A light pen computer interface system utilizes a coil located externally of the computer's CRT display monitor to sense the magnetic field which provides the raster for the CRT. Vertical and horizontal sync detection circuits receive the sensor coil output and supply vertical and horizontal sync signals to a timing circuit. The timing circuit in response to an output signal from the light pen and the vertical and horizontal sync signals supplies a pen position signal to the computer which is either representative of the x,y coordinates position of the light pen on the CRT screen or representative of the change of x,y coordinates between successive positions of the light pen.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a low power light pen interface unit which correlates signals from a light pen with a position on a cathode ray tube video monitor used in conjunction with a computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Information is provided to a computer in a number of ways. One way of providing information is by direct input from a user. The most common user interface for inputting information is the keyboard. The keyboard requires the user to type information in the same manner as a typist with a typewriter. However, this is not the only was a user can provide information.
Another method of providing information to the computer relies upon the relative position of a cursor to a location on a video display such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) . This can be accomplished by use of a mouse, light pen or other conventional devices. A mouse is a device that rests on a pad next to the computer and generally includes a ball which responds to the movement of the mouse by the user's hand in an x-y plane. This motion is translated onto the CRT by way of a cursor which points to a specific location. When positioned correctly, the user may use a button, or buttons, on the mouse to direct the computer to perform an action dictated by the cursor's location. That action can take many forms. Three such options are; 1) to issue a command to perform some function, or; 2) request information, or; 3) select from a menu of available options.
A light pen is similar in appearance to a pen or pencil-type writing instrument. It differs from the mouse in that the tip of the light pen when placed in close proximity with the surface of the CRT receives light signals, via a photo detector, emanating from the illumination of the phosphorous coating as the electron gun within the CRT scans the pixels on the internal surface of the CRT. Light pens interact directly with the video monitor's screen like a touchscreen, in providing the absolute positioning and pen-type input of a digitizing tablet, but do not suffer from the confusion and ambiguity of a relative positioning mouse. For most operating systems light pens are used as pointing devices with the same basic functional characteristics (to the operating system) as a mouse. Special device driver software supplied by the light pen manufacturer provides the light pen with these characteristics. The light pen is typically provided with a button, or buttons, that allow the user to execute a number of options in a manner similar to the buttons on a mouse.
Light pens are preferred over a mouse by many users. One reason for this is that the light pen does not require a pad and thus occupies less space on a desk. Another reason is that the use of a light pen for drawing is more comfortable as it is closely aligned with the method by which most people learn to draw. That is, with a pen, pencil, or brush.
Prior art light pen systems have suffered from a number of disadvantages. To determine the position of a light pen on the face of a CRT video monitor it is necessary to synchronize the receipt of the signal with the video synchronization ("sync") signals i.e. the horizontal and vertical sync signals of the CRT raster. In the prior art systems it was necessary to make physical interconnection with the video sync circuitry inside of the monitor in order to obtain the necessary sync signals. Such an interconnection required time and some expertise.
In addition to the physical video sync circuitry interconnection, prior art light pens required an external power source to supply the power utilized by the digital timing circuitry needed for the precise timing measurements between the light pen signal and the CRT's sync signals. Typically a high frequency oscillator (to provide the necessary precision) and a counter was used for such measurements. However, such high frequency digital circuitry required considerable power e.g. of the order of 400+ milliwatts for the horizontal measurement alone. This high power requirement, as a practical matter, ruled out the use of the computer power supply as the source, thereby requiring an external power supply. In addition to the high power requirements the prior art all digital timing circuitry utilizing a fixed frequency oscillator, suffered from decreasing resolution as the CRT scanning frequency increased to provide a higher resolution. Such a fixed frequency approach provides less time to accumulate counts with an increased horizontal scanning frequency.
In addition to the above shortcomings of prior art light pens the market for such is target specific. For example, if the target marketplace is PC-compatible computers running Microsoft Windows 95 as an operating system, then the manufacturer must develop not only a compatible interface for the light pen, but also develop device driver software to support the interface and make it functional within that operating system. This approach has the following disadvantages for the Lightpen Manufacturer:
(a) It requires the manufacturer's software developer to have detailed knowledge of the inner workings of each of the target operating systems; PA1 (b) It is prone to bugs and incompatibilities that generally aren't discovered through in-house testing. The manufacturer, as a practical matter, cannot possibly recreate all of the system configuration combinations that are in use in the marketplace and; PA1 (c) It is subject to problems caused by periodic changes to the operating system made by it's producer.
This development effort must be repeated by the manufacturer for each target operating system and computer type, a costly and time-consuming process.
There is a need for a light pen interface system which overcomes the above shortcomings of the prior art.


A multi-stage or process operation, such as the printing of a document from a data file in the form of a word processing document may be performed either by passing the document directly along a relatively fast network link to a printer 300, or by passing the document along a relatively slow link to a printer 200, where the document is ripped, and then passing the ripped data along a further relatively fast link to printer 300. To determine the optimum course of action in view of a policy demanding speed of printing the probable speed of each course of action is determined, and the course of action most likely to yield a result in conformity with the policy is selected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the performance of a multi-stage service, such as printing of a document for example, within an information technology network.
2. Description of Related Art
The process of printing a document for example involves a plurality of computational procedures, such as translation of source data from, for example a word-processing document to a Page Control Language (PCL) file, ripping the PCL file to create a bitmap, and then operating a print engine on the basis of the bitmap to create indicia on a suitable form of print medium, such as paper. In our prior filed US patent application we disclose a manner in which certain of these procedures may be performed at different locations within an information technology network in order to optimise the efficiency of the process. The present invention relates to a manner in which the performance of a multi-stage service, such as printing, may be optimised within a network.

Performance of a multi-stage service within an information technology network

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method for decontamination of a liquid effluent including one or more radioactive chemical elements to be eliminated is disclosed. According to one aspect, the method includes The method includes mixing, in a first zone of a reactor, solid particles with the liquid which are able, by co-precipitation, adsorption and/or ion exchange, to capture and retain the radioactive chemical elements. The solid particles settle in a second zone of the reactor. The solids, including the radioactive chemical elements, are then separated from the remaining liquid.

