Author: claimsbot

1. A node system of a high-availability cluster, the node system comprising:
a first register configured to store multi-state status data of the node; and
an output port configured to send signals representing the multi-state status data of the node,
wherein the multi-state status data of the node includes at least one degraded state.
2. The node system of claim 1, further comprising:
an input port configured to receive signals representing multi-state status data of another node;
a second register configured to store the multi-state status data from the other node,
wherein the multi-state status data of the other node includes at least one degraded state.
3. The node system of claim 2, wherein the multi-state status data of the other node further includes a no signal state.
4. The node system of claim 1, wherein the multi-state status data of the node includes multiple levels of degradation.
5. The node system of claim 3, wherein the multi-state status data of the other node includes multiple levels of degradation.
6. The node system of claim 2, wherein the input and output ports each couple to a point-to-point communication path for communicating the status data between nodes of the cluster.
7. The node system of 1, further comprising a rule file and an operating system, wherein the operating system applies rules from the rule file to determine the multi-state status of the node.
8. The node system of claim 7, wherein the rules includes a rule such that receipt of a critical chassis code results in a bad state and another rule such that receipt of a chassis code below critical results in a degraded state.
9. A method of status reporting for a node of a cluster, the method comprising applying a set of rules to determine current multi-state status of the node, wherein states of the multi-state status includes a good state, a bad state, and at least one degraded state.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
writing the multi-state status of the node to a first register.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:
driving the multi-state status from the first register to a next node via a point-to-point communications path.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
receiving multi-state status from another node; and
writing the multi-state status from the other node to a second register.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
reading the statuses from the first and second registers; and
taking action to maintain high availability of the cluster based on the statuses read.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the status writable into the second register includes a no signal state.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein the multi-state status of the node includes multiple levels of degradation.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the multi-state status from the other node includes multiple levels of degradation.
17. The method of claim 9, wherein the set of rules includes a rule such that receipt of a chassis code of a critical level results in the bad state and another rule such that receipt of a chassis code of a level below critical results in a degraded state.
18. An apparatus for reporting status from a node of a cluster, the apparatus comprising:
a processor for executing instructions;
memory for holding data;
system interconnect to provide intercommunication between components of the apparatus;
a software module that is configured to apply a set of rules to determine current multi-state status of the node; and
signaling hardware configured to output the multi-state status of the node,
wherein states of the multi-state status includes a good state, a bad state, and at least one degraded state.
19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the signaling hardware is further configured to receive as input the multi-state status from another node of the cluster.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the multi-state status includes multiple levels of degradation.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1-23. (canceled)
24. A method of rendering a path, suitable for use in a device having graphics processing capabilities, wherein the path comprises at least two straight lines and at least one join connecting two of the at least two straight lines, comprising:
determining a mask associated with a stroke of the path;
rendering the path by filling the mask;
representing the mask by a plurality of triangles, wherein each of the at least two straight lines are represented by two triangles and the triangles representing two straight lines connected by one join are non-overlapping; and
creating the mask based on the plurality of triangles.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein each of the at least one join are represented by at most one triangle and the triangles representing two straight lines connected by one join and the at most one triangle representing the one join are non-overlapping.
26. The method of claim 24, wherein each of the plurality of triangles share at least two vertices with another one of the plurality of triangles.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein each of the plurality of triangles, except triangles representing an end of a straight line that is not connected to another straight line, share two first vertices with a first other one of the plurality of triangles and share two second vertices with a second other one of the plurality of triangles, at least one of the two second vertices being different from the two first vertices.
28. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of representing the mask by a plurality of triangles comprises:
associating each of the at least two straight lines with a quadrangle, wherein the shape of the quadrangle is defined by at least a starting point and an ending point of the associated straight line, a stroke width, and a join shape; and
dividing each of the quadrangles into two triangles with a straight line between two opposing vertices of the quadrangle.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the join shape is a mitre join, and no triangle is used to represent the at least one join.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein the join shape is a bevel join, and one triangle is used to represent each of the at least one join.
