This invention provides a modified catheter/indwelling device biomaterial that provides both immediate, and long-term microbiocidal effects on otherwise antibiotic-resistant strains of microorganisms. The material, which exhibits good mechanical performance characteristics for medical devices, is composed of a hydrophobic polyurethane (PU), a hydrophilic polyethylene vinyl acetate (PEVA) as an option, a soluble silver salt and a sparsely-soluble silver salt. The hydrophobic polyurethane provides the good physical properties, the PEVA the hydrophilicity necessary to allow some water ingress into the catheter, the soluble silver salt for an immediate burst effect, and the sparsely-soluble silver salt for sustained-release over many months postimplantation. Alternatively, the sparsely soluble silver salt can be silver iodate and is combined with silver sulfadiazine. Chlorhexidine can also be included in the material.

Catheters play critical roles in the administration of chemotherapy, antibiotics, blood, blood products and total parenteral nutrition essential for the successful treatment of many chronic afflictions. Recent advances in catheter technology have enabled their explosive growth in nephrology (hemodialysis catheters) and inpatient interventions (peripherally inserted catheters).
Unfortunately, the hydrophobic catheter surface has a very high potential of allowing microbial colonization that lead to serious and often life-threatening complications, particularly nosocomial infections. To counter this risk, catheter insertion sites are maintained scrupulously clean, which, while reducing the probability of infection cannot completely eliminate infections that significantly increase patient morbidity and mortality. Current treatments to prevent catheter-related infections rely primarily on the use of antimicrobial loaded coatings. However, the tradeoffs between thin and thick coatings severely limits the performance of these powerful coatings, since thin coatings only have limited antibacterial life, while thick coatings may last longer, but are far more susceptible to cracking, peeling and flaking-off.
Many approaches have been studied to reduce the incidence of bacterial infections associated with the use of indwelling catheters and trans-dermal implanted devices, but none have met with more than success for limited periods of time. Such infections include nosocomial infections, which are those resulting from treatment in a hospital or a healthcare service unit, but secondary to the patient's original condition. Infections are considered nosocomial if they first appear 48 hours or more after hospital admission or within 30 days after discharge. By way of background, the term "nosocomial" derives from the Greek word nosokomeion (νoσoκoμε{acute over (ι)}oν) meaning hospital (nosos=disease, komeo=to take care of).
Nosocomial infections are even more alarming in the 21st century as antibiotic resistance spreads. Reasons why nosocomial infections are so common include:
Catheter insertions bypass the body's natural protective barriers;
Hospitals house large numbers of people who are sick and whose immune systems are often in a weakened state;
Increased use of outpatient treatment means that people who are in the hospital are sicker on average; and
Routine use of anti-microbial agents in hospitals creates selection pressure for the emergence of resistant strains.
In the United States, it has been estimated that as many as one hospital patient in ten acquires a nosocomial infection, or 2 million patients per year. Estimates of the annual systemic cost resulting from such infections range from $4.5 billion to $11 billion. Nosocomial infections contributed to 88,000 deaths in the U.S. in 1995.
The risk of contracting an infection in a clinical setting is increasing every year, and the types and virulent nature of such infections continues to rise. Due, in part to the loosening of import restrictions into the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as well as widespread international air travel, eco-tourism to exotic third-world forests and islands, and massive migration of third-world peoples to Europe and America, hosts of exotic diseases that were once isolated to small areas of the planet are now finding their way into U.S. and European hospitals. Eradicated for almost a century, malaria is once again returning to the U.S. and the exotic and deadly Ebola virus has broken out in a lab in Maryland. Shigella (which causes dysentery) was practically unheard of in America before 1990, but it is now being spread from contaminated fruits and vegetables imported into the U.S. under the auspice of the NAFTA treaty, and is now routinely seen at clinics in California.
Of potentially greater concern is that many common strains of microorganisms have become increasingly resistant to a wide range of antibiotics (due to incomplete kills and simple natural selection). Many strains must be treated with one or two "last-resort" antibiotics and new compounds must be continually developed to combat these evolving strains. By way of example, some common (and dangerous) germs such as Staph aureus (found especially in hospitals) are now known to be resistant to all but one antibiotic-vancomycin—and soon are expected to be vancomycin-resistant as well. According to the Centers for Disease control, in 1992, 13,300 hospital patients died [in the U.S.] of bacterial infections that resisted the antibiotics administered to fight them.
Generally, antibacterial agents inhibit or kill bacterial cells by attacking one of the bacterium's structures or processes. Common targets are the bacterium's outer shell (called the "cell wall") and the bacterium's intracellular processes that normally help the bacterium grow and reproduce. However, since a particular antibiotic typically attacks one or a limited number of cellular targets, any bacteria with a resistance to that antibiotic's killing mechanism could potentially survive and repopulate the bacterial colony. Over time, these bacteria could make resistance or immunity to this antibiotic widespread.
Silver, platinum and gold, which are elements of the noble metals group, have long been known to have medicinal properties. For example, platinum is the primary active ingredient in cisplatin, a prominent cancer drug. Similarly, gold is the active agent in some treatments for rheumatoid arthritis. More particularly, unlike its heavy metal counterparts, silver (atomic symbol Ag) with atomic element number 47 and an atomic weight of 108, is surprisingly non-toxic to humans and animals, and has a long history of successful medical and public health use dating back 6000 years. Also, unlike antibiotics, silver has been shown to simultaneously attack several targets in the bacterial cell and therefore it is less likely that bacteria would become resistant to all of these killing mechanisms and create a new silver-resistant strain of bacteria. This may be the reason that bacterial resistance to silver has not been widely observed despite its centuries-long use. This can be particularly important in hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare institutions where patients are at risk of developing infections.
By way of further background, from 1900 to the beginning of the modern antibiotic era—circa 1940 with the introduction of sulfa drugs—silver and its ionic and colloidal compounds (silver nitrate, for example) was one of the mainstays of medical practice in Europe and America. Various forms of silver were used to treat literally hundreds of ailments: lung infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and pleurisy; sexual diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis; skin conditions such as cuts, wounds, leg ulcers, pustular eczema, impetigo and boils; acute meningitis and epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis; infectious diseases such as Mediterranean fever, erysipelas, cystitis, typhus, typhoid fever, and tonsillitis; eye disorders such as dacryocystitis, corneal ulcers, conjunctivitis and blepharitis; and various forms of septicemia, including puerperal fever, peritonitis and post-abortion septicemia. An even larger list of the published medical uses for silver in Europe and America exists between 1900-1940.
Sparsely-soluble silver salts are composed of large microcrystals, usually several microns in diameter or greater. These microcrystals dissolve extremely slowly, thereby limiting the rate and amount of silver ion released over time. By converting the salt's microscaled structure into an atomically nanoscaled structure, it tremendously increases the surface area, thus enhancing silver ion release and efficacy characteristics and thereby making it a more potent antimicrobial agent.
The provision of silver in a releasable form for use in an anti-microbial application is discussed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,936, entitled TEXTILES HAVING A WASH-DURABLE SILVER-ION BASED ANTIMICROBIAL TOPICAL TREATMENT, by David E. Green, et al., the teachings of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. This patent provided a coating of an anti-microbial silver-salt-based treatment to fabric threads to resist the build-up of bacteria on a fabric. While this approach may be effective for fabrics, it and other silver-based solutions have certain drawbacks when applied to catheters and other invasive devices. First, when a coating is applied, for example to the lumen or exterior of a catheter, it changes the diameter of that catheter. The insertion of a guidewire, syringe tip or other close-conforming structure will tend to abrade the anti-microbial coating, again exposing the underlying, unprotected surface of the catheter/device. In addition these coatings are either designed to last long term, with very few silver atoms/ions released to the environment by the use of sparingly soluble silver compounds, or release all of their exposed soluble silver salt very quickly. This is because they are not adapted to exist within an implanted environment, where there is a constant source of new bacterial infiltration via the open wound channel. Also, because the coatings are relatively thin, they exhaust the available supply of silver salt (which is exposed at the coating surface) in a relatively short time.
It is, thus, desirable to provide a structural polymer, for which the implanted and exposed portion of the device is constructed, that contains the anti-microbial silver compound as an integrated part of its composition. However, the creation of a structural material that contains an embedded supply of silver is not trivial. The embedded silver may either release too slowly, or not at all if the material is not sufficiently hydrophilic. A hydrophilic material allows the needed ion exchange via interaction of the material with adjacent bodily fluids/water. Absent infiltration of water, deeper embedded silver will never have the chance to release, and only the material's surface silver is released. However, if the material is too hydrophilic, it may not exhibit the necessary structural strength to act as an invasive or implanted device or the material may undesirably swell as it absorbs bodily fluids causing the device to fall outside needed size tolerances. It is also not trivial to provide a material with the proper degree of hydrophilicity, while maintaining desired structural characteristics, and releasing silver at a desired rate. This goal typically calls for a polymer blend, and most polymers do not blend well—if at all. Adding a silver-containing compound only complicates the blending. Moreover, while some silver compounds may be blendable, industry often desires that the resulting device be clear or translucent and typically uncolored. Many silver containing compounds exhibit dark and/or undesired colors upon heating or exposure to light.
The challenge of developing a structural polymer is further complicated by a desired to quickly treat any existing infections or the large initial introduction of bacteria when inserting a device with a large, short-time-released dose of silver, and then providing a lower, continuing dose to ward off any re-infection. Accordingly it is desirable to provide a silver-compound-containing material that satisfies all of these often-competing goals.

Antimicrobial material and method for making the same


Systems and methods applicable in the context of the TCP/IP suite of protocols explicitly are provided which allow for separate and preferential treatment of L4-L7 control packets compared to the treatment of L7 data packets. This provides a performance gain at the cost of providing such preferential treatment for high error and long delay channels such as wireless links. Advantageously, channel utilization may be increased, for example by 5-50% depending on link conditions, on high error and long delay transmission links. More generally the invention distinguishes between control packets such as transport layer (for example, TCP, OSI Layer 4 or L4) and application layer (for example, OSI Layer 7) control packets and data packets, and transmits the control packets with higher reliability and lower delays. The benefit may be significant for IP applications where data objects transferred are small and are bursty, e.g., Web browsing and e-mail access.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for improving channel utilization, for example channel utilization by IP (Internet Protocol) applications running over a wireless link.
Control messages in IP based transport (e.g., L4 TCP (transport control protocol) messages) and upper layers (L5-L7) are carried in the same way as L7 data packets with the same delay and error characteristics, where L4, L5, L6 and L7 refer to the OSI model""s transport, session, presentation and application layers respectively. This is in contrast to how other communications protocols afford minimum delay and high reliability transport to control messages. For example, in most wireless communications standards (such as CDMA2000) separate paths are provided for control signaling that have low error rates and low delay compared with the path used for non-control data.
To obtain optimal performance, all IP packets should be carried over a channel with minimum error and delay. However, this is unrealistic in many situations. For example, for wireless transmission, there is a minimum (still long) delay of approximately 100 ms. Additionally, the cost is high in terms of radio resources to reduce transmission errors and to increase the bit rate of data transfer (principally through increasing transmission power).
In each IP flow there can be defined three subclasses of packets. The first class consists of all TCP control packets, also referred to as L4 control packets. The second class consists of all control packets above TCP, for example control packets in L5 to L7. These will be referred to as xe2x80x9cupper layer control packetsxe2x80x9d. The third class consists of application layer data packets, also referred to as L7 data packets. The first and second classes can be combined and referred to collectively simply as xe2x80x9ccontrol packetsxe2x80x9d. The control packets are usually transported between two end-hosts in a stop-and-wait manner meaning that if a control packet is lost or delayed the operations of the application stop until the control packet arrives correctly or is retransmitted. For this reason, the loss or delay of a control packet will have a much more significant impact on the overall performance of many IP applications than the loss or delay of a data packet.
For many IP applications, e.g., Web browsing and e-mail access, it is found that there is a significant difference in the utilization of a transmission channel depending upon factors such as delay and error rate. Referring to FIG. 1, curve 10 is a plot of the channel utilization as a function of increasing channel rate for a first channel with a high error rate, long delay, and additional variable delays due to L2 (layer 2) retransmissions required to deal with the errors. Curve 12 is a plot of the channel utilization as a function of increasing channel rate for a second channel with a low error rate and the same long delay but without the additional retransmission delays. The utilization of the second channel is much higher than is the utilization of the first channel.
Many IP applications, e.g., Web browsing, exhibit a behaviour that may be characterized as burst data transfer. They usually transport a small burst of data in one complete (e.g., TCP) session. Usually the data objects transferred are so small that they can be completed within the first (few) round trip times.
For each data object the application may proceed through (e.g., TCP) connection set-up, data transfer, and connection termination phases. The control packet interactions which dominate the complete session have the above mentioned stop-and-wait behaviour. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate this stop-and-wait behaviour in the context of a single TCP session of HTTP1.0 Web page retrieval where control message flow between a sender 20 and a receiver 22 is shown during connection setup and data transfer respectively. The behaviour during connection termination is similar. First, during TCP connection set-up, a L4 control packet (e.g., a SYN 24) is sent from one of the end-hosts (the receiver 22 of data), it is received by the other host (sender 20). The sender 20 waits during the transmission of the packet until it arrives. It ends a response packet (e.g., a reply SYN/ACK 26). Between the transmission of SYN 24 and the receipt of SYN 26, the receiver 22 stops and waits. Then the receiver 22 replies with message 28 to confirm the connection. During connection set-up and termination, almost all the (TCP layer control) packets are exchanged in the stop-and-wait manner.
During data transfer, the receiver 22 sends a HTTP xe2x80x9cGetxe2x80x9d (L7 control) packet 30 and the sender 20 replies with the requested data packets 32 in response. If the data transfer phase of the TCP session is still in slow-start, then data packets will also exhibit this stop-and-wait behaviour. As the TCP congestion window opens up more the degree of this stop-and-wait decreases gradually. If TCP is in the stable state, in response to each xe2x80x9cGetxe2x80x9d message, it is likely all the data packets for a particular Web page data entity will be released onto the transmission channel. The receiver 22 responds with ACKs 34 the last of which contains the L4 control message FIN.
In the examples of FIGS. 2A and 2B, the SYN 24, 26, 28 and ACK 34 packets are L4 control packets. xe2x80x9cGetxe2x80x9d 30 is a L7 control packet. When any of the control packets are disrupted, the interaction of the protocol is either stopped (for a packet loss) or delayed (for the amount of actual delay). This reduces the efficiency of the data transmission, and results in lower utilization of a transmission channel as everything stands still. For burst data transfer, because the stop-and-wait behavior dominates, the reduction in utilization is steep.
To different degrees, all IP applications have this stop-and-wait behaviour in their protocol interaction as a result of control packets which have to be exchanged between two end-hosts. This behaviour is very dominant in burst data transfer, e.g., POP3 (small e-mail), SMPT (small e-mail), and HTTP 1.0 (small Web browsing). It is slightly less so in HTTP 1.1. It is not a big problem for bulk data transfer, e.g., FTP. The long delays of wireless channels exacerbate the problem.
An embodiment of the invention applicable in the context of the TCP/IP suite of protocols explicitly provides separate and preferential treatment of L4-L7 control packets compared to the treatment of L7 data packets. It provides a performance gain at the cost of providing such preferential treatment for high error and long delay channels such as wireless links. Advantageously, channel utilization may be increased, for example by 5-50% depending on link conditions, on high error and long delay transmission links.
More generally the invention distinguishes between control packets such as transport layer (for example, TCP, OSI Layer 4 or L4) and application layer (for example, OSI Layer 7) control packets and data packets, and transmits the control packets with higher reliability and lower delays. In this way, the overall data transmission can be faster and more efficient as measured by the increase in the utilization of a transmission channel. This benefit may be significant for IP applications where data objects transferred are small and are bursty, e.g., Web browsing and e-mail access.
The invention is particularly applicable in high-speed wireless data transmission. In this environment, the one-way delay can be long (e.g., 100 ms). Physical layer transmission error rates are high (e.g., 10%) in order to preserve radio resources. Additional delays (e.g., 200-400 ms) are introduced by link layer retransmissions in order to compensate for the high physical layer error rate. Additional resources are required to transmit control packets reliably and with low delay, as they are typically small packets. At the same time, a significant gain in channel utilization is obtained as the interruption to data transmission is reduced. Advantageously the invention applied in this context addresses one of the major problems in high-speed wireless communications, this being the under-utilization of radio channels, for many IP applications. These channels are scarce resources as they are fundamentally limited by the available radio spectrum.
Advantageously no modification to the TCP/IP protocol layers at either end are required.
The packets can be classified as control or data packets on the basis of packet length. More generally, an embodiment of the invention provides a method of classifying a packet into one of a plurality of types by determining the packet""s length, and then classifying the packet into one of the types as a function of the packet""s length.
Advantageously, this method is processing efficient, and does not require the examination of the contents of individual packets, although such examination may enhance performance further.

Method and apparatus for improving channel utilization


A method for assembling a wheel bearing apparatus includes disposing a positioning jig such that a lateral face of the positioning jig on one side in an axial direction contacts a lateral face of a hub flange on a side of a slinger, the positioning jig having a ring shape separated into a plurality of partial portions arranged in a circumferential direction, a width of the positioning jig in the axial direction being equal to a distance between a lateral face of a disc portion on a side of the hub flange and a lateral face of the hub flange on the side of the slinger, the distance being set to obtain an appropriate interference; and attaching the slinger such that the lateral face of the disc portion on the side of the hub flange contacts a lateral face of the positioning jig on another side in the axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for assembling a wheel bearing apparatus used in a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
In a wheel bearing apparatus used in a vehicle such as an automobile, lubricant such as grease is provided in bearing inner space between an outer ring member and an inner ring member. In the case where muddy water or foreign matter intrudes into the bearing inner space, the degradation of grease, the formation of the rust of components, and reduction in the service life of bearing are caused. Therefore, in order to prevent the grease from leaking from the bearing inner space and prevent muddy water or foreign matter from intruding into the bearing inner space from an outside, the wheel bearing apparatus is provided with a sealing unit.
As a sealing unit for a wheel bearing apparatus, a hub seal commonly called a pack seal has been known. The hub seal includes a sealing member and a slinger. The sealing member is fixed at an opening at the end of the outer ring member. The sealing member includes at least two sealing lips including a side lip and a radial lip. The slinger is fixed to the slinger fitting face of the inner ring member. The slinger has an L-shaped section, and includes a cylindrical portion and a flat-plate portion (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-291485 (JP 2005-291485 A)).
The side lip of the hub seal is in slide contact with the lateral face of the flat-plate portion of the slinger on the side of the bearing inner space, while the radial lip of the hub seal is slide contact with the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion of the slinger. The sealing member and the slinger are attached at the opening of the bearing inner space between the outer ring member and the inner ring member such that the end of the sealing member on a side opposite to the bearing inner space and the lateral face of the slinger on the side opposite to the bearing inner space are pressed at the same time.
Generally, in the hub seal, the interference between the side lip and the lateral face of the flat-plate portion of the slinger on the side of the bearing inner space is set such that the interference is an appropriate value when the end of the sealing member on the side opposite to the bearing inner space and the lateral face of the slinger on the side opposite to the bearing inner space are arranged on the same plane.
As a wheel bearing apparatus, a wheel bearing apparatus of a third-generation unit type including an attachment flange that is attached to a vehicle body and that is disposed on the vehicle inboard side of an outer ring member and including a wheel attachment hub flange disposed on the vehicle outboard side of a hub spindle serving as an inner ring member has been known. When the above-described hub seal is attached at an opening on the vehicle outboard side of the bearing inner space of the wheel bearing apparatus of the third-generation unit type, it is not possible to press the sealing member and the slinger from the vehicle outboard side at the same time to attach the sealing member and the slinger (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-127243 (JP 2007-127243 A)).
In the step of assembling the hub seal attached to the vehicle outboard side of the wheel bearing apparatus of the third-generation unit type, the slinger is attached to the hub spindle in advance separately from the sealing member. However, in a structure in which the hub spindle has no means for restricting the position of the slinger in an axial direction, it is difficult to fix the slinger at an accurate position on the hub spindle in the axial direction. Therefore, an interference in the axial direction between the side lip and the slinger may be excessive or insufficient in the hub seal, and as a result, the sealing unit of the wheel bearing apparatus may not have sufficient sealing performance.

Method for assembling wheel bearing apparatus


One or more embodiments of the present disclosure relates to a method and/or system for classifying and/or treating heart rhythms. The present disclosure involves sensing electrical signals associated with depolarizations of a patient's heart. The sensed electrical signals are converted to digital values and storing the digital values. Normalizing solely a maximum and a minimum value of the stored digital values associated with a depolarization of the patient's heart without normalizing other stored digital values of the depolarization is another aspect of the present disclosure. The maximum and minimum values associated with the depolarization are compared to maximum and minimum values associated with a template derived from signals indicative of a heart depolarization of known type. A determination is made as to whether a match exists between the maximum and minimum values associated with the depolarization to the maximum and minimum values associated with a template.

While implantable ICDs frequently deliver life saving therapy, occasionally an unnecessary electrical shock can be delivered to a patient's heart in response to rapid heart rates caused by exercise (e.g. sinus tachycardia) or by atrial fibrillation. Such rhythms, known collectively as supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs), may occur in up to 30% of ICD patients.
Anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP), a painless therapy, can be used to substantially terminate many monomorphic VTs without delivering unnecessary electrical shocks. While ATP is painless, ATP may not deliver effective therapy for all types of VTs. For example, ATP may not be as effective for polymorphic VTs, which is a fast rhythm (VTs) with variable morphologies. Polymorphic VTs and ventricular fibrillation (VFs) can be more lethal and require expeditious treatment by shock. The morphology of the QRS complex in the electrogram (EGM) signal may be used to discriminate a SVT episode from a VT episode or a monomorphic VT episode from a polymorphic VT or VF episode. Polymorphic VT and VF episodes have similar EGM morphology characteristics, and thus will be referred to interchangeably in this application. In the first case, the EGM morphology of each beat of an episode is compared to the morphology of a sample waveform recorded from the normal heartbeat, typically referred to as the template. In the second case, the morphology of each beat of a VT episode may be compared to that of one or more different beats from the same episode, which serve(s) as the template(s). One morphological method to discriminate between an episode beat and a template beat based on wavelet comparison. A template beat is either a normal beat or another beat from the same episode. An exemplary wavelet comparison method may be seen with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 6,393,316 issued May 21, 2002, and assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure. Generally, the wavelet comparison method involves aligning the EGM signal with the template signal based on certain characteristics (eg. peaks or valleys), transforming the digitized signal into signal wavelet coefficients, then identifying higher amplitude digitized signals of the signal wavelet coefficients. Thereafter, a match metric is generated that corresponds to the higher amplitude digitized signals of the signal wavelet coefficients. A corresponding set of template wavelet coefficients is derived from signals indicative of a heart depolarization of known type.
While the wavelet comparison method successfully eliminates or substantially reduces unnecessary electrical shocks delivered to a patient's heart, the wavelet comparison method requires shifting and alignment of the episode beat to the template beat for accurate morphologic discrimination. Shifting and alignment of the episode beat to the template beat may be computationally expensive, especially for monomorphic versus polymorphic VT discrimination in which more than one template beats derived from the same episode may be needed for comparison. Other template matching methods known in the art such as correlation, area of difference, etc. that could be used in place of the wavelet method are also computationally expensive. Thus, it may be beneficial to develop additional or alternative methods that are able to distinguish SVT from VT or monomorphic VT from polymorphic VT.

Morphology-based precursor to template matching comparison


To provide an electromagnetic bad driving device capable of performing failure diagnosis of a relay more frequently. The electromagnetic bad driving device according to the present invention, interrupts the relay while an electromagnetic induction bad is under control, and diagnoses the relay on the basis of a surge voltage occurring at the interruption.

Conventionally, an electromagnetic load driving device that drives an electromagnetic induction load, includes a switching element (e.g., relay element) that interrupts an energizing current supplied to the electromagnetic induction load. A failure of a relay disables load control from continuing normally, and thus the electromagnetic load driving device typically performs failure diagnosis to the relay.
PTL 1 discloses the following technique for "enabling, in an inductive load driving device including two switching elements provided in series on an energizing path, an on-failure of each switching element to be detected even during energizing control". "In energization-zero control in which a target current is zero (S140: NO) during normal control with a configuration including a duty driving transistor T10 provided on the upstream side of a linear solenoid and a fail-safe transistor T20 provided on the downstream side of the linear solenoid, the duty driving transistor T10 continues duty driving in arbitrary duty cycle and the fail-safe transistor T20 turns off, to make the energization zero (S260), instead of making the duty cycle of the duty driving transistor T10 zero to make the energization zero. If an energizing current is not zero at this time, it is determined that the fail-safe transistor T20 has on-failed (S300) (refer to abstract)."

Electromagnetic load drive device and in-vehicle control system


An image forming apparatus having: an endless fixing belt; a heating member heating the fixing belt; a support member maintaining the fixing belt substantially circular; a pressing member in contact with the fixing belt to form a fixing nip portion; a temperature sensor; a position detector; a storage storing temperatures and positions of the fixing belt detected by the temperature sensor and the position detector; and a control unit. The control unit is operable in a characteristic storing mode and in a fixing mode. In the characteristic storing mode, temperatures of the fixing belt associated with positions are detected, and the detected temperatures and positions are stored in the storage. In the fixing mode, temperatures of the fixing nip portion are predicted with reference to the temperatures and positions stored in the storage, and the heating member is controlled such that the predicted temperatures become a target temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a copying machine or the like, that transfers a toner image on a sheet and fixes the toner image on the sheet by heat.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, generally, a sheet with a toner image transferred thereon is fed to a fixing nip portion between a fixing roller and a pressure roller. At the fixing nip portion, heat is applied to the sheet such that the toner image thereon can be fixed on the sheet. It is necessary that the fixing nip portion is maintained at a predetermined temperature. As a method of predicting the temperature of the fixing nip portion, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-311750 suggests that the temperature upstream of the fixing nip portion is predicted by use of two temperature sensors, or by use of one temperature sensor and on the basis of the thermophysical property of the fixing roller.
Recently, a fixing device using an endless fixing belt made by extrusion of resin, which permits costless mass production, instead of a fixing roller has been put into practical use. Such a fixing belt has fluctuation in thickness (size in the diameterical direction) for manufacturing reasons. Accordingly, when the fixing belt is heated by a constant amount of energy, the fixing belt fluctuates in temperature depending on the position along the circumferential direction. Therefore, the temperature detection result obtained by monitoring of the temperature of a portion other than the fixing nip portion by use of a temperature sensor may be different from the temperature of the fixing nip portion. The fixing nip portion is an area nipped between the fixing belt and a pressing member, and it is impossible to directly measure the temperature of the fixing nip portion by use of a temperature sensor because of its structure. Also, when the temperature of the fixing nip portion is measured from the inner surface of the belt, the thermal capacity of the belt has an effect on the measurement result. Thus, it is impossible to measure the temperature of the nip portion accurately.


A valve assembly is disclosed. The valve assembly may a valve body defined by an inlet port, an outlet port and flange. A movable valve member comprises an inlet opening extending from a leading edge surface present at a narrow slot region to trailing edge surface present at about a full bore region wherein the angle between the leading edge surface and trailing edge surface at the center of valve member is about 270 degrees. The fluid flow from the inlet port of the valve body to one or more outlet openings is controlled by the rotation of the valve member. Rotation of movable valve member enables linear controlling of the fluid flow wherein the control of fluid flow is proportional to the degrees of rotation from 0 to about 270 degrees.

Valves regulate, direct, and/or control the flow of a fluid (e.g., gases, liquids, fluidized solids, slurries, etc.) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are often categorized based on the mechanism used to control fluid flow (e.g., ball valves, butterfly valves, choke valves, piston valves, plug valves, poppet valves, etc.).
Ball valves are a type of valve that typically include a spherical disc or valve member carried within a valve body. The spherical valve member includes a passage that can be selectively aligned with ports in the valve body by rotating the valve member relative to the valve body.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a two-way ball valve 100 available in conventional fluid control system is shown. The ball valve 100 includes a machined valve body 102 with an inlet port 104 and an outlet port 106. One or both of the inlet port 104 and the outlet port 106 is formed in a machined nut that is threadably coupled to the valve body 102. One or both of the inlet port 104 and the outlet port 106 are formed in the valve body 102. Fluid flow through the valve 100 may be controlled by utilizing a valve actuator (not shown) to rotate a valve member contained within the valve body 102 by a total of 90 degrees. The stroke of the valve member may have a different length (e.g., 270 degrees).
Valve 100 is further shown to include an actuator mounting flange 108 and a valve stem 110 that extends out of the valve body 102. One end of the valve stem 110 may be coupled to a valve actuator mounted against the mounting flange 108, while the opposite end of the valve stem 110 is configured to fit within a recess of the ball member such that rotation of the valve stem 110 by the valve actuator results in a corresponding rotation of the ball member.
Turning now to FIGS. 2-7, side views of the conventional two-way ball valve 100 with various flow limiting discs installed between the inlet port 104 and the ball member are shown. Each of the flow limiting discs may include optimized flow openings configured to enable equal percentage flow control of the valve 100. Referring specifically to FIG. 2, a flow limiting disc 200 is shown with a flow opening 202. Flow opening 202 is optimized to permit valve 100 to achieve a maximum flow coefficient (Cv) of 1.2 when installed in a valve with a half inch valve body (e.g., a VG1000 series valve sold by Johnson Controls, Inc.). The flow coefficient is a constant related to the geometry of the valve that is used to establish flow capacity and is expressed in imperial units as the flow of water through a valve at 60° F. in US gallons per minute (gpm) at a pressure drop of 1 pound per square inch (psi). Equal percentage control of a valve causes equal changes in valve position to result in equal percentage changes to the flow coefficient from the existing value.
Correct orientation of the flow control disc 200 relative to the valve body 102 is important because the flow opening 202 is not symmetrical and is optimized to result in equal percentage flow control. In other words, the constant height portion situated on the left side of the flow opening 202 is configured to align with the bore of the valve member as the valve member rotates from a fully closed position to a semi-opened position (e.g., between 0% open and approximately 50% open). The roughly triangular or increasing height portion situated on the right side of the flow opening 202 is configured to align with the bore of the valve member once the valve member rotates from a semi-opened position to a fully opened position (e.g., between approximately 50% open and 100% open). Further details of the operation of the ball valve 100 are included below with reference to FIGS. 9-14.
The size of the flow opening in the flow limiting disc is directly correlated with the maximum flow coefficient of the valve 100. For example, FIG. 3 depicts a flow limiting disc 300 with a flow opening 302 optimized to permit valve 100 to achieve a maximum Cv of 1.9, FIG. 4 depicts a flow limiting disc 400 with a flow opening 402 optimized to achieve a maximum Cv of 2.9, FIG. 5 depicts a flow limiting disc 500 with a flow opening 502 optimized to achieve a maximum Cv of 4.7, and FIG. 6 depicts a flow limiting disc 600 with a flow opening 602 optimized to achieve a maximum Cv of 7.4. FIG. 7, by contrast, depicts valve 100 without any flow limiting disc installed. When the valve member is rotated 90 degrees from the fully closed position to fully opened position as depicted in FIG. 7, the full bore opening 700 of the valve member is exposed to the inlet port 104, and valve 100 may achieve a maximum Cv of 11.7.
Referring now to FIG. 8, plot 800 relates valve position on the x-axis 802 in units of degrees rotation and the maximum flow coefficient on the y-axis 804 in imperial units (i.e., Cv) for various flow limiting discs as depicted in FIGS. 2-7. As shown, there is an inverse relationship between maximum flow and predictable equal percentage (i.e., linear) flow control. The flow limiting discs permitting maximum flow coefficients Cv of 1.2, 1.9, and 2.9 generally provide linear control (at least until the valve reaches an approximate rotation of 60 degrees), but the maximum flow through the valve 100 is constrained, resulting in a loss of total flow. By contrast, the flow limiting discs or the full bore configuration permitting maximum flow coefficients Cv of 4.7, 7.4, and 11.7 generally provide non-linear or less predictable control, but the maximum flow through the valve 100 is far higher than the flow limiting discs with smaller openings.
Turning now to FIGS. 9-14, the operation of the two-way ball valve 100 over a 90 degree rotational stroke is depicted. Although FIGS. 9-14 depict the two-way ball valve 100 with the flow disc 200 installed between the inlet port 104 and valve member 1000, any flow limiting disc having any other maximum flow coefficient may be utilized (e.g., flow limiting discs 300, 400, 500, or 600, described above with reference to FIGS. 3-6). The valve 100 may be operated without the use of a flow limiting disc. Referring specifically to FIGS. 9 and 10, a side view and a top cross-sectional view of the valve 100 in the closed position are respectively shown. In the closed position, any flow path for fluid through the flow disc opening 202 is blocked by valve member 1000, and a flow passage 1002 provided in the valve member 1000 is oriented perpendicularly to the flow direction 1004 extending from the inlet port 104 to the outlet port 106.
Referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12, a side view and a top cross-sectional view of the valve 100 in a partially (i.e., 50%) open position are respectively shown. Because the stroke of the valve member 1000 is 90 degrees between the fully closed position and the fully open position, when the valve 100 is in the 50% open position, the valve member 1000 has been rotated by the valve actuator 45 degrees from the fully closed position depicted in FIGS. 9 and 10. (Note: the valve is effectively closed between 0 and 20 degrees rotation.) The 45 degree rotation position permits a portion 1100 of the flow passage 1002 to align with the flow opening 202 of the flow limiting disc 200, such that some amount of flow 1200 is permitted to enter the valve 100 through the inlet port 104, travel through the valve member 1000 and depart through the outlet port 106.
Finally, referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, a side view and a top cross-sectional view of the valve 100 in the fully (i.e., 100%) open position are respectively shown. In the fully open position, the valve member 1000 has been rotated by the valve actuator 90 degrees from the fully closed position depicted in FIGS. 9 and 10. No portion of the flow opening 202 in the flow limiting disc 200 is blocked by the valve member 1000, and the flow passage 1002 is aligned with the inlet port 104 and the outlet port 106 such that a flow of fluid 1400 is permitted to travel through the valve 100 and achieve a maximum flow coefficient Cv of 1.2.
Referring to the description of the FIG. 1 to FIG. 14, it is evident that a linear control of fluid flow is only possible upto 60 degrees for flow limiting discs permitting maximum flow coefficients Cv of 1.2, 1.9, and 2.9. Moreover, the fluid flow for the flow limiting discs permitting maximum flow coefficients Cv of 4.7, 7.4, and 11.7 at full bore configuration is uncontrollable and further results in a non-linear control from closed position to full opened position.
Therefore, there is an utmost requirement of a valve which provides a maximum flow coefficient which is controllable linearly at the same time instance with respect to the rotation of the valve.

High resolution ball valve with 270 degree rotation


A handheld transmitter of dog training device and a training system are disclosed. The handheld transmitter of dog training device comprises a controller and a sensory feedback module, at least one training mode execution keypad, and at least one training intensity adjustment device. A virtual keypad is introduced to change the working state of the selected training mode; in particular, to turn on/off the selected training mode in a channel. The original keypads continue to retain their original functions. Introduction of the virtual keypad does not increase the number of physical keypads, but increases the function of the training device, and reduces the cost.

Dogs are friends of human beings. For scientifically and effectively training of dogs, a dog training device is usually used to assist dog training. Dog owner using a handheld transmitter transmits various commands of training mode to a receiver, and the receiver implements training stimulation to the dogs to be trained, according to the signals received.
Some training mode, such as static shock stimulation, are more irritating to dogs, and should avoid being used frequently. But this training mode is also kept for use when necessary. During the usage or carrying of handheld transmitter of the dog training device, it is inevitable that the keypad that sends static shock command sometimes is accidentally touched to cause incorrect operation, which will cause a false stimulation to the dog and cause training failure. Therefore, it is necessary to add a switching device to allow the dog owner to flexibly choose to use these training modes, which is equivalent to requiring an increase in the function of the operation interface.
As a low-cost product, the dog training device is required to be low cost, effectiveness, and reliability for the producer. Adding a component is not just an increase of cost of a component, it will bring about a series of related expenses, and reduce reliability. For users, the operation interface is required to be simple and easy to use, and the keypad configuration should not be too crowded. The handheld transmitter of the dog training device is a handheld device, which is required to be small size and easy to carry, and the number of operating keypads should not be too many or too complicated. At the same time, for the producer, because of the limit of cost and size, it is also desirable to limit the number of keypads. But the number limitation of keypads will reduce the number of functions available on the operation interface.

Handheld transmitter of dog training device and training system


A method for determining flow distribution in a formation having a wellbore formed therein includes the steps of positioning a sensor within the wellbore, wherein the sensor generates a feedback signal representing at least one of a temperature and a pressure measured by the sensor, injecting a fluid into the wellbore and into at least a portion of the formation adjacent the sensor, shutting-in the wellbore for a pre-determined shut-in period, generating a simulated model representing at least one of simulated temperature characteristics and simulated pressure characteristics of the formation during the shut-in period, generating a data model representing at least one of actual temperature characteristics and actual pressure characteristics of the formation during the shut-in period, wherein the data model is derived from the feedback signal, comparing the data model to the simulated model, and adjusting parameters of the simulated model to substantially match the data model.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
The present disclosure relates generally to wellbore treatment and development of a reservoir and, in particular, to a system and a method for determining characteristics of the reservoir during a wellbore operation such as, but not limited to, a wellbore treatment operation, an underbalanced drilling operation, or the like.
Currently, fiber optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) technology provides a means for substantially instantaneous temperature measurement in a wellbore. DTS typically includes an optical fiber disposed in the wellbore (e.g. via a permanent fiber optic line cemented in the casing, a fiber optic line deployed using a coiled tubing, or a slickline unit). The optical fiber measures a temperature distribution along a length thereof based on an optical time-domain (e.g. optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR), which is used extensively in the telecommunication industry).
One advantage of DTS technology is the ability to acquire in a short time interval the temperature distribution along the well without having to move the sensor as in traditional well logging which can be time consuming. DTS technology effectively provides a "snap shot" of the temperature profile in the well. DTS technology has been utilized to measure temperature changes in a wellbore after a stimulation injection, from which a flow distribution of an injected fluid can be qualitatively estimated.
The introduction of hot slugs in a wellbore is another useful technique for flow profiling with Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS). The conventional method of generating a hot slug includes injecting a large fluid volume in the reservoir and then shutting the well in to heat the fluids above the reservoir interval. The temperature of the fluids next to the reservoir interval increase much slower as the reservoir interval is much cooler because of fluids injected previously. This differential heating creates a temperature front that can be tracked with DTS for flow profiling.
By obtaining and analyzing multiple DTS temperature traces, the characteristics and flow properties of different formation layers can be determined.
Several methods for quantitatively characterizing a reservoir and determining the flow distribution therein from a DTS measurement are discussed in detail below.

System and method for reservoir characterization


An image processing apparatus for generating corrected image data from a plurality of input image data by performing an iterative calculation process includes an input unit configured to input the plurality of input image data, an acquisition unit configured to acquire a photographing parameter used for photographing to acquire the input image data, a setting unit configured to set for each image area a number of iterations for generating the corrected image data based on the photographing parameter, and a generation unit configured to generate correction data from the plurality of image data by performing an iterative calculation process on each image area based on the number of iterations set for each image area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a process for correcting image deterioration referred to as lens aberration in an image photographed by a camera, using a characteristic value of the lens. Conventionally, distortion and chromatic aberration of magnification among lens aberrations are generated by a deviation between an image height of an image to be formed and the image height which is actually acquired via the lens. The image height indicates a distance from an optical axis. One method for correcting such aberration is to convert coordinates of each of the pixels so that the image height is at a correct position.
In the case of bit map data, i.e., a digital image, the coordinates before and after performing coordinate conversion do not necessarily match. An image transformation process involving coordinate conversion thus generally calculates the pixel values after image transformation is performed as follows. The coordinates after the image is transformed are converted to the coordinates before the image is transformed, and the adjacent pixels are then interpolated according to the converted coordinates.
When such an image transformation process is applied, the edge portion of the image is greatly enlarged, particularly in the case where the process is the lens aberration correction process. Further, the sharpness is greatly reduced when there is a large displacement of the coordinates. A keystone correction process which is performed in a projector is another example of the image transformation process that involves coordinate conversion in which the displacement varies depending on the position of the image.
There are two methods of solving such reduction of sharpness, i.e., by improving the interpolation process and by recovering the reduced resolution.
In the case of improving the interpolation process, it is assumed that the sharpness reduction is caused by the interpolation process. The interpolation process itself is thus recreated by combining the process with edge detection (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-153668). In such a method, a positive result can be acquired when the image contains very little noise. However, a positive result cannot be acquired in the case of an image which is normally acquired using a digital camera and includes noise.
On the other hand, the reduced sharpness may be recovered by controlling sharpness intensity or controlling the amount of noise.
In the case where the sharpness intensity is controlled to recover the reduced sharpness, the sharpness intensity corresponding to the status of the lens is applied to each pixel to compensate for the reduced sharpness (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,885). However, the noise included in the photographed image also becomes defocused due to image enlargement, so that a positive result cannot be acquired by only adjusting the sharpness intensity (or a filter radius).
In the case where the amount of noise is controlled to recover the reduced sharpness, noise is added to the interpolation result by considering the amount of noise before image transformation to recover the reduced sharpness due to image enlargement. As a result, the noise reduced by the interpolation process is recovered, and apparent sharpness can be improved. However, if the image to be processed does not contain much noise, the sharpness cannot be improved.
To solve the above-described problems, there is super-resolution processing which is a technique for generating a super-resolution image having a large number of pixels while inputting a plurality of low-resolution images. Since frequency bandwidths of signals included in the low-resolution image are limited, there is a limit in improving the sharpness. The high-resolution image is thus generated using a plurality of low-resolution images. The reduced sharpness due to correcting the lens aberration can be recovered by applying such a technique. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-197354 discusses a method for acquiring a correction result by determining an evaluation function from a deterioration process of an image pickup system.
There are various super-resolution methods. For example, there is an image capturing method which generates a high-resolution image by combining low-resolution images in which there is a positional deviation between a plurality of frames (Sung C. P, Min K. P, "Super-Resolution Image Reconstruction: A technical Overview", IEEE Signal Proc. Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 3, P. 21-36, 2003). Further, a method which is based on a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation (R. R. Schulz, R. L. Stevenson, "Extraction of high-resolution frames from video sequences", IEEE Trans. Image Processing, Vol. 5, p. 996-1011, 1996) is well-known. The MAP estimation method is a method for estimating the image in which posterior probability becomes greatest according to a preset probability density function. When the MAP estimation method is applied to the super-resolution processing, it can be seen as estimating a high-resolution image that minimizes the evaluation function in which probability information of the high-resolution image is added to a square error. In other words, when the MAP estimation method is employed in performing the super-resolution processing, the high-resolution image is estimated by solving an optimization problem to maximize the posterior probability by using forecast information of the high-resolution image.
However, the estimation process in the super-resolution processing is generally a very heavy process. For example, in the method discussed in R. R. Schulz, R. L. Stevenson, "Extraction of high-resolution frames from video sequences", IEEE Trans. Image Processing, Vol. 5, p. 996-1011, 1996, it is necessary to solve the optimization problem to acquire the high resolution image and to perform iterative processing. A large processing load is thus required to acquire an image as a result of the super-resolution processing. If the above-described function is to be realized by a digital single-reflex camera, problems may be generated, such as reduction of continuous shooting speed, or requirement of incorporating a high-speed processor so that power consumption becomes large.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A set of test vectors for input to a circuit (10) to test the integrity of each of its n interconnections (nets) 16 is generated by first ordering the nets. Thereafter, the vectors are generated by assigning the bits of each vector associated with a given net a one or zero such that the vector has a minimum weight, as compared to the vectors assigned to successive nets. Alternatively, the test vectors can be generated by assigning the bits of selected groups of vectors a one or zero such that the groups of vectors each have minimum potential weight and the vectors in the group are independent of each other. The successive groups of vectors are then concatenated to yield the test vector set.

Each circuit on a printed wiring board is tested by applying a test signal to a first set of circuit nodes and then measuring the response at a second set of nodes, each connected to one of the first set along a circuit path. The circuit path between nodes typically includes a "net" which is defined as an equipotential surface (e.g., a metallized path on the board) which connects at least one signal transmitter ("driver") to at least one signal receiver ("receiver"). If the circuit is operating properly, i.e., the receivers and drivers are functioning properly and the nets are not shorted or open, then the response or signature of the circuit to the test signal should correspond to the test signal itself. On the other hand, if the circuit operation is faulty because two or more nets are shorted or one or more nets is open, then the circuit generates a signature which does not correspond to the test signal.
Typically, each test signal applied to the first set of circuit nodes usually takes the form of a parallel test vector comprised of n bits (ones or zeros), where n is the number of nets. Each of the bits in the test vector is applied to a separate one of the nodes in unison or parallel with the other bits, hence the reason for using the term parallel to describe the test vector. The particular sequences of the bits in the parallel test vectors is selected to reveal the shorts and opens among the nets as well as any "stuck-at" faults at the receivers or drivers. A stuck-at fault is present if the driver or receiver always produces a one or zero at its output regardless of whether a one or zero is at its inputs.
It is well known in the art that at least log (n) separate parallel test vectors are required to determine the integrity of the n nets. At least log (n+2) vectors are required if the stuck-at faults are to be detected as well. The reason for the additional two vectors is that detection of a stuck-at fault requires that both a zero and one must be applied (in sequence) to the net. A sequential test vector (as defined hereafter) which contains all zeroes or all ones will not satisfy this constraint.
A simple set of parallel test vectors, which will test the integrity of a set of n nets as well as the stuck-at faults, is given by the following matrix where each parallel test vector comprises a separate matrix column. ##STR1## Each row of the above matrix of parallel test vectors corresponds to a sequence of bits applied to each net over time. For this reason, each matrix row is often referred to as a sequential test vector. As may be appreciated, the sequential test vectors of this set monotonically increase in value; hence, the above set of parallel test vectors id described as a "counting" sequence.
The counting sequence of parallel test vectors, while compact in terms of the numbers of vectors it contains, does not afford good diagnostic capability. In other words, the response of the circuit following receipt of the parallel test vectors does not yield a good determination of which of the nets is open or shorted. In particular, the counting sequence of test vectors can give rise to two different types of incorrect responses, each defined as a "syndrome." The first type of syndrome, known as the "aliasing" syndrome, occurs when the response generated by a circuit having a faulty set of nets is the same as one having a fault-free set of nets, making it impossible to distinguish between them. The second type of syndrome is the "confounding" syndrome which occurs when the response of a circuit having only a single shorted net is the same as the response when several nets are shorted. These two syndromes are not mutually exclusive; both can occur.
The aliasing and confounding syndromes can be avoided by use of the "walking one" sequence of test vectors shown in matrix form below. ##STR2##
As with the test vector matrix which produces the counting sequence, each column in the test vector matrix which produces the walking one sequence represents a parallel test vector of n bits whereas each row represents a sequential test vector of n bits. The reason why the sequence obtained by the above matrix is described by the term "walking one" is that the "1" shifts or walks from left to right from the first to the nth sequential test vector. An important attribute of the walking one sequence of test vectors is its property of diagonal independence, i.e., the sequence of bits along the matrix diagonal is all ones. This property allows the walking one sequence to completely diagnose all faulty nets.
The disadvantage of the walking one sequence is that n, rather than log (n+2) vectors are required, making this sequence very large. As a consequence, the amount f time required for testing is increased since a larger number of vectors must be input, in sequence, to the circuit.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for generating a reasonably compact set of test vectors which provides good diagnostic capability.


A method of designing a plasmonic crystal is provided. The method includes: determining an arrangement period of a plasmonic crystal formed on a metal surface at an interface between a dielectric and the metal in accordance with a dispersion relation of a surface plasmon polariton at the interface and a Bragg reflection condition of the surface plasmon polariton.

The present disclosure relates to a design method of a plasmonic crystal. Particularly, the present disclosure relates to a design method of the plasmonic crystal capable of generating a plasmonic band gap in optional energy by determining an arrangement period of the plasmonic crystal under given conditions.
A Surface Plasmon Polariton or SPP is a compressional wave of electrons existing at an interface between a metal and a dielectric, which is a surface electromagnetic wave propagating at the metal-dielectric interface. In the case that there is a periodic lattice structure on a metal surface of the metal-dielectric interface, the SPP is Bragg-reflected by the lattice in a certain wavelength and is propagated in the opposite direction to generate a standing wave. The lattice structure is referred to as a concavo-convex structure or a relief structure.
In the SPP which becomes the standing wave, electric fields are localized at anti-nodes thereof. The SPP which has become the standing wave generates two different energy states by relative phases with respect to the lattice. As a result, an energy gap referred to as a plasmonic band gap appears at a dispersion curve of the SPP.
The periodic relief structure on the metal surface which generates the plasmonic band gap is referred to as a plasmonic crystal. The plasmonic crystal has been researched from the basics to the applications because the control of a radiation field or enormous enhancement of the electric field can be expected. In "Applied Physics Letters, 2004, Vol. 85, p 3968-3970" (Non-patent document 1), an approach for enhancing light emitting intensity of dye by depositing dye thin films on a plasmonic crystal is reported. The enhancement technology in the emitting of dye using localization and enhancement of the electric field at a plasmomic band gap end (hereinafter, referred to as a merely gap end) is referred to as a plasmonic band gap laser. It is expected that the plasmonic band gap laser leads to development of an organic EL element and the like which can obtain high light emitting efficiency.
On the other hand, a sensor utilizing the SPP is used for detecting interaction among various materials in recent years. The sensor is referred to as a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor.
When polarized light is incident on the metal-dielectric interface under the total reflection condition in order to excite the SPP, a bleeding component which is called an evanescent wave is generated at the interface. In the total reflection condition, energy of incident light will normally be energy of reflection light almost without loss. However, under a wavenumber matching condition in which the evanescent wave corresponds to the wavenumber of the SPP, energy of incident light is used for excitation of the SPP and the SPR is generated, which reduces energy of reflected light. The energy change of reflected light can be detected as change of wavenumber of reflected light with respect to incident light.
Since the wavenumber matching condition depends on an incident angle θ of incident light, when the wavenumber of reflected light is detected while changing the incident angle θ, the SPR is generated at a certain angle and the change of wavenumber will be the maximum. This angle is called resonance angle θsp, and the wavenumber of reflected light at the resonance angle θsp is called a peak wavenumber (or absorption peak).
Since the resonance angel θsp depends on permittivity of a dielectric, change of the resonance angle θsp and the peak wavenumber (hereinafter, referred to as a shift) corresponds to change of the permittivity of the dielectric. Therefore, the shift of the peak wavenumber is detected by using a sample including various materials as dielectrics, thereby detecting permittivity change of the sample caused by the interaction among materials.
In the SPR sensor, the interaction among materials in the sample is detected by the change of permittivity, therefore, it is not necessary to label materials by radioactive materials, fluorescent materials and the like, which enables sensitive detection. Accordingly, the SPR sensor is suitably used particularly as a bio sensor which evaluates the interaction of biological materials such as protein or nucleic acid. In Japanese Patent No. 3294605 (Patent Document 1), the SPR sensor as an optical bio-sensor device is disclosed.
In the SPR sensor, the change of permittivity of the sample, that is, the interaction among materials in the sample is detected by detecting the shift of the peak wavenumber. However, when detecting the interaction among materials whose molecular masses are extremely small or extremely minute amounts of materials, the shift of the peak number is less than a detection limit because the change of permittivity is small, as a result, it is sometimes difficult to obtain sufficient measurement sensitivity.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a design method of a plasmonic crystal which can be a basic technology for allowing the SPR sensor to be highly sensitive.


