An electric arc welding apparatus comprising at least a first consumable electrode and a second consumable electrode movable in unison along a welding path between the edges of two adjacent, mutually grounded plates, a first power supply for passing a first welding current at a first low frequency between the first electrode and the two plates, a second power supply for passing a second welding current at a second low frequency between the second electrode and the two plates, where each of the power supplies includes a three phase voltage input operated at line frequency, a rectifier to convert the input voltage to a DC voltage link and a high frequency switching type inverter converting the DC voltage link to a high frequency AC current, an output rectifier circuit to provide a positive voltage terminal and a negative voltage terminal, and an output switching network operated at a given low frequency for directing a pulsating welding current at the given low frequency from the two terminals across one of the electrodes and the plates, and a circuit for independently adjusting the given low frequency so the value of the first low frequency of the first power supply is different from the second low frequency of the second power supply.

The present invention relates to the art of electric arc welding and more particularly to a welding apparatus using two consumable electrodes and the method of welding with tandem consumable electrodes.
The present invention utilizes a high frequency inverter of the transistor switching type for converting a three phase input power source to a load coupling transformer from which the AC output of the inverter may be rectified to create current flow between the electrode and workpiece of a welding operation. Such welders employ a pulse width modulator operated at over 18 kHz for controlling the magnitude of the welding current flowing through the welding operation. These inverters are well known in the art and are generally shown in Blankenship U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,157 and Blankenship U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,175, which patents are incorporated by reference herein as background information. They illustrate a three phase inverter with current controlled by a high frequency pulse width modulator directing current pulses to the output transformer of the inverter. The three phase inverter has a pulse width modulator operated by an error amplifier for controlling the current at the output of the inverter. Output switching networks in arc welders for creating AC welding current from DC terminals are disclosed in Stava U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,965 and Stava U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,021, also incorporated by reference herein. Shutt U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,463 and Fratiello U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,330 show tandem mounted consumable electrodes used for welding the joint between two spaced plates. These patents are also incorporated by reference as background information, since they relate to the field to which the present invention is directed.
The present invention relates to an electric arc welder of the type using two consumable electrodes for welding the joint between two edges of relatively thick plates, which plates may be in the form of the cylindrical ends of two pipe sections being welded together in a pipe welding operation or, in practice, seam welding of a formed plate into a pipe. In such welding procedures, two tandem mounted consumable electrodes are moved in unison along the joint so two layers of molten metal are deposited first from the front electrode and then from the trailing electrode to fill the joint between the two beveled edges of the adjacent edges of the plate forming a pipe. These edges are hereinafter referred to as adjacent plates for global application. The invention is applicable for seam welding of pipe; however, pipe welding will be described in a welding operation where the ends of the pipe sections are welded together. The invention is much broader in application and may be used to butt weld two adjacent heavy plates, such as the plates forming sections of gantries for oil rigs, armor of plates used in ship building or seam welding of pipe. Tandem consumable electrodes deposit large amounts of molten metal and cause the metal to be fused in the joint between the plates at high rates as necessary in welding heavy plates. In the past, a single phase power supply was normally used to produce the welding current for both of the tandem electrodes. The frequencies of the welding operation for the adjacent electrodes were the same causing extreme arc generated interference. Such systems required elaborate connections, for instance a Scott connection that produce an electrical phase shift. The frequencies of the welding procedures were dictated by the line frequency of the single phase input power supply. Thus, the frequencies of the pulsating welding current for the tandem mounted electrodes was generally the same fixed value determined by the 50 Hz or 60 Hz input voltage. The prior art welders using tandem consumable electrodes had generally caused an unbalance in the three phase power system and had welding frequencies controlled by the line frequency of the input voltage. This limitation was extremely detrimental when the high currents of pipe welding were used, which high currents exceed about 200 amperes and were often as high as about 1000-1200 amperes, or more. When tandem mounted electrodes are subject to relatively fixed low frequencies, determined by the line frequency, and conduct extremely high currents, used in pipe welding and welding thick plates, arc interference presents a serious problem requiring complicated connections and shielding. In the prior devices, it was somewhat normal practice for each of the electrodes to be driven by current having the same frequency, such as 50 Hz or 60 Hz. The only way to reduce arc interference was to shift the phase of the line current being directed to each of the tandem electrodes. This procedure was extremely complicated. The process was dictated by the line frequency and the phase shifting did not fully alleviate arc interference. Increasing the frequency of the welding current above 100-200 Hz to reduce interference was not practical in the prior systems. Thus, there is a substantial need for an improved electric arc welder using two or more consumable electrodes which do not have the problem of arc interference and do not utilize high current pulse frequencies.
The present invention overcomes the problems experienced in efforts to provide an electric arc welder that can effectively utilize two consumable electrodes, while reducing or generally eliminating arc interference without requiring high frequencies for the welding current. Although the invention can be used in a DC mode, preferably it involves an electric arc welder that directs AC welding currents to two separate consumable electrodes, which welder can be driven by a single three phase power supply while the welding operation at each electrode is independently controlled. The frequency of the welding current for each of the two electrodes is independently controlled and does not depend upon the input line frequency. By using the present invention, a three phase input voltage is used for a tandem electrode welder. Thus, there is a balanced input power, not an unbalanced single phase as in the prior art. The three phase voltage input has a line frequency of 50 Hz or 60 Hz; however, this frequency does not dictate the frequency of the welding current at each consumable electrode. This welder develops high welding current for heavy plates with the current exceeding about 200 amperes and is normally at least about 1000 amperes. Although two tandem mounted consumable electrodes are used in the preferred embodiment, it is possible to use three or more electrodes in the electric arc welder of the present invention.
In accordance with the invention, the electric arc welder includes a first and second consumable electrode, which electrodes are moved in unison along a welding path between the edges of the two adjacent mutually grounded plates, such as the seam in a pipe manufacturing operation. There are two separate power supplies for passing welding currents between the individual electrodes and the plates forming the grounded workpiece of the welding operation. The power supplies each are constructed to provide low frequency current pulses for the welding operation performed by the individual electrodes. In the preferred embodiment, the power supplies include a three phase voltage input, which input is operated at line frequency, such as 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Since the line frequency is isolated and does not control the output frequency at the individual electrodes, the same three phase voltage source can be used for both power supplies separately controlling the tandem mounted electrodes. The three phase power supply is rectified to convert the input voltage to a DC voltage link and a high frequency switching type inverter converts the DC voltage link to a high frequency AC current. The high frequency switching type inverter is controlled by a pulse width modulator operated at a frequency generally greater than 20 kHz with a duty cycle that is adjusted to control the magnitude of the output current at the electrodes. The high frequency AC current forming the output of the high frequency switching type inverter is directed through an output or load transformer having a secondary winding for driving an output rectifier circuit to provide a positive voltage terminal and a negative voltage terminal. As so far described, each of the individual power supplies for each of the two consumable electrodes is driven by the same three phase source, but creates individual outputs in the form of a positive terminal and a negative terminal. In the specific power supply used in the present invention, the output terminals provide power to a switching network driven at a given low frequency for directing the polarity of the welding current from the terminals of the power supply across one of the electrodes and the two spaced plates forming the workpiece of the welding operation. By using an independently controlled output switching network at the output side of a standard high frequency inverter, the frequency of the welding current, if AC or pulsating DC, is independently controlled by the output switching network so the power supply components before the switching network produce a DC current. The frequency at the output of the power supply that controls the frequency of the current in each electrode is independently controllable and not dependent upon either the input frequency of the power supply or the frequency of the welding current used by the other electrode. This operational isolation frees the tandem electrode electric arc welder to allow individual control of the welding current frequency for each of the separate and distinct consumable electrodes. By this architecture for the electric arc welder, the low frequencies at the two electrodes can be controlled to less than 300 Hz and preferably in the general range of 5-200 Hz. The invention is also operative to provide DC current, either continuous or pulsing in both polarities. Three phase input voltage is used, thus allowing balanced operation of the welder without dictating the frequency of the welding currents.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an electric arc welding apparatus comprising at least a first consumable electrode and a second consumable electrode movable in unison along a welding path between the edges of two adjacent, mutually grounded plates. A first power supply is provided for passing a first welding current at between the first electrode and the plates and a second power supply is provided for passing a second welding current between the second electrode and the plates. Each said power supply includes a three phase voltage input operated at line frequency, a rectifier to convert the input voltage to a DC voltage link and a high frequency switching type inverter converting the DC voltage link to a high frequency AC current, an output rectifier circuit to provide a positive voltage terminal and a negative voltage terminal, and an output switching network operated for directing welding current from the terminals across one of the electrodes and the plates, and a circuit for independently adjusting the output switching networks so the value of the first welding current of the first power supply is different from the second welding current of the second power supply. The switching networks can maintain a continuous DC current of either polarity or an AC current at a low frequency by alternating the switches of the network.
The individual power supplies include circuits for setting the low frequency used by each of the separate electrodes. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, at least one of the power supplies includes means for causing the low frequency of that power supply to vary as a function of time. By using this concept, one of the electrodes is operated at a fixed frequency below about 200 Hz, while the other electrode is operated at a frequency that continues to vary between two extremes, such as 10 Hz to 300 Hz. By varying the low frequency of one power supply between two extremes, while the low frequency of the other power supply is fixed, there is only one frequency at which the two electrodes have identical frequencies. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the low frequencies of both electrodes are varied as a function of time, but not in synchronization. Thus, the frequency of the welding current at one electrode sweeps between 10 and 300 Hz. At the same time, the welding current of the other tandem mounted electrode sweeps between 10 and 300 Hz. This sweeping of the electrode welding frequency prevents arc interference and does not require complicated connections. In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention, the inverter between the three phase input voltage and the low frequency welding current is operated at an extremely high frequency, i.e. at least about 20 kHz. This is standard operation for a high frequency switching inverter. The invention uses the inverter stage to isolate the electrically separate input power from the welding parameters for each tandem mounted electrode. The output welding current is pulsating. It can be either low frequency DC pulses or low frequency AC pulses or continuous DC current of either polarity. Indeed, in one example, the low frequency pulses at one electrode are DC pulses, whereas the low frequency pulses at the other electrode are AC pulses. The frequency of the pulses is varied progressively or sweep between 50 and 200 Hz so there is no arc interference caused by beating of the frequencies used in the closely positioned consumable electrodes.
A variety of architectures can be employed for creating the individual power supplies. In accordance with the preferred embodiment, each power supply includes an inverter for converting the AC three phase voltage to a DC current source output having a maximum current of at least 200 amperes with a positive output terminal and a negative output terminal to provide DC energy to an output switching network. The network, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, includes a first transistor based switch in series with the positive terminal of the power supply, a series inductor segment, one of the electrodes and the spaced plates or workpiece. By closing this series circuit, a pulse of a first polarity is directed to the welding operation. The network also includes a second transistor based switch in series with the negative terminal, a second inductor segment, the same electrode and the plates. Such switching networks are shown in Stava U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,965 and Stava U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,021. Control means ultimately turn the first switch ON and the second switch OFF at a first switch reversing point and turn the second switch ON and the first switch OFF at a second switch reversing point. Consequently, AC high welding current is created with alternate positive and negative current pulses. This switch network creates the low frequency welding current for one of the electrodes. The same architecture is used to create the low frequency welding current of the other electrode. By merely adjusting the control means of the two power supplies, the frequency of the welding current is adjusted. Other electrical architectures can be used for the power supplies so long as they have an input voltage operated at line frequency, an inverter to convert the input voltage to a DC voltage link and a high frequency switching type inverter for converting the DC voltage link to a high frequency AC current that is rectified by a circuit to provide a positive voltage output terminal and a negative voltage output terminal. These terminals are used for directing DC energy to the switching network. Thus, the power supply is driven by a three phase voltage source at a line frequency, but creates the desired low frequency output current. The ability to control the low frequencies of the output currents independent of each other results in an improved tandem electrode electric arc welder.
Another aspect of the present invention involves use of a first and second power supply for driving first and second consumable electrodes moved in unison in the joint between two plates. Each of the power supplies have switch networks for creating low frequency welding currents. By generating a synchronizing signal with a given frequency determined by the rate of synchronizing commands, the power supplies are forced to a given polarity when a synchronizing command, such as a logic 1 or a positive going leading edge, is presented to the switching network of the power supply. By delaying the synchronizing signal at one of the power supplies, the low frequency of that power supply is offset or phase shifted. Consequently, by use of a synchronizing signal and a delay circuit, the low frequencies of the welding currents are out of phase. Using a synchronizing signal, the alternating weld current is forced to a given polarity at the time of a command in the signal. In one embodiment, the synchronizing signal is a positive command and a negative command. When the switching circuit receives a positive command, the weld current is forced to positive polarity. The negative command forces the weld current to a negative polarity. Since the synchronizing signal is delayed at one power supply, the forcing action of the command makes low frequency welding currents which are out of phase. This is done without a Scott connection. As another aspect, the synchronizing command starts a weld current oscillating at a given frequency created at the power supply. This given frequency produces alternations between synchronizing commands or between a positive command or a negative command.
The primary object of the present invention is the provision of an improved tandem electrode electric arc welder, which welder can be used for seam welding pipe from a rolled plate and similar welding operations employing pulsating high welding currents without arc interference.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of an electric arc welder, as defined above, which welder includes separately driven consumable electrodes, each of which is driven by a high welding current having a low frequency with the frequencies being adjusted or varied on a time basis or is operated at a given DC polarity.
Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of an electric arc welder, as defined above, which electric arc welder utilizes a three phase input voltage allowing balancing of the input power for the welding operation. Such input power balancing is extremely important when using extremely high currents, as needed for welding the seam of a pipe.
Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of an improved electric arc welder, as defined above, which electric arc welder can use tandem consumable electrodes without unbalancing the power source or creating undue arc interference.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings.

