The present disclosure includes a system in which a video displayer, having access to video surveillance data and point-of-sale transaction data, provides random-access review of point-of-sale transactional video. Embodiments herein provide a new method of reviewing security video of a transaction taking place at a retail establishment's point-of-sale transaction area, or register. Embodiments herein enable random and instantaneous access to any number of transaction events that may be of interest to a loss prevention investigator. In one embodiment, a video displayer obtains video data comprising a point-of-sale transaction occurring at a point-of-sale transaction area, and transaction data from a point-of-sale terminal. The video displayer displays video of individual transaction events from a larger transaction, and visually modifies displayed video at a moment in the video when a transaction event occurs.

Retail establishments commonly use point of sale terminals or other transaction terminals, such as cash registers, to allow customers of those establishments to purchase items. As an example, in a conventional department store, supermarket or other retail establishment, a customer collects items for purchase throughout the store and places them in a shopping cart or basket, or simply carries the items to a point of sale terminal to purchase those items in a transaction.
The point of sale terminal may be staffed with an operator such as a cashier who is a person employed by the store to assist the customer in completing the transaction. In some cases, retail establishments have implemented self-checkout point of sale terminals in which the customer is the operator. In either case, the operator typically places items for purchase on a counter, conveyor belt or other item input area. The point of sale terminals include a scanning device such as a laser or optical scanner device that operates to identify a Uniform Product Code (UPC) label or bar code affixed to each item that the customer desires to purchase. The laser scanner is usually a peripheral device coupled to a computer that is part of the point-of-sale (POS) terminal.
To scan an item, the operator picks up each item, one by one, from the item input area and passes each item over a scanning area such as glass window built into the counter or checkout area to allow the laser scanner to detect the UPC code. Once the point of sale computer identifies the UPC code on an item, the computer can perform a lookup in a database to determine the price and identity of the scanned item. Alternatively, in every case where the operator can scan the item, the operator may likewise enter the UPC or product identification code into the terminal manually or through an automatic product identification device such as an RFID reader. The term "scan" is defined generally to include all means of entering transaction items into a transaction terminal. Likewise, the term "scanner" is defined generally as any transaction terminal, automated and/or manual, for recording transaction information.
As the operator scans or enters each item for purchase, one by one, the point of sale terminal maintains an accumulated total purchase price for all of the items in the transaction. For each item that an operator successfully scans or enters, the point of sale terminal typically makes a beeping noise or tone to indicate to the operator that the item has been scanned by the point of sale terminal and in response, the operator places the item into an item output area such as a downstream conveyor belt or other area for retrieval of the items by the customer or for bagging of the items into a shopping bag. Once all items in the transaction are scanned in this manner, the operator indicates to the point of sale terminal that the scanning process is complete and the point of sale terminal displays a total purchase price to the customer who then pays the store for the items purchased in that transaction.
In addition to recording transactions through point of sale terminals, retailer establishments also commonly use video surveillance to record point of sale activity. Overhead video security cameras record operator behavior near the point of sale terminal. Such video security cameras generally operate on a closed circuit network that is separate from the point of sale terminal network.
Video surveillance of point of sale transaction activity is useful for quality control such as with unintentional failed scans, and to prevent and identify fraud in point of sale transactions, such as intentionally failed scans. Some conventional systems include human monitoring systems and video monitoring systems that involve the use of loss prevention personnel overseeing a real-time video feed (or pre-recorded) to identify fraudulent transactions. There also exist automated systems that attempt to identify questionable transactions based on a graphical analysis of video surveillance data.

Method and apparatus for random-access review of point of sale transactional video


The brine purifying system employs a multistage filtering apparatus comprising a plurality of the same filter units piled up one over another to form a plurality of cascaded filtering stages. When the filter layers of the filter units are clogged with unsoluble matters, the operation of the multistage filtering apparatus is interrupted, then a solvent for the unsoluble matters is circulated through the multistage filtering apparatus to remove the unsoluble matters arrested by the filter layers by dissolving the same therein. Then, a washing liquid is circulated through the multistage filtering apparatus to wash the multistage filtering apparatus completely. The solvent and the washing liquid used for regenerating and washing the multistage filtering apparatus are recovered and are used for dissolving salt to prepare saturated brine. The unsoluble matters thus removed from the filter layers are removed by being precipitated in a precipitating tank.

The present invention relates to a method of purifying brine to be subjected to electrolyzation for producing caustic soda and chlorine, and a system for carrying out the same.
In electrolyzing salt, it is the usual practice is to supply brine, which has been prepared by dissolving salt in water and purified by removing impurities contained in the salt solution, to an electrolyzer. Recently, the electrolytic process for electrolyzing brine has been converted progressively from the membrane system to the ion exchange membrane system due to the increase in demand for electrolytic caustic soda of higher purity; consequently, the purification of brine has become regarded as important.
When brine containing much hardness components is supplied to the electrolytic process of the ion exchange membrane system, the performance of the ion exchange membranes deteriorates and the life of the same is remarkably reduced. Accordingly, the brine needs to be treated, through filtering layers packed with a chelate resin, to achieve high purification before the brine is supplied to an electrolyzer.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional brine purifying system. Referring to FIG. 1, dechlorinated dilute brine recovered from an electrolyzer 14 is returned from a dechlorinated dilute brine tank 13 to a saturated brine tank 1. The saturated brine tank 1 is replenished with salt and, if necessary, water to prepare saturated brine.
The saturated brine is supplied to a mixing tank 2, where caustic soda or sodium carbonate is mixed with the saturated brine to produce so-called brine mud. The saturated brine containing the brine mud is supplied to a thickner 3, where most of the brine mud is deposited and the deposited brine mud is discharged from the system from the bottom of the thickner 3.
Since the supernatant saturated brine supplied from the thickner 3 usually contains minute amount of insoluble solid matter, the supernatant saturated brine is stored temporarily in a supernatant saturated brine tank 4, and then the supernatant saturated brine is supplied to a filtering apparatus 6. The filtered and purified brine is stored in a purified brine tank 7, and then the purified brine is supplied to a chelate resin tower 8, where a small amount of the residual impurity ions are removed. Then, hydrochloric acid is added to the purified brine in a pH adjusting tank 9 to adjust the pH of the purified brine. Then, this high purity brine is supplied to the electrolyzer.
However, it has been found that the life of the chelate resin is greatly dependent upon the amount of suspended solid matter remaining in the brine and that a high degree of separation of the solid matter is necessary in addition to the solid matter separation achieved by the thickner. In order to meet such a requirement, purified brine is obtained by separating the solid matter from the saturated brine by means of the thickner. In order to achieve the satisfactory filtration of the supernatant brine through the perfect separation of the solid matters, the brine feed rate has to be reduced and the filtering apparatus needs to be washed frequently for regeneration, which causes increases in the brine purifying cost.


A method for producing a sulfide solid electrolyte, wherein lithium sulfide and a compound represented by the following formula (1) are used as raw materials: PSX3 (1) (wherein, X is an element selected from F, CI, Br and I.).

With rapid spread of information-related equipment or communications equipment such as PCs, video cameras, and mobile phones in recent years, development of batteries used as a power source thereof has been considered to be important. Among the batteries, a lithium ion battery has attracted attention from a viewpoint of high energy density.
In the lithium ion battery that is currently commercially available, a liquid electrolyte containing a flammable organic solvent is used, and therefore attachment of a safety device that suppresses an increase in a temperature at the time of short circuit, or improvement in structural and material aspects for preventing short circuit is required. On the other hand, in the lithium ion battery formed into all-solid-state battery by using a solid electrolyte in place of the liquid electrolyte, it is considered that the flammable organic solvent is not used in the battery, and therefore the safety device can be simplified, and the lithium ion battery is excellent in a production cost or productivity.
As the solid electrolyte used in the lithium ion battery, a sulfide solid electrolyte is known. Above all, the sulfide solid electrolyte containing halogen as a constituent element has been reported to have improved ion conductivity or stability, and therefore has been positively researched in recent years. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a sulfide solid electrolyte containing Li, P, S and halogen (I, Br, Cl) as the constituent elements.
However, development of a production method suitable for mass production and further improvement in ion conductivity have been required.

