Provided are an apparatus for treating laundry and a method for controlling the same. The laundry treating apparatus includes a cabinet, a drum, a motor, a door, and a door switch. The cabinet defines an external appearance and has a laundry loading hole for laundry. The drum houses the laundry and is rotatably installed. The motor rotates the drum. The door is rotatably coupled to the cabinet to open and close the laundry loading hole. The door switch allows the door to be closed. Here, when close protection is set by manipulation of a close protection button, or the drum vibrates without rotation of the motor, the door switch allows the door not to be closed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating laundry and a method for controlling the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus for treating laundry and a method for controlling the same, which can set a door not to be closed and prevent an accident when a child enters the drum.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a laundry treating apparatus is a common designation for various kinds of treating apparatus that treat laundry by applying physical and chemical actions to the laundry, such as a washing machine that removes contaminants from clothes, bedding, etc. (hereinafter, referred to as 'laundry') using a chemical decomposition action of water and detergent, and a physical action, such as friction, between water and laundry; a drying machine that dries wet laundry by spinning; and a refresher that sprays heated steam to the laundry for preventing the occurrence of allergic reaction due to the laundry and, in addition, for easily and conveniently washing the laundry.
When a child enters the laundry treatment apparatus, and then a door thereof is closed, the child may be suffocated because the child could not open the door.

Apparatus for treating laundry and method for controlling the same


A visit to an overhead channel to obtain base station identifiers is made if it is necessary to do so. Base station identifiers are indicative of an approximate location of a terminal. The determination to update the base station identifiers may be made by monitoring one or more base stations in the terminal's active set. In another aspect, the terminal can originate a new data call immediately after the necessary base station identifiers have been obtained from the overhead channel, without having to wait for the expiration of a timer (e.g., the dormant timer). Moreover, by maintaining the data session when terminating the data call for the overhead visit, data communication may be more quickly resumed, for a new data call originated after the overhead visit, using the same configured protocols.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to data communication. More specifically, the present invention relates to techniques for selectively updating base station identifiers that may be used for position determination purposes.
2. Background
It is often desirable, and sometimes necessary, to know the position of a wireless user. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted a report and order for enhanced 911 (E-911) wireless service that requires the location of a wireless terminal (e.g., a cellular phone) to be provided to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) each time a 911 call is made from the terminal. In addition to the FCC mandate, service providers have begun to recognize that location services (i.e., services that identify the position of a wireless terminal) may be used in various applications to provide value-added features. For example, a service provider may use location services to implement location-sensitive billing, provide location-sensitive information (e.g., driving directions, traffic report, nearest gas stations, and so on), and provide location-related services (e.g., asset tracking, asset monitoring and recovery, fleet and resource management, and so on).
The position of a wireless terminal may be determined based on (1) distances to a sufficient number of transmitters, which are used as reference points, and (2) the locations of these transmitters. The transmitters may be satellites of the well-known Global Positioning System (GPS), base stations of a wireless communication network, or a combination of both. The terminal can estimate the distance to each transmitter by measuring the time required for a signal to travel from the transmitter to the terminal. The location of the transmitters may be provided within the signals themselves or from another entity in the network. A position estimate may then be computed for the terminal based on the estimated distances to the transmitters and their locations.
A position determination entity (PDE) within the wireless communication network may provide some of the information needed to compute a position estimate for the terminal. This "aiding information" may include the location of the base stations, timing information, and so on. Depending on the whereabouts of the terminal within the network, the PDE may provide different information. For example, depending on the specific cell in which the terminal is currently located, the PDE may provide only the locations of base stations that may be received by terminals within that cell.
A large communication network may be composed of multiple systems, each of which may include a number of base stations. "Base station identifiers" may uniquely identify each base station in the network. Base station identifiers can comprise a base station identifier (Base ID), a system identifier (SID), and a network identifier (NID). For some networks, the base station identifiers (Base ID/SID/NID) may be transmitted via messages on an overhead channel. For example, in IS-95 and cdma2000 code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, the base station identifiers are transmitted via system parameter messages on a paging channel. For these networks the terminal is able to obtain the base station identifiers by processing the overhead channels. The terminal can report the base station identifiers can to the PDE. The PDE can use the identifiers to determine the approximate location of the terminal.
A terminal is typically on a traffic channel during active communication with the wireless communication network. For IS-95 and cdma2000 networks, there are no defined messages that may be transmitted on the traffic channel that can update all of the base station identifiers (Base ID/SID/NID). If the terminal is in active communication with the network for a length of time and has moved some distance to a new location, then the base station identifiers obtained by the terminal at the start of the data communication may be incorrect. If these out-of-date base station identifiers are reported to the PDE, then the PDE may provide incorrect aiding information to the terminal.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques for updating base station identifiers for position determination purposes.

Update of base station identifiers based on overhead visit


A given length of an input signal can be detected with small power consumption. A real time clock apparatus has an oscillating module which outputs an original oscillating clock signal having a predetermined frequency, a plurality of dividing modules which divides the original oscillating clock signal outputted from the oscillating module to generate clock signals having a period different from each other, a clock selecting circuit which outputs a clock signal having a given period outputted from the dividing module based on the supplied selection signal, and a signal detecting circuit which is connected to an external switch and which detects a length of an inputted signal by a clock signal outputted from the clock selecting circuit and senses whether the inputted signal is an input signal from the switch.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a real time clock apparatus which is mounted on an electronic appliance to keep time and output a reference clock signal for synchronization with processing.
2. Related Art
It is known that when a mechanical switch etc., is switched from on to off or from off to on, chattering occurs that may cause malfunctions of an electronic appliance. Therefore, heretofore, a signal source such as a switch is connected to an integrated circuit formed of capacitance C and resistance R to remove chattering. However, since a chatter filtering circuit using the integrated circuit is varied in its filtering characteristics depending on the voltage characteristics and temperature characteristics of devices, it can remove minute pulses and noise, but it is difficult to accurately filter the input signal length to selectively output signals. Once the device constant is set, it is difficult to change sensitivity in a finished product. In addition to this, there is a unit to detect and process switch signals, etc. by software to determine validity of input signals. However, the difference in CPU process capability and influence of interrupt processing cause variations in determinations.
JP-A-5-53703 describes a microprocessor provided with a chatter filtering circuit which removes chattering by a logic circuit with no use of a capacitor and a resister. The chatter filtering circuit is configured of a clock generator circuit, a shift register formed of a plurality of stages, a NAND circuit and a NOR circuit disposed on the output side of the shift register, an RS flip flop to which the outputs of the NAND circuit and the NOR circuit are inputted, and so on. Each stage of the shift register is inputted with a clock signal outputted from the clock generator circuit, and a first stage of the shift register is inputted with an external input signal. Furthermore, the output of each stage of the shift register and an input signal are inputted to the NAND circuit and the NOR circuit to remove chattering. In the chatter filtering circuit, the frequency of clock signals outputted from the clock generator circuit is set to take out a given length of input signals separately from chattering.
However, the chatter filtering circuit described in JP-A-5-53703 is required to have a clock generator circuit exclusive for use in removal of chattering inside the microprocessor. Thus, in the chatter filtering circuit of JP-A-5-53703, the clock generator circuit needs to be continuously operated to remove chattering and to detect input signals, causing an increase in power consumption of an electronic appliance. Particularly, in recent years, electronic appliances are increasingly reduced in size and are formed into portables, including cellular phones, and many electronic appliances are operated by a built-in battery. There is an increasing demand for a reduction in power consumption. Moreover, in recent years, a CPU, the core of electronic appliances, is demanded to have many functions, and the number of switches provided in electronic appliances is growing. Therefore, the load of the CPU is significantly increased because of monitoring the conditions of these switches and an increase in interrupt processing, possibly causing operational delay.
The invention has been made to solve these problems, and an object is to surely detect a given length of an input signal with small power consumption.
Furthermore, an object of the invention is to remove noise such as chattering to very accurately detect only a valid input signal with respect to a length of time that is freely set by a system.
Moreover, an object of the invention is to confirm whether an input signal is made even though an electronic appliance main body is not operated.


Techniques disclosed herein enable efficient creation of models that represent connection topology of virtual machine (VM) management servers and site recovery manager (SRM) servers configured to provide VM recovery services across multiple locations. In operation, an SRM topology unit initializes a model to represent a VM management server. The SRM topology unit expands the model to represent a first SRM server that is logically connected to the VM management server and supports VM recovery at a first location. The SRM topology unit further expands the model to reflect a pairing relationship between the first SRM server and a second VM management server that supports VMs at a second location. Creating an easily-comprehended model in this hierarchical and automated fashion improves on conventional techniques where holistically evaluating the connection topology is predominantly a tedious and error-prone manual process.

