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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a improved bullet targets. More specifically, the present invention relates to targets which improve the visual stimulation and/or function of the target to improve shooter abilities and to decrease broken targets.
2. State of the Art
In order to maintain proficiency in the use of firearms, it is common for law enforcement officers and sportsmen to engage in target practice. While many perceive target practice as simply a method for improving accuracy, it is important for law enforcement officers and the like to conduct target practice in scenarios which imitate real life situations. While accuracy is important for law enforcement officers, appropriate use of deadly force is even more important. While hitting a perpetrator in the arm or leg may cause some additional risk to the officer, firing at an innocent bystander or firing at a perpetrator who is not a risk raises greater concerns. Each year considerable controversy is raised by law enforcement officers who shoot unarmed individuals or otherwise use deadly force when not appropriate.
In order to properly train police officers, it is important that they develop both hand-eye coordination and that they receive sensor stimulation which is associated with actual conditions. Thus, it is important for law enforcement officers to be able to see when a target has been hit. It is also important that the target remain upright sufficiently to simulate the reactions of a typical target. Thus, for example, a target which falls when hit by a single shot may not provide appropriate stimulus to the officer, when a typical perpetrator would take several rounds before being sufficiently incapacitated that he would no longer pose a threat.
It is also important to train officers by requiring them to repeatedly be in situations in which they are forced to decide whether the target poses a threat within a fraction of a second. In real life situations, hesitating to fire can cost the officer his life. Firing too quickly can result in the death of an innocent party.
While there are high-tech shooting ranges which are configured to place an officer in a variety of situations, such shooting ranges are too expensive for many law enforcement agencies. Additionally, many existing shooting ranges cannot be readily adapted to use the technological advances. Thus, there is a need for simple bullet targets which provide improved situation stimulus and improved wear.
It is the object of the present invention to provide improvements in bullet targets.
In accordance with the above and other objects of the invention, an improved bullet target is provided, including a head plate which is configured to be impacted by a bullet, an arm for holding the head plate in a line of fire and an attachment mechanism for connecting the head plate to the arm.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the attachment mechanism is formed by a rubber block or some other resilient or semi-resilient material. The rubber block attaches the head plate to the arm in such a manner that the head will deflect each time it is hit but will substantially return to its initial position (generally vertical) shortly after the impact. Thus, the head gives the visual appearance of being impacted as it is hit with each bullet, consistent with the reaction of a person who has been struck by a bullet. The head plate, however, does not fall down after being struck by the preliminary round as is currently done in the prior art. Rather it returns to the original position or a position close thereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that this is more similar to many real life situations in which a perpetrator rushing a police officer will be momentarily stopped or knocked backward when hit by a round, and then will resume rushing the officer.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the improved target includes a head plate which is attached to the arm by a stop. The stop is configured to allow the head plate to rotate between a first presented position and a second retracted position. As the head plate is hit by a bullet, the bullet rotates from the first presented position to the second retracted position. However, because no hinge is directly formed on the head plate, the head is able to withstand a larger number of rounds, and welds on the arms or stops last considerably longer.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the hinge formed between the arm or base and the head plate is formed from flat pieces of steel. Such a hinge is not only more durable than conventional hinges, it can be made relatively inexpensively from scraps of steel left over when making bullet traps, targets and the like.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a pair of targets are disposed behind a chest plate. The targets are then selectively raised so that a user is selectively presented with targets having a color and/or shape representing an enemy and one representing an innocent party. The heads plates may be presented so that a single head is raised requiring the shooter to determine whether it is a target or not and then proceed with firing, if indicated, or the head plates may be advanced in unison so that the shooter first shoots the first target and then shoots the rear target, if appropriate.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, the targets can be presented to the shooter in alignment. Thus, the shooter may have to knock down the first target and then decide whether to fire at the second target, thereby forcing the shooter to closely monitor the status of the initial target. As will be appreciated, such a shooting scenario is analogous to shooting at a perpetrator, but ceasing the shooting as soon as the perpetrator falls to prevent shooting bystanders. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling birefringence in an optical waveguide, and in particular in a silicon rib waveguide structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known, birefringence represents a significant problem in optical waveguides. Birefringence can result from a number of different sources each of which cause light polarised in a different manner to be subjected to different refractive indices. This results in light of different polarisations being transmitted differently by the waveguide with the result that the behaviour of a device receiving light with a random polarisation, and in particular transmission losses, become unpredictable. Some well known sources of birefringence are the crystalline structure of waveguides, the shape of the waveguide (in terms of its light guiding cross section), and stress and strain induced as a result of any bends, substrate discontinuations etc. in the path of the waveguide.
Rib waveguide structures manufactured on a silicon on insulator chip are known. One such arrangement is described for example in PCT Patent Specification No. WO95/08787. This form of waveguide provides a single mode, low loss (typically less than 0.2 dB/cm for the wavelength range 1.2 to 1.6 microns) waveguide typically having dimensions in the order of 3 to 5 microns which can be coupled to optical fibres and which is compatible with other integrated components. This form of waveguide can also be easily fabricated from conventional silicon-on-insulator wafers (as described in WO95/08787 referred to above) and so is relatively inexpensive to manufacture. That waveguide already exhibits lower birefringence than some other waveguide structures used in integrated optics, such as LiNbO3. Nevertheless, it is an aim of the invention to further reduce or remove birefringence in structures of this type.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of controlling birefringence in a rib waveguide structure manufactured in silicon, the rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces, the method comprising: forming a blanket layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
Preferably, the blanket layer of silicon nitride extends over the substrate flanks on either side of the rib waveguide structure.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method of controlling birefringence in a rib waveguide structure manufactured in silicon, the rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces, the method comprising: growing a layer of oxide over the upper face and side faces; stripping the oxide layer to reveal the upper face and side faces; and forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
Another aspect of the present invention provides use of a layer of silicon nitride in a method of fabricating a rib waveguide structure in silicon to control birefringence by depositing said layer to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure.
Still further aspects of the present invention provide a method of manufacturing a silicon rib waveguide structure comprising: forming an elongated rib element in a silicon substrate, the elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces; and forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said elongated rib element directly abutting said upper face and side faces, the predetermined thickness being selected such as to control birefringence in the rib waveguide structure.
A still further aspect of the invention provides a method of manufacturing a silicon rib waveguide structure, the method comprising: forming an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces in a silicon substrate; growing a layer of oxide over the upper face and side faces; stripping the oxide layer to reveal the upper face and side faces; and forming a layer of silicon nitride to a predetermined thickness over said rib waveguide structure directly abutting said upper face and side faces.
A yet further aspect of the invention provides a silicon rib waveguide structure comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces formed of silicon and a layer of silicon nitride directly abutting said upper face and side faces and having a predetermined thickness selected to control birefringence in the silicon rib waveguide structure.
A yet further aspect of the invention provides an evanescent coupler structure comprising first and second silicon rib waveguides each comprising an elongated rib element having an upper face and two side faces formed of silicon and a layer of silicon nitride directly abutting said upper face and side faces and having a predetermined thickness selected to control birefringence in the evanescent coupler.
It has been determined that for a 4 micron rib waveguide, the optimum thickness of the silicon nitride layer is 1000 A.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which: | {
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Many techniques have been introduced in processor technology to improve the execution performance of code by processors. One such category of techniques that provide simultaneous, or parallel, processing within a computer is known as pipelining. It refers to overlapping operations by moving data or instructions into a conceptual pipe with all stages of the pipe processing simultaneously. For example, while one instruction is being executed, the computer is decoding the next instruction.
With techniques such as pipelining, an issue that can affect performance is the treatment of branches within code. For example, when an execution engine of a processor reaches a branch instruction within the code, it must decide whether to stop all processing until that branch has been evaluated, or continue on one path or another of the branch. Such issues have been resolved to some extent by various techniques called branch prediction. In branch prediction, a given path of the prediction is initially executed in a speculative manner, until it can be determined that the particular path is indeed the correct path. If it is, processing can continue; otherwise, however, the initial execution is wasted.
Thus, during the execution of a program, the execution engine is rarely surprised by the arrival at a branch. However, once a basic block of code is entered, every instruction in that basic block is enabled for execution. Unfortunately, since branches tend to exist at the bottom of basic blocks, the engine must fetch all intervening sequential (that is, non-branch) instructions before encountering the branch.
One particular type of branch prediction involves the insertion of additional hint instructions in the basic block of code. These additional instructions are problematic, however.
The latency at which these instructions take effect, for example, may vary with the execution engine such that their position in the code should vary also. For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a topical solutions and method useful for treating fungal infections of human fingernails and toenails, and for alleviating other symptoms often associated with such fungal infections.
2. Description of Related Art
Fungal infections in, under and around human fingernails and toenails can be painful, unattractive and difficult to treat. Such fungal infections, otherwise referred to as onychomycosis, ringworm of nails or tinea unguium, can cause thickening, roughness and splitting of nails. Known fungal organisms include Epidermophyton floccusum, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton megninii, Trichophyton schoenleinii, Trichophyton tonsurans and Candida albicans. Although numerous systemic and topical medicaments have been disclosed previously for use in treating onychomycosis, most are ineffective, cause side effects, or are prohibitively expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,545 discloses an antifungal composition comprising water, alcohol, a gel-forming agent and an effective amount of tioconazole, with compositions comprising from about 50 to 90 weight percent alcohol, 1 to 10 percent water, 15 to 30 percent tioconazole, 0.5 to 5 percent gel-forming agent, and a plasticizer being preferred.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,105 discloses a topical composition for treatment of onchomycosis comprising a therapeutically effective amount of mometasone furoate in a hydro-alcoholic base comprising 15 to 50 weight percent propylene glycol, 20 to 40 percent isopropyl alcohol, 20 to 60 percent water, 0.1 to 3 percent thickening agent and sufficient buffer to adjust the pH to between 3.0 and 6.0, and most preferably between 4.0 and 5.0.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,317 discloses a method for treated diseased nails with a nail-permeable topical composition comprising a medicament component in combination with a proteolytic enzyme.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,537 discloses an antifungal composition comprising a solution of cinnamic aldehyde, up to about 20 weight percent griseofulvin and at least 5 volume percent of an alcohol selected from ethanol and isopropanol for topical application to skin and keratinous tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,920 discloses a topical composition for hardening nails, the composition comprising a cosmetically acceptable aqueous vehicle including an effective amount of fluoride ion and having a pH of about 3.5 to 8. The fluoride ion is from a fluoride compound selected from water-soluble fluoride salts and complex fluoride salts, including aluminum fluoride, sodium fluoride, potassium fluoride, stannous fluoride, stannous monofluorophosphate, etc.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,395,241, 5,057,309 and 3,346,578 disclose the use of stannous fluoride in oral hygiene preparations.
Compositions useful for treating fungal infections of fingernails and toenails are desirably aqueous, fast-drying and non-greasy. Such compositions are preferably easy to apply topically, will penetrate around and under a nail, and into surrounding and underlying skin, and will desirably control or eradicate the offending fungal organisms without damaging skin or other healthy tissue.
The invention disclosed herein is an antifungal composition preferably comprising water, a wetting agent such as an alcohol, a water-soluble fluoride ion donor compound providing a concentration of fluoride ions sufficient to effectively treat a fungal infection in, on or adjacent to a human fingernail or toenail. The pH of the subject compositions preferably ranges from about 2.8 to about 3.5. The antifungal composition of the invention can desirably penetrate skin and will desirably adjust the pH on, through and under the skin to a level that is lethal to the fungal organisms without damaging the nail, skin or other surrounding tissue. A method for treating infections proximal to human nails is also disclosed that comprises periodically applying to and around an infected nail one or more drops of the subject composition for so long as the infection lasts. | {
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Generally speaking, the present invention relates to an improved variable resistance control wherein an electrical resistance path and an electrical conductive strip are carried on a base and wherein movable electrical contact means electrically bridge the resistance path and the electrical conductive strip, the improvement comprising providing a backing means for the resistance path and connecting the same to the base, the backing means characterized by substantially eliminating humidity drift of the resistance path.
Variable resistance controls are used in appliances such as televisions and stereos to vary their sound output. Such devices in general include resistance a path and an electrical conductive or collector strip carried on a base with a movable contact means bridging the resistance path and collector strip and connected to a knob so as to be rotated about the resistance path and collector strip to vary the output resistance of the device. One of the problems that has been found to be associated with such a device is that the value of the resistance will vary as the humidity of its environment varies. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor substrate and a flat panel display apparatus that has uniform electrical characteristics and uniform display characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, many existing display apparatuses are replaced by flat panel display apparatuses that are portable and thin. Of among flat panel display apparatuses, liquid crystal display apparatuses and organic light-emitting display apparatuses appeal most to people because of their excellent image quality and their portability.
Meanwhile, such flat panel display apparatuses include a thin film transistor substrate including a plurality of thin film transistors for driving or controlling pixels. Each of the thin film transistors includes a channel region that is made out of crystalline silicon that has excellent electrical characteristics.
Crystalline silicon may be produced by emitting a laser beam onto amorphous silicon to crystallize the amorphous silicon. During the crystallization process, protrusions are formed on a surface of the crystalline silicon. In particular, when the crystallization process is performed by sequential lateral solidification (SLS), crystals growing in two directions meet to form protrusions.
The protrusions interrupt the flow of current, thereby degrading the electrical characteristics of each of the thin film transistors. Also, the protrusions irregularly distributed on the channel region degrade the uniform electrical characteristics of the thin film transistor substrate, thereby degrading the image quality characteristics of the flat panel display apparatus. | {
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The present invention relates to aiming and stabilization systems for projectile weapons. In many embodiments, the invention relates to systems allowing an individual to more accurately aim a hand-held weapon, for example a small arm. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting element that has a structure interposing a plurality of layers between a pair of electrodes, in particular, relates to a structure of the layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light-emitting device utilizing a light emission from an electroluminescent element (a light-emitting element) has been attracting attention as a device, for example, for displaying or for lighting.
As the light-emitting element that is used for the light-emitting device, an element that has a structure interposing a plurality of layers, each including a material such as a luminescent or carrier transporting material, between a pair of electrodes is well known.
In the case of this light-emitting element, one of the electrodes functions as an anode while the other electrode functions as a cathode, a hole injected from the anode side and an electron injected from the cathode side are recombined to form a molecule in a excited state, and light is emitted when the molecule returns to the ground state. The emitted light is extracted outside through one or both of the pair of electrodes.
As for a manufacturing process of the light-emitting element above, it is commonly known to form one of the electrodes, form the plurality of layers thereon, and form the other electrode further thereon.
In the case of manufacturing the light-emitting element in this way, the layers are sometimes so damaged in the process of forming the electrode after forming the plurality of layers that favorable characteristics cannot be obtained. This phenomenon is frequently observed particularly in the case of using sputtering to form the electrode. This is believed to be because high-energy atoms damage the layers in the process of using sputtering to form the electrode.
Consequently, a light-emitting element comprising a structure that is less subjected to damage even in the case of using sputtering to form the electrode and a manufacturing method thereof have been developed.
For example, Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 shows that damage to an organic layer, which is caused during deposition by sputtering, can be suppressed by providing a layer including phthalocyanine. In addition, Patent Document 3 also reports that damage to an organic layer, which is caused during deposition by sputtering, can be suppressed by providing a layer including AgLi.
However, the method shown in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 may have problems that, for example, a process is increased for providing the layer including phthalocyanine between an electron transporting layer and an electron injecting electrode and the luminous efficiency in a red light emission is decreased due to phthalocyanine that absorbs light in a long wavelength range easily. In addition, the method shown in Patent Document 3 may have problems that, for example, as the film thickness of AgLi becomes thicker, the transmissivity of light becomes lower to decrease the external extraction efficiency of emitted light. [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-75658 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-359086 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-249357 | {
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A device for the treatment of exhaust gases is provided, such as a catalytic converter or a diesel particulate trap having a fragile structure mounted within a housing which is supported therein by a mounting mat disposed between the housing and the fragile structure.
A catalytic converter assembly for treating exhaust gases of an automotive or diesel engine contains a fragile structure, such as a catalyst support structure, for holding the catalyst that is used to effect the oxidation of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and the reduction of oxides of nitrogen present in the exhaust gases. The fragile catalyst support structure is mounted within a metal housing, and is preferably made of a frangible material, such as a monolithic structure formed of metal or a brittle, fireproof ceramic material such as aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, magnesium oxide, zirconia, cordierite, silicon carbide and the like. These materials provide a skeleton type of structure with a plurality of tiny flow channels. However, as noted hereinabove, these structures can be, and oftentimes are, very fragile. In fact, these monolithic structures can be so fragile that small shockloads or stresses are often sufficient to crack or crush them.
The fragile structure is contained within a metal housing, with a space or gap between the external surface of the fragile structure and the internal surface of the housing. In order to protect the fragile structure from thermal and mechanical shock and other stresses noted above, as well as to provide thermal insulation and a gas seal, and to hold the fragile catalyst support structure in place within the housing, it is known to position at least one ply or layer of mounting or support material within the gap between the fragile structure and the housing.
Presently, materials used in mounting mats for catalytic converters and other exhaust gas-treating devices may range from relatively inexpensive materials such as, for example, amorphous glass fibers such as S-glass, to more expensive materials such as, for example, high alumina-containing ceramic oxide fibers. Intumescent materials as well as non-intumescent materials have been and continue to be employed in mounting mats, depending upon the application and conditions under which the mounting mats are to be used.
The type of monolithic structure to be employed as well as the application and the conditions under which the mounting mats are to be used must be determined prior to selection of the mounting mat materials. For example, one would use a high temperature resistant mounting mat material adaptable over a wide temperature range for a high temperature application such as typically found in catalytic converters, while a lower temperature resistant, resilient, flexible material may be just as or more suitable for high G load applications that use heavier substrates such as may be found in diesel catalyst structures and diesel particulate traps.
In any event, the mounting mat materials employed should be capable of satisfying any of a number of design or physical requirements set forth by the fragile structure manufacturers or the catalytic converter manufacturers. For example, a state-of-the-art ply or plies of mounting mat material, should preferably exert an effective residual holding pressure on the fragile structure, even when the catalytic converter has undergone wide temperature fluctuations, which causes significant expansion and contraction of the metal housing in relation to the fragile structure, also referred to as the catalyst support structure, which in turn causes significant compression and release cycles for the mounting mats over a period of time. The best, state-of-the-art mounting mats used in high temperature applications have been found to sufficiently hold the fragile structure in the most severe of applications where temperatures reach well above 900° C., and often undergo constant thermal cycling to room temperature.
Other mounting mats, while not requiring use in high temperature environments, must provide sufficient resiliency and flexibility to effectively hold the fragile structure with sufficient force or strength, but yet not crush the fragile structure under constant thermal cycling. Under normal operating conditions for a catalytic converter, a minimum shear strength for a mounting mat of at least 5 kPa is required to prevent the fragile structure from being dislodged and damaged. The shear strength of the mat is defined as the mat's holding pressure multiplied by the coefficient of friction of the mat/fragile structure interface. The coefficient of friction of typical mat products in catalytic converters is approximately 0.45 in the in-use condition. Therefore, a mounting mat for high temperature applications, i.e., those applications where the temperature in the catalytic converter may increase up to about 900° C. or more, should have an effective residual minimum holding pressure after 1000 cycles of testing at a hot face temperature of about 900° C. of at least about 10 kPa.
For other exhaust gas-treating devices, such as diesel particulate traps or diesel catalyst structures, it will be appreciated that while these devices do not reach the temperatures provided in high temperature catalytic converters, the weight of the fragile structure and loading techniques employed require the mounting mat utilized to have a different effective residual minimum holding pressure than that set forth above. In these applications, a higher minimum shear strength for the mounting mat of at least about 25 kPa is preferably achieved to prevent that fragile structure from being dislodged and damaged. The coefficient of friction of these mat products in such high G-load applications with heavy substrates is still approximately 0.45 in the in-use condition. Therefore, a mounting mat for this type of application should have an effective residual minimum holding pressure after 1000 cycles of testing at a temperature of about 300° C. of at least about 50 kPa.
Many mounting mats, heretofore, have attempted to overcome thermal cycling problems associated with high temperature applications by using high alumina or mullite ceramic fibers. In one known embodiment, an aqueous solution or a colloidal dispersion, often called an “organosol” or a “sol gel” is used to produce the ceramic fibers. While ceramic fibers formed by sol gel processes may offer a high degree of resiliency needed for mounting monolithic structures, the high cost of the fibers have forced manufacturers to seek other, less expensive solutions. In addition, these ceramic fibers typically have an average fiber diameter of less than 5, and in some cases, less than 3.5, microns. Thus, these fibers are respirable, i.e., capable of being breathed into the lungs.
In other instances, a fibrous mounting material may be used in combination with other materials, such as intumescent materials and backing layers, in order to provide sufficient strength for handleability, resiliency, or to obtain an adequate holding pressure.
As another alternative to using sol gel-derived, ceramic fibers, attempts have been made to form refractory ceramic fibers using melt-processing techniques. Only in the last ten years or so have refractory ceramic fibers, i.e., fibers containing from about 45 to 60 percent alumina and from about 40 to about 55 percent silica, satisfied manufacturers of high temperature catalytic converters by providing mounting mats having sufficient resiliency values to meet the manufacturers' demands. Not only are mounting mats containing such refractory ceramic fibers expensive, but also they are difficult to manufacture, particularly with respect to the processing treatments they must undergo. Care must be taken to ensure that they are substantially shot free.
In low temperature catalytic converter applications, such as turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel powered vehicles, the exhaust temperature is typically about 150° C. and may never exceed 300° C. Various types of mounting mats may be used for these and other slightly higher temperature applications. For many catalytic converter applications, intumescent mats, i.e., mounting mats made from intumescent materials such as graphite or vermiculite, have been used. It has more recently been observed that mounting mats made with intumescent materials may fail for these low temperature applications.
One possible reason for this failure is that the exhaust temperature may be too low to expand the intumescent, typically vermiculite, particles sufficiently. Thus, the mats fail to provide sufficient pressure against the fragile structure and tend to fail. A second possible reason for this failure is that organic binder systems used in the intumescent mat products degrade and cause a loss in the holding pressure.
Thus, non-intumescent mounting mat systems have been developed and are now common within the industry. These materials are suitable for use over a much wider temperature range than are the intumescent prior art mats.
Non-intumescent mat systems include substantially no intumescent materials such as graphite or vermiculite and, therefore, are substantially non-expanding. By “substantially non-expanding,” it is meant that the mat does not readily expand upon the application of heat as would be expected with intumescent mats. Of course, some expansion of the mat does occur based upon its thermal coefficient of expansion, but the amount of expansion is insubstantial and de minimus as compared to the expansion of mats employing useful amounts of intumescent material. These non-intumescent mats, heretofore, have comprised high temperature resistant, inorganic fibers and, optionally, a binder. By high temperature resistant, it is meant that the fiber can have a use temperature up to about 900° C. or greater. Depending upon the application, the temperature regime in which the mat is used, and the type of monolith employed, non-intumescent mats have, heretofore, been known to generally contain one or more types of fibers selected from alumina/silica fibers (available under the trademark FIBERFRAX from Unifrax Corporation, Niagara Falls, N.Y.) and high alumina fiber mats available from Saffil.
Presently, fibers employed in state-of-the-art non-intumescent mounting mats for higher temperature applications are generally high in alumina content. For example, refractory ceramic fibers are composed substantially of alumina and silica and typically contain from about 45 to about 60 percent by weight alumina and from about 40 to about 55 percent by weight silica, while other alumina/silica ceramic fibers, such as alumina or mullite ceramic fibers made by sol gel processing, usually contain more than 50 percent alumina. S2-glass fibers typically contain from about 64 to about 66 percent silica, from about 24 to about 25 percent alumina, and from about 9 to about 10 percent magnesia. Generally, it has been thought that the higher the amount of alumina employed in the fibers, the higher temperature for the application in which the fibers could be employed. The use of fibers consisting substantially of alumina have therefore been proposed for this purpose.
Other non-intumescent mounting mats are generally very thick and lack the structural integrity needed for the exhaust gas treatment device application, and may even require being handled in a bag to prevent crumbling of the mounting mat. These mounting mats are also difficult to cut to size for installation, and further must be compressed substantially to fit enough material needed for supportive mounting within the gap between the catalyst support structure and the housing.
Attempts have been made to use still other types of materials in the production of non-intumescent mounting mats for catalytic converters and other exhaust gas-treating devices for high temperature applications, such as flexible, nonwoven mounting mats comprising shot-free ceramic oxide fibers comprising aluminosilicate fibers containing from about 60 to about 85 percent by weight alumina and from about 40 to about 15 percent by weight silica; crystalline quartz fibers; or both. These aluminosilicate fibers have a higher alumina content than refractory ceramic fibers, but are produced using the sol gel techniques discussed above.
On the other hand, crystalline quartz fibers are made of essentially pure silica (i.e., 99.9 percent silica). These fibers are made by a melt drawing process using raw materials derived from crystalline quartz, and are not leached in any manner. Such fibers are available from J. P. Stevens, Slater, N.Y., under the tradename ASTROQUARTZ, or from Saint Gobain, Louisville, Ky., under the tradename QUARTZEL. However, the cost of these quartz fibers make them commercially prohibitive for use in mounting mats.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,522 discloses a nonwoven mounting mat for a catalytic converter that may contain magnesia/alumina/silicate fibers such as is known in the art and commercially available from Owens Corning, Toledo, Ohio as S2-GLASS, as well as the ASTROQUARTZ quartz fibers discussed in the above cited patent. In this patent, it is expressly noted in Comparative Example I that a mounting mat containing a commercially available leached glass fiber containing silica did not pass the hot shake test used by the patentees to determine suitability as a mounting mat for higher temperature catalytic converters.
Mounting mats containing silica fibers in combination with intumescent materials have been tested for catalytic converter use, for example in German Patent Publication No. 19858025.
A detailed description and process for making leached glass fibers high in silica content is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 2,624,658, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Another process for making leached glass fibers high in silica content is disclosed in European Patent Application Publication No. 0973697. While both the U.S. patent and the European patent application publication disclose the production of leached silica fibers in the formation of high temperature resistant products made from the resultant fibers, there is no mention whatsoever of the fibers being suitable for use or even being capable of being used as mounting mats for exhaust gas treatment devices, such as catalytic converters. | {
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Conventional pharmaceutical dispensing apparatuses equipped with a pharmaceutical dispensing unit of this type were configured to comprise a cassette in which cylindrical pharmaceutical containers were disposed, a container removal head for removing the pharmaceutical containers from this cassette, a holding means for holding the pharmaceutical containers taken out by this container removal head, and a reading device for reading pharmaceutical information attached to the pharmaceutical container (the following Patent Literature 1 is prior art that is similar to this). | {
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The present invention relates to an antenna device operable to receive an electric wave of digital radio broadcasting.
A digital radio receiver which is operable to receive a satellite wave or ground wave and allows a person to hear digital radio broadcasting has been developed, and has been put to practical use in United States. The digital radio receiver can be mounted on a mobile station, such as a vehicle, or can be installed inside a building to receive an electric wave the frequency band of which is about 2.3 GHz and to allow a person to hear the radio broadcasting. Since the frequency of the received electric wave is about 2.3 GHz, a received wavelength (resonant wavelength) λ is about 128.3 mm. In addition, once the satellite wave is received at the earth station, the frequency thereof is shifted a little and is retransmitted as a linearly polarized wave that is the ground wave.
Since an electric wave having a frequency band of about 2.3 GHz is used in the digital radio broadcasting, it is preferable that an antenna device receiving the electric wave is installed outdoors. Therefore, when the digital radio receiver is mounted on a vehicle or the like, it is provided, for example, in the outside of the vehicle such as a roof thereof in many cases. On the other hand, when the digital radio receiver is used inside a building, the antenna device is installed in a roof, a balcony or the like in many cases.
Here, the directional sensitivity of this type of antenna device is omni-directional. However, in order to ensure the best sensitivity, the antenna device is required to be constructed such that the wave angle of the antenna device is adjusted to avoid an electric wave shielding object. The related-art antenna device for home use which has an angle adjustment function is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-289514A. The related-art antenna device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-289514A includes a base portion, and an antenna portion the angle of which is adjustable with respect to the base portion via a hinge portion. The hinge portion has a hinge base, two hinge bushes, two coil springs, two washer, and two screws. The hinge base is formed on an end of a ceiling surface of the base case of the base portion, and has two tapered shafts protruding from both ends of the hinge base, respectively. Each of the hinge bushes has a tapered inner peripheral surface and is fitted into each of the shafts of the hinge base. The coil spring is fitted into each of the shafts on which the hinge bush is mounted. A screw is fastened via the washer to an end surface of each of the shafts on which the hinge bush and the coil spring are mounted. The biasing force of the spring generates a frictional force between the outer peripheral surface of the shaft of the hinge base and the inner peripheral surface of the hinge bush when the hinge bush rotates. The antenna portion is joined to the hinge bush and is capable of being opened and closed at an arbitrary angle relative to the base portion. The frictional force between the shaft of the hinge base and the hinge bush causes the antenna device to be fixed at a constant angle without rotation when an external force is not applied thereto. On the other hand, when an external force larger than the frictional force between the shaft of the hinge base and the hinge bush is applied to the antenna portion, the antenna portion rotates, and can be adjusted to an arbitrary angle. The angle adjustment is performed as follows, for example. A user manually adjusts the angle of the antenna portion such that the best level of a broadcasting signal or the best sound quality of audio information received by a digital radio receiver is maintained, while confirming the level or the sound quality.
As described above, in the related-art antenna device including the example described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-289514A, the number of the hinge bush, the coil spring, the washer, and the screw is two, respectively. For this reason, it is disadvantageous in decreasing the size and the weight of the antenna device. Also, since the cost of parts is high and since a number of manufacturing processes are required, it is disadvantageous the decreasing the cost thereof.
A satellite wave, especially a circularly polarized wave is used for digital radio broadcasting. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-20644A, an related-art antenna device including an antenna module corresponding to the circularly polarized wave has a ground plate, an antenna plate disposed to face the ground plate at a distance therefrom, an antenna probe disposed between the ground plate and the antenna plate, and a probe holder made of resin for holding the antenna probe. The probe holder is formed with a groove portion in which the antenna probe is to be disposed. A member made of an insulating material, such as a tape, for electrically insulating the antenna probe and the antenna plate is attached onto the ceiling surface of the probe holder in which the antenna probe is to be disposed.
For the purpose of realizing miniaturization, lightness, reliability, and cost reduction of the antenna device including the related-art antenna device disclosed Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-20644A, it is effective to realize miniaturization, lightness, reliability, and cost reduction of the antenna module. Specifically, it is considered that, for example, the ground plate and the antenna plate is miniaturized. However, in a case where the ground plate and the antenna plate are miniaturized, there is a possibility that an electrostatic capacitance of the antenna module, which is required for the antenna device to exhibit a sufficient gain, may decrease.
An antenna device used for a GPS (global positioning system) using a satellite wave similarly to a digital radio broadcasting system, particularly an antenna device suitable for being installed on a roof of a vehicle is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-109688A. The related-art antenna device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-109688A includes a top cover, a bottom cover, an antenna module, a packing member, and a signal line. Since the packing member is disposed in a connecting portion between the bottom plate and the top plate to ensure adherence therebetween to perform a water-proof function, it is also called as a water-proof packing. The packing member has a generally angular-shaped plate part including a wide angular-shaped frame part and a bush part covering the periphery of the signal line in the position of a cut-out portion formed in the top cover. Since the frame part and the bush part are integrally formed with each other, the number of parts and manufacturing processes is small compared to a case in which the both members are separately formed. The water-proof function is realized as follows. A water-proof rib having an angular and frame shape is formed inside the top cover to correspond to the angular-shaped frame part of the plate part of the packing member. The-packing member and the bottom plate are fastened to the top cover with a plurality of screws. The fastening pressure at this time causes the leading end of the water-proof rib of the top cover to be pressed against the angular-shaped frame part of the packing member, thereby realizing the water-proof function.
As described above, in the antenna device including the related-art antenna device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-109688A, when the fastening pressures by the plurality of screws are different from one another or the fastening pressures by the screws are too large, there is a possibility that a gap may be formed between the water-proof rib formed in the top cover and the packing member. As a result, there is a possibility that the water-proof property realized by the packing member may deteriorate. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel compounds having antineoplastic activity. More specifically, it relates to compounds of the class of N,N'-bis(sulfonyl)hydrazines and their use in inhibiting tumors. These novel compounds constitute a new class of alkylating agents.
2. Prior Art
Alkylating agents capable of methylating biological molecules form a useful group of antineoplastic agents, with procarbazine, streptozotocin and dacarbazine being clinically active agents of this type.
N,N'-bis(sulfonyl)hydrazines are known, although not as having antineoplastic activity. For example, Klos, Auslegeschrift 1,069,637 discloses N,N'-bis(methylsulfonyl)hydrazine-(CH.sub.3 SO.sub.2 NHNHSO.sub.2 CH.sub.3) --and N,N'-bis(n-butylsulfonyl)hydrazine --C.sub.4 H.sub.9 SO.sub.2 NHNHSO.sub.2 C.sub.4 H.sub.9. See also, Munshi et al, Journal of the Indian Chemical Society, Vol. 40, No. 11, 1963, pp. 966-968 and Auslegeschrift 1,023,969 to Muller-Bore (photographic developers). These compounds differ from those claimed herein in that they do not have an alkyl substituent on the hydrazine moiety. This alkyl substituent, as demonstrated herein, is essential for the generation of reactive species necessary for antineoplastic activity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Glucocorticoid-induced TNFR-related protein (GITR), a member of the TNFR superfamily, is expressed in many components of the innate and adaptive immune system and stimulates both acquired and innate immunity (Nocentini G et al., (1994) PNAS 94: 6216-6221; Hanabuchi S et al., (2006) Blood 107:3617-3623; Nocentini G & Riccardi C (2005) Eur J Immunol 35: 1016-1022; Nocentini G et al., (2007) Eur J Immunol 37:1165-1169). It is expressed in several cells and tissues, including T, B, dendritic (DC) and Natural Killer (NK) cells and is activated by its ligand, GITRL, mainly expressed on Antigen Presenting Cells (APCs), on endothelial cells, and also in tumor cells. The GITR/GITRL system participates in the development of autoimmune/inflammatory responses and potentiates response to infection and tumors. For example, treating animals with GITR-Fc fusion protein ameliorates autoimmune/inflammatory diseases while GITR triggering is effective in treating viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections, as well in boosting immune response against tumors (Nocentini G et al., (2012) Br J Pharmacol 165: 2089-99). These effects are due to several concurrent mechanisms including: co-activation of effector T-cells, inhibition of regulatory T (Treg) cells, NK-cell co-activation, activation of macrophages, modulation of dendritic cell function and regulation of the extravasation process. The membrane expression of GITR is increased following T cell activation (Hanabuchi S et al., (2006) supra; Nocentini G & Riccardi C supra). Its triggering coactivates effector T lymphocytes (McHugh R S et al., (2002) Immunity 16: 311-323; Shimizu J et al., (2002) Nat Immunol 3: 135-142; Roncheti S et al., (2004) Eur J Immunol 34: 613-622; Tone M et al., (2003) PNAS 100: 15059-15064). GITR activation increases resistance to tumors and viral infections, is involved in autoimmune/inflammatory processes and regulates leukocyte extravasation (Nocentini G & Riccardi C (2005) supra; Cuzzocrea S et al., (2004) J Leukoc Biol 76: 933-940; Shevach E M & Stephens G L (2006) Nat Rev Immunol 6: 613-618; Cuzzocrea S et al., (2006) J Immunol 177: 631-641; Cuzzocrea S et al., (2007) FASEB J 21: 117-129).
Human GITR is expressed at very low levels in peripheral (non-activated) T cells. After T cell activation, GITR is strongly up-regulated for several days in both CD4+ and CD8+ cells (Kwon B et al., (1999) J Biol Chem 274: 6056-6061; Gurney A L et al., (1999) Curr Biol 9: 215-218; Ronchetti S et al., (2004) supra; Shimizu J et al., (2002) supra; Ji H B et al., (2004) supra; Ronchetti S et al., (2002) Blood 100: 350-352; Li Z et al., (2003) J Autoimmun 21: 83-92), with CD4+ cells having a higher GITR expression than CD8+ cells (Kober J et al., (2008) Eur J Immunol 38(10): 2678-88; Bianchini R et al., (2011) Eur J Immunol 41(8): 2269-78).
Given the role of human GITR in modulating immune responses, provided herein are antibodies that specifically bind to GITR and the use of those antibodies to modulate GITR activity. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
It is known that activities and functions of hyaluronic acid (henceforth also referred to as “HA”) change depending on the molecular size. For example, it has been reported that HA having a molecular weight of 1,200,000 shows NF-κB inactivation activity, neovascularization inhibition activity and so forth (Neumann A., Schinzel R., Palm D., Riederer P. and Munch G., “High molecular weight hyaluronic acid inhibits advanced glycation endproduct-induced NF-κB activation and cytokine expression”, FEBS Lett., 453(3):283-7, Jun. 25, 1999; Feinberg R. N., Beebe D. C., Hyaluronate in vasculogenesis, Science 220:1177-1179, 1983), whereas HA having a molecular weight of 500,000 or less has inverse activities (Noble P. W., McKee C. M., Cowman M. and Shin H. S., “Hyaluronan fragments activate an NF-κB/I-κB alpha autoregulatory loop in murine macrophages”, J. Exp. Med. 183:2373-2378, 1996.; West D. C. and Shaw D. M., “Tumour hyaluronan in relation to angiogenesis and metastasis”, In: Laurent T. C. ed., The chemistry, biology and medical applications of hyaluronan and its derivatives, London: Portland Press, 1998: 227).
It can be said that this well suggests possibilities of finding of various activities also for HA oligosaccharides and finding of specific activities depending on sizes of HA oligosaccharides. Therefore, it can be considered that, if HA oligosaccharides having different sizes are combined, they may exert an additive or synergistic effect, or conversely, against an activity of an HA oligosaccharide of a certain size, another HA oligosaccharide having a different size may act as an antagonist.
Assuming as described above, if a fraction containing HA oligosaccharides of various sizes is used for search of activities thereof for development of drugs utilizing HA oligosaccharides, not only it cannot be found which size of HA oligosaccharide constitutes an entity of a certain activity, but also an activity of HA oligosaccharide of a certain size may be compensated by an HA oligosaccharide of another size. Thus, important physiological activities or functions hidden in HA oligosaccharides may be overlooked.
Further, when an HA oligosaccharide of a certain specific size is used as a drug, it is necessary to eliminate oligosaccharides of other sizes that inhibit the function exerted by the HA oligosaccharide of specific size as much as possible, and there has been desired a fraction of high purity that does not substantially contain substances undesirable for drugs.
As described above, for creation and provision of novel drugs, there has been desired a HA oligosaccharide fraction of high purity that consists of HA oligosaccharides of substantially uniform sizes and does not substantially contain HA oligosaccharides of other sizes and other impurities.
Meanwhile, heat shock proteins (henceforth also referred to as “Hsp”) are also called stress proteins, which are proteins that inhibit affections caused by various stress reactions, and various families thereof have been known. The heat shock proteins of Hsp70 family, which is one of the families, are considered to prevent cell injury or cell death through actions of inhibiting structural changes of proteins, production of abnormal proteins and so forth caused by factors generating environmental stresses such as heat shock, hydrogen peroxide, heavy metals, amino acid analogues and glucose depletion and stress factors such as fervescence, inflammation, ischemia, viral infection, metabolic disorders, hypercardia, oxidative stresses, cellular tissue affections, oncogenes and carcinogenic substances or actions of regenerating functions of proteins.
In connection with the above, a stress protein expression promoter containing HA as an active ingredient is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. 9-227386. In this patent document, it is described that HA consisting of about 2 to 20 saccharides is preferred as the active ingredient (page 3), and it was suggested that HA consisting of ten or less saccharides was involved in enhancement or induction of expression of stress proteins (page 6). There is also described an experiment demonstrating that an unsaturated HA disaccharide enhanced expression of a stress protein and inhibited cell death (Example 2).
