Novel stilbenoid compounds and their prodrug forms are disclosed, which serve as potent vascular targeting agents useful for the treatment of solid tumor cancers and other diseases associated with unwanted neovascularization. The novel stilbenoid compounds are tubulin-binding stilbenoid analogs structurally related to combretastatin A-1 and combretastatin A-4. The prodrug forms serve as potent vascular targeting agents (VTAs) useful for the treatment of solid tumor cancers and diseases associated with retinal neovascularization.

The discovery of the natural products collectively known as the combretastatins from a willow tree (Combretum caffrum) in South Africa ushered in a new era in the development of antimitotic agents which inhibit the assembly of tubulin into microtubules. Combretastatin A-4 (CA-4) and combretastatin A-1 (CA-1), which have the structures:
are especially potent in terms of in vitro cytotoxicity against human cancer cell lines and in their ability to inhibit the assembly of tubulin into microtubules through a direct interaction at the colchicine binding site on β-tubulin.
It is interesting and instructive to note that while both CA-4 and CA-1 are potent inhibitors of tubulin assembly and are strongly cytotoxic against human cancer cell lines (Table 1), both of these in vitro assays suggest that CA-4 is more active biologically than CA-1.
TABLE 1In Vitro Evaluation of Combretastatinsand Combretastatin ProdrugsInhibition of TubulinMTT CytotoxicityMTT CytotoxicityPolymerization (IC50)(IC50) at 1 hour(IC50) at 5 hoursCA-41-2 uM0.1 uM0.05 uMCA-12-4 uM 10 uM0.05 uMCA-4P>40 uM0.8 uM0.002 uM CA-1P>40 uM3.2 uM0.0046 uM
However, when both of these analogs are converted to their corresponding prodrug forms (CA-4P and CA-1P accordingly) and evaluated in vivo in terms of tumor vascular shut-down (FIG. 1) and tumor growth delay (FIG. 2), then it is apparent that CA-1P is eight to ten-fold more active than CA-4P in SCID mice. CA4P and CA1P have the structures:

In the case of CA-1P, the most probable biological mode of action ultimately appears to be an enzymatic cleavage by non-specific alkaline phosphatase (or a related enzyme) converting CA-1P (which is not active with tubulin) to the parent CA-1 (which is active with tubulin). CA-1 inhibits the assembly of cytoskeletal tubulin into microtubules resulting in a morphological change in the endothelial cells lining the microvessels of tumors. This morphological change causes the endothelial cells to "round-up" which results in an inability of the microvessels to sustain blood flow. Blood clotting and other events ensue which ultimately result in death of the surrounding tumor tissue. Healthy tissues are, for the most part, not affected even though the compound is administered systemically. Several possibilities exist for this selectivity including (but not limited to): (a) the possibility that there is enhanced activity or expression of nonspecific alkaline phosphatase in the micro-environment of the endothelial cells lining the tumor microvessels; (b) potential differences in the tubulin itself between mature healthy cells and immature, rapidly proliferating endothelial cells in the tumor microvessels which cause enhanced disruption of the tubulin assembly/disassembly process in the tumor microenvironment; (c) tumor cells are known to have "leaky" vessels and it is possible that some of the improved tumor growth delay is due to the compound (as parent drug or prodrug) leaving the blood vessels and entering the cytosol around the tumor where it can form a "supply pool" which ultimately enters the tumor cell itself and (as the parent compound) functions as an antimitotic agent inhibiting cellular division during metaphase of the cell cycle. The enhanced (10 fold) activity in vivo of CA-1P may be due, in part, to the pharmacokinetics associated with the cleavage of both of the phosphate groups (perhaps one cleaves more rapidly than the other) and the subsequent interaction of the parent diphenol (or perhaps one, or both, of the monophenols/monophosphates) with tubulin.
It has therefore been an object of the studies which led to the present invention to demonstrate and confirm that the enhanced activity of CA-1P may not be due entirely to the substitution pattern in the B-ring of 2,3-diphosphate salt, but rather may be due to a change in pharmacokinetics associated with a Z-stilbenoid compound which incorporates a 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl motif in the A-ring, and a 4′-methoxy, 3′-O-Phosphate, along with the incorporation of an additional group (with either an electronic or steric bias) at C-2′, C-5′, or C-6′. Compounds of this basic structural pattern may demonstrate good bioavailability and favorable pharmacokinetics which result in an improved interaction with tubulin and enhanced efficacy as VTAs. It should be readily apparent to anyone skilled in the art that although the new compounds described herein have a trimethoxyaryl substitution pattern in the A-ring, it is a logical extension to vary the positions of these methoxy groups in the C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, and C-6 positions. Substitution patterns of this type may also result in compounds active as VTAs.
A variety of studies have suggested that the 3,4,5-trimethoxy substitution pattern on the A-ring and the 4-methoxy moiety on the B-ring are important structural features of the pharmacophore for these stilbenoid analogs (FIG. 3). Accordingly, the inventors have maintained these functionalities in most of the new molecules and have included further substitution patterns around the B-ring. The present invention and the compounds which are a part thereof is not limited in this respect, however, and substitution by other than a 4-methoxy moiety on the B-ring is contemplated. It is the contention of the present inventors that the improved in vivo activity of CA-1P (as related to CA-4P) is not due solely to the presence of a diphosphate moiety, but rather may have a strong tie to the pharmacokinetics of this compound including the enzymatic cleavage of the phosphate group (presumably by nonspecific alkaline phosphatase), subsequent inhibition of tubulin assembly resulting in morphological changes (rounding-up) of the immature endothelial cells lining the microvessels of tumors, and the resulting inability of these microvessels to sustain blood flow. Additional pharmacokinetic parameters such as reversibility of tubulin binding and perhaps incorporation of the parent CA-1 in the cytosolic fluid around the tumor cell itself may also play key biological roles.

Functionalized stilbene derivatives as improved vascular targeting agents


An applicator for dental compounds includes a shaft, the front end of which can be connected with the aid of a fastening device to a syringe containing the dental compound, and a plunger. The shaft contains a ram for advancing the plunger. The fastening device has an inner sleeve, attached to the shaft, and an outer sleeve, attached on the inner sleeve rotatably with respect to it. The inner sleeve is substantially cylindrical and has such a cavity that its cross section is substantially U-shaped. Clamping takes place as a result of eccentricity.

This invention relates generally to applicators for dental compounds. More particularly, the present invention relates to applicators for dental compounds having a shaft, the front end of which can be connected with the aid of a fastening device to a syringe containing the dental compound and a plunger and which shaft contains a ram for advancing the plunger.
There are various applicators designed for receiving a fastened-on syringe, the dental compound contained in which can be expelled with the aid of a ram. The fastening devices concerned have various disadvantages. Some are difficult to operate or complicated, with others it is not ensured that the syringe is really held reliably.
In the case of an applicator of the type stated at the beginning (EP 0 714 638 A1), the syringe is inserted from the side into an undercut opening of the shaft. Although the syringe is prevented from falling out as soon as the ram has been advanced far enough, reaching into the syringe, the syringe can fall out before that.
In the case of a further already known applicator, although the syringe is prevented from falling out by an external rotatable sleeve (U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,037 B1), the syringe is not reliably held, since it can turn in the holder, which presents problems in particular if the discharge ends are angled away.


