Provided for are three novel isoenzyme variants of the human Hyaluronan Synthase gene, HAS1Va, HAS1Vb, and HAS1Vc. Also provided is a method for assessing disease, or susceptibility to disease, in a patient; in which a cell or sample of a cell population is mixed with at least one compound which specifically binds to HAS1Va, HAS1Vb, HAS1Vc or HAS2 isoenzyme or isoenzyme variant genomic mRNA transcript or products arising therefrom; and methods of treatment.

Current models of carcinogenesis describe cancer as a progression of genetic mutations in a tumour cell mass and these models have contributed to the discoveries of many tumour suppressor genes and potential oncogenes (Hanahan D. et al. Cell 100:57 (2000)). The progression of genetic mutations can arise from a genetic instability in the cell leading to a loss in replication fidelity, genetic translocations or loss of genetic material. Solid tumours, however, are more than clonal expansions of tumour cells; tumours are heterogeneous and have a complex structure, with Bissell et al. describing a tumour as a unique "organ" formed by "tissues" (Bissell, M. J. et al. Nat Rev Cancer 1:46 (2001)). The cells composing these tissues interact with each other and with other types of cells, and exchange information through cell-cell interactions or through interactions with cytokines and the extracellular matrix (ECM) (Bissell, M. J. et al. Nat Rev Cancer 1:46 (2001)). Playing an important role in these interactions, and possibly playing a role in proliferative disease progression as taught in the art and as discovered by the inventors and herein disclosed, is hyaluronic acid (hereinafter "HA").
HA, a non-sulfated negatively charged glycosaminoglycan, is composed of repeating disaccharide units of D-glucorinic acid and N-acetylglucosamine. HA is completely biodegradable by a natural catalytic pathway and is widely distributed in all connective tissue of eukaryotes and in the capsules of group A and C streptococci (Laurent, T. C. et al. FASEB J. 6:2397 (1992)). HA is involved in many biological processes such as embryogenesis, cell adhesion and motility, cell growth and differentiation, and angiogenesis (Baneijee, S. D. et al. J Cell Biol 119:643 (1992); Bourguignon, L. Y. et al. J Biol Chem 272:27913 (1997); Lees, V. C. et al. Lab Invest 73:259 (1995); West, D. C. et al. Science 228:1324 (1985)).
HA, which is widely distributed in all connective tissue of eukaryotes, is a water-like molecule; because of this characteristic HA has been regarded as an ideal lubricant of the joints and has been successfully used in the treatment of patients with arthritis (Radin, E. L. et al. Nature 228:377 (1970)), where HA forms a layer between the cartilage surfaces in joints and protects them from frictional damage (Hlavacek, M., J Biomech 26:1151 (1993)). In arthritis, the mechanism forming protective HA layers is disrupted since the concentration of HA itself and molecular weight of the HA molecules are low as compared to normal tissues (Hlavacek, M., J Biomech 26:1151 (1993)). Depletion of HA results in degradation of the ECM and promotes osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of articular cartilage.
Dramatically increased HA-rich matrix formation has been observed around proliferating and migrating cells during morphogenesis, regeneration and healing. High amounts of HA molecules are synthesized:                1) prior to the mesenchymal cell differentiation and throughout embryonic development, the condensation and differentiation of the mesenchymal cells are accompanied by the spatial distribution of HA in the different regions of the limb bud (Kosher, R. A. et al. Cell Differ 17:159 (1985); Kosher, R. A. et al. Nature 291:231 (1981); Kosher, R. A. et al. J Embryol Exp Morphol 56:91 (1980));        2) during brain development around proliferating and migrating neuronal cells, (Verna, J. M. et al. Int J Dev Neurosci. 7:389 (1989)); and        3) during formation of heart valves when cushion cells migrate from the endocardium to the myocardium (Camenisch, T. D. et al. J Clin Invest 106:349 (2000)).
HA matrices are removed from the cells after final differentiation at the end of morphogenetic events (Gakunga, P. et al. Development 124:3987 (1997)). Throughout morphogenesis HA creates hydrated pathways, thus facilitating free movement of the cells in this microenvironment (Gakunga, P. et al. Development 124:3987 (1997)). HA molecules are conducive to cell proliferation and migration, preventing differentiation of cells until sufficient number and appropriate positioning of cells is established, which is essential for the formation of tissues and/or organs (Gakunga, P. et al. Development 124:3987 (1997)). In addition, the formation of hydrated pathways by HA molecules is closely associated with the surface of different types of cells, and these associations promote cell adhesion and aggregation (Sionov, R. V. et al. Adv Cancer Res 71:241 (1997); Lee, V. et al. J Cell Biochem 79:322 (2000)).
The motility of malignant cells is mediated through interactions with HA, which is an important extracellular matrix molecule (Docherty, R. et al. J Cell Sci 92:263 (1989); Ropponen, K. et al. Cancer Res 58:342 (1998); Ruoslahti, E. J Biol Chem 264:13369 (1989); Sherman, L. et al. Curr Opin Cell Biol 6:726 (1994); Zhang, W. et al. Biochem J 349:91 (2000)). High or very low levels of HA in the serum of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) correlate with dramatically reduced median survival of these patients (Dahl, I. M. et al. Blood 93:4144 (1999b)). Moreover, HA mediates survival of MM cell lines against dexamethasone-induced apoptosis through IL-6-dependent and -independent autocrine pathways (Vincent, T. et al. Br J Haematol 121:259 (2003)). HA also increases intracellular Ca2+ levels by binding to CD44, suggesting that HA may activate intracellular signaling through activation of protein kinase C (Fraser, S. P. FEBS Lett 404:56 (1997); Liu, D. et al. Cell Immunol 174:73 (1996); Milstone, L. M. et al. J Cell Sci 107:3183 (1994)). Also secretion of HA is stimulated by growth factors which activate classical and novel isoform (PKCa) of PKC (Anggiansah, C. L. et al. J Physiol 550:631 (2003)). In addition to its role as an ECM and signaling molecule, HA plays a significant role in the process of mitosis and in the maintenance of cell shape or volume (DeAngelis, P. L., Cell Mol Life Sci 56:670 (1999); Evanko, S. P. et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 19:1004 (1999)).
Biochemical and cell biological studies suggest that HA is synthesized at the inner face of the plasma membrane and is immediately extruded into the extracellular matrix (ECM) where HA molecules are assembled and form a pericellular coat around the cell plasma membrane (Weigel, P. H. et al. Biol Chem 272:13997 (1997)). The manner of the synthesis of HA molecules is unique and differs from the synthesis of other glycosaminoglycans that occurs at the golgi, with finished products exported to the cell surface by proteins. In addition to extracellular HA, an intracellular HA derived from an intracellular pool in the cell has also been detected (Evanko, S. P. et al. Histochem Cytochem 47:1331 (1999)). The production of HA is stimulated by phobol esters, the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), and the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family, by activation of protein kinase C and cAMP (Honda, A et al. Biochem J 292:497 (1993); Pienimaki, J. P. et al. J Biol Chem 276:20428 (2001); Suzuki, M. et al. Biochem J 307:817 (1995)).
Hyaluronan synthase (HAS), is an integral membrane protein which mediates 7 distinct functions in order to assemble and translocate HA molecules through the cell plasma membrane. The HAS protein is associated with malignant cell transformation (Banerjee, S. D. et al. J Cell Biol 119:643 (1992); Suzuki, M. et al. Biochem J 307:817 (1995)). The activation of HAS and consequently HA production strongly correlates with the transforming activity of v-src (Sohara, Y. et al. Mol Biol Cell 12:1859 (2001)). Furthermore, tumour-specific activation of cell migration is mediated by two parallel pathways the Ras-MAPK and the PI3K-Akt pathway (Sohara, Y. et al. Mol Biol Cell 12:1859 (2001)).
Heldermon et al. proposed an updated topological structure of Streptococcus pyogenes hasA (sphasA) (Heldermon, C. D. et al. Glycobiology 11:1017 (2001)). Their proposed structure includes four transmembrane domains (TDM), two extracellular loops, two membrane-associated regions, an intracellular central loop, and intracellular amino and carboxyl terminals. Due to their extensive primary sequence identity, it has been proposed that eukaryotic and bacterial HAS proteins have the same topological organization and they belong to the same class, class 1, of HAS protein family (Table 1) (DeAngelis, P. L., Cell Mol Life Sci 56:670 (1999)). The eukaryotic HAS is 40% larger than bacterial HAS and its topology includes an additional trasmembrane domain and an extracellular loop.
TABLE 1Classes of HAS proteins (DeAngelis,P. L., Cell Mol Life Sci 56:670 (1999))Class IClass IIMembersSpHas, seHas, cvHas, xlHas,PmHasvertebrate HAS1, 2, 3Polypeptide Size417-588 residues972 residuesTopologymultiple pass, integralsoluble with a dockingmembrane proteinsegment for membranepartner
Examination of the hydrophobic domains of HAS isoenzyme variants have shown the existence of cysteine residues in the amino acid sequences of the central domain (Heldermon, C. et al. J Biol Chem 276:2037 (2001)). Modification of these cysteine residues changes the enzymatic activities of the HAS proteins (Heldermon, C. et al. J Biol Chem 276:2037 (2001); Pummill, P. E. et al. J Biol Chem 278:19808 (2003)). Recently, it has been shown that single amino acid mutation introduced on the HAS protein alters the size of the HA molecules, specifically the size of HA chain can be either reduced or increased (Pummill, P. E. et al. J Biol Chem 278:19808 (2003)). The serine, tyrosine, and cysteine(s) which are responsible for this process are conserved and located either on the central loop (tyrosine, and cysteine(s)) while serine is part of the TMD of the protein. A significant number of protein kinase C phosphorylation sites are predicted within the intracellular loop of the HAS protein suggesting that HAS activation is perhaps regulated by direct phosphorylation, and suggesting potential sites for therapeutic attack.
