9162results about How to "Improve utilization" patented technology

Multiple applications request data from multiple storage units over a computer network. The data is divided into segments and each segment is distributed randomly on one of several storage units, independent of the storage units on which other segments of the media data are stored. At least one additional copy of each segment also is distributed randomly over the storage units, such that each segment is stored on at least two storage units. This random distribution of multiple copies of segments of data improves both scalability and reliability. When an application requests a selected segment of data, the request is processed by the storage unit with the shortest queue of requests. Random fluctuations in the load applied by multiple applications on multiple storage units are balanced nearly equally over all of the storage units. This combination of techniques results in a system which can transfer multiple, independent high-bandwidth streams of data in a scalable manner in both directions between multiple applications and multiple storage units.

A tamper-proof electronic security seal which includes a bolt and a locking element and an electronic seal element. The bolt has a head and a hollow shank extending therefrom having a longitudinal bore formed therein. The shank is dimensioned to pass through a lock hasp and has a free end formed for locking engagement with the locking element. The electronic seal element is formed for mechanical connection to the bolt head, and includes an electrical power source, a control unit, communications means responsive to the control unit and a sensor adapted for insertion into the longitudinal bore of the shank, and connected to the control unit. In response to a severing of the shank and the sensor inserted therein, the control unit is operative to activate the communications means to emit an alarm signal.

In a mobile communicating system, a mobile terminal has a position information detecting unit for detecting position information, a position information transmitting unit for transmitting the position information to an information center, an up-load data transmitting unit for transmitting up-load data to the information center and an information / service utilizing unit for utilizing information / service from the information center, whereas the information center has an accumulating unit for accumulating information / services, a retrieving unit for receiving the position information from the mobile terminal to retrieve the information / services in the accumulating unit, an accumulation controlling unit for accumulating the up-load data in the accumulating unit, and an information / service transmitting unit for taking out the information / service retrieved by the retrieving unit from the accumulating unit and transmitting it to the mobile terminal, thereby providing not only map information showing the current position of the mobile terminal but also information of facilities on the map to the mobile terminal.

This invention is directed to a novel method and composition for the treatment of diabetes mellitus (Type I, Impaired Glucose Tolerance ["IGT"]and Type II). More specifically, this invention pertains to a novel method of treating diabetes mellitus by incorporating a therapeutic amount of one or more insulin sensitizers along with one or more of an orally ingested insulin, an injected insulin, a sulfonylurea, a biguanide or an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

An object management method and apparatus for a device having a touchscreen is provided for handling objects displayed on the screen with diverse multi-touch gestures. An object management method for a touchscreen-enabled device according to the present invention includes the sensing and identification of picking up at least one object displayed on the touchscreen in response to a first type multi-touch input and releasing the at least one object on the another portion of the touchscreen, or a different area or a different display on the touchscreen, in response to a second type multi-touch input. The invention includes release to the touchscreen of another device that is in wireless communication with the device having the picked up object.

A method includes polling a first plurality of one-hop gateway serves for available bandwidth and available number of CPU cycles for each respective one-hop gateway server, receiving a request to provide data to a media sink in a desired format, determining a bandwidth requirement and an estimated number of CPU cycles required for servicing the media sink, determining a second plurality of one-hop gateway servers having an available bandwidth greater or equal to the bandwidth requirement and an available number of CPU cycles greater or equal to the estimated number of CPU cycles, determining a one-hop gateway server from the second plurality of one-hop gateway servers appropriate for providing the data to the media sink and configured to receive data in a second format, and transcoding the data from a first format to the second format. An example gateway server and a computer program product usable therewith are also provided.

