A system software solution for testing various network elements/entities and processes in a telecommunications network is provided. A network under test contains network entities which save data to a common database that is associated with processing particular test cases. A configurable emulator correlates database data from the network under test and compares the received message with anticipated test case results. A disposition of the test case is determined and a response is made by the emulator. Emulator configuration allows defining a network switching elements predictable behavior, with appropriate response messages thereof, based on received messages. Controlling a network switching elements behavior allows testing the behavior of other related network elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems and in particular to a communications test system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for emulating a signaling point for testing a telecommunications network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Testing telecommunication services can be a laborious and time consuming task. This is especially true in today's environment where a wide variety of new telecommunication services are being rapidly deployed. In addition, the increased use of intelligent network elements including automation devices such as audio response units (ARUs), and intelligent switches, such as automatic call distributors, complicate the task of testing new telecommunication services. Telecommunication services are typically tested and re-tested at various stages throughout the development process.
For example, as new services are being developed they are typically modified and refined. The modifications are generally based on several factors including marketing studies, customer feedback, hardware and software design changes, and network element changes. To implement such modifications during the development cycle, product development organizations modify the software that drives the various network elements used to support the new service. The modified software versions are then released to testing organizations that are responsible for verifying the functionality and performance of the new service. Accordingly, during a typical product development cycle, many different software versions may be released to the testing organizations as the features and functions of the new service evolve.
Thus, testing organizations typically perform many iterations of various test activities to verify that new services operate as designed and do not adversely affect existing telecommunication services. The dynamic nature of the development of new services, and the time-to-market pressures imposed upon the telecommunications industry, drive the need for timely and efficient test procedures.
Often these requirements are met by automating test procedures. Once test cases are automated they can be repeated with minimal effort. This automation facilitates regression testing, which verifies common features among different software versions. In addition, automated test cases are generally more reliable than manual test cases due to the reduction of human factor errors. Further, automated test systems are more efficient and reliable because they execute test cases repeatedly in exactly the same manner.
However, in order to gain the maximum benefit from automation, test cases must be designed for execution without human interaction. This not only reduces test staff requirements, but also enables one to run test cases continuously during the day or night. In order for test cases to run unattended, they must be able to verify the correct operation of telecommunication services and they must be able to detect errors when they occur. Typically, test cases are designed to accomplish this by dynamically comparing the test case results against predefined expected results. Alternatively, test cases can be programmed to generate test result logs or the like, which can be analyzed at a later time.
In addition, in order for test cases to run unattended, the telecommunication service under test must not require human interaction. For example, telecommunication services such as voice mail systems, automated collect call services and the like, generally require human interaction. Human interaction can be in the form of speech and/or telephone keypad input. As such, testing these types of telecommunication services are conventionally performed manually.
Another difficulty arises when testing telecommunication services that include the use of manual operators. Typically such services involve human operators interacting with customers from manual operator consoles. The very nature of such human interaction makes the testing of such service inherently difficult to automate. Thus, these types of services are also conventionally tested manually. Moreover, today's hardware is increasingly dependent upon and tightly coupled with software that enables many of the features that consumer's demand. As the software and hardware are joined, the complexity of the software components and the difficulty of testing the union of the software and the hardware have increased in complexity.
Former software and hardware development tools included editors, debuggers and a lot of programmer sweat time. With the complexity of modem software and hardware, and the many possible scenarios that must be tested to assure proper system function, it is necessary to replace older, primitive tools with a testing system that is flexible and capable of testing many, diverse permutations of software enabled hardware features.

Method and system for emulating a signaling point for testing a telecommunications network


A dust aspirating arrangement, particularly for underground applications, has a suction element arranged for aspirating air which contains dust generated during operation of an underground machine, an agglomerating section communicating with the suction element and arranged for receiving the dust-containing air aspirated by the latter in which agglomerating section a mixture of a moisture and the dust-containing air is produced, a separating element communicating with the agglomerating section and operative for separating the mixture into its constituent dust-containing moisture and air and provided with a flexible conduit for removing the separated dust-containing moisture, and a removing element for removing the separated air from the separating element and located downstream of the flexible conduit. The agglomerating section is provided with a moisturizing element arranged for moisterizing the dust-containing air, and with a stationary wall portion arranged for inducing the moisture and the dust-containing air toward a central region of agglomerating section so as to produce the above-mentioned mixture.

The present invention relates to a dust aspirating arrangement, particularly for underground applications, for instance for development and mining machines.
Dust aspirating arrangements for underground operations are known in the art. Dust which is generated during the operation of underground machines, on the one hand, is a health hazard. Even if such is not the case, dust in the air worsens visibility which results in a considerable reduction of machine operating capacity. A dust aspirating arrangement must have small dimensions that the it can be mounted on the frame of the machine without affecting cutting or extracting operations. In order to construct dust aspirating arrangements having small dimensions, it has been proposed to provide in such arrangements a ventilator and to supply the same with moisture so as to obtain efficient mixing and contacting of the dust with the moisture. The thus-produced mixture is then admitted into a separator where dust and moisture are separated from the air, whereupon the latter is readmitted into the underground working space.
In a known arrangement the ventilator is arranged in a mixture chamber wherein a mixture of the moisture and dust-containing air is produced. If the dust which is produced during operation of the machine tends to have adhesive characteristics, the mixture of such machine with the moisture forms a clay which tends to cake. This cake encrustates the ventilator and causes imbalances of ventilator blades so that they must be frequently cleaned. At the same time, this results in bearing wear so that the bearings must be frequently repaired or replaced.


An information input device is provided which is to make input of information by operating a disk-shaped rotating member. The device includes the rotating member (36) which is rotatable with one main side thereof being operated, rotation detecting means (23, 32) for detecting a rotation of the rotating member (36), a central switch activator (26) provided at the center of rotation of the rotating member (36), a central switch (270) which is activated by operating the central switch activator (26), and a plurality of peripheral switches (27) which are turned on when a portion, apart from the center of rotation, of the rotating member (36) is pressed. Rotating the rotating member and pressing the apart portion makes input of information, and operating the central switch activator sets the information thus entered.

