A diaphragm for an electro acoustic transducer, such as a loudspeaker, includes first and second parallel sheet members, a honeycomb core member sandwiched between the sheet members, and a damping layer interposed between each sheet member and the honeycomb core member for increasing the internal energy loss of the diaphragm.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a diaphragm for a loudspeaker and, more particularly, to a diaphragm for a loudspeaker having a high internal energy loss.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a diaphragm for an electro acoustic transducer such as a loudspeaker should have a large ratio of modulus of elasticity E to density .rho. (E/.rho.) thereof so as to increase its range of motion in the direction of the piston or bobbin. Further, in order to have a relatively smooth frequency characteristic in the high frequency region, the diaphragm should have a suitable internal energy loss.
It is generally known that a diaphragm with a honeycomb core structure has a relatively large ratio of modulus of elasticity to density E/.rho.. Such diaphragms are typically formed of a pair of parallel sheet members made from, for example, aluminum, beryllium or other metal foil or a carbon or other (FRP) fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) with a honeycomb core member made of, for example, aluminium foil, is sandwiched between the sheet members. Such a diaphragm is generally lightweight with a high rigidity, that is, the ratio of modulus of elasticity to density E/.rho., is high. However, it has a small internal energy loss. Therefore, it has a high resonance sharpness in the high frequency band. Thus, it is seen that it becomes very difficult to satisfy all of the above conditions of low density, high rigidity and high internal energy loss in a diaphragm of the type having a honeycomb core structure.

Laminated loudspeaker diaphragm with honeycomb core and damping layers


Apparatus for mounting and aligning an optical element on a support structure comprises pivot means for mounting the element so that it can rotate about axes in two orthogonal directions and a pair of alignment means, each comprising a plunger and an inclined guide groove, for rotating the element about the two respective axes. Adjustment means, such as threaded screws, are provided for urging the plunger along the inclined grooves. The grooves are inclined at a sufficiently small angle to permit precision alignment. In order to reduce temperature sensitivity, the path of plunger motion is directed towards the pivotal centers and axes of the mount, and the optical element is placed on the axis between the pivot and the plunger.

Mechanisms for mounting and aligning optical units, such as mirrors or filters are essential in many optical systems, including those employing laser beams. Typically, in order to properly align the optical element with respect to the optical axis of the system, the mechanisms must be capable of precise adjustment around axes in two orthogonal directions.
While a wide variety of mounting arrangements have been developed, many are too temperature sensitive for use in optical systems employing high intensity laser beams. Temperature differentials arising, for example, from absorption of laser radiation within the optical element, can produce differential thermal expansion within the mounting apparatus and destroy precise alignment.
Some optical systems, such as those used for laser enrichment of uranium, not only utilize high intensity laser beams but also require a high density of optical components. Such systems typically need extremely long folded paths of high intensity laser beams and a multiplicity of compact, temperature insensitive mirror mounts for precisely directing the beams back and forth through an enrichment chamber. The mounts must be individually removable and sufficiently compact that many mirrors can be mounted adjacent one another in a small area.


A method for monitoring a plurality of identical actuators of a common operational assembly having the following steps: operating actuators one by one in similar powering conditions; measuring the energy agent flux during the excitation cycle of each; elaborating for each a time-based curve of the measure flux; elaborating a superposition from curves, and deducing therefrom a normality tracing; isolating the curves showing variations with respect to the normality tracing; and establishing a trouble shooting for each isolated curve, based on variations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the monitoring of a plurality of hydraulic, pneumatic or electro-mechanical actuators combined inside a given functional unit.
This unit is typically a postal sorting machine comprising a large number of identical electromagnets allocated to a given function for which it is extremely difficult to date to carry out a detailed effective check as part of preventive maintenance. The same applies for units containing identical pneumatic or hydraulic actuators.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method and device to test a plurality of electric actuators is described in the document WO97/20224. In this system, a plurality of sensors are allocated to each actuator whose measurements are transformed into signals with an identification code. The identified signals are then received in a data processing system where they are compared with nominal values.
When a signal deviates from a nominal value, the information given means that the actuator issuing the signal is defective. This system is cumbersome as first of all a plurality of sensors is provided for each actuator and secondly a set of sensors is required for each actuator.
The invention is the outcome of a solution research to effectively resolve this problem.
It consists of a monitoring and diagnostic device relating to a plurality of identical actuators characterised in that it includes the following stages:
successively and separately feeding each of said plurality of identical actuators, from a given electric, pneumatic or hydraulic energy source and in similar circuit conditions;
establishing for each actuator a reading or curve of the flow measured according to the time;
establishing a superposition from all said curves and defining a track occupied by the largest number and considered in this respect as a normality track;
isolating the curves having deviations relating to said track; and
establishing an anomaly diagnostic of each isolated curve on the basis of the deviation(s) it has with said track.
Said superposition can be embodied with the entire part of each of said curves, in which case the period of excitation of the actuators shall be identical for all. It could also be embodied with the significant portions of these curves, in which case the excitation period could vary from one actuator to another.
Depending on whether the actuators are to be electric, pneumatic or hydraulic components, the flow measured shall respectively be a current, a flow of compressed air or a flow of hydraulic liquid.
In practice, it is inevitable that the nominal flows or currents (current or flow recorded in a permanent state under feed) of the various actuators vary slightly within a tolerance range. Before the superposition stage, it would therefore be advantageous to apply a homothetic transformation of each curve so as to bring the value of the detected nominal flow or current down to a selected average value. Of course, prior to this operation, a first examination could have been carried out so as to mark and analyse the nominal current defects (value detected outside said range).
The invention also concerns devices for implementing the method defined above, devices able to be integrated in units or machines comprising the elements to be monitored, or even include independent diagnostic tools.

Method for monitoring electromechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic actuators, and implementing device


An aerosol generating device (20) comprises a reservoir (1) for containing a liquid to be atomized and a nebulization chamber (3) for nebulizing a portion of the liquid received from the reservoir. The aerosol device further comprises liquid exchange means (7,8) for exchanging in use a further portion of the liquid received in the nebulization chamber with liquid from the reservoir to reduce a temperature increase of liquid in the nebulization chamber caused by heat produced by the piezo (4).

Several different types of nebulizers are known such as for example ultrasonic type nebulizers which use a piezo electric crystal to atomize the liquid received in a nebulization chamber using a mesh. The piezo electric crystal may for example be used to vibrate the mesh causing the liquid to be dispersed through the mesh to form a spray of small droplets. In another example the piezo electric crystal is used to vibrate the liquid in the nebulization chamber causing it to be nebulized through the mesh. The temperature of some liquids, such as for example drugs, must be kept within specified limits. Due to efficiency limitations the piezo electric crystal will transform part of the electrical energy offered at its terminals to mechanical movement and another part to heat. As the piezo electric crystal is in direct or indirect contact with the liquid that is received in the nebulization chamber the heat produced by the piezo electric crystal may cause a temperature rise of the liquid. It is an object of the invention to reduce a temperature rise of the liquid in the nebulization chamber.

Aerosol generating device for nebulizing a liquid and a method of temperature control of a liquid to be nebulized


A seating system for a vehicle is disclosed. The seating system includes a support surface having a surface contour formed by first springs having fixed stiffness values, a frame, and second springs having adjustable stiffness values coupling the support surface and the frame. The first springs and the second springs together control motion of the support surface in relation to motion of the frame.

Vehicle occupants can experience different types of motion that can cause physical discomfort. Vibration, for example, can negatively impact blood flow and nerve sensation of the vehicle occupant, particularly during driving periods having a long duration. Motion sickness is another common discomfort reported by vehicle occupants. Motion sickness is the result of discordant stimuli of the vestibular system and visual system, occurring, for example, when motion is felt, but not seen by the vehicle occupant, as is common when the occupant is reading a book or using a screened device as a passenger in the vehicle. Reducing or removing the effects of vibration and discordant stimuli can improve the overall comfort of vehicle occupants.


A processor uses signals from at least two GPS receivers and a 3-component accelerometer located on a stable non-magnetic platform to determine the roll, yaw and pitch angles of the platform, thus providing a measurement of geographic north. The processor also uses signals from a 3-component magnetometer on the platform to determine the magnetic north and thence the magnetic declination. A proton magnetometer is used to provide a check on the measurements of the 3-component magnetometer. Additionally, three single component magnetometers provide a measure of the local magnetic field gradient and serve to monitor artificially induced magnetic fields. An alternate embodiment of the invention uses at least three GPS receivers and may dispense with the 3-component of accelerometer to determine geographic north. Temporal local variations of the earth's magnetic field are tracked and used to correct conventional magnetic well surveys. For use in offshore drilling applications where the rig is on a drillship, the platform floats on water away from the drillship and tethered to a buoy. Signals from an inertial motion sensor are used by the processor to correct the observations of the GPS sensors, the magnetometers and the accelerometers for the motion of the platform in water.

