A cooling system for a supercharged internal-combustion engine has a high-temperature and a low-temperature circulating system, in which two charge air coolers, through which coolant of different temperature levels flows, are provided for cooling the charge air in two stages. The high-temperature circulating system comprises a main branch with the internal-combustion engine and a high-temperature recooler which is connected in series with it. So that the total quantity of coolant may be kept low and a high degree of heat exchange can be achieved while the arrangement of the pipes is simple, the coolant quantity flowing out of the secondary circulating system is admixed to a coolant flow leading to the internal-combustion engine, and the total coolant flow flowing out of the internal-combustion engine is then guided to the high-temperature recooler. The coolant quantity required in the secondary branch is branched off the coolant flow flowing to the internal-combustion engine which flows away from the high-temperature recooler, and to which coolant quantities are possibly admixed that flow away from the high-temperature charge air cooler and from the low-temperature charge air cooler. The low-temperature circulating system comprises a low-temperature recooler with a series-connected low-temperature charge air cooler.

This invention relates to a cooling system for a supercharged internal-combustion engine for the two-stage cooling of the charge air compressed by an exhaust gas turbocharger.
More specifically, a cooling system is known, for example, from the German Patent Document DE-B-15 76 718, having a high-temperature circulating system which, in a main branch, comprises the internal-combustion engine and a high-temperature recooler and, in a secondary branch, comprises a high-temperature charge air cooler. The coolant required for the secondary branch is taken from the main branch and, after flowing through the high-temperature charge air cooler, is admixed to a coolant flow flowing away from the high-temperature recooler which leads to the coolant inlet of the internal-combustion engine. The system also has a low-temperature circulating system comprising a low-temperature recooler and a low-temperature charge air cooler connected in series with it, through which the charge air, which flows out of the high-temperature charge air cooler, flows for a further cooling before the charge air is fed to the cylinders of the internal-combustion engine. The system also has coolant pumps for the circulating of the coolant.
For the cooling of the charge air in two stages, according to the German Patent Document DE-B-15 76 718, two charge air coolers are used through which coolant flows that has different temperature levels. The two charge air coolers are assigned to two separate coolant circulating systems--a high-temperature circulating system and a low-temperature circulating system. The high-temperature circulating system comprises a main branch with the internal-combustion engine and a high-temperature recooler. The charge air cooler which cools the charge air in a first stage is situated in a secondary branch of the high-temperature circulating system. The coolant required in the secondary branch is taken from the coolant flow leaving the internal-combustion engine and is guided to the charge air cooler in the secondary branch. The coolant flowing out of the charge air cooler is admixed to the coolant flow leaving the high-temperature recooler which leads to the coolant inlet of the internal-combustion engine. The low-temperature circulating system comprises a low-temperature recooler and connected in series with respect to it, the charge air cooler for the cooling of the charge air in a second stage. The cooling of the engine lubricating oil takes place via a heat exchanger which is also arranged in the low-temperature circulating system. By means of the cooling system with a high-temperature circulating system and a low-temperature circulating system, an intensive cooling of the charge air is permitted in order to increase the power of the internal-combustion engine. It is a disadvantage of the indicated cooling system that the coolant quantity guided to the secondary branch is branched off from the coolant flow leaving the internal-combustion engine which has a relatively high temperature level. Because of the high temperature level of the coolant, the cooling of the charge air is correspondingly limited in the first stage. In addition, the total coolant quantity circulating in the high-temperature circulating system is large because only a portion of it flows through the high-temperature recooler.
In the British Patent Document GB-A-20 57 764, another cooling system is illustrated having a high-temperature and a low-temperature circulating system for the two-stage cooling of the charge air in two charge air coolers. The cooling system differs from the above-described cooling system only because of the fact that the coolant which flows off in the secondary branch of the high-temperature circulating system from the charge air cooler is admixed to the coolant flow leaving the internal-combustion engine which leads to the coolant inlet of the high-temperature recooler. The coolant required in the secondary branch is branched off the coolant flow leaving the high-temperature recooler. In this case, it is also disadvantageous that the required total coolant quantity is large because only a portion of the circulating coolant is used for the cooling of the internal-combustion engine. Because of the relatively low temperature level of the coolant flows mixed in front of the coolant inlet of the high-temperature recooler, the possible cooler capacity is not optimally utilized. Therefore, the overall volume of the cooler is large.
In a variant of the cooling system according to the British Patent Document GB-A-20 57 564, the coolant flow leaving the charge air cooler of the low-temperature circulating system is also admixed to the coolant flow guided to the high-temperature recooler. The coolant required in the low-temperature circulating system, like the coolant required for the secondary branch of the high-temperature circulating system, is branched off the coolant flow leaving the high-temperature recooler and is then guided via the low-temperature recooler before it enters into the low-temperature charge air cooler. In this case, only one coolant pump is required. Other disadvantages in this case are the fact that the total coolant requirement, because of the mixing of the coolant flows behind the internal-combustion engine, is relatively high and the fact that the capacity of the high-temperature recooler is not optimally utilized. Because of the series connection of the high-temperature recooler and the low-temperature recooler, a high flow resistance is obtained necessitating the use of a pump having a high power consumption. A complicated pipe arrangement is also necessary in this case.
There is therefore needed a cooling system for a supercharged internal-combustion engine which is simple with respect to the arrangement of the pipes, requires a low total quantity of coolant, and optimally utilizes the capacity of the recoolers.
These needs are met in the present invention by a cooling system for a supercharged internal-combustion engine having a high-temperature circulating system which, in a main branch, comprises the internal-combustion engine and a high-temperature recooler and, in a secondary branch, comprises a high-temperature charge air cooler. The coolant required for the secondary branch is taken from the main branch and, after flowing through the high-temperature charge air cooler, is admixed to a coolant flow flowing away from the high-temperature recooler which leads to the coolant inlet of the internal-combustion engine. The system also has a low-temperature circulating system comprising a low-temperature recooler and a low-temperature charge air cooler connected in series with it, through which the charge air, which flows out of the high-temperature charge air cooler, flows for a further cooling before the charge air is fed to the cylinders of the internal-combustion engine. The system also has coolant pumps for the circulating of the coolant. The coolant required in the secondary branch is branched off from the coolant flow leaving the high-temperature recooler. The coolant flowing through the internal-combustion engine subsequently flows to the high-temperature recooler. Alternately, the coolant required in the secondary branch is branched off a coolant flow, in which the total quantity of the coolant leaving the high-temperature recooler and the coolant flowing out of the secondary branch from the high-temperature charge air cooler are mixed. The coolant flowing through the internal-combustion engine then flows to the high-temperature recooler.
As noted above, in the present invention, the coolant quantity, which flows in the secondary branch away from the high-temperature charge air cooler, is admixed to the coolant quantity flowing in the main circulating system from the high-temperature recooler to the internal-combustion engine, and the same quantity of coolant, which flows through the high-temperature recooler, is also guided to the coolant inlet of the internal-combustion engine. Thus, the largest possible coolant quantity, in each case, participates in the heat exchange in the internal-combustion engine and in the high-temperature recooler, and the required total coolant quantity can therefore be kept low. Because of the higher temperature level of the coolant entering into the high-temperature recooler, the total degree of exchange of the high-temperature recooler will rise and is therefore optimally utilized.
The construction of the cooling system is simplified with respect to the arrangement of the pipes because, in this case, no pipe has to lead from the internal-combustion engine to the high-temperature charge air cooler in the high-temperature circulating system. However, the cooling of the charge air that is possible in the high-temperature charge air cooler is slightly reduced because of the higher coolant temperature.
In the cooling system, the coolant flows of the high-temperature and the low-temperature circulating systems are mixed. Specifically, the coolant flow which leaves the low-temperature charge air cooler (as well as the heat exchanger for engine oil and gear lubricant oil possibly connected behind it) is admixed to the mixture of the coolant flows of the high-temperature circulating system. From this mixed flow, the coolant quantity required in the secondary branch of the high-temperature circulating system as well as the coolant quantity which is guided to the coolant inlet of the low-temperature recooler is taken. It is advantageous that a more simplified arrangement of the pipes is obtained and, in addition, only one coolant pump is required. Also, the efficiency of the low-temperature recooler can be increased.
According to the present invention, it is also expedient to arrange the heat exchangers for the engine oil and the gear lubricant oil in the low-temperature circulating system. When the oil type is selected, the temperature level of the high-temperature circulating system therefore does not have to be taken into account. For a fast, load-dependent control of the coolant flow through the low-temperature charge air cooler, a control element with a bypass is provided in order to be able to achieve corresponding charge air temperatures in the case of fast load changes. The control element can be influenced by means of the control rod path, the rotational speed of the charger, the charge air pressure or the temperature of the coolant leaving the high-temperature recooler.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Cooling system for a supercharged internal-combustion engine

MTU Motoren- Und Turbinen-Union Friedrichshafen GmbH


An approach for generating programming for a system is disclosed where a user answers initial hardware and configuration questions and an application controlled by a processor generates a program using multi-associational data model for execution by a system controller, points list, point cross reference list, sequence of operation, commissioning checklist, functional tests, and flowchart.