Heretofore, there has been proposed a drum-shaped roller rotatable in forward and backward directions as a means for making input of character information etc. An input means of this type is known from the disclosure in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 203985 of 1999.
FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate together a portable phone as an electronic apparatus using a rotating drum of the above type as a means for making entry of character information. FIG. 1 shows the external view of the portable phone, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of the portable phone in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a multi-functional switch used as a mobile communications terminal.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the portable phone includes an antenna 1, transmission/reception circuit 2, microphone 3, speaker 4, CPU (central processing unit) 5, ROM (read-only memory) 6 having stored therein programs etc. executed by the CPU 5, RAM (random-access memory) 7 having provisionally stored therein data required for execution of a program by the CPU 5, display drive circuit 8, and a display unit 9 driven by the display drive circuit 8 to display a variety of information. The display unit 9 uses a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. The portable phone shown in FIG. 1 further includes operating keys 10 and a multi-functional switch 11 forming the information input device. The operating keys 10 and multi-functional switch 11 form together an operation unit 12.
In the portable phone having a body 13, the antenna 1 is provided at the right upper end of the body 13 as shown in FIG. 1. The antenna 1 is extensible upward. Also, in this portable phone, the speaker 4 is disposed nearly in the middle of the upper end of the apparatus body 13, the display unit 9 is disposed below the speaker 4, the operation unit 12 is disposed below the display unit 9, and the microphone 3 is disposed in the middle of the lower end of the apparatus body 13. The multi-functional switch 11 is disposed in the upper portion of the operation unit 12 and the operating keys 10 including ten keys are disposed below the multi-functional switch 11.
FIG. 3 shows the multi-functional switch 11 in detail. As shown, it has a drum-shaped roller 11A. By rotating or pressing the roller 11A, information is entered. The multi-functional switch 11 is constructed and functions as will be described below:
As shown in FIG. 3, the multi-functional switch 11 includes a base 11D having a downward-extending fulcrum projection 11F formed along one longitudinal side thereof. The base 11D is installed to a printed circuit board 11E with the fulcrum projection 11F laid between them. The base 11D is normally kept generally parallel to the printed circuit board 11E by a forcing means (not shown). However, when the base is pressed from above against the force of the forcing means, it is pivoted downward about the fulcrum projection 11F.
The roller 11A is supported above the base 11D rotatably with the rotating shaft thereof being held horizontally. More specifically, the roller 11A is supported at one end of the rotating shaft thereof in a bearing provided in a support piece 11G and at the other end in a bearing provided in a rotation detector 11B. The rotation detector 11B supporting the other end of the rotating shaft detects a rotated extent and direction of the rotating shaft of the roller 11A. A switch 11C is provided on the printed circuit board 11E and under the base 11D. When the roller 11A is pressed from above, the base 11D is pivoted about the fulcrum projection 11F and presses the switch 11C which will thus be turned on. Thus, the multi-functional switch 11 makes entry of a rotated extent and direction of the roller 11A by rotating the latter and also enters information by pressing the roller 11A.
The operations of the portable phone shown in FIG. 1 will be explained below as to a phone directory search with reference to FIG. 4:
First, the operating keys 10 of the operation unit 12 are operated in a predetermined manner to display an initial screen 9a set in the portable phone. A menu for the phone directory search is selected from the initial screen 9a and then set. Next, the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11 is rotated upward or downward in the plane of FIG. 3. At this time, there will be displayed on the display unit 9 information about initials of a destination's name like "a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, . . . wa" (in the order of the Japanese 50-character "kana" syllabary) for example as options. The information appears scrolling, and the options are extracted from the RAM 7 correspondingly to a rotated extent of the roller 11A and displayed on the display unit 9. A reference number 9b indicates an example of the display on the screen of the display unit 9.
When a desired initial is found on the screen, a cursor 15 is pointed to that initial by rotating the roller 11A. That is, the information is selected. A reference number 9c indicates an example of the display on the screen when the desired information has been selected. In this example, "sa" is selected. After completion of this selection, the roller 11A is pressed to set the selected initial "sa". That is, when the roller 11A is pressed, the switch 11C is turned on, which is detected by the CPU 5. An option the cursor 15 is pointing to, information about the initial "sa" in this example, is set. With this setting, names (full name) having been entered under the initial ("sa" in this example) will be displayed. A reference number 9d indicates an example of the display. Then, the roller 11A is further rotated to move the cursor 15 to a desired names. A reference number 9e indicates an example of the selection. A name "Ikuo Sasaki" is selected in this example. With this setting, the roller 11A is pressed. The name "Ikuo Sasaki" is set in this example.
With the roller 11A further pressed in this condition, information corresponding to the selected name "Ikuo Sasaki" is read from the RAM 7 and displayed on the display unit 9, which example is indicated with a reference 9f. For selection of a desired option from the display screen, for example, sending a phone call or an electronic mail to "Ikuo Sasaki", the cursor 15 is moved to the option and placed over the option. Thus, the desired option is selected. For example, the cursor 15 is moved to a phone number and placed over it, whereby sending of the phone call or electronic mail to a phone of that number will be selected.
Note that some destinations have a plurality of phone numbers including his or her home phone number, office phone number, a phone number of his or her portable phone number and also an electronic mail (e-mail) address or the like, not any single phone number.
The cursor 15 is of course moved to a phone number displayed on the screen by rotating the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11. A reference number 9g in FIG. 4 indicates an example when such a destination is selected. It should be noted that selection of an electronic mail address in the information corresponding to a selected name will lead to selection of sending of an electronic mail to that address.
When the roller 11A is pressed from above in the plane of FIG. 3 after the above selection, the selected option is set. Then, the set option is carried out, namely, a call is sent to the selected one of the phone numbers of Ikuo Sasaki in this example. A reference number 9h indicates an example of the display appearing on the display unit 9 at this time, in which a message "calling", the name ("Ikuo Sasaki") of the destination of the phone call and the destination phone number are displayed.
With the portable phone shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to select one of the plurality of options by rotating the roller 11A of the multi-functional switch 11 and set the selected option by pressing the roller 11A with the finger having rotated the roller 11A for the selection of the option. Thus, it is possible to rapidly send a call or electronic mail.
The mobile communications terminal such as the conventional portable phone is not advantageous in some respects as follows since it uses the multi-functional switch 11.
Firstly, the use of the multi-functional switch 11 inhibits the mobile communications terminal from being designed thinner. There are demands for mobile communications terminals including the portable phone having a wider variety of functions, higher performance, easier operability and a thinner design. The aforementioned conventional portable phone can hardly meet such demands. More specifically, in the multi-functional switch 11, the roller 11A has to be rotatably supported, and there should be provided between the base 11D to support the roller 11A and printed circuit board 11E the switch 11C provided to set a selected option and which is turned on when the roller 11A is pressed. This construction itself makes it difficult to provide a thinner design of the portable phone. Namely, the thickness of the multi-functional switch 11 depends primarily upon the diameter of the roller 11A. A smaller diameter of the roller 11A will lead to a thinner design of the multi-functional switch 11. For assuring a large scrolling by one rotated extent of the roller 11A, however, the diameter of the latter has to be correspondingly large. If the diameter of the roller 11A is too small, the roller 11A itself will loose its easy operability.
The above mechanism of the roller 11A will be described in detail below:
The circumferential turn of the roller 11A, required for a scrolling of one line through the screen of the display unit 9, has to be larger than a predetermined value and may not be limitlessly smaller than the predetermined value. When the diameter of the roller 11A is smaller, the rotation angle of the latter, necessary for the cursor movement for one line, has to be larger correspondingly (for the reduction of the diameter). The smaller the diameter of the roller 11A, the smaller the maximum number of pulses the roller 11A can generate per turn becomes. Therefore, for movement of the cursor over many lines, the roller 11A should be rotated very much by the finger, which will lead to a longer time for selection of a desired option and cause the operation of the roller 11A to be more annoying.
On this account, it is assumed that the scrolling attained by one turn of the roller 11A of a small diameter is increased. In this case, however, the circumferential turn of the roller 11A for movement of the cursor 15 for one line will be smaller, which makes it difficult to accurately point the cursor 15 to a desired line. The cursor 15 will move and return excessively, which will lead to a poorer operability of the roller 11A.
As will be known from the foregoing, the multi-functional switch 11 is limited from being designed thinner and it will possibly be impossible to meet the future demand for a thinner design of the mobile communications terminal or the like such as the portable phone which uses the multi-functional switch 11.
Secondly, since with the multi-functional switch 11, an option can be selected by rotating the roller 11A and the selected option can be set by pressing the roller 11A after the selection, so the selecting and setting operations cannot be distinguished from each other. The users will not possibly be able to make a distinction between the selecting and setting operations. Namely, the following will be possible. A user intending to rotate the roller 11A will eventually press the latter because he or she has rotated the roller 11A with an excessive force, and thus he will set an undesired option. On the other hand, a user intending to press the roller 11A in order to set a selected option will rotate the latter because he or she has applied a force to the roller 11A in a wrong direction, and thus he will select a wrong or undesired option.

Information input device, and electronic apparatus using same


A method of controlling routing in a packet network supported by a transport network allowing the dynamic creation/suppression of links for transporting packets of said packet network, said method including a routing step, a step of informing other routers of said network of the metric assigned to each link of the packet network, and a step of creating/destroying a link. The link may have three states: a non-connected state if said two routers cannot be directly connected, a virtual connection state wherein a virtual metric is assigned to said link between said head end router and said tail end router of the same communication, and a real connection state wherein a real metric is normally assigned to said link.

