A pair of similar, 32-bit, error detection and correction devices, including a "lower 32-bit" device (210) and an "upper 32-bit" device (212) are configured as a 64-bit, error detection and correction system. When a (64-bit) word of data is being stored in memory, the lower 32-bit device (210) develops, on an inter-device bus (226), signals representing generation partial check bits. The upper 32-bit device (212) receives the partial check bits (226), and develops signals representing final check bits (236) for storage with the corresponding data word in memory (220 and 234). When a (64-bit) word of data is being retrieved from memory, from signals representing check bits retrieved from memory (222), the lower 32-bit device (210) generates on an inter-device bus (224), signals representing correction partial syndromes. From the correction partial syndromes (224), the upper 32-bit device (212) develops, on another inter-device bus (228), signals representing correction partial check bits; generates full syndromes; and corrects errors in the upper 32-bits of the corresponding retrieved data word (240). From the correction partial check bits (228) the lower 32-bit device (210) (also) generates full syndromes; and corrects errors in the corresponding lower 32-bits of the retrieved data word (230).

Data (information) stored in integrated circuit-type memory devices is susceptible to corruption, due, in part, to the bombardment of the devices by alpha particles. To provide a means for error detection and correction, often times, redundant data is stored. Rather than storing an exact copy of the data, commonly, "check bits" generated in accordance with the data encoding scheme known as "Hamming code" are stored. From a "word" of data, each of the check bits is generated by "EXORing" (gating together in exclusive OR gates) selected bits from the data word. When a data word is retrieved from the memory devices, the corresponding check bits are also retrieved. From the retrieved data word and the corresponding retrieved check bits, in accordance with the Hamming code scheme, "syndromes" are generated, by EXORing selected bits of the retrieved data word with the corresponding bits of the retrieved check bits. The syndromes are used for detecting and correcting error(s) in the retrieved data word.
Typical of prior art-type error detection and correction devices are devices of the type which are designated IDT 49C460 by Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (and AM 29C660 by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.) and which are described in the corresponding data sheets and on pages 8-235 to 8-255 of the data book by Integrated Device Technology, Inc. entitled "High Performance CMOS 1988 Data Book." The above-mentioned (49C460) devices are intended for use with data words which are 32 binary bits in length. In addition, the above-mentioned devices have provisions for "word expansion" (means by which one device may be configured, with a similar device, in cascade, for use with data words which are 64 binary bits in length). (A 64-bit, prior-art-type, error detection and correction system is illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawing generally designated by the number 100.) When so expanded, one of two similar devices is configured as a "lower 32-bit" device (represented in the figure by a block 110) and the other one of the two devices is configured as an "upper 32-bit" device (represented in the figure by a block 112). The lower 32-bit device (110) is configured, with a set of 32 data inputs/outputs of the device connected, each to a corresponding line of a lower 32-bit data bus 120; with a set of eight, device check-bit inputs connected, each to a corresponding line of an eight-line syndrome/check-bit bus 122; and with a set of eight, device syndrome/check-bit outputs connected, each to a corresponding line of an eight-line inter-device bus 124. The upper 32-bit device (112) is configured with tile set of 32 data device inputs/outputs connected, each to a corresponding line of an upper 32-bit data bus 130; with the set of eight, device check-bit inputs connected, each to a corresponding line of the eight lines of the inter-device bus (124); and with the set of eight, device syndrome/check bit outputs connected, each to a corresponding line of the eight lines of the syndrome/check bit bus 122.
When a (64-bit) word of data is being stored in memory, signals representing the lower 32-bits of the data word are developed on the lower 32-bit data bus (120) and signals representing the upper 32-bits of the data word are developed on the upper 32-bit data bus (130). Responsive to the signals representing the lower 32-bits of the data word (developed on lower 32-bit data bus 120) the lower 32-bit device (110) generates partial check bits and develops on the inter-device bus (124) signals representing the generation partial check bits. Responsive to the signals representing the upper 32-bits of the data word (developed on upper 32-bit data bus 130) and to the signals representing the generation partial check bits (generated by lower 32-bit device 110 on inter-device bus 124) the upper 32-bit device 1112) generates final check bits and develops on the syndrome/check bit bus (122) signals representing the final check bits. The final check bits (represented by the signals generated by upper 32-bit device 112 on syndrome/check bit bus 122) are stored with the (64-bits of the) data word in memory.
When a (64-bit) word of data is being retrieved from memory, signals representing the lower 32-bits of the retrieved data word are developed on the lower 32-bit data bus (120); signals representing the upper 32-bits of the retrieved data word are developed on the upper 32-bit data bus (130); and signals representing the corresponding, retrieved, check bits are developed on the syndrome/check bit bus (122). Responsive to certain control signals, the lower 32-bit device (110) is operative to latch the state of the signals representing the lower 32-bits of the retrieved data word (developed on lower 32-bit data bus 120) and to latch the state of the signals representing the retrieved check bits (developed on syndrome/check bit bus 122). In addition, responsive to the state of the latched, lower 32-bits of the retrieved data word the lower 32-bit device (110) generates (new) correction partial check bits. Further, responsive to the (new) correction partial check bits and to the state of the latched, retrieved, check bits, the lower 32-bit device (110) is operative to generate correction partial syndrome bits and to develop, on the inter-device bus (124), signals representing the correction partial syndrome bits. Responsive to the control signals, the upper 32-bit device (112) is operative to latch the state of the signals representing the upper 32-bits of the retrieved data word (developed on upper 32-bit data bus 130). In addition, responsive to the state of the latched, upper 32-bits of the retrieved data word the upper 32-bit device (112) generates, new, correction partial check bits. Further, responsive to the new correction partial check bits and to the state of the correction partial syndrome-bit signals (developed by lower 32-bit device 110 on inter-device bus 124) the upper 32-bit device (112) is operative to generate full syndrome bits and to develop, on the syndrome/check bit bus (122), signals representing the full syndromes. Finally, responsive to the state of the latched, upper 32-bits of the retrieved data word and to the full syndromes, the upper 32-bit device (112) corrects errors in the latched, upper 32-bits of the data word and develops, on the upper 32-bit data bus (130), signals representing the corrected, upper 32-bits of the data word. Finally, responsive to the state of the latched, lower 32-bits of the retrieved data word and to the signals representing the full syndromes (developed by upper 32-bit device 112 on syndrome/check bit bus 122) the lower 32-bit device (110) corrects errors in the latched, lower 32-bits of the data word and develops, on the lower 32-bit data bus (120), signals representing the corrected, lower 32-bits of the data word.
It is important to note that, when a pair of the above-mentioned (49C460 type) devices are so configured (for word expansion), when a word of data is being retrieved from memory, developed on the syndrome/check bit bus (122) are signals representing the retrieved check bits followed by signals representing the full syndromes. As a consequence, when so configured, the above-mentioned (49C460 type) devices are relatively slow (have relatively high propagation delays) and require relatively complex (control) circuitry (for developing the requisite control signals).
For additional information regarding the above-mentioned (49C460 type) devices and the generation of the Hamming code type check bits and syndrome bits they employ, the reader is referred to the above-mentioned 49C460 data sheets and/or the above-mentioned "High Performance CMOS 1988 Data Book." Other prior-art-type error detection and correction devices include those of the type which are designated 8206 by Intel Inc., those of the type which are designated DP8400-2 by National Semiconductor Inc., those of the type which are designated MB1426 by Fujitsu Inc., and those of the type which are designated SN54ALS632B by Texas Instruments Inc.

Expandable digital error detection and correction device


A shear stud assembly is formed at the construction site by assembling double-headed shear studs with a channel system which engages one-headed end of the shear studs. The shear stud assembly may be positioned in a slab, beam, or horizontal element around columns or vertical elements for reinforcement with the studs hanging downwardly from the channel system through the normally congested steel reinforcing. Several forms of channel system are disclosed, each of which permit the length of the assembly and the spacing of the studs to be adjusted to fit, and yet still remain within the design parameters, all without the use of skilled labor or special tools.

A common steel reinforced concrete building or structure form is a horizontal flat slab or plate supported by vertical columns or beams and the like. Because of the transfer of shearing forces and moments, such structures can be subject to brittle punching failures which are manifested by cracks extending as an inverted cone or pyramid through the slab, beam, or plate at the supporting column or beam. The cracks extend at their lower end from the tensile area of the slab or beam to the compressive area or top.
Adequate strength, drift capacity and ductile behavior can be obtained by increasing the slab thickness in the area of the column or beam or providing the column with a shear capital or enlargement at the top. These solutions, however, are costly and space consuming. A more cost effective approach is to provide the horizontal element around the column or at the beam with shear studs or stirrups. Shear studs are relatively short rods which have an upset or enlarged head at one or both ends. The use of separate or individual shear studs is rare because they can be loose during the pour and the heads or ends have to be spaced from the top and bottom of the slab. If supported from a bottom form for the slab, a chair is usually required.
Present practice consists of single or double headed studs connected at one end by a steel strip, rail or rod to hold and position the studs as an assembly for positioning in the slab formwork around a column. The rail or rod is connected along the top or bottom of the studs and most commonly by shop fabrication welding. Examples may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,406,103 and 4,612,747. Thus, the shear reinforcement assemblies are part of the steel reinforcing design and such are delivered to the job site already assembled or fabricated. The assembly may be quite heavy, bulky, and unwieldy. One of the major problems with the use of such factory formed shear stud assemblies is that they will not fit the area of intended insertion because such area is already heavily congested with steel reinforcing. In the design of steel reinforcing tolerances are measured in centimeters (cm), and though the shear stud assembly may fit on the drawing board or in the computer graphics, it simply will not go where it is supposed to go, at least without considerable banging or reworking of the steel reinforcement, or refabrication. Sending it back to the shop with a pour already scheduled is usually out of the question. The difference between installation drawings and field conditions and practice is often significant. The force fit of prefabricated assemblies often produces results less optimal than as originally designed.

