The gradient coil assembly is designed to address a neck-shoulder clearance problem by configuring the coil holder housing with a cylindrical portion modified with a slanted surface and positioning current return elements of the coil pattern at the slanted surface, while positioning the active electrical elements on the cylindrical surface, thus eliminating influence of an undesired magnetic field generated by the current return elements, shortening the coil, and moving the homogeneous field gradient region toward the end of the cylindrical portion of the bore in the coil holder housing. The subject assembly operation is further improved by the direct external cooling approach, where a coolant flows in direct contact with electrical wires of the gradient coil inside the cooling channels in the surface of the coil holder housing.

Gradient coils constitute a major piece of hardware in modern Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MM) scanners. Gradient coils are particularly important in studies which explore brain structural connectivity, due to the fact that an insufficient magnetic field strength generated by a gradient coil may limit the imaging resolution and sensitivity that may be achievable in the MM scanners. Thus, the magnetic field strength and slew rate (i.e., the speed of the coil switching) of a gradient coil have been important elements in evaluating the capacity of MRI scanners.
The performance of the gradient coil is one of the primary limiting factors in high speed, high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in diffusion MRI. There has been a consistent drive for higher magnetic field strength to achieve higher signal-to-noise ratio and stronger magnetic susceptibility effects, from which neuroimaging benefits the most. Optimal gradient performance is considered a pre-requisite to attain the full potential of ultrahigh field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The benefits of using tailored gradient coils for human brain imaging have been well acknowledged. Unfortunately, conventional head-only gradient coils have two major technical limitations, including (a) a limited neck-shoulder clearance and (b) a limited cooling capacity.
Theoretical analyses suggest that, for a cylindrical gradient coil having a radius R, the gradient strength scales roughly 1/R, and the inductance scales about R5. Due to the fact that conventional MM scanners are designed to cover a large field of view, the gradient strength and the inductance of these coils are thus inherently limited by the physical size of the coil.
In addition, increasing the electrical current and voltage of a gradient amplifier output has been a major technical pursuit to enhance gradient performance. However, as the electrical current in the coil increases, the ohmic heating also becomes more pronounced. Thus, efficient cooling is needed for heat dissipation which is critical for the operation of the gradient coils.
Furthermore, the peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) and the cardiac stimulation (CS) are two physiological factors that ultimately limit the performance of a gradient coil. PNS and CS thresholds are dB/dt related, where B is the magnetic field strength, which can be expressed as ∫γG(r)dr, where G is the gradient field along the coil length r. For a body gradient coil, G typically extends to a large distance r, and thus possesses a high risk to induce PNS and CS. It is thus suboptimal, for considerations, to employ a long whole-body gradient coil to image the brain.
To overcome the use of a long whole-body coil in brain imaging, a functional MRI technology has been developed in the form of a local gradient insert which enabled a fast imaging sequence, such as the echo planar imaging and the high resolution MM, to be implemented on clinical scanners. Nevertheless, despite MRI technology advancement, there are still two major technical issues associated with the conventional gradient insert design which include: a) the "shoulder clearance" issue and (b) cooling.
Regarding the "shoulder clearance", in conventional cylindrical coil design, the coil has to reach a certain length in order to achieve a volume with high fidelity to the linear gradient field suitable for human brain imaging. However, since the inner diameter of the cylindrical coil does not provide clearance for the shoulders of a typical adult, one cannot place the center of the human brain at the center of the gradient coil where a uniform magnetic field is produced. As depicted in FIG. 1, the head of the human patient is displaced from the center of the gradient coil featuring the uniform region of the magnetic field. Due to this displacement, disadvantageously, only a fraction of the "sweet spot" (i.e., the uniform region) is used for neuroimaging.
Regarding the cooling issue, modern gradient amplifiers which are capable of providing a current value of 600 amperes, or more, are needed in the gradient coil and are readily available.
However, the high current used in the operation of this gradient coil generates a large amount of heat. For example, for a resistance of 0.5 ohm, with a current of 600 amperes and 60% duty cycle, the Ohmic heating Q may reach a level as high as 108 kW from a single gradient coil. Driving three gradient coils simultaneously (as in diffusion imaging) would triple the amount of heating. A relatively small coil size preferable for the head-only gradient coils exacerbates the heating problem due to reduction of the mass and the volume available for cooling tubes.
To mitigate the "shoulder clearance" problem, many previous approaches have relied on asymmetric head gradient designs. These designs are appealing because a) they may reduce the potential of PNS and CS since the shoulders and torso are disposed outside of the main gradient field; and b) a field linear volume is created at the end of the cylinder, and thus eliminates the "shoulder clearance" problem. However, the asymmetric head gradient also has several undesirable features, such as: in the asymmetric design, it is more difficult to balance the torque and to provide effective eddy current shielding, and, the linearity of the gradient field is much poorer than in conventional symmetric design. An additional shortcoming of the asymmetric design is, that due to the fact that Maxwell terms (concomitant terms) include odd orders, as well as even orders, their effect on the diffusion pulse sequence is undesirably complicated.
While some of these problems (such as the image distortions associated with gradient field nonlinearity might be manageable by applying reconstruction processing principles, in a diffusion MRI, b-factors associated with diffusion concomitant terms and their effect on fiber tracking might be less straightforward to quantify.
"Folded gradient" design is another approach to mitigate the "shoulder clearance" problem. In a conventional cylindrical transverse gradient coil design, the segments in the center of the coil (active segments) contribute to the desired magnetic field, while the segments on both ends of the coil (return paths) generate an undesirable field and contribute to the overall length of the coil.
To generate a magnetic field, an electrical current carrier must form a closed loop. In a gradient coil, half of the loop generates a desired magnetic field, while the other half (the return path) is necessary to complete the electrical loop, however, the return path generates an undesired field, and takes up space, thus increasing the length of the coil in a traditional design.
Shortening the length of the coil by folding the return paths toward the center of the coil produces a highly non-linear gradient, because the return paths and active segments are both moved toward the center of the coil, while the magnetic fields generated by them have opposite signs. It is quite a technical challenge to optimize the magnetic field in the target volume due to the physical constraints.
Notably, a conceptually similar, but more extreme approach had been developed in which the return paths were co-axial to the active segments along the radial direction, and thus did not contribute to the overall length of the coil.
A further optimization of a gradient field based on co-axial return paths called "sandwich" gradient coil design, has been used, where wire loops are embedded in circular planar disks. The active segments of each loop are placed close to the inner surface, while the return paths are placed close to the outer surface of the disk. The disks are then sandwiched together. Active segments surrounding the inner surface generate the desired field, while the return paths serve as a shielding.
Several desirable features arise from the "sandwich" design coil, such as shortening of the coil, elimination of the "shoulder clearance" problem, and reaching a highly uniform gradient field. However, the efficiency in this system is relatively lower than that in the conventional transverse gradient coil.
The gradient coils of magnetic resonance imaging are described in numerous publications and Patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,989 describes a magnetic field gradient apparatus for using a magnetic resonance imaging employing open magnets which allow access to a patient while the patient is being imaged. The magnetic field gradient apparatus employs two gradient coil assemblies and a gradient coil amplifier. Each gradient coil assembly has a gradient coil carrier with at least one gradient coil disposed on it. Each gradient coil carrier is comprised of a cylinder with a flange at one end. The gradient coil assemblies are positioned in the bore of each open magnet and spaced apart from each other allowing access to the patient, as shown in FIG. 2. This system overcomes the "shoulder clearance" problem by placing a patient between two gradient coil assemblies. However, this arrangement only applies to an "open magnet", which is used in the "open MRI" systems with clinical applications in low magnetic field strength (typically <0.5 Tesla), but has never been applied in the high field MRI (1.5 Tesla and above), because it is extremely challenging to generate uniform high magnetic field with the open magnet. The gradient coil design presented in '989 Patent does not apply to the modern high field magnet systems which use a cylindrical design with a patient positioned inside the magnet.
Another gradient coil arrangement, described in the Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0032679, is configured for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region provided in a bore. The gradient coil assemblies include three separate actively shielded gradient windings for generating orthogonal gradient shields. This constitutes a total of six individual layers, three of which are the so-called primary windings (positive electrical current) and three of the shield windings (negative electric current). A space between the primary and shield windings allows for a sufficient gradient shield to be created inside the imaging gradient and also houses the cooling pipes.
As the return current path, and consequently, any generated magnetic field, is located outside of the bore, the return current path does not contribute substantially in the gradient path, thereby resulting in significant improvement in the linearity of the transverse gradient fields. This in turn allows for a reduction in the length of the gradient coil assembly.
However, this system, using cooling pipes, is susceptible to shortcomings associated with indirect cooling and direct internal cooling, and this design is only suitable for whole body MM system.