A network that transfers packets bearing information and provides functions for routing those packets is called a packet network. The packets in question in the present description are IP (Internet Protocol) packets, for example. The present invention applies particularly to a packet network which has a structure conforming to the overlay model, one example of which is represented in FIG. 1 and comprises routers, for example four routers A, B, C, and D, connected to each other by a core transport network 10, for example an optical transport network, including optical cross-connect units OXC1 to OXC4 through which packets processed by each router A, B, C, D can pass in transit. A client-network interface UNI provides logical control between a router and the core network.
More precisely, the present invention applies to a network with an architecture conforming to the overlay model in which the packet domain (for example the IP domain) is relatively independent of the core transport network domain (for example the optical domain). The core network provides connections that are seen from the packet network as point-to-point connections. The packet network acts as a client vis-à-vis the core network. Moreover, the routing protocol of the packet network and that of the core network are independent.
The interface between a router and a cross-connect unit of the core network 10 is a logical control interface that provides for sending signaling messages between an edge router and the optical cross-connect unit of the optical network to which it is connected for the purposes of creating, destroying, modifying, and requesting the status of optical circuits of the optical network. It may be an Optical-User Network Interface (O-UNI) between an IP packet network and an optical transport network, such as those defined by the standardization organizations OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). Under such circumstances, the protocol on which the signaling messages are based is the Resource Reservation Protocol—Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE).
A packet-switching network generally uses a routing protocol with the essential function of determining the least costly path (also called the shortest path) for packets passing in transit from one router to another, given that a cost, also called a metric, is assigned to each link from one router to another to which it is connected. This applies to an IP network. The routing protocol referred to here is a link state routing protocol, for example of the interior type, such as a protocol of the IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol) link state type, such as in particular the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol. This is covered by Request For Comments 2328 (RFC 2328) in particular. The routing protocol could equally be the ISIS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System) protocol defined in particular in Request For Comments 3784 (RFC 3784).
The operating principle of an IGP link state type protocol is as follows. Each adjacency of the IP network, which the protocol can determine for itself by means of a particular protocol called the Hello protocol, is associated with a metric of value that represents a characteristic of the adjacency: an arbitrary value assigned by the administrator of the network (for example a value of 1 representing a router that is passed through in transit, the transmission delay on the link concerned, the reliability of the link, etc.). The metric may also be referred to as the cost of the link concerned. The protocol then calculates the routes to all of the routers of the network using a SPF (Shortest Path First) algorithm, the length (or the cost) of a path being determined by summing the metrics of the links forming that path.
The present invention therefore relates only to the packet network which, in an embodiment to be described, is an IP network using a link state routing protocol, for example of the IGP link state type.
The term adjacency refers to a link between two routers that have become neighbors to exchange routing information, i.e. that are neighbors not only because they each have an interface to the same network, but also because they have synchronized their respective topology tables.
The control capacities offered by a link state routing protocol, such as the IGP protocol, are not adequate for the purposes of traffic engineering (TE). Because Shortest Path First (SPF) routing algorithms are optimized on the basis of simple metrics, they fail to take into account traffic and bandwidth availability characteristics in arriving at their routing decisions. Thus congestion can occur if the shortest paths of a plurality of traffic streams converge on the same links or the same routers or if a traffic stream converges on a link or a router that does not have sufficient bandwidth to support it.
The overlay model described above with reference to FIG. 1 solves some of those problems by creating virtual topologies on top of the physical topology of the packet network. A virtual topology consists of virtual circuits that look like physical links to the routing protocol. In this way, traffic and resource control can be envisaged at the level of the virtual topology.
One example of this superposition of a virtual topology is to have the packet network support an optical transport network providing traffic engineering for it. The paper "Distributed Virtual Network Topology Control Mechanism in GMPLS-Based Multiregion Networks", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 1254-1262, October 2003, K. Shiomoto et al. describes a method of dynamically reconfiguring the virtual network topology (VNT) which is distributed (i.e. which includes no centralized coordination in the execution of the reconfiguration of the network) and which consists essentially in the use of a link state routing protocol (of the IGP type referred to above) so that each node shares the same virtual topology and a traffic demand on the individual optical paths, which traffic is measured at the source node. The link state routing protocol is used to disseminate information relating to the virtual topology and information relating to the traffic demand on the optical path. Each node calculates the new topology and compares it with the current topology to identify optical paths that should be activated/deactivated. If that node is the source node of the optical path, the activation/deactivation procedure is applied. When each node has acted in this way, the VNT is reconfigured and the IP traffic is rerouted over the new topology.
The algorithm for calculating the new topology adds new optical paths in order to limit the possibility of congestion, given the traffic, and eliminates any optical path that is under-used. Two traffic thresholds (a higher threshold and a lower threshold) are respectively defined for optical paths that are congested and for optical paths that are under-used. If the traffic demand on an optical path is above the upper threshold, a new optical path is created so that traffic on the congested optical path can be rerouted. The end nodes of the new optical path are selected from all the adjacencies of the end nodes of the congested link. In contrast, if the traffic demand on an optical path is below the lower threshold, that optical path is suppressed, provided that this does not cause congestion.
More precisely, the document referred to here describes a method of dynamic virtual distributed reconfiguration of the topology of Internet Protocol (IP) packet networks supporting MPLS-TE switching or GMPLS switching (Generalized MPLS: see Requests For Comments RFC 3471 et seq.) on wavelength division multiplex (WDM) optical networks. This method is a mechanism which decides to set up or to suppress optical circuits of the WDM network as a function of the traffic load on TE-LSP type paths.
Thus the above document describes the dynamic updating of the topology of a network as a function of the traffic matrix.
The mechanism that is described in the document referred to above nevertheless has the drawback of not offering mechanisms capable of monitoring the impact on the routing protocol of link creation/destruction. In fact, it has been shown that this impact creates topology instabilities and leads to excessively frequent changes. It may even result in congestion or under-use of certain links.

Method for controlling routing in a packet network supported by a transport network


Provided is a luggage compartment structure of a vehicle in which a plate member is able to be installed in various aspects in a luggage compartment of the vehicle, the luggage compartment structure of a vehicle being capable of preventing an article on the plate member from falling using a fall prevention member which is a separate member from the plate member. The luggage compartment structure of a vehicle has a plate member installed in at least two positions including a first position (α) of a luggage compartment of the vehicle and a second position (β) that is higher than the first position (α), and a fall prevention member which prevents an article placed on the plate member installed at the second position (β) from falling, wherein the fall prevention member is detachable from the plate member or the vehicle.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a luggage compartment structure of a vehicle capable of preventing an article placed on a plate member such as a package tray, a deck board, or a floor board installed in a luggage compartment of a vehicle from falling.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, in order to achieve enhancement of convenience of a luggage compartment provided in the rear part of a vehicle, there is a document which discloses a luggage compartment structure of a vehicle in which the luggage compartment is able to be partitioned into a plurality of storage spaces, using plate members such as package trays, deck boards, or floor boards installed in the luggage compartment (for example, refer to JP 2001-328488 A).
For example, in JP 2001-328488 A, a rear package tray provided at a predetermined height position above the rear floor is divided into two sections including a front package tray and a rear package tray in the forward and rearward direction, the front package tray is disposed at an intermediate height position between the rear package tray and the rear floor, and an article is also placed on the front package tray, so as to achieve enhancement of convenience of the luggage compartment.
In JP 2001-328488 A, the front package tray is installed at a plurality of positions (the predetermined height position or the intermediate height position) in the luggage compartment, and the article is placed on the front package tray, thereby achieving enhancement of convenience of the luggage compartment. However, in JP 2001-328488 A, since the front package tray is configured in a flat shape, there is a concern that the article placed on the front package tray may fall.
In addition, various developments in the structure for preventing the article from falling have been made (for example, refer to JP 2008-87503 A, JP 2010-162925 A, and JP 2007-8339 A).
For example, in JP 2008-87503 A, a concave portion is provided in a floor board to cause the concave portion to prevent an article from falling. In addition, in JP 2010-162925 A, a structure of a deck board in which the deck board is able to be bent into two sections, and when the deck board is bent, a protruding portion is formed on the upper surface of the one bent section of the deck board is invented, and the protruding portion prevents an article from falling.
In JP 2008-87503 A and JP 2010-162925 A, by modifying the shape and the structure of the plate member such as the floor board or the deck board, the article is prevented from falling.
However, when the shape of the plate member is modified as in JP 2008-87503 A, the plate member may not be installed in other aspects as it is. For example, in the case where the concave portion is provided in the floor board as in JP 2008-87503 A, when the floor board is used at the predetermined height position, the article may be prevented from falling by the concave portion provided in the floor board. However, when the floor board is used on a flat surface, the concave portion needs to be provided with a cover portion to use the floor board flat.
In addition, when the deck board is bent as in JP 2010-162925 A, in the case of the structure in which the protruding portion is formed on the upper surface of the one bent section of the deck board, the deck board needs to have a complex structure.
From this, while modifying the plate member such as the floor board or the deck board as little as possible, there is a need to realize the prevention of falling of an article.
In addition, in JP 2007-8339 A, a flexible cover is provided at an end portion of a package tray, and by covering the package tray with the flexible cover, an article on the package tray is prevented from falling. However, in JP 2007-8339 A, since the package tray and the flexible cover are integrated with each other, the flexible cover can become obstructive, depending on the installation aspect of the package tray, and thus the package tray may not be installed in a state as it is.

Luggage compartment structure of vehicle


The device comprises an elongated elastomer tube, sealed tightly by clamps at each end against disk shaped end pieces, the one end disk fixed and the other sliding, axially to the other disk, on restraining rods. An orifice in the fixed disk permits the injection of pneumatic pressure causing the expansion of the elastomer tube. Surrounding the elastomer tube is a restraining tube of woven fabric or other material which will not expand radially. The second tube is also affixed to each end disk by the clamps and has sufficient length to reach between the two disks when the disks are at their farthest distance from each other. When the disks are not fully distanced from each other, the outer tube crumples axially but not radially. Action commences when the disks are closest to each other. Controlled pneumatic pressure injected through the orifice causes expansion of the elastomer tube. The outer restraining tube causes all force to be directed to move the sliding disk away from the fixed disk on the guiding mechanism, thus creating an axial force.