A method for making a bonded nonwoven fibrous web comprising 1) providing a nonwoven fibrous web that comprises oriented semicrystalline polymeric fibers, and 2) subjecting the web to a controlled heating and quenching operation that includes a) forcefully passing through the web a fluid heated to at least the onset melting temperature of said polymeric material for a time too short to wholly melt the fibers, and b) immediately quenching the web by forcefully passing through the web a fluid at a temperature at least 50° C. less than the Nominal Melting Point of the material of the fibers. The fibers of the treated web generally have i) an amorphous-characterized phase that exhibits repeatable softening (making the fibers softenable) and ii) a crystallite-characterized phase that reinforces the fiber structure during softening of the amorphous-characterized phase, whereby the fibers may be autogenously bonded while retaining orientation and fiber structure. Apparatus for carrying out the method can comprise 1) a conveyor for conveying a web to be treated, 2) a heater mounted adjacent a first side of the conveyor and comprising a) a chamber having a wall that faces the web, b) one or more conduits through which a heated gas can be introduced into the chamber under pressure and c) a slot in said chamber wall through which heated gas flows from the chamber onto a web on the conveyor, 3) a source of quenching gas downweb from the heater on the first side of the conveyor, the quenching gas having a temperature substantially less than that of the heated gas, 4) gas-withdrawal mean disposed on the second side of the conveyor opposite from the heater, the gas-withdrawal means having a portion in alignment with the slot so as to draw heated gas from the slot through the web and also a portion downweb from the slot in alignment with the source of quenching gas so as to draw the quenching gas through the web to quench the web. Flow restrictor means is preferably disposed on the second side of the conveyor in the path of at least one of the heated gas and the quenching gas so as to even the distribution of the gas through the web.

According to one or more embodiments of the present invention, a network cache intercepts data requested by a client from a remote server interconnected with the cache through one or more wide area network (WAN) links (e.g., for Wide Area File Services, or “WAFS”). The network cache stores the data and sends the data to the client. The cache may then intercept a first write request for the data from the client to the remote server, and determine one or more portions of the data in the write request that changed from the data stored at the cache (e.g., according to one or more hashes created based on the data). The network cache then sends a second write request for only the changed portions of the data to the remote server.

A system and techniques for performing deposition having a tapered horizontal growth chamber which includes a susceptor and a tapered channel flow block. A tapered chamber is formed between the susceptor and the tapered channel flow block. Gaseous species introduced are forced by the tapered channel block to flow toward the susceptor to enhance the efficiency of reactions between the gases species and a wafer on the susceptor.

A method and system configured for managing and controlling one or more on-demand servers in order to ingest content files, set-up on-demand sessions at a subscriber request and record status information about the on-demand streams in the operational framework of an on demand service operator (ODSO) with and without the support of the Business Management System (BMS) platform to provide video-on-demand (VOD), subscription video on demand (SVOD), television on demand (TOD), and audio on demand (AOD) services by streaming content to on-demand to a customer. The method can be implemented as software running on an application server with a a web application GUI, a CORBA-based interface to the BMS, a SOAP-based interface to the VOD server, and a set of internal services that glue the other components together on top of an Oracle database all configured to managing and controlling one or more on-demand servers.

A biometric identification system directed toward use of dual-band visual-infrared imaging with appropriate techniques for integrating the analysis of both images to distinguish less reliable from more reliable image components, so as to generate a composite image comprised of layers. Correlation and analysis of the composite layers enables improved reliability in identification. The method and apparatus of the invention provide for efficient and optimized use of dual-band imaging for biometric identification of faces, fingerprints, palm and hand prints, sweat pore patterns, wrist veins, and other anatomical features of humans and animals. One embodiment includes the addition of a thermal infrared camera to a visual facial recognition system, with the IR image used to determine that the subject is alive and locate any features which are disguised. Another embodiment adds a visual camera to a thermal infrared facial recognition system, with areas of the visual image used to add colors and to fill-in behind eyeglasses which block the thermal infrared signature.

Methods and devices are shown for improving an existing route between a first node and a second node in a first ad-hoc network that includes a plurality of nodes, the method and devices selecting based on a predetermined performance criterion or criteria one of a plurality of candidate routes between the first node and the second node, wherein each candidate route includes at least one inter-node link that is not included within the first ad-hoc network and at least one candidate route including multiple inter-node links; initializing, via the existing route, the use of the inter-node links of the selected candidate route; and switching from using the existing route to using the candidate route.