31. The method of claim 24, further comprising defining the plurality of triangles as a sequence of vertices, and wherein the step of creating a mask based on the plurality of triangles comprises creating the mask based on the sequence of vertices.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein the plurality of triangles comprises m triangles and the sequence of vertices comprises m+2 vertices.
33. The method of claim 31, wherein each of the vertices appears only once in the sequence of vertices.
34. The method of claim 24, further comprising:
post-processing at least one of the at least one joins with a join shape stamp, and wherein the step of creating the mask further comprises creating the mask based on the join shape stamp.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the join shape stamp comprises a join stamp triangle, and wherein creating the mask based on the join shape stamp comprises creating the mask based on an arc between two of the vertices of the join stamp triangle.
36. The method of claim 34, wherein the join shape stamp andor cap shape stamp is a semi-circular shape stamp.
37. The method of claim 24, further comprising:
post-processing at least one of an end of a straight line that is not connected to another straight line with a cap shape stamp and wherein the step of creating the mask further comprises creating the mask based on the cap shape stamp.
38. The method of claim 37, wherein the cap shape stamp comprises first, second and third cap stamp triangles, and wherein creating the mask based on the cap shape stamp comprises creating the mask based on the third cap stamp triangle, on a first arc between two of the vertices of the first cap stamp triangle, and on a second arc between two of the vertices of the second cap stamp triangle.
39. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium, having stored thereon a computer program comprising program instructions, the computer program being loadable in to a data-processing unit and adapted to cause the data-processing unit to render a path, suitable for use in a device having graphics processing capabilities, wherein the path comprises at least two straight lines and at least one join connecting two of the at least two straight lines, and wherein the computer program comprises program instructions to:
determine a mask associated with a stroke of the path;
render the path by filling the mask;
represent the mask by a plurality of triangles, wherein each of the at least two straight lines are represented by two triangles and the triangles representing two straight lines connected by one join are non-overlapping; and
create the mask based on the plurality of triangles.
40. An arrangement for rendering a path, wherein the path comprises at least two straight lines and at least one join connecting two of the at least two straight lines, and wherein the arrangement comprises at least one computational unit adapted to:
determine a mask associated with a stroke of the path;
render the path by filling the mask;
represent the mask by a plurality of triangles, wherein each of the at least two straight lines are represented by two triangles and the triangles representing two straight lines connected by one join are non-overlapping; and
create the mask based on the plurality of triangles.
41. The arrangement of claim 40, wherein the at least one computational unit comprises:
a central processing unit adapted to determine the mask and represent the mask by the plurality of triangles; and
a graphics processing unit adapted to create the mask based on the plurality of triangles and render the path by filling the mask.
42. The arrangement of claim 41, wherein the central processing unit is further adapted to define the plurality of triangles as a sequence of vertices and forward the sequence of vertices to the graphics processing unit, and wherein the graphics processing unit is adapted to create the mask based on the sequence of vertices.
43. The arrangement of claim 41, wherein the central processing unit is further adapted to post-process at least one of the at least one joins with a join shape stamp and forward parameters defining the join shape stamp to the graphics processing unit.
44. The arrangement of claim 43, wherein the graphics processing unit is further adapted to create the mask based on the parameters defining the join shape stamp andor the cap shape stamp.
45. The arrangement of claim 41, wherein the central processing unit is further adapted to post-process at least one of an end of a straight line that is not connected to another straight line with a cap shape stamp and forward parameters defining the cap shape stamp to the graphics processing unit.

1. A process comprising:
a) introducing in a reactor a stream (A) comprising ethanol, optionally water, and optionally an inert component,
b) contacting said stream (A) with an acidic catalyst in said reactor at conditions effective to dehydrate at least a portion of the alcohol to make a corresponding olefin having the same number of carbon atoms as the alcohol,
c) recovering from said reactor a stream (B) comprising the olefin, water and optionally the inert component and unconverted alcohol,
d) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional unconverted alcohol and recycling said optional unconverted alcohol to the reactor of step a),
e) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional inert component, the water and the olefin, and optionally recycling said optional inert component and optionally a part of the water to the reactor of step a),
wherein:
f) introducing a component comprising a nitrile in stream (A) or directly in the reactor wherein the nitrile is in the amount ranging from 0.01 wppm to 10 wppm relative to the ethanol and is capable to neutralize a part of the catalyst active site; and
g) optionally the temperature of the reactor is adjusted to increase the alcohol conversion, the olefin yield, or both.