The present invention relates to a method for decontamination of a liquid effluent including one or more radioactive elements to be eliminated (such as strontium, ruthenium, caesium, the α emitters, such as americium, plutonium and uranium), by treatment in a fluidised bed, for example by coprecipitation.
The decontamination treatment of liquid effluents, notably radioactive liquid effluents, by coprecipitation was developed in the 1960s. It consists of introducing into the liquid element to be decontaminated preformed solid particles and/or precursor reagents of the said particles, where the said reagents react in situ in the liquid element to be decontaminated to form the said particles. These particles are chosen for their capacity to capture and retain selectively the said chemical element or elements to be eliminated. Among the solid particles capable of capturing and retaining metal elements, one may cite:                barium sulphate particles, able to capture and retain strontium;        iron and copper hydroxide particles, able to capture and retain ruthenium and the a emitters, such as americium, plutonium and uranium;        nickel and cobalt ferrocyanide particles, able to capture and selectively retain caesium.
The decontamination treatment can be accomplished in two modes:                a discontinuous mode, in which only a predetermined volume of liquid effluent to be decontaminated introduced into a reactor is treated, in which the solid particles able to capture and retain the said chemical element or elements to be eliminated, and/or the precursor reagents of the said particles, are introduced;        a continuous mode, in which the effluent to be decontaminated, the solid particles able to capture and retain the said chemical elements to be eliminated and/or the precursor reagents of the said particles are introduced into a reactor in a continuous manner, at a constant or variable rate of flow, where the addition of the particles and/or reagents can be accomplished in a cascade of reactors.
Whether with the discontinuous or continuous mode, it is obtained on conclusion of the treatment in the reactor, a suspension of solid particles, having captured the chemical elements to be eliminated initially present in the liquid effluent. The final outcome of the treatment consists, after this, in undertaking a step of liquid/solid separation, generally in a settling tank. This step can be facilitated by adding a coagulating agent and/or a flocculating agent to the suspension. The solid phase obtained at the outcome of this separation step (called at this stage a "sludge"), is then considered as a final waste product, and is conditioned, generally in bitumen or in a cement matrix, before being stored. The decontaminated liquid, for its part, is discharged into the environment, if its radiological and chemical composition permits this. Failing this, the liquid can be subject to another decontamination process.
To implement such a decontamination method two devices are traditionally required:                a reactor (which may include one or more tanks), in which the step of bringing the solid particles able to precipitate into contact with the chemical elements to be eliminated from the liquid effluent is accomplished; and        a settling tank and/or a filtration module allowing the solid-liquid separation, i.e. between the phase including the precipitate having captured the chemical element(s) to be eliminated and the liquid phase including the eliminated effluent or, at least, which has had its content of the chemical element(s) to be eliminated reduced, where the settling requires the use of organic compounds, such as flocculating agents, in order to facilitate the consolidation of the particles in the suspension.
This type of treatment therefore requires an installation of substantial size, and which is also therefore inflexible. Moreover, the investment required for the construction, operation and maintenance of this type of installation is substantial.
Furthermore, notably when the treatment is undertaken in discontinuous mode, in order that the various steps of the treatment are able to be undertaken (filling of the tank, addition of the reagents, mixing, draining, etc.), the time required to undertake them is substantial (of the order, for example, of several hours), thereby restricting the installation's treatment capacity.
When the treatment is accomplished in continuous mode, in order to have an effective treatment, it is necessary that the effluent is able to stay for a substantial time in the reactor. Indeed, the longer the contact time between the solid particles and the chemical element(s) contained in the effluent, the greater the transfer of the elements from the liquid phase to the solid phase (the staying time must be at least 5 minutes in the reactor and at least 30 minutes in the settling tank in order to obtain satisfactory separation). Therefore, for a given effluent rate of flow, the volumes of the reactor and the settling tank must be adjusted in order to satisfy these staying times, bearing in mind that the greater the desired decontamination efficiency the larger must be the size of the reactor.
Moreover, a second treatment is sometimes required with the installations of the prior art, notably for complex effluents (containing several chemical elements to be eliminated), or those with high radiological activity. The consequence of this is to increase substantially, in the case of such effluents, the quantity of sludge produced. In order to prevent this it would be advantageous to be able to increase the treatment efficiency without increasing the volume of sludge produced.
One of the factors determining the efficiency of the treatment in terms of decontamination is the quantity of solid particles present in contact with the effluent to be decontaminated. To ensure a minimum degree of efficiency for the treatment, substantial quantities of reagents must be used. Since the radiological activity of a suspension may result from the presence of an infinitesimal quantity of radioelements (for example, several nanograms per liter), the sludge resulting from the treatment may then be weakly radioactive. It would, thus, be particularly advantageous to be able to concentrate the radiological activity in a smaller volume of sludge, in order to reduce the storage volumes.
Thus, there is a real requirement for a method of decontamination of a liquid element of one or more radioactive elements contained in it, enabling the following disadvantages to be overcome:                the problem of encumbrance of the installation on the ground, due to the need for the two operations required for the decontamination (treatment+solid-liquid separation);        the risks of contamination when the treated effluent and of the sludges formed in the solid-liquid separation unit are transferred, since this transfer occurs by means of pipes connecting the treatment unit to the decontamination unit;        the use of a large quantity of solids for a given volume of treated effluent for a decontamination which is sometimes low, and which leads to a large volume of waste, which must then be conditioned;        the need to be able to use organic compounds, such as flocculating agents, in order to accomplish the solid/liquid separation.

Method for decontamination of a liquid effluent including one or more radioactive chemical elements by treatment in a fluidized bed

Commissariat à l' énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives


The invention relates to a loudspeaker assembly including a housing having a central driver mounting plate upon which a driver is mounted. The central driver mounting plate and the driver divide the housing into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, wherein the lower compartment includes at least one slot providing fluid communication between an interior of the lower compartment and an external environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a subwoofer assembly. More particularly, the present invention relates to a low profile subwoofer assembly shaped and dimensioned for mounting adjacent the floor under an aircraft seat, behind a divan, below a drink rail or between adjacent windows.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The current global community has made it possible for people from around the country, and around the world, to interact for both business and personal reasons. For many people, this requires that they spend considerable time traveling from one location to another location. More often than not, these people travel in aircrafts.
Whether these people travel in private or commercial aircrafts, they desire high quality entertainment during the many hours they spend within the confines of an aircraft. However, while high quality entertainment, for example, digital video with CD quality sound, is readily available for theater and home use, the weight and size requirements for use in aircrafts make it very difficult to incorporate high fidelity systems within an aircraft. This problem is especially pronounced for audio speaker assemblies when one attempts to meet the size, weight and shape requirements for use in aircrafts.
In the aircraft industry great priority is placed upon component weight and size reduction. In addition, spacing and positioning of the speaker assemblies is a great priority to those optimizing the operation of aircrafts. The size, weight and shape of conventional terrestrial speaker assembly designs adversely affect range and payload. These concerns are notable when one attempts to make changes within smaller private jets. For example, a small increase in the weight carried by an aircraft results in a substantial increase in the fuel consumption of the aircraft. In addition, the limited space available within an aircraft dictates the use of any space within the aircraft be carefully considered by those responsible for ensuring the comfort of passengers.
Lightweight and compact audio speakers are currently available. These speakers, however, substantially compromise sound quality for reductions in size and weight. An individual wishing to add an audio system to an aircraft must make a choice between high fidelity speakers not suiting the size and weight requirements of the aircraft and lower quality speakers providing desirable size and weight characteristics.
The weight and size problems associated with the use of loudspeaker systems within aircraft is very evident when one attempts to incorporate woofers into an aircraft design. Conventional woofers employ substantial housings designed to control the manner in which sound is transmitted from the woofer. The controlled porting of sound employed in conventional woofers necessitates the construction of rather substantial housings. These housings, while controlling the transmission of sound as desired, are commonly beyond the size and weight constraints required for use within an aircraft.
A need, therefore, exists for a speaker assembly providing high fidelity sound, while also meeting the size and weight requirements of an aircraft. The present invention provides such a speaker assembly.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly including a housing having a central driver mounting plate upon which a driver is mounted. The central driver mounting plate and the driver divide the housing into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, wherein the lower compartment includes at least one slot providing fluid communication between an interior of the lower compartment and an external environment.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the housing is made of a material which will resonate to transmit sound from within the housing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the housing is made of aluminum.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the housing is made of aluminum honeycomb sheet material.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the aluminum honeycomb sheet material has a thickness of approximately xc2xc inch.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the housing is composed of a cover plate with a plurality of side walls extending therefrom to form an enclosure with an open end. The central driver mounting plate and the driver are secured within the enclosure to divide the housing into an upper compartment and a lower compartment wherein the lower compartment is defined by the plurality of side walls and the open end of the enclosure.
It is also another object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the at least one slot is formed in the plurality of side walls providing fluid communication between an interior of the lower compartment and an external environment when the loudspeaker is mounted to cover the open end of the enclosure.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the driver is a low frequency driver.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a loudspeaker assembly wherein the driver is positioned to fire into the lower compartment of the housing with a convex portion of the driver extending into the upper compartment of the housing.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which set forth certain embodiments of the invention.


A new Poinsettia plant named ‘Fismirwhi’ particularly distinguished by cream white flower color, large, flat inflorescences, dark green, weakly lobed foliage, well-branching, medium sized, mounding habit, and early flowering.

The present invention comprises a new Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Fismirwhi'.
'Fismirwhi' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar 'Fismirwhi' has cream-white, moderately lobed bracts, dark green foliage, early flowering, and medium sized plant habit.
'Fismirwhi' originated from hybridizations made from late June to early August 2002 in a controlled breeding program in Hillscheid, Germany. The female parent was the commercial variety 'Fiselfi', U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,736, with red, distinctly lobed bracts and dark green foliage.
The male parent of 'Fismirwhi' was the pollen mixture 'H', taken from a group of proprietary plants (unpatented breeding lines) with bright red bracts and dark green foliage.
'Fismirwhi' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in December 2003 in a controlled environment in Hillscheid, Germany.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Fismirwhi' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were used from the initial selection in the spring of 2004 and grafted on rootstocks of the variety 'Maren', in order to improve the branching ability. Cuttings from the successfully grafted stems were used in the summer of 2005, rooted and cultivated for the first, small trial in fall and winter of 2005.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in the summer of 2005 in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter on a larger scale, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for 'Fismirwhi' are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
'Fismirwhi' has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length.
Plant Breeders' Rights for this cultivar were applied for in the European Union on Apr. 10, 2008 and in Canada on Jul. 4, 2008. 'Fismirwhi' has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.


A method, computer program product, and system for voice content transcription during collaboration sessions is described. A method may comprise receiving an indication to provide one or more real-time voice content-to-text content transcriptions to a first collaboration session participant. The one or more real-time voice content-to-text content transcriptions may correspond to voice content of a second collaboration session participant in one or more collaboration sessions including the first collaboration session participant and the second collaboration session participant. The method may additionally comprise defining a preference for the first collaboration session participant to receive the one or more real-time voice content-to-text content transcriptions corresponding to the voice content of the second collaboration session participant in the one or more collaboration sessions including the first collaboration session participant and the second collaboration session participant based upon, at least in part, the indication.

