A process, system and computer software are provided to facilitate at least one recommendation to one or more users and/or one or more applications using multidimensional data. In particular, a multidimensional space is defined, wherein each dimension is capable of providing variable information. At least one dimension corresponds to user profiles. The multidimensional space is filled with multidimensional data corresponding to dimensions of the multidimensional space. Then, information from the multidimensional space is retrieved. Further, the recommendation is generated based on the retrieved information. In addition, it is possible to generate a recommendation-specific query. This can be performed by generating the recommendation-specific query to access a multidimensional cube and retrieve data stored therein. Then, the recommendation can be issued based on the data retrieved from the multidimensional cube.

Recommendation systems have recently become important components of numerous computer applications, e.g., in the e-commerce space. In particular, such systems enable a receipt of feedback from company's customers. Based on their customer's feedback, the companies can better serve their customers by providing recommendations and suggestion thereto. Because the customers generally appreciate receiving informative and pertinent recommendations and suggestions from the companies that they deal with, such interaction between the customers and companies allow these companies which utilize the recommendation systems to establish and further develop long-lasting personalized relationships with their customers.
Research and development of systems and processes which provide recommendations and suggestions to users on a personal basis (e.g., via e-mail, the Web and mobile communication devices) has been significant in the past. Primarily, however, large portion of such research and development has concentrated on simple recommendations of items to the users or vice versa. For example, a conventional recommendation system and process may provide a particular recommendation of a certain brand of a plasma television to a user based on the user's previous transactions and/or entries of preferences. Also, the users who have previously shown interest in the plasma televisions can be forwarded to a particular brand of the plasma television based on the characteristics of such television. Other exemplary applications of the conventional systems and processes provide, e.g., movies to site visitors (and vise versa), book customers to books (or vice versa), etc. These conventional recommendation systems and processes are usually based on known two-dimensional collaborative filtering techniques, content based filtering techniques or a combination of both.
Exemplary collaborative filtering techniques are described in J. S. Breese et al., "Empherical Analysis of Predictive Algorithms for Collaborative Filtering," Technical Report MSR-TR-98-12, Microsoft Research, May 1998; W. Hill et al., "Recommending and Evaluating Choices in a Virtual Community of Use," Proceedings of CHI-95 Conference, Denver, Colo., 1995, pp. 194-201, and U. Shardanand et al., "Social Information Filtering: Algorithms for Automating 'Word of Mouth'," Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'95), ACM Press, 1995, pp. 210-217. Content-based filtering techniques are described in the Breese publication, F. R. J. Mooney et al, "Book Recommending using Text Categorization with Extracted Information," Recommender Systems, Papers from 1998 Workshop, Tech. Report WS-98-08, AAAI Press, 1998, and M. Pazzani et al., "Syskill & Webert: Identifying Interesting Web Sites," Proceedings of the National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1996. Techniques that combine the corroborative filtering and content-based techniques are described in A. Ansari et al., "Internet Recommendations Systems," Journal of Marketing Research, August 2000, pp. 363-375, M. Balabanovic et al., "Fab: Content-based, Collaborative Recommendation," Communications of the ACM, 40(3):66-72, 1997, and M. Pazzani et al., "A Framework for Collaborative, Content-based and Demographic Filtering," Artificial Intelligence Review, December 1999, pp. 393-408. However, in numerous applications, e.g., recommending vacation packages, restaurants or Web content to customers, it may not be sufficient to recommend particular items to certain users or to suggest the users to the particular items.
For example, certain customer's preferences for vacation packages may be dependent on the current time of the year or the time of the year that the vacation package is being offered. This is because such customer may prefer to vacation in the Caribbean in the winter, but not in the summer, or that the Caribbean vacation is only being offered at a low rate in the summer. In addition, for certain applications and situations, it may not be beneficial or appropriate to recommend individual items to individual users, but instead provide certain categories of items to particular types of users. One example of such recommendation facilitation may be providing movies which fit into a category of action movies to college students. Moreover, while some of the existing recommendation systems support limited profiles of the users and items, it is preferable to utilize more extensive profiling capabilities such as the ones described in G. Adomavicius et al., "Expert-driven Validation of Rule-based User Models in Personalization Applications," Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 5(1/2):33-58, 2001.
The traditional two-dimensional recommendation systems and processes also provide the recommendations of at most two types by e.g., providing top N items to the user or top M users to the item. Further, these types of recommendations are typically pre-fixed into the recommendation software system by a company providing the software system, without being able to dynamically change the predefined recommendation types. However, in many multi-dimensional applications, it is exactly what would be necessary to be able to provide more extensive and flexible types of recommendations to be requested by the user. For example, it may be preferable to recommend top three action movies that are not longer than 2 hours to individual users, and to limit providing such movie recommendations to only those users whose favorite movie type list includes action movies.

System, process and software arrangement for providing multidimensional recommendations/suggestions


Disclosed is a touch display device with tactile feedback function, including a first substrate (10), a second substrate (20), a liquid crystal layer (30), a patterned conductive layer (50) and an insulation layer (40); the patterned conductive layer (50) comprises a plurality of first signal lines (1) which are separately arranged in parallel and extended along a horizontal direction, and a plurality of second signal lines (2) which are separately arranged in parallel, and extended along a vertical direction, and insulated with the first signal lines (1); a side of the second substrate (20) close to the liquid crystal layer (30) includes a plurality of third signal lines (3) which are separately arranged in parallel along the vertical direction; the touch scan is achieved with the first and the third signal lines (1, 3), and the tactile feedback is achieved with the first and the second signal lines (1, 2).

The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) possesses many advantages of being ultra thin, power saved and radiation free. It has been widely utilized in, such as LCD TVs, mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs), digital cameras, laptop screens or notebook screens.
With the development of the liquid crystal display technology, people have more demands for the display quality, appearance design, and human machine interface of the liquid crystal display. The touch technology has properties of convenient operation and high integration, and thus becomes the skill development hot spot. The touch technology has been developed rapidly in the recent years, and at present, there are kinds of touch technologies put into mass productions. For the touch display panels at present, according to the positions of the touch sensor, they can be categorized to be the On Cell which the touch sensors cover on the liquid crystal cells, the In Cell which the touch sensors are embedded in the liquid crystal cells and the Out Cell.
With the development of the tablet display technology and the touch technology, the interactions between the human and the display also constantly increase. The touch control technology is a skill to perform sense and operation with the touch sense of the display surface, which can achieve better interactive experience. The touch control technology utilizes the principle that the different electrostatic forces are generated in different regions of the touch display device surface as the finger touches and slides in the various regions of the touch display device surface, and thus to obtains the different tactile sensations (such as hump or vibration).
The present touch control technology can realize to set the region of realizing the tactile sensation on the touch display device surface. With the program of pre-design, the sensation obtained in some regions of the display image can be different from other regions. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a principle diagram of a touch display device with tactile feedback function according to prior art. The touch display device with tactile feedback function applies the alternating voltages of frequencies f1 and f2 respectively to the vertical A region and the horizontal B region to make the finger feel the tactile feedback from the C region at the crossing position of the A region and the B region. However, the tactile feedback function for now cannot provide the tactile feedback at arbitrary positions and times.

Touch display device with tactile feedback function and driving method thereof

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Disclosed is a titanium oxynitride with excellent hiding properties (light-blocking properties) which is also excellent in degree of blackness and oxidation stability. Specifically disclosed is a titanium oxynitride having a chemical composition expresses as TiNxOy.nSiO2 (wherein Ti represents titanium atoms; N represents nitrogen atoms; O represents oxygen atoms; Si represents silicon atoms; x represents the ratio of nitrogen atoms relative to titanium atoms, y represents the ratio of oxygen atoms relative to titanium atoms, and x and y are respectively a real number of more than 0 but less than 2; and n represents the molar ratio of SiO2 relative to TiNxOy which is a real number within a range of 0≦n≦0.05). This titanium oxynitride contains nitrogen atoms represented by N in an amount of not less than 17% by weight but less than 23% by weight, while having a specific surface area of 5-30 m2/g and a crystallite size determined by using an X-ray diffractometer of 17-25 nm.

