A waterproof casing for a power supply has a lower casing, an upper casing, an inlet cover and an outlet cover. The lower cover contains electronic components. The upper casing is mounted on the opening of the lower casing and has an inlet cavity, at least one inlet, an outlet cavity and at least one outlet. The at least one inlet and outlet are formed through the upper casing and respectively communicate with the inlet cavity and outlet cavity. The inlet cover and outlet cover respectively seal the inlet cavity and the outlet cavity, communicate the inlet cavity and the outlet cavity with the lower casing to allow the air to flow inside the casing and to keep the water from flowing in the inlet cavity and the outlet cavity. Structure of the waterproof casing is simplified, so benefits manufacturing.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a casing for a power supply, and more particularly to a waterproof casing for a power supply, which has simplified structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power supply usually has a waterproof casing to keep the electronic components inside the power supply from being damaged by water.
As the technology progresses faster and faster, the electronic components inside the power supply are often required to generate more and more power. Thus, more and more heat is generated inside the power supply. Usually, the heat-dissipating devices such as fans are mounted on the casing to dissipate heat out of the power supply.
Therefore, to have the waterproof heat-dissipating devices has become a key point for the power supply. However, the conventional waterproof dissipating devices for the power supply are complicated. The complicated structure costs a lot of money and manufacturing time. Therefore, the conventional waterproof dissipating devices for the power supply is money and time consuming.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a waterproof casing for a power supply to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


In some examples, a system receives sensor data from a sensor of a transport chassis configured to carry a cargo transportation unit (CTU), and determines, based on the sensor data and a profile learned based on past data, whether the transport chassis is loaded with a CTU or cargo.

A transport chassis is a support structure that can be used to carry a cargo transportation unit (CTU), such as a shipping container. The shipping container can be used to carry cargo. The transport chassis can be part of a truck, or alternatively, can be part of a trailer that has wheels. In an arrangement where there are a large number of transport chassis dispersed over a large geographical area, it can be difficult to determine which transport chassis are being used to carry cargo, and which are not.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and the size of some parts may be exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the example shown. Moreover, the drawings provide examples and/or implementations consistent with the description; however, the description is not limited to the examples and/or implementations provided in the drawings.


A component includes a support structure made with an additive manufacturing process with a first end and a second end, and an object made with an additive manufacturing process with a first end and a second end, where the first end of the object is attached to the second end of the support structure. A cross-sectional area of the first end of the object is larger than a cross-sectional area of the second end of the support structure. A method of making an object, the method includes manufacturing a support structure with an additive manufacturing process. An object is manufactured on top of and connected to the support structure with an additive manufacturing process, wherein there is a witness mark created between the support structure and the object. The witness mark is identified. The object is separated from the support structure along the witness mark.

The present invention relates to an additive manufacturing process, and in particular, to forming a witness mark on a component manufactured with an additive manufacturing process. Additive manufacturing processes manufacture components in a layer-by-layer fashion. Additive manufacturing processes work by first using a computer program to break a component into layers. Next, a layer of a powder material can be deposited on a work station. A first layer of the component can then be solidified using an additive manufacturing process, including but not limited to, stereolithography, electron beam melting, or laser powder deposition. This process can be repeated and the component will be built layer-by-layer until it is completed.
When using additive manufacturing processes, some parts are delicately shaped and cannot withstand the stresses of an additive manufacturing process on their own. Under these conditions, a support structure can be used to support the part during manufacturing. After the part is completed, the support structure can then be separated from the part using any technique known in the industry. One issue that arises when using a support structure during an additive manufacturing process is that it is difficult to determine where the part and the support structure should be separated after the additive manufacturing process is completed.

Usage of a witness mark to distinguish support structure from part


The present invention describes a method, system and mirror driver for discarding data frames in mirrored data communication networks. In the method, at least one data structure comprising one or more entries is created and maintained, an entry comprising at least a current sender data frame sequence number. When a data frame is received, a hash code is computed using then sender address and the receiver address of the received data frame, the hash code being an index to the table. The current sender data frame sequence number is checked in the entry indexed by the computed hash code, and if the sequence number of the received frame is smaller than the current sender data frame sequence number in the entry, the data frame is discarded as being a duplicate frame.

Local Area Network (LAN) mirroring is used in systems which require a fault tolerant communication mechanism. In general, LAN mirroring means that frames sent between a sender and a receiver are sent via multiple routes (two or more). The basic idea behind LAN mirroring is that it is highly unlikely that all the duplicates of a frame would disappear. Therefore, the receiver will receive at least one of the frames. Usually the redundant LAN architecture assumes that a failure in one LAN is usually isolated from another LAN(s). Thus a node can communicate with other nodes even if one LAN cannot be used to send frames to other nodes.
FIG. 1 describes a basic system architecture for LAN mirroring. FIG. 1 comprises a sender, a receiver and two distinct LANs LAN1, LAN2 which connects the sender and receiver to each other. The sender sends a frame #X to via both LANs to the receiver. Although the main idea behind using LAN mirroring is very simple, there still exists some difficulties that must be taken care of:                The receiver must discard the duplicates, i.e. the receiver must know which frames it must accept and which reject.        The receiver must get back in synchronization after a failure of a sender or a receiver without requiring assistance from the user or having to inform the sender.        The sender and receiver must get in synchronization after the system has been started or restarted.        LAN mirroring must be transparent to upper level protocols (e.g. Internet Protocol (IP) and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)).

Method, system and mirror driver for LAN mirroring


Device structures for a bipolar junction transistor. A layer is formed on a top surface of a substrate. A trench is formed in the layer and has a plurality of sidewalls with a width between an opposite pair of the sidewalls that varies with increasing distance from the top surface of the substrate. A collector pedestal of the bipolar junction transistor is formed in the trench.

The invention relates generally to integrated circuit fabrication and semiconductor devices and, in particular, to fabrication methods and device structures for a bipolar junction transistor.
Bipolar junction transistors are found, among other end uses, in high-frequency and high-power end use applications. In particular, bipolar junction transistors may be used in microwave power amplifiers used in wireless communications systems and power amplifiers in mobile devices, as well as high-speed logic circuits.
Bipolar junction transistors are three-terminal electronic devices that include semiconductor regions defining an emitter, an intrinsic base, and a collector. An NPN bipolar junction transistor includes two regions of n-type semiconductor material constituting the emitter and collector, and a region of p-type semiconductor material constituting the intrinsic base situated between the two regions of n-type semiconductor material. A PNP bipolar junction transistor includes two regions of p-type semiconductor material constituting the emitter and collector, and a region of n-type semiconductor material constituting the intrinsic base situated between the two regions of p-type semiconductor material. The emitter, intrinsic base, and collector define a pair of p-n junctions, namely a collector-base junction and an emitter-base junction, across which the conductivity type of the respective semiconductor materials changes. A voltage applied across the emitter-base junction controls the movement of charge carriers that produces charge flow between the collector and emitter.
Improved fabrication methods and device structures are needed for a bipolar junction transistor.