Method for producing sulfide solid electrolyte


A mixing apparatus is provided for mixing slurries, particularly high density, high viscosity fracturing fluid slurries containing a large proportion of proppant material. A mixing tub has a generally round horizontal cross-sectional shape. A relatively large, low-speed rotating agitator is utilized to mix the slurry. The design of the agitator is such that a radially inwardly rolling toroidal shaped slurry flow zone is created adjacent the upper surface of the slurry within the tub. A stream of clean fracturing fluid is introduced into the tub near the center of the toroidal shaped flow zone. Dry proppant material is introduced into the tube and carried by the radially inwardly rolling flow into contact with the clean fracturing fluid. Foraminous baffles, preferably constructed from expanded metal sheets, are radially oriented within the tub to reduce rotational motion of the slurry within the tub without causing dropout of proppant from the slurry. A double suction vertical sump pump is utilized to pump the slurry from the tub.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for mixing fluids, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to the mixing of high density proppant laden gelled slurries for use in oil well fracturing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One common technique for the stimulation of oil or gas wells is the fracturing of the well by pumping of fluids under high pressure into the well so as to fracture the formation. The production of hydrocarbons from the well is facilitated by these fractures which provide flow channels for the hydrocarbons to reach the well bore.
The fluids utilized for these fracturing treatments often contain solid materials generally referred to as propants. The most commonly used proppant is sand, although a number of other materials can be used. The proppant is mixed with the fracturing fluid to form a slurry which is pumped into the well under pressure. When the fractures are formed in the formation, the slurry moves into the fractures. Subsequently, upon releasing the fracturing pressure, the proppant material remains in the fracture to prop the fracture open.
A typical slurry mixing apparatus such as that presently in use by Halliburton Company, the assignee of the present invention, includes a rectangular shaped tub having dimensions on the order of six feet long by four feet wide by three feet deep. In the bottom of the tub, lying parallel to the length of the tub, are two augers which keep the slurry in motion near the bottom of the tub and minimize the buildup of sand in the bottom of the tub. Sometimes, rotating agitators having blades with a diameter on the order of twelve to fifteen inches are provided near the surface of the slurry. Fluid inlet to these blender tubs may be either near the bottom, through the side, or into the top of the tub. Sand is added by dumping it into the top of the tub.
Slurry mixing is of primary importance during a fracturing job. The sand must be mixed with the fracturing fluid which often is a high viscosity gelled fluid. The resulting slurry is a high viscosity, non-Newtonian fluid which is very sensitive to shearing and can be difficult to thoroughly mix. The viscosity of the fluid depends upon the motion of the fluid and thus the viscosity of the slurry is to a significant extent dependent upon the manner in which the slurry is mixed. Most oil field service companies have few problems with present technology when mixing low sand concentration slurries, i.e., ten pounds per gallon or less sand concentration. Problems, however, start to arise when the sand concentrations exceed ten pounds per gallon. Sometimes very high sand concentrations are desired up to approximately twenty pounds per gallon. The problems encountered when mixing these very high density slurries include air locking of centrifugal pumps, poor surface turbulence which leads to slugging of high pressure pumps and non-uniform slurry density, poor wetting of the new sand due to the problems of getting clean fluid and sand together without excessive agitation, the stacking of dry sand on the sides of the slurry tub, sealing of agitators to prevent fluid loss and the lack of available suction head at the centrifugal pumps.
There is a need for a mixing system particularly adapted for the effective mixing of high density sand slurries for well fracturing purposes.


An image forming apparatus capable of selectively discharging a sheet having an image formed with toner on one surface thereof and a sheet having images formed with toner on both surfaces thereof includes a fixing unit configured to fix a toner image on a sheet, a sheet stacking portion configured to stack sheets each having the toner image fixed thereon, and a control portion configured to control a maximum sheet stacking amount of sheets stacked in the sheet stacking portion. The control portion controls the maximum sheet stacking amount set when sheets, at least one of which has the toner images formed on both surfaces thereof, are stacked to be smaller than the maximum sheet stacking amount set when sheets each having the toner image formed on one surface thereof are stacked.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular, it relates to a configuration for prevention of blocking of sheets that have been discharged onto a discharge tray without causing a reduction in image quality or productivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a copying machine, or the like, which executes image formation by using an electrophotographic system, transfers a toner image to a sheet, conveys the sheet to a fixing device, and fixes the toner image to thereby form an image on the sheet. Furthermore this type of imaging forming apparatus includes a two-sided (double-sided) image forming mode in which a reversing unit reverses the sheet with the image formed thereon and then a re-conveyance unit conveys the sheet again to an image forming portion to thereby execute image formation on both the front and back surfaces of the sheet.
However, in this type of conventional image forming apparatus, after fixing of the toner image, although the sheet is discharged onto a discharge tray, the sheet may not yet be sufficiently cooled. Consequently, melted toner on a sheet which is discharged onto the discharge tray may cause a blocking phenomenon with a sheet that has already been discharged onto the discharge tray. In particular, when an image is formed on both surfaces of a sheet (recording medium), toner on adjacent sheets in the discharge tray comes into direct contact and generally increases the occurrence of a blocking phenomenon. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0196152 discusses an approach for this type of sheet blocking, for example, by providing a cooling portion that brings a sheet into contact with cooling air along the direction of sheet stacking to thereby reduce the temperature of the sheets which are discharged onto the discharge tray. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-242335 discusses an apparatus which includes a temperature detection portion that detects a temperature of a sheet discharged onto the discharge tray and executes control to vary the sheet-to-sheet distance or the fixing temperature based on the temperature result detected by the temperature detection portion. In an image forming apparatus that executes this type of control, when the temperature of a sheet discharged onto the discharge tray is a temperature that will cause a blocking phenomenon, the temperature of the sheet discharged onto the discharge tray can be reduced by increasing the sheet-to-sheet distance or by reducing the fixing temperature.
However the sharp growth of color applications in recent years has created a need in the print-on-demand (POD) market, the graphics art (GA) market or the like for extremely high image quality in the images formed on sheets. Furthermore, there has been a corresponding increase in the demand for high-speed production of high-quality image sheets. When an extremely high-quality image is formed on the sheet, the amount of toner used in the image formed on the sheet is higher than the amount used in a conventional image. However, when a toner amount increases in a conventional image forming apparatus, the weight per sheet increases and a blocking phenomenon caused by blocking of adjacent sheets in a lower portion may occur due to the weight of sheets stacked in the discharge tray. When a high-quality image is formed on both sides of a sheet, since the toner on the sheets stacked in the discharge tray comes into direct contact, there is a higher possibility of a blocking phenomenon occurring. When executing high-speed production of high-quality images, if blocking of sheets is prevented, for example, by increasing the sheet-to-sheet distance, productivity will be adversely affected, and if the fixing temperature is reduced, image quality will be adversely affected.

Image forming apparatus which forms images on one side or both sides of a sheet


An instrument for assisting in guiding a spinal connector or rod through one or more spinal implants placed in the spine includes a main assembly having the ability to accurately guide a rod through the implants by way of rotation and translation. By introducing the rod via rotation, the tip of the rod can be located very accurately deep in soft tissue for percutaneous applications. Once inside the first implant, the rod tip can be advanced by translation and rotation to the next implant. The number of implants connected in this manner is only limited to the length and curvature of the rod introduced. However, an advantage to the instrument is the ability to handle multiple length rods of different curvatures by adjustments to the instrument.

The insertion of pedicle screws into the spine for fixation has been commonly used for many years. In general, a set of implants is placed on both sides of the spinous process into the pedicles and the set on each side is connected by an individual rod. For example, in a single level fusion, whereby two vertebral bodies are intended to be fused together, four pedicle screws are used, two on each side of the spinous process. Each set of two is then connected by the rod. For multiple levels, more screws are used and connected by longer rods. The general technique is an open procedure, whereby the incision in the skin is long and spans the length of the affected area of the spine to be treated. To reach the spine, the incision is continued through the muscle. These long incisions are painful and require significant healing time. In some cases, where spinal pathology is complicated, this may be the only prudent approach. However, in many cases, a less traumatic procedure would be highly beneficial in reducing patient pain and speeding recovery time.
The current concepts for minimally invasive surgical approaches for placing pedicle screws generally fall into two basic forms. Sextant, which is an instrument covered under U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,929 to Justis et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,422 to Foley et al., uses an instrument that swings the connecting rod through an arc. This configuration requires that all the implants be on the arc. To accomplish this alignment, the implants are connected to towers that are subsequently connected together to create a single pivot point. The connecting rod must be swept around this pivot point to pass through all the implants connected to the towers. This procedure is very problematic. First, the spine is not a uniform curve. Disadvantageously, the instrument requires the spine to be forced into a uniform curve. Secondly, the pedicles are at angles that vary from level to level. This complicates placing of the instrument. To make such an instrument function, the number of implants that can be surgically connected is very limited. The second basic form for placing pedicle screws is that of attaching extensions, or towers, to the implants to lengthen the implant head. U.S. Pat. No. 7,955,355 to Chin describes extensions, although it does not teach the technique in which they are used to allow connecting rods to be placed. U.S. Pat. No. 7,918,858 to Stad et al. also describes extensions. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,830 to Frigg et al. describes extensions and the surgical use of the extensions in conjunction with rod placement. These extended towers all have long slots in the sides. This is important to note, as rod placement by this approach is far too inaccurate to place directly within a spinal screw implant body. By extending the implant, it allows the surgeon to find the implant rod slot and introduce the rod higher and push it down until it seats in the implant body. There are self-evident issues with this approach. While less invasive than an open incision, there is muscle in the way, and the muscle must be split to allow the rod to slide downward into position within the spinal screw body. Secondly, the more screws the surgeon wishes to place, the more difficult the surgery becomes. Clearly such a procedure is limited in what it can do.
Therefore, while these prior minimally invasive spinal instruments and surgical procedures can be suitable for limited usage to which they somewhat address, they are not suitable to providing an instrument and surgical approach that can accurately and less traumatically place an implant connecting device over multiple levels.
Thus, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art systems, designs, and processes as discussed above.

Percutaneous instrumentation and surgical procedure


Assemblies of double coated radiographic elements exhibiting sharply curtailed crossover and front and back intensifying screen pairs are disclosed. By choosing a front screen that exceeds a stated sharpness criterion, expressed in terms of modulation transfer factors (MTF), and a back screen and adjacent emulsion layer unit combination exhibiting a photicity at least twice that of the combination of the front screen and its adjacent emulsion layer unit an enhancement in detective quantum efficiency (DQE) is realized.

