The invention relates to a toilet flush actuator mechanism for a toilet tank which has a discharge port surrounded by a valve seat having a central axis, a ball-cock type valve, and a flush valve having a vertical axis. The actuator mechanism consists of a trip lever pivotally mounted to the toilet tank and having a free end over which a boot member is telescopically and captively held. First and second resilient guide members extend laterally from the boot member adjacent the free end, and are parallel, coplanar, and separated by a fixed distance. A linkage member is captively carried in fixed relationship with the upper end of the flush valve and has an open void region through which the free end extends. This permits a slidable bearing relationship between the linkage member and the boot member intermediate the first and second resilient guide members as the trip lever pivots upwardly to lift the flush valve thereby retaining the co-axial alignment of the vertical axis of the flush valve and the central axis of the valve seat.

Trip levers used to lift flush valves are well known in the prior art. Plunger valves and flapper type flush valves are examples of early type flush valves where a chain was connected directly from the trip lever to the valve for lifting it from the valve seat to initiate water flow from the toilet tank into the bowl. Twisting of the chain in many instances during the flush sequence caused the flush valve to improperly seat and consequently there would be a continuous discharge of water into the toilet bowl. To remedy the resulting "running toilet" problem, an adjustment to the chain was necessary to permit the valve to properly seat. Both plunger and flapper type flush valves, although still extensively used, and in addition to chain interference with seating of the flush valve, have the environmental problem of reliably controlling the amount of water or size of a flush on a consistent basis. This has led to new and improved valves or closure bodies to initiate flushing where the closure body or flush valve may be, for example, a hollow body having a vertical axis co-axial with the central axis of the valve seat and directly linked to the trip lever. The linkage between the trip lever and hollow body, however, upon actuation of the trip lever has been unreliable in assuring that throughout the flush sequence that the vertical axis of the body would remain co-axial with the central axis of the valve seat; misalignment of these axes upon closure of the flush valve would result in an imperfect seal resulting in a "running toilet".
It would therefore be desirable to provide a direct linkage mechanism for lifting the flush valve so as to retain co-axial alignment during the flush sequence of the vertical axis of the flush valve and the valve seat central axis so as to assure a proper seal upon the seating of the flush valve body.


Active rice husk ash is produced by a method which includes placing a hollow platform having many holes of a size too small for rice husk to enter on an enclosed floor slab, erecting a chimney on the hollow platform in communication with the interior of the hollow platform, forming a cone of rice husk around the chimney to completely cover the hollow platform, igniting the rice husk at the small holes for smolderingly incinerating the rice husk into carbonized rice husk, and allowing the carbonized rice husk to self-burn into ash.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of producing active rice husk ash exhibiting a high degree of amorphousness and suitable for use as a concrete aggregate in place of fly ash, silica fume and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In technology relating to rice husk and rice husk ash, the fundamental thinking has conventionally been first to consider rice husk as a heat source and second to try to find practical uses for the resulting rice husk ash. When rice husk is used a heat source, it is necessary to blow air into the rice husk after it is lit so as to achieve the highest combustion temperature possible. However, almost all of the rice husk ash obtained by such high-temperature burning is crystalline, very low in chemical activity and black in color. It therefore has few practical uses.
When air is blown into to the rice husk for burning it at high temperature, the resulting rice husk ash progressively crystallizes, a fact that can be readily confirmed from the X-ray diffraction pattern of the rice husk ash. The electrical conductivity of a saturated calcium hydroxide solution of the rice husk ash is very low, generally measuring around 0.3 mS/cm. Such rice husk ash cannot be expected to produce a significant effect when used as, for example, a pozzolan for concrete.
To be of high practical utility, moreover, a rice husk ash should preferably exhibit high chemical activity. It should also not be black. Since no method is available for low-cost industrial production of rice husk ash exhibiting high activity, there is a need for developing one.
At the Fourth CANMET-ACI International Conference on Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag and Natural Pozzolans in Concrete held in Istanbul, Turkey, between May 3 and May 8, 1992, the inventor on May 8 announced a method of using an ordinary muffle furnace as an electric furnace, charging 800 g of rice husk directly into the furnace, raising the temperature of the furnace from normal room temperature to 280.degree. C. and maintaining it at this temperature for 1.5 hr, raising the temperature of the furnace to 350.degree. C. and maintaining it at this temperature for 1.5 hr, raising the temperature of the furnace to between 400.degree. C. and 800.degree. C. and maintaining it at this temperature for 2 hr to conduct incineration, and removing rice husk ash from the furnace 5 hr later. Differently from rice husk ash obtained by directly igniting rice husk and burning it in a short time, the rice husk ash obtained by this method exhibited excellent chemical activity and was white in color. Since the method comprises two steps, the first for carbonization and the second for incineration, it will be referred to as the two-stage incineration method.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for efficient production of white rice husk ash exhibiting chemical activity which is based on this two-stage incineration method.

Method of producing active rice husk ash


A series of organometallic complexes and the singlet oxygen sensitization properties of these complexes are provided. Complexes with acetylacetonate ligands give singlet oxygen quantum yields near unity, whether exciting the ligand-based state or the lowest energy excited state (MLCT+3LC). The singlet oxygen quenching rates for these β-diketonate complexes are small, roughly three orders of magnitude slower than the corresponding phosphorescence quenching rate. Similar complexes were prepared with glycine or pyridine tethered to the Ir(III) center (i.e. (bsn)2Ir(gly) and (bt)2Ir(py)Cl, where gly=glycine, and py=pyridine). The glycine and pyridine derivatives give high singlet oxygen yields.

Throughout this application, various references are referred to within parentheses. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic citation for these references may be found at the end of this application, preceding the claims.
The photophysics of octahedral 4d6 and 5d6 coordination complexes has been studied extensively. These coordination complexes, particularly those prepared with Ru and Os, have been used in a variety of photonic applications, including photocatalysis and photoelectrochemistry. More recently, researches have investigated the photophysics of isoelectronic Rh3+ and Ir3+ complexes, with both diimine and cyclometallated ligands, such as 2-phenylpyridinato-C2,N (ppy). The cyclometallated ligands are formally monoanionic and can thus be used to prepare neutral tris-ligand complexes, which are isoelectronic with the cationic trisdiimine complexes of Ru and Os, e.g., fac-M(ppy)3, fac-M(2(α-thiophenyl)-pyridine)3 (fac=facial). The d6 Ir complexes show intense phosphorescence at room temperature, while the Rh complexes give measurable emission only at low temperatures.
Recently, the chemistry of cyclometallated Ir(III) complexes has received a great deal of attention. These complexes have proven to be very efficient emissive dopants in molecular and polymeric light emitting diodes (1). For example, efficient multilayer devices with Irppy doped into a hole transporting polymer layer have been reported (14). Heavy metal complexes, particularly those containing Pt and Ir, can serve as efficient phosphors in organic light emitting devices. In these devices, holes and electrons are injected into opposite surfaces of a planar multiplayer organic thin film. The holes and electrons migrate through the thin film to a material interface, where they recombine to form radiated excited states, or excitons. This electrically generated exciton can be either a singlet or a triplet. Both theoretical predictions and experimental measurements give a singlet/triplet ratio for these excitons of 1 to 3. Fluorescent materials typically used to fabricate organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) do not give detectable triplet emission (i.e., phosphorescence), nor is there evidence for significant intersystem crossing between the triplet and singlet manifolds at room temperature. The singlet/triple ratio thus implies a limitation of 25% for the internal quantum efficiency for OLEDs based on fluorescence. Strong spin orbit coupling of the metal ion in these OLED phosphors leads to efficient emission from a predominantly triplet excited state, which emits with a long radiative lifetime relative to fluorescent materials (phosphor lifetime=microseconds, fluorescent lifetime=nanoseconds), leading to efficient utilization of both singlet and triplet excitons. The long lifetimes in these phosphors are very useful for efficiently utilizing the excited state energy.
Photodynamic therapy ("PDT") is a new modality for the treatment of malignancies, diseased tissue or cells, hyperproliferating tissues, pathogens or unwanted normal tissues. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is the use of an agent such as a photosensitizer, given orally, intravenously, or topically, that can be activated or energized by light. The photoactivating light excites the photosensitizer which, in turn, interacts with oxygen causing the production of the cytotoxic singlet oxygen species. The role of the photosensitizer in the production of singlet oxygen, i.e., that of a molecule which absorbs the incident light energy and transfers it to ground state oxygen, thereby elevating it to its singlet excited state which is the reactive intermediate. The interaction of the cytotoxic oxygen species with tissues in which the photosensitizer is localized causes a modification of the tissue, resulting in a desired clinical effect. Thus, photodynamic therapy involves the application of a photosensitive (photochemotherapeutic) agent either systemically or locally to an affected area of the body, followed by exposure of the photosensitive agent to light of a suitable wavelength to activate the photosensitive agent, whereby the affected cells are killed or their proliferative potential is diminished. The tissue specificity of the resultant phototoxic damage is determined largely, although not entirely, by the relative concentrations of the photosensitizer in each tissue at the time of its exposure to the photoactivating light.
Following systemic administration, many photosensitizers accumulate to varying degrees within tissues depending on the pharmacokinetic and distribution profile of the photosensitizing compound and the cell types comprising the tissues. The chemical factors that enable certain photosensitizers to accumulate to a greater degree at a target site than other photosensitizers is not well understood. Indeed, the biological factors that result in the preferential uptake of some photosensitizers in certain tissue types compared to other tissue types are not well understood either. It is clear, however, that each photosensitizer has its own distribution and pharmacokinetic properties within different tissues and these properties determine the relative usefulness of the photosensitizer for the desired therapy. Currently, rigorous screening and biological evaluation in appropriate model systems is required to identify suitable photosensitizers that display the characteristics necessary to effect a therapy within the diseased or target tissues. One critical problem that has not been addressed however is the differential uptake of the photosensitizer by the target cells relative to the other, normal, cells. Indeed, it is known that uptake is generally a function of the molecular structure of the dye being absorbed and that this property varies with different cell types.
It would therefore be highly desirable to be provided with a series of new photosensitizers that can be easily attached to side groups of histidine, other amino acids, and other biomolecules for use as selective photooxidizing agents for biological materials.
Waste water treatment is usually divided into three stages: primary, the removal of settleable solids; secondary, the removal of readily biodegradable contaminates; and tertiary treatment. Tertiary treatment is, generally, the further treatment of waste water after prior treatment has reduced the chemical oxygen demand (COD) to less than about 60 mg/L and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) to less than about 20 mg/L. It may also include the removal of disease causing agents, plant nutrients, synthetic organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, heat, sediments and radioactive substances. Tertiary treatment processes include lime (or other chemical) clarification, filtration, activated carbon adsorption, and ozone treatment. Ozone (O3), which is the most well known tertiary treatment method, is extremely valuable from an environmental point of view. The process oxidizes organic materials in an aqueous environment producing compounds which do not upset the normal biological equilibrium. Unfortunately, this process is expensive, requiring the initial construction of the plant followed by continued use of electricity and oxygen for its operation. U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,204 describes a process for treating aqueous waste effluents containing organic materials which comprises adding to said aqueous effluents in the presence of oxygen, a water insoluble polymer-based photosensitizer and then photolyzing the resulting suspension with light having wavelengths between 320 nm and about 800 nm.

