The present invention relates to pharmaceutical formulations comprising the C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH), exhibiting a higher stability for prolonged storage and a reduced formation of aggregates of said esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) upon storage for ameliorated use in treating or preventing disorders related to kinin formation.

C1-INH, a plasma glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 104 kDa, belongs to the protein family of serine protease inhibitors (serpins), which regulate the activity of serine proteases by inhibiting their catalytic activity (Bock S C, et al., Biochemistry 1986, 25: 4292-4301). C1-INH inhibits the classical pathway of the complement system by inhibiting the activated serine proteases C1s and C1r. Furthermore, C1-INH is a major inhibitor of the contact activation system due to its ability to inhibit the activated serine proteases factor XIIa (FXIIa), factor XIa (FXIa), and plasma kallikrein (Davis A E, Clin. Immunol. 2005, 114: 3-9; Caliezi C et al., Pharmacol. Rev. 2000, 52: 91-112). Deficiency in C1-INH leads to the clinical manifestation of hereditary angioedema (HAE), which is characterized by episodes of acute angioedema attacks in subcutaneous or submucosal tissues such as the skin, larynx, or visceral organs (Longhurst H, et al. Lancet 2012, 379: 474-481) which last between 1 and 7 days and occur at irregular intervals. Abnormalities in C1-INH plasma content or in its functional activity (often referred to as a deficiency of functional C1-INH) result from various large and small mutations in the C1-INH gene (vide supra) (Karnaukhova E, J. Hematol. Thromb. Dis., 2013, 1-7).
Two types of hereditary C1-INH deficiency generally exist. The more prevalent type I HAE is characterized by low content (below 35% of normal) and low inhibitory activity of C1-INH in the circulation. Type II HAE is associated with normal or elevated antigenic levels of C1-INH of low functional activity. Recently, HAE with normal C1-INH (also known as type III HAE) has been described in two subcategories: (1) HAE due to mutation in the factor XII gene and, as a result, increased activity of factor XII leading to a high generation of bradykinin, and (2) HAE of unknown genetic cause. HAE attacks can be treated effectively by administering C1-INH (Longhurst H, et al., Lancet 2012, 379: 474-481; Bork K, Allergy Asthma Clin. Immunol. 2010, 6: 15). Moreover, administration of C1-INH has been shown to prevent edema formation in patients when given prophylactically. C1-INH is currently marketed as. e.g. Berinert® (CSL Behring). Due to its inhibitory effects on the complement and the contact activation systems, C1-INH substitution restores normal homeostatic function and inhibits the excessive formation of vasoactive peptides such as bradykinin, which mediate the formation of angioedema.
C1-INH has been reported to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury in rodent models for cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (De Simoni et al., J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2003, 23: 232-9; Akita et al., 2003, Neurosurgery 52: 395-400).
The C1-INH compositions commercially available for the treatment of C1-Inh deficiency up to date are all large volume formulations, i.e., these formulations must be administered by intravenous injection. In view of the fact that C1-INH has been shown to prevent edema formation in patients with hereditary angioedema when given prophylactically (Cicardi M et al., Expert Opin. Pharmacother. 2007; 8: 3173-3181), there is a requirement for formulations that can be easily self-administered by the affected patients at regular intervals.
Long-term prophylaxis of HAE aims to prevent or to minimize the number and severity of angioedema attacks. However, the medications currently available for long-term prophylaxis are in many cases not optimal. Oral antifibrinolytics requiring multiple daily doses are relatively ineffective and frequently associated with significant side effects. Anabolic androgens are convenient to take and usually effective at doses <200 mg/day but can be associated with significant risk of serious side effects. Currently available formulations of C1-INH require intravenous access, imposing a burden on the patient, the healthcare provider, or both.
Maintenance of intravenous access has required many patients to have ports implanted, which are associated with increased risks of infection and thrombosis. Plasma levels of functional C1-INH fall rapidly following intravenous administration of therapeutic dosages of C1-INH concentrates, reaching near basal levels within 3 days.
When manufacturing protein therapeutics, such as the C1-INH, regulatory authorities strongly recommend manufacturers of therapeutic protein products to minimize protein multimerisation and aggregation as much as possible. Moreover, an increased stability of protein therapeutics is highly desired for prolonged storage of such therapeutics. Conditions, which increase the protein's stability are also the best conditions to prevent denaturation and formation of high molecular weight components (HMWC) by multimerisation and aggregation, in particular of the therapeutic protein.
Therefore, strategies that minimize HMWC formation are highly desired to be developed as early as feasible in product development. This can be achieved by e.g. using an appropriate cell substrate, selecting manufacturing conditions that minimize HMWC formation, employing a purification scheme that removes HMWC to the greatest extent possible, choosing a container system, which minimizes HMWC formation of the protein, and most notably, choosing a formulation that minimizes HMWC formation, degradation and denaturation during storage.
Hence, formulation components are principally chosen based on their ability to preserve the native conformation of the therapeutic protein by preventing denaturation due to hydrophobic interactions that may lead to HMWC formation, as well as by preventing chemical degradation, including truncation, oxidation, and deamidation (Cleland et al., Crit. Rev. Ther. Drug Carrier Syst. 1993, 10(4): 307-377; Shire et al., J. Pharm. Sci. 2004, 93(6): 1390-1402; Wakankar and Borchardt, J. Pharm. Sci. 2006, 95(11): 2321-2336).
The potential clinical consequences of immune responses induced by protein HMWC may depend on the loss or preservation of native epitopes in the HMWC: (a) some antibodies generated by the human subject against HMWC containing native protein may bind to monomeric protein as well as to the HMWC and may inhibit or neutralize product activity; (b) other antibodies to denatured/degraded and hence aggregated protein bind uniquely to the HMWC material, but not to native protein monomers (Guidance for Industry Immunogenicity Assessment for Therapeutic Protein Products, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), August 2014).
WO 2014/145519 discloses C1-INH compositions having about 400 or 500 U/mL C1-INH. It is suggested not to use citrate or citric acid as a buffer substance for subcutaneous administration. The disclosed formulations contain only particular buffer substances in low concentrations with no other excipient added. All disclosed C1-INH formulations have a relatively low overall purity of about 67% monomer content at t0. With regard to stability the WO 2014/145519 discloses only data after one week at 40° C. and after two weeks at 25° C., i.e. no long-term stability data are shown and thus long-term stability is unproven.
In summary, there is a need for a C1-INH formulation that has a proven long-term storage stability by being less prone to HMWC formation as well as to denaturation and degradation. Furthermore, a formulation, which is easily administered in high concentrations at low volumes, is needed. In addition, it would be desirable that such a formulation can be used for prophylactic therapy as well as for acute therapy of patients suffering from hereditary angioedema.

Pharmaceutical formulations of C1 esterase inhibitor


A method of and a digital data recovery circuit (1) for extracting digital data from an analog data signal in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communications system, wherein the analog data signal of a communications link is exchanged in bursts or time slots. The circuit (1) comprises analog-to-digital (ADC) converter means (4), digital filter means (6) for providing a threshold or slice level, and digital comparator means (5) for comparing the digital data signal and the slice level for providing the recovered digital data. The digital filter means (6) comprise storage means (15) for digitally adjusting the filter time constants and slice level for each burst or time slot independently in accordance with specific settings applicable to a communications link associated with a burst or time slot.

A method and equipment of this kind are for instance described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,292, disclosing a receiver unit comprising a data recovery circuit comprised of a comparator, an RC network, a modem/dotting pattern detector and a microprocessor. The comparator circuit compares the voltage level of an input signal with a threshold DC reference voltage or slice level, and determines whether a logic "1" or a logic "0" is represented by the analog signal. The resulting bitstream is provided to the modem/dotting pattern detector which converts the serial data signal to a parallel signal. The incoming analog signal which is evaluated by the comparator, represents a data message comprised of a preamble or dotting pattern and a message part. During transmission of the dotting pattern, the time constant of the RC network is decreased in order to be able to adapt the DC voltage or slice level quickly during the preamble part of the data signal.
In present wireless telecommunications systems, such as the well-known mobile GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) and cordless DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) radio communications systems, information to be exchanged is digitally processed. For transmission purposes, the digital data are suitably modulated on an RF carrier and transmitted as an analog data signal.
In the radio receiver part of radio equipment of such radio communications systems, after demodulation, for processing purposes, the received analog data signal is converted into a digital data signal again by means of a data recovery circuit, also called a data slicer.
International patent application WO 93/26110 discloses a data recovery circuit wherein the decision as to whether the currents value of the analog data input signal represents a binary null or a binary one is performed by comparing whether the analog data input signal is above or below a predetermined threshold or slice level. The slice level is derived from the analog data input signal by means of an integrator circuit comprising a resistor and capacitor connected as a Low Pass (LP) filter.
The slice level must be able to vary in order to adjust to a particular received data input signal. To this end, by means of switches, resistors of different values can be selected for increasing or decreasing the integration time constant of the integrator circuit.
Savings in the number of components, the space which components take on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and manufacturing costs are important design criteria in modern wireless telecommunications transceiver equipment.
Analog data slicers of the type disclosed above require a lot of discrete electronic components. Further, for changing the integration time constant, hardware has to be changed, i.e. resistors and/or capacitors.
It has been observed that in communications systems operating in accordance with a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) transmission scheme, wherein data are exchanged in frames and each frame comprises a number of bursts or time slots, after the detection of the so-called synchronization or sync word, a DC offset occurs in the threshold or slice level. The sync word is a particular string of bit values (ones and zeroes) which have to be identified by the receiver equipment in order to process the received data correctly.
The offset in the slice level is caused by the specific bit pattern of the sync word, i.e. an unequal number of ones and zeroes, which cannot be compensated for by the analog data slicer, and which degrades the receiver sensitivity and performance.
Other sources of DC offset in a receiver are, among others, frequency deviations in reference oscillators, transmitter frequency differences, demodulator offset, and interferer signals received by the receiver.
In cellular GSM or DECT radio communications systems, for example, radio base stations or radio access units provide service to a plurality of remote radio communication units in a particular geographical area, also called a cell. At a particular radio base station or radio access unit, for each communications link, that is an RF carrier/time slot combination, the DC slice level offset may vary, among others, dependent on the distance between the radio base station and a radio communication unit, the transmission power of the radio communication unit, whether or not the radio communication unit operates in or outside a building, etcetera.
In order to adapt the data slicer to a particular DC offset during reception, the above disclosed known analog data slicer circuit provides a hold modus for holding the slice level from the previously received time slot for use with the next time slot.
However, in a GSM or DECT radio communications system, the previous time slot of a frame generally belongs to a different communications link with different transmission properties. Accordingly, information as to the slice level experienced during a previous time slot will not necessarily be valid for the next time slot.
Receiver performance would be greatly improved if, for each communications link individually, a particular slice level could be set at the start of each time slot.

