All The Claims

1. A captive screw installed in a mounting through hole of a first panel frame and adapted and detachably fastenable to a mounting screw hole of a second panel frame to lock said second panel frame to said first panel frame, the captive screw comprising:
a mounting barrel, said mounting barrel comprising a center hole extending through top and bottom ends thereof, a top stop flange extending around the periphery of the top end thereof, a contracted bottom mounting portion axially extended from the bottom end thereof and affixed to the mounting through hole of said first panel frame and an inside step extending around an inside wall thereof inside said center hole;
a lock screw insertable through the center hole of said mounting barrel and detachably fastenable to the mounting screw hole of said second panel frame to lock said second panel frame to said first panel frame, said lock screw comprising a head having opposing top and bottom walls, a threaded shank extended from the bottom wall of said head for fastening to the mounting screw hole of said second panel frame, and a top protrusion raised from the top wall of said head for the positioning of a hand tool to be operated to drive said lock screw into the mounting screw hole of said second panel frame;
a cap-shaped knob molded on the head of said lock screw by insert molding and defining therein a receiving space around said threaded shank of said lock screw and an endless isolation groove on the top wall of said head of said lock screw around the periphery of said top protrusion, said cap-shaped knob comprising a bottom coupling flange suspending in a bottom side of said receiving space and axially slidably coupled to the periphery of said mounting barrel and stoppable at a bottom side of said top stop flange of said mounting barrel; and
a spring member sleeved onto said threaded shank of said lock screw and stopped between the bottom wall of said head of said lock screw and the inside step of said mounting barrel.
2. The captive screw as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cap-shaped knob is made from an insulative material, having an embossed pattern located on the periphery thereof in the form of a series of V-shaped, U-shaped, N-shaped or S-shaped teeth or an array of raised portions.
3. The captive screw as claimed in claim 2, wherein said insulative material is selected from the group consisting of plastics, rubber and acrylic; said cap-shaped knob further comprises a decorative design located on a top wall thereof around said top protrusion of said lock screw, said decorative design comprising a plurality of recessed portions andor raised portions.
4. The captive screw as claimed in claim 1, wherein said lock screw further comprises a hand tool positioning means in one of the forms of keystone groove, crossed groove, hexagonal groove, polygonal groove, keystone rib, crossed rib, hexagonal rib and polygonal rib for the positioning of a hand tool rotatable to drive said lock screw into said mounting screw hole of said second panel frame.

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 fluid conditioning module comprising: a pump and at least one additional conditioning device, wherein the pump generates a fluid cycle of at least one fluid to be conditioned between a fluid sump, the pump and the conditioning device, and wherein the at least one fluid is substantially at rest in the fluid sump.
2. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein the additional conditioning device is at least one of a filter device, a drying device and a heat exchanger device.
3. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein the conditioning module has at least one inlet and one outlet, which both are directly connected to the fluid sump.
4. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 3, wherein at least one seal is provided in at least one of the inlet and the outlet.
5. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein the pump is a micro annular gear pump for a low operating pressure.
6. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein the pump is a miniature gear pump.
7. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 2, wherein the heat exchanger device is a self-sufficient air-cooled fluid heat exchanger with plates and air fins.
8. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 2, wherein the heat exchanger device is a fluid-cooled heat exchanger with plates.
9. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 2, wherein the heat exchanger device is a self-sufficient air-cooled heat exchanger with at least one of flat tubes, air fins and collector tubes.
10. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein an aperture of the inlet to the conditioning module is arranged at a spatially large distance to an aperture of the outlet in the fluid sump.
11. A motor vehicle, comprising: at least one conditioning module having at least one conditioning device;
at least one pump; and
a fluid sump, wherein the pump generates a fluid cycle of at least one fluid to be conditioned between the fluid sump, the pump and the conditioning device, and wherein the at least one fluid is substantially at rest in the fluid sump.
12. (canceled)
13. The fluid conditioning module according to claim 1, wherein the at least one fluid is at least one of a differential oil and a battery fluid.
14. The motor vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the additional conditioning device is at least one of a filter device, a drying device and a heat exchanger device.
15. The motor vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the conditioning module has at least one inlet and one outlet, which both are directly connected to the fluid sump.
16. The motor vehicle according to claim 15, wherein at least one seal is provided in at least one of the inlet and the outlet.
17. The motor vehicle according to claim 11, wherein the pump is at least one of a miniature gear pump and a micro annular gear pump for a low operating pressure.
18. The motor vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the heat exchanger device is a self-sufficient air-cooled fluid heat exchanger with plates and air fins.
19. The motor vehicle according to claim 14, wherein the heat exchanger device is a fluid-cooled heat exchanger with plates.
20. The motor vehicle according to claim 14 wherein the heat exchanger device is a self-sufficient air-cooled heat exchanger with at least one of flat tubes, air fins and collector tubes.
21. The motor vehicle according to claim 11, wherein an aperture of the inlet to the conditioning module is arranged at a spatially large distance to an aperture of the outlet in the fluid sump.

