The present invention provides methods and compositions for the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of diseases, such as neoplastic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory diseases. The methods include the administration of pharmaceutical complexes comprising annexins coupled to pharmaceutical compounds or carriers to subjects. The present invention also provides methods and compositions for delivering therapeutic compounds into the diseased cells of a subject either to kill them, such as tumor cells, or to rescue them, such as cardiomyocytes and neurons. The compositions include annexins, annexin variants, derivatives thereof, and complexes thereof.

The present invention relates generally to the field of annexins. More particularly, it relates to compositions and methods for treating and diagnosing a subject by delivering compounds to a specified target using annexins, variants of annexins, and derivatives thereof.
Pharmacological and genetic treatments of diseases are based on the delivery of pharmacologically active compounds to diseased cells where the compounds act preferably intracellularly. Current therapeutic treatments employ systemic delivery of a drug, where the drug circulates through the entire body before reaching its desired target. This method of drug delivery results in systemic dilution of the compound. As a result, a patient requires higher concentrations of the drug to achieve the favored therapeutic efficacy. Higher drug concentrations naturally increase any undesired toxic side-effects of the pharmacologically active compounds. In addition, higher concentrations generally increase the cost of any drug.
To circumvent these problems regional drug delivery systems have been designed ranging from local applications to drug targeting. Regional delivery, however, is often insufficient because it does not ensure delivery into a targeted cell. In order to act efficiently, most drugs, such as chemotherapeutics and photodynamic agents, must enter a diseased cell. Several systems have been described that may be used to deliver compounds to a cell.
Cell-Penetrating Peptides or Protein Transduction Domains
Cell-Penetrating Peptides ("CPP") or Protein Transduction Domains ("PTD") form a class of peptides that are able to cross the plasma membranes of eucaryotic cells, (Lindgren, et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 21:99-103 (2000)). Most CPP/PTDs are derived from larger proteins of viral origin. CPP/PTDs can also be engineered by design (U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,663). The mechanism by which CPP/PTDs translocate over the membrane is not entirely understood but it appears to be energy-independent. The potential use of CPP/PTDs in drug delivery has been recognized and examples of conjugates between CPP/PTDs and cargo such as small chemical entities, peptides, and proteins have been published (Schwarze, et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 21:45-48 (2000); U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,507). The drawback of CPP/PTDs is their lytic activity at high concentrations (Scheller, et al., J. Pept. Sci. 5:185-94 (1999)). Additionally, CPP/PTDs do not have a targeting capability and do not discriminate between healthy and diseased cells. Hence, the toxic side-effects of pharmacological compounds are not diminished by their conjugation to CPP/PTDs. Rather, complexes formed from CPP or PTD and a pharmacological compound will enter both healthy and diseased cells. Targeting functionality has been attempted by conjugating CPP/PTDs to antibodies specific for antigens in tumors. The disadvantage of this approach, however, is that the targeting function of the antibody deteriorates as a result of the conjugation to the CPP/PTDs (Niesner, et al., Bioconjug Chem. 13:729-36 (2002)).
Ligands for Plasma Membrane Receptors.
Several pinocytic pathways have been described through which cells are able to internalize compounds from the environment. One of the pinocytic pathways comprises the receptor-ligand mediated endocytosis (Conner, et al., Nature 422:37-44 (2003)). When the ligand binds to the receptor, the whole complex is internalized in small intracellular vesicles, which will travel through the cell depending on the receptor-ligand complex involved. This pathway can be employed to bring drugs into a cell through coupling the drug or the drug transporting vehicle such as liposomes to a ligand specific for surface receptors that show endocytosis upon ligation. Examples of such ligands that induce internalization are ligands for the hFGF-receptor (U.S. Pat. No. 6,551,618), ligands for the asialoglycoprotein receptor (U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,968), and ligands for the transferring receptor (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,511,967, 5,154,924, Qian, et al., Pharmacol. Rev. 54:561-87 (2002)). This type of internalization does not, in most cases, achieve an optimal targeting function for drug delivery. Moreover, recent data show that internalization via the receptor-ligand pathway may suppress the pharmacological action of the internalized drug (Sato, et al., Pharm. Res. 19:1736-44 (2002)).
One compound that can be used as a targeting agent and capturing agent is Annexin A5. In order to detect Annexin A5 bound to the surface, it has been conjugated to reporter compounds. In the past, Annexin A5 conjugates have been prepared by reacting reporter compounds with amino and hydroxyl groups present in the Annexin A5 molecule. Annexin A5, however, has more than one amino group and more than one hydroxyl group. As a result, chemical coupling with these functional groups yields mixtures of different stoichiometric complexes of Annexin A5 and the reporter compound. The outcome of these coupling procedures is random and contains complexes that lack the ability to bind to aminophospholipids because a set of the reacting amino acids are involved in phospholipid binding. These problems impair the quality of the Annexin A5 conjugates. In order to improve quality, the mixture of Annexin A5 conjugate has been separated by additional purification techniques.
In an attempt to improve Annexin A5 for conjugation, the single sulfhydryl group in Annexin A5, which is provided by a cysteine residue at position 315, has been coupled with a single chain urokinase in an attempt to remedy the problems with the amino and hydroxyl groups discussed above (U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,986). The complexes of Annexin A5 and urokinases target the urokinases to intravascular sites in order to the increase local fibrinolytic activity. The sulfhydryl group, however, is buried inside the molecule and urea induced unfolding of Annexin A5 is required to expose the sulfhydryl group to the surface of the protein. This procedure is used to allow conjugation to occur. Subsequent refolding of the Annexin A5, however, is required to regain the phospholipid binding capabilities of Annexin A5. Refolding procedures are not one hundred percent effective and typically generate an ineffective mixture of binding and non-binding annexin molecules.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,986 also describes the chemical introduction of multiple sulfhydryl groups with sulfosuccinimidyl 4-(N-maleimidomethyl)cyclohexane-1-carboxylate ("SMCC") into the Annexin A5 molecule for conjugation purposes. This procedure generates the same problems experienced with the procedure employed for the amino and hydroxyl groups discussed above. U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,986 further describes a variant of Annexin A5 with an extended N-terminus of ten amino acids comprising one cysteine residue in order to allow conjugation to a reporter compound. These variants have 329 amino acids of which two are cysteines. These variants may pose the problem of forming intramolecular disulfide bridges, thereby impairing the Annexin A5's ability to bind to phospholipids.
Bioactive compounds have also been conjugated to Annexin A5 by recombinant preparations of chimeras of Annexin A5 and the bioactive compounds (Tait, et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry 270:21594-99 (1995), U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,632,986). 6,323,313 describes variants of Annexin A5 with the extension of N-terminus part of Annexin A5 with an extra set of amino acids of which one is a cysteine residue. The extra amino acids with the cysteine residue are introduced with the purpose to chelate spontaneously the 99mTc radionuclide thereby obliterating the need for conjugation chemistry in order to radiolabel Annexin A5. This is only possible for compounds that show spontaneous and non-covalent attachment to the sulfhydryl groups. The problem with this type of interaction is the ability of the chelate reaction to reverse, i.e., the attached compound can dissociate from the Annexin A5 variant. The rate of dissociation depends on several factors, such as the compound and the amino acids capturing the compound.

Annexins, derivatives thereof, and annexin-cys variants, as well as therapeutic and diagnostic uses thereof


A viscous material application apparatus includes a main body having a pressurized chamber which connects through to a discharge port and stores a viscous material, a viscous material supply device for transferring the viscous material to the pressurized chamber, and a discharge pressure regulating device for regulating the discharge pressure of the viscous material when the viscous material inside the pressurized chamber is pressurized and discharged by increasing or decreasing the capacity of the pressurized chamber, the discharge pressure regulating device being provided either inside the pressurized chamber or facing the pressurized chamber.