Disclosed are isolated transposable elements, or isolated DNA sequences which encode a transposase protein or a portion of a transposase protein. The isolated transposable elements or the isolated DNA sequences are members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. The invention also relates to a purified transposase protein, or peptide fragments thereof, encoded by such DNA sequences. Such transposable elements are useful in applications such as the stable introduction of a DNA sequence of interest into a eukaryotic cell. The sequence information disclosed herein is useful in the design of oligonucleotide primers which are useful for the isolation of related members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements, or for the detection of transpositions of the transposable elements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to nucleic acid sequences encoding members of the mPing/Pong family of transposable elements. In addition, this invention relates to nucleic acid sequences encoding polypeptides that function as transposases, or polypeptides that interact with transposases to modulate the transposition of members of the mPing/Pong genus of transposable elements.
2. Background Art
Rice is the most important crop for human nutrition in the world. At 430 Mb, rice also has the smallest genome among the agriculturally important cereals, including the genomes of maize, sorghum, barley and wheat (Arumuganathan & Earle, 1991 Plant Mol. Biol., 9: 208-218). For these reasons rice is the focus of several genome sequencing projects in both the public and private sectors (Burr, 2002 Plant Cell, 14: 521-523; Goff, et al., 2002 Science, 296: 92-100; Yu, et al., 2002 Science, 296: 79-92). Computer-assisted analyses of rice genomic sequence indicate that despite its small size, over 40% of the genome is repetitive DNA; most of this is related to transposable elements (Goff, et al., 2002 Science, 296: 92-100; Yu, et al., 2002 Science, 296: 79-92). Although the largest component of transposable elements in the rice genome is class 1 LTR retrotransposons (14%), the largest group with over 100,000 elements divided into hundreds of families is miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs), comprising about 6% of the genome (Tarchini et al., 2000 Plant Cell, 12: 381-391; Jiang & Wessler, 2001 Plant Cell, 13: 2553-2564). MITEs are the predominant transposable element associated with the noncoding regions of the genes of flowering plants, especially the grasses and have been found in several animal genomes including nematodes, mosquitoes, fish, and humans (reviewed in Feschotte et al., 2002 Nat. Rev. Genet., 3: 329-341).
MITEs are structurally reminiscent of nonautonomous DNA (class 2) elements with their small size (less than 600 bp) and short (10 to 30 bp) terminal inverted repeat (TIR). However, their high copy number (up to 10,000 copies/family) and target-site preference for TA or TAA distinguish them from most previously described nonautonomous DNA elements (Feschotte et al., 2002 Nat., Rev. Genet., 3: 329-341). Nonautonomous elements, which make up a significant fraction of eukaryotic genomes, have been classified into families based on the transposase responsible for their mobility. Classifying MITEs in this way has been problematic because no actively transposing MITE had been reported in any organism. Instead, based on the similarity of their TIRs and their target site duplication (TSD), most of the tens of thousands of plant MITEs have been classified into two superfamilies: Tourist-like MITEs and Stowaway-like MITEs (Jiang & Wessler, 2001 Plant Cell, 13: 2553-2564; Turcotte et al., 2001 Plant J., 25: 169-179; Feschotte & Wessler, 2002 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 280-285). Recently, evidence has accumulated linking Tourist and Stowaway MITEs with two superfamilies of transposases, PIF/IS5 and Tc1/mariner, respectively (Turcotte et al., 2001 Plant J., 25: 169-179; Feschotte & Wessler, 2002 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 280-285; Zhang, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98: 12572-12577).
Activity has not been demonstrated for any of the hundreds of MITE families previously identified in the rice genome, however three families of LTR retrotransposons, Tos10, Tos17, and Tos19, have been shown to transpose in both japonica (Nipponbare) and indica (C5924) cell culture (Hirochika, et al., 1996 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93: 7783-7788). Similarly, no activity has been associated with the hundreds of MITE families from either plants or animals. Most MITE families are characterized by high copy number (hundreds to thousands per haploid genome) and intra-family sequence identity that is rarely over 95% (Feschotte & Wessler, 2002 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 280-285). Since newly amplified elements are usually identical, these families have most likely been inactive for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. In addition, to date, only a single active DNA transposon, Tol2, has been isolated from a vertebrate (Kawakami, et al., 2000 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 97: 11403-8), and no active DNA transposons have been isolated from mammals.
Because no activity has been demonstrated for any of the known MITE families in either plants or animals, there is a need in the art to identify MITEs and related transposable elements that are actively transposing.

Transposable elements in rice and methods of use

University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.


Disclosed are techniques for improving an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) by pre-processing image data. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising receiving one or more image frames captured by an image sensor installed on a vehicle; identifying a position of a skyline in the one or more image frames, the position comprising a horizontal position of the skyline; cropping one or more future image frames based on the position of the skyline, the cropping generating cropped images comprising a subset of the corresponding future image frames; and processing the cropped images at an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS).

The disclosed embodiments are directed toward autonomous vehicles and, specifically, to systems for improving the operation of an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) by eliminating extraneous graphical data processed by such a system.
Currently, many vehicles employ advanced driver-assistance systems. An ADAS is a system that provides feedback or automatically controls a vehicle in response to a defined input. One example of an ADAS is a blind spot detection system. Another example is a system that maintains a safe following distance of a vehicle with respect to other vehicles.
Generally, an ADAS relies on image data captured by one or more cameras installed on the vehicle housing the ADAS. These cameras transmit frames of images to an electronic control unit (ECU) that processes the images and generates output signals appropriate for the type of ADAS. As one example, in a safe following distance ADAS, images taken from the front of the vehicle are captured and sent to an appropriate ECU. In response, the ECU analyzes the images using various image processing techniques to identify whether a vehicle or other object is within a certain distance of the front of the vehicle. The ECU then outputs a signal to a user interface (e.g., dashboard interface) that indicates the results of the processing.
While current systems are capable of detecting objects (e.g., other vehicles) in image frames captured by vehicular cameras, they suffer from multiple deficiencies. In general, the vehicular cameras transmit an entire image frame. However, these frames generally include a significant amount of irrelevant information. In particular, a portion of the images includes the sky which is irrelevant for object detection. By transmitting a full frame, including extraneous portions, current centralized ADAS systems expend additional energy and introduce unnecessary latency in the vehicle network.
Thus, there exists a need to remedy these and other deficiencies of existing ADAS architectures.

Advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) operation utilizing algorithmic skyline detection


The flying action fishing lure includes a body which is oval or torpedo shaped and has a pair of wings engaged thereon to simulate the shape of an insect. The lure has an elevated line engaging eye mounted to the body as well as a fixed in position single or multiple pronged hook depending therefrom. The body of the lure is partially hollow, trapping a bubble of air therein which is dimensioned to provide a zero flotation coefficient. Action is produced by application of steady pressure to a line engaging the lure causing a sideway slip as well as rotational motion and in and out of water flying action to the lure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing lure. More specifically, the lure has a zero flotation coefficient, has wings mounted on a body portion thereof and which, when continuous pull is produced on a line engaged thereto, causes a unique side slip and rotational action in water as well as causing the lure to fly out of and back into the water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, a great multitude of different types of fishing lures have been proposed, as found in the art.
For example, the Bennett U.S. Pat. No. 2,719,377 discloses a jig type fishing lure which looks like a dragon fly and is capable of scaling or gliding when cast, to simulate the insect it resembles. The lure is highly buoyant and can be brought out of the water into flight by jerking the line to which it is attached.
The Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,122 discloses another dragon fly type lure. Twitching of a line to which the lure is attached will cause wing flutter, simulating the insect in distress.
The Shiverdecker U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,469 discloses a fishing lure for simulating the flapping and fluttering of a non-aquatic bird which has fallen in the water.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,146 discloses a blade type lure including a heavy weight body and a projecting, concave blade portion which acts as a tiller. Such lures do not exhibit significant side to side motion, but slowly descend to depths greater than those reachable with spoon lures.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the flying action fishing lure of the present invention is structured to provide sideways darting of the lure while in water and produces an out of water intermittent flying action with only a constant pull being applied thereto by the line to which it is attached.


An electronic device and method are disclosed, including a first communication module configured to perform a cellular communication, a second communication module configured to perform a communication to connect the electronic device to an external electronic device, and at least one processor electrically connected to the first and second communication modules, executing the method, which includes activating the first communication module in response to detecting a preset condition, and transmitting a signal requesting call forwarding via the first communication module.

A call forwarding service enables an incoming call or a received message to be forwarded to another electronic device that a user has specified in advance, allowing the user to receive it via the designated electronic device. In some cases, the user's pre-specified electronic device may be owned by another user.
A "One Person Multi Device" (OPMD) environment involves one user utilizing several devices, such as wired and wireless telephones in the home, computers, laptops, portable smart phones, and smart pads.
Implementing the above-described call forwarding may thus provide convenience to a user in the OPMD environment.

Method of call forwarding between devices


Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to a gaming system and method providing a video poker game with additional winning opportunities. Upon receiving a primary wager, the gaming system provides the player with a quantity of player cards. The gaming system enables the player to discard zero, some, or all of the player cards. The discarded cards are replaced. The player cards are compared to a paytable to determine an award, if any, won by the player. In addition to the player cards, the player is provided five card indicators. If one or more of the player cards matches with corresponding card indicators, then the player is provided an additional win opportunity.