In medical radiography an image of a patient's tissue and bone structure is produced by exposing the patient to X-radiation and recording the pattern of penetrating X-radiation using a radiographic element containing at least one radiation-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer coated on a transparent (usually blue tinted) film support. The X-radiation can be directly recorded by the emulsion layer where only low levels of exposure are required, as in dental imaging and the imaging of body extremities. However, a more efficient approach, which greatly reduces X-radiation levels required, is to employ an intensifying screen in combination with the radiographic element. The intensifying screen absorbs X-radiation and emits longer wavelength electromagnetic radiation which silver halide emulsions more readily absorb. Another technique for reducing patient exposure is to coat two silver halide emulsion layers on opposite sides of the film support to form a "double coated" radiographic element.
Diagnostic needs can be satisfied at the lowest patient X-radiation exposure levels by employing a double coated radiographic element in combination with a pair of intensifying screens. The silver halide emulsion layer unit on each side of the support directly absorbs about 1 to 2 percent of incident X-radiation. The front screen, the screen nearest the X-radiation source, absorbs a much higher percentage of X-radiation, but still transmits sufficient X-radiation to expose the back screen, the screen farthest from the X-radiation source. In the overwhelming majority of applications the front and back screens are balanced so that each absorbs about the same proportion of the total X-radiation. However, a few variations have been reported from time to time. A specific example of balancing front and back screens to maximize image sharpness is provided by Luckey et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,637. Lyons et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,435 discloses in Example 10 the combination of two proprietary screens, Trimax 2.TM. employed as a front screen and Trimax 12F.TM. employed as a back screen. K. Rossman and G. Sanderson, "Validity of the Modulation Transfer Function of Radiographic Screen-Film Systems Measured by the Slit Method", Phys. Med. Biol., 1968, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 250-268, report the use of unsymmetrical screen-film assemblies in which either the two screens had measurably different optical characteristics or the two emulsions had measurably different optical properties.
An imagewise exposed double coated radiographic element contains a latent image in each of the two silver halide emulsion units on opposite sides of the film support. Processing converts the latent images to silver images and concurrently fixes out undeveloped silver halide, rendering the film light insensitive. When the film is mounted on a view box, the two superimposed silver images on opposite sides of the support are seen as a single image against a white, illuminated background.
It has been a continuing objective of medical radiography to maximize the information content of the diagnostic image while minimizing patient exposure to X-radiation. In 1918 the Eastman Kodak Company introduced the first medical radiographic product that was double coated, and the Patterson Screen Company that same year introduced a matched intensifying screen pair for that product.
An art recognized difficulty with employing double coated radiographic elements in combination with intensifying screens as described above is that some light emitted by each screen passes through the transparent film support to expose the silver halide emulsion layer unit on the opposite side of the support to light. The light emitted by a screen that exposes the emulsion layer unit on the opposite side of the support reduces image sharpness. The effect is referred to in the art as crossover.
A variety of approaches have been suggested to reduce crossover, as illustrated by Research Disclosure, Vol. 184, August 1979, Item 18431, Section V. Cross-Over Exposure Control. Research Disclosure is published by Kenneth Mason Publications, Ltd., Dudley Annex, 21a North Street, Emsworth, Hampshire P010 7DQ, England. While some of these approaches are capable of entirely eliminating crossover, they either interfere with (typically entirely prevent) concurrent viewing of the superimposed silver images on opposite sides of the support as a single image, require separation and tedious manual reregistration of the silver images in the course of eliminating the crossover reduction medium, or significantly desensitize the silver halide emulsion. As a result, none of these crossover reduction approaches have come into common usage in the radiographic art. An example of a recent crossover cure teaching of this type is Bollen et al European published patent application 276,497, which interposes a reflective support between the emulsion layer units during imaging.
The most successful approach to crossover reduction yet realized by the art consistent with viewing the superimposed silver images through a transparent film support without manual registration of images has been to employ double coated radiographic elements containing spectrally sensitized high aspect ratio tabular grain emulsions or thin intermediate aspect ratio tabular grain emulsions, illustrated by Abbott et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,425 and 4,425,426, respectively. Whereas radiographic elements typically exhibited crossover levels of at least 25 percent prior to Abbott et al, Abbott et al provide examples of crossover reductions in the 15 to 22 percent range.
Still more recently Dickerson et al (I) U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,150 has demonstrated that by combining the teachings of Abbott et al with a processing solution decolorizable microcrystalline dye located between at least one of the emulsion layer units and the transparent film support less than 10 percent down to "zero" crossover levels can be realized. Since the technique used to determine crossover, single screen exposure of a double coated radiographic element, cannot distinguish between exposure of the emulsion layer unit on the side of the support remote from the screen caused by crossover and the exposure caused by direct absorption of X-radiation, "zero" crossover radiographic elements in reality embrace radiographic elements with a measured crossover (including direct X-ray absorption) of less than about 5 percent.
Dickerson et al (II) U.S. Ser. No. 217,727, filed July 8, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,652, adds to the teachings of Dickerson et al (I), cited above, specific selections of hydrophilic colloid coating coverages in the emulsion and dye containing layers to allow the "zero" crossover radiographic elements to emerge dry to the touch from a conventional rapid access processor in less than 90 seconds with the crossover reducing microcrystalline dye decolorized.
An art accepted measure of the imaging efficiency of a radiographic element is its detective quantum efficiency (DQE). DQE is the ratio of the noise introduced into the radiographic element due to spatial fluctuations in the incident X-radiation supplied on exposure and the noise exhibited by the image bearing radiographic element, which is a composite of the input noise and the noise generated by the radiographic element itself. A theoretically perfect radiographic element is one which contributes no additional noise to that received on exposure and therefore exhibits a DQE of unity. In practice all radiographic elements exhibit a DQE substantially less than unity.
The DQE of a radiographic element can be determined by making two direct noise measurements, measurement of the input noise power spectrum (NPSi) and measurement of the output noise power spectrum (NPSo), and by making a mathematical adjustment to account for the influence of system gain (image contrast) and image sharpness as a function of its spatial frequency (modulation transfer factor or MTF).
DQE can be expressed mathematically by the following equation: ##EQU1## where
NPSi is the input noise power spectrum,
NPSo is the output noise power spectrum,
.gamma. is contrast, and
MTF is the modulation transfer factor at the spatial frequency of imaging being measured.
From equation E-I it is apparent that DQE is a dimensionless ratio of the input and output noise power spectra with adjustments for MTF and contrast, the latter being the ratio of density change (.DELTA.D) per log unit of exposure change (.DELTA. log E, where E is exposure in meter-candle-seconds). When contrast is 1.0, contrast ceases to be a significant factor in DQE. However, MTF is always a significant factor reducing DQE, since MTF is always less than unity when any degree of imaging detail is being considered. MTF is unity only when the spatial frequency of the image is 0-i.e., there is no image detail present. MTF typically declines from unity to a small fraction over the image spatial frequency range of 0 to 10 cycles/mm. Stated qualitatively, the image noise introduced by the radiographic element increases progressively as finer imaging detail is considered.
While equation E-I has been presented for ease of visualization, the more common practice is to employ the term incident X-radiation fluence (Q) instead of NPSi, where
(E-II) EQU Q=(log.sub.10 e).sup.2 /NPSi
(log.sub.10 e) is 0.4343 and Q has the units quanta/mm.sup.2. With the substitution of Q for NPSi, equation E-I takes the following form: ##EQU2##
One of the visualization advantages of employing Q in preference to NPSi flows from the fact that Q is proportional to E. Therefore, in the pilots below of log Q versus spatial frequencies in cycles per mm similar DQE profiles are obtained whether log Q or log E is employed as an ordinate.
DQE and its component terms are described and their use demonstrated by R. Shaw, "The Equivalent Quantum Efficiency of the Photographic Process", J. Photogr. Sci., 11, 199-204 (1963) and J. Dainty and R. Shaw, Image Science, Academic Press, London, 1976, especially pp. 152-189 and 276-319.