A method and system for streaming software applications to a client uses an application server having a library with the application files stored therein. A streaming manager is configured to send the application files to a client as a plurality of streamlets, each streamlet corresponding to a particular data block in a respective application file. A streaming prediction engine is provided to identify at least one streamlet which is predicted to be most appropriate to send to a given client at a particular time in accordance with a prediction model reflecting the manner in which the application files are loaded and used by the application. In the preferred implementation, the application files are preprocessed and stored as a set of compressed streamlets, each of which corresponds to a file data block having a size equal to a code page size, such as 4k, used during file reads by an operating system expected to be present on a client system. In addition, the server is configured to send a startup block to a new streaming client containing a file structure specification of the application files and a set of streamlets comprising at least those streamlets containing the portions of the application required to enable execution of the application to be initiated.

Multiple memory channels of a multi-channel memory architecture are effectively bridged together to enable data traffic associated with various nodes in daisy chain arrangement to be communicated over both memory channels. For example, a daisy chain arrangement of nodes, such as FB-DIMM memory modules disposed in a first memory channel may be coupled to a second memory channel, with support for communicating data associated with one of the nodes over either or both of the first and second memory channels.

The present invention relates to a method for producing plants with improved agronomic and nutritional traits. Such traits include enhanced nitrogen assimilatory and utilization capacities, faster and more vigorous growth, greater vegetative and reproductive yields, and enriched or altered nitrogen content in vegetative and reproductive parts. More particularly, the invention relates to the engineering of plants modified to have altered expression of key enzymes in the nitrogen assimilation and utilization pathways. In one embodiment of the present invention, the desired altered expression is accomplished by engineering the plant for ectopic overexpression of one of more the native or modified nitrogen assimilatory enzymes. The invention also has a number of other embodiments, all of which are disclosed herein.

A protective article formed of a laminate between at least a layer of a liquid-impermeable, vapor-permeable barrier, and at least a layer of a stretchable or elastomeric, nonwoven fiber web is described. The barrier is reinforced at least on one side by the nonwoven fiber web, which remains elastic after being bonded to the barrier layer. The elasticity of both barrier and bonded fiber layers simulate the flexibility of natural or synthetic latex or other polymer films. The nonwoven fiber web includes at least about 75% of individual fibers with a length of over about 1 mm, and the fibers are substantially continuous. A second nonwoven web, a second barrier layer, or both may be attached to the exterior side of the breathable barrier. An elastomeric material coating, such as either a nature or synthetic latex or other polymers, may be applied over at least a portion of the article to provide for additional protection.

Thermoplastic bicomponent binder fiber can be combined with other media, fibers and other filtration components to form a thermally bonded filtration media. The filtration media can be used in filter units, such as breather caps. Such filter units can be placed in the stream of a mobile fluid and can remove a particulate and / or fluid mist load from the mobile stream. The unique combination of media fiber, bicomponent binder fiber and other filtration additives and components provide a filtration media having unique properties in filtration applications.

A technique for communicating multimedia data between nodes over coaxial cable, wherein the nodes are connected via a coaxial cable network, is disclosed. In an embodiment, the technique involves establishing a primary channel for communicating between first and second nodes of the coaxial cable network, establishing a secondary channel for communicating between the first and second nodes of the coaxial cable network, wherein the primary and secondary channels are in different frequency bands and wherein the primary channel is used for communicating media access control frames, and communicating a time series of data frames between the first and second nodes using both the primary channel and the secondary channel.

A method and an apparatus for collecting and displaying real-time utility consumption data and an estimate of utility costs from various utility metering modules upon request by the consumer within the comfort of their own home or business. According to one aspect of the invention, a utility display module is in communication with a utility end point device that monitors and displays consumption of a utility (water, gas, and / or electricity). The source of the data received by the module may be generated by utility meter transmitters that are attached to the various utility delivery end points or meters. In a related embodiment, a repeater may be used with a battery powered energy display module to make the module transportable.

