An applicator is disclosed that is adapted for insertion into a body cavity. The applicator has an outer surface that is coated with a nitrocellulose layer and an pierce-through fingergrip area. Also disclosed is a method for forming such an applicator, and tampon assemblies constructed with same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cardboard tampon applicator. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cardboard or paper laminate tampon applicator that is coated with a nitrocellulose coating. The applicator preferably has a pierce-through or perforation type fingergrip. The nitrocellulose coated cardboard tampon applicator of the present invention can be formed inexpensively, and will have a high degree of gloss and slip for easier insertion, as well as improved cross-sectional circularity for reduced ejection force.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tampon applicators are generally formed either from a molded thermoplastic material, such as plastic, or a paper laminate, such as cardboard or paperboard.
It is desired that tampon applicators have a generally circular cross-sectional shape. Maintaining this generally circular shape has been found to reduce the force needed to eject the tampon pledget from the applicator, thus making the tampon applicator more acceptable to the consumer. Well known methods exist to produce molded plastic applicators with regular and consistent cross-section. Moreover, such molded plastic applicators can be formed with a high degree of surface smoothness, which results in increased comfort during insertion of the tampon. However, plastic tampon applicators are neither water dispersible nor biodegradable in any practical sense, unless certain expensive plastics are used. Yet in an ecology-minded society, biodegradability is desirable.
To obtain a biodegradable tampon applicator, paper laminates, such as cardboard, are preferred since such applicators delaminate upon saturation with water. This delamination facilitates the process of biodegradation. To approximate the aesthetics and ease of insertion of plastic tampon applicators, paper applicators are conventionally formed with an outer film layer that is bonded to the applicator by adhesive or the like. However, it is difficult to manufacture a film laminated paper applicator with a perfectly circular cross-section, and the degree of circularity of the laminated paper applicator has been found to degrade further during the tube-forming heating stage of the manufacturing process. Moreover, the applicator is enhanced by including a fingergrip on the barrel of the applicator. However, it has been found to be difficult to produce a fingergrip that is sufficiently grippable.
Alternatively, some commercially available cardboard applicators have a coating that is applied as a liquid and subsequently solidifies on the applicator. For example, liquid wax coatings are inexpensive to apply, and will not degrade the circularity of the tampon applicator during the manufacturing process. However, such liquid wax-coated tampon applicators do not have sufficient surface smoothness and, therefore, do not provide the desired insertion comfort and reduced ejection force.
A polyester film coating that has been used on commercially available tampon applicators has been found to shrink during the heating cycle of the applicator manufacturing process, causing distortion of the applicator's shape. As discussed above, this distortion of the applicator's circular cross-section increases the ejection force required. Cellophane film, also known in the art for use on paper tampon applicators, similarly shrinks due to the evaporation of water absorbed from the adhesive used to apply it to the applicator. Furthermore, the hydrophilic cellophane coating on applicators provide poor insertion comfort. Consequently, cellophane is usually coated with a water resistant coating to improve insertion comfort, discussed further below. Coated cellophane is relatively expensive because it requires a supplemental coating on top of a base layer. In addition, the use of such a coating can require special handling and disposal procedures, all of which further raise manufacturing costs.
Coated paper laminate applicators are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,833 to Weigner et al. is directed to an applicator formed of a high-gloss paper that can be coated with a degradable, dispersible or water soluble polymer, such as a modified polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylidene chloride or polyvinyl alcohol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,531 to Whitehead provides an applicator with a heat-sensitive coating, such as a polyolefin (e.g., polyethylene or polypropylene) or a heat sensitive adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,030 to Shelton provides a thermoplastic coated paper tube. A film layer on a paper laminate tampon applicator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,468 to Campion et al. This paper laminate tampon applicator has a thermoset polymer film layer adhered to the outer surface of the cardboard applicator. Preferably, this polymer film layer is a cellophane layer. A film layer of a thermoplastic polymer such as polyethylene, polyester, polypropylene, polycaprolactone or ethylene vinyl acetate can allegedly be used in place of cellophane.
As an ancillary component, this patent discloses a water resistant coating for use on top of the cellophane layer. This water resistant coating may include polyvinylidine chloride or nitrocellulose. The patent further discloses that a nitrocellulose-coated cellophane sheet is commercially available from Flexel. However, the patent does not suggest the use of a nitrocellulose coating directly on a cardboard tampon applicator. Moreover, it does not suggest a nitrocellulose-based coating containing other components.
Thus, a nitrocellulose coating is known for use in providing water-resistance to a cellophane film layer applied to a tampon applicator. However, no applicator is known that has a nitrocellulose coating applied to the outer paper lamina. Moreover, even the known cellophane film-coated applicator does not have the multiple puncture fingergrip of the present applicator and may not appreciate the significant circularity improvement provided by a nitrocellulose coating applied directly to the outer paper lamina of the applicator.
Thus, the liquid and film coatings described above have not enabled the combination of formation of the desired glossy finish, retention of applicator circularity, desired insertion comfort and desired fingergrip, and sufficient biodegradability. Further, many prior art liquid coatings and compound coatings are more expensive to use.
The present invention is directed to applying a liquid nitrocellulose coat on the surface of the paper laminate applicator, and thereafter optionally forming a multiple puncture fingergrip on the applicator. The applicator thus formed has the desired high gloss finish and maintains the improved degree of circularity of the applicator, while still permitting water dispersibility and biodegradability. The liquid coating of the present invention provides for the formation of the multiple puncture fingergrip, is inexpensive to apply, and does not require the use of organic solvents in the manufacturing process.

Nitrocellulose coated tampon applicator having a pierce-through fingergrip


A tiny electrically powered hydrodynamic blood pump is disclosed which occupies one third of the aortic or pulmonary valve position, and pumps directly from the left ventricle to the aorta or from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery. The device is configured to exactly match or approximate the space of one leaflet and sinus of valsalva, with part of the device supported in the outflow tract of the ventricular cavity adjacent to the valve. In the configuration used, two leaflets of the natural tri-leaflet valve remain functional and the pump resides where the third leaflet had been. When implanted, the outer surface of the device includes two faces against which the two valve leaflets seal when closed. To obtain the best valve function, the shape of these faces may be custom fabricated to match the individual patient's valve geometry based on high resolution three dimensional CT or MRI images. Another embodiment of the invention discloses a combined two leaflet tissue valve with the miniature blood pump supported in the position usually occupied by the third leaflet. Either stented or un-stented tissue valves may be used. This structure preserves two thirds of the valve annulus area for ejection of blood by the natural ventricle, with excellent washing of the aortic root and interface of the blood pump to the heart. In the aortic position, the blood pump is positioned in the non-coronary cusp. A major advantage of the transvalvular VAD is the elimination of both the inflow and outflow cannulae usually required with heart assist devices.