Three isoenzymes of HAS: HAS1, HAS2, and HAS3; have been detected in humans thus far. The related but separate genes of the HASs, which share at least one or two exon-intron boundaries and 55-71% amino acid sequence identity, are located on different chromosomes (hCh19-HAS1, hCh8-HAS2, hCh16-HAS3) and encode three different proteins with distinct enzymatic properties (Itano, N. et al. J Biol Chem 274:25085 (1999); Spicer, A. P. et al. Genomics 41:493 (1997)). Recently two variants of HAS3, HAS3vl and HAS3v2, have been reported (NCBI database). The similarities of gene structure suggest that these genes might have arisen by a gene duplication event (Spicer, A. P. et al. Genomics 41:493 (1997)). Also localization of HASs in different chromosomes suggests differential expression of these genes and not completely similar functions. Each isoform of the HAS protein synthesizes different sizes of HA molecules with different functions. HAS3 synthesizes shorter forms of HA molecules compared to HAS1 and HAS2, both of which produce longer molecules of HA. The HAS1, which synthesizes high-molecular weight HA, may maintain a low, basal level of HA. HAS2 is involved in embryonic and cardiac cushion morphogenesis and subsequent development through cell migration and invasion (Camenisch, T. D. et al. J Clin Invest 106:349 (2000)). This form of HA induces cell proliferation and activates cell signaling cascades which stimulate angiogenesis.
Overexpression of HAS proteins and subsequent overproduction of HA molecules promotes growth and/or metastatic development in fibrosarcoma, prostate and mammary carcinoma. However, the removal of the HA matrix from a migratory cell membrane inhibits cell movement, as has been demonstrated by Baneijee et al. and Evanko et al. (Banedji, S. et al. J Cell Biol 144:789 (1999); Evanko, S.P. et al. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 19:1004 (1999)). HAS proteins, particularly the HAS2 isoenzyme, which is involved in embryonic and cardiac cushion morphogenesis and subsequent development through cell migration and invasion, appear to facilitate abnormal cell proliferation and the activation of cell signaling cascades that stimulate angiogenesis and may promote tumour progression (Lees, V.C. et al. Lab Invest 73:259 (1995); West, D. C. et al. Science 228:1324 (1985)).
HA overproduction by cushion cells not only provides a substrate for cardiac cell migration but also influences the transformation of these cells into a motile phenotype, suggesting a significant role in oncogenesis (Lees, V. C. et al. Lab Invest 73:259 (1995); Li, H. et al. Int J Oncol 17: 927 (2000)). HA is produced in large quantities by cells undergoing mitosis as well. It facilitates cell rounding and is involved in the post-mitotic separation of daughter cells (Evanko, S. P. et al. J Histochem Cytochem 47:1331 (1999); Tammi, R. et al. Exp Cell Res 195:524 (1991)). The activation of HAS enzymes appears to be essential for these events. The expression of the antisense of HAS2 and/or HAS3 in the aggressive prostate adenocarcinoma PC3M-LN4 cell line inhibited tumour growth (Liu N. et al. Cancer Res 61:5207 (2001)). This finding suggests that overproduction of HA is required for tumour progression and it appears that elevated production of HA by prostate stroma and cancer cells is a negative prognostic factor (Liu, N. et al. Cancer Res 61: 5207 (2001)). Overexpression of HAS2 and HAS3 promotes anchorage-independent growth and tumourigenicity in immunocompromised mice (Kosaki, R. et al. Cancer Res 59:1141 (1999); Liu, N. et al. Cancer Res 61:5207 (2001); Li, Y. et al. Br J Cancer 85:600 (2001)). Compared to HAS1 and HAS3, the HAS2 gene is easily regulated in response to mechanical injury in human peritoneal mesonthelial cells in vitro and in dermal fibroblasts and osteoblasts in response to glucocorticoids (Yung, S. et al. Kidney Int 58:1953 (2000); Jacobson, A. et al. Biochem J 348:29 (2000); Zhang, W. et al. Biochem J 349:91 (2000)). Transfected HAS2 has been shown to induce transformed growth (Zoltan-Jones, A. et al. J Biol Chem 2003 Sep 3 [Epub ahead of print])
Overexpression of HAS1 or HAS2, both of which appear to synthesize high molecular weight HA, may activate hyaluronidase, an enzyme which degrades HA molecules and which is observed to be upregulated or downregulated during the progression of human cancer (Lees, V. C. et al. Lab Invest 73:259 (1995)). Shorter forms of HA resulting from HA degradation have been implicated in angiogenesis (Lees, V. C. et al. Lab Invest 73:259 (1995); West, D. C. et al. Science 228:1324 (1985); West, D. C. et al. Ciba Found Symp 143:187 (1989)). Therefore, changes to HAS1 and/or HAS3 gene regulation most likely results from significant changes in the cell or tissue in response to external or internal stimuli.
In mammary carcinoma cells, transfection with HAS1 transcripts resulted in the formation of increased metastasis as compared to that in controls (Itano, N. et al. Cancer Res 59:2499 (1999)). However, little is known about the role of HAS1 in various types of cancers, and regulation in response to external stimuli is not clear because of the nature of the gene. The lifetime of HAS1 transcripts may be very short and/or HAS1 may be expressed at low levels, compromising its detection by standard conventional gel electrophoresis. However, since HAS1 appears to be stringently regulated, its basal overexpression by tumour cells appears to be the result of dramatic changes in these cells.
In addition to extracellular HA molecules which are extruded into the extracellular compartment, an intracellular HA has been detected in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of various tissues such as the brain, liver, arteries, cumulus cells and oocytes (Dahl, I. M. et al. Blood 93:4144 (1999a); Furukawa, K. et al. Biochim Biophys Acta 585:575 (1979); Itano, N. et al. Cancer Res 59:2499 (1999); Londono, I. et al. Histochem Cytochem 36:1005 (1988); Margolis, R. K. et al. Biochim Biophys Acta 451:465 (1976); Ripellino, J. A. et al. J Cell Biol 106:845 (1988); Ripellino, J. A. et al. J Cell Biol 108:1899 (1989); Simpson, M. A. et al. Am J Pathol 161:849 (2002)). This intracellular HA can regulate gene transcription and/or the cell cycle by binding to the cell cycle control protein CDC37 and through the activation of the erk kinase pathway via the intracellular form of the HA binding receptor, Receptor for HA Mediated Motility (RHAMM) (Grammatikakis, N. et al. J Biol Chem 270:16198 (1995); Zhang, S. et al. J Biol Chem 273:11342 (1998)). In turn, activation of the erk kinase could induce transcription of many types of genes.
Intracellular localization of HA has been detected in nucleoli and in the nuclear periphery of areas of condensed chromatin (Evanko, S. P. et al. J Histochem Cytochem 47:1331 (1999)). Evanko et al. showed localization of intracellular HA during mitosis at the metaphase plate (Evanko, S. P. et al. J Histochem Cytochem 47:1331 (1999)). Furthermore, intracellular HA was detected around chromosomes during their rearrangement and separation in anaphase. In concert with previous findings, this work suggests a significant role of HA and HASs in mitosis and especially in chromatin condensation which occurs through interaction with histone and lamin (Cremer, T. et al. Nat Rev Genet 2:292 (2001)). Evanko et al. suggest a possible role for nuclear HA in ribosomal production and trafficking, or MRNA processing (Evanko, S. P. et al. J Histochem Cytochem 47:1331 (1999)). The source of intracellular HA, up to now, has remained unclear.
Multiple Myeloma (MM) is an incurable bone marrow (BM) cancer characterized by osteolytic bone lesions, BM plasmacytosis and monoclonal gammopathy. Molecular studies conducted in our laboratory revealed circulating, late stage, drug-resistant B-cells with clonotypic VDJ rearrangements in the peripheral blood (PB) of patients with MM. We believe that these cells migrate to the BM and give rise malignant plasma cells (PC) subsequently facilitating disease progressions. These drug-resistant clonotypic cells express the RHAMM oncogene. Furthermore, over-expression and/or inhibition of intracellular RHAMM dysregulates mitosis, likely leading to chromosomal instabilities and malignant spread in MM by mediating HA-dependent motility. Given the high remission rate and poor understanding of the disease, clinicians face a difficult challenge in directing treatment for the disease. A diagnostic test allowing the clinician to assess the severity of the disease through assessment of the likelihood of patient survival would be of great assistance to the medical community.
Current methods for monitoring myeloma involve bone marrow aspirates or core biopsies of the bone marrow, painful procedures that require an MD to perform them. The cells in the aspirate or biopsy are then viewed by an experienced pathologist using microscopic analysis, a time consuming process. This mode of testing depends on the biopsy needle penetrating an area of the bone marrow that is infiltrated by malignant cells. Since the distribution of such cells is not even throughout the bone marrow, this can result in "geographic misses" when the needle draws cells from an area that does not have malignant infiltration. It is also insensitive in that it cannot detect cells that have morphology different from that of classical plasma cells even though such cells may have the molecular signature that unequivocally identifies the myeloma clone. An alternate method involves analysis of monoclonal protein, the protein secreted by the bone marrow plasma cells, as measured by a blood test. This test is relatively painless but is insensitive, able to detect only relatively high levels of the protein excluding its use for monitoring minimal disease and early stages of relapse, and does not detect those patients whose cancer does not secrete the protein or as disease progression occurs has lost the ability to secrete it.


