A plurality of frame image signals are successively applied to an image signal encoder. A motion region of an incoming frame image signal is extracted and then approximated in shape to a polygon. The vertices of the polygon are determined and then the coordinate values of the vertices are calculated and transmitted. Further, in the event that the incoming image signal includes a region which is required to undergo orthogonal transformation, the region are extracted and then divided into a plurality of small regions. Following, each of the divided small regions is approximated in shape to a polygon and then the vertices thereof are detected. Subsequently, the coordinate values of the vertices are calculated and then transmitted. Consequently, the data to be transmitted can effectively be reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an arrangement of encoding motion image signals, and more specifically to such an arrangement wherein a motion region is extracted from an incoming image signal and is used to predict motion compensation and wherein a region to be orthogonally transformed is extracted and undergoes orthogonal transformation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Digital image encoding has found effective applications ranging from medial imagery, remote sensing up to image communication such as video conference and picture telephone.
Many approaches to effectively encoding motion image signals consecutively applied have been proposed, one of which is discussed in a paper entitled "Coding of arbitrarily shaped image segments based on a generalized orthogonal transform" by Michael GILGE, et al, Signal Processing: Image Communication 1 (1989), pages 154-180, issued by Elsevier Science publishers B.V.
According to this prior art, arbitrarily shaped regions, each of which exhibits a large motion compensated prediction error, are extracted and then subject to orthogonal transformation depending on the shapes theroef.
In more specific terms, each of frame images applied to an encoder is divided into a plurality of grids irrespectively of the content of the image. Following this, motion vectors are derived using so called "block, matching" techniques. The motion vectors are used to motion compensate a preceding frame image and thus, a current frame image is predicted. Throughout the instant disclosure, a "current frame image" implies an incoming frame image.
Subsequently, the regions each of which exhibits a large amount of motion compensated prediction error, are extracted from the current image signal after comparing the predicted image with the current frame image. Thereafter, the region is subject to orthogonal transformation depending on the shape thereof using a base function. After the contour of the region is determined, encoded are the motion vectors and the contours and the conversion coefficients of the orthogonal transformation.
However, the above mentioned prior art encodes the contours using chain codes and hence this prior art has encountered the problem in that a very large amount of information should be transmitted.

Arrangement of encoding motion image signals using motion compensation and orthogonal transformation


One aspect of the present disclosure relates to an enclosure system including enclosures of different sizes, shapes and styles that are all compatible with gel sealing modules having a given module form factor or a multiple of the given module form factor. In this way, gel sealing modules having one form factor and/or multiples thereof can be universally used across an entire product line of enclosures.

Pressurized gel-type seals have been used to effectively seal the locations where telecommunications cables enter and exit telecommunications enclosures. Example pressurized gel-type seals are disclosed by document EP 0442941 B1 and document EP 0587616 B1. Both of these documents disclose gel-type cable seals that are pressurized through the use of threaded actuators. Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,406 discloses a cable seal that is pressurized through the use of an actuator including a cam lever. PCT International Publication Number WO 2014/005916 discloses can cable sealing unit having a plurality of removable cable sealing modules including sealing gel. While pressurized cable seals have generally proven to be effective, improvements in this area are still needed, particularly in the area of modularity and design efficiency and flexibility across different products of a product line.

Cable sealing unit with cable sealing modules


A sterilization challenge specimen holder is used with a test indicator to challenge sterilization on a consistent basis. The holder includes a body having an internal chamber region. A cap is sealable on the holder. A plug is positioned in the body. The plug has a wall having a spiral formed groove therein in communication with the internal chamber region. An opening provides for a single flow path for communication between the environs and the internal chamber via the groove.

The present invention is directed to a sterilization challenge specimen holder. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a reusable specimen holder for challenge in a sterilization environment.
The sterilization of medical equipment, towels (for hospital and operating room use), gowns and the like is carried out, for the most part, using steam sterilization equipment and methods. For example, a bundle of towels is placed into a steam sterilizer, a vacuum is drawn in the sterilizer to evacuate the air, and steam is introduced to sterilize the bundle of towels.
Due to the nature of the towels being "bundled" it may be difficult to assure that the innermost regions (volume) of the towels have been sufficiently subjected to the steam (time and temperature) to assure proper levels of sterilization. Essentially, it is a "challenge" for the steam to be introduced to the innermost parts to effect sterilization.
To this end, "challenge packs" or "challenge kits" have been created to simulate the bundle and more specifically to simulate the difficulty or resistance in reaching the innermost parts: (1) to effect a vacuum; and (2) to introduce steam sufficient to sterilize the local area. There is in fact an ANSI standard for challenge packs that is based upon a bundle of towels having a specific size.
Presently, there are challenge packs on the market. These include paper stacks (stacked like a deck of cards) with an indicator sheet generally in the middle of the stack that can indicate either that a vacuum has been achieved or that a sufficient amount of steam has reached the indicator pack. Another includes a paper stack with a cut out center with a biological indicator vile in the middle. Still another type of indicator includes a plastic tube that has a hole in one end, is packed with a permeable material (such as a towel or absorbent paper sheet) and an indicator at the opposite end.
All of these challenge packs are one time use, disposable products. Various indicators (e.g., for use in the middle of the stack or for other types of uses) can be used in different environments and situations and provide indication of vacuum, biological activity (or inactivity) or steam contact.
Accordingly, there is a need for a challenge device that provide sufficient challenge to sterilization on a consistent basis. Desirably, such a device is easy to use and does not require additional packing materials (towel bundles). More desirably, such a device is reusable with disposable (one-time use) indicators. Most desirably such a device is a passive device (e.g., no moving mechanical and/or electro-mechanical components).


A battery includes a can having a rectangular or triangular cross section, the can having a closed end and an open end, a cathode in the can, an anode in the can, a separator between the cathode and the anode, and a seal assembly attached to the open end of the can.

This invention relates to metal-air batteries.
Batteries are commonly used electrical energy sources. A battery contains a negative electrode, typically called the anode, and a positive electrode, typically called the cathode. The anode contains an active material that can be oxidized; the cathode contains or consumes an active material that can be reduced. The anode active material is capable of reducing the cathode active material. In order to prevent direct reaction of the anode material and the cathode material, the anode and the cathode are electrically isolated from each other by a separator.
When a battery is used as an electrical energy source in a device, electrical contact is made to the anode and the cathode, allowing electrons to flow through the device and permitting the respective oxidation and reduction reactions to occur to provide electrical power. An electrolyte, for example, potassium hydroxide, in contact with the anode and the cathode contains ions that flow through the separator between the electrodes to maintain charge balance throughout the battery during discharge.
In a metal-air electrochemical cell, oxygen is reduced at the cathode, and a metal is oxidized at the anode. Oxygen is supplied to the cathode from the atmospheric air external to the cell through one or more air hole(s) in the cell can. To prolong battery life, it is desirable that the cathode be exposed to air flow when in use, and isolated from air flow when not in use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and apparatus for the creation of a electronic domain geometric modeling data file containing internal and external features of an object of interest by first successively removing contours of material forming the object to form exposed surfaces and thereby reveal the internal and external features contour by contour and second by subsequently, successively acquiring data relative to the exposed surfaces is provided. The geometry of each exposed surface is obtained, processed and recorded after each contour is removed. The processing is converted to perimeter data to define the internal and external features and surfaces of the object and the perimeter data is combined to yield a three dimensional electronic domain representation of the object. If desired this representation can be displayed on a computer monitor or printed onto paper. In a representative embodiment of the present invention a face mill is provided to remove the contours, a scanner is used to obtain the data relative to the exposed surfaces, and a shuttle is used to transport the object between the mill and the scanner for alternating steps of material removal and scanning.