Organometallic complexes as singlet oxygen sensitizers


Methods and systems are provided to allow users that are authenticated by a trusted external service to gain controlled levels of access to selected local computing resources without requiring the user to also have conventional access control capabilities for the resources.

Access control is paramount to computer security. To protect the integrity of computer systems and the confidentiality of important data, various access control schemes have been implemented to prevent unauthorized users and malicious attackers from gaining access to computer resources.
To ensure the comprehensiveness of computer security, access control is often implemented on various levels. For instance, on the level of one computer, a user is typically required to go through a logon procedure in which the computer determines whether the user is authorized to use the computer. In addition, on the level of a computer network, a user is commonly required to go through a user-authentication process for purposes of controlling the user's access to various network services. Even after a network access control server has authenticated the user, the user may still have to request a permit for a specific server in order to access that service. Various schemes based on different protocols, such as the Kerberos 5 protocol, have been proposed and implemented for controlling network access control by means of user authentication.
Generally, the user logon for a computer and the user authentication for network access control are two separate procedures. Nevertheless, to minimize the burden on a user in dealing with the different access control schemes, the user logon and the user authentication for network access are sometimes performed together. For example, in the case where the user authentication is implemented under the Kerberos protocol, when the user logs on the computer, the computer may also initiate a Kerberos authentication process. In the Kerberos authentication process, the computer contacts a Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) to first obtain a ticket-granting ticket (TGT) for the user. The computer can then use the TGT to obtain, from the KDC, a session ticket for itself. As networks have evolved, there has been a trend to have multiple tiers of server/service computers arranged to handle client computer requests. A simple example is a client computer making a request to a World Wide Web website via the Internet. Here, there may be a front-end web server that handles the formatting and associated business rules of the request, and a back-end server that manages a database for the website. For additional security, the web site may be configured such that an authentication protocol forwards (or delegates) credentials, such as, e.g., the user's TGT, and/or possibly other information from the front-end server to a back-end server. This practice is becoming increasingly common in many websites, and/or other multiple-tiered networks.
Delegation and other like techniques are useful when all of the servers/services and the client agree to use the same authentication process. There is not, however, just one authentication process in use today. Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/886,146 presents improvements for controlling the delegation.
If the user is authenticated for a network/system, then there is usually one or more additional authorization access control checks to prevent the user from accessing resources that he/she is not authorized to access. Once a user has been authenticated and passed the applicable access control checks, the user is said to be "authorized". In certain systems, for example, access control is based on having access control lists (ACLs) for the various services and resources (i.e., objects). An ACL usually includes access control entries (ACEs), in which zero or more security identifiers (SIDs) may be included. SIDs may be associated with one user or groups of users allowed to access the object. If there are no SIDs in the ACL, then no user will have access to the object. If there are SIDs in the ACL, then users that can produce at least one matching SID will be allowed to access the object.
Thus, when an authenticated user logs on, an authentication context is created for the user, for example, by generating a token (e.g., an access token) that is associated with the user. The token typically includes SIDs that are associated with the user. For example, the user's token may include a unique SID assigned to the user plus a group SID assigned to the user's business department. When the user attempts to access an object the object's ACL is compared to the user's token. If the user's token includes at least one SID that matches a SID within the object's ACL, then the authenticated user is authorized to access the object in some manner. For example, the user may have read and write permissions for a file generated by other members of his/her business department (i.e., another group member).
Such authorization schemes tend to work very well for systems that are carefully controlled and managed. For example, an enterprise level computer network within a corporation usually provides a cohesive environment wherein the users and ACLs can be carefully controlled by a centralized and/or distributed authentication and access control system. On the other hand, for very large networks, e.g., the Internet, and/or otherwise significantly non-cohesive networks, authentication and access control can be much more difficult, especially when there is a desire to serve as many of the users as possible, including users that do not have local access control accounts. As software programs and resources migrate towards network-based services, the need to be able to authorize user activity associated with such network services will further increase.
Consequently, there is a need for improved authorization methods and systems. Preferably the methods and systems will allow users that are authenticated by a trusted external resource to gain some controlled level of access to certain objects without requiring the user to also have a unique user account associated with the object. Moreover, the methods and systems should not significantly degrade the scalability of arrangements that are capable of providing access to objects for very large numbers of users.

Persistent authorization context based on external authentication


A method for enforcing use of certificate revocation lists in validating certificates, the lists being associated with a series of list generation indices such that each list is assigned one index which advances according to a time of generation of the list, the lists and the indices being cryptographically signed, the method including receiving one of the lists and an associated index as an identifier of the one list, checking the certificates against the list, associating each of the certificates, which have been checked against the list, with the index, receiving an enforcement generation index (EGI) associated with a latest list in use, storing the EGI as a last known EGI, and refusing performance of an action associated with a certificate if the one index of the one certificate is earlier in the series than the last known EGI. Related apparatus and methods are also included.

By way of introduction, a certificate authority generally prepares a certificate revocation list of certificates which have been revoked by the certificate authority. The list is typically updated periodically. The list is generally used by authenticating devices to ensure that a seemingly valid certificate has not been revoked by the certificate authority which issued the certificate.
The use of certificate revocation lists is generally not enforced and it is up to the authenticating device to ensure that the device has the most up-to-date certificate revocation list(s) as well as to ensure that certificate authentication is performed against the certificate revocation list(s).
The following reference is believed to represent the state of the art:
PCT Application No. IL2005/000957 of NDS Limited;
US Published Patent Application 2004/0168056 of Dillaway, et al.;
US Published Patent Application 2005/0204127 of Dive-Reclus, et al.;
US Published Patent Application 2005/0257045 of Bushman, et al.;
US Published Patent Application 2005/0198508 of Beck;
US Published Patent Application 2005/0154898 of Chao;
US Published Patent Application 2005/0154875 of Chao;
US Published Patent Application 2003/0061481 of Levine, et al.; and
An article entitled "Restricting Access with Certificate Attributes in Multiple Root Environments—A Recipe for Certificate Masquerading" by Capt James M. Hayes of USAF, Systems and Network Attack Center, National Security Agency, Suite 6704—9800 Savage Road, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland 20755-6704, USA.
The disclosures of all references, mentioned above and throughout the present specification, as well as the disclosures of all references mentioned in those references, are hereby incorporated herein by reference.


A mobile telephone includes a memory (11) in which both a telephone number and an associated name can be stored. The telephone includes a visual display (8) and a keypad (9) with a plurality of keys (9a) each having a number and several (eg three) alphabet characters associated therewith. In a first data entry mode a telephone number may be entered into the memory (11) by pressing the respective numeric keys (9a) once in turn. In a second data entry mode a name may be entered and appended to the telephone number by pressing the relevant key (9a) an appropriate number of times. For each key one key press displays the first letter, two key presses displays the second letter, and three key presses displays the third letter associated with that key. In a data retrieval mode, however, a data item to be searched is entered by pressing only once for each character the respective keys (9a) having the desired character associated therewith. When a match is found between a name stored in the memory (11) and one of the possible combinations of alphabet characters associated with the sequence of keys pressed in the data retrieval mode, the respective name and associated telephone number are shown on the display (8).

