A rolling contact bearing has inner and outer rings, at least one of them coated with an insulating film for protecting the bearing against electrolytic corrosion. The insulating film is made of polyphenylene sulphide resin containing glass fiber.

This invention relates to a rolling contact bearing coated with an insulating film to improve resistance to electrolytic corrosion.
In order to prevent electrolytic corrosion which may occur between bearing rings and rolling elements, it is a known practice to provide insulating coatings or films on the surfaces of bearing rings of a rolling contact bearing such as a ball bearing or a roller bearing, thus preventing a current from flowing to the bearing rings from outside. (e.g. Japanese Utility Model Application 63-165244)
Since such insulating coatings are formed on a bearing adapted to be mounted between a rotary shaft and a housing with a predetermined interference, they are required to be sufficiently low in water absorption so that they will not suffer dimensional changes and also to have a high creep resistance enough to prevent and decrease in the thickness of the insulating films and thus to keep the interference of the bearing unchanged.
Also, such insulating films are required to be sufficiently heat-resistant so that they will not suffer deformation or change in properties even if the bearing is subjected to high temperatures while being rotated at high speed. Further, their moldability has to be sufficiently high so that they can be mass-produced at low cost.
Engineering plastics are now drawing much attention as materials for functional parts of mechanical or electrical parts. Among such plastics, polyamide 66 (hereinafter referred to as PA66), polyamide 6 (PA6), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are known as materials having high insulation properties and thus suitable for use as insulating films. But, an insulating film made of such materials has a problem in that they do not meet the requirements completely.
Namely, though it is possible to increase the creep resistance of PA66 and PA6 by adding glass fiber as a reinforcing material, these materials have a problem in that their water absorption coefficient is so high that their dimensions tend to change remarkably, Also, their insulation properties tend to change with temperature, so that they show unstable insulating performance.
On the other hand, PBT and PET are low in water absorption and thus are less likely to suffer dimensional changes and decline in insulation properties. But their heat resistance and creep resistance are not sufficient as materials for insulating films.
Namely, while an insulating film to be formed on a bearing adapted for high-speed operation is required to withstand a temperature of about 150.degree. C., the tensile strength of PBT and PET reduces to half at a lower temperature than 150.degree. C. Thus, no sufficient strength is obtainable at high temperatures.
If glass fiber is added to these materials to increase the creep resistance, their moldability will worsen markedly (this is especially true with PET), Thus, it is difficult to form these materials into a thin insulating film by injection molding.
An object of the present invention is to provide a bearing coated with insulating films which can protect the bearing against electrolytic corrosion and have excellent insulating properties.

Rolling contact bearing protected against electrolytic corrosion


A tension rod positioning apparatus and method for C-type clamps and Vises including a shaped threaded rod inserted into a shaped threaded hole on an engagement collar. When the shaped rod and shaped hole are aligned, the rod may be freely positioned within the collar. When the shaped rod is inserted into the collar and turned, the rod engages and turns the engagement collar. The engagement collar includes an external thread sized to fit an internal thread on a clamp base. In this manner, the rod may be inserted and then turned in one direction to both engage the engagement collar and increase the clamping pressure. After clamping, the shaped rod may be turned in the opposite direction to loosen the clamping pressure and disengage the engagement collar. Once the rod and collar have been disengaged by aligning the shaped rod and shaped hole of the engagement collar, the length of the rod may be freely moved within the engagement collar to reposition the clamp for the next operation.

The present invention relates generally to clamping systems and more specifically, this invention relates to c-clamps and vises and provides an improved quick position method and apparatus for use of these devices.
Several United States Patents describe clamping systems. These include: U.S. Pat. No. 298,704 issued to Norris et al. on May 13, 1884; U.S. Pat. No. 823,748 issued to Walden on Jun. 19, 1906; U.S. Pat. No. 825,151 issued on McLean on Jul. 3, 1906; U.S. Pat. No. 947,619 issued to Orr on Jan. 25, 1910; U.S. Pat. No. 1,140,646 issued to Abernathy on May 25, 1915; U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,458 issued to Farrell on Nov. 11, 1947; U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,698 issued to Flynn on Dec. 12, 1967; U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,886 issued to Naureckas on Feb. 3, 1970; U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,624 issued to Timmer on Apr. 11, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,892 issued to Wu on Apr. 21, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,547 issued to Cox on Aug. 13, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,427 issued to Lodrick, Sr., on Jun. 28, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,169 issued to Lodrick, Sr., on May 15, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,736 issued to Allison on Sep. 7, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,973 issued to Khachatoorian on Aug. 8, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,621 issued to Ping on Jun. 26, 2001; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,241 issued to Harrison on Oct. 2, 2001. Each of these patents is hereby incorporated by reference.
Of particular note in this list of patents is U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,241, issued to Harrison on Oct. 2, 2001, entitled Adjustable C-Clamp. This patent describes an adjustable C-Clamp including a frame which receives a clamp cylinder at the top clamp seat. A slotted cylinder is then secured in the clamp cylinder such that a clamp rod may be moveably disposed in the slotted cylinder for a quick movement in and out of the cylinder. A clamp rod pin is positioned on the clamp rod to engage the slotted cylinder. The clamp rod pin is designed to traverse a pair of parallel, diametrically-opposed a longitudinally cylinder slots in the slotted cylinder to facilitate slideably adjusting the clamp rod in the slotted cylinder. Rotation of the clamp rod in the clamp cylinder seats the pins in a pair of multiple spaced-apart pin slots to provide for threaded extension of the clamp cylinder through the top clamp seat.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 946,619 issued to Orr on Jan. 25, 1910, which discloses a wrench. This patent describes the use of a shank with a flat side including teeth that are adapted to engage a toothed sleeve for positioning the jaws of the wrench. As can be noted by the disclosure of this patent, this teaching is limited in the available positioning of the jaws by the engagement of the teeth.
These prior art patents have several disadvantages including the available adjustment of the systems and the control of the pieces in relation to each other in these systems as well as the overall strength of the system provided by their means of connection. What is needed then is an improved positioning system for clamps and vises.
The present invention provides an improved tension rod positioning apparatus and method for C-type clamps and Vises. The present invention uses at least three teeth on a toothed rod inserted into a toothed hole on an engagement collar. When the rod and hole are aligned, the rod may be freely positioned within the collar. When the rod is inserted into the collar, the three teeth center the rod within the collar to provide an axial alignment of the rod with the hole. When the rod is then turned, the teeth of the rod provide the alignment of the rod and the hole and the turning action engages the rod teeth with the teeth of the engagement collar to turn the engagement collar. The multiple sets of teeth positioned along the rod and collar along with the axial alignment provided by the teeth provide an increased strength connection and an enhanced positioning for the rod to collar engagement. The engagement collar includes an external thread sized to fit an internal thread on the clamp base. In this manner, the rod may be inserted and turned in one direction to both engage and turn the engagement collar in order to increase the clamping pressure. After clamping, the rod may be turned in the opposite direction to both loosen the clamping pressure and disengage the engagement collar. Once the rod and collar have been disengaged by aligning the rod and hole of the engagement collar, the length of the rod may be freely moved within the engagement collar to reposition the clamp for the next operation.


Provided is a remote access method between a remote access client (RAC) and a remote access server (RAS) in a network comprising a network address translation (NAT) device. The method includes obtaining a transport address set (TAS) with respect to a home remote access server (RAS) from an external server; registering the obtained TAS to a transport address resolution (TAR) server; receiving an IP packet transported from a remote access client (RAC) using the registered TAS; and transporting a response packet along a transport path of the received IP packet. Thus, an RAC can remotely access an RAS in a network comprising an NAT device, and an optimum communication path can be determined.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to a remote access (RA), and more particularly, to a remote access between a remote access client (RAC) and a remote access server (RAS) in environments in which various network address translation (NAT) devices are applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing cases of network address translation (NAT) applied in a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) remote access process.
Referring to FIG. 1, various scenarios are shown according to the position of an NAT device. As shown in Cases 1 through 4, the NAT device may be on a home gateway or in an Internet Service Provider (ISP) network. AN NAT device positioned in front of a Remote Access Client (RAC) indicates an NAT device that is on a gateway in a home network to which the RAC belongs, or an NAT device that is in an ISP network.
In Case 1, no NAT device is present between a home gateway and a public network, and only one NAT device is positioned on the home gateway between an RAC and a public network. Here, the home gateway is limited to supporting an Internet Gateway Device (UPnP IGD).
In Cases 2 through 4, an NAT device is present between a RAS, that is, a home RAS, and a public network. Cases 2 through 4 are classified according to whether an NAT device is present in front of an RAC, and if an NAT is present in front of an RAC, the cases may be classified again according to the type of the NAT device. In Case 2, no NAT device is present, and in Cases 3 and 4, an NAT device is present. The NAT device of Case 3 is a Full Cone NAT, and the NAT device of Case 4 is a non-full cone NAT.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a related art UPnP Remote Access Architecture v1.0.
The Related Art UPnP Remote Access Architecture v1.0 operates as follows.
First, a Management Console (MC) module 240 receives an external IP address from an IGD, and calls an Inbound Connection Configuration (ICC) service interface 222 of an RAS 220 to set addresses of a Simple Traversal of User Datagram Protocol through NAT (STUN) server and a Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS) server. Here, in addition to setting the addresses of the STUN and DDNS servers, the ICC service interface 222 can deliver information collected by a STUN client to the MC module 240. The information collected by a STUN client may be, for example, whether an RAS is with an IGD or not.                When an RAC 210 and the RAS 220 are in the same network, the MC module 240 calls Remote Access Transport Agent (RATA) Configuration services 211 and 224 of the RAS 220 and the RAC 210 to set a profile, which is a parameter for an RA transport channel.
After the RAC 210 is separated from the network, the RAC 210 establishes a Remote Access Transport (RAT) channel connection in the external network based on the above set RATA Configuration information.
Remote Access Discovery Agents (RADA) 212 and 221 of the RAC 210 and the RAS 220 synchronize network images via the generated RAT channel. Here, the RAS 220 may set a filter of a device list of a local network that is exhibited to the outside via an RADA Configuration service 223. The RADA may synchronize tree-shaped network images with respect to an UPnP device list of local and remote networks. That is, when a device is added to a local network, an AddRemoteDevice interface of a remote network is called to add a new device to a node of a network image.
Finally, the RAC 210 discovers a service of the RAS 220 from the synchronized network image, and the RAC 210 may request the discovered service by itself via a RAT channel. Here, the RAS 220 functions as a router, and the home device 230 actually responds to the request of the RAC 210.
The above-described related art UPnP Remote Access Architecture v1.0 can support only Case 1 of FIG. 1. That is, the related art UPnP Remote Access Architecture v1.0 can support only Case 1 of FIG. 1 with no regard to whether an NAT device is present in front of an RAC or not, or to the type of the NAT device, as long as a gateway is directly connected to a public network and an RAS is present in a separate device in the home or on a gateway. However, if an NAT device is present in front of an RAS as in Cases 2 through 4, an RAC cannot connect to an RAS properly.