Mechanical circulatory support devices have gained increasingly common use in end stage heart failure patients. Presently, more than a thousand patients per year are treated with implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs), as bridge to transplant, bridge to recovery, or for permanent use. The pusher plate and other types of positive displacement pumps approved by the FDA are large, heavy, and generally noisy devices which have major limitations, including poor reliability and a high incidence of serious adverse events such as bleeding, infection, thromboembolism, and stroke. Over the past five years, rotary blood pumps have been undergoing clinical trials in the United States, or have received CE mark approval for use abroad. The Jarvik 2000 intraventricular axial flow pump VAD, has been used in over 100 patients, and has supported a patient almost five years, longer than any other single VAD of any type. One patient has survived for over 6 years with the old type positive displacement pump, but only after his original implant device wore out and it was replaced with a new one.
Although rotary blood pumps of many designs represent a very promising improvement over the old generation positive displacement VADs, none has yet reduced the incidence of serious adverse events to a practically negligible rate. Published data indicates that the three month mortality with all types of VADs remains at approximately 20-30%, a rate which is only acceptable in patients facing the risk of imminent death at the time of surgery. Many experts in the field recognize that early mortality is increased if the VAD is not used until the last minute, when the patient's deterioration is advanced. Earlier application of the less invasive rotary blood pumps holds promise to reduce early mortality, but no device developed to date has been recognized by surgeons, cardiologists, and the public as a true "breakthrough device" appropriate to implant in NYHA class III patients, who have serious heart failure but are not yet facing a risk of imminent death.
No heart assist device is better than its worst characteristic. If everything were perfect except the durability were less than two years the device would have limited usefulness for permanent implantation. If it were durable for decades but had a very high incidence of serious infection, it would find limited use. If it had excellent long term freedom from failure and no serious adverse events, but required highly invasive surgery, with high surgical mortality and prolonged post implant hospitalization, it would not be widely accepted.
Experience teaches that each and every level of device complexity brings potential problems, and ultimate simplification is the best approach to solve all limiting problems. Experience also teaches that despite the greatest care to prevent damage to external components, such as batteries, cables, and connectors, and despite concerted efforts to educate patients and caregivers in proper daily use, damage, mistakes, and oversights can never be completely avoided. Therefore, the safest VAD is one which is designed to permit it to be safely turned off for at least enough time to replace external components with backup equipment.
Regarding complexity, almost all VADS have significant problems associated with the inflow and outflow conduits used to connect the devices to the circulatory system. The Jarvik 2000 avoids the need for any inflow cannula, because the pump is placed directly inside the ventricle. But it still requires an outflow graft which must be sutured to the aorta and has been the site of bleeding complications. The present invention eliminates both the inflow cannula and the outflow graft. Only one other type of device does this, a pump placed within the outflow valve orifice, disclosed by Yozu in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,017, and further described in scientific publications such as "The valvo-pump, an axial blood pump implanted at the heart valve position: concept and initial results." 1: Artif Organs. 1992 June; 16(3):297-9. Despite elimination of the inlet and outlet cannulae, pump placement within the entire valve orifice, as disclosed in the prior art, has significant disadvantages. If the pump stops, the patient's natural heart has no valved outlet, and therefore it cannot pump effectively to support the patient even for a short time. If an axial pump with a large cross sectional flow area is used, there will be massive aortic regurgitation and the natural heart will fail. If an axial pump with a small cross sectional flow area is used, there may be little regurgitation, but there will be high resistance and the natural heart will not be able to eject sufficient blood.
In the present invention, the axial flow pump is only placed in one third of the valve area, and the other two thirds of the area is a functional valved outflow channel. The axial flow pump may be designed with a small cross sectional flow area, in which case regurgitation will be minor, and the natural heart will pump effectively.
The degree of miniaturization made possible by the present invention is dramatic compared both to the "old model" pusher plate pumps such as the HeartMate or Novacor, and even compared to the smallest rotary blood pumps in clinical trials, i.e. the Jarvik 2000, the MicroMed DeBakey VAD, and the HeartMate II, which are all more than ten times the size and weight of the transvalvular device disclosed herewithin.
The preferred embodiment of transvalvular pump of the present invention displaces only 2.5 cc of volume and weighs only 8 grams. At 1,800 grams the Novacor weighs 225 times as much. At 1,200 grams, the HeartMate weighs 150 times as much. At 340 grams the HeartMate II weighs 42 times as much. At 112 grams the Micromed VAD weighs 14 times as much, and at 85 grams the Jarvik 2000 weighs 10 times as much. At 25 cc the Jarvik 2000 is the smallest permanent VAD in clinical use, and it is still ten times as large as the transvalvular device of the present invention.
This degree of miniaturization far surpasses any known permanently implantable heart assist device in the prior art, and enables minimally invasive surgical techniques that are not otherwise possible.
Other inventions disclosed in the prior art utilize small axial flow pumps placed beyond the aortic valve with the valve left in place, such as Nash, U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,647, "Aortically located blood pumping catheter and method of use" and Pasque, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,227, "Method of implanting blood pump in ascending aorta or main pulmonary artery". If these pumps stop, the aortic valve will still function, so the natural heart can sustain the patient. However, by placing the pump above the openings to the coronary arteries, the pressure in the coronary arteries is reduced to intraventricular pressure during diastole (˜5 mmHg), which is detrimental to coronary artery flow, rather aortic diastolic pressure (˜70 mmHg), which is necessary to provide normal coronary artery flow.
One basic distinguishing characteristic of the present invention compared to some prior art inventions using axial pumps at the aortic position or just distal to it, is that the pump is placed in parallel with the natural heart rather than in series as in Yozu, Nash, and Pasque.
Another prior art approach using miniature axial flow pumps near the aortic valve is disclosed by Barbut in U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,025, "Endoscopic arterial pumps for treatment of cardiac insufficiency and venous pumps for right-sided cardiac support". The pump may be placed across the aortic valve, with a balloon surrounding it to occlude the aorta, effectively producing a series configuration. If no balloon is used, the pump may lie in a cannula across the aortic valve and function in parallel, similar to the arrangement with the Wampler in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,712 "High-capacity intravascular blood pump utilizing percutaneous access", Jarvik in U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,241 "Cannula pumps for temporary cardiac support and methods of their application and use", and by Rau in U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,848 "Intravascular blood pump". However, in any pump where a cylindrical cannula is passed through the central portion of the aortic valve and the leaflets must seal against the cannula, the shape of the valve leaflets does not exactly match the cannula. Also, there is motion of the cannula relative to the valve. These factors make the valve leaflets subject to erosion if the cannula is left in place long term. In the present invention, the device is designed with non-cylindrical facets that properly match the configuration of the closed valve leaflets to avoid erosion, and the pump is fixed in position relative to the leaflets. The faceted surfaces upon which the tissue valve leaflets seal may be covered with natural tissue, such as a portion of the natural valve leaflet of the patient or treated pericardium, to minimize erosion to the functioning valve leaftets. In another embodiment, a mechanical heart valve and miniature blood pump are combined and implanted at the aortic annulus. The mechanical valve may use one or more rigid pivoting leaflets, flexing polymer leaflets, or a confined mechanical occluder such as a valve ball.

Minimally invasive transvalvular ventricular assist device


An assembled media line including a media line, at least one first line connector and at least one first sheathing system, where the media line has a first end and a second end and where the at least one line connector is connected to one of the first and the second end of the media line and the at least one first sheathing system at least partially surrounds the media line, which media line is not dimensionally stable. A contour shaping cap device including at least two parts which together build, at least in sections, a media line surrounding sheath for contour shaping the media line, where the at least two parts are generally bending resistant and have elements for connecting them to one another.

Field of the Invention
The invention refers to an assembled media line comprising a media line, at least one first line connector and at least one first sheathing system, where the media line has a first end and a second end and where the at least one line connector is connected to one of the first and the second end of the media line and the at least one first sheathing system at least partially surrounds the media line, which media line is not dimensionally stable. The invention also refers to a contour shaping cap device comprising at least two parts which together build, at least in sections, a media line surrounding sheath for contour shaping the media line, where the at least two parts are generally bending resistant and have means for connecting them to one another.
Description of the Related Art
Assembled media lines comprising a pliable or flexible media line and at least one first line connector connected to the media line end are known in the prior art. It is also known to insert such pliable or flexible media lines within a vehicle where these media lines have to be positioned in a definite position. Therefore it is also known to prevent collisions in the installation space within the vehicle by fixing the media lines. Such fixing of the media lines is provided by stiff shaping the media lines and also by providing contour elements which are provided on the media lines. Such contour elements are especially disclosed in DE 20 2007 015 048 U1. However, problems arising from the prior art are loosening of the contour elements which move axially along the media lines. Any fixing of these contour elements requires the possibility of fixing them onto the media line which means that the media line should have a sufficient stiffness. Such stiffness shall prevent a compression of the media line when fixing the contour elements around such a pliable or flexible media line such as a hose. Therefore, an additional problem will arise from thin walled media lines where no reinforcement for the media lines is provided which thin walled media line may also be provided with a corrugated pipe surrounding the thin walled media line having a small air space between the corrugated pipe and the outside of the media line. Since there is normally no supporting element provided between the corrugated pipe and the media line inside the corrugated pipe such contour elements provided on the outside of the corrugated pipe might lead to destroying the corrugated pipe and especially also the media line inside the corrugated pipe.

Assembled media line and contour shaped cap device


Methods for separating the unknown contributions of two or more sources from a commonly acquired set of wavefield signals based on varying parameters at the firing time, location and/or depth of the individual sources in a lateral 2D plane.