This invention relates to a data storage apparatus comprising a memory, and a user interface including a display and a keypad having a plurality of keys which can be pressed for entering data into and retrieving data from the memory.
A mobile telephone is an example of a data storage apparatus which is generally designed with only a limited number of keys. However, mobile telephones are generally provided with a telephone number index comprising a memory in which the user may store frequently used telephone numbers together with a respective alpha-tag (i.e. a text data `label`) such as, for example, the name of the subscriber. The user interface must therefore be capable of inputting not only numeric, but also alphabet characters.
In order to minimize the number of keys required it is common practice for at least some of the numeric keys which are normally used for dialing also to have other characters, specifically alphabet characters, associated therewith. For example, nine of the numeric keys (eg keys 1-9) may each have three other characters associated therewith. Thus only nine keys are needed to represent the 26 characters of the English alphabet and one further character, suitably a space character, making 27 characters in total, in addition to the nine numeric characters.
In a numeric data entry mode each of the numeric keys is pressed just once to enter the respective individual digits of a telephone number to be stored. When the full telephone number has been entered, an alphabetic data storage mode is initiated in which the three alphabet characters associated with a particular key may be selected respectively by pressing the key either once, twice or three times.
Similarly, in a data retrieval mode the individual characters of a name or label to be searched are entered by pressing the relevant keys once, twice or three times, as appropriate. When a match is found between a name stored in the memory and the sequence of characters being entered, the full name is shown on the display either simultaneously or intermittently with the associated telephone number also stored in the memory.
A drawback with this known arrangement is that many keystrokes are required for retrieving data from the memory and this can be time-consuming and irritating for the user. Specifically up to three keystrokes may be needed to enter a single character.


The disclosure relates to a remote displacement sensor, such as an optical strain gauge, which uses an optical amplifier implemented by patterns, such as, moiré patterns, to calculate changes in position. In a strain gauge with moiré patterns, two foil layers are provided, a lower foil layer with a reference or static moiré pattern generated by the overlaying of a first pattern with parallel lines at a first fundamental frequency and a second pattern with parallel lines at a second fundamental frequency. The lower foil layer further includes a first section with a first pattern with parallel lines at the first fundamental frequency while the upper layer provides a second section with a second pattern with parallel lines at the second fundamental frequency. The overlaying of the foils causes an overlying of the first and second sections thereby causing a moiré pattern of the same wavelength as the reference pattern.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a remote displacement sensor with many applications. In particular, one application is a strain measuring device used in materials testing. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to the use of visual or optical patterns, including but not limited to moiré patterns, which change in appearance in response to changes in position, and to the methods for detecting and interpreting these changes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, strain measuring devices are well known. Instron, a subsidiary of Illinois Tool Works Inc., makes and sells, among other things, various strain measuring devices. In the past, compressive and tensile properties of materials have been measured by clip-on extensometers that use a resistive strain gauge and, more recently, by non-contact video extensometers. While well-adapted to their intended purposes, clip-on extensometers typically require extensive set-up by trained personnel. Similarly, video extensometers, while well-adapted for their intended purposes, are sensitive to camera motion, air currents, quality of focus and dynamic variations, z-direction motion of the specimen, and displacement of the specimen during gripping, all of which can require compensation to avoid the introduction of errors. Video extensometer applications often require that the centroid of the target dot be measured to an accuracy that represents a small fraction of a camera pixel, thereby requiring sophisticated image processing to achieve necessary sub-pixel accuracy.
Prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 7,047,819 entitled "Testing of Samples" by Haywood; U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,847 entitled "Image Parameter Detection" to Roy Allen (the present inventor); U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,834 entitled "Grating Strain Gauges" to Shoup; DE 3120653 and EP 0255300.

Remote displacement sensor, including an optical strain gauge, an assembly and system therewith


A magazine rack and adjustment/transport system therefore includes a conveyer line for introducing magazine racks into a production process. As a new magazine rack is introduced to the line, a positional adjustment means is active to position the magazine rack on the conveyer. In addition, the alignment of the magazine rack on the conveyer may be adjusted and a present accommodating width or the magazine rack may be detected and compared with an accommodating width required by a process being carried out on the conveyer. If the detected accommodating width of the magazine rack is other than the required accommodating width, the rack may automatically be adjusted by an adjustment mechanism prior to being added to the conveyer or at a predetermined position on the conveyer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a magazine rack system utilized in assembly or processing of flat articles such as printed circuit boards or the like. Specifically to a magazine rack system for such articles in which a size of a portion for holding an individual article as well as a positional alignment of the magazine rack on a transport system, such as a chain conveyer, may be automatically adjusted.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of magazine rack systems having width adjustability for handling flat articles during assembly or processing have been proposed. Most commonly, a system in which force is applied directly to a movable plate which determines the accommodating width of the rack, and thereby the movable plate is moved to a desired width. In order to secure the movable plate at the desired width during subsequent use of the rack, a fixing mechanism, such as a screw fastening mechanism or the like is employed. In attempting to implement automatic control of such a rack as described above, an overall size of the rack, movable plate, fixing mechanism and control assembly becomes large and unwieldy rendering the assembled magazine rack uneconomical, complex and generally impractical.
On the other hand, automatically controlled magazine racks have been proposed, for example in Japanese Utility Model Application Nos. 64421-1990, 120272-1990 and 41244-1991, in which it is possible to easily and correctly move the movable side plate to control the accommodating width by applying rotational motive power thereto in one point fashion. However, according to the construction of these types of magazine racks, fine adjustment of rack size after the movable plate has been moved to the vicinity of a target position is extremely difficult, often necessitating that one worker hold a workpiece or measure for gauging size while a second worker performs fine adjustment of width control manually. Thus a considerable number of steps are necessary for rack adjustment operations.
In addition, when racks must be changed frequently during work operations, such as a part mounting line or the like, such adjustment must be performed repeatedly each time a rack is changed, consuming man hours and raising production expenses while reducing efficiency.
Also, in the above-described type of rack, as in the previously described rack, implementing automatic control causes an overall size and complexity thereof to become large and unwieldy rendering the magazine rack uneconomical, and impractical.
Further, according to widespread implementation of factory automation (FA) and computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), it is desirable to mount such a magazine rack as described above to a moving conveyer, such as a chain conveyer system.
When utilizing such a conveyer system for a specific production process, a spacing and alignment of the magazine rack in relation to the conveyer, as well as in relation to other magazine racks on the conveyer line is necessary. This operation may be effected by temporarily holding the magazine rack at an adjustment position while lateral adjustment of the spacing of the rack and adjustment of the alignment of the rack position in relation to the conveyer line, is made. Japanese Utility Model Application No. 10040-1992 (one of the applications on which applicant's claim for foreign priority benefit is based) discloses one such example of an adjustable magazine rack with an automated system for carrying out rack adjustment, however, this system is bulky and full automation of all processes is not provided.

Magazine rack and positional adjustment system therefor


A first node (110) and a method therein for managing modes of operation of a service, referred to as “service modes” are disclosed. The service is executed in the first node (110). The service is capable of communicating with a second node (120) over a wireless network (100). The first node (110) receives an estimated level of a connectivity for the service from the wireless network (100). The estimated level of the connectivity relates to likelihood of maintaining the connectivity to the second node (120). The first node (110) selects one of the service modes based on the estimated level of the connectivity. Moreover, corresponding computer programs and computer program products are disclosed.