Remote access method in network environment comprising NAT device


A device for filling containers, comprising: an upper main element, a lower main element and lateral elements connecting the upper main element and the lower main element;                support elements arranged at one another without a continuous drive device, which support elements are continuously run through the device along operating stations and along the main elements and whose interconnection with one another due to a support along at least one lateral element is disengaged, wherein the interconnection of the support elements with one another in the upper main element and/or in the lower main element is maintained over the entire movement path along the top main element and the bottom main element, and wherein the movement of the support elements in the upper main element and/or in the lower main element is acceleratable and deceleratable in a controlled manner with the interconnection of the support elements being maintained.

Typically the containers to be filled according to the non related art are inserted into support elements which are connected with one another through a continuous feed device like a conveying chain and which are continuously run through the filling device. This drive mode is reliable and provides a permanent interconnection of the support elements with one another. The support elements can be accelerated and decelerated in a controlled manner, which is required in particular for high cyclic rates with which the support elements are moved through the filling device.
The non related art, however, also has substantial disadvantages which were so far accepted as necessary limitations when operating filling devices. One of the disadvantages is the chain which elongates during operation which makes positioning the containers below the particular operating stations difficult. Besides requiring frequent adaptation of the basic settings the chain elongation requires a separate positioning aide almost in every operating station in order to provide exact treatment for the containers.
Another essential disadvantage is caused by the required massive drive elements which have substantial weight and through which the masses to be accelerated of respectively configured drives require supports etc. Overall the machine itself is very heavy and a plurality of high quality and expensive components needs to be installed and disassembled and uninstalled or replaced during maintenance. This does not only cause substantial material and component expense during production and maintenance. Substantial production shortfalls have to be accepted when the equipment is maintained.
Therefore attempts were made again and again to design filling devices with a "chainless drive" since these at least in theory do not have many of the recited disadvantages.
The invention itself relates to a "chainless filling device" of this type wherein chainless means that the support elements are not arranged at one another through a continuously run drive member like e.g. a chain.
A device of this type is known from EP 1 495 997 A1 in various embodiments.
Besides embodiments in which the support elements are supported on rollers or wheels along the main elements, EP 1 495 997 B1 also discloses embodiments in which the support elements are moved on sliding rails along the main elements with the faces of the support elements contacting one another. In FIGS. 10 and 11 of EP 1 495 997 B1 lateral elements in the form of elevators are illustrated which move the support elements from the upper main element into the lower main element and back. Thus, a support element is a disengaged from a respective main element and an elevator receiver is coupled instead into the lateral element. The receiver includes a free space into which the subsequent support element is pressed during the next feed movement.
The lateral elements configured as an elevator have a significant advantage. With these lateral elements the support elements can be integrated into the lower main element without the topside of the support element provided for receiving the containers changing its orientation in the lower main element.
The solution sketched out in EP 1 495 997 B1, however, has a significant disadvantage. The interconnection between the cell plates is dissolved through the cell plate being disengaged at the end of the upper and/or lower main element. A controlled acceleration and a controlled deceleration of the cell plates arranged in the lower main element or upper main element is not provided anymore. The lower main element and the upper main element typically form the main elements of the device in which main elements operating stations can be arranged.
In the unpublished application PCT/DE2009/001752 of the applicant support elements are disclosed that are arranged on a frame wherein the frames are connected with one another through attachment elements associated with the frame, so that the interconnection of the support elements arranged in the main elements is maintained.


A controller-integrated rotating electrical machine includes: a power element disposed adjacent to a rotating electrical machine main body and controlled to perform control of energization to the rotating electrical machine main body; a control circuit disposed adjacent to the power element in the longitudinal direction and at a side opposite to the rotating electrical machine main body to control the power element; a power line connecting the rotating electrical machine main body to the power element and having a straight line portion having a substantially straight line shape; and a current detector disposed at the straight line portion and detecting a line current flowing between the power element and the rotating electrical machine main body via the power line at the straight line portion so that an output from the current detector is used by the control circuit for the energization control.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotating electrical machine integrated with a controller, wherein the rotating electrical machine such as a motor and a generator is integrated with the controller controlling outputs of the rotating electrical machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional controller of a rotating electrical machine is generally provided at a position detached from the rotating electrical machine and, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, for example, constituted of an inverter circuit, a control circuit, a semiconductor current element with an output conductor current detection magnetic core, and an output signal amplification circuit housed in a housing different from that housing the rotating electrical machine. The current detection element with core, the amplification circuit, and the control circuit are mounted on an identical substrate.
Recently, a controller-integrated rotating electrical machine obtainable by integrating a controller with a rotating electrical machine has come under study, and one example of such controller-integrated rotating electrical machine is disclosed in Patent Literature 2. In Patent Literature 2, a controller (voltage controller) of a rotating electrical machine is mounted on the rotating electrical machine, and this controller-integrated rotating electrical machine has plural high side switches and plural low side switches serving as semiconductor switching elements and is provided with an output controller for in-vehicle generator. The rotating electrical machine also has the output controller for a vehicle which is provided with an AC/DC power conversion unit applying a power generation voltage for the generator to a battery after commutating the voltage, a field current controller constituted of a switching element interrupting a field current for energizing a field coil, and a voltage controller including a semiconductor integrated circuit maintaining the voltage of the battery at a predetermined value by controlling one of the AC/DC power conversion unit and the field current controller. In this controller-integrated rotating electrical machine, control on outputs of the rotating electrical machine is adjusted by detecting an interphase voltage.
Patent Literature 1: JP-A-11-127583 (FIG. 3 and description thereof)
Patent Literature 2: JP-A-2003-225000 (FIG. 7 and description thereof)
As a current detection element, a magnetic detection element detecting intensity of a magnetic field generated when a current is supplied is widely used as a high accuracy detection unit. However, in view of a strong demand for structural reliabilities such as shake resistance and heat resistance, a constitution achieving positioning of the detection element with increased accuracy, high rigidity and excellent shake resistance, easy assembly, improvements in detection accuracy in view of the magnetic field generated by the rotating electrical machine itself, and the like is required for a conventional controller-integrated rotating electrical machine unlike a controller provided separately from the rotating electrical machine.

Controller-integrated rotating electrical machine


A labelling device for electrical terminal blocks is characterized by a unitary labelling element including a base portion which can be connected with the insulated body of the block and a tag portion connected with the base portion in a swingable manner via a strap hinge. When the tag portion is folded to the closed position, it is connected with the base portion via a pin and aperture press-fit connection. The labelling device can be manufactured in a simple manner with a narrow design and reliably retained in the closed position, whereby it also functions to cover the access openings of the terminal block.

The present invention relates to a labelling device for electrical terminal blocks including a base portion that can be fastened with a label carrier receiver of the insulating material body of the terminal block and a tag portion that is swingably connected with the base portion and that can be positioned on the narrow topside of the terminal block.

