A method for correcting skew images. The method first groups a scanned image into blocks with N*N pixels, and detects all the blocks to find out the edge areas with the larger luminance or chrominance difference afterward. Next, gradient angles of the edge areas are calculated, and a predominant angle is determined from among the calculated gradient angles; and (c) rotating the image according to the predominant gradient angle. The predominant gradient angle is taken as the skew angle for the image to be rotated. In consequence, a higher accuracy of image correction is achieved.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method for correcting skew images, which in particular to an image de-skew technology, acquires the precise skew angle of a scanned image.
2. Related Art
It is familiar to obtain skew images while using a copier to make a copy, or using a scanner to capture images from plane media, such as paper sheets. In general, it is attributed to a medium placed at a skew angle but not at an exact position.
To solve this problem, the key point is how to acquire the precise skew angle. Generally, the characteristics of a scanned image depend on the fundamental elements in a document, such as characters, pictures and tables. Elements available in a document are usually arranged in transverse or lengthwise directions. Most of prior arts obtain the skew angles in accordance with the variations of elements arrangement in transverse or lengthwise directions. However, such methods fail to attain the accurate skew angle due to completely detecting through the whole medium, or every pixel in a predetermined area thereon. Too many variations cause serious interferences while considering all the pixels. Consequently, the calculating result is still an incorrect skew angle, from which another skew image is derived.

Method for automatically correcting skew image


Methods and systems for searching directory access groups are disclosed. A set of groups associated with a logon user is determined. The set of groups is partitioned into one or more disjoint subsets, wherein each of the disjoint subsets is represented by a data representation including a root node and one or more intermediate nodes. For each of the disjoint subsets, the disjoint subset is path compressed to flatten a structure of the data representation representing the disjoint subset. The data representation is cached to a database cache.

Directory service offers the capability of identifying users, groups, devices, and other objects, and their relationships through a directory access protocol (DAP). A simpler version of such DAP is referred to as lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), which is generally well-known to people of ordinary skill in the art. A search product generally utilizes users from its LDAP server, and authorizes those users according to roles assigned directly to those users, or to their ancestor groups. For example, if a user belongs to group A which belongs to group B, then assigning a role to group B implicitly grants the role to all users belonging to groups A and B. Thus, it may be beneficial to have an LDAP server as a user repository, as the LDAP server can perform user role management based on groups and directory hierarchy.
Currently, firms that have a large LDAP repository with complex hierarchy are inefficient in searching for a user and all of his/her ancestor groups in order to determine his role(s) for a particular system. The search, for example, may create a large number of LDAP queries sent to an LDAP server, thereby burdening the server. Recursion depth of an LDAP query is also unpredictable. For instance, intermediate results are not cached for future usage, and therefore, LDAP exploration starts from the beginning every time. As such, user experience would degrade if a directory service is large and complex causing a search to eventually time out.
To better illustrate the point, referring now to FIG. 1A, which illustrates a data sample in a directory service, the data sample includes, among other things, common names, types (e.g., user or group), direct groups, and assigned roles. Each user or group (e.g., "Zhang San", "Team 1") can be assigned with a role (e.g., "Role1", "Role3"). In the real world, however, the amount of data is much larger and the relationships between users and groups are much more complex. FIG. 1A merely shows a small data sample for demonstration purposes. With continued reference to the data sample shown in FIG. 1A, the data can be assumed as: (i) all users and groups come from a same directory and as such, the theory can be applied to multiple directories without disturbing one another, and (ii) the service set identifier (SSID) is globally unique in the same directory.
In a conventional authorization workflow, parent groups of a current user (and subsequently grandparents and great grandparents) are recursively queried until a root node is found. In traversing the groups, all of the assigned roles for the groups are combined and specific roles for the user are determined. In more detail, referring to FIG. 1B that illustrates a conventional method of exploring directory service objects. As shown, at block 101, an LDAP object representing a current logon user is placed into a queue as a starting node of a search algorithm (e.g., breadth first search). The user can also be added to a set of search results because the roles are directly assigned to the user. At block 102, it is determined whether the queue is empty. If so, it can be determined that every relevant object has been traversed. Otherwise, at block 103, one object can be polled at a time from the queue. At block 104, an LDAP query is generated to request direct groups associated with the polled object (i.e., the user). At block 105, a list of object (e.g., parent groups) is obtained, and the objects from the list are placed into the queue and the set of search results (if they do not exist in the queue or search results). If the polled object is not associated with any direct groups, then the object is considered a root node and the list would be empty. At block 106, for every object in the set of search results (see, e.g., FIG. 1C), the role assigned to the object can be fetched, and thus, a combined list of roles can be determined for the polled object (i.e., the user).
The above-described conventional technique of exploring user groups (or directory service objects) is straight forward. However, it poses a series of problems that are critical to the user experience, and can even block business operations due to unacceptable response time. The problems, for example, can include, but not limited to, (i) inevitable traversal from a user (or an object) to a root node (or group) and the traversal is repeated every time a user is authorized, (ii) the number of groups that the user belongs to can be substantial for large firms, (iii) depth of the root group (i.e., depth that represents the length of a path to traverse from the root group to the user) is large for businesses that have complex organization, (iv) the authorization process is synchronized, and thus, the user needs to wait for such synchronization to complete, and (v) long running processes that occupy a web thread is not allowed as they can impact throughput since a web server generally has timeout settings on both client and server sides.


An inorganic pearlescent agent slurry for use in liquid treatment compositions. The slurry comprises: inorganic pearlescent agent; organic solvent, selected from the group consisting of glycerol, sorbitol and mixtures thereof; and rheology modifier. The inorganic pearlescent agent may be selected from the group consisting of mica, bismuth oxychloride, and mixtures thereof.

In the preparation of liquid treatment compositions, it is an aim to improve technical capabilities thereof and aesthetics. One method of improving the aesthetics of a liquid treatment composition is to make it pearlescent.
Pearlescence can be achieved by incorporation of a pearlescent agent into the liquid treatment composition. Pearlescent agents include inorganic natural substances, such as mica, bismuth oxychloride and titanium dioxide, and organic compounds such as metal salts of higher fatty acids, fatty glycol esters and fatty acid alkanolamides. The present invention relates only to the use of inorganic pearlescent agents. The pearlescent agent can be acquired as a powder, suspension of the agent in a suitable suspending agent or, where the agent is a crystal, it may be produced in situ.
Detergent compositions and pearlescent dispersions comprising pearlescent agent fatty acid glycol ester are disclosed in the following art; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,501 (to Kao); U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,305 (to Henkel); U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,659 (to Henkel); U.S. Pat. No. 6,835,700 (to Cognis). Liquid treatment compositions containing pearlescent agents are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,956,017 (to Procter & Gamble). Liquid detergents for washing delicate garments containing pearlescent agent are disclosed in EP 520551 B1 (to Unilever).
The present invention relates to a slurry comprising inorganic pearlescent agent. The slurry described in WO2007/111899 A2 (to Procter & Gamble) uses water as the carrier for pearlescent agent. However, the Applicants have discovered that using water as the carrier for pearlescent agent only allows up to six weeks of physical stability, before the pearlescent agent starts to settle.
The inorganic pearlescent agent slurry of WO2007/11189 is prepared in a batch process. A measured quantity of the inorganic pearlescent agent slurry is then added to the continuous process used to prepare liquid treatment compositions. However, as discussed above, the inorganic pearlescent agents tend to settle from the slurry suspension. This settling causes problems in the continuous processing used to prepare the liquid treatment compositions, since there will be points when there may be too much pearlecence or no pearlecence at all.
One potential solution to these problems may be to increase the viscosity of the slurry. However the end products necessarily have relatively low viscosity, especially at high shear, such that they may be poured or processed. Therefore components of the liquid treatment composition, like the slurry, should not have too high viscosity. Contrarily, if the slurry has low viscosity at low shear, the particulates have a tendency to fall out of suspension and either float or sink upon storage. This results in an undesired, non-homogenous slurry, wherein part of the slurry is pearly and part of it is clear and homogeneous. Such a slurry clearly would have an undesirable effect on the aesthetics of the final composition, which may have too much pearlecence or no pearlecence at all. Hence the Applicant has found that simply varying the viscosity of the slurry, does not adequately solve the problems as set out in the present invention.
Moreover, inorganic pearlescent agents are insoluble and without adequate solution, behave like wet sand, causing problems in processing of the slurry. The wet sand behavior makes the slurry difficult to mix and requires considerable effort from the equipment used in the mixing process.
The present invention provides a slurry and a procedure to prepare the slurry suitable for further processing into a liquid treatment compositions. The present invention specifically relates to improving the physical stability and process lifetime of an inorganic pearlescent agent slurry, and thereby improving the process of preparation and quality of the liquid treatment composition. The present invention also relates to the use of combination of solvent and rheology modifier in a slurry of inorganic pearlescent agents to improve the physical stability and the process lifetime of the slurry. The Applicants have discovered that replacing water by either glycerol or sorbitol solvent increases the physical stability of the slurry, in that the slurry remains physically stable 16 weeks. The present invention also relates to an optimized the process of preparing the inorganic pearlescent agent slurry wherein the addition of inorganic pearlescent agent is strictly controlled.

Pearlescent agent slurry for liquid treatment composition


A dielectric resonator (10) having three surfaces formed by chamfering three ridged portions sharing an apex of a dielectric block and another three surfaces adjacent respectively thereto, in which each of the chamfered surfaces and the adjacent surfaces thereto offers an angle of 45 degrees and an area ratio of the chamfered surfaces with respect to the adjacent surfaces is 45% is mounted in a cut-off waveguide of a generally rectangular parallelopiped (21) and feeding probe (24) and (25) are provided for composing a dielectric filter.

The present invention relates to a dielectric filter used in radio communications, and the like at high frequency band as microwave band; quasi-microwave band, and the like and a dielectric resonator used in the dielectric filter, and more particularly to a triple mode dielectric resonator in which three resonant modes are available in one dielectric block and a dielectric filter using the dielectric resonator therein.
Conventionally, a dielectric filter which providing a cut-off waveguide with cylindrical or rectangular parallelopiped dielectrics disposing successively therein and utilizing resonance of a cylindrical TE01 xcex4 mode or a rectangular TE11 xcex4 mode of dielectrics is utilized widely in filters requiring low loss and size reduction, because the dielectric filter has high unloaded Q and can be reduced in size easier than waveguide type filter (a first conventional example). A resonance of the mode is generated by an electric field repeating reflections at an interface surface of the dielectric resonator and the air. The resonant frequency of dielectric resonator is inversely proportional to the length of the resonator and square root of dielectric constant, so that the larger the dielectric constant is, the smaller the resonator is. And a magnetic field generated by the resonance excites a resonator on the next stage and the excitation corresponds to the coupling between stages of the dielectric filter. As a magnitude of the coupling is mainly determined by the distance between resonators, the farther the distance is, the weaker the coupling is. As adjusting means for the above-mentioned dielectric filter, a method of adjusting the resonant frequency by a screw in a direction orthogonal to the reflecting surface of the magnetic field or a method of adjusting the coupling between the resonators by a screw, and the like are adoptable.
And there is also a dielectric filter utilizing a dual mode dielectric resonator in order to achieve size reduction (a second conventional example). The above-mentioned dielectric resonator provides two resonance by one resonator, in which a cylindrical dielectric resonator is disposed in the center of a cylindrical waveguide by justifying the axes of the cylinders, for example, and two resonance (HE11 xcex4) generated in two directions orthogonal to the axes of the cylinders are coupled by disturbing the electromagnetic field of the resonance from the waveguide side using means as screws, and the like.
As the description about a first conventional example above, the resonant frequency of the resonator by a cylindrical TE01 xcex4 mode or a rectangular TE11 xcex4 mode of dielectrics depends on dielectric constant and the size of dielectrics and a resonator can be smaller when the dielectric constant gets larger, accordingly the simplest method of reducing size of the filter utilizing the dielectric resonator is to raise the dielectric constant of dielectrics.
However, as dielectrics with low dielectric loss used in microwave region generally has a characteristic that dielectric loss thereof increases as dielectric constant becomes higher, size reduction of the filter maintaining insertion loss low has a certain limitation. Further, as dielectrics with low loss as mentioned above is expensive, accordingly the filter becomes expensive when the filter provides more stages, that is, provides more dielectrics used therein.
And a filter relative to a second conventional example utilizing HE11 xcex4 dual mode dielectric resonator for size reduction has a problem that lots of undesired modes excited in the vicinity of pass band result in spurious characteristic deteriorated easily, because HE11 xcex4 is not the dominant mode.
On the other hand, for example, in the event that a dielectric filter used in microwave communications, and the like is composed, it is conventionally hard to reduce size and weight of a dielectric filter, because many resonators and each spaces between the resonators occupies large amount of volume and weight according to the requirement of one resonator for one resonance and space for coupling between each resonator. Therefore, there still is a problem that the dielectric filter is unavoidably composed complicated and large, even though it is a band pass filter using dielectric resonators of relatively small size.
Consequently, composing a dielectric filter using dielectric resonators capable of multiple mode resonance is proposed to realize a band pass filter with a very small and simple composition exploiting advantages in using dielectric resonators fully. For example, size reduction of a band pass filter having a double-tuned band characteristic by varying the resonant frequency of the two resonance modes to each other is proposed in unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-58516, in which degenerate coupling of two resonance modes with respect to TE101 and TE01 xcex4 modes is disclosed (a third conventional example). And a multiple mode dielectric resonator capable of generating TM01 xcex4 mode and TE01 xcex4 mode which are generated on a surface parallel to each surface (x-y surface, y-z surface, x-z surface) in a rectangular coordinate system in a generally rectangular parallelopiped shaped dielectric block is proposed in unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 11-145704 (a fourth conventional example).
However, it is still unavoidable that a dielectric resonator occupies a large amount of volume in a band pass filter requiring a resonator of multiple stages, even though the degenerate coupling of two resonance modes relative to the above-mentioned third conventional example as described in unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 7-58516 is utilized. And even a triple mode dielectric resonator relative to the fourth example as described in unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 11-145704 has a problem that the manufacturing process becomes complicated, because utilization of hybrid coupling of TM01 xcex4 mode and TE01 xcex4 mode which are orthogonal spatially requires the thickness of dielectric resonator to be adjusted to resonant frequency.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to realize a dielectric filter capable of reducing the number of dielectric resonators to a large extent, aiming at size reduction and cost reduction and providing favorable out-of-band characteristic by incorporating the mode which has been undesired into the band and activating the mode as a portion of resonance necessary for filter characteristic exploiting advantages that unloaded Q of the dielectric filter by a cylindrical TE01 xcex4 ode or a rectangular TE11 xcex4 mode relative to a first and a second conventional examples is high.
And a second object of the present invention is to solve the problem of the above-mentioned third and fourth conventional examples and to provide a very small dielectric resonator with simple composition in spite of enabling a triple mode resonance and a dielectric filter using the above-mentioned dielectric resonator.
The present invention aims at size reduction of dielectric filter by using three resonant modes in one dielectric block in order to achieve a first object of the above-mentioned present invention. That is, in a block of a generally rectangular parallelopiped consisting of dielectric material, three resonant modes in a single dielectric block can be coupled by chamfering a ridge portion of the dielectric block and another ridge portion unparallel thereto.
That is, the dielectric resonator claimed in claim 1 is characterized in combining three resonant modes of the above-mentioned dielectric block by removing one ridge portion and another ridge portion unparallel thereto in a block of a generally rectangular parallelopiped.
It is apparent from physical symmetry characteristics that a rectangular TE11 xcex4 mode can exist in each of three orthogonal axial direction in a block of a generally rectangular parallelopiped. In a conventional dielectric filter using TE11 xcex4 mode or HE11 xcex4 mode, the filter is composed using only one or two resonance out of the above-mentioned resonance of three axial direction, while the rest of the resonance exerts a harmful effect as undesired resonance. In the present invention, the rest of the resonance is utilized positively so that one resonator acts as three resonators.
And a dielectric filter claimed in claim 2 is characterized in disposing at least one dielectric resonator claimed in claim 1 in a cut-off waveguide.
Because a small dielectric filter with low insertion loss can be manufactured by composing a filter in which one or more of the above-mentioned dielectric resonators are disposed in the cut-off waveguide.
Further, a dielectric filter claimed in claim 3 is characterized in disposing two or more of the above-mentioned dielectric resonators in the above-mentioned cut-off waveguide and providing means for partition consisting of electric conductive material between the above-mentioned dielectric resonators.
Because, in the event of using plural of resonators, it becomes possible to adjust the coupling of each mode between resonators properly, to take required coupling for the pass band characteristics and to form an attenuation pole out of the pass band by providing conductive partitions between each of the resonators.
And a dielectric filter claimed in claim 4 is characterized in disposing a metal rod contacting with the above-mentioned waveguide by one end parallel to a side surface of the above-mentioned dielectric resonator in a position away from the above-mentioned side surface by a predetermined distance, in which resonant frequency of each resonance and the coupling between each of the resonance are adjustable depending on the length of the above-mentioned metal rod.
Because, a filter using a triple mode dielectric resonator according to the present invention is capable of adjusting resonant frequency and the amount of coupling by putting a metal rod as a screw from the cut-off waveguide parallel to the side surface of the dielectric resonator in the position away from the side surface of the dielectric resonator by a predetermined distance and occupying adjustable range of the filter widely by combining above-mentioned operation with conventional means for adjusting.
Incidentally, a dielectric filter claimed in claim 5 is characterized in further installing a resonator other than the dielectric resonator claimed in claim 1 in the above-mentioned waveguide as well.
Because, a small filter with an arbitrary number of stage can be composed by combining the triple mode dielectric resonator according to the present invention and resonators of dielectrics TE01 xcex4 mode or TEM mode by metallic conductor, and the like. Besides, out-of-band characteristics all over the filter can be improved by using a resonator with less undesired resonance or with undesired resonance located away from the necessary band as the above-mentioned combined resonator.
On the other hand, in the present invention, a dielectric resonator is composed of a dielectric block of a generally rectangular parallelopiped with three ridge portions chamfered thereof and TE01 xcex4 mode is generated on the electro-magnetically individual three surfaces of the above-mentioned dielectric block as claimed in claim 6 in order to achieve the above-mentioned second object of the present invention.
Incidentally, it is preferable for the above-mentioned dielectric block to be mounted in a cut-off waveguide of a generally rectangular parallelopiped as claimed in claim 7.
And a dielectric resonator claimed in claim 8 is characterized in having three surfaces of A1, A2, A3 (hereafter called surfaces A) formed by chamfering three ridge portions sharing an apex of the above-mentioned dielectric block and three surfaces of B1, B2, B3 (hereafter called surfaces B) adjacent to each of the surfaces A respectively, in which an angle between 40 degrees and 50 degrees, both inclusive, is offered by the surfaces A and B and an area ratio of the above-mentioned surfaces A with respect to the surfaces B stands between 1% and 200%, both inclusive.
Further, a dielectric resonator claimed in claim 9 is characterized in having three surfaces A formed by chamfering three ridge portions sharing an apex of the above-mentioned dielectric block, another three surfaces of Axe2x80x24, Axe2x80x25, Axe2x80x26 (hereafter called surfaces Axe2x80x2) formed by chamfering three ridge portions sharing another apex on a diagonal line of the above-mentioned point, another three surfaces of Bxe2x80x21, Bxe2x80x22, Bxe2x80x23 (hereafter called surfaces Bxe2x80x2) adjacent to each of surfaces A and surfaces Axe2x80x2 respectively and still another three surfaces of Cxe2x80x21 Cxe2x80x22 Cxe2x80x23 (hereafter called surfaces Cxe2x80x2) adjacent to each of surfaces A and surfaces Axe2x80x2 respectively, in which an angle between 40 degrees and 50 degrees, both inclusive, is offered by the surfaces A and Bxe2x80x2 or by the surfaces Axe2x80x2 and Cxe2x80x2 and an area ratio of the above-mentioned surfaces A with respect to the above-mentioned surfaces Bxe2x80x2 or an area ratio of the above-mentioned surfaces Axe2x80x2 with respect to the above-mentioned surfaces Cxe2x80x2 stand between 1% and 200%, both inclusive, respectively.
On the other hand, a dielectric filter claimed in claim 10 is a dielectric filter using a dielectric resonator, in which an angle between 40 degrees and 50 degrees, both inclusive, is offered by the above-mentioned three surfaces A or Axe2x80x2 and other three surfaces B or Bxe2x80x2 adjacent thereto respectively and the surfaces A or Axe2x80x2 and surfaces B or Bxe2x80x2 adjacent thereto respectively have three opposing surfaces of C1, C2, C3 (hereafter called surfaces C) or the surfaces Cxe2x80x2 and characterized in providing a feeding probe near the surfaces B and Bxe2x80x2, the surfaces Bxe2x80x2 and Bxe2x80x2, the surfaces C and Cxe2x80x2, or the surfaces Cxe2x80x2 and Cxe2x80x2.
And a dielectric filter claimed in claim 11 is a dielectric filter using a dielectric resonator having the above-mentioned three surfaces A formed by chamfering three ridge portion sharing an apex of the above-mentioned dielectric block, another three surfaces B adjacent to the above-mentioned three surfaces A forming an angle of 40 degrees through 50 degrees and three surfaces C opposing to the above-mentioned three surfaces B respectively, in which a feeding probe is provided on the surfaces B and surfaces C.
Incidentally, as a dielectric filter claimed in claim 12, an angle offered by direction p and pxe2x80x2 of the feeding probe with respect to the x, y, z axes of the above-mentioned dielectric resonator are variable within the range of xe2x88x9245 degrees through +45 degrees while in use.
And as a dielectric filter claimed in claim 13, frequency and attenuation generating the attenuation pole at a lower side band can be varied by varying a position for providing a feeding probe on the above-mentioned surfaces B and a position for providing a feeding probe on the above-mentioned surfaces C respectively.
Here, either of rod-type as claimed in claim 14 or loop-type as claimed in claim 15 is acceptable as the above-mentioned feeding probe.
Further, as claimed in claim 16, a dielectric filter capable of being applied to various kinds of application can be composed by mounting two or more of the above-mentioned dielectric resonators in the above-mentioned cut-off waveguide of a generally rectangular parallelopiped therein.

Dielectric resonator and dielectric filter


A rotating thrust-producing apparatus having a control system includes a rotatable foil having opposite first and second faces and a plurality of spaced apart fins occupying a periphery thereof. A pressure control assembly includes a first adjustable control surface disposed adjacent to a first face of the foil so as to be selectively movable over the fins of the foil. The pressure control assembly may include a second control surface disposed adjacent to the second face of the foil and which may be adjustable. As the foil is rotated, and the at least one adjustable control surface is moved over fins of the foil, a fluid pressure imbalance is created, causing a thrust in the direction of the pressure deficit.

The present invention generally relates to devices for producing thrust by rotation in a fluid, such as air or water. More particularly, the present invention relates to a rotating thrust-producing apparatus control system which selectively creates an imbalance of fluid pressure acting on opposite faces of a circular foil to cause it to move in the direction of the pressure deficit.
The most common device for producing axial thrust by rotation in a fluid, such as air or water, is in the form of the so-called screw propellers. Screw propellers are widely used for aircraft and marine propulsion. Three-blade propellers have become particularly popular for larger aircraft, while four-blade propellers have been extensively used for marine propulsion.
The axial thrust produced by a screw propeller depends upon the degree of vacuum created on the surface of the blade on the side of the direction of its travel because of movement of the blade through the fluid at a certain angle to the general plane of rotation of the blade and on the area of the blade at which such partial vacuum or reduced pressure is caused to act. The faster the rotation of the propeller blades, the greater the degree of vacuum created to produce axial thrust. However, screw propellers are limited in both the speed of rotation and/or in the number of blades beyond a certain limit as in spite of the increase in the degree of vacuum, the fluid pressure from the opposite side begins to decrease in a degree nullifying the beneficial effect of the increased vacuum.
In view of these limitations, propeller devices have been proposed which attempt to increase the effective area on which the fluid pressure acts for producing the axial thrust as compared with screw propellers. An example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,124,200 which discloses a disc-like alternative to the standard screw propeller.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,333 discloses a propeller-like circular foil for producing thrust in an axial direction when rotated. When connected to a source of power and rotated at high speed, the circular foil efficiently produces thrust in an axial direction. The thrust may be increased by increasing the rotational speed of the foil. However, this patent utilizes a single fixed plate control system, wherein the magnitude of the force applied to the pressure foil can only be controlled by varying the rotational speed of the pressure foil, where high rotational speed means more force and low rotational speed means less force.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for a control system for a rotating thrust-producing apparatus which enables the magnitude of the force applied to the pressure foil to be controlled not only by the varying rotational speed of the pressure foil, but also in ways that will enable the pressure foil to act on an attached vehicle to speed up, slow down, brake, or even change directions. The present invention fulfills these needs, and provides other related advantages.

Control system for rotating thrust-producing apparatus


Macromolecular photocrosslinkers have polymeric backbones of substituted siloxane groups carrying photoactive groups. When exposed to light of wavelength above 305 nm, the photocrosslinkers are adapted to generate radicals which are retained on the macromolecular photocrosslinker and react to form a crosslinked network structure. The photocrosslinkers may be used in the production of medical devices, including ophthalmic lenses.

The present invention relates to new photoinitiators capable of acting as photocrosslinkers providing a combination of photoinitiating and crosslinking processes.
The UV curing of resin formulations is widely used in industry as the setting process for coatings, adhesives, and more recently paints. Such formulations may comprise a combination of vinyl, usually acrylate, monomers and crosslinkers, together with a photoinitiator. Other possible constituents of the formulations include crosslinkers and vehicles. In general an advantage of photocurable formulations is that the monomers act as their own vehicle, and the use of solvent is obviated, which has environmental advantages.
Advances in the technology of photocuring, improvements such as, those in UV lamps, cationic initiators for epoxide-based formulations, water borne coatings, and many novel monomers has enabled this production process to penetrate a number of important manufacturing sectors. Photopolymerization is now used in photoresists for printed circuits and microelectronics, for photolithography, magnetic recording media, glass-fiber laminates, and for medical devices, especially for dental and ophthalmic applications.
For the medical applications of photopolymerisation it is usual to employ visible light, rather than UV, to effect the cure of the resin formulation. The use of visible, usually blue, light avoids exposing patient and dentist or surgeon to harmful irradiation. Increasingly the merit of this approach is being recognized for industrial practice, where operatives also need protection from prolonged exposure to harmful UV.
European Patent 0800 657 describes a photoinitiator linked to a macromer structure which together with a copolymerizable monomer and a crosslinker is capable forming a polymerization product, such as an ophthalmic lens that retains photoinitiator radical in the resulting network. This is advantageous in medical applications wherein such potentially harmful radicals must be carefully controlled. However, this system would not be applicable for producing a polymerized product directly in the capsular bag in the eye since it is not directed to photoinitiators activated by light in the visible range, U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,265 discloses siloxane polyphotoinitiators to be used with a curable silicone resin. This system is UV curable and consequently it will not be applicable for photocuring in the living eye.
It is a characteristic of almost all, if not all, of the formulations used for aforementioned types of application that they are crosslinked. Crosslinking of the polymeric bases which constitute the coatings or artifacts of the aforementioned industrial products confers important advantages upon them. Crosslinked polymers have greater environmental (e.g. temperature and moisture) resistance, solvent resistance and dimensional and mechanical stability, than equivalent linear polymers. This is especially so for where the equivalent linear polymer are produced by photopolymerisation they have an atactic, non-crystalline, structure.
Crosslinking is introduced into photopolymerized products by including in the formulation for the resin, coating or gelling system an acrylate, or similar, crosslinker, which is characterized by having two or more crosslinkable acrylate or vinyl functions. In some formulations this crosslinking species is a polymer of low molecular weight. The crosslinker copolymerizes with the monomers of the formulation to produce a network structure.
It is the object of the present invention provide compounds which act as photocrosslinkers for vinyl, acrylate and methacrylate monomers and acrylated silicone compositions, especially in solution.
It is also an important object of the present invention to provide photocrosslinkers with capability to act in aqueous solutions, especially on water soluble macromolecular particles having functional groups for crosslinking.
It is another object of the present invention to provide photocrosslinkers with enhanced photoactivity (100% conversion of monomer to polymer in aqueous solution) which reduces photoinitiator residues to a minimum, especially, vinyl modification of photoinitiator component and thereby reducing compositional drift, Draize and other environmental hazards.
The invention as presented below will explain bow the mentioned objects are met while discussing further obvious advantages.
The present invention pertains to macromolecular hydrophilic photocrosslinkers having a general formula (A)n(B)m(C)p, wherein
(i) A, B and C are units of substituted ethylene or siloxane groups in the macromolecular structure;
(ii) A, B and C are randomly distributed and the unit C carries a photoactive group;
(iii) n=0-98 mole %, m=0-98 mole %, n+m=50-98 mole % and p=0.5-50 mole %.
When the photoactive groups of units C are exposed to light of determined wavelengths above 305 nm, radicals arc generated which are retained on the macromolecular photocrosslinkers and will react to form a crosslinked network structure. Preferably the final structure is solid article.
The photocrosslinker further preferably further comprises functional groups for crosslinking. Such groups are conventionally vinylic, acrylic or methacrylic groups and their nature and introduction on polymeric backbone are well known to persons skilled in the art and will be referred to as xe2x80x9cfunctional groups for crosslinkingxe2x80x9d.
According to one aspect of the invention a fluid composition of the photocrosslinker in a suitable amount can be directly crosslinked into the final solid product upon sufficient irradiation. In another aspect the composition for crosslinking into a solid article comprises suitable amounts of the photocrosslinker and a polymer carrying functional groups for crosslinking. The photocrosslinker in such a system will thereby replace the conventional combination of crosslinker and photoinitiator. Applicable polymers with suitable functional can readily be provided with the skilled person for the purpose of crosslinking desired articles. For example it would be conceivable to employ polymers having a sufficiently high refractive index to be acceptable as intraocular lenses. Suitable polymers can be, for example, be found in International Patent Application PCT/EP99/07718. In a still another aspect of the present invention, the photocrosslinkers can be employed in a composition, preferably an aqueous composition further comprising at least one copolymerizable vinylic, acrylic or methacrylic monomer. Such monomers and combinations thereof are well known in the art and will not be described herein in further detail. It is, however, to be understood that the photocrosslinker will replace conventional crosslinking agents and their combination with photoinitiators in such systems.
It is highly preferred that the photoactive groups of the photocrosslinkers comprise a phosphine oxide, in order to generate the necessary radicals for crosslinking from the exposure of visible light. More preferably, the photoactive group is an acyl- or aroyl phosphine oxide.
According to a preferred aspect, the photoactive group is linked to the ethylene groups of units C of the photocrosslinkers by a linking group comprising a phenylene group. Optionally, such a phenylene group is substituted in order to obtain more stability.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the photocrosslinkers comprises substituted ethylene units A, B, C of a macromolecular photocrosslinker in according to:
A=xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94C(R1R2)xe2x80x94, B=xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94C(R1R3)xe2x80x94, C=xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94C(R1R4)xe2x80x94, wherein
R1 is hydrogen or methyl;
R2 is xe2x80x94CON(Me)2, xe2x80x94CO2CH2CH2OH, xe2x80x94OCOCH3, xe2x80x94OCOCH2CH2Ph, xe2x80x94OH or a lactam group;
R3 is xe2x80x94CON(Me)2, xe2x80x94CO2CH2CH2OH, xe2x80x94OCOCH3, xe2x80x94OCOCH2CH2Ph, xe2x80x94OH or a lactam group when B is xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94C(R1R3)xe2x80x94 with the proviso that R2 and R3 are not the same; and
R4 is xe2x80x94R5C(O)P(O) R6R7 or xe2x80x94R5P(O)R6OC(O)R7, wherein R5, R6 and R7 are selected among same or different aryl groups comprising phenyl, methylphenyl, dimethylphenyl, trimethylphenyl, methoxyphenyl, dimethoxyphenyl, trimethoxyphenyl, methylolphenyl, dimethylolphenyl, trimethylolphenyl or styryl radicals, or
In the general formula above, xe2x80x94OH denotes a hydroxyl group, Me a methyl group and Ph is a phenyl group. The lactam group typically is a heterocyclic ring structure of 4 to 7 atoms of which at least one is nitrogen. A suitable such lactam group provides a N-vinyl-pyrrolidone structure as one of units A or B on said ethylenic backbone. It is also to be understood that besides the mentioned substituents functional groups for crosslinking can be added to the marcromolecule in accordance with conventional methods.
In one advantageous aspect of this embodiment, the photocrosslinkers, R2 and R3 according to above are selected so as to form a water-soluble molecule.
Suitable units A and B in the general formula (A)n(B)m(C)p are selected among, but not limited to, N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate, N-N-dimethylacrylamide and vinyl acetate. The vinyl acetate referred to preferably will be hydrolyzed conventionally to vinyl alcohol. It is also referred to Table 1 below in the exemplifying part of the description for a number of specific photocrosslinkers based on such units (or co-monomers) and 4-vinylbenzoyl-diphenylphosphine oxide (VBPO) as a photoinitiating group. Accordingly, VBPO units constitute units C in said general formula above. Some especially suitable water soluble, blue light activated photocrosslinkers according to the present invention comprise NVP together with vinyl acetate units, N,N-dimethylacrylamide units alone or together with 2-hydroxyethylethacrylate units, all combined with VBPO units. These photocrosslinkers demonstrate high conversion rate (monomer to polymer) and suitably high stability in aqueous solution. This type of photocrosslinkers can be prepared by conventional radical polymerization.
According to another embodiment, the photocrosslinkers described above with general formula can comprise units A, B and C which are siloxane monomer units having a formula
xe2x80x94RaRbSiOxe2x80x94, wherein Ra and Rb in units A and B are selected among lower substituted or unsubstituted alkyl groups, aryl groups and arylalkyl groups. Preferably, at least on of Ra and Rb is an aryl or arylalkylgroup. More preferably Ra and Rb is substituted with one or more fluorine atoms. Alkyl groups in this context means a C1 to C10 alkyl group which is straight or branched.
According to a preferred aspect of this embodiment the siloxane units comprising substituents in accordance with:
A is xe2x80x94Si(R1R2)xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94, B is xe2x80x94Si(R1R3)xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94 and C is xe2x80x94Si(R1R4)xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94, wherein
R1 is C1 to C6 alkyl; R2 is C1 to C6 alkyl or phenyl; R3 is R1, R2or C1 to C6 fluroalkyl;
R4 is xe2x80x94R5R6C(O)P(O) R7R8 or xe2x80x94R5 R6P(O)R7OC(O)R8, wherein R5 is a spacing group; R6, R7 and R8 are selected among, same or different aryl groups comprising phenyl, methylphenyl, dimethylphenyl, trimethylphenyl, methoxyphenyl, dimethoxyphenyl, trimethoxyphenyl, methylolphenyl, dimethylolphenyl, trimethylolpheny or styryl radicals.
The aliphatic spacing group R5 is preferably comprises between one and ten atoms and suitably
The spacing group is (xe2x80x94CH2)n, wherein n is between 1 and 10.
According to an aspect of the invention particularly suitable for the production of ophthalmic lenses, the photocrosslinkers has radicals connected to the polysiloxane backbone such that R1is methyl; R2 is methyl or phenyl; and R3 is R1, R2 or xe2x80x94CH2CH2CF3. Such polysiloxane photocrosslinkers may have functional acrylic groups in its terminal ends. Polysiloxanes of this type and their applicability and advantages, especially for injectable intraocular leases, are disclosed in the International Patent Application PCT/EP99/07781 which document herewith is incorporated as a reference.
The present invention further involves a method of forming a macromolecular crosslinked network from a fluid composition comprising photocrosslinkers according to any of the mentioned embodiments by irradiating said composition with light exceeding a wavelength of about 305 nm for a time sufficient to form a solid article. The composition can comprise said
photocrosslinkers at least one copolymerizable vinylic, acrylic or methacrylic monomer, or the composition can comprise a polymer provided with functional vinylic, acrylic or methacrylic groups. It would be obvious to the skilled person to combine any such monomers and polymers together with the inventive photocrosslinkers and also, if found advantageous, combining the composition with a conventional crosslinker suitable for the specifically selected composition. It is further to be understood that the constituents of such a composition shall be selected so as be sufficiently compatible to each other and the selected fluid environment, for example depending on if photocrosslinkers having ethylene or polysiloxane backbone are selected.
In an especially advantageous application of the method, a medical device or medical implant such an ophthalmic lens is produced by means of a conventional molding method wherein the photocrosslinking into a network is a conventional curing process. The inventive method is particularly suitable for producing an intraocular lens by means of injection and subsequent photocrosslinking direct in the capsular bag of eye, from which the natural lens has been surgically removed.
It is also a part of the present invention provide an ophthalmically acceptable composition comprising the new photocrosslinkers. Such a composition will typically have a refractive index greater than about 1.39 and a viscosity such that said composition can be injected through standard cannula having a needle of 15 Gauge, or finer. Such a composition can further comprise of any suitable constituents as outlined above that can be a part of the network provided by the subsequent photocrosslinking.
The photocrosslinkers according to the present invention provide for a combination of photoinitiating and crosslinking processes. It is an important feature of the present invention to effect this combination of function by attaching photoactive groups to a polymeric or macromolecular structure. The photoactive groups, when exposed to light of the appropriate wavelength, will undergo photoinduced scission and generating radicals, which are retained on the polymeric or macromolecular structure. These retained radicals then initiate, terminate, or, in some other way participate in the gel forming process that is the objective of the radiation cure of the photomaterial. The use of the inventive photocrosslinkers confers distinct advantages, both chemical and environmental, as compared with the combination of a separate photoinitiator and crosslinker. In a chemical context the use of a photocrosslinker gives opportunities to produce networks that are more homogeneous than those produced by photocuring conventional photocurable systems. The latter systems, involving as they do, combinations of monomers, have structures dependent on the reactivity ratios of the monomers and crosslinkers. Often, for example, in a coating being manufactured at high rates of production, a crosslinker is selected because of its high reactivity. Disparities in the reactivates of the components of a formulation gives rise to compositional drift, the change of the average unit composition during the course of a polymerization, and this in relation to a reactive crosslinker implies that sections of a network forming later, in the curing process, have a lower crosslink density than sections formed earlier. Improving the homogeneity of crosslinked networks is a subject receiving greater attention as the technical demands imposed on industrial products increases. Homogenous networks have, for example, higher fracture toughness and better optical properties heterogeneous networks. The shrinkage occurring during their formation is more uniform allowing for more precision in castings. The benefits of using a photocrosslinker as a network former, as compared with a combination of photoinitiator and crosslinker, arise because the radical species they produce act as crosslinkers via the polymer chain to which they are attached. Further such radicals are generated throughout the setting phase, their concentration being controlled by the photoinitiating species"" quantum efficiency and the intensity of the light, which may be modulated during the setting, in addition to its concentration. This distinction results in the formation of networks having a more controlled and homogeneous structure.
Retaining photoinitiator residues in the network of a medical product, such as a contact lens or a dental filling has desirable physiological implications. Further photocrosslinkers because of their polymeric, or macromolecular, nature are more acceptable, environmentally, than many conventional crosslinkers which are known to cause skin and lung irritation.
Within the context of the present invention, it is possible to substitute a photocrosslinker, either completely, or partially, for a combination of a conventional photoinitiator and a conventional crosslinker. Alternatively, the inventive photocrosslinkers can be used in combination with a conventional photoinitiator or a conventional crosslinker, as will be understood by practitioners skilled in formulating systems for crosslinking.
Persons skilled in this art will also appreciate that the inventive photocrosslinkers as described herein for photoactive systems responsive to visible light may be applied equally to systems responsive to UV light, so the present invention is of very general applicability.


The invention relates to therapeutically active azaheterocyclic compounds and to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the compounds. The novel compounds are useful in treating a central nervous system ailment related to the GABA uptake.

In recent years much pharmacological research concerning .gamma.-aminobutyric acid (hereinafter designated GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, has been carried out.
The inhibition of GABA uptake results in enhanced availability of this inhibitory neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft and thus to increased GABA' ergic activity. Increased GABA'ergic activity can be useful in the treatment, for example of anxiety, pain and epilepsy, as well as muscular and movement disorders (see, for example, P. Krogsgaard-Larsen et al., Progress in Medicinal Chemistry, 1985, 22, 68-112).
A well-known and potent inhibitor of GABA uptake from the synaptic cleft into presynaptic nerve terminals and glial cells is, for example, 3-piperidinecarboxylic acid (nipecotic acid). However, being a relatively polar compound and therefore unable to cross the blood-brain barrier, 3-piperidinecarboxylic acid itself has found no practical utility as a drug.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,999 and No. 4,514,414 (SmithKline Beckman Corporation) and in EP 236342 as well as in EP 231996 (Novo Industri A/S) some derivatives of N-(4,4-disubstituted-3-butenyl)azaheterocyclic carboxylic acids are claimed as inhibitors of GABA uptake. In EP 342635 and EP 374801 (Novo Industri A/S), N-substituted azaheterocyclic carboxylic acids in which an oxime ether group and vinyl ether group forms part of the N-substituent respectively are claimed as inhibitors of GABA uptake. EP 221572 (Warner-Lambert Company) claims that 1-aryloxyalkylpyridine-3-carboxylic acids are inhibitors of GABA uptake.
In addition to the above cited references, U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,286 and British Patent No. 905,692 discloses 10-(dialkylaminoethoxyethyl)phenothiazines and U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,639 discloses 5-(dialkylaminoethoxyethyl)-10,11-dihydrodibenzo[b,f]azepines. The compounds of U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,639 and British Patent No. 905,692 are disclosed for having antihistaminic, spasmolytic, anti-inflammatory, sedative and ganglion-blocking activity. The compounds of the present invention essentially differ from the compounds in U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,286, U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,639 and British Patent No. 905,692 by the amino acid moiety important for the inhibition of GABA uptake.
According to Yunger, L. M. et al., J. Pharm. Exp. Ther. 1984, 228, 109, N-(4,4-diphenyl-3-buten-1-yl)nipecotic acid (designated SK&F 89976A), N-(4,4-diphenyl-3-buten-1-yl)guvacine (designated SK&F 100330A), N-(4,4-diphenyl-3-buten-1-yl)-homo-.beta.-proline (designated SK&F 100561) and N-(4-phenyl-4-(2-thienyl)-3-buten-1-yl)nipecotic acid (designated SK&F 100604J) are orally active inhibitors of GABA uptake. These data are summarized in Krogsgaard-Larsen, P. et al., Epilepsy Res. 1987, 1, 77-93.
Guvacine is 1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylic acid and homo-.beta.-proline is pyrrolidine-3-acetic acid.


Method of detecting methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) in a nucleic acid coamplification assay. The invention advantageously reduces the incidence of false-positive MRSA determinations in real-time assays by requiring satisfaction of a threshold criterion that excludes certain co-infections from the MRSA determination. The invention further provides for determination of MSSA, even when the MSSA is present in combination with methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative (MR-CoNS) bacteria at high or low levels.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterial pathogen resistant to certain antibiotics that are otherwise effective against methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA). More specifically, strains of S. aureus that are oxacillin and methicillin resistant, historically termed MRSA, are resistant to all β-lactam agents, including cephalosporins and carbapenems. Hospital-associated MRSA isolates often are multiply resistant to other commonly used antimicrobial agents, including erythromycin, clindamycin, and tertacycline, while community-associated MRSA isolates are often resistant only to β-lactam agents and erythromycin. (See U.S. CDC publication, "Laboratory Detection of: Oxacillin/Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus" (2005)) The estimated number of people developing a serious MRSA infection (i.e., invasive) in 2005 was about 94,360. (JAMA 298:1763-1771 (2007))
The magnitude of the MRSA problem is growing, and the human and economic tolls are rising. Indeed, approximately 32% of the U.S. population is already colonized with S. aureus, and approximately and 0.8% is already colonized MRSA. (Kuehnert et al., J. Infect. Diseases 193:172 (2006)) The proportion of healthcare-associated staphylococcal infections due to MRSA has also been increasing: 2% of S. aureus infections in U.S. intensive-care units were MRSA in 1974, 22% in 1995, and 64% in 2004. (Klevens et al., Clin. Infect. Diseases 42:389 (2006)) The evidence indicates that infections by MRSA and MSSA are associated with similar direct medical costs, but that MRSA infection is associated with more than double the rate of death when compared to infection by MSSA (i.e., 21% versus 8%). (Rubin et al., Emerg. Infect. Diseases 5:9 (1999)) Various diagnostic and screening assays that detect MRSA have been developed to support early intervention.
Although screening for MRSA colonization has traditionally relied on culture of specimens, for example using selective broth or agar medium, molecular approaches have been developed to speed the time to diagnosis. For example, Huletsky et al., in J. Clin. Microbiol. 42:1875 (2004) described a real-time PCR assay for detecting MRSA in specimens containing a mixture of staphylococci. The assay relied on detection of a mobile genetic element, designated the Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec), integrated at the 3′ end of an open reading frame of unknown function, termed "orfX." The SCCmec, which carries the mecA gene that confers drug-resistance in MRSA bacteria, is located at least 9 kb distant from the integration junction detected in the amplification reaction. The technique described by Huletsky et al., requires a collection of five primers that hybridize on one side of the SCCmec right extremity sequence, and one primer and three molecular beacon hybridization probes specific for the S. aureus chromosomal orfX gene. The requirement for numerous orfX primers reflects the known sequence divergence among different MRSA isolates. Alternative molecular assays independently detect a first gene sequence specific for S. aureus, and a second gene sequence specific for the mecA gene, but fail to establish physical linkage between the two sequences.
Published reports have highlighted certain deficiencies in each of the existing molecular approaches for MRSA detection. For example, Desjardins et al., in J. Clin, Microbiol. 44:1219 (2006) described results from procedures carried out using a commercial MRSA assay employing the junction-based amplification procedure for testing nasal specimens. Briefly, the authors noted the recovery of MSSA isolates from samples identified as being MRSA-positive in the real-time assay. This incidence of false-positive results might be explained by the presence of a junction in bacteria that have lost the mecA gene, for example as the result of genetic instability in the absence of antibiotic selective pressure. Moreover, our coworkers have observed that the same commercial assay failed to detect at least one highly drug resistant MRSA isolate, presumably because the junction sequences were highly diverged and did not hybridize amplification primers efficiently. The utility of the screening strategy is further confounded by the fact that the SCC junction is not uniquely associated with the methicillin resistance (see Becker et al., in J. Clin. Microbiol, 44:229 (2006), on page 231). Thus, the junction-based MRSA detection approaches are plagued by both false-positive and false-negative results.
Other molecular approaches for MRSA screening have been considered, but also suffer deficiencies. For example, Becker et al., in J. Clin. Microbiol. 44:229 (2006) questioned whether nasal colonization by both methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MR-CoNS) and MSSA strains occur frequently enough to represent a risk of false-positive MRSA determinations by molecular methods. The authors showed that 3-4% of a sample population of patients admitted for hospital procedures showed evidence for nasal colonization by MSSA and MR-CoNS. Thus, samples from colonized individuals included both mecA DNA sequences, and S. aureus-specific DNA sequences. The study concluded that a molecular MRSA screening test independently targeting the mecA gene and a S. aureus-specific gene would be associated with an unacceptable positive predictive value of 40% when applied directly to clinical specimens in a low MRSA setting.
Existing approaches for MRSA screening ofcomplex samples, such as nasal swab samples, are prone to certain levels of erroneous assignments. Accordingly there remains a need for a rapid molecular approach that reduces false-positive MRSA assignments, particularly in instances of coinfection by S. aureus and methicillin-resistant bacteria other than S. aureus (e.g., MR-CoNS). The present invention answers this need.

Detection of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms


An automotive mileage calculating apparatus of this invention consists of a vehicle speed sensor, an acceleration sensor, a slip detecting circuit, and a mileage calculating circuit. The slip detecting circuit detects a wheel slip either by comparing the accelerations calculated from the vehicle speed sensor's speed signal and from the acceleration sensor's acceleration signal; by comparing the vehicle speeds calculated from the vehicle speed sensor's speed signal and from the acceleration sensor's acceleration signal; or by comparing the mileages calculated from the vehicle speed sensor's speed signal and from the acceleration sensor's acceleration signal. During normal running, the mileage is calculated by using the speed sensor's speed signal. When a wheel slip is detected, the mileage calculation is performed by using the acceleration sensor's acceleration signal, thus giving a correct mileage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive mileage calculating, and more specifically, one that calculates the distance traveled by the car in real time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In conventional automotive mileage calculating apparatuses, a vehicle speed sensor that generates a speed signal representing the vehicle speed is mounted to the driving wheel or to the driven gear of the transmission and the speed signal outputted from the vehicle speed sensor are integrated with time to calculate the distance traveled by the car.
3. Problems to be Solved by the Invention
With the conventional method of calculating the mileage by using the vehicle speed sensor, although there is no problem when the car is running normally, a problem arises when it is running on snow-covered, frozen or muddy roads. In such roads, the wheel may easily slip, producing incorrect car speed signals, so that a correct mileage cannot be obtained.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and is intended to provide an automotive mileage calculating apparatus that can calculate a correct mileage even when the vehicle wheels are slipping on bad conditioned roads.

Automotive mileage calculating apparatus


A paper transport mechanism which is suited for use in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine which allows the user to more easily remove paper jammed between guide plates. The paper transport mechanism includes at least three guide plates which engage one another when the transport mechanism is in use, but may be separated, each from the other, in order to clear a jammed paper path. The first guide plate has an open and a closed position. The second and third guide plates each have rollers attached. When the paper transport mechanism is in use, the first guide plate is in the closed position and the rollers of the second and third guide plates press against one another and transport paper therebetween. When a paper jam occurs, the first guide plate is moved to the open position and the second and third guide plates and their associated rollers are separated to allow access to any paper jammed therebetween.

The present invention generally relates to paper transport mechanism, and more particularly to a paper transport mechanism which is suited for use in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.
FIG. 1 shows a side view of a conceivable copying machine with a side panel thereof omitted for the sake of convenience. In FIG. 1, a plurality of cassettes 1 are provided in a plurality of stages at predetermined intervals along the vertical direction. Each cassette 1 stores paper 2 which is fed by pickup rollers 3. A transport mechanism 4 transports the paper 2 fed from the pickup rollers 3 to a recording part 5 which records an image on the paper 2. A fixing unit 6 fixes the image which is transferred onto the paper 2 in the recording part. The paper 2 from the fixing unit 6 is ejected onto a tray 7 which stacks the paper 2.
The transport mechanism 4 includes a first guide plate 8 for paper transport, second guide plates 9 for paper transport, and first through third rollers 11, 12 and 13. The second guide plates 9 have the same structure, and confront the first guide plate 8 with a gap formed therebetween. The first rollers 11 are provided on the first and second guide plates 8 and 9 respectively, and the second and third rollers 12 and 13 are respectively provided on each second guide plate 9. The first rollers 11 provided on the first guide plate 8 make pressing contact with the first rollers provided on the second guide plate 9. On the other hand, the second rollers 12 make pressing contact with the corresponding third rollers 13.
The two end parts of each second guide plate 9 are curved towards the cassettes 1. The surface at the end part of one second guide plate 9 confronts the surface of the end part of another second guide plate 9 which is located above or below the one second guide plate 9 with a gap formed therebetween.
If a paper jam occurs in the transport mechanism 4, the first guide plate 8 is opened as shown in FIG. 2 so as to open the transport path. The paper 2 causing the paper jam is the removed from the transport path.
However, the transport path which is formed between two adjacent second guide plates 9 is not opened even when the first guide plate 8 is opened. For this reason, it is difficult to remove a paper 2 jammed between two adjacent second guide plates 9. In some extreme cases, it is impossible to reach for and remove the paper 2 which is stuck between two adjacent second guide plates 9.
If the user cannot reach the paper 2 which is stuck between two adjacent second guide plates 9, the user manually rotates the second roller 12 or the third roller 13 so as to eject the paper 2. However, this manual operation is troublesome for the user to perform. In addition, this manual operation may cause an erroneous operation which may tear the paper 2 which is stuck between the two adjacent second guide plates 9. A torn piece of paper 2 may cause a failure of the copying machine which cannot be repaired by the user, and there are problems in that a service person must attend to the repair and that the copying machine will not be usable for a long time.
These problems of the copying machine also occur in other image forming apparatuses such as printers and facsimile machines which have a paper transport mechanism.


An intravascular catheter for providing access to distal vascular sites. The intravascular catheter comprises an elongate shaft with a lumen extending therethrough. The elongate shaft is comprised of a composite construction and has a proximal relatively stiff section, a distal section relatively more flexible than the proximal section, and an intermediate section between the proximal and the distal sections that provides a transition in flexibility between the proximal section and the distal section. The distal section has surface contours that impart flexibility to the distal section. A method for processing a tubular member with surface contours for use in a medical device, such as a catheter or guide wire, is also provided.

The present invention relates to intravascular catheters, and more specifically the present invention relates to intravascular catheters for accessing difficult to reach regions of the human body such as the vasculature and methods for manufacture thereof.
Interventional procedures that rely on catheterization of a patient's vasculature have proven to be effective for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and conditions. Interventional procedures for the coronary arteries, such as angiography and angioplasty, are by now routinely performed as needed. Procedures such as these are also useful in the peripheral vasculature. More recently, consideration has been directed to the further development of interventional procedures for other hard to reach vascular sites, such as the brain and liver. For example, it would facilitate diagnosis of certain conditions if radiopaque dye injections could be made to vascular sites deep within the brain. Also, there are procedures to repair an aneurysm in a vessel branch of the brain that involve infusing embolic material to seal off the vessel and/or lesion. Also, there are catheterization procedures for the treatment of arterial-venous malformations (AVM's) that include the infusion of embolic materials via a catheter. Other therapeutic infusions involve the use of coils, glue, collagens, ethanol, chemotherapy agents and thrombolytic agents, to name a few.
Accessing distal vascular sites such as deep within the brain via the arterial system poses unique difficulties. The arteries that lead to the brain, i.e. the carotid and vertebral arterial branches, are characterized by numerous and tortuous branchings. Subselective catheterization of higher order carotid arteries, (e.g. third, fourth, fifth or even higher), can be very difficult even for a highly skilled interventionalist. One of the factors that has made subselective catheterization of the carotid or vertebral arteries so difficult is the