Profile control over a collector of a bipolar junction transistor


EL display elements are configured by sequentially laminating an anode, an emissive layer and a cathode, and emit light of R, G, and B. Each EL display element is supplied with a drive current from an EL element driving TFT. The transistor sizes of the EL element driving TFTs connected to the display pixels for respective colors are designated such that the size of the TFT for a green display pixel including an EL element having the highest emissive efficiency is the smallest, and the sizes of the TFTs for red and blue display pixels having sequentially decreasing emissive efficiency are made sequentially larger.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device using a self-emissive element such as an electroluminescence (hereinafter referred to as "EL") element and a thin film transistor (hereinafter referred to as "TFT").
2. Description of the Related Art
In the recent years, display devices using EL elements, which are self-emissive elements, have gained attention as the display devices that may replace CRTs and LCDs.
Research is being directed to development of display devices using TFTs as the switching elements for driving the EL elements.
FIG. 2 is an equivalent circuit diagram of a conventional organic EL display device. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the organic EL display device showing an area around a display pixel. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view taken along line A—A of FIG. 3, while FIG. 4B shows a cross-sectional view taken along line B—B of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 illustrates the arrangement of display pixels in the organic EL display device.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, display pixels 110 are formed in regions surrounded by gate signal lines 51 and drain signal lines 52. The display pixels 110 are arranged in a matrix. A first TFT 30, which is a switching TFT, is provided in an area near an intersection of the two signal lines 51,52. The source 13s of the TFT 30 concurrently serves as a capacitor electrode 55 which functions together with a storage capacitor electrode line 54 described below to create capacitance. The source 13s is connected to the gate 41 of a second TFT 40 which is an EL element driving TFT. The source 43s of the second TFT 40 is connected to an anode 61 of an organic EL element 60. The drain 43d of the TFT 40 is connected to the power source line 53 which supplies a current to the organic EL element 60.
The storage capacitor electrode line 54 is arranged in parallel to gate signal lines 51. The storage capacitor electrode line 54 is made of a material such as chrome, and forms a storage capacitor 56 by allowing charges to be accumulated between the capacitor electrode 55 connected to the source 13s of the TFT 30 and the storage capacitor electrode line 54, while a gate insulating film 12 is disposed therebetween. The storage capacitor 56 is provided for retaining a voltage applied to the gate electrode 41 of the second TFT 40.
As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the organic EL display device is formed by sequentially laminating TFTs and an organic EL element on a substrate 10 made of an insulating material such as glass or synthetic resin, or, alternatively, a conductive or semiconductor material. When a conductive or semiconductor substrate is used as the substrate 10, an insulating film such as SiO2 or SiN is formed on the substrate 10 before forming the first and second TFTs and the organic EL display element.
The first TFT 30, which is the switching TFT, is first described.
As shown in FIG. 4A, sequentially formed on an insulating substrate 10 made of a material such as quartz glass or non-alkali glass are an active layer 13 composed of a semiconductor film (p-Si film), a gate insulating film 12, and a gate signal line 51 made of a refractory metal such as chromium (Cr) or molybdenum (Mo). The gate signal line 51 concurrently serves as gate electrodes 11. Further arranged are a drain signal line 52 composed of Al, and a power source line 53 made of Al and serving as the drive power source of the organic EL element.
An interlayer insulating film 15 composed through sequential lamination of a SiO2 film, a SiN film, and a SiO2 film is formed on the entire surface over the gate electrodes 11 and the gate insulating film 12. Subsequently, a drain electrode 16 is formed by filling a metal such as Al in a contact hole created corresponding to the drain region 13d. A planarizing insulating film 17 composed of an organic resin is then formed over the entire surface for planarizing the surface.
The second TFT 40, which is the organic EL element driving TFT, is next described.
As shown in FIG. 4B, sequentially formed on an insulating substrate 10 made of a material such as quartz glass or non-alkali glass are an active layer 43 composed of a semiconductor film (p-Si film), a gate insulating film 12, and gate electrodes 41 made of a refractory metal such as Cr or Mo. The active layer 43 includes channels 43c, and source 43s and drain 43d on the outboard sides of the channels. An interlayer insulating film 15 composed through sequential lamination of a SiO2 film, a SiN film, and a SiO2 film is formed on the entire surface over the gate insulating film 12 and the active layer 43. Subsequently, a contact hole is created through the gate insulating film 12 and the interlayer insulating film 15 in a position corresponding to the drain region 43d. This contact hole is filled with a metal such as Al to connect the drain 43d with a power source line 53. The power source line 53 is connected to a drive power source. A planarizing insulating film 17 composed of, for example, an organic resin is then formed over the entire surface for planarizing the surface. A contact hole is formed through the planarizing insulating film 17 in a position corresponding to the source 43s. A transparent electrode made of ITO (indium tin oxide), namely, the anode 61 of the EL element 60, is formed on the planarizing insulating film 17 and through this contact hole to connect with the source 43s.
The organic EL element 60 is configured by first providing the anode 61 made of a transparent electrode composed of a material such as ITO. The emissive element layer 66 is then superimposed. The emissive element layer 66 comprises a first hole-transport layer 62 composed of MTDATA or a similar material, a second hole-transport layer 63 composed of a material such as TPD, an emissive layer 64 composed of, for example, Bebq2 including quinacridone derivatives, and an electron transport layer 65 composed of a material such as Bebq2. Subsequently, the cathode 67 is formed, for example, by using an alloy of magnesium (Mg) and silver (Ag), or by laminating lithium fluoride (LiF) and Al. All of the above-mentioned layers constituting the organic EL element 60 are laminated in the described order. By selecting materials which emit light of predetermined colors as the emissive materials of the emissive element layer 66, display pixels can be configured to emit light of different colors. The organic EL display device is configured by arranging the display pixels of respective colors in a matrix layout.
In the organic EL element, holes injected from the anode and electrons injected from the cathode recombine in the emissive layer. As a result, organic molecules constituting the emissive layer are excited, generating excitons. Through the process in which these excitons undergo radiation until deactivation, light is emitted from the emissive layer. This light radiates outward through the transparent anode via the transparent insulating substrate, resulting in light emission.
As described above, in each display pixel 110 emitting a color, an EL element driving TFT 40 is connected for driving the organic EL element of that pixel. FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of a driving TFT 40. The transistor size of the TFT 40, namely, ratio W/L concerning the channel width W and the channel length L of the channel region in which the semiconductor film of the TFT 40 and the gate electrodes overlap (in the case of FIG. 3A, L=L1+L2) is identical in all TFTs 40.
Furthermore, emissive efficiency of the emissive layer in each display pixel differs according to the emitted color depending on the organic emissive material constituting the emissive layer.
In such an arrangement, to supply different values of current to the organic EL elements for different colors according to the emissive efficiency of each color so as to obtain the same level of luminance for the respective colors and establish an appropriate white balance, it is necessary to alter the current value of the power source for each color, or to alter the potential of the drain signal supplied to the first TFT connected in each display pixel according to each color. Specifically, more current must be made to flow in an organic EL element including an emissive layer of a color having a low emissive efficiency, compared to an organic EL element including an emissive layer of a color having a high emissive efficiency.
However, conventional display devices are disadvantageous in that, to alter the current value of the power source for each color of the display pixels, the power source line must be arranged in a complex manner within the region in which the display pixels are arranged. Further, to alter the potential of the drain signal supplied to the first TFT according to each color, complex circuitry is necessary for supplying a signal to the first TFT.


The invention relates to a method for confirming the authenticity of a document. According to the invention, said method is carried out in such a way that the authenticity is confirmed using a digital signature, the signed confirmation of authenticity is integrated into the document by means of a secret watermark and that the document is also provided with a public watermark.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for confirming the authenticity of a document.
The invention also relates to a device that is suitable for carrying out the method.
2. Related Technology
A prior-art method for generating digital signatures is offered by Deutsche Post AG under the trade designation Signtrust.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829 discloses a method of asymmetrical cryptography. This known method serves for encrypting and digitally signing and thus confirming the authenticity and integrity of the digital document using a key pair. The asymmetry of the cryptographic method is achieved here by means of a primary factorization problem.
Moreover, it is a known procedure to use elliptical curves for the asymmetrical cryptography.
Furthermore, by using trust centers or a certificate authority, it is a known procedure to unambiguously associate a specific public key with a natural or legal person.
Moreover, standards exist regarding the association of the key and the execution of the method. Known standards are ISO/IEC IS X.509 and PKCS # 11.
Furthermore, methods for generating a secure hash value or a message digest are known. Here, a representative value is determined from a document or from parts of the document, said value serving as evidence of the authenticity of the document.
Moreover, it is a known procedure to integrate identification information into digital watermarks. This integration is done in such a way that the information can only be reconstructed with a key and it is otherwise imperceptible.
The article by S. Katzenbeisser and F. A. P. Petitcolas titled "Information Hiding Techniques for Steganography and Digital Watermarking," Artech House, Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 2000, describes the linking of additional information, which is also referred to as metadata. The metadata, which is imperceptible without using auxiliary means, is inseparably linked to a digital document.
German Patent DE 195 219 69 C1 and European Patent EP 0 879 535 B1 describe a method for marking binarily encoded data records. Here, a data record to be marked is broken down into blocks of pixels, whereby the pixels are transformed from the configuration space to the frequency space by means of a transformation function. Furthermore, there is a discrete position sequence for the implementation of information units in the data records to be marked, taking into account a key as well as data-specific properties. The information unit to be implemented is written at the positions in the data record specified by the position sequence. As a result, the digital watermark is able to hold any binarily encoded information of variable length and to insert it into the document in a robust and forgery-proof manner.
International patent application publication WO 99/57885 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,480 describe a method for the digital confirmation of the authenticity of analog documents. With this method, the digital watermark that is embedded in the document serves as a carrier of authentication information. The displayed digital watermark survives media discontinuities. Moreover, this method discloses the use of a hash value as an authentication value.
German Preliminary Published Application DE 198 47 943 A1 describes a method for generating digital watermarks for electronic documents, whereby the genuine authorship of the documents is confirmed on the basis of digital watermarks. Here, in order to improve the possibility of identity confirmation, the watermark is provided with a hash value of the document.
Another known method for inserting a digital watermark is described in the article by R. G. van Schyndel, A. Z. Tirkel, C. F. Osborne titled "A Digital Watermark," first IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, Vol. II, pp. 86-90. Austin, Tex., U.S.A., 1994. This method calls for the insertion of a digital watermark into an image in that the lowest-value bit of a pixel is changed and thus only minimal changes are inserted into the image. However, this known method has the drawback that the watermark can no longer be detected once the image has been manipulated or converted.
Here, it is especially important to apply the watermark in such a way that it is not destroyed through the manipulation or formatting of the document. A known procedure for solving this problem is to store information in the frequency space.
Fundamentally, however, other methods are also suitable for applying manipulation-proof watermarks, which are also known by the designation robust watermarks.
Moreover, methods are known that use machine-readable encoding to achieve the authentication of documents.
These methods use machine-readable bar codes and increase the forgery-proof character of certain documents, especially banknotes, checks, identification cards and lottery tickets. Such methods are described, for example, in international patent application publication WO 0007356.