Labelling device for electrical terminal blocks


A pyrometer is located beneath a soldering path downstream of a flow nozzle and is shielded by a metal plate which extends transversely relative to the soldering direction and obliquely upwardly toward the path. The pyrometer is connected to a limit value generator which responds when the limit value is exceeded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an arrangement for monitoring the temperature of flow soldering in flat modules, and more particularly into such an arrangement which uses a pyrometer which is shielded from the solder flow with a metal plate immediately following the flow nozzle and in which the pyrometer is connected to a limit value generator which operates when an allowable limit temperature of the flat module is exceeded.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An overheating of flat modules is not absolutely impossible during flow soldering. Operational outages are a consequence. This condition can occur in parameter-control soldering systems as well as in conventional, rigid soldering systems. Possible reasons for this are that the controllable parameters are incorrectly set, fixed parameters are incorrectly set forth, an incorrect soldering program is engaged or control errors occur. Furthermore, the parameters can lie in the allowable range of tolerance, but can all lie in the extreme positive range thereof.

Arrangement for monitoring the temperature in flow soldering of flat modules


An antimicrobial article, a cell culture article, an antithrombotic article, or a biopharmaceutical article that can reduce adhesion of proteins, blood components, cells, or bacteria containing a copolymer that contains a polymerized unit (A) represented by —CH2—CHOH— and a polymerized unit (B) represented by —CH2—CX2—, wherein Xs are the same as or different from each other, and are each an alkyl group having a linear, branched, or cyclic structure, and optionally containing an oxygen atom between carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having a linear, branched, or cyclic structure, and optionally containing a hetero atom between carbon atoms, a siloxy group having a carbon number of 3 or greater, an ester group containing an aromatic ring or an alkyl group and having a linear, branched, or cyclic structure, or H, excluding those in which both Xs are H.

Artificial materials in contact with biological components may suffer adhesion of components such as proteins or platelets on their surfaces, resulting in disadvantages such as poor performance of the materials and harmful influences on biological reactions. This creates a strong demand for artificial materials with biocompatible surfaces to be used in applications involving contact with biological components.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a compound for preventing protein adhesion. This compound is for forming a coating layer that prevents adsorption of proteins on the surface of an article, and is formed from a fluorine-containing polymer.

Copolymer-comprising antimicrobial, cell culture, antithrombotic, or biopharmaceutical article

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION NARA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A measuring device is provided: the measuring device including: a power supply configured to provide electric power to a chip via at least one of a chip connection and a chip-carrier connection; a chip arrangement receiving portion configured to receive a chip arrangement, the chip arrangement including a chip and a chip-carrier connected to the chip via one or more chip-to-chip-carrier connections; a detection portion including a plate; a detection circuit coupled to the plate and configured to detect an electrical signal from the plate; wherein the plate is configured such that it covers at least part of at least one of the chip, the chip-carrier, and the chip-to-chip-carrier connection; and wherein the plate is further configured such that at least part of the at least one of the chip, the chip-carrier, and the chip-to-chip-carrier connection is uncovered by the plate.

During the production of integrated circuits, e.g. semiconductor devices such as microcontroller devices, a semiconductor chip may be connected, e.g. glued, e.g. bonded, to a leadframe. The semiconductor chip to leadframe connection may further be sprayed or molded in a chip-housing. Through these productions steps, the fingers of the lead frame may be bent or disturbed. Drifting or movement of the bond wires may arise, due to manufacturing errors. These manufacturing anomalies may be only recognized in the final test, e.g. the end test. Short circuits between the pins, e.g. between the pins of the integrated circuit, may be realized using productions testing at fixed measuring points, and at pre-defined temperatures, e.g. at room, high or low temperatures. Chips which lie on the fringe of performance, "outliers", are those which are not obviously known to show short circuit characteristics during the end test. They represent a quality risk, as they may end up being delivered to the customers, without having displayed any short circuits during the manufacturing tests. Following delivery, e.g. to an end consumer, the chips may fail, therefore creating problems with respect to the quality of chip manufacturing and production. If these problems were to be eliminated and recognized early, chips with faulty connections to the leadframe may be removed early.
Up till now, the location of fingers of a leadframe and the location and shape of bond wires may be inspected through X-ray inspections systems. Such a method is usually very complex, and can at best, only be applied to a sample part of the chip. In other words, such a method is too complex and expensive to be applied to the entire chip, and therefore, faults may be left undetected, or unchecked. In rare cases, an optical x-ray controller may be used to test the entire chip, e.g. 100% of the chip. However, this is costly and time consuming. Other test equipment systems may generally lack the sensitivity to detect low quality connections between the fingers of the lead frame and the bond wires.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Measuring device and a method for measuring a chip-to-chip-carrier connection


A cutting device for cutting a sternum of a patient comprises a laser source, a beam adjusting structure, a support and a correction arrangement. The laser source is adapted to generate a cut laser beam. The beam adjusting structure is arranged for directing the laser beam along a predefined cut geometry at the sternum. The support carries the laser source. The support has a mounting structure adapted to be fixed to a rib cage of the patient such that the laser source is in a predefined position with respect to the sternum. The correction arrangement is adapted to automatically identify a movement of the laser source relative to the sternum causing the cut laser beam to deviate from the predefined cut geometry and adjust the position of the laser source relative to the sternum to correct the deviation of the cut laser beam with respect to the predefined cut geometry.

In many medical applications human or animal bones are cut or drilled for various purposes. For example, for correcting the shape of a bone it is known to apply one or plural cuts to a bone and to reshape the bone along the cuts. For the removal of tumors in bone, or, for replacing a tooth it is common practice to drill a hole in the jaw bone and to provide an implant into the drilled hole as an artificial tooth root. For applying such cuts many types of instruments or tools are used depending on the specific circumstances of the cuts.
More particularly, in various medical or surgical applications the sternum of a human being is cut. For example, for gaining access to the thoracic organs, e.g. for accessing the heart in cardiothoracic surgery, the sternum is cut apart such that the rib cage can be opened. Thereby, a vertical inline incision is typically made along the sternum after which the sternum is divided or cracked. Since the organs and other tissue inside the interior of the rib cage are highly sensitive and of crucial importance for the health of the patient, the sternum has to be precisely and carefully divided. This is particularly difficult since the sternum is a comparably thick and strong bone structure and, vital organs such as the heart and lung are in contact with it.
As instruments for cutting sterna it is widespread to use mechanical tools such as conventional or oscillating saws, piezoelectric osteotomes or the like. The principal generally underlying the cutting of bones by means of such osteotomic instruments is essentially the same for all different types of instruments. This is, the respective instrument puts mechanical stress onto the bone surface until a surface hardness is exceeded and the instrument breaks into the bone.
In addition to conventional mechanical osteotomic instruments, in recent years there have alternative bone cutting instruments been developed which allow for a comparably precise and gentle cutting also of thick and strong bones such as the sternum. For example, in WO 2011/035792 A1 a computer assisted and robot guided laser osteotome is described which makes highly precise and gentle cutting of bones possible even if the bones are comparably thick and strong. Said laser osteotome includes a laser head mounted to a robot arm. While the laser head provides a laser beam, the robot arm guides the laser head along a predefined cutting geometry at the bone to be cut. Thereby, the robot arm allows for a highly precise and comparably fast movement of the laser head in all directions and orientations. The laser beam then hits the bone and continuously ablates the bone tissue until the predefined cutting geometry is generated. Cutting by laser has many advantages compared to conventional mechanical tools such as a comparably quick reaction, e.g. for stopping the intervention in case of an emergency, comparably little collateral damage and a comparably high precision particularly when involving complex cutting geometries. Of particular importance is the fact that the surface of the bone when properly cut using laser light is not damaged by the friction of a mechanical tool exposing the bone to high temperatures, mechanical stress and blocking the porous surface with the generated debris. The laser osteotome further includes assisting arrangements like a spray to cool and humidify the tissue around the laser beam-bone contact area, a debris nozzle for removing debris generated by the cutting process and an auto-tracking mechanism. In contrast to known mechanical methods for cutting bone, the surface of the laser cut bones can retain the original trabecular structure, which does not block the flow of blood which can be important to start the healing process.
Even though known laser osteotomes of the kind mentioned above are rather universal in terms of medical indications allowing for a sophisticated cutting of all kind of bones including sterna such osteotomes and particularly its robot arms are comparably large. Furthermore, they usually are comparably costly such that many facilities where such an osteotome could be used cannot afford it.
Therefore, there is a need for a comparably cost efficient and handy device allowing to precisely, quickly and reliantly cut the sternum of a patient.


Apparatus for aligning an ablation catheter and a temperature probe relatively for an ablation procedure includes an ablation catheter with a first antenna for ablating tissue at an ablation site in a patient's body and a temperature probe for placement in a body passage having a wall portion adjacent to the ablation site so that a second antenna in the probe is positioned opposite the first antenna. A microwave source provides a pulse modulated microwave signal to one of the antennas and a radiometer is in circuit with the other antenna. A synchronizing device in circuit with the microwave source and the radiometer enables the radiometer to synchronously detect the microwave signal so that the radiometer provides an alignment signal whose strength reflects the degree of alignment of the first and second antennas which signal may be used to control an alignment display. An alignment method using the apparatus is also disclosed.