Today wireless communication systems are mainly used for human-centered communication and services. A trend is, however, to use wireless communication systems for communication and services mainly involving machines. This kind of communication and services are often referred to as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication.
Certain types of communication and services within M2M communication are expected to require that a wireless connection, provided by the wireless communication systems, is highly reliable. The wireless connection is required to be highly reliable both in terms of loss of the wireless connection and the possibility of establishing the wireless connection. In the following, the term "reliable" is used in this context. Therefore, for the above mentioned certain types of communication and services within M2M communication, a high reliability of the connection, or the possibility to establish connection, may be said to be required.
This kind of high reliability may also be required for Person-to-Machine (P2M), Person-to-Person (P2P) and Machine-to-Person (M2P) communication.
Services that may need this kind of high reliability include industrial process control services, services for alarm monitoring, services in smart grid applications, control and management of business and/or mission critical processes or services, services for monitoring critical infrastructure and services towards responders in the national security and public safety segment and other similar services.
Furthermore, high reliability for certain services may be beneficial where deployment of nodes, such as radio base station, radio network controller etc., is particularly costly. At the same time, it is desired to achieve sufficient capacity, e.g. in terms of number of connected devices, and/or coverage for the services.
Consider for example a device, such as smart meters for a smart grid, a metering, sensing or activation device, that is deployed in a network at a remote location at high cost. If there would be a failure in communication with such a device e.g. due to bad coverage and/or insufficient capacity, a manual restoration of the communication with the device or a replacement of the device with another device would be required to compensate for the failure. Such compensation may imply high labor costs, which would scale in an unacceptable manner when there are a great number of devices which often is the case in application of M2M communication.
It is known to provide connectivity for M2M devices in a number of different ways using e.g. wired or wireless connections. The wired connections may be copper wires, optical fibers, Ethernet cables or the like. The wireless connections may be provided by use of various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), such as Wi-Fi, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network for Long Term Evolution (EUTRAN/LTE), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network for High Speed Packet Access (UTRAN/HSPA), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) for Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN) and the like. Moreover, evolutions of the aforementioned RATs as well as other Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks may be used to provide the wireless connection.
During planning of the radio access networks and/or telecommunication systems mentioned above, it is sometimes desired to set up the radio access network such as to provide a high reliability for M2M devices. High connectivity could then be provided in the following ways.
For example, the radio access network could be deployed as over-dimensioned in terms of transport and/or radio link resources. Over-dimensioning of transport resources may refer to use of optical fibers for communication from a base station, while a peak bit-rate from the base station is 800 Megabits per second and an optical fiber may handle tenth of Gigabits per second. Over-dimensioning of radio link resources refers to deployment of more base stations, antennas, use of more frequency bands, etc. than needed according to an estimated network load. The RAN is said to be over-dimensioned when it is deployed to be able to handle a worst case scenario while still having resources that are available for any upcoming communication.
As another example, so called node availability may be increased by introducing redundancy in a node by installing multiple power units for powering of the node. The node availability may relate to availability of e.g. transport nodes, radio nodes and server nodes, which communicate with the M2M device or control or support the network operation. Node availability decreases on failure of a node, which typically happens when power units for powering of the node breaks down.
As a further example, in some specific network segments, multiple paths could be introduced to avoid single point of failure. An optical fiber ring is able to cope with interruptions of one optical link by routing information in the opposite direction as compared to where the interrupted optical link is located.
A known exemplifying control system includes a controller and an electrical valve that is controlled by the controller. The controller sends reference values for controlling the opening and closing of the valve over a wireless connection. As an example, a reference value of zero means that the valve should be closed, a reference value of ten means that the valve should be completely open and a reference value of five means that the valve should be opened to midway and closed to midway. Hence, a service executing in the electrical valve receives reference values from the controller. In response thereto, the valve sends an actual value representing degree of openness of the valve. In case, the control system controls a flow of a fluid for cooling of e.g. a nuclear plant, it may have serious consequences if the valve is not controlled in an appropriate manner. Disadvantageously, a failure of the wireless connection may cause damage to both facilities and humans.
In order to reduce risks due to e.g. a failure of the wireless connection, the known control system may be operated in a safe manner at all times. The safe manner should not cause damages as described above, if there are large delays in the communication or even non existing communication between the controller and the electrical valve.

Method and a first node for managing modes of operation of a service

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A system for capturing an image of the retina includes an alignment system that aligns the eye along a predetermined axis of the system and at a predetermined distance from the system to illuminate a predetermined area of the retina and to capture an image thereof. The predetermined area of the retina includes the optic disk. The system includes a non-scanned illumination source of red and green light symmetric aspheric lens for a high quality and high contrast image.

Various devices are known that detect a vascular pattern in a portion of an individual's retina to identify the individual. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,109,237; 4,393,366; and 4,620,318. In these devices, a collimated beam of light is focused on a small spot of the retina and the beam is scanned in a circular pattern to generate an analog signal representing the vascular structure of the eye intersecting the circular path of the scanned beam. In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,366 , the circular pattern is outside of the optic disk or optic nerve and in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,318, the light is scanned in a circle centered on the fovea. These systems use the vascular structure outside of the optic disk because it was thought that only this area of the retina contained sufficient information to distinguish one individual from another. The light is scanned in these systems in order to provide sufficient contrast between the vascular structure of the eye outside of the optic disk and the background pigment of the retina. However, systems that use scanners are typically large, complex, expensive and fairly delicate. Moreover, the tilt of the eye can change the retinal structure "seen" by these systems such that two distinct points on the retina can appear to be superimposed. As such, the signal representing the vascular structure of an individual as generated by these systems will vary depending upon the tilt of the eye. This problem is further exacerbated because these systems provide data representing only that vascular structure which intersects the circular path of scanned light, if the individual's eye is not in exactly the same alignment with the system each time it is used, the scanned light can intersect different vascular structures, resulting in a different signal pattern for the same individual. Problems in consistently generating the same signal pattern for an individual make it difficult to use such systems for identification purposes.
Portable systems used by doctors to view the fundus of a patient's eye and capture an image thereof for diagnostic purposes are also known as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,861,938; 5,861,939 and 5,673,097. These systems scan light using a laser or multiple, sequentially actuated light emitting diodes. However, the image viewed or captured varies with the positioning of the device by the doctor with respect to the patient's eye.

System for capturing an image of the retina for identification


Described are a biodegradable sustained-release preparation which comprises a mixture of 99 to 10 parts by weight of an aliphatic polyester and 1 to 90 parts by weight of a modifier for the regulation of sustained releasability of an active ingredient, and the active ingredient held by said mixture; a biodegradable pheromone dispenser, wherein an aliphatic polyester is used as a sustained release layer for a pheromone contained therein as a liquid phase, said aliphatic polyester having recurring units whose ratio (I/II) of (I) the number of the carbon atoms constituting the main chain and not relating to ester linkage to (II) the number of the carbon atoms constituting the ester linkage is 2 or larger; and a biodegradable pest controlling agent which is obtained by mixing and dispersing an active ingredient and a carrier for holding said active ingredient in a biodegradable aliphatic polyester or which comprises 2 to 60 wt. % of an active ingredient, 30 to 95 wt. % of a biodegradable aliphatic polyester and 2 to 50 wt. % of a carrier for holding the active ingredient.

A first group of this invention relates to a biodegradable sustained-release preparation.
In recent years, sustained release of an active ingredient has attracted attentions in various fields. For example, there are an aromatic which imparts refreshing taste to the air in a room and as a pest controlling means, a mating disruption agent making use of a sex pheromone and an attracting insecticide in which the mating disruption agent and insecticide are used in combination.
These agents are required to have durable effects for a long period of time so that an excellent technique for sustained release is necessary. Recently, they are desired to have biodegradability in addition.
For example, a mating disruption agent, attracting insecticide or the like used for agricultural purposes is hardly collected after use and most of them are left alone in the upland field or the like. Because, collection of such an agent, which has been distributed in a large amount, after application requires many hands and is therefore substantially impossible. The aromatic used indoors is disposed as rubbish. Since plastic waste matters generate much heat at the time of incineration, thereby damaging an incinerator, they are often buried in the ground. Accordingly, there is a demand for a biodegradable type sustained-release preparation which can be degraded by microorganisms at the time when buried in the ground and does not remain in the soil.
In recent years, various materials having biodegradability have been proposed and some of them have already been industrialized. They can be classified into some groups from the viewpoint of the raw material constituting them. Examples include cellulose type, starch-added type, aliphatic polyester type and polyvinyl alcohol type. They are used suitably in consideration of their characteristics such as applications or price, however, an aliphatic polyester type is preferred for the sustained release of an active ingredient.
For the agricultural applications where an agent tends to be left alone in the field after application, described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-116103 is a pest controlling agent comprising a biodegradable aliphatic polyester and an active ingredient. The present inventor has already developed, as a sustained-release pheromone preparation having biodegradability, a sustained-release pheromone preparation comprising as a sustained-release layer, a polymer composed mainly of 3-hydroxybutyric acid (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-163110).
As described above, an aliphatic polyester type preparation is used preferably as a sustained-release preparation having biodegradability. In the aliphatic polyester, however, molecular chains are firmly bonded statically through an ester linkage in its structure, which makes it difficult for the active ingredient to diffuse the gap of the polymer segment, resulting in small transmittance of the active ingredient through the aliphatic polyester. The aliphatic polyester is therefore accompanied with the problem that a release surface area should be widened in order to increase the transpiration amount of the active ingredient or a number of sustained release preparations should be placed in order to secure a certain concentration.
A second group of the present invention relates to a biodegradable pheromone dispenser.
In recent years, as a pest controlling means, a controlling method making use of a pheromone has attracted attentions because it is safe and besides, it does not impart the pest insects with resistance.
A pheromone dispenser is requested to release a pheromone stably for a long period of time in order to deal with the breeding of pest insects over a breeding season and is also requested to have applicability to crops or other things to be treated. Various pheromone dispensers equipped with both excellent release performance and easy applicability have therefore been proposed.
The pheromone dispensers so far proposed can be classified into three types based on their shapes. The first one is a microcapsule or hollow fiber type used for distribution. The second one is a matrix type wherein a pheromone has been dispersed in a polymeric material. The third one is a so-called reservoir type in which a pheromone has been held as a liquid. The microcapsule or hollow fiber type can be applied easily by distribution or the like but involves a problem such as short control period. The matrix type is accompanied with the problem that the release rate of a pheromone depends on the pheromone concentration in the polymeric material so that the release rate inevitably shows a gradual decrease. Accordingly, as a pheromone dispenser, the reservoir type whose intra-membrane concentration gradient does not change so much has been rated high because of stable release performance over a long period of time.
It is however the present situation that most of such pheromone dispensers are not collected after application to the field such as upland field and are left alone in the field.
There has accordingly been a demand for a biodegradable type pheromone dispenser which is degraded in the soil and does not remain in the field and various proposals have already been made.
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-116103, a pest controlling agent made of a biodegradable aliphatic polyester is described. Described are a spherical pest controlling agent wherein the surface of an active ingredient in the form of a microcapsule has been covered with a biodegradable polymeric material; a spherical-, film- or ribbon-shaped material obtained by dispersing an active ingredient in a biodegradable polymeric material and then forming or molding the resulting dispersion; a film-shaped material having a barrier layer on its surface; and an adhesive-layer-having agent permitting easy application. Also described in it is a method of encapsulating an active ingredient in a capillary-shaped tube and releasing an active ingredient from the opening portion of the capillary tube. It is however difficult to secure stable release over a long period of time by such pest controlling agents.
As describe above, the present inventor has already proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-163110) a sustained-release pheromone preparation using, as a sustained-release layer, a polymer composed mainly of 3-hydroxybutyric acid. Use of this polymer however requires a decrease in the thickness of the sustained-release layer or an increase in the release surface area, because this polymer has a small transmittance rate of a pheromone.
As such, a polyester is a substance having a small transmittance of pheromones and is not suited for use as a material for a reservoir type pheromone dispenser. Described specifically, aromatic polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate hardly transmits pheromones. Aliphatic polyesters are not always same in the transmittance of pheromones. Under such situations, the kind and thickness of the aliphatic polyester appropriate for a sustained-release layer of a reservoir type pheromone dispenser having both biodegradability and sustained release property of pheromones have not yet been made cleared.
A third group of the present invention relates to a biodegradable pest controlling agent.
There are various methods to control harmful microorganisms which cause damage to field crops or horticultural crops. As described above, mating disruption agents and attracting insecticides making use of the sex pheromone of an insect have recently drawn attentions as excellent controlling means from the environmental viewpoint.
A variety of such controlling agents have been proposed and some of them have already been industrialized. Examples include, as described above, a polyethylene-made capillary tube or container made of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer encapsulating an active ingredient; a polyvinyl chloride sheet having an active ingredient kneaded therein; a hollow fiber having an active ingredient enclosed therein; and a polyvinyl chloride sheet, which has an active ingredient kneaded therein, cut into small pieces to permit aerial application. It is the present situation that most of such agents are not collected after application and are left alone in the field.
There is accordingly a demand for a biodegradable pest controlling agent which is degraded in the soil and does not remain in the field.
As described above, the present inventor has proposed a biodegradable sustained-control pheromone preparation using, as a sustained-release layer, a polymer mainly composed of 3-hydroxybutyric acid in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-163110. Use of this polymer however requires a decrease in the thickness of the sustained-release layer or an increase in the release surface area, because this polymer has a small transmittance rate of pheromone. In addition, it is accompanied with the inconvenience that the shape of the controlling agent, for example, bag shape is not suited for aerial application.
In addition, a pest controlling agent made of a biodegradable aliphatic polyester is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-116103, in which an active ingredient dispersed in a biodegradable polymeric material and then formed into a spherical, film or ribbon-shaped agent is described. In order to disperse the active ingredient in the biodegradable aliphatic polyester, however, a cumbersome step such as film formation using a solvent is necessary. Moreover, the above agent is accompanied with the drawback that the active ingredient dispersed in a biodegradable aliphatic polyester having low affinity therewith tends to cause bleeding without a further treatment.