Receiver with adaptive detection threshold for TDMA communications


A gaming machine, such as a video slot or video poker machine, may be configured to use a message-oriented protocol. An application on the gaming machine may request subscription to a topic managed by a message broker. The application may receive a message published to the topic by another application and alter its execution in response.

1. Field of the Described Embodiments
The present disclosure relates generally to gaming machines, and more particularly to using a message-oriented protocol within a gaming machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many of today's gaming casinos and other entertainment locations feature different single and multi-player gaming systems such as slot machines and video poker machines. The gaming machines may include a number of hardware and software components to provide a wide variety of game types and game playing capabilities. Exemplary hardware components may include bill validators, coin acceptors, card readers, keypads, buttons, levers, touch screens, coin hoppers, ticket printers, player tracking units and the like. Software components may include, for example, boot and initialization routines, various game play programs and subroutines, credit and payout routines, image and audio generation programs, various component modules and a random or pseudo-random number generator, among others.
Gaming machines are highly regulated to ensure fairness. In many cases, gaming machines may be operable to dispense monetary awards of a large amount of money. Accordingly, access to gaming machines is often carefully controlled. For example, in some jurisdictions, routine maintenance requires that extra personnel (e.g., gaming control personnel) be notified in advance and be in attendance during such maintenance. Additionally, gaming machines may have hardware and software architectures that differ significantly from those of general-purpose computers (PCs), even though both gaming machines and PCs employ microprocessors to control a variety of devices. For example, gaming machines may have more stringent security requirements and fault tolerance requirements. Additionally, gaming machines generally operate in harsher environments as compared with PCs.
In many casinos and other entertainment locations, the gaming machines may be networked to one or more devices that monitor the functions of the gaming machines during operation. For example, an accounting system may monitor the amount of credits received by a gaming machine and the amount of credits paid out by the gaming machine. Such an accounting system allows the operator of the gaming machines to analyze the profitability of the gaming machines, the use of the gaming machines, and similar metrics.
The operating system of a gaming machine may be configured to use one of a variety of gaming protocols, i.e., communications protocols specifically designed for use in a gaming environment, such as a casino. Such a gaming protocol may be promulgated by an organization that defines standards for the gaming industry. One exemplary protocol is the Slot Accounting System (SAS) Protocol, pioneered by International Game Technology (IGT) and recognized in 2002 by the Gaming Standards Association (GSA) as an industry standard. A more recent communications protocol in the gaming industry is the Game to System (G2S) Protocol, also recognized by the GSA as an industry standard. Thus, many casinos and other gaming environments may have existing infrastructure to communicate data between gaming machines and a server. For example, a server may provide an indication to a gaming machine that the player has won a collective jackpot.

Using a message-oriented protocol in a gaming machine


A cover for switch is capable of mounting a frame thereon. A protruding portion, which protrudes from a mounting surface on which the frame is to be mounted, is provided with switch operation portions in the front face of the protruding portion. A first wall part, a second wall part and a third wall part are provided upright on the mounting surface, and have a first hole, a second hole and a third hole, through which projecting portions provided in the frame are inserted, respectively. A first raised claw and a second raised claw are provided on a protruding side positioned opposite to the first wall part and the third wall part, for the purpose of fastening a decorative cover for covering the switch operation portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a cover for switch, and it particularly relates to a cover for switch, to which a frame is attachable, and an operation terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a remote monitoring control system (see, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-188793, for instance), a plurality of operation terminals and a plurality of control terminals are connected to a transmission processing apparatus via a two-wire signal line using a time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme. The operation terminal is provided with a switch or switches. An interrupt signal generated by the operation of this switch is transmitted to the transmission processing apparatus. Upon receiving the signal via the transmission processing apparatus, a control terminal controls a load in accordance with the operation of the switch. Here, two pairs of stopper claws, which function as mounting means for a mounting frame are provided in a cover of the operation terminal in a protruding manner. These stopper claws allow the cover to be removably mountable to the mounting frame, which is used when the existing wiring devices are embedded in a wall surface. Further, a decorative cover is attached to a front face of the cover.
In order to increase the service life of the operation terminal, it is demanded that the damage to a mounting part of the mounting frame and the cover as well as a mounting part of the decorative cover and the cover be prevented. Adding a structural component for preventing such damages to cope with this increases the overall size of the cover. At the same time, it is undesirable to increase the size of the operation terminal as a result of the increase in the size of the cover.

Cover for switch to which a frame is attachable and an operation terminal

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


In a touch panel assembly, the thickness of a touch panel is successfully reduced by using a touch panel 10 provided with no reinforcement member. A housing frame 50 that supports the components of a front light unit 20 in an integral manner is provided with a touch panel positioning mechanism, and the touch panel 10 is fixed to the positioning mechanism, whereby the absence of a reinforcement member is duly compensated for, thus ensuring the strength of the touch panel 10. Deformation of the touch panel 10 that occurs when the touch panel 10 is pressed for operation can be attenuated by a transparent buffer member 5 disposed between the touch panel 10 and a light conductor plate 22. Therefore, the touch panel 10 deformed is prohibited from contacting and damaging the light conductor plate 22, thus preventing the light conductor plate 22 from deteriorating in its functional performance. Consequently, reduction in dimension and reduction of the number of components can be achieved without deteriorating the functional performance of the touch panel assembly.

