certain timing is displayed as a thumbnail of the moving image. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-266655 discloses a method for displaying a thumbnail desirable for a user. According to this method, while taking a moving image, when the angle of view is fixed for a predetermined time period or longer after zoom-in or when a predetermined time period has elapsed since focus lock, a corresponding frame image is used as a thumbnail, namely a representative image.

Moving image recording device, control method therefor, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium


A piston is equipped with a skirt that has a sliding surface provided with an oil repellent resin layer. A solid lubricating resin layer and the oil repellent resin layer are exposed on the sliding surface. On the sliding surface, the oil repellent resin layer extends at an incline with respect to the centerline of the sliding surface in a circumferential direction of the piston.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a piston for use in an internal combustion engine. More specifically, the invention relates to a piston whose skirt has a sliding surface on which a layer of a coating material is formed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A piston for use in an internal combustion engine is usually provided with a piston skirt (hereinafter referred to simply as "a skirt") to suppress the oscillation of the piston within the cylinder bore. The skirt slides along an inner wall surface of the cylinder bore (hereinafter referred to as a cylinder wall) and is flexibly deformed, thereby restraining the friction between the piston and the cylinder wall from increasing while suppressing the oscillation of the piston.
To reduce the friction between the piston and the cylinder wall, the skirt is required to be flexibly deformed to an appropriate degree, and is usually constructed of a thin wall body. To reinforce an end portion of the sliding surface of the skirt in a circumferential direction of the piston (hereinafter referred to as a sliding surface circumferential end portion), the piston is generally provided with a connection wall that connects the sliding surface circumferential end portion to a piston pin boss. These components, namely, the connection wall, the skirt, and the piston pin boss extend from the piston head. In the following description, the region of the end of the skirt that is most distant from the piston head is referred to as "a tail" of the skirt. The central portion of the sliding surface of the skirt in the circumferential direction of the piston is referred to as "a sliding surface central portion".
In the piston thus constructed, with a view to reducing the sliding resistance between the skirt and the cylinder wall, it is known to form a layer of a coating material such as resin or the like on the sliding surface of the skirt. Furthermore, an uncoated groove-like section may be formed in the sliding surface, into which lubricating oil is introduced (e.g., see Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 4-88750 (JP-U-4-88750) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-320934 (JP-A-2005-320934)).
In the piston described in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 4-88750 (JP-U-4-88750), a layer of a resin coating material is formed on a sliding surface that slides along the cylinder wall. Furthermore, in the piston of Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 4-88750 (JP-U-4-88750), a section where the layer of the resin coating material is not formed (a non-coated portion) extends like a groove from a tail side of a sliding surface circumferential end portion toward the top face of the piston head of a central portion of a skirt in a circumferential direction thereof. By providing this non-coated groove-like portion, oil adhering to the cylinder wall is introduced into the non-coated portion as the piston reciprocates, and is supplied to the sliding surface.
In a piston described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-320934 (JP-A-2005-320934), convex sections where a layer (coat) of a solid lubricating material containing molybdenum disulfide and the like exists and concave sections where the layer (coat) of the solid lubricating material does not exist are alternately provided along a sliding surface (outer peripheral surface) of a skirt. Lubricating oil is retained in the concave sections and supplied to the convex sections to thereby enhance the abrasion resistance of the sliding surface of the skirt and reduce the sliding resistance thereof.
A piston for an internal combustion engine is deformed through the heat received during operation of the internal combustion engine. In consideration of this thermal deformation, a skirt of the piston is formed, in a cold condition, in the shape of an ellipse having a minor axis in a direction in which a pin hole of a piston pin boss extends (hereinafter referred to as a piston pin axial direction) and a major axis in a direction in which a thrust force and a counter thrust force act (hereinafter referred to as a thrust direction). The piston thus assuming the shape of the ellipse in the cold condition receives heat from a gap between corresponding ones of a plurality of cylinder bores formed in the internal combustion engine, expands in the piston pin axial direction. As a result, the shape of the piston becomes substantially circular.
A skirt of this piston is constructed such that a top portion of a sliding surface of the skirt is located closer to a central axis of the piston than a tail of the skirt. The top portion of an outer peripheral surface of the skirt becomes deformed outward in a radial direction of the piston due to the heat received from the top portion during operation of the internal combustion engine. The contact pressure that the outer peripheral surface of the skirt receives from a cylinder wall can thereby be made homogeneous.
If an internal combustion engine having a piston constructed as described above is operated at a low rotational speed or under a low load, especially on a top portion side of a circumferential end portion of a sliding surface (hereinafter referred to as a sliding surface circumferential end portion), the gap (hereinafter referred to as a clearance) between the sliding surface circumferential end portion and a cylinder wall is larger with a larger oil film thickness in comparison with other regions of an outer peripheral surface of a skirt. When there is a region having a thicker oil film than the other regions as described above, there is caused a problem in that the shearing resistance of oil is strong, namely, that the sliding resistance on the cylinder wall is strong. Further, owing to the large clearance between the outer peripheral surface of the skirt and the cylinder wall, there is also caused a problem in that a loud slapping sound is produced upon abutment of the outer peripheral surface of the skirt on the cylinder wall.
When the internal combustion engine is operated at a high rotational speed or under a high load, the clearance between a sliding surface central portion and the cylinder wall is smaller and the oil film is thinner in comparison with the other regions of the outer peripheral surface of the skirt, due to thermal expansion of the piston in the thrust direction. Thus, there is an increased likelihood that the sliding surface central portion may suffer abrasion or seizure.
Accordingly, in the piston for use in the internal combustion engine, there is a demand for an art capable of making the thickness of the oil film on the outer peripheral surface of the skirt as homogeneous as possible by introducing lubricating oil on the sliding surface circumferential end portion of the outer peripheral surface of the skirt to the sliding surface central portion.


