Author: claimsbot

What is claimed is:

1. An isolated and purified Ehrlichia chaffeensis P28 surface protein encoded by a DNA selected from the group consisting of:
(a) isolated DNA which encodes said P28 proteins;
(b) isolated DNA which hybridizes to isolated DNA of (a) above under high stringency conditions consisting of hybridization at 42 C. in the presence of about 50% formamide, a first wash at 65 C. with 2SSC containing 1% SDS and a second wash at 65 C. with 0.1SSC, and which encodes said P28 proteins; and
(c) isolated DNA differing from the isolated DNAs of (a) and (b) above in codon sequence due to the degeneracy of the genetic code, and which encodes said P28 proteins.
2. The isolated and purified P28 protein of claim 1, wherein said DNA is selected from the group consisting of GenBank accession number AF230642 and GenBank accession number AF230643.
3. The isolated and purified P28 protein of claim 1, wherein said DNA consists of a single locus of Ehrlichia chaffeensis encoding said P28 proteins.
4. The isolated and purified P28 protein of claim 3, wherein said locus is a multigene locus of 23 kb length.
5. An isolated and purified P28 protein having an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No. 1, SEQ ID No.2, SEQ ID No. 3, SEQ ID No. 4, SEQ ID No. 5, SEQ ID No. 6, SEQ ID No. 7, SEQ ID No. 8, SEQ ID No. 9, SEQ ID No. 10, SEQ ID No 11, SEQ ID No. 12, SEQ ID No. 13, SEQ ID No. 20 and SEQ ID No. 21.
6. A vaccine against Ehrlichia chaffeensis comprising one or more of the proteins of claim 5.

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. An applicator machine for heating and coating a section of pipeline, the applicator machine comprising:
a frame configured to rotate about a section of pipeline to be heated and coated;
rotating means operable to rotate the frame;
a coating material applicator mounted on the frame and rotatable therewith, and
an induction coil mounted on the frame and rotatable therewith,
wherein the induction coil is configured to heat a section of pipeline adjacent to the induction coil to a coating material application temperature and wherein the coating material applicator is arranged to spray coating material through an aperture through the induction coil.
2. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the coating applicator is arranged to spray a strip of coating material.
3. The applicator machine of claim 2, wherein the coating material applicator comprises a plurality of spray nozzles arranged in an elongate row.
4. The applicator machine of claim 3, wherein the nozzles are directed substantially orthogonal to the axis of rotation of the frame.
5. The applicator machine of claim 3, wherein each nozzle comprises a flat slit arranged to spray coating material in a spray plane fanning out from the flat slit.
6. The applicator machine of claim 5, wherein the flat slit of each nozzle is rotatable.
7. The applicator machine of claim 2, wherein the aperture through the induction coil is elongate in the direction of the strip of coating material.
8. The applicator machine of claim 2, wherein the induction coil is elongate with respect to the axis of rotation of the frame.
9. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the induction coil has a partially cylindrical underside substantially coaxial with the axis of rotation of the frame.
10. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the coating material applicator and the induction heater form a heating and coating arrangement and wherein the applicator machine comprises two heating and coating arrangements each being mounted on substantially diametrically opposite sides of the axis of rotation of the frame.
11. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the machine comprises at least one radiant heater arrangement disposed to heat factory-applied coatings.
12. The applicator machine of claim 11, wherein the or each radiant heater arrangement is circumferentially displaced about the axis of rotation of the frame from the or each coating material applicator and the or each induction heater.
13. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the machine comprises:
an enclosure configured to surround a section of pipeline; and
means for evacuating and collecting waste coating material.
14. The applicator machine of claim 1, wherein the coating material applicator is configured to spray powder coating material, optionally fusion bonded epoxy powder material andor chemically modified polypropylene powder material.
15. A process for heating and coating a section of a pipeline, the process comprising:
disposing a frame configured to rotate about a section of pipeline to be heated and coated;
disposing an induction coil adjacent to the section of pipeline;
directing a coating material applicator to spray coating material to the section of pipeline;
rotating the frame, the induction coil and the coating material applicator as a unit around the section of pipeline while simultaneously supplying alternating electrical power to the induction coil to heat the section of pipeline; and
spraying coating material through an aperture through the induction coil to the section of pipeline.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein the process comprises directing the coating material applicator to spray a strip of coating material through an elongate aperture through the induction coil to the section of pipeline.
17. The process of claim 16, wherein the coating material applicator sprays coating material with a plurality of spray nozzles arranged in an elongate row.
18. The process of claim 17, wherein the nozzles spray coating material in a substantially radial direction with respect to the section of pipeline.
19. The process of claim 15, wherein the induction coil heats a partially cylindrical section of pipeline elongate with respect to a longitudinal axis of the pipeline.
20. The process of claim 15, wherein the process comprises heating factory-applied coating of the section of pipeline with a radiant heater arrangement disposed upon the frame.
21. The process of claim 15, wherein the process comprises evacuating and collecting waste coating material from an enclosure surrounding the section of pipeline.
22. The process of claim 15, wherein the process comprises spraying powder coating material, optionally fusion bonded epoxy powder material andor chemically modified polypropylene powder material.

