Author: claimsbot

1. A system, comprising:
a first computer configured to transmit a load control request to a device associated with an energy consumer; and
a second computer configured to:
receive a notification representative of an override of the load control request; and
determine a penalty to be imposed upon the customer based on the notification received.
2. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes an increased pricing rate for energy consumed by the energy consumer.
3. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes switching the customer from a first billing plan to a second billing plan.
4. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes a predetermined additional cost to be added to a bill.
5. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes an additional cost to be added to a bill, wherein the additional cost increases for each notification received that exceeds a predetermined threshold.
6. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said second computer compares a number of notifications received from the device to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to impose the penalty upon the customer.
7. A system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said second computer determines a list of billing plans that the customer is eligible for based on a number of notifications received.
8. A system, comprising:
a meter for monitoring energy consumed by an energy consumer;
at least one computer configured to:
transmit a load control request to a device associated with the energy consumer;
receive a notification representative of an override of the load control request; and
cause a bill to be generated for the energy consumed at least partially based on the notification received.
9. A system in accordance with claim 8, wherein said at least one computer determines a penalty to be imposed upon the customer based on the notification received.
10. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes an increased pricing rate for energy consumed by the energy consumer.
11. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes switching the customer from a first billing plan to a second billing plan.
12. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes a predetermined additional cost to be added to the bill.
13. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the penalty to be imposed upon the customer includes an additional cost to be added to the bill, wherein the additional cost increases for each notification received that exceeds a predetermined threshold.
14. A system in accordance with claim 9, wherein said at least one computer compares a number of notifications received from the device to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to impose the penalty upon the customer.
15. A method for generating a bill, said method comprising:
receiving a measurement representative of energy consumed by an energy consumer;
transmitting a load control request to a device associated with the energy consumer;
receiving a notification representative of an override of the load control request; and
generating a bill for energy consumed based on the measurement and the notification received.
16. A method in accordance with claim 15, further comprising determining a penalty to be imposed upon the customer based on the notification received.
17. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein determining a penalty to be imposed upon the customer comprises determining an increased pricing rate for energy consumed by the energy consumer.
18. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein determining a penalty to be imposed upon the customer comprises switching the customer from a first billing plan to a second billing plan based on the notification received.
19. A method in accordance with claim 16, wherein determining a penalty to be imposed upon the customer comprises determining an additional cost to be added to the bill based on the notification received.
20. A method in accordance with claim 16, further comprising comparing a number of notifications received from the device to a predetermined threshold to determine whether to impose the penalty upon the customer.

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 pre-filling a hemodialysis apparatus, the method comprising:
providing a hemodialysis apparatus comprising:
a pre-filling liquid source configured to supply a pre-filling liquid,
a dialyzer,
a dialysate side comprising:
a dialysate chamber of the dialyzer, the dialysate chamber comprising a dialyzer membrane,
a dialysate pump configured to pump the pre-filling liquid to the dialysate chamber, and
a waste pump configured to pump the pre-filling liquid away from the dialysate chamber,

a blood side comprising:
an arterial line comprising an arterial line end,
a blood pump,
a blood chamber of the dialyzer, and
a venous line comprising a venous line end, and

a pressure sensor arranged on the dialysate side or on the blood side;

