With the RFID comprising a transmitting and receiving antenna, a detecting block formed in the circumference of the antenna, and an electronic component connected to the antenna and detecting block to detect breakdown of the detecting block, illegal use can be prevented, matching between the tag antenna and IC chip can also be attained with inclusion of the detecting means, and higher radiation and receiving characteristics of antenna can also be obtained without deterioration of antenna gain. Moreover, the RFID is very effective for keeping security because illegal use of the RFID tag through re-adhesion thereof to an item can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. The "RFID tag" used in the present specification is also called an "Inlay for RFID tag" because it is also used as an internal structural member (inlay) for an "RFID tag". Otherwise, the "RFID tag" is also called a "radio IC tag". Moreover, this "RFID tag" includes a non-contact type IC card.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an external device represented by a reader/writer and various RFID tags for exchanging information using radio waves on a non-contact basis have been proposed. As a kind of such RFID tags, a tag having a structure such that an antenna pattern for radio wave communication and an IC chip are mounted on a base sheet formed of plastic or paper has also been proposed. The RFID tag of the type explained above is considered to be used in such a mode that such a tag is attached to items and these items can be identified through an exchange of information of such items using an external device.
In such an application mode of the RFID tag, illegal use to obtain, for example, an expensive item as a low price item by peeling the RFID tag attached to a certain item, then attaching this RFID to the other item to control the external device to erroneously recognize the relevant item may be assumed. Therefore, a technique to avoid such illegal use has been requested.
Under such a present situation, a technique for disabling communication by generating breakdown of the antenna pattern at the time of peeling the RFID tag has also been proposed (for example, patent documents 1 to 8).
FIG. 1 is a front elevation (A) and a side elevation (B) illustrating the condition before peeling of the RFID tag based on the related art.
The RFID tag 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is formed of an antenna pattern provided on a base sheet 13, an IC chip 11 connected to the antenna pattern 12 with a bump 16, and a cover sheet 14 bonded to the base sheet 13 with a bonding agent 15 covering the antenna pattern 12 and IC chip 11.
This RFID tag 1 is used through bonding to an item in the side of the base sheet 13. A bonding force of the bonding agent 15 is set weaker than that when the side of base sheet 13 is bonded to an item. Therefore, if the RFID tag 1 is peeled by an illegal user who is trying to conduct illegal use, the cover sheet 14 is peeled from the base sheet 13.
Moreover, the antenna pattern 12 is provided to and fro with regions, which are rather weak in bonding with the base sheet 13.
FIG. 2 is a front elevation (A) and a side elevation (B) of the condition after peeling of the RFID tag in the related art.
When the cover sheet 14 illustrated in FIG. 1 is peeled from the base sheet 13, the antenna pattern 12 is peeled together with the cover sheet 14 at the areas 12a where the bonding with the base sheet 13 is weak. Accordingly, the antenna pattern 12 loses its function as a communication antenna, disabling communication.
As a technique for avoiding illegal use, a technique has been proposed, in which an exclusive pattern broken at the time of peeling is provided to the RFID tag in addition to the antenna pattern and a breakdown of the exclusive pattern is detected with an IC chip.
FIG. 3 is a condition (A) before peeling and a condition after peeling of the other RFID tag in the related art.
The RFID tag 2 illustrated in FIG. 3 is provided with an antenna pattern 22, an IC chip 21 connected to the antenna pattern 22, and a pattern 23 for breakdown which is made conductive with a conductive ink 24. Moreover, although not illustrated, a base sheet and a cover sheet are also provided like the RFID tag illustrated in FIG. 1.
In the case of this RFID tag 2, the cover sheet is peeled from the base sheet when an illegal user who is trying to conduct illegal use peels the RFID tag 2. In the case of this RFID tag 2, the conductive ink 24 splashes for setting the pattern 23 for breakdown to the insulating condition when the cover sheet is peeled. Meanwhile, the IC chip 21 detects such insulating condition of the pattern 23 for breakdown. Moreover, breakdown of the pattern can also confirmed visually with the conductive ink 24 splashed.
In the case of the RFID tag 2 illustrated in FIG. 3, the antenna pattern 22 and communication function are maintained even after the cover sheet is peeled and peeling of the RFID tag 2 is notified to an external device at the time of communication with the external device.
Examples of such technology may be found in patent documents such as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/075608, U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,013, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003-524811, Japanese Patent Document JP-A No. 2003-173477, Japanese Patent Document JP-A No. 2005-31153, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003-517659, Japanese Patent Document JP-A No. 2003-346121, Japanese Patent Document JP-A No. 2002-362613, and Japanese Patent Document JP-A No. 2002-150248.
However, the related art, as explained above has a problem in that since a part of the tag is broken when the RFID is peeled and the broken area is apparent, a motive or a chance to repair the broken area will be given to a person who is trying to illegally use the tag and thereby the effect for eliminating illegal use becomes insufficient. Moreover, in the related art, a reader such as the reader/writer is controlled to erroneously recognize the item information when the RFID tag attached to a certain item is peeled and then attached again to the other item.
For example, an illegal use may be assumed here. Namely, the RFID tag to which low price item information is written is once peeled from the item and is then attached again to an expensive item for giving a false price. Therefore, the technique for avoiding such illegal use has been expected.


A method and apparatus is provided to charge a battery including a DC charge current supply having a variable output. The charging current is varied in accordance with several sensed parameters in the circuit so that battery voltage is accurately controlled. Initially, constant charging current is applied, and upon detecting that battery voltage increases to the gassing voltage, an incremental step reduction in charging current is triggered. The step reduction causes a decrease in battery voltage, dropping it below the gassing voltage. The step reduced charging current is then applied to increase battery voltage back up to the gassing voltage, thereby triggering another step reduction in charging current. This process is repeated multiple times providing a stepped current profile, i.e., each battery voltage increase to the gassing voltage triggering a step reduction in charging current, and in turn a corresponding voltage reduction. The battery voltage, with the alternating increases and decreases, is thus defined by a saw-tooth profile with peaks at the gassing voltage. When the charging current is finally reduced to a minimum level, the sensed battery voltage triggers a termination of the stepped current reduction. Upon the battery reaching full charge, the application of charging current is terminated.

It is well known in the art that applying a controlled DC current to a lead acid, or similar chemical base, storage battery is a proven, efficient way of charging. That is, the application of charging current effects chemical changes in the battery so that chemical energy is stored. This energy is ultimately converted back to electrical energy when the battery is connected to supply electrical power to a machine or other device.
One detrimental effect of applying charging current in this type of battery is the formation of hydrogen bubbles in the battery electrolyte. This occurs when the application of charging current causes the battery voltage to increase to the gassing voltage, i.e. the voltage at which "gassing" or hydrogen bubble formation, begins in the battery electrolyte. As is known in the art, this condition, which results from a chemical reaction in the electrolyte, is usually indicative of an overcharging rate.
The bubbles tend to accumulate and adhere to the battery plates. The bubbles form a resistive layer on the plates, thereby causing an increase in the internal resistance of the battery and a proportional reduction in charging efficiency. More specifically, the increased resistance absorbs a portion of the charging current. As a result, the battery is heated internally by self-discharge, the current dropping precipitously across this artificial internal resistance. If excessive gassing continues, such that a heavy layer of hydrogen bubbles covers the plates, further application of charging current accelerates internal heating of the battery and the plates. Eventually, the plates overheat sufficiently to warp and short-out the battery.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to avoid the gassing problem. One of the more successful charging systems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,739 to Quammen et. al, assigned to the present assignee. In this system, discharge pulses are intermittently applied with the charging current. More specifically, the negative current pulses are superimposed over the charging current to produce turbulence in the battery electrolyte. This turbulence serves to actively stir the electrolyte causing advantageous circulation of the electrolyte and scrubbing of the hydrogen bubbles from the battery plates, thereby avoiding the problem outlined above.
It should be appreciated that while this approach successfully prevents bubble accumulation on the battery plates, it does not prevent the formation of hydrogen bubbles. Specifically, even after the battery voltage reaches the gassing voltage, the level of charging current is not varied in this prior arrangement. This results in significant gassing, i.e. hydrogen bubble formation. Accordingly, it should be recognized that the approach disclosed in the Quammen et al patent effectively relieves the problem caused by gassing, but does not substantially limit gassing itself.
Past attempts to eliminate or greatly reduce gassing while still providing an effective charge in a reasonable period of time have not proven particularly successful.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,830 to Foster discloses an apparatus that repeatedly incrementally steps down charging current after the battery voltage reaches a target voltage. The target voltage is initially defined by the gassing voltage. However, each time the charging current is incrementally stepped down, the target voltage is also incrementally stepped up. As a result, after the initial charging increment, the target voltage level continues to increase and remains greater than the gassing voltage throughout a large portion of the charging cycle. In effect, the charging current continues to be incrementally reduced from the initial level, but the battery voltage is allowed to reach and surpass the gassing voltage to ever increasing levels. As a consequence, significant detrimental gassing still occurs, and this approach fails to successfully solve the problem.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,656 to Lavell et al discloses an approach wherein charging current is gradually decreased as charging progresses. However, charging current is not significantly reduced after the gassing voltage is reached and, accordingly, charging current of relatively high level is still applied after the battery voltage reaches and exceeds the gassing voltage. Thus, use of this approach allows an even higher degree of detrimental gassing to occur, i.e. hydrogen gas bubbles are caused to form at an increasing rate, even after the current reduction in the earlier part of the cycle.
Finally, the IUI concept, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,830 at column 1, lines 29-46, is a charging procedure that maintains battery voltage constant at its gassing voltage during charging current reduction. The control for such a system is very complex requiring very finely tuned regulation of the charging current to maintain the battery voltage at a constant voltage. Furthermore, an important IUI characteristic feature as described terminates charging of the battery by simply using a timer. It does not use a feedback device, such as a battery voltage detector, to sense when the battery is fully charged. Accordingly, in many instances overcharging occurs resulting in an inefficient waste of energy and possible damage to the battery, while in other situations the battery may not be completely charged resulting in poor battery performance.