Tandem electrode welder and method of welding with two electrodes


A wide-angle zoom lens system includes a negative first lens group, a positive second lens group, a negative third lens group, and a positive fourth lens group. Upon zooming from the short focal length extremity to the long focal length extremity, the distance between the negative first lens group and the positive second lens group decreases, the distance between the positive second lens group and the negative third lens group increases, and the distance between the negative third lens group and the positive fourth lens group decreases; and the positive second lens group, the negative third lens group and the positive fourth lens group move toward the object. The wide-angle zoom lens system satisfies the following conditions:1.2<|f(i=1)/fW|<2.0  (1)1.5<f(i=2)/fW<2.2  (2)2.5<|f(i=3)/fW|<3.6  (3)3.2<f(i=4)/fW<4.7;  (4)                wherein        fi designates the focal length (f1<0, f3<0) of the ith lens group (i=1˜4); and        fW designates the focal length of the entire the wide-angle zoom lens system at the short focal length extremity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wide-angle zoom lens system suitable for a single lens reflex (SLR) camera, and relates to a wide-angle zoom lens system suitable for a digital SLR camera using a small imaging device (e.g., a CCD) which is smaller than a Leica-format size.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A CCD, having a Leica image-format size (36 mm×24 mm; hereinafter, the Leica-format size) which is the most widely-used format size in a SLR camera in which a silver halide film is used, is very expensive. Accordingly, a CCD having a format size which is about 0.7 times as large as the Leica-format size with respect to the image-height ratio is frequently used in a digital single reflex camera. Therefore if the format size becomes smaller, a lens system having a shorter focal length is required in order to achieve a wider angle-of-view.
A wide-angle zoom lens system which achieves an angle-of-view of 80 degrees or more at the short focal length extremity has already been available in the market; however, the zoom ratio is only about 2.0. The wide-angle zoom lens systems disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 2001-318314 and 2001-83421 are examples of such a zoom lens system. Furthermore, the zoom lens systems disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No.2000-338397 and Hei-11-174328 have a zoom ratio of about 3.0; however, the angle-of-view is not sufficiently secured.


The pillow includes a pillow body with an upper curved member which includes a first convex curved portion which extends along the length of the upper surface of the pillow near the back edge of the pillow and a second convex curved portion which parallels the first curved portion and extends along the upper surface of the pillow near the front edge of the pillow. A concave curved portion extends between and joins the first and second convex curved portions. The height of the first convex curved portion is greater than the height of the second convex curved portion. A plurality of interior baffle walls extend lengthwise of the pillow, spaced and located so as to maintain the contour of the pillow when the pillow is filled with natural and/or synthetic filling.

Various contour pillow configurations are known, usually providing specialized support for the user. Examples of such pillows include those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,401 to Frydman and U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,917 to DeLaittre et al. However, such pillows usually are solid foam, or other soft, resilient material, to maintain the contour. This is, for instance, shown clearly in Frydman. It is difficult to maintain a contour arrangement in a pillow with loose filling such as feathers and down. With the present invention, however, a contoured pillow structure is provided which maintains the original contour of the pillow, using a loose filling like feathers, down, other natural filling or comparable synthetic filling, such as polyester or PLA (polylactic acid) material.