Research Association for Biotechnology of Agricultural


The present invention provides a high-strength galvanized steel sheet with maximum tensile strength of 900 MPa or more. The high-strength galvanized steel sheet has an alloyed galvanized layer formed on a surface of a base steel sheet containing predetermined amounts of C, Si, Mn, P, S, Al, N, O with a balance being constituted of iron and inevitable impurities, in which in a structure of the base steel sheet, retained austenite is limited to 8% or less in volume fraction, kurtosis K* of the hardness distribution between 2% hardness and 98% hardness is −0.30 or less, a ratio between Vickers hardness of surface layer of the base steel sheet and Vickers hardness of ¼ thickness of the base steel sheet is 0.35 to 0.70, and a content of iron in the alloyed galvanized layer is 8 to 12% in mass %.

In recent years, there have been increasing demands for high-strength plated steel sheets used for automobiles or the like, and high-strength plated steel sheets with maximum tensile stress of 900 MPa or more is started to be used. As a method for forming vehicles or members of automobiles using such high-strength plated steel sheets, there may be mentioned bending such as press forming. Generally, the more the strength of a steel sheet is increased, the more the bendability worsens. Accordingly, when bending is performed on a high-strength plated steel sheet, there have been problems which occur easily, such as a crack inside a steel sheet at a deformation part, necking in an interface between a steel sheet surface and a plating layer, and destruction or peeling of a plating layer.
As a technique for improving bendability of steel sheet, Patent Document 1 proposes a high-tension hot-dip galvanized steel sheet in which a chemical composition of a steel sheet contains, in mass %, C: more than 0.02% and 0.20% or less, Si: 0.01 to 2.0%, Mn: 0.1 to 3.0%, P: 0.003 to 0.10%, S: 0.020% or less, Al: 0.001 to 1.0%, N: 0.0004 to 0.015%, and Ti: 0.03 to 0.2%, a balance includes Fe and impurities, a metal structure of the steel sheet contains 30 to 95% of ferrite by an area ratio, a second phase of the balance is constituted of one or more of martensite, bainite, perlite, cementite, and retained austenite, an area ratio of the martensite is 0 to 50% when the martensite is contained, and the steel sheet contains Ti-based carbonitride precipitates with a grain diameter of 2 to 30 nm and an average interparticle distance of 30 to 300 nm and contains a crystallized TiN with a grain diameter of 3 μm or more and an average interparticle distance of 50 to 500 μm.
Further, Patent Document 2 describes, as a hot-dip galvanized steel sheet excellent in bendability, a hot-dip galvanized steel sheet which has a chemical composition containing, in mass %, C: 0.03 to 0.11%, Si: 0.005 to 0.5%, Mn: 2.0 to 4.0%, P: 0.1% or less, S: 0.01% or less, sol. Al: 0.01 to 1.0%, N: 0.01% or less and further containing one or both of Ti: 0.50% or less and Nb: 0.50% or less in the range satisfying Ti+Nb/2≧0.03 (Ti and Nb in this expression indicate the contents of respective elements (unit: mass %)) with a balance being constituted of Fe and impurities, has a steel structure having an average interval of 300 μm or less in a sheet width direction of an Mn concentrated portion extending in a rolling direction at the position of 1/20t depth (t: sheet thickness of the steel sheet) from a surface, an area ratio of ferrite of 60% or more, and an average grain diameter of ferrite of 1.0 to 6.0 μm and containing 100 or more precipitates per μm2 with a grain diameter of 1 to 10 nm in ferrite, and has tensile strength of 540 MPa or more.
Further, Patent Document 3 describes, as a hot-dip plated steel sheet having both ductility and bendability, a hot-dip plated steel sheet having a plating layer containing zinc on a surface of a cold-rolled steel sheet which has a chemical composition containing, in mass %, C: 0.08 to 0.25%, Si: 0.7% or less, Mn: 1.0 to 2.6%, Al: 1.5% or less, P: 0.03% or less, S: 0.02% or less and N: 0.01% or less and having a relation between Si and Al satisfying 1.0%≦Si+Al≦1.8% with a balance being constituted of Fe and impurities, and has mechanical characteristics satisfying TS≧590 (TS: tensile strength (MPa)), TS×El≧17500 (El: total elongation (%)), and ρ1.5×t(ρ: limit bend radius (mm), t: sheet thickness (mm)).
Patent Document 4 describes, as a cold-rolled steel sheet having good ductility and bendability, a cold-rolled steel sheet which has a chemical composition containing, in mass %, C: 0.08 to 0.20%, Si: 1.0% or less, Mn: 1.8 to 3.0%, P: 0.1% or less, S: 0.01% or less, sol. Al: 0.005 to 0.5%, N: 0.01% or less and Ti: 0.02 to 0.2% with a balance being constituted of Fe and impurities, has a steel structure constituted of, in vol %, ferrite: 10% or more, bainite: 20 to 70%, retained austenite: 3 to 20% and martensite: 0 to 20% in which an average grain diameter of the ferrite is 10 μm or less, an average grain diameter of the bainite is 10 μm or less, an average grain diameter of the retained austenite is 3 μm or less, and an average grain diameter of the martensite is 3 μm or less, has mechanical characteristics such that a tensile strength (TS) is 780 MPa or more, a product (TS×El value) of tensile strength (TS) and total elongation (El) is 14000 MPa·% or more, and a minimum bend radius in a bending test is 1.5 t or less (t: sheet thickness), and has a sheet thickness of 2.0 mm or more, and describes that plating is provided on a surface of the cold-rolled steel sheet.
Patent Document 5 describes, as an alloyed hot-dip galvanized steel sheet excellent in bendability, an alloyed hot-dip galvanized steel sheet which has a chemical composition containing, in mass %, C: 0.03 to 0.12%, Si: 0.02 to 0.50%, Mn: 2.0 to 4.0%, P: 0.1% or less, S: 0.01% or less, sol. Al: 0.01 to 1.0% and N: 0.01% or less and further containing one or both of Ti: 0.50% or less and Nb: 0.50% or less in the range satisfying Ti+Nb/2≧0.03 with a balance being constituted of Fe and impurities, and has a steel structure such that an area ratio of ferrite is 60% or more and an average grain diameter of ferrite is 1.0 to 6.0 μm, in which an alloyed hot-dip galvanized layer contains, in mass %, Fe: 8 to 15% and Al: 0.08 to 0.50% with a balance being constituted of Zn and impurities, and the alloyed hot-dip galvanized steel sheet has a tensile strength of 540 MPa or more and has excellent bendability.
Patent Document 6 describes as a high-strength hot-dip galvanized steel sheet excellent in workability, one having a hot-dip galvanized layer on a base steel sheet containing, in mass %, C: 0.03 to 0.17%, Si: 0.01 to 0.75%, Mn: 1.5 to 2.5%, P: 0.080% or less, S: 0.010% or less, sol. Al: 0.01 to 1.20%, Cr: 0.3 to 1.3% with a balance being constituted of Fe and inevitable impurities, and having a steel structure constituted of, in volume fraction, 30 to 70% ferrite, less than 3% retained austenite, and martensite of the balance, in which 20% or more of the martensite is tempered martensite.
Patent Document 7 describes, as an ultra-high-strength cold-rolled steel sheet excellent in bending workability, a steel containing, by wt %, C: 0.12 to 0.30%, Si: 1.2% or less, Mn: 1 to 3%, P: 0.020% or less, S: 0.010% or less, sol. Al: 0.01 to 0.06% with a balance being constituted of Fe and inevitable impurities, the steel having a soft layer of C: 0.1 wt % or less in a surface layer part on both surfaces by 3 to 15 vol % per surface with a balance being constituted of a complex structure of retained austenite of less than 10 vol % and a low-temperature transformation phase or further ferrite.