Provided are a charging system, charging method, and device, said charging system comprising a battery; a first rectifier, configured to output a first voltage with a first pulsating waveform; a switch unit, configured to modulate the first voltage; a transformer, configured to output a second voltage with a second pulsating waveform; a second rectifier, configured to output a third voltage with a third pulsating waveform, and the third voltage is configured to be applied to the battery charge the battery; a first current sampling circuit, configured to sample current to obtain a current sampling value; and a control unit configured to output the control signal to the switch unit, adjust the amplification factor of the operational amplifier, and adjust a duty ratio of the control signal according to the current sampling value, such that the third voltage meets a charging requirement of the battery.

Nowadays, mobile terminals such as smart phones are increasingly favored by consumers. However, the mobile terminal consumes large power energy, and needs to be charged frequently.
Typically, the mobile terminal is charged by a power adapter. The power adapter generally includes a primary rectifier circuit, a primary filter circuit, a transformer, a secondary rectifier circuit, a secondary filter circuit and a control circuit, such that the power adapter converts an input alternating current of 220V into a stable and low voltage direct current (for example, 5V) suitable for requirements of the mobile terminal, and provides the direct current to a power management device and a battery of the mobile terminal, thereby realizing charging the mobile terminal.
However, as the power of the power adapter becomes larger, for example, upgrade from 5 W to 10 W, 15 W, 25 W and other larger power, more electronic elements capable of bearing large power and realizing better control are required for adaptation, which not only increases a size of the power adapter, but also increases a production cost and manufacture difficulties of the power adapter.
Further, a current detection in a related power adapter is usually realized by using a current detection resistor and an operational amplifier. Since the detected current increases as the power of the power adapter increases, there is a high requirement in a dynamic range of a current detection circuit and it is also required to prevent saturation of the operational amplifier. However, after the dynamic range of the operational amplifier is increased (for example, by selecting the current resistor with low resistance and/or decreasing an amplification factor of the amplifier), when the charging is performed with small current, it is impossible to ensure a current detection precision for the small current, thus influencing application of the power adapter.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Charging system, charging method, and device

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


A document writing apparatus capable of editing a document while simultaneously displaying another document in the same frame of a display. A unit for determining the display method is provided which selects, when two documents are simultaneously displayed, bisected display areas on which the two documents are respectively displayed so that the lines of the two documents are displayed in a series relationship with each other if the sum of the numbers of characters constituting one lines of the two documents is smaller than the maximum of the number of characters which can be displayed on the display in the widthwise direction, or are displayed in parallel with each other if the sum of the numbers of characters exceeds the maximum number of characters. The display method determining unit selects the number of dots constituting each displayed character so that the number of display dots is maximized within the limit of the predetermined maximum number of display dots.

This invention relates to a document writing apparatus which is operated to input words and sentences to edit a document while simultaneously displaying another document in the same frame.
Recently, many document writing apparatuses including word processors have been developed which are improved in operability by adding a function of enabling the operator to write a document while simultaneously referring to another document previously written. For this kind of conventional document writing apparatus, a method for simultaneously displaying two documents in one frame has been used in which the area of one frame is bisected into left and right or upper and lower sections, an edited main document being displayed in the left or upper section, a sub document read out to be referred to or copied being displayed on the right or lower section.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the construction of a conventional document writing apparatus. A component 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a character input means for inputting characters of kana, kanji, English characters, Arabic numerals and the like. An array of input characters is changed by proofreading and/or edited by an editing means 2 while being displayed by a display means 3. Documents thereby formed are stored by a document storage means 4, and each of the documents can be printed by a printing means 5 if necessary.
At the time of document inputting/editing, a portion of a document which has already been prepared and stored by the document storage means 4 may be used in a document presently edited or may be referred to for editing. In such a case, the two documents are displayed in the same frame by using a two-document invoking means 6, and character inputting/editing are performed under this condition to edit the document.
The operation of this conventional apparatus will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2a to 2d, and FIGS. 3a and 3b.
It is assumed here that display means using 24-dot characters, 16-dot characters and 12-dot characters are provided as the display means of this apparatus, and that while a first document shown in FIG. 2a (35 characters .times. 25 lines per page on a B5 sheet) is being edited and displayed in a one-document display state shown in FIG. 2d by using 24-dot characters, the apparatus is instructed to effect two-document display and reads out a second document shown in FIG. 2b (40 characters .times. 35 lines per page on an A4 sheet) by using the two-document invoking means 6. The contents of the two-document display are thereby displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 3a. In the two-document display state shown in FIG. 3a, each line of the main and sub documents cannot be entirely displayed, and a troublesome operation of scrolling of each document in the direction of line length is required to edit the document.
In the case of a combination of a third document (90 characters .times. 25 lines per page on a B4 sheet) and the first document, the two-document display state is as shown in FIG. 3b, and the extent of scrolling is further increased. In such a case, the operator selects the 16 dot character display means which enables an increase in the number of characters displayed on one line while limiting the reduction in the character size so that each character is easy to read, and which can avoid occurrence of a need for scrolling. The operator also changes the display system and establishes a two-document display state shown in FIG. 5a by selecting the position at which the left and right sections for displaying the two documents are divided so that there is no need to scroll one or both of the two documents. Thereafter, the operator inputs characters and edits the document.
In the conventional document writing apparatus, however, the dot construction of each character and the position at which the frame area is divided for two-document display are fixed with respect to each apparatus, and, to establish a two-document display condition free from occurrence of a need for scrolling one or both of the main and sub documents, it is necessary for the operator to change the display system and the display condition by considering both the formats of the two documents read out and the display means provided in the apparatus.

