A catalog taxonomy organized in a tree-like configuration including at least one first tier product category having at least one first tier attribute associated with products in the first tier category, and a plurality of second tier product categories branching from the first tier product category and defining subcategories, at least one of the plurality of second tier product categories having a second tier attribute associated with products in a subcategory defined by the plurality of second tier product categories, wherein each of the second tier product categories inherits the first tier attribute of the first tier product category from which the plurality of second tier product categories branches. In addition, a system and method utilizing such catalog taxonomy.

Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a catalog taxonomy and systems and methods for storing product information in a catalog. In particular, the present invention is directed to a catalog taxonomy in which product categories and subcategories are organized in multiple tiers, and a system a method that utilizes such catalog taxonomy.
Description of Related Art
Various on-line services and merchants provide on-line catalogs that allow users to obtain information regarding many different types of products and/or purchase these from various different product categories. For example, on-line merchants such as www.amazon.com™ provide various tabs for categories of products in their catalog including tabs for books, apparel, electronics, etc. Upon selection of one of these tabs representing a category, a listing of plurality of subcategories is generated for selection by the user. Upon selection of a subcategory, further subcategories or plurality of products are displayed so that the user can again, select the desired subcategory to display the products of the subcategory, or select the desired product to obtain information and/or purchase the desired product.
Websites such as www.cnet.com™ and www.mysimon.com™ that provide users with product information and reviews, as well as www.yahoo.com™ which is a search site, provide links to catalogs that allow users to shop for products from a various on-line merchants that sell the desired product. Upon selection of an appropriate shopping link, these websites typically display a catalog with a plurality of product categories to allow the user to select a desired category of products. The user interface of the catalog then functions in a similar manner to the interface provided by on-line merchants such as described above. In particular, upon selection of a category, a plurality of subcategories are displayed to allow the user to select the desired subcategory of products. Upon selection of a subcategory, further subcategories or plurality of products are displayed so that the user can select the desired subcategory, or select the desired product.
The above described catalogs have user interfaces with ontological structures as described in which a plurality of product subcategories branch from parent product categories or parent subcategories so that the catalogs also have a tree-like configuration. Such ontological structure of user interfaces for catalogs is desirable to enhance the experience of the user so that the user can quickly and easily navigate through the catalog and identify the desired product. Such ease of use is very important because many different categories of products from many different manufacturers are generally made available to the users by on-line merchants and services.
In particular, on-line services and merchants typically offer various types of products within a given category of products, each group of products targeting a particular group of users and/or meeting the specific needs of a market segment. As previously described, to allow proper organization of products, various subcategories of products are provided for a particular category. For example, in the product category of computing devices, various subcategories may include PDAs, personal computers, or enterprise servers. In the subcategory of personal computers, the computing device may also include the subcategories of desktop and notebook computers, etc. Similarly, in the product category of vacuum cleaners, categories may include whether the vacuum cleaner is upright, canister or handheld. In the subcategory of upright vacuums, additional subcategories may be provided such as bag/bagless operation, with/without exhaust filtration, self-propelled or not, etc.
As described above, the tree-like ontological structures that have plurality of product subcategories branching from parent product categories or parent subcategories are well suited for user providing interfaces of catalogs. On-line merchants as well as other on-line services typically utilize a catalog taxonomy structure that is similarly organized in a tree-like configuration to organize the actual product information that is displayed or rendered in accordance with the tree-like ontological structure of the catalog.
The distinction between the terms "taxonomy" and "ontology" (and variations thereof) as used herein should be clearly understood. Taxonomy as referred to herein can be thought of as a set of relations among categories. Taxonomy may be representable as an acyclic graph, for example, a "tree" graph, such that every relation is "a kind of" relation (i.e. categories are related), and that for every such relation, there is a set of attributes, jointly necessary and individually sufficient for a product to genuinely be "a kind of" product to which that node in the taxonomy refers. Of course, there can also be non-essential or optional attributes as well. Taxonomy does not allow multiple inheritance so that the graph representing the taxonomy cannot be cyclic.
In contrast, ontology as referred to herein may be thought of as a set of relations representable by either an acyclic or cyclic graph, which may or may not mirror (either partly or completely) an underlying taxonomy. Rather than being limited to the conditions of taxonomy described above, ontology may group products together which merely share an affinity, are associated with the same lifestyle, occasion or purpose, etc. In this sense ontologies are used primarily for "navigation" of an "information space" or for "browsing", etc., rather than for strict functional or material classification of products. The items in every node of a well-formed ontology will indeed share certain attributes. However, these attributes are not required to be internal, material properties to the products themselves. They can be secondary properties such as "styled to appeal to youths" or "products on clearance sale."
FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of an example conventional catalog taxonomy structure 100 that is organized in a tree-like manner with plurality of product subcategories branching from parent product categories or parent subcategories. As shown, a plurality of 1st Tier Categories 104 are provided in the catalog taxonomy structure, each of the plurality of 1st Tier Categories 104 having a plurality of 2nd Tier categories 108 branching therefrom. The 1st Tier Categories 104 may be any appropriate categories of products or services. For example, 1st Tier Category 2 may be the category of Computing Devices as shown, while the 1st Tier Category 1 may be for audio/video electronics and the 1st Tier Category 3 may be for household electronics.
A plurality of product 2nd Tier Categories 108 branching from the 1st Tier Categories 104 may be any appropriate subcategories thereof. For example, in the illustrated conventional catalog taxonomy structure 100, various subcategories branching from the 1st Tier Category 2 for Computing Devices may include the 2nd Tier Category 1 for PDAs, 2nd Tier Category 2 for PCs, and 2nd Tier Category 3 for Servers.
Various products 110 branch from the 2nd Tier Categories 108 that are the final or last subcategories in this example. For example, in the illustration of FIG. 1, the 2nd Tier Category 1 for PDAs is a final subcategory so that a plurality of products 110 which are various models of PDAs branch therefrom. Similarly, the 2nd Tier Category 3 for Servers is a final subcategory so that a plurality of products 110 which are various models of Servers branch therefrom.
Referring again to the conventional catalog taxonomy structure of FIG. 1, 3rd Tier Categories 114 branch from the 2nd Tier Category 2 for PCs. In particular, the 3rd Tier Category 1 for Desktops, and the 3rd Tier Category 2 for Notebooks, both branch from the 2nd Tier Category 2 for PCs. These 3rd Tier Categories for Desktops and Notebooks are the final subcategories in this example. Consequently, a plurality of products 116 branch from these 3rd Tier Categories as shown, these products being desktops and notebooks.
In the commonly used catalog taxonomy structure, attributes of the products such as its characteristic features, are associated with the final (last) subcategory. Thus, the various parent categories and parent subcategories of the catalog taxonomy merely provide an organizational structure for organizing product information and do not have any associated attributes themselves Thus, in the catalog taxonomy structure 100, product information of the various products classified under the 1st Tier category 2 for Computing Devices are all associated with the final subcategory.
For instance, for the 2nd Tier Category 1 for PDAs which is a final subcategory, various attributes of PDAs are associated with the subcategory. In particular the attributes of physical size of PDAs such as height, width, depth, and weight, as well as input/output attributes such as keyboard, viewscreen, touchscreen, mini-keyboard, and handwriting recognition, are all associated with the 2nd Tier Category 1 for PDAs. Similarly, various attributes including the physical size attributes (height, width, depth, and weight), the input attributes (keyboard), and storage attributes such as hard drive, floppy, CD and/or DVD are also associated with the 2nd Tier Category 3 which is also a final subcategory.
Furthermore, with respect to the 3rd Tier Category 1 for Desktops and 3rd Tier Category 2 for Notebooks that branch from the 2nd Tier Category 2 for PCs, various attributes are associated with these subcategories as well. As shown in FIG. 1, the 3rd Tier Category 1 for Desktops is associated with physical attributes (height, width, depth, weight), input/output attributes (keyboard, viewscreen), storage attributes (hard drive, floppy, CD/DVD), and form factor attributes such as horizontal, tower, and mini-tower form factors. Similarly, the 3rd Tier Category 2 for Notebooks has various associated attributes including physical attributes (height, width, depth, weight), input/output attributes (keyboard, viewscreen, pointing stick, touchpad), and storage attributes (hard drive, floppy, CD/DVD).
Hence, in the illustrated example of product category for computing devices, various attributes of products are associated with the final subcategory in the conventional catalog taxonomy structure 100 shown. As previously noted, various other categories and subcategories merely provide a catalog taxonomy structure for organizing product information, and do not have any associated attributes in and of themselves.
The disadvantage of the above noted conventional catalog taxonomy structure 100 shown in FIG. 1 is that it requires significant hardware and processing resources due to the repetitive association of the same attributes for numerous final subcategories. As can be seen by careful examination of the attributes associated with the final subcategories in conventional catalog taxonomy structure 100, many attributes are the same for the various final subcategories. For instance, the 2nd Tier Category 1 for PDAs, the 2nd Tier Category for Servers, the 3rd Tier Category for Desktops, and the 3rd Tier Category for Notebooks all have physical attributes and input/output attributes associated therewith.
Moreover, such a catalog taxonomy structure further does not allow easy modification of the catalog ontology which is the structure and manner in which the catalog is rendered and displayed to the users of the catalog. For instance, in order to provide another final subcategory, each of the attributes of the products in the final subcategory must be again associated with the final subcategory.
There is no one right way to classify products, and the pitfall of many systems is that they become anchored to one way of classifying products. This presents a dilemma because taxonomy systems that attempt to allow multiple ontologies are often not normalized, not unified, not navigable, or not maintainable. In this regard, some shopping websites have comparable products splintered apart from each other in different nodes of the ontology because they merged disparate ontologies together. For example, in e-commerce sites, consumers can find different models of the same kind of products such as 20 different models handheld TVs. However, these products are not found in the same location in the catalog's ontology. Some of the products may be found in "TVs|Handhelds" category/subcategory, some of the products may be found in "Handheld electronics|TVs" category/subcategory, and some in both.
The present inventors have found that this may occur because the e-commerce sites obtain product data from different data sources that have different taxonomy structures, and the e-commerce sites attempted to merge and map them together, with limited success. The deficiency results from mapping the taxonomies to each other at the node level, having no reference to the attributes, or from mapping and merging taxonomies, one or more of which were not built originally with strict taxonomical inheritance defined.
Therefore, there is an unfulfilled need for a catalog taxonomy structure, system and method that minimizes hardware and processing resources. In addition, there also exists an unfulfilled need for such a catalog taxonomy structure, system and method that allows easy modification of the catalog ontology. Furthermore, there still exists a need for a catalog taxonomy structure, system and method that facilitates attribute based queries to identify products having a particular attribute, and facilitates intelligent merging of multiple taxonomies upon the basis of the associated attributes.