Shear stud assembly and method for reinforcement of column or beam connections


A hysteretic DC/DC converter is proposed that operates at a high switching frequency without producing undesired pulse bursts at the output. The converter has a converter power stage with a supply voltage input, a controlled voltage output and an enable input. A comparator has a reference voltage input, a feedback input and an output, and a gating circuit connected between the output of the comparator and the enabling input of the converter power stage. The gating circuit inhibits as a function of load requirements the propagation of enabling pulses from the output of the comparator to the enabling input of the converter power stage. By gating the output of the comparator in a way to separate the output from the enabling input of the converter power stage immediately after the start of each conversion pulse, the generation of further pulses immediately after each conversion pulse is prevented, thereby keeping the output voltage ripple low.

A DC/DC converter has a comparator that compares a fraction of the output voltage of the converter with a reference voltage and applies an enable signal to the converter power stage when the output voltage is lower than the reference voltage. In response to the enable signal, the power stage of the converter supplies conversion pulses to a load. At high switching frequencies, the propagation delay of the comparator increases with decreasing input overdrive (the voltage difference between the positive and negative inputs). When the propagation delay becomes longer than the switching period, the converter can no more react in the same cycle, and an additional conversion pulse is produced. As a result, multiple conversion pulses (bursts) are produced instead of single pulses. This substantially increases the output voltage ripple. A rough calculation of the output voltage ripple shows that it cannot be smaller than the product of the comparator's overdrive voltage needed for a propagation delay equal to the switching period and the attenuation factor of the resistive divider at the output of the converter power stage:                Vripple>V(overdrive @ tcycle)*Attenuation factor.
The resistive voltage divider at the output of the converter power stage may have parasitic capacitances which introduce further delay in the feedback loop.
In addition, with inductive boost converters, a delay is produced inherently since energy is transferred to the output in the OFF period of the power stage (in the ON period, the inductor is charged). As a consequence, the output voltage will normally decrease during the first part if the conversion cycle (the ON period), and the comparator has a shorter time left to react.
These phenomena separately and in conjunction cause pulse bursts to occur at the output of the power stage instead of single pulses, thereby introducing output voltage ripple.


A superconducting coil assembly is of the type mounted to a rotor assembly of an electric rotating machine and, in operation, is maintained at cryogenic temperatures while the portion of the rotor assembly is maintained above cryogenic temperatures. The superconducting coil assembly includes at least one superconducting winding wound about a longitudinal axis of the coil assembly and having an inner radial surface defining a bore extending through the coil assembly. The coil assembly also includes at least one support member extending across the bore and mechanically coupled to the portion of the rotor assembly and to opposing portions of the inner radial surface of the at least one superconducting winding.

Superconducting air core, synchronous electric machines have been under development since the early 1960s. The use of superconducting windings in these machines has resulted in a significant increase in the magnetomotive forces generated by the windings and increased flux densities in the machines. However, superconducting windings generate tremendous internal stresses that can result in a change in their physical shape. For example, the internal stresses generated within an operating racetrack shaped coil can cause its shape to become more circular. Because certain applications require the superconducting windings to be non-circular, the internal stresses must be addressed.

Mounting structure for superconducting windings


A vehicle headlight can form a variable light distribution pattern with a simple structure including a favorable fail-safe. The headlight can include a movable mirror facing a light source unit, a static mirror between the movable mirror and the light source unit and a controller to emit light from the light source unit and to scan the light toward the static mirror using the movable mirror having a default position, where receives the light at a position substantially perpendicular thereto. The controller can enable the headlight to provide various light distribution patterns by varying a scanning method and the movable mirror is configured to return the light toward the light source unit even if it fails to operate properly. Thus, the disclosed subject matter can provide a vehicle headlight that can form various light distribution patterns in accordance with surroundings and can have the simple structure including the favorable fail-safe.

1. Field
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to a vehicle headlight, and more particularly to a small vehicle headlight using a semiconductor light source and a movable mirror, which can provide various light distribution patterns from at least one small light-emitting opening for a low beam, a high beam and the like, and which can vary a favorable light distribution pattern in accordance with surroundings such as an oncoming vehicle, a forward travelling vehicle, a road, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle headlights using a semiconductor light source and a movable mirror, which can vary a light distribution pattern to maintain a high visibility in accordance with surroundings such as an existence of an oncoming vehicle, a forward travelling vehicle and the like have been developed in recent years. Such a conventional vehicle headlight using a semiconductor light source and a movable mirror is disclosed in Patent Document No. 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4,881,255). FIG. 5 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing this conventional vehicle headlight.
The conventional vehicle headlight 200 includes: a housing 202 having an opening; an outer lens 203 located adjacent the housing 202 so as to cover the opening; a turning board 204 located in the housing 202; a movable mirror 209 located on the turning board 204 in a direction toward the outer lens 203; an actuator 207 rotating the movable mirror 209 via the turning board 204; a base 208 supporting the turning board 204; a terminal 210 located on the base 208; a bracket 205 attaching the terminal 210 located on the base 208 to the housing 202; a semiconductor light source 201 emitting a visual light toward the movable mirror 209; and a controller 206 controlling the actuator 207 and the semiconductor light source 201 while associating the visual light emitted from the semiconductor light source 201 with the movable mirror 209 via the turning board 204 and the actuator 207.
The controller 206 includes: a central processing unit (CPU) 211; a memory 212 storing a program for operating the CPU 211, data received by the CPU 211, data outputted from the CPU 211 and the like; a light source controller 213 driving the semiconductor light source 201; and an actuator controller 214 operating the actuator 207 to rotate the movable mirror 209 along with the turning board 204 while associating the visual light emitted from the semiconductor light source 201 with the movable mirror 209 via the turning board 204 and the actuator 207.
According to the conventional vehicle headlight 200, the vehicle headlight 200 may form predetermined light distribution patterns by emitting the visual light toward the movable mirror 209 from the semiconductor light source 201 and by reflecting the visual light with the movable mirror 209 while rotating the turning board 204 so that the movable mirror 209 scans the visual light in a horizontal direction. In this case, the vehicle headlight 200 may further include another actuator, which rotates the turning board 204 in a vertical direction so that the movable mirror 209 can adjust the visual light in the vertical direction.
However, the above-described structure of the headlight 200 need to locate the semiconductor light source 201 at least either one of the vertical direction with respect to the movable mirror 209 or the horizontal direction with respect to the movable mirror 209. The conventional vehicle headlight 200 using such a structure may be subject to a large-scaled headlight, and therefore may be difficult to employ as a headlight for a small size car such as a single passenger vehicle, etc.
In addition, when the actuator 207, which continuously scans at high speed using a forward reverse control method, fails to operate properly due to any cause such as a disconnection, a mechanical fatigue and the like, the movable mirror 209 should return at a default position by an original function of a torsion bar 204a connecting between the actuator 207 and the turning board 204 as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, the conventional vehicle headlight 200 may emit the visual light intensively in a constant direction by the movable mirror 209, which stays at the default position, and therefore may not only cause harassments for pedestrians and oncoming vehicles but also may risk to a driver safety.
A scanning image display device using the above-described similar structure is disclosed in Patent Document No. 2 (International Publication WO2009/133698), and also an image projecting device using the above-described similar structure is disclosed in Patent Document No. 3 (International Publication WO2010/021215). These conventional devices may project image data along with visual lights while preventing a twist in the image data. However, light source devices disclosed in these conventional devices may also cause problems similar to these of the conventional headlight 200 as described above.
The above-referenced patent Documents and additional patent Documents are listed below and are hereby incorporated with their English specifications and abstracts in their entireties.    1. Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Patent No. 4,881,255    2. Patent Document No. 2: International Publication WO2009/133698    3. Patent Document No. 3: International Publication WO2010/021215    4. Patent Document No. 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open JP2009-223165    5. Patent Document No. 5: Japanese Patent No. 4,092,283