2. A process comprising:
a) introducing in a reactor a stream (A) comprising ethanol, optionally water, optionally an inert component
b) contacting said stream (A) with an acidic catalyst in said reactor at conditions effective to dehydrate at least a portion of the alcohol to make a corresponding olefin having the same number of carbon atoms as the alcohol,
c) recovering from said reactor a stream (B) comprising the olefin, water and optionally the inert component and unconverted alcohol,
d) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional unconverted alcohol and recycling said optional unconverted alcohol to the reactor of step a),
e) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional inert component, the water and the olefin, and optionally recycling said optional inert component and optionally a part of the water to the reactor of step a),
wherein:
f) introducing a component comprising nitrile in stream (A) or directly in the reactor wherein the component comprising nitrile is in the amount ranging from 0.01 wppm to 10 wppm relative to the ethanol and is capable to neutralize a part of the catalyst active site; and
g) optionally the temperature of the reactor is adjusted to increase the alcohol conversion, the olefin yield, or both.
3. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the catalyst is selected among:
a crystalline silicate zeolite having a ratio SiA1 higher than 10,
a dealuminated crystalline silicate zeolite,
a phosphorous modified zeolite,
silica-alumina,
alumina,
silicated, titanated, zirconated or fluorinated alumina
or silico-aluminophosphates.
4. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein a part of the component introduced at step f) is already contained in the stream (A).
5. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein all the component introduced at step f) is already contained in the stream (A).
6. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting of ammonia, organic ammonium salts, hydrazine, amines, amides, imines, di-imines, imides, cyanates, isocyanates, nitrites and nitroso compounds.
7. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting of aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic esters.
8. The process according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting of thiols, sulphides and disulfides.
9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting of pyridines, pyrrols, pyrrolydones and pyrrolidines.
10. The process of claim 1, wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting ammonia, organic ammonium salts, hydrazine, amides, imines, di-imines, imides, cyanates, isocyanates, nitrites, nitroso compounds, carboxylic esters, and thiols, disulfides.
11. The process of claim 1, wherein the component injected at step f) additionally comprises at least one from the group consisting ammonia, organic ammonium salts, hydrazine, amides, imines, di-imines, imides, cyanates, isocyanates, nitrites, and nitroso compounds.
12. The process of claim 1, wherein the stream (B) is fractionated to recover the unconverted alcohol, and the unconverted alcohol is recycled to the reactor of step a).
13. The process of claim 1, wherein the stream (B) is fractionated to recover the water and the olefin, and wherein a part of the water is recycled to the reactor of step a).
14. The process of claim 1, wherein the ethanol is a single alcohol introduced to the reactor.
15. The process of claim 1, wherein the temperature of the reactor is adjusted to increase the alcohol conversion, the olefin yield, or both.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein the temperature of the reactor is adjusted by increasing the temperature by an amount ranging from 5 to 50\xb0 C.
17. The process according to claim 1, wherein the catalyst is a dealuminated crystalline silicate zeolite.
18. The process according to claim 1, wherein the catalyst is a phosphorous modified zeolite made by a process comprising:
selecting a zeolite among the H+ and NH4+ form of MFI, MEL, FER, MOR, clinoptilolite, MWW, TON, EUO, MFS and ZSM-48, wherein the selected zeolite has a SiA1 ratio of 100 or lower;
steaming the selected zeolite at a temperature ranging from 400 to 870\xb0 C. for from 0.01-200 h;
leaching the steamed zeolite with an aqueous acid solution at conditions effective to remove a substantial part of Al from the steamed zeolite;
introducing phosphorous with an aqueous solution containing the source of phosphorous at conditions effective to introduce advantageously at least 0.05 wt % of the phosphorous;
separation of solid from liquid;
an optional washing step, an optional drying step, or an optional drying step followed by a washing step; and
a calcination step.
