A method for prioritizing events on an electrical power system, including: (a) acquiring at least one data portion representative of the behavior of the electrical power system, the at least one data portion containing at least one power system event; (b) assigning at least one rank value to the at least one data portion based on the type of power system event, the rank value indicative of a priority of the event; and (c) conducting subsequent operations on the at least one data portion in accordance with the at least one rank value.

An electric power system is a complex interconnection of many components. Customers switch their loads on and off independently, causing feeder loading levels to vary over time. Utility apparatus connected to these feeders also operate from time to time, to maintain proper delivery of service to customers and to protect equipment. All of these contribute to continuous variations in feeder loading levels and electrical characteristics. Some electrical changes indicate system conditions that need immediate attention to prevent further damage to the system or connected equipment, to restore service, etc. Other changes indicate conditions that are suboptimal and that should be addressed at the utility's earliest convenience. Still others indicate normal system operation and may not need any specific attention unless the utility or its customers experience an unusual condition whose solution may be aided by knowledge about normal operations of the system.
Operations and maintenance (O&M) personnel often lack data and information that would help them perform their functions better. Conversely some modern systems can provide so much information that personnel become overwhelmed, and this situation also negatively affects their ability to perform their functions optimally. Thus having too much information arguably can be as bad as having too little.
A related difficulty in receiving and using information in optimal ways has to do with communication system typically available in substations and even more especially at remote points on feeders. In situations in which substations are unmanned, information has to be provided to operations personnel elsewhere before those personnel can respond. If monitoring equipment is located somewhere other than the substation (e.g., on a pole somewhere between the substation and end users), the quality of communications generally is even lower than at substations. During normal operations the amount of data that modern monitoring equipment can collect in a substation is substantial. Communication channels to substations often have very limited capacity and can take a significant amount of time to transmit information, even during normal operating conditions.
When abnormal conditions (e.g., when a piece of equipment begins to fail or when a fault occurs) occur, the amount of information can get even larger. This can affect the ability of operations personnel to receive and act upon information in a timely way. If information is simply transmitted in the order in which it is collected, operator notification of critical events may be delayed while awaiting the transmission of relatively unimportant information to finish. It would be better for critical information to be transmitted first, with transmission of relatively unimportant information being postponed. Some utilities may not want certain types of relatively unimportant, routine information to ever be sent to operations and maintenance personnel, except in special circumstances in which they are performing some type of special study or troubleshooting.

Prioritization of power system related data


In a video telephony system, a coaxial cable network, which is preferably a part of an existing cable television system, provides a local link for the transmission of the video telephone signals between each originating and destination location and a respective "head end" located on the cable company premises. Each of the head ends is connected to a "point of presence" of a telephone interexchange carrier so that a connection between pairs of head ends, and thus between a pair of video telephone locations, can be made via a switched digital network maintained by the carrier. Certain of originating and destination locations comprise a standard television set, serving as the audio/video display, and a consumer-type camera or camcorder, serving as the audio/video source. Others of the originating and destination locations comprise ISDN video telephones which are connected to the various points of presence of the interexchange carrier via local exchange carrier telephone networks. The video telephone numbers for cable subscriber locations are administered to be the same as the standard ten- (i.e., area code plus seven-) digit telephone numbers used for regular telephone calls directed to those locations.

Because two-way video communications can give individuals the ability to communicate graphical information and to see facial expressions and gestures that cannot be conveyed by audio alone, much emphasis has been placed on commercial development of such systems. Indeed, video telephones that work with analog telephone lines have been demonstrated. However, due to the limited bandwidth of conventional telephone lines, and the consequent limitation on the amount of information that can be carried therethrough, commercial development has been limited to less-than-full-motion video presented on a small display.
In order to overcome the bandwidth limitation associated with video telephony transmitted over the analog telephone lines, video telephones more recently have been designed to work with digital telephone access lines, such as ISDN. However, at the present time, digital access facilities to consumer homes are not readily available.
Other systems use optical fiber directly linked to subscriber homes in order to obtain the high bandwidth needed for full motion video. However, these facilities are expensive, and thus are not accessible to the ordinary household. Besides, it will be decades before most homes are provided with fiber access.
The above-outlined problems are substantially ameliorated by the arrangement disclosed in the co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application of C. D. Yu entitled "Bidirectional Video Telephony Using Shared Channels on Coaxial Cable Networks," Ser. No. 787,436, filed Nov. 4, 1991. In a disclosed embodiment of the Yu arrangement, the terminal equipment comprises a standard television set, serving as the audio/video display, and a consumer-type camera or camcorder, serving as the audio/video source. A coaxial cable network, which is preferably a part of an existing cable television system, provides a local access link for the transmission of the video telephone signals between each originating and destination location and a respective "head end" located on the cable company premises. A network interface unit, or NIU, at each location provides a control interface between the terminal equipment and the cable distribution network to deal with such "housekeeping" chores as allocation of upstream and downstream video telephone channels between the subscriber location and the head end, receiving of "dialing" information from the subscriber via a keypad associated with the NIU, etc. Each of the head ends is connected to a "point of presence" of a telephone common carrier--illustratively an interexchange carrier such as AT&T--so that a connection between pairs of head ends, and thus between a pair of video telephone locations, can be made via a switched network maintained by the carrier.


Flame-retardant polymeric compositions, preferably thermoplastic and especially polyolefin-based compositions, containing an intumescent flame-retardant system substantially comprised of a phosphorus component and an organic nitrogen component. The flame-retardant system is more particularly comprised of ammonium polyphosphate and tris-(2-hydroxyethyl) isocyanurate.

This invention related to flame-retardant polymeric compositions, especially to thermoplastic compositions, particularly based on polyolefins, containing an intumescent flame-retardant system comprised substantially of a phosphorus component and an organic nitrogen component.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,660 it has been suggested that phosphonic acid derivatives of isocyanuric acid are useful for imparting flame-retardant properties to polyurethanes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,177 also describes a combination of melamine and isocyanuric acid derivatives for imparting flame-retardant properties to polyamides.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,862 appears to be the first reference to disclose the use of an intumescent mixture to impart flame-retardant properties to polyolefins; this mixture consisting of ammonium polyphosphate, melamine and dipentaerythritol or melamine pyrophosphate and dipentaerythritol. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,805 (DE-OS 28 00 891), a three-component mixture of ammonium polyphosphate, melamine and polyamide 6 (of Example 6) is suggested, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,493 (DE-OS 28 39 710) a further series of three-component mixtures are suggested consisting of ammonium polyphosphate, melamine and tris-(2-hydroxyethyl) isocyanurate (cf. Examples 2, 5, 6, 7, 8) or ammonium polyphosphate, pentaerythritol or tripentaerythritol and tris-(2-hydroxyethyl) isocyanurate (cf. Examples 4, 9) or ammonium polyphosphate, cyanuric acid and tris-(2-hydroxyethyl) isocyanurate (cf. Examples 13, 14) as intumescent agents imparting flame-retardant properties to polyolefins. It has also been disclosed (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,862) that a combination of ammonium polyphosphate and the reaction product of an oxygen acid of phosphorus with a hydroxy-alkyl derivative of isocyanuric acid can conveniently be used for this purpose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,102, however, to Scarso discloses flame retardant polypropylene composition having a "V-O" UL 94 rating consisting of 15% ammonium polyphosphate and 20% of tris-(hydroxy-ethyl)-isocyanurate but the product had "poor mechanical and thermal characteristics." Scarso teaches to incorporate melamine cyanurate into the formulation in order to obtain a flame retardant polymer composition having good mechanical and thermal properties.
We have now found that a two-component system, consisting of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and tris-(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-isocyanurate (THEIC) imparts very good flame-retardant properties to polyolefins. This was more particularly an unexpected result as the other components of the three- component systems specified hereinabove when used in a two-component system with ammonium polyphosphate did not have any flame-retardant activity whatsoever (cf. comparative Examples 1-12 herein) and the Scarso reference teaches that poor mechanical and thermal properties would be expected of this two component (APP-THEIC) system.
We have found that the two component flame retardant system of the invention provides:
(a) high flame retardancy properties; i.e. UL94-VO rating and high oxygen index; PA0 (b) high mechanical strength properties; PA0 (c) low smoke emission; and PA0 (d) improved environmental safety. PA0 a) a water-insoluble artificial, preferably cured, resin encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 b) a reaction product of a polyisocyanate with a carbodiimidization catalyst, the polycarbodiimide formed encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 c) a reaction product of a polyisocyanate and a polyhydroxy compound, the polyurethane formed encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 d) a reaction product of a polyisocyanate with a trimerization catalyst, the polyisocyanurate formed encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 e) a reaction product of a polyisocyanate and water, the polyurea formed encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 f) a cured melamine/formaldehyde-resin, the melamine/formaldehyde resin encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles; PA0 g) a cured epoxide resin, the epoxide resin encapsulating the individual ammonium polyphosphate particles.


A chip antenna is mounted on a mother substrate including a feed line. In a representative embodiment, the chip antenna includes a laminated body including plural insulating layers, a radiating conductor element, a parasitic conductor element, a coupling adjusting conductor plate, and a LGA. The radiating conductor element is connected to the feed line via a first flat electrode pad of the LGA. On the other hand, the coupling adjusting conductor plate is provided between the radiating conductor element and the parasitic conductor element, and both end sides of the coupling adjusting conductor plate are connected to second and third flat electrode pads of the LGA. Another representative embodiment does not include a coupling adjusting conductor plate in the laminated body and includes an LGA that may or may not include second and third flat electrode pads.

As an example of antenna device according to the related art, there is a microstrip antenna (patch antenna) in which a radiating conductor element and a ground conductor plate are provided facing each other across a dielectric that is thin relative to wavelength, and a parasitic conductor element is provided on the radiating surface side of the radiating conductor element. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 55-93305.
The antenna device according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 55-93305 achieves bandwidth enhancement by exploiting magnetic coupling between the radiating conductor element and the parasitic conductor element.


A thermoelectric power generation unit comprises a plurality of dissimilar thermoelectric structures (20, 21) laid in alternating layers. Adjacent thermoelectric bodies incorporated in each of the thermoelectric structures are connected together in series. Respective thermoelectric structures are fabricated by the steps of forming a stripe-shaped pattern on a substrate (10) using a photosensitive resin (12), forming a polymer film on the underside of the substrate, forming first thermoelectric bodies (15) and second thermoelectric bodies (17) by plating on an electrode film (11) inside openings of the photosensitive resin, coating the first thermoelectric bodies (15) and second thermoelectric bodies (17) with a thermosetting resin (16), dissolving the substrate (10) and electrode film (11) thereafter.

In a thermocouple, a voltage is developed when different temperatures are applied to the opposite ends thereof. Thermoelectric power generation makes use of the voltage as electric energy.
Thermal power generation has attracted much attention lately as an effective means of converting thermal energy directly into electric energy including the utilization of waste heat.
In particular, a thermoelectric power generation unit used for generation of thermoelectric power has attracted much attention because of its potential for application to micro-sized portable electronic equipment, for example, a wrist watch, since it has advantages over other types of power generators in that it is more adaptable to miniaturization owing to its simple structure composed of a plurality of thermoelectric power generation elements, namely, thermocouples, connected together in series, and further it will pose no problem of battery depletion or leakage of the electrolyte in a battery unlike the case of a redox battery.
FIG. 46 is a perspective view showing an example of a structure of a conventional thermoelectric power generation unit. This thermoelectric power generation unit has a laminated structure as a whole, and comprises a plurality of thermocouples 100 consisting of P type thermoelectric material 101 and N type thermoelectric material 102; a large number of the thermocouples serving as thermoelectric power generation elements are disposed in a predetermined manner and electrically connected in series.
A hot junction 104 and a cold junction 105 of respective thermocouples 100 are disposed on the upper surface and the underside surface, respectively, of the thermoelectric power generation unit with the laminated structure so that power is generated by a difference in temperature between both surfaces.
Thermoelectric power is generated by utilizing the so called "Seebeck Effect" wherein if two dissimilar metals are connected together at opposite ends, and a difference in temperature is maintained between two junctions, a thermoelectric e. m. f. is generated between the two junctions.
Such a thermoelectric power generation unit for generation of thermoelectric power as described above is normally manufactured by the following method.
Firstly, pulverized alloy particles are sintered to form a block of process material; P type and N type thermoelectric semiconductor materials in block form are prepared by what is called the "sintering method".
Then, each block thus formed of respective thermoelectric materials is cut and broken into chips in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped by a dicing saw or the like. The chips with the rectangular parallelepiped shape are arranged in a matrix fashion as shown in FIG. 46 such that a P type thermoelectric material 101 and an N type thermoelectric material 102 are alternately disposed.
Subsequently, a thermoelectric power generation unit comprising a plurality of thermocouples connected in series is fabricated by connecting the opposite ends (at the hot junction 104 and the cold junction 105, respectively) of adjacent chips with a conducting member such as a metal plate or the like, such connection being made mainly by soldering.
Typically, the conventional thermoelectric power generation unit fabricated by the method stated above is of a shape several tens cm square or larger and comprises scores of thermocouples.
The output of a conventional thermocouple composed of a Bi--Te based material, which is believed to have the highest performance among all the thermoelectric materials in practical use, is on the order of 400 .mu.V/.degree.C. per thermocouple.
A wrist watch, representative of portable electronic equipment, is normally used in an environment at around room temperature, and consequently, a large difference in temperature between any parts inside a wrist watch can not be anticipated; the magnitude of temperature difference therein will be around 2.degree. C. at most.
Due to such small difference in temperature inside a wrist watch, as many as 2,000 thermocouples composed by a Bi--Te based material will be required to generate a voltage needed to drive a wrist watch, namely 1.5V or higher.
This may not pose any problem if a thermoelectric power generation unit can be enlarged in dimensions. However, it is very hard to integrate as many as 2000 thermocouples in a space 1 cm square, substantially equivalent to the size of a button sized cell. The size of a thermoelectric power generation unit is important particularly when it is to be used as a power supply source of a wrist watch and other micro-sized electronic equipment.
Simply stated, the miniaturization of thermoelectric power generation units may be achieved only if a sintered body of thermoelectric materials can be cut into minute pieces by mechanical working as stated in the foregoing.
However, working on micro-sized elements has naturally its limitations and owing to the very fragile nature of most thermoelectric materials, caution needs to be exercised not only to a cutting process but also to a handling thereof after the cutting process, inevitably resulting in a lower production yield.
The minimum size of a material that can be handled in the conventional method of manufacturing by mechanical working is considered to be about 1 mm square, and even if a thermoelectric power generation unit is packaged into a space 1 cm square, the maximum number of thermoelectric power generation elements, namely thermocouples, incorporated therein is estimated at around 50 couples only.
There is another conceivable method of manufacturing a thermoelectric power generation unit wherein a thermoelectric material in a thin film form is formed by the vacuum deposition process, small-sized thermocouples are fabricated by preparing the micro-sized thermoelectric material in a thin film form through the etching process, and the thermocouples thus fabricated are connected in series, completing a thermoelectric power generation unit. Certainly, manufacturing small-sized thermocouples will become easier with this method.
However, the film formed by the vacuum deposition process is around 1 .mu.m in thickness, which is too thin to compose thermocouples for use as thermoelectric power generation elements, and when as many as 2000 of such thermocouples are in place, the internal impedance thereof will become too high, posing the risk of the thermocouples being unable to output a current strength required of the thermoelectric power generation elements.
Therefore, thermocouples fabricated with films formed by the vacuum deposition process are unsuitable for use as the thermoelectric power generation elements.
Still, a further process proposed for forming the thermoelectric power generation elements is a so-called thick film process wherein a Bi--Te based alloy in a pasty state is applied and then sintered to form a film significantly thicker than the thin film formed by the vacuum deposition process.
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric power generation element by the thick film process is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid Open, JP. A S63-70462.
By the thick film process disclosed in the JP. A S63-70462 fine patterning is feasible by means of screen printing, and furthermore, a film as thick as 10 .mu.m or more can be formed. For this reason, the thick film process is more suitable for forming thermoelectric power generation elements with low internal impedance than the method of forming a thin film by the vacuum deposition process.
However, the thick film process is very complex since it requires preprocessing steps comprising: melting first process materials such as Bi, Te, Sb, Se or the like, making an ingot of alloy from molten metals mixed, and crushing the ingot to make paste from pulverized alloy, without allowing the process materials to be just mixed in their raw state and applied.
Furthermore, this process poses risks of the process materials being contaminated by impurities in one of the preprocessing steps of making the pasty material, uneven distribution of chemical composition occurring in the material prepared as above due to failure in making a uniform solid solution, and cracks occurring in the course of sintering.
With this process, patterning by screen printing is possible but high precision fabrication of micro-sized thermoelectric power generation elements is hard to achieve. For the reasons stated in the foregoing the thick film process is not good enough to provide thermoelectric power generation elements having satisfactory characteristics, and therefore, not the most suitable method for manufacturing micro-sized thermoelectric power generation units.
As is clear from the foregoing description, by means of either the conventional mechanical working method or the manufacturing method through etching the film formed by the conventional vacuum deposition process, it is hard to manufacture a thermoelectric power generation unit by integrating a number of thermocouples as the thermoelectric power generation elements in a minuscule region, and a manufacturing method for a micro-sized thermoelectric power generation unit with a sufficient output capacity has not been available.
On the other hand, the thick film process as stated above is not fully satisfactory in respect of the complex nature of the process and the product characteristics.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing with high precision and with ease a micro-sized thermoelectric power generation unit having a sufficient output capacity as a generator and with a capability of high precision patterning as well, solving problems encountered by the conventional methods for manufacturing a thermoelectric power generation unit.

Method of manufacturing thermoelectric power generation unit


Described is a process to clean up junction interfaces for fabricating semiconductor devices involving forming low-resistance electrical connections between vertically separated regions. An etch can be performed to remove silicon oxide on silicon surface at the bottom of a recessed feature. Described are methods and apparatus for etching up the bottom oxide of a hole or trench while minimizing the effects to the underlying epitaxial layer and to the dielectric layers on the field and the corners of metal gate structures. The method for etching features involves a reaction chamber equipped with a combination of capacitively coupled plasma and inductive coupled plasma. CHxFy gases and plasma are used to form protection layer, which enables the selectively etching of bottom silicon dioxide by NH3—NF3 plasma. Ideally, silicon oxide on EPI is removed to ensure low-resistance electric contact while the epitaxial layer and field/corner dielectric layers are—etched only minimally or not at all.

Integrated circuits are made possible by processes which produce intricately patterned material layers on substrate surfaces. Producing patterned material on a substrate requires controlled methods for removal of exposed material. Chemical etching is used for a variety of purposes including transferring a pattern in photoresist into underlying layers, thinning layers, or thinning lateral dimensions of features already present on the surface. Often it is desirable to have an etch process that etches one material faster than another facilitating, for example, a pattern transfer process. Such an etch process is said to be selective to the first material. As a result of the diversity of materials, circuits, and processes, etch processes have been developed with selectivity towards a variety of materials.
Dry etches produced in local plasmas formed within the substrate processing region can penetrate more constrained trenches and exhibit less deformation of delicate remaining structures than wet etches. However, even though an etch process may be selective to a first material over a second material, some undesired etching of the second material may still occur.
To arrive at nodes that are less than 5 nm in order to achieve low junction contact resistance, the junction clean needs to remove completely the silicon oxide at epitaxial surface, with low epi loss, minimal critical dimension (CD) blowout, as well as minimal dielectric etching on the field and trench shoulders needed by self-alignment contact (SAC), which is implemented to avoid contact mis-alignment, downgraded performance and undesired yield loss.
There are three methods of cleaning/etching that are traditionally utilized: isotropic cleaning with ammonium fluoride (NH4F) or ammonium fluoride-hydrogen fluoride (NH4F—HF) formed by an NH3—HF gas mixture or a remote NH3—NF3 plasma; directional dry etching based on CHxFy chemistry and polymer protection; and directional selective etching based on plasma with NH4F. Each method is problematic, resulting in CD blowout, or field loss, or epi loss, or high field loss.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods that can be used to produce high quality devices and structures.

Directional selective junction clean with field polymer protections


For a motor having fluid dynamic bearing(s) defined by surfaces of relatively rotatable motor members, aspects include providing a capillary reservoir between relatively irrotatable surfaces. The capillary reservoir may comprise a tapering gap that is vented to a gaseous environment through one end of the gap and is in fluidic communication with the fluid dynamic bearing(s) through another end of the gap. The gap may be axial, and the capillary reservoir may be disposed coaxially with one or more of the fluid dynamic bearing(s) about an axis of rotation. The capillary reservoir may extend from proximate a top portion of the motor to proximate a bottom portion of the motor.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to storage of liquid in Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motors and more particularly to capillary reservoirs for use in FDB motors.
2. Description of Related Art
Capillary seals are presently used to retain lubricating liquid (e.g., oil) at hydrodynamic bearing surfaces of disc drive motors and to provide a reservoir of lubricating liquid to replace lubricating liquid lost through evaporation and other causes.
Typical capillary seals are formed between radially opposing surfaces of coaxial relatively rotatable motor members, e.g., between an outer surface of a fixed shaft and an inner surface of a rotating hub disposed around the shaft, as shown in FIG. 2a. Typically, either the shaft or the hub is machined so that the radially opposing surfaces form a tapering gap with respect to each other. The gap typically has an annular cross-section, as illustrated in FIG. 2b. The tapering gap functions as a reservoir of lubricating liquid as well as a capillary seal, and therefore the volume of the tapering gap largely determines a reserve amount of lubricating liquid to provide for loss of lubricating liquid. However, higher volumes of lubricating liquid (which may enable longer lived motors) typically require that the tapering gap have a wider annular cross-section, which may reduce the ability of a meniscus of the capillary seal to retain lubricating liquid. What is needed are further ways to store lubricating liquid and supply that lubricating liquid to hydrodynamic bearing surfaces in fluid dynamic bearing motors.


The present invention is intended to improve the processing efficiency by shortening a time taken until completion of return processing when image processing is carried out via an external storage device such as a USB memory. There is provided an image processing apparatus including: a communication section capable of data communication with the external storage device; a detection section detecting that data communication with the external storage device is possible; an image forming section; a document reading section; and a control section performing return processing for returning the image processing section and/or the document reading section from a processing-disabled state in which image processing is impossible to a processing-enabled state in which image processing is possible, wherein if the detection section detects that data communication with the external storage device is possible, the control section determines whether the external device is an external storage device or not, and performs the return processing if it is determined that the external device is an external storage device. The time taken until completion of return processing is thus shortened to improve the processing efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus having a communication section carrying out data communication with an external device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this type of image processing apparatus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-222234 discloses that an image forming section and a document reading section are not energized in a processing-disabled state such as a standby state, and for making a transition from such a processing-disabled state to a processing-enabled ready state, return processing such as warm-up should be carried out by a predetermined operation of selecting and depressing a button provided for each function.
In recent years, there has emerged an image processing apparatus to which an external storage device such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory is connected and which is capable of communication with the external storage device. For this image processing apparatus, when an image stored in the USB memory is to be printed and outputted, the USB memory is connected to the image processing apparatus, a list of images stored in the USB memory is displayed on an operation screen of the image processing apparatus, and the image to be printed is selected, whereby the designated image is printed. When a read image is to be stored in an external storage device such as a USB memory, the USB memory is connected to the image processing apparatus, and an operation panel of the image processing apparatus is operated to designate a recording destination and provide an instruction for reading a document, whereby the document is read and image data is stored in the USB memory.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-4783 (U.S. Publication No. 2006027802) discloses that when a USB device is connected to a USB host interface, switching takes place from a power conservation mode to a normal operation mode.
For performing an operation of printing an image stored in an external storage device in an image processing apparatus capable of communication with the external storage device, a list of images stored in the external storage device is first displayed on an operation screen of the image processing apparatus, and warm-up of an image forming section of the image processing apparatus is started in response to an operation of selecting an image to be printed. For performing an operation of recording an image in the external storage device, warm-up of a document reading section of the image processing apparatus is started in response to the reading of a document on the operation screen of the image processing apparatus and an operation designated by a recording destination. Thus, a predetermined operation is required before warm-up is started, and accordingly, return processing is delayed.
In view of the situation described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus which can start return processing early to improve the processing efficiency when image processing is performed.

Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus and document reading apparatus


In one embodiment, an automated test equipment (ATE) system includes a tester having a tester electronics module, an application specific electronics module, and a tester-to-device under test (DUT) interface mount. The tester electronics module has a first electronics interface configured to electrically connect to a tester-to-DUT interface when the tester-to-DUT interface is coupled to the tester-to-DUT interface mount. The application specific electronics module has a second electronics interface and a third electronics interface. The second and third electronics interfaces are configured to electrically connect to the tester-to-DUT interface when the tester-to-DUT interface is coupled to the tester-to-DUT interface mount. The application specific electronics module is configured to communicate with the tester electronics module via the second electronics interface, and with at least one DUT via the third electronics interface.

When testing electronic devices, it is often desirable to transmit a large number of signals between the electronics of a test system and one or more devices under test (DUTs). It is also typically desirable for a test system to provide a wide range of functionality for testing DUTs.
Semiconductor test (and particularly, semiconductor wafer test or "wafer sort") is an application where it can be especially useful for a test system to provide both a high signal count and wide range of test functionality to a plurality of DUTs (i.e., to a plurality of DUTs on a semiconductor wafer). A high signal count and wide range of functionality can also be useful in semiconductor "final test", and in other applications.
It is also desirable that test systems, and particularly automated test equipment (ATE) systems used for semiconductor test, provide a wide range of test functionality so that, over their life cycles, the systems can be used to test different types of DUTs (e.g., DUTs having different physical configurations, and DUTs having different functionality).

Tester having an application specific electronics module, and systems and methods that incorporate or use the same


The present invention comprises novel and modified peptides capable of inducing a HIV-1 specific immune response without antagonizing the cytotoxic T-cell activity in order to achieve an effective prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine against HIV. The peptides are based on conserved regions of HIV Tat and Rev, regulatory proteins and Nef, auxiliary proteins. Antigens in free- or carrier-bound form comprising at least one of the said peptides, vaccine compositions containing at least one of the antigens, immunoassay kits and a method of detecting antibodies induced by HIV or HIV specific peptides using such antigens, are described.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) continues to present a formidable challenge to health in developing countries. In the Western world, therapeutic strategies that target HIV-1 replication and maturation have had a prominent impact on disease progression. The high cost of current treatment, high toxicity of the drugs and lack of cure, however, means that the development of safe and effective vaccines remains paramount for control of the AIDS pandemic.
HIV-1 is a complex retrovirus encoding six regulatory and auxiliary genes not found in the simple retroviruses, namely, tat, rev, nef, vif, vpr and vpu (Table 1). In eukaryotic cells, only completely spliced mRNAs are exported to the cytoplasm for translation. Unspliced or partially spliced RNAs are retained and eventually degraded in the nucleus. In this way, proteins encoded by the tat, rev and nef genes (designated Tat, Rev and Nef) derived from multiply spliced RNA species, are expressed first and constitute early HIV-1 gene expression. In order to express singly spliced RNAs and also to transport the full length unspliced RNA genome into the cytoplasm for packaging, HIV-1 has developed means to overcome the restrictions on RNA transport. The regulatory proteins, Tat and Rev, are essential for HIV-1 replication since mutations in these proteins eliminate HIV-1 production (Dayton A. I., et.al. (1986) Cell, 44:941–947, and Fisher, A. G., et.al. (1986) Nature, 320:367–371.).
The auxiliary genes are derived from exons positioned entirely upstream of the HIV-1 envelope gene e.g. vif or exons upstream of as well as within env but in different reading frames e.g. tat, rev. The efficiency of splicing in part regulates the levels of gene expression of the different auxiliary proteins.
Following integration of HIV-1 proviral DNA, predominantly truncated forms of mRNA are synthesised by the cellular RNA polymerase II which interacts with sites on the 5′ long terminal repeat (LTR) of the proviral DNA. tat is one of the first genes to be expressed and carries a nuclear localisation signal. It is a potent transcriptional activator that enhances LTR-directed transcription up to a thousand fold. Continuous expression of Tat ensures a positive feed back loop for continued high level gene expression. Unlike conventional transcriptional activators that interact with DNA sequences, Tat binds directly to the 5′ ends of all HIV-1 RNAs at a specific stem-loop secondary structure, TAR (transactivating response element). The structure of the loop is highly conserved and essential for Tat function. The structure of the Tat/TAR interaction has been analysed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) (Puglisi et al. (1992) Science, 257:76–80). Tat binds TAR in association with the cellular protein, cyclin T, which in turn binds CDK9 that phosphorylates the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain, thereby promoting the elongation of RNA transcripts. These Tat cellular cofactors are only present in activated cells, their absence represses transcription of proviral DNA resulting in a 'quasi latency' in T lymphocytes. Tat is expressed from two exons, both the nuclear localisation signal and the TAR binding region are located in the first exon. Tat is secreted from infected cells and can exert heterologous effects on neighbouring cells. These include cellular activation (Hofman et al. (1993) Blood, 82:2774–2780.), induction of cellular apoptosis (Macho et al. (1999) Oncogene, 18:7543–7551.1999) functioning as a secretable growth factor (Trinh, D. P. et.al. (1999) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 256:299–306.) and modulating host cell protein synthesis in favour of viral protein synthesis (Xiao et al. (1998) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 244:384–389.1998). Therapeutic strategies targeting Tat will therefore have a strong impact on HIV-1 infection.
The small multiply spliced mRNAs encoding Tat, Rev and Nef predominate during early phase after infection. When a threshold level of Rev is produced, unspliced and singly spliced RNAs accumulate in the cytoplasm for translation, allowing productive infection to proceed. Failure to generate this threshold level of Rev may contribute to HIV quasi latency. Rev can only bind to RNAs carrying an RNA structure, RRE (Rev responsive element) which is located in the env coding region of the genome. Rev interacts with the RRE as a multimer through a basic arginine rich region present in the amino terminal half of the protein. A consequence of this interaction is the transport of partially spliced RNAs that will provide gene products such as Env, Vif, Vpu and Vpr as well as unspliced RNAs that will serve as new genomes for incorporation into assembling particles. Structural analysis of the Rev/RRE interaction has also been carried out using NMR (Battiste et al. (1996) Science, 273:1547–1551.1996). Rev carries a leucine rich export signal that allows it to shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm for continued transport of newly synthesised RNAs (Kalland et al. (1994). J. Virol., 68:1475–1485; Meyer & Malim, (1994) Genes Dev., 8:1538–1547.). In this way, Rev ensures that the structural genes are expressed late following the regulatory genes. Therapeutic strategies directed against Rev will interrupt the viral life cycle early in infection.
Although originally described as a negative factor, Nef has later been shown to have positive effects on virus replication and is expressed in larger quantities than that of Tat and Rev, both early and throughout infection. Nef is myristylated at the N-terminus and is associated with the inner side of the plasma membrane. Nef is partly responsible for down regulation and degradation of surface CD4 by endocytosis (Piguet et al. (1998) EMBO J., 17:2472–2481.). Removing CD4 from the cell surface prevents superinfection with other HIV-1 strains, or reinfection with newly released virus. Nef is also responsible for the down regulation of MHC class I thereby protecting infected cells from destruction by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (Le Gall et al. (1997). Res. Virol., 148:43–47.). Nef is not an essential viral protein since it is not required for in vitro infection of peripheral blood lymphocytes or T-cell lines. Nef deletion mutants, however, are less pathogenic over long periods of time. Nef also has complex effects on signal transduction pathways in the cell and contains a proline rich region that can interact with the SH3 domain of kinases involved in T-cell activation, a feature necessary for efficient HIV replication (Moarefi et al. (1997). Nature, 385:650–653.). Nef containing viruses are capable of more viral DNA synthesis than viruses deleted in the Nef gene which suggests that Nef directly or indirectly activates the viral reverse transcriptase. The low level of Nef associated with virions may be responsible for this phenomenon. Low levels of Nef are also released from infected cells although the potential effect on neighbouring cells is unclear. Since Nef is expressed early in infection and has significant effects on CD4 and MHC class I expression as well as disease progression, it represents an important target for future therapeutic strategies.
Tat and Nef are secreted and can be taken up by macrophages and expressed in association with MHC class II molecules. This improves their suitability as targets for peptide based therapies which also would be expressed in the context of MHC class II. It is clear that targeting early gene products that are essential for HIV-1 replication, such as Tat and Rev should be given priority in addition to Nef which is also expressed early and influences disease progression.
TABLE 1HIV-1 Regulatory and auxiliary proteins.GeneProteinNameExpressionLocalisationFunctionsTatTatTransactivatorEarlyNucleusActivates viralof viraltranscription.transcriptionSecreted frominfected cells where itcan activate T-cells,induce apoptosis andfunction as a growthfactor.RevRevNuclear RNAEarlyNucleolus,Regulatesexport factornucleoplasm,splicing/RNAcytoplasmtransport to thecytoplasm. A shuttleprotein.NefNefNumerousEarlyCytoplasm,Triggers CD4effectormembraneendocytosis, Downfunctionsassociated.regulates MHC classVirions1 expression. Bindsto kinases and mayinfluence T-cellsignalling andactivation.VpuVpuViral protein uLateCytoplasm,Triggers intracellularmembraneCD4 degradation,associateddown regulates MHCclass 1, nonspecificpromoter of retroviralparticle release.VifVifViral infectivityLateCytoplasm,Enhances infectivityfactormembranesof viral particles in aVirionscell dependentmanner. Improvesviral DNA synthesisduring reversetranscription.VprVprViral protein rLatePredominantlyContributes tonucleusnuclear import ofVirionspreintegrationcomplex.Arrests cells in G2/Mphase of the cellcycle.
Naturally occurring HIV sequences in vaccine candidates are not capable of stimulating a stable longterm immune response due to HIVs inherent ability to hide by changing the appearance of the epitopes presented for the immune system. To overcome this variable presentation of epitopes, certain amino acid substitutions and amino acid combinations will support the immune system to present and recognize these foreign virus antigens in a reliable manner and thus to a greater extent.
Based on the above background, we decided to investigate the possibility of designing novel synthetic peptides which can mimic the epitopes from the regulatory and auxiliary HIV proteins in such a way that they can be exposed for both the humoral as well as the cellular part of the immune system, to meet the need for an effective therapeutic and/or prophylactic vaccine.
The initital work was based on the native Tat amino acid sequences published by Korber B., et al., Human Retroviruses and AIDS 1997 Eds.Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N. Mex. The first Tat epitope is located between amino acid 1 and amino acid 24 of the tat protein:
TABLE 2Tat epitopeAA noNaturally occurring AAs1MS2EDV3SQPLVA4VI5DN6PHA7RNSKED8LIQRVMT9EDP10PS11W12KNEHL13HRQ14P15GP16SNA17QKT18PH19KTSARPEQ20TAI21APDV22CS23TNS24NKRQAPT
The one letter as well as the three letter codes defining the amino acids in the sequences given throughout this specification are in accordance with International standards and given in textbooks, for instance Lehninger A. L., <<Principles of Biochemistry>>, Worth Publishers Inc., New York, 1982. The amino acids given to the right of the left column, represent the natural variation of the sequence. Our analyses resulted in a sequence containing this modified epitope:
C S W V N P R L E P W L H P G S Q P NI T A C T N |__________________________________________|
Wherein NI indicates 2-aminohexanoic acid (Norleucine, abbreviated Nle and NI in the three letter and one letter code, respectively) and the cysteine residues are in an oxidized state, i.e. are forming an intrachain disulphide bridge. Since the Cystein residue to the C-terminal part (in position 22) of the peptide is part of an intramolecular disulfide bond outside this selected epitope, a similar intrapeptide disulphide bond is formed by placing a Cystein in the N-terminal part of the selected epitope. Another alternative is to form an intermolecular disulphide bond by dimerization of the sequences:
W V N P R L E P W L H P G S Q P NI T A C T N                                        | W V N P R L E P W L H P G S Q P NI T A C T N
A further alternative is dimerization with another epitope selected from Tat. The second epitope on Tat is located between amino acid 35 and 57 in C-terminal direction, separated from the first epitope by 10 amino acids containing 5 Cys residues in addition to the Cys residue in each of the epitopes. The relatively high number of Cys residues offers a variety of inter- and intramolecular crosslinking possibilities. It is likely that this Cys-rich domain will dominate the immunological exposure of this protein and hence cause a "hiding" of the two relevant epitopes. Selection and modification of the two adjacent epitopes can expose an essential part of the Tat protein in a more optimal way.
In order to reduce the probability for development of escape mutants, the number of epitopes is further increased and two additional peptide sequences were selected. These sequences are located on Rev (residues 58–78) and Nef (residues 65–85). The native sequences have been published in Human Retroviruses and AIDS 1999; A Compilation and Analysis of Nucleic Acid and Amino Acid Sequences. Eds.Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos:
TABLE 3Tat epitopeAA no.Naturally occurring AAs35QPILTYV36VACL37C38F39ILQMT40TNKR41KQ42GA43L44GS45I46SFY47YN48G49RKS50K51K52R53RKSG54QRP55R56R57RGS
TABLE 4Rev epitope:AA no.Naturally occurring AAs58RWQ59IVLF60LIP61GSNDCVTAR62TADNS63YCFRHSVL64LV65GH66RG67SPFL68ATEQVPS69EKQDN70PSAN71VNGP72PQHSLRTDI73LFV74QLPHDE75L76P77PLE78LIVPand the
TABLE 5Nef epitope, Table 5:AA no.Naturally occurring AAs65EGDS66NGDE67EV68AG69LF70P71IV72TRKAM73P74QH75VLI76P77LVT78R79P80MVI81TD82YFR83KR84AGSEQ85ASV
Several modified peptides have been synthesized in order to determine the uniqueness of the sequences as well as their properties for stimulation of the immune system in combination with their specificity and sensitivity as HIV-1 antigens.

HIV-1 peptide, antigen, immunogenic composition, diagnostic method and immunoassay kit


Data staging for results of analytics according to an example method includes maintaining current results from the analytics in a first data structure, the first data structure having a label identifying first data structure as a target for queries. The method also includes maintaining prior results from the analytics in at least one other data structure. The method also includes changing the label of the first data structure after a predetermined time. The method also includes assigning the label to one of the other data structures, wherein the label identifies the one of the other data structures as the target for queries.

Mobile devices, including for example mobile phones (so-called "smart" phones), global positioning system (GPS) devices, and even laptop/netbook computers, provide diverse remote data capabilities. Many mobile applications are based on so-called "cloud" services, such as location services, messaging services, and so forth. Currently most cloud services are based on statically prepared information, and do not offer real-time analytics of dynamically captured events. For example, a weather report or traffic report may be updated periodically to a local news website.
Users of mobile devices, however, are coming to expect more frequent updates of events, often in real-time. For example, users may not just want a statically prepared traffic report (e.g., delays on the interstate due to an earlier accident). In addition, more real-time information is becoming readily available (e.g., concerning the location, speed, and accident involvement of many individual cars). Of course, to most users the interesting and more useful information is not the individual data (such as each car's position and speed), but information that has been analyzed and summarized for the user in real-time (e.g., the average or moving average speed of a lane of traffic on the interstate). This information can be derived from the individual data using various analytics.
The information is typically analyzed using a continuously running query. The continuous query executes cycle-by-cycle to process the data stream on a chunk-by-chunk basis. The query commits results to the data structure on a cycle-by-cycle basis to make the chunk-wise results visible to users. But in the case that the information is derived from a large (or "infinite") number of events, the information is also infinite. Accordingly, the data structure storing the information continues to grow and can quickly become too big to handle by most mobile devices.
Mobile devices, such as those running WebOS and HTML 5, may download data in batch to ease the bandwidth limitations. However, conventional batching involves data copying and moving, which still incurs performance overhead and, in the case of very large data structures, may still cause service interruptions.
Archiving has also been used for data warehouse management applications. In these archiving techniques, the latest data is maintained in the table and older data is archived from time to time. But archiving the older data also involves moving and copying the data from the table. For example, the data may be moved from a first table holding the latest data, to another table, so that the first table only holds the new data. While this approach has been used for handling slowly-updated data in data warehousing applications, archiving is not efficient for supporting real-time analytics.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A fluid heat exchange system with a fluid flow circuit having a heat exchange fluid flow loop, a heat absorption component (as in a domestic hot water tank inclusive of small commercial use tanks as in tanks of 20 to 120 gallons), a heat exchanger and preferably also a pump. A controlled and automated fuel supply source based heater (as in a pellet stove) is in heat passage communication with the said heat exchanger. A control unit triggers activation of the pump upon fluid in the heat absorption component reaching or dropping below a preset temperature, and the fluid flow circuit is arranged such that, during times of non-activation of the pump, fluid is free to flow in a unidirectional flow within the fluid circuit based on thermodynamic temperature differentials alone. A retrofitting of a domestic hot water tank is also featured preferably making use of preexisting drain and safety vent porting for in-feed and out-feed porting in the exchange loop side. Also, the flow circuit preferably is free of check valves and steam accommodation equipment.

Pellet burning heating devices are known such as those described in the following patent(s) and publications(s):

Pellet stoves are often installed in residential homes as secondary environmental air heat sources and, in some instances, as a primary environmental air heat source. A pellet stove is an automated burner that burns economical pellets made typically from recycled sawdust and other forms of biomass such as corn. The biomass material (often biomass waste material) is processed into generally consistent sized and geometrically shaped solid units as in pellets. A typical pellet stove has an electro-mechanical, automated fuel feed system which delivers the wood pellets from an integrated feed hopper to a burn chamber. Once pellets are ignited, combustion air is forced through the burning pellets with an electric fan creating a mini-furnace. A typical pellet stove normally consists of a hopper, a screw auger system, a blower system (often a combustion fan, convection fan and an exhaust fan), a firebox (with refractory panels, a burn pot with apertured wear plate), and an operation control system (which, for example, runs the fans, feed auger and monitors for safety issues). Often there is provided a front door (often a glass windowed door) for access (e.g., cleaning ash from the burn pot) and an underlying ash tray. The automated feed and control system is designed to provide for a high degree of combustion of the fuel and relatively consistent heat energy output.
Fluid heat exchange systems are also featured in the art such as those described in the following patent(s) and publication(s):

There is lacking in the art a domestic hot water heater system that takes advantage of the characteristics of regulated heat supply heating devices as in a pellet stove relative to a heat absorption component as in a domestic hot water unit (e.g., a 20 to 90 gallon domestic hot water tank) via an efficient circulation loop and flow control system. There is also lacking in the prior art a hot water heater system that provides for rapid retrofitting of a preexisting hot water heater system, without substantial deviation of that system, for use with a pellet stove or the like, as well as increasing the options as to a multitude of different fuel sources for a domestic hot water tank or the like.


An opto-electronic transceiver having: a transmitting component for converting electrical signals into optical signals; a first circuitry module for the transmitting component; a receiving component for converting optical signals into electrical signals; a second circuitry module for the receiving component; a printed circuitboard with conductor tracks, on which the transmitting component, the receiving component, the first circuitry module and the second circuitry module are arranged; and a transceiver housing including a nonconductive material and has a connector receptacle for receiving and coupling an optical connector. The transmitting component, the first circuitry module, the receiving component and the second circuitry module form at least one subassembly, the subassembly having: an encapsulation composition, in which the components of the subassembly are embedded, and a wiring layer embodied using thin-film technology, the wiring layer providing an electrical contact connection between the subassembly components and to associated contacts of the printed circuit board.

So-called small form factor (SFF) and small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers of small design are known which can be arranged in pluggable fashion on a host printed circuitboard. In addition to an optoelectronic transmitting module and an optoelectronic receiving module, the known transceivers have an internal module printed circuitboard arranged in a manner oriented parallel to the host printed circuitboard in the transceiver. Integrated circuits such as a driver module and/or a preamplifier module are arranged on the internal module printed circuitboard. Optical waveguides can be optically coupled to the transducers via an optical port of the SFP transceiver. Such an SFP transceiver is described in DE 101 14 143 A1 for example.
Optical connectors provide releasable connections of optical waveguides in an optical communication system. They serve for example for optical connection of an optical waveguide to a transmitter and/or a receiver of an optoelectronic transceiver.
A connector family having particularly inexpensive and compact optical connectors is the MT-RJ connector family corresponding to the IEC 61754-18 standard. The MT-RJ connector family is specified both for single fiber and for parallel fiber (duplex) connections. In a connector housing with an RJ-45 mechanism, a duplex MTRJ connector has two glass fibers arranged at a distance of 750 μm. Two guide holes or two guide pins are provided laterally with respect to the glass fibers.
In order to couple an MT-RJ connector to known transceivers, it is necessary to perform a deflection by means of two 90° deflection mirrors for each optical axis, which mirrors transform a larger distance between the optical axes of transmitter and receiver of the transceiver to the small 750 μm distance of an MT-RJ connector.
There is a need for optoelectronic transceivers whose size is reduced further and in which, in particular, the distance between the axes of transmitter and receiver is small enough to enable a direct butt coupling to the glass fibers of an MT-RJ connector. At the same time, the intention is to ensure that, despite the small distance between transmitter and receiver, an electrical crosstalk between these components is largely avoided even at high frequencies in the Gbps range.


Disclosed in certain embodiments is a solid oral dosage form comprising a heat-labile gelling agent; a thermal stabilizer; and a drug susceptible to abuse.

Pharmaceutical products are sometimes the subject of abuse. For example, a particular dose of opioid agonist may be more potent when administered parenterally as compared to the same dose administered orally. Some formulations can be tampered with to provide the opioid agonist contained therein for illicit use. Opioid agonist formulations intended for oral use are sometimes crushed or subject to extraction with solvents (e.g., ethanol) by drug abusers to provide the opioid contained therein for non-prescribed illicit use (e.g., nasal or parenteral administration).
Controlled release oral dosage forms are sought out by abusers as the crushing of the dosage form may liberate an amount of active agent otherwise intended for prolonged release (e.g., 12 to 24 hours), making it immediately available. The immediate availability upon crushing may also make controlled release dosage forms more dangerous due to the possibility of accidental overdose.
Immediate release oral dosage forms are also the subject of abuse. For example, an oral dosage form may be crushed in order to make the drug therein available for administration by an unintended route, e.g., parenterally or nasally.
There have previously been attempts in the art to control the abuse potential associated with opioid analgesics. For example, the combination of pentazocine and naloxone has been utilized in tablets available in the United States, commercially available as Talwin® Nx from Sanofi-Winthrop. Talwin® Nx contains pentazocine hydrochloride equivalent to 50 mg base and naloxone hydrochloride equivalent to 0.5 mg base. Talwin® Nx is indicated for the relief of moderate to severe pain. The amount of naloxone present in this combination has low activity when taken orally, and minimally interferes with the pharmacologic action of pentazocine. However, this amount of naloxone given parenterally has profound antagonistic action to narcotic analgesics. Thus, the inclusion of naloxone is intended to curb a form of misuse of oral pentazocine which occurs when the dosage form is solubilized and injected. Therefore, this dosage has lower potential for parenteral misuse than previous oral pentazocine formulations. A fixed combination therapy comprising tilidine (50 mg) and naloxone (4 mg) has been available in Germany for the management of severe pain since 1978 (Valoron® N, Goedecke). The rationale for the combination of these drugs is effective pain relief and the prevention of tilidine addiction through naloxone-induced antagonisms at the morphine receptor. A fixed combination of buprenorphine and naloxone was introduced in 1991 in New Zealand (Temgesic® Nx, Reckitt & Colman) for the treatment of pain.
Commonly owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20090081290 is directed to opioid formulations that are resistant to crushing in attempts to liberate the drug contained therein for illicit use.
Commonly owned U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20030068375 is directed to opioid formulations that in certain embodiments include a gelling agent in an effective amount to impart a viscosity unsuitable for administration selected from the group consisting of parenteral and nasal administration to a solubilized mixture formed when the dosage form is crushed and mixed with from about 0.5 to about 10 ml of an aqueous liquid.
There exists a need in the art for a dosage form containing a drug susceptible to abuse that is resistant to oral, parenteral and nasal abuse. In the case of opioid analgesics, there exists a need for a tamper resistant formulation that does not solely rely upon the inclusion of an antagonist in the formulation to deter abuse.
All references described herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties for all purposes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tamper resistant pharmaceutical formulations


Substrate test probing equipment having a force-receiving pattern for a probe card and a forcing part for a test head, and methods of using the same, in which with the force-receiving pattern for the probe card and the forcing part for the test head, thermal expansion and contraction of the probe card can be suppressed when the semiconductor substrate is being tested at high and low temperatures. To this end, to substrate test probing equipment having a substrate mover, a probe card, and a test head is prepared, in which the test head has a forcing part and the probe card has a force-receiving plate. A semiconductor substrate is placed on the substrate mover to be electrically connected with the probe card. The semiconductor substrate is electrically tested by the probe card and the test head. When the semiconductor substrate is being tested, the forcing part of the test head is brought into contact with the force-receiving pattern of the probe card.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to substrate test probing equipment and methods of using the same and, more particularly, to substrate test probing equipment having a force-receiving pattern for a probe card and a forcing part for a test head, and methods of using the same.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Typically, substrate test probing equipment has an information processor, a test head, a probe card, and a substrate mover. The substrate mover applies high-temperature and low-temperature heat to a semiconductor substrate and places the semiconductor substrate under the probe card. The probe card is located on the semiconductor substrate and is electrically connected with the semiconductor substrate. The test head is located on the probe card and is brought into contact with it. The information processor is electrically connected with the test head and the probe card for transmitting and receiving an electrical signal to and from the semiconductor substrate. Thus, the substrate test probing equipment may electrically test the semiconductor substrate at high and low temperatures.
In the substrate test probing equipment, however, when the semiconductor substrate is electrically tested, the probe card is thermally expanded and contracted due to radiant heat and conduction heat generated from the semiconductor substrate. This is because the probe card includes a lower surface having probe pins that are brought into contact with the semiconductor substrate, and an upper surface that is exposed to a different temperature than is the lower surface. That is, there may be a temperature differential between the lower surface and the upper surface of the probe card when the semiconductor substrate is electrically tested. The temperature differential between the lower surface and the upper surface may thermally expand and contract the probe card. Accordingly, the probe card gets bent in a specific direction from its initial shape and may not be brought into stable contact with the semiconductor substrate before the semiconductor substrate is electrically tested.
A test equipment having a similar structure to the above substrate test probing equipment is disclosed by Hisashi Nakajima in U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,853. According to Hisashi Nakajima, the test equipment comprises a stage, a probe card, a connection unit, and a test head that are stacked sequentially. The test head is brought into contact with the connection unit via a flexible wire. The connection unit is brought into contact with a neighboring engaging member and fixed to the test equipment. The connection unit is electrically connected with the probe card via a pogo pin, which is located adjacent the connection unit. The probe card has a probe. A semiconductor substrate may be placed on the stage. In this case, the probe of the probe card may be brought into contact with the semiconductor substrate.
In the test equipment, however, when heat is applied to the stage, the probe card is thermally expanded due to radiant heat generated from the semiconductor substrate. This is because a physical force for suppressing the thermal expansion is not applied from the connection unit to the probe card. The probe card is only electrically connected with the connection unit via the pogo pin. The connection unit is brought into contact with an engaging member of the test equipment and located between the probe card and the test head. Accordingly, when the semiconductor substrate is electrically tested causing heat to be applied to the stage, the probe card may be thermally expanded by the radiant heat from the semiconductor substrate, and the probe may be separated from the semiconductor substrate.

Substrate test probing equipment having forcing part for test head and force-receiving pattern for probe card and methods of using the same


A fuel tank device has a canister suitably mounted inside a fuel tank. The fuel tank device includes a tank body in which fuel is stored, a filler tube connected at one end to the tank body for supplying the fuel into the tank body, and a canister hung and supported by the edge of an opening formed through the tank body via a support member and a sealing member, for adsorbing and storing evaporative fuel generated in the tank body. The canister is mounted entirely within the tank body and located so as not to be directly exposed to the fuel when the fuel is being supplied from the filler tube.

In a fuel tank installed in a motor vehicle, a part of fuel evaporates and generates evaporative emissions. In recent years, such evaporative emissions are drawn as purge air into an intake system of the engine where it is effectively used as fuel, without escaping into the atmosphere. This is intended to prevent pollution and improve efficiency in the use of fuel. While the engine is stopped, such as when the fuel is being supplied to the fuel tank, however, the evaporative emissions are not immediately burnt in the engine. To temporarily store the evaporative emissions in such cases, a canister containing an adsorbent material capable of adsorbing and storing fuel components (such as hydrocarbon) is provided between the fuel tank and the intake system of the engine.
This canister, which is a component of a fuel system, is located outside the cabin or vehicle compartment, and is generally mounted in the engine room, taking account of mounting space and maintainability.
Recently, however, large-sized canisters capable of adsorbing a large amount of fuel components have been prevailing because of an increased size of the fuel tank and more stringent pollution prevention laws. With the canister thus increased in size, the engine room may not be able to provide a space large enough to accommodate the canister. Where the engine room accommodates an engine having a large displacement and equipped with many devices such as a turbocharger, in particular, the canister cannot be suitably mounted in the engine room due to considerable reduction in redundant space available for the canister.
Therefore, mounting the canister in a fuel tank where there is no constraint or limit in terms of space is considered. The fuel tank, however, has components such as a fuel filler tube and a unit gauge for measuring fuel amount attached thereto, and these components incorporated in the fuel tank restrict the mounting position of the canister. Further, the mounting position of the canister must be carefully considered in view of an actual design or layout of the fuel tank itself, rigidity and material of the fuel tank, environmental characteristics of the canister, increased size of the canister and so on.

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


An image display apparatus mounted in a car includes a communication unit configured to transmit and receive data to and from a mobile terminal, and a controller configured to control the communication unit to receive information for requesting status information of the car, in which the image display apparatus is mounted, from the mobile terminal, to generate car status information according to the received information for requesting the status information of the car, to control the communication unit to transmit the generated car status information to the mobile terminal. The car status information includes at least one of driving information, speed information and fuel information of the car. According to a mobile terminal, an image display apparatus mounted in a car and a data processing method using the same, it is possible to efficiently transmit car status information between the mobile terminal and the image display apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, an image display apparatus mounted in a car and a data processing method using the same, and more particularly, to a mobile terminal, an image display apparatus mounted in a car and a data processing method using the same, which are capable of efficiently transmitting and receiving status information of a car in which the image display apparatus is mounted.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An image display apparatus displays image information using a screen. An image display apparatus mounted in a car provides a user with a car information display function, a navigation function, a TV broadcast display function, etc. Recently, with technical development, an image display apparatus mounted in a car is connected to a mobile terminal possessed by a user over a wired/wireless network, thereby performing data communication.
Accordingly, an image display apparatus mounted in a car and a mobile terminal can transmit and receive car status information such as car driving mode, speed, fuel quantity, etc. to and from each other through data communication. That is, car status information is transmitted from one device to another device such that the devices share the car status information. Therefore, there is a need for a data processing method for efficiently transmitting car status information between devices so as to share car status information between an image display apparatus and a mobile terminal.

Mobile terminal, image display apparatus mounted in car and data processing method using the same


A molecular beam source for use in accumulation of organic thin-films which enables the forming of a uniform thin-film on film-forming surfaces of a large-sized substrate, but without producing deposition or separation of a film-forming material in an opening for discharging molecules of the film-forming material, wherein a valve 33 is disposed in a space starting from a side of a molecule heating portion 12 and reaching to a molecule discharge opening 14 for discharging the generated molecules of the film-forming material towards a film-forming surface and, further, heaters 18 and 19 are provided at a side of the molecule discharge opening 14 for heating the molecules of the film-forming material to be discharged. At the side of the molecule discharge opening 14 are provided an exterior guide 13 having a tapered guide wall and also an interior guide 16 having a tapered guide wall is provided within an inside of the exterior guide. Between the exterior guide 13 and interior guide 16, there is formed a molecule discharge passage 17 in which the diameter thereof gradually increases along a direction of the discharge of the molecules therefrom. The heaters 18 and 19 are provided on the exterior guide 13 and the interior guide 16, respectively and, further, there is provided a heater 20 penetrating through the molecule discharge opening 14, whereby narrowing and/or blockage hardly occur in the discharge opening.

The present invention relates to a molecular beam source for use in accumulation of organic thin-films, for heating a material to be formed on a surface of a solid body or matter, such as, a substrate, etc., in the form of a thin-film, thereby melting and evaporating the film-forming material, i.e., generating evaporated molecules for growing the thin-film upon the surface of the solid body, and it relates to, in particular, a molecular beam source for use in accumulation of the thin-film of an organic material and suitable for accumulating the thin-film of an organic material upon the film forming surface of the solid body, such as the substrate, etc.
In recent years, attention has been paid to organic thin-film elements, such as an organic electroluminescence (i.e., EL) and/or an organic semiconductor as being typical or representative ones thereof. With these thin-film elements, an organic material is heated within a vacuum so as to blast the vapor thereof onto the substrate and then it is cooled down to be solidified or bonded thereon. In general, the following method is applied, wherein an organic material is put into a melting pot or a crucible, which is made of a material having a high melting-point, such as, tungsten, etc., and then the material to be formed into a film is heated up through heating the periphery of the crucible by means of a heater, thereby generating a vapor thereof to be blasted onto the substrate.
However, since most of the organic materials, i.e., the film-forming materials, are inferior, in particular, in the heat conductivity thereof, it is impossible to heat the film-forming material uniformly by the evaporating means as mentioned above and, therefore, there is a drawback that it results into unevenness or non-uniformity in generation of the vapor. It is also apparent that this drawback brings about a further large problem, in particular, of trying to put a large amount of the organic material into the crucible.
As described in the following Patent Document 1, it is proposed to put a material which is thermally and chemically stable, as well as greatly superior to the film forming material in the thermal conductivity thereof, together with the film forming material, into the crucible, thereby obtaining a solution to the drawback mentioned above.
Further, as another drawback relating to the evaporating means of the film-forming material, there is also pointed out an ill effect, i.e., since the vapor of the organic film-forming material can be generated under the condition of a high vapor pressure and low temperature, the vapor of the film-forming material is unintentionally or unexpectedly generated if only putting that material into the crucible and disposing it within a vacuum, and thereby bringing about contamination onto the substrate. For dealing with the drawback mentioned above, there is proposed an idea, as is described in the following Patent Document 2, of adjusting the amount of vapor through a needle valve, while making the crucible into a closed type in the structure thereof.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-2778; and
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-95787.

Molecular beam source for use in accumulation of organic thin-films


A cosmetic and/or dermopharmaceutical composition containing an extract selected from the group consisting of flavone derivatives, saponosides, oligomeric procyanolidones, sterols, and mixtures thereof, all of which are derived from an Argania spinosa plant.

This application is a 371 of PCT/EP01/13885 filed Nov. 28, 2001.
The invention is in the field of care substances and relates to compositions comprising leaf extracts of the plant Argania spinosa, and to the use of leaf extracts of the plant Argania spinosa as novel skincare and haircare agents.
Cosmetic preparations are available to the consumer nowadays in a large number of combinations. In this connection, it is not only expected that these cosmetics demonstrate a certain care effect or overcome a certain deficiency, but demand is more and more often for products which have several properties simultaneously and thus exhibit an improved performance spectrum. Of particular interest are substances which both represent active ingredients which impart, for example, care, revitalizing properties which protect against aging phenomena for skin and/or hair, and also simultaneously have a positive influence on or at least do not impair the technical properties of the cosmetic product, such as storage stability, photostability and ability to be formulated. In this connection, good skin compatibility and particularly the use of natural products is additionally requested by customers. In addition, it is desirable, by combining already known active ingredients, or by discovering new fields of use for classes of substance which are already known, to obtain significantly better products. However, a disadvantage often exists here that a combination of active ingredients is only obtained if different plant extracts are used simultaneously in varying quantitative ratios.
Extracts from plants and their ingredients are being used more and more often in cosmetics and pharmacy. Plant extracts have been used for many years in a very wide variety of cultures for medicinal and also even for cosmetic purposes. Often, only very specific individual effects for these plant extracts were known, and the field of use was very limited.

Cosmetic and/or dermopharmaceutical preparations containing leaf extracts of the plant


Casting metal strip by delivering molten metal to a casting pool (81) supported on a pair of parallel casting rolls (16) and passing metal downwardly between the rolls to produce solidified strip (20). Flow of metal to the casting pool (81) is controlled by an input flow control valve (47). At start of casting when pool (81) is being filled speed of rolls (16) is varied in response to variations between actual instantaneous pool level and predicted level until pool approaches desired operational level. Thereafter any variations between instantaneous roll speed and desired operational roll speed are caused to adjust valve (47) to being pool level and roll speed to desired operational valves.

This invention relates to the casting of metal strip. It has particular but not exclusive application to the casting of ferrous metal strip.
It is known to cast metal strip by continuous casting in a twin roll caster. Molten metal is introduced between a pair of contra-rotated horizontal casting rolls which are cooled so that metal shells solidify on the moving roll surfaces and are brought together at the nip between them to produce a solidified strip product delivered downwardly from the nip between the rolls. The term "nip" is used herein to refer to the general region at which the rolls are closest together. The molten metal may be poured from a ladle into a smaller vessel or series of smaller vessels from which it flows through a metal delivery nozzle located above the nip so as to direct it into the nip between the rolls, so forming a casting pool of molten metal supported on the casting surfaces of the rolls immediately above the nip. This casting pool may be confined between end closure side plates or dams held in sliding engagement with the ends of the rolls.
Although twin roll casting has been applied with some success to non-ferrous metals which solidify rapidly on cooling, there have been problems in applying the technique to the casting of ferrous metals which have high solidification temperatures and a tendancy to produce defects caused by uneven solidification at the chilled casting surfaces of the rolls. When casting ferrous strip it is particularly important to maintain a required metal flow distribution across the width of the casting rolls and defects can occur due to minor flow fluctuations from the required metal flow distribution. It is therefore important to achieve steady state casting conditions with very accurate control over the casting pool level and the casting speed. It has previously been proposed to continuously monitor the casting pool level and to control the flow of metal to the delivery nozzle by operation of a flow control valve in response to the pool level measurements in order to maintain an optimum pool level. An arrangement of this kind is described in our Australian patent 642049 which fully describes the construction and operation of an appropriate metal flow control valve.
Controlling the flow of metal to the delivery nozzle in response to pool level measurements enables accurate control of the pool level during steady state casting conditions. However this form of control is insufficient to deal with the problem of establishing even cooling and solidification on initial start-up when the casting pool is being established and filled to an operational level. It is essential to achieve even cooling and solidification very rapidly in order to allow continuous casting to be initiated before steady state conditions can be established to allow casting to proceed under optimum conditions. To meet these requirements the casting pool must be filled very quickly but in a controlled manner without overshooting a controlled rate of fill so as to enable the metal to solidify and form a coherent strip under start-up conditions.
One possible start-up technique is simply to operate the flow control valve in a predetermined flow control sequence designed to produce a predicted rise in pool level through the start-up period. Specifically, the control valve may be moved in incremental steps from an open condition toward a more restricted condition so that the rate of pool level increase reduces as the level approaches the required operational level. However, the condition of the rolls and the casting pool can change very rapidly during start-up. These fluctuations cannot be accurately forecast and the rising pool level will invariably tend to vary from the predicted and desired start-up pattern. Because of the time delay between changes in the setting of the control valve and consequent effects in the casting pool, it is impossible to control such variation by movement of the control valve in response to actual pool level measurements. The present invention addresses this problem by providing a two-stage start-up procedure. In the first stage, the initial start-up phase, the rise of the pool level during filling of the pool is controlled by varying the rotational speed of the casting rolls in response to instantaneous pool level measurements. Variation of the roll speed variations can produce a very rapid change of pool level and it has been found that it is possible by controlling the speed of the rolls in combination with operation of the control valve in a predetermined sequence to accurately control the rise of the pool level to conform with a required pattern. This initial start-up phase permits the roll speed to depart from the desired optimum speed for steady state casting. In the second stage, the transition phase, any variation of the roll speed from the desired optimum speed is used to cause adjustment of the control valve to enable the roll speed to be brought within a desired speed range. Once within the desired pool level and optimum speed range the invention provides for a steady-state phase of control in which pool level variations are adjusted directly by the control valve and speed is controlled in response to the instantaneous pool level.