The invention relates to a device that interrupts electric power to a driving circuit when a system failure is detected. A fail-safe mechanism is provided with a main switch circuit connected between a driving power source and a driver circuit; a sub switch circuit connected between the driving power source and the main switch circuit, and maintaining an OFF state in normal times; a timer circuit allowing the sub switch circuit for a predetermined time period after the driving power source is turned on; a failure detector circuit connected between the main switch circuit and a controller; and a sub switch control means bringing the sub switch circuit to an OFF state when the feeding of electric current is cut off. The main switch circuit is turned OFF when the failure detector circuit detects an abnormal condition of the controller.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fail-safe mechanism for stopping electrical systems, e.g. a rear-wheel steering gear, mounted in a vehicle to counter a failure occurring in the electrical system.
2. Description of Related Art
Regarding the control of driving motors of rear-wheel steering gears and hydraulic type control valves, a system is typically stopped upon occurrence of a failure. However, for safety of the vehicle, the system must sometimes not be recovered during the vehicle""s travel. In this event, CPU is provided with a self-diagnostic circuit to check whether or not the above control program operates normally. When the self-diagnostic circuit detects an abnormal condition in the control program, the CPU outputs a failure signal to turn off a switch provided between a driver circuit and a driving power source. The switch is designed to remain connected whenever it does not receive the failure signal from the CPU, and to disconnect upon receiving the failure signal.
A plural of CPUs are provided for determining whether or not CPU normally controls the driving of the motor of rear-wheel steering gears or the hydraulic type control valves if operation of a CPU differs from that of other CPUS, the differently operating CPU is determined to be abnormal and is stopped from controlling.
As explained above, in the event that the self-diagnostic circuit detects an error and the switch between the driving power source and the driver circuit is turned off, if the failure signal is not outputted by any reason, the switch turns on to re-feed electric power to the drive circuit. Alternatively, although the control program is corrupted, the failure signals are interrupted, and signals may be outputted as if the control program operates normally.
If such events are repeated, the control is alternately valid and invalid during travelling. This may result in unstable conditions of the running vehicle. Moreover, repeating of ON and OFF of the driving signal may cause the failures of the control mechanism or systems to be controlled.
On the other hand, if stopping the CPU due to the detection of abnormality leads to stopping the rear-wheel steering gears or the like, a variety of difficulties may often be produced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fail-safe mechanism that cuts off the electric-power supplies to a driver circuit to reliably stop a system when detecting a failure in the system, and not allowing the electric power to be supplied to the driver circuit unless a driving power source is restarted.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fail-safe mechanism that detects an abnormality of a control system by its own CPU rather than other CPUs, and allows a standby control system to automatically continues the control for apparatus after the control system is stopped due to the abnormality.
A feature in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a fail-safe mechanism includes: a driver circuit for controlling driving of an electrical system of a vehicle; a controller controlling the driver circuit in accordance with a control program; a driving power source feeding electric current to the driver circuit; a main switch circuit connected between the driving power source and the driver circuit; a sub switch circuit connected between the driving power source and the main switch circuit to control the ON/OFF switching of power source applied from the driving power source to the main switch circuit, and maintaining an OFF state in normal times; a timer circuit allowing the sub switch circuit to be fed with electric current for a predetermined time period after the driving power source is turned on; a failure detector circuit connected between the main switch circuit and the controller; and a sub switch control means provided in shunt with the driver circuit downstream from the main switch circuit, and bringing the sub switch circuit to an ON state due to the feeding of electric current to the driver circuit, and the sub switch circuit to an OFF state when the feeding of electric current to the driver circuit is cut off. The fail-safe mechanism is further characterized in that when the failure detector circuit detects an abnormal condition of the controller, the main switch circuit is turned OFF to interrupt the electric current passing from the driving power source to the driver circuit.
Predicated on the first aspect, a feature in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention is that the sub switch circuit includes a first switch and a second switch connected in parallel, the first switch being controlled by the timer circuit, the second switch controlled by the sub switch control means.
Predicated on the above aspect, a feature in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention is that the fail detector circuit includes a plurality of watchdog timers and an AND circuit, each of the watchdog timers receiving a failure detection signal outputting from each control program, the AND circuit receiving an output signal from the each watchdog timer and sending the output signal to the main switch circuit.
According to the first to third aspects, when the abnormal condition occurs in the system driving-controlled by the CPU, the feeding of the driving power source to the driver circuit is stopped to stop the system, and moreover the electric current is not fed to the driver circuit unless the driving power source is restarted. Accordingly, it is reliably prevented that, for example, the system recovers during the vehicle""s travel.
According to the third aspect, particularly, the abnormalities of a plurality of control programs are individually detected, and if only one abnormality of them is detected, the system can be stopped, resulting in further reliable prevention of malfunctions of the system.
A feature in accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention is that a fail-safe mechanism includes first and second control systems controlling driving of an electrical system of a vehicle, and each of the first and second control system includes: a driver circuit connected with the electrical system of the vehicle; a CPU controlling the driver circuit; a driving power source feeding electric current to the driver circuit; a switch circuit connected between the driving power source and the driver circuit; and a CPU failure-detecting feature connected between the switch circuit and the driver circuit, and detecting an abnormal condition of the CPU from an output signal sent from the CPU, wherein when the CPU of one of the first and second control systems outputs a failure signal during the operation of the one control system, the CPU failure-detecting feature of the one control system outputs an instruction for turning off to the switch circuit of the one control system, and the one control system sends a signal, representing the stopping of the feeding of electric current to the driver circuit, to the CPU of the other control system to allow the other control receiving the signal to start the driving-control.
According to the fourth aspect, the two control systems are provided. When one control system is stopped, the other control system operates to continue the control operation. In addition, it is possible to detect the abnormality occurring in the one control system without using the CPU of the other control system.
When the abnormal condition occurs, the feeding of the driving power source to the driver circuit is stopped to stop the system, and moreover the electric current is not fed to the driver circuit unless the driving power source is re-turned on. Accordingly, it is reliably prevented that, for example, the system recovers during travelling of the vehicle.
In addition, it unnecessary to employ a conventional logic based on majority rule using more than three CPU, resulting in the simple and low cost system configuration.
Predicated on the fourth aspect, a feature in accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention is that the CPU failure-detecting feature includes a plurality of watchdog timers and an AND circuit, each of the watchdog timers receiving a failure detection signal outputting from each control program in the CPU, the AND circuit receiving an output signal from the each watchdog timer and sending the output signal to the switch circuit.
According to the fifth aspect, the abnormalities of a plurality of control programs are individually detected, and if only one abnormality of them is detected, the system can be stopped, resulting in further reliable prevention of malfunctions of the system.

Fail-safe mechanism having a driver circuit for controlling driving of an electrical system of a vehicle