In an EC motor, comprising a motor electronics, a signal input or a signal output, and an optocoupler for the galvanically isolated transmission of a useful signal between the motor control unit and the signal input or the signal output, the intention is to reliably determine the degradation of the optocoupler and to improve the service life of the EC motor. This is achieved in that an evaluation unit regularly evaluates a saturation voltage of the optocoupler at the output of the optocoupler in relation to a reference threshold when the optocoupler is wired and generates a warning signal when the saturation voltage exceeds the reference threshold.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In EC motors, optocouplers are used for the galvanically isolated signal transmission of useful signals for open-loop, closed-loop or monitoring functions. The galvanic isolation is used to protect individuals and material and in particular isolates the sensitive open-loop control electronics, to which an EC motor is connected, from the motor electronics of the EC motor. Inexpensive optocouplers, in which simple and inexpensive IC structures are utilised, are used in particular in EC motors for products with a high number of parts. These inexpensive variants of optocouplers consist of an optical emitter, typically a light-emitting diode (LED), and an optical receiver, in particular a phototransistor. However, these components degrade over time, depending in particular on the input current used and the ambient temperature. Degraded optocouplers cause erroneous signal transmission and thus malfunctions in the motor electronics, and this in turn can have a negative influence on other parts of the EC motor and reduce the service life thereof.
The direct current transfer ratio (CTR) of an optocoupler indicates the ratio, in percent, between the input current IF and the output current IC. It is known that the CTR decreases with a degraded optocoupler. In this regard, optocoupler manufacturers have general service life graphs which show an aging ratio as a function of the temperature and the input current. In order to determine the actual CTR of an optocoupler in an EC motor, the input current IF and the output current IC have to be measured. Owing to the measured variables being galvanically isolated and to the different ground potentials, the evaluation is only possible using complex and time- and cost-intensive measuring circuits.
In addition, the definition of end of the service life varies according to the manufacturer, with some feeling that the end of the service life is when the CTR is reduced to 50% of the start value of a new optocoupler. Normally, a very large tolerance range is given for the CTR (for example, Vishay TCLT1105 has a CTR of from 50% to 150%). The actual end of the service life of an optocoupler in an EC motor cannot be reliably established by assessing the service life graphs of the manufacturer and measuring or calculating the CTR. The actual end of the service life depends very much on how the optocoupler is wired, i.e. with respect to the motor electronics, and on the true input current and the true ambient temperatures. In the case of the end of the service life being theoretically defined as 50% of the original CTR start value of a new optocoupler, the functionality of a motor electronics wired to the output of the optocoupler can still be guaranteed in practice.