In the drilling of wells in hydrocarbon exploration and development, it is common to drill boreholes that deviate significantly from the vertical. The drillbit in such deviated holes is controlled to make the trajectory of the wellbore follow a desired trajectory to intersect producing reservoirs at desired locations. Various surveying techniques are used to determine the position of the wellbore. In addition to inertial and gravity measurements, these techniques include determination of the direction of the earth's magnetic field.
The magnetic surveys are referenced to the magnetic north direction, i.e., the direction approximately defined by a magnetic compass. Most people incorrectly believe that a compass needle points to the north magnetic pole. But since the Earth's field is the effect of complex convection currents in the magma, which must be described as several dipoles, each with a different intensity and orientation, the compass actually points to the sum of the effects of these dipoles at any location. In other words, it aligns itself with the magnetic lines of force. Other factors, of local and solar origin, further complicate the resulting field. It may be all right to say that a compass needle points "magnetic north" but it only roughly points to the north magnetic dip pole.
Predictive geomagnetic models such as the World Magnetic Model (WMM) and the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) only predict the values of that portion of the field originating in the deep outer core. In this respect, they are accurate to within one degree for five years into the future, after which they need to be updated. The Definitive Geomagnetic Reference Field (DGRF) model describes how the field actually behaved. Numerous publications give values of the magnetic declination using these models. These include the 1:39,000,000 Magnetic Variation chart of "The Earth's Magnetic Field" series published by the Defense Mapping Agency (USA), "The World Magnetic Variation 1995 and Annual Rates of Change" chart published by the British Geological Survey, and a 1:48,000,000 world declination chart of "The Magnetic Field of Earth" series that is published by the United States Geological Survey's Earth Sciences Information Center.
Local anomalies originating in the upper mantle, crust, or surface, distort the WMM or IGRF predictions. Ferromagnetic ore deposits; geological features, particularly of volcanic origin, such as faults and lava beds; topographical features such as ridges, trenches, seamounts, and mountains; ground that has been hit by lightning and possibly harboring fulgurites; cultural features such as power lines, pipes, rails and buildings; personal items such as crampons, ice axe, stove, steel watch, hematite ring or even a belt buckle, frequently induce an error of three to four degrees.
The stream of ionized particles and electrons emanating from the Sun, known as solar wind, distorts the Earth's magnetic field. As it rotates, any location will be subject alternately to the lee side, then the windward side of this stream of charged particles. This has the effect of moving the magnetic poles around an ellipse several tens of kilometers in diameter, even during periods of steady solar wind without gusts. The resulting diurnal change in declination is relatively small at tropical and temperate latitudes compared to the effect of local anomalies. For example, Ottawa is subject to plus or minus 0.1 degree of distortion. However; in Resolute, 500 kilometers from the north magnetic pole, the diurnal change cycles through at least plus or minus nine degrees of declination error. This error could conceivably be corrected, but both the time of day and the date would have to be considered, as this effect also varies with seasons.
The solar wind varies throughout an 11-year sunspot cycle, which itself varies from one cycle to the next. During severe magnetic storms, compass needles at high latitudes have been observed swinging wildly.
In typical downhole surveys, the position of the borehole is determined to within an accuracy of 3 ft per 1000 ft. of lateral displacement relative to the top of the borehole. Even a 1 degree error in the magnetic declination used in the survey makes an error of over 15 feet in lateral displacement at an offset of 1000 ft. This can be problematic in the case of wells drilled over a period of several years in the development of a field. In addition, leases including OCS lease sales periodically conducted by the United States Government involve the leasing of tracts designated in terms of geographic coordinates. It is important in the development of fields that any wellbore survey carried out using a magnetic reference be referred back to geographic directions and coordinates.
Magnetic borehole survey instruments measure direction with respect to the local magnetic field. All magnetic surveys are subject to errors if the horizontal component of the local magnetic field is not aligned with the local magnetic north. Errors of this kind may be caused by distortion of the local magnetic field by magnetic BHA materials in the borehole. Drillstring conveyed magnetic survey tools are usually run inside non-magnetic drill collars. However, it is not unusual for the measurement to be influenced by adjacent magnetic drillstring material. Therefore, frequent use is made of techniques to detect and subsequently remove errors due to drillstring magnetization. These techniques rely on the principle of having accurate earth's field data available, i.e. local earth's magnetic field strength and local earth's magnetic dip angle. Hence this invention also provides a technique to provide accurate local earth's field data to allow to correct the data due to magnetic interference.
The "Mag-01H declinometer/inclinometer" of Bartington Instruments comprises a single axis fluxgate magnetometer, with the magnetometer sensor mounted on a non-magnetic optical theodolite. As is noted in the description provided by Bartington Instruments:
"The magnetic axis of the sensor is aligned with the optical telescope of the theodolite and only records the strength of the component of the field along that axis. The theodolite is carefully leveled and the magnetic sensor axis is set to the horizontal position and rotated until a null is observed in the magnetic field. At this position the sensor is exactly normal to the earth's magnetic field and from the theodolite reading the direction of the field in the horizontal plane can be established. The true north direction is determined from solar or star observation or using a gyroscope, and the declination can then be calculated."
The necessity of establishing the true north direction from astronomical observations complicates the determination of magnetic declination. In addition, the theodolite observations noted above require human interaction while the use of a gyroscope has its own problems, particularly those associated with calibration and drift of the gyroscope.
The best navigational tool available for determining the position of an observation point on the surface of the earth is based on signals from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Most GPS receivers have internal data and an algorithm to compute the declination after the position is established. The algorithm is based upon models such as the IGRF model and does not account for local and temporal variations. In any case, this data cannot be updated from satellite transmission, therefore it is subject to become outdated.
Accordingly, there is a need for an invention that determines the local Earth's magnetic field, local dip angle and declination at a borehole with a high degree of accuracy with a minimum of human intervention. Such an invention should preferably also have the capability of tracking the time-varying component of the magnetic field, i.e. local magnetic field, local dip angle and declination, whether it is caused by diurnal variation or by geomagnetic storms.

Apparatus to measure the earth's local gravity and magnetic field in conjunction with global positioning attitude determining


The present invention relates to a polyarylene sulfide resin composition with a low outgas content, the composition containing: a polyarylene sulfide and a silane-modified epoxy resin. The polyarylene sulfide resin composition of the present invention shows excellent tensile strength and metal bonding strength as well as a low outgas content, and thus can be favorably used as a resin composition for manufacturing a product requiring molding accuracy.

Currently, a demand for a polyarylene sulfide, a representative engineering plastic, has increased for applications in a variety of electronic goods and products used in high temperatures and corrosive environments due to its high thermal resistance, chemical resistance, flame resistance, and electric insulation.
Polyphenylene sulfide (hereinafter, abbreviated to "PPS") is the only commercially available polyarylene sulfide. PPS is widely used for housing or major parts of automobile equipment and electric or electronic devices due to its excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties, and chemical resistance.
The primary process for commercially producing PPS is solution polymerization of p-dichlorobenzene (hereinafter, abbreviated to "pDCB") and sodium sulfide in a polar organic solvent such as N-methyl pyrrolidone, which is known as the Macallum process.
When a polyarylene sulfide is produced by the Macallum process, however, the solution polymerization using sodium sulfide, etc., may produce by-products in a salt form, which requires washing or drying processes, etc., to remove such by-products in a salt form and any residual organic solvents. Further, a polyarylene sulfide produced by the Macallum process has a powder form, which may render the subsequent processes inconvenient and impair its workability (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,513,188 and 2,583,941).
To resolve the above problems, a process of manufacturing a polyarylene sulfide such as PPS by melt polymerization of reactants containing diiodide aromatic compounds and elemental sulfur has been suggested. As the process neither produces by-products in a salt form in the manufacture of polyarylene sulfide nor uses organic solvents, it does not require any separate process for removing such by-products or organic solvents. Further, the finally obtained polyarylene sulfide has a pellet form, which may render the subsequent processes convenient and improve its workability.
Meanwhile, conventional PPS has a problem of poor adhesion to metals since a large amount of outgassing (i.e., oligomers of low molecular weights) is generated at the flow front in injection molding, which prevents micropores on the metal surface from being filled when the PPS adheres to metals. As an alternative for improving adhesion of PPS to metals, a resin composition prepared by compounding PPS with a polyolefin containing a polar group and a compatibilizing agent has been suggested. However, it has been found that use of such alloy or oligomer degrades the mechanical properties of PPS and weakens the thermal characteristics of PPS.
Accordingly, it is required to develop a PPS composition having an excellent adhesive property to metals with a reduced amount of outgassing at the flow front, which is an underlying problem in the conventional metal adhesive plastics.

Polyarylene sulfide composition having excellent adhesiveness with metal


A method of replacing a delegate component associated with a delegate modular software component (“associate delegate component”) at software execution time, the method comprising obtaining a delegate modular software component identifier; selecting one of a plurality of candidate modular software components having a higher priority level than other of the plurality of candidate modular software components, wherein the one of the plurality of candidate modular software components has the same identifier as the delegate modular software component identifier; and replacing the associate delegate component with the one of the plurality of candidate modular software components during the execution of software including the delegate modular software component.

