A conversion kit for allowing an M16 rifle to fire .22 caliber ball and bk ammunition in semi-automatic and automatic firing modes, comprises a bolt replacement which replaces the standard bolt in the rifle. The bolt replacement moves in the rifle receiver and is engageable with a sear trip bar of the conversion kit. The sear trip bar interacts with an automatic sear of the M16 rifle to permit automatic fire. A spring loaded detent is provided in the conversion for engaging a detent slot in the replacement bolt, to hold the bolt face against a chamber insert, to avoid bouncing of the bolt for automatic and burst firing modes. For the firing of blank cartridges, a shaft is provided in a chamber insert for reducing the diameter of the chamber insert to preclude the feeding of ball cartridges. An orifice in the shaft allows for escaping gases to leave the blank cartridge, but produces back pressure so that the replacement bolt can be cycled for blow back operation.

The present invention relates in general to firearms and, in particular to a new and useful adaptor kit for allowing M16 rifles to fire inexpensive .22 caliber rimfire ball and blank ammunition, and to utilize the select fire modes for the M16A1 and M16A2 rifles.
Various military corps use a currently available rimfire conversion kit in 5.56 mm, M16 rifles. This allows the use of inexpensive commercial 0.22 caliber (5.56 mm) rimfire ball ammunition, for reduced range training applications and at substantial costs and savings.
Currently available rimfire conversion kits only allow for semi-automatic firing and cannot accommodate the automatic mode for the M16A1 rifle or the three-round burst mode available in the M16A2 rifle. In operation, the available rimfire conversion kit and rimfire conversion kit magazine temporarily replaces the bolt of the M16 rifle and 30 round 5.56 mm cartridge magazine. The conversion kit operates on the blow back system principle of weapon cycling and is independent of the rifles gas operated cycling system.

Rimfire blank adaptor kit for M16 rifles

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A novel weakly acidic bath additive composition comprises carbon dioxide gas or a substance capable of producing carbon dioxide gas and an oily ingredient.. The composition promotes the blood circulation due to the effect of carbon dioxide gas present in the bath water. Further, because of an oily ingredient, the skin is supplied by an oil and provided moistened feel after bathing.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bath additive composition and, more particularly, to a bath additive composition capable of preventing chilling and providing favorable feeling of skins after taking a bath.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A bath additive composition generally comprises a mixture of inorganic salts such as salt cake, borax, sulfur and carbonate incorporated with perfumes, colorants, extracts of herbs and organic acids, which provides bath water with fragrances or colors and stimulates skin surfaces moderately, thereby activating the blood circulation to promote the recovery from fatigue and metabolism. Among bath additive compositions, there have been known bubbling bath additive compositions comprising a carbonate and an acid in combination, which evolve bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. The bubbles enhance relaxing and refreshing feelings, and render a bath enjoyable.
However, since the conventional bubbling bath additive compositions are neutral or weakly alkaline and most of carbon dioxide gas evolved do not dissolve in water but evaporate into air, the gas bubbles of carbon dioxide simply provide a sense of mechanical actions.
The present inventors have previously reported a weakly acidic bath additive composition containing a carbonate and an acid, which makes bath water to be weakly acidic, thereby holding gaseous carbon dioxide in the bath water, promoting blood circulation and not causing chilling after taking bath.
However, there has been demanded such a bath additive composition that further provides favorable feelings of skins after taking a bath in addition to the above described bathing effect.


A method for improving fault detection and exclusion of a GPS receiver is provided. The method determines pseudorange measurement residuals of tracked signals, divides the signals into two groups based on whether each signal has a higher or lower probability of being a failure, and estimates a residual bias using only the lower probability group of signals. The method further removes the residual bias from all calculated residuals, and compares each range residual to one of three different thresholds. A tighter threshold is applied to positive residuals of the group of signals with higher failure probability than to the group of signals with lower failure probability. A further tighter threshold is applied to negative residuals of the group of signals having higher failure probability. The method then determines PVT values of the GPS receiver utilizing range measurements of signals whose measurement residual magnitudes are less than their corresponding threshold values.

GPS is a satellite-based radio navigation system. The GPS system is divided into three segments: space, control, and user. The space segment comprises currently a constellation of 24 GPS satellites. The control segment comprises ground stations around the world that are responsible for monitoring the GPS satellite orbits, synchronizing the satellites' onboard atomic clocks, and uploading data for transmission or broadcast by the satellites. The user segment consists of GPS receivers used for both military and civilian applications.
Each GPS satellite, also called space vehicle (SV), broadcasts time-tagged ranging signals and navigation data. A SV essentially provides its signal transmit time and ephemeris to GPS receivers. A GPS receiver extracts the signal transmit time from its code tracking loop and compares it with the signal reception time determined by the receiver clock. Satellite clocks are synchronized with the GPS time, while the receiver clock, which does need to have good short term stability, is not. A difference between the receiver clock time and GPS time is called a receiver clock bias.
A time difference, between the signal transmit time and the signal reception time, is an apparent transit time of the signal from the satellite to the receiver. A pseudorange is the measured apparent transit time multiplied by the speed of light in a vacuum, which needs to account for the receiver clock bias, ionospheric delay, and other measurement corrections. If corrected pseudorange measurements from at least four satellites in view are available at a single measurement epoch (period or time interval, typically every one second), a receiver three-dimensional position and clock bias can be determined. Typically, the GPS receiver is configured to compute a delta position with respect to a previously obtained position and then update the position solution for the current epoch.
In addition to the ionospheric delay, the GPS ranging signals transmitted from a satellite to a receiver are subject to a variety of other noise and error sources, either intentionally or unintentionally, such as ephemeris data error, multipath, and jamming. Reflection is one type of multipath, where a GPS receiver only tracks a reflected signal while its direct signal is blocked, for example, by a building. Signal ranging errors are eventually turned into a GPS positioning error. In some urban canyon environments, multipath and reflections can compound to become a severe problem to GPS navigational systems.
In order to achieve a certain high level of position accuracy and integrity, GPS receivers usually implement a failure detection and exclusion (FDE) system to detect range measurement failures as quickly as possible within a relatively small probability of false detection. If a failed measurement is detected, it will not be used in the computation of the GPS position, velocity and time (PVT) determination at the current epoch.
The pseudorange measurement residual test is widely used in FDE systems or units of GPS receivers to detect pseudorange measurement failures. A pseudorange measurement residual is a difference between a corrected pseudorange measurement and a predicted range from the satellite to the receiver. The residual test computes the residuals and then compares them with a predetermined residual threshold. If the magnitude of a residual is larger than the threshold value, then the corresponding pseudorange measurement is detected as a failure; otherwise, the measurement passes the test. Only those that pass the residual test is used in the PVT determination. The tighter the threshold, the more effective the test is in detecting failures; however, a too tight threshold can result in an unfavorable increase in false detection probability. Therefore, the threshold should be properly valued. There are basically two types of pseudorange residual tests, i.e., pre-update and post-update pseudorange residual tests.
The post-update pseudorange residual test first updates the receiver position using all measurements, and then calculates the residuals based on the updated receiver position. If the measurements do contain some failures that are to be detected, then both the updated position and the calculated residuals are erroneous due to utilizing the failed measurements. Meanwhile, if there are four or fewer pseudorange measurements available, the system of equations, which is typically solved by a least-squares method to determine the three-dimensional receiver position and time, is not over-determined. Thus, the residuals based on the newly updated position are zeros theoretically. Therefore, this test is incapable to detect measurement failures when there are fewer than five satellites in view, which is generally the case in severe urban canyon environments.
The pre-update pseudorange residual test calculates residuals based on a previously obtained receiver position, detects and excludes failures, and then updates the position by utilizing good measurements only. Therefore, unlike in the post-update residual test, this updated position should not be jeopardized by failed measurements. The test is very useful if the pre-update receiver position is quite close to the current true position, and can still be functional even in cases when only four or fewer satellites are in view. Since possible receiver movement and clock frequency drift during one epoch can introduce a bias to the calculated residuals, typically GPS receivers employ some approaches to remove this residual bias. These approaches, however, utilize all available measurements, including potentially erroneous measurements, which reduce the effectiveness of the residual test.
Accordingly, there is a need for addressing the problems noted above and others previously experienced.
Illustrative and exemplary embodiments of the invention are described in further detail below with reference to and in conjunction with the figures.

Method and apparatus for improving fault detection and exclusion systems


Methods and systems for evaluation of wafers are disclosed. One example method includes illuminating a multi-crystalline wafer according to a plurality of lighting parameters, capturing a plurality of images of the multi-crystalline wafer, stacking and projecting the plurality of images to generate a composite image, analyzing the composite image to identify one or more grains of the multi-crystalline wafer, and generating a report based on the analysis of the composite image. The multi-crystalline wafer is illuminated according to a different one of the plurality of lighting parameters in at least two of the plurality of images.