Virtualization management software allows multiple virtual machines (VMs) to execute on a single hardware computing platform. Each VM is an abstraction of a physical computing system and executes a "guest" operating system. Virtualization management software also manages how hardware computing resources are allocated to each VM. A group of hardware computing platforms may be organized as a cluster to provide the hardware computing resources for VMs. In a data center, it is common to see hundreds, even thousands, of VMs running on multiple clusters of host servers.
When a server cluster at one location fails, the virtual infrastructure at that location may be recovered at a remote location through a disaster recovery process. Such disaster recovery restarts the entire data center (or a portion thereof) at the remote location by replicating the virtual infrastructure at the remote location. Commercially available disaster recovery products include VMware® vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager™.
In some disaster recovery products, site recovery manager (SRM) servers provide disaster recovery services to virtual machines (VMs) managed by a VM management server. SRM servers work in pairs—one of the SRM servers in the pair is registered to (i.e., works with) a VM management server at the "protected" site, and the other SRM server in the pair is registered to a VM management server at the "recovery" site. Notably, multiple SRM servers at the recovery site that communicate with corresponding SRM servers at the protected site may be registered to a single VM management server. Such a configuration may be employed during an N-to-1 disaster-recovery setup.
Efficiently configuring the VM management servers and SRM servers (e.g., optimizing pairings, registrations, etc.) requires understanding and manipulating the topology of the servers deployed across the sites. Traditional approaches to configuring the VM management servers and SRM servers focus on a single registration or pairing in isolation. Such a myopic approach does not facilitate efficient re-configuration in the event of errors or optimizing recovery workflows. For example, in some disaster recovery products, when one of the SRM servers in a pair is unavailable, the traditional approaches do not facilitate identification of holistic options, such as other SRM servers that are reachable from the available SRM server in the pair. Instead, understanding the broader topology and then identifying candidates for re-assignment and/or re-pairing is a manual process that is tedious and can negatively affect user experience and efficient execution of disaster recovery workflows.

Modeling the topology of management servers in a distributed system


A volumetric tissue ablation apparatus includes a probe having a plurality of wires journaled through a catheter with a proximal end connected to the active terminal of a generator and a distal end projecting from a distal end of the catheter. The probe wire distal ends are arranged in an array with the distal ends located generally radially and uniformly spaced apart from the catheter distal end. A conductor connected to the return terminal of the generator is located relative to the probe wire array to form a closed electrical circuit through tissue to be ablated. Preferably, the probe wire array includes 10 wires, each formed in an arch from the catheter distal end. The conductor can be either a conventional ground plate upon which the tissue is supported, or a conductor wire extending through the probe and electrically insulated from the probe wires.

The liver is a common repository for metastasis from many cancers, including those of the stomach, bowel, pancreas, kidney, and lung. In colorectal cancer the liver is the initial site of spread in more than one-third of patients, and is involved in more than two-thirds at the time of death. While patients with untreated colorectal metastasis to the liver have no five year survival, patients undergoing surgical resection have approximately a 25-30% five year survival. Unfortunately, only a limited number of patients are candidates for surgical resection.
Cryosurgery is also used for the treatment of hepatic metastasis. Cryosurgery, which relies on a freeze-thaw process to nonselectively kill cells, has been found equally effective as surgical resection but is more tissue sparing. While an improvement over open surgical tissue resection, cryosurgery still suffers from disadvantages. It is an open surgical procedure, requires placement of up to five relatively large probes, and can only be applied to a limited number of lesions. While percutaneous probes are being developed, they are currently capable only of treatment of smaller lesions. Typical lesions common to colorectal metastasis, however, are relatively large. Therefore, the outlook for percutaneous cryotherapy is guarded.
A number of investigators have used radio frequency hyperthermia with placement of external electrodes, for the treatment of liver cancers. Tumor cells are known to be more sensitive to heat than normal cells, and externally applied regional hyperthermia delivered with radio frequency tends to ablate the tumor while sparing the normal tissue of significant damage. While this therapy improves the response to systemic chemotherapy, it has uncertain benefit for long-term survival. One limitation of hyperthermia is that it is difficult to heat the tumors to a lethally high temperature. Moreover, tumor cells tend to become thermoresistant if they survive early treatments.
Percutaneous laser hyperthermia has also been used for primary and metastatic liver cancer. Laser fibers are introduced through needles, under ultrasound guidance. The lesions generated by laser are represented by hyperechoic foci on the real time ultrasound images, which can be used to monitor the size of the lesion. Low energy single fiber systems, which do not require a cooling system along the fiber, can generate areas of necrosis limited to approximately 15 mm diameter. Such small diameters are insufficient for the vast majority of lesions encountered clinically thus requiring multiple fiber placement and prolonged procedure times.
Radio frequency (RF) hyperthermia, using a standard electrosurgical generator and a fine needle partially sheathed in plastic, has also been proposed for the treatment of liver and other solid tumors. In one system, the apparatus was capable of generating lesions of approximately 1.times.2 cm in a pig liver. In order to produce larger treatment volumes with a single needle, high currents and temperatures have been employed, but produce charred and carbonized tissue, without enlarging the tissue volume being treated. To treat a larger lesion, multiple needle passes in different locations would be needed. In preliminary testing, this system established a 75% survival at 40 months.
It can therefore be seen that the treatment of primary and metastatic liver tumors and other solid tumors elsewhere in the body, remains problematic. Surgery is effective, but only a small percentage of affected patients are candidates. Cryotherapy has had improved results, but its applicable patient population is essentially the same as that for surgery. The percutaneous methods have the virtue of being less invasive, so they can be appropriately used for a larger spectrum of patients, but current percutaneous methods all suffer from a limited ability to ablate a large volume of tissue in a single procedure with a single probe passage.

Board of Regents of University of Nebraska


An adaptable, temperature-responsive, powered-fan, foundation ventilator apparatus includes a louver housing defining an air passageway, construction for selectively opening and closing the louver housing air passageway depending upon the temperature, a fan housing defining an air passageway communicating with the louver housing, structure for mounting a fan at the rear edge of the fan housing, a fan carried by the fan mounting structure, a fan orifice plate disposed across the air passageway of the fan housing and defining an orifice through the orifice plate, and a fan that includes a fan blade operatively disposed in the orifice of the orifice plate. The apparatus further includes a flexible elongated duct that connects the fan housing to locations which are obstructed from direct flow to the fan housing. The apparatus further includes a flexible adaptor hood which adjustably connects to the fan housing and to the flexible duct and is configured for easy storage in inventory.

The present invention relates to a system which exhausts air from the foundation of a dwelling or other building structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ventilator with an electrically powered fan which expels air from within the building structure to the outside environment.
A number of ventilators with automatic, temperature responsive louvers are known, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,882 to Sarazen, Jr. et al. A bimetallic element provides a temperature operative mechanism to open and close the shutter elements of many of these vents. A number of ventilators powered by a fan are known, including: Japanese Publication No. 55-121335A to Nobutou, Japanese Patent Publication 56-53331A to Nakamura. U.K. Patent Application GB 2 115 922A to Eccles, Brevet d'Invention No. 545,591 to Mertz, and those disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventive Entity ______________________________________ 4,829,882 Jackson 4,136,822 Felter 4,006,672 Matsuyoshi et al 3,974,754 Powlesland et al 2,510,524 Schramm ______________________________________
However, the suction capability of such powered fans diminishes significantly with distance measured from the rear edge of the fan housing. Moreover, there are often locations of the foundation crawl space that are inaccessible to the suction produced by the powered fan of such ventilators. Some of the foregoing patents disclose the use of humidity sensors and temperature sensors to control operation of the fan.