There exist known methods for producing three dimensional images in an electronic domain from solid physical objects. Typically, these methods involve some form of data acquisition of information relative to the exterior surfaces of the object, either by contact or non-contact means. The result is a computer generated image of the exterior surface of the object. For example, one such method involves physical contact coordinate measuring methods. This particular method can produce accurate physical part dimensions, but is deficient because it is time consuming to use because of the amount of data generated and because it cannot readily secure interior features of the object. Non-contact methods such as laser scanning are also capable of creating accurate part dimensions, but like the coordinate measuring methods are not readily capable of capturing internal part features. Interior features, such as surface geometries and structural elements cannot readily be captured by these methods and so they are of limited use.
There do exist methods and apparatus for capturing both internal and external features of a physical object. This is a desired and sought after ability both from the stand point of quality control of manufactured parts and because of the desire to be able to reverse engineer objects. Among the methods utilized for these ends are the non-destructive techniques of ultrasound imaging and computed tomography (CT). Ultrasound imaging is generally not accurate for reproducing physical measurements with the desired accuracy. While CT can produce modeling data of the desired accuracy, the equipment used to perform this type of operation or inspection is often quite expensive, with costs for the x-ray producing equipment, the housing for the equipment, the sensors for detecting the x-rays, and the computer resources necessary to operate the CT system often raising the cost to a figure in the one million dollar range. In addition, CT presents a radiation hazard and requires special facilities to use this equipment, which adds to the cost of their acquisition and use. Known methods of quality control and reverse engineering can also require substantial time investments in terms of human time and central processing unit or computer time. A need exists to reduce the time, cost, and repeatability of quality control sampling and to provide manufacturers a way to reliably and accurately reverse engineer an object.
Certain destructive techniques for capturing both internal and external features of a physical object also exist. One of these is disclosed in commonly owned co-pending application Ser. No. 08/284,253, filed Aug. 2, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,648. Another destructive method and apparatus for capturing the internal and external features of a physical object is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,338 which issued to Pomerantz et al. Aug. 18, 1992. Pomerantz discloses apparatus for filling internal cavities in a three-dimensional object and filling the area outside of an object with a support material solidified to a solid block. Following such solidification, a layer of the entire solid block is removed to allow capture of the features of the exposed surface. The support material of Pomerantz is required to have generally the same hardness as that of the object to be analyzed. Further, internal voids in the solidified material are required to be manually filled by first locating the voids and then filling the same in a second step process of encasing the material. This second process requires that the voids first be located before they can be filled. Such a step of location requires further effort such as using non-destructive techniques to locate voids. As has been described, the use of such methods and apparatus for determining internal features is costly and potentially dangerous. Pomerantz contains no accurate method or apparatus for locating and filling voids that may exist within the interior structure of the part to be analyzed.
The existence of voids with the interior features of an object to be analyzed can be extremely detrimental to the accuracy of the representation obtained by the apparatus and process. This is especially true if the voids within the interior features of the object are adjacent to those interior features. In such an instance, a void adjacent a surface internal to the object will create an inaccurate representation of the interior features of the object, and render the representation virtually useless, especially for re-creation of a similar part. A void of filler material adjacent an interior feature of the object to be analyzed will appear to be a part of the object, and therefore render the dimensions obtained from the analysis inaccurate.
It would be desirable to have an apparatus and process for removing voids within the interior filler material of an object to be analyzed, especially voids adjacent an internal surface area of the object, without undo expense or risk.
Presently, various methods exist for the placement of an object to be analyzed so as to allow the introduction of a filler material into the interior and around the exterior of the object. Commonly, a base platform or plate has been used, on which the object is placed. In Pomerantz, for example, the object is aligned on the base and positioned so that it sits upright. Objects may also be suspended above the plate so that the filling material can completely encase the exterior surface of the object. When the encasing material cures, it heats up, also heating the part to be analyzed. When the part heats up, it expands, and has a strong tendency to be forced out of the encasing material. Expansion and contraction of the part creates large forces that the encasing material is incapable of containing.
The advent of the computer and computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacture (CAM) has greatly assisted and expedited the work of the engineer and draftsman in designing, drawing, and manufacturing objects of all kinds. These computer aided engineering tools have made it possible to design a part and manufacture it without ever going through the prototype development stage. The electronic data representing the drawings of these parts are retained in some form of memory, thereby allowing their subsequent access by interested parties. Many parts currently manufactured and sold as well as entire products are made from engineering drawings that were created before the beginning of the CAD/CAM era. Some of these drawings have disappeared or been destroyed and there is a desire to bring these parts and products into the CAD environment.
It would be desirable to have an apparatus and process for taking an existing object and reproducing it in an electronic medium, thereby allowing pre-CAD/CAM era objects to be incorporated into the electronic environment, for providing a less costly alternative quality control inspection method than is presently available, for reducing manufacturing costs and speeding products to market, and for enabling an object to be accurately and quickly reverse engineered.

Appararus and method for creating three-dimensional modeling data from an object


The invention relates to a method of making a composite laminate comprising the steps of providing unidirectionally oriented parallel fibres (UD filaments) (3) with a resin matrix to form a composite UD layer and laminating a plurality of UD layers to form a UD crossply laminate (18). In the method of the invention, the UD filaments are impregnated with a melt of a resin which in the uncured form solidifies below a certain temperature (Tm). Thereupon the UD filaments-containing resin is cooled to a temperature below Tm to produce the composite UD layer. The produced composite UD layer is irreversibly cured before or after lamination. Notably latent curing resins are suitable. The impregnation is preferably conducted by coating a process belt (8) with solid resin (6), laying the UD filaments onto the resin, and heating the resin so as to form the resin melt. The heating of the resin is preferably conducted by means of IR irradiation (11).

The term UD crossply laminate is used to indicate composite laminates of the known type with a plurality of layers of unidirectionally oriented parallel fibres (UD filaments) contained in a resin matrix, the UD filaments being arranged in different layers of crossing orientational directions, said layers being symmetrically positioned vis-a-vis a plane of symmetry through the centre of the laminate which runs parallel to its outer surfaces.
UD crossply laminates possess considerable advantages such as an improved surface quality, a comparatively low linear thermal coefficient of expansion (TCE) in the x and y directions, the option of incorporating a high content of fibres, and a favourable dimensional stability. In these respects UD crossply laminates are pre-eminently suitable as PWB substrate.
Such UD crossply PWB laminates are known from, int.al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,691 (Medney). The disclosed PWBs are manufactured by winding filaments about a square flat mandrel in several layers crossing at an angle of 90.degree., with the filaments being provided with curable matrix material by means of injection and/or impregnation. The matrix, which in consequence contains crosswise-applied layers of UD filaments, is then cured.
Other manufacturing methods in accordance with the above opening paragraph have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,945 (Leibowitz), EP 478 051, and WO 92/22191.
Leibowitz's disclosure relates to a PWB laminate comprising a matrix resin reinforced with parallel aramid fibres. The laminate is built up from layers of unidirectional aramid tape applied one on top of the other in crosswise fashion. The aramid tape is made by arranging a single layer of parallel aramid fibres to form fibre strips, coating the fibre strips with resin, and heating them to a semi-cured or "B"-stage.
EP 478 051 discloses the continuous manufacture of a flat substrate from a fibre-reinforced matrix, which process comprises the use of at least two moving layers of parallel, rectilinearly extending reinforcing fibres not bonded in the form of a woven fabric (UD fibres), providing said UD fibres, which are positioned in at least two crossing directions, with matrix material, and passing them through a laminating zone, for instance a double belt press, to form a crossply laminate.
In WO 92/22191 method of manufacturing a PWB laminate is described involving the steps of making non-flowable UD layers, coating at least part of the non-flowable UD layers with an adhesive on one or both sides, crosswise stacking the UD-layers in such a way that there is at least one layer of adhesive between each pair of UD-layers having a different direction of orientation, and bonding the stacked UD-laminates by activating the adhesive layers.
A general problem in the manufacture of UD crossply PWB laminates has to do with the step of providing the UD filaments with matrix resin. In order to fully benefit from the advantages of UD crossply laminates, the UD filaments should be orderly distributed over each UD layer. Problems may arise if portions of the filaments are not coated with matrix resin or if large resin areas are devoid of reinforcement. These problems include the occurrence of sink marks (highly undesirable surface unflatnesses due to differences in thermal expansion of portions of the laminate having different fibre volume fractions) and, in the case of PWBs made by additive plating, the occurrence of short circuits due to voids having become plated. This calls for an improved impregnation technique.
Another problem that particularly applies to the manufacture of UD-crossply laminates is that of disorientation of the UD filaments. In order to obtain a laminate having sufficient flatness, which is a property of particular importance to a PWB laminate, proper orientation must be retained. UD orientation is in jeopardy particularly when the resin is flowable under the conditions of lamination. For, on account of the flow which occurs during lamination, the tension, and hence the orientation of the UD layers, cannot be adequately controlled.
For economical and other reasons it is generally desired that UD crossply laminates can be made in a fast process. At the same time, such a process should be slow enough to allow proper impregnation to occur, and the resin should be sufficiently cured so as to have lamination under non-flow conditions. To this end it is known to employ fast curing resins that display good flow characteristics prior to curing. These usually are low-viscous, highly reactive resins. While the use of these resins may give a faster process than conventional resins, the high reactivity, and the consequently short potlife, can easily lead to curing at undesired stages in the process. E.g., curing will occur in the applicator unit in which the resin is held prior to its application onto the processing belt, or there is the danger of curing having proceeded too far before lamination, which is a disadvantage in that the strongest adhesive bonds between two UD layers are formed during lamination when at least one of the layers has not been fully consolidated.
As background art in the area of resins, not dealing with the manufacture of printed wire board laminates on the basis of UD filaments, int.al. EP 530 450 can be mentioned. This disclosure pertains to the continuous production of resin-impregnated materials by means of a double belt press. The resin is applied either via an extruder or, in the case of solid flakes, via a sprinkler. Further background art is JP 63/117053, which pertains to a thermosetting resin composition for printed circuit board laminates, which provides non-tacky prepregs by virtue of its melting point being above room temperature.