This invention relates generally to the treatment of certain diseases by tissue ablation wherein electromagnetic energy from an antenna in an ablation catheter heats tissue sufficiently to cause necrosis and a separate temperature sensing antenna in a temperature probe placed in a body passage or cavity adjacent to the ablation site measures tissue temperature to enable the operating surgeon to avoid overheating tissue during the ablation procedure. It relates especially to method and apparatus enabling the surgeon to align the two antennas to optimize that temperature measurement.
In a typical cardiac ablation procedure, an antenna catheter is used to resistively heat heart tissue, usually at the left side of the heart, sufficiently to intentionally damage the target tissue in order to cure a potentially fatal heart arrhythmia. Typically, heating the tissue to a temperature in excess of 70° C. for 30-60 seconds is sufficient to cause tissue necrosis. During treatment, electromagnetic energy, usually in the RF frequency range, is applied between the tip of the antenna catheter and a ground plate removably affixed to the patient's back, creating an electrical circuit. The point of highest resistance in this circuit, normally the interface between the catheter tip and the heart tissue, is the region which heats the most and thus may cause intentional, irreversible damage to the heart tissue to correct the arrhythmia.
Anatomically, the esophagus is very close to, and may even contact, part of the left atrium. Indeed, the average distance between the endocardial surface of the left atrium and the anterior surface of the esophagus is only in the order of 4.4+/−1.2 mm. Thus, ablating certain regions of the left atrium to treat various arrhythmias in the heart can unintentionally cause thermal damage to the esophagus, often with severe consequences.
In order to prevent such overheating, a temperature probe may be positioned in the patient's esophagus adjacent to the ablation site in the heart. One conventional temperature probe carries conventional point source temperature sensors such as thermocouples, thermistors or the like to monitor, and ultimately prevent the overheating of, the esophagus wall by cutting off or reducing the power delivered to the ablation catheter; see, e.g., US2007/0066968.
Another type of temperature probe developed only recently is disclosed in Provisional Application No. 61/145,800, of even date herewith, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. That probe incorporates a microwave antenna which is connected to an external receiver in the form of a radiometer. The radiometer detects the thermal emissions picked up by the antenna in the probe which reflect the temperature of the tissue being examined and produces corresponding temperature signals to control a display which displays that temperature. During ablation, that apparatus can measure the temperature at depth in the esophageal tissue which is in close proximity to the ablation site in the patient's heart. That measurement can then be used to prevent unintentional thermal damage to the esophagus or other body passage.
As described in the above provisional application, a temperature probe using microwave radiometry provides definite advantages in that it can measure temperature at depth in the passage wall to avoid thermal damage thereto enabling the operating surgeon to adjust the power to the ablation catheter as needed to provide sufficient heating of the heart tissue to cause necrosis, but not enough to result in surface charring of that tissue that could cause a stroke and/or the formation of microbubbles (popping) that could rupture the heart vessel wall. Also, such radiometric sensing allows accurate measurement of tissue temperature even when cooling is being provided.
However, in order to optimize the accuracy of the temperature measurement provided by the temperature probe, it is desirable that the antenna therein be aligned properly with the antenna in the ablation catheter. Until now, there has been no means in the prior apparatus of this type to enable the operating surgeon to verify that the two antennas are indeed in alignment. Resultantly, in some instances, the temperature measurements may not be accurate enough to avoid thermal damage to tissue and in others, the ablation procedure may take too long because of tissue underheating.

Method and apparatus for aligning an ablation catheter and a temperature probe during an ablation procedure


An apparatus is set forth for use as a dieting aid by individuals, wherein a dish member includes a continuous surrounding wall defining an interior cavity. The interior cavity includes first and second concave recesses for receiving metered containers therewithin that each include metering designations consistent with dieting portions available to an individual. The containers each include sealing lids selectively securable thereon for maintaining freshness and temperature within the containers. The continuous wall includes a cavity filled with a mineral oil to retain heat within the cavity and impart such heat to food contained within the interior cavity of the dish. A thermometer is integrally and optionally formed to an exterior surface of the wall, and additionally the dish may include a medial partition wall with spaced pairs of ribs containing selectively partitionable partition walls between the ribs for selective control of food portions contained between the partition walls.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to dieting aids, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved food metering dish wherein the same enables effective heat retention and food quantity apportionment within a dish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of various measuring devices and dieting assists have been known in the prior art. The devices are particularly useful to individuals requiring selective quantities and portions of foods in an effort to attain a predetermined body weight. Examples of the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,602 to Crumrine wherein a receptacle kit includes an interior cavity, wherein an interior annular wall contains a series of cup-shaped receptacles mounted on the wall for receiving various food portions therewithin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,498,136 to Le May wherein a dish member includes pie-shaped metering portions contained in an annular array within the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,782 to Venters sets forth ingredient dispensers including a rotary bottom for enabling bottom discharge of condiments and food through the dispensers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,361 to Gorski, et al., sets forth a gauge device wherein an elongate container includes markings with a removable end member to enable selective removal of predetermined quantities of food from the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,565 to Clouter, et al., sets forth a food meter wherein a base includes four upstanding walls defining three spaces for the metering of spaghetti-like foods between the walls.
As such, it may be appreciated that there is a continuing need for a new and improved food metering dish which addresses both the problems of ease of use, as well as effectiveness in construction, in enabling individuals to ascertain and maintain a desired temperature gradient for quantities of food contained within the device.


A system and method are provided to employ a profiling infrastructure to perform profiling. In one embodiment, a communication between a first virtual machine at a server and a second virtual machine at a client is established, wherein the communication is established via a profiling infrastructure. An application at the first virtual machine is profiled via the profiling infrastructure. Results of the profiling are communicated from the first virtual machine to the second virtual machine, wherein the results are communicated via the profiling infrastructure.

A memory on any computing system is a limited resource. No matter how fast computing systems become, they always depend upon a finite amount of memory in which to run their software applications. As a result, software developers should consider this resource when writing and developing software applications.
The Java programming language differs from many traditional programming languages (e.g., C, C++) by the way in which memory is allocated and deallocated. In languages like C and C++, memory is explicitly allocated and deallocated by the application programmer/developer. This can greatly increase the time spent by programmers in tracking down coding defects in regards to deallocating memory. The Java programming language presents several features that appeal to developers of large-scale distributed systems, such as "write once, run anywhere" portability, portable support for multithreaded programming, support for distributed programming, including remote method invocation, garbage collection, and an appealing object model have encouraged Java use for systems with a size and complexity far beyond small applets. However, the developers of these applications often encounter problems, such as memory leaks, performance and scalability problems, synchronization problems, and programming errors.
Java runtime environments (e.g., Java virtual machine) provide a built-in mechanism for allocating and deallocating memory. In Java, memory is allocated to objects. The Java virtual machine ("VM" or "JVM") automatically handles the amount and allocation of memory upon an object's creation. The Java runtime environment employs a "garbage collector" (GC) to reclaim the memory allocated to an object that is no longer needed. Once the GC determines that the object is no longer accessible (e.g., when there is no longer any references to it stored in any variables, the fields of objects, or the elements of any arrays, etc.), it reclaims the allocated memory. When objects in a Java application are no longer referenced, the heap space the object occupied is to be recycled so that the space becomes available for subsequently-created objects.
Although having garbage collection improves productivity, it is not entirely immune from a class of bugs, called "memory leaks." A memory leak can occur when a program (or in the case of Java, the VM) allocates memory to an object but never (or only partially) deallocates the memory when the object is no longer needed. As a result, a continually increasing block of memory may be allocated to the object, eventually resulting in an "Out Of Memory Error" (OOME). In other words, a memory leak occurs when memory is allocated, but it is never (or only partially) reclaimed. Memory leaks can also occur when a data structure (e.g., hashtable) is used to associated one object with another and even when neither object is required any longer, the association with the data structure remains, preventing the objects from being reclaims until the data structure is reclaimed. Stated differently, when a lifetime of the data structure is longer than that of the objects associated with it, memory leaks are caused.
Memory leaks are of particular concern on Java-based systems (e.g., Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platforms) which are to run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In this case, memory leaks, even seemingly insignificant ones, can become a major problem. Even the smallest memory leak in code that runs 24/7 may eventually cause an OOME, which can bring down the VM and its applications or even all VMs running on a particular application server instance. This can cause critical performance problems.
It is generally preferred to profile memory use and debug memory leaks in an application code in the early stages of development to provide an early detection of memory problems long before the production stage. Although garbage collection makes code much safer, because having the developer to explicitly delete objects from memory is prone to human error, garbage collection is not a panacea. For example, if the developer does not manage the references to the Java objects carefully, it can result in a memory leak problem, such as a reference to an object is stored within an instance or class field, this reference may exist throughout the life of the application and, unless desired, is regarded a memory leak.
Within a distributed application server environment having thousand of concurrent users, performance and scalability problems are typical. The causes of problems are various, such as synchronization problems, extensive access to shared resources (e.g., database systems), bad configuration settings, etc. To provide consistency within such a system, locks with various validity scopes (e.g., VM-local, application-server-wide, and system-wide) are used; however, deadlock situations and synchronization problems exist.
Several performance monitoring, profiling, and debugging tools are used to examine software applications to determine resource consumption within the Java runtime environment (JRE). For example, a profiling tool may identify the most frequently executed methods and objects created in an application. A type of software performance and debugging tool is a "tracer." However, such tools are very limited in detecting and exposing system inefficiencies and problems (e.g., memory leaks), while consuming great amounts of system resources by requiring overhead tasks, such as starting and restarting of VMs in special modes. Further, such tools are also limited in providing necessary information about system problems and the limited information that these tools may provide is not useful for applications comprising several thousand objects. This leaves developers with often insurmountable amounts of code to manually evaluate to track down the problem objects/variables, such as the specific class, method calls, etc. For example, conventional profiling tools, like Optimizelt and JProbe, when used, require restarting of VMs and servers, which results in loss of production and system resources, particularly when restarting a productive system. Moreover, the starting of a server and its VMs further adds to the system overhead by increasing memory consumption, which also harms the normal work of the server and server software. The restarting of the server adds overhead in regards to the Central Processing Unit (CPU), as the server would have to start up from scratch.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional profiling tool. Client 102 is in communication with server 108. Client 102 includes a VM 102. Server 108 includes a VM 112, which includes Java Virtual Machine Profiling Interface (JVMPI)-based interface 116 and implementation 114. Server 108 further includes a native/default profiling agent (having an agent library) 110 which is plugged into the VM 112 at start-up. Since JVMPI is a native/default-interface, the agent 110 is also written in native code. An agent 110 refers to a software entity, which is used to gather profiling information native VM interfaces (e.g., JVMPI). JVMPI-based implementation 114 suffers from high memory footprints and, like conventional tools JProbe and Wily Introscope, requires a VM restart. However, conventional profiling tools (e.g., also those using Java Virtual Machine Tool Interface (JVMTI)) cannot be used in productive systems without disturbing user sessions. Further, they cannot be used in large application server environments as they cause high memory consumption. Referring back to FIG. 1, for example, to start profiling traces, the VM 112 is to be restarted in special way, such as by having the agent 110 loaded at VM-startup, which can cause negative impact on performance and memory consumption. There are merely some of the limitations of conventional profiling solutions. Similarly, conventional monitoring tools and debugging tools (e.g., using Java Virtual Machine Debugging Interface (JVMDI)) also suffer from these and additional limitations.

