Abstract: A communication system (100) including a first call processor (101), a second call processor (102) operable to serve as a backup to the first call processor in the event of a failure condition of the first call processor, and a third call processor (103) operable to communicate with the first call processor to establish a call on behalf of a client terminal served by the third call processor, wherein the second call processor is operable to receive from the third call processor status information indicating whether the first call processor is alive and the second call processor is operable to use the status information from the third call processor to deduce whether the first call processor is alive. Also described is a method of operation (200, 300) and a call processor (101, 102) for use in the system (100).

Abstract: The description relates to a process for the continuous production of beer in which the wort with an oxygen content of 0.5 to 3.0 mg per litre is continuously fed to a fermenter in the form of a loop reactor operating at a temperature of 6 to 25° C. and a pressure of 1.5 to 2 bar, in which the wort spends an average time of 4 to 40 hours, there is a biocatalyst containing a biologically active yeast and a partial stream of the wort is continuously fed into the circuit. In the process, the entire cycle of the fermenter is conducted continuously in a maturing fermenter designed as a loop reactor into which 1 to 8% of the wort taken to the fermenter is also continuously introduced, operating at a temperature of 10 to 20° C.

Abstract: A signal selecting system comparator (25) employs a method of switching selected first (40) and second (41) input ports to an output port (43). A block divided first signal (A) is received at the first input (40), buffered and passed to the output (43) as a block divided output signal (E). A block divided second signal (C) is received at the second input. The system waits to the next occurrence of a block boundary in the block divided output signal, identifies that the signal at the second input has priority in routing to the output; and passes the second signal to the output.