connecting the venous line end directly to the arterial line or connecting the arterial line end directly to the venous line;
pre-filling the arterial line and the venous line with the pre-filling liquid from the pre-filling liquid source by operating the dialysate pump; and
continuously determining a blood-side fluid pressure via the pressure sensor during the pre-filling,
wherein,
the pre-filling is stopped when the blood-side fluid pressure determined by the pressure sensor exceeds or falls below a defined limit pressure, and
the venous line end is not directly connected to the arterial line end.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the pressure sensor is at least one of an arterial pressure sensor arranged along the arterial line and a venous pressure sensor arranged along the venous line.
3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the pre-filling liquid source is a dialysate source, and the method further comprises pumping the pre-filling liquid with the dialysate pump through the dialyzer membrane into the arterial line and into the venous line during the pre-filling.
4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the dialysate pump is coupled to the waste pump so as to form a balancing pump, the hemodialysis apparatus further comprises a separate ultra-filtration pump which is configured to be fluidically parallel to the waste pump, and wherein, during the pre-filling, the ultra-filtration pump is configured to operate in a reverse flow relative to the waste pump.
5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the arterial line comprises an arterial line end, and wherein, during the pre-filling, a pumping rate of the blood pump towards the arterial line end is no higher than a pre-filling pumping rate at which the pre-filling liquid flows through the dialyzer membrane.
6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the hemodialysis apparatus further comprises an air trap arranged along the venous line, the air trap comprising a pre-filling coupling which is configured to connect to the arterial line end during the pre-filling.
7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the hemodialysis apparatus further comprises a venous line clip configured to be actuatable and which is arranged in the venous line between the air trap and the venous line end, and wherein the method further comprises a venting phase comprising:
stopping the pre-filling;
closing the venous line clip; and
operating the blood pump so as to pump the pre-filling liquid from the air trap through the venous line to the blood chamber.
8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein, during the venting phase, a pumping rate of the blood pump is varied at least once by at least 30%.
9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the hemodialysis apparatus further comprises an arterial cannula arranged on the arterial line at the arterial line end and an arterial line clip arranged between the blood chamber and the arterial cannula, and wherein, during the venting phase between the closing of the venous line clip and the opening of the venous line clip, the method further comprises closing and opening the arterial line clip.
10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the blood chamber remains in a vertical orientation during the pre-filling so that the venous line is connected at a bottom of the blood chamber, and the arterial line is connected at a top of the blood chamber.
11. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the pressure sensor is a venous pressure sensor which is arranged at the air trap.
12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the air trap comprises an immersed tube with a tube opening arranged below a liquid level, the immersed tube being connected directly with the blood chamber of the dialyzer via a section of the venous line.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for performing a business transaction including delivering a business message, comprising:
providing in a first transaction the business message to a first workflow process;
transferring the business message from the first workflow process to a second process wherein the transfer is not part of the first transaction;
wherein the business message is transferred to the second process using a protocol; and
wherein transferring the business message to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the workflow process is an instantiated workflow template.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein:
a workflow template is a sequence of one or more tasks derived from a graphical representation of the tasks.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first transaction is an set of one or more operations that can be rolled-back in the event that the first transaction does not complete.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the protocol is one of: 1) ebXML; and 2) RosettaNet.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the business message is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML).
7. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first transaction holds an exclusive lock on a first set of shared resources.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the first workflow process and the second process both execute on the same computing device.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the transfer of the business message is reliable.
10. A method for performing a business transaction including delivering a business message, comprising:
persisting a business message within a first transaction;
providing the business message to an escrow process wherein the providing is not part of the first transaction;
transferring the business message from the escrow process to a second process;
wherein the escrow process transfers the business message to the second process using a protocol; and
wherein transferring the business message from the escrow process to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the workflow process is an instantiated workflow template.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein:
a workflow template is a sequence of one or more tasks derived from a graphical representation of the tasks.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the first transaction is an set of one or more operations that can be rolled-back in the event that the first transaction does not complete.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the protocol is one of: 1) ebXML; and 2) RosettaNet.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the business message is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML).
16. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the first transaction holds an exclusive lock on a first set of shared resources.
17. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the first workflow process and the second process both execute on the same computing device.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein:
the transfer of the business message is reliable.
19. A system for performing a business transaction including delivering a business message, comprising:
a first workflow process to persist the business message within a first transaction;
an escrow process coupled to the first workflow process, the escrow process to accept the business message from the first workflow process wherein the transfer takes place outside of the first transaction;
a second process coupled to the escrow process, the second process to accept the business message from the escrow process using a protocol; and
wherein transferring the business message from the escrow process to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the workflow process is an instantiated workflow template.
21. The system of claim 20 wherein:
a workflow template is a sequence of one or more tasks derived from a graphical representation of the tasks.
22. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the first transaction is an set of one or more operations that can be rolled-back in the event that the first transaction does not complete.
23. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the protocol is one of: 1) ebXML; and 2) RosettaNet.
24. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the business message is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML).
25. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the first transaction holds an exclusive lock on a first set of shared resources.
26. The system of claim 19 wherein:
the first workflow process and the second process both execute on the same computing device.
27. The method of claim 19 wherein:
the transfer of the business message is reliable.
28. A system for performing a business transaction including delivering a business message, comprising:
means for providing in a first transaction the business message to a first workflow process;
means for transferring the business message from the first workflow process to a second process wherein the transfer is not part of the first transaction;
means for wherein the business message is transferred to the second process using a protocol; and
wherein transferring the business message to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates.
29. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the workflow process is an instantiated workflow template.
30. The system of claim 29 wherein:
a workflow template is a sequence of one or more tasks derived from a graphical representation of the tasks.
31. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the first transaction is an set of one or more operations that can be rolled-back in the event that the first transaction does not complete.
32. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the protocol is one of: 1) ebXML; and 2) RosettaNet.
33. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the business message is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML).
34. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the first transaction holds an exclusive lock on a first set of shared resources.
35. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the first workflow process and the second process both execute on the same computing device.
36. The system of claim 28 wherein:
the transfer of the business message is reliable.
37. A machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor cause a system to:
persist a business message within a first transaction;
provide the business message to an escrow process wherein the providing is not part of the first transaction;
transfer the business message from the escrow process to a second process;
wherein the escrow process transfers the business message to the second process using a protocol; and
wherein transferring the business message from the escrow process to the second process will be successful even if the first workflow process abnormally terminates.
38. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the workflow process is an instantiated workflow template.
39. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein:
a workflow template is a sequence of one or more tasks derived from a graphical representation of the tasks.
40. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the first transaction is an set of one or more operations that can be rolled-back in the event that the first transaction does not complete.
41. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the protocol is one of: 1) ebXML; and 2) RosettaNet.
42. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the business message is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML).
43. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the first transaction holds an exclusive lock on a first set of shared resources.
44. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the first workflow process and the second process both execute on the same computing device.
45. The machine readable medium of claim 37 wherein:
the transfer of the business message is reliable.

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 cooking utensil which comprises:
an inner vessel portion;
an outer shell portion having an inside diameter larger than of the inner vessel portion and a height as same as or longer than that of the inner vessel portion, said outer shell portion having a cylindrical shape, wherein said inner vessel portion is inserted into said outer shell portion to form a first layer space;
a second layer which is formed between outer members of bottom of said first layer space and inner member of bottom of said second layer;
a third layer which is formed between outer member of bottom of said second layer and inner member of bottom of said third layer;
a fourth layer which is formed between outer member of bottom of said third layer and inner member of said fourth layer;
a fifth layer which is formed between outer member of bottom of said fourth layer and inner member of bottom of said outer member;
a first diaphragm member and a second diaphragm member;
at least one thermostat wherein said at least one thermostat is situated within said first layer;
at least one heat sensor, wherein said at least one heat sensor comprises of a liquid which is sensitive to heat;
a thermal induction actuator, which selectively closes said first diaphragm member and said second diaphragm member according to temperature of the outer member of bottom of said inner vessel portion;
a plurality of hot air passages, wherein said plurality of hot air passages are formed vertically in a part of the circumference of said outer shell portion; and
a plurality of cool air passages, wherein said pluralities of cool air passages are formed vertically in a part of the circumference of said outer shell portion.