High-strength galvanized steel sheet excellent in bendability and manufacturing method thereof

NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION


A system for producing an optical gain. The system includes an optical fiber having a core and a cladding, the core being doped with Pr.sup.3+ ; and a source producing light to energize the Pr.sup.3+ to the .sup.1 G.sub.4 state and produce an optical gain by a .sup.1 G.sub.4 -.sup.3 H.sub.5 transition at a wavelength in the range of 1.25 to 1.34 microns. The system also includes a method of making and a method of using the same.

A. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a laser system having an optical fiber doped with Praseodymium (Pr.sup.3+). The laser system energizes the Pr.sup.3+ to produce a optical gain by the .sup.1 G -.sup.3 H.sub.5 transition at a wavelength in the range of about 1.25 to 1.34 microns. The optical fiber can be glass, crystalline, or a combination thereof, and made out of a halide or chalcogenide host or combinations thereof. The optical fiber can be energized by direct pumping of the Pr.sup.3+ or by indirect pumping, by using rare earths and other sensitizers as co-dopants located in a region of the optical fiber so that they can absorb pump energy and transfer excitation to the Pr.sup.3+. The optical fiber can be incorporated into an amplifier, an oscillator, or a superluminescence source. The output can be applied to communications, a gyroscope or other sensors, printing, and medical instruments.
B. Description of the Related Art
There is a need to amplify optical signals in many fields of technology. In fiber optic communications, for example, to send cable television signals to many households over optical fibers, it is necessary to split the signals into many receivers. Without amplification, one would in all practicality eventually run out of signal to divide. It is through amplification (increasing the strength of the signal) that such signals can be provided to many households. One way to amplify the light signals is to convert them to electrical signals, amplify the electrical signals, and then reconvert the electrical signals back to light again. This is a relatively complicated and expensive approach, but it is necessary where there is no known, practical device that can optically amplify the relevant region of the light spectrum.
For example, prior to this invention, it has been essentially necessary to use electrical rather than optical amplification for one of the primary wavelengths used in communications (1.25-1.34 microns). Further, in the search to find a way to optically amplify this wavelength region, despite great efforts, solutions have been elusive. Thus, when aspects of the present invention were made public, the Wall Street Journal reported them as a "breakthrough in optical signal amplification" (on Jun. 12, 1991, in an article titled "Big Cost Savings for Fiber-Optic Systems are seen in New Way to Amplify Signals").


A hydraulic solenoid valve includes a valve housing with bores for receiving a hydraulic medium and having at least one consuming device connection and a return connection connected to the bores. A piston is connected within the valve housing and has at least one piston bore. A first valve with a corresponding valve seat is connected to the piston for opening and closing the piston bore. The first valve in its open position provides communication between the consuming device connection and the reservoir connection. A magnet housing has connected therein an armature. When the armature is displaced during normal operation in both directions, it rests at the first valve and forces the first valve into its valve seat. A return spring is positioned between the piston and the valve housing. The armature is displaceable by the force of the return spring. The piston is displaceable by the armature against the force of the return spring. The armature has at least one throttle passage on an end face facing away from the piston through which during displacement of the armature by the force of the return spring the hydraulic medium flows and generates a pressure counteracting the force of the return spring.

The invention relates to a hydraulic solenoid valve with a piston that is displaceable by an armature against the force of at least one return spring and has at least one valve bore which is closable by a valve, preferably, a valve ball, which when the valve is open provides a flow connection between at least one consuming device connection and a reservoir connection of the solenoid valve, whereby the armature in normal operation during displacement in both directions rests at the valve and maintains it in contact with the valve seat.
In this known hydraulic solenoid valve the piston bore is closed by a valve that is held in its closed position by the armature. In the normal operation the armature rests constantly at this valve so that the piston bore remains closed. During operation of such solenoid valves it may happen that the piston jams in its switched position. When the armature then returns into its initial position, the piston may not follow this axial movement of the armature so that the pressure within the consuming device connection remains constant. In order to prevent in this case an overload of the consuming device connected to the consuming device connection the aforementioned valve is provided that because of the returning armature is no longer pressed into its valve seat. Due to the pressure present at the consuming device connection the valve is lifted off its valve seat so that the hydraulic medium can flow back via the now open piston bore to the reservoir connection. In this manner the pressure within the consuming device connection is reduced despite the jammed piston. This safety circuit is very advantageous in an emergency situation, however, it has the disadvantage that the valve during normal operation, i.e., during normal switching processes, can be lifted off the valve seat in an uncontrollable manner, especially when the piston is moved by the return spring. When the valve accidentally is lifted, the hydraulic medium can be ejected in a jet-type manner through the, possibly only partially, opened valve bore. This results in jet forces in the axial direction which act against the return spring and thus result in switching time changes. Furthermore, the sudden lifting of the valve from its seat generates switching noises. These two disturbance factors result in an unsatisfactory pressure and noise behavior.
It is therefore an object of the invention to embody the hydraulic solenoid valve of the aforementioned kind such that an uncontrollable lifting of the valve during normal operation is reliably prevented, but to reliably ensure the safety function of the hydraulic solenoid valve when the piston jams.


An autostereoscopic display apparatus includes multiple micro-display devices for exporting an 3-dimensional image. Each of the micro-display devices produces a portion image of the image. The portion image has multiple viewing-zone portion images with respect to multiple viewing zones. An image guiding unit has multiple micro-image output terminals, which are arranged according to an array sequence being set, so as to guide the output images from the micro-display devices. A stereo-image discrete screen is coupled with the image guiding unit, so that the image can transit the stereo-image discrete screen through multiple column transparent regions for producing multiple viewing-zone images of the image with respect to the different viewing zones. The image guiding unit can be, for example, an optical fiber array unit or an array-type light guiding unit.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a stereo-image display technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to an autostereoscopic display apparatus, by which users can see the stereo-image just by naked eyes within a range of viewing angle.
2. Description of Related Art
Image is an effective method for transferring information. Along with the improvement of science and technology, besides the image printed on the paper, many images are displayed in digital on a display device. As the display screen of the display device is a plane structure formed by a pixel array, there is no stereoscopic display effect.
However, according to the visual characteristic of human eyes, a stereo-image may be produced when the left and the right eyes respectively see the two images with the same image but different parallax. The former stereoscopic display technology exports the two images utilizing the polarization effect, and users need to put on the polarized glasses to see the stereoscopic effect. The stereoscopic display mode is not convenient in use.
Next, the autostereoscopic display technology has been developed associating with digital display technology. However, the main bottleneck of the current autostereoscopic display technology is that it can not have both of high display resolution and wide view angle simultaneously. Most of the technologies divide the pixels on the display device into multiple groups and guide them into different directions so as to form multiple viewing zones, accordingly, users can see different images from different directions. Users can obtain stereoscopic display effect when viewing the images in different viewing zones through the two eyes. However, when users' two eyes are not in an appropriate specific location, users can not see the stereo-image. The number of the divided groups of the pixels must be increased in order to let users see the stereo-image in any viewing angle. Accordingly, in the condition that the total quantity of the physical pixels in the display device is a fixed number, the resolution of the image would be compromised. For example, when the pixels are divided into two groups, the resolution is substantially reduced into a half. In other words, the more the number of the divided groups of the pixels is, the lower the resolution would be.
Also, in order to maintain the image resolution and have more viewing zones, more hardware space and guiding structures must increase, resulting in the increase of the volume of the display device.
Therefore, how to simultaneously have both of high resolution and high freedom of viewing locations is the problem for the manufacturers or the designers.

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A radio transmitting/receiving device having at least three modules. The first module includes a first function for amplifying a radio frequency signal, demodulating the amplified radio frequency signal to a baseband signal and outputting the same, and a second function for modulating the input baseband signal, converting the modulated baseband signal to a radio frequency and outputting the same. The second module includes a function for amplifying the input radio frequency. The third module includes a function for executing a baseband signal process and controlling respective units according to a transmission/reception sequence based on a communication protocol.

