A crotch cushion (20) for bicycle riders includes a right buttock seat (22) having a first upwardly facing concave surface (24), and a laterally opposite left buttock seat (26) having a second upwardly facing concave surface (28). An upwardly facing trough (30) is connected between right buttock seat (22) and left buttock seat (26). In a preferred embodiment, padding (40) covers crotch cushion (20). First (24) and second (28) upwardly facing concave surfaces are contoured to accept the lower right and left medial buttocks respectively of a human, and thereby transfer the rider's weight away from the central crotch and onto the buttocks. Trough (30) provides stress relief for the perineal region of a human.

Many bicycling enthusiasts wear specially designed cycling pants that are constructed for durability, cushioning between the seat and the cyclist, minimum chaffing of the cyclist, and minimum wind resistance. To distribute and dissipate the pressure, shock, and vibration transmitted by the bicycle seat, the pants typically include a padded liner which is located in the crotch and buttocks regions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 360,971 shows an anatomical seat pad for cycling shorts. The seat pad is installed in the crotch of the shorts. A fluid layer is located within a shell-like outer layer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,243 defines a padded pant construction for athletic purposes. A pants garment has a pad retention member and liner sewn in place within the crotch and lower seat portion of the garment. Lines of stitching define rear and frontal pockets within which are retained resilient pads which cushion muscle and tissue of the anatomy subjacent the pelvis. U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,233 discloses cycling pants wherein the chamois is a single piece of fabric material free of seams and heat-formed to impart a generally form-fitting shape. The chamois has an upwardly extending convex shape. U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,726 portrays sports pants with protective pads. The pants include a trunk and legs formed of elastically stretchable material with pockets in the hip, knee, and crotch areas. U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,101 comprises cycling shorts with an anatomical seat pad. The shorts include a padded seat liner having a plurality of embossed break lines which are specifically positioned such that the liner conforms to the anatomical profile of a cyclist positioned in a riding position on a bicycle. British Patent 976,890 describes protective trousers. The trousers are made of aluminized canvas or a fabric of similar stiffness which is prone to tearing. A plurality of panels are stitched together to form an overlapping front and a joining line of the crotch portion is of smoothly changing contour.


A bus encoding/decoding apparatus and method for a low power digital signal processor (DSP), which uses a narrow data bus, is provided. The apparatus for encoding n bits of data of a data bus, includes a conditional inverting unit for inverting each of (nxe2x88x921) lower bits of n data when the most significant bit of the n bits of data is 1, a storage unit for storing the last n bits of data which is output to the bus, and a first exclusive OR operating unit for performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits or data, which has been inverted by the conditional inverting unit, and the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of the n data, which has been stored in the storage unit, wherein the most significant bit of the n bits of data and (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the bitwise exclusive OR operation performed by the first exclusive OR operating unit, are output. Accordingly, interface problems with a core and overhead for an additional circuit can be reduced by removing the additional circuit for determining whether to invert data and an extra line, which are used in the conventional BI and BITS coding methods, thereby decreasing the power consumption and the area of a chip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bus encoding/decoding apparatus, and more particularly, to a bus encoding/decoding apparatus and method for a low power digital signal processor (DSP) which uses a narrow data bus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a System On a Chip (SOC) technique has been rapidly developed, various functional blocks can be installed on a single chip, and thus the chip requires a greater number of pins for interface with the outside. Since an increase in the number of pins increases the cost and power consumption of a chip, a method for efficiently using a limited number of pins is desired.
According to a narrow data bus scheme, problems caused due to lack of pins can be reduced when a decrease in performance due to wait cycles is permitted to some extent. A narrow data bus refers to a data bus having a smaller number of lines than the number of bits of data which is processed in an encoder or a decoder. Furthermore, a bus coding method, which minimizes the power consumption in the capacitance of a pin, is used to reduce the power consumption. For this method, a method for reducing transition between a current signal and a previous signal when data is transmitted via a bus, can be considered.
A bus-invert (BI) coding method and a bus inverting with transition signaling (BITS) coding method are conventional. FIGS. 1A and 1B show an encoder and a decoder, respectively, according to a BI coding method. FIGS. 2A and 2B show an encoder and a decoder, respectively, according to a BITS coding method.
The BI coding method is efficient in reducing power consumption with respect to a random data pattern, but is not efficient with respect to a data pattern such as speech or music. This is because the data pattern such as speech or music has a format of a two""s complement, for example, in the case of data of 16 bits, 0 or 1 is concentrated in the upper 8 bits.
Like the BI coding method, the BITS coding method requires an extra circuit, which determines whether to invert an extra line and data, and thus overhead becomes larger. Consequently, since the conventional coding methods for the narrow bus require an additional pin for the extra line, they restrict use of a core which is manufactured in advance.
To solve the above problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a narrow bus encoding/decoding apparatus and method for reducing interface problems with a core and reducing overhead for an additional circuit by removing the additional circuit referred to as a majority voter, which determines whether to invert data, and an extra line, which are used in the conventional BI and BITS coding methods, thereby decreasing the power consumption and the area of a chip.
To achieve the above object of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for encoding n bits of data of a data bus, including a conditional inverting unit for inverting each of (nxe2x88x921) lower bits of n data when the most significant bit of the n bits of data is 1, a storage unit for storing the last n bits of data which is output to the bus, and a first exclusive OR operating unit for performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of the n data, which has been inverted by the conditional inverting unit, and the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which has been stored in the storage unit. The most significant bit of the n bits of data and (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the exclusive OR operation performed by the first exclusive OR operating unit, are output.
The conditional inverting unit is a second exclusive OR operating unit which performs an exclusive OR operation on each of the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of the n bits of data and the most significant bit of the n bits of data.
To achieve the above object of the invention, there is also provided an apparatus for decoding n bits of encoded data of a data bus, including a storage unit for storing the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data of a previous encoded n bits of data which is input from the bus; a first exclusive OR operating unit for performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data of encoded current n bits of data, which is input from the bus following the previous n bits of data, and the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is stored in the storage unit; and a conditional inverting unit for inverting (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the bitwise exclusive OR operation performed by the first exclusive OR operating unit, when the most significant bit of the current n bits of data, which is input from the bus, is 1. The most significant bit of the current n bits of data, which is input from the bus, and (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the inversion performed by the conditional inverting unit, are output.
The conditional inverting unit is a second exclusive OR operating unit, which performs a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the (nxe2x88x921) bits of data output from the first exclusive OR operating unit and the most significant bit of the current n bits of data in bit units.
To achieve the above object of the invention, there is provided a method for encoding n-bit data of a data bus, including the steps of (a) inverting each of (nxe2x88x921) lower bits of data when the most significant bit of the n bits of data is 1, (b) performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which has been conditionally inverted in the step (a), and the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which has last been encoded, and (c) outputting the most significant bit of the n bits of data and (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the exclusive OR operation.
To achieve the above object of the invention, there is also provided a method for decoding n bits of encoded data of a data bus, including the steps of (a) storing the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data of a previous encoded n bits of data which is input from the bus, (b) performing a bitwise exclusive OR operation on the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data of encoded current n bits of data, which is input from the bus following the previous n-bit data, and the lower (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is stored in the step (a), (c) inverting each of (nxe2x88x921) bits of data, which is obtained as the result of the bitwise exclusive OR operation, when the most significant bit of the current n bits of data, which is input from the bus, is 1, and (d) outputting the most significant bit of the current n-bit data, which is input from the bus, and (nxe2x88x921)-bit data, which is obtained as the result of the conditional inversion performed in the step (c).

Bus encoding/decoding apparatus and method


A device for thawing and warming solutions and biological fluids intended for perfusions or intravenous administration contained in sealed bags comprising a cabinet, tray mounted at the top of the cabinet for holding the bags to be thawed and/or warmed, air channels, forming a raised rim around the tray cover and communicating with the interior of the cabinet, a plurality of apertures horizontally disposed in the air channels and above the tray substantially surrounding the tray and communicating with the interior of the air channels. Air heating and impeller, a temperature sensing device, and controller device mounted in the cabinet; a plenum communicating with the air heating and impeller device for receiving the heated air, outlets in the plenum disposed in such manner as to discharge the heated air over the tray containing the bags and be taken in through the apertures in the air channel for recirculation.