Battery charging method with stepped current profile and associated charger


A successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC) having a sample, hold and convert amplifier circuit may be configured for either a single channel SAR ADC or a multiple channel SAR ADC. Switches or metal connection options, e.g., bit configurable or metal mask configurable, respectively, may be used to configure a common capacitor area, a portion of which may be used as a reconfigurable charge-redistribution digital-to-analog converter (CDAC) of the SAR ADC as either a single channel sample, hold and convert 12-bit capacitor configuration or a four channel sample, hold and convert 10-bit capacitor configuration. All other parts of the SAR ADC circuitry may be substantially the same for either configuration, e.g., the resistive digital-to-analog converter (RDAC), successive approximation register (SAR), ADC controller, sample, hold and convert switches, comparator, etc, may be substantially the same for either the single or multiple channel SAR ADC configurations.

Analog-to-digital converters are used in combination with digital systems for a host of different industrial and consumer applications. However, these different applications require different analog-to-digital converter configurations, e.g., number of sample channels and bit resolutions. For example, a motor control device may use a 4-channel 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), while a general purpose application device may employ a single channel 12-bit ADC.
Generally, a successive approximation register ADC (SAR ADC) may be used for 10 and 12 bit resolution conversions. The SAR ADC is low in cost, consumes low operating power, and has reasonable conversion speeds. Also a sample and hold circuit may be used in combination with the SAR ADC. The sample and hold circuit comprises capacitors and switches to couple the capacitors to an analog voltage to be converted. This analog voltage is sampled and held in the capacitors. Then the voltage sample held in the capacitors is coupled to the ADC comparator for conversion of the analog voltage to a digital representation (e.g., 10 or 12 bits).
The capacitors in the SAR ADC may serve two functions: sampling and conversion. During a sampling phase the capacitors may store the analog voltage to be converted, e.g., a voltage difference between the analog voltage and an internal reference voltage, for example Vdd/2. The capacitance value of the capacitors is not significant during the sampling phase. The sampling phase ends and hold phase begins when the switches between the capacitors and the internal reference are opened. The next phase is conversion. During the conversion phase, ends of the capacitors coupled to a voltage comparator are allowed to float, e.g., not driven. Then during a successive approximation process, the other ends of the capacitors are switched in binary weighted groups to a voltage reference, e.g., Vrefh or Vrefl (e.g., ground or common voltage) by a successive approximation register (SAR) and control circuitry. During this conversion process, the capacitance values of the capacitors are very significant. The quality of capacitance value matching of the capacitors may determine the differential non-linearity (DNL) and integral non-linearity (INL) performance of the SAR ADC.

Analog-to-digital converter with interchangeable resolution and sample and hold amplifier channels


A method and system for electronic bill presentment and payment using a third party intermediary is described. A third party provides an electronic post office that uses a virtual address directory to provide a level of abstraction in an EBPP data stream using the ACH network so that EBPP participants do not require the information that is typically required to process such transactions. By using the virtual address directory, neither the biller, nor the bank, nor the intermediary have all the consumer data used in the transaction. Accordingly, privacy is enhanced and any risk that privacy will be compromised is reduced.

The illustrative embodiments described in the present application are useful in systems including those for electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) and more particularly are useful in systems including those for electronic bill presentment using a third party.
Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment systems have several forms. For example, in a direct bill model, a vendor such as a credit card company maintains an internet based system for processing EBPP transactions for customers of the particular credit card company. Such bill direct EBPP systems are popular with credit card customers, but the adoption rate for systems provided by other types of vendors such as utilities is low.
Additionally, systems based upon a consolidator model exist. For example, EBPP consolidators such as the MYCHECKFREE.COM® EBPP portal allow customers to enroll for e-bills from one or more vendors that participate in the particular consolidator program. In such a system, the customer may access bills from multiple vendors and make payments using one portal. The consolidator may then arrange for consolidated payments to the vendors that incorporate payments from multiple users.
Home banking online systems have become popular with adoption rates of approximately 50%. Certain home banking systems allow for online bill payments. In a typical home banking system having an electronic payment option, a consolidator processes the payments. If a particular vendor is not enrolled with the consolidator, a paper check is cut and mailed to the vendor. In such systems, the bill may not be electronically presented to the user, but the user may enter a payment for processing.
The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) is an industry organization that is said to develop operating rules and business practices for the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network and for electronic payments in areas including Internet commerce and electronic bill and invoice presentment and payment (EBPP, EIPP).
NACHA describes an Electronic Bill Information Delivery Service (EBIDS). The EBIDS system uses the ACH network as a bill information delivery and payment solution. In the EBIDS system, a biller creates a summary electronic bill as a zero-dollar ACH transaction and the biller's financial institution originates the ACH billing file into the ACH network. The consumer's financial institution receives the summary bill file and makes the summary billing information available to the consumer. The consumer views the summary bill and instructs the financial institution to make payment. The consumer's financial institution creates an ACH credit and routes the payment along with the remittance data through the ACH network and the payment is processed.

System and method for electronic bill presentment using a third party


Described herein are methods for modulating expression of a gene in a cell by contacting the cell with a gene modulation composition, such as a composition including an electrolyzed saline solution.

Gene expression, the process of conversion of genetic information into a function genetic product is a tightly regulated process in living organisms. Gene expression takes place by transcription of the nucleotide sequence of a gene into a nucleotide sequence of a functional RNA or translation into an amino acid sequence of a protein. Regulation of gene expression includes regulation of mRNA stability and translation, and is important in cellular responses to development or to environmental stimuli such as nutrient levels, cytokines, hormones, and temperature shifts, and environmental stresses such as hypoxia, hypocalcemia, viral infection, and tissue injury. The genes respond according to these stimuli, resulting in a downstream response.

Methods and compositions for genetic modulation


In the case of a method of separating condensable harmful substances and solid particles from the process gas or used air from particularly a textile finishing plant such as for example a drier or a coating plant, for example in the paper or synthetic plastics industry, the used air is pre-filtered, cooled and passed through a mechanical final filtering apparatus. So that a considerable extent of separation from the used air is possible already at the pre-filtering stage, the warm used air is pre-filtered by being cooled to below the dewpoint of the condensable harmful substances and dispersed solid particles. The resultant condensate which contains impurities is extracted.

The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for separating condensable harmful substances and solid particles from the process gas or used air particularly from a textile finishing plant such as for example a drier or a coating plant for example in the paper or synthetic plastics industry, wherein wasted air is pre-filtered, cooled and passed through a mechanical final filtering apparatus.

Method of and an apparatus for the separation of condensable harmful substances

Sueddeutsche Kuehlerfabrik Julius Fr. Behr GmbH & Co. KG


A device for fixing at least a part of the human cervical and/or thoracic vertebral column comprises at least one assembly of a plurality of fixation elements (1, 1a and 1b, 1c, respectively) arranged above each other and at least one rod or wire (2, 2a) interconnecting these fixation elements. Each fixation element comprises a substantially block-shaped body (4) and a hook projecting from the lower edge area (5) of the block-shaped body (4). A first articular process contact surface (7) is constituted by an upright side of the block-shaped body (4) that faces the hook. A second articular process contact surface (8) is constituted by the substantially upwardly directed surface of the hook (6). The first (7) and the second articular process contact surfaces (8) include an acute angle (.alpha.) and a securing means (9), in a securing position, extends into the space included by the first (7) and the second (8) vertebra contact surfaces.

Such a device is already utilized in practice for fixing the lumbar and the lower thoracic vertebrae and is described, for instance, in French patent application 2,642,642. The hook of each fixation element, which is U-shaped for this application, extends between two vertebrae from a point between the spinous processes and the transverse processes of a vertebra in the direction of the spinal canal. When a fixation element is thus arranged, the substantially block-shaped body is disposed against the exterior of the vertebra located above the hook. Two fixation elements arranged above each other and thus attached to the vertebral column are connected together by means of a rod. The securing means is situated in cortical bone only at the first vertebra contact surface and for the rest the securing means extends into spongy bone, which is rather weak. The drawback of this is that the securing pin can only transmit a minor couple to the vertebra and will loosen in the course of time.
As regards the fixation of the cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae, however, the space between the spinous process and the transverse processes for accommodating the block-shaped body is lacking and further the bone mass of the vertebrae is too small for the hook to be arranged between the vertebrae in the manner described. The fact is that the diameter of the spinal canal relative to the outer diameter of the vertebrae is much greater in the cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae than in the lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae.
For that reason, when fixing cervical and/or upper thoracic vertebrae, which is for instance necessary in the case of fracture or congenital disorders leading to deviation of the cervical and/or thoracic vertebral column, heretofore a makeshift fixation has been effected with plates, screws, wires and the like. A disadvantage of this makeshift fixation is that screws, for instance, weaken the cervical and thoracic vertebrae and that a positive result of a surgical treatment for realizing such makeshift fixation cannot be guaranteed for a prolonged time.