A terminal connecting structure is provided with a male terminal having a tab portion and a female terminal having a contact portion. The tab portion and the contact portion mutually slide. A sliding surface of the tab portion extends in a direction inclined with respect to a sliding direction of the tab portion and the contact portion and has a projecting wall and a recess portion provided alternately along the sliding direction. A sliding surface of the contact portion extends in a direction crossing the projecting wall and the recess portion and has a projecting wall and a recess portion provided alternately along the sliding portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal connecting structure in which each of contact portions of a plurality of terminals mutually slides and is brought into contact with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a structure for connecting terminals of connectors to each other, a structure in which a first contact portion of a first terminal and a second contact portion of a second terminal mutually slide and are brought into contact with each other has been proposed. When a connector having this structure is used in an environment with vibration, thermal shock, a temperature humidity cycle and the like, the first terminal and the second terminal slightly slides with respect to each other, and this slight sliding causes chipping of surface plated layers (tinning, for example) of the first contact portion and the second contact portion, and abrasion powders are generated. If the abrasion powders are present between the first contact portion and the second contact portion, contact resistance increases.
When a contact load between the first contact portion and the second contact portion is large (4.0 N, for example), a slight sliding distance between the first contact portion and the second contact portion is kept short, and an abrasion powder amount generated by the slight sliding can be kept small.
However, with recent size reduction of connectors, when the contact load between the first contact portion and the second contact portion becomes small (1.0 N or less, for example), the slight sliding distance between the first contact portion and the second contact portion becomes large, and the abrasion powder amount generated by the slight sliding increases, which lowers durability of a terminal.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-188028 proposes a terminal connecting structure for solving the above described problem. FIG. 6 illustrates this contact connecting structure. The contact connecting structure of Patent Literature 1 has a movable terminal 50 and a fixed terminal 60. The movable terminal 50 has an arc-shaped movable contact portion 51. The fixed terminal 60 has a fixed contact portion 61 on which the movable contact portion 51 slides. A sliding surface of the fixed contact portion 61 has a plurality of grooves 62. The grooves 62 extend along a sliding direction (terminal moving direction) S and are formed at intervals.
In the above configuration, during connection or slight sliding of the terminal, the contact portion 51 of the movable terminal 50 slides on the fixed contact portion 61 of the fixed terminal 60. When abrasion powders are generated in this process, the abrasion powders move with movement of the movable contact portion 51 and a part of them enters the grooves 62. As a result, an amount of the abrasion powders present between the movable contact portion 51 and the fixed contact portion 61 can be reduced, and an increase of contact resistance can be suppressed.


A computer-implemented method, to facilitate processing a payment for an online transaction, includes, responsive to receiving secure transaction data from a merchant server, using a payment processor to generate a transaction data identifier to identify the transaction data. The payment processor communicates the transaction data identifier to the merchant server. In response to receiving a request to process a payment, including the transaction data identifier, the payment processor requests user credentials from a user. Upon receiving user credentials from the user, the payment processor verifies the user credentials. The payment processor processes the payment and generates a payment identifier to identify payment data associated with the payment. The payment processor communicates the payment identifier to the merchant server. Upon receiving a request for payment data, including the payment identifier, over a secure communication channel from the merchant server, the payment processor communicates the payment data to the merchant server.

Electronic commerce ("e-commerce") has been increasing in popularity as more people are becoming accustomed to purchasing products online via the Internet. However, online transactions can raise security issues for merchants.
In a typical e-commerce transaction, a customer uses a web client (e.g., a browser, such as the Internet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. State) to access a merchant website hosted on a merchant server. The customer browses the merchant website selecting items to purchase. When the customer is ready to pay for the selected items, a checkout web page including a list of the items selected for purchase is displayed. To confirm the selection of items, the user selects a "checkout" button on the checkout web page.
Next, a payment web page is displayed to the customer. At the payment web page, the customer enters payment information for the e-commerce transaction. For example, the customer may be prompted to enter a credit card number, a billing address for the credit card number, and a shipping address for the items selected for purchase. Once the information is entered, the customer selects a "submit payment" button and the payment information is posted to the merchant server. The merchant server will then communicate the payment information to a server administered by a third party payment processor. The payment processor server will verify the information entered by the customer, process the payment, and communicate to the merchant server whether the payment was successful. Upon a successful payment, the merchant server will display a payment verification web page to the user.
An alternative method is commonly referred to as a "buyer push" payment method, in which the seller "pushes" funds to the merchant. A "buyer push" transaction may proceed as follows.
At a checkout web page downloaded to the customer's computer, the customer is presented with a virtual shopping cart listing all of the items the customer has selected to purchase. In addition, the checkout web page may list other transaction data, such as the price for each item, a sub-total for all items, any applicable tax, and a total cost of the transaction. When the customer selects the "checkout" button, the customer's computer communicates all of the transaction information to a third party server for payment processing via a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Post method.
The payment processor server receives the transaction information and then presents the user with a user credentials web page. The user credentials web page prompts the customer to enter a username and password for verification purposes. Once the customer enters a username and password, the customer selects the "OK" button to submit the user credentials to the payment processor server.
Upon successful verification, the customer is presented with a payment web page. At the payment web page, the customer selects a form of payment that is available to the customer based on the customer's user credentials and the customer's current account standings with the payment processor. For customers with existing accounts, a previously selected default shipping address is used. However, the customer might select an alternative shipping address at the payment web page. After entering the payment information, the customer selects the "submit payment" button to confirm the payment and to communicate the payment information to the third party payment processor server.
After receiving and validating the payment information, the payment processor server displays a payment confirmation web page and communicates the payment information to the merchant server with a payment status (e.g., whether the payment was successful). If the payment status indicates that the payment was successful, then the merchant server will display its own payment confirmation web page.
The "buyer push" method described has potential technical problems that can raise security concerns for merchants. In the traditional "buyer push" scheme described above, when the transaction information is communicated from the merchant checkout page to the third party payment processor, the transaction information is susceptible to being intercepted and/or modified. For example, the transaction information is simply embedded in a hypertext markup language (HTML) document and communicated to the third party payment processor server via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Post method. Therefore, the transaction information can be viewed and edited by simply editing the source HTML document prior to submitting the data to the third party payment processor server. A customer might modify the payment price and pay less for a product than the merchant intended. Similarly, the status of the payment is communicated to the merchant server via the HTTP Post method and therefore subject to the same security issues. Consequently, security flaws exist in the traditional "buyer push" method.

Method and system to facilitate securely processing a payment for an online transaction


A system and method are provided for identifying related packets in a communication flow for the purpose of collectively processing them through a protocol stack comprising one or more protocols under which the packets were transmitted. A packet received at a network interface is parsed to retrieve information from one or more protocol headers. A flow key is generated to identify a communication flow that includes the packet, and is stored in a database of flow keys. When the packet is placed in a queue to be transferred to a host computer, the flow key and/or its flow number (e.g., its index into the database) is stored in a separate queue. Near to the time at which the packet is transferred to the host computer, a dynamic packet batching module searches for a packet that is related to the packet being transferred (i.e., is in the same flow) but which will be transferred later in time. If a related packet is located, the host computer is alerted and, as a result, delays processing the transferred packet until the related packet is also received. By collectively processing the related packets, processor time is more efficiently utilized.

BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Introduction
One Embodiment of a High Performance Network Interface Circuit
An Illustrative Packet
One Embodiment of a Header Parser
Dynamic Header Parsing Instructions in One Embodiment of the Invention
One Embodiment of a Flow Database
One Embodiment of a Flow Database Manager
One Embodiment of a Load Distributor
One Embodiment of a Packet Queue
One Embodiment of a Control Queue
One Embodiment of a DMA Engine
Methods of Transferring a Packet Into a Memory Buffer by a DMA Engine
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 0
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 1
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 2
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 3
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 4
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 5
A Method of Transferring a Packet with Operation Code 6 or 7
One Embodiment of a Dynamic Packet Batching Module
Early Random Packet Discard in One Embodiment of the Invention
CLAIMS
This invention relates to the fields of computer systems and computer networks. In particular, the present invention relates to a Network Interface Circuit (NIC) for processing communication packets exchanged between a computer network and a host computer system.
The interface between a computer and a network is often a bottleneck for communications passing between the computer and the network. While computer performance (e.g., processor speed) has increased exponentially over the years and computer network transmission speeds have undergone similar increases, inefficiencies in the way network interface circuits handle communications have become more and more evident. With each incremental increase in computer or network speed, it becomes ever more apparent that the interface between the computer and the network cannot keep pace. These inefficiencies involve several basic problems in the way communications between a network and a computer are handled.
Today""s most popular forms of networks tend to be packet-based. These types of networks, including the Internet and many local area networks, transmit information in the form of packets. Each packet is separately created and transmitted by an originating endstation and is separately received and processed by a destination endstation. In addition, each packet may, in a bus topology network for example, be received and processed by numerous stations located between the originating and destination endstations.
One basic problem with packet networks is that each packet must be processed through multiple protocols or protocol levels (known collectively as a xe2x80x9cprotocol stackxe2x80x9d) on both the origination and destination endstations. When data transmitted between stations is longer than a certain minimal length, the data is divided into multiple portions, and each portion is carried by a separate packet. The amount of data that a packet can carry is generally limited by the network that conveys the packet and is often expressed as a maximum transfer unit (MTU). The original aggregation of data is sometimes known as a xe2x80x9cdatagram,xe2x80x9d and each packet carrying part of a single datagram is processed very similarly to the other packets of the datagram.
Communication packets are generally processed as follows. In the origination endstation, each separate data portion of a datagram is processed through a protocol stack. During this processing multiple protocol headers (e.g., TCP, IP, Ethernet) are added to the data portion to form a packet that can be transmitted across the network. The packet is received by a network interface circuit, which transfers the packet to the destination endstation or a host computer that serves the destination endstation. In the destination endstation, the packet is processed through the protocol stack in the opposite direction as in the origination endstation. During this processing the protocol headers are removed in the opposite order in which they were applied. The data portion is thus recovered and can be made available to a user, an application program, etc.
Several related packets (e.g., packets carrying data from one datagram) thus undergo substantially the same process in a serial manner (i.e., one packet at a time). The more data that must be transmitted, the more packets must be sent, with each one being separately handled and processed through the protocol stack in each direction. Naturally, the more packets that must be processed, the greater the demand placed upon an endstation""s processor. The number of packets that must be processed is affected by factors other than just the amount of data being sent in a datagram. For example, as the amount of data that can be encapsulated in a packet increases, fewer packets need to be sent. As stated above, however, a packet may have a maximum allowable size, depending on the type of network in use (e.g., the maximum transfer unit for standard Ethernet traffic is approximately 1,500 bytes). The speed of the network also affects the number of packets that a NIC may handle in a given period of time. For example, a gigabit Ethernet network operating at peak capacity may require a NIC to receive approximately 1.48 million packets per second. Thus, the number of packets to be processed through a protocol stack may place a significant burden upon a computer""s processor. The situation is exacerbated by the need to process each packet separately even though each one will be processed in a substantially similar manner.
A related problem to the disjoint processing of packets is the manner in which data is moved between xe2x80x9cuser spacexe2x80x9d (e.g., an application program""s data storage) and xe2x80x9csystem spacexe2x80x9d (e.g., system memory) during data transmission and receipt. Presently, data is simply copied from one area of memory assigned to a user or application program into another area of memory dedicated to the processor""s use. Because each portion of a datagram that is transmitted in a packet may be copied separately (e.g., one byte at a time), there is a nontrivial amount of processor time required and frequent transfers can consume a large amount of the memory bus"" bandwidth. Illustratively, each byte of data in a packet received from the network may be read from the system space and written to the user space in a separate copy operation, and vice versa for data transmitted over the network. Although system space generally provides a protected memory area (e.g., protected from manipulation by user programs), the copy operation does nothing of value when seen from the point of view of a network interface circuit. Instead, it risks over-burdening the host processor and retarding its ability to rapidly accept additional network traffic from the NIC. Copying each packet""s data separately can therefore be very inefficient, particularly in a high-speed network environment.
In addition to the inefficient transfer of data (e.g., one packet""s data at a time), the processing of headers from packets received from a network is also inefficient. Each packet carrying part of a single datagram generally has the same protocol headers (e.g., Ethernet, IP and TCP), although there may be some variation in the values within the packets"" headers for a particular protocol. Each packet, however, is individually processed through the same protocol stack, thus requiring multiple repetitions of identical operations for related packets. Successively processing unrelated packets through different protocol stacks will likely be much less efficient than progressively processing a number of related packets through one protocol stack at a time.
Another basic problem concerning the interaction between present network interface circuits and host computer systems is that the combination often fails to capitalize on the increased processor resources that are available in multi-processor computer systems. In other words, present attempts to distribute the processing of network packets (e.g., through a protocol stack) among a number of protocols in an efficient manner are generally ineffective. In particular, the performance of present NICs does not come close to the expected or desired linear performance gains one may expect to realize from the availability of multiple processors. In some multi-processor systems, little improvement in the processing of network traffic is realized from the use of more than 4-6 processors, for example.
In addition, the rate at which packets are transferred from a network interface circuit to a host computer or other communication device may fail to keep pace with the rate of packet arrival at the network interface. One element or another of the host computer (e.g., a memory bus, a processor) may be over-burdened or otherwise unable to accept packets with sufficient alacrity. In this event one or more packets may be dropped or discarded. Dropping packets may cause a network entity to re-transmit some traffic and, if too many packets are dropped, a network connection may require re-initialization. Further, dropping one packet or type of packet instead of another may make a significant difference in overall network traffic. If, for example, a control packet is dropped, the corresponding network connection may be severely affected and may do little to alleviate the packet saturation of the network interface circuit because of the typically small size of a control packet. Therefore, unless the dropping of packets is performed in a manner that distributes the effect among many network connections or that makes allowance for certain types of packets, network traffic may be degraded more than necessary.
Thus, present NICs fail to provide adequate performance to interconnect today""s high-end computer systems and high-speed networks. In addition, a network interface circuit that cannot make allowance for an over-burdened host computer may degrade the computer""s performance.
In one embodiment of the invention a system and method are provided for identifying a packet within a particular communication flow through a communication device such as a network interface. In particular, the communication flow may include a first packet transferred from the network interface to a host computer. Based on an identifier of the flow, another packet in the same flow may be identified to the host computer. To increase the efficiency of handling network traffic, the flow packets may then be collectively processed through a protocol stack on a host computer.
In this embodiment, a high performance network interface of a host computer receives a packet from a network. Information within a header portion of the packet is assembled to generate a flow key to identify the communication flow, connection or circuit that includes the packet. Illustratively, the flow key includes identifiers of the source and destination entities that are exchanging the packet. In one embodiment of the invention flow keys from one or more communication flows are stored in a flow database, which is indexed by a flow number and which may be managed by a flow database management module. If the database does not already include the flow key of the received packet, then the received packet""s communication flow may be a new flow at the network interface. In this case the flow is registered in the database by storing its flow key and, possibly, other information concerning the flow. Thus, a packet""s flow may be identified by its flow key and/or its flow number.
The packet is stored in a packet memory (e.g., a queue) to await transfer to the host computer, and the packet""s flow number is stored in a flow memory of a dynamic packet batching module. When the packet is transferred or is about to be transferred, the flow memory is searched to determine whether another packet stored in the packet memory is part of the same communication flow (e.g., has the same flow number or flow key).
In this embodiment, if another packet has the same flow number then the host computer is alerted by storing an indicator in a host memory, such as a descriptor. In another embodiment of the invention, if no other packet is found with the same flow number then a different indicator is stored in a host memory. A different indicator may be stored, for example, if the packet is determined to be the last packet of its communication flow. Depending on the indicator that is stored, the host computer may delay processing the packet to await another packet having the same flow number.
The dynamic packet batching module also includes a controller in a present embodiment of the invention. The controller attempts to populate the flow memory with information associated with or derived from packets stored in the packet memory. Illustratively, each entry in the flow memory in this embodiment stores a packet""s flow number and an indicator of whether the entry is valid. An entry may be invalidated when its packet is transferred to the host computer, at which time it may be replaced with another entry.
In one embodiment of the invention, only packets that conform to one or more of a set of pre-selected protocols are eligible for dynamic packet batching. In this embodiment, a header parser module may be configured to determine whether a received packet is formatted in accordance with one of the protocols. If compatible with the pre-selected protocols, the received packet may also receive the benefit of other processing efficiencies, such as re-assembling data from multiple packets in one flow or distributing the processing of packets among processors in a multi-processor system.

Method and apparatus for dynamic packet batching with a high performance network interface


A system and method selects a circuit to service an application request to transmit data over a network. The network includes one or more low and high bandwidth circuits. An average utilization is measured for each circuit in a circuit analyzer should the application request be assigned to the circuit. Then, application request is assigned to the high bandwidth circuit if the average utilization is less than a predetermined threshold, assigning to the low bandwidth circuit if the average utilization is less than one, where one is a full utilization, and declined otherwise. The threshold is one minus a guard bandwidth of the high bandwidth channel.