Contour pillow with interior baffle walls


A data processing system incorporating a cache memory 2 and a central processing unit. A storage control circuit 10 is responsive to a programmable partition setting PartVal to partition the cache memory between instruction words and data words in dependence upon whether the central processing unit 4 indicates with signal I/D whether the word to be stored within the cache memory 2 resulted from an instruction word cache miss or data word cache miss. The cache memory array 2 may have a programmably sized portion locked down so that it is not replaced. The selection within the complementary programmable range where overwriting takes place uses a pseudo random selection technique using pseudo random number generator in the form of a linear feedback shift register triggering incrementing of a counter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data processing. More particularly, this invention relates to data processing systems incorporating a cache memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide data processing systems incorporating a cache memory for the purpose of increasing the speed of operation of the system by providing high speed access to a subset of the data and instructions words required by the system. Whilst cache memory offers high speed it is of a limited capacity and so careful selection and management of the information stored within the cache memory is required in order to gain the best from the system.
A part of proper cache control is the selection of which data should be held within the cache. It is known to provide cache control systems operating with various different replacement algorithms used to select a cache storage location to be overwritten with a new word when it is desired to place that new word into the cache following a cache miss. Examples of such selection techniques include least recently used, cyclic (i.e. sequential or "round robin"), or random. It is also known to provide cache memory systems in which some data words are locked in place within the cache and are not normally overwritten following a cache miss.

Cache control circuit having a pseudo random address generator


A method for preventing unwanted rolling away of a stationary vehicle maintains a brake pressure in wheel brake cylinders. The brake pressure is maintained in dependence on the actuation of the brake pedal, and is maintained only if the current brake pressure exceeds a brake pressure corresponding to the holding pressure by a certain amount. This brake pressure can be applied at will by the driver.

The present invention relates to a method and system for preventing unwanted rolling away of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a method in which rolling away is prevented by maintaining a brake pressure in wheel brake cylinders, and the brake pressure maintained being dependent on the actuation of the brake pedal, the speed of the vehicle being determined.
DE 29 11 372 discloses a brake system which has a rotational-speed detection system which is linked to the direction of rotation and actuates the brakes if the vehicle starts to roll in the opposite direction to the direction of the gear selected, i.e. rolling backwards when a forward gear has been selected and vice versa. When the brake system is deactivated, the pressure dissipation takes place as a function, inter alia, of the engine speed. Owing to the system configuration, triggering the brake actuation requires an engaged gear. No brake actuation takes place at idle. Moreover, the driver has no influence on the triggering of brake actuation.
DE 031 13 362 discloses that the ignition and the brakes can be coupled to ensure that the brakes are automatically actuated when the vehicle is parked.
An object on which the invention is based is to provide a system which prevents a stationary vehicle from unintended movement and which can be activated at will by the driver.
According to the present invention, this object has been achieved by providing that a variable which represents the actuating force applied by the driver is detected, a first value of the variable being determined in a first time interval following the onset of the stationary condition of the vehicle and, when the current value of the variable exceeds a second value of the variable, which is higher by a predetermined amount than the first value, at least the brake pressure which corresponds to an actuation of the brake pedal with the first value of the variable is maintained irrespective of a subsequent release of the brake pedal.
The system of the present invention has the advantage that, when the vehicle is stationary, brakes are actuated only if the brake pedal has been actuated. The brake system is triggered by the driver by an additional actuation of the brake pedal. This has the advantage, as compared with the conventional approach, that the system can be controlled at will by the driver.
A further advantage of the present invention is that components of the existing ABS can be used. The system furthermore remains activated when the idling speed has been selected to facilitate, among other things, parking.
According to another embodiment of the invention, a signal from the ignition is detected and, if the engine stalls but the ignition is still switched on, braking force is maintained to ensure that the vehicle does not roll away. Moreover, the brake pressure does not necessarily have to be dissipated when the ignition is off because, otherwise, the vehicle would roll away when the driver restarted the vehicle.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method and system for preventing unwanted rolling away of a vehicle


A sustainable method and system for producing bio-fuels from citrus peels and the recovery of limonene and pectin prior to fermentation of the peel solids. In one embodiment a sustainable method and system for the concurrent recovery of limonene and pectin from citrus peels is disclosed. The peels are optionally zested, mixed with water and an acid, and then exploded in a jet cooker or a pressurized extruder. The exploded peels are transferred to a flash vessel where the remaining limonene and water vapor are separated into water and limonene. The pectin fraction is removed from the flash tank and extracted by centrifuge, precipitation and/or filtration. The remaining peel solids are fermented in an anaerobic digester which produces methane, ethanol, acids, CO2 or other end products which can be used as fuel for power generation equipment sufficient to supply the processing system for sustainable operations as described herein.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to citrus peel waste processing and the recovery of high value material and chemicals. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved sustainable method and system of processing citrus peels to remove limonene and pectin fractions thereby enhancing the remaining citrus peel solids for fermentation for the production of ethanol, valuable acids, methane and other recoverable high value chemicals resulting in a sustainable recovery method and system.
2. Description of Related Art
The generation of solid citrus peel waste presents a growing environmental and economic problem. Citrus peel waste consists mainly of citrus peels, membranes and seeds after the citrus fruit has been processed for the production of juices for consumption. It is estimated that approximately 5-7 billion pounds of citrus peel waste is produced annually from grapefruit and orange juice production operations in the State of Florida. Currently, the majority of this citrus peel waste is pressed and dried into cattle feed. At present prices, the large capital equipment and energy costs associated with the production and distribution of cattle feed from citrus peel waste are not recovered due to the low value of citrus waste as cattle feed and high cost of drying. Moreover, substantial amounts of essential citrus peel oil of d(+)-limonene are volatilized from the peel waste and often released into the atmosphere during peel drying operations in the feed production process. If the feed producer desires to recover this valuable limonene vapor fraction, they must install expensive vapor recovery systems to collect the limonene vapor.
Although citrus peel waste creates an environmental and waste disposal problem, it does contain substantial amounts of valuable chemical fractions such as soluble sugars and polymeric carbohydrates including pectin, cellulose and hemicellulose. These polymeric carbohydrates can be hydrolyzed to simple sugars by the use of acids or enzymes as known in the art. The resulting sugars may be fermented to ethanol, lactic acid or other products by known methods in the art.
One unique characteristic of citrus peels are that they contain a large amount of soluble sugars (e.g. glucose, fructose, galactose, arabinose and xylose) in solution within the tissues of the peels. By disrupting these tissues, the sugars can be released to increase the efficiency and speed of fermentation processes. Therefore, a need exists in the art for a process that effectively ruptures the citrus peel membrane to release the soluble sugars and other complex carbohydrates to improve the fermentation process at the highest concentrations possible. However, it is readily known that the presence of limonene in the citrus peel presents an obstacle to efficiently fermenting the citrus peels.
Limonene is a terpene contained within the peel of citrus fruits. Limonene is extremely toxic to fermenting microorganisms and its presence in the fruit peel provides a defense to mold and bacteria thereby naturally preventing microbial buildup and fermentation of the fruit. In processing peels into ethanol and/or other recoverable chemicals, it is desirable to remove a majority, if not all, of the limonene from the citrus peel prior to fermentation operations. For efficient fermentation, the limonene in the peel must be reduced below 3000 parts per million (ppm) and preferably below 1500 ppm as described and known in the art. Several methods of removing limonene from citrus peels are known such as cold pressing, supercritical CO2 extraction, steam stripping, direct heating in a dryer with subsequent condensation of limonene, and solvent washing. These methods while effective are energy and chemical intensive, expensive and typically cost prohibitive. As such, a need exists for an economical and efficient method that extracts a substantial amount of limonene from the peel prior to fermentation to provide for the efficient production of methane, ethanol and/or other desired high value chemical products without contributing additional chemical byproducts and volume to the waste stream.
It is recognized by industry that citrus peel waste is an excellent source of pectin, limonene and other polysaccharides. Following removal of these constituents, the remaining peel solids can be fermented and converted into high value end products such as methane and ethanol and thus reduce the volume of peel waste and reduce subsequent disposal costs. Various steps for accomplishing the recovery of these products from citrus peels are known in the art such as processes utilizing steam injection and fermenting sugars into ethanol. Nonetheless, conventional citrus peel treatment is energy intensive resulting in considerable power expenses for operation. The prior art does not disclose a system integrating the inventive methods disclosed herein for addressing this large energy requirement. As such, a need exists in the art for a sustainable citrus peel processing method that improves the process efficiency for the removal of limonene and pectin prior to the fermentation of the peel into ethanol, methane and other recoverable chemicals that can be operated and fueled from the end products generated from fermenting citrus peels.