A self steering system for a sailboat has a rotatably and pendulously supported servo blade or “oar” member, which is suspended in the water behind the boat. A central body portion is attached to the transom of the boat. A pendulum body having two lever arms or “winglets” which extend generally in opposite directions is fixedly supported on a shaft suspended below the central body portion. A line is attached to each of the tips of the lever arms. Each of these lines runs upwardly and through separate blocks to the boat's steering control. A wind vane is installed on the top of the assembly and drives a push rod, which is coupled, to the servo blade. In operation, the wind vane provides a motional signal in accordance with changes in the heading of the boat from a preset heading, this motional signal operating to drive the servo blade, which controls the sailboat's main rudder, to bring the boat back to its preset heading.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to self steering systems for sailing craft and more particularly to such a system which employs a rotatably and pendulously supported oar member which is suspended in the water stream behind the craft which is used to control the sailing craft in response to a device such as a wind vane which senses and provides an output signal in accordance with changes in boat heading from a preset heading relative to the wind direction.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
Self steering systems for sailboats are described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,831 issued Oct. 5, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,657 issued May 4, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,833 issued August, 1988; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,858 issued May 10, 1994. Each of the systems described in the above patents employs a different implementation, which makes for some advantage in operation or fabrication. The present invention is most closely related to the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,858 and will therefore be compared in its implementation to that of this patent.
The system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,858 employs a pendulum body rotating on a fixed pendulum shaft. The pendulum shaft is attached to a universal bracket, which is fixedly attached to the transom of the sailboat. The system has a major upright section, which includes a base and a tubular wind vane support extending upwardly from the base. This wind vane support is secured to the pendulum shaft and positioned aft of the pendulum body. An output "pull-pull" line attachment shoulder or rocker is positioned on the top of the pendulum body, above the pendulum shaft. Pull-pull output lines run to a set of blocks positioned on opposite sides of the attachment shoulder.
It has been found that the location of the pull-pull lines in prior art systems obstructs swim ladders and "walk-thru" features of the boat. In addition, it has been found to be difficult to correctly position the "pull-pull" line side blocks with double ended boat geometry, a strongly curved boat transom or with off center mountings of the main elements of the system.
Additionally, the pendulum shaft is subject to damage from high accidental mechanical loads from the upright wind vane support, requiring an extra large diameter for the shaft.
A still further disadvantage of this prior art system is that it employs a complex universal bracket which is capable of holding the extra-large pendulum shaft and adapting to a wide range of different transom angles.


An application for use with a mobile computing device is described that enables group members of a group activity to view the positions of each member in one or more formations for the group activity. The application enables the user to select a formation for viewing and practicing in any location, whether indoors or outdoors and with or without other group members of the group activity. The application allows the user to toggle between a top-down view and an augmented reality view. The augmented reality view enables a user to view graphical indicators of each position of the user, whereby the graphical indicators are superimposed on a user's computing device in the real user environment. The augmented reality view provides a user with a better understanding of his or her positions in a real-world environment.

Group based physical activities such as marching band, sports, theater, and dance are known to involve a great deal of creativity, education, talent, and intellect and are very beneficial to the sense of confidence and well-being of the participants. Many people enjoy watching and participating in such group based physical activities. Group based physical activities and the creation of group formations help with goal-oriented thinking and achieving the best results for the group. Group formations are defined sets of positions and movements for each member of the group at a given point in time for a particular routine. Group-based physical activities such as marching band, sports, theater, and dance all use group formations to strategize and organize themselves to achieve their overall purpose. A large amount of time and preparation goes into learning and mastering formations individually. The performance quality of a group is reliant on each person's sensitivity to the movements and positions of their group members. Mastery of one's position and transitions between each position in the group formation results in artistry and a quality performance.
A reality of group based physical activities is that they require the members to physically attend practices and rehearsals in order to ensure the group performs well together. A very real difficulty with group based physical activities is coordinating the schedules of all the participants. Sometimes participants in the group based activity may miss practice for various reasons or may require extra time to practice. While group time can be spent on helping individuals, there is usually not enough time to spend on every member to master the formations. There is a need to help people to practice on their own and cultivate sensitivity outside of group practices.
Currently, the most common ways for individuals to practice their positional locations and movements in group formations involves either the use of in person instruction or the use of paper or digital handouts (e.g., saved on their computers or other mobile devices) that contain illustrations and descriptions about the group formations. In person instruction requires a teacher to teach the group members the formation, which as noted above, may have limitations in terms of timing, finding a suitable location, having on hand the necessary tools and audiovisual equipment, and various other challenges involved with assembling a group of people together at the same time.
There are some existing software programs that allow individuals to download and view files on their mobile devices related to group formations for practicing marching band formations. Some existing software programs are structured to allow a director or other formation leader to design marching band drill formations (e.g., a type of group formation). Further, there are some limited capabilities whereby such software files are downloadable onto a user's mobile devices and may be viewed using one or more applications that allow the user to view the created drill formation files. Using these software programs, group members and/or instructors can design group formations and may be able to view the saved files with the group formations on their various computing devices. Nevertheless, a problem with existing applications is that they only display the members of the group as individual dots moving as a group on a grid or football field or another location or as cartoon animations on the screen.
These existing methods all fail to help individuals to build sensitivity to the environment around them and to build sensitivity to their location in the group formation with respect to the other group members. Notably, these existing methods do not incorporate the use of augmented reality (AR), which would provide a better way for performers in a group to practice in a real user environment, either with or without one or more members of the group, at any location and at any time.
Accordingly, there is still an unsolved need for an application configured to work on a user's mobile computing device that allows any performer in a group formation to use augmented reality (AR) while practicing his or her steps and routine in any given location, thus providing an improved user interface and user experience.

Method and system for practicing group formations using augmented reality


A combination cookvessel and cookvessel-lid-and-handle device comprising a lid main portion having an offset handle member above the lid main portion. The offset handle member having a first end adjacent to and spaced above the lid edge, a gripping portion extending from the first end and over the lid main portion, a protrusion extending toward the lid main portion and engageable with the underside of the rim and a handle-connecting portion extending between the gripping portion and the lid main portion. The offset handle member suspends the cookvessel-lid-and-handle device on the rim above the open top of the cookvessel.

Traditionally a lid is involved when cooking with a vessel such as a pot or pan. Very often it is desirable that the lid be lifted so that the user can access the contents of the vessel either for stirring, adding ingredients or a host of other reasons. Such a need may occur many times over the course of cooking a particular dish. When the lid is removed water that has condensed on the underside of the lid or other matter from the cooking food often collects and drips off the lid onto the counter or floor or whatever else is located below the lid. This causes a mess and can also result in the user being burned by a hot lid. Additionally, the user typically has one hand occupied with holding the lid while simultaneously stirring the vessel contents, adding ingredients, etc. Sometimes a user may set the hot lid on a counter top or other surface so that they have both hands available for cooking but doing so leaves a mess on the surface on which the lid was set and also does not protect the user or counter top from being burned by the hot lid.
Another problem arises when the user tries to balance the lid on a portion of the vessel to stir the contents of the vessel or add ingredients. Oftentimes the lid slides off of the vessel causing a mess and also possibly burning the user. All of this can make cooking messy and unnecessarily complicated.
It would be desirable to have a combination lid handle and holder that securely suspends the lid of a vessel in a position so that condensed water or any other matter that has collected on the underside of the lid can drip back into the vessel. It would be desirable to have a lid handle that can also function as a holder which could rest on a counter top or other surface in an upright manner for ease of use. Furthermore, it would be desirable to have a combination lid handle and holder that suspends a hot lid over a vessel so that the user does not have to hold onto the lid, thereby reducing the risk of the user being burned.
This device overcomes certain problems and shortcomings in the prior art, including those mentioned above and others, and provides advantages for a combination lid and utensil holder not previously provided.

Cooking vessel with lid and handle device