Networks are the principal means for communicating multimedia between communication devices. The content of the multimedia can include data, audio, text, images, video, etc. Communication devices include input/output devices, computers, terminals, multimedia workstations, fax machines, printers, servers, telephones, and personal digital assistants.
A multimedia network typically includes network switches connected to each other and to the communication devices by channels or circuits. The circuits can by physical or virtual. In the latter case, the circuit is specified by a source and destination address. The actual physical circuit used will vary over time, depending on network traffic and resource requirements and data capacity availability, usually expressed as "bandwidth."
The multimedia can be formatted in many forms, but increasingly it is formatted into packets. Packets in transit between the communication devices may temporarily be stored in buffers at the switches along the path of the circuit pending sufficient available bandwidth on subsequent circuits along the path.
Important considerations in network operation are admission control and resource allocation. Typically, admission control and resource allocation are ongoing processes that are performed periodically during transmission of bit streams. The admission control and resource allocation determinations may take into account various factors such as network topology and current available network resources, such as buffer space in the switches and the bandwidth capacity of the circuits, any quality-of-service commitments (QoS), e.g., guaranteed bandwidth, and delay or packet loss probabilities.
If the network resource requirements are over-estimated, then the network will run under capacity. Alternatively, if the network resources requirements are underestimated, then the network may become congested and packets traversing the network may be lost, see, e.g., Roberts, "Variable-Bit-Rate Traffic-Control in B-ISDN," IEEE Comm. Mag., pp. 50–56, September 1991; Elwalid et al, "Effective Bandwidth of General Markovian Traffic Sources and Admission Control of High Speed Networks," IEEE/ACM Trans. on Networking, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 329–343, 1993. Guerin et al., "Equivalent Capacity and its Application to Bandwidth Allocation in High-Speed Networks," IEEE J. Sel. Areas in Comm., Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 968–981, September 1991.
Transmission of digital multimedia over bandwidth-limited networks will become increasingly important in future Internet and wireless applications. It is a challenging problem to cope with ever changing network parameters, such as the number of multimedia sources and receivers, the bandwidth required by each stream, and the topology of the network itself. Optimal resource allocation should dynamically consider global strategies, i.e., global network management, as well as local strategies, such as, admission control during individual connections.
Admission control and resource is generally done at the "edges" of the network in order to conserve computational resources of the network switches. While off-line systems can determine the exact bandwidth characteristics of a stream in advance, in many applications, on-line processing is desired or even required to keep delay and computational requirements low. Furthermore, any information used to make bandwidth decisions should be directly available in the compressed bit stream.
As a characteristic, prior art admission control methods either grant or deny the request for service. In the prior art, admission control is applied to an incoming request for a single transmission medium between a source and a destination.
Knightly et al. in "D-BIND: An accurate traffic model for providing QoS guarantees to VBR traffic," IEEE Tr. Networking, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 219–231, 1997, describe introduces a traffic model for providing performance guarantees in integrated services networks. That model consists of a number of rate-interval pairs that are specified to the network at connection set-up time. However, for the online case, the arrival sequence is not known in advance and hence, parameter values for any traffic model are more difficult to obtain than in an off-line case. In that model, the admission criteria is a function of the deterministic delay bound,
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method and system for dynamically allocating network resources at renegotiation points while transferring multimedia content over a network.

Method and system for assigning circuits to a new service request in a communications network

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


The present invention provides a system, method and computer program product for improving quality of images. The pixels of the input image are used to generate two lists of pixels based on two different scale space values. Thereafter, the two pixels lists are processed to obtain an output image with improved quality.

The present invention relates to the field of image processing. More specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of an image during image processing.
Conventional treatment of vascular diseases is done by open surgery procedures. In open surgical procedures, the diseased area is exposed and then operated upon. This leads to patient discomfort. A rapidly emerging alternative to open surgery is endovascular interventional procedure. Endovascular interventional procedure is preferred to the conventional open surgery procedure because it is minimally invasive. Further, the duration of the patient's stay in intensive care is shorter, the blood loss is less, and therefore the cost effectiveness is higher.
In endovascular interventional procedures, the surgery is carried out through a puncture on the surface of the patient's body. The surgery of the region of the vascular disease is achieved by a flexible tube called catheter, which is introduced through the puncture into an artery or into a vein. The catheter is then moved to the region where the vascular disease is present. The movement of the catheter to the intended position is done with the help of a "guide wire". During the surgery, the surgeon is not able to directly view the instruments since the entire procedure is carried out within the body. One of the most common methods of dynamically tracking the guide wire and the catheter inside the body is X-ray fluoroscopy. In this procedure, a contrast agent is introduced in the in the patient's body either through injection or through ingestion. The role of the contrast agent is to block the passage of X-rays and thus help in visualization of that part of the body where the contrast agent is located.
In a typical endovascular interventional procedure performed under X-ray fluoroscopy, it is critical that the surgical instruments like the catheter and the guide wire are accurately positioned at their intended location. The accurate positioning of the surgical instruments requires the surgeon to have a very accurate tracking of the catheter and the guide wire. For accurate tracking of the surgical instruments, high quality X-ray fluoroscopy images of the location of the catheter and the guide wire are needed.
Typically, the X-ray fluoroscopy images are of low quality and this is due to several factors. One is the low strength of the X-rays used; the strength of the X-rays is kept low to minimize the harmful effects of the X-rays. And, this is done as the duration of exposure to X-rays in an X-ray fluoroscopy procedure is very long. Another factor that affects the quality of the X-ray images is the motion of the catheter and the guide wire. This motion is caused because the X-ray reading device has to continuously adjust its position in order to follow the movement of the catheter and the guide wire. Due to the above mentioned factors, the surgeon might not be able to see the surgical instruments in all the low quality X-ray images.
As described above, there is a need for accurate tracking of the catheter and the guide wire in an X-ray fluoroscopy procedure. Improving the quality of the X-ray fluoroscopy images will lead to a significant improvement in the ease with which the surgeon is able to track various surgical instruments. The quality of an image can be improved by processing the image to increase the signal to noise ratio of the image. Thus, there is a need for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of an image during image processing.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for optimized region growing algorithm for scale space analysis

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


In order to set with a high precision the value of rush current flowing in the power switch circuit at the time of turning “on” the power, the internal circuit Int_Cir of the LSI is supplied with the internal source voltage Vint from the output transistor MP1 of the regulator VReg of the power switch circuit PSWC. The power switch circuit PSWC includes a control circuit CNTRLR and a start-up circuit STC. During the initial period Tint following the turning “on” of the power supply, the start-up circuit STC controls the output transistor MP1 and reduces the primary rush current so that the output current Isup of the output transistor MP1 may represent an approximately constant increment as the time passes. The difference ΔV between the internal current voltage due to the charge of load capacitance C with the output current Isup controlled by the start-up circuit STC and the current voltage Vint from the regulator VReg is set within the predetermined limit to reduce the secondary rush current.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, in particular to a technology useful for setting the value of rush current flowing in the power switch circuit at the time of turning "on" the power supply with a high precision.
The leak current per transistor is increasing and the number of on-chip transistors is also increasing due to the transistor-size scaling of semiconductor integrated circuits such as CMOS digital LSI. This increases the standby power of the whole chip to a very serious level.
As described in the document: A. Fahim, "Low-leakage current, low-area voltage, regulator for system-on-chip processors", ELECTRONICS LETTERS. 15 Sep. 2005, VOL. 41, NO. 19, generally a P-channel MOS transistor playing the role of a switch between the power supply and the microprocessor is used in order to reduce the standby consumption power. In the disabled state that shut off the microprocessor, the leak power serves as the cutoff current of the P-channel MOS transistors.
On the other hand, the method proposed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-330555 describes the following technology. The stabilizing power circuit mounted on a semiconductor integrated circuit includes an output control MOS transistor for outputting an internal source voltage from an external source voltage inputted therein and an error amplifier for comparing the feedback voltage from the internal source voltage and the reference voltage and for controlling the gate of the output control MOS transistor. When the power supply is turned "on", the stabilizing power circuit for normal operation does not enter into operation, but a start-up circuit including a diode-connected MOS transistor with drain gate short-circuited, a switch for operating this diode-connected MOS transistor and the output control MOS transistor as current mirrors and a time constant circuit enters into operation. After the power is turned "on", the switch is on during a time constant period of time determined by the resistances and capacitors of the time constant circuit, and the drain gate short-circuited and diode-connected MOS transistor and the output control MOS transistor work as current mirrors. Therefore, during the time-constant period of time, the current of the output control MOS transistor is limited to the current value determined by the mirror ratio of the current mirror. This limitation of current limits excessive rush current at the time of turning "on" the power supply. After the time constant length of time has passed, the switch is turned "off", and the output control MOS transistor is controlled by the output of the error amplifier, and the stabilizing power circuit starts operating normally.