EC motor with dynamic determination of optocoupler degradation


The disclosed embodiments provide an efficient method and apparatus for avoiding hangs when a computer system is unable to complete a proper boot. Booting is attempted from each device in a standard boot order list until a successful boot occurs. If the standard boot order list is exhausted without a successful boot, the boot sequence is retried after a predetermined time period.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to improving operational efficiency in computer systems and, more particularly, to providing computers with the ability to automatically attempt to reboot after a failed boot attempt.
2. Background of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art which may be related to various aspects of the present invention which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Since the introduction of the first personal computer ("PC") over 20 years ago, technological advances to make PCs more useful have continued at an amazing rate. Microprocessors that control PCs have become faster and faster, with operational speeds eclipsing the gigahertz (one billion operations per second) and continuing well beyond.
Productivity has also increased tremendously because of the explosion in development of software applications. In the early days of the PC, people who could write their own programs were practically the only ones who could make productive use of their computers. Today, there are thousands and thousands of software applications ranging from games to word processors and from voice recognition to web browsers.
In addition to improvements in PC hardware and software generally, the technology for making computers more useful by allowing users to connect PCs together and share resources between them has also seen rapid growth in recent years. This technology is generally referred to as "networking." In a networked computing environment, PCs belonging to many users are connected together so that they may communicate with each other. In this way, users can share access to each other's files and other resources, such as printers. Networked computing also allows users to share internet connections, resulting in significant cost savings. Networked computing has revolutionized the way in which business is conducted across the world.
Modern computer networks come in all shapes and sizes. At one end of the spectrum, a small business or home network may include a few client computers connected to a common server, which may provide a shared printer and/or a shared internet connection. On the other end of the spectrum, a global company's network environment may require interconnection of hundreds or even thousands of computers across large buildings, a campus environment or even between groups of computers in different cities and countries. Such a configuration would typically include a large number of servers, each connected to numerous client computers.
Further, the arrangements of servers and clients in a larger network environment could be connected in any of an infinite number of topologies that may include local area networks ("LANs"), wide area networks ("WANs") and municipal area networks ("MANs"). In these larger networks, a problem with any one server computer (for example, a failed bard drive, failed network interface card or OS lock-up to name just a few) has the potential to interrupt the work of a large number of workers who depend on network resources to get their jobs done efficiently. Needless to say, companies devote a lot of time and effort to keeping their networks operating trouble-free to maximize productivity.
An important aspect of efficiently managing a large computer network is to maximize the amount of analysis and repair that can be performed without intervention by the network management team that maintains the network. Operations that require manual intervention, such as manually rebooting a group of computers that have failed an initial boot operation and have become hung, are extremely labor intensive and time consuming.
An example of such a situation may arise when the software of a large number of geographically dispersed server computers is upgraded, requiring all of the upgraded server computers to reboot. Upon reboot, each server has a list of storage devices from which it will attempt to boot (load an OS) in a specified order. This list may be referred to as a "standard boot order" list. For example, the standard boot order list for a given server may be as follows: network drive, floppy drive, CD ROM drive, system hard drive. The standard boot order is configurable by the network management team and typically reflects the preferred boot order based on the topology and capabilities of the individual network. Many modern networks have the capability to boot over a network connection using an industry standard such as the Pre-boot eXecution Environment ("PXE" (pronounced "pixie")) or the like. Other standards that support booting over a network connection include iSCSI and BOOTP/TFTP.
When a server is rebooted, its basic input-output system ("BIOS"), which is the low level programming that initializes the computer, examines the standard boot order list and attempts to boot from the first device on the list. In so doing, the BIOS executes a portion of BIOS code commonly referred to as the interrupt 19 (or "INT 19") handler. The INT 19 handler attempts to read the master boot record ("MBR") of the device that is first on the list in the standard boot order list of the server. If the MBR is valid, the server will attempt to boot from that device. If the MBR is not valid or if the server is unable to boot from the specified device for other reasons, program flow returns to a section of the BIOS typically referred to as the interrupt 18 (or "INT 18") handler, which signifies that a boot attempt has failed. Examples of reasons that may prevent a proper boot from a selected media even if the MBR is valid are (1) no system files on the selected media, (2) corrupt partition table on the selected media, or (3) no partition table on the selected media.
The BIOS continues execution by attempting to boot from the next device on the standard boot order list. Under control of the BIOS, the server continues to try to boot from each device in the standard boot order list until it finds a device that has a valid MBR and no other issues preventing a proper boot. If the BIOS reaches the end of the standard boot order list and no successful boot has occurred, the server hangs or ceases operation. A message such as "No System Disk" or the like is displayed and user intervention is required to retry booting the server.
As is readily apparent, user intervention in the form of physically going from computer to computer and rebooting each hung server manually by providing a disk with a valid OS could be very time consuming. This is particularly true when servers are operating in a "headless" environment. Headless servers are servers that are not equipped with display monitors, mice and keyboards. Rebooting headless servers may involve connecting additional hardware to the server or accessing the server through a remote server management tool. In the meantime, users of the network may be idled and unable to access network resources.
There are many reasons that could cause a large number of computers to fail a mass reboot attempt with many servers becoming hung and in need of manual user intervention. If the server computers are trying to obtain their operating system ("OS") over a network connection, the reboot attempt could fail because the network connection is not available when reboot is attempted. Another reason the initial boot attempt might fail is if the network server containing the OS on the network is temporarily unavailable when the boot attempt is performed. Also, individual server computers could fail to reboot because they could have other problems independent of network conditions. Servers which are infrequently rebooted could suffer from an inordinately long hard drive spin-up time. Such servers may fail an initial boot attempt and be hung because their hard drive does not spin up fast enough. These causes may combine to leave a large number of server computers in an unusable state requiring physical user intervention after a mass boot attempt. A way to avoid having a large number of computers requiring user intervention after a failed boot attempt is desirable.