Method and system for providing on-demand profiling infrastructure for profiling at virtual machines


In an antenna coil including a first magnetic core, a second magnetic core, and a flexible board, coil conductors are provided on a surface of the flexible board. By winding the flexible board around the first magnetic core and the second magnetic core, a first coil portion is disposed around the first magnetic core, and a second coil portion is disposed around the second magnetic core. The winding direction of the second coil portion is opposite to that of the first coil portion. The first coil portion and the second coil portion are connected to define one coil as a whole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna coil to be mounted on a circuit board for use in an RFID (radio frequency identification) system that performs communication with an external apparatus via an electromagnetic signal, and also relates to an antenna device including such an antenna coil.
2. Description of the Related Art
In RFID systems that have recently been in increasing use, an antenna for information communication is mounted in each of a mobile electronic device, such as a mobile phone, and a reader/writer so that data is exchanged between the mobile electronic device and the reader/writer. In particular, there is a strong demand for an antenna mounted in a mobile electronic device to achieve high performance, low cost, and small size. In order to meet this demand, an antenna coil is used.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H11-122146), discloses an antenna mounted in a mobile electronic device. FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing a configuration of the antenna device described in Patent Document 1. A coil that forms an information communication antenna 102 mounted on a board 101 includes a plurality of segments 102a and 102b. Each segment includes a magnetic core and a coil wound around the magnetic core. The coil of the first segment 102a is wound left-handed, and the coil of the second segment 102b is wound right-handed. The coil of the first segment 102a and the coil of the second segment 102b are connected to each other. A portion where a coil conductor is not provided (hereinafter referred to as a non-winding portion) is provided between the segments 102a and 102b. When the antenna coil 102 is mounted in this way, a magnetic flux that is perpendicular to the board is bent about 90° after entering the non-winding portion, and is then guided to the first segment 102a and the second segment 102b. When the magnetic flux passes through the coil axes of the coils of the segments 102a and 102b, voltages are induced in the coils, and communication is allowed.
The above-described antenna coil 102 functions as an antenna because magnetic flux entering the coil-conductor non-winding portion is guided to the segments 102a and 102b. If the non-winding portion is small, a sufficient magnetic flux cannot be captured. In contrast, if the non-winding portion is too large, the magnetic flux is not guided to the segments 102a and 102b. In each case, the magnetic flux does not pass through the coil axes of the coils of the segments 102a and 102b, and electromagnetic induction does not occur. Therefore, the segments 102a and 102b need to be arranged with a fixed space therebetween.
Unfortunately, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1, when the antenna coil 102 is mounted on the board 101 of the mobile electronic device, the segments 102a and 102b that constitute the antenna coil 102 are fixed separately. For this reason, it is necessary to finely adjust the fixing positions so that the distance between the segments is fixed. This adjustment needs many steps. Further, when the distance between the segments varies in accordance with the fixing positions, an expected antenna sensitivity is not achieved, depending on the structure of the mobile electronic device in which the antenna is mounted.

Antenna coil to be mounted on a circuit board and antenna device


Containment sacs insertable into a body cavity through a minimal access incision for purposes of containing, manipulating, treating and/or extracting material from the body cavity. The sac may comprise a flexible sac body having at least one opening thereinto and a resilient or spring loaded rim member disposed about the opening to urge the opening to an open configuration when deployed in the body cavity. The containment sac may be further utilized in combination with a dedicated introducer sheath through which the containment sac may be inserted and extracted. A valving member may be positioned on the introducer sheath to prevent escape of gas from a pressurized body cavity such as a pneumoperitoneal. The containment sac may incorporate a grasping member whereby the containment sac may be grasped and inserted using a standard forecep/grasper instrument. Alternatively, the containment sac may be attached to an elongate rod member usable to insert and extract the containment sac. Additionally disclosed is an expandable embodiment of the containment sac which may be selectively expanded through the use of a separate expansion instrument or balloon.

The advent of modern endoscopic surgical procedures (e.g. laparoscopic procedures) has enabled the performance of complex excisional surgery through minimal access incisions of approximately 1 centimeter. Such procedures may be utilized to excise or resect relatively large volumes of tissue, tumors, organs and the like. The extraction and removal of such excised tissues, tumors, organs or the like is, however, sometimes problematic because such excised tissue, tumors, organs or the like are often too large or bulky to be removed directly through the minimal access (e.g. 1 cm) endoscopic incision. Also, the excision, manipulation and removal of certain non-benign matter (e.g. infected tissue, fecally contaminated segments of bowel, cancerous tumors) is complicated by the need to contain such non-benign matter in a manner that will prevent or deter dissemination or spread of such non-benign matter within the body cavity.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for new appliances and apparatus for containing, manipulating, morsellizing or debulking, and/or removing excised tissues, tumors, organs or other matter, through relatively small minimal access incisions.
A surgical tissue bag and method for percutaneously debulking tissue is purportedly described in U. S. Pat. No. 5,037,379 (Clayman et al.).
A surgical tissue sac for use in endoscopic surgical procedures is presently available commercially under the name ENDOPOUCH.TM. (Ethicon, Inc., Division of Johnson & Johnson, Route 22, P. 0. Box 151, Somerville, N.J. 08876).
The surgical tissue containment sacs of the prior art may present certain shortcomings in that such prior devices (a) lack optimally efficient and/or safe means for inserting/retracting in the containment sac, (b) do not adequately open or fully expand the containment sac when inserted into a body cavity through a minimal access incision, (c) lack means for maintaining directional orientation of the bag opening during intracorporeal usage, (d) lack sufficient transparency to permit ease of viewing through the wall of the containment sac and/or (e) lack means for facilitating passage of instruments into the containment sac for purposes of treating, grinding, debulking or removing material from the interior of the sac.

Devices for enclosing, manipulating, debulking and removing tissue through minimal incisions


A direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) receiver includes an antenna, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation logic, and preamble detection logic. The antenna is configured to receive a DSSS signal. The SNR estimation logic is configured to estimate SNR of the received DSSS signal. The preamble detection logic is configured to, in response to the SNR estimate exceeding a SNR threshold value, detect a preamble sequence in the DSSS signal based on an absolute value of a sequence of correlation values. The sequence of correlation values is a complex quantity.

Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) networks are used in implementing over the air systems. In one example, a smart utility network (SUN) is a low rate (5 kb/s to 1 Mb/s), low power, wireless communications technology that is specifically designed to be used in utility metering applications, such as for transmitting electric, gas, or water usage data from the one or more meters on the customer premises to a data collection point operated for the utility. The data collection point can then be connected to a central office for the utility by a similar or a different interface, which can be a high speed "backhaul" such as an optical fiber, copper wire, or other high speed wired connection to a network including the central office.
Different physical layers (PHYs) can be used for communication in over the air networks such as a SUN, including frequency shift keying (FSK), DSSS, and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In an example, the devices that are allowed into the network of a closed DSSS communications system can be controlled by the utility or the network operator. Note that while some of the examples discussed herein for illustration include the operation of smart utility networks, the arrangements disclosed as aspects of the present application are not so limited and can be applied and used in conjunction with DSSS communications networks, generally.
A relevant standard has been promulgated by the IEEE, referred to as IEEE standard number 802.15.4g, entitled "Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Networks (LR-WPANs)" issued Apr. 27, 2012 by the IEEE Computer Society and sponsored by the LAN/MAN Standards Committee. This standard identifies the PHY specifications for low data rate, wireless, SUN. The standard is intended to provide a globally used standard that facilitates very large scale process control applications such as a utility smart-grid network that are capable of supporting large, geographically diverse networks with minimal infrastructure and containing potentially millions of fixed endpoints. Note that arrangements of the present application is not limited to particular environment, including the SUN applications, but the various arrangements that form aspects of the present application are applicable to such applications.
In DSSS communications, data is transmitted utilizing packets. In packetized communication systems, packet arrival instants are generally random and unknown at the receiver. The payload can be successfully demodulated provided the receiver has symbol timing, frequency and phase offset information, in addition to achieving frame synchronization. In many practical applications, these parameters are not known a priori at the receiver and hence must be estimated from the received signal.

Preamble sequence detection of direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signals


A light weight, highly visible tool with no moving parts for repairing ball marks on golf course greens without the user bending over. User holds grip and pushes tines into surface of ground. User manipulates shaft causing multi-faceted curved fulcrum head to provide leverage for repairing ball marks quickly, quietly, and without up and down movements. Tines, base, multi-faceted curved fulcrum head, collar, and neck are cast together forming a one piece tool. Neck fits and is affixed inside shaft up to collar. Grip is affixed to cover the opposite end of shaft. Flag fits around shaft and is held in place by grip and ring. With tines inserted into the ground, the shape of multi-faceted curved fulcrum head allows entire tool to stand by itself.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to golf equipment, specifically a versatile golf green repair tool.
2. Description of Prior Art
Heretofore there have been many different devices used to repair ball marks on golf course greens. These devices consisted of small pocket types to be carried by golfers and heavy, large, and mechanical types designed for golf course maintenance personnel. These have known limited success. Golf course greens receive hundreds of impacts from golf balls each day. Articles in golfing journels and other media attempt to inform and educate the golfers about this growing maintenance problem. Ball marks on golf course greens continues to be a major maintenance problem. A ball mark left unrepaired for one hour takes two weeks to mend.
The small pocket type devices heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) One major disadvantage of the small pocket type device is golfers must bend over, down to the ground to use it. Bending over may sound easy, but it becomes tiresome, strenuous, and time consuming.
(b) Bending over to fix ball marks can also be distracting while someone else is putting.
(c) In addition, golfers just plain forget to fix ball marks. The "Golfers Helper" U.S. Pat. No. 3,120,388 to Doble 1964, Feb. 4, attempted to solve the golfers memory problem by attaching a magnetic ball marker to the small pocket type device. Although this may help somewhat with his own memory, it did not solve the bending problem and did not visually remind other golfers.
(d) Dirt and chemicals from greens are put into golfers pockets when the small pocket type devices are used.
(e) Due to size, small pocket type devices are often lost or misplaced. Then a tee is substituted, which is an inadequate tool for fixing ball marks.
(f) The small pocket type devices do not provide leverage necessary to adequately repair ball marks. The golfer is left using his finger as a fulcrum.
(g) These small pocket type devices when used for advertising do not work because they are unseen in the golfers pocket.
The difficulty of bending over to fix ball marks was recognized long ago. It brought about the development of various heavy, large and mechanical type devices. These include, "Implement for Removing Indentations from Putting Greens", U.S. Pat. No. 2,585,298 to Coelho 1952, Feb. 12, "The Golf Course Divot Replacing Tool", U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,915 to Good 1959, Jan. 20and "Device for Removing Irregularities from a Ground Covering", U.S. Pat. No. 3,168,150 to Kappler 1965, Feb. 2. These various heavy, large, and mechanical type devices heretofore known suffer also from a number of disadvantages:
(h) The mechanical types are extremely complex with numerous moving parts which often break or rust.
(i) The mechanical types are too noisy to use while golfers are putting.
(j) The various heavy, large, and mechanical type devices are too heavy and large to be carried by individual golfers.
(k) These devices are too expensive to manufacture and maintain.
(l) These devices also require a paid golf course attendant to operate them.
(m) These devices can not be permanently stationed on the golf course, since they are affected by moisture, heat, and cold.
(n) These devices do not blend aesthetically with golf courses or golfing equipment.
(o) Since time is of the essence in repairing ball marks, by the time these various heavy, large, and mechanical type devices are brought to the greens by the maintenance staff, it is too late. A ball mark left unrepaired for one hour takes two weeks to mend.


A method of restricting the distribution of an image attachment to an electronic message via an electronic communications network comprises receiving, via the electronic communications network, the electronic message at a server; removing the image attachment from the electronic message; fragmenting the image into at least two image parts; and creating a set of rendering instructions as to how the at least two the image parts should be reconstituted to represent the original image.

Text messaging, such as Short Messages Service (SMS), also known as "texting", refers to the exchange (i.e., transmission and receipt) of brief written or text messages between digital mobile phones over cellular or other wireless networks. Individual messages are referred to as "text messages" or "texts". Many service providers or carriers also offer multimedia messaging services, such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), that allow for exchange of messages containing multimedia content, such as image, video and sound content. The most common application of the service is person-to-person messaging.
To send such a message, a user types the text into a mobile phone or other text-enabled device, attaches the desired multimedia content, enters one or more phone numbers for the recipients of the message, and sends the message. A SMS or MMS center receives and stores the SMS/MMS message, and then forwards the message to the recipient when the recipient is available.
One problem with such messaging services is that recipients of such messages may without limitation forward them to third parties. While a user may create a customized SMS message that he/she intends for only the intended recipient to receive, the recipient can forward the message to multiple third parties, who may in turn forward the message onto to other parties, and so on.
With the advance in technology that permits texting to include images, photos and videos, a very common practice has arisen called "sexting", which is slang for the act of sending sexually explicit or suggestive content within or as part of a text message. A genre of texting, sexting involves sending either text, images or video that is intended to be sexually arousing. Many surveys show that an alarming number of children and teens have electronically sent nude or semi-nude images of themselves, and this number is growing rapidly.
Although sexting often takes place consensually between two people, it can also occur against the wishes of a person who is the subject of the content. An increasing social danger with sexting is that material can be very easily and widely promulgated, and the originator has no control over it. There have been many instances which have been reported throughout the news media where the recipients of sexting have shared the content of the messages with others, with less intimate intentions, such as to impress their friends or embarrass the sender, thereby increasing the instances where the intended recipient is not the only one viewing the content. Celebrities have also been victims of such abuses of sexting.
Although many public service advertisements and notices have urged children, teens and the general public to be wary of sexting or of sending any text message that they would not want someone other that the recipient to see, it has proven difficult to prevent individuals from sending these types of text messages. Similarly, it has also proven difficult to prevent recipients from forwarding messages to others.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent the recipient of such text messages from forwarding the message to those who were not intended to see the message in the first place.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means to prevent the recipient of such text messages from forwarding the message non-intended recipients, where such means are respected by the respective devices as well as by the network service providers or carriers.

System for restricting the distribution of attachments to electronic messages


A system is presented that facilitates transactions for products to be completed and product inventory tracking to be performed in real-time even if the products are brought to the location of a customer prior to the transaction. The system completes transactions by accepting and settling cash, credit card, debit card and other forms of payment in real-time. In general, the system includes three basic components: an application module, a back office portal and a portable device. These components may be placed in communication with each other in various configurations to perform various functions that enable product tracking and transaction completion.

An employer reportedly invented the mechanical cash register in 1879 to prevent sales clerks from stealing. More than a century later, the problems of accounting for retail sales proceeds and inventory persist. Salespeople are entrusted with valuable merchandise and the proceeds from sales. Problems continue to arise in attempting to hold individual salespeople accountable for their transactions. Accounting problems are particularly noticeable in circumstances where salespeople circulate among customers to transact sales, payment may not be settled until well after the customer has received the merchandise, and merchandize inventory is not easily tracked or managed.
Traditional payment terminals such as POS terminals available from companies including Verifone, Hypercom, Ingenico, Schlumberger or Lipman are basic in their operations and require specific skilled developers to modify terminal applications. In addition, these systems are not intended for mobile use and real-time inventory tracking.
Many facilities/venues are sensitive to the incremental profit added by product sales. Assuming that a significant fraction of the sales revenue currently lost to theft could be accounted for and retained, millions of dollars per year might be saved.

System for real-time sales and inventory reconciliation


A training device to induce the proper technique required to perform squatting exercises. The device is designed to be portable and constructed from light weight, cylindrical aluminum tubes, and includes foot guides, and knee guides, and hand grip, all of which may be moved to comply with the user's body size and degree of comfort. The foot guides are mounted to a foot rod that is secured in place by a pair of support legs, and the foot guides have a lateral range of movement of 3 to 20 inches. The knee guides slide laterally over a knee pole and have a range of movement from 3 to 20 inches. An adjustment rod provides for the knee guides to be varied from a height of 10 inches to a height of 21 inches. The hand grip may be placed at a distance from 44 to 54 inches and be capable of movement of 2 to 6 inches horizontally.