A control system for a subsurface safety valve addresses normal open and closed operation and a failsafe operation if key system components fail. It features a single control line from the surface that splits at the subsurface safety valve and goes to one end of two discrete piston chambers that are aligned and isolated from tubing pressure. The piston in one chamber is larger than in the other and the pistons are connected for tandem movement. Each side of the unbalanced system's piston has a seal mounted to it and another for the rod attached to it that exits the chamber. A jumper line connects the chambers at a point between the seals in each chamber and features a large reservoir. The jumper line is filled with a compressible fluid. Fail safe closure of the valve occurs if any of the four seals fail.

Subsurface safety valves are used in wells to close them off in the event of an uncontrolled condition to ensure the safety of surface personnel and prevent property damage and pollution. Typically these valves comprise a flapper, which is the closure element and is pivotally mounted to rotate 90 degrees between an open and a closed position. A hollow tube called a flow tube is actuated downwardly against the flapper to rotate it to a position behind the tube and off its seat. That is the open position. When the flow tube is retracted the flapper is urged by a spring mounted to its pivot rod to rotate to the closed position against a similarly shaped seat.
The flow tube is operated by a hydraulic control system that includes a control line from the surface to one side of a piston. Increasing pressure in the control line moves the piston in one direction and shifts the flow tube with it. This movement occurs against a closure spring that is generally sized to offset the hydrostatic pressure in the control line, friction losses on the piston seals and the weight of the components to be moved in an opposite direction to shift the flow tube up and away from the flapper so that the flapper can swing shut.
Normally, it is desirable to have the flapper go to a closed position in the event of failure modes in the hydraulic control system and during normal operation on loss or removal of control line pressure. The need to meet normal and failure mode requirements in a tubing pressure insensitive control system, particularly in a deep set safety valve application, has presented a challenge in the past. The results represent a variety of approaches that have added complexity to the design by including features to insure the fail safe position is obtained regardless of which seals leak. Some of these systems have overlays of pilot pistons and several pressurized gas reservoirs while others require multiple control lines from the surface in part to offset the pressure from control line hydrostatic pressure. Some recent examples of these efforts can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,427,778 and 6,109,351.
Despite these efforts a tubing pressure insensitive control system for deep set safety valves that had greater simplicity, enhanced reliability and lower production cost remained a goal to be accomplished. The present invention introduces a vastly simplified design with fewer leak paths and moving components. It features a single control line to the surface and substantially reduces the effect of control line hydrostatic pressure in a single line with a pair of opposed pistons of differing diameters moving in tandem in separate reservoirs. Control line pressure is on one side of each piston and the opposite sides of each piston are in fluid communication with each other via a compressible fluid in a reservoir, although other types of fluids are envisioned. These and other aspects of the invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment along with the associated drawing with the further understanding that the appended claims fully define the scope of the invention.

Downhole hydraulic control system with failsafe features


A harvester assembly has a feeder assembly, a bottom floor assembly, and a crop collection channel. The rear portion of the bottom floor assembly is capable of variable movement to facilitate the passage of crop material through the crop collection channel with a reduced risk of clogging or plugging of the channel.

For many years harvesters, such as agricultural balers, have been used to consolidate and package crop material so as to facilitate the storage and handling of the crop material for later use. Usually, a mower-conditioner cuts and conditions the crop material for windrow drying in the sun. When the cut crop material is properly dried, a harvester, such as a round baler, the most frequently used in the industry, travels along the windrows to pick up the crop material and form it into cylindrically-shaped round bales.
More specifically, the cut crop material is gathered at the front of the baler from along the ground, onto a pickup assembly, and into a crop feeding channel where the material can be further cut before being introduced into a bale-forming chamber. Traditionally, the crop feeding channel is more narrow than the surrounding areas of the harvester, and clogging or plugging of the crop feeding channel is a common problem, especially if the harvester is being operated at higher speeds and thus passing greater amounts of crop material through the crop feeding channel at a given time. Once a clog occurs, the harvester must be stopped for the crop feeding channel to be cleared, reducing harvesting efficiency.
One method to prevent clogging is to design a harvester with a limited amount of movement of the bottom floor of the crop feeding channel. The bottom floor physically supports the crop material as it passes through the crop feeding channel and is cut by a rotor and knives before being moved to the bale forming chamber. By allowing the bottom floor to move, it can temporarily increase the volume of crop material that can be passed through the crop feeding channel, possibly preventing the formation of a clog. Once such example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,517, where the bottom floor of a crop feeding channel is allowed limited movement at the front end of the bottom floor, where the crop material would enter the crop feeding channel. This limited movement is accomplished by a spring that provides tension between the frame of the harvester and the front end of the bottom floor. If the pressure of the crop material in the crop feeding channel is great enough, the front end of the bottom floor will move downward, allowing additional crop material to pass through the channel. One disadvantage of this system is that the rear of the bottom floor remains static, so that while the volume of the crop feeding channel will increase towards the front, this larger amount of crop material must still pass through a fixed volume rearward to the rotary cutter. This frontside movement greatly increases the likelihood of clogs at a narrow outlet of the crop feeding channel and does not address the fundamental problem of accommodating more crop through the passageway defined by a drop floor. Additionally, in this arrangement the crop cutting knives remain static, and cannot compensate for increased crop material volume.
Another example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,584,594, in which both the front and the rear of the bottom floor of a feeding assembly provide limited movement. Movement at the front of the bottom floor is accomplished by a slotted guide and the rear by a hydraulic cylinder, such that when the rear of the bottom floor moves downward, so too will the front of the bottom floor. One disadvantage of this system is that the bottom floor is allowed a great deal of movement from its initial position, potentially allowing large variations in crop material volume to enter in the bale forming chamber. Large variations in crop material can cause uneven bale formation and improper or incomplete cutting of crop material.
The instant application addresses these deficiencies by providing a crop collection system that allows a one-sided, limited movement of a bottom floor of a crop feeding channel that both prevents clogging of the feed channel due to occasional high crop material volume, and still provides for proper bale formation.