Method of making a composite laminate and a PWB substrate so made


Embodiments that relate to a head-mounted computing device for providing navigation assistance via audio output are disclosed. For example, in one disclosed embodiment depth image and visible image data are used to generate a three-dimensional mesh of at least a portion of an environment. Using the mesh, at least one feature in the environment is detected. When operating in a familiar navigation mode and based on detecting the feature, a first audio navigation cue is outputted to the user. When operating in an unfamiliar navigation mode and based on detecting the feature, a second audio navigation cue is outputted to the user, where the second audio navigation cue differs from the first audio navigation cue.

Persons with physiological visual impairments may utilize one or more mobility aids to navigate their surroundings. Such mobility aids may include, for example, canes, assistance animals, vision enhancement devices, and the like. Similarly, sighted persons encountering situational visual impairment, such as a dark or smoke-filled room, may also benefit from mobility aids that provide navigation assistance for their current environment.
Some mobility aids provide tactile feedback that indicates aspects of the user's surroundings, such as a cane contacting a curb on a street. However, using such aids may occupy a significant amount of the user's attention along with a hand of the user. Additionally, such aids generally provide the same amount and type of feedback of the user's immediate surroundings regardless of the context of those surroundings. As such, these aids are generally incapable of modifying or enhancing the utility of their feedback based on the context of the user's current environment.


An EBG (electromagnetic bandgap) device with a stacked structure includes a first ground plane, a first power plane, a via, a second power plane, a second ground plane; a third power plane, and several ground vias. The first ground plane, the second power plane, and the second ground plane are connected through the several ground vias. The ground vias and the second power plane do not have actually electrical connection. The first ground plane, the first power plane, the second power plane, and the via form a first EBG structure and the first ground plane, the second ground plane, the third power plane and the several ground vias form a second EBG structure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures, and particularly to a stacked EBG structure with more and wider stopbands.
2. Description of Related Art
The EBG structure 1 of related art, such as that shown in FIG. 1, includes a ground plane 10, a power plane 30, and an EBG layer 20. The power plane 30 and the ground plane 10 are arranged parallel to each other, and the EBG layer 20 is between the power plane 30 and the ground plane 10. The EBG layer 20 is connected to either the power plane 30 or the ground plane 10 through vias 40. In the case of the structure of FIG. 1, the EBG layer 20 is connected to the power plane 30.
The via 40 has a self-inductance. The ground plane 10 and the EBG layer 20 have a predetermined capacitance. A stopband center frequency of the EBG structure 1 changes depending on the self-inductance and the capacitance. However, the EBG structure 1 of related art can supply only stopbands in a limited number and with limited operating frequencies.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a stacked EBG structure with more and wider stopbands.

Stacked electromagnetic bandgap structure

ShenZhen Treasure City Technology Co., LTD.


A curable composition including a fluorine-containing silane compound having two or more Si atoms each bonding to at least one group selected from the group consisting of a hydroxyl group and a hydrolyzable group; an organosilicon compound having at least two —O—Rg3(s) each bonding to a Si atom, wherein each Rg3, at each occurrence, is independently a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group; a catalyst; and a solvent.

A certain fluorine-containing silane compound can impart excellent water-repellency, oil-repellency, antifouling property, and the like, and thus is used in, for example, a surface treatment of a base material. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a perfluoropolyether group-containing silane compound having a perfluoropolyether group in a molecular backbone and having a hydrolyzable group bonding to a Si atom at a molecular end or an end. Examples of Patent Literatures 1 and 2 each describe a perfluoropolyether group-containing silane compound having a Si atom having a hydrolyzable group at an end of a branched chain.


A memory device is provided including a semiconductor on insulator (SOI) substrate including a first semiconductor layer atop a buried dielectric layer, wherein the buried dielectric layer is overlying a second semiconductor layer. A capacitor is present in a trench, wherein the trench extends from an upper surface of the first semiconductor layer through the buried dielectric layer and extends into the second semiconductor layer. A protective oxide is present in a void that lies adjacent the first semiconductor layer, and a pass transistor is present atop the semiconductor on insulator substrate in electrical communication with the capacitor.

The present disclosure generally relates to the field of fabricating dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices, such as embedded DRAM devices. Embedded DRAM devices may include trench capacitors. A trench capacitor is a three dimensional device formed by etching a trench into a semiconductor substrate. After trench etching, a buried plate electrode, also referred to as a diffusion plate, is typically formed about the exterior portion of the trench and a node dielectric is then formed on the inner walls of the trench. Next, the trench is filled, for example, with doped polysilicon, such as N-type polycrystalline silicon ("N-type Poly-Si"). The doped poly-Si serves as one electrode of the capacitor, often referred to as the upper electrode or storage node, and the buried plate electrode serves as a second electrode of the capacitor, often referred to as the lower electrode. A node dielectric separates the buried plate and the upper electrode and serves as the insulating layer of the trench capacitor.

Structure and method of forming enhanced array device isolation for implanted plate EDRAM

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A policy server operates to configure differentiated services over multi-protocol label switching (Diffserv/MPLS) in a communications network. The policy server enables the definition and deployment of a customer policy, a network policy and a mapping policy. The policy server is arranged to create a group of MPLS tunnels, and associate the tunnels to the mapping policy and the customer policy. The customer policy includes a tunnel group identifier and a tunneling mode, and maps customer traffic to MPLS tunnels. The policy server translates the customer policy, the network policy and the mapping policy into device-specific commands, and then deploys the device-specific commands to the network interfaces of the affected network devices.

A communication network can be made from a group of routers, switches, and other related devices. Some of these devices are interconnected.
In communication networks, data is transmitted in the form of individual packets. The data packets are transmitted from one device to the next. Each packet is made from bits. Some bits are the payload, meaning they encode the information that is to be transmitted. Other bits are part of a header, which encodes information such as where the packet is to be transmitted to.
FIG. 1 shows communication network 100. Network 100 includes devices at its nodes, some of which are shown as dots, and interconnections between the devices that are shown as lines joining the dots. The devices of network 100 make frequent decisions as to how to route the data packets, i.e. upon receiving a packet, which device to forward it to next.
Normally routing and packet treatment decisions are made by network 100 automatically. Absent other distinguishing inputs, network 100 treats all incoming packets the same. For example, some Interior Gateway Protocols (IGP), such as open shortest path first (OSPF) and intra-domain intermediate system to intermediate system routing protocol (IS-IS), route IP packets based only on the destination address and the shortest path to reach the destination.
Protocols and functionalities have emerged for making such packet treatment and routing decisions in more sophisticated ways. One of them is called Differentiated services (Diffserv), and another is called Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).
Network 100 uses Diffserv functionality 110. Differentiated services (Diffserv) provides a scalable Quality of Service (QoS) support for internet protocol (IP) networks. Packet traffic is classified and conditioned at the edge of the network by edge devices, such as edge routers or gateways. A Diffserv code point (DSCP) is then applied to the IP header of each packet. Core routers of the network handle packets in different traffic streams by forwarding them with different per-hop behaviors (PHB). The PHB to be applied is indicated by the DSCP in each packet header. When using Diffserv, many traffic streams can be aggregated to a small number of behavior aggregates that are each forwarded using the same PHB at core routers. Thus, Diffserv functionality 110 simplifies the processing and storage requirements at core routers.
Network 100 also uses MPLS functionality 120. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is a packet-forwarding technology that gives IP operators a high degree of control over the paths taken by packets on their networks. MPLS thus enables an operator to better utilize the network resources, while providing a wide range of services to users. MPLS may be used for traffic engineering, Virtual Private Network (VPN) services, fault-tolerance protection, and the like. Ingress routers at the edge of an MPLS domain classify incoming IP packets into one of the available forward equivalent classes (FEC) or groups of packets. The similarly classified packets are then forwarded in the same manner (i.e., follow the same path) inside the domain. That path, considered unidirectionally, is defined as a label switched path (LSP). LSPs can be configured by using label distribution protocols (LDPs) such as resource reservation protocol with traffic engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) and constraint based routing label distribution protocol (CR-LDP). A setup priority and holding priority may be associated with an LSP. The setup priority defines the priority of the LSP during setup, whereas the holding priority defines the pre-emption priority of the LSP.
Accordingly, MPLS traffic engineering allows administrators to establish routes for certain customers based on information other than the shortest path, such as delay and bandwidth available along the path. Therefore, MPLS can relieve congestion and maximize bandwidth utilization by allowing multiple paths between source and destination.
MPLS, however, does not define or contain QoS services. Therefore, combining MPLS with Diffserv is desirable, as it would enable a MPLS functionality that also performs with IP QoS support.
As can be seen from arrows 130, Diffserv functionality 110 does not work easily with MPLS functionality 120. In order to support the two solutions concurrently, cumbersome mappings between Diffserv and MPLS policies have been attempted. To support interworking, administrators have to identify the MPLS edges and configure the edge devices through element management. In other words, administrators have to configure the edge devices one by one, and issue device-specific commands to support E-LSP and different tunnelling mode.
Moreover, to the inventors' knowledge, currently there is no commercial solution addressing the policy management of Diffserv over MPLS with regards to the configuration of E-LSP and tunnelling mode. There would be many challenges in supporting Diffserv/MPLS policy management due to different recommendations from the standards, and the limited capabilities supported at the network elements.
Two standards for supporting the interoperability of Diffserv and MPLS are: EXP-inferred-PHB scheduling class LSP (E-LSP), and label-only-inferred-PHB scheduling class LSP (L-LSP). An E-LSP uses the experimental (EXP) field in the MPLS shim header to infer the PHB of a packet. An L-LSP uses the MPLS label to carry the Per-hop Scheduling Class (PSC) and the EXP field to convey the PHB.
Two essential elements serve the interoperability Diffserv/MPLS: EXP-to-PHB mapping and tunneling mode. To support E-LSP, an EXP-to-PHB mapping is defined to ensure rule consistency across a network. The mapping is configured into the routers directly, or through RSVP-TE or constraint based routing LDP (CR-LDP) signaling during tunnel set-up. To support L-LSP, the label-to-PSC and EXP-to-PHB mapping is defined. Since the MPLS labels are swapped at every hop, operators are forced to rely on signaling to set the label and EXP mapping. Tunneling mode defines the method of translating the Diffserv information in the MPLS headers (labels and EXP field) into the DSCP value in the encapsulated IP header when packets exit the MPLS network. There are two essential modes of tunneling: pipe mode and uniform mode. For pipe mode, the egress router keeps the DSCP of the encapsulated IP header. For uniform mode, the egress router overwrites the original DSCP with the Diffserv information contained in the MPLS Shim Header.