However, the above patent document does not specifically disclose various oligosaccharides as in the present invention, and it does not teach nor suggest at all the extremely notable activity for enhancement of expression of stress protein specifically observed for HA tetrasaccharide mentioned later.
Further, considering the functions of the aforementioned stress proteins, the stress proteins are considered to be involved also in protection of cells and tissues.
Concerning the above, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-246301 discloses an organ preservation solution for use in organ transplantation containing HA and/or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof. Although this patent document describes that the average molecular weight of HA is preferably 100,000 or more, it does not describe nor suggest HA oligosaccharides and superior effects exerted by them. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to an improved field range cabinet wherein the two side walls and the rear wall within which the burner and oven portions of the field range are enclosed are formed into a single removable outer shell element which slidably cooperates with the frame of the range to make the interior of the range more easily accessible for cleaning than has been characteristic of field ranges of the prior art.
Field ranges for the military have customarily comprised a cabinet composed of a frame, a lid attached to the upper back edge of the frame by means of a pair of hinges, a door connectd to the front of the frame by means of a hinge and a pair of folding struts which help to support the opened door in a horizontal position, two side panels permanently attached to the frame, and a rear panel permanently attached to the frame. The frame has horizontal angle irons attached thereto to support a gasoline burner and to support a large cooking or heating vessel or a metallic shelf above the gasoline burner.
In the past a big problem in connection with feeding programs in the Armed Forces has been the cleaning of the interior surfaces of the standard field range. This has been complicated by the fact that there is relatively little space between the angle irons of which the frame is made and the interior surfaces of the walls of the oven portion of the field range. This space is sufficient to permit the volatile materials and spatterings produced in the oven to work their way into the space and be carbonized or polymerized to form tarry deposits on the surfaces. But the space is so small that it is extremely difficult to apply cleaning agents to the deposits and to insert the fingers or brushes or scraping tools therein for the purpose of removing such deposits.
It is an object of the present invention to provide means for simplifying and for speeding up cleaning and for making cleaning of the interior surfaces of field ranges more effective, particularly for accomplishing these objectives in the cleaning of the sidewalls and rear wall of the oven portions of such ranges.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the invention. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to compositions containing sulfinic derivatives. In particular it relates to such compositions as contain sulfinic derivatives having reductive properties and in which the sulfinic derivative is stabilized to degradation by the addition of stabilizing agents.
Sulfinic derivatives are derivatives of sulfinic acid of the general formula
Rxe2x80x94S(O)xe2x80x94Oxe2x88x92M+.
The substituent R denotes an organic radical, such as a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl or aryl radical, or an inorganic radical, such as a substituted or unsubstituted sulfino or sulfinato radical. The substituent M+ stands for a cation such as a proton, a unipositively charged metal cation or the equivalent of a multipositively charged metal cation necessary to compensate the electric charges.
Sulfinic derivatives have reductive properties and are industrially important auxiliaries primarily in the textile and paper industries, for example for the reduction of dyes in vat dyeing or for bleaching wood-containing papers.
However, sulfinic derivatives are not generally stable in storage. It is therefore necessary to store them in a well-sealed container in a cool, dry place, but they still degrade during storage, a process which can, under unfavorable circumstances, lead to self-ignition of the stored goods; as a result, sulfinic derivatives may have to be classified as dangerous chemicals. Besides this, their degradation leads to a constant reduction of the content of sulfinic derivatives in the stored goods and causes an unpleasant odor of sulfur dioxide and/or hydrogen sulfide which, in dyeing processes for example, is transferred to the dyed fabrics and thus to the clothing manufactured therefrom. This odor can be masked by perfuming, but this requires extra processing and does not solve the basic problem or other problems associated with poor stability in storage, such as the continual drop in the value of the stored goods, since a diminishing content of sulfinic derivative in the composition means that more and more of the composition will be required to achieve the same end. Another drawback associated with this poor stability in storage is the resultant inclination of the product to become sticky, which impairs its handling properties, for example its flow characteristics when it is removed from bins or its conveyability in screw transporters. The stability in storage of the sodium salts of sulfinic acid mostly used commercially is poorer than that of zinc salts of sulfinic acid, which are seldom used and which are not suitable for every application on account of the toxicity of zinc ions to aquatic organisms.
Sulfinic derivatives are therefore traded and used usually in the form of compositions in which the sulfinic derivatives are stabilized to counteract degradation by the addition of stabilizing agents. Thus JP-A 1970/26,610 (Derwent Abstract No 61104R-E), for example, teaches the admixture of from 1 to 50 parts of anhydrous sodium hydrogensulfite to 100 parts of sodium dithionite. JP-A 51,110,497 (Derwent Abstract No 85930X/46) discloses stabilized dithionite compositions which contain alkali metal carbonate and alkali metal bicarbonate or alkali metal benzoate. DE-A 2,031,820 discloses the stabilization of solid sodium dithionite particles by the application of coatings of propoxylated cellulose or starch. U.S. Pat. No. 3,054,658 teaches the stabilization of sodium dithionite by admixture with a sodium or potassium salt of a C1-C10 fatty acid or benzoic acid. DE-A 2,107,959 teaches the stabilization of sodium dithionite by admixture with calcined soda and sodium diethylenetriamine pentaacetate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,210 discloses the stabilization of sodium dithionite by means of oxidic hygroscopic compounds or mixtures of compounds having alkaline properties. Explicitly mentioned are CaO, BaO, CaSO4/Na2CO3, SiO2/Na2CO3, Al2O3/Na2CO3 and CaO/BaO. However, these substances suffer from the drawback of being insoluble in conventional ready-made, particularly aqueous, solutions of sulfinic derivatives, which hampers handling and use thereof on an industrial scale. German patent application No. 19905395.2 (filing date Oct. 2, 1999) discloses compositions which contain at least one sulfinic derivative and magnesium sulphate. These compositions show substantially slower degradation of the sulfinic derivative and considerably improved olfactory properties but experience shows that in some applications they can give rise to undesirable or even troublesome turbidity or precipitation in the solutions commonly used therein.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a further composition containing sulfinic derivatives in which the sulfinic derivatives are stabilized to degradation to a higher degree than in most known compositions and, in addition, the occurrence of turbidity or precipitation during use of this composition is minimized.
Accordingly, we have found a composition which contains at least one sulfinic derivative and potassium carbonate. The composition of the invention shows a distinct improvement in stability over known compositions, in particular less reduction of the content of sulfinic derivative and less generation of objectionable odors and reduces the occurrence of turbidity or precipitation in solutions containing this composition.
The composition of the invention is preferably a solid composition and more preferably a solid flowable composition, from which the commercial solutions of sulfinic derivative(s) are prepared, for example by dissolution in a solvent such as water.
The composition of the invention contains at least one sulfinic derivative, which can be any known sulfinic derivative.
Sulfinic derivatives conform to the general formula
Rxe2x80x94S(O)xe2x80x94Oxe2x88x92M+.
The substituent R denotes an organic radical, such as a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl or aryl radical, or an inorganic radical, such as a substituted or unsubstituted sulfino or sulfinato radical.
Suitable alkyls are straight-chain or branched C1-C10 alkyl groups which may be substituted. Preference is given to the use of C1-C4 alkyls such as methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, sec-butyl, isobutyl or tert-butyl and more preferably to the use of a methyl group. Substituents other than hydrogen substituents can be used in these radicals, for example halogens such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine, oxygen-containing substituents such as oxy, alkoxy and/or hydroxy radicals, and/or nitrogen-contain-ing substituents such as amino and/or imino radicals. Preferably hydroxy or amino and imino radicals are used. Particularly preferred is the use of a 1-hydroxyalkyl radical, in particular a 1-hydroxyethyl or 1-hydroxymethyl radical (R=CH3xe2x80x94CH(OH)xe2x80x94 or HOxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94) or an amino/imino methyl radical (R=H2Nxe2x80x94(HN)Cxe2x80x94) or condensation products of the hydroxyalkyl radicals with ammonia (R=H2Nxe2x80x94CHRxe2x80x2xe2x80x94, M+xe2x88x92Oxe2x80x94(O) Sxe2x80x94CHRxe2x80x2xe2x80x94NHxe2x80x94CHRxe2x80x2xe2x80x94 or [M+xe2x88x92Oxe2x80x94(O) Sxe2x80x94CHRxe2x80x2]2Nxe2x80x94CHRxe2x80x2xe2x80x94), where M+ has the meaning defined below and Rxe2x80x2 stands for hydrogen or alkyl, particularly methyl. If M+ and Rxe2x80x2 occur more than once in a compound they can denote different substituents.
Suitable aryls are aromatic radicals containing at least 6 carbon atoms, which may be substituted. Preference is given to the use of substituted or unsubstituted phenyl groups. Substituents other than hydrogen can be used in these radicals, for example halogens such as fluorine, chlorine, bromine or iodine, oxygen-containing substituents such as alkoxy and/or hydroxy radicals and/or nitrogen-containing substituents such as (alkyl)amino radicals.
Suitable inorganic radicals are all radicals which do not impair the stability of the sulfinic acid unit. Preference is given to the use of sulfur-containing radicals and more preferably to the use of a sulfino or sulfinato radical (R=X+xe2x88x92Oxe2x80x94(O)Sxe2x80x94).
The substituent M+ of the sulfinic derivatives is a cation, for example a proton, a unipositively charged metal cation or an equivalent multipositively charged metal cation as required to compensate the electric charges.
The unipositively charged cation can be for example a cation of an alkali metal such as lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium or cesium, of which sodium and potassium are preferred, sodium being particularly preferred. The multipositively charged cation used can be for example a cation of an alkaline-earth metal such as magnesium, calcium, strontium or barium or some other divalent metal such as zinc, of which magnesium, calcium and zinc are preferred, zinc being particularly preferred. Alternatively, mixtures of unipositively and multipositively charged cations can be used, provided overall charge neutrality is achieved.
In a preferred embodiment, the composition of the invention contains at least one sulfinic derivative selected from the following group:
zinc dithionite ZnS2O4,
sodium dithionite Na2S2O4,
zinc 1-hydroxyethanesulfinate (H3Cxe2x80x94CH(OH)xe2x80x94SO2)2Zn,
sodium 1-hydroxyethanesulfinate H3Cxe2x80x94CH(OH)xe2x80x94SO2Na,
zinc 1-aminoethanesulfinate (H3Cxe2x80x94CH(NH2)xe2x80x94SO2)2Zn,
sodium 1-aminoethanesulfinate H3Cxe2x80x94CH(NH2)xe2x80x94SO2Na,
zinc 1-iminoethanesulfinate HN[xe2x80x94CH(CH3)xe2x80x94SO2]2Zn,
sodium 1-iminoethanesulfinate HN[xe2x80x94CH(CH3xe2x80x94SO2Na]2,
zinc 1-nitriloethanesulfinate [N[xe2x80x94CH(CH3)xe2x80x94SO2]3]2Zn3,
sodium 1-nitriloethanesulfinate N[xe2x80x94CH(CH3)xe2x80x94SO2Na]3,
zinc hydroxymethanesulfinate (H2C(OH)xe2x80x94SO2)2Zn,
sodium hydroxymethanesulfinate H2C(OH)xe2x80x94SO2Na,
zinc aminomethanesulfinate (H2C(NH2)xe2x80x94SO2)2Zn,
sodium aminomethanesulfinate H2C(NH2)xe2x80x94SO2Na,
zinc iminomethanesulfinate HN[xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94SO2]2Zn,
sodium iminomethanesulfinate HN[xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94SO2Na]2,
zinc nitrilomethanesulfinate [N[xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94SO2]3]2Zn3,
sodium nitrilomethanesulfinate N[xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94SO2Na]3 and
aminoiminomethanesulfinic acid H2Nxe2x80x94(HNCxe2x80x94SO2H.
In a particularly preferred embodiment it contains zinc dithionite and/or sodium dithionite, very preferably sodium dithionite. Dithionites (R=M+xe2x88x92Oxe2x80x94(O)Sxe2x80x94), frequently referred to as hypodisulfites or hydrosulfites, are usually prepared by reduction of sulfurous acid or hydrogen sulfite using strong reducing agents. On an industrial scale this reduction is mostly effected using zinc dust, sodium amalgam or sodium formate as reducing agents, in which case zinc dithionite or sodium dithionite is formed respectively. The commercial dithionites produced by these various processes are frequently designated xe2x80x9czinc dust goodsxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9camalgam goodsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cformate goodsxe2x80x9d respectively. Hydroxmethylsulfinates (R=HOxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94) are usually prepared by reduction of the corresponding sulfonyl chloride Rxe2x80x94SO2Cl using zinc dust, sodium amalgam or sodium formate as reducing agents, in which case the corresponding zinc or sodium salt is formed. These products are caused to react with ammonia to give the corresponding amino, imino or nitrilo compounds. Aminoiminomethanesulfinic acid (R=H2N(HN)Cxe2x80x94, M+=H+), also referred to as formamidinosulfinic acid or thiourea dioxide, since it predominantly exists in the tautomeric form O2Sxe2x95x90C(NH2)2 in the solid state, is usually prepared by oxidation of thiourea with hydrogen peroxide.
An essential difference between the reduction of the appropriate parent compound by means of formates and the other commonly used processes for the preparation of sulfinic derivatives is that precipitation is carried out at acid pH""s. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the composition contains at least one sulfinic derivative which has been prepared by reduction of the parent compound in the acid range of pH""s, in particular by reduction using a formate, especially sodium formate, as reducing agent.
Commercial sulfinic derivatives are not usually in a pure state but contain a certain amount of minor constituents, for example unconverted parent compounds, by-products of the reduction, degradation products of the sulfinic derivatives and/or auxiliary substances added during production thereof, such as sodium carbonate or hexamethylenetetramine. The content of such minor constituents is generally between approximately 5 wt % and 20 wt %, based on the total weight of the commercial product.
The composition of the invention also contains potassium carbonate. In a preferred embodiment it contains anhydrous potassium carbonate.
The content of sulfinic derivatives and potassium carbonate in such a freshly prepared composition can be varied virtually arbitrarily, but routine tests must be carried out in individual cases to find a compromise between an economically desirable high content of sulfinic derivatives and a sufficiently high content of potassium carbonate to give the required stability in storage.
The composition of the invention can comprise at least one sulfinic derivative, such as zinc dithionite, sodium dithionite, zinc hydroxymethanesulfinate, sodium hydroxymethanesulfinate, their condensation products with ammonia, and/or aminoiminomethanesulfinic acid, and potassium carbonate. In this case the freshly prepared composition generally contains potassium carbonate in an amount ranging from 0.1 to 15 wt %, preferably from 0.5 to 5 wt % and more preferably from 1 to 3 wt %. In the most preferred embodiment, the content of potassium carbonate is set at less than 2 wt %, for example at 1 wt %. These percentages are based in each case on the weight of the total composition and are calculated on the basis of anhydrous potassium carbonate.
The composition of the invention may contain, in addition to the sulfinic derivative(s) and potassium carbonate, any other desired constituents. Thus it may contain, in particular, not only the by-products usually formed during industrial preparation of sulfinic derivatives or unconverted starting materials, but also conventional stabilizing agents for sulfinic derivatives and/or any other known additives for commercial formulations containing sulfinic derivatives. It can contain for example additional auxiliaries such as activators, complexing agents such as nitrilotriacetic salts and/or ethylenediamine-tetraacetic salts, optical brighteners, bleaching agents, perfumes and/or surface-active agents such as surfactants and/or dispersing agents. Examples of such additional constituents of the composition of the invention are alkali metal salts such as the carbonate, hydrogencarbonate, sulfite, hydrogensulfite, disulfite, sulfate, mono-, di-, tri- and/or poly-phosphate, phosphonate, and/or carboxylate of sodium and/or potassium, surfactants and carbohydrates such as starch and cellulose and/or sugars such as glucose, fructose, maltose or saccharase, which may be alkoxylated. For each particular application, routine tests may be carried out to determine whether such additional constituents, in particular said metal salts, should be added or not and, if so, what quantity thereof is required for optimum results. Additional constituents which cause turbidity or precipitation in the quantity added and also any components which are unnecessary for achieving the desired technological effect are added either not at all or only in minor quantities. In a preferred embodiment, the composition contains no magnesium sulfate, no carbonates other than potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate and preferably no sodium carbonate, and/or no bicarbonates. Furthermore, the composition preferably contains sugars and/or complexing agents. If added, sugars and/or complexing agents are present in a quantity of generally at least 0.2 wt %, preferably at least 1 wt % and more preferably at least 2 wt % and not more than 20 wt %, preferably not more than 15 wt % and more preferably not more than 10 wt %, based in each case on the total composition.
Generally such a freshly prepared composition of the invention contains a total of from 15 to 90 wt %, preferably from 30 to 85 wt % and more preferably from 40 to 80 wt % of sulfinic derivative(s) based, in each case, on the total composition. Its content of potassium carbonate, calculated as anhydrous potassium carbonate, is generally at least 0.01 wt %, preferably at least 0.2 wt % and more preferably at least 0.5 wt % and generally not more than 10 wt %, preferably not more than 5 wt % and more preferably not more than 3 wt %, based in each case on the total composition, the other constituents of the composition of the invention supplementing the amounts of sulfinic derivatives and potassium carbonate to make up to 100 wt %.
The composition of the invention is prepared by adding potassium carbonate during or after the preparation of the sulfinic derivative(s) or commercial formulations thereof. The method or time of addition of the potassium carbonate is not generally of crucial importance and such addition can be carried out in any known manner. For example solid potassium carbonate or a potassium carbonate-containing solution or suspension in a suitable solvent or suspending agent or a mixture of such solvents or suspending agents can be added to the reaction mixture used for the preparation of a sulfinic derivative or at any stage of said process. Suitable solvents or suspending agents are for example water, ethers such as diethyl ether, di-n-propyl ether, diisopropyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, methyl-tert-butyl ether, ethyl-tert-bu-tyl ether and/or hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane, benzene, toluene, or xylene.
Instead of potassium carbonate itself, there can be added other substances which give potassium carbonate in the final composition. Thus there may be added potassium salts other than potassium carbonate and sources of carbonate ions, for example potassium halides such as potassium chloride and/or bromide, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, potassium sulfite, alkali metal carbonates such as sodium carbonate and/or ammonium carbonate.
Preferably solid potassium carbonate or, in a particularly preferred embodiment, anhydrous solid potassium carbonate is mixed in during the conventional blending process for the preparation of commercial compositions of sulfinic derivatives, in which process commercial sulfinic derivative(s) are blended with known additives. The potassium carbonate is added in the particle sizes conventionally used for solid additives for such compositions and the particle size of the potassium carbonate can be varied virtually unlimitedly within this range. When use is made of more finely divided potassium carbonate, a better stabilizing action is usually achieved, but handling of the product is hampered due to the increased amount of dust formed in the case of very finely divided material, so that in some circumstances it will be necessary to determine the best particle size of the potassium carbonate for use in a particular application. Generally the average particle size (equal to 50 wt % retention of the potassium carbonate on a sieve of the specified mesh size) is from 0.005 to 1.0 mm, usually from 0.02 to 0.5 mm.
The compositions of the invention can be stored for longer periods of time or at higher temperatures (for example in dye shops in tropical countries) than is the case with known compositions or show, when stored for comparatively long periods, less generation of objectionable odors, less reduction in the content of sulfinic derivative(s) and/or less inclination to self-ignition. Similarly, the composition of the invention is less sticky than the commercial compositions. For example, it can be readily metered by means of screw conveyors without sticking to the walls thereof. Furthermore the compositions of the invention do not cause turbidity or precipitation in most fields of application. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Contoured cushioning is commonly used for many different types of seats and mattresses. For example, contoured cushioning is sometimes used in seats, such as office chairs, wheelchairs, and vehicle seats to provide lumbar support and a comfortable seat base. Typically, contoured cushioning is provided by locating padding at specific parts of the seat base or backrest to create areas of greater or lesser cushioning and contouring. Contoured cushioning is sometimes used in seats, such as wheelchairs, to aid the comfort of the user and to help those with significant physical disabilities to sit comfortably and safely in a wheelchair. People with Cerebral Palsy, neuromuscular diseases, brain injuries, spinal injuries and many other medical conditions often need significant and customised contouring of seats to properly support their posture and positioning. The contouring required can be very user specific, with some people requiring different areas of the seat to be raised or lowered and to different extents. The required extent of contouring and the position of contoured areas of the seat may need to be regularly modified for some users. Unfortunately, many known seating systems do not provide contoured seating in which the extent and location of the contouring can be readily altered. It can also be difficult to obtain the full extent of contouring required for high needs users of seats, particularly wheelchairs. As a result, high needs users are prone to slipping into unsafe and/or uncomfortable positions in their seats so that caregivers must regularly adjust the position of the person in the chair. Contoured cushioning is also sometimes used in beds to reduce the risk of pressure injuries to those who are bedridden for long periods of time.
Furthermore, many contouring devices for seats and mattresses provide fixed contouring that cannot be altered to suit the needs of individual users over time. For example, it is often the case also that the same seat cannot be used to suit the different needs of another user. Consequently, these customised (and often expensive) seats may only be useful to one person for a short period of time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a contouring device that goes at least some way towards overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art or that at least provides the public with a useful alternative to current contouring devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to adjusting position and size of an image signal using a clamp signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image signal includes an active signal to be actually displayed on a screen of a display apparatus and a synchronization signal defining a starting point and an end point of the active signal. The image signal is provided to a signal processing unit of the display apparatus, and the signal processing unit processes the provided image signal so that an image can be displayed on the screen. At this time, an adjustment signal to adjust position and size of the active signal displayed on the screen requires, for example, a reference signal such as a clamp signal formed in a blanking interval between the synchronization signal and the active signal. Resolution and size of the screen on which the active signal is displayed may be adjusted based on the adjustment signal.
In the related art, even if an image signal with high resolution, such as a digital video interactive (DVI) signal having a pixel clock of more than 150 MHz, is input in the display apparatus, the display apparatus can not support such a high frequency. To overcome this problem, the display apparatus has to process an image signal having a reduced blanking timing.
However, when the reduced blanking timing image signal is input to the display apparatus, since the display apparatus processes the input image signal according to a signal processing standard with an existing blanking timing, there arises a problem in that the clamp signal is included in an interval of the active signal, thereby darkening and trembling an image. | {
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Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention is directed to an improvement in the method of making siloxane-based polyamides described in a prior copending application, U.S. Ser. No. 08/904,709, filed Aug. 1, 1997, and entitled xe2x80x9cCosmetic Composition Containing Siloxane-Based Polyamides as Thickening Agentsxe2x80x9d, hereafter referred to as the ""709 application.
The present invention relates to a novel method of making siloxane-based polyamides.
There is a growing demand in the personal care arena for polymeric materials capable of thickening dimethylcyclosiloxanes in order to modify product viscosity in various market niche hair, skin, cosmetic, and underarm, applications.
The ""709 application is directed to one type of a process for preparing siloxane-based polyamides. The process according to the ""709 application involves many steps, and this results in cost prohibitive products which are difficult to produce in commercial quantity.
For example, in the ""709 application process, a dimethyl hydride endblocked polydimethylsiloxane is first prepared containing the appropriate number of siloxane units to achieve a desired value of DP. The carboxylic acid group of undecylenic acid is then protected through reaction with hexamethyldisilazane. The dimethyl hydride endblocked polydimethylsiloxane and the protected undecylenic acid are reacted to produce a siloxane diacid, i.e., a carboxydecyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane. This reaction is accomplished in the presence of a platinum catalyst, and the product is washed with methanol to remove the trimethylsilyl protecting group from the protected siloxane diacid. The siloxane diacid is then reacted with an organic diamine to produce a siloxane-based polyamide.
Accordingly, a new process has been discovered herein that eliminates many of the otherwise costly steps involved in the process according to the ""709 application.
The new process basically involves the addition of an olefinic acid with an organic diamine to produce an organic diamide. One the olefinic acid and the organic diamine are fully reacted, an xe2x89xa1SiH endblocked polysiloxane is added in the presence of a platinum catalyst, to produce a siloxane-based polyamide via hydrosilylation. The resulting polymeric product is in the form of a high molecular weight thermoplastic polymer. The benefits of this process is that it allows for the production of a cost effective manufactured product in commercial quantity.
This invention relates to a method of forming a siloxane-based polyamides which are useful as thickening agents to formulate a wide variety of cosmetic compositions. The polyamides of this invention are multiples of a unit represented by the following Formula A:
where:
(1) The degree of polymerization (DP) is 1-700, preferably 10-500, and more preferably 15-45. DP represents an average value for degree of polymerization of the siloxane units in the polymer with greater or lesser DP values centered around the indicated DP value.
(2) n is 1-500, particularly 1-100, and more particularly 4-25.
(3) X is a linear or branched chain alkylene having 1-30 carbons, particularly 3-10 carbons, and more particularly 10 carbons.
(4) Y is a linear or branched chain alkylene having 1-40 carbons, particularly 1-20 carbons, more particularly 2-6 carbons, and especially 6 carbons wherein
(a) The alkylene group may optionally and additionally contain in the alkylene portion at least one of (i) 1-3 amide linkages; (ii) a C5 or C6 cycloalkane; or (iii) phenylene, optionally substituted by 1-3 members which are independently C1-C3 alkyls; and
(b) the alkylene group itself may optionally be substituted by at least one of (i) hydroxy; (ii) a C3-C8 cycloalkane; (iii) 1-3 members which are independently C1-C3 alkyls; phenyl, optionally substituted by 1-3 members which are independently C1-C3 alkyls; (iv) a C1-C3 alkyl hydroxy; or (v) a C1-C6 alkyl amine; and
(c) Y can be Z where Z is T(R20)(R21)(R22) where R20, R21 and R22 are each independently linear or branched C1-C 10 alkylenes; and T is CR in which R is hydrogen, the group defined for R1-R4, or a trivalent atom such as N, P and Al.
(5) Each of R1-R4 (collectively xe2x80x9cRxe2x80x9d) is independently methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, a siloxane chain, or phenyl, wherein the phenyl may optionally be substituted by 1-3 members which are methyl or ethyl. More particularly, R1-R4 are methyl or ethyl, especially methyl.
(6) X, Y, DP, and R1-R4 may be the same or different for each polyamide unit.
By xe2x80x9csiloxane chainxe2x80x9d is meant a group of units such as:
where R30 and R31 are each independently organic moieties; and each R30 and R31 are connected to silicon by a carbon-silicon bond.
The carbon numbers in the alkylene chain do not include the carbons in the extra segments or substitutions. Also, the polyamides must have a siloxane portion in the backbone and optionally may have a siloxane portion in a pendant or branched portion.
If repeated with no variations in the defined variables, Formula A is representative of a linear homopolymer. Variations of the invention include: (1) polyamides in which multiple values of DP, and of units X, Y, and R1-R4 occur in one polymeric molecule, and wherein the sequencing of these units may be alternating, random or block; (2) polyamides in which an organic triamine or higher amine such as tris(2-aminoethyl)amine replaces the organic diamine in part, to produce a branched or crosslinked molecule; and (3) physical blends of any of (1) and (2) and/or linear homopolymers.
These and other features of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the detailed description.
Not applicable. | {
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A typical process for operating a digital computer involves the steps of writing a plurality of programs in one or more source languages, compiling (or assembling) the source programs into object modules, linking one or more object modules together into a load module, and loading and running the load module. In the typical case where the object modules and load modules are relocatable, the addresses in these modules are relative addresses, i.e., they are addresses relative to the beginning of the respective modules. The modules include relocation information which is used by the operating system to convert the relative addresses to absolute addresses when the modules are loaded for execution.
In a computer system including multiple programs, access between programs is generally accomplished by means of a CALL statement or its equivalent. The CALL statement includes the word CALL and also specifies the name of the program that is to be called. When such a statement is included in a source program, the compiler translates it into a statement for transferring control to the address where the callable program is located. Because the compiler has no way to determine the address of the callable program, the compiler lists the callable program as an unresolved external reference.
The process of combining a number of object modules into a load module is accomplished by a program commonly called a linkage editor. The linkage editor produces a relocatable load module in which addresses are relative to the beginning of the load module. In the case where one object module in a load module CALLs a second object module in that load module, the linkage editor resolves the reference such that the transfer representing the CALL statement transfers control to the relative address of the second object module in the load module. When the relocatable load module is to be executed, the operating system determines the beginning load location, converts all relative addresses to absolute addresses based upon that location, and then loads and runs the load module.
In systems such as those described above, the programmer who wishes to make a particular program available to several load modules must either include the program in each load module, or create a separate load module consisting of that program alone, and store such load module in a library. Both of these approaches have drawbacks. Storing the program in several load modules is redundant and wasteful of storage space. Storing the program as a separate load module leads to a complex library system in which the logical relationships between programs are obscured. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Engine fan flutter can be caused by shocks at the blade tips and tip vortices created in the flow adjacent the blade tips. Flutter is typically undesired in a gas turbine engine or in other rotary machines, and can occur in blades of various types of rotor assemblies such as fan blades, compressor blades, turbine blades, and the like. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present application describes a technique for automatically capturing Internet addresses that are broadcast as part of an entertainment media.
Many commercials on entertainment media, such as television and radio, include an Internet address therein. For this part of the advertising to be effective, the user must remember these Internet addresses, since they are broadcast as part of the commercial. Therefore, the Internet addresses broadcast on such media are only really effective when they refer to an easy-to-remember domain name.
The simple domain names, unfortunately, are valuable and limited commodities. Great cost can be associated with obtaining a simple name of this type.
In addition, since the address to be displayed must be simple, it does not readily allow any complicated addresses, e.g., subdomains within the main domain.
Non-commercial parts of the entertainment media can also display Internet addresses. For example, a web site associated with a TV show can be displayed during the credits of the TV show. | {
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Ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers (hereinafter, may be also referred to as “EVOH”) are superior in oxygen barrier properties, transparency, oil resistance, antistatic properties, mechanical strength and the like, and thus have been widely used as various types of wrapping materials such as films, sheets, containers, etc.
These materials such as films are usually formed by a melt molding method. Therefore, EVOH is expected to have superior appearance characteristics in melt molding (being enabling molded products having superior appearances without generation of gels and seeds (dirt under paint), occurrence of coloring such as yellowing, and the like to be obtained), long-run workability (a property capable of obtaining a molded product without generation of fish eyes, streaks, etc., due to no change of physical properties such as viscosity, etc., if molded for a long period of time), and the like. In addition, films, sheets and the like are often formed with a multilayered structure having an EVOH layer for the purpose of improving oxygen barrier properties and the like. When such a multilayered structure is to be obtained, a metal salt is often contained in an EVOH composition in order to improve adhesiveness between layers. However, it is known that when a metal salt is contained in an EVOH composition, coloring such as yellowing is more likely to be caused, and thus appearance characteristics are deteriorated. Particularly in an intended usage of sheet molding and the like, an edge part (trim) of a sheet after a molded product was obtained is recovered and reused, and there is a disadvantage that deterioration of the EVOH proceeds every time reuse is repeated, and defects such as gels and seeds increase whereby an appearance of a molded product is deteriorated.
Under such circumstances, so as to improve these various characteristics demanded for EVOH, particularly, appearance characteristics, various types of methods in which acids such as carboxylic acid and phosphoric acid, and metal salts such as alkali metal salts and alkaline earth metal salts are contained in an appropriate content in an EVOH composition have been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication Nos. S64-66262 and 2001-146539). The EVOH compositions obtained by these methods reportedly enable the appearance characteristic and a long-run workability to be improved, and a molded article having a superior appearance without gels, seeds or the like to be obtained.
However, even these compositions cannot sufficiently prevent occurrence of coloring such as yellowing in melt molding. Particularly, when a multilayered structure is molded by co-extrusion with an EVOH and other thermoplastic resin, melt molding may be carried out at a comparatively high temperature over 200° C. in accordance with a melting temperature of the other resin. In the case in which melt molding is carried out at such a comparatively high temperature, conventional EVOH compositions have been disadvantageous in that yellowing, etc. is likely to occur. Furthermore, in co-extrusion of an EVOH with a thermoplastic resin such as nylon or polyester, molding thereof requires a high temperature, so that an EVOH is also exposed to a higher temperature such as e.g., no lower than 260° C. Therefore, an EVOH has been required which can prevent yellowing from occurring under such high temperatures. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Many modern programming language systems, such as Java and C++, are based on object oriented programming. Object oriented programming languages tend to be more flexible and robust because many data types are grouped into generic object classes. Generic object classes are defined so that object instances can share models and reuse the class definitions in their code. Each instantiation of an object class is a subclass, or subtype, with corresponding procedures and data variables that enable processing of the instantiated object. The instantiated object is what actually runs in the computer.
There are two distinct phases in the processing of a computer program by a computer, compile-time and run-time. Compile-time is the initial step of translating programming source code into executable code, which includes both computer instructions and their associated supporting data structures. In contrast, run-time is the final step where the executable code is executed to perform its intended function, such as creating, classifying, and manipulating object instances. Compile-time and run-time are often concurrently active in a modern computing system. For example, run-time execution might initiate compilation activity, or the compiler might make use of data structures created by run-time activities.
Source code often references objects as generic classes. This allows the source code to operate correctly on any object instance that conforms to the generic class. Sometimes, however, object classes are hierarchically organized into a sub-typing array, which is typically a decision tree structure with the generic classes branching under a single object class at the tree's root and multiple levels of object subtypes branching from each parent object class above. This tree structure is often called the “class hierarchy”. Source code may request that an object be tested as to whether it is a subtype of some particular class being sought by the programmer. Such tests are called subtyping tests. If an object passes a subtyping test, the source code which controls subsequent program execution may treat the object as an instance of the sought class, using in conjunction with the original object the sought class's associated procedures and data variables. Subtyping tests are common in many object-oriented applications, and may occur millions of times per second.
Subtyping tests are compiled into executable codes called supertype requests, which search for the desired supertype in the given object's data structures. The executable code of a class includes information to help determine subtyping relationships. In a statically compiled language like C++ this information is directly emitted by the static compiler. The current state of the art in Java, for example, is for the runtime system to store an array or list of supertypes, sometimes referred to a supertyping array, is associated with the class data structure of each class, at the time it is loaded into an application. It should be appreciated that supertyping arrays are created for the compiler's benefit, and usually are created concurrently with the running, or run-time, of the application. Supertyping arrays usually are relatively large because they contain all available object supertype classes. Accordingly, they are not embedded into the class data structures of the executing code, and require the additional loading of a pointer to be searched. Searching the supertyping array is generally a relatively slow process. In current systems, run-time object subtype checks that search the supertyping array are called millions of times per second. Thus, searching the supertyping array for object subtyping presents a significant time penalty.
Certain object types such as data arrays and interfaces are special as they have special subtyping rules, as dictated by the source language. For example, in Java, a data array can be a single or multi-dimensional data structure, whose supertypes are determined in a complex manner from the supertypes of its array element type. An interface is property that holds true over some collection of object classes that are not related to the parent-subtype tree relationship of the class hierarchy. This lack of object interface structure may force each object type in a large tree to be tested for implementation of a particular interface type, as opposed to simply searching up the tree to a generic interface class.
Thus, what is required is a more efficient run-time object subtype test that avoids unnecessarily searching large class hierarchies. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Saddles are a critical piece of equipment for the sport of horseback riding and can also represent a significant financial investment. It is imperative that saddles always have adequate support to retain their shape and that the exposed surfaces, particularly on the underside are not damaged. Saddles consist of a number of parts. Those that are most relevant to the discussion of the invention are of the english type saddle. Of particular interest are the saddle tree which is the skeleton of the saddle and is usually made from wood, metal or a molded plastic, the saddle flaps which form the sides of the saddle, the pommel which is the front edge of the saddle, the cantle which is the rear edge of the saddle, and the panels which run the length of the saddle on the underside from the pommel to the cantle.
Generally speaking, when a saddle is not in use it is kept in a house, barn, or outbuilding. When kept in these locations it may be stored on a saddle rack mounted on a wall or other vertical surface or on a free standing saddle rack or stand. In addition, saddles may be placed over railings, on the back of a sofa or chair or sometimes just placed on the floor.
If the saddle is kept in close proximity to where the horse is located, the saddle may simply be carried and placed on the horse. In other instances, the saddle may be carried some distance by a person on foot and then placed in a temporary location until it is placed on the horse. In still other instances, the saddle may be transported in a vehicle and then removed and placed in a temporary location until it is placed on the horse. These temporary places may include a fence rail, a stall door, the side of a truck, a chair or even the ground. When a saddle is transported in a vehicle it is usually placed on a car or truck seat, in the trunk of a car or in the back of a sport utility vehicle, or in the bed of a pickup truck. In most if not all of these cases, there is no proper support available for the saddle.
Horses are oftentimes taken to temporary locations such as those associated with horse shows and trail rides. In these situations, the saddle may be placed on the horse, removed and placed in a temporary location and then placed on the horse again. This occurs frequently at horse shows when a horse is performing in several classes with a length of time between those classes. If a rider has no one else to help attend to the horse, he or she will not want to leave the horse while searching for an appropriate place to put the saddle. It is commonplace at horse shows for riders to place the saddle on the ground or on a fence rail because there is no convenient, suitable place to put the saddle. This is undesirable because the saddle can be damaged quite easily, but riders face the dilemma of not having something convenient to put the saddle on that will hold the saddle properly.
A variety of items have been created to support and store saddles under certain circumstances when the saddles are not being used. Among these is the type of saddle rack which must be attached to a vertical wall or other structure and projects horizontally to support a saddle placed thereon. Some of these are disclosed in prior U.S. patents including U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,252 and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 277,989. Another commonly used type of saddle stand or rack is one which rests on the floor and holds a saddle and may hold other horse-related equipment. Some of these are disclosed in prior U.S. patents including U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,459; U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,656; U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,553; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 295,906. These two types of saddle racks or stands represent the most common structures for supporting a saddle when the saddle is not in use.
The first type described above is strictly limited in its utility because of its physical structure which requires that it must always be attached to a vertical structure in order to function. The second type which rests on the floor is more versatile in that it can be moved from one location to another without requiring other support. This type may be considered portable because it can be moved. Most often, this type of saddle rack or stand is manufactured of wood and is meant to be used indoors and not outdoors. Neither one of the types of saddle racks or stands can easily be carried as a single unit with the saddle and then be used as a free-standing saddle stand or holder.
These problems associated with the previous saddle holders have been alleviated with the present portable saddle holder that requires no permanent or temporary attaching apparatus and the portable saddle holder is readily used outdoors and can be transported with the saddle as a unit. The portable saddle holder invention has been formed and fabricated in such a way to properly support the important portions of the saddle at all times and to be carried concurrently with the saddle and then used to properly hold the saddle at any temporary location when the saddle is not being used on the horse. The invention can also be readily used to support the saddle during transport in a vehicle. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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This invention relates to an image information conversion apparatus and an image information conversion method, and more particularly to an image information conversion apparatus and an image information conversion method which are used to receive, through network media such as a satellite broadcast, a cable television broadcast or the Internet or process, on a recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk, image information in the form of a bit stream compressed by orthogonal transform such as discrete cosine transform and motion compensation.
In recent years, an apparatus which complies with a method wherein image information is handled as digital data and the redundancy unique to image information is utilized to compress image information by orthogonal transform such as, for example, discrete cosine transform and motion compensation in order to allow transmission and storage of information with-a high efficiency has been popularized in both of information distribution from a broadcasting station or the like and information reception by ordinary households.
Particularly, the MPEG(Moving Picture Experts Group)2 standardized by the MPEG is defined as a general purpose image coding system in the ISO/IEC 13818-2 and covers both of interlaced scan images and progressive scan images as well as standard resolution images and high resolution images. Therefore, it is expected that the MPEG2 be used by wide varieties of applications from professional applications to consumer applications in the future.
Where such an MPEG2 compression system as described above is used, realization of a high compression ratio and a good picture quality can be anticipated by allocating, to interlaced scan images of a standard resolution having, for example, 720×480 pixels, a code amount (hereinafter referred to as bit rate) of 4 to 8 Mbps or by allocating, to interlaced scan images of a high resolution having, for example, 1,920×1,088 pixels, a bit rate of 18 to 22 Mbps.