Autonomous boot failure detection and recovery


Evaporator apparatus (1) for the treatment of viscous media comprised of at least a feed chamber (2) having a perforated tray (3), a tube-bundle heat exchanger (4) connected thereto having perpendicularly arranged tubes (8) and a devolatilization chamber (5) connected thereto, a discharge unit (6) for the product and a vapor take-off (7) for removing volatile components, the tubes (8) of the heat exchanger (4) having a rectangular cross section over the greater part of their length.

The tube-bundle heat exchangers described in industry are used for heating or cooling fluids and for vaporizing volatile substances from viscous media. They usually consist of tubes through which the medium to be devolatilized or to be heated flows and around the outside of which a heating medium flows. The apparatuses are referred to, for example, as flat-tube heat exchangers, falling-tube evaporators or flat-tube evaporators. Fields of use of tube-bundle heat exchangers are, for example, evaporators for polymer solutions, air conditioning systems or refrigerators.
EP 0772017 A1 describes a heat exchanger tube for use in tube-bundle heat exchangers, preferably in condensing boilers for cooling heating gases. The tube has an approximately circular cross section at its ends and an oval or rectangular cross section in the tube part located in between, which cross section may be constant or variable. The inside of the tube is provided with beads, grooves or indentations in order to generate a turbulent boundary layer and to improve the heat transfer. However, the generation of turbulent flow with the aid of indentations, etc. does not work in the case of the highly viscous polymer melts exhibiting laminar flow.
The tube-bundle heat exchanger apparatus described in EP 0218104 A1 operates in the low-pressure range according to the cross counterflow principle and is used for gas/gas and liquid systems, in particular for combustion processes with large amounts of gas and high waste gas temperatures and for processes in which a solvent circulates. The apparatus consists of tubes which have a hexagonal cross-sectional profile at their ends and an elliptical or round cross section in the middle part (about 90% of the tube length). The advantage of the hexagonal profile is that the tube ends can be joined directly to one another and a tight cavity thus forms between the tubes without preperforated end trays being required. However, this design is disadvantageous when the side walls of the heat exchanger jacket are connected to the joined tubes. It is necessary to weld on prepunched metal sheets which simulate the contour of the tubes joined to one another.
The heat exchanger described in DE 3212727 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,734) and intended for cooling or heating highly viscous, in particular structurally viscous, flowable substances consists of rows of parallel tubes which are arranged offset by 90° in planes parallel to one another. The heating or cooling medium flows in the tubes, and the fluid to be heated or to be cooled flows on their outside, perpendicular to the plane of the rows of tubes. The tubes are in the form of round or flat tubes. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that many "dead spaces" exist between the intersecting tubes, in which dead spaces the medium to be heated or to be cooled collects and undergoes thermal decomposition. Moreover, this design is very complicated and difficult to scale up for larger production plants.
A brochure of Schrader Verfahrenstechnik GmbH discloses a flat-tube heat exchanger. This flat-tube heat exchanger is used for condensing vapors or as a heating element in concentration plants. The apparatus described is a tube-bundle heat exchanger which consists of a heat exchanger jacket in which flat tubes arranged in rows are present.
Improved heat transfer and less fouling in comparison with round tubes are mentioned as advantages.
An application for polymers or polymer melts is not known.
Heat exchanger tubes having flat, oval or elliptical cross section and the production thereof are described in the prior art. DE 805 785 A1, for example, discloses a plate-type heating element which has a largely rectangular cross section. The plate-type heating element is however produced by bending over the two sides of a metal sheet and welding in further metal strips and stiffening profiles. This apparatus is taken as a basis in DE 2 506 434 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,619), the heat exchanger tube being produced from a single metal strip by bending over, and a supporting flange being integrated. The overlapping ends are then welded. A similar flat tube is described in DE 19 857 510 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,147), but here the supporting flange consists of an edge of the metal strip which is bent from the surface of the tube to the tube interior and back again so that two chambers form. The publication DE 7 837 359 describes a flat heat exchanger tube which, in contrast to the abovementioned one, ensures strong and liquid-tight connection in the overlap region over the entire period of use of the tube.
A disadvantage of all designs mentioned is the complicated production of the tubes, at least one shaping and one joining process being necessary. It is an object of the invention to use a compact tube in which only one shaping process is necessary. Moreover, it is intended to dispense with the joint seam, which can lead to disadvantageous changes in the melt flow.
It is therefore the object of the invention to remove volatile substances from highly viscous polymer solutions or melts under particularly gentle conditions, i.e. with as low a thermal load as possible (temperature and residence time) and narrow residence time distribution, and to provide a suitable apparatus which does not have the disadvantages of the known heat exchangers.