Touch panels of this type allow the area corresponding to the display screen of the display device to be used for both information display and information input thereby increasing the efficiency of utilization of that area. Therefore, the demand for touch panels of this type is becoming increasingly greater for use in small-size information processing devices and communication devices, in particular, portable communication terminals and the like.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a conventional touch panel assembly 1 including a front light unit 20 that is a kind of spread illuminating device. FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a detailed structure of a touch panel 10 of the touch panel assembly 1 of FIG. 8. First of all, basically, the touch panel 10 comprises a pair of resistor layers (first and second resistor layers) 12 and 13 that are opposed to each other with a plurality of insulating dot spacers 11 interposed therebetween, and a transparent flat plate (e.g., transparent polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter abbreviated as PET) film 16) for protection of the second resistor layer 13. The second resistor layer 13 is formed on the PET film 16, and the touch panel 10 is disposed in such a manner that the PET film 16 faces the display screen of a display device 30 such as a reflection-type color liquid crystal display device. The first and second resistor layers 12 and 13 are connected to each other at their peripheral portions by means of sealing members 14 for dust-proof and water-proof construction.
With the above structure, if the outer surface of the first resistor layer 12 is pressed, a pressed portion of the first resistor layer 12 is brought into contact with a portion of the second resistor layer 13 that is opposed to the pressed portion, and a signal corresponding to the contact position (i.e. pressed position) is generated.
In practice, a transparent layer (e.g., PET film 15) for protection of the resistor layer is also laid on the outer surface of the first resistor layer 12 and hence a pressing operation is performed actually on the PET film 15. Further, the PET film 16 is integrally attached to a touch panel support plate 17 that is a reinforcement member for securing sufficient strength (i.e., strength high enough to prevent a significant deformation of the second resistor layer 13 when the first resistor layer 12 of the touch panel 10 is pressed for operation). The touch panel support plate (reinforcement member) 17 is constituted by a transparent plate made of polycarbonate or the like, and is two or more times as thick as the touch panel 10 in the illustrated example. In other examples not shwon, the touch panel support plate 17 may be constituted by a glass plate, and also a thick glass plate (reinforcement member) may be used in place of the PET film 16 thus not providing the touch panel support plate 17 discretely.
As described above, the touch panel assembly 1 includes the front light unit 20. The front light unit 20 is adapted to irradiate light on the display screen of the display device 30 from its front side (i.e., from the display screen side) thereby illuminating the display screen brightly to enhance visibility. The front light unit 20 is disposed such that a light conductor plate 22 faces the display screen of the display device 30, and functions such that light emitted from a rod-like lamp 21 disposed beside the light conductor plate 22 is guided to be eventually irradiated onto the display screen of the display device 30 via the light conductor plate 22. The light that has reached the display device 30 is reflected either at the display screen or inside the display device 30, then passes through the light conductor plate 22 and the touch panel 10, and exits out thereby enabling displayed information on the display screen to be visible.
FIG. 10 shows basic components of the front light unit 20. The front light unit 20 is mainly composed of the light conductor plate 22 and the rod-like lamp 21, and is disposed in such a manner that the bottom surface of the light conductor plate 22 is opposed to the display screen of the display device 30 (see FIG. 8). The top surface of the light conductor plate 22 is formed with a light reflecting pattern that consists of a plurality of grooves 22a having a generally triangular cross-section and a plurality of flat portions 22b adjacent to respective grooves 22a. The interval between the grooves 22a of the light reflecting pattern varies depending on the position so that the brightness becomes approximately uniform at any positions of the light conductor plate 22 irrespective of the distance from the rod-like lamp 21. Specifically, the ratio of the width (occupation area) of the groove 22a to the width (occupation area) of the flat portion 22b is set so as to increase gradually as the distance from the rod-like lamp 21 increases. The grooves 22a of the light reflecting pattern that are formed on the light conductor plate 22 are very fine and hence cannot be recognized visually when one observes the screen. In another example, the light reflecting pattern may consist of only grooves (i.e., no flat portion is provided).
The rod-like lamp 21 is composed of a light conductor rod 23 that is a rod-like transparent member and a point light source 24 that is disposed adjacent to at least one of the two ends of the light conductor rod 23. The point light source 24 is a light-emitting diode. The light conductor rod 23 that is made of a transparent material is disposed along one end surface of the light conductor plate 22. The point light source 24 is disposed close to one end of the light conductor rod 23. On the other hand, the light conductor rod 23 is formed with an optical path changing means 23a. In the illustrated example, the optical path changing means 23a is such that grooves having a generally triangular cross-section are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the light conductor rod 23 in a predetermined manner.
The surfaces of the rod-like lamp 21 extending in the longitudinal direction, except for one surface opposed to the light conductor plate 22, are covered with a light reflecting member (reflector) 25 so that light is guided into the light conductor plate 22 with high efficiency. The light reflecting member 25 is a sheet-like member such as a film on which a metal such as silver is evaporated, a white film, or a film to which a white paint is applied, or a metal plate such as an aluminum plate that is mirror-finished and bent. As shown in FIG. 8, the rod-like lamp 21 that is covered with the light reflecting member 25 is further covered with a reinforcement frame 26 made of a metal such as stainless steel so as to be resistant to external impact.
As shown in FIG. 8, the components of the front light unit 20 are put and held together in place by means of a top frame 27 and a bottom frame 28 and are incorporated inside a portable communication terminal or the like. The top frame 27 and the bottom frame 28, each of which is a sheet metal part configured in an open-top box, can house the front light unit 20 and the display device 30 in an integral manner. The touch panel support plate 17 of the touch panel 10 is laid on the top surface of the top frame 27. The components are implemented as a unit in this manner, and hence the handleability in assembling or disassembling work can be increased. In this connection, in FIG. 8, reference numerals 41 and 42 denote double-sided adhesive tapes, reference numeral 43 denotes a cushion interposed between the reinforcement frame 26 and the display device 30, and reference numeral 31 denotes a polarizer plate that is usually provided on the display screen of the display device 30.
The conventional touch panel assembly 1 having the above configuration, however, has the following problems. First, the conventional touch panel assembly 1 is configured in such a manner that the touch panel 10 having the touch panel support plate 17 is laid on the top surface of the top frame 27, and this configuration, while giving advantages that the front light unit 20 and the display device 30 are protected from external force, the components are implemented as a unit, and that the touch panel 10 itself is surely provided with a sufficient strength, increases the total thickness thus making it difficult to reduce the size and the thickness of the touch panel assembly 1. As the total thickness increases, the distance between the display screen of the display device 30 and the touch panel 10 increases, and an observer more likely feels uncomfortable (the depth perception of the screen). If the touch panel support plate 17 is removed for reduction of the thickness, when the first resistor layer 12 of the touch panel 10 is pressed for operation, the second resistor layer 13 is deformed and brought into contact with the light conductor plate 22 possibly giving damages to the light reflecting pattern, which results in a problem that the functional performance of the light conductor plate 22 is deteroprated.
Where the touch panel support plate 17 is constituted by a glass plate, it is necessary to take a sufficient anti-impact measure to prevent breakage of the glass plate. Further, when the bottom frame 28 is screwed to a case (main body) of a communication terminal or the like, resin spacers must be disposed at screwing positions, which inevitably increases the number of components.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the invention is therefore to achieve reduction in size and thickness of a touch panel assembly and also reduction of the number of components without deteriorating the functional performance of the touch panel assembly. Another object of the invention is to increase the degree of freedom in selecting the materials of components of the touch panel assembly to thereby make it possible to flexibly answer various requirements about products.