With the modern high-power gradient amplifiers, ohmic heating is a serious concern in gradient coil technology. Conventional gradient coil thermal management can be classified into 3 categories: 1) natural convection on the external surface of the gradient coil assembly, ii) forced convection between the coolant inside a tube and an adjacent current-carrying element with insulation dielectric material in between (referred to herein as an "indirect external cooling"), and iii) forced convection with the coolant inside a current-carrying element (such as a copper tube) of the gradient coil assembly (called "direct internal cooling").
The natural convection suffers from extremely low heat transfer coefficient, leading to limited thermal management capacity.
In the "direct internal cooling", when a coolant flows inside a copper tubing, the heat generated inside the copper tubing due to Ohmic heating effects will be dissipated to temperature-controlled coolant. The amount of heat removal capability of the forced convection inside the copper tubing is determined by Newton's Cooling Law.Q=hAΔT  (Eq. 1)where Q is the cooling capacity, A is the total heat transfer area between the source of heat and the coolant, h is the convective heat transfer coefficient, and ΔT is the the temperature difference between the surface and the coolant. A higher convective heat transfer coefficient indicates a better heat removal capacity of the coolant (i.e., better thermal management capacity).
The nature of the coolant internal flow is determined by the Reynolds number. Based on Reynolds number, the flow can be either a laminar flow or a turbulent flow.
                    Re        =                              ρ                        U                        d                        i                    μ                                    (                  Eq          .                                                    2                )            where ρ is coolant density, U is the coolant velocity, di is a hydraulic diameter (internal diameter of the tube), and μ is the viscosity of the coolant.
For the ohmic heating effect, heat generated inside the copper tube is uniformly distributed, thus the entire copper tube can be treated as a uniform heat flux boundary condition. Therefore, the following constant heat flux boundary condition correlations are applicable.
                              N                                u                          l                            a                            m                                      =                  4                    .36                                    (                  Eq          .                                                    3                )                                          Nu          turb                =                                            (                              f                /                8                            )                                                  (                              Re                -                1000                            )                                    Pr                                1            +                          12.7                                                              (                                      f                    /                    8                                    )                                0.5                                                          (                                                      Pr                                          2                      /                      3                                                        -                  1                                )                                                                        (                  Eq          .                                                    4                )                                h        =                              Nu            ·            k                                d            i                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    5                )            where, Nu is the Nusselt number (dimensionless), f is the friction factor between the coolant and boundaries, Pr is Prandtl number, which is material property of coolant, h is the convective heat transfer coefficient, k is the thermal conductivity of coolant, di is an effective hydraulic diameter (internal diameter) of the copper tubing.
                              T          o                =                              T            i                    +                                                    q                s                ″                                          π                                            d                i                                          L                                                      m                .                                                          c                p                                                                        (                  Eq          .                                                    6                )                                          T          s                =                              T            o                    +                                    q              s              ″                        h                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    7                )                                          q          s          ″                =                                            I              2                                                  R              elec                                            π                                      d              o                                    L                                              (                  Eq          .                                                    8                )            where, To is the coolant outlet temperature, Ti is coolant inlet temperature, qs″ is the heat flux boundary condition caused by the joule heating, I is the current flowing through the copper tubing, Relec is the electrical resistance of solid copper wire. d0 is the outer diameter of the copper tubing, L is tube total length, m is the mass flow rate, and cp is the heat capacity of the coolant.
The pressure drop of the coolant at various flow rate through copper tubing is also an important factor to be taken into consideration.
                              Δ                    P                =                                                            1                2                                          f                            ρ                                            U                2                                                          L                                  d                  i                                                                    1                            0                            0                            0                                *                      0            .            1                              4                    5                                    (                  Eq          .                                                    9                )
                              m          .                =                              1            4                              π                                d            i            2                              U                                    (                  Eq          .                                                    10                )
where f is friction factor, L is the total length, ρ is coolant density. The pressure is converted to the unit of pressure per square inches (PSI). {dot over (m)} is the flow rate inside the copper tubing.
It follows from Eq. 1 that a better cooling performance can be achieved by two approaches: i) enhancing heat transfer coefficient h; and ii) maximizing heat transfer area A. For the indirect cooling, the bottle neck of the effective thermal management is the high thermal resistance of insulating materials with low thermal conductivity between the coolant and the copper tubing. The insulating materials used to stabilize electric current carrying materials (e.g. copper wires of gradient coils), for example epoxy, have a thermal conductivity less than 2.5 W/mK. In contrast, copper has a thermal conductivity of about 380 W/mK. It thus appears that a direct cooling inside copper tubing is a preferred approach by eliminating insulating materials between the coolant and the copper tubing. However, a high pressure drop ΔP associated with the internal cooling approaches must be taken into account as well.
For the direct internal cooling, increasing the heat transfer area A by increasing tubing diameter is preferred in terms of heat dissipation from the copper tubing. However, a compact configuration of cooling using small diameter tubing is preferred for enhancing current density, and thus, for achieving a high gradient coil efficiency (referred to as the gradient field strength per unit current).
As a trade-off, the pressure drop ΔP associated with the coolant flow rate and the copper tubing dimensions has to be evaluated (Eq. 9) to achieve the required cooling efficiency (Eq. 2-Eq. 8).
Analytical calculations were performed with a copper tubing with 1.6 mm and the outer diameter (do) of 3.2 mm, respectively. The overall length L of the tube was 15 m per quadrant. When the copper tubing carries 200 Amp current, massive ohmic heating is generated inside the copper tubing (Eq. 8) therefore, the high flow rate of the dielectric coolant (for example, Duratherm 450 Oil) is vital to achieve a desired thermal performance. The flow rate is a trade-off between the thermal performance and the pressure drop. Thus, the flow rate can be systematically adjusted to identify the optimal point for both acceptable thermal performance and pressure drop. The nature of the coolant flow transits from the laminar to the turbulent flow regime at ˜0.2 gallon per minute (GPM), where the effective heat transfer coefficient is improved dramatically. As a result, the sharp enhancement in heat transfer coefficient of coolant, copper tube surface temperature at the outlet decreases dramatically at 0.2 GPM. The transition phase between the laminar and the turbulent flow regime provides moderate increment in the heat transfer coefficient from laminar flow. However, the pressure drop across the copper tube is proportional to a square of the coolant velocity. In such a case, it is extremely challenging to maintain low surface temperature using high flow rate while keeping the pressure drop in a reasonable range (less than 200 pounds per square inch (PSI)), because practically most materials (e.g. hoses and tubes) cannot withstand a high pressure.
None of the conventional Mill scanners has solved the "shoulder clearance" problem in a single magnet bore arrangement. In addition, none of the prior art gradient coils used in the Mill scanners has overcome the shortcomings of the traditional cooling systems based on coolant flowing in tubes for cooling the gradient coils.
It would be highly desirable to fundamentally solve these two technical problems of the conventional gradient coils to achieve a torque balance and strong uniform magnetic field at the brain location during imaging, while achieving high gradient efficiency. It would be also highly desirable to provide a new cooling method to eliminate limitations associated with the cooling approach using a copper tubing which is a somewhat sub-optimal solution for the gradient coil cooling.

