Provided is a chemical mechanical polishing pad having grooves in its polishing surface which have a sub-surface cross-sectional span greater than the grooves' surface opening span. In this way, the edges of the groove are undercut. This provides both increased groove volume for a given pad surface area and groove depth, and variable flexibility in the polishing pad's surface. Grooves in pads of the invention also typically include a neck region at the top of the groove, where the groove side walls are substantially parallel. This provides a margin for the pad to wear during polishing without affecting the pad's surface area. The invention also provides a method and apparatus for cutting grooves in a chemical mechanical polishing pad.

The present invention relates to slurry distribution grooves in a polishing pad employed in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). More particularly, the present invention relates to cross-sectional groove shapes which increase the slurry carrying capacity of a polishing pad and improve the pad's surface hardness characteristics.
Chemical mechanical polishing (sometimes referred to as "CMP") typically involves mounting a semiconductor wafer faced down on a holder and rotating the wafer face against a polishing pad mounted on a platen, which in turn is rotating or moving linearly or orbitally. A slurry containing a chemical that chemically interacts with the facing wafer layer and an abrasive that physically removes that layer is flowed between the wafer and the polishing pad or on the pad near the wafer. In semiconductor wafer fabrication, this technique is commonly applied to planarize various wafer layers such as dielectric layers, metallization layers, etc.
FIG. 1 shows some major components of a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) apparatus such as an AvantGaard 676, commercially available from Integrated Processing Equipment Corporation (IPEC) of Phoenix, Ariz. CMP apparatus 100 includes a wafer carrier 128 that is fitted with an air chamber 126 (shown in phantom lines), which is designed to secure a wafer 124 by vacuum to wafer carrier 128 during wafer loading typically before CMP is to commence. During CMP, however, wafer 124 is bound by "wear rings" (not shown to simplify illustration) within wafer carrier 128 such that a wafer surface that is to be polished contacts a polishing pad 102.
A conventional polishing pad 102 includes a plurality of slurry injection holes 120, and adheres to a flexible pad backing 104 which includes a plurality of pad backing holes 118 aligned with the slurry injection holes 120. A slurry mesh 106, typically in the form of a screen-like structure, is positioned below the pad backing 104. An air bladder 108 capable of inflating or deflating is disposed between a plumbing reservoir 110 and the slurry mesh 106. A co-axial shaft 112, through which a slurry inlet 114 (shown by phantom lines) is provided to deliver slurry through the plumbing reservoir 110 and the air bladder 108 to the slurry mesh 106, is attached to the bottom of plumbing reservoir 110. In this configuration, a slurry flow path is defined by the slurry entering through slurry inlet 114, spreading out through the slurry mesh 106 below the pad backing 104, entering pad backing holes 118 and exiting through slurry injection holes 120 on the surface of polishing pad 102.
A CMP pad is typically provided with grooves in its polishing surface for slurry distribution and improved pad-wafer contact. These grooves are of two types, either or both of which may be present on a conventional pad's polishing surface. The smaller of the two groove types, sometimes referred to as "microgrooves," are typically about 10 mils wide and 10 mils deep. Microgrooves increase the pad roughness and thereby facilitate the polishing process by creating point contacts and providing space for a small amount of slurry at the wafer-pad surface interface during CMP. Larger or "macrogrooves" (also referred to as slurry distribution grooves) increase the amount of slurry that may be applied to the polishing pad surface per unit area, and thereby increase CMP efficiency. Conventional macrogrooves are typically about 50 mils deep by 50 mils wide.
FIG. 2 shows a top view of a conventional polishing pad 102, such as used with the CMP apparatus shown in FIG. 1. An example of such a pad is the IC 1000, commercially available from Rodel Inc., Newark, Del. Polishing pads may be made of materials including, for example, urethane, polyurethane, felt, polymer and a filler material. Polishing pad 102 includes macrogrooves (slurry distribution grooves) 130, which are shown in an X-Y configuration, and microgrooves 132 which oriented diagonally relative to macrogrooves 130. At various intersections of grooves 130 in the X direction and grooves 130 in the Y direction, slurry injection holes 120 are provided.
In conventional chemical mechanical polishing pads, slurry distribution grooves in the polishing pad surface have substantially parallel side walls. Cross-sectional views of such conventional groove shapes are shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. In FIG. 3A, groove 300 has substantially parallel side walls 302, 304 extending down from the polishing pad surface 306 to the pointed base of the groove 308. The span 310 of the surface opening 312 of the groove 300 is substantially the same as the maximum sub-surface span 314 of the groove 300.
FIGS. 3B and 3C show alternative conventional groove cross-sections 320 and 330, respectively, having flat and rounded bases 322 and 332, respectively. As with groove 300, grooves 320 and 330 have surface opening spans 310 substantially the same as their maximum sub-surface spans 314.
Conventional chemical mechanical polishing pad slurry distribution grooves such as those illustrated in FIGS. 3A-3C are typically formed by incising cuts in the polishing surface of a chemical mechanical planarization polishing pad. Common apparatuses for making these cuts include saws, mills, and lathes. The substantially parallel side walls 302 and 304 of these conventionally shaped grooves are generally a function of the profile of the cutting blade which forms them.
A CMP pad will have a surface hardness largely determined by the material from which it is formed and any structural alterations made to the pad surface. While conventional groove patterns may provide some regional flexibility beyond that normally characteristic of a particular pad material, conventional pads have substantially uniform hardness across their surfaces. This uniformity may result in the formation of pits in the surface of a polished wafer, adjacent to bumps removed during CMP, due to the inability of the pad to conform somewhat to the wafer topography. Such pit formation detracts from the quality of the planarization of the wafer surface that may be achieved by CMP.
Thus, while conventional slurry distribution grooves increase the slurry carrying capacity of CMP pads, a CMP pad with a groove design that improved slurry carrying capacity over conventional designs and thus improved CMP efficiency, would be desirable. Additionally, a pad having a hardness optimized to reduce bumps in a wafer surface while minimizing the development of pits during polishing is needed.

Chemical mechanical polishing pad slurry distribution grooves


An electron emission device includes a substrate, an anode electrode formed on the substrate, phosphor layers formed on the anode electrode, and resistance layers formed on the substrate and electrically connected to the anode electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron emission device, and in particular, to a substrate for an electron emission device with an anode electrode and phosphor layers.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, electron emission devices are classified into a first type where a hot cathode is used as an electron emission source, and a second type where a cold cathode is used as the electron emission source.
Second type electron emission devices include a Field Emitter Array (FEA) device, a Surface Conduction Emitter (SCE) device, a Metal-Insulator-metal (MIM) device, a Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor (MIS) device, and a Ballistic electron Surface Emitting (BSE) device.
The electron emission devices are differentiated in their specific structure depending upon the types thereof, but basically have an electron emission unit placed within a vacuum vessel to emit electrons, and an image display unit facing the electron emission unit in the vacuum vessel to emit light or to display the desired images.
With the FEA electron emission device, electrons are emitted from electron emission regions due to the electric fields formed when driving voltages are supplied to the driving electrodes placed around the electron emission regions.
However, with the electron emission device, since the distance between the substrates for forming the vacuum vessel is kept within several millimeters, and the anode electrode has a potential of several kilovolts to effect a stable luminance and lifetime effects, arcing is liable to occur due to the remnant gas within the vacuum vessel so that the image display unit can be damaged.
When the unwanted arcing occurs due to the remnant gas within the vacuum vessel, a relatively high electric current compared to the reference electric current flows through the electrode supplied with the anode voltage so that the electrode can be damaged, or the phosphor layers for the image display unit can be damaged while firing or scattering the phosphors. Consequently, the electron emission device is permanently flawed or is seriously damaged while being subjected to unrecoverable device failure.
Furthermore, with the full color electron emission device, the anode voltage is evenly supplied to the electrodes corresponding to the phosphor layers without being differentiated per the respective red, green and blue phosphor layers. In this case, the voltage application cannot properly cope with the luminance characteristics of the phosphor layers that are different from each other per the respective colors so that the luminance uniformity is deteriorated.


An example method for facilitating software defined networking for storage area networks is provided and includes dividing a control plane of a storage area network (SAN) into a centralized network control plane and a plurality of decentralized control planes, configuring network-wide SAN applications in the centralized network control plane, and configuring switch-level SAN applications in the decentralized control planes. In a specific embodiment, the network-wide SAN applications include at least one selection from a group consisting of: name server, zone server, worldwide name-virtual SAN (VSAN) mapping, device aliases, link-state routing information, principal switch selection, domain manager, and virtual local area network-VSAN mapping.

A storage area network (SAN) can transfer data between computer systems and storage elements through a specialized high-speed network. In general, the SAN can enable the storage devices to be accessible to servers so that the storage devices appear like locally attached devices to the servers' operating systems. The SAN consists of a communication infrastructure, which provides physical connections. The SAN facilitates the flexibility of networking to enable one server or many heterogeneous servers to share a common set of storage devices. The SAN typically has its own network of storage devices, including disks, tapes, and optical storage that are generally not accessible through a local area network by other devices. The SAN also includes a management layer, which organizes the connections, storage devices, and computer systems so that data transfer is secure and robust. The SAN allows any-to-any connection across the network by using interconnect elements such as switches.