Process and apparatus for removing volatile substances from highly viscous media


A method for negating location privacy attacks in cellular networks involves signal processing techniques at the physical identification layer. In particular the methodology involves embedding user's unique tags onto the downlink paging signal waveforms so that the tags are stealthy and robust. The scheme not only improves users' privacy but also saves system bandwidth.

In cellular networks, mobile stations (MS) are usually battery powered. To prolong the operational time of the MSs, the network architecture allows them to go into idle mode after being inactive for a certain period of time. In idle mode, the MSs do not sustain a connection with the serving base stations (BS). When there is a need to create a connection with an idle MS, e.g. voice calls, data, or system information updates, the BS sends out a notification to the MS in the form of a paging message. The location of an idle MS may have changed since the last time it was in communication. Therefore, the network maintains a tracking area for each idle MS.
A tracking area consists of several cells and the MS has to report if it moves out of the assigned tracking area. In general, paging messages are sent without any confidentiality protection, so that anyone can listen to those messages. The privacy of those being paged is provided through the use of temporary IDs. Those are IDs which only have meaning in the context of the idle MS and the serving network within the tracking area.
Recently, D. F. Kune et al. in "Location Leaks over the GSM air interface," Proceedings 19th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (2012), showed that despite the use of temporary IDs, the location of a user's cellphone in a GSM network can still be leaked. In particular, it was shown that an attacker can check if a user's cellphone is within a small area, or absent from a large area, without the user's awareness. Such vulnerability can lead to serious consequences. For example, in an oppressive regime, locations of dissidents can be revealed to suppressive agents without cooperation from reluctant service providers. Another example is that a thief, who attempts a break-in, can use the knowledge of the absence of the target to reduce the threat of encounter.
To perform this location attack, the attacker requires two capabilities: cause paging request messages to appear on the GSM Paging Control Channel (PCCH); and listen on the GSM PCCH broadcast channel.
In GSM networks, paging messages are sent on dedicated time-division channels. The Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) is used for paging messages. The idea behind the location attack is that the adversary initiates a connection request to the user cellphone (this of course assumes that he knows the target's number), which results in a paging message being sent in the user's tracking area. By observing the paging channel, the adversary obtains a set of possible temporary IDs for the target user. Repeating this procedure several times, the adversary collects several sets of possible temporary IDs, from which he can do a set intersection analysis to get the temporary ID associated with the user's cellphone.
Practical experiments on T-Mobile and AT&T GSM networks show that after 2 or 3 repetitions, the adversary can pinpoint the temporary ID of a user's cellphone. To keep the user unaware of the attack, the connection request to his cellphone has to be terminated before a connection is established, but after the paging message is sent out. In the above referenced paper, the authors, through experiments, show that by calling the target's number and hanging up within 5 seconds, a paging message would be sent out, but the user's phone would not ring. Another way of achieving this goal is to send "silent SMS", a controversial method used by German and French police to track people.

Enhancing privacy in cellular paging system using physical layer identification


The inflatable harness assembly for an aircraft oxygen crew mask includes one or more inflatable tubes having an outer layer of fabric material with an airtight coating for inflating the inflatable harness assembly. The inflatable tubes include an inner core of resilient, elastic material fixedly connected between first and second ends of the inflatable tubes that biases the inflatable tubes to shorten when the tubes are deflated. Inflation of the tubes them to expand the outer layer of material radially outwardly and lengthen axially, to allow the harness assembly to be placed over the user's head. Deflation of the tubes causes the aircraft inflatable harness assembly to grip the user's head with a desired head tension.