Titanium oxynitride is a compound which is mainly composed of titanium-oxygen-nitrogen and is generally represented by TiNxOy and which is called titanium black. Since titanium oxynitride has blackish color and conductivity, it is added to resins, paints, inks, cosmetics, etc. as a black pigment, and contained in films, fibers, toners, magnetic recording media, etc. as a conductivity-imparting agent. As such a titanium oxynitride, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a black titanium oxynitride pigment powder containing 4-30% by weight of oxygen and 5-20% by weight of nitrogen (O/N weight ratio: 6-0.2) and having a value L of 14-8 which is obtained by heating titanium dioxide powder at a temperature of 550-950° C. under flowing of ammonia gas.
On the other hand, there is further known titanium nitride mainly composed of titanium-nitrogen and generally represented by TiN as a titanium compound used as a black pigment, and, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses a black titanium nitride powder mainly composed of TiN and containing 1-4% by weight of oxygen and 20-30% by weight of nitrogen, which is obtained by reacting titanium tetrachloride gas and ammonia gas at a temperature of 700-1500° C. to prepare a TiN powder and then oxidizing the surface layer of the powder to titanium oxynitride by flowing a nitrogen-oxygen mixed gas.
Patent Document 1: JP-B-3-51645
Patent Document 2: JP-A-64-37408

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A vent arrangement for enclosures that prevents the penetration of a pry bar. The vent arrangement includes a first predetermined pattern of openings of predetermined shape and dimensions provided at the exterior wall of the enclosure. The dimensions of the openings and the spacing between the openings are determined relative to the pry bar and the material in which openings are formed, such that the pry bar cannot fully enter the openings and such that the portion of the pry bar that can be applied to the openings does not cause any substantial deformation of the material surrounding the openings that could permit widening of the openings so as to allow full entry of the tip of the pry bar. In a preferred embodiment, to permit the maximum percentage area of openings within the pattern of openings while achieving the desired tamper-resistant characteristics, the first predetermined pattern of openings includes staggered rows of openings such that the openings of adjacent rows are not aligned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of ventilation devices and more particularly to an improved vent that provides desirable venting, prevents water entry, and prevents the penetration of a pry bar or a probe wire beyond the vent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Equipment enclosures are provided to prevent access to the enclosed equipment by unauthorized people and also provide for the protection of the enclosed equipment from the environment. Vents for enclosures are provided to prevent the buildup of moisture and heat inside the enclosures. The venting arrangement, therefore, must provide for the free passage of air, prevent water entry, and prevent access to the enclosure by tampering. For example, tampering may occur by the attempted insertion of a variety of objects into the vent openings such as sticks or elongated metal members in the form of pry bars or wires. Accordingly, to the fullest extent possible, the venting arrangement should deter the entry by animals or unauthorized persons regardless of their determination and persistence. Of course, it is not possible to make any enclosure totally impenetrable, but the enclosure should be tamper resistant to the limits of technical feasibility.
Standards such as ANSI C57.12.28 aid in the development of desirable standards to resist tampering. Such standards are developed in terms of specific tests involving specific tampering items or devices that might be expected to be utilized by tamperers. Of course, while the tampering tests encompassed by the standards involve persistent illegal conduct, it is still important to manufacture equipment so as to attempt to protect such tamperers from themselves and their conduct, as well as to protect small children who may come along after the tamperer. Thus, the standards and the tests enumerated therein are performed to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive integrity system. One sequence of specific tests involve the use of a pry bar of predetermined dimensions including a wedge shaped chisel tip of 2 inches in length that tapers from 0.4 into to 0.1 inch in thickness, with a uniform width of 0.5 inch. Additionally, a probe wire is utilized that is bare number 14 AWG soft-drawn solid copper wire 10 feet long. For the sequence test, the pry bar is utilized to attempt to gain entry and thereafter the wire probe is manipulated in an attempt to gain entry. Push and pull tools are also defined for various other tests.
Examples of various tamper-resistant enclosures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,102,475 and 4,963,696. A vent structure for high-voltage electrical equipment is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,000 and at pages 5 and 23 of Descriptive Bulletin 621-30 dated Aug. 25, 1986 by S&C Electric Company, Chicago, Ill. That vent includes a pattern of openings or louvers in the exterior panel of the enclosure and a recessed baffle with louvers on the interior surface of the panel. Additionally, wire-mesh screening is provided internal to the recessed baffle.
While these arrangements have been effective for their intended purposes, it is always extremely desirable to provide improved tamper-resistant vent arrangements for enclosures in an attempt to advance the state of the art and to prevent unauthorized, dangerous, and illegal ingress to equipment.


A method for making high quality InGaAsN semiconductor devices is presented. The method allows the making of high quality InGaAsN semiconductor devices using a single MOCVD reactor while avoiding aluminum contamination.

The invention relates to a method for making high quality InGaAsN semiconductor devices using metal organic chemical vapor deposition.
InGaAsN is an attractive material for a variety of semiconductor applications. InGaAsN is useful in the area of long wavelength edge-emitting lasers and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) in the optical communications area because the material is readily grown on GaAs wafers which provides higher conduction band offset and allows the use of GaAs/AlAs high reflective distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs).
A number of research groups have achieved room temperature continuous wave (CW) operation of InGaAsN VCSELs that were made using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Room temperature continuous wave operation of InGaAsN VCSELs has been achieved in VCSELs made using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using dimethylhydrazine (DMHy) as a source of nitrogen. MOCVD is preferred over MBE as the growth technique for achieving mass production. To achieve commercial use of InGaAsN VCSELs, further improvements in device performance such as lowering the threshold current density and extending the device lifetime are necessary.
It has been reported by Sato et al. in Electronics Letters, 33, 1997, 1386, that the surface morphology of the InGaAsN active region grown directly on the AlGaAs cladding layer using MOCVD appears powder-like, indicating three dimensional growth. Kawaguchi et al. report in Electronics Letters 36, 2000, 1776, that continuous MOCVD growth of InGaAsN layers on GaAs/AlGaAs layers results in poor optical quality of the InGaAsN layer while switching to a two reactor process yields a substantially better optical quality InGaAsN layer. Sato et al., IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 12, 1999, 1386 achieved good results for a highly strained GaInAsN ridge stripe laser using MOCVD by using aluminum free cladding layers. This approach is not useful for VCSELs because the highly reflective AlGaAs/GaAs DBR mirror can not be used.
Investigation by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) indicates that conventional metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth of InGaAsN active layers on GaAs/AlGaAs layers results in appreciable aluminum contamination (close to one percent) and is responsible for performance loss in a variety of semiconductor devices. Poor optical properties of InGaAsN active regions for InGaAsN edge emitters and InGaAsN VCSELs as well as lower than expected current gain in bipolar transistors are attributable to Al contamination of the active regions. In InGaAsN solar cell and InGaAsN photodetector structures (see for example, R. R. King et al, Conference Record of the 28th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2000, 998 and J. B. Heroux et al, Applied Physics Letters, 75, 1999, 2716), elimination of Al contamination results in high quality InGaAsN absorbing layers that result in higher quantum efficiencies for those semiconductor devices. Additionally, InGaAsN active regions grown over AlGaAs layers show more O and C incorporation than InGaAsN active regions grown without underlying AlGaAs layers. To avoid aluminum incorporation into InGaAsN layers, embodiments in accordance with the invention are disclosed.
In accordance with the invention, either layers are grown in the semiconductor structure whose growth serves to getter Al atoms/Al containing molecules or chemicals may be introduced into the MOCVD chamber via flow gases that serve to getter Al atoms/Al containing molecules. The methods reduce the Al content that is incorporated into the N containing layers and result in improvements in the quality of the InGaAsN layer including smoother surface structure, improved optical qualities and lower levels of recombination centers due to, for example, O and C incorporation that typically accompanies the Al incorporation.

Method for obtaining high quality InGaAsN semiconductor devices


A block piece for holding a spectacle lens blank has a basic body with a workpiece mounting face portion against which the workpiece can be blocked with a blocking material, and a clamping portion via which the blocked workpiece can be fixed in a machine/apparatus for processing it. The basic body is made substantially of a material having a defined low water absorption and/or is sealed to at least reduce outgassing of water moisture under vacuum conditions, so that the block piece can be used also in vacuum coating processes. Alternatively or in addition, the clamping portion is constructed to be clamped by forces directed essentially perpendicular to the radial direction to cancel out each other and not deform the basic body, and/or the workpiece mounting face portion is provided with a predetermined amount of prism.