A DNA chip with micro-channel for DNA analysis of DNA included in an analyte according to a PCR method is a DNA chip with micro-channel for DNA analysis in which is silicon (first layer) and plastic (second layer) are laminated, wherein the second layer is formed on a partial area of the first layer, and the second layer includes: a reagent; a liquid transporting system; and a sensor, and the first layer includes a PCR reactor provided on an area on which the second layer is not formed.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a chip with micro-channel which is formed on a laminated substrate of silicon and plastic. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a chip with micro-channel which integrally has functionalities for quickly and conveniently extracting and amplifying desired DNA from an analyte containing a gene, or detecting a sequence of the DNA.
2. Related Art
In recent years, progress of genetic diversity analysis and expression analysis has been outstanding owing to improvement of DNA analysis techniques. Particularly in medical fields, the relationship between diseases and genes attracts attention. For example, by analyzing information of individual genetic information (specific DNA sequence) related to a disease, suitable treatment or administration can be carried out for each individual patient (personalized medicine). In personalized medicine, in situ diagnostics are most desirable, and speedy and convenient techniques with a strong aspect of POCT (Point of Care Testing) are desired. Therefore, it is strongly desired to realize a device capable of quickly and conveniently extracting and amplifying DNA of a gene to be analyzed from a collected analyte such as blood, and detecting a sequence of the DNA.
As one of means to meet these requirements, micro-total analysis systems (μTAS) (also called as a lab-on-chip) have attracted attention in recent years. In the μTAS or lab-on-chip, micro-channels and ports having fine structures in a micro-meter order are provided in a substrate, and various kinds of operations including mixing, extraction, refinement, chemical reaction and/or analysis of a substance, and so on can be performed within the structures. The μTAS has been partially put into practical use. Since various kinds of operations are performed within fine structures, the μTAS has the following features compared to the same type of device in common size: (1) the use amounts of a sample and a reagent are remarkably small; (2) the analysis time is short; (3) the sensitivity is high; (4) it can be carried to an actual spot to perform analysis on the spot; and (5) it is disposable. Structures prepared for the purpose described above and having fine structures such as micro-channels and ports in a substrate are collectively called as a chip with micro-channel or device with micro-fluid.
For analyzing DNA in a gene in an analyte in a short time using a chip with micro-channel, it is necessary to incorporate functionalities of extraction and amplification into the chip, and realization of a fine filter for separating impurities such as blood cells and a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) capable of increasing and decreasing the temperature at a high speed is required. In addition, convenience in use is required, and it is therefore desirable to be able to stably retain an analyte, a reagent and the like in the chip. Further, in personalized medicine applications, it is desirable to have a configuration that allows treatment from blood, and to be able to sense a single base-multiple system (SNP) in DNA at a detection section. That is, it is desired to realize a versatile chip that can flexibly adapt to operating conditions.
However, due to limitations on the nature of a material of a substrate that forms a chip with micro-channel, it is difficult to realize a device with micro-channel which meets all the foregoing requirements. The reason for this will be described below.
Plastic or silicon is used as a material of a substrate of a chip with micro-channel. The plastic substrate has such a feature that material costs are relatively low, it is easy to perform cutting processing, and affinity with a biological/bio material is relatively high, so that a reagent is easily retained, and so on. On the other hand, however, the plastic substrate has the problem that it is not suitable for formation of a fine filter structure for separating impurities such as blood cells and formation of a PCR reactor for which it is required to increase and decrease the temperature at a high speed, such as a PCR (polymerase chain reaction), because it is difficult to process fine structures in a sub-micro-meter order and the thermal conductivity of the material is not satisfactory. The silicon substrate is suitable for formation of a fine filter structure and a PCR reactor because fine structures are easily formed by a semiconductor lithography technique and the thermal conductivity is higher by 2 to 3 order of magnitude than that of plastic. On the other hand, however, there is the problem that the unit price of the material is high in comparison with plastic, and the silicon substrate is not suitable for storage of a reagent because affinity between the surface of silicon and a biological/bio material is not necessarily high, and therefore non-specific adsorption of a protein and DNA occurs. As described above, plastic and silicon have mutually contradictory advantages and disadvantages, and with a configuration using a substrate of only one of silicon and plastic, conditions required for a chip with micro-channel for used in DNA analysis cannot be adequately satisfied.
As means for solving the above-described problems, a chip with micro-channel has been proposed in which a PCR reactor is arranged on a silicon chip, a reagent is stored in a plastic section, and the silicon layer (first layer) and the plastic layer (second layer) are laminated (Proceeding of 43rd International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS2010) 000036).
In Proceeding of 43rd International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS2010) 000036, there is disclosed a chip with micro-channel in which a first layer and a second layer are laminated, wherein the first layer includes a PCR reactor and a sensor, the second layer includes a reagent, and the reagent is supplied to the first layer during operation. Since a PCR reactor is formed on the first layer made of silicon having excellent thermal conductivity, and a reagent is held in the second layer, increasing and decreasing of temperature at a high speed and convenient treatments can be both achieved. In the disclosed method, however, the PCR reactor and the sensor are formed integrally on the first layer, so that a distance between the PCR reactor and the sensor is limited. Therefore, there is the problem that heat is easily transmitted to the sensor section to deteriorate the functionality of the sensor (—particularly when a reagent is held in the sensor section—). Further, there is the problem that restriction arises when a heat exhausting section such as a heat sink is arranged. That is, there is no space to arrange a large-size heat sink, so that heat dissipation during cooling operation of the PCR reactor becomes insufficient, leading to a reduction in temperature increasing and decreasing speed of PCR.
Further, in the disclosed method, only one PCR reactor is mounted, and only a refined genome can be used as an analyte, so that a treatment from blood cannot be performed. The method cannot adapt to applications that require two stages of PCRs: a PCR intended for extracting a genome to be analyzed from blood and a PCR intended for selectively amplifying DNA based on presence/absence of a SNP in the object to be analyzed. When two or more PCR reactors are mounted, the capacity (i.e. size) of the heat sink should be doubled in theory, and therefore the space to arrange the heat sink is limited in the disclosed structure.
That is, the conventional structure has the major problem that for an intended application, arrangement relationship between the PCR reactor and sensor and the place to hold a reagent is not optimum, and therefore the temperature cannot be increased and decreased at a sufficiently high speed.
The present disclosure has been made for solving the above-described problems. One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provide a DNA chip with micro-channel for DNA analysis, which performs extraction and amplification of DNA or detection of a sequence of the DNA quickly and conveniently, by optimizing the arrangement of a PCR reactor and a sensor and a place to hold a reagent to secure a place where a heat sink having a sufficient size can be arranged, and by enhancing heat dissipation performance to sufficiently improve the temperature increasing and decreasing speed of PCR.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Stable conductive polymer compositions which do not contain metal ions.. The compositions comprise at least one inherently conductive polymer or copolymer chosen from polythiophenes, polypyrroles, polyacetylenes, polyphenylenes, polythiophene copolymers, polypyrrole copolymers and their water-soluble derivatives, characterized in that the inherently conductive polymer is doped with an oxidizing compound chosen from the compounds of formulae: EQU R--NO and R--NO.sub.2,. in which R is chosen from the groups HSO.sub.4, R.sup.1 SO.sub.3 and (R.sup.1 SO.sub.2).sub.2 N, PA1 in which R.sub.1 sic! is chosen from linear or branched alkyl radicals having 1 to 10 atoms, preferably 1 to 4 carbon atoms, and linear or branched fluoroalkyl radicals having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, preferably 1 to 4 carbon atoms. Application in microelectronics.

The present invention relates generally to novel electrically conductive polymer compositions, to a process for producing these novel compositions, to substrates coated with a film formed from these novel compositions, and to oxidizing solutions for the production of these compositions.
Electrically conductive polymers and copolymers have proven in recent years to be materials which are particularly advantageous, on the one hand, in the field of microelectronics, especially in photolithographic processes, for example in order to improve electric charge flow, and on the other hand in electrochemistry, for example for the manufacture of rechargeable generators.
More specifically, in microelectronics, such materials are particularly useful for the manufacture of photosensitive conductive resins for processing by electron beam or deep ultraviolet, the manufacture of phase shift masks and conductive charge flow layers for examination by scanning electron microscope, or else plasma engraving. In electrochemistry, these materials are particularly suitable for the storage of electrochemical energy, the manufacture of antistatic conductive materials, and the applications of electrochromism.
Inherently conductive polymers and copolymers are known compounds, and among these polymers and copolymers there may be mentioned poly(thiophenes), polypyrroles, polyacetylenes, polyphenylenes, polythiophene-polypyrrole copolymers, and water-soluble derivatives thereof.
These inherently conductive polymers are generally doped with strong oxidizing compounds.
The compounds which are generally used for doping inherently conductive polymers and copolymers are arsenic pentafluoride (AsF.sub.5), ferric chloride (FeCl.sub.3), nitrosyl tetrafluoroborate (NOBF.sub.4), nitrosyl hexafluorophosphate (NOPF.sub.6), auric chloride (AuCl.sub.3) and ferric tosylate (Fe(OTs).sub.3).
These oxidizing compounds, when used to obtain electrically conductive-polymer compositions, have the disadvantage of comprising metal atoms, a fact which renders their use incompatible with the application of the conductive polymer compositions as photosensitive resins in photolithographic processes. In fact, the presence of metal ions such as boron, phosphorus, iron, arsenic, antimony and gold, for example, threatens to contaminate the various constituents of circuits manufactured from photosensitive resins, including conductive polymers doped with these oxidizing compounds, and therefore to interfere with their electronic properties.
Moreover, the majority of the conductive polymer compositions doped with the above oxidizing compounds show little resistance to aging; in other words, the conductivity of conductive films produced from such conductive polymer compositions decreases rapidly over time. This phenomenon is intensified under the effect of temperature and humidity.
The article titled "Stability studies of the electrical conductivity of various poly(3-alkylthiophenes)" by Y. Wang and M. F. Rubner in Synthetic Metals 39 (1990), pages 153-175, examines more particularly the thermal stability of various poly(3-alkylthiophenes) doped with FeCl.sub.3, Fe(OTs).sub.3 and NOPF.sub.6. This article mentions that the best thermal stability is obtained by using FeCl.sub.3 as oxidizing compound for doping polymers. Moreover, this article mentions that tests aimed at introducing the tosylate anion electrochemically, by using a purely organic compound, namely Bu.sub.4 NOTs, proved fruitless.
The article titled "Photoimaging of Electronically Polymeric Networks" by M. S. A Abdou, G. A. Diaz-Guijada, M. J. Arroyo and S. Holdcroft in Chem. Mater 1991, 3, pages 1003-1006, describes the doping of poly(3-hexylthiophene) with a solution of nitrosyl tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile. This article also mentions that the polymer thus doped undergoes a marked loss in its conductivity after 30 minutes of atmospheric exposure.
The article "Conducting polymers as Deep-UV electron-beam resist: Direct production of Micrometer Scale conducting Structures from poly(3-octylthiophene)" by S. X. Cai, J. F. W. Keana, J. C. Nabity and M. N. Wybourne, Journal of Molecular Electronics, Vol 7, 1991, pages 63-68 describes the crosslinking of poly(3-octylthiophene) doped with FeCl.sub.3 with the aid of ethylenebis (4-azido-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorobenzoate) under the action of deep UV radiation. This polymer can be used as a negative resist in deep UV. It can be used for direct production of conductive structures on the micrometer scale by using electron beam lithography.
The article titled "Laser, direct-write microlithography of soluble thiophenes" by M. S. A. Abdou, Z. W. Xie, A. M. Leung and S. Holdcroft, Synthetic Metals, 52 (1992) pages 159-170 describes the production of polymer "wires" by a conventional semiconductor photolithography process using, for the production of the "wires", a film of poly(3-hexylthiophene) which is irradiated through a mask by ultraviolet or visible light. The nonirradiated areas of the film are removed by dissolution in an organic solvent, and the remaining polymer is subsequently oxidized with nitrosyl tetrafluoroborate or ferric chloride in order to obtain an electronically conductive pattern.
The article titled "Microlithography using conducting polymers" by J. Bargon, T. Weidenbruck and T. Ueno, SPIE Vol 1262, (1990) pages 565-568 describes lithographically structured, electrically conductive polymers which comprise polythiophenes and polypyrrole derivatives doped with FeCl.sub.3, Fe(ClO.sub.4).sub.3, Fe(NO.sub.3).sub.3, NH.sub.4 Ce(NO.sub.3).sub.5, FeBR.sub.3 sic! and peroxides.
Finally, the article titled "Oxidation of .pi.-conjugated polymers with gold trichloride: enhanced stability of the electronically conducting state and electroless deposition of Au.sup.0* " by M. S. A. Abdou and S. Holdcroft, Synthetic Metals, 60 (1993) pages 93-96, describes the oxidizing doping of poly(3-hexylthiophene) by means of a solution of AuCl.sub.3 in acetonitrile or nitromethane. The conductive polymers obtained are of high stability, especially in comparison with polymers doped with FeCl.sub.3.
Patent Application CA-2 070 043 also describes the doping of inherently conductive polymers with metal salts and recommends the use of AuCl.sub.3 as dopant.
Patent Applications WO-8 700 677 and EP-540 448 describe the doping of conductive polymers with FeCl.sub.3 or else compounds containing the FeCl.sub.4 anion.
As indicated above, the introduction of metal atoms into the conductive polymer or copolymer by the oxidizing compounds used for the doping of these conductive polymers or copolymers renders the resulting conductive polymers or copolymers incompatible with their use as photosensitive resins in lithography. In addition, apart from the polythiophene doped with AuCl.sub.3, the conductive polymers obtained are of low stability, especially under the effect of temperature and humidity.