The MPEG2 is directed to high picture quality coding suitable principally for broadcasting, but is not ready for a coding system of a bit rate lower than, that is, of a compression ratio higher than, that of the MPEG1. However, from popularization of portable terminals, it has been expected that the need for a coding system of a higher compression ratio increases in the future. Therefore, the MPEG4 coding system has been standardized, and the image coding system of the MPEG4 was approved as international standards of the ISO/IEG 14496-2 in December 1998.
In order to process MPEG2 image compression information (hereinafter referred to as MPEG2 bit stream) coded once so as to be suitable for digital broadcasting on a portable terminal or the like, it is demanded to convert the MPEG2 bit stream into MPEG4 image compression information (hereinafter referred to as MPEG4 bit stream) of a lower bit rate.
An image information conversion apparatus (transcoder) which satisfies the demand is disclosed in Susie J. Wee, John G. Apostlopoulos and Nick Feamster, “Field-to-Frame Transcoding with Spatial and Temporal Downsampling”, ICIP '99 (hereinafter referred to as document 1). The image information conversion apparatus mentioned is shown in FIG. 5.
Referring to FIG. 5, the image information conversion apparatus 101 shown includes a picture type discrimination section 111, an MPEG2 image information (I picture and P picture) decoding section 112, a reduction section 113, a video memory 114, an MPEG4 image information (I/P-VOP) coding section 115, a motion vector synthesis section 116, and a motion vector detection section 117. It is to be noted that the VOP (Video Object Plane) in the MPEG4 corresponds to the frame in the MPEG2.
The picture type discrimination section 111 receives data of frames of MPEG2 image compression information (hereinafter referred to as MPEG2 bit stream) of an interlaced scan as an input thereto and discriminates whether data of each frame is of MPEG2 image information (hereinafter referred to as I picture and P picture which signify an intra-image coded picture and a forward predictive coded picture, respectively) or of a B picture (bi-directionally predicted picture). The picture type discrimination section 111 outputs only the former data to the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 of the following stage.
The MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 executes processing similar to that of an ordinary MPEG2 image information decoding section. However, since data regarding B pictures are discarded by the picture type discrimination section 111, it is only required for the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 to have a function of decoding only I/P pictures.
The reduction section 113 receives pixel values from the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 and performs processing of reducing the pixel values to ½ in the horizontal direction and discarding data of one of the first and second fields in the vertical direction while leaving data of the other field to produce a progressive scan image having a size of ¼ that of the inputted image information.
If the MPEG2 bit stream inputted from the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 represents images compliant with the standards of the NTSC (National Television System Committee), that is, interlaced scan images of 720×480 pixels and 30 Hz, then the images after the reduction by the reduction section 113 have a size of 360×240 pixels. However, in order to allow the processing in a unit of a macro block when the MPEG4 image information coding section 115 in a succeeding stage performs coding, the pixel numbers both in the horizontal and vertical directions must be multiples of 16. Accordingly, the reduction section 113 further performs supplementation or discarding of pixels for satisfying the requirement. In particular, in the specific case described above, eight lines, for example, at the right end or the left end in the horizontal direction are discarded so that the image has a size of 352×240 pixels.
The progressive scan image produced by the reduction section 113 is stored into the video memory 114 and then undergoes coding processing by the MPEG4 image information coding section 115, and is outputted as an MPEG4 bit stream.
Motion vector information in the inputted MPEG2 bit stream is supplied to the motion vector synthesis section 116, by which it is mapped to motion vectors for the image information after the reduction.
The motion vector detection section 117 detects motion vectors of a high degree of accuracy based on the motion vector values synthesized by the motion vector synthesis section 116.
The image information conversion apparatus 101 disclosed in document 1 produces an MPEG4 bit stream of progressive scan images having a size of ½×½ that of an inputted MPEG2 bit stream. For example, where the inputted MPEG2 bit stream complies with the NTSC standards, the MPEG4 bit stream to be outputted has the SIF size (352×240 pixels). The image information conversion apparatus 101 can convert the inputted MPEG2 bit stream also into an image of any other image size, for example, the QSIF (176×112 pixels) size which is a size of approximately ¼×¼ in the example described above, by modifying the operation of the reduction section 113.
Further, the image information conversion apparatus 101 performs, as a process by the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112, a decoding process using all of eighth-order discrete cosine transform coefficients in the inputted MPEG2 bit stream for the horizontal and vertical directions or a decoding process using only low-frequency components from among eighth-order discrete cosine transform coefficients only for the horizontal direction or for both of the horizontal and vertical directions thereby to reduce the arithmetic operation amount for the decoding process and the video memory capacity while suppressing the picture quality deterioration to the minimum.
In the image information conversion apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 5, the code amount control of the MPEG4 image information coding section 115 makes a significant factor of determination of the picture quality of an MPEG4 bit stream. In the ISO/IEC 14496-2, the system for code amount control is not specifically prescribed, and each vendor can use a system which is considered optimum from the point of view of the arithmetic operation amount and the output picture quality in accordance with an application to be used. In the following, a system prescribed in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15 (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 N0400) as a representative code amount control system is described.
For the code amount control, bit distribution to each picture is performed as a first step using a target code amount (target bit rate) and a GOP (Group Of Pictures) configuration as input variables. The GOP signifies a group of a plurality of pictures of different types arrayed in accordance with certain specifications. Then, rate control is performed using a virtual buffer, whereafter adaptive quantization for each macro block is performed finally taking a visual characteristic into consideration. The operation of the code amount control is illustrated in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIG. 6, first in step S101, the MPEG4 image information coding section 115 distributes an allocation bit amount for each picture in a GOP in accordance with a bit amount (hereinafter represented by R) to be allocated to those pictures which are not decoded as yet including allocation object pictures. This distribution is repeated in order of coded pictures in the GOP. In this instance, the code amount allocation to each picture is performed based on the following two assumptions.
First, it is assumed that the product of an average quantization scale code to be used for coding of each picture and the generated code amount is fixed for each picture type unless the screen does not change. Therefore, after each picture is coded, variables Xi, Xp and Xb (global complexity measures) each representative of the complexity of the screen are updated in accordance with the following expressions (1) to (3) for individual picture types:Xi=Si·Qi (1)Xp=Sp·Qp (2)Xb=Sb·Qb (3)where Si, Sp and Sb are the generated code bit amounts upon picture coding, and Qi, Qp and Qb are average quantization scale codes upon picture coding. The variables Xi, Xp and Xb have initial values represented by the following expressions (4) to (6), respectively, using the target code amount (target bit rate) bit_rate [bits/sec]:Xi=160×bit_rate/115 (4)Xp=60×bit_rate/115 (5)Xb=42×bit_rate/115 (6)
Secondly, it is assumed that the picture quality of the entire image is always optimized when the ratios Kp and Kb of the quantization scale code of P and B pictures with reference to the quantization scale code of an I picture have values defined by the following expression (7):Kp=1.0; Kb=1.4 (7)
In particular, the quantization scale code of a B picture is always 1.4 times that of the quantization scale codes of I and P pictures. Here, it is supposed that, by coding a B picture rather roughly than I and P pictures, if the code amount saved with a B picture is added to that of an I or P picture, then the picture quality of the I or P picture is improved, and also the picture quality of a B picture which refers to the I or P picture is improved.
From the two assumptions specified as above, the allocation bit amounts (Ti, Tp, Tb) to the different pictures of the GOP have values given by the following expressions (8) to (10), respectively:
T i = max { R 1 + N p · X p X i · K p + N b · X b X i · K b , bit_rate 8 × picture_rate } ( 8 ) T p = max { R N p + N b · K p · X b K b · X p , bit_rate 8 × picture_rate } ( 9 ) T b = max { R N b + N p · K b · X p K p · X b , bit_rate 8 × picture_rate } ( 10 ) where Np and Nb are the numbers of P and B pictures which are not coded in the GOP as yet.
Based on the allocated code amounts determined in this manner, each time a picture is coded in steps S101 and S102, the bit amount R to be allocated to a non-coded picture in the GOP is updated in accordance with the following expression (11):R=R−Si, p, b (11)
On the other hand, when the first picture in the GOP is to be coded, the bit amount R is updated in accordance with the following expression (12):
R = bit_rate × N picture_rate + R ( 12 ) where N is the number of pictures in the GOP. The initial value of the bit amount R at the start of a sequence is 0.
In step S102, in order to make the allocation bit amounts (Ti, Tp, Tb) to the pictures determined in accordance with the expressions (8) to (10) in step S101 and actual generation code amounts coincide with each other, quantization scale codes are determined based on capacities of three different virtual buffers set independently of each other for the individual pictures by feedback control in a unit of a macro block. First, prior to code of a j-th macro block, the occupation amounts of the virtual buffers are determined in accordance with the following expressions (13) to (15):
d j i = d 0 i + B j - 1 - T i × ( j - 1 ) MB_cnt ( 13 ) d j p = d 0 p + B j - 1 - T p × ( j - 1 ) MB_cnt ( 14 ) d j b = d 0 b + B j - 1 - T b × ( j - 1 ) MB_cnt ( 15 ) where d0i, d0p and d0b are the initial occupation amounts of the virtual buffers, Bj is the generation bit amount from the top of the picture to the j-th macro block, and MB_cnt is the number of macro blocks in 1 picture. The occupation amounts (dMB—cnti, dMB—cntp, dMB—cntb) of the virtual buffers upon ending of coding of the individual pictures are used as initial values (d0i, d0p, d0b) for the virtual buffer occupations for the next pictures.
Then, the quantization scale code Qj for the j-th macro block is calculated in accordance with the following expression (16):
Q j = d j × 31 r ( 16 ) where r is a variable called reaction parameter used to control the response of a feedback loop and given by the following expression (17):
r = 2 × bit_rate picture_rate ( 17 )
The initial values of the virtual buffers at the start of coding are given by the following expressions (18) to (20):
d 0 i = 10 × r 31 ( 18 ) d 0 p = K p · d 0 i ( 19 ) d 0 b = K b · d 0 i ( 20 )
In step S103, the quantization scale codes determined in step S102 are modified with a variable called activity for each macro block so that they may be quantized finely at a flat portion at which deterioration can be visually observed comparatively conspicuously but may be quantized roughly at a complicated pattern portion at which deterioration can be visually observed comparatively less conspicuously.
The activity is given by the following expression (21) using pixel values of totaling 8 blocks including 4 blocks of a frame discrete cosine transform mode and 4 blocks of a field discrete cosine transform mode using brightness signal pixel values of the original picture:
act j = 1 + min sblk = 1 , 8 ( var_sblk ) var_sblk = 1 64 ∑ k = 1 64 ( P k - p _ ) 2 P _ = 1 64 ∑ k = 1 64 P k ( 21 ) where Pk is the brightness signal intra-block pixel value of the original image. The reason why a minimum value is taken in the expression (21) is that it is intended to use finer quantization where a flat portion is included only at a portion in the macro block.
Further, a normalized activity Nactj whose value ranges from 0.5 to 2 is determined in accordance with the following expression (22):
Nact j = 2 × act j + avg_act act j + 2 × avg_act ( 22 ) where avg-act is the average value of the activity actj of the picture coded last.
A quantization scale code mquantj with a visual characteristic taken into consideration is determined in accordance with the following expression (23) based on the quantization scale code Qj determined in step S102:mquantj=Qj×N_actj (23)
By the way, as recited in “Theoretical Analysis of the MPEG Compression Efficiency and Application thereof to the Code Amount Control”, Shingaku Giho, IE-95, DSP95-10, May 1995 (hereinafter referred to as document 2), the code amount control system defined in the-MPEG2 Test Mode 15 does not always provide a good picture quality in an MPEG2 image coding section.
In document 2, the following system is proposed particularly as a technique for providing an optimum code amount distribution for each of frames in a GOP.
Where NI, NP and NB are the numbers of those I, P and B pictures in a GOP which are not coded as yet and the code amounts to be applied to them are represented by RI, RP and RB, respectively, such a fixed rate condition as given by the following expression (24) is satisfied:R=NI·RI+NP·RP+NB·RB (24)
Where the quantization step sizes of individual frames are represented by QI, QP and QB and m is an order number for coordinating a quantization step size and a reproduction error variance with each other, that is, if it is assumed that minimization of an average of the quantization step sizes raised to the m-th power minimizes the reproduction error variance, then an optimum code amount distribution for each frame in the GOP is given by minimizing the expression (25) given below:
N I · Q I m + N P · Q P m + N B · Q B m N I + N P + N B ( 25 )
It is to be noted that the average scale Q and the code amount R of the frames are coordinated with the complexity X of each frame as a medium variable used also in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15 as given by the following expression (26):Q·Rα=X (26)
Accordingly, by calculating such code amounts RI, RP and RB as minimize the expression (25) using the Lagrange's method of undetermined multipliers taking the expression (26) into consideration under the restrictive condition of the expression (24), such values as given by the following expressions (27) to (29) are determined as optimum code amounts RI, RP and RB, respectively:
R I = R 1 + N P · ( X P X I ) m 1 + m α + N B · ( X B X I ) m 1 + m α ( 27 ) R P = R N P + N B · ( X B X P ) m 1 + m α ( 28 ) R B = R N B + N P · ( X P X B ) m 1 + m α ( 29 )
Where α=1, the expressions (27) to (29) and the expressions (8) to (10) given hereinabove in the code amount control system defined in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15 have the following relationship. In particular, from the expressions (27) to (29), the parameters Kp and Kb for code amount control are adaptively calculated in accordance with the following expression (30) based on the complexities XI, XP and XB of each frame:
K P = ( X I X P ) 1 1 + m ; K b = ( X I X B ) 1 1 + m ( 30 )
In document 2, it is disclosed that a good picture quality is obtained by setting the value of 1/(1+m) of the expression above to 0.6 to 1.2.
However, when the image information conversion apparatus 101 described above with reference to FIG. 5 performs code amount control using the technique defined in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15, since it cannot cope with a variation in complexity which is caused by a scene change or the like occurring in a GOP, it is difficult to perform the code amount control stably, which sometimes results in picture quality deterioration.
Thus, another image information conversion apparatus is proposed and is shown in FIG. 7. Referring to FIG. 7, the image information conversion apparatus 102 shown includes, in addition to the components of the image information conversion apparatus 101 described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 5, a compression information analysis section 118, an information buffer 119, a complexity calculation section 120 and an MPEG4 image information coding section 121. Detailed description of the common components to those of the image information conversion apparatus 101 of FIG. 5 is omitted herein to avoid redundancy.
The compression information analysis section 118 analyzes an average value Q over an entire frame of the quantization scale used for decoding processing and a total code amount (bit number) B allocated to the frame in the MPEG2 bit stream and sends necessary information to the information buffer 119.
The information buffer 119 stores such generated code amounts (bit numbers) and average quantization scales of I/P pictures of the MPEG2 bit stream.
The complexity calculation section 120 calculates an estimated value of the complexity X for each VOP of MPEG4 image compression information (hereinafter referred to as MPEG4 bit stream) from the information Q and B of each frame stored in the information buffer 119 in accordance with the expression (20) given hereinabove.
The average value Q over the entire frame of the quantization scale used for the decoding processing by the compression information analysis section 118 and the total code amount (bit number) B allocated to the frame in the MPEG2 bit stream are stored into the information buffer 119.
The complexity calculation section 120 calculates the complexity X of each frame stored in the information buffer 119 from the information Q and B for the frame in accordance with the following expression (31):X=Q·B (31)
The complexities X of the frames calculated in accordance with the expression (31) above are buffered for one GOV and then sent as a parameter for code amount control to the MPEG4 image information coding section 121. Therefore, a delay for one GOV is required. This delay is implemented using the video memory 114 serving as a delay buffer.
In the following, description is given of in what manner the complexity X of each frame in the GOV calculated in accordance with the expression (31) is used by the MPEG4 image information coding section 121. It is to be noted that, in the following description, also a case wherein the apparatus does not include the picture type discrimination section 111 and does not perform conversion of the frame rate is taken into consideration.
The parameters Kp and Kb determined in accordance with the expression (30) represent that the ratios of ideal quantization scales Qp—ideal and Qb—ideal for a P-VOP/B-VOP to an ideal average quantization scale Qi—ideal for an I-VOP are given by the following expression (32):
Q p_ideal Q i_ideal = K p ; Q b_ideal Q i_ideal = K b ( 32 )
In the MPEG2 Test Mode 15, the parameters Kp and Kb are not calculated adaptively as in the expression (30), but such fixed values as given by the expression (7) are used therefor.
From the expressions (30) and (32), where the complexities of an arbitrary VOP 1 and another arbitrary VOP 2 are represented by X1 and X2 and the ideal quantization scales are represented by Q1—ideal and Q2—ideal, respectively, then the following expression (33) is obtained:
Q 2 _ideal Q 1 _ideal = ( X 1 X 2 ) 1 1 + m ≡ K ( X 1 , X 2 ) ( 33 )
However, where it is desired to use fixed values as given by the expression (7) as in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15, the following expression (34) should be used in place of the expression (33) above:
K ( X 1 , X 2 ) ≡ { K p ( 1 = I - VOP , 2 = P - VOP ) K b ( 1 = I - VOP , 2 = B - VOP ) K b K p ( 1 = P - VOP , 2 = B - VOP ) K p K b ( 1 = B - VOP , 2 = P - VOP ) 1 ( when 1 and 2 are the same type of VOP ) ( 34 )
Here, it is assumed that the total code amount (bit number) allocated to non-coded VOPs in a GOV is represented by R and the total code amount R is allocated as R1, R2, . . . , Rn to the VOPs. In this instance, the relational expression given as the following expression (35) is satisfied by-the total code amount and the allocated code amounts R1, R2, . . . , Rn:R=R1+R2+ . . . +Rn (35)
Among the average quantization scale Qk, allocated code amount Rk and complexity Xk of an arbitrary VOPk, the relationship represented by the following expression (36) is satisfied:Xk=Qk·Rk (36)
Here, by transforming the expression (35) taking the expression (36) into consideration, the following expression (37) is obtained:
R 1 = R R 1 + R 2 + … + R n R 1 = R 1 + R 2 R 1 + … + R n R 1 = R 1 + Q 1 Q 2 · X 2 X 1 + … + Q 1 Q n · X n X 1 = R 1 + 1 K ( X 1 , X 2 ) · X 2 X 1 + … + 1 K ( X 1 , X n ) · X n X 1 ( 37 )
Although the value obtained by the expression (33) or the value obtained by the expression (34) may be used for K(X1, X2) in the expression (37), use of the former can achieve a more optimum code amount distribution suitable for an image.
Thereupon, if the value of 1/(1+m) is set to 1.0, then the necessity for exponential operation is eliminated, and consequently, high speed execution can be achieved. Further, even where the value of 1/(1+m) is set to a value other than 1.0, high speed execution can be achieved if a table is prepared in advance and referred to to perform exponential operation.
While the complexity Xk of each VOP according to the expression (37) is obtained by MPEG4 image coding, if it is assumed that the complexity of each frame by MPEG2 image coding and the complexity of each frame by MPEG4 image coding are equal to each other, then if the complexity Xk stored in the complexity calculation section 120 is used, then a target code amount for the VOP can be calculated in accordance with the expression (37).
FIG. 8 illustrates a process when the image information conversion apparatus 102 calculates a target code amount.
Referring to FIG. 8, first in step S111, the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112 extracts the average quantization scale Q and the allocated code amount (bit number) B of each frame in a GOP.
In step S112, the complexity calculation section 120 calculates the complexity X by operation of the product of the average quantization scale Q and the allocated code amount (bit number) B of each frame in the GOP.
Then in step S113, the MPEG4 image information coding section 121 calculates a target code amount (target bit rate) based on the complexity X.
The image information conversion apparatus 102 produces an MPEG4 bit stream of images of a progressive scan having a size of ½×½ of the inputted MPEG2 bit stream. In particular, if the input MPEG2 bit stream complies with the NTSC standards, then the MPEG4 bit stream outputted has the SIF size (352×240). The image information conversion apparatus 102 can change the operation of the reduction section 113 to convert the input MPEG2 bit stream into images of any other image size, for example, in the example described above, into images of the QSIF (176×112 pixels) which is an image size of approximately ¼×¼.
Further, the image information conversion apparatus 102 performs, as processing by the MPEG2 image information decoding section 112, a decoding process using all of eighth-order discrete cosine transform coefficients in the inputted MPEG2 bit stream in both of the horizontal and vertical directions and a decoding process using only low frequency components of eighth-order discrete cosine transform coefficients only in the horizontal direction or in both of the horizontal and vertical directions thereby to reduce the arithmetic operation amount and the video memory capacity involved in decoding processing while suppressing the picture quality deterioration.
If the image information conversion apparatus 102 shown in FIG. 7 is used for conversion of an MPEG2 bit stream having a GOP structure of, for example, n=15 and m=3, then an MPEG4 bit stream having a GOV structure of n=5 and m=1 is obtained as an output. Since the MPEG4 bit stream obtained in this manner has a great number of I-VOPs, the coding efficiency is low and a good picture quality is not obtained in some cases. This problem, however, can be solved by converting an image of an I picture in the input MPEG2 bit stream into a P-VOP of the MPEG4 bit stream to develop GOVs.
The image information conversion apparatus 102 performs motion detection within a fixed search range of an image, which originally is an I picture and includes no motion vector, based on motion vectors used for the last P picture immediately preceding to the I picture to calculate motion vectors with a high degree of accuracy for the corresponding VOP thereby to prevent the image quality deterioration.
Further, if an I picture is converted into a P-VOP, then since the original complexity relates to the I picture, it has an inappropriate value as the complexity after the conversion. The image information conversion apparatus 102, however, solves the problem just described by using the complexity for the immediately preceding P picture to eliminate image quality deterioration.
However, while the MPEG2 Text Mode 15 assumes that the complexities Xi, Xp and Xb as variables representative of the degree of complexity of an image of I, P and B pictures in a GOP are fixed, if the MPEG4 image information coding section 115 actually uses the technique defined in the MPEG2 Test Mode 15 to perform code amount control, then the assumption is not satisfied in such a case that the GOP includes a scene change or the background exhibits a remarkable variation in the GOP, but rather disturbs stabilized code amount control and makes a cause of picture quality deterioration.
Conversion of an I picture of an inputted MPEG2 bit stream into a P-VOP of an MPEG4 bit stream is considered here.
FIG. 9 diagrammatically illustrates a manner wherein an I picture of an inputted MPEG2 bit stream is converted into and outputted as a P-VOP of an MPEG4 bit stream. Referring to FIG. 9, conversion of the second I picture I1 into a P-VOP is taken as an example. In this instance, as the complexity as a parameter for code amount control for the I picture I1, the complexity XP3 of the P picture P3 immediately preceding to the I picture I1 is applied.
If the I picture I1 is an image including a scene change, then a comparatively great code amount must be applied to the I picture I1. However, since the complexity XP3 of the P picture P3 of the immediately preceding frame is used as the complexity for the I picture I1 as described above, a sufficient code amount is not allocated to the I picture I1, resulting in deterioration of the picture quality. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to integrated circuitry for writing data to a magnetic medium, and more particularly to techniques for generating a precompensation delay in the path of the data stream.
2. Description of Related Art
Data is recorded on magnetic media, such as floppy disks and hard disks, in the form of present or absent flux reversals. These flux reversals have a minimum linear separation which is dependent upon the data rate, the encoding format and the speed with which the medium moves past the write head.
The pattern of flux reversals is generated from an incoming data stream by an encoder, which may use any of several standard encoding formats to generate the pattern. Two popular encoding formats are known as FM and MFM, each of which generate an outgoing pulse stream divided into bit cells consisting of a clock pulse and/or a data pulse for each bit of the incoming data stream. As used herein, a pulse stream is merely one type of data stream. In FM encoding, a bit cell always begins with a clock pulse. If the incoming data bit is a 1, a data pulse is also inserted in the middle of the bit cell. If the data bit is 0, no data pulse is inserted. For FM encoding, therefore, a clock pulse and a data pulse can both be present within the bit cell. Since each pulse causes a flux reversal on the disk, the minimum linear separation between flux reversals is one-half the bit cell length.
In MFM encoding, like FM encoding, a data pulse is inserted in the middle of the bit cell if and only if the incoming data bit is 1. Unlike FM encoding, however, a clock pulse is inserted at the beginning of a bit cell if and only if both the present and previous incoming data bits are 0. The minimum linear separation between flux reversals for MFM encoding therefore is one full bit cell length. Because of this, MFM-encoded data is usually given twice the bit cell density and data rate as FM-encoded data recorded on the same medium.
A double density floppy disk typically operates at a data rate of 500 kbits/sec with MFM-encoded data, and has a bit cell time of 2.mu.S. A hard disk may operate at about 5 Mbits/sec, yielding a bit cell time of 200nS.
For higher bit density media, nearby flux changes may interact with each other and cause them to move farther apart. This creates a timing uncertainty which can cause errors when data is read. To overcome this problem, the outgoing data stream may be precompensated before being written. That is, the direction of each shift may be anticipated and the pulse in the outgoing data stream moved in the other direction before being sent to the write head. Typical precompensation periods in present use are 2-20nS for hard disks and 50-150nS for 5-1/4" floppy disks.
In the past, precompensation was typically accomplished by feeding the outgoing pulse stream into a fixed, center-tapped delay line external to the chip which performed the encoding. a data selector was then used to select the signal from either the input, center tap, or output of the delay line, depending on whether the pulse was to be written early, nominal or late, respectively. This technique is described, for example, in Szejnwald, "Simplify Hard-Disk Interfaces With a VLSI Controller," EDN, Nov. 24, 1982, pp. 133-147, at 136-138, with respect to the NEC .mu.PD7261. The technique is disadvantageous, however, because it requires the designer to know in advance exactly what precompensation delay period will be used in terms of an absolute number of nanoseconds. It does not permit easy electronic adjustment of the precompensation delay period. For example, bit shifting is more serious on inner tracks of a disk than on outer tracks because the flux reversals are closer together. The NEC technique does not permit easy adjustment of the delay period to compensate for this as the write head changes tracks on the disk. Nor can the NEC technique be used with constant density recording, which requires the delay period to change dynamically as a function of the bit rate.
In Stout, "Winchester Electronic Functions Fit on Four High-Speed Chips," Electronics, June 16, 1982, pp. 117-123, at 122, there is described a National Semiconductor chip which generates a precompensation delay internally, with a period which is externally programmable for 0 to 20nS in 2nS steps. External programmability alleviates some problems with the NEC chip, but the delay period is still specified in terms of an absolute number of nanoseconds which does not change as a function of the bit rate. The National technique also requires many I/0 pins to implement and requires the use of an external reference frequency source. The method by which the delay is actually generated is not disclosed. | {
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The invention disclosed herein relates generally to proximity switches and more particularly to proximity switches that utilize fiber optics. There is a specific need in aircraft to sense the proximity of some movable part of an aircraft such as an aircraft door or a landing gear component. Due to considerations of size, weight and electromagnetic interference it is highly desirable to perform the proximity switch function using a single fiber optic link and a fiber optic switch.
In the past an optical fiber has been used as the communication link to an electrical proximity switch and support electronics. The state of the switch is converted back into a pulse of light which is transmitted back through the optical fiber and detected at the source end of the fiber link. This method requires a high power optical energy source and complicated support electronics at the location of the proximity switch. In addition electrical proximity switches generate electromagnetic interference which is undesirable in an aircraft environment.
Thus a need exists for a passive proximity switch that operates with a single fiber optic link. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for improving lighting-up control for a laser.
2. Related Background Art
In a laser beam printer apparatus or the like for recording an image by an electrophotographic process, it is necessary to scan a photosensitive member with a laser beam to form an image. In particular, the stable rotating speed control for a rotary polygon mirror for deflecting a laser beam is important.
In general, in order to perform constant speed rotation control for a rotary polygon mirror driving motor, there is a method (PLL control method) for controlling a voltage applied to an IC for driving a rotary polygon mirror driving motor so that a phase difference between an oscillation frequency to become a reference, and an actually measured rotational frequency of the rotary polygon mirror driving motor between the magnetic poles, and the like); the fluctuation of the magnetic force of the magnet resulting from a change in temperature; and the like.
On the other hand, the other technique utilizes a sensor (BD sensor) provided inside an optical scanner for detecting a scanning timing for a light beam in order to control the writing position of an image. Since this BD sensor is not influenced by the fluctuation in magnetic force due to a magnet, the constant speed rotation control for the rotary polygon mirror driving motor can be carried out with high accuracy.
Such an apparatus for stably controlling a rotating speed is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-183251.
However, in order to make a light beam incident to the BD sensor, it is necessary to forcibly light up a laser for emitting the light beam. Now, as for a timing at which the laser is forcibly lighted up in order to make the light beam incident to the BD sensor, the continuous light emission has to be started after a light beam used in scanning passes through an effective image area and before the light beam reaches a light receiving portion of the BD sensor. However, there is a problem that light reflected by a part of a writing optical system, refracted at a corner of an optical part, or reflected at a corner of a polygon mirror during forcible lighting-up, i.e., so-called flare light, reaches a photosensitive drum to write an unnecessary image. In addition, it is not preferable that a photosensitive member for image formation is needlessly exposed with a laser beam, and it is also not preferable that a laser is needlessly lighted up to shorten a laser lighting-up life. From a viewpoint of preventing these situations, it is desirable that a time period required to forcibly light up a laser to emit a light beam is as short as possible, and it is also desirable that a timing of starting to forcibly light up the laser to emit the light beam is as late as possible. Accordingly, various means for lighting up a laser in consideration of a timing of passing through a detection portion have been taken.
However, the laser is forcibly lighted up to emit the light beam every period during rotation of the polygon mirror, and this becomes a large factor for shortening a laser lighting-up life because a time zone for forcible lighting-up, if accumulated, always occupies about 5% of a time period during the rotation control as compared with the case of data of an image area to be drawn.
Thus, if the rotation of the polygon mirror is stopped during stand-by, then the lighting-up life can be saved to some degree. However, a reactivation time of the polygon mirror exerts an influence on delay of the next first print out time to delay the first print out time. In addition, if the beam detection timing is lost once, then it becomes necessary to expose an image area of a photosensitive member in order to find out the detection timing again. In particular, it is not preferable that such exposure is always carried out right before the start of the image formation. For these reasons, the means for stopping the rotation of the polygon mirror may not always be taken in some cases. | {
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In order to enable a home network to deal with an AV content of digital broadcasting, etc., a measure for copyright protection on a network is necessary. In the digital broadcasting, a content protection rule is prescribed under a broadcasting operation rule of the ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses), and for dealing with the digital broadcasting in the home network, it is necessary to conform to a standard thereof.
When recording video image data with a copyright protection technique on IEEE1394 which is a representative digital network connecting digital AV apparatuses, it is normal to perform real-time transmission of MPEG2-TS. In addition, when recording on HDD on LAN, there exist various methods such as streaming or transfer by a file, however, a measure for copy right protection has been fragile. However, a technique called DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Content Protection over Internet Protocol) is established recently, and streaming and transfer of a file is possible through a LAN by strictly taking in a copyright protection technique. Moreover, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) which is a technical specifications for interconnecting an AV apparatus, a personal computer, and home information appliances using a home LAN (home network) and utilizing in association therewith is formulated, and a DLNA-compliant apparatus is available from other apparatus automatically only by connecting with a network, thus capable of transmitting/receiving a content.
However, an apparatus which is not compliant with the DLNA, for example, has not come to be able to record a video image with a high image quality received by a digital TV device on an HDD through a LAN. As a technique that enables transmission and reception of AV data in different formats by protecting copyright, there is one in which either of a packet generated by packetization processing means or a packet made to be used in Ethernet (registered trademark) without using a transfer protocol on an IP is transmitted or received (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-193791).
In addition, recently, it is possible to view a video image through a LAN in IP broadcasting on television, however, since a technique for recording by applying strict copyright protection technique even when recording the MPEG2-TS received by the IP broadcasting is not established, it is possible to record through the IEEE 1394 easily. | {
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With the increased popularity of smart telephones, tablets, and other mobile devices, there has been a similar increase in the amount of data handled by the networks of mobile operators. To reduce the strain on network infrastructure and to reduce network transfer costs, mobile operators are shifting from offering unlimited mobile data plans to offering capped and metered plans. With some of the capped and metered plans, the fees for exceeding the allotted data caps may be significant. While some existing web browsers attempt to optimize data traffic, the existing systems generally lack mechanisms for balancing specific needs of each user with data transfer costs. As a result, with the existing systems, users can unknowingly exceed the allotted data caps and experience bandwidth throttling (e.g., a reduction or limit placed upon the rate of consumption) and/or be presented with a much larger than normal monthly bill, resulting in “bill shock.” Throttling and bill shock can impact the user experience, leading to dissatisfied customers, increased customer service calls, and negative impressions of the mobile operators. | {
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The handle assembly of a vacuum cleaner may comprise a duct through which dirt-laden air is carried. One end of the duct may be attached to a hose, which in turn is attached to a main body of the vacuum cleaner. The other end of the duct may be attached to an elongate tube, which in turn is attached to a cleaner head. During use, the handle assembly is used to manoeuvre the cleaner head over a surface to be cleaned. Unfortunately, the hose often restricts or impedes movement of the handle assembly, thus making it difficult to manoeuvre the cleaner head. | {
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In PID control of engine speed, an I component is used as an integral control value by integration of speed difference between a target engine speed and an actual engine speed. In this case, when the actual engine speed is lower than the target engine speed, the integral control value of the I component is integrated continuously and increased, thereby leading an evil influence that the integral control value becomes too large.
The Patent Literature 1 discloses an electronic governor in which an integrated value is calculated based on reduction rate of the target engine speed, the speed difference between the target engine speed and the actual engine speed and the like, and a value stored previously and less than the calculated integrated value is set as the integral control value, whereby response time can be shortened in the case that the actual engine speed is reduced from high speed state to low speed state.
However, in the electronic governor disclosed in the Patent Literature 1, for example in the case that a traveling vehicle finishes traveling with actuating an engine brake, that is, in the case that the actual engine speed has been more than the target engine speed continuously by an external factor such as a downward slope and then the external factor is canceled and the actual engine speed converges on the target engine speed, it is disadvantageous that the reduction amount of the actual engine speed about the target engine speed cannot be suppressed. Patent Literature 1: the Japanese Patent Laid Open Gazette 2006-274881 | {
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Many types of containers have been developed for storing consumer products, perishable foodstuffs, and other manufactured goods in hermetically-sealed volumes that prevent the exchange of air between the inside of the container and ambience. The designs for these containers can vary greatly depending on the nature of the product that is stored, such as its state (solid or liquid), chemical composition, whether or not it is stored under pressure, and the like. In many cases, the walls of the container are configured to provide structural support that defines the shape of the container, puncture protection that maintains its integrity, as well as a barrier that prevents the stored product from escaping and outside air from entering into the sealed volume. Consequently, the inside surface of the container walls are typically wetted by contact with the stored product, which may in turn soil the container walls or otherwise render the entire container unsuitable for recycling.
In addition, the requirement to design the walls of the container for both the structural support/puncture protection functions and the barrier or product containment function may raise the cost of manufacturing the container. For example, a large amount of dual-purpose material may be required to form container walls made from a single material that is both rigid and impervious to the stored product. The expense of coating the internal surfaces of a pervious structural/puncture resistant material with an impervious coating or liner may also increase the number of manufacturing steps. Moreover, in cases where the bottoms and tops of the containers are not integrally formed with the sidewalls, and that may even be made from different materials, the expense of providing a fluid-tight joint at the interface between the different components can further raise the manufacturing costs.
A need therefore exists for a container that is both less expensive to manufacture and that provides enhanced separability of its various components for the segregation of recyclable waste after use It is to the provision of such a container that addresses these and other needs that the present disclosure is primarily directed. | {
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1. Field
This disclosure relates to a medical use driver tool and, in particular, to a torque-limiting driver that disengages at a predefined torque limit and counts a predetermined number of cycles.
2. General Background
Torque-limiting drivers are widely used throughout the medical industry. These torque-limiting drivers have a factory pre-set torque to ensure the accuracy and toughness required to meet a demanding surgical environment.
The medical industry has made use of both reusable and disposable torque-limiting drivers. In a surgical context, there is little room for error and these drivers must impart a precise amount of torque.
Reusable drivers require constant recalibration to ensure that the driver is imparting the precise amount of torque. Recalibration is a cumbersome task but must be done routinely.
Disposable drivers are an easy to use and reliable alternative to the reusable drivers. Typically, each implant, for example, is packaged with a disposable driver designed to the implant's specifications. Once the driver has been used beyond its intended use or intended number of cycles, it can be discarded. Thus, a surgeon can have complete confidence that the disposable driver, packaged with an implant, will impart the precise amount of torque.
Knowing when a disposable driver has reached the predetermined end of its functional life is a desideratum. | {
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The present invention relates to an image sensing apparatus and an image display method therefor and, more particularly, to an image display method of displaying an input image and photographed image in an image sensing apparatus.
A conventional image sensing apparatus such as a digital camera has an image display device such as an LCD, and a display method of switching a state wherein the input image of the CCD camera in photographing is displayed (finder display) and a state wherein the photographed image can be viewed (viewer display) is known well.
Some apparatuses simultaneously display a plurality of thumbnail images (reduced images based on a predetermined file format) to facilitate search for a desired image in the image viewing state.
In an image sensing apparatus allowing continuous photographing, generally, the display is switched from the photographing state to the viewing state after photographing so that the photographed image can be viewed. More specifically, in the conventional image sensing apparatus, the photographing state and viewing state are appropriately switched and displayed by the user operations: the preview image display in the photographing state and the thumbnail image display in the viewing state are switched.
However, the conventional image sensing apparatus such as a digital camera has as its feature portability based on its compact body, and an increase in number of operating buttons is undesirable. For this reason, most conventional image sensing apparatuses assign a plurality of numbers of functions to one operating button. Such an arrangement requires a complex operation to switch the display state or view a desired image. The user must thoroughly read the operation manual to sufficiently understand the functions of the image sensing apparatus; otherwise, the user may erroneously use the apparatus. That is, the conventional image sensing apparatus is not always convenient to use for the user.
In the image sensing apparatus allowing continuous photographing, a plurality of images are continuously photographed, so the photographed images cannot be confirmed during photographing. When a series of movements of, e.g., a golf swing are to be continuously photographed with the conventional digital camera, only the current instantaneous image can be confirmed. That is, the continuous images which have been photographed so far cannot be confirmed during photographing.
In addition, if the user has failed to photograph a desired image, the conventional digital camera requires a series of operations of viewing, confirmation, and delete after all images have been photographed, and the display method has been switched to the image viewing state. This is cumbersome for the user, and simultaneously, since wasteful images are photographed, the load on the memory for storing images increases.
As described above, the advantage of the digital camera, i.e., the instantaneity which allows instantaneous confirmation of the image photographed with the CCD degrades because the finder display and viewer display must be switched on the same screen.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image sensing apparatus for simultaneously displaying an object image and an image held in the apparatus, and an image display method therefor.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image sensing apparatus comprising an image sensing apparatus comprising input means for inputting an object image to obtain image data, instruction means for generating an instruction for holding the image data input by the input means, hold means for holding the image data input by the input means on the basis of the instruction from the instruction means, and display means for simultaneously displaying the image data input by the input means and the image data held by the hold means.
In accordance with the present invention as described above, in photographing, the user can simultaneously recognize the object image to be photographed and the photographed image already held in the apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image sensing apparatus capable of showing details of a photographed image, and an image display method therefor.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image sensing apparatus comprising selection means for selecting one of the plurality of second display areas of the display means as an object to be viewed, and wherein the display means displays details of the thumbnail image which has been displayed in the second display area selected by the selection means in the first display area.
In accordance with the present invention as described above, the user can view an arbitrary photographed image.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image sensing apparatus capable of showing all photographed images, and an image display method therefor.
According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained by providing an image sensing apparatus comprising the display means having an index area for updating the plurality of thumbnail images displayed in the plurality of second display areas, on the basis of a compressed image held by the hold means.
In accordance with the present invention as described above, even when the number of photographed images is large, the user can view all the images by appropriately operating an index on the display means.
The invention is particularly advantageous since, in photographing, the user can simultaneously recognize the preview image for photographing and a photographed thumbnail image, the visibility and operability of the image sensing apparatus can be largely improved.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof. | {
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Conventional printer power systems are designed for each printer based on the power needs of each printer. The printer power systems are also designed to comply with energy related regulations or standards, such as Energy Star. An inkjet printing system may include a printhead, an ink supply that supplies liquid ink to the printhead, and an electronic controller that controls the printhead. The printhead ejects drops of ink through a plurality of nozzles or orifices toward a print medium, such as a sheet of paper, to print onto the print medium. Typically, the orifices are arranged in one or more columns or arrays such that properly sequenced ejection of ink from the orifices causes characters or other images to be printed upon the print medium as the printhead and the print medium are moved relative to each other by using a motor. Inkjet printing systems have a highly dynamic electrical and mechanical system, which uses high pulses of current for driving the motor and for driving the printhead to eject the drops of ink. | {
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This section of the present disclosure is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the subject matter described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this context, not as admissions of prior art.
The present disclosure relates generally to techniques for estimating continuous fluid properties from well logs obtained within a subsurface Earth formation. Such fluid properties may include, for example, water salinity, water saturation, and hydrocarbon types and properties thereof.
Well logging instruments have long been used in wellbores to make, for example, formation evaluation measurements to infer properties of the formations surrounding the wellbore and the fluids in the formations. Common logging tools include electromagnetic (resistivity) tools, nuclear tools, acoustic tools, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tools, though various other types of tools for evaluating formation properties are also available. Early logging tools were run into a wellbore on a wireline cable after the wellbore had been drilled.
Modern versions of such wireline well logging instruments are still used extensively. However, as the demand for information while drilling a wellbore continued to increase, measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools and logging-while-drilling (LWD) tools have since been developed. MWD tools typically provide drilling parameter information such as weight on the bit, torque, temperature, pressure, direction, and inclination. LWD tools typically provide formation evaluation measurements such as resistivity, porosity, NMR distributions, and so forth. MWD and LWD tools often have characteristics common to wireline tools (e.g., transmitting and receiving antennas, sensors, etc.), but are designed and constructed to endure and operate in the harsh environment of drilling.
In current volumetric estimation techniques, petrophysical properties of water and hydrocarbons are assigned assumed values and are input into a numerical solver for estimation of volumetric properties within a formation. Often, the petrophysical properties are not all known. For example, examples of unknown properties can include water salinity and varying hydrocarbon type/grade column. In these cases, formation testers can be used to collect fluid samples, perform downhole fluid analysis, or infer fluids type from pressure gradients. The outcome of any such analysis or testing depends on the selection of test depths, which inherently contains hypotheses of the fluids in place. Some known techniques provide for the estimation of continuous water salinity and/or saturation, but do not address the unknown hydrocarbon types and properties. Hence, there is a need for continuous estimates of water and hydrocarbon properties from well logs. | {
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Transform-based audio codecs like AAC, MP3, or TCX generally introduce inter-harmonic quantization noise when processing harmonic audio signals, particularly at low bitrates.
This effect is further worsened when the transform-based audio codec operates at low delay, due to the worse frequency resolution and/or selectivity introduced by a shorter transform size and/or a worse window frequency response.
This inter-harmonic noise is generally perceived as a very annoying “warbling” artifact, which significantly reduces the performance of the transform-based audio codec when subjectively evaluated on highly tonal audio material like some music or voiced speech.
A common solution to this problem is to employ prediction-based techniques, prediction using autoregressive (AR) modeling based on the addition or subtraction of past input or decoded samples, either in the transform-domain or in the time-domain.
However, using such techniques in signals with changing temporal structure again leads to unwanted effects such as temporal smearing of percussive musical events or speech plosives or even the creation of impulse trails due to the repetition of a single impulse-like transient. Thus, special care has to be taken for signals that contain both transient and harmonic components or for signals where there is ambiguity between transients and trains of pulses (the latter belonging to a harmonic signal composed of individual pulses of very short duration; such signals are also known as pulse-trains).
Several solutions exist to improve the subjective quality of transform-based audio codecs on harmonics audio signals. All of them exploit the long-term periodicity (pitch) of very harmonic, stationary waveforms, and are based on prediction-based techniques, either in the transform-domain or in the time-domain. Most of the solutions are known as either long-term prediction (LTP) or pitch prediction, characterized by a pair of filters being applied to the signal: a pre-filter in the encoder (usually as a first step in the time or frequency domain) and a post-filter in the decoder (usually as a last step in the time or frequency domain). A few other solutions, however, apply only a single post-filtering process on the decoder side generally known as harmonic post-filter or bass-post-filter. All of these approaches, regardless of being pre- and post-filter pairs or only post-filters, will be denoted as a harmonic filter tool in the following.
Examples of transform-domain approaches are: [1] H. Fuchs, “Improving MPEG Audio Coding by Backward Adaptive Linear Stereo Prediction”, 99th AES Convention, New York, 1995, Preprint 4086. [2] L. Yin, M. Suonio, M. Väänänen, “A New Backward Predictor for MPEG Audio Coding”, 103rd AES Convention, New York, 1997, Preprint 4521. [3] Juha Ojanperä, Mauri Väänänen, Lin Yin, “Long Term Predictor for Transform Domain Perceptual Audio Coding”, 107th AES Convention, New York, 1999, Preprint 5036.
Examples of time-domain approaches applying both pre- and post-filtering are: [4] Philip J. Wilson, Harprit Chhatwal, “Adaptive transform coder having long term predictor”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,517, Apr. 30, 1991. [5] Jeongook Song, Chang-Heon Lee, Hyen-O Oh, Hong-Goo Kang, “Harmonic Enhancement in Low Bitrate Audio Coding Using an Efficient Long-Term Predictor”, EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, August 2010. [6] Juin-Hwey Chen, “Pitch-based pre-filtering and post-filtering for compression of audio signals”, U.S. Pat. No. 8,738,385, May 27, 2014. [7] Jean-Marc Valin, Koen Vos, Timothy B. Terriberry, “Definition of the Opus Audio Codec”, ISSN: 2070-1721, IETF RFC 6716, September 2012. [8] Rakesh Taori, Robert J. Sluijter, Eric Kathmann “Transmission System with Speech Encoder with Improved Pitch Detection”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,895, Oct. 5, 1999.
Examples of time-domain approaches where only post-filtering is applied are: [9] Juin-Hwey Chen, Allen Gersho, “Adaptive Postfiltering for Quality Enhancement of Coded Speech”, IEEE Trans. on Speech and Audio Proc., vol. 3, January 1995. [10] Int. Telecommunication Union, “Frame error robust variable bit-rate coding of speech and audio from 8-32 kbit/s”, Recommendation ITU-T G.718, June 2008. www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.718/e, section 7.4.1. [11] Int. Telecommunication Union, “Coding of speech at 8 kbit/s using conjugate structure algebraic CELP (CS-ACELP)”, Recommendation ITU-T G.729, June 2012. www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.729/e, section 4.2.1. [12] Bruno Bessette et al., “Method and device for frequency-selective pitch enhancement of synthesized speech”, U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,660, May 30, 2003.
An example of a transient detector is: [13] Johannes Hilpert et al., “Method and Device for Detecting a Transient in a Discrete-Time Audio Signal”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,826,525, Nov. 30, 2004.
Relevant literature on psychoacoustics: [14] Hugo Fastl, Eberhard Zwicker, “Psychoacoustics: Facts and Models”, 3rd Edition, Springer, Dec. 14, 2006. [15] Christoph Markus, “Background Noise Estimation”, European Patent EP 2,226,794, Mar. 6, 2009.
All the techniques described in the prior have decisions when to enable the prediction filter based on a single threshold decision (e.g. prediction gain [5] or pitch gain [4] or harmonicity which is basically proportional to the normalized correlation [6]). Furthermore, OPUS [7] employs hysteresis that increases the threshold if the pitch is changing and decreases the threshold if the gain in the previous frame was above a predefined fixed threshold. OPUS [7] also disables the long-term (pitch) predictor if a transient is detected in some specific frame configurations. The reason for this design seems to stem from the general belief that, in a mix of harmonic and transient signal components, the transient dominates the mix, and activating LTP or pitch prediction upon it would, as discussed earlier, subjectively cause more harm than improvement.
However, for some mixtures of waveforms which will be discussed hereafter, activating the long-term or pitch predictor on transient audio frames significantly increases the coding quality or efficiency and thus is beneficial. Furthermore, it may be beneficial to, when activating the predictor, vary its strength based on instantaneous signal characteristics other than a prediction gain, the only approach in the state of the art.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a concept for a harmonicity-dependent controlling of a harmonic filter tool of an audio codec which results in an improved coding efficiency, e.g. improved objective coding gain or better perceptual quality or the like. | {
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Remotely activated sprayers are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,432,472, 5,368,202, 6,976,644 and 7,040,510 disclose mounting spray devices on one end of a shaft and remotely activating the spray device from the other end of the shaft. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,472 discloses a buffer at the distal end of the shaft, along with a chain connected thereto that extends to the proximate end of the shaft for operating the spray device remotely. The U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,368,202, 6,976,644 and 7,040,510 disclose a trigger lever at the proximal end (i.e. user's handle end) of the shaft, which when activated (moved) by the user causes the spray device at the other end of the pole to emit a liquid spray. The use of such trigger levers to remotely trigger a spray device at the other end of the shaft which also contains a cleaning device such as a broom or mop is also known (i.e. spray mop).
One issue with conventional spray mops is the user's need to control the pattern of spray emitted by the spray device each time the lever is activated. For some applications, the user may wish to use a narrow, focused pattern. For other applications, the user may wish to use a wide, dispersed pattern. For still other applications, the user may wish to use both. Conventional spray devices include a pattern adjustment, but they typically utilize a single nozzle (with adjustments made to that single nozzle), with mixed results in terms of quality of spray pattern, reliability, ease of use, and ease of manufacture.
There is a need for a convenient adjustment mechanism for adjusting the pattern of liquid that is released by the spray device, which is reliable, easy to use, and easy to manufacture. | {
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As remote access of computer systems and applications grows in popularity the number and variety of transactions which are accessed remotely over public networks such as the Internet has increased dramatically. This popularity has underlined a need for security in particular; a. How to insure that people who are remotely accessing an application are who they claim they are and how to insure the transactions being conducted remotely are initiated by legitimate individuals. This subject is referred to as authentication. b. How to insure that transaction data has not been altered before being received at an application server. This is referred to as data integrity. c. How to guarantee that an individual, once having engaged in a transaction, is not in a position to repudiate it. This is referred to as non-repudiation.
In the past, application providers have relied on static passwords to provide the security for remote applications. In the last couple of years it has become evident that static passwords are not sufficient and that more advanced security technology is required.
PKI Smart Cards
One way of solving the security problems associated with remote access to computer systems and applications over public networks is provided by a Public Key Infrastructure. In a Public Key Infrastructure one associates a public-private key pair with each user. The key pair is associated with a certificate (issued by a trusted Certificate Authority) that binds that public-private key pair to a specific user. By means of asymmetric cryptography this public-private key pair can be used to: a. authenticate the user, b. sign transactions, documents, e-mails (so as to prevent repudiation), and c. set up encrypted communication channels.
To guarantee an adequate level of security it is mandatory that each user's private key remains secret and can only be accessed (e.g. to create a signature) by the legitimate user associated with that key. It is common to rely on a smart card to store the public-private key pair and the certificate and to carry out the cryptographic calculations involving the private key. The use of the private key by the card is then often PIN-protected.
PKI-enabled smart cards are, and have been issued by: a. Corporations to their employees or customers to secure the log-in to their computer networks or the remote access to their applications, b. Banks to their customers to secure e.g. Internet banking applications, and c. Governments to their citizens as electronic ID cards to create legally binding electronic signatures.
Apart from the advantages, there are also some disadvantages associated with PKI and the smart cards carrying the PKI keys and certificates: a. Building a Public Key Infrastructure is generally quite complicated and therefore expensive when compared to competing security technologies. b. PKI is inherently limited to environments and applications where there is a digital connection between clients and servers. In other words it is unsuitable for telephone banking or other delivery channels where it is not possible to provide a digital connection between the container of the PKI certificate and private key on the one hand and an application server on the other hand. c. PKI smart cards do not have a power supply or a user interface. PKI smart cards therefore rely on the presence of an interfacing device that provides electrical power to the card, that is capable of digitally exchanging data with the card, and that is capable of interfacing with the user (e.g. capturing the card's PIN and presenting the data that should be signed). In most cases a PC with a connected transparent smart card reader is used. This reduces the mobility of the user (many PCs are not equipped with smart card readers). It also presents a security problem: all user interaction (such as approving a signature or capturing the card's PIN) is done on the inherently insecure PC.Strong Authentication Tokens
An alternative technology for authentication and transaction signature capabilities is offered by what are called ‘strong authentication token devices’. A typical example of strong authentication token is any one of the Digipass tokens offered by Vasco Data Security Inc., see the website Vasco.com.
A strong authentication token is a small autonomous battery-powered device with its own display and keyboard. In some cases the keyboard is reduced to a single button or even completely omitted. The main purpose of a strong authentication token is to generate so-called ‘One-Time Passwords’ (OTPs). In some cases strong authentication tokens are also capable of generating electronic signatures or Message Authentication Codes (MACs) on data that has been entered on the token's keyboard. If the token has a keyboard, the usage of the token is often protected by a PIN. To be able to generate OTPs or MACs, strong authentication tokens are capable of doing cryptographic calculations based on symmetric cryptographic algorithms parameterized with a secret value or key. Typical examples of such symmetric cryptographic algorithms parameterized with a secret value or key are symmetric encryption/decryption algorithms (such as 3DES or AES) and/or keyed one-way hash functions (such as MD5 or SHA-1 in OATH compliant tokens). In the remainder of the text the output of such algorithms will sometimes be referred to as ‘symmetric cryptogram’. The terminology ‘symmetric cryptogram’ shall thus be understood as not only the output of a symmetric encryption algorithm but also of symmetric decryption algorithms or keyed hash functions. Strong authentication tokens are personalized with one or more secret keys that are supposed to be different for each individual token. To generate a one-time password or signature, the token typically performs the following steps (refer to FIG. 1): a. Step 10: The token takes some input value (this could be a challenge generated by a server and typed-in on the keyboard by the user, and/or the value of the token's internal real-time clock, and/or the value of an internal counter managed by the token, and/or transaction data typed-in on the keyboard by the user). b. Step 11: The token puts the input value into a specified format. c. Step 12: The token then submits this formatted input to a symmetric encryption/decryption algorithm and/or one-way hash function parameterized by a personalized secret key 15 stored securely in the token. The result is a cryptogram or a hash value. d. Step 13: The token transforms the cryptogram or hash value that is the outcome of this encryption/decryption or one-way hash into the actual OTP or MAC. i.e., the cryptogram or hash is typically truncated, converted in a human readable format (e.g. through decimalization) and visualized on the display. The user may submit this value to the application server.
In most cases a strong authentication token is a physical device, however in some cases the functionality of these strong authentication tokens to generate OTPs or MAC signatures is emulated by software running on a PC, a workstation, a mobile phone, a personal organizer, a PDA, etc. The latter are referred to as “soft tokens”.
Once the OTP or MAC has been produced it is conveyed to an entity where the value can be verified as authenticating the user or the message, see FIG. 2. Typically the entity is an application server. The application server stores data for each token, including which secret key(s) the token has been personalized with, and the identity of the user associated with the token. To validate a one-time password or signature, the server retrieves the secret key (115) which is a copy of the key personalized in the token, takes the same inputs that were used by the token and in essence performs the same algorithm 112 as the token. The server then compares 120 the result it obtained with the value it received. (In practice, the validation of an OTP or MAC is often somewhat more convoluted if the strong authentication algorithm is time-based or counter-based, due to synchronization issues.) Since a one-time password or signature generated by a strong authentication token is a function of the token's individual secret key and the always different values of the input(s) to the token algorithm, validating the correctness of the one-time password or signature gives the application server a very high degree of confidence that the person submitting the one-time password or signature possesses the correct token and knows its PIN (if the token is PIN protected), which in turn gives a high degree of confidence that that person is indeed the legitimate user associated with that token device.
Because the OTP verification server and the OTP token in essence perform the same algorithm with the same key, the OTP generation algorithm can be a one-way or non-reversible function. That means that the actual OTP can be shorter than the cryptogram or hash value from which it is derived. This allows for OTP or MAC lengths that are sufficiently short so that it is not too inconvenient for users to manually copy the OTP or MAC values from the token display onto a PC. As a consequence strong authentication tokens don't require a digital connection between the token and the verification server.
The major advantages of strong authentication tokens when compared to PKI cards are: a. They are fully autonomous (tokens have their own power supply and their own user interface); b. They are independent of the delivery channel or communication medium (tokens don't require any digital or electronic connection with any other device; all input and output of data is done by the user via the token's display and keyboard); and c. They offer a very high level of security (all user interaction such as capturing the PIN or providing transaction data to be signed is done via the token's own secure user interface).
In some cases where smart cards have been issued, one wants to get around the disadvantages and limitations associated with smart cards and achieve the same advantages that strong authentication tokens offer i.e. full autonomy, independence of the delivery channel, and a secure user interface.
One alternative is to combine the smart card with an unconnected, battery-powered smart card reader that has its own display and keyboard. The idea is that the combination of the smart card and the unconnected smart card reader emulates a strong authentication token. The functionality normally provided by a strong authentication token is then split over the smart card and the unconnected reader. The unconnected reader takes care of all user interface, and all or a part of the other token functionality is delegated to the card.
Typically, all personalized secrets and security sensitive data are stored and managed by the card (e.g. the PIN is stored and verified by the card, the secret keys are stored on the card and all cryptographic operations involving those keys are done by the card, counters used as input for the token algorithm are stored and managed by the card). Part of the token functionality that is less sensitive (e.g. truncating and converting the generated hashes or cryptograms) often happens in the reader. An example of this combination is discussed below.
This principle is often used by banks that combine the bank cards they issue (for usage at Automatic Teller Machines or Point Of Sale terminals) with unconnected readers to secure their remote banking applications (such as internet banking or telephone banking). A good example of this is the Mastercard Chip Authentication Programme (CAP), which specifies how EMV smart cards can be used in combination with unconnected smart card readers to generate one-time passwords and electronic transaction data signatures.
This technology relies on the smart cards being capable of doing symmetric cryptographic operations and having been personalized with a secret key to be used for symmetric cryptographic operations. However, PKI-enabled smart cards are designed to store asymmetric keys and do asymmetric cryptographic operations. Many PKI-enabled smart cards don't support symmetric cryptographic operations or (if they do) have never been personalized with an individual symmetric secret key.
Traditional PKI Signatures
The usual way to create an electronic signature with a PKI smart card, is that the input data (usually, the input data consist of a hash of the actual transaction data one wants to sign) are encrypted by the card's private key.
The usual way to validate such a signature, is that the validating entity decrypts the received signature with the public key. If the decryption of the signature results in the same value as the input data that were supposed to have been encrypted by the private key, the signature is validated successfully. Note that thanks to this asymmetric characteristic the validating entity never needs to have access to the card's private key. This allows the private key to be kept secret from any party other than the signing party, even from any verifying party, thus providing for true non-repudiation.
This can only be done successfully if the signature itself is in its entirety available to the validating entity. The decryption of an incomplete signature would only result in meaningless data that can not be compared with the input data that were supposed to have been signed.
This condition can not be fulfilled in practice when small hand-held unconnected smart card readers are being used: given that a typical PKI signature size is in the order of 100 bytes, the display of these readers is far too small to display a full signature and it is in any case totally unrealistic to expect a user to manually transfer a 100-byte value from the reader's display to a PC without making a single mistake. The 100-byte typical PKI signature should be compared to a typical 6 to 8-digit or 3 to 4-byte OTP or MAC of a traditional strong authentication token. This is certainly a reason why asymmetric cryptography and private keys have not been used to generate OTPs and MACs by e.g. strong authentication tokens.
What is desired is a method and apparatus that: a) allows the usage of a device storing PKI private keys (such as PKI-enabled smart cards or USB sticks) to authenticate users and to sign transactions, b) without the need for any user application to have some kind of a direct or indirect digital connection with the device containing the private key, in particular a digital connection that would allow the user application to submit data to the card for signing by the card's private key and that would allow retrieval of the entire resulting signature from the card should not be necessary, c) without the need for the PKI-enabled device containing the private key (e.g. a PKI smart card or USB stick) to: 1) either support symmetric cryptographic operations, or 2) to have been personalized with some secret or confidential data element that can be read by a suitable reader. | {
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The present invention relates to a moving picture decoding apparatus, and especially, to a moving picture decoding apparatus capable of reducing a necessary capacity of a frame memory to be used when coded moving pictures are decoded.
Conventionally, this kind of a moving picture decoding apparatus is used in a method for reducing a necessary frame memory capacity used in the decoding process. As the conventional moving picture decoding apparatus, JP-A-261635/1997, for example, discloses an arrangement for reducing a frame memory capacity necessary for storage or reference images and re-ordering decoded images, which comprises a data compression circuit for compressing a decoded image and a data expansion circuit for expanding compressed data. Also, in JP-A-247673/1997, an arrangement is proposed in which a set of moving pictures data of which data content has been reduced by data content reducing means for reducing data content of data read from the frame memory is restored by data content restoring means.
Also, in JP-A-4550/1998, for example, an apparatus is proposed in which a reduction in memory use capacity is facilitated using Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). In the apparatus described in the publication, compression is conducted by estimating a change in each block of n×m pixels compressed using orthogonal translation, encoding a first pixel of each block with p bits in accordance with the ADPCM method, encoding an estimated value of the change with n×h bits, and further, encoding a difference value between each pixel following the first pixel and an average value of all pixels in the block with p−k bits.
However, in the conventional moving picture decoding apparatus proposed in the above-described JP-A-4550/1998 and so forth, in which the objective is to reduce the capacity of frame memory used, there is a problem in that efficient access to the memory cannot be realized.
The reason for this is that an access width of the memory is not taken into account in a memory compression and expansion section of the above-described moving picture decoding apparatus. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-timing control circuit for generating a control clock synchronized in a prescribed phase relationship to a master clock; and to a self-timing control circuit with a simple circuit structure which can lock on in a short time and which can carry out highly precise timing control for a high speed clock.
2. Description of the Related Art
Synchronous DRAM is one of the latest high speed memory devices. Such a high speed device is supplied command signals, address signals, data signals, and the like in synchronized with a clock by a controller; outputs a data signal in synchronized with the clock. As noted above, high speed operations are realized through the use of the clock as a strobe signal.
In such a device, an external clock is input once into the device and a control signal, being a strobe signal, is generated; in such a case, the phase of the control signal becomes unmatched with the supplied clock due to the delay characteristics of the internal circuitry. For this reason, a self-timing control circuit, to generate a control clock, synchronized in a prescribed phase relationship to a master clock, is established within the device.
Conventional self-timing control circuits utilize a delay locked loop circuitry (DLL circuitsry below) for generating a control clock delayed by one or more cycles of the supplied clock.
FIG. 1 shows the DLL circuitry constituting a conventional self-timing control circuit. In FIG. 1, the external clock signal CLK is supplied by means of an input buffer 1 to a variable delay circuit 2 and a variable delay circuit 4, and is supplied as a first input for a phase comparison circuit 7 at the same time. A delay clock signal d-i-clk is generated from the clock signal c-clk, which is input to the variable delay circuit 4, passes through a dummy data output buffer 5 and a dummy input buffer 6. This delay clock signal d-i-clk is supplied as a second input to the phase comparison circuit 7. The phase comparison circuit 7 compares the phases of the two input signals c-clk and d-i-clk and outputs the results of the comparison to the delay control circuit 8. The delay control circuit 8 controls the amount of the delay of the variable delay circuit 2 and variable delay circuit 4 according to the phase comparison results. The amount of the delay, controlled by the delay control circuit 8, is applied to the clock signal c-clk input to the variable delay circuit 2, the clock signal c-clk is supplied to the data output buffer 3 as a control clock n0. The data output buffer 3 is synchronized with the control clock signal n0 supplied thereto, takes up data DATA, and outputs this data externally as the data output data Dout.
Moreover, the dummy data output buffer 5 is unnecessary when the control clock n0 is used as a strobe signal for the input buffer.
Such DLL circuits are noted in detail in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-339988 (Dec. 19, 1996 application, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-112182, laid open Apr. 28, 1998), for which the present applicants have already applied.
In the aforementioned DLL circuits, however, the variable delay circuits 2, 4 comprise a plurality of serially connected unit delay circuits. Consequently, highly precise control of the timing of the control clock generated requires that the amount of the delay of the unit delay circuits be small and the number of those circuits be large. As a result, the variable delay circuits become large in scale and occupy increased area on the chip, whereby the variable delay circuits become an obstacle to higher integration of integrated circuit devices.
Furthermore, highly precise timing control is necessary in order to have operating speeds in excess of 100 MHz, for example. Even with large scale variable delay circuits, the device cannot handle timing control with finer precision than the amount of delay of the unit delay circuits, as long as digitally control the timing wherein the amount of delay of the unit delay circuits is a variable unit.
Also, a problem is that locking on requires a long period of time when power is turned on or when the device is returning from a powered down state, because the conventional DLL circuits are reset once and then perform a feedback operation for phase matching. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The invention relates to resistance training exercise apparatus.
Various types of resistance training exercise apparatus are known in the prior art, including load systems for providing resistance.
Commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/854,279, filed Aug. 11, 2010, is directed to resistance training exercise apparatus with a vacuum load system.
The present invention arose during continuing development efforts in the above technology. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing head incorporated in an electrophotographic apparatus for executing various kinds of processing of electrophotographic films.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One type of photographic apparatus has heretofore been known which is capable of recording an image on a predetermined frame of a photographic film and of projecting or copying the recorded image.
A processing head is disposed in such photographic apparatus to subject an electrophotographic film to various kinds of processing such as charging/exposure and development, and such a processing head is known from the specifications of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,591,543, 4,600,291, 4,613,226 4,623,240, 4,671,648 and so forth.
The processing head disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications has a charging exposure section, a developing section, a drying section, and a fixing section. These sections are disposed side by side in the mentioned order in the direction in which an electrophotographic film is fed at a constant pitch which corresponds to the pitch of frames of the electrophotographic film.
In the charging exposure section, a portion of the electrophotographic film (corresponding to one frame of the film) which is positioned at this section is charged and is then exposed to light reflected from a document carrying an image. By this operation, an electrostatic latent image which corresponds to the image pattern on the document is formed on the frame of the electrophotographic film. In the developing section, the frame of film which has been subjected to exposure in the charging exposure section is coated with a liquid developer so as to make the electrostatic latent image visible. In the image section, dry air is applied to the frame of film which is wet from the liquid developer so as to remove moisture therefrom. In the fixing section, the image is fixed on the frame of film by means of a fixing lamp or the like.
With this processing head, part of the liquid developer coated on the electrophotographic film after the film has been charged and exposed may remain in the developing section, particularly on a developing electrode thereof, and adhere thereto as surplus developer after the completion of the developing. In order to remove the surplus developer, the processing head is adapted to use air to swish off the surplus developer.
However, there is a fear that some of the surplus developer may not be removed and may, instead, dry and become solidified. The amount of surplus developer adhering to and being deposited on the developing electrode will increase as the number of times development is performed increases. When the amount of the surplus developer adhering to and deposited on the developing electrode in this way exceeds a certain level, some of the surplus developer may become partially exfoliated and turned away from the electrode, projecting toward the space between the electrophotographic film and the electrode, that is, into the developing chamber. The solidified developer which projects in this way may disturb the flow of developer which will flow in the developing chamber during the developing of subsequent frames, causing non-uniform flow of the developer. This may result in the formation of defective images. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Migraine is a highly disabling neurovascular disorder characterized by attacks of moderate to severe headache that are often associated with nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia. The attacks can last from 4 to 72 h, and the average attack frequency is 1 or 2 per month. About 20-30% of migraine patients experience transient focal neurologic symptoms known as aura, which are usually visual and can precede or accompany the headache. Migraine afflicts about 11% of adults worldwide and results in a significant socioeconomic burden, in terms of both quality of life and lost productivity.
Whilst the pathomechanism of migraine is still unclear, one of the leading hypotheses is based on activation of the trigeminovascular system (TS). Several neuropeptides participate in this activation, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) playing a crucial role among them. CGRP exerts various biological effects through the peripheral and central nervous system (CNS). The functional CGRP-receptor (CGRP-R) complex has been well characterized, and novel therapeutic approaches target CGRP itself and its receptors. This invention relates to the development of CGRP receptor antagonists (CGRP-RA).
CGRP, a 37-amino acid neuropeptide derived from the gene encoding calcitonin, is formed from the alternative splicing of the calcitonin/CGRP gene located on chromosome 11. In humans, CGRP has two isoforms: α- and β-CGRP. The β-isoform differs from the α-isoform in the amino acids located at positions 3, 22 and 25. The chemical structure of CGRP involves a disulphide bridge between residues 2 and 7 and an amidated C-terminus. The cyclic cysteine2-cysteine7 motif has a basic role in receptor activation. In the human trigeminal ganglia (TRIG), CGRP-immunoreactive neurons account for up to 50% of all neurons. It has been demonstrated through an in situ hybridization technique that 40% of all nerve cell bodies contain CGRP mRNA and CGRP. Double immunostaining has shown that in the human TRIG CGRP is co-localized with nitric oxide synthase, substance P (SP), pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) and nociceptin, which may play a role in the pathomechanism of migraine.
The functional CGRP-R consists of three proteins: i) Calcitonin Receptor Like Receptor (known as CRLR, CALCRL or CLR) is a seven-transmembrane spanning protein, which forms the ligand binding site with; ii) RAMP1, determining the specificity of the receptor; and iii) the CGRP-R component protein (RCP) couples the receptor to intracellular signal transduction pathways and to adenylyl cyclase.
It is thought that the C-terminal region of CGRP initially binds to the large N-terminal extracellular domain (ECD) of the receptor, likely making interactions with both CLR and RAMP1. This initial binding event greatly increases the local concentration of the N-terminal region of CGRP in the vicinity of the juxtamembrane portion of CLR, allowing their relatively weak interaction to occur and resulting in receptor activation. Since mutagenesis experiments indicated that most small molecule antagonists interacted with the ECD of CLR/RAMP1, it was hypothesized that they bind to this region of the receptor and prevent the initial binding of CGRP to the receptor. A notable exception to this model of peptide binding and small molecule receptor antagonism is the hydroxypyridine class of antagonists, which apparently interact with transmembrane domain 7 (TM7) in CLR and not with the extracellular domain (Bell I M, J. Med. Chem., 2014, 57(19), 7838-58).
The first clinically tested CGRP-RA, olcegepant, was based on a dipeptide backbone, had high molecular weight, and was not orally bioavailable. Nonetheless, when dosed intravenously, olcegepant proved to be an effective antimigraine agent, and this proof-of-concept study greatly increased interest in the field. Following the success of olcegepant, a number of orally acting CGRP-RAs were advanced to clinical trials. Telcagepant and compounds BI 44370, MK-3207, and BMS-927711 have all been used for acute treatment of migraine as oral agents. Taken together, the results from these clinical studies demonstrate that CGRP-RAs can exhibit similar antimigraine efficacy to the gold standard triptan drugs but with a significantly lower incidence of adverse events than is typically observed with a triptan. It is worth noting that the available data indicate that these CGRP blockers do not cause vasoconstriction and suggest that they may have a superior cardiovascular safety profile to the triptans. One potential concern that has been reported with some CGRP-RAs is the observation of elevated levels of liver transaminases in some patients, and this reportedly led to the discontinuation of MK-3207. Although elevated liver enzymes were also found in a small number of subjects after dosing with telcagepant for an extended period, it is not clear if these findings are in some way mechanism-based or specific to these two compounds. In clinical trials for acute migraine therapy, the CGRP-RAs displayed favourable effects, but their frequent administration was associated with liver toxicity (the elevation of liver transaminases), which limited their clinical use. Hence, there is a need to develop new CGRP-RAs which do not induce liver injury. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Sometimes a ventilation system is needed for personal comfort for an individual or for providing circulating air to an object. Standard cooling and circulating devices can be bulky and difficult to move from place to place. The present invention features a portable air displacement system for introducing or removing air from a zone. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Wipes have been made from a variety of materials which can be dry or wet when used. Wet wipes can be moistened with a variety of suitable wiping solutions. Typically, wet wipes have been stacked in a container in either a folded or unfolded configuration. For example, containers or dispensers for wet wipes have been available wherein each of the wet wipes stacked in the container has been arranged in a folded configuration such as a c-folded, z-folded or quarter-folded configuration as are well known to those skilled in the art. Sometimes the folded wet wipes have also been interfolded with the wet wipes immediately above and below in the stack of wet wipes. In an alternative configuration, the wet wipes have been placed in the container in the form of a continuous web of material which includes perforations to separate the individual wet wipes and which can be wound into a roll. Such wet wipes have been used for baby wipes, hand wipes, household cleaning wipes, industrial wipes and the like.
The conventional packages which contain wipes, such as those described above, have typically been designed to be positioned on a flat surface such as a countertop, changing table or the like. Such conventional packages have generally provided a plastic container, tub or package which provides a sealed environment for the wet wipes to ensure that they do not become overly dry. Some of the conventional packages have also been configured to provide one at a time dispensing of each wet wipe which can be accomplished using a single hand after the package has been opened. Such single handed, one at a time dispensing, often referred to as xe2x80x9cpop-upxe2x80x9d dispensing, is particularly desirable because the other hand of the user or care giver is typically required to be simultaneously used for other functions. For example, when changing a diaper product on an infant, the care giver typically uses one hand to hold and maintain the infant in a desired position while the other hand is attempting to dispense a baby wipe to clean the infant.
However, the dispensing of wipes from such conventional containers for wipes has not been completely satisfactory. For example, this is due at least in part to the orifice through which wipes within the container are dispensed. In particular, for example, this concerns the configuration and characteristics of the orifice for dispensing a stack of wipes that are separably joined to each adjacent wipe in the stack to provide pop-up dispensing once an initial wipe in the stack is dispensed through the orifice. As another example, this can concern the relationship of a group of wipes in the stack to other wipes in the stack if groups of wipes make up the stack of wipes. As yet another example, these relationships between wipes concern, in conjunction with the wipes, the container from which the wipes are dispensed and characteristics thereof. The present invention builds upon the teaching disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/538,711 filed Mar. 30, 2000 entitled xe2x80x9cWET WIPE CONTAINER WITH FLEXIBLE ORIFICExe2x80x9d and assigned to the assignee of the present application, which prior application is incorporated fully herein by reference.
In response to the difficulties and problems discussed above, for example, new orifice configurations and characteristics enabling improved dispensing, and which may be more cost effective and reliable (e.g., reducing the likelihood of wipe fallback and/or reducing the likelihood of multiple wipes dispensing undesirably), have been discovered. For example, dispensing can be improved or made easier when a wipe is ready for dispensing upon the opening of a resealable wipes dispenser after the initial opening of the dispenser and use of a first wipe in a plurality of wipes. That is, a portion of the wipe is positioned in an orifice of the dispenser sufficiently protruding so a user can readily grasp the same and remove the entire individual wipe without premature tearing or non-dispensing of the top wipe. As another example wipe fallback can occur when a leading wipe in a plurality of wipes separates completely from a following or trailing wipe prematurely, i.e., before a sufficient portion of the following wipe is positioned within the dispenser orifice to remain there for later dispensing after the leading wipe is fully separated or disjointed from the trailing wipe outside the dispenser. In such a fallback situation, the following wipe would need to be re-threaded through the dispensing orifice when its dispensing is next desired. This may not be undesirable if done intentionally, i.e., if maintaining a maximum moisture level for the wipes is desired and the dispensing orifice is designed to easily accommodate reach-in retrieval of the next wipe. As yet another example multiple wipes dispensing can occur when a leading individual wipe in a plurality of wipes does not timely separate completely from a following individual wipe while the following wipe is still at least partially maintained in the dispensing orifice, i.e., the following wipe dispenses completely out of the dispenser with the leading wipe causing two (or more) wipes to dispense substantially simultaneously. This can be desirable when two (or more) wipes are needed, but if only one is desired, then this is not preferred. The purposes and features of the present invention will be set forth in and are apparent from the description that follows, as well as will be learned by practice of the invention. Additional features of the invention will be realized and attained by the product and processes particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well as from the appended drawings.
In one aspect, the invention provides a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing with a wet wipes dispenser. The orifice includes a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. A first portion of the sheet has a first thickness and a second portion of the sheet located between the continuous slit and the first portion has a second thickness which is greater than or less than the first thickness.
In another aspect, the invention provides a wet wipes dispenser having a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing. The dispenser includes a rigid port positioned adjacent an end portion of the dispenser. The rigid port surrounds a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. A first portion of the sheet has a first thickness and a second portion of the sheet located between the continuous slit and the first portion has a second thickness which is greater than or less than the first thickness.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing with a wet wipes dispenser. The orifice includes a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. At least one hinge is located between the continuous slit and a surrounding portion of the sheet wherein a side of the sheet adjacent the continuous slit can pivot relative to the surrounding portion of the sheet via the hinge.
In still another aspect, the invention provides a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing with a wet wipes dispenser. The orifice includes a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. The continuous slit has at least one curved portion connected with at least one non-curved portion.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a wet wipes dispenser having a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing. The dispenser includes a rigid port positioned adjacent an end portion of the dispenser, the dispenser having a longitudinal axis and a lateral axis. The rigid port surrounds a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. The continuous slit has at least one curved portion connected with at least one non-curved portion.
In still another aspect, the invention provides a flexible orifice for pop-up style dispensing with a wet wipes dispenser. The orifice includes a flexible, rubber-like sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface. A continuous slit extends across the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet and enables a wet wipe to pass from the bottom surface to the top surface or from the top surface to the bottom surface. The continuous slit has at least one zigzag portion connected with a pair of end leg portions.
In yet other aspects, the invention provides various configurations for the sheet, the continuous slit and orientations of portions of the continuous slit and of the continuous slit relative to the dispenser.
In still other aspects, the invention is provided for use in various types of dispensers and for dispensing in various manners such as reach-in dispensing and pop-up dispensing.
As used herein, wet wipes of the invention are considered xe2x80x9cseparably joinedxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cseparably joiningxe2x80x9d (and variations thereof) when each wipe of a plurality, e.g., in a stack of wipes, is engaging any adjacent wipe while in the dispenser or package such that withdrawing the leading wipe through the dispenser or package opening also withdraws at least a portion of the following wipe through the opening before the leading wipe and the following wipe separate completely from each other. Such engaging of any adjacent wipe can include a non-interfolded relationship in combination with one or more of the following between adjacent wipes: adhesive, friction, cohesion, fusion bonding (e.g., ultrasonic welding, heat sealing), mechanical entanglement (e.g., needle punching, steam sealing, embossing, crimping), autogeneous bonding, and/or weakened line(s) (e.g., perforations, zones of frangibility, score line(s), crush cutting).
As used herein, the xe2x80x9clongitudinal axisxe2x80x9d is determined by the line having the greatest number of intersections with the continuous slit. Such a longitudinal axis may be symmetrical relative to the continuous slit (e.g., FIGS. 11 and 12) or it may be askew (e.g., line 18 in FIGS. 13 and 14 relative to the continuous slit), but in any event the longitudinal axis must be the line that will have the greatest number of intersections with the continuous slit of the invention.
As used herein, xe2x80x9czigzagxe2x80x9d means a portion of the continuous slit which crosses or touches the longitudinal axis at least three times. As such, the continuous slit could be curved (e.g. as seen in FIGS. 11-14) or it could comprise the combination of curved and/or straight line segments, as long as the segments are connected to one another and configured to cross or touch the longitudinal axis at least three times. For example, in FIG. 11 a zigzag would be represented by the combination of half cycles 48 and 44 at locations a and b. Additional half cycles c, d, etc. could be included to also define the zigzag portion of the continuous slit, but such goes beyond the minimum requirement of crossing the longitudinal axis 62 at least three times.