Web provisioning software has been developed to build Web sites for the Internet and intranets. Web provisioning generally includes selecting a site template that defines the structure and the content of a Web site. Based on the content of the site template, Web provisioning software populates the initial page, the directories, and the site structures of the Web site. Web provisioning software enables a user to create multiple Web sites from a single, predefined site template. As a result, predefined site templates enable a user to quickly create Web sites without spending a substantial amount of time deciding how the sites should look or function.
In some platforms suitable for Web provisioning, such as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services®, a Web site can only use provisioning information from the site template that initially provisioned the Web site. While the site template serves as a foundation, the site template limits the functionalities that can be added to the provisioned Web site. The Web site is constrained to the set of functionalities included in the site template. The Web site cannot be modified to support functionalities different from the functionalities provided by the site template. Given that business requirements for a Web site may change from time to time, a Web site may be required to evolve during its lifetime. Part of the evolution may require that the Web site functionalities change. Many types of Web page functionalities are provided by control components ("controls"). Controls are active Web page components that respond to user input requesting the performance of specific tasks, such as the selection of an option, text entry, or search. Controls are modular in nature with well-defined interfaces and may be used in many different Web pages that require the same functionality. The behavior and appearance of Web page controls may be specified using properties. Setting the properties of a control to a predefined value causes the control to appear or behave in certain predefined manners. For example, a property of a control may specify the size of the control. Another property of the control may specify certain default behavior of the control, such as showing a default selection of an item in a list presented by the control to a user. Customizing a Web page to fit a particular need often requires using custom control components.
Web site provisioning software makes it easy to create new Web sites to match end-user needs. However, the large number of Web sites created using such software can create new manageability and extensibility problems. For example, third party Web applications may need to globally replace certain sections or components of a Web page with the third party's own custom section or component. For instance, a third party provider of a search application may want to replace a standard search application component with a more advanced search application component that features more capabilities and better user interface elements. Typically, replacing a standard search application requires that the advanced search application provider modify each instance of a page that contains the standard search application. Because of the large number of Web pages included in many Web sites, this process can be time-consuming and is often error-prone.

System and method of replacing a delegate component associated with a delegate modular software component at software execution time


A silver halide photographic material comprising at least one silver halide emulsion layer on a support, characterized in that there is contained a compound represented by the general formula ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represents a hydrogen atom, aliphatic group, aromatic group or heterocyclic group, with the proviso that R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may be connected to each other to form a ring; L represents a divalent linking group; V represents a carbonyl group, ##STR2## group, sulfonyl group, sulfoxy group, ##STR3## group (in which R.sub.0 represents an alkoxy group or aryloxy group), iminomethylene group or thiocarbonyl group; Time represents a divalent linking group; m represents an integer 0 or 1; n represents an integer 0 or 1; PUG represents a photographically useful group; and X represents an atomic group required to form a 5- or 6-membered ring with ##STR4## wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, V, m, n and Time are defined above; L' represents a divalent linking group; and X represents an atomic group required to form a 5- or 6-membered ring with ##STR5## and PUG represents photographically useful groups set forth in the specification.

A photographically useful reagent exerts different effects when previously incorporated in a photographic light-sensitive material from when incorporated in a processing solution. For example, a photographic reagent which is subject to decomposition in an acidic or alkaline or oxidizing or reducing atmosphere and cannot withstand a prolonged storage in a processing solution can be effectively used while the processing solution composition can be simplified and easily prepared. Furthermore, a necessary photographic reagent can exert its effects only on necessary sites, i.e., certain layers or their adjacent layers in the multi-layer light-sensitive material. Moreover, the content of a photographic reagent can be altered as a function of development of silver halide.
However, when incorporated in an active form, a photographic reagent reacts with other components in the photographic light-sensitive material during storage before development or decomposes under the effect of heat or oxygen and thus cannot often exert expected effects during development. An approach for overcoming such a difficulty is to incorporate such a photographic reagent in the photographic light-sensitive material in the form of substantially inactivated form attained by blocking the active group therein, i.e., in the form of photographic reagent precursor. If such a useful photographic reagent is a fog inhibitor or development inhibitor, the active group can be blocked to inhibit the adsorption thereof by a light-sensitive silver halide in storage or the desensitizing effect by the formation of silver salts as well as to release such a reagent at a required time. This results in an advantage that fogging can be reduced without impairing sensitivity, excess development fogging can be inhibited, or development can be suspended at a required time. If a useful photographic reagent is a developing agent, auxiliary developing agent or fogging agent, an active group or adsorption group contained therein can be blocked to inhibit various photographically dverse effects due to the production of semiquinone or oxide by air oxidation during storage or inhibit the production of fogged nucleus during storage due to the inhibition of electron injection into silver halide. This results in an advantage that a stable processing can be realized. If a photographic reagent is a bleach accelerator or blix accelerator, an active group contained therein can be blocked to inhibit the reaction thereof with other components contained therein. The blocking group can be removed during development to cause required properties to be accomplished at a necessary time.
As mentioned above, the use of a photographic reagent precursor is extremely effective for the full accomplishment of the properties of a photographic reagent. However, such a photographic reagent precursor must meet extremely strict requirements. In other words, the precursor must meet conflicting requirements. In particular, the precursor must occur stably in a photographic light-sensitive material during storage. On the other hand, when the photographic light-sensitive material is processed, the blocking group is removed at a necessary time to cause the photographic reagent to be readily and effectively released.
Some approaches for blocking photographic reagents have already been known. For example, blocking groups such as acyl group and sulfonyl group can be used as disclosed in JP-B-48-9968 and JP-B-47-44805 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,617) (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), JP-A-52-8828 and JP-A-57-82834 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,476. A blocking group which undergoes a so-called reverse Michael reaction to release a photographically useful reagent can be used as disclosed in JP-B-55-17369 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,677), JP-B-55-9696 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,830), and JP-B-55-34927 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,029), and JP-A-56-77842 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,175), JP-A-59-105642, and JP-A-59-105640. A blocking group which undergoes an intramolecular electron migration to release a photographically useful reagent with the production of quinonemethide or quinonemethide compounds can be used as disclosed in JP-B-54-39727, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,674,478, 3,932,480, and 3,993,661, and JP-A-57-135944, JP-A-57-135945, and JP-A-57-136640. An intramolecular ring closure reaction can be utilized as disclosed in JP-A-55-53330 and JP-A-59-218439. The cleavage of a 5- or 6-membered ring can be used as disclosed in JP-A-57-76541 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,200), JP-A-57-135949, JP-A-57-179842, JP-A-59-137945, JP-A-59-140445, JP-A-59-219741, and JP-A-60-41034.
These known approaches are disadvantageous in that a photographic reagent precursor stable in storage releases a photographic reagent too slowly, requiring the processing with a high alkali as a pH value of 12 or more or in that even if a photographic reagent precursor can release a photographic reagent at a sufficient rate in a processing solution with a pH value of 9 to 12, it decomposes gradually during storage, loosing the effects of the precursor.
These disadvantages can be attributed to the fact that the release of a photographically useful reagent from the blocked photographic reagent must rely on the attack by OH.sup.- ions. In other words, if the conventional photographic light-sensitive material is developed at a pH value of 9 to 12, the difference in OH.sup.- ion concentration between during storage and processing of the photographic light-sensitive material is 10.sup.2 to 10.sup.5 because the pH value reaches 6 to 7 during storage. Accordingly, it is presumed that a blocked photographic reagent which releases a photographically useful group at a half-life period of 3 minutes (3 minutes are required for half the added amount of the photographic reagent to decompose) at a pH value of 10 for example decomposes at a half period of 3 minutes.times.10.sup.4 (=30,000 minutes=about 500 hours) during storage (pH=6). This means that if a photographic reagent precursor is stored for about 3 weeks, about half the added amount thereof decomposes, making it impossible to put this system into practical use. A blocked compound which releases a photographic reagent at a half period of 3 minutes during processing at a pH value of 11 decomposes during storage at a half period of about 10 times (about 30 weeks) the case where the processing is effected at a pH value of 10. However, even this half period leaves much to be desired. Thus, these approaches cannot be put into practical use in view of preservability.