Radiographic screen/film assemblies with improved detection quantum efficiencies


The invention relates to polypeptides from phytopathogenic fungi with the biological activity of an inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase, to nucleic acids encoding them, to the use of the polypeptides and nucleic acids for identifying modulators of the polypeptides, to methods for identifying such modulators, and to the use of these modulators as fungicides.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to polypeptides from phytopathogenic fungi with the biological activity of an inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase, to nucleic acids encoding them, to the use of the polypeptides and nucleic acids for identifying modulators of the polypeptides, to methods of identifying such modulators, and to the use of these modulators as fungicides.
2. Description of the Related Art
Undesired fungal growth which leads every year to considerable damage in agriculture can be controlled by the use of fungicides. The demands made on fungicides have increased constantly with regard to their activity, costs and, above all, ecological soundness. There exists therefore a demand for new substances or classes of substances which can be developed into potent and ecologically sound new fungicides. In general, it is customary to search for such new lead structures in greenhouse tests. However, such tests require a high input of labour and a high financial input. The number of the substances which can be tested in the greenhouse is, accordingly, limited. An alternative to such tests is the use of what are known as high-throughput screening (HTS) methods. This involves testing a large number of individual substances with regard to their effect on cells, individual gene products or genes in an automated method. When certain substances are found to have an effect, they can be studied in conventional screening methods and, if appropriate, developed further.
Advantageous targets for fungicides are frequently searched for in essential biosynthetic pathways. Ideal fungicides are, moreover, those substances which inhibit gene products which have a decisive importance in the manifestation of the pathogenicity of a fungus.
Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (EC 126.96.36.199), hereinbelow abbreviated to IMP dehydrogenase or IMPDH, catalyses the rate-limiting and irreversible step of de novo GTP synthesis. Inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) is reacted with nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) by IMPDH to give NADH/H+ and XMP (FIG. 1). Inosine 5′-monophosphate is the end product of de novo purine biosynthesis and an essential intermediate in the abovementioned synthesis of adenine and guanine nucleotides. Thus, IMPDH is a key enzyme for providing GTP, which is of enormous importance for the cell. GTP is incorporated into RNA and DNA, acts as substrate for GTPases (for example in cellular signal transduction pathways, such as G-protein-coupled receptors), for guanylate cyclase (generation of the secondary messenger substance cGMP) and as cosubstrate in many enzymatic reactions, and plays a role in the post-transcriptional modification of mRNA (5′-cap structure). IMPDH has therefore been a target for some time in the search for antiviral, immunosuppressive, carcinostatic and antimicrobial active compounds.
In addition, there is evidence that IMPDH, in plants, plays yet another, completely different, role which is associated with the assimilation, the transport and the storage of nitrogen. Thus, evidence exists that IMPDH is involved in the formation of ureids and allantoin.
Polypeptides with the activity of an IMPDH have also already been identified in specific fungi. These include the IMPDH from the fungus Candida albicans, which is pathogenic for humans and whose sequence encompasses 521 amino acids. The matching sequence can be obtained for example via what is known as the "trembl" database (U85049, AF249293). The sequences from the filamentous fungi Ashbya gossypii with 522 amino acids (trembl, A94860 and EP 0 927 761 A2), Saccharomyces pombe with 524 AA (Z97211) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae with 524 amino acids (Z46729), which are frequently employed in fermentations, and from the unicellular fungus Pneumocystis carinii, which is pathogenic for humans, with 529 amino acids (AF196975) are likewise available. Interestingly, several genes which encode a polypeptide with the activity of an IMPDH have already been identified in yeast.
Mycophenolic acid, a known specific IMPDH inhibitor, is a known medicament for suppressing the immune response for example following organ transplants. The structure of an IMPDH together with the inhibitor mycophenolic acid has already been elucidated (Sintack et al. (1996) "Structure and Mechanism of Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase in Complex with the Immunosuppressant Mycophenolic Acid". Cell 86, 921), and work on the biochemical mechanism of the inhibition of IMPDH by mycophenolic acid exists likewise (Fleming et al. (1996) "Inhibition of IMPDH by Mycophenolic Acid: Dissection of Forward and Reverse Pathways Using Capillary Electrophoresis". Biochemistry 35, 6990).
Mycophenolic acid is highly effective against mammalian IMPDH, but markedly less effective as antimicrobial active compound (Digits et al. (1999) "Species Specific Inhibition of Inosine 5′-Monophosphate Dehydrogenase by Mycophenolic Acid". Biochemistry, 38 15388). Mycophenolic acid binds to the intermediate which originates when XMP is formed from IMP into the nicotinamide binding pocket of the NAD+ binding site. However, owing to differences of the polypeptides derived from different species, the sensitivity to a human IMPDH is 20 to 450 times greater than to a microbial IMPDH (in this context, see also Zhang et al. (1999) "Differential Signatures of Bacterial and Mammalian IMP Dehydrogenase Enzymes." Current Medicinal Chemistry 6, 537).
Further IMPDH inhibitors which are known in the field of medical therapy are, for example, ribovirin, a guanosine analogue, which has antiviral properties, tiazofurin, a C nucleoside which forms an NAD-like tiazofurin adenine dinucleotide following phosphorylation of the 5′-hydroxyl group and which is used as carcinostatic, or mizoribine, which is employed for immunosuppression in transplantation medicine (Goldstein and Colby (1999) "IMP Dehydrogenase: Structural Aspects of Inhibitor Binding". Current Medicinal Chemistry 6, 519). In contrast, mizoribine is virtually ineffective against the fungus C. albicans, which is pathogenic for humans, and can apparently not be used at all as active substance against candidiasis (Ishikawa (1999) "Mizoribine and Mycophenolate Mofetil". Current Medicinal Chemistry 6, 575).
The IMPDH sequence which has been isolated from C. albicans shows marked sequence similarity with the IMPDH from S. cerevisiae and other ogranisms. The ORF (open reading frame) of the C. albicans gene is interrupted by a small intron (289 base pairs (bp)) with typical exon-intron borders (Kohler et al. (1997) Overexpression of a cloned IMP dehydrogenase gene of Candida albicans confers resistance to the specific inhibitor mycophenolic acid. J. Bacteriol. 179, 2331). The growth of C. albicans cells can be inhibited by 1 μg/ml mycophenolic acid, while those cells which have a plasmid with recombinant IMPDH are resistant to up to 40 μg/ml.
In the case of Pneumocystis carinii, it has been shown that mycophenolic acid can act as an inhibitor of the IMPDH from this organism (O'Gara et al. (1997) "IMP dehydrogenase from Pneumocystis carinii as a potential target". Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 41, 40), and the exploitation of IMPDH as sensitive target of this organism has been proposed. The Pneumocystis carinii IMPDH (amino acid sequence) shows homology with bacterial IMPDH (31 to 38%), protozoal IMPDH (48 to 59%), mammalian IMPDH (60 to 62%) and fungal IMPDH (62%). A concentration of 25 μM mycophenolic acid resulted in 50% inhibition of the activity of the recombinant IMPDH.
Earlier work has shown that, as described above while mycophenolic acid inhibits in vitro the growth of some fungi which are pathogenic for humans (for example C. albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans), the compound is ineffective against Candida guilliermondii, Candida krusei, Candida pseudotropicalis, Hansenula anomala and also ineffective against S. cerevisiae (Noto et al. (1969) "Biological properties of mycophenolic acid". J. Antibiot. (Tokyo), 22, 165).
These results show that mammalian IMPDH can be inhibited effectively with the known inhibitor mycophenolic acid, while the effect of the inhibitor is poor in the case of microorganisms. In the case of the fungi which are pathogenic to humans and which have been tested, the effect seems to be variable. Some fungi such as, for example, S. cerevisiae, have been described as being not sensitive to inhibition by an IMPDH inhibitor, while an effect, albeit a fungistatic rather than a fungicidal effect, can be observed in other fungi which are pathogenic for humans. The suitability of IMPDH as target protein for fungicides or for use in the search of fungicidal active compounds is therefore doubtful. In particular, an at least fungistatic effect has only been shown as yet in a few fungi which are pathogenic for humans, while no nucleic acid or amino acid sequence of an IMPDH from phytopathogenic fungi has been available as yet, and no results exist on whether phytopathogenic fungi might react sensitively to an IMPDH inhibitor so that such inhibitors can be used as fungicides.

Polypeptides for identifying fungicidally active compounds


A remote agent for providing data protection services includes persistent storage and a backup orchestrator. The persistent storage stores lifecycle policies. The backup orchestrator instantiates a backup agent in a client in response to a backup generation for the client, the backup generation is specified by the lifecycle policies; using the backup agent: generating a backup including backup data for the client and backup metadata that associates portions of the backup data with respective persons; and storing the backup in backup storage based on the lifecycle policies.

Computing devices may generate data during their operation. For example, applications hosted by the computing devices may generate data used by the applications to perform their functions. Such data may be stored in persistent storage of the computing devices. Failure of the persistent storage may result in data loss.
When data is generated, it may include information associated with different individuals. For example, a database may include personal information regarding employees of a company. The personal information may be names, salaries, addresses, or other types of information regarding different individuals.

System and method for backup data discrimination


Grooves 21 are formed in the side of an ink supply needle 17 opposite a filter 19 in order to induce the movement of ink using capillary attraction, and so that the grooves 21 ensure that ink can flow along a path to a recording head regardless of whether an air bubble is present.