The present invention concerns a liquid crystal display device including: a substrate; a plurality of thin film transistors each including a gate electrode, a source electrode, and a drain electrode; a gate line and a data line electrically connecting with the gate electrode and the source electrode, respectively; and a pixel electrode electrically connecting with the drain electrode, wherein overlapping widths between the gate electrode and the source and drain electrodes vary in accordance with the position of the thin film transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device implementing in-plane switching (IPS) where an electric field to be applied to liquid crystal is generated in a plane parallel to a substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A typical liquid crystal display (LCD) device uses optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules. The liquid crystal molecules have a definite orientational order in alignment resulting from their thin and long shapes. The alignment of the liquid crystal molecules can be controlled by supplying an electric field to the liquid crystal molecules. In other words, as the alignment direction of the electric field is changed, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules also changes. Because incident light is refracted to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules due to the optical anisotropy of the aligned liquid crystal molecules, image data is displayed.
Liquid crystal is classified into positive liquid crystal and negative liquid crystal, depending on the electrical properties of the liquid crystal. The positive liquid crystal has a positive dielectric anisotropy such that long axes of liquid crystal molecules are aligned parallel to an electric field. Whereas, the negative liquid crystal has a negative dielectric anisotropy such that long axes of liquid crystal molecules are aligned perpendicular to an electric field.
By now, active matrix LCDs, in which the thin film transistors and the pixel electrodes are arranged in the form of a matrix, are widely used because of their high resolution and superiority in displaying moving video data.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a typical twisted nematic (TN) LCD panel. As shown in FIG. 1, the TN LCD panel has lower and upper substrates 2 and 4 and an interposed liquid crystal layer 10. The lower substrate 2 includes a first transparent substrate 1a and a thin film transistor ("TFT") "S". The TFT "S" is used as a switching element to change orientation of the liquid crystal molecules. The lower substrate 2 further includes a pixel electrode 15 that applies an electric field to the liquid crystal layer 10 in accordance with signals applied by the TFT "S". The upper substrate 4 has a second transparent substrate 1b, a color filter 8 on the second transparent substrate 1b, and a common electrode 14 on the color filter 8. The color filter 8 implements color for the LCD panel. The common electrode 14 serves as another electrode for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer 10. The pixel electrode 15 is arranged over a pixel region "P," i.e., a display area. A transparent conductive material like indium tin oxide (ITO) having superior light transmittance is used for the pixel electrode 15. Further, to prevent leakage of the liquid crystal layer 10 between the lower and upper substrates 2 and 4, those substrates are sealed by a sealant 6.
As described above, because the pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14 of the conventional TN LCD panel are positioned on the lower and upper substrates 2 and 4, respectively, the electric field induced therebetween is perpendicular to the lower and upper substrates 2 and 4. The above-mentioned liquid crystal display device has advantages of high transmittance and aperture ratio, and further, since the common electrode on the upper substrate serves as an electrical ground, the liquid crystal is protected from a static electricity.
However, the above-mentioned operation mode of the TN LCD panel has a disadvantage of a narrow viewing angle. To overcome the above-mentioned problem, an in-plane switching (IPS) LCD panel was developed. The IPS LCD panel implements a parallel electric field that is parallel to the substrates, which is different from the TN or STN (super twisted nematic) LCD panel. A detailed explanation about operation modes of a typical IPS LCD panel will be provided with reference to FIGS. 2, 3A, 3B, 4A and 4B.
As shown in FIG. 2, first and second substrates 1a and 1b are spaced apart from each other, and a liquid crystal "LC" is interposed therebetween. The first and second substrates 1a and 1b are called an array substrate and a color filter substrate, respectively. Pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14 are disposed on the first substrate 1a. The pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14 are parallel with and spaced apart from each other. On a surface of the second substrate 1b, a color filter 25 is disposed opposing the first substrate 1a. The pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14 apply an electric field "E" to the liquid crystal "LC", then it is aligned parallel to the electric field "E".
FIGS. 3A and 3B conceptually illustrate "off state" operation modes for a typical IPS LCD device. In an off state, the long axes of the LC molecules "LC" maintain a definite angle with respect to a line that is perpendicular to the pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14. The pixel and common electrode 15 and 14 are parallel with each other. Herein, the angle difference is 45 degrees, for example.
FIGS. 4A and 4B conceptually illustrate "on state" operation modes for the typical IPS LCD device. In an on state, an in-plane electric field "E", which is parallel with the surface of the first substrate 1a, is generated between the pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14. The reason is that the pixel electrode 15 and common electrode 14 are formed together on the first substrate 1a. Then, the LC molecules "LC" are twisted such that the long axes thereof coincide with the electric field direction. Thereby, the LC molecules "LC" are aligned such that the long axes thereof are perpendicular to the pixel and common electrodes 15 and 14.
By the above-mentioned operation modes and with additional parts such as polarizers and alignment layers, the IPS LCD device displays images. The IPS LCD device has wide viewing angle and low color dispersion. Specifically, the viewing angle of the IPS LCD device is about 70 degrees in direction of up, down, right, and left. In addition, the fabricating processes of this IPS LCD device are simpler than other various LCD devices. However, because the pixel and common electrodes are disposed on the same plane of the lower substrate, the transmittance and aperture ratio are low. In addition, the IPS LCD device has disadvantages of a relatively slow response time and a relatively small alignment margin. Because of the small alignment margin, the IPS LCD device needs a uniform cell gap.
The IPS LCD device has the above-mentioned advantages and disadvantages. Users may or may not select an IPS LCD device depending on the intended use.
Now, with reference to FIGS. 5, and 6A to 6D, a fabricating process for a conventional IPS LCD device is provided. FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a unit pixel region "P" of a conventional IPS LCD device. As shown, a gate line 50 and a common line 54 are arranged parallel to each other, and a data line 60 is arranged perpendicular to the gate and common lines 50 and 54. Near a cross point of the gate and data lines 50 and 60, a gate electrode 52 and a source electrode 62 are disposed. The gate and source electrodes 52 and 62 integrally communicate with the gate line 50 and the data line 60, respectively. The source electrode 62 overlaps a portion of the gate electrode 52. In addition, a drain electrode 64 is disposed opposite to the source electrode 62 with an interval therebetween.
A plurality of common electrodes 54a are disposed perpendicular to the common line 54 and connected thereto. The plurality of common electrode 54a are spaced apart from each other with an equal interval therebetween. A first connecting line 66 integrally communicates with the drain electrode 64, and a plurality of pixel electrodes 66a are disposed perpendicular to the first connecting line 66. First ends of the pixel electrodes 66a are connected with the first connecting line 66, and the second ends of the pixel electrodes 66a are connected with a second connecting line 68 that is disposed over the common line 54. The plurality of common electrodes 54a and pixel electrodes 66a are spaced apart from each other and arranged in an alternating pattern. Therefore, each common electrode 54a is parallel to an adjacent pixel electrode 66a.
FIGS. 6A to 6D illustrate a sequence of fabricating processes for an array substrate 1 of the above-mentioned IPS LCD device.
As shown in FIG. 6A, on the array substrate 1, a first metal layer is deposited and patterned to form the gate electrode 52 and the plurality of common electrodes 54a. The first metal layer is selected from a group consisting of chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), aluminum alloy (Al alloy), molybdenum (Mo), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), antimony (Sb), and alloys thereof.
As shown in FIG. 6B, a gate-insulating layer 70 is formed on the array substrate 1 to cover the gate and common electrodes 52 and 54a, and on the gate-insulating layer 70, an active layer 72 is formed over gate electrode 52. The gate-insulating layer 70 is silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiO2), while the active layer 72 includes an amorphous silicon layer (not shown) and a doped amorphous silicon layer (not shown).
As shown in FIG. 6C, a second metal layer is deposited and patterned to form the source and drain electrodes 62 and 64 on the active layer 72 and the pixel electrodes 66a on the gate-insulating layer 70. The pixel electrodes 66a are spaced apart from the adjacent common electrode 54a by a desired distance.
As shown in FIG. 6D, a passivation layer 74 is formed to cover the source, drain, and pixel electrodes 62, 64, and 66a. The passivation layer 74 serves to protect the source, drain, and pixel electrodes 62, 64, and 66a from exterior humidity or contaminants.
As described above, the plurality of common electrodes 54a of the IPS LCD device are connected with the common line 54. Though the IPS LCD device has an advantage of wide viewing angle because of the above-mentioned structure including the common line 54, the common line 54 of the IPS LCD device is much higher in resistance than the common electrode of the TN LCD device.
That is to say, the common electrode 14 of the TN LCD device in FIG. 1 is uniformly disposed on the overall surface of the upper substrate opposing the pixel electrode. Therefore, the common electrode 14 of the TN LCD device has the shape of a surface and has a relatively low resistance. In contrast, the common line 54 of the IPS LCD device in FIG. 4 has the shape of a line and has a relatively high resistance.
A common voltage signal is applied to the common line 54 of the IPS LCD device or the common electrode 14 of the TN LCD device. In case of the IPS LCD device, because the common line has a relatively high resistance, it is associated with a relatively high voltage drop. Because the common voltage signal is applied from both ends of the common line, the voltage drop is highest at the center of the IPS LCD panel. That is to say, the common voltage signal is decreasing as it transmits from the sides of the IPS LCD panel to the center thereof.
Even if the common voltage signal is adjusted or compensated at an exterior drive circuit, the above-mentioned voltage drop cannot be avoided. The voltage variation due to the voltage drop of the common voltage signal causes fatal defects, for example, a flicker to display quality of the conventional IPS LCD device.
Together with the above-mentioned voltage variation of the common voltage signal, a conventional structure of an inverted-staggered type TFT itself is associated with the flicker problem. The inverted-staggered type TFT is widely selected as a switching element for the LCD devices including the IPS LCD device. The inverted-staggered type TFT has a simple structure to be easily fabricated but exhibits superior electrical qualities. To achieve such superior electrical qualities, a source electrode and a drain electrode of the inverted-staggered type TFT overlap a gate electrode thereof. Specifically, the overlapping width of the drain electrode over the gate electrode is associated with the flicker problem. A detailed explanation will be provided with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.
In FIG. 7, a first pixel region "A" and a third pixel region "C" are arranged at a left side and at a right side, respectively, with a second pixel region "B" disposed therebetween. In the first to third pixel regions "A" to "C", drain electrodes 64a to 64c overlap gate electrodes 52a to 52c, respectively. At this point, a first overlapping width "LA", a second overlapping width "LB", and a third overlapping width "LC" conventionally have the same value (LA=LB=LC). Within the first to third overlapping widths "LA" to "LC", a parasitic capacitance "Cgs" exists between the drain electrode 64a (64b, 64c) and the gate electrode 52a (52b, 52c).
In FIG. 8, when a gate voltage signal "Vg" is applied to the TFT ("S" in FIG. 5), the TFT switches a drain voltage signal "Vd" such that a pixel voltage signal "Vp" is applied to the pixel electrode. At this point, a kickback voltage "ΔVp" is induced by the parasitic capacitance "Cgs", thereby decreasing the pixel voltage signal "Vp" by the kickback voltage "ΔVp".
The above-mentioned kickback voltage "ΔVp" is conventionally compensated for by adjusting the common voltage signal. However, in case of the IPS LCD device, because the common line has a high resistance, the common voltage signal varies along the common line. Accordingly, the kickback voltage "ΔVp" cannot be compensated for sufficiently, and, thus, the flicker problem occurs in the IPS LCD device.


A substantially gelatin free polymeric film includes a coating layer of a polymer having at least one xe2x80x94POXY pendant group, pendant carboxyl group or capable of forming carboxyl groups and further comprises a sulphonated monomer, salt or derivative.