A method and apparatus for reliably determining an optimal route between a departure point and a destination in an exploration object zone, the optimal route being determined according to the situation of roads separating the departure point and the destination. Prior to route exploration, an area determiner counts the total number of intersection network lists associated with a route exploration object zone, which lists are stored in a route exploration memory. When a density of intersections (which is the total number of intersection network lists divided by the size of the route exploration object zone) exceeds a certain value, the area determiner determines that the object zone lies in an urban (high road density) district. When the density of intersections is smaller, the area determiner determines that the object zone lies in a suburban (low road density) district. When the area determiner determines that the object zone lies in an urban district, an optimal route explorer executes heuristic exploration; that is, it uses intersection network lists to explore an optimal route linking a departure point and a destination while trimming away routes that deviate from the direction specified with a straight line joining the departure point and destination or while lowering the priorities of such routes. When the area determiner determines that the object zone lies in a suburban district, the optimal route explorer executes normal non-heuristic (exhaustive) exploration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a route exploration method which searches for the shortest route between a departure point and a destination.
2. Description of Related Art
An on-vehicle navigator includes a large-capacity memory such as a CD ROM that stores a large amount of map data, a display unit, and a vehicle location detector for detecting a current location of a vehicle. The navigator reads map data indicating a current position of a vehicle from the CD ROM, and draws a map based on the map data on a display screen. A vehicle location mark (location cursor) is fixed at a specific position (for example, in the center) on the display screen and a map is scrolled with the movement of the vehicle: alternatively, the map is fixed on the screen and the vehicle location mark is moved, showing where the current vehicle location is.
Each map stored in the CD ROM is segmented into drawings, for each of which longitudinal and latitudinal width are determined appropriately according to a scale. A road or the like is described as a set of coordinates representing vertices (nodes) indicated by the longitudes and latitudes, and the road is drawn by plotting the nodes sequentially using lines; a road joins two or more nodes. Two nodes are joined to form what is referred to as a link. Map data is, as shown in FIG. 19, divided into four data units (quarter drawings) that correspond to four divisions of one drawing. One data unit corresponds to one screen. Map data is composed of (1) a road layer containing a road list, a node table, an intersection node list, and an adjacent node list, (2) a background layer containing data for graphically displaying roads, buildings, rivers, etc. in map screens, and (3) a character layer containing alphanumeric data for displaying municipal names and road names.
The road layer has the structure shown in FIG. 20. In the road list RDLT, data items such as a road type (expressway, national highway, and other roads), the total number of nodes forming a road, addresses of nodes forming a road in a node table NDTB, and distances to adjacent nodes are listed for each road. The intersection node list CRLT is composed of sets of addresses of nodes in the node table NDTB that lie at the other ends of links extending from intersections (referred to as intersection nodes), where the sets of addresses are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the intersections. The adjacent node list NNLT is concerned with an adjacent node that is one of the nodes which form a road and is defined by data scattered over multiple units, and that is defined by data which lies on a boundary of units and is shared among multiple units (See FIGS. 21a, 21b). The adjacent node list NNLT lists the number of adjacent nodes corresponding to the number of units that share a node, a drawing number, a unit code of a unit containing the portion of the data of the drawing that defines the adjacent node, and an address of the unit in the node table.
In FIG. 21(a), an adjacent node RN defined by data in a unit AU.sub.1 (AU.sub.2) is shared with a unit AU.sub.2 (AU.sub.1). The number of adjacent nodes is therefore one. In FIG. 21(b), an adjacent node RN defined with data in a unit. AU.sub.11 is shared with three units U.sub.12, AU.sub.21, and AU.sub.22. The number of adjacent nodes is therefore 3. The node table NDTB lists all nodes in a map, and includes coordinate information (longitudes and latitudes) of all the nodes, an intersection identification (hereinafter, ID) flag indicating if a particular node is an intersection, a pointer that when the node is an intersection, points to its address in the intersection node list, and that when the node is not an intersection, points to an address of a road, to which the node belongs, in the road list, an adjacent node ID flag indicating whether or not the node is an adjacent node, and a pointer that when the node is an adjacent node, points to its address in the adjacent node list NNLT.
The on-vehicle navigator has a route guidance facility that explores an optimal route which joins a departure point and a destination by the shortest distance, and displays a guidance route on a screen to give the driver travel guidance. The guidance route is displayed by a boldface line in a specific color to be distinguishable from other roads. When actually driving the vehicle, the driver can therefore readily reach his destination.
One known method for providing an optimal route which joins a departure point and a destination is based on a horizontal exploration technique. In this method, road data is referenced to retrieve all intersections in one or multiple adjoining quarter drawings which cover the whole of a square area whose diagonal is a straight line joining a departure point and a destination (including not only authentic intersections but also simple nodes serving as adjacent nodes). (See Appendix for further detail of both the horizontal and Dijkstra exploration.)
According to the known Dijkstra exploration technique, the shortest route can be explored more accurately than the horizontal exploration technique. However, the Dijkstra technique exploration speed is slower than that of the horizontal exploration technique.
In either the horizontal or the Dijkstra technique, even when a route exploration zone is limited to a square area whose diagonal is a straight line joining a departure point and a destination, since all routes included in the area are explored, it takes considerable time to complete the exploration. A driver therefore must wait for a long period of time before receiving route guidance.
As a solution to the above problem, a heuristic exploration technique has been proposed based on experience, where an optimal route resides in a zone defined by a straight line joining a departure point and a destination. Routes deviating from the direction to the destination from the departure point are "trimmed away" or the distances of the routes are weighted, to lower the priorities of such routes. Thus, unnecessary routes are not explored.
However, if a route to be explored is in a suburban or rural area the density of roads is low, only detours (indirect routes) are sometimes available. For example, in FIG. 25, after exploration proceeds to a node CP.sub.x near a destination, unless a route A deviating from the direction to the destination from the departure point is selected, the destination may not be arrived at. However, in such a heuristic exploration, route A is trimmed away, which disables exploration of an optimal route leading to the destination. Due to the lowered priority of route A, disadvantageously it takes excessive time to explore route A.

Navigation apparatus and method for exploring an optimal route based on characteristics of an exploration object zone


A di- or tri-ester polyether unsaturated acid amine reaction product effective as a fuel additive for reducing intake valve deposits and octane requirement increase, as well as controlling combustion chamber deposits, in gasoline engines is disclosed together with fuel compositions and methods of making and using the same. Also disclosed are compositions and methods for dispersing deposits in lubricating oil products.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel class of compounds having utility as fuel additives, lubricant additives, fuel compositions, lubricant compositions and methods of making and using such additives. In particular, the present invention relates to a multi-functional amine-containing additive effective at reducing intake valve deposits and octane requirement increase, as well as controlling combustion chamber deposits, in gasoline engines, and methods of making and using the additive.
2. Background Discussion
Considerable effort has been expended to develop chemical products as fuel detergents or "deposit control" additives. Oil-soluble detergent-dispersants have also been developed to control deposit and varnish formation, and to keep sludge and other solid matter, such as oxidized base oil, in suspension in lubricating oil. Fuel detergents, when added to hydrocarbon fuels employed in internal combustion engines, effectively reduce deposit formation which ordinarily occurs in carburetor ports, throttle bodies, venturies, intake ports and intake valves. The reduction of these deposit levels has resulted in increased engine efficiency and a reduction in the level of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions.
However, with the advent of automobile engines that require the use of non-leaded gasolines (to prevent disablement of catalytic converters used to reduce emissions), it has been difficult to provide gasoline of high enough octane to prevent knocking and the concomitant damage which it causes. The difficulty is caused by octane requirement increase, herein called "ORI", which is due to deposits formed in the combustion chamber while the engine is operating on commercial gasoline.
Each engine, when new, requires a certain minimum octane fuel to operate satisfactorily without pinging and/or knocking. As the engine is operated on any gasoline, this minimum octane requirement increases. In most cases, if the engine is operated on the same fuel for a prolonged period it will reach equilibrium. This is apparently caused by an amount of deposits in the combustion chamber. Equilibrium is typically reached after 5000 to 15,000 miles of automobile operation.
ORI measured in particular engines with commercial gasolines will, at equilibrium, vary from 5 or 6 octane units to as high as 12 or 15 units, depending upon the gasoline compositions, engine design and type of operation. The seriousness of the problem is thus apparent. A typical current model year or older automobile with a research octane requirement of 85 when new may after a few months of operation require 97 research octane gasoline for proper operation, and little unleaded gasoline of that octane is available. The ORI problem exists in some degree with engines operated on leaded fuels. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,144,311 and 3,146,203 disclose lead-containing fuel compositions having reduced ORI properties.
Many experts, believe the ORI problem, while present with leaded gasolines, is much more serious with unleaded fuel because of the different nature of the deposits formed with the respective fuels, the size of the increase, and because of the lesser availability of high-octane non-leaded fuels. This problem is compounded by the fact that the most common means of enhancing the octane of unleaded gasoline, increasing its aromatic content, also appears to increase the eventual octane requirement of the engine. Furthermore, some of the presently used nitrogen-containing deposit control additives with mineral oil or polymer carriers appear to contribute significantly to the ORI of engines operated on unleaded fuel.
Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide fuel compositions which contain deposit control additives which effectively control deposits in intake systems of engines, i.e., intake valve deposits (IVD), operated with fuels containing them, but do not contribute to the combustion chamber deposits (CCD) which cause octane requirement increase (ORI). It would also be desirable to provide lubricating oil compositions which contain deposit control additives which effectively control deposits in lubricating systems of engines.

Amine ester-containing additives and methods of making and using same


A pouch (2) includes: a first, inner, envelope (1) which is closed, delimiting a first space (6) forming a pouch stricto sensu (1) intended for receiving a biopharmaceutical product or device; a second, outer, envelope (8) which is closed, delimiting a second space (9) in which is located the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu (1); a spacer element (11); at least one tracer gas located in the first space (6) or in the intermediate space (14) at a partial pressure different from that of the intermediate space or of the first space; and at least one colorimetric detection layer (12), responding to the concentration of tracer gas which reaches it by changing from a first color to a second color, and being an integral part of a wall (3, 4) of the first envelope/defined pouch (1) and/or of a wall (13) of the second envelope and/or of the spacer element.