Device for fixing at least a part of the human cervical and/or thoracic vertebral column


A system and method for directing download and execution of an application. A runtime engine receives an identifier of a block of shared memory from a directing process. The shared memory stores a map indicating which portions of an application file have been stored in a local copy of the application file. The runtime engine also receives an instruction from the directing process to execute the local copy when the local copy stores less than the entire application file. As the application executes, the runtime engine identifies requests from the application to access portions of the local copy and uses the map to determine whether the requested portions have been stored in the local copy. If the requested portions are not stored in the local copy, the runtime engine prevents the executing application from accessing the local copy until the map indicates the requested portions have been stored therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to methods and systems for profiling access to a file that implements an application.
2. Description of the Related Art
A virtual application is a virtual machine image pre-configured with all of the files, registry data, settings, components, runtimes, and other dependencies required for a specific application to execute immediately and without installation on a host computing device. The virtual application is partially isolated from other applications implemented on a host computing device and partially isolated from an underlying host operating system installed and executing on the host computing device. The virtual application is encapsulated from the host operating system by a virtual runtime environment, which includes a virtual operating system, that receives operations performed by the virtualized application and redirects them to one or more virtualized locations (e.g., a virtual filesystem, virtual registry, and the like).
Thus, the virtual application may be conceptualized as including two components: a virtualization runtime and a virtual application configuration. The virtualization runtime implements the virtual runtime environment, which implements various operating system application programming interfaces ("APIs") in such a way that allows the executing virtual application to access and interact with items that may not be present on the host computer. The virtual application configuration includes data necessary to implement the virtual application within the virtualization runtime.
The virtual application is stored in and implemented by one or more data files and/or executable files. Depending upon the implementation details, the one or more data files and/or executable files storing and implementing the virtual application may include blocks of data corresponding to each application file of a natively installed version of the application. Herein, these blocks of data will be referred to as "virtual application files." The one or more data files and/or executable files storing and implementing the virtual application also include configuration information.
The data files and/or executable files are configured to execute within a virtual runtime environment that is provided at least in part by the virtual operating system. When the virtual application is executed within the virtual runtime engine, the configuration information is used to configure the virtual operating system to execute the virtual application. For example, the configuration information may contain information related to the virtual application files, virtual registry entries, environment variables, services, and the like. The virtual operating system is configured to communicate with the host operating system as required to execute the virtual application on the host computing device.
To download and execute a virtual application, a user must either use a specialized streaming protocol or download the entire virtualized application file before executing the application. Therefore, a need exists for a method and system configured to download and execute a virtualized application file without first downloading the entire file or using a specialized streaming protocol. The virtual application can be executed using less than the entire virtualized application file provided the executing virtual application does not request access to a portion of the file that has not been downloaded. Therefore, a need exists for a method or system that determines in which order the virtual application will request access to portions of the virtualized application file. A need also exists for systems and methods for managing the download and execution of a virtual application by a virtual runtime engine. The present application provides these and other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.

Method and system for managing execution of virtual applications


A surgical instrument of the kind which is adapted to operate using bipolar energizing potential comprises a pair of adjacently disposed, elongated electrodes that receive the bipolar potential, and an electrical insulator disposed between the electrodes. The insulator terminates proximally of distal ends of the electrodes to provide a cavity across which sparking between the electrodes occurs. Thus, the instrument is useful in, e.g., arthroscopic surgery on the knee, to perform several types of procedures (such as cutting, smoothing of cartilage, and coagulation) even in the presence of an electrically conductive irrigating solution (such as saline).

This invention relates generally to bipolar electrosurgical instruments used in arthroscopic surgery for, e.g., cutting tissue, smoothing cartilage, and coagulating bleeding vessels or tissue.
It is well known to use monopolar surgical instruments in arthroscopy for cutting, smoothing, and coagulating. A monopolar instrument includes a single electrode to which radio frequency energy is applied. The patient is securely grounded (e.g., using a ground plate) so that current flows from the tip of the electrode into the target tissue and then randomly through the patient's body to ground. To coagulate, the tip of the electrode is placed in direct contact with the bleeding vessel.
When the instrument is used for cutting, a gap is maintained by the surgeon between the electrode tip and the tissue to provide space for the generation of an electric spark necessary to produce enough heat for efficient cutting. This heat penetrates the tissue surface and creates the cut. To prevent dissipation of the high electrical energy needed to produce sparking, a nonconductive fluid such as distilled water is used in the wound in place of electrically conductive, physiologic saline solution.
Reimels, U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,207, describes a bipolar electrosurgical instrument for coagulation of blood vessels and/or tissue in the form of a probe which includes coaxial inner and outer electrodes. Radio frequency power is applied across the bipolar electrodes of the instrument, and localized coagulation is performed by placing the tip of the instrument in contact with tissue. Conductive fluids such as saline can be used with this instrument because current flows only through tissue located adjacent the electrodes.


A material for organic electroluminescent devices including a 2,7-disubstituted naphthalene ring in its molecule of formulas (1) and (2):

An organic electroluminescence device, which has an organic thin film layer including a light emitting layer between an anode and a cathode and which emits light from an exciton energy resulted from the recombination of holes and electrons injected into the light emitting layer, has been known.
Sine the organic electroluminescence device is a spontaneous emitting device, it has been expected to be applicable, using its advantages, to a light emitting device with high current efficiency, high image quality, low power consumption and wide design freedom for thinner products.
The organic electroluminescence device has been still required to be further improved in its properties, for example, in the current efficiency.
In this regard, to enhance the internal quantum efficiency, a light emitting material (phosphorescent emitting material) which emits light from triplet exciton has been developed, and a phosphorescent organic electroluminescence device are reported in recent years.
By forming a light emitting layer (phosphorescent emitting layer) using the above phosphorescent emitting material, an internal quantum efficiency of 75% or more, theoretically about 100% is obtained, to realize an organic electroluminescence device having high efficiency and low power consumption.
Further, a doping method in which a light emitting material is doped as a dopant into a host material for forming a light emitting layer is known.
In a doped light emitting layer, excitons can be efficiently generated from charges injected into a host material. The exciton energy of generated excitons is transferred to a dopant, and this allows the dopant to emit light in high efficiency.
To intermolecularly transfer the energy from a host material to a phosphorescent dopant, the excited triplet energy EgH of the host material has to be larger than the excited triplet energy EgD of the phosphorescent dopant.
CBP (4,4′-bis(N-carbazolyl)biphenyl) is a well known material which has an effectively large excited triplet energy (Patent Document 1).
If CBP is used as a host material, the energy can be transferred to a phosphorescent dopant which emits light with a specific wavelength (for example, green and red), and an organic electroluminescence device having high efficiency can be obtained.
When CBP is used as a host material, the current efficiency is drastically enhanced by phosphorescent emission on one hand, but the lifetime is very short to make the device unsuitable for practical use on the other hand.
This may be because that CBP has a molecular structure less resistant to oxidation and therefore its molecule is largely degraded by holes.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technique in which a condensed ring derivative having a nitrogen-containing ring such as carbazole is used as a host material for a red-emitting phosphorescent layer. This technique enables the improvement of current efficiency and lifetime, but is not satisfactory for practical application in some cases.
A wide variety of fluorescent host materials (fluorescent hosts) for a fluorescent dopant is known, and various host materials which can form, in combination with a fluorescent dopant, a fluorescent layer excellent in current efficiency and lifetime are proposed.
The excited singlet energy Eg (S) of a fluorescent host is larger than that of a fluorescent dopant, but its excited triplet energy Eg (T) is not necessarily large. Therefore, the fluorescent host cannot be simply used as a host material (phosphorescent host) for a phosphorescent emitting layer.
For example, an anthracene derivative is well known as a fluorescent host. However, the excited triplet energy Eg (T) of anthracene derivative is as relatively small as about 1.9 eV. Therefore, the energy transfer to a phosphorescent dopant having an emission wavelength in a visible light region of 520 to 720 nm can not be secured. Further, the anthracene derivative cannot confine the excited triplet energy within a light emitting layer.
Therefore, the anthracene derivative is unsuitable as a phosphorescent host.
Further, perylene derivatives, pyrene derivatives and naphthacene derivatives are not preferred as a phosphorescent host for the same reason.
Patent Document 3 proposes to use an aromatic hydrocarbon compound as a phosphorescent host, which has a central benzene skeleton having two aromatic substituents at its meta positions.
However, the aromatic hydrocarbon compound described in Patent Document 3 has a molecular structure which bilaterally symmetrically extends with respect to the central benzene skeleton. Therefore, the light emitting layer would be likely to crystallize.
Patent Documents 4 to 9 disclose organic electroluminescence devices each employing an aromatic hydrocarbon compound. However, these documents are completely silent about the effectiveness of these compounds as a phosphorescent host.
Further, Patent Document 10 discloses a compound having a naphthalene ring substituted at its 2- and 7-positions with condensed aromatic hydrocarbon rings. Patent Document 11 discloses a compound having a naphthalene ring substituted at its 2- and 7-positions with nitrogen-containing heterorings such as phenanthroline rings. Patent Document 12 discloses a compound having a naphthalene ring substituted at its 2- and 7-positions with aromatic substituents each essentially having an anthracene ring.

Organic electroluminescent element material and organic electroluminescent element comprising same

Abstract: and an organic electroluminescent device including an organic thin film layer having one or more layers between a cathode and an anode. An organic electroluminescence device having the organic thin film layer which includes the material for organic electroluminescent devices and at least one kind of phosphorescent emitting materials has long lifetime and high current efficiency.


This invention is regarding a set of stand-alone or combined-use surgical tools and associated systems and methods for performing surgical procedures such as identifying hidden tissue anatomy and dissecting the periphery tissues. In particular, this invention describes tools and the associated systems and methods for visualizing hidden important structures such as arteries, veins, ureters, bile duct, bowel, nodules, tumors, and performing tissue cutting using energy-based instrument. The tools are to be operated stand-alone or by attaching to existing instruments used for minimally invasive surgery.

Preventing inadvertent injuries to important anatomic structures including, but not limited, to veins, arteries, ureters, bile duct, and bowel, is challenging in minimally invasive procedures due to limitations in the surgeon's ability to visualize those anatomic structures hidden below the fat or scar tissue to navigate around them. Patients who suffer inadvertent injury to any of those important anatomic structures face corrective procedures that often require not only conversion from minimally-invasive to open surgery, but also extended hospital stays which can add tens of thousands of dollars to their healthcare expenses, increased risks of nosocomial infections, and higher mortality rates which, in some cases, might be as much as 32% higher. The risk of inadvertent injury to important anatomic structures is a concern that potentially increases operative time, which in turn lengthens a patient's exposure to anesthesia, and increases overall costs. The risk of inadvertent injury to important anatomic structures becomes even greater for obese patients, because the large layer of peritoneal fat further challenges intraoperative definition of the internal anatomy that is inherently difficult for minimally invasive surgery.
Minimally invasive (e.g., pure laparoscopic or robotic-assisted laparoscopic) procedures have increasingly become the preferred surgical approach for management of several benign and malignant abdominal surgical conditions in various surgical specialties (general surgery, gynecology, and urology). Over the years, improvement in visualization and increased surgeon familiarity with laparoscopic techniques has resulted in an increased utilization of minimally invasive surgery. In patients with solid-organ malignancies, particularly urologic and gynecologic malignancies including uterine, cervical, prostate, bladder and kidney cancers, robotic laparoscopic surgery has increasingly become the surgical approach of choice.
However, when compared to open procedures, laparoscopic procedures are faced with challenges in proper identification of anatomical "danger zones" which include large arteries/veins, ureter, bowel, bile duct, etc. In contrast to traditional open surgery, identification of these areas is more difficult due to poor or absent tactile feedback from pure and robotic-assisted laparoscopic techniques respectively. Techniques that help identify these significant tubular structures underlying the tissue surfaces of dissection would have the potential to reduce iatrogenic injury, and lower operative times due to timely identification for direct enhancement of surgical outcomes.
There are recent developments of stand-alone laparoscopic probes that aim to sense specifically arterial vessels using the mechanical pressure changes due to pulsation. Some other laparoscopically applicable devices designed for identifying arterial vessel operate by detecting the variation of electrical impedance in the vessel arising from the distensile changes associated with blood pulsation. Sensing the pulsation mechanically or electrically may provide similar information to finger-like palpation used in traditional open surgery that could become very intuitive and sensitive for identifying arterial vessels. Sensing the pulsation only, however, may be ineffective for the identification of low- or non-pulsatile vessels such as veins, and other important structures including ureters, bile ducts, and bowel.
Strong and characteristic light absorption in the visible spectrum by hemoglobin in the superficial tissue that is assessable by surface reflection has been utilized for laparoscopic monitoring of tissue oxygenation during esophagostomies and measurement of renal ischemia during laparoscopic partial nephrectomy. Transmission measurement of hemoglobin absorption in tissues has also been proposed as a stand-alone device technology towards identifying blood vessels during laparoscopic procedures. A transmission measurement of light absorption could allow sensitive identification of vessel-containing tissue that is "interposed" between the two grasping jaws of a laparoscopic grasping instrument; however, tissue dissection does not always allow the surgeon to place tissue between the grasping jaws of laparoscopic instruments which would require greater than 270 degree dissection around the tissue being examined.
Many laparoscopic procedures including radical prostatectomy and partial nephrectomy requires layer-by-layer dissection of tissue planes below which important anatomic structures of tubular shape including blood vessels, ureters, and bowel may hide, as is illustrated in FIG. 1(A). One intraoperative need in dissecting the tissue is the detection of important tubular structures that underlie the dissecting plane, i.e., that are not in the direct line-of-sight between the two jaws of the dissecting instrument but are at a significant depth from the plane of dissection which is visible by the video-feed. Detecting important structures at a few millimeters below the surgical dissection plane is necessary for advanced warning of potential inadvertent injury.
As such, what is needed is a device that, when light is used for making the detection, effectively samples and will be able to detect underlying anatomic structures with an applicator probe on or near the surface of the peritoneal fat or scar tissue or, more generally, the tissue plane. Furthermore, the device should be able to produce outputs that objectively distinguish the underlying anatomic structures, be they veins, arteries, or other tubular anatomy, from peripheral tissue. Furthermore, the device should be capable of being operated by surgeons within their normal operative workflow using the same set of standard and unmodified minimally invasive operative instruments.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.

System and method for tissue visualization

THE BOARD OF REGENTS FOR OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY


Compositions and methods for the treatment of vasospasm are provided comprising applying an amount of a semi-solid vasoactive prostaglandin composition to the affected tissue. Also provided are methods of improving microcirculation in a replanted body part.

Vasospasm is a constriction of blood vessels, resulting in ischemia of the tissue supplied by the blood vessels. Prolonged spasm in arteries, veins, and vein grafts has been described as a physiologic complication in microsurgery for over 20 years (Buncke, H. J, Microsurgery: Transplantation-Replantation, on-line edition, Chapter 36, accessed Dec. 13, 2002). Vasospasm results from several processes including intrinsic smooth muscle contraction, local noradrenaline metabolism, neurogenic and hormonal processes, and prostaglandin metabolism. Topical agents, such as magnesium sulfate, lidocaine, papaverine and chlorpromazine have been reported to successfully relieve vasospasm. Other described methods for relieving vasospasm include nerve blocks, systemic adrenergic agents and systemic vasodilating agents such as sodium nitroprusside (Buncke, on-line edition. Experimental attempts to find roles for modifiers of prostaglandin function, sympatholytics, calcium channel blockers and numerous other drugs have generally not succeeded in producing either clearly applicable models or reproducibly positive results (Buncke, on-line edition). Vasospasm may be elicited by cold, mechanical trauma or chemical mediators, including adrenalin.
If circulation is not re-established in time, tissue damage may result due to reperfusion injury. Reperfusion injury refers to the cellular changes and tissue damage seen after a period of total ischemia followed by reperfusion. Extremity replantation, organ transplantation, free flap tissue reconstruction and even myocardial infarction and stroke are all clinical examples of interval tissue ischemia which can lead to tissue loss due to reperfusion injury after blood flow is re-established. Tissue reperfusion injury, seen in its full clinical extent as the no-reflow phenomenon, appears as inflammatory response to reperfusion, resulting in the ultimate death of the tissue.
Prostaglandin E1 is a derivative of prostanoic acid, a 20-carbon atom lipid acid, represented by the formula:
and is commercially available, e.g., from Chinoin Pharmaceutical and Chemical Works Ltd. (Budapest, Hungary) under the designation "Alprostadil USP," from Pharmacia & Upjohn under the designation "Caverject". Prostaglandin E1 complexed with alpha-cyclodextrin is available as alprostatil alfadex from Ono Pharmaceuticals (Japan) and in an injectable form under the designation "Edex®" or "Viradex®" from Schwarz Pharma (Germany).
Prostaglandin E1 is a vasodilator useful to maintain open blood vessels and, therefore, to treat peripheral vascular disease among other ailments. While the potential benefits from transdermal delivery of prostaglandin E1 have long been recognized, prior efforts at developing a topical composition for prostaglandin delivery have not been fully successful. Working alone, most drugs, prostaglandin formulations included, do not sufficiently permeate the skin to provide drug concentration levels comparable to those obtained from other drug delivery routes. To overcome this problem, topical drug formulations typically include a skin penetration enhancer. Skin penetration enhancers also may be referred to as absorption enhancers, accelerants, adjuvants, solubilizers, sorption promoters, etc. Whatever the name, such agents serve to improve drug absorption across the skin. Ideal penetration enhancers not only increase drug flux across the skin, but do so without irritating, sensitizing, or damaging skin. Furthermore, ideal penetration enhancers should not adversely affect the physical qualities of the available dosage forms (e.g., cream or gel), or the cosmetic quality of the topical composition.
A wide variety of compounds have been evaluated as to their effectiveness in enhancing the rate of penetration of drugs through the skin. See, for example, Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers, Maibach H. I. and Smith H. E. (eds.), CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Fla. (1995), which surveys the use and testing of various skin penetration enhancers, and Büyüktimkin et al., Chemical Means of Transdermal Drug Permeation Enhancement in Transdermal and Topical Drug Delivery Systems, Gosh T. K., Pfister W. R., Yum S. I. (Eds.), Interpharm Press Inc., Buffalo Grove, Ill. (1997).

Prostaglandin compositions and methods for the treatment of vasospasm


Methods and systems facilitating a programmer to program parts of a program in data flow programming to produce directed acyclic graphs (“DAGs”), and then merge the graphs at runtime for efficiency and scalability. Large merged DAG can typically be processed with greater efficiency than the collection of smaller DAGs. As a result, smaller DAGs may be created while the execution of the program realizes the increased efficiency of executing a larger DAG based on the merging of the smaller DAGs. In accordance with methods and systems consistent with the present invention, a programmer creates individual data flow directed acyclic graphs in a program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data flow programming and directed acyclic graphs. In particular, the present invention generally relates to the merging of directed acyclic graphs in a data flow programming environment at runtime.
2. Background
Multiprocessor computer systems include two or more processors that may be employed to execute the various instructions of a computer program. A particular set of instructions may be performed by one processor while other processors perform unrelated sets of instructions.
Fast computer systems, like multiprocessor computer systems, have stimulated the rapid growth of a new way of performing scientific research. The broad classical branches of theoretical science and experimental science have been joined by computational science. Computational scientists simulate on supercomputers phenomena too complex to be reliably predicted by theory and too dangerous or expensive to be reproduced in a laboratory. Successes in computational science have caused demand for supercomputing resources to rise sharply in recent years.
During this time, multiprocessor computer systems, also referred to as "parallel computers," have evolved from experimental contraptions in laboratories to become the everyday tools of computational scientists who need powerful computing resources in order to solve their problems. Several factors have stimulated this evolution. It is not only that the speed of light and the effectiveness of heat dissipation impose physical limits on the speed of a single processor. It is also that the cost of advanced single-processor computers increases more rapidly than their power. In addition, price/performance ratios become more favorable if the required computational power can be found from existing resources instead of purchased. This factor has caused many sites to use existing work station networks, originally purchased to do modest computational chores, as "SCAN"s (SuperComputers At Night) by utilizing the workstation network as a parallel computer. This scheme has proven successful enough, and the cost effectiveness of individual workstations has increased rapidly enough, that networks of workstations have been purchased to be dedicated to parallel jobs that used to run on more expensive supercomputers. Thus, considerations of both peak performance and price/performance are pushing large-scale computing in the direction of parallelism. Despite these advances, parallel computing has obstacles to its adoption.
One obstacle to the adoption of parallel computing and its benefits in economy and power is the problem of inadequate software. The developer of a program implementing a parallel algorithm for an important computational science problem may find the current software environment to be more of an obstruction than smoothing the path to use of capable, cost-effective hardware available. This is because computer programmers generally follow a "control flow" model when developing programs, including programs for execution by multiprocessor computers systems. According to this model, the computer executes a program's instructions sequentially (i.e., in a series from the first instruction to the last instruction) as controlled by a program counter. Although this approach tends to simplify the program development process, it is inherently slow.
For example, when the program counter reaches a particular instruction in a program that requires the result of another instruction or set of instructions, the particular instruction is said to be "dependent" on the result and the processor cannot execute that instruction until the result is available. Moreover, executing programs developed under the control flow model on multiprocessing computer systems results in a significant waste of resources because of these dependencies. For example, a first processor executing one set of instructions in the control flow program may have to wait for some time until a second processor completes execution of another set of instructions, the result of which is required by the first processor to perform its set of instructions. This wait-time translates into an unacceptable waste of computing resources in that at least one of the processors in this two-processor configuration is idle the whole time while the program is running.
To better exploit parallelism in a program some scientists have suggested use of a "data flow" model in place of the control flow model. The basic concept of the data flow model is to enable the execution of an instruction whenever its required operands become available, and thus, no program counters are needed in data-driven computations. Instruction initiation depends on data availability, independent of the physical location of an instruction in the program. In other words, instructions in a program are not ordered. The execution simply follows the data dependency constraints.
Programs for data-driven computations can be represented by data flow graphs. For example, consider the calculation of the following expression:z=(x+y)*2
When, for example, x is 5 and y is 3, the result z is 16. In this example, z is dependent on the result of the sum and x and y. The data flow graph is a directed acyclic graph ("DAG") whose nodes correspond to operators and arcs are pointers for forwarding data. The graph demonstrates sequencing constraints (i.e., constraints with data dependencies) among instructions. FIG. 4a, described below, illustrates two exemplary DAGs.
For example, in a conventional computer, program analysis is often done (i) when a program is compiled to yield better resource utilization and code optimization, and (ii) at run time to reveal concurrent arithmetic logic activities for higher system throughput. For instance, consider the following sequence of instructions:                1. P=X+Y        2. Q=P/Y        3. R=X*P        4. S=R−Q        5. T=R*P        6. U=S/T
The following five computational sequences of these instructions are permissible to guarantee the integrity of the result when executing the instructions on a serial computing system (e.g., a uniprocessor system):                1,2,3,4,5,6        1,3,2,5,4,6        1,3,5,2,4,6        1,2,3,5,4,6        1,3,2,4,5,6
For example, the first instruction must be executed first, but the second or third instruction can be executed second, because the result of the first instruction is required for either the second or third instruction, but neither the second nor the third requires the result of the other. The remainder of each sequence follows the rule that no instruction can be run until its operands (or inputs) are available.
In a multiprocessor computer system with two processors, however, it is possible to perform the six operations in four steps (instead of six) with the first processor computing step 1, followed by both processors simultaneously computing steps 2 and 3, followed by both processors simultaneously steps 4 and 5, and finally either processor computing step 6. This is an improvement over the uniprocessor approach because execution time is reduced.
Data-flow style programming typically yields the most parallelism of various programming modes, but using data-flow programming optimally typically requires programming large parts of the program in that style. Unfortunately, it is generally preferable to program small parts of a program in the data flow format because it is easier to write and easier to maintain the resulting program. It may be desirable to write small modules in the data flow style and then combine them into a large program that appears as if it were written as a single data flow program. Unfortunately, it is difficult to use the easier programming style of creating many small modules and then merge them together into the large single module that is useful for peak performance.
Therefore, a need has long existed for a method and system that overcome the problems noted above and other related problems.

Method and system for merging directed acyclic graphs representing data flow codes


A projection optical system includes first and second optical systems. The first optical system includes a transmissive-refractive element and the second optical system includes a reflective-refractive element. An image formed by a spatial light modulator is projected by the projection optical system on a projection surface. A light beam that travels along an optical path that leads from the second optical system to the projection surface in an optical path between a center of the image formed by the spatial light modulator and the projection surface is projected at an angle with respect to a normal to the projection surface. An optical axis of the first optical system is folded to a folded position by an optical path deflecting unit in an area of the first optical system where the light beam entering the optical path deflecting unit is a converging light beam or a substantially parallel light beam.

Projection-type image display apparatuses are known in which an original image, such as a still image of a letter or a picture, or a moving image, is two-dimensionally formed on a small light valve and then magnified and projected by a projection optical system. The light valve, which may also be referred to as a spatial light modulator, is utilized in technologies such as transmissive liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and Digital Light Processing (DLP) and Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) technologies.
While DLP is currently the most dominant technology in the market place, the LCoS panel is increasing its share because of its superior contrast characteristics and higher optical utilization efficiency than the transmissive LCD panel, and because of its, capability to accommodate the increasing numbers of pixels in the recent years.
Projector-type image display apparatuses include the front-projection type and the rear-projection type. In the front-projection type, an image on the light valve is magnified and projected on a projection surface, such as a reflecting screen, disposed away from the device so that the reflected light can be observed. In the rear-projection type, a transmissive screen is provided within the apparatus as a projection surface, and an image on the light valve is magnified and projected onto the screen from behind it, so that the projected image can be viewed from the front of the screen.
In either type of the image display apparatus, it is desirable to reduce the size of the apparatus. Further, by reducing the distance between the device and the projection surface, it becomes possible to realize a large screen size within the minimum space.
Patent Document 1 indicated below discloses a rear-projection apparatus in which the optical path is folded twice between the light valve and the screen, whereby an original image that is longer vertically on the light valve is projected longer horizontally on the screen.
In this technology, a planar mirror is provided as a first light-deflecting unit disposed in the optical path of a projection lens system in order to deflect the optical path in a direction perpendicular to a base surface. A second light-deflecting unit is disposed in the optical path between the projection lens system and the screen surface in order to deflect the optical path in a direction parallel to the base surface.
Patent Document 2 discloses a projection optical apparatus (oblique projection optical apparatus) having a reduced projection distance. In this technology, an intermediate image of an original image on the light valve is generated by a transmissive-refractive system. The intermediate image is refocused by a concave mirror onto the screen.
Patent Document 3 discloses that the optical path of a light flux emerging from a group of lenses is deflected by a mirror in order to fold the optical axis.
Specifically, the light rays for an image on a panel (spatial light' modulator) are bent by a mirror after passing through an optical system and are further bent by another mirror before they reach a concave mirror, by which the light rays are bent and additionally bent by another mirror before the image is projected on a projection surface.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-347872
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-235516
Patent Document 3: W02006-058884
In the technology of Patent Document 1, the projection lens system extends vertically with respect to the base plate surface due to the first light-deflecting unit. Furthermore, there is the second light-deflecting unit disposed in the optical path between the projection lens system and the screen surface.
In this structure, because the height from the base surface is large, the apparatus would have an increased height if adapted for front-projection purposes.
In the optical system according to Patent Document 2, the thickness of the apparatus as a whole in the up-down direction, when adapted for a front-projection configuration, is obviously dependent on the size (height) of the largest concave mirror. In addition, because the transmissive-refractive optical system as a whole is disposed above the concave mirror, the height of the apparatus is increased all the more.
This problem is neither so conspicuous nor serious when the optical system is used for a rear-projection application and contained in the casing of a rear-projection apparatus. However, when applied in a front-projection apparatus, the size of the apparatus becomes much more noticeable.
Furthermore, the space below the transmissive-refractive optical system provides an extensive dead space extending to the lower edge of the concave mirror. Because the optical system is disposed linearly in the projection direction, the length of the apparatus in the projection direction, i.e., the depth of the apparatus, is large, thus making it difficult to realize a compact projection apparatus (because the optical system needs to be disposed further in the back of the projected image).
While in the technology of Patent Document 3, the optical axis is bent downward by a mirror, because the panel (spatial light modulator) is located below the concave mirror, the height of the set is increased.
Additionally, because the optical path is bent between the projection lens system and the concave mirror, the size of the elements required for the deflection of the optical path increases due to reasons which will be discussed below. The position of the projection light flux as it travels from the projection lens system to the concave mirror is off the optical axis of the projection lens system, which makes the setting of the elements in the optical path deflecting portion difficult.
In order to interpose the elements for folding the optical path, the distance between the projection lens system and the concave mirror needs to be increased. As seen from the drawings of Patent Document 2 illustrating the optical path, the projection light flux from the projection lens to the concave mirror has increasingly greater angles with respect to the optical axis of the lens system as the angle of view increases. As a result, the size of the concave mirror that receives such light fluxes increases as the distance from the lens system increases, so that the cost of the concave mirror also increases in a corresponding manner.
In the technology of Patent Document 3, an intermediate image is located between the projection lens system and the concave mirror, and the optical path is bent near the intermediate image, with the folding mirror disposed where the light fluxes are concentrated. As a result, the quality of the projected image is subject to even a slight error in the shape of the, folding mirror and thus tends to degrade.
An analysis by the present inventors indicates that the optical systems of the type in which an intermediate image is formed, as in Patent Documents 2 and 3, have certain characteristics in the light rays emerging from the projection lens system.
Specifically, the light ray with a large angle of view (i.e., the ray that emerges from a large height of the object) passes through a point close to the edge of a final lens, so that it is guided to the concave mirror with a large output angle.
Due to such features, the size of the final lens or a lens disposed nearby it in the projection lens system tends to increase when the optical path space is extended for the folding.
Furthermore, because the light fluxes from the lens system spread before they are incident on the concave mirror, the size of the concave mirror also tends to increase.
In Patent Documents 1 to 3, the optical path of the light ray that emerges with a large output angle from the projection lens system is bent by a folding mirror.
Such folding of the optical axis invites an increase in the size of the lenses, and prevents a decrease in the size of the apparatus.
When the folding mirror is disposed where light fluxes are focused as mentioned above, the quality of the projected image is subject to even a slight error in the shape of the folding mirror and thus tends to degrade.
Thus, in the aforementioned types of projection optical apparatuses, the decrease in size of the apparatus cannot be achieved simply by folding the optical axis with a folding mirror. It is therefore difficult to prevent a drop in image quality and reduce the size of the apparatus at the same time.
Although FIG. 9 of Patent Document 3, for example, shows a folding mirror folding the optical axis, where the spread of, the light flux is prevented by a lens, the aforementioned problem of the quality of the projected image being subject to even a slight error in the shape of the folding mirror and thus tending to degrade still remains.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Apparatuses, systems, and methods for manufacturing grooved wire are provided. A set of rollers may form grooves on an outermost surface of a wire along an axial distance of the wire. The set of rollers may include a first roller and a second roller. The first and second roller may include groove-fabricating portions aligned circumferentially around a radial face of each of the rollers. The first roller and second roller, via the groove-fabricating portions, may form grooves on the outermost surface of the wire along the axial direction of the wire.

In the metallurgical industry, there is a need for improved apparatuses, systems, and methods for the processing of conventional round wire into alternative, resource-conscious and mechanically viable shapes.
The production of round wire has been a staple in metal manufacturing for centuries. Round wire lends itself advantageously to a spectrum of industries spanning from telecommunications to construction, in part because the symmetric shape exhibits uniform mechanical and electrical properties as the wire is traversed along an axial direction.
However, there is a considerable need for advancement in the apparatuses, systems, and methods dedicated to the manufacture of grooved wire.

Grooved wire and system and method for manufacturing grooved wire


Apparatuses and methods for providing an emergency service in a wireless communication system are provided. The method includes allocating a Connection IDentifier (CID) used to transmit the emergency service message, determining a Convergence Sublayer (CS) type for processing the emergency service message, generating a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message which comprises at least one of the allocated CID and information relating to the determined CS type, and transmitting the generated DCD message to a Mobile Station (MS).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for providing an emergency service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Future communication systems are advancing to providing various high-speed high-capacity services to Mobile Stations (MSs). Examples of future communication systems include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 communication system and the mobile Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system. The mobile WiMAX communication system is based on the IEEE 802.16 communication system, and the IEEE 802.16 communication system corresponds to IEEE 802.16 standard.
An emergency service suggested in the IEEE 802.16 communication system is now described.
In general, the emergency service includes a Wireless Emergency Rescue Service (WERS) and a Wireless Emergency Alert Service (WEAS). The WER and WEA services will be explained individually. In a state of emergency such as a fire or a crime, the WERS locates the MS and supports a safe rescue. The WERS includes a voice call service such as a 911 service. Herein, since the WERS is mostly triggered by the MS, the WERS may be referred to as an MS-triggered emergency service. The WEAS includes a service which supports an emergency notification relating, for example, to weather such as a rainstorm, an impending earthquake, or a tidal wave, to the MS in a particular geographical region. Since the WEAS is triggered by a Base Station (BS) in general, the WEAS may be referred to as a BS-triggered emergency service.
The IEEE 802.16 communication system takes into account only the WEAS and suggests merely the operation of the BS for transmitting information relating to a transmission time of an emergency service message to the MS using a Broadcast Control Pointer Information Element (IE) message of a DownLink (DL)-MAP message. Herein, when the MS, in an idle mode or in a sleep mode, is out of service with the BS, the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message is used for the BS to broadcast transmission times of an Uplink Channel Descriptor (UCD) message, a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) message, a MOBile Neighbor Advertisement (MOB_NBR-ADV) message, and the emergency service message to the MS in advance at a period predefined between the MS and the BS. Upon receiving the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message, the MS wakes up at the corresponding time point indicated by the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message or resumes the service with the BS and thus receives the corresponding UCD and DCD messages, the MOB_NBR-ADV message, and the emergency service message.
Operations of the idle MS in the IEEE 802.16 communication system are explained. The idle MS in the IEEE 802.16 communication system receives a MOBile PAGing ADVertisement (MOB_PAG-ADV) message from the BS in a paging listening interval of a preset paging cycle. Herein, the MOB_PAG-ADV message is transmitted from the BS to the idle MS to control the idle MS to carry out a network entry or a location updating. For example, when having DL data to be sent to the idle MS, for the DL data transmission, the BS may control the idle MS using the MOB_PAG-ADV message to wake up and enter the network or to update the location. Herein, the start point of the paging listening interval of the idle MS may differ according to the paging cycle and the paging offset of the idle MS.
As mentioned above, the emergency service message should be received at all of the sleeping MS, the normal MS, and the idle MS, and the message may be broadcast only once. To receive the emergency service message, the idle MS needs to wake up in the idle mode at the transmission time of the emergency service message from the BS and to wait to receive the emergency service message. However, when there is a plurality of idle MSs, the start points of the paging listening interval of the MSs may differ from each other. Accordingly, to inform the idle MSs which wake up at different time points of the transmission time of the emergency service message at a time, it is necessary to transmit the Broadcast Control Pointer IE messages as many times as the number of different start points of the paging listening intervals. However, since the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message includes a plurality of fields, the transmission of the Broadcast Control Pointer IE messages may cause a waste of resources.
In addition, at the emergency service message transmission time informed by the BS to the idle MS using the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message, the BS may fail to transmit the emergency service message. For instance, according to the scheduling of the BS, the emergency service message may be transmitted in a previous frame or a next frame, rather than the emergency service message transmission time indicated by the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message, that is, rather than the emergency service message transmit frame. In this situation, the idle MS, which wakes up according to the emergency service message transmission time indicated by the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message, may not receive the emergency service message in the corresponding frame. However, the IEEE 802.16e communication system does not provide any operating method when the idle MS may not receive the emergency service message at the emergency service message transmission time point indicated by the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message at all.
As discussed above, for the emergency service, the conventional IEEE 802.16 communication system merely defines the operation of broadcasting the information relating to the transmission time point of the emergency service message by use of the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message. In other words, the IEEE 802.16 communication system does not specify a method for providing the emergency service, except for the use of the Broadcast Control Pointer IE message. Thus, what is needed is an improved method for the emergency service in the IEEE 802.16 communication system.