This invention relates to a polymeric film, and in particular to a polymeric film which is substantially gelatin free and has a coating layer which is suitable for use as a component of a printing plate.
Printing plates, particularly lithographic printing plates, generally comprise a substrate, a hydrophilic coating layer, and a photopolymerizable light-sensitive layer. Imagewise exposure, by a suitable light source, results in hardening of the photopolymerizable layer, allowing the unhardened portions of the layer to be removed by washing with a solvent. The result is a hydrophobic polymer image on a hydrophilic substrate, which can be used as a lithographic printing plate. In an alternative process, a hydrophobic toner is applied to the hydrophilic coating layer by means of a laser imaging process.
The surface properties of the hydrophilic coating layer can be crucial in determining the quality of the final printed image. For example, some prior art hydrophilic coating layers exhibit poor coat quality and insufficient adhesion to the underlying substrate and/or overlying photopolymerized layer or toner. In addition, the coating layer may possess insufficient hydrophilicity and/or a surface topography which can lead to inadequate removal of the unhardened photopolymerized portions, resuming in the formation of a relatively poor quality printed image. In laser toner based processes the hydrophilic coating layer may require antistatic properties to control or avoid toner scatter, which reduces the quality of the final image.
Relatively high temperatures are employed in some processes used for producing printing plates, which can affect the curl and flatness of any polymenc film present in a printing plate.
Hydrophilic coating layers such as gelatin are traditionally applied to a polymeric film after the production of the film has been completed, i.e., xe2x80x9coff-linexe2x80x9d, which results in an increase in the number of process steps required to produce the coated film. There is a need to be able to apply the coating layer during the film making process, i.e., xe2x80x9cin-linexe2x80x9d, without the use of gelatin in order to simplify and improve the efficiency of the production process.
We have now devised a polymeric film which reduces or substantially overcomes at least one of the aforementioned problems.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a polymeric film which is substantially gelatin free and comprises a polymeric film substrate having on at least one surface thereof, a coating layer comprising a polymer comprising at least one or more repeating units comprising at least one or more pendant (xe2x80x94POXY) groups wherein X and Y, which may be the same or different, are OH or OM wherein M is a cation.
The invention further provides a method of producing a polymeric film which comprises forming a polymeric film substrate, applying a coating composition to at least one surface of the substrate, the coating composition comprising a polymer comprising at least one or more repeating units comprising at least one or more pendant (xe2x80x94POXY) groups, wherein X and Y, which may be the same or different, are OH or OM wherein M is a cation.
The invention also provides a printing plate comprising a polymeric film substrate having on at least one surface thereof, a coating layer comprising a polymer comprising at least one or more repeating units comprising at least one or more pendant (xe2x80x94POXY) groups, wherein X and Y, which may be the same or different, are OH or OM wherein M is a cation.
The polymeric film according to the invention can also be fused as coating for mirrors, in particular car mirrors, and building surface cladding. The polymeric film substrate is a film capable of independent existence in the absence of a supporting base.
The substrate, to which a coating layer composition is applied to yield a polymeric film according to the invention, may be formed from any suitable film-forming, polymeric material. Thermoplastics materials are preferred, and include a homopolymer or copolymer of a 1-olefin, such as ethylene, propylene and but-1-ene, a polyamide, a polycarbonate, more preferably a polyester, and particularly a synthetic linear polyester which may be obtained by condensing one or more dicarboxylic acids or their lower alkyl (up to 6 carbon atoms) diesters, e.g., terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, phthalic acid, 2,5-, 2,6- or 2,7-naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, succinic acid, sebacic acid, adipic acid, azelaic acid, 4,4xe2x80x2-diphenyldicarboxylic acid, hexahydro-terephthalic acid or 1,2-bis-p-carboxyphenoxyethane (optionally with a monocarboxylic acid, such as pivalic acid) with one or more glycols, particularly aliphatic glycols, e.g., ethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, neopentyl glycol and 1,4-cyclohexane-dimethanol. A polyethylene terephthalate and/or polyethylene naphthalate film is preferred. A polyethylene terephthalate film is particularly preferred, especially such a film which has been biaxially oriented by sequential stretching in two mutually perpendicular directions, typically at a temperature in the range from 70 to 125xc2x0 C., and preferably heat set, typically at a temperature in the range from 150 to 250xc2x0 C., for example as described in GB-A-838708. Another preferred film comprises a copolymer of terephthalic and isophthalic acids with ethylene glycol. The substrate may also comprise a polyarylether or thio analogue thereof, particularly a polyaryletherketone, polyarylethersulphone, polyaryletheretherketone, polyaryletherethersulphone, or a copolymer or thioanalogue thereof. Examples of these polymers are disclosed in EP-A-1879, EP-A-184458 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,203. Blends of these polymers may also be employed. A poly p-phenylene sulphide film is also suitable.
Suitable thermoset resin substrate materials include addition-polymerization resins, such as acrylics, vinyls, bis-maleimides and unsaturated polyesters, formaldehyde condensate resins such as condensates with urea, melamine or phenols, cyanate resins, isocyanate resins, epoxy resins, functionalized polyesters, polyamides or polyimides.
A film substrate for a polymeric film according to the invention may be unoriented or preferably oriented, for example uniaxially oriented, or more preferably biaxially oriented by drawing in two mutually perpendicular directions in the plane of the film to achieve a satisfactory combination of mechanical and physical properties. Formation of the film may be effected by any process known in the art for producing a polymeric film, for example a tubular or a flat film process.
In a tubular process simultaneous biaxial orientation may be effected by extruding a thermoplastics polymeric tube which is subsequently quenched, reheated and then expanded by internal gas pressure to induce transverse orientation, and withdrawn at a rate which will induce longitudinal orientation.
In the preferred flat film process a film-forming polymer is extruded through a slot die and rapidly quenched upon a chilled casting surface (drum) to ensure that the polymer is quenched to the amorphous state. Orientation is then effected by stretching the quenched extrudate in at least one direction at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the polymer. Sequential orientation may be effected by stretching a flat, quenched extrudate firstly in one direction, usually the longitudinal direction, i.e. the forward direction through the film stretching machine, and then in the transverse direction. Forward stretching of the extrudate is conventionally effected over a set of rotating rolls or between two pairs of nip rolls, transverse stretching then being effected in a stenter apparatus. Stretching is effected to an extent determined by the nature of the film-forming polymer, for example a polyester is usually stretched so that the dimension of the oriented polyester film is from 2.5 to 4.5 its original dimension in the, or each, direction of stretching.
A stretched film may be, and preferably is, dimensionally stabilized by heat-setting under dimensional restraint at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the film-forming polymer but below the melting temperature thereof, to induce crystallization of the polymer.
In a preferred embodiment, and in order that the polymeric film of the present invention has a low distortion reduced curl and improved flatness (or cockle), the polymeric film has a percentage thermal expansion in the film widthwise direction (TD) at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.01 to 1.0%, and a percentage thermal shrinkage in the film lengthwise direction (MD) at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.4 to 2.0%. Preferably the film exhibits a TD expansion at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.2 to 0.8%, and a MD shrinkage at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.5 to 1.5%, and particularly a TD expansion at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.3 to 0.5%, and a MD shrinkage at 150xc2x0 C. of 0.7 to 1.0%.
The substrate of a polymeric film of the present invention can be prepared, for example as described above, during the production of a biaxially drawn film. In a typical process for the production of a biaxially drawn film, the film is preferably firstly stretched in the longitudinal direction over a series of rotating rollers, and then stretched transversely in a stenter oven, preferably followed by heat setting under tension in the stenter apparatus. The tension in the widthwise direction can be provided by clips which hold the film, the clips being attached to parallel rails on opposite sides of the stenter apparatus. The tension in the widthwise direction can be reduced or removed, for example by moving the rails inwards towards the exit end of the stenterxe2x80x94this is known as xe2x80x9ctoe-inxe2x80x9d. By employing toe-in it is possible to allow the film to shrink to a certain degree, and by this means obtain film with the required TD expansion and MD shrinkage characteristics. The amount of toe-in employed, for example in the production of a polyethylene terephthalate film should be 0.1 to 10%, preferably 3 to 7%, and particularly 3.5 to 6%. The exact amount of toe-in required will depend upon the particular film being produced, and upon the other process conditions being used. It is preferred that the stenter is operated at relatively high temperatures, for example for polyethylene terephthalate film the stenter temperature is suitably 230 to 245xc2x0 C., particularly 235 to 240xc2x0 C.
In one embodiment of the invention the polymeric film is transparent, exhibiting high optical clarity and low haze, preferably having a wide angle haze, being measured according to the standard ASTM D 1003-61, of  less than 8%, more preferably  less than 6%, particularly  less than 5%, and especially  less than 3%, preferably for a 175 xcexcm thick film. The aforementioned optical characteristics can be suitably achieved by having little or no particulate additive present in the substrate. The substrate may contain relatively small quantities of filler material, for example in the range from 5 to 3000 ppm, preferably 50 to 2000 ppm, and more preferably 100 to 1000 ppm.
Suitable fillers include inorganic materials such as silica, china clay, calcium carbonate, and organic materials such as silicone resin particles. Spherical monodisperse fillers may be employed. The substrate may contain filler due to the normal practice of using reclaimed film in the film manufacturing process.
However, in a further embodiment of the invention the polymeric film is opaque which is defined as a film exhibiting a Transmission Optical Density (Sakura Densitometer; type PDA 65; transmission mode) of from 0.75 to 1.75, and particularly of from 1.2 to 1.5, preferably for a 175 xcexcm thick film. The polymeric film is conveniently rendered opaque by incorporating into the synthetic polymer of the substrate layer, an effective amount of an opacifying agent. Suitable opacifying agents include a particulate inorganic filler, an incompatible resin filler, or a mixture of two or more such fillers.
The polymeric film may also be translucent, i.e. having a transmission optical density of up to 0.75.
Particulate inorganic fillers suitable for generating an opaque film substrate include conventional inorganic pigments and fillers, and particularly metal or metalloid oxides, such as alumina, silica and titania, and alkaline metal salts, such as the carbonates and sulphates of calcium and barium. Suitable inorganic fillers may be homogeneous and consist essentially of a single filler material or compound, such as titanium dioxide or barium sulphate alone. Alternatively, at least a proportion of the filler may be heterogeneous, the primary filler material being associated with an additional modifying component. For example, the primary filler particle may be treated with a surface modifier, such as a pigment, soap, surfactant coupling agent or other modifier to promote or after the degree to which the filler is compatible with the outer layer polymer.
Suitable particulate inorganic fillers may be of the non-voiding or voiding type, i.e. by voiding is meant comprises a cellular structure containing at least a proportion of discrete, closed cells. Barium sulphate is an example of a filler which results in the formation of voids. Titanium dioxide may be of the voiding or non-voiding type, dependent upon the particular type of titanium dioxide employed. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the film substrate comprises titanium dioxide particles, more preferably of the non-voiding type.
The amount of inorganic filler incorporated into the film substrate desirably should be not less than 2% nor exceed 40% by weight, based on the weight of the substrate polymer. Particularly satisfactory levels of opacity are achieved when the concentration of filler, suitably titanium dioxide, is preferably in the range from 5% to 25%, more preferably 8% to 18%, and particularly 11% to 14% by weight, based on the weight of the substrate polymer.
The inorganic filler particles preferably have a volume distributed median particle diameter (equivalent spherical diameter corresponding to 50% of the volume of all the particles, read on the cumulative distribution curve relating volume % to the diameter of the particlesxe2x80x94often referred to as the xe2x80x9cD(v,0.5)xe2x80x9d value) in the range from 0.2 to 1.5 xcexcm. more preferably 0.4 to 1.1 xcexcm, particularly 0.6 to 0.8 xcexcm and especially 0.65 to 0.75 xcexcm.
The preferred titanium dioxide particles may be of anatase or rutile crystal form. The titanium dioxide particles preferably comprise a major portion of anatase, more preferably at least 60%, particularly at least 80%, and especially approximately 100% by weight of anatase. The particles can be prepared by standard procedures, such as using the chloride process or preferably by the sulphate process.
In one embodiment of the invention the titanium dioxide particles are coated preferably with inorganic oxides of elements such as aluminum, silicon, zinc, magnesium or mixtures thereof. Preferably the coating additionally comprises an organic compound, such as fatty acids and preferably alkanols, suitably having from 8 to 30, preferably from 12 to 24 carbon atoms. Polydiorganosiloxanes or polyorganohydrogensiloxanes, such as polydimethylsiloxane or polymethylhydrogensiloxane are suitable organic compounds.
The coating is suitably applied to the titanium dioxide particles in aqueous suspension. The inorganic oxides are precipitated in aqueous suspension from water-soluble compounds such as sodium aluminate, aluminium sulphate, aluminium hydroxide, aluminium nitrate, silicic acid or sodium silicate.
The individual or primary titanium dioxide particles suitably have a mean crystal size, as determined by electron microscopy, in the range from 0.05 to 0.4 xcexcm, preferably 0.1 to 0.3 xcexcm, and more preferably 0.2 to 0.25 xcexcm In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the primary titanium dioxide particles aggregate to form clusters or agglomerates comprising a plurality of titanium dioxide particles. The aggregation process of the primary titanium dioxide particles may take place during the actual synthesis of the titanium dioxide and/or during the polymer and/or polymer film making process.