Sustainable conversion of citrus peel waste


This optical recording medium includes a data part which is a region for recording data and a directory part which is a region for recording its management or direction information. The directory information relating to the above-mentioned data is recorded in the above-mentioned directory part having a hierarchical tree structure. In the recording and reproducing apparatus by using the above-mentioned recording medium, in retrieving data, by retrieving the directory information in the order of a large classification, medium classification and small classification, the data can be detected. Even a large volume of data can be retrieved at a high speed and the data is efficiently managed. It is effective particularly with recording medium with small numbers of sectors per track such as an optical card.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical recording media and more particularly to an optical recording medium having a data recording part (called a data part hereinafter) which is a region for recording data and a directory information recording part (called a directory part hereinafter) which is a region for recording management information relating to the recorded state of the data.


An improved neck for a guitar which is comprised of a elongated body, an elongated fingerboard, and an elongated strip. The fingerboard is mounted longitudinally of the body on the upper side of the body. The strip is mounted in the neck longitudinally of the body and fingerboard and near the junction between the body and fingerboard and being substantially parallel to the junction. The strip has a modulus of elasticity greater than the body and fingerboard. The strip can have a domed upper surface and a flat bottom surface and may be adhesively secured to, or molded, to the fingerboard in a wide shallow groove formed in the bottom of the fingerboard. The strip and fingerboard may be laminated to the top surface of the neck body. The neck body may have a truss rod or lever system therein.

Neck playability is a critical criterion in judging the quality of a guitar. It can be defined as the closest distance that the strings can be to the frets without there being any buzz (fret buzz) caused by a plucked string hitting any fret other than the one against which the string is pressed. An instrument with low action, namely a small distance from fret to string, is considered to have better playability.
Several external factors (and related forces) can produce detrimental effects on playability. These include:
1. Neck movements caused by expansion and contraction of the neck wood resulting from variations in moisture content of the wood. PA1 2. Neck deflections resulting from string tension. PA1 3. Neck movements resulting from any imperfections in the neck-adjustment mechanism (conventionally a truss rod).
These factors can occur during the manufacturing process, or after the instrument is in use.
Especially since wood is a highly unpredictable material, and since string tension forces vary across the fingerboard (fretboard) of the guitar, and since different truss rod systems can create different types of neck movements, it would be highly advantageous if the neck moved or deflected less than conventional prior-art necks do. It is here emphasized that the previous sentence relates primarily to wooden necks, which are generally desired because of their tonal qualities and their beauty.
The above-indicated factors, especially those stated in numbered paragraphs 1 and 2 above, are associated with forces that vary in location and can cause not only bending but twisting. Relative to twisting, the forces are not concentrated at the center of the neck, but instead (in the absence of the present invention) are generally much spread out and/or moved to different regions depending on what the piece of wood (from which the neck is formed) is, what condition the piece of wood is in, where the piece of wood was cut from the log, etc.

Laminated neck for guitars, and combination thereof with adjustment system


The tablet containing (1) 5-hydroxy-1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide or a salt thereof, or a hydrate thereof, and (2) silicon dioxide has a high content of 5-hydroxy -1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide or a salt thereof, or a hydrate thereof and an easily takable size as a tablet, and shows superior dissolution property.

Since 5-hydroxy-1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide (henceforth also referred to as Compound A) or a salt thereof, or a hydrate thereof has a potent carcinostatic action, it is a medically useful compound as an anticancer agent (Patent document 1). In particular, it is an anticancer agent that exhibits a potent efficacy against solid carcinomas, against which chemotherapy has conventionally been considered difficult, and is also a highly safe anticancer agent that shows less side reactions, and thus it is a compound of which clinical applications are expected in a wide range of dosage forms such as oral agent, injection, ointment, and suppository. Tablets containing Compound A or a salt thereof, or a hydrate thereof are orally administered in a number of one to several tablets at one time.
It has been reported that the size of easily takable circular tablets is 7 to 8 mm in diameter, and the size of easily takable elliptical tablets is 9 mm in major axis (Non-patent document 1).
In general, tablets that can be easily handled and are suitable for taking should have appropriate hardness. In order to produce tablets having a required hardness by the direct tableting method, content of additives in tablets should be 60% or more, preferably 70% or more, of the mass of tablets (Non-patent document 2).
There is known a method for increasing base content in tablets by utilizing a binder and the wet granulation method (Non-patent document 3). Further, hardness of tablets can also be increased by using granules for making tablets granulated by a wet or dry granulation method to increase binding power of the granules at the time of tablet making.
Any tablet having a high content of Compound A or a salt thereof, or a hydrate thereof, an easily takable size, and superior dissolution property has not been known so far.


The present invention relates to a complex comprising hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and met proto-oncogene protein. The present invention also relates to methods for detecting the presence of HGF ligand, met proto-oncogene receptor and methods for isolating either the ligand or receptor or complex comprising both. The present invention further relates to methods of diagnostic proliferative disorders and diseases such as hepatitis or hepatocarcinogenesis by detecting these ligand-receptor pairs.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a complex comprising hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and the met proto-oncogene protein. The present invention also relates to a method for detecting the presence of HGF ligand or met proto-oncogene receptor and to a method for isolating either the ligand, the receptor or a complex comprising both.
The present invention further relates to methods of diagnosing and treating conditions proliferative disorders such as hepatitis, hepatocarcinogenesis, carcinogenesis and wound healing.
Further, the present invention relates to a method of stimulating the proliferation of hemtopoietic progenitors with HGF.
2. Background of the Invention
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was first purified from human and rabbit plasma and rat platelets on the basis of its ability to stimulate mitogenesis of rat hepatocytes (Gohoda et al. J Clin. Invest. 81, 414 (1988); Zarnegar et al. Cancer Res. 49, 3314 (1989); Nakamura et al. FEBS Lett. 224, 311 (1987)). Thus, HGF may act as a humoral factor promoting liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy or liver injury (Michalopoulos FASEB J. 4, 176 (1990)). The same factor was purified from human fibroblast culture medium and shown to act on melanocytes and a variety of epithelial and endothelial cells (Rubin et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 415 (1990)). Together with evidence of HGF expression in several organs (Rubin et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 415 (1990); Tashiro et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 3200 (1990); Zarnegar et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87, 1252 (1990); Kinoshita et al. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 165, 1229 (1989)), these findings indicate that HGF may also act as a paracrine mediator of proliferation for a broad spectrum of cell types. Molecular cloning of HGF revealed a remarkable structural homology to plasminogen and related serine proteases (Rubin et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 415 (1990); Nakamura et al. Nature 342, 440 (1989); Miyazawa et al. Biophys. Res. Comm. 163, 967 (1989)). Recent evidence that HGF induces rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in intact target cells suggests that a tyrosine kinase receptor might mediate its mitogenic signal (Rubin et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 415 (1990)).
HGF is structurally related to the family of serine proteases that includes plasminogen, prothrombin, urokinase, and tissue plasminogen activator (Rubin et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 415 (1990)); Nakamura et al. Nature 342, 440 (1989)). As defined herein, HGF includes a variant of HGF previously characterized as a broad-spectrum mitogen called plasminogen like growth factor (PLGF). Several proteases, including members of the serine protease family, stimulate DNA synthesis presumably through a proteolytic mechanism similar to tryptic activation of the insulin receptor (Shoelson et al. J. Biol. Chem. 263, 4852 (1988)). To date, only urokinase has been found to associate with a specific cell-surface receptor, which itself bears no homology to any known tyrosine kinase receptors (Roldan et al. EMBO J. 9, 467 (1990)). It has recently been observed that HGF is very similar or identical to scatter factor (Gherardi, et al. Nature 346, 28 (1990) Gherardi, et al. Cancer Cells 3, 227-232 (1991); Weidner, et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 88, 7001-7005 (1991)). Scatter factor has been characterized as causing epithelial cells to dissociate from each other and begin migration (Gherardi, et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 86, 5844-5848 (1989); Weidner, et al. J. Cell Biol. 111, 2097-2108 (1990); Stoker, et al. Nature 327, 239-242 (1987)). These observations suggest that HGF might function in the growth-and renewal of epithelial cells that would be required in wound repair. Further, under proper conditions, HGF may have a stimulatory, as well as inhibitory, effect on hematopoietic cells.
It is clear that a need exists to identify the receptor of HGF. The present invention provides such a receptor, which receptor is the met proto-oncogene product, and a complex comprising HGF and met proto-oncogene protein. The met proto-oncogene protein is a member of the tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor family.
cMet mRNA has been detected in several murine myeloid progenitor tumor cell lines (Iyer et al. Cell Growth and Diff. 1, 87-95 (1990)), raising the question whether HGF might be mitogenic for these cell lines. The effect of HGF on the growth and inhibition of one such cell line, NFS-60, has been examined. The NFS-60 cell line requires IL-3 to maintain its growth in vitro and is representative of an immature hematopoietic progenitor blocked in differentiation (Holmes et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 82, 6687-6691 (1985); Hara et al. Exp. Hematol. 16, 256-261 (1988)). It has previously been shown to express significant levels of met mRNA (Iyer et al. Cell Growth and Diff. 1, 87-95 (1990)). The ability of HGF to stimulate .sup.3 H! thymidine incorporation into NFS-60 cells was examined.
These findings, combined with the previously documented effects of HGF upon hepatocytes, epithelial cells, endothelial cells, and melanocytes, taken with the apparent close relationship between scatter factor and human growth factor, demonstrate that HGF is a growth factor for renewable cells from a variety of tissues. The ability of HGF to stimulate both liver regeneration and myeloid progenitors is strikingly similar to the effects of IL-6, which has been shown to induce proliferation of hepatocytes (Kuma, et al. Immunobiol. 180, 235-242 (1990)), and to act as a synergistic factor for IL-3 dependent colony formation (Ikebuchi, et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 9035-9039 (1987); Leary, et al. Blood 71, 1759-1763 (1988)).
Knowledge of the receptor/ligand relationship involving HGF will facilitate the study and treatment of proliferative disorders in which expression of these molecules plays an important role. Additionally, identification of the met proto-oncogene receptor-HGF complex provides a means for identifying tissues other than liver tissue affected by factor binding.