19. A process comprising:
a) introducing in a reactor a stream (A) comprising ethanol, optionally water, optionally an inert component,
b) contacting said stream (A) with an acidic catalyst in said reactor at conditions effective to dehydrate at least a portion of the alcohol to make a corresponding olefin having the same number of carbon atoms as the alcohol,
c) recovering from said reactor a stream (B) comprising the olefin, water and optionally the inert component and unconverted alcohol,
d) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional unconverted alcohol and recycling said optional unconverted alcohol to the reactor of step a),
e) optionally fractionating the stream (B) to recover the optional inert component, the water and the olefin, and optionally recycling said optional inert component and optionally a part of the water to the reactor of step a),
wherein:
f) introducing a component comprising nitrile in stream (A) or directly in the reactor wherein the component comprising nitrile is in the amount ranging from 0.01 wppm to 10 wppm relative to the ethanol and is capable to neutralize a part of the catalyst active site; and
g) optionally the temperature of the reactor is adjusted to increase the alcohol conversion, the olefin yield, or both;
and wherein the component introduced at step f) further comprises at least one from the group consisting of hydrazine, amines, amides, imines, di-imines, imides, cyanates, isocyanates, nitrites and nitroso compounds;
or selected from the group consisting of aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic esters;
or selected from the group consisting of thiols, sulphides and disulfides.
20. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by
blending the component with the stream (A).
21. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by blending the component with a part of the stream (A) which is subsequently introduced in the reactor with a remaining part of the stream (A).
22. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by blending the component with the inert component which is subsequently introduced in the reactor with the stream (A).
23. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by blending the component with the water which is subsequently introduced in the reactor with the stream (A).
24. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by blending the component with a stream that is recycled back to the reactor comprising the unconverted alcohol, the water or the inert component.
25. The process according to claim 19, wherein the component introduced at step f) is introduced by blending an alcohol feedstock that is substantially free of the component with an alcohol feedstock containing the component.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for purifying a contaminated solution, the method comprising:
receiving, via a contaminated solution feed, a contaminated solution, the contaminated solution including a greater concentration of undesired ions than desired ions and an untreated ratio of undesired ions to desired ions;
mixing the contaminated solution with an ion exchange purifying material having a higher affinity for the desired ions than the undesired ions;
removing the undesired ions from the contaminated solution by co-currently transporting the ion exchange purifying material with the contaminated solution so as to produce partially loaded ion exchange purifying material and a product solution that includes a treated ratio of undesired ions to desired ions, wherein the treated ratio is less than the untreated ratio, and wherein the co-currently transporting is limited to a transit time controlled so as to achieve only partial loading of the ion exchange purifying material, whereby loading of the undesired ions onto the ion exchange purifying material is greater than loading of desired ions onto the ion exchange purifying material;
separating the partially loaded ion exchange purifying material from the product solution;
discharging the product solution;
counter-currently mixing the partially loaded ion exchange purifying material with fresh regenerant so as to produce spent regenerant and ion exchange purifying material that is regenerated; and
transporting the ion exchange purifying material that has been regenerated in the direction of the contaminated solution feed to enable the receiving, the mixing, the removing, the separating, the discharging, and the counter-currently mixing to be continuously repeated.
2. The method of claim 1, including:
introducing rinse solution with the fresh regenerant and the ion exchange purifying material that is regenerated, wherein the rinse solution that is introduced is split into a rinse solution stream and a transport rinse solution, the rinse solution stream flows in the direction of the fresh regenerant and the transport rinse solution flows in the direction of the purifying material that is regenerated.
3. The method of claim 2, including:
discharging the spent regenerant at a rate that is the same as a flow rate of the fresh regenerant plus the fraction of the rinse solution that flows in the direction of the fresh regenerant.
4. The method of claim 3, including:
controlling a fraction of the rinse solution that reports to the transport rinse solution by controlling a resistance to the transporting of the purifying material.