"Biopharmaceutical product" is understood to mean a product obtained from biotechnology—culture media, cell cultures, buffer solutions, artificial nutrition liquids, or a pharmaceutical product or more generally a product intended for use in the medical field. "Biopharmaceutical device" is understood to mean a device intended to be used in a process in the biological or pharmaceutical field—measurement or control means, means for processing a biopharmaceutical product, containers or parts of containers, transfer or closure means. Such biopharmaceutical products or devices are of high added value and it is important to be certain of their integrity, particularly the absence of contamination.
For the purposes of storage, shipment, or the execution of a process of a physical, chemical or biological nature, it is conventional to place such biopharmaceutical products or devices in disposable pouches that are flexible, closed, fluid-tight, sterile, and of plastic material such as polyethylene or a complex that includes polyethylene. Such a pouch comprises means for introducing into its inside space and means for removing from its inside space the biopharmaceutical product or device, it being possible to bring these means to their open or closed state according to the moment and the requirements.
There are known pouches of this type in which the two main walls are directly joined to each other. Once expanded, such pouches have a limited volume and remain relatively thin, which is why they are often called "pillow" or "2D" pouches (D meaning dimensions). Also known are 3D pouches which have two main walls connected by and sealed to two side gussets which can be folded flat or unfolded and spread open; the volume can then be at least 50 liters, and up to 3,000 liters or more. Such 3D pouches are described in document WO00/04131 or sold under the brand FLEXEL® 3D.
To be able to receive and protect a biopharmaceutical product or device as defined above effectively, it is essential that the inside space of the pouch—herein referred to as the pouch stricto sensu—and its contents, if any, are preserved from any deterioration originating from outside the pouch stricto sensu, such as contamination. This quality is referred to herein as "fluid-tightness". The pouch stricto sensu must therefore be fluid-tight or must at least present a degree of fluid-tightness considered to be satisfactory. Such a pouch stricto sensu is therefore designed and manufactured to have the required fluid-tightness. However, manufacturing defects in the pouch stricto sensu which affect its fluid-tightness cannot be ruled out. It is also possible for the fluid-tightness of an initially satisfactory pouch stricto sensu to be impacted after its production.
The fluid-tightness of the pouch stricto sensu is impacted once the pouch stricto sensu contains one or more passages through the envelope that it forms, including porousness, this or these passages having one or multiple outlets on the outer face of the pouch stricto sensu, including the welds between the component parts of the pouch stricto sensu in question.
Before using or considering the use of a pouch stricto sensu, it is therefore indispensable to be able to ensure that it has the required fluid-tightness. A pouch stricto sensu that has this fluid-tightness is said to be of satisfactory integrity and is suitable for receiving and protecting a biopharmaceutical product or device. A pouch stricto sensu that does not have this fluid-tightness is said to be of unsatisfactory integrity and, as it is unsuitable for receiving and protecting a biopharmaceutical product or device, must be set aside and not used.
Methods and devices are known for verifying the integrity of all pouches during production. Thus the ASTM International standard F 2095-01 which is entitled "Standard Test Methods for Pressure Decay Leak Test for Nonporous Flexible Packages With and Without Restraining Plates" more specifically concerns the pressure decay method. This method is considered in two modes of execution: with or without expansion restraining plates (for example the device known under the brand SARTOCHECK® 4). In all cases, such devices are complex and bulky, and are difficult to transport or use at the final location where the pouches are used.
Also, assuming the pouch is of satisfactory integrity when produced, an accidental loss or failure of integrity can occur after production and before final use of the pouch, for example during the storage, shipment, distribution, or delivery phases, or during the phase immediately preceding the use of the pouch. This risk is even greater for phases that are long (for example the storage phase may last several years) or that involve manipulating the pouch or placing it in contact with objects that could damage it. Such non-integrity cannot be detected by an integrity verification method performed at the pouch's point of manufacture, before the loss of integrity occurs.
Documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,567 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,056 describe methods and devices for determining the integrity of a package or compartment, based on sending a test gas through the package or the wall of the compartment. This device and the associated measurement instruments form a complex and bulky system.
Document US 2007/0220956 describes a method and device for detecting a leak in a bag intended for bioprocessing and containing a conductive fluid, placed in a rigid outer container, consisting of an electrically operated leak detector. Such a method and device have the same limits as mentioned above, except they only have applications in the case of a pouch filled with an electrically conductive fluid and the presence of a rigid outer container.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,577 describes a method and indicator for detecting the loss of integrity of a transparent package containing a product which is sealed when packaged. The package is filled with an artificial atmosphere such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen. A pH sensitive detector is placed in the package and is visible through it. The detector changes color if there is a loss of artificial atmosphere after a loss of integrity of the package. In the embodiments presented, the package is rigid, the product is a solid object, and the detector is kept separate from the product. This method is unsuitable for packaging intended to receive a fluid product that will be into contact with the detector. In addition, it does not describe or suggest that the detection occurs before the product is placed in the packaging, quite the opposite.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,541 describes a tamperproof package and method. The package comprises a first internal container, rigid and hermetically sealed, filled with a first atmosphere and containing a substance, and a second external container, rigid and hermetically sealed, in which is located—kept apart by spacers—the first container, the inner cavity of the second container external to the first container being filled with a second atmosphere at a different pressure from that of the first atmosphere, and detection means placed in the cavity and sensitive to a change in the second atmosphere due to a loss of integrity of the first container or second container. Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,541, which describes a very specific structure, does not suggest having the detection occur before the substance is placed in the first container.
Document WO 01/04624 describes a colorimetric system comprising a detector sensitive to carbon dioxide.
Document WO96/12659 describes a so-called tamperproof packaging that comprises an inner membrane delimiting an inner compartment which contains a first medium consisting of air, as well as an outer membrane delimiting an outer compartment which surrounds the inner compartment and contains a second medium consisting of carbon dioxide. An indicator tab, sensitive to the surrounding medium, is provided inside the outer compartment, and it can give an indication of a change in the first medium and in the second media.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,893 describes a package for receiving products comprising inner and outer containers. In one embodiment, the inner container and outer container have only one flexible wall, and these inner and outer containers are pressurized using a gas above atmospheric pressure in order to inflate their flexible walls. In another embodiment, the two walls of the inner and outer containers are flexible. The products—capsules, gelcaps, or the like—to be protected are inside the inner container, and the inner container is positioned at of the outer container so as to form a protection that prevents access to the products.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,203 describes a package comprising an inner enclosure of predefined size, loaded with a product and pressurized before being placed inside an outer enclosure. After its internal pressure is reduced to below the atmospheric pressure, said outer enclosure is closed. Thus, when one of the walls of the package is pierced, the consumer is alerted of the fact that the product may have been affected.
Document FR 2252 619 describes a device intended for use with a package that is normally closed with a hermetic seal. It comprises a detector arranged so that it is in communication with the interior of the package but is also visible from the outside. This detector contains a pH sensitive dye which has a first color at the normal atmospheric pH and a second color at a pH slightly greater than or less than the normal atmospheric pH.
Document FR-A-2822445 concerns a package for infectious samples, comprising a bag of fluid-tight plastic material intended to enclose a container containing said sample within a layer of absorbent cloth characterized by said fabric being dyed such that any trace of humidity modifies its initial color, the bag of plastic material being transparent.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,524 concerns a system for preserving an acid-containing article which is in contact with an alkaline substrate material and an artificial atmosphere which is substantially free of gaseous oxygen. The article, alkaline substrate material, and artificial atmosphere are hermetically sealed within a container, at least a portion of the container being at least partially transparent so as to permit viewing the article from outside the container.
The invention therefore has the aim of overcoming the problems mentioned above, and permitting the determination of the integrity or non-integrity of a pouch stricto sensu at any desired moment after its manufacture and at least immediately prior to its planned use, in a certain, easy, and rapid manner, without requiring a bulky or complex dedicated device, or difficult or delicate operations, and without requiring specialized personnel specially and exclusively dedicated to integrity verification, and without needing to perform positive testing on the pouch to ensure its integrity, its non-integrity being indicated automatically and therefore without requiring positive testing of each pouch when the pouch is one of a plurality of pouches.