An ophthalmic lens blank generally has a first face with a pre-determined curvature and a second face, opposite the first face on which a desired surface contour is generated by a machining process. The overall process is generally referred to as "lens surfacing" and the overall object is to yield a finished spectacle lens so that the first and second face curvatures cooperate to yield desired optical properties. In addition to this the first and/or second faces of the lens are usually coated to provide the finished spectacle lens with an enhanced ability to resist scratching (by a "hard coating"), with a low residual reflection and a desired color (by an "antireflection coating"), and/or with certain surface properties such as hydrophobic, oleophobic and dust repelling properties (by a "top coating"). Usually also a further machining process takes place (the so-called "edging"), the aim of which is to finish-machine the edge of the spectacle lens in such a way that the spectacle lens may be inserted into a spectacle frame. In all these process steps the spectacle lens (blank) must somehow be held in the machining machine(s) and coating apparatus respectively.
In more detail, hitherto the following main process steps are usually carried out in prescription workshops: Firstly, a suitable right and/or left ophthalmic lens blank is removed from a semifinished product store. The term "semifinished" is used to mean that the spectacle lens blanks, which are usually round or oval in plan view and have not yet been edged, have already been molded, machined or in another way contoured (surfaced) on one of their two optically active faces only. The spectacle lens blanks are then prepared for the blocking operation, namely by applying a suitable protective film or a suitable protective lacquer to protect the optically active face which has already been machined or contoured, i.e. the first face or blocking face.
The so-called "blocking" of the ophthalmic lens blanks then takes place. During this, the spectacle lens blank is joined to a suitable block piece, for example a lens block according to German standard DIN 58766 or document U.S. Pat. No. 7,066,797. To this end, the block piece is firstly brought into a predefined position with respect to the protected first face of the spectacle lens blank, and then in this position the space between block piece and spectacle lens blank is filled with a molten material (normally a metal alloy or wax) or an adhesive composition that is curable, e.g., by UV or visible light, as described in the earlier U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0170635 by the same applicant for example. Once this material has solidified or cured, the block piece forms a holder or support for machining the second face of the spectacle lens blank. The block piece is grasped by a chuck or other suitable coupling mechanism during lens generation to provide in particular secure mounting to the profiling machine while avoiding damage to the lens.
Lens surfacing is carried out then using profiling machines which typically have a cutter of some type that is moved across the second face of the ophthalmic lens blank to give the second face its macrogeometry according to the prescription. The spectacle lens blank may be stationary or rotating during the cutting operation, depending on the particular profiling machine which is being used. Typical machining processes for surfacing spectacle lenses include single point diamond turning (as the presently preferred fine cutting process for plastic materials and described in, e.g., document U.S. Pat. No. 7,597,066 B2 by the same applicant), diamond tool fly-cutting, milling (as the presently preferred rough cutting process for plastic materials and described in, e.g., document U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,381 by the same applicant), and grinding processes, applied depending on the lens material.
Usually fine machining of the ophthalmic lenses then takes place, in which the pre-machined second face of the respective spectacle lens blank is given the desired microgeometry, as described, e.g., in documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,066,794 B2 and 7,278,908 B2 by the same applicant. Depending on inter alia the material of the spectacle lenses, the fine machining process is divided into a fine grinding operation and a subsequent polishing operation, or includes only a polishing operation if a polishable second face has already been produced during the pre-machining stage.
Only after the polishing operation is the ophthalmic lens blank separated from the lens block ("deblocking") before cleaning steps are carried out. Then the coating process takes place that, depending on among other things the material of the lens blank, may include spin (or dip) coating of the deblocked spectacle lens blank so as to provide at least the second face of the lens blank with a hard coating or the like, as described, e.g., in the earlier U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0035053, wherein the spectacle lens blank is held in the spin coating apparatus by a lens holder that has a suction cup for instance.
The coating includes vacuum coating of the deblocked spectacle lens blank so as to provide at least the second face of the lens blank with an antireflection coating and optionally a top coating serving the above mentioned purposes. In the vacuum coating process the spectacle lens blank is clamped to a substrate carrier of a rotary carrier device that is located in a vacuum chamber in a vertically spaced relation with respect to an evaporation source for emitting a vapor stream onto the lens blank mounted on the substrate carrier, as described, e.g., in document U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,298.
After the coating step the ophthalmic lens blank usually is edged so that the spectacle lens can be inserted into a spectacle frame. To this end, the coated spectacle lens blank is blocked again, at this time however to a different, smaller block piece by an adhesive film portion for instance, as described, e.g., in document U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,466 by the same applicant. The edging process may also include the forming of bores, grooves, channels and/or bevels corresponding to the respective mounting requirements in the edge area of the spectacle lens, as described, e.g., in document U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,671 by the same applicant.
Finally, after edging and a further deblocking step the spectacle lens is cleaned again and ready for inspection and insertion or mounting to the spectacle frame.
One disadvantage of the conventional overall process as outlined above is that the spectacle lens blank needs to be deblocked after surfacing prior to coating, and then again blocked after coating prior to edging. These steps require manual operations that are time-consuming and labor-intensive.
In this connection, documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,210,695 A and 5,341,604 A disclose a system providing a lens blank and block assembly capable of being mounted in any of a surface generating machine, a finishing, i.e. lapping or polishing apparatus and an edging machine without requiring re-blocking of the lens in order to compensate for axis shifts, wherein the lens block is formed from a plastic material capable of being readily cut together with the lens blank in the edging machine. The proposed lens block however is not intended or suitable to be used in coating processes, in particular vacuum coating processes.
In this regard, document U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0132157 proposes a block piece for holding an optical lens to be machined, with a coupling part for holding in a workpiece chuck and with a holding part for fastening the lens, the latter having a convex or concave holding surface corresponding to a first side of the lens, wherein the holding surface is, according to the shape of the lens to be held, provided in the form of a negative aspherical, toric, progressive or free-form surface, and the block piece is made from a plastic material that can be machined. Although this document generally mentions that the lens can remain on the block piece during a coating process, it does not disclose or address how this could be done in a vacuum coating process in which the lens is subjected to a vacuum of, e.g., 5*10−3 mbar. It can be expected that liquids from the surfacing and cleaning processes will remain in particular in the "equalizing and pressure medium channels" provided in the proposed block piece, which liquids can excessively prolong the time required to reach, if at all, the necessary vacuum and in addition may lead to impure coating conditions resulting in an imperfect coating.
Another problem with the conventional overall process as outlined above is that, in particular if the block piece is made from a plastic material, and the block piece is supported in the surfacing machine by a collet chuck or the like which applies a radial compression force thereon, the block piece may assume a shape other than that which it naturally assumes in the absence of these forces. Such deformation may transfer to the spectacle lens blank blocked on the block piece so that the curve which is cut into the surface of the lens blank may become distorted when the block piece is removed from the chuck and the lens blank is deblocked from the block piece and resumes its natural shape. This problem becomes particularly acute in the manufacture of free-form spectacle lenses requiring very precise tolerances. Any slight distortion of the curve upon deblocking the spectacle lens from the block piece may take it out of the tolerance range of the particular prescription, thereby rendering it useless for its desired purpose and resulting in substantial waste.
Still another problem with the conventional process in prescription workshops is associated with in particular the single point diamond turning as the presently preferred fine cutting process for spectacle lens blanks made from plastic materials. This surfacing process as such is susceptible to small, but unacceptable errors at the center of rotation of the lens blank that are typically caused by errors of machine and tool calibration, as explained in great detail in document U.S. Pat. No. 7,440,814 by the same applicant. This, coupled to certain limitations of the subsequent flexible, polishing process, where it can be difficult to totally "clean up" or remove such center errors, have led to certain limitations in the amount of prism (i.e. surface tilt or shift with respect to the axis of rotation) permissible to cut and polish in such combined surfacing process. Experiments have shown that it can be relatively easy to cut and polish surfaces having 2 to 3 degrees of prism at the center with accurate centers, however greater amounts of prism at the center can pose problems.
A known method (see, e.g., document U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,356 B2) for fitting a block piece to a semifinished blank of an ophthalmic lens intended to have a particular prism generally consists of positioning the lens blank on a fixed base, in a centered and angularly defined manner, so that the finished face of the lens blank bears conjointly on a plurality of bearing points of the base, defining an orientation of the block piece relative to the lens blank, orienting the block piece in the defined manner, and fixing the block piece to the finished face while maintaining orientation, by with a castable low melting point metal alloy as the blocking material.
Once the lens blank is blocked on the block piece with the predetermined amount of prism that the spectacle lens shall have after surfacing, there is no need to generate, i.e. cut any prism during the surfacing process. However, one disadvantage of this known approach consists in the fact that, if the lens blank is blocked with a greater amount of prism, say 7 or 8 degrees of prism, the thickness of the wedge-shaped layer of blocking material between lens blank and block piece strongly varies along the prism axis. This gives rise to a different amount of shrinkage of the blocking material in the thickness direction along the prism axis when it solidifies (or cures if an adhesive composition would be used), which shrinkage in turn may bend or distort or even shift with respect to the block piece the blocked lens blank—as described in the earlier U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0170635 by the same applicant—so that, again, the curve which is cut into the surface of the lens blank may become distorted when the lens blank is deblocked from the block piece and resumes its natural shape. For this reason the amount of prism permissible to be blocked is also limited in the known approach.

Block piece for holding an optical workpiece, in particular a spectacle lens, for processing thereof, and method for manufacturing spectacle lenses according to a prescription


It is an object of the present invention to provide a biosensor, which is not significantly affected by the baseline fluctuation and suppresses nonspecific adsorption. The present invention provides a biosensor, which comprises a metal surface or metal film coated with a hydrophobic polymer, and has two or more types of different surfaces in a region coated with a hydrophobic polymer.

Recently, a large number of measurements using intermolecular interactions such as immune responses are being carried out in clinical tests, etc. However, since conventional methods require complicated operations or labeling substances, several techniques are used that are capable of detecting the change in the binding amount of a test substance with high sensitivity without using such labeling substances. Examples of such a technique may include a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurement technique, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurement technique, and a measurement technique of using functional surfaces ranging from gold colloid particles to ultra-fine particles. The SPR measurement technique is a method of measuring changes in the refractive index near an organic functional film attached to the metal film of a chip by measuring a peak shift in the wavelength of reflected light, or changes in amounts of reflected light in a certain wavelength, so as to detect adsorption and desorption occurring near the surface. The OCM measurement technique is a technique of detecting adsorbed or desorbed mass at the ng level, using a change in frequency of a crystal due to adsorption or desorption of a substance on gold electrodes of a quartz crystal (device). In addition, the ultra-fine particle surface (nm level) of gold is functionalized, and physiologically active substances are immobilized thereon. Thus, a reaction to recognize specificity among physiologically active substances is carried out, thereby detecting a substance associated with a living organism from sedimentation of gold fine particles or sequences.
In all of the above-described techniques, the surface where a physiologically active substance is immobilized is important. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), which is most commonly used in this technical field, will be described below as an example.
A commonly used measurement chip comprises a transparent substrate (e.g., glass), an evaporated metal film, and a thin film having thereon a functional group capable of immobilizing a physiologically active substance. The measurement chip immobilizes the physiologically active substance on the metal surface via the functional group. A specific binding reaction between the physiological active substance and a test substance is measured, so as to analyze an interaction between biomolecules.
As a thin film having a functional group capable of immobilizing a physiologically active substance, there has been reported a measurement chip where a physiologically active substance is immobilized by using a functional group binding to metal, a linker with a chain length of 10 or more atoms, and a compound having a functional group capable of binding to the physiologically active substance (Japanese Patent No. 2815120). Moreover, a measurement chip comprising a metal film and a plasma-polymerized film formed on the metal film has been reported (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-264843).
With regard to the aforementioned chip, the original activity of a physiologically active substance may be decreased by immobilization of the substance on a surface. Thus, only physiologically active substances that are strong against immobilization have been used as test materials. In addition, it has been pointed out that an excessive amount of carboxylic acid exists on the surface and that a physiologically active substance becomes inactivated due to the effects of such carboxylic acid. Under such circumstances, a surface capable of stably immobilizing all types of physiologically active substances has been desired for examining the relationship with enzyme activity and the like.
When a specific binding reaction between a physiologically active substance and a test substance is measured, the test substance is not necessarily comprised of a single component. There may also be a case where a test substance is required to be measured in a heterogeneous system such as a cell extract. In such a case, if contaminants such as various proteins or lipids are adsorbed on the detection surface nonspecifically, measurement/detection sensitivity is significantly reduced. The fact that nonspecific adsorption is highly likely to occur on the above detection surface has been problematic. In order to solve such problems, several methods have been studied. For example, a method of immobilizing a hydrophilic hydrogel on a metal surface via a linker, so as to repress physical adsorption, has been used (Japanese Patent No. 2815120, U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,161, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-193948). However, nonspecific adsorption has not been sufficiently controlled by this method.
On the other hand, with regard to the aforementioned biosensor, in order to eliminate the influence of disturbance on measurement (e.g. temperature change, concentration change, or pressure change) so as to reduce baseline fluctuation, it is preferable that a measurement unit for measuring the specific binding reaction between a physiologically active substance and a test substance and a reference unit that does not carry out such a binding reaction exist on a single plane and be as adjacent as possible to each other. Thus, it becomes necessary that a reference unit coexist with a measurement unit on the surface of an SPR sensor of a thin polymer film.
U.S. Pat. No.6,444,254 describes a method for micro-stamping a biological ligand on the surface of a polymer, which comprises; forming on the polymer surface a first functional group by a method selected from the group consisting of hydrolysis, reduction, photoinduced graft polymerization, amination, polyethylene oxide surface cross polymerization, the chemical reaction of a terminal hydroxyl group, corona discharge, plasma etching, lasing, and ion beam treatment; allowing a stamp, on which a biological ligand having at least a second functional group is adsorbed, to come into contact with the surface of the first functional group, so as to form a covalent bond between the biological ligand and the first functional group on the polymer surface; and then separating the stamp from the polymer surface, so as to directly immobilize the biochemical ligand on the polymer surface via such a covalent bond. In the aforementioned method, a solid (PDMS) is allowed to come into contact with a polymer film for patterning. However, since a sensor used for SPR has a surface formed by attaching a thin polymer film on a thin metal film, it has little physical strength. Contact with a solid injures the surface of the sensor, and thus, the aforementioned method is not suitable for SPR.


In an apparatus for dry hydro-therapy body massage comprising a housing structure having a user support surface and a fluid spray arrangement interiorly within the housing structure for directing a fluid stream at the user support surface for imparting a massaging effect through the support surface to the body of a user thereon, a control device is disposed within the housing structure between the fluid spray arrangement and the user support surface for altering directional flow of the fluid stream relative to a selected portion of the user's body.

The present invention relates generally to apparatus for applying a massaging effect to the body of a user and, more particularly, to dry hydro-therapy body massage apparatus utilizing a fluid spray arrangement for massage effect.
Massage is a time-honored and generally effective therapy for muscular injuries, strains and general soreness but, although massage is still recommended by many physicians for such purposes, this therapy has severely limited availability due to a scarcity of trained, qualified masseurs. As a result, many devices and apparatus have been proposed in the past for producing a massage-like manipulation of a user's body by various means, ranging from mechanically or electrically-generated vibrations or pulsations, usually accompanied by heating, to pulsations of pressurized water, applied either is a wet environment such as partially submerging the user's body in a bath device or in a dry environment wherein a fluid spray arrangement is housed in a fluid-tight bed or chair type structure for applying a massaging effect to the user's body without requiring the user to disrobe.
Representative examples of the latter form of apparatus, often commonly referred to as dry hydro-therapy massage, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,635,620; 4,751,919; 4,757,808; 4,908,016; 4,976,256; 5,074,286; 5,713,834; 5,827,206; and 6,036,663. Such apparatus have met with moderate success, and efforts continue within the relevant industry to expand their acceptance, availability and usefulness. As with virtually all mechanized appliances, optimal efficiency is desired. In many of known hydro-therapy massage apparatus, the massaging fluid spray is applied via a manifold device arranged for lengthwise travel within the interior of the apparatus alongside the body of a user. To adequately provide a massaging effect to the user's torso, the manifold is usually configured to generate a spray of a width generally commensurate with that of the typical shoulder, back, and hip areas of adult users. However, along the more narrow areas of the neck and legs of a user, the full width of the spray generated by the manifold is unnecessary and results in a portion of the hydro-massage spray impacting unoccupied areas of the user support surface, with a commensurate loss of efficiency and reduction massaging effect.

Apparatus for dry hydro-therapy body massage with fluid spray control device


A method for detecting fault in a resolver generating a sine voltage and a cosine voltage. The method includes obtaining a sum of a square of the sine voltage and a square of the cosine voltage. The sum is filtered through a first filter having a first time constant to generate a first filter output. The sum is also filtered through a second filter having a second time constant to generate a second filter output. The first filter output and second filter output are compared to detect a fault in the resolver.

The invention relates to detecting faults in a resolver and in particular to a method and apparatus for detecting faults in a resolver based on the sum of the squared outputs of the resolver. Resolvers are position sensing devices having one excitation winding and two output windings, namely a sine winding and a cosine winding. Due to the physical relationship between the two output windings and the excitation winding, the voltage amplitude of the sine winding is proportional to the sine of the resolver angle and the voltage amplitude of the cosine winding is proportional to the cosine of the resolver angle. Because of the proportionality of the sine and cosine winding voltage amplitudes, the sum of the square of the sine voltage and the square of the cosine voltage should equal a constant.
Existing systems compare the sum of squared cosine and sine voltages to range limits in order to detect sensor faults. The high and low range limits were set wide enough to account for all worst case system variables. As a result, these limits would only detect extreme sensor faults (e.g., electrical opens or shorts). Small signal drifts (e.g., series resistance, resistance to ground, etc.), referred to as soft faults, could produce significant sensed position error but not be detected by the sum of squares range test.

Method and apparatus for detecting faults in a resolver


A method and apparatus for maintenance charging a battery is disclosed. A battery is fully charged using conventional CC-CV techniques and subsequently is maintenance charged by applying a first maintenance voltage to the battery for a first predetermined time period. If desired, a second maintenance voltage may be applied to the battery for a second predetermined time period. An apparatus for maintenance charging a battery utilizes a timer and a charge controller to apply a maintenance voltage to a battery for a predetermined time period.

The present invention relates to charging of batteries and more particularly to maintenance charging of lithium-based battery cells such as lithium-ion and lithium-polymer battery cells.
Portable electrical devices such as mobile phones, laptop computers, video cameras and others require one or more battery cells to supply electrical power to the device. It is well known that battery cells have a limited charge period and must periodically be connected to an external charger to be recharged. The external charger may include logic instructions for recharging the battery cell in a safe and efficient manner. Alternatively, the electronic device may include logic instructions for controlling the battery cell charging process so that the battery cell may be recharged by connecting the entire electronic device, with the battery intact, to a suitable power source. The logic instructions may be implemented in software operational on a general purpose processor or may reside on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
Several types of battery cells are presently available for portable electronic devices, including nickel-cadmium (Ni--Cd), nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH), and lithium-ion (Li-ion). Li-ion is a relatively new technology that typically uses a lithium-metal-oxide compound as the positive electrode (e.g., cathode) and a carbon-based negative electrode (e.g., anode). Battery charging and discharging occur through the migration of lithium ions between the cathode and anode and the exchange of electrons through doping and de-doping. These electrons represent an electrical current which may be used to power an electrical device. Li-ion battery systems have many advantages over nickel-based battery systems. For example, Li-ion battery systems have a much higher energy density by weight. Accordingly, Li-ion battery systems may be much lighter and longer lasting than nickel-based battery systems. Additionally, in Li-ion battery systems there is no cell-memory effect (i.e., the tendency of a battery cell to resist charging beyond the charge level to which the battery was most recently charged.)
Most Li-ion battery cell chargers use a two-phase charging process in which the charger works first with a constant current, then finishes charging at a constant voltage. This process is referred to as "constant-current, constant-voltage" ("CC-CV") charging. In the first phase of the charging process, a constant current is applied to the Li-ion battery until the cell approaches its maximum voltage. In the second phase, a constant voltage equal to the fully-charged cell voltage is applied to the battery until the battery is fully charged. Li-ion batteries commonly have a useful life that measures between 200 and 1000 charge cycles. Each time the battery is fully charged to its maximum voltage, the useful life of the battery is reduced. Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method for charging a Li-ion battery cell that maintains a high percentage of the capacity of the battery cell without fully charging the battery which, in turn, reduces its useful life. The present invention utilizes novel charging techniques to address this need.
Additionally, the use of lithium-based battery cells in mobile communication devices, including mobile phones, creates some special design considerations. Foremost, market demands require that mobile phones be extremely physically compact. Additionally, many users are not willing to pay the additional cost required to build intelligence into battery chargers. Presently, many mobile phones include an ASIC that regulates the current and voltage for charging a battery connected to the phone. Thus, the phone's battery may be recharged by connecting the entire mobile phone, with the battery intact, to a "dumb" current source, and logic instructions in the phone's ASIC control the charging process. When the battery is fully charged, a switch in the phone disconnects the phone from the power source to terminate the charging process. The switch required by this design consumes valuable space in the mobile phone.
Accordingly, there is a further need in the art for systems and methods for charging Li-ion batteries that do not require intelligent chargers and are highly space-efficient. The present invention utilizes novel battery charging systems and techniques to enable the maintenance charging of lithium-based battery cells for use with mobile phones.

System and method for maintenance charging of battery cells


The present disclosure provides a shift register, a driving method thereof, a gate driver circuit and a display device. The shift register includes a first control module, a scanning control module and a first output module.

In a thin film transistor (TFT) display, gate driver signals are usually provided to gate electrodes of TFTs in pixel regions through a gate driver circuit. The gate driver circuit can be formed on an array substrate of a liquid crystal (LC) display by using an array process, that is, a gate driver on array (GOA) process. Such integrated process not only saves cost but also achieves a symmetrical, artistic design at both sides of a LC panel; at the same time, it also omits a bonding area for integrated circuit (IC) and a wiring space for fan-out, thereby achieving a design of narrow bezel; moreover, such integrated process also eliminates a bonding process along a direction of gate scanning line, so as to improve a production capacity and a product yield.
At present, an existing gate driver circuit is consisted of a plurality of cascaded shift registers, and each stage of shift register inputs a gate driver signal to a corresponding gate scanning line on a display panel mainly under the control of a clock signal and a scan triggering signal sent by a previous stage of shift register. However, with the development of display technology, people have more and more strict requirements on pixels of the display panel; as a result, the number of shift registers in the gate driver circuit for sending the gate driver signal to the gate scanning line on the display panel is increased.
However, in the existing gate driver circuit, it usually adopts larger number of complex structures such as three-state gate and NAND gate, which complicates a circuit structure and a working process of the gate driver circuit, increases a production cost and also raises a power consumption of the gate driver circuit.
Therefore, it has become an urgent problem to be solved by those skilled in the art that how to simplify the structure of the gate driver circuit and save the production cost so that the working process of the gate driver circuit can be simple and effective.

Shift register, driving method thereof, gate driver circuit and display device

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A method and apparatus for determining the presence of heavy hydrocarbons (including those from unprocessed crude oil) in distillate streams and/or reformer feed includes taking at least one sample, spectrally analyzing the at least one sample for at least one heavy hydrocarbon component, determining the concentration of the analyzed hydrocarbon component using the spectrally determined concentration in an appropriate mathematical model, and determining the total heavy hydrocarbon concentration from the determined values for each sample.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the detection and classification by type of heavy hydrocarbon contaminants in petroleum refinery process streams using spectrofluorometry.
II. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous, industry-accepted test methods for the analysis of physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons which, alone or in combination, have been used to detect the presence of hydrocarbon contaminants in various refinery process streams and/or to classify them as to type. These methods have been approved by organizations such as ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials), IP (Institute of Petroleum, United Kingdom), and DIN (Deutsches Institut fur Normung, Germany), as well as private companies which provide analytical instrumentation or which license processes to refineries. These would include methods such as: ASTM D-86 distillation temperatures at various percentages distilled; ASTM D-1298 test for API gravity; Gas chromatography—Mass spectrometry (GC Mass Spec) for determination of weight percent aromatics; and ASTM D-2622 for sulfur, ASTM D3710-95 Boiling Range Distribution of Gasoline and Gasoline Fractions; ASTM D2789-25 Hydrocarbon Types in Low Olefinic Gasoline by Mass Spectrometry; ASTM D4534 Benzene Content of Cyclic Products; ASTM D5134-92 Detailed Analysis of Petroleum Naphtha through n-Nonane by Capillary GC; ASTM D5443-93 Paraffin, Naphthene and Aromatic Hydrocarbon Type Analysis in Petroleum Distillates; ASTM D5769-95 Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Total Aromatics in Finished Gasoline by GC/MS; ASTM D6293-99 Oxygenates and Paraffin, Olefin, Naphthene, Aromatic (O-PONA) Hydrocarbon Types in Low-Olefin Spark-ignition Engine Fuels by Gas Chromatography; ASTM D6296-98 Total Olefins in Spark-Ignition Engine Fuels by Multi-dimensional Gas Chromatography; IP 382/88 Paraffin, Naphthene and Aromatic Hydrocarbon Type Analysis in Petroleum Distillates; IP BG/91 (proposed) Determination of methyl tertiarybutyl ether and tertiaryamyl methyl ether in Light Distillate Feedstock; DIN, 51.448, part 2 Paraffin, Naphthene and Aromatic Hydrocarbon Type Analysis in Petroleum Distillates; DIN Method, 51.448 part 2, Oxygenates and Paraffin, Olefin, Naphthene, Aromatic (O-PONA) Hydrocarbon Types; UOP 870 Paraffin, Naphthene and Aromatic Hydrocarbon Type Analysis in Petroleum Distillates; High Speed Simulated Distillation of Light Hydrocarbons, Gasoline and Gasoline Feedstocks; Detailed Hydrocarbon Analysis (DHA) of Non-Oxygenated Gasoline and Hydrocarbon Liquids using stream dedicated databases; High Speed Detailed Hydrocarbon Analysis of Non-Oxygenated Gasoline and Hydrocarbon Liquid; Individual Hydrocarbon Analysis of Gasolines and Light Fractions (PIANO/IHA/DHA) by Gas Chromatography; High Speed Detailed Hydrocarbon Analysis of Non-Oxygenated Gasoline and Hydrocarbon Liquids; DHA of Oxygenated Gasoline and Gasoline Feedstocks; Simultaneous Nitrogen and Hydrocarbon Analysis by GC with Flame Ionization and Chemiluminescence Detection in Light Petroleum Liquids; Sulfur Compounds in Distillates by GC-Chemiluminescence Detection; Sulfur Distribution in Petroleum Distillates by Simultaneous HPLC-UV and Chemiluminescence Detection; Nitrogen, Sulfur and Carbon Distribution in Distillates by GC-Chemiluminescence and Flame Ionization detection; Multi-Elemental Boiling Point Distribution Analysis Using the Atomic Emission Detector (AED) on Petrochemical Samples with a Final Boiling Point Below 650° F.; Sulfur and Carbon Distribution in Light Petroleum Products by Simultaneous GC-FID and GC-Sulfur Specific Detection; Low level S analysis-ppm to sub-ppb; Analysis of Paraffins in Kerosene (C5-C20) by Subtractive Gas Chromatography; PIANO analysis of gasoline and gasoline boiling-range blending streams, automatic peak ID and reporting; High Speed Contaminant Analysis Using Mass Spectrometry with Matrix Deconvolution; Aromatic and Saturate Types in Petroleum Distillates.
Conventionally, these tests are conducted using many different types of apparatuses. These tests are time-consuming and relatively expensive. These tests also lack sensitivity to detect contaminants at low concentrations and lack specificity to determine the type of contaminant. The contamination of light refinery process streams with heavy aromatics is an ongoing concern in the petroleum industry. Such contamination can cause severe processing problems and/or result in final products which do not meet contractual or government specifications. To mitigate and control this problem in particular, it is desired to detect the presence and type of the heavy aromatics and to identify its source. Often, the source of contamination is one or more heat exchanger leaks occurring in the system.
Detection and classification is complicated by the fact that there are both gas oil exchangers and crude oil exchangers and the materials in these exchangers both fluoresce in the same wavelength range. It is to be noted that exchanger leaks on the crude units typically occur on two-year cycles due to the age of the exchangers (basically, once the exchangers begin leaking, the exchangers are replaced). It is, therefore, important to find the correct exchanger, which can be difficult (especially if more that one is leaking). Past exchanger leak episodes and their detection have been marginally successful. Often detection of the exchanger leak was more due to operator knowledge than successful use of other methods. The instruments being used could only detect that there were heavy aromatics in the stream; however, there was no identification of the types of heavy aromatics that were present.
It is desired, therefore, to have an on-line testing apparatus installed on or "at" a feedstock stream to monitor the degree of contamination and the type of contaminant.

Detection and classification of heavy hydrocarbon contamination in refinery process streams via spectrofluorometry


A roller guide assembly is attached to a paint roller frame to maintain a consistent space between a surface adjacent to the surface being painted and a roller cover carried by the roller frame. The roller guide assembly includes a guide arm attached to a vertical portion of the roller frame and a mounting clamp that that fits on the roller frame. The mounting clamp uses an adjustable locking screw and tightening knob to secure the mounting clamp to the roller frame. The mounting clamp has a cavity configured to receive the guide arm such that the guide arm extends past the roller cover. The roller guide assembly has a storage clip mounted on the roller frame for temporarily storing the guide arm while the roller cover is being reloaded with paint.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus useful in painting applications, and more specifically to an attachment for paint roller frames for providing protection against unintended bumping into the ceiling or ceiling molding with the wet roller when painting walls, and to provide a consistent distance from ceiling trim or the ceiling which allows the user to eliminate the step of "taping out" the trim or ceiling with painters tape prior to painting the walls.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a variety of paint roller frames for painting of walls with the most popular of such being a "cage frame" using bent wire shaped into a boxed c-frame shape or an angled frame shape. In each such design, there typically exists a vertical portion of the bent frame between the shank that extends from the cage section and before the wire bends back to meet the handle grip. Typically, this vertical section ranges in length from slightly more than 1 inch to over 3 inches. Such roller frames come in a range of sizes (noted by width of the cage or shank) from 3 inches to 12 inches, with 9 inches being a standard in most countries around the world. When a roller cover having a diameter from about ½ inch to about 4 inches is inserted onto the frame, the nap or fabric of the roller cover spins freely around the frame.
These types of paint roller frames all have a common deficiency—they allow the user to accidentally bump the ceiling or ceiling trim when painting adjacent walls. Such accidental bumping of the ceiling often creates the need for a full repainting of the ceiling or ceiling trim molding leading to lost productivity, time, and money and increased frustration for both the professional or casual painter. The potential to accidentally bump the ceiling is further increased when using an extension pole connected to the frame handle, as the user's line of sight is impaired when the roller cover is at heights above the user height, making it more difficult to judge the paint safety zone from the ceiling or trim.
Thus, there is a need for a paint frame apparatus that would provide greater utility and convenience to allow the user to paint the wall with consistent spacing from ceiling trim or from the ceiling and to prevent accidental bumping of same with a paint-charged roller.


Disclosed is an esophageal bulking device for implantation below the mucosa in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter. Preferably, the bulking device comprises an expandable hydrogel implant. Also disclosed are methods of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease, by implanting an expandable bulking device below the mucosa in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter. The bulking device may be subsequently explanted from the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter.

The present invention relates generally to the field of esophageal prosthetics. More specifically, a prosthesis delivery device is disclosed for submucosal insertion of a prosthetic bulking device.
Gastroesophageal reflux is a physical condition in which stomach acids reflux, or flow back from the stomach into the esophagus. Frequent reflux episodes (two or more times per week), may result in a more severe problem known as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Gastroesophageal reflux disease is the most common form of dyspepsia, being present in approximately 40% of adults in the United States on an intermittent basis and some 10% on a daily basis.
Dyspepsia, or heartburn, is defined as a burning sensation or discomfort behind the breastbone or sternum and is the most common symptom of GERD. Other symptoms of GERD include dysphasia, odynophagia, hemorrhage, water brash, and pulmonary manifestations such as asthma, coughing or intermittent wheezing due to acid aspiration. Dyspepsia may also mimic the symptoms of a myocardial infarction or severe angina pectoris. Many factors are believed to contribute to the onset of GERD including transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations, decreased LES resting tone, delayed stomach emptying, and an ineffective esophageal clearance. Many in the field agree, however, that the primary cause of GERD is the lack of competency of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The lower esophageal sphincter, or valve, is comprised of smooth muscle located at the gastroesophageal (GE) junction and functions to allow food and liquid to pass into the stomach but prevent regurgitation of stomach contents. At rest, the LES maintains a high-pressure zone between 10 and 30 mm Hg above intragastric pressure. Upon deglutition, the LES relaxes before the esophagus contracts, allowing food to pass through into the stomach. After food passes into the stomach, the LES contracts to prevent the stomach contents and acids from regurgitating into the esophagus. The mechanism of LES opening and closing is influenced by innervation via the vagus nerve and hormonal control of gastrin and possibly other gastrointestinal hormones.
The severity of GERD varies from patient to patient and in extreme cases complications including esophageal erosion, esophageal ulcers, and esophageal stricture are observed. Esophageal stricture is a serious condition which results from prolonged exposure of the esophageal mucosa to acid reflux. The most common clinical manifestation of stricture is dysphasia. Unlike dysphasia from non-strictured esophageal reflux, dysphasia caused by stricture is progressive in that the size of a bolus which can pass into the stomach progressively becomes smaller. In addition to esophageal erosion and ulceration, prolonged exposure of the esophageal mucosa to stomach acid can lead to a condition known as Barrett""s Esophagus. Barrett""s Esophagus is an esophageal disorder that is characterized by the replacement of normal squamous epithelium with abnormal columner epithelium. This change in tissue structure is clinically important not only as an indication of severe reflux, but the appearance of columner epithelium in the esophagus is indicative of cancer.
Current methods to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease consist of lifestyle changes such as weight loss, avoidance of certain foods that exacerbate the symptoms of GERD and avoidance of excessive bending. Elevation of the head of the bed helps prevent nocturnal reflux. While these avoidance strategies may be helpful, there is relatively little data supporting the efficacy of lifestyle modification alone for the treatment of GERD.
Medications for the treatment of GERD have been administered for years with little or no success. Conventional antacids, such as TUMS(copyright) and ROLAIDS(copyright), produce short-term relief, but often have side effects including diarrhea and constipation. H2 receptor antagonists, such as Cimetidine and Ranitidine, are relatively more effective in controlling GERD symptoms but these symptomatic therapies fail to treat the underlying cause of the disease. More powerful secretory inhibitors, such as the proton pump inhibitors Omeprazole and Lansoprazole are more effective than the H2 antagonists but these drugs are expensive and, in the long term, produce negative side effects.
Surgery has become an attractive alternative for the treatment of GERD when lifestyle modification and medications fail to treat this debilitating condition. There are numerous reflux operations available which perhaps reflect the inadequacy of any one procedure to totally control the problem. The most commonly performed operation, Nissen Fundoplication, has been effective, but is often complicated by stricture formation or gas bloat syndrome. A laparoscopic Nissen procedure has also been developed, adding another dimension of difficulty, and long-term results remain questionable. In addition, a percutaneous laparoscopic technique has been developed. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,106 to Angelchik). Minimally invasive techniques, such as transesophageal implantation of a prosthetic valve have also been attempted. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,836 to Reich). Despite extensive attempts in the field to treat and prevent GERD, existing forms of treatment all have shortcomings.
In view of the foregoing, and notwithstanding the various efforts exemplified in the prior art, there remains a need for a minimally invasive bulking prosthesis and deployment methodology for transesophageal delivery into the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease. The method comprises the steps of providing a catheter having an opening thereon, and positioning the opening at a treatment site in the esophagus. Tissue is drawn at the treatment site into the opening, and an expandable hydrogel bulking device is deployed into the tissue at the treatment site, in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter.
The deploying step may comprise inserting two or more bulking devices. The bulking device may comprise an expandable hydrogel rod, which may have an expansion ratio of at least about 100%. In certain embodiments, the hydrogel rod has an expanded length within the range of from 0.5 cm to about 5 cm, and an expanded width within the range of from about 0.2 cm to about 2 cm. In one embodiment, the hydrogel rod has an unexpanded diameter of about 2 mm.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease. The method comprises the steps of providing an implantation device having a tissue stabilization surface thereon, positioning the device in the esophagus and drawing tissue toward the tissue stabilization surface. An expandable hydrogel esophageal bulking device is inserted into the tissue in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter.
In one application, the drawing tissue step is accomplished using suction. The esophageal bulking device may comprise an expandable hydrogel rod.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of reestablishing lower esophageal sphincter function. The method comprises the steps of transesophageally introducing a deployment device to a treatment site in the vicinity of the lower esophageal sphincter. Tissue is drawn into a cavity on the deployment device, and an access pathway is provided through the tissue. An expandable bulking device is introduced into the wall of the esophagus in the vicinity of the cavity, so that the bulking device cooperates with the lower esophageal sphincter to reestablish sphincter function.
In one implementation of the method, the bulking device increases the closing pressure of the sphincter along an axial length of at least about 1.5 cm. The closing pressure following implantation of the bulking device may be at least about 10 mm Hg. In certain applications, the closing pressure in the lower esophageal sphincter following implantation is within the range of from about 10 mm Hg to about 30 mm Hg. In one application, the closing pressure following implantation of the bulking device is at least about 18 mm Hg along a length of at least about 2 cm.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease. The method comprises the steps of identifying a patient having gastroesophageal reflux disease, and stabilizing mucosa at a treatment site in the vicinity of the patient""s lower esophageal sphincter by drawing mucosa into contact with a tissue stabilizing surface. A tubular body is introduced through the mucosa, and at least one expandable bulking device is deployed from the tubular body beneath the stabilized mucosa.
The deploying step may comprise implanting at least one expandable rod. The rod may comprise hydrogel. The bulking device may have an expansion ratio of at least about 100%. In certain embodiments, the hydrogel rod has an expanded length within the range of from about 0.5 cm to about 5 cm. The rod may have an expanded width within the range of from about 0.2 cm to about 2 cm. In certain embodiments, the bulking device has a length to thickness ratio of no more than about 15:1.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art in view of the detailed description of preferred embodiments which follows, when considered together with the attached drawings and claims.