One of the aggravating problems in hospitals and medical clinics today is the management of thousands of bags of solutions and biological fluids, including blood and blood products necessary for perfusions or intravenous administration. In all instances prior to perfusions or intravenous administration, the solution or fluid must be raised to a temperature compatible with body fluids of the mammal in which the fluid is to be administered. In the case of frozen fluids, the fluid must be thawed and then raised to the desired temperature. As it is well known, the numerous types of fluids used today vary greatly in composition. Heretofore each different type of solution or fluid had to be handled in accordance with the specific type and composition. By way of example, some frozen fluids cannot be thawed efficiently without damage. Some biological fluids, notably blood, have heretofore required complex means for warming to a useful temperature without irreparable damage to the product. Methods heretofore used and presently used in some facilities for thawing frozen fluids include simply thawing the bags at ambient temperatures. In such instances, the bags collect condensation from the humidity in the room which condenses on the cold bags resulting in puddles of water. In addition, the bags thus thawed collect dust and other contaminants which adhere to the wet bags bringing about the real possibility of serious injury to the patient. Hot water baths are also used, i.e. dumping the bags of frozen fluids in a sink filled with hot water. As may be appreciated, such method of thawing or warming suffers from such disadvantages as inability to control the temperature, creation of hot spots resulting in decomposition and contamination from bacteria and other pathogens in the water from the sink drains. Moreover, such technique precludes the use of the sink for other purposes. Microwave ovens have also been used to thaw frozen fluids, notwithstanding the fact that most manufacturers advise against such use. Even with careful monitoring by a professional technician, the integrity of the plastic bags and the contents can readily be compromised by the uneven heating, spot overheating, condensation on the bags and the unknown effects of microwave radiation.
Other devices and methods of thawing biological fluids and/or raising the temperature of such fluids for intravenous administration have been proposed, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,587. Devices of the type described require the blood be removed from its storage container and circulated through the device to be warmed by circulating air. There are known devices such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,592 which utilize electrical heating plates. The use of such type of a device requires special storage containers for the fluids being warmed. Numerous other devices have heretofore been utilized for thawing and/or warming liquids for intravenous administration are disclosed in for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,678,460 to Rosner; 4,874,033 to Chatelain et. al.; 4,801,777 to Auerbach; and 4,523,078 to Lehmann.

Apparatus for thawing and warming fluids for intravenous administration utilizing heater air recirculation


In one embodiment of the invention is a method to use authentication certificates to authorize peers to particular applications. In addition to using authentication certificates to authenticate the identity and trustworthiness of a peer, authentication certificates are additionally used to authorize peers to particular applications. A list of certificates is maintained in a Peer Authorized Certificate Store (PACS), where the certificates may comprise any combination of root certificates, intermediate certificates, and peer certificates. When an authentication certificate is received from a peer, the peer is authenticated using the authentication certificate; and authorized by checking the authentication certificate against a Peer Authorized Certificate Store (PACS).

With the widespread use of the Internet for transactions ranging from browsing websites to shopping to banking, the need to provide secure Internet service has become commonplace. One way to provide secure service is through the use of S-HTTP (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol). S-HTTP supports encryption/decryption and authentication of specific WWW (World Wide Web) documents sent over the Internet.
Alternatively, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is used to secure all traffic (i.e., the entire session as opposed to specific documents) for specific TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) ports. SSL supports encryption and authentication. SSL provides a security handshake that is used to initiate the TCP/IP connection. This handshake results in the client and server agreeing on the level of security that will be used, and fulfills any authentication requirements for the connection.
Once the handshake is established, the SSL encrypts and decrypts the byte stream of the application protocol being used (such as HTTP, NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), or Telnet). Under the current state of the art, once the handshake is established, both client and server can freely exchange data, without regard to the particular application at hand.

Using authentication certificates for authorization


The present invention relates to an optically variable element having surface portions with achromatic surface structures and different scatter, diffraction and reflection characteristics. The achromatic surface structures are combined with a thin-film structure, whereby upon turning or tilting the optically variable element, it is not the impression of a continuous color transition, but a defined, almost discrete color change that is produced for the viewer.

For certain applications such as the document security field the aim involved is to offer security features which can be easily perceived and explained and which are defined for recognizing authenticity.
For example WO 97/19821 describes an optically variable surface pattern having at least one representation of a graphic configuration. Surface regions of a given kind are associated with each representation. Upon illumination with visible light the representations become visible in the form of images which exhibit light and dark spots at different viewing angles. The above-mentioned surface regions have grating structures, the line number of which is greater than 250 lines/mm so that markedly visible diffraction effects occur in the visible range.
A document with an optical-diffraction security element is known for example from EP 0 105 099 B1. The security element has a diffraction structure which, by virtue of diffraction of the incident light, produces at least one color pattern which represents a visually checkable authenticity feature. The diffraction structure is such that the color pattern which occurs with a given lighting and viewing direction moves at a locally predetermined speed along a predetermined path when the substrate is turned in its plane in a given direction of rotation and at a given speed.
EP 0 375 833 B1 discloses an optically variable surface pattern with a graphic representation, the surface pattern being divided into m-raster fields which contain optically active diffraction elements with more than 10 lines/mm. That known optically variable surface pattern provides that each raster field has a largest dimension of less than 0.3 mm and division into N-field components each with a respective diffraction element. Each diffraction element corresponds to a predetermined pixel of one of N-representations. The parameters of a relief structure are determined in each of the N-diffraction elements by the association with a surface portion so that each of the N-representations is visible in a predetermined direction of viewing the surface pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,977 describes an optical interference security element. That known element has a substrate and a filter having at least one optical interference layer. The optical interference layer has a known characteristic in respect of its spectral reflectance and a known spectral transmittance which differs therefrom, both varying with the angle of incidence of light. The substrate which can form a surface region of a value-bearing document such as a banknote has a surface portion which is adjacent to the filter and is colored in order to absorb a part of the light transmitted through the filter.
Optically variable surface patterns which are designed like the above-described optically variable surface pattern, depending on the respective choice of design and technology, can produce different visual, optically variable effects, in dependence on the viewing angle, such as three-dimensionality or perspectivity, motion effects, image flips or the like. When the surface pattern or the element provided with such a surface pattern is turned or tilted about given axes in space, many design elements appear in the typical rainbow colors.
That virtually continuous transition over the entire rainbow spectrum now suffers from disadvantages in some security uses. It is in conflict with the aim of providing security features which can be easily recognized and explained and which are as well-defined as possible, for authenticity recognition. More specifically such a continuous color transition or color change represents a definition problem. In addition, a clear demarcation of features in respect of functionality and appearance between security application and commercial applications is necessary in order to prevent confusions occurring due to simple imitation or due to the transfer of commercial features onto security documents and so forth.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and system used to integrate and control multiple secure credentialing approaches including magnetic stripes, bar codes, contact and contactless SmartCard chips, Short Message Systems (SMS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), vicinity type Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID), and proximity type RFID, into compact, self-powered, biometrically-protected devices.

The present invention relates to a method and system used to integrate and control multiple secure credentialing approaches including magnetic stripes, bar codes, contact and contactless SmartCard chips, Short Message Systems (SMS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), vicinity type Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID), and proximity type RFID, into compact, self-powered, biometrically-protected and enabled devices.

Method and system for creating and operating biometrically enabled multi-purpose credential management devices


A system and method for using computer image processing for selectable task-based digital video compression is described. The system is intended to reduce travel of experts and let these experts direct field agents in performing tasks remotely. The tasks to be performed in the remote field can be monitoring, manipulating, and navigating. A field agent performs the manipulation and navigation operations, this agent can be a human being or a robot. The task-based compression algorithms use computer vision techniques to extract the bare minimum amount of information from the remote field scenery to allow the task to be performed. High frame rate photo-realistic reconstruction of the remote scene is not generally necessary.