This invention relates to crew masks to be used in large aircraft for crew safety and in the event of decompression of the cabin. More particularly, the invention relates to the inflatable harness used to secure such a mask in place for use.
A commonly used type of crew mask includes an inflatable head harness with inflatable elastic tubes that are inflated prior to placement of the harness over the head of the user, and that are then deflated to grip the user's head. A valve is connected to the tubes to control inflation by pressurized gas, such as from an oxygen supply of a regulator on the respiratory mask, and deflation.
Another similar type of oxygen supply system includes an oxygen supply with a face mask and an inflatable head harness. A plurality of chemical oxygen generators provide oxygen to a reservoir, to initially inflate the pneumatic head harness and provide an initial breathing supply during the startup of the chemical oxygen generators.
The prior art uses a harness, with an inflatable silicone inner tube, along with a regulator to provide oxygen for pilots. The inflation feature of the harness allows pilots to don the crew mask in a quick manner.
Specifically, the prior art relied on a silicone inner tube that inflated by pressurized oxygen and was constrained to not burst by a porous over-braid. The main reliability issue is that the silicone inner tube is highly susceptible to puncture and abrasion.
In a typical conventional crew mask, illustrated in FIG. 1, an inflatable crew mask assembly includes an inflatable harness 10 connected to an oronasal face seal molding or mask portion 12 formed to fit to a face of a wearer when the inflatable harness is fitted over the wearer's head and properly inflated. A lower forward portion of the mask portion includes a smoke goggle purge flow actuation lever 14, a harness inflation control button 16, a connector 18 between the inflatable harness and an oxygen supply regulator assembly 20, and a control knob 22. The regulator typically supplies breathing oxygen to the mask wearer through ports internal to the lower forward portion of the face seal, and also supplies oxygen or other breathing gas mixtures to the inflatable harness via an oxygen pressure supply hose 24, including a pressure indicator 26, coupling 28, and control 30. The inflatable harness typically includes a rear inflatable tube 32 or strap connected via connectors 34 to a lower inflatable tube 36 connected to the oxygen supply regulator assembly. The inflatable harness may also be adjustable for the size and comfort of the mask once inflated. Upon depression of the harness inflation button the oxygen from its source flows into the harness assembly. The prior art inflatable harness typically consists of an inflatable silicone tube covered with a braided sleeve of Nomex® braided material. The braiding helps the tube withstand higher pressures, and depending on the ratio of length of the Nomex® braided sleeve to tube length, the length of expansion can be controlled in longitudinal direction while the diameter of the Nomex® braided sleeve controls tube expansion in the radial direction. The nominal operating pressure is 70 to 85 psig.
As seen in FIG. 1, there are several sections within the harness assembly with varying length of tubing and associated joints where these sections meet and are held in place with various means. Accessories, such as a back pad and head straps are attached to the Nomex® covered silicone tubes to create the harness shape. One of the main observed failure modes of the prior art is leakage within the harness due to tears in the tube caused by stress and fatigue after repeated inflation cycles. Deformation of the tubing when a harness assembly is subjected to repeated inflation cycles causes the formation of small holes in the tubing that can consequently result in significant leakage from the tubing.
During cycling of the harness assembly, the silicone tubes inflate as oxygen from the crew mask is supplied to the harness assembly, creating an increase in pressure. As noted above, the tubing increases in length in the longitudinal direction, while the radial increase in tube diameter is controlled by the Nomex® sleeve.
Control of the radial diameter of the silicone tube by the Nomex® sleeve, is where the prior art fails to provide a robust assembly. Pleating of the Nomex® braid in manufacturing is both difficult and inconsistent. Once the harness assembly is inflated several times, the Nomex® braid pleats will form an irregular pattern along the length of the tube. This irregularity in pleat spacing creates a non-uniform radial increase in the tube diameter. This non-uniform radial increase in diameter creates areas in the tube length where the diameter will balloon. In these areas, the outer surface of the tube is eroded away, causing a decrease in tube wall thickness and eventual tube failure.
It therefore would be desirable to provide an inflatable harness crew mask with an inflatable harness that is able to inflate and expand over a user's head. It also would be desirable to provide an inflatable harness crew mask with an inflatable harness that has an elastic property so that the harness then contracts and is tight on the user's head. While a typical conventional inflatable harness of an inflatable harness crew mask can perform only an average of 1,000 inflations before failure, it would be desirable to provide an inflatable harness that can be inflated at least 25,000 times without failure.
While the inner inflatable silicone material of a typical conventional inflatable harness of an inflatable harness crew mask experiences plastic deformation over time resulting in the harness becoming increasingly less inflatable for placement of the inflatable harness crew mask over a user's head, as well as loss of tension on the user's head when the harness is deflated, it would be desirable to provide an inflatable harness that is more robust and reliable, and utilizes materials, such as composite textiles, for example, that will not deform plastically and will thus retain their tension force. The present invention meets these and other needs.