Method of treating gastroesophageal reflux disease


Compositions and methods for the therapy and diagnosis of cancer, particularly prostate cancer, are disclosed. Illustrative compositions comprise one or more prostate-specific polypeptides, immunogenic portions thereof, polynucleotides that encode such polypeptides, antigen presenting cell that expresses such polypeptides, and T cells that are specific for cells expressing such polypeptides. The disclosed compositions are useful, for example, in the diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment of diseases, particularly prostate cancer.

The present invention relates generally to therapy and diagnosis of cancer, such as prostate cancer. The invention is more specifically related to polypeptides, comprising at least a portion of a prostate-specific protein, and to polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides. Such polypeptides and polynucleotides are useful in pharmaceutical compositions, e.g., vaccines, and other compositions for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Cancer is a significant health problem throughout the world. Although Cancer is a significant health problem throughout the world. Although advances have been made in detection and therapy of cancer, no vaccine or other universally successful method for prevention or treatment is currently available. Current therapies, which are generally based on a combination of chemotherapy or surgery and radiation, continue to prove inadequate in many patients.
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among males, with an estimated incidence of 30% in men over the age of 50. Overwhelming clinical evidence shows that human prostate cancer has the propensity to metastasize to bone, and the disease appears to progress inevitably from androgen dependent to androgen refractory status, leading to increased patient mortality. This prevalent disease is currently the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S.
In spite of considerable research into therapies for the disease, prostate cancer remains difficult to treat. Commonly, treatment is based on surgery and/or radiation therapy, but these methods are ineffective in a significant percentage of cases. Two previously identified prostate specific proteinsxe2x80x94prostate specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP)xe2x80x94have limited therapeutic and diagnostic potential. For example, PSA levels do not always correlate well with the presence of prostate cancer, being positive in a percentage of non-prostate cancer cases, including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Furthermore, PSA measurements correlate with prostate volume, and do not indicate the level of metastasis.
In spite of considerable research into therapies for these and other cancers, prostate cancer remains difficult to diagnose and treat effectively. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods for detecting and treating such cancers. The present invention fulfills these needs and further provides other related advantages.
In one aspect, the present invention provides polynucleotide compositions comprising a sequence selected from the group consisting of:
(a) sequences provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894;
(b) complements of the sequences provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894;
(c) sequences consisting of at least 20 contiguous residues of a sequence provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894;
(d) sequences that hybridize to a sequence provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894, under moderately stringent conditions;
(e) sequences having at least 75% identity to a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894;
(f) sequences having at least 90% identity to a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894; and
(g) degenerate variants of a sequence provided in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894.
In one preferred embodiment, the polynucleotide compositions of the invention are expressed in at least about 20%, more preferably in at least about 30%, and most preferably in at least about 50% of prostate tissue samples tested, at a level that is at least about 2-fold, preferably at least about 5-fold, and most preferably at least about 10-fold higher than that for normal tissues.
The present invention, in another aspect, provides polypeptide compositions comprising an amino acid sequence that is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence described above.
The present invention further provides polypeptide compositions comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of sequences recited in SEQ ID NO: 112-114, 172, 176, 178, 327, 329, 331, 336, 339, 376-380, 383, 477-483, 496, 504, 505, 519, 520, 522, 525, 527, 532, 534, 537-551, 553-568, 573-586, 588-590, 592, 706-708, 775, 776, 778, 780, 781, 811, 814, 818, 826, 827, 853, 855, 858, 860-862, 866-877, 879, 883-893 and 895.
In certain preferred embodiments, the polypeptides and/or polynucleotides of the present invention are immunogenic, i.e., they are capable of eliciting an immune response, particularly a humoral and/or cellular immune response, as further described herein.
The present invention further provides fragments, variants and/or derivatives of the disclosed polypeptide and/or polynucleotide sequences, wherein the fragments, variants and/or derivatives preferably have a level of immunogenic activity of at least about 50%, preferably at least about 70% and more preferably at least about 90% of the level of immunogenic activity of a polypeptide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 112-114, 172, 176, 178, 327, 329, 331, 336, 339, 376-380, 383, 477-483, 496, 504, 505, 519, 520, 522, 525, 527, 532, 534, 537-551, 553-568, 573-586, 588-590, 592, 706-708, 775, 776, 778, 780, 781, 811, 814, 818, 826, 827, 853, 855, 858 or 860-862, or a polypeptide sequence encoded by a polynucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1-111, 115-171, 173-175, 177, 179-305, 307-315, 326, 328, 330, 332-335, 340-375, 381, 382 and 384-476, 524, 526, 530, 531, 533, 535, 536, 552, 569-572, 587, 591, 593-606, 618-705, 709-774, 777, 789, 817, 823, 824, 878, 880-882 and 894.
The present invention further provides polynucleotides that encode a polypeptide described above, expression vectors comprising such polynucleotides and host cells transformed or transfected with such expression vectors.
Within other aspects, the present invention provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising a polypeptide or polynucleotide as described above and a physiologically acceptable carrier.
Within a related aspect of the present invention, pharmaceutical compositions, e.g., vaccine compositions, are provided for prophylactic or therapeutic applications. Such compositions generally comprise an immunogenic polypeptide or polynucleotide of the invention and an immunostimulant, such as an adjuvant, together with a physiologically acceptable carrier.
The present invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions that comprise: (a) an antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof that specifically binds to a polypeptide of the present invention, or a fragment thereof; and (b) a physiologically acceptable carrier.
Within further aspects, the present invention provides pharmaceutical compositions comprising: (a) an antigen presenting cell that expresses a polypeptide as described above and (b) a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or excipient. Illustrative antigen presenting cells include dendritic cells, macrophages, monocytes, fibroblasts and B cells.
Within related aspects, pharmaceutical compositions are provided that comprise: (a) an antigen presenting cell that expresses a polypeptide as described above and (b) an immunostimulant.
The present invention further provides, in other aspects, fusion proteins that comprise at least one polypeptide as described above, as well as polynucleotides encoding such fusion proteins, typically in the form of pharmaceutical compositions, e.g., vaccine compositions, comprising a physiologically acceptable carrier and/or an immunostimulant. The fusions proteins may comprise multiple immunogenic polypeptides or portions/variants thereof, as described herein, and may further comprise one or more polypeptide segments for facilitating and/or enhancing the expression, purification and/or immunogenicity of the polypeptide(s).
Within further aspects, the present invention provides methods for stimulating an immune response in a patient, preferably a T cell response in a human patient, comprising administering a pharmaceutical composition described herein. The patient may be afflicted with prostate cancer, in which case the methods provide treatment for the disease, or a patient considered to be at risk for such a disease may be treated prophylactically.
Within further aspects, the present invention provides methods for inhibiting the development of a cancer in a patient, comprising administering to a patient a pharmaceutical composition as recited above. The patient may be afflicted with prostate cancer, in which case the methods provide treatment for the disease, or a patient considered to be at risk for such a disease may be treated prophylactically.
The present invention further provides, within other aspects, methods for removing tumor cells from a biological sample, comprising contacting a biological sample with T cells that specifically react with a polypeptide of the present invention, wherein the step of contacting is performed under conditions and for a time sufficient to permit the removal of cells expressing the polypeptide from the sample.
Within related aspects, methods are provided for inhibiting the development of a cancer in a patient, comprising administering to a patient a biological sample treated as described above.
Methods are further provided, within other aspects, for stimulating and/or expanding T cells specific for a polypeptide of the present invention, comprising contacting T cells with one or more of: (i) a polypeptide as described above; (ii) a polynucleotide encoding such a polypeptide; and (iii) an antigen presenting cell that expresses such a polypeptide; under conditions and for a time sufficient to permit the stimulation and/or expansion of T cells. Isolated T cell populations comprising T cells prepared as described above are also provided.
Within further aspects, the present invention provides methods for inhibiting the development of a cancer in a patient, comprising administering to a patient an effective amount of a T cell population as described above.
The present invention further provides methods for inhibiting the development of a cancer in a patient, comprising the steps of: (a) incubating CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells isolated from a patient with one or more of: (i) a polypeptide comprising at least an immunogenic portion of polypeptide disclosed herein; (ii) a polynucleotide encoding such a polypeptide; and (iii) an antigen-presenting cell that expressed such a polypeptide; and (b) administering to the patient an effective amount of the proliferated T cells, thereby inhibiting the development of a cancer in the patient. Proliferated cells may, but need not, be cloned prior to administration to the patient.
Within further aspects, the present invention provides methods for determining the presence or absence of a cancer, preferably a prostate cancer, in a patient comprising: (a) contacting a biological sample obtained from a patient with a binding agent that binds to a polypeptide as recited above; (b) detecting in the sample an amount of polypeptide that binds to the binding agent; and (c) comparing the amount of polypeptide with a predetermined cut-off value, and therefrom determining the presence or absence of a cancer in the patient. Within preferred embodiments, the binding agent is an antibody, more preferably a monoclonal antibody.
The present invention also provides, within other aspects, methods for monitoring the progression of a cancer in a patient. Such methods comprise the steps of: (a) contacting a biological sample obtained from a patient at a first point in time with a binding agent that binds to a polypeptide as recited above; (b) detecting in the sample an amount of polypeptide that binds to the binding agent; (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) using a biological sample obtained from the patient at a subsequent point in time; and (d) comparing the amount of polypeptide detected in step (c) with the amount detected in step (b), and therefrom monitoring the progression of the cancer in the patient.
The present invention further provides, within other aspects, methods for determining the presence or absence of a cancer in a patient, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a biological sample obtained from a patient with an oligonucleotide that hybridizes to a polynucleotide of the present invention; (b) detecting in the sample a level of a polynucleotide, preferably mRNA, that hybridizes to the oligonucleotide; and (c) comparing the level of polynucleotide that hybridizes to the oligonucleotide with a predetermined cut-off value, and therefrom determining the presence or absence of a cancer in the patient. Within certain embodiments, the amount of mRNA is detected via polymerase chain reaction using, for example, at least one oligonucleotide primer that hybridizes to a polynucleotide of the present invention, or a complement of such a polynucleotide. Within other embodiments, the amount of mRNA is detected using a hybridization technique, employing an oligonucleotide probe that hybridizes to an inventive polynucleotide, or a complement of such a polynucleotide.
In related aspects, methods are provided for monitoring the progression of a cancer in a patient, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting a biological sample obtained from a patient with an oligonucleotide that hybridizes to a polynucleotide of the present invention; (b) detecting in the sample an amount of a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the oligonucleotide; (c) repeating steps (a) and (b) using a biological sample obtained from the patient at a subsequent point in time; and (d) comparing the amount of polynucleotide detected in step (c) with the amount detected in step (b), and therefrom monitoring the progression of the cancer in the patient.
Within further aspects, the present invention provides antibodies, such as monoclonal antibodies, that bind to a polypeptide as described above, as well as diagnostic kits comprising such antibodies. Diagnostic kits comprising one or more oligonucleotide probes or primers as described above are also provided.

