The present invention includes the hardware and software necessary to perform virtually any volume of complex transactions, and particularly a large volume thereof, is disposed in a central Application Processing Front End (APFE) which is shared by a plurality of merchants, thereby spreading the cost of the APFE among a large number of users. By including only the minimum amount of hardware compon...

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for supporting an element to be supported, in particular the body of a patient. The apparatus comprises a support device 20 essentially comprising only at least one closed or controlled-release chamber 21 together with inlet and outlet means 26 via which the filling fluid can be fed in or removed, and an independent control device 40 is provided disp...

This invention is an electro-surgical device (19) and method for transmyocardial revascularization. A device having electrodes (20a-20g) can be inserted into the body of a patient to penetrate the patient's heart (16). Activating the electrodes forms a channel within the heart through which blood can access. The channel ca be tapered (30) so that it is wider at the endocardium than at the epicardi...

Disclosed is a process for preparing an open-celled rigid polyurethane foam by reacting a polyisocyanate with a polyol in the presence of a blowing agent, usually water, and a cell opening agent. The cell opening agent comprises a combination of a polyoxyalkylene polysiloxane having a cloud point of 65 DEG C. or less, and a second substance that has a critical surface free energy of less than abo...

The invention concerns porous matrices of low molecular substances for generating stable gas bubble suspensions, their application as an ultrasound contrast medium and the process for producing the matrices and medium.

The invention concerns porous matrices of low molecular substances for generating stable gas bubble suspensions, their application as an ultrasound contrast medium and the process for producing the matrices and medium.

The method involves use of a user inquiry terminal (10) which sends a request to a prestation server (11) via an interface (12). The server then replies to the information request. A further request is then sent to the user inquiry terminal for payment. The inquiry terminal can then complete the transaction, allowing the user to purchase goods. A request is then sent to an acquisition system (20)...

The present invention relates to a method and system for controlling an Internet service such as an e-commerce site. The method offers the service provider facilities to control and steer the progress of the service. According to the invention, the control commands of the service provider are transmitted via a telephone network (2) to a voice response system (6) that further passes the control com...

Pressure-sensitive hotmelt adhesive composition based on non-thermoplastic elastomers, obtained by a) preparing, as the preliminary batch, a composition comprising the elastomers and one or more of the following additives such as fillers, anti-ageing agents, plasticizers and tackifier resins in an intensively shearing, intensively cooling mixer and without solvent, the composition having a final t...

A system and process to administer an incentive award program through the use of a zero-limit credit instrument. The present invention allows incentive program Participants to take advantage of any incentive program earnings as a pre-payment to their card accounts. The Participants in the incentive program are issued a credit card account with a zero credit limit. Upon rewarding of earnings in the...

PCT No. PCT/GB97/03497 Sec. 371 Date Aug. 12, 1998 Sec. 102(e) Date Aug. 12, 1998 PCT Filed Dec. 19, 1997 PCT Pub. No. WO98/28162 PCT Pub. Date Jul. 2, 1998A method of determining, during a clutch re-engagement process, the kiss-point of a vehicle clutch (14) having a driven plate (40) which drives a vehicle from an engine (10) via a multi-ratio transmission (12). The clutch is operated via a clut...

A cellulose sponge is disclosed, which is formed from coagulated cellulose solution having a mean degree of polymerisation (DP) which does not exceed 800. Preferably, the DP lies in the range 450-600. The sponge may be reinforced by discontinuous fibres, preferably of cellulose, and may be treated with a wetting agent or softener. The sponge may also contain one or more surfactants. Water retentio...

The present invention relates to a limited use product with an elastic breathable film as a barrier layer. The elastic breathable film is produced from phase-separation of an elastomeric resin. A method of producing the limited use product is also described.

An aqueous suspension composition containing at least 2 wt.% of a fine cellulose and a water-insoluble calcium material which have been subjected to a wet co-grinding treatment, having a weight ratio of the fine cellulose to the water-insoluble calcium material of from 1/9 to 9/1 and having a proportion of particles having a particle size of at least 10 mu m of not greater than 40%; a preparation...

A process is disclosed for transmitting orders over a telecommunication network, in particular for transmitting orders for products, information requests or payment transactions, between a plurality of subscribers of the telecommunication network and at least one supplier. The following steps are carried out when transmitting an order: a connection (100) is established between a subscriber and an ...

This invention provides a method for painting a substrate which comprises: (a) priming the substrate with a primer selected from the group consisting of epoxy resin primers and polyester resin primers, (b) applying to the primed substrate a crosslinkable basecoat composition comprising from 10 to 90 percent by weight of an epoxidized monohydroxylated polydiene polymer, from 8 to 60 percent by weig...

The partition or door comprises an insulated panel made from two layers of glass (2,3) with a vacuum (4) between them and a series of evenly distributed spacers. The edges of the glass layers are joined by a mineral seal which can incorporate a thin metal layer (8) for connecting to an electrical circuit. The panel has a light transmission value of over 64 per cent and preferably 70 per cent, and ...

A video detection system (10) and method detects an intruder from video images of a scene. The method employs a recognition process to differentiate between humans and animals. The method is used only after possible false alarms resulting from identified effects of noise, aliasing, non-intruder motion occuring within the scene, and effects of global or local lighting changes. The object recognitio...

The invention relates to a method and device for electronically protecting items against theft. Said device consists of a security element which is integrated into the item and is excited within a given security area by an interrogation field of a transmitting device to generate a characteristic signal, wherein a receiver device triggers an alarm upon recognition of the characteristic signal. The ...

A method of producing a simulated 3-dimensional image, the method comprising: assimilating 2-dimensional image data, e.g. from MR image slices; assigning a feature, e.g. grey scale value to each datum; reducing the resolution of each grey scale value of the data; generating a histogram of the reduced resolution grey scale data; performing a fast fuzzy c-means clustering on the histogram data. The ...