Digital video is seldom transmitted or stored in its raw, original form. Rather, the digital video data is compressed in some fashion. Compression of video is possible because there are, depending on the type of footage, various amounts of redundancy present in the video signal. There exists spatial redundancy because, within the video frames, the signal does not change much between most pixels (picture elements of the video frame); there exists temporal redundancy because the video signal does not change much between most frames. There also exists perceptual redundancy because the pixel value fluctuations within frames and between frames contain more information than can be perceived by the human eye.
There are many video compression techniques, among which, such as the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards, that try to exploit these redundancies in order to compress a video signal as much as possible while still maintaining the visual content of the video as well as possible. Spatial redundancy is exploited by transmitting the coefficients of the DCT transform of 8×8 image blocks. Temporal redundancy is exploited by transmitting only differences between subsequent frames, where these differences are expressed using motion compensation vectors. Perceptual redundancy is exploited by limiting the color information in the signal.
These compression standards support high resolution and high frame rate video. Lower-bandwidth video compression techniques (like H.263, H.320, and H.323) also exist, but these usually support only low resolution images (QSIF) at low frame rates (2 fps). Such compression schemes are usually designed either as general-purpose systems for any image type, or specifically as video conferencing systems.
A more recent compression standard, which is still under development, is MPEG-4. Where MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 do not take into consideration the visual content of the individual video frames, MPEG-4 does. Rather than basing the compression on image blocks, the compression is based on image regions that actually may correspond to semantically meaningful area of the 3D scene. For example, a textured region can be compressed as a representation of its boundary plus parameters that describe the texture, possibly with a residual image as well. Although MPEG4 does not prescribe how the regions are to be extracted, computer vision techniques are often used. MPEG-4 also has provisions for very high-level compression of moving faces. A general geometric face model is predefined with a number of control points. The encoder just has to set the initial location of these points and provide trajectories for them as the video progresses. It is up to the decoder then to take care of reconstructing and displaying a suitable face based on this parameter set.
A compressor and corresponding decompressor pair that can code a signal into a compressed form and then can decode a signal back into its original format is called a codec The compression can either be lossless, in which case the decoded signal is equal to the original signal, or lossy, in which case the decoded signal is merely a "good" approximation of the original signal. In the latter case, information is lost between the original and reconstructed signal, but a good compression algorithm attempts to ensure the best possible decoded signal (usually from a human perceptual standpoint) within a given bit rate. Lossless techniques could also be applied to an image or video, but generally do not yield enough data reduction to be very useful (typically compression ratios between 1.2 and 2.5, whereas MPEG-1 usually runs at 30 to 50).
The following reference describes examples of the state of the prior art in compression technology:                B. G. Haskell, A. P. Puri, and A. N. Netravali,        Digital Video: An Introduction to MPEG-2. Chapman & Hall: New York, 1997.
Chapter 1, pages 1–13, introduces compression, standards for video conferencing (H.320), MPEG1 and MPEG2. The low bit-rate standard, H.263, is handled on pages 370–382. MPEG4 is introduced on pages 387–388. These references are incorporated herein in their entirety.
The compression techniques proposed herein require computer vision techniques. The following computer vision techniques are especially relevant.
Edge detection: These are techniques to identify sharp-discontinuities in the intensity profile of images. Edge detectors are operators that compute differences between pairs of neighboring pixels. High responses to these operators are then identified as edge pixels. Edge maps can be computed in a single scan through the image. Examples of edge detection are the Gradient- and Laplacian-type edge finders and edge templates such as Sobel.
Region finding: This is a class of techniques that identify areas of continuity within an image (in a sense, the opposite of edge detection). The areas that are to be detected are constant in some image property. This property can be intensity, color, texture, or some combination of these. Using connected components techniques, regions can be computed in a single scan. Clustering approaches have also been used successfully. An example here is the detection of hands or faces in frames by finding regions with flesh tone.
Background subtraction: This is a method where two images are used to find image regions corresponding to objects. A first image is acquired without the objects present, then a second image with the objects. Subtracting the second image from the first and ignoring regions near zero results in a segmented image of the objects.
Normalized correlation: This is a technique for comparing two image patches Q1 and Q2. The normalized correlation at some translation T is defined as:NC=[E(Q1Q2)−E(Q1)E(Q2)]/Sigma(Q1)Sigma(Q2)
with E(.) the expectation and Sigma(.) the variance. High values here indicate that the patches are very similar, despite possible differences in lighting conditions.
Normalized correlation and other computer vision techniques, are described more fully in:                D. Ballard and C. Brown, Computer Vision, Prentice-Hall: New Jersey, 1982.
Gradient- and Laplacian-type edge finders and edge templates can be found on pages 75–80; pages 149–155 describe region finding and connected components techniques; background subtraction on pages 72–73; and normalized correlation can be found on pages 68–70. These references are incorporated herein in their entirety.
Some of the above techniques are also used to process the frames in order to compute MPEG4 compression. However, MPEG4 (and MPEG1-2) coding techniques are, in general, proprietary and hence descriptions of the actual techniques used are not available. Yet all that is important from a functional standpoint is that it is possible for decoders which adhere to the standard to decode the resulting signal.
Problems with the Prior Art
One of the concerns of this invention is the efficient use of professional's and expert's time, especially through savings on the time and money that is used for travel. Traditional means of dispersing experts to locations that can be remote i& expensive and inefficient, mainly since it involves time-consuming expensive travel. Consider the following scenarios that are very costly in terms of personnel resources and travel.
A company is building a large hydroelectric dam. Sometimes life-threatening situations arise and an expert must be flown in. Typically, most work at the site stops until this individual arrives and diagnoses the problem.
High-priced service contracts for photocopiers guarantee that a technician will be on site within an hour, when needed. Such field service personnel often spend a large fraction of their time driving from site to site, not using their expertise. Other times, they sit around waiting for a call.
These cases may mean idled manpower and machinery, schedule slippage, the need for a large staff and high travel costs.
There are prior art techniques that address these concerns. For example, the field of telemedicine is the practice of medicine at a distance, e.g., telepresence surgery. A military application of this is where highly qualified surgeons remotely assist battle field doctors and medics to perform delicate surgery on casualties with life threatening injuries. This work must be done in the field since the soldiers are often so injured that they cannot be easily moved. Civil applications of telemedicine, where the field doctors may be assisted by remotely controlled robot arms (by the expert surgeon), may eventually become widespread also. High quality, high-resolution cameras that record and transmit pertinent images needed for performing the medical task are of essence in telemedicine.                F. Hamit, "To the Virtual Collaborative Clinic: NASA and Telemedicine's Future,"        Advanced Imaging, July 1999, pp. 31–33.
This reference is incorporated in its entirety.
Many other types of tele-operations can be envisioned. For instance, in the civil engineering example mentioned above, an expert could remotely diagnose the problem and field personnel could then fix the problems under supervision of the expert. Similar solutions can be used in the copier repair arena. Lower paid field personnel could service and repair the copiers. When problems are difficult to diagnose or repair, the field agents could contact an expert in the office and establish a video link to let the expert direct and guide the field work.
A problem with these remotely controlled diagnosis and repair processes is that video images of high resolution and high quality need to be transmitted. For digital video transmission this means that high bandwidth communications channels are required, even if compression is used. For analog video transmission this means that high power transmitters are required. Furthermore, hard-to-obtain licenses from the FCC need to be secured.
Compression techniques like the MPEG standards are designed to compress and decompress the video such that there is as little information loss as possible. That is, the decoded video is a faithful reconstruction of the original video, at least to the human eye. This is not always possible when there is a lot of motion in the video. For standard resolution, and in particular for HDTV, even such compressed signals are of too high a bandwidth. The bandwidth required is in the 1–20 Mbaud range depending on image resolution and quality. High bandwidth communication channels and high-bandwidth equipment are expensive, so low bandwidth is much more preferable. Also, in many remote areas such broadband links are not available. Instead there may only be a phone line (28–53 Kbaud) or cell-phone service (10–20 Kbaud).
However, while low-bandwidth codecs (like H.263) already exist, they usually support only low resolution images (QSIF) at low frame rates (2 fps or worse) over such channels. A number of tasks require better resolution. Other tasks require high update rate interaction between a field agent and the directing expert. Furthermore, these codecs are usually designed either as video conferencing products (where facial motion is paramount) or as general-purpose systems for any video type and genre. These prior art compression techniques used have no notion of what is important to a particular task and hence degrade all information uniformly. That is, prior art compression methods do not have a proper model of what information in the images is important to a given task and what is not. Hence, commonly available low bandwidth channels constrain standard video codecs to operate at too slow a speed to provide real-time feedback. This makes it impossible to direct some tasks remotely; an expert must be located in the field instead. In general, the problem with prior art compression is that it is not possible to transmit high-resolution, high frame rate over low bandwidth channels because these compression techniques are not designed for low bandwidth telepresence applications.
Much prior art in semantic or content-based compression concentrates on compression for video telephony and conferencing. This type of compression is highly geared to the fact that the video images contains a "talking head." An instance is the a semantic compressor described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,115 to J. R. Rosenberg. This codec uses an edge detector to produce an edge map of each frame. A set of different size pattern templates having a pair of ellipsoid face-edge contours is defined off-line. These templates are correlated with the edge map and detect size and position of the face. Block-based compression (as in the MPEG1-2 standards) are then applied preferentially to the macro blocks (2×2 blocks) within the ellipse. Here, there is strong reliance on a two-dimensional model of a talking head, although presumably other object models might also be used.
A content-based compression technique that is not dependent on object models is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,172 to T. Chen. Here the frames are segmented into subject and non-subject regions. A simple way to do this is define a color spectrum for the desired subject region, and then declare any areas which do not have suitable pixel colors relative to this to be to non-subject regions. Just the subject regions are then coded and decoded. Video telephony is one application for this compression scheme.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,856 to Moura and Jasinschi describes a motion-based codec. First, moving figure velocity and background velocity are estimated. Second, the figure velocity is compensated with relation to the background velocity. Third, the figure is segmented using a threshold to detect if a figure moves in relation to the background. Fourth, the segmented figures are tessellated into blocks. A background image is computed using cut-and-paste operations. Compression is then achieved by transmitting the tessellated segmented figures and, only when border updates are needed, appropriate background images.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,183 to R. K. Talluri et. al. describe a similar content-based compression scheme based on MPEG1-2. Regions of change (moving objects) are detected from reconstructed frame F(N-1) to the frame F(N). The boundaries of these regions, including holes, are encoded and added to the frame. Removal of temporal redundancies is achieved by finding blocks in the previous frame that match blocks in the current frame F(N). The signal is further compressed by synthesizing F(N)′ from the previous frame and comparing F(N)′ to F(N). This is done to find frame regions that still contain significant amounts of information (residual), which is then compressed in the same way. This helps support selective encoding/decoding of objects in the bitstream sequence as well as object scalability.
For all these prior art teachings, the objective is to reconstruct the video at the receiver-end as photo-realistic images with as much information as possible, at least in the frame areas of-interest. That is, in important areas the decoded video should have all the properties of the original image (such as colors, edges, textures, motion, etc.) and also be visually pleasing. This is achieved by using motion detection or motion segmentation, region (sub/object) detection, or models of the expected objects in the video. None of the above systems describes selectable codecs, in the sense that the receiver has the choice of different codecs to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,183 to R. K. Talluri et. al. describe a codec that allows the operator to choose which objects in the video are to be encoded but, still, the goal is to make these objects look close to their original appearance when decoded.- None of the codecs is geared to compressing the video in such a fashion that only that information that is pertinent to a given task is encoded. In addition, none of the codecs have the capability to transmit high-fidelity frames at the request of the viewer or according to given algorithmic rules. Further, prior art encoding depends heavily on fairly complex image processing and computer vision techniques. The breakdown of these techniques results in abrupt degradation of the decoded video signals. In general, it is preferable for the encoding, and hence the decoded signal, to instead degrade gratefully when the input video degrades in quality.

