The present invention relates to processes for the automatic generation of numerical control (NC) tool paths in a CAD/CAM environment. The present invention operates on mechanical parts described as solid models. The process employs well-defined solid models of the part to be machined and the raw stock from which it will be machined. The volumetric difference between the stock and the part defines the material (delta volumes) that must be cut away during the actual machining process. Delta volumes are solid models, and users (or an expert system) can subdivide delta volumes into smaller volumes that are consistent with a manufacturing process plan. A delta volume and a user-defined strategy for machining the delta volume are then input to NC algorithms. The algorithms generate NC tool paths that remove as much delta volume material as possible. Tool volumes are automatically generated from NC tool paths to represent the volume traversed by the cutting tool. By subtracting the tool volume from the delta volume, the material that remains to be machined modeled and stored as new delta volumes. The subtraction of the tool volume from the stock defines a new stock model that represents the incremental change in stock when the NC tool path is processed at the machine tool. The process is repeated until all delta volumes have been machined and the part has been manufactured.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to software processes for the automatic generation of numerical control (NC) tool paths in a CAD/CAM or manufacturing environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Mechanical CAD/CAM systems have been in existence for almost 20 years and were widely popularized in the late 1970's. Initially, CAD/CAM systems were used for creating detailed designs of mechanical parts and for documenting designs using annotations such as dimensions and notes. CAD/CAM systems gradually expanded to other applications such as analysis (e.g., finite element modeling) and manufacturing (e.g., generation of NC tool paths).
As parts are designed with a CAD/CAM system, the system creates computer models of the parts. To date, wireframe and surface modeling have been the predominant representation schemes for CAD/CAM part models. With wireframe modeling, a part is modeled by describing its edges (e.g., a box is represented by 12 lines), and with surface modeling, a part is surface modeled by describing its surfaces (e.g., a box is represented by 6 planar surfaces). These modeling technologies lack information that describes how edges and surfaces fit together to form the physical part. Information that describes the inside and outside of the modeled part is also missing. Because of those limitations, wireframe and surface modeling technologies are classified as informationally incomplete modeling representations. CAD/CAM applications built on these technologies cannot support full automation.
Once a part has been designed on a CAD/CAM system, NC tool paths can be created to automate machining of the part. NC tool paths are programs that control the operation of the machine tool as the machine tool cuts the part from raw stock A computer-aided design (CAD) system is used to create, document and analyze part models, while a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system is used to generate NC tool paths directly from the design model. This approach has only been moderately successful. Although a user (manufacturing engineer) of a CAM application may have a well defined strategy for how to machine a part, today's CAD/CAM systems cannot support automatic NC tool path generation. The reason is that wireframe and surface models do not provide complete part model information necessary for automated manufacturing.
As an example, suppose a user needs to create a tool path to cut a single part surface (e.g., the inside bottom surface of a coffee mug). Creating a surface tool path requires that x,y,z points representing the programming point of the tool while the tool remains tangent to the surface for the entire surface be calculated to a predetermined tolerance. When the resultant surface tool path is processed on the machine tool, the bottom center of the cutting tool is moved to each of the tool path x,y,z points in order. The result is that material in the path of the tool is removed.
Because surfaces are part of today's CAD/CAM modeling technology, there are methods for calculating NC tool paths for the surface of a part. However, knowledge of the surfaces of a part alone is not sufficient. The cutting tool must not gouge other surfaces of the part model (e.g., the side surfaces of the coffee mug). This might happen because a cutting tool has a radius greater than zero. Therefore, when the cutting tool comes within a tool radius of an adjoining surface, extra material can be gouged out of the adjoining surface. The machine tool cannot automatically avoid gouging adjoining surfaces because wireframe and surface models lack a description of the relationships between surfaces. For example, wireframe and surface models do not describe that the bottom surface of the coffee mug adjoins the side surfaces--the part's surfaces are modeled independently.
The traditional approaches for resolving this problem require user interaction. The user must manually supply additional information before a part can be manufactured. This is done by a variety of ad hoc ways today. All are time-intensive and prone to error.
The most common approach to CAM today is to create new surfaces specifically for machining. That is, rather than "teaching" the system that the side surfaces of a coffee mug adjoin the bottom surface, the user creates a new bottom surface that is smaller (by at least the cutting tool radius) than the bottom surface as originally designed. As a result, tool paths created for machining the new bottom surface keep the cutting tool away from any adjoining surfaces.
There are several problems with this approach. The most obvious is that the actual design model is not being used for manufacturing, but rather a manufacturing model is being recreated from the design model. This results in a gap between design and manufacturing because the same model is not being shared by design and manufacturing. A second problem is one of time (productivity) and the potential for human error because new surfaces must be created for every surface to be machined--perhaps hundreds of surfaces for a single part. Finally, the new surfaces are created based on the size of the cutting tool. If a different cutting strategy is desired, an entire new set of surfaces must be generated for the manufacturing model.
Researchers in the 1970's developed a new modeling technology called solid modeling, which became commercially available in the early 1980's to overcome the limitations of wireframe and surface modeling technologies. Solid modeling offers an informationally complete representation of three-dimensional parts. Whereas wireframe and surface models have descriptions of the geometry of a part to be manufactured only, solid models have descriptions of the geometry and the topology of the part. The geometry of the part is similar to the geometry for wireframe and surface modeling, but the topology of the part is a "road map" that describes how the surfaces defined by the model fit together to form the actual part being modeled.
Because a solid model describes parts completely and unambiguously, higher level operations such as union, difference and intersection of part models are possible. For instance, to create a hole in a part, a solid model of a cylinder can be positioned on a solid model of the part and geometrically subtracted--leaving the desired hole. Mathematically, this is a Boolean operation. Boolean operations are used throughout the invention described herein.

Method and apparatus for solids based machining


There are provided novel plant-derived enzymes for hydrolysis of sugars and particularly an alkaline alpha-galactosidase which hydrolyzes a broad spectrum of galactosyl-saccharides such as melibiose, raffinose and stachyose and guar gum, at neutral to alkaline pH conditions.

The enzyme alpha-galactosidase (E.C. 22.214.171.124; alpha-D-galactoside galactohydrolase) catalyzes the hydrolysis of the terminal linked alpha-galactose moiety from galactose-containing oligosaccharides. These include, for example, the naturally occurring disaccharide melibiose (6-O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-D-glucose), the trisaccharide raffinose (O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-6)-O-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-2)-beta-D-fructofuranoside) and the tetrasaccharide stachyose (O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-6)-O-alpha-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-6)-O-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-2)-beta-D-fructofuranoside). Alpha-galactosidases have potential use in various applications, and some examples are described by Margolles-Clark et al. ("Three alpha-galactosidase genes of Trichoderma reesi cloned by expression in yeast", Eur. J. Biochemistry, 240:104-111, 1996). They may hydrolyze alpha-galactose residues from polymeric galactomannans, such as in guar gum; modification of guar gum galactomannan with alpha-galactosidase has been used to improve the gelling properties of the polysaccharide (Bulpin, P. V., et al., "Development of a biotechnological process for the modification of galactomannan polymers with plant alpha-galactosidase", Carbohydrate Polymers 12:155-168, 1990). Alpha-galactosidase can hydrolyze raffinose from beet sugar syrup, which can be used to facilitate the sugar crystallization from molasses, since the raffinose presents an obstacle to the normal crystallization of beet sugar (Suzuki et al., "Studies on the decomposition of raffinose by alpha-galactosidase of mold" Agr. Biol. Chem., 33:501-513, 1969). Additionally, alpha-galactosidase can be used to hydrolyze stachyose and raffinose in soybean milk, thereby reducing or eliminating the undesirable digestive side effects which are associated with soybean milk (Thananunkal et al., "Degradation of raffinose and stachyose in soybean milk by alpha-galactosidase from Mortierella vinacea" Jour. Food Science, 41:173-175, 1976). The enzyme can also remove the terminal alpha-galactose residue from other glycans, such as the erythrocyte surface antigen conferring blood group B specificity. This has potential medical use in transfusion therapy by converting blood group type B to universal donor type O (Harpaz et al. "Studies on B-antigenic sites of human erythrocytes by use of coffee bean alpha-galactosidase", Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 170:676-683, 1975; and by Zhu et al. "Characterization of recombinant alpha-galactosidase for use in seroconversion from blood group B to O of human erythrocytes", Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 327:324-329, 1996).
Plant Alpha-Galactosidases
Plant alpha-galactosidases from numerous sources have been studied and multiple forms of the enzyme have been described, such as in Keller F. and Pharr D. M., "Metabolism of Carbohydrates in Sinks and Sources: Galactosyl-Sucrose Oligosaccharides", In: Zamski, E. and Schaffer, A. A. (eds.) Photoassimilate Partitioning in Plants and Crops: Source-Sink Relationships, ch. 7, pp. 168-171, 1996, Marcel Dekker Publ., New York. These can be classified into two broad groups, acid or alkaline, according to the pH at which they show optimal activity. Practically all studies of alpha-galactosidases have dealt with the acidic forms of the enzyme and these play important roles in seed development and germination. Alpha-galactosidases with optimal activity at alkaline pH are uncommon in eucaryotic organisms.
Alpha-galactosidases which show preferred activity to the disaccharide melibiose are often referred to as melibiases. These may have optimal activity at alkaline pH but are relatively specific to melibiose, with only little activity and low affinity to the trisaccharide raffinose. In addition, they characteristically function as a multimeric protein. For example, the bacterial alpha-galactosidase that has been described from Bacillus stearothermophilus (Talbot, G. and Sygusch, J., "Purification and characterization of thermostable beta-mannanase and alpha-galactosidase from Bacillus stearothermophilus", Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 56:3503-3510, 1990) has over a 15-fold higher activity with melibiose, as compared to raffinose and functions as a trimer. The alpha-galactosidase described from Escherichia coli K12 similarly has only about 4% of the activity with raffinose as compared to melibiose, with Km values of 60 mM and 3.2 mM, respectively, in addition to functioning as a tetrameric protein (Schmid and Schmitt, "Raffinose metabolism in Escherichia coli K12: purification and properties of a new alpha-galactosidase specified by a transmissible plasmid", Eur. J. Biochemistry, 67:95-104, 1976). Similarly, the enzyme from Pseudomonas fluorescens H-601 (Hashimoto, H. et al., "Purification and some properties of alpha-galactosidase from Pseudomonas fluorescens H-601", Agric. Biol. Chem., 55:2831-2838, 1991) has relative Km values for raffinose and melibiose of 17 and 3.2 mM, respectively, and functions as a tetramer.
There are obvious advantages to the use of a monomer protein with the desired enzyme activity, as compared to multimeric proteins. This has clearly been shown, for example, with the alpha-galactosidases from mung bean seeds (del Campillo, E., et al., "Molecular properties of the enzymic phytohemagglutinin of mung bean", J. Biol. Chem. 256:7177-7180, 1981) in which the tetrameric form of the enzyme disassociated into the monomeric form during storage, and this was accompanied by loss of activity.
The galactosyl-sucrose sugars, stachyose and raffinose, together with sucrose, are the primary translocated sugars in the phloem of cucurbits, which includes muskmelons, pumpkins and cucumber. The very low concentrations of raffinose and stachyose in fruit tissues of muskmelon suggest that galactosyl-sucrose unloaded from phloem is rapidly metabolized, with the initial hydrolysis by alpha-galactosidase, as described in "Cucurbits", Schaffer, A. A., Madore, M. and Pharr, D. M., In: Zamski, E. and Schaffer, A. A. (eds.) Photoassimilate Partitioning in Plants and Crops: Source-Sink Relationships, ch. 31, pp. 729-758, 1996, Marcel Dekker Publ., New York.
P.-R. Gaudreault and J. A. Webb have described in several publications, (such as "Alkaline alpha-galactosidase in leaves of Cucurbita pepo", Plant Sci. Lett. 24, 281-288, 1982, "Partial purification and properties of an alkaline alpha-galactosidase from mature leaves of Cucurbita pepo", Plant Physiol., 71, 662-668, 1983, and 'Alkaline alpha-galactosidase activity and galactose metabolism in the family Cucurbitaceae", Plant Science, 45, 71-75, 1986), a novel alpha-galactosidase purified from young leaves of Cucurbita pepo, that has an optimal activity at alkaline conditions (pH 7.5). In addition to the alkaline alpha-galactosidase, they also reported three acid forms of the enzyme, and distinct substrate preferences were found for the acid and alkaline forms. Raffinose was found to be the preferred substrate of the acidic forms. The alkaline form had high affinity (Km=4.5 mM) and high activity (1.58 μmol galactose formed per min per mg protein) only with stachyose. It had low affinity for (Km=36.4 mM) and low activity (0.14 μmol galactose formed per min. per mg protein) toward the trisaccharide raffinose but hydrolyzed melibiose so slowly that affinity and activity with melibiose was not calculated. Thus, the alkaline alpha-galactosidase reported by Gaudreault and Webb can be described as having activity at alkaline pH but only within a narrow spectrum of substrates. This is clearly a disadvantage, a wider substrate specificity affording more numerous practical applications.
A further characteristic of the alkaline alpha-galactosidase from young leaves of Cucurbita pepo is that alpha-D-galactose, the product of the enzymatic reaction, is a strong inhibitor of the enzyme's activity (Gaudreault and Webb, Plant Physiol., 1983, 71:662-668,), similar to many of the acid alpha-galactosidases. Geaudreault and Webb calculated that 6.4 mM galactose reduced the reaction velocity of alkaline alpha-galactosidase by 50%, in a reaction mixture containing 7.5 mM pNPG at pH 7.5. Such an inhibition by the product of the reaction (termed "product inhibition"), generally has important physiological significance in metabolism.
Gaudreault and Webb (among others) have suggested that the alkaline alpha-galactosidase, as the initial enzyme in the metabolic pathway of stachyose and raffinose catabolism, was important in phloem unloading and catabolism of transported stachyose in the young cucurbit leaf tissue. It is likely that alpha-galactosidase similarly plays an important role in the carbohydrate partitioning in melon plants, and may have possible functions for phloem unloading in fruits of muskmelon. Recently, alpha-galactosidase activity at alkaline pH has been observed in other cucurbit tissue, such as cucumber fruit pedicels, young squash fruit and young melon fruit. Results obtained by Pharr and Hubbard ("Melons: Biochemical and Physiological Control of Sugar Accumulation, In: Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science, vol. 3, pp. 25-37, Arntzen, C. J., et al., eds. Academic Press, New York, 1994) led them to suggest that stachyose degradation by alpha-galactosidase took place within pedicels of fruit of Cucumis sativus, especially in the regions where the pedicel joins the fruit. Recently, Irving et al. ("Changes in carbohydrates and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes during the development, maturation and ripening of buttercup squash, Cucurbita maxima D. 'Delica'", J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci., 122: 310-314, 1997) reported the developmental changes in alpha-galactosidase activities, measured at acid and alkaline pH, in buttercup squash (Cucurbita maxima) fruit. They found that at anthesis, alkaline activity was higher than activity at acid pH and that both activities declined during fruit development. Chrost and Schmitz ("Changes in soluble sugar and activity of alpha-galactosidase and acid invertase during muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) fruit development". J. of Plant Physiology, 151:41-50, 1977) reported approximately similar activities of alpha-galactosidase at acid and alkaline pH in Cucumis melo fruit at the anthesis stage.
However, all of these studies were carried out using the non-specific artificial substrate, p-nitrophenyl alpha-galactopyranoside (pNPG), which indicates alpha-galactosidase activity but does not reflect either the physiological role of the particular enzyme forms, or, more importantly, the substrate specificity of the particular enzyme.
Indeed, it is well established that the artificial substrate pNPG often indicates a higher pH optimum for alpha-galactosidase activity than that which is observed with the natural substrates. For example, Courtois and Petek ("alpha-galactosidase from coffee bean", Methods in Enzymology, vol. 8:565-571, 1966) state that "With alpha-phenylgalactoside (pNPG) one observes a pH optimum at pH 3.6, and a second more pronounced peak at pH 6.1. Toward other substrates (melibiose, raffinose, planteose and stachyose) the pH curve is flatter, with a maximum between 3.6 and 4.0". Similar results were observed for the alpha-galactosidase of Vicia faba seeds (Dey, P. M. and Pridham, J. B., "Purification and properties of alpha-galactosidase from Vicia faba seeds", Bioch. J., 113:49-54, 1969). Thus, the abovementioned observations of alkaline alpha-galactosidase enzyme activity in the fruit pedicel or fruit tissue, assayed with pNPG, give no indication as to the actual character of the catalytic activity measured, and cannot clearly distinguish such activity from previously described alpha-galactosidase.
While it had been thought that alkaline alpha-galactosidase may be confined to the cucurbit family, which includes the above mentioned squash, cucumber and melon plants, it has recently been shown by Bachmann et al. ("Metabolism of the raffinose family oligosaccharides in leaves of Ajuga reptens L.", Plant Physiology 105:1335-1345, 1994) that Ajuga reptens plants (common bugle), a stachyose translocator from the unrelated Lamiaceae family also contains an alkaline alpha-galactosidase. This enzyme was partially characterized and found to have high affinity to stachyose. Also, leaves of the Peperomia camptotricha L. plant, from the family Piperaceae, show alpha-galactosidase activity at alkaline pH, suggesting that they also contain an alkaline alpha-galactosidase enzyme (Madore, M., "Catabolism of raffinose family oligosaccharides by vegetative sink tissues", In: Carbon Partitioning and Source-Sink Interactions in Plants, Madore, M. and Lucas, W. J. (eds.) pp. 204-214, 1995, American Society of Plant Physiologists, Maryland). This indicates the possibility that alkaline alpha-galactosidases, including novel enzymes not previously described, may function in other plants that metabolize galactosyl-saccharides, in addition to the cucurbits. Similarly, Gao and Schaffer (Plant Physiol. 1999; 119:979-88, which is incorporated fully herein by reference) have reported an alpha galactosidase activity with alkaline pH optimum in crude extracts of tissues from a variety of species including members of the Cucurbit and Coleus (Lamiaceae) families.
The use of an acidic form of alpha-galactosidase in biotechnological and industrial applications presents problems. For example, the use of an acidic form of alpha-galactosidase to remove the galactose-containing oligosaccharides, which include raffinose and stachyose, from soybean milk presents a dilemma, as described by Thanaunkul et al., ("Degradation of raffinose and stachyose in soybean milk by alpha-galactosidase from Mortierella vinacea" Jour. Food Science, 41:173-175, 1976). The pH of soybean milk, which is 6.2-6.4, is well above the optimum pH range of the Mortariella vinacea enzyme, which is 4.0-4.5, as shown using the natural substrate melibiose. Lowering the pH of the soybean milk solution to conform to the acidic enzyme's pH optimum caused the soybean proteins to precipitate and left a sour taste to the milk.
The use of alpha-galactosidase with an acidic pH optimum for the removal of raffinose from beet sugar faces a similar problem. In Suzuki et, 1969, ("Studies on the decomposition of raffinose by alpha-galactosidase of mold" Agr. Biol. Chem., 33:501-513, 1969) the pH of the beet molasses had to be lowered to 5.2 with sulfuric acid in order for the Mortariella vinacea enzyme to function.
Similarly, seroconversion of blood type B to blood type O would benefit from an alpha-galactosidase that is active at neutral to alkaline pH. since the described procedure (Goldstein et al., "Group B erythrocytes enzymatically converted to group O survive normally in A, B, and O individuals" Science, 215:168-170, 1982) requires the transfer of centrifuged erythrocytes to an acidic buffer in order for the enzyme to function. Lowering the pH to the optimum for the coffee bean alpha-galactosidase caused the cells to be less stable and lysis to occur. Thus, the seroconversion is carried out at pH 5.6, "reflecting a compromise between red cell viability and optimal alpha-galactosidase activity", as reported in Zhu et al. ("Characterization of recombinant alpha-galactosidase for use in seroconversion from blood group B to O of human erythrocytes", Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 327:324-329, 1996). Since the natural pH of blood is in the neutral to alkaline range (pH 7.3) an alpha-galactosidase with activity in this pH range would have obvious advantages.
An additional limitation on the industrial utility of the currently available alpha-galactosidases is that their activity is frequently inhibited by the product of the reaction, galactose. As an example, the reported alkaline alpha-galactosidase from Cucurbita pepo leaves (Geaudreault, P. R. and Webb, J. A. "Partial purification and properties of an alkaline alpha-galactosidase from mature leaves of Cucurbita pepo", Plant Physiol., 71, 662-668, 1983) is strongly inhibited by alpha-galactose and it was calculated that 6.4 mM galactose reduced the reaction velocity by 50%.
Thus, there is a well-established need for an alpha-galactosidase with high activity at neutral to alkaline pH and with activity towards a broad spectrum of natural galactose-containing saccharides, particularly, but not exclusively raffinose.

The State of Israel, Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Agricultural Research Organization, (A.R.O.), Volcani Center


Methods comprising lowering a downhole tool via a pipe into a wellbore drilled through a formation via the pipe, establishing fluid communication between the downhole tool and the formation at a location in the wellbore, extracting from the formation a first fluid stream and passing the first fluid stream through the downhole tool for a first duration, breaking fluid communication between the downhole tool and the formation, reestablishing fluid communication between the downhole tool and the formation essentially at the location in the wellbore, extracting from the formation a second fluid stream and passing the second fluid stream through the downhole tool for a second duration, and capturing in the downhole tool a fluid sample of the second fluid stream.mud.

Wellbores are usually drilled over-balanced, where the pressure of the wellbore fluid is maintained to be greater than the pore pressure in the formations being drilled. Drilling over balanced may be useful to limit the amount of hydrocarbon flowing from formations into the well, and therefore may limit the risk of a well "blowout" and/or exposure to (toxic) formation gases at the wellsite. When drilling over-balanced, wellbore fluid (such as drilling mud filtrate) gradually seeps into the formation pore space in the proximity of the wellbore. As wellbore fluid invades the formation, a mud cake may be formed at the wellbore wall, and the filtration process may gradually diminish. It should be appreciated that the mud cake buildup and/or the invasion process(es) may take hours, and even days, depending on the formation and the constitution of the mud.
When a downhole tool is disposed in a wellbore (for example, to take a sample, to perform a drill stem test, etc.), a probe, a packer, a portion of the downhole tool body, or a combination thereof is usually pressed against the wellbore wall. One or more of these components may compact the mud cake and create a progressively sealed surface between the wellbore and the formation. On the side in contact with the formation wall, the sealed surface may be exposed to a pressure level substantially lower than the wellbore pressure level (typically close to the formation pressure level). Thereby, the sealed surface may be subjected to a net force urging the downhole tool against the wellbore wall. The net force usually increases in magnitude when the time on station increases. In some cases, the net force may prevent further movement of the downhole tool in the wellbore, resulting in expensive fishing operations, or abandoning the well. This problem, well known in the art, is sometimes referred to as differential sticking.
It should be appreciated that logging while drilling tools may be more prone to differential sticking than wireline tools, in particular because the mud cake may be still forming at the time logging while drilling tools are operated. Also, it should be appreciated that sampling tools, testing tools, or more generally downhole tools sometimes referred to as station tools, are more prone to differential sticking, in particular because these tools usually perform measurements over an extended period of time (such as 20 minutes or more) at essentially the same location in the wellbore.

Reducing differential sticking during sampling


Systems and methods for reading data are disclosed. In a particular embodiment, a data storage device includes a host interface that is adapted to couple the data storage device to a host. The host includes memory that is addressable by a host memory address space. The data storage device also includes a device address space that is independent from the host memory address space. The device address space includes a first address region and a second address region, where the second address region is distinct from the first address region. The data storage device also includes a non-volatile memory array and a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory array and further coupled to a mapped device. The controller is adapted to, in response to a first request from the host for access to the first address region of the device address space, perform a memory access operation at the non-volatile memory array. The controller is also adapted to, in response to a second request from the host for access to the second address region of the device address space, map the second request to the mapped device.

Non-volatile memory devices, such as universal serial bus (USB) flash memory devices or removable storage cards that hold data between power cycles, have allowed for increased portability of data and software applications. When multiple devices are to be accessible to a host, such as a memory array and a switch or a button in a removable memory card, the memory card may implement a Mass Storage Class (MSC) for the memory array and a Human Interface Device (HID) Class for the switch or button. Enabling host access to multiple USB devices of a product typically increases a number of USB endpoints used by the product and a number of buffers in the product.

System and method of host request mapping


Disclosed is an LED-based bulb-type lamp, including a cooling structure and a plurality of LEDs thermally connected to the cooling structure. The lamp includes at least three separate LED arrays oriented substantially parallel to its central longitudinal axis, such that the LEDs are interspersed among a plurality of light-transmission sub-areas of the LED-based lamp. One or more portions of the cooling structure of the lamp extend to its outer surface, as assembled, such that light-transmissive and heat-dissipating areas are spread over the outer surface, for example, in an alternating manner.

Illumination devices based on semiconductor light sources, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), offer a viable alternative to traditional fluorescent, HID, and incandescent lamps. Functional advantages and benefits of LEDs include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, durability, lower operating costs, and many others. Recent advances in LED technology have provided efficient and robust lighting units that enable general illumination, as well as a variety of lighting effects in many applications. Some of these lighting units employ two or more groups or "channels" of LEDs which produce light of different colors, each controllably supplied with the predetermined current to enable generation and mixing of light to produce general illumination with desired attributes or a desired lighting effect.
Some of the known LED-based approaches for replacing incandescent light bulbs have a number of shortcomings. For example, one such lamp, shown in FIG. 1A, has a bulb mounted on a socket. A light source, comprising a plurality of LEDs mounted on a PCB, is arranged inside the bulb. The PCB is provided with venting holes that function as cooling means (not shown). A part of the PCB is formed as a base plate on which the bulb, embodied as a protective dome, is mounted, said dome surrounding the light source and parts of the PCB and the cooling means. The dome has a translucent outer surface for transmitting light originating from the light source during operation of the lamp. A lamp axis extends through a central end of the socket and a central extremity of the bulb. The desired omnidirectional light distribution of this lamp is impeded by the base plate on which the dome is mounted. Furthermore, disposing the protective dome over the PCBs and LEDs compromises heat dissipation.
Referring to FIG. 1B, another known LED-based alternative to incandescent light bulbs, particularly A55 and A60 types, is a MASTER LEDbulb available from Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., featuring a plurality of LED light sources disposed over a heat sink and emitting dimmable light towards a diffusing dome cover.
Recently, legislation has been enacted to spur development of ultra-efficient solid-state lighting products to replace the common light bulb. The legislation challenges industry to develop viable replacement technologies for two of today's most widely used and inefficient technologies −60 W incandescent lamps and PAR 38 halogen lamps.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved lighting device employing LED light sources, optionally addressing one or more of the drawbacks of conventional technologies, while providing quality illumination with high color rendering. It is also desirable for this lighting device to optionally substantially retain commonly encountered form factors, so that existing hardware, sockets, and power connections could be employed, thereby further reducing costs and reducing waste associated with retooling, and facilitating adoption of this improved LED-based electric lamp.


An apparatus and method for dispensing a saline solution for nasal rinsing includes using a container having a bottom for resting on a surface and a top defining an opening. A pump having a pump housing is disposed within the container and is coupled to the opening of the container. A pump handle is coupled to a pump shaft, which is in turn coupled to the pump housing. The pump handle is coupled to a plunger disposed within the pump housing. An elongate flexible tube is coupled at a first end to the pump handle. A nozzle configured for mating with a nostril of a user is coupled to a second end of the flexible tubing. Pumping the handle causes the saline solution to flow through the nozzle under controlled pressure into a nasal passage of a user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices and methods for rinsing nasal passages and more specifically to devices and methods for providing a pressurized flow of a saline solution into and through a nasal passage.
2. State of the Prior Art
The paranasal sinuses are a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity and are located above and between the eyes and behind the ethmoid sinuses. The maxillary, frontal, ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses are named for the facial bones in which they are located. The maxillary sinuses, also called the maxillary antrechea and the largest of the paranasal sinuses, are located under the eyes in the maxillary bones of the face. The frontal sinuses are located superior to the eyes in the frontal bone, which forms the hard part of the forehead. The ethmoid sinuses are formed from several discrete air cells within the ethmoid bone between the nose and eyes. The sphenoid sinuses are located in the sphenoid bone at the center of the skull base under the pituitary gland.
The paranasal air sinuses are lined with respiratory epithelium and are joined to the nasal cavity by small orifices called ostia. The nasal passage runs from the nostrils to the pharynx. The ostia become blocked easily by allergic inflammation, or by swelling in the nasal lining that occurs with a cold. When this occurs, normal draining of mucus within the sinuses is disrupted, and sinusitis may occur. Rhinitis is another condition resulting from inflammation of the mucosa of a nasal passage.
Both sinusitis and rhinitis can result from exposure to viruses, bacteria, fungi or allergens, as well as exposure to smoke cold viruses, allergies to various allergens, smoke or other air pollutants or contaminants. When rhinitis occurs, common symptoms include stuffy nose, runny nose and post-nasal drip. The most common kind of rhinitis is allergenic rhinitis, which is usually triggered by airborne allergens such as pollen and dander. Allergic rhinitis may cause additional symptoms, such as sneezing and nasal itching, coughing, headache, fatigue, malaise and cognitive impairment. The allergens may also affect the eyes, causing watery, reddened or itchy eyes and puffiness around the eyes. When sinusitis occurs, whether acute or chronic, symptoms may include headache/facial pain or pressure of a dull, constant, or aching sort over the affected sinuses. This pain is typically localized to the involved sinus and may worsen when the affected person bends over or when lying down. Pain often starts on one side of the head and progresses to both sides. Acute and chronic sinusitis may be accompanied by thick nasal discharge that is usually green in color and may contain pus and/or blood. Often a localized headache or toothache is present. Infection of the eye socket is possible, which may result in the loss of sight and is accompanied by fever and severe illness.
These conditions are often treated with drugs such as decongestants that cause vasoconstriction in the sinuses. The goal most treatment is to prevent or reduce the symptoms caused by the inflammation of affected tissues. Intranasal corticosteroids are also used for conditions caused by allergens. Other measures that are often used include antihistamines, cromolyn and leukotriene receptor antagonists. Nonpharmacologic therapies, such as Nasal irrigation is another technique used to rinse the sinuses in order to remove mucus, allergens and contaminants from the sinus and nasal cavities.
Nasal rinsing or lavage often uses a saline solution dispensed into the nasal passage to cleanse and wash away mucus and allergy creating particles and irritants. Such nasal rinsing allows the sinuses to drain normally and often reduces the inflammation of the mucus membrane. One such apparatus and method for nasal rinsing is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,384 issued on Feb. 18, 2003, to Mehta, the entirety of which is incorporated by this reference. FIG. 1 is an illustration of the device set forth in the '384 patent, which includes a container 1 having flexible sidewalls 2 and a removable cap 3. The cap 3 has a rounded convex upper portion 4 curving away from an opening at the cap's uppermost surface and has a conduit 5 in the cap's interior. The conduit 5 extends into the container 1 when the device is fully assembled. The sidewalls 2 of the container, filled with a saline solution, are compressed to urge the saline solution through the conduit 5 and through the opening 6 in the cap and into a nasal passage, the cap 3 being pressed against a nostril.
The devices illustrated in FIG. 1 has several limitations, however, including a limitation of the amount of saline solution that can be forced from the container with each squeeze of the container. Moreover, because the device requires a squeezing of the sidewalls to expel the saline solution, it is difficult to control the pressure and thus the flow rate of solution being expelled from the device in order to provide a steady flow of solution into a nasal cavity. Moreover, the device necessarily provides saline solution in quick bursts and therefore does not provide continuous flow of solution over any extended period of time to provide continuous flushing or rinsing of the nasal passage. Furthermore, the size of the container to be hand held necessarily limits the amount of saline solution that can be provided in each container and therefore often requires multiple preparations to be made for each rinsing operation. Because of these limitations, it is often the case that during use a significant amount of saline solution is wasted. Moreover, the configuration of the device can result in contaminated material being drawn into the container during use.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a more effective device for nasal rinsing that allows a user to control the rate of flow of solution from the device over a period of time, that can provide a large volume of solution into a nasal cavity in a short period of time, that allows the user to control the flow rate of the solution into the nasal passage and that prevents contaminated solution from reentering the container.


A filter contains first and second resonators adjacent to each other in a first direction, each of the first resonator and the second resonator comprising a pair of first microstrip lines formed on a first region in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and each having an open end and other end and a first width, and a second microstrip line arranged on a second region in the second direction, and connected between other ends of the pair of first microstrip lines, and having a second width smaller than the first width, wherein a minimum distance between the first microstrip lines adjacent to the first resonator and the second resonator is set at a value smaller than a minimum distance between the second microstrip lines adjacent to the first resonator and the second resonator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter and a radio communication apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a bandpass filter in a radio communication apparatus comprises a plurality of resonators arranged in cascade. Each resonator includes an inductor and a capacitor, and further contains a resistor when an effect of a loss is considered. In the filter of this type, it is possible to determine a passband frequency range and an attenuation amount of stopband by determining an inter-resonator coupling coefficient representing a coupling quantity between adjacent resonators and a value of an external Q factor representing a quantity to excite the resonators in the input and output ports thereof properly.
A filter using a microstrip line type resonator is known as such a filter. It is desired to miniaturize the filter in the radio communication apparatus. In the filter using the microstrip line type resonator, various approaches for miniaturization of the filter are proposed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,208B2, FIG. 11, discloses a filter approximating a plurality of half-wavelength resonators each having a configuration such that a narrow meander line is connected between ends of a pair of broad lines. The narrow meander line is arranged between the broad lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,809 (FIGS. 7 to 15) discloses a filter approximating a plurality of half-wavelength resonators each having a configuration such that a narrow line is connected between the ends of a pair of broad lines. The narrow lines are arranged on a side opposite to the open ends of the broad lines. Further, the width of the region on which a pair of broad lines are formed equals that of the region on which the narrow lines are formed.
It is preferable that the coupling between the adjacent resonators is capacitive coupling for the filter to be miniaturized. However, according to the filter of U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,208B2, a pair of broad lines and a pair of narrow lines approximate to each other with respect to an arrangement direction of the resonators, so that the full length of the filter in the arrangement direction of the resonators increases resulting in limiting miniaturization of the filter.
In the case of the filter of U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,809, when the adjacent resonators are closed to each other for miniaturization, the capacitive coupling occurring between the adjacent resonators due to a pair of broad lines has substantially the same value as the inductive coupling occurring due to the narrow lines. As a result, the capacitive coupling and the inductive coupling are cancelled to each other so that the deviation of coupling coefficient due to the dimensional accuracy increases. The deviation of coupling coefficient deteriorates the filter characteristic, resulting in increasing fluctuation of filter characteristic at the time of production of the filter.

Filter and radio communication apparatus using the same


Medical articles comprising a conformable wound dressing and delivery system. The wound dressing generally comprises a backing having a first major surface and a second major surface, an adhesive on the second major surface of the backing, and an absorbent pad proximate the second major surface of the backing. The backing extends beyond the perimeter of the absorbent pad, typically beyond the entire perimeter of the pad. The perimeter of the wound dressing has a concave feature that exhibits a local minimum. An axis extends from the local minimum to the perimeter of the wound dressing opposite the local minimum. The carrier overlies at least a portion of the backing on each side of the axis but does not overlie the backing along the axis. The wound dressing is especially designed for use on round or irregular shaped body parts, such as an elbow or heel.

Wound dressings using an absorbent central area surrounded by a larger adhesive film are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,642 (the '642 patent) shows a wound dressing and delivery system comprising a thick absorbent pad placed in the center of a thin backing. A carrier frame surrounds the perimeter of the wound dressing, providing sufficient support (e.g. rigidity) to the backing to facilitate handling of the dressing during application to a wound. The dressing taught in the '642 patent is useful for application to a large variety of wounds. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,838,589 (the '589 patent) shows a wound dressing comprising a centrally located absorbent pad and a dressing support layer. The dressing support layer has a radial configuration that forms a plurality of alternating covered and uncovered portions of the backing layer along the perimeter of the wound dressing. The wound dressing and delivery system of the '589 patent are particularly well suited to application over a convex surface of a patient, such as a patient's heel.
Despite the advances in wound dressing described above, there is still a need for wound dressings that are easy to use, conform well to rounded or irregularly shaped surfaces, and provide a secure seal to maintain a sterile environment at the wound site.

Conformable wound dressing and delivery system


A powder dispensing apparatus for application of loose powder and a method for creating the powder dispensing apparatus. With respect to the powder dispensing apparatus, it includes a front face made of porous material, a back face made of non-porous material, and a semi-rigid, inner pad inserted between the front and back faces. The back face is attached to the front face. Loose powder is filled within an internal chamber of the powder dispensing apparatus between the inner pad and the front face.

1. Field
The present invention relates to the field of cosmetics. In particular, this invention relates to a powder dispensing apparatus containing powder and a method for creating the power dispensing apparatus.
2. General Background
For centuries, cosmetics have been used to enhance one's physical appearance. One popular type of cosmetic is powder which, in many cases, is applied to one's skin through the use of a powder puff. Typically, a "powder puff" comprises a circular-shaped applicator having one or more sides made of velour.
In a standard embodiment, a powder puff is stored in a compact along with pressed powder. When applying powder, a front velour side of the powder puff is rubbed against the pressed powder and then passed along the skin. One problem with pressed powder, however, is that it becomes heavy and caked after repeated applications. This caking accentuates the user's facial lines, which defeats the general purpose of the cosmetic.
In order to avoid the problems associated with pressed powder, "loose" powder may be used. Normally, loose powder is applied by either a powder puff or a powder brush. When using a powder puff, loose powder is placed on its exterior front side by dipping the powder puff into a container filled with the loose powder or sprinkling the powder thereon. However, during application when the powder puff is brushed against one's skin, it is likely that power would not be evenly distributed along the skin. Also, it is likely that any excess powder will fall from the powder puff, perhaps into the user's eyes, hair or even on the user's clothing. The loss of this excess powder causes the user to incur unnecessary costs in purchasing more powder due to its inefficient application and in cleaning soiled clothing.
Hence, it would be advantageous to provide a powder puff, which avoids the problems described above and allows for a controlled and even distribution of loose powder to the skin.

Method and apparatus for dispensing powder