A liquid filling apparatus and a method of filling a plurality of containers C arranged in equal numbers in two or more parallel rows, all containers in all rows being first simultaneously and completely filled with a liquid during a fill time period, and then simultaneously released and replaced with empty containers during an index time period, each container row being positioned such that it is at least entirely offset or staggered from the position of the containers in the next adjacent and all other parallel rows, thus allowing simultaneous parallel filling followed by simultaneous parallel indexing of all containers in all rows without the possibility of one container group in any given row intersecting or colliding with any other container group in any other row following release from the filling positions.

Fully Automatic Liquid Filling machines of known construction may be generally divided between two major architectural types or categories based upon their speed capabilities. Speed in this context refers to the number of containers or packages which are filled by the machine with a liquid product within a given time interval, most commonly expressed as containers per minute.
One major category of liquid filling machines are referred to as rotary fillers. These machines are characterized by their continuous motion, in which an array of filling nozzles or orifices rotate about a central spindle in a continuous circular manner. Empty containers to be filled with liquid are synchronously introduced into the machine and travel about the circumference of the structure. While each container is positioned under a circumferentially arranged filling nozzle, it is completely filled with liquid. Each container is so positioned for most of one complete revolution of the machine before it is synchronously removed from the machine. Practical limitations prevent the container from being filled for much more than 270 degrees of rotation of the 360 available. Nevertheless, it is apparent that even within this constraint the rotary filler is the fastest known architecture in that its motion is continuous and to increase its speed capabilities it is only necessary to increase the diameter of the machine, thus greatly increasing its circumference and thus allowing more room for additional filling positions. It can be shown that at a given rate of rotation, a rotary filler's container per minute output will increase in direct proportion to the increase in the number of filling positions fitted to the machine.
The second major category of liquid filling machines is referred to as in-line fillers. These machines may also be characterized by their motion which is asynchronous or intermittent. In this design, a plurality of containers to be filled typically are serially conveyed as a group into the machine and captured or indexed into position under filling nozzles or orifices. Most typically, the containers are then completely filled while they remain fixed and motionless. Upon completion of the fill, the container capture or indexing mechanism allows the filled containers to exit the filling area on the same conveyor which mediated their entry, and another plurality of containers are conveyed into position to be filled, and the sequence of events is repeated.
When compared to the rotary filling machine, the in-line architecture is clearly slower in potential containers per minute of output. It is possible to increase the speed of an in-line filler by the addition of filling positions. However, as each additional filling position is added, total machine output per minute increases at a decreasing rate per added position and eventually begins to decrease in total containers per minute of output. This is because as the number of containers to be filled in each machine cycle is increased, the indexing or transfer time of containers entering in to and out of the machine becomes an ever greater proportion of the machine's total cycle time. Thus, while the speed performance of an in-line machine can be improved, it is always at a fundamental architecturally based disadvantage when compared with a rotary design. The precise point at which attempts to speed up an in-line machine to approach or match rotary speeds varies technically and economically as a function of many variables, principle among them being the size of the liquid fill dose, the rheology of the liquid to be filled, and the size and shape of the container. In the vast majority of cases, the rotary design begins to dominate applications where speed requirements exceed 150 to 200 filled containers per minute, or where an in-line filler fitted with more than 12 to 16 filling positions is needed to satisfy required speeds.
Despite the limitation in speed associated with in-line automatic liquid filling machines of known type, these designs generally possess many technical capabilities of great merit (herein referred to as characteristics of merit) which are difficult or impractical or uneconomical to duplicate within the rotary filler design envelope. These capabilities include: the ability to simply and economically provide means to lower or dive the filling nozzles into the container for precise bottom-up or subsurface filling; the ability to vacuum aspirate the filling nozzles to prevent dripping following subsurface filling; the ability to readily and simply implement real time no container-no fill detection and inhibition functions, particularly in all filling positions; the ability to readily use many different types of filling nozzles, including bottom shut-off or positive shut-off filling nozzles; the ability to readily add or delete filling positions on the machine in a modular manner; the ability to readily implement a nitrogen (or other gas) pre-fill container purge, concurrent fill container gas purge, or post-fill container gas purge function; the ability to readily adjust filling volumes or levels or weights while the machine is operating (termed on the fly adjustment); the ability to separately and discretely adjust and alter the various machine functions and timing relationships; and the ability to locate and capture the neck or body of each container to assure proper position and alignment of the container with the filling nozzle during filling or to assure proper positioning of a filling nozzle for lowering onto or into the container prior to filling.
Additional important capabilities of in-line liquid filler designs of known type which are relatively distinct from known rotary designs include the typically greater speed and ease of product changeover of an in-line machine from one product type or container size to another. This fast changeover capability is a corollary to the relatively great and most significant distinction between in-line and rotary machines which is in regard to machine flexibility and versatility of usage which refers to the broad range of container sizes and shapes and the broad range of different types of liquid products which can be run on an in-line machine without need of change parts or machine additions or alterations. By way of example and illustration of this distinction, consider the PRO/FILL 3000 single lane in-line fully automatic liquid fillers manufactured by Oden Corporation of Buffalo, N.Y. A filling machine of this type, without change in physical design or fitments (sometimes referred to as change parts) of any kind, can completely and efficiently fill small round containers with two ounces of a low viscosity water-like liquid into oval shaped bottles, then can fill F-style 2.5 gallon jugs with motor oil, then can fill peanut butter into 12 oz. tapered glass jars, then can fill a thick cosmetic cream into four ounce square plastic containers, then can fill twenty ounces of honey into plastic containers shaped like a bear, then can fill highly foamy floor cleaner into plastic gallon jugs. No rotary filling machine of known type can meet this same test of flexibility and versatility.
Bearing in mind the above characteristics of merit of in-line liquid fillers, it is clear why numerous attempts have been made to increase the speed capabilities of in-line machines to rival rotary filler speeds. For comparative purposes, a single lane in-line machine of substantially standard type can be contrasted with known higher speed in-line derivatives. These derivative designs of known type include the dead plate pushover design, the shifting nozzle dual lane design, and the walking beam design. U.S. Pat. No. 3,036,604 discloses a bidirectional shuttle mechanism which moves containers onto a dead plate for filling. Thus dual lane design uses a dual lane feed, with the discharge merging into a single lane. This is a variation on the basic design of the prior art dead plate pushover design disclosed in FIG. 2 of this application. U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,167 discloses a shifting nozzle dual lane filler of the type disclosed in FIGS. 3 and 4 of this application. It is only through a comparative study and analysis of these known derivative designs that the unique and novel characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be clear. The prior art disclosed in this application will be discussed further after the following recitation of the objects of this invention, and the brief description of the various figures.

Parallel processing in-line liquid filling machine


The invention generally relates to devices for stabilizing floating structures and systems and methods utilizing such stabilization devices. Some embodiments of the stabilization device include a fabric material having a collapsed configuration and an expanded configuration. The expanded configuration of the fabric material may form a column of the fabric material. The column of fabric material may define an internal volume. The front end of the column of fabric material may be closed, and the back end of the column of fabric material may define an opening for receiving water for filling the internal volume. When filled with water, the stabilization device may improve roll stabilization of a floating structure. The floating structure may be a flotation device of an emergency flotation system, boat, or inflatable raft, for example. The emergency flotation system may be used with aircraft, (e.g., helicopters) to provide stabilization when the aircraft is ditched in water.

The present invention generally relates to stabilization devices for use with vehicles, vessels, crafts, flotation systems, and/or structures to improve stabilization when they are floating on a water surface and systems and methods utilizing such stabilization devices.
Vehicles, vessels, crafts, flotation systems, and/or structures, such as boats and rafts, may be at risk of overturning and/or capsizing due to rough conditions on the surface of the water. This may be particularly true for vehicles, vessels, systems, and/or structures that are not primarily designed for handling rough or extreme surface conditions such as life rafts. For example, some aircraft (e.g., helicopters or the like) may be fitted with emergency flotation systems ("EFS") that are designed to prevent the aircraft from sinking in the event of a crash landing on water. While such EFSs may prevent the aircraft from sinking during normal water surface conditions, rough or abnormal water surface conditions may destabilize the aircraft (e.g., excessive rolling, overturning, etc.) while floating and may thereby interfere with passenger evacuation post ditching. This may be particularly true with helicopters, given their generally high center of gravity due to the location of the rotors, the transmission and the engines.
Accordingly, improved stabilization devices may be desired that increase a sea state range of vehicles, vessels, crafts, flotation systems, and/or structures. In particular, it may be desirable to improve EFSs to have increased roll stabilization to allow additional time for passenger evacuation during emergency situations and during rough water surface conditions.

Longitudinal scoops for rolling stability


This invention relates to an improved method for isolating taxanes by using a preparative scale technique amenable to commercial production. This method provides high yields of known taxanes in addition to new taxanes.