5. A method for selectively removing contaminants from liquid using a continuously circulating stream of purifying media, the method including:
mixing a regenerated ion exchange purifying media, in a predetermined stoichiometric ratio, with a contaminated liquid containing at least desired contaminants and undesired contaminants, a concentration of the undesired contaminants being greater than a concentration of the desired contaminants, the ion exchange purifying media having a higher affinity for the desired contaminants than the undesired contaminants, the contaminated liquid having an untreated ratio of undesired ions to desired ions;
a. co-currently transporting the ion exchange purifying media and the contaminated liquid in a mixed state for a predetermined time;
b. removing, using the ion exchange purifying media, while co-currently transporting the ion exchange purifying media and the contaminated liquid, contaminants from the contaminated liquid so as to produce a mixture of a decontaminated liquid and a partially contaminated ion exchange purifying media, wherein the decontaminated liquid has a treated ratio of undesired contaminants to desired contaminants that is less than the untreated ratio, and wherein the co-currently transporting is limited to a transit time controlled so as to achieve only partial loading of the ion exchange purifying material, whereby loading of the undesired contaminants onto the ion exchange purifying material is greater than loading of desired contaminants onto the ion exchange purifying media;
c. separating the partially contaminated ion exchange purifying media from the decontaminated liquid;
d. contacting the partially contaminated ion exchange purifying media in counter current fashion with a regenerant solution so as to produce a regenerated ion exchange purifying media; and
e. returning the regenerated ion exchange purifying media to the mixing step, whereby the continuously circulating ion exchange purifying media selectively removes contaminants from the liquid.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined stoichiometric ratio and the predetermined time are selected so as to achieve a desired degree of removal of one or more of the undesired contaminants.
7. The method of claim 5, where the predetermined stoichiometric ratio is achieved by controlling a circulation rate of the ion exchange purifying media.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the circulation rate of the ion exchange purifying media is controlled by a hydrodynamic means and where the mixing, transport, separation and regeneration steps occur in a mixing process volume, a transport process volume, a separation process volume, and a regeneration process volume that are continuously open to each other.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the hydrodynamic means of controlling the circulation rate of ion exchange purifying media is measurement and control of a hydrodynamic pressure difference across the transport process volume and the regeneration process volume.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein measurement of the hydrodynamic pressure difference across the transport process volume and regeneration process volume is accomplished by a means for measuring the pressure differential across an interval of the regeneration process volume, and near an exit point of the regenerated ion exchange purifying media from the regeneration process volume.
11. The method of claim 9, where the hydrodynamic pressure difference across the transport process volume and the regenerator process volume is controlled by a means for adjusting the hydrodynamic resistance of the transport process volume to a flow of the liquid and the ion exchange purifying media.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the contaminated solution and the ion exchange purifying material are mixed in a predetermined stoichiometric ratio achieved by controlling a circulation rate of the ion exchange purifying media.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the counter-currently mixing involves gravity moving the partially loaded ion exchange purifying material down while the fresh regenerant is moved against the force of gravity.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein both the contaminated solution and the ion exchange purifying material are transported co-currently against the force of gravity.
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the untreated ratio of undesirable ions to desirable ions is greater than one.
16. A method comprising the steps of:
co-currently mixing a contaminated solution with an ion exchange purifying material to produce a partially treated solution and partially loaded ion exchange purifying material, the ion exchange purifying material having a higher affinity for the desired ions than for the undesired ions, the partially treated solution having a treated ratio of undesired ions to desired ions, wherein the treated ratio is less than an untreated ratio of undesired ions to desired ions, the co-currently mixing limited to a transit time that prevents full loading of the ion exchange purifying material and enables greater loading of undesired ions onto the ion exchange purifying material than loading of desired ions onto the ion exchange purifying material; and
counter-currently mixing the partially loaded ion exchange purifying material with a regenerant solution thereby regenerating the ion exchange purifying material.
17. The method of claim 16, the step of co-currently mixing is carried out in a reactor, and wherein the transit time is controlled by a volume of the purifying material within the reactor at any given time.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein a loading of the ion exchange purifying material during the co-currently mixing is controlled by a flow rate of the ion exchange purifying material.