Method and device for confirming the authenticity of a document and a safe for storing data


A tunneling sensor has a pair of force rebalance capacitors that are used in a push-pull relationship so as to provide a rebalance force that is a linear function of applied rebalance voltages, which leads to an output voltage that is linearly related to input acceleration. The tunneling sensor comprises a plate electrode that is formed from and attached to a silicon substrate by a pair of torsional flexures, which provide an axis of rotation for the plate electrode. A pendulous mass is formed on a first end of the plate electrode, and a tunnel-effect contact is formed on a second end of the plate electrode. A pair of torque rebalance bridge electrodes are formed on the substrate so as to span the plate electrode. A tunnel-effect tip is formed on the substrate so as to be proximate the tunnel-effect contact and in line with the rotational path that the tunnel-effect contact takes when the plate electrode is rotated.

Some former force rebalance tunneling sensors used a single capacitor with a square law volts-to-force relationship. This yielded an output voltage proportional to the square root of the quantity to be measured. Alternative former force rebalance tunneling sensors used piezoelectric layers to perform the rebalance function.
Sensors providing a non-linear output are generally undesirable because they lead to harmonic distortion of the quantity being measured. Sensitivity also varies with the magnitude of input signals. Furthermore, the dynamic range over which a sensor yields a faithful representation of an input signal is reduced.
Piezoelectric rebalancing is generally inferior due to hysteresis, poor temperature and time stability, and small available displacements. The additional complexity of fabricating piezoelectric layers on a micromachined device is also undesirable.
On the other hand, linear force rebalancing increases dynamic range and reduces non-linearity, harmonic distortion, and intermodulation distortion. For many applications, such as phased arrays, linear operation is absolutely essential.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has designed a state of the art tunneling accelerometer device primarily for use in phased arrays (see "Tunnel-Effect Displacement Sensor", NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 13, No. 9, Sep. 1989), but this device has several minor drawbacks that may act as barriers to practical use. For instance, the JPL device requires a high bias voltage. Specifically, the JPL device currently requires a 200 volt bias voltage to close the gap between the tunnel-effect tip. This large voltage is necessary because of a large capacitor gap (hundreds of microns) in the rebalance capacitor. This is an uncommonly high voltage for use in towed arrays, inasmuch as high voltages create corrosion and safety hazards in handling and testing. Furthermore, the circuitry required to generate such a high voltage can generate noise for the rest of the array.
Another drawback of the JPL device is that it employs non-linear force rebalance. A single capacitor is used for force rebalance in the JPL device, and the force across this single capacitor is proportional to the square of the applied voltage. This puts a non-linearity in the feedback loop wherein the output voltage is proportional to the square root of the incident acceleration. This, in turn, creates harmonic distortion, intermodulation, and phase non-linearity, which leads to reduced sensitivity and dynamic range. For array applications, linearity, uniform phase, and low distortion are essential to the combining of the numerous transducers which make up the array.
Still another drawback of the JPL device is its size, which is on the order of 8 mm. This is fairly large for a micromachined sensor. For many applications, such as thin line towed arrays, this is simply too large.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to overcome the disadvantages of former force rebalance tunneling sensors and thereby provide a tunneling sensor having a pair of force rebalance capacitors that are used in a push-pull relationship so as to provide a rebalance force that is a linear function of applied rebalance voltages, which leads to an output torque voltage that is linearly related to input acceleration.

Method for fabricating a tunneling sensor with linear force rebalance

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


The present invention concerns a novel CD33-like protein. In particular, isolated nucleic acid molecules are provided encoding the CD33-like protein. Recombinant CD33-like polypeptides are also provided as are recombinant vectors and host cells. The invention further provides methods useful during tumor or inflammatory disease diagnosis or prognosis and therapeutic treatments targeting cells expressing CD33-like polypeptides.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel CD33-like protein. In particular, isolated nucleic acid molecules are provided encoding the CD33-like protein. Recombinant CD33-like polypeptides are also provided as are recombinant vectors and host cells. The invention further provides methods useful during tumor or inflammatory disease diagnosis or prognosis and therapeutic treatments targeting cells expressing CD33-like polypeptides.
2. Background Information
CD33 was originally defined on human myeloid cells by a panel of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) that recognize a glycoprotein of 67 kD that is restricted in its expression to cells of the hematopoietic system (Peiper S. C. et al., in Knapp W, Dorken B, Gilks W R, Rieber E P, Schmidt R E, Stein H, von dem Borne A E G (eds): Leucocyte Typing IV. White Cell Differentiation Antigens. Oxford, UK, Oxford University 1989, p 814; Pierelli L. et al., Br J Haematol 84:24 (1993); Andrews R. G. et al., Blood 62:124, (1983); Griffin J. D., et al., Leuk Res 8:521 (1984)). CD33 is absent from hematopoietic stem cells but is first detected on a subpopulation of mixed colony-forming cells (Pierelli L. et al., Br J Haematol 84:24 (1993); Griffin J. D. et al., Leuk Res 8:521 (1984)). Expression then continues along the myelomonocytic pathway until it is downregulated on granulocytes but retained by monocytes and tissue macrophages. (Pierelli L. et al., Br J Haematol 84:24 (1993); Bernstein I. D. et al., J Clin Invest 79:1153 (1987)). The expression pattern of CD33 within the hematopoietic system indicates a potential role in the regulation of myeloid cell differentiation. However, despite its initial identification over 10 years ago (Andrews R. G. et al., Blood 62:124 (1983)), the functions and binding properties of CD33 have remained obscure.
CD33 MoAbs are of great importance in the immunodiagnosis of acute leukemias, allowing distinction between myeloid leukemic cells (acute myeloid leukemia (AML) French-American-British classification MI-7) and the usually CD33-negative cells of lymphoid origin. (Griffin J. D. et al., Leuk Res 8:521 (1984); Matutes E. et al., Haematol Oncol 3:179 (1985); Bain B. J.: Immunological cytogenetics and other markers, in Bain B J (ed): Leukaemia Diagnosis: A Guide to FAB Classification. London, UK, Gower Medical, 1990, p 61). This is especially valuable for the more immature forms of AML, where morphologic criteria are insufficient yet correct categorization is essential for prognostic predictions and the choice of therapy. CD33 MoAbs have also been used in preliminary therapeutic trials, principally for purging of the bone marrow of AML patients, either before transplantation or in case of diseases that are resistant to chemotherapy. (Robertson M. J. et al., Blood 79:2229 (1992); Applebaum F. R. et al., Transplantation 54:829 (1992); Caron P. C. et al., Cancer 73:1049 (1994)). Thus, due to the importance of CD33, there is a clear need to identify and isolate nucleic acid molecules encoding additional polypeptides having CD33-like protein activity.


A system and method is provided for synchronizing the presentation of audio data with video data. Audio transport packets are received through a demultiplexer from a multimedia transport stream. A transport stream synchronization manager is used to lock a system time clock, local to the demultiplexer, to a program clock reference provided through the multimedia transport stream. Presentation time stamps are provided with the audio transport packets to indicate when decoded audio data is to be output. A packetized elementary stream synchronization manager maintains synchronization by adding or dropping audio packets from the audio transport packets. If the packetized elementary stream manager is unable to acquire synchronization it must defer synchronization back to the transport stream synchronization manager. Otherwise, processed audio packets are passed to an elementary stream synchronization manager that attempts to synchronize the delivery of audio data through a sample rate conversion of the audio data. If the elementary synchronization manager is unable to acquire synchronization, it defers synchronization to the packetized elementary stream synchronization manager.

Decompression of MPEG-2 data requires synchronization between audio and visual components. The precise time to present uncompressed data is generally indeterminate relative to the time when the data is received in compressed form. However, through presentation time stamps (PTS) it is possible to positively identify specific presentation times for audio, visual or auxiliary data. Program clock reference time stamps that are given a 'stream time' are transmitted in the adaptation field of audio or visual packets or auxiliary data (depending which stream is a master) at least ten times every second. Having a stream time and "stamping" the data associated with packets with a PTS, a system may establish a reference to which time the data should be given to the audio/video/auxiliary decoder. PTS is available at a packetized elementary stream (PES) header, usually with the start of a video or audio frame in a PES packet payload, where a PES packet is received through a multimedia transport stream as a plurality of transport stream packets.
The reference time used by the decoder that qualifies the PTS time is referred to as the system time clock (STC). The STC is a counter, or clock reference, maintained by the receiving (decoder) system. By comparing the values of the PTS time stamps to the system time clock and rendering the data associated with the PTS time stamps when a match occurs, a decoder may obtain synchronized presentation of audio and visual data. Note that the STC includes a nine-bit extension portion, which acts as a prescaler for clocking a 33-bit base portion. The PTS has only a 33-bit portion. A decoder may compare the PTS time stamp is to the STC's 33-bit base portion.
A decoder compares the separate PTS time stamps related to the audio and video data to attempts audio and video synchronization. The separate PTS time stamps are sent to each respective video or audio decoder. A video PTS tells the video decoder when to play video and an audio PTS tells the audio decoder when to play audio. While each of the presentation time stamps indicate when to play respective data, irregularities between video decoding and audio decoding may cause the audio data to be played out of sync with the video data. For example, the amount of time to decode video data may take much longer than the time to decode related audio data. The delay added when switching channels may also present decoding delays into the decoders. When audio data becomes out of sync with video data, various artifacts may be noticed by a viewer. Played audio may not be 'lip-synced' with played video data. The audio data may also be broken, as new audio data is played to interrupt expired audio data. Given the discussion above, it is apparent that a system and method for maintaining synchronization of audio data that overcomes at least some of these problems would be advantageous.