Using policy-based management to support Diffserv over MPLS network


An apparatus for dispensing nutritional products including a number of storage hoppers for powdered ingredients, a controllable outlet connected to each storage hopper and operable to release controlled amounts of the powdered ingredients, a controllable liquid supply, a mixer, and a control system including a user interface for capturing data from a user. The control system uses the data that the user inputs to determine the quantity of each powdered ingredient and the quantity of liquid to be released to create a nutritional product, and sends signals to the liquid supply and the outlets to release the determined quantity of liquid and each powdered ingredient into the mixer to be mixed before being dispensed into a container.

There are many types of beverage dispenser devices in use. Their ease of use, ability to dispense a variety of beverages from one machine, and low maintenance requirements give them great appeal to anyone wishing to provide a selection of beverages in a self-service environment.
A typical beverage dispenser can be found in US 2008/0206429. This patent application describes a beverage dispenser that mixes one or more additives such as flavourings with a base liquid.
The controller within the dispensing machine receives a selection of desired flavoured beverage from a human operator or user of the dispenser via a user interface.
The dispenser then mixes the drink according to set instructions that are stored in a storage device within the machine. A set of instructions for mixing each drink available to the user are stored within the storage media.
This type of dispenser is only designed to deal with a relatively small selection of drinks, typically with each one being a different flavour for the user to choose from.
US 2007/0073557 A1 discloses a system for making and delivering genetically-based personalised nutrient and supplement mixtures.
This document introduces the idea of dispensing a customised beverage that is prepared based on the genetic profile of the user using genetic analysis and is mainly directed to using liquid ingredients. Tests have shown that 'wet' protein at the concentration required is not stable for use in these types of dispensers and can cause a large amount of bacteria build-up. The use of powdered ingredients is also proposed.


The present invention provides improved and/or shortened methods for expanding TILs and producing therapeutic populations of TILs, including novel methods for expanding TIL populations in a closed system that lead to improved efficacy, improved phenotype, and increased metabolic health of the TILs in a shorter time period, while allowing for reduced microbial contamination as well as decreased costs. Such TILs find use in therapeutic treatment regimens.

Treatment of bulky, refractory cancers using adoptive transfer of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) represents a powerful approach to therapy for patients with poor prognoses. Gattinoni, et al., Nat. Rev. Immunol. 2006, 6, 383-393. A large number of TILs are required for successful immunotherapy, and a robust and reliable process is needed for commercialization. This has been a challenge to achieve because of technical, logistical, and regulatory issues with cell expansion. IL-2-based TIL expansion followed by a "rapid expansion process" (REP) has become a preferred method for TIL expansion because of its speed and efficiency. Dudley, et al., Science 2002, 298, 850-54; Dudley, et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 2005, 23, 2346-57; Dudley, et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 2008, 26, 5233-39; Riddell, et al., Science 1992, 257, 238-41; Dudley, et al., J. Immunother. 2003, 26, 332-42. REP can result in a 1,000-fold expansion of TILs over a 14-day period, although it requires a large excess (e.g., 200-fold) of irradiated allogeneic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs, also known as mononuclear cells (MNCs)), often from multiple donors, as feeder cells, as well as anti-CD3 antibody (OKT3) and high doses of IL-2. Dudley, et al., J. Immunother. 2003, 26, 332-42. TILs that have undergone an REP procedure have produced successful adoptive cell therapy following host immunosuppression in patients with melanoma. Current infusion acceptance parameters rely on readouts of the composition of TILs (e.g., CD28, CD8, or CD4 positivity) and on fold expansion and viability of the REP product.
Current TIL manufacturing processes are limited by length, cost, sterility concerns, and other factors described herein such that the potential to commercialize such processes is severely limited, and for these and other reasons, at the present time no commercial process has become available. There is an urgent need to provide TIL manufacturing processes and therapies based on such processes that are appropriate for commercial scale manufacturing and regulatory approval for use in human patients at multiple clinical centers.

Processes for production of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and uses of same in immunotherapy


The present invention is a quinone derivative which exhibits excellent therapeutic activity represented by the general formula (I) or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof: ##STR1## wherein A stands for a group represented by the formula: ##STR2## (wherein R.sup.3, R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 is the same or different from each other and each stand for a hydrogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a lower alkyl group, a lower alkoxy group, an alkoxyalkyl group, an alkoxyalkoxy group, a cycloalkylalkoxy group, a thiol group or a thioalkyl group, with the proviso that R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are each a lower alkoxy group. R.sup.1 stands for a heteroarylalkyl group; and PA0 B stands for a carboxyl group or a protected carboxyl group.

Among inflammatory mediators, leukotrienes and thromboxanes have recently been noticed. They each cause inflammation alone or interact with each other to cause it, or participate in the continuation of inflammation. However, few compounds exhibiting both leukotrienes production-inhibiting activity and thromboxanes production-inhibiting activity have been found.
The inventors of the present invention have made intensive studies for many years to obtain a compound exhibiting both of the above-mentioned activities and have found that a quinone derivative which will be described below exhibits both the activities at a well-balanced activity ratio and is excellent as a so-called dual inhibitor. The present invention has been accomplished on the basis of this finding.