System and method for selectable semantic codec pairs for very low data-rate video transmission

International Business Machines Corporation


An oscillator includes: an oscillation circuit whose oscillation frequency changes based on a voltage that is applied to a variable capacitance element; and a voltage generation unit that generates the voltage which is applied to the variable capacitance element based on a control signal, in which the voltage that is generated by the voltage generation unit changes nonlinearly with respect to a change in the control signal such that a change in the oscillation frequency with respect to the change in the control signal is adjusted to come close to be linear.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an oscillator, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
JP-A-10-215120 discloses that, in a voltage control oscillator, because a change in capacitance of a variable capacitance diode (varicap) is nonlinear with respect to a voltage that is applied between terminals, the voltage that is applied between the terminals of the variable capacity diode is limited to a range in which the change in the capacitance is good in linearity, by performing voltage division of a control voltage using a resistor, and thus an oscillation frequency can be variable in a linear manner.
However, in the oscillator disclosed in JP-A-10-215120, because the voltage that is applied between the terminals of the variable capacitance diode is limited to the range in which the change in the capacitance is good in linearity, there is a problem in that a frequency variable range is limited.

Oscillator, electronic apparatus, and moving object


An apparatus and a method for optimizing the quality of electrophotographic imaging based on the properties of the printing media are presented. In order to determine the properties of the printing media without interrupting the normal image transfer process, the present invention uses rollers as a part of a sensor. When the printing media lies between the rollers, the rollers and the printing media form an RC circuit. A pulse is applied to the RC circuit, the step response of which is periodically sampled. The samples may be obtained logarithmically in time. Based on the resultant response, a controller calculates the resistance and the capacitance of the printing media and adjusts imaging parameters, such as the transfer bias voltage, for optimal image transfer. The entire optimization process occurs between the time the printing media passes through the rollers and the time the imaging transfer is executed.

The present invention relates to electrophotographic devices such as laser printers, and in particular to the determination of media type by electrophotographic devices.
Electrophotographic processes for forming images upon print media are well known in the art. Typically, these processes include an initial step of charging a photoreceptor which may be provided in the form of a drum or continuous belt having photoconductive material. Thereafter, an electrostatic latent image is produced on the photoreceptor by exposing the charged area of the photoreceptor to a light image or scanning the charged area with a laser beam. A light-emitting diode array may be used in producing the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor.
Particles of toner may be applied to the photoreceptor upon which the electrostatic latent image is disposed such that the toner particles are transferred to the electrostatic latent image. Thereafter, the toner particles are transferred from the photoreceptor to the print media. This process involving the transfer of toner particles unto the media is herein referred to as image transfer process. Frequently, a fusing process follows the image transfer process and fixes the toner particles on the print media. A subsequent process may include cleaning or restoring the photoreceptor in preparation for the next printing cycle.
Two imaging parameters greatly affect the final print quality of the toner image supplied to the media. These imaging parameters are the electric field applied to the media during the image transfer process and the heat energy applied during the fusing process. The electric field applied to the media and the heat energy transferred during the fusing process, in turn, are affected by basis weight and the water content of the print media. The basis weight and the water content manifest themselves as differences in dielectric thickness, heat capacity and thermal conductivity for a given print media in a particular environment.
The optimal value of the imaging parameters applied during the image transfer process depends on the resistance and the capacitance of the print media. However, most conventional electrophotographic devices use a predetermined set of imaging parameters during the image transfer process for all print media. The failure to customize the imaging parameters to the particular print media that is used can result in less than optimal image quality. The failure to customize the imaging parameters to the resistively of print media is especially likely to result in an aesthetically displeasing output because print media range widely in resistively. For example, paper and transparencies, which are both common print media, have resistibilities that may differ by approximately six orders of magnitude. As most transfer systems are designed to handle a predetermined design range of resistance (resistance is a function of resistively and the physical dimensions), setting the imaging parameters to optimize image transfer onto paper leads to less than optimal quality output on transparencies, and vice versa.
Therefore, an electrophotographic device and method that can determine electrical properties (e.g., capacitance and resistance of print media) to produce high quality images is needed.
The present invention includes an apparatus and a method for electrophotographic imaging devices to adjust the imaging parameters to the type of print media, thereby achieving optimal print quality for all print media. According to the present invention, a set of rollers in an electrophotographic imaging device is made of conductive material, insulated from the device chassis, and connected to a monitoring circuit. The monitoring circuit includes a pulse forming circuit connected to a first roller and a sensing circuit connected to a second roller. The pulse forming circuit includes a capacitor and thus, a RC circuit forms when the media is positioned between the rollers. The pulse forming circuit applies a pulse to the media, and the sensing circuit measures the step response of the RC circuit. Based on the measured step height and the slope of the response, the resistance and the capacitance of the print media can be calculated. The resistance and the capacitance is then used to determine the optimal value of imaging parameters, such as the transfer bias voltage.
The step response is determined by sampling the response voltages from the voltage sensing circuit and using the samples to calculate the resistance and the capacitance of the print media. The optimal imaging parameters are determined either by calculation or by accessing a look-up table that contains pre-derived optimal values. Imaging parameters are then adjusted to the determined optimal values. The optimization process takes place between the time the print media passes between the first and second rollers and the time imaging occurs. Although the measurement may be accomplished with the media in motion, taking the measurements with the media in a temporarily stationary state (e.g., for 120 ms) improves the accuracy of the result. Thus, the optimization process of the present invention not only facilitates implementation by using a set of rollers that transport the print media, but also provides a way to determine and apply the optimal imaging parameters while the print media is moving through the imaging device.