Electrically conductive polymer compositions, production process and coated substrates


A hydraulic excavator capable of achieving prevention of interference between an exhaust gas treatment device and a counterweight and suppression of lowering in operability at the time of lifting of a counterweight is provided. An auxiliary plate is provided to be attachable to and detachable from a counterweight. The auxiliary plate is superimposed on the exhaust gas treatment device in a plan view while it is attached to the counterweight. The counterweight has a plurality of holes for lifting formed in an upper surface. The hole for lifting is formed in the auxiliary plate.

An exhaust gas treatment device is mounted on a hydraulic excavator. As the exhaust gas treatment device, for example, a diesel particulate filter device (DPF), a diesel oxidation catalyst device (DOC), a selective catalytic reduction device (SCR), and the like are available.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2012-117249 (PTD 1) discloses such a structure that a recess cut in a recessed shape is formed in a counterweight and an exhaust gas after-treatment device is arranged in the recessed portion of the counterweight.


The present invention relates to polymorphic forms of (1-{3-[3-(4-cyano-3-methoxy-phenyl)ureido]-phenyl}-ethyl)-carbamic acid-2-cyano-1-ethyl-ethyl ester, processes therein, pharmaceutical compositions thereof, and uses therewith.

The present invention relates to polymorphic forms of (1-{3-[3-(4-cyano-3-methoxy-phenyl)ureido]-phenyl}-ethyl)-carbamic acid-2-cyano-1-ethyl-ethyl ester having the structure below (hereinafter "Compound 1"):

The present invention also relates to processes to prepare polymorphic forms of Compound 1.
Compound 1 is a potent IMPDH inhibitor useful in treating IMPDH-mediated diseases. Compound 1, compositions thereof, and methods therewith are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,178 B2 (hereinafter "the '178 patent"), the entire disclosure whereof is incorporated herein by reference.

Polymorphic forms of (1-{3-[3-(4-cyano-3-methoxy-phenyl) ureido]-phenyl}-ethyl)-carbamic acid-2-cyano-1-ethyl-ethyl ester