System for frame based audio synchronization and method thereof


A diaphragm device comprising: a supporting member; a flexible membrane that is supported by the supporting member; and a housing that accommodates the flexible membrane and the supporting member, and wherein the flexible membrane air-tightly separates a first chamber and a second chamber connected to the outside through a through-hole formed in a membrane supporting portion of the supporting member, inside the housing, wherein an avoidance recessed portion to avoid interference with an opening edge of the through-hole is formed at a position corresponding to the through-hole in the flexible membrane, wherein the avoidance recessed portion is provided at a thick portion thicker than the other portion of the flexible membrane, and the thick portion protrudes toward the first chamber.

A conventional example of the diaphragm device has been disclosed in JP-A-2011-27164. Also, a pressure regulating reservoir using a diaphragm device has been disclosed in JP-A-2010-76747.
In the diaphragm device disclosed in JP-A-2011-27164, a protruding portion is provided at a center portion of the lower surface (surface positioned on the lower side during use) of a flexible membrane, and a region where the protruding portion exists becomes a thick portion thicker than the other portion, and a recessed portion is provided at the tip of the thick portion. The recessed portion corresponds to a through-hole formed in a component for supporting the flexible membrane (a through-hole connecting a chamber where one surface of the flexible membrane faces, to the outside), and it is provided for suppressing that the flexible membrane comes into contact with the opening edge of the through-hole and to be damaged.
Also, the pressure regulating reservoir of JP-A-2010-76747 is used for temporarily storing brake fluid discharged from wheel cylinders based on a pressure reduction command from an electronic control device in a brake device for a vehicle capable of performing ABS control (Anti-lock Brake System) or ESC (Electronic Skid Control). If a pump is driven by a motor serving as a driving source, the pressure regulating reservoir becomes a source of brake fluid to the pump.
This pressure regulating reservoir is a variable volume container and includes a piston, which is pressed by the discharged brake fluid such that the volume of a fluid storage chamber increases. Also, in order to continuously supply the brake fluid to the pump even after the fluid storage chamber becomes empty, a diaphragm device is disposed at a portion between the piston and the fluid storage chamber, so that, if the pump operates in a state where the fluid storage chamber is empty, a check valve is opened in the diaphragm device.
The intake of the pump is connected to a main reservoir of the brake device through the check valve. When it is possible to supply the brake fluid from the pressure regulating reservoir, the check valve is closed to disconnect the intake of the pump from the main reservoir, and when the pressure regulating reservoir is empty, the diaphragm device opens the check valve, thereby switching the source of brake fluid to the pump to the main reservoir.
In the diaphragm device provided to the pressure regulating reservoir of JP-A-2010-76747, an abutting member is made of a metal or the like to protect a portion of the flexible rubber membrane facing the opening edge of a through-hole. However, in this structure, the abutting member may collide with a supporting member, thereby generating abnormal noise or damaging the supporting member. Accordingly, the diaphragm device of JP-A-2011-27164 has been proposed.

Diaphragm device and pressure regulating reservoir using the same


A method of preheating a hybrid vehicle including storing reserve coolant in an insulated reservoir fluidly coupled to a coolant circuit of an engine of the hybrid vehicle; powering a fluid pump fluidly coupled to the coolant circuit with a power source external to the hybrid vehicle; pumping line coolant through the coolant circuit with the fluid pump; powering a heater thermally coupled to the coolant circuit with the power source external to the hybrid vehicle; heating the line coolant with the heater as the line coolant is pumped through the coolant circuit to increase a temperature of the line coolant; and mixing the line coolant with the reserve coolant to accelerate preheating of at least the engine of the hybrid vehicle.

In general, the engine and emission parts of a hybrid vehicle are more efficient and produce fewer emissions when running at an optimal temperature. When a hybrid vehicle has been sitting idle, various components may be at a temperature below their optimal operating temperatures. Once the engine of the hybrid vehicle is started, it may take some time for these components to reach their optimal operating temperatures, causing these components to run less efficiently and produce more emissions.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative methods for preheating engine and emission parts of a hybrid vehicle.

Systems and methods for preheating hybrid vehicles

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A process is disclosed of explosive bonding two or more components together by forming the components into a stack, placing the stack into an envelope made of a deformable material, sealing the envelope except for an evacuation port, evacuating the interior of the envelope through the said port and subjecting the stack to explosive bonding within the envelope, thereby joining the components together; by conducting the explosive bonding in an evacuated envelope, not only are the components protected from damage during the explosion but the bonding is enhanced due to the reduced pressure of air between the components. After bonding, the stack can be subjected to superplastic forming.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,974 describes a method of explosive bonding aluminium components together prior to superplastic forming and describes a method of heat treating the bonded components.
In explosive bonding, it is usual to place the components being bonded upon a substantial structure (known as an "anvil") and to place a plate (known as a "driver plate") on top of the components. Explosive is placed on top of the driver plate and detonated, the driver plate transmits the force of the explosion to the components, which are bonded together by such forces. By using a driver plate, damage to the surface of the topmost component is minimized. Using such a process it is possible to bond two or more components together.
One problem with the above process is that a bond can also form between the anvil and the composite bonded structure and/or between the driver plate and the composite structure and this makes removal of the structure from the anvil/driver plate difficult. To avoid this problem, common salt has been placed between the anvil and the components and between the components and the driver plate. Unfortunately, the force of the explosion causes air burning in the spaces between the components and the anvil/driver plate which degrades the components. Furthermore, the force generated by the explosion can cause the surfaces of the structure to become degraded as a result of their being forced against the anvil and driver plate.
In an effort to overcome these problems, it has been proposed to place sheets of rubber between the anvil and the components and between the components and the driver plate but unfortunately this does not completely eliminate the problem of air burning.
It has been proposed in EP-0 445 997 to protect a stack of sheets from damage during the explosive bonding step of an explosive bonding/superplastic forming process by coating the top and bottom surfaces of the stack with a resilient material and conducting the explosive bonding on a bed of common salt.

British Aerospace Public Limited Company


A golf club head is disclosed having a club face comprised of a plurality of plates that act in concert to provide a spring-like response when the club impacts a golf ball. The plates are fluidly coupled by providing appropriate surfaces to the plates at their interface or by locating a viscous fluid between the plates. The plates are held in place by coupling them to the head body. One or more plates may be integrally formed with the body of the golf club head. Various parameters may be selected to optimize response or to customize the response for different golfing styles including the relative thickness of the plates, the presence of a viscous fluid between the plates, the type and viscosity of the viscous fluid, the material of the plates, (and hence, their coefficient of elasticity) and the type of mechanical coupling of the plates to the body of the golf club head.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of golf clubs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Golf is a familiar game in which players use long-shafted clubs to strike golf balls to drive them down a fairway, onto a green and into a cup located on the green. The golf "system" comprises three elements: the golfer, the golf club, and the golf ball. As noted, the present invention pertains to the golf club.
Golfers seek golf clubs that provide control and power. A superior golf club will allow a skilled golfer to hit a golf ball straight and far. The most important parameter in achieving these goals is the skill of the golfer. However, the performance of the golf club is also a significant factor. In particular, the response of the golf club due to impact with the golf ball affects the direction and range of the golf ball.
Traditionally, golf clubs are divided into two types, drivers and irons. Until recently, drivers were long shafted clubs having bulbous heads with a metal or plastic face fastened to the wood. In contrast, irons have somewhat shorter shafts and an all metal head that is often substantially planar along front and back surfaces. Irons are used for fairway shots and where substantial ball control is necessary, such as when chipping onto a green or putting.
Drivers have undergone many recent innovations including the advent of metal drivers, sometimes called "metal woods." The metal drivers have a similar shape as the traditional wood drivers, but the head size has increased. The new metal drivers are typically one-piece, cast bulbous heads having an interior cavity that some manufacturers leave empty and others fill with a foam. The use of metal gives manufacturers precise control over the quality of the product and the location of weight throughout the head, properties that were often lacking in the drivers constructed of wood.
Because of the continuing popularity of the sport, there is ongoing effort to develop clubs with superior response.
In Anderson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,918 the inventor discloses an iron that has a cast head with a rimmed recess that can receive a separately formed face plate. This permits the use of forged, hardened, face plates and easily cast bodies. In Anderson, the cast head includes a planar web that closes the back of the recess. Accordingly, when the front plate is attached to the head a substantial space is formed between the web and the face plate. As noted in the patent, the space allows the face plate 21 to deflect rearward during impact with a golf ball.
Additionally, golf shots are most effective when the ball and club meet at the club's center of percussion, defined as a point where an impulsive force can be applied with no reaction force at the point of support. An area around the center of percussion is referred to as a "sweet spot." Many research and development efforts attempt to enlarge the sweet spot so that a club is more forgiving when a ball is slightly mis-hit.

Golf club head with elastically deforming face and back plates


An intelligent transportation system (ITS) for a vehicle is described. The ITS includes: a packet count estimator arranged to receive broadcast ITS transmissions from a plurality of neighbouring vehicles and provide an indication of a number of packets received from the plurality of neighbouring vehicles, where the indication includes at least an information length and a data rate of the received packets; a fair resource allocator circuit operably coupled to the packet count estimator and configured to adjust at least one ITS broadcast transmission parameter of the ITS based on the indication of the number of received packets; and a transmitter operably coupled to the fair resource allocator circuit and configured to broadcast at least one ITS message using the adjusted at least one ITS broadcast transmission parameter.

