A high-voltage switching circuit comprising: a switch having ON and OFF states and having a parasitic gate capacitance and a control circuit for turning the switch on and off. The switch comprises a pair of DMOS FETs having a shared gate terminal, the sources of the DMOS FETs being connected to each other and the drains of the DMOS FETs being connected to the input and output terminals of the switch respectively, and biased at a bias voltage level. The control circuit comprises: a programming transistor having its drain connected to the shared gate terminal of the switch, its source connected to receive a programming voltage, and its gate connected to receive a programming transistor gate voltage; first circuitry for causing a first transition from a first level to a second (lower) level of the programming voltage; and second circuitry for causing a second transition from a first level to a second level of the programming transistor gate voltage. The second level of the programming voltage is higher than the bias voltage level by an amount sufficient to turn on the switch. The first level of the programming transistor gate voltage is approximately equal to the first level of the programming voltage, and the second level of said programming transitor gate voltage is lower than the second level of the programming voltage by an amount sufficient to turn on the programming transistor, whereby the second level of the programming voltage is applied to the shared gate terminal of the switch via the programming transistor.

This invention generally relates to integrated high-voltage switching circuitry. In particular, the invention relates to integrated high-voltage switching circuitry for use in conjunction with an array of elements. Such arrays include, but are not limited to, ultrasound transducer arrays, liquid crystal display pixel arrays, and so forth.
For the purpose of illustration, various embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to an ultrasound transducer array, e.g., the so-called xe2x80x9cmosaic annular arrayxe2x80x9d, for use in ultrasound imaging. A mosaic annular array employs the idea of dividing the active aperture of an ultrasound transducer into a mosaic of very small subelements and then forming annular elements from these subelements by interconnecting them with electronic switches. However, the geometry of the array elements is not limited to annular shapes. These array xe2x80x9celementsxe2x80x9d can be xe2x80x9cmovedxe2x80x9d electronically along the surface of the mosaic array to perform scanning by changing the switch configuration. Other element configurations permit beamsteering, which will provide the ability to acquire volumetric data sets. A configuration of multiple concentric annular elements provides optimal acoustic image quality by matching the element shapes to the acoustic phase fronts. The switches of the present invention are not limited to use in mosaic arrays, but rather could be used with standard ultrasound transducers.
Conventional ultrasound imaging systems comprise an array of ultrasonic transducers that are used to transmit an ultrasound beam and then receive the reflected beam from the object being studied. Such scanning comprises a series of measurements in which the focused ultrasonic wave is transmitted, the system switches to receive mode after a short time interval, and the reflected ultrasonic wave is received, beamformed and processed for display. Typically, transmission and reception are focused in the same direction during each measurement to acquire data from a series of points along an acoustic beam or scan line. The receiver is dynamically focused at a succession of ranges along the scan line as the reflected ultrasonic waves are received.
For ultrasound imaging, the array typically has a multiplicity of transducers arranged in one or more rows and driven with separate voltages. By selecting the time delay (or phase) and amplitude of the applied voltages, the individual transducers in a given row can be controlled to produce ultrasonic waves that combine to form a net ultrasonic wave that travels along a preferred vector direction and is focused in a selected zone along the beam.
The same principles apply when the transducer probe is employed to receive the reflected sound in a receive mode. The voltages produced at the receiving transducers are summed so that the net signal is indicative of the ultrasound reflected from a single focal zone in the object. As with the transmission mode, this focused reception of the ultrasonic energy is achieved by imparting separate time delay (and/or phase shifts) and gains to the signal from each receiving transducer. The time delays are adjusted with increasing depth of the returned signal to provide dynamic focusing on receive.
The quality or resolution of the image formed is partly a function of the number of transducers that respectively constitute the transmit and receive apertures of the transducer array. Accordingly, to achieve high image quality, a large number of transducers is desirable for both two- and three-dimensional imaging applications. The ultrasound transducers are typically located in a hand-held transducer probe that is connected by a flexible cable to an electronics unit that processes the transducer signals and generates ultrasound images. The transducer probe may carry both ultrasound transmit circuitry and ultrasound receive circuitry.
It is known to include high-voltage components in the transmit circuitry to drive the individual ultrasound transducers, while low-voltage, high-density digital logic circuitry is used to provide transmit signals to the high-voltage drivers. The high-voltage drivers typically operate at voltages of up to approximately 100 volts, while the low-voltage logic circuitry has an operating voltage on the order of 5 volts in the case of TTL logic. The high-voltage drivers may be fabricated as discrete components or as integrated circuits, while the low-voltage logic circuitry may be fabricated as a separate integrated circuit or combined with the high-voltage circuitry on a single chip. In addition to transmit circuitry including the high-voltage drivers and low-voltage logic circuitry, the transducer head may include low-noise, low-voltage analog receive circuitry. The low-voltage receive circuitry, like the transmit logic circuitry, typically has an operating voltage on the order of 5 volts, and may be a separate integrated circuit or may be fabricated with the low-voltage transmit logic circuitry as a monolithic integrated circuit.
In order to maximize the number of transducers to achieve high-quality ultrasound images, it is desirable to integrate as much circuitry as possible in as small a volume as possible to reduce the size and complexity of the circuitry, whether the circuitry be located within a transducer probe or in an electronics unit separate therefrom. In addition, some applications, for example, very high-frequency ultrasound imaging, require that transmit circuitry be located as close as possible to the transducers to avoid signal loading by a long cable.
In addition, the integrated circuit must include switches for coupling selected ultrasound transducers of the array with the associated high-voltage drivers during transmit and with associated receivers during receive. One proposed ultrasound transducer array that employs integrated high-voltage driving circuits is a so-called xe2x80x9cmosaic annular arrayxe2x80x9d. In a mosaic annular array ultrasound probe there is a need for both matrix and access switches that can withstand the high voltages used on transmit. At the same time, since the array contains upwards of 40,000 switches, low-power operation is an important consideration. In addition, it must be possible to cascade many such switches in series. Finally, the switch should have the ability to retain its state independent of additional logic, thereby simplifying the required digital circuitry and also enabling the use of different transmit and receive apertures.
Currently, ultrasound machines use commercially available high-voltage switch integrated circuits that are generally packaged in groups of eight switches per device. A representative patent for this technology is U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,847. Generally, this device uses high-voltage DMOS switches that are integrated back to back. This is well known in the prior art as a requirement due to the parasitic body diodes that are contained in the devices. [See, for example, xe2x80x9cUsing the Power MOSFET""s Integral Reverse Rectifier,xe2x80x9d Fragale et al., Proc. PowerCon 7: Seventh National Solid-State Power Conversion Conference, San Diego, Calif., March 1980.] An important feature of this device is the ability to tolerate high voltages on both of the signal terminals while floating the gate control terminal relative to this voltage. A level shifter is employed to allow the switch to operate in this manner.
An application similar to that of the present invention is driving a liquid crystal display (LCD). The LCD requires high voltages (100 V) but does not require high current. A solution to the LCD driver problem is disclosed by Doutreloigne et al. in a paper entitled xe2x80x9cA Versatile Micropower High-Voltage Flat-Panel Display Driver etc.xe2x80x9d and also in European Published Patent Application No. 1089433. This device also uses high-voltage DMOS switches; however, it uses a dynamically biased level shifter. The advantage of using a dynamically biased level shifter is that it does not dissipate static power. The technique of dynamic storage of control voltage is well known in the prior art and is most often found in dynamic shift registers and in dynamic RAM, which are prevalent in commercial electronics. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,474 discloses a high-voltage level shifter that uses dynamic storage of voltage to effect a low-power and small-form factor device.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,603, Zanuccoli et al. disclose a high-voltage bidirectional switch that operates in a similar fashion to that disclosed by Doutreloigne et al., with the improved ability to operate independent of supply voltages at the switch terminals. This device also uses a dynamic level shifter that stores a control voltage on the gate of the switch FET. The device is adapted for operation with a single NMOS device and goes to great length to make this possible.
There is a need in an ultrasound transducer array for both matrix and access switches that can withstand the high voltages used on transmit while consuming low power. It must be possible to cascade many such switches in series. Also, in a mosaic annular array, integrated high-voltage switching elements are required which are as small as possible in order to fit into the tight pitch between ultrasound transducers. Finally, these switches should have the ability to retain their state independent of additional logic and with controlled variation of ON resistance.
The present invention is directed to high-voltage switching circuits, devices incorporating high-voltage switching circuits and methods of programming high-voltage switching circuits. Although the disclosed embodiments are suitable for use in an ultrasound transducer array, the high-voltage switching circuits disclosed herein are not limited to ultrasound imaging applications.
One aspect of the invention is a method of operating a switch having ON and OFF states and having a parasitic gate capacitance, the switch comprising a pair of DMOS FETs having a shared gate terminal, the sources of the DMOS FETs being connected to each other and the drains of the DMOS FETs being connected to the input and output terminals of the switch respectively, and the shared gate terminal being connected to a drain of a programming transistor, the gate of the programming transistor receiving a gate voltage, the source of the programming transistor receiving a programming voltage, and the drains of the DMOS FETs being biased at a bias voltage level. The method comprises the following steps: (a) transitioning from a first level of the programming voltage to a second level of the programming voltage, the second level of the programming voltage being lower than the first level of the programming voltage and being higher than the bias voltage level by an amount sufficient to turn on the switch; and (b) transitioning from a first level of the programming transistor gate voltage to a second level of the programming transistor gate voltage, the first level of the programming transistor gate voltage being approximately equal to the first level of the programming voltage, and the second level of the programming transistor gate voltage being lower than the second level of the programming voltage by an amount sufficient to turn on the programming transistor, whereby the second level of the programming voltage is applied to the shared gate terminal of the switch via the programming transistor.
Another aspect of the invention is a circuit comprising: a switch having ON and OFF states and having a parasitic gate capacitance, the switch comprising a pair of DMOS FETs having a shared gate terminal, the sources of the DMOS FETs being connected to each other and the drains of the DMOS FETs being connected to the input and output terminals of the switch respectively, and biased at a bias voltage level; and a control circuit for turning the switch on and off, the control circuit comprising: a programming transistor having its drain connected to the shared gate terminal of the switch, its source connected to receive a programming voltage, and its gate connected to receive a programming transistor gate voltage; first circuitry for causing a first transition from a first level of the programming voltage to a second level of the programming voltage, the second level of the programming voltage being lower than the first level of the programming voltage and being higher than the bias voltage level by an amount sufficient to turn on the switch; and second circuitry for causing a second transition from a first level of the programming transistor gate voltage to a second level of the programming transistor gate voltage, the first level of the programming transistor gate voltage being approximately equal to the first level of the programming voltage, and the second level of the programming transistor gate voltage being lower than the second level of the programming voltage by an amount sufficient to turn on the programming transistor, whereby the second level of the programming voltage is applied to the shared gate terminal of the switch via the programming transistor.
A further aspect of the invention is a circuit comprising: a switch having ON and OFF states and having a parasitic gate capacitance, the switch comprising a pair of DMOS FETs having a shared gate terminal, the sources of the DMOS FETs being connected to each other and the drains of the DMOS FETs being connected to the input and output terminals of the switch respectively; a control circuit for turning the switch on and off, the control circuit comprising a first level shifter having an input terminal and an output terminal, and a programming transistor having its drain connected to the shared gate terminal of the switch, having its source connected to a first terminal from which the programming transistor draws current, and having its gate connected to receive a voltage derived from a voltage output by the first level shifter; and a resistance connected across the switch output terminal and a second terminal. The switch turns on in response to the following conditions: a first gate control voltage level is applied to the input terminal of the first level shifter that results in the programming transistor passing current, while first and second bias voltage levels are respectively applied to the first and second terminals to produce a switch gate-source voltage that turns the switch on.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a device comprising: a switch having ON and OFF states and having a parasitic gate capacitance, the switch comprising a pair of DMOS FETs having a shared gate terminal, the sources of the DMOS FETs being connected to each other and the drains of the DMOS FETs being connected to the input and output terminals of the switch respectively, and biased at a bias voltage level; and a control circuit for turning the switch on and off, the control circuit having first and second control states, each of the first and second control states being a function of a programming voltage and a programming gate voltage applied to different terminals of the control circuit. In the first control state of the control circuit, the programming voltage has a first voltage level and the programming gate voltage has a voltage level less than the first voltage level, resulting in the switch being on. In the second control state of the control circuit, the programming voltage has a second voltage level less than the first voltage level and the programming gate voltage has a voltage level less than the second voltage level, resulting in the switch being off.
A further aspect of the invention is a method of operating a high-voltage switching circuit, comprising the following steps: programming a first ON resistance value for tile high-voltage switching circuit under a first set of operating conditions, comprising a first value for a predetermined parameter, by applying a first programming voltage to a gate of the high-voltage switching circuit; determining that the parameter has changed from the first value to a second value under a second set of operating conditions; and programming a second ON resistance value for the high-voltage switching circuit under the second set of operating conditions by applying a second programming voltage different than the first programming voltage to the gate.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a method for programming high-voltage switching circuits, comprising the following steps: (a) manufacturing first and second high-voltage switching circuits; (b) determining a first gate-source voltage that causes the first high-voltage switching circuit to have a desired ON resistance; (c) determining a second gate-source voltage that causes the second high-voltage switching circuit to have the desired ON resistance, the first and second gate-source voltages being different; (d) programming a control circuit to provide a first gate voltage to the first high-voltage switching circuit, the first gate voltage being dependent on the results of step (b); and (e) programming the control circuit to provide a second gate voltage to the second high-voltage switching circuit, the second gate voltage being dependent on the results of step (c), wherein the first and second gate voltages are different but produce approximately the same ON resistances during operation of the first and second high-voltage switching circuits.
Other aspects of the invention are disclosed and claimed below.

Method and apparatus for high-voltage switching of ultrasound transducer array


The technology disclosed herein relates to a vent assembly having a vent housing that defines a first airflow pathway, a second airflow pathway, and a third airflow pathway. The first airflow pathway is configured for fluid communication with an interior of an enclosure. The second airflow pathway is configured for fluid communication with the external environment, and the third airflow pathway extends between the first airflow pathway and the second airflow pathway. A membrane is coupled to the vent housing such that the second airflow pathway and the third airflow pathway are in communication through the membrane. Coalescing filter media is disposed within the vent housing such that the third airflow pathway and the first airflow pathway are in communication through the coalescing filter media. The vent assembly defines a spacing region between the coalescing media and the membrane.

Various types of gearboxes, such as automotive transmissions, differential cases, and power transfer units, generally require some sort of breather vent that allows the pressure between the gearbox and the external environment to equalize. Some breather vents incorporate filter media to prevent the ingress of contaminants such as dust and fluids to the gearbox. For example, a microporous membrane can be used to prevent the entry of water in the gearbox. Oil particles that are present in the gearbox, however, can become airborne and lodge into the membrane. Some existing technology uses an oil sorbent (e.g., absorbent and/or adsorbent of oil) filter media that is configured to capture the oil particles before they reach the membrane. However, such vents have a relatively short lifespan because, as the oil particles accumulate in the media, the media becomes clogged, which decreases the life of the vent. Furthermore, because the sorbent filter media wicks the oil particles, the oil can foul the membrane relatively quickly.
The present technology may be more completely understood and appreciated in consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments in connection with the accompanying drawings.


Wire panels which are easily and readily adapted to any size tree or shrub root ball and which when attached together form a basket to preserve the integrity of the root ball are disclosed. The panels are formed in a criss cross configuration and are secured by rope, cord, twine or wire in a shoelace type tightening arrangement. It is also possible to preconnect several wire panels in a size corresponding to a commercial shade digger by use of an easily deforming wire link at the top and bottom of the panels. The wire panels provide the sizing flexibility to be used for any size tree or shrub root ball.

Nurserymen have long ago mastered the art of transplanting shrubs and trees from the nursery to the point of sale. This involves digging around the root system of the tree leaving a ball of earth which is then wrapped tightly to prevent loosening of life-giving earth from around the roots. This transplanting procedure is generally referred to as the "ball and burlap" method. These are two common methods of "balling and burlapping" trees for shipment.
This invention relates to apparatus for receiving tree root balls and methods for using such apparatus, particularly with respect to wire baskets for receiving said root balls. In commercial nursery operations, trees are dug from the ground by means of large mechanical diggers which typically consists of three or four large hydraulically operated spades or shovel type blades which dig into the earth around a tree and lift the tree out of the ground. The blades being a ball of earth with them which contains the roots of the tree. It is desirable to retain as much of this earthen ball as is possible so as to increase the chances of the survival of the tree when it is transplanted.
It is also desirable to protect the ball from cracking, crumbling or otherwise diminishing the integrity of said ball. This is usually accomplished by placing the ball in a wire basket or container that substantially conforms to the shape of the ball and then by twisting or crimping the wire strands so as to tighten the wire basket as much as possible around the ball. The wire strands are typically twisted or crimped by hand and the process is quite labor intensive, particularly when the basket does not conform closely to the shape of the ball.
The wire baskets must be fabricated to match the geometry of the particular brand of spade being used. In fact Belcher's invention (No. 3,979,856) specifically describes a basket which more closely matches a four blade spade. If a three bladed spade is used a matching shape basket is preferrable. Again this is to minimize wire twisting to tighten the basket around the ball.
In other instances in which trees are hand dug it is necessary to hand lace the root ball by means of wrapping the earthen ball with burlap and then tying the ball securely by what is known as a "drum lacing". This process is extremely time intensive and once completed the ball must still be mechanically removed from the excavation and the bottom opening secured by further lacing. There is currently not available a wire type basket for use in the hand dug tree procedure.
It is a problem inherent in present baskets to tighten the basket around the ball to secure it for shipment. There is felt need therefore to provide wire baskets which can be tightened more easily and more quickly. In addition there is need for a basket which will secure balls of various shapes. There is also a need for a wire basket that is easily removable upon planting. Finally there is need for a basket which can be used on hand dug balls (which vary greatly in size and shape) as well as on machine dug balls. There is also a for a wire basket that is easily removable upon planting.


Devices, assemblies, and compression members for regulating the pressure or dwell time within separating machines that separate hard material from soft material are disclosed. The device utilizes a compression assembly comprising a compression member, a base member, a primary key, a primary key receptor, a secondary key, and a secondary key receptor for controlling the amount of material that is forced through a conduit. The primary key, the primary key receptor, the secondary key, and the secondary key receptor secure the compression member to the base member. The devices, assemblies, and compression members of the present invention regulate the pressure exerted on the separating machine by the compressed hard and soft materials and also regulate the dwell time of the hard and soft materials within the separating machine in a manner that reduces the difficulty, expense, and associated time of replacing worn compression members.

Conventional separating machinery utilizes an auger or piston to pressurize the material to be separated through a screen or sieve, so that the soft material (flesh, meat, pulp juice, oil, etc.) passes through the screen or sieve, and the hard material does not or does so only in very small controlled quantities.
Such machines use an adjustment mechanism to control the separation process by regulating the pressure and or dwell time within the specified machine. The adjustable mechanism consists of a ring, sometimes referred to as a compression ring, having an inwardly tapered leading edge, adjacent to a correspondingly tapered ramp on the pressure device (auger, piston, belt, etc.) The position of this adjustable ring can be controlled to create a larger or smaller opening as desired between the ring and the corresponding surface on the auger, piston, belt, etc.
Rings, or structures associated with the rings, may include external threads that engage a worm drive to move the ring closer to or farther away from the auger surface. The spacing between such a ring and the sloping auger, piston, belt, etc. is conventionally controlled manually using a ratchet style mechanism, a hand wheel, a wrench, hydraulics, or combinations of such means. Each alternative has associated drawbacks. Regardless of which method is utilized, each change in the setting-opening is accompanied by a change in the size of the "window" afforded for evacuation of the hard materials, further aggravating the expulsion and removal of the hard materials and thereby increasing pressure within the machine, increasing temperature through pressure and friction thereby increasing component wear.
Because rings typically wear at a high rate, they must be replaced periodically. However, because of the expense associated with machining the rings, typically, only a portion of the ring is replaced. Typically, a base portion of the ring, which may include the above mentioned threads and other structure, is secured using nuts and bolts to the ring portion, which typically wears much more quickly. Such an assembly, however, may be undesirable because the nuts and bolts may be lost during cleaning of the components. Additionally, removing all the nuts to allow the ring's removal is relatively time consuming. Moreover, sometimes the nuts may "freeze" to the bolts, requiring the nuts to be sawn off to allow ring removal. The bolts, as well as the holes that allow the bolts to extend through the components, may define weak areas that are susceptible to cracking, shearing or breaking. Finally, securing the ring to the base using bolts may be problematic in that it causes difficulty in aligning the ring to the base.
Additionally, typical compression assemblies do not allow for liquid material to escape from outside the ring; such material gets trapped in the base and creates maintenance problems. When the liquid builds up, it can solidify, freezing the ring to the machine and preventing removal and/or adjustment of the ring.


A method of predicting an outcome of a prior-authorization, claim, or appeal includes receiving, at a server, a natural language data file representing doctors notes from a provider visit related to a service instance; receiving, at the server, a structured data set including patient profile data, diagnosis and procedure codes, and quantitative data related to a payment requested; processing at least the natural language data file using a medical dictionary to output a set of key medical terms; processing, using a supervised machine learning algorithm, the structured data set and the set of key medical terms to predict an outcome of the payment requested; and outputting an indication of the predicted outcome of the payment requested.

Data sources in the healthcare industry are generally output and stored by a variety of systems and in a variety of formats. For instance, before or after a healthcare provider (e.g., a hospital, a physician's office, etc.) provides a service to a patient, the provider often submits an insurance claim to a payer (e.g., the patient's health insurance company) for payment for the service(s). In some cases, the insurance claim is denied by the payer or the payer only pays a portion of the billed amount (often referred to as an adjustment). The provider may appeal the denial or adjustment of the insurance claim to the payer or, in some cases, a third party (e.g., an arbitrator).

Machine learning systems and methods for processing data for healthcare applications


Embodiments of this application provide an API hybrid multi-tenant routing method and system, as well as an API gateway. The method includes: after receiving an API request message sent by an API caller, obtaining an APP key carried in the message; obtaining, based on a multi-tenant routing policy table, an API running instance URL list corresponding to the APP key; determining an API running instance URL in the API running instance URL list; and returning the API running instance URL to the API caller. The APP key is used to identify the API caller. The multi-tenant routing policy table stores a mapping relationship between the APP key and the API running instance URL list. The API hybrid multi-tenant routing system is a functional module in the API gateway.

After an API (Application Programming Interface) gateway is implemented in an SaaS (software-as-a-service) mode, the API gateway may provide internal data or an internal program of a platform, a system, or the like for a third-party API tenant through a RESTful (Representational State Transfer) API, so that the API tenant can integrate different API services into an application of the API tenant, and a new service is derived. This is beneficial to promoting ecological development and cross-industry innovation of technologies.
Different API tenants have different requirements on an API resource, security, and the like, and therefore, different API SLA (Service-Level Agreement) policies are derived. To meet the SLA policies of the different API tenants, the API gateway needs to externally provide API services by using different solutions. Currently, there are two types of tenants of the API gateway: a physical tenant and a logical tenant. Accordingly, multi-tenant (a plurality of physical tenants or a plurality of logical tenants) solutions used are also different.
In a physical multi-tenant solution, APIs of tenants are physically isolated by using, for example, a Docker container, a VM (Virtual Machine, virtual machine), or a physical machine. A principle of the physical multi-tenant solution is shown in FIG. 1. Each tenant corresponds to one or more API running instances in the API gateway. These API running instances constitute an API cluster exclusive to a tenant (such as a tenant A). For example, in FIG. 1, the tenant A corresponds to an API cluster 1, a tenant B corresponds to an API cluster 2, and so on. For API clusters of different tenants, externally provided API running instance URLs carry tenant IDs, and the tenant IDs are used to distinguish between the API running instance URLs of the different tenants. For example, an API running instance URL of the tenant A is: http://xxx.apigatewa/tenantA/order, and an API running instance URL of the tenant B is: http://xxx.apigatewa/tenantB/order. Because a physical resource exclusive-mode is used, the tenants have their own private API running instance URLs, and these URLs do not conflict. In the physical multi-tenant solution, after an application of each tenant requests a resource from the API gateway based on a tenant ID, the API gateway returns an API running instance URL of the tenant, and the application directly accesses the returned API running instance URL to obtain a resource. Therefore, multi-tenant routing is not required.
In a logical multi-tenant solution, all tenants share one or more API running instances, and API isolation between the different tenants is implemented in each API running instance through multithreading, isolation of coroutines, or isolation of message queues. A principle of the logical multi-tenant solution is shown in FIG. 2. Various tenants share one or more API running instances, and an API cluster externally provides only one running instance URL. For example, an API running instance URL provided for all the tenants is: http://xxx.apigatewa/order?ID=1. Because all the tenants share the same API running instances, the API running instances are totally equivalent to each other. Therefore, in the logical multi-tenant solution, after an application of a tenant requests an API resource from the API gateway based on a tenant ID, the API gateway can route an API running instance to the application of the tenant by performing only random or polling distribution.
The physical multi-tenant solution has problems such as high resource occupation and high maintenance costs, and the logical multi-tenant solution has a problem such as poor fault isolation. Considering both resource conservation and fault isolation improvement, it is necessary to propose a hybrid multi-tenant solution. In the hybrid multi-tenant solution, the physical multi-tenant solution may be used for an important tenant, and the logical multi-tenant solution may be used for an ordinary tenant. In a hybrid multi-tenant scenario, some API running instances are exclusive to a single physical tenant, and some API running instances are shared by a plurality of logical tenants. How to correctly route an API running instance to an application of a tenant is a main problem that needs to be resolved for implementing the hybrid multi-tenant solution.

API hybrid multi-tenant routing method and system, and API gateway


A circular textile fiber bale opener with a goosenecked transition from separately chambered dual plucker rolls provide for larger laydown area and greater production. The transition causes uniform air velocity at the top of the fiber bales across the full length of the plucker rolls. Plucked fibers from the transition are delivered through a centrally disposed hollow shaft for delivery downstream. The shaft carries electrical collector rings with which are associated brushes which rotate with the opener for completing connections between the external and internal wiring required for the apparatus.

The present invention is an improvement on the equipment in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,502 which describes and claims such a rotary fiber bale opener, and the contents of that patent are incorporated hereinto by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the disclosure set forth herein.
Equipment made in accordance with that prior patent has been quite successful, but as higher and higher processing rates are required by equipment which it feeds, improvements became necessary.
In particular, the annular area in which bales were disposed could not hold enough bales for the large volume of processing necessary. Accordingly, it became necessary to lengthen the radius of that annular area from about 5 feet up to around 6 to 10 feet and to double the beater capacity in order to provide for today's requirements of the amount of plucked fibers needed per unit of time. Doubling the number of bales from 20 to 40 in the annular area is possible upon an increase in the diameter of the outer circle from 22 feet to 28 feet.
Such changes caused some problems to develop in that merely doubling the number of rotary beaters did not prove satisfactory and in that the pull of the fibers from the bales by the longer length rotary beaters became non-uniform along the length of the beaters.

Fiber bale opener having two opening chambers


A method is provided for estimating channel state information in an in-band on-channel radio signal including a plurality of digitally modulated reference subcarriers. The method includes: receiving symbols transmitted on the reference subcarriers; combining the reference subcarrier symbols with a known reference sequence conjugate to produce a plurality of samples; median filtering the samples to produce filtered samples; smoothing the samples for each of the reference subcarriers over the plurality of reference subcarriers to produce a complex channel gain estimate for each of the subcarriers; and using a bias correction function to compensate for estimation bias error in the complex channel gain estimate due to the median filtering. Receivers that implement the method are also provided.

The iBiquity Digital Corporation HD Radio™ system is designed to permit a smooth evolution from current analog amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) radio to a fully digital in-band on-channel (IBOC) system. This system delivers digital audio and data services to mobile, portable, and fixed receivers from terrestrial transmitters in the existing medium frequency (MF) and very high frequency (VHF) radio bands.
IBOC signals can be transmitted in a hybrid format including an analog modulated carrier in combination with a plurality of digitally modulated subcarriers, or in an all-digital format wherein the analog modulated carrier is not used. Using the hybrid format, broadcasters may continue to transmit analog AM and FM simultaneously with higher-quality and more robust digital signals, allowing themselves and their listeners to convert from analog to digital radio while maintaining their current frequency allocations. IBOC hybrid and all-digital waveforms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,933,368, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Channel State Information (CSI) is useful in the decoding of digital signals in radio receivers. CSI as a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conveys the reliability of the associated digital symbols; while the estimation of channel gain, magnitude, and phase allows the demodulator to remove or compensate for them. Accurate and timely CSI estimation is important to maximize reliable decoding performance.
It is desirable to improve the accuracy and timeliness of the CSI estimation for HD Radio receivers.

Channel state information (CSI) estimation and applications for in-band on-channel radio receivers


A device and method are set forth for tensioning elevator cables. The device includes a platform supporting a plurality of hydraulic cylinders each adapted to be coupled to a thimble rod for a cable. Hydraulic fluid is supplied to each cylinder at the same pressure until each cable load is transferred from the cable system hitch plate to the platform indicating that each cable is now under the same tension. The thimble rods are adjusted with the cables now at the same tension and the hydraulic fluid is vented from the cylinders to transfer the cable loads back to the hitch plate.

Elevator cars, which are roped or cabled in a 2:1 configuration, are supported by wire cables which terminate at each end in thimble rods which are attached to supporting hitch plates located at the top of the elevator hoist way and supported by the building structure. With reference to FIG. 1, a typical roping for an elevator car is shown. As shown and described hereinafter, from the supporting hitch plate located above the elevator car, the cables pass under a sheave attached to the elevator car, over a traction drive and guide sheave, under a sheave attached to a counterweight and then back to a second hitch plate located above the counterweight.
As is known, the cables and drive sheaves wear and the cables stretch through normal use. The stretching lengthens the cables which means that certain cables must slip around the sheaves and pulleys to keep up with other cables which may stretch at a different rate. This wears on the traction surfaces of the traction drive sheaves and other sheaves in the system.
If the cable tension is not occasionally adjusted, and the wear and stretching become severe, the entire cable system including the sheaves must be "re-roped." This requires that the elevator car be taken out of service for a period of time inconveniencing the buildings customers. Further the labor and equipment costs involved in "re-roping" an elevator system are high. Hence it is known to provide periodic service to monitor and adjust the tension of the cables in the elevator system.
One technique to measure the tension of an elevator cable involves a device that hooks onto the cable and by bending the cable measures the cables tension. To adjust the tension of the cables to be substantially equal, the serviceman would measure the tension and adjust each cable at the hitch plate by adjusting the position of the thimble rods relative thereto until each cable tension is substantially the same, i.e. the load carried by each cable is substantially equal. Once the cable tension is adjusted, the car is cycled up and down and the tension checked again to make sure that the tension for the cables is substantially equal. As can be appreciated, this procedure is time consuming and is not entirely accurate.
Another technique is to "pluck" the cables and measure the wave oscillations of the cable which are related to the cables tension. By adjusting the cables in the manner described above and checking the tension, the tension for all cables in the system can be equalized. Again this is time consuming and not highly accurate. Further, whichever technique is used, usually the elevator car must be cycled up and down after each adjustment and the cable tension tested again to confirm that the tensions are substantially equal.
To attempt to resolve the drawbacks noted above, it has been known to install permanent cable tension equalizing mechanisms at the coupling of the thimble rods to the hitch plates. One such example is described in Beatty, U.S. Pat. No. 2,385,488 which uses a hydraulic cylinder in the hitch assembly to connect the elevator cables to the building support structure. Beatty requires that the hydraulic cylinder remain in service and become a permanent part of the hitching assembly which increases the cost of the elevator cable systems. Furthermore, for those systems which were not installed with hydraulic tension equalizers, retrofitting can be expensive, time consuming and may be, depending upon the application, inappropriate.
Other similar approaches to addressing the problem of elevator cable tension by a permanent tension equalizing device are described in Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 2, 001,007, Hawkins, U.S. Pat. No. 1,516,727.
There is a need for a device and method which can be used to easily and quickly to adjust the tension of elevator cables without replacing or requiring elaborate hitching assemblies. More particularly, there is a need for a device and method which is portable and can be used by service personnel on existing and varying hitching assemblies to quickly and easily adjust cable tension.

Elevator cable tensioning device and method


A technique is provided for controlling a transmit range of a wireless transmitter. The technique includes retrieving Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) values measured by one or more sensors, corresponding to the plurality of wireless transmitters distributed in a region in which the sensors are located. A plurality of parameters associated with the wireless transmitter to be placed within the region are received. The plurality of parameters includes a minimum range of transmission of the wireless transmitter and a preferred position in the region. A plurality of clusters are generated based on the retrieved RSSI values and the minimum range. Further, one or more positions for placing the wireless transmitter within a cluster from the plurality of clusters, and a maximum range of transmission at each of the one or more positions, are determined. The maximum range is determined by controlling a range of transmission of the wireless transmitter.

In large indoor spaces, such as factory floors (such as aircraft factory floors) or warehouses, multiple wireless transmitters are distributed spatially. All the wireless transmitters have an individual transmission power and frequency of operation. However, due to limited availability of frequency spectrum it becomes imperative to reuse the frequencies used for transmissions by the wireless transmitters. Such a reuse enables full utilization of the available frequency spectrum for communication. In order to enable the reuse of the frequency spectrum, an estimation of the positions of the wireless transmitters across the indoor space needs to be made. This is because placing the wireless transmitters using the same frequency spectrum in the proximity of each other may lead to interference and subsequent loss of information transmitted by the wireless transmitters.
In the aforementioned scenario, placing a new wireless transmitter, utilizing the same frequency in the vicinity of already placed wireless transmitters, may result in interference of the signal transmitted by both the wireless transmitters. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to know the exact positions of the already existing wireless transmitters and the knowledge of an interference that may be caused by the new transmitter when placed in the vicinity of an already placed wireless transmitter.
It is therefore desirable to provide a mechanism to utilize the localization information of the positions of the wireless transmitters to determine a position at which the new wireless transmitter can be placed. It may be further desirable to utilize the localization information of the positions of the wireless transmitters to determine a power at which the new wireless transmitter transmits so that the interference between the new wireless transmitter and the already existing wireless transmitters may be minimized.

Method and system for controlling a transmit range of a wireless transmitter


Systems, methods, and software for monitoring and controlling a security system for a structure are provided herein. An exemplary method may include receiving sensor data from at least one first peripheral, the sensor data associated with at least one of activity inside and activity outside of a structure; determining a critical event based in part on the sensor data; creating an alert based in part on the critical event; getting user preferences associated with at least one of a user and a base unit; determining a response based in part on the alert and user preferences; and activating at least one of a second peripheral and a service based in part on the response.

Commercial and residential security systems detect intrusions and fire to prevent intruder and property damage. Present security systems suffer from false alarms and high monitoring costs. False alarms prevent first responders from being available to handle other in-progress or more urgent calls for service. In addition, first responders may levy fines for false alarms. Companies offer services to remotely monitor security systems. Some companies have trained staff to monitor their customers' security systems and call the appropriate authorities in the event an alarm signal is received. However, the cost and quality of these services vary by the provider, and can be beyond the reach of many families and organizations.


A method of connection of a priority call in a wireless communication system able to assign channels making full utilization of system resources and to thereby prevent failure of connection (call loss) of an emergency call or other priority call, which sets a maximum threshold Th.III between a critical threshold Th.IV constituting an upper limit, in terms of hardware, on the number of calls able to be assigned channels in a wireless section, and a design threshold Th.II constituting an upper limit, in terms of software design. It assigns a priority call a channel and connects the call to the exchange side even if the total number of calls exceeds the design threshold Th.II, but if it determines that it is smaller than the maximum threshold Th.III, performs breathing when the total number of calls exceeds the design threshold Th.II, and sends a standby instruction message to the terminal side when it determines that the total number of calls has exceeded the maximum threshold Th.III.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of connecting a priority call in a wireless communication system and an apparatus for the same, more preferably relates to a method of connecting a priority call in a wireless local loop (WLL) system or a cellular system using code division multiple access (CDMA) and an apparatus for the same.
CDMA has the advantages of a higher efficiency of utilization of frequency compared with the conventional time division multiple access (TDMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA). It is a multiple access system essential for the next generation of wireless communication systems where a shortage of frequencies will be a concern. The utilization of CDMA, as described above, has the effects of, of course, enabling effective utilization of the frequency and, also, improving privacy and, further, facilitating hand-off between cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
As will be explained in detail later by using the drawings, in the general sequence of channel assignment, when the total number of calls in a wireless section reaches the total number of channels which can be assigned in that same section and a priority call is generated, an ordinary call currently in progress is compulsorily disconnected and the related channel is handed over to that priority call.
In the above sequence, first, the base station controller side determines if a call is an ordinary call or priority call, then requests channel assignment (resource assignment) to a base station transceiver subsystem. The base station transceiver subsystem notifies the base station controller that it cannot assign a channel since all of its wireless channels are in use. When connecting a priority call on a preferential basis, the base station controller then disconnects a certain call among the ordinary calls in progress. Therefore, the base station controller and the exchange disconnect a call in progress between them and then disconnect the call between the base station transceiver subsystem and base station controller and next between the base station transceiver subsystem and terminal. By doing this, an opening arises in the channels (resources) in the wireless section which had previously been all in use, so the base station controller sends the base station transceiver subsystem a channel (resource) assignment request again and the base station transceiver subsystem sends the base station controller a channel (resource) assignment response.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, as mentioned above, there was the first problem that, in the past, another terminal had to be forcibly disconnected in order to enable a priority call to be preferentially connected, so the quality of service was poor.
Further, there was the second problem that no consideration was given to making full and effective utilization of the resources possessed by the system for improvement of the quality of service.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of connecting a priority call in a wireless communication system which provides a scheme of channel assignment enabling full and effective utilization of resources of the system and which enables prevention of failure of connection (call loss) of a priority call without compulsorily disconnecting any ordinary calls in progress and an apparatus for achieving that method.
To attain the above object, the method of the present invention sets a maximum threshold Th.III between a critical threshold Th.IV constituting an upper limit, in terms of hardware, on the number of calls able to be assigned channels in a wireless section, and a design threshold Th.II constituting an upper limit in terms of software design. It assigns a priority call a channel and connects the call to the exchange side even if the total number of calls exceeds the design threshold Th.II, but if it determines that the number is smaller than the maximum threshold. Th.III. Further it performs breathing when the total number of calls exceeds the design threshold Th.II, and sends a standby instruction message to the terminal when it determines that the total number of calls has exceeded the maximum threshold Th.III.
Therefore, the wireless communication system assigns channels making full utilization of the resources and prevents failure of connection (call loss) of an emergency call or other priority call.

Method of connecting priority call in wireless communication system and apparatus for achieving method


A non-volatile computer readable medium includes computer program instructions to cause a computing device to perform steps in a process. The process comprises detecting an occurrence of an originating event; selecting, in response to the occurrence of the originating event, a unit of work from a queue; selecting, based at least in part on an identification script, a network available to accept the unit of work; sending the unit of work to a first configurable worker object in the network that encapsulates an application function capable of performing a processing task; processing the unit of work by the first configurable worker object; and indicating, by the first configurable worker object, that the unit of work has been processed.

A company gradually accumulates data sources, software applications, technology and analytics solutions, and source systems that are often siloed and do not interact with one another. However, the information and analysis needed to address a new and immediate intelligence need of the business are often distributed across those siloed source systems. A company has traditionally used centralized approaches to solve these distributed business problems. The traditional methods of centralizing data and analysis with multi-year data warehousing and integration projects are expensive, inefficient, and unpredictable.
While the specific distributed business problems a company attempts to solve are different and generally particularized to its immediate information needs, certain common denominators exist when implementing a solution in the traditional way. In this approach, data is first centralized into a common storage location that disconnects it from its source system. From there, analytics are applied, creating another level of abstraction from the physical reality of the source system. After multiple such projects, it is difficult to comprehend the original physical structure.
Much cost, time, and risk must be borne to perform this sort of integration of decentralized source systems prior to responding to the immediate business information needs. Data integration and centralization, and their attendant infrastructure costs, must be repeated for implementation of every new business solution, slowing business agility and institutionalizing unnecessary cost. This is due in large part to the necessity of converting the logical design of the desired business intelligence process to the centralized system required to support the logic. Current application project value is either replaced or requires significant rewrites or upgrades every four to six years. Data projects decline in value even more quickly.
As companies and enterprises grow and become more complex, so does the cost, delay, risk, and repetition of the traditional centralized business solutions. The burden of implementing a business solution in the traditional way fundamentally undermines effectiveness of an enterprise. A new approach to solving these distributed business problems is needed.

Virtualized execution across distributed nodes


Illuminated surgical retractors include at least one retractor blade and a light delivery system. In some embodiments of the invention, the light delivery system includes a light emitter in the form of an elongated light emitting blade portion extending along the length of the retractor blade. The light emitter may be coupled to a light source integral with the retractor for illuminating all or a portion of the length of the light emitter or retractor blade. In other embodiments of the invention, the light delivery system may include an array of lights which may be attached directly to the retractor blade or to a support in the shape of an elongated blade that extends along the length of the retractor blade for illuminating all or a portion of the length of the retractor blade.

While light delivery systems are generally known, prior art light delivery systems are not easily adapted for use in connection with functional instruments such as surgical instruments of various types. In this respect, current light delivery systems do not provide optimal illumination for a variety of desired lighting conditions. Moreover, current light delivery systems are costly to replace, and are thus not well suited for conditions which necessitate that the light delivery system be disposable, such as where sterilization is desired.
The present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages of prior art light delivery systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A direction indicator includes a direction indicator main unit, a grommet for elastically supporting the direction indicator main unit to a front cowl on a vehicle body side, a retainer for removably fixing the front cowl on the vehicle body side and the direction indicator main unit via the grommet, and a shouldered bolt for fastening the retainer and the direction indicator main unit. A fastening portion of the direction indicator main unit to which the retainer is fastened with the shouldered bolt has a groove that serves as a weakened or fragile portion that is deformed or damaged when the direction indicator engages the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direction indicator and a saddle riding type vehicle including a direction indicator.
2. Description of Related Art
Some saddle riding type vehicles, such as motorcycles, have direction indicators on sides of their vehicle bodies. The direction indicators may be mounted on a rear fender at a rear portion of the vehicle body using bolts and nuts, such as taught by Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho 58-164883, and/or on a front fender at a front portion of the vehicle body, such as taught by Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 05-97081 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2010-83358.
However, if a direction indicator collides with a road surface as the vehicle tips over, various forms of collision are possible. For example, if the direction indicator is fixed to a front cowl of the vehicle body, the area around a portion to which the front cowl is fixed may be damaged. In this case, not only the direction indicator, but also the front cowl needs repair. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a direction indicator structure that may limit damage to the vehicle body in the event of a collision with a road surface.

Direction indicator and saddle riding type vehicle including same


A foldable transducer array is unfolded or deployed for use, providing a larger radiating surface. While folded, the transducer array has a smaller width or volume for insertion into and withdrawal from the patient.

The present embodiments relate to ultrasound transducer arrays. In particular, ultrasound transducer arrays for improved imaging are provided. The imaging resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, depth-of-field and output power for ultrasound are a function of the size of the transducer array. Larger arrays may be able to provide improved imaging or therapy.
The space available for an ultrasound transducer array may be limited. For example, some ultrasound transducer probes are adapted for scanning from within a patient. Endocavity, transesophageal, intravascular, cardiac or other probes are sized for ease of use and patient comfort. For example, a catheter with an ultrasound transducer array is about 10 French or less in diameter. The transducer array for imaging is positioned within this small catheter.
The imaging array is used to image within the patient, such as imaging a therapeutic tool relative to tissue of interest. The distance between the imaging array of a cardiac catheter and an RF catheter for treatment of Atrial Fibrillation may be as much as 6-12 cm. Given the size of the imaging array, the RF catheter may be beyond the useful imaging focal zone.


A reduced length, pressure compensating liquid flow regulator includes a poppet defining a longitudinally extending hollow cylinder having a front sense orifice and a rear orifice. A retainer maintains a biasing spring disposed at least partially within the cylinder, the retainer including a front sidewall defining a central aperture and a rear sidewall surface defining rear side slots, the retainer front sidewall forming an annular space between the cylinder rear orifice and the retainer front sidewalls. A seat has a closed front face spaced from and facing the cylinder, side passages rearwardly of the seat front face, and a downstream passage. The biasing spring biases the cylinder rear orifice longitudinally away from the seat. A hollow housing slidably receives the cylinder and fixedly receives the retainer means and the seat, the housing directing liquid flow from the retainer side slots into the seat side passages. The magnitude of the spacing between the seat front face and the cylinder rear orifice is self-adjusting as an inverse function of the magnitude of the flow rate, thereby to provide a substantially constant flow rate through the regulator by compensating for variations in the pressure differential across the sense orifice.

The present invention relates to a pressure compensating liquid flow regulator, and more particularly to such a regulator which is of reduced length.
The prior art teaches a liquid flow regulator which controls hydraulic flow to a predetermined level, regardless of the differential pressure across the regulator. For example, such a flow regulator is available under the tradename 500 Flosert from the Lee Company of Westbrook, Conn. The product maintains hydraulic flow at a predetermined level, regardless of the differential pressure across the regulator, by maintaining a constant pressure drop across a fixed or sensing orifice. The spring or biasing means of the flow regulator is disposed outside of the metering poppet, thus limiting the utility of the regulator in situations affording only a limited axial length for the regulator. For example, a slot for a flow regulator may have an installation bore length of less than 1 inch, while an installation bore length in excess of 2 inches is required for the prior art regulator. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a flow regulator having an installation bore length of less than 1 inch (about half of the installation bore length of the prior art regulator), and preferably no more than 0.9 inch.
The prior art flow regulator did not prove to be entirely satisfactory in use because it could not regulate the liquid flow to a sufficiently tight range to be useful for particularly demanding customer applications. Thus whereas the prior art device regulated flow to about .+-.10%, critical applications require regulation of the flow to about .+-.3% (less than a third of the variation of the prior art regulator), and preferably no more than .+-.0.7%.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a educed length, pressure compensating liquid flow regulator.
Another object is to provide such a regulator having an installation bore length of less than 1 inch, and preferably no more than 0.9 inch.
A further object is to provide such a regulator which can regulate flow to about .+-.3%, and preferably no more than .+-.0.7%.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a flow regulator which is simple and economical to manufacture, maintain and use.

Reduced length pressure compensating liquid flow regulator


A wireless powering and charging system is described. Such a system comprises a radio frequency transmitter (typically a home-appliance sized unit on a desk or a shelf) and a receiver (typically a small mobile unit carried by the user). When the user is in range of the transmitter, charging or powering can take place in the mobile unit.

Our previous applications and provisional applications, including, but not limited to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/018,069, filed Jan. 22, 2008, entitled "Wireless Apparatus and Methods", the disclosure of which is herewith incorporated by reference, describes wireless transfer of power.
The transmit and receiving antennas are preferably resonant antennas, which are substantially resonant, e.g., within 10% of resonance, 15% of resonance, or 20% of resonance. The antenna is preferably of a small size to allow it to fit into a mobile, handheld device where the available space for the antenna may be limited. An embodiment describes a high efficiency antenna for the specific characteristics and environment for the power being transmitted and received.
One embodiment may be usable in a configuration that transfers power between two antennas by storing energy in the near field of the transmitting antenna, rather than sending the energy into free space in the form of a travelling electromagnetic wave.
Embodiments operates with high quality factor (Q) antennas. This can reduce radiation resistance (Rr) and loss resistance (Rl).
In one embodiment, two high-Q antennas are placed such that they react similarly to a loosely coupled transformer, with one antenna inducing power into the other. The antennas preferably have Qs that are greater than 1000.

Wireless power system and proximity effects


To provide a lightweight choke valve that has a reduced number of components and is easy to assemble, despite being provided with a relief valve. A carburetor choke valve provided in an intake passageway of a carburetor includes a plate shaped choke valve body having a relief opening. A base end side of a plate shaped relief valve for opening and closing the relief opening is jointly fastened to a rotatably supported choke shaft crossing the intake passage of the carburetor.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a choke valve provided with a carburetor, and particularly to a choke valve provided with a relief valve in the choke valve body of the carburetor.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional example of such a choke valve provided with a relief valve is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Sho. 58-165555, and is shown in FIG. 14 of the present invention.
A throttle valve 04 is arranged at a downstream side of a venturi section 03 in an intake passageway 02 of the carburetor body 01. A choke valve 05 is arranged at the upstream side of the venturi section 03.
The choke valve 05 is attached with screws to a choke shaft 06 that is rotatably constructed in the intake passageway 02.
A relief window 05a is formed through the choke valve 05. This relief window 05a opens and closes the relief valve 08.
The relief valve 08 is formed as an elastic plate, and a base end part is attached to the choke valve 05 using screws 09 etc. The relief window 05a is closed when the relief valve is not subject to any external force.
In the relief valve 08 provided in the above described choke valve 05, a base end part is attached to the choke valve 05 using screws 09 etc. which avoid the choke shaft 06. Therefore, the screws 07 for attaching the choke valve 05 to the choke shaft 06 are necessary, as well as a separate attachment member such as screws 09 for attaching the relief valve 08 to the choke valve 05. Therefore, there are a large number of manufacturing steps and the number of components is increased. Accordingly, the manufacturing cost is increased.
In addition, because of the large number of components, the overall weight of the choke valve 04 having a relief valve attached thereto is heavy.
If the choke valve 04 is heavy, it can not operate smoothly. As a result, the choke valve 04 crashes into a seat surface when it is completely closed, leading to abrasion of the seat surface.
Furthermore, because the base end side of the relief valve 08 is attached to the choke valve 05 using screws 09 etc. such that the choke shaft 06 is avoided, the relief window 05a can not be located close to the choke shaft 06 which is the rotational axis of the choke valve 05. Therefore, the relief passageway can not be kept wide.


A universal controller is provided with a variable annunciation and display of information with a variety of pre-selected output graphics and indicia, programmability to control a variety of processes and machines in a variety of applications with a variety of pre-selected input graphics and indicia, manufacturability as a standard unit in large numbers, variable programming for its different applications, and containability in a small, easily operated unit.

Standard pre-programmed controllers are available in the marketplace but such standard pre-programmed controllers are costly and have limited applicability and fixed displays corresponding to their application. Programmable controllers are also available but such controllers are also costly, include standard keypads for programming and entry of information, and frequently require programming to display output information.
Notwithstanding the existing available controllers, there is a need for a programmable universal controller that may be manufactured as a standard unit, programmed to be applicable in a universe of applications with a variety of related graphic input and output indicia selectable by the user and sellable at low cost in quantities of a few hundred to a few thousand units.

Versatile programmable electronic controller


When an H signal of H/L binary signals is input into a control signal input terminal, a PWM signal is output from a multivibrator. When this PWM signal is input into a power supply circuit via a voltage converter circuit, such a control is repeated that a rated current flows through an LED at an ON time of the PWM signal and a supply of current to the LED is stopped at an OFF time of the PWM signal. An average current flowing through the LED is lowered and thus an emission of light is weakened, nevertheless an emitted light of the LED can be kept white because the rated current is supplied to the LED while the LED emits the light.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a lighting control circuit for vehicle lighting equipment and, more particularly, a lighting control circuit for vehicle lighting equipment constructed to control the lightening of a semiconductor light source that is formed of a semiconductor light emitting device.
2. Related Art
In the prior art, as the vehicle lighting equipment, the equipment using a semiconductor light emitting device such as LED (Light Emitting Diode), or the like as a light source is known. Also, the vehicle lighting equipment of this type is equipped with a lighting control circuit that controls the lighting of the LED.
As the lighting control circuit for the vehicle lighting equipment, for example, as shown in FIG.8, such a circuit is known that a converter circuit 1 is connected to a light emitting unit 3 consisting of light emitting diodes LEDs 11 to 1n, and a DC power is supplied from the converter circuit 1 to the light emitting unit 3, while controlling an output voltage of the converter circuit 1 such that a terminal voltage of a constant-current circuit 2 is maintained constant (see JP-A-2001-215913 (page 4 to page 5, FIG. 1)). According to this lighting control circuit for the vehicle lighting equipment, a ripple component can be removed from the output voltage of the converter circuit 1 by utilizing a current stabilizing action of the constant-current circuit 2.
In northern Europe, North America, and others, particularly in the district where an amount of solar radiation is small even in the daytime of winter, the driver is bound to turn on the headlamp of his or her car in the daytime, i.e., DRL (Daytime Running Light). Therefore, in the vehicle such as the car, or the like sold in these countries, the lamp control system that is used to turn on the headlamp in a dimmed lighting mode even in the daytime is employed (see JP-A-10-86746 (page 2 to page 5, FIG. 1)).
In turning on the vehicle headlamp as the DRL, the LEDs can be turned on in a dimmed lighting mode by supplying the power or the current, which is smaller than the power or the current in a full lighting mode, to the LEDs of the high-beam headlamp. For example, in the case where the constant-current circuit is utilized, if a current value is set to the current that is smaller than the current in a full lighting mode and then the set constant current is supplied to the LEDs, the LEDs can be turned on in a dimmed lighting mode.
Also, if a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal, for example, is input directly to the LEDs and then supply/cutting-off of the power to the LEDs are repeated in accordance with the PWM signal, the LEDs can be turned on in a dimmed lighting mode. Also, if the PWM signal is input into a switching element of a switching regulator, which drives the LEDs by the constant current, and then the switching regulator is driven in accordance with the PWM signal, the LEDs can be turned on in a dimmed lighting mode. The PWM signal is defined as such a signal that has a frequency in a range of several hundreds Hz to several tens kHz, for example, and turns on/off the power (voltage/current) request at a particular duty ratio.
For example, in the case where the switching regulator is driven by the PWM signal that is input into the switching element and has a duty ratio of 50%, such switching regulator is caused to misunderstand that, when the duty ratio of the PWM signal is set to 50%, half of the particular constant current value that the switching regulator now controls has already been supplied. Then, the switching regulator supplies only half of the current required in a full lighting mode to the LEDs, and thus the brightness of the LEDs gives a quantity of light corresponding to such current. As the method of causing the switching regulator to misunderstand, the PWM signal is converted into a DC voltage and then this DC voltage value is reflected on feed-back control of the switching regulator. There are various methods such as the method of reflecting this DC voltage value on a current sensed value, for example. In this manner, the headlamp can be turned on in a dimmed lighting mode at any brightness by adjusting the duty ratio of the PWM signal to any value.

Lighting control circuit for vehicle lighting equipment


A bent waveguide for an optical integrated circuit includes a core region, cladding regions disposed at both sides of the core regoin forming a waveguide including a bent portion comprising the core region and the cladding region, a local waveguide region in the cladding region at the inner side of the bent portion. The local waveguide region has a larger refractive index than that of the core region or than that of the cladding region.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a prior art bent waveguide for an optical integrated circuit.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 designates a core region, and reference numeral 2 designate cladding regions provided at the both sides of the core region 1.
In this prior art bent waveguide, light which is incident from the left side in the drawing and advances toward the right side is radiated or scattered at the neighbourhood of the bent portion B.
FIG. 5 shows the transition of electric field distributions at each 10 micron interval in a case where a light having waveguide mode of TE.sub.0 is incident on the bent waveguide. In this case, refractive index n.sub.1 of core region 1 is 1-5, refractive index n.sub.2 of cladding region 2 is 1.49, and the wavelength is 1 micron. The electric field distributions after the light wave propagates through the bent portion B are gradually tapered toward outside, which means that the light wave is radiated. The coupling coefficient between the electric field distribution and TE.sub.0 waveguide mode after the light wave propagates through the bent portion B is about 37% due to the high rate of light wave radiation in the neighbourhood of the bent portion B.
In this prior art bent waveguide for an optical integrated circuit, light is radiated at a high rate in the neighbourhood of the bent portion B, thereby resulting in difficulty in realizing an optical integrated circuit.

Bent waveguide for an optical integrated circuit


A power conversion circuit includes a variable voltage converter (VVC) with a stabilizing means for stabilizing its output voltage. The stabilizing means can be in the form of a diode that clamps the VVC output voltage to the VVC input voltage so that the output voltage does not drop below the input voltage when a load imposes a sudden power demand. The stabilizing means also enables a bypass mode in which transient power can be provided from a power source to an inverter without current flow through the VVC inductor or switches. When embodied as a diode, the stabilizing means can increase the maximum power that can be transferred by the power conversion circuit, improve the power response of the circuit, minimize control instability, and reduce power losses.

Electric and hybrid electric vehicles employ an electric motor drive system that has lower energy costs and emits fewer pollutants than a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) drive system. Various configurations of hybrid electric vehicles have been developed. In a first configuration, an operator can choose between electric operation and ICE operation. In a series hybrid electric vehicle (SHEV) configuration, an engine is connected to an electric motor referred to as a generator. The generator provides electricity to a battery and another motor referred to as a traction motor. In the SHEV, the traction motor is the sole source of wheel torque. There is no mechanical connection between the engine and the drive wheels. In a further configuration, a parallel hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), an engine and an electric motor cooperate to provide the wheel torque to drive the vehicle. In addition, in a PHEV configuration, the motor can be used as a generator to charge the battery from the power produced by the ICE. A further configuration, a parallel/series hybrid electric vehicle (PSHEV), has characteristics of both the SHEV and the PHEV.
Electric propulsion in an HEV can be performed by an electric drive system that can include a number of components, typically at least including a power conversion circuit and a motor. In this arrangement, the power conversion circuit can controllably transfer power from a power source to the motor to drive a load. A typical power conversion circuit can comprise a power source, such as a high voltage battery, and an inverter system controller (ISC) circuit, which can include a variable voltage converter (VVC) and an inverter circuit. In a typical configuration, a power source is located on what is referred to as an input side of the VVC and the inverter circuit is arranged on what is referred to as an output side of the VVC. A VVC can boost a direct current voltage provided by the battery to a higher voltage to drive the motor and improve vehicle performance. When used to boost a voltage from an input side to an output side, the converter is referred to as a boost converter.
A VVC can also be used to step down or lower a voltage from one side to another. For example, the higher voltage on a motor/generator side of a VVC can be stepped down to a lower voltage in order to charge a battery on an opposing side of the VVC. In the field of hybrid vehicles, it is common practice to charge a battery through regenerative braking, in which the mechanical energy of the wheels is converted to electrical energy by a generator, or by a motor operating as a generator, and provided to the battery via the VVC. When used to step down or reduce a voltage, the converter is referred to as a buck converter. A VVC can also operate in a pass-through mode in which transient current flows from the battery side to the inverter side, with no boost in voltage.
Generally it is preferable that the output voltage VO on the inverter or motor/generator side of the VVC should remain higher than the input voltage VI on the battery side of the VVC in a power conversion circuit for a hybrid vehicle. When the output voltage VO drops below VI, control over the VVC can be lost, causing the system to become unstable. Such a voltage drop can occur in a hybrid electric vehicle when a motor makes a sudden power demand, or during active motor damping (AMD) braking operations. Prior art methods of answering the intrinsic instability problem of some VVC operations included methods that focused on avoiding the conditions that could trigger VVC instability. For example, some solutions required that circuits be designed with finely tuned control parameters. However, because there can be disparity in circuit component characteristics, for example, capacitances can vary by as much as 20%, the control parameters had to be customized for individual circuits. Circuit customization can be time-consuming and expensive, prohibitively so for systems manufactured at mass-production facilities.
At the power supply side of a VVC, is typically an inductor configured to store energy to be transferred across the VVC. In general, in prior art circuits current flows through the VVC inductor and the VVC switches regardless of whether the VVC is operating in a buck, boost or pass-through mode. This multiple-mode current flow requirement controlled the inductor specifications, the heat dissipation design, the rate at which energy could be transferred, the power losses of a VVC, and the maximum amount of power that could be delivered by a VVC. In addition, the power flow limitation often worsened as the voltage of the high voltage battery decreased.

Variable voltage converter with stabilized output voltage


The present invention relates to substituted benzo[f]imidazo[1,2-d]pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepine compounds and methods of synthesizing these compounds. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions containing substituted benzo[f]imidazo[1,2-d]pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]diazepine compounds and methods of treating cell proliferative disorders, such as cancer, by administering these compounds and pharmaceutical compositions to subjects in need thereof.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, exceeded only by heart disease. (Cancer Facts and Figures. 2004, American Cancer Society, Inc.). Despite recent advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment, surgery and radiotherapy may be curative if a cancer is found early, but current drug therapies for metastatic disease are mostly palliative and seldom offer a long-term cure. Even with new chemotherapies entering the market, the need continues for new drugs effective in monotherapy or in combination with existing agents as first line therapy, and as second and third line therapies in treatment of resistant tumors.
Cancer cells are by definition heterogeneous. For example, within a single tissue or cell type, multiple mutational "mechanisms" may lead to the development of cancer. As such, heterogeneity frequently exists between cancer cells taken from tumors of the same tissue and same type that have originated in different individuals. Frequently observed mutational "mechanisms" associated with some cancers may differ between one tissue type and another (e.g., frequently observed mutational "mechanisms" leading to colon cancer may differ from frequently observed "mechanisms" leading to leukemias). It is therefore often difficult to predict whether a particular cancer will respond to a particular chemotherapeutic agent (Cancer Medicine, 5th edition, Bast et al., B. C. Decker Inc., Hamilton, Ontario).
Components of cellular signal transduction pathways that regulate the growth and differentiation of normal cells can, when dysregulated, lead to the development of cellular proliferative disorders and cancer. Mutations in cellular signaling proteins may cause such proteins to become expressed or activated at inappropriate levels or at inappropriate times during the cell cycle, which in turn may lead to uncontrolled cellular growth or changes in cell-cell attachment properties. For example, dysregulation of receptor tyrosine kinases by mutation, gene rearrangement, gene amplification, and overexpression of both receptor and ligand has been implicated in the development and progression of human cancers.
AKT protein family, which members are also called protein kinases B (PKB) plays an important role in mammalian cellular signaling. In humans, there are three genes in the AKT family: Akt1, Akt2, and Akt3. These genes code for enzymes that are members of the serine/threonine-specific protein kinase family. Akt1 is involved in cellular survival pathways, by inhibiting apoptotic processes. Akt1 is also able to induce protein synthesis pathways, and is therefore a key signaling protein in the cellular pathways that lead to skeletal muscle hypertrophy, and general tissue growth. Akt2 is an important signaling molecule in the Insulin signaling pathway and is required to induce glucose transport. The role of Akt3 is less clear, though it appears to be predominantly expressed in brain.
The AKT family regulates cellular survival and metabolism by binding and regulating many downstream effectors, e.g. Nuclear Factor-κB, Bcl-2 family proteins and murine double minute 2 (MDM2). Akt1 is known to play a role in the cell cycle. Moreover, activated Akt1 may enable proliferation and survival of cells that have sustained a potentially mutagenic impact and, therefore, may contribute to acquisition of mutations in other genes. Akt1 has also been implicated in angiogenesis and tumor development. Studies have shown that deficiency of Akt1 enhanced pathological angiogenesis and tumor growth associated with matrix abnormalities in skin and blood vessels. Since it can block apoptosis, and thereby promote cell survival, Akt1 is a major factor in many types of cancer
Accordingly, new compounds and methods for modulating AKT genes and treating proliferation disorders, including cancer, are needed. The present invention addresses these needs.


A hygienic kit including a spray bottle for dispensing a medicament, balm, or similar liquid, including refillable containers of such liquids, and a supply of absorbent material, such as cotton swabs. The spray bottle has a screw-on cap including a hand pump for building up air pressure bearing on the liquid; a rigid, preformed discharge tube having a nozzle; a manual valve for dispensing the pressurized liquid at will; and a pickup tube extending to the bottom of the bottle. The discharge tube is configured to cooperate with a toilet bowl wall, so that the spray bottle is usable as a portable bidet. The discharge tube has a sliding sleeve selectively covering and uncovering liquid spray holes, so that the spray pattern or location is varied. In an alternative embodiment, the discharge tube includes a flexible section, enabling the nozzle to be advantageously oriented by the user, as for douching. It is compact, lightweight, and practical for travel, being usable in the absence of an external plumbing system or electrical power, and thus would be highly practical for camping in wilderness areas, or in other situations wherein plumbing or electrical amenities are lacking.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spray bottle, and more particularly to a spray bottle which is pressurized by hand and which dispenses a spray upon demand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need for a portable hygienic device for rectal or vaginal douching, or other cleaning by spray, arises from time to time. Most known bideta are self-contained units, large and heavy, and not portable. In order to meet the need, and to take advantage of preexisting toilets or water closets, bidet accessories have been developed for attachment to preexisting toilets or plumbing systems, and possibly require connection to electrical power.
Devices, both of the bidet type and for other purposes, appear in the prior art for holding liquid and dispensing the same under pressure. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,921, issued to Harry M. Umann et al. on Sep. 7, 1971, which discloses a portable bidet having a reservoir for douching liquid and a hand pump for dispensing liquid. The pump expels that amount of liquid contained therein. Another example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,210, issued to Paul G. Alchas on Aug. 28, 1990, disclosing apparatus for dispensing parenteral fluid, including a manually pressurized reservoir.
Some prior art liquid dispensers provide increased convenience, albeit at the cost of dependence upon plumbing and electrical systems. Included in this group are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,808,608, issued to David Caplan on May 7, 1974, disclosing a portable bidet which has a powered water pump, and which sits on an adjacent environmental surface, only the liquid discharge nozzle attaching to the toilet, and 3,914,804, issued to Clarence O. Schrader et al. on Oct. 28, 1975, disclosing a bidet accessory mountable on a toilet bowl, which invention features electrically powered water pressurization and heating. Different functions, such as for douching or for an enema, can be accommodated by changing water discharge tubes which support a nozzle.
Still another example is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,754, issued to Jacob Bader et al. on Apr. 7, 1981, disclosing a bidet accessory having a liquid reservoir upon which a spring biased piston bears, thus pressurizing the liquid. The reservoir is filled by attachment to a plumbing system which has sufficient pressure to fill the reservoir while pushing the piston back against the force of the spring. A manually operated valve releases liquid for spraying.
In U.K. Pat. No. 1,535,794, dated December, 1978, a sanitary washing device is presented which must be connected to hot and cold household plumbing.
To maximize the practicality of the stand-alone, self-contained type of dispenser, it is preferred not to rely on connection to a plumbing supply or to electrical power, even if the latter is in portable form, as provided by storage cells. A dispensing apparatus having these advantages is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,540, issued to Harold B. Lovitt on Mar. 24, 1992. This invention, a self-contained, hand held bidet, is pressurized in one embodiment by a hand pump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,593, issued to Milton L. Green on Oct. 20, 1992, discloses an esophagus probe. The apparatus presented therein includes a liquid holding receptacle, a hand pump, and a wand having a discharge nozzle connected to the pump.
German Pat. Document No. 90,653, dated Jul. 5, 1895, discloses a spray apparatus for disinfectant dispensing, the apparatus including a liquid container which is partially filled with liquid, a remaining portion of the container being pressurized by compressed air delivered by a hand pump. A dispensing conduit includes a manual valve releasing pressurized liquid.
Another liquid dispenser is shown in German Pat. Document No. 311,726, dated April, 1919. Pump action bears directly on the liquid. This invention has ability to retrieve dispensed liquid, which is not of relevance to the present invention.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.