The present invention is a wire cake rack for supporting either tubular or rectangular cakes while they cool. The wire cake rack can be either a round cake rack for supporting tubular cakes, e.g. Bundt cakes or a rectangular cake rack for supporting rectangular cakes, e.g. pound cakes. The round cake rack is made with sides in the shape of an open top cylinder that are manufactured integrally with a bottom that is concentric with the sides. The bottom has a greater diameter than the diameter of the sides. The bottom has handles on diametrically opposite edges of the bottom. The rectangular cake rack is made with sides in the shape of an open top rectangular box that are manufactured integrally with a bottom that is axially aligned with the sides. The bottom extends a predetermined distance beyond the sides. The bottom has handles on the two edges of the bottom that are longer than the other two edges of the bottom. The round wire cake racks can be stacked together because the round wire racks are made of slightly different diameters so that they can stack inside of each other. Similarly, the rectangular wire racks are made of slightly different axial dimensions so that they can stack inside of each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to one piece wire cake racks for cooling tubular or rectangular cakes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art cake cooling racks have inherent deficiencies. For example, there are well known cake racks that are a flat wire surface. These cake racks have the deficiency that they do not support the sides of the cake and, therefore, the cake is able to slide off of the cake rack onto the floor if the cake pan is not removed from the cake just right.
Heretofore, it has been proposed to provide devices for supporting a tube cake pan in an inverted position during the cooling of the cake. However, these devices do not provide for the tube cakes to be cooled independent of the cake pan.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,308 issued Jan. 15, 1957 to Robert W. Roberts discloses a combination cake plate and cooler for tube cakes that has extensions leading up from the cake plate for supporting the inner ring of a tube cake pan and the outer edge of a tube cake pan while a tube cake is cooling. The tube cake pan is supported in an inverted position during the cooling process and the tube cake is then removed from the cake pan and supported on the integral cake plate for cutting and serving of the tube cake.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A computer system having an interconnection apparatus for connecting processors, peripherals and memories, the system including a plurality of electronic devices, and a multiple long bus structure with impedance elements disposed thereon for providing non-terminal termination points.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and, in particular, to a bus system adapted for use in a computer system having a modularized system architecture.
2. Description of Related Art
Improved system performance is a much sought-after goal of paramount significance that has been vigorously pursued in the field of computer systems since its very beginnings. Two avenues have been particularly fruitful: modularization of functional subsystems and superior bus design. Both avenues have resulted in improved system performance. In personal computers, especially, modularization has resulted in a standardized motherboard having a processor unit, on-board memory, and a host of expansion slots into which are plugged various expansion cards providing such enhanced functionality as telecommunications, disk storage and improved video.
While modularization of stand-alone computers has resulted in standard features such as those described above, the fast-growing field of network computer systems has engendered a new level of modularization altogether. It has become increasingly clear to many computer designers that having a single motherboard with a system bus thereon in a computer that is networked in a server-client relationship with other computers (known as "clients") places severe design and performance constraints on that computer (known as a "server"). Many designers of server architectures have thus adopted a design philosophy of modularizing the motherboard itself into component system boards, all of which may be plugged into system board slots provided preferably on a backplane board having interconnect circuitry. Hence, it is envisioned in such a paradigm to have a backplane board with system board slots for, for example, a processor board containing at least a processor unit, various memory modules and possibly a few expansion slots for added functionality; and at least a port board containing a host of input/output ports.
On the other hand, the goal of achieving ever-increasing performance criteria for computer systems has also mandated advanced bus design techniques. As is well-known in the art, system buses provide a communications pathway in computer systems that carries information including address information, control information, and data in accordance with a bus protocol. One problem that is common with system buses is that as the performance of a processor increases, that is, as the processing speed increases, it is necessary to provide a concomitant increase in bus transfer rate. That is, it is necessary to permit more address information, control information, and data to be transferred at faster rates on the bus so as not to nullify the advantages obtained by the use of a superior processor.
Signal propagation in a communications pathway physically occurs along an electrically conductive element, for example, a wire trace, and, as is known in the art, depends upon the frequency and length of the conductor. As operating speeds of the computer systems increase, propagation of signals between the processor and memory or peripheral devices over the communication pathway must be increasingly well controlled. For example, at relatively slow system clock and bus data rates, signal propagation characteristics remain relatively independent of the conductor length, and the signal waveform is adequately predicted and described by DC circuit analysis. At low frequencies, signals are fully absorbed (that is, non-reflected) at media discontinuities and terminal ends of the conductor, and do not affect other functional subsystems coupled to the conductor, that is, the bus.
However, as the signal frequency increases, for example, greater than around 30 MHz or so, transmission characteristics of a bus (for example, minimum cycle time, which in turn determines the maximum bus transfer rate) are no longer independent of the conductor geometry, especially the length. Two inter-related electrical parameters are of particular importance: propagation delay and settling time. The total delay associated with driving the bus includes the propagation delay through a bus driver and the period of time necessary to have the bus settle. As is known in the art, bus settling time is related, among other parameters, to the time necessary to have reflections on the bus die out before data is received by receivers on the bus.
As data rates on the system bus increases, it has therefore become necessary to minimize reflections on the bus. This is so because reflections of transmitted high frequency signals at conductor discontinuities and conductor terminations can create superimposed signals, and thereby increase the total delay and further cause unexpected results.
To preclude instances of reflected signals causing data transmission errors in high frequency data communication pathways, line terminators have been developed to match the impedance of the transmission line and thus provide a nonreflecting, that is, absorbing, termination to the transmission line. In this approach, precisely matched line terminators are coupled to terminal ends of transmission lines (that is, bus conductors) so that to the signal the lines appear to be infinite in length, causing the signal to be absorbed fully at the terminal end. Thus, by providing terminators at terminal ends of a bus interconnecting one or more subsystems, reflections on the bus are minimized or precluded altogether, thereby ensuring reliable operation of functional subsystems coupled to the bus.
Several problems are encountered in the foregoing approach to terminating the bus. One problem is that the approach does not specifically address the length-limitation of signal transmission characteristics of a high-performance bus. For example, a recently introduced high-performance system bus, known as the Peripheral Component Interconnect ("PCI") bus, that operates at least at times at 33 MHz, may not be more than about 10 inches in length. As can be appreciated, such a constraint restricts a system designer's choice as to how many devices can be loaded onto the PCI bus. It is well-known in the art that the current PCI bus architectures cannot support more than about 8-10 devices.
A second possible problem is that termination at the end of the bus requires the selection of a precisely matched impedance element although the inline component devices may vary their impedance over time. Further, termination of a bus at the ends of the bus still leaves portions of the bus between common bus conductors and individual devices on the bus unterminated. These portions can become a source of reflections on the bus as the bus frequency increases.
Another practical concern is that a system user must physically attach or detach a line terminator (hereinafter, a "terminal terminator"), to the segments of the bus depending upon certain signal transmission conditions, which conditions are often not easily ascertained by the user. For example, if no disk drive is connected at the terminal end of a Small Computer System Interface ("SCSI") bus segment, a line terminator should be attached to prevent undesirable reflections from the unterminated bus end.
More recently, switching terminators have been developed which electrically connect or disconnect a terminator circuit element from the signal pathway, without requiring physical intervention by the user. An example of such a switching terminator is the model MCCS142235, manufactured by Motorola, Inc., of Schaumberg, Ill. However, a user must still make a determination whether to engage the terminal terminator in the first instance, and then activate or deactivate the switching terminator accordingly. Further, although software interfaces could be written to enable the switching terminal terminator as necessary, the additional layer of code required on the system processor is cumbersome and would be processor-dependent.
As will be described in the following detailed description, the present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems associated with current bus designs by providing a high performance bus architecture that is geometry-independent (that is, the bus well exceeds current length specifications without compromising performance) and that has a non-terminal termination arrangement. It can be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art upon reference hereto that although a presently preferred exemplary embodiment of the present invention that is described hereinbelow involves the use of the PCI bus disposed in a server system environment, practice of the present invention is not restricted to the use of the PCI bus only, and that the present invention, whose novel features are described and claimed hereinbelow, encompasses in its scope the use of any bus standard, for example, the Industry Standard Architecture ("ISA") bus; the Extended Industry Standard Architecture ("EISA") bus; the MicroChannel.TM. Architecture ("MCA") bus or, the VL-Bus. In addition, it should be further understood that the present invention is implementable in any motherboard configuration, modularized or otherwise, disposed in any computer system.

Multiple long bus architecture having a non-terminal termination arrangement


A dual-mode mobile communication device capable of sharing Bluetooth module to perform communication is disclosed. The dual-mode mobile communication device includes a first communication module, a second communication module and a Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth module of the dual-mode mobile communication device is electrically connected with a Bluetooth device. The first communication module is electrically connected with the second communication module and the Bluetooth module respectively.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a dual-mode mobile communication device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a dual-mode mobile communication device capable of sharing a Bluetooth module for communication.
2. Description of Related Art
As the means of communication continue to increase, communication device with single communication system is inadequate to provide the functions of communication. The current common dual-mode mobile communications apparatuses are being substituted for the single-mode mobile communication apparatuses; the common dual-mode mobile communications apparatus can simultaneously send and receive communication signals of two different communication systems or two different frequency bands.
However, a conventional dual-mode mobile apparatus cannot make two different communication modules share a Bluetooth module for communication. In other words, only one communication module can use Bluetooth devices for the call, where only one communication module usually with primary mode of communication. Therefore, that may cause inconvenience in practical application for users.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new a dual-mode mobile communication device capable of sharing a Bluetooth module and thereby is wirelessly connected to the Bluetooth device for communication, so that it is convenient for people to use the dual-mode mobile communication device. The present disclosure meets this need.

Dual-mode mobile communication device capable of sharing bluetooth module to perform communication


A method of accessing remote memory comprising receiving a request for access to a page from a computing device, adding an address of the accessed page to a recent list memory on the remote memory, associating a recent list group identifier to a number of addresses of accessed pages, transferring the requested page to the computing device with the recent list group identifier and temporarily maintaining a copy of the transferred page on the remote memory.

Various local memory devices may be augmented with additional remote memory storage through the use of a commodity link such as a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe). This disaggregated memory system may provide a remote, shared capacity to compute blades through the use of a physically separate memory blade. Often, these systems use an exclusive organization where the data in a local memory is not copied on any remote memory. This organization may result in situations where data is brought in from remote memory, is unaltered while stored in local memory, and is subsequently copied back to remote memory. The swapping of these pages of data may increase, unnecessarily, the bandwidth utilization in the system over the PCIe. Although a PCIe may provide up to several gigabytes per second of bandwidth, this may not be a sufficient amount to exchange the data from the local memory device to the remote one. Slower possessing may then result in slower response times in a computing system leading to customer dissatisfaction.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.