Method of stimulating bone marrow regeneration

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A combustion chamber wall in a combustion chamber is proposed, The chamber wall has a support structure with a number of heat shield which are attached to the support structure with the aid of a fastening unit. The fastening unit encompasses a spring device which is fixedly connected to the support structure and is composed at least of a spring that is mounted in a jacket. The spring is secured against falling out on the side facing away from the combustion chamber by a first removable retainer. The interior of the spring device is provided with an axial hole for accommodating the fastening unit. The spring is secured against falling out on the side facing the combustion chamber by a second removable retainer. The spring device can be dismounted on the side facing the combustion chamber.

The combustion chamber of a gas turbine is exposed to particular loads, for example hot gases or vibrations. For this reason so-called heat shields are mounted on the support structure to protect the support structure from the hot gases and other loads.
Heat shields in a combustion chamber, in particular metal heat shields, are attached to the support structure with a screw. So-called cup-spring assemblies are used here for attachment purposes. Metal heat shield plates are fastened in a central manner using the cup-spring assemblies. The cup-spring assembly consists of a sleeve and cup springs arranged in the sleeve. These have a continuous axial hole on the inside. The cup-spring assemblies have a thread on parts of the axial hole. The screw is screwed into this axial hole. An external thread is positioned on the outside of the cup-spring assemblies, in other words on the sleeve. This is used to screw the cup-spring assembly into the support structure. A recess with a suitable internal thread is provided in the support structure for this purpose. The screw head is then arranged in or on the heat shield. Screwing the screw into the recess fastens the heat shield to the support structure. The screw here can be such that it projects through the cup-spring assembly screwed into the support structure, thereby extending further into the recess in the support structure.
In the direction of the combustion chamber the sleeve has a permanently attached cover, which can also have an axial hole to accommodate the screw. The cover is as it were part of the sleeve. The cup springs therefore do not fall into the combustion chamber. The cup springs of the cup-spring assembly are secured on the side in the direction of the support structure with a securing ring to prevent them falling out. A pressure plate is also arranged between the security ring and the spring. However in the past the security ring has quite often come loose or has fractured. If a heat shield then has to be taken down/mounted due to cracks or fractures, if the security ring is fractured, the springs and pressure plate can themselves fall into the combustion chamber. These must then be located and removed in a time-consuming operation. The mounting of new cup-spring assemblies is also difficult, as the rear face of the support structure is not accessible from the outside at some points, for example at the hub.


A control system for a power inverter is disclosed. The power inverter may be configured to supply power to a grid. The control system may include a plurality of output voltage sensors and a plurality of output current sensors configured to measure output line voltages and output line currents of the power inverter. The control system may further include a controller coupled to the power inverter. The controller may be configured to provide a control signal associated with a disturbance frequency to the power inverter. The controller may be further configured to determine an output power of the power inverter based on the output line voltages and output line currents, and determine an amplitude of oscillation in the output power caused by the disturbance frequency. The controller may also be configured to detect an islanding condition, if the amplitude of oscillation is below a threshold. The control system may further include an interface circuit coupled to the controller and configured to disconnect the grid from the power inverter if the islanding condition is detected.

A power system may include distributed power sources, such as photovoltaic DC power or fuel cell DC power, to provide power supply to distributed power utilities. A power inverter is usually used between the power source and the loads to adapt the power supply to the power usage. For example, a power system may include a 3-phase inverter module that inverts the DC power to 3-phase AC power. The 3-phase AC power may be supplied to the loads.
Two types of loads are usually driven by the power supply in parallel: internal critical loads that are associated with the local loads at the distributed power source, and grid loads that are distributed among various utilities. The grid loads may be connected to the power inverter via an output contactor. When the grid loads are connected, the power inverter is said to work at a "grid-tie" mode, and when the grid loads are disconnected, the power inverter is said to work at a "stand-alone" mode. For example, when there is a shorting problem on the power transmission line, the grid loads will be disconnected, and the only loads supplied by the power will be the internal critical loads.
During the "grid-tie" mode and the "stand-alone" mode, the operation of the power inverter may be substantially different. Therefore, when the grid loads are suddenly disconnected, for example, due to a transmission line shorting, control of the power inverter may jump from one operation mode to the other operation mode. Such a non-smooth transition from a "grid-tie" mode to a "stand-alone" mode is typically known as an "islanding" condition. Conventionally, in order to maintain the operation of power inverter, two separate power controllers have to be configured separately for the two modes. For example, one controller may operate under "grid-tie" mode when the grid loads are connected, and the other controller may take over and operate under stand-alone mode when the grid loads are disconnected. However, the switch between the two power controllers may cause various issues. For example, it may cause a voltage dip that may shut down a sensitive local load such as a variable frequency drive (VFD).
One power converter system designed to prevent an overcurrent during the transition between the two operation modes is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,468 to Ichinose et al. ("the '468 patent"). The power converter system described in the '468 patent includes a circuit breaker connecting a load to the power system. When the circuit breaker is closed, the power converter may change from a self commutated operation to a grid connected operation. The '468 patent describes a power converter controller that matches the phase of an output voltage of the power converter to the phase of the system voltage. In particular, the power converter controller uses the voltage on the system side of the circuit breaker to adjust the output phase of the converter system. According to the '468 patent, the circuit breaker can be closed when the output phase coincides with the phase of the system voltage.
Although the power converter system described in the '468 patent may be effective to make the transition between the two operation modes, it may nevertheless be suboptimal. For example, the power converter system described in the '468 patent may not be robust because it does not have effective islanding detection and prevention functions. Therefore, when an islanding condition occurs, a voltage dip may occur during the transition from the grid connected operation to the self commutated operation. As a result, local loads such as VFDs may be shut down due to the voltage dip, and the power system may be rendered inoperative.
In addition, an AC voltage may be characterized by three parameters, amplitude, frequency, and phase. Although the power converter controller of the '468 patent matches the phase of the converter output voltage to the system voltage, it does not effectively match the amplitude and frequency of these two voltages. For this additional reason, power converter system described in the '468 patent may not achieve a smooth grid-tie transition.
The disclosed power inverter control system and method are directed towards overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Power inverter control for grid-tie transition


A method for breeding a virtual pet is provided, including: displaying a mating market interface, the mating market interface including virtual pets in a mating state; selecting a paternal virtual pet from the virtual pets in the mating state via the mating market interface according to a first operation; displaying a pet breeding interface, the pet breeding interface including a paternal pet field and a maternal pet field, and the paternal virtual pet having a first pet image being displayed in the paternal pet field; adding a maternal virtual pet having a second pet image to the maternal pet field according to a second operation; and displaying a breeding result interface comprising a filial virtual pet when breeding succeeds, the filial virtual pet having a third pet image generated based on a genetic inheritance rule according to the first pet image and the second pet image.

Some clients are provided with virtual pets, and the virtual pets may have various animal images or cartoon images.
A player may obtain a new virtual pet in a breeding manner. In the related art, a paternal virtual pet and a maternal virtual pet own respective value attribute parameters, and the value attribute parameters include at least one of a life value, a fighting power, a defense value, a health point, a pet level, and a happiness value. When the paternal virtual pet and the maternal virtual pet mate and breed a filial virtual pet (i.e., child virtual pet), adjustment is performed based on parental value attribute parameters, to obtain value attribute parameters of the filial virtual pet, thereby generating the filial virtual pet. For example, if the paternal virtual pet is phoenix A having fighting power 10000 and a defense value 8000; and the maternal virtual pet is phoenix B having fighting power 8000 and a defense value 10000, the filial virtual pet may be phoenix C having fighting power 10000 and a defense value 10000.
The manner of breeding by adjusting value attribute parameters may be applicable to only a game client with a fighting system but inapplicable to other types of game clients, and consequently has a limited application range.