In recent years, poker has become very popular. One of the most common variations of poker is the Five Card Draw poker game. In general, in Five Card Draw poker the player gets five cards dealt face up from a 52 card deck of playing cards. The player can discard none, one, a plurality or all of the five cards. Each discarded card is replaced with another card from the deck. This is called the draw. After the replacement, the cards are evaluated for winning combinations. For a five card poker game, there are ten general categories of hands, ranked from highest to lowest, as shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1Ranking of Five Card Poker Hands by CategoryRankNameExample1Royal Straight FlushA   K   Q   J   10  2Straight FlushK   Q   J   10   9  3Four of a KindJ   J♥ J♦ J   3  4Full HouseA♥ A♦ A   6♦ 6  5FlushA   J   8   6   2  6Straight8♦ 7   6   5   4  7Three of a KindQ   Q♥ Q♦ 6♦ 2  8Two Pair8♦ 8♥ 5♥ 5   2  9One PairK♦ K   8   7   2♥10High CardA♥ 10   7♦ 5   3
Within each category, hands are ranked according to the rank of individual cards, with an Ace being the highest card and a two being the lowest card. There is no difference in rank between the four suits of cards. All hands can be ranked in a linear ranking from highest to lowest. Because suits are all of the same value, however, there are multiple hands that have identical rankings. For example, there are four equivalent hands for each type of straight flush, four of a kind, or flush. There are over a hundred equivalent hands for each two pair variation, and there are over 1,000 equivalent hands for each type of no-pair hand.
Numerous variations of poker exist, including Five Card Draw as mentioned above, Three Card Poker, Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, Hold'em (also called Texas Hold'em), Omaha (also called Omaha Hold'em), and Pai-Gow Poker. The variations in these games generally differ in the manner in which cards are dealt and in the manner and frequency in which bets are placed. Various criteria may also be used to determine the winning hand, including highest ranking hand, lowest ranking hand (Low-Ball), and where the high and low hands each win half of the pot (High-Low).
Variations of Five Card Draw such as the Deuces Wild game and the Choose Your Wild game provide the player with additional winning opportunities by enabling certain cards to act as wild cards. In the Deuces Wild game, cards with the face value two of any suit are wild and substitute for any other card in the deck. With the Choose Your Wild game, the player can nominate any face value of the 13 different face values to be wild. Cards having the nominated face value are then wild and substitute for any other card in the deck, regardless of the suit. In both of these variations, a single predetermined face value acts as a wild card during the play of the game. The wild cards in these variations substitute for any other card to provide the player with the best hand possible. Further, the wild card substitutes regardless of the position at which it is displayed. When wild cards are dealt to the player, it increases the chances of the player winning. Therefore, these games modify the pay table in order to account for the higher probability of winning. For example, some Deuces Wild games do not provide an award for a single pair and even a two pair card combination. A player has to have at least a three of a kind or better (see Table 1 above) in order to win an award.
Although these variations add excitement to the standard draw poker game play, there is typically no variation in the wild cards for each play. The wild card in these variations is typically a single preset card or multiple preset cards. Further, the wild card typically substitutes regardless of the position among the five cards, at which it is displayed. Further, upon the occurrence of a designated wild card during game play, the event that triggers is typically the substitution of that wild card for any other card to provide an enhanced opportunity for the player to win an award. The occurrence of the wild card does not guarantee that the player will win an award. Therefore, a need exists to provide additional variations in video poker games that provide wild cards to the player in a more dynamic manner and enables additional win opportunities.

Gaming system and method providing a video poker game with positional matching card winning opportunities


In one embodiment of the present invention, an oscillator activator includes a trigger circuit, a controller, and a stability generator. The trigger circuit generates a trigger signal based on a reset signal. The controller controls generation of an oscillator signal from a main oscillator based on the reset signal. The stability generator generates a stability indicator signal in response to the trigger signal. The stability indicator signal indicates a stable condition of the main oscillator corresponding to a start-up time of the main oscillator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital logic circuits. In particular, the invention relates to oscillator control.
2. Description of Related Art
Oscillators are important elements in digital circuit design because they are the main source of providing clock signals. In Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) design, the behavior of an on-chip oscillator affects device performance significantly.
An oscillator typically requires a warm-up or start-up time interval when power is first applied in order to reach a stable state. During this stable state the oscillator can provide a stable clock source. If the power is at the same time applied to other circuit elements which rely on the oscillator for performing their operations, an unstable clock signal from the oscillator may lead to incorrect operations. In addition to the power-on reset problem, when an oscillator is temporarily put in a standby or power down mode and subsequently is restored to an operational state, e.g., a wake-up sequence, the restoration process may similarly generate unwanted oscillator""s instability.
One approach to solve this problem includes using a power-on reset circuitry which generates a reset signal long enough to ensure stability has been reached. This technique would still require some way to detect a stable oscillator output. Traditional techniques for detecting a stable oscillator use an analog phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit. However, this technique adds complexity, extra hardware (e.g., extra input/output pins), silicon area, and power consumption.
Therefore, there is a need to have a technique to control an oscillator in an efficient and flexible manner.
The present invention is a method and apparatus to control activation of an oscillator. In one embodiment of the present invention, an oscillator activator includes a trigger circuit, a controller, and a stability generator. The trigger circuit generates a trigger signal based on a reset signal. The controller controls generation of an oscillator signal from a main oscillator based on the reset signal. The stability generator generates a stability indicator signal in response to the trigger signal. The stability indicator signal indicates a stable condition of the main oscillator corresponding to a start-up time of the main oscillator.

Activating on-chip oscillator using ring oscillator


A circuit for generating a double-edged POWERGOOD signal to a P6 processor after power-up. After a power supply circuit asserts a signal which indicates that computer system power supply voltages are stable and within threshold levels, the circuit drives the POWERGOOD signal high. A first period later, the circuit drives the POWERGOOD signal back low. The POWERGOOD signal is maintained low for a second predetermined period. Finally, the circuit drives the POWERGOOD signal back high again, and the POWERGOOD signal is maintained high for as long as the power supply circuit indicates that computer system power supply voltages are stable.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to microprocessors, and more particularly, to a circuit for properly powering up a microprocessor in a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past several years, the performance of microprocessors has improved at a rapid rate. The different generations of the 80xc3x9786 processors from Intel Corporation provide an example of how the performances and capabilities of microprocessors have improved from one generation to the next. For example, the 80486 family of processors include many features that did not exist in the 80386 family of processors. The 80486 processor includes a local or internal cache memory, internal floating point unit, and other on-chip functions to provide for higher integration. The next generation of processors from Intel was the Pentium P5 family of processors, which contained several enhancements over the 80486 processors. These enhancements include an internal floating point unit which implemented faster algorithms, internal code and data caches, increased data bus width to improve data transfer rates, and bus cycle pipelining. In addition, the P5 processors are manufactured with more advanced processing technology, which allows them to operate at higher frequencies than prior generation processors.
The most recent generation of microprocessors from Intel is the P6 family of processors. Among the enhancements offered by the P6 family of processors is an integrated second level cache in addition to the first level cache. This further improves computer system performance. In addition, using an integrated second level cache reduces the overall system board size as separate cache controllers and cache memory devices are not needed for a second level cache.
However, Intel""s P6 processor is not without its problems. At least one version of the P6 processor experiences problems when it is power cycled. If power is turned on to the P6 processor and then turned off for about 30 to 40 seconds, the P6 processor does not appear to come out of reset when power is again restored. Typically, power on a computer system board is cycled to test the behavior of the board. Because of the power-cycling problem experienced by the P6 processors, computer system board manufacturers are unable to test their boards properly.
It is therefore desired that a solution be identified to fix the power-up problem being experienced by the P6 processor.
To overcome the problem discussed above, a circuit according to the present invention generates a double-edged power-good indication signal to the P6 microprocessor in a computer system. After a power supply circuit indicates that the power supply voltages have stabilized and are within tolerance limits, the circuit according to the present invention asserts the power-good indication signal. A first predetermined period later, the power-good indication signal is deasserted. The power-good indication signal remains deasserted for a second predetermined period. Next, the power-good indication signal is reasserted and is maintained asserted until the power supply circuit removes its indication that the power supply voltages are stable and within threshold levels. The two rising edges of the power-good indication signal allows the P6 microprocessor to power up properly after it is power cycled.

Circuit for powering up a microprocessor

Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P.


In a networked storage system in which at least one primary data storage device is mirrored by a secondary data storage device, the primary device maintains data indicative of IO response rate of the secondary and capacity of a network via which the primary device is in communication with the secondary device. The primary device uses that data to determine whether to transmit an IO request to the secondary device. For example, the primary device may use the data to calculate loading of the secondary device based on IO response rate of the secondary device. The primary device may also increase its IO transmission rate if it is determined that the response rate of the secondary device is increasing, and decrease its IO transmission rate if it is determined that the response rate of the secondary device is decreasing. In order to avoid overloading the network the primary device compares the size of an IO request against the difference between perceived network capacity and utilized network capacity to determine whether sufficient network capacity exists for the IO request.

Networked storage arrays can be used to maintain copies of data on different devices in different locations. Such mirroring of data is useful for various reasons including reducing the likelihood of catastrophic data loss. In order to mirror production or primary (source) site data to a secondary (target) site, a primary storage array (R1) is configured in a partner relationship with a remote storage array (R2). Alternatively, multiple primary devices may be paired with the secondary device. It is generally desirable to optimize throughput between the storage arrays.