As used herein, when the following wipe that has at least a portion through the opening of the dispenser or package is intentionally maintained in the opening after the leading wipe is completely separated from the following wipe, this is referred to as xe2x80x9cpop-upxe2x80x9d format or dispensing. To be intentionally maintained in the opening means the opening is configured to so maintain the wipe therein, such as through use of a constricting orifice or opening being smaller than the wipe in at least one dimension of the wipe.
As used herein, xe2x80x9creach-inxe2x80x9d dispensing is understood to mean having to fetch a wipe out of a dispenser through an opening substantially co-extensive with the walls of the dispenser or through a restricted opening smaller than the perimeter defined by the walls. In either case, the top wipe for dispensing rests on top of the remainder of the stack of wipes and the top wipe needs to be separated from the remainder of the stack each time anew when dispensing is desired. An example of a reach-in dispenser is found in the currently available baby wipes product sold by Kimberly-Clark Corporation of Neenah, Wis. under the trade name HUGGIES(copyright) Supreme Care.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9crigidxe2x80x9d is used to mean a level of stiffness commonly associated with materials used to manufacture wet wipes tubs. Numerically, these materials typically have a flexural modulus (as measured in accordance with ASTM D790 xe2x80x9cStandard Test Method for Flexural Properties of Unreinforced and Reinforced Plastics and Electrical Insulating Materialsxe2x80x9d) of about 500 Newtons per square millimeter or greater, more specifically from about 1100 to about 1550 Newtons per square millimeter.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention claimed. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, are included to illustrate and provide a further understanding of the wipes of the invention. Together with the description, the drawings serve to explain the various aspects of the invention. | {
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In recent years, various techniques relating to cancer virotherapy involving the use of viruses in cancer therapy have been developed. Viruses used in such therapy include vaccinia virus, as well as adenovirus and retrovirus.
In recent years, vaccinia virus has also been used as a multivalent vaccine for infections (HIV or SARS) in the form of an expression vector into which a foreign gene has been introduced, since the vaccinia virus has properties such as a wide range of hosts and high expression efficiency.
Moreover, a technique of utilizing the dissolving ability of vaccinia virus on cancer cells, so that the vaccinia virus can be utilized in cancer therapy, has been reported (see Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2).
UCA1 has been reported as a gene associated with tumorigenesis or embryogenesis (see Non Patent Literature 1 to Non Patent Literature 4). It has been reported that a UCA1 (Urothelial cancer associated 1) gene is long-non coding RNA (lncRNA) that does not encode a protein, and that this gene is used as a marker for bladder cancer and the like. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure sensor for measuring the pressure of gas, liquid or the like.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Heretofore, as described in Japanese unexamined, published patent application No. 2002-13998 for example, there have been known a pressure sensor having a pressure sensing element placed in a pressure chamber in which pressure transmission medium is sealed off, and another pressure sensor having a pressure sensing element placed in a pressure chamber which is constructed so that fluid to be measured is flown thereinto.
However, in the aforementioned known pressure sensors, a problem arises in that the access to the pressure sensing element or an electric circuit incorporated therein is not easy. That is, for the reason that the access to the pressure sensing element arranged in the pressure chamber is not easy, it has been unable to enhance the productivity of the pressure sensor, and it has also been not easy to reduce the manufacturing cost therefor substantially.
For example, the foregoing problem in the prior art is remarkable in a pressure sensor which is provided with a compensation circuit for compensating the measured signal of the pressure sensing element.
In the pressure sensor, it is sometimes the case that after assembling, the output value is measured with a reference pressure, a reference temperature and the like being applied thereon to calibrate the measured signal for example. It is also sometimes the case that compensation data which is to be set in the compensation circuit is calculated based on the measured output value and is then set in the compensation circuit.
However, it is also often the case that the setting of the compensation data in the compensation circuit is not easily carried out in the pressure sensor after the assembling thereof.
As one capable of obviating the foregoing problems, there has been also known another pressure sensor in which a communication terminal electrically connected to the compensation circuit is additionally provided besides terminals for electric power supply and output signal. In this pressure sensor, it is necessary to take measures for, e.g., electrically isolating the communication terminal upon completion of the setting of the compensation data in the compensation circuit.
Therefore, in the pressure sensor, it is necessary to provide the communication terminal, an electrical path leading to the communication terminal, and the like which are rarely needed in the state of ordinary use as noted above, and a disadvantage is experienced in respect of cost in particular. In addition, disadvantages are also experienced in respect of productivity because it is required to electrically isolate the communication terminal after the completion of the setting work of the compensation data.
Furthermore, in the pressure sensor arranging the pressure sensing element in the pressure chamber as described above, terminal pins or the like constituting a path for power supply to the pressure sensing element and another path for outputting the measured signal are occasionally arranged to protrude into the pressure chamber.
Thus, sealing capability has to be reliably secured between the terminal pins and a housing member constituting a main body of the pressure sensor. In the prior art pressure sensor, measures have been taken to fill a sealing substance such as silicon or the like between the terminal pins and the housing member.
Therefore, a sealing process for filling the sealing substance has been essential in the foregoing pressure sensor. This disadvantageously has made a bottleneck in enhancing the productivity and also has made a cause to retard the realization of a low cost. | {
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The invention relates to transistor structures, particularly useful in MOSFETs, in which the conductive channel is formed on the A-face of the semiconductor body. The problems addressed by this invention include (i) reducing channel resistance in the on-state for optimal current output and (ii) minimizing field crowding effects to maximize the reverse voltage blocking capabilities within the device.
Over the last twenty years, transistor designs have been optimized to achieve a controlled current flow in the on-state while simultaneously having the ability to block certain voltages in the off-state. The development of better semiconductor materials, including silicon carbide and the Group III nitrides, has led to extraordinary advancements in transistor design that allow greater control over transistor performance in both the on-state (e.g., higher current output) and the off-state (higher voltage blocking with less leakage current). Silicon carbide has been of particular interest due to its electrical characteristics in a variety of crystal structures.
Silicon carbide's crystal structure is often described by the elemental configuration of the layer being used. A cross section of a silicon carbide substrate shows either a layer of carbon atoms directly on top of a layer of silicon atoms, or vice versa. The silicon layer is often polished and used for forming devices thereon, and it is known as the silicon face. If the carbon layer is exposed, it is known as the carbon face. See Zetterling, Carl-Mikael, Process Technology for Silicon Carbide Devices, Institute of Electrical Engineers (2002), Page 3.
The axes of alignment for the silicon carbide crystal also play important roles in choosing the orientation for forming a semiconductor device. Traditionally, for hexagonal crystal structures, four principal axes are commonly used: a1, a2, a3, and c. All of the a-vectors are in the same plane (“the a-plane), and the c-vector is in the c-plane that is perpendicular to the a-plane. Ibid.
Prior researchers have attempted to use different planes, or faces, of the silicon carbide crystal to achieve various performance characteristics in the resulting device. Yano, et al., for example, disclose the channel mobility characteristics of MOSFETS formed on the c-face and improved results for inversion layer mobility on the a-face of a 4H—SiC substrate. See Yano, Kimoto, Matsunami, Asano, and Sugawara, “High Channel Mobility in Inversion Layers of 4H—SiC MOSFETs by Utilizing (11 20) Face,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 20, No. 12 (December 1999), Pages 611-613.
Yano et al. formed two types of MOSFETs with currents perpendicular to one another on the same substrate. Drain current for the MOSFET formed on the (11 20) face improved substantially, showing a significant increase in channel mobility by using the a-face (11 20) of the silicon carbide. Yano's design, however, is not preferable in vertical power devices because the Yano devices have a lower critical field and conduct under reversed bias at lower gate voltages than desired. The sole technique of developing the MOSFET on the a-face, without additional parameters being adjusted as well, has not proven to be the best answer in the context of optimizing performance in power MOSFETs.
Previous efforts to maximize current flow in power MOSFETs have addressed the channel resistance of the silicon carbide devices, as channel resistance creates a significant part of the total MOSFET on-resistance, especially for low voltage (<2 kV) silicon carbide MOSFETs. Approaches to reducing the channel resistance have focused on (1) improving channel mobility, (2) reducing device cell pitch, and (3) reducing channel length. Although research efforts have studied these approaches extensively, DMOSFETs (double diffused metal oxide semiconductors FETs) and UMOSFETs (trench gated metal oxide semiconductor FETs) of the prior art have shown only marginal improvements in achieving the desired increase in channel mobility. For example, known UMOSFETs show an increased carrier density in the conductive channel, but these same devices suffer from the electrical field crowding at the trench gate corners under reverse bias.
FIGS. 1 and 4 show a prior art DMOSFET (5) and a prior art UMOSFET (28) respectively. A traditional DMOSFET (5) includes source, gate, and drain contacts (10, 11, 12) positioned on a semiconductor body (18) with the gate contact (11) atop an oxide layer (15) insulating the gate region. The DMOSFET (5) includes a p+ type well (19) implanted into the semiconductor to a depth of about 0.5 microns and doped to about 1e20 cm−3. An n+ source region (20) doped to about 1e20 cm−3 is adjacent the p+ well (19) and positioned between the p+ well (19) and the buried channel (21). The buried channel (21) extends across portions of the source (20), the p+ well (19) and the semiconductor body (18) between active regions, i.e., the JFET region (23). The buried channel (21), the JFET region (23), and the supporting drift region (24) of the DMOSFET (5) are doped to about 1e16 cm−3. In a typical prior art DMOSFET, the fabrication process controls the channel surface by using ion implantation instead of doping during layer growth. Ion implantation is difficult to achieve accurately in DMOSFETs, and the resulting devices are limited in channel mobility.
The channel resistance of the DMOSFET (5) of FIG. 1 is set forth in the forward voltage v. current curves of FIG. 2. As shown therein, the DMOSFET (5) of FIG. 1 achieves channel mobility of 40 cm2/Vs and a specific on resistance of about 4.62 mΩ·cm2. Accordingly, FIG. 3 shows the forward current distribution of the prior art DMOSFET (5) of FIG. 1. These values are in line with known DMOSFETs that achieve a typical channel mobility of between about 25 to 50 cm2/Vs. As shown in FIG. 3, the current distribution in the drift region (24) of the device is far less than the optimal current in the upper portion (23) closer to the gate. FIG. 3 shows that the current is not spreading as desired for maximum flow through the device to the drain (12).
The prior art UMOSFET (28) of FIG. 4 suffers similar current restrictions. As set forth in the drawing, UMOSFET (28) includes the standard source (30), gate (31), and drain (32) with the gate (31) atop an oxide layer (33) lining a trench (36). The buried channel (38) of the UMOSFET (28) extends across the source (30) and down into the trench (36) such that the buried channel (38) is between the epitaxial layers of the p-n junction (40, 41) and the oxide layer (33). The problem with the prior art UMOSFET is that the corner of the trench (42) exhibits a noted crowding of the electric field at the corner of the trench, inhibiting current flow through the drift region (43) and the substrate (44) down to the drain (32). The field crowding also results in a lower sustained gate voltage during reverse bias operation.
The UMOSFET of FIG. 4 also requires a trench that is greater than 2 microns for proper gate placement and operation. Given that reactive ion etching is often the method of choice for forming a trench in a UMOSFET, the trench wall is so severely damaged in the fabrication process that the conductive channel is constricted. Uniform results are difficult to achieve when subjecting silicon carbide to reactive ion etching, and the resulting devices are not reliable. The damage caused by the etching also deteriorates the oxide quality formed thereon for insulation purposes. These factors combine in prior art UMOSFETs to require an on-voltage of up to 30 volts for forward conduction.
Prior art DMOSFET and UMOSFET devices of FIGS. 1 and 4 illustrate the common need for modifications to transistor design that increases maximum current flow in the on state with the ability to block incident voltages in reverse biased operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,936 (Miyajima 1999) shows another example of a prior silicon carbide MOSFET developed with the goal of increasing current in the channel while controlling the threshold voltage and blocking characteristics for the device. The Miyajima '936 patent utilizes a vertical layer of silicon carbide along the gate trench wall for the channel layer. The vertical channel layer is quite thin—about 1000 to 5000 angstroms. The Miyajima '936 design, however, still suffers the problem of current crowding at the edges of the trench. Miyajima, furthermore, makes no reference to using the a-face of the silicon carbide crystal to enhance channel mobility.
Published U.S. Patent Application 20020185679 (Baliga 2002) addresses some of the same issues in simultaneously supporting large voltages and operating in a current saturation mode. The Baliga '679 patent application uses deep well extensions (P+ implants), which could arguably alleviate the current crowding at the trench corners. Previous research into these well extensions, however, showed that the deep wells typically resulted in a high JFET resistance, thereby requiring a deeper trench. Baliga actually encourages the JFET effect by using deep P+ wells to deplete the region adjacent the wells. Baliga then uses the JFET effect to operate the depleted region of the device as a field effect transistor while the drain region is in current saturation mode. The problem of the JFET region constricting the current flow to the drain is still evident in Baliga's device.
Prior efforts to achieve a power transistor with high current output in the on-state and reduced current crowding at the gate trench under reversed bias have been largely unsuccessful. The prior art has been unsuccessful in addressing the competing factors of decreasing channel resistance along a gate trench sidewall and increasing the capacity of the device to spread the electric field across the semiconductor device under reversed bias. | {
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A cooktop unit generally comprises: a glass-ceramic cooktop or a cooktop made of similar material; a holding frame; and, a permanent-elastic connection between the cooktop and the frame.
Assemblies are known in the marketplace having a molded-on sealing profile.
This idea in and of itself is good but experience has shown that significant tolerance problems develop when attempting to realize such sealing profiles. This is the case because a seal can be effected only via the periphery and therefore a pressfit must always be ensured. This, however, is not possible because of the tolerances of the cooktop and frame as well as mounting tolerances.
An inadequate seal between the glass-ceramic cooktop and the frame can affect cleaning in practical use and safety during operation. Food being cooked can overflow and trickle into the gap between the seal and the frame and can disadvantageously affect electrical reliability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,956 discloses a glass-ceramic cooktop unit for direct mounting in a workplate of wood, ceramic or plastic (kitchen countertop). This cooktop unit comprises a cooking area with a cookplate made of glass ceramic and the heating elements as well as a peripherally extending mounting frame supporting the cooktop. The mounting frame can be connected, on the one hand, to a peripheral region of the cookplate and, on the other hand, to the periphery of a workplate cutout. Spring elements and adjusting devices are arranged between the cooking area and the mounting frame in order to bring the cooking plate with the cooking area in smooth approximation to the frame against the action of the spring elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,831 discloses a frameless glass-ceramic cooktop unit which includes the following: a cooktop with a mounting cutout and a peripheral edge in the mounting cutout which includes a flange directed downwardly; a glass-ceramic plate having a peripheral edge; a uniform support ring having first and second essentially planar surfaces with the second planar surface being arranged vertically; and, a sealing material between the first planar surface of the support ring and the lower side of the glass-ceramic plate. This sealing material joins the glass-ceramic plate to the support ring and the second planar surface of the support ring is held against the downwardly extending flange.
The configurations suggested in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,363,956 and 5,036,831 have been difficult to realize in practice because complex configurations of the mounting frame and adjusting devices and spring elements are expensive to produce and are problematic with respect to installation. | {
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The identification of microorganisms, especially detection of antibiotic resistant bacteria, is of great importance in the medical field. It is well known that health care facilities invest large efforts to prevent patients from being infected with secondary diseases caused by environmental bacteria and especially those due to antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The commonly used method to distinguish between antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic sensitive bacteria is to use PCR directly on a sample or after culturing the sample. Such a method is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202. Another method is by detecting the proteome, i.e., different proteins expressed by a genome.
DNA-based methods for universal bacterial detection by detection of common bacterial pathogens are also known in the art, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2005/0042606. Detection of viable bacteria in biological samples by exposing bacterial cultures obtained from the samples to transducing particles having a known host range has been disclosed in PCT Pub. No. WO90/04041.
A problem with these methods is that they generally take a significant amount of time (typically at least an hour) to produce a result, and can only be performed by a qualified professional technician. One possible approach to solving these problems might be the use of spectroscopic techniques, which are inherently faster than these methods. Some spectroscopic methods for identifying bacteria, not specific to antibiotic resistant strains, are already known in the art.
For example, PCT Pub. No. WO98/41842 discloses a system for the detection of bacteria antibody complexes by Raman spectroscopy. The sample to be tested for the presence of bacteria is placed in a medium which contains antibodies attached to a surface for binding to specific bacteria to form an antigen—antibody complex. Similarly, Resonance Raman backscattering is disclosed as a method for identification of a bacterium in U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,198. In these methods, the presence in the Raman spectrum of markers associated with particular bacteria is taken as an indication of the presence of the bacterium.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,920 discloses a spectroscopic method for detecting and identifying specific bacteria in a biologic sample, for which it is claimed that culturing is not required. The method includes obtaining spectra of a biological sample from a non-infected patient for use as a reference, subtracting the reference from the spectra of a possibly infected sample, and comparing the fingerprint regions of the resulting difference spectrum with reference spectra of known bacteria.
Naumann et al. (Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, R. A. Meyers (Ed.) pp. 102-131, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 2000) have reported the use of FTIR spectroscopy for detection and classification of bacteria in dried samples. Live microbes have been identified by using FTIR and near-infrared FT-Raman spectroscopies. Other methods involve the use of fluorescence spectroscopy or a combination of the above spectroscopic techniques.
None of the prior art literature discloses means and methods that can quickly (less than one hour) and without the need for a professional technician detect and distinguish antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic sensitive bacteria. Furthermore, none of the prior art literature discloses means and method that can eliminate the interference of water contained in a sample on the experimental signal in order to provide more sensitive and accurate detection of bacteria in general and antibiotic resistant bacteria in particular.
Thus, there is a long felt need for means and methods for rapid, sensitive, and accurate detection and identification of microorganisms from a primary culture plate sample without the use of additional reagents or complicated sample preparation, in particular, means and methods that can differentiate antibiotic-sensitive bacteria from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. | {
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This invention relates to a fluidized bed combustion system and method and, more particularly, to a method for controlling the temperature in the furnace section of the system.
Fluidized bed combustion systems are well known. In these arrangements, air is passed through a bed of particulate material, including a fossil fuel such as coal and an adsorbent for the sulfur generated as a result of combustion of the coal, to fluidize the bed and to promote the combustion of the fuel at a relatively low temperature. Water is passed in a heat exchange relationship to the fluidized bed to generate steam. The combustion system includes a separator which separates the entrained particulate solids from the gases from the fluidized bed in the furnace section and recycles them back into the bed. This results in an attractive combination of high combustion efficiency, high sulfur adsorption, low nitrogen oxides emissions and fuel flexibility.
The most typical fluidized bed utilized in the furnace section of these type systems is commonly referred to as a "bubbling" fluidized bed in which the bed of particulate material has a relatively high density and a well-defined, or discrete, upper surface. Other types of fluidized beds utilize a "circulating" fluidized bed. According to this technique, the fluidized bed density may be below that of a typical bubbling fluidized bed, the air velocity is equal to or greater than that of a bubbling bed, and the flue gases passing through the bed entrain a substantial amount of the fine particulate solids to the extent that they are substantially saturated therewith.
Circulating fluidized beds are characterized by relatively high solids recycling which makes them insensitive to fuel heat release patterns, thus minimizing temperature variations, and therefore, stabilizing the emissions at a low level. The high solids recycling improves the efficiency of the mechanical device used to separate the gas from the solids for solids recycle, and the resulting increase in sulfur adsorbent and fuel residence times reduces the adsorbent and fuel consumption. In some of these arrangements a recycle heat exchanger is located between the solids separator and the furnace section for cooling the solids before they are recycled back to the furnace section.
The heat transfer, and therefore the temperature, in the furnace section is dependent on the solids loading pattern along the entire furnace height and the furnace is usually conservatively sized from a thermal standpoint to achieve better combustion and sulfur reduction. The solids loading is, in turn, a function of several parameters such as ash and sulfur content in the fuel, fuel and sorbent (limestone) size distribution, furnace gas velocities, combustion air flow distribution, cyclone efficiency and furnace configuration. As a result, it is not always possible to accurately predict the heat transfer rate and therefore the furnace temperature. This is undesirable since in order to ensure optimum sulfur capture the furnace temperature should be within a fairly narrow range which typically is 1500-1640.degree. F. When the furnace temperature is outside this range the sulphur capture efficiency plummets resulting in high sulfur sorbent consumption. Also, fuel burnup efficiency is affected at low furnace temperatures.
Although the furnace absorption and temperature can be varied by varying the external heat exchanger duty, the flue gas recirculation, the amount of spray water, or the amount of sand feed, these techniques are expensive and less desirable from an operational standpoint. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical communication system, and more particularly to a semiconductor laser for use in an optical communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical communication systems employ wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) mode, which simultaneously transmits to a single optical fiber by dividing a low-loss wavelength band of an optical fiber into a plurality of channels and multiplexing the channels. In high-capacity wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical network, the capability to remove and replace selective WDM wavelengths at multiple add/drop nodes across the network is essential for a variety of value-added communication services.
An example of a semiconductor laser with a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,660 to Franck Delorme et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSAMPLE GRATING DISTRIBUTED BRAGG REFLECTOR LASER, VERY WIDELY MATCHABLE BY PHASE VARIATION AND PROCESS FOR USING THIS LASER,xe2x80x9d which discloses a semiconductor laser comprising an active section and two sample rating sections each positioned on a side of the active section.
An example of a semiconductor laser which is provided with a DBR and is capable of tuning output wavelength in accordance with input current is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,392 to Tohmori Yuichi et al., entitled xe2x80x9cDISTRIBUTED REFLECTOR AND WAVELENGTH-TUNABLE SEMICONDUCTOR LASER,xe2x80x9d which discloses a wavelength-tunable laser provided with a distributed reflector which may be of a distributed reflector type or distributed feedback type and has distributed reflector regions and a phase adjustment region.
The wavelength-tunable lasers are constructed in a mode that uses an active distributed Bragg reflector structure. The Bragg reflector structure is used to change the oscillating wavelength by changing the refractive index of the active distributed reflector as electric current is applied thereto. The wavelength-tunable lasers of this mode are separately provided with a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) to perform power boosting. Power boosting is needed because the oscillating wavelength is changed to a shorter wavelength as electric current is applied and the optical output rapidly decreases as the change of wavelength is increased.
Power boosting is possible if a semiconductor optical amplifier is connected to a side of a wavelength-tunable laser. However, a problem may arise, due to the saturation output power level being low and noise being increased due to amplified spontaneous emission caused by internal reflection. There is also a problem in that the length of the device should be increased in order to obtain sufficient gain.
Accordingly, the present invention overcomes or reduces the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art glass optical fibers, and one object of the present invention is to provide a wavelength-tunable laser apparatus which is capable of obtaining a high output while suppressing the generation of spontaneous emission, as well as having a broad wavelength-tunable range.
In accordance with principals of the present invention a wavelength-tunable laser apparatus is provided comprising, a distributed reflector section having a first active layer for oscillating light, a first grating for filtering the light generated in the first active layer, and upper and lower clad layers between which the first active layer and the first grating are interposed, a gain section which is formed adjoining to a side of the distributed reflector section and comprises a second active layer disposed between the upper and lower clad layers for adjusting the gain of the light, and a gain-clamped semiconductor optical amplifier section which is formed adjoining to a side of the gain section and comprises a third active layer disposed between the upper and lower clad layers for amplifying a portion of light having a clamped gain, and a second grating for filtering the light passing through the third active layer. | {
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Effective management of a patient's medication therapy is an important factor in achieving successful treatment results. The closer a patient adheres to his or her prescribed medication treatment program, the more likely that the treatment will be effective. Unfortunately, in many instances patients do not adequately comply with their medication therapy programs. Poor compliance with treatment programs can result in negative health impacts for the patient as well as negative impacts on those who have an interest in maintaining the patient's health.
In a typical medication therapy setting there is a number of parties or stakeholders who have an in interest in achieving a successful result. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a number of the stakeholders who may have an interest in a patient's successful medication treatment outcome. At the center is the patient 10. No stakeholder has a greater interest in an effective medication treatment program than the patient 10. Many patients, such as children or the elderly, may have a caregiver 12 who is responsible for caring for them. A caregiver 12 may be responsible for scheduling doctor appointments, transporting the patient to their appointments, getting prescriptions filled, administering medications, and so forth. The doctor 14 treating the patient 10 has a professional interest in the patient's health. The pharmacist 17 who fills the patient's prescriptions also has a professional interest in serving the patient similar to that of the patient's doctor 14. The pharmacy 16 that sells the patient his or her prescribed medications has a business interest in continuing to serve the patient. If the patient is covered by insurance or if the patient is a member of a managed-care organization which pays for some or all of the patient's medications, the insurance company or managed-care organization 18 will have an interest in managing the patient's medications and keeping costs down. At a further remove, the pharmaceutical company 20 that manufactures the patient's medications has an interest in continuing to sell medications to the patient 10. Even more generally, pharmacy trade groups 22, such as the American Pharmacists' Association, The American College of Clinical Pharmacy and others, may have an interest in learning about effective medication therapy management techniques, as well as trends in the industry, successful drug treatments and the like. Similarly, doctors, nurses, hospitals and other members of the broader medical community 214 will have an interest in learning about effective medication therapies, methods of keeping costs down and improved treatment outcomes, as will public health organizations 26 and government agencies 28 tasked with providing health-related services.
Of the stakeholders identified in FIG. 1, only the caregiver 12, the doctor 14, the pharmacy 16 and perhaps the insurance company or managed-care organization 18 are likely to have direct contact with the patient 10. Nonetheless, other stakeholders may wish to obtain data regarding the patient and the patient's medication therapy program. Various stakeholders may also wish to communicate important messages to individual patients regarding their medication treatment programs. What is more, even though the caregiver 12, the doctor 14, the pharmacy 16 and the even insurance company/managed-care organization 18 may have somewhat regular contact with the patient 10, the nature of the relationship with the patient and the frequency of contact with the patient may vary significantly for each entity. For example, the patient is unlikely to discuss specifics of his or her treatment with the insurance company 18. The doctor 14 prescribes the patient's medication but may not have accurate information about the patient's compliance with the prescribed medication therapy, and so forth. Thus, while each stakeholder may be in a position to obtain a limited amount of information about the patient 10 and the patient's medication treatment program, the limited nature of the information results in each party receiving only a partial view of what is actually taking place with regard to the patient's medication therapy.
In many cases, data collected by or known by one stakeholder may be highly valuable to one or more other stakeholders. For example, once a patient's doctor 14 prescribes a specific medication treatment, the doctor has no way of knowing how closely the patient is adhering to the prescribed treatment regimen. The pharmacy, on the other hand, is in a position to review the patient's prescription fill history to determine whether the patient has had enough medication on hand to comply with the prescribed treatment program. Since a patient's failure to comply with his or her doctor's prescribed treatment program could lead to an unsuccessful result, which in turn could lead to a more serious illness and more expensive treatments, many of the stakeholders identified in FIG. 1 will have an interest in knowing whether the patient 10 is complying with his or her prescribed medication therapy.
Although there are many stakeholders who may have an interest in a patient's medication therapy, a successful medication management program must focus on the individual patient. Each individual patient will have unique circumstances that define the medication management issues facing that patient. For example, some patients may have a very complicated medication regimen that is difficult to keep track of and which is nearly impossible to follow without fault. Other patients may have a nonchalant attitude toward their medication which may cause them to frequently miss doses. Still other patients may not have the financial resources to cover the costs of their medications. Some treatments may require frequent tests to ensure the efficacy of the treatment or to detect the presence of adverse side effects. A medication management system must be capable of dealing with all of these factors and more in order to deliver all of the services necessary to help patients manage their medications.
A medication management system is desired that will take into account all of the unique circumstances facing individual patients and provide services uniquely tailored to meet each patient's needs. Such a medication management program must be scalable to meet the individualized needs of hundreds of thousands or even millions of individual patients. Further it is desired that a medication management system may serve as a central repository for information regarding patients and their medication treatment programs. This information may be collected and presented in ways that will help improve patient compliance with their medication treatment programs and facilitate the delivery of compliance related services. It also desired that a medication management system provide a mechanism for identifying patients who may benefit from compliance related services and communicating the availability of such services to such patients. It is also desirable to identify other classes of patients in order to deliver special messages or have other customized interactions with the members of such classes of patients on behalf of various stakeholders having an interest in the various patients' treatment outcomes. | {
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The present invention relates to an improvement on a nail gun described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. HEI5-16077 filed by the present assignee. More particularly, the present invention improves safety of a pneumatically operated nail gun for striking with a bit a head of a nail inserted into and supported by a nail guide of the nail gun so that the nail protrudes from the nail guide when supported therein.
Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. HEI5-16077 describes a light-weight nail gun for driving in nails long enough to protrude from the nail guide when supported therein with two to five strikes. The above-described nail gun is designed to be used in the manner of a hand-held hammer which drives in nails of the same size with a similar number of strokes.
The following text will provide an explanation of the nail gun according to Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. HEI5-16077 with reference to FIG. 1. Expressions such as "upward," "downward," "above," "below," "upper surface," and "lower tip" are used in explanations of conventional art and the present invention to define the various parts when a nail gun is disposed in an orientation for driving a nail downward into a workpiece.
FIG. 1 shows the nail gun in a non-firing mode. A drive air chamber 4 provided in a grip 51 of the nail gun is filled with compressed air from a compressor C. The compressed air enters the drive air chamber 4 through an air entrance port 3. An air passage 57 (to be described later) is also formed in the drive air chamber 4.
A trigger valve chamber 5 is formed with a trigger valve hole 52 and an atmospheric communication hole 53. A trigger valve plunger 12 is supported in the trigger valve chamber 5 so as to be movable in the vertical direction, that is, from in the trigger valve hole 52 towards and into the atmospheric communication hole 53 and vice versa. A trigger valve spring 17 urges the trigger valve plunger 12 to plug the atmospheric communication hole 53. A trigger lever 11 abuts the trigger valve plunger 12 so that when the trigger lever 11 is pulled, the trigger valve plunger 12 pulls out of the atmospheric communication hole 53 against the urging of the trigger valve spring 17 and plugs the trigger valve hole 52. When the trigger lever 11 is released, it returns to its initial position by the urging of the trigger valve spring 17. The trigger valve chamber 5 is in fluid communication with a head valve chamber 7 via an air passage 6. In the non-firing mode shown in FIG. 1, the drive air chamber 4 is in fluid communication with the trigger valve chamber 7 via the trigger valve hole 52. Therefore, during the non-firing mode, compressed air from the drive air chamber 4 fills the head valve chamber 7 by passing through the trigger valve hole 52, the trigger valve chamber 5, and the air passage 6.
The lower wall of the head valve chamber 7 is formed by a surface of a head valve 8. Below the head valve 8 is provided a cylinder 9. A piston 10 is supported in the chamber of the cylinder 9 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The piston 10 hermetically separates the cylinder chamber into an upper cylinder space 58 and a lower cylinder space 59. A through hole 54 is formed through the head valve 8. A spring 55 provided in the through hole 54 urges the head valve 8 downward. In the non-firing mode, the combination of the urging of the spring 55 and the compressed air in the head valve chamber 7 presses the head valve 8 against the upper surfaces of the cylinder 9 and the piston 10, forming a seal between the head valve 8 and the cylinder 9. This seal prevents compressed air in the drive chamber 4 from entering the upper cylinder space 58 through the air passage 57. In the non-firing mode, the upper cylinder space 58 is in fluid communication with the atmosphere via the through hole 54 and an exhaust hole 18.
Next, a firing mode of the nail gun will be explained. To start the firing mode, an operator pulls the trigger lever 11. The trigger lever 11 pushes the trigger valve plunger 12 out of the atmospheric communication hole 53 and into the trigger valve hole 102. This blocks communication between the drive air chamber 4 and the trigger valve chamber 5, and brings the trigger valve chamber 5 into communication with the atmosphere via the atmospheric communication hole 53. As a result, compressed air in the head valve chamber 7 escapes to the atmosphere through the air passage 6, the trigger valve chamber 5 and the atmospheric communication hole 53.
When the pressure in the head valve chamber 7 drops to atmospheric pressure, the pressure of the compressed air in the air passage 57 is sufficient to overcome the downward urging of the spring 55, thereby raising the head valve 8. This blocks fluid communication between the atmosphere and the upper cylinder space 58 while at the same time bringing the upper cylinder space 58 into fluid communication with the drive air chamber 4 via the air passage 57, since the lower surface of the head valve 8 is moved away from the upper surface of the cylinder 9. Compressed air enters the upper cylinder space 58, thereby forcing the piston 10 downward. As the piston 10 moves downward, pressure of the air in the lower cylinder space 59 increases, forcing the air through middle holes 14 and lower holes 19 formed in the cylinder 9. The air forced through the middle holes 14 and lower holes 19 enters a return air chamber 16 formed around the cylinder 9. When the piston 10 passes below the middle holes 14, rubber rings 15 formed to the middle holes 14 prevent air from passing from the return air chamber 16 into the upper cylinder space 58. Pressure in the return air chamber 16 continues to increase until the piston 10 hits the damper 13 provided at the base of the cylinder chamber for cushioning the impact of the piston 10.
At this point the piston 10 abuts the damper 13. While the trigger lever 11 is being pulled, the piston 10 is forced into this dead center position by compressed air from the drive air chamber 4. However, when the trigger lever 11 is released, the head valve chamber 7 is again brought into communication with the compressed air in the drive air chamber 4. The head valve 8 is forced downward against the cylinder 9, thereby bringing the upper cylinder space 58 into communication with the atmosphere via the through hole 54 and blocking communication between the upper cylinder space 58 and the drive air chamber 4. The compressed air in the upper cylinder space 58 is exhausted through the exhaust hole 18 and the high pressure of the air in the return chamber 16 forces the piston 10 upward into its initial position.
A bit 20 integrally formed to the underside of the piston 10 is inserted into a bit guide 21 bolted onto the housing 2 below the cylinder 9. The bit guide 21 is formed with a hole for receiving the bit 20. A cylindrical nail guide 24 is supported on the tip of the bit guide 21 by a nail guide holder 27 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. A first spring 23 is provided in the nail guide holder 27 between the bit guide 21 and an upper peripheral plunger of the nail guide 24 so as to urge the nail guide 24 downward.
The following text will describe a nail driving operation. A nail 30 to be driven is inserted into the nail guide 24. In this case, the nail 30 is partially projected out of the nail guide 24. The nail gun is pressed against a workpiece 29 made of, for example, wood, through the nail 30. An operator pulls the trigger lever 11, thereby causing compressed air to force the piston 10 downward as described above. The bit 20 moves downward with the movement of the piston 10 as guided by the hole in the bit guide 21. The bit 20 strikes the head of the nail 30 supported in the nail guide 24. The operator releases the trigger lever 11, whereupon the piston 10, and also the bit 20, returns to its initial position as described above. Consequently, the nail 30 can be repeatedly struck by repeatedly pulling and releasing the trigger lever 11.
When the nail 30 is driven into the workpiece 29 to the extent where the nail guide 24 abuts the workpiece 29, the pressure exerted on the nail gun by the operator forces the nail guide 24 into the nail guide holder 27 against the urging of the first spring 23. In this way, an appropriate distance can be continually maintained between the bit 20 and the head of the nail until the nail 30 is pounded level with the surface of the workpiece 29. When the nail 30 is completely driven into the workpiece 29, the trigger lever 11 is released so it returns to its original position pictured in FIG. 1.
However, in the nail gun disclosed in the JP5-16077 publication, several problems are acknowledged.
If an operator places his finger on the trigger lever 11 when carrying the nail gun or when inserting a nail 30, he can accidentally pull the trigger lever 11, causing the piston 10 to plunge down and push the bit 20 rapidly out of the nail guide 24. The bit 20 can drive into and damage the workpiece or articles other than the workpiece. There is also the danger of the operator himself being injured by the bit 20. Also, operating the piston 10 when no nail 30 is inserted in the nail guide 24, that is, when the nail gun is empty, can damage the piston 10 or the damper 13.
Another conventional nail gun is provided with a safety system, where a safety arm is vertically movably provided near the firing portion which guides the nail. By the upper tip of the safety arm is provided a safety device for preventing operation of the trigger lever so that the trigger lever can not be operated unless the firing portion is pressed against the workpiece. However, in this type of conventional nail gun, the nail is completely hidden within the nail guide, so that the safety arm can be provided near the firing portion. On the other hand, in the nail gun described in the JP 5-16077 publication, since the applied nail 30 has a long length which protrudes out of the lower tip end of the nail guide 24, the protruding nail 30 prevents the nail guide 24 from being directly pressed against the workpiece 29. Therefore, the above-described safety device cannot be utilized. | {
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The present invention relates to color and, more specifically, to the selection of a color for a product.
Many products are offered in a number of colors. For instance, paints and plastics are offered in numerous colors. Potential purchasers of products that come in a number of different colors are either: (1) looking for the product in a specific color; or (2) want to browse the available colors for the product. Presently, a potential purchaser that is looking for a product in a specific color has three options for determining whether the product is available in the desired color. The first option requires the potential purchaser to send a sample of the desired color to the vendor. The vendor then performs a search of its color library to determine whether or not the product is available in the desired color and then informs the potential purchaser of the results of the search. The second option is for the potential purchaser to travel to the vendor""s site and review their color library for a product to determine whether or not the vendor offers the product in the desired color. Lastly, the potential purchaser can request a physical copy of the vendor""s color catalog for the product and search the catalog for the specific color. Due to printing costs and the like, physical copies of the vendor""s catalog are, in many instances, out of date. In any case, the vendor may offer the product in a color that, while not the desired color, is close enough. Alternatively, if the product is not available in the desired color or a color that is close enough for the purchaser, some vendors offer to match the color. Matching a color is generally a time consuming and expensive endeavor. A purchaser that wants to browse the available colors for a product either travels to the vendor""s site to peruse the vendor""s color library for a product or obtains a copy of the vendor""s color catalog for the product to review.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is a method for allowing a potential purchaser to specify a custom color to a vendor. The method is implemented through a potential purchaser computer coupled to a vendor host computer system by a network. The method includes receiving at the vendor host computer system a request to specify a custom color from the potential purchaser computer. The potential purchaser computer is provided with a custom color request form. The vendor host computer system receives a custom color specification from the potential purchaser computer which is based on entries in the custom color request form.
An alternate embodiment of the invention is a method for selecting a color from a vendor color database in response to a standard color. The method is implemented through a potential purchaser computer coupled to a vendor host computer system by a network. The method includes receiving at the vendor host computer system a standard color from the potential purchaser computer. The vendor host computer retrieves at least one color from the vendor color database close to the standard color. The at least one vendor color close to the standard color is presented to the potential purchaser computer. | {
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The present disclosure relates to the retrieval of information from flash memory devices, such as solid-state drives (SSDs). | {
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FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a block diagram of a Secondary-Side Regulation (SSR) flyback power supply 1. An alternating current (AC) 110-240 volt line voltage on input terminals 2 and 3 is rectified by a full wave bridge rectifier 4 and an associated smoothing capacitor 5 so that a rectified and smoothed rough DC voltage is present between the first and second input nodes 6 and 7. The voltage on first input node 6 is also referred to as the “input line voltage” or “line input voltage” (VIN). A SSR controller integrated circuit 8 is powered by a DC voltage supplied by auxiliary winding 9 of a transformer 10 and a rectifier involving diode 11 and capacitor 12. Immediately after startup when the rectifier has not yet switched an adequate number of times to charge capacitor 12, start up power for integrated circuit 8 is received via resistor 13. Flyback converter 1 operates by repeatedly closing and opening a switch 14. Closing switch 14 causes a primary current IP to flow from node 6, through a primary winding 15 of transformer 10, through switch 14, through a current sense resistor 16, and to node 7. The flow of this primary current IP causes energy to be stored in transformer 10.
FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a waveform diagram of an operation of the secondary side regulator of FIG. 1. The second waveform labeled IP represents the current flowing through the primary winding 15. Switch 14 is on from time T1 to time T2. Accordingly, primary current IP increases from time T1 to time T2.
Next, switch 14 is opened at time T2, and primary current IP stops flowing. The energy stored in transformer 10 is then transferred to the output of power supply 1 in the form of a pulse of current IS flowing through the secondary winding 17 of transformer 10. The bottom waveform labeled IS in FIG. 2 represents this secondary current. The pulse of secondary current IS flows from time T2 to time T3. Secondary current IS flows through secondary winding 17 and through a rectifying diode 18. Such pulses of the secondary current IS charge an output capacitor 19. Charge is maintained on output capacitor 19 such that a desired voltage VOUT is maintained across output terminals 20 and 21.
Consider a situation in which the load (not shown) coupled across output terminals 20 and 21 is a light load. Power supply 1 is only supplying a small amount of energy to the load in order to maintain the voltage VOUT regulated to its desired value. The power supply is not current limited. It therefore is in steady state operation and is operating in a constant voltage mode. Switch 14 is switched to open and close rapidly and in such a manner that the output voltage VOUT on output capacitor 19 is regulated to a substantially constant desired voltage.
Power supply 1 is said to have a “primary side” 22 and a “secondary side” 23. Power supply 1 is said to be a “secondary side regulation” power supply because its controller integrated circuit 8 responds to an optocoupler while the voltage monitoring is done via the secondary side reference amplifier 27. In a constant-voltage (CV) operational mode, the output voltage VOUT across output terminals 20 and 21 is sensed by a resistor divider involving resistors 24 and 25. The center tap 26 of the resistor divider is coupled to a terminal of a voltage reference integrated circuit 27. If the voltage on the center tap of the resistor divider is above a reference voltage, then the voltage reference integrated circuit 27 draws a current through an optocoupler 28. The current flows from first output terminal 20, through a current limiting resistor 29, and through optocoupler 28, through voltage reference 27, and to second output terminal 21. When this current flows, the optocoupler causes a corresponding current to be drawn out of a feedback terminal FB 30 of the controller integrated circuit 8. Current 30 is an error current that is indicative of the voltage level on output terminals 20 and 21. Controller 8 uses the detected magnitude of error current 30 to control the on/off duty cycle of switch 8 so as to regulate output voltage VOUT.
The output current IOUT is related to the peak of the primary current IP that is switched through the primary winding 15 of transformer 10. The magnitude of current IP is detected by the sense resistor 16 in the primary current path. Under high loading conditions, if the IOUT output current through output terminals 20 and 21 would exceed a specified current, then the power supply is made to operate in a constant current (CC) mode. Controller 8 controls the on/off duty cycle of switch 14 to limit the peak of primary current IP to an amount that corresponds to the specified maximum output current IOUT. The secondary side regulator (SSR) power supply 1 of FIG. 1 operates satisfactorily well in many applications, but it can be undesirably expensive in ultra low cost applications. Optocoupler 28 and voltage reference 24 are relatively expensive electronic components.
FIG. 3 (Prior Art) is a block diagram of another type of power supply referred to here as a Primary-Side Regulation (PSR) flyback power supply 31. Full wave bridge rectifier 32 and associated capacitor 33 provide a rough DC voltage as in the SSR example of FIG. 1. As in the SSR example of FIG. 1, PSR power supply 31 operates by repeatedly closing and opening a switch. In the illustrated example, the switch is a bipolar transistor 34. Closing switch 34 causes a primary current IP to flow from node 35, through primary winding 36 of transformer 37, through switch 34, into terminal 38 of a PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39, through another switch (not shown) inside the PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39, and from the ground terminal 40 of the PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39 to ground node 41. When switch 34 is closed, the current IP that flows through primary winding 36 causes energy to be stored in transformer 37. When switch 34 is opened, the energy is transferred to the output of the power supply in the form of a pulse of secondary current IS that flows through a secondary winding 42 of transformer 37 and through a diode 43. An output capacitor 44 is connected across output terminals 45 and 46 of the power supply. Pulses of secondary current IS charges output capacitor 44. When the power supply is in steady state operation in the constant voltage (CV) mode, switch 34 is switched to open and close rapidly and in such a manner that the output voltage VOUT on capacitor 44 remains substantially constant at a desired regulated output voltage VOUT. The magnitude of output voltage VOUT is related to the voltage VAUX across an auxiliary winding 47. VAUX is divided by a voltage divider including resistors 48 and 49 so that the voltage on the voltage divider tap 50 is sensed on an FB terminal 51 of PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39. PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39 has an internal reference voltage generator that generates an internal reference voltage. Controller integrated circuit 39 regulates VOUT to have the desired regulated output voltage by keeping the voltage on FB terminal 51 equal to the internal reference voltage. In one advantageous aspect, no expensive optocoupler or secondary side voltage reference is required.
The magnitude of the primary current IP is detected by detecting the voltage dropped across a component (not shown) inside PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39. This voltage, which is the product of the IP current flow and the resistance of the component, is sensed and is amplified by a current sense amplifier inside PSR CC/CV controller integrated circuit 39. If the sensed voltage drop corresponds to an output current IOUT that exceeds a specified current limit value, then the power supply is made to operate in a constant-current (CC) operating mode. In the CC mode, the output current IOUT is limited to a desired regulated output current by keeping the peak voltage detected by the current sense amplifier equal to a reference voltage value VILIM.
FIG. 4 (Prior Art) is a waveform that illustrates an operation of PSR power supply 31 of FIG. 3 under light loading conditions. Each time switch 34 is switched on and off in a switching cycle, an amount of energy is transferred to the PSR output. In the waveform of FIG. 4, switch 34 is on from time T1 to time T2. As explained above, energy builds in the magnetic field in the transformer as this primary current IP flows. The primary current IP rises at a substantially fixed rate. When switch 34 is opened at time T2, the magnetic field collapses and energy from the transformer is output in the form of a pulse of secondary current IS. Starting at time T2, the magnitude of the secondary current IS decreases as illustrated.
The VAUX on auxiliary winding 47 is related to VOUT in a known way during the off-time of switch 34, provided that the voltage drop across diode 43 is known. The voltage across diode 43 is known if the diode is forward biased. Accordingly, circuitry inside PSR regulator integrated circuit 39 samples the error voltage on FB terminal 51 at a time T3, shortly before secondary current IS stops flowing. Because only a small amount of energy is draining from the power supply output due to the light loading condition, and because proper regulation requires diode 43 to be forward biased during sampling, the peaks of the IP current pulses have a minimum value IPPEAKMIN. If the loading on the power supply decreases such that the energy transferred to the load due to IP current pulses of this IPPEAKMIN magnitude is too large, then the periods of the switching cycles are made to increase as loading decreases further. One such period 52 is illustrated in FIG. 4 as extending from time T1 to time T6. The IP current pulse is at its minimum magnitude. In some exemplary PSR power supplies, for low loads the period of the switching cycle may be long such as, for example, several milliseconds or more. Such a power supply generally has poor low-power standby mode transient response. If the load on the power supply output were suddenly to increase, and the next sample time may be a substantial amount of time in the future. The controller 39 may not therefore react to the increased loading condition quickly enough, and the output voltage VOUT on the output terminals 45 and 46 may momentarily fall out of regulation. | {
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Active matrix display devices have been in widespread use. The display device includes a pixel portion and a driver circuit which controls image display in the pixel portion. Specifically, in the display device, display is performed in such a manner that image signals input to a plurality of pixels arranged in matrix in the pixel portion are controlled by the driver circuit.
In recent years, concern for the global environment has been increased and development of low-power-consumption display devices has been attracting attention. For example, a technique by which power consumption of a liquid crystal display device is reduced is disclosed in Patent Document 1. Specifically, a liquid crystal display device is disclosed in which all data signal lines are electrically separated from a data signal driver to be in a high-impedance state (also referred to as an indefinite state and a floating state) during an idle period in which all scan lines and data signal lines are in a non-selected state.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2001-312253 | {
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Aneurysms occur in blood vessels in locations where, due to age, disease or genetic predisposition, insufficient blood vessel strength or resiliency may cause the blood vessel wall to weaken and/or lose its shape as blood flows through it, resulting in a ballooning or stretching of the blood vessel at the limited strength/resiliency location, thus forming an aneurysmal sac. Left untreated, the blood vessel wall may continue to expand to the point where the remaining strength of the blood vessel wall is insufficient and the blood vessel will fail at the aneurysm location, often with fatal result.
To prevent rupture, various implantable prostheses may be introduced into the blood vessel. Minimally invasive methods for implantation of these prostheses have been developed to deliver these prostheses within the lumen of a body vessel. These prostheses are advantageously inserted intravascularly, such as from an implantation catheter. For example, to prevent rupture of an aneurysm, a tubular stent graft may be introduced into the blood vessel and deployed and secured in a location within the blood vessel such that the stent graft spans the aneurysmal sac. The outer surface of the stent graft, at its opposed ends, abuts and seals against the interior wall of the blood vessel at a location where the blood vessel wall has not suffered a loss of strength or resiliency. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,423,084 and 7,060,091 disclose stents having varying outward radial force along their length to provide greater force in vessel regions requiring greater force and less force in regions requiring less. The stent graft channels the blood flow through the hollow interior of the stent graft, thereby reducing, if not eliminating, any stress on the blood vessel wall at the aneurysmal sac location.
One particular example of an aneurysm is a thoracic aortic aneurysm. The tortuous and hardened anatomy of a thoracic aortic aneurysm presents several challenges when implanting a prosthesis. Many current prostheses may be limited in their ability to conform to the radial and tortuous curvature, possibly resulting in poor sealing at the proximal and/or distal portion of the prosthesis. Some prostheses designs incorporate features designed to improve the radial curvature and conformability of the prosthesis when used in a directionally constrained fashion. For example, U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0052644 discloses a prosthesis having a support structure including sliding links to permit flexibility. While the directional constraint may provide improved conformance, the same directional constraint makes the prosthesis more difficult to properly deploy in the thoracic aorta with a possibly increased risk of nonconformance should the directional features not line up with the appropriate radius (inner and outer). | {
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fabrication of magnetic read/write heads that employ TAMR (thermally assisted magnetic recording) to enable writing on magnetic media having high coercivity and high magnetic anisotropy. More particularly, it relates to the use of a plasmon antenna (PA) to transfer the required thermal energy from the read/write head to the media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic recording at area data densities of between 1 and 10 Tera-bits per in2 (Tbpsi) involves the development of new magnetic recording mediums, new magnetic recording heads and, most importantly, a new magnetic recording scheme that can delay the onset of the so-called “superparamagnetic” effect. This effect is the thermal instability of the extremely small regions on which information must be recorded, in order to achieve the required data densities. A way of circumventing this thermal instability is to use magnetic recording mediums with high magnetic anisotropy and high coercivity that can still be written upon by the increasingly small write heads required for producing the high data density. This way of addressing the problem produces two conflicting requirements: 1. the need for a stronger writing field that is necessitated by the highly anisotropic and coercive magnetic mediums and; 2. the need for a smaller write head of sufficient definition to produce the high areal write densities, which write heads, disadvantageously, produce a smaller field gradient and broader field profile. Satisfying these requirements simultaneously may be a limiting factor in the further development of the present magnetic recording scheme used in state of the art hard-disk-drives (HDD). If that is the case, further increases in recording area density may not be achievable within those schemes. One way of addressing these conflicting requirements is by the use of assisted recording methodologies, notably thermally assisted magnetic recording, or TAMR.
The prior art forms of assisted-recording methodologies being applied to the elimination of the above problem share a common feature: transferring energy into the magnetic recording system through the use of physical methods that are not directly related to the magnetic field produced by the write head. If an assisted recording scheme can produce a medium-property profile to enable low-field writing localized at the write field area, then even a weak write field can produce high data density recording because of the multiplicative effect of the spatial gradients of both the medium property profile and the write field. These prior art assisted-recording methods either involve deep sub-micron localized heating by an optical beam or ultra-high frequency AC magnetic field generation.
The heating effect of TAMR works by raising the temperature of a small region of the magnetic medium to essentially its Curie temperature (TC), at which temperature both its coercivity and anisotropy are significantly reduced and magnetic writing becomes easier to produce within that region. In the following, we will address our attention to a particular implementation of TAMR, namely the transfer of electromagnetic energy to a small, sub-micron sized region of a magnetic medium through interaction with the near field of an edge plasmon excited by an optical frequency laser. The edge plasmon is excited in a small conducting plasmon antenna (PA) approximately 200 nm in width that is incorporated within the read/write head structure. The source of optical excitement can be a laser diode, also contained within the read/write head structure, or a laser source that is external to the read/write head structure, either of which directs its beam at the antenna through a means such as an optical waveguide (WG). As a result of the WG, the optical mode of the incident radiation couples to a plasmon mode in the PA, whereby the optical energy is converted into plasmon energy. This plasmon energy is then focused by the PA onto the medium at which point the heating occurs. When the heated spot on the medium is correctly aligned with the magnetic field produced by the write head pole, TAMR is achieved.
K. Tanaka et al. (US Publ. Pat. App. US2008/0192376) and K. Shimazawa et al. (US Publ. Pat. App. US2008/0198496) both describe TAMR structures that utilize edge plasmon mode coupling.
Rochelle, (U.S. Pat. No. 6,538,617) describes an antenna for sensing magnetic fields that employs a ferrite magnetic core.
Burdick et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,820) teaches a short wave antenna comprising wire wrapped around a ferrite core.
None of these prior arts address the issues to be dealt with by the present invention.
Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown a schematic illustration of an exemplary prior art TAMR structure in an ABS (shown as a dashed line) view and in a side cross-sectional view. The dimensional directions in the ABS view are indicated as x-y coordinates, with the x coordinate being a cross-track coordinate in the plane of the medium and the y coordinate being a down-track direction. In the cross-sectional view, the x coordinate would emerge from the plane of the drawing and the z coordinate is in the direction towards the ABS of the head.
The conventional magnetic write head includes a main magnetic pole (MP) (1), which is shown with a rectangular ABS shape, a writer coil (5) (three winding cross-sections drawn) for inducing a magnetic field within the pole structure and a return pole (3). Generally, magnetic flux emerges from the main magnetic pole, passes through the magnetic media and returns through the return pole.
The optical waveguide (WG) (4) guides optical frequency electromagnetic radiation (6) towards the air bearing surface (ABS) (10) of the write head. The ABS end of the write head will be denoted its distal end. The plasmon antenna (PA) (2), which has a triangular shape in the ABS plane, extends distally to the ABS. The distal end of the waveguide (4) terminates at a depth, d, away from the ABS. An optical frequency mode (6) of the electromagnetic radiation couples to the edge plasmon mode (7) of the PA (2) and energy from the edge plasmon mode is then transmitted to the media surface where it heats the surface locally at the ABS edge of the PA triangle.
An advantage of the design illustrated in this figure is that the WG (4) terminates before reaching the ABS of the write head so that leakage of visible radiation to the ABS is reduced. Meanwhile, the energy from the edge plasmon mode (7), upon reaching the ABS, can achieve a spatially confined region that is desirable for achieving a high thermal gradient in the magnetic medium. With the long PA body (2) and large volume of metal composing the PA, heating damage of the PA is also greatly reduced.
In the prior art cited above, the materials used to form the PA are metals like Ag and Au that are known to be excellent in generating optically driven plasmon modes. However, in the prior art a problem still exists in aligning the optical heating profile within the region of energy transfer at the medium surface, with the magnetic field profile generated by the write head.
Referring to FIG. 2, there are shown schematically a typical prior art magnetic field profile (8) and below it, a heating profile (9), such as would be produced by the TAMR writer of FIG. 1 at the position of the heating spot (the peak of the profile) on the magnetic medium. The horizontal coordinate axis in both graphs is the y-coordinate of FIG. 1. The vertical axis is the magnetic field, Hz, in the magnetic field profile and the heat intensity, Pheat, in the heating profile. Both profiles are localized within a small region of the magnetic medium. For reference purposes, the ABS shape of the PA (2) and the ABS shape of the MP (1) (also shown in FIG. 1) are drawn below the axes, so the location of the field and heat transfer can be ascertained.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, the heating spot is at the far leading edge of the magnetic field profile produced by the MP. Although this location will allow sufficient writing resolution with enough heating, it is not the optimal positioning of the two curves relative to each other. To obtain the full benefit of TAMR, the slope of the heating profile (9) should be aligned with the encircled regions of maximum slope (10) or (11), of the magnetic field profile. In this case, a multiplicative factor of the two maximum gradients is obtained.
Due to structural limitations, caused, for example, by the thickness and arrangement of the WG and by choice of the PA design, difficulties in alignments during fabrication, etc., optimal alignment of the heating and field profiles cannot be obtained. | {
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-material golf club head with a sound modifying component. More specifically, the present invention relates to a golf club head with face component composed of a metal material for a more efficient transfer of energy to a golf ball at impact, a non-metallic aft-body to control the mass distribution, and a sound modifying component for altering the frequency, amplitude, and duration of the sound of the golf club head striking a golf ball.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a golf club head strikes a golf ball, large impacts are produced that load the club head face and the golf ball. Most of the energy is transferred from the head to the golf ball, however, some energy is lost as a result of the collision. The golf ball is typically composed of polymer cover materials (such as ionomers) surrounding a rubber-like core. These softer polymer materials have damping (loss) properties that are strain and strain rate dependent, which are on the order of 10-100 times larger than the damping properties of a metallic club face. Thus, during impact most of the energy is lost as a result of the high stresses and deformations of the golf ball (0.001 to 0.20 inch), as opposed to the small deformations of the metallic club face (0.025 to 0.050 inch). A more efficient energy transfer from the club head to the golf ball could lead to greater flight distances of the golf ball.
The generally accepted approach has been to increase the stiffness of the club head face to reduce metal or club head deformations. However, this leads to greater deformations in the golf ball, and thus increases in the energy transfer problem.
Some have recognized the problem and disclosed possible solutions. An example is Campau, U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,965, for a Method Of Making Iron Golf Clubs With Flexible Impact Surface, which discloses a club having a flexible and resilient face plate with a slot to allow for the flexing of the face plate. The face plate of Campau is composed of a ferrous material, such as stainless steel, and has a thickness in the range of 0.1 inches to 0.125 inches.
Another example is Eggiman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,261, for a Golf Club Head With Elastically Deforming Face And Back Plates, which discloses the use of a plurality of plates that act in concert to create a spring-like effect on a golf ball during impact. A fluid is disposed between at least two of the plates to act as a viscous coupler.
Yet another example is Jepson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,474, for a Golf Club With A Polyurethane Insert. Jepson discloses that the polyurethane insert has a hardness between 40 and 75 shore D.
Still another example is Inamori, U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,023, for a Golf Club Head With Ceramic Face Plate, which discloses using a face plate composed of a ceramic material having a high energy transfer coefficient, although ceramics are usually harder materials. Chen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,813 for a Golf Club Head, discloses using multiple layers in the face to absorb the shock of the golf ball. One of the materials is a non-metal material.
Lu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,814, for a Hollow Club Head With Deflecting Insert Face Plate, discloses a reinforcing element composed of a plastic or aluminum alloy that allows for minor deflecting of the face plate which has a thickness ranging from 0.01 to 0.30 inches for a variety of materials including stainless steel, titanium, KEVLAR®, and the like. Yet another Campau invention, U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,248, for a Golf Club Having Insert Capable Of Elastic Flexing, discloses a wood club composed of wood with a metal insert.
Although not intended for flexing of the face plate, Viste, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,624 discloses a golf club head having a face plate composed of a forged stainless steel material and having a thickness of 3 mm. Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,140, for a Golf Club Head And Method Of Forming Same, also discloses use of a forged material for the face plate. The face plate of Anderson may be composed of several forged materials including steel, copper and titanium. The forged plate has a uniform thickness of between 0.090 and 0.130 inches.
Another invention directed toward forged materials in a club head is Su et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,011 for a Golf Club Head. Su discloses a club head composed of three pieces with each piece composed of a forged material. The main objective of Su is to produce a club head with greater loft angle accuracy and reduce structural weaknesses. Aizawa, U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,216 for a Golf Club Head, discloses a face plate having a curved ball hitting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,571 to Vincent, et al., discloses a method of manufacturing a golf club head wherein the walls are obtained by injecting a material such as plastic over an insert affixed to a meltable core. The core has a melt point lower than that of the injectable plastic material so that once the core is removed, an inner volume is maintained to form the inner cavity. The insert may comprise a resistance element for reinforcing the internal portion of the front wall of the shell upon removal of the core where the reinforcement element is comprised of aluminum with a laterally extending portion comprised of steel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,534 to Peters, et al., discloses a golf club head having upper and lower metal engagement surfaces formed along a single plane interface wherein the metal of the lower surface is heavier and more dense than the metal of the upper surface.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,886 and 5,547,427 to Rigal, et al., disclose a golf club head of molded thermoplastic having a striking face defined by an impact-resistant metallic sealing element. The sealing element defines a front wall of the striking surface of the club head and extends upward and along the side of the impact surface to form a neck for attachment of the shaft to the club head.
The sealing element preferably being between 2.5 and 5 mm in thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,538 to Vincent, et al., discloses a hollow golf club head having a steel shell and a composite striking surface composed of a number of stacked woven webs of fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,986 to Viollaz, et al., discloses a golf club head having a body composed of a series of metal plates and a hitting plate comprised of plastic or composite material wherein the hitting plate is imparted with a forwardly convex shape. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,185 to Viollaz, et al., discloses a hollow golf club head having a body composed of a series of metal plates, a metal support plate being located on the front hitting surface to which a hitting plate comprised of plastic or composite is attached. The metal support plate has a forwardly convex front plate associated with a forwardly convex rear plate of the hitting plate thereby forming a forwardly convex hitting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,094 to Desboilles, et al., discloses a golf club head having a metal striking face plate wherein the striking face plate is a separate unit attached to the golf club head with a quantity of filler material in the interior portion of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,088 to Kurahashi discloses a wooden golf club head body reinforced by a mixture of wood-plastic composite material. The wood-plastic composite material being unevenly distributed such that a higher density in the range of between 5 and 15 mm lies adjacent to and extends substantially parallel with the front face of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,047 to Mader discloses a golf club wherein the sole plate, face plate, heel, toe and hosel portions are formed as a unitary cast metal piece and wherein a wood or composite crown is attached to this unitary piece thereby forming a hollow chamber in the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,331 to Lo, et al., discloses a hollow metal golf club head where the metal casing of the head is composed of at least two openings. The head also contains a composite material disposed within the head where a portion of the composite material is located in the openings of the golf club head casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,167,387 to Daniel discloses a hollow golf club head wherein the shell body is comprised of metal such as aluminum alloy and the face plate is comprised of a hard wood such as beech, persimmon or the like. The face plate is aligned such that the wood grain presents endwise at the striking plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,306 to Glover discloses a golf club head having a bracket with sole and striking plates formed integrally thereon. At least one of the plates has an embedded elongate tube for securing a removably adjustable weight means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,798 to Lo discloses a method of manufacturing a composite golf club head using a metal casing to which a laminated member is inserted. A sheet of composite material is subsequently layered over the openings of the laminated member and metal casing to close off the openings in the top of both. An expansible pocket is then inserted into the hollow laminated member comprising sodium nitrite, ammonium chloride and water causing the member to attach integrally to the metal casing when the head is placed into a mold and heated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,249 to Thompson discloses a wood golf club head embodying a laminated upper surface and metallic sole surface having a keel. In order to reinforce the laminations and to keep the body from de-laminating upon impact with an unusually hard object, a bolt is inserted through the crown of the club head where it is connected to the sole plate at the keel and tightened to compress the laminations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,066 to Belmont discloses a wooden golf club head having removably inserted weight adjustment members. The members are parallel to a central vertical axis running from the face section to the rear section of the club head and perpendicular to the crown to toe axis. The weight adjustment members may be held in place by the use of capsules filled with polyurethane resin, which can also be used to form the faceplate. The capsules have openings on a rear surface of the club head with covers to provide access to adjust the weight means.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,750,194 to Clark discloses a wooden golf club head with weight adjustment means. The golf club head includes a tray member with sides and bottom for holding the weight adjustment preferably cast or formed integrally with the heel plate. The heel plate with attached weight member is inserted into the head of the golf club via an opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,811 to Okumoto, et al., discloses a wood type club head body comprised primarily of a synthetic resin and a metallic sole plate. The metallic sole plate has on its surface for bonding with the head body integrally formed members comprising a hosel on the heel side, weights on the toe and rear sides and a beam connecting the weights and hosel. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,107 to Okumoto, et al., discloses a golf club head having an outer shell, preferably comprised of synthetic resin, and metal weight member/s located on the interior of the club head. A foamable material is injected into the hollow interior of the club to form the core. Once the foamable material has been injected and the sole plate is attached, the club head is heated to cause the foamable material to expand thus holding the weight member/s in position in recess/es located in toe, heel and/or back side regions by pushing the weight member into the inner surface of the outer shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,685 to Sun discloses a wood type golf club head wherein a female unit is mated with a male unit to form a unitary golf club head. The female unit comprises the upper portion of the golf club head and is preferably composed of plastic, alloy, or wood. The male unit includes the structural portions of sole plate, a face insert consists of the striking plate and weighting elements. The male unit has a substantially greater weight being preferably composed of a light metal alloy. The units are mated or held together by bonding and or mechanical means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,935 to Katayama discloses a wood golf club head having a striking face wherein the height of the striking face at a toe end of the golf club head is nearly equal to or greater than the height of the striking face at the center of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,780,625 to Mattern discloses a club head with a rear portion composed of a light-weight metal such as magnesium. U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,916 to Butchart discloses a golf club with a balancing member composed of persimmon or a similar wood material, and a shell-like body composed of aluminum attached to the balancing member.
The Rules of Golf, established and interpreted by the United States Golf Association (“USGA”) and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews, set forth certain requirements for a golf club head. The requirements for a golf club head are found in Rule 4 and Appendix II. A complete description of the Rules of Golf are available on the USGA web page at www.usga.org. Although the Rules of Golf do not expressly state specific parameters for a golf club face, Rule 4-1e prohibits the face from having the effect at impact of a spring with a golf ball. In 1998, the USGA adopted a test procedure pursuant to Rule 4-1e which measures club face COR. This USGA test procedure, as well as procedures like it, may be used to measure club face COR.
Although the prior art has disclosed many variations of multiple material club heads, the prior art has failed to provide a multiple material club head with a high coefficient of restitution greater forgiveness for the typical golfer, and a sound modifying component for a more pleasing sound when the golf club head strikes the golf ball. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
There has been proposed and commercialized a head gasket interposed between a cylinder block and cylinder head in an automobile engine in which beads are formed so as to surround combustion chamber openings, oil holes, bolt holes, or the like, and a coating layer is formed all over a gasket component sheet constituting the head gasket and/or along the beads, thereby obtaining an improvement in seal performance (see Patent Document 1, for example). Patent Document 1 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-28002
2. Description of the Background Art
The head gasket described in Patent Document 1 is acted upon by shear forces in an in-plane direction due to a difference in expansion between the cylinder block and the cylinder head, and by repeated loads in a direction of extension and shrinkage of a clearance between the cylinder block and the cylinder head during engine operation. This causes problems in that, across the ages, the coating layer peels off and decreases seal performance and the cooling water filter becomes clogged and impairs cooling performance.
An object of the present invention is to provide a seal layer-transferred metal gasket that can effectively prevent degradation in seal performance due to the wearing and peeling of the coating layer. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a pulley for an alternator, and in particular, to a pulley for an automotive alternator.
An alternator is a type of generator that can produce an alternating current by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. An automotive alternator converts mechanical energy of an engine into electrical energy to charge a battery, so as to supply electrical power to other electrical appliances on the automobile, and start a motor to rotate the engine.
An alternator generally has an annular stator and a rotor received in the annular stator. A wire is wound on the stator, and the rotor rotates rapidly in the stator so that the wire moves relative to a magnetic field generated by the rotor, and an induced electromotive force (voltage) is generated in the wire.
An automotive alternator is usually utilized by an engine driving a belt. The belt is wound on a pulley, and the pulley is connected to a rotor so as to drive the rotor to rotate. However, in conventional alternator design, when an engine starts, or accelerates or decelerates quickly in an instant, a waveform changes significantly at the moment the generator charges a battery, and it cannot be stabilized. In addition, one side of the belt wound on the pulley is tight, and the other side thereof is slack. The tension of the slack-side belt is low, and therefore a tensioner is disposed thereon to adjust the tension of the belt. However, when a rotation speed at which the engine transmits power changes suddenly, because the pulley of the generator is locked by a nut and the belt is made of a flexible material and cannot reflect the rotation speed immediately, a slip is easily caused between the belt and the pulley. Moreover, the fluctuation of the rotation speed causes the belt to bear not only a repeated stress but also a centrifugal force that is applied on the belt when the pulley rotates. The value of the centrifugal force changes with the rotation speed, and therefore the belt is often affected by adverse factors of an internal micro tension, which pulls the belt, and external large-amplitude shaking. | {
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1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to a slider for a slide fastener and more particularly to a provisional pull tab attached to the slider provisionally when the slider is subjected to stringer-threading step or when it is manipulated to inspect the performance of reciprocating along fastener element rows.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Nowadays, a pull tab of a slide fastener slider has been playing an increasingly important role in enhancing fashionableness and attracting eyes, so that various types of pull tabs are manufactured so as to suit various specific tastes of consumers. In order to satisfy such consumers' demand to attach to sliders such various pull tabs as suit their individual tastes, sliders of the construction capable of having pull tabs releasably attached thereto have been developed. One typical example of such sliders of the non-locking type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,938 and another example but of the automatic-locking type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,638.
In a process of finishing a slide fastener, there is what we commonly call "stringer-threading step"; that is, a step of threading a pair of right and left stringers of the slide fastener into a Y-shaped channel of a slider in order to slidably mount the slider on the slide fastener. As reillustrated herein in FIG. 8; in this step, the non-locking type slider 11 is first mounted upside down in a recess 125 in a top of a slider holder 101 with its pull tab 107 depending downward therefrom by its own gravity; then, a locking lever 103 is swinged clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 8) so as to bring a detent 104 into fitting engagement with an aperture 112 of the depending pull tab 107, thus pulling the slider 11 downwardly into stably resting in the recess 102 and then the pair of right and left fastener stringers (not shown) are threaded through the Y-shaped channel 14 of the slider 11. As far as an automatic-locking slider 50 is concerned, in addition to the function of causing the slider 50 to stably rest in the recess 102; as shown in FIG. 9, pull of the pull tab 107 by the detent 104 has another function of pulling a locking member 57 of the slider 50 downwardly, thus bringing the locking prong 59 out of the Y-shaped channel 53 so as to permit a pair of fastener stringers (neither shown) to be threaded through the Y-shaped channel 53 of the slider 50 at rest. A pull tab 107 is thus indispensable in the finishing process for both types of sliders 11, 50. Furthermore, in an inspection following the finishing process, a pull tab 107 is also necessary to pull a slider 11, 50 back and forth so as to see whether the slider 11, 50 accomplishes proper function of reciprocating along the fastener stringers. For these reasons, even during the finishing process and inspection, a commercial pull tab 107 or a pull tab suitable to commerce heretofore must be attached to the slider 11, 50.
However, it is acknowledged that the operation of detaching the pull tab 107 from the slider 11, 50 is much more difficult and tedious than that of attaching the pull tab 107 to the slider 11, 50. Furthermore, during the stringer-threading step, particularly if an aperture 112 in the pull tab 107 is too small, the detent 104 is very difficult to fit into such a small aperture 112, thus being liable to damage the pull tab 107 around the aperture 112, thereby adversely affecting the commercial quality of the pull tab 107. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Aseptic coupling devices can be used to connect two or more sterilized pathways. For example, aseptic coupling devices can be used to couple a fluid pathway from a first piece of processing equipment or container to a fluid pathway from a second piece of processing equipment or container to establish a sterile pathway for fluid transfer therebetween.
Typical aseptic coupling devices require a “dry-to-dry” or “dry connection” that is created using one or more pathway clamping devices placed upstream of the aseptic coupling devices so that the aseptic coupling devices are kept free of fluid while the connection between the aseptic coupling devices is made. Once the sterile connection between the aseptic coupling devices is made, the clamping devices are removed to allow fluid to flow through the aseptic coupling devices. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Traditionally, chiropractic has focused largely on a functional model of treatment and relies on the concept that manipulation of the spine allows improved functional movement, which in turn allows greater overall spinal function and general health. While this method has been shown to offer symptomatic relief to patients, manipulation in and of itself has not been shown to effectively or permanently improve or correct abnormal spinal structure.
Soft tissues associated with the spine and other body structures exhibit a unique characteristic known as “viscoelasticity.” This property allows the soft tissue to return to its original shape and length if a submaximal force is applied for a relatively short period of time, such as, for example, less than five minutes. This explains why traditional spinal manipulation, with a typical duration of a fraction of a second, typically does not cause a permanent change in the structure of the spine.
On the other hand, soft tissues also exhibit the property of “plastic deformation”, by which the tissues deform permanently if a force is applied thereto over a prolonged period of time. Thus, “extension” traction therapy, which applies a force at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the spine and typically for a duration of between five and twenty minutes, has been shown to consistently correct abnormal spinal curves.
The present invention relates to the field of extension traction therapy for correcting abnormal spinal curves and, in particular, to improved methods and equipment for use in that field. It has particular, but not exclusive, utility in correcting the shape of the cervical region of a person's spine. In doing so, it has related positive effect on the rest of the spine as well. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to solar-based weather modification and energy transfer in such a manner as to improve people's living standards by reducing their energy cost and food cost and simultaneously improving the environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Art prior to the present application includes the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,480 Title: Atmosphere Modification Satellite Inventor: D. M. Udell, Sep. 6, 1983 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,992 Title: Weather Modification Method Inventor: R. J. Knollenberg, Oct. 19, 1971 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,135 Title: Solar Array Spacecraft Reflector Inventor: J. E. Keigler, Feb. 1, 1983 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,555 Title: Solar Energy System with Relay Satellite Inventor: C. E. Davis, Dec. 15, 1981 PA1 Astronautical Guidance by R. H. Battin, McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1964 PA1 Introduction to Radar Systems by M. I. Skolnik, McGraw-Hill Book Co. 1962 and PA1 Radar and the Atmosphere by A. J. Bogush, Jr., Artech House 1989. PA1 1. Modify cooling, warming, or precipitations of selected regions of earth, thus modifying local and/or global weather patterns. PA1 2. Create and maintain grass or forest lands to balance the rise of carbon dioxide contained in the earth's atmosphere, thus reducing the threat of global warming. PA1 3. Transform some wasteland into productive farmland. PA1 4. Increase farm, fishery and forestry productions at higher latitudes. PA1 5. Increase electricity production on land directly from concentrated solar energy. PA1 6. Increase hydroelectricity production by inducing precipitation in regions upstream of hydroelectric dams. PA1 7. Reduce home and industry energy cost. PA1 8. Reduce environmental damage by harsh weather. PA1 9. Reduce damage to the environment due to the use of fossil fuel and nuclear fuel. PA1 10. Create a unique self-supporting business based on SWMS, which can provide both weather-related and non-weather related services.
In addition, the following publications are of interest:
In contrast to much of the prior art, this invention employs only solar energy, earth satellites, remote sensing devices and ground control computers. No dispensing of chemicals is needed. The Satellite Weather Modification System (SWMs) is a local as well as a global weather modification tool. For example, SWMS can simultaneously bring rain to dry regions in southern California and drought regions in southern Ethiopia within in a few orbital periods of the Satellite Engines. Most remarkable of all is that these and many other tasks can all be accomplished by switching between some computer codes.
This invention is based on the realization that natural weather patterns always leave opportunities to permit regional weather modifications which are within the capabilities of the proposed Satellite Weather Modification System (SWMS). A fully developed SWMS has the potential to provide the following benefits.
SWMS can be implemented employing components which are currently available, including means for reflecting solar rays or discharging infrared radiation or laser beams or incandescent lights.
SWMS improvements can be augmented gradually, still using conventional components, to include discharging frequency agile and or intensity agile energy beams or pulse trains from Satellite Engines (SEs). Each frequency agile energy pulse is designed to penetrate a specified air mass layer of specified composition. For example, these energy pulses can be used to modify a specified air mass inside a thick cloud. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of inspecting a substrate or, more particularly, to a method of inspecting a substrate capable of enhancing reliability of a process of inspecting a status of a target object formed on a substrate.
2. Discussion of the Background
In general, an inspection process is required to inspect reliability of a substrate with an electronic device mounted thereon before and after the electronic device is mounted on the substrate. For example, a pad area of a substrate is inspected in order to inspect a status of solder for mounting an electronic device onto the substrate, before the electronic device is mounted on the substrate, and the status of the electronic device is inspected if the electronic device is properly mounted after the electronic device is mounted on the substrate.
Recently, a method of inspecting a substrate has been used for inspecting three dimensional shape of a target object by using an apparatus of inspecting three dimensional shape, which includes a plurality of projecting parts, each of which includes a light source and a grating to project pattern light onto the target object, and a camera capturing an image of the target object.
In order to inspect the three dimensional shape of the target object, height data of the target object is required. The height data is obtained by multiplying a scale factor to the measured phase data. Further, when a plurality of projecting parts is used, all data measured by each of the projecting parts are merged to generate the height data.
However, each of the projecting parts irradiates different pattern light, so that phase data measured by using the projection part is different. Further, the height should be measured based on a reference corresponding to reliable ground, with regard to a plurality of projecting part in order to obtain reliable height without noise per projecting part. However, there is no way of excluding noise data. Additionally, when a target object is an electronic device with height, there exists a shadow induced by the electronic device, which makes effect data of the ground area insufficient, so that reliability of the height of the target object is lowered. Further, there may be tilt in measurement data in accordance with environment of the substrate to induce deviation between the projecting parts, so that reliability of the integrated height data is lowered. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same and relates to, for example, a semiconductor device manufacturing method executing a burn-in test and a semiconductor device.
In a burn-in test process of a semiconductor device, a semiconductor device is attached to each of a plurality of IC sockets (hereinlater, also simply called sockets) provided for a burn-in board, and a burn-in test is performed.
For example, in a semiconductor device of a BGA (Ball Grid Array) type, since an external terminal is a ball electrode, a socket of a sandwich type for a BGA, which achieves electric conductivity by sandwiching a ball electrode by contact pins is known. By using the socket of the sandwich type for a BGA, a burn-in test is performed.
The structure of a socket for a semiconductor package is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-315555 (patent literature 1).
The structure of a contact/socket for a BGA/IC test is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9(1997)-219267 (patent literature 2). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Digital radio broadcasting technology delivers digital audio and data services to mobile, portable, and fixed receivers. One type of digital radio broadcasting, referred to as in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcasting (DAB), uses terrestrial transmitters in the existing Medium Frequency (MF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) radio bands. HD Radio™ Technology, developed by iBiquity Digital Corporation, is one example of an IBOC implementation for digital radio broadcasting and reception.
IBOC DAB signals can be transmitted in a hybrid format including an analog modulated carrier in combination with a plurality of digitally modulated carriers, or in an all-digital format wherein the analog modulated carrier is not used. Using the hybrid mode, broadcasters may continue to transmit analog AM and FM simultaneously with higher-quality and more robust digital signals, allowing themselves and their listeners to convert from analog to digital radio while maintaining their current frequency allocations. IBOC DAB hybrid and all-digital waveforms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,933,368, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
IBOC DAB technology can provide digital quality audio, superior to existing analog broadcasting formats. Because each IBOC DAB signal is transmitted within the spectral mask of an existing AM or FM channel allocation, it requires no new spectral allocations. IBOC DAB promotes economy of spectrum while enabling broadcasters to supply digital quality audio to the present base of listeners.
The National Radio Systems Committee, a standard-setting organization sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association, adopted an IBOC standard, designated NRSC-5, in September 2005. NRSC-5, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, sets forth the requirements for broadcasting digital audio and ancillary data over AM and FM broadcast channels. The standard and its reference documents contain detailed explanations of the RF/transmission subsystem and the transport and service multiplex subsystems. iBiquity's HD Radio Technology is an implementation of the NRSC-5 IBOC standard.