Method and apparatus for breeding virtual pet

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited


A method of using a processor to conjoin a first clause and a second clause as part of a unification of a first graph. If the first clause is not associated with the first graph, then a third clause is created that is opaque and has a pointer to the first clause. Afterward, the third clause is conjoined with the second clause.

The explosion of information has created an unfulfilled demand for automated processing of natural language documents. Such an ability would enable natural language interfaces to databases, automated generation of extracts and summaries of natural language texts, and automated translation and interpretation of natural language. Development of these technologies is hindered by the time required to process modern grammatical formalisms.
Many modern grammatical formalisms use recursive feature structures to describe the syntactic structure of natural language utterances. (See Appendix A for definitions of technical terms used herein.) For instance, Lexical-Functional Grammar (Kaplan and Bresnan 1982), Functional Unification Grammar (Kay 1979), HPSG (Pollard and Sag 1987) and Definite Clause Grammars (Pereira and Warren 1980) all use recursive feature structures as a major component of grammatical descriptions. Feature structures have the advantage of being easy to understand and easy to implement, given unification-based programming languages such as Prolog. However, they have the disadvantage of making the resulting grammatical formalisms difficult to parse efficiently, both in theory and in practice. In theory grammatical formalisms that use arbitrary recursive feature structures can be undecidable in the worst case (Blackburn and Spaan 1993). Even with suitable restrictions, such as the off-line parsability constraint of LFG, the formalisms can be exponential in the worst case (Barton, Berwick, and Ristad 1987). Although in practice the sorts of phenomena that make a formalism take exponential time are rare, untuned unification-based parsers commonly take minutes to parse a moderately complex sentence.
There have been a number of different approaches to making unification-based parsers run faster. One approach has been to focus on making unification itself faster. In addition to the general work on efficient unification (Knight 1989), there has been work within the computational linguistics community on undoable unification (Karttunen 1986), lazy copying (Godden 1990), and combinations thereof (Tomabechi 1991). Another approach has been to focus on the problem of disjunction, and to propose techniques that handle special cases of disjunction efficiently. For instance, disjuncts that are inconsistent with the non-disjunctive part can be eliminated early (Kasper 1987). Also, certain types of disjunctions can be efficiently processed by being embedded within the feature structure (Karttunen 1984; Bear 1988; Maxwell and Kaplan 1989; Dorre and Eisele 1990). There has also been some work on the context-free component of grammatical formalisms. It has been shown that the granularity of phrase structure rules has an important effect on parsing efficiency (Nagata 1992). Also, the strategies used for handling the interaction between the phrasal and functional components can make a surprising difference (Maxwell and Kaplan 1993).
Lazy copy links are another way of reducing the processing time associated with unification. They do so by reducing the amount of copying required by a unification-based chart parser (Godden 90). Whenever feature structures from daughter constituents get unified together, the feature structures must be copied to prevent cross-talk. This is because the daughter feature structures may be used in other analyses of the sentence. However, copying feature structures is very expensive. Thus, in 1990 Godden proposed lazy copying of feature structures. With lazy copying at first just the top levels of each feature structure are copied. At the fringe of what has been copied, standard lazy copy links point back to the material that hasn't been copied yet.
Contexted unification is another method of reducing the processing time required for unification. Contexted unification is a method for merging alternative feature structures together by annotating the various alternatives with propositional variables that indicate the alternatives that they came from. Contexted unification is based on ideas from Assumption-Based Truth Maintenance Systems (deKleer 1986). The following rules formalize the basic idea of contexted unification:
1. .phi..sub.1 .phi..sub.2 is satisfiable if and only if (p.fwdarw..phi..sub.1) (p.fwdarw..phi..sub.2) is satisfiable, where p is a new propositional variable; PA1 2. If .phi..sub.1 .phi..sub.2 .fwdarw..phi..sub.3 is a rule of deduction, then (P.fwdarw..phi..sub.1)(Q.fwdarw..phi..sub.2).fwdarw.(PQ.fwdarw..phi..sub.3 ) is a contexted version of that rule, where P and Q are boolean combinations of propositional variables; PA1 3. If P.fwdarw.FALSE, then assert P. (In ATMS terminology P is called a nogood.)
If we think of unification as a technique for making term rewriting more efficient by indexing equality relations in a feature tree, then contexted unification can be thought of in the same way, where the propositional variables get indexed with the equality relations, and then unification is performed in light of the above rules. Contexted unification is performed in three stages. First, the disjunctions are converted to conjunctions using Rule 1 above and instantiated as a feature structure. Afterward, feature structures are unified and nogoods are produced. Finally, the nogoods are collected and solved to determine which combinations of propositional variables are valid. This process was described in detail by Maxwell and Kaplan in 1989.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simple example of how contexted unification works. The first feature structure 20 results from instantiating the constraints (A+!B-!)(C+!C-!). The second feature structure 22 results from instantiating the constraints (A+!A-!)(D+!D-!). Propositional variables p, q, r, and s have been introduced to represent the four disjunctions in the two constraints. Unification of feature structures 20 and 22 yields feature structure 24 and the nogood (pr). To find solutions to feature structure 24, all possible combinations of the propositional variable are computed that are consistent with the known nogood. In this case there are twelve possible solutions: ##EQU1##
The main advantage of contexted unification is the postponement of taking the cross product of alternatives until the nogoods have been found. This is helpful for at least two reasons. First, taking the cross-product of propositional variables is computationally cheaper than taking the cross product of feature structures. Second, contexted unification prevents taking unnecessary cross products because they are not taken until after it is discovered whether the unification is valid. Cross products are not taken if the unification is invalid.
Despite all these different approaches to reducing the processing time required for unification, a need still exists to decrease the total time required to unify feature structures.

Method of conjoining clauses during unification using opaque clauses


Systems and methods are provided for accessing thread private data in a computer. In one embodiment, a method is provided for accessing thread private data in a computer for a program executed by using a plurality of threads, wherein each of the plurality of threads may be associated with a different area of its respective stack for storage of thread private data. Further, the stacks of threads may cover a coherent address space in a memory of the computer, starting at a base address. The method may include determining a thread identifier of the one of the plurality of threads based on the base address and a stack pointer of one of the plurality of threads. In addition, the method may include accessing thread private data of one of the stacks based on the determined thread identifier.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of data processing and, more particularly, to program execution by means of multiple threads.
2. Background of the Invention
In a multi-thread environment, the memory address space for global data is usually shared among the threads. In addition, the threads require storage of thread private data in dedicated data areas of respective stacks.
For example, the data used in a program written in the programming language C can be classified into two categories: global variables and auto variables. In these two categories, the global variables, which correspond to the global data to be shared among the threads in the above described model, are usually allocated in the data space as they are to be accessible from a plurality of functions. In contrast, the auto variables are usually allocated on the stacks, as they are declared within a function and valid only within that function.
In a multi-thread environment, it is often necessary to employ a data management method for supporting thread private data on a per thread basis. Conventionally, the following two methods have been proposed for this purpose.
(I) Method for Allocating Private Data on Stack Dynamically:
In this method, thread private data is allocated on the stack by declaring data used in several functions as auto variables in a certain function that is executed by each thread. Here, however, when the allocated data is to be used in other functions than the function that declared the auto variable, it is not possible for the other functions to directly access the allocated auto variables. Therefore, there arises a need for handing the address of the allocated variable as a function argument from the calling function to that called function.
Thus, in this conventional data management method for supporting private data for each thread, there is a need to pass the address of the private data as a function argument when calling one function from another function. Thus, the program entry for the called function that operates on the private data must contain the argument specifying the address of the private data and, consequently, the program becomes quite complicated. In addition, in the called function, there is a need to store the address of the private data on the stack.
(II) Method for Expanding Variables in Correspondence to Multiple Threads, and Accessing Variables by Using Thread Identifiers (IDs):
In this method, each part of the thread private data is globally declared as a global sequence having as many elements as there are threads. An access from each thread is made by using a thread ID which is uniquely assigned to each thread in advance. In this method, if the thread IDs are not supported at the OS level, it becomes necessary to support the thread IDs themselves by using the specialized method (I) described above. Moreover, even when the thread IDs are supported at the OS level, this method is not applicable to a case in which the number of threads changes dynamically. Thus, in this conventional data management method for supporting the global data privately by each thread, there is a need to provide the thread IDs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,192 shows a specific method of managing thread private data in which the thread private data can be declared globally and which can deal with the change of the number of threads. The thread private data, to be globally accessible from the multiple threads and to be managed separately by each one of the multiple threads, is detected before the actual execution of the program, and a thread private data region for managing all the detected thread private data is allocated to the stack for each one of the multiple threads separately.
Then, a pointer to specify a base address of the thread private data region with respect to the stack for each one of the multiple threads is registered separately, such that while executing one of the multiple threads, accesses to the thread private data are made by making accesses to the thread private data region in the stack for that one of the multiple threads according to the base address specified by the pointer registered for that one of the multiple threads.