Most modern buildings are built with heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that have many sensors, fans, values, and actuators. Many of these devices are controlled by a microcontroller or microprocessor located in field panels. The programming of each panel is often unique based upon the different devices coupled to the panel. The initial provisioning of a HVAC system takes multiple hours to layout the design, develop the programming for the panels and other programmable devices, program the devices, tweak the devices, and test the devices and programs. It takes many hours, if not days to properly commission an HVAC system and takes many months to properly train technicians how configure and program HVAC systems. Thus, the commissioning and debugging of an HVAC system is often part of an estimate for selling the components that make up the system.
Current approaches at automating configuration of HVAC systems and other systems have mixed results with all of them failing to provide complete configurations. This failing is due to the two-dimensional configuration approaches that have been employed. Two-dimensional approaches only have knowledge of potential elements and parameters of a system, such as an HVAC system. But in practice additional dependencies and interactions are considerations that have to be taken into account when programming HVAC systems.
In view of the foregoing, there is an ongoing need for systems, apparatuses and methods for reducing the commissioning time of an HVAC system while reducing human errors that occur when commissioning the HVAC system while considering additional provisioning interactions that are not possible in a two-dimensional approach.

Automated engineering of building automation systems


A fastening system includes a bolt having a threaded shank and a head having upper and lower bases, the shank extending integrally from the lower base of the head, the lower base provided with a concentric function-facilitating material reservoir channel and the lateral surface of the threaded shank also provided with a function-facilitating reservoir channel, each of the channels provided with a function-facilitating material selected from a bonding agent, a friction-inducing agent, a lubricant, a sealing agent such as a caulking compound, a resilience-providing agent, or combinations of such materials.

1. Area of Invention
The present invention relates to the area of fastening means and, typically, fasteners that are typically used in combination with a solid or semi-solid phase function facilitating material such as a caulking agent.
2. Prior Art
The prior art in the instant area comprises fasteners such as bolts, screws and other means provided with either or both a threaded shank and a head adapted for use in combination with a washer, More particularly, in prior art efforts to optimize the relationship of a fastener relative to a medium intended to be fastened, thereby, it is typical to provide, either into a recess of such medium or by physical adhesion onto the shank or head of the fastener itself, one or more types of solid or semi-solid phase pressure responsive function facilitating materials such as bonding agents, sealing agents such as caulking compounds, friction reduction agents such as lubricants, resilience-providing agents and combinations thereof.
As may be well appreciated by one familiar with the use of screws, bolts and the like, the provision to a screw or bolt, or the recess into which the screw or bolt is to be installed, with an appropriate bonding, sealing or lubricating agent, is not only a time-consuming and tedious task but, furthermore, such semi-solid facilitating materials will typically degrade over time such that, in many areas of use of screws or bolts, even the most conscientious and thorough installation of a fastener in combination with the desired function facilitating material will, over time, result in the oxidation or dehydration of the material so that it cannot retain its intended function. Accordingly, it is not unusual that various classes of installation of screws and bolts, no matter how appropriately installed, will, over time, loosen or otherwise degrade such that the overall intended effect of the combination of the fastener and the function facilitating material is defeated.
Further, where a bolt or other fastening means is provided with a washer, such washers are often formed of a material that is itself degradable such that, eventually, the underlying function of the washer, e,g., sealing, resilience-providing, or friction-inducing will be defeated. The instant invention therefore addresses the problem of washer degradation as well as that of loss of the original function of solid and semi-solid phase materials used in combination with the original installation of the fastener into the medium of interest.
The prior art, as best known to the inventor, does not offer a solution to any of the above set forth problems.

Fastener system with an entrainable function-facilitating material


Methods and apparatus are described for enabling actionable content by embedding title materials corresponding to digital bearer instruments in digital media.