Meetings, conferences, or other collaboration sessions may be conducted using unified telephony applications or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) conferencing applications and/or systems. These meetings conferences, or other collaboration sessions may include participants that natively speak different languages or may be from different cultures. These participants may have difficulty understanding each other's voices and/or accents for these and other reasons. Additionally, audio quality may not be consistent in various unified telephony applications or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) conferencing applications and/or systems, and may also cause participants to have difficulty understanding each other.

Voice content transcription during collaboration sessions

International Business Machines Corporation


A supra-search engine tool includes a distributed computer system and automatically structures and organizes information requests, then independently searches, requests and organizes the data from information providers, including a variety of search engines and websites to match the tailored requests of the information consumers. The retrieved and processed information is then accessible via website, browser, fax, email, voicemail, mail, software and other communication means.

The expansion of the World Wide Web allows consumers or others interested in acquiring and compiling information from a number of sources a vast new opportunity to quickly gain access to multiple information providers. Unfortunately, what often results to a consumer is information overload because there is as yet no uniform way for a consumer such as a potential buyer to access multiple web sites at once, obtain the information they are interested in, and have the information presented to them in a compiled and easy-to-understand format.
For example, a user wishing to purchase automotive insurance on the Internet might choose to use one of a number of Internet search engines to search for the text "automobile" near "insurance." Such a search conducted at the time this provisional application is filed yields over 9,000 hits to different URLs on the Internet and that number will only increase.
Using currently available Internet tools, a user's only option is to visit all 9,000 of these URLs or to select URLs at random in order to seek individual price quotes or information about car insurance. In many cases, the information sought by the user might not exist on the URLs accessed, and the user will be left with the option of sending an individual e-mail message to any websites from which the user wishes to request that information.
What is needed is an automatic supra-search engine that allows a user either to select from a number of standard topics or to select from a number of standard queries or to compose his own questions, and which will then use the resources available on the Internet, including proprietary and commercially available search engines, to browse the Internet and seek answers to the questions posed by the user.

Search engine including query database, user profile database, information templates and email facility


Apparatus for assisting management of services provided by a computer system includes an inferencing engine (30) for carrying out inferencing operations on a declarative model (24) of a service, using facts about the system stored in a fact base (32). A resident goal store (102) contains declarative definitions of goals which concern availability of services and which it is desirable for the system to continue to satisfy; these definitions are linked to associated facts in the fact base. The service model (24) includes definitions of events which can occur in the system and may affect availability of services, and definitions of actions which can be taken to modify the configuration of the system. When occurrence of an event defined in the service model is reported to the apparatus, the event definition is used to guide analysis of the event report and appropriate updating of the fact base. Goals which are linked to the updated facts are then examined to assess whether the goals are still satisfied. If a goal is no longer satisfied the service model is searched for actions which can re-configure the system to enable the goal to be re-satisfied. If a goal involves information about an entity in a part of the system managed by a second, different management apparatus (10D), the second apparatus can be requested to establish a sub-goal concerning the status of that entity. Thereafter the second apparatus takes appropriate action, autonomously, to keep the sub-goal satisfied, and reports back only if it is unable to satisfy the sub-goal.

The complexity of computer systems and networks of computer systems has increased inexorably, so that such systems are now typically characterized by the presence and interaction of large numbers of system entities in providing a variety of system services. This in turn has placed a major strain on system management resources required to maintain continuous availability of system services, for example in connection with detection of faults and identification and correction of their causes.
One contribution to the resolution of this problem has been disclosed in WO 94/09 427, which describes a system management method and apparatus in which a respective declarative model is provided for each system service. This model specifies, independently of any particular task to be performed in relation to that service, the requirements or goals needing to be met for that service to be available, in terms of the entities required and their inter-relationships. A respective task program is provided for each task, such as installation, monitoring and fault diagnosis, for controlling performance of that task in a manner independent of any particular model, in terms of general inferencing operations that can be performed on any such model. Tasks are performed in relation to a service (e.g. fault-finding in respect of an inoperative print spooling service) by effecting inferencing operations on a declarative model relating to that service, under the control of the task program for that task.
In one implementation of the invention disclosed in WO 94/09 427 information on the system is made available through reference to a fact base which stores facts about the system and which can be updated through interaction with the system to provide desired information, either directly through queries to elicit specific items of information, or indirectly by inferencing from these items of information. An inferencing engine checks whether a requirement or goal associated with a service is being met by the system by performing inferencing operations on the relevant service model and by referring to the fact base, and, in the event that insufficient facts are present in the fact base, by causing interaction with the system to elicit further facts.
In the method and apparatus as described in WO 94/09 427 the operation of the inferencing engine is triggered by a requirement to perform a management task, typically at the request of a user to modify the system's services or to identify the cause of a service failure.
It is one object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus which enables management tasks to be initiated automatically, for example in response to detection of events indicating a possible change in the system status.
There is a practical limit to the size of system (i.e. overall number of system entities such as terminals, workstations and peripherals) which a single apparatus of the kind previously described can effectively manage. This limit, of the order of a few hundred entities, is imposed by various constraints, including memory available to store the fact base, processing capacity to support inferencing engine operations in respect of many different entities in an acceptably short time, consumption of network communications bandwidth and range of different management policies needed for different entities (e.g. in different locations or workgroups). It is in principle possible to partition a system into multiple sub-systems, each containing fewer than the maximum manageable number of entities and each having a respective system management apparatus. However, the management of each sub-system is then independent of all the others; furthermore, in practice it is not always simple, or even feasible, to assign a given entity exclusively to one sub-system or another, as it may provide services to multiple entities which themselves are in other respects better considered as being in different sub-systems.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus which exploits automatic initiation of management tasks to facilitate the management of large networks containing, for example, several thousands of connected devices.

Methods and apparatus for monitoring events and implementing corrective action in a computer system


A transaction aggregation method that includes the steps of receiving user data and a current transaction amount associated with a current transaction, and retrieving a reliability score for the user with the user data, and calculating an aggregation threshold based on the reliability score. The method also includes updating an aggregated transaction amount by adding the current transaction amount to a previously aggregated transaction amount from previous transactions, and comparing the updated aggregated amount with the aggregation threshold, where the current transaction is aggregated with the previous transactions when the updated aggregated amount is less than the aggregation threshold.

Electronic payment instruments, and the marketplaces they serve, are becoming the preferred method of payment for small transactions. Historically, merchants required a minimum transaction amount before conducting a transaction with an electronic payment instrument such as a credit card. As customers came to demand that merchants conduct more small transactions with credit and debit cards, merchants kept lowering the transaction minimums until eventually they eliminated them altogether. Today, electronic payment is almost universally accepted even for purchases under a dollar.
New markets are also developing that have significantly increased the volume of small transactions. Most business to consumer transactions conducted on the Internet use some form of electronic payment. Some popular Internet commerce sites make individual songs, videos, articles, etc., available for download for a small fee (e.g., a dollar or less per downloaded song). Electronic payment is also becoming the preferred way to complete transactions on Internet auction sites, such as Ebay. A significant portion of these auctions are completed for small transaction amounts (e.g., the winning bid is less than five dollars, less than one dollar, etc.), generating increasing volumes of small electronic payment transactions from these sites as well.
Innovations in point of sale technology are even increasing the number of small payment transactions in stores and shops: Supermarkets are installing automatic checkout lanes that allow the shopper to scan and pay for goods electronically, without the assistance of a cashier. Most gas stations now have pay-at-the-pump technology that allows a customer to purchase gasoline electronically at the gas pump. Large retail chains are experimenting with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on goods and contactless payment instruments carried by the customer, which automatically process a transaction when the customer carries his or her purchase out of the store. These technologies not only increase the share of transactions conducted by electronic payment systems, they also make it faster and more convenient to buy single items and small amounts with electronic payments, increasing the numbers of small electronic payment transactions. Unfortunately however, as the number of small transactions being generated by Internet commerce and new point-of-sale technologies continues to grow, the transaction processing costs incurred by the merchant or auctioneer increase because processing costs represent a larger percentage of these transactions.
Most of the costs associated with electronic payment are fixed regardless of the transaction. These costs include the cost to build and maintain the payment network infrastructure, cost to administer the payment network, and cost to transmit, store, and report the transactions conducted on the network, among other costs. Because these fixed costs do not vary with the size of an electronic transaction, the fixed cost to execute 1000 transactions for a dollar each are 1000 times the cost of executing a single transaction for a thousand dollars. These added costs can jeopardize the economic viability of businesses whose sales primarily consist of large numbers of small transactions, like the increasingly popular music downloading businesses being established on the Internet. Thus, there is a growing need for new payment methods and systems that reduce the relative costs of small transactions that are completed with an electronic payment.