An apparatus for treating the surfaces of solid particles has at least a first cylindrical treating chamber and a rotary shaft and a first rotor having two or more blades on its front face, contained in the first cylindrical treating chamber. A powder charging aperture for introducing the solid particles into the first cylindrical treating chamber together with gas is provided at the center of the front wall of the first cylindrical treating chamber, opposed to the front face of the first rotor. A first powder discharging aperture for discharging the treated solid particles is provided at the center of the rear wall of the first cylindrical treating chamber, opposed to the rear face of the first rotor. The first rotor is connected with the rotary shaft and rotated by the rotation of the rotary shaft. The height H.sub.a of the blades, the gap L.sub.1a between the tip of each of the blades and the front wall, the largest diameter R.sub.1a of the first rotor and the gap L.sub.2a between the blades and the sidewall of the first cylindrical treating chamber satisfy the following conditions: EQU 0.1.ltoreq.L.sub.1a /H.sub.a .ltoreq.5.0, 50.times.10.sup.-3 .ltoreq.H.sub.a /R.sub.1a .ltoreq.400.times.10.sup.-3 and 1.0.times.10.sup.-3 .ltoreq.L.sub.2a /R.sub.1a .ltoreq.95.times.10.sup.-3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface treating apparatus for solid particles, a surface treating method therefor and a method for producing toner for developing an electrostatic charge image.
2. Related Background Art
Various methods for surface treatment of solid particles and powder treating apparatus have already been proposed. For example, powder treating apparatus of impact type utilizing a rotary blade and powder treating apparatus utilizing heat treatment are already known. The powder treating apparatus of impact type utilizing the rotary blade is described in Y. Takayama, Y. Kikuchi and K. Ono: "Zairyo Gijutsu" Vol. 8, No. 8, 10 (1990). There have been proposed methods for treating the surfaces of powder particles (as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-27021 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-244399), the method utilizing a hybridization system described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-83029 and already put on the market by Nara Kikai Co., Ltd., or an impact pulverizer described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-27021 and put on the market by Turbo Kogyo Co., Ltd.
In the hybridization system, for example, a treating apparatus as illustrated in FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 is used, wherein a casing 151, a stator 158, a stator jacket 177, a recycling valve 163, a discharge valve 159, a discharge valve 119 and a raw material charging chute 164 are shown.
In this apparatus, the powder particles and other fine solid particles charged from the raw material charging chute 164 are subjected, in an impact chamber 168, to instantaneous impact by two or more rotor blades 155 provided on a rotor 162 rotated at a high speed, and collide with a peripheral stator 158 to disperse in the system while breaking up agglomeration of the powder particles and the other fine solid particles, whereby the other fine solid particles are adhered onto the surface of the powder particles by electrostatic force or Van Der Waals force or, in case the powder particles alone are charged, such particles are subjected to rounding and formation of spherical particles. Such process proceeds with the flight and collision of the particles. Thus the particles are treated by plural passages through the recycle pipe 163, along the air flow caused by the rotation of the rotor blades 155. In addition, through the repeated impacts given by the rotor blades 155 and the stator 158, the other fine solid particles are uniformly dispersed and fixed on the surfaces, or the vicinity thereof, of the powder particles or, in case the powder particles alone are charged, the particles are shaped into a spherical form.
After such fine particle fixation, the particles are discharged through a discharge valve 159, controlled by a discharge valve control device 128, and a discharge chute 119 and collected by a bag filter 122 connected with a suction blower 124.
However such conventional powder treating apparatus requires the operation for a prolonged period, because the surface treatment of the powder particles is effected by the rotor blades 155 rotating at a high speed, utilizing the recycle pipe 163. Such operation may involve excessive collisions of the particles, leading to heat generation in the powder and eventually to denaturing thereof. In such apparatus, in order to achieve uniform surface treatment it is necessary to charge a predetermined amount of powder in a certain given volume and to execute a prolonged treatment ranging from several tens of seconds to several minutes. In such operation, because of the prolonged process time and of the high concentration of powder dust, re-agglomeration of the dispersed particles may occur in the course of surface treatment or the formation of fused solid matter may be formed by the generated heat.
The powder treating apparatus as shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, being a batch system, is incapable of continuous processing. For this reason, accessory equipment such as a weighing machine for weighing and charging a predetermined amount of the powder material into the treating apparatus, is required. Consequently such apparatus has been associated with drawbacks such as a high production cost and a narrow tolerance for the stable manufacturing operation.
Such drawbacks tend to become particularly conspicuous in the surface treatment of the solid toner particles for producing a toner used for developing an electrostatic charge image in a copying machine or in a printer.
Since, in general, various different properties are required for a toner, the characteristics of the toner are often affected by its producing method, in addition to raw materials used therefor. In the surface treating process of toner particles, it is required to produce toner particles with satisfactory quality in an efficient and stable manner at a low cost.
A binder resin used for toner particles is generally composed of a resinous material having a low melting point, a low softening point or a low glass transition point, and the toner particles containing such resinous material tends to cause fusing or adhesion to the surface treating apparatus in the surface treatment process.
On the other hand, for energy saving in the copying machine utilizing toner fixation with heat and pressure, binder resins having a low glass transition point or a low softening point came into use in order to achieve toner fixation with a lower electric powder consumption and at a lower temperature.
Besides, there is a tendency for the size of toner particles to be gradually made smaller in order to improve image quality in copying machines and printers. In general, the smaller the solid particles are, the larger the force between the particles is. Similarly, as the resin particles or the toner particles are made smaller, the agglomeration of the particles is more easily brought about.
As a treating apparatus of a continuous processing type using an impact pulverizer, an apparatus as shown in FIGS. 15, 16 and 17 is proposed, which is provided with a cylindrical casing and a rotor 214 having a distributor 220 which is positioned in the casing concentrically with the axis of the casing. A liner 210 set on the internal periphery of the casing 201 is provided with plural grooves in the direction of the rotary shaft 215. The rotor 214 is provided with plural blades 221 made of an abrasion resistance metal and powder material is treated in a treating area 213.
On the upstream side of the casing 201, an inlet 211 for the powder raw material charged through a constant-rate feeder 240 and a vibration feeder 215 and for the incoming air, and a spiral chamber 212 are provided. On the downstream side of the inlet 211, a discharge opening 202 is provided, which is connected to a cyclone dust collector 229 or a bag filter 222 communicating with a suction blower 224. An example of such apparatus is the Turbo Mill crusher manufactured by Turbo Kogyo Co., Ltd.
However such apparatus tends to form particles which are subjected to uneven surface treatment. In addition, even when using cold air flow or a heater and regulating the revolution of the rotor to adjust the level of surface treatment, grinding or re-agglomeration of the solid particles is liable to occur so that the stable surface treatment of the solid particles has been difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-56131 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,546) discloses a continuous mixing apparatus as shown in FIGS. 18 to 22 and a method for producing toner utilizing such apparatus. The apparatus is provided with a cylindrical casing 301, and agitating blades 302 connected to a rotor shaft 304 and fixed blades 303, both set in the casing 301. A disk 313 of the agitating blades 302 is provided with plural blades 312, while annular fixed disk 315 of the fixed blades 303 is provided with plural blades 314.
On the upstream side of the cylindrical casing 301, an inlet 305 for the powder raw material charged through a raw material hopper 307 and a vibration feeder 308 and for the incoming air is formed. On the downstream side of the inlet 305, a discharge opening 306 is provided, which is connected to an external collecting cyclone 309 or a bag filter 310 communicating with a suction blower 311. Such apparatus is used as a continuous mixing apparatus.
However, further improvements have been desired on such apparatus, since it is weak in the impact force of the solid particles against the peripheral wall because of a wide gap between the agitating blades 302 and the side wall of the apparatus, and tends to produce solid particles with uneven surface treatment.

Surface treating apparatus for solid particles, surface treating method therefor and method for producing toner


The present invention concerns compositions and methods for regulating or determining fertility in humans and animals. In various embodiments of the invention, LOX and other related enzymes can be used as fertility markers, contraceptive agents, or means of treating infertility. LOX may be detected in accordance with the invention in vitro or in vivo.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of biology. More particularly, it concerns compounds associated with fertility and methods of use thereof.
B. Description of Related Art
Cytoplasmic droplets are remnants of spermiogenesis that often contain cytoplasm, mitochondria, and the Golgi complex. They are approximately 2 μm in size and are located on the midpiece of the spermatozoon in either the upper half or lower half of the midpiece, the proximal and distal positions, respectively. Cytoplasmic droplets (CD) are the most common abnormality associated with boar spermatozoa and it is recommended that ejaculates with more than 15% spermatozoa with CD should be discarded (Althouse, 1998).
Lipoxygenases (LOX) are enzymes that are ubiquitous in plants and animals and are member of a large family of dioxygenases (Brash, 1999; Feussner and Wasternack, 2002). The animal LOXs, mainly 5-LOX, 12-LOX, and 15-LOX, can peroxidate arachidonic acid at carbon-5, carbon-12, or carbon-15, respectively, as well as related polyunsaturated fatty acids like linoleic acid (Yamamoto, 1991).
15-Lipoxygenase was discovered in the rabbit reticulocyte in 1975 and found to directly attack phospholipids and peroxidate mitochondrial lipids (Schewe et al., 1975; Grüllich et al., 2001). Reticulocyte LOX is capable of degrading lipid membranes (Fritsch et al., 1979; Lankin et al., 1985). The reticulocyte LOX, 15-LOX, is a major pathway for organelle degradation in rabbit reticulocytes (Grüllich et al., 2001). In the presence of a LOX inhibitor, endoplasmic reticulum membranes incubated with 15-LOX in vitro were not permeabilized, but in the absence of the inhibitor permeabilization of endoplasmic reticulum membranes occurred (van Leyen et al., 1998).
Mitochondrial degradation in maturing reticulocytes was able to occur in the absence of ETYA (5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acid), a LOX inhibitor, but was delayed in the presence of ETYA, indicating that LOX is largely responsible for the degradation of reticulocyte mitochondria.
Acrosomal exocytosis (AE), which is the exocytosis of soluble acrosome material after the fusion of the outer acrosomal membrane and overlying plasma membrane, is required for fusion of the spermatozoon with the plasma membrane (Lax et al., 1990). 15-LOX induces the acrosome reaction in the presence of Ca2+ (Oliw and Sprecher, 1989; Lax et al., 1990).
Current methods of contraception include surgical sterilization of women and oral contraceptive use by women, which are the most common methods of contraception in the U.S. Hormone modulating contraceptives include combined (estrogen/progestin) contraceptives, such as combined injectable contraceptives, combined oral contraceptives; and progestin-only contraceptives, such as norplant implants, progestin-only injectable contraceptives, or progestin-only pills. However, combined estrogen/progestin oral contraceptives may cause or lead to thromboembolic disorders, cerebrovascular accidents, coronary artery disease, liver abnormalities, estrogen dependent cancers, and pregnancy. Other methods of contraception include intrauterine devices; cervical cap; barrier methods, such as male condoms, female condoms, diaphragms, spermicides, or contraceptive sponge; and rhythm methods, which are highly dependent on the individuals involved. Many of these methods may have far reaching side effects physiologically and otherwise. Thus, there is a need for improved methods of regulating fertility as well as methods for diagnosing fertility for both humans and a variety of animals.