Capacitance and resistance monitor for image producing device


A family of substituted chiral allosteric effectors of hemoglobin is useful for delivering more oxygen to hypoxic and ischemic tissues by reducing the oxygen affinity of hemoglobin in whole blood.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a family of allosteric effectors of hemoglobin and more specifically to chirality affects of allosteric effectors where the chiral carbon has a substituted carbon ring, a heteroatom ring, or different substituents. The invention includes several new potent enantiomers that are superior than their racemic mixture and other enantiomeric isomer, possessing different degrees of allosteric potency.
2. Background Description
Human hemoglobin (Hb) is a tetrameric allosteric protein comprised of two alpha and two beta chains and functions to deliver oxygen from the lungs to the many tissues of the body. The four subunits are arranged around a molecular two fold axis creating a central water cavity. As an allosteric protein, Hb exists in an equilibrium between two states, the relaxed (R) or oxy-state and the tense (T) or deoxy-state. In the oxy-state, the water cavity is narrow and the subunits have fewer and weaker bonds between them (i.e., relaxed). However, in the deoxy-state, the water cavity is larger, and the subunits are tightly tethered together by salt bridges (i.e., tense). The allosteric equilibrium can be influenced by allosteric modifiers. Such molecules can increase the oxygen affinity of Hb shifting the allosteric equilibrium toward oxy-Hb or decrease the affinity of oxygen, shifting the equilibrium to the deoxy-Hb. Modifiers that decrease the oxygen affinity act by adding constraints to the T-state. Oxygen affinity decreasing agents have several potential applications including radiosensitization of tumors, enhancement of oxygen delivery to hypoxic and ischemic tissues, and shelf-life prolongation of stored blood.
The gap between the xcex2 subunits is wide enough for 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG), a naturally occuring allosteric modifier, to dock in and bind, forming additional salt bridges that further stabilize the deoxy state. Therefore, compounds that lower the affinity of oxygen for Hb do so by strengthening the existing salt bridges or by adding new ones to the tense state.
Several synthetic agents have been reported to lower the affinity of oxygen for Hb. In the search for an antisickling agent, Abraham and coworkers discovered the antilipidemic drug, clofibric acid, that lowered the oxygen affinity of Hb. Perutz and Poyart followed with a report that bezafibrate, another antilipidemic agent, was also a right-shifting compound, more potent than DPG and clofibric acid. Lalezari and coworkers demonstrated that shortening the four atom bridge to a three atom urea bridge produced even more potent allosteric modifiers, but their potential as clinical agents was limited due to loss of activity in the presence of serum albumin.
It has been proposed that influencing the allosteric equilibrium of hemogobin is a viable avenue of attack for treating diseases. The conversion of hemoglobin to a low affinity state is believed to have general utility in a variety of disease states where tissues suffer from low oxygen tension, such as ischemia and radio sensitization of tumors. Several synthetic compounds have been identified which have utility in the allosteric regulation of hemoglobin and other proteins.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a family of compounds which allosterically modifies hemoglobin such that hemoglobin is present in blood in a lower oxygen affinity state.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide synthetic agents that can enhance the oxygenation of tissues. Enhancement of oxygenation has several potential therapeutic applications: (1) radio-sensitization of tumors, (2) treatment of stroke and cerebral traumas, (3) shelf-life prolongation of stored blood, (4) treatment of angina and myocardial infarcation, and (5) reduction of surgical blood loss and blood transfusions.
Currently, two of the most potent oxygen-affinity decreasing agents developed by Abraham et al. are shown as RSR13 and JP7 in Table I below. The high resolution crystal structure of the RSR13-Hb complex has been determined. The small molecule binds near the top of the xcex1 subunits and points down the central water cavity to the xcex1,xcex2-subunit interfaces making several important interactions with the protein. RSR46, KDD86, and RSR4 shown in Table I are also oxygen affinity decreasing agents.
Specifically, compounds having substituted chiral centers and the structures:
wherein R1 and R2 are selected from the group comprising CH3, Cl, and 5 carbon cyclics; R3 is selected from the group comprising H, OH, and OC2H5; R4 and R5 are selected from the group comprising CH3, cyclics containing CH3 substituents, OCH3, C2H5, phenyl and substituted phenyl; and wherein R4 and R5 are not the same, and
wherein R1 is selected from the group comprising H, CH3, CH(CH3)2, CH2Ph, CH2CH(CH3)2, CH(CH3)C2H5, CH2CH2COOH, CH2COOH, CH2tryptophan, CH2 Indole, CH2PhOH, CH2OH, CH2SCH3, (Me)2SMe, (CH2)3, CH2SCH2Ph, CH(OH)CH3, (CH2)4NHOCOCH2Ph, and (CH2)4NH2.
Where R3 is selected from the group comprising H, CH3, CH(CH3)2, CH2Ph, CH2CH(CH3)2, CH(CH3)C2H5, CH2CH2COOH, CH2COOH, CH2tryptophan, CH2 Indole, CH2PhOH, CH2OH, CH2SCH3, (Me)2SMe, (CH2)3, CH2SCH2Ph, CH(OH)CH3, (CH2)4NHOCOCH2Ph, (CH2)4NH2 etc. have been identified as being allosteric effectors of hemoglobin.
Investigation of the effect of stereochemistry on activity and binding conformation shows that the existence of a chiral center affects the allosteric activity. Specifically, a chiral center was introduced in compounds having the general structures of RSR13, JP7, RSR4, RSR46 and KDD86 (shown in Table I). The new chiral molecules (class B) were prepared by replacing either one of the gem dimethyl groups of Table I compounds with other alkyl/alkanoic, un/substituted cycloalkyl/cycloalkanoic, substituted aromaatic groups or by condensing the carboxylate group of the parent.molecule (Table 1 compounds) with various D and L isomers of amino acids such as alanine, valine, asparagine, cysteine, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, glycine, histidine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, arginine, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and lysine (class C).
The synthesis of the compounds (class B) involves central intermediate amidophenols: 4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenol, 4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenol, and 4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenol, where 3,5 dimethylaniline or 5-aminoindan is condensed with 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid in refluxing xylene over a three-day period. While 3,5-dimethylaniline and 5-aminoindan were both readily available.
The scheme 1 above as well the schemes 2 and 3 shown below were utilized to produce the corresponding racemates.
The previously reported xcex1-aryloxyisobutyric acid analogs were obtained via reaction of amidophenols with acetone-chloroform in the presence of sodium hydroxide. In this process, the appropriate ketone is substituted for acetone in tetrahydrofuran to obtain the proposed compounds 1-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-3-methylcyclopentane carboxylic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy-2-methylbutanoic acid 1-4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methylcyclopentane carboxylic acid, 4-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]tetrahydro-2H-4-pyrancarboxylic acid, 3-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methyltretrahydro-3-furan carboxylic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-3-methoxy-2-methylpropanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methylpentanoic acid, 1-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-3-methylcyclohexane carboxylic acid, 1-[4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-3-methyl cyclopentane carboxylic acid, 2-[4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methylbutanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methylcyclopentane carboxylic acid, 1-[4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanalino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-3-methylcyclopentane carboxylic acid, 2-[4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanalino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-butanoic acid, 1-[4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanalino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-methylcyclopentane carboxylic acid.
The schemes 4 and 5 were used to prepare racemates of the compounds 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-proprionic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-2-fluoroacetic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-butanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-pentanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(3,5-dimethylanilino)cardonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-hexanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-propionic acid, 2-[4-[[(3-chloro-5-methylanilino)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-butanoic acid, 2-[4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-propionic acid, and 2-[4-[[(5-indanyl)carbonyl]methyl]phenoxy]-butanoic acid.
This method employs condensation of the corresponding amidophenol with the xcex1-bromo ester in the presence of base followed by base hydrolysis of the ester to give the desired xcex1-aryloxy acid product.
Abraham et al. designed and synthesized a series of fibrate analogs that replaced the urea bridge with an amide bridge and modified the substitution on ring A. Compounds from the series exhibited greater allosteric activity than benzafibrate. The most potent derivatives from the series were RSR4 and RSR13, as shown in Table 1 above.
X-ray crystallography studies of bezafibrate complexed with Hb showed that two symmetrically related molecules bind near the top of the xcex1 subunits and point down the central water cavity to the xcex1,xcex2-subunit interfaces making several important interactions with the protein. The high resolution x-ray crystal structure of the RSR13-Hb complex showed that the molecule binds similarly to bezafibrate. The carboxylic acid group of RSR13 forms a water-mediated salt bridge with Arg 141xcex1, the amide oxygen makes a hydrogen bond with Lys 99xcex1 and the gem dimethyl group lies in a hydrophobic pocket lined with residues Pro 95xcex1, Tyr 140xcex1, and Trp 37xcex2.
The present invention was designed to investigate the effect of chirality on the allosteric activity of a series of modifiers and determine their effect on binding mode with Hb. This invention describes the synthesis of several chiral allosteric modifiers of Hb which replaced the gem dimethyl group with alkyl groups, substituted, cycloalkyl groups, and cycloalkyl groups with heteroatoms in the ring. The compounds were based on the ring A templates of RSR13, RSR46, JP7, RSR4 and KDD86. In addition, the structure of JP7 was also modified by adding-substituents to the cyclopentyl ring to give substituted chiral derivatives. Select compounds from the RSR13 and JP7 series were resolved into the enantiomers to determine the effect of the stereocenter on activity. Molecule selection for separation was based on degree of activity and substitution pattern. To formulate SAR, the prepared derivatives were analyzed with Hb solution. In vitro testing with whole blood was also conducted. From studying the binding site of RSR13 and the position of the gem dimethyl group, it was anticipated that one of the enantiomers will bind differently to the hydrophobic pocket and therefore have different effects on the allosteric equilibrium.
All reagent and starting material used in the syntheses were purchased from Aldrich, Fluka, or Sigma and used without purification. All solvents were purchased form Aldrich or Fisher. Silica gel coated plates (0.25 mm thickness) from Analtech, Inc. were used for thin layer chromatography (TLC). Separations were visualized by ultraviolet (UV) lamp or by iodine exposure. Column chromatography was performed on silica gel (Merc, grade 9385, 230-400 mesh). Melting points (mp) were determined on a Thomas-Hoover melting point apparatus and were uncorrected. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectra were obtained on a Varian Gemini 300 MHz Spectrophotometer and are reported in parts per million (xcex4 ppm) with tetramethylsilane as the internal standard. Elemental analyses were performed by Atlantic Microlab, Inc. (Norcross, Ga.) and results are within xc2x14% of the theoretical value. All intermediate compounds were analyzed but are not reported. Their purity was determined by TLC and 1H NMR.

Substituted chiral allosteric hemoglobin modifiers


Backup schedule optimization is provided. Data describing a first backup schedule for a first backup server is identified. Performance metric data and workload data for a first backup server and a second backup server is collected. If a count of backup windows represented by workload data for the first backup server exceeds a data collection threshold, an updated backup schedule that offloads a pending job from the first backup server to the second backup server can be generated. The updated backup schedule is generated if a maximum average I/O threshold for the first backup server was exceeded while a minimum average I/O threshold for the second backup server was deceeded. The maximum and minimum average I/O thresholds are calculated based on respective target average I/O rates for the first and second backup servers, the target average I/O rates derived from respective perform metric data.