The present invention relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus that includes a recording head for ejecting ink droplets through nozzle openings in response to a print signal, and an ink cartridge used to supply ink to the recording head.
An ink-jet recording apparatus, which includes a recording head and an ink cartridge used to supply ink to the recording head, is so designed that a supply port is formed in the ink cartridge and that, to supplement the supply of ink, the ink cartridge is inserted into or removed from an ink supply needle that communicates with the recording head.
As is shown in FIG. 13, an ink supply needle A is so designed that a filter chamber D is formed by opening a joint area using an ink supply path C that communicates with a recording head B, and that air bubbles, which are generated or have grown in an ink cartridge, or dust, are captured at the filter E and are prevented from flowing into the recording head B.
However, for a recording head for which light colored inks are employed to improve the color print quality, the space around the recording head must be relatively narrow in order for at least six colored inks to be supplied to the recording head, and accordingly, the diameter of the ink needle A must be reduced. As a result, an air bubble F is formed that remains stagnant inside the ink supply needle A and interrupts the supply of ink to the recording head B.
In addition, when a recording head having multiple nozzle openings is employed to increase the recording density and the print quality, the dimensions of the filter E must be increased and the flow path resistance must be reduced in order to smoothly supply a large volume of ink to the recording head. Accordingly, a large space is produced upstream of the filter member, so that the flow rate of ink is reduced there and air bubbles are not discharged. These air bubbles stick to the filter member and increase the flow path resistance. And as a result, they interrupt the supply of ink to the recording head.
Further, when a large air bubble F enters the filter chamber D during the ink loading process, the air bubble F adversely affects the flow if ink, and the difference in the pressures between the upstream and the downstream sides of the filter E is increased.
In particular, for a recording head in which ink carried by a single supply needle branches off to a plurality of ink supply paths C and supplies ink to a plurality of nozzle openings, if the internal face of the filter chamber D is not kept uniformly wet, ink will flow across a wetter portion, and will form an ink flow induction path. Then, when the induction path is so positioned that it can easily communicate with the ink supply path C, if ink flows to the ink supply path C before the filter chamber D is completely filled, the air bubble F will remain in the filter chamber D, regardless of the attraction exerted by the ink, and will be difficult to discharge.
An ink-jet recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
a recording head for receiving ink supplied via a first ink supply path and for ejecting ink droplets;
a second ink supply path along which ink is transmitted from an ink cartridge to the first ink supply path; and
a filter which is located at a joint area that forms a communication portion situated between the first ink supply path and the second ink supply path,
wherein ink induction paths are formed at the joint area on the side of the second ink supply path in order to use capillary attraction to induce the flow of ink through the filter.
It is, therefore, one objective of the present invention to provide an ink-jet recording head, wherein the flow of ink to a recording head is not disturbed by air bubbles that are generated during the loading of ink, and wherein ink can be supplied to the recording head while at the same time air bubbles are removed.


A sheath introducer system including a sheath introducer defining a lumen therethrough and having a proximal valve housing in fluid communication with a distal tubular sheath, wherein a proximal end of the valve housing defines a proximal opening of the lumen of the sheath introducer. A gasket seated within the valve housing has a first surface, a second surface and an outer periphery extending between the first and second surfaces. A first slit is formed into the first surface having an inner surface defining a first gap. A second slit formed into the second surface having an inner surface defining a second gap. A notch extends into the first gap of the first slit forming a bump on the inner surface of the first slit, wherein the second slit intersects the first slit at the notch such that the notch prevents the first and second slits from being in fluid communication.

The introduction of interventional devices into a given arterial or venous blood vessel for a variety of purposes, such as for performing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or for delivering and implanting a stent or stent graft, is well known in the art. Several techniques for introducing such catheters are available, including the Seldinger technique. Broadly described the Seldinger technique involves surgically opening a vein or artery with a needle, inserting a guidewire into the vein or artery through the lumen of the needle, withdrawing the needle, inserting over the guidewire a dilator located inside an associated sheath introducer having a hemostasis valve, removing the dilator and guidewire, and inserting a catheter through the hemostasis valve and sheath into the blood vessel. During this process, care must be exercised to prevent introduction of air into the vessel and to avoid leakage of blood from a proximal end of the sheath introducer. To avoid the risk of both air embolism and blood contamination of the clinician, conventional introducers employ various types of hemostasis valves having a single proximal input port that is designed for use with catheters and guidewires that have various diameters.
In interventional procedures where it may be necessary to utilize different interventional devices, such as procedures for percutaneously delivering and implanting endovascular grafts for treatment of certain types of abdominal aortic aneurysms, a sheath introducer with a hemostasis valve having a single proximal input port may not ensure hemostasis of each interventional device in use during the procedure. In such cases, a clinician may utilize a puncturable hemostasis valve that can be adapted to achieve modest hemostasis of various devices to introduce additional device(s), although hemostasis is generally very poor with this practice. As such a need exists in the art for a sheath introducer that ensures hemostasis during treatments that require the introduction and manipulation of various catheters or other interventional devices.
Therefore, the prior art has addressed many configurations of hemostasis valves attempting to provide an adequate seal by a gasket at low and relatively higher blood pressure conditions for both air and blood while accommodating the wide range of diameters of devices inserted through the introducer sheath. Prior art hemostasis valves have, in many instances, been of the gasket sealing type, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,000,739, 4,424,833, and 4,909,798, which comprise a pin hole and a Y-shaped slit, back-to-back gasket assembly in either one or two-piece parts. The first, doughnut-shaped, gasket is provided with a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the catheter to be inserted, while the second gasket is provided with a Y-shaped slit. When guide wires or catheters which are too small in diameter are inserted into this hemostasis valve, the sealing advantages of the first doughnut-shaped gasket are no longer available because the larger diameter doughnut hole will not seal around the smaller diameter guide wire or catheter. The two gaskets may be provided as separate back-to-back piece parts or as a single piece part, but in either case, are intended to reduce the possibility that blood would escape the hemostasis valve as the tip of the introduced instrument is withdrawn. Thus, the redundancy of the two seals is expected to reduce such leakage.
In still further attempts to accommodate various diameter therapeutic instruments and varying blood pressure between venous and arterial applications, introducers have employed hemostasis valves of the Tuohy-Borst type. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,374 and 4,723,550 provide at least one hemostasis valve assembled within a housing proximal to the side port, where the housing may be tightened down on the resilient gasket material of the valve to compress it to provide a variable pressure seal around the interventional device passing therethrough.
In yet another approach to providing a suitable seal under the varying conditions of usage encountered in practice, it has also been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,668 to spring-load the resilient gasket valve member with one or more spring elements to augment the natural resilience of the gasket material.
The hemostasis valves described above all represent departures from and attempts to overcome deficiencies in flat-sided disk-shaped gaskets involving reduced diameter holes, slits and crossed slits therethrough to accommodate instruments passed through the valve housing and sheath, constituting an introducer sheath. It yet remains desirable to provide a simple, easy to manufacture hemostasis valve that is reliable in preventing leakage of blood or air and which possesses a feel of smoothness during insertion and withdrawal of all of the aforementioned varying diameter and material instruments therethrough.


In an electronic article surveillance system, a low-power supply is used to power the system during ordinary search-and-detect operation, and the increased power needed to transmit high-power signals for deactivating the tag circuit is produced by charging up a rechargable storage device, such as a capacitor or rechargable battery, in the intervals between deactivations and using the charged-up storage device to provide the high supply power needed during deactivation, to generate the deactivation transmission.