3.1 Field of the Invention
The present invention provides systems, methods, and software for embedding and using title materials in digital commerce which represent digital bearer instruments that express at least one right, such as those produced commercially by Navio Systems Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.
3.2 The Related Art
3.2.1 Overview
Advertising is an important aspect of modern communications, whatever their form, especially on the Internet. Many "free" services are supported by advertising revenue and many businesses locate and sell their customers through web sites and the advertisements that guide customers to them. Initial advertising takes multiple forms, both electronic, and otherwise.
One form of Internet web advertising practice involves the placement of advertisements on web pages. These advertisements generally include digital media of various sorts (e.g. static, animated, or movies), occasionally include sounds, and often include associated scripts that are activated when a user "mouses over" or otherwise indicates interest in the advertisement. The image is often used the enticement for the user to click on a link to the advertiser's web site; a practice known as "click through". When this is not the case, the associated script software can perform a similar function, or it can interact with the user to collect information and send this to the advertiser's systems or act as a conduit to the advertiser's systems for purposes of collecting user information, expanding on the offer being advertised, accepting a purchase order or for other purposes. Transactional advertisements are advertisements that permit a user to take advantage of the advertised offer when they "click-through".
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art advertisement on a web page. This type of advertisement is a "click-through" that takes the user to the advertiser's web site, and does not convey any rights. There are a number of issues that result from this model of Internet web advertising, many of which interfere with the effectiveness of the advertising. In general, these issues can include:                users disabling the required technologies to prevent their misuse by harmful software programs, incompatibilities between the digital media and the user's system,        the need for the advertiser's web site to be available and accessible by the user's system (which may be problematic due to firewalls, content filters or other factors),        the user being willing to take the time to act on the advertisement at the time it is viewed, since there is no easy way to save such advertisements to be acted on at a later time, and        the user being able to recognize that the encoded offer is the same as the offer displayed in the advertisement.
Additionally, in situations where the advertisement that is presented is chosen dynamically by advertising placement software, the user may not be able to return to the same advertisement at a later time, since returning to the same web site again may result in a different advertisement being displayed.
Another form of Internet advertising involves sending e-mail with offers and links to associated web pages. These offers may include digital media of various sorts, or be limited to simple or formatted text, but usually include URL or a link that can be followed with a web browser to reach the advertiser's web site. This form of advertising has all of the issues described above for web page advertisements except for the ability to delay dealing with the advertisement, but with the additional problem that criminal use of e-mail for purposes of collecting private information or transmitting harmful software is common, and thus users are hesitant to follow links sent in e-mail, even when the e-mail purports to be from known organizations or businesses.
What are needed are technologies that can be used, when combined with trusted transaction systems such as the Digital Commerce System provided by Navio Systems Inc. to produce a transactional advertising system that is effective to create and fulfill advertisements that are not characterized by at least some of these issues. Such technologies are described in the following sections.
3.2.2 Title Materials
A title is a digital bearer instrument that expresses at least one right. A digital bearer instrument is a digital representation of a bearer instrument, e.g. one that can be redeemed by the bearer without requiring further identification, authentication, or proof of ownership. Digital bearer instruments were originally developed for use with digital cash and related cash-transaction technologies. Titles employed by specific embodiments of the present invention are related to the title technologies provided by Navio Systems Inc. of Cupertino Calif. Title materials include titles, portions of titles, for example, such as a specific right definition, a reference to a specific title or right, and independently validatable portions of titles. A stub is one example of an independently validatable portion of a title. Title materials, as used herein, may also include specific instances of digital bearer instruments that may not include a specific right. Titles are presented to title-enabled processes, computers, and devices, which use a presented title to operate on and/or facilitate redemption of rights expressed by such title.
3.2.3 Title Processing Arrangements
Title technology, including various title processing arrangements, is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/742,253, filed Apr. 30, 2007, titled "Enhanced Title Processing Arrangement," and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/439,629, filed May 15, 2003, titled "Methods and Apparatus for Title Protocol, Authentication, and Sharing," the entire disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Such arrangements are effective for processing title materials.
3.2.4 Well-Known Media Formats
Media formats are formal or de facto standards for the digital representation of still or moving images, graphics, photographs, drawings, text, sound or combinations of any or all of these. In some cases, provision for associated copyright, display/replay control, use restriction, and other data related to the media data is incorporated into the format design. The digital representation may be stored using methods which preserve the integrity of the original media data, or methods which degrade the media data in various ways, such as loss of color accuracy, loss of resolution, loss of original rendering information, or others, for various purposes, such as reducing storage requirements, speeding display, or for aesthetic effect.
Some media format designs include provision for extending the format design so as to include new capabilities in ways that do not interfere with use of such formats by software that predates or is otherwise non-supportive of the format extensions. Such format designs are referred to herein as "extensible formats". Some media format designs include features which may be used for purposes other than those originally intended. For example, a format design may include a field intended to be used for comments describing the associated media content, but since software that displays the media has no dependency on the exact content of this field, it can be used to encode other information without interfering with use by software that does not support the new information. Such format designs are referred to herein as "re-purposeable formats". Some media format designs include features which permit software that supports such formats to identify which parts of the media specify data, and which do not. It is possible in some such cases to add additional information to such formats, in areas that are not included in the media data areas and which are therefore ignored by software that supports such formats. Formats with this characteristic are referred to herein as "appendable formats".
Media format designs use various methods for organizing data. Some of the simpler designs start with some fixed descriptive information (a "header"), with the remainder of the data being media data. Some of these designs, such as the BMP format, include information in the header that indicate the areas of the file that include image data, and may include information that indicates areas for other data, such as color information. Such formats are seldom extensible, but may be re-purposeable or appendable. Other, more complex designs, use a method known as "tagging", where a file includes a series of data blocks, each of which is organized in the same way, with recognized marker data (a "tag") being located in a specific part of each data block. Different blocks may have different sizes and purposes, or varying internal organizations so long as the required tag can be located. The format design usually does not specify how many blocks a media file can contain, or the order required (except perhaps for a required first "header" block that identifies the file format used), and software is generally written to ignore any blocks tagged with tags the software does not recognize. Some tagged format designs specify particular tags that may be used to extend the capabilities of the format. Others use tags with less restrictive layouts which enable a nearly infinite number of potential tags to be added.
For historical, technical, and other reasons, there are many media formats in common use. Common practice or standards organizations have assigned particular file name suffixes to these, which can be used by users and software to gain some idea as to the format design used by a file without having to examine its contents. When files are sent in e-mail or used on web pages, standard MIME (Multimedia Internet Mail Extension) descriptions exist for many format designs that are used to specify the format used by the associated media file. Examples of standard media formats include Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), JPEG, "MPEG-1, Audio Layer 3" (MP3), "Advanced Audio Coding MPEG-4" (AAC MP4), and "Flash" (SWF).
GIF, version 89a, is a bit-mapped image format widely used on the Internet. Options include "progressive display" in which the rendering exploits interlaced lines, permitting recognizable images to appear before the whole file has downloaded; and short animations that exploit multiple images and control data within a single file. GIF89a is a de facto standard and was developed by CompuServe. It is described at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/GIF/spec-gif89a.txt.
The PNG specification defines both a datastream and an associated file format for a lossless, portable, compressed, raster (bit-mapped) image. PNG is fully streamable with a progressive display option. Indexed color, grayscale, and RGB color (referred to as truecolor in the specification) are supported, with optional transparency (alpha channel). PNG can store data for accurate color matching. The PNG format was originally designed as an open standard to replace GIF89a for use on the Internet, but is not limited to that use. The PNG standard is described in ISO/IEC 15948.
MP3 is a bit stream encoding format for sound, initially designed for efficient distribution of music files of adequate listening quality over moderate bandwidth connections. It provides a representation of audio in much less space than straightforward methods, by using psychoacoustic models to discard components less audible to human hearing, and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner. Similar principles are used by JPEG, a "lossy" image compression format. The three classes of audio compression associated with the MPEG moving image specifications are known as Layers I, II, and III, with the latter being MP3. The standard for MP3 is described in ISO/IEC 11172-3.
Advanced Audio Coding MPEG-4 (AAC MP4) is a perceptual audio encoding format designed for efficient distribution of sound files over moderate bandwidth connections, but may be used at higher data rates for better fidelity. A variant of AAC MP4 is AAC MP4 Version 2, which has both audio and visual coding. The standard for MP4 is described in ISO/IEC 14496-14.
The Flash (SWF) file format was designed to deliver media content through the Internet. SWF is used for on-screen display and supports features to support this, such as anti-aliasing, rendering using any color formats, animation and user interaction methods. SWF was designed to be extended with new features while maintaining compatibility with display software which pre-dates them. SWF files can be delivered over a network with limited and unpredictable bandwidth. The files are compressed to be small and support incremental rendering through streaming. The Flash format is a proprietary format developed by Macromedia and currently owned by Adobe Systems, Inc.
While some media formats include features which support reference to copyright holders, distribution region restrictions, or other kinds of digital rights support, these do not include explicit support for digital bearer instruments, rights as supported by titles, title fragments or title references, or the ownership transfer and reproduction features needed to enable digital commerce in such digital formats. What is lacking is a mechanism to make media immediately purchasable and to represent rights within a media file.
3.2.5 XML
The eXtensible Markup Language is a specification for a syntax that allows the creation of markup languages for purposes of describing data. XML is a flexible text format derived from SGML (ISO 8879). XML is playing an increasingly important role in the exchange of a wide variety of data on the Web and elsewhere, and is a recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which publishes various descriptions of XML and supports various working groups that develop the language. XML is inherently extensible to accommodate new kinds of data in media which use it.
3.2.6 RSS Feeds
Really Simple Syndication (or, alternatively, Rich Site Summary) (RSS) is a lightweight multipurpose extensible metadata description and syndication format. RSS is an XML application, conforms to the W3C's Resource Description Framework (RDF) specification and is extensible via XML. Initially, RSS feeds were intended for distribution of news headlines, often collected from various sources and filtered to concentrate on specific areas of interest, such as stocks, science, or entertainment. The usage has expanded to a great diversity of uses including, for example, forum headlines, new auction listings, updated listings of houses for sale, complete audio programs, and a number of other uses. Feeds can be distributed by a single source, or can be distributed to multiple locations, which further distribute the feeds. Feeds can be viewed online using a site such as my yahoo, or by downloading feed reading software. Some portable devices have the capability to accept downloads of RSS feeds for later use with appropriate software. An example of such a device is the Apple i-Pod. The specifications for RSS are located at http://www.rss-specifications.com/. RSS 2.0 is offered by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School under the terms of the Attribution/Share Alike Creative Commons license.
3.2.7 HTML and XHTML
Hypertext Markup Language, and it's successor, eXtended Hypertext Markup Language, are the languages used to build web pages. A web page is a document made up according to the rules of HTML or XHTML. Both languages include features that can be used to extend the capabilities of web pages as new technologies are developed. Both are tag-based languages, where a document is composed of text and various "tags" which describe what the text means (text, links to other pages, URLs of images to display, page formatting information such as tables, frames, etc.), how it should be displayed (font, color, location, etc.), the version of the language specification the document complies with, and other relevant information.
3.2.8 E-Mail and MIME
Internet e-mail is based on a standard protocol known as Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP). SMTP was created to allow exchange of text-based messages, with basic data such as the sender address, intended recipient address, subject and date/time of the message included in a manner that allowed software to locate and act on it. The content of the body of the message was not specified, though some restrictions on formatting, such as byte values allowed or maximum line length, were coded into some software that implemented SMTP.
To allow sending of information other than text in e-mail, a new protocol was specified for use in e-mail messages: Multimedia Internet Mail Extensions (MIME). MIME allows the inclusion of images, sound, graphics, executable programs, scripts, and many other items in mail messages which can still be sent through a standard SMTP mail system. Data which does not fit the requirements of SMTP is encoded into forms that are acceptable to SMTP and unencoded once received, with the type of item the data represents being identified by MIME. MIME types are standardized, but the standards are extensible since the type names are just strings of characters. Most MIME-aware software will ignore any MIME type that is not recognized, which limits problems with older software when a new MIME type is defined.
MIME has been adopted for use with HTML, and may be used to identify the type of object referred to by an HTML<object>tag, thus permitting new objects to be specified as needed in web pages.
3.2.9 Advertising Systems
A number of different advertising methods and systems have been developed as the Internet has grown and gained acceptance by the general public. Some methods involve advertisements placed on web sites owned by the advertiser, while other methods involve placement on web pages belonging to others, with payment for the use of the space being made based on various factors, such as number of visitors to the site, number of visitors who "click through" on the advertisement, etc. In some cases, the space may be arranged for by an ad placement company, which inserts different advertisements, from their various clients, into the space for different visitors or at different times. In addition to web page ads, advertisements may also be delivered in RSS feeds, as part of program content in downloaded audio or video programs, or in e-mail. In e-mail the advertisement may comprise the content of the message, or it may be inserted into the message or appended to the end. In most cases, any viewer who wants to take advantage of the offer described by the advertisement must follow a link to the advertiser's web site and interact with that system. Further details of several current technologies for Internet advertising are covered in the following paragraphs.
An example advertising service and method is described in Addante. According to Addante, in published patent application US2001/0036182, a content server receives a request for content from a user computer and responds by transmitting content pages with space for one or two advertisements and a referral command to a direct connect server. The user computer follows the referral command and requests an advertisement from a direct connect server. The direct connect server receives advertising selection criteria and generates and transmits a request for an advertisement to an advertisement selection server. A creative selection server identifies one or more advertisements and sends the location of the advertisements media files to the user computer. The user computer then downloads and displays the advertisement media files to the user.
According to Hamel, in published patent application US2002/0007393, an improved proxy allows click-throughs on an ad URL delivered on a web page within a Java® applet executing on a client machine. The proxy caches cookie information for the browser, to support Java applications that do not allow for placing of cookies directly. When the user clicks on the ad URL, the proxy retrieves the relevant cookie and link information from a host side database, and uses the cookie and link information to help the browser open the correct URL associated with the ad. Additional controls are provided for the proxy, including the ability to filter ads in an appropriate fashion for the applet, to cache ads from third party servers, to monitor applet behavior, to cache/pass on client IP address information, and to perform administrative tasks for the applet within the browser to enhance and facilitate ad delivery between advertisers and their intended audiences. Thus, the proxy acts to extend the reach and access of a conventional applet beyond the resources of a download host associated with such applet. In another embodiment, the applet controls a hidden frame within the browser, which hidden frame, unlike the applet frame, is able to download and plant a cookie from an ad server within the browser. When the user clicks on the ad URL, the browser uses the cookie from the hidden frame and passes it on to the ad server along with the URL, so that the user experiences a seamless and smooth transfer, as would occur from a conventional HTML tag within the page.
According to Auxler et. al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,251, a system and method for increasing click-through rates of Internet banner advertisements is enabled through the delivery of banner ads having a user interactive gaming function. In one embodiment, the user interactive gaming function is implemented as an Internet scratch-off game. Further, the gaming on the banner ad is completed by interaction by the user at a merchant web site. A transfer to the merchant's web site is accomplished by using a uniform resource locator (URL) request that includes game state information. Automatic transfers to a merchant web site also can be effected based upon indications of user interaction with an interactive portion of a banner ad.
Current methods of on-line advertising tie together offers, ads, and the advertiser or offeror's web site. Consumers who wish to take advantage of one or more rights must act on the ad when is it presented to them, be willing and able to interact with the required web site, and must usually establish an account or other relationship with the offeror. They can not accept the offer anonymously, or save it for a later time and if the offeror or advertiser's web site is not accessible at the time, or uses technologies that the consumer does not have or has restricted for various reasons, the consumer will not be able to respond to the advertisement.
With the growing prevalence of security hazards on the Internet, many consumers are hesitant to interact with unfamiliar web sites or to allow certain technologies, such as Active-X, which require software to be downloaded from web sites and run locally, to be used on their systems. Many businesses, ISPs and consumers are using firewall software, security screening proxy servers, browser settings and other forms of security to restrict what kinds of interaction are allowed outside of their own intranets. This can disrupt the functioning of ads which rely on methods that are blocked by such software. Examples of ad technologies which can be blocked by security software include Active-X, Java, Flash, HTML Object Tags, and JavaScript. Some consumers also restrict browser access to data which comes from outside the domain of the web page they are viewing, which can prevent viewing of ads which are linked to from an advertiser's web site.
What is needed is an actionable ad and actionable content that can be acted on independent of the advertiser's or offeror's web site, which can be acted on in an anonymous way, or which can be acted on at a later time. Such capabilities exist in the case of printed coupons, where a manufacturer grants a discount for the purchase of their products to anyone bearing the coupon, and the coupon is redeemable at any stores which sell the manufacturer's products, at any time prior to the expiration of the coupon, but such capability does not currently exist for electronic transactions such as those done over the Internet. In addition, the actionable ads and actionable content must be in a form which is trusted, and which can be served from web sites the consumer trusts, to limit interference from security software or browser settings.
Each of the techniques of providing and servicing advertising materials to users described above are characterized by an inability to securely process an advertisement on behalf of a user and to securely transmit the results of such processing to a merchant web site. What is needed is a system that enables the secure user verification of offers, secure local processing of offers, and secure transmission and fulfillment of locally provided transaction results.
3.2.10 Existing Methods for Recognizing Digital Materials
There is no standard method for recognizing digital materials; however a number of methods are commonly used in various environments. Some digital formats include specific sequences of data bytes at particular locations within the media, others do not. This method is not perfect, since it is possible that these sequences could occur at the same location within media which are not of the media type in question. Some formats specify, or commonly have applied, particular suffixes ("filename extensions") to their containers, such as .GIF, .JPEG, .SWF or .MP3. This can be a clue, but there are generally no restrictions against using these filename extensions for other types of files, enabling users to use them for text files, other types of media files, or even executable programs. It is possible that some operating systems might not support the concept of a filename extension, or may use a media type's extension for some other purpose. Other operating systems may use the filename extension to determine which program to execute when the media container is accessed.
When a program is expecting a particular media file type, such as an MP3 player expecting files given to it to be MP3 audio files, or an image display program is expecting to be given an image file, the problem can often be dealt with by reading the file and checking for characteristics of the expected format within it. For instance, checking for a specified sequence of bytes at a specified location within the file, or checking for "reasonableness" in the data it finds. For instance, if a file format specifies a sequence of blocks, each of which has an offset to the start of the next block, and each block starts with a "tag" field which is one of a specified set of tags, then reading the file and finding such tagged blocks linking to each other would lend support to the file being of the expected type, while offsets that lead to non-existent bytes, or to blocks with unrecognized tags would indicate that the file is not of the expected format. This method is useful for verification that a file is of a particular type, but less useful for determining what type a file is in general, as each possible type would have to be checked until the file type was identified. When no better method is available, this approach can be used however.
In some cases there may be identifying data supplied external to the particular digital materials. For example, when digital materials are sent as e-mail "attachments", the enclosing e-mail message will identify the enclosure using Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), or a web page may identify the digital materials using the parameters of an "object tag".
While watermarking and other mechanisms exist for embedding materials within existing content stored in specific media formats, there is no current mechanism to embed offers, proofs of purchase, and other related materials within these formats. Additionally, there is no mechanism in place for accessing offers, proofs of purchase, and other related materials embedded within content stored in specific media formats and for subsequently exercising the rights represented by these offers, proofs of purchase, and similar items.