Catalog taxonomy for storing product information and system and method using same


The link status of a Fibre-Channel link interconnecting two Fibre-Channel ports may be determined by a third entity distinct from the two Fibre-Channel ports. The third entity may be a transport interface used to connect one of the Fibre-Channel ports to a transport network that carries the link. The transport interface may also learn the Fibre-Channel port types of the two ports.

The present invention relates to data networking, telecommunication networking, and, in one embodiment, to systems and methods for enhancing Fibre-Channel links.
The Fibre-Channel standard defines a bi-directional link protocol, used to connect computers to disk drives and other peripherals. A typical Fibre-Channel link may have a bandwidth of 1063 Mbps and a span of up to 10 kilometers.
One typical application of Fibre-Channel is interconnecting computer CPUs with arrays of disk drive in large scale computing centers, as would be used in, e.g., financial transaction processing. For reasons of fault tolerance, it is desirable to locate redundant storage resources at remote locations. The advent of high data rate metropolitan optical networks including such networks based on the use of dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) and/or SONET/SDH transport systems makes it possible to extend so-called storage area networks (SANs) that carry multiple Fibre-Channel links over distances much longer than 10 kilometers.
It is useful to apply the widely prevalent Fibre-Channel standard to communicate across DWDM networks and therefore minimize the need to redesign computing center equipment. Such DWDM networks can themselves employ protocol such as Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, SONET, etc. A transport interface is then used to interface the Fibre-Channel port to the transport network.
The transport interface encapsulates transmitted Fibre-Channel frames within transport layer frames or packets and also deencapsulates received Fibre-Channel frames from the transport layer frames or packets.
As explained in the co-filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/403,396, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,145,877, entitled "APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DISTANCE EXTENSION OF FIBRE-CHANNEL OVER TRANSPORT," and in "INTELLIGENT FLOW CONTROL MANAGEMENT TO EXTEND FIBRE-CHANNEL LINK FULL PERFORMANCE RANGE" the flow control scheme incorporated within the Fibre-Channel standard does not cope well with links that extend much further than 10 km because of the delays inherent in receiving an indication of readiness for further transmissions from a distant port. As explained therein, the transport interface may incorporate a supplemental buffer in conjunction with other enhancements to extend the operating distance of a Fibre-Channel link while assuring that the ports do not overflow their internal receive buffers.
It is also desirable to combine multiple Fibre-Channel links onto the same transport layer link. A technique for accomplishing this is presented in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/366,867, entitled "FIBRE-CHANNEL OVER-SUBSCRIPTION OVER DWDM/SONET/SDH TRANSPORT SYSTEMS." By use of the techniques described therein, one may combine multiple Fibre-Channel links onto a single transport link even where the transport link capacity is oversubscribed, i.e., the combined peak Fibre-Channel bandwidths exceed transport link capacity.
There are various types of Fibre-Channel ports. For example, N_Ports are used by individual Fibre-Channel nodes to communicate with one another and with Fibre-Channel switches. A Fibre-Channel switch port may operate as either an F_Port when communicating with a Fibre-Channel node or as an E_Port when communicating with another Fibre-Channel switch. To support the flow control and oversubscription features mentioned above, the transport interface needs to know the port type on each end of the link. This can of course be preprogrammed but it would be desirable for the transport interface to automatically detect the port types so that they need not be programmed in advance-by an operator.

Apparatus and method for enabling intelligent Fibre-Channel connectivity over transport


A pool leveling system uses a threaded bolt that interacts with a support surface to alter the vertical alignment of the individual wall panels used to construct a modular swimming pool. The threaded bolt is coupled to the wall panels through a mounting bracket attached directly to a flange on the wall panel or indirectly through a frame used to support the wall panels. The mounting bracket is preferably a substantially C-shaped bracket having a hole adapted to receive the threaded bolt. The vertical alignment of the wall panels is adjusted by advancing or retracting the threaded bolt with respect to the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket and threaded bolt are left in place and encased in concrete when the pool installation is complete.

Many modern swimming pools are constructed from a series of individual modules that are assembled on site to form the swimming pool. These modular swimming pools typically include modular wall panels that are designed to be attached to each other using bolts to thereby form the walls of the pool. The wall panels are typically constructed from a polymer, stainless steel, galvanized metal, or other suitable material. The panels are supported in a substantially upright orientation by a framework or series of braces connected to the outer face of the wall. Concrete is poured around the lower portions of the braces and the outer face of the wall panels to secure them in position and form the modular swimming pool's wall.
A modular swimming pool is typically installed by excavating a properly dimensioned hole in which the pool will be constructed. The wall panels are then positioned around the periphery of the excavated hole and bolted together to form the walls of the pool. The wall panels are vertically aligned or plumbed by adjusting the braces used to support the wall panels. Once the panels are connected and plumbed, the wall panels must be leveled with respect to horizontal to insure that the upper edge of the fully installed pool wall is horizontally level. The wall panels must be leveled prior to the pouring of the concrete collar around the pool since they will be fixed in position by the concrete. The wall panels are typically leveled by lifting the lower portions of the wall panels to the desired level and placing shims underneath the panels to hold them in position. Alternatively, some installers prepare the excavated surface first by placing and leveling patio blocks around its perimeter and then installing, leveling and shimming the pool on the prepared surface. Once the pool is plumb and level, the concrete collar is poured around the base of the panels and frames to secure the assembly in place.
Unfortunately, raising and leveling the wall panels of a modular swimming pool is a time consuming and imprecise process. Once a level position has been determined, the wall panels must be physically lifted and held in place while shims are placed underneath the panel to support it at the desired level. This is difficult in that the wall panels are often heavy and may drive the shims into the surrounding earth. This subsidence of the shims is especially troublesome if it occurs subsequent to the concrete being poured around the walls in that the concrete may need to be entirely removed to correct the problem. In addition, if the shims are not the right size, they must be cut or replaced with shims of the proper thickness. Thus, the installer must have shims of various sizes that can be combined to achieve the proper thickness. The repeated raising and lowering of the wall panels required when using such shims may also cause previously leveled panels to shift thereby requiring that they be re-leveled. Thus, a substantial amount of labor and effort are required to level the wall panels of a modular swimming pool in accordance with the prior art.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved method and apparatus for leveling the wall panels of a modular swimming pool during construction that requires less time and effort than prior art approaches.


An infusion unit includes an infusion chamber for coffee or other product where, through water under pressure, flavors are extracted for making a beverage. The infusion chamber includes at least one yielding wall for adjusting a volume of the closed infusion chamber according to the amount of product contained into the infusion chamber. Moreover, a variable volume chamber is provided, which is filled with a liquid and connected to the yielding wall, so that a volume of the variable volume chamber filled with liquid varies according to a position taken by the yielding wall when the infusion chamber is closed. The position of the yielding wall is locked when the infusion chamber is closed, preventing the liquid flow from and into the variable volume chamber filled with liquid.