Adaptive flow control for networked storage


A disk drive has a servo control system that implements just-in-time (JIT) seeks with low power consumption for all long seeks. The servo controller receives a seek command to move the transducer to a target data track and sector, calculates rotational latency from the seek command, and limits the transducer velocity for seeks longer than a predetermined seek length. The servo controller then generates a JIT gain from the calculated rotational latency, modifies the transducer acceleration and deceleration using the JIT gain, and modifies the transducer velocity limit using the JIT gain. Positive current is applied to the actuator to move the transducer with the JIT gain-modified acceleration until the transducer reaches the modified velocity limit. The servo controller determines when to initiate deceleration of the transducer, and applies negative current to the actuator to move the transducer with the JIT gain-modified deceleration until the transducer reaches the target track.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to hard disk drives (HDDs) and more particularly to an HDD with a servo control system that is capable of performing "just-in-time" (JIT) seeks of the read/write transducer to a target data track.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disk drives are digital data storage devices that allow host computer systems to store and retrieve large amounts of data in a fast and efficient manner. A typical disk drive includes one or more magnetic recording disks that are mounted to a rotatable hub of a spindle motor and rotated at a high speed. An array of read/write transducers is disposed adjacent to surfaces of the disks to transfer data between the disks and a host computer. The transducers are radially positioned over the disks by a rotary actuator and a closed loop servo control system.
Each disk surface has a plurality of concentric data tracks. A preamplifier/write driver circuit generates write currents to the transducer to selectively magnetize the tracks during a data write operation, and amplifies read signals generated by the transducer from the selective magnetization of the tracks during a data read operation. A read/write channel and interface circuit are connected to the preamplifier/write driver circuit to transfer the data between the disks and the host computer.
The servo system can operate in two primary modes: seeking and track following. During a seek, a selected transducer is moved from an initial track to a target track on the corresponding disk surface. The servo system applies current to an actuator to first accelerate and then decelerate the transducer toward the target track. As the transducer approaches the target track, the servo system initiates a settle mode to bring the transducer to rest over the target track within a selected settle threshold, such as a percentage of the track width from track center. Thereafter, the servo system enters the track following mode wherein the transducer is nominally maintained over the center of the target track until another seek is performed.
In early disk drives the actuator operated at full power and moved the transducer with maximum allowable velocity to minimize the seek time for all seek lengths. Once the seek is completed and the transducer reaches the target track, additional time is required to rotate the disk until the target sector is beneath the transducer. This additional time is referred to as rotational latency. More recently, a "just-in-time" (JIT) seek method was implemented. With the JIT method, the actuator takes advantage of the rotational latency so that the transducer arrives at the target track just before the target sector has rotated to below the transducer. This increases the seek time but minimizes power consumption.
To implement the JIT method, the servo system clips or limits the transducer velocity, based on the value of rotational latency. Thus a JIT seek is a seek with a limited velocity lower than the maximum allowable velocity. One problem with this JIT method is that it may not affect all long seeks (seeks longer than some predetermined number of tracks), since some long seeks may already have a maximum velocity less than the limited velocity. Therefore, JIT does not affect those seeks. Power is not saved on seeks which are not affected by a reduction of the maximum velocity.
What is needed is a HDD with a servo control system with an improved JIT method that minimizes power for all long seeks.

Disk drive servo control system with low power consumption for long seeks


A system and method for determining non-linear load harmonics impact on the voltage distortion at the point of common coupling is disclosed. Briefly described, one embodiment is a method comprising metering voltage on an electric power system; metering current on the electric power system; determining a predicted voltage based upon the metered current; comparing the predicted voltage with the metered voltage; and determining a harmonic voltage component using a plurality of weights determined when the predicted voltage converges with the metered voltage.

In electrical power supply networks, harmonics is a term used to describe the shape or characteristic of a distorted non-sinusoidal voltage or current waveform with respect to the fundamental frequency sine wave. Harmonic currents generated by non-linear loads, such as power electronic equipment, arc furnaces, saturating inductances, and other types of solid-state load devices, are injected into an electric power supply network. Such injected harmonic currents distort the supply source in an undesirable manner. These harmonic currents are sometimes referred to as contributions from the customer.
Harmonic currents cause harmonic voltage drops when harmonic currents generated by the customer's non-linear loads are injected into the electric power supply network. Accordingly, the supply voltage at the customer is no longer sinusoidal. Harmonic currents that distort the sinusoidal supply voltage (and/or supply current) in an electric power supply network give rise to several problems, such as: creating distorted supply voltages to loads, which in some cases cause overheating of customer equipment, or additional losses and overheating of network equipment, creating additional losses in transformers and/or cables, inducing electromagnetic interference onto neighboring telecommunication circuits, creating light flicker, causing malfunctioning of metering, current and/or voltage transducers, and/or causing malfunctioning of protection systems.
The resultant distorted load current, when measured or metered at the connection point of the customer to the electric power supply network, consists of two components; that due to contributions from the customer's non-linear load, and that due to contributions from the power system. Accordingly, it is desirable to distinguish between these two components, particularly without disconnecting the customer from the network to perform conventional load testing or analysis.
Other customers may be connected to the same connection point, or relatively close to the connection point, of the customer having loads that generate undesirable harmonic currents. Since these harmonic currents are injected into the electric power supply network, the supply voltage (and/or current) provided to the other customers may be distorted by the customer having the non-linear loads (that do cause harmonics). Accordingly, these other customers may not receive an acceptable level of power quality from the electric power supply network, thereby degrading performance of their load devices.
These other customers may have linear loads (that do not cause harmonics) and/or non-linear loads (that do cause harmonics). In some situations, the non-linear loads of the other customer, by themselves, would not otherwise cause significant unacceptable distortions in the supply voltage. However, the distortions from both customers may have a cumulative effect on the total harmonic distortion in the supply voltage. Accordingly, it is desirable to distinguish between harmonic distortion contributions from a plurality of customers supplied from the electric power supply network.
Furthermore, traditional testing methods provide results that are problematic at best. That is, since the non-linear loads may be on or off at the time of testing, it is problematic whether or not testing results accurately reflect harmonics of interest. For example, if the test is conducted during the day, harmonics induced by solid-state lighting ballasts may or may not be on at the time of testing. In a large plant, determining when a particular solid-state controlled motor is operating requires coordination. If many solid-state controlled motors are in the plant, coordination becomes even more difficult. Furthermore, even if all of the solid-state controlled motors could be simultaneously operating during the test, or if testing results of individual motors could be computationally aggregated, is the resultant harmonic contribution from all of the solid-state controlled motors a reasonable representation of actual operating conditions of the plant? Accordingly, it is desirable to be able to test for harmonic contributions on an ongoing basis, and to differentiate harmonic contributions from individual customers when multiple customers are connected at a common connection point (or relatively close together).

System and method for determining harmonic contributions from non-linear loads without disconnecting any load


A device for detecting a prohibited object in a zone with protected access includes a supporting base designed to receive a single foot wearing a shoe of an individual to be inspected. The device further includes a detector to detect a target material and a position-identifier suitable for imposing accurate positioning of the foot of the individual being inspected relative to the detector.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of detectors designed for detecting non-authorized objects in a zone having protected access.
The present invention applies in particular to detecting metal objects.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays it is found to be necessary to check with a very high degree of reliability for attempts at introducing or removing non-authorized objects into or from a sensitive zone.
When posed in this way, the problem covers a very wide range of situations, and in particular but in non-limiting manner, it covers detecting objects stolen from stores, businesses, or warehouses, and attempts at introducing dangerous objects into protected zones such as stores, schools, stations, and public or private organizations.
Numerous means have already been proposed for performing such detection.
In particular, numerous metal detectors have already been proposed.
Examples of known detectors, and in particular metal detectors are to be found in the following documents: FR-2 720 519, FR-2 775 350, FR-2 780 585, FR-2 694 098, FR-2 697 919, FR-2 698 178, FR-2 698 968, FR-2 608 286, FR-2 610 417, FR-2 607 937, FR-2 608 286, FR-2 607 937, U.S. Pat. No. 6,362,739, U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,582, U.S. Pat. No. 6,344,818, U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,696, U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,830, U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,685, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,103, U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,126, WO03/032 011, US-2001 0 042 412, WO98/12 573, WO97/50 000, WO97/42 527, EP-0 740 822, EP-0 490 921, WO91/03 746, U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,105, WO88/07 733, US-2003 0 142 853, US-2003 0 128 150, U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,309, U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,278, US-2002 0 130 804, U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,582, U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,810, U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,829, U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,628, U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,303, U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,029, U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,184, U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,800, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,782, U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,981, U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,439, U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,424, U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,551, U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,053, U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,690, U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,983, U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,672, U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,767, U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,691, U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,115.
More precisely, it is found nowadays that people attempting to remove objects fraudulently from a protected zone, e.g. a thief stealing from a store or a business, or people attempting to introduce prohibited objects, e.g. a school child attempting to introduce an object into a school, are making ever-increasing use of shoes and/or socks for hiding the objects in question.
This phenomenon seems to be due essentially to the fact that this zone of the human body is not easy to inspect visually or by touch.
Furthermore, experience shows that known conventional devices generally give rise to higher alarm rates at shoe level than when acting on the remainder of the human body, apparently because of the almost universal presence of metal reinforcement in the narrow or "shank" part of the soles of shoes.
Attempts have indeed been made to develop detectors that are specifically dedicated to detecting prohibited objects in the shoes of individuals.
Examples of such devices are to be found in documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,981 and EP-0 978 734.
However, in practice, none of the devices that have been proposed in the past gives total satisfaction.
Thus, on some sensitive sites it is nowadays necessary to make use of X-ray inspection apparatus, thus requiring people leaving the site or entering the site to remove their shoes, since X-rays devices should not be used directly on shoes that are still being worn because that would lead to exposing parts of the human body to ionizing radiation.