The present invention relates to a viscous material application apparatus for applying a viscous material such as an adhesive, cream solder or a conductive paste to an application target such as a circuit board.
The basic configuration of a conventional viscous material application apparatus is described with reference to the schematic illustrations of FIG. 29A and FIG. 29B. As shown in FIG. 29A, this viscous material application apparatus comprises a material supply section 1 for holding a viscous material 5 such as an adhesive or cream solder, and a pressure regulating section 22 for regulating and supplying compressed air to the material supply section 1, and the viscous material 5 is pressurized by the compressed air, and discharged from a discharge port 4a of a discharge section 4.
Furthermore as shown in FIG. 29B, in some cases a valve 16 for starting and stopping the supply of compressed air may also be provided between the material supply section 1 and the discharge section 4. In this apparatus, in the case where a predetermined quantity of the viscous material 5 is required to be discharged, the viscous material 5 is pressurized from above by compressed air supplied from the pressure regulating section 22 and forced downward, and the valve 16 is then opened and the viscous material 5 discharged from the discharge port 4a. Then, when application onto the circuit board has been completed, the valve 16 is closed.
However, in a viscous material application apparatus of the conventional configuration described above, because the compressed air supplied from the pressure regulating section 22 is applied on top of the viscous material 5 contained in the material supply section 1, then depending on the characteristics of the viscous material 5, the pressure of the compressed air may be affected by the viscosity resistance of the viscous material 5 and find it difficult to reach the vicinity of the distant discharge port 4a of the discharge section 4. Consequently, variations developed in the pressure transmission, and it was difficult to obtain highly accurate discharge quantities and discharge pressures.
Furthermore as shown in FIG. 30, the response time from the point where a signal is output to start discharge at a predetermined pressure, to the point where discharge at that pressure is actually started, also lengthens for the same reasons, and so a waiting period develops from transmission of a discharge start signal to the actual start of discharge. In addition, after stopping pressurization residual pressure remains, and so other problems arise such as the viscous material 5 hanging down from the discharge port 4a being forced out near the discharge port 4a and adhering to the circuit board, creating a bridge, when the viscous material application apparatus is next positioned on the circuit board.
Furthermore in the aforementioned conventional apparatus, in those cases where a device called a multiple nozzle 4c with a plurality of discharge ports 4d, such as that shown in FIG. 31A and FIG. 31B, was used for performing a two dimensional bulk supply of the viscous material, the following problems also arose. In highly viscous materials, the pressure transmission through to the viscous material 5 does not occur uniformly, and when a conductive paste 31 was applied to a circuit board 32, then as shown in FIG. 32A and FIG. 32B, because the transmitted pressure from the compressed air differed depending on the position of the discharge port 4d, a variation developed in the discharge quantity depending on the discharge position.
The present invention aims to resolve the above problems, with an object of providing a viscous material application apparatus capable of improving discharge accuracy and increasing efficiency by carrying out the pressure transmission for discharging the viscous material efficiently, and improving the responsiveness.
In order to achieve the above object, a viscous material application apparatus of the present invention comprises: a main body having a pressurized chamber which connects through to a discharge port and stores a viscous material; and a viscous material supply device for transferring the viscous material under pressure to the pressurized chamber, wherein a discharge pressure regulating device for regulating the discharge pressure of the viscous material by increasing or decreasing the capacity of the pressurized chamber when the viscous material inside the pressurized chamber is pressurized and discharged is provided either inside the pressurized chamber or facing the pressurized chamber.
According to the present invention, because the viscous material stored in the pressurized chamber is discharged with a discharge pressure regulated by the discharge pressure regulating device provided either inside the pressurized chamber or facing the pressurized chamber, the air pressure is transmitted efficiently and uniformly to the viscous material, and so the responsiveness from the start of pressurization to the start of discharge improves, and a suitable discharge quantity of the viscous material is discharged almost instantaneously. Then, following completion of the discharge, because no residual pressure remains within the pressurized chamber, the problem seen in conventional apparatus, where the viscous material hangs down from the discharge port and then adheres to the application target during the next application, is prevented. Because the effects of viscosity resistance are minimal even with highly viscous materials, improved discharge accuracy and increased efficiency are achieved across all types of viscous material application, enabling for example, a uniform discharge even in the case of screen printing where a printing paste is applied along a straight line.
The discharge pressure regulating device may suitably comprise a pouch positioned inside the pressurized chamber for increasing or decreasing internal capacity thereof through the intake or exhausting of gas, and an air supply section for regulating the pressure inside the pouch by either supplying gas to, or discharging gas from the pouch, and as the shape of the pouch transforms with the intake or exhausting of gas from the air supply section and the pressurized chamber, the capacity of the pressurized chamber is increased or decreased, enabling the discharge pressure to be easily adjusted. In this case, the closer the air pouch is positioned to the discharge port inside the pressurized chamber, the smaller the difference will be between the air pressure used for discharge and the actual discharge pressure, and the more the responsiveness is improved.
The discharge pressure regulating device may also be constructed from an actuator such as an air cylinder and a voice coil motor, and a diaphragm which transforms under the influence of the actuator and increases or decreases the capacity inside the pressurized chamber.
Furthermore, it is desirable to employ a configuration in which a pressurized chamber, a discharge pressure regulating device and a discharge port are shared across a plurality of linearly aligned viscous material supply devices, with the discharge pressure of the viscous material at discharge positions along the alignment direction of the viscous material supply devices being regulated in a single batch. According to this configuration, in screen printing such as that described above, the discharge of a highly viscous printing paste is carried out uniformly and with a high degree of accuracy, regardless of the discharge position.
Another suitable configuration uses a plurality of discharge pressure regulating devices, with the discharge pressure of the viscous material at a discharge position being regulated as desired, and this configuration enables localized pressure regulation to be performed with ease.
Furthermore, by attaching a pair of inclined plates which approach one another in a downward direction to both sides of the lower section of the pressurized chamber, and using the opening between the bottom edges of these plates as a discharge port, these inclined plates function as a substitute for a squeegee in the aforementioned screen printing, and enable the filling of a screen opening with printing paste to be appropriately performed by discharge pressure regulation, and so highly accurate printing is possible, and an improvement in printing quality is achieved.
According to a configuration not restricted to supply by pressure transfer using the viscous material supply device used for transferring the viscous material under pressure in the aforementioned configuration, by forming the main body to allow for easy exchange, and enabling a cartridge filled with a viscous material to be accommodated within the main body, the viscous material is stored in the pressurized chamber, the pressurizing device for supplying the viscous material becomes unnecessary, and supply of the viscous material is simplified.
Furthermore in another suitable configuration, a soft elastic material is inserted between the aforementioned inclined plates and the lower side surfaces of the pressurized chamber. In such a configuration, when the inclined plates are pressed onto the screen, the inclined plates flex causing an improvement in the adhesion with the screen. Accordingly, the problem of the viscous material seeping out between the inclined plates and the screen when the viscous material is supplied into the pressurized chamber or when the viscous material inside the pressurized chamber is pressurized is prevented. However, in order to further improve the adhesion, the inclined plates need to be lengthened to increase their flexion. Such lengthening causes the capacity of the pressurized chamber to increase and the amount of supplied viscous material to increase, which leads to an increase in the supply time and an increase in the weight of the application unit. By inserting a soft elastic material between the inclined plates and the lower side surfaces of the pressurized chamber, the capacity of the pressurized chamber is kept small while still ensuring flexion of the inclined plates, and the volume of the viscous material is kept to a minimum. The soft elastic material could also be constructed along the inclined plates, and may be connected at the edges of the two plates, or alternatively separate pieces of soft elastic material are also inserted at the edges of the inclined plates. When large amounts of viscous material are permissible, the soft elastic material need not be formed along the inclined plates, and a soft material could be inserted only at the tips of the inclined plates.
In another suitable configuration, in the case where following the filling of the pressurized chamber with a viscous material using the aforementioned viscous material supply device the supply pressure of the viscous material supply device is cut, but even though the supply pressure has been cut the viscous material within the pressurized chamber still retains a degree of pressure, a pouch which functions as a discharge pressure regulating device absorbs this residual supply pressure remaining in the pressurized chamber, causing a reduction in the pressure inside the pressurized chamber. Accordingly, the residual pressure within the pressurized chamber is removed, and the discharge pressure is controlled using the aforementioned pouch.
Furthermore, in another suitable configuration, by providing a pressure detecting member at an internal edge of the pressurized chamber or between the pressure chamber and the viscous material supply device, then as the viscous material is supplied to the pressurized chamber by the viscous material supply device, the pressure detecting member detects when the pressurized chamber is full of the viscous material.
Furthermore in another suitable configuration, in those cases where during pressurization of the pressurized chamber by the discharge pressure regulating device, the detected pressure at pressure detecting member does not reach a predetermined pressure, a judgment is made that the amount of viscous material is insufficient, and the viscous material supply device is used to supply the viscous material to replenish the viscous material within the pressurized chamber.
In another suitable configuration, the pressurized chamber is moved while pressurized by the discharge pressure regulating device, and the pressure of the discharge pressure regulating device is regulated based on a pressure of the pressurized chamber detected with the pressure detecting member.
Furthermore in another suitable configuration, a rotatable shaft is provided in the pressurized chamber, and the viscous material is mobilized by rotating the shaft.
Furthermore in another suitable configuration, the viscous material is recovered into the pressurized chamber by setting the pressure of the pressurized chamber to a negative pressure by the discharge pressure regulating device following completion of discharge, and lifting the pressurized chamber while moving the chamber in a horizontal direction.
Moreover in another suitable configuration, the temperature of the viscous material is stabilized by exchanging the air inside an air pouch.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A toilet accessory having the outward appearance of a doll for concealing toilet paper rolls and/or toilet plunger. The device includes a decorative figure including a doll body having an aperture in the lower end thereof for receiving an upstanding rod mounted on a base. The rod may suitably comprise the handle of a plunger. The rod may mount one or more toilet paper rolls. The apparatus includes a skirt mounted on the body and depending therefrom to surround the rod and any toilet rolls mounted thereon.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a toilet accessory and more particularly to cover apparatus, having the outward appearance of a doll, for concealing articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is desirable, if not necessary, that extra toilet papers rolls and/or suction type toilet bowl plungers be stored and made available immediately adjacent to a residential toilet commode. Unfortunately, however, these items are sometimes considered unslightly and it is desirable to conceal these items while having them remain readily adjacent to a bathroom commode. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel toilet accessory for concealing toilet articles such as toilet paper rolls and/or a toilet bowl plunger.
Bathrooms and toilets frequently have limited storage space. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus for concealing toilet articles such as toilet paper rolls and a commode plunger in a limited space.
One such attempt at disguising bathroom tissue rolls and plungers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,451 issued to Oneida O. Hooser, on Feb. 21, 1984. The prior art device comprises a plunger enveloping, upstanding hollow cannister which is not particularly attractive or decorative and substantially different in construction. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and novel attractive and readily useable decorative figure bathroom accessory for concealing articles such as the toilet paper and/or a plunger.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a toilet accessory which includes a decorative figure, such as a doll having a skirt depending therefrom for covering toilet articles such as toilet paper rolls and a toilet plunger.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a toilet accessory which includes a decorative figure, such as a doll having a body portion which can be removably mounted on a pedestal and a cover sheet detachably mounted on the body for covering the pedestal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toilet accessory of the type described wherein the pedestal includes a base mounting an upstanding rod which detachably receives toilet paper rolls and on which a decorative doll body is mounted.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a toilet accessory of the type described wherein the pedestal comprises a toilet bowl plunger.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

Toilet accessory for concealing toilet articles

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A self-structuring antenna system that includes an antenna array defined by a plurality of antenna elements that are selectively electrically connectable to each other by series of switches, so as to alter the physical shape of the antenna array. The antenna elements include antenna wires, where the wires of adjacent antenna elements are connected by a mechanical or solid state switch. One or more feed points are electrically connected to predetermined locations within the antenna array and to a receiver associated with the antenna array. A feedback signal from the receiver provides an indication of signal reception and antenna performance. The feedback signal is applied to a computer that selectively opens and closes the switches. An algorithm is used to program the computer so that the opening and closing of the switches attempts to achieve antenna optimization and performance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a self-structuring antenna and, more particularly, to an antenna system that includes an array of antenna elements selectively electrically connectable to each other to provide different antenna configurations based on signal reception to increase antenna performance for different electrical and/or environmental conditions.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Communications systems require antennas that detect electromagnetic radiation at certain frequencies to receive a transmitted signal of interest. Thus, antenna systems are specifically designed to provide a suitable performance for a particular communications system and to operate under specific electrical and/or environmental conditions. Typically, the transmission and reception performance of the antenna system is provided by the configuration of the physical antenna structure. An antenna system may be specifically designed to operate within a specific frequency range, to have a particular radiation/reception pattern, and/or to operate in the vicinity of certain conductive structures, such as automobile bodies. The communications system may require that the antenna system be highly directive, cover a wide range of frequencies, and also provide good performance in particular environmental conditions.
The design of an antenna system is generally a compromise to accomplish all of these things. Highly directive antennas typically do not give good reception for wide frequency ranges, wide band frequency antennas must be physically pointed to provide suitable directionality, and the performance of antennas designed to operate well in one environmental condition will typically degrade in performance as the environment changes. For example, consider the set of compromises represented by automobile antennas for a vehicle radio. The automobile antenna must be able to operate over the fairly wide FM radio frequency band, must be sensitive to its placement on a large conducting body, and must be able to maintain a strong received signal as the vehicle changes its orientation to the transmitting antenna. A typical vehicle antenna does not perform any of these requirements well, and is only marginally capable in each. This is because once the vehicle antenna is constructed, it is unable to adapt to the changing situation and environment that the vehicle is exposed to.
There are currently many known wide band antennas, such as log-periodic, discone, spiral, etc. antennas, that are used for various applications and that must be physically moved to respond to a change in orientation. For example, a typical indoor TV antenna must be physically repositioned and electrically retuned when the TV channel is changed due to the change in operation frequency, the change in orientation of the antenna with respect to the transmitter, and the differing interactions between the arriving signals, the antenna, and the TV receiver. Other known antenna systems also require that the antenna be physically moved for different reception criteria.
Phased array antennas, known in the art, offer an improvement over other known antenna designs for providing wide bandwidth reception, good directionality and good performance in changing environments. The known design for phased array antennas does not require the array to be physically repositioned by allowing electrical control of the antenna pattern, for example, to track radar targets. These phased array antennas are, however, extremely complicated and expensive to build due to the need to precisely control the phase of each array element. Because of this, phased array antennas are primarily used by the military. Adaptive antenna arrays use similar design concepts as phased antenna arrays, but have complicated optimization schemes to provide desired antenna patterns in response to changing environmental conditions. Neither the phased array antenna systems nor the adaptive antenna array systems change the physical shape of the antenna structure.
A significant improvement in overall antenna performance could be achieved by an antenna that was capable of altering its physical shape in response to a changing electrical and/or physical environment. These types of antenna systems will be generally referred to here as "self-structuring" antenna systems. An antenna system which physically moves to alter its structure or shape would be, however, impractical to implement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-structuring antenna system that alters its physical shape without actually moving, and is practical to implement, so that the overall antenna performance of the antenna system can be increased over a wide frequency range and in changing physical and/or environmental conditions.

Self-structuring antenna system with a switchable antenna array and an optimizing controller

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


A zoom lens of the rear focus type is disclosed, whose back focal distance is increased to accommodate a three-color separation prism and other optical elements, comprising, in order from an object side to an image side, a first lens unit of positive refractive power, a second lens unit of negative refractive power, a third lens unit of positive refractive power and a fourth lens unit of positive refractive power, the second lens unit and the fourth lens unit being moved to effect zooming and the fourth lens unit being moved to effect focusing, wherein the third lens unit has a negative lens disposed closest to the object side and having a concave surface facing the object side and has a positive lens disposed closest to the image side, and a lens surface on the image side of the positive lens has a refractive power which is stronger than that of a lens surface on the object side of the positive lens.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to zoom lenses of the rear focus type and, more particularly, to zoom lenses of the rear focus type with a color separation prism in the space between the rear vertex and the CCD. Still more particularly, this invention relates to high range, large relative aperture zoom lenses of the rear focus type which provide, despite securing of such a long back focal distance, increase of the zoom ratio while still permitting the diameter of the front lens members to be minimized.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, home video cameras of ever smaller size and lighter weight have been developed. Along with this development, a remarkable advance is seen even in decreasing the bulk and size of its taking zoom lens. In particular, efforts are being devoted to shortening of the total length of the entire lens system, reduction of the diameter of the front lens members and simplification of the form and the construction and arrangement of the constituent parts.
To attain these ends, one means is to move a lens unit other than the front or first lens unit to effect focusing. Such a zoom lens is known as the so-called "rear focus type".
In general, the rear focus type of zoom lens has many advantages over the type which performs focusing by moving the front lens unit. For example, it becomes easier to improve the compact form of the entire lens system. Close-up photography, particularly supershort focusing, becomes possible. Further, since the focusing lens unit is of small size and light weight, because the required driving torque for moving the focusing lens unit is reduced, rapid focus adjustment can be carried out.
Such a rear focus type of zoom lens is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 62-206516, Sho 62-215225 and Sho 62-24213, in which the zoom lens comprises, in order from an object side, a positive first lens unit, a negative second lens unit, a positive third lens unit and a positive fourth lens unit, the second lens unit being axially moved to vary the focal length, and the fourth lens unit being axially moved to compensate for the image shift with zooming and also to effect focusing.
Also, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 4-43311, Hei 4-153615, Hei 5-19165, Hei 5-27167 and Hei 5-60973, there are disclosed examples of the fourth lens unit consisting of one or two positive lenses. Also, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 5-60974, there is disclosed a zoom lens whose fourth lens unit is constructed with positive and negative lenses, totaling two lenses.
Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 55-62419, Sho 62-24213, Sho 62-215225, Sho 56-114920, Hei 3-200113, Hei 4-242707, Hei 4-343313 and Hei 5-297275, there are disclosed, in their embodiments, zoom lenses in which the third and fourth lens units each are constructed with a positive lens and a negative lens, totaling two lenses.
Another recent trend in the art of video cameras has come along with enhancement (digitization) of the performance of video decks. To measure up to this, the image quality must ever more advance. One method of attaining the high image quality is to split the image by using a color separation optical system. Lenses that are suited to be used with this system have been proposed as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 5-72474, Hei 6-51199, Hei 6-337353, Hei 6-347697, Hei 7-199069 and Hei 7-270684, etc.
As mentioned above, in general, for the zoom lenses, in view of achieving valuable reduction of the diameter of the front lens members with the size of the entire system at a minimum, the so-called "rear focus" configuration is more suitable than that of focusing by the first lens unit.
In the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 4-026811 and Hei 4-88309, however, their configurations are hardly amenable to dispose the color separation prism.
In the zoom lenses disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 4-43311, Hei 4-153615, Hei 5-19165, Hei 5-27167 and Hei 5-60973, the zoom ratio is 6 to 8 or thereabout. For zoom lenses of higher ranges than this, the variation of chromatic aberrations with zooming would becomes too large to correct well. It is, therefore, difficult to assure maintenance of sufficient optical performance. Even the examples disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 5-60974, too, have a zoom ratio of 8, so that no sufficient increase of the range is achieved.
Further, in the examples disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 55-62419, Sho 56-114920 and Hei 3-200113, either the first lens unit or the third lens unit, too, is made to move during zooming. This leads to increase the complexity of the operating mechanism. These zoom lenses are, therefore, not suited to achieve improvements of the compact form. In the examples disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 4-242707, Hei 4-343313 and Hei 5-297275, construction and arrangement are made such that the third lens unit has a large air space. In addition, a negative lens included in the third lens unit is relatively weak in refractive power. In application to high range zoom lenses, therefore, this does not become a type that assures sufficient correction of the chromatic aberrations the third lens unit would produce. Furthermore, in the example disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 5-297275, a negative meniscus lens included in the third lens unit is made to have a strong concave curvature toward the image side. This is advantageous for obtaining the telephoto form, but does not favor the negative lens to treat the flare component of higher orders the positive lens produces. Such a type is, therefore, disadvantageous to be used in the large relative aperture, high range zoom lenses.
In the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Hei 5-72474, Hei 6-51199, Hei 6-337353, Hei 6-347697, Hei 7-199069 and Hei 7-270684, any of their embodiments has as low a zoom ratio as 10 to 12. Thus, the sufficient increase of the range is also not achieved.


The surveillance areas of cameras registered on a map having a surveillance region set thereon are projected onto the map. The shortest paths between the cameras registered on the map are searched for. Links between the cameras are determined based on the surveillance areas of the cameras projected on the map and the shortest paths between the cameras detected on the map. Unlike a conventional technique by which link information is manually acquired, this technique does not require a surveillance object to walk around so as to be actually captured by all the cameras, and can be applied even in a case where there is congestion in the surveillance region. Accordingly, the load on the user can be reduced.

Video surveillance systems for security, marketing, or the like have been installed in hotels, buildings, convenience stores, and the likes. With such surveillance systems, operations are being conducted everywhere to monitor how suspicious individuals move or how customers move on the floor. In an application for tracking a person between cameras, advance calibration of positional relationship on the floor is essential in increasing accuracy. However, if such calibration needs to be conducted manually, the load on the surveillance agent becomes very large.
There have been techniques suggested for automatically estimating link relations between cameras based on camera images. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for estimating the link relations between cameras based on the frequency distributions of the appearance times and the disappearance times of all the surveillance objects extracted by the respective cameras. Also, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for calculating similarities between objects based on color features or the like to determine whether the objects are the same person, and generating the link relations between cameras, for example.

Surveillance camera management device, surveillance camera management method, and program


The gene encoding a protein (L7) which appears to be a part of the human Type I interferon receptor has been cloned and expressed by recombinant DNA techniques. The protein imparts a non-species specific enhanced responsiveness to Type I interferon to transformed cells. The protein is found on the surface of Daudi cells and has structural features characteristic of receptor proteins.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the molecular cloning of a gene encoding a polypeptide which modulates cellular response to type I interferon, such polypeptide being a putative component of the interferon type I receptor system, and expression of the gene in a suitable host. The present invention relates to the polypeptide itself, active analogs thereof and processes for obtaining polypeptides with such properties.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Human and murine cells can be induced to make three classes of interferon (IFN) designated alpha, beta, and gamma on their basis of their antigenic properties and on the type of cell producing them. These IFN's in turn induce a number of changes in human cells which result in establishment of an antiviral, anti-tumor, and/or anticellular state, and cause a number of alterations in the cell membrane including induction and/or increased expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens. Lindhal, P. et al (1973), "Enhancement by interferon of the expression of surface antigens on murine leukemia L 1210 cells," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(USA), 70, pp 2785-2788; and Fellous, M. et al (1982), "Interferon-dependent induction of mRNA for the major histocompatibility antigens in human fibroblast and lymphoblastoid cells," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(USA), 79, pp. 3082-3086. Most, or all, of these changes are triggered by the signal generated by interaction of IFN's and their cell surface receptors.
Direct ligand binding studies and binding site competition studies as well as indirect immunological and somatic cell genetic studies demonstrate that the three classes of IFN's interact with interferon sensitive cells through specific binding to one of two types of high affinity receptors on the cell surface (reviewed in Rubinstein, M. and Orchansky, P. (1985), "The Interferon Receptors, "CRC Critical Reviews in Biochemistry, 2 p. 249). All human IFN-alpha's and human IFN-.beta. (Type I IFN's) bind to a chromosome 21-encoded Type I receptor, while human IFN-gamma (Type II IFN) binds to a chromosome 6-encoded Type II receptor which requires a chromosome 21-encoded gene product in order to confer sensitivity. The IFN receptor required for MHC induction and the IFN receptor which triggers antiviral state (AVS) induction share common antigenic determinants and are encoded on human chromosome 21.
The human type I IFN receptor has been estimated to have a molecular weight of 95-140 kDa, based on experiments in which cell membrane having bound .sup.125 I-IFN are cross-linked and run on SDS-PAGE (Razziudin, A. et al. (1984), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(USA), 81 pp. 5504-5508 and Thompson, M. R. et al. (1985), J,. Biol, Chem., 260, pp. 563-571). There is some evidence that the receptor is a glycoprotein and the lower values may be closer to the size of the polypeptide itself.
No admission is made that any reference cited herein qualifies as pertinent prior art. All publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

DNA cloning and expression of an L7 protein which modulates the 2'-5' oligosynthetase and H2-K*K response to type-I interferon


A V-type engine includes first and second camshafts rotatably mounted to cylinder heads, respectively. A first chain drivingly interconnects a crankshaft and the first camshaft, whereas a second chain drivingly interconnects the crankshaft and the second camshaft. First and second tensioners provide the tensions to the first and second chains, respectively. For concealing the first and second chains, the engine has a cover formed with two openings positioned in accordance with the first and second tensioners.

This application is related to co-pending application Ser. No. 07/450,509 which was filed May 30, 1990.
The present invention relates to a chain cover for a V-type engine and, particularly to a cover for two timing chains which drive at least one camshaft mounted to cylinder heads, respectively.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-66252 discloses a camshaft driving arrangement and a belt cover for a V-type engine as shown in FIG. 4.
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a V-type engine. A crankshaft 72 is rotatably mounted to the cylinder block 71 at the lower portion thereof. A o crank sprocket 73 and an accessory driving sprocket 81 are mounted to the crankshaft 72. The cylinder block 71 is bifurcated to form two cylinder banks 71a, 71b.
Two cylinder heads 74A, 74B are disposed on the cylinder banks 71a, 71b, respectively. Rotatably mounted to the cylinder heads 74A, 74B are camshafts 75 for intake and exhaust valves (not shown). Cam sprockets 76 are fixedly mounted to the ends of the camshafts 75, respectively. A timing belt 77 drivingly interconnects the crank sprocket 73 and cam sprockets 76. In order to secure a space for disposing an accessory between the two cylinder banks 71a, 71b, the timing belt 77 is directed its course by an idler 80. The tension of the belt 77 is set to a predetermined value by a tensioner 78 mounted on an end wall of the cylinder block 71.
Rotation of the crankshaft 72 is transmitted to both of the camshafts 75 through the timing belt 77 thus driving the intake and exhaust valves. The engine includes a belt cover 79 which conceals the timing belt 77 and the tensioner 78. The belt cover 79 has its upper end extending to a position below the camshafts 75, and its lower end extending to a position corresponding to the crank sprocket 73.
With such belt cover of the known engine, it is necessary to remove the belt cover 79 when the tension of the timing belt 77 is set to a predetermined value by the tensioner 78. Since the tensioner 78 is concealed by the belt cover 79 which has its upper end extending to a position below the camshafts 75, and its lower end extending to a position corresponding to the crank sprocket 73, removing the belt cover 79 requires a lot of time. On the other hand, when a predetermined value of tension is applied to the timing belt 77, it is difficult to mount and remove the cylinder heads 74A 74B, the camshafts 75, and the cam sprockets 76.
An object of the present invention is to provide an advantageous solution to such problems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a V-type engine which gives an easy access to two tensioners.