This invention relates generally to methods and systems for the electronic surveillance of articles, and especially to such systems and methods in which a tag circuit is attached to the articles and is electronically detected if the article is taken past an electronic surveillance station without prior removal or deactivation of the tag circuit.
Electronic article surveillance systems are known in which a so-called tag circuit is secured to the goods in a controlled area on the protected premises, and an exit detector is provided adjacent an exit from the controlled area, past which the article must normally be taken in exiting the premises. The exit detector electronically senses the presence of an active tag circuit on the article, and produces an alarm announcing the unauthorized removal of the article. To effect an authorized removal, the article with tag circuit is normally taken to a check station manned by authorizing personnel, such as a cashier for example, where the tag circuit is removed and/or deactivated in one way or another; subsequent removal of the article past the exit detection system then results in no alarm, as is desired.
If the tag circuit is removed at the check station, it is generally deactivated either permanently for discard, or temporarily for subsequent re-activation and re-use. If the tag circuit is disposable, i.e. can economically be discarded after one use, it can be left attached to the goods when they leave the check station, but in such case the tag circuit should be deactivated before it reaches the exit detector lest it cause a false alarm.
Various methods for deactivating tag circuits have been devised, depending in part upon the nature of the tag circuit. The present invention will be described with particular regard to a tag circuit which is resonant at least at one frequency, so that the presence of the tag circuit can be detected by transmitting signals at and/or near the tag-circuit resonant frequency, and by detecting changes in the signals produced at an adjacent receiver by the resultant resonance in the tag circuit.
It is known to deactivate such a tag circuit by transmitting to it signals at or near the resonant frequency of the tag circuit, at a power level sufficiently high to destroy the original resonant characteristic of the tag circuit. In some cases this may be accomplished by transmitting sufficient power to melt a fusible link in the tag circuit, thereby to render the circuit non-resonant or resonant at a substantially different frequency than the original resonant frequency, whereby its presence will not be detected by the exit detector and false alarms will be avoided. U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,473 of George J. Lichtblau, issued Jan. 28, 1986 describes a system in which the tag circuit is provided with specially thinned regions in a fusible insulator which normally separates, and insulates from each other, active portions of the tag circuit; when high-powered signals at the original resonant frequency of the tag circuit are transmitted to the tag circuit, an arc is formed through the insulator at the thinned region, and the metal of the tag circuit is thereby caused to extend through the resultant fused region to form a short-circuit which destroys, or greatly changes, the resonant characteristic of the tag circuit.
Unfortunately, due to production variations and to the effects of environmental conditions, the resonant frequencies of different tag circuits are typically not all the same. To accommodate this, it is known to sweep the frequency of the transmitter signals repetitively over a substantial range which includes all of the frequencies at which the various tag circuits are likely to be resonant. This phase of operation, during which the frequency is swept to detect presence of a tag circuit, is commonly designated as the search phase or mode. Similarly, it is common to sweep the frequency of the high-powered deactivating signals through the same search range so as to be sure to transmit deactivation signals at the resonant frequency of the tag circuit as required to deactivate the tag circuit.
While such a system is operable and has been used commercially, use of frequency-swept high-power deactivation signals has several drawbacks. First, it requires and wastes substantial amounts of transmitter power, since only the signals at or near the resonant frequency of the tag circuit serve any useful purpose. Secondly, steady transmission of the high-powered, swept-frequency deactivation signals produces unnecessary electrical radiations over a wide frequency band which tend to interfere with operation of other electrical apparatus and which may, in fact, be contrary to Government regulations or laws if transmitted with sufficient power to deactivate the tag circuit.
To minimize these undesirable effects, it is known to use low-power transmissions not only to determine that a tag circuit is present but also to determine what its resonant frequency is, and then to transmit the high-power deactivation signals substantially only at frequencies within the resonance frequency band of the tag circuit. This reduces the total energy needed for deactivation, and also reduces the extent of radio frequency interference.
One such system is described in the above-noted U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,473 of Lichtblau, wherein a digital source produces a staircase of voltage which is applied to a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to produce a corresponding staircase sweep of the frequency of the transmitted tag-search signals. Upon the transmission of a frequency equal to or near the resonant frequency of the tag circuit, a sudden drop in transmitter antenna current occurs, which drop in current is sensed and used to identify the voltage step in the staircase which produced the resonant frequency; thereafter, the frequency sweep is discontinued, and the identified step value of voltage is applied steadily to the VCO to transmit the resonant frequency, continuously, at a level high enough and for a time long enough, to cause deactivation of the tag circuit. Since the deactivation signal is transmitted substantially only at the resonant frequency of the tag circuit, much less deactivation signal energy need be transmitted, producing savings in transmitter apparatus and power, as well as much less spectrum interference than when frequency-swept deactivation signals are used.
One known way to produce the high-powered deactivation transmission is to provide a power amplifier and a relatively high-power supply source for operating the power amplifier, and to switch the power amplifier into the transmitter signal path only when the deactivation level of signal is to be transmitted; at other times, the power amplifier is switched out of the circuit, so that only a low level of transmitted signal, suitable for the tag search operation, is transmitted at such times. Alternatively, the same amplifier may be used during both the high-power deactivation transmissions and the low-power search transmissions by appropriately changing its operating conditions to change its output power level.
While operative for its intended purposes, such a system normally requires a high-power supply source for the power amplifier, with attendant cost, bulk and heat-dissipation requirements, in order to generate deactivation transmissions of high enough intensity to destroy the resonant characteristics of any tag circuit which is close enough to the transmitter antenna to be detected during the search operation.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a new and useful method and apparatus for use in an electronic article surveillance system to produce the deactivation signals which are transmitted to the tag circuit to destroy that characteristic of the tag circuit upon which its detection depends, e.g. to destroy its resonance at the search frequency to which it is sensitive.
Another object is to provide such method and apparatus which permit use of a power supply for the transmitter apparatus which is of lower power capabilities than would otherwise be required, with resultant savings in size, cost and heat-dissipating requirements of the power supply unit.
A further object is to provide such method and apparatus which is especially adapted for use in the type of system in which the frequency of the transmissions is swept over a substantial range during the search operation, but is held substantially constant during the deactivation operation, at a frequency for which the transmissions are effective to produce deactivation of the tag circuit by destruction of its resonant characteristic.

Method and apparatus for electronic article surveillance


Apparatus for analysis of flowing streams of liquids, flowable solids or mixed liquids and solids by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The apparatus is sufficiently small, economical and easy to operate so that it is useful for making measurements in applications such as the production of foods and the like.

This invention is related to the analysis of flowing streams of liquids, solids or mixed liquids and solids by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In particular, it is an apparatus that is small enough, economical enough and easy enough to operate so that it is useful for making measurements in applications such as the production of foods and the like.
The analysis of materials using NMR requires a region of space containing a magnetic field that is either extremely uniform in magnetic flux density or else extremely uniform in the spatial gradient of magnetic flux density. In such a region, a sample to be analyzed is subjected to a short pulse of electromagnetic energy at a predetermined frequency that is a function of the ions to be analyzed and of their chemical bonding. The pulse is coupled to the sample by a surface coil. A typical pulse duration is of the order of fifty microseconds, although the pulse width that is chosen is a function of the characteristic relaxation time of the material being analyzed. The magnetic field causes the dipole moments of the constituents of the sample to become aligned along lines of magnetic flux. If the field is strong and uniform to a relatively high degree of precision, the dipole moments will be essentially parallel to each other. The electromagnetic energy coupled to the sample changes the alignment of the magnetic dipoles in the sample so as to align them with the net flux, which is the vector sum of the originally applied magnetic field, typically static, and the RF magnetic field associated with the pulse. The relaxation of the dipoles from their re-aligned position back to the original position when the energy coupling is ended produces signals that can be detected and analyzed to identify components of the sample.
Most NMR analysis to date has been done in large and expensive installations that are typically sized to admit a human subject into the region of controlled magnetic fields. Such installations are usually sufficiently complicated to require an operator or operators when the installations are functioning. The result is a large and expensive piece of equipment that is appropriate only for use in a research laboratory or a hospital, and not in a factory or industrial kitchen.
The production of certain foodstuffs would be aided by the ability to use NMR analysis in a pipeline or other such conduit to measure characteristics of flowing liquids, pastes, slurries or solids in powdered or other finely divided form. Continuous or continual analysis of butterfat or cholesterol content would be useful in manufacturing and quality control of dairy products. Fluids containing fats or oils could be analyzed to control processes for manufacturing margarine and similar substances. Doughs and other pasty materials which may be difficult to analyze continuously by other means could be analyzed in-line. These and other such uses, however, require an NMR machine that is suitable for installation and operation in a factory environment and that needs no more than routine operator attention. Such an NMR machine would need one or more surface excitation and pickup coils that are exposed to the flow of material that is to be analyzed, and it would need a flow rate in a sampling area that was related to the relaxation time of the component being tested.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing analysis of flowing streams of liquids by nuclear magnetic resonance with an apparatus that is small enough, economical enough and simple enough to operate so that it is useful for making measurements in applications such as the production of fruits and the like.
Where the flowable material is in a main conduit of a first diameter, a sampling conduct of a second smaller diameter is associated with the main conduit for selectively receiving the flowable material to be analyzed. An NMR device is coupled to the sampling conduit for subjecting the flowable material to the necessary magnetic fields to generate NMR signals and to receive the generated NMR signals for analyzing the flowable materials. A first selectively closable valve is placed in the main conduit for diverting the flowable material to the sampling conduit. If desired, at least one selectively closable valve is placed in the sampling conduit on one side of the coupled NMR device to allow the diverted material to enter the portion of the sampling conduit in the fixed magnetic field for analysis by the NMR device. In one embodiment, the NMR sampling coil is simply wrapped around the sampling conduit for providing the NMR analysis. In another embodiment, the sampling conduit is mounted within the main conduit for receiving a flowable material. The sampling conduit is mounted in the main conduit in a fixed magnetic field such that at least a portion of the sampling conduit is within the magnetic field. The sampling conduit is mounted in the main conduit with a non-metallic, non-magnetic base member coupling the main conduit and the sampling conduit for holding the sampling conduit centered within and parallel to the main conduit. The base member is elongated in the direction of material flow and has a shape such as an ovate cross-section to reduce resistance to the material flow in the main conduit. A coil encircles the flowable material in the sampling conduit with its elongated axis parallel to the direction of the material flow so as to cause a concentrated magnetic field in the flowable material within the sampling conduit. Electrical conductors are embedded in the base and couple the coil to the NMR device for enabling the flowable material to be subjected to the NMR pulse energy and for coupling the generated NMR signals to the NMR device.
In another embodiment, the coil is mounted in the sampling conduit with its elongated axis perpendicular to the material flow. A non-metallic, non-magnetic elongated support for the coil allows the flowable material in the sampling conduit to be sufficiently close to one side of the coil to be excited by the RF pulsed energy and sufficiently far from the other side of the coil to be substantially unaffected by the RF pulsed energy so as to minimize the generation of NMR signals of opposite phase. The mounting device for the coil comprises a non-magnetic, non-metallic elongated support for the coil extending perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sampling tube for supporting the coil adjacent to the flow of material in the sampling tube. A non-metallic, non-magnetic base is attached to the support and the sampling conduit such that the material flows sufficiently close to only one side of the coil on the elongated support to be excited by the RF pulsed energy and on each side of the base sufficiently far from the coil to be substantially unaffected by the RF pulsed energy. Thus the base is in the general shape of a T having arcuate surfaces connecting each end of the horizontal arm of the T to the base of the T, the horizontal portion of the T being attached to the elongated support and the base of the T being attached to the sampling conduit. Both the elongated support and the base have a shape, such as an ovate cross-section, to reduce resistance to material flow in the sampling conduit.
In another embodiment, the sampling conduit of a second smaller diameter is associated with the main conduit of a larger diameter for selectively receiving the material. A test conduit is rotatably coupled to the sampling conduit for receiving the material. An NMR device is coupled to the test conduit for subjecting the flowable material therein to a fixed and a variable magnetic field to generate NMR signals and receive the NMR signals for analysis of the flowable material. The test conduit is rotatable with the material flowing therein during subjection of the material to the fixed and variable magnetic fields to correct for irregularities in the magnetic fields.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for performing NMR analysis on flowing materials.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for measurement of characteristics of flowing materials in a factory environment using NMR.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for making NMR measurements on liquids that are flowing in a conduit.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for NMR measurements on divided solid materials that are flowing in a conduit.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for continual sampling of materials from a flowing stream of materials in a conduit and testing properties of those materials by NMR analysis.
Other objects will become apparent in the course of a detailed description of the invention.