Software defined networking for storage area networks


An electronic device includes a sound collecting unit and a processor. The processor determine whether continuous sound signals collected by the sound collecting unit includes a first alternating portion, a direct portion, and a second alternating portion in sequence. The processor further determines whether a first duration of the direction signals portion falls within a first preset time range, and determines whether a second duration of each of the first alternating portion and the second alternating portion falls within a second preset time range. The processor then triggers a function of the electronic device when the first duration falls within the first preset time range, and the second duration falls within the second preset time range. A related method is also disclosed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and particularly to an electronic device and a method for triggering a function of the electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
Today's human-machine interface of electronic devices is still strongly relying on key or touch key interaction. However, in many situations such interaction may be difficult since one hand of the user has to hold the device while the other hand may not be free either to interact with the device. Hence, there is a continuous interest to simplify and extend the ways of interacting with electronic devices.

Electronic device and method for triggering function of electronic device

Fu Tai Hua Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


A manifold system with a manifold body having a length greater than a width and a height of the manifold body, a top surface with a first groove extending along a length of the manifold body, a bottom surface with a second groove extending along a length of the manifold body, at least one mounting hole extending through one of a first side surface or a second side surface of the manifold body and through one of the first groove or the second groove, a plurality of connection fittings including at least one connection fitting on each of the first and second side surfaces of the manifold body, at least one internal passage way within the manifold body fluidly connecting at least two of the plurality of connection fittings, and at least one fastening element removably engaged within the at least one mounting hole.

Tractor-Trailer and/or dolly vehicles are used to transport large quantities of cargo across the United States. Various industries and consumers are dependent upon these trailer/dolly vehicles for the transport of their goods. In particular, the shipping industry, including large companies such as UPS®, FedEx®, and the United States Postal Service® among others, utilize trailer/dolly vehicles to transport and ship goods to consumers. These vehicles help the shipping industry adequately transport goods in order to meet the demand of US consumers, which require huge volumes of goods to be shipped daily.
What makes trailer/dolly vehicles unique is that these vehicles are constantly being used and operated. Companies try to maximize use of trailer/dolly vehicles, as this allows companies to fully allocate their resources and limit costs. In fact, companies work under the operational model whereby trailer/dolly vehicles are in constant use. This saves the industry thousands, if not millions, of dollars in operational savings.
Inevitably, however, trailer/dolly vehicles must be serviced, which results in trailer/dolly downtime. Servicing trailer/dolly vehicles disrupts the operational model of shipping companies, and results in monetary and operational losses, as shipping companies cannot maximize the efficiency of their trailer/dolly vehicles. These companies, which still must meet consumer demand, then need to compensate for servicing delays by purchasing additional trailer/dolly vehicles or by renting additional trailer/dolly vehicles from another company. In both instances, these inefficiencies due to trailer/dolly downtime costs companies time and money.
Thus, it is desirable to avoid such trailer/dolly vehicle downtime, especially periodic causes of downtime for these vehicles. One such periodic cause of trailer/dolly downtime could be the failure of an Anti-Lock Brake (ABS) module. Other such periodic causes of trailer/dolly downtime could be the failure of the Booster Valve, the Pressure Protection Valve, or any other such valve in the trailer/dolly, as well as the trailer/dolly control and hydraulic systems. These components are typically located mounted on a manifold system, which is located within the system module that is attached to the trailer/dolly vehicle.
It is thus desirable to reduce, if not limit entirely, the amount of trailer/dolly vehicle downtime because of downtime due to the trailer/dolly system module or manifold system.
Prior art designs of such system modules and manifold system attached to system modules required the entire trailer/dolly vehicle to be inoperable if a problem within the system module or manifold system occurred. Thus, when the system module or manifold system located within the system module had to be replaced, the entire trailer/dolly vehicle would be inoperable and could not be used, resulting in the delays and inefficiencies described above. Furthermore, prior art designs of system modules and manifold systems for trailer/dolly systems have greater failure rates as these prior art designs are difficult to access and fix, because these system modules containing manifold systems are not easily removable.
What is thus desired, therefore, is an apparatus and method for providing a system module and manifold system that may be easily removable and replaced, so that trailer/dolly vehicle downtime is minimized. What is further desired is a system module and manifold system that may be easily removed, so that if a problem is detected in the system module or manifold system, the system module and/or manifold system may be quickly replaced with another system module and/or manifold system, allowing for continued use of the trailer/dolly vehicle and minimizing downtime.
What is further desired is for the manifold system to be easily installed and adaptable with a system module, the system module being attached to a trailer/dolly vehicle. What is further desired is that the manifold system may be inserted into a slot within a trailer/dolly system module and may be slidable within this slot. It is further desired for the manifold system to be attached or secured to the system module by using fasteners.
What is further desired is for the manifold system to use multiple passage ways internal to the manifold system that minimize fittings and connections and simplify plumbing with other components on the system module in order to reduce leakage points and speed up assembly time. Furthermore, it is desired for the manifold system to connect various valves to one another within a system module and for the manifold system to use a boot to protect certain valve components from contamination.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention relates to 2-debenzoyl-2-acyl taxol derivatives, analogues thereof and methods for making same.. Compounds of the present invention include compounds having the general formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is an alkyl or substituted alkyl; R.sub.2 is selected from the group consisting of H and C(O)R.sub.a ; R.sub.3 is selected from the group consisting of H, protecting groups, R.sub.b, and C(O)R.sub.b ; R.sub.4 is selected from the group consisting of H and C(O)R.sub.c, and wherein R.sub.a, R.sub.b, and R.sub.c are independently selected from the group consisting of alkyls, substituted alkyls, alkenyls, alkynyls, aryls, and substituted aryls; provided that R.sub.a is other than phenyl and 3-hydroxyphenyl.

The anti-cancer drug taxol 1 has shown excellent clinical activity against ovarian cancer and breast cancer and has also shown good activity against non-small cell lung cancer in preliminary studies. See "Taxol: A Unique Antineoplastic Agent With Significant Activity in an Advanced Ovarian Epithelial Neoplasms," Ann. Intern. Med., 111, 273-279 (1989), and "Phase II Trial of Taxol, an Active Drug in the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer," J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 83, 1797-1805 (1991). Taxol was first isolated and its structure reported by Wani, et al, in "Plant Anti-Tumor Agents. VI. The Isolation and Structure of Taxol. A Novel Anti-Leukemic and Anti-Tumor Agent From Taxus Brevifolia," J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1971, 93, 2325. Taxol is found in the stem bark of the western yew, Taxus brevifolia, as well as in T. baccata and T. cuspidata. All references cited herein are incorporated by reference as if reproduced in full below. ##STR2##
The preparation of analogues of taxol is an important endeavor, especially in view of taxol's clinical activity and its limited supply. The preparation of analogues might result in the synthesis of compounds with greater potency than taxol (thus reducing the need for the drug), compounds with superior bioavailability, or compounds which are easier to synthesize than taxol from readily available sources. Indeed, the synthesis of the taxol analogue taxotere 2, which differs from taxol only in the nature of the N-acyl substituent and in the absence of the 10-acetyl group, indicates the usefulness of this approach, since taxotere is reported to be approximately twice as active as taxol in some assays. See "Chemical Studies of 10-deacetyl Baccatin III. Hemisynthesis of Taxol Derivatives." Tetrahedron, 42, 4451-4460 (1986), and "Studies With RP56976 (taxotere): A Semi-Synthetic Analogue of Taxol." J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 83, 288-291 (1991). ##STR3##
Numerous analogues of taxol having modifications of the C-13 side chain have been prepared. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,699. Many of the derivatives bearing modifications on the C-13 side chain have demonstrated anti-cancer activity. See for example: "The Chemistry of Taxol," Pharmac. Ther., 52, 1-34 (1991) and references therein, "Synthesis and Evaluation of some water-soluble prodrugs and derivatives of taxol with anti-tumor activity, J. Med, Chem., 35, 145-151 (1992), "Biologically Active Taxol Analogues with Deleted A-Ring Side Chain Substituents and Variable C-2' Configurations," J. Med. Chem., 34, 1176-1184 (1991), "Relationships Between the Structure of Taxol Analogues and Their Antimitotic Activity" J. Med. Chem., 34, 992-998 (1991).
Factors that contribute to the paucity of taxol congeners relative to their importance as anti-cancer agents include: the large size and complexity of these compounds, the presence of multiple reactive sites, and the presence of many stereospecific sites, which makes synthesis of even close analogues difficult. The large number of possible reaction mechanisms for even the simplest reactions leads to unpredictability of new reactions.
Although taxol has exhibited promising antineoplastic activity, there is a need for compounds which have even greater antineoplastic activity. It is believed that, by altering certain portions of the taxol structure, compounds with improved antineoplastic activity can be produced. Nevertheless, the aforementioned synthetic difficulties have prevented or at least slowed the development of more than only a few compounds, such as taxotere, which have similar or greater activity than taxol. Since it is believed that the tetracyclic taxane nucleus contributes to the antineoplastic activity of compounds incorporating same, it is desired to alter the ring substituents in order to develop derivatives of taxol and taxol analogues. Based on the previously noted studies, it is anticipated that such derivatives will have antineoplastic activity. Nevertheless, the complexity of taxol and its analogues makes it difficult to selectively alter certain substituents on the molecule. In particular, it has been previously impossible to selectively deacylate the C-2 position of taxol, and to produce taxol analogues modified at the C-2 position. Thus, there is a need for C-2 debenzoylated taxol analogues and congeners modified at the C-2 position, having antineoplastic activity, and intermediates thereof. There is also a need for methods for producing same and for using same to treat cancer. Since taxol and taxol analogues have low water solubility, there is a need to produce taxol analogues modified at the C-2 position having improved water solubility to aid in administration to cancer patients.