Methods and compositions for evaluation and modulation of fertility

The Curators of the University of Missouri

Slaon-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research


A V-pack filter includes a frame construction having a first frame structure and a second frame structure. The V-pack filter also includes first and second panel sections mounted in extension between the first and second frame structures. The first panel section has first and second ends. The second panel section has third and fourth ends. The first and third ends have a first distance therebetween while the second and fourth ends have a second distance therebetween. The second distance is generally greater than the first distance. The first and second panel sections and the second frame structure define an air flow aperture. A seal arrangement circumscribes the air flow aperture and projects outwardly from the second frame structure. The first frame structure defines a first receiver indent. Assemblies and methods are also included.

In general, combustion air for engines needs to be filtered to prevent particulates, otherwise carried in the intake air stream, from reaching sensitive engine components. As a result, nearly every engine system involving combustion air includes an air cleaner assembly of some type positioned in the intake air stream.
Many air cleaner assemblies generally comprise a housing through which the air is directed during filtration or cleaning. In some systems, a removable and replaceable filter element, or a combination of such filter elements, is provided within the housing. In use, the air is directed through the filter element(s) as it moves through the housing. In time, the filter element(s) becomes occluded or loaded with a concomitant increase in restriction across the air cleaner. At an appropriate service point, the filter element(s) is removed and is either refurbished (cleaned) or replaced.
Certain very large and powerful equipment types generate unique problems with respect to air cleaner operation. Consider large earth movers, haul trucks, and other very large types of construction and mining equipment that have 500–2,000 horsepower (hp) (37.3–149.2 KW) engines.
Such equipment operates for extended periods in extremely dusty environments. Such equipment also has very large volume demands for combustion air. This means very large amounts of particle-laden air on an almost continuous basis is passing through the air cleaner system. Indeed, the typical environments of use, for example construction sites and mining sites, are sites characterized by relatively large amounts of air borne particulates of a variety of sizes and population distribution. Special heavy-duty multistage filtration units have been designed for use with such equipment. One such design has been available from Donaldson Company, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn. under the designation SRG Donaclone™. Such products are designed for an air flow of up to approximately 1,300–4,500 cubic feet per minute (cfm) (81,000–281,000 pounds water per minute (pwm)) and are available in single or dual unit designs. In general, such arrangements are multistaged. In a first stage, a precleaner is provided for removal of up to 95% of the dirt in the air stream before it reaches the filters. Such precleaners generally operate by directing the inlet air flow through a plurality of cyclonic tubes with dust separation occurring as a result of the cyclonic air flow. Cyclonic precleaners are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,109, incorporated herein by reference.
In the second stage, the air from the precleaner is directed into and through an air filter system, typically a filter system provided by two elements: an outer primary filter element and an internal secondary or safety element. The housings are generally configured so that, periodically, the primary filter (and if desired the secondary filter) can be removed and be refurbished or replaced.

Multistage air cleaner including pulse cleaning system


A transmission apparatus includes a communication unit for performing transmission and reception of encoded data packets with other terminals, a redundant code generating unit for generating a redundant code packet for restoring data lost due to the loss of a data packet, a redundant code control unit for controlling the band used by the redundant code packet, a buffer for accumulating retransmission packets that can be retransmitted when corresponding data are lost, a retrieval unit for retrieving a corresponding retransmission packet from the buffer for retransmission upon receiving a retransmission request for the data packet, a retransmission control unit for controlling the band used for retransmission, and a band control unit for controlling the bandwidth of a redundant code based on the band used for retransmission and the band currently used for the redundant code.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting encoded media data.
Conventionally, in a best-effort transmission line environment such as the Internet, a large volume of encoded packet data (media data) such as streaming information or video telephony is transmitted continuously.
In the best-effort transmission line environment as described above, congestion occurs due to an increase in communication traffic in the network. Quality of media data being transmitted deteriorates noticeably due to this congestion. Techniques for preventing such deterioration in quality of media data include techniques as described below.
One technique, for example, is to use a redundant code such as a Forward Error Correction (FEC) code. Another technique is to use retransmissions such as in an Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) protocol.
In a FEC system, parity information of the media data is generated and sent from a transmission side, whereby, even in the case where a packet loss occurs on a reception side, it becomes possible to perform restoration of the data of the lost packet.
In an ARQ system, when a packet loss is detected on the reception side, the reception side requests the transmission side to retransmit the lost packet, and the transmission side retransmits the lost packet, whereby it becomes possible to prevent deterioration in quality of the media data.
Further, in the best-effort transmission line environment, conventionally, the deterioration in the quality of the media data due to the packet loss is prevented by the following techniques: a technique that switches between the FEC system, which is effective for a stationary packet loss, and the ARQ system, which is effective for a burst packet loss; and a technique that uses a combination of the FEC system and the ARQ system (e.g., see Patent documents 1 and 2).
Note that, as other related art to the retransmitted invention, for example, there are techniques disclosed in Patent documents 3 to 5 described below.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 7-67175
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-330118
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-214474
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-298526
[Patent Document 5]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-228676

Transmission apparatus, transmission control program, and transmission method


A piezoelectric transformer has input and output terminal electrodes (12c, 12d, 13c, 13d) exposed on a bottom surface thereof. The terminal electrodes are mechanically and electrically connected to connection portions (15a-15d) of a flexible printed circuit (18) for connecting with an external circuit. The transformer is held between a base element (21b, 22) and a cover (21a, 23, 25) coupled to each other. The base element may be a circuit board on which the transformer should be mounted.

As is known in the art, the piezoelectric transformer uses a piezoelectric vibrator. The piezoelectric vibrator has at least one pair of drive electrodes formed on and/or in a piezoelectric-ceramic plate. When an AC voltage is applied to the pair of drive electrodes, the plate vibrates due to the piezoelectric effect with a resonant mode such as a single wavelength resonant mode. When the plate is vibrating, variation of voltage potential is generated at any position of the plate. The variable voltage potential can be taken out from an output electrode formed on the position. A pair of output electrodes can be formed at different positions on the plate. Thus, the AC voltage applied to the drive electrodes as primary electrodes is transformed and is obtained at the output electrodes as secondary electrodes.
Since it is important for the piezoelectric transformer that the piezoelectric plate vibrates, it is a serious problem to support the transformer without suppression of the vibration. A waveform of the vibration has vibration nodes and antinodes. Therefore, the transformer is supported at positions corresponding to the vibration nodes.
On the other hand, leads are required to apply the input voltage to the primary electrodes and take out the transformed voltage from the secondary electrodes. Usually, lead wires are connected to the primary electrodes and the secondary electrodes. However, the lead connection points are not always at positions corresponding to the vibration nodes. The lead wires should be free without tension so as to interfere the vibration of the piezoelectric plate. The lead wires are troublesome for assembling, maintenance and other deal of an electrical circuit device, especially, a small-sized device.
Further, the primary and secondary electrodes are formed on different surfaces of the piezoelectric plate. Therefore, mounting and wiring operation of the transformer on a circuit board is complex. This results in large space for mounting the transformer on the circuit board and also in a high cost and large size of the circuit device.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide the piezoelectric transformer which has a simple structure of connection with an external circuit and is small sized.


A half-finished folded soft cloth product, which is formed in an almost box shape by folding the soft cloth product such as a shirt, a handkerchief, a towel, etc., is put in a square frame on a lower die interposing a hard rubber plate thereunder, and thereafter is compressed between the lower die and an upper die to form a solid cloth product, which is convenient for carrying.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a portable cloth product for carrying a shirt, a handkerchief, a towel, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Spare clothes such as a shirt, handkerchief, etc., have been carried so far in a folded and soft state.
Conventional cloth products are very bulky as they are carried in a soft state. Therefore, it is very inconvenient to take them for traveling, particularly for traveling abroad.
Means for condensing cloth products have been already known such as that disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 53-21215. However, since cloth products have thick portions such as folded selvages, sutures, etc., so that there is the possibility of not only generating wrinkles in the surface of the cloth products when the same is simply pressed by a press, but also damaging the texture when a strong pressure is applied to the portions where cloths overlap each other.

Portable solid cloth product and method of fabricating the same