Seismic data can be acquired in land, marine, seabed, transition zone and boreholes for instance. Depending on in what environment the seismic survey is taking place the survey equipment and acquisition practices will vary.
In towed marine seismic data acquisition a vessel tows streamers that contain seismic sensors (hydrophones and sometimes particle motion sensors). A seismic source usually but not necessarily towed by the same vessel excites acoustic energy in the water that reflects from the sub-surface and is recorded by the sensors in the streamers. The seismic source is typically an array of airguns customarily deployed as a set of sub-arrays, each of which includes a set of individual airguns. These are normally programmed to fire at the same instant, providing a close to instantaneous peak of energy followed by a longer, lower energy output as a result of oscillating air bubbles. A marine source can also be a marine vibrator for instance, which may be a single unit or a set of individual units composing an array. In either case, the intent is to provide a seismic source output which contains as far as possible a broad range of frequencies within the usable seismic frequency ranges, typically from 1-2 Hz up to around 500 Hz. In modern marine seismic operations many streamers are towed behind the vessel (3D seismic data acquisition). It is also common that several source and/or receiver vessels are involved in the same seismic survey in order to acquire data that is rich in offsets and azimuths between source and receiver locations.
In seabed seismic data acquisition, nodes or cables containing sensors (hydrophones and/or particle motion sensors) are deployed on the seafloor. These sensors can also record the waves on and below the seabottom and in particular shear waves which are not transmitted into the water. Similar sources are used as in towed marine seismic data acquisition. The sources are towed by one or several source vessels.
In land seismic data acquisition, the sensors on the ground are typically geophones and the sources are commonly vibroseis trucks. Vibroseis trucks are usually operated in arrays with two or more vibroseis trucks emitting energy close to each other roughly corresponding to the same shot location. In this invention we refer to such source configurations as groups of sources.
The general practice of marine and seabed seismic surveying is further described below in relation to FIG. 12.
Prospecting for subsurface hydrocarbon deposits (701) in a marine environment (FIG. 12) is routinely carried out using one or more vessels (702) towing seismic sources (703-705). The one or more vessels can also tow receivers or receivers (706-708) can be placed on the seabed (714).
Seismic sources typically employ a number of so-called airguns (709-711) which operate by repeatedly filling up a chamber in the gun with a volume of air using a compressor and releasing the compressed air at suitable chosen times (and depth) into the water column (712).
The sudden release of compressed air momentarily displaces the seawater, imparting its energy on it, setting up an impulsive pressure wave in the water column propagating away from the source at the speed of sound in water (with a typical value of around 1500 m/s) (713).
Upon incidence at the seafloor (or seabed) (714), the pressure wave is partially transmitted deeper into the subsurface as elastic waves of various types (715-717) and partially reflected upwards (718). The elastic wave energy propagating deeper into the subsurface partitions whenever discontinuities in subsurface material properties occur. The elastic waves in the subsurface are also subject to an elastic attenuation which reduces the amplitude of the waves depending on the number of cycles or wavelengths.
Some of the energy reflected upwards (720-721) is sensed and recorded by suitable receivers placed on the seabed (706-708), or towed behind one or more vessels. The receivers, depending on the type, sense and record a variety of quantities associated with the reflected energy, for example, one or more components of the particle displacement, velocity or acceleration vector (using geophones, mems [micro-electromechanical] or other devices, as is well known in the art), or the pressure variations (using hydrophones). The wave field recordings made by the receivers are stored locally in a memory device and/or transmitted over a network for storage and processing by one or more computers.
Waves emitted by the source in the upward direction also reflect downward from the sea surface (719), which acts as a nearly perfect mirror for acoustic waves.
One seismic source typically includes one or more airgun arrays (703-705): that is, multiple airgun elements (709-711) towed in, e.g., a linear configuration spaced apart several meters and at substantially the same depth, whose air is released (near-) simultaneously, typically to increase the amount of energy directed towards (and emitted into) the subsurface.
Seismic acquisition proceeds by the source vessel (702) sailing along many lines or trajectories (722) and releasing air from the airguns from one or more source arrays (also known as firing or shooting) once the vessel or arrays reach particular pre-determined positions along the line or trajectory (723-725), or, at fixed, pre-determined times or time intervals. In FIG. 12, the source vessel (702) is shown in three consecutive positions (723-725), also called shot positions.
Typically, subsurface reflected waves are recorded with the source vessel occupying and shooting hundreds of shots positions. A combination of many sail-lines (722) can form, for example, an areal grid of source positions with associated inline source spacings (726) and crossline source spacings. Receivers can be similarly laid out in one or more lines forming an areal configuration with associated inline receiver spacings (727) and crossline receiver spacings.
The general practice of land seismic surveying is further described below in relation to FIG. 13.
Prospecting for subsurface hydrocarbon deposits (801) in a land environment (FIG. 13) is routinely carried out using one or more groups of so-called seismic vibrators (802-805) or other sources such as shotpipes or dynamite (not shown). Seismic vibrators transform energy provided by, e.g., a diesel engine into a controlled sequence of vibrations that radiate away from the vibrator as elastic waves (806). More specifically, elastic waves emanate from a baseplate (807), connected to a movable element whose relative motion realizes the desired vibrations through a piston-reaction mass system driven by an electrohydraulic servo valve. The baseplate (807) is applied to the ground for each vibration, then raised up so that the seismic vibrator can drive to another vibrating point (indicated by solid markers such as triangles, circles, squares and pentagons in FIG. 13). To transmit maximum force into the ground and to prevent the baseplate from jumping, part of the weight of the vibrator is used to hold down the baseplate.
Thus, one group of seismic sources could consist of the "array" of vibrators 802 and 803, while a second group of sources consists, e.g., of vibrators 804 and 805.
The elastic waves radiating away from the baseplate of the vibrators scatter, reflect (808) and refract (809) at locations or interfaces in the subsurface where the relevant material properties (e.g., mass density, bulk modulus, shear modulus) vary and are recorded at hundreds of thousand of individual/single sensors (810) or at thousands of sensor groups (811). Sensor signals from one or more sensors in a group can be combined or summed in the field before being sent sent to the recording truck (812) over cables or wirelessly.
Source positions may lie along straight lines (814) or various other trajectories or grids. Similarly, receiver positions may lay along lines oriented in a similar direction as the source lines, e.g., 820, and/or oriented perpendicularly to the source lines (821). Receivers may also be laid out along other trajectories or grids. The source spacing along the line (815) is the distance the source in a group move between consecutive shotpoints. The inter source spacing (816) is the distance between two sources in the same source group. Similarly, the receiver spacing is the spacing between individual receivers (e.g., 818) in case single sensors or between sensor groups (e.g., 817). The source line spacing (819) is some representative distance between substantially parallel source lines and similarly for the receiver line spacing. Waves may be affected by perturbations in the near surface (813) which obscure the deeper structure of interest (i.e., possible hydrocarbon bearing formations). In land seismic data acquisition, the sensors on the ground are typically geophones.
Explosive sources may also be used onshore, which may be one large charge or a series of smaller ones.
Impulsive marine sources are traditionally formed from a combination of individual energy emitting source elements, typically being of the airgun type, by which a volume of compressed air is released into the water column to produce energy in the preferred frequency spectrum. Each airgun element is typically deployed a few metres below the surface, arranged into arrays of similar units.
There are various brand names and designs of such units, including but not limited to Sleeve Guns, GI Guns and Bolt Airguns and donut guns. All such units work in a similar way and will be referred to herein as "airgun" for the sake of convenience.
Each individual airgun unit has a specific volume of air, which can be configured by the user. As each unit is initiated, the air volume is ejected almost instantaneously into the water column, and the resulting bubble rises towards the surface, oscillating with a given periodicity with decaying amplitude. This continues for up to a second or two. The periodicity is a function of the volume and pressure of the air.
Individual airgun elements are combined into sub-arrays in various configurations, consisting of airguns with a range of volumes such that the bubble periodicity is different for each airgun element. Airgun units are commonly combined together in such sub-arrays such that the overall output consists of a short, aligned initial output (referred to as the "peak"), followed by a period in which the various bubble periodicity times result in largely destructive interference, in order to make the overall radiating pressure wave, referred to as the sub-array signature, as close as possible to the idealized spike. Such a process is referred to as sub-array tuning, and the techniques involved in this are well established practice and beyond the scope of this description.
Following the firing of a shot, after a short period of time, since the source vessel is moving continuously, a subsequent shot is fired after a few seconds. This is generally between five and twenty seconds for mainstream seismic acquisition. The objective, quite apart from giving time for the source vessel to move, is also to allow the energy from each shot-point to decay before the next one is initiated. Some approaches use shorter shot intervals (two or more seconds), often but not universally combined with some element of timing change on sequential shots in order to limit the impact of the insufficient decay time on sequential shot records. These approaches are referred to as "simultaneous source" and are discussed below. These approaches enable more source points per unit area, albeit at some compromise in terms of interference or fold.
In the description below we focus on sources towed by a single vessel. However, the present invention also applies to sources towed by several vessels.
Traditionally seismic data have been acquired sequentially: an impulsive source, typically formed of two or more airgun sub-arrays or vibroseis units is excited and data are recorded until the energy that comes back has diminished to an acceptable level and all reflections of interest have been captured after which a new shot at a different shot location is excited. Being able to acquire data from several sources at the same time is clearly highly desirable. Not only would it allow to cut expensive acquisition time drastically but it could also better sample the wavefield on the source side which typically is much sparser sampled than the distribution of receiver positions. It would also allow for better illumination of the target from a wide range of azimuths as well as to better sample the wavefield in areas with surface obstructions. In addition, for some applications such as 3D VSP acquisition, or marine seismic surveying in environmentally sensitive areas, reducing the duration of the survey is critical to save costs external to the seismic acquisition itself (e.g., down-time of a producing well) or minimize the impact on marine life (e.g., avoiding mating or spawning seasons of fish species).
Simultaneously emitting sources, such that their signals overlap in the (seismic) record, is also known in the industry as "blending". Conversely, separating signals from two or more simultaneously emitting sources is also known as "deblending" and the data from such acquisitions as "blended data".
Simultaneous source acquisition has a long history in land seismic acquisition dating back at least to the early 1980's. Commonly used seismic sources in land acquisition are vibroseis sources which offer the possibility to design source signal sweeps such that it is possible to illuminate the sub-surface "sharing" the use of certain frequency bands to avoid simultaneous interference at a given time from different sources. By carefully choosing source sweep functions, activation times and locations of different vibroseis sources, it is to a large degree possible to mitigate interference between sources. Such approaches are often referred to as slip sweep acquisition techniques. In marine seismic data contexts the term overlapping shooting times is often used for related practices. Moreover, it is also possible to design sweeps that are mutually orthogonal to each other (in time) such that the response from different sources can be isolated after acquisition through simple cross-correlation procedures with sweep signals from individual sources. We refer to all of these methods and related methods to as "time encoded simultaneous source acquisition" methods and "time encoded simultaneous source separation" methods.
The use of simultaneous source acquisition in marine seismic applications is more recent as marine seismic sources (i.e., airgun sources) do not appear to yield the same benefits of providing orthogonal properties as land seismic vibroseis sources, at least not at a first glance. Western Geophysical was among the early proponents of simultaneous source marine seismic acquisition suggesting to carry out the separation as a pre-processing step by assuming that the reflections caused by the interfering sources have different characteristics. Beasley et al. (1998) exploited the fact that provided that the sub-surface structure is approximately layered, a simple simultaneous source separation scheme can be achieved for instance by having one source vessel behind the spread acquiring data simultaneously with the source towed by the streamer vessel in front of the spread. Simultaneous source data recorded in such a fashion is straightforward to separate after a frequency-wavenumber (ωk) transform as the source in front of the spread generates data with positive wavenumbers only whereas the source behind the spread generates data with negative wavenumbers only.
Another method for enabling or enhancing separability is to make the delay times between interfering sources incoherent (Lynn et al., 1987). Since the shot time is known for each source, they can be lined up coherently for a specific source in for instance a common receiver gather or a common offset gather. In such a gather all arrivals from all other simultaneously firing sources will appear incoherent. To a first approximation it may be sufficient to just process the data for such a shot gather to final image relying on the processing chain to attenuate the random interference from the simultaneous sources (aka. passive separation). However, it is of course possible to achieve better results for instance through random noise attenuation or more sophisticated methods to separate the coherent signal from the apparently incoherent signal (Stefani et al., 2007; Ikelle 2010; Kumar et al. 2015). In recent years, with elaborate acquisition schemes to for instance acquire wide azimuth data with multiple source and receiver vessels (Moldoveanu et al., 2008), several methods for simultaneous source separation of such data have been described, for example methods that separate "random dithered sources" through inversion exploiting the sparse nature of seismic data in the time-domain (i.e., seismic traces can be thought of as a subset of discrete reflections with "quiet periods" in between; e.g., Akerberg et al., 2008; Kumar et al. 2015). A recent state-of-the-art land example of simultaneous source separation applied to reservoir characterization is presented by Shipilova et al. (2016). Existing simultaneous source acquisition and separation methods based on similar principles include quasi random shooting times, and pseudo random shooting times. We refer to all of these methods and related methods to as "random dithered source acquisition" methods and "random dithered source separation" methods. "Random dithered source acquisition" methods and "random dithered source separation" methods are examples of "space encoded simultaneous source acquisition" methods and "space encoded simultaneous source separation" methods.
A different approach to simultaneous source separation has been to modify the source signature emitted by airgun sources. Airgun sources comprise multiple (typically three) sub-arrays each comprised of several individual airguns or clusters of smaller airguns. Whereas in contrast to land vibroseis sources, it is not possible to design arbitrary source signatures for marine airgun sources, one in principle has the ability to choose firing time (and amplitude i.e., volume) of individual airgun elements within the array. In such a fashion it is possible to choose source signatures that are dispersed as opposed to focused in a single peak. Such approaches have been proposed to reduce the environmental impact in the past (Ziolkowski, 1987) but also for simultaneous source shooting.
Abma et al. (2015) suggested to use a library of "popcorn" source sequences to encode multiple airgun sources such that the responses can be separated after simultaneous source acquisition by correlation with the corresponding source signatures following a practice that is similar to land simultaneous source acquisition. The principle is based on the fact that the cross-correlation between two (infinite) random sequences is zero whereas the autocorrelation is a spike. It is also possible to choose binary encoding sequences with better or optimal orthogonality properties such as Kasami sequences to encode marine airgun arrays (Robertsson et al., 2012). Mueller et al. (2015) propose to use a combination of random dithers from shot to shot with deterministically encoded source sequences at each shot point. Similar to the methods described above for land seismic acquisition we refer to all of these methods and related methods to as "time encoded simultaneous source acquisition" methods and "time encoded simultaneous source separation" methods.
Yet another approach is to fire a sequence of source arrays, one or more of which has a random time dither applied relative to the adjacent source points, but at a shorter time interval, for example, five seconds rather than the conventional ten. This has the advantage of keeping the shallow part of each shot free from interference, whilst mitigating the drop in fold. For example, conventional exploration seismic involves two identical source arrays, offset laterally from each other by, for example, 50 m (source centre to source centre). The firing cycle is Port—starboard—port—starboard, such that a source fires every ten seconds, into different sub-surface lines. This results in half-fold data relative to single source. Experiments with triple source using the same approach resulted in ⅓ fold data, considered insufficient. The partially overlapping approach in the above dual source example, would involve firing every 5 seconds, returning to full fold. Employing the same approach with three partially overlapping sources and a five second shot interval would result in limited fold drop and undisturbed shallow data. However, extrapolating this form three to four sources, for example (and temporarily ignoring the issues outlined above about overall sub-array capacity) would require, for example, a 2-3 second shot interval, resulting in limited undisturbed data lengths and loss of fold. Taking into consideration the practicalities, it has also been presented (for example, Hager, 2016), to arrange the firing sequence such that individual airgun sub-arrays may form part of more than one array, as noted above. However, the interference of adjacent shots (even mitigated by dither) and the loss of fold are unavoidable and their effects increase as attempts are made to increase the total number of arrays.
Recently there has been an interest in industry to explore the feasibility of marine vibrator sources as they would, for instance, appear to provide more degrees of freedom to optimize mutually orthogonal source functions beyond just binary orthogonal sequences that would allow for a step change in simultaneous source separation of marine seismic data. Halliday et al. (2014) suggest to shift energy in ωk-space using the well-known Fourier shift theorem in space to separate the response from multiple marine vibrator sources. Such an approach is not possible with most other seismic source technology (e.g., marine airgun sources) which lack the ability to carefully control the phase of the source signature (e.g., flip polarity).
The recent development of "signal apparition" suggests an alternative approach to deterministic simultaneous source acquisition that belongs in the family of "space encoded simultaneous source acquisition" methods and "space encoded simultaneous source separation" methods. Robertsson et al. (2016) show that by using modulation functions from shot to shot (e.g., a short time delay or an amplitude variation from shot to shot), the recorded data on a common receiver gather or a common offset gather will be deterministically mapped onto known parts of for instance the ωk-space outside the conventional "signal cone" where conventional data is strictly located (FIG. 1a). The signal cone contains all propagating seismic energy with apparent velocities between water velocity (straight lines with apparent slowness of +− 1/1500 s/m in ωk-space) for the towed marine seismic case and infinite velocity (i.e., vertically arriving events plotting on a vertical line with wavenumber 0). The shot modulation generates multiple new signal cones that are offset along the wavenumber axis thereby populating the ωk-space much better and enabling exact simultaneous source separation below a certain frequency (FIG. 1b). Robertsson et al. (2016) referred to the process as "signal apparition" in the meaning of "the act of becoming visible". In the spectral domain, the wavefield caused by the periodic source sequence is nearly "ghostly apparent" and isolated. A critical observation and insight in the "signal apparition" approach is that partially shifting energy along the ωk-axis is sufficient as long as the source variations are known as the shifted energy fully predicts the energy that was left behind in the "conventional" signal cone. Following this methodology simultaneously emitting sources can be exactly separated using a modulation scheme where for instance amplitudes and or firing times are varied deterministically from shot to shot in a periodic pattern.
Consider a seismic experiment where a source is excited sequentially for multiple source locations along a line while recording the reflected wavefield on at least one receiver. The source may be characterized by its temporal signature. In the conventional way of acquiring signals representing a wavefield the source may be excited using the same signature from source location to source location, denoted by integer n. Next, consider the alternative way of acquiring such a line of data using a periodic sequence of source signatures: every second source may have a constant signature and every other second source may have a signature which can for example be a scaled or filtered function of the first source signature. Let this scaling or convolution filter be denoted by a(t), with frequency-domain transform A(ω). Analyzed in the frequency domain, using for example a receiver gather (one receiver station measuring the response from a sequence of sources) recorded in this way, can be constructed from the following modulating function m(n) applied to a conventionally sampled and recorded set of wavefield signals:m(n)=½[1+(−1)n]+½A[1−(−1)n],which can also be written asm(n)=½[1+eiπn]+½A[1−eiπn].  (0.1)
By applying the function m in Eq. 0.1 as a modulating function to data ƒ(n) before taking a discrete Fourier transform in space (over n), F(k)=(ƒ(n)), the following result can be obtained:
                                          ℱ                                      (                                                f                                                        (                    n                    )                                                                                m                                                        (                    n                    )                                                              )                                =                                                                      1                  +                  A                                2                                                          F                                                  (                  k                  )                                                      +                                                            1                  -                  A                                2                                                          F                                                  (                                      k                    -                                          k                      N                                                        )                                                                    ,                            (                  0          .          2                )            which follows from a standard Fourier transform result (wavenumber shift) (Bracewell, 1999).
Eq. 0.2 shows that the recorded data ƒ will be scaled and replicated into two places in the spectral domain as illustrated in FIG. 1, part (B) and as quantified in Tab. I for different choices of A(ω).
TABLE IMapping of signal to cone centered at k = 0 (H+)and cone centered at k = kN (H−) for different choicesof A(ω) for signal separation or signal apparition in Eq. (0.2).A(ω)H− = (1 − A)/2H+ = (1 + A)/2101−1100½½½¼¾eiωT(1 − eiωT)/2(1 + eiωT)/21 + eiωT−eiωT/21 + eiωT/2
Part of the data will remain at the signal cone centered around k=0 (denoted by H+ in FIG. 1, part (B)) and part of the data will be scaled and replicated to a signal cone centered around kN (denoted by H−). It can be observed that by only knowing one of these parts of the data it is possible to predict the other.
This process may be referred to as, "signal apparition" in the meaning of "the act of becoming visible". In the spectral domain, the wavefield caused by the periodic source sequence is nearly "ghostly apparent" and isolated.
In practice the length of the source sequences is finite. While it is true that the Fourier series transform of any finite sequence will be periodic with a periodicity related to the length of the sequence, this type of periodicity is not what we refer to when describing periodic constraints in the current invention. Instead, in this invention we use the term periodic to denote a sequence that repeats itself at least once within the length of the sequence (i.e., the periodicity is less than half the sequence length).
A particular application of interest that can be solved by using the result in Eq. (0.2) is that of simultaneous source separation. Assume that a first source with constant signature is moved along an essentially straight line with uniform sampling of the source locations where it generates the wavefield g. Along another essentially straight line a second source is also moved with uniform sampling. Its signature is varied for every second source location according to the deterministic modulating sequence 700, generating the wavefield h. The summed, interfering data ƒ=g+h are recorded at a receiver location.
In the frequency-wavenumber domain, where the recorded data are denoted by F=G+H, the H-part is partitioned into two components H+ and H− with H=H++H− where the H−-component is nearly "ghostly apparent" and isolated around the Nyquist-wavenumber [FIG. 1, part (B)], whereas G and H+ are overlapping wavefields around k=0. Furthermore, H− is a known, scaled function of H. The scaling depends on the chosen A(ω) function (Tab. I), and can be deterministically removed, thereby producing the full appearance of the transformed wavefield H. When H is found, then G=F−H yielding the separate wavefields g and h in the time-space domain.
Although the above description has focused on acquisition along essentially straight lines, the methodology applies equally well to curved trajectories such as coil-shaped trajectories, circles, or other smoothly varying trajectories or sequences of source activations.
The concept may be extended to the simultaneous acquisition of more than two source lines by choosing different modulation functions for each source.
Acquiring a source line where the first two source locations have the same signature, followed by two again with the same signature but modified from the previous two by the function A(ω) and then repeating the pattern again until the full source line has been acquired, will generate additional signal cones centered around +kN/2.
FIG. 1, part (B) also illustrates a possible limitation of signal apparition. The H+ and H− parts are separated within the respective lozenge-shaped regions in FIG. 1, part (B). In the triangle-shaped parts they interfere and may no longer be separately predicted without further assumptions. In the example shown in FIG. 1, part (B), it can therefore be noted that the maximum non-aliased frequency for a certain spatial sampling is reduced by a factor of two after applying signal apparition. Assuming that data are adequately sampled, the method nevertheless enables full separation of data recorded in wavefield experimentation where two source lines are acquired simultaneously.
For data acquired along a single line, the dimension of the lozenge-shaped regions is a function of the velocity of the recording medium c, the number of simultaneously emitting sources n and the distance between source firing locations along the direction of the source line Δx. The frequency at the top of the lozenge-shaped regions, ƒtop, is:
                              f          top                =                              c                          n                            Δ                            x                                .                                    (        0.3        )
The frequency at the middle of the lozenge-shaped regions, ƒmid, below which the data are fully separated is:
                              f                      m                        i                        d                          =                              c                          2                            n                            Δ                            x                                .                                    (        0.4        )
Outside the lozenge-shaped region the response from the sources is not separated and overlap. Different methods for separating the wavefield contributions from the different sources in this region have been proposed, many of which rely on the exact or nearly exact separation of the wavefields within the lozenge-shaped regions (e.g., Andersson et al., 2016). Therefore, the larger the lozenge-shaped region is the larger area can first of all be exactly or nearly exactly reconstructed. However, in addition a larger lozenge-shaped region will also enhance the quality of separating wavefields in the overlapping region.
Instead of using the method of signal apparition, other methods for simultaneous source separation such as random dithering encoding can also be used to exactly or nearly exactly separate the response from different sources (Andersson et al., 2017). The region of exact or nearly exact separation will be smaller than the case of signal apparition. However, in a region in the frequency wavenumber space the number of unknowns is smaller than the number of equations under the assumption that the signal belongs in cones bounded by the velocity of the recording medium resulting in the ability to exactly or nearly exactly separate source contributions in a simultaneous source experiment below a certain frequency also in the case of randomly dithered sources.

Method for seismic data acquisition and processing


An electronic device includes a camera that is configured to generate a visual data signal that corresponds to dynamically captured graphic content that includes an image and a pointer that is operable to communicate a selection characteristic of the image. A signal processor receives the visual data signal and is operable to identify a portion of the image in the dynamically captured graphic content responsive to the selection characteristic communicated by the pointer.

Recently, there has been a proliferation of features in the field of portable communications. Portable communications devices, such as cordless and cellular telephones, pagers, wireless modems, wireless email devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) with communication functions, MP3 players and other portable communications devices are becoming more commonplace. Some of these mobile terminals are equipped with cameras and may be configured to communicate with a data network, such as the Internet, over the wireless communications network. Users of these mobile terminals typically take these devices with them anywhere they go, which allows these users to, for example, place phone calls, check an appointment on a calendar, check email, take pictures and/or access the Internet and the information available thereon using the mobile terminal.
One application for camera use in a mobile device may include capturing printed information, such as, for example, text data that is provided in a print medium. However, cameras on conventional mobile devices may lack the resolution to capture the text data in a useful form without being so close to the printed media that only a limited amount of text is within the field of view of the camera. Although the camera resolution may be improved, such improvements may be spatially impractical and/or costly.

Methods and devices that use an image-captured pointer for selecting a portion of a captured image


Pulse laser light transmitted through a laser light transmission optical fiber to an optical system unit passes through a distribution reflecting mirror and is condensed by a condenser lens group. The condenser lens group irradiates the condensed laser light onto an analysis object. The fluorescence emitted as a result of the irradiation of the pulse laser light onto the analysis object is condensed by the condenser lens group and is reflected by the distribution reflecting mirror. The optical system unit transmits the fluorescence reflected by the distribution reflecting mirror through an fluorescence transmission optical fiber to a fluorescence measuring instrument. The fluorescence measuring instrument determines the quantity of elements included in the analysis object on the basis of the fluorescence.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an analysis apparatus which analyzes elements on the basis of fluorescence obtained from plasma produced by the irradiation of laser light.
2. Description of the Related Art
One known analysis apparatus irradiates laser light onto an analysis object and determines the quantity of fluorescence produced by the irradiation of laser light, thereby making it possible to analyze the elements of the analysis object with no pretreatment in as short an analysis time as about 100 milliseconds, which enables real-time analysis (e.g., refer to (FIGS. 4 and 5 in page 6 of) Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-310596).
The analysis apparatus condenses laser light with a laser light condensing optical system and irradiates the condensed laser light onto the surface of an analysis object, thereby turning the elements at the surface of the analysis object into plasma. As soon as the irradiation of laser light has ended, the plasma starts to recombine, with the result that the constituent elements of the analysis object turn into excited-state atoms in several microseconds to several tens of microseconds. When the exited-state atoms transit to a lower level, fluorescence whose amount is proportional to the number of atoms is emitted at a wavelength peculiar to the atoms. Then, part of the fluorescence emitted from the analysis object is condensed by the fluorescence condensing optical system from the lateral direction of the laser light condensing optical system. The fluorescence is analyzed spectroscopically by a fluorescence measuring instrument, thereby analyzing the elements included in the substance that emitted the fluorescence.
Furthermore, the use of optical fiber for both of the transmission of laser light and the transmission of fluorescence improves the flexibility of analysis, which provides an analysis apparatus having superior characteristics to those of, for example, a fluorescence X-ray analysis apparatus. When laser light is transmitted through an optical fiber, the irradiation area (or analysis area) of laser light is limited, since transmittable laser light energy is limited because the optical fiber can be damaged if laser light energy to be transmitted is excessive, and since examination results have shown that an energy density of about 25 mJ/mm2 or more is required to produce plasma by the irradiation of laser light. However, the limitation of the laser light irradiation area provides the advantage of assuring the flexibility of analysis.
As described above, in the analysis apparatus, the use of optical fiber for both of the transmission of laser light and the transmission of fluorescence assures the flexibility of analysis. However, when fluorescence is condensed by the fluorescence condensing optical system from the lateral direction of the laser light condensing optical system and is transferred through an optical fiber, the surface of the analysis object must be so flat that the collection of fluorescence is not impeded. If the surface of the analysis object is irregular or has a curvature, the fluorescence condensing optical system that condenses fluorescence from the lateral direction of the laser light condensing optical system cannot condense fluorescence sufficiently, which might make analysis difficult.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an analysis apparatus which permits only a small decrease in the sensitivity due to the effect of the shape of an analysis object, enables the analysis accuracy to be improved, makes it possible to integrate the laser light condensing optical system and the fluorescence condensing optical system with each other to make the system more compact, and further enables the collection of fluorescence to be adjusted easily.

Toshiba Electron Tubes & Devices Co., Ltd.


A fish fillet board has a clamp whose jaws have a horizontal line of action extending substantially parallel to the work surface of the base of the board. Thus, when the jaws hold the fish on its side against the base, they grip the fish by its lower lip to partially paralyze the fish and render it immobile. The clamp may be designed to be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the base, as well as inverted, so that the fish may be flipped over during filleting without releasing the clamp from the lower lip of the fish.

One popular way of cleaning fish is to cut fillets from opposite sides of the fish while leaving the fish's backbone, head, and viscera intact for disposal. Typically, the fish is held flatly against a suitable base or board either by a clamp mounted on the board, or by the fisherman himself as he holds the fish with one hand and manipulates his electric or fixed blade knife with the other. Ideally, when the fisherman holds the fish manually, he inserts his thumb into the fish's mouth and grips its lower lip between his thumb and forefinger, thereby partially paralyzing the fish to facilitate filleting. However, depending upon which side of the fish is being filleted, it may be awkward and uncomfortable for the fisherman to turn his wrist in the appropriate direction to maintain a strong grip on the fish's lip throughout the process. Moreover, in order to turn the fish over to fillet the opposite side, the fisherman must release his grip on the fish's lower lip, which also terminates the partial paralyzing effect. With the lip released, the fish can have a reflex action in which its tail flips in the air, flinging slime and viscera on anything within range.
Additionally, it may be difficult for the fisherman to hold onto the fish using only his thumb and forefinger, particularly considering the slippery, wet conditions present during the cleaning process and the significant force the fisherman must exert to resist the knife as it moves in a cutting stroke along the backbone and through the ribs of the fish. Furthermore, some fish species have ridges or razor-sharp teeth on the edges of their mouth, making the thumb-gripping technique dangerous if not impossible for the fisherman. Even where the fish has only small, rough teeth, the fisherman's thumb can become rough and sore after cleaning only a few fish.
The present invention provides a fillet board having a special clamp that holds the fish on its side against the base of the board while gripping the lower lip of the fish in an action closely simulating a manual thumb/forefinger-gripping technique, so that all the benefits of manual thumb/forefinger gripping action can be achieved without the attendant downside risks and drawbacks. By employing a mechanical device that simulates a fisherman's manual thumb/forefinger grip, the fisherman's hand that would otherwise be used to grip the fish is freed up to perform other duties or otherwise assist in the process. In a manner of speaking, the special clamp thus serves as a third hand.
In another aspect, the present invention also provides a fillet board wherein the thumb/forefinger-simulating clamp thereof may be quickly and easily turned over or inverted with the fish still attached after filleting the first side of the fish, so that the second side of the fish may be filleted without ever releasing the clamp's grip on the lower lip of the fish. Thus, the fish remains partially paralyzed and under control throughout the entirety of the filleting process. Alternative quick attach embodiments of the clamp are provided for carrying out this aspect of the invention.
These and other important aspects of the present invention will be apparent from the drawings and the detailed description which follows.


A lighting system having at least two independent lighting subsystems each with a different ratio of scotopic illumination to photopic illumination. The radiant energy in the visible region of the spectrum of the lighting subsystems can be adjusted relative to each other so that the total scotopic illumination of the combined system and the total photopic illumination of the combined system can be varied independently. The dilation or contraction of the pupil of an eye is controlled by the level of scotopic illumination and because the scotopic and photopic illumination can be separately controlled, the system allows the pupil size to be varied independently of the level of photopic illumination. Hence, the vision process can be improved for a given level of photopic illumination.

The present invention relates to lighting systems and more particularly to a lighting system wherein the diameter of an eye pupil can be adjusted to improve the vision process. The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098 between the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of California.
The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is perceived as visible light by the human vision system ranges in wavelength from approximately 400 nanometers (nm) to 700 nm. Energy located primarily in the vicinity of 400 nm is perceived as blue light, and, as the wavelength is increased, the perception of color changes from blue to green to orange to red. Radiant energies of wavelengths shorter than 400 nm (ultraviolet) or longer than 700 nm (infrared) cause other biological responses but are not perceived as visible light.
When the visual system is presented with a range of colors provided by equal energy per unit of wavelength, the visual response is that the various colors will not appear to be of equal brightness. This is because the physiological visual efficacy for brightness perception varies with wavelength. The greatest visual efficacy is from green light at a wavelength of 555 nm, and the efficacy becomes less from both blue and red colors. This efficacy, known as the photopic efficacy of the eye, is the basis for photometry as it is used in industry, photography and other societal applications.
The photopic response of the visual system is a result of the absorption properties of the three different cone pigments. These cones, with their color sensitive pigments, lie within the retina and combine to produce color vision in human as well as other living species.
However, the variation of brightness sensitation with wavelength changes character under extremely dim light levels, such as a moon-less night. At these extremely low levels of light intensity, the cones do not receive enough energy to participate in the vision process, and instead, another photosensitive component of the retina, the rods, become the principal means by which vision takes place. The rod pigment (rhodopsin) is chemically different from the cone pigments and the spectral response is likewise different. The rod response, known as the scotopic efficacy response, has a peak at 507 nm where the perceived color at photopic light is a greenish blue. The scotopic efficacy decreases as the wavelength increases or decreases from the peak efficacy at 507 nm.
Thus, there are two spectral response functions involved in the overall vision process, depending on the levels of illumination. At very low light levels, the rods are activated and objects are perceived by peripheral vision. As the light level increases, the cones receive enough energy to be activated and normal color vision takes over. Although it has often been accepted as a truism that the rods are no longer involved in the vision process when the cones take over, it has been shown that even at very bright levels of illumination, a large fraction of the rhodopsin remains unbleached, such that the pupil size is primarily controlled by the rods with a spectral response following the curve of scotopic efficacy response.
Light meters used by photographic illumination engineers and lighting designers incorporate into their detection systems the photopic response in order to simulate the brightness or luminous efficacy of the eye. The level of illumination, as measured by such a meter, is an integration of the various wavelengths of the spectral output of the light source, each multiplied by the visual brightness efficacy at that wavelength. Thus, two light sources with different spectral outputs may have the same level of photopic illumination even though the total actual energy output of the sources, as measured by a spectral radiometer, are quite different.
The numerical level of photopic illumination of a light source, as determined by such integration, is usually given in footcandles (English system) or lux (metric system). If desired, the level of scotopic illumination from the light source can be determined by a similar integration process, but using the curve of scotopic efficacy response, with the numerical measure of the level being given in scotopic footcandles or scotopic lux.
The degree of dilation or contraction of the eye pupil is important for many visual tasks. For example, a dilated pupil is desirable under low levels of illumination, such as in night driving, where it is more important to have a maximum amount of light enter the eye than it is to provide visual acuity or depth of field. On the other hand, a contracted pupil will provide better acuity and depth of field so that the vision efficiency is increased. In addition, less spherical aberration results with smaller pupil size.
However, with conventional illumination, the pupil size will vary directly with the output of the light source. If it is desired to increase the acuity and depth of field, the intensity of the light source must be increased to cause the pupil to contract. However, in many instances, such increase in intensity is either not possible or is uncomfortable.

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A magazine receives a package having a stack of film sheets, such as x-ray film sheets, enclosed within a light-tight flexible bag. When the bag is positioned within the magazine and the magazine closed, the bag is cut and then removed from the magazine through is lightlock. A pair of stripper bars in the magazine are located between the lightlock and the stack of film sheets in the bag. The bars form a curved slot that enables the bag to be withdrawn through the slot while the bars block movement of the film sheets through the slot with the bag.

The present invention relates to an improved magazine of the kind used for receiving a stack of film sheets enclosed in a flexible bag and wherein the bag is removed from the sheets to enable feeding seriatim of the sheets from the magazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,800, issued Jan. 23, 1979 relates to a cassette for a stack of single film sheets, such as x-ray film sheets. The cassette is opened, an envelope containing the film sheets is inserted into the cassette, and then the cassette is closed. As the cassette is closed, cutters or knives pierce the envelope and certain of the cutters also abut against the stack of sheets to approximately position the stack of sheets in the cassette. The envelope is then pulled away from the film and through a slot forming a lightlock. As the envelope is removed, the cutters shred the envelope in a lengthwise direction, and it's possible that pieces of the envelope may not be entirely removed and could interfere with feeding of film from they cassette.
It also is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,150 issued Jan. 20, 1976, to provide a sheet feeding device which receives a bag containing sheets of film and a doubling plate that fits over the front shet, back sheet and upper edge of the stack of sheets. When the bag is in the device the bag is slit at its lower end and then the bag material and doubling plate are raised to uncover the lower portions of the sheets of film so that can be removed by suction cups. The vertical orientation required for removing of the package material relative to the sheets of film may be satisfactory for the apparatus shown in such patent, but is not generally applicable to other kinds of apparatus.
When a bag containing a stack of sheets is removed from the bag, there is a tendency for sheets in the stack to be moved with the bag material. This can cause displacement of the sheets from their desired position and result in a misfeed of sheets from the magazine.