2-debenzoyl-2-acyl taxol derivatives and method for making same

Virginia Tech Intellectural Properties, Inc.


Methods and systems are provided for regulating access to a database by a server. One exemplary method involves the server receiving one or more requests for an activity with respect to the database and determining an attempted usage for the activity over a monitoring period by a source of the requests. When the attempted usage exceeds an allowed usage of the activity for the monitoring period, the server provides a human verification test to the source and thereafter initiates the activity with respect to the database in response to receiving a satisfactory human verification response to the human verification test from the source.

Many websites provide access to information that is hosted, stored, gathered, or otherwise maintained by that website operator. For example, an online retailer may provide users with a listing of products available for purchase along with a number of different types of metadata or other descriptive information associated with those products, which are maintained by that online retailer. However, publicizing this information exposes the website operator to web crawlers, scrapers, bots, or other automated systems attempting to gather information from the website operator. In addition to the computational resources consumed by the automated activity, a third party associated with the automated activity may also attempt to leverage the gathered information in a manner that may compromise the website operator's business objectives. At the same time, many existing techniques for preventing or otherwise discouraging automated activity can be intrusive or otherwise degrade the user experience for the legitimate customers of the website operator.

Methods and systems for regulating database activity


An inorganic oxide dispersion containing an organic solvent, and inorganic oxide particles surface-treated with at least one of a hydrolyzate and a partial condensate of an organosilane compound represented by formula (I), the inorganic oxide particles being dispersed in the organic solvent: (R10)m—SI(X)4-m (I) as defined herein, the surface treatment of the inorganic oxide particles being carried out in a presence of at least one of: (a) an acid catalyst; and (b) a metal chelate compound having Zr, Ti or Al as a center metal and at least one of an alcohol represented by formula: R3OH in which R3 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, and a compound represented by formula: R4COCH2COR5 as defined herein, as a ligand.

Compounding organic or inorganic materials into adhesives, exterior coatings, hard coats, antireflection coatings, and the like has been studied to improve scratch resistance and strength after cure, adhesion to substrates, and the like.
In mixing an organic material and an inorganic material, it is necessary to prevent undesired agglomeration of the inorganic material. One of the methods generally followed is to disperse an inorganic material in a solvent compatible with an organic material and mix the dispersion and the organic material to prepare a coating composition for forming a coating film. In order to secure stable performance, it is important that the inorganic material be stably dispersed in the solvent. In other words, it is important to control the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity or steric hindrance of the surface of the inorganic material. Surface treatment of fine inorganic oxide particles with an alkoxysilane is known. For example, Ganryo Bunsan Gijutu Hyomenshori to Bensanzai no Tukaikata oyobi Bunsansei Hyoka, Technical Information Institute Co., Ltd., 1999 describes a technique of dispersing inorganic particles in an organic solvent with the aid of a silane coupling agent. The technique is insufficient in terms of stability of a resultant dispersion, nevertheless.
In combining an organic material particularly of polymerization cure system and inorganic particles, use of an alkoxysilane having a polymerizable group and/or a hydrolysis-condensation product thereof has been attracting attention. For instance, JP-A-9-169847 proposes a combined use of a specific polyalkoxypolysiloxane and a polymerizable silane coupling agent. However, the reaction between the polyalkoxypolysiloxane and the polymerizable silane coupling agent hardly proceeds sufficiently for achieving a high ratio of introducing the polymerizable group so that the resulting cured product is not satisfactory in scratch resistance or strength. JP-A-9-40909 proposes use of a partial co-hydrolysis-condensation product of an alkoxysilane having an organic functional group and a tetraalkoxysilane, but the coating composition containing the same has insufficient storage stability, still leaving room for further improvement.
An optical film, particularly an antireflection film is generally disposed in front of displays, such as cathode ray tube displays (CRTs), plasma display panels (PDPs), electroluminescence displays (ELDs), and liquid crystal displays (LCDs), whereby to prevent contrast reduction or reduction of visibility due to reflection of ambient light by making use of optical interference.
Antireflection films for that application are manufactured by forming a low reflective layer with a proper thickness on a substrate and, if desired, other layers including a high reflective layer, a middle reflective layer, and a hard coat layer, between the low reflective layer and the substrate. To achieve a low reflectance, it is desirable that the low reflective layer be made of a material having as low a refractive index as possible. Disposed as an outermost layer of displays, the antireflection film is required to have high scratch resistance. To secure high scratch resistance with as small a thickness as about 100 nm, the antireflection film should exhibit strength per se and adhesion to an underlying layer.
Means for reducing a refractive index of a material include introducing fluorine and decreasing the density (by making voids), but both approaches are accompanied by reductions in film strength (scratch resistance) and adhesion. It has therefore been a difficult problem to satisfy both the requirements for low refractive index and high scratch resistance.
JP-A-11-189621, JP-A-11-228631, and JP-A-2000-313709 disclose techniques for providing a film with a reduced frictional coefficient and improved scratch resistance by introducing a polysiloxane structure into a fluoropolymer. The technique is effective to some extent in improving scratch resistance but is still insufficient for improving scratch resistance of a coating film that essentially lacks film strength and interfacial adhesion.
JP-A-2003-222704 teaches that addition of a silane coupling agent to a low refractive layer material containing a fluoropolymer provides a coating film with markedly improved scratch resistance. However, because a silane coupling agent having a low boiling point vaporizes while being applied and dried, it must be added in an excess corresponding to the evaporation loss, which makes it difficult to obtain stable performance.

Fine inorganic oxide dispersion, coating composition, optical film, antireflection film, polarizing plate and image display device


A security wall, such as a firewall and a viruswall, is built easily which does not require firewall-dedicated hardware or viruswall-dedicated hardware nor, in a mobile information processing device, mobile terminal-dedicated hardware. For this purpose, on a single information processing device, a plurality of separate LAN segments are realized and data from an external network such as the Internet is forced to pass through the multiple LAN segments before it reaches a user system in order to reinforce the system against external attacks. The security wall system is made portable so that the firewall and the viruswall can be executed at the same time, strengthening the security of the mobile information processing device.

The present invention relates to a security wall system in an information processing system and more particularly to a security wall system for protecting user systems against unauthorized accesses via networks and attacks using computer viruses.
With the ever-widening prevalence of the Internet, protection against attacks on corporate systems via the Internet and against reception of mails implanted with viruses has gained an increasing importance. It is also important for low-cost servers to be able to protect systems efficiently against attacks via the Internet without adding special hardware and, as mobile client terminals are coming into wide use in recent years, to provide these terminals with security with a reasonable cost performance.
FIG. 2 illustrates connections of a corporate network using conventional technologies. FIG. 3 illustrates how a mobile terminal is connected to a network. In conventional technologies, when a user system 201 is connected to an external communication network 200 such as the Internet through a LAN, a front end device such as a firewall server 202 is situated in front of the user system 201 (Web server 204, mail server 205, etc.), as shown in FIG. 2, to prevent an inundation of unsolicited packets from the external network 200 (e.g., the Internet), a tampering of files and an infiltration of computer viruses.


A method and system may receive a request to configure a computing resource, such as a load balancer or firewall based on configuration information received from a user via a web portal. The configuration information may be stored and a subsequent request to commit the stored configuration information may be received. One or more jobs may be queued in a jobs database based on the request to commit the configuration information. The one or more jobs may be dequeued by a workflow engine and executed to configure the computing resource.

A system or network developer may sometimes purchase and stage devices to build a system or network, such as server devices, load balancers, firewalls, etc. When purchasing the devices, the system developer may evaluate device specifications, price, and/or equipment compatibility in light of particular project requirements. When staging the devices, the system developer may install operating systems, applications, databases and web servers, may apply patches, and/or may configure the devices.

Load balancer and firewall self-provisioning system


A multiband antenna includes a radiating portion, a grounding portion, a metal member, and a resonating portion. The radiating portion receives feed signals. The grounding portion is grounded. The metal member connects to the radiating portion and the grounding portion, and defines a slit that is adjacent to the radiating portion and the grounding portion. The resonating portion is positioned in an area surrounded by the radiating portion, the grounding portion, and the metal member. The resonating portion resonates with the radiating portion and the metal member to enable the multiband antenna to receive and send wireless signals at different frequencies.