Gradient coil with external direct cooling for brain magnetic resonance imaging

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services


According to one embodiment, a disk drive apparatus includes a sensor to detect mechanical shocks to the disk drive apparatus and to provide a shock output signal representative of such mechanical shocks, a first filter coupled to the sensor to filter the shock output signal to pass signals having a first frequency component, a second filter to independently filter the shock output signal to provide signals having a second frequency component, a detector to inhibit write operations of the disk drive apparatus responsive to the shock output signal from the first filter, and a controller coupled to the second filter to compensate for low frequency mechanical disturbances during write operations to a track on the disk drive apparatus responsive to low frequency component.

A disk drive is an information storage device. A disk drive includes one or more disks clamped to a rotating spindle, and at least one head for reading information representing data from and/or writing data to the surfaces of each disk. The head is supported by a suspension coupled to an actuator that may be driven by a voice coil motor. Control electronics in the disk drive provide electrical pulses to the voice coil motor to move the head to desired positions on the disks to read and write the data in circular tracks on the disks, and to park the head in a safe area when not in use or when otherwise desired for protection of the disk drive.
Certain mechanical shocks to disk drives can cause the head or heads to write data outside an intended track if the shock occurs during or just prior to a write. Adjacent user track data can become corrupted if such writes are allowed to continue. Some disk drives detect shocks, sometimes referred to as sharp jerk events, and attempt to prevent the writing of data when certain shocks are detected.
Not all shocks may result in corruption of adjacent track data if writes are allowed to continue. However, such writes may result in data being written off center from the track, making it more difficult to read.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Disk drive apparatus having shock adaptive filters


Systems and methods for metering execution of code at runtime are described. According to one implementation, a call is received requesting execution of a protected service. In response, permission is requested for the execution. The request for permission is analyzed. A grant of permission is based on the analysis.

Digital rights management has focused extensively on protection of "content," such as music, motion pictures and other copyrighted data-based material. In particular, research has been made into various encryption strategies which could be employed to protect such material from copying and other uses which violate licensing agreements between content-providers and content-consumers.
Executable software code has traditionally followed a different model, wherein a consumer makes a software purchase (either "shrink-wrapped"or down-loaded), installs the software on a computer system and consents to a licensing agreement. At this point, conventional systems and methods allow the consumer to execute any part of the code contained within the software purchase to any degree desired (consistent with the licensing agreement, which typically prescribes the number of machines on which the software may be installed).
The current licensing model for executable software described above provides the consumer with an "all or nothing" choice when making a software purchasing decision—i.e. to incur the full cost and benefit, or to entirely forego the cost and the benefit. Thus, the purchasing analysis typically involves a decision as to whether the consumer anticipates exceeding a threshold level of use. If so, a purchase is made; if not, no purchase is made. In some situations, this model can be unsatisfactory for software producers, since sales are lost where consumers decline to make purchases when they anticipate that their use of a software product will be low. This model is similarly unsatisfactory for consumers, since they may inaccurately estimate need for a software product. Such a miscalculation may result in either a little-used purchase or unfilled needs which were greater than anticipated. Moreover, even where the consumer correctly estimates that use will be small and forgoes the purchase, there is dissatisfaction because consumers have unmet needs for software products.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative techniques to license operation of software code.


A spark plug includes an insulator having an axial hole extending in the direction of an axis, and a terminal electrode disposed at a rear end portion of the axial hole. An identifier bearing externally visible identification information is joined to the rear end surface of the terminal electrode. The identifier has a thickness of 0.03 mm or greater along the direction of the axis.

A spark plug is mounted to, for example, an internal combustion engine or a like combustion apparatus, and is used to ignite an air-fuel mixture in a combustion chamber. Generally, the spark plug includes an insulator having an axial hole; a center electrode inserted into a front end portion of the axial hole of the insulator; a terminal electrode inserted into a rear end portion of the axial hole of the insulator; a metallic shell externally assembled to the insulator; and a ground electrode extending from a front end portion of the metallic shell and forming, in cooperation with the center electrode, a spark discharge gap therebetween.
According to general practice, in order to allow external identification of a product No. or the like of the spark plug, a predetermined identifier is engraved on the metallic shell or printed on the surface of an insulator (refer to, for example, Patent Document 1). However, in the case where a plurality of spark plugs are contained in an array in a case, difficulty is encountered in visually checking the identifiers. In order to allow, even in such a case, easy checking of the identifiers marked on the spark plugs, there is proposed provision of an identifier on the rear end surface of the terminal electrode. Conceivably, an identifier is provided such that the identifier is marked by painting or printing.
Patent Document
    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. H09-277692


A method of determining a pulsed field ablation waveform parameter for creating a desired lesion characteristic in cardiac tissue. The method of provides an electrosurgical generator configured to deliver electroporation pulses, the generator configured to: load predetermined waveform parameters (yi); load predetermined modeling data (xi); accept entry of a user inputted desired lesion characteristic (ui); and determine at least one corresponding pulsed field ablation waveform parameter based on (ui), (yi); and (xi).

Electroporation is the application of an electric field to cells in order to increase the permeability of the cell membrane. Pulsed field ablation ("PFA") which can cause reversible or irreversible electroporation, is a non-thermal ablation technique that creates lesions in desired areas to treat conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias, and to ablate areas of tissues and/or organs in the body. For treating cardiac arrhythmias, for example, PFA can be performed to modify tissue, such as to stop aberrant electrical propagation and/or disrupt aberrant electrical conduction through cardiac tissue.
PFA includes application of short pulsed electric fields (PEF), which may reversibly or irreversibly destabilize cell membranes through electropermeablization, but generally do not affect the structural integrity of the tissue components, including the acellular cardiac extracellular matrix. The nature of PFA allows for very brief periods of therapeutic energy delivery, on the order of tens or hundreds of milliseconds in duration. Further, when targeting cardiomyocytes, PFA may not cause collateral damage to non-targeted tissue as frequently or as severely as thermal ablation techniques. Additionally, therapeutic agents may be preferentially introduced into the cells of targeted tissue that are exposed to PEF having reversible membrane permeabilization.
In PFA systems, the user programs, or otherwise manually enters, the desired parameters of the PEF delivered to the tissue into an electrosurgical generator configured to deliver electrical energy to the target tissue through an electrosurgical hand piece. That is, for a given delivery tool, target tissue, or environment, the user may select from waveform parameters such as the amplitude, size, shape, frequency, and repetition of the waveform. Upon entry of those parameters, the size of the lesion may be determined. In such an application, the size of the lesion (or affected area) such as the depth or breadth of the affected area is often the desired result. However, no system or method exists that allows the users to input into the electrosurgical generator the desired characteristics of a lesion for a particular tissue, such as length, width, and depth for use with PFA. For cardiac ablation energy delivery electrodes designed for placement on the endocardial surface or epicardial surface of the heart, achieving a desired depth or extent of lesion formation into the tissue is generally the objective. Alternative electrodes may be designed to ablate from within a confined space within the tissue, such as within the vasculature. In such placements, the electric field and resulting lesion extends radially outward from the electrode array, producing a lesion of a specific diameter surrounding the electrodes.

Profile parameter selection algorithm for electroporation


Technologies are described herein for controlling the selection of drivers in a firmware environment for managing a hardware device based on a user preference. A user preference that specifies one driver being preferred over another driver for the hardware device is received, for example, through a user interface provided by the firmware environment. According to the user preference, a sorted driver pool that contain drivers available for the hardware device is created by listing the preferred driver before the non-preferred driver in the sorted driver pool. A driver stack is then built from the sorted driver pool by examining each driver in the sorted driver pool in the order they are listed in the sorted driver pool. The preferred driver is then put into the driver stack before the non-preferred driver and thus is associated with the hardware device first.

In many computing systems, low-level instruction code, or firmware, is used as an intermediary between the hardware components of the computing system and high-level software executing on the computing system, such as an operating system. The firmware provides a set of software routines that allow high-level software to interact with the hardware components of the computing system using standard calls. In some computer systems, the Basic Input/Output System ("BIOS") has been a de facto standard defining a firmware interface. The BIOS, however, is now being replaced by the more capable Extensible Firmware Interface ("EFI")-compatible firmware. EFI-compatible firmware may be configured according to a specification released by the Unified EFI ("UEFI") Forum (the "UEFI Specification"). Such a firmware may be referred to herein as a UEFI specification-compliant firmware or a UEFI firmware in short.
During the transition from the legacy/traditional BIOS firmware to UEFI firmware, a hardware device may include both a legacy/traditional BIOS option read-only memory ("ROM") and a UEFI option ROM. As known to those skilled in the art, the option ROM of a hardware device contains program code executable by the system, such as a driver that is used to connect and utilize the hardware device to the system once the option ROM is loaded. One of the reasons that a legacy BIOS option ROM may still exist on a hardware device may be that the device may need to boot a traditional operating system ("OS") in a UEFI environment, in which case, all the hardware devices need to include a traditional option ROM. Another reason is that a legacy driver provided in a legacy option ROM may be preferred over a UEFI driver (also called a UEFI native driver) because the legacy driver may have been proven to be more reliable than the UEFI native driver.
Current UEFI firmware does not include a mechanism to specify which of the drivers on the option ROM(s) may be connected to or used to manage a hardware device. Similarly, there may be scenarios where multiple alternative drivers may be available for managing the same hardware device. For example, in an INTEL RAID controller manufactured by INTEL CORPORATION, there may be an INTEL RAID driver provided by INTEL CORPORATION and also an LSI RAID driver provided by LSI CORPORATION. Some users may prefer the LSI RAID driver over the INTEL RAID driver when managing the RAID controller, while others may prefer the INTEL RAID driver over the LSI RAID driver. Thus, it would be convenient to enable the control of driver selection based on a user preference in a firmware environment.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.


A method of retrofitting a mechanically controlled aircraft with a fly-by-wire system includes removing a mechanical links between mechanical pilot inputs and actuators operable to drive flight surfaces. Electromechanical actuators are coupled between a plurality of vehicle management computers and the actuators. Each of the electromechanical actuators is operable to receive commands from the vehicle management computers and output a mechanical force to an input linkage of one of the actuators. Electromechanical pilot input modules are coupled to the mechanical pilot inputs. Each of the electromechanical pilot input modules is operable to convert a pilot-driven input force of an instance of the mechanical pilot inputs into an electronic signal indicative of the pilot-driven input force. At least one high performance computer is coupled to at least one of the vehicle management computers. The high performance computer executes one or more high level intelligence algorithms to selectively operate the aircraft autonomously.

The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to flight control systems, and more particularly to a fly-by-wire kit to retrofit a mechanically controlled aircraft which enables advanced optionally piloted modes.
Legacy aircraft, such as helicopters, rely on human pilot input to provide flight control inputs to provide flight control inputs that stabilize and direct the aircraft to a desired flight path using mechanical controls. Current autopilot systems have low rate, limited motion controls and are not capable of high performance stabilization and control. Fly-by-wire technology can enhance responsiveness and provide high performance stabilization and control but typically requires a major re-design or modification of an existing mechanically controlled aircraft.


A pharmaceutical composition to be externally applied as a topical preparation for treating several diseases, the composition comprising dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and ozone. A method for obtaining the composition by ozonizing DMSO and a method for treating diseases by applying the composition are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pharmacological composition for use in the treatment of a variety of diseases, the composition being preferably employed for treating a patient, such as a human being or animal, with ozone, and more particularly the invention relates to a composition comprising dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), ozone or ozonized oxygen and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle, for use in the treatment of several diseases such as diseases affecting the feet in animals, such as the hooves in horses, arthritis, muscular affections, etc. in human beings, by applying the composition on an external part of the body of the patient, in the skin, nails, hair, for example, for treating not only external affections but also internal affections, such as in the tissues, wherein the composition is applied in preparations like ointments, creams, oleosus liquids, etc. The invention also relates to a method for obtaining the composition by ozonizing a mixture of DMSO and pharmaceutically acceptable vehicles and a method for treating diseases by applying the composition.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to subject a patient to an ozone-based treatment for treating several diseases. Ozone is a triatomic oxygen formed by the action of solar UV radiation on O2 or by electric discharges that condense normal oxygen atoms. Schoenbein discovered the ozone in 1839. Thereafter, the ozone entered the scientific world and in the 19th Century numerous researchers started investigating ozone and revealed properties thereof. During World War I the ozone was used in medicine applications. Dr. Wolf used ozone to heal wounds.
In the '30s, with the advent of antibiotics and drugs, the ozone fell into disuse and became an alternative therapy, especially in Germany since 1950. In the '60s, scientists in Cuba reintroduced the ozone in the medical field with success. Cuba's medical success, together with the problems posed by the abusive use of antibiotics and drug side effects, resuscitated Europe's interest in the medicinal ozone. Since then, ozone has been used routinely in clinical medicine. Toxicological studies have confirmed not only the absence of damage after the therapeutic application of ozonized oxygen but also a high percentage of satisfactory results, of about 70% to 80%, in those cases where the application of ozone is useful.
Ozone therapy is a highly valuable medical technology, very useful in several fields and against multiple pathologies. (Matassi R., 1981; Quiñones M., 1988; Kramer F.; Santiesteban R., 1990; Rilling S., 1983). Ozone's bioactivity principles are based on ozone primary interactions with certain very active substances that are present in all living organisms. The feasibility to obtain such ozone metabolites is founded in the fact of having adequate model substances in the appropriate reaction conditions. This may be achieved through the special controlled ozonization of certain essential natural substances.
In Europe, ozonized cream is widely used in medicine and cosmetics in humans. The therapeutic effectiveness of these topical preparations are framed only within the treatment of several external affections, particularly skin disorders. Because of its general germicidal, viricidal, anti-parasitic and fungicidal action the ozone has been used to treat epidermophytosis, gingivostomatitis, external chronic otitis, genital herpes, vulvo-vaginal candidiasis, varicose ulcer, crusts, septic wounds. While ozonized cream is effective and tolerant, and has no adverse effects, such as allergic dermatitis or systemic allergies, these creams could not be used for treating internal diseases as long as the way for making the ozone enter the tissues had not been found.
Some therapeutic properties of the ozone may be generally listed as follows:
1. High germicidal power, namely bactericidal, fungicidal, viricidal and anti-parasitic.
2. Ozone improves the rheologic properties of blood and blood circulation through the capillaries.
3. Ozone increases erythrocytes' oxygen absorption capacity as well as oxygen transfer to tissues, thus improving oxygenation.
4. Ozone boosts oxygen metabolism processes through stimulation of several biochemical cycles.
5. Ozone modulates biological oxidative stress by activating the antioxidant-defense enzyme system.
6. Ozone provides Immuno-modulatory and immuno-restorative effects.
7. Ozone provides modulatory effect of biological response.
8. Ozone provides growth stimulation of granulation tissue and epithelization. Cicatrizant action.
9. Ozone revitalizes the epithelial tissue.
Today, ozone-therapy is employed medical treatments by using generally aggressive, invasive and complex techniques. Some of the treating techniques are the following:
Auto-hemotherapy: the patient must be hospitalized and intervened in a surgical room.
Injections: the ozone is injected by intramuscular or subcutaneous ways, however these injections provokes strong muscular pains in the patient because of the gaseous nature of the ozone entering into the muscular tissues.
Inter-disc injections: this consists of the injection of the ozone in the discs of the vertebral spine for treating disc hernias, however, this treatment must be excessively delicate and the needle must be guided towards and into the vertebrae disc by using computerized tomography.
Rectal administration: the ozone in gaseous form is injected via rectal, however the retention of the gas is very uncomfortable and difficult, particularly when treating animals and children.
Under the above circumstances it would be very convenient to have a preparations for administering ozone to a part of the body of a patient affected by a disease that may be treated by ozone, particularly a preparation for topical administration, i.e. in an external part of the body, that permits the ozone to enter the several skin layers and tissues to reach an inner zone of the body affected by the disease. It has been well known that ozone can not enter the skin layers and tissues to reach, for example, to an affection deep into an articulation with the ozone being applied in the external surface, namely the skin, close to the affected inner zone.

Pharmaceutical composition comprising dimethylsulfoxide and ozone


One or more problems related to processing workpieces using processes that involve optical radiation are presented along with solutions to one or more of the problems. One embodiment of the invention comprises a sensor apparatus for collecting optical radiation data representing one or more process conditions used for processing a workpiece. In a further embodiment, the sensor apparatus is also configured for measuring data other than optical radiation.

Manufacturing processes such as those used for the production of electronic devices, flat panel displays, and lithography mask and processes for fabricating semiconductor devices often require that a suitable workpiece be subjected to a sequence of discrete process operations that involve optical radiation. Many of these processes are very sensitive to the process conditions and are preferably carried out within individual process chambers, often referred to as process tools, within which very specific conditions are established. Modern manufacturing facilities for such process tools typically use robotic transfer mechanisms as part of the overall automation of the production process.
The ability to establish and maintain precise conditions within the process chambers accurately and reproducibly is needed for the successful production of numerous types of products. Examples of products of particular importance are some of the state-of-the-art electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, flat panel display devices, and lithography masks. In order to achieve the high device yields and performance necessary for commercial success, the conditions within a process chamber are, in some cases, continuously monitored and controlled using sensors designed to measure specific physical parameters. Typically, these control sensors are built into the process tool so as to measure the parameter of interest such as optical radiation at a specific location within the process tool.
For applications such as the plasma processing of workpieces using a glow discharge, the techniques typically available for monitoring the plasma process conditions can suffer from a variety of problems. A typical problem is that the standard methods are intrusive in that they require modifications to the process chamber or process operating conditions. Another problem with the standard methods is that the standard methods typically provide only global measurements or averaged measurements for a region of the process. In general, currently available monitoring techniques and apparatus cannot easily provide non-intrusive, spatially and/or temporally resolved measurements of optical radiation parameters for processing a substrate. Similar problems are encountered for other types of processes such as those that directly process a workpiece using optical radiation.
Additional information about making optical measurements can be found in references such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,637, U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,111, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,835, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,650.
Currently available optical radiation monitoring techniques and apparatus cannot easily provide non-intrusive, spatially and temporally resolved measurement of the optical radiation for such processes. Consequently, there is a need for improved methods of and apparatuses for monitoring processes that involve optical radiation. Furthermore, there is a need for methods of and apparatuses for measuring optical radiation parameters that are temporally and/or spatially resolved for processing workpieces in a process chamber.

Apparatuses for and methods of monitoring optical radiation parameters for substrate processing operations


Disclosure is combined electrochemical impinging stream reaction apparatus with addition of ultrasonic of the invention and is used for illustrating the structure and the mutual position relationship of components of the apparatus. The combined electrochemical impinging stream reaction apparatus with addition of ultrasonic comprises a container frame to hold all the components, an electrocoagulation unit which is attached to the hopper type casing. The hopper type casing contains a conical filter arrangement. The combined electrochemical impinging stream reaction apparatus is configured for the removal of contaminants from water and wastewater.

The chemical or electrochemical water and wastewater treatment systems previously used required many container tanks worth of space, lots of motors, water pumps, chemicals, and often failed to meet the increasingly upgraded environment protection needs and barely met potable water standards. The process was overall a very difficult process to manage. The operation of such apparatuses required skilled labor. Thus, there is great need of a water and wastewater treatment apparatus which is simple in structure (preferably minimal moving parts), low in cost, small in volume and easy to operate. The previous model for wastewater treatment as titled "Vortex Sewage Disposal Apparatus" required heavy chemical dosing for the coagulation and flocculation process. Thus, there is a great need for a water and wastewater treatment apparatus which is cost saving, simple in structure, less expensive, easy to operate and use, minimal usage of chemicals, can achieve higher degree of separation of oily water and silt with more oxygen content in treated water.

Combined electrochemical impinging stream reaction apparatus


Light emitted by a light source is inputted to a sensor to generate an optical path difference on input light according to a physical parameter to be measured, light outputted with an optical path difference generated in response to the input is inputted to another sensor to generate an optical path difference on input light according to a physical parameter to be measured, and light outputted with an optical path difference generated in response to the input is split into two to generate an interference fringe. Due to the presence of light which is changed in optical path length in the first sensor, is inputted to the sensor of the subsequent stage, and is transmitted without being changed in optical path length, and light which is not changed in optical path length in the first sensor, is inputted to the sensor of the subsequent stage, and is transmitted after being changed in optical path length, an interference fringe is generated with an fringe located on a position corresponding to a difference value between physical parameters to be measured. Thus, a difference value between physical parameters is measured by detecting the position.

In the case where control is performed in a plant such as an oil plant, it is sometimes necessary to measure a difference value between pressures of a process fluid located on positions away from each other.
In this case, conventionally pressure gauges are provided on two measurement positions, measurement values (electric signals) of the two pressure gauges are transmitted to an arithmetic circuit, and a difference is calculated therein, so that a difference value is measured between pressures on the two measurement points.
In addition, a differential pressure gauge is provided to measure a difference value of pressures and a process fluid is guided into the differential pressure gauge from two measurement positions by using a pressure transmitting pipe (or connecting pipe) for guiding a process fluid, so that a difference value is measured between pressures on the two measurement points.
In such a method using a pressure transmitting pipe, measurement may be hampered by clogging in the pressure transmitting pipe and a process fluid may flow to the outside when the pressure transmitting pipe is broken.
For this reason, in some cases remote seals for filling an enclosed liquid such as silicone oil are used instead of a pressure transmitting pipe and pressures of a process fluid are transmitted from two measurement positions to a differential pressure gauge, so that a difference value is measured between pressures on the two measurement points.
However, in the case of the method where pressure gauges are provided on two measurement positions and a difference is calculated between the measurement values of the two pressure gauges by using an arithmetic circuit, it is necessary to provide two expensive pressure gauges, increasing the cost.
Meanwhile in the case of the method where a pressure transmitting pipe is used to guide a process fluid from two measurement positions to a differential pressure gauge, measurement may be hampered by clogging in the pressure transmitting pipe and a process fluid may flow to the outside when the pressure transmitting pipe is broken.
Meanwhile in the case where remote seals are used to transmit pressures of a process fluid from two measurement positions to a differential pressure gauge, there is no probability that clogging may occur in a pressure transmitting pipe and the process fluid may flow to the outside. However, since the two remote seals are disposed in different environments, the influence of temperatures and so on may reduce measurement accuracy. Besides, this method may cause leakage of an enclosed liquid to the outside when the remote seals are broken.
An object of the present invention is to establish, in such a background art, another technique for measuring a physical parameter whereby a difference value between physical parameters on positions away from each other can be correctly measured without being affected by the ambient environment.
Another object of the present invention is to establish, for the above measurement, another technique for measuring a physical parameter whereby a difference value between physical parameters on positions away from each other can be correctly measured without being affected by a physical parameter not to be measured.

Physical quantity measuring method and device therefor


Techniques for context aware access control with weapons detection are provided. An indication of an identity of a person is received at an access control system. The indication of the identity of the person includes a confidence level of the identification. An indication of a threat level of the person is received at a threat detection system. The threat level including a confidence level of the threat level. At least one of an identification threshold or a threat level threshold is modified based on the threat level confidence level or the confidence level of the identification. At least one of allowing access, allowing access with an alarm indication, or denying access to the person is based in part on the modified identification threshold or threat level threshold.