Multi-crystalline silicon is commonly produced in the form of ingots that are then cut into wafers for, among other things, use in the production of photovoltaic (PV) cell and PV module production. The quality of multi-crystalline silicon, e.g., how well it will perform, is influenced by numerous factors during the production of the multi-crystalline silicon. Various parameters of multi-crystalline silicon may be evaluated as part of the evaluation of the quality of multi-crystalline silicon. One parameter that is sometimes examined is the size and distribution of grain in a wafer of multi-crystalline silicon.
Grain size evaluation is commonly performed by visual inspection. Samples of a multi-crystalline silicon wafer are visually inspected and the number of grains intercepting a line drawn on the wafer are manually counted. Such manual inspection is a time consuming and cumbersome procedure susceptible to human error. At least one known method of inspecting multi-crystalline silicon wafers involves scanning a wafer from various heights, converting the scanned images to black and white images, and having a computer count the number of grains in each image. The cumulative percentage share of occupation of the wafer's surface by different grain sizes and/or average grain size is then calculated. Such known methods and systems are unsatisfactory due to susceptibility to human error, mechanical complications, and other issues. Accordingly, a better method and system is needed.
This Background section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Methods and systems for grain size evaluation of multi-cystalline solar wafers


A new and distinct cultivar of Prunus plant named ‘STO1,’ characterized by its upright plant habit and slow growth; good adaptation at hot and dry conditions; and as a rootstock the slow vegetative growth imparts uniformity, higher yield and better fertility to the grafted variety as compared to a standard rootstock such as Gisela 5, F12/1 and Mazzard.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Prunus plant, typically used as a cherry tree rootstock, botanically known as Prunus×gondouinii (Poit. & Turpin) Rehder (P. avium (L.) L.×P. cerasus L.), and hereinafter referred to by the name 'STO1.'
The new and distinct cultivar of cherry rootstock of the present invention was bred as a cross of Prunus cerasus with a wild Prunus sp. in Germany in 1989. It has been successfully asexually propagated by tissue culture since the first time in 2002. The purpose of the breeding program was to find better adapted cherry rootstocks. The new Prunus plant is better adapted on heat and aridity than other rootstocks with a slow vegetative growth. The breeder succeeded in creating a new cherry rootstock, which has a higher yield and influences the grafted variety positively in fertility.


Medical devices including a vial adapter with an inline dry drug module for use with a vial, a needleless syringe and a carrier liquid for filling the needleless syringe with an injection solution for injection to a patient. The inline dry drug modules include a dry drug storage component for storing a dry drug dosage and a uniform carrier liquid distribution component for promoting uniform contact of the dry drug storage component by the carrier liquid to form an injection solution from the dry drug dosage. The inline dry drug modules can include a discrete dry drug storage component and a discrete uniform carrier liquid distribution component or a dual purpose component for both drug storage and uniform carrier liquid distribution. The vial adapters can be provided in vented or non-vented versions.

Medical treatments often involve parenteral administration of liquid drugs to the human body. The liquid drugs can be in the form of solutions, suspensions, and the like. Some drugs reagents have extended shelf-lives in a dry state and only short shelf-lives after reconstitution or rehydration.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,932 to Taylor discloses an inline drug delivery pack (35) that connects inline with an intravenous (IV) line and allows for the mixing of diluent with a drug reagent to be delivered to a patient. The drug delivery pack includes a housing (37) with a reagent bed (110) consisting of a fluid soluble material suitable to administration to a patient via dissolution and IV drip. The housing includes inlet radial fins (65) which cooperate with back pressure from an inlet frit (80) to promote a uniform distribution of diluent across the entire cross section of the drug delivery pack. An internal drug bed bypass mechanism is tailored to apportion diluent flow between the bypass and the drug bed to achieve a solution concentration suitable for IV administration as the dried reagent is dissolved.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,613 to Reif et al. discloses a genetic vaccination device and a process for forming an injection solution therefor. The device includes a syringe (2) and a cannula (3) coupled to an inline membrane adsorber (5) having genetic material adsorbed thereon. The process includes eluting the genetic material from the membrane adsorber so as to form an injection solution containing the genetic material.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0294100 to de Costa et al. discloses a pharmaceutical device for the administration of substrates to a patient. The de Costa pharmaceutical device is similar to the aforementioned Reif genetic vaccination device insofar it includes an inline porous membrane supporting a glassy material soluble in water and having biological materials such as vaccines stabilized thereon such that when the biological material requires administration, eluent can be passed across the membrane dissolving the glass and causing the substance to be carried by the liquid into a patient.
The Reif genetic vaccination device and the de Costa pharmaceutical device are relatively heavy and cumbersome to handle during injection of an injection solution to a patient. Furthermore, their device housings containing the dry drug dosage to be injected to a patient necessarily impose injections at larger injection angles to a patient's body than is customary.
There is a need for medical devices with an inline dry drug module for facilitating injecting an injection solution to a patient.

Medical devices including vial adapter with inline dry drug module


The present invention provides a mercury removal method which can effectively remove very small amounts of mercury components present in a gas during wet gas purification such as coal or heavy oil gasification gas purification and petroleum refining. A mercury removal method for the removal of mercury present in a gas, the method comprising the steps of bringing a gas containing at least mercury and not less than 10 ppm of hydrogen sulfide into gas-liquid contact with an absorbing fluid under pressurized conditions so as to cause mercury to pass into the absorbing fluid; flashing the mercury-containing absorbing fluid under lower-pressure conditions to separate it into gaseous components and liquid components; and removing the mercury contained in the separated gaseous components by adsorption to an adsorbent.