Infusion units used in machines for making hot beverages, in particular coffee, normally comprise an infusion chamber delimited by at least two portions movable relative to one another. In automatic machines, opening and closing of the infusion chamber takes place by means of an actuator, for example an electrical motor which, through a suitable linkage, opens and closes the infusion chamber moving the two portions of the infusion chamber relative to one another. An example of an infusion unit of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,028.
For making espresso coffee, water at a high pressure, typically comprised between 10 and 18 bar, must be fed into the infusion chamber. This high pressure generates high reaction forces on the structure of the infusion unit. This structure is made so that the water pressure does not cause an accidental opening of the infusion chamber. This normally requires that the two portions defining the infusion chamber reach a well defined reciprocal closing position of the chamber. As a consequence, the infusion chamber always takes on the same position and the same volume defined by the travel end position of the members controlling the opening and closing movement.
These infusion units are especially reliable and allow achieving high infusion pressures. However, due to the impossibility of varying the volume of the infusion chamber or in any case of varying it in a very limited manner, they do not allow receiving variable amounts of coffee in the infusion chamber, or they allow a very moderate variation of this amount. Typically, about 8 grams of coffee powder are used for making a portion of espresso coffee. In the most sophisticated automatic machines, the user has the possibility of slightly changing this amount of coffee, to better satisfy his/her taste, for example for having stronger or less strong coffee. However, the range of variation is moderate. Moreover, it is not possible to dispense two coffee cups in a single infusion cycle. It is only possible to select the automatic execution of two infusion cycles in a sequence.
An infusion unit with a variable volume infusion chamber for alternately receiving one or two product pods is described in EP-A-1641371.

Infusion unit with variable volume infusion chamber


A cluster system comprises a plurality of nodes that provides data-access service to a shared storage, each node having at least one failover partner node for taking over services of a node if the node fails. Each node may produce write logs for the shared storage and periodically send write logs at predetermined time intervals to a global device which stores write logs from each node. The global device may detect failure of a node by monitoring time intervals of when write logs are received from each node. Upon detection of a node failure, the global device may provide the write logs of the failed node to one or more partner nodes for performing the write logs on the shared storage. Write logs may be transmitted only between nodes and the global device to reduce data exchanges between nodes and conserving I/O resources of the nodes.

A storage system typically comprises one or more storage devices into which information may be entered, and from which information may be obtained, as desired. The storage system includes a storage operating system that functionally organizes the system by, inter alia, invoking storage operations in support of a storage service implemented by the system. The storage system may be implemented in accordance with a variety of storage architectures including, but not limited to, a network-attached storage environment, a storage area network and a disk assembly directly attached to a client or host computer. The storage devices are typically disk drives organized as a disk array, wherein the term "disk" commonly describes a self-contained rotating magnetic media storage device. The term disk in this context is synonymous with hard disk drive (HDD) or direct access storage device (DASD).
The storage operating system of the storage system may implement a high-level module, such as a file system, to logically organize the information stored on volumes as a hierarchical structure of data containers, such as files and logical units (LUs). For example, each "on-disk" file may be implemented as set of data structures, i.e., disk blocks, configured to store information, such as the actual data for the file. These data blocks are organized within a volume block number (vbn) space that is maintained by the file system. The file system may also assign each data block in the file a corresponding "file offset" or file block number (fbn). The file system typically assigns sequences of fbns on a per-file basis, whereas vbns are assigned over a larger volume address space. The file system organizes the data blocks within the vbn space as a "logical volume"; each logical volume may be, although is not necessarily, associated with its own file system.
A known type of file system is a write-anywhere file system that does not overwrite data on disks. If a data block is retrieved (read) from disk into a memory of the storage system and "dirtied" (i.e., updated or modified) with new data, the data block is thereafter stored (written) to a new location on disk to optimize write performance. A write-anywhere file system may initially assume an optimal layout such that the data is substantially contiguously arranged on disks. The optimal disk layout results in efficient access operations, particularly for sequential read operations, directed to the disks. An example of a write-anywhere file system that is configured to operate on a storage system is the Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL®) file system available from NetApp, Inc. Sunnyvale, Calif.
The storage system may be further configured to operate according to a client/server model of information delivery to thereby allow many clients to access data containers stored on the system. In this model, the client may comprise an application, such as a database application, executing on a computer that "connects" to the storage system over a computer network, such as a point-to-point link, shared local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or virtual private network (VPN) implemented over a public network such as the Internet. Each client may request the services of the storage system by issuing access requests (read/write requests) as file-based and block-based protocol messages (in the form of packets) to the system over the network.
It is advantageous for the services and data provided by a storage system, such as a storage node, to be available for access to the greatest degree possible. Accordingly, some storage systems provide storage system nodes interconnected as a cluster, with a first storage system node being clustered with a second storage system node to provide high availability of data access. Each node of the cluster may include (i) a storage server (referred to as a "D-module") adapted to service particular aggregate(s) or volume(s) and (ii) a multi-protocol engine (referred to as an "N-module") adapted to redirect the data access requests to any storage server of the cluster. In the illustrative embodiment, the storage server of each node is embodied as a disk element (D-module) and the multi-protocol engine is embodied as a network element (N-module). The N-module receives a multi-protocol data access request from a client, converts that access request into a cluster fabric (CF) message and redirects the message to an appropriate D-module of the cluster.
The nodes of the cluster may be configured to communicate with one another to act collectively to increase performance or to offset any single node failure within the cluster. Each node in the cluster may have a predetermined failover "partner" node. When a node failure occurs (where the failed node is no longer capable of processing access requests for clients), the partner node of the failed node may "takeover" the data services of the failed node. In doing so, access requests sent to the failed node may be re-directed to the partner node for processing. As such, the cluster may be configured such that a partner node may take over the work load of a failed node. A node may be referred to as a local/primary node when referring to a current node being discussed, whereas a remote/partner node refers to a predetermined failover partner node of the local/primary node. As used herein, various components residing on the primary node may likewise be referred to as a local/primary component (e.g., local memory, local write-log layer, etc.) and various components residing on a remote node may likewise be referred to as a remote component (e.g., remote memory, remote write-log layer, etc.).
The shared storage may comprise a plurality of aggregates, where each aggregate may be configured to contain one or more volumes. The volumes may be configured to store content of data containers, such as files and logical units, served by the cluster in response to multi-protocol data access requests issued by clients. Each node of a cluster may "own" an assigned predetermined set of aggregates (aggregate set) within the shared storage, whereby only the assigned node is configured to service data for the predetermined aggregate set during normal operating conditions (when no node has failed). However, upon failure of a node, "ownership" of the entire aggregate set of the failed node may be transferred to the partner node (so that servicing of data for the entire aggregate set of the failed node may be taken over by the partner node). As such, a cluster may be configured such that a partner node may takeover the work load of a failed primary node where the partner node assumes the tasks of processing and handling any data access requests normally processed by the failed primary node.
Each node of a cluster provides data-access service to clients by providing access to shared storage (comprising a set of storage devices). Typically, clients will connect with a node of the cluster for data-access sessions with the node. During a data-access session with a node, a client may submit access requests (read/write requests) that are received and performed by the node. For the received write requests, the node may produce write logs that represent the write requests and locally store the write logs to a local memory device (from which, the node may at a later time perform the write logs on the storage devices). To ensure data consistency, the write logs of a primary node may also be periodically sent/transmitted to the partner nodes in the cluster for remote storage at the partner nodes. As such, if the local/primary node fails, a remote/partner node will have a copy of the write logs and will still be able to perform the write logs on the shared storage.
However, as cluster storage systems become larger and contain more nodes, whereby each primary node in the cluster has more partner nodes, the transmission and remote storage of write logs may consume valuable storage space and I/O resources of the nodes in the cluster. For example, if a cluster has four nodes (whereby each primary node has three failover partner nodes), each node may locally store its own write logs and the write logs of each of the three partner nodes. As such, as the number of nodes in the cluster increases, the amount of storage space at each node required to store the write logs of the partner nodes increases as well. Also, since write logs are periodically sent to each partner node, the number of write log data exchanges (sending and receiving) between the nodes of a cluster increases with each node added to the cluster. This may consume significant I/O resources of the nodes in the cluster. As such, an improved method for managing write logs of a cluster storage system is needed.

Global write-log device for managing write logs of nodes of a cluster storage system


One or more parts of a storage system may be serviced while the storage system is online. A storage device may be unincorporated from the storage system while maintaining the storage system active. Access to the storage system may continue unaffected, except for the unincorporated section of the storage system, for example, the storage device and possibly other storage devices. Service may be performed on the unincorporated section of the storage system, and the unincorporated section be incorporated back into the storage system.