This invention is a physical exercise training device and more particularly to a self-contained, hand-transportable device for use in rehabilitation clinics, personal home settings, and public and personal training facilities.
The squat is a well-known exercise for the muscles of the thighs, knees, hips and buttocks, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body, and is commonly used in rehab programs. The advantage of the squat is that it is a closed-chain exercise where ankle, knee and hip joints must be coordinated, developing a functional movement pattern as well as training the muscles. All the knee muscles—quadriceps, hamstrings and gastrocnemius—are involved in the squat to a greater or lesser extent.
The squat can be performed in a variety of ways. It may involve the use of barbells or be performed without any resistance weights, but elements such as proper knee angle with the degree of knee flexion, foot position with wide or narrow stance, are always important.
Proper squatting technique is crucial because if not performed correctly the squat can cause a great deal of stress and strain on the knees. When performing the squat exercise people tend to have their knees knock inward, which puts stress on the MCL and predisposes them to MCL injuries. Also, when training, people tend to shift their weight forward and allowing their knees to move forward past their toes. This improper technique produces shear force on the ACL and will over develop the quadriceps muscles.
During rehabilitation and learning how to train, the clinician or personal trainer needs to spend time over and over again teaching and re-teaching squat technique. A need exists for a device that will insure that extra time is not wasted during the teaching and re-teaching phase, allowing the clinician to work more efficiently. The clinician/trainer needs to be reassured that when their subject is performing squats, under their supervision or not, their technique is flawless. As the individual progresses through their lower body exercise programs, the gap between body weight and weight resisted squats should be bridged. Many lower body exercise equipment are large and bulky and do not monitor safe technique. A need exists for a device that is light weight, easy to setup, take down, store, transport and use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a self-contained, hand-transportable exercise training device kit readily assembled which is stable and free-standing, and included in this object is the provision of an exercise device for performing such exercises without the need of weights.


Methods are disclosed for using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in hair and feces to predict disease in animals such as predicting the susceptibility of dairy cows to periparturient production-related metabolic diseases (PRMDs). Other methods that are disclosed are for using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in blood components, erythrocytes and plasma proteins, to predict dairy cow susceptibility to PRMDS; yet other disclosed methods are for using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in hair and feces of horses as a prognostic indicator after surgical or medical correction of gastrointestinal colic. Other methods that are disclosed also include using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in blood components, erythrocytes and plasma proteins, of horses as a prognostic indicator before or after surgical or medical correction of gastrointestinal colic.

Periparturient production-related metabolic diseases (PRMDs) occur in dairy cows near the time of parturition, which is the time when a cow gives birth. Some examples of factors that are related to PRMDs are: fatty liver, ketosis, mastitis, and displaced abomasums, with or without concurrent illness associated with an infection. Cows are most susceptible to these PRMDs during the rapid increase in milk secretion at the time of parturition, which causes a decrease in blood glucose and insulin concentrations. However, increased energy demand of later fetal growth and lactogenesis cause compensatory prepartum serum non-sterified fatty acids (NEFA) release. PRMDs can cause decreased milk yield, medication costs, and increased culling, or removal, of animals. In the past, efforts have been devoted to identify when most PRMDs occur and to institute management practices to help decrease the incidence of PRMDs in dairy cows. Although progress has been made in understanding the biology of energy metabolism and immune function in transition cows, formulating transition diets, dietary cation-anion difference (CAD), avoiding over-conditioning, and identifying when most PRMDs occur, the incidence of PRMDs has remained stable. Some efforts have included measuring levels of various chemicals in a cow's blood. Correlations have been found linking risk of PRMDs with serum concentrations of free fatty acids (FFAs), NEFAs, triglycerides (TG), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), as well as hepatic TG to glycogen ratios. Serum concentration of NEFA taken one week before parturition and milk concentration of BHBA taken one week after parturition have been linked to risk of displaced abomasum (LeBlanc, Leslie, & Duffield, 2005). Risk of ketosis and endometritis has been linked to levels of ketones in milk and blood above a certain threshold at one week after parturition (Reist, Erdin, Euw, Tschümperlin, Leuenberger, Hammon, et al., 2003). One study found that levels of vitamin C in plasma were not related to risk of ketosis (Padilla, Shibano, Inoue, Matsui, & Yano, 2005). Previous methods to predict risk of developing PRMDs using many of the relationships found involves an average cost for this battery of tests at approximately $30-50/sample with a requisite submission of 11 or more samples, necessitating an increased expense of obtaining blood from groups of cows to predict herd risk. Also, many of the relationships require waiting for testing until after parturition, when the onset of disease is approaching.
A need, therefore, exists for a method to accurately predict individual cow risk of PRMDs using a minimally or noninvasive procedure that can be performed at or before parturition. It would be desirable to predict risk of PRMDs early to allow for early intervention that would reduce the loss in milk production, cost of medication, and culling of animals.
It has been shown that the ratios of certain isotopes in an organism's tissues are related to the organism's metabolism. Recent studies of stable isotope ratios (2H/1H, 13C/12C, 15N/14N, 18O/16O, and 34S/32S) have yielded information about "dietary habits and the metabolic status of prehistoric and modern humans, eating disorders, forensic medicine, geographical location, and wildlife dietary ecology" (see Petzke, Fuller, & Metges, 2010). Every food source in an animal's diet contains certain ratios of isotopes, such as the ratio of carbon-13 (13C) to carbon-12 (12C). Often these ratios will be different in the animal's tissues due to a process called isotopic fractionation. Isotopic fractionation refers to the alteration of isotope levels as a result of chemical or physical processes. For example, some metabolic processes discriminate against the heavier 13C isotope, and therefore molecules containing the 13C isotope are not metabolized as readily as molecules containing only the 12C isotope. When the animal's body metabolizes energy sources such as lipids and proteins, the level of 13C in the animal's tissue becomes enriched because the body tends to metabolize more lipids and proteins containing 12C, and less containing 13C. In addition to affecting isotope levels in tissue, metabolic processes can affect isotope levels in metabolic byproducts, such as feces, and metabolically-inert substrates, such as hair. Studies examining stable isotopes at or near natural abundance levels are usually reported as delta (6), a value given in parts per thousand or per mil ("o/oo"). Delta values are not absolute isotope abundances but differences between sample readings and one or another of the widely used natural abundance standards which are considered delta=zero (e.g. air for N, At %15N=0.3663033; Pee Dee Belemnite for C, At %13C=1.1112328). Absolute isotope ratios (R) are measured for sample and standard, and the relative measure delta is calculated:δ15N o/oo vs. [std]=((Rsample−Rstd)/Rstd)(1000δo/oo)whereR=(At %15N)/At %14N)For instance, if a leaf sample is found to have a 15N/14N ratio R greater than the standard's by 5 parts per thousand, this value is reported as δ15N=+5 delta o/oo. The transformation of absolute At % values into relative (to a certain standard) delta values is used because the absolute differences between samples and standard are quite small at natural abundance levels and might appear only in the third or fourth decimal place if At % were reported." (See http://www.uga.edu/sisbl/stable.html, accessed on 30 Mar. 2011).
Ratios of isotopes, such as the ratio of 13C to 12C, are sometimes referred to as isotopic "signatures." These signatures can differ between individual animals even when the animals consume identical diets. The differences are related to nutrient assimilation, which is regulated by innate metabolism. Differences in innate metabolism may be influenced by an individual animal's genetics. Some animal substrates are metabolically active, meaning that they are constantly being reformed through metabolic processes. These substrates include by-products of metabolism such as breath, urine, and feces. The isotopic signatures in these substrates are constantly changing as they are continuously produced by metabolic processes. Other metabolically active substrates are replaced at particular time intervals, such as erythrocytes, which are replaced approximately every three months, or plasma proteins, which are replaced approximately every two weeks. The isotopic signatures of these substrates are affected by metabolic processes occurring throughout the time interval since they were formed. Metabolically inert substrates include hair, fur, hooves, claws, feathers, and other tissues that do not change after they are formed. These substrates retain the isotopic signatures present at their formation, and so they can provide a historical record relating to the animal's metabolism. For example, every point along a strand of hair may have slightly different isotopic signatures because of changes that occurred in the animal's metabolism while the hair was growing. After the proteins making up the strand of hair are formed, they are never replaced or otherwise affected by metabolic processes, so they retain the same isotopic signature as they had at formation.
Isotopic signatures have been used to learn about the diet of humans and animals. Isotopes in hair of ancient human remains have allowed reconstruction of dietary conditions in ancient human populations (Petzke, Fuller, & Metges, 2010). It has been found that isotope signatures in hair of modern humans are related to excessive intake of meat products (Petzke, Boeing, Klaus, & Metges, 2005). This relationship has potential to be used to correct errors in studies requiring self-reporting of meat intake, because it provides an objective standard against which to check self-reporting.
It would be desirable to provide a method of using isotopic signatures to predict PRMDs in dairy cows which would be accurate, noninvasive, and performable at or before parturition to allow time for early intervention.
Horses treated for gastrointestinal colic sometimes die or continue to have health problems after treatment. It would be desirable to provide a method for predicting the likelihood of continued health problems in order to decide what treatment options would best enhance recovery or to relieve unavoidable pain and suffering with early humane euthanasia.