To this effect, a first aspect of the invention relates to an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch, intended for receiving and protecting a biopharmaceutical product or device, comprising:                a first, inner, envelope which is flexible, closed, fluid-tight, and of plastic material, comprising a wall delimiting a first space, forming a pouch stricto sensu intended to receive the biopharmaceutical product or device, comprising first introduction means and first extraction means for respectively introducing/extracting the product or device, said means being in the closed state,        a second, outer, envelope which is closed, fluid-tight, and of plastic material, comprising a wall delimiting a second space in which is located the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, comprising second introduction means and second extraction means for respectively introducing/extracting the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, said means being in the closed state, an intermediate space thus being arranged in the second space outside the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu,        spacing means placed between the wall and the wall, such that the inner face of the wall does not occlude any integrity-impacting opening on the outer face of the wall,        at least one tracer gas, located either in the first space or in the intermediate space, at a partial pressure that is different from that of the intermediate space or of the first space, respectively, introduced into the first space and/or the intermediate space by tracer gas introduction means, now in the closed state,        at least one continuous colorimetric detection layer for detecting the tracer gas, responding to the concentration of the tracer gas which reaches it by changing from a first color to a second and different color, being an integral part of a wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and/or of a wall of the second envelope and/or of the spacer means,        the arrangement of the walls of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and of the second envelope, the spacer means, the tracer gas, and the colorimetric detection layer, on the one hand, and the permeability or impermeability to the tracer gas of the colorimetric detection layer, and of the spacer means, on the other hand, being chosen so that the colorimetric detection layer cannot be reached by tracer gas located in the intermediate space or in the first space at a concentration beyond the transition value, when the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is of satisfactory integrity, and so that the colorimetric detection layer is in any case reached by the tracer gas located in the intermediate space or in the first space at a concentration beyond the transition value, when the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is of unsatisfactory integrity.
Thus, if the colorimetric detection layer is identified as being of the first color, the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is considered to be of satisfactory integrity and suitable for receiving and protecting the biopharmaceutical product or device, but if it is identified as being of the second color, it is considered to be of unsatisfactory integrity and unsuitable for receiving and protecting the biopharmaceutical product or device.
In some embodiments, the spacer means comprise at least one porous layer fully and functionally covering the outer face of the wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and/or the inner face of the wall of the second envelope and/or the face of the colorimetric detection layer facing the intermediate space; or the spacer means comprise at least one porous layer which either structurally covers the outer face of the wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and/or the inner face of the wall of the second envelope and/or the face of the colorimetric detection layer facing the intermediate space, or is placed within the intermediate space.
In some embodiments, either the tracer gas is in the first space at a higher partial pressure than in the intermediate space, and the colorimetric detection layer changes from the first color to the second color in response to the concentration of tracer gas which reaches it rising above a transition value, or the tracer gas is in the first space at a lower partial pressure than in the intermediate space, and the colorimetric detection layer changes from the first color to the second color in response to the concentration of tracer gas which reaches it falling below a transition value.
In a first family of embodiments, a colorimetric detection layer is permeable to the tracer gas and is an integral part of the wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, being located on the outer face and in the intermediate space, or located on the inner face and in the first space, or inserted within the wall, between its outer face and its inner face and between the first space and the intermediate space.
In a second family of embodiments, a colorimetric detection layer is an integral part of the wall of the second envelope, being either located on the inner face and in the intermediate space, or inserted within the wall, between the inner face and its outer face, the layer of the wall of the second envelope adjacent on one side to the colorimetric detection layer and on the other side to the inner face then being permeable to the tracer gas.
In a third family of embodiments, a colorimetric detection layer is an integral part of a porous layer of the spacer means which is either located near the outer face of the wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu or is located near the inner face of the second envelope, or a colorimetric detection layer and a porous layer of the spacer means are structurally combined to form a single layer.
Where applicable, the embodiments of these different families may be combined.
Depending on the case, the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is a 2D pouch, or a 3D pouch comprising two gussets. In the latter case, and according to one embodiment, the spacer means comprise at least one porous layer which fully and functionally, and structurally where necessary, covers the outer face of the interior of the gussets.
In some possible embodiments, the spacer means comprise at least one porous layer which fully and functionally, and structurally where necessary, covers the first introduction means and the first extraction means for respectively introducing/extracting the biopharmaceutical product or device and the tracer gas introduction means of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu. Or, the spacer means comprise at least one porous layer of fabric, nonwoven fabric, PE, PP, PTFE.
In some possible embodiments, a tracer gas is chosen from among the group comprising oxygen, carbon dioxide, and helium.
In two possible embodiments, one among the first space or the intermediate space contains tracer gas and the other among the intermediate space or the first space does not contain or substantially does not contain tracer gas.
In one embodiment, the second envelope allows identifying from outside of itself whether the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color or the second color.
In one embodiment, the second envelope is flexible.
In one embodiment, the integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch additionally comprises an outer protective packaging which houses the second envelope within which the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is located.
A second aspect of the invention relates to an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch of satisfactory integrity, consisting of an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch as described above where the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color.
A third aspect of the invention relates to a method for creating an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch as described above, wherein:                one provides a first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, a second envelope in which the second introduction means for introducing the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu are in the open state, spacer means, the tracer gas, the colorimetric detection layer which is an integral part of a wall of the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and/or of a wall of the second envelope and/or of the spacer means,        the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is introduced into the second space of the second envelope via the second introduction means in the open state, the spacer means being placed between the wall and the wall such that the inner face of the wall does not occlude any integrity-impacting opening in the outer face of the wall,        the tracer gas is introduced into either the first space or the intermediate space, at a partial pressure that is different from that of the intermediate space or of the first space, respectively, via the tracer gas introduction means which are in the open state, then these introduction means are brought to the closed state,        the arrangement is chosen so that the colorimetric detection layer cannot be reached or conversely is necessarily reached by the tracer gas, as required, and the permeability or impermeability to the tracer gas of the colorimetric detection layer and of the spacer means is accordingly chosen so that the colorimetric detection layer is in fact reached by the tracer gas when such is necessary,        the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu and the second envelope being closed.
A fourth aspect of the invention relates to a method for obtaining a pouch stricto sensu of satisfactory integrity and ready to receive and protect a biopharmaceutical product or device, wherein:                one provides an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch as described above,        the colorimetric detection layer is identified as being of the first color or the second color,        if the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color:                    the second extraction means, with which the second envelope is equipped in order to extract the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, are brought to the open state,            the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is extracted from the second space of the second envelope,            and the first introduction means, with which the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu, considered to be of satisfactory integrity, is equipped in order to introduce the biopharmaceutical product or device, are brought to the open state in order to place the biopharmaceutical product or device within,                        whereas if the colorimetric detection layer is of the second color, the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is considered to be of unsatisfactory integrity and is not used for placing a biopharmaceutical product or device within.
A fifth aspect of the invention relates to a process for making use of a pouch stricto sensu, which when of satisfactory integrity is intended for receiving and protecting a biopharmaceutical product or device, said process comprising:                at a point of manufacture, initial operations consisting of manufacturing a pouch stricto sensu,        at a point of use, final operations consisting of using the pouch stricto sensu by placing the biopharmaceutical product or device within,        intermediate storage, shipping, and handling operations, at one or more locations,and comprising:        the creation by the method described above, at the point of manufacture, of an integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch comprising a first envelope/pouch stricto sensu,        the shipping of the integrity/non-integrity indicator pouch from the point of manufacture to the point of use, including storage and handling operations when there are such,        and, at least at the point of use and before extracting the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu from the second envelope in order to place the biopharmaceutical product or device within, the identification of whether the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color or the second color,        if the colorimetric detection layer is identified as being of the first color, the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is considered to be of satisfactory integrity and is used for placing the biopharmaceutical product or device within in order to receive and protect it,        whereas if the colorimetric detection layer is identified as being of the second color, the first envelope/pouch stricto sensu is considered to be of unsatisfactory integrity and is not used for placing the biopharmaceutical product or device within.
In one embodiment, the identification of whether the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color or the second color is done concurrently with the intermediate storage, shipping, or handling operations.
In one embodiment, the identification of whether the colorimetric detection layer is of the first color or the second color is done at the point of use immediately prior to extracting first envelope/pouch stricto sensu from the second envelope in order to place the biopharmaceutical product or device within.