In information technology, the process of backing up computer data refers to copying data from a first repository to a second repository for a variety of purposes. One purpose for backing up data is to enable data recovery from the second repository in the event of data loss in the first repository. Data loss can occur via data deletion, data corruption, or the destruction of data bearing computer readable storage media as a result natural and/or man-made disasters. Another purpose for backing up data is to recover previous versions of files, computer programs, operating systems, and the like. In general, the second repository (i.e., a backup system) can include one or more types of computer readable storage media on which backups are stored. For example, magnetic tape, hard disk(s), optical storage device(s), solid-state storage media can be used alone or in any combination as part of a backup system. Additionally, the second repository can be an on-line repository, a near-line repository, or an off-line repository based on various redundancy, security, and/or accessibility requirements.


A pair of containers, provide complimentary outer surface contours so as to be mutually engagable in intimate nesting contact. Each of the containers provides an outwardly extending embossment and an inwardly extending groove. The embossment of each of containers is positioned and sized for frictional engagement with the groove on the other of the pair of containers for mutual securement of the containers when the containers are nested, thereby enabling the containers to be engaged and handled as a unit while dispensing different materials.

1. Incorporation by Reference
Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference, any and all U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to personal care bottles such as used for containing and dispensing shampoo, mouthwash, and lotions; and more particularly to a pair of such bottles that are mutually engagable so as to provide the benefit of ensuring that the bottles will conveniently continue to be used jointly.
3. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Smith, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,374: A nest-or-stack, lidless, open-stacking container for handling and storage of bulk material such as food products features a seamless, one piece plastic construction with channels formed into the bottom to permit the use of a forklift truck for moving, lifting and stacking of the container, and with stacking surfaces for stacking filled containers and nesting stop surfaces for nesting empty containers.
Kreeger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,611: A three-level stack and nest container is provided with a row of outwardly projecting stacking feet along the lower edges of a pair of opposed end walls.
Three stacking foot receiving seats are formed at the inner side of each end wall at different elevations in vertical alignment with each stacking foot so that two containers may be stacked or nested with the upper container at a high, intermediate or low elevation relative to the lower container depending upon which set of seats of the lower container are engaged by the feet of the upper container. Each vertically aligned group of seats includes recesses in the inner side of the end wall extending downwardly at opposite sides of the uppermost of the three seats. One recess will guide a stacking foot to the intermediate seat, the other recess will guide a stacking foot to the lower of the three seats.
Stahl, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,327: A container adapted to either stack or nest with another similarly oriented container of identical construction. The container has a plurality of feet along each side adjacent the bottom. The container side walls each have a lower section and an upper section spaced outwardly from the lower section and joined thereto by a ledge providing nesting saddles directly above the feet. The container also has a plurality of stacking saddles along the upper edge of each side wall likewise postioned directly above the feet. There are inclined ridges in the upper and lower sections of each side wall which guide the container down to a nested position within a lower container of identical construction.
Carroll, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,052: A container adapted to stack upon the endwalls of an identically oriented identical container, to partially nest within the endwalls of a reversely oriented identical container, and to have improved ability to resist the outward flexing of the endwalls that tends to occur due to the weight resting upon a container which is partially nested in the inventive container.
Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,724: A nest and stack container adapted to nest in, or stack on, a lower container of like construction, depending upon the orientation of the upper container with respect to said lower container. The walls of the container comprise bar members which extend between the bottom and an upper guide rail of the container. Said bar members are arranged such that the bar members of an upper container parallel the bar members of a lower container during nesting. Said guide rails on opposite ends or sides of the container make possible "blind stacking" or "blind nesting" of the containers, even at heights greater than the height of the person stacking or nesting the containers.
Our prior art search with abstracts described above teaches containers with nesting and stacking features. However, this prior art fails to teach nesting containers with snap-action dual container attachment features, and also fails to teach a cap that also functions as a stabilizing element when the container is placed inverted on a surface. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.

Mutually engagable twin personal care bottles


A data communication control apparatus controls data communication between at least one data processor, a reader which reads an image and outputs image data, and a printer which prints an image in accordance with the input image data. A connection controller controls a connection between the data processor, the reader and the printer, and a detector detects a connection request from the data processor. A discriminator discriminates whether or not the reader and the printer are in a copying operation, and a notification unit notifies the data processor of predetermined information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data control apparatus, and more particularly to a data transmission control apparatus in which input/output units are commonly used by plural central processing units.
2. Related Background Art
In conventional systems, for example an image processing system, each central processing unit (CPU) is often equipped with at least an image input unit such as an image reader or an image output unit such as an image printer. However, in such a system, the proportion of use of such image input/output units is quite low in the entire processing time of the system, and the connection of an expensive image input/output unit to each CPU is very inefficient. For this reason there has been proposed a system which is provided with a printer control unit, called a printer server, by means of which a printer unit is commonly utilized by plural CPU's through a local area network (LAN). However such a system involves a complicated LAN and common control and is not suitable for a small system.

Data communication control apparatus and method for controlling date communication among at least one data processing apparatus and a plurality of devices


A reliable uninterruptible DC power supply device. The DC backup power supply device includes an AC/DC converter, a DC/DC converter, voltage step-up/down choppers and a battery connected to a DC path of a main circuit connected with a load via a switch, and a microcomputer. In the device, under control of the microcomputer, the voltage step-up/down choppers are first operated under a condition that the MOS FET was turned OFF for self diagnosis of the backup power supply device. Next, the switch is turned ON to execute the remaining self diagnosis. The DC backup power supply device can execute its self diagnosis with a reduced likelihood of danger of exerting an adverse effect on the main circuit and also can exhibit a reliable uninterruptible power supply function.

The present invention relates to a DC backup power supply device and more particularly, to an improvement in a DC backup power supply device including a charging/discharging circuit for performing its power charging/discharging operation between a battery and a DC path and also to a method for diagnosing the device.
In a communication or information device such as a server, router or display array device; an AC/DC converter receives a commercial AC voltage, converts the AC voltage to a desired DC voltage required by a load within the device, and supplies the DC voltage power thereto. In particular, in a device such as a communication or information device which is required to have a high reliability, for the purpose of increasing the reliability of a power supply within the device, it is general to drive the AC/DC converter in a parallel redundant manner. In order to increase a reliability to the commercial AC power input, further, such a means is also employed as to receive a two-channel AC power as the input of the AC/DC converter. To realize a high reliability to the commercial AC power input, furthermore, there is employed such a power supply arrangement that an uninterruptible power supply (abbreviated to UPS, hereinafter) is connected between the device and the commercial AC voltage.
A DC backup power supply for supplying a DC power to a load from an AC power source via AC/DC and DC/DC converters is known as disclosed in JP-A-2000-197347. In this Publication, it is proposed to increase a conversion efficiency and reduce its volume and cost by connecting an intermediate DC path between the converters to a DC backup power supply.
The above related technique had a problem that no consideration is paid to an abnormality in parts within the DC backup power supply, resulting in a lack of reliability.

DC backup power supply device and method for diagnosing the same


An accumulator package (2) for a hand-held power tool includes:    a housing (4) having a plurality of accumulator cells (28) provided therein, a connection element (18) electrically connected with the accumulator cells (28) and accessible from outside, a charge state display (22) for displaying a charge state of the accumulator cells (28), a locking mechanism (14) for securing the accumulator package (2) on the power tool, and locking mechanism-operating elements (16) that simultaneously form accessible from outside outer switch elements for actuating the charge state display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accumulator package for a hand-held power tool such as, e.g., an accumulator-driven screw-driving tool, drilling tool, or wood-machining tool. The accumulator package includes a housing having a plurality of accumulator cells provided therein and a connection element electrically connected with the accumulator cells and accessible from outside. There is further provided a charge state display for displaying a charge state of the accumulator cells and which is actuated by outer switch means accessible from the outside.
With such accumulator packages the charge state can be ascertained each time by actuation of the outer switch means, e.g., in order to be able to charge the accumulator by a suitable time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
German Utility model DE 295 15 860 U1 discloses an accumulator package with an integrated charge state display. The charge state display is actuated by a push-button that projects outwardly through a side of the accumulator package housing.
The use of a push-button for actuating the charge state display, as needed, prevents an additional discharge of the accumulator cells by an actuated charge state display during extended idle or stop time.
The drawback of the known accumulator package consists in that the push-button, in particular because it projects through the housing, increases manufacturing costs and creates sealing problems. In addition, with such an accumulator package, in many applications, there exists a danger of the outwardly projecting push-button being broken off. Further, with the use of such a charge state display which is actuated as needed, it often happens that the operator forgets from time to time to check the charge state. As a result, a suitable moment for charging the accumulator package can be missed, in consequence of which the operator must interrupt a certain operational cycle at an unfavorable time in the operation to charge the accumulator package.
German Publication DE 42 04 420 A1 discloses an accumulator-driven electrical tool with the charge state display pinned on the accumulator package. The charge state display includes an LCD-display that permanently displays the charge state, and two light-emitting diodes a respective one of which lightens up upon actuation of the electrical tool in order to show whether the charge state is sufficient or too small for the actual tool adjustments.
The drawback of the accumulator package described above lies in that the LCD-display leads to a continuous additional discharge which becomes particularly noticeable at long stoppage periods. On the other hand, the light-emitting diodes are actuated in connection with the electrical tool.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an accumulator package for a power tool in which the above-described drawbacks are eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an accumulator package in which in addition to the prevention of the unnecessary discharge, a repeated testing of the charge state is ensured.