Dynamic aggregation of payment transactions


A primary server transmits a write transaction to N backup devices. Each backup device records the write transaction to a local redo log stored at a high-performance storage and then transmits a notification to the primary device. When the primary device receives notifications from M of the N backup devices, it commits the write transaction, recording it to a low-performance storage. Once the write transaction has been recorded to the low-performance storage, the primary device requests that the backup devices delete their logs. If the primary device incurs a fault, one of the backup devices becomes the new primary device and determines which backup device has the newest local redo log. The backup device having the newest log sends it to the other backup devices, which update their local redo logs to the same state as the newest log. Thereafter, the new primary device is ready to resume transaction processing.

Transaction servers are servers that store data that is modifiable via transactions. A transaction generally and non-restrictively is a request to read, write, or update the data stored in a transaction server. Common transactions include orders, purchases, changes, additions, and deletions. Transaction servers are used in banking systems, stock and securities-trading systems, and other types of systems where it is important to ensure that any given transaction is never lost, and that the data can be recovered in the presence of a fault on the transaction server.
Transactions may update one or more master files that serve both as an audit trail and a history for future analyses. A major issue in a transaction-processing system is ensuring that all master files are updated before the transaction is considered completely processed. For example, if two files must be updated, but a system failure occurs after the first one but before the second one, the software has to be able to roll back the first update and start over later. Such a process may be referred to as a two-phase commit process.
More particularly, the two-phase commit process is a technique for ensuring that a transaction successfully updates all appropriate files in a distributed database environment. All servers involved in the transaction first confirm that the transaction has been received and is recoverable. Next, each server is told to commit the transaction by a transaction manager. Committing the transaction means that the request or activity of the transaction is actually performed. For instance, if a transaction involves updating data, committing the transaction means that the data is actually updated.
In a two-phase commit system, even if a given server shuts down due to a fault after the transaction manager has decided to commit the transaction, the consistency of the data can be recovered because the durability of the data is guaranteed at each server. However, in a two-phase commit process, a write has to be synchronously performed at all the servers. As a result, the completion of a commit process is as slow as the slowest server, such as the slowest storage device of any server, within the system. This can be detrimental to high-speed transaction processing.
Therefore, in general high-speed transaction processing means that a two-phase commit process and system cannot be employed. One alternative is the PERSEAS system, described in the prior art reference Athanasios E. Papathanasiou et al., "Lightweight Transactions on Networks of Workstations," Technical Report 209, September 1997, Institute of Computer Science, Crete, Greece. In the PERSEAS system, a memory-based database is mirrored to the memory of a different node or process. When a transaction updating the database is initiated, an undo log is first copied to the memory of a local process, and then the undo log is copied to the memory of a remote process. However, the PERSEAS system is useful primarily in memory-based databases, and does not result in performance enhancements where the database is ultimately written to a relatively low-performance storage device like a hard disk drive.
Another alternative is the Echo system described in the prior art reference Timothy Mann et al., "A Coherent Distributed File Cache with Directory Write-Behind," Research Report 103, June 1993, Digital Systems Research Center, Palo Alto, Calif. In the Echo system, a log is created for a process of changing the file system, and redundantly copied to a large number of cache servers, to improve the reliability of write-behind operations. A write-behind systems is one in which a transaction is not committed, or written, until copies of the transaction have been stored at a number of cache servers. However, the Echo system also not result in performance enhancements for updates that are ultimately applied to permanent, or non-volatile, storage devices like hard disk drives.
Thus, in a transaction-processing system, committed data should not be lost due to a fault within the transaction server. Therefore, the durability of the data is usually guaranteed by the writing the data to a database stored on a permanent, or non-volatile, storage device like a hard disk drive. However, a hard disk drive is a low-performance storage device, in that it has high latency and low throughput as compared to, for instance, volatile semiconductor memory. The PERSEAS and Echo systems that have been described provide solutions that are not related to such low-performance storage devices, and thus do not solve the problem of having a high-performance transaction-processing system in which fault recovery is guaranteed and that uses a low-performance storage device like a hard disk drive.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A technique for body contouring or the removal of undesired fat cells or soft tissue in which a tumescent solution is injected among the fat cells to suspend the fat cells. After suspension, using an external ultrasonic generator, ultrasonic waves are transmitted through the skin to the fat cells. The ultrasonic waves damage the fat cells and also assists in disrupting the connective tissue between the fat cells. The fat cells are then removed either through the body's natural actions of "sloughing" dead or damaged cells, or by liposuction techniques which suction the cells from the site.

This invention relates generally to surgical techniques and apparatus, and more particularly to techniques and apparatus used to remove fat cells from a patient.
Often, regardless of the amount of exercise or dieting that a patient endures, certain areas of fat are not diminished. When this happens, the patient becomes increasingly frustrated and despondent about their ability to obtain the body shape that they desire.
Because of this, the most common cosmetic surgery performed today is liposuction. This technique is often referred to as "body contouring" as the actual contours of the body are manipulated to obtain the aesthetic qualities sought by the patient.
Liposuction generally involves using a general anesthetic on the patient during the procedure. An incision near the site to be contoured is made, and a cannula is inserted into the fatty area. Using suction to remove fat cells from the site, the surgeon repeatedly moves the cannula to break the connective tissue holding the fat cells. The fat cells are then "sucked" or drawn from the site.
While this procedure accomplishes its task, it is a highly invasive procedure which can cause significant bleeding and discomfort for the patient during recuperation.
Physical recuperation from the procedure of liposuction is relatively short; but, due to the naturally occurring bruising, a significant period must elapse before the patient is "presentable".
It is clear that there is a need for a less invasive and less traumatic technique for the removal of unwanted fat from a patient.


A hand-held soil tilling system including four tiller components. Each tiller component includes an elongated central extent that is formed with a point at its end. Each tiller component also includes an upper extent in a curved configuration terminating adjacent to a common axis of rotation. The tiller components being flared outwardly with the distance therebetween being greater adjacent to the lower ends than adjacent to the upper ends. A cylindrical coupling post which has an upper extent formed with projections and a flange to allow coupling with the electrical machine and a lower end adapted to receive thereadjacent the upper ends of the upper extents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand-held soil tilling system and more particularly pertains to tilling the soil through the action of a hand-held beater with blades.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of soil tilling apparatuses of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, soil tilling apparatuses of known designs and configurations heretofore devised and utilized for tile purpose of tilling the soil through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,156 to Willis discloses a Garden Tool. U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,396 to Robichaux discloses a Hand Tiller Soil Cultivation System. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 332,722 to Torbet et al. discloses an Attachment for a Hand Mixer. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 283,292 to Ellis discloses an Eviscerating Tool Tip. U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,963 to Jerez discloses a Garden Cleaning Implement for Cutting/Macerating Weeds Above and Below Ground. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,617 to Haven discloses a Hand-Held Tiller Machine.
In this respect, the hand-held soil tilling system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of tilling the soil through the action of a hand-held beater with blades.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved hand-held soil tilling system which can be used for tilling the soil through the action of a hand-held beater with blades. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An environmentally acceptable and economically appealing method of inhibiting corrosion in brine solution systems wherein an aqueous brine solution is treated with gluconate or sorbitol.

Corrosion occurs when metals are oxidized to their respective ions or insoluble salts. For example, corrosion of metallic iron involves conversion to soluble iron An a +2 or +3 oxidation state or to formation of insoluble iron oxides and hydroxides. Metal loss from the solubilization of the iron can cause the structural integrity of the system to deteriorate over time. This can cause leakage between the water system and process streams. Also, the formation of insoluble salts in the corrosion process can produce a build-up of deposits which impede heat transfer and fluid flow.
Aqueous brine solutions are commonly used as refrigeration media. However, brine solutions have a significant corrosive effect on metals. Therefore, in order to reduce the extent of corrosion when brine solutions are used as refrigeration media, corrosion inhibitors typically are added to the brine solutions.
Chromate has traditionally been an extremely widely used and effective corrosion inhibitor. During recent years, however, the use of chromate has come under increasing scrutiny due to environmental concerns. Unfortunately, phosphates, which are generally excellent corrosion inhibitors, are undesirable in this application as well since they generally lead to unacceptable levels of scale formation. Similarly, nitrites may also not be used since they change the nature of corrosion from general to localized. The localized corrosion formed in presence of nitrite can cause perforation in a relatively short time.
Two corrosion inhibitors which have been used extensively in fresh water systems are gluconate and sorbitol. They have been used as corrosion inhibitors in fresh-water systems at levels up to 100 parts per million (ppm). It has never been suggested use gluconate or sorbitol An brine systems, since brines may produce a different type of corrosion (pitting or localized corrosion) than encountered in fresh-water systems.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to develop a new method of inhibiting corrosion in brine solution systems which is environmentally acceptable, economical, and will inhibit localized corrosion or scale formation.