Apparatus for writing a document under two-document display condition

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A coverall for a beekeeper, having a main body portion for covering the extremities, including a hood portion, which would comprise multi-layered fabric, including an inside layer which would make contact with the inner clothing or skin of the wearer constructed of a mostly woven net in the neighborhood of 0.4 centimeters per opening, an outside net fabric layer also having openings in the neighborhood of 0.4 centimeters in diameter, with a layer of polyurethane open cells foam having foam elements of approximate 10 pores per linear inch, (100 pores per square inch), of sufficient thickness approximately 0.4-0.6 centimeters so that a bee stinger could not penetrate through the central polyurethane foam core, yet the inside and outside woven net layers would provide structural integrity to the suit, yet allow ventilation between the skin of the wearer and the outside air. The suit is constructed from such uniform flexible multi-layered material in its entirety except for a wire mesh of the face portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to suits for beekeepers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a beekeepers suit, which is ventilated in a manner having an outer and inner layer of medium woven net material net, with an open cell polyurethane layer intermediate the inner and outer net layers, in order to prevent the penetration of bee stings, yet allow thorough ventilation to the wearer of the suit.
2. General Background
In the art of beekeeping, it is imperative that the beekeeper, when working with the bee hives in order to harvest honey, inspect bees in the hive or the like, thoroughly protect the skin from bee stings during this activity. At the present time, there are body suits which are for the most part constructed of tightly woven material which attempts to prevent the bee stings from penetrating to the skin. The shortcoming of this type of suit, is that the tightly woven material does not allow air to freely circulate to the skin of the wearer, and as a result, the wearer gets quite overheated, and usually early fatigue sets in, not to mention a wet uncomfortable feeling from perspiration.
Therefore, there is a constant need in the art for a beekeeper suit which has the ability to protect the wearer from bee stings while working with bee hives, yet at the same time, provide for ventilation through the suit so that the beekeeper could be kept dry and comfortable during his work. Several patents have been granted which relate to garments or fabrics for protecting the skin, the most pertinent being as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,594 relates to an insect proof garment covering with a fine knit like material placed over a course rope like material, with the two layers attempting to protect the skin by keeping the insect away from the skin surface. Sagging of the fine material between the course rope like material could be self defeating to prevent stings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,152 issued to Heare, entitled "Insect Protective Garment", provides a garment for insect bites which is constructed of semi-rigid mesh, such as the material used as window screening, and would include hood with a protective face panel attached to the garment, which is not too flexible to wear, and keeps no constant distance from outer layer to skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,781 entitled "Insect Protective Garment" relates to a light weight insect or animal proof coverall garment having a body portion of lightweight insect excluding material, covering the greater portion of the body, with mesh at the elbows, knees, and shoulders and the face for providing a little ventilation to those parts. It does not claim to prevent stings, and keeps no constant distance from the outer layer to skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,044 entitled "Protective Bonnet For Beekeeping" teaches the use of a bonnet which would be used by beekeepers including a lower portion that would cover the bust that is manufactured from woven fabric which is non-metallic, and which rests upon the head. There would be included a veil of transparent plastic that is secured with the self-adhesive. It keeps no constant distance from outer layer to the skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,451 entitled "Insect Protective Garment" relates to an insect netting through which insects cannot penetrate, which is coupled to a plurality of elongated rib members which would contact the skin and which would maintain the netting at a sufficient distance above the skin to prevent insects from reaching the skin. Sagging of fine material between rib members or separating rings could be self defeating to prevent stings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,185 entitled "Snake Proof Trousers And The Like" relates to trousers having a lining adapted to protect the wearer from snake bites. The trousers would include a lining made of expanded lightweight plastic materials such as closed cell styrofoam with an outer material also of fabric. The thickness of the inner lining and the styrofoam would allegedly protect the wearer from snake bites. Ventilation is not found as an important part in the patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,189,892 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,074,390 both relate to fabric protectors and are representative of what is in the present state of the art.


The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for detecting website security. The method includes: performing bypass interception on a network to snatch a hypertext transfer protocol request packet; acquiring a link corresponding to the hypertext transfer protocol request packet; inserting the link into a to-be-scanned queue as a priority task to be scanned if the link is determined to be new; and/or extracting a domain name corresponding to the link, inserting the domain name into the to-be-scanned queue as a priority task to be scanned if the domain name is determined to be new; and performing vulnerability scanning on the task to be scanned in the to-be-scanned queue.

As Internet technologies are more and more widely used, a lot of routine work and entertainments are carried out online because networks are closely linked with our daily lives. Therefore, website security draws more and more attention. However, there are various potential safety hazards in networks, for example, COOKIE poisoning, application buffer overflow, cross-site scripting attack and known security vulnerability or the like, which make website users worry at any moment. The website users expect to know about degree of safety of websites and use safer websites, and webmasters expect to timely fix vulnerabilities and provide a safe browsing platform for website users.
In today's highly developed information, website services (codes) serving as information carriers are frequently updated, but information security professional allocated by each company are not many enough to support so many and frequent security tests.
For example, an island page is a page that cannot be snatched by a crawler, and thus huge risks may be caused once a vulnerability is discovered by a hacker. All existing vulnerability scanners perform security tests after snatching website links based on crawler technology, and thus neither can timely scan new online domain names nor can detect vulnerabilities on island pages.

Method and apparatus for detecting website security

Beijing Qihoo Technology Company Limited


A one-way clutch is constructed of an inner member, an outer ring disposed coaxially with the inner member, clutch members arranged between the inner member and the outer ring to permit rotation of one of the inner member and the outer ring in one direction relative to the other but to restrict rotation of said one of the inner member and the outer ring in an opposite direction relative to the other, centering blocks arranged between the inner member and the outer ring, and a cage having support elements for the respective centering blocks. Each of the centering blocks is in the form of a hollow body having a sliding portion and a fixed portion. The sliding portion is maintained in sliding contact with one of the inner member and the outer ring, while the fixed portion is secured on the other one of the inner member and the outer ring.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pad bearing, in other words, a centering block, which is a slide bearing for a one-way clutch employed for operations such as torque transmission, backing-off and overrunning in an automatic transmission for an automotive vehicle, and especially to a centering block capable of guiding a lubricating oil to clutch members such as sprags or rollers.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional one-way clutch is illustrated in FIG. 12 through FIG. 16, in which FIG. 12 is a simplified schematic front view of the conventional one-way clutch, FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary front view of the conventional one-way clutch, FIG. 14 is a front view of a centering block in the conventional one-way clutch, FIG. 15 is a fragmentary front view of a cage in the conventional one-way clutch, and FIG. 16 is a plan view of bent pieces of the cage in the conventional one-way clutch as viewed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 15.
In FIG. 13, the conventional one-way clutch comprises an inner member 30 and an outer ring 1. Arranged between the inner member 30 and the outer ring 1 are rollers 2. Cam surfaces 1a are formed on an inner peripheral wall of the outer ring 1, whereby a cam mechanism is constructed of the rollers 2 and the corresponding cam surfaces 1a to allow the inner member 30 to rotate only in one direction relative to the outer ring 1. Namely, the inner member 30 is allowed to idle in a direction indicated by arrow B in FIG. 13 relative to the outer ring 1. On one side of the outer ring 1, a cage 3 is arranged coaxially with the outer ring 1. The cage 3 covers one end faces of the individual rollers 2. Parts of the cage 3 are bent to form bent pieces 3a, which extend between the inner member 30 and the outer ring 1. Tips 3b of the bent pieces 3a project out beyond an opposite side of the outer ring 1. On the opposite side of the outer ring 1, a side plate 4 is disposed covering opposite end faces of the rollers 2. The side plate 4 defines small holes 4a, through which the bent pieces 3a of the cage 3 extend. The tips 3b are crimped on an outer surface of the side plate 4 so that the side plate 4 is disposed coaxially with the outer ring 1 and the inner member 30 and the cage 3 and the side plate 4 are fixed on the outer ring 1.
Between the outer ring 1 and the inner member 30, centering blocks 5 are disposed. Each centering block 5 is composed of a sliding portion 5a, bent portions 5b, and support portions 5c connecting the sliding portion 5a and the individual bent portions 5b, respectively. The sliding portion 5a is maintained in sliding contact with the inner member 30, while the bent portions 5b are maintained in engagement with a corresponding recess 1b formed in an inner peripheral wall of the outer ring 1 and supported by the corresponding bent pieces 3a. The centering block 5 is hence fixed in the corresponding recess 1b of the outer ring 1 with the bent portions 5b being supported on the corresponding bent pieces 3a. The cage 3 is provided with L-shaped spring brackets 11 supporting thereon springs 10, respectively. Each spring 10 urges the associated roller 2 against the corresponding cam surface 1a. The bent pieces 3a also serve as stoppers for preventing rotation of the cage 3 against urging forces of the springs 10. Each support portion 5c is provided with a lubricating oil hole 5d through which a lubricating oil is allowed to flow.
Although not shown in the drawings, lubricating oil feed channels extend radially through the inner member 30 from its inner peripheral wall to its outer peripheral wall. The lubricating oil can therefore be fed under centrifugal force to the rollers 2 through the lubricating oil feed channels. Alternatively, the lubricating oil can be fed into a closed structure with the respective centering blocks 5 from an unillustrated lubricator and then to the rollers 2 through the lubricating oil holes 5d of the centering blocks 5.
Accordingly, the lubricating oil inside the one-way clutch can flow through the lubricating oil holes 5d, namely, can recirculate inside the one-way clutch without being blocked by the centering blocks 5.
Conventional centering blocks are however formed by pressing a metal sheet, so that they have a uniform wall thickness and an open shape. They are hence accompanied by the drawback that they are prone to deformation when subjected to a radial load and they are not resistant to vibrations applied from an associated outer ring.