Accumulator package with charge state display


The invention disclosed in this patent document relates to transmembrane receptors, more particularly to a human G protein-coupled receptor for which the endogenous ligand is known (“known GPCRs”), and most particularly to mutated (non-endogenous) versions of the known GPCRs for use, most preferably in screening assays for the direct identification of candidate compounds as inverse agonists, agonists and partial agonists.

Although a number of receptor classes exist in humans, by far the most abundant and therapeutically relevant is represented by the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR or GPCRs) class. It is estimated that there are some 100,000 genes within the human genome, and of these, approximately 2%, or 2,000 genes, are estimated to code for GPCRs. Receptors, including GPCRs, for which the endogenous ligand has been identified are referred to as "known" receptors, while receptors for which the endogenous ligand has not been identified are referred to as "orphan" receptors. GPCRs represent an important area for the development of pharmaceutical products: from approximately 20 of the 100 known GPCRs, 60% of all prescription pharmaceuticals have been developed.
GPCRs share a common structural motif. (All these receptors have seven sequences of between 22 to 24 hydrophobic amino acids that form seven alpha helices, each of which spans the membrane (each span is identified by number, i.e., transmembrane-1 (TM-1), transmebrane-2 (TM-2), etc.). The transmembrane helices are joined by strands of amino acids between transmembrane-2 and transmembrane-3, transmembrane-4 and transmembrane-5, and transmembrane-6 and transmembrane-7 on the exterior, or "extracellular" side, of the cell membrane (these are referred to as "extracellular" regions 1, 2 and 3 (EC-1, EC-2 and EC-3), respectively). The transmembrane helices are also joined by strands of amino acids between transmembrane-1 and transmembrane-2, transmembrane-3 and transmembrane-4, and transmembrane-5 and transmembrane-6 on the interior, or "intracellular" side, of the cell membrane (these are referred to as "intracellular" regions 1, 2 and 3 (IC-1, IC-2 and IC-3), respectively). The "carboxy" ("C") terminus of the receptor lies in the intracellular space within the cell, and the "amino" ("N") terminus of the receptor lies in the extracellular space outside of the cell.
Generally, when an endogenous ligand binds with the receptor (often referred to as "activation" of the receptor), there is a change in the conformation of the intracellular region that allows for coupling between the intracellular region and an intracellular "G-protein." It has been reported that GPCRs are "promiscuous" with respect to G proteins, i.e., that a GPCR can interact with more than one G protein. See, Kenakin, T., 43 Life Sciences 1095 (1988). Although other G proteins exist, currently, Gq, Gs, Gi, Gz and Go are G proteins that have been identified. Endogenous ligand-activated GPCR coupling with the G-protein begins a signaling cascade process (referred to as "signal transduction"). Under normal conditions, signal transduction ultimately results in cellular activation or cellular inhibition. It is thought that the IC-3 loop as well as the carboxy terminus of the receptor interact with the G protein.
Under physiological conditions, GPCRs exist in the cell membrane in equilibrium between two different conformations: an "inactive" state and an "active" state. A receptor in an inactive state is unable to link to the intracellular signaling transduction pathway to produce a biological response. Changing the receptor conformation to the active state allows linkage to the transduction pathway (via the G-protein) and produces a biological response.
A receptor may be stabilized in an active state by an endogenous ligand or a compound such as a drug. Recent discoveries, including but not exclusively limited to modifications to the amino acid sequence of the receptor, provide means other than endogenous ligands or drugs to promote and stabilize the receptor in the active state conformation. These means effectively stabilize the receptor in an active state by simulating the effect of an endogenous ligand binding to the receptor. Stabilization by such ligand-independent means is termed "constitutive receptor activation."
Traditional ligand-dependent screens seek to indirectly identify compounds that antagonize the action of the ligand on the receptor in an effort to prevent ligand-induced activation of the receptor. However, such compounds, sometimes referred to as neutral-antagonists, generally would not be expected to affect the ligand-independent activity, or overactivity, of the receptor and the subsequent abnormal cellular response that can result from this overactivity. This is particularly relevant to a growing number of diseases, such as those identified in the table below, that have been linked to overactive GPCRs, because traditional neutral-antagonists will not block the abnormal ligand-independent activity of these receptors.
BACKGROUND TABLE 1DiseaseOveractive GPCRSchizophrenia5-HT2A, D2Depression5-HT2AHyperthyroidismThyrotropinHypertensionAngiotensin AT1AAsthmaAdenosine A1MelanomaMC-1Retinitis PigmentosaRhodopsin receptor

Non-endogenous, constitutively activated known G protein-coupled receptors


Methods and systems for deliverability-based e-mail sending are disclosed. A plurality of e-mail addresses for a user are acquired. For each of the e-mail addresses, a connection between a sending computer system and a receiving computer system is opened. A likelihood of successful e-mail delivery is determined for each of the connections. The connection having the highest likelihood of delivery is automatically selected. An e-mail is sent using the selected connection, and the other connections are closed without sending an e-mail.

Most e-mail traffic involves one sender (i.e., the address specified in the From field) and one recipient (i.e., the address specified in the To field). In some cases, multiple recipients are specified using the To, Cc, and/or Bcc fields. Generally speaking, however, bulk or transactional e-mail is sent on a one-to-one basis for the sake of deliverability (i.e., the likelihood of the recipient's ISP to deliver the e-mail) as well as the recipient's privacy.
Typically, a sending application composes the content for an e-mail and passes the content to an agent called a mail transport agent (MTA). The MTA on the sender's side calls the recipient's domain as specified in the recipient's e-mail address. The sending MTA connects to the receiving MTA sitting behind the recipient's domain and then pushes the message across the connection. If the message cannot be delivered, a bounce may be generated. In response to the bounce, the sending MTA may retry or give up.
Message delivery may fail for a variety of reasons. The recipient's e-mail address may be abandoned by its user, reclaimed by its host (e.g., due to prolonged inactivity), canceled by its user (e.g., along with cancelation of service with the host), or otherwise deactivated for any number of potential reasons. The host of the recipient's domain may be temporarily inaccessible due to network problems or problems with hardware and/or software at the host's e-mail servers. In some cases, delivery may be significantly delayed by the host (e.g., for hours or days) due to transient problems or host policies.
Online merchants typically maintain only one e-mail address for each customer account. Therefore, if a message sent by the merchant bounces back, the merchant may have no other way to contact the customer electronically. For the many reasons discussed above, the message may not be available to the customer at the e-mail address associated with the customer's account within a reasonable amount of time after the message has been sent by the merchant. Some types of messages, such as advertisements or solicitations, may not be time-critical for the customer. However, detrimental consequences may follow if other types of messages, such as order confirmations, are not received promptly by the customer.
Accordingly, it is desirable for senders of e-mail (e.g., merchants) to have reliable techniques for contacting recipients (e.g., customers).
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning "having the potential to"), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning "must"). Similarly, the words "include," "including," and "includes" mean "including, but not limited to."


A facsimile apparatus has a line interface for facsimile communication and is capable of communicating with a host computer through a remote host computer interface or a local host computer interface. The facsimile apparatus includes a facsimile data transferring unit for transferring facsimile data to the host computer through the remote host computer interface or the local host computer interface; an interface recognizing unit for recognizing the host computer interface that is connected from among the remote host computer interface and the local host computer interface; a transfer destination registering unit for registering a destination of the host computer to which the facsimile data transferring unit transfers the facsimile data through the remote host computer interface when the interface recognizing unit recognizes that the remote host computer interface is connected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus that has a line interface for facsimile communication and that is capable of communicating with a host computer through a remote host computer interface or a local host computer interface, a control method of the facsimile apparatus, and a control program of the facsimile apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Facsimile apparatuses are in widespread use as communication apparatuses capable of easily transmitting and/or receiving image data. Conventional facsimile apparatuses communicate over a public switched telephone network (PSTN). In contrast, technologies for facsimile communication over an internet protocol (IP) network, such as the Internet, have become common in recent years. Facsimile apparatuses that communicate over both the PSTN and the IP network are also known.
Furthermore, technologies of connecting facsimile apparatuses to host computers through remote host computer interfaces for connecting to local area networks (LANs) using, for example, carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) (refer to IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD (ETHERNET) http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/3/) or through local host computer interfaces conforming to universal serial bus (USB) (refer to UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS: http://www.usb.org/faq/), recommended standard 232 version C (RS232C), or the like are known. Internet-connection facsimile apparatuses communicating with host computers using these technologies have begun to be common. Such Internet-connection facsimile apparatuses can transfer received facsimile data to the host computers that can manage the facsimile data.
However, when the Internet-connection facsimile apparatus is to be provided with both the remote host computer interface, such as the LAN, and the local host computer interface conforming to the USB, the RS232C, or the like, a user, a manager, or a service person must refer to the manual or the like to determine which host computer the facsimile apparatus is connected to and through which host computer interface and to manually perform a complicated setting operation based on his/her knowledge and determination.