FM analog receivers implemented with digital signal processor (DSP) algorithms offer high performance, and are common for car radio receivers. They generally offer low distortion, good stereo separation, and often high sensitivity and selectivity. However, IBOC signals may create some new digital interference conditions that were not anticipated by the designers of the FM analog demodulators. Although this digital interference is generally limited to localized reception areas, or occurs infrequently under special signal conditions, there may still be concern about the impact on analog service. Furthermore, the FCC has authorized an increase in digital signal injection power from presently 20 dB below the analog FM host, to 10 dB, potentially increasing the interference.
It would be desirable to have an FM demodulator that is effective in eliminating the effects of interference from IBOC signals. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a filtration unit for the selective removal of target substances from a fluid such as blood or a blood component, and a method for manufacturing such a unit and a bag system comprising same.
It typically applies to the filtration of blood or a blood component to remove undesirable substances for transfusion, such as leukocytes, pathogens, prion proteins and/or substances used in pathogen inactivation and/or removal methods.
The blood or blood component, after the collection and separation thereof in the case of a component, is particularly intended to be transfused to a patient needing same. During transfusion, it is well known that leukocytes are undesirable in that they are liable to induce adverse and/or potentially dangerous reactions in the patient.
The same applies for certain substances such as the prion, the agent responsible for cases of transmissible subacute spongiform encephalopathy, particularly the Creutzfeld-Jacob disease variant in humans since recent studies have demonstrated a likely risk of prion transmission in blood transfusions.
To remove said undesirable substances, filtration units comprising a flexible outer casing containing a porous medium and provided with at least one inlet orifice and at least one outlet orifice wherebetween the fluid to be filtered flows in one direction are already known. The porous medium defines with the outer casing an inlet compartment for the fluid to be filtered and an outlet compartment for the filtrate.
In such units, illustrated for example by the document EP-A-526 678, the nozzles providing the inlet and outlet orifices are arranged symmetrically between two sheets forming the outer casing.
The document JP-3132307 describes a method used to seal a nozzle between two flexible sheets. According to this method, a stack consisting successively of a first flexible sheet, the nozzle and a second flexible sheet, is arranged between two identical moulds. A metal tube is inserted into the nozzle and a high-frequency dielectric current is sent into the mould to seal the nozzle with the sheets. As the two moulds holding the nozzle between the sheets are symmetrical, the seal is thus aligned on a diameter of the nozzle.
With such a method applied to the manufacture of filtration units, as described in the document WO-A1-01 56679, the flow of the fluid at the inlet and at the outlet of the filtration unit is not optimal. Indeed, due to the thickness thereof, the porous medium faces the opening of the inlet and outlet nozzle, impeding the circulation of the fluid in the filtration unit. In particular, the filling of the inlet compartment and draining of the outlet compartment are slowed down.
So that the inlet and/or outlet orifice opens directly into the inlet and/or outlet compartment without being impeded by the thickness of the porous medium, sealing a moulded part serving as a fluid inlet and/or outlet orifice on the surface of each of the flexible sheets has been envisaged. Such units are for example described in the document WO-A1-01 91880.
However, with such moulded parts, the wetting of the filtration medium is not optimised as the blood arrives perpendicular to the filtration medium. Furthermore, the sealing of said moulded parts on the surface of the sheets complicates the method for manufacturing filtration units and increases the cost thereof. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus generating an acceleration structure for ray tracing.
2. Description of Related Art
Three-dimensional (3D) rendering is an image processing procedure of synthesizing 3D object data into an image seen from a view point of a camera. Ray tracing is a process of tracing intersection points where rays intersect scene objects that are rendering targets. Ray tracing includes a traversal process of traversing an acceleration structure and a process of conducting an intersection test between a ray and a primitive. A generally large degree of computational resources such as processing time and power and a large memory bandwidth are required for the traversal process and process of conducting the intersection test. | {
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Omnidirectional cameras which cover a 360-degree image in the horizontal pane, or both in horizontal and vertical panes, have been used in panoramic imaging and video recording. The images and videos recorded by such cameras can be played back by consumer electronic devices, and normally the device user is given control over which segment of the 360 frame is displayed. This can be done by manipulating the viewpoint during playback. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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As is well known, various processes and catalysts exist for the homopolymerization or copolymerization of olefins. For many applications it is of primary importance for a polyolefin to have a high weight average molecular weight while having a relatively narrow molecular weight distribution. A high weight average molecular weight, when accompanied by a narrow molecular weight distribution, provides a polyolefin or an ethylene-.alpha.-olefin copolymer with high strength properties.
Traditional Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems--a transition metal compound cocatalyzed by an aluminum alkyl--are capable of producing polyolefins having a high molecular weight but a broad molecular weight distribution.
More recently a catalyst system has been developed wherein the transition metal compound has two or more cyclopentadienyl ring ligands, such transition metal compound being referred to as a metallocene--which catalyzes the production of olefin monomers to polyolefins. Accordingly, metallocene compounds of the Group IV B metals, particularly, titanocene and zirconocene, have been utilized as the transition metal component in such "metallocene" containing catalyst system for the production of polyolefins and ethylene-.alpha.-olefin copolymers. When such metallocenes are cocatalyzed with an aluminum alkyl--as is the case with a traditional type Ziegler-Natta catalyst system--the catalytic activity of such metallocene catalyst system is generally too low to be of any commercial interest.
It has since become known that such metallocenes may be cocatalyzed with an alumoxane--rather than an aluminum alkyl--to provide a metallocene catalyst system of high activity which catalyzes the production of polyolefins.
A wide variety of Group IV B transition metal compounds of the metallocene type have been named as possible candidates for an alumoxane cocatalyzed catalyst system. Hence, although bis(cyclopentadienyl) Group IV B transition metal compounds have been the most preferred and heavily investigated type metallocenes for use in metallocene/alumoxane catalyst for polyolefin production, suggestions have appeared that mono and tris(cyclopentadienyl) transition metal compounds may also be useful. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,522,982; 4,530,914 and 4,701,431. Such mono(cyclopentadienyl) transition metal compounds as have heretofore been suggested as candidates for a metallocene/alumoxane catalyst are mono(cyclopentadienyl) transition metal trihalides and trialkyls.
More recently International Publication No. WO 87/03887 has appeared which describes the use of a composition comprising a transition metal coordinated to at least one cyclopentadienyl and at least one heteroatom ligand as a metallocene type component for use in a metallocene/alumoxane catalyst system for .alpha.-olefin polymerization. The composition is broadly defined as a transition metal, preferably of Group IV B of the Periodic Table which is coordinated with at least one cyclopentadienyl ligand and one to three heteroatom ligands, the balance of the coordination requirement being satisfied with cyclopentadienyl or hydrocarbyl ligands. The metallocene/alumoxane catalyst system described is illustrated solely with reference to transition metal compounds which are bis(cyclopentadienyl) Group IV B transition metal compounds.
Even more recently, at the Third Chemical Congress of North America held in Toronto, Canada in June 1988, John Bercaw reported upon efforts to use a compound of a Group III B transition metal coordinated to a single cyclopentadienyl heteroatom bridged ligand as a catalyst system for the polymerization of olefins. Although some catalytic activity was observed under the conditions employed, the degree of activity and the properties observed in the resulting polymer product were discouraging of a belief that such transition metal compound could be usefully employed for commercial polymerization processes.
A need still exists for discovering catalyst systems that permit the production of higher molecular weight polyolefins and desirably with a narrow molecular weight distribution. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
2. Description of the Related Art
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) include micro mechanical elements, actuators, and electronics. Micromechanical elements may be created using deposition, etching, and or other micromachining processes that etch away parts of substrates and/or deposited material layers or that add layers to form electrical and electromechanical devices. One type of MEMS device is called an interferometric modulator. An interferometric modulator may comprise a pair of conductive plates, one or both of which may be transparent and/or reflective in whole or part and capable of relative motion upon application of an appropriate electrical signal. One plate may comprise a stationary layer deposited on a substrate, the other plate may comprise a metallic membrane separated from the stationary layer by an air gap. Such devices have a wide range of applications, and it would be beneficial in the art to utilize and/or modify the characteristics of these types of devices so that their features can be exploited in improving existing products and creating new products that have not yet been developed. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Micro-ribonucleic acids microRNAs (microRNA) are a type of single-stranded small ribonucleic acid molecules with a length of about 19-23 nucleotides; they are located at the non-coding region of a genome and evolutionarily highly conserved, and can regulate the gene expression by inhibiting the translation process of target genes and are closely related to many normal physiological activities of animals, such as the individual development, tissue differentiation, cell apoptosis, and energy metabolism of organisms, and meanwhile are closely associated with the occurrence and development of many diseases. Since lin-4 and let-7, which are involved in the regulation of the timing development of nematodes, have been found, microRNA has gradually become the research hotspot with respect to the regulation of mRNA stability and protein translation, which was chosen as one of the ten annual scientific breakthroughs by journal Science two times in 2002 and 2003, respectively. It is now predicted that microRNA can regulate at least 5300 human genes, that is, 30% of all of the genes. As the research moves along, more and more microRNAs are found, in which the relationship between microRNAs and tumor becomes gradually the focus of research, and it has been found that several microRNAs are highly related to chronic lymphocytic leukemia, lung cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer by negatively regulating the expression of genes.
Small interfering ribonucleic acids (small interfering RNA, siRNA) are a type of double-stranded RNA molecules composed of more than 20 nucleotides, which can exert the effect of silencing gene expression by specifically degrading the messenger ribonucleic acids (messenger RNA, mRNA) of target genes. This process is called RNA interference, RNAi.
RNA interference is a mode of post-transcriptional regulation of genes. SiRNA can specifically recognize target genes thereof and can recruit a protein complex which is called silencing complex (RNA induced silencing complex, RISC). RISC comprises ribonuclease and the like, which can specifically and efficiently inhibit the expression of genes through the manner of targeted cleaving homologous mRNA. Since the use of RNA interference technology can specifically knock out or shut down the expression of particular genes, this technology has been widely used in the fields of biomedical experimental research and therapy of various diseases.
MicroRNA and siRNA Involved in the Therapy of Diseases
Current studies have proved that the progress of diseases can be interrupted or delayed through regulating the content of particular microRNAs in the body of an organism or through injecting exogenous siRNA. They both can participate in the treatment and prevention of diseases through affecting the expression of particular proteins. For instance, the expression of miR-206 in skeletal muscles can relieve the injury or loss of motor neurons, the effect of which is mainly realized by promoting and activating the generation of links of neurons between muscles, thus treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also called ALS); and down-regulation of the expression of miR-122 in liver can exert therapeutic effects on hepatitis C; and since the overexpression of Bcl-2 resulted by the loss of miR-15 and miR-16 is an important mechanism for the occurrence of human chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL), the overexpression of miR-15 and miR-16 in organisms can exert therapeutic effects on CLL.
Although there are many achievements on the study and development of microRNA and siRNA, many problems still exist before their practical application as pharmaceuticals in medical treatment, especially how to improve the efficiency of delivering such pharmaceuticals; and in general their efficacy can be exerted only when administration at a focus site is required, but this therapeutic method of in situ administration severely limits the application of the pharmaceuticals. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A tow hitch is a device attached to the chassis of a vehicle for towing. Tow hitches known to those of skill in the art can include a tow ball, and a hitch mechanism can include a socket that receives and secures the tow ball for affixing another apparatus to the hitch. The tow ball and socket allow for swiveling and articulation of the apparatus while preventing disengagement of the hitch mechanism from the tow ball.
Known hitch mechanisms are not rigid relative to the tow ball and tow hitch associated with the vehicle. However, in various applications it is desirable to have a rigid assembly that connects to the tow ball. Nonetheless, it is undesirable to replace a trailer mechanism with a permanently rigid assembly as the need can change between the need for a rigid assembly and the need for a non-rigid assembly.
For example, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/537,621 filed Aug. 7, 2009 and titled “Loading Ramp and Trailer,” which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an apparatus that can function as a ramp in one position and a trailer in another position. It would be desirable to hitch the apparatus to a tow hitch so that the apparatus is rigid relative to the tow hitch when the apparatus is functioning as a ramp. It would also be desirable to hitch the apparatus to a tow hitch so that the apparatus is non-rigid relative to the tow hitch when the apparatus is functioning as a trailer. Furthermore, it would be desirable to employ only one hitch mechanism to hitch the apparatus to the tow hitch so that the hitch mechanism need not be changed when the apparatus changes from functioning ramp to functioning as a trailer.
There is thus a continuing ongoing need for an improved hitch mechanism. Preferably, such an improved hitch mechanism can move between rigid and non-rigid positions relative to a tow hitch associated with a vehicle. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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A prior CRT type oscilloscope can scan electronic beams at extremely high speed in accordance with the input waveform, but a prior matrix type flat display has scanning speed and system limited to individual ones. Thus, in the matrix type flat display, the input waveform is temporarily stored in a memory and required to be read in synchronization with scanning of the matrix type flat display. This prevents the waveform data from being displayed during the writing time. Thus, it will be noted that an image flickers and is therefore observed wtih difficulty. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle information communication system which enables mutual individual communication between a large number of vehicle-equipped information communication systems and a remote information center.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, vehicle information communication systems are known which enable mutual communication between a large number of vehicles and an information center located in a remote place. The present invention provides an improved and unique communication system which provides advantages over prior art systems. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) is a local serial expansion bus for attaching hardware devices in an information handling system. The attached hardware devices can be a wide variety of devices, including, but not limited to, co-processors, graphic processing units (GPUs) and storage devices, such as solid state storage devices (SSD). The PCIe bus supports the functions found on a processor bus, but in a standardized format that is independent of any particular processor's native bus. PCIe is based on point-to-point topology, with separate serial links connecting every device to the host. A PCIe bus link supports full-duplex communication between any two endpoints, with no inherent limitation on concurrent access across multiple endpoints. PCIe communications are encapsulated in packets. The work of packetizing and depacketizing data and status-message traffic is handled by the transaction layer of the PCIe port.
One problem with current information handling systems is that the PCIe bus includes several PCIe endpoints that can utilize and/or manipulate data from the same physical/machine memory address. A duplication of upstream and downstream transactions can occur, resulting in increased data transmission times and latency. The duplication of transactions reduces the PCIe bandwidth capacity and increases system latency. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (referred to herein as CSF1R; also referred to in the art as FMS, FIM2, C-FMS, and CD115) is a single-pass transmembrane receptor with an N-terminal extracellular domain (ECD) and a C-terminal intracellular domain with tyrosine kinase activity. Ligand binding of CSF1 or the interleukin 34 ligand (referred to herein as IL34; Lin et al., Science 320: 807-11 (2008)) to CSF1R leads to receptor dimerization, upregulation of CSF1R protein tyrosine kinase activity, phosphorylation of CSF1R tyrosine residues, and downstream signaling events. Both CSF1 and IL34 stimulate monocyte survival, proliferation, and differentiation into macrophages.
Many tumor cells have been found to secrete CSF1, which activates monocyte/macrophage cells through CSF1R. The level of CSF1 in tumors has been shown to correlate with the level of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the tumor. Higher levels of TAMs have been found to correlate with poorer patient prognoses. In addition, CSF1 has been found to promote tumor growth and progression to metastasis in, for example, human breast cancer xenografts in mice. See, e.g., Paulus et al., Cancer Res. 66: 4349-56 (2006). Further, CSF1R appears to play a role in osteolytic bone destruction in bone metastasis, as a small molecule inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinase activity suppresses that destruction. See, e.g., Ohno et al., Mol. Cancer Ther. 5: 2634-43 (2006).
CSF1 and its receptor have also been found to be involved in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. See, e.g., Hamilton, Nat. Rev. 8: 533-44 (2008). For example, synovial endothelial cells from joints afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis have been found to produce CSF1, suggesting a role for CSF1 and its receptor in the disease. Blocking CSF1R activity with an antibody results in positive clinical effects in mouse models of arthritis, including a reduction in the destruction of bone and cartilage and a reduction in macrophage numbers. See, e.g., Kitaura et al., J. Clin. Invest. 115: 3418-3427 (2005).
Mature differentiated myeloid lineage cells such as macrophages, microglial cells, and osteoclasts contribute to pathology of various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diseases of bone loss. Differentiated myeloid lineage cells are derived from peripheral blood monocyte intermediates. CSF1R stimulation contributes to development of monocytes from bone marrow precursors, to monocyte proliferation and survival, and to differentiation of peripheral blood monocytes into differentiated myeloid lineage cells such as macrophages, microglial cells, and osteoclasts. CSF1R stimulation thus contributes to proliferation, survival, activation, and maturation of differentiated myeloid lineage cells, and in the pathologic setting, CSF1R stimulation contributes to the ability of differentiated myeloid lineage cells to mediate disease pathology.
Additional antagonists of CSF1R signaling would therefore be useful in the treatment of various CSF1R-related diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The term Spyware refers in the art to a software that gathers user information through the user's Internet connection without the knowledge of a user thereof.
The source of Spyware applications is usually freeware or shareware programs that can be downloaded from the Internet. Also licensing agreements that accompany software downloads sometimes warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the requested software, but the majority of the users ignore such warnings, and let the spyware to be installed in their computer.
Once installed, the spyware monitors user activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else, usually a malicious object. Spyware can gather information about email addresses, passwords, credit card numbers, browsing habits, and actually every activity that is made on the user's computer. They have the ability to monitor keystrokes, to scan files on the hard drive, to snoop other applications such as chat programs or word processors, to install other spyware programs, read cookies, etc.
In addition to violating ethics and privacy, spyware uses the user's computer memory resources and communication bandwidth as it sends information back to the spyware's home base via the user's Internet connection. Because spyware is using memory and system resources, the applications running in the background can lead to system crashes or general system instability.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for detecting spyware activity at a user's computer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for blocking spyware activity at a user's computer.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system for removing spyware from a user's computer.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In environments such as those comprising in-vehicle routing or navigational systems, head-up displays (HUD) compared to head-down displays (HDD), have been found to result in decrease of the amount of time where driver's attention is diverted from the road. Indeed, HUD are usually placed at a location such that the driver does not need to tilt his or her head down in order to look at the display as it is the case with HDD. From a technical point of view, a HUD is a projector configured to project an input image onto a display surface such as a windshield of a car which then reflects the input image into the driver's line of sight. However, the input image projected to the surface is distorted because the display surface is not flat such that the driver sees a distorted version of the input image if specific precautions are not taken. In order to show an image with no distortion, it is needed to correct the curvature of the display surface using a so-called process of image warping. Indeed, image warping is commonly used to compensate for geometric and optical distortions thanks to the application of geometric transformations to an image that redefines the spatial relationship between points in the image. It is to be noted that such process of image warping can be done optically or electronically. A detailed description of the process of image warping can be found in the following document: George Wolberg, “Digital Image Warping”, IEEE Computer Society Press, 1988.
Common implementations of electronic image warping make use of memories external to the module performing the warping process. These external memories are used to temporarily store either or both the whole input image and the whole output image (i.e., the distorted version of the input image). Obviously, such implementations may have a huge impact on latency and cost of such warping modules since large memories are needed to store the full input image and/or the full output image. Thus as a solution, some documents suggest to implement the complete warping module on-chip without the use of off-chip memories by solely using the input line-buffer of the warping module which is configured to receive lines of pixels coming from the input image. Namely, instead of using a single line-buffer with a fixed length, it is proposed in such document to use one out of several line-buffer-based data structures within which each line-buffer is adapted in length to specific homogeneous section of the input image. The details of the foregoing implementation can be found in the following document: Andy Motten, Luc Claesen, Yun Pan, “Adaptive memory architecture for real-time image warping”, ICCD 2012, pages 466-471.
Notably, this document considers solely implementing the warping process into hardware in order to achieve low latency and reduce cost. However, this document is silent about how to dynamically determine the requirements for buffer management for each line-buffer so as to deliver the resulting output pixels on time to the display surface. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In methods for obtaining images by an electrophotographic printing method and an electrostatic printing method, electrostatic charge images formed on photosensitive materials are fixed after being developed with a toner which has been charged by friction.
Fixing systems include heat roller systems which fix developed toner images using pressurized heated rollers, and non-contact fixing systems in which fixing is accomplished using electric ovens or flash beam light.
For these processes to be performed smoothly, the toner must be able to hold a stable electrostatic charge, and must satisfactorily fix onto a paper.
In recent years, with the advancement of speeding-up, miniaturization, energy saving, and the like of printers, the toner is required to improve toner characteristics such as storage stability, low temperature-fixing property, and hot offset resistance.
A binder resin for toner exerts a significant influence on the above-mentioned toner characteristics. Heretofore, there have been used, as the binder resin, a polyester resin which is excellent in toughness and fixing property at low temperature, and has satisfactory performance balancing.
Meanwhile, from the viewpoint of a reduction in environmental burdens, such as control of global warming, an attempt has been made to replace a conventional plastic derived from a petroleum material by a plastic derived from biomass.
Use of a biomass material is required for the toner, and also use of a biomass material is required for the binder resin composing the toner.
Patent Document 1 discloses, as a polyester resin using a biomass material, for example, a polyester resin for toner in which isosorbide derived from a plant material is used as a polyhydric alcohol.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2010-285555 | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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In centrifugal pumps, it is common practice to provide front sealing means adapted to provide a seal between the front of an impeller and a front of a pump casing in a region bounding an inlet or suction opening and rear sealing means adapted to provide a seal between the rear of such impeller or its drive shaft and a rear of the pump casing for purposes of minimizing leakage of pumped fluid subject to high discharge pressure adjacent an outlet or discharge opening past the impeller towards the inlet opening and to atmosphere through the impeller shaft supporting bearings and stuffing box of the pump.
One widely used type of rear sealing means comprises a plurality of back, pump out or repeller blades, which are formed integrally with the rear surface of the impeller and arranged to cooperate with an annular surface of the casing rear wall to create a hydrodynamic seal. The facing or cooperating surfaces of the pump casing and the blades must be machined to relatively close tolerances and care must be exercised in pump design and construction to provide for a relatively small axial gap or spacing between such surfaces in order to obtain maximum efficiency of operation. It is well known that the efficiency or effectiveness of the seal is very sensitive to the size of the axial gap between cooperating surfaces of the casing and blades, and that even a small increase in the latter, due for instance to differential thermal expansion of the casing and the impeller or its drive shaft, will result in a marked reduction in seal efficiency.
The problem of maintenance of rear seal efficiency is particularly serious in a pump intended for use in handling fluids containing abrasive materials. In this respect, a pump of this type is typically provided with suitable means for adjustably moving its impeller axially towards its pump inlet opening, as required to compensate for the wearing away of casing and/or impeller surfaces defining its front sealing means. Thus, with each adjustment of the impeller the spacing between the cooperating surfaces of the repeller blades and the casing rear wall is increased with a corresponding steady reduction in the efficiency of the rear seal. As a result, the repeller blades cannot maintain a dry seal or provide for a steady predetermined reduction of the axial thrust to which the impeller shaft bearings are subjected. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Gaming machines, particularly slot machines have become one of the more exciting wagering adventures available at casinos and the like. However, playing these slot machines is typically an insular and isolated activity. Even with the advent of "progressive" type machines the gaming experience remains a solitary one with a progressive jackpot escalating as a function of many players' activities yet being won by only the first person to achieve a certain outcome in a "winner take all" scheme. Thus, gaming machines continue to promote an "antisocial" and competitive environment.
However, there is a dichotomy among all players: one group appears to prefer the solitary pursuit of today's "winner take all" slot and video machines while a second group gambles for the entertainment experience and not the economic potential as a principal motivation.
Therefore, a need exists for a gaming apparatus and method therefore which encourages a communal spirit and encourages camaraderie among players during the course of play to provide not only a gaming experience with a far greater entertainment value, but also an opportunity for one player to contribute to the well being of all participants collectively and for one player individually.
Thus, a need exists for a game where a group of players contribute to a jackpot which is shared by all when at least one player succeeds in "hitting" a recognized winning combination thereby allowing the entire group of players to share in the excitement and reward of being a winner. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a particle detector measuring instrument with a feed connection for a gaseous or liquid medium, and a measuring instrument for measuring the concentration of particles in the medium. The invention additionally relates to a device for processing semiconductor wafers which comprises such a particle measuring configuration, in order to control the processing on the basis of a signal generated by the measuring configuration.
During the production of particle-sensitive products, the contamination monitoring of the gas or liquid media processed assumes great importance. In particular during the production of electronic components on semiconductor wafers, because of the progressive automation and the structure widths becoming smaller and smaller, there is an increasing need for the most comprehensive contamination monitoring possible.
Particle measuring instruments are known which measure the concentration of particles within the gas or liquid medium. It is possible for solid-body particles or liquid particles in gases or solid-body particles in liquids to be detected. If, within a processing device for semiconductor production, the particle concentration has to be determined during operation (in situ), the measuring instrument is incorporated into a circulating or disposing medium flow. The particle measuring instrument is controlled via communication lines, and measured data values that are determined are interrogated. The instruments are constructed for use only within a specified range of fluctuation of operating conditions. If these operating conditions are exceeded, then there is a risk that erroneous measurements will be output, imparting a false image of the real relationships; in the limiting case, the particle measuring instrument can even be destroyed.
For example, in the area of deposition ovens for the thermal growth of layers, when the oven is being unloaded hot air can reach a particle sensor monitoring the mini environment, in such a way that the sensor is destroyed. In the area of wet-chemical processing with acids and alkalis, a pH of the liquid medium can rise in aggressive areas to such an extent that a sensor is likewise destroyed. In addition, the operating parameters of the medium can reach peak values within which the measuring sensor no longer operates reliably. In order to achieve permanent and automatic process monitoring, such conventional particle sensors are not reliable enough and are therefore unsuitable. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present invention relates to an artificial sea-mount which is constructed on the seabed to prompt vertical mixing of seawater near the compensation depth.
There has recently been provided a technique of artificially constructing a sea-mount shaped structure on the seabed and making, using the natural energy of a tidal current or ocean current, nutrient salts abundantly contained in seawater below the compensation depth upwell to the surface sea zone (compensation depth) where phytoplankton grows under sunlight. The structure is known to produce an effect of enriching the waters near the artificial sea-mount and causing phytoplankton serving food for fishes and shellfishes to proliferate. In this specification, this structure will be referred to as an artificial sea-mount. Such an artificial sea-mount is constructed by piling up many block bodies made of a recycled material such as coal ash, concrete block bodies, artificial block bodies using discarded materials, or natural block bodies made of stone or the like (to be referred to as block bodies hereinafter).
To obtain a desired upwelling effect by the artificial sea-mount, it is necessary to build a larger-scale artificial sea-mount in the deep sea area. However, since constriction is burdensome, a demand has arisen for an artificial sea-mount that is expected to produce an optimum upwelling effect near the compensation depth, i.e., attain vertical mixing of seawater in a scale as small as possible.
An artificial sea-mount of this type is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,812 (reference 1). Reference 1 describes an example of an artificial sea-mount which has a ridge portion formed by linearly connecting, in the horizontal direction, the vertices of a pair of cones arranged at a predetermined height so as to traverse a tidal current. There is also described another example of an artificial sea-mount whose ridge portion that connects the vertices of a pair of cones is lower in height than the vertices. In both artificial sea-mounts, a current that ascends the slanting surface and peels off from the horizontal linear portion of the ridge of the artificial sea-mount makes vortices with a horizontal axis, and simultaneously, a current that goes round the side surfaces of the artificial sea-mount and peels off from there makes vortices with a vertical axis. The two kinds of vortices combine in the countercurrent area formed behind the artificial sea-mount, thereby generating a large upwelling vortex intermittently.
Recent field observations and analyses revealed that in the deep sea area with strong density stratification, the wavelength and wave height of generated internal waves change depending on the water depth, current state, stratification state, and height and shape of an artificial sea-mount. Additionally, it was found that since the direction and velocity of current change over time due to the influence of tidal ebb and flow and the like, the wavelength and wave height of internal waves change temporally. “Density stratification” means a continuous density layer structure formed by surface water which has a low density because of a high temperature and low salinity concentration and deep water which has a low temperature and high salinity concentration.
In general, seawater is difficult to vertically mix in the density stratification state. However, it was found that internal waves generated by a current colliding with an undersea structure or the like cause vertical mixing even near the surface layer. Thus required is an efficient artificial sea-mount which induces vertical mixing in the deep sea area where the water mass density greatly changes between the surface layer and the bottom layer, and water conditions including the density and the vertical distribution of nutrient salts change variously.
To efficiently generate horizontal vortices under water conditions having no or weak density stratification, the artificial sea-mount of reference 1 forms a horizontal ridge portion which runs linearly in a direction almost perpendicular to the current, thereby advantageously inducing an upwelling vortex. However, according to the present inventor's examinations, no remarkable upwelling vortex could be observed in the deep sea area with strong density stratification. It was found that when the density stratification is strong, heavy seawater of the bottom layer is made to readily ride across a structure to efficiently generate internal waves, allowing to actively promote vertical mixing. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage system that is expandable from a small-scale to a large-scale configuration and to a managing method of the storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Storage systems that save data processed in IT systems have come to play a central role in IT systems due to the penetration of IT systems in business and the expansion of the portability of IT systems in business resulting from the development of the Internet. There are numerous types of storage systems ranging from systems of a small-scale configuration to systems of a large-scale configuration.
As one example of a main storage system that provides a small-scale to large-scale configuration, in the prior art, an architecture storage system such as shown in FIG. 2 is disclosed in JP-A-2000-99281. This storage system 8 is disposed with plural channel IF units 11 that execute data transfer with computers 3 (also called “servers” below), plural disk IF units 16 that execute data transfer with hard disk groups 2, a cache memory unit 14 that temporarily stores data stored in the hard disk groups 2, and a control memory unit 15 that stores control information relating to the storage system 8 (e.g., information relating to data transfer control in the storage system 8 and management information of data stored in the hard disk groups 2). The channel IF units 11, the disk IF units 16 and the cache memory unit 14 are connected by an interconnection network 41, and the channel IF units 11, the disk IF units 16 and the control memory unit 15 are connected by an interconnection network 42. Also, the interconnection network 41 and the interconnection network 42 are configured by common buses and switches.
In this manner, in the single storage system 8, the cache memory unit 14 and the control memory unit 15 have a configuration that is accessible from all of the channel IF units 11 and the disk IF units 16.
The channel IF units 11 include an interface (host IF) 104 for connecting to the servers 3, a microprocessor 103 that controls input/output with respect to the servers 3, a memory access unit 106 that controls access to the cache memory unit 14, and a memory access unit 107 that controls access to the control memory unit 15. Also, the disk IF units 16 include an interface (disk IF) 105 for connecting to the hard disk groups 2, a microprocessor 103 that controls input/output with respect to the hard disk groups 2, a memory access unit 106 that controls access to the cache memory unit 14, and a memory access unit 107 that controls access to the control memory unit 15. The disk IF units 16 also conduct control of RAID.
In the above-described storage system, it has been possible to flexibly change the number of channel IF units 11 and disk IF units 16 because the channel IF units 11 that control data transfer with the servers 3 and the disk IF units 16 that control data transfer with the hard disk groups 2 are separated and data transfer between the channel IF units 11 and the disk IF units 16 is controlled via the cache memory unit 14 and the control memory unit 15. For this reason, it has been possible for the storage system to have a small-scale to large-scale configuration.
Also, in the prior art disclosed in JP-A-2000-242434, as shown in FIG. 21, plural disk array devices 4 are connected to plural servers 3 via disk array switches 5 so that the plural disk array devices 4 are managed as a single storage system 9 by system configuration managing means 60 connected to the disk array switches 5 and each disk array device 4. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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Sesame, or Sesamum indicum, is a tropical annual cultivated worldwide for its oil and its nut flavored seeds. The sesame plant grows to a height of about 52-249 cm, and at its leaf axils are found capsules which contain the sesame seed. Upon maturity in nature, the capsules holding the sesame seeds begin to dry down, the capsules normally split open, and the seeds fall out. Commercially, the harvester tries to recover as much seed as possible from mature capsules. From ancient times through the present, the opening of the capsule has been the major factor in attempting to successfully collect the seed. Harvesting methods, weather, and plant characteristics all contribute to the amount of seed recovered.
The majority of the world's sesame is harvested manually. With manual non-mechanized methods, it is desirable for the sesame seed to fall readily from the plant. Manual harvesting is labor intensive. Efforts to mechanize or partially mechanize harvesting met with limited success.
A breakthrough was accomplished when non-dehiscent (ND) sesame was developed and patented by Derald Ray Langham. ND sesame was found to possess the proper characteristics which would enable mechanical harvesting without the seed loss disadvantages reported with prior varieties. Later, an improved non-dehiscent (IND) character was identified by Langham which also allowed for mechanical harvesting.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,100,452; 6,815,576; 6,781,031; 7,148,403; and 7,332,652 each disclose and claim non-dehiscent sesame cultivars having various characteristics. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
The present invention relates to the electrochemical industry in general, and more particularly to a membrane-electrode assembly (xe2x80x9cMEAxe2x80x9d) based on fluoro-containing ion-exchange membranes and to a method for its production. Such MEAs are widely used in fuel cells, in water electrolyzers, and in other electrochemical processes.
MEA consisting of the fluoro-containing ion exchange membrane M174-SK(trademark) (Russian trademark [RTM]) and of layers of an electrode material (electrode composition) situated on both sides of the membrane are already known. The electrode composition consists of a mixture of an electrocatalyst and an ion-exchange polymer [USSR patent 1,258,095 IPC S25V 11/10, 1990]. As an ion-exchange polymer in the electrode composition, an inorganic proton-conducting electrolyte (polyantimonic acid, acidic zirconium phosphate) is used. The electrocatalyst is platinum, palladium, or rhodium black.
MF-4 SK membrane is a 300 micron thick cation-exchange membrane (xe2x80x9cCEMxe2x80x9d) made from a hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and a perfluorosulfur group-containing vinyl ether, having the following structural formula:
Our experiments showed that this copolymer has an equivalent weight (EW) of 1200 and a degree of crystallinity of 12%, as shown in control Example 1.
The MEA is produced by applying an electrode composition on both sides of the CEM. The sedimentation method is used. The electrode composition consists of a mixture of an electrocatalyst and an ion-exchange polymer (polyantimonic acid) powder. The composition is fixed by electric current treatment in water at 90xc2x0 C., where the current density is 0.5-1 A/cm2.
A MEA is produced that consists of, for example, CEM MF-4SK and layers of the electrode composition on both sides with an electrocatalyst (platinum black, size of particles 0.01 micron) on both the cathode and the anode sides. The MEA deionized water electrolysis has the following characteristics: the voltage is 2.2V when the current density is 1 A/cm2, and the temperature is 100xc2x0 C. The voltage does not change over a period of time of 1000 hours.
Advantageously, the MEA is stable over a period of time of 1000 hours.
The disadvantage of the MEA (USSR patent 1,258,095) is the impossibility to achieve high adhesion between layers of the electrode composition and CEM because the ion-exchange polymer (polyantimonic acid) is gradually dissolved after a long period of time (more than 1000 hours) of electrolysis of water. Consequently, over a long period of working with MEA, one can observe a tendency for exfoliation of the electrode composition. The method of the MEA production does not permit precise regulation of the composition and the amount of the electrode material applied to CEM. The method is complicated by the fact that layers of electrode composition (electrocatalytic layers) are applied by a method of sedimentation, which requires the following electric current characteristic to fix layers on CEM: a rather high electrocatalyst loading of 1-2 mg/cm2 on the cathode and 4-6 mg/cm2 on the anode.
A MEA with a porous cathode is also known. Such a MEA consists of a polymeric ion exchange membrane of Nafion(copyright) (trademark of CEM by Du Pont) type and a porous layer of an electrode material, a mixture of electrocatalyst particles and a binder (Russian Federation [RF] patent 2,015,207, IPC S25V 11/20, 1994), settled on the cathode side of CEM. The porous cathode layer of the electrode composition is made of a mixture of electrocatalytic particles and the binder, polytetrafluorethylene. The membrane (Nafion(copyright)) is produced from a hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorinated vinyl ethers containing ion-exchange groups. For water electrolysis of CEM (Du Pont) Nafion(copyright) 120 with xe2x80x94SO3H ion exchanging groups, see Russian Federation patent H; see RE patent describing tetrafluoroethylene and perfluorinated vinyl ethers containing ion-exchange groups for water electrolysis of CEM (Du Pont) Nafion(copyright) 120 with SO3 tetrafluoroethylene ion exchanging groups. The membrane (Nafion(copyright)) is produced from hydrol248, 5 American Chemical Society, Washington D.C.
The MEA mentioned above is produced by applying a mixture of electrocatalytic particles and inactive conducting material with the binder (polytetrafluorethylene) and aluminum powder on an aluminum sheet by technique A. After drying at 105xc2x0 C., for example, sintering at 325xc2x0 C. is carried out for 10 minutes. Then, the aluminum sheet with the layer of electrode material is placed on the cathode surface of CEM and pressed at 175xc2x0 C. and a pressure of 50-60 kg/cm2. After pressing, the MEA is dipped in a caustic soda solution to dissolve the aluminum sheet and aluminum powder (the latter is used as a promoter of porosity). Then, the layer of electrode material become porous. The advantage of the MEA of Russian Federation (RF) patent No. 2,015,207 is that MEA""s lifetime increases because the binder (polytetrafluorethylene) does not dissolve during the electrolysis. When such MEA is used for water electrolysis, the cell voltage is 1.8-1.9 V.
The disadvantage of the MEA described above is that the adhesion between the applied porous layer of electrode material and the CEM surface is not as strong as required. During MEA tests of long duration, exfoliation of the porous layer of the electrode material occurs and the evolving gases are deposited at the surface between the CEM and the porous layer. This results in an increase of the MEA voltage. Moreover, as is shown in the Russian Federation patent (example 4), the disadvantage of the described MEA is a comparatively high electrocatalyst loading because of its particular capsulation by polytetrafluorethylene during production (pressing at 325xc2x0 C. and a pressure of 50-60 kg/cm2).
Moreover, the volume porosity of the electrocatalytic layer of the electrode material is uncontrollable, so the transport of gases and liquids in the reaction zone is impeded and the electrochemical properties of the MEA worsen.
The manner of producing the described MEA is rather complicated, because high temperature ( greater than 300xc2x0 C.) sintering and aluminium lixiviation to form the porous layer of an electrode material are required. Moreover, production of the MEA by pressing at 175xc2x0 C. leads to the particular destruction of cation-exchanging groups that worsens CEM electrochemical characteristics and may destroy the whole MEA.
The art having an essential set of attributes closest to the claimed MEA and its method of production is the MEA, and the method of its production, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184 HOIM 8/10, 1995. U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184 discloses an MEA that consists of a fluoro-containing cation-exchange membrane made of a tetrafluoroethylene hydrolyzed copolymer and a fluorosulfur group-containing vinyl ether, with an exchange capacity of 0.83-1.43xcx9cmeq/g (as described in the specification) or 1.12-1.43 meq/g (as described in the patent""s Examples and Claims), which corresponds to an EW of 900-1300, and discloses porous layers of an electrode material situated on both of its surfaces. These layers are made of a mixture of an electrocatalyst with an inactive electroconducting material and a fluoropolymer binder. The fluoropolymer binder is a cation-exchange fluoropolymer with a composition identical to the membrane polymer, or may be polytetrafluorethylene. The CEM is made of a hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with a perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ether. Its structural formula is:
For example, it may be CEM produced by Du Pontxe2x80x94Nafion(copyright) 117. This membrane is made of a copolymer with a degree of crystallinity of 12%. [ACS Symposium Perfluorinated lonomer Membranes, Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Feb. 23-26, 1982, Series 180, pp 217-248, American Chemical Society, Washington D.C.]