Apparatuses and methods for providing emergency service in a wireless communication system


To make it possible to easily produce a solenoid for a solenoid valve at low cost by reducing the number of parts and assembling steps. In a solenoid for a solenoid valve, a pole face is formed on an end wall portion of a magnetic case which covers a bobbin around which a coil is wound, thereby allowing the end wall portion to function as a stationary core, an end surface of a moving core inserted in center holes of the bobbin and the magnetic plate is set opposed to the pole face, and the moving core is adsorbed by the end wall portion by energizing the coil.

The present invention relates to a solenoid for a solenoid valve mounted to a solenoid valve for driving a channel-switching valve member.
A solenoid valve 50 previously proposed by the present applicant shown in FIG. 4 comprises a valve portion 51 provided therein with a channel-switching valve member (not shown) and a solenoid portion 52 connected to the valve portion 51 for driving the valve member, and the valve member of the valve portion 51 is pushed by a push rod 60 and opened and closed.
The solenoid portion 52 is structured such that a cylindrical magnetic case 53 is provided at its one end with an opening to which the valve portion 51 is connected, a bobbin 55 having a coil 54 wound around an outer periphery of the bobbin 55, a magnetic plate 59 mounted to an opened end of the magnetic case 53, a stationary core 56 and a moving core 58 inserted into the magnetic plate 59 and the center hole of the bobbin 55 are assembled in the magnetic case 53. The stationary core 56 includes a flange portion 56a, and a core 56b having a pole face 56c. The core 56b is inserted through center holes of the magnetic plate 59 and the bobbin 55. The moving core 58 is slidably inserted into the center hole, one end of the moving core 58 is opposed to the pole face 56c, a cap 61 is press-fitted into the other end projecting from the center hole, the cap 61 is abutted against the push rod 60, and a reference portion of the cap 61 is provided with an abutting portion 61a which moves toward and away from the magnetic plate 59.
The cap 61 is provided at its outer periphery with a flange 61b, a return spring 57 is compressed between the flange 61b and the magnetic plate 59, thereby always biasing the moving core 58 in an abutting direction against the push rod 60, i.e., toward the valve portion 51.
In the solenoid valve 50 having such a structure, if the coil 54 of the solenoid portion 52 is energized, the moving core 58 is adsorbed by the pole face 56c of the stationary core 56 as shown in right half of FIG. 4, an abutting portion 61a of the cap 61 abuts against the magnetic plate 59 and stops. On the other hand, in a non-energized state, the moving core 58 moves away from the pole face 56c by the biasing force of the return spring 57 toward the valve portion 51 as shown in left half of FIG. 4, thereby pushing the magnetic plate 59, and associatively, the valve member is driven.
The solenoid portion 52 has the stationary core 56 of complicated shape comprising the flange portion 56a and the core 56b, but the present inventors made sure that it was unnecessary to especially provide such a stationary core having the complicated shape, and that sufficient magnetic attraction force could be exhibited to drive the moving core by a simple structure in which other member functions as the stationary core. If the solenoid portion is produced by this method, the number of parts can be reduced, the assembling process is simplified, and the producing cost can be reduced.
Thereupon, it is an object of the present invention to provide a solenoid for a solenoid valve capable of reducing the number of parts to simplify the assembling process and to reduce the producing cost by allowing other member to function as a stationary core.
To solve the achieve the above object, the present invention provides a solenoid for a solenoid valve mounted to a solenoid valve for driving a channel-switching valve member, wherein the solenoid comprises a non-magnetic bobbin having a center hole extending in a axial direction of the bobbin and wound around an outer periphery; a magnetic case having a side wall portion covering a side surface of the bobbin and an end wall portion integrally or separately formed on or from the side wall portion for covering one end surface of the bobbin in the axial direction and having substantially uniform thickness; an annular magnetic plate having a center hole coaxially connected to the center hole of the bobbin and connected to the magnetic case on the side of another end surface of the bobbin; and a moving core movably accommodated in the bobbin and the center hole of the magnetic plate; and wherein the end wall portion of the magnetic case also functions as a stationary core, a portion of the end wall portion covering the center hole of the bobbin is provided with a pole face for adsorbing the moving core.
In the present invention, the side wall portion and the end wall portion of the magnetic case may be integrally formed together, and they may have uniform thickness as a whole.
Alternatively, the side wall portion and the end wall portion of the magnetic case may be separately formed from each other and a thickness of the end wall portion may be greater than that of the side wall portion.
Further, an inner surface of the end wall portion of the magnetic case covering one end surface of the bobbin in the axial direction may be flat as a whole, or a portion of the end wall portion of the magnetic case covering the center hole of the bobbin may be provided with a cylindrical recess which is fitted into the center hole.
According to the solenoid of the present invention having the above structure, since a portion of the magnetic case also functions as the stationary core, it is unnecessary to provide a stationary core having the complicated shape unlike the prior art and thus, it is possible to drive the moving core by a stationary core having a simple structure. As a result, when the solenoid portion is produced, it is possible to reduce the number of parts, to simplify the assembling process, and to reduce the producing cost.


A method of operating a fuel system to determine the extent of internal wear of a fuel pump thereof comprises driving the fuel pump, moving a metering valve member to a closed position in which the metering valve bears against a resilient stop, increasing the operating speed of the fuel pump to increase the pressure applied to the metering valve member urging the valve member towards the resilient stop to a point beyond which further movement of the metering valve member occurs, sensing when the further movement of the metering valve member occurs, and sensing the operating speed of the pump at the time when the further movement occurs.

A fuel system for use in the delivery of fuel to an aircraft engine typically comprises a primary constant displacement fuel pump arranged to supply fuel through a metering valve and a pressure raising and shut-off valve to the burners of an engine. A spill valve is arranged to maintain a substantially constant pressure drop across the metering valve by spilling fuel back to the inlet of the fuel pump. In some arrangements, a second pump is arranged to operate in parallel with the aforementioned primary pump to assist the primary pump during high demand phases of the engine operating cycle.
In order to ensure that a fuel pump is serviced or replaced at the optimum time, it is desirable to be able to monitor the extent of internal wear of the fuel pump without requiring the pump to be removed and dismantled.
Techniques are described in EP 1522731, EP 1138933 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,653 whereby the wear status of a fuel pump can be sensed by monitoring of the spill valve operation. However, the arrangements all require special designs of spill valve to be used. As a consequence they are unsuitable for retrofitting into existing fuel systems.

Method and apparatus for determining the extent of internal wear in a fuel pump of a fuel system


In some embodiments, systems and methods provide for assigning networked computer resources to computing tasks, based on, for example, task complexity and/or computer resource workload.

Some types of computing systems are configured to receive and process a plurality of computing tasks (e.g., from different sources). Despite the importance of managing computing tasks in an efficient manner, known methods for allocating computer resources to handle requests to process computing tasks fail to take into account the suitability of different computer resources to handle a given computing task and/or fail to efficiently allocate sub-tasks of a given computing task.

Systems and methods for dynamically allocating computing tasks to computer resources in a distributed processing environment


An adaptive array apparatus (100) that has a weight converge on an optimal value is provided. The adaptive array apparatus repeatedly adjusts the weight using predetermined calculations so as to minimize a difference between a desired signal and a combined signal which has been weighted with the weight. A parameter control unit (71) judges whether an adjusted weight is located closer to an optimal value than a reference value, and according to the judgment result, changes a step size which is used in the predetermined calculations performed by a reception weight calculating unit (72), to determine the extent to which the weight should be adjusted. With this construction, the adaptive array apparatus can increase convergence stability and speed in calculating a weight, and the weight converges on an optimal value.