For hundreds of years most drugs were highly impure mixtures of composition derived primarily from plant or animal origin. As recently as the 1920's most active ingredients were used in only partially purified forms. Since then, vastly improved tools and methods for the purification of chemical compounds have been developed enabling identification of compounds that produce beneficial effects. This field science has become known generally as Natural Products Chemistry.
The foundation of Natural Products Chemistry rests on extraction, isolation and purification strategies. As is well appreciated in the art, different isolation procedures oftentimes yield a different profile of chemical compounds. Seemingly minor changes to an isolation procedure such as changing a solvent, the ratio of solvent or even the type of filter paper can result in large changes in the type, amount and purity of chemical compounds obtained. One procure designed to yield large quantities of a crystalline compound, might inadvertently eliminate or inactivate an even more valuable compound in the first extraction step.
A family of compounds isolated from the very slow growing yew (genus Taxus, family Taxaceae), have gained notoriety since the discovery that Taxol was found to be an effective cancer chemotherapeutic agent and was approved by the FDA for treatment of ovarian carcinoma. Since the recognition of Taxol's anticancer activities, research efforts to isolate other compounds from trees of the Genus Taxus have intensified to find improved methods of purification, and synthetic procedures.
Today, the taxane family of terpenes are considered as an exceptionally promising group of cancer chemotherapeutic agents. At least 60 different compounds have been reported in the literature posessing a taxane nucleus (4,8,12,15,15-pentamethyltricyclo[220.127.116.11.sup.3.8 ] pentadecane). ##STR1##
Many taxane derivatives, including taxol, taxotere, and cephalomannine are highly cytotoxic and have been shown to be effective against leukemia, advanced breast and ovarian cancers in clinical trials (W. P. MacGuire et al., Annals of Internal Medicine, vol 111, pg. 273, 1989). They have also exhibited promising activity against a number of other tumor types in preliminary investigations. Taxanes are believed to exert their antiproliferative effect on taxane sensitive cells by inducing tubulin polymerization, thereby forming extremely stable and nonfunctional microtubules (Eric K. Roxinsky et al., Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 82:1247-1259, 1990).
A major problem with all of the clinical studies is the limited availability of taxanes. For example, the only available natural source for taxol to date are several species of a slow growing Yew (genus Taxus), wherein Taxol is only found in very low concentrations (less than 400 parts per million) in the bark of these trees. Furthermore the extraction is difficult, the process is expensive and the yield of taxol is low (Huang et al., J. Nat. Prod. 49 665 1986 reported a yield of 0.01% taxol from Taxus brevifolia bark).
The number of patents describing the isolation and purification of taxol and taxanes from Taxus bark is increasing.
The procedures currently known for isolating taxol are very difficult and low-yielding. For example, a yield of 0.01% was reported from a large scale isolation starting with at least 806 lbs of Taxus brevifolio bark (Huang et al., J. Nat. Prod., 49:665, 1986). The isolation of taxol was described by other workers: Miller et al., J Org. Chem., 46:1469, 1981; McLaughlin et al., J. Nat. Prod., 44:312, 1981; Kingston et al., J. Nat. Prod., 45:466, 1982, and Senih et al., J. Nat. Prod., 47:131, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,674 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,916. The reported yields of taxol from various species of yew range from 50 mg/kg to 165 mg/kg (i.e., 0.005-0.017%).
Koppaka (U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,916) describes a method for isolating taxol and its analogues from a crude extract of Taxus brevifolia and Taxus floridana, charactized by treating the crude extract by reverse phase liquid chromatography on an adsorbant, and recovering a number of compounds in pure form by elution. However, reverse phase chromatographic separation of impure taxanes from plant materials is expensive because of the cost of the column materials. Generally reverse phase separation can be used on the crude extraction from bark of some of the Taxus species because of the relatively low concentration of pigments, lipids and waxes and high concentration of taxol; however, the needles tend to contain lesser amounts of taxol and significant amounts of impurities and thus reverse phase chromatography for separation of taxanes form early stages of purification is not practical.
EsSohly et al. (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,639), describe methods of obtaining taxanes, comprising extracting and purifying a number of taxanes from ornamental cultivars using a series of organic and aqueous solvents and normal phase chromatography.
Methods of synthesis for the taxane ring skeleton are difficult, producing compounds deficient in pharmacological activity and are currently more expensive than isolation from the plant material. Thus, despite low yields, it is likely that the Taxus plant will remain a predominant reliable supply source for clinical quantities of taxol and its related compounds for years to come.
Although the use of taxol is successful against a number of specific tumor types, it is not universally effective. Hence, there is an urgent need for novel compounds from the taxane family which are closely related to taxol in their chemical structures but with more potent chemotherapeutic activities. New isolation procedures will lead to the purification and identification of new compounds. Moreover, a need exists to simplify the current procedures to produce taxanes and reduce the cost of such production by using simplified extraction and chromatographic techniques.
Therefore, purification techniques which provide high yields of known taxanes and new taxanes are needed to provide greater quantities of these promising therapeutic agents. The present invention provides a purification technique which accomplishes these goals.

Preparative scale isolation and purification of taxanes

Institut National De La Recherche Scientifique


An information processing apparatus for recording data onto a recording medium, includes an access controller for outputting, to a medium-specific controller, record data input from an application and directed to the recording medium. The access controller performs a read-modify-write (RMW) operation by verifying whether one of a record start position and a record end position of the record data input by a logical sector unit from the application is different from a delimitation position of a physical sector as an access unit of the recording medium, acquiring the record data by the physical sector unit and storing the record data onto a memory if one of the record start position and the record end position is different from the delimitation position, updating logical sector data as part of stored physical sector data with the input record data, and outputting the updated physical sector data to the medium-specific controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a computer program. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method and a computer program applied to a system that performs a data recording and reproducing process on a recording medium such as a hard disk with a data unit as an access unit used by one of an application and a device driver being different from a data unit used for internal management by the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses including a digital video camera and a personal computer perform an information recording process and an information reproducing process using an information recording medium such as a hard disk. When the information processing apparatus performs one of the information recording process and the information reproducing process, an application (program) generates or designates record data, outputs the record data to the information recording medium or receives reproducing data from the information recording medium.
For example, one of the application and the device driver accesses the information recording medium using logical block addressing (LBA) of 512 byte unit. If the LBA access unit of 512 bytes matches a management data unit in the hard disk drive (HDD), no problems are expected. If both units fail to match each other, the system may suffer from problems.
For example, a physical sector may include N logical sectors as an access unit within the HDD. By increasing the management unit of the HDD, a setting unit of error correction code (ECC) is enlarged in order to increase processing efficiency. With an amount of ECC data reduced, a storage area is efficient used.
In this way, the data access unit of the upper layer (including the application and the device driver) may be different from the data access of a controller in the information recording medium and the access unit in the information recording medium may be larger than the access unit of the upper layer. If an instruction to record data or reproduce data is issued from the upper layer to the information recording medium, a reading process or a recording process may be performed on an entire data area that collectively includes a designated area on the information recording medium.
When the application reads and updates data recorded on the information recording medium, the update process of the data on the application side is performed by logical sector unit. The information recording medium (for example, HDD) reads data by access unit of the medium containing the sector data to be updated, namely, by physical sector unit and temporarily stores the read data onto a memory in the information recording medium. The information recording medium updates only a data portion to be updated input via the device driver from the application and rerecords the updated data.
For example, if a read error occurs in the physical sector of the information recording medium, the logical data updated is substituted by the application and stored on a spare area as an emergency data recording area of the information recording medium. As for unupdated data contained in the same physical sector as the updated logical sector, dummy data temporarily stored on the memory of the information recording medium is directly stored on the spare area due to the read error occurring in the information recording medium. This means that the unupdated data is handled as if it were missing. The application and the device driver on the upper layer cannot detect data missing at all.
Semiconductor memories perform a garbage collection. In the garbage collection, a memory area is reserved if a recorded cluster is present in the same deleting block subsequent to a cluster as a target of writing. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-308240 discloses a technique that arranges a variety of information on a medium so that such a garbage collection is not frequently generated. However, controlling the layout of information related to a file system such as file allocation table (FAT) on the information recording medium such as HDD is difficult in practice.

Apparatus, method and computer program for processing information


A method of supporting the decision-making on the basis of a table type data is disclosed, which comprises the processes of defining a knowhow relating to the interpretation of the table type data, storing the knowhow in a storage unit, effecting the reasoning by application of the knowhow thus defined, and evaluating the knowhow thus defined. (a) Information is applied by way of an input unit for starting any of the process of defining a knowhow, effecting the reasoning by application of the knowhow and ending the system process, (b) the information thus inputted is discriminated to execute a corresponding process of operation, and (c) if the corresponding process of operation is other than ending, the process is returned to step (a).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system for supporting decision-making.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A decision-making support system now available on the market is "EXCEED". This system is capable of processing various table type data into a new column or row data, presenting a table type data in chart form, and searching for and displaying specific data on the screen. The user is in a position to designate these procedures sequentially. Also, the order of processing may be registered in the system as a command file in advance. This makes it possible to display and present to the user information considered effective in advance. It is also of course possible to have a dialogue with the system to search for or process data as required.
The present invention is also required to be studied from the viewpoint of a method of knowledge processing, and therefore explanation will be made below about a conventional method of the knowledge processing.
In a system for describing the knowhow of an expert in the form of knowledge presentation of a rule or the like, storing it in a knowledge base and utilizing it for various decisions or analyses, the knowledge stored in the knowledge base is required to be reasonable. The
evaluation for this purpose requires a task called knowledge regulation. An expert system structuring tool marketed now is such that this task is performed in such a manner that a hypothetical test case is inputted manually and the resultant output is examined manually, and if the result is undesirable, the case is traced to correct corresponding knowledge. An "ES/KERNEL" is Hitachi's conventional expert system structuring tool. According to the ES/KERNEL, data accessed by a rule is stored in a data storage area called a frame. Further, there is an area called a slot in the frame for storing individual data items. An arrangement may be used as a type of this slot.
Furthermore, a support system for the dealing task in the financial industry includes a "Market Mind". This system, while monitoring the fluctuations of stock prices of various descriptions of stock, gives an alarm as information whether a given description of stock rises or falls in price on the basis of the knowhow presented by the rule.
The conventional methods, however, have the problem described below.
The existing decision-making support systems are incapable of incorporating any knowhow of the decision-making person on the interpretation of data such as how a table type data should be interpreted or what should be presented to the user as a conclusion of interpretation.
Also, the conventional knowledge processing systems do not have any function to efficiently evaluate whether the knowhow stored in a knowledge base is reasonable. Nor are they capable of describing a rule for effectively referring to a table type data. Specifically, in the case where a column (or a row) is stored as a frame, the information on the sequential relationship of the column (or the row) is lost, so that a rule cannot be referred to when a table is stored as an arrangement of frame slots.
Also, the conventional dealing task support systems, which are adapted to output the result of execution of a reasoning as information on whether a given stock price rises or falls, are incapable of evaluating the stored knowledge to check the reasonability thereof.
As explained above, the problem of the conventional methods lie in that no consideration is given to a mechanism for structuring a decision-making support system incorporating a knowhow, or more specifically, a system for applying the knowhow to a table type data.
On the other hand, there is a decision-making support system described below for position control of the dealer to conduct financial trading with a self-position. (a financial trading held by himself).
Generally, a method of supporting the determination of the optimum processing, behavior or operation includes a technique called the linear optimization method, the nonlinear optimization method and the combinational optimization method. According to the conventional nonlinear optimization method, as discussed in "Optimization", Information Science 19, Iwanami Shoten Lecture Series, pp. 61 to 77, for example, values x.sub.1, x.sub.2, . . . , x.sub.n minimizing an objective function f (x.sub.1, x.sub.2, . . . , x.sub.n) under a constraint g.sub.i (x.sub.1, x.sub.2, . . . , x.sub.n) .ltoreq.0 are determined.
Now explanation will be made about a method of supporting the determination of an outline of option trading, which is one of the financial tradings, and an optimum trading.
The market participants in option trading conducted over the counter include a market maker in a position to supply an option as a commodity and an investor for creating the demand for an option to achieve his investment target (objective).
The task of a dealer which is a market maker is divided into the operational task for over-the-counter trading and the revenue management task for self-position (trading held by the dealer). The former includes the setting of the price of bond-option which trades over the counter and the acceptance of an order from customers (mainly investors). The latter is to decide an operational policy of the self-position and, by trading with a correspondent as required, to constantly recompile the contents of the self-position subjected to fluctuations due to the acceptance of customer orders, change in bond price or time decay (change in profit or loss with time) in conformity with the operational policy.
Specifically, the decision on the operational policy is to determine the style of the payoff function of the self-position in such a manner as to earn a profit in accordance with the move of the market price. Such a style is defined by the payoff function and the values of delta, gamma, theta or the like making up a differential function thereof for a certain value assumed by the environmental parameter (the bond price, volatility or the risk-free rate determined by the market trend) providing a part of the parameters of the payoff function. To recompile the contents of the self-position in conformity with the operational policy is to determine the contents of trading (type of option, strike price and the expiration required for satisfying a target of position tuning as a characteristic value including the payoff value, delta value, gamma value or the theta value as well as the value of the environmental parameter determined as an operational policy,) and to conduct the particular trading.
On the other hand, the investor employs an investment strategy with various styles of payoff function by changing each of the long and short calls, long and short puts and the combination ratio therebetween (type of options of call and put), strike price and the time of maturity.
Conventional option trading support systems, by contrast, as seen in the OTT (Option Trader Training) system of Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. or the option trading (analysis) system of Japan Unysis Co., Ltd., have such simulation and analytical functions as supporting the calculation of the theoretical price of option, volatility analysis (fluctuation rate of bond price), time decay analysis and the selection of investment strategies from among the existing ones.
Also, a conventional method of option trading support in which the constraint logic programming is applied to the option trading is disclosed in IEEE Expert, Special Issue on Financial Software, August 1987, pp. 42-50. According to this method, if parts of parameters on option trading including the type of trading, the short or long call, bond price, strike price, the expiration, the coupon, the volatility, the risk-free rate, the payoff value, the delta value, the gamma value or the theta value is restricted by the user, the system is capable of responding with a value that can be taken by the remaining independent parameters. This system adopts a method in which reference is made in advance to a table registered with the value of a parameter satisfying the related equation (such as a payoff function) of parameter on the option trading, and a restrained parameter is propagated to a key and the constraint to the remaining independent parameters.
Nevertheless, a problem is posed by the conventional method as will be described. Specifically, in view of the fact that a market maker manages the revenue of the self-position, the function is lacking of supporting the trading decision for restructuring the contents of the self-position in conformity with the operational policy. The problem has been that the calculation of the option price or the volatility is for supporting the operation of the over-the-counter trading of a dealer, and the time decay analysis in a given transaction or the function for supporting the selection of one of the existing strategies, though oriented for the investors lacking the self-position, is not aimed at the dealers.
Also, a method using a constraint logic programming applied to the support of the position management task of a dealer may be utilized for determining the contents of the trading satisfying the target of position tuning coincidental with the contents of the operational policy given for an environmental parameter and a characteristic value. Specifically, an environmental parameter (the bond price, volatility or risk-free rate determined by the market trend) and the characteristic value (such values as payoff, delta, gamma, and theta) may be restrained to tuned position target thereby to determine a parameter (type of option, strike price, the expiration or the like determined by the user) representing the contents of the trading satisfying the restraint of the characteristic value and the environmental parameter. In this case, the problem has been posed that a table data is required to be registered as described above for all the combinations available for the parameters relating to these option tradings.
Another problem has been that in supporting the decision on an optimum trading parameter by a common optimization method, it is necessary to convert the difference between the style of a payoff function of the position suited to the operational policy and that of the payoff function for the position for which the trading has already been executed, into an objective function.
Still another problem has been that even if the above-mentioned objective function has been set, an increased number of trading parameters would require a longer time for optimization.

Method for determining a supplemental transaction changing a decided transaction to satisfy a target


Embodiments disclosed herein may include systems and methods for reducing power consumption of a pulse oximeter. The disclosure describes method for measuring oxygen saturation of a patient's blood with a pulse oximeter that switches between a high power mode of operation and one or more low power modes of operation based at least in part upon the data obtained from the patient or otherwise generated by the pulse oximeter. In one embodiment, the disclosure describes a operating a pulse oximeter in a high power mode, the pulse oximeter using a sensor to generate data indicative of the oxygen saturation of the patient's blood at a first resolution and switching the pulse oximeter to a low power mode upon detection of data indicative of a non-critical situation. The low power mode may be selected from a set of available low power modes based at least in part upon the data generated by the pulse oximeter.

In medicine, a plethysmograph is an instrument that measures variations in the size of an organ or body part on the basis of the amount of blood passing through or present in the part. An oximeter is a type of plethysmograph that determines the oxygen saturation of the blood. One common type of oximeter is a pulse oximeter.
A pulse oximeter is a medical device that indirectly measures the oxygen saturation of a patient's blood (as opposed to measuring oxygen saturation directly through a blood sample) and changes in blood volume in the skin.
A pulse oximeter may include a light sensor that is placed at a site on a patient, usually a fingertip, toe, forehead or earlobe, or in the case of a neonate, across a foot. Light, which may be produced by a light source integrated into the pulse oximeter, containing both red and infrared wavelengths is directed onto the skin of the patient and the light that passes through the skin is detected by the sensor. The intensity of light in each wavelength is measured by the sensor over time. The graph of light intensity versus time is referred to as the photoplethysmogram (PPG) or, more commonly, simply as the "pleth." From the waveform of the PPG, it is possible to identify the pulse rate of the patient and when each individual pulse occurs. In addition, by comparing the intensities of two wavelengths when a pulse occurs, it is possible to determine blood oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood. This relies on the observation that highly oxygenated blood will relatively absorb more red light and less infrared light than blood with a lower oxygen saturation.

Pulse oximeter with adaptive power conservation


A method for initiating a data storage facility recovery process in a data processing system having a first peer data storage facility and a second peer data storage facility communicating with the first peer data storage facility by a communication link. The method of initiating a recovery process is invoked by one peer data storage facility upon another peer data storage facility operating under a peer to peer remote copy (PPRC) protocol. Data copied from a first peer data storage facility to a second peer data storage facility is monitored for errors. Upon detection of an error by one peer data storage facility, recovery and data collection operations are initiated on the other peer data storage facility. Preferably, the initiation of recovery and data collection operations occurs out of band, over a second communication link between the peer data storage facilities.

Businesses employing large scale data processing systems must maintain hardware and software to assure that critical business data is not lost in the event of a disaster. Disasters can range from catastrophic events such as fire, terrorist attack or flood to relatively minor occurrences such as local power outages. A commonly used method of assuring that no critical business data is lost in the event of a disaster consists of maintaining separate high reliability disk based data storage facilities at separate locations. Often the separate data storage facilities are located miles away from each other to assure that both of the multiple data storage facilities are not compromised by a common disaster.
When multiple storage facilities are employed, it is necessary to synchronize the data between the facilities. One protocol for synchronizing the data between separate storage facilities is peer-to-peer remote copy (PPRC). PPRC is a hardware based disaster recovery and workload migration solution that maintains a synchronous copy (always up to date with the primary copy) of data at the remote location. The backup copy of data can be used to quickly recover from a failure in the primary system without losing any transactions. Typically, a host computer such as an IBM® System/390® communicates to a first storage facility such as an IBM Enterprise Storage Server® (ESS). The first storage facility is typically designated as the primary storage facility. Communication between the host computer and the primary storage facility typically occurs over a dedicated data link such as an optical ESCON® (Enterprise System Connection Architecture®) link. A second data storage facility completes the fundamental PPRC based data storage system. The second data storage facility is typically designated the secondary data storage facility and is connected to the primary data storage facility via a communication link similar to that connecting the host computer to the primary. The PPRC protocol maintains a synchronous copy on the secondary of all data stored to the primary by the host computer. To achieve additional safety and reliability, multiple storage facilities can be cascaded in a manner similar to the implementation of a primary and secondary storage facility.
Storage facilities such as the IBM ESS are inherently reliable and self-healing. These facilities are capable of detecting and correcting a range of both software and hardware errors. Various recovery processes are known in the art. The process used on the IBM ESS to perform a recovery is referred to as a "warmstart". Warmstart is an accelerated method of accomplishing a system reboot. Typically, warmstart does not involve every re-initialization step of a full reboot. Warmstarts are typically initiated by simple debug commands, or initiated by a server upon itself when the server detects an internal error. In the case of the IBM ESS, a device specific control function such as the IOCTL (warmstart) command is used to initiate the warmstart. In addition to performing a system recovery, prior to or upon execution of a warmstart command a data storage facility will typically save the state of the data storage facility and a continuous event log buffer to disk. This information can later be reviewed by a system developer to facilitate root cause problem analysis.
One of the problems historically experienced with a data storage system implemented with PPRC protocols is that a first peer may occasionally send erroneous or incorrect data to the second peer. The problem can arise either when the primary sends erroneous data to the secondary or, conversely, when the secondary sends an erroneous response back to the primary. In the event of the primary sending erroneous data to the secondary, the secondary may detect an error with the data and commence a warmstart recovery process upon itself along with storage of root cause data. Unfortunately the problem is actually occurring on the primary or the data link, and therefore initiation of a recovery process on the secondary does not address the problem, and no useful data is collected. In cases where the error is caused by a hardware or software problem associated with either a single peer storage system or the data link between the peers, and the problem is recognized by the other peer, there is no mechanism known in the art to invoke a warmstart and cause data collection on the peer causing the error. In summary, the problem may only exist on the primary, but the secondary is the storage facility able to detect the error. Conversely, the primary can be the only peer able to detect an error on the secondary. For example: the primary may attempt to send an "update write" command to the secondary, but the format of the data track is different on the secondary (relative to the primary). It could be of a different record length, for example. In such a case, it would be highly desirable to invoke the warmstart process on both the primary and the secondary and to collect root cause data from both storage facilities. Or, the primary may receive an unexpected response from the secondary, for example an unexpected unit check. In such a case, it is desirable to have the primary force a warmstart with data collection upon the secondary.
In addition, it is possible that the communication link between the primary and secondary storage facilities may be the cause of the data error. Therefore, it is desirable to use an out-of-band communication path to invoke the error recovery and data collection operations on the peers.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.

Autonomic recovery of PPRC errors detected by PPRC peer

International Business Machines Corporation


Microphone systems having wireless microphones are often used in events such as discussions, concerts, plays, etc. and normally have a plurality of wireless microphones which are worn by users, such as actors, musicians, singers, etc, and one or more receiving stations which receive the audio signals of the wireless microphones and forward said signals to mixing consoles, amplification systems, recording devices, etc. In addition to the basic functionality of transmitting audio signals, microphone systems have become known which implement additional functions. The invention relates to a microphone module 2 having a transmitting unit 6 wherein the transmitting unit 6 is designed for the wireless transmission of audio information to a base station 3, having a receiving unit 8, wherein the receiving unit 8 is designed to receive wirelessly transmitted status information and/or messages from a transmitter 4, 12 and having an output device 13, 14 for the output of the status information and/or messages to a user of the microphone module 2.

The invention relates to a microphone module having a transmitting unit, wherein the transmitting unit is designed for the wireless transmission of audio information to a base station, and having a receiving unit, wherein the receiving unit is designed for receiving wirelessly transmitted status information and/or messages from a transmitter. The invention also relates to a microphone system having the microphone module.
Microphone systems having wireless microphones are often used in events such as discussions, concerts, plays, etc. and normally have a plurality of wireless microphones which are worn by users such as actors, musicians, singers, etc., and one or more receiving stations which receive the audio signals of the wireless microphones and forward these signals to mixing consoles, amplification systems, recording devices, etc. In addition to the basic functionality of transmitting audio signals, microphone systems have become known which implement additional functions:
In the printed document CN 1444417 A, a karaoke microphone is presented which has a screen on which the text of a song to be sung can be displayed. The text is recorded on the microphone before the event, during the event, the user can scroll the text of the song forward with the aid of buttons or change to another song.
Printed document DE 100 35 824 A1, in contrast, relates to a system having a plurality of wireless transmitting units which can also be designed as microphones, and a central receiving unit, wherein the transmitting unit and the receiving unit are connected, on the one hand, via a channel for transmitting audio information and, on the other hand, via a bidirectional channel which provides for the exchange of technical information and thus a technical calibration between the transmitting unit and the receiving unit. This printed document may well form the nearest prior art.

Microphone module and microphone system having the microphone module


A stereo display apparatus is provided, including a display panel and an adjustable liquid crystal lens array. The adjustable liquid crystal lens array includes a liquid crystal layer and first and second substrates disposed at opposite sides of the liquid crystal layer. The first substrate includes first and second electrodes. The first and second electrodes respectively have a plurality of first and second branch portions arranged alternately. There are first and second pitches respectively between two of the first branch portions adjacent and two of the second branch portions adjacent. The second substrate includes a third electrode. When there is an electric potential difference between the third electrode and the first or the second electrode, an equivalent refractive index of the liquid crystal layer progressively increases from the two first or second branch portions adjacent to central of the two first or second branch portions adjacent.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a stereo display apparatus, and particularly relates to an auto-stereoscopic display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The development of display technology not only aims at lightness, slimness, shortness, and compactness but also aims at the capability of displaying a stereo image. Currently, the technology of stereo display can be divided into the technology of stereoscopic display, with which the viewer has to wear a specifically designed eyeglass for viewing, and the technology of auto-stereoscopic display, with which the viewer is allowed to view with naked eyes.
Taking the technology of auto-stereoscopic display, a stereo display apparatus includes a display panel, which provides an image, and a liquid crystal lens array, which is disposed on an image-transmitting path. The liquid crystal lens array is utilized to respectively project the image provided by the display panel to the left and right eyes of a user, thereby forming a stereo image in human brain through binocular parallax generated after the two eyes respectively receive the image. Under an identical electric potential difference, the liquid crystal lens array has a constant value of effective focal length (EFL), making the stereo display apparatus have a single optimal view distance. In this way, when the user changes his/her view distance, his/her eyes become deviated from the optimal distance and therefore are unable to view a stereo image with an preferable effect of display.

Stereo display apparatus having adjustable liquid crystal lens array


A three dimensional measuring device including: a first retractable member for measuring in a first dimension, a second retractable member for measuring in a second dimension, and a third retractable member for measuring in a third dimension. Each of the retractable members is configured to angularly pivot relative to any of the other retractable members thereby rendering a recordable angular measurement. The three dimensional measuring device is adapted to accurately measure the size of three dimensional objects. The three dimensional measuring device is also capable of rendering a three dimensional representation of the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to a portable device to accurately measure an object in at least three dimensions.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is common for interior designers, home owners and the like to measure the size of objects and furniture in an attempt to recognize if the object will fit into a desired space. This has often been accomplished by using a single axis tape measure, taking three different measurements along the x, y and z axis and creating a three dimensional drawing of the object to compare to furniture items to be purchased with the desired placement in the home. The difficulty of this method is that it is problematic to get an accurate comparison of the size of the object in relation to the desired space.
Various means are used to account for the distance from the device to the floor and measurements may not be exact. Many of the prior art devices require the assistance of another person to take the measurement, and most do not provide enough space to record data such as the date, name of subject and other desired information.
There is a need for a measuring device that gives an accurate measurement of the subject and one that the subject can use alone. There is a need for such a measuring device that also provides sufficient space to record any necessary data with each measurement. There is also a need for a measuring device that does not have to be attached to a wall in order to get an accurate measurement and can be stored and brought out only when needed.

Portable three dimensional measuring device


Disclosed are antiperspirant cream compositions which have a penetration force value of from about 20 gram.force to about 500 gram.force, and comprise (a) from about 20% to about 80% by weight of a volatile silicone material; (b) from about 5% to about 35% of a particulate antiperspirant active; and (c) from about 0.1% to about 20% by weight of a gellant material comprising glyceryl tribehenate and other triglycerides wherein at least about 75% of the esterified fatty acid moieties of said other triglycerides have from about 18 to about 36 carbon atoms, and the molar ratio of glyceryl tribehenate to said other triglycerides is from about 20:1 to about 1:1. The compositions preferably further comprise a residue masking material.

There are many types of topical antiperspirant products that are commercially available or otherwise known in the antiperspirant art. Most of these products are formulated as sprays, roll-on liquids, creams, or solid sticks, and comprise an astringent material, e.g. zirconium or aluminum salt, incorporated into a suitable topical carrier. These products are designed to provide effective perspiration and odor control while also being cosmetically acceptable during and after application onto the axillary area or onto other areas of the skin. Aerosol sprays and solid sticks have been especially popular with consumers.
Although historically less preferred by consumers, antiperspirant creams remain an effective alternative to antiperspirant sprays and solid sticks. These creams can be applied by conventional means, or packaged into topical dispensers to make topical application more efficient and less messy. Perspiration and odor control provided by these products can be excellent. Many of these creams, however, are cosmetically unacceptable to a large number of antiperspirant users. Application of these creams can be messy, difficult to spread and wash off, and even when a cream applicator is employed, the applied areas often feel wet or sticky for several minutes after application. Many consumers have therefore preferred antiperspirant sticks for ease of administration and drier skin feel immediately after application, although the antiperspirant sticks typically leave an undesirably high residue on the skin.
One method for making more cosmetically acceptable antiperspirant creams involves dispersion of particulate antiperspirant actives in a mixture of volatile and nonvolatile solvents and silicones. These antiperspirant creams contain conventional thickening agents (e.g., bentonite clays, hectorite clays, colloidal or famed silicas) to help maintain dispersion of the particulate antiperspirant actives over an extended period of time. The volatile silicone component provides a drier skin feel upon application to the skin, and when combined with the nonvolatile solvent provides an effective vehicle within which particulate antiperspirant actives are delivered to and deposited on the skin. However, the conventional thickening agents used in these systems contribute a grainy texture to the product, and furthermore cannot maintain stable particulate dispersions over extended periods of time when higher volatile silicone concentrations are used. Higher volatile silicone concentrations would be desirable to further reduce stickiness, improve dry-down times after application onto skin, improve ease of spreading, and improve wash-off characteristics.
It has now been found that the antiperspirant cream compositions of the present invention, which comprise a volatile silicone solvent, particulate antiperspirant actives, and a select molar ratio of certain triglyceride gellants, provides a novel antiperspirant cream composition which delivers effective antiperspirant and odor control, and improved cosmetics (reduced stickiness, improved ease of spreading, drier-feeling application, reduced dry-down times, improved wash-off, reduced grittiness) during and after application onto skin. The triglyceride gellant material described herein, when combined with volatile silicone solvents, provides a stable structure containing a dispersion of particulate antiperspirant actives, even when higher concentrations of volatile silicones are used. These antiperspirant creams do not require the use of particulate thickening agents to establish product stability, e.g, to maintain over an extend period of time a dispersion of the particulate antiperspirant actives.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel antiperspirant cream composition, and further to provide such a composition that does not necessarily require the use of particulate thickening agents, and further to provide such a composition that remains stable over extended periods even when comprised of higher concentrations of volatile silicone materials, and further to provide such a composition which provides effective antiperspirant and deodorant performance in a cosmetically acceptable cream composition.

Antiperspirant cream compositions comprising select triglyceride gellants


A process is disclosed of precipitating a high chloride {100} tabular grain photographic emulsion in which iodide incorporation in previously formed grain nuclei is relied upon to create the crystal lattice defects responsible for tabular grain growth. Undesirable dilution of the emulsion is avoided by replacing soluble iodide salt solution addition with iodine solution addition, allowing the volume of the iodine solution to be limited to less than 10 percent of the emulsion volume at the conclusion of tabular grain growth.

Maskasky U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,264,337 and 5,292,632, hereinafter collectively referred to as Maskasky, disclose high chloride {100} tabular grain emulsions. The {100} tabular grains of Maskasky were "internally free of iodide", which is employed to mean no iodide ion is intentionally incorporated in the grains during their nucleation and growth prior to achieving their required tabular grain characteristics--i.e., prior to achieving an aspect ratio of at least 2. Maskasky in most instances relied upon as a grain growth stabilizer an organic compound containing a nitrogen atom with a resonance stabilized .pi. electron pair, although Example 2 ('337) Example 6 ('632) demonstrate that such a grain growth stabilizer is not essential.
Subsequently House et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,938 was able to demonstrate thinner and higher aspect ratio high chloride {100} tabular grain emulsions than demonstrated by Maskasky by performing grain nucleation in the presence of iodide ion. No restraining agents of the type disclosed by Maskasky were employed.
Chang et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,904 improved on the process of House et al by delaying iodide ion addition until after grain nuclei formation. By delaying iodide addition until after at least 0.01 percent of the total silver had been precipitated, Chang et al was able to significantly reduce the proportion of grains other than high chloride {100} tabular grains present in the emulsion. Additionally, the modified process was more robust, meaning that the process required minimum adjustments when the scale and equipment of precipitation was varied.

Process for the preparation of high chloride (100) tabular grain emulsions


The present invention provides a method of transmitting a data signal across an intermediate network. The intermediate network receives a compression control signal associated with the data signal that provides information about the compression format of the data signal. The intermediate network uses this information to determine whether and where to transcode the data signal within the intermediate network. The data signal is then transmitted across the intermediate network, and transcoded as determined.

As telecommunications technology advances, and as the market for this technology expands, demand for bandwidth in networks is rapidly increasing. This bandwidth may be scarce or expensive. As a result, there is motivation to use as little bandwidth as possible for any given connection. One way to minimize the bandwidth used for a connection is to compress the data signals transmitted along the connection using standard compression algorithms. Such compression makes additional bandwidth available for additional connections. Compression may be performed on a wide variety of data signals, including but not limited to multimedia signals such as voice, video, and facsimile. Each time a signal is compressed and decompressed, some data may be lost, and the quality of the signal may be reduced. A single compression and decompression does not usually result in noticeable signal degradation. However, if a given data signal is compressed and decompressed multiple times, a scenario referred to herein as xe2x80x9ctandem encodings,xe2x80x9d there can be significant and noticeable degradation in the quality of the data signal.
Compression is particularly important in certain contexts, such as where bandwidth is scarce or expensive. For example, wireless transmissions require bandwidth on the wireless spectrum, which is available in limited amounts, and is increasingly expensive. As a result, voice transmissions over the wireless spectrum are typically compressed by a factor of 8:1 or more. Also, bandwidth is typically expensive on international networks, such that compression can lead to significant savings. Personal computers may not be able to handle bit rates above a particular bit rate. For example, 64 kB speech signals are presently beyond the capabilities of many personal computers, and speech signals to or from such a computer may be compressed by a factor of about 10:1. A data signal may also be compressed for storage in a device that has limited capacity. For example, voicemail is typically compressed by a factor of about 4:1 for storage in customer premises equipment (CPE). Answering machines may similarly compress voice signals to increase the capacity of the memory in the device.
Voice signals are sometimes compressed for transmission across a network. Depending on the algorithm used, there may be little or no perceptible degradation of voice quality when compared to the uncompressed 64 kbps pulse code modulation (PCM) format used in conventional telephone networks. However, there is frequently significant degradation of voice signals that have undergone tandem encoding. Thus, while it may be beneficial to compress a voice signal if bandwidth is scarce, care should be taken to avoid tandem encodings.
Moreover, the networks of different carriers are being interconnected with increasing frequency. For example; long distance carriers may be interconnected with local telephone networks, such that the voice signal of a long distance telephone call is typically transmitted from the caller, across the caller""s local telephone network, across a long distance carrier""s network, across the called party""s local telephone network, to the called party. While a given network may desire to minimize the use of bandwidth by compressing data signals, there is a risk of tandem encodings because the data signal may have previously been compressed by another network or another node within the given network. There is therefore a need for procedures to communicate, between networks and between nodes within a network, whether a data signal has been compressed, and if so, the type of compression.
Existing technology enables networks to transmit data signals to other networks, and existing signaling protocols allow the networks to communicate with each other about the data signals. Under the Broadband ISDN User Part (B-ISUP) protocol, for example, a first asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network (1) transmits to a second ATM network an Initial Address Message (IAM) that indicates the final destination of the data signal; (2) receives an Address Complete Message (ACM) from the second network that indicates that a virtual circuit has been reserved, and the called party is being alerted; and (3) transmits the data signal after the called party answers, and the virtual connection has been established. There are many other protocols having similar procedures. For example, the PNNI protocol has an analogous procedure where SETUP and ALERTING messages replace the IAM and ACM, respectively. However, existing signaling protocols do not indicate whether and how a data signal has been compressed.
In a circuit-switched network, the bandwidth allocated per connection is either fixed or an integral multiple of some xe2x80x9cbasexe2x80x9d rate. For example, in a typical circuit-switched voice network in the United States, -connections are established in 64 kbps slices, though they could, in theory, be established as super-rate connections (i.e., as integral multiples of 64 kbps) or sub-rate connections (i.e., using a xe2x80x9cbasexe2x80x9d rate of less than 64 kbps). Even if a connection in such a typical network only requires 6 kbps of bandwidth, it would reserve a full 64 kbps of bandwidth through the network. As a result, compression does not necessarily reduce the use of bandwidth in a circuit-switched network.
In a packet network, the allocation of bandwidth to connections is continuously variable, and bandwidth usage may be finely controlled on a per-connection basis. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cpacketxe2x80x9d refers to either a variable length packet or a fixed length cell. In a connectionless packet network, such as a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) network, the term xe2x80x9cconnectionxe2x80x9d is used herein to represent the transmission of packets comprising the data signal between two users across the network, possibly via a variety of different paths. As a result, a connection in a packet network ideally uses only the amount of bandwidth actually required. For example, a service that requires 6 kbps of bandwidth only reserves 6 kbps of bandwidth through a packet network, whereas the same service in a typical 64 kbps circuit-switched network would reserve 64 kbps. As a result, compression is usually beneficial in a packet network, because any bandwidth saved by compressing the data signal transmitted over one connection can be used for other connections. Bandwidth can therefore be used more efficiently in a packet network than in a circuit-switched network. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks and TCP/IP networks are examples of packet networks. The need for procedures to communicate compression information is therefore particularly acute when one or more packet networks are involved, because such information would allow more efficient use of bandwidth without signal degradation.
The present invention provides a method of transmitting a data signal across an intermediate network. The intermediate network receives a compression control signal associated with the data signal that provides information about the compression format of the data signal. The intermediate network uses this information to determine whether and where to transcode the data signal within the intermediate network. The data signal is then transmitted across the intermediate network, and transcoded as determined. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9ctranscodexe2x80x9d refers to the process of converting a signal from one (possibly compressed) format to another.
The present invention further provides another method of transmitting a data signal across an intermediate network. The intermediate network receives a first compression control signal from an originating entity that provides information about a first compression format in which the originating entity communicates with the intermediate network. The intermediate network also receives a second compression control signal from a terminating entity that provides information about a second compression format in which the terminating entity communicates with the intermediate network. The intermediate network uses the information provided by the first and second compression control signals to determine whether and where to transcode the data signal within the intermediate network. The intermediate network then transmits the data signal across the intermediate network, between the originating entity and the terminating entity, transcoding as determined.
The present invention further provides, in an entity, a method of transmitting a data signal between the entity and an intermediate network. The entity transmits a compression control signal, associated with the data signal, to the intermediate network. The compression control signal provides information about a compression format in which the entity communicates with the intermediate network. The data signal is then transmitted between the entity and the intermediate network in the compression format.
The present invention further provides an intermediate network adapted to transmit a data signal between an originating network and a terminating network. The intermediate network has an intermediate access switch connected to an originating switch of the originating network via a first link, and an intermediate egress switch connected to the intermediate access switch by a connection within the intermediate network, and connected to a terminating switch of the terminating network via a second link. The intermediate network is adapted to receive a compression control signal associated with a data signal, the control signal providing information about the compression format of the data signal. The intermediate network is further adapted to determine whether and where to transcode the data signal within the intermediate network, based on the compression control signal. The intermediate access switch is adapted to transmit the data signal between the intermediate access switch and the originating switch via the first link. The intermediate network is adapted to transmit the data signal across the intermediate network, transcoding the data signal as determined. The intermediate egress switch is adapted to transmit the data signal between the intermediate egress switch and the terminating switch via the second link.
The present invention further provides a switch adapted to practice the methods of the invention, and a medium that stores instructions as to how to practice the methods of the invention.

Method and apparatus for signaling voice compression in a network


An end effector for a robotic sanding system includes a sanding head including a sander configured to sand a surface of a workpiece. A motor is operatively coupled to the sander. The motor is configured to rotate the sander to sand the surface of the workpiece. The motor includes a first central longitudinal axis. A coupler is configured to removably secure the end effector to an attachment interface of an arm of the robotic sanding system. The coupler includes a second central longitudinal axis. The first central longitudinal axis is offset from the second central longitudinal axis. One or more sensors are coupled to the sanding head. The one or more sensors are configured to detect presence of a metal within the predefined range.

During the manufacture of aeronautical and aerospace vehicles, various components may be sanded and cleaned before or after an assembly process. For example, mandrels, wings, fuselage sections, and/or the like may be polished and cleaned, such as via a sanding process.
Typically, robotic sanding end effectors are powered through pneumatic motors. The pneumatic motors are operably coupled to the sanding effectors to facilitate high torque and high speed sanding operations. The pneumatic motors are generally directly attached and coaxial with an attachment point of the robot, such as at an end of an arm. Other robotic sanding effectors include electric motors.
Conventional robotic sanding end effectors have various drawbacks, including the following: issues with typical pneumatic motors, issues with motors (e.g., pneumatic or electric) associated with typical in-line coupling (the in-line coupling between the motor and the attachment point of the robot limits configurability of the system, and may also limit the reach of the end effector, such as in confined areas), and issues with typical fluid systems (typically manually dispensed or coupled to a remote and dedicated fluid supply). Additionally, certain conventional robotic sanders may be susceptible to being inadvertently activated.
Further, pneumatic motors are typically coupled to a remote and dedicated air supply. For example, the pneumatic motors are coupled to a source of compressed air via one or more air delivery tubes. The pneumatic motors are configured to ensure a desired amount of force and pressure exerted by the sanding head into a workpiece. The air delivery tubes coupled between the pneumatic motor and an air supply add weight and complexity to the overall system, as well as limit the range of the system.
In short, tethering the motor of the end effector to a source of air through air delivery tubes limits the mobility of the system. Further, the in-line coupling between the motor and the attachment point of the robot limits configurability of the system, and may also limit the reach of the end effector, such as in confined areas.


A method for the diagnosis and identification of new or residual lung cancer is disclosed which uses newly identified markers for lung cancer including syndecan 1, collagen 1 alpha 2, and two novel proteins, 7013 and 7018. The method involves identification of the lung cancer markers is blood from a patient. It is envisioned that at least one marker may be used or any mixture of the four. The method may also include the identification of cytokeratin-19.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in industrial nations and has an extremely high mortality rate. Early diagnosis and effective treatments are not available at this time. A chest X-ray is frequently used for lung cancer screening, however, it is not useful for the detection of early stage cancer. CT scans may also be used and may allow detection of the cancer at an earlier stage, however, this procedure takes time and has a risk of exposure.
Cancer cells or micrometastases are frequently detected in the blood stream of patients with melanomas, thyroid cancers, and prostate cancers. Currently reverse transcription-based polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is a powerful method capable of detecting a single cancer cell within millions of normal blood cells by amplifying a cancer specific gene or marker. This makes RT-PCR detection of micrometastases a promising diagnostic procedure for the prognosis, choice of appropriate treatments, and monitoring of the efficacy of each treatment. Furthermore, blood tests do not induce any health hazards, whereas methods such as X-ray or CT scan do. In addition, blood tests cause very minor physical discomfort as compared to endoscopic examination and biopsy. Lung cancer frequently induces blood-born metastasis even in the early stages—before symptomatic disease and many lung cancers relapse as distant metastases, such as in brain, bone, and liver. This is due to the lung cancer induced blood-borne metastasis. This knowledge can be used, however, because it suggests that the diagnosis and detection of relapse could be made on the basis of these blood borne metastases at a very early stage. However, there are no good markers available for the identification of the metastatic lung cancers cells in the blood. Currently, lung cancer markers such as cytokeratin-19 and CEA are used for the diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer by RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) but lack specificity, and result in a high number of false positives and negatives.
RT-PCR of micrometastases, then, is especially advantageous for the detection of lung cancer due to the large patient population, high incidence of blood-borne metastasis, poor prognosis, and high medical cost for advanced cancer treatments. In addition, specific antibodies are not available as of yet for lung cancer.
Therefore, specific markers and a method of diagnosis of lung cancer by detecting blood-borne metastasis is needed.


A rack for use in a low volume thin tank of a photosensitive web processing apparatus. The rack comprises a plurality of fluid circulation ports in a face of the rack for applying fluid to a photosensitive web during processing. The fluid circulation ports are arranged, in use, to discharge fluid into and withdraw fluid from the tank in which the rack is situated. The rack has a textured surface structure over which the fluid passes in use to provide agitation of the fluid in the tank. Improved processing of the photosensitive web can result, thereby also reducing the time taken to process the web. Additionally, the rack may be modular in construction, thereby facilitating the installation of the rack into the tank of the processing apparatus.

Large wholesale processing machines which process photographically sensitized webs are well known. These machines can run at speeds of up to 50 meters per minute depending on the number of tanks through which the web must pass to be processed. Further, such machines can be sufficiently wide to accommodate up to 6 separate webs moving in parallel through the machine. Most of these machines are individually configured from standard components to suit individual laboratory requirements.
Recent developments have shown that the chemical volume of the prior art large volume tank processing machines described above can be reduced by up to 90% by including a volume filling rack within each tank. Such a low volume thin tank (LVTT) type apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,179,404; 5,311,235; 5,309,191; 5,339,131 and 5,387,499. A limit to the maximum practical volume reduction is the space needed for the reliable transport of the webs through the tanks and the efficient recirculation and/or replacement of the chemicals used in the tanks.
As a result of reducing the volumes of tanks in a processing apparatus, new chemical formulations (such as Redox Amplification (RX) formulations) can be used which shorten the time of the various processing steps occurring in the tanks, thereby leading to increases in the line speed of the processing apparatus.
Although the new chemical formulations mentioned above can result in faster development of a photographically sensitized web, efficient usage of the chemicals relies on the chemicals being rapidly brought into contact with the sensitized web and then being quickly removed and replaced by fresh chemicals when the chemicals become exhausted. This action is normally known as agitation. In small machines a chemical recirculation pump is used to provide the agitation by quickly turning the tank contents around at anything up to about 12 times per minute. In the large wholesale machines, however, which hold about 250 liters per tank in an LVTT-type apparatus, the pump size required to obtain sufficient agitation (i.e. chemical replacement) becomes excessive.
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention aims to provide an improved rack for use in a low volume thin tank processing apparatus which assists in overcoming the problem highlighted above.


An image recording apparatus for recording image data from an external apparatus receives the image data as an image signal from the external apparatus, records the received image signal, and outputs a characteristic signal regarding a recording characteristic of the recording apparatus to the external apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image recording apparatus which records image or character data on a recording medium, such as paper or the like, and especially relates to a recording apparatus which receives image data in the form of an electric image signal from an external apparatus, e.g., a host computer, an image reader, a controller or the like, and outputs high quality visible images.
2. Background
In one type of conventional image recording apparatus (for convenience, generically called a "printer" in this specification), e.g., a laser beam printer which applies electrostatic photography, or the like, generally a host computer (as an example of what is herein termed "external apparatus") executes image. processing, e.g., a screen process or a dither process and binarizes image data prior to supplying the data to the printer, to obtain halftone images. In another conventional laser beam printer, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,442, a turning-on period of a laser, is controlled by controlling the width of a pulse, in the main scanning direction, representing the image. To express halftone images, the turning-on period of the laser is shortened compared to the turning-on period which would correspond to one image dot (i.e., pure black).
Thus, it is convenient for the host computer to carry out the various kinds of image processes, from the viewpoint of data storing ability and the like. Further, the host computer can send a binary signal to a printer, to lessen the amount of data to be sent, and it is effective for such sending of data.
However, the above-mentioned conventional printers generally have different halftone characteristics from each other depending on types and devices of printers, so that those printers output images having different densities in a given portion even if the same image data is supplied to these printers. For example, the external apparatus supplies a 4.times.4 dither pattern (an example is shown in FIG. 2) to printers, one of which has an input/output characteristic A (shown as a solid line in FIG. 3), and another of which has another input/output characteristic B (shown as a broken line in FIG. 3). As a result, even if the same image signal, processed with the same dither pattern, is supplied, it can occur that one printer may be unable to express a bright area because a small point is not recorded, while another printer cannot express a dark area because a small white point is covered by other, black marks.
Strictly speaking, not only a halftone image like a photograph but a character image also has the same problem as discussed above. Especially a character image which has small characters expressed with thin lines has this problem because the thin lines are output with lines of different widths by different printers.
Thus, when an image processing system is structured with one host computer and several kinds of printers, there are problems such as an output image on a recording medium, e.g., a paper, being totally blurred and having thin-lined characters, or another output image being totally dark and has crushed characters.

Images processing apparatus for controlling binarized multi-value image data to convert pulse widths differently in at least two modes


Horizontal or vertical parabolic waveforms corresponding to arbitrary aspect ratios are generated with a relatively small number of memory devices for storing data values which are used for generating parabolic waveforms to compensate horizontal or vertical deflection distortion in television receivers. A first and second memory device which each store data values for generating parabolic waveforms necessary for the images of a specific aspect ratio (for example (4:3) and (16:9)) are provided. When a desired aspect ratio is given to a logic circuit, two coefficients are calculated in a coefficient arithmetic logic unit and the outputs of the first and the second memory devices are allocated proportionally in a logic circuit. The output data values of the logic circuit are then converted to a desired parabolic waveform.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a parabolic waveform generating apparatus used for compensating horizontal or vertical deflection distortion in television receivers.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the field of television receivers, Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT's) with an aspect ratio (horizontal to vertical size of the image) of (4:3) have typically been used. But recently, television receivers employing CRT's with a different aspect ratio have been developed. In a High Definition Television (HDTV) System for instance, the CRT has an aspect ratio of (16:9). In order to display an image of aspect ratio (16:9) on an ordinary CRT with an aspect ratio (4:3), several methods have been considered. One method includes a change in the vertical or horizontal deflection size.
In the parabolic waveform generating apparatus employed for compensating the horizontal or vertical deflection current in the television receivers, as well as in the other kinds of devices, digital techniques have been adopted in order to reduce the influence of change by year, in order to be able to adjust the circuits easily during production, and so on.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary parabolic waveform generating apparatus employing digital technique and FIG. 2 illustrates parabolic waveforms generated by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, ROM 1, ROM 2, ROM 3, and ROM 4 are Read-Only-Memories storing the data for generating the first, second, third, and fourth parabolic waveforms respectively. And the first, second, third, and fourth parabolic waveforms are those for compensating the deflection distortion of the images with aspect ratios of (4:3), (16:9), (5:3), and (4.5:3) respectively. The selector 5 is an electronic switch which selects data for generating a parabolic waveform for the specified aspect ratio by means of a control signal.
In FIG. 2, the waveform (1) is a parabolic waveform converted in the parabolic waveform generating circuit 6 from the data signal which is read out from ROM 1 and selected by the selector 5. Therefore, the waveform (1) is a compensating current waveform for the image with an aspect ratio (16:9). Likewise the waveforms (2), (3), and (4) are parabolic waveforms converted in the parabolic waveform generating circuit 6 from the data signals which are read out from ROM 2, ROM 3, and ROM 4 respectively and selected by the selector 5. Therefore, the waveforms (2), (3), and (4) are compensating current waveforms for the images with aspect ratios of (4:3), (4.5:3), and (5:3) respectively. The same consideration can be adopted in a parabolic waveform generating apparatus for compensating horizontal deflection distortion as the above-mentioned vertical one.
However, parabolic waveform generating devices have typically had several problems. That is, multiple ROMs are typically required to store the data for generating the respective parabolic waveforms for each different aspect ratio. As more kinds of aspect ratios are requested, more ROM's are typically required.


The present invention is directed to chemical processes for preparing 2-aryl-6-hydroxy-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxyl)benzoyl]benzoyl]benzo[b]-thiophenes.