A cellular phone of our country has been put into practical use together with a mobile telephone having a volume of 6800 cm3 and a weight of 7 kg. It can be said that the development of a cellular phone is the history of pursuit of a reduction in size and weight thereof since the commencement of cellular telephony services in 1987. The greatest contribution to the reduction in size and weight of the cellular phone used up to now resides in a size reduction concerning parts. In particular, a great contribution has been made to a size reduction concerning high-frequency parts. Further, an advantageous effect has been brought about in that surface mounting of parts has been put forward and surface-mounting type parts other than the high-frequency parts have been also reduced in size. They have been yielded from the result that an attempt has been made to bring a high-frequency circuit into integration starting with a control-system circuit (baseband signal processing circuit), thereby covering major circuits with less-reduced LSI configurations.
As a package form of the above-described LSI, the adoption of a downsized and multi-pin configured BGA (Ball Grid Array), or CSP (Chip Size Package) has been put forward as an alternative to the conventional QFP (Quad Flat Package). The CSP is called an "ultimate package". This is because the CSP has both the good point of a bear chip and the good point of a package. Bear-chip mounting is excellent if only the size and weight reduction is taken into consideration. However, the adoption of the CSP has been put forward as a result that the cost, reliability, a framework to supply parts, etc. have been optimized totally.
The CSP varies widely but an external terminal form thereof can be regarded as a small-sized BGA arranged in area array form. It is estimated that minimum terminal pitches of both the BGA and CSP will be further narrowed from now on.
In order to mount multipin-configured/narrow-pitched/small-sized packages such as these BGA and CSP or the like, multilayering of a printed wiring board cannot be avoided either and hence the technology of forming small-diameter vias and fine patterns is essential. A build-up substrate characterized in that the limits of wiring pitches of a conventional substrate have been surmounted to reduce the diameter of each via and enhance the degree of freedom of a via layout, for example, and other high-density printed wiring board have been developed and put into practical use.
In 1996, the model, which has broken the barrier of a volume of 100 cm3 and a weight of 100 g, has debuted as a domestic digital cellular phone but the adoption of the CSP has been started from this year. Thus, the adoption of a newly-developed high-density printed wiring board (a kind of build-up wiring board) becomes a key (NIKKEI ELECTRONICS 1997. 1. 13 (no. 680), PP. 15–16).
A high-frequency composite part (filter chip) obtained by integrally forming various passive parts C, R, L and the like in a ceramic green sheet multilayer structure is used in a portable terminal device. The integration of these passive parts has been effective even in, for example, enhancing reliability, taking measures against EMI, and reducing the cost of assembly of a device even in other than a size reduction (NIKKEI ELECTRONICS 1999. 7. 26 (no. 748), pp140–153).
From exclusive devotion to the size and weight reduction, a tendency to pursue various new functions has been made now while the size, weight, design and the like that many users are easy to accept, which have been achieved up to now, are being maintained. As trends in the building of various functions in a digital cellular phone may be mentioned, for example, the following ones:
(1) A dualband system and a dual mode system for expanding the limit of a call range and enhancing the convenience of a user have been put into practical use. Further, the introduction of a digital communication system which enables roaming (mobile connection) on a world scale, has been put forward.
(2) An Internet connecting function is provided and its expansion has been made.
(3) A device to which a new data communication standard "Bluetooth" has been mounted, has appeared.
(4) Enhancement of the function of reproducing sound and an image. Coping with a multimedia is made.
Owing to developments in high functioning of the cellular phone, as described above, there is a tendency to increase components including a semiconductor and increase current consumption with their increase. Further, a mounting space has been rendered small increasingly. Therefore, a semiconductor to be used has been required to take a further size and thickness reduction and a reduction in power consumption.
The radio transmitting/receiving function of the cellular phone has been applied to respective personal digital assistances using mobile communications. A cellular phone or a PHS is connected to put data communications, wireless internet, etc. into practical use. Further, the radio transmitting/receiving function has been incorporated into the respective personal digital assistances, and its demand has been increased. New-entry makers encounters difficulties in executing unaccustomed design of an RF/IF signal processing circuit of a communication circuit. These makers have a demand for a product obtained by bringing a high-frequency circuit unit into a module, and one obtained by bringing even some of a baseband signal processing circuit into integration and reducing its size.
As shown in FIG. 2, a configuration of a main circuit of a digital cellular phone is largely divided into a radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit unit) which handles analog signals of several hundreds of MHz to a few GHz, and a control unit 200 (baseband signal processing circuit unit) which mainly treats with a digital signal.
Since the radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit unit) of these handles the analog signals of several hundreds of MHz to a few GHz, parasitic capacitances of patterns and parts influence on circuit characteristics significantly. As a result, the performance of the device, such as an achievable distance of a wave emitted from a terminal, a receivable distance or the like will vary greatly. Therefore, a case-by-case correspondence must be inevitably taken each time a device is designed. Thus, experiences come into play. If the radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit) is brought into a module fixed up on one printed wiring board or brought into one chip to enable its introduction, then a device maker unfamiliar with communication apparatuses is easy to design a high-frequency circuit.
Problems developed upon integration of the RF/IF signal processing circuit (radio unit 100) will be mentioned as follows:
(1) Since manufacturing processes increase, cost-down is difficult.
(2) If the cost of an LSI is taken into consideration, it is then desired to perform the integration thereof by a CMOS technology alone. There are known many LSIs using a bipolar technology up to now. In a device unit level using the CMOS technology even in the case of each input signal lying in a GHz band, ones are in the process of being developed in which high frequency characteristics are given as a level equivalent to or greater than a bipolar. Upon integration of these, crosstalk occurs between circuits and hence the performance is degraded.
(3) Passive parts such as a quartz oscillator and a filter are difficult to make integration into an LSI. When these passive parts are externally attached to the LSI, they produce the case that they are affected by noise or give it.
(4) A portion corresponding to an output power amplifier 130 is very high in power as in the case of 3W, 4W or the like, for example, and hence the substrate reaches a very high temperature even in a moment of time. The substrate rises to a temperature of about 130° C., for example. On the other hand, since the high temperature of 130° C. or the like is beyond the limit at a unit where a small signal is handled as in the case of an RF signal processing unit module 160 or the like of FIG. 19, the unit is separated from a functional module.
Next, an attempt to integrate the radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit unit) and the control unit 200 (baseband signal processing circuit unit) principally handling the digital signal into the same chip will yield the following problems:
(1) Performance degradation in circuit due to crosstalk developed between a digital signal processing circuit and an analog signal processing circuit is of a large problem. It is necessary to carry out a contrivance of a part layout such as insertion of a ground layer into the corresponding circuit. A more effective measure is to adopt the process of allowing back gates of respective transistors to be completely separated. As a technology effective therefor, a triple wells, an SOI (Silicon On Insulator), etc. may be mentioned. However, the contrivance of the process will lead to a rise in cost.
(2) The control unit 200 (baseband signal processing circuit unit) makes use of a clock which ranges from about 50 MHz to about 200 MHz, for example, and results in a noise source at the side of the radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit unit). Such a unit is not set together with the radio unit.
(3) A microcomputer 220, a DSP 211, a channel codec 214, etc. of the control unit 200 (baseband signal processing circuit unit) have a high potential for the occurrence of various specification changes in function. If they are potentially integrated into one chip, it is then not possible to promptly cope with specification changes. The cost rises upon the specification changes.
Although the problems have been presented as described above, it is estimated that the integration of the radio unit 100 (RF/IF signal processing circuit unit) and the control unit 200 (baseband signal processing circuit unit) has been put forward from now.
The LSI for the radio transmitting/receiving device is classified into four of GaAs, bipolar, Bi-CMOS and CMOS from the viewpoint of the manufacturing processes. Since there are upper limits of operating frequencies at their processes, the discrete processes are respectively used according to circuits to thereby design the LSI. However, it is not advisable under the present situation to manufacture a full custom LSI high in integration by the processes for GaAs and Bi-CMOS relatively high in cost from the viewpoint of economical efficiency and the period of development. Mixed-placing the different processes on the same chip is technically difficult except for Bi-CMOS and fails to match economically in most cases. A future trend is estimated to be consolidated into four types of chips using the respective processes.
Next, a method of packaging respective circuits and respective parts onto a printed circuit board (motherboard) involves the following problems:
(1) According to the load map of SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association of USA), which has been published in the end of 1997, the prediction or estimate of minimum terminal pitches of BGA/CSP/flip-chip device has been described in the following manner. In 1997, the IC minimum line width (nm)/BGA pitch (mm)/CSP pitch (mm)/flip-chip device pitch (mm) were respectively of 250 (nm)/1.0 (mm)/0.5 (mm)/0.25 (mm). In 2001, however, they resulted in 150 (nm)/0.8 (mm)/0.4 (mm)/0.15 (mm). Further, they are estimated to reach 100 (nm)/0.65 (mm)/0.3 (mm)/0.1 (mm) respectively in 2006, 70 (nm)/0.65 (mm)/0.25 (mm)/0.07 (mm) respectively in 2009, and 50 (nm)/0.5 (mm)/0.25 (mm)/0.05 (mm) respectively in 2012.
(2) Owing to the adoption of a buildup printed board provided with high-density wirings for enabling the packaging of BGA and CSP whose terminal narrow-pitching has been put forward, for the motherboard, all functions of a cellular phone could be mounted on a single printed wiring board. However, an area in which small-diameter vias, high-density wirings, fine patterns, narrowed land pitches and multilayering are necessary for the motherboard, corresponds to a partial area of the motherboard. A battery, an LCD, a key board, loud speakers, and a microphone or the like, which occupy the most part of an internal volume of the cellular phone, are mounted in other area directly or indirectly via connecting portions. The areas in which these parts are mounted and connected, need little provision of high-density wirings and a multilayer structure. Nevertheless, only a partial area of one printed wiring board cannot be enhanced in wiring density and changed in the number of layers as compared with other areas. Therefore, the whole wiring density and the total number of layers are determined according to a high wiring density and the maximum number of layers required for the partial area. This will incur a needless increase in the cost of the motherboard (printed wiring board).
In view of the above problems, present and future trends toward the integration of the LSI for the radio transmitting/receiving device do not necessarily lead to the integration of a single chip requested by customers. The integration thereof into a plurality of chips is considered. Further, the respective LSIs are expected to result in a CSP which is increasingly multi-functioned, multipin-configured and narrow-pitched, and a packaging form set in a flip-chip format.
The invention of the present application aims to propose the form of supply of components of a radio transmitting/receiving device, wherein a user who introduces components estimated to become increasingly downsized and narrow-pitched, to thereby configure the corresponding radio transmitting/receiving device, is able to configure the corresponding radio transmitting/receiving device even on a motherboard relatively low in cost and held in low-layer/low wiring density, without preparing an expensive motherboard held in multilayer/high wiring density.
Further, the invention of the present application aims to propose the form of supply of components of a radio transmitting/receiving device, wherein even a user having the know how to design a high-frequency circuit is able to easily configure the corresponding radio transmitting/receiving device.