Access control systems may be used to restrict access to certain areas. Only people who are authorized to be in the restricted areas are granted access. Some access control systems are relatively straightforward, such as a badge reader coupled to an electronic door lock. Authorized personnel will be issued a badge that allows the door to be unlocked. Other access control systems can be more sophisticated, such as access control systems based on biometrics. Some example biometric access control systems include those based on fingerprints, palm scans, facial recognition, and iris scans. Access control based on biometrics may be more secure than a badge based systems, as it is much more difficult to forge/steal a biometric identifier.
Weapons detection systems may be used to identify people that are carrying weapons, either in the open or concealed. Some example weapons detection systems may be based on millimeter wave radar (60 Ghz-80 Ghz), higher frequency radar (200 Ghz-300 Ghz), visible spectrum cameras, multi-spectrum cameras, and backscatter x-rays. In some cases, the systems are sophisticated enough to not only detect the presence of weapons, but also to identify the type of weapon and location on the body. In addition, weapons detection systems may also include digital e-Nose smell detection to identify substances such as explosives.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

System and method for context aware access control with weapons detection


The invention provides an extract of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng enriching anti-arthritis activity, which is obtained by eluting the crude extract of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng using 50%˜95% alcoholic solution or solvents such as hexane and/or ethyl acetate. Also provided is a method for treating arthritis comprising such extract.

Arthritis is the most common autoimmune disease. The hallmarks of the disease are inflammation of the synovial tissues with progressive erosion of bone leading to malalignment of the joint and disability. The persistent nature of arthritis suggests that not only local but also systemic immune dysfunction, consisting in predominance of the pro-inflammatory response and over production of inflammatory cells and inflammatory substances, such as CD4+ T cells, B cells and inflammatory cytokines. All of which cause long-term destruction to joint tissues. It is generally believed that the infection of a host by unknown exogenous pathogen initiates the course of arthritis through activating T cells, thereby inducing multiple reactions such as the activation of monocytes, macrophages, and directly stimulating the proliferation of synovial and endothelial cells, as well as the production of inflammatory cytokines, protease, and antibody. Further, inflammatory cytokines have been implicated in the arthritis diseases progression. For example, TNF-α is a key player in the proinflammatory cytokine cascade by stimulating the production of prostaglandin E, collagenase as well as other cytokines such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). TNF-α and IL-1β also stimulate the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases and exert a direct effect on the multiple tissues inside the joint including chondrocytes, macrophages, synovial fibroblasts, and osteoclasts leading localized joint destruction. On the other hand, IL-6 can further increase inflammatory cells in the joint tissue, stimulate the proliferation of osteoclasts and strengthen the role of IL-1β. Overall, the substantial cross-talk between pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1δ, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-17 is essential to induce joint destruction, chondrocyte inhibition, and disturbance for restoration of degenerated tissues in arthritis. Therefore, aside from the traditional immunosuppressive agents and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the current clinical majority is to develop biological antagonists specifically aiming at the above-mentioned inflammatory factors or cells, such as TNF-α and IL-6 antagonists, to reduce or prevent joint damage and maintain functionality. However, such therapy is invasive, and the efficacy may subsequently fades. Moreover, at least half of the arthritis patients are not response to the combination of traditional arthritis drugs and biological agents. Therefore, it is important to develop new, convenient, safe and effective therapeutics.
Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng, a perennial herb mainly originated from Malaysia, Brazil, China and India, belongs to the Labiatae family, the alias of which are Agastache rugosa, Lysimachia capillipes Hemsl, Spearmint, Patchouly, Indian peppermint, or Pogostemon Cablin. Plectranthus amboinicus has leaves that are thick, opposite, widely ovate, toothed on the margin of a little volume with apex rounded or pure sharp. The herb is about 15 to 30 cm high, covered with fine hairs, and carries a strong pungent smell. According to historical records, Plectranthus amboinicus is a type of Chinese herbal medicine with the efficacy to prevent colds, strengthen body immunity, and reduce symptoms such as ear swelling, inflammation, and fever. As a traditional Chinese medicine, it is anti-inflammatory, carminative and capable of detoxification and relieving symptoms like fever, tonsillitis, sore throat, pneumonia, chills and heat, headache, nausea of chest and abdomen, vomiting, diarrhea, feeble stomach, spleen cold and others. Fresh juice of Plectranthus amboinicus is also effective for abrasions, cuts, burns, insect bites, unknown swelling, boils and sores, ear inflammation, sore throat, swollen poison, bruises and the like. It also has considerable effects on skin problems caused by microorganisms, such as seborrheic dermatitis, eczema, acne, allergies, dry skin, scalp folliculitis, and significant effects on the skin whitening, fatigue elimination, and removal of a variety of skin ringworm.
Taiwan Patent Application No. 092135016 disclosed a method to prepare crude extracts of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng comprising steps of: (a) pressing the plant leaves to obtain juice; (b) adding alcohol to the juice of step (a) to reach a final alcohol concentration at 70-80%, and then placing at a low temperature; (c) adjusting the pH value of the alcohol-containing juice of step (b) to pH5.0˜7.0, and then placing at a low temperature; (d) filtering to remove the impurities in the alcohol-containing juice of step (c); (e) distilling and concentrating the resulted pure juice in step (d) to collect the distillate, and adjusting the pH value of such distillate to pH5.0˜7.0; and (f) vacuum filtering the distillate in step (e) to obtain dark brown and clear extracts of Plectranthus amboinicus.
Taiwan Patent Application No. 093134346 provided a water extract of Plectranthus amboinicus leaf having the efficacy to treat cancer and/or tumor which has a molecular weight more than 50 kD.
Taiwan Patent Application No. 086118191 also disclosed a type of water extract of Pogostemon cablin or Agastache rugosa capable of preventing and treating infection by Haemophilus influenzae. The preparation of such extract involves an elution by a reagent composed of 90.5% ethanol, 4.5% methanol and 5.0% isopropanol.
In addition, Taiwan Patent Application No. 096145943, i.e. Taiwan Invention Patent No. I-335225, also provided an extract of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng for treating skin disorders and promoting wound healing, in particular, wound healing in patients with diabetes. The invention as disclosed in this patent is characterized by the use of a combination of the solid-liquid separation (stir separation) and specific processing, which comprises stirring adsorption resin (e.g. DIAION) in the extract of Plectranthus amboinicus, and isolating various fractions of such extract by using different solvents in respective separation steps.
Also, Taiwan Patent Application No. 095134243, i.e. Invention Patent No. I320714, disclosed a water extract of Plectranthus Amboinicus Benth having the efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The extract was soaked in an appropriate amount of high-polar solvent, filtered, condensed under reduced pressure by a rotary concentrator, diluted in a solvent, and then separated by in a column. Optionally, four segments of different solvents from high polarity to low polarity (referred to as high-polar solvent, sub high-polar solvent, medium-polar solvent and low-polar solvent) could be used for elution continuously.