The film substrate optionally comprises an xe2x80x9cincompatible resinxe2x80x9d by which is meant a resin which either does not melt, or which is substantially immiscible with the substrate polymer, at the highest temperature encountered during extrusion and fabrication of the layer. Such resins include polyamides and olefin polymers, particularly a home- or co-polymer of a mono-alpha-olefin containing up to 6 carbon atoms in its molecule, for incorporation into polyester films, or polyesters of the kind hereinbefore described for incorporation into polyolefin films.
The amount of incompatible resin, preferably polyolefin, incorporated into the film substrate is preferably in the range from 1% to 15%, more preferably 3% to 10%, and particularly 5% to 8% by weight, based on the weight of the substrate polymer.
Incorporation of the opacifying agent, preferably inorganic filler, into the substrate layer polymer may be effected by conventional techniques, for example by mixing with the monomeric reactants from which the polymer is derived, by dry blending with the polymer in granular or chip form prior to formation of a film therefrom, or by using masterbatching technology.
By a pendant (xe2x80x94POXY) group of a repeating unit(s) of the coating layer polymer is meant a group which is not part of the backbone chain of the polymer, i.e. the group is present in a side chain attached to the backbone chain of the polymer. X and Y, which may be the same or different, are OH or OM wherein M is a cation. M may be a metal ion, preferably an alkali metal ion, more preferably Li+, Na+ or K+, or a quaternary ammonium ion. Both X and Y are preferably OH groups, i.e. the preferred pendant group is
Thus, the coating layer polymer preferably comprises repeat units containing pendant phosphoric acid groups and/or salts or other derivatives thereof.
Suitable repeating units are derived during the polymerization of monoethylenically unsaturated monomers containing phosphonic acid groups, which may be aromatic, heterocyclic, aliphatic and cycloaliphatic. Preferred monomers include vinyl phosphonic acid, divinyl phosphonic acid, allyl phosphonic acid, methallyl phosphonic acid, vinyl phosphonic acid monomethyl ester, methacrylamidomethane phosphonic acid, 2-arylamido-2-methylpropane phosphonic acid, 3-phosphonopropyl acrylate and 3-phosphonopropyl methacrylate. Vinyl phosphoric acid is a particularly preferred monomer.
The coating layer polymer suitably comprises greater than 5 mole %, preferably in the range from 10 to 90 mole %, more preferably 30 to 80 mole %, particularly 45 to 75 mole % and especially 50 to 70 mole % of repeating units comprising phosphoric acid containing monomer as herein described.
The coating layer polymer is preferably a copolymer, comprising one or more, preferably acrylic, comonomers, in addition to the repeating units as herein described. Suitable additional comonomers may be selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid or a derivative of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, preferably an ester of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid especially an alkyl ester where the alkyl group contains up to ten carbon atoms such as methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, terbutyl, hexyl, 2-ethylhexyl, heptyl, and n-octyl. An alkyl acrylate, e.g., ethyl acrylate or butyl acrylate, and/or an alkyl methacrylate, e.g, methyl methacrylate, may be employed.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the coating layer polymer additionally comprises repeating units containing pendant carboxyl groups, or groups which will form carboxyl groups on hydrolysis. Suitable carboxyl group-containing repeating groups are derived during the polymerization of monomers such as acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, itaconic acid, maleic acid, maleic anhydride, or derivatives thereof. Acrylic acid is a particularly preferred carboxyl group-containing comonomer.
The coating layer polymer preferably comprises in the range from 10 to 70 mole %, more preferably 30 to 60 mole %, particularly 30 to 55 mole % and especially 30 to 50 mole % of repeating units containing pendant carboxyl groups as herein described.
Other comonomers which are suitable for use in the preparation of the coating layer copolymer include acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile, halo-substituted acrylonitrile, halo-substituted methacrylonitrile, hydroxyethyl methacrylate, glycidyl acrylate, glycidyl methacrylate, itaconic acid, itaconic anhydride and half esters of itaconic acid. Other optional comonomers include vinyl esters such as vinyl acetate, vinyl chloroacetate and vinyl benzoate; vinyl pyridine; vinyl chloride; vinylidene chloride; maleic acid; maleic anhydride; butadiene; ethylene imine; sulphonated monomers such as vinyl sulphonic acid; styrene and derivatives of styrene such as chloro styrene, hydroxy styrene and alkylated styrenes. A preferred class of comonomers comprises sulphonated monomers such as vinyl sulphonic acid or salts or other derivatives thereof, such as sodium vinyl sulphonate. Other suitable salts of vinyl sulphonic acid include the potassium and lithium salts.
The coating preferably comprises 1-60 mole %, more preferably 3-50 mole %, and particularly 5-30 mole % of such sulphonated comonomers in the coating layer copolymer.
A preferred coating layer polymer is a poly (acrylic acid co vinyl phosphonic acid) copolymer. A further preferred coating layer polymer is a terpolymer comprising acrylic acid, vinyl phosphonic acid and sodium vinyl sulphonate moieties.
The molecular weight of the coating layer polymer may vary over a wide range but the weight average molecular weight is preferably less than 5.000,000, more preferably within the range 2.000 to 200,000, particularly within the range 25,000 to 100.000, and especially within the range 35.000 to 80.000. The amount of coating layer polymer present in the coating layer composition is preferably in the range from 0.1 to 50, more preferably 0.1 to 20. and particularly 0.5 to 10 weight %, relative to the total solids of the composition.
The coating layer composition may additionally comprise a resin which is capable of enhancing the adhesion of toner to the coating. Suitable resins include acrylic polymers and copolymers, homopolymers and copolymers of styrene, acrylonitrile, sulphonated polyesters and blends of the afore-mentioned polymers and coploymers. One preferred class of compatibilizing resins is a copolymer of styrene and acrylic monomers, for example the resin sold as Neocryl BT70 by Zeneca
In one embodiment of the present invention, the coating layer comprises an inorganic filler, suitably particulate materials such as silica, alumina, titanium dioxide and/or metal oxides.
The inorganic filler particles preferably have a volume distributed median particle diameter (equivalent spherical diameter corresponding to 50% of the volume of all the particles, read on the cumulative distribution curve relating volume % to the diameter of the particlesxe2x80x94often referred to as the xe2x80x9cD(v,0.5)xe2x80x9d value) in the range from 0.1 to 10 xcexcm.
Particle sizes of the filler particles may be measured by electron microscope, Coulter counter, sedimentation analysis and light scattering, preferably techniques based on laser light diffraction.
The amount of inorganic filler present in the coating layer composition is preferably in the range from 0.001 to 30, more preferably  less than 10 weight %, relative to the total solids of the composition.
The coating layer optionally comprises a, preferably low molecular weight, cross-linking agent. The cross-linking agent is suitably an organic material, preferably a monomeric and/or oligomeric species, and particularly monomeric, prior to formation of the coating layer. The molecular weight of the cross-linking agent is preferably less than 2000, more preferably less than 1500, especially less than 1000, and particularly in the range from 250 to 500. Suitable cross-linking agents may comprise alkyd resins, amine derivatives such as hexamethoxymethyl melamine, and/or condensation products of an amine, e.g. melamine, diazine, urea, cyclic ethylene urea, cyclic propylene urea, thiourea, cyclic ethylene thiourea, aziridines, alkyl melamines, aryl melamines, benzo guanamines, guanamines, alkyl guanamines and aryl guanamines, with an aldehyde, e.g. formaldehyde. A preferred cross-linking agent is the condensation product of melamine with formaldehyde. The condensation product may optionally be alkoxylated. A catalyst is also preferably employed to facilitate cross-linking action of the cross-linking agent. Preferred catalysts for cross-linking melamine formaldehyde include ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, ammonium thiocyanate, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, diammonium hydrogen phosphate, para toluene sulphonic acid, sulphuric acid, maleic acid stabilised by reaction with a base, ammonium para toluene sulphonate and morpholinium para toluene sulphonate.
A further preferred cross-linking agent is dimethylol urea.
The cross-linking agent preferably exhibits at least trifunctionality (i.e. three functional groups) to promote inter-molecular cross-linking with the functional groups present in the hydroxy alkyl cellulose, and to improve adhesion of the coating layer to the surface of the underlying layer.
The amount of cross-linking agent present in the coating layer composition is preferably in the range from 0.1 to 25, more preferably 0.15 to 10, particularly 0.2 to 5, and especially 0.25 to 2 weight %, relative to the total solids of the composition.
The ratio of coating layer polymer to cross-linking agent present in the coating layer composition, and consequently in the coating layer, is preferably in the range from 500 to 0.005:1, more preferably 150 to 0.01:1, and particularly 50 to 0.1:1 by weight.
If desired, the coating layer composition may additionally comprise a surfactant to promote spreading thereof when applied to a film substrate.
Furthermore, the coating layer advantageously comprises a drawing agent which preferably comprises an alkylarylphthalate in order to facilitate processing of film into the desired thickness.
The surface of the coating layer is hydrophilic, preferably exhibiting an internal water contact angle, measured as herein described, of less than 70xc2x0, more preferably less than 55xc2x0, particularly at most than 50xc2x0. The surface of the coating layer preferably exhibits an oil-in-water contact angle, measured as described hereinafter, of preferably greater than 140xc2x0, more preferably greater than 145xc2x0, and especially greater than 150xc2x0.
The difference between the water contact angle and the oil-in-water contact angle is preferably greater than 75, more preferably at least 90 and most preferably greater than 95xc2x0.
The coating layer composition, preferably in the form of an aqueous dispersion, may be applied to the substrate film surface by conventional coating techniques. The applied medium, generally having a solids content in the range from 1 to 30, preferably 2 to 15, and particularly 5 to 10 weight %, is subsequently dried to remove the dispersant and also to effect cross-linking of the layer. Drying may be effected by conventional techniques, for example by passing the coated film through a hot air oven. Drying may be effected during normal post-formation film-treatments, such as heat-setting.
The thickness of the dried coating layer is preferably greater than 0.1, more preferably greater than 0.4 xcexcm, and in particular at least 1.0 xcexcm.
The coating layer composition may be applied to an already oriented film substrate. However, application of the coating medium is preferably effected before or during any stretching operation. In particular, it is preferred according to this invention that the hydrophilic coating composition should be applied to the film between the two stages (longitudinal and transverse) of a biaxial stretching operation. Such a sequence of stretching and coating is especially preferred for the production of linear polyester films, such as polyethylene terephthalate films, which are preferably firstly stretched in the longitudinal direction over a series of rotating rollers, coated with the coating layer composition and then stretched transversely in a stenter oven, preferably followed by heat-setting.
The reverse surface, remote from the coating layer, of a polymeric film according to the invention may be untreated or may have thereon a functional layer, such as a release layer, a backing layer or, an antistatic layer.
The polymeric film of the invention may conveniently contain any of the agents conventionally employed in the manufacture of polymeric films. Thus, agents such as dyes, pigments, lubricants, anti-oxidants, antistatic agents, surface active agents, slip additives, adhesion improvers, scratch resistance enhancers, gloss-improvers, prodegradants, fire-retardants, and ultra-violet light stabilizers may be incorporated in the substrate and/or coating layer, as appropriate.
The polymeric films may vary in thickness depending on the intended application, but films preferably have a total thickness in the range from 5 to 350, more preferably 25 to 250, and particularly 125 to 200 xcexcm.
In this specification the following test methods have been used to determine certain properties of the filler particles and polymeric film:
Contact Angle
Water contact angles were obtained by photographing the profiles of 5 xcexcm droplets of distilled water test liquids on the sample surface. The angles were measured by projecting the photographic negative and drawing the tangent to the droplet profile at the point of three phase contact. The contact angles quoted with standard deviations are the mean of the angles measured for 9 drops of each liquid. The standard deviation was 4.
Oil-in-water Contact Angle
The contact angle of a mineral oil (Castrol Solvent Neutral 150) on the test surface submerged in a water environment, was measured by inverting the sample test surface in an glass cell (60xc3x9750xc3x9755 mm) containing distilled water, and introducing a droplet of the oil (10-40 xcexcm ) onto the underside of submerged surface by means of a syringe and curved needle. Images of the drop profile were captured using the FTA-200 Dynamic Contact Angle System and the contact angle automatically calculated using the instrument software. The contact angles quoted are the mean of 9 drops. The standard deviation was 4.
Filler Particle Analysis
Volume distributed median particle diameter, and particle size distribution ratios D25/D75 and D10/D90 were measured using a Coulter LS130 (Coulter Electronics Ltd. Luton, UK) particle sizer.
BET specific surface area was measured by multi-point nitrogen adsorption using a Micromeritics ASAP 2400 (Micromeritics Limited, Dunstable, UK). Relative pressures between 0.05 and 0.21 were used, and the outgassing conditions were 1 hour at 140xc2x0 C. with nitrogen purge (1 to 2 liters/hour).
Skeletal density was measured by helium pycnometry using a Micromeritics Accupyc 1330 (Micromeritics Limited, Dunstable, UK).
Adhesion to Toner
The adhesion of toner to the hydrophilic coating was estimated by measuring the amount of toner removed from the coating by the following method:
A test image (of toner) was printed onto a sample of the coated film using a Xante laser printer. The test image consisted of eight black rectangular blocks. The optical density of each of the eight blocks was measured using a color transmission-reflection densitometer (model Mackbeth TR927, supplied by Optronic Colour Communications). The highest and lowest measured values were disregarded and the average value of the other six values was recorded as V1. Toner from one block was then removed by applying a piece of adhesive tape (Tesa 4104) and removing the tape in a standard way. Eight fither densitometer measurements were then taken of the area from which the toner had been removed and the average value (disregarding the highest and lowest), V2, was compared with the previous average to calculate the % of toner removed by the following equation:
toner removed=(V1/V2)xc3x97100%.
The invention is illustrated by reference to the following examples.