Detector of non-authorized objects in a zone having protected access


A diving game assembly and method includes a non-buoyant housing. A digital timer is mounted in the housing and is configured to count down from a selected number of minutes and seconds down to zero seconds. A power supply is electrically coupled to the timer. The timer includes a digital display for displaying the number of minutes and seconds remaining on the timer. To use the assembly, the timer is set, started, and then the housing is thrown into a pool of water. Players then attempt to bring the housing to the surface of the water before the timer reaches zero seconds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to diving toy devices and more particularly pertains to a new diving toy device for providing an entertaining diving game which includes the retrieval of an object from the bottom of a pool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of diving toy devices, and in particular toy bomb devices, is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 163,086 describes a toy bomb device which resembles a spherical bomb having a fuse coupled thereto. Another such device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,387 and includes a toy bomb and game therefore having a toy bomb which resembles a rocket. A more general toy which emits an audible signal is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,293.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device which resembles a bomb and which can be thrown into a pool of water and retrieved in order to score points. The device preferably includes a timer which can be selectively set by persons playing with the device.


In some embodiments an adjustable continuous shelf mounting system may comprise a wall standard comprising a plurality of upper slots and a plurality of lower slots. A support bracket comprising: a first support wing coupled to a first upper tongue configured to engage an upper slot of a wall standard and a first lower tongue configured to engage a lower slot of a wall standard; a second support wing coupled to a second upper tongue configured to engage an upper slot of a wall standard and a second lower tongue configured to engage a lower slot of a wall standard; and a shelf lip receiving valley formed between the first support wing and the second support wing. A shelf comprising a load bearing surface and a perimeter lip. The perimeter lip of the shelf is configured to be received in the shelf lip receiving valley of the support bracket.

Storage organizers, shelving units, and other storage systems are known in the art. These storage systems may be attached to a wall for structural support, or they may even be free standing and secured to a vertical surface for stability. Storage systems that are attached to walls and other vertical surfaces require a wall standard that secures to a wall and a shelf bracket that secures to the wall standard which supports a shelf. At a minimum, one shelf bracket and one wall standard are required to support each end of a shelf. However, due to the narrow width of wall studs, only one wall standard may be mounted into a single wall stud. For this reason, while shelves may be positioned on the same level, they do not form a continuous shelving surface as each shelf is supported solely by their respective two or more brackets in different wall studs. In order to secure a series of shelves in a level plane, a large number of brackets are required which can be expensive and time consuming to assemble.
Storage systems in the art also suffer from a lack of structural rigidity due to the single plate design and structure of their shelf brackets. These brackets are typically made from a single piece of material that is prone to torsional stress and failure as the weight on the shelf bracket is increased which limits the maximum weight that these storage systems can accommodate. If an uneven amount of weight is positioned on either the left side or the right side of a bracket, the single plate design of the bracket is unable to withstand the resultant torsional stress and the bracket may fail.
Another drawback common to storage systems common in the art is that multiple fasteners are required to secure a shelf to two or more shelf brackets. These fasteners increase the amount of time and effort required to assemble and disassemble prior art shelving systems.
Therefore, a need exists for novel adjustable continuous shelf mounting systems and apparatuses. There also exists a need for novel shelf mounting systems and apparatuses that are able to mount shelves with a reduced number of shelf brackets and wall standards allowing a single wall stud to support the ends of two shelves. There is a further need for a novel shelf mounting systems and apparatuses comprising shelf brackets that resist bending and/or twisting when weight is applied to one side creating torsional stress on the bracket. Finally, there exists a need for novel shelf mounting systems and apparatuses that have shelves and shelving brackets that are able to secure and engage to each other without requiring separate fasteners thereby facilitating assembly and disassembly.

Adjustable continuous shelf mounting systems and apparatuses related thereto


A gate driver includes a line part to receive control signals and a shift register to sequentially output gate signals in response to the control signals provided from the line part. The line part and the shift register are disposed apart from each other with a first distance equal to or greater than about 20 μm.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a gate driver and a display apparatus having the gate driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various display devices, such as a liquid crystal display, an organic light emitting diode display, an electrowetting display device, an electrophoretic display device, a nanocrystal display, etc., have been developed.
In general, the display device includes a plurality of pixels that displays an image, a gate driver that applies gate signals to the pixels, and a data driver that applies data voltages to the pixels. The pixels receive the data voltages in response to the gate signals and display the image corresponding to the data voltages. The gate driver includes a line part that receives control signals and a shift register that sequentially generates the gate signals in response to the control signals.

Gate driver and display apparatus having the same


The invention provides artificial collagen comprising a stabilized ordered triple helix of copolypeptide strands containing repeating amino acid triads. The collagen may be modified with groups which improve its physical or chemical properties for the intended use, such as adhesive and cross-linking groups. Artificial collagen according to the invention is particularly useful as a wound closer and healer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to artificial collagen oligopeptides and related compounds useful in clinical (including veterinary) applications.
Proteins and oligopeptide fragments thereof derived from animal sources have numerous well-known clinical uses. Collagen in particular is useful in the production of matrices for the support of various types of cells to promote the regeneration of damaged tissue such as nerve, bone, skin, or vascular tissues, and as a component of fibrin sealants. Typically, clinical grade commercial proteins such as collagen are isolated from their mammalian source, purified and sterilized to the extent feasible without denaturing the molecule, and, often, chemically modified to specialized use.
While natural collagen has many clinical advantages for such applications, including biocompatibility, shapability, and hemostatic properties, the use of mammal (including human- and bovine-)derived collagen presents potential hazards, especially the transmission of infectious agents from donor to donee. For example, the safety of collagen of animal origin has recently been placed in doubt with the recognition of the prevalence in Europe of bovine spongious encephalitis. This disease of unclear causes is of great concern for collagen users, since most of commercial collagen is of bovine origin and efficacy of conventional purification and sterilization procedures against the causative pathogen(s) is presently purely hypothetical. Further, the use of collagen of human origin has not obviated problems of possible contagion. Even though collagen purification methods currently in use appear to effectively eliminate viruses and retroviruses present, the possibility of the presence of other infectious agents unsusceptible to such treatment, such as proteins the size of collagen, lurks in the background.
It is accordingly desirable to provide a simplified oligopeptide structure having collagen-like properties for similar clinical applications, which can be readily manufactured in commercial quantities to obtain a substantially pure product, free of contaminants potentially dangerous to the recipient.
2. Description of Related Art
a) Collagen-like substances
Studies on the primary structure of collagen performed more than 20 years ago (Treatise on Collagen, volume 1; Ramachandran, ed., Academic Press, London, pp. 441-526, 1967; Protein Chem. 25:243-352, 1971) revealed the presence of glycine (Gly) as every third residue in a peptide chain, and a high proportion of the imino acid residues proline (pro) and hydroxyproline (Hyp) as characteristic of natural collagen from various mammalian species, including man (Biochem. 5:3803, 1966; Biochem. 10:2076, 1971). The studies also demonstrated that collagen contains a large number of tripeptide sequences of the form of Pro-Hyp-Gly, Pro-X-Gly, or X-Hyp-Gly, where X is an amino acid residue other than Pro, Gly, or Hyp. Numerous subsequent sequence studies have shown that Hyp mainly occurs as Y in the collagen repeating unit (X-Y-Gly).sub.n. Hyp is synthesized in vivo during the post-translational modification of collagen by the enzymatic hydroxylation of Pro after its incorporation into the polypeptide sequence, a critical step in the synthesis of collagen, since unhydroxylated collagen is not efficiently secreted from cells, has a lower denaturation temperature than fully hydroxylated collagen, and is therefore susceptible to nonspecific proteolysis. An examination of the primary structure of the .alpha.-chains of mammalian collagen reports that in triads of the type Gly-Pro-X and X-Pro-Gly, only the latter are hydroxylated (Biochemistry of Collagen, Ramachandran et al. eds, Plenum Press, New York, N.Y. p. 1, 1976). Further, polytripeptides in which X=Pro were the most efficient substrates for the hydroxylation, whereas increasing complexity of the side chain of other residues at X decreased the efficiency with which hydroxylation occurred (Biochem. 17:2892. 1978).
Early molecular models of collagen, comprising three peptide chains containing the above tripeptides, showed the chains twisted in a gradual right-handed helix, with each chain in the helix locked into a left-handed helix of poly-Pro II type by a large number of imino acid residues (Biochem. Biophys. Acta 109:314, 1965). In attempts to clarify the correlation between the primary and secondary structures of collagen, a variety of polypeptides with repeating sequences (Pro-Pro-Gly), (Pro-Hyp-Gly), and others have been synthesized and evaluated during the past twenty years. It was found that those sequences form highly stable triple-helical structures isomorphic to those of natural collagen, both in the solid state (J. Mol. Biol. 65:371, 1972). Studies have proposed that Hyp considerably stabilizes the collagen triple helix and contributes to the tertiary and quaternary structures of the protein by participating in intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding (Biochem. Biophys. Acta 322:166, 1972; Curr. Sci. 44:1, 1975).
Pioneering work on synthetic collagen models has also been done with polydisperse mixtures of sequential polytripeptides containing Pro and Gly (J. Mol. Biol. 43:461, 1969). Monodisperse oligotripeptides of (Pro-Pro-Gly).sub.n or (Pro-Hyp-Gly).sub.n sequences, where n=2-10, have also been prepared, with X-ray diffraction patterns of the former, wherein n was 4 or greater showing collagen-like diffraction patterns. Circular dichroism spectra of penta- and octadecapeptide films cast from solution are consistent with the conformation of collagen (Biopolymers 17:1215, 1978).
Notwithstanding the above described studies on the physical and biochemical characteristics of collagen and related proteins as well as numerous additional studies, little has been published firmly correlating these findings with properties of collagen which makes this protein clinically useful. One such property is that a great variety of cells, including epithelial cells, fibroblasts, platelets, and keratinocytes adhere to and migrate on specific regions within the triple-helical domain of types I, III and IV collagen; it has been recently reported (J. Biol. Chem. 265:14153, 1993) that triple helicity, more than the primary structure of the collagen peptide chains, is required for cell adhesion to and spreading on a specific collagen sequence, as the tested cells spread upon and adhered to the helical structure, while the single-stranded corresponding sequence was inactive in this regard (Biopolymers 33:1695, 1993).
Recently, it has been shown that bringing three (Pro-Hyp-Gly), chains in register by means of a template can significantly improve stability of the triple helix. The template approach has been reported previously, where the templates utilized are either 1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid (Biopolymers 18:2359, 1979), a lysine-lysine dimer (J. Theor. Biol. 153:585, 1991; Biopolymers 33: 1695-1707, Letters 334:272, 1993; Biopolymers 27:157, 1988; Biopolymers 19:1909, 1980; FEBS Letters 334:272, 1993; Biopolymers 25:1081, 1986) or Kemp triacid (cis,cis-1,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid or KTA) (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118:5156, 1996).
Each of the above-cited publications is incorporated herein by reference.
b) Polyethylene glycol
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been used as a protein modifier for the past twenty-five years. It has been used to react with free amino groups on proteins, using various activated PEGs, such as activated monomethoxypolyethylene glycol. Covalently linked to clinically useful proteins, it can improve their performance and safeness for therapeutic use. It was shown to decrease antigenicity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) (J. Biol. Chem. 252:3578, 1977) and to improve plasma half-life of the native protein by increasing its resistance to proteolytic enzymes (J. Biol. Chem. 252:3578, 1977). It also increases hydrophilicity at the surface of the modified protein (Biotechnol. Appl. Biochem. 17:115, 1993). PEG is recognized as safe for subcutaneous and oral uses in humans and in animals.