A storage server is a special-purpose processing device used to store and retrieve data on behalf of one or more client devices ("clients"), which may access and/or process the data. A storage server can be used, for example, to provide multiple users with access to shared data or to backup mission critical data.
A storage server may provide different levels of access to data. For example, a file server is an example of a storage server that provides file-level access to data. A file server operates on behalf of one or more clients to store and manage shared files in a set of mass storage devices, such as magnetic or optical storage based disks or tapes. The mass storage devices may be organized into one or more volumes of Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). The data may be organized, managed, and/or accessed as data files. Another example of a storage server may be a device that provides clients with block-level access to stored data, rather than file-level access. The data in such a system may be organized and managed and/or accessed as data blocks, which may include more or less information than a file. Also, a storage server may be able to provide clients with both file-level access and block-level access.
A storage server may have access to multiple mass storage devices, or persistent/non-volatile storage devices, which may be managed based on logical or virtual organization. For example, a storage server may represent a group of storage devices (e.g., hard disks) as a logical aggregate of storage devices. The aggregate may be managed to store data in volumes contained within the aggregates. They may in turn be further logically broken down into plexes containing RAID groups. The RAID groups may have multiple disks. While particular terminology is used herein as a reference point to describe particular organizations and/or functions herein, the terminology shall not be construed as limiting, but rather by way of example. Where particular terminology is referred to (e.g., an aggregate, a plex), these are to be understood as merely examples of data structure abstractions that may be substituted with equivalent or similar data structures that may be referred to by other terms.
Data storage can be organized into multiple layers of abstraction to provide fault tolerance, as individual disks can (and do) fail. The abstraction layers also allow a volume or aggregate to store larger quantities of data than can fit on a single disk. However, having multiple disks in a single volume creates the problem of keeping track of which disks are part of which RAID groups, plexes, and aggregates, especially as disks are added and failed out of the aggregates. A disk or other storage device may have a dedicated area to provide a RAID label and/or other metadata to provide the ability to track the disk and determine which disks belong to which RAID groups, plexes, and aggregates. The process of determining the logical data structure to which a disk belongs may be referred to as "RAID assimilation." Details regarding RAID Assimilation and RAID labels may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/105,872, filed on Mar. 20, 2002, and entitled "RAID Assimilation Method and Apparatus," by Steven Rodrigues and Dave Hitz.
Sometimes a RAID label or metadata in a disk defining the disk's logical data structure associations can become corrupted (e.g., out of date, having unexpected values, having incorrect data, etc.), causing the disk to be treated as either a "broken disk" and/or causing the disk to be lost from the aggregate with which it is associated. If a disk is determined to be physically sound, the disk label may be declared "out of date," and the disk may be turned into a "hot spare" in the system. If either the disk is physically damaged or the disk is physically sound but its label information is corrupted, the disk may not be available to its associated RAID group (e.g., the RAID group that contained the disk). If a RAID group loses a threshold number of disks, the RAID group and its associated plex are rendered inoperable. In certain cases, if the label data is not just out-of-date but has unexpected values, the disk's aggregate may be marked as "failed assimilation," meaning the aggregate is unable to be assimilated into the system for availability for serving data. In this case the aggregate may be taken out of service. In all of these scenarios, the data stored on the aggregate is unavailable to users.
Recovering this data often requires users to modify the RAID labels of affected disk(s). Traditionally, modification of RAID labels involved the use of several system management commands to examine and modify the data in the RAID labels of individual and multiple disks. However, to run these commands, the system was traditionally required to be in a mode where it neither assumed that the RAID labels of disks were in any particular state, nor attempted to modify the state of the RAID labels on disks. Such an operating mode may be referred to as a maintenance mode, in which the system does not persistently recognize or act on RAID groups, plexes, aggregates, or volumes. The system may recognize or act on such structures in maintenance mode if a management command needs to operate on one of these structures or entities. If a command specifies operation(s) on one of these entities, the code implementing that command may run assimilation code to determine the makeup of RAID groups, plexes, and aggregates, perform the operation(s), and then reverse the assimilation. Reversing the assimilation causes the system to cease to recognize the RAID groups, plexes, and aggregates in between commands. For example, if a data access command were received for data on a disk in maintenance, the system would not know to what RAID group the disk belongs. This allows service personnel to examine the state of the RAID labels, modify the RAID labels, examine the new state of the system, and continue modifying the RAID labels until the system is again operable.
From the foregoing it will be understood that in maintenance mode user access to data stored in volumes on the storage server is curtailed. Thus, running the system in maintenance mode reduces data availability. Further, because placing the system into maintenance mode and restoring the system from maintenance mode typically have required rebooting the system, there may be a significant performance cost associated with the transitions related to use of a maintenance mode. Note that a system including multiple aggregates may have some aggregates that are operable and could be serving data, except for the bad luck of being on a system that had to be placed into maintenance mode to deal with an aggregate with one or more faulty disks. From a practical standpoint, attempts to recover lost data volumes are typically performed at off-hours because of the cost of making the unrelated volumes unavailable for access, resulting in costly overtime for service personnel and extending the data unavailability period for the down aggregates.


Method for producing a probe for atomic force microscopy with a silicon nitride cantilever and an integrated single crystal silicon tetrahedral tip with high resonant frequencies and low spring constants intended for high speed AFM imaging.

This invention relates to methods for producing probes for use in probe-based instruments, including applications where high-speed imaging (up to video rate) is desired.
For the sake of convenience, the current description focuses on probes that may be realized for a particular embodiment of probe-based instruments, the atomic force microscope (AFM). Probe-based instruments include such instruments as AFMs, 3D molecular force probe instruments, high-resolution profilometers (including mechanical stylus profilometers), surface modification instruments, chemical or biological sensing probes, and micro-actuated devices. The probes described herein may be realized for such other probe-based instruments.
An AFM is an instrument used to produce images of surface topography (and/or other sample characteristics) based on information obtained from scanning (e.g., rastering) a sharp tip on the end of a cantilever relative to the surface of the sample. Topographical and/or other features of the surface are detected by sensing changes in the probe's mechanical response to surface features and using feedback to return the system to a reference state. By scanning the probe relative to the sample, a "map" of the sample topography or other sample characteristics may be obtained.
Changes in the probe's mechanical response are typically detected by an optical lever arrangement whereby a light beam is directed onto the cantilever in the same reference frame as the optical lever. The beam reflected from the cantilever illuminates a position sensitive detector (PSD). As the probe's mechanical response changes, a change in the output from the PSD is induced. These changes in the PSD signal are typically used to trigger a change in the vertical position of the base of the probe relative to the sample (referred to herein as a change in the Z position, where Z is generally orthogonal to the XY plane defined by the sample), in order to maintain a constant pre-set value for one or more of the probe's mechanical responses. It is this feedback that is typically used to generate an AFM image.
AFMs can be operated in a number of different sample characterization modes, including contact mode where the tip of the probe is in constant contact with the sample surface, and AC modes where the tip makes no contact or only intermittent contact with the surface. These two modes define two mechanical responses of the probe that can be used in the feedback loop which allow the user to set a probe-based operational parameter for system feedback.
In contact mode the interaction between the probe and the sample surface induces a discernable effect on a probe-based operational parameter, such as the cantilever deflection. In AC mode the effects of interest include the cantilever oscillation amplitude, the phase of the cantilever oscillation relative to the signal driving the oscillation, or the frequency of the cantilever oscillation. All of these probe-based operational parameters are detectable by a PSD and the resultant PSD signal is used as a feedback control signal for the Z actuator to maintain the designated probe-based operational parameter constant.
The feedback control signal also provides a measurement of the sample characteristic of interest. For example, when the designated parameter in an AC mode is oscillation amplitude, the feedback signal may be used to maintain the amplitude of cantilever oscillation constant to measure changes in the height of the sample surface or other sample characteristics.
Some current AFMs can take images up to 100 um2, but are typically used in the 1-10 um2 regime. Such images typically require 4-10 minutes to acquire. Many efforts are currently being made to move toward video rate imaging. The reasons for these efforts include the desire to image moving samples, to image more ephemeral events and simply to complete imaging on a more timely basis. One important means for moving toward video rate imaging is to decrease the mass of the probe, thereby achieving a lower spring constant with a higher resonant frequency.
Currently, conventional probes are 50-450μ in length with spring constants of 0.01-200 N/m and fundamental resonant frequencies, fR, of 10-500 kHz. Physical laws put lower limits on the achievable resolution and scan speed of conventional probes, given acceptable noise levels.
To get the best resolution measurements, one wants the tip of the probe to exert only a low force on the sample. In biology, for example, one often deals with samples that are so soft that forces above 10 pN can modify or damage the sample. This also holds true for high resolution measurements on 'hard' samples such as inorganic crystals, since higher forces have the effect of pushing the tip into the sample, increasing the interaction area and thus lowering the resolution. For a given deflection of the probe, the force increases with the spring constant, k, of the probe. When operating in air in AC modes where the tip makes only intermittent contact with the sample surface, spring constants below 30 N/m are desirable. For general operation in fluid, very small spring constants (less then about 0.1 N/m) are desirable.
To get measurements with higher scan speeds, one wants probes with a high fR. After passing over a sample feature, the probe response is about 1/fR seconds for contact mode and Q/fR seconds for AC modes (where Q is the quality factor for the probe). This sets a fundamental limit on scanning speed: if the response time of the probe is to be lowered, the fR must be raised.
The thermal noise of a probe involves fixed noise energy (of order kT) spread over a frequency range up to approximately the fR, where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature in Kelvin. Thus, the higher fR, the lower the noise per unit band width below fR.
The ideal probe for video rate imaging would have a fR in the 5-10 MHz range. It would also have a force constant in the 1-40 N/m range. Conventional probes would need to shrink an order of magnitude, to approximately 5-8 um in length or width, to achieve this goal.
Probes are microfabricated by using semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication techniques as this provides a way to batch produce probes with consistent cantilever and tip geometries necessary for use with AFMs today. These techniques include, but are not limited to: thin film deposition, photolithography with optical masks, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) with plasma, wet etching of silicon, and wafer-to-wafer bonding. Silicon and silicon nitride are the two primary semiconductor materials from which AFM probes are fabricated. Silicon probes have thicker cantilevers which give higher resonant frequencies and force constants than silicon nitride probes. This is due to larger thickness variations when etching bulk silicon compared to depositing silicon nitride with Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), forcing silicon processes to stop at thicker cantilevers in order to assure higher yields. One can overcome these difficulties by using a Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) wafer, but this introduces much higher costs. Silicon nitride probes have duller and shorter tips than silicon probes because silicon nitride is deposited in silicon molds which are difficult to machine and work with.
Current probe fabrication processes limit the ability of the person skilled in the art to reproducibly shrink probe lengths to 5-8 um, as well as their ability to shrink probe widths to those dimensions when probe lengths are also relatively small. This is due to a number of factors, including: (i) photolithography alignment issues when processing both sides of a silicon wafer, (ii) wafer bonding alignment issues, or (iii) photolithography variations on drastically uneven wafer surfaces. Probe fabrication processes usually incorporate at least one of these techniques and dimension variations of 5 um are not unusual. Furthermore, shorter probes will require the relatively thin cantilevers in order to keep force constants in the range required for AFM. All these factors make current processes unviable for the purpose envisioned here.