Methods for diagnosing and treating disease in animals by the analysis of isotopes in elements such as carbon and nitrogen in animal substrate


A feed pump for a hydraulic system that is equipped with at least one outlet valve whose valve-closing body is loaded by a valve spring. The valve-closing body is held at a distance form its valve seat by means of a gas-filled hollow-body ring so that the feed pump can be evacuated through its outlet valve for subsequent filling with a hydraulic pressure medium. With a first increase in pressure in the system, the hollow-body ring is pressed together, so that the valve-closing body slips through the hollow-body ring and reaches its valve seat, thus making the outlet valve operational. The feed pump is suitable for use as a return pump for anti-skid systems of hydraulic brake systems.

A feed pump of this type is known from European Patent Application EP 0 446 454 A1, for example. When such feed pumps are installed into a hydraulic system, the problem arises that the system, along with the feed pumps, must be extensively evacuated before being filled with a hydraulic pressure medium to assure the highest possible filling capacity with the hydraulic pressure medium, and thus total effectiveness of the system. Air that may have dissolved in the hydraulic pressure medium causes an elasticity in the pressure medium that is undesirable because of a resilience of the pressure medium column that conveys the pressure. Air bubbles or gas bubbles contained in the system are particularly disadvantageous. This applies especially to hydraulic brake systems, which only operate reliably when free from air bubbles.
With a known feed pump, when the pump is not in use, the valve-closing body is held fixedly and tightly on its valve seat by the valve spring. For instance, the valve spring is embodied such that more than 1 bar, and preferably approximately 6 bar, are required to open the outlet valve. This practically excludes the evacuation of the work cylinder of the pump. Post-evacuation filling of the system with a pressure medium coming from a reservoir of a main brake cylinder, for example, is not permitted with the use of a feed pump of this type.


A system and method for determining filling parameters of a wet clutch system used with a transmission is provided. The method comprises the steps of collecting information about the torque output of the torque converter of the transmission during a filling process associated with the wet clutch system, analyzing the signal associated with the torque output of the torque converter within a time period of the filling process associated with the wet clutch system, and identifying when the signal associated with the torque output of the torque converter changes with respect to the time period of the filling process of the piston to determine a filling parameter associated with the wet clutch system. The system and method eliminates a need for recalibrating the transmission and accommodates production variances for components and assembly of systems using wet clutch systems.

In the shifting of a stepped ratio transmission, clutches are engaged and disengaged to allow for power transfer through a plurality of different power paths. Typically, when a shift is performed, one clutch is disengaged (also known as an off-going clutch) by decreasing an oil pressure on a piston of the clutch and another clutch is engaged (also known as an oncoming clutch) by increasing a pressure on a piston of the clutch. During an overlap shift, this process happens simultaneously in a coordinated manner. In a filling phase of a shift, the piston of the ongoing clutch is positioned adjacent a plurality of friction plates by regulating a pressure of the transmission fluid.
A positioning of the piston is performed by using a controller to regulate an amount of current applied to an electroproportional valve. In response to the regulated current, the electroproportional valve applies a pressure to a piston chamber of the clutch. Depending on a force created by this pressure, a position of the piston can be controlled. Typically, it is desired to position the piston adjacent a set of friction plates as fast as possible while making sure an engagement of the friction plates occurs in a smooth manner.
A pressure profile employed by the controller may be dependent on many variables, such as, but not limited to a plurality of mechanical characteristics of the clutch, a temperature of an automatic transmission fluid and an amount of air within the fluid conduit. Generally, these variables can be taken into account by scheduling the two parameters with which the pressure profile is parameterized.
A problem that remains however, is how to obtain a correct value for each of these parameters. The value should be specific for a transmission and even for an individual clutch. Currently, it is common practice for the filling parameters to be determined through a calibration process. The calibration process is performed following vehicle production and then the calibration process is repeated at fixed intervals based on a number of operating hours of the vehicle. Typically, the process takes place through the following steps. After a predetermined number of operating hours, the controller of the transmission indicates that a recalibration is advised. When the calibration process is started, the controller sends out a number of filling profiles with changing fill parameters to a valve of the transmission. This process is continued until adequate filling is achieved for the corresponding clutch. The timing of a drop in torque converter speed ratio is used as an indicator for a quality of the filling of the clutch. The drop is indicative of torque transfer through the clutch, which is a sign of the piston contacting the set of friction plates. The calibration process is then repeated for each of the remaining clutches.
While the calibration process described above is capable of determining the correct filling parameters, it does so only for fixed conditions. The calibration process is performed with a transmission that has been warmed up and a time between fillings is very short in duration. As a result, the parameters that are obtained are in fact only valid in conditions similar to those that were present during the calibration. During actual use of the transmission, artificial and approximate correction factors need to be applied to compensate for such a calibration. The correction factors are not in all cases a good representation of the characteristics of the actual system, which can lead to errors in the filling and consequently, poor shift quality.
Further, tolerances on the production process of the components of the transmission are partially responsible for the variability during the filling process. While generally accurate parameters can be obtained by performing a calibration following production, the system also changes as the friction plates wear, an automatic transmission fluid wears out, and a stiffness of a clutch spring deteriorates. The optimal values of these parameters change over time. The current typical calibration process which is used to solve these problems takes a considerable amount of time, and during the calibration process the vehicle cannot be used. As an amount of the time between recalibrations is not based on the actual condition of the transmission, but rather as a fixed number of operating hours, reducing a number of recalibrations is achieved by imposing limitations on the mechanical system. During production, tight tolerances are imposed on both components and assembly of the system. These tolerances, which increase a cost of the system, could be relaxed if a method were available to determine the correct parameters for the filling of a specific clutch and to keep them within acceptable bounds over a lifetime of the clutch.
Furthermore, only the usage of a single type of transmission fluid is recommended by the manufacturer, as the temperature or viscosity compensation factors are only valid for the recommended type of transmission fluid. Lack of versatility in this respect can increase ownership and maintenance costs of the vehicle.
Another problem with the current typical calibration process is that the transmission controller is not aware when a bad shift is performed as a result of unsuitable fill parameters. Even though the mechanical system might have changed considerably, the controller maintains use of the same parameters until the calibration process is initiated manually or the recommended number of operating hours between calibrations is reached.
It would be advantageous to develop a system and method for adapting filling parameters for wet plate clutches that eliminates a need for recalibrating an associated transmission and accommodates production variances for components and assembly of systems using wet plate clutches.

Fill parameter learning for wet plate clutches based on an output of a torque converter


A method and system for measuring the dimensions of the palpable surface of the prostate in the physician's office and calculating prostate volume, rate of growth and changes in rate of growth. A membrane with a grid pattern is located proximate the prostate. A physician moves a measurement system, formed at the end of the index finger and located in a glove, between opposite margins of the prostate. The measurement system counts the grid elements between the margins that translate into a quantitative measurement of size of the palpable surface of the prostate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to medical devices. It relates particularly to a method and system for use by a physician for measuring the palpable surface of the prostate thereto to determine the size and growth of the prostate and more specifically to a method and apparatus for the enabling trans-rectal measurement of the size, growth rate and changes in growth rate of the prostate during a standard digital rectal exam.
2. Description of Related Art
Prostate gland, or prostate, problems are widespread in the male population, especially the older male population. In particular, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer are common in men over 50 years of age. Indeed, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in this country. Each year there are over 200,000 new cases and over 30,000 deaths. However, if prostate cancer is detected early and treated effectively, the chance of survival improves significantly. Unfortunately, conventional methods for detecting prostate problems are wanting as many early stage cancers go undetected.
In an attempt to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of methods and systems of detection of prostate cancer, medical science has used ultrasonics to diagnose prostate problems. Such systems are very expensive, and are not yet widely available in the urologist's or primary care physician's examining room. Most ultrasound imaging is performed by radiologists at an outside facility, or at the practitioner's office on a contract basis with a portable ultrasound unit. The technology and interpretation is difficult to master, requiring a time-consuming learning curve. Consequently, no routine examining system or technique exists which provides the high degree of accuracy in monitoring prostatic growth, nor is the required repeatability of results achieved.
Thus, the digital rectal examination continues to be the modality of choice for monitoring the prostate even though the process is very subjective. The standard exam is done by inserting a finger into the rectum and palpating or feeling the palpable surface of the prostate. The physical characteristics of the prostate size, contour, consistency, symmetry, presence or absence of the lateral margins, and the presence or absence of nodularity, are assessed and recorded by attempting to translate the physician's subjective impressions into a written record. This method of data collection is inexact and makes comparisons from exam to exam very difficult.
What is needed is a method and apparatus that overcomes these deficiencies by enabling the physician to monitor changes in the size of the palpable surface of the prostate for a given patient over time thereby to gauge more accurately changes in the size of the prostate.

Apparatus and method for measuring the dimensions of the palpable surface of the prostate