Mechanical actuators with pistons are widely used in industry for moving parts or components of machinery to carry out various functions. Actuators are used in assembly lines or industrial processes to control valves, or to operate equipment. Actuators usually operate using pneumatic or low pressure hydraulic fluid to create a force, linear or rotary, to move a component or piece of machinery.
Pneumatic pistons or actuators are of two basic types:
A. Bellows. These typically are hollow and consist of preformed rubber which extends and contracts in a linear manner by an "accordion" mechanism extending or collapsing the elastomer. To avoid radial bulging, the rubber must be very heavy, horizontal movement must be very short in relation to the radial dimension of the accordion shape, and pneumatic pressure must be sufficiently low so as not to rupture the rubber. Bellows type pistons are useful primarily for short thrust, low pressure movements such as switch or brake activation. Typical maximum working pressures of bellows type pistons are limited to about 20 psig. PA1 B. Solid tube pistons. These actuators typically comprise a solid piston sliding within a hollow solid (usually metal) tube. Solid tube pistons typically operate at working pressures in the range of about 80 psig. To contain the required pneumatic force on the piston, one or more rubber air seals enclose the circumference of the piston and thereby contain the air. The air seals are similar to piston rings in an internal combustion engine. Typically, since the piston moves along the axis of the interior of the tubular cylinder, a linear force is generated. The term "actuator" is often applied in situations where a rotary (torque) force is to be generated. In the case of mechanical actuators, the rotational force is usually obtained by utilizing a rack and pinion arrangement within the cylinder. The rack is attached to the piston and the pinion exits the cylinder radially. This requires a seal (an O-ring, for example) to contain the air pressure. Various types of actuators are available, for example, double action and spring return. PA1 A. The principle of physics that when pressure is applied to the inside surfaces of an "elastomer bag" of any shape (for example, an elongated balloon) the pressure will tend to force the bag into a spheroid shape. Thus the pressure attempts to equalize itself within the confines of the volume. This is described herein as "equalizing pressure". PA1 B. Restraining radial expansion of an elastomer bag by a series of two opposed diagonal windings for which the angle of the crossing points changes to allow some lengthening of the tube until a maximum angle change occurs. This is described as "radial constraint".
The sliding piston in a fixed cylinder is commonly used for applications such as valve stem rotation. The inherent problem with this type is that they are expensive to manufacture and have wear and friction problems associated with the necessity for sliding seals on the pistons. Contaminated air can significantly shorten the life of the seals, and the design of such actuators does not permit economical serviceability. Some applications therefore require the air to be filtered or otherwise treated to prolong actuator service life.
Other linear movement mechanisms exist which comprise a tube that stretches in a linear manner, such as for air ducting used in ventilation systems. These stretchable tubular mechanisms include plastic tubing with embedded coiled wire which allows horizontal stretch of the tubing. The coiled wire provides radial strength. There is an inherent problem with such tubes. When a high pneumatic pressure is applied to the tube, it tends to turn and cause localized bulging. Such tubes with internal or embedded coils are thus suitable only for very low pressure applications.
Various inventors have attempted to solve the problems inherent in the designs of these two types of actuators by using a sealed rubber tube (air bag) and restraining its radial expansion by various means other than a bellows. These systems generally involve surrounding the rubber tube with an outer tube having helical wires. This allows the outside tube to stretch without bulging. Another method utilizes a second outside tube with compensating pneumatic pressure. These systems generally shorten the available stroke of the actuator relative to its length and also set up counteracting forces which significantly decrease the mechanical efficiency of the expanding inner tube.
Actuators usually employ one of two methods for activation:
A number of patents have been issued over the years disclosing various devices that employ one or the other, or both, of principles A and B above.
Beullens--U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,845
Beullens utilizes the equalizing pressure principle. This is demonstrated by the description of FIGS. 1 and 2 as being in the inactive position and FIG. 3 as being in the active position. Column 4, paragraph 40, discloses that "the working points . . . are pulled towards one another". The purpose of the spiral wires in Beullens appears to be not only to stop the device from "blowing up" but also to redirect the radial force to a horizontal sucking force when maximum radial size is reached.
The device comprises on the one hand at least one tightly-sealable chamber, which is restricted by a wall made from a partially distortable material, and on the other hand flexible, approximately unstretchable spiral-wound filaments which extend substantially next to one another at least about said wall, whereby part of said filaments are wound rightwards and another part thereof leftwards, and this in such a way that two arbitrary crossing filaments may undergo some angular displacement relative to one another, and the one end of each said filaments on the one side of said chamber is fixed relative to a working point, and the other end thereof on the opposite side of said chamber is fixed relative to another working point, and whereby further at least one feed opening is provided in said chamber, wherethrough a pressurized gas or liquid may be fed and said wall is distortable at least along one direction cross-wise to the line joining both said working points, in such a way that by regulating the gas or liquid pressure inside the chamber, a relative displacement of said working points occurs.
Negishi--U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,262
Negishi utilizes the radial constraint principle. The actuator of Negishi includes an elastic member extensible in axial directions when a pressurized fluid is supplied into the elastic member, and a guiding device arranged inwardly of the elastic member and permitting the elastic member to move in the axial directions but restraining the elastic member from moving in directions intersecting the axial directions. The actuator is of an air-bag type so that energy of the pressurized fluid can be converted into mechanical movement with high efficiency. The actuator moves only in axial directions without expanding in radial directions, so that a space occupied by the actuator in operation is little. Due to the restrictions of angle change of the "reinforcing braided structure", there is limited travel of this actuator in relation to its length. This limits its application. The other "embodiment" (FIG. 3a) is the addition of a return spring outside the actuator.
Negishi--U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,005
The device disclosed by Negishi in this patent is very similar to the device in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,262, except that the guiding tube is now outside instead of inside. The actuator of this patent includes an elastic member extensible in axial directions when a pressurized fluid is supplied into the elastic member, and a guiding device arranged outwardly of the elastic member and permitting the elastic member to move in the axial directions, but restraining the elastic member from moving in directions intersecting the axial directions. The actuator is of an air-bag type so that energy of the pressurized fluid can be converted into mechanical movement with high efficiency. The actuator moves only in axial directions without expanding in radial directions, so that the actuator takes up little space in operation. The telescopic tube appears to be used not to prevent expansion of the elastomer (this is done by the braided structure) but to keep the piston pointed in the same direction. If the braided structure were not there, the elastomer would abrade against and pinch against the telescopic tube. There is limited travel on this piston.
Negishi--U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,390
Negishi, in this case, employs a combination of the equalizing pressure and radial constraint principles, whereby there are two concentric pressure tubes. The double-acting actuator of U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,390 includes a tubular body made of an elastic material, with a first reinforcing braided structure surrounding it. A second tubular body made of an elastic material surrounds the reinforced braided structure to form a space outwardly. A second reinforcing braided structure surrounds the second tubular body. The actuator further includes closure members for closing and joining ends of the first and second tubular bodies and reinforcing braided structures, and guiding device for permitting axial movements of the first and second tubular bodies but restraining lateral movements thereof. The first and second reinforcing braided structures are so constructed that initial braided angles thereof permit of the first braided structure elongating and permit of the second braided structure contracting when the pressurized fluid is supplied into the first and second tubular bodies. The fluid pressure is varied between the tubes so that the outside tube at one point has higher pressure than the inside tube and thus restrains radial expansion, directing the force to horizontal thrust. This device also has limited movement.
Sakaguchi--U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,639
Sakaguchi discloses a classic example of the equalizing pressure principle. The actuator of Sakaguchi includes a tubular body made of a rubber-like elastic material and a braided structure made of organic or inorganic high-tensile-strength fibers reinforcing an outside of the tubular body. Closure members sealingly close ends of the tubular body; at least one of the closure members has a fluid connecting passage. The tubular body deforms to expand its diameter when pressurized fluid is introduced through the connecting passage to cause contractive force in the longitudinal direction. Contraction-detecting strain gauges at one closure member provide signals corresponding to the contractive force of the actuator.
Takagi--U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,260
This device also operates according to the equalizing pressure principle with modifications to improve and decrease fatigue. Takagi discloses a pneumatic actuator including an elastic tubular body, closure members sealingly closing its ends and a braided structure made of braided cords reinforcing the tubular body. The braided structure is expanded in its radial direction and simultaneously contracted in its axial direction together with the tubular body when pressurized fluid is supplied into the tubular body. According to the invention the braided cords of the braided structure comprise monofilaments, each having a smoothly rounded outer surface of a large radius of curvature. A protective layer may be provided between the tubular body and the braided structure or a filler such as an incompressible fluid substance having no constant shape is provided in the tubular body, or diameters of both ends of the braided structure and braided angles at both the ends are made larger than those at a substantially mid-portion of the braided structure. The actuator according to the invention decreases damage of the tubular body to elongate its service life and exhibits an improved contacting performance and high fatigue strength and can greatly save air consumption to eliminate the disadvantage of much air consumption of the air-bag type actuator without adversely affecting its advantages.
Wang--U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,973
The fluid pressure actuated assembly disclosed in Wang includes a casing made of a flexible resilient material, such as rubber or polyurethane, a coiled tension spring sleeved on the casing for biasing the casing to move toward a retracted position, and a coiled spacing spring interposed between the tension spring and the casing for preventing any wall of the casing from being clamped between any two adjacent turns of the tension spring. When a compressed fluid is applied to the interior of the casing, the casing extends. This uses the return spring for radial restraint, but adds a spacing spring in between to prevent the flexible material from pinching between the turns of the return spring.
Paynter--U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,050
Paynter discloses a method of creating a torque by pressurizing the inside of a tube having preformed spiral spring wires (helically shaped) on the outside. The expansion pressure forces the wires to straighten (ie. lose their spiral) and thus turn one end of the device.
Vergenet--U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,008
The invention, among other things, provides a pump adapted for the intake and delivery of liquid such as water in wells or relatively deep bodies of water. The pump comprises a rigid-walled chamber, adapted to be immersed in the liquid to be sucked in. The rigid-walled chamber has an intake valve and a delivery valve interposed between the rigid-walled chamber and a delivery tube. The pump is characterized in that it comprises, accommodated in the rigid-walled chamber, a resiliently deformable chamber associated with means for controlling, at least in one direction, alternate deformations of the chamber by expansion and retraction. This is a device for a submersible pump (well pump, for example). There is a deformable plunger on the end of the handle at the top to increase the pressure exerted on the water in the well, forcing the water up a tube.
Larsson--U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,868
Larsson discloses a flexible actuator, comprising at least a pressure tube, which is axially extendable and/or contractible under influence of a pressure fluid. The object of the invention is to provide a flexible actuator, which can perform straight axial movements as well as curved movements in one or more planes and which can also operate at very high pressures. These objects have been achieved by the fact that the tube (12) with the exception of its end, connection or attachment parts (13) is corrugated and that at least the portions (10) of the corrugated tube, which are located between its outward projecting folds (9), are equipped with means (8) of a material which is inextensible as compared to the material of the tube, and arranged substantially to prevent a radial expansion and/or contraction of the tube in said portions (10). This is effectively a very long bellows type with strengthening in the folds of the bellows to prevent bulging. He has claimed many variations to prevent the bulging, but all rely basically on the bellows idea and strengthening with helical wire reinforcing.
Price--U.S. Pat. No. 4,006,669
Price discloses a fluid pressure activated piston slidably carried in a fluid pressure actuated cylinder which, in turn, is slidably carried in a fixed carrier. Movement of the cylinder is resisted by a deformable tube frictionally engaged with a fixed circular member. A predetermined fluid pressure acting across a differential area wall portion of the cylinder generates a force overcoming the frictional resistance of the deformable tube engaged with the fixed circular member thereby advancing the cylinder in the direction of movement of the pressurized piston. The output force of the piston is substantially unaffected by the force imposed on the cylinder. This is a very complicated device to be used for aircraft brake actuation. The only flexible material appears to be a radially deformable member inside the cylinder to alter the movements.


An electrocoat coating composition comprising an electrodepositable resin that has functionality reactive with isocyanate and a curing agent having at least one allophanate groups is described. The invention also provides a method of applying the composition of the invention to a substrate and curing the applied coating.

Electrodeposition coating compositions and methods are widely used in industry today. One of the advantages of electrocoat compositions and processes is that the applied coating composition forms a uniform and contiguous layer over a variety of metallic substrates regardless of shape or configuration. This is especially advantageous when the coating is applied as an anticorrosive coating onto a substrate having an irregular surface, such as a motor vehicle body. The even, continuous coating layer over all portions of the metallic substrate provides maximum anticorrosion effectiveness.
Electrocoat baths usually comprise an aqueous dispersion of a principal film-forming resin, such as an acrylic or epoxy resin, having ionic stabilization. For automotive or industrial applications for which hard electrocoat films are desired, the electrocoat compositions are formulated to be curable compositions. This is usually accomplished by including in the bath a crosslinking agent that can react with functional groups on the principal resin under appropriate conditions (such as with the application of heat) and thus cure the coating. During electrodeposition, coating material containing an ionically-charged resin having a relatively low molecular weight is deposited onto a conductive substrate by submerging the substrate in an electrocoat bath having dispersed therein the charged resin and then applying an electrical potential between the substrate and a pole of opposite charge, for example, a stainless steel electrode. The charged coating material migrates to and deposits on the conductive substrate. The coated substrate is then heated to cure the coating.
One curing mechanism utilizes a melamine formaldehyde resin curing agent in the electrodepositable coating composition to react with hydroxyl functional groups on the electrodeposited resin. This curing method provides good cure at relatively low temperatures (perhaps 130.degree. C.), but the crosslink bonds contain undesirable ether linkages and the resulting coatings provide poor overall corrosion resistance as well as poor chip and cyclic corrosion resistance.
In order to address some of the problems with melamine cross-linked electrocoats, many commercial compositions employ polyisocyanate crosslinkers to react with hydroxyl or amine functional groups on the electrodeposited resin. This curing method provides desirable urethane or urea crosslink bonds, but it also entails several disadvantages. In order to prevent premature gelation of the electrodepositable coating compositions, the highly reactive isocyanate groups on the curing agent must be blocked. Blocked polyisocyanates, however, require high temperatures, typically 175.degree. C. or more to unblock and begin the curing reaction. In the past, the isocyanate crosslinkers have been blocked with a compound such as an oxime or alcohol, which unblocks and volatilizes during cure, in order to provide the lowest temperatures for the unblocking and curing reactions. The volatile blocking agents released during cure can cause other deleterious effects on various coating properties, however, and increase organic emissions. There is thus a need for electrodepositable coating compositions that could provide desirable urethane or urea crosslink linkages but that avoid the problems that now accompany compositions having polyisocyanate curing agents blocked with volatilizing agents.


A laminated filter comprising a laminated body created by laminating a plurality of dielectric sheets, a resonator electrode disposed on an inner part of the laminated body, and an input-output electrode disposed on the inner part of the laminated body at a position facing the resonator electrode through the dielectric sheet. A stub electrode is connected to the input-output electrode.

In general, laminated filters are configured by providing resonator electrodes in parallel on an inner layer within a stack of several laminated dielectric sheets, and an I/O electrode at a position facing the resonator electrodes through this inner layer of the dielectric sheets.
To improve the frequency characteristics of laminated filters, another resonator electrode and capacitance are connected in series to form a resonator electrode for notching, and connected to the laminated filter. This resonator electrode for notching generates an attenuation pole within the frequency characteristics, steepening the frequency characteristics curve.
However, when a resonator electrode for notching is provided within a laminated filter, in addition to the resonator electrodes, additional space is desirable for a) the resonator electrode for notching and b) an electrode for providing capacitance. Thus, it is difficult to produce laminated filters of a reduced size.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


There is provided a medical device comprising a low intensity electromagnetic field source to increase the respiratory control index values (RCI) of mitochondria. The medical device may be implantable, such as a cardiac rhythm management device, a stent, or a vascular graft. The device may also be worn externally, such as a treatment device having a matrix of magnetic coils that is worn on the head for the treatment of various neurological conditions.

The management and treatment of various disease conditions is an important area of medicine where much progress has taken place over the years. Oftentimes management and treatment of disease are done pharmacologically, as the administration of chemicals to the human body can often be done non-invasively, for example, orally through ingestion. The use of magnets for various purported therapeutic effects has been widely speculated and considered to be pseudoscientific since there has been a lack of quantitative scientific data to support the fact that magnets have any impact on human health or the treatment of various disease states. For example, there have been claims that magnets improve blood flow, however, scientific basis for such claims is lacking. Additionally, there have been claims that magnets reduce pain, however, such claims are again unsupported scientifically. Recent studies at the University of Rochester Medical Center, however, have determined that low intensity electromagnetic fields increase the respiratory control index values (RCI) of mitochondria, thereby improving the efficiency of this important cellular energy producing organelle without associated detrimental effects to mitochondria. Such scientific results have heretofore been unknown, the various objects of the present invention will therefore be describe herein. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide medical device that contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is another object of the present invention to provide an implantable medical device that contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is another object of the present invention to provide a stent for transluminal implantation that contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is another objet of the present invention to provide an implantable cardiac device that contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a vascular graft that contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is another object of the present invention to provide a medical treatment device that is worn on the head and contains a low intensity electromagnetic field source. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a medical treatment device that is worn on the head and contains addressable sources of low intensity electromagnetic fields. These and other objects of the present invention are not to be considered comprehensive or exhaustive, but rather, exemplary of objects that may be ascertained after reading this specification and claims with the accompanying drawings.

Low intensity magnetic field devices for treatment of cardiac and neurological disorders


Hypotonic microbicidal compositions including an antimicrobial, such as an antiviral compound, and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier in a solution formulation having hypotonic osmolarity have been developed for administration rectally to the gastrointestinal mucosa. In a preferred embodiment for use in preventing or decreasing HIV infection, the microbicidal is tenofovir, or a prodrug or derivative thereof. The formulations may include additional agents such as surfactants to enhance cleansing, buffers, or preservatives. Polymers may be included for osmolarity as well as comfort.