Systems and methods for accessing thread private data


A 3-D image observation apparatus includes a reflection type image display panel that has a digital micro mirror device, a magnifying optical system, and at least two light sources. The light sources are positioned at different locations relative to the reflection type image display panel, with the micro mirrors of the digital micro mirror device being variable in tilt angle such that light from a first light source is reflected to the left eye of an observer when the left image is displayed on the display panel in a time-division manner, and light from a second light source is reflected to the right eye of the observer when the right image is displayed on the display panel in a time-division manner. In this manner, one does not need to wear special glasses in order to experience a wide-angle, 3-D viewing experience.

Three-dimensional (3-D) viewing units and electronic image display units according to the prior art have been described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Applications H5-107482 and H9-511343. As described in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application H5-107482, surgical microscopes that image light fluxes, convert the images into electrical signals, and then display the images are advantageous in that a weaker light can be used to illuminate ophthalmic operations. The weaker illuminating light not only presents less of a problem if directed directly into a patient's retina, but it also reduces surface evaporation due to the light at the illuminated surface being converted into heat. Thus, less saline solution is needed during an operation to prevent the operation site from drying out. However, prior art surgical microscopes using electronic displays retain the following obstacles to increased usage.
1) They provide less freedom to the main operator in his viewing position and head orientation (hereinafter viewing position and head orientation will be termed, for convenience, viewing posture). Further, the assistant operator is provided with very limited viewing postures, namely, either directly opposite the operator facing the operator or at the operator's side facing a direction that makes a right angle to the forward direction of the operator.
2) When the operator and assistant share a common optical system, the prior art devices require too much adjustment. For example, when the operator and assistant take side-by-side positions, they share an optical viewing system between them. Three optical zoom systems are usually provided in order to offer the user a selection of magnifications with which to view the operation. However, it is very difficult to adjust the optical axis, magnification, and co-focus of the three optical zoom systems for multiple viewers. Thus, it is desired for surgical microscopes using electronic displays to provide more freedom in terms of viewing posture of the operator and assistant without requiring complex adjustments of the optical system.
3) In order that multiple users, such as both the operator and assistant, can have an independent observation capability, prior art surgical microscopes that use electronic displays provide each viewer with an individual imaging system and individual optical viewing system. However, this results in an increase in size of the surgical microscope, more difficulty in adjustment, and greater cost as compared to the present invention.
In prior art surgical microscopes that provide wide-angle, 3-D images, the viewers must wear polarized glasses as they view a large display monitor that displays wide-angle images. If polarized glasses are not used, the left eye receives not only the images displayed on the monitor intended for the left eye, but also the images having parallax that are intended for the right eye. Similarly, the right eye also sees double images. Thus, rather than experiencing wide-angle, 3-D images, the viewer experiences only blurred 2-D images if polarized glasses are not worn. Further, both wide-angle images and proper eye relief may not be realized at the same time in prior alt devices.
Prior art devices relating to problems (1), (2), and (3) above are discussed in more detail below.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application H 9-511343 describes a method to reduce the number of optical zoom systems. However, no consideration is given to the limited viewing postures available to the operator and assistant or of giving these viewers more freedom of viewing posture.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application H5-107482 describes an example of a 3-D viewing system according to the prior art, wherein two viewers view an operation site from positions that are opposed to each other. This example is described with reference to FIGS. 20-22. FIG. 20 is a schematic front elevation view of such a device. FIG. 21 is a side view of the device shown in FIG. 20, and FIG. 22 is a partial, top view which illustrates the opposed directions in which the two pairs of monitors are directed. A microscope body 106′ (FIG. 20) comprising an optical system and imaging section is provided with a viewing section supporting member 138 (FIG. 21). The viewing section supporting member 138 is provided with rotation axes 134, 134′ for rotationally supporting the back of viewing sections 130, 130′, as well as a first left monitor 131 for the left eye (FIG. 20) having an eye shade 131a and a first right monitor 132 for the right eye having an eye shade 132a. These side-by-side monitors are connected to the viewing section 130′ by a rotation supporting member 133 (FIG. 20). Similarly, a second left monitor 137 for the left eye (FIG. 22) and a second right monitor 136 for the right eye are provided to the viewing section 130′. As shown in FIG. 22, the monitors 131, 132 display to the left in the figure and the monitors 136, 137 display to the right in the figure.
Therefore, by orienting the detecting devices that are fixed within the microscope body so that the left and right parallax images that are detected are displayed with a correct vertical orientation for the user, each operator is provided with a 3-D viewing experience using tile viewing sections 130, 130′. In this case, the operators do not need to wear polarized glasses. Rather, a monitor is provided for each eye, each eye views only its monitor, and no obstacles to viewing, such as the wearing of polarized glasses, are present. However, a wide-angle 3-D image is not obtained and the viewing positions are limited to the opposed positions illustrated. Viewing at the side of the operator is not available. Because a user has little freedom in choice of viewing postures, the viewing experience may be tiresome.
As mentioned previously, the field of view is limited in systems that use two display units (for instance the left and right monitors 131, 132) in order to provide images to the left and right eyes, respectively. In order to display wide-angle images, both the left and right display panels would need to be enlarged. However this would cause the two display panels to physically interfere with each other. In addition, in this prior art device, each imaging section is provided with an optical zoom system. Enlarging these optical zoom systems would likely lead to adjustment problems and oversized systems.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application H5-107482 also describes another prior art device of a 3-D viewing system, wherein the operator and assistant view at right angles to each other. This embodiment is described with reference to FIGS. 23-25. FIG. 23 is a schematic side view of a prior art 3-D viewing system that shows how two side-by-side viewers view 3-D images while facing 90 degrees to each other. FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the microscope body and electric wiring of this device. FIG. 25 is a top view showing the locations of optical paths P, Q, R (each passing light of different perspective relative to the operation site) which are detected by solid-state image detecting devices positioned within the microscope body 199. As shown in FIG. 23, the microscope body (not separately labeled in this figure) is fixed to a supporting arm 156 which is provided with liquid crystal monitors 193, 194. Being supported so as to be spatially movable, the microscope body 199 (FIG. 24) is provided with an illumination system (not shown), an objective lens 110, three magnifying systems 161a, 161b, 161c, and relay lenses 162a, 162b, 162c. Further, a solid-state image detecting device 200, 201, or 202 is positioned in the optical paths P, Q, or R (FIG. 25), respectively, with the solid-state image detecting device 202 having an orientation that is rotated counter-clockwise 90° relative to the orientation of the solid-state image detecting device 201.
In this prior art device, in 3-D image circuit 185A, an internal switching circuit (not shown) alternates in time sequence picture signals Fl and picture signals A as input signals to create time-multiplexed image signals which are output to a liquid crystal monitor 193. A liquid crystal driving circuit (not shown) drives electrodes attached to the back surface of the liquid crystal monitor 193 so as to rotate the polarization of the displayed images in synchronism with the switching of the switching circuit Thus, at the liquid crystal monitor 193, the time-multiplexed picture signals A detected from the optical path Q and the picture signals F1 detected from the optical path P are displayed with different polarizations. By wearing polarized glasses (not shown), cross-talk between these images is avoided, thereby enabling the left eye of the viewer to see only those images captured from a left perspective optical path, and the right eye of the viewer to see only those images captured from a right perspective optical path. Thus, a viewer experiences a 3-D viewing sensation of the operation site 111. In a similar manner, the 3-D image circuit 185B and the liquid crystal monitor 194, display picture signals F2 on the optical path P and the picture signals C on the optical path R, in a time-division manner, with different polarizations. Polarized glasses worn by the other viewer prevent the images intended for that viewer's right eye (i.e., the images from a right perspective optical path) from entering the viewer's left eye, and vice-versa. Thus, each viewer perceives 3-D images of the operation site 111. According to this prior art device, three optical viewing paths are used. One path is observed by one operator, one path is observed by the other operator, and one path is shared so as to be observed by both operators. The images on the path they share are processed so as to present a correct vertical orientation to each operator. Each operator is provided with two images (one for each eye) having parallax, with the display images having a proper vertical orientation for each viewer's position relative to the operation site so as to create the perception of viewing a 3-D image with proper orientation for that viewer's position. In addition, more free space is available to the operators because the circuit parts are all stored within tables and the microscope body may be small, since the optical objective 110 is shared. However, in this prior art device, the operator and assistant can only view from positions such that the directions of view are at a right angle to each other; thus, the viewing postures are again limited. In this prior art device, no consideration is given to providing a pair of liquid crystal monitors that may be adjusted about the axis of the microscope body so that the monitors are easier to view or so that the operator's viewing posture may be varied. Furthermore, an optical zoom system must be provided for each image detecting device, which makes adjustment troublesome and the size of the microscope larger. Furthermore, this device requires the operators to wear polarized glasses, which is inconvenient.
Japanese Laid Open Patent Application H9-511343 also describes prior art electronic image input and output techniques that employ time-multiplexing and demultiplexing. First, the electronic image input technique in this publication will be described. A zoom lens is shared in the image input section, and the left and right images are input in a time-division manner. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 26 and 27. FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram showing an improvement in inputting and outputting electronic images. FIG. 27 is a top view of an optical path switching element of the prior art device. As shown in FIG. 26, right and left optical paths 101a, 101b and a rotation switch element 103a are provided. As shown in FIG. 27, the rotation switch element 103a is structured on a thin glass plate (disk) 105. One of the major characteristics of the optical paths 101a, 101b is that the distances along both paths from the object (at the operation site) to optical zoom system 113 are the same. Similarly, the distances along both paths from the object to image detecting device 109 are equal. This results from the symmetry of the two mirrors 138a, 138b about the center axis of main objective lens 108. Images are captured by the image detecting device 109 in a time-division manner using the rotation switch element 103a. Next, the electronic image output technique that is disclosed in this publication for demultiplexing these time-multiplexed left and right images will be discussed.
FIG. 28 is a horizontal sectional view illustrating the configuration of a device disclosed in the above-mentioned publication that demultiplexes the two time-multiplexed images. As shown in this figure, the images are displayed on a single display which alternately feeds light from the display into to two ocular lens paths 101c and 101d in synchronism with the displayed images. In this device, equal length optical paths are realized using a prism. An optical path switching element 103a allows alternate images from the display to be transferred to the ocular paths 101c, 101d in a time-division manner. Thus, the left eye of a viewer will receive only images having a left perspective and the right eye of a viewer will receive only images having a right perspective if the motor that drives the optical path switching element 103a is properly synchronized with the alternately displayed left and right images on the single monitor. In this manner, a color 3-D viewing experience may be provided that does not require the viewer to wear polarized glasses. However, this prior art device can not realize both a wide-angle field of view and have a large eye relief. Further, this publication does not disclose, when using multiplexing/demultiplexing of the images, how two operators (e.g., an operator and the assistant) can view an object while sharing a common optical objective, or how they may change their viewing postures and have the images that are presented automatically be adjusted in orientation for the new viewing posture. Therefore, a surgical microscope which is desirable for operators as described above is not realized.