A system and method for gathering data regarding receivers of multicast content is provided. A spanning tree is used to connect a content producer, such as a pay-per-view broadcaster, to one or more receivers over a computer network, such as the Internet. Clients that wish to join a multicast group to which content is sent join the multicast group at the client's designated multicast router. The router sends information regarding the request, such as a tally of the number of clients that have joined the group, through intermediate routers to an endpoint router as identified by the spanning tree. The content producer is able to use the information, such as the tally and demographic information, to analyze the group of receivers. In a pay-per-view setting, the tally can further be compared to the number of subscribers to determine whether illicit receivers have joined the group, whereupon appropriate action is taken.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for gathering data regarding receivers of multicast content. In particular, the present inventions relates to a system and method for transmitting multicast receiver data back to a content producer sending content to a multicast content through a computer network, such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many emerging Internet applications are one-to-many or many-to-many, where one or multiple sources are sending to multiple receivers. Examples are the transmission of corporate messages to employees, communication of stock quotes to brokers, video and audio conferencing for remote meetings and telecommuting, and replicating databases and web site information. IP Multicast supports this type of transmission by enabling sources to send a single copy of a message to multiple recipients who explicitly want to receive the information. This is more efficient than requiring the source to send an individual copy of a message to each requester (referred to as point-to-point unicast), in which case the number of receivers is limited by the bandwidth available to the sender. It is also more efficient than broadcasting one copy of the message to all nodes (broadcast) on the network, since many nodes may not want the message, and because broadcasts are limited to a single subnet.
Multicast is a receiver-based concept: receivers join a particular multicast session group and traffic is delivered to all members of that group by the network infrastructure. In a traditional system, the sender does not maintain a list of receivers. Only one copy of a multicast message passes over any link in the network, and copies of the message are made only where paths diverge at a router.
The membership of a group is dynamic; that is, receivers may join and leave groups at any time. There is no restriction on the location or number of members in a group. A receiver may also be a member of more than one group at a time. In addition, at the application level, a single group address may have multiple data streams on different port numbers, on different sockets, in one or more applications. Multiple applications may share a single group address on a receiver's computer system.
To support native IP Multicast, the sending and receiving nodes and network infrastructure between them are each multicast-enabled, including any intermediate routers. Requirements for native IP Multicast at the end node hosts include: (i) support for IP Multicast transmission and reception in the TCP/IP protocol stack; (ii) software supporting the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) to communicate requests to join a multicast group(s) and receive multicast traffic; (iii) network interface cards and drives which efficiently filter for LAN data link layer addresses mapped from network layer IP Multicast addresses; (iv) IP Multicast application software, such as for video conferencing; and (v) IP Multicast enabled intermediate routers between the sender(s) and receiver(s). Many new routers have support for IP Multicast. Older ones may require more memory before they can be upgraded.
IP Multicast has broad and growing industry backing, and is supported by many vendors of network infrastructure elements such as routers, switches, TCP/IP stacks, network interface cards, desktop operating systems and application software.
FIG. 1a shows a prior art depiction of content producer 100 sending content to several clients using multicast enabled routers. Content producer 100 sends the content to sender's subnet 102 where the content is received by two clients (clients 103 and 106) connected to the sender's subnet. These clients previously joined the multicast group to which the content was sent. Two other clients (108 and 110) are also connected to the sender's subnet but do not receive the content because they did not join the group to which the content was sent.
Sender's subnet 102 includes multicast enabled router 112 which forwards the content to multicast enabled router 114 which is interconnected to multicast enabled internetwork 116. The content travels through multicast enabled internetwork 116 on its way to other clients who joined the group but are not connected to the sender's subnet, such as clients connected to receiver's subnet 122.
The content arrives at multicast enabled router 118 which forwards the content to multicast enabled router 120 that is included in receiver's subnet 122. The content is transmitted by multicast enabled router 120 to clients within receiver's subnet 122. Two of the clients (124 and 126) included in receiver's subnet 122 previously joined the group to which the content was sent and therefore receive the content. Two other clients (128 and 130) are included in the receiver's subnet but do not receive the content because they did not join the group to which the content was sent.
IP Multicast can be optimized in a LAN by using multicast filtering switches. An IP Multicast-aware switch provides the same benefits as a multicast router, but in the local area. Without one, the multicast traffic is sent to all segments on the local subnet. An IP Multicast aware switch can automatically set up multicast filters so the multicast traffic is only directed to the participating end nodes.
FIG. 1b shows a prior art depiction of multicast enabled filtering switches. Network 150, such as the Internet, transmits multicast content that is received by multicast enabled router 160. Multicast enabled router 160 transmits the content to multicast filtering switch 170. Multicast filtering switch 170 determines which downstream switches have previously joined the multicast group to which the content is being sent. In the example shown, downstream multicast filtering switch 180 is connected to two devices that have joined the group (receiver 182 and receiver 186) and one device that has not joined the group (non-receiver 184). Because there is at least one device that joined the group, MC filtering switch 170 transmits the content onto MC filtering switch 180 for further transmission to the devices. On the other hand, MC filtering switch 190 has no receiving devices (only non-receiving devices 192, 194, and 196), therefore the content is not forwarded from MC filtering switch 170 to MC filtering switch 190.
IP Multicast uses Class D Internet Protocol addresses—those with 1110 as their high-order four bits—to specify multicast groups. In Internet standard "dotted decimal" notation, group addresses range from 188.8.131.52 to 18.104.22.168. Two types of group addresses are supported: permanent and temporary. Examples of permanent addresses, as assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), are 188.8.131.52, the "all-hosts group" used to address all IP Multicast receivers on the directly connected network, and 22.214.171.124, which addresses all routers on a LAN. The range of addresses between 126.96.36.199 and 184.108.40.206 is reserved for routing protocols and other low-level topology discovery or maintenance protocols. Other addresses and ranges have been reserved for applications, such as 224.0.13.000 to 126.96.36.199 for Net News.
To send an IP Multicast data stream, the sender specifies an appropriate destination address, which represents a group. IP Multicast data streams are sent using the same "Send IP" operation used for unicast data streams. Compared to sending of IP Multicast data streams, reception of IP Multicast data streams is more complex, particularly over a WAN.
To receive data streams, a user's application requests membership in the multicast group associated with a particular multicast (e.g. "I want to view today's baseball game"). This membership request is communicated to the LAN router and, if necessary, on to intermediate routers between the sender and the receiver. As another consequence of its group membership request, the receiving computer's network interface starts filtering for the LAN-specific hardware (data-link layer) address associated with the new multicast group address.
Wide Area Network (WAN) routers deliver the requested incoming multicast data streams to the LAN router, which maps the group address to its associated hardware address and builds the message (for example, an Ethernet frame) using this address. The receiving computer's network interface card and network driver, listening for these addresses, pass the multicast messages to the TCP/IP protocol stack, which makes them available as input to the user's application, such as a video viewer.
Whereas an IP unicast address is statically bound to a single local network interface on a single IP network, an IP group address is dynamically bound to a set of local network interfaces on a set of IP networks. An IP group address is not bound to a set of IP unicast addresses. Multicast routers do not know the list of receivers for each group—only the groups for which there is one member on the subnetwork. A multicast router attached to an Ethernet need associate only a single Ethernet multicast address with each group having a local member.
Each IP Multicast packet uses the time-to-live (TTL) field of the IP header as a scope-limiting parameter. The TTL field controls the number of hops that an IP Multicast packet is allowed to propagate. Each time a router forwards a packet, its TTL is decremented. A multicast packet whose TTL has expired (is 0) is dropped, without an error notification to the sender. This mechanism prevents messages from needless transmission to regions of the worldwide Internet that lie beyond the subnets containing the multicast group members.
A local network multicast reaches all immediately-neighboring members of the destination group (the IP TTL is 1 by default). If a multicast data stream has a TTL greater than 1, the multicast router(s) attached to the local network take responsibility for internetwork forwarding (see FIG. 1a for an example). The data stream is forwarded to other networks that have members of the destination group. On those other member networks that are reachable within the IP time-to-live, an attached multicast router completes delivery by transmitting the data stream as a local multicast. TTL thresholds in multicast routers prevent data streams with less than a certain TTL from traversing certain subnets. This can provide a mechanism for confining multicast traffic to within campus or enterprise networks.
Multicast packets from remote sources are relayed by routers, which forwards them on to the local network if there is a recipient for the multicast group on the LAN. The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is used by multicast routers to identify the existence of group members on their directly attached subnets. These routers do so by sending IGMP queries and having receivers report their group memberships.
IGMP messages are encapsulated in IP data streams. IGMP has two kinds of packets: Membership Query and Membership Report. To determine if any computers on a local subnet belong to a multicast group, one multicast router per subnet periodically sends a hardware (data link layer) multicast IGMP Membership Query to all IP end nodes on its LAN, asking them to report back on the group memberships of their processes. This query is sent to the all-hosts group (network address 188.8.131.52) and a TTL of 1 is used so that these queries are not propagated outside of the LAN. Each computing device sends back one IGMP Membership Report message per group, sent to the group address, so all group members see it (thus only one member reports membership). When a process asks its computing device to join a new multicast group, the driver creates a hardware multicast address, and an IGMP Membership Report with the group address is sent. The device's network interface maps the IP host group addresses to local network addresses as required to update its multicast reception filter. Each device keeps track of its group memberships, and when the last process on a device leaves a group, that group is no longer reported by the device. Periodically the local multicast router sends an IGMP Membership Query to the "all-hosts" group, to verify current memberships. If all member hosts reported memberships at the same time frequent traffic congestion might result. This is avoided by having each device delay its report by a random interval if it has not seen a report for the same group from another device. As a result, only one membership report is sent in response for each active group address, although many hosts may have memberships. One challenge that arises as a result is that devices, such as routers, do not know the number of receivers for a group.
IGMP updates are used by multicast routing protocols to communicate host group memberships to neighboring routers, propagating group information through the internetwork. IGMP is used to identify a designated router in the LAN for this purpose.
The Internet includes a multitude of subnetworks connected by routers. When the source of a message is located on one subnet and the destination is located on a different subnet, the IP protocol determines how to get from the source to the destination. Each device on the Internet has an address that identifies its physical location; part of the address identifies the subnet on which it resides and part identifies the particular device on that subnet. Routers periodically send routing update messages to adjacent routers, conveying the state of the network as perceived by that particular router. This data is recorded in routing tables that are then used to determine optimal transmission paths for forwarding messages across the network.
Unicast transmission involves transmission from a single source to a single destination. Thus, the transmission is directed towards a single physical location that is specified by the host address. The routing procedure, as described above, is relatively straightforward because of the binding of a single address to a single host.
FIG. 2 is a prior art depiction of a routing map that may be used for unicast transmissions. In the example shown, there are several possible paths to transmit the unicast transmission from one router to another. Router 200 can send a transmission to router 290 and it can pass through a number of different routers. Router 200 is connected to two routers, 210 and 220. Router 210, in turn, is connected to two other routers, 230 and 225, while router 220 is also connected to router 225 as well as router 240. Router 225 is connected to four different routers—210, 220, 250, and 260. Router 250 and 260 are also shown being connected to four routers, router 250 connected to routers 225, 230, 260, and 280, while router 260 is connected to routers 225, 240, 250, and 290. Needless to say, there are multiple ways a unicast transmission can be sent to any given router.
Routing multicast traffic adds complexity. A multicast address identifies a particular transmission session, rather than a specific physical destination. An individual host is able to join an ongoing multicast session, by using IGMP to communicate this desire to its subnet router. One approach to sending data to multiple receivers would be for the source to maintain a table identifying all the receiving subnets participating in the session and to send a separate copy of the data to each receiving subnet. However, this would be an inefficient use of bandwidth, since many of the data streams would follow the same path throughout much of the network. Techniques have been developed to address the problem of efficiently routing multicast traffic. Since the number of receivers for a multicast session can potentially be quite large, the source should not need to know all the relevant addresses. Instead, the network routers are able to translate multicast addresses into host addresses. The basic principle involved in multicast routing is that routers interact with each other to exchange information about neighboring routers. To avoid duplication of effort, a single router is selected (via IGMP) as the Designated Router for each physical network.
For efficient transmission, Designated Routers construct a "spanning tree" that connects all members of an IP Multicast group. A spanning tree has enough connectivity so that there is only one path between every pair of routers, and it is loop-free. If each router knows which of its lines belong to the spanning tree, it can copy an incoming multicast data stream onto all of its outgoing branches, generating only the minimum needed number of copies. Messages are replicated only when the tree branches, thus minimizing the number of copies of the messages that are transmitted through the network. Since multicast groups are dynamic, with members joining or leaving a group at any time, the spanning tree is dynamically updated. Branches in which no listeners exist are discarded (pruned). A router selects a spanning tree based on the network layer source address of a multicast packet, and prunes that spanning tree based on the network layer destination address.
FIG. 3 is a prior art depiction of a spanning tree created from the router configuration shown in FIG. 2. As can be seen, there is now only one path a transmission can take to reach any given router. Starting at router 300, transmissions destined for subnets covered by routers 310, 330, or 370 take the left most branch from router 300. Transmissions destined for other subnets covered by routers 320, 325, 350, 380, 340, 360, or 390 take the right most branch from router 300. Router 320 is used to branch messages between its left branch which covers routers 325, 350, and 380, and its right branch which covers routers 340, 360, and 390. Multicast transmissions use the spanning tree shown in FIG. 3 to ensure that any given subnet only receives one copy of the transmission, thus conserving network bandwidth.
While traditional multicast networks provide many opportunities, they also present certain challenges with delivering content to receivers. The content producer is unable to determine the number of receivers that have joined groups to receive content. This is a particular challenge for pay-per-view content distributions where the producer is supposed to be paid by receivers and would like to reduce or eliminate the number of devices that receive the content without paying for it. What is needed, therefore, is a system and method that provides the content producer with information regarding multicast receivers. These statistics can then be used by the producer in a number of ways, including reducing or eliminating the number of non-paying receivers for pay-per-view content.

System and method for gathering multicast content receiver data

International Business Machines Corporation


System for control of ion species behavior in a time-varying filter field of an ion mobility-based spectrometer to improve species identification for explosives detection.