The invention relates to a method for a structured application of molecules on a strip conductor and to a molecular memory matrix. The inventive method makes it possible, for the first time, to economically and simply apply any number of molecular memory elements on the strip conductor in a structured and targeted way, thereby making available, also for the first time, a memory matrix at a molecular level.

In the field of molecular electronics, methods are known such as the nanogap method (C. Li, I-I. He, N. J. Tao, Applied Physics Letters 77, 3995 (2000)) and the break junction method (M. A. Reed, C. Zhou, C. J. Muller, T. P. Burgin, and J. M. Tour, Science 278, 252 (1997), for example, by means of which individual molecules may be contacted. Other methods consist in contacting molecules as a monomolecular layer. One method for the application of molecules as a monomolecular layer involves immersing the substrate (desired carrier for the molecular layer) in a bath composed of molecules and solvent. The Langmuir-Blodgett method (H. Wang, A. Reichert, J. O. Nagy, Langmuir 13, 6524 (1997)) may also be used for producing monomolecular layers.
In the use of monomolecular layers it is disadvantageous that only complete layers or layer systems can be formed and contacted. This makes it impossible to address individual molecules. Production of a molecular memory matrix by using this method is possible only with great difficulty, since significant effort is required to structure the applied molecular layer. The structural size always depends on the particular structuring method that is the best at the given time. Currently this method is electron beam lithography, by means of which structuring down to 2 nm may be achieved. However, this is a time-consuming sequential method that cannot be used to advance into the region of individual molecules.
Structuring of monomolecular layers entails the risk that the molecules provided as memory elements may be impaired. It is also disadvantageous that molecules applied using the Langmuir-Blodgett method do not form chemical bonds with the electrons. This results in a high molecule-electrode contact resistance and low stability of the molecular layer. It is likewise not possible, using the nanogap method or the break junction method, to form a switching matrix composed of a large number of molecular memory elements.
In principle, it is not possible to use of the above-mentioned methods to integrate multiple molecular contact sites into an nm-dimensional memory matrix. Furthermore, some matrix systems always require two electrode pairs: one pair for "addressing" and one pair for "reading" the information within the molecule. Thus, at present there are only various methods for individual molecules in a targeted manner, but only as individual molecular contact, not as an array.
According to the prior art, thin gold films on mica or gold monocrystals have been used heretofore as bottom electrodes for the contacting of molecules. This is based on the fact that these bottom electrodes provide a low, well reproducible surface roughness, with the gold-sulfur contact being preferred. However, this has the disadvantage that the prevailing CMOS process, in which silicon is used as substrate, cannot be employed.

Method for structured application of molecules to a strip conductor and molecular memory matrix


System and method for providing immutable data containers in tiered storage hierarchies. Embodiments may allow fulfillment of regulatory requirements for retaining certain data through management of a user-defined policy. The policy may specify what data in the file system needs to be stored as immutable data to the immutable data container in the file system. File system data may be tracked, and data specified by the policy may be transparently and automatically stored to the immutable data container within the file system. Updates to the data specified by the policy may also be stored to the immutable data container. This may be performed without overwriting or modifying the earlier version(s) of the data stored to the immutable data container, and thus every version of the data specified by the policy may be stored to and, if necessary, reconstructed from the immutable data container.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of computer systems and, more particularly, to data storage systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regulatory compliance is a major concern of business entities such as corporations. The financial industry and public companies are subjected to increasing amounts of scrutiny about how they perform financial transactions. As part of this scrutiny, business entities may be required to conform to regulations regarding data retention. For example, regulations may specify that any data pertaining to certain types of work that a company does or that certain officers of the company participate in must be kept for a certain period of time, and during that time the data must not be altered; in other words, the data must be immutable.
The regulations requiring immutability do not say how immutability of data should be implemented. Vendors spend time and resources working on solutions to guarantee that certain data is not altered. One solution is to store the data offline, for example on a WORM (Write Once, Read Many) device such as a CD-R or some other immutable data container. An immutable data container can be one or more independent devices or a collection of devices represented as one virtual device. One such device is the EMC Centerra. Once on the immutable data container, the data cannot be changed. However, conventional solutions for data retention typically require business entities to use non-standard interfaces and customization of both applications and storage infrastructure to meet the new regulatory requirements.
File Systems
A file system may be defined as a collection of files and file system metadata (e.g., directories and inodes) that, when set into a logical hierarchy, make up an organized, structured set of information. File systems organize and manage information stored in a computer system. File systems may support the organization of user data by providing and tracking organizational structures such as files, folders, and directories. A file system may interpret and access information stored in a variety of storage media, abstracting complexities associated with the tasks of locating, retrieving, and writing data to the storage media. File systems may be mounted from a local system or remote system. File system software may include the system or application-level software that may be used to create, manage, and access file systems.
File system metadata may be defined as information that file system software maintains on files stored in the file system. File system metadata may include, but is not limited to, definitions and descriptions of the data it references. File system metadata may include one or more of, but is not limited to, inodes, directories, mapping information in the form of indirect blocks, superblocks, etc. Generally, file system metadata for a file includes path information for the file as seen from the application side and corresponding file system location information (e.g. device:block number(s)). File system metadata may itself be stored on a logical or physical device within a file system.
Tiered Storage Hierarchies
Some file systems may be implemented as tiered storage hierarchies. In tiered storage hierarchies, two or more tiers of storage are implemented, data may be stored to one or more of the tiers, and stored data may be moved or migrated between the tiers of storage. Storage and migration of data may be controlled by a set of rules or policy. Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) is an exemplary data storage solution for implementing tiered storage hierarchies. FIG. 1 illustrates file system software 100 implementing a generic tiered storage hierarchy 102 with three storage tiers 104. Tiered storage hierarchy 102 is a file system. File system software 100 may include the system or application-level software that may be used to create, manage, and access the file system. Note that each storage tier 104 may include one or more physical storage devices or, alternatively, may be implemented as volumes or virtual devices allocated across one or more physical storage devices.
In conventional tiered storage hierarchies, all data stored within the file system implemented as a tiered storage hierarchy is mutable, or modifiable. To make a set of data immutable, the data must be moved out of the primary file system, or "offline", to tertiary storage.
Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM)
Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) is a data storage solution that provides access to vast amounts of storage space while reducing the administrative and storage costs associated with data storage. HSM systems may move files along a hierarchy of storage devices that may be ranked in terms of cost per megabyte of storage, speed of storage and retrieval, and overall capacity limits. Files are migrated along the hierarchy to less expensive forms of storage based on rules that may be tied to the frequency of data access. In HSM file systems, data access response time and storage costs typically determine the appropriate combination of storage devices used. A typical three-tier HSM architecture may include hard drives as primary storage, rewritable optical as secondary storage, and tape as tertiary storage. Alternatively, hard drives may be used for secondary storage, and WORM (Write Once, Read Many) optical may be used as tertiary storage.
Rather than making copies of files as in a backup system, HSM migrates files to other forms of storage, freeing hard disk space. Events such as crossing a storage threshold and/or reaching a certain file "age" may activate the migration process. As files are migrated off primary storage, HSM leaves stubs to the files on the hard drive(s). These stubs point to the location of the file on the alternative storage, and are used in automatic file retrieval and user access. The stub remains within the file system of the primary storage, but the file itself is migrated "offline" out of the file system onto the alternative or tertiary storage (e.g. tape).

Immutable data containers in tiered storage hierarchies