After a client or potential client accesses the web-site of a host organization and generates an e-mail to the organization, an e-mail sorting and routing system parses the meta-tags appended to the message to appropriately sort and route the message. The meta-tags specify the language of the client, i.e., the language in which the web-site was communicating with the client when the message was generated. The meta-tags also specify the topic, e.g. a product or service, about which the message was written. This information may be input by the client or ascertained from the content or purpose of the web-page from which the e-mail was generated. The messages are then sorted, first by language and then by topic. As a result, each message is quickly routed to a person qualified as to both language and subject matter who can respond to the client.

Much has been written about the revolutions in communication and business caused by the Internet and the World Wide Web (the "Web"). The Internet and Web make it possible for people around the world to rapidly and inexpensively send messages and access information on almost any topic.
Using an e-mail system, a user can access the Internet, type a message and an address and have that message delivered almost instantly to the recipient's e-mail system anywhere in the world. Digital documents, pictures, sound recordings, spread sheets, video and even computer programs can be attached to an e-mail message and sent to the computer of a designated recipient. Consequently, e-mail provides an incredible medium in which information can be communicated.
In addition to its private uses, e-mail has an equal or greater use in supporting commercial communication. Employees and officers within a business organization may use e-mail to communicate with each other in completing their tasks. Similarly, e-mail may be used to communicate with people at other business organizations to, for example, negotiate contracts, place orders, request information, etc.
Business and other organizations also use e-mail to communicate with clients, customers, potential clients, patrons, potential patrons, etc. (referred to hereinafter collectively as "clients"). Business and other organizations may collect or purchase the e-mail addresses of clients so that e-mail messages can be provided to those clients. Such messages may, for example, advise the client of new products or services being offered, advise the client of reductions in price or other special deals regarding the organization's products and services, request information from or about the client, or educate the client about the organization and/or its products or services.
Businesses and other organizations can also provide such information to clients through a web-site on the Web. At a typical web-site, the client may access information about the organization, its products or services, its personnel, job opportunities, its policies, etc. However, it is a challenge to anticipate all the questions clients will have and organize the information on a web-site so that the information the client desires is readily locatable. If the web-site fails to contain the information desired, or the client cannot find the information on the web-site, an opportunity to develop a relationship with that client will be lost.
Consequently, the web-sites of many businesses and other organizations provide the capability to generate and send e-mail messages to the organization. Thus, if the client using the web-site is unable to obtain the information he or she desires from the web-site, that client can generate an e-mail message to the organization requesting the specific information the client requires. The organization then has the opportunity to respond and foster its relationship with that client.
While incredibly valuable and useful to business and other organizations, this mechanism of interfacing with clients is complicated by the world-wide nature of the Web. Clients may be accessing the organization's web-sites and generating e-mail messages in many languages around the world. Consequently, to provide adequate customer service, the organization must have some means of responding to each client in that client's language and with the information required.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a system and method of effectively routing e-mail messages generated by clients at an organization's web-site so that the client can be efficiently responded to in his or her own language and by an agent of the organization knowledgeable about the product, service or other aspect of the organization about which the client has written.

Method and system for efficient routing of customer and contact e-mail messages

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A light symbol projection device is disclosed. The light symbol projection device has a housing which is temporarily secured within a receiving mechanism. The receiving mechanism is embedded within a product such as, for example, a shoe. The light symbol housing may project, in various colors, a word, pattern, symbol, logo or other indicia on the ground. The light symbol housing may be interchangeable so that the receiving mechanism may receive various light symbol housings having different light projections. In one embodiment, a speaker associated with the device may also provide an audible sound.

A light symbol projection device is disclosed. The light symbol projection device has a housing which is temporarily secured within a receiving mechanism. The receiving mechanism is embedded within a product such as, for example, a shoe. The light symbol housing may project, in various colors, a word, pattern, symbol, logo or other indicia on the ground. The light symbol housing may be interchangeable so that the receiving mechanism may receive various light symbol housings having different light projections. In one embodiment, a speaker associated with the device may also provide an audible sound.
Light projection devices for shoes are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,650,777 to Hsu discloses an illuminant shoe having a body, an outsole and an illuminating device. The body has a putting segment, a lifting cover and an insole. The putting segment has a heel lining and a through hole. The lifting cover is connected to the heel lining. The insole is mounted in the putting segment. The outsole is mounted on the putting segment and has a mounting chamber. The illuminating device is mounted in the mounting chamber and has an illuminating module, a controlling module and a switch. The illuminating module has first wires, multiple illuminating elements and a first electrical element. The controlling module is connected to the illuminating module and has two second electrical elements, multiple second wires, a controlling unit, a battery and a protecting casing. The switch is mounted in the putting segment, is connected to the controlling module and has a third wire and a third electrical element.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,523 Chien discloses an illumination arrangement for a shoe having a D.C. power supply, a DC-AC inverter, and an electro-luminescent element which can be mounted on a surface of an upper portion of the shoe, or with a transparent area of the bottom portion of the shoe. The DC power supply and DC-AC inverter may be mounted in the bottom of the shoe.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,899 to McCormick discloses an attachment for a shoe or boot having a wishbone or spur element that fits around the quarters (or foxing or outer counter portion, depending upon its construction) of the shoe or boot. The element carries lamps that are visible when viewed toward the back of the shoe. The lamps are electrically connected to a source of current, generally a battery, which is carried either by the element itself, or by a casing to which the element is adjustably attached. The wishbone or spur element is preferably mounted by or aided in its mounting by a hook and loop fastener of the type sold under the trademark VELCRO.
However, these patents fail to describe a light symbol projection device which is easy to use. Further, these patents fail to provide for an effective light symbol projection device which is secured to a shoe and which projects an image on the ground.