Accessing remote memory on a memory blade

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method and apparatus for dynamically adjusting a power control loop that attempts to maintain either the transmit power of a signal sent from a base station to a mobile station or the signal to noise ratio of a signal sent from the mobile station to the base station above a minimum threshold. Location information that is representative of the distance and morphology between the mobile station and the base station is determined. The minimum threshold of the power control loop is then adjusted in accordance with the location information such that the minimum threshold varies as the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station change. A transmitter sends the signal at a power level that is controlled by the power control loop with the adjusted minimum threshold.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mobile radio communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to power control systems for controlling the power level of signals sent on the forward links of a mobile radio communication system, and for controlling the signal to noise ratios of signals sent on the reverse links of a mobile radio communication system. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a novel system and method that dynamically adjusts the parameters of forward and reverse link power control loops based upon the position and velocity of a mobile station.
II. Description of the Related Art
In mobile radio communication systems such as, for example, code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems, the transmit power levels of signals sent between a base station and a mobile station are carefully controlled using power control loops. Typically, one power control loop is used to maintain the power level of signals on the forward link (i.e., signals sent from the base station to a mobile station) between a minimum and a maximum level. A different power control loop is similarly used to maintain the received signal to noise ratio of signals sent on the reverse link (i.e., the SNR measured at the base station of signals sent from a mobile station to the base station) between a minimum desired level and a maximum desired level. These power control loops typically adjust the transmit power of a signal upward or downward in fixed step wise increments (e.g., plus or minus 1 dB) in order to maintain either the power level or the signal to noise ratio of the signal between the minimum and maximum desired levels.
In early CDMA systems, forward link power control was typically accomplished using an open power control loop, whereas the reverse link power control system used a closed power control loop. Current CDMA systems use a closed power control loop for forward link power control and it is expected that future CDMA systems will continue to use a closed power control loop for forward link power control.
Each geographic cell in a mobile radio communication system is typically serviced by a base station associated with the cell. In current systems, the parameters of the forward link power control loop (i.e., the minimum power level, maximum power level, and step size associated with the forward link power control loop) and the limits of the reverse link power control loop (i.e., the minimum desired signal to noise ratio, maximum desired signal to noise ration, and step size associated with the reverse link power control loop) do not vary as the location and velocity of mobile units within the cell varies.
The transmit power requirements of signals sent between a base station and a mobile station vary as the mobile station moves within a cell. For example, as the mobile station moves closer to the base station, less transmit power is often required on the reverse link to achieve the same signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal at the base station. Thus, as the mobile station moves closer to the base station, the transmit power on the reverse link can often be reduced while maintaining the same signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal at the base station. In addition, less transmit power is also often required when the mobile station is stationary or moving slowly (as opposed to moving quickly) to achieve the same signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal at the base station. Thus, as the mobile station slows down, the transmit power on the reverse link can often be reduced while maintaining the same signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal at the base station.
The capacity of a given mobile radio communication system is limited by the transmit power available to the base station and the signal to noise ratio requirement on the reverse link. Thus, the capacity of the system could be increased if the base station transmit power and/or the signal to noise ratio on the reverse link in the system are reduced. In view of this, it would be desirable to have a power control system that could dynamically adjust the parameters of the forward and reverse link power control loops in response to the changing position and/or speed of a mobile station, so as to conserve transmit power and increase cell capacity.
The present invention maximizes the capacity of a given cell by adjusting one or both limits of a power control loop based on the position of a mobile station within the cell. In one embodiment, the present invention dynamically adjusts the parameters of a power control loop that attempts to maintain the transmit power of a signal sent from a base station to a mobile station above a minimum threshold. In this embodiment, location information that is representative of the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station is determined. The minimum threshold of the power control loop is then adjusted in accordance with the location information such that the minimum threshold varies as the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station change. A transmitter then transmits the signal at a power level that is controlled by the power control loop with the adjusted minimum threshold. This aspect of the invention can be used for controlling the minimum power level associated with the forward link power control loop.
In a further embodiment, the present invention dynamically adjusts the parameters of a power control loop that attempts to maintain the signal to noise ratio of a signal sent from the mobile station to the base station above a minimum threshold. In this embodiment, location information that is representative of the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station is determined. The minimum threshold of the power control loop is then adjusted in accordance with the location and the morphology information such that the minimum threshold varies as the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station change. A transmitter then transmits the signal at a power level that is controlled by the power control loop with the adjusted minimum threshold. This aspect of the invention can be used for controlling the minimum desired signal to noise ratio (i.e., the minimum desired signal to noise ratio of a reverse link signal received at the base station) in a reverse link power control loop.
In accordance with further alternative embodiments, the present invention also determines velocity information that is representative of the velocity of the mobile station. In these embodiments, the minimum threshold of a power control loop is adjusted based on the velocity information alone or, alternatively, the minimum threshold of the power control loop is adjusted based on both the velocity information and the current position of the mobile station. This aspect of the invention can also be used for controlling the minimum thresholds associated with both the forward and reverse link power control loops, and is especially useful in mixed wireless networks where there are both fixed position wireless users (also referred to as wireless local loop users) and mobile wireless users (i.e., wireless users that change position.) In such mixed wireless networks, adjustment of the minimum thresholds associated with both the forward and reverse link power control loops based on the velocity of wireless user ensures efficient allocation of system resources.
In accordance with a still further aspect, the maximum threshold of a forward link power control loop (i.e., the power level below which the power control loop attempts to maintain the transmit power of the signal sent from the base station) is also adjusted in accordance with the location information (and optionally the velocity information) such that the maximum threshold varies as the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station (and optionally the velocity of the mobile station) vary.
In accordance with yet a further aspect, the maximum threshold of a reverse link power control loop (i.e., the maximum desired signal to noise ratio below which the power control loop attempts to maintain the signal to noise ratio of a reverse link signal received at a base station) is also adjusted in accordance with the location information (and optionally the velocity information) such that the maximum threshold varies as the distance and the morphology between the mobile station and the base station (and optionally the velocity of the mobile station) vary.
In accordance with a still further aspect, the step size of a power control loop (i.e., the step wise power increment used in the power control loop to adjust the transmit power of the signal upward or downward) is also adjusted in accordance with the velocity information such that the step size varies as the velocity of the mobile station varies. In accordance with this aspect, the step size used by the power control loop is preferably reduced for stationary or slow moving mobile stations, and the step size is increased when a mobile station begins moving more quickly. This aspect of the invention can be used for controlling the step size of either a forward link or reverse link power control loop.

Forward and reverse link power control using position and mobility information


Techniques for correcting component mismatches in an M-channel time-interleaved Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). In order to obtain an error measure for offset, gain or phase, errors, outputs from each ADC are either summed or averaged over No samples. Calling each of the sums or averages as Xk where k=1, 2, . . . , M, there are M such values as a result. A single value representing the mean of these M values, Xmean, is chosen as a reference value. The offset, gain and phase errors for the M different ADCs are then obtained from Xk−Xmean. The sign of each offset error, i.e., sign (Xk−Xmean), is then used to drive an adaptive algorithm whose output represents an offset correction value for the corresponding ADC. The offset, gain, and phase correction outputs from the adaptive algorithm is fed to an array of Digital-to-Analog converters (DACs) whose outputs are voltages or currents that directly or indirectly controls the offset, gain or phase setting of each individual ADC. Thus, there are M different offset, gain and phase error signals and M different adaptive algorithms operating in conjunction with M different DACs providing offset control signals to M different ADCs. In certain embodiments, spur frequencies can be reduced with the use of notch filters.

An efficient way of providing very high sample rates, rates that cannot be provided by a single Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), is to use a parallel connection of slower ADCs operating in a time-interleaved fashion. An M-channel time-interleaved ADC (MCTIADC) comprises of M ADCs, each operating at a sample rate that is 1/M of the overall system sample rate. In the absence of any impairments or mismatch errors between the ADCs, i.e., assuming all the ADCs are either ideal or have exactly the same characteristics, the output samples appear at equally spaced intervals in a manner that creates a seamless image of a single ADC operating at the system sample frequency.
In practice, however, there are component mismatches between the different ADCs that severely degrade the performance of the MCTIADC system. The commonly occurring mismatches are offset, gain and uniform sample instants. In other words, the offsets and gains of all the ADCs are not the same and the ADCs do not sample at uniform sample instants of the system sample frequency. These mismatches give rise to unnecessary frequency tones or spurs in the spectrum of the signal that significantly reduce the performance of the MCTIADC system. A typical variation of Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR) is shown in FIG. 1 wherein a tone is swept from a low frequency to almost half the sample rate of the MCTIADC system for various mismatch errors. As can be seen from the figure, the performance of the four-channel ADC is severely hampered due to these errors. Hence, it becomes imperative to estimate and correct these errors to improve the performance of the MCTIADC system.
Herein are shown techniques to minimize the effects of offset, gain and sample-time mismatches by appropriately estimating and correcting these errors in an adaptive manner. In addition, also shown is that the adaptive method can be used in a blind mode wherein the use of any particular calibration signal is circumvented. In other words, the input signal itself serves as the calibrating signal to estimate and correct the mismatch errors.