In a conveyor system including a plurality of processing devices such as wire bonders that are lined-up and supplied with workpieces via a plurality of individually operated conveyors that are aligned linearly, when one (or more) processing device is ready to perform its processing such as bonding, a stopper installed in front of the processing device is raised to stop the conveyance of the workpiece, and when a sensor provided near the conveyor senses the conveyed workpiece, the conveyor is temporarily stopped and then rotated again for a fixed period of time or is slowed down in speed and then rotated for a fixed period of time or a fixed distance. Thus, a workpiece being conveyed is slowed down and therefore avoided from hitting the stopper at a high speed. Thus, the workpiece is prevented from being damaged at the front edge. Also, since the workpieces do not bounce back, they are stopped at the same stopping positions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying method and a conveyor control device and more particularly to a conveying method and conveyor control device used in a conveying system that transfers workpieces such as lead frames, circuit boards, etc. in, for example, a semiconductor assembly line.
2. Prior Art
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 3-158317 discloses a conveyor system used in a semiconductor assembly line. In this system, a plurality of processing devices of the same type (that are all wire bonders) are installed, and workpieces supplied to each one of the processing devices and the workpieces discharged from each one of the processing devices are conveyed by a single conveyor line that is commonly used to those processing devices.
In this conveyor system, as shown in FIG. 5, pairs of conveyors 15A.sub.1 and 15A.sub.2, 15B.sub.1 and 15B.sub.2, . . . are lined-up and installed in front of each one of a plurality of wire bonders 1A through 1D, and a guide device 3 is provided along the conveyors. As typically shown in the wire bonder 1C, each wire bonder includes a supply device 5 and a discharge device 8; and one of the two conveyors, which is 15C.sub.1, is installed to correspond to (or work with) the supply device 5, and the other conveyor, which is 15C.sub.2, is installed to correspond to (or work with) the discharge devices 8.
The conveyors 15A.sub.1, 15A.sub.2, 15B.sub.1, 15B.sub.2, . . . are respectively actuated by motors 16A.sub.1, 16A.sub.2, 16B.sub.2, 16B.sub.2 . . . In addition, sensors 17A.sub.1, 17A.sub.2, 17B.sub.1, 17B.sub.2, . . . which detect the passage of the workpieces are installed above or below the respective conveyors 15A.sub.1, 15A.sub.2, 15B.sub.1, 15B.sub.2, . . . Furthermore, stoppers 18A, 18B, 18C and 18D are installed near the conveyors 15A.sub.1, 15B.sub.1, 15C.sub.1 and 15D.sub.1 which are provided in front of the supply devices 5. The stoppers move up and down, and when they move up, they can stop the workpieces to position them on the conveyors.
A workpiece supply magazine 9 and a workpiece storage magazine 10 are installed on either end of the conveyor system.
When, for example, the wire bonder 1B requires a supply of a workpiece (or when the bonder 1B is actuated to perform the bonding), the conveyor 15B.sub.1 and all the conveyors between the conveyor 15B.sub.1 and the supply magazine 9 are actuated. In particular, the motors 16A.sub.1, 16A.sub.2 and 16B.sub.1 are actuated, and the conveyors 15A.sub.1, 15A.sub.2 and 15B.sub.1 in this case, are driven, and a workpiece is supplied to the conveyor 15A.sub.1 from the supply magazine 9 so that the workpiece is forwarded to the bonder 1B.
When the sensor 17A.sub.2 detects the workpiece, the stopper 18B is moved upward, and when the sensor 17B.sub.1 detects the conveyed workpiece, the conveyor 15B.sub.1 rotates for a fixed period of time and then stops. As a result, the workpiece sent onto the conveyor 15B.sub.1 is positioned by the stopper 18B in front of the supply device 5 of the bonder 1B and supplied into the wire bonder 1B by the supply device 5.
As seen from the above, when a workpiece is positioned by, for example, the stopper 18B, the motor 16B.sub.1 is actuated for a fixed period of time after the workpiece has been detected by the sensor 17B.sub.1, and then the conveyor 15B.sub.1 is stopped. In this case, since the speed of the conveyor 15B.sub.1 is high, the inertia of the workpiece causes the workpiece to hit the stopper 18B hard. If this happens, the workpiece, particularly its leading edge, may be damaged. Also, the workpieces may bounce back when they hit the stoppers. If this happens, the workpieces stop at different positions on the conveyors.

Conveying method and a conveyor control device


This specification discloses a module-type multi-function power outlet adapter for use of add-on electrical accessories in an automotive vehicle having a cigarette lighter socket. This device embodies a plurality of separate detachable modules which may be attached to a basic module insertable into the lighter socket and constructed to receive the additional modules, so to provide multiple electrical outputs. Such a module-type arrangement allows the adapter to fit the mounting space of cigarette light socket in various vehicles, boats, campers, and the like. A simple positioning pin structure ensures correct power leads connection and secures the combination between modules. The resulting solid structure allows easy reception for plug-in accessory equipment. In addition, this device acts as a power system protector by monitoring the voltage level and controlling the power use of those accessories no matter whether the engine is running or stopped. Furthermore, this device is also a power system tester by providing information on the working condition of battery, generator, and regulator in an automotive vehicle and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to power adapter devices and more particularly it relates to an improved adapter apparatus for use in providing multiple electric outputs and providing multiple functions as a monitor and a protector for the power system in automobiles and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes a variety types of plural output electrical power adapters for insertion into the cigarette lighter socket in a vehicle, the adapters being designed to allow more than one accessory to be operated through the cigarette lighter socket.
The most pertinent reference appears to be U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,988 as issued on Aug. 29, 1978 in the name of Ernest E. Olson which relates to "Duplex Outlet Device". This patent teaches a device having a plug portion for insertion into a cigarette lighter socket including a pair of electric sockets for accepting auxiliary plugs for a variety of auxiliary equipment.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,494 issued on Feb. 3, 1981 in the name of Edward S. McDonald, also shows a cigarette lighter adapter that allows more than one accessory to be plugged in.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,352 issued on Oct. 18, 1977 in the name of Marvin B. Rudin discloses an adapter equipped with a plurality of power tapoffs for accommodating one or more accessory items.
Other U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,544 "Electrical Plug Connectors", U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,463 "Electrical Adapter Plug", U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,000 "Electrical Receptacle", U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,302 "Connector Plug for Vehicle Electrical Tester", U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,798 "Plug-in Connector for Use with Electrical Sockets in Motor Vehicles", U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,122 "Cigarette Lighter Plug Assembly", U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,167 "Power Distribution Unit for Modular Wall Panels", are representative of the art in general. There are also known power adapters having flexible connection cables.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a convenient source of electric power for multiple electrical and electronics accessories in a vehicle, a boat, and the like. In order to provide such an electric power source, at the same time, in order to provide the necessary protection for the vehicle power system when using those accessories, an improved power adapted should satisfy the following criteria to provide acceptance by a wide audience of vehicle drivers:
1. The adapter itself should be readily insatiable in a cigarette lighter socket by persons without special skills or who are not mechanically inclined;
2. The shape of the adapter should be flexible to meet the space requirement by the cigarette lighter socket in different vehicles, boats, and the like;
3. The body of the adapter should be rigid enough for easy reception of those add-on accessory equipment;
4. The adapter should be able to prevent excess usage of electric power by those add-on accessories either during driving or after engine stopped;
5. The adapter would be better to serve as a condition monitor for the engine power system.
These criteria are not available from prior patents, thus, they become the objectives of the present invention.

Module-type multi-function electrical power adapter for automobiles and the like


A client computer collects registration information and uploads the collected information to one or more remote registration databases. The collection and/or uploading of registration information for multiple manufacturers is performed in a unified manner, improving the user-friendliness of the computer. According to one aspect of the invention, a single user interface is used to collect the registration information for all of the manufacturers, preventing the same question from being asked multiple times. According to another aspect of the invention, a multiple posting method is used to upload the registration information to the registration databases. In the multiple posting method, a single network communication link is established between the client computer and a network that the registration databases are coupled to, via which multiple client computer to registration database connections are established.