When rendering a new frame using a hybrid ray tracing process, a graphics processor transforms vertex position data for models representing objects in the new frame into camera space for use in a rasterisation process of the hybrid ray tracing process irrespective of whether the object has moved between frames or whether the geometry of the model representing object has changed, but only transforms vertex position data for a model for an object into world space for use in a ray tracing process of the hybrid ray tracing process when the object has moved between frames or where the geometry of the model representing the object has changed.

The technology described herein relates to graphics processing, and particularly, although not exclusively, to the operation of graphics processors that can execute "shader" programs to perform graphic processing operations.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system on chip (SoC) graphics processing system 8 that comprises a host processor comprising a central processing unit (CPU) 1, a graphics processor (GPU) 2, a display processor 3, and a memory controller 5. The exemplary data processing system may also comprise a video engine (not shown in FIG. 1). As shown in FIG. 1, these units communicate via an interconnect 4 and have access to off-chip memory 6. In this system, the graphics processor 2 will render frames (images) to be displayed, and the display processor 3 will then provide the frames to a display panel 7 for display.
In use of this system, an application 13 such as a game, executing on the host processor (CPU) 1 will, for example, require the display of frames on the display panel 7. To do this, the application will submit appropriate commands and data to a driver 11 for the graphics processor 2 that is executing on the CPU 1. The driver 11 will then generate appropriate commands and data to cause the graphics processor 2 to render appropriate frames for display and to store those frames in appropriate frame buffers, e.g. in the main memory 6. The display processor 3 will then read those frames into a buffer for the display from where they are then read out and displayed on the display panel 7 of the display.
Graphics processing is typically carried out in a pipelined fashion, with one or more pipeline stages operating on the data to generate the final render output, e.g. frame that is displayed. Graphics processing is normally carried out by first dividing the output to be generated, such as a frame to be displayed, into a number of similar basic components (so-called "primitives") to allow the graphics processing operations to be more easily carried out. These "primitives" are usually in the form of simple polygons, such as triangles.
Once the primitives have been generated and defined, they can be processed by the graphics processing system, in order, e.g., to display the frame.
In one graphics processing technique, this process basically involves determining which sampling positions in an array of sampling positions covering the output area to be processed are covered by a primitive, and then determining the appearance each sampling position should have (e.g. in terms of its colour, etc.) to represent the primitive at that sampling position. These processes are commonly referred to as rasterising and rendering, respectively.
The rasterising process determines the sample positions that should be used for a primitive (i.e. (the x, y) positions of the sample points to be used to represent the primitive in the output (e.g. frame to be displayed)).
The rendering process then derives the data, such as red, green and blue (RGB) colour values and an "alpha" (transparency) value, necessary to represent the primitive at the sample points (i.e. "shades" each sample point). This can involve applying textures, blending sample point data values, etc.
These processes are typically carried out by testing sets of one, or of more than one, sampling position, and then generating, for each set of sampling positions found to include a sample point that is inside (covered by) the primitive in question (being tested), a discrete graphical entity, which may be referred to as a "fragment", on which the graphics processing operations (such as rendering) are carried out. Covered sampling positions are thus, in effect, processed as fragments that will be used to render the primitive at the sampling positions in question. The fragments are the graphical entities that pass through the rendering process (the rendering pipeline). Each fragment that is generated and processed may, e.g., represent a single sampling position or a set of plural sampling positions, depending upon how the graphics processing system is configured.
Many graphics processing pipelines now include one or more programmable processing stages, commonly referred to as "shaders". These shaders are programmable processing stages that execute shader programs on input data values to generate a desired set of output data for processing by the rest of the graphics pipeline and/or for output. The shaders of the graphics processing pipeline may share programmable processing circuitry, or they may each be distinct programmable processing units.
For example, in a typical graphics processing pipeline, shaders may be used to provide one or more of, and typically all of: geometry shading, vertex shading and fragment (pixel) shading by executing appropriate shader programs.
A graphics processor (GPU) shader core is thus a programmable processing unit (circuit) that performs processing operations by running small programs for each "item" in an output to be generated such as a render target, e.g. frame. An "item" in this regard may be, e.g. a vertex, a fragment (e.g. a pixel), one or more sampling positions, etc.
In graphics shader operation, each "item" will be processed by means of one or more execution threads which will execute the instructions of the shader program in question for the "item" in question. Typically, there will be multiple execution threads each executing at the same time (in parallel).
A shader program to be executed by a given "shader" of a graphics processing pipeline will typically be provided by an application that requires the graphics processing operations using a high level shader programming language, such as GLSL, HLSL, OpenCL and Vulkan SL, etc. This shader program will typically consist of high level instructions indicating desired programming steps defined in the relevant language standards (specifications). The high level shader program is then translated by a shader language compiler to binary code for the target graphics processing pipeline. This binary code will consist of "instructions" which are specified in the instruction set specification for the given target graphics processing pipeline.
In addition to rasterisation, another graphics processing technique that may be performed by a graphics processor is so-called "ray tracing". Ray tracing is a rendering process which involves tracing the paths of rays of light from a viewpoint (sometimes referred to as a "camera") back through pixels in an image plane into a scene, and simulating the effect of the interaction between the rays and objects in the scene. The output data value e.g. colour of a pixel in the image plane is determined based on the object(s) in the scene intersected by the ray passing through the pixel, and the properties of the surfaces of those objects. The ray tracing calculation is complex, and involves determining, for each pixel, a set of objects within the scene which a ray passing through the pixel intersects.
Ray tracing is considered to provide better i.e. more realistic, physically accurate images than rasterisation rendering techniques, particularly in terms of the ability to capture reflection, refraction and lighting effects. However, ray tracing can be significantly more processing intensive than rasterisation.
In some cases, rendering may be carried out using a so-called "hybrid" ray tracing process, in which only some of the steps of a full ray tracing process are performed. For example, the first intersection of each ray with an object in the scene may be determined through rasterisation (rather than by casting a ray from the viewpoint into the scene), with the remainder of the process then being performed in the same manner as when carrying out "full" ray tracing. Thus, a hybrid ray tracing process includes both rasterisation and ray tracing processes.
Thus, a frame to be rendered e.g. using hybrid ray tracing process, will represent a view of a scene containing one or more objects. An "object" in this case may be any object in the scene, such as a car, tree, house, etc. Objects in the scene will correspondingly be represented by appropriate "models", which are then processed to render the objects to display the scene. There may be a separate model for each object in a scene, or some models may represent groups of plural objects, if desired. Equally if the same (base) object (such as a tree) appears multiple times in a scene, the same (base) model may be used for each separate "instance" of the object in question in the scene (thus there may be multiple instances of the same model for a scene (frame) being rendered). Each model will represent the corresponding object, and thus have defined for it, e.g. appropriate geometry, such as a set of one or more vertices, in a model space, representing the location of the object in question in the model space.
Thus, when performing rendering of a new frame in a sequence of frames using a hybrid ray tracing process, the new frame will be defined as comprising one or more models representing objects in the scene, with each model having associated data indicative of the position of vertices ("vertex position data") of the model defined in a "model" space. The vertex position data for the model(s) for the object(s) for the frame must then be transformed into both a camera space to enable the rasterisation part of the hybrid ray tracing process to be performed and to a world space to enable the ray tracing part of the hybrid ray tracing process to be performed. These transformations are typically performed by executing an appropriate shading program (e.g. a vertex shader).
The Applicant has realised that there is scope for improvement in providing vertex position data in respect of objects in a scene for use when rendering frames using hybrid ray tracing processes.
and FIG. 18 illustrates the operation of a tiler in accordance with an embodiment of the technology described herein.
Like reference numerals are used for like components where appropriate in the drawings.