There are many situations where it is desired to identify chemical compounds in a sample. Such samples may be taken directly from the environment or they may be provided by front end specialized devices to separate or prepare compounds before analysis. Furthermore, recent events have seen members of the general public exposed to dangerous chemicals in situations where previously no thought was given to such exposure. There exists, therefore, a demand for low cost, accurate, easy to deploy and use, reliable devices capable of identifying the chemical content of a sample.
As well, recent events have brought renewed interest to the addition of taggants to explosive materials for security purposes. Use of taggants serves two different functions and thus uses two different kinds of taggants. Detection taggants are materials added to explosives that can be sensed prior to detonation by appropriate detection equipment. Identification taggants are additives designed to survive an explosive blast, to be recoverable at the bomb scene, and to provide traceable sourcing information related to the explosives' purchase history.
Taggant options include addition of volatile chemicals, radioisotopes and the like. In countries participating under international commercial air security conventions, one of several volatile chemicals can be used to mark plastic explosives for detection. The United States has officially designated 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitro-n-butane (C6H12N2O4), commonly referred to as DMNB, as a detection taggant for plastic explosives.
These taggants and other explosive compounds can be detected with various analytical equipment. One class of known chemical analysis instruments is referred to as mass spectrometers. Mass spectrometers are generally recognized as being one of the most accurate type of detectors for compound identification, given that they can generate a fingerprint pattern for even fragment ions. However, mass spectrometers are quite expensive and large and are relatively difficult to deploy in the field. Mass spectrometers also suffer from other shortcomings such as the need to operate at low pressures, resulting in complex support systems. These systems also require a highly trained user to tend to operations and interpret results.
Another class of known chemical analysis instruments enable use of atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization. Ion analysis is based on the recognition that ion species have different ion mobility characteristics under different electric field conditions at elevated pressure conditions including atmospheric pressure. Practices of the concept include time-of-flight Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) and differential mobility spectrometry (DMS), the latter also sometimes referred to as field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS). These systems enable chemical species identification at atmospheric pressure, preferably based on dry and clean gas samples.
In a conventional time-of-flight IMS device (sometimes referred to as TOF-IMS), a propelling DC field gradient and a counter gas flow are set and an ionized sample is released into the field which flows to a collector electrode. Ion species are identified based on the DC field strength and time of flight of the ions to the collector. The ion mobility is constant when the electric field is weak.
DMS systems identify ion species by mobility behavior in a compensated high asymmetric RF field, where ions flow in a carrier gas and are shifted in their path by a high-low varying electric field. The conventional DMS operates with a selected Vrf and species detections are correlated with a preset, or scanned, DC compensation voltage (Vc) applied to the RF field. Species are identified based upon correlation of Vrf and Vc with historical detected data. The amount of compensation depends upon species characteristics and the selected compensated field conditions.
A typical DMS device includes a pair of opposed filter electrodes defining an analytical gap between them in a flow path (also known as a drift tube). Ions flow into the analytical gap. The asymmetric RF field (sometimes referred to as a filter field, a dispersion field or a separation field) is generated between the electrodes transverse to the carrier gas/ion flow in the gap. Field strength, E, varies as the applied RF voltage, Vrf (sometimes referred to as dispersion or separation voltage) and size of the gap between the electrodes. Such systems can operate at atmospheric pressure.
Ions are displaced transversely by the RF field, with a given species being displaced a characteristic amount toward the electrodes per cycle. The DC compensation voltage (Vc) is applied to the electrodes along with the Vrf to compensate the displacement of a particular species. Now the applied compensation will offset transverse displacement generated by the applied Vrf for that particular ion species. The result is zero or near zero net transverse displacement of that species, which enables that ion species to pass through the filter for detection. All other ions undergo a net displacement toward the filter electrodes and will eventually be neutralized upon contact with one of the filter electrodes.
If the compensation voltage is scanned for a given RF field, a complete spectrum of ion species in the sample can be produced. The recorded image of this spectral scan is sometimes referred to as a "mobility scan", as an "ionogram", or as "DMS spectra". The time required to complete a scan is system dependent.
DMS operates based on the fact that an ion species will have an identifying property of high and low field mobility in the analytical RF field. Thus DMS detects differences in an ion's mobility between high and low field conditions and classifies the ions according to these differences. These differences reflect ion properties such as charge, size, and mass as well as the collision frequency and energy obtained by ions between collisions and therefore enables identification of ions by species.
Various chemical species in a sample can be identified according to the conventional DMS process. However, accurate identification of several species in a sample whose detection spectra overlap is difficult. This is in part due to the fact that DMS detection peaks are relatively broad compared to a mass spectrometer, so overlap is more likely than with a mass spectrometer. In fact, where several ion species exhibit similar behavior in the DMS filter field their associated DC compensation will be very close, and so their detection spectra (detection peaks) may overlap.
This "overlap" of detection peaks can interfere with species identification. But discrimination between overlapping spectra is not easily achieved and similar species may be difficult to separate from each other.
Furthermore, false negative detections are perilous when dangerous compounds, such as explosives, are at issue, whereas false positives can reduce trust in a detection system. Therefore improved spectrometer performance is an important goal.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a system and method for detecting ions with a differential ion mobility spectrometer (DMS, also known as a Field Asymmetric waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometer (FAIMS)), with enhanced sensitivity and discrimination between ion species. It would also be desirable to find optimal selectivity conditions by modifying transport gas modifiers and concentrations, in particular for detecting explosives by using a compact "micro-fabricated" DMS device.
Furthermore, while prior art IMS system scans take on the order of a second to complete, prior art DMS scans may take on the order of 10 seconds to complete. It would therefore be desirable to provide a DMS-based explosives detection system that enables rapid characterization of a chemical sample and accurate identification of explosives and capable of performing DMS scans in only a second or even a fraction of a second.

Explosives detection using differential ion mobility spectrometry


A mask layer is formed on a Ga polarity surface of the GaN substrate as a growth substrate. Subsequently, a protective film PF is formed on a N polarity surface of the GaN substrate. Then, a plurality of concave portions is formed from the mask layer extending to the GaN substrate, to thereby form a seed crystal. The seed crystal is etched in a Na melt, and a plurality of concave portions having a facet plane exposed. The seed crystal and the raw materials are placed in a crucible, and the pressure and temperature inside the crucible are increased. Thus, a target GaN layer is grown in the upward direction on the surface of the mask layer and the lateral direction over the concave portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for etching a Group III nitride semiconductor, to a method for producing a Group III nitride semiconductor crystal and to a method for producing a GaN substrate.
2. Background Art
A variety of methods for producing a semiconductor crystal are known, and examples thereof include vapor phase growth methods such as metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). One technique of LPE is a flux method employing a Na flux.
In the flux method, a molten mixture of metallic Na (sodium) and metallic Ga (gallium) is reacted with nitrogen under pressure for the growth of a GaN crystal. This method is expected to produce an inexpensive and high-quality GaN substrate because GaN crystal can be grown at a comparatively low temperature (up to 1,000° C.) and low pressure (up to 10 MPa).
In the case where a GaN crystal is grown on an underlayer (GaN or AlN) serving as a seed crystal through a flux method, the crystal properties of the GaN crystal are inherited from those of the underlayer. That is, the dislocation density of the semiconductor crystal to be grown is inherited from that of the underlayer. Therefore, the dislocation density of the grown semiconductor crystal is about 5×106/cm2 to 1×107/cm2 as same order as that of the underlayer.
A smaller dislocation density for the grown semiconductor crystal is preferred. For example, a dislocation density of 1×105/cm2 or less is preferred. Thus, in order to produce a GaN crystal having a smaller dislocation density, the dislocation density must be considerably reduced during the growth of a GaN crystal. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2005-12171 discloses an example of such method that a mask layer is formed on a seed crystal and GaN is laterally grown over the mask.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2006-131454 (paragraph [0010]) discloses a technique for slightly growing a semiconductor crystal with the flux temperature kept at a lower temperature than the growth temperature of semiconductor crystal to be grown.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2008-150239 discloses a technique for using GaN on a sapphire substrate as a template, forming a protective film on a rear surface of the sapphire substrate, and growing GaN through a flux method.
However, in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) Nos. 2005-12171, 2006-131454, and 2008-150239, the dislocation density of the GaN crystal is about 1×106/cm2. Thus, in order to produce a GaN crystal having a smaller dislocation density, the dislocation density must be considerably reduced during the growth of a GaN crystal.

Method for etching a group III nitride semiconductor, method for producing a group III nitride semiconductor crystal, and method for producing a GaN substrate


A system and method for identifying dependencies of a software program installed on a host computer prior to duplication of the software program from the host computer to a destination computer and for adapting the identified dependencies to the destination computer after duplication. An installed software program can be copied from a host computer to a destination computer without breaking portions of the image that rely on data unique to the computer context in which the software program is installed. Data structures store functionality exposed by a software program during installation of the software program that captures machine-specific data before duplication so that such machine-specific data can be restored properly after the duplication. Software of the invention processes the information in the data structures before and after the duplication process to identify and adapt, respectively, the dependencies.

In some prior art systems, saving, restoring, or moving a software program from one machine or computer to another breaks dependencies in the software program (e.g., encrypted sections of code or data). When installing a software program, a process takes place to integrate the software program with the computer. This integration process can break installed software programs when those installed software programs are transferred to another computer. For example, a software program with a private, encrypted database would no longer be able to access that database after the software program is transferred to another computer if the installation uses machine-specific information.
For these reasons, a system for identifying and adapting dependencies for a software program stored on a source computer-readable medium during duplication of the software program is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.


This invention provides an apparatus and a method of using the apparatus to lift a load, such as one end of a vehicle, to enable movement of the load from one location to another. The apparatus is comprised of an elongated member, such as a beam, and a winch slidably mounted on the elongated member which, in combination with the load itself and a stationary base, such as another vehicle, operates to lift and move the load.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention broadly relates to an apparatus and to a method of using the apparatus to lift a load. The invention further relates to an apparatus and to a method of using the apparatus to transfer a portion of a load from a first supporting base to a second supporting base. The invention still further relates to an apparatus and to a method of using the apparatus to partially lift a load and then to push or pull the entire load. The invention more specifically relates to partially lifting a first vehicle utilizing a beam and a draw works in combination with a second vehicle and then using the beam to tow the partially lifted first vehicle with the second vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Problems Solved
Goods of all sizes and weights are commonly, and customarily, transported from one land location to another land location by means of wheeled vehicles. Such goods, in large measure, are placed in trailers. The trailers are then connected to motorized vehicles which then pull the trailers from place to place over suitable roadways. The trailers employed can be quite large. Consequently, the pulling vehicles are also quite large. The art recognizes such large motorized towing vehicles, sometimes called tractors, and has placed them in a special category and assigned to them the recognizable name, xe2x80x9csemi tractors,xe2x80x9d or simply, xe2x80x9csemisxe2x80x9d.
The employment of a semi tractor to haul a trailer is very popular and convenient until the tractor becomes disabled on a roadway. At that point, not only must the trailer being hauled by the disabled semi be hauled by another functioning semi, but also the disabled semi must itself be hauled to a suitable repair facility. In a sense, a disabled semi tractor has suffered a reversal of roles and has itself become a trailer to be hauled.
The art has recognized the challenge of towing disabled semi tractors by delegating the task of towing semi tractors to other semi tractors, referred to as wreckers, which have been specifically, and permanently, equipped with booms, gears and winches of size sufficient to partially lift the disabled vehicle from the supporting roadway to enable the wrecker to tow the thus lifted vehicle to a desirable facility.
The conversion of a semi tractor to the role of wrecker, by the permanent installation of lifting equipment, thereby dedicates it to that role and effectively eliminates the wrecker from the task of hauling trailers which contain goods. The art thus requires a method of, and an apparatus for, dispensing with the need of dedicating a semi tractor to the role of a wrecker.
This invention, accordingly. provides an apparatus and a method of using the apparatus which will enable, for example, any available semi tractor to partially lift and tow any other semi tractor to thereby eliminate the need of specifically dedicating a vehicle to limited use as a wrecker.
This invention comprises an apparatus and a method of using the apparatus to partially lift a load. The expression, xe2x80x9cto partially lift a load,xe2x80x9d means that a portion of the load is transferred from a first platform to a second platform while the balance of the load remains supported by at least a portion of the first platform. An example of a load to be partially lifted by the apparatus and method of this invention is a vehicle having at least one wheel on the front side and at least one wheel on the back side to support the weight of the vehicle on a base, such as the ground, wherein the wheel, or wheels, on the back side of the vehicle are lifted from the ground while the wheel, or wheels, on the front side of the vehicle remain on the ground, to thereby transfer a portion of the weight of the vehicle to a different support platform, such as to another vehicle.
The apparatus is broadly comprised of a beam and a draw works. The method of using the apparatus to partially lift a load requires the co-operation of the apparatus itself, the load to be lifted and a stationary base or platform. Subsequent to the lift, the beam element of the apparatus can be employed to push or pull the entire load from one location to another location.
The beam of this invention comprises a substantially linear central member, a first linear connecting member and a second linear connecting member. The linear central member has a top side, a bottom side, a right side, a left side, a first end and a second end and is, preferably, rectangular in cross section. The linear member, in one embodiment, can be in the form of an inverted xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d, i.e., concave, to help support the load while still retaining the substantially linear character thereof. The first linear connecting member has a first distal end and a first proximal end. The second linear connecting member has a second distal end and a second proximal end.
The first linear connecting member is attached to, projects downwardly from and is substantially perpendicular to the bottom side of the linear central member. In this regard, the first proximal end of the first linear connecting member is rigidly, but removably, connected to the first end of the linear central member and extends downwardly from and substantially perpendicular to the bottom side thereof. The first distal end of the first linear connecting member is adapted for multidirectional rotation on, and removable attachment to, a first pivot which is a structural feature of the load to be lifted.
The second linear connecting member is attached to, projects downwardly from and is substantially perpendicular to the bottom side of the linear central member. In this regard, the second proximal end of the second linear connecting member is rigidly, but removably, connected to the second end of the linear central member and extends downwardly from and substantially perpendicular to the bottom side thereof. The second distal end of the second linear connecting member is adapted for multidirectional rotation on, and removable attachment to, a second pivot which is a structural feature of a stationary base.
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the word xe2x80x9cpivot,xe2x80x9d as used herein, refers to an axle positioned substantially parallel to the transverse axis of a body, but not necessarily intersecting the horizontal axis, i.e., the linear axis, of the body. Thus, the first pivot is a first axle positioned substantially parallel to the transverse axis of the load to be lifted, and the second pivot is a second axle positioned substantially parallel to the transverse axis of the mentioned stationary base which is employed in combination with the apparatus of the invention to lift the load. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the structure of the first distal end of the first linear connecting member functions to enable the linear central member of the beam of this invention to rotate around the first axle and to rotate around an axis which is perpendicular to the first axle. Similarly, the structure of the second distal end of the second linear connecting member functions to enable the linear central member of the beam of this invention to rotate around the second axle and to rotate around an axis which is perpendicular to the second axle. The rotations of the first distal end and the second distal end around the respective axles, as mentioned, occur simultaneously, in the same direction and through the same number of degrees. In this embodiment, each of the described axles is recognized in the art as an element of a xe2x80x9cfifth wheelxe2x80x9d and the distal end is broadly recognized in the art as a xe2x80x9cking pinxe2x80x9d and associated bearing support plate. This arrangement is recognized in the art as a xe2x80x9cfifth wheel and king pinxe2x80x9d connection.
In another embodiment, the word xe2x80x9cpivot,xe2x80x9d as used herein, refers to a stationary ball vertically and rigidly mounted on a support ordinarily positioned substantially parallel to the horizontal, i.e., linear, axis of a body, wherein the distal end of the connecting member is adapted for multidirectional rotational attachment to the ball. This arrangement is recognized in the art as a xe2x80x9cball and socket connection.xe2x80x9d
The draw works, in a first embodiment of the invention, comprises a winch, a winch saddle and pulley system associated therewith, a flexible line, such as cable, having a free end and a winch end, and a traveling block having a pulley system, and a load contacting and load gripping means associated therewith. The draw works, when in the form of the first embodiment, is employed to partially lift a load, for example, the vehicle previously mentioned.
The draw works, in a second embodiment of the invention, is further comprised of a cradle block, and pulley system associated therewith, a first load supporting post, a second load supporting post and associated pulleys. The draw works, when in the form of the second embodiment, is employed to aid in the assembly of the beam of this invention and to aid in its connection to the vehicles.
The winch comprises a motor, gears and a flexible cable wound on a barrel adapted to rotate around an axis parallel to the linear axis of the linear central member. The winch is attached to and supported by the top surface of the winch saddle. The rotating barrel is preferably driven by an electric motor.
The winch saddle of the draw works is supported by and positioned on the top side of the linear central member of the beam at a point intermediate the first end of the linear central member and the second end of the linear central member.
The traveling block, in the first embodiment, is adapted for removable connection to a point on the load intermediate the first pivot and the second pivot at a location substantially vertically below the winch prior to lift.
In the second embodiment, the traveling block is adapted for removable connection to a stable support platform, such as the mentioned load, intermediate the first pivot and the second pivot at a location substantially vertically below the winch.
The first and second load supporting posts and associated pulleys are adapted for connection to and vertical support by the traveling block and for vertical support and vertical movement of the winch, winch saddle, cradle block and the beam.
The cradle block and pulley system associated therewith is supported by and adapted for removable attachment to the winch saddle.
The flexible line, when employed in the first embodiment of the draw works, connects the traveling block to the winch and winch saddle and, in co-operation with the first pivot and the second pivot, suspends the load and the traveling block below the bottom side of the linear central member of the beam.
The flexible line, when employed in the second embodiment of the draw works, connects the cradle block to the winch, the traveling block, the first and second load posts and, in co-operation with the first pivot, suspends the cradle block, the winch, the winch saddle and the beam from and below the support posts and above the traveling block.
In operation of the invention employing the draw works in the form of the first embodiment, the first distal end of the first linear connecting member is attached to the first pivot, the second distal end of the second linear connecting member is attached to the second pivot and the traveling block is attached to the load. Thereafter, the winch is activated to cause the cable to wind around the barrel of the winch to thereby decrease the distance between the winch and the traveling block. The net result is that the beam is caused to rotate on the first and second pivots, the winch, winch saddle and traveling block are lifted and the load is partially lifted and transferred to the stationary base.
In operation of the invention employing the draw works in the form of the second embodiment, the first distal end of the first linear connecting member is attached to the first pivot and the traveling block is attached to a stationary base, such as the load. Thereafter, the winch is activated to cause the cable to wind around the barrel of the winch to thereby decrease the distance between the cradle block and the top of the support posts. The net result is that the beam is caused to rotate on the first pivot, the winch, winch saddle, cradle block and the beam are lifted toward the top of the support posts and the weight of the winch, winch saddle, cradle block and the beam are partially transferred to the traveling block in preparation for attachment of the second distal end to the second pivot.
It is obvious, but important to expressly observe, that the traveling block does move in the first embodiment, but does not move in the second embodiment.

Method of apparatus for lifting and towing a load