It is known that road usage by vehicles continues to increase, year on year. Increased road usage causes many problems, such as increased congestion, longer travel time, higher travel costs, increased air pollution, increased accident risk, etc. In order to cope with this steady increase, solutions are required to better manage vehicle road usage. A possible solution is to construct new roads, which is unlikely to happen on a large enough scale. A further solution is to reduce traffic and/or provide alternative transportation options, neither of which is viable in most practical scenarios.
A further solution that is being widely researched and developed is the use of intelligent traffic (or transportation) systems (ITSs). The European Commission Mobility & Transport Department reported that more than one million traffic accidents have caused over 25,000 fatalities. As such, ITS has evolved to be a promising solution to improve traffic safety. ITS is being developed for a variety of applications, such as a stationary vehicle warning following an accident or vehicle problem, traffic condition warning (such as a traffic jam ahead warning), regulatory/contextual speed limits, road work warnings, detour notifications, etc. Some ITS solutions propose a communication backbone employing V2X communication (i.e. a vehicle-to-vehicle infrastructure).
In ITS, broadcasting of real-time information of cars, e.g. their positions and speed, road conditions, events and accidents, is performed in a form of beacon messages via a Vehicular Ad-hoc NETwork (VANET) built on IEEE 802.11p and a dedicated short-range communication (DSRC). The broadcast information is received from neighbouring vehicles, and enables nodes (sometimes referred to as ITS stations) to create a dynamic map of its neighbours and to some degree their operational status. This dynamic map helps to track the ITS station's neighbours and predict dangerous situations, thereby enabling various safety applications, as described in 'Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS); Vehicular Communications; Basic Set of Applications; Definitions' authored by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Tech. Rep., 2009. It is anticipated that future autonomous vehicles will require even higher level of safety, together with better supporting technologies in order to realize reliable safety applications.
Safety applications such as ITS require reliable communication in order to satisfy various technical constraints, such as minimum message rate and range. Such technical constraints need to be satisfied by all nodes/ITS stations within the 'awareness range' of the application. Awareness range is defined as the minimum distance between the vehicles at which the applications should predict a potential collision, such that the manoeuver of vehicles would avoid a potentially catastrophic accident.
One known ITS station 100 is shown in FIG. 1. ITS station 100 includes a wireless transceiver integrated circuit (TRx IC) 108 that comprises wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver connected to an antenna 102. The receiver is arranged to receive ITS messages broadcast from other local vehicles or fixed roadside units. The transmitter is arranged to broadcast ITS messages to other local vehicles or fixed roadside units.
The wireless TRx IC 108 is coupled to a baseband (BB) circuit 130, which may be of the form of a digital signal processor (DSP) and include, say, quadrature channel low pass filters (LPFs) and quadrature analog to digital converters ADCs functionality. Communication between the wireless TRx IC 108 and the BB circuit 130 may use the IEEE 802.11p communication protocol. The IEEE 802.11p is an update to the IEEE 802.11 standard that adds wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE), namely enhancements to 802.11 required to support ITS applications. This includes data exchange between high-speed vehicles and between the vehicles and the roadside infrastructure in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85-5.925 GHz). IEEE 1609 is a higher layer standard based on the IEEE 802.11p. The BB circuit 130 typically performs the processing up to a data link layer (physical (PHY) layer and part of the medium access control (MAC) layer).
The system has a micro controller unit (MCU) 140 that is connected, via, say, a universal signal bus (USB) 138, to the BB circuit 130 that executes a protocol 1609 stack, and thus converts IEEE1609 messages into radio frequency (RF) signals for broadcasting. The MCU 140 is also coupled to a security circuit 150 that is used for signature generation for IEEE 1609.2 messages. ITS 100 is thereby able to receive 802.11p packets with messages from other vehicles, as well as transmit 802.11p packets with messages to other vehicles. In the current scenario 802.11 MAC would decide when a channel is free for it to broadcast the message. An ITS enabled vehicle broadcasts information to all other surrounding vehicles, which are similarly enabled. In this way, the surrounding vehicles can interrogate and process received ITS messages and build up an understanding of their surroundings vis-à-vis other vehicles or road events.
However, it is known that channel congestion is one of the most critical issues in IEEE 802.11p-based vehicular ad-hoc networks because congestion may lead to unreliability of applications. As a counter measure, ETSI proposed a mandatory Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) framework to keep the channel load below a specific level in order to avoid such congestion. DCC algorithms are therefore focused on tuning one or more operational parameters, such as transmit power, message-rate and data-rate, in order to avoid/limit congestion.
Most DCC algorithms are based on a parameter termed Channel Busy Ratio (CBR), which is a measure of the channel load that indicates a fraction of time that the channel is sensed as being 'busy' by a node/ITS station. A CBR measurement is sufficient for a single data-rate network, so it is suitable for the proposed DSRC VANET, which uses only a default 6 Mbps data rate for use by the ITS stations. Message-rate and transmit-power based congestion control schemes try to maintain CBR below a channel load threshold (CBRT) by decreasing either the message-rate or the communication range, thereby reducing the load by maintaining the same channel capacity. On the contrary, the data-rate based approaches increase the channel capacity by transmitting packets at higher data-rates and therefore in shorter transmission time, thereby disturbing channel capacity.
The inventors of the present invention have recognised and appreciated that CBR measurements are not able to measure the channel usage effectively, particularly in networks that support multiple data-rates. This is primarily due to variation in collisions and propagation fading in a wireless channel when multiple data rates are being employed. They have further recognised and appreciated that the problem becomes worse in very high density mobile environments, for example as CBR only represents a fraction of time over which a channel is busy. Furthermore, when the inventors considered data-rate DCC functioning on CBR measurements alone, a channel with 10 packets at 6 Mbps and 20 Packets at 12 Mbps may both have the same CBR. Thus, CBR doesn't provide accurate information of channel load and varies depending on selected data-rate. Thus, two nearby nodes may be experiencing a CBR of, say, 0.6, and may select 6 Mbps and 12 Mbps or even 24 Mbps data-rates to use, thereby leading to an unfair data-rate allocation among nodes experiencing similar channel load conditions. To further explain this problem, let us consider a channel with packets transmitted at 6 Mbps data-rate with packet transmission time of 540 microseconds. In order to maintain a CBR of 0.7 the maximum number of packets that the channel can support is 1296 packets. Similarly, if 12 Mbps is used with a transmission time of 360 microseconds in order to maintain a CBR of 0.7 then the maximum number of packets that can be transmitted is increased to 1944 because the channel capacity is increased. Thus CBR alone cannot provide sufficient information regarding effective channel load and the resultant outcome is dependent on the data-rate selected.
This unfair allocation of data-rates will cause different nodes with similar channel activity to have different transmission ranges, and also adversely affect applications that are in need of reliable information exchange. A suitable, fairer solution is desired.

Intelligent transportation system, host processor, vehicle and method therefor


A carbonyl compound scavenger comprising a mineral acid salt of a benzylhydroxyamine-based compound of the formula (1) and at least one adsorbent selected from the group consisting of silica gel, alumina, cellulose and activated carbon:

Recently, there is a social problem of an influence on environments by a carbonyl compound of aldehydes such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein and the like and ketones such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone and the like in water and atmosphere, and particularly, an influence by a carbonyl compound diffused from building materials, furniture and the like on dwelling environments and working environments due to air tightness of dwelling houses, or the like constitutes a social problem. For investigating a countermeasure for such a problem, it is necessary to measure the quantity of a carbonyl compound in atmosphere, and development of a method capable of simply measuring the quantity of a carbonyl compound in atmosphere in room and the like is desired.
Regarding the method of quantifying a carbonyl compound, a carbonyl compound scavenger obtained by coating silica gel with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (hereinafter, referred to as DNPH in some cases) is disclosed in "Waters, high performance liquid chromatography column-consumable articles general catalogue 2002cep pack for atmosphere, DNPH/ozone scriber, page 20, Nippon Waters K.K." and "2001 chromatography article catalogue, pp. 78 to 80. Sigma Aldrich Japan K.K., published on August, 2001" and it is disclosed that this scavenger collects a carbonyl compound to form a reaction substance of DNPH with a carbonyl compound, then, the scavenger is washed with an organic solvent, resultantly, the reaction substance is eluted, and can be quantified by gas chromatography or liquid chromatography.
Further, regarding the quantification method using a compound other than hydrazine, a quantification method using a carbonyl compound scavenger obtained by impregnating silica gel with O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxyamine (hereinafter, referred to as PFBOA in some cases) and phosphoric acid is reported in "Yasuaki Mori et al., Environmental Chemistry, vol. 7pp. 515 to 520 (1997)" and also the present inventors have reported that a mineral acid salt of an O-(haloalkoxybenzyl)hydroxyamine-based compound, specifically, an O-(4-trifluoromethoxybenzyl)hydroxyamine hydrochloride is allowed to be retained on a cation exchanger to produce a carbonyl compound scavenger, and this scavenger collects a carbonyl compound to form an imine compound of the hydrochloride with a carbonyl compound, then, the scavenger is washed with an organic solvent, resultantly, the imine compound is eluted and can be quantified by a gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GO/MS) (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2002-195990).
The present inventors have investigated a scavenger using DNPH and clarified that since it is extremely excellent in reactivity with a carbonyl compound, it can quantify a carbonyl compound of low concentration, however, it reacts with a trace amount of carbonyl compound present in air In atmosphere or room even before measurement such as in production of the scavenger and the like, to provide dispersed blank value before measurement, consequently, there is a problem that it is difficult to correctly measure a carbonyl compound of low concentration unless quantification is effected using a lot of scavengers.
Further, the present inventors have sampled an air sample in general dwelling environments of approximately 25 to 30° C. using the above-mentioned scavenger containing PFBOA instead of DNPH, to resultantly clarify that formaldehyde can be collected only approximately 70 to 77% as compared with a scavenger containing DNPH and a carbonyl compound cannot be collected sufficiently in some cases even if a carbonyl compound scavenger containing PFBOA is used, under high temperature such as in summer and the like.
Furthermore, it has been clarified that an imine compound composed of an O-(4-trifluoromethoxybenzyl)hydroxyamine hydrochloride and a carbonyl compound does not have a UV absorption peak of 240 nm, and it is difficult to quantify the compound by liquid chromatography using a generally used UV detector.