This invention relates to a mercury removal method and system for use in wet gas purification. More particularly, it relates to a mercury removal method which can effectively remove very small amounts of mercury components present in a gas during wet gas purification such as coal or heavy oil gasification gas purification and petroleum refining.
Exhaust gas from coal-fired thermal electric power plants contains mercury originating from coal. This mercury cannot be completely removed in a conventional flue gas treatment system (including an electrostatic precipitator, a wet flue gas desulfurizer and the like), and some of it is discharged therefrom. Since mercury is a trace component and has a very high vapor pressure and, in particular, metallic mercury has the property of being insoluble in water, it is difficult to remove mercury by recovering it with a dust collector or by washing the gas with a scrubber.
A large amount of mercury is discharged from conventional waste disposal by incineration or the like, but the scale of disposal is relatively small and produces a small volume of gas. Accordingly, such mercury has frequently been treated, for example, by adsorption using activated carbon. While treating methods involving adsorption by activated carbon are effective methods for the removal of such mercury, they are not suitable for practical use in the treatment of a large volume of gas because an enormous consumption cost is required.
Consequently, a mercury removal method has been proposed in which an oxidizing agent is sprayed, for example, in a mist eliminator (M/E) installed downstream of a flue gas desulfurizer. Since it is difficult to use activated carbon in thermal electric power plants for the above-described reason, this method provides a more convenient means for removing mercury by spraying an oxidizing agent in a mist eliminator.
Moreover, a process has been proposed in which metallic Hg is oxidized to HgCl2 on a catalyst such as a denitration catalyst and this HgCl2 is removed in a flue gas desulfurizer.
Mercury exists chiefly in two forms: metallic mercury (Hg) of zero valence and mercury chloride (HgCl2). While metallic mercury is hardly soluble in water, mercury chloride is relatively soluble in water. Thus, mercury in the form of mercury chloride can be removed by means of a desulfurizer. Accordingly, metallic mercury of zero valence can be removed by oxidizing it to mercury chloride with the aid of an oxidizing agent.
In this process, therefore, a chlorinating agent such as Cl2 or HCl is added and sprayed just before a denitration catalyst within a denitrator, so that metallic mercury is oxidized on the denitration catalyst.
In ordinary exhaust gases, all mercury is not present in the form of metallic mercury. A certain proportion thereof is present in the form of mercury chloride because coal has a high chlorine content, and this mercury component can be removed. Accordingly, a chlorinating agent may be used for the remaining metallic mercury.
However, examination of the mercury contained, for example, in coal or heavy oil gasification gas has revealed that almost all mercury is present as metallic mercury under a reducing atmosphere and little is dissolved in water. Accordingly, if an oxidizing agent is sprayed under an atmosphere of a reducing gas during wet gas purification, the oxidizing agent will be wasted owing to the presence of various reducing substances and cannot be expected to produce any beneficial effect.
Moreover, if a chlorinating agent is continuously sprayed to induce a reaction on the catalyst, a gasification gas having a high ammonia content and a high pressure undergoes the reaction of ammonia with HCl resulting in the precipitation of ammonium chloride (NH4Cl). This ammonium chloride may cause a problem in that it is likely to accumulate in such units as GGHs and block them up.
In view of the above-described problems, the present inventors made intensive investigations in order to develop a mercury removal method which can remove mercury, as a trace component in gases, effectively and efficiently, which can reduce the mercury removal cost resulting from the operation of the system, and which requires a simplified procedure and system and can hence be carried out easily.
As a result, the present inventors have now found that the coexistence of H2S in a gasification gas causes metallic mercury to pass into water and that the so-collected is released into the gaseous phase when the water is exposed to a lower pressure (or flashed). That is, in the case of wet gas purification, the coexistence of hydrogen sulfide in the water washing step permits Hg to pass into the absorbing fluid and be removed thereby, and the Hg captured in the water washing step can be released into the gaseous phase by returning the Hg-containing waste water from the elevated pressure to atmospheric pressure. Thus, it has also been found that the above-described problems can be solved by removing mercury according to a method utilizing such phenomena. The present invention has been completed from this point of view.
Specifically, the present invention provides a mercury removal method for the removal of mercury components present in a gas during wet gas purification, the method comprising a water washing step for bringing a gas containing mercury components into contact with an absorbing fluid under pressurized conditions including the presence of not less than 10 ppm and preferably not less than 100 ppm of hydrogen sulfide so as to cause mercury components to pass from the gas into the absorbing fluid; a flashing step subsequent to the water washing step, for spraying the discharged absorbing fluid under a lower pressure to separate it into gaseous components and waste water; and an adsorption removal step for passing the gaseous components through a mercury remover provided with an adsorbent to remove mercury components therefrom by adsorption. In this mercury removal method, it is preferable to dissolve mercury components in the absorbing fluid, for example, under an elevated pressure of 0.2 to 5.0 MPa and in the coexistence of about 500 ppm to 10% of hydrogen sulfide, and remove the flashed mercury components by adsorption to activated carbon used as the adsorbent. Preferably, the activated carbon has an S component deposited thereon.
The present invention also provides a mercury removal system for the removal of mercury present in a gas during wet gas purification, the system comprising a water washing tower in which a gas containing both mercury components and hydrogen sulfide is introduced thereinto and an absorbing tower is circulated through the tower under pressurized conditions so as to cause mercury components to pass into the absorbing fluid; a flash drum in which the absorbing fluid discharged from the water washing tower is sprayed under a lower pressure to separate it into gaseous components and waste water; and a mercury remover provided with an adsorbent in which the mercury components present in the gaseous components are removed by adsorption. Typically, the aforesaid water washing tower comprises a gas cooling tower and a gas cleaning tower. In this system having a flash drum and a mercury remover installed on the downstream side of the water washing tower, about 50 to 95% of the mercury present in the formed gas introduced into the system can be removed.
The present invention also provides the above-described system that further comprises a hydrogen sulfide absorption tower in which the water-washed gas fed from the aforesaid water washing tower introduced thereinto and an absorbing fluid containing an amine compound is used to remove hydrogen sulfide by absorption into the absorbing fluid; a second flash drum in which the absorbing fluid discharged from the hydrogen sulfide absorption tower is sprayed under a lower pressure to separate it into gaseous components and an absorbing fluid to be fed to a regeneration tower; and a mercury remover provided with an adsorbent in which the mercury components present in the gaseous components delivered from the second flash drum are removed by adsorption. In this system having a flash drum and a mercury remover installed on the downstream side of the hydrogen sulfide absorption tower, about 50 to 95% of the mercury present in the water-washed gas introduced into the hydrogen sulfide absorption tower can be removed.
In the present invention, Hg can be removed by the coexistence of hydrogen sulfide in the water washing tower of the system. That is, if the gas being treated is a system involving the coexistence of hydrogen sulfide, Hg passes into the water present in the water washing tower and can hence be removed from the gas. As a result, Hg is contained in waste water discharged from the water washing tower.
When the collected Hg-containing waste water is returned from the elevated pressure to atmospheric pressure, Hg is released into the gaseous phase. Specifically, Hg is dispersed into the gaseous phase by passing the waste water through a flash drum.
Since hydrogen sulfide is usually present in a gasification gas subjected to gas purification, Hg present in the gas passes into an absorbing fluid within a water washing tower. After this absorbing fluid is passed through a flash drum to recover gaseous components, Hg can be adsorbed and captured by passing the gaseous components through an adsorbent. The present invention comprises a system in which Hg-containing gaseous components separated by flashing is passed through an adsorbent to remove mercury therefrom by means of the adsorbent. Thus, as compared with the case in which the whole gasification gas is directly treated with an adsorbent prior to its introduction into the system, Hg can be removed by treating a much smaller volume of gas, and the operating cost required for treatment with an adsorbent can be markedly reduced.
Thus, the present invention makes it possible to remove mercury, as a trace component in gases, effectively and efficiently and also to reduce the mercury removal cost resulting from the operation of the system.


A fixed-focus lens suitable for projecting an image beam from a light valve onto a screen is provided. The fixed-focus lens comprises a first lens group, a second lens group, and a third lens group arranged in sequence. The third lens group is disposed near the light valve. The first lens group having a negative refractive power comprises at least an aspheric lens. The second lens group having a positive refractive power comprises at least a lens. The third lens group having a positive refractive power comprises at least four lenses.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a lens. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fixed-focus lens.
2. Description of Related Art
With the progress of modern video technology, image projection devices such as digital light processing (DLP) projectors and liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) projectors are widely applied. One of the core elements in the projectors is a projection lens, which is used to project images on screens. Therefore, the quality of images is closely related to the optical quality of the projection lens. In the highly competitive market, manufacturers are all devoted to improving the quality of projection lenses and reducing the manufacturing cost, so as to improve the competitive edge of the image projection devices.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional projection lens 100 comprises a first lens group 110, a second lens group 120, and a third lens group 130 arranged in sequence, wherein the third lens group 130 is near a light valve 50. The first lens group 110 comprises four lenses 112, the second lens group 120 comprises one lens 122, and the third lens group comprises six lenses 132.
As the conventional projection lens 100 uses a relatively large number of lenses, the manufacturing cost is high. In addition, the projection lens 100 has a large length as many lenses are used. Therefore, a rear projection television (RPTV) using the projection lens 100 is normally thick. If the thickness of the RPTV is reduced, the aberration during optical imaging becomes serious and even problems such as ghost images occurs, which cause the degradation of the imaging quality.


The present invention allows an alarm monitoring service to ally with a PSAP provider to allow our customers to direct connect to the 911 center responsible for their home, but no matter where the customer calls from. When an alarm monitoring company or middleware provider's automatic notification function calls the customer to report an alarm, the customer can connect directly to the local 911 even when traveling, if needed. The alarm monitoring company contacts the customer if an alarm event occurs and offers the customer the opportunity to connect with the 911 call center for their home. If the customer indicates they want to call 911, the call is routed to the correct PSAP center, with the customers home Caller ID number emulated for the call. In this manner, the PSAP center can determine, from the emulated Caller ID data, the correct response agency that is local to the customer's home.

PSAP is an acronym for Public Safety Answering Point, an agency in the United States, typically county or city controlled, responsible for answering 911 calls for emergency assistance from police, fire, and ambulance services. There are roughly 6,100 primary and secondary PSAPs in the United States. Each PSAP generally covers a particular geographic area or areas and dispatches police, fire, and ambulance services based on the nature of incoming calls.
Traditionally, with a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) line, a consumer would dial 911 to be connected directly to the PSAP in the event of an emergency. Using Caller ID, the PSAP could determine the location of the caller and dispatch emergency services (Fire, Ambulance, Police, and the like) to the correct location. However, as communications systems diversify and become more complex, difficulties arise when connecting a consumer to the appropriate PSAP. For example, when calling 911 on a cell phone, one might be connected with a 911 service center for another county or jurisdiction, if the cell tower the caller is communicating with is located in another jurisdiction (i.e., across a river, for example).
In addition, for the cellular user, if they are calling about an alarm in their home while they are not at home, their user's phone call might be routed to the wrong 911 call center and as a result, delay or prevent proper dispatching of emergency services.
Other communications systems have also become available which are supplementing and supplanting traditional POTS lines. Home alarm systems traditionally uses a POTS line with a DTMF (Dual Tone Multiple Frequency) signal to dial out to an alarm company, and report an alarm condition. However, these alarm systems may now require that the alarm company determine the nature of the emergency before calling the PSAP. False alarms have become so rampant that many jurisdictions are fining customers and/or alarm monitoring companies for false alarms. As a result, alarm-monitoring companies usually try to call the consumer to determine if a real emergency or a false alarm has taken place. This delay in verifying alarms can result in a fire burning out of control before fire equipment arrives, or an injured person dying before an ambulance arrives.
Some a Prior Art alarm systems allow a customer to connect to a Police or other emergency response number that the customer may specify. This connection may be made when the alarm monitoring system notifies the customer that an alarm has gone off. Alternatively, the alarm panel may be provided with a "panic" 911 feature or the like. When such features are activated, however, it is important that the correct PSAP center and number be called for rapid response.
Thus, it remains a requirement in the art to provide a method and apparatus whereby a consumer can be directly connected to the local PSAP or 911 call-center, regardless of where the customer is located and calling from.