1. A multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna, comprising:
a fixed member;
a base station antenna;
at least three direction-changeable connectors, of which at least one of the direction-changeable connectors has an end mounted to the fixed member, said one of the direction-changeable connectors providing a function of direction change, each of the direction-changeable connectors having an opposite end coupled to a surface of the base station antenna; and
at least one linear actuator, which has an end coupled to the fixed member and an opposite end carrying an operation rod coupled to an end of the direction-changeable connectors that is not mounted to the fixed member and the base station antenna, whereby a direction-changeable structure of at least three points is formed between the base station antenna and the fixed member for changing direction in at least one orientation, the linear actuator being operable to provide a linear driving force through selective extension and contraction of the operation rod for realizing multi-point driving to vary azimuth angle or tilt angle or both of the base station antenna.
2. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the direction-changeable connector comprises a universal joint.
3. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the direction-changeable connector comprises a ball joint.
4. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the direction-changeable connector comprises a pivotal joint.
5. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the direction-changeable connectors has two ends respectively forming a mounting end and a rotatable end, the rotatable ends being coupled to the surface of the base station antenna, the mounting ends being respectively mounted to the fixed member and the operation rod of the linear actuator.
6. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the direction-changeable connectors has two ends respectively forming a mounting end and a rotatable end, the rotatable end of at least one of the direction-changeable connectors being coupled to the surface of the base station antenna and the mounting end being coupled to the operation rod of the linear actuator, the mounting end of each of the remaining two direction-changeable connectors being coupled to the surface of the base station antenna and the rotatable end being rotatable in a horizontal surface and mounted to the fixed member.
7. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the linear actuator comprises a linear driving bar device driven by a motor.
8. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the linear actuator has an end forming a movable coupling end coupled to the fixed member.
9. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 8, wherein the movable coupling end comprises a universal joint.
10. The multi-point driving device for general-purpose base station antenna as claimed in claim 1, wherein the linear actuator is connected to an antenna controller in order to be controlled by the antenna controller.