With the recent increase in the number of subscribers for mobile communication services, the expansion of the capacity of cells covered by each wireless base station has been demanded. One of the multiple access technologies that will help solve this problem is a technology called Space Division Multiple Access, or "SDMA" for short.
SDMA is a method used by a wireless base station to communicate with each of a plurality of mobile stations at the same timeslot and frequency, by dividing a communication space. The division of the communication space is realized when the wireless base station forms an optimum directivity pattern separately for each individual mobile station. A directivity pattern shows the direction in which signals are transmitted or received, and the intensity at which those signals are transmitted or received.
The wireless base station is equipped with an adaptive array apparatus as a device for forming directivity patterns. The adaptive array apparatus is chiefly composed of a plurality of antennas and a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), and forms any directivity patterns freely by weighting with particular values the amplitude and phase of each signal transmitted or received by each antenna. The adaptive array apparatus then performs transmission and reception of signals using the formed patterns. Hereafter, a value used for weighting is referred to as a weight signal, and a set of weight signals for forming a directivity pattern is referred to as a weight vector.
The adaptive array apparatus forms an optimal directivity pattern for a mobile station, by tracking the movements of the mobile station, which sends signals in a direction unforeknown to the adaptive array apparatus. One of the principles on which the adaptive array apparatus operates is MMSE (Minimum Mean Square Error). MMSE requires reference signals. A reference signal serves as a target when weighting received signals and combining them to produce a signal. An adaptive array apparatus that uses MMSE determines a weight vector so as to minimize a difference between the reference signal and the combined signal. Using such a weight vector creates a directivity pattern which is optimal for receiving signals from the mobile station.
In TDMA/TDD (Time Division Multiple Access/Time Division Duplex), which is another multiple access technique, each timeslot includes predetermined bit patterns such as a preamble and a unique word at the top and a payload in the following section.
This means that when a combination of SDMA, MMSE and TDMA/TDD is used in communication, the adaptive array apparatus can use the preamble, the unique word and the like as reference signals.
In more detail, the adaptive array apparatus sets a certain weight vector as an initial value, and compares a reference signal, such as a preamble and a unique word, with a signal that is obtained by weighting using the weight vector. In order to minimize the difference between them, the adaptive array apparatus adjusts the value of the weight vector. By repeating such processing for a bit pattern in symbol units, the weight vector converges on a certain value after a period of time. Following this, signals of the payload is weighted by the converged weight vector and then extracted. After receiving the predetermined bit pattern such as the preamble and the unique word, the adaptive array apparatus identifies the extracted signals and uses them as reference signals on the premise that the identification is correct.
However, the conventional adaptive array apparatus described above has problems in that a weight vector converges slowly and unstably. Here, converging unstable means that the value of a weight vector fluctuates and does not settle at a certain value. Converging slowly means that it takes long from the setting of an initial value of a weight vector to the convergence of the weight vector.
One reason is that in an algorithm of calculating weight vectors, stability in convergence is an element opposing to convergence speed. Therefore, it is difficult to improve both of them. For instance, in LMS (Least Mean Square), a typical algorithm for MMSE, increasing the speed of convergence leads to deterioration in convergence stability, whereas an improvement in stability slows the convergence.
Another reason is associated with the way of setting an initial value of a weight vector. Since the initial value is fixed in the conventional adaptive array apparatus, it takes long for the weight vector value to converge on an optimal value. In fact, in many cases weight vectors cannot converge sufficiently.
FIGS. 6A and 6B show difference curves. In the actual fact, a weight vector is multidimensional and so the difference curve has a curved surface in a multidimensional space, though the weight vector is illustrated as a one-dimensional vector here for the sake of convenience. In LMS algorithm and RLS (Recursive Least-Squares) algorithm which is also used for MMSE, the weight vector is adjusted consecutively in a direction that decreases the value of the difference curve.
As shown in FIG. 6A, it does not take long for an initial value Winit (A) to converge on an optimal value Wopt, as it is close to Wopt. In contrast, it takes long for an initial value Winit (B) to converge, as it is not close to Wopt. If only a single fixed initial value is used, it takes long for the initial value to converge, as it is not close to an optimal value.
If a weight vector calculated from the preceding symbol is set as an initial value, however, there is a high probability of the weight vector value being a local minimum value, because it is the point where the weight vector has finally settled as a result of an adjustment to minimize the difference.
As shown in FIG. 6B, it is known by experience that Winit may be a local minimum value due to noise or other factors. In that case, it is impossible for the weight vector value to pass a peak and converge on an optimal value Wopt which is a general minimum value.
The use of RLS can increase convergence speed, but when an error exists in signals at the beginning, the error is aggravated with successive calculations. This means that if there is a major error in a weight vector calculated from the last symbol, there is a danger that a totally wrong weight vector may be produced in the following reception period.

Adaptive array device, adaptive array method and program


A new class of supermicroporous mixed oxides, with pore sizes in the 10-20 Å range has been prepared utilizing basic metal acetates. The reactions are carried out in non-aqueous solvent media to which an excess of amine is added. Hydrolysis of the reagents is effected by addition of a water-propanol mixture and refluxing. The amine and solvent are removed by thorough washing and/or calcining at temperatures as low as 200° C. Mixtures of transition metal oxides with either ZrO2, TiO2, La2O3, SiO2, Al2O3 or mixtures thereof were prepared. The surface area curves of the pure oxides are Type I with surface areas of 400-600 m2/g and up to 1100 m2/g for the mixed oxides.

Zeolites are heavily used commercial products as ion exchangers, catalysts, and in separations technology. Their useful pore sizes are limited to 10 Å or less. In the past decade, many metal oxides have been prepared with pore sizes in the 20-200 Å range as seen in C. T. Kresge, et al., "Ordered Mesoporous Molecular Sieves Synthesized by a Liquid Crystal Template Mechanism", Nature, Vol. 359, 710-712 (1992) and J. S. Beck, et al., "A New Family of Mesoporous Molecular Sieves Prepared with Liquid Crystal Templates", J. Am. Chem. Soc. Vol. 114, 10834-10843, (1992). Several very specific cases with materials exhibiting pores 13-17 Å were demonstrated by Y. Ying et al. (please see T. Sun, et al., "Synthesis of Microporous Transition Metal Oxide Molecular Sieves with Bifunctional Templating Molecules," Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 664-667, 1998; T. Sun, et al., "Synthesis of Amorphous, Microporous Silica with Adamantanamine as a Templating Agent," Chem. Commun., pp. 2057-2058, 2000; and M. Wong, et al., "Supramolecular-Templated Synthesis of Nanoporous Zirconia-Silica Catalysts," Chem. Mater., Vol. 14, No. 5, pp. 1961-1973, 2002, (published on Web Apr. 3, 2002). There is thus a gap between the two where very few materials have pore sizes in the 10-20 Å range.
Almost all microporous and mesoporous materials are made in aqueous media using amine or surfactant templates. Generally, the template is removed by heating to 500-550° C.
Intense research activity in the synthesis, structural elucidation and properties of mesoporous materials has resulted from the discovery of MCM-41 type mesoporous molecular sieves, Kresge, et al. and Beck, et al., id. and Q. Huo, et al., "Organization of Organic Molecules with Inorganic Molecular Species into Nanocomposite Biphase Arrays", Chem. Mater. Vol. 6, 1176-1191 (1994). By using surfactants with moderately long alkyl chain lengths, pores in the 20-50 Å range are routinely obtained. As noted, the most common preparative procedures involve the use of cationic or anionic surfactants and oppositely charged inorganic precursors, designated S+I− or S−I+, respectively where S represents the surfactant and I the inorganic species, Huo, et al., id. A second pathway involves the use of neutral amine surfactants (S°) or nonionic polyoxyethylene surfactants (N°) with neutral inorganic precursors (I°) through hydrogen bonding at the interface of the pairs, as seen in P. T. Tanev, et al., "Mesoporous Molecular Sieves Prepared by Ionic and Neutral Surfactant Templating", Chem. Mater. Vol. 8, 2068-2079 (1996). Following these pioneering studies in the silica system mesoporous oxides of a large number of metals were prepared, F. Schüth, "Non-Siliceous Mesostructured and Microporous Materials", Chem. Mater. Vol. 13, 3184-3195 (2001) and Q. Huo, et al., "Generalized Synthesis of Periodic Surfactant/Inorganic Composite Materials", Nature, Vol. 368, 317 (1994). These oxides are generally not as thermally stable as the silica based products; collapse of the pore structure in many cases occurring at temperatures required for removal of the template. Titania and zirconia are special cases where the stability may be preserved to 550° C. by phosphate additions. The well known zeolites are more highly crystalline than the mesoporous materials but are limited in useful pore size to about 10 Å. A family of inorganic-organic hybrids with pores in the desired range was recently prepared, as noted by A. Clearfield and Z. Wang in J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 2002, pp. 2937-2947 (2002) and Z. Wang, J. Heising and A. Clearfield in J. Am. Chem. Soc. Vol. 125, pp. 10375-10383 (2003). These were zirconium phosphonates containing biphenyl groups. The phenyl rings can be sulfonated to produce very strong Bronsted acid catalysts.
Thus, it would be desirable if a way to produce supermicroporous metal oxides having pore sizes in the 10-20 Å range.