Polymeric film having a coating layer of a phosphonic acid group containing polymer

Du Pont Teijin Films U.S. Limited Partnership


Systems and methods are described for speech systems that utilize an interaction manager to manage interactions—also known as dialogues—from one or more applications. The interactions are managed properly even if multiple applications use different grammars. The interaction manager maintains an interaction list. An application wishing to utilize the speech system submits one or more interactions to the interaction manager. Interactions are normally processed in the order in which they are received. An exception to this rule is an interaction that is configured by an application to be processed immediately, which causes the interaction manager to place the interaction at the front of the interaction list of interactions. If an application has designated an interaction to interrupt a currently processing interaction, then the newly submitted application will interrupt any interaction currently being processed and, therefore, it will be processed immediately.

Speech systems have been incorporated into many useful applications so that users may utilize the applications without having to manually operate an input device, such as a mouse or a keyboard. Personal computer systems (desktop, laptop, handheld, etc.) and automobile systems are only two examples of systems, or platforms, that may include integrated speech recognition functions.
A single platform may have several applications executing at a given time. For example, in an automobile computer system that utilizes speech recognition software, there may be speech-enabled applications for radio operation, navigational tools, climate controls, mail, etc. Personal computers may include word processors, spreadsheets, databases and/or other programs that utilize speech recognition. Each speech-enabled application has a grammar associated with it that is a set of commands that the application is attempting to detect at any one time.
Different applications may have different grammars. For instance, a word processing speech-enabled application may use a grammar that enables it to detect the command "print." However, an automobile speech-enabled application that controls a car radio would not have such a command. On the other hand, the car radio application may have a grammar that enables the speech system to recognize the command "FM" to set the radio to the FM band. The word processor would not waste overhead by including an "FM" command in its relevant grammar.
As the number of speech-enabled applications and grammars has increased, it has become increasingly problematic to run multiple speech-enabled applications on a single platform. Although each speech-enabled application may have its own unique grammar, certain commands may be used in more than one grammar, e.g., "stop." When a speech system receives such a command, it must be able to determine which application the speaker directed the command to and which application should respond to the user.
Similarly, multiple speech-enabled applications may attempt to deliver speech feedback simultaneously. This can result in a garbled communication that a user cannot understand. Such a result renders one or more of the applications useless. Also, if speech feedback from one speech-enabled application interrupts speech feedback from another similar application, the feedback from one or both applications may not be understandable to a user.
For example, suppose a first application asks a question of the user and awaits a response. But before the user responds to the first application, a second application asks the user a question. Which application will accept the user's first answer? Will one of the applications accept an answer intended for the other application? Will either application be able to function properly with the response(s) it receives? With no control over specific interactions between the system and the user, there is no certain answer to any of these questions.
One method that has been devised to handle this problem is to create a 'token' that indicates which application has the right to execute at any given time. When an application is ready to execute it requests a token. When the application receives the token, the application may execute.
One of several drawbacks of such a system is that applications may crash or hang. If an application that currently holds the token crashes, then the system may not recover unless the system is prepared for application crashes. If the application hangs, then the system may never be able to regain control. Therefore, a token system is an inadequate solution to the problems encountered when attempting to execute multiple speech-enabled applications.
Another problem that is encountered by speech-enabled applications is that when a command is given to an application that is not currently running, the command simply falls on deaf ears, so to speak, and there is no response to the command. Therefore, a user must first manually or vocally launch the application, then speak the desired command for the application. This means that a user must always be aware of which applications are running and which are not, so that the user knows whether she must launch an application before issuing certain commands. For example, if an automobile driver wants to play "song_A.mp3" on a car radio, the driver must first issue a command or manually launch an MP3 player, then command the player to play "song_A." It would be desirable to minimize the actions required to launch an application and subsequently issue a command.

Systems and methods for managing interactions from multiple speech-enabled applications


A software architecture for the hot add and swap of adapters. The software architecture allows users to replace failed components, upgrade outdated components, and add new functionality, such as new network interfaces, disk interface adapters and storage, without impacting existing users. The software architecture supports the hot add and swap of off-the-shelf adapters, including those adapters that are programmable.