Method of inhibiting corrosion in brine solutions


A pump for washing-machines, tumble-driers, dishwashers and the like includes an inlet into which an inlet pipe enters, an outlet which is connected to an outlet pipe, with the inlet pipe being disposed and shaped in such a way that a least one low point is formed in the inlet pipe, at which an entire cross-section of the inlet pipe is lower than the inlet of the pump.

The invention relates to a pump for washing-machines, tumble-driers, dishwashers and suchlike, with an inlet into which an inlet pipe enters, and an outlet which is connected to an outlet pipe.
Household appliances of the said type have a drum that can be closed by a lid or a door, usually made from plastic or sheet metal, out of which used washing or rinsing water has to be pumped away after every work cycle. Pumps are used for this purpose; they are built into the housing of the machine and are connected to said drum on the inlet side, whilst on the outlet side, they are connected to a hose that proceeds from the housing.
Noise is generated as the water is sucked out of the drum, especially towards the end of the pumping procedure when an ever greater volume of air is sucked out as well. Furthermore, the metal sheet or plastic walls of the drum generally act as a kind of sound board, which amplifies the sucking noise even more. These sucking noises are generally regarded as an unpleasant disturbance.

Pump for washing-machines, tumble-driers, dishwashers and suchlike


Then apparatus for assisting in the removal of a helmet from a wearer thereof, particularly when the wearer is unconscious or injured, comprises: a framework constructed, sized and arranged to fit around a conventional helmet; an engaging mechanism for engaging the inside of a jaw covering portion on each side of the helmet; and an actuating means for causing at least one of the engaging mechanism to be moved laterally outwardly to spread apart the jaw covering portions of the helmet to facilitate removal of the helmet from the head of the wearer.. The method for assisting in the removal of a helmet from a wearer thereof, particularly when the wearer is unconscious or injured, comprises the steps of: arranging a framework constructed to fit around a conventional helmet, around a helmet; engaging with an engaging mechanism the inside of a jaw covering portion on each side of the helmet; and moving with a moving mechanism at least one of the engaging mechanisms laterally outwardly to spread apart the jaw covering portions of the helmet to facilitate removal of the helmet from the head of the wearer.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing a helmet from the head of an individual wearing same after he or she has suffered some injury or is unconscious.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Heretofore various methods and apparatus have been proposed for removing helmets from injured wearers thereof, such as football players, motorcycle riders, hockey players, etc.
An example of the use of an inflatable bladder inside a helmet for being inflated after the wearer of the helmet is injured is disclosed in the prior Deagan U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,845, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Although the prior art method of using an inflatable bladder is effective in removing the helmet from the head of a wearer, there is still the problem of the pinching or compression from the sides of the helmet that cover the ears and part of the jaw of the wearer, such that the helmet does not come off a wearer's head easily when an inflatable bladder inside the helmet above the head is inflated.
As will become more apparent from the following description of the invention in conjunction with the drawings, the method and apparatus of the present invention provide a means for separating or spreading apart the jaw/ear covering sections of the helmet to facilitate an easy "slide off" removal of the helmet from the wearer's head.


A method for use in a sheet feeder having a sheet stacking unit with a bottom plate to support a sheet bundle in which air is blown against a side edge of the sheet bundle near the topmost sheets of the bundle, thereby lifting these sheets from the bundle, and separating the uppermost sheet from the bundle, and conveying this sheet away from the bundle, wherein the lifting of the sheets when the bundle is nearly depleted is assisted by forcing an element situated underneath the bundle to push against the bundle solely when air is blown against the side edge of the bundle. A sheet feeder suitable for applying the present method and an imaging apparatus for incorporating the sheet feeder is also provided.

The present invention pertains to a sheet feed method for use in a sheet feeder having a sheet stacking unit provided with a bottom plate to support a sheet bundle whenever air is blown against a side edge of the sheet bundle near the topmost sheets of the bundle, thereby lifting these sheets from the bundle, separating the uppermost sheet from the bundle, and conveying this sheet away from the bundle. The present invention also pertains a sheet feeder and an imaging apparatus incorporating the sheet feeder.
A sheet feed method is known from US patent application 2004/0089994 A1. This method has been devised in order to be able and reliably feed a very broad range of recording media from the same sheet stacking unit. Nowadays, in printing rooms there are growing requests to form images on cardboard, tracing paper, and all sorts of coated media, etc. Many of such media have very smooth surfaces and with sheet feeding methods based on friction, mis-feeds and double-feeds occasionally occur. In order to mitigate these problems, known methods handle the sheet feeding by first blowing air from a side edge of a paper bundle, causing the uppermost sheets to lift off of the bundle. Then, air is injected between the uppermost and adjacent sheet, providing a very reliable separation of the uppermost sheet from the bundle. The actual separation is effected by using a suction unit, followed by conveying the sheet on a conveying belt. Over the friction based methods, the air separation methods has the advantage of a wide latitude of paper feed setting conditions, combined with the adaptability for high-speed processing, high durability and corresponding low running costs.
The known method however has an important disadvantage. It appears that the reliability of the feeding process decreases significantly when the bundle is nearly depleted, i.e., when less than 25 sheets of receiving media are present, particularly when less than 10 sheets are present. This is not restricted to extraordinary heavy or light media types. For example, with all sorts of plain paper, when less than 5 sheets are present, a mis-feed occasionally occurs. For the lighter types, typically types of less than 100 grams/square meter, the risk of inducing skew increases significantly when less than 5 to 10 sheets are present. Heavier types of media seem to be prone to mis-feeds, in particular when narrow paper formats (SEF) are being used. In order to overcome this problem, it is proposed to leave the last few sheets, typically 25-50 sheets, in the tray and then denote the tray as "empty". These left-over sheets however, have to be removed from time to time, or immediately when another media type is going to be loaded in the sheet stacking unit. This prior art solution therefore is far from ideal.

Sheet feed method, a sheet feeder, and an image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feeder


A system and method of detecting potential fraud in connection with mortgage loan lending, where a first group made up of a plurality of mortgage loans is utilized to calculate a representative value associated with a loan-related event. A second group also made up of a plurality of mortgage loans is utilized to calculate a predicted representative value associated with the same loan-related event. The actual and predicted representative values are compared to determine a deviation value. If the deviation exceeds a predetermined threshold, an output indicating potential fraud is generated.