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 processing network packets, comprising:
receiving one or more network packet streams at one or more input ports for a network tool optimizer (NTO) device;
using the NTO device to analyze contents of packets within the one or more network packet streams to identify one or more subsets of traffic of interest (TOI) packets;
forwarding the one or more subsets of TOI packets from the NTO device to a cloud server system having one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools; and
receiving packet analysis results at the NTO device from the cloud server system, the packet analysis results being based upon packet processing conducted by the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating packet forwarding rules associated with the one or more subsets of TOI packets, applying the packet forwarding rules to one or more filter engines within the NTO device, and using the one or more filter engines to forward the one or more subsets of TOI packets to the cloud server system.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending the one or more subsets of TOI packets to a cloud offload processor within the NTO device and performing the forwarding and receiving steps using the cloud offload processor.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the one or more subsets of TOI packets with a management platform within the cloud server system, sending the one or more subsets of TOI packets from the management platform to the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, receiving the packet analysis results with the management platform from the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, and sending the packet analysis results from the management platform to the NTO device.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the management platform and the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools comprise virtual machine platforms.
6. The method of claim 4, further comprising analyzing contents of the one or more subsets of TOI packets with the management platform and selecting one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools to receive the one or more subsets of TOI packets based upon the contents.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing an application intelligence processor to identify one or more subsets of TOI packets relating to one or more applications associated with the one or more network packet streams.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing a threat intelligence processor to identify one or more subsets of TOI packets relating to one or more network threats associated with the one or more network packet streams.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the one or more subsets of TOI packets within a capture buffer within the NTO device before forwarding the one or more subsets of TOI packets to the cloud server system.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing the one or more subsets of TOI packets within a replay buffer within the cloud server system and forwarding the one or more subsets of TOI packets from the replay buffer to the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools.
11. The method of claim 1, adjusting operation of the NTO device using the packet analysis results received from the cloud server system.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising operating one or more virtual machine tool analysis platforms within the NTO device based upon the packet analysis results.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more network packet streams are received at a speed of 10 Gigabits per second or faster, and wherein the forwarding and receiving steps are performed at a speed of 50 Megabits per second or less.
14. A network tool optimizer (NTO) device, comprising:
one or more input ports configured to receive one or more network packet streams;
a packet processor configured to receive the one or more network packet streams from the one or more input ports, to identify one or more subsets of traffic of interest (TOI) packets based upon contents of network packets within the one or more network packets streams, and to output the one or more subsets of TOI packets; and
a cloud offload processor configured to receive the one or more subsets of TOI packets, to forward the one or more subsets of TOI packets to a cloud server system including one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, and to receive packet analysis results from the cloud server system, the packet analysis results being based upon packet processing conducted by the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools.
15. The NTO device of claim 14, further comprising a filter processor coupled to the packet processor, the filter processor being configured to generate packet forwarding rules associated with the one or more subsets of TOI packets and to apply the packet forwarding rules to one or more filter engines within the NTO device, the one or more filter engines being configured to use the packet forwarding rules to forward the one or more subsets of TOI packets to the cloud offload processor.
16. The NTO device of claim 14, wherein the offload processor is further configured to communicate the one or more subsets of TOI packets to a management platform within the cloud server system configured and to receive the packet analysis results from the management platform.
17. The NTO device of claim 14, wherein the packet processor comprises at least one of an application intelligence processor configured to identify one or more subsets of TOI packets relating to one or more applications associated with the one or more network packet streams or a threat intelligence processor configured to identify one or more subsets of TOI packets relating to one or more network threats associated with the one or more network packet streams.
18. The NTO device of claim 14, further comprising a capture buffer configured to store the one or more subsets of TOI packets.
19. The NTO device of claim 14, wherein the packet processor is configured to adjust operation of the NTO device based upon the packet analysis results received from the cloud server system.
20. The NTO device of claim 19, wherein the packet processor is further configured to form one or more virtual machine tool analysis platforms within the NTO device based upon the packet analysis results.
21. The NTO device of claim 14, wherein the one or more input ports are configured to receive the one or more network packet streams at a speed of 10 Gigabits per second or faster, and wherein the cloud offload processor is configured to communicate with the cloud server systems at a speed of 50 Megabits per second or less.
22. A packet processing system, comprising:
a network tool optimizer (NTO) device, comprising:
one or more input ports configured to receive one or more network packet streams;
a packet processor configured to receive the one or more network packet streams from the one or more input ports, to identify one or more subsets of traffic of interest (TOI) packets based upon contents of network packets within the one or more network packets streams, and to output the one or more subsets of TOI packets; and
a cloud offload processor configured to receive the one or more subsets of TOI packets, to forward the one or more subsets of TOI packets to a cloud server system including one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, and to receive packet analysis results from the cloud server system, the packet analysis results being based upon packet processing conducted by the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools; and

a management platform within the cloud server system, the management platform being configured to receive the one or more subsets of TOI packets from the cloud offload processor, to communicate with the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, to receive the packet analysis results from the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools, and to communicate the result information to the cloud offload processor.
23. The packet processing system of claim 22, wherein the management platform and the one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools comprise virtual machine platforms.
24. The packet processing system of claim 22, wherein the management platform is further configured to select one or more cloud-based packet analysis tools based upon contents of the one or more subsets of TOI packets.