Calibration of offset, gain and phase errors in M-channel time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters


A method includes establishing two partitions, including a first partition and a second partition, in a computer system. The method further includes designating a first memory page in memory space controlled by the first partition, designating a second memory page in memory space controlled by the second partition, storing an address of the first memory page in an address mapping array that is accessible by the first partition and storing an address of the second memory page in an address mapping array that is accessible by the second partition. In addition, the method includes exchanging the address of the first memory page in the address mapping array that is accessible by the first partition with the address of the second memory page in the address mapping array that is accessible by the second partition.

It is sometimes advantageous to divide a computer system into two or more "partitions" where each partition is a collection of system resources that can operate independently or quasi-independently from the other partition or partitions. For example, "soft" partitioning can be implemented by using software known as a "virtual machine monitor" to create two or more execution environments in a single computer. The computer may include only one microprocessor, in which case the various partitions may be implemented on a time-multiplexed basis. In addition, or alternatively, the computer may have more than one microprocessor, or one or more microprocessor may include two or more processing cores. Memory and/or input/output facilities may be shared by the partitions. One or more of the processors and/or cores may be shared.
In so-called "firm" partitioning there are two or more central processing units, each of which is dedicated to a respective partition. Typically in firm partitioning, all functional resources are separated into the respective partitions and are redundant. However there may be some resources such as buses or power planes that are shared and may produce common failure dependencies. Each partition may have its own portions of RAM (random access memory) within the same dual inline memory module.
Just as data exchange among networked computers is often desirable, so too would it be advantageous to have an efficient manner of exchanging data between partitions within a computer.

Methods and apparatus for data transfer between partitions in a computer system


A system 100 for providing credentials to a computational component in a distributed processing network is provided. The system 100 includes: (a) a plurality of crypto-tokens 150a-n, each crypto-token 150a-n comprising a unique identifier, optionally a digital certificate comprising a unique public key and the unique identifier, and a private key corresponding to the public key; (b) a provisioning system 100 comprising a certificate authority 104 operable to generate the plurality of crypto-tokens 150a-n; and (c) a computational component 128 comprising a drive operable to receive and communicate with a selected crypto-token 150. The computational component 128 uses the digital certificate and private key in any of the crypto-tokens 150a-n to establish a secured communication session with the provisioning system 100. Before the establishing operation, any of the plurality of crypto-tokens 150a-n can be engaged with the computational component 128 to establish the secure communication session.

Distributed software systems that operate over an open network, particularly a Wide Area Network such as the Internet, often have the need for secure communications over the network and authentication between system elements to prevent spoofing and other security breaches. Various protocols have been used to provide such security. Exemplary protocols include the Secure Sockets Layer or SSL, Transport Layer Security or TLS, Secure-HTTP, and IP Security or IPSEC.
Instrumental in these protocols are cryptographic mechanisms. Two primary cryptographic mechanisms are secret key and public key cryptography. Secret key is a type of symmetric encryption in which both parties know and use the same or shared secret key to encrypt and decrypt communications. Encryption algorithms, or ciphers, based on the secret key, mathematically transform or encrypt the plain text in the message into cipher text. The same key and algorithm are used by the other party to decrypt the cipher text. Public key cryptography is a type of asymmetric encryption that uses pairs of different keys, one for encryption and one for decryption. One of the keys or private key is kept secret by a party and the other key or public key is provided freely to other parties. When plain text is converted into ciphertext or encrypted using the private key, it may be converted back into plain text only using the public key and vice versa. The Rivest-Shamir-Adleman or RSA algorithm is one of the most widely used public key algorithms.
The SSL protocol uses the Public Key Infrastructure or PKI, a form of public key cryptography, to secure communications over otherwise unsecured networks. RSA, together with the X.509 standard for digital certificates, form the basis of PKI. A certificate 200 according to the X.509 standard is shown in FIG. 2. The standard portion 202 of X.509 includes the version 204 (which indicates the particular version of the X.509 standard), serial number 208 (which is assigned by the certificate authority and uniquely identifies the certificate), signature algorithm 212 (which identifies the algorithm used in the digital signature), issuer or signer 216 of the certificate (which identifies the certificate authority that issued the certificate), period of validity 220 for the certificate (which identifies both the earliest and latest times that the certificate is valid), the subject or owner 224 of the public key, and the public key 228 of the owner of the certificate. Extensions 232 provide a location for issuers to add their own private information to the certificate. It can include authority and subject key identifiers, key usage, private key usage period, and a list of permitted use and restrictions on usage for the certificate. The certificate 200 further includes the digital signature field 236 (encrypted using the private key of an issuing entity). The digital signature field includes the signature algorithm identifier 212, a secure hash of the other fields in the certificate, and a digital signature of that hash. When a certificate has been issued and signed by the same entity, that certificate is known as a self-signed certificate or a root certificate. In a certificate chain or chain of trust, a root certificate is always at the top of the chain and is used to validate each of the other lower certificates in the chain. As will be appreciated, a certificate chain of trust is a sequence of certificates, each one of which is signed by the next in order until the last one, or root certificate, is self-signed. A trusted third-party, such as Verisign™, that issues digital certificates used to create digital signatures and public/private key pairs is known as a certificate authority or CA. As can be seen from the foregoing, to implement PKI each system element in the distributed network requires a unique digital certificate and associated private key.
In a typical application, a computational component receives a digital certificate by interacting with a certificate authority. The computational component generates a public/private key set and makes a certificate request to the certificate authority. Secure distribution of the private key is not an issue because no distribution is needed (the private key is generated on the target system element). However, this approach is not practical in many cases, since it requires direct communication between the computational component and a certificate authority. This approach also presents security issues, since the certificate request sent from a given computational component can be difficult to validate. If the certificate is granted without sufficient validation, the security that the certificate provides is compromised. More thorough validation is time consuming and potentially expensive.
This problem is compounded in an enterprise network including multiple system elements. Providing each system element with a unique certificate and key pair can be a challenge. There are two key questions that must be addressed. First, how does one get the digital certificate to each system element in the first place? Second, if this is done remotely how does one know that the system element on the other end is the system element that it claims to be? The potential solutions include (a) adding unique credentials at the time of manufacture; (b) staging the equipment to add unique credentials; (c) shipping the credentials separately (e.g., on a crypto-token device such as a smart card or other hardware or media; (d) employing a hardware device (e.g., circuit board) whose personality is or can be made unique; (e) providing access to a secure web site from which credentials can be obtained after suitable login and authorization; and (f) hand carrying the credentials to the device on site.
Each of the solutions typically requires some pre-association of credentials with a specific system element. Such an association is not always possible and/or is expensive. For example, such an association is often not possible until an electronic address, such an IP address, is assigned to the system element, which is not commonly done until after connection to the network. Moreover, encoding unique credentials into a system element at the time of manufacture is costly, and the credentials can be viewed by a skilled computer technician and are therefore not tamper proof. The solutions further require involvement of trained technical personnel, which is not only expensive but also can delay significantly the provisioning process.
In options (c) and (f) above, providing the credentials to the device on site, such as using a crypto-token, can be problematical. Because this technique requires a prior association between a specific hardware or software product and a specific crypto-token, providing wrong credentials with a product or misplacement of the credentials can prevent the product from being provisioned and/or licensed until the proper credentials have been provided. This may be time consuming and expensive particularly if the proper credentials have been lost or misplaced and must be recreated.


A cutting machine that includes a knife and an unrolling device. The knife severs foodstuff slices from a foodstuff bar. A leaf from a separating material is provided between at least two foodstuff slices. The unrolling device providing the separating material for disposal of the leaf between the two foodstuff slices and injects the leaf into the cutting region. The unrolling device has a tape roll and a delay unit. disposed downstream of the tape roll. The delay unit is configured for delaying the movement of the separating material, which is unrolled from the unrolling device and is provided in a cutting region of a cutting machine.

The present invention proceeds from a delay unit for an unrolling device, wherein the delay unit is configured for delaying a transporting movement of separating material which is unrolled from the unrolling device and is provided in a cutting region of a cutting machine.
Such delay units are known from the prior art and serve for keeping the separating material under tension when unrolling, said separating material typically comprising a tape of film or paper material. On account thereof the transporting resistance of the tape is increased such that the tape does not kink, tear, or back up. The separating material is typically referred to as an "interleaver" and the tape is typically referred to as an "interleaver strip".
Such delay units in the prior art are at all times used as rollers, in particular dancer rollers, the tape running about the latter. Such dancer rollers are typically configured so as to be movable and are pretensioned in a spring-elastic manner in one direction.
Roller-based delay units of this type for interleaver strips are known, for example, from the German patent application DE 10 2013 204 956 A1. The interleaver strip here is guided by way of U-shaped cartridges with interleaver rollers which are in each case provided with a braking means. The braking means comprise a braking mandrel which acts on the respective interleaver roller and by way of friction generates a braking torque.
A method for positioning interleaver strips between foodstuff slices is known from publication DE 41 25 539 A1, wherein the interleaver material is fed as a tape and when feeding is decelerated in the movement of said tape by feeding rollers of a delay unit.
It is disadvantageous in these delay units that the braking torque is not capable of being set with the desired precision, and heavy wear is created on the interleaver rollers on account of the friction that is initiated in an artificial manner.