Video rate-enabling probes for atomic force microscopy


A 3D construction module comprising at least one vertically upstanding panel with first and second mesh layers oriented generally transversely and longitudinally. The first and second mesh layers have at least one rod member mounted to said panel and are vertically spaced from each other. The rod members form a first horizontally projected retention cell to restrict translation of a bar held in said retention cell between said first and second mesh layers. A third mesh can also be provided to form a second retention cell between said second and third mesh layers. The first and second retention cells restrict translation movement longitudinally and transversely of a vertical reinforcement member held in said first and second retention cells, and restrict rotation of the vertical reinforcement member about both a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis of the said 3D construction module. Horizontal reinforcement meshes are features of the invention. Other features of the invention include a trough for holding melted panel material, connectors for connecting rods to panels and associated stopper members. Also included are bracers for joining connectors and other devices related to panel connections.

At the present time, the most advanced method of making reinforced concrete walls and similar structural elements, uses 3D prefabricated construction modules comprising parallel panels spaced from each other. The modules also include transverse elements in the form of grids or meshes preferably horizontally oriented and fixed to the panels, and include connectors joining transverse elements and panels. The transverse elements usually have stopping details, which usually serve as support for panels. These 3D prefabricated construction modules can be made at a location remote from the construction site or directly on the site where they are eventually installed in the location desired for the building of wall or other structural elements.
The 3D prefabricated construction modules can be longitudinally and vertically interconnected to provide a continuous form in the space between a series of interconnected pairs of panels. This form space can be filled with unhardened concrete then allowed to harden to produce a structural element such as a wall. Typically the panels remain in place after the concrete has hardened and the panels provide added qualities for the structure as a whole, including providing sound and heat insulation. The panels may themselves thereafter be covered on their outward facing surfaces with a protective covering layer such as drywall, cement board, plaster, stucco and so on.
It is common for the panels to be made of lightweight materials such as foamed plastics (eg. foamed polystyrene).
There are numerous criteria to be concerned about in the design of such 3D prefabricated construction modules. For example, the 3D prefabricated module usually must be able to support appropriate reinforcement members (eg. rebar), including usually both horizontal and vertical reinforcement members. To date, most of the known designs for reinforcement support are complex and costly to implement.
Also, it should be noted, that there is a high consumption of labor when connecting 3D prefabricated construction modules and reinforcement member (ie. rebar) extensions from concrete structures beneath the modules, such as foundations, in order to provide continuous reinforcement. In most of the building systems using 3D prefabricated construction modules, installation is performed in a way akin to a "shish kebob" rodding.
Another design criterion for such 3D prefabricated modules is the requirement of both panels and the stabilizing or bracing members, to be able to withstand the relatively high hydrostatic pressures that can develop when the form is filled with unhardened concrete. Additionally, it is desirable to minimize the extent of the thermal bridge that can be created between one side of the 3D prefabricated construction module and the other, or between the inner form space and the external side of the 3D prefabricated construction module by such components as the stabilizing members. Furthermore, the technique of concrete placement itself and its further hardening allows the creation of a 3D pattern on the surface of the concreted structures. Thus, it is also desirable to have a module with at least one panel, which would have a negative pattern. After concrete hardening the panels could easily be removed leaving positive 3D pattern on the surface of the concreted structure.
Other design criteria include the desirability of having modules that are relatively easy to: inter-connect to each other; secure to supporting elements such as footings; and be easily transported to a construction site. It is also desirable to have 3D prefabricated construction modules that can be readily put into operation without a large amount of time and cost being expended.
Also, a particular concern regarding fire proofing of a structural element arises when plastic materials are used as materials for the panels and are retained on the structural element after it has been created. It is well known that fire and its associated heat can have a negative impact on structural stability of a concrete wall, and on the ability of the wall or other element to contain the fire. There is a tendency of such panels to melt when subjected to heat on one side of a wall caused by a fire in the vicinity of the wall. The liquid material from the panel then can flow toward the fire source and ignite. This can cause the fire to move along a path directly toward the wall and can create an intense fire situation right at or in the immediate vicinity of the wall. This of course has an extremely detrimental effect, both on the structural stability of the wall, as well as its ability to contain the fire. Accordingly, it is desirable to minimize the potential damage that can be done by the panels, when they are subjected to heat for a fire source.


A method and system for controlling an air cart to deliver custom blends of fertilizer to a field is disclosed. A farmer purchases base nutrients which are mixed together during delivery to the field. An air cart having multiple compartments is selected according to the number of base nutrients and/or seed to be delivered. Metering units associated with each compartment control the rate at which product is delivered. An operator defines a desired blend of fertilizer and identifies each of the base nutrients loaded into the air cart. The controller generates control signals output to each metering unit to control the rate at which product is delivered according to the desired blend of fertilizer. Thus, a farmer may purchase and store base nutrients rather than various blends of fertilizer and create multiple customized blends as needed according to the area and the type of seed to be planted.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to agricultural implements and, in particular, to an air cart having multiple compartments from which different components of fertilizer may be distributed at separately controlled distribution rates to achieve a customized blend of fertilizer.
Air carts are commonly towed by tractors to apply seed, fertilizer, or micro-nutrients or any granular product to a field. The air cart includes a hopper having one or more compartments configured for holding product, generally seed or fertilizer. Air carts also generally include a volumetric metering system operable to measure a fixed volume of product per unit of linear distance from each tank and a pneumatic distribution system for delivering the product from the tank to the soil. A tilling implement may be towed in cooperation with the air cart to first open a row in the field, receive product from the air cart, and subsequently close the row over the distributed product. One or more compartments in the air cart may be filled with seed while one or more compartments may similarly be filled with fertilizer. The air cart controls distribution from each compartment such that one compartment provides seed and another compartment provides fertilizer at the desired rates.
Historically, fertilizer has been manufactured according to certain standard blends of nutrients. A standard blend may be defined in percentages, for example, as 20-10-10, meaning it contains 20 lbs. of nitrogen, 10 lbs. of phosphorous, and 10 lbs. of potassium per 100 lbs. of fertilizer. However, the standard blends may not be ideal for every type of crop or soil. Further, a farmer may want different blends of fertilizer for an initial application of fertilizer versus a subsequent application. Although custom blends of fertilizer may be ordered, customizing the fertilizer blend increases expense. In addition, separate custom blends may be required for each crop the farmer intends to plant. Thus, the farmer must maintain inventory of multiple blends at extra expense. Once delivered, the farmer is also limited in flexibility to select a different crop, for example, should weather conditions permit early planting or require later planting.