Carbonyl compound scavenger and method of quantifying carbonyl compound using the same

Abstract: [wherein, R represents an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, haloalkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, haloalkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, nitro group or cyano group, and R1 and R2 represent each independently a hydrogen atom or alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and a hydrogen atom on a benzene ring to which a cyano group and R are connected may be substituted with an alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, haloalkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, alkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, haloalkoxy group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, aryl group having 6 to 10 carbon atoms, nitro group or cyano group.].

Sumika Chemical Analysis Service, Limited


An addition to AIN that allows SSP triggers to jump to internal SSP addresses for feature processing without a return. There is no query sent to an SCP nor the associated response message, call processing is not suspended, and there is no need for fault handling associated with the trigger.

The present invention relates to the field of intelligent telephony networks, and more particularly to the use of Advanced Intelligent Network triggers to transfer control to switch-based call processing.
Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) is a telephone network architecture that allows network elements to instantaneously affect the routing or processing of calls based on criteria other than that of simply finding a connection path through the network. Network intelligence is decentralized off of the switch and distributed among intelligent network platforms, referred to as Service Control Points (SCPs) or adjuncts, which will be collectively referred to as SCPs. Switches such as End Offices and Access Tandems that support AIN capabilities are called Service Switching Points (SSPs). The AIN SSP is described in standards document GR-1298-CORE, xe2x80x9cAINGR: Switching Systems,xe2x80x9d Issue 5, November 1999, Telcordia Technologies, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
SCPs typically include data bases in which customer-specific information is stored for use by the network to route or affect the processing of calls. An SCP receives a query message from the SSP when the SSP requires assistance in routing a call or providing a feature. The SCP responds to the SSP with routing or processing instructions for the call. In AIN, relatively inexpensive peripheral computers can provide flexible and efficient call processing, and local carriers can design and release new calling services by modifying the SCP data. SCPs can perform a wide variety of functions, ranging from providing simple instructions or data resources to managing the overall delivery of calling services.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example of an AIN network. End Offices EO 1-A and EO 1-B are connected to Access Tandems AT 2-A and AT 2-B over voice and signaling trunks 5-A and 5-B. AT 2-A and AT 2-B are connected over voice and signaling trunk 9. Switches 1-A, 1-B, 2-A and 2-B form a traditional telephone network. Signal Transfer Point STP 3-A is connected to switches 1-A and 2-A over Signaling System 7 (SS7) links 6-A and 7-A. Signal Transfer Point STP 3-B is connected to switches 1-B and 2-B over SS7 links 6-B and 7-B. STP 3-A and STP 3-B are connected over SS7 link 10. Signal Transfer Points are network elements that route messages in the AIN network. Service Control Points SCP 4-A and SCP 4-B are connected to STP 3-A and STP 3-B over SS7 signaling links 8-A and 8-B.
AIN is based on a basic call model that describes the essential processing steps done by an SSP in establishing a two-party call. FIG. 2 shows a portion of the AIN Originating Basic Call Model through sending a call setup indication to the Called Party ID. Each major call step is indicated by a box with a numbered step name inside, e.g., xe2x80x9c1. O_NULLxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c7. SEND_CALLxe2x80x9d, etc. Associated with the major call steps are trigger detection points, each indicated by a box with a xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d. Each trigger detection point is further identified by a name, e.g., xe2x80x9c(e1) Origination_Attemptxe2x80x9d. Trigger detection points identify when an SCP can receive notification of a given event and influence subsequent call processing. Each trigger detection point typically has several associated triggers that may be set. If a trigger is set at a certain trigger detection point, and the trigger is encountered during the processing of a call and no escape criteria are met, then the SSP will suspend normal call processing and send a query message to the SCP requesting call routing instructions. Upon receiving a response from the SCP, the SSP resumes call processing per the SCP instructions.
Early versions of AIN were directed to offloading a portion of the switch intelligence, but still required the switch to keep direct control of call management. An example is the 800 number service where the extensive translation database is offloaded to an SCP. The SSP requests number translation from the SCP and then completes the basic two-party call. Current AIN allows the SCP to control a call from off-hook through on-hook. The SCP may also delegate many tasks associated with call processing to intelligent peripherals, including voice prompting, digit collecting, and voice recognition.
Each AIN trigger is defined by many attributes that describe, for example, where in the call model the trigger is, under what criteria the trigger will be activated, the address of the SCP to which the SSP will send its request message, and fault handling such as timer expiration.
It is clear from the foregoing description that AIN is firmly rooted in a query/response model. In this model, mainline call processing is suspended when an SSP trigger is encountered. At this point, the SSP formulates a query, according to the trigger definition, and transmits it to the SCP. Further processing of the call remains suspended in the SSP until a response is received. Certain timers are also started in the SSP to ensure a timely return to the suspended call. The SCP then responds to the request with a message containing call processing instructions. The SSP then resumes call processing where it left off according to the call processing instructions received from the SCP.
There is one exception to the standard query/response trigger. This is the Origination_Attempt_Authorized trigger, in which an address internal to the SSP is used for the service logic address, or local SSP feature. In this trigger, no query message is sent to an external SCP. However, this trigger still follows the query/response model in that mainline call processing is suspended, processing continues at a sub-module of the SSP, and when this processing is completed, mainline call processing continues where it left off. Timers are still set, and fault processing will be invoked if mainline call processing does not resume within a certain time limit
The invention of Applicants is an addition to AIN that allows SSP triggers to jump to internal SSP addresses for service logic, or feature, processing without a return. The invention takes advantage of the existing AIN trigger mechanism and definitions, and adds the capability of a jump to an internal SSP address for continued call processing. There is no query sent to an SCP nor the associated response message, call processing is not suspended, and there is no need for fault handling associated with the trigger.
Applicants"" invention will significantly improve feature execution time, reduce network traffic for specific high-use features that are moved from the SCP platform and coded directly in the SSP, and remove network or SCP contention and failures as a source of failure for the feature operation. While any feature that resides on an SCP could take advantage of Applicants"" invention by being directly coded in the SSP, features that do not need a large database integration (such as the 800 number service described above) are particularly well suited. As a given feature is used by a significant percentage of the subscribers in a particular office, the cost factors may be such that direct SSP coding of the feature becomes an advantage. Direct SSP coding of the feature operation reduces the link occupancy otherwise used to communicate with the SCP, and SCP outages and periods of congestion will no longer prevent the subscribers from having use of the applicable features.


An apparatus is disclosed for stacking flat workpieces, which are conveyed on a transport cylinder provided with holding tongs, on a stacking table put against the transport cylinder. The apparatus is provided with a control for opening the holding tongs before reaching the stacking table, and with a braking arrangement for decelerating the workpieces such that the workpieces are set down on the stacking table at a lower speed than the peripheral speed of the transport cylinder. In accordance with the invention the braking arrangement consists of a row of suction nozzles or a suction belt circulating at a lower speed that the transport cylinder.

The invention relates to an apparatus for stacking flat workpieces, which are conveyed on a transport cylinder provided with folding tongs, on a stacking table put against the transport cylinder or on stacking arms put against the same which are parallel to each other. The bags or sacks may be provided with a glued bottom, made by the folding-tongs and the apparatus is provided with a means for opening the folding tongs before reaching the stacking table, and with a means for decelerating the workpieces such that the workpieces are set down on the stacking table at a lower speed than the peripheral speed of the transport cylinder.
An apparatus for collecting bags, which were made on a folding-tongs cylinder and are provided with glued bottom, on a stacking table put against the folding-tongs cylinder is, for instance, known f-rom the U.S. Pat. No. 2,087,704. In this known apparatus the bags are released by the folding tongs shortly before reaching the stacking table, so that their leading bottom hits the stacking table almost unretarded at the peripheral speed of the folding-tongs cylinder. When the bags consist of a softer material, the edges hitting the stacking table can therefore get creased or upset.
To prevent a waving, bending or folding of the workpieces set down on the stacking table with their leading edges, an apparatus of the above-mentioned type, which is known from the DE-AS 10 54 818, is provided with tappets having elastic pads mounted on a swivelling frame, which in synchronism with the workpieces being set down are put against the periphery of the folding-tongs cylinder such that they exert a braking torque on the workpieces released by the folding tongs. The braking force exerted by the tappets on the end portion of the workpieces to be decelerated depends, however, on the magnitude of the contract pressure on the folding-tongs cylinder which passes with friction under the decelerated workpiece, so that mutually opposite frictional forces of different magnitudes, which can distort the workpiece, are acting on the two sides of the workpiece, which is disadvantageous in particular, when the same is thin-walled and/or double-walled, as this is the case for instance with bags or sacks.