1. An interface circuit provided correspondingly to a port of a main device including a telephone exchange function, the port allowing connection of a telephone or an intercom, the interface circuit comprising:
a power supply circuit that supplies necessary power supply voltage according to the telephone or the intercom connected to the port; and
a state detection circuit that detects, in a case where the telephone is connected to the port, whether the telephone is in an on-hook state or in an off-hook state, based on a value of an input impedance of the telephone, and that detects, in a case where the intercom is connected to the port, whether the intercom is in a standby state or in an activation button pressed state, based on a value of an input impedance of the intercom,
wherein the power supply circuit includes
a voltage circuit that generates the necessary power supply voltage according to the telephone or the intercom,
a first constant current circuit that is connected between one line of two lines of the port and the voltage circuit, and
a second constant current circuit that is connected between another line of the two lines of the port and a ground potential,
wherein the voltage circuit includes
a first transistor that is inserted between a first voltage supply that outputs negative voltage according to the telephone and the first constant current circuit, and that has a control terminal to which output voltage of the first voltage supply is supplied,
a second transistor, a first zener diode and a second zener diode that are inserted in series between a second voltage supply that outputs higher positive voltage than the first voltage supply and the control terminal of the first transistor, and
a third transistor that is inserted between a connection node of the first zener diode and the second zener diode and the second voltage supply,
wherein the second transistor and the third transistor are each turned off when the telephone is connected to the port,
wherein the second transistor and the third transistor are each turned on when the intercom is connected to the port and the intercom is in the standby state, and
wherein the second transistor is turned on and the third transistor is turned off when the intercom is connected to the port and is in the activation button pressed state.
2. (canceled)
3. The interface circuit according to claim 1,
wherein the state detection circuit includes
a fourth transistor that detects a state in which the telephone is on-hook or off-hook, or that detects a state in which the intercom is a standby state or a state in which an activation button of the intercom has been pressed, and that outputs a detection result,
a plurality of resistors that are inserted in series between said another line of two lines of the port and the second voltage supply, and that are used for setting a detection sensitivity for detecting a state in which the telephone is on-hook or off-hook, or for detecting a state in which the intercom is a standby state or a state in which an activation button of the intercom has been pressed, according to the telephone or the intercom connected to the port, where a connection node is connected to a control terminal of the fourth transistor, and
a fifth transistor and a sixth transistor that are each turned on when the telephone is connected to the port, and that are each turned off when the intercom is connected to the port, when the fifth transistor and the sixth transistor are turned on, a short occurs at each end of the resistors which are inserted between the second voltage supply and the control terminal of the fourth transistor, when the fifth transistor and the sixth transistor are turned off, an open occurs at each end of the resistors.
4. A main device to be used in a key telephone system, the main device being provided with a telephone exchange function, the main device comprising:
a port to be connected with a telephone or an intercom, the port including an interface circuit according to claim 1; and
a transmissionreception circuit that enables external communication or internal communication by the telephone, or communication between the intercom and the telephone.

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 of processing a transaction request, the method comprising:
(a) receiving the transaction request, wherein the transaction request is comprised of one or more operations;
(b) analyzing the transaction request to determine the one or more operations;
(c) determining if each of the one or more operations can be represented by a prepared transaction request form;
(d) converting the one or more operations determined in step (c) to a prepared transaction request form;
(e) associating lock information for one or more database locks with each of the one or more operations;
(f) analyzing one or more of the database locks to determine one or more sequence numbers associated with each of the one or more operations; and
(g) transmitting the one or more operations with the associated lock information and the one or more sequence numbers to one or more database servers accessible to a database load balancer.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more database servers implement one or more distributed databases.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the database load balancer comprises a plurality of components distributed across one or more of the database servers.
4. A system for processing a transaction request, the system comprising:
(a) a memory for storing a plurality of instructions; and
(b) a processor coupled to the memory, said processor configured for:
(i) receiving the transaction request, wherein the transaction request is comprised of one or more operations;
(ii) analyzing the transaction request to determine the one or more operations;
(iii) determining if each of the one or more operations can be represented by a prepared transaction request form;
(iv) converting the one or more operations determined in step iii to a prepared transaction request form;
(v) associating lock information for one or more database locks with each of the one or more operations;
(vi) analyzing one or more of the database locks to determine one or more sequence numbers associated with each of the one or more operations; and
(vii) transmitting the one or more operations with the associated lock information and the one or more sequence numbers to one or more database servers accessible to the database load balancer.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more database servers implement one or more distributed databases.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the database load balancer comprises a plurality of components distributed across one or more of the database servers.