The present invention relates to a method and system for efficient image handling. The invention includes an image server with which image files are registered. The image processing requests are sent to the image server to produce image data representing the processed image file. In one embodiment of the invention, a document processing application obtains an image file for printing. The application registers the image with the image server. The image server returns an identifier identifying the image file which is used for subsequent image processing requests. The application initiates a print job, sending the image identifier and selected print parameters to a printer driver. In response, the printer driver negotiates image processing requests with the image server to modify the image file in accordance with the selected print parameters. Finally, the processed image data is retrieved from the image server and sent to the printer. The image server and printer driver may be separate and independently executing processes. In an alternate embodiment, the application, image server and printer driver are loaded on two or more networked computers.

Image processing has become a commonplace activity due to the ease and availability of the hardware and software used to capture images. The popularity and accessibility of the Internet, and more importantly the creation of the World Wide Web, have greatly increased the use of images. However, the processing of captured images and other graphical elements is generally more complex as compared to the processing of textual data. For example, color images may need to be color matched between a video display and a printer, edge enhanced to extract certain features, and so on. Such manipulations tend to be CPU intensive, and because of the large amounts of data typically associated with image files, especially color images, such manipulations also tend to be I/O intensive. One area that is affected by the increased use of images, for example, is the preparation and printing of documents containing such images.
Because of the availability of sophisticated word processing and other desktop publishing programs, documents generally no longer consist solely of text data, but rather include a variety of images. Preparing such documents for printing on a computer may require several image processing operations including scaling, clipping, sharpening, various transformations and the like. These operations are performed either by the application or by printer driver software normally included with the printer. As a consequence of incorporating images into a document, the computer system will experience a high degree of loading due to the processing of the large amounts of data, typical of graphical image elements. Several approaches to document preparation and printing exist.
Some applications prepare a device independent bitmap of an image of the document to be printed. The bitmap is then sent to a printer via its corresponding printer driver software. In most cases, the application has no knowledge of the printer's requirements. For example, a user may decide to print a medium quality image using a certain kind of paper. This requires that an image of the document be created with a certain resolution and bit depth. The application cannot determine the resolution and/or bit depth needed to render output in accordance with the print parameters selected by the user. Such knowledge is contained in the printer driver. The application, having to accommodate any kind of printer, therefore takes a conservative approach and sends a copy of a high resolution bitmap of the image to the printer driver. The printer driver then performs additional processing (e.g. decimation) on the received copy of the high resolution image to generate output for the printer at the appropriate resolution.
This simple approach is a very inefficient way of printing. The application always generates a high resolution copy of the document regardless of the printer and the selected print parameters. This translates to the unnecessary processing of large amounts of data, requiring excessive disk activity as intermediate files are created, written out to the disk, read in from the disk, processed, written back out to the disk and so on. Such activity adversely impacts the user since access to the CPU is blocked until the print job has completed.
In another approach, the document processing application queries the printer driver to determine what image processing capabilities exist in the printer driver. The application then decides how to divide up the image processing tasks between the application and the printer driver. The application produces an appropriate image of the document and sends a copy of the image to the printer driver. The printer driver performs any required additional processing on the copy of the received image and outputs a final printer image of the document to the printer. Knowing the image processing capabilities of the printer driver improves efficiency, since printer-specific processing such as output resolution generation is performed by the printer driver. The application no longer needs to generate a high resolution bitmap in an attempt to accommodate all printers. Rather, the application performs only device-independent operations such as clipping, red-eye correction, sharpening, etc., operations not typically supported by the printer driver. This results in a smaller image file that is then passed from the application to the driver. From the standpoint of the user, however, the CPU still is tied up until the application has processed the image and passed a copy of the image to the printer driver, at which point the printer driver performs additional printer-specific processing on the received copy of the image and outputs the generated printer image to the printer.
To alleviate the waiting, most computers use a technique known as spooling to return the CPU to the user as quickly as possible from a print job. The printer image, i.e. the bitmap image that is actually sent to the printer, is copied out to the disk and sent to the printer as a background process. This allows the printer driver to return control of the computer back to the user without having to wait for the actual output to be produced. However, transmitting the final printer image to the printer quite often represents only a small fraction of the total effort of the print job, most of the effort and time being expended both by the application and the printer driver to produce the printer image of the document in the first place.
One operating system has taken the spooling technique one step further. Under the Microsoft.RTM. Windows '95 operating system, a method known as enhanced metafile format (EMF) spooling was implemented. With EMF spooling, the operating system (OS) spools up all of the calls that the application makes to the printer driver to a spool file, much in the same way that a printer image is presently spooled. The OS then plays back the spooled file, sending the spooled information to the printer driver, thus completing the print job entirely in the background. Control of the computer is returned to the user sooner under EMF spooling, since the user no longer must wait for the printer driver to perform its image processing operations.
Yet, even with EMF spooling, there still are factors which impact system performance during printing. Most notably is the fact that large amounts of data are being passed through the system. For example, consider a 24-bit color digitized image of an 8".times.10" photograph. Roughly 20 megabytes of data are needed to represent such an image at 300 dpi and 80 megabytes of data at 600 dpi. With EMF spooling, the OS spools up the calls made to the printer driver from the application, along with a copy of the 20 or 80 megabytes of data that represent the image. The spooled file is written to disk. During playback, the spooled file (which includes the 20 megabytes of image data) is read back from the disk and handed to the printer driver. As the printer driver prepares the printer image, temporary files are created, stored on the disk, read from the disk, written back out to the disk and so on. All of this disk activity takes its toll in the response time and overall performance of the OS. What the user perceives is a very slow and otherwise non-responsive system.
While the foregoing discussion has focused on the bottlenecks experienced during the processing of a print job, similar bottlenecks exist in the processing of images in general. What is needed is a method and system which minimizes the amount of data being passed by the OS during the handling and processing of images. In particular, a method and system is needed to more efficiently process a print job. It is also desirous to minimize the disk activity experienced by the OS during the processing of an image, such as during a print job.

Method and apparatus for processing and printing documents


A method and device and a bus system for generating at least one program interruption in at least one user of a bus system, at least one user storing a specifiable time value in at least one memory and the time value being compared with at least one base time, the at least one program interruption being triggered when the time value is equal to the base time.

Interconnection of control units, sensors, and actuator devices with the help of a communication system has increased markedly in recent years in the construction of modern motor vehicles and machines, in particular in the area of machine tools and in automation. Synergy effects can be achieved by distributing functions over a plurality of control units. Such configurations are referred to as distributed systems. Communication between different stations is taking place increasingly via a bus. The communication traffic on the bus, access and reception mechanisms and error handling are regulated by a protocol. Bus-specific elements of control units, sensors and actuator devices, referred to below as users, in combination with the communication network, are referred to below as a bus system.
The established protocol in the motor vehicle field is the CAN (Controller Area Network). This is an event-driven protocol; that is, protocol activities such as transmission of a message are initiated by events that originate outside of the communication system. Unambiguous access to the communication system or bus system is resolved through priority-based bit arbitration. This requires assignment of a unique priority to each message. The CAN protocol is very flexible; additional nodes and messages can be added readily, as long as there are still free priorities (message identifiers) available. The collection of all of the messages to be transmitted on the network with priorities and their sender nodes, and possibly reception nodes, are stored in a list known as the communication matrix.
An alternative to event-driven, spontaneous communication is the purely time-controlled approach. All communication activities on the bus are strictly periodic. Protocol activities such as transmission of a message are triggered only after the elapse of a time applicable to the entire bus system. Access to the medium is based on the allocation of time ranges in which a transmitter has exclusive transmission rights. The protocol is comparatively inflexible; adding new nodes is only possible when the corresponding time ranges have already been released beforehand. This circumstance forces the order of messages to be set already before start-up. A timetable is therefore created, which must fulfill the requirements of the messages in regard to repetition rate, redundancy, deadlines etc. This is known as the "bus schedule." The positioning of the messages within the transmission periods must be synchronized with the applications that produce the contents of the messages, in order to keep the latencies between application and moment of transmission to a minimum. Failure to perform this synchronization would destroy the advantage of time-controlled transmission (minimal latency jitter when transmitting the message over the bus). Thus, the demands on the planning tools are high.
The approach to time-controlled CAN shown in German Patent Application Nos. DE 100 00 302, DE 100 00 303, DE 100 00 304 and DE 100 00 305, the so-called TTCAN (Time Triggered Controller Area network), satisfies the requirements for time-controlled communication sketched out above, as well as the demands for a certain measure of flexibility. TTCAN meets these demands by structuring the communication round (basic cycle) in exclusive time windows for periodic messages of specific communication participants, and in arbitration time windows for spontaneous messages of multiple communication participants.
A TTCAN network is assumed below as the bus system, although this is not to be understood as restrictive in regard to the present invention. Rather, the present invention explained below may also be employed for additional comparable bus systems.
In the context of a TTCAN network, German Patent Application No. DE 100 00 305 describes a method and a device for exchanging data in messages between at least two bus users which are connected by a bus system, where the messages containing the data are transmitted over the bus system by the users and each message contains an identifier that characterizes the contained data, with each user deciding on the basis of the identifier whether it will receive the message. At the same time, the messages are time-controlled by a first user by having the first user transmit a reference message repeatedly over the bus in at least one specified time interval, and the time interval is subdivided into time windows of specifiable length, with the messages being transmitted in the time windows.