An instrument is mounted on a motorized positioning mechanism for providing a contactless guidance of the instrument. A transmitting unit and a receiving unit are arranged in a defined relative position to an operator and the instrument so that an evaluation unit positions the instrument via corresponding control signals with the aid of the registered signals of the receiving unit. A preferred application is the contactless guidance of a surgical microscope which tracks the head movements of the surgeon.

Various guide systems are known for spatially positioning an instrument. In medical technology, for example, the task is present for surgeons to position a surgical microscope in various spatial degrees of freedom with the surgical microscope being mounted on a support.
For this purpose, published German patent application 4,032,207 discloses mounting a surgical microscope on a motorized positioning multi-link mechanism. With the aid of this multi-link mechanism, it is possible for the surgeon operating the mechanism to position the surgical microscope in space as desired without exerting force. However, the positioning of the microscope takes place via a separate control unit wherein the desired spatial coordinates of the surgical microscope must be inputted manually. Accordingly, a defined positioning during surgery is most difficult with an arrangement of this kind because the surgery must be interrupted to manually input specific spatial coordinates.
Furthermore, it is known in medical technology to spatially position surgical microscopes, which are mounted on conventional supports, with the aid of mechanical means. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,267, a mouthpiece is disclosed with which the surgeon guides the surgical microscope during the surgery. The rigid connection between the head of the surgeon and the surgical microscope as well as the necessary expenditure of effort to move the support make a positioning of this kind however likewise very difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,253 discloses an arrangement for contactlessly guiding a surgical microscope wherein the surgical microscope is moved with the aid of a voice-activated guide system. With this arrangement, significant disadvantages of the above-described guidance and positioning systems are avoided; however, difficulties result with respect to the precise determination of the particular travel path by the surgeon. The matching of the reaction times of the voice-sensitive positioning system to the corresponding voice signals is complex or possible only with difficulty.

Optical guide system for spatially positioning a surgical microscope


This disclosure details the implementation of methods, systems and computer program products for local DVR scheduling conflict management (hereinafter, “SCM”). SCM systems allow for automatic organization, prioritization, and conflict resolution for multiple scheduled recording specifications. Conflicting scheduled recordings may be re-organized based on single-stage and/or multi-stage conflict resolution procedures. Embodiments of SCM systems may also implement weighted conflict resolution, wherein user preferences and/or prioritizations may be assigned to scheduled recordings and considered in the re-organization of conflicting recordings. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising: receiving a new scheduled recording instruction comprising at least a new program identifier and a new time; comparing the new scheduled recording instruction to an existing recording schedule to determine if a recording conflict exists; performing a conflict resolution for an existing conflict to yield a new recording schedule; and storing the new recording schedule in a scheduling database.

Scheduled recording systems have come about, allowing users to specify a future time at which a recording device is to begin recording a specified program. For example, video cassette recorders (VCRs) may be equipped with scheduling capabilities such that a user may insert a blank cassette and program the VCR to begin recording to the cassette from a specified channel at a specified future time. More recently, digital video recording (DVR) devices have come about that facilitate recording of digital media content directly to a digital storage device, such as a hard drive or a remote server for later retrieval and/or viewing.
The leading number of each reference number within the drawings indicates the figure in which that reference number is introduced and/or detailed. As such, a detailed discussion of reference number 101 would be found and/or introduced in FIG. 1. Reference number 201 is introduced in FIG. 2, etc.

Methods, systems and computer program products for local DVR scheduling conflict management


The various embodiments herein relate to collapsible and stackable pallets having a base, two fork channels, a transverse fork opening, and first and second extension frames.

Carts and other wheeled objects have been used to move objects (such as products, etc.) from one place to another in retail, warehouse, and other environments in significant volume for years. In many situations, the movement of objects using carts requires multiple manual transfers of the objects, such as from the cart to another transport platform (such as, for example, a pallet) and then subsequently to another platform (such as another cart or a vehicle of some kind). For example, in certain retail or warehouse environments, a user (such as a shopper in the retail context) first obtains an empty cart (or other wheeled object) and then pushes the cart around the location while loading the desired items (such as products in the retail context) on the cart. Once the cart is full and/or the user has loaded all desired objects onto the cart, the user then pushes the cart to a desired location and loads the objects from the cart to a pallet. The pallet is then transported to a desired location by a forklift, pallet jack, or any other known device for moving a pallet. Once the pallet is moved to the desired location, the objects are moved from the pallet to another location, such as a vehicle. Alternatively, the objects can be moved from the pallet to another cart and then subsequently to another location, such as a vehicle. Regardless of the specific steps, the two or more manual transfers of the objects require someone to physically move the objects each time. This adds to the time and effort required for getting the objects from one place to another.
There is a need in the art for an improved pallet for transporting a cart from one place to another, and related systems and methods.

Stackable, collapsible pallets for transporting wheeled devices and related systems and methods


The tuftsin analog Thr-Lys-Leu-Lys has been found to have biological activity superior to that of tuftsin itself.

The present invention relates to peptides which have immunomodulatory activity. More specifically, it relates to analogs of tuftsin.
An enormous number of factors are undoubtedly involved in vivo in the regulation of the immune system, and also in the growth and differentiation of normal and tumor cells. Tuftsin is one such natural immunomodulating factor, and its chemical structure has been established to be L-Thr-L-Lys-L-Pro-L-Arg. Tuftsin has been found to have a number of interesting biological activities, such as antitumor, anti-infection, anti-AIDS and growth factor activities, and enhancement of the phagocytic and cytotoxic activities of leukocytes.
The biological activities of tuftsin have led researchers to attempt to find analogs which have improved activity in one or more respects. Unfortunately, such attempts have been largely unsuccessful. Most of the analogs synthesized either have not possessed the desired activity, or have been found to be competitive inhibitors of tuftsin.
Therefore, a need exists for tuftsin analogs which have advantages in biological activity or in other respects over tuftsin.

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A differential current driver has a current source that supplies current selectively to two output terminals according to data to be transmitted. A comparison circuit compares the current output by the current source with a reference value and generates a control signal. Responding to the control signal, a current adjustment circuit adjusts the current supplied to the two output terminals by, for example, shunting part of the current to ground, or by adjusting a bias voltage that controls the current output of the current source. A switching circuit may shunt all of the current output by the current source during a brief period preceding output of current from the output terminals. These operations take place around transitions from the output disabled state to the output enabled state, and avoid the output of excessive current just after such transitions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a differential current driver and a method of using the differential current driver to transmit data.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known art to use low voltage differential signaling to transmit data between communication devices or large-scale integrated circuit (LSI) devices. This type of transmitting and receiving of data will be described with reference to FIG. 12. Data transmission is carried out by a differential driver 1 that switches output current between two output terminals (referred to as positive and negative terminals) of the transmitting device 40. The current is conducted by a twisted pair cable 45 to the receiving device 50, where it generates voltages at corresponding (positive and negative) Input terminals linked by a terminating resistor (not shown). A receiver 51 in the receiving device 50 compares the voltages at these input terminals in order to determine the value of the received data (Rcv_DATA).
FIG. 13 shows the internal structure of the differential driver 1. The differential driver 1 includes a p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistor 2 that operates as a current source (and will be referred to below as a current source 2), PMOS transistors 3 and 4 (referred to below as switches 3 and 4), NAND gates 8 and 9, and inverters 6 and 7. The switches 3 and 4 switch the current output from the current source 2 between the positive (POS) and negative (NEG) output terminals according to a binary data signal received at a data input terminal. The inverters 6 and 7 invert the data signal. The NAND gates 8 and 9 control switches 3 and 4 according the data signal, the inverted data signal, and an output enable (OE) signal received at an output enable input terminal for output enable/disable control of the differential driver 1. When the OE signal is high, one of the two switches 3 and 4 is turned on according to the data signal, and current is output from the corresponding output terminal. When the OE signal goes low, both switches 3 and 4 are turned off, and no current is output.
When the differential driver 1 is switched from the output disabled state to the output enabled state, it takes time for the operation of the current source 2 to stabilize. For that reason, in a device that transmits and receives data at high speed, the internal structure of the differential driver 1 may be altered as shown in FIG. 14. In FIG. 14, when the differential driver 1 is in the output disabled state, a PMOS transistor 14 (referred to below as a switch 14) is turned on, allowing the current from the current source 2 to escape to ground. Current therefore flows from the current source 2 at all times, irrespective of the output state of the differential driver 1. Differing from the structure in FIG. 13, the structure in FIG. 14 eliminates the need to wait for stabilization of the current source 2 when the differential driver is switched from the output disabled state to the output enabled state, and high-speed data transfer becomes possible. These structures are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 8-204557 and 2000-332610.
In the structure shown in FIG. 13, when the differential driver 1 is in the output disabled state, since the switches 3 and 4 are both turned off, the voltage at their common node N is substantially equal to the power supply voltage (VDD). When the differential driver 1 transitions from this state to the output enabled state, since one of the switches 3 and 4 is turned on, the voltage at the common node N decreases. This node is the also drain node of the current source 2, however. Since the gate and drain of a PMOS transistor are capacitively coupled, when the voltage at the common node N decreases (i.e., the drain voltage of the current source 2 decreases), the bias voltage at the gate of the current source 2 also decreases. As a result, the current flow from the current source 2 increases. For this reason, until the bias voltage returns to its normal level, more current than is required flows from the positive output terminal or the negative output terminal. In the structure shown in FIG. 14, the increase in output current accompanying a transition of the differential driver from the output disabled state to the output enabled state is prevented, but the differential driver consumes much current, since current flows from the current source 2 at all times.