The purchase of a home is typically the largest investment that a person makes. Because of the amount of money required to purchase a home, most home buyers do not have sufficient assets to purchase a home outright on a cash basis. In addition, buyers who have already purchased a home may wish to refinance their home. Therefore, potential homebuyers consult lenders such as banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, savings and loan institutions, state and local housing finance agencies, and similar organizations, to obtain the funds necessary to purchase or refinance their homes. These lenders offer mortgage products to potential home buyers. The lenders who make (originate and fund) mortgage loans directly to home buyers comprise the "primary mortgage market."
When a mortgage is made in the primary mortgage market, the lender can: (i) hold the loan as an investment in its portfolio, or (ii) sell the loan to investors in the "secondary mortgage market" (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, securities dealers, financial institutions and various other investors) to replenish its supply of funds. The loan may be sold alone, or in packages of other similar loans, for cash or in exchange for mortgage backed securities (MBS) which provide lenders with a liquid asset to hold or sell to the secondary market. By choosing to sell its mortgage loans to the secondary mortgage market for cash, or by selling the mortgage backed securities, lenders get a new supply of funds to make more home mortgage loans, thereby assuring home buyers a continual supply of mortgage credit.
The ability to assess the credit risk associated with a mortgage loan is important to both lenders and investors in the secondary market. A defaulted loan or a delinquent loan is costly to the owner of the asset (initially the lender in the primary mortgage market). Thus, the lender tries to avoid making loans in situations where there is a significant likelihood that the loan will later default or be delinquent. As a lender improves its ability to determine credit risk associated with a loan, the costs associated with lending go down. Fewer loans are given that default or become delinquent. In the secondary mortgage market, where mortgage loans are commonly sold to investors, fewer defaulted/delinquent loans results in a better return on investment, resulting in increased capital flow to the housing market. Better risk predictions, therefore, decrease the defaults/delinquencies, improve capital flow to the housing market, and ultimately decrease mortgage costs for consumers.
Mortgage loans originated by a lender (or alternatively a broker) are typically underwritten prior to closing. Although the final underwriting decision is made by the lender, the lender may submit a loan to an automated underwriting engine of the investor to determine whether the loan meets the credit risk eligibility and loan product eligibility requirements of the investor based on a set of loan information provided by the lender. Such loan information typically includes borrower-specific risk factors, loan-specific risk factors, and property-specific risk factors. Borrower-specific risk factors may include factors such as the borrower's credit rating or score, as well as other factors such as a borrower's income and financial reserves. Property-specific risk factors may include factors such as the type of property (e.g., manufactured housing, etc.). Loan-specific risk factors may include factors such as the loan-to-value ratio, the loan amount, the loan purpose, and so on.
A growing trend has been to make mortgages easier and faster to obtain. For example, verifying basic information regarding lenders, borrowers, brokers, and their relationships is now often performed using online or Internet products. In addition, brokers and loan officers are asking fewer and fewer probing questions before granting a loan to a potential borrower. On the one hand, loans can be obtained much easier and much faster. On the other hand, instances of mortgage fraud involving loans obtained by providing false information to lenders, forging loan documents, and/or by collusion between lenders, and for example, property appraisers have dramatically increased.
Therefore, given the rise in the occurrence of mortgage fraud, it would be desirable to provide systems and processes that permit primary and secondary market participants to monitor mortgage loan data for patterns of potential mortgage fraud. In particular, it would be desirable to provide systems and processes that identify trends, relationships, and parameters associated with mortgage loans that signal potential fraud.

Method and system for detecting loan fraud


A saw blade for power tools, in particular for power reciprocating saws, includes a blade back (11) and a toothing (12) extending along the lower edge of the blade back and having many saw teeth (13) lined up in succession, In order to increase the blade life and service life of the saw blade, especially in a Thick, stable embodiment, the saw teeth (13) in successive portions (a, b) of the toothing (12) have the same tooth width (az, bz), which, however, differs from that of the saw teeth (13) in the preceding or the succeeding portion (b, a) of the toothing (12).

The invention relates to a saw blade for power tools, in particular for power reciprocating saws, such as saber or piercing saws.
Known saw blades of this type have the same tooth width over the length of the teeth, and this tooth width is dictated by the thickness of the saw blade. For free-cutting of the saw blade, the saw teeth are transposed in the workpiece, so that the tooth tips protrude laterally slightly past the contour of the blade back in alternation. For rough, heavy-duty use, stable saw blades up to 1.6 mm thick are used, but with increasing saw blade thickness the blade life and the service life of the saw blades decrease.


Compounds and methods useful in the control, treatment, and prevention of fungal activity, of the following formula:

Natural acylcyclopentenediones comprise only a few compounds with limited occurrence. Regarding the biological activity of this unique class of compounds, methyllinderone was cytotoxic against several cancer cell lines, while methyllucidone showed moderately antifungal activity against wheat leaf rust caused by Puccinia recondite. A significant work in this regard was the identification of the synthetic analog 2-(1-methoxy-3-phenyl-2-propenylidene)-cyclopent-4-ene-1,3-dione as a potent inhibitor of human chymase, a potential drug target associated with cardiovascular diseases and chronic inflammation following fibrosis. The synthesis of this compound was inspired by the natural product methyllinderone, a moderate inhibitor of the enzyme identified from the screening of a compound library. It is noted, however, that the cyclopent-4-ene- and cyclopentane-1,3-dione structural moieties are present in a number of synthetic compounds with therapeutic applications or potential.
The present inventors have discovered that the ethanol extract of the whole Peruvian plant, Piper coruscans H.B. & K. exhibits significant antifungal activity against Candida albicans (IC50<2 μg/mL). A subsequent antifungal bioassay-guided fractionation of this extract led to identification of novel antifungal cyclopentenedione derivatives of the present invention.

Cyclopentenedione antifungal compounds and methods for their use

Abstract: where R1-3 are independently H, alkyl, methyl, acyl, halogen, phenyl, R4 is H, alkyl, methyl, acyl, alkoxy, halogen, phenyl provided that when R3 is methyl and R4 is H, R1 and R2 are not both H; and stereoisomers, analogs, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


The present invention provides a polynucleotide (ncp) which identifies and encodes a novel cysteine protease (NCP) expressed in cells of both the adrenal gland and human umbilical vein endothelium. The present invention also provides for antisense molecules and oligomers designed from the nucleotide sequence or its antisense. The invention further provides genetically engineered expression vectors and host cells for the production of purified NCP peptide, antibodies capable of binding to NCP, inhibitors which bind to NCP and pharmaceutical compositions based on NCP specific antibodies or inhibitors. The invention specifically provides for diagnostic assays based on altered ncp expression and which allow identification of such a condition. These assays utilize probes designed from ncp encoding or controlling nucleic acid sequences or antibodies specific for the NCP.

Cysteine proteases are involved in diverse cellular processes ranging from the processing of precursor proteins to intracellular degradation. They may induce vascular permeability through activation of the kallikrein/kinin pathway, complex with various hemagglutinins, activate complement components and destroy serpins. Their endopeptidase activity and "trypsin-like" specificity leads to the speculation that there are many specialized cysteine protease molecules found in various human cells and tissues.
Cysteine proteases are known to be produced by monocytes, macrophages and other cells of the immune system. These cells migrate to sites of inflammation and in their protective role secrete various molecules which clean up damaged tissue. Under other conditions, these same cells may overproduce the same molecules and cause tissue destruction. This is the case in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, when the secretion of the cysteine protease, cathepsin C, degrades collagen, laminin, elastin and other structural proteins found in the extracellular matrix of bones. Bone weakened by such degradation is more susceptible to tumor invasion and metastasis.
The novel human cysteine protease of this application was first identified among the sequences of a cDNA library made from human adrenal glands.
Human adrenal glands are cap-like structures located above each kidney. Each gland consists of the adrenal medulla and the adrenal cortex. The adrenal medulla is made up of chromaffin tissue and mainly secretes norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E). Stimulation of the sympathetic nerves to the adrenal medulla releases these two catecholamines into the blood. NE constricts blood vessels, stimulates cardiac activity, inhibits the gastro-intestinal tract, and dilates the pupils of the eyes. Epinephrine triggers almost the same responses, but it has a stronger effect on cardiac activity and a weaker effect on blood vessels. NE and E supplement the effects of the sympathetic nervous system but appear to have little effect on its function.
The adrenal cortex uses cholesterol to produce a large number of corticosteroids which display hormonal activity. The outer layer of the adrenal gland mainly produces the mineralocorticoid, aldosterone. The stimulatory and inhibitory regulation of aldosterone secretion is governed by potassium level, renin-angiotensin interactions, and secretion of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), dopamine, serotonin, and .beta.-endorphin. Aldosterone regulates extracellular fluid volume and sodium/potassium balance by interacting with type-I mineralocorticoid receptors in target tissues such as the kidney, salivary gland, and intestinal mucosa.
The inner layers of the adrenal gland are sites of glucocorticoid and androgen, estrogen and progesterone biosynthesis. The principal glucocorticoid is cortisol which functions in the regulation of protein, carbohydrate, lipid, and nucleic acid metabolism, acts as an anti-inflammatory, and plays a biofeedback role in suppressing endocrine functions. Androgen, secreted under the regulation of ACTH, is responsible for initiating the development of secondary sexual characteristics (in both sexes), of sex organs in the male, and for maintaining lifelong spermatogenesis.
Conditions, diseases and disorders of the adrenal gland include chromaffin cell tumors, which are part of the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes; Sipple's syndrome, which may be found alone or associated with medullary thyroid carcinoma and parathyroid adenomas; adrenal virilism; Cushing's syndrome; Conn's syndrome; Addison's disease, which is a primary adrenocortical insufficiency; secondary adrenocortical insufficiency, and adrenal adenomas, which include benign adrenal cysts, nonfunctional adrenal carcinoma, and tuberculosis of the adrenal gland.
The adrenal gland and its diseases are reviewed, inter alia, in Guyton AC (1991) Textbook of Medical Physiology, W B Saunders Co, Philadelphia Pa.; Isselbacher, K J et al (1994) Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, McGraw-Hill New York N.Y.; The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy (1992) Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway N.J.; and Goodman A G et al. (1993) The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, McGraw-Hill, New York N.Y.