The MEA specified by prototype (U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184) is produced by application of the paste of electrode material on the both surfaces of the CEM. The latter consists of the hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with the perfluoro-containing vinyl ether (EW=900-1300). The paste is made of a mixture of inactive electroconducting material (carbon) and an electrocatalyst (platinum) with a fluoro-containing copolymer binder (with 5% solution of cation-exchange fluorocopolymer which has a composition close to the fluorocopolymer which CEM is made of from a 50% dispersion of polytetrafluorethylene in aliphatic alcohol). The paste is applied onto one of the CEM surfaces and then onto the other surface (with a subsequent thermal treatment). When a 5% solution of the cation-exchange fluoropolymer (Nafion(copyright) Solution) is used as the binder with xe2x80x94SO3H ion-exchange groups (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184, Example 1), the paste is treated with a 5% solution of potassium hydroxide in water before application to the CEM to transform the ion-exchange groups in xe2x80x94SO3K groups. The paste is spread on one of the CEM (with xe2x80x94SO3K groups) surfaces in such a way that the layer of an electrode material after drying is not more than 10 microns thick. Then the paste is dried at room temperature for 10 minutes and then under vacuum for 30 minutes to remove the solvent. Then the CEM with the paste is placed between polytetrafluorethylene sheets and pressed at 190xc2x0 C. at a pressure of 50 kg/cm2. Then an analogous layer of an electrode material is placed on the other surface of the membrane by the same procedure. Then MEA is dipped in a 5% sulfuric acid solution at room temperature for 16 hours to convert ion-exchange xe2x80x94SO3K groups to xe2x80x94SO3H groups.
When a polytetrafluorethylene 50% dispersion as fluorpolymeric binder is used in an electrode material (see example 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184), the paste of electrode material is applied to a sheet of carbon material, then the sheet is heated at a temperature of 325xc2x0 C. for 10 minutes under pressure. The second sheet is produced in the same way. The electrode material""s layers, which were applied to sheets of carbon material, are then covered with a 5% solution of xe2x80x9cNafion(copyright) Solutionxe2x80x9d containing groups xe2x80x94SO3H and then dried. Then carbon sheets are placed on the CEM""s surface (with sides which are covered with an electrode material facing the CEM) and pressed at a temperature of 135xc2x0 C. and a pressure of 140 kg/cm2 for 60 minutes. The MEA produced by the described method has porous layers of electrode material on the surfaces of the CEM.
MEA produced by the prototype (U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,184) is pressed with a carbon cloth of paper saturated with polytetrafluorethylene on both sides and put into a fuel cell. The voltage of the fuel cell in example 1 is 0.75-0.77 V and the current density is 0.5 A/cm2; in example 5 the voltage is 0.75-0.8 V and the current density is 0.5 A/cm2. The MEA produced can be used not only in fuel cells but also in electrolysis of water.
The disadvantages of the prototype MEA are:
1. Not enough high electrochemical characteristics especially at low electrocatalyst loading. The reason is the low and uncontrolled porosity of the electrode material layers and the high degree of crystallinity. Uncontrolled and low porosity of the electrode material are due to the fact that the porous electrode material layer is formed at a rather high temperature of 190-340xc2x0 C. and a pressure of 50-120 kg/cm2. Our experiments showed that such electrode material layer""s porosity is about 35% (see our control example 2).
Such conditions of MEA production result in deformation and collapse of pores, both those which are in CEM and those which were formed in the electrode material. A local collapse of the membrane can occur. Low and uncontrollable porosity of the electrode material layers and high degree of crystallinity make difficult the reactant supply and the removal of reaction products, and also make difficult achievement of the necessary water balance in MEA. This is the reason for the relatively high MEA resistance and overvoltage on electrodes, finally resulting in fuel cell low voltage to high electric power consumption if MEA is used in water electrolysis. Additionally, partial capsulation of the electrocatalyst with the fluorobinder occurs, which decreases the efficiency of the electrocatalyst and increases its consumption.
2. A not high adhesion between the catalytic layer and CEM decreases the MEA""s lifetime. One reason for the decreased lifetime is the long processing of the MEA with a solution of sulfuric acid which results in significant swelling of catalytic material layers. Another cause for the decreased lifetime is the different degree of swelling of the porous catalytic layer and of the CEM. All this leads to the exfoliation of catalytic material layers when MEA operates during a long time period (Journal of Applied Electrochemistry 22 (1992) pp. 1-7). Such processing with sulfuric acid is necessary if the same cation-exchange copolymer (with xe2x80x94SO3K groups) as CEM""s copolymer is used as the fluoropolymeric binder.
When polytetraethylene is used as a polymeric binder it is almost impossible to reach a uniform distribution of the electrocatalyst because discrete solid lumps of polytetraethylene are usually obtained. These lumps block the surface of CEM and of the electrocatalyst, thus areas on the surface of CEM that are fully covered by polytetraethylene are created, such that liquid and gaseous reactants of the reaction cannot penetrate these areas. The existence of such areas in MEA contributes to the exfoliation of the electrode material layer from the CEM""s surface and the deterioration of electrochemical characteristics.
The disadvantages of MEA production by the prototype are that it is a multistage (6-7 steps) process of long duration. The MEA processing with the solution of sulfuric acid takes about 16 hours, in itself.
The technical result which is achieved by the claimed MEA includes the improvement of electrochemical characteristics of MEA (especially at low catalyst loading), an increase in efficiency of the electrocatalyst usage, and an increase in the lifetime of the MEA.
The claimed method of MEA production permits one to more simply make the process, reduce its duration, and ensure the production of MEA with high electrochemical characteristics.
The mentioned technical result is achieved by using a fluoro-containing cation exchange membrane (xe2x80x9cCEMxe2x80x9d) made of a hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with a perfluorosulfur-containing vinyl ester and optimally with a third modifying comonomer, which has a degree of crystallinity of 2-8%, and porous layers of electrode material are produced with porosity 40-70%, decreasing in the direction to the surface of CEM with a gradient of porosity S-1 between 5 and 15% per 1 micron. The MEA consists of a fluoro-containing CEM made of a hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with a perfluorosulfur-containing vinyl ether having an EW of 900 to 1300 and porous layers of electrode material made of a mixture containing an electroconducting inactive material and a fluoropolymeric binder located on both surfaces of CEM.
CEM can be produced of hydrolyzed copolymer tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ester and the third modifying comonomer which can be chosen from ethylene, perfluor-2-methylen-4-methyl-1,3-dioxalan and perfluoralkyled vinyl ether with C1-C3 alkyl-group.
The process simplification and reduction of its duration is achieved by using a CEM produced of hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing with a degree of crystallinity of 2-8% for MEA production. The method includes application of electrocatalyst, inactive electroconducting material with fluor-containing binder mixture onto both surfaces of fluor-containing CEM, which is produced of hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ester with EW=900-1300 with the subsequent thermal treatment. Mixture of electrocatalyst, inactive electroconducting material and 1-5% solution of cation-exchange fluorcopolymer identical to fluorcopolymer of which CEM is made is applied in an organic solvents mixture to the both surfaces of CEM. Heattreatment is carried out with a multistage increase of temperature: from 20-35xc2x0 C. to 80-100xc2x0 C. Another CEM can be used; for example, CEM produced of hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ether and the third modifying comonomer which can be chosen from ethylene, perfluor-2-methylen-4-methyl-1,3-dioxalan and perfluoralkyled vinyl ester with C1-C3 alkyl-group. A mixture of electrocatalyst, inactive electroconducting material and a 1-5% solution of cation-exchange fluorcopolymer identical to the fluorcopolymer of which CEM is made can be applied, in an organic solvents mixture, to both surfaces of CEM.
The inventors of the present invention discovered that a degree of crystallinity of the hydrolyzed cation exchange fluorcopolymer (from which the cation exchange membrane is made of) has a great influence on the electrochemical characteristics of MEA. When the degree of crystallinity of fluorcopolymer is equal to 2-8% there is such water balance in MEA volume which provides necessary inlet of the reagents in MEA and the outlet of the products of the reaction. The degree of crystallinity results in optimum electrochemical characteristics of MEA.
The degree of crystallinity of fluorcopolymer that is used in MEA may be controlled by: (1) the conditions of its synthesis; (2) addition of the third comonomer; (3) the conditions of the hydrolysis when copolymer is transforming from a nonionic form into cationic exchange form. An increase in the degree of crystallinity above 8%, as well as a decrease in the degree of crystallinity below 2% result in a deterioration of the electrochemical characteristics of MEA.
Formation of the layer with porosity that decreases in the direction of cation-exchange membrane with a porosity gradient of 5-15% per 1 xcexcp improves the electrochemical characteristics of MEA. Such porosity is achieved when the layers of an electrode material are applied to the membrane surface containing fluorcontaining binder dissolved in a mixture of organic solvents with different boiling points (preferably as a 1-5% solution). The binder is a fluorcopolymer which is identical to the fluorcopolymer from which the membrane is made. Such combination of the fluorcopolymer with the mixture of solvents, together with removal of the solvents during a multistage increase of the temperature from 20-35xc2x0 C. to 80-100xc2x0 C., provides the necessary porosity gradient, with general porosity preferably 40-70%, without the need to use any special methods to obtain it.
If the heat treatment is carried out at more than 100xc2x0 C., the necessary porosity could hardly be controlled and the porosity gradient 5-15% could hardly be reached. To carry out the heat treatment at lower than 20xc2x0 C. is unexpedient because formation of the electrode layer slows, and therefore reaching the porosity gradient 5-15% is impeded.
When a cation-exchange fluorcopolymer (that is identical to fluorcopolymer from which CEM is made), together with solvents in which CEM fluorcopolymer swells well, is used as a binder of an electrode material, strong adhesion between the layer of an electrode material and CEM could be reached. When comparatively mild conditions of heat treatment (not more than 100xc2x0 C. without any pressure) are used to produce MEA, not pressing of an electrode material in CEA surface but gluing them together takes place when they are combined. Under the mentioned mild conditions of MEA production, the decomposition of fluorcopolymer cation exchange groups does not occur, such that the CEM is not damaged, and the electrochemical characteristics of the CEM do not worsen.
At the claimed MEA, the cation-exchange membrane can be made of hydrolyzed copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ethers with the following structural formula:
The third modifying comonomer at the mentioned fluorcopolymer could be ethylene, perfluor-2-methylene-4-methyl-1,3-dioxalane, perfluoralkylvinyl ether (with C1-C3 in alkyl). The modifying comonomer is brought at the copolymer during the synthesis at the amount of 1-5%, mnllPthvlenP-3-5 moL perfluor-2-methylene-4-methyl-13-dioxalane-1-4% mol; perfluoralkyl ethers with C1-C3 in alkyl-2-5%).
The anologous hydrolyzed copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene with perfluorsulfur-containing vinyl ethers with the above structural formula are described at the mentioned above analogues, in the prototype, and at RF patent No. 2,077,373 (IPC 6VOID 61/00,1997).
Copolymers (CPL) which were used in the following examples of the realization of the invention were synthesized by the inventors. The structural formulae are:
The layer of an electrode material which is applied on the anodic surface of the CEM as an electrocatalyst may contain platinum, iridium, IrO2, mixed oxides IrO2+RuO2, IrO2+RuO, +TiO2, IrO2+RuO2+SnO2, PbO2+IrO2 and others.
The layer of an electrode material which is applied on the cathodic surface of the CEM as an electrocatalyst may contain platinum, palladium, or platinum with ruthenium, etc.
The layer of electrode material may contain an inactive electroconductive material such as, carbon, lead, lead dioxide, etc.
It is expedient to use polytetrafluorethylene F-4D (RTM) (Russian national standard (RNS) 1496-77) in the composition of an electrode material.
Fluorpolymer binder in the composition of an electrode material is a fluorcopolymer with the composition identical to the fluorcopolymer from which the CEM is made. The binder is used as a 1-5% solution in a mixture of organic solvents with different boiling points. The composition of the mixture depends on: (1) the composition of the copolymer its equivalent weight, and (2) the type of cation-exchange group (xe2x80x94SO3H; xe2x80x94SO3K; xe2x80x94SO3Naxe2x80x94SO3Li) that is included in it.
Moreover, the mixture must contain such solvents that there would not be any coagulation of the system when the solution of cation-exchange fluorcopolymer is combined with the electrocatalyst and inactive electroconductive material. The mixture of organic solvents must include the solvents with low boiling point 20-60xc2x0 C. (1,1,2-trifluor-1,2,-dichloroethane (freon 123); pentane; 1,1,-difluor-1,2-dichloroethene (freon-132B); 1,1,2-trifluorotrichloroethene (freon 113); 1,1,1-trichlorobromidoethane (freon-123B); acetone etc.), solvents with middle boiling point 60-100xc2x0 C. (1,1-difluoro-1,2,2-trichloroethane (freon 122); ethanol; hexane; methyl ethyl ketone, benzene, isopropanol; N-propanol; heptane etc.) and solvents with high boiling point 100-160xc2x0 C. (isobutanol; N-butanol; toluene; dimethylformimide; ciclohexanone etc.).
If the fluorcopolymer contains cation-exchange groups such as xe2x80x94SO3H group, then the mixture of ethanol with freon-113 and methyl ethyl keton preferably can be used. If there are SO3K groups, then dimethylformamide mixed with ethanol and heptane preferably can be used. For copolymer with xe2x80x94SO3Li, groups the mixture of isopropanol with acetone and freon-123B may be used.
The solution of cation exchange fluorcopolymer is obtained by dissolving the cation exchange fluorcopolymer powder in a mixture of organic solvents then heating and stirring the solution. The dissolving temperature depends on the composition and equivalent weight of copolymer, and also on the boiling points of the solvents used.
The properties of the fluorcopolymer from which the CEM is made and the properties of the MEA were determined in the following way:
1. The composition of the fluorcopolymer was determined by infrared spectroscopy using a Perkin-Elmer, 1750 spectrometer.
2. The exchange capacity was determined by titration [RNS 17552-72 and technical conditions (TU) 6.06-041-969-89].
3. The degree of crystallinity was determined by X-ray method using X-ray spectrometer KRM-1.
4. The membrane thickness and the thickness of the layers of an electrode material were determined using the micrometer MK 25-1 (RNS 6507-78).
5. The general porosity and the porosity gradient were determined by the method of ethalone (standard) porometry. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to respiratory masks and mask couplings and, more particularly, to respiratory masks having flexible seals adapted to receive portions of a patient""s face for preventing leakage of gas supplied to the patient, forehead cushions for use with such masks, and conduit couplings having an exhaust port to exhaust CO2 laden air.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of respiratory masks are known that have flexible seals and cover the nose, mouth, or both of a human user and are designed to create a continuous seal against the user""s face. Because of the sealing effect that is created, gases can be provided at a positive pressure within the mask for consumption by the user. The uses for such masks range from high altitude breathing (i.e., aviation applications) to mining and fire fighting applications, to various medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications, including the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with positive airway pressure devices.
One requisite of such respiratory masks has been that they provide an effective seal against the user""s face to prevent the gas being supplied from leaking at the mask-to-face interface. Commonly, in prior mask configurations, a good mask-to-face seal has been attained in many instances only with considerable discomfort for the user. This problem is most crucial in those applications, especially medical applications, that require the user to wear such a mask continuously for an extended periods of time, such as hours or perhaps even days. In such situations, the user may not tolerate wearing the mask for long durations, and, as a result, optimum therapeutic or diagnostic objectives will not be achieved, or will be achieved with great difficulty and considerable user discomfort.
At least two types of respiratory face masks are known for the types of applications mentioned above. The most common type of mask incorporates a smooth sealing surface extending around the periphery of the mask and exhibiting a generally uniform (i.e., predetermined or fixed) seal surface contour that is intended to be effective to seal against the user""s face when force is applied to the mask, with the smooth sealing surface in confronting engagement with the user""s face. The sealing surface may consist of an air or fluid filled cushion, or it may simply be a molded or formed surface of a resilient seal element made of an elastomer, such as plastic or rubber.
Such masks have performed well when the fit is good between the contours of the seal surface and the corresponding contours of the user""s face. However, if the seal fit is not good, there will be gaps in the seal-to-face interface, and excessive force will be required to compress the seal member to attain a satisfactory seal in those areas where gaps occur. Such excessive force is unacceptable, as it produces high pressure points elsewhere on the face of the user where the mask seal contour is forcibly deformed against the face to conform to the user""s facial contours. This will produce considerable user discomfort anywhere the applied force exceeds the local perfusion pressure, which is the pressure that is sufficient to cut off surface blood flow. Ideally, contact forces should be limited between the mask and the user""s face to avoid exceeding the local perfusion pressure even at points where the mask seal must deform considerably.
The problem of seal contact force exceeding desirable limits is even more pronounced when the positive pressure of the gas being supplied is relatively high or is cyclical to high levels. Because the mask seals by virtue of confronting contact between the mask seal and the user""s face, the mask must be held against the face with a force sufficient to seal against leakage of the peak pressure of the supplied gas. Thus, for conventional masks, when the supply pressure is high, headstraps or other mask restraints must be tightly fastened. This produces high localized pressure on the face, not only in the zone of the mask seal but at various locations along the extent of the retention straps as well. This too will result in severe discomfort for the user after only a brief period of time. Even in the absence of excessive localized pressure points, the tight mask and headstraps often may become extremely uncomfortable and user discomfort may well cause discontinued cooperation with the regimen. Examples of respiratory masks possessing continuous cushion sealing characteristics of the type just described are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,254,854 and 2,939,458.
A second type of mask, which has been used with a measure of success, incorporates a flap seal of thin material positioned about the periphery of the mask as to provide a self-sealing action against the face of the user when positive pressure is applied within the mask. In such a mask, the flap seal typically defines a contoured sealing surface adapted for confronting and sealing engagement with the user""s face. Under the influence of a flow of pressurized gas supplied to the interior of the mask, which impinges upon the surface opposite the contoured sealing surface, the sealing surface is urged into sealing contact with the user""s face. With this type of sealing action, the forces that serve to hold the mask in confronting engagement on the face of the user are much lower than the strapping forces associated with the first type of mask described above. If the flap seal is capable of conforming to the contours of the user""s face without forming leak paths, the mask can be used with retention straps that exert little or no net force to push the mask against the user""s face. Thus, the overall sensation of constraint and confinement is dramatically reduced for the user. Such a mask, when properly adjusted, can be adapted to any positive internal mask pressure. The sealing flap will be self-sealing as long as there is no looseness in the strapping arrangement which would allow the mask to move away from the face further than the reach of the sealing flap when subjected to internal pressure.
There are two potential limitations of the above described mask type having a sealing flap characteristic. First, the sealing flap seals by laying flat against the user""s face throughout its length. This action requires a close match between the contours of the face and the contours of the seal. If the match is not good, the seal will be ineffective. Second, the normal response of one applying the mask to a user""s face is to push the mask harder against the user""s face if the mask does not seal. With the typical flap seal-type mask, increasing contact pressure against the user""s face will not help to form an effective seal if the flap seal does not initially fit well to the facial contours. It may, however, lead to patient discomfort and other problems as described above.
Some of the principal problems one encounters when trying to apply the self-sealing flap concept to the design of the respiratory mask are related to the location of relative low points and high points in the facial contours of the user relative to the shape or contour of the flap seal surface. If the seal surface does not contact the user""s face at the relative lower points, then excessive gas leakage will occur, thus preventing sufficient internal gas pressure to develop to activate the sealing action of the seal flap at the low points. In the past, this problem has been solved for some applications by providing a variety of masks with differing seal flap shapes, sizes and contours. For example, for aircraft breathing masks, especially where expense is not a critical factor, wide variety of mask shapes and sizes may be provided to give the individual users an opportunity to find a mask offering good fit. In other breathing mask applications, such as a clinical use, where economic considerations may dictate a mask having the capability to accommodate a wide variety of facial sizes and contours, prior flap type seal structures have not generally been able to provide the requisite versatility.
A related problem with flap seal mask structures concerns the high points of the user""s face, where the seal flap may tend to distort or collapse and fold in on itself, thus creating a channel for gas leakage, when pressure is applied in order to effect a seal at adjacent relative low points on the user""s face. Even where the section thickness of the seal flap is very thin, and the material is very soft and flexible, the internal gas pressure cannot overcome such seal flap distortion to provide the desired self-sealing.
A mask of the above-characterized flap seal type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,584, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The mask disclosed therein includes a generally annular seal comprised of a peripheral sidewall having an inturned flexible flap seal adjacent a free end thereof, with the inturned seal being configured for confronting sealing engagement with a user""s face as above described. Spaced about the peripheral seal wall are plural, upstanding, flexible ribs which serve to support the peripheral wall and an inturned portion of the seal member located generally outward of the face-engaging surface portion of the seal flap. The described seal structure is intended to permit the flap seal and peripheral sidewall to distort without experiencing any mode of seal defeating deformation such as crimping, buckling, folding or other modes of collapse. In this seal structure, the structural support ribs are located and configured in a manner to provide adequate seal flap support where seal deformation is not required (i.e., at the xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d points of the contours of the user""s face) and to resiliently deform in a manner to permit easy and uniform distortion of the seal flap in those areas where distortion is necessary to accommodate xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d points on the contours of the user""s face.
Other respiratory masks having flexible flap facial seats are disclosed in U.S. Pat Nos. 4,167,185 and 4,677,977. Masks comprising both continuous cushion and flexible flap sealing features are described in U.S. Pat Nos. 2,931,356, 3,330,273, and 4,971,051.
Despite its general efficacy in affording a desired seal against the typical user""s face, the construction of the inturned flexible flap is such that the contours of certain users""faces may preclude reliable sealing by masks of this type. In this regard, the seal flap includes an opening having an enlarged lower portion to accommodate lower regions of the user""s nose (and possibly the user""s mouth) and an upwardly extending narrow slot portion adapted to receive the bridge of the nose. The slot bifurcates the flap into a pair of opposed flap portions adapted to lie against opposite sides of the user""s nose during use. The front portion of the nose is left uncovered.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,185 teaches a flexible flap type mask seal which incorporates reinforcement webs or struts in the nasal flap portions of the seal to force the flap portions against the bridge of the user""s nose during use. This arrangement, however, exerts localized pressure on the user""s face which, in turn, results in increased user discomfort.
U.S. Pat. 4,655,213 describes a nasal mask that substantially surrounds the user""s nose and provides a continuous cushion type perimetrical seal therearound. Such perimeter seals are required because the mask seal bodies are over-sized to accommodate, but not contact, the user""s nose. The seals provided by these masks are thus conceptually similar to and suffer from essentially the same drawbacks as the continuous cushion type mask seals discussed at the outset.
In order to improve the sealing effects and comfort of the above-described masks, flexible resilient mask flap seals have been developed which may be adapted for attachment to a respiratory mask body or may be removably placeable over the facial seal of an existing respiratory mask. A respiratory mask facial seal of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,223, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Further seals of this type are shown in Soft Series Literature from Respironics, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pa.
It is also known to provide the above-described type masks with forehead spacer or cushioning elements. The above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,584 further describes a forehead spacer element for limiting deformation of the mask seal when in engagement with a user""s face. In the featured embodiment, the spacer comprises a foam rubber spacer block attached to a pressure sensitive adhesive strip which can be applied to the mask.
Other forehead spacer/cushion elements are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,243,971, 5,517,986, 5,570,689, and International Publication No. WO 98/04310. However, a disadvantage exists with known forehead spacer/cushion elements in that multiple forehead pad sizes, mechanically complicated or cumbersome adjustment mechanisms, or both are currently required to accommodate various patient physical profiles.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a respiratory mask that affords an effective yet comfortable seal for all users, not withstanding the size or shape of a particular user""s face and that does not require multiple forehead pad sizes or mechanical forehead pad adjustment mechanisms.
Respiratory masks usually require an exhaust vent or port for purging the system of CO2 laden air, especially masks intended for use in a single-limb ventilation circuit. A known respiratory mask incorporates ports in the body of the mask. However, several drawbacks have been found to be associated with ports in the body of the mask. For example, air exiting the mask ports may create noise near the user""s face, blow on the patient causing discomfort, or blow on the patient""s bed partner.
To address these disadvantages, Respironics, Inc. has developed and manufactured a swivel conduit under the name Whisper Swivel(copyright) Exhalation Port. This two-piece conduit provides a swivel connection between the mask elbow and the delivery conduit and also includes downwardly directed exhaust slits for directing the CO2 laden exhaust away from the patient.
However, an advantage exists for an exhaust device which provides the ability to rotate, reduces noise and that disposes the exhalation port or ports closer to the mask volume than is currently possible using the Whisper Swivel device.
The present invention provides an improved respiratory mask that reliably and comfortably seals facial contours. According to the presently preferred embodiment, the respiratory mask of the present invention includes a thin sealing area. This thin section permits the mask to more easily adapt to the contour of the human face and seal at low pressures with minimal facial pressure.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the respiratory mask is provided with a gel forehead cushion/spacer element. As the gel material is more compliant than the foam material used in known forehead cushion. The gel forehead pad is able to accommodate a wider range of physical profiles with increased comfort, and does so without the need to provide for adjustment of the forehead cushion to suit each particular patient.
In yet a further aspect of the present invention, the respiratory mask is provided with a respiratory tubing elbow coupling providing the ability to rotate 360 degrees about the faceplate of the respiratory mask and having an integrated tapered exhaust port and a polycarbonate leak ring for exhausting exhaled gases from the respiratory mask. The positioning of the exhaust ports closer to the respiratory mask body provides a more efficient exhausting of gases, and the design of the exhaust ports reduces the noise level created by the flow of air through typical fixed orifice.
These and other advantages, objects, features and characteristics of the present invention, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. | {
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This invention relates, in general, to asynchronous processing in a virtual processing environment, and in particular, to providing host real storage to support guest storage buffers used by asynchronous processes of the virtual processing environment.
Processing environments can support different types of processes, including asynchronous processes and synchronous processes. An asynchronous process is a process that operates independently of other processes. In contrast, a synchronous process is a process that typically depends on another process. For example, a synchronous process expecting a response from another process will not proceed until it receives the response.
Asynchronous processes, including those executed in a virtual environment by guests managed by a host, sometimes require access to buffers in storage (also referred to as memory; storage and memory are used interchangeably herein). If the required buffer is large, it is disadvantageous, and at times, impossible or impractical, to allocate the entire buffer in host real storage. Thus, the buffer is allocated in blocks of real host storage, requiring careful management of the buffer. Such management tends to be difficult, especially when the large storage buffer is a guest storage buffer used by an asynchronous process. This is because certain exceptions, such as dynamic address translation faults, are not tolerated by such processes. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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The present disclosure relates generally to a miniature system for sensing and localizing acoustic signals. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a miniature system for sensing and localizing acoustic signals inspired by the directional hearing of the fly Ormia ochracea.
The fly Ormia ochracea is a parasitoid insect that acoustically locates male field crickets by listening to their calling song at 5 kHz. The female fly, as part of her reproductive cycle, finds cricket hosts as a source of food for her larval offspring. With a separation of only 0.52 mm between auditory organs, less than 1/130 of the calling song sound wavelength, the best available interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural intensity difference (IID) are merely 1.5 μs and less than 1 dB, respectively. However, the fly has super-acute hearing for detecting sounds and localizing sound sources in the absence of visual and olfactory cues. See Robert, Innovative Biomechanics for Directional Hearing in Small Flies, Biol. Bull, 200: 190-94 (April 2001). The key to the fly's phenomenal directional hearing is that its auditory system includes a pair of tympanal membranes that are coupled by an intertympanal bridge, a cuticular structure that pivots about its middle. See R N Miles et al., Mechanically Coupled Ears For Directional Hearing in the Parasitoid Fly Ormia Ochracea, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 98(6):3059-3070 (1995).]
As a result of the mechanical coupling, the fly's auditory system operates in a rocking mode in which the tympanal membranes move 180 degrees out of phase, and a bending mode in which the tympanal membranes move in phase. Owing to a suitable contribution from both modes, the fly ear can provide great amplification to minute directional cues from the acoustic inputs so that the magnitude of directional cues at the mechanical response level becomes detectable by the fly's neuron system. The mechanical interaural time difference (mITD) and mechanical interaural intensity difference (mIID) between the eardrum responses are as high as 50-60 μs and 12 dB, respectively.
During the localization process, the fly turns its head front (azimuth θ=0) towards the sound source. The turning speed has been found to be a sigmoid function of azimuth, where the turning speed is a linear function of azimuth θ up to 20°-30°, and it is constant beyond this range. Here the azimuth is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system, which describes the angle between the midline (i.e., the vector starting from the midpoint between the centers of active portions of the two tympanal membranes and pointing in a direction that is perpendicular to the plane of the fly ear) of the fly ear and vector starting at the origin of the midline (i.e., the midpoint) and pointing to the sound source.
When the target is outside of the linear range, the fly performs laterization by only determining if the target is towards the left or right and makes a constant turn towards the target. Once the target is within the linear range, the fly performs localization by truly estimating the target position, and turning an appropriate amount of angle to let the midline of the ear point to the target. This laterization/localization scheme helps the fly to achieve an overall directional resolution as accurate as ±2° from the midline. See Mason et al., Hyperacute Directional Hearing in a Microscale Auditory System, Nature, 410 (6829):686-690 (2001). | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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DE 10 2011 005 320 A1 describes a method for operating a motor vehicle which includes a prime mover, a transmission, and a driven end, wherein the transmission is connected between the prime mover and the driven end. The transmission is an automatic or automated transmission. According to DE 10 2011 005 320 A1, a sailing mode for the motor vehicle is activated depending on at least one operating condition of the motor vehicle and, subsequently thereto, the sailing mode is deactivated depending on at least one operating condition of the motor vehicle. A sailing mode is understood to be an operating mode of the motor vehicle, in which the transmission of tractive force is interrupted in the transmission toward the driven end during operation while the prime mover is running or is idle. In the sailing mode, the prime mover is therefore decoupled from the driven end.
According to DE 10 2011 005 320 A1, the sailing mode is activated, while the motor vehicle is traveling with the internal combustion engine running and coupled to the driven end, when a driver-input torque depending on an actuation of the accelerator pedal by the driver or a traction torque specified by a driver assistance system lies in a defined range for a defined time and when, in addition, the current acceleration or deceleration of the motor vehicle lies in a defined range. Furthermore, DE 10 2011 005 320 A1 discloses various conditions for deactivating a previously activated sailing mode.
DE 10 2010 000 857 A1 describes yet another method for operating a motor vehicle. Disclosed in this prior art are details of a shift sequence for a gear disengagement during travel and details of a shift sequence for a gear engagement for exiting a sailing mode.
Although methods are already known from the prior art, with the aid of which it is possible to enter a sailing operating mode in a defined manner and, on the other hand, to exit the sailing operating mode in a defined manner, there is a need to improve the operation of the motor vehicle in the sailing mode, in particular in such a way that long waiting times and, optionally, an uncomfortable gear disengagement when exiting the sailing mode are avoided. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to non-volatile dynamic random access memories (DRAM). More particularly, this invention relates to methods and circuits for operating non-volatile DRAM's.
2. Description of Related Art
Non-volatile memories, such as FLASH and Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), are commonly used for providing a more permanent storage. The data state of non-volatile memory cells are retained when the power supply voltage source is removed. In general, the non-volatile memories have smaller silicon foot-print and lower cost per bit than other semi-conductor memory.
The alternative to the non-volatile memories are volatile memories such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). The volatile memories generally have a greater accessing speed. A DRAM has faster random access speed than a non-volatile memory, however, it cannot retain data without a periodic refresh process.
These different characteristics between the non-volatile memory and the volatile memory cause each type of memory to have different applications in computer systems. As a result, many types of systems include both non-volatile and volatile memories in the differing applications. Because the non-volatile and volatile memory have these different characteristics, interface and control of non-volatile and volatile are substantially different and resulting in more complicated system design. Therefore, it is desirable to have a memory device that offers fast random access of a volatile memory and the capability of permanently retaining data of a non-volatile memory with substantially the same cost of a DRAM.
A combination of a non-volatile memory and a volatile memory is known in the art as illustrated in “A New Architecture for the NVRAM—An EEPROM Backed-Up Dynamic RAM”, JSSC vol. 23, 1988, pp.86-90, Terada et al. It describes a nonvolatile DRAM with a cell formed by merging a three-transistor EEPROM cell with a one-transistor-one-capacitor DRAM cell. The resultant cell contains 4 transistors and 1 capacitor. Fowler-Nordheim tunneling is used to program and erase the EEPROM portion of the cell.
“An Experimental 256 Mb Non-Volatile DRAM with Cell Plate Boosted Programming Technique”, Ahn et al.—ISSCC, Digest of Technical Papers IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference—2004, February, 2004, Vol. 1, pp. 42-43 & 512-519 describes a one transistor and one capacitor cell. The transistor contains a SONOS (silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon) structure in the gate for non-volatile data retention. Hot-hole injection is used to inject holes to the traps in the gate dielectric and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling is used to remove the holes from the traps. In the non-volatile mode operations, the memory is erased and programmed in blocks and thus behaving like a Flash memory.
“High Density 5 Volt-Only Compatible Non-Volatile RAM Cell”, Guterman, Technical Digest of International Electron Devices Meeting, IEEE, December, 1982, Vol. 28, pp. 728-732, teaches a nonvolatile DRAM cell formed by merging a 1T-1C DRAM cell with a non-volatile cell formed by a transistor with a floating poly gate and a control poly gate. The resultant cell consists of 4 transistors and 2 capacitors.
“Challenges for the DRAM Cell Scaling to 40 nm”, Digest of IEDM, 2005, by W. Mueller et al., Technical Digest International IEEE Electron Devices Meeting, December 2005, pp. 4 reviews the concepts, status and challenges for the DRAM scaling down to 40 nm. The technologies that are discussed are the DRAM cell capacitor structures and materials, as well as the cell transistor structures. The DRAM cell capacitor structures illustrated are the stacked capacitor and the trench capacitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,188 (Yamauchi et al.), presents a memory cell formed by merging a DRAM cell and an Electrically Eraseable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) cell. The cell consists of 3 transistors and 1 capacitor. One of the transistors is used to isolate the DRAM portion of the cell from the EEPROM portion of the cell during DRAM operation or EEPROM operation. The transistor is turned on, however, when data is transferred from the EEPROM portion to the DRAM portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,008 (Choi) describes a memory cell that includes a non-volatile device and a DRAM cell. The cell consists of two transistors and one capacitor. One of the transistors is the non-volatile transistor which has a split-gate structure.
European Patent EP0557581 (Acovic-581) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,188 (Acovic-188) are directed to a one-transistor-one-capacitor non-volatile DRAM cell having a two layer floating gate to allow the contents of a storage capacitor to be transferred to the floating gate during power interruptions. The first layer of the floating gate is separated from a storage node of the storage capacitor by a tunnel oxide to allow electron tunneling between the floating gate and the storage capacitor. In one implementation, a dual electron injector structure is disposed between a one layer floating gate and the storage node to allow electrons to be injected between the floating gate and the storage node. An erase gate is implemented to remove the charge on the floating gate. The erase gate can be separated from the floating gate by a tunnel oxide or a single electron injector structure to allow electrons to travel from the floating gate to the erase gate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,853 (Eby, et al.) teaches a method and apparatus for measuring threshold voltages associated with the EEPROM portion of a non-volatile DRAM (NVDRAM) memory cell.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,973,344 and 6,924,522 (Ma) describe a floating gate transistor formed by simultaneously creating buried contact openings on both EEPROM transistor gates and DRAM access transistor source/drain diffusions.
Conventional DRAM process steps are used to form cell storage capacitors in all the buried contact openings, including buried contact openings on EEPROM transistor gates. An EEPROM transistor gate and its associated cell storage capacitor bottom plate together forms a floating gate completely surrounded by insulating material. The top cell storage capacitor plate on an EEPROM transistor is used as a control gate to apply programming voltages to the EEPROM transistor. Reading, writing, and erasing the EEPROM element is analogous to conventional floating-gate tunneling oxide (FLOTOX) EEPROM devices. In this way, existing DRAM process steps are used to implement an EEPROM floating gate transistor nonvolatile memory element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,108 and U.S. Patent Application 2006/0274580 (Forbes) teach DRAM cells with repressed floating gate memory with low tunnel barrier interpoly insulators. The memory cells have a volatile and a non-volatile component in a single memory cell. The memory cells include a first source/drain region and a second source/drain region separated by a channel region in a substrate. A storage capacitor is coupled to one of the first and the second source/drain regions. A floating gate opposes the channel region and is separated from the channel region by a gate oxide. A control gate opposes the floating gate. The control gate is separated from the floating gate by a low tunnel barrier intergate insulator. The memory cell is adapted to operate in a dynamic mode of operation and a repressed memory mode of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,996,007 (Ahn et al.—007) describes a non-volatile DRAM cell that contains a floating transistor and a storage capacitor. The floating gate pass transistor includes a charge storage floating gate that serves as temporary data storage when the memory transits from the non-volatile mode to the DRAM mode. The transition goes through a recall and a normalization process. The recall/normalization process is similar to the recall/erase operation described in Acovic-188. During the normalization process, data stored in the floating gate of all the memory cells is erased. Like the memory described in Acovic-188, during programming, the data stored in the storage capacitors of the memory cells is transferred to the floating gates, accomplished by injecting hot electrons from the source of the floating transistor connecting to the storage capacitor. In this scheme, the hot-electron injection is carried out by driving the common capacitor plate from 0.0V to 2.5V. Since the common capacitor plate connects to the storage capacitors of the all the cells in the same memory array. The programming is carried out in memory pages.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,099,181 (Ahn, et al.—181) provides a method for operating a non-volatile dynamic random access memory (NVDRAM) device having a plurality of memory cells, each cell having a capacitor and a transistor incorporating a floating gate. The memory cell of the NVDRAM device includes a control gate, a floating gate, two insulating layers, a transistor and a storage capacitor. The capacitor has a plate node, connecting to the plate nodes of the capacitor of other cells in the same array. The capacitor plate is coupled to a plate line with controllable plate line voltage for injecting and removing charge from the floating gates of the memory cells. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
} |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to new chemical compositions of matter having utility as industrial chemicals, fertilizers, and, fungicides. This invention particularly relates to phosphite compositions.
2. Description of Relevant Art
In greenhouses, nurseries, and, gardens, or other intensive horticulture environments, best results are attained when fertilizers and pesticides are carefully delivered to the soil or growing plants. Many growers choose to utilize blended high analysis water-soluble fertilizers and fungicides. These fertilizers and fungicides are marketed as liquids or solids, which are dissolved or diluted, to prepare concentrated stock solutions; these fertilizer/fungicide solutions may again then be diluted by irrigation water by means of proportional or injection devices.
In agriculture most excellent results are also achieved when fertilizers and pesticides are carefully delivered to the soil or growing plants. Many growers choose to utilize blended high analysis water-soluble fertilizers and fungicides. These fertilizers and fungicides are marketed either as solids or liquids; the fertilizers and/or fungicides are dissolved in spray tanks for foliar applications, or are used to prepare concentrated stock solutions for ground application.
It is also desired that fertilizer and fungicide formulations have good long-term stability as stock solutions so as not to form precipitates, which can clog spray rigs, proportioners, and irrigation lines. This has been a limitation with known water-soluble fertilizer and fungicide formulations commercially available.
Mineral salts are important nutrients which are called for in many plant nutrition formulations, but, mineral salts cannot be used together with conventional phosphorus sources. For instance, ammonium and potassium phosphates in solution alter pH and do not allow adequate solubility to mineral salt ions, giving rise to precipitation of the mineral salts in the stock solution which clog equipment.
Potassium phosphate or sodium phosphate can be used as soluble phosphorous sources but these can be expensive or not conducive to plant growth. Phosphoric acid can be used but is a liquid and hazardous to handle and toxic to plants. Therefore, a grower wishing to fertilize with both mineral salts and phosphorus, without resorting to the use of an alkali metal or ammonium phosphate, or, liquid phosphoric acid, will need to inject these compounds separately.
Additionally, the use of chelated trace nutrients have been widely postulated in order to keep these trace nutrients dissolved in stock solutions that contain the ammonium and potassium phosphates. If non-chelated mineral salts are added with the conventional phosphorus sources, the phosphate minerals will precipitate from the solution. Chelated minerals increase the cost of the fertilizer and fungicide formulations. | {
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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