Apparatus for stacking flat workpieces on a stacking table


A rear steering system in which a rotary mechanical input obtained from one of the rear wheels is controllably applied to a rear steering rack through an electromagnetic clutch apparatus operated by an electronic control unit. The rotary mechanical input is achieved with a flexible cable gear driven by the rear wheel. The cable provides a rotary mechanical input to a magnetic particle clutch assembly, which in turn, interfaces with the rear steering rack via a bevel gearset. The clutch assembly is controlled by an electronic control unit which responds to a variety of system parameters such as the front and rear rack positions, forward/reverse indication and the speed of the vehicle.

State-of-the-art mechanically driven rear steering systems typically include a steering shaft linking the front and rear steering racks to provide the desired front-to-rear steering relationship. In addition, there are electrically driven systems in which the position of the front steering rack is sensed, and one or more electromechanical actuators are employed to position the rear wheels. Other systems steer the rear wheels hydraulically with fluid pressure obtained from an engine-driven pump.

Powertrain-driven electromagnetic rear steering system


An electrical connector includes a dielectric housing having a cavity configured to receive a mating connector therein and a contact subassembly having an array of contacts. Each of the contacts define a mating interface configured to engage the mating connector, and each of the contacts have a beam portion extending downstream of the mating interface to a contact terminating end. Contact plates are arranged within the cavity, such that each of the contact plates engage a corresponding one of the contacts at the beam portion of the contacts.

This invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more specifically, to electrical connectors having contact plates.
Due to increases in data transmission rates in telecommunications systems, crosstalk has become a significant problem. Crosstalk may be defined as energy which is coupled from one signal line onto a nearby signal line by either capacitive or inductive coupling. This crosstalk results in signal noise which interferes with the purity of the signal being transmitted.
A commonly used telecommunications wiring system is twisted pair wiring wherein pairs of wires are twisted about each other. The wires in a twisted pair carry differential signals and are thus known as signal pairs. Each of the wires in a signal pair carries an equal but opposite signal; that is, the wires carry signals of the same magnitude which are respectively positive and negative. Since these signals are equal but opposite, they generate fields that are equal but opposite. In a twisted pair these equal and opposite fields cancel each other. Thus, little or no crosstalk can occur between one twisted pair and a nearby twisted pair.
Crosstalk in twisted pair wiring systems primarily arises in the electrical connectors which provide an interface between successive runs of cable in a system. One source of the crosstalk is the interface between modular plugs and jacks in the telecommunications system. These connectors have terminals which are spaced closely together and parallel to each other, and this close and parallel arrangement is conducive to crosstalk between nearby lines in different ones of the signal pairs. Further, the terminals in a modular plug are dedicated to specific ones of the twisted wires according to a known industry standard such as Electronics Industries Alliance/Telecommunications Industry Association ("EIA/TIA")-568. Therefore, ends of the wires must be arranged in a closely spaced parallel sequence in the plug, and these parallel ends are also conducive to crosstalk.
Prior art techniques for reducing crosstalk have focused primarily on modular jacks and on the circuit boards of the modular jacks. For example, the circuit boards may route traces in a predetermined pattern to compensate for the crosstalk between the terminals. Since crosstalk increases logarithmically as the frequency of the signal increases, the constant trend toward higher data transmission rates has resulted in a need for further crosstalk reduction. Also, crosstalk which occurs in the modular jack of a communications cable rises significantly at very high frequencies on the order of 250-500 MHz. There is a need for reducing crosstalk in a connector.

Electrical connector having contact plates


An image forming apparatus includes a main frame, a plurality of process cartridges, a cartridge-supporting body, a belt, a belt cleaning unit, a waste toner cartridge, and a collective conveying unit. Each drum-cleaning unit collects waste toner on a corresponding photosensitive drum. The cartridge-supporting body supports the process cartridges and is movable between an internal position inside the main frame and an external position outside of the main frame. The belt cleaning unit collects waste toner on the belt. The waste toner cartridge accommodates both waste toner collected from the photosensitive drums by the drum-cleaning units and waste toner collected from the belt by the belt cleaning unit. The collective conveying unit aggregates both waste toner collected from the photosensitive drums by the drum-cleaning units and waste toner collected from the belt by the belt cleaning unit and conveys the aggregated waste toner to the waste toner cartridge.

A tandem type image forming apparatus as an electro-photographic type image forming apparatus is known in which are provided a plurality of photosensitive drums, a transfer belt positioned in confrontation therewith, a plurality of process cartridges for a plurality of colors such as for example, yellow, magenta, cyan and black, and a drawer unit configured to support the process cartridges.
In such a tandem type image forming apparatus, each process cartridge is provided with a drum-cleaning unit configured to remove waste toner remaining on each photosensitive drum associated with each process cartridge, and a waste toner container configured to accumulate the waste toner removed by the drum-cleaning unit.
Further, Japanese patent application publication No. 2010-102285 discloses such a tandem type image forming apparatus in which a belt cleaning unit and a waste toner container are provided in an internal space of a frame of the device. The belt cleaning unit is positioned below the transfer belt and is configured to remove waste toner remaining on the transfer belt. The waste toner container is configured to accumulate waste toner removed by the belt cleaning unit.

Image forming apparatus having waste toner container commonly used for photosensitive drums and transfer belt


Briefly, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a system and method to order memory operations is provided. The method may include using at least one signal to indicate that a particular kind of memory operation is not globally observable but is observable by at least one processor of the system. The system may include a processor to use at least one signal for memory consistency, wherein the at least one signal indicates that a particular kind of memory operation is not globally observable in the system but is observable by at least one processor of the system. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Various memory ordering schemes may be implemented in a computing system to address when a processor in a multiprocessor system "sees" memory operations by other processors. Memory ordering may also be referred to as memory consistency or event ordering. Memory operations, such as a load operation or store operation, may be seen at different times by different processors. This may lead to software not executing as expected or operating differently on a multiprocessor system compared to a uniprocessor system.
To address memory consistency, some memory consistency models have been developed. The different models have tradeoffs in terms of system performance.
Thus, there is a continuing need for alternate ways to implement memory consistency in a system.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.

Method and system to order memory operations


The present invention provides polypeptide domains of C. difficile toxin B (B1, B2, B3, B4) and complexes between the polypeptides and antibodies that bind specifically for the polypeptide. Methods of using the polypeptides to generate antibodies are also provided.

Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic pathogenic bacterium that causes infection of the colon typified by severe diarrhea, pseudomembranous colitis, and, in extreme cases, colonic rupture, sepsis and death. The symptoms of C. difficile infection (CDI) are caused by two exotoxins, toxin A (TcdA) and toxin B (TcdB) that are thought to target colonocytes via similar mechanisms involving glucosylation of small GTPases such as Rac and Rho. Inactivation of these important enzymes leads to morphological changes and eventually cell death, disruption of the colonic trans-epithelial resistance and the initiation and propagation of deleterious inflammatory events. Entry of the toxins into cells occurs through binding of the toxins to receptors on the cell surface, internalization via endocytosis, pH-induced conformational changes including formation of a trans-membrane pore that allows for transport and release (via autoproteolytic cleavage) of the glucosylransferase domain of the toxins into the cytoplasm.
Bezlotoxumab is an anti-C. difficile toxin B human monoclonal antibody useful for the treatment and prevention of C. difficile infection. Understanding the nature of the bezlotoxumab interaction with the toxin B is important to the design of further therapeutic antibodies and vaccines for treating C. difficile infection.

C.difficile toxin B CROP domain peptides, antibodies and complexes thereof


Disclosed are vinyl ethers and related compositions. The vinyl ethers are the conjugate addition reaction product of reactants comprising a vinyl ether group-containing acrylic ester and a nucleophile.