UNAIDS estimates approximately 2.3 million new HIV infections in 2012, indicating an ongoing need for prevention of HIV infection. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are the group at highest risk of HIV acquisition through unprotected receptive anal intercourse (URAI) and are an important part of the epidemic in both developed and low and middle income countries. MSM remain the majority of the U.S. epidemic where most incident infections are among MSM (63% overall and 78% among men). These men also serve as a source of HIV infection for other risk groups. In Baltimore neighborhoods, 38% of MSM have HIV infection with seroincidence rates of 11% in young African American MSM. In a survey of U.S. MSM, 36% reported having RAI at last sex, and the percentage who reported not using condoms ranged from 38-65%. Women globally also engage in anal intercourse at 10-20% levels, substantial given their percent of the population, and report lower condom use than most MSM surveys. The combination of high RAI frequency, low condom use, and higher risk of HIV infection via RAI argues strongly for strategies to prevent HIV infection associated with URAI.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with the NRTI tenofovir (TFV)-based drug regimens has been tested in 6 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and demonstrates a clear plasma concentration-HIV protection response among studies. In iPrEx, the only study targeting MSM, daily oral TFV disoproxil fumarate (TDF)/emtricitabine (FTC) provided 92% protection with evidence of only 2 doses per week (measurable plasma TFV) whereas heterosexual studies indicated similar protection only with 6-7 doses per week.
Reports of enema use before sex by MSM range widely: 51-96% in New York City, 67% in Baltimore, 18-53% in African-Americans, and 28% in Peru. Typically, enemas were taken within 2 hours before and 1 hour after sex (when enemas are used less often) for reasons of hygiene, partner desire, and belief in HIV protection. Several MSM studies indicate between 80% and 100% willingness to use rectal microbicide enemas, especially in the absence of condoms.
A number of formulations have been tested for this purpose, for example, in prior IP/CP U19 programs, MDP (Anton, PI) and CHARM (McGowan, PI). For example, RMP-02/MTN-006 studied rectal application of VF (vaginal formulation) TFV 1% gel (used in CAPRISA 004 and VOICE), a very hyperosmolar formulation compared to RF (rectal optimized formulation, developed in MDP) and RGVF (reduced glycerin vaginal formulation, developed in MTN). RMP-02/MTN-006 demonstrated that VF applied rectally was associated with gastrointestinal-related Grade 3 adverse events (only during 7-day exposure) and less than desired acceptability. Another MDP study and a CDC funded study also demonstrated mucosal tissue abnormalities with hyperosmolar enemas and gels, respectively.
The rectal columnar epithelium is fragile and extremely vulnerable to HIV-1 infection, in part due to the proximity of sub-epithelial stromal tissues that are densely populated with cells receptive to incident HIV-1 infection, such as dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages and T-cells that express both CD4 and both HIV-1 co-receptors CCR5 and CXCR4. Although the mechanisms of viral uptake and infection across rectal mucosa are not fully established, such physiological and anatomical differences may explain why HIV is more readily transmitted across rectal than across the cervicovaginal genital epithelium. In conjunction with this higher transmission risk of rectal versus vaginal exposure to HIV, there is a higher concentration of tenofovir achievable in colonic tissue than in vaginal tissue. The plasma concentration of tenofovir associated with 90% protection (EC90) in PK/PD models, 107 ng/mL, was not achieved by the most highly adherent heterosexual subpopulations. Achievement of concentrations above 107 ng/mL requires fastidious adherence and daily dosing. This is in contrast to the protective effect for MSM which is achieved with only 2 to 4 doses of oral TFV per week.
Given the (1) very high efficacy of TFV-based PrEP, (2) more efficient delivery of active drug to the colon with rectal compared to oral dosing, (3) the large negative impact of poor adherence on PrEP outcomes, (4) frequency of URAI in men and women, and (5) the common pre-existing behavior of enemas use before and after RAI by many MSM, there exists an unmet need for the development of a pharmacokinetically-enhanced TFV prodrug enema capable of protecting subjects from HIV acquisition.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide formulations for administration rectally to deliver an effective amount of antimicrobial, especially antiviral, to reduce the likelihood of HIV infection.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such formulations which are safe, comfortable and easy to store and use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hypotonic microbicidal formulations and methods of use


The invention relates to double-walled microcapsules each having a core of a hydrophobic substance, and a primary wall and a secondary wall formed therearound, the microcapsules being characterized in that the primary wall is composed of an amino resin prepared by polycondensation reaction of at least one member selected from the group consisting of:. (1) urea and formaldehyde, PA0 (2) a methylolurea monomer or a low molecular weight polymer thereof, and PA0 (3) a methylated methylolurea monomer or a low molecular weight polymer thereof,. and that the secondary wall is formed from a polyion complex of a cationic polyamide-epihalohydrin resin having a urea bond in the structural unit with a polystyrenesulfonic acid and/or a salt thereof; and a process for preparing the double-walled microcapsules.

Micro-encapsulation denotes enclosing fine particles or liquid droplets with a film wall to obtain microcapsules having useful characteristics. Frequently unstable substances are micro-encapsulated, and the obtained microcapsules retaining the properties of the substance are used for various applications.
In the fields of recording or display materials, aromas, adhesives and the like, micro-encapsulation was once conducted chiefly by the coacervation method. However, a new micro-encapsulation method was recently proposed in which a film wall of amino resin is formed by in-situ polymerization. Now the new method is predominantly performed because the method uses inexpensive materials, comprises expediently simplified procedures and gives microcapsules of proper strength. Using a specific water-soluble polymer (system modifier), the method is capable of smoothly forming a film wall of the amino resin. Therefore, the method has been variously improved mainly in the selection of system modifiers. For example, improved methods have been proposed as disclosed, e.g., in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 25277/1979, 107881/1979 and 51238/1981.
Yet these conventional film walls of amino resin are hard and brittle and thus likely to develop cracking. Since the development of cracking is accelerated by heat, water or the like, the conventional microcapsules with a film wall of amino resin have the drawbacks of being low in resistance to heat and moisture and tending to ooze out the contents during storage.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 170857/1984 discloses a micro-encapsulated toner covered with two walls, namely a primary wall of a resin prepared by addition reaction and/or condensation reaction of a component with a formaldehyde and a secondary wall formed on the primary wall by coacervation of polymer from an organic solution. The micro-encapsulation disclosed in this publication entails complicated steps because of required batchwise formation of the primary and secondary walls and necessitates the formation of the secondary wall in the organic solvent in which the contents are apt to dissolve out during the formation thereof or to have the properties impaired. Further the obtained microcapsules are unsatisfactory in resistance to heat and moisture.