Inflatable harness assembly for aircraft oxygen crew mask


The ultra-sensitive susceptibility detection apparatus of anharmonic resonance measurement type using an atomic magnetometer detects a change in susceptibility by a specimen containing an object to be measured. The apparatus includes an atomic magnetometer. The atomic magnetometer includes a cell containing an alkaline metallic atom, a light source for magnetically polarizing the alkaline metallic atom of the cell, and a bias magnetic field applicator for applying a bias magnetic field to adjust a measuring resonance frequency of the alkaline metallic atom. The apparatus includes an excitation magnetic field applicator for applying an excitation magnetic fields of different frequencies to magnetically excite the specimen, but not to couple the excitation field directly to the measuring atomic resonance frequency, and a measuring device for measuring a change in magnetic polarization of the alkaline metallic atom, which is affected by a magnetic field caused by the specimen being magnetically excited by the excitation magnetic field.

In recent years, as research on genes and proteins has been extensively made, speedy and precision detection of bio-molecules such as protein, bacteria, virus, germ and DNA is required. Detection of bio-molecules employs mainly an antigen-antibody reaction method. Markers for particular pathogens such as cancer markers or cardiac markers are already commercialized in the form of a kit and extensively used in clinical and pathological examinations and the like.
Among the above techniques, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method is explained hereafter. FIGS. 1a to 1c are diagrams illustrating a conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. As shown in FIG. 1, in order to detect a particular antibody 12, a conjugated antigen 13 is disposed on a chip 10. The antibody 12 is combined to the conjugated antigen 13 arranged on the chip 10 by means of an antigen-antibody reaction. A fluorescent or isotopic marker 15 is combined to this antibody 12, which is then cleansed. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 1c, the antibody 12 after cleansing is combined with the antigen 13 and simultaneously with the marker 15. Thereafter, the intensity of fluorescence generated by the maker 15 is measured to detect the antibody 12 to be measured. In this enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, a combination procedure of the maker 14 is to be added, along with the cleansing and antigen-antibody reaction procedures, thereby resulting in a complicated process. In addition, the fluorescent material of the marker 15 is absorbed in the antibody 12, disadvantageously leading to a reduction in the measuring accuracy.
As a simplified and precision technique, relative to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, a susceptibility attenuation immuno-assay method has been developed. FIGS. 2a and 2b are schematic diagrams illustrating a convention susceptibility attenuation immuno-assay method using magnetic nanoparticles. As shown in FIG. 2a, this method employs a magnetic agent where an antigen 26 is attached to a magnetic nanoparticle 24 having a size of a bio-molecule. Here, the antigen 26 is a conjugated antigen which has a good affinity with the antibody 27 to be measured. Each of the respective magnetic nanoparticles 24 has a self magnetic moment and is enclosed with a layer 25 not to be agglomerated with each other. For example, the layer 25 is formed of Dextran.
As illustrated in FIG. 2b, if an external AC magnetic field is applied to the magnetic nanoparticles 24, the magnetic nanoparticles 24 spin in resonance with the external AC magnetic field. Here, the nanoparticles having different sizes spin in response to the AC magnetic fields having different frequencies. The magnetic nanoparticles, which spin in resonance, generate a magnetic field having the same frequency as the external AC magnetic field, thereby exhibiting a high susceptibility. If the magnetic nanoparticles 24 have a uniform size, the magnitude of oscillation in the magnetic moment exhibits a maximum peak at a particular frequency. Here, if an antibody 27 to be measured is contained in the magnetic agent solution, the magnetic nanoparticles 24, to which the antigen 26 is attached, is combined with each other by the antigen 27. The combined magnetic nanoparticles 30 cannot easily spin in response to a change in the external magnetic field, and consequently the antibody 27 in the magnetic agent reduces the AC susceptibility of the agent containing the magnetic nanoparticle 24. If the susceptibility where the antibody 27 is contained in the magnetic agent is normalized as being susceptibility when in absence of no antibody, a calibration curve can be obtained regardless of concentration of the magnetic agent and also a quantitative concentration of the antibody 27 can be determined.
That is, an AC magnetic field having a particular frequency and the change in the magnitude of magnetic field, which is generated by the magnetic nanoparticles 24 contained in the magnetic agent, is measured with precision, thereby enabling to detect the antibody 27 contained in the magnetic agent.
In this case, the detection device employs in generally an inductive detector using a coil. However, the inductive detector has a weak sensitivity to disadvantageously degrade the measuring sensitivity thereof. Thus, as a high sensitivity detector, a high-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (High-Tc SQUID) has been developed.
The above susceptibility attenuation immuno-assay method has advantages that the magnetic nanoparticle and the AC magnetic field are never reacted with an antibody to be measured, and the procedures are simplified. However, this method has a disadvantage that the measuring sensitivity totally relies on the detection device itself. In case of the above-mentioned inductive detector using a coil, a resonance circuit using a high Q value is required, but the resonance frequency of the induction coil cannot be easily changed.
The superconducting quantum interference device capable of more precision measurement has a high sensitivity, but since a superconducting phenomenon is employed, it consumes expensive coolant such as liquid helium. Thus, the maintenance cost thereof reaches about 20,000 to 80,000 dollars a year and the like. Accordingly, there is a demand to provide a new detection device not necessitating cooling.