A driving circuit for a touch screen, an in-cell touch screen and a display apparatus. A timing controller of the driving circuit controls a power supply circuit to output a clock signal with a first amplitude to an (N+1−n)th-stage to an Nth-stage shift registers (SR(n)) in a first time period at a display stage, and controls the power supply circuit to output a clock signal with a second amplitude to each stage of shift register (SR(n)) in a second time period at the display stage; and then levels of scanning signals output by the (N+1−n)th-stage to the Nth-stage shift registers (SR(n)) are higher than levels of scanning signals output by other stages of shift registers (SR(n)).

With fast development of the display technology, displays show development trends of high integration level and low cost. A Gate Driver on Array (GOA) technology integrates a thin film transistor (TFT) gate switching circuit on an array substrate of a display panel for carrying out scanning driving on the display panel, so that a bonding region for a gate Integrated Circuit (IC) and a wiring space for a fan-out region on the display panel can be omitted. By adopting the GOA technology, not only product cost can be reduced in two aspects, material cost and production process, but also the display panel can achieve attractive design in both symmetric profile and narrow frame; and moreover, this integrated process can further omit a bonding process for a gate scanning line, so that capacity and yield are improved.
Generally, a gate driving circuit is formed by a plurality of cascaded shift registers, and an output signal end of each stage of shift register respectively corresponds to one gate line and is configured for sequentially outputting scanning signals line by line to a plurality of gate lines. With a higher and higher resolution required by a large-sized display, the gate driving circuit is generally implemented by pre-charging, i.e., each stage of shift register in the gate driving circuit sequentially outputs, and each clock signal sequentially has an overlap of 1/n of a pulse width, that is, the scanning signal output by a current stage of shift register and the scanning signal output by a previous stage of shift register have the overlap of 1/n of the pulse width.

Driving circuit for touch screen, in-cell touch screen and display apparatus

BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A method and system for wrinkle reduction. The method includes the steps of positioning and applying a patch to skin of a consumer and adhesively securing the patch to the skin. A chemical composition on the patch includes both active ingredients and adhesive. A pair of electrodes are connected to a battery-driven, microprocessor-based controller. A current is applied through the electrodes in the patch for a selected time. The chemical composition in the patch is propelled into the consumer through use of the current in order to relax the skin of the consumer. The patch is removed and any residue of the chemical composition is massaged into the skin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates and is directed to a process or method of use and a system including a disposable patch to treat wrinkles and line lines with a chemical composition administered by iontophoresis.
2. Prior Art
There are various known procedures and various known chemical compositions for treating, reducing or preventing fine lines or wrinkles of the facial skin. It is known that moisturizers containing amino acids play a significant role in skin care by increasing skin elasticity and smoothing the skin. In addition, anti-aging active agents are known to change the skin condition by smoothing and tightening.
Chemical compositions may be administered topically, such as lotions, or administered through transdermal patches. Additionally, chemical compositions may be administered by direct injection. Chemical compositions presently available include those which moisturize the outer skin or epidermis. Other compositions tend to promote cell growth in the skin. Other treatments of wrinkles and line lines include botulinum toxin (marketed under the trademark Botox®) which inhibits neurotransmission in nerve cells, thereby causing contracted muscles to relax.
In order to increase the speed and effectiveness of delivery of chemical compositions for treatment, it is known to utilize sonic vibrations. For example, Fahim (U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,296) discloses topical treatment of acne with zinc salt and ascorbic acid in a pharmaceutical carrier which is applied with ultra sonic vibrations.
Stephen et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,938) disclose a method of treating acne using an applicator electrode having a solution capable of producing hydroxyl ions. An applicator electrode is placed against the skin and a voltage differential is applied to produce and drive hydroxyl ions into the skin tissue.
Sun et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,133) discloses a device for treating acne or rosacea by applying an electrical charge with two conductive electrodes in communication with a carrier containing an electrolyte.
More recently, the Durand patent publications (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0048556 and 2009/0149800) disclose a drug delivery system including a pair of electrodes coupled to drug reservoirs 24 controlled by a microprocessor 12. The microprocessor may be programmed through a wireless signal receiver.
Notwithstanding the forgoing, there remains a need for an effective, simple, non-invasive and non-surgical process and system utilizing a disposable patch for treating wrinkles and fine lines.
There also remains a need for a process and system utilizing a disposable patch for wrinkle reduction which may be manufactured at low-cost and high volume.
There also remains a need for a process and system utilizing a disposable patch for wrinkle reduction with precision timing of delivery of active ingredients.
There also remains a need for an apparatus having an adhesive disposable patch with a plurality of active ingredients, a power supply, and a controller in communication with the power supply controlling current using a ramping current profile.

Process and system for iontophoretic wrinkle reduction

University Medical Pharmaceuticals Corp.


A metal plug is formed in a connection hole such as a via hole or a contact hole to provide an interconnection between multilayer wires in a semiconductor integrated circuit. First, an adhesion layer is deposited on an insulating film, and an area of the adhesion layer is etched away isotropic etching through an opening in a resist mask, the area being larger than the opening in the resist mask. Thereafter, the insulating film is etched through the opening in the resist mask by anisotropic etching, forming a connection hole in the insulating film. Then, a metal layer such as a blanket tungsten layer is deposited on the adhesion layer and in the connection hole. The metal layer is etched back and the adhesion layer is etched away, leaving the metal layer as a metal plug in the connection hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of making a metal plug, and more particularly to a method of embedding a metal plug or connector of a metal of high melting point in a via hole, or a plated through hole, which interconnects several layers of multilayer wires on a semiconductor integrated circuit or a contact hole which interconnects a semiconductor substrate and a wire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Semiconductor integrated circuits such as USLI circuits are composed of a large number of circuit components and interconnections that are packed in very small size and with very high density. On those integrated circuits, the via holes which provide interconnections between layers of multilayer wires and the contact holes which interconnect semiconductor substrates and wires have diameters that are as small as 0.35 .mu.m. The conventional bias sputtering process for producing interconnections of A1 fails to provide good interconnections between those connection holes in terms of step coverage.
Metal plugs have been proposed and put to use in order to improve the step coverage with respect to such interconnections between such small via holes and contact holes. Metal plugs are selectively embedded in via holes and contact holes. One of the metal plugs that has drawn much attention in the art is made of CVD blanket tungsten that provides good coverage and has a lower contact resistance than plugs of polycrystalline silicon.
FIGS. 1A through 1C of the accompanying drawings show a conventional method of interconnecting wires with a metal plug.
First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a lower wire 2 is formed as a diffused layer in a silicon substrate 1, and then an insulating film 3 of SiO.sub.2, for example, is deposited on the upper surface of the silicon substrate 1. After a connection hole 4 for providing an electric interconnection is formed in the insulating film 3, a film 5 of TiN, for example, is deposited as an adhesion layer on the entire surface of the insulating film 3 including the connection hole 4.
Then, as shown in FIG. 1B, a layer of a metal of high melting point such as a blanket tungsten layer 6 is deposited on the film 5 by CVD.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, the blanket tungsten layer 6 and the film 5 are etched back to leave the tungsten as a metal plug 6A and the film 5 only in the connection hole 4. Then, an upper wire 7 is deposited on the insulating film 3 so as to be connected to the metal plug 6A.
A film 8 of TiSi.sub.2 may be deposited as a heat resistant layer on the surface of the diffused lower wire 2 by SITOX (silicization through oxide).
According to the conventional process, it is necessary to provide the TiN film 5 as an adhesion layer between the CVD blanket tungsten layer 6 and the insulating film 3 for better adhesion therebetween. When the blanket tungsten layer 6 is etched back and also the TiN film 5 is etched, overetching is required to ensure sufficient removal of the materials. However, since the etchant concentrates on the TiN film 5 on the side wall of the connection hole 4, the TiN 5 is considerably overetched as shown in FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings. Consequently, the upper wire 7 which will subsequently be deposited may not reliably be formed over the metal plug 6A.
One solution is not to deposit an adhesion layer on the side wall of the connection hole 4, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B of the accompanying drawings. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, after an insulating layer 3 and then a TiN film 5 as an adhesion layer have been deposited, a connection hole 4 is formed which extends to the lower wire 2. However, when a blanket tungsten layer 6 is subsequently deposited, as shown in FIG. 3B, an overhang 9 of the layer 6 is caused of necessity, making it difficult to embed the blanket tungsten layer 6 without any void 10 in the connection hole 4. Such a void 10 is more likely to occur as the connection hole 4 is smaller because the TiN film 5 and the blanket tungsten layer 6 on the insulating layer 3 as of SiO.sub.2 have different growth rates. The overhang may be prevented from taking place by effecting isotropic etching on the TiN film 5. However, the isotropic etching of the TiN film 5 is not practical since it is difficult to carry out.