Uses for computers in our daily lives are continually expanding. As these uses expand, it is beneficial for the manufacturers of both the computers and the software the computers run to have information on the manner in which the computers and software are used, as well as information on the users of the computers and software. Having such information assists the manufacturers in designing and creating computers and software that are more useful and better aligned with users' needs and desires. Providing such information to the manufacturers is also beneficial to users on a daily basis because the manufacturer can personalize the user's computer/software experience by establishing an on-going electronic relationship with the consumer.
One approach to obtaining such information is to collect "registration information" or "registration data" from the user and transmit it to the manufacturer. Registration information refers to demographic and other information regarding the user and the user's computer. This might include information such as the user's intended use of the computer or software, the user's preferred activities, hobbies, other computer hardware or software components or peripherals that are being used in conjunction with the computer or software, the user's electronic mail or street address, locale information (e.g., zip code), etc. The registration information may also include information regarding the computer itself (e.g., identification numbers, processor type, amount of memory, installed omponents, etc.).
Registration information is typically collected via multiple "registration wizards", each of which is a program that is executed when the computer is initially set up by the user or the software is installed. Each registration wizard asks the user various questions to elicit the registration information, and may also interrogate the computer itself to obtain information (e.g., processor type) regarding the computer. Once the registration information is collected, the registration wizard transmits or "uploads" the collected information to a registration database, from which a manufacturer is able to subsequently retrieve the collected information. The registration database is typically accessed via a direct-connection (e.g., a direct phone call to a computer system maintaining the registration database) or via a network (e.g., the Internet, which may also require a modem call to access the network).
There are typically different registration wizards for the computer, one or more of the software programs being run on the computer, and sometimes for additional peripheral devices coupled to the computer (e.g., printers or scanners). However, much of the information that the different manufacturers want to obtain is often the same (e.g., name, address, phone number, etc.). Requiring users to repeatedly answer the same questions over and over results in a time-consuming, "unfriendly" user experience. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a more user-friendly way to collect registration information.
Additionally, once the registration information is collected the user's computer typically makes multiple modem calls to upload the registration information. One modem call (whether the connection be direct or via a network) is typically made to each of the registration databases. Making such multiple modem calls is a further time-consuming process and, due to the time involved, can result in a further "unfriendly" user experience. One solution to this problem is for the computer to make a single modem call to the computer manufacturer or a designated third party, which receives all of the registration information, and then transfers the appropriate parts of the registration information to all parties interested in the data. However, this can be problematic because the manufacturer or third party may not want to receive all of the information, or there may be disagreements between the manufacturers regarding which of them pays for the modem call from the computer to the specified manufacturer.
The invention described below addresses these disadvantages of the prior art, providing an improved way to collect and upload user registration information.

System and method for unified registration information collection


Recovery of data from a store-to cache in a malfunctioning CPU, is accomplished without exercising the hardware of the malfunctioning CPU. A data path which is independent of the normal operating paths of the computer, such as a scan facility, is used to move data out of the cache into the mainstore while the malfunctioning CPU's clocks are off. A system controller controls normal transfer of data between the cache memory of the processing unit and the mainstore. A service processor is coupled to the processing unit, the mainstore, and the system controller, and is responsive to the detection of errors in the processing unit, for stopping the processing unit and moving data out of the cache memory to the mainstore through the scan facility separate from the system controller. Logic in the system controller flushes the move out queue or other storage locations in the system controller. After the data in the system controller has been flushed, the service processor moves the data from the cache memory into the mainstore. This prevents data moved out of the cache in the mainstore from being overwritten by move outs which were pending in the system controller at the time that the CPU was stopped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recovery of cached data from a malfunctioning CPU; and, more particularly, to a technique for disabling a malfunctioning CPU while recovering the data stored in the cache of the CPU in a large scale, multiprocessor computer system.
2. Description of Related Art
Large scale data processing systems, such as those operating in accordance with the IBM ESA/390 architecture, include a plurality of central processing units. Each central processing unit includes a cache which stores data which may have been modified by the CPU. When a particular CPU malfunctions, the CPU must be stopped; data must be recovered from the cache, and then the system must be reconfigured to disable the CPU until it can be repaired or replaced.
In one type of computer system, the cache memory associated with the CPU is referred to as a "store-to" cache. A store-to cache may store lines of data that have been modified by the local CPU, but have not yet been copied back to mainstore. Thus, the cache may hold the only valid, current copy of a line of data. In order to disable a CPU which includes a store-to cache, it is critical to data integrity of the overall system to be able to recover the modified lines of data from the malfunctioning CPU.
Prior art techniques involve recovery of the cached data using the hardware of the CPU which is malfunctioning. This creates the risks that the malfunctioning CPU hardware will cause errors in the data that cannot be corrected or may not be able to recover the data at all.
Therefore, it is desirable to accomplish the disabling of a malfunctioning CPU, while recovering modified lines of data from the CPU, without reliance on the malfunctioning CPU hardware to deliver the modified data.

Recovery of cached data from a malfunctioning CPU


The invention concerns a method for casting a part made of metal alloy such as an aluminum alloy comprising the following steps: forming a core (N, PNC) having at least one shaft (PC) designed to form in the part a cylinder and at least one cavity (P) designed to form in the part a support and/or retaining zone for a working member, and at least a cooling unit (RE) proximate to the cavity; positioning the core in a metal mould cavity, and feeding the mould lined with its liquid alloy core by gravity. The invention is particularly useful for casting internal engine cylinder blocks with aluminum cylinders with improved geometrical and mechanical properties of the crankshaft bearing zones.

1. Field
This invention generally relates to the casting of primarily aluminum-based light alloy foundry parts.
Various foundry techniques are known, essentially those applied from the top of the mold in gravity mode and from the bottom of the mold in low-pressure mode. Various types of molds, primarily sand and metal molds, are also known.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of gravity casting in metal molds has advantages for the production of foundry parts such as aluminum-alloy cylinder blocks for motor vehicle combustion engines or the like. In particular, such a method is suitable for small and medium series, because it is highly modular and minimizes the use of chemically-bound sand by the use of metal die walls.
In comparison with the casting technique for green sand molds, the gravity casting technique for metal molds has the advantage of an investment cost that is progressive, adapted and adjustable according to the actual production requirements.
However, the method for gravity metal mold casting of cylinder blocks, as conventionally practiced, does not enable a sturdy product of high metallurgical quality to be obtained in areas of the part such as the crankshaft bearings (areas that are more sensitive in terms of fatigue strength) while maintaining adequate dimensional control of the internal shapes with respect to one another.
Indeed, if one of these objectives is achieved, it is always to the detriment of the other.
For example, in reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, if the gravity casting of a cylinder block in a V-shape is performed, with the crankshaft bearings PV in the upper portion, the situation is especially favorable for dimensional control of the barrels, in particular when liners inserted during casting are to be overmolded.
Indeed, the base of the mold makes enables all of the devices for guiding the metal pins, which form the barrels, to be placed in direct contact with the solidified alloy, or the metal pins that serve as a support for the liners CH to be placed on these barrel pins and themselves overmolded by the liquid alloy.
Similarly, this mold base can serve as a very practical support for the positioning of internal cores such as those intended to enable water to circulate.
However, it should be noted that these advantages of upwardly casting the block with crankshaft bearings are limited by the fact that, since the crankshaft bearings are under the risers MA, their metallurgic quality (in particular in terms of microporosity), mechanical characteristics and fatigue strength are significantly reduced with respect to what could be obtained with a faster cooling of the alloy.
If, on the other hand, the cylinder block is cast with the mold positioned in the other direction (i.e. with the crankshaft bearings downward) in order to promote the production of microconstructions and improved properties in the critical areas in terms of fatigue, there will be other difficulties if conventional gravity casting is used.
Indeed, in reference to FIG. 2, where a schematic cross-section of the mold is shown, it is necessary to provide a metal pin system to ensure that the stripping can occur in two directions D and D′ shown in FIG. 2, or a liner-holder pin system, which the necessary integration with a risering system would be extremely difficult to carry out.
For this reason, such an approach is almost never used.

Method for moulding light alloy cast parts, in particular cylinder blocks


A multi-leaf collimator includes a first carriage, a second carriage, a drive device, a first set of leaves disposed on the first carriage, and a second set of leaves disposed on the second carriage, wherein the first set of leaves and the second set of leaves are disposed oppositely to each other, and each leaf in each of the sets of leaves is movable relative to each respective carriage; and the drive device is configured to drive the first carriage and the second carriage to move in the same direction synchronously.

A multi-leaf collimator (MLC), which is a mechanical movement part, is used for generating a conformal radiation field and plays an important role in a radiotherapy equipment. Generally, the MLC includes two carriages that are oppositely disposed. Each of the carriages is provided with a set of leaves. The two set of leaves respectively disposed on the two carriages are movable relative to the carriage in a longitudinal direction of the leaf, such that the irradiation field in a shape corresponding to the shape of a tumor target area (that is, the shape of a tumor to be irradiated) is formed.

Multi-leaf collimator and radiotherapy equipment

Shenzhen Our New Medical Technologies Development Co., Ltd.