Method and device for generating program interruptions in users of a bus system, and bus system


An outboard motor is mounted with a multiple-cylinder engine having cylinders to which intake air is distributed through the intake manifold unit of an intake unit, respectively. The intake manifold unit comprises an intake manifold body formed of a synthetic resin, an idling air control (IAC) valve for regulating a quantity of intake air into the intake manifold unit in an idling operation state, a valve holder to which the IAC valve is operatively connected in a floating manner, and an elastic member through which the IAC valve is mounted to the valve holder. The IAC valve, the elastic member and the valve holder are coupled integrally with each other and mounted to the intake manifold body in the floating state.

The present invention relates to an intake manifold of an outboard motor.
An outboard motor includes a multiple-cylinder engine provided with an intake manifold unit (which will be called merely intake manifold or manifold, hereinlater) for distributing intake air, the flow of which is regulated by a throttle body, to the respective cylinders of the engine. Such an intake manifold is normally made of aluminum alloy. However, this time, an intake manifold having a portion downstream of a throttle body, which is made of synthetic resin, has been considered and adopted for an outboard motor for the first time by the applicant of the subject application.
Some intake manifolds are provided with IAC (idling air control) valve (which may be designated as an ISC (idling speed control valve)) for regulating a quantity of intake air when a throttle valve arranged in a throttle body is closed (i.e. during an idling state). The IAC valve is normally attached to the intake manifold through a valve holder made of sheet metal.
The intake manifold is also provided with a by-pass passage for regulating the quantity of air flowing through the IAC valve. A union made of brass is press-fit into an air inlet of the by-pass passage to reduce intake noise and to prevent the entry of seawater or the like into the intake manifold.
Moreover, in order to measure the interior pressure of the intake manifold, a pressure sampling (takeout) hole for sampling pressure is formed so as to communicate with a pressure sensor through a hose.
However, if an intake manifold made of resin is used and a sheet metal holder is used to attach the IAC valve to an intake manifold body, the edge portion of the holder contacts the surface of the intake manifold body and scrapes the resin surface thereof, thus being inconvenient.
Furthermore, in many cases, the IAC valve is fixed in a semi-floating state by an elastic element such as rubber. Due to this fact, depending on a state in which the IAC valve is attached, the IAC valve may contact an attachment bolt and the operating vibration of the IAC valve may be propagated to the intake manifold. Since such vibration tends to be easily propagated to the resin intake manifold, the vibration may cause the generation of noise.
Furthermore, it is undesirable to press-fit the brass union into the air inlet of the by-pass passage because of the disadvantageous increase in the number of parts and the increase in the number of assembling steps.
In a case where a pressure sampling hole for measuring internal pressure is formed in the intake manifold and connected to the pressure sensor through a hose, it is necessary to provide some filter means on the intake manifold so as to prevent fuel or lubricant from entering the intake manifold. This undesirably increases the number or parts and requires providing screws or the like to the intake manifold so as to attach such a filter means thereto.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate defects or drawbacks encountered in the prior art mentioned above and to provide an outboard motor intake manifold capable of reducing noise and improving assembling performance without increasing the number of parts and the number of assembling and working steps. A further object of the invention is to improve the reliability and durability of the intake manifold.
This and other objects of the present invention can be achieved by providing an intake manifold unit for an outboard motor mounting of a multiple-cylinder engine having cylinders to which intake air is distributed through the intake manifold unit, the intake manifold unit comprising:
an intake manifold body formed of a synthetic resin;
an idling air control (IAC) valve for regulating a quantity of intake air into the intake manifold body in an idling operation state;
a valve holder to which the IAC valve is operatively connected in a floating manner; and
an elastic member through which the IAC valve is mounted to the valve holder, the IAC valve, the elastic member and the valve holder being coupled integrally with each other and mounted to the intake manifold body in the floating state.
In a preferred embodiment of this aspect, the intake manifold body comprises a surge tank disposed on the downstream side of a throttle body of the intake unit and a branch extending from the surge tank and operatively connected to the engine, the surge tank being provided with a valve mounting boss to which the valve holder is mounted.
The IAC valve is provided with a flanged portion, the elastic member is composed of first and second rubbers between which the flanged portion is clamped and to which the valve holder made of metal plate is mounted in the floating manner.
The intake manifold body is formed with a pressure sampling hole, to which a pressure hose connection union is mounted, and the pressure hose connection union is operatively connected to a pressure sensor for an outboard motor in a manner that an axis of the pressure sampling hole is arranged to be offset from an axis of a passage formed in this union.
The intake manifold body is provided with a by-pass passage regulating a quantity of air flowing in the IAC valve, the by-pass passage being provided with an inlet formed so as to provide a funnel shape expanding outward, and a hood-shaped protrusion which is integrally formed above the inlet of the by-pass passage.
The intake manifold body is formed to be dividable into inside and outside shells and further provided with a valve silencer for the IAC valve, the valve silencer being divided into halves, which are integrally formed with divided inside and outside shells of the intake manifold unit, respectively. This provides an expansion chamber when the divided portions of the intake manifold body are coupled with each other.
According to the present invention of the structures mentioned above, the following advantageous functions and effects will be attained.
The outboard motor of the present invention mounts a multiple-cylinder engine having an intake manifold that distributes intake air to respective cylinders of the engine and is formed of synthetic resin, and has an IAC valve for regulating a quantity of intake air into the intake manifold in an idling state which is attached to a valve holder through an elastic element in a full floating state. Thus, the IAC valve, the elastic element and the valve holder are integrally formed with one another. The IAC valve, the elastic element and the valve holder thus integrated can be attached to the intake manifold body. Thus, the operating vibration of the IAC valve can be absorbed to thereby prevent the generation of noise in the intake manifold body, and assembling performance for assembling the parts relating to the IAC valve can be improved.
Further, a pressure sampling hole is formed in the intake manifold, and a pressure hose connection union is provided at the pressure sampling hole to connect the pressure sampling hole to a pressure sensor. An axis of the pressure sampling hole is arranged so as to be offset from an axis of a passage formed in the pressure hose connection union. Thus, it is possible to prevent fuel and lubricant from entering the pressure sensor and to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembling steps.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the by-pass passage regulating a quantity of air flowing in the IAC valve is provided for the intake manifold, an inlet of the by-pass passage is formed into a funnel shape expanding outward, and a hood-shape protrusion is integrally formed above the inlet of the by-pass passage. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce intake air noise and to prevent seawater from entering the inlet of the manifold.
Furthermore, the intake manifold is formed to be dividable, and a valve silencer for the IAC valve is formed to the intake manifold. The valve silencer is divided into halves and the respective halves are integrally formed with halves divided from the divided intake manifold to thereby form the intake manifold with an expansion chamber. Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembly steps.
The nature and further characteristic features will be made more clear from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A record/playback module includes a case and an electronic circuit supported by the case for recording an audio message under control of a user and thereafter automatically playing the audio message in response to a change in ambient light. The electronic circuit has a RECORD mode of operation in which the electronic circuit records the audio message and a PLAY mode of operation in which the electronic circuit plays the audio message. The electronic circuit includes a first switch for initiating the RECORD mode of operation and a light sensitive subcircuit for initiating the PLAY mode of operation. The light sensing subcircuit is adapted to initiate the PLAY mode of operation when a second switch is in a first switch position and the ambient light increases, and when the second switch is in a second switch position and the ambient light decreases. One embodiment includes a battery power supply, an on-off switch, a light emitting diode indicating the RECORD mode of operation, and a case having a size and shape suitable for placement in a user's refrigerator with a reminder message that plays when the refrigerator door opens.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to devices for recording and playing voice messages, and more particularly to a voice recorder/playback module with improved design features and functionality.
2. Description of Related Art
Instructional messages guide many aspects of our daily personal lives. We find them used for education, behavior modification, child rearing, pet training, safety warnings, friendly reminders, and the like. Message repetition often increases message effectiveness, and so voice recorder/playback units are sometimes used to facilitate message repetition. But existing recorder/playback units often lack the design features and functionality needed to record a customized message and play it back when required for many diverse personal applications. Thus, many users share a need for an improved recorder/playback unit.