Title materials embedded within media formats and related applications


A system is provided for allocating memory for data of a program for execution by a computer system with a multi-tier memory that includes LBM and HBM. The system accesses a data structure map that maps data structures of the program to the memory addresses within an address space of the program to which the data structures are initially allocated. The system executes the program to collect statistics relating to memory requests and memory bandwidth utilization of the program. The system determines an extent to which each data structure is used by a high memory utilization portion of the program based on the data structure map and the collected statistics. The system generates a memory allocation plan that favors allocating data structures in HBM based on the extent to which the data structures are used by a high memory utilization portion of the program.

A current goal for designers of high-performance computing ("HPC") systems is to reach exascale computing, that is, exascale floating-point operations per second ("exaFLOPS"). To achieve exascale computing, designers envision an exascale computing system with many nodes, each of which has many cores. The use of many cores per node allows for increased performance through parallelization. Unfortunately, many application programs are constrained by limited memory bandwidth, even with many fewer cores in a node. As a result of the limited memory bandwidth, the memory read requests of the application programs are queued at the core, and the application programs stall while waiting for the queued read requests to be processed.
High-bandwidth memory ("HBM") has the potential of allowing such application programs to execute without incurring significant delays due to stalling while waiting for queued memory read requests. HBM currently provides up to five times the memory bandwidth of low-bandwidth memory ("LBM"), such as double data rate fourth generation ("DDR4") memory. HBM achieves the higher bandwidth while using less power in a substantially smaller form factor than other memory techniques. The higher bandwidth may be achieved by stacking up to eight dynamic random access memories ("DRAM") dies, which may include a base die with a memory controller. The memory bus of an HBM memory is very wide in comparison to other DRAM. An HBM stack of four DRAM dies may have two 128-bit channels per die for a total of eight channels and a total width of 1024 bits. Examples of HBM include the High-Bandwidth Memory provided by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., the Hybrid Memory Cube provided by Micron Technology, Inc., and the Multi-Channel DRAM provided by Intel Corp.
For cost reasons, some computer architectures provide a large amount of LBM and a much smaller amount of HBM. The computer architectures may support different memory modes: cache mode, flat mode, and hybrid mode. With cache mode, the HBM operates as a cache memory. With flat mode, the physical address space of memory includes both LBM and HBM. With hybrid mode, a portion of the HBM operates as cache memory, and the remainder of the HBM is part of the physical address space of memory along with the LBM.
When the physical address space of memory includes HBM (i.e., the flat mode and the hybrid mode), the allocation of the data structures of a program between HBM and LBM can influence the execution performance of the program. As an example, a program may have a first data structure with an access pattern such that each element of the first data structure is written only once and never read, and a second data structure (of the same size) with an access pattern such that each element is read many times. In such a case, the performance of the program would likely suffer if the first data structure was allocated in HBM and the second data structure was allocated in LBM. Performance of the program may be improved significantly by storing as much of the second data structure as possible in the HBM. In general, the data structures that consume the most off-chip bandwidth (e.g., memory requests sent from the processor to memory per time interval) are likely candidates for allocation in HBM. Unfortunately, the identification of such candidates can be very difficult, even for an expert programmer. The difficulty arises, in part, because the identification has significant dependencies on both compiler optimizations and implementation of the host hardware. For example, compiler optimizations such as automatic vectorization, and hardware features such as out-of-order execution and prefetching, can significantly alter the memory access pattern of a target loop or region of a program that accesses a data structure.

Memory allocation system for multi-tier memory


In some embodiments, selective electroless plating for electronic substrates is presented. In this regard, a method is introduced including forming a film on a surface of a substrate, the film designed to prevent the seeding of an electroless plating catalyst, laser ablating the surface of the substrate through the film to form trenches, and seeding the surface of the substrate with an electroless plating catalyst. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed.

Reductions in the size and pitch of integrated circuit devices require advancements in the manufacture of IC package substrates. The use of lasers is becoming more common for patterning substrates. Metallization techniques for plating laser projection patterned (LPP) substrates (among other electronic substrates) are needed that control costs, manufacturing time, and potential damage to the substrate.

Selective electroless plating for electronic substrates


An image processing apparatus includes an interface unit connected to source devices through HDMI Ethernet Channels (HEC). A HEC bandwidth detection unit detects the HEC bandwidth used in the source devices. A bandwidth comparison unit compares the detected HEC bandwidth with a first critical value set on the basis of an upstream bandwidth capacity of an image processing apparatus. A control unit adjusts the connection to at least one of the source devices based on the comparison result output by the bandwidth comparison unit.

1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an image processing apparatus and a method for connecting a HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC) thereof, and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus connected to a plurality of source devices, and a method for controlling the HEC connections thereof
2. Description of the Related Art
Current trends indicate that as the dissemination of digital contents becomes more popular, a growing number of users are connecting multimedia source devices, such as camcorders, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) players, video game consoles, set-top boxes, etc., to image apparatuses such as monitors and digital TVs. These image apparatuses process and display the digital contents provided from the multimedia source devices.
The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) has been standardized as a digital interface for data transmission between the multimedia source devices and image apparatuses. HDMI is a multimedia interface which combines together uncompressed digital audio and video, and transmits the combined digital audio and video. HDMI is becoming a standard for protecting digital contents in a high-resolution image apparatus.
Since HDMI version 1.4, Ethernet has been a feature of HDMI, and is made available in the HEC. However, in circumstances where HECs from various source devices are used at the same time in a restricted upstream bandwidth environment, a problem can arise in that the quality of the network tends to deteriorate, and the difficulty lies in responding to such a problem.
Conventionally, when a plurality of multimedia source devices are connected through HEC, and the available upstream bandwidth is exceeded, this affects all of the connected multimedia source devices.

Image processing apparatus and a method for connecting HDMI Ethernet channel thereof


The present invention provides a device for fluoride iontophoresis, comprising at least one electrochemical cell device containing at least one electrode and a fluoride-containing electrolyte, wherein the electrode is operated via an electromotive force to drive the fluoride-containing electrolyte into a biological interface; and a power supply connecting electrically to the cell device and at least providing a periodic pulse voltage signal to the electrode.

At present, a conventional fluoride application (CFA) is used to prevent teeth from demineralization. The process of CFA is to apply colloidal fluoride over a patient's teeth directly and form CaF2 compounds on the teeth. However, many literatures have found that CaF2 compounds can't stay on the teeth for twenty-four hours, so the effect of CFA is limited.
At present, iontophoresis is used as a dental treatment. The principle of iontophoresis is to import electrified medicines into a patient's body by applying an external electric field. Iontophoresis is often used to import electrified medicines into a patient's skin, and the positive effect of iontophoresis has been confirmed.
Iontophoresis has been applied to teeth and imported fluorides into the teeth to prevent the teeth from demineralization. In addition, a previous research reported NaF iontophoresis. NaF iontophoresis imports fluorides into dentinal tubules to produce precipitation of CaF2 by electric voltage. The fluid movement in dentinal tubules is reduced by precipitation of CaF2, thereby the purpose of reducing dentin hypersensitivity can be achieved. However, application of iontophoresis to the teeth still has many problems. For example, the architecture of teeth is very different from that of skin, wherein the skin has more pores and the drug transportation into skin is better.
An electrochemical approach of a current commercial fluoride iontophoresis (FI) device (Pyo-cure, Narcohm, Japan) is based on chronoamperometry (CA). The principle of CA is to provide fixed potentials at different instants, as shown in FIG. 1A, which shows a time-dependent function of potential. The corresponding time function of current is shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIG. 1A, when oxidation-reduction substances exist in the system and the potential is fixed at Ea, no oxidation-reduction reaction take place. When the potential is elevated and fixed to Eb, a reduction reaction occurs rapidly, resulting in a rapid decrease of the concentration of the redox substances diffusing to the surface of the working electrode to zero.
The drawbacks of the current commercial FI device include a limited degree of incorporation of fluoride and the failure to import fluoride into inner part of the teeth. They affect the efficiency of the intended demineralization prevention. For example, the duration that fluorine compounds staying in the teeth can't thus be prolonged.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved fluoride iontophoresis to address at least the foregoing issues.

Fluoride iontophoresis device and method thereof


An electronic device includes a housing, one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces included in or on the housing, a processor, and a memory, wherein the memory stores a plurality of templates associated with a plurality of tasks, wherein each of the templates includes a plurality of parameters for at least partially completing a respective one of the tasks, and wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to: receive a user input to set up an alarm associated with a task to be performed at a selected time, wherein the input includes a first time parameter associated with the selected time; select one of the plurality of templates; determine a second time parameter of the plurality of parameters of the selected template; determine a time for the alarm; and provide the alarm at the determined time.

As information technologies (IT) or mobile communication technologies have been developed, various types of electronic products have been developed and distributed. In particular, recently, an electronic device, which has various functions, such as a smartphone, a tablet PC, or a wearable device has been extensively spread. Such an electronic device may provide, for a user, a very broad range of services or functions, such as a call, a video call, multimedia viewing, message sending, web browsing, health care, or the like, by executing applications developed by various developers.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Method and electronic device for setting alarm


A high performance graphics display system for use as an engineering workstation includes a compact method of generating vectors and transmitting addresses for same from a picture processor to frame buffer control circuitry for writing or reading pixel values along the vector in the frame buffer. The system uses a multiplexed address/data bus. Off-screen memory in communication with the picture processor is used to store pixel data read along vectors in the frame buffer preceding writing a vector so that the original data can be restored when the written vector is moved or removed. Vectors are encoded by the picture processor as a first word containing the address of the beginning point of the vector and major axis and X and Y direction bits to indicate the vector's direction. A second word includes a minor axis bit, indicating whether the next pixel to be written or read is on or off the major axis, in the direction indicated for such axis in the first word. The first word also includes a hesitate bit indicating whether the first pixel of a vector is to be written or read. The system is configured in pipe stages with a FIFO at each stage controlled by a hold signal that is pipelined from downstream stages in a direction opposite the pipelined data flow.

The present invention relates to frame buffer memory systems for raster displays, and more particularly to a bus architecture and communications method for interfacing a picture processor to a frame buffer.
Raster scan, frame buffer displays have become increasingly popular as the price of semiconductor memory has decreased. The image to be displayed is represented in a large memory that saves a digital representation of the intensity and/or color of each picture element, or pixel, on the screen. The frame buffer memory is equipped with hardware to generate a video signal to refresh the display and with a memory port to allow a host computer or display processor to change the frame buffer memory in order to change the image being displayed. A general overview of the art can be found in Raster Graphics Handbook, published by Conrac Division, Conrac Corporation, Covina, Calif. 91722 (1980).
Interactive graphics applications require rapid changes to the displayed image, which in turn require rapid changes to the frame buffer memory. Although the speed of the host processor and display processor is clearly important to high performance, so also are the properties of the memory system, such as update bandwidth, i.e., the rate at which the host processor or data processor may access each pixel. Many graphics systems are partitioned such that the image rendering engine is separated from the frame buffer by some kind of bus. In a low end system, where the rendering engine is a generic microprocessor and the frame buffer is a dualported memory, this bus may be the system bus. In a high-end system, such as an engineering workstation, where the rendering engine is a special purpose picture processor, this bus may be a high-speed private bus between the picture processor and the frame buffer. In either case, for drawing vectors of arbitrary orientation, it is necessary to send the address and data across the bus for every pixel to be written. This means that there must either be enough bus signal lines to send both the address and the data at the same time or, if it is a multiplexed address/data bus, every pixel write must be an address cycle followed by a data cycle.
In conventional raster display systems, a two-dimensional block of data (three-dimensional in color systems) is created in the frame buffer to represent an image to be displayed. Each data element defines a pixel, the pixel data consisting of an address defining the two-dimensional coordinates of the pixel, and a value, represented by a single binary bit in monochrome systems, and a number of bits in color systems. The pixel data is generated and transmitted a pixel at a time, first the address, then the pixel value, to the frame buffer control circuitry. This circuitry reads the address and places the corresponding pixel value into the frame buffer. This process is repeated for all of the pixels to be changed in the image. Having to send the address each time a pixel value is sent consumes much of the bandwidth of the communications interface between the display processor and the frame buffer.
Most bus systems have a "block transfer" mode to increase the data transfer bandwidth. In this mode, one address can be followed by multiple data words which are written to sequential memory locations beginning at the initial address. This mode can be used for sending vectors aligned with the X-axis or Y-axis but is not generally useful, however, for drawing vectors of arbitrary orientation into a frame buffer. This is because frame buffers are logically organized as a x-y array and the physical memory address is a combination of the x and y addresses. Since vectors of arbitrary orientation can go in any direction, the adjacent pixel addresses are not, in general, sequential memory addresses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,037 to Rosener et al., incorporated herein, discloses octant register circuitry and a mode of operation that enable a full address to be sent along with a pixel value for such address to the frame buffer memory to define the starting point of a vector. Successive pixel data is sent in parallel with a three-bit address defining the octant in which the next pixel value will be placed relative to the previous address. The three-bit octant data thus defines the location of a next pixel to be written adjacent an immediately preceding pixel, without having to send the entire address before each pixel. Using this approach, particularly in application of line drawing algorithms in large memory arrays, can greatly improve efficiency but still requires at least three bits besides the data.
Another area of interest has to do with the drawing of images, such as cursors and lines, over images already being displayed, and movement of the line or cursor images without destroying the underlying image stored in the frame buffer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,590 to Sukonick et al. discloses an exclusive or (XOR) which allows a selective erase that restores lines crossing or concurrent with erased lines. XOR feature permits part of the drawing to be moved or dragged into place without erasing other parts of the drawing. This approach requires substantial computational overhead and has a number of operational limitations. Another approach, developed by Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and described by D. H. H. Engles, "The Small Talk Graphics Kernel" BYTE, August, 1981, pp. 168-194, incorporated herein, is an operation called "Bit Blt." The Bit Blt process uses a rectangular bit map to define the image to be written into the frame buffer. As the image is written into the frame buffer, the prior information in the same address locations is read out and stored in a separate memory. When the new image is moved or deleted, the old information is restored to the frame buffer in its original location. This method is suitably efficient when applied to nearly rectangular blocks of pixel data, particularly those of small size as in the case of a cursor image. Its efficiency is greatly reduced, however, when large portions of the pre-existing image must be stored and restored. That is the case even when relatively simple new images are to be placed on the display, such as lines, curves, or simple polygons.
Another communications interface limitation in prior raster display systems relates to the way information is relayed, or pipelined, through multiple data processing stages. U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,247 to Gharachorloo discloses an example of a prior graphics display system which uses a line buffer pipeline connecting a series of pixel processors to implement real-time image generation. In an ideal pipeline through the system, all stages process their respective data in the same amount of time. The data transfer mechanism between stages can be a simple register which is loaded with new data at the end of each processing cycle by a pipeline clock that is common to all pipeline stages. Problems arise, however, when one of the pipe-stages takes longer than one pipeline clock cycle to process its data. If that happens, that stage must be able to halt the data flowing to it from the previous stage while it finishes its processing, or break up its process into more than one pipe stage. The problem worsens if the time it takes for a pipe stage to complete its process is variable, depending either on its input data or on some random or pseudo-random event happening within the pipe stage. If that is the case, the only thing that can be done is to somehow stop the previous or upstream process from sending new data until a slower, downstream process is ready to accept it. This means that each process must have knowledge of the state of all of the following pipe stages, that is, whether or not they are ready to receive new data. The simplest way to implement this is to send a hold signal from a current stage to a previous pipe stage. This hold signal is a busy signal from the current stage logically ORed with the hold signal coming from a following or downstream stage. Because of the signal delay associated with each OR gate, however, this scheme is not appropriate for a high-speed system with many stages, especially if the implementation is a bus structured system.
Accordingly, a need remains for improvements in the architecture and communications protocols employed in a raster scan display system for generating and transmitting pixel data to and from the frame buffer.

Local display bus architecture and communications method for Raster display


A magnetic memory cell includes: a first spin-orbit interaction active layer; a first magnetic free layer on the first spin-orbit interaction active layer, the first magnetic free layer having a changeable magnetization; a first nonmagnetic spacer layer on the first magnetic free layer; a reference layer having a fixed magnetization on the first nonmagnetic spacer layer; a second nonmagnetic spacer layer on the reference layer; a second magnetic free layer on the second nonmagnetic spacer layer, the second magnetic free layer having a changeable magnetization; and a second spin-orbit interaction active layer on the second magnetic free layer.

1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention are directed to spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory devices.
2. Related Art
Magnetic memory, particularly magnetic random access memories (MRAMs), have drawn increasing interest due to their potential for high read/write speed, high endurance, non-volatility (e.g., persistence), and low power consumption. An MRAM can store information using magnetic materials as an information recording medium. One type of MRAM is a spin transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM). STT-RAM uses magnetic junctions written at least in part by a current driven through the magnetic junction. A spin polarized current driven through the magnetic junction exerts a spin torque on the magnetic moments in the magnetic junction. As a result, layer(s) having magnetic moments that are responsive to the spin torque may be switched to a desired state. STT-RAM has the benefits of the fast read and write speed of SRAM, the capacity and cost benefits of DRAM, and the non-volatility of flash memory (e.g., persistence with zero standby power), coupled with high endurance (e.g., greater than 1015 cycles). As described below, STT-RAM uses a bi-directional current to write data. Such write operations may be performed without assistance from an externally applied magnetic field, heat, or other sources of energy. As such, STT-RAM has low energy requirements for writing.
FIG. 1 depicts a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) 10 as it may be used in a STT-RAM 50, as depicted in FIG. 2. The MTJ 10 may be disposed on a bottom contact 11 with a seed layer 12 and may include an antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer 14, a reference (or "pinned") layer 16 having a magnetic moment 17, a tunneling barrier layer 18, a free layer 20, and a capping layer 22. FIG. 1 also shows a top contact 24. The top and bottom contacts 24 and 11 may be coupled to a selection device 62 (as shown in FIG. 2).
The STT-RAM 50 includes a magnetic memory cell 60 including the MTJ 10 and a selection device 62. The selection device 62 is generally a transistor such as an NMOS transistor and includes a drain 66, a source 64, and a gate 68. Also depicted are a word line 72, a bit line 74, and source line 70. The word line 72 is oriented perpendicular to the bit line 74. The source line 70 is typically either parallel or perpendicular to the bit line 74, depending on specific architecture used for the STT-RAM 50. The bit line 74 is connected to the MTJ 10, while the source line 70 is connected to the source 64 of the selection device 62. The word line 72 is connected to the gate 68.
The STT-RAM 50 programs the magnetic memory cell 60 by driving a bi-directional current through the cell 60. In particular, the MTJ 10 is configured to be changeable between high and low resistance states by a current flowing through the MTJ 10. For example, the MTJ 10 may be a magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) or other magnetic structure that may be written using the spin transfer effect. This may be achieved by ensuring that the MTJ 10 has, for example, a sufficiently small cross-sectional area as well as other features desirable for switching using the spin transfer effect. When the current density is sufficiently large, the current carriers driven through the MTJ 10 may impart sufficient torque to change the state of the MTJ 10. When the write current, such as Iw1, is driven in one direction, the state may be changed from a low resistance state to a high resistance state. When the write current, such as Iw2, is passed through the MTJ 10 in the opposite direction, the state may be changed from a high resistance state to a low resistance state.
During write operations, the word line 72 is high and turns on the selection device 62. The write current flows either from the bit line 74 to the source line 70, or vice versa, depending upon the state to be written to the magnetic memory cell 60. The magnetic moment of the free layer 20 may thus be changed. During read operations, the column decoder (not shown) selects the desired bit lines 74. A row decoder also enables the appropriate word line(s) 72. Thus, the word line 72 is high, enabling the selection device 62. Consequently, a read current flows from the bit line 74 to the source line 70. In addition to the read current (IData in FIG. 2) flowing through the cell being read, reference currents are also driven through reference resistors. The output signals are provided to a sense amplifier. The value stored in the magnetic memory cell 60 is determined by comparing the current flowing through the cell being read to the reference current driven through the separate reference resistors.
However, using perpendicular SO for switching of perpendicular MTJ, as seen in FIG. 1, requires special surface alloy layers that can be more difficult to develop and demonstrate.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not constitute prior art.

Cross-point architecture for spin-transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory with spin orbit writing


Disclosed us a compound of Formula 1.0: ##STR1## or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof. Also disclosed are pharmaceutical compositions comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and an effective amount of a Compound of Formula 1.0.. Further disclosed is a method of treating allergy (for example asthma), inflammation, hypertension, raised intraocular pressure (such as glaucoma)--i.e., a method of lowering intraocular pressure, sleeping disorders, states of hyper and hypo motility and acidic secretion of the gastrointestinal tract, hypo and hyperactivity of the central nervous system (for example, agitation and depression) and other CNS disorders (such as Alzheimers, Schizophrenia, and migraine) comprising administering an effective amount of a compound of Formula I to a patient in need of such treatment.