A reusable medication delivery device that can determine medication remaining in a simple fashion. The device includes a first sensor (200) for sensing when a cartridge is mounted in the device, and at least one second sensor for sensing a retraction of a drive member (160) that engages a cartridge plunger (132). The device includes a controller that determines, based on inputs from the first sensor and the at least one second sensor, that a newly installed cartridge is to be considered full or not full of medication. The controller calculates, after a medication delivery and based on an input from a means for determining an amount of medication delivered by operation of a dose delivery mechanism, and if the cartridge was considered full when newly installed, a quantity of medication remaining in the installed cartridge after the medication delivery.

The present invention pertains to medication delivery devices, and, in particular, to medication delivery devices that are reusable with replacement cartridges.
Patients suffering from a number of different diseases frequently must inject themselves with medications. A variety of devices have been proposed to facilitate these injections. One known type of device is a reusable injection pen. Such an injection pen is typically equipped with a cartridge including a plunger and containing a multi-dose quantity of liquid medication. A drive f the pen is movable forward by a dose delivery mechanism to advance the plunger in the cartridge in such a manner to dispense the contained medication through a needle that penetrates a septum at a forward end of the cartridge. After such a pen has been utilized to deliver multiple doses and exhaust the supply of medication within the cartridge, a user can remove and dispose of the spent cartridge. After a user installs a replacement cartridge, the reusable injection pen then can be used again to deliver its medication contents in a conventional manner.
At least one known reusable injection pen utilizes an electronics assembly to determine a set and injected dose by monitoring relative motions of components used in setting a dose, and components used in advancing a drive screw to inject the set dose, respectively. While useful, one shortcoming of this pen is that it provides no mechanism to track the amount of medication remaining in a cartridge. While medication delivery device designs are known that can track drive screw position sufficiently accurately throughout its operational travel path, which would allow drive screw travel remaining and thereby medication remaining to be determined, such designs may add complexity to the device.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a reusable delivery device that can overcome one or more of these and other shortcomings of the prior art.

Reusable medication delivery device with remaining medication determination capability


In an implantable heart stimulating device and a method of the operation thereof, device has a control circuit that detects an evoked responses to delivered pacing pulses and to carry out an automatic capture routine. The control circuit is arranged to automatically temporarily disable the automatic capture routine on the basis of at least one of the following criteria:                a1) if more than a predetermined number of threshold searches have been performed during a certain time, and        b1) if a variable time delay with which the device operates is changed such that a pacing pulse may be delivered by the device during the evoked response time window.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an implantable heart stimulating device with means for detecting an evoked response to delivered pacing pulses.
The invention also relates to a method of operating an implantable heart stimulating device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several different implantable devices for stimulating a heart are known. The devices are normally able to sense the electrical activity of the heart. Some implantable devices are able to deliver stimulation pulses to and/or sense the right atrium (in some cases even the left atrium) and also to deliver stimulation pulses to and sense one or both of the left and right ventricles. Devices that are able to deliver stimulation pulses to both the left and right ventricles can be called bi-ventricular pacers. Such devices can be used to treat patients who suffer from different severe cardiac problems, e.g. patients suffering from congestive heart failure (CHF). CHF is defined generally as the inability of the heart to deliver a sufficient amount of blood to the body. CHF can have different causes. It can for example be caused by a left bundle branch block (LBBB) or a right bundle branch block (RBBB). By using bi-ventricular pacing, the contraction of the ventricles can be controlled in order to improve the ability of the heart to pump blood. The stimulation pulses to the two ventricles can be delivered simultaneously, but it is also known that the stimulation pulses to the two ventricles are delivered with a short time delay (VV) between them in order to optimize the pumping performance of the heart.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,768 describes different possible electrode positions in order to stimulate or sense the different chambers of the heart.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,100 describes that electrodes may be positioned in both the left and the right atrium as well as in the left and the right ventricle.
In connection with implantable pacers, it is known to detect the capture of the heart, i.e. to detect whether the heart actually reacts on a delivered stimulation pulse. This detection is also called evoked response (ER) detection. If the heart is not captured, it is possible to arrange the pacer to deliver a back-up pulse with a higher pulse energy than the first pulse. It is also possible to increase the pulse energy in future stimulation pulses if capture is not detected. In order to save battery it is important that the stimulation pulses are not delivered with an unnecessarily high energy. In order to determine a suitable pulse energy, it is known to perform an automatic threshold/capture search. By varying the energy of the stimulation pulses, and by detecting whether capture occurs, it is thus possible to find a threshold value for the stimulation pulse energy. Based on the threshold value, a suitable stimulation pulse energy can be determined.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,782,291 describes an implantable cardiac stimulation device that senses evoked responses to applied pacing stimulation pulses. A pulse generator applies the stimulation pacing pulses to the heart in accordance with a pacing configuration. A sensor control selects an evoked response sensing electrode configuration from among a plurality of evoked response sensing electrode configurations in response to the pacing configuration. Signal-to-noise ratios obtained with the various electrode configurations are used to select a best electrode configuration for sensing evoked responses. If no electrode configuration yields an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio, it is recommended that the evoked response sensing be programmed off.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,649 describes an implantable cardiac rhythm management device capable of automatically detecting intrinsic and evoked response of a patient's heart and suitable for use during capture verification. The device may operate in an automatic capture verification mode, wherein an electrocardiogram signal of a patient's heart is received and used by the device to determine whether a stimulation pulse evokes a response by the patient's heart. The device suspends the automatic capture verification mode and/or adjusts the detection threshold dependent upon detected and/or measured noise, a determined amplitude of evoked response, a determined modulation in the evoked response, or detected and/or measured artifact.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,904 describes the optimization of evoked response detection in an automatic capture detection system employed by an implantable cardiac stimulation device. In one aspect, an automatic capture detection function may be temporarily disabled in order to prevent an inaccurate loss of capture detection while a patient is in the process of changing position, or when the sensed activity level exceeds some threshold value. For example, the ER signal morphology may be undetectable during a shift in position by a patient or when the patient is too active, i.e., where the ER is changing a significant amount. The automatic capture detection function may be temporarily disabled to account for an undetectable ER signal, thus preventing an erroneous loss of capture detection by the automatic capture detection system.
A heart stimulation device sold under the name "Regency" by St Jude Medical (formerly by Pacesetter AB) has a so-called autocapture function that includes automatic verification of capture and adaptation to changing detection thresholds. In this device the autocapture algorithm is temporarily disabled when the simulation threshold is above a certain level (e.g. above 3.9 V). Stimulation is then set to a high output (e.g. 4.5 V). Furthermore, in this device the autocapture algorithm is temporarily disabled when noise is detected and for as long as the noise is sensed.

Implantable heart stimulating device and method


A refrigerating machine (10) of the refrigerator or freezer type comprises a device (33) for defrosting cold parts to transform the ice into water to be discharged. It has an end-of-defrosting detector (20) comprising:. (1) a reservoir (24) which receives the water to be discharged, one of the branches (23) of a siphon (21) extending into said reservoir in order to drain the reservoir when the water reaches the level required for activation of the siphon, the other branch (22) being situated externally of the reservoir, PA0 (2) a light barrier (27, 28), comprising a light source and a light receiver arranged around the other branch (22) of the siphon in such a way that the light beam of the light barrier is interrupted by the passage of water through said other branch while defrosting is in progress, and PA0 (3) a electric circuit (30, 31, 32, 34) which stops defrosting when the light beam is not interrupted for a predetermined time.

An advantage of cold-ventilation refrigerators/freezers is the absence of frost in the refrigerating compartments. Nevertheless, frost is formed on the coldest spot of the freezer, i.e. on the evaporator fins. If freezer or refrigerator doors are opened frequently so much frost will be formed on the evaporator that it obstructs the fins, thereby reducing the refrigeration efficiency and impeding the circulation of air. Therefore, the evaporator must be defrosted periodically.
It is customary to effect defrosting by means of a resistive heating element which is in contact with the evaporator. By means of a timer this element is energized at regular intervals (generally for half an hour every 8 hours). In order to avoid an excessive temperature rise in the freezing compartment said element should not be energized for too long a time and should be disconnected as soon as defrosting is completed.
The problem which then arises is that the instant at which defrosting is finished should be detected in order to stop the defrosting process.
A solution which may be adopted is to detect the flow of water in the discharge pipe, for example by measuring the electrical resistance between two electrodes as described in the document FR 2,609,789. However, these measurements are susceptible to errors and are not reliable enough to enable the end of the defrosting operation to be determined correctly.

Refrigerating machine comprising an end-of-defrosting detector


Some embodiments include electronic circuitry for an electronic lock. The electronic circuitry can include: an antenna configured to receive a wireless signal; a communication processor, coupled to the antenna, configured to decode the wireless signal to ascertain a command to lock or unlock the electronic lock and to authenticate a source of the wireless signal; an energy storage configured to store electrical energy; a motor switch configured to drive a motor clockwise or counterclockwise, powered by the energy storage, depending on a control signal, wherein the motor switch is configured to drive the motor for a short burst of time; and a controller, coupled to the energy storage capacitor and the motor switch, configured to monitor electrical charge left in the energy storage and to output the control signal that corresponds to the command to lock or unlock the electronic lock.

Wireless technology has advanced over the years enabling wireless security systems. Amongst them, electronic locks have been in development. For most security related gadgets, the deciding factors of whether or not to purchase a gadget may be cost (e.g., purchase cost and maintenance cost), operational usability, ease of installation and maintenance, and degree of security. Various existing solutions lack at least one of these factors.
The figures depict various embodiments of this disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

NFC or BLE based contactless lock with charge monitoring of its energy storage


A control pedal apparatus for adjusting a control pedal of a motor vehicle such for example as a brake pedal, an accelerator pedal, or a clutch pedal. The mechanism includes a pedal arm, an adjustor member, and a bracket secured to the fire wall of the vehicle. The mechanism allows the position of the pedal pad to be adjusted slidably on the adjustor member without disturbing the position of the particular control element actuated by the pedal assembly, and selectively moves the pivot axis of the pedal assembly to maintain a fixed mechanical advantage of the pedal assembly irrespectively of the position of adjustment of the pedal arm on the adjustor member. Coacting slots allow the pivot axis to be selectively moved during adjustment of the assembly but coact in response to depression of the pedal to fix the position of the pivot axis in any adjusted position of the pedal arm so that the pedal assembly pivots positively about the instantaneous assembly axis in any adjusted position of the pedal arm. The adjustment of the pedal arm is accomplished by the rotation of a screw engaging a nut on the pedal arm with the screw being driven by an electric motor.

In a conventional automotive vehicle, pedals are provided for controlling brakes and engine throttle. If the vehicle has a manual transmission, a clutch pedal is also provided. These pedals are foot operated by the driver. In order for the driver to obtain the most advantageous position for working these controls, the vehicle front seat is usually slidably mounted on a seat track with means for securing the seat along the track in a plurality of adjustment positions.
The adjustment provided by moving the seat along the seat track does not accommodate all vehicle operators due to differences in anatomical dimensions. Further, there is growing concern that the use of seat tracks, and especially long seat tracks, constitutes a safety hazard in that the seat may pull loose from the track during an accident with resultant injuries to the driver and/or passengers. It is therefore desirable to either eliminate the seat track entirely or shorten the seat track to an extent that it will be strong enough to retain the seat during an impact. Shortening or eliminating the seat track requires that means be provided to selectively move the various control pedals to accommodate various size drivers.
Various proposals have been made in the past to provide selective adjustment of the pedal positions to accommodate various size drivers but none of these prior art adjustment proposals has met with any significant commercial acceptance since the proposed mechanisms have been unduly complex and expensive, and/or have been extremely difficult to operate, and/or have accomplished the required pedal adjustment only at the expense of altering other critical dimensional relationships as between the driver and the various pedals.

Control pedal apparatus for a motor vehicle


Methods and structure are provided for creating and utilizing hard masks to facilitate creation of a grating effect to control an anisotropic etching process for the creation of an opening, and subsequent formation of a interconnect structure (e.g., a via) in a multilayered semiconductor device. A first hard mask can be patterned to control etching in a first dimension, and a second hard mask can be patterned to control etching in a second dimension, wherein the second hard mask is patterned orthogonally opposed to the first hard mask. A resist can be patterned by inverting the pattern of a metal line patterning. Interconnects can be formed with critical dimension(s) and also self-aligned.

Silicon large-scale integrated circuits, among other device technologies, are increasing in use in order to provide support for the advanced information society of the future. An integrated circuit can be composed of a plurality of semiconductor devices, such as transistors or the like, which can be produced according to a variety of techniques. To continuously increase integration and speed of semiconductor devices, a trend of continuously scaling semiconductors (e.g., reducing size and features of semiconductor devices) has emerged. Reducing semiconductor and/or semiconductor feature size provides improved speed, performance, density, cost per unit, etc., of resultant integrated circuits. However, as semiconductor devices and device features have become smaller, conventional fabrication techniques have been limited in their ability to produce finely defined features.
Conventionally, front-end-of-line (FEOL) fabrication processing of an integrated circuit relates to patterning of devices (e.g., transistors, capacitors, resistors, etc.) in the semiconductor. Formation of interconnects to facilitate connection of the various devices conventionally occurs during back-end-of-line (BEOL) fabrication. By way of example, interconnects are formed during BEOL fabrication of an integrated circuit structure to facilitate connection between conductive patterns comprising conductive lines separated by interwiring spacings, and a plurality of interconnect lines, such as bus lines, bit lines, word lines and logic interconnect lines comprising an integrated circuit structure. A particular aspect in interconnect formation is a via, where a via can be formed in an insulator, dielectric, or similar structure, and facilitates connection between the various conductive elements comprising the integrated circuit structure.
Single damascene is an interconnection fabrication process in which grooves are formed in an insulating layer and filled with metal to form the conductive lines. Dual damascene is a multi-level interconnection process in which, in addition to forming the grooves of single damascene, the conductive via openings also are formed. In conventional dual damascene processing, the insulating layer is coated with a resist material which is exposed to a first mask including the image pattern of the via openings, and the pattern is anisotropically etched in the upper half of the insulating layer. After removal of the patterned resist material, the insulating layer is coated with a resist material which is exposed to a second mask with the image pattern of the conductive lines in alignment with the via openings. By anisotropically etching the openings for the conductive lines in the upper half of the insulating material, the via openings already present in the upper half are simultaneously etched in the lower half of the insulating material. After the etching is complete, both the vias and grooves are filled with metal.
Conventionally, by utilizing a dual damascene process, semiconductor devices can be patterned with several thousand openings for conductive lines, interconnects, and vias, which are filled with a conductive metal, such as aluminum or copper, and serve to interconnect the active and/or passive elements of the integrated circuit. The dual damascene process is also used for forming the multilevel signal lines of conductive metal in the insulating layers of multilayer substrate on which semiconductor devices are mounted.
Owing to miniaturization of the semiconductor devices and, accordingly, the conductive elements (e.g., a metal line) located therein, creation of an interconnect(s) in a multilayer semiconductor stack has become an exacting process, pushing the limits of ability for contemporary photolithographic techniques to form an interconnect(s) having the correct dimensions (e.g., critical dimensions) and location in relation to the conductor with which the interconnect is to interface.
As shown in FIG. 20, a plurality of issues relate to the formation of a via having the required critical dimensions and location relative to a conductor, metal line 2010. Via V1 has been formed with a desired critical dimension d, where in this particular example the diameter d of via V1 is less than width W of metal line 2010, and via V1 is aligned correctly with regard to the centerline CL and width W of metal line 2010. V1a V2 has been formed such that via V2 is misaligned with respect to the centerline CL of metal line 2010. As shown, the junction between via V2 and metal line 2010 is not 100%, with a portion of via V2 overhanging metal line 2010, resulting in a contact having detrimental properties compared with via V1, for example via V2 has inferior electrical properties (e.g., inferior current flow) compared with via V1. Via V3 depicts an issue where a current technology, e.g., photolithography, is unable to produce a via having the desired dimension(s) (e.g., critical dimension) with regard to the width W of metal line 2010. Hence, the diameter D of via V3 is greater than width W of metal line 2010, and such an oversize structure can lead to issues such as leakage currents (e.g., tunneling), parasitic capacitance, and the like, with other proximate conductive elements and components. Hence, dimensional control of the via is critical. Accordingly, it would be desirable to form one or more via's correctly aligned with regard to an element (e.g., a metal line) comprising an integrated circuit structure and the via is formed with desired critical dimension(s).

Method for fabrication of interconnect structure with improved alignment for semiconductor devices


A clutch unit includes a lever-side clutch part to control transmission of rotational torque input through a lever operation, and a brake-side clutch part to transmit the rotational torque from the lever-side clutch part to an output side, and interrupt rotational torque from the output side. The brake-side clutch part includes an outer ring constrained in rotation, an output shaft configured to output the rotation, a cage arranged between the outer ring and the output shaft to receive the rotational torque from the lever-side clutch part, and a cylindrical roller to control the interruption of the rotational torque from the output shaft and the transmission of the rotational torque input from the cage through engagement and disengagement between the outer ring and the output shaft.

In general, in a clutch unit using engagement elements such as cylindrical rollers or balls, a clutch part is arranged between an input member and an output member. The clutch part is configured to engage and disengage the engagement elements, such as cylindrical rollers or balls, between the input member and the output member, to thereby control transmission and interruption of a rotational torque.
The present applicant has previously proposed a clutch unit assembled to a seat lifter part for an automobile, which is configured to vertically adjust a seat through a lever operation (for example, see Patent Literature 1). The clutch unit disclosed in Patent Literature 1 includes a lever-side clutch part, which is configured to receive a rotational torque input through a lever operation, and a brake-side clutch part, which is configured to transmit the rotational torque from the lever-side clutch part to an output side and interrupt a rotational torque from the output side.
The lever-side clutch part mainly includes an outer ring, an inner ring, a plurality of cylindrical rollers, a cage, and two centering springs. The outer ring is configured to receive the rotational torque input through the lever operation. The inner ring is configured to transmit the rotational torque input from the outer ring to the brake-side clutch part. The plurality of cylindrical rollers are configured to control the transmission and interruption of the rotational torque from the outer ring through engagement and disengagement in wedge gaps between the outer ring and the inner ring. The cage is configured to retain the cylindrical rollers at equal intervals in a circumferential direction. The two centering springs are configured to accumulate elastic forces with the rotational torque from the outer ring, and return the cage and the outer ring to respective neutral states by the accumulated elastic forces when the input of the rotational torque is lost.
The brake-side clutch part mainly includes an outer ring, an output shaft, a plurality of pairs of cylindrical rollers, plate springs, a cage, and a friction ring. The outer ring is constrained in rotation. The output shaft is configured to output the rotational torque. The plurality of pairs of cylindrical rollers are configured to control interruption of the rotational torque from the output shaft and transmission of the rotational torque from the lever-side clutch part through engagement and disengagement in wedge gaps between the outer ring and the output shaft. The plate springs are configured to apply a separating force to the pairs of cylindrical rollers. The cage is configured to retain the pairs of the cylindrical rollers and the plate springs at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. The friction ring is configured to apply a rotational resistance to the output shaft.
The cage of the brake-side clutch part is formed integrally with the inner ring of the lever-side clutch part. With this, in the brake-side clutch part, the cage has a function of serving as an input member configured to receive the rotational torque input from the lever-side clutch part in addition to a function of retaining the pairs of the cylindrical rollers and the plate springs at the equal intervals in the circumferential direction.
In the lever-side clutch part, when the rotational torque is input to the outer ring through the lever operation, the cylindrical rollers are engaged with the wedge gaps between the outer ring and the inner ring. The rotational torque is transmitted to the inner ring thorough the engagement of the cylindrical rollers in the wedge gaps, thereby rotating the inner ring. On this occasion, as the outer ring and the cage rotate, the elastic forces are accumulated in both of the centering springs.
When the input of the rotational torque is lost, the cage and the outer ring return to the respective neutral states by the elastic forces of both of the centering springs while the inner ring maintains a given rotational position. Thus, the inner ring rotates in an inching manner by repetition of the rotation of the outer ring, that is, a pumping operation on an operation lever.
In the brake-side clutch part, when a rotational torque is reversely input to the output shaft by seating on the seat, the cylindrical rollers are engaged with the wedge gaps between the output shaft and the outer ring, and the output shaft is thus locked to the outer ring. In such a manner, the rotational torque reversely input from the output shaft is locked in the brake-side clutch part, and the reverse transmission to the lever-side clutch part is interrupted. As a result, the seat cannot be vertically adjusted.
Meanwhile, when the rotational torque is input from the inner ring of the lever-side clutch part to the cage of the brake-side clutch part, the cage rotates to be brought into abutment against the cylindrical rollers, and presses the cylindrical rollers against the elastic forces of the plate springs, thereby disengaging the cylindrical rollers from the wedge gaps between the outer ring and the output shaft. As a result of the disengagement of the cylindrical rollers from the wedge gaps, the locked state of the output shaft is released, and the output shaft thus becomes rotatable.
Then, the rotational torque from the cage is transmitted to the output shaft through a further rotation of the cage of the brake-side clutch part, thereby rotating the output shaft. In other words, when the cage rotates in the inching manner, the output shaft also rotates in the inching manner. The inching rotation of the output shaft enables the vertical adjustment of the seat.


A quantum well infrared photodetector includes a direct connection between the charge well and detector that induces a nonlinear dynamic bias. This dynamic bias advantageously corrects for nonuniformity in the conductance of the detector. In another feature, the charge well is fabricated on the detector element by adding an extra contact layer and a dielectric layer to a standard quantum well. Very dense focal plane arrays can be produced by making the charge well a part of the infrared detector.

Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector Focal Plane Arrays (QWIP FPA's) are conventionally used for infrared detection and imaging. Typical applications of QWIP FPA's include fiber optics communications systems, temperature sensing, night vision, eye-safe range finding, and process control. As is known in the art, QWIP FPA's are composed of arrays of detector structures, wherein each detector structure produces a signal that is transmitted through a conductor bump to an external Read Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC) unit cell. The outputs of the plurality of ROIC unit cells associated with each detector in the array produce an integrated representation of the signal from the detector. To produce this output signal, a fixed bias is applied to the detector and the detector photocurrent resulting from the bias and the incident radiation is integrated. This integration function is performed by an integration charge well (integration capacitor) that is disposed within each individual ROIC unit cell. The combined integrated outputs of the plurality of ROIC unit cells in the array produce an image corresponding to the received infrared radiation.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional photodetector architecture consists of the detector structure 1 physically separated from the ROIC unit cell structure 2 and electrically connected through a conductive bump 3. In this prior art photodetector architecture the integrating capacitor 4 (unit cell charge well) is physically disposed within the ROIC unit cell itself. The usable area of the ROIC unit cell is constrained by the pitch of the overlying detector in the array. This constraint on the usable area further limits the size of the charge well which is the largest component in the unit cell. As the pitch of each detector in the array is reduced to create greater detector density, the usable area of the associated unit cell must also be reduced. This reduction limits the size of the charge well and, ultimately, places limits on the density of the detector array.
To produce very high density (for example 856.times.480 or 1024.times.576) QWIP Focal Plane Arrays the detector pitch may need to be reduced to less than 18 .mu.m. As already noted, this small pitch will limit the usable area for the unit cell charge well and also any additional unit cell storage well capacitors. Even with the use of 0.5 .mu.m or 0.35 .mu.m technology the available area for these capacitors in the unit cell will be very small. Additionally, there is a need to place smart focal plane array functions into the ROIC but in conventional designs, the small pitch limits the space that is available to provide these functions. Thus, the conventional photodetector architecture, in which the unit cell contains all of the components except the detector, imposes a limitation on the size and functionality of the unit cell charge well and the density of the FPA.
An additional drawback of the prior art concerns the inherent variation in the conductivities of each of the detectors in a focal plane array. These variations in conductivity result in detector elements that have different responsivities to incident radiation (e.g., high responsivity/"hot" or low responsivity/"cold" detector pixels). Variation in responsivity among the detectors across the array disadvantageously leads to nonuniform array imagery. However, the ROIC circuitry of the prior art fails to provide any compensation for this variation in responsivity. The conventional photodetector of FIG. 1 includes a ROIC injection transistor 26 that is used to bias the detector element 1. This transistor functions to provide a constant bias voltage that produces a linear response from the detector element 1. Since the detector's responsivity is also a function of the applied bias voltage, the fixed bias provided by the prior art injection transistor 26 does not compensate for the variation in responsivity due to inherent variations in detector conductivity.


A nurse robot has a stand and a supporting assembly. The supporting assembly is mounted on the stand and has a seat, a backrest, a leg plate, step plate, a first driving device and a second driving device. The seat is attached to the stand. The backrest is pivotally attached to one end of the seat plate. The leg plate is pivotally attached to the other end of the seat. The step plate is pivotally attached to the other end of the leg plate. The first driving device is attached to the seat to drive the backrest and the leg plate to pivotally rotate relative to the seat. The second driving device is attached to the leg plate to drive the step plate to pivotally rotate relative to the leg plate. Accordingly, a patient can conveniently move to any desired place without any other person""s help.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nurse robot, and more particularly to a nurse robot which can expand to a bed or be folded to a chair for supporting a patient.
2. Description of Related Art
A patient who cannot move freely always lies on a bed for rest or treatment. When the patient wants to go to outdoors, a wheelchair is used for supporting and transporting the patient. However, a patient cannot move from a bed to a wheelchair by himself or herself. Therefore, a nurse is necessary for taking care of a patient, and this will increase the financial burden to the patient and the family of the patient. In addition, to do anything for the patient involves the participation of someone else which is inconvenient.
The present invention tends to provide a nurse robot to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide a nurse robot which can expand to a bed or be folded to a chair for supporting a patient without moving the patient. The nurse robot has a stand and a supporting assembly. The supporting assembly is mounted on the stand and has a seat, a backrest, a leg plate, step plate, a first driving device and a second driving device. The seat is attached to the stand. The backrest is pivotally attached to one end of the seat plate with a first pivot. The leg plate is pivotally attached to the other end of the seat with a second pivot. The step plate is pivotally attached to the other end of the leg plate with a third pivot. The first driving device is attached to the bottom of the seat and has two ends respectively connected to the backrest and the leg plate to drive the backrest and the leg plate to pivotally rotate relative to the seat. The second driving device is attached to the bottom of the leg plate to drive the step plate to pivotally rotate relative to the leg plate. Accordingly, the nurse robot can expand to a bed for a patient to lay out on or be folded to a chair for the patient to sit on. The patient can conveniently move to any desired place without any other person""s help.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


According to one embodiment, a vehicle drive apparatus configured to drive a vehicle includes a motor arranged on a bogie to drive a wheel, a cooling fan arranged to be rotatable integrally with a rotational shaft of the motor to cool the motor, a control device arranged under a floor of the body to face the bogie and configured to supply an electric power to the motor and control the motor, and a ventilation duct arranged between the motor and the control device and configured to guide a cooling wind blown by the cooling fan into the control device.

For example, a vehicle drive apparatus for a railway vehicle, a railway rolling stock, and the like includes a plurality of main electric motors respectively arranged on a bogie in proximity to wheels and control devices for driving these main motors. The main motor is connected to the wheels via gears, and the main motor rotates the wheels, whereby the entire rolling stock runs. The main electric motor receives electric power via wires from the control device arranged under a floor of the rolling stock, and the operation of the main motor is controlled by the control device. Therefore, a set of a main motor and a control device is deemed as one drive apparatus. When the main motor and the control device are integrally arranged or arranged in proximity to each other, it is not necessary to route long wires, in which case an ideal drive apparatus can be achieved.
Recently, the control device is mainly arranged in a different position away from the main motor, such as a position under a floor of a central portion of the rolling stock. One of the reasons therefor is a volume occupied for cooling. The control device generates heat due to switching of devices when the rolling stock accelerates and decelerates. Recently, it is common to use a method for cooling the control device by using the natural wind generating by the traveling of the rolling stock. The amount of the wind due to the traveling of the rolling stock increases as the velocity of the rolling stock increases, but in general, the wind is as low as about 2 to 4 m/s. Therefore, the control device is provided with many radiating fins in order to increase the area of heat radiation, and also uses heat pipes in order to expedite the heat radiation. The volume of the portion needed for cooling occupies 60% or more of the entire control device. Therefore, the control device for the railway vehicle is different from control devices for automobiles and generators and is large in volume. Thus, it is difficult to integrally form the control device with the main motor within the bogie, whose size is strictly limited.
In order to reduce the size of the control device, it is conceivable to reduce the volume of the radiating fins occupying more than half of the volume of the control device. For example, the volume needed for heat radiation may be reduced by using a forced air cooling. However, when a cooling fan for the forced air cooling is attached, a stop of the cooling fan due to malfunction and the like may result in insufficient cooling effect. As a result, the device will break down, and the vehicles will stop. Therefore, the cooling device requiring electric power increases the risk of the malfunction.
Accordingly, it is conceivable to forcibly cool the control device by blowing cooling wind into a cooling device by using the rotation of the main motor. An example of the drive apparatus using the above method and integrally formed with the main motor and the main control device is an apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2007-37262. In this apparatus, a fan arranged on a rotor of a main motor rotates according to rotation of the main motor, and the fan draws fresh air. The drawn fresh air passes through the control device. At this occasion, the air removes heat from the control device, and the air is discharged to the outside. Since the fans reliably rotate whenever the main motor rotates, a malfunction of the cooling fan alone will never occur.
However, the above-explained conventional vehicle drive apparatus has the following problem to be solved. That is, in the drive apparatus for the railway vehicle, the main motors are arranged on the bogie, which produces extremely strong vibration. When the control device is integrally formed with the main motor, the control device directly receives the vibration from the bogie and the main motor. Although the motors do not break down because the motors are designed to withstand the vibration of the bogie, the currently available control device may break down since it is not sufficiently designed to be vibration-proof.


An image forming apparatus is provided with a laser scanning unit having at least two laser diodes to form an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive body with laser beams emitted from the laser diodes; an engine driving unit having at least one driving motor to drive a plurality of built-in units; and a control unit arranged to control one of the laser scanning unit and the engine driving unit so as to adjust a process speed of the engine driving unit or a scan speed of the laser scanning unit with a certain rate depending on a selected resolution in order to enhance a resolution of an image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, relates to an image forming apparatus capable of enhancing the resolution of an image by controlling a scan or process speed of the image forming apparatus having a laser scanning unit (LSU) that uses double laser diodes (LDs), and a laser scanning method thereof.
2. Related Art
Recently, as consumers' desire for faster printing speed has been increased, an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a photocopier and a multi-functional product, has widely employed a multi-beam scanning approach of scanning two lines at a time using double laser diodes (LDs), rather than a single beam scanning approach of scanning a single line using a single LD.
If a multi-beam scanning approach is utilized, as shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus emits laser beams with double LDs, i.e., upper and lower LDs, and scans a horizontal scanning signal (Hsync) once on a surface of a photosensitive body, such as a photoconductive drum, two dotted lines are simultaneously formed on the surface of the photosensitive body as an electrostatic latent image.
Further, when the multi-beam scanning approach is utilized, the upper and the lower LDs are arranged to be vertically fixed to each other at a certain interval. These intervals between dots of a scan line (dotted line shown in FIG. 1) can be adjusted to be narrow or broad by controlling a correspondent signal of each of the LDs. However, the intervals between the scan lines cannot be adjusted by controlling a corresponding signal of each of the LDs.
Accordingly, the intervals between scan lines of laser beams emitted from the upper and the lower LDs, i.e., scan lines of a scanning signal (Sync) need to be narrow so as to improve a vertical resolution of an image.
If a single-beam scanning approach is utilized using a single LD, intervals between scan lines of a scanning signal (Sync) can be adjusted by controlling a scan speed of a laser beam emitted from a single LD on a surface of a photosensitive body or a process speed of an engine driving unit (EDU) of the image forming apparatus. On the other hands, if a multi-beam scanning approach is utilized using double LDs, there is produced superposition or interference between scanning signals by controlling a scan speed or a process speed, so that it is difficult to be implemented.
More specifically, FIG. 2 illustrates scan lines formed on a surface of a photosensitive body in the case that a scan speed of a laser scanning unit (LSU) is increased double or a process speed of an engine driving unit (EDU) is decreased ½ time to enhance a vertical resolution of an image when compared with those shown in FIG. 1. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, scan lines of scanning signals (Sync) having image information different from each other, which are emitted from the upper and the lower LDs, are mixed up. As a result, a required high-resolution image cannot be obtained.
Accordingly, there is a need for a laser scanning method and an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining a required high-resolution image without superposition or interference between scan lines of scanning signals (Sync) even though a scan speed of a laser scanning unit (LSU) or a process speed of an engine driving unit (EDU) are changed to enhance a vertical resolution by narrowing intervals between scan lines of scanning signals (Sync).

Image forming apparatus and laser scanning method thereof