A composition comprising a base component and a polymer, and a method of making said composition, are disclosed. The composition thereby obtained is then used as a catalyst for isoparaffin-olefin alkylation.

The present invention relates to a hydrocarbon conversion process and a catalyst composition utilized in said hydrocarbon conversion process. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved alkylation process for the production of an alkylate product by contacting hydrocarbons with a novel composition.
The use of catalytic alkylation processes to produce branched hydrocarbons having properties that are suitable for use as gasoline blending components is well known in the art. Generally, the alkylation of olefins by saturated hydrocarbons, such as isoparaffins, is accomplished by contacting the reactants with an acid catalyst to form a reaction mixture, settling said mixture to separate the catalyst from the hydrocarbons, and further separating the hydrocarbons, for example, by fractionation, to recover the alkylation reaction product. Normally, the alkylation reaction product is referred to as "alkylate", and preferably contains hydrocarbons having to 7-9 carbon atoms. In order to have the highest quality gasoline blending stock, it is preferred that hydrocarbons formed in the alkylation process be highly branched.
One of the more desirable alkylation catalysts is hydrofluoric acid (HF), however, the use of hydrofluoric acid as an alkylation catalyst has certain drawbacks. One problem with the use of hydrofluoric acid as an alkylation catalyst is that it is corrosive and it is toxic to human beings. The toxicity of hydrofluoric acid to human beings is further complicated by the fact that anhydrous hydrogen fluoride is typically a gas at normal atmospheric conditions of one atmosphere of pressure and 70° F. It is possible for the vapor pressure of hydrofluoric acid at standard atmospheric conditions to pose an inhalation risk if it is inadvertently exposed to the atmosphere. Although the safety record associated with most HF based alkylation units is very good, the potential exists for inadvertent release of HF into the atmosphere.
Due to the vapor pressure and corrosion associated with hydrofluoric acid, it would be beneficial to have an alkylation process using a catalyst composition, which would be an alternative to hydrofluoric acid. One possible alternative is the use of different liquid acids. However, other liquid acids can present corrosion and toxicity problems as well and tend to suffer rapid deactivation. This also requires the catalyst to be transported around a reactor/regenerator loop. Therefore, it would be desirable to have an alkylation catalyst composition that does not undergo rapid deactivation.


Engineered fusion proteins comprising photochromic protein domains are disclosed. In particular, the inventors have constructed fusion proteins containing photoswitchable photochromic fluorescent protein domains linked to selected proteins and shown that such fusion proteins can be used to control the activity or localization of selected proteins with light.

The ability to control protein localization and activity would be enormously beneficial for understanding and modulating protein function in physiological processes. Several approaches have been developed previously for optical control of protein activity using natural proteins and protein domains that change conformation upon light absorption, for example, using proteins such as rhodopsins, phytochromes, and cryptochromes, and LOV domains from phototropins and FKF1 (Airan et al. (2009) Nature 458:1025-1029; Inoue et al. (2005) Nat. Methods 2:415-418; Kennedy et al. (2010) Nat. Methods 7:973-975; Levskaya et al. (2009) Nature 461:997-1001; Szobota et al. (2007) Neuron 54:535-545; Wu et al. (2009) Nature 461:104-108; and Yazawa et al. (2009) Nat. Biotechnol. 27:941-945). However, widespread implementation of these methods has been hindered by various problems, including the limited applicability of the methods to only specific signaling pathways (Airan et al., supra), the need for exogenous cofactors (Levskaya et al., supra), slow kinetics of induction (Yazawa et al., supra), undesirable light-independent dimerization (Kennedy et al., supra), or the toxicity of light at blue wavelengths (Szobota et al., supra; Wu et al., supra; Yazawa et al., supra). Furthermore, of all these strategies, only fusion to LOV domains has been used to control the activity of a single protein, but this method generally requires extensive customization (Wu et al., supra; Strickland et al. (2008) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105:10709-10714; Strickland et al. (2010) Nat. Methods 7:623-626; and Wu et al. (2011) Methods Enzymol. 497:393-407). In addition, none of these light-absorbing domains are capable of controlling both protein localization by intermolecular interactions and function of a single polypeptide chain.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple to use system for controlling protein localization and activity with light, which can be readily applied to a wide range of proteins.

Optical control of protein activity and localization by fusion to photochromic protein domains

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


To enable both an increase in reproducibility for reproduction of a shape of an object and suppression of an increase in data amount. An information processing apparatus including: an acquisition unit that acquires first information associated with a result of estimation of a shape of an object on a real space and second information associated with a result of estimation of a geometrical feature of the object; and a correction unit that corrects the first information on the basis of the second information.

In recent years, because of advancement of image recognition technology, it has become possible to three-dimensionally estimate (or measure) the position, the attitude, the shape and the like of an object on a real space (hereinafter also called the "real object") and perform reproduction (reconfiguration) as a three-dimensionally shaped model, on the basis of an image imaged by an imaging unit, e.g., a digital camera. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a technology of reproducing a three-dimensionally shaped model of an object on a real space on the basis of an image imaged by an imaging unit.

Information processing apparatus and information processing method


In a method or device to control at least one property of a print image printed on a substrate, a first evaluation period is defined. A measurement value is determined with aid of an optical sensor which measures at least one determination point on the substrate within the first evaluation period, and also determining a position of the determination point within the first evaluation period. The determined measurement value is compared with a preset reference value. Depending on a result of the comparison, an inking of the substrate is controlled for the print image in at least one subsequent second evaluation period at a point within the second evaluation period which has a position within the second evaluation period that corresponds to said position of the determination point in said first evaluation period.