The present invention is directed to chemical processes for preparing 2-aryl-6-hydroxy-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxy)-benzoyl]benzo[b]thiophenes. The synthesis of aromatic ketones was reviewed by Gore in Olah, Friedel-Crafts and Related Reactions, Volume 3, Part 1, Chapter XXXI (1964). Generally, an acyl component and an aromatic substrate are reacted in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst to produce the aromatic ketone. Suitable Lewis acid catalysts for this type of reaction include metal halides such as aluminum chloride, aluminum bromide, ferric chloride, and ferric bromide. See Olah, Friedel-Crafts and Related Reactions, Volume 1, Chapters II, III, and IV (1963).
The compounds prepared by the present processes were first described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,814. This patent described a number of processes for preparing the compounds, including the reaction of 2-arylbenzo[b]thiophenes-3-carboxylic acids with alkyl phenyl ethers. This patent taught the use of phenacyl, halophenacyl, End alkyl protecting groups for the phenolic hydroxyl groups. The alkyl protecting groups were removed by treating the phenolic ethers with pyridine hydrochloride. This patent also taught that the phenolic methyl ethers could be cleaved without affecting the 3-aroylalkoxy group by reacting with boron tribromide; however, the yield of the 3-aroylalkoxy-substituted compound was low.
The process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,593 used particularly advantageous protecting groups for preparing 6-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxy)benzoyl]-benzo[b]thiophe nes. These advantageous protecting groups are acetyl, substituted acetyl, benzoyl, alkylsulfonyl, and arylsulfonyl groups. This patent taught the use of classical Friedel-Crafts catalysts in the acylation of the protected 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-6-hydroxybenzo[b]thiophene, including metal halides such as aluminum chloride, aluminum bromide, zinc chloride, boron trifluoride, boron tribromilde, titanium tetrachloride, titanium tetrabromide, stannic chloride, stannic bromide, bismuth trichloride, and ferric chloride. Subsequent to acylation, the protecting group was generally removed under basic conditions.
A particularly useful compound from this series of 2-aryl-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxy)benzoyl]benzo[b]thiophenes is 6-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-[4-(2-piperidinoethoxy)-benzoyl]benzo[b]th iophene. This compound, as well as methods for its preparation, was first described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,068. This compound is a selective estrogen receptor modulator, useful for alleviating an estrogen-dependent pathological condition of an endocrine target organ. U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,763 described methods for the treatment of bone loss using this compound.
An improved process for the synthesis of 6-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxy)benzoyl]b was described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,635. These compounds were prepared by Friedel-Crafts acylation, using aluminum chloride as the catalyst, of a di-O-methyl-protected benzo[b]thiophene. The intermediate acylation product was demethylated by treating the acylation reaction mixture with a sulfur compound, such as methanethiol, ethanethiol, diethyl sulfide, and methionine. The product of this reaction generally contains aluminum salts and vario(us thioester by-products, which are difficult to remove from the benzothiophene. Also, the product has an unpleasant residual thiol or sulfide odor.
Boron halides, such as boron trichloride and boron tribromide, are useful for the cleavage of arylmethyl ethers. See Bahtt and Kulkarni, Synthesis, 249-282 (1983). Boron tribromide has previously been used to cleave arylmethyl ethers in benzothiophene compounds. See German Patent No. DE 4117512 A1.
The processes described above are not suitable for a large-scale synthetic process for preparing 2-aryl-6-hydroxy-3-[4-(2-aminoethoxy)benzoyl]benzo[b]thiophenes. A preferred process would use simple phenolic protecting groups, (such as methyl ethers), readily available starting materials, Friedel-Crafts acylation catalysts that are easily removed and do not present an environmental or health hazard upon disposal, a single reaction vessel, and provide the product in a form that is readily isolated. The process of the present invention fulfills all of these requirements.


Some embodiments of the invention relate to a location determination apparatus for determining a location of two components relative to one another. The apparatus may comprise at least one location encoder having a read head in cooperation with a code for generating first position determination data at a first measurement frequency. According to some embodiments of the invention, at least one inertial measurement unit is arranged for additionally determining translational and/or rotational accelerations of at least one of the two components and, moreover, for generating second position determination data with respect to the location at a second measurement rate.

Determining directions, angles and lengths as locations is required in many fields of application, such as e.g. geodetic surveying and for industrial measurements. Developments in angle metrology have led, via mechanical read processes, to fully automated location measurements, in particular angle or path measurements according to the current prior art.
Known automated location determination apparatuses generally comprise a code carrier and a scanning apparatus. In the case of angle measurement apparatuses, so-called angle encoders, the code carrier is usually embodied rotatably about an axis relative to a scanning apparatus, wherein an angle location of the code carrier then constitutes the variable to be measured. By way of example, the code carrier can have a division or encoding for determining the position, wherein the encoding may be applied to a surface or lateral face of the code carrier.
For the purposes of automatically acquiring the location, the code carrier, which is movable relative to the scanning apparatus, is scanned by a read head by means of various techniques. Known scanning methods include electronic-magnetic, electronic and optoelectronic methods (i.e. inductively based, capacitively based and optically based).
By way of example, location determination apparatuses are used in coordinate measuring devices or coordinate measuring machines (CMM).
An optical detector of an angle encoder for reading an optically readable code carrier, as described in WO 2008/019835, is, for example, a photodetector, a CCD line array or a CCD area array. In general, the code carrier is embodied as a circular disk or as a circular ring and carries a position code, which can be acquired optically, along the circumference thereof, of which code a section is imaged on the detector.
As disclosed in e.g. WO 2007/051575, known angle measurement devices generally comprise a so-called circular arc and a scanning apparatus. The circular arc is embodied as code carrier and has a division or encoding for determining the position on the circle. The encoding is applied to a surface, i.e. a circle face or a lateral face, of the code carrier.
WO 2008/141817 discloses a location determination apparatus with a linear encoder and/or an angle encoder. The code carrier and scanning apparatus are arranged in such a way that relative movement in one degree of freedom, in particular a relative rotational movement or a relative longitudinal movement along one axis, is made possible between code carrier and scanning apparatus.
The known location determination apparatuses, in particular for coordinate measuring machines or geodetic surveying machines such as e.g. total stations, have very different advantages and disadvantages.
Known location encoders, such as linear encoders and angle encoders, are characterized by a high measurement accuracy for supplying relative (i.e. incremental) or absolute position determination data, but a relatively low measurement speed, for example of the order of between 1 Hz and 20 Hz, and, as a result thereof, relatively low possible reading speed. Designs with a comparatively increased possible measurement speed are relatively expensive, in particular due to the more complicated mechanics and electronics required for this.

Location determination apparatus with an inertial measurement unit


A method is described for decreasing the critical dimensions of integrated circuit features in which a first masking layer (101) is deposited, patterned and opened in the manner of typical feature etching, and a second masking layer (201) is deposited thereon prior to etching the underlying insulator. The second masking layer is advantageously coated in a substantially conformal manner. Opening the second masking layer while leaving material of the second layer on the sidewalls of the first masking layer as spacers leads to reduction of the feature critical dimension in the underlying insulator. Ashable masking materials, including amorphous carbon and organic materials are removable without CMP, thereby reducing costs. Favorable results are also obtained utilizing more than one masking layer (101, 301) underlying the topmost masking layer (302) from which the spacers are formed. Embodiments are also described in which slope etching replaces the addition of a separate spacer layer. Substructures formed in the fabrication process are also described. Spacers are also shown to be favorably employed in making feature-in-feature structures.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to processes and substructures arising in the manufacture of integrated circuits and, more particularly, to processes, materials and substructures for reducing the critical dimensions of integrated circuit features.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Reducing the critical dimensions ("CDs") of integrated circuit features is an important problem in the continuing efforts to increase the functionality of integrated circuits ("ICs"). Several lines of attack are possible. Reducing CDs by improving the mechanical and/or optical performance of photolithography requires improvement of mechanical steppers as well as improved printing (exposing and developing). Improving mechanical steppers can be economically problematic, requiring abandonment of existing steppers and loss of the capital investment.
Improved printing typically includes the use of exposing radiation with shorter wavelengths. Present IC photolithography systems typically use deep ultraviolet ("DUV") radiation with a wavelength of 248 nm (nm=nanometer=10−9 meter), conveniently obtained from KrF excimer lasers. More advanced systems make use of ArF excimer lasers with a wavelength of 193 nm. However, the use of even shorter wavelengths (such as the F2 laser with a wavelength of 157 nm) is handicapped by the lack of suitable optical materials from which lenses or other optical components can be manufactured. In summary, improving photolithography by the use of shorter wavelengths involves both the financial burden of investment in replacement photolithography equipment and meeting the technical challenges of manipulating very short wavelengths.
Techniques have been described for reducing the CDs achievable with existing steppers and photolithography systems. That is, CD reduction is obtained by additional and/or different processing steps making use of presently-employed steppers and photolithography. CD reduction by the use of amorphous silicon spacer layers has been described by Kook et al (U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,123). However, it is often necessary to remove the hardmasks, spacers or other layers deposited to facilitate feature fabrication. Amorphous silicon belongs to a class of materials that are removable only with difficulty. Chemical mechanical planarization ("CMP") is required to remove the materials described by Kook, which requires relatively expensive consumables and processing. Therefore, reducing CDs by means of materials removable by less expensive processing than CMP would simplify IC manufacturing and reduce costs.
Thus, a need exists in the art for achieving a reduction in CDs while avoiding the expense of CMP.

Ashable layers for reducing critical dimensions of integrated circuit features