Radiation curable compositions, such as coating and adhesive compositions, are used in a wide variety of applications. These compositions are cured by a photocuring process that involves the radiation induced polymerization or cross linking of polymerizable materials into a three dimensional network. Often it is desirable to use radiation curable compositions because they can require little or no volatile solvents, which is, of course, beneficial because of the demands to eliminate volatile organic compounds from coatings and adhesives. Energy savings, high throughput rates (low cure times), and low energy requirements are also often strong driving forces behind the use of radiation curable compositions. Radiation curable compositions can be applied to virtually any type of substrate, such as plastic, glass, textile, fabrics, leather, metal, paper, and wood, among others.
Radiation curable compositions are often based on unsaturated polyesters, styrene and/or acrylate compounds, wherein polymerization is initiated by a free radical mechanism that is oxygen inhibited unless effected in an inert atmosphere, such as under a blanket of nitrogen. Although formulation with certain photoinitiators, such as those that undergo a bimolecular reaction with a hydrogen donor can reduce the inhibitory effect of air, this benefit is often realized at the expense of a reduced cure rate. Moreover, styrene and certain acrylates are known as sensitizers and skin irritants as well as being carcinogenic, so that specialized safety precautions must be taken to protect personnel from exposure.
Vinyl ether containing compounds (monomers, oligomers and polymers) are sometimes utilized in radiation curable compositions. These compounds can cure by both cationic and free radical mechanisms and generally do not exhibit the extent of the toxicity issues previously described with respect to styrene and acrylates.
In many cases, it is desirable to spray apply radiation curable compositions. One drawback, however, to the use of certain relatively inexpensive multifunctional vinyl ethers, such as triethylene glycol divinyl ether, in a spray application is that these materials are of relatively low molecular weight and, accordingly, often too volatile for practical use in a spray application. Multifunctional vinyl ethers of reduced volatility, on the other hand, are often significantly more expensive than their low molecular weight counterparts.
As a result, novel vinyl ethers that can be relatively inexpensive to produce and which can exhibit reduced volatility, such that they are suitable for use in, for example, radiation curable compositions, such as coating and adhesive compositions, are desired.

Vinyl ethers and compositions containing them


Methods, systems and computer program products are provided for determining if a packet has a spoofed source Internet Protocol (IP) address. A source media access control (MAC) address of the packet and the source IP address are evaluated to determine if the source IP address of the packet has been bound to the source MAC address at a source device of the packet. The packet is determined to have a spoofed source IP address if the evaluation indicates that the source IP address is not bound to the source MAC address. Such an evaluation may be made for packets having a subnet of the source IP address which matches a subnet from which the packet originated.

As the popularity and use of the Internet has grown, so has the potential for the spread of malicious programs, such as computer viruses. One such type of malicious program performs a denial of service a (DOS) attack. A DOS attack attempts to degrade performance of a server, website or the like through overutilization. A large number of requests are sent to the website which may overwhelm the website's ability to respond to requests and utilize the processing capabilities and bandwidth of the website to respond to the malicious requests. Furthermore, if such viruses infect a large enough group of computers, performance degradation may be seen over parts of or the entire Internet as communication bandwidth is tied up performing the malicious requests.
Recently, the Internet has experienced several DOS attacks from "zombie" computers controlled by the viruses creator(s) (i.e. hackers). A zombie computer is a computer which, unbeknownst to the computer's user, generates the requests for the DOS attack. The systems most likely to be added to a hacker's "zombie" stable, often by infection with a Trojan horse virus or worm virus injected by unfiltered email or web usage, are personal computers running consumer versions of Windows (e.g., 95, 98, Millennium), because of the unsophistication of their users and the large number of such systems. Fortunately, however, Microsoft's TCP/IP stack implementation on these consumer operating systems contained a restriction that prevented application software from spoofing the source IP address (SA) of transmissions (i.e. from using a source address of a transmission which was different from the IP address assigned to the system). This restriction made it relatively easy for the target of a DOS attack to identify the source of offending transmissions and establish router filters to block that address. Once identified, the system user/administrator could work with the ISP or enterprise owning the source address range to clean up the infected "zombie."
In contrast, enterprise-class operating systems, such as Windows NT and 2000, Unix and Linux, implement the TCP/IP specification more accurately, making it possible for applications on these platforms to spoof source IP addresses in transmissions. However, Microsoft's Windows XP, a new consumer version, removes the earlier stack restriction and, hence, allows applications to spoof SAs. The release and proliferation of Windows XP is, therefore, expected to result in a large population of machines that, once infected with Trojan viruses, can easily become zombies capable of spoofing source IP addresses. The targets of DOS attacks will then find it difficult to block the transmissions (since they may appear to come from a large variety of SAs) or to identify and clean up the zombie machines (since machines that falsify their IP address are, typically, hard to track down).
As spoofed SAs have been used in previous DOS attacks (generally originating from Unix/Linux and NT machines), the industry has adopted a "best practice" of adding filters to endpoint ("leaf") routers to prevent packets with forged subnet addresses from entering the Internet; i.e., the subnet of a source IP address must match the subnet from which the packet originates, or the router's filter will cause the packet to be discarded. When this practice is used, it enables identification of the subnet where an attack originates. The specific computer originating the attack can be identified if the proper monitoring equipment (e.g. network analyzers, sniffers) is deployed at the time of the attack and if the ISP/enterprise is willing to spend the money and time for the analysis.
Unfortunately, filtering for forged subnet address at leaf routers, typically, does not prevent spoofing of a forged address that has a valid subnet identification. A subnet often has a large pool of unassigned addresses that can easily be appropriated by hackers. Furthermore, filtering at the leaf routers may fail to cover network topologies where multiple routers and endpoints share a subnet.

Methods, systems and computer program products for detecting a spoofed source address in IP datagrams

International Business Machines Corporation


From a text entry tool, a digital data processing device receives inherently ambiguous user input. Independent of any other user input, the device interprets the received user input against a vocabulary to yield candidates such as words (of which the user input forms the entire word or part such as a root, stem, syllable, affix), or phrases having the user input as one word. The device displays the candidates and applies speech recognition to spoken user input. If the recognized speech comprises one of the candidates, that candidate is selected. If the recognized speech forms an extension of a candidate, the extended candidate is selected. If the recognized speech comprises other input, various other actions are taken.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to user manual entry of text using a digital data processing device. More particularly, the invention relates to computer driven operations to supplement a user's inherently ambiguous, manual text entry with voice input to disambiguate between different possible interpretations of the user's text entry.
2. Description of Related Art
For many years, portable computers have been getting smaller and smaller. Tremendous growth in the wireless industry has produced reliable, convenient, and nearly commonplace mobile devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), global positioning system (GPS) units, etc. To produce a truly usable portable computer, the principle size-limiting component has been the keyboard.
To input data on a portable computer without a standard keyboard, people have developed a number of solutions. One such approach has been to use keyboards with less keys ("reduced-key keyboard"). Some reduced keyboards have used a 3-by-4 array of keys, like the layout of a touch-tone telephone. Although beneficial from a size standpoint, reduced-key keyboards come with some problems. For instance, each key in the array of keys contains multiple characters. For example, the "2" key represents "a" and "b" and "c". Accordingly, each user-entered sequence is inherently ambiguous because each keystroke can indicate one number or several different letters.
T9® text input technology is specifically aimed at providing word-level disambiguation for reduced keyboards such as telephone keypads. T9 Text Input technology is described in various U.S. Patent documents including U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,437. In the case of English and other alphabet-based words, a user employs T9 text input as follows:
When inputting a word, the user presses keys corresponding to the letters that make up that word, regardless of the fact that each key represents multiple letters. For example, to enter the letter "a," the user enters the "2" key, regardless of the fact that the "2" key can also represent "b" and "c." T9 text input technology resolves the intended word by determining all possible letter combinations indicated by the user's keystroke entries, and comparing these to a dictionary of known words to see which one(s) make sense.
Beyond the basic application, T9 Text Input has experienced a number of improvements. Moreover, T9 text input and similar products are also available on reduced keyboard devices for languages with ideographic rather than alphabetic characters, such as Chinese. Still, T9 text input might not always provide the perfect level of speed and ease of data entry required by every user.
As a completely different approach, some small devices employ a digitizing surface to receive users' handwriting. This approach permits users to write naturally, albeit in a small area as permitted by the size of the portable computer. Based upon the user's contact with the digitizing surface, handwriting recognition algorithms analyze the geometric characteristics of the user's entry to determine each character or word. Unfortunately, current handwriting recognition solutions have problems. For one, handwriting is generally slower than typing. Also, handwriting recognition accuracy is difficult to achieve with sufficient reliability. In addition, in cases where handwriting recognition algorithms require users to observe predefined character stroke patterns and orders, some users find this cumbersome to perform or difficult to learn.
A completely different approach for inputting data using small devices without a full-sized keyboard has been to use a touch-sensitive panel on which some type of keyboard overlay has been printed, or a touch-sensitive screen with a keyboard overlay displayed. The user employs a finger or a stylus to interact with the panel or display screen in the area associated with the desired key or letter. With a small overall size of such keyboards, the individual keys can be quite small. This can make it difficult for the average user to type accurately and quickly.
A number of built-in and add-on products offer word prediction for touch-screen and overlay keyboards. After the user carefully taps on the first letters of a word, the prediction system displays a list of the most likely complete words that start with those letters. If there are too many choices, however, the user has to keep typing until the desired word appears or the user finishes the word. Text entry is slowed rather than accelerated, however, by the user having to switch visual focus between the touch-screen keyboard and the list of word completions after every letter. Consequently, some users can find the touch-screen and overlay keyboards to be somewhat cumbersome or error-prone.
In view of the foregoing problems, and despite significant technical development in the area, users can still encounter difficulty or error when manually entering text on portable computers because of the inherent limitations of reduced-key keypads, handwriting digitizers, and touch-screen/overlay keyboards.

Method and apparatus utilizing voice input to resolve ambiguous manually entered text input