A compact disc (CD) dispenser mounted on a bagging machine is disclosed. The dispenser includes turret and transfer assemblies. The turret assembly includes an indexing system to sequentially and one at a time position mandrels carrying CD disc sets at a dispensing location. The transfer assembly includes a pair of pickup heads driven by the rotary actuator. The pickup heads are adapted sequentially and one at a time to remove discs from a set positioned at the dispensing location and after 180.degree. rotation of the fluid actuator, drop a picked up disc into a waiting bag in the bagging machine.

Compact discs, now known simply as "CD's" frequently are individually packaged in cardboard, envelope like, containers. On other occasions the packaging is more sophisticated utilizing such things as hinged plastic enclosures with a CD positioning insert.
Clear plastic films are now widely utilized in packaging. Such packages are advantageous for many applications because their clarity permits visual inspection of the contents, the plastics are readily printable and they are inexpensive. While plastic film packages have enjoyed popularity, they have not been used for packaging thin disc products such as CD's, primarily because there has been no effective inexpensive method and apparatus for packaging them. Accordingly, it would be advantageous if there existed an efficient and inexpensive method and apparatus for providing individual plastic packages for CD's.


Disclosed are a semiconductor device having a vertical trench gate structure to improve the integration degree and a method of manufacturing the same. The semiconductor device includes an epitaxial layer having a second conductive type on a first conductive type substrate having an active region and an isolation region, a trench in the isolation region, a first conductive type first region in the epitaxial layer at opposite side portions of the trench, an isolation layer at a predetermined depth in the trench, a gate insulation layer along upper side portions of the trench, a gate electrode in an upper portion of the trench, a body region in the active region, a source electrode on the body region, a source region in an upper portion of the body region at opposite side portions of the gate electrode, and a drain electrode at a rear surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, capable of simplifying manufacturing processes and highly integrating devices while reducing ON resistance.
2. Description of the Related art
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of a conventional semiconductor device and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of another conventional semiconductor device.
The super-junction structure of a semiconductor device is obtained by substituting a drift region of a MOSFET device having a normal electric power with a vertical PN junction structure, and this structure uniformly distributes an electric field when the device is in an OFF state, thereby improving the breakdown voltage.
The super-junction structure of a conventional semiconductor device is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, an N-type epitaxial layer 11 is grown on an N-type substrate 10 and a gate insulating layer 12 and a gate electrode 13 are integrated on a portion of the N-type epitaxial layer 11. On the substrate 10 isolated from the gate electrode 13, a source electrode 14 is formed. In addition, a first P-type doped region 15 extends from a bottom portion of the gate electrode 13 to a predetermined depth of the substrate 10. In addition, a second N-type doped region 16 is formed at both bottom portions of the gate electrode 13 and the source electrode 14 and at the surface portion of the first doping region 15 formed between the gate electrode 13 and the source electrode 14.
In this manner, a conventional vertical PN junction is achieved.
In addition, in a semiconductor device manufactured according to another conventional method as illustrated in FIG. 2, a trench is formed at both side portions of an active region, and N-type and P-type ions are implanted onto both side wall portions of the trench, thereby obtaining the vertical PN junction structure.
That is, a first N-type doping region 21 is formed in a substrate 20 and a gate insulation layer 24 and a gate electrode 25 are integrated on the substrate 20. And, a source electrode 26 is formed at one portion of the substrate 20 insulated from the gate electrode 25. First and second trenches 22a and 22b are formed under both side portions of the gate electrode 25 and the source electrode 26, and a trench isolation layer 23 is formed at each trench.
At one side region of each trench insulation layer 23, a second P-type ion implanted doping region 27 is formed. In addition, a third N-type doping region 28 is formed on the surface portion of the second P-type doped region 27 and between the source electrode 26 and the gate electrode 25.
As described above, a trench is formed at both side regions of the active region and a vertical PN junction region is formed between the trenches in FIG. 2.
However, in order to obtain the super-junction structure having a sufficient depth in the above-described conventional semiconductor device, the processes of growing an epitaxial layer and implanting ions must be repeated several times.
Moreover, since the semiconductor device has a horizontal gate structure, one channel is present at one active region, so that it is limited to increase the device density.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device having a vertical trench gate structure to improve the integration degree of the device and a method of manufacturing the same.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device


A charging method, device, and system are disclosed. The charging method includes: receiving a message carrying a charging group ID, and sending a charging request message carrying the charging group ID to a charging node corresponding to the charging group ID for charging according to a corresponding relationship of the charging group ID and the charging node. According to embodiments of the present invention, correct charging for services and merging of fees are realized and meanwhile requirements for real-time charging and separation of public accounts and private accounts are met.

As the telecommunication industry has developed continuously, various new services emerge one after another. Authentication, authorization or accounting mechanism for services becomes increasingly mature and complex. Real-time charging has been more and more widely applied, and charge processing capability also has more important influences on service delivery. Currently, a charging process includes generation and report of a charging event, and rating processing. As for a real-time charging, operations such as balance reservation, abatement and reimbursement are further included. The charging event collects detailed information of services used by a user, including user identification (ID), a service type, a starting time to use, consumption, and quality of service. Once receiving a charging event, a charging system performs a charging processing according to information included in the charging event, together with the data subscribed by the user and the tariff configuration. In the case of the real-time charging, operations of balance reservation, abatement and reimbursement are also performed in cooperation with account management.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a real-time charging system in the conventional art. As shown in FIG. 1, services are used at user equipment 11 by accessing a network element 12. The network element 12 generates a charging event and sends the charging event to an online charging system 13 (OCS 13). The OCS 13 processes the charging event, including calculation of charges, credit authorization, balance freeze, consumption abatement and so on. During the charging processing, user data (including product tariffs, account balance, and the like) stored in a user database 14 is used. Once the user equipment 11 accesses the network element 12, the network element 12 requests to perform authentication and service authorization on the user. An authorization server 15 may employ a home subscriber server (HSS), home location register (HLR) or service control point (SCP) and utilize a user subscription database 16 (which may be an HSS/HLR) to identify the user's identity and determine whether the user has subscribed the requested service. A BSS/OSS system 17 is adapted to provide contents about services subscribed by the user and tariffs of the services when processing the user's billing or charging events, thereby implementing interaction of charging information and completing the charging processing.
Although the function of the real-time charging system meets the real-time charging requirements of corporation clients, it cannot meet requirements of the corporation clients about the separation of public accounts and private accounts.


Provided are a bus arbiter and a bus arbitrating method. The bus arbiter comprises a bus request register file, a bank register file, and a comparing circuit, thereby preferentially assigning a bus grant signal to a bus master causing a page hit among a plurality of bus masters outputting bus request signals. The bus request register file stores each of the memory access address output from corresponding bus master. The bank register file stores a page index stored in a sense amplifier of corresponding memory bank of an external memory device. The comparing circuit compares a page index stored in a register of a bank register file selected based on corresponding memory access address with a page index stored in the bus request register file and then outputs a page hit or page miss to the bus request register file according to the comparison result. The bus arbiter preferentially assigns a bus grant signal granting access to the bus to a bus master causing the page hit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bus arbiter and a bus arbitrating method, and more particularly, to a bus arbiter and a bus arbitrating method, by which a bus grant signal is preferentially assigned to a bus master that generates a bus request signal causing a page hit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a bus arbiter performs bus arbitration between a plurality of bus masters connected to a bus. Each of the plurality of bus masters outputs a bus request signal to the bus arbiter. The bus request signal comprises information for requesting access to the bus.
The bus arbiter receives bus request signals, each of which is generated by each of the plurality of bus masters, and outputs a bus grant signal to each of the plurality of bus masters according to a predetermined order. The bus grant signal comprises information for granting access to the bus.
A conventional bus arbiter performs bus arbitration according to a fixed priority scheme and a fairness scheme including, for example, round-robin scheduling. According to the fixed priority scheme, the bus arbiter pre-emptively assigns different priorities to the plurality of bus masters and outputs a bus grant signal to a bus master having the highest priority. The priority assigned to each of the plurality of bus masters is set to a specific value.
Round-robin scheduling comprises selecting all elements included in one group according to a rational order and a predetermined notion of fairness, where each element is sequentially selected from a list from top to bottom. The selection is repeated after returning to the top of the list. In other words, round-robin scheduling pertains to taking turns.
Thus, in a bus arbiter using round-robin scheduling, each bus master uses a bus according to a rational order. As a result, even when a certain bus master needs to preferentially access a bus, the bus master cannot access the bus until its turn in the round-robin schedule.
In a bus arbiter using the fixed priority scheme, a bus master having a low priority may not access a bus. That is, it is difficult to change hardware of the bus arbiter.
As a consequence, the bus arbiter using the fixed priority scheme and fairness scheme, including round-robin scheduling, cannot reduce a memory access latency. Memory access latency has a significant influence upon the performance of a system on chip (SOC).
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method fur reducing memory access latency to improve the performance of a SOC semiconductor.