Double-walled microcapsules and a process for preparation of same


A method for reducing the amount of beverage soluble metal ions in a diatomaceous earth filter aid is disclosed. The beverage soluble metal ions can be copper and/or iron. In the method, the diatomaceous earth filter aid is contacted with a hop compound selected from iso-alpha-acids, dihydroiso-alpha-acids, tetrahydroiso-alpha-acids, hexahydroiso-alpha-acids, alpha-acids, and beta-acids. The diatomaceous earth filter aid can also be contacted with and an acid other than the hop compound such as phosphoric acid. The iso-alpha-acids, dihydroiso-alpha-acids, tetrahydroiso-alpha-acids, hexahydroiso-alpha-acids, alpha-acids, or beta-acids bind the copper and iron metal ions and/or change the form of copper and iron in diatomaceous earth so the copper and iron are rendered substantially insoluble in a beverage such as beer. A method for filtering a beverage using the treated diatomaceous earth filter aid is also disclosed. A method for increasing the flavor stability of a malt beverage filtered with a diatomaceous earth filter aid is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for reducing the amount of beverage soluble metal ions in a diatomaceous earth filter aid, a method for filtering a beverage using the treated diatomaceous earth filter aid, and a method for increasing the flavor stability of a malt beverage filtered with a diatomaceous earth filter aid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Filtration using diatomaceous earth as a filtration aid has been used by brewers around the world for many years to produce brilliantly clear beer. Diatomaceous earth is a very light weight powder with high porosity and its chemical composition consists of 86% silicon, 5% sodium, 3% magnesium, 2% iron, and many other minor metals. The porous structure of diatomaceous earth is particularly effective in entrapping suspended particles. Diatomaceous earth can also be called kieselguhr.
In a common beer filtering process, a filter element is pre-coated with a mixture of diatomaceous earth and diluent (e.g., deaerated water) prior to the filtration. Another portion of the diatomaceous earth mixture (body feed) is added directly into the beer stream being filtered. It usually requires two filtrations (primary and final) to achieve beer clarity.
The "cardboard" like flavor that occurs in stale beer is thought to arise from free radical mediated oxidation of various constituents in beer. The characteristic odor and taste are believed to be caused by decomposition products from the free radical process. It is reported that these off-flavor products can be detected by the consumer in beer even at very low concentrations. Diatomaceous earth filtration can be a major liability for beer flavor stability because some of the iron, copper and other metals from the diatomaceous earth leach into the beer being filtered such that trace amounts of iron or copper and trace levels of oxygen mediate free radical formation resulting in decreased flavor stability of the beer.
Because iron (typically as the ions Fe2+ and/or Fe3+) can decrease flavor stability of the beer, the contents of iron in the diatomaceous earth which are soluble in beer (e.g., beer soluble iron) provide useful indicators of the degree to which release of iron occurs. It has been reported that the majority of conventional diatomite filter aids used in beer filtration have beer soluble iron contents from approximately 7 mg Fe/kg product to approximately 50 mg Fe/kg product. A reliable analytical method has been established in the industry to determine the solubility of iron from diatomite products in beer (American Society of Brewing Chemists, 1987).
Accordingly, processes have been developed which seek to reduce the beverage soluble iron content of diatomaceous earth filter aids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 665,652 describes heating diatomaceous earth in a solution of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,547 describes contacting diatomaceous earth with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, or phosphoric acid. U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,240 describes contacting diatomaceous earth with oxy-acids of phosphorous. U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,857 describes contacting diatomaceous earth with tannic acid or gallic acid. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,142,968 and 4,187,174 disclose a method in which diatomaceous earth filter aids are treated with sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, or oxalic acid. In this method, the filter aids are maintained in contact with a relatively small volume of an acid for a period of days, resulting in a beer soluble iron content of less than 100-50 ppm. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0023233 discloses the washing of diatomite products with a mineral acid (such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, or nitric acid), or an organic acid (such as citric acid or acetic acid). However, in a full-scale brewery, the preparation of acid-washed diatomaceous earth creates extra work and waste water, including washing diatomaceous earth, filtering and disposing of the acidic wash solution, and re-suspending the diatomaceous earth.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,084 describes another method in which the beer soluble iron content of a diatomaceous earth material is reduced by contacting the diatomaceous earth with a polydentate ligand. U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,906 describes the treatment of diatomaceous earth filter aids with an alkali metal silicate to reduce multivalent metal cations. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0264287 (also WO 2008/024952) discloses an alternative method in which the beer soluble iron content of a diatomaceous earth material is reduced by subjecting the diatomaceous earth feed material to a saturated steam treatment. These methods require a pre-cleaning procedure including separation of soluble iron or other metal ions from diatomaceous earth prior to use as a filter aid, resulting in additional operational and equipment costs.
Brewers and brewing scientists around the world are looking at alternative technologies to replace diatomaceous earth filtration. One proposed method for filtering beer uses a polymer for heavy metal reduction. For example, Divergan® HM, a crosslinked copolymer consisting of vinylimidazole and vinylpyrrolidone available from BASF Corporation, Mount Olive, N.J., USA, has been developed for heavy metal reduction. Membranes have also been considered for beer filtration. One stumbling block is the cost of these alternative filtration technologies.
Therefore, there still exists a need for an improved method for preventing soluble iron, soluble copper, and other soluble cations in diatomaceous earth filter aids from being transferred into filtered beer.

Methods for reducing soluble metal ions in diatomaceous earth filter aids


A spiral groove 11 is provided in a front cylinder 10, and a spiral piece 32 for constituting a cosmetic material retaining section 31 provided at a tip of a push rod 30 is located in the spiral groove 11 and retains a stick type cosmetic material A. A spiral engagement section 33 subsequent to the spiral piece 32 is engaged with the spiral groove 11 and constitutes a spiral engagement mechanism. An engagement line section 34 provided at an outer circumference of a stopper section 38 of the push rod 30 is engaged with a rotary stop groove 21 of a container body 20 and constitutes a rotary stop mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stick type cosmetic material feeding container which feeds out a stick type cosmetic material for use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 11-146808 (JPA11-146808) shows a typical method for moving a stick type cosmetic material forward and backward by rotatably connecting a front cylinder and a container body, retaining the stick type cosmetic material at a cosmetic material retaining section which is provided at a tip of a push rod internally installed, and rotating the front cylinder and the container body described above. This method is shown as a conventional example in FIGS. 8 and 9.
In the stick type cosmetic material feeding container shown in FIG. 8, a front cylinder 231 and a container body cylinder 241 are connected coaxially and rotatably. A push rod 251 is installed therein. A cavity section 253 is provided at a tip of the push rod 251, and a stick type cosmetic material 233 is retained at the cavity section 253.
A longitudinal engagement groove 237 is formed in the front cylinder 231. Projections 257 formed on a surface of the push rod 251 are engaged with the engagement groove 237, thereby constituting a rotary stop mechanism. Further, on the side of the container body, the projections 257 are spirally engaged with a female screw section 245, thereby constituting a spiral engagement mechanism.
When the front cylinder 231 and the container body cylinder 241 are rotated in such a state, the push rod 251 advances while rotating synchronously with the front cylinder 231. Thus, the stick type cosmetic material starts projecting from a tip opening 235.
Further, in the stick type cosmetic material feeding container shown in FIG. 9, a female screw section 261 is provided at a base end of the front cylinder 231 An engagement groove 265 which is engaged with the projections 257 of the push rod 251 in a vertical direction constitutes a rotary stop mechanism in the container body cylinder 241. The female screw section 261 described above and the projections 257 of the push rod 251 which are spirally engaged with the female screw section 261 constitute a spiral engagement mechanism.
Thus, in FIG. 9, the push rod 251 and the front cylinder 231 are rotated relatively to each other and the stick type cosmetic material 233 advances while rotating with respect to the front cylinder 231.
However, in the stick type cosmetic material feeding containers shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the stick type cosmetic material is retained at the tip cavity section 253 of the push rod 251. A space for the tip cavity section 253, which is equivalent to a thickness of the push rod 251, is provided in the front cylinder 231.
Therefore, when the stick type cosmetic material is, for example, warped due to heat or a change of dead weight, in FIG. 8, a load on the stick type cosmetic material is relatively light because the stick type cosmetic material advances without rotating in the front cylinder. However, when the front cylinder and the stick type cosmetic material advance while rotating relatively to each other as shown in FIG. 9, the stick type cosmetic material in a state of being warped comes into contact with an inner circumferential surface of the front cylinder while making a rotation, whereby the stick type cosmetic material is easily broken or chipped off.
As shown in FIG. 9, the stick type cosmetic material feeding container in which the stick type cosmetic material advances while rotating with respect to the front cylinder has the effect of creating a high-grade atmosphere by giving a molding core of lipstick a cubic effect. In particular, a stick type cosmetic material of a small bore diameter has an advantage of being three-dimensional for the reason described above, but such a stick type cosmetic material is hardly utilized under the existing circumstances.
An object of the present invention is to provide a stick type cosmetic material feeding container in which a stick type cosmetic material advances while rotating relatively to a front cylinder, but the stick type cosmetic material keeps standing up straight in the front cylinder. Thus, there is a lesser possibility that the stick type cosmetic material might be broken or chipped off at the time of use.
In order to achieve the object described above, a stick type cosmetic material feeding container according to the present invention comprises a front cylinder having an opening hole at its tip, a container body to be coaxially and rotatably connected to the front cylinder, a push rod which is provided in these front cylinder and container body and at the tip of which a cosmetic material retaining section for retaining a stick type cosmetic material is formed, a spiral engagement mechanism formed between the push rod and an inner circumference of the front cylinder, and a rotary stop mechanism formed between the push rod and the container body, wherein a feeding mechanism for causing the stick type cosmetic material to go in and out through the opening hole of the front cylinder by moving the push rod in an axial direction due to rotations of the front cylinder and the container body is provided, a spiral groove is formed at an inner circumference of the front cylinder so as to constitute the spiral engagement mechanism, and the cosmetic material retaining section is constituted by a spiral piece which extends in a helical shape from a tip of the push rod and is spirally engaged with the spiral groove.
In an aspect of the present invention, the spiral groove in the front cylinder comprises a single line of groove and also the spiral piece provided at a tip of the push rod comprises a single line of spiral piece with the same pitch as that of the spiral groove and a stick type cosmetic material is stored and retained in a space inside the spiral piece.
In another aspect of the present invention, the push rod is furnished with a spiral engagement section with the same pitch as that of the spiral piece in such a manner that the spiral engagement section is lined with the spiral piece provided at a tip of the push rod, and the spiral engagement section and the spiral groove of the front cylinder are spirally engaged, thereby constituting the spiral engagement mechanism described above.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the push rod is furnished with a projection on an extension line of a spiral of the spiral piece which is provided at a tip of the push rod, and the projection and the spiral groove are spirally engaged, thereby constituting the spiral engagement mechanism described above.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, the length of the spiral groove in an axial direction which is provided in the front cylinder is set to be longer than a shifting stroke of the push rod.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, at an outer circumference of the spiral piece provided at a tip of the push rod, there are provided diameter expansion preventing means for preventing the expansion of an inside diameter of the cosmetic material retaining section which is in contact with a bottom of the spiral groove and is formed inside the spiral piece.
Thus, according to the present invention, in a kind of stick type cosmetic material feeding container in which a stick type cosmetic material core advances while rotating with respect to the front cylinder, since the spiral piece which constitutes the cosmetic material retaining section is engaged with the spiral groove of the front cylinder, the inside diameter of the cosmetic material retaining section, namely, a gap between the outside diameter of the stick type cosmetic material and an inner circumference of the front cylinder at which the spiral groove is formed can be extremely small. As a result, it is possible for the stick type cosmetic material to advance while sliding in the front cylinder with a minimum space left between the stick type cosmetic material and an inner circumferential surface of the front cylinder. Thus, it is possible to prevent an accident which may occur due to a warp of the stick type cosmetic material or the like.
Further, a line of spiral groove is formed in the front cylinder, and a line of spiral piece with the same pitch as that of the spiral groove to be spirally engaged with the spiral groove is formed at a tip of the push rod. Thus, it is particularly effective in making the pitch, which is a shifting distance at the time of a single rotation, smaller.
Further, the spiral engagement section constitutes the spiral engagement mechanism by engaging with the line of spiral groove of the front cylinder subsequently to the spiral piece at the time of rotations of the push rod and the container body. Therefore, no stress is imposed on the spiral piece other than a stress to support the stick type cosmetic material, thereby enabling the stick type cosmetic material to stably advance and retreat in the front cylinder.
Further, since a projection is installed on an extension line of the spiral piece which is provided at a piece of the push rod and constitutes the cosmetic material retaining section and the spiral engagement mechanism is constituted by spirally engaging the projection with the spiral groove provided in the front cylinder, it is comparatively easy to manufacture the push rod.
Further, preventing means are provided at an outer circumference of the spiral piece so that even though the stick type cosmetic material is inserted in the cosmetic material retaining section which is constituted by the spiral piece provided at a tip of the push rod, the inside diameter of the cosmetic material retaining section is not expanded more than its actual dimension. Thus, the inside diameter of the spiral piece will never be expanded more than the planned dimension.
Further, it is set such that the length of the spiral groove in an axial direction provided in the front cylinder is longer than a shifting stroke of the push rod. Therefore, even though the stick type cosmetic material is fed out up to the uppermost limit, the spiral piece provided at a tip of the push rod does not come into contact with a spiral termination at a tip of the front cylinder. Thus, it is possible to prevent that the spiral piece is deformed due to a load which may be on when the spiral piece comes into contact with the spiral termination and therefore the stick type cosmetic material comes off. Thus, the stick type cosmetic material can stably be retained.