Detection of the integrity of a tight, closed, soft plastic pouch for receiving and protecting a product or a biopharmaceutical device


A floating seal adapted particularly for sealing the bearings in a drill string for deep wells. The seal has an outer slide ring slidable longitudinally in the drill casing and an internal support ring mounted in the slide ring against relative axial displacement but adapted for eccentric radial displacement of the mounting ring relative to the slide ring. Rotary discs are provided in the outer slide ring to allow axial displacement of the slide ring but to resist rotary displacement of the slide ring in the casing. The mounting ring is mounted in the slide ring to afford radial displacement of the mounting ring but to resist relative rotational displacement between the mounting ring and the slide ring. Seals are provided between the outer surface of the slide ring and the interior surface of the casing; between the interior surface of the mounting ring and the exterior surface of the shaft; and also between the slide ring and the mounting ring.

In drilling wells, a hollow tubular drill string is introduced into the well. Adjacent the bottom of the drill string, a drill tool casing houses a drive motor which rotates a central shaft which projects beyond the drill tool casing and mounts a drill bit. Rotation of the drill bit extends the length of the well as the drill tool casing is advanced incrementally.
The drive motor for the drill shaft may be hydraulic or pneumatic, of the positive displacement (PDM)or turbine type mounted within the drill tool casing. Conventionally, the motor is driven by forcing air or drilling mud through the casing and the motor. Drilling mud may consist of clay, water and/or oil, weighting material such as barium sulfate or hematite, sand, quartz, various types of pulverized, granulated or chips of abrasive material, and chemical polymers. Most frequently, drilling mud is pumped from the surface and through the drill string into the drill tool casing so that it fills the interior of the drill tool casing and the well annulus. The mud is formulated such that it exerts an isostatic pressure which increases on the order of 0.5-1.0 pounds per square inch per foot of depth in the well so that the isostatic pressure may be comparable to subterranean pressure at the bottom of the well in order to prevent well collapse Thus, at the bottom of a 15,000-foot well, the pressure in the drilling mud may be 15,000 psi.
The mud within the drill tool casing is used to drive the fluid motor, and the mud exhausted from the motor is directed through nozzles in the drill bit so as to expel chips and other material disintegrated by the drill bit and also to provide a coolant for cooling the cutting surfaces of the drill bit to improve its cutting efficiency. The pump is normally at the surface adjacent the well, and supplies mud at a pressure sufficient to overcome the pressure drop due to friction of the mud flowing through the drill string. This pressure is further elevated above isostatic pressure so as to drive the motor when its outlet is at isostatic pressure plus the pressure required to exhaust the mud through the nozzles in the drill bit, and upwardly through the annular space around the drill tool casing and along the entire length of the drill string to the surface for filtration and recycling.
In recycling the drilling mud, the larger particles of drilling debris are filtered from the mud in filters and settling tanks, but the constituents of the drilling mud themselves may still have high abrasive character. Although it is possible to design the fluid motor to withstand the flow of abrasive drilling mud through the motor, the bearing devices which center the rotary shaft within the drill tool casing are simultaneously subject to large fluctuating axial and radial mechanical forces and severe abrasion by the drilling mud. Conventional long-life sealed lubricated bearings are not available for use in an environment where the pressures may vary from atmospheric to more than 20,000 psi, and where the pressure medium is an abrasive fluid such as drilling mud. Substantial down time and cost is required to withdraw the drilling string from the drill hole for maintenance operations upon the motor, the bearing assembly, and the associated drill bit.


A method for processing chemical cleaning solvent waste that combines evaporation, purification, and absorption. The method is mobile and thus allows the processing to be done at the site of the cleaning where the entire processing can be completed. Evaporation produces a concentrated solvent and vapor and gas. The concentrated solvent is absorbed to produce a dry residue for long term storage or disposal and a liquid that is filtered and then released to the surrounding environment. The vapor and gas are scrubbed and condensed to produce a gas that is suitable for release and a distillate. The distillate is purified by filtration and reverse osmosis to produce a distillate that is suitable for release.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to the waste processing of chemical cleaning solvents and more particularly to a method for processing chemical cleaning solvent waste.
2. General Background
In many industries, the life and performance of equipment can be compromised by the accumulation of corrosion products. This is especially true for steam generators used by electrical utilities. The corrosion products appear as sludge on the tubesheet and block flow holes in tube support plates. Fouling consists of solid deposits, primarily iron, at the tube support plates and on the outside of tubes. Support plate deposits can increase pressure drop resulting in reduced steam generator performance. Tube bundle deposits can reduce heat transfer capability, also degrading performance. Buildup of these deposits can concentrate contaminants such as chlorides and fluorides which promote stress corrosion cracking. Mechanical cleaning methods such as water lancing can remove deposits from accessible areas. However, chemical cleaning is the only means to completely remove deposits in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generator. A chemical solution is introduced into the secondary side during a shutdown. Then, following a soaking period, the unit is flushed. Sludge piles are removed by water lancing. Chemical cleaning of nuclear steam generators generates a large volume of solvent waste, generally seventy-five thousand to two hundred fifty thousand gallons. It then is necessary to process the chemical cleaning solvent waste to reduce to a minimum the volume of material or liquid that must be stored or disposed of so as not to release hazardous material into the surrounding environment. Technologies previously used for such processing include the following: evaporation to concentrate the solvent, solidification of the concentrate, and chemical treatment of the distillate; wet oxidation of the solvent, reverse osmosis, and chemical treatment to purify the distillate; dilution of the solvent, chemical treatment to precipitate the metals, and use of filtration and/or filter press to separate the metals; wet-air oxidation of the solvent, and solidification of the concentrate; and ion exchange of the solvents.

Method for processing chemical cleaning solvent waste


A carboxy terminal protein sequencing process is disclosed which utilizes phosphoroisothiocyanatidate for the derivatization step.

A The Prior Art
The large number of cloned gene products and the widespread use of DNA sequencing to determine the primary structure of proteins, has increased the need for carboxy-terminal (C-terminal) sequencing to better define post synthetic processing of proteins. C-terminal sequencing complements existing N-terminal degradations based on Edman chemistry (Edman, P. Acta. Chem. Scand. 4:283-293 (1950)). Although many methods have been proposed (see Rangarajan, M., Chemical methods of amino acid sequence analysis from carboxy terminal end. In Protein/Peptide sequence Analysis: Current Methodologies (Brown, A.S., Ed.) pp. 135-144, CRC Press, Bora Raton, Florida (1988) and Ward, C.W., Carboxyl terminal sequence analysis. In Practical Protein Chemistry----A Handbook (Darbre, A., Ed.) pp. 491-525, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. (1986)) the thiocyanate method, first described by Schlack and Kumpf, Z. Physiol. Chem. 154:125-170 (1926), has been the most widely studied and the most attractive because of its similarity to the Edman degradation. This method involves reaction of a protein or peptide with isothiocyanate reagents, in the presence of acetic anhydride, to form a C-terminal thiohydantoin amino acid. The derivatized amino acid is then hydrolyzed to yield a shortened polypeptide and a thiohydantoin amino acid. As the thiohydantoin amino acids have similar UV absorption spectra and equivalent extinction coefficients as the phenylthiohydantoin amino acids formed during the Edman degradation, the sensitivity of the thiocyanate method is expected to be similar to that of current N--terminal methods (10-200 pmol, 20-30 cycles). Historically, the main disadvantages of this procedure have been the severity of the conditions required for complete derivatization of the C-terminal amino acid and for hydrolysis of the derivatized amino acid to yield a shortened peptide and thiohydantoin derivative. Although several groups have tried to reduce the severity of the hydrolysis conditions (Waley, et al. J. Chem. Soc. 1951:2394-2397 (1951); Kjaer, et al. Acta Chem. Scand. 6:448-450 (1952); Turner, et al. Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 13:553-559 (1954), it was not until the introduction of acetohydroxamate (Stark, G.R. Biochemistry 7:1796-1807 (1968) as a mild and rapid cleavage reagent, that the hydrolysis problem appeared solved. The introduction of trimethylsilylisothiocyanate (TMS--ITC) (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,165) improved the yield of thiohydantoin formation and reduced the number of complicating side products. However, even with these improvements the repetitive yields were low, limiting the number of degradation cycles to 2 or 3 residues, and certain amino acids were reported to be unable to form thiohydantoins (Hawke, et al. Anal. Biochem. 166:298-307 (1987); Miller, et al., Techniques in Protein Chemistry (Hugli, T.E., Ed.) pp. 67-78, Academic Press, Inc. (1989)).
Recent work, Bailey, et al. Biochemistry 29:3145-3156 (1990), found that hydrolysis with acetohydroxamate led to the formation of a shortened peptide with a stable hydroxamate ester at the C-terminus, thereby preventing further degradation and explaining the low repetitive yields obtained with this reagent (Miller, supra; Meuth, et al., Biochem. 21:3750-3757 (1982)). Hydrolysis with dilute aqueous triethylamine was found to lead to the quantitative formation of a thiohydantoin amino acid and a shortened peptide capable of continued degradation. Additional work (Bailey, supra) addressed the generality of the thiocyanate method by examining the reaction of TMS--ITC with model peptides containing most of the naturally occurring amino acids. Problems were identified when Pro, Asp, Glu, Thr, and Asn were encountered during the degradation. Minimization of the reaction time with acetic anhydride was found to allow the quantitative degradation of Glu and Thr and addition of a nucleophile prior to derivatization by TMS--ITC was used to allow partial degradation of C-terminal Asp.
Automation of C-terminal chemistry has been attempted by several groups Application of this chemistry to the solid phase (polypeptides covalently attached to a solid support) has been recognized to facilitate the successful automation of this chemistry. The advantages of covalently immobilizing polypeptide to a solid support include: elimination of sample washout thereby resulting in high initial and repetitive yields, the ability to use reagents and solvents optimal for derivatization and washing, and the ability to efficiently wash the sample to remove reaction by--products resulting from thiohydantoin formation, thereby creating a potential for a low chemical background.
The concept of solid phase sequencing for N--terminal Edman chemistry was first proposed by Laursen, R.A. Eur. J. Biochem 20:89-102 (1971), and has since been used successfully by a number of groups for the Edman degradation (Laursen, et al. FEBS Lett. 21:67-70 (1972); L,Italien, et al. Anal. Biochem. 127:198-212 (1982); L,Italien, Methods in Protein Microcharacterization, (Shively, J.E., Ed.) pp. 279-314, Humana press, Inc. (1986)). Initial attempts at C-terminal sequencing using the thiocyanate chemistry from covalently attached peptides was made by several groups. Williams, et al. FEBS Lett. 54:353-357 (1975) were able to perform 1-3 cycles on peptides (1 .mu.) covalently attached to N--hydroxysuccinimide activated glass beads using 12 N HCl for cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoins. Utilizing this same procedure, Rangarajan, et al. Biochem. J. 157:307-316 (1976) were able to perform six cycles on ribonuclease (1 .mu.) covalently coupled to glass beads with a cycle time of 5 to 6 hours. Three successful cycles, with HPLC identification of the released amino acid thiohydantoins, were performed by Meuth et al. Biochem. 21:3750-3757 (1982) on a 22--amino acid polypeptide (350 nmol) covalently linked to carbonyldiimidazole activated aminopropyl glass. These authors used thiocyanic acid for derivatization to a peptidylthiohydantoin and acetohydroxamate for cleavage further reducing the time per cycle to 3 hours. A more recent report by Inglis et al., Methods in Protein Sequence Analysis (Wittmann--Lebold, B., Ed.) pp. 137-144, Springer--Verlag (1989) reports the sequential degradation of nine residues from a synthetic decapeptide (30 nmol) covalently coupled to glass beads with a cycle time of 48 min., however no experimental details were given.
Applicants initial work concerning the automation of the thiocyanate chemistry for the purpose of carboxy--terminal sequencing of proteins and peptides revealed several problems: (1) cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin with acetohydroxamate resulted in a shortened peptide blocked to further sequence degradation from the C-terminus due to the formation of a stable hydroxamate ester, (2) although cleavage of the peptidylthiohydantoin with dilute aqueous triethylamine does not result in the formation of a blocked shortened peptide, the use of aqueous solutions on peptides covalently bound to polyvinyldifluoride (PVDF) was found to inadequately "wet" the support and cleavage did not occur (50.degree. C.) or only very slowly at elevated temperatures (70.degree. C.). The inclusion of 30% water miscible organic solvent to the dilute triethylamine solution was found to allow adequate "wetting" of the membrane support, but significantly inhibited the cleavage reaction (Bailey, et al., Carboxy terminal sequencing: Automation and application to the solid phase, Techniques in Protein Chemistry: II (Villafranca, J.J., Ed.) pp. 115-129, Academic Press, Inc. (1991), (3) the activation of the C-terminal carboxylic acid with acetic anhydride was found to prevent or contribute to the reduced yields of sequencing on certain of the twenty naturally occurring amino acids (Bailey, et al., supra (1990), e.g., threonine, serine, aspartate, glutamate, and proline.
The cleavage problems were solved with the introduction of a new reagent, sodium trimethylsilanolate, for cleavage of the covalently coupled peptidylthiohydantoins and the introduction of a carboxylic acid modified polyethylene support for covalent attachment of the peptide sample (see, e.g., patent application PCT/US90/02723). This novel cleavage reagent was found to hydrolyze specifically the peptidylthiohydantoin into a shortened peptide capable of continued sequencing from the C-terminus and a thiohydantoin amino acid. The thiohydantoin amino acids are then identified by HPLC.