Compositions and methods for the therapy and diagnosis of prostate cancer


A sheet feeding mechanism incorporatable in an image forming apparatus includes a cover unit rotatably attached to one side of a main body of an image forming apparatus to cover a part of a sheet conveyance path, a first feeding member located in a main body of the apparatus, a second feeding member located in the cover unit in a displaceable manner and facing the first feeding member when the cover unit is closed and sandwiching and conveying a recording medium along the sheet conveyance path with the first feeding member, and a guide member disposed in the main body to guide the second feeding member. The guide member guides the second feeding member to move in a first direction that approaches the first feeding member when closing the cover unit and in a second direction that separates from the first feeding member when opening the cover unit.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a sheet feeding mechanism and an image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feeding mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some image forming apparatuses (e.g., copiers, printers, and facsimile machines) are designed to form a sheet conveyance path near a transfer roller so that the sheet conveyance path can be exposed to an outside of the apparatus for easily removing jammed paper(s) remaining near the transfer roller.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2011-085815 (JP-2011-085815-A), and 2004-020574 (JP-2004-020574-A) disclose configurations in which an openably retractable transfer cover unit is disposed on an outer surface of an image forming apparatus, and a transfer roller is disposed on an inner surface of the transfer cover unit. Similarly, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-231321 (JP-2000-231321-A) discloses a configuration in which not only a transfer roller but also one of a pair of timing rollers is disposed on an inner surface of such a transfer cover unit.
The transfer roller and the timing roller can be attached to the transfer cover unit, for example, by attaching respective rotatable axes of the rollers to the transfer cover unit fixedly as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-231321 (JP-2000-231321-A) and swingably as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2011-085815 (JP-2011-085815-A), 2004-020574 (JP-2004-020574-A), and 2006-030643 (JP-2006-030643-A). When the rotatable axes of the rollers are attached to the transfer cover unit fixedly, the transfer cover unit should be correctly positioned at at least four points (top, bottom, left, and right) by a projected and recessed engaging structure (e.g., main body positioning pins 38 and cover recessed portions 37 illustrated in FIG. 3 of JP-2000-231321-A). By contrast, when the rotatable axes of the rollers are attached to the transfer cover unit swingably, the transfer cover unit should have a rotation supporting mechanism (e.g., a receiving member 216, a support shaft member 218, and a compression spring 220 illustrated in FIG. 2 of JP-2011-085815-A).
As disclosed in JP-2011-085815-A, a main body of an image forming apparatus is made compact in size by narrowing a secondary transfer unit and a fixing unit located above the secondary transfer unit (refer to paragraph [0082] of JP-2011-085815-A). Therefore, a transit path of the secondary transfer unit is made different from a transit path of the transfer cover unit to temporarily lower the absolute height of the secondary transfer unit at opening and closing of the transfer cover unit, thereby avoiding interference with the fixing unit. Thereafter, the secondary transfer unit is lifted. (See FIGS. 6 and 9.)
To enable such a transit path, the secondary transfer unit is supported by a rotation supporting mechanism to the transfer cover unit. However, the secondary transfer unit cannot be part of the structure of the transfer cover unit due to the rotation supporting mechanism, and the rigidity of the transfer cover unit decreases. Further, the rotation supporting mechanism as disclosed in JP-2011-085815-A has a high degree of design freedom but a complicated configuration, and therefore a positioning mechanism for positioning the secondary transfer unit having a high degree of design freedom to the main body of the image forming apparatus should be located at at least four positions (top, bottom, left, and right) (a secondary transfer unit guide shaft 228 for a cutout 232 of a main body positioning member 230 and a cutout 238 of a secondary transfer unit positioning member 234 for a main body positioning boss 236 in FIG. 2).
In an image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-2004-020574-A, a linear guide member attached to a main body linearly guides a rotary shaft of a transfer roller attached to a transfer cover unit toward a drive roller attached to the main body. An opening at the leading edge of the linear guide member is located at a slightly lower position, and the transit path of the transfer roller becomes lower in the middle of opening and closing actions of the transfer cover unit but basically aligns with a transit path of the transfer cover unit. That is, the configuration of JP-2004-020574-A is not designed to avoid interference with parts provided in the main body, and therefore provides relatively less design freedom of space for a compact layout of the parts of the main body without interference with the transit path of the transfer roller.
In an image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-2000-231321-A, both the transfer roller and the timing roller can be exposed by opening the transfer cover unit, which can remove jammed paper in a vicinity of the rollers easily. Further, since the respective rotary shafts of the transfer roller and the pair or timing rollers are fixedly attached to the transfer cover unit, the above-described rotation supporting mechanism is not required. However, these transit paths of the rollers basically match the transit path of the transfer cover unit, and therefore the configuration of JP-2000-231321-A provides relatively less design freedom of space for a compact layout of the parts of the main body without interference with the transit path of the transfer roller.
Also in an image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-2006-030643-A, the transit paths of the transfer roller and the timing roller are basically the same as the transit paths of the transfer cover unit, and therefore the same issue regarding the interference with the parts of the main body (e.g., a photoconductive drums and an intermediate transfer belt) might arise when a compact layout of the image forming apparatus is attempted. Further, the mechanism of the image forming apparatus can be complicated due to arrangement of a transfer guide member and an operation lever to the transfer cover unit, which also leads to another issue regarding accuracy in positioning of the rotary shafts of the transfer roller and the timing roller.
Similar to JP-2011-085815-A, when a transfer roller and a timing roller are swingably disposed on the inner surface of the transfer cover unit, a simple mechanism or configuration to position the transfer roller and the timing roller with a drive roller and a timing roller provided in the main body is required.

Sheet feeding mechanism and image forming apparatus incorporating same