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company Limited


A transaction method includes: receiving, by a secure function module of a transaction terminal, a first transaction message sent by a transaction application module, where the first transaction message includes a first identifier and/or a secure transaction data requirement parameter; obtaining, by the secure function module, secure transaction data according to the first transaction message, or the first transaction message and a second identifier, where the second identifier is used to uniquely identify the secure function module; sending, by the secure function module, the secure transaction data to the transaction application module; and sending, by the transaction application module, a second transaction message to an acquiring terminal, where the second transaction message includes the secure transaction data, the first identifier, and a third identifier, and the third identifier is used to identify the transaction terminal.

A card emulation (Card Emulation, CE) function is to emulate a contactless IC card (Contactless IC Card) by using a terminal that supports a near field communication (Near Field Communication, NFC) function and has a secure element (Secure Element, SE). A card emulation application is installed in the SE of the terminal, and runs in the SE. The SE generally allows installation of a plurality of CE applications. For a user, carrying the terminal is equivalent to carrying a plurality of physical cards, and this brings great convenience to the user.
Host card emulation (Host-based Card Emulation or Host Card Emulation, HCE) is to directly install a card emulation application in an operating system of the terminal like an ordinary application, and run the card emulation application on a terminal host (Device Host, or referred to as a device host), without installing the card emulation application in the secure element. HCE is extensively applied in near field communication (Near Field Communication, NFC).
Currently, an HCE application performs communication by using an NFC interface of the terminal and a POS machine or a card reading device such as a card reader. Currently, the HCE application usually stores application data in a rich execution environment REE (Rich Execution Environment). The REE is a running environment at a relatively low security level, that is, an application program from any source, when allowed by the user, can be installed in the REE of the terminal. Therefore, with respect to some HCE payment applications that require relatively high security, for example, an HCE payment application released by a bank, a malicious program can easily steal critical information of the HCE payment applications, for example, bank transaction account information, a security credential used for a transaction (for example, a transaction token Token), and a key used for encryption processing of transaction information. Therefore, the critical information of the HCE application is usually stored on a server. When the terminal uses the HCE application to perform a transaction, the terminal needs to connect to the Internet, and complete the transaction depending on the server.

Transaction method, transaction information processing method, transaction terminal, and server


Systems and methods are provided for controlling one or more servos coupled to a model vehicle. An input signal having a series of input pulses encoded at an input pulse repetition frequency is received at a receiver coupled to a model vehicle having one or more servos. The input signal is decoded at the receiver. A servo control pulse is generated using at least one of the input pulses at the receiver. The servo control pulse is outputted to at least one of the servos at an output pulse repetition frequency that is different from the input pulse repetition frequency.

In general, receivers mounted on model vehicles in the hobby market are simple analog devices. Typically, the receivers receive a series of modulated analog input pulses from a transmitter. This transmission may be made in a number of formats. One format known in the art is to encode the analog input pulses as a series of modulated pulses bearing an analog pulse width on a number of adjacent channels. Another format known in the art is to encode the analog input pulses as a Pulse Code Modulated encoding of the information at a frame frequency. Another format known in the art is to encode the analog input pulses as a spread spectrum signal encoding the information at a frame frequency. Average frame frequency represents an average number of frames that are repeated in one second. Once the encoded input pulses are received at a receiver they are split into servo control pulses, and the servo control pulses are output to servos that are coupled to a model vehicle. Consequently, the average frame frequency of the input pulses is mirrored in the repetition frequency of the output servo control pulses. More sophisticated receivers may include additional capacity to filter the input pulses using a microprocessor and/or to provide a fail-safe feature (e.g., outputting predetermined servo control pulses in the event the input pulses are unrecognizable). However, the average frame frequency of the input pulses is still mirrored in the repetition frequency of the output servo control pulses.
Typically, the average frame frequency is 50 Hz, however some low-channel-count transmitters may transmit the input pulses at a higher repetition frequency, but the higher average frame frequency is still mirrored in the pulse repetition frequency of the output servo control pulses.

Generating servo control pulses at a receiver


A stereoscopic image system is provided. The stereoscopic image system comprises: a depth detection unit, for receiving a two-dimensional image and a corresponding depth image, and generating a depth level map according to the two-dimensional image and the corresponding depth image; a stereoscopic image generator, for generating a stereoscopic image pair corresponding to the two-dimensional image according to the two-dimensional image and the depth level map; and a stereoscopic image adjusting apparatus, for generating a depth level range map according to the depth level map, and performing a pixel shifting process and an interpolation process to objects within a plurality of depth levels in the stereoscopic image pair to generate an output stereoscopic image pair according to the stereoscopic image pair and the depth level range map.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to stereoscopic image processing, and in particular relates to a system and method thereof to obtain a stereoscopic image by analyzing a depth map.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technologies develop, multimedia systems have become more mature, while user demand for higher visual effects have also increased, such as the upgrade of conventional two-dimensional images to three-dimensional images. Different from the two-dimensional images provided by flat displays such as common TVs, the human brain processes the vision of objects with forward/backward depth perception. Depth perception is caused by the distance (i.e. offset) between the left eye and the right eye, and therefore there are slight differences of the images observed by the left eye and the right eye, respectively. The differences of the left eye image and the right eye image are processed by the human brain, thereby generating depth perception. There are three object position levels perceived by the human brain which are a far, middle and near position. Human vision may automatically adjust to a best viewing angle according to the depth of objects. When an object is observed by the left eye and the right eye from different viewing angles, parallax is generated. There are three conditions of parallax according to objects placed at far, middle and near distances, wherein the three conditions are (1) positive parallax, (2) zero parallax, and (3) negative parallax. The positive parallax is illustrated in FIG. 1A. The left eye image and the right eye image are placed at the position L and R of the screen 101 respectively, wherein the position L is the intersection point between the sight line of the left eye and the screen 101, and the position R is the intersection point between the sight line of the right eye and the screen 101. The sight lines of the left eye and the right eye are crossed behind the screen 101, and the stereoscopic image is displayed at the cross point behind the screen 101. The zero parallax is illustrated in FIG. 1B. The left eye image and the right eye image are overlapped exactly on the screen 101, and the image is also displayed on the screen 101 without stereoscopic perception. The negative parallax is illustrated in FIG. 1C. The left eye image and the right eye image are overlapped completely at the position L and R of the screen 101. The sight lines of the left eye and the right eye are crossed in front of the screen 101, and the stereoscopic image is displayed at the cross point in front of the screen 101.
Although a stereoscopic image can be captured by a stereoscopic camera or a stereoscopic video camera, these devices are not popular and are expensive, and thus not easily attainable. Therefore, algorithms for converting existing two-dimensional images or films into stereoscopic images have been developed. Depth information is usually used in stereoscopic image algorithms, wherein the depth information can be expressed by a depth map. The generation of the depth map can be achieved by using a depth camera, a stereoscopic video camera, or corresponding stereoscopic imaging algorithms. A well-known depth map expresses various depths of different objects in the picture by using a gray-level image, such as gray levels 0-255, wherein the gray level 0 indicates that the object is located at the farthest position from the lens, and the gray level 255 indicates that the object is located at the nearest position from the lens.
Conventional stereoscopic image algorithms, which obtain the left eye/right eye images by using the depth map of the two-dimensional image, may perform a pixel shifting process at different offset levels to the original two-dimensional image objects, but the differences of the objects viewed by the left eye and the right eye are ignored.

Stereoscopic image system utilizing pixel shifting and interpolation