H.sub.3 receptor sites are known and are of current interest to those skilled in the art--for example, see: West, Jr. et al., "Biexponential Kinetics of (R)-.alpha.-[.sup.3 H]Methylhistamine Binding to the Rat Brain H.sub.3 Histamine Receptor", Journal of Neurochemistry, Vol. 55, No. 5, pp. 1612-1616, 1990; West, Jr. et al., "Identification of Two H.sub.3 -Histamine Receptor Subtypes", Molecular Pharmacology, 38:610-613; and Korte et al., "Characterization and Tissue Distribution of H.sub.3 Histamine Receptors in Guinea Pigs by N.sup..alpha. -Methylhistamine", Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 168, No. 3, pp. 979-986.
Arrang et al. in U.S. Pat. No 4,767, 778 (Issued Aug. 30, 1988) disclose a pharmaceutical composition containing a histamine derivative of the formula: ##STR2## wherein each of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.4, represents a hydrogen or a methyl, or R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 taken together represent a methylene, and R.sub.3 is a hydrogen, a methyl or a carboxy, with the proviso that R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 are not simultaneously methyl groups. It is disclosed that the derivatives behave as complete agonists of the H.sub.3 receptors in rat brain and produce a maximal inhibition of release identical to that induced by histamine (approximately 60%). It is also disclosed that the histamine derivatives powerfully inhibit the release and synthesis of histamine by very selectively stimulating the H.sub.3 receptors. Consequently, according to Arrang et al., the derivatives are likely to decrease histaminergic transmission in the digestive tract and in the nervous, cardiovascular and immune systems. Arrang et al. disclose that the derivatives can be used in therapy as a drug having sedative effects, as a sleep regulator, anticonvulsant, regulator of hypothalamo-hypophyseal secretion, antidepressant, and modulator of cerebral circulation. According to Arrang et al., inhibition of the release of inflammation messengers in various allergic conditions (e.g., asthma) is expected to result from stimulation of the H.sub.3 receptors of the lung. It is further disclosed that the inhibition of release of gastric histamine is likely to exert antisecretory and antiulcerative effects. According to Arrang et al., modification of release of the messengers of immune responses is likely to modulate the latter responses.
EP 0 338 939 discloses compounds of the formula: ##STR3##
Derwent abstract 86-273706/42 for EP 0 197 840 discloses imidazole derivatives of the formula: ##STR4## wherein R.sub.1 is H, methyl or ethyl; R is H or R.sub.2 ; and R.sub.2 is 1-6C alkyl, piperonyl, 3-(benzimidazolon-1-yl)propyl, --CZ--NHR.sub.5 or a group (i): ##STR5## wherein n is 0-3; X is a bond, O, S, NH, CO, CH.dbd.CH or a group (ii): ##STR6## R.sub.3 is H, methyl, halo, CN, CF.sub.3 or COR.sub.4 ; R.sub.4 is 1-6C alkyl, 3-6C cycloalkyl or phenyl (optionally substituted by methyl or F); Z is O, S, NH, N-methyl or N--CN; and R.sub.5 is 1-8C alkyl, 3-6C cycloalkyl (optionally substituted by phenyl), 3-6C cycloalkyl(1-3C)alkyl, phenyl (optionally substituted by methyl, halo or CF.sub.3), phenyl(1-3C)alkyl, naphthyl, adamantyl or p-toluenesulphonyl. It is disclosed that these compounds are psychotropic agents. It is also disclosed that these compounds antagonise the histamine H.sub.3 receptors and increase the speed of cerebral histamine renewal.
Derwent abstract 90-184730/24 for U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,851 discloses 2- or 4-(2-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethyl) piperidine compounds useful as antitumour agents for inhibiting lymphoma, sarcoma, myeloma and leukaemia. The compounds have the formula: ##STR7## wherein R is --CH.sub.2 (CH.sub.2).sub.m --Me, --CO--(CH.sub.2).sub.m --Me or --CO--CMe.sub.2 --R.sub.2 ; m is 2-18; R.sub.2 is H or Me; R.sub.1 is --(CH.sub.2 .sub.n --R.sub.3 ; n is 0-13; R.sub.3 is H, i--Pr or t--Bu; and the floating group is at the 2- or 4- position; with the proviso that (1) the sum of C atoms in R.sub.1 does not exceed 13; and (2) the sum of C atoms in R and R.sub.1 does not exceed 25.
Derwent abstract 90-180087/24 for EP 372125A discloses compounds of the formula: ##STR8## wherein X is O or S; R.sub.1 is halo, CF.sub.3, CN, NO.sub.2, OH, or 1-6C alkoxy; R.sub.2 is H, 1-6C alkyl, aryl, 7-13C aralkyl, optionally substituted amino or 5- or 6-membered N-containing ring; and R.sub.3 is 1-6C hydrocarbyl, 7-13C aralkyl or 1-13C acyl. It is disclosed that these compounds have alpha2-antagonist activity with no dopamine activity and that they are useful for treating depression and other related illnesses (e.g., anxiety or cognitive disorders).
Derwent abstract 88-309195/44 for U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,417 discloses compounds of the formula: ##STR9## wherein (according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,417) R.sup.1 is aryl, lower alkyl, cycloalkyl or hydrogen; R.sup.2 is aryl, lower alkyl.or hydrogen; R.sup.3 is lower alkyl, hydroxy or hydrogen; R.sub.4 is aryl or hydrogen; R.sub.5 is aryl or hydrogen; m is two or three; n is zero, one or two, provided that when R.sup.3 is hydroxy, n is one or two; and q is zero, one, two or three. U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,417 discloses that these compounds are calcium channel antagonists useful for treating mammals having a variety of disease states, such as stroke, epilipsy, hypertension, angina, migraine, arrhythmia, thrombosis, embolism and also for treatment of spinal injuries
Compounds known in the art include: ##STR10##
Known compounds in the art also include compounds of the formula: ##STR11## wherein R (Table 1)is:
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ NO. R RN CA ______________________________________ 1 --CH.sub.3 106243-44-1 106(11): 84602r 2 --CH(CH.sub.3).sub.2 106243-45-2 106(11): 84602r 3 H 106243-23-6 106(11): 84602r 4 --C(S)NHC(CH.sub.3).sub.2 CH.sub.2 C(CH.sub.3) 106243-93-0 106(11): 84602r 5 --C(O)NHCH(CH.sub.3)(phenyl) 106243-90-7 -- 6 --C(S)NH(p-chlorophenyl) 106243-85-0 -- 7 --C(O)NH(phenyl) 106243-77-0 -- 8 --C(NH)N(CH.sub.3)(cyclopropyl) 106243-73-6 -- 9 --C(S)NHCH.sub.3 106243-61-2 -- 10 --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 -phenyl 106243-49-6 -- 11 --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 -p-flurophenyl 106243-67-8 -- 12 benzyl 106243-25-8 -- ______________________________________
Additionally known compounds include: ##STR12##
In view of the art's interest in compounds which effect the H.sub.3 receptors, novel compounds having agonist or antagonist activity on H.sub.3 receptors would be a welcome contribution to the art. This invention provides just such a contribution by providing novel compounds having H.sub.3 agonist or antagonist activity.

Imidazoylalkyl substituted with a six or seven membered heterocyclic ring containing two nitrogen atoms


A stabilizer for a ship includes a track shifting mechanism, pulleys fixed on the track shifting mechanism, pulleys fixed on the ship and a continuous running body such as belt or chain running in a closed loop at high speed around the pulleys, thereby generating, absorbing or changing an angular moment to suppress the rolling of the ship.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus which suppresses or reduces the rolling of ships, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
The suppression of the rolling of ships is important for the safety, comfort and efficiency of the loading and unloading of the cargos of the ships.
One approach in the past was to have the water tank in the ship absorb the energy of the rolling. The disadvantages of this method are that integration by precise computer control is difficult and cannot generate the optimum moment of force against the rolling, resulting in inefficient suppression. Also the value of the absorbing energy or suppressing moment of force is not large.
Another technology used in the past was to have a stabilizer fin on the outside of the ship, by which an antirolling lift force could be controlled by changing the angle of the fin. The disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be effective during anchoring.
Yet another technology used in the past was a gyroscope in the ship having a high speed rotating flywheel to suppress the rolling by the gyro effect of the gyroscope. The disadvantage of this method is that it provides a moment of force over a short distance, between the supporting points or fulcrums, compared with the size the ship causing structural instability. A large size gyroscope could solve the structural instability but would occupy a large space in the ship.


A convertible trailer includes a frame including a tongue portion arranged to facilitate towing by a vehicle, a main portion supported by the frame and defining a portion of a space, and an end portion coupled to the main portion and cooperating with the main portion to define the space. A porch cover is pivotably coupled to the main portion for movement between a stowed position and a deployed position and a porch floor is pivotably coupled to the main portion for movement between a stowed position and a deployed position, the porch cover and the porch floor cooperating to define a porch when in the deployed position. A front door is formed as part of the main portion and provides a passage between the space and the porch. An end door is formed as part of the end portion and is arranged to provide access to the space. A plurality of removable support members is positioned beneath the porch floor and arranged to support the porch floor in the deployed position.

The invention relates to movable trailers and more particularly to movable trailers that are convertible between two different configurations.
Trailers are sometimes used to provide office or display space at conventions, trade shows, or other meetings. These trailers must be transported from storage locations to a location where it will be used. Rather, than transporting the trailer on a separate truck, it is sometimes convenient for the trailer to be transportable as one piece.


Seismic blasting methods and apparatus are presented in which detonator confirmation time break (CTB) is accurately determined by maintaining an applied voltage across detonator leg wires following initiation of a firing command or signal and sensing one or more electrical parameters such as voltage and/or current, and selectively identifying a CTB representing a time at which the monitored electrical parameter indicates a successful detonation.