Apparatus for in-line analysis of flowing liquid and solid materials by nuclear magnetic resonance


A method to determine the misalignment and/or clearance of a door relative to its frame includes a phase to determine a law of variation of the clearance and/or misalignment values for the different inspection points, in relation to various opening positions of the door taken with respect to a reference position in which the door occupies its closed position, a measurement phase in which the door occupies any position relative to the frame, and during which the clearance and/or misalignment values are measured, and a phase to take into account the measured clearance and/or misalignment values and the law of variation so as to determine the true values of clearance and/or misalignment at the different inspection points corresponding to the door in its reference closed position.

In the area of the quality control of vehicle bodywork, there is the need, before the painting operation for example, to verify that the doors are correctly positioned relative to their frame. The purpose of this inspection is to determine whether the value of the clearance vis-à-vis the frame around the entire periphery of the door lies within a range of tolerance. Also said inspection must determine whether or not the door lies flush with the frame. Any misalignment of the door must also be inspected at various peripheral points of the door.
The difficulty with this operation to inspect the clearance and/or misalignment of a door lies in the fact that this inspection is carried out when the latching system of the door is still not mounted. Yet, measurement of clearance and/or misalignment can only be meaningful if the door occupies its reference closed position as determined by the engaging of the strike plate of the latch system into its housing.
To ensure the inspection of vehicle doors on a production line, it is known from document JP 2003 25 47 43 for example to place magnets at strike plate level at the entry to the inspection station so as to position the door in its reference closed position. In this position of the door, measurements of clearance and/or misalignment are made using a system of measurement sensors performing measurements at different inspection points distributed around the periphery of the door, so as to determine whether or not the door occupies a correct position relative to the frame. On leaving the inspection station, the magnets are removed from the vehicles.
So as to automate the positioning of doors in their reference closed position, it is known to equip the inspection station with a mechanical system for reference positioning of the doors. The mechanical system comprises an automated arm which carries a beam provided with suction pads, the beam intended to come into contact with the door and the frame so that the door takes up its closed reference position. The forced positioning of the door with said mechanical system gives good results in terms of reliability. However, this mechanical system has the disadvantage of requiring a particular embodiment for each vehicle profile. Additionally, the design and maintenance costs of said mechanical device are very substantial.

Method for determining the clearance and/or mismatch of an opening for a vehicle without referencing the opening


A buffered bootstrapped input switch employs cancelled charge sharing for use in high performance sample and hold switched capacitor circuits especially useful for implementing, for example, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or amplifier circuit front end sampling network, among others. A scheme is employed for estimating the charge loss from the bootstrapping capacitor to the gate of the bootstrapped input switch, storing the estimated charge loss on a small capacitor, buffering the small capacitor, and then adding the estimated charge loss in series to the bootstrap capacitor, to provide an almost ideal bootstrap network.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to transistor switches, and more particularly to a buffered bootstrapped input switch that employs cancelled charge sharing for use in high performance sample and hold switched capacitor circuits especially usefull for implementing an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or amplifier circuit front end sampling network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The core dynamic performance of a switched capacitor ADC or amplifier circuit is determined by the front-end sampling network (Sample and Hold) such as that illustrated in FIG. 1. This network 100 comprises a pair of bootstrapped NMOS switches 102, 104 sampling the analog inputs applied to associated capacitors 106, 108 at the same rate as the clock 106.
The quality of the sampling switches 102, 104 can affect the linearity of the sampled value. For this reason, bootstrapping techniques such as that shown in FIG. 2 are used to maintain a constant voltage between the gate and the source of the switches 102, 104.
The bootstrap circuit 200 is problematic in two ways. First, there is substantial loading on the input by the bootstrapping capacitor 202. Buffering the input has been found to solve this problem. Second, there is charge sharing between the bootstrapping capacitor 202 and the gate capacitance of the input switches 102, 104. This charge sharing effect occurs when the charged bootstrapping capacitor 202 connects in series to the gate of either sampling switch 102, 104 (Charge is lost to charge the gate), resulting in a reduced bootstrapped voltage. Very large bootstrapping capacitors (greater than 10-20 pF) have classically been employed to alleviate this second problem, which undesirably limits the speed of the charging circuit, and increases power dissipation.
It is therefore both advantageous and desirable in view of the foregoing, to provide a buffered bootstrapped input switch that employs cancelled charge sharing for use in high performance sample and hold switched capacitor circuits especially useful for implementing, for example, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or amplifier circuit front end sampling network, among others.
The present invention is directed to a buffered bootstrapped input switch that employs cancelled charge sharing for use in high performance sample and hold switched capacitor circuits especially useful for implementing, for example, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or amplifier circuit front end sampling network, among others. A scheme is employed for estimating the charge loss from the bootstrapping capacitor to the gate of the bootstrapped input switch, storing the estimated charge loss on a small capacitor, buffering the small capacitor, and then adding the estimated charge loss in series to the bootstrap capacitor, to provide an almost ideal bootstrap network.
According to one embodiment, a switching network comprises at least one MOS switch having a gate and a source; a bootstrapping capacitor configured to maintain a substantially constant voltage between the gate and the source of the at least one MOS switch; and a dummy input network configured to eliminate charge sharing between the bootstrapping capacitor and the gate capacitance of the at least one bootstrapped MOS switch.
According to another embodiment, a switching network comprises at least one bootstrapped input switch; and a dummy input network configured to cancel charge sharing associated with the at least one bootstrapped input switch.
According to yet another embodiment, a method of canceling charge sharing comprises the steps of providing a switching network comprising at least one bootstrapped input switch and a dummy input network configured to constantly measure charge loss associated with the at least one bootstrapped input switch; and canceling charge sharing between the at least one bootstrapped input switch and a bootstrapping capacitor in response to the measured charge loss.

Buffered bootstrapped input switch with cancelled charge sharing for use in high performance sample and hold switched capacitor circuits


The device in accordance with the invention includes a series of detection areas (2) on the touch-sensitive pad, an analog circuit for applying a detection coefficient to each detection area (2), which coefficient corresponds to the degree the detection area is overlapped by the control member, and determines a median point of the detection areas as weighted by their respective detection coefficients.

Devices are known for detecting the position of a control member on a pad, for example for controlling the position of a pointer on a video screen associated with a computer, with the position of the control member on the pad having the ultimate purpose of selecting a computer function or of changing data contained in the computer. It is important to be able to distinguish between a large number of control points on the pad in order to provide a wide selection range for functions or associated data. When using a magnetic pad associated with a control stylus, it is possible, within limits, to increase the number of distinguishable control points by reducing the active area of the stylus.
When using a touch-sensitive pad the control member is constituted by the finger of an operator. Finger sizes vary between operators and cannot be modified.
French patent specification No. 2 538 581 describes a device for determining the position of a finger between detection areas. However, this device requires a delay to be inserted prior to signal transmission.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device for detecting the position of a control member on a touch-sensitive pad, and having a short response time.

Device for detecting the position of a control member on a touch-sensitive pad


A clip-type carrier especially suited for carrying beverage cans. The carrier is comprised of a panel having slots in folded, wedge-shaped inner support sections and in outer support sections for receiving the can chimes. The inner support sections are connected to rib sections which are foldably connected, forming a two-ply vertical rib extending up from the bottom of the wedge. Glue flaps extending from the rib are adhered to the carrier panel to maintain the carrier in locked condition.

Carriers that grip the upper portions of articles to enable the articles to be lifted and carried are known, particularly in connection with the packaging of beverage cans. Clip-type paperboard carriers developed for this purpose fall into two basic design groups. In one design a panel is provided with apertures corresponding to the tops of the cans, with foldably connected tabs surrounding the apertures. The top portions of the cans extend through the apertures and the edges of the tabs engage the underside of the can chimes to support the cans. This produces an inherently weak carrier due to the fact that much of the panel is removed in forming the apertures. In addition, there is very little surface area capable of receiving printing or other graphics, and the provision of a handle for lifting the carrier further complicates the design and makes the carrier more expensive.
In the second basic design, slots are provided in a panel for receiving opposite portions of the can chimes, with adjacent panel edges resulting from the slot formation engaging the underside of the can chime portions. This is typically employed in packages comprised of two adjacent rows of cans, so that the elongated area of the panel between the interior slots folds into a wedge-shaped reinforcing rib extending between the sloped upper portions of the cans. Short side panels connect the panel to top panel flaps, which are glued to the bottom panel, and aligned finger openings in the top panel and in the reinforcing wedge enable the package to be lifted and carried. Although such a carrier provides substantially unbroken areas in the top panel for receiving printed indicia, it falls short of providing the desired level of strength and is relatively expensive to produce.
As a means of simplifying the carrier the top panel flaps could be eliminated, but this weakens the carrier since the reinforcing function supplied by the top panel flaps would be absent. It would be desirable to be able to provide a clip-type carrier which does not require top panel flaps, but which nonetheless possesses adequate strength to withstand the forces generated during lifting and carrying. Such a carrier should also be economical to manufacture, and therefore should be capable of being formed from a single unitary blank.


This invention provides a sensor or its related art to be easily used for measuring motor function of living body. This invention relates to a sensor for measuring motor function, which includes a magnetic field generator attached to one of two predetermined positions in a living body changing mutual distance caused by an action of the living body to have a coil board generating a magnetic field by electrification, and a magnetic field detector attached to the other of the two predetermined positions in the living body to detect the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generator and have the coil board generating an electric current having a magnitude corresponding to a strength of the magnetic field as detected. Furthermore, each of the magnetic field generator and the magnetic field detector is provided with plastics covering a whole coil board thereof.

A patient suffering from Parkinson's disease or cerebral infraction is likely to happen a physical dysfunction.
Then, it has been long desired that the motor function of the patient can be exactly understood or recognized. Conventionally, a doctor has judged based on an experience, for example, by seeing that a patient practices an opening or closing action between his or her thumb and other finger, in case that the doctor judges the patient to be a good motor function or not. Then, the doctor used to judge a health condition of patient based on the experience by seeing his or her action. However, the motor function cannot be exactly judged based on such a subjective judgment.
Therefore, this applicant provides an art for measuring motor function of a subject for experiment at high accuracy by that the subject for experiment practices the opening or closing action of their fingers with coils wearing in each of the thumb and forefinger of the subject for experiment such as the patients, such that it is turned on electricity in one coil to generate a magnetic field and velocity, acceleration, or the like caused by the opening or closing action of fingers are analyzed according to a magnitude of induced electric current generated in the other coil. (Japanese patent unexamined laid-open publication No. 246,126 of 2008 will be referred to)

Sensor for measuring motor function, a plastic band, and a device for measuring motor function


Provided is a semiconductor device including: a first MOS-FET (21) joined to a first base plate (11) via solder (61); a second MOS-FET (22) joined to a second base plate (12) via solder (64); a first lead (31) joining the first base plate (11) and the second MOS-FET (22); and a second lead (32) joining the second MOS-FET (22) and a current path member (13) that gives and receives current flowing through the MOS-FETs (21, 22) to and from the outside. The second base plate (12) is more rigid than both the leads (31, 32), a boundary line (D-D) intersects the second base plate (12) without intersecting both the leads (31, 32), the boundary line including a gap portion (52) along which both the MOS-FETs (21, 22) are opposed to each other, extending in the direction in which both the MOS-FETs (21, 22) are not opposed to each other.

In recent years, as the performance of a semiconductor device becomes higher, a semiconductor device is in increasing demand particularly in in-vehicle equipment or in a rotating electrical machine for a vehicle. In in-vehicle equipment, the respective components are in the process of downsizing. In a rotating electrical machine for a vehicle, as wiring is simplified and mountability is improved by integrating a rotating electrical machine main body and a controller, downsizing and weight reduction of semiconductor devices used therein are required accordingly. In particular, a use environment of in-vehicle equipment or the like is harsh, and thus, additionally, high reliability and a long life are further required.
Conventionally, some MOS-FETs mounted on a semiconductor device are connected in series in a pair so as to form an upper arm and a lower arm, respectively. A semiconductor device has been proposed having a structure in which, a source electrode or a gate electrode of each MOS-FET and an external terminal are joined using an internal lead via solder, a coupling lead portion is provided in the internal lead joined to the source electrode of the MOS-FET which forms the upper arm so that the upper arm and the lower arm are electrically connected to each other, and the coupling lead portion is solder joined to part of a base plate on which the MOS-FET forming the lower arm is mounted and with which a drain electrode is brought into abutment.

Semiconductor device, inverter device provided with semiconductor device, and in-vehicle rotating electrical machine provided with semiconductor device and inverter device


A heterojunction bipolar transistor having a single-crystal emitter with reduced charge storage and acceptable current gain is described herein. The heterojunction transistor comprises a collector region, a base region formed on the collector region, and a single-crystal emitter region grown on the base region by low temperature epitaxy. During the formation of the base region, a graded profile of 5-23% germanium is added to the base, as the distance to the collector region decreases, thereby decreasing the base bandgap as it approaches the collector region. Further, during the formation of the emitter region, a graded profile of 0-20% germanium is added to the emitter as the distance from the emitter-base junction increases. Thus, the emitter bandgap decreases as it moves farther from the emitter-base junction. The result of the above grading profiles is that the emitter bandgap is narrower at the emitter contact than the base bandgap at the emitter-base junction.

Bipolar transistors are important components in, for example, logic circuits, communications systems, and microwave devices. A bipolar transistor is essentially a three terminal device having three regions, an emitter, base and collector region, wherein the emitter and collector regions are of one conductivity type and the base is of another.
Since the advent of bipolar transistors, many attempts have been made to improve the performance of the transistor. Some of these attempts have focused on increasing the current gain by improving the injection efficiency of the minority carriers from the emitter to the base. In order to accomplish this, wide bandgap transistors have been fabricated wherein the bandgap of the emitter is wider than the bandgap of the base. The wide bandgap transistor has been described in many publications and patents, some of which include Herbert Kromer's "Theory of Wide Gap Emitter for Transistors" reported in The Proceedings of IRE, 1957, p. 1535; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,569,347; and 4,716,445.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,445 entitled "Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Having A Base Region Of Germanium", and assigned to NEC Corporation, a wide bandgap heterojunction bipolar transistor is described. The transistor includes a collector region of gallium arsenide, a base region of germanium and an emitter region having a semiconductor layer of mixed crystal of silicon and germanium. The mixed crystal semiconductor layer may have a uniform distribution of silicon in germanium or a graded distribution of silicon. If the graded distribution is provided, the content of silicon increases with distance from the interface between the base and emitter regions. The silicon is added to the emitter region in order to increase the bandgap of the emitter region so that it is larger than the base bandgap. With the above described structure of a wide bandgap transistor and the fact that germanium has a large electron mobility, performance of the transistor is enhanced.
Many attempts in improving transistor performance have focused on, for example, decreasing the width of the base region of a transistor and decreasing the base transit time for a constant base width. In one example, in order to decrease both the base -width and the base transit time, a bipolar transistor having a graded silicon/germanium base is fabricated. The silicon/germanium base is epitaxially grown on an N-type collector, which is formed on a silicon substrate. Subsequently, the emitter region is formed on the base. In order to form the emitter, a window is opened and polysilicon is deposited. The polysilicon is heavily doped with an N-type dopant, such as arsenic. For example, the arsenic is implanted in the polysilicon and then a high temperature anneal cycle (e.g. 850.degree. C. for 15 minutes) is used to diffuse the arsenic through the polysilicon, the polysilicon/silicon interface of the emitter and into the base. This process enables bases of approximately 600 Angstroms to be formed.
However, the above-described process places a limitation on how thin the bases can be fabricated. This limitation is due to the fact that the high temperature anneal cycle causes the P-type dopant, e.g. boron, in the base to diffuse thereby causing the base width to increase. Therefore, there is a limitation as to how thin the bases can be fabricated when the emitter is formed and contacted by polysilicon.
In order to fabricate transistors with thinner bases, it has been suggested to eliminate polysilicon emitter contacts and to use single-crystal emitters contacted by metal. A problem associated with single-crystal emitters, however, is that in order to obtain a reasonable current gain, the single-crystal emitter must have an emitter thickness greater than 300 Angstroms (for instance, 2000 Angstroms) and, therefore, the emitter charge storage is very large causing the device to be slow.
Accordingly, a need exists for a transistor having a single-crystal emitter with reduced charge storage. In addition, there still exists a need to increase device performance. Further, a need still exists to reduce the width of a base region in the device.

Graded bandgap single-crystal emitter heterojunction bipolar transistor

International Business Machines Corporation


A system uses a photometer that establishes an optical channel between a light emitter and a light detector. The photometer analyses a specimen while it occupies a well in a tray. A movable platform transports the tray to the optical channel for analysis and removes the tray from the optical channel after analysis. The system calibrates the movable platform to assure proper alignment between the specimen and the photometric apparatus used to analyzed the specimen. The system also calibrates the optical channel without use of an external reference.

There are conventional devices that carry out multi-step analytical procedures in an automated or semi-automated fashion. For example, microbiological analytical systems currently carry out automated antimicrobic susceptibility testing procedures using both photometric and fluorometric detection methods. The MicroScan Division of Baxter Healthcare Corporation sells a device of this type under the trade designation "Walk-Away." Armes et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,951 and Hanaway U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,879 and 4,681,741 describe certain features the Walk-Away system.
The Walk-Away system, like other commercial systems, usually analyze many specimens at one time. When using photometry, this requires the establishment and use of multiple optical channels, one for each specimen undergoing analysis. Calibration and alignment of the multiple optical channels relative to each other and relative to the multiple specimens undergoing analysis are essential, if accurate and reproducible results are to be obtained.

Specimen processing and analyzing systems and methods using photometry