Differential current driver and data transmission method


A system for monitoring an automated door assembly comprises a sensor, a local area network having a firewall, and a manager. The sensor is coupled to the automated door assembly and is in communication with the local area network. The local area network and the manager are connected to the internet. The manager and the sensor are capable of communicating by a handshake protocol.

The constant miniaturization of sensors combined with progressively increasing network speeds allow networked sensor systems to be used to monitor many different activities in a variety of settings. A particularly desirable application is monitoring the use of mechanical components that are subject to repeated use, such as automated doors. For example, a warehouse operator could monitor the overhead doors found in loading bays. This may be achieved by coupling a sensor to every door in the facility. Sensors may be used to determine if the doors are open or closed, which will improve security. Sensors may also be used to determine when a door suffers a mechanical malfunction. Rapidly detecting mechanical problems of the doors improves operating efficiency by reducing the wait time to begin repairs.
Sensor systems for monitoring equipment are known. Typically, one or more sensors are wired to a controller hub nearby. One or more controller hubs are connected to a local server through a local ethernet, forming a sensor network. In such a configuration, each controller hub knows how many sensors are wired to it based on how many of its plugs are filled. The controller hubs passively receive sensor data and convert that information to a data type that can be sent over the ethernet to the local server. The controller hubs do not independently collect any information, so if the network were to go down, the sensor information would not be transmitted to the local server. The local server may request a sensor poll from all of the networked controller hubs. When the local server requests a sensor poll, each controller hub responds with how many of its plugs are filled, and the server can determine from that number how many of the sensors are still active.

System and method for monitoring door usage


The present invention relates to a downhole system for a well producing hydro-carbon-containing fluid. The downhole system comprises a casing comprising a first casing part and a second casing part, the second casing part having a casing thickness and comprising at least one sleeve having an inner face, and the second casing part being substantially a monobore in that the second casing part has an inner diameter which varies by less than twice the casing thickness; and a drop device for being immersed into the casing having at least one sleeve having an inner face. The drop device comprises a body having a width; a leading end; and a trailing end. The body further comprises an expandable sealing element arranged between the leading end and the trailing end, moving from a first position in which fluid is allowed to pass the device and a second position in which the sealing element abuts the inner face of the sleeve and seals off a first zone in the well from a second zone in the well. Furthermore, the invention relates to a downhole system and a stimulation method.

When stimulating production zones in wells, a first ball is dropped into the well and flows with the well fluid until it reaches a ball seat which it cannot pass, causing the ball to seat in the ball seat of a first sleeve. A continuous pumping of fluid into the well then results in a pressure on the ball moving the sleeve from a closed position to an open position. As the sleeve opens, the fluid enters the formation surrounding the well, and the stimulation process can begin. A second production zone is stimulated be dropping a second ball which is larger than the first ball, which flows in the fluid until it reaches a ball seat in another sleeve positioned closer to the top of the well than the first sleeve. The second ball seats in the ball seat of the second sleeve, the sleeve is forced open, and the stimulation process of the second production zone can begin. In this way, multiple balls can be dropped to stimulate multiple sections of the well.
When the stimulation of the production zones has ended, an operation tool is submerged into the well to retrieve the ball seated in the sleeve closest to the surface, e.g. by drilling a hole in the ball. The first operation tool is then retracted from the well again, and the operation tool is, in a second run, submerged into the well to retrieve the next ball. The retrieval process is continued until all the balls have been retrieved, and oil production can be initiated by opening all the sleeves again.
Using this ball dropping process is inexpensive, but also very time-consuming since the balls have to be retrieved one by one. Furthermore, retrieving a round ball rolling in a ball seat can be very difficult, and the retrieval process may therefore fail.


A method for trimming data on non-volatile flash media is generally presented. In this regard, in one embodiment, a method is introduced comprising allocating a temporary file that occupies free space on a flash memory, determining specific blocks of the flash memory that the temporary file occupies, generating TRIM commands for the specific blocks, and deleting the temporary file. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Flash memory is being used more frequently for data storage in computing devices and in some cases is replacing a traditional hard disk drive. Data stored in flash memory that an operating system (OS) "deletes" and considers available space may actually be maintained in the flash memory potentially lowering performance. A Trim operation has been standardized by Technical Committee T13 providing a way to instruct flash memory devices about which logical addresses for which it no longer has to maintain an active logical to physical address mapping.

Method for trimming data on non-volatile flash media


A device and method for enhancing current driving are provided. The device comprises an operational amplifier, a monitor device, and an auxiliary output device. The monitor device is adopted to monitor whether the non-inverse input signal is close to a maximum or minimum voltage of an input source of the operational amplifier. When the non-inverse input signal is close to the maximum or minimum voltage, the auxiliary output device outputs an auxiliary current to an output terminal of the device of enhancing current driving.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and method for enhancing output current driving, and more particularly to a device and method for enhancing current driving by using an auxiliary output device to output an auxiliary current.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional operational amplifier can be used for amplifying a signal difference between two input signals. Generally, an output voltage of a voltage operational amplifier is equal to a difference between a non-inverse input voltage and an inverse input voltage multiplying a voltage gain of the operational amplifier. An ideal voltage operational amplifier has high input impedance, and its output impedance is near 0. Regarding an operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), its output current is equal to a difference between its non-inverse input voltage and inverse input voltage multiplying a transconductance gain of the operational amplifier. An ideal OTA has high input impedance and a high output impedance.
For a conventional operational amplifier, in order to achieve rail-to-rail effect, when a range of an output voltage is proximately close to a range of an input voltage, and to obtain great current driving, an output stage usually is added after the operational amplifier.
FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing a conventional operational amplifier. Referring to FIG. 1, the operational amplifier 100 comprises an OTA 102 and an output stage 104. The non-inverse input voltage of the OTA 102 is V1, and its inverse input voltage is V2. The output stage 104 comprises a pull-push output stage, which is composed of two metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors 112 and 114. The output terminal of the OTA 102 is coupled to the input terminal of the output stage 104. The output voltage of the output stage 104 is VO, and coupled to the load 106. The voltage range of the input source of the operational amplifier 102 is between the VDD and ground, 0V. The source of the PMOS transistor 112 of the output stage 104 is coupled to the voltage VDD, and the source of the NMOS transistor 114 is grounded. Due to its high output impedance, the OTA 102 is not adapted for driving the load 106 with low resistance or high capacitance. By using the push-pull output stage 104 to push or pull a current from the load 106, the current driving and the output voltage range are enhanced.
In some applications, the conventional operational amplifier used in a unit gain buffer, however, generates great output offset.
FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing showing an application of a conventional operational amplifier circuit. Referring to FIG. 2, the output terminal of the output stage 104 is coupled to the inverse input terminal of the OTA 102. Generally, this connection method is called negative feedback. For example, if the voltage VO is close to the maximum voltage VDD of the input source, while outputting a great push current to the load 106, a great output offset is created. Traditionally, a method of reducing the output offset is to lower the impedance of the output terminal of the output stage 104 to the positive voltage source VDD, that is, to increase the aspect ratio of the PMOS transistor 112. In addition, if the voltage VO is very close to the minimum voltage 0V of the input power source, while pulling a great pull current from the load 106, a great output offset also is created. A traditional method of reducing the output offset is to lower the impedance of the output stage 104 to the negative voltage source, i.e., the ground terminal, that is, to increase the aspect ratio of the NMOS transistor 114.
Accordingly, if the conventional operational amplifier includes both the rail-to-rail function and great current driving, the aspect ratios of the transistors 112 and 114 of the output stage 104 should be increased. The conventional circuit, however, increases the circuit layout area and also the cost. In addition, it also enhances the steady current flowing from the transistor 112 to the transistor 114 of the output stage 104, causing power loss. Accordingly, an operational amplifier which can achieve the rail-to-rail output, have a great current driving, and reduce the aspect ratio of the transistor and cost without increasing the steady current is desired.

Device and method for enhancing output current driving