A method of and system for creating an organization risk matrix and an organization value matrix and using said matrices to support the optimization of one or more aspects of organization risk and value.

A system for facilitating pipeline management, software, and methods are provided. The system includes a pipeline company computer positioned at a pipeline company site to define a pipeline company server, having a processor, memory coupled to the processor to store software and database records therein, a graphical display coupled to the processor for displaying graphical images and a user interface coupled to the processor to provide a user access to manipulate the software and database records, and pipeline information management analyzing software to analyze pipeline management requirements. The system also includes an area network in communication with the server, a remote user computer in communication with the area network, positioned remote from the server at remote site, and positioned to access the pipeline information management analyzing software, and a portable user computer adapted to interface with the area network to access the pipeline information management analyzing software to provide the field user access to the server database.

The present invention provides a network multithreaded processor, such as a network processor, including a thread interleaver that implements fine-grained thread decisions to avoid underutilization of instruction execution resources in spite of large communication latencies. In an upper pipeline, an instruction unit determines an instruction fetch sequence responsive to an instruction queue depth on a per thread basis. In a lower pipeline, a thread interleaver determines a thread interleave sequence responsive to thread conditions including thread latency conditions. The thread interleaver selects threads using a two-level round robin arbitration. Thread latency signals are active responsive to thread latencies such as thread stalls, cache misses, and interlocks. During the subsequent one or more clock cycles, the thread is ineligible for arbitration. In one embodiment, other thread conditions affect selection decisions such as local priority, global stalls, and late stalls.

A system and method for identifying and establishing preferred modalities or channels for communications based on participants' preferences and capabilities is provided. In one approach, the system attempts to optimize the inferred or directly accessed preferences of a contactee given the accessed or inferred preferences, capabilities and goals of the contactor while keeping the rationale and context of the contactee private. Such optimization can be achieved using preferences and policies concerning handling the attempted contact based on a deterministic specification or through inferring context, content and task under uncertainty by employing decision-theoretic inferences to attempt to maximize the expected utility of the communication to the contactee. The methods may include a consideration of metadata within a standard schema that is transmitted along with a communication attempt, representing information about such attributes as the identity of the contactor, the task at hand, the overall context of the contactor, and the communication capabilities available to the contactor. The invocation of the communication service may be performed in a variety of ways, including single button invocations, and via a communication service that is more deeply integrated with other applications and functionalities. The service can also include automated rescheduling of communications based on a consideration of forecasts of availability of both the contactor and contactee.

The present system and associated method resolve the problem of providing statistical performance guarantees for applications generating streams of read / write accesses (I / Os) on a shared, potentially distributed storage system of finite resources, by initiating throttling whenever an I / O stream is receiving insufficient resources. The severity of throttling is determined in a dynamic, adaptive way at the storage subsystem level. Global, real-time knowledge about I / O streams is used to apply controls to guarantee quality of service to all I / O streams, providing dynamic control rather than reservation of bandwidth or other resources when an I / O stream is created that will always be applied to that I / O stream. The present system throttles at control points to distribute resources that are not co-located with the control point. A competition model is used with service time estimators in addition to estimated workload characteristics to determine which I / O needs to be throttled and the level of throttling required. A decision point issues throttling commands to enforcement points and selects which streams, and to what extent, need to be throttled.

A wrist-watch mobile phone device which is recharged by body temperature to prevent from signal interruption includes a wrist-watch mobile phone unit which is applied in a cellular wireless communication system, and a wrist band which is assembled with the wrist-watch mobile phone unit. The mobile phone unit includes a housing which is provided with wrist-band installation members and a cover which is pivoted at the housing and can be flipped open freely. A rear side of the housing that is in contact with a human arm is embedded with thermoelectric power generating chips to recharge a primary battery of the mobile phone at any time by body temperature of the arm. In addition, a surface or a part of the cover is provided with an independent system of a quartz-core watch to facilitate reading time.