Aircart with integrated fertilizer blending


Cells in which clock skew or variation in transistor properties is to be suppressed are specified and inputted. Next, a method of checking unoccupied cells for arranging dummy cells is specified and inputted. Next, a step of allowing a CAD tool to recognize the unoccupied cells is carried out. In this step, a check is made over a chip so as to see an area in which the cells are not located and to recognize this area as the unoccupied cells. Then, the step of checking whether or not the unoccupied cells are present near the cells to be processed is carried out. In this step, for the cells to be processed, the unoccupied cells are checked by the specified method of checking the unoccupied cells. Then, the dummy cells are arranged in the unoccupied cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for designing a semiconductor integrated circuit. More specifically, it relates to a method for designing a semiconductor integrated circuit by which variation in transistor properties is suppressed during exposure and etching by forming a dummy gate polysilicon pattern in a cell base IC.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, due to advances in fine pattern technology, transistor properties have been greatly affected by subtle changes in dimensions during manufacture. One of these effects has created a problem in that a gate length is varied due to a low or high density of the gate polysilicon during manufacture. This is due to the fact that the peripheral density of the gate polysilicon influences the proximity effect during exposure and the etching rate.
Although such variations in gate length has therefore been negligible because the gate length has been long relative to the variations, it has recently become impossible to ignore the variation due to a difference in the influence on the proximity effect during exposure and on the etching rate. Variation in the gate length causes variation in transistor properties, and thus clock skew is increased. An increase of clock skew requires many margins in design, thereby causing another problem in that this is disadvantageous for high-speed operation of a circuit.
As cited reference 1, FIG. 1 shows a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-48715. The exposure is performed by the use of a normal pattern and reticle 306 of a dummy pattern formed in the periphery of the pattern shown in FIG. 1(a), whereby the normal pattern is uniformly influenced by the proximity effect and thus it is possible to suppress the variation in the gate length of a resist during the exposure. Next, the exposure is performed by the use of reticle 313 for removing the dummy pattern shown in FIG. 1(b), whereby the resist of the uniform gate length of the normal pattern alone can be developed as shown in FIG. 1(c).
As cited reference 2, FIG. 2 shows the semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-295595. As shown in FIG. 2(a), it can be seen that, since storage device M1 is mounted in a peripheral circuit, the density is reduced in the periphery of storage device M1. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2(b), dummy cells Mll-Mnn are arranged in the periphery of storage device M1 to thereby prevent the gate polysilicon of storage device M1 from being reduced during the exposure and the etching. That is, the variation in the gate length of a main cell and storage device M1 is suppressed.
The above-described prior art have the following problems.
In cited reference 1, another reticle and another step are additionally required for removing the dummy pattern. Furthermore, although this method can suppress the variation in gate length of the resist during exposure, since an area of a low-density resist pattern is excessively etched during the etching, the gate length of the gate polysilicon is varied.
The cited reference 2 is not applicable in the following case, that is, when it is not previously known that the area in which the cell to be processed (storage device M1) is arranged has low density, or when it is not possible to ensure that the area in which all of n.sup.2 dummy cells Mll-Mnn are arranged in a matrix is located at the periphery of the cell to be processed. Moreover, when a cell to be processed has an intermediate density between low and high densities, the dummy cells are not arranged near the cell to be processed, and thus disadvantageous variations result.

Method for designing semiconductor integrated circuit


Described is a low-emission adhesive, whose polymers are dissolved in a mixture of acetone and ethanol. The adhesive is characterized by very low emissions of solvents, with otherwise equally good properties compared to standard solvent-synthetic resin based adhesives. In particular with respect to viscosity and spreadability, surface tension, depth of penetration, wettability, simplicity and speed of processing, as well as adhesion, gluing strength and adhesive spectrum, the adhesive of the invention is equal to other adhesives based on solvents and thus superior to dispersion-adhesives that are based on aqueous solutions. Due to its low solvent emissions and absence of chlorinated solvents, the present adhesive is suitable for applications for which only dispersion-adhesives that are based on aqueous dispersions were reserved until now. This is true in particular for applications in enclosed spaces. The adhesive is very suitable for gluing of wooden floors in internal construction work.

Commercially available adhesive can be divided into four categories based on their composition: hot melt adhesives, reaction resin adhesives, adhesives that are based on aqueous dispersions and adhesives that are based on solvents.
Hot melt adhesives are generally applied by means of a conventional extrusion and coating technique at temperatures between 100 and 300° C. onto one of two surfaces to be attached by gluing. The other, "cold" surface is then brought into contact with the coated surface, whereby the melt is cooled off and becomes hardened so that a permanent bond is created between the surfaces that are to be glued to each other. Hot melt adhesives are often used in the packing industry and they are used for the manufacturing of self-adhesive layers.
Reaction resin adhesives are characterized by the fact that the polymers enabling the adhesion and the bond are first formed in situ after the application of the adhesive from monomers or from prepolymers. Reaction resin adhesives usually harden very quickly. They are therefore well suited for quick and permanent bonding of contacts which have a small surface area. Products which are in demand in private practice, such as products called "instant adhesives" and "all-purpose adhesives", which are based on methacrylate or cyanoacrylate, belong to this group.
On the other hand, other characteristics are required from adhesives for applications in internal construction. Processing of these adhesive should be easy, it should be possible to process them or have them available for a long period of time, and they should be suitable for application in a wide range of temperatures; furthermore, they should display good initial adhesion characteristics, a wide adhesive spectrum for application to different types of substrate and they should also guarantee a permanent bond lasting for decades. Moreover, in the case of floor adhesives, it is also important that the health risks, which are caused when a person breathes in volatile organic components of adhesives during the processing of adhesives, should be kept as low as possible.
In order to protect the processing personnel, dispersion adhesives are the preferred class. Unfortunately, dispersion adhesives have a number of disadvantages, which result from their composition. The emulsifier encloses relatively long chains of polymers, and this emulsifier is then dispersed again in water. The wetting of the substrate is often insufficient due to a high surface tension of the water and a high polarity. The high evaporation enthalpy of the water means that a long time period is needed for drying of the adhesive. The penetration of the polymer into the surface of the substrate is low due to the size of the dispersed polymer particles. The hardened adhesive film is sensitive to moisture due to the remaining emulsifier.
Adhesives that are based on solvents have the following advantages when compared to adhesives that are based on aqueous dispersions: Due to the clearly lower evaporation enthalpy of the solvents, the adhesives dry much faster (only approximately ⅓ of the energy amount will be required). The low surface tension and the low polarity of the solvents improve the wetting of the substrate. The solvents dissolve a number of substrates and the adhesion is thus improved, in particular on dense, smooth substrates. The polymers are dissolved as isolated chains and therefore penetrate very well into porous substrates. The hardened adhesive film is much less sensitive to moisture.
Reaction resin adhesives play only a minor role in applications performed by skilled workers due to protection of the health of the personnel handling the adhesive. Problems are caused when reactive monomers or prepolymers come into contact with skin, or when reactive, volatile compounds penetrate into the respiratory tract.
Hot melt adhesives cannot be easily handled on a large surface area by skilled workers, which is why they are used only in internal construction and on small surface areas in special cases.
In spite of the technical advantages which are displayed by solvent adhesives, their application is limited. This is due to issues relating to environmental protection, fire protection, and most importantly, protection of the processing personnel. Solvent-based adhesives are employed mainly in the production of adhesive tapes, for gluing foam substances, for gluing of wood flooring, and in the form of contact adhesives.
The task of the present invention is therefore to provide a novel adhesive composition based on solvents which is in compliance with the requirement for protection of the labor force and the environment, in particular in compliance with the upper limit value for organic compounds in air according to TRGS 900 [TRGS=Technical Rules for Dangerous Substances] and the EPA, and which at the same time maintains the advantageous characteristics of solvent-based adhesives.
In accordance with the invention, this task is achieved with an adhesive composition whose main constituents are based on organic solvents acetone and ethanol, using a thermoplastic polymer, preferably polyvinyl acetate, and a hydroxyl-modified thermoplastic resin. The remaining components are additives and additional substances known from prior art. Preferred additives comprise plasticizers and fillers, particularly preferred are siliceous and carbonate fillers, which meet varying technical requirements thanks to their flexible chemical and physical composition, as well as mixing ratios. The adhesive according to the invention can also contain other additives such as rheological additives (for example castor oil derivatives, polyamides), wetting agents, antioxidants or pigments. The composition preferably comprises the following amounts of processed end products:                1 to 12 weight % of acetone, preferably 4 to 8 weight %,        4 to 16 weight % of ethanol, preferably 9 to 13 weight %,        5 to 12 weight % of polyvinyl acetate, preferably 8 to 10 weight %,        10 to 25 weight % of a hydroxyl-modified hydrocarbon resin, preferably 15 to 19 weight %,        0.5 to 5 weight % of plasticizers, preferably 1 to 3 weight %,        35 to 65 weight % of fillers, preferably 45 to 60 weight %,        0 to 5 weight % of additives, preferably 0 to 2.5 weight %
An advantage of the adhesive according to the invention is the fact that solvent emissions, which occur during the processing, are significantly below the current maximum concentration valid for work places (according to TRGS 900) of 960 mg of ethanol per cubic meter of air and of 1,200 mg of acetone for cubic meter of air. This adhesive will be now explained in more detail on preferred embodiment of the adhesive according to the invention. The following is preferably used for the composition of the adhesive:                5 weight % of acetone,        12 weight % of ethanol        8.5 weight % of polyvinyl acetate resin (VINNAPAS B 60, UW 1, UW 10, Wacker Polymer Systems, Burghausen), comprised of a mixture of three polymers which have a median molecular weight of 74,000 g/mol, 150,000 g/mol and 435,000 g/mol, and which are contained with a relative content amount to each other of 5:5:7, wherein the resin with the highest molecular weight also has the highest weight percentage (the molecular weights are determined from the limiting viscosity number η).        16.7 weight % of a phenol-modified cumaron-indene resin (Novares CA 90 made by the Ruttgers Chemicals, Duisburg), with a median molecular weight of about 1,000 g/mol (Mw).        1.9 weight % of the softener diisobutyl phthalate        6 weight % of kaolin        49.9 weight % of CaCO3 comprising two grading curves for amorphous chalk and one grading curve for finely crushed crystalline marble