Ultra-sensitive susceptibility detection apparatus of anharmonic resonance measurement type using atomic magnetometer, and method of using same

Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science


An articulating sonobuoy is provided. The articulating sonobuoy comprises a plurality of section, and a plurality of joints connecting each of the plurality of section to adjacent sections, wherein each of the plurality of sections self-aligns by rotating about one or more of said plurality of joints changing the shape of the buoy from a stowed configuration to a streamlined deployed configuration.

Sonobuoys are equipped with electronic sensors to both gather data and transmit that data. Sonobuoys have been used to detect and locate submerged submarines. They have also been used in military and private applications to take measurements regarding the environment such as water temperature, current flow, etc. Sonobuoys can be free-floating, anchored or station-keeping. For more useful collection of data, it is desirable for the sonobuoys to be either anchored or station-keeping in order to collect data from relatively the same location. Station-keeping buoys are preferred in situations where an extended anchor would not be desirable or practical.
Station-keeping buoys, however, consume power quickly through the propulsion system used to keep the buoy in the same geographic location. This rapid power consumption prevents the station-keeping buoy from operating for extended periods of time. Additionally, sonobuoys used by the Navy are often launched through a small tube (i.e. typically a tube with an 8 inch diameter). The typical shape of the sonobuoys is, accordingly, cylindrical. Any deployable sonobuoys must, therefore, conserve this cylindrical shape in order to be launched from existing tubes.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a deployable station-keeping buoy which can be launched from existing launch tubes and which significantly reduces power consumption allowing the buoy to operate for extended periods of time.

Station keeping maneuverable articulating autonomous regenerative tactical (SMAART) buoy


Apparatus and methods for identifying traffic patterns to web sites based on templates that characterize the arrival of traffic to the web sites are provided. Based on these templates, determinations are made as to which web sites should be co-located so as to optimize resource allocation. Specifically, web sites whose templates are complimentary, i.e. a first web site having a peak in arrival traffic at time t1 and a second web site that has a trough in arrival traffic at time t1, are designated as being candidates for co-location. In addition, the present invention uses the templates identified for the traffic patterns of web sites to determine thresholds for offloading traffic to other servers. These thresholds include a first threshold at which offloading should be performed, a second threshold that takes into consideration the lead time needed to begin offloading, and a third threshold that takes into consideration a lag time needed to stop all offloading of traffic to the other servers.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods for co-location and off-loading of web site traffic based on traffic pattern recognition. More specifically, the present invention is directed to apparatus and methods for profiling web sites, determining which web sites should be co-located and when offloading of web traffic to other servers should be performed.
2. Description of Related Art
With the increasing popularity of the Internet and its applications, the allocation of resources in order to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) has become more difficult. The complexity of the problem of resource allocation is exacerbated by the heterogeneity of the Internet infrastructure and applications as well as the user behaviors.
One approach to the resource allocation problem is to share resources, such as web servers, among multiple entities, such as web sites, so that peak load conditions for any given entity can be handled by borrowing resources from other entities. Such a mechanism is often referred to as co-location. An important problem in this paradigm is concerned with the clustering of the web sites for the resource sharing. That is, it is often difficult and imprecise manual process to identify which web sites should share resources.
Another approach, which is complementary to co-location, consists of offloading work for an entity to exogenous resources in a dynamic way. With offloading, web site traffic that is destined for a particular web server that is currently in an overloaded state is redirected to another server to handle the processing of the traffic. A key problem with offloading is determining where and when to offload the work. The known mechanisms for determining where and when to offload work typically fall into the area of load balancing where current state information is used to determine if the work load should be balanced by sending some of the work to other servers. Such work load balancing mechanisms are reactionary and do not make use of known patterns of traffic to begin offloading prior to the servers becoming overloaded.
Thus, it would be beneficial to have an improved apparatus and method for determining which web sites should be co-located and when traffic to web sites should be offloaded to other web servers.

Apparatus and methods for co-location and offloading of web site traffic based on traffic pattern recognition

International Business Machines Corporation