The disclosure concerns a method and a device to regulate a property of a print image printed on a substrate material, in which method and device a measurement value is determined with the aid of an optical sensor. The measurement value is compared with a desired value. The inking of the substrate material is controlled depending on the result of this comparison.
The method and the device can in particular be used to regulate the optical density of the print image in electrographic color printers operating in print periods. In a print period, the individual color separations required for the print image are applied successively and overlapping onto a transfer element with the aid of developer units, and are transferred from the transfer element onto the substrate material after all color separations required for the print image to be generated have been applied onto the transfer element. For this the substrate material (designed in the form of a printing substrate web) must be periodically halted and accelerated again, corresponding to the print period. For example, the toner applied onto the substrate material is fixed onto the substrate material with the aid of a fixing unit operating with radiant heat. In order to prevent damage to the substrate material, cover units—blinds, for example—are driven between the heating elements of the fixing unit and the substrate material as soon as the substrate material is stopped in order to protect the substrate material arranged within the fixing unit from too much thermal radiation during a standstill. If the substrate material is driven again, the cover units are retracted so that the additional print image is fixed on the substrate material. This thus leads to fluctuations of the heat acting on the substrate material in the fixing unit. Due to the high heat sensitivity of the toner, these heat fluctuations produce fluctuations in the optical density and/or the gloss of the print image printed on the substrate material.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,677 A, a method is known to optimize the semitone presentation in electrophotographic printing and copying devices in which a bias potential and/or a toner concentration is varied depending on an integral optical density (determined over the surface) of a raster toner mark on a photoconductor. The bias potential serves to adjust an auxiliary transmission voltage to transfer toner particles onto the photoconductor. What is disadvantageous is that no periodic fluctuations are detected; rather, only a general regulation takes place of the toner quantity to be applied during the collection period. The same toner quantity is applied during the entire collection period.
A method and an arrangement to adjust the dot size of print images generated with the aid of an electrographic printing or copying system are known from the document WO 2008/071741 A1. A measure of the area of a toner mark that is actually inked with toner particles is hereby determined as a real value and is compared with a desired value. Depending on the result of this comparison, an electrical field (BIAS potential) is adjusted to transfer toner particles onto the regions of a latent raster image that are to be inked. It is hereby disadvantageous that again only influencing factors that occur before or at the application of the toner image onto the photoconductor are taken into account.

Method and apparatus for regulating a property of an image printed on a support material


The present invention concerns a method of controlling a double clutch transmission (1) comprising two clutches (2a, 2b) one of which that is transmitting torque being the active clutch while the other one constituting the incoming clutch characterized by combining the incoming clutch preparation and the torque handover from the active clutch by over actuating the incoming clutch and shutting off the active clutch in a non proportional way, based on a feedback signal from the incoming clutch.

FIG. 1 shows a Double Clutch Transmission (DCT) 1 which is adapted for transmitting a torque from an engine E to a differential D to which two vehicle wheels are operatively connected. Double Clutch Transmission 1 comprises a double clutch 2 with a hollow shaft 3 and a central output shaft 4. The clutch housing 5 is connected to the engine crankshaft 6. Both clutches 2a, 2b of clutch 2 are controlled by hydraulic pistons (not shown) integrated into the clutch housing 5. The central and hollow shafts 4 and 3 are connected to two separate gear sets 7, 8 each with their own synchronizers (not shown). One shaft 4 drives gear set 7 which comprises the odd gear ratios while the other shaft 3 drives gear set 8 which comprises the even gear ratios. While one clutch 2a or 2b is active, meaning that torque from engine E is being transferred to the respective gear set 7,8, the other clutch 2b or 2a remains open, meaning that no torque is being transferred to the respective other gear set 2b, 2a. Accordingly, a new gear can be selected via the synchronizer actuators among the gears in the currently inactive gear set 2b, 2a.
By alternately coupling the central and the hollow shaft—with the synchronizers having selected the correct gear—shifts can be performed.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a possible hydraulic schema for controlling a double clutch, comprising a pressure supply 9 followed by a proportional actuator 10, a non-proportional actuator 11, a pressure sensor 12 and a connection 13a and 13b for each of the hydraulic pistons used in the two clutches 2a and 2b.
Conventional double clutch shifts are performed as powershifts, meaning there is no torque interruption during the shift. To perform this kind of powershifts the incoming clutch needs to take over torque while the active clutch still transfers torque.
On the graph of FIG. 3 showing a simplified torque characteristic of the clutch, one can see that the touch point of the clutch needs to be reached before the clutch can control torque.
To perform powershifts the active clutch can only reduce its torque capacity if the incoming clutch has already taken over this torque from the active clutch. The incoming clutch needs to perform a clutch preparation phase to be able to transfer torque. From drivers perspective the preparation phase is only recognized as a delay, while the torque handover phase only results in a very smooth change in acceleration. FIG. 4 shows such a conventional double clutch shift performed as powershift.
The target of conventional clutch preparation methods is to control the actuators of a clutch such that it is ready to transfer torque, being the clutch is brought close to its touch point. Bringing the clutch to its touch point can be achieved with various control methods like there are model based or deterministic approaches. As one can see in FIG. 5 the output of such a clutch preparation strategy can be to over actuate the clutch, being actuated more than needed for the touch point, for a time which is shorter than the expected time, or a time which a model predicts, to reach the touch point.
When the clutch is prepared, so the touch point is reached, the incoming clutch can start to take over torque from the active clutch. The torque capacity of the active clutch is reduced in a way that it is guaranteed that the complete engine torque is transferred through one of the 2 clutches 2a or 2b and that the active clutch is not longer transferring torque when the incoming clutch torque capacity has reached the engine torque.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling a double clutch transmission that increases the responsiveness of such a double clutch transmission by decreasing the total time of preparing the incoming clutch and taking over the torque from the active clutch.
In order to achieve this object, the invention provides a method as defined above, which uses the following steps: First, the incoming clutch is prepared so as to be ready for taking over torque transmission, wherein the preparation is achieved by over actuating the incoming clutch. Then, a feedback signal from the incoming clutch is provided which indicates that the incoming clutch is prepared and has taken over at least a part of the engine torque from the active clutch. Then, the active clutch is shut off in a non-proportional way based on receiving the feedback signal. This results in reduced delay when switching torque transmission from one of the clutches to the other clutch.
Preferably, a calibration step is used for determining the amount of over actuation. This helps in performing a quick yet smooth change from one clutch to the other.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the calibration step is performed as a function of the engine speed, the throttle pedal position and/or other, as these parameters greatly influence the change from one clutch to the other.
Preferably, the method includes deciding based on the feedback signal of the incoming clutch that the clutch is prepared and transferring the complete or at least a part of the engine torque.
The above object is further achieved with a clutch control system for controlling a double clutch, the system comprising a transmission control unit (TCU) and at least two non-proportional valves, a first of the non-proportional valves being associated with a clutch actuation device for a first clutch, and a second of the non-proportional valves being associated with a clutch actuation device for a second clutch.

Method of controlling a double clutch in a vehicle transmission, and clutch control system for controlling a double clutch

TRANSMISIONES Y EQUIPOS MECANICOS S.A. DE C.V.


A wide-angle imaging lens is provided and includes: a first lens, a second lens, and a third lens in this order from the object side. The first lens is a negative meniscus and has a convex surface on the object side; the second lens, at least one surface of which is an aspherical surface; and the third lens is a positive lens and has a convex surface on the image side and at least one surface of the third lens is an aspherical surface. The first len is made of a material having an Abbe number of 40 or more and the third lens is made of a material having an Abbe number of 50 or more. At least one surface of the second lens and the third lens has a diffracting function. An aperture stop is disposed between the second lens and the third lens.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens that is used in a vehicular camera, a cell phone camera, a surveillance camera, or the like having an imaging device such as a CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor or a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor. And the invention mainly relates to, for example, a wide-angle imaging lens that is used in a vehicular camera for taking an image of a front sight, a side sight, a rear sight, or the like as viewed from a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, imaging devices such as CCD sensors and CMOS sensors have been increased greatly in miniaturization and the number of pixels. Accordingly, imaging apparatus main bodies and lenses mounted thereon are required to be reduced in size and weight. On the other hand, a wide-angle lens having a large angle of view (e.g., 140° or more diagonally) is required in vehicular cameras etc.
Among wide-angle imaging lenses having a relatively small number of lenses are ones disclosed in JP-A-7-72382, JP-A-2001-337268 and JP-A-2002-244031. JP-A-7-72382 discloses a wide-angle lens for a CCD camera which has a three-lens configuration. JP-A-2001-337268 discloses a wide-angle lens including three aspherical lenses. JP-A-2002-244031 discloses a wide-angle lens including a total of four lenses which are divided into a first group and a second group.
However, the wide-angle lens of JP-A-7-72382 is not sufficient in miniaturization and angle-of-view increase. The wide-angle lens of JP-A-2001-337268 employs a plastic aspherical lens as the first lens. However, in such cameras as vehicular cameras which may be used in an environment in which high weather resistance is required, it is preferable that the first lens be made of glass. In the wide-angle lens of JP-A-2001-337268, since the first lens is an aspherical lens, forming the first lens with glass is costly. The wide-angle lens of JP-A-2002-244031, which consists of four lenses, is disadvantageous in cost and weight reduction though it is advantageous in performance.