1. Technical Field
The exemplary disclosure generally relates to antennas, and particularly to a multiband antenna and a wireless communication device employing the multiband antenna.
2. Description of Related Art
Antennas are important elements of wireless communication devices (such as mobile phones). A portable electronic device may receive/send wireless signals of different frequencies, requiring the presence of a multiband antenna. A typical multiband antenna has a switch circuit, which includes a plurality of capacitors, a plurality of inductors, and one or more switches. A working frequency of the multiband antenna is regulated by the switches. Therefore, the aforementioned multiband antenna tends to be large with a complicated structure, compromising efforts toward miniaturization of portable electronic devices.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Multiband antenna and wireless communication device employing same


The bed skirt guard is designed to fit between the mattress and box spring wherein the sides form a box around the top of the box springs. This prevents the bed skirt from getting caught and pulled under the mattress when changing the sheets on the bed or tucking in the covers. The bed skirt guard is comprised of a flexible plastic material that allows the sheets and or blankets to slide easily. Since the bed skirt guard hangs over the sides of the box springs it keeps the bed skirt in place.

Making up a bed is never an easy task, especially the more that people begin to decorate their beds. For example, if a bed skirt is included in the decoration, most of the time that bed skirt is placed between the box spring and the mattress. Although there are times when the bed skirt is actually attached in some form by a latching mechanism which is either attached to the bed frame or the mattress. By attaching the bed skirt to some other device, it makes it easier to change the sheets on a bed.
When the bed skirt is placed between the mattress and the box spring, then the task of changing the sheets becomes more cumbersome. Almost every time the sheets are tucked in between the mattress and box spring the bed skirt will get caught and fold up under the mattress. When you take into consideration that a lot of time the sheets and blankets are tucked under the mattress on three different sides so as to allow a comforter or duvet to hang down to the bed skirt without seeing the sheets and blankets, then the task of tucking in the sheets and blankets is very time consuming. Even when a bed skirt is not used, the sheets and blankets sometime want to stick to the box string. As mattresses become heavier and heavier, they become harder and harder to lift, which in turn makes sliding the sheets and blankets between the mattress and box springs an even more difficult task.
If you work in the an industry where the beds are changed on a daily basis such as at a hotel or motel, then changing the sheets is not only a burden but takes a large majority of the time that is spent in cleaning and preparing a room for the next guest. While most motels use bedspreads instead of comforters or duvets, the trend is starting to lean toward more comfortable mattress in hotel rooms. As this trend expands it increases the chances of the mattresses in hotel rooms become more heavy and cumbersome, thereby making it harder to lift the mattress for purposes of changing the linens.


A device comprising:                a device housing defining a space for accommodating one or more electronic components, the device housing comprising:        a first panel bounding the space and having an exterior surface facing away from the space, and        a second panel bounding the space and including a touch-sensitive display having a display surface facing away from the space, the display surface and the exterior surface being opposite surfaces;        a haptic feedback module supported by and conforming to at least a portion of the exterior surface, the haptic feedback module comprising a haptic response layer, the haptic response layer comprising a piezoelectric material and electrodes and configured to couple vibrations to a user body member in contact with the haptic feedback module to provide a haptic response to the user during operation of the device; and        an electronic control module accommodated in the space and coupled to the electrodes of the haptic response layer, the electronic control module being programmed to receive a touch input signal from the touch-sensitive display and provide haptic signals to the electrodes based on the received touch input signal to activate the piezoelectric material of the haptic response layer.

In general, haptic feedback mechanisms can be used to provide tactile feedback to a user of a device to enhance user experience. Vibration is an example of haptic feedback mechanism. Vibration can be produced by an acceleration or deceleration of a moving mass, such as through an eccentric rotating mass that is attached to a motor. Vibration can also be produced using piezoelectric materials by applying a time varying voltage to a piezoelectric material. Devices capable of generating haptic responses are referred to as haptic feedback modules. Various consumer electronic devices such as smartphones or gaming controllers contain haptic feedback modules to provide tactile feedback in response to a user input. A haptic feedback module is typically attached to a housing of the device and transfers the generated vibration through the housing to the user.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope proteins having specified mutations that stabilize the trimeric form of the envelope protein are provided. The HIV envelope proteins described herein have an improved percentage of trimer formation and/or an improved trimer yield. Also provided are particles displaying the HIV envelope proteins, nucleic acid molecules and vectors encoding the HIV envelope proteins, as well as compositions containing the HIV envelope proteins, particles, nucleic acid, or vectors.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) affects millions of people worldwide, and the prevention of HIV through an efficacious vaccine remains a very high priority, even in an era of widespread antiretroviral treatment. Antigenic diversity between different strains and clades of the HIV virus renders it difficult to develop vaccines with broad efficacy. HIV-1 is the most common and pathogenic strain of the virus, with more than 90% of HIV/AIDS cases deriving from infection with HIV-1 group M. The M group is subdivided further into clades or subtypes, of which clade C is the largest. An efficacious vaccine ideally would be capable of eliciting both potent cellular responses and broadly neutralizing antibodies capable of neutralizing HIV-1 strains from different clades.
The envelope protein spike (Env) on the HIV surface is composed of a trimer of heterodimers of glycoproteins gp120 and gp41 (FIG. 1A). The precursor protein gp160 is cleaved by furin into gp120, which is the head of the spike and contains the CD4 receptor binding site as well as the large hypervariable loops (V1 to V5), and gp41, which is the membrane-anchored stem of the envelope protein spike. Like other class I fusogenic proteins, gp41 contains an N-terminal fusion peptide (FP), a C-terminal transmembrane (TM) domain, and a cytoplasmic domain. Membrane fusion between HIV and target cell membranes requires a series of conformational changes in the envelope protein. HIV vaccines can be developed based upon the envelope protein.
However, various factors make the development of an HIV vaccine based upon the envelope protein challenging, including the high genetic variability of HIV-1, the dense carbohydrate coat of the envelope protein, and the relatively dynamic and labile nature of the envelope protein spike structure. The wild-type envelope protein is unstable due to its function. Therefore, stabilizing modifications are sometimes introduced into the envelope structure for generating vaccine candidates. The envelope protein is a target for neutralizing antibodies and is highly glycosylated, which reduces the immunogenicity by shielding protein epitopes. All known broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) do accommodate these glycans.
For vaccine development, it is preferred to use envelope proteins that can induce bNAbs. However, most bNAbs only recognize the native envelope protein conformation before it undergoes any conformation changes. Therefore, developing a stable envelope protein in its native-like compact and closed conformation, while minimizing the presentation of non-native and thus non-neutralizing epitopes, could improve the efficiency of generating such bNAbs. Previous efforts to produce an HIV vaccine have focused on developing vaccines that contain the pre-fusion ectodomain of the trimeric HIV envelope protein, gp140. Gp140 does not have the transmembrane (TM) and cytoplasmic domains, but unlike gp120, it can form trimer structures. Moreover, these previous efforts have mainly focused on clade A. However, the breadth of the neutralizing antibody response that has been induced is still limited. Therefore, it would also be beneficial if stabilized native envelope trimers against multiple HIV clades were available.
For more than two decades, attempts have been made to develop a stable envelope protein in its pre-fusion trimer conformation with only limited success in producing soluble, stable trimers of the envelope protein capable of inducing a broadly neutralizing antibody response. For example, the so-called SOSIP mutations (501C, 605C and 559P) have been introduced into the envelope protein sequence to improve the formation of a soluble gp140 trimer fraction (Sanders et al., (2002), J. Virol. 76(17): 8875-89). The so-called SOSIP mutations include cysteine residues at positions 501 and 605, and a proline residue at position 559 according to the numbering in gp160 of HIV-1 isolate HXB2, which is the conventional numbering scheme used in the field. The introduction of the two cysteine residues at positions 501 and 605, which are close to one another in the three-dimensional protein structure results in a disulfide bridge. SOSIP mutant envelope proteins, such as BG505_SOSIP and B41_SOSIP (envelope proteins from HIV strains BG505 and B41 (i.e. 9032-08.A1.4685) strains with SOSIP mutations), have been used in vaccine studies and shown to induce tier 2 autologous neutralizing Abs (Sanders et al., Science (2015), 349(6224): 139-140).
However, even though the so-called SOSIP mutations are capable of stabilizing the trimer form of the envelope protein, the trimer fraction of such SOSIP mutants is usually below 10%, with large amounts of monomer and aggregates still produced. Even the SOSIP mutant BG505_SOSIP, which is one of the most promising SOSIP mutant envelope proteins known to date in terms of its ability to stabilize the trimer form typically yields up to only 25% of the trimer form (Julien et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (2015), 112(38), 11947-52). Moreover, in this trimer fraction the trimers are not completely stable as they breathe at the apex. Thus, in addition to the SOSIP mutations, several additional substitutions, such as E64K, A316W, and 201C-433C, have been designed to stabilize the apex and prevent it from breathing (de Taeye et al., Cell (2015), 163(7), 1702-15; Kwon et al., (2015) Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 22(7) 522-31).
Accordingly, there is a need for stabilized trimers of HIV envelope proteins that have improved percentage of trimer formation, improved trimer yield, and/or improved trimer stability. Preferably, such stabilized trimers of HIV envelope proteins would also display good binding with broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), and relatively limited binding to non-broadly neutralizing Abs (non-bNAbs). It is an object of the invention to provide HIV Env proteins that have improved trimer percentages, and preferably also improved trimer yields.

Trimer stabilizing HIV envelope protein mutations


A tube for generating x-rays includes a cathode adapted to emit electrons, a target positioned to receive the electrons from the cathode on a surface thereof, an anode adapted with an aperture and positioned between the cathode and the target and configured to accelerate the electrons toward the target, and a rotating system adapted to rotate the target about an axis, the rotating system located in a position facing the surface of the target.

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to x-ray tubes and, more particularly, to an apparatus for wide coverage computed tomography and a method of constructing same.
Computed tomography X-ray imaging systems typically include an x-ray tube, a detector, and a gantry assembly to support the x-ray tube and the detector. In operation, an imaging table, on which an object is positioned, is located between the x-ray tube and the detector. The x-ray tube typically emits radiation, such as x-rays, toward the object. The radiation typically passes through the object on the imaging table and impinges on the detector. As radiation passes through the object, internal structures of the object cause spatial variances in the radiation received at the detector. The detector converts the received radiation to electrical signals and then transmits data received, and the system translates the radiation variances into an image, which may be used to evaluate the internal structure of the object. One skilled in the art will recognize that the object may include, but is not limited to, a patient in a medical imaging procedure and an inanimate object as in, for instance, a package in an x-ray scanner or computed tomography (CT) package scanner.
A typical x-ray tube includes a cathode that provides a focused high energy electron beam that is accelerated across a cathode-to-anode vacuum gap and produces x-rays upon impact with an active material or target provided. Because of the high temperatures generated when the electron beam strikes the target, typically the target assembly is rotated at high rotational speed for purposes of cooling the target.
As such, the x-ray tube also includes a rotating system that rotates the target for the purpose of distributing the heat generated at a focal spot on the target. The rotating subsystem is typically rotated by an induction motor having a cylindrical rotor built into an axle that supports a disc-shaped target and an iron stator structure with copper windings that surrounds an elongated neck of the x-ray tube. The rotor of the rotating subsystem assembly is driven by the stator.
Computed tomography systems are continuing to increase the size of the detector along a patient body or Z-axis, so that entire organs (e.g., heart, brain) can be imaged in one rotation of the gantry. Consequently, a vertical opening angle of the x-ray transmissive window in the x-ray tube is typically broadened further to allow for irradiation of the examination object covering a wider extent along the Z-axis. As z-axis coverage increases, a fan out of the x-ray beam along the wider z-axis can cause image artifacts or so-call cone-beam artifact due to missing data in the image reconstruction. Additionally, a target angle of the x-ray tube is typically increased to accommodate the larger vertical opening angle and fully cover the detector. This larger target angle significantly reduces an amount of x-ray flux that can be generated due to temperature limitations on the rotating target (holding the optical focal spot size constant as determined by the well-known line focus principle).
A theoretical solution to these problems is to provide two or more focal spots spaced apart from each other along the z-axis and operating in an on/off sequential manner. This optical configuration can allow for an overlap of x-ray beams from each of the focal spots over some extent of the center of view and achieve a reduction in the cone-beam angle, thereby, greatly decreasing cone-beam artifacts. This configuration also allows for a reduction in the target angles and consequently higher x-ray output. One possible solution to the problem is to make an x-ray tube with two targets instead of only one target such that the two focal points are offset along the z-axis or axial dimension. The difficulty with that solution is, however, that the use of two axially offset targets may require an inordinately large and complicated x-ray tube. That is, such a tube may have two targets in one vacuum cavity, two cathodes and two high voltage insulators, one on each end to feed the cathode. Such a tube would be very costly and have reliability implications, that is, if one of the cathodes or targets were to fail, the entire tube would need to be replaced to maintain full functionality, resulting in a costly replacement.
Another solution to the problem would be to abut or configure end to end two conventional x-ray tubes, however, typical CT x-ray tubes are simply physically too lengthy to make that solution practical. With the present x-ray tubes, the tubes include a cathode, insulator and other systems for focusing the high energy electrons onto the target, and that apparatus is located facing the target face of the rotating anode. At the same time, the rotating system for rotating the anode is also cumbersome and that system is located facing the opposite side, or non-target side surface of the anode. Together, two conventional x-ray sources placed end-to-end along their respective rotational axes would space the focal spots too far from each other to make a useable source for the desired system configuration. For example, a desired axial spacing on the z-axis in a two focal spot system is 120 mm coverage at the system iso-center or typically in the range of 60-120 mm. Therefore, the advantages derived from the presence of two focal points is not feasible with conventional x-ray tubes.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an x-ray tube that could be abutted together with another x-ray tube and achieve a spaced apart distance for the focal points that is within the desired range and thereby gain the advantage of using a combined apparatus with two x-ray tubes and two focal points.

Apparatus for wide coverage computed tomography and method of constructing same


A method of accelerating the operation of a load balancer by an accelerator switch. The method includes receiving, by the accelerator switch, packets directed to the load balancer, determining, for at least some of the received packets, whether the packets match an entry of a list of packet groups, by comparing fewer than five parameters of the packets to respective fields of entries of the list, and forwarding, by the accelerator switch, at least some of the received packets, directly to their destination, responsive to the determining.

Busy Web sites are often hosted by a farm of a plurality of servers, each of which handles connections with a portion of the clients. Generally, such a farm includes a load balancer, which receives the packets (referred to also as frames) directed to the Web site of the farm. The load balancer distributes the packets between the plurality of servers, which host the site, such that all the packets of a single client session are transferred to a single server. Server load balancers are also used for other purposes, such as, redirection of packets to proxy caches.
In some cases, the load on the load balancer is very large and an additional and/or a newer load balancer is required. Replacing and/or adding load balancers, however, may require intensive programming such that the new balancer operates according to the operation rules of the old load balancer or that the additional load balancer properly cooperates with the old load balancer.
A load-balancing accelerator solves this problem by learning how to distribute packets directed to the Web site (i.e., having the destination IP address of the Web site) based on the behavior of the old load balancer, referred to herein as the accelerated load balancer. The packets directed from clients to the Web site are routed to the load balancer through the accelerator which listens to the packets and creates entries in an acceleration table for each group of packets. The group of packets are defined based on the five parameters which generally define communication sessions, i.e., the source and destination IP addresses, the protocol and the source and destination ports. In addition, the packets from the load balancer to the servers pass through the accelerator which listens to the packets and searches for matching entries. The accelerator extracts, from packets forwarded by the load balancer which match entries in the table, the destination server of the packets and adds it to the respective entry. Subsequent packets passing through the accelerator, from clients to the load balancer, which match an entry of the table that includes a server identification, are forwarded by the accelerator directly to the server.
Some load balancers, referred to herein as triangulation load balancers, change the destination MAC address and VLAN of the packets they forward, according to the load balancing decisions, but do not change the information in the IP header of the packets. Other load balancers change the destination IP address and/or port of packets which they forward to the servers, in a scheme referred to as half NAT (Network Address Translation) forwarding. These half NAT load balancers must intercept the packets from the servers to the clients in order to change the source address of these packets from the address of the servers to the address of the farm, i.e., the Internet site. Other load balancers change both the source and destination IP addresses of packets which they forward to the servers. These load balancers are referred to as full NAT balancers.
The above described accelerator is suitable for use with triangulation load balancers. These accelerators, however, are not suitable for use with half NAT and full NAT load balancers since the change in the IP address by the load balancer prevents the accelerator from finding entries in the table which match the packets forwarded to the servers.


After positioning the cursor and pressing-and-holding a mouse button to begin a drag, a user continues to drag the cursor out of and into plural popped up regions. While the cursor is within a region, an associated function effects the displayed graphical information in a particular way, such as continuously panning, drawing, zooming, or rotating. Upon rolling-out of a region without entering a contiguous region, the last function continues to execute and all popped up regions are removed such that the user may utilize the entire display without being switched to another function. In a simple form, after release of the mouse button, a tool may zoom out if the user held the mouse substantially stationary and zoom in on a rectangle if the mouse was dragged. Reducing the number of times a user clicks by eliminating the step of selecting a function should help avoid repetitive strain injuries.

The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces, and more particularly to methods of combining user interfaces, such as zooming in/out, panning, rotating, drawing, selecting, manipulating, etc., for a graphics display.
Within the prior art, a user may zoom in a graphical display by drawing a rectangle around an area of interest. A common "zoom-in" function is to click-and-hold to define the position of one corner of the rectangle; drag the mouse, pen, trackball, or finger to stretch the opposite corner to the desired shape and size; then drop or un-click to complete the action. The mentioned sequence results in the magnification of the graphical objects inside the rectangle. That is, the area of interest fills the entire display.
In order to increase productivity, and to help avoid repetitive strain type injures, there remains a need to zoom out without requiring the user to activate a separate zoom-out function, such as an action involving a keyboard, menu, tool bar icon, or click of alternate buttons on the mouse or pen.
There remains a need to pan, zoom in/out by alternate methods, rotate, adjust image attributes, sectional cut positions, time axis, or data sets displayed in a graph, etc., without requiring the user to activate a separate function by an additional click, drag, or keyboard press action.

Methods for combination tools that zoom, pan, rotate, draw, or manipulate during a drag


Fluid changing in an automatic transmission by opening the cooler line and draining used fluid, at the flow of normal circulation, out of the cooler line from the transmission into a drain receptacle for receiving used fluid and simultaneously supplying fresh fluid, from a pressurized supply receptacle, into the cooler return line to the transmission at a similar controlled rate that is equal or greater than the rate of flow of the used fluid into the drain receptacle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fluid replacing apparatus and is more particularly directed to apparatus for replacing the fluid in automatic transmissions having sealed, or inaccessible hydraulic torque converters and which include a fluid circulating pump and inlet and outlet ports for circulation of the hydraulic transmission fluid to fluid coolers and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following is a list of prior art encountered in the course of a search of the prior art with which my invention is concerned.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Title Issued Date Inventor ______________________________________ 1,829,173 A. L. Wirtz COMBINED FLUSHER AND LUBRICANT DISPENSER 1,884,820 Oct. 25, 1932 W. L. Osborne METHOD OF CLEANING LUBRICANT CONTAINERS 3,216,527 Nov. 9, 1965 O. G. Lewis APPARATUS FOR CHANGING CRANKCASE OIL 3,447,636 June 3, 1969 R. J. Bonfilio AUTOMATIC OIL EXCHANGING SYSTEM 3,513,941 May 26, 1970 N. J. Becnel FLUID CHANGE MEANS FOR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS 4,095,672 Jun. 20, 1978 F. J. Senese APPARATUS FOR REMOVAL OF LUBRICATING COMPOSITION AND METHODS FOR USING SAME 4,331,185 May 25, 1982 J. D. Rinaldo et al. TRANSMISSION FILLER ASSEMBLY 4,745,989 May 24, 1988 J. G. DiMatteo VALVE FOR DRAINING AUTOMATIC TRANSMIS- SION FLUID AND METHOD OF USING SAME ______________________________________
Of the above references, some of which pertain to other activities involving the addition or removal of fluid from various and sundry mechanisms, the Becnel U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,941 for FLUID CHANGE MEANS FOR AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIONS and the DiMatteo U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,989 for VALVE FOR DRAINING AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID AND METHOD OF USING SAME are believed to be the most directly pertinent to my invention. In Becnel and DiMatteo, a method and apparatus are described for draining and refilling the fluid in a motor vehicle automatic transmission. The similarities between Becnel and DiMatteo are almost surprising in that each of them provides a cooler outlet and some arrangement for adding fluid to the transmission either through the filler port or to a return line from the transmission fluid cooler. When a transmission cooler line is opened and drained with no restriction the rate of flow at which the fluid is exhausted rapidly increases and fluid is pumped out of the transmission and torque converter much faster than it can be replaced by being pumped in the return line as specified in Becnel's invention, resulting in a disruption of the usual internal and external fluid flow rates and flow patterns which occur normally; this disruption includes an intermittent, recurrent starvation condition to certain internal transmission components resulting in undue stress and frequent damage to those components. Becnel's invention appears to have the capability to supply fresh fluid into the transmission through the return line from the cooler back to the transmission at a predetermined, pre-selected flow rate, but his invention allowed no clear means of balancing and/or matching that flow rate to the rate at which fluid is normally circulated through the cooler line back to the transmission or regulating the exhausting of aged fluid into the waste receptacle to produce a balanced substitution of fresh fluid for aged fluid.
Exhausting aged fluid through an open, unrestricted transmission cooler line results in a flow rate to and out of that opening which is far in excess of the rate at which fluid is normally circulated through the cooler, because the usual and significant flow resistance provided by the return line to the transmission itself and the internal down-line components has been eliminated by interrupting/opening the transmission cooler line.
DiMatteo's invention specifies an unrestricted exhausting of aged fluid through an open cooler line as Becnel's does and also results in a great increase in rate of flow of fluid through the line leading from the transmission to the cooler line at the point it is exhausted, much greater than normally occurring with a closed cooler line in normal closed-loop circulation. Not only does this result in emptying of the transmission pan and starvation of the internal pump(s) and torque converter as well as other internal components, but Dimatteo's invention does not specify any pumping of fresh fluid in the return line to the transmission thus, completely disrupting internal and external flow rates and flow patterns and resulting in complete lack of lubrication to the bearings and internal parts of the transmission which receive fluid from the line returning from the cooler to the transmission. DiMatteo specifies adding fresh fluid as the aged fluid when drained out of the open, unrestricted transmission cooler line, by manually pouring it through the filler tube with a poorly metered, poorly controlled method not balanced to rate of exhaust flow.
In the course of arriving at the method and apparatus of my invention, the concepts present in Becnel and DiMatteo were utilized in a similar manner and it was discovered that most, if not all, of the transmissions operated upon became excessively hot or were subject to internal damage to the fluid seals, rear bearings, or other internal components because it was impossible to maintain equality between the fluid added and the fluid drained, because it was impossible to maintain normal fluid flow rates and flow patterns external to and internal within the transmission and its component parts. In other words, what is lacking in Becnel or DiMatteo is a realistic, functional, reliable means or a method for maintaining a balance to provide a dynamic equality of fluid added and fluid removed by replacing aged fluid with fresh fluid through an opened transmission cooler line without disrupting normal internal and external flow rates and flow distribution patterns.
It may be noted that in the event fluid is allowed to drain faster than the rate of addition of fluid, the pump or torque converter in a transmission is likely to be starved and then will become excessively hot under which conditions a transmission will self-destruct if permitted to continue in operation. On the other hand, should excessive fluid be added to build up an internal pressure within the transmission, there is a strong likelihood that seals for shafts and/or valves, bearings, or the like or other internal components, within the transmission, may be irreparably damaged with a resulting failure of the transmission under subsequent operating conditions.
The remainder of the patents are understood to be directed to various and sundry arrangements for adding, removing and changing fluid which are believed to be more remotely related to the concepts of my invention as will be explained in more detail below.


A slave DMA peripheral achieves the functionalities of a bus master without incurring the costs of additional address and control lines. Information regarding buffers to be accessed is loaded in the peripheral from the CPU. Actual buffer addresses, length values, and direction information are later programmed into the DMA controller by the peripheral. The present invention manages communication between the peripheral and main memory through the DMA controller. This allows the peripheral to access buffers in memory using a minimal number of lines.

DMA is a method for direct communication between peripherals and memory. Direct communication is important in situations where data must be moved very rapidly between a peripheral and memory. Interrupt-initiated programmed processing of each data transfer would cost time and could possibly cause data to be lost. With DMA, no programming is involved in the actual transfer of data. Bytes are moved without program intervention between memory and peripheral via the bus.
A DMA controller is a specialized processor that transfers data between memory and peripheral while allowing the CPU to perform other tasks. Typically, the CPU first programs the registers associated with each channel of the DMA controller. The registers in the DMA controller are given a start address of a first buffer in memory where data can be read from or written to, the length of this buffer, and the direction of the data flow. A peripheral requesting a DMA transfer first signals the DMA controller via a DMA request line. The DMA controller, in turn, responds by returning a corresponding DMA acknowledge signal. The DMA controller then directs the transfers, asserting address and strobing lines, with the peripheral asserting or receiving data to or from memory. When the length field of the buffer in the DMA controller goes to zero and there is still data to be transferred, the DMA controller sends the peripheral a signal that the buffer in memory is full or empty, stopping the peripheral's activity. The DMA controller or peripheral also asserts a CPU interrupt signal. In response to the interrupt, the CPU reprograms the DMA controller, giving the DMA controller a start address of a subsequent buffer where data is to be read from or written to, the length of this buffer, and the direction of the data flow. After the DMA controller has been reprogrammed, data transfer resumes.
The DMA controller must interrupt the CPU whenever the length field of the buffer in the DMA controller goes to zero and there is still data to be transferred. This is undesirable for several reasons. CPU intervention during a DMA data transfer requires that the CPU be interrupted from performing other tasks. For example, when the main memory is used to do block transfers, several buffer addresses might be needed. This causes the CPU to be interrupted several times. Also, in situations where there is a very fast DMA, the CPU may not be able to respond to the interrupt within the defined amount of time, causing data to be lost.
An alternative method for DMA is using a peripheral which is a bus master. The bus master peripheral has several address and control lines which connect the peripheral to the memory. The address and control lines allow the bus master to access information regarding the location of buffers which need to be read or written to without interrupting the CPU. In order to support the address and control lines, a peripheral would typically require additional component packaging, additional pins, and additional pin holes on the system circuit board. This translates to an additional cost to the system and the elimination of valuable space on the system circuit board.
Another approach for DMA without requiring CPU intervention is the use of intelligent DMA controllers. Intelligent DMA controllers offer the additional functionality of being able to handle multiple buffers themselves. Different DMA controllers, however, offer varying degrees of flexibility. For example, some specialized DMA controllers have the ability to halt at a particular buffer or location in a buffer in memory and signal an error. Other specialized DMA controllers have the ability to put status information in separate data structures or the ability to return to the beginning or a mid-point in the buffer. Often, one is unaware of the types of peripherals that will be implemented on a system when a DMA controller is selected. Thus, the DMA controller may offer data transfer capability beyond system requirements or it may offer insufficient data transfer capability.
Thus, a DMA controller which is capable of performing a variety of data transfers without interrupting the processor is desired. The present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art by providing an apparatus and method for permitting a peripheral device to achieve the functional benefits of a bus master without requiring the address and control lines required for a bus master.

System for programming peripheral with address and direction information and sending the information through data bus or control line when DMA controller asserts data knowledge line


A method of characterising tremor stability in a subject is described for a subject having an involuntary tremor symptomatic of a neurological disorder. The method comprising: identifying a series of tremor cycles from measured tremor data of the subject, said tremor cycles measuring periodic variation in movement of the subject due to the tremor; determining an instantaneous frequency for each tremor cycle and collating the instantaneous frequencies; determining an instantaneous variation between the instantaneous frequencies of each pair of adjacent tremor cycles within the series; comparing the instantaneous variation to the collation of determined instantaneous frequencies to determine a distribution of instantaneous variations; and determining an index value of the distribution of the instantaneous variations, said index value defining the stability of the tremor.

Misdiagnosis in tremor syndromes is a common and often underestimated problem. Central to this problem is the lack of accurate diagnostic tools that can distinguish different tremor aetiologies. Indeed, the diagnostic accuracy of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been estimated to be 80% amongst movement disorders experts, and 74% if the disease is diagnosed by a neurologist not expert in movement disorders.
In Essential tremor (ET) there is no gold standard diagnostic procedure, not even at post-mortem, and diagnosis is made purely on clinically defined criteria. 37% of ET patients are misdiagnosed.
The stability of tremor frequency over time has recently been considered as the basis for a potential diagnostic aid in Brittain et al. The Journal of Neuroscience 35, 795-806 (2015). This study analysed the variation in instantaneous tremor frequency over time, and showed that, in ET the frequency of tremor remains stable only over a narrow range of frequencies, whereas in Parkinson's disease tremor (PDT) the frequency can remain stable over a much broader range.
In the present disclosure, it is an object to address or at least ameliorate some of these shortcomings.

Methods and system for characterising tremors


A method and apparatus are disclosed which are suitable for use in the manufacture of two-piece metal containers. In particular, a way of making cups from metal sheet is disclosed using a combination of stretching and drawing operations. The resulting cups have the advantage of having a base thickness that is thinner relative to the ingoing gauge of the metal sheet.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,544 (NATIONAL STEEL CORPORATION) Jun. 20, 1978 details conventional Draw & Wall Ironing (DWI) and Draw & Re-Draw (DRD) processes for manufacturing cup-sections for use in making two-piece metal containers. [Note that in the United States of America, DWI is instead commonly referred to as D&I.] The term "two-piece" refers to i) the cup-section and ii) the closure that would be subsequently fastened to the open end of the cup-section to form the container.
In a DWI (D&I) process (as illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 10 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,544), a flat (typically) circular blank stamped out from a roll of metal sheet is drawn through a drawing die, under the action of a punch, to form a shallow first stage cup. This initial drawing stage does not result in any intentional thinning of the blank. Thereafter, the cup, which is typically mounted on the end face of a close fitting punch or ram, is pushed through one or more annular wall-ironing dies for the purpose of effecting a reduction in thickness of the sidewall of the cup, thereby resulting in an elongation in the sidewall of the cup. By itself, the ironing process will not result in any change in the nominal diameter of the first stage cup.
FIG. 1 shows the distribution of metal in a container body resulting from a conventional DWI (D&I) process. FIG. 1 is illustrative only, and is not intended to be precisely to scale. Three regions are indicated in FIG. 1:                Region 1 represents the un-ironed material of the base. This remains approximately the same thickness as the ingoing gauge of the blank, i.e. it is not affected by the separate manufacturing operations of a conventional DWI process.        Region 2 represents the ironed mid-section of the sidewall. Its thickness (and thereby the amount of ironing required) is determined by the performance required for the container body.        Region 3 represents the ironed top-section of the sidewall. Typically in can making, this ironed top-section is around 50-75% of the thickness of the ingoing gauge.
In a DRD process (as illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,544), the same drawing technique is used to form the first stage cup. However, rather than employing an ironing process, the first stage cup is then subjected to one or more re-drawing operations which act to progressively reduce the diameter of the cup and thereby elongate the sidewall of the cup. By themselves, most conventional re-drawing operations are not intended to result in any change in thickness of the cup material. However, taking the example of container bodies manufactured from a typical DRD process, in practice there is typically some thickening at the top of the finished container body (of the order of 10% or more). This thickening is a natural effect of the re-drawing process and is explained by the compressive effect on the material when re-drawing from a cup of large diameter to one of smaller diameter.
Note that there are alternative known DRD processes which achieve a thickness reduction in the sidewall of the cup through use of small or compound radii draw dies to thin the sidewall by stretching in the draw and re-draw stages.
Alternatively, a combination of ironing and re-drawing may be used on the first stage cup, which thereby reduces both the cup's diameter and sidewall thickness. For example, in the field of the manufacture of two-piece metal containers (cans), the container body is typically made by drawing a blank into a first stage cup and subjecting the cup to a number of re-drawing operations until arriving at a container body of the desired nominal diameter, then followed by ironing the sidewall to provide the desired sidewall thickness and height.
However, DWI (D&I) and DRD processes employed on a large commercial scale have a serious limitation in that they do not act to reduce the thickness (and therefore weight) of material in the base of the cup. In particular, drawing does not result in reduction in thickness of the object being drawn, and ironing only acts on the sidewalls of the cup. Essentially, for known DWI (D&I) and DRD processes for the manufacture of cups for two-piece containers, the thickness of the base remains broadly unchanged from that of the ingoing gauge of the blank. This can result in the base being far thicker than required for performance purposes.
The metal packaging industry is fiercely competitive, with weight reduction being a primary objective because it reduces transportation and raw material costs. By way of example, around 65% of the costs of manufacturing a typical two-piece metal food container derive from raw material costs.
There is therefore a need for improved light-weighting of metal cup-sections in a cost-effective manner. Note that in this document, the terms "cup-section" and "cup" are used interchangeably.


Wireless communication network access is facilitated via multiple logic-capable storage (MLCS) devices. One method comprises: scanning a record of records stored in a MLCS device to determine whether a communication device associated with a request for communication establishment has a defined functionality; and generating information indicative of the communication device failing to have the defined functionality based on identifying a value range inclusive of an identifier of the communication device and based on determining that the MLCS device is a negative logic storage device, wherein the MLCS device is programmable to have a first type of logic at a first time and a second type of logic at a second time. The first type of logic can be the negative logic type and the second type of logic can be a positive logic type.

With an ever-increasing set of technologies being developed, new network functionalities are continually activated by cellular operators to improve performance and provide new services to communication devices. Because communication devices may be non-compliant with a particular standard, there may be an inability to determine the specific functionality of which a communication device is capable. Outages and poor service provisioning along with management inefficiencies can result.

Coordinating wireless communication network access via multiple logic capable databases


A hermetic reciprocating compressor is provided. The compressor comprises: a hermetic casing formed with an oil container at the bottom thereof; a driving motor having a stator installed inside the casing, a rotor rotatably installed inside the stator and a rotating shaft rotating with the rotor, the rotor having a journal and an eccentric portion; a sliding bearing for supporting the rotation of the journal of the rotating shaft; an oil pickup device extending downward from a lower end portion of the eccentric portion, for supplying a lubricating oil contained in the oil container between the journal of the rotating shaft and the bearing; and a medium compressing portion having a cylinder block which is provided with a cylinder, a piston reciprocating inside the cylinder and a connecting rod for connecting the piston to the eccentric portion of the rotating shaft to convert the rotational movement of the rotating shaft into the reciprocating movement of the piston inside the cylinder, wherein the cylinder block has at least one oil guiding path for guiding the lubricating oil flowing downward along the outer surface of the bearing into the oil container. Accordingly, collection and boiling of the oil on the cylinder block can be prevented, thereby preventing noises and deterioration of the oil. Furthermore, part of the oil returning to the oil container is directed to the connecting rod, thereby enhancing the lubricating efficiency.