An integrated semiconductor circuit has a regular array of logic function blocks (L) and a regular array of wiring zones (X) corresponding thereto. The wiring lines in at least one wiring layer of a wiring zone (X) are realized as line segments that are continuous within the wiring zone and are interrupted at zone boundaries. Furthermore, the semiconductor circuit comprises driver cells that surround a logic cell of the logic function block in an L-shaped manner.

An apparatus and method for facilitating locating, tracking and managing of hospital assets, patients and hospital personnel within a healthcare facility, providing one or more signal detecting devices configured in locations within a healthcare facility, providing associated patient RFID tags which may be sensed as the patient moves within the range of a signal detecting device, where one or more zones of detection within the healthcare facility are configured to correspond with hospital units, and where the information may be collected and used in real-time to manage patients, assets and staff through the collection of location and dwell times, and alerting and reporting of events associated with the collected information.

Storage gateway provisioning, configuration, and management functions provide mechanisms to specify and manage parameters and operations associated with storage gateways. The parameters may include any combination of VLAN topology, zoning behavior, LUN masking, bandwidth, and priority. The parameters may also include path information describing initiator to target associations, enabling load-balancing aggregations and multipathing redundancy. Parameters may be specified at relatively low-levels, describing specific HW elements, or may be specified at relatively high-levels, describing desired bandwidth and redundancy requirements, with SW determining low-level HW assignments. Configuration and management functions enable dynamic modification of storage gateway parameters (such as bandwidth between selected initiator and target pairs). Management functions also enable dynamic switchover from a primary path to a secondary path with respect to a storage device.

The present specification provides for methods for purifying fibroins, purified fibroins, methods of conjugating biological and synthetic molecules to fibroins, fibroins conjugated to such molecules, methods of making fibroin hydrogels, fibroin hydrogels and fibroin hydrogel formulations useful for a variety of medical uses, including, without limitation uses as bulking agents, tissue space fillers, templates for tissue reconstruction or regeneration, cell culture scaffolds for tissue engineering and for disease models, surface coating to improve medical device function, or drug delivery devices.

A finger guide device that positions a finger (or minutiae containing digit) of a human subject on a fingerprint sensor in a manner optimal for the data capture operation of authentication or identification of said subject wherein a relevant portion of the finger is in alignment with a sensor or scanner. Authentication or identification takes place by fingerprint matching. The finger guide device may also be used for enrollment of the initial fingerprint data into the system through one or more readings of the fingerprint and translation into a template for future comparison matching. The finger guide device may also serve to provide temperature or temperature equivalent tactile feedback or other forms of feedback to a user. The finger guide device may also contain an outer surface ridge which feels somewhat uncomfortable due to application of a high pressure per square inch on small areas of the finger when the finger is incorrectly positioned to encourage correct placement of the finger, which is more comfortable. The finger guide device may have a curved inside surface to contour to a wide variety of fingertip shapes and sizes, wherein the sides and front have shorter radii of curvature than the rearward portion of the finger guide device. The front of the finger guide device may have sufficient steepness of its sides and shortness of radius of curvature in order to serve as a stop positioning the tip of the finger approximately between 0.20 and 0.90 inch ahead of the center of the sensor. This is an ideal position to enroll and later to authenticate or identify a subject user. The finger guide device material or surface may be electrically conductive and thereby serve as a means to transmit a driver signal to the finger tissue to facilitate the improved use of capacitive or other types of electronic or electromagnetically operated fingerprint sensors requiring this electrical potential sensing means. Additional tactile enhancements such as twin positioning bumps or Braille or audio or mechanical motion or visual marking or indicator light feedback may be added within the finger guide device if desired. The level of the fingerprint sensor or scanner may be raised or lowered as an additional enhancement to alter the data capture characteristics. The finger guide device may be used in communication with electromechanical devices to serve the additional purpose of functioning as a switch or pointing device.