Delay unit, unrolling device, cutting machine and method for providing separating material


Patch servers, patch clients and corresponding methods are provided that may increase secret protection and key loss tolerance. A patch server includes a first key generation platform and a second key generation platform different from the first one. A first and second private key group containing a plurality of first or second private keys, respectively, is generated using the first or second key generation platform, respectively. One of the first private keys is selected from the first private key group, and one of the second private keys is selected from the second private key group. A first digital signature is generated based on the patch and the first selected private key. A second digital signature is generated based on the patch and the second selected private key. The patch is transmitted to the patch client together with the first and second digital signatures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to software updates and in particular to the secure distribution of software updates in a distributed system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many computer media or communication systems suffer from security holes that may allow unauthorized data access or the dissemination of worms. Thereby, considerable damage can be caused. Usually, such security holes are closed by means of security related software updates, also referred to as patches. In distributed systems, patches may be generated by a patch server and then distributed to a number of patch clients, for example, mobile units of a communications system or consumer devices having embedded processors.
However, patches loaded from an insecure system still need to be protected against malicious modification. Otherwise, a virus or worm could still cause effective attacks. For example, a denial of service (DoS) attack could be carried out against a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) net whereby only one infected active device per radio cell suffices to block the whole system.
In prior art systems, the public key cryptography (PKC), also referred to as asymmetric cryptography, is often used to protect package distribution by avoiding sending secret keys over insecure networks. The basic idea is that there are two keys: a public key (PK) which is applicable for encryption only and publicly known and a private key, also referred to as secret key (SK), that must be known to decrypt messages. The security relies on the difficulty in deriving the private key from the public key and the difficulty in deciphering an encrypted message without knowing the private key.
A special application of PKC is the digital signature. Here, a cryptographic hash sum over some document is computed and then this hash sum is encrypted with the creator's private key to create the digital signature. The signature is attached in some form to the document. Anybody who knows the creator's public key can compute the hash sum of the document, decrypt the attached signature with the public key and compare the result with the hashed document. Alternatively, the digital signature may be generated by decrypting the hash sum with the creator's private key. For verification, the receiver of the document may again calculate the hash sum, encrypt it with the public key and compare the result with the provided signature.
A correct digital signature proves that its creator knew the private key (authenticity) and that the document was not modified since the signature creation (integrity) neither by adding, deleting or modifying contents, nor by reordering parts of it. The latter is provided by the properties of the employed cryptographic hash functions, for example, MD5 (Message Digest Algorithm 5), SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm 1) or RIPEMD-160 (Race Integrity Primitives Evaluation Message Digest 160). However, it cannot be seen, e.g., whether the private key was stolen during signature creation.
Asymmetric cryptography is often used for digital signatures, since also non-trusted parties, i.e., without knowledge of secrets are able to check the digital signature. However, PKC suffers from the disadvantage of being sensible and slow. In addition, security holes in PKC systems are due to possible man-in-the-middle attacks. This can be prevented if the authenticity of the public keys can be proven in some way. In some scenarios, it suffices to compute a cryptographic checksum over the public key, the so-called fingerprint, and to tell it to the receiver directly, e.g., via telephone. In complex and dynamically changing environments however, this is not possible. Therefore public key infrastructures (PKI) are used for this purpose where public keys are digitally signed by a hierarchy of trustworthy parties. Implementation and maintenance of a PKI infrastructure, however, is expensive.
In addition, there are a number of further risks and problems arising with PKC, for instance when RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) encryption is used. Beyond the slowness of PKC, plaintext portions are padded with random bits since otherwise, several attacks are possible. Therefore, plaintexts are usually not directly encrypted with public keys. Instead, a random session key is generated and used for traditional symmetric encryption, for example, using algorithms like AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) or Two-fish. In these protocols, referred to as hybrid protocols, only the session key is encrypted with the public key and added to the ciphertext.
However, even when using a hybrid protocol, the session key still has to be padded randomly to, e.g., 512 or 1024 bit lengths. Insufficient padding leads to reduced security.
Moreover, if a bit in a private RSA key is flipped by hardware or by an attacker and then this private key is used for defining a message, the public key can be factorized and thus the security is broken completely. This leads to considerable risks in PKC systems.
Furthermore, trapdoors can be implemented into the generation of public keys. An attacker knowing about the modifications of the creation algorithm will be able to deduce the private key easily from the public key, so that again the security is fully broken.
Therefore, many prior art patch systems try to avoid PKC. In systems where there is a dialog between trusted servers and clients like embedded processors (for example in GSM telephones), a serialized key (possibly in a smart card) and a challenge response protocol would provide a simple and robust solution. However, for many systems this is not applicable. For instance, when the receiver is fixed and passive during boot time, no serialization is possible.
Alternatively, prior art systems in which parties share common secrets use cryptographic checksums like HMAC (Keyed-Haching for Message Authentication). One example therefor is the authentication and key handling in GSM/UMTS (Global System for Mobile Communications/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) mobile phones, where keys are distributed by SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) cards. This solution is simpler, faster and more robust than PKC. However, though an HMAC cryptographic checksum could prove integrity, the corresponding secret key would be fixed in the firmware of the EP (Embedded Processor) receiver. Thus, leaking this secret HMAC key would make all checksums valueless.
Therefore, many prior art patch systems use digital signatures. However, often assuring integrity is not enough. If patches are reverse engineered, security holes can be found nevertheless. A signed patch proves only its trueness, not its security. Security is provided only by trust in the author. Further, signing patches using the same public key for all patch clients suffers from the disadvantage of being considerably insecure. If the private key is leaked all security is lost. An even more probable scenario is one where the private key is lost. In this case, no more patches could be released and all patch clients would become more and more insecure.


The invention relates to a method for preparing a beverage through a capsule (2) inserted in a beverage machine; the capsule (2) comprising an enclosure (20) containing one or more beverage ingredients, wherein a brewing fluid is introduced in the enclosure (20) to brew said one or more beverage ingredients, characterized in that: a discharge wall (3, 3B, 300, 310, 320, 330) is placed in association with the enclosure (20), wherein the discharge wall (3, 300, 310, 320, 330) comprises discharge means (100, 301, 311, 321, 331) which restrain the brewed liquid from being discharged from the capsule (2) or limit the liquid flow in case the pressure inside the enclosure (20) is below a predetermined value, and the discharge means (100, 301, 311, 321, 331) enable the delivery of the brewed liquid in case the pressure exceeds said predetermined value.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing and delivering a beverage from a capsule that contains one or more beverage ingredients as well as the capsule for preparing and delivering the beverage in a brewing device. The present invention more particularly aims at providing a method for brewing tea from capsules and a beverage machine as well as a capsule adapted to deliver brewed tea, although other beverages can be successfully brewed by this method and in this capsule.
Different beverage preparation methods using capsules to be brewed in a suitable beverage machine are known. Quality of a tea beverage is highly dependent on the quality of the leaf tea ingredients, i.e., the tea origin used (soil, drying, blending, etc.) and their storage conditions. For instance, tea ingredients are usually sensitive to oxygen and light. Preferred tea ingredients are taken from loose leaves, chiselled or broken in small fragments. However, brewing conditions are also important to take full advantage of the quality of the starting ingredients used.
Another problem with tea beverages resides in that taste cross-contamination must be preferably avoided. Taste cross-contamination happens when two capsules are successively brewed in the machine and when a taste residue is left by the first capsule on permanent parts of the machine that can consequently affect the taste of the second capsule which is brewed just after the first capsule. For tea, this can be an issue with certain tea varieties that deliver a high aroma profile such as mint tea or other highly flavoured varieties. Also tea residue may constitute a soil for bacterial growth and may lead to hygiene issues which need to be tackled.
WO 2007/042414 A1 and WO 2007/042415 A1 propose a design of a capsule that promotes optimal conditions for the preparation of a tea beverage and the like. In particular they propose a capsule that is adapted to brew or infuse beverages in a beverage machine that may provide the following advantages: the quality of the tea beverage can be improved, in particular, in relation to the beverage concentration into the cup, the taste and the reduced turbidity. For these purposes the capsule comprises: an enclosure containing one or more beverage ingredients; a filtering wall delimiting at least one filtering side of the enclosure, wherein it comprises an overflow wall that is positioned in the path of the brewed liquid after the filtering wall and which comprises at least one overflow aperture. Since the production of such a capsule requests the assembly of different elements in a certain order—that is the positioning of a filter means through the capsule enclosure opening and then of an overflow wall on the filter means—the production of the capsule is complex and expansive.
Therefore, there is a need for a capsule that is easier and less expensive to be produced while presenting a design that promotes optimal conditions for the preparation of a tea beverage and the like.

Method for preparing a beverage from a capsule, capsule and beverage preparing system