Facsimile apparatus, control method thereof, and control program thereof


In an electric double-layer capacitor, resistance of a polarizable electrode layer is reduced and gas generation inside a case is suppressed in an attempt to improve reliability. On that account, an electric double-layer capacitor is provided, which is obtained by housing in a case, together with a driving electrolyte, a capacitor element wound with a separator interposed between electrodes being paired anode and cathode electrodes in each of which polarizable electrode layers are formed on and lead wires are fixed to both sides of a current collector made of metallic foil, such that the polarizable electrode layers are opposed to each other. Further, an electric double-layer capacitor is provided in which the lead wire is fixed to a polarizable-electrode-layer-removed section on the electrode where the polarizable electrode layer has been removed, and an area of the polarizable-electrode-layer-removed section is not smaller than 1 and not larger than 2.0 when a project area of a portion where the lead wire is connected with the current collector is set to 1.

FIG. 9 is a partially broken away perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional electric double-layer capacitor of this kind. In FIG. 9, capacitor element 121 is configured by winding anode electrode 122 and cathode electrode 123 in a state where separator 124 is interposed therebetween.
Further, anode electrode 122 and cathode electrode 123 are configured by respectively forming polarizable electrode layers 126 on both sides (the rear side is not shown) of current collector 125 made of metallic foil. Moreover, anode electrode 122 and cathode electrode 123 are respectively connected with anode lead wire 127 and cathode lead wire 128.
Capacitor element 121 as thus configured is impregnated with a driving electrolyte (not shown) and then inserted into bottomed cylindrical case 129, and after rubber-made sealing member 130 having holes through which anode lead wire 127 and cathode lead wire 128 are inserted is arranged on an opening of case 129, a periphery of the opening of case 129 is inwardly drawn and an opening end of case 129 is also curled, to seal the opening.
For the purpose of improvement in efficiency as the electrodes, polarizable electrode layers 126 are formed in layer shape on both sides of current collector 125. In fixing anode lead wire 127 and cathode lead wire 128 for electrical pulling from the electrodes, since contact resistance would be high if the lead wire is fixed from the top of polarizable electrode layer 126, current collector 125 is conventionally exposed by scraping away polarizable electrode layer 126 in positions where anode lead wire 127 and cathode lead wire 128 are fixed or by some other method. Namely, in order to make anode lead wire 127 and cathode lead wire 128 favorably connected with the metallic foil as current collector 125 for reducing a resistance component, polarizable electrode layer 126 in the connected portion is partially removed to expose current collector 125, and the lead wire is then connected thereto.
It is to be noted that as related art document information relevant to the invention of this application, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are known.
However, in the configuration of the above-mentioned conventional electric double-layer capacitor, especially in cathode polarizable electrode layer 126, when the exposed portion of current collector 125 is opposed to polarizable electrode layer 126 through separator 124 at the time of fixing cathode lead wire 128, overacidity of anions in the electrolyte may exert to degrade or erode the separator.
Further, in the above-mentioned conventional electric double-layer capacitor, at the time of connecting anode lead wire 127 to the anode electrode 122 (the same applies to cathode electrode 123), polarizable electrode layer 126 in the connected portion is partially removed for the purpose of making favorable connection with the metallic foil as current collector 125 to reduce the resistance component. The method of removing polarizable electrode layer 126 is forcibly scraping away the electrode layer by use of a rotating brush or the like, and an area of the electrode layer is removed considerably larger than an area of the connected portion of the lead wire to be connected in view of problems concerning processing accuracy and assembly, and the like. Hence, with the lead wire in the state of being connected to each electrode, on the periphery of the lead wire, polarizable electrode layer 126 does not exist and a portion where current collector 125 is exposed exists.
However, when a requirement for ensuring a range (70° C., 2.7 V), which exceeds a range (60° C., 2.3 V or less) required of the conventional electric double-layer capacitor to ensure, is intended to be met, there is a problem as follows due to occurrence of such an exposed portion of current collector 125.
Namely, when a high voltage is applied to use the capacitor for a long period of time, the driving electrolyte reacts between the exposed portion of current collector 125 of cathode electrode 123 and polarizable electrode layer 126 of anode electrode 122 which is opposed to the exposed portion through separator 124, and electrolytic anions BF4−, PF6− and the like are drawn to the anode side, to acidify the peripheral portion thereof, thereby causing deterioration in separator 124. Hence there is a problem of consequently causing not only deterioration in characteristic but also occurrence of gas generation and an increase in inner pressure.
It is possible to solve such a problem all at once by forming polarizable electrode layer 126 on the lead wire and exposed portion of current collector 125 after connection of the lead wire to each electrode, but adding such a process forces a large burden in terms of cost.
[Patent Document 1] Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. H08-83738
[Patent Document 2] Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-270293

Electric double-layer capacitor and method for manufacturing the same


A computer-readable recording medium stores a consolidation support program that causes a computer to execute a process that includes acquiring an electronic message transmitted and received among apparatuses; converting the electronic message into a first electronic message based on a first consolidation rule selected from a consolidation rule group to convert the electronic message by substituting with a specific value, a character string that matches a specific pattern and is included in the electronic message; converting the electronic message into a second electronic message based on a second consolidation rule having a priority rank that is higher than that of the first consolidation rule; determining whether the first and the second electronic messages match; and producing when the first and the second electronic messages do not match, a restrictive condition that the first consolidation rule is to be selected after the second consolidation rule, from the consolidation rule group.

A technique is conventionally known according to which the number of transmission sessions, processing time periods, etc. of electronic messages transmitted and received among apparatuses in a system are statistically processed and thereby, the states of the apparatuses in the system are monitored. When the electronic messages are statistically processed, a user may wish to classify and process the electronic messages by function, object to be handled, etc. Therefore, each of the electronic messages may foe converted into a form suitable for statistical processing using delimiters, regular expressions, etc. Hereinafter, the conversion of each of the electronic messages into an electronic message in a form suitable for the statistical processing may be expressed as "consolidation".
When the consolidation is executed for the electronic message, for example, a user prepares in advance a list of consolidation definitions to convert the electronic message; and an apparatus that executes a consolidation process compares sequentially in order of the definitions listed, the consolidation definitions with the electronic message and outputs the conversion result of the consolidation definition that first matches the electronic message. The user may change the order in which the consolidation definitions defined in the list are applied to the electronic messages to improve the efficiency of the consolidation process, etc.
Prior arts relating to the above are, for example, a technique of monitoring a database system without connecting to the database system; a technique of analyzing the processing time periods of transactions executed among servers in a system; a technique of converting an event and a log issued by an application into a common form to be managed; and a technique of enabling concurrent execution of plural orders by preventing, for example, data dependence (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2006-338415, 2004-355650, and 2000-148488, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 4610240).
However, according to the conventional techniques, it is difficult to change the application sequence of the consolidation definitions such that the output result of the consolidation process is not changed even when the application sequence of the consolidation definitions defined in the list, etc. For example, when the output result of the consolidation process is changed by changing the application sequence of the consolidation definitions, determination may be difficult as to whether the consolidation is correctly executed for the electronic messages and the user may not acquire an output result as intended.

Computer product, consolidation support method, and consolidation support apparatus


A vehicular communications network is disclosed. The network comprises a communications channel for propagating a signal therealong; a nodal communications system; and a signal coupling system coupled to the communications channel and to the nodal communications system for coupling a signal between the communications channel and the nodal communications system.

Common braid-shielded coaxial cable is typically comprised of an outer cylindrical conducting shell which is coaxial with an inner cylindrical conductor, thus forming an annular space therebetween. The annular space is usually filled with a low loss dielectric acting as the medium of propagation of a signal along the cable. Within the coaxial cable the dominant mode transverse electric and magnetic fields (TEM) of the signal propagate along the cable with the electric field radial to the inner conductor and terminating at the braided outer conductor. At high frequencies, gaps within the braided outer conductor allow a portion of the electric field of the propagating signal to leak out of the cable and terminate on the outer side of the braided layer. Normally, this leakage of the signal is undesirable. It leads to degradation or attenuation of the propagating signal along the length of the cable. Also, two coax cables placed in close proximity to one another and suffering from the above leakage, give rise to what is commonly known as "cross talk," i.e., the coupling of a signal propagating in one cable into the other cable and vice versa. Such cross talk leads to undesirable interference between signals in a communications network.

Cross link intra-vehicular data communication using a field coupled transmission line