Low-emission adhesive composition based on a solvent


A method and apparatus for thresholding gray-scale images containing text as foreground and dirt, colors, noise and the like as background. The method is adaptive in nature and can successfully separate a wide variety of text fonts and sizes, whether printed, typewritten, or handwritten, from the image background. The method uses multiple sets of thresholding process parameters in a contrast-based histogram evaluation to produce multiple candidate thresholded binary images. The method automatically selects the highest quality binary image, that is, the binary image that best represents text in the foreground, from among the multiple candidate binary images. The apparatus for implementing the method is a pipeline processor for highest speed.

In many applications, it is desirable to extract textual information from an image by automatic means. For example, using a machine to read address labels without manual intervention is a labor and cost saving technique. One technique for automatic label address reading employs a charge-coupled device ("CCD") camera to capture an image of the address label area. The n.times.m image provided by the CCD camera is called a gray-scale image, because each of the n.times.m pixels in the image can assume a gray value between zero and a maximum value, where zero is black, the maximum value is white and the intermediate values are gray. Typically, the maximum value will be 255 or 1023. For most address label reading application, the gray-scale image must be converted to a binary image, where pixels take on only one of two values, 0 for black and 1 for white. In the binary image, black pixels correspond to foreground, usually text, while white pixels correspond to background. The process of converting from a gray-scale image to a binary image is called thresholding. After the image has been thresholded, the label can be read automatically using an optical character recognition ("OCR") process.
Unfortunately, many common thresholding methods have great difficulty separating foreground from background on address labels due to the large variety of labels. Labels can have different color backgrounds, different color text printing, blurs, blotches, belt burns, tape effects, low contrast text, graphics, and plastic windows. Text on labels can be dot matrix, laser printed, typewritten, or handwritten and can be of any one of a number of fonts. The variety of labels makes it difficult for many thresholding processes to adequately separate foreground text from background and may cause many erroneous foreground/background assignments. An erroneous assignment occurs when a background pixel is assigned a value of 0 (black) or a foreground text pixel is assigned a value of 1 (white). If the former case, noise is introduced into the resultant binary image, and this may lead to difficulty reading the label automatically using OCR. In the latter case, text that was present in the gray level image is removed, and again the OCR process may fail.
In addition to the requirement for accuracy, an automatic thresholding technique must be fast and efficient to be effective as a cost-savings technique. In many applications, automatic label readers are employed by mail and package delivery services, where automatic systems convey packages at a rate of up to 3600 per hour. At this rate, a label must be imaged and processed in less than one second in order to be completed before processing on the next label must begin. In order for the thresholding technique to be used in real time, therefore, it must threshold the gray-scale image in considerably less than one second to give the OCR techniques time to process the thresholded text image.
Thus there is a need for a thresholding method and apparatus that employs a set of fast algorithms for separating foreground text from background in a way that minimizes the number of foreground/background misassignments. There is also a need for the thresholding method and apparatus to be adaptable so that it may adjust to the wide variety of character fonts and other differences in text presentation.

Method and apparatus for separating foreground from background in images containing text


The air pressure variation detector comprises a base plate having a through hole or a cavity, a piezoelectric element fixed to the base plate so as to locate above the through hole or the cavity and formed in a strip-like shape having a width narrower than the inside width of the through hole or the cavity, an impedance converter circuit consisting of a field effect type transistor and a leak resistor, and an electrically conductive accomodating container having a vent hole. An output terminal of the piezoelectric element is connected to a gate of the field effect type transistor, and the leak resistor is connected between the gate and a ground terminal of the piezoelectric element. This air pressure variation detector is simple in its composition and can detect with high accuracy slight variations of air pressure in the enaudible region.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air pressure variation detector which is adapted to be capable of detecting variations of air pressure by using a piezoelectric element and suited, for example, for use with alarm systems.
b) Description of the Prior Art
There are conventionally known various types of detectors to be used as the means for detecting whether or not the enclosed states of enclosed spaces are broken into, houses, automobiles, libraries, moneysafe rooms, refrigerating warehouses and so on. On the basis of on operating principles, these detectors are classified into electromagnetic type, light wave type, electric wave type and sound wave type.
Out of these detectors, the electromagnetic type detector is exemplified by a magnetic approach switch which is composed of a pair of magnets and a reed relay. This switch is used for detecting open/closed states of doors and windows of rooms of houses since it has a relatively simple construction and is inexpensive. However, this electromagnetic detector is incapable of detecting breakage of the wall, door or window on which it is mounted when the central portion thereof is broken, and is therefore unsuited, for example, to prevent robbery from automobiles for which windows of the automobiles are broken very often. Further, the light wave type, electric wave type and sound wave type detectors, which are examplified by the infrared sensor, microwave sensor and ultrasonic wave sensor, are capable of detecting breakage despite location thereof so far as it is caused by persons, aminals and machines, but have narrow field angles or detecting ranges, whereby these detectors must be installed in a plural number at one site and are obliged to be used only at restricted kinds of locations.
In the recent years, detectors having high sensitivities and convenient for use are increasingly demanded not only for detecting breakage of enclosed states of spaces delimited from external world but also for detecting open/closed states of doors for computerized management of egress and ingress from and into rooms for the neccessity of prevention of robbery of the so-called trade secret management. Since the above-mentioned electromagnetic type and sound wave type detectors, etc. cannot perform detection with sensitivity high enough for meeting these demends, researches are made to improve a pressure sensor which is composed of a combination of a pressure-sensitive element and a diaphragm, and capable of detecting vibrations of air.
From the viewpoint of practical use, however, there still remain technological problems in said pressure sensor for detecting vibrations of air. Speaking concretly, vibrations of air causing slight pressure variations on the order of 0.n to 0.0n mmH.sub.2 0 at frequencies of several tens to 0.n Hz in a room are produced, for example, by opening or closing a smoothly working door and vibrations of air causing slighter pressure variations at frequencies on the order similar to those mentioned above are produced by opening or closing a sliding door, but the pressure sensor cannot detect accurately the vibrations of air causing such slight pressure variations at such very low frequencies and has a complicated structure which inevitably requires a high manufacturing cost. In addition, researches are made to improve an acoustic sensor for detecting vibrations of air causing slight pressure variations, it is still incapable of detecting inaudible sound waves at the very low frequencies described above.


An automatic printing apparatus is used to print indentifying words on a packing case that is carried on a conveyer belt unit and includes a sensor, a lower support unit, a lengthwise-position adjustment device, an upper support unit, a height adjustment device, a feeding hydraulic cylinder, a printer support unit, a contact switch, a printing hydraulic cylinder and a printer member. The printer member is carried on the printer support unit. The printer support unit is carried on the upper support unit. The upper support unit is carried on the lower support unit. The lengthwise-position adjustment device can be actuated to adjust the position of the lower support unit along the length of the conveyer belt unit. The height adjustment device can be actuated to adjust the vertical position of the upper support unit relative to the lower support unit. When the packing case is moved to align with the sensor, the sensor activates the feeding hydraulic cylinder so as to move the printer support unit toward the packing case.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing apparatus, more particularly to an automatic printing apparatus for a packing case that is carried on a conveyer belt unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
When packing cases are moved by a conveyer belt unit to a predetermined position for transportation or storage, some indentifying words are printed manually on each of the packing cases. It is time-consuming to perform this manual printing process.

Automatic printing apparatus for a packing case carried on a conveyor belt unit


A query comprising of sub queries, each of which could be of different media types are used to search a collection of multimedia documents in a database. These sub queries are parsed according to media type and operators/functions between these sub queries are recorded creating a set of query objects and query operator objects. The query interface than passes the query objects to the appropriate application programming interfaces (API's) of the various search engines. Furthermore, it applies the query object operators to the respective interim results obtained by executing a query object. Then the interim results are combined in a global result object that is processed using a user specification to produce a single combined result list that conforms to user specified requirements.