Methods, apparatus, and systems for depositing materials with gaseous precursors are provided. In certain implementations, the methods involve providing a wafer substrate to a chamber of an apparatus. The apparatus includes a showerhead to deliver a gas to the chamber, a volume, and an isolation valve between the volume and the showerhead. A gas is delivered the volume when the isolation valve is closed, pressurizing the volume. The isolation valve is opened to allow the gas to flow to the showerhead when the gas is being delivered to the volume. A material is formed on the wafer substrate using the gas. In some implementations, releasing the pressurized gas from the volume reduces the duration of time to develop a spatially uniform gas flow across the showerhead.

Showerheads are often used in semiconductor fabrication process equipment to distribute process gasses across the surface of a wafer or substrate during deposition, etching, and other processes. A showerhead may also serve as an electrode in a semiconductor fabrication process employing a plasma. Showerheads are generally designed for a steady state flow of gasses. This steady state flow design for a showerhead is based on the principle that a front of backpressure may be established across the entire showerhead plenum, creating sufficient resistance that uniformly spreads the gas flow across the face of the showerhead.

Method of improving film non-uniformity and throughput


A multiple zone climate control system includes a HVAC unit, a digital wireless network, powered wireless adjustable registers controlled by their respective zone controllers, and a central controller that controls the HVAC unit and coordinates the zone controllers for concerted action.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a duct type air conditioning system (AC system), which is capable of energy efficiently regulating temperature in each room (or zone) independently as well as providing other air conditioning functions such as ventilation, humidifying, cleaning and filtering air in each room independently.
2. Background Information
In most residential houses, one or more central HVACs (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) are used to send conditioned air to designated rooms. Usually, one thermostat controls the temperature of several rooms or zones. Due to differences in ventilation efficiency and exterior thermal load among different zones, not all zones can achieve the temperature set at the single thermostat control. It is common that rooms on the upper floor have much higher temperature in the summer than rooms in lower floor. In winter, rooms in northwest corner or above the garage of a house usually have lower temperatures than other rooms. With a single thermostat, occupants in different zones cannot select their own comfort level. Moreover, for a zone where the thermostat is not located to reach a certain level, all other zones have to rise or fall at the same time. This is a great waste of energy. Therefore, it is highly desirable that the temperature and possibly other air comfort and quality measures in each zone can be controlled individually.
These solutions, however, are usually complex and expensive and thus hard to justify from cost saving point of view. For example, the solutions by Parker et al. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,530,395, 4,646,964, 4,931,948) require dampers fitted inside ducts, thus incurring high installation and maintenance costs. Ho et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,134) use dampers in registers to control airflows, but the design calls for the register dampers to be manually controlled, thus barring the possibility of automatic zone temperature control. Hampton et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,558) require turbines be placed in the register and the turbines be connected to power generators. Their invention does not have coordination among zone thermostats either. The current invention presents a simple and inexpensive individual-zone controlled HVAC system.


A count of cases in a target set classified in a class is computed using a classifier. In the method, one or more measures of behavior of the classifier are determined for a plurality of classification thresholds and at least one classification threshold for the classifier is selected based on the one or more measures of behavior. In addition, a score for a plurality of the cases in the target set using the classifier is computed and the count of the cases is computed based on the scores, the selected at least one classification threshold, and the one or more measures of behavior.

An automated classifier configured to predict which data items of a data set belong to one or more conceptual category subsets has been used to extract estimates of the subset sizes. An example of an automated classifier is one that is used to predict, or classify, whether a given document in a business news wire is related to a particular company of interest. Another example is an automated classifier used to determine under which topic each incoming news article should be filed.
In order to determine the percentage of articles filed under one particular category, the number of articles predicted by the classifier to belong in that category could be counted, and then divided by the total number of documents considered to obtain the percentage. Once the classifier has determined in which topic a particular article should reside, the results of the automated categorization are then aggregated to give overall estimates of the number of articles in each category. The number of articles belonging to a particular category is counted to, for instance, track the relative level of interest in a particular topic.
Automated classifiers have also been used by scientists and business analysts to obtain estimates of the number of items belonging to various categories. For instance, automated classifiers have been used to estimate how many genes in a database are predicted to exhibit some property.
Automated classifiers are typically trained with a training set of labeled cases (that is, cases for which the true category is known) to provide the classifier with the ability to determine whether a new item belongs to a particular category. Generally, providing relatively larger numbers of labeled training cases improves the accuracy of the classifiers. It is often difficult, however, to provide classifiers with a relatively larger number of labeled training cases because acquiring labeled training cases is usually associated with relatively high costs and typically requires a large amount of human effort. In addition, for relatively difficult classification problems, no amount of labeled training cases yields a perfectly accurate classifier.
As such, there often arise situations when the training set is substantially unbalanced, that is, training sets containing many more cases in some categories than in others. This often happens when cases belonging in one category of the overall population of cases are rare relative to the size of the overall population of cases. Unfortunately, automated classifiers often have difficulty when training on substantially unbalanced data. Such classifiers are prone to providing inaccurate results, which introduce biases in the estimates of the size of the category of interest.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An electronic gaming system for playing a modified Blackjack game, which system includes a one video monitor; a processor, a computer-readable medium; and a player input means. The system offers the players at least one side bet having an outcome dependent upon whether a card yet to be dealt will belong to a player-selectable subset of a set of predetermined traits of the card (such as the identifying color, traditional suit, or ranking); accepts from the players any wagers and selections of the player-selectable subsets; deals a card to each player and the dealer from a specialized deck of cards; determines whether the value of the predetermined trait of the relevant card belongs to the player-selected subset; for each accepted side bet, determining whether there is an overriding losing condition present; for each successful side bet, paying the player a predetermined payout; and, finally, completes the Blackjack game.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card game and method of playing a card game. More specifically, the present invention is a modified Blackjack game and method wherein the game includes at least one optional side bet, the outcome of which is dependant on one or more characteristics of a card of a Blackjack hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of United States patents disclose variations of card games. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,897 (issued Nov. 9, 1999) discloses a method for playing a modified form of Blackjack with rules variations to increase the excitement of the game while retaining substantially the same "take." Specifically, the '897 patent provides, among other things, (i) for a payout of 2:1 for a blackjack of a specified suit; (ii) that five or more cards totaling exactly 21 pays 2:1; (iii) that six cards totaling twenty or more pays 1:1; and (iv) the player may place a "side bet" on getting a blackjack in a designated suit in the first round of a newly shuffled deck, which, if successful, pays 300:1.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,075 (issued Nov. 27, 2001) provides for a "Blackjack-type game" in which each player receives four playing cards arranged in a window, with two of the cards face-up and two of the cards face-down. Wagers are made on at least one and at most three of the six possible different two-card combination of the array, betting against the dealer's hand, which is governed by traditional Blackjack rules. A player forfeits his initial wager in the event that his cards contain a certain predetermined losing hand, whereas a bonus winning payout is made on the initial wager if the player's cards contain a certain predetermined winning hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,767 (issued Mar. 25, 2003) provides a variation of Blackjack wherein a player may make a side bet on a dealer's face up card having a point value of ten and a plurality of side bets relating to a player's first two dealt cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,746 (issued Apr. 12, 2005) discloses a Blackjack game wherein players are afforded the option of exchanging one or more of the players' dealt cards. Each player is given the option of exchanging one or both of an originally dealt two cards for a predetermined fee (e.g., 50% of the initial wager).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,854 (issued May 29, 2007) provides a modified Blackjack game in which every player places a first wager, the outcome of which is determined by conventional Blackjack rules. Players may optionally place an additional wager corresponding to a predicted total point value or point value range of an initial hand of two cards dealt to the player. After the dealer has dealt a player that has placed the additional wager a second card, an actual total point value is computed for the two-card hand of that player. If the actual total point value is equal to or in a range of a predicted total point values, a player placing an additional wager wins a predetermined multiple of the amount of the additional wager. A second predetermined multiple may be paid if a player's two card hand includes two cards of the same suit.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,435,172 (issued Oct. 14, 2008) discloses a modification to a card game in which bets are pushed if the total of the cards in the player's and dealer's hands are of equal value and add up to twenty-one or less, or if the total of the cards in the dealer's hand equals a predetermined value between twenty-two and twenty-six and the total of the cards in the
Each of the above-referenced United States patents and/or published applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein.