A cable connector jacket formed of flexible, electrically insulating plastic is of unitary, one-piece construction, including two cavity-defining bodies hingedly interconnected in a clamshell-type configuration for movement between open and closed conditions. Each body has two pairs of channel-like tapered arms respectively extending in opposite directions therefrom generally parallel to the hinge line. When the bodies are in their closed conditions, the cavities define a chamber for accommodating the cable connector, and the arms of one body respectively mate with those of the other body to form four tapered tubes for respectively accommodating cable portions interconnected by the connector. A latch on the body holds the jacket closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective coverings for electrical connectors, particularly coverings of the type which cover a connector and uninsulated portions of conductors interconnected thereby.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide various types of enclosures for electrical connectors. Such enclosures may serve to prevent accidental or unintended contact with electrically conductive connectors by persons such as repair or service personnel or users of associated equipment. In the case of outdoor connectors, such enclosures may serve to protect the connection from the elements.
The present invention has particular application to electrical connectors used in electrical power distribution systems, such as overhead power lines. Prior jackets or coverings have been of a number of different types. Tubular or cylindrical coverings have been used to cover splices or other types of connections between coaxial or in-line cable portions. But these types of coverings are not suitable for branch-type connections. Furthermore, some in-line connector jackets include two portions which must be threadedly engaged, so that they must be applied to the associated conductors before they are joined by the connector. It is known to provide clamshell-type jackets which include two hinged portions which close over a connector so that they can be applied to the connector after it has been connected to its associated in-line cable portions. But these jackets have not been suitable for use with non-coaxial connections or connections of more than two cable portions.
It is also known to provide connector covers which can be used with a connector joining two non-coaxial cable portions, but such coverings have comprised multiple separate members which must be interconnected. Furthermore, prior such coverings have not been suitable for use with connectors interconnecting multiple cable portions.


A front feeding device 3 is configured so that a first feeding mode in which switching operation of separating means 25 from a second state to a first state is started at the same time as when passage of the back end of a recording medium previously fed is detected by a paper detector 49 or after detected and a second feeding mode in which switching operation of the separating means 25 from the second state to the first state is started before passage of the back end of a recording medium previously fed is detected by the paper detector 49 can be switched.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording medium feeding device for feeding a recording medium in a recording device such as a printer and to a recording device equipped with the same. Further, the present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus.
Herein, the liquid ejecting apparatus in not limited to a recording device such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, or the like in which an ink jet type recording head is used and for performing recording on a recording medium by ejecting ink from the recording head, and used to include an apparatus which eject a liquid corresponding to the application instead of ink from a liquid ejecting head corresponding to the ink jet type recording head on an medium to be recorded corresponding to the recording medium to adhere the liquid on the medium to be recorded.
As the liquid ejecting head, besides the recording head, there are included a color material ejecting head used for manufacture of a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode material (conductive paste) ejecting head used for manufacture of an electrode such as an organic EL display or field emission display (FED), a bioorganic material ejecting head used for manufacture of a biochip, a sample ejecting head as a minute pipette, and the like.
2. Related Art
A feeding device in which a recording paper as an example of a recording medium or a medium to be ejected can be set in a laminated state and for taking out and feeding the topmost one among the set recording papers one by one is provided in a recording device or a liquid ejecting apparatus represented by a facsimile or a printer.
Separating means for separating the topmost recording paper which should be fed from the following recording paper is provided in the feeding device so that the following recoding paper is not fed together when the topmost recording paper is taken out. There are various configurations as such separating means. As an example, there are included the one in which a recording paper is nipped between a rotating roller and a friction pad, the one in which a recording paper is nipped between a rotating roller and a retard roller to which a predetermined rotation torque is applied by a torque limiter mechanism, and the like. An example thereof is described in Patent Document 1 (JP-A-2004-331300).
By the way, transport means for precisely sending a recording paper is provided at the upstream side of recording means for recording on a recording paper, and detecting means for detecting the passage of the front end or the back end of a recording paper is often provided at the vicinity of the upstream side of the transport means. The detecting means is required to determine a recording starting position with respect to a recording paper and is preferable to be provided at a place as close as the recoding means in order to enhance the accuracy of the recording starting position. Further, by providing the detecting means at the place near the recording means in this manner, there is no need for providing the detecting means for every feeding device when a plurality of feeding devices are provided, and it is also advantageous in cost.
Consequently, when the next recording paper is fed subsequently to the recording paper previously fed, it is preferable that the feeding operation of the next recording paper from a paper feeding cassette is started when the passage of the back end of the preceding recording paper is detected by the above detecting means so that the back end of the recording paper previously fed is not overlapped with the front end of the next recording paper. Further, in the configuration in which the separating means is provided at the downstream side of the paper feeding cassette, in order to surly performing separation of recording papers, it is required that the separating means is switched to the state where the recording paper can be nipped at the period when the front end of the recording paper fed from the paper feeding cassette is passed through the separating means.
However, if the preparation operation of the separating means (switching operation from the state for not nipping recording paper to the state for nipping) is started when the passage of the back end of the preceding paper is detected by the detecting means, it is required to start the feeding operation of a recording paper after waiting a time required for the preparation operation. This prevents high throughput performance.

Recording medium feeding apparatus, recording apparatus, liquid ejecting apparatus


A food cooking appliance which utilizes both steam and heat for rapidly cooking food products is disclosed. The food products are disposed within a food cooking housing and a steam generator is provided within a steam generator housing so as to generate steam which is fluidically conducted into the food cooking housing. In this manner, the food products are cooked as a result of the steam being conducted into upper regions of cooking chambers defined within the food cooking housing while the heat generated from the heated grills or platens impart heat to the lower regions of the cooking chambers thereby cooking the food in an accelerated manner which is extremely desirable by commercial fast-food establishments. The steam generator housing is wholly separate and apart from the food cooking housing but fluidically connected to the food cooking housing by a fluid conduit which may rigid or flexible. In this manner, the food cooking housing and the steam generator housing may be located at different locations within a kitchen facility in order that the kitchen facility be capable of accommodating both the food cooking housing and the steam generator housing. The steam generator housing may also be provided with multiple fluid conduits such that a single steam generator can supply steam to a plurality of different appliances.

Commercial fast-food establishments, comprising the burgeoning fast-food industry, obviously require food to be cooked in a relatively short period of time so as to rapidly serve their customers in accordance with what is probably the number one reason consumers patronize fast-food establishments, namely, that the consumers know that they can receive their ordered food in a relatively quick manner or short period of time. Some fast-food cooking appliances or apparatus have in fact employed steam in some capacity as a method of cooking their food products,that is, the appliances, equipment, or apparatus used steam in conjunction with heating apparatus, however, when cooking each new batch of fast-food products, water would have to effectively be poured onto the grilling surface in order to generate the desired steam. Not only did this cooking process effectively slow down the overall cooking time per batch of fresh food being prepared, but the food products were not effectively cooked in an even or balanced manner throughout the food product, that is, from top to bottom, because substantially all of the cooking heat was being generated from the underside portion of the food product. In addition, spatial considerations within a particular fast-food establishment usually mandate limited kitchen facility areas which, in turn, usually mandate the use of relatively small or compact food cooking appliances such as, for example, those that can be placed or installed upon tabletops or countertops, or alternatively, cooking appliances that can nevertheless be accommodated through means of unconventional configurations or arrangements. Alternatively, such spatial considerations may not in fact be sufficient to accommodate a single food cooking appliance which comprises apparatus for both cooking the food and supplying the steam required for the steaming process of the food cooking appliance. Still further, it is also desirable within such food establishments to be able to accommodate a large number of food preparation orders in a relatively small period of time.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein the aforenoted disadvantages or operational drawbacks characteristic of conventional food cooking apparatus, equipment, or appliances are effectively overcome or eliminated. More particularly, a need exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein the appliance or apparatus is relatively small in size. Still more particularly, a need exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein a steam generator can effectively be fluidically connected with one or more food cooking chambers so as to supply steam into the food cooking chambers. Still yet further, a need exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein steam, generated from a steam generator, can be utilized in conjunction with a heated platen or grill whereby both sources of heat can effectively be utilized to cook food products. Yet further, a need exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein steam, generated from a steam generator, can be utilized in conjunction with a heated platen or grill such that both sources of heat can be effectively utilized to cook food products in a relatively quick manner and a relatively shortened period of time. Yet still further, a need exists in the art for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein steam, generated from a steam generator, can be utilized in conjunction with a heated platen or grill such that both sources of heat can be effectively utilized to cook food products such that the cooked food products are thoroughly cooked as a result of the steam being conducted into the upper regions of the food cooking chambers while the heated platen or grill generate heat which is effectively conducted into the lower regions of the food cooking chambers.
An additional need in the art exists for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus which, in view of spatial considerations, comprising, for example, limited kitchen facility areas within particular fast-food establishments, will require the use of relatively small or compact food cooking appliances, or alternatively, will require the separation of the cooking appliance from the steam generator per se, while nevertheless being fluidically connected to the cooking section of the cooking appliance, whereby such individual components can be placed or installed upon tabletops, countertops, separate shelves, or alternatively, can be accommodated within unconventional spaces comprising unconventional configurations or arrangements. A still additional need in the art exists for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein a single steam generator can be utilized in conjunction with a plurality of cooking appliances so as to simultaneously provide steam to the plurality of cooking appliances. A yet additional need in the art exists for a new and improved food cooking appliance or apparatus wherein a single steam generator can be utilized in conjunction with a plurality of different types of cooking appliances so as to provide steam to the plurality of different types of cooking appliances.

Food cooking appliance utilizing both steam and heat for rapidly cooking food products


The disclosed embodiments include systems and methods to assess geological data. The method includes obtaining data associated with a geological state of a geological entity. The method also includes assessing a nature of a geological age constraint of the geological entity. The method further includes generating a first probability distribution of a geological age of the geological entity based on the nature of the geological age constraint of the geological entity. The method further includes selecting a time of interest for analysis of the geological entity. The method further includes assessing a nature of the geological age constraint during the time of interest. The method further includes generating a second probability distribution for the time of interest. The method further includes determining a likelihood that the geological age constraint of the geological entity coincides with the time of interest.

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods to assess temporal relevance of geological data.
Geoscientists sometimes synthesize geological data to interpret the geological state of the earth at a particular geological time. Geoscientists often synthetize geological data based on a temporal attribution associated with the geological data. The temporal attribution may encompass time spans from thousands of years to tens or hundreds of millions of years. Further, different techniques for selecting the temporal attribution may cause the time span associated with the temporal attribution to vary. Further, Geoscientists sometimes make different geological observations of geological data at a particular time, which further complicates the process to assess the geological data.
The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different embodiments may be implemented.


An identification and verification security badge is disclosed. The badge includes a keypad that allows the entry of user information that is monitored and verified by a processor within the badge. The processor compares an inputted personal identification number with one that is stored within a memory within the badge. When a match is found, an access code is transmitted that includes at least a badge identification code that uniquely identifies the badge. The badge also includes an on-body sensor that determines the status of the badge with respect to a user. When the sensor determines that the badge is not in close proximately to the user, then transmission from the badge is inhibited. In another aspect, when a transition from one state of the badge sensor to another state is determined, the personal identification number is required to be entered.

The present invention generally relates to the field of security and, more specifically, to providing a method and device for providing an identity verification.
With the advent of computers and computer networks and necessity to prevent access to the computers or networks, numerous methods of verifying the identity of a user have been developed that insures the user is authorized to access the computer, network and/or the data stored. For example, in a hospital environment, hospital accounting staff may be authorized to access the computer system but not be authorized to access patient information. Similar, doctors and nurses may be authorized to access the computer system to access patient data but not authorized to access financial data.
The computer logon process is typically the first step in preventing unauthorized access to computer systems. In the log-in or logon process, a user typically enters a keyword or password that is set by a computer system administrator or by the user. To provide maximum protection, security protocol often requires the keywords or passwords to have minimum level of complexity (e.g., a minimum number of alpha-numeric values with a mix of upper and lower case values). In addition, instructions may be provided to the user on a regular basis to change keyword or password. This creates a burden for the user as the user is burdened to create, change and retain the new passwords. In addition, the passwords may not be applicable to different systems to which the user has access, as the different systems may have different security protocols.
Another solution for allowing access to computer systems is for a user to enter a coded card into a slot accessible by the computer system. For example, a card or memory may be connected to a Universal Serial Port (USB), or serial port on the computer system. The card or memory may include a code or user identification. In another aspect of this method, the computer system receiving the code or user identification may respond to the receipt of the user information and may require the user to enter a keyword or password to verify that the card or memory is being inserted by the user authorized to use the card or memory. In another aspect, the card or memory may include a wireless transmitter, wherein a code or user information contained on the card or memory is wirelessly transmitted to the computer system. Again, the computer system may respond to receipt of user information stored on the card or memory by requesting the entry of a password or code.
Wireless identification or identity cards or badges are well-known in the art to contain an embedded passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) that operate in a close range (in the order of less than 4 or 5 cm) to provide a log-in or log-on capability. Longer range RFID tags may also be used to provide log-on capability. However such longer range RFID tags exhibit a present location ambiguity as the RF signals may penetrate walls or scatter off metal objects. Hence, an access may be allowed by the computer system when no access has been intentionally requested.
Numerous methods have been developed and researched to determine the position of a wirelessly transmitting identification badge to insure that the badge is proximately located to the system to which access is required. For example, Roy Want, Andy Hopper, Veronica Falcao and Jonathan Gibbons at the Olivetti Cambridge Research Labs have developed a long range active badge with an IR transmitter that periodically broadcasts an optical signal indicating a badge identification number. The badge, preferably, utilizes a tilt switch and accelerometer for switching the device on rather than a standard on-off power switch. The badge includes a light sensor to detect when the badge is in a drawer or pocket, causing the badge to stop transmitting and, thus, saving power. However, this device could also be used as a pointing device, but the technology used by the device requires the badge to be disconnected from the user and swept about in a large volume.
Another device is a personal Alert badge, produced by the company Versus, which combines infrared and RFID technology for computer system access and is further equipped with a call/alert button. Versus claims that U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,906,853; 5,017,794; 5,027,314; 5,119,104; 5,276,496; 5,355,222; 5,387,993; 5,548,637; 5,572,195; 6,104,295; 6,154,139; and 6,838,992, teach one or more aspects of the technology incorporated into the Alert badge. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,838,992 teaches a method and system for locating subjects and providing event notification within a tracking environment and a badge for use therein. The '992 patent further teaches that each badge transmits an infrared and RF signals of different strengths to determine the location of each badge.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,180,420 teaches a triangulation method using RF/Low Frequency (LF) and infrared signals for tracking the badges.
Cricket, a system developed by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), is another indoor location system for sensor-based computing environments. Cricket provides fine-grained location information—e.g., space identifiers, position coordinates, and orientation—to applications operational on handheld devices, laptop computers and sensor nodes. Cricket uses a combination of RF and ultrasound technologies to provide location information at attached host devices.
However, the problem associated with these methods of access to computer systems requires either the badge be removed from the user's person or that significant processing is expended to determine the location of the device.
Although the methods described above relate to allowing authorized log-on to a computer system, another potential breach in security can occur when a user leaves a computer system in which a user has been allowed authorized access, without first logging off the system. In this case, there occurs a situation wherein unauthorized access to the computer system may be achieved. Accordingly, security protocols have been developed wherein access is prohibited, i.e., locked out, after inactivity of the use of the computer has been determined for a known period of time. However, timeouts that are too short are annoying as the user may be in close proximity to the computer system and investigating a data item on the computer screen. On the other hand, if the timeout is too long, then a window of opportunity is created for a security breach (i.e., access by an unauthorized user). See, for example, "Proximity Activated Computer Console Lock," IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 6, November 1992.
In another aspect of computer systems, there arise situations wherein a user may enter the appropriate authorization codes to access one computer system in a network of computer systems and then have to again access the computer or a remote computer on the network. With the current security protocols described above, the user is again required to enter the authorization codes. For example, in a hospital situation, a health profession may be granted access to a computer system in one area and after leaving the area, to answer an emergency, for example, without logging-off, the security protocols lock out the user after a predetermined time period of inactivity and the health professional is required to re-enter the authorization codes so as to be granted access to the computer system. This is an additional burden on an already stressed individual.
As can be seen, there is a need in the industry for a security protocol method, system and device that enables a user to easily log-on to a computer system, while enabling the computer system to monitor and maintain the status of the user's need to have continued access to a computer system.

Identity verification badge and security system

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a novel interactive information system which can be used to make a traditional print medium such as a magazine, “interactive”. When the traditional print medium is placed on a print media receiving unit in a predetermined position, a user can interact with the traditional print medium. Printed matter elements on the printed medium can be made “selectable” by the user.

"Hard copy" print media such as paperback books have a number of advantages over electronic publications. Some electronic books, for example, can be read using a device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA). However, the screens of PDAs are very small and it can be difficult to read the text of books on the PDAs. Moreover, it is difficult to manipulate the pages of an electronic book as a user must scroll through a number of pages to get to a page of interest. It is often faster for the user to turn a page of an ordinary book to quickly get to the desired page. Because the pages of an ordinary book can be turned quickly, the user can understand the context of a story or article that occupies many pages of the book much more quickly than would otherwise be the case when turning the pages of an electronic book. Furthermore, although improvements have been made to electronic display screens in recent years, printed matter on paper is often easier for people to read than electronic print on an electronic display screen. For instance, glare on an electronic display screen can make an electronic book difficult to read. Paper, on the other hand, typically does not produce excessive glare. Lastly, although sales of electronic publications are increasing, sales of traditional print media remain very high indicating a continuing consumer preference for hard copy print media. One reason for this may be that traditional print media are typically easier to use than electronic print media.
Although hard copy printed media have many advantages over electronic publications, hard copy printed media have a number of limitations. For example, the information which can be present in a hard copy printed medium such as a magazine is limited to the number of pages within it. If the reader wants additional information about a particular subject being read, the reader must take the time search for the information. For example, if a reader wants more information about a product in a story or an advertisement that he or she sees in a magazine, the reader must take affirmative steps to locate the additional information. The reader can contact the seller of the product by mail, phone or the Internet to obtain additional information about the particular product advertised. The additional effort undertaken by the reader is very inconvenient to the reader. Moreover, the retrieval of the additional information is delayed by the time needed to determine how to obtain the information as well as the time needed to actually obtain the information.
To address this problem, some have suggested printing specialized machine readable codes such as barcodes or digital watermarks containing embedded information of a uniform resource locator (URL) on the pages of a print medium such as a magazine. The barcodes or watermarks can then be scanned using a scanner and a computer can obtain auxiliary information from the Internet using the URL.
Printing many specialized machine readable codes such as multiple barcodes or digital watermarks on a print medium such as a magazine, however, has a number of disadvantages. For example, having many barcodes or watermarks in a print medium makes the printing process for the particular print medium more difficult and more expensive. The increased cost will likely deter many publishers from printing many the machine readable codes in their publications. Moreover, the visual appearance of a print medium is significantly compromised when the print medium includes multiple barcodes. Pages of a magazine, for instance, appear cluttered to a reader and thus less visually pleasing when many barcodes are present. Furthermore, if the barcodes or watermarks are blurred in some manner in the printing process, the scanner may not be able to scan the barcode and obtain the auxiliary information.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other problems.

Print media information systems and methods


An airbag device includes a squib, an ignition circuit, and a noise protection circuit. The noise protection circuit includes two zener diodes whose cathodes are facing each other and connected with each other. Further, the noise protection circuit is connected in parallel with the ignition element to thereby protect the ignition circuit from noise. This decreases the number of components in the noise protection circuit to thereby achieve the compact and low-cost airbag device.

There is a conventional activation device for a vehicular protection system disclosed in Patent Document 1. This activation device includes an acceleration sensor, a micro-computer, a squib (ignition element), two electronic switching elements, and a driving circuit that drives the foregoing components.                Patent Document 1: JP-2001-239916 (US-2001/0006309 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,907 B2)
The acceleration sensor detects impact from vehicle collision; then, the micro-computer turns on the two electronic switching elements via the driving circuit based on the detection result by the acceleration sensor. Thus, ignition current is conducted to the squib from a direct-current power source to thereby expand an airbag device. An occupant can be thereby securely protected from the impact due to the collision.
Here, the squib and the switching elements are separately disposed and connected with each other via a wire harness. Therefore, they are subject to interference due to inductive noises from various electronic devices mounted in the vehicle, so the switching elements are sometimes damaged because of the inductive noises.
To solve this problem, a noise protection circuit 70 shown in FIG. 4 is provided for protecting the switching elements from the noises. This circuit 70 includes three zener diodes 70a, 70b, 70c. The first zener diode 70a is connected to the squib 60 in parallel: the second and third diodes 70b, 70c are individually connected between either end of the squib 60 and the vehicle body. This structure suppresses voltage variations, due to the inductive noises, between both ends of the squib 60 and between either end of the squib 60 and the vehicle body. The damage of the switching elements 50a, 50b can be thereby prevented. However, this circuit includes three zener diodes that are large and relatively costly, so it is difficult to make this circuit cheap and compact.


An ignition system for an engine is disclosed. The ignition system may have an igniter connected to selectively ignite a fuel mixture within the engine, at least one sensor configured to sense operation information of the engine and generate corresponding signals, and a controller in communication with the igniter and the at least one sensor. The controller may be configured to cause a first striking of the igniter to ignite the fuel mixture, make a determination that the fuel mixture has been ignited by the igniter based on the signals, and selectively cease striking of the igniter based on the determination.

Engines, including diesel engines, gasoline engines, gaseous fuel powered engines, and other engines known in the art ignite an air/fuel mixture to produce heat. In one example, fuel injected into a combustion chamber of the engine is ignited by way of a spark plug. Specifically, a high voltage current is directed through an electrode located at a center of the spark plug, from a terminal end to a distal free end. The distal free end is spaced a particular distance from a grounded portion of the spark plug, such that an arc spanning the distance is generated. This arc has sufficient voltage to breakdown and thereby ignite an air and fuel mixture within the combustion chamber.
Although successful at initiating combustion, a spark plug may suffer from a low component life. The spark plug life typically depends on an amount and/or a duration of energy delivered to the spark-plug. For example, the high breakdown voltage requirement of the spark plug's arc can be damaging to the grounded portion of the spark plug. In addition, during a conventional ignition process, the spark plug is usually supplied with energy for a long fixed duration, regardless of whether combustion has already been initiated. That is, the spark plug is struck over and over again (i.e., supplied with a current following a repeating profile) regardless of combustion initiation until the fixed time duration has relapsed. Therefore, in situations where combustion has already been initiated, extra and unnecessary strikes of the spark plug not only waste energy but also detrimentally affect the spark plug life. This may lead to reliability reduction of the spark plug and/or premature replacement of the spark plug to ensure continued operation of the engine.
One attempt at extending the life of a spark plug is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,078,384 (the '384 patent) that is issued to Glugla et al. on Dec. 13, 2011. The '384 patent discloses systems and methods for controlling an internal combustion engine including determining a presence of charge dilution and selecting a spark restrike mode to provide multiple spark events during a single combustion cycle. Charge dilution is determined based on a commanded air/fuel ratio and exhaust gas recirculation. Multiple spark events are controlled using time-based restrike or current-based restrike in response to the charge dilution, thus improving ignition quality to facilitate extending the spark plug life.
Although the system and method of the '384 patent may improve ignition quality of the spark plug, it may still be sub-optimal. For example, extra and unnecessary strikes may still be performed after combustion has been initiated. This may cause premature wear of the spark plug and cause the spark plug to operate unreliably.
The disclosed ignition control system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Ignition system having combustion initiation detection


An embodiment of the system of the present invention generally comprises a mailpiece sorting apparatus which includes a feeder, an OCR scanner, a video scanner, a mailpiece transporter, a diverter and output module, compartments or bins for receiving sorted mailpieces, optical character recognition system for reading addressee information, an addressee database, a suspect database, and microprocessor based control system. In alternate embodiments of the present invention: the system is contained in a detection area and clean room and/or connection to an investigation entity. The system and method of integrates prediction of the presence of life harming material in mailpieces with mailpiece processing so as to help deter delays in incoming mail delivery caused by the presence of life harming material the suspected presence of life harming material and to protect the intended recipients from harm.

The invention disclosed herein relates generally to automated mail sorting and more particularly, a system and method that predicts the presence of life harming materials in mailpieces.
The processing and handling of mailpieces consumes an enormous amount of human and financial resources, particularly if the processing of the mailpieces is done manually. The processing and handling of mailpieces not only takes place at the Postal Service, but also occurs at each and every business or other site where communication via the mail delivery system is utilized. That is, various pieces of mail generated by a plurality of departments and individuals within a company need to be addressed., collected, sorted and franked as part of the outgoing mail process. Additionally, incoming mail needs to be collected and sorted efficiently to ensure that it gets to the addressee (i.e. employee or department) in a minimal amount of time. Since much of the documentation and information being conveyed through the mail system is critical in nature relative to the success of a business, it is imperative that the processing and handling of both the incoming and outgoing mailpieces be done efficiently and reliably so as not to negatively impact the functioning of the business.
Various services are used in the United States and other countries for delivery of mail (incoming mail) to individuals and businesses to recipients to whom the sender does not want to deliver personally. These services include, for example, the United States Postal Service (USPS) and other courier services, e.g., Federal Express(copyright), Airborne(copyright), United Parcel Service,(copyright) DHL(copyright), etc., hereinafter called xe2x80x9ccarriersxe2x80x9d. Unfortunately, sometimes the delivered materials may be illegal and/or hazardous to the health of the recipient and to the party who is delivering the goods, e.g., life-harming. Examples of life-harming materials are explosives; gun powder; blasting material; bombs; detonators; smokeless powder; radioactive materials; ammunition; atomic weapons; chemical compounds or any mechanical mixture containing any oxidizing and combustible units, or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or packing that ignite by fire, friction, concussion, percussion or detonation of any part thereof which may and is intended to cause an explosion; poisons; carcinogenic materials; caustic chemicals; hallucinogenic substances; illegal materials; drugs that are illegal to sell and/or dispense; and substances which, because of their toxicity, magnification or concentration within biological chains, present a threat to biological life when exposed to the environment, etc.
Soon after the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States, someone and/or a group of people, has been adding harmful biological agents to the mail. The addition of harmful biological agents to the mail submitted to the USPS has caused the death of some people and necessitated the closure of some post offices and other government office buildings and has caused delays in the sortation and delivery of mail including the delivery of incoming mail to businesses. Individuals who receive and handle mail are encouraged to use safety precautions such as: washing their hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling mailpieces; avoiding shaking mailpieces; avoiding bumping or sniffing mailpieces; and avoiding handling of mailpieces suspected of contamination. These measures can be impractical when the volume of mail such as the incoming mail at a business is large. Thus, there is an urgent need to exclude or detect life-harming materials that are included in the mail in such a way that the delivery of the mail is efficient, reliable and safe and thus does not to negatively impact the functioning of the business.
Various automated mail handling machines have been developed for processing incoming mail (removing individual pieces of mail from a stack and performing subsequent actions on each individual piece of mail). Generally, the mail handling machines separate individual mailpieces from a stack, read the mailpieces using an optical character recognition (OCR) system and compare the read information to an addressee database in order to determine the appropriate destination points for delivery of the mailpieces. Previously, if a determination could not be made by the incoming mail handling machine as to the addressee, a video image of the mailpiece was viewed by an operator and in the case where the addressee image was readable by the operator, addressee information was keyed into the system and associated with an identification number for the mailpiece. The previously rejected mailpieces are then resorted by reading the identification information which can be printed on the mail during the first sort. The identification information is linked with the addressee information manually keyed in by the operator during the reject processing/video coding sequence and is used to sort the mailpiece to the proper destination bin. Video processing of mailpieces has been performed at on-site video coding terminals or off-site video coding facilities where the video image is transmitted for determination of addressee by an operator. The information is then transferred back to the sorting apparatus. These automated mail sorting apparatus do not contain the ability to detect and/or sanitize mailpieces suspected of containing life harming agents.
Thus, there is an urgent need to exclude or detect life-harming materials that are included in the mail in such a way that the delivery of the mail is efficient, reliable and safe and thus does not negatively impact the functioning of the business. Thus one of the problems of the prior art is that a system is not available for processing incoming mail and detecting and/or sanitizing mailpieces suspected of containing life harming agents. Therefore, a system and method of processing incoming mail is needed which integrates, prediction of harmful content, detection and/or sanitization with the mailpiece processing so as to help deter delays in incoming mail delivery caused by the presence or suspected presence of life harming material and/or to detect and/or sanitize the mail so as to protect the intended recipients from harm.
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a system and method for processing incoming mail which integrates prediction of suspect status of the mailpiece so as to help deter delays in incoming mail delivery caused by the presence of life harming material and to protect the intended recipients from harm. This in turn affords for less delays in mailpiece processing.
The present invention is directed, in general to automated mailpiece sorting apparatus and more particularly, a system for predicting the presence of harmful materials in a mailpiece. The system generally comprises a mailpiece sorting apparatus which includes a feeder, an optical character recognition (OCR) scanner, a video scanner, a mailpiece transporter, a diverter and output module (or an integrated diverter/stacker module), compartments or bins for receiving sorted mailpieces, an OCR system for reading addressee information, an addressee database, a suspect database, a personal computer (PC) or microprocessor based control system. The mailpiece sorting apparatus of the present invention also comprises a suspect database containing criteria for suspect mailpieces.
In an embodiment of the present invention suspect mailpieces are determined by reading the mailpieces and using a pre-set criteria to make the suspect determination; suspect mailpieces are diverted from the mail stream. Once the first pass sorting is completed, the suspect mail may be further processed using video coding to make a subsequent determination of suspect status. In another embodiment of the present invention the system is contained in a detection area and clean room. In another embodiment of the present invention the system is connected to an investigation entity which compiles information regarding suspect mailpieces.
An advantage of the method of the present invention is that it provides a system and method for helping to deter delays in the mail delivery. Another additional advantage of the present invention is that the negative impact of delayed mail delivery is reduced. Other advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification. The aforementioned advantages are illustrative of the advantages of the various embodiments of the present invention.

System and method for outsorting suspect mail from an incoming mail stream


A matrix of heat exchange tubes in a heat exchanger in which a first fluid flows in the heat exchange tubes and undergoes heat exchange with a second fluid flowing externally on the heat exchange tubes. The tubes have a teardrop shape and are arranged in the matrix in parallel relation in rows in which each tube has a rounded surface at one end and a tapered narrow surface at the other end. The tubes in each row all face in the same direction and the tubes in alternate rows face in opposite directions. The tubes have alternate unequal spacing of distances a.sub.1 and a.sub.2 in successive rows. The tubes can be bent to form a U-shape matrix or a semi-circular matrix. The tubes are each manufactured by filling the space between an inner channel and an outer shell of the tube with a ceramic or metal.

A number of profiled tubes are known for use in tube heat exchangers, due to the broad application of heat exchangers. Tube heat exchangers which are comprised of a matrix of circular tubes are used in numerous fields such as, for example, in process technology or in heating plant structures. Circular tubes are characterized by low manufacturing costs and high resistance to internal pressure. However, if matrices with circular tubes are subjected to high flow velocity of the surrounding fluid, this leads to undesirably high pressure losses and tuburlence in the flowing fluid. This turbulence may cause vibrations in the tubes of the matrix, which adversely affect the fatigue strength of the matrix and its effectiveness. These conditions have led to more favorably shaped tube profiles, of lancet or oval shape, as disclosed in DE 33 27 660 A1, EP 0 360 899 B1 and DE 36 10 618 A1, Such tube profiles can be produced at low cost by bending processes and they are used in aircraft and spacecraft in cross-counterflow heat exchangers in which the tubes are bent in U-shape, for example, according to DE 36 10 618 A1. Such tubes can also be used in gas turbines and diesel engines of aircraft and vehicles, as well as in stationary plants. However, if lancet, ellipse-shaped or oval profiled tubes are subjected to high internal pressure, the limits to their use are rapidly revealed, since the high pressure leads to expansion deformation, and in the worst case to leakage.
A stacked arrangement of teardrop shaped profiled tubes in a heat exchanger matrix is disclosed in GB 468,980, whereby the flow-favorable shaped profiled tubes with their sharp edges can be aligned either in the direction of flow or opposite the direction of flow.

Teardrop-shaped heat exchange tube and its process of manufacture

MTU Motoren-und Turbinen-Union Munchen GmbH


The invention relates to a sealed mailer or a business form assembly for providing a series of such mailers. In one form, the mailer has a folded edge and three other edges sealed by adhesive. A line of perforation extends along a first edge opposite the folded edge. Adhesive along the other two opposite edges is of a peel-apart arrangement such that after the first edge has been detached, the other two edges can be peeled apart to open out the mailer without significantly damaging the mailer. In another form, two rectangular sheets are sealed along all four edges with a line of perforation along a marginal edge portion of a first of the edges. Two edges adjacent the first edge and extending normal thereto are secured to one another by a peel-apart adhesive arrangement such that after the first edge portion has been torn off along the line of perforation, the two sheets from which the mailer is formed can be peeled apart from one another without significantly damaging the mailer.

This invention relates to mailers and business form assemblies for producing such mailers.
In one aspect, the invention is particularly applicable to business form assemblies comprising a substantially continuous web containing a plurality of mailer forming units separable from one another by first transverse lines of perforation extending completely across the web, each mailer forming unit comprising a front sheet and a back sheet of similar size, the mailer forming unit carrying non-active, but activatable, adhesive such that a sealed mailer unit can be formed by folding the unit to bring the front and back sheets in register and activating the adhesive to form a seal along the three non-folded edges.
Conventional mailers have the three sealed edges detachable along perforation lines which extend inside the lines of adhesive so that after the marginal edge portions have been removed by tearing along the lines of perforation the mailer can be opened out along the fold line.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention provides a sealed mailer and a business form assembly for providing a series of such mailers, in which the mailer has a folded edge and three other edges sealed by adhesive. The mailer includes a line of perforation along a first edge opposite the folded edge and inside the substantially continuous line of adhesive sealing that edge. The adhesive along the other two opposite edges is of a peel-apart arrangement, e.g., a series of spaced small dots of adhesive with no adhesive between the dots. Thus, after the first edge has been detached, the other two edges can be peeled apart to open out the mailer without significantly damaging the mailer.
More particularly, the invention in this aspect thereof provides a business form assembly for forming a plurality of mailers, comprising a continuous web formed with a plurality of mailer forming units separated from one another by first transverse lines of perforation extending across the web. Each unit is formed with a central fold line such that the unit can be folded, after separation from the web, over along the central fold line to provide a sealed mailer having a front sheet and a back sheet in register with one another. At least parts of the edge portions parallel to the fold line carry a first non-active adhesive such that when such edges are brought together, a first substantially continuous line of adhesive is provided for sealing these edge portions together. A detachment line of perforations extends along the edge portions parallel to the fold line and inside the first adhesive line to define a tear-off margin. Portions of the edges normal to the fold line have a non-active second peel-apart adhesive arrangement therealong to seal the edge portions together. By removing the tear-off margin, the edge portions normal to the fold line can be peeled apart to open the mailer without significant damage thereto.
This aspect of the invention extends to mailers formed from such business form assemblies which have been folded and the adhesive activated to seal the units. Preferably, the adhesive is heat activatable or pressure activatable and the same adhesive is used for forming the substantially continuous adhesive line and for forming the peel-apart arrangements. The peel-apart arrangements comprise spaced-apart spots or discrete areas of adhesive separated by areas free of adhesive. The spacing is such that the area free of adhesive along the line of peel-apart adhesive is at least twice the area covered by adhesive, preferably three to six times as great and with advantage about four to five times as great. The central fold line of the mailer may extend transversely or longitudinally of the web, depending upon the desired dimensions.
The adhesive in this embodiment is arranged so that each half of the unit carries substantially half the adhesive. Where the adhesive is a heat seal adhesive, preferably the spots of the peel-apart adhesive of one half are interspaced between the spots of peel-apart adhesive on the other half when the unit is folded. Such an arrangement provides a balanced web and mailer unit. Where the adhesive is a pressure seal adhesive, the lines and spots must be the same on each sheet to register in contact with one another.
In another aspect, the invention utilizes separate message and cover sheets in which the message sheets are capable of being fed through a non-impact printer to have information printed on such message sheets, while the cover sheets bear all the adhesive for sealing the two sheets together after they have been collated so as to form a sealed mailer. In this aspect, the separate message and cover sheets are preferably provided in the form of continuous webs, the message web comprising a plurality of message sheets connected to one another by transverse lines of perforations and the cover web comprising a plurality of cover sheets connected to one another by transverse lines of perforations. The adhesive for securing the sheets together may be heat seal or pressure seal adhesive.
Such business form assemblies are described in European Patent Specification 0143622. However, the mailers of that specification are intended to be opened by tearing off four marginal edge portions along lines of perforations formed in both sheets.
Accordingly, in this second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mailer and a business form assembly for forming such a mailer, in which the mailer is formed from two sheets sealed along all four edges. A line of perforations are provided along a first of the edges extending inside a substantially continuous line of adhesive along that marginal edge portion. At least the two edges adjacent the first edge and extending normal thereto are secured to one another by a peel-apart adhesive arrangement such as previously described in the first embodiment hereof. After the first edge portion has been torn off along the line of perforation, the two sheets from which the mailer is formed can be peeled apart from one another.
More particularly, this aspect of the invention provides a business form assembly for forming a mailer comprising a message sheet suitable for passage through a non-impact printer to receive information thereon. A cover sheet of a corresponding size to the message sheet is provided, each of the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges. One of the sheets, preferably the cover sheet, carries adhesive along its four marginal edge portions such that when it is collated with a message sheet and the adhesive activated the sheets will adhere to one another along the edge to form a sealed mailer. The adhesive along a first of the edges of the cover sheet is formed in a substantially continuous line, the cover sheet being formed with a line of perforations parallel to the first edge and inwardly of the continuous line of adhesive. The message sheet is also formed with a line of perforations adapted to substantially overlie and lie in register with the line of perforations on the cover sheet when the sheets are collated. The adhesive along at least the two opposite edge portions of the cover sheet extending normal to the first edge is of a peel-apart arrangement as previously described.
Preferably, the business form assembly comprises a plurality of message sheets and a plurality of cover sheets, included respectively in a continuous message web and a continuous cover web, each comprising a plurality of such sheets separated from the adjacent sheets by transverse lines of perforations. In one form of this second embodiment, each message sheet and each cover sheet extends the full width of such webs. In another form, there are provided two cover sheets and two message sheets arranged side by side on the web, each separated from one another by a slit line extending longitudinally of the webs. A line of adhesive extends longitudinally adjacent and on each side of the central slid line of the cover sheet.
In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a sealed mailer comprising a first sheet and a second sheet overlying the first sheet, at least one of the sheets being suitable for passage through a printer for receiving information thereon, the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges in respective registration one with the other. Means are provided for joining the registering longitudinal and transverse edges of the first and second sheets one to the other, thereby defining longitudinal and transverse edges of the mailer. The mailer has a line of perforations along the first and second sheets defining a margin adjacent one of the edges of the mailer and extending inside the joining means along the one mailer edge, the joining means along the one mailer edge including a substantially continuous line of adhesive along the margin. The first and second sheets along at least two of the joined edges thereof adjacent the one mailer edge and extending normal thereto are secured together by a peel-apart adhesive arrangement whereby, after the margin of the mailer has been torn off along the line of perforations, the first and second sheets can be peeled apart from one another without significantly damaging the mailer.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a business form assembly for forming a plurality of mailers comprising a continuous web including a plurality of mailer forming units separable from one another by first transverse lines of perforations extending across the web, each unit, after separation from the web, having a central fold line such that the unit can be folded over along the central fold line to form a mailer having a front sheet and a back sheet in register with one another, edges of the front and back sheets in register with one another defining edge portions of the mailer perpendicular and parallel to the fold line. At least parts of an edge portion of the mailer parallel to the fold line carry a first non-active adhesive, such that, when the edges of the parallel edge portions are brought together, a first substantially continuous line of adhesive is provided for sealing the edge portions together. A detachment line of perforations extends along the edge portions parallel to the fold line and inside the first adhesive line, parts of the edges of the front and back sheets forming edge portions of the mailer normal to the fold line having non-active, non-continuous second lines of adhesive therealong, such that when the unit is folded to bring the edge together second peel-apart lines of non-continuous adhesive are provided for sealing these edges together along their lengths in a manner enabling the edges thereof to be peeled apart.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a business form assembly for forming a mailer comprising a message sheet suitable for passage through a non-impact printer to receive information thereon, a cover sheet of a corresponding size to the message sheet, each of the sheets having longitudinal and transverse edges, one of the cover sheets and the message carrying adhesive along each of marginal edge portions adjacent the edges such that when the sheets are collated and the adhesive activated, the sheets will adhere to one another along their marginal edge portions to form a sealed mailer. The adhesive along a first of the edge portions of the one sheet is formed in a substantially continuous line, the one sheet being formed in a substantially continuous line of perforations parallel to the first edge portion and inwardly of the continuous line of adhesive, the other sheet being formed with a line of perforations adapted to substantially register with the line of perforations of the one sheet when the sheets are collated and the adhesive along at least the two opposite edge portions of the one sheet extending normal to the first edge portion being of a peel-apart type.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide novel and improved mailers and business form assemblies for forming the mailers.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, appended claims and drawings.

Mailers and business form assemblies for producing mailers


A pressure sensor and method of use provides for the detection of a sudden increase or decrease of pressure within tubing during the administration of solutions to a patient. Detection of an occlusion, partial or other significant pressure change in the tubing is accomplished by measuring the compression and/or expansion of the tubing. Transfer of the change in force within the tubing is communicated from the tubing to a sensor by a transfer rod which as a membrane attached thereto to provide a seal thereabout.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for detecting occlusions during delivery of a solution to a patient. More particularly, the present invention relates to a sensor having a flexible, waterproof barrier that may be used in connection with an infusion or feeding pump to prevent damage to the pump in the event of a fluid leak or spill.
2. State of the Art
Treating a patient often requires administering to the patient certain fluids, medication or other nutrients in solution form. The physical condition of a patient may require enteral feeding of a nutrient solution into a patient's stomach or bowel. Likewise, a patient may require parenteral or intravenous infusion of medication, hydration and/or nutrients.
In enteral feeding it is important to provide the solution, which can be somewhat viscous, within a desired pressure range to ensure the solution is delivered, but at a pressure which is not uncomfortable to the patient or which could damage tissue surrounding the outlet of the feeding set. While controlling pressure is a concern, medical personnel must also be concerned about possible occlusion of the feeding set which prevents delivery of the feeding solution. This can be caused by a blockage within the feeding tube as may be caused by materials in the feeding solution, or externally by the feeding set being crimped or otherwise obstructed by the patient or some other cause.
Likewise in parenteral and IV administration, it is important to deliver the solution accurately to the patient as the patient may require the medication, fluids or nutrition in the infused solution in order to survive. As with enteral feeding, the infusion of solutions parenterally should be done at a pressure low enough to avoid discomfort or damage to the veins, while at sufficient pressure to assure delivery of the solution. Likewise, it is also important to ensure that flow of the solution has not been occluded, as this may prevent the patient from receiving necessary hydration and medication for treating various conditions.
One method of delivering medications and other solutions is by using a feeding or infusion pump. (For ease of reference, both enteral feeding sets, parenteral feeding sets and IV infusion sets, and their associated pumps, are referred to herein as infusion pumps and infusion sets. Any use of "infusion pumps" and "infusion sets" shall be deemed to incorporate enteral, parenteral, and IV applications unless specifically noted to the contrary).
Infusion pumps are designed to deliver controlled doses to the patient, thus allowing medical personnel to monitor and control the amount of nutrition, hydration and/or medication which the patient is receiving. However, use of an infusion pump introduces risk that flow of a solution through the tubing may become impeded, resulting in the patient not receiving needed fluids and medications. For example, a patient may unintentionally roll onto the tubing thereby kinking or compressing the tubing and stopping or reducing the flow. Likewise a blood clot or other debris may block the flow of solution through the tubing.
To overcome these types of problems standard safety features on modern infusion sets include sensors to detect changes in flow of a solution through the tubing and to warn medical personnel when flow through the tubing is impeded. Some sensors on modern infusion sets detect occlusions by measuring a force exerted within the tubing of the infusion set. For example, if an occlusion occurs downstream of the infusion pump then the pressure inside the tubing downstream from the pumping mechanism will increase and the flexible tubing will expand. Expansion of the tubing exerts a force on the sensor that detects the increased pressure as a downstream occlusion. Alternatively, if an occlusion occurs upstream of the pumping mechanism, pressure inside the tubing (between the occlusion and the pumping mechanism) will generally decrease causing the flexible tubing to exert less force on the sensor than would normally be exerted when the infusion set is operating properly. This decrease in force will reduce the actual amount of solution which is being delivered to the patient and will be detected by the sensor as an upstream occlusion. If the pressure in the tubing falls outside of a predetermined range, the sensors will generally cause an alarm to sound indicating the presence of an occlusion. If the pressure changes do not fall outside the desired range, the pressure change may still be used to alter the cycles (typically either duration or frequency of cycles) of the pumping mechanism as the pressure has an effect on the amount of solution which is pumped during each cycle.
Another problem that medical personnel must be concerned with when delivering solutions to a patient using an infusion set is contamination or damage to the pumping mechanism. Although the tubing and cassette of an infusion set is discarded after use with a particular patient, the pump which drives the solution through the infusion set may be used with subsequent patients. While the outer surfaces of the infusion set can be easily sanitized with cleaning agents, it may difficult to clean the interior of the pump.
Likewise, while an infusion set is typically sealed, infusion pumps are used in a medical environment where solutions may be spilled on the pump. To prevent damage to the electronics of the pump, including the pressure sensors, a sealing mechanism is typically required.
To ensure that that the interior of the pump does not become contaminated and to prevent liquids from damaging the electronics, infusion sets often include seals that prevent liquid and bacteria from entering or exiting inner surfaces of the pump that are more difficult to routinely clean. To this end, the sensors (or external portions thereof) are often protected with a sheath of elastomeric material to prevent solution from contacting the sensor should a leak occur. This elastomeric material also provides a microbial barrier to make the pump easier to sanitize to ensure that cross-contamination does not occur with subsequent usage of the pump.
An example of such an elastomeric membrane disposed between the tubing and a rod associated with the sensor can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,222. While the membrane helps to shield the rod from fluids, the elastomeric membrane also deforms somewhat under the changing pressuring in the tubing and thus may decrease the sensitivity of the sensor by absorbing all or some of the change in force exerted by the tubing.
Thus, there is a need for an improved sensor for detecting occlusions in an infusion set. The sensor's ability to detect a force exerted by the tubing of the infusion set should be maximized while providing a microbial barrier for patient protection and protecting the sensor from damage in the event a solution leaks from the infusion set or is otherwise spilled on the pump. It is also desirable to provide such a device which is relatively inexpensive and easy to use.


An apparatus and method of recording and processing acoustics, such as body sounds, for assessment of the sound and possible diagnosis of any abnormalities associated with the sound. The apparatus includes an electronic stethoscope for acoustic pick-up and a convertor section for converting the acoustic analog signal into a digital signal. The operator can track the acoustic signal on an acoustic headset. The digital signal is continuously stored in computer memory and the operator can selectably retain a portion of the digital signal in volatile memory. The apparatus further includes a signal editing function for selectably altering the retained digital signal to isolate the waveform of interest. To this end, the retained signal is fed through the conversion section for conversion to an output analog signal for display on the monitor and play on the acoustic headset. The retained signal can be further edited as desired and stored in nonvolatile memory. The edited waveform is not only useful in diagnosing abnormalities but is also easily preserved for historical interest.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for recording and processing acoustic signals for use in assessing the condition of the acoustic source. In particular, the method and apparatus is particularly adapted for detecting and recording body sounds, and editing and visually displaying the body sounds for diagnosis and historical tracking.
2. Description of the Related Art
Detecting abnormal sounds is a useful method for diagnosing an abnormal condition in the source of the sound. For example, bearings, engines or other mechanical components often emit abnormal sounds long prior to failure, and detection of such abnormal sounds can be useful in predicting impending failure. While the use of sounds as a diagnostic or assessment method is undoubtedly useful, in practice it is sometimes difficult and limited. Difficulties arise because most sounds of interest occur over a very wide frequency range making detection and analysis difficult. Further, most sounds of interest occur simultaneously with a large number of other, extraneous sounds, making isolation of the acoustic of interest difficult.
Perhaps the most widespread use of monitoring sounds for predicting the condition of the sound source is the use by physicians of the acoustic stethoscope to listen to body sounds. The acoustic stethoscope is a good example of the usefulness and difficulty of using sounds as a diagnostic or assessment method. The acoustic stethoscope has been in use since the early 1800's, and is currently used twice as much as all other diagnostic procedures combined. In addition to widespread use, it has been found that a qualified cardiologist with a stethoscope forms his diagnostic conclusions based on physical examination, auscultation, and patient history, and that this initial conclusion is rarely (less than 6%) altered by secondary testing.
While auscultation is the most widely used method of diagnosis, many problems exist. First, many organ sounds or sounds within organs lie at the edge of human perception due to faint intensity, low or high frequency, high speed, proximity to other sounds, or overall complexity. Second, auscultation is a skill which is difficult to teach, develop, and maintain. Even if a physician can isolate a body sound of interest, a physician must rely solely upon the physician's experience and memory--remembering abnormal sounds is a difficult problem under the best of circumstances. It is not surprising that in testing, a large number of practicing physicians fail basic auscultatory testing using conventional acoustic stethoscopes.
A partial solution to some of the problems associated with conventional acoustic stethoscopes is the electronic stethoscope. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,160,708 and 3,790,712 (incorporated herein by reference) illustrate such electronic stethoscopes. Electronic stethoscopes in part overcome limitations of the human hearing system by providing a transducer pick-up of the acoustic which is far more sensitive to frequency and amplitude than the human ear. Such electronic stethoscopes also amplify even faint sounds extending the detection range of the human ear.
Notwithstanding their advantages, electronic stethoscopes do not provide a method for recording a patient's body sounds, isolating a particular sound, or displaying the body sounds so that the sound can be heard and also visualized to enhance perception and analysis. It would be a significant advance in the art if a method and apparatus were devised which could electronically detect sound and record, store, edit, and display such sounds for diagnosis and further study. Such accumulation of data would not only aid in assessment and diagnosis, but would also provide an educational medium where auscultatory skills could be improved and maintained and a data base for comparison purposes.


A fastener includes a base member; a first member, on the base member and having a through bore; a second member, on the base member and spaced from the first member to form a receiving portion to receive a panel structure, including an aperture defining an internal surface, the internal surface including at least one stop member protruding radially inwardly, and a nut member, coaxially aligned within and frangibly connected to the internal surface, including at least one block member protruding radially outward from an outer surface of the nut member to stoppingly engage with the at least one stop member. During use, the nut member moves from a first position, where the nut is frangibly connected to the internal surface, to a second position, where the least one block member abuttingly engages with the at last one stop member.

Such fasteners are used to attach components of, for example, a vehicle. There are many forms of fasteners, often these fasteners are complex to use and complex to manufacture.
Typically, such fasteners are made of metal, and are of a complex design. Fasteners made from metal also tend to make the fastener relatively heavy, which can lead to problems in use. Thus, such metal fasteners can be expensive to manufacture. The prior art fasteners also tend to be limited to what size panels can be attached, and therefore are limited in use to what these fasteners can be used for. Thus, often a number of different types of fasteners are required to be used, adding to the complexity of manufacture, time, and cost, for example in the manufacture of a vehicle.
Proceeding from the prior art it is an object of the present invention to address some of the problems associated with the prior art fasteners. It is an object of the present invention to provide an easy to use fastener. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fastener that is easy to manufacture.


This invention relates to a pizza product that is prepared separately utilizing two types of doughs that are combined after heating. The doughs have different characteristics and are heated in combination with different ingredients. The heating process for both doughs is performed under different humidity conditions and may be performed simply with a conventional microwave oven. The present invention also includes an apparatus and method for the preparation of such pizzas, as well as an innovative delivery process, which allows delivery of the pizzas from a central delivery station—without the need of having one or more processing locations (e.g., a chain of physical stores) to prepare and/or cook the pizza product.

The pizza market is one of the most important food markets in the U.S., where pizza is very popular amongst consumers. In 2014, the Department of Agriculture estimated that one out of every 8 Americans eat pizza in a given day. The U.S. pizza restaurant sales resulted in more than 47 billion dollars, and the U.S. pizza retail sales have been estimated to maintain as 5.5 billion dollars for 2019, with the frozen pizza market representing more than 80% of such sales. Worldwide, the pizza market has grown into a 134 billion dollar market.
The market revolving around pizza can be mostly concentrated around three separate areas, which have their different challenges and problems:                1. The fast food pizza market        2. The pizza delivery market        3. The fresh and frozen pizza retail market
i. Fast Food
The fast food pizza market includes larger and smaller chains, with widely known names such as Domino's, Little Caesars, Papa John's Pizza, and Pizza Hut, among others. Most of these pizza chains have thousands of small facilities located around the world, which aim to prepare, cook, and sell pizza products to the final consumer. Some of these facilities may include small restaurant areas for same-place eating, however the most common configuration are relatively small stores with a large pizza prepping and cooking section and a very small customer receiving section, mostly dedicated to customers purchasing and picking up pizzas. In summary, these types of stores can offer: delivery, carry-out, take 'n bake, and dine-in capabilities.
Generally, the most important part of a fast food pizza store is the oven, where historically pizzas were baked in wood-fired brick ovens. However, the need for faster and more autonomous pizza cooking has increased the number of alternatives, such as:                Convection ovens, which have relatively small sizes but also limited cooking capacities to a few pizzas at the time, best suited for low-volume restaurants. These types of ovens also have longer "temperature recovery times", referring to the time it needs to achieve a proper cooking temperature after the door is opened or when cold products are added.        Conveyor ovens, which help to increase production with unskilled workers in high volume stores. The adjustable speed of the belt and constant heat increase cooking time in an automatic way, however, their biggest drawback is their large size and costs.
Other required equipment and spaces include the dough mixer, refrigerators and freezers, large work tables for the dough and pizza prep tables (where the toppings and cheese are found), pizza pans and utensils, along with hot holding cabinets and delivery packages.
For example, a conventional Domino's store averages approximately 1,500 square feet, employs about 6-7 people, and do not offer a full-service dine-in area. Generally, after an order is placed, the pizza maker starts with the dough cutting and stretching, saucing, cheesing, and adds the ordered toppings, which usually takes about 4-5 minutes. Then, the pizza is set up into the oven, where it takes about 7 minutes to cook in a conveyor oven type at 550° F. Then the pizza is cut and packed into the delivery boxes. Therefore, the whole process lasts about 12 minutes before the pizza is ready (assuming there is readily available fresh dough).
Additionally, fast food pizzas cooked in high temperature ovens generally may burn the cheese and toppings, creating a relatively dry top with a soggy crust (that absorbs the moisture of the top content of the pizza). The crunchiness of the crust is shortly perceived, and sometimes may take out the flavor from the rest of the pizza. High temperature ovens tend to dry the ingredients, which results in a decreased volume of the cheese and toppings and a loss of flavor. Also, such ovens are required to be constantly turned on, having large energy consumption and dead-times where no pizzas are being cooked. Therefore, the heating and baking processes take a long time and generally the toppings become dry.
ii. Delivery
It has been estimated that consumers spend around 33 billion US dollars in quick service pizza each year in the United States, where pizza delivery shares around 10 billion of the total market.
Regarding the delivery options from fast food restaurants, this part has always carried out several problems associated to soggy and greasy pizzas, soft crusts, cold temperature, and messy top ingredients, among others.
Throughout the years, there have been many efforts to improve the delivery process, such as:                Using mesh-like covers or screens to separate the pizza from the package (usually a cardboard box), such as Crustsaver™;        Temperature regulating and maintenance bags and systems, which aim to maintain a proper temperature of the pizza while it's being transported into the delivery location (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,477);        Delivery bags and containers with tilt alarms to indicate the inclination of the pizza box in order to avoid messy top ingredients (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,686);        Moisture-absorbent pizza box to avoid the crust from being soggy upon delivery (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,932,267, 4,922,626, among others).
Even the technology company, Apple®, patented a special box for transporting pizza, designed with a series of holes in the lid of the container so that air can escape and therefore helping to avoid the crust from turning soggy.
There have been improvements even in disclosing pizza preparation and delivery vehicles that consider preparing and/or cooking the pizza in route to delivery, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,046A. However, improvements related to the actual delivery process of the pizza have always been related to moving the preparing and/or cooking process from the store into a mobile setting to perform such processes on route to the delivery site. Therefore, by moving the preparation and/or cooking process from a store to a mobile delivery means such as a truck, the required space, equipment, and labor that must be included as part of the delivery process generates many requirements and high costs. A good reference is that no delivery processes for large pizza chains are performed in this manner, not presenting a real solution to today's needs.
Therefore, even though about 10% of pizza product innovations around the world come from the U.S., all of these improvements have not been able to solve these problems.
Further, if pizzas arrive in a cold state, and they are re-heated in a conventional microwave oven, the pizza will result even soggier than upon delivery. On the other hand, if they are reheated in a conventional oven, their final texture is dry (as they lost most of their moisture from the delivery and the temperature of an additional heating process through an oven), additionally having to wait many minutes to pre-heat the oven along with the cooking time.
iii. Refrigerated Fresh or Frozen Pizza Retail Market
The retail refrigerated fresh and frozen pizza market is a $5 billion market only in the U.S., with an annual growth rate of 0.2% expected to grow into 0.5% in the next 5 years. From this 5 billion market, about 80-90% corresponds to the frozen pizza retail sales.
Frozen pizzas has historically been among the most popular frozen foods, and given their highly flexible customization, many industry operators have created new strategies over the years to offer different and new products to overcome consumer tendencies. Top refrigerated pizza brands in the U.S. include Di Giorno, Red Baron, and Tombstone, among others, with the leading manufacturer being Nestle's USA, with more than a 43% market share, followed by Schwan Food Co. with a 19%.
Also, individual sized pizzas are gaining more popularity over the last years and being part of the daily snacking consumer routines.
Consumers have indicated that purchasing of frozen pizza instead of buying pizza from a restaurant obeys to quicker and easy meals, lower costs, larger shelf life, and faster than delivery or carry-out. Also, thin crust is the preferred option by U.S. consumers, followed by a regular crust.
However, refrigerated and frozen pizza cooking times, which refers to the full time period from when the pizza is removed from the refrigerator/fridge and is ready to eat, are relatively long. Most refrigerated and frozen pizza products aim to be heated in conventional oven, where generally the following processes must occur: (1) Preheat the oven up to 400° F., which takes at least 10-15 minutes; and (2) Bake the pizza for 20-25 minutes. Both processes can take up to 30-40 minutes altogether, which is a large waiting time for obtaining the final heated product.
Additionally, if heated in a microwave oven, the refrigerated/frozen pizza turns out to be soggy and does not have a crunchy crust.
The microwave pizza market has not expanded as there have not been any major improvements lately to obtain high quality products with good taste and that maintain high moisture and crunchiness properties. Generally, when frozen pizzas are microwaved, the crust wither becomes soft and soggy, rubbery, or extremely dry and hard (depending on the type of dough). Also, the cheese may not melt evenly and may become gooey, or eventually burn up and dry up while the rest of the pizza has not been heated properly, given the differences in moisture between the dough and the cheese and toppings. Since microwave ovens operate by radiation rather than heat, the radiation moves the particles in the food around which causes the food to get warm, and when there are water molecules in the food they turn into steam. The steam condenses and causes the food to become soggy, to burn, or to become dried out.
Therefore, even though the market has introduced products that can be heated in a microwave oven, they have not been successful as the final quality and taste have not been widely accepted by consumers.
Further, a problem of refrigerated/frozen pizzas when cooked according to their instructions is that while the heating process is occurring, moisture is transferred from the top section containing the cheese, sauce, and toppings, to the crust, therefore providing moisture to the crust and reducing its crunchiness.
However, refrigerated and frozen pizza products have not been able to overcome the following problems:                A. Being able to heat and provide a wet and crunchy well-cooked pizza in short periods of time, lower than 3 minutes        B. Producing a crunchy crust and moisture-rich cheese and toppings, avoiding moisture-transfer from the top section to the crust, while avoiding the top section to be overly cooked and dry
In view of the foregoing issues, there is a need for a pizza product with a crunchy crust and moisture-rich cheese and toppings without avoiding the transfer of moisture to the crust while heating or cooking the pizza.


As a spatial light modulator 35 is disposed between a wavelength conversion part 315 and an exit surface 311b in a ferroelectric crystal substrate 31, only zeroth-order light which is at a particular wavelength is guided to a substrate while laser light from the wavelength conversion part 315 is being modulated, whereby a pattern corresponding to LSI data is drawn. Further, the spatial light modulator 35 is disposed together with the wavelength conversion parts 314 and 315 inside the ferroelectric crystal substrate 31.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device equipped with a wavelength conversion function (hereinafter referred simply to "the optical device"), a laser apparatus which uses the optical device, and an exposure apparatus which uses the optical device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of proposals have been made as for an optical device which uses a ferroelectric crystal substrate of a ferroelectric crystal to perform wavelength conversion, light modulation, etc., and as for an apparatus comprising the optical device. JP-A-2009-31732 for instance discloses an apparatus which performs exposure processing using an optical device which performs light modulation. The apparatus comprises a light source which is formed by a semiconductor laser or the like to emit a light beam of a predetermined wavelength. The laser light from the light source, after getting shaped into a parallel light beam by an illumination optical system, impinges upon the optical device (spatial light modulator). In this optical device, a ferroelectric crystal is provided in the form of thin plate or slab, and a plurality of electrode elements are arranged at constant intervals on one major surface or the both major surfaces of the ferroelectric crystal, thereby forming a grid electrode. As an electric potential difference is applied between the electrode elements, an electric field develops in the ferroelectric crystal, whereby the refractive index periodically changes in the ferroelectric crystal and a diffraction grating is formed. Light is made incident upon the ferroelectric crystal in an approximately parallel direction to the longitudinal direction of the grid electrode so that Raman-Nath diffraction is primarily created, which realizes spatial light modulation.
It is beneficial to use wavelength conversion techniques which have been proposed for the purpose of reducing the size of such an apparatus and securing a proper wavelength. The technique according to WO2009/016709 for example proposes providing a wavelength conversion part in a ferroelectric crystal substrate to consequently shorten the wavelength of near-infrared laser light. This conventional technique uses an optical device in which a waveguide second harmonic generation (SHG) part is formed in a ferroelectric crystal substrate. In short, a fundamental emitted from a solid laser element is allowed to propagate to the second harmonic generation part provided in the optical device, and a wavelength-converted second harmonic is obtained which has half the wavelength of the fundamental (i.e., which has double the frequency of the fundamental) owing wavelength conversion. Therefore, application of the laser apparatus described in WO2009/016709 to the exposure apparatus (optical head) described in JP-A-2009-31732 makes it possible to reduce the apparatus size.
Further proposal has been made to additionally dispose an optical device which comprises a sum frequency generation (SFG) part subsequent to the optical device which comprises the second harmonic generation part in an attempt to shorten the wavelength of the laser light for use in the exposure apparatus.
However, whichever it is between when two or more wavelength conversion optical devices are combined to emit light at a predetermined wavelength and when a wavelength conversion optical device and light modulation optical device are combined, as these optical devices are all discrete elements, their optical axes must be aligned to each other at a high accuracy. A change in the temperature environment, a humidity variation, and heat developed in the optical devices, etc. could deviate the optical axes alignment, which then could destabilize the optical performances such as the light amount stability, the efficiency of wavelength conversion and the efficiency of light modulation.

Optical device, exposure apparatus and laser apparatus


Disclosed is a tubular endoluminal vascular prosthesis, useful in treating, for example, an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The prosthesis comprises a self-expandable wire support structure having a tubular main body support and first and second branch supports. The branch supports articulate with the main body so as to permit the branches to extend laterally from the axis of the main body throughout a substantial range of motion.

The present invention relates to an endoluminal vascular prosthesis, and in particular, to a self-expanding bifurcated prosthesis for use in the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms.
An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a sac caused by an abnormal dilation of the wall of the aorta, a major artery of the body, as it passes through the abdomen. The abdomen is that portion of the body which lies between the thorax and the pelvis. It contains a cavity, known as the abdominal cavity, separated by the diaphragm from the thoracic cavity and lined with a serous membrane, the peritoneum. The aorta is the main trunk, or artery, from which the systemic arterial system proceeds. It arises from the left ventricle of the heart, passes upward, bends over and passes down through the thorax and through the abdomen to about the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra, where it divides into the two common iliac arteries.
The aneurysm usually arises in the infrarenal portion of the diseased aorta, for example, below the kidneys. When left untreated, the aneurysm may eventually cause rupture of the sac with ensuing fatal hemorrhaging in a very short time. High mortality associated with the rupture led initially to transabdominal surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Surgery involving the abdominal wall, however, is a major undertaking with associated high risks. There is considerable mortality and morbidity associated with this magnitude of surgical intervention, which in essence involves replacing the diseased and aneurysmal segment of blood vessel with a prosthetic device which typically is a synthetic tube, or graft, usually fabricated of Polyester, Urethane, DACRON.RTM., TEFLON.RTM., or other suitable material.
To perform the surgical procedure requires exposure of the aorta through an abdominal incision which can extend from the rib cage to the pubis. The aorta must be closed both above and below the aneurysm, so that the aneurysm can then be opened and the thrombus, or blood clot, and arteriosclerotic debris removed. Small arterial branches from the back wall of the aorta are tied off. The DACRON.RTM. tube, or graft, of approximately the same size of the normal aorta is sutured in place, thereby replacing the aneurysm. Blood flow is then reestablished through the graft. It is necessary to move the intestines in order to get to the back wall of the abdomen prior to clamping off the aorta.
If the surgery is performed prior to rupturing of the abdominal aortic aneurysm, the survival rate of treated patients is markedly higher than if the surgery is performed after the aneurysm ruptures, although the mortality rate is still quite high. If the surgery is performed prior to the aneurysm rupturing, the mortality rate is typically slightly less than 10%. Conventional surgery performed after the rupture of the aneurysm is significantly higher, one study reporting a mortality rate of 66.5%. Although abdominal aortic aneurysms can be detected from routine examinations, the patient does not experience any pain from the condition. Thus, if the patient is not receiving routine examinations, it is possible that the aneurysm will progress to the rupture stage, wherein the mortality rates are significantly higher.
Disadvantages associated with the conventional, prior art surgery, in addition to the high mortality rate include the extended recovery period associated with such surgery; difficulties in suturing the graft, or tube, to the aorta; the loss of the existing aorta wall and thrombosis to support and reinforce the graft; the unsuitability of the surgery for many patients having abdominal aortic aneurysms; and the problems associated with performing the surgery on an emergency basis after the aneurysm has ruptured. A patient can expect to spend from one to two weeks in the hospital after the surgery, a major portion of which is spent in the intensive care unit, and a convalescence period at home from two to three months, particularly if the patient has other illnesses such as heart, lung, liver, and/or kidney disease, in which case the hospital stay is also lengthened. The graft must be secured, or sutured, to the remaining portion of the aorta, which may be difficult to perform because of the thrombosis present on the remaining portion of the aorta. Moreover, the remaining portion of the aorta wall is frequently friable, or easily crumbled.
Since many patients having abdominal aortic aneurysms have other chronic illnesses, such as heart, lung, liver, and/or kidney disease, coupled with the fact that many of these patients are older, the average age being approximately 67 years old, these patients are not ideal candidates for such major surgery.
More recently, a significantly less invasive clinical approach to aneurysm repair, known as endovascular grafting, has been developed. Parodi, et al. provide one of the first clinical descriptions of this therapy. Parodi, J. C., et al., "Transfemoral Intraluminal Graft Implantation for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms," 5 Annals of Vascular Surgery 491 (1991). Endovascular grafting involves the transluminal placement of a prosthetic arterial graft within the lumen of the artery.
In general, transluminally implantable prostheses adapted for use in the abdominal aorta comprise a tubular wire cage surrounded by a tubular PTFE or Dacron sleeve. Both balloon expandable and self expandable support structures have been proposed. Endovascular grafts adapted to treat both straight segment and bifurcation aneurysms have also been proposed.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, there remains a need for a structurally simple, easily deployable transluminally implantable endovascular prosthesis, with a support structure adaptable to span either a straight or bifurcated abdominal aortic aneurysm. Preferably, the tubular prosthesis can be self expanded at the site to treat the abdominal aortic aneurysm, and exhibits flexibility to accommodate nonlinear anatomies and normal anatomical movement.