A system and method for utilizing an attribute data container, e.g., a font file, to store a device identifier is provided. During a mobile configuration procedure, an analytic processing server generates a unique identifier to be used in identifying a particular end user device. This unique identifier is embedded into an attribute data container that is then stored on the end-user device. An application, executing on the end-user device, may load the attribute data container to determine the unique identifier associated with the end user device.

Developers of applications for use on mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, smartphones and/or tablets, typically have a period of beta testing prior to the application being released to the general public. The beta testing period comprises a limited distribution of the application to certain customers who utilize the application and provide feedback on its performance, etc. More generally, the beta testing process enables utilization of the application in a real-world environment outside of the developer's own controlled lab. A noted problem arises in that should the application experience an error condition and desire to report information relating to the error back to the application developer, the application may be limited as to determining which device it is executing on and/or who is using that particular device. For example, in certain mobile operating systems, it is not possible to directly identify a unique device identifier (such as a UDID) associated with the end user device through the mobile operating system.
One workaround is to direct to the user of the application to a website to complete a registration process including entering user and device related information. However, this registration process requires additional steps and causes a burden on the user.

System and method for utilizing a font data container to store a device identifier


An efficient person search method utilizing human communications characteristics such as close social network, user-dependent hot list, and high skewness in access popularity. This method makes use of hot lists in the routing process and clusters people of the same community together in the search graph, thereof creating a “small-world” effect to minimize the hop counts routing would have to go through in a Peer-to-Peer environment.

The present application relates to locating a unique or specific item in a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network, and more particularly to locating a person in the P2P network.
Many exciting applications, such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and Instant Messaging (IM), would benefit from the support of efficient person search. Nowadays, the search mechanisms for these applications still operate in a rather centralized manner. Users are required to register with a central server when they log into the system and query it for the addresses of their target search people. This is not scalable and the server introduces a single point of failure.
In person-searching applications (as in VoIP and IM), a person usually has a hot list which contains the people he/she often calls, such as colleagues, family members and friends. It has long been observed that human communication, and hence the hot list, exhibits the following characteristics:                Strong access skewness: Hot list is often short (of size around not more than ten), which means that contacts often skewed towards only a few people. Some people also are popular and have a relatively dense social connection. They are not only often called, but also good candidates to be contacted when searching for an unknown person.        User-dependent: The calls and hot lists are very user-dependent or user-specific, where a person popular in one domain may not be so in another.        Dense social network: Social network has high locality and is closely knit together. This is the so-called "small world" effect in which the person called is likely known by caller's direct or non-distant friends. Furthermore, users in the same domain (say within the same company or institute) or community (say alumni of a university) often communicate with each other.
It is clear that in order to locate a person efficiently, the search mechanism should take advantage of the above communication patterns. Hence the person searching differs from the traditional file searching in two major ways:                Item uniqueness: While multiple copies of files or resources exist in a file sharing system, the target item being located here is unique. Consequently, schemes taking advantage of the popularity of items (such as random walk and flooding) would not be efficient.        Access pattern: Contrasting with file searching where the file popularity is generally assumed to be the same for all users, the access pattern in person searching is very user-dependent and domain-specific. This fundamentally changes the underlying system assumption. If one naively applies file-search mechanisms to person-searching, the search therefore would not be effective.
Generally, P2P overlay networks can be categorized into unstructured and structured. In an unstructured overlay (such as Gnutella), peers are organized in a random graph and flooding or random walks is used to locate items. Clearly, it is very resource consuming to search for rare items on a large network. A negative answer to a search may mean that either the item does not exist or it is not found within a certain search scope. A structured overlay such as Pastry overcomes the search inefficiency for rare items. It assigns keys to items using a hash table and organizes the participating peers into a graph based on their IDs (the so-called nodeID). The graph is structured to facilitate the search for an item based on its key, by routing the message to a responsible peer who has nodeID numerically closest to the key.

Efficient person search mechanism in peer-to-peer networks

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology


The solution film-forming method is provided in which the absolute filtration accuracy for a cellulose acylat solution can be improved and filtration throughput can be increased without reducing the pore size of a filtering material. A dope stock solution to be filtrated is first introduced into a body feed tank and a filter aid from a filter aid tank is added and dispersed. As the filter aid, an aid including SiO2 in 50% or more and a cellulose-based aid are mixed for use. The dope stock solution in which the filter aid is dispersed is introduced into a filter machine and subjected to filtration while forming a cake on the surface of the filtering material. After the filtration, a cleaning solvent is supplied in circulation from a cleaning solvent tank, and the cake is discharged as slurry. The filter aid is separated from the slurry by a separating device and burned in a burning device. Then, a regenerated filter aid is sent to the filter aid tank. After the cleaning, a precoat liquid in which the filter aid is dispersed is supplied from a precoat tank to the filter machine to form a precoat layer on the surface of the filtering material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solution film-forming method, in particular to a solution film-forming method for producing a cellulose acylate film used for a liquid crystal display device and a photosensitive material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a process for producing a cellulose acylate film, a cellulose ester flake is first dispersed in a solvent and the mixture is stirred, preparing a cellulose acylate solution. Next, the cellulose acylate solution is subjected to filtration to remove foreign matters, thereby eliminating the possibility of defects in the film after film-formation. The filtered cellulose acylate solution is then formed to a film by co-casting or the like and the film is dried, thereby producing a cellulose acylate film.
The above-described filtration of the cellulose acylate solution is carried out for the purpose of removing foreign matters in a dope such as undissolved matters and insoluble matters, thereby preventing the occurrence of defects in the formed film. As a filtering material for the filtration, filter paper, filter cloth, sintered metal or the like is used. In any filtering material, pores of the filtering material may be plugged with time, causing a sudden increase of pressure difference in the later half of the filtration. Thus, it is necessary to periodically pass a cleaning solution through the filtering material to clean the filtering material to regenerate it.
Filtering materials having an absolute filtration accuracy of approximately 0.01 mm have been used in the current filtration. The filtration accuracy required is expected to be higher in future. In particular, for the cellulose acylate film for a liquid crystal display of recent years, high quality is required compared with the cellulose acylate film for photography, so that the absolute filtration accuracy needs to be improved.
However, a reduction of the pore size of a filtering material for the purpose of improving the absolute filtration accuracy will soon make the filtering material plugged, extremely reducing the life of filtration. In addition, the process for producing the cellulose acylate film has become faster in recent years, causing a reduction of time until occurrence of filtration plugging. The reduction of the time to the plugging of the filtration material increases cleaning frequency, thereby increasing the load for operators.
Furthermore, when the pore size of a filtering material is reduced, there will be such problems that high filtration pressure is necessary and it takes a long time in filtration, thereby reducing productivity.


A system and method for automatic session data transfer between computing devices based on zone transition detection are disclosed. A particular embodiment is configured to: determine if a mobile or wearable computing device is located within a proximity zone around a location of a stationary computing device; establish an authorized wireless data connection with the mobile or wearable computing device via a wireless transceiver; determine if the mobile or wearable computing device is likely departing the proximity zone and if so, upload user session data to the mobile or wearable computing device; and determine if the mobile or wearable computing device is likely approaching the stationary computing device and if so, download user session data from the mobile or wearable computing device.

In existing computing environments, there are often multiple stationary computing and display devices in homes, work places, private transportable computing devices in vehicles, and computing devices in public places. As Systems-on-a-Chip (SOC's) become smaller and smaller, users can also have a wearable personal computer (PC) in the tiniest of form factors—perhaps a ring that is permanently worn, an earring, a wrist band, a nameplate, etc. However, because of their small size, these wearable devices will not typically have the ability to display information themselves and may have limited computing power. As the proliferation of these devices increases exponentially, it will become necessary for PC users to access these devices and to maintain computing continuity from one device to another. Additionally, any and all computing and Internet-connected devices (e.g., Internet of Things—IoT/Internet of Everything—IoE) are getting smaller and integrated into a variety of items. Data driven activities are becoming ubiquitous. Smart (or dumb) devices can be everywhere—in traditional computing environments, but also in non-traditional (or unexpected) ones (like fishing rods, t-shirts, toilets, etc.).

System and method for automatic session data transfer between computing devices based on zone transition detection