This application is related to U.S. application No.: 08/942,309, entitled xe2x80x9cHOT ADD OF DEVICES SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURExe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,306, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF DEVICESxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,311, Pat. Ser. No.: 6,192,434, entitled xe2x80x9cHOT SWAP OF DEVICES SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURExe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,457, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT SWAP TO DEVICESxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/943,072, Pat No.: 5,892,928, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF A NETWORK ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A DYNAMICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,069, Pat. No.: 6,192,434 entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF A MASS STORAGE ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A STATICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No. 09/275,906, Pat. No. 6,163,825, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR HOT ADDING A NETWORK ADAPTER BY IDENTIFYING AND EXECUTING THE ADAPTER DRIVER BASED UPON THE LOGICAL BOARD NUMBER OF THE NETWORK ADAPTERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,465, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF A NETWORK ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A STATICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/962,963, Pat No.: 6,179,486, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF A NETWORK ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A STATICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/962,963, Pat. No.: 6,179,486, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT ADD OF A MASS STORAGE ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/943,078, Pat. No.: 5,889,965, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT SWAP OF A NETWORK ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A DYNAMICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d U.S. application No.: 08/942,459, Pat. No.: 6,170,028, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT SWAP OF A NETWORK ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A STATICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d and U.S. application No.: 08/942,458, Pat. No.: 6,173,346, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR THE HOT SWAP OF A MASS STORAGE ADAPTER ON A SYSTEM INCLUDING A DYNAMICALLY LOADED ADAPTER DRIVERxe2x80x9d
Appendix A, which forms a part of this disclosure, is a list of commonly owned copending U.S. Pat. application. Each one of the appolications listed in Appendix A is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to I/O adapters in computer systems. More particularly, the field of invention relates to the hot add and swap of adapters on a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As enterprise-class servers, which are central computers in a network that manage common data, become more powerful and more capable, they are also becoming ever more sophisticated and complex. For many companies, these changes lead to concerns over server reliability and manageability, particularly in light of the increasingly critical role of server-based applications. While in the past many systems administrators were comfortable with all of the various components that made up a standards-based network server, today""s generation of servers can appear as an incomprehensible, unmanageable black box. Without visibility into the underlying behavior of the system, the administrator must xe2x80x9cfly blind.xe2x80x9d Too often, the only indicators the network manager has on the relative health of a particular server is whether or not it is running.
It is well-acknowledged that there is a lack of reliability and availability of most standards-based servers. Server downtime, resulting either from hardware or software faults or from regular maintenance, continues to be a significant problem. By one estimate, the cost of downtime in mission critical environments has risen to an annual total of $4.0 billion for U.S. businesses, with the average downtime event resulting in a $140 thousand loss in the retail industry and a $450 thousand loss in the securities industry. It has been reported that companies lose as much as $250 thousand in employee productivity for every 1% of computer downtime. With emerging Internet, intranet and collaborative applications taking on more essential business roles every day, the cost of network server downtime will continue to spiral upward.
A significant component of cost is hiring administration personnel. These costs decline dramatically when computer systems can be managed using a common set of tools, and where they don""t require immediate attention when a failure occurs. Where a computer system can continue to operate even when components fail, and defer repair until a later time, administration costs become more manageable and predictable.
While hardware fault tolerance is an important element of an overall high availability architecture, it is only one piece of the puzzle. Studies show that a significant percentage of network server downtime is caused by transient faults in the I/O subsystem. These faults may be due, for example, to the device driver, the device firmware, or hardware which does not properly handle concurrent errors, and often causes servers to crash or hang. The result is hours of downtime per failure, while a system administrator discovers the failure, takes some action, and manually reboots the server. In many cases, data volumes on hard disk drives become corrupt and must be repaired when the volume is mounted. A dismount-and-mount cycle may result from the lack of hot pluggability or hot plug in current standards-based servers. Hot plug refers to the addition and swapping of peripheral adapters to an operational computer system. Diagnosing intermittent errors can be a frustrating and time-consuming process. For a system to deliver consistently high availability, it must be resilient to these types of faults.
Existing systems also do not have an interface to control the changing or addition of an adapter. Since any user on a network could be using a particular adapter on the server, system administrators need a software application that will control the flow of communications to an adapter before, during, and after a hot plug operation on an adapter.
Current operating systems do not by themselves provide the support users need to hot add and swap an adapter. System users need software that will freeze and resume the communications of their adapters in a controlled fashion. The software needs to support the hot add of various peripheral adapters such as mass storage and network adapters. Additionally, the software should support adapters that are designed for various bus systems such as Peripheral Component Interconnect, CardBus, Microchannel, Industrial Standard Architecture (ISA), and Extended ISA (EISA). System users also need software to support the hot add and swap of canisters and multi-function adapter cards, which are plug-in cards having more than one adapter.
In a typical PC-based server, upon the failure of an adapter, which is a printed circuit board containing microchips, the server must be powered down, the new adapter and adapter driver installed, the server powered back up and the operating system reconfigured.
However, various entities have tried to implement the hot plug of these adapters to a fault tolerant computer system. One significant difficulty in designing a hot plug system is protecting the circuitry contained on the adapter from being short-circuited when an adapter is added to a powered system. Typically, an adapter contains edge connectors which are located on one side of the printed circuit board. These edge connectors allow power to transfer from the system bus to the adapter, as well as supplying data paths between the bus and the adapter. These edge connectors fit into a slot on the bus on the computer system. A traditional hardware solution for xe2x80x9chot plugxe2x80x9d systems includes increasing the length of at least one ground contact of the adapter, so that the ground contact on the edge connector is the first connector to contact the bus on insertion of the I/O adapter and the last connector to contact the bus on removal of the adapter. An example of such a solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,855 to Thomas M. Bartol.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,491 to Jeffries discloses an alternative solution to the hot installation of I/O adapters. Here, each hotly installable adapter is configured with a user actuable initiator to request the hot removal of an adapter. The I/O adapter is first physically connected to a bus on the computer system. Subsequent to such connection a user toggles a switch on the I/O adapter which sends a signal to the bus controller. The signal indicates to the bus controller that the user has added an I/O adapter. The bus controller then alerts the user through a light emitting diode (LED) whether the adapter can be installed on the bus.
However, the invention disclosed in the Jeffries patent also contains several limitations. It requires the physical modification of the adapter to be hotly installed. Another limitation is that the Jeffries patent does not teach the hot addition of new adapter controllers or bus systems. Moreover, the Jeffries patent requires that before an I/O adapter is removed, another I/O adapter must either be free and spare or free and redundant. Therefore, if there was no free adapter, hot removal of an adapter is impossible until the user added another adapter to the computer system.
A related technology, not to be confused with hot plug systems, is Plug and Play defined by Microsoft and PC product vendors. Plug and Play is an architecture that facilitates the integration of PC hardware adapters to systems. Plug and Play adapters are able to identify themselves to the computer system after the user installs the adapter on the bus. Plug and Play adapters are also able to identify the hardware resources that they need for operation. Once this information is supplied to the operating system, the operating system can load the adapter drivers for the adapter that the user had added while the system was in a non-powered state. Plug and Play is used by both Windows 95 and Windows NT to configure adapter cards at boot-time. Plug and Play is also used by Windows 95 to configure devices in a docking station when a hot notebook computer is inserted into or removed from a docking station.
Therefore, a need exists for improvements in server management which will result in continuous operation despite adapter failures. System users must be able to replace failed components, upgrade outdated components, and add new functionality, such as new network interfaces, disk interface adapters and storage, without impacting existing users. Additionally, system users need a process to hot add their legacy adapters, without purchasing new adapters that are specifically designed for hot plug. As system demands grow, organizations must frequently expand, or scale, their computing infrastructure, adding new processing power, memory, mass storage and network adapters. With demand for 24-hour access to critical, server-based information resources, planned system downtime for system service or expansion has become unacceptable.
Embodiments of the inventive software architecture allows users to replace failed components, upgrade outdated components, and add new functionality, such as new network interfaces, disk interface adapters and storage, without impacting existing users. The software architecture supports the hot add and swap of off-the-shelf adapters, including those adapters that are programmable.
One embodiment of the invention includes a method of hot swapping a programmable mass storage adapter connected to an operational computer, comprising: connecting the programmable mass storage adapter to a plurality of I/O devices, executing a statically loaded adapter driver which accepts a packet to suspend and restart communications to the mass storage adapter, suspending all communication to the programmable mass storage adapter, removing the programmable mass storage adapter, inserting a new programmable mass storage adapter into the computer and restarting communications between the computer and the new programmable mass storage adapter.
Another embodiment of the invention includes a method of hot swapping a programmable mass storage adapter connected to an operational computer, comprising: connecting the programmable mass storage adapter to a plurality of I/O devices, executing a statically loaded adapter driver which accepts a packet to suspend and restart communications to the mass storage adapter, disabling power to the mass storage adapter, removing the mass storage adapter from the computer, inserting a new mass storage adapter into the computer at the same location as the mass storage adapter, enabling power to the new mass storage adapter and initiating communications between the computer and the new mass storage adapter.
Yet another embodiment of the invention includes a method of hot swapping a mass storage adapter to an operational computer including at least one canister, wherein the canister connects to one or more existing programmable adapters, comprising: connecting the programmable adapters to a plurality of I/O devices, executing an adapter driver which accepts requests to suspend and restart communications to an adapter, suspending all communication to the existing adapters on a selected one of the canisters, disabling power to the selected canister with the existing adapters, while maintaining power to the computer and other adapters, removing a mass storage adapter in the canister, adding a new mass storage adapter in the canister, restarting power to the adapters in the canister, restarting communications to the existing adapters and initiating communications between the computer and the new mass storage adapter.

System and method for the add or swap of an adapter on an operating computer