Stick type cosmetic material feeding container


The present disclosure discloses an audio processing method and apparatus based on artificial intelligence. A specific embodiment of the method comprises: converting a to-be-processed audio to a to-be-processed picture; extracting a content characteristic of the to-be-processed picture; determining a target picture based on a style characteristic and the content characteristic of the to-be-processed picture, the style characteristic being obtained from a template picture converted from a template audio; and converting the target picture to a processed audio. The present embodiment achieves the processing effect that the processed audio takes a template audio style, improves the efficiency and the flexibility of audio processing, while without changing the content of the to-be-processed audio.

Artificial Intelligence, abbreviated as AI, is a new scientific technology that studies and develops theories, methods, technologies and application systems for simulating, extending and expanding human intelligence. AI is a branch of computer science that attempts to understand the essence of intelligence and produce a new intelligent machine which can react in a way similar to human intelligence. Research in this area includes robotics, speech recognition, image recognition, natural language processing, expert system and the like.
There are currently two main kinds of audio processing as follows: one is to process the audio by changing the base frequency or the format of the audio; the other is the speech synthesis. When performing the speech synthesis, the first step is to collect marked data of the template audio, then a model is trained based on the collected data. Since the model is input in text, it is required to first perform speech recognition to the to-be-synthesized audio, and then input the recognized text into the trained model to generate the audio. The first method lacks flexibility with regard to the audio processing and cannot achieve a good processing effect. The second method requires a large amount of sample audio data. Furthermore, the to-be-processed audio needs to be first converted to text during the processing, resulting in a low processing efficiency.

Audio processing method and apparatus based on artificial intelligence

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.


A packaging and method for displaying a card having coded data disposed on one side thereof are provided. The packaging comprising an opaque backing and a transparent covering. The data card is disposed on one side of the backing with the coded data positioned against the backing and the covering laminated to a portion of the backing and the data card so as to seal the data card between the covering and the backing and mask the coded data on the data card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packaging, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved security packaging for displaying a data card having coded data disposed thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
The purchase and usage of data or information cards has continued to increase in recent years to the point that the sale of data cards today is a multi-billion dollar industry. Often data cards are printed and issued with a predetermined balance and typically sold as a retail item. An example of such a card is a prepaid calling card which provides an individual with a set dollar amount of long distance telephone calls. The account is accessed and debited by using an account number provided on the calling card.
In addition to the increased purchasing of data cards have come increased security problems. More specifically, when selling prepaid data cards as a retail item they are being displayed at the point of purchase in such a manner that access to the account numbers can be inconspicuously gained, and in turn used, without significantly damaging the packaging in which the card is displayed. To this end, a need exists for an improved security packaging for displaying a data card having coded data disposed thereon at the point of purchase. It is to such an improved security packaging that the present invention is directed.


A method includes forming a stressed Si layer in a trench formed in a stress layer deposited on a substrate. The stressed Si layer forms an active channel region of a device. The method further includes forming a gate structure in the active channel region formed from the stressed Si layer.

In the recent generations of technology, stress engineering and material innovations have replaced geometric scaling as the main contributors to the continued performance improvement in CMOS devices. For example, strained Si has been adopted as a promising option to improve complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-based transistor device performance. More specifically, strained silicon on insulator (SSOI) technology is a promising way to increase charge carriers mobility in CMOS technologies such as, for example, FinFET, frigate, ultrathin body SOI and nanowires.
However, current methods to fabricate SSOI wafers are very expensive. For example, current manufacturing technologies require several masking layers in order to provide a stress material thereby increasing overall fabrication costs. Moreover, with smaller technology nodes, it becomes very difficult to obtain proper spacing between the S/D regions and the gate stack. Also, extremely close proximity in early embedded SiGe leads to highly variable devices since the location of device tailoring implants moves as a function of fill height. Also, integrating the stressors, with a controlled device and a replacement gate-flow high-k metal gate stack is expensive and complicated.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.

Self aligned device with enhanced stress and methods of manufacture

International Business Machines Corporation


A branch target buffer (BTB) system and method for storing target address is provided. The BTB system is applicable to a 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit or higher processor architecture. When the target address of the branch instruction is stored, the BTB stores the variation range, carry bit and sub/add bit of the target address without having to store all the bits of the target address. Because the BTB does not need to store the identical part of the branch instruction address and the target address, the number of bits of the target address field for the BTB of the processor needs to be stored is reduced. Although less number of bits are stored for the target address field, the BTB system is able to generate a complete target address without affecting the computation performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a branch target buffer (BTB) of a processor of computer architecture, and more specifically to a branch target buffer system and method for storing target address, applicable to a 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit or higher processor architecture. When the target address of the branch instruction is stored, the BTB stores the variation range, carry bit and sub/add bit of the target address without having to store all the bits of the target address, for reducing the number of bits of the target address field for the BTB of the processor.
2. The Prior Arts
The branch target buffer (BTB) is for storing the target address of the branch instruction, and is often used to determine whether an instruction is a branch instruction. If an instruction is determined to be a branch instruction, the branch predictor will determine whether the branch instruction will be taken or not, based on the branch history of the branch instruction. If the branch predictor predicts that a branch will be taken, the target address field of the BTB will provide the target address for the program to continue.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the operation of a conventional BTB for storing the target address of a branch instruction. As shown in FIG. 1, a BTB 10 stores the history of a target branch. The BTB 10 has a plurality of entries 101. The number of entries can be, for example, 512 (512-entry).
Each entry 101 of the BTB 10 includes a tag 102, and a data 103. The tag 102 is the [31:9]-bit of the branch instruction address that is previously executed, and the data 103 includes a target address ([31:0]) 104 of a previously executed branch instruction, and a 2-bit history information 105.
The BTB 10 will fetch the current instruction address and check whether the instruction address is a branch instruction previously executed. The [8:2]-bit of the current address is used to read the tag 102, and compared to the [31:9]-bit of the current instruction address. If the tag of the current branch instruction address is the same as the tag 102 in the cache, the 2-bit history information 105 in the data 103 will indicate that the branch instruction is often fetched, and the BTB 10 will use the target address 104 as the instruction address to be passed to the instruction cache. The 2-bit history information 105 of the data 103 represents four possibilities of the entry 101 of the BTB 10.
In conventional technology, when the BTB stores the target address of the branch instruction, the BTB must store all the bits of the target address. Therefore, the large number of bits of the BTB prevents the chip size and the power consumption from reduction. Therefore, it remains a problem to be solved for the development of a BTB with smaller number of bits and applicable to a 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, or even higher processor architecture to generate a complete target address to achieve the computation performance as well as reduce the chip size and power consumption.

Branch target buffer system and method for storing target address