Computers are often used to search and access information from large data bases. Commonly, text search engines are used to search and access text data bases using text queries and/or queries with logical operations on text. There are many systems in the prior art that perform these text searching functions. For example, the SMART system from Cornell and the InQuery engine from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. See G. Salton and M. J. McGill "Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval" (McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 1983) and J. P. Callan, W. B. Croft, and S. M. Harding, "The INQUERY Retrieval System", Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Database and Expert Systems, September, 1992, which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Recently, computers have been used to store, search, and access multimedia documents from multimedia databases. Multimedia is information that can contain text, images, audio, video, and/or any other type of sensory information. A document (or multimedia document or electronic document) is one or more records of text and/or other multimedia information that is typically viewed at a workstation and/or stored in a multimedia database. The information on any of the records can have multimedia aspects, that is, one or more of the records can contain one or more multimedia types (text, images, video, animation, etc.)
Different types of search engines have been developed in the prior art to handle different types of content.
Images in multimedia documents in a multimedia database are searched and accessed using an image search engine. An image search engine works by first building a database in which a set of features are stored for each image that is indexed. In response to a query, which is expressed in terms of the features of the desired images, the image search engine searches the database for feature sets that most nearly match the query set. The result is a list of the corresponding images. Image search engines in the prior art include QBIC and PictureBook. See Niblack, W., Barber, R., Equitz, W., Flickner, M., Glasman, E., Petkovic, D., Yanker, P., Faloutsos, C., and Taubin, G., "The QBIC project: querying images by content using color, texture, and shape", Proceedings SPIE--International Society of Optical Engineering (USA), Volume 1908, 1993, pages 173-187. See also Pentland, Alexander P., Picard, Rosalind W., and Sclaroff, Stan, "Photobook: tools for content-based manipulation of image databases", Proceedings of SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering, Volume 2368, 1995, pages 37-50. Both of these references are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
In addition to text and image searching, the prior art contains search engines that search on parameters, also known as attributes. Parametric search engines generally function with tables of data, in which each row in the table represents an object and the columns represent parametric data associated with the object, such as its author or date. A parametric search engine returns a list of the rows which contain the combination of parameters specified in the query.
An example of a parametric search engine is the IBM DATABASE2 (or DB2) relational database system. (IBM and DATABASE 2 are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation.)
New technologies, like Digital Libraries, give users access to huge amounts of information, often in the form of multimedia documents, consisting of text, images, sound, and video clips. In many systems, each document can have associated with it, parametric data such as a document number, author, length, price, etc. Users who wish to find relevant documents need to be able to specify conditions on the content (e.g., that the text contains the word "Cadillac" and at least one image, e.g, a picture of a pink car) and/or on parametric data (for example, that the model year is earlier than 1960.)
Searching for particular information in technologies like Digital Libraries, especially over the Internet or the world wide web (WWW), is a formidable task. In general, the prior art allows searching for only one type of multimedia per search request. For example, a text search engine will search text parts which contain text that match a text query item like "Porsche". This text search engine will return a hit list of text parts that contain the words "Porsche." Alternatively, an image search engine will search for images that satisfy an image query item. For instance, an image query item can define shades of red. The image search engine will return hit list of images containing those shades. Also parametric search engines search parameters that describe entire documents and return a hit list of documents that satisfy the parameters in a query item.
Generally in the prior art, a user has to issue a separate query for each media type.
However in the prior art, image and parametric query searches are sometimes used together. In these cases, the parametric queries are used to filter out those documents that do not satisfy the parametric parameters in the query item. The remaining documents are returned in a "parametric hit list" and then a separate image search is done on these remaining documents. In these cases, the information in the documents that do satisfy the parametric search but do not satisfy the image search are lost. For example, a parametric search of "Porsches older than 1994" produces a hit list of Porsches made before that year. An image search defining shades of red, reduces that list to those Porches produced before 1994 that are red. All documents having information about Porsches older than 1994 but having a color other than red are lost.
Note that the prior art assumes that a logical "AND" operation is performed between the parametric and image searches. No other logical operation between the results of the parametric search and the results of the image search can be performed.

Using multiple search engines to search multimedia data


A control device for controlling a hydraulic pressure of a fluid transmission includes a pressure sensor for detecting actual pressure values of the hydraulic pressure, an electronic control unit for generating a control signal as a function of the actual pressure values detected by the pressure sensor and a reference pressure signal delivered to the control unit, a power switch controlled by the control signal and a solenoid valve actuated by the power switch for generating the hydraulic pressure. The control device is configured as a compact electromagnetic unit. The electronic control unit is respectively connected to the pressure sensor and to the power switch by a direct electrical connection. A method for controlling a hydraulic pressure of a fluid transmission is also provided.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control device and to a method for controlling a hydraulic pressure of a fluid transmission and use thereof.
Hydraulic open-loop and closed-loop pressure controllers are used, inter alia, in many applications for vehicles, in particular in automatic transmissions. Automatic transmissions frequently have electronic control devices which are configured to generate electrical signals and with the latter to actuate solenoid valves to control an oil flow or pressure.
Many methods for actuating hydraulic solenoid valves in the field of automobile transmissions use what are referred to as open-loop algorithms. Open-loop algorithms have many advantages. They are low in cost because, for example, no pressure sensor is required. Because of the lower expenditure on conditioning signals, the computing capacity requirement of microcontrollers which are used for them is relatively low. Furthermore, the development costs of the software are also low.
However, open-loop algorithms also have deficiencies. The operating conditions for a transmission change in the course of time, since the transmission components age and become worn out. Clutches which are operated with hydraulic oil are the most frequently used actuators of a power train. The properties of clutch springs and clutch plates change in the course of time. Moreover, the properties of the transmission oils change in the course of time owing to soiling and aging.
Open-loop algorithms are not adapted to such changes, for example changes in calibration which occur in the course of time, and are, in particular, not suitable for compensating changes in properties of a system over its entire service life.
Owing to these deficiencies of open-loop algorithms, what are referred to as closed-loop control algorithms are alternatively used in the field of transmission control. In a closed-loop system, a pressure sensor is necessary to supply a feedback signal (actual signal).

Controlling a hydraulic pressure of a fluid transmission


A purse including an article storage assembly and at least two handles. Each of the at least two handles includes a first handle portion having a first end attached to the article storage assembly and a second end, and a second handle portion having a first end attached to the article storage assembly and a second end removeably attached to the second end of the first handle portion. The first and second handle portions are shapeable into various substantially rigid configurations.

A purse is often considered an important fashion accessory. Most purses are designed to keep up with the latest trends and to conveniently and effectively carry many items without hindering the purse-wearer's ability to move about comfortably.
A purse's handles limit the way in which the purse can be worn. For example, with the conventional leather strap handles, a purse-wearer basically has two options: (1) place the straps over the arm or shoulder; or (2) simply carry the purse in hand. However, when a purse becomes heavy, it is inconvenient and often painful to carry the purse in these ways.
Further, the conventional handles limit the way the purse can be set aside when the purse-wearer is at rest. For example, women typically store their purse on the floor or on an adjacent seat when they sit down at, for example, a restaurant or movie theater. Thus, the purse and/or its contents become vulnerable to theft and, since public floors are typically quite dirty, the bottom of the purse is often soiled, which is especially unwanted in the case of expensive designer purses. Also, it is difficult to access a purse from a sitting position when the purse is placed on the floor or an adjacent seat.
Accordingly, there is a need for a purse with handles that allow the purse to be comfortably worn even when the purse becomes heavy and that allow the purse to be stored safely and conveniently.


A shredding machine includes cutter holders and washers mounted in a base frame to hold two sets of circular cutters on two parallel shafts, a motor adapted to rotate the shafts through a transmission gear set, and baffle means installed in the base frame to support the cutter holders and to protect the circular cutters from deformation,_the cutter holders each having an invertedly disposed T-shaped holder body, at least one through hole for the passing of the revolving shafts, and pulleys disposed at different elevations and supported on the revolving shafts at top and bottom sides.

A regular shredding machine generally comprises a base frame, two revolving shafts connected in parallel to the base frame, cutter holder blocks and washers respectively mounted on the revolving shafts, and cutters respectively mounted in between each two adjacent washers and alternatively arranged on the revolving shafts. When inserting paper into the shredder during rotation of the revolving shafts, the cutters cut inserted paper into narrow strips. Due to deformation problem, cutter pitch changes quickly with the use of the shredder. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09819,526 now pending, teaches the use of a baffle of  less than -shaped cross section to protect cutters against deformation. This design is functional, however it is still not perfect.
According to one embodiment the present invention, the cutter holders each have a flat holder body and at least one through hole through the flat holder body for the passing of the revolving shafts, and baffles are installed in the base frame to support the holder body of each of the cutter holders in position. According to another embodiment of the present invention, two baffles of zigzag cross section are provided to support the cutter holders in position. According to still another alternate form of the present invention, two symmetrical pairs of flat baffles are mounted in the base frame at different elevations and respectively stopped at top and bottom sides of the cutter holders to support the cutter holders in position. According to still another alternate form of the present invention, pulleys are mounted in the cutter holders at different elevations and respectively supported on the revolving shafts at top and bottom sides.