C-terminal peptide or protein sequencing reagent and method


There is provided a radar system that includes an emitter system (e.g., an antenna), configured to emit electromagnetic pulses and detect electromagnetic pulses, and a reflection target, placed opposite the emitter system. The emitter system and the reflection target define an area of interest. A controller is configured to identify a reflection from the reflection target and, if the reflection is not identified, to stop sending a radar check signal. The radar system may be part of a warning horn control system, where the radar check signal is used as a control input for activating a warning horn.

Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate generally to a system and method for controlling a warning horn. Other embodiments relate to control and safety systems at a highway-rail grade crossing.
A highway-rail grade crossing is a location where a highway or other road crosses a train track at the same level (as opposed to the road being routed over or underneath the train track). An engineer will generally use a train's horn at a highway-rail grade crossing to warn oncoming traffic of the train's approach. However, such warnings can be annoying to residents living near the crossing, especially at night. Electronic train horns may be locally mounted as warning horns at the crossing. The warning horn is directional and can be mounted on each side of the crossing, facing the direction of the roadway. The warning horn may be activated as part of a Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning System, for example, when a train approaching the crossing is around 300 to 1000 meters from the crossing. A strobe light can be operated in concert with the horn to confirm the functionality of the warning horn system, which may flash throughout the time that the horn is sounding. Train engineers are not required to sound a train-mounted horn as they approach crossings equipped with these systems, provided they can see the strobe light flashing at the crossing.
The electronic horn continues to sound a warning as long as the Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning System is active, for example, until the train has completely entered the crossing, or until the train has cleared the crossing. The warning horn system is intended to minimize the noise impact to the surrounding area by localizing the warning to the crossing and by focusing the warning in the direction of the roadway. However, the warning horn is sounded as long as the train is on the approach, regardless of whether or not the warning is actually needed. This may also cause unneeded annoyance for residences living in the near vicinity of the crossing. Accordingly, an improved technique for controlling the warning horn by the Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Warning System would be useful.

Warning horn control system, radar system, and method


Disclosed is a method for generating psuedo-noise (PN) sequences utilizing a system comprised of a quantizer, and N directly quantized output/input map containing chaotic map cells, each in functional combination with combiner means and an m-bit shift register.

Systems which utilize spread spectrum communication techniques, such as Direct-Sequence-Code-Division-Multiple-Access (DS-CDMA), have received increased attention over the last decade as a result of the advantages they provide in enhancing multiple access capacity in mobile communication systems. In that light, it is noted that an essential component in spread spectrum communications systems is a Psuedo-Random or Psuedo-Noise (PN) Sequence Generator System. Psuedo-Noise (PN) sequences generated thereby are used at Transmitters to generate wideband signals, and at Receivers to recover narrowband messages. The performance of (DS-CDMA) systems relies on the quality of the signal isolation between the many message signals which share the same frequency band. In that light it is noted that the presence of many interfering users, good isolation can be established by assigning different users different (PN) sequences, which (PN) sequences have nearly orthogonal properties with respect to one another. This, of course, requires the availability of a large space of (PN) sequences with low cross-correlation properties. Conventional (PN) sequences are typified by the class of maximal length (m-) sequences generated by Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR's). However, the number of such sequences generated by LFSR's may be insufficient for wideband (DS-CDMA) systems with a very large number of users. In addition, (LSFR) techniques provide limited flexibility in incorporating security into multiple user systems.
The use of chaotic sequences as spreading waveforms in DS-CDMA communication systems has been recently proposed in articles such as:                "A Chaotic Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum Communications System", Heidari-Betani et al., IEEE Trans. on Commun, Vol. 42, pp. 1524, (1994);        "Chaotic Complex Spreading Sequences For Asynchronous DS-CDMA, Part II: Some Theoretical Performance Bounds", Rovatti et al., IEEE Trans. Circ. Sys., Part I, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 496, (1998);        "Non-Average Performance Of Chaos-Based DS-CDMA: Driving Optimization Towards Exploitable Maps", Mazzini et al., IEEE International Symp. on Circuits and Systems, Geneva, Vol. 1, pp. 723, (2000).
The inherent capability of generating a large space of (PN) sequences due to sensitivity dependence on initial conditions has been the main reason for exploiting chaos in spread spectrum communication systems. Certain one-dimensional chaotic maps exhibit this property and have been mathematically shown to provide a rich set of sequences when their output is recursively fed back into the map. This is discussed in:                "Chaos: An Introduction To Dynamical Systems", Alligood et al., Springer, N.Y. (1997); and        "Chaotic Electronics in Telecommunications", CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., (2000).
Sequences generated in this way diverge to different trajectories in a few itterations even though their initial conditions differ by less than one percent. This behavior demonstrates that it is straight forward to generate a large space of (PN) sequences with nice statistical properties by quantizing the output of an itterative chaotic map. However, reliable electronic hardware implementations of chaos-based (PN) sequence generators based on recursion maps realized by piece-wise linear analog functions and output quantization have not been possible because of manufacturing problems, such as process variations among different integrated circuit production lots, transistor mismatches, and electronic noise. The problem of repeatable and consistent (PN) sequence generation has recently been addressed in the literature and an approach has been presented based on suppressing the potential process and mismatch errors by coarsely quantizing the inputs and outputs of maps. This is discussed in:                "Chaotic Generation of (PN) Sequences", Dornbusch et al., IEEE Intl. Symp. on Circuits and Systems, Orlando, Vol. V, pp. 454, (1999).
The problem which develops under this approach is that only a relatively small number of input/output bits for a single map stage are possible because of the coarseness of the quantization. A large number of cascaded map stages are thus required to generate long sequences and a rich sequence space. This leads to increased system complexity.
Additional known relevant references are:                "Fully Programmable, Scalable Chaos Based (PN) Sequence Generation", IEE Electronics Letters, Vol. 36, No. 16, pp. 1371, (2000); and        "CDMA Engineering Handbook", Miller et al., Artech House, Norwood, Mass. (1998).
A Search of Patents has identified some which are generally relevant, none of which, however, are thought to be particularly on-point. Said Patents are:                U.S. Pat No. 5,519,736 to Ishida;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,907 to Chen et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,099 to Shimada;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,872 to Schroter;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,555 to Cuomo et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,776 to Lomp et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,023 to Lee et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,865 to Kelton et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,361 to Gilhousen et al.;        U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,053 to Ozluturk.
In particular, no identifed prior art suggests application of directly quantized maps.
Need remains for improved systems and method for generating robust (PN) sequences and rich (PN) sequence space.

System and method for generating psuedo-noise sequences

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