Seismic exploration is a process for assessing the characteristics of underground land formations by generating and sensing seismic waves. In general, an acoustic energy source generates seismic acoustic waves which travel through subterranean formations. The waves are reflected back to the surface by formation interfaces associated with different formation densities, and the waves may also be refracted to travel along the interface before returning to the surface. Seismic detonators and associated booster charges are placed in boreholes at or near the surface to provide a seismic wave source. Geophones or other acoustic energy transducers detect the acoustic waves reflected or refracted back to the surface, where an array of such transducers is typically positioned at the surface for land surveys with individual transducers spaced from one another at known intervals and distances from the seismic source. Data from the transducers can be correlated in time with the time at which the seismic source was actuated (detonated), and analyzed to provide information regarding the structure of the earth underneath the transducers, for example, in oil and gas exploration.
The time when the seismic source detonator fires is known as the "time break", and it is desirable to confirm actual detonation of a seismic charge by providing a value known as a confirmation time break (CTB) indicating an actual time at which a seismic detonator was successfully fired, either directly as a real-time value or as a time difference between the actual firing and the time at which the firing command or signal was issued. In particular, certain applications involve a large number (e.g. thousands) of acoustic sensors or transducers connected to data acquisition systems for obtaining acoustic sensor data, and operation of the sensors and data acquisition system is expensive. Thus, enabling transducers and acquiring corresponding data is costly if a seismic detonator does not actually detonate an associated booster charge. Consequently, confirmation of actual successful seismic source detonation by way of a confirmation time break signal or value is highly desired to signal the seismic data acquisition to enable the array of transducers in the field.
In the past, the time break was usually confirmed by detecting a current surge into an electric detonator (e.g., current interruption as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,589 and monitoring a derivative of current change described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,331,627), or a fixed predetermined delay after the transmission of a firing command to an electronic detonator. However, the seismic charge actually explodes some period of time after the firing signal or command, and the time varies. As a result, the reported time break does not represent the actual time of detonation, leading to inaccuracy in temporal correlation of the acoustic sensor data. Moreover, the provision of a firing signal or command does not ensure that the detonator or the seismic charge will go off, particularly if there is excessive leakage or shorts in the bus wires for electric detonators. U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,657 describes the impedance monitoring of the detonation voltage and current, with and without a small signal rf injection in electric seismic detonators. In electronic detonators, the firing energy is usually stored onboard inside the electronic detonator and the current surge cannot be easily detected as a signal for the time break. Furthermore, the issuance of the FIRE command in electronic detonator does not always result in detonation all the time, sometimes due to damage to the detonator or the wire during loading. Thus conventional time break confirmation approaches may cause a time break to be signaled to a data acquisition system, but the detonator will not actually deploy, thereby increasing the cost of seismic exploration through acquisition and storage of useless data. Thus, it is desirable to provide more reliable techniques for detection and signaling of electric and electronic detonator time break values.
Seismic exploration using seismic sources and transducers rely upon accurate mapping and knowledge of seismic source location as well as the location of individual geophones. Shotpoints are used in seismic exploration to denote the grid location record of a seismic charge containing the detonator placed specifically in the array to be explored. This may contain the geographical records and other data. The shotpoint may be an 8-digit number e.g., 60531975 or 60611975, etc., which can be associated with a particular detonator based on the location in an exploration map at which the detonator and corresponding booster charge are to be placed, and are usually stored in a data acquisition system or other external media. Consequently, once a seismic detonator is successfully fired, further steps are needed to relay the corresponding fired-detonator shotpoint back to a control station (e.g., a remote recording facility sometimes referred to as a "doghouse"), typically by manual radio communication and manual entry of the detonator ID or shotpoint. Thus, it is desirable to improve seismic exploration processes and systems to facilitate timely provision of detonator shotpoint numbers and confirmation time break values for confirmed detonations.

Method and apparatus for confirmation time break (CTB) determination and shotpoint in-situ recording in seismic electronic detonators


An autotransfusion system for salvaging, washing, and concentrating blood and returning the blood to a patient during surgery. The system comprises both a filtration unit and an ultrafiltration unit. The ultrafiltration unit is configured so as to communicate with the filtration unit, and both the filtration unit and the ultrafiltration unit are provided with a suitable conduit for conveying blood back to a patient. The ultrafiltration unit is divided into two chambers by a semipermeable membrane, the membrane being selected so as to permit fluid to pass therethrough, while preventing the passage of blood cells and other formed elements.. A mixture of healthy blood cells, fluid, and particulate debris is salvaged from an operative field of a patient. The blood mixture is filtered in the filtration unit and can then be immediately returned to the patient, if needed. Alternatively, the filtered mixture is conveyed to the ultrafiltration unit where a portion of the fluid is removed from the mixture and wherein the healthy blood cells may be washed by the addition of a washing solution. The washed and concentrated blood cells are then returned to the patient through a suitable return line.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to blood salvaging and autotransfusion apparatus and methods and, more particularly, to novel apparatus and methods for use during surgery for salvaging, washing, and concentrating blood so that healthy blood cells can be returned to a patient.
2. The Prior Art
During surgery, it is highly desirable that any blood and fluid which accumulate be transported away from the operative field. This is typically accomplished by means of a suction system which is used to aspirate blood and fluid from the areas of accumulation. In this way, the operative field is kept clean and unobscured so that successful completion of the surgical procedure will not be hindered.
During an operation, for example, as much as 250,000 cubic centimeters of blood may be aspirated from the operative field of a patient in the manner outlined above. As a result, unless this blood can be successfully returned to the patient, the aspirated blood must be replaced by blood from other sources. The process of salvaging a patient's blood from the operative field and then returning that blood to the patient is referred to generally herein as "autotransfusion."
When salvaging blood from an operative field, one, of course, recovers healthy blood cells, together with the associated blood plasma (the fluid portion of the blood). In addition, however, a number of undesirable substances are recovered along with and mixed together with the blood; the presence of the substances in the blood prevents the salvaged blood from being returned directly to the patient, thereby inhibiting autotransfusion.
Some of the undesirable substances recovered with the blood from an operative field are in the form of solid or particulate debris. Such debris may include the cell walls of red blood cells which have been damaged and ruptured, platelets, and leukocyte aggregates. In addition, the salvaged blood invariably contains tissue fragments and blood clots which result from the surgical procedures.
Besides such particulate debris, blood which is salvaged from an operative field has become contaminated with various other undesirable fluids. First, the cellular fluid which was inside of the now-ruptured blood cells is mixed together with the normal blood plasma. In addition, substantial amounts of other body fluids may also be present, especially when operating within the abdominal or chest cavities of a patient.
Moreover, the trauma incident to surgery and to the salvaging of blood may produce substances which do not normally exist within the body and which are then mixed together with the other substances recovered from the operative field. For example, a carbon atom may be knocked off of a carbon chain or a side radical may be eliminated from a carbon chain so as to produce substances which do not occur naturally. Such substances, which may be potentially harmful to the patient, thus become part of the salvaged blood mixture.
Because of the nature of the salvaged blood mixture, as described above, it will be readily appreciated that this blood mixture cannot safely be returned directly to the patient immediately after it is collected. Rather, it is necessary to first treat the salvaged blood mixture so as to remove at least a portion of the undesirable substances. Accordingly, those skilled in the art have developed apparatus which are designed to "wash" the blood prior to returning the blood to the patient.
When using the blood-washing devices known in the prior art, the salvaged blood mixture is first filtered so as to remove certain of the particulate debris. Thereafter, the blood mixture is then transferred to a centrifuge chamber. As the centrifuge chamber rotates, the blood cells separate from the blood plasma and the other salvaged fluids as a result of the difference in density between the blood cells and the plasma and other fluids.
Once the blood cells have been thus separated, a washing solution (such as, for example, a sterile saline solution), may be introduced into the centrifuge chamber so as to carry away the undesirable fluids together with the original blood plasma. At the completion of this procedure, the washed blood cells are then recombined with new blood plasma and returned to the patient.
Despite the overall effectiveness of the prior art blood washing devices, these devices suffer from a number of significant disadvantages. First, it will be readily appreciated that prior art blood-washing procedures, such as those outlined above, are quite slow. The prior art devices are, in fact, primarily directed for use by blood banks where batch processing is adequate and processing time is not an overriding concern.
Due to the large volumes of blood which are often collected from a patient during surgery, however, time becomes a crucial factor in the salvaging and washing of blood. Prior art devices have been found to be simply unresponsive to this time demand; and, as a result, when using the devices of the prior art during surgery for the purpose of autotransfusion, a patient's need for blood often becomes urgent to the point of emergency.
In addition, the prior art blood-washing devices are not readily adapted to continuous blood processing. As suggested from the discussion above, prior art devices generally involve batch processing of blood. Consequently, in spite of efforts to adapt the prior art devices to accept several batches of blood for simultaneous processing, prior art devices have not been capable of continuously washing and processing the blood during surgery.
Further, the prior art blood washing devices and methods cannot generally be interrupted once the processing has commenced. This is primarily due to the fact that the blood is not ready to be returned to the patient until it has been completely washed and then combined with new blood plasma. Consequently, when an emergency need arises, a patient must often be given blood from other sources or be forced, despite the inherent risk, to wait until the blood washing and processing can be fully completed.