Enhanced 911 notification for internet enabled alarm system


Disclosed is a present messenger service system and method of operating the same including a DB storing information of various products, a web server connected with the DB and displaying various information in accordance with a demand of the customer, a proposal program established in the web server, a message transmission server connected with the web server, transferring a message transferred from the web server to a corresponding receiving party and established in accordance with a communication means of the present provider, a gateway server, a relay server and the like, whereby a present request message of the customer is correctly transferred to the present provider regardless of time. Thus, an information provision to a final present delivery are carried out in order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a present messenger, and more particularly, to a present messenger service system and method of operating the same, when a customer proposes to receive a product as a present, which enables to transfer an advertisement of the proposed product and a message of the customer to a proposed person.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, a present messenger service means that, when a customer wants to receive a present on a special memorial day, a proposed person(hereinafter called "present provider") is provided with a corresponding request message as well as a provision of the product is accomplished as soon as the present provider receives the message.
FIG. 1 shows schematically the above-mentioned system established to carry out the present messenger service.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional present messenger system mainly includes a customer PC 10 owned by a customer requesting a present and a network 30 owned by a present messenger service provider 30 informing a present provider PC 20 of the product requested by the customer and its information.
In this case, the network of the present messenger service provider is constructed with a web server 31 for guiding the corresponding site and a mail server 32 transferring the contents of the present requested by the customer PC 10 to the present provider PC 20.
And, a mail carried by the mail server 32 provides information of a reply of the present provider by a returning mail.
The operation procedures of the service managed by the above-established present messenger service provider is as follows.
FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic flow chart of the operation procedures of the system according to FIG. 1. And, FIGS. 3A to FIGS. 3C illustrate constructions of web pages during the operation of a general present messenger service.
Referring to FIG. 3A, after having accessed to a corresponding web site managed by a present messenger service provider through the customer PC 10, a customer searches various products advertised by a web page of the web site (S1). For instance, the customer enables to select a product wanted by himself by searching product groups "a" classified by functions of electronic products respectively and product sub-directories "b" belonging to the respective product groups "a".
Referring to FIG. 3B, the customer enables to purchase the selected product by himself or select a present messenger service to receive the present for commemorating an anniversary or a special day. If the present messenger service is selected, various input blanks, as shown in FIG. 3C, are displayed on a screen.
In this case, the customer inputs the required information to the corresponding input blanks such as "name of a message receiver", "e-mail address of the message receiver", "e-mail address of a message sender", "transfer message" and the like (S2).
In this case, the "receiver" is a present provider to whom the customer wants to request the present.
And, the customer selects a transmission after having inputted to the input blank of the "transfer message" with his home address, whereby the message containing the above information is transferred to a mailbox of the present provider (S3).
Then, the present provider buys the product by paying a purchase price of the corresponding present provided that he agrees to the provision of the requested present by ascertaining the transmitted mail (S4).
Finally, the purchased product is delivered to the customer's address by the present messenger service provider (S5).
In this case, the cost of the product to be presented is paid by the present provider through a payment method such as a credit card, automatic account transaction or the like.
Unfortunately, the operation method of the present messenger service, which is constructed with e-mails simply, according to the related art needs to have the present provider check his mail at all times so as to bring out the result.
Specifically, delivery date becomes overdue if the present provider fails to check his mails on and off. Therefore, various complain is made by the customer.
Moreover, the present messenger service according to the related art provides only the present provider with the information, thereby failing to gain special advertisement effects.
Further, even though the present provider receives the message through the above-mentioned service, when agreeing to and carrying out the present request, he has to select the corresponding product by gaining access to the corresponding site first as well as make a delivery order later. Thus, the related art causes inconvenience to the present provider.

Present messenger service system and method of operating the same


In an optical fiber coupling method and coupling assembly, an optical fiber is secured in a support block which is thermally matched to the fiber material. The fibers are coupled within a homogeneous glass medium, resulting in extreme resistance to ambient chemicals, radiation, temperature and forces. A region of the block is optically worked to form a coupling surface surrounding an exposed central portion of the fiber cladding. First and second such blocks are then positioned with their coupling surfaces aligned, and are placed in optical contact with their opposing counterparts. This produces an optical splice of the fibers within a boundary-free thermally matched medium. The optically-contacted assembly, once aligned, is substantially self-securing, and, due to its homogeneity, does not introduce stresses to the fiber as the temperature of the assembly varies. Preferred forms of fiber mounting and methods of enhancing the formation and quality of optical contact are disclosed.

The present invention relates to an optical fiber coupler.
In recent years a number of instruments have been developed which operate on measurements derived from coherent light which has been directed along a sensing path. Examples of such instruments are coherent communications devices, and also Mach-Zender, Sagnac or resonator interferometers for the sensing of rotation, magnetic fields, acoustic fields and other phenomena. The sensing path in such an instrument is provided by an optical fiber which is preferably of a lenght sufficient to provide adequate sensitivity, and which possesses optical properties which preserve the characteristics of the light being measured. The fibers may be polarization preserving.
Operation of the aforesaid instruments entails the dividing or mixing of optical signals along differently-directed paths, and thus requires a physical structure such as a fiber coupler which can couple a precise portion of the light from a segment of one fiber into a segment of another fiber. In applications sensitive to polarization, it is further required, that the coupler preserve the state of polarization of the optical energy which it couples from the first to the second fiber. This constraint may apply to devices having polarizing (PZ), polarization maintaining (PM) or single mode (SM) fibers.
In the prior art, one class of methods of coupling two fibers involves bonding each fiber in a shallow groove formed in a block, polishing each block to expose the fiber cladding close to the central fiber core, and then juxtaposing the two blocks, possibly also using an optical coupling medium, so that the evanescent wave energy from a finite segment of the exposed cladding of one fiber is coupled into a segment of the exposed cladding of the next fiber along an interval called the interaction length. The ratio of coupled energy depends upon the proximity to the core of the exposed cladding, the interaction length, and other factors of the construction.
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate such prior art constructions. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A, a fiber 10, with its protective jacket 13 removed from a region thereof, is embedded in an arcuate groove 12 formed in a block 14 so that it rises tangent to the surface 16 at the center of the block. The block surface 16 is curved so the fiber defines an extreme position, or the block is chosen to be softer than the fiber so that after polishing the fiber protrudes from the block surface.
As shown in FIG. 1A, two such blocks 14a, 14b are opposed to each other with their fibers placed in close proximity. Any gap between the fibers is filled by an optical index-matching medium 18 which may, for example, be an oil or an ultraviolet-curable adhesive of suitable refractive index. Such a structure allows the evanescent field regions of the two fibers to overlap, and coupling to occur with low loss. This construction has a disadvantage that light may be absorbed or scattered by the coupling medium 18, and, further, that temperature variations and aging effects can change both the dimensions and index of the medium 18, resulting in changes of the coupling ratio and increased loss. When the coupling medium is at all absorptive, another drawback of such an evanescent were coupler is an inherent asymmetric mode loss. For a resonant ring instrument, such as a Mach-Zender interferometer, asymmetric mode loss results in an asymmetric resonance dip, seriously complicating the instrument's performance.
Another prior art coupler construction is shown in FIG. 1B. This construction is similar to that of FIG. 1A, but differs in that the protruding cladding of each fiber is polished sufficiently flat so that the two opposing fibers may be placed in direct optical contact along their interaction length. For this construction, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,882 of Michael Failes, an adhesive 20 is used to secure and support the opposed blocks once their fibers have been placed in optical contact. The formation of a direct "optical contact" requires a much greater optical flatness, and a much lower level of surface roughness, than that required for the coupling of FIG. 1A, and also requires scrupulously clean fabrication conditions. However, the absence of an intermediate dissimilar medium in this construction results in improved stability of the coupling ratio and provides decreased loss.
Applicant believes, however, that this second construction is prone to several adverse eventualities. First, because the blocks themselves are primarily secured on opposing sides of a dissimilar medium, namely the adhesive 20, thermal gradients and thermal shock may be expected across the interface which may disrupt the fiber-to-fiber bond, especially at low temperatures. Secondly, the optical contact region may build up localized stresses of a type which can alter the refractive index and cause mode loss. The adhesive 20 provides a relatively low level of resistance to certain environment conditions (e.g., radiation) and may result in excessive outgassing. Finally, thermally induced stresses due to the differing materials of the fibers, the blocks and the adhesive, respectively, may compound some of the above effects.