The present invention relates to a hermetic reciprocating compressor.
A hermetic reciprocating compressor is generally employed in a cooling system such as a refrigerator or an air conditioner, so as to compress a gaseous refrigerant from an evaporator to a high temperature and high-pressure state and supply the compressed refrigerant to a condenser.
FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of a conventional hermetic reciprocating compressor. As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional compressor includes a casing 51 forming a closed internal space, a cylinder apparatus for receiving, compressing and discharging a refrigerant and a driving motor for driving the cylinder apparatus.
The driving motor includes a stator 52 around which an exciting coil is wound and a rotor 53 having a permanent magnet. The rotor 53 is rotatably installed inside the stator 52. A rotating shaft 54 is fitted into the rotor 53 and rotates therewith.
A journal 54a is formed at the lower portion of the rotating shaft 54 and rotatably supported by a bearing 55. An eccentric portion 54b is formed at the lower end portion of the journal 54a and an oil pickup tribe 60 is extended downwardly front the eccentric portion 54b. The oil pickup tube 60 picks tip a lubricating oil contained in an oil container 61 provided at the bottom of the casing 51 and supplies the oil between the journal 54a and the bearing 55 when the rotating shaft 54 rotates. A spiral oil groove 62 is formed on the surface of the journal 54a of the rotating shaft 54 to facilitate the upward flow of the oil.
The cylinder apparatus has a cylinder 56a which is provided at a cylinder block 56 for supporting the driving motor and a piston 57 which reciprocates inside the cylinder 56a. The bearing 55 is installed on the cylinder block 56. The piston 57 is connected to the eccentric portion 54b of the rotating shaft 54 via a connecting rod 58, to thereby convert the rotational movement of the rotating shaft 54 into the reciprocating movement of the piston 57.
FIG. 5 shows a plan viewed of the conventional bearing 55. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bearing 55 has a cylindrical bearing body 67 for rotatably supporting the journal 54a of the rotating shaft 54 and a flange 68 formed at a lower portion of the bearing body 67. The flange 68 is installed on the cylinder block 56 by a bolting structure. A plurality of holes 66 are formed at the flange 68 to receive bolts (not shown) for the bolting structure.+ An oil discharging groove 63 is formed at an upper portion of the rotating shaft 54 to discharge the oil moving upward from between the rotating shaft 54 and the journal 54a. The lubricating oil discharging through the oil discharging groove 63 flows downward alone the outer stirface of the bearing 55, is collected on the cylinder block 56 and then overflows from the cylinder block 56 into the oil container 61.
However, the oil which is collected on the cylinder block 56 is boiled by the cylinder 56 block which is heated to a high temperature during the compressing process of the refrigerant. The boiling of the oil generates noises and deteriorates characteristics of the oil.

Hermetic reciprocating compressor having an oil guiding path


An input buffer includes a control circuit that generates first control signals depending on a signal type of at least one input signal. The input buffer also includes a receiver that generates at least one output signal of a predetermined signal type from the at least one input signal and the first control signals. Thus, for a semiconductor device using a plurality of such input buffers, interface circuits of application circuits communicating with the semiconductor device are eliminated, thereby minimizing power consumption and layout area.

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0094264, filed on Dec. 20, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to input buffers, more particularly, to an input buffer generating an output signal of a predetermined signal type regardless of the signal type of at least one input signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a system 100 including a conventional multi-port/multi-media semiconductor device 150 and a circuit block 110. The circuit block 110 includes a plurality of application circuits such as an audio input circuit 111, a video input circuit 115, a digital media processing circuit 119, an audio output circuit 127, and a video output circuit 131. Such circuits 111, 115, 119, 127, and 121 may be implemented as separate semiconductor chips.
The audio input circuit 111, the video input circuit 115, the digital media processing circuit 119, the audio output circuit 127, the video output circuit 131, and the multi-port/multi-media semiconductor device 150 each use unique signal levels to exchange data with external devices. A signal level characterizes a signal type defined by a direct current (DC) reference level and a swing width about the DC reference level (hereinafter referred to as "a reference level and a swing width").
Examples of conventional signal types include a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) level, a complementary metal oxide semiconductor device (CMOS) level, a stub series transceiver logic (SSTL) level, a Rambus signal logic (RSL) level, and a differential Rambus signaling (DRSL) level. As interfacing speed increases, the swing width is reduced.
To input and output data at high speed, the audio input circuit 111, the video input circuit 115, the digital media processing circuit 119, the audio output circuit 127, the video output circuit 131, and the multi-port/multi-media semiconductor device 150 include input/output (I/O) interfaces 113, 117, 121, 123, and 125, respectively. Each of the I/O interfaces 113, 117, 121, 123, and 125 converts a signal level of an input signal to a signal level processed by the corresponding application circuit. Each of the I/O interfaces 113, 117, 121, 123, and 125 may be implemented as separate chips.
For example, assume that a signal level (or a signal system) of a signal output from the video input circuit 115 (processing a video signal Vin) is different from that used in the semiconductor device 150. In that case, the I/O interface 117 which is a transmitting circuit of the video input circuit 115 converts the signal level and the amplitude of the signal from the video input circuit. The converted signal is transmitted to the semiconductor device 150 via a channel. Then, an input buffer 151 of the semiconductor device 150 converts the signal level and amplitude of the signal input via the channel into those processed by the semiconductor device 150.
Similarly, the I/O interface 113 of the audio input circuit 111 (processing an audio signal Ain) converts the level and the amplitude of a signal from the audio input circuit 111. The I/O interface 113 of the audio input circuit 111 transmits such a converted signal to the input buffer 151 of the semiconductor device 150.
The digital media processing circuit 119 exchanges signals with the semiconductor device 150 via the I/O interfaces 121, 123, and 125, which are transmitting/receiving circuits. Each of the I/O interfaces 121, 123, and 125 converts the level and the amplitude of input and output signals.
The audio output circuit 127 and the video output circuit 131 process signals from an output buffer 157 of the semiconductor device 150. The audio output circuit 127 and the video output circuit 131 also output an audio output signal Aout and a video output signal Vout, respectively.
In this manner in the prior art, the application circuits 111, 115, 119, 127, and 131 and the semiconductor device 150 using different signal levels require additional chips, 113, 117, 121, 123, 125, 151, 153, 155, and 157 for interfacing with each-other to exchange signals at high speed. As the number of application circuits exchanging signals with the multi-port/multi-media semiconductor device 150 increases, the number of interfacing chips converting different signal levels also increases, resulting in an increase in the cost of the entire system.
Thus, a mechanism is desired for decreasing the number of interfacing chips during signal exchange between application circuits and the semiconductor device 150.

Input buffer and semiconductor device including the same


To provide a long lifetime light-emitting element, in particular, to provide a long lifetime white light-emitting element, and to provide a light-emitting element having high luminous efficiency, in particular, to provide a white light-emitting element having high luminous efficiency. In a light-emitting element having, between an anode and a cathode, a first light-emitting layer containing a first light-emitting substance and a second light-emitting layer containing a second light-emitting substance which is provided to be in contact with the first light-emitting layer, the first light-emitting layer is divided into a layer provided on the anode side and a layer provided on the cathode side. At this time, a host material having a hole-transporting property is used for the layer provided on the anode side, and a host material having an electron-transporting property is used for the layer provided on the cathode side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a current-excitation light-emitting element. In addition, the present invention relates to a light-emitting device and an electronic device having the light-emitting element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, research and development have been actively conducted on light-emitting elements using electroluminescence. In a basic structure of such a light-emitting element, a layer containing a light-emitting substance is interposed between a pair of electrodes. By applying voltage to this element, light emission from the light-emitting substance can be obtained.
Light-emitting elements using electroluminescence are broadly classified according to whether the light-emitting substance is an organic compound or an inorganic compound.
In the case where an organic compound is used for the light-emitting substance, by applying voltage to a light-emitting element, electrons and holes are injected from a pair of electrodes into a layer containing a light-emitting substance, so that current flows therethrough. Then, by recombination of these carriers (electrons and holes), the light-emitting substance forms an excited state, and emits light when the excited state returns to a ground state. Because of such a mechanism, such a light-emitting element is called a current-excitation light-emitting element.
In such a manner, the current-excitation light-emitting element using an organic compound as a light-emitting substance can be manufactured to be thin and lightweight and can be driven at low voltage. Therefore, the current-excitation light-emitting element is thought to be suitable for a next-generation flat panel display element. In addition, response speed being extremely fast is also one of the characteristics, and it is also an advantage to realize high image quality with the application to the display.
Moreover, since these light-emitting elements are formed in film forms, planar light emission in a large area can be easily obtained. This implies that a "surface light source" which is difficult to obtain by a point light source typified by incandescent lamps and LEDs or by a line light source typified by fluorescent lights can be formed easily. Therefore, utility value as a surface light source that can be applied to lighting or the like is also high.
However, although these light-emitting elements can provide various emission colors depending on kinds of light-emitting substances, development of a light-emitting element emitting white light is important in consideration of application to a flat panel display or lighting. This is because, with combination of a white light-emitting element and a color filter, not only a full-color display can be realized but also white light is an emission color with the highest demand in lighting.
A plurality of organic compounds which show different emission colors are combined, so that light emission having a broad spectrum or white light emission can be obtained. However, luminous efficiency or lifetime of the light-emitting element as described above is a great problem, which is similar to those in a white light-emitting element.
In order to solve these problems, luminous efficiency or lifetime of the white light-emitting element is improved by applying a specific substance in, for example, Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2007-201491. However, the measure is yet inadequate in consideration of practical application.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.