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


An apparatus combining various phases of solar heat influence upon a transversing airstream. Solar heat combines with compost's bacterial-generated heat within the apparatus. Solar collector mechanism and compost cooperate with silage for regulating more even heat output.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus being an alternative source of heating. The apparatus employs various kind and forms of renewable energy. It combines solar heat, compost's bacterial-generated heat, and silage heat, temperature regularation and insulation. It employs ground radiated heat to lessen loss of usable heat collected and generated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional heating systems employ fossil fuel consumption directly or indirectly. These pollute, especially the older heating stoves and furnaces. They consume fossil fuels which are rapidly declining in many parts of the world. Liquid fossil fuels, including petroleum and natural gases, are declining in the United States. The present apparatus is an alternative device addressing these concerns and other problems, such as the pervasiveness of manure.
The present apparatus supplies heat from solar energy and unique renewable sources and combinations and employs unique insulation means to conserve significant useable heat. In addition, compost and silage within the apparatus stores and regulates a more even output temperature to be utilized day and night. Also, there are a variety of solar heat methods, including periodically heating and supplying of humidity by a connected solar preheater mechanism to the compost pile's interior.
There are a range of solar devices which heat water or space. However, the present invention heats with solar and other forms of heat from renewable energy, including heat from the ground to lessen loss of heat from the other sources. Also, it uses the renewable sources for partial heat storage and other purposes; i.e., silage creates a slight amount of heat while effectively insulating airflow components and storing heat. It helps regulate a more even heat output of the apparatus.
There are ubiquitous problems in domestic supplies of fossil fuels, foreign supplied, and domestic energy production entities. Inevitably it will worsen in relation to liquid fossil fuels. The foreign supplies could be disrupted (as it was during 1973). There are also hidden costs and taxes of importing fossil fuels; i.e., U.S. military protection of Persion Gulf shipping lanes. There are developing future problems associated with declining domestic liquid fossil fuels. The U.S. petroleum and natural gases reserves are dwindling significantly. (According to authoritative sources, U.S. imports of crude petroleum is over 53% now. Domestic natural gases declined by approximately 50% between 1970 and 1994.)
Heretofore, it is the first apparatus to efficiently generate and conserve heat from passive solar, compost, and silage and other sources while allowing creation a significant portion of its own insulation and while allowing previously unrelated benefits to heating systems.

Compost, silage, solar heating apparatus


An information processing apparatus having a storage unit configured to execute a workflow with a plurality of processes combined therein and hold history information of the workflow, the information processing apparatus comprising an instructing unit configured to instruct such that a test workflow regarding a workflow selected to be executed is executed; a generating unit configured to generate the test workflow for the workflow selected to be executed; and an executing unit configured to execute the test workflow; wherein the generating unit generates the test workflow at least by adding a process not held in history information to processes of the test workflow, without adding a process held in the history information to the processes of the test workflow.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processing of an information processing apparatus which executes a workflow wherein specific processes are combined.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, with a system including an image processing apparatus or information processing apparatus, a workflow system has been proposed to execute a processing sequence with multiple processes combined such as scanning, printing, and file storage to a Box.
With the workflow system mentioned above, generally an administrator of the workflow system (hereafter referred to as "administrator") defines the workflow, a user who uses the workflow system (hereafter, user) specifies the workflow defined by the administrator and executes the workflow.
Also, there has been a data processing work advancing managing system which saves the history of the advancement status of data processing work actually executed with each client apparatus, and has a function wherein a workflow information setting apparatus sets new workflow information based on the history. Note that such a data processing work advancing management system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-306254.
Also, rules for the workflow are stored beforehand, and when a workflow execution command arrives, the workflow is executed with rules applied thereto. Also, when a workflow simulation executing command arrives, the workflow is not actually executed, and a virtual execution wherein the rules are applied is executed.
Thus, there has been a workflow assistance system wherein the workflow can confirm whether or not to exempt a rule. Note that that such a workflow assistance system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-127321. However, the workflow executed in the above-mentioned workflow system is a processing sequence configured with multiple processes.
Accordingly, in the case that a user executes a workflow defined by the administrator, e.g. an error occurs in the last process, the entire processing sequence ends in error, whereby the processing up to immediately before the last process is wasted.
Accordingly, in order to avoid the waste wherein the entire workflow becomes an error from the processing error of the process, the workflow defined by the administrator needs to be tested, thereby increasing administrator workload.
On the other hand, with a workflow setting apparatus such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-306254, a new workflow based on history can be set from the history of the advancement status of data processing work executed with each client apparatus in the past. However, the user executing the workflow has not been able to know whether or not the created workflow can be properly executed.
On the other hand, with a workflow assistance system such as that in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-127321 performs virtual execution of the workflow, the user can confirm whether or not the workflow is adhering to the rules. However, processing which cannot be determined with a virtual execution such as the existence of access right is included in the workflow processing, whereby there has been concern that this cannot be handled with Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-127321.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium


The disclosure provides methods of preventing or treating heart failure in a mammalian subject. The methods comprise administering to the subject an effective amount of an aromatic-cationic peptide to subjects in need thereof.

The following description is provided to assist the understanding of the reader. None of the information provided or references cited is admitted to be prior art to the present invention.
Heart failure is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. In the United States, it affects nearly 5 million people and is the only major cardiovascular disorder on the rise. It is estimated that 400,000 to 700,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed each year in the U.S. and the number of deaths in the U.S. attributable to this condition has more than doubled since 1979, currently averaging 250,000 annually. Although heart failure affects people of all ages, the risk of heart failure increases with age and is most common among older people. Accordingly, the number of people living with heart failure is expected to increase significantly as the elderly population grows over the next few decades. The causes of heart failure have been linked to various disorders including coronary artery disease, past myocardial infarction, hypertension, abnormal heart valves, cardiomyopathy or myocarditis, congenital heart disease, severe lung disease, diabetes, severe anemia, hyperthyroidism, arrhythmia or dysrhythmia.
Heart failure (HF), also called congestive heart failure, is commonly characterized by decreased cardiac output, decreased cardiac contractility, abnormal diastolic compliance, reduced stroke volume, and pulmonary congestion. The clinical manifestations of heart failure reflect a decrease in the myocardial contractile state and a reduction in cardiac output. Apart from deficiencies in cardiac contractility, the HF disease state may arise from left ventricular failure, right ventricular failure, biventricular failure, systolic dysfunction, diastolic dysfunction, and pulmonary effects. A progressive decrease in the contractile function of cardiac muscle, associated with heart disease, often leads to hypoperfusion of critical organs.

Methods for the prevention or treatment of heart failure


A method and apparatus for injection molding a metal alloy wherein the alloy is maintained in a thixotropic, semi-solid state in a reciprocating extruder at temperatures above its solidus temperature and below its liquidus temperature in the presence of shearing and then injected as a thixotropic slurry into a mold to form a useful product. Following completion of the injection molding stroke the nozzle of the extruder is sealed by a solidifying a portion of the residue of the alloy remaining in the nozzle.

Metal alloys having dendritic crystal structure at ambient temperature conventionally have been melted and then subjected to high pressure die casting procedures. Such conventional die casting procedures have certain problems associated therewith such as melt loss, contamination with flux or the like, excessive scrap, rather high energy consumption, somewhat lengthy duty cycles, limited die life due to high thermal shock or the like, and restricted die filling positions. The alloys involved include, but are not limited to, alloys described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,840,365; 3,842,895; 3,902,544; and 3,936,298.
Plastics injection molding techniques have many features which would be advantageous if they could be included in the injection molding of such metal alloys which can be converted into a thixotropic state. Such techniques include the feeding of plastic granules at room temperature from a hopper into a screw extruder in the absence of flux and other impurities. The plastic material is heated in the extruder to become plasticized, following which a mold positioned at the discharge end of the extruder is filled with the flowable material. There are no contamination and melt losses associated with plastic extrusion procedures, and the lower temperatures utilized in such procedures reduce the problem of thermal shock to the mold. In injection molding of plastics, the mold can be filled from any position as dictated by maximum efficiency for part fillings. Apparatus and methods according to the invention include most, if not all, of these desirable characters.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,694,881 and 4,694,882 disclose the conversion of a metal alloy having dendritic properties into a thixotropic, semi-solid state by controlled heating so as to maintain the alloy at a temperature above its solidus temperature and below its liquidus temperature while subjecting the alloy to a shearing action during injection molding. In this manner certain advantages of injection molding can be utilized to overcome certain disadvantages of die casting. The present invention incorporates additional improvements and advantages resulting from the injection molding of metal alloys.

Method and apparatus for the injection molding of metal alloys


A compact zoom lens system comprising from the object side to the image side, a first lens unit of a negative refractive power having a cemented lens component consisting of a negative lens element and a positive lens element cemented with each other, said first lens unit being shiftable along an optical axis of the lens system in zooming operation, a second lens unit of a positive refractive power having two positive lens components, at least one of which consists of a positive lens element and a negative lens element cemented with each other, said second lens unit being shiftable along the optical axis of the lens system in the zooming operation and a third lens unit of a positive refractive power having from the object side, a front lens component of a negative refractive power and a rear lens component of a positive refractive power, said third lens being stationary along the optical axis of the lens system in the zooming operation, in order to realize a zooming ratio of about two or three, a very short overall length and a light weight while having a large aperture by a configuration with a small number of lens elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compact zoom lens system and more particularly to a compact zoom lens system applicable to small-sized cameras such as video cameras and electronic still cameras.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, since packaging of electronic components has been improved increasingly and the rate of integration thereof has also been improved, the volume and weight of a lens system occupying in the main unit of a video camera or the like has become relatively large. Also, as to the cost, the lens system has become a bottleneck of overall reduction in the cost. In the case of the present-state video cameras and the like, smaller size, lighter weight and lower cost are absolute requirements, and how to miniaturize the lens system and how to configurate it more economically are important to realize the above-mentioned. There are many examples wherein as a result of pursuing the above, use of a zoom lens is given up and a fixed focal length lens system is adopted. However, this is sure to be able to realize the smaller size, lighter weight and lower cost, but the charm as a commodity is greatly reduced because of a fixed focal length. Needless to say, a focal length of a lens system can be altered by using a converter or an attachment, but such a thing has to be carried separately besides the camera, and further considering the whole including the camera and such an attachment, it is hard to be said that the smaller size, lighter weight and lower cost have been realized. Also, in recent years a system wherein a converter is incorporated in the camera main unit and the focal length is changed-over by a simple operation has been sometimes adopted for compact cameras and the like. However, considering the whole system, this also can never be said to be smaller in size, lighter in weight and lower in cost, and only a ratio of variation of the focal length of about two or less can be realized, and in photographing a moving picture, continuous change-over cannot be made during photographing, and therefore this also lacks the charm as a commodity.
Then, after all, the zoom lens system is considered to be applied, but the conventional ones offer aimed at a high zooming ratio, and therefore they were large in size and very high in cost. Among them, for a zoom lens system wherein the zooming ratio is reduced to about three and thereby compactness and cost reduction are pursued, the ones as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 261712/1986 and the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 21113/1987 can be enumerated, but the former is configurated with 11 lens elements, and thus the number of lenses is reduced, but the F number is as large as 2.8, while the latter has a F number of as small as 1.3, but has a configuration of 12 lens elements. Thus both are still large and heavy, and are hard to be said that the compactness and cost reduction have been satisfactorily attained. Furthermore, for an example wherein the zooming ratio is reduced to about two and thereby the cost reduction and compactness are pursued extremely, the one as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 143311/1983 is cited, but this system cannot be put in practical use in performance because of insufficient compensation of chromatic aberration. Also, from the viewpoint of chromatic aberration, the zooming ratio cannot be taken larger than that value. On the other hand, a system employing a lens for silver nitrate film such as a single-lens reflex lens is shown in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 27849/1970, but this is very large in F number, and therefore cannot be applied to the fields such as video cameras where a bright lens is required.
Particularly, in the field such as video cameras, there are many opportunities of photographing in the very dark state without using an auxiliary light such as a flash, and the minimum F number of lens system is a very important factor along with the sensitivity of the photographing device.
The smaller minimum F number and the compactness and low cost are requirements contrary to each other, and at the present state, a compact zoom lens system satisfactorily meeting the both requirements is not yet provided.


A blood viscosity measuring system and methods for measuring blood viscosity monitors the change in height of one of two, oppositely-moving, columns of blood from the circulating blood of a patient and, given the dimensions of a capillary tube through which the blood flows and by detecting a single blood position of the other oppositely-moving column, determines the blood viscosity over a range of shears, especially low shears. The system includes a tube set (disposable or non-disposable) that includes a pair of riser tubes, a capillary tube of predetermined dimensions that is coupled between the riser tubes (or that forms a portion of one riser tube) and a valve mechanism for controlling the circulating flow of blood from the patient into the riser tubes. A sensor monitors the movement of one of the columns of blood in one of the riser tubes and a single point detector detects a single blood position of the other column of blood and an associated microprocessor analyzes this movement and single point, along with the predetermined dimensions of the capillary tube, to determine the viscosity of the patient""s circulating blood.

This invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for measuring the viscosity of liquids, and more particularly, an apparatus and methods for measuring the viscosity of the blood of a living being in-vivo and over a wide range of shears.
The importance of determining the viscosity of blood is well-known. Fibrogen, Viscosity and White Blood Cell Count Are Major Risk Factors for Ischemic Heart Disease, by Yarnell et al., Circulation, Vol. 83, No. 3, March 1991; Postprandial Changes in Plasma and Serum Viscosity and Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins After an Acute Test Meal, by Tangney, et al., American Journal for Clinical Nutrition, 65:36-40, 1997; Studies of Plasma Viscosity in Primary Hyperlipoproteinaemia, by Leonhardt et al., Atherosclerosis 28,29-40, 1977; Effects of Lipoproteins on Plasma Viscosity, by Seplowitz, et al., Atherosclerosis 38, 89-95, 1981; Hyperviscosity Syndrome in a Hypercholesterolemic Patient with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, Rosenson, et al., Gastroenterology, Vol. 98, No. 5, 1990; Blood Viscosity and Risk of Cardiovascular Events:the Edinburgh Artery Study, by Lowe et al., British Journal of Hematology, 96, 168-171, 1997; Blood Rheology Associated with Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Chronic Cardiovascular Diseases: Results of an Epidemiologic Cross-Sectional Study, by Koenig, et al., Angiology, The Journal of Vascular Diseases, November 1988; Importance of Blood Viscoelasticity in Arteriosclerosis, by Hell, et al., Angiology, The Journal of Vascular Diseases, June, 1989; Thermal Method for Continuous Blood-Velocity Measurements in Large Blood Vessels, and Cardiac-Output Determination, by Delanois, Medical and Biological Engineering, Vol. 11, No. 2, March 1973; Fluid Mechanics in Atherosclerosis, by Nerem, et al., Handbook of Bioengineering, Chapter 21, 1985.
Much effort has been made to develop apparatus and methods for determining the viscosity of blood. Theory and Design of Disposable Clinical Blood Viscometer, by Litt et al., Biorheology, 25, 697-712, 1988; Automated Measurement of Plasma Viscosity by Capillary Viscometer, by Cooke, et al., Journal of Clinical Pathology 41, 1213-1216, 1988; A Novel Computerized Viscometer/Rheometer by Jimenez and Kostic, Rev. Scientific Instruments 65, Vol 1, January 1994; A New Instrument for the Measurement of Plasma-Viscosity, by John Harkness, The Lancet, pp. 280-281, Aug. 10, 1963; Blood Viscosity and Raynaud""s Disease, by Pringle, et al., The Lancet, pp. 1086-1089, May 22, 1965; Measurement of Blood Viscosity Using a Conicylindrical Viscometer, by Walker et al., Medical and Biological Engineering, pp. 551-557, September 1976.
One reference, namely, The Goldman Algorithm Revisited: Prospective Evaluation of a Computer-Derived Algorithm Versus Unaided Physician Judgment in Suspected Acute Myocardial Infarction, by Qamar, et al., Am Heart J 138(4):705-709, 1999, discusses the use of the Goldman algorithm for providing an indicator to acute myocardial infarction. The Goldman algorithm basically utilizes facts from a patient""s history, physical examination and admission (emergency room) electrocardiogram to provide an AMI indicator.
In addition, there are a number of patents relating to blood viscosity measuring apparatus and methods. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,063 (Smythe et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,097 (Kron); U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,538 (Philpot, Jr.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,363 (Philpot); U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,405 (Ringrose); U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,632 (Weber, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,830 (Gunn, deceased, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,239 (Kiesewetter, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,821 (Kiesewetter, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,127 (Kron, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,577 (Merrill); U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,678 (Hori et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,415 (Esvan et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,529 (Taniguchi et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,398 (Schlain et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,440 (Davis, et. al.).
The Smythe ""063 patent discloses an apparatus for measuring the viscosity of a blood sample based on the pressure detected in a conduit containing the blood sample. The Kron ""097 patent discloses a method and apparatus for determining the blood viscosity using a flowmeter, a pressure source and a pressure transducer. The Philpot ""538 patent discloses a method of determining blood viscosity by withdrawing blood from the vein at a constant pressure for a predetermined time period and from the volume of blood withdrawn. The Philpot ""363 patent discloses an apparatus for determining blood viscosity using a hollow needle, a means for withdrawing and collecting blood from the vein via the hollow needle, a negative pressure measuring device and a timing device. The Ringrose ""405 patent discloses a method for measuring the viscosity of blood by placing a sample of it on a support and directing a beam of light through the sample and then detecting the reflected light while vibrating the support at a given frequency and amplitude. The Weber ""632 patent discloses a method and apparatus for determining the fluidity of blood by drawing the blood through a capillary tube measuring cell into a reservoir and then returning the blood back through the tube at a constant flow velocity and with the pressure difference between the ends of the capillary tube being directly related to the blood viscosity. The Gunn ""830 patent discloses an apparatus for determining blood viscosity that utilizes a transparent hollow tube, a needle at one end, a plunger at the other end for creating a vacuum to extract a predetermined amount and an apertured weight member that is movable within the tube and is movable by gravity at a rate that is a function of the viscosity of the blood. The Kiesewetter ""239 patent discloses an apparatus for determining the flow shear stress of suspensions, principally blood, using a measuring chamber comprised of a passage configuration that simulates the natural microcirculation of capillary passages in a being. The Kiesewetter ""821 patent discloses another apparatus for determining the viscosity of fluids, particularly blood, that includes the use of two parallel branches of a flow loop in combination with a flow rate measuring device for measuring the flow in one of the branches for determining the blood viscosity. The Kron ""127 patent discloses an apparatus and method for determining blood viscosity of a blood sample over a wide range of shear rates. The Merrill ""577 patent discloses an apparatus and method for determining the blood viscosity of a blood sample using a hollow column in fluid communication with a chamber containing a porous bed and means for measuring the blood flow rate within the column. The Hori ""678 patent discloses a method for measurement of the viscosity change in blood by disposing a temperature sensor in the blood flow and stimulating the blood so as to cause a viscosity change. The Esvan ""415 patent discloses an apparatus that detects the change in viscosity of a blood sample based on the relative slip of a drive element and a driven element, which holds the blood sample, that are rotated. The Taniguchi ""529 patent discloses a method and apparatus for determining the viscosity of liquids, e.g., a blood sample, utilizing a pair of vertically-aligned tubes coupled together via fine tubes while using a pressure sensor to measure the change of an internal tube pressure with the passage of time and the change of flow rate of the blood. The Bedingham ""328 patent discloses an intravascular blood parameter sensing system that uses a catheter and probe having a plurality of sensors (e.g., an O2 sensor, CO2 sensor, etc.) for measuring particular blood parameters in vivo. The Schlain ""398 patent discloses a intra-vessel method and apparatus for detecting undesirable wall effect on blood parameter sensors and for moving such sensors to reduce or eliminate the wall effect. The Davis ""440 patent discloses an apparatus for conducting a variety of assays that are responsive to a change in the viscosity of a sample fluid, e.g., blood.
Viscosity measuring methods and devices for fluids in general are well-known. See for example, U.S. Pat. No.: 1,810,992 (Dallwitz-Wegner); U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,061 (Irany); U.S. Pat. No. 2,696,734 (Brunstrum et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 2,700,891 (Shafer); U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,944 (Eolkin); U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,961 (Heigl et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,116,630 (Piros); U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,161 (Lewis et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,950 (Welty et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,694 (Cannon et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,511 (Harkness); U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,665 (Tzentis); U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,179 (Reed); U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,247 (Gramain et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,999 (Moreland, Jr. et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,362 (Geerdes et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,804 (Gassmann et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,328 (Aritomi); U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,173 (Van Vessem et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,962 (Stark et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,441 (Virloget); U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,577 (Hayes et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,295 (Renovanz et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,405 (Ringrose); U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,965 (Johnson et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,426,878 (Price et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,761 (Dawe); U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,503 (Plungis et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,250 (Irvine, Jr. et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,957 (Dodd); U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,958 (Ruelle et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,351 (Ball); U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,322 (Langrick et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,575 (Chu et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,899 (Park et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,497 (Ono); U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,375 (You et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,529 (Taniguchi et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,778 (Park); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,776 (Lehmann et al.).
The following U.S. patents disclose viscosity or flow measuring devices, or liquid level detecting devices using optical monitoring: U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,441 (Virloget); U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,698 (Kath, et. al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,497 (Br nd Dag A. et al.). The Virloget ""441 patent discloses a device for use in viscometer that detects the level of a liquid in a transparent tube using photodetection. The Kath ""698 patent discloses an apparatus for optically scanning a rotameter flow gauge and determining the position of a float therein. The Br nd Dag A. ""497 patent discloses a method and apparatus for continuous measurement of liquid flow velocity of two risers by a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,328 (Bedingham) discloses an intravascular blood parameter sensing system.
A statutory invention registration, H93 (Matta et al.) discloses an apparatus and method for measuring elongational viscosity of a test fluid using a movie or video camera to monitor a drop of the fluid under test.
The following publications discuss red blood cell deformability and/or devices used for determining such: Measurement of Human Red Blood Cell Deformability Using a Single Micropore on a Thin Si3N4 Film, by Ogura et al, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 38, No. 8, August 1991; the Pall BPF4 High Efficiency Leukocyte Removal Blood Processing Filter System, Pall Biomedical Products Corporation, 1993.
A device called the xe2x80x9cHevimet 40xe2x80x9d has recently been advertised at www.hevimet.freeserve.co.uk. The Hevimet 40 device is stated to be a whole blood and plasma viscometer that tracks the meniscus of a blood sample that falls due to gravity through a capillary. While the Hevimet 40 device may be generally suitable for some whole blood or blood plasma viscosity determinations, it appears to exhibit several significant drawbacks. For example, among other things, the Hevimet 40 device appears to require the use of anti-coagulants. Moreover, this device relies on the assumption that the circulatory characteristics of the blood sample are for a period of 3 hours the same as that for the patient""s circulating blood. That assumption may not be completely valid.
Notwithstanding the existence of the foregoing technology, a need remains for an apparatus and method for obtaining the viscosity of the blood of a living being in-vivo and over a range of shears and for the provision of such data in a short time span.
Accordingly, it is the general object of the instant invention to provide an apparatus and methods for meeting that need.
It is a further object of this invention to provide viscosity measuring an apparatus and methods for determining the viscosity of circulating blood over a range of shear rates, especially at low shear rates.
It is still yet a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus and methods for determining viscosity of the circulating blood of a living being (e.g., in-vivo blood viscosity measurement) without the need to directly measure pressure, flow and volume.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an indication of the viscosity of the circulating blood of a living being in a short span of time.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an apparatus and methods for measuring the viscosity of the circulating blood of a living being and with minimal invasiveness.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and methods for measuring the viscosity of the circulating blood of a living being that does not require the use of anti-coagulants, or other chemicals or biologically active materials.
It is still yet even another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for measuring the viscosity of blood of a living being that does not require the blood to be exposed to atmosphere or oxygen.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for determining the viscosity of the circulating blood contemporaneous with the diversion of the blood into a conveying means (e.g., needle) when that means is coupled to, e.g., inserted into, the patient.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and methods for measuring the circulating blood viscosity of a living being that comprises disposable portions for maintaining a sterile environment, ease of use and repeat testing.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a blood viscosity measuring apparatus and methods for determining the thixotropic point of the blood.
It is even yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and methods for determining the yield stress of the circulating blood.
It is moreover another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and methods for detecting circulating blood viscosity to evaluate the efficacy of pharmaceuticals, etc., to alter blood viscosity of the circulating blood of a living being.
It is even yet another object of this invention to provide an apparatus and methods for detecting the viscosity of the circulating blood of a patient while negating the effects of venous pressure.
In accordance with one aspect of this invention an apparatus is provided for effecting the viscosity measurement (e.g., in real-time) of circulating blood in a living being. The apparatus comprises: a lumen arranged to be coupled to the vascular system of the being; a pair of tubes having respective first ends coupled to the lumen for receipt of circulating blood from the being, and wherein one of the pair of tubes comprises a capillary tube having some known parameters; a valve for controlling the flow of circulating blood from the being""s vascular system to the pair of tubes; and an analyzer, coupled to the valve, for controlling the valve to permit the flow of blood into the pair of tubes whereupon the blood in each of the pair of tubes assumes a respective initial position with respect thereto. The analyzer is also arranged for operating the valve to isolate the pair of tubes from the being""s vascular system and for coupling the pair of tubes together so that the position of the blood in the pair of tubes changes. The analyzer is also arranged for monitoring the blood position change in one of the tubes and detecting a single blood position in the other one of the pair of tubes and calculating the viscosity based thereon.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention a method is provided for determining the viscosity (e.g., in real-time) of circulating blood of a living being. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing access to the circulating blood of the living being to establish an input flow of circulating blood; (b) dividing the input flow of circulating blood into a first flow path and a second flow path into which respective portions of the input flow pass and wherein one of the first or second flow paths includes a passageway portion having some known parameters; (c) isolating the first and second flow paths from the input flow and coupling the first and second flow paths together so that the position of the blood in each of the flow paths changes; (d) monitoring the blood position change in one of the first and second flow paths over time; (e) detecting as single blood position in the other one of said first and second flow paths; and (f) calculating the viscosity of the circulating blood based on the blood position change, the single blood position and on selected known parameters of the passageway portion.
In accordance with still another aspect of this invention an apparatus is provided for effecting the viscosity measurement (e.g., in real-time) of circulating blood in a living being. The apparatus comprises: a lumen arranged to be coupled to the vascular system of the being; a pair of tubes having respective first ends and second ends wherein the first ends are coupled together via a capillary tube having some known parameters; a valve for controlling the flow of circulating blood from the being""s vascular system to the pair of tubes wherein the valve is coupled to a second end of one of the pair of tubes and is coupled to the lumen; and an analyzer, coupled to the valve, for controlling the valve to permit the flow of blood into the pair of tubes whereupon the blood in each of the pair of tubes assumes a respective initial position with respect thereto. The analyzer also is arranged for operating the valve to isolate the pair of tubes from the being""s vascular system so that the position of the blood in the pair of tubes changes. The analyzer also is arranged for monitoring the blood position change in one of the tubes and detecting a single blood position in the other one of the pair of tubes and calculating the viscosity of the blood based thereon.
In accordance with yet another aspect of this invention a method is provided for determining the viscosity (e.g., in real-time) of circulating blood of a living being. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing access to the circulating blood of the living being to form an input flow of circulating blood; (b) directing the input flow into one end of a pair of tubes coupled together via a passageway having some known parameters whereby the input flow passes through a first one of the pair of tubes, through the passageway and into a first portion of a second one of the pair of tubes in order to form respective columns in the first and second tubes; (c) isolating the respective columns from the input flow so that the position of the blood in each of the columns changes; (d) monitoring the blood position change in one of the columns of blood over time; (e) detecting a single blood position in the other one of the pair of tubes; and (f) calculating the viscosity of the circulating blood based on the blood position change, the single blood position and on selected known parameters of the passageway.


The invention relates to a method for automatically modularly integrating sensor devices (16) in a central controller (11) of a network having at least one first server comprising at least one first communication module (12) and the central controller (11) for at least one part of the network. The method comprises at least the following steps: a.) determining the sensor devices (16) actually associated with the at least one first server by the at least one first communication module (12); b.) comparing the determined actual sensor devices (16a, 16b) to a quantity of detectable sensor devices defined in a detecting order and determining matching sensor devices (16a); c.) transmitting data associated with the matching sensor devices from the first communication module (12) to the central controller (11); d.) automatically integrating predefined control modules in the central controller (11) based on the transmitted data, wherein the predefined control modules (16a) are each associated with the data of the matching sensor devices. The invention further relates to a device for performing the method, and to a computer program having program code means for performing all the steps of the method.

Central controllers of networks in the sense of the description essentially concern all industrial systems in all conceivable fields of mechanical and plant engineering. In particular they encompass controllers of networks in manufacturing and production installations as well as in installations of special-purpose mechanical engineering such as for example packing or filling installations, in particular for bottling beverages.
The following sections deal by way of example only with monitoring systems of filling installations as industrial systems, whereby the monitoring systems in particular comprise every type of sensor device for monitoring states and sequences in the system that is to be monitored. The present method and present device can of course also be used for all other types of controllers and their components in the said industrial systems.
Industrial systems, in particular filling installations, are in general grouped in so-called production lines, with each production line manufacturing one particular end product. This can be a bottle filled with a particular beverage and having a special label affixed to it, for example.
Moreover a number of such production lines which are operated in parallel with one another can also be provided within an industrial system.
Each production line usually comprises a plurality of stations, with each station executing one particular operation or a plurality of operations on the way to manufacturing the end product. These steps may for example involve the arranging, washing, conveying, filling, sealing or labelling of bottles.
Each station usually exhibits a plurality of components which interact to execute the particular operation of the machine. In particular, the components of each station are controlled and monitored by a local processing unit such as a server for example. Components specially provided for monitoring the correct performance of the steps of the stations include inter alia the described sensor devices which can be executed for example as cameras, motion sensors, light barriers or other input/output devices and which monitor, for example, filling levels of bottles, a correct positioning of labels or the correct sealing of the bottles. The local processing units of an entire production line are generally controlled and monitored by a central processing unit. A plurality of production lines can of course also be assigned to one central processing unit.
According to the prior art, the local processing units or servers of the individual stations are specifically adapted and configured for the work and monitoring steps carried out at the station concerned. The consequence of this is that if changes are made to the components of the station, e.g. the sensor devices mentioned above, or if changes are made to their triggering, an individual adaptation must be made in the software of the local server or of an associated controller. If for example parameters have to be modified, sequences re-programmed or a new additional sensor device integrated into the station to fulfil new tasks, then a customised modification must be made to the controller or to the particular server of each of the affected stations individually. If the changes have to be made to a plurality of stations, then each of the associated local servers must be modified individually.
If a component which is no longer used is to be removed, then this component would also have to be laboriously dismantled manually from the controller. This unused component is therefore usually left in the controller and continues to be operated. This means that for example a camera or a light barrier continues to be triggered, only its output being ignored. The component is also usually left within a user interface belonging to the controller and is displayed there, with the result that the operator interface can become increasingly cluttered with unused components.
In both cases, a flexible adaptation for the integration and removal of components, in particular of sensor devices, in the controller is not possible. The customised adaptation of the individual local stations or their servers is also always very time-consuming. In particular, this precludes a short-term and temporary flexible adaptation and integration of selected components in a controller as might be necessary for example in the case of a short-term change of product to be produced on the production line. Consequently there is a need to provide a method for the flexible integration of components in a controller and in particular to facilitate an automatic integration of these components into a central controller of a corresponding industrial system.

Method and device for automatically integrating sensor devices in a central controller


An ignition coil for internal combustion engines is provided which includes a primary and a secondary coils magnetically coupled with each other, a case, a resistor, and a resinous filler. The case includes a case body in which the primary and secondary coils are disposed and a tubular high-voltage tower extending from the case body toward a head of the ignition coil. The resistor 3 is press-fitted into the high-voltage tower and electrically connected to the secondary coil. The resinous filler is packed in the case body to hermetically seal the primary coil and the secondary coil. The resistor includes a resinous coating which covers an outer circumference of the resistor and is press-fit in the high-voltage tower through the resinous coating. This facilitates hermetically sealing a gap between the resistor body and the case and ensures the stability of the sealing.

1 Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to an ignition coil for an internal combustion engine.
2 Background Art
For instance, Japanese Patent No. 5340889 discloses an ignition coil which includes a primary coil, a secondary coil, and a case. The primary and secondary coils are magnetically coupled with each other and disposed inside the case. The case is filled with resin to hermetically seal the primary and secondary coils. The case also has disposed therein a resistor which closes a front open end of the case in order to avoid leakage of the filled resin outside the case. This also results in a decrease in the number of parts of the ignition coil.
The ignition coil is so designed as to press-fit the resistor directly into the front open end of the case and, therefore, faces the drawback in that the resistor may be too large in size to be inserted into the open end of the case depending upon, for example, an error in machining the resistor or mechanical stress arising from the press-fitting of the resistor into the open end of the case may be undesirably increased, which leads to damage to or breakage of the case. Alternatively, too small a size of the resistor may result in a failure to be tightly fitted into the open end of the case, which leads to escape of the resin outside the case when the resin is packed into the case. Therefore, the ignition coil which is designed to have the resistor press-fit into the open end of the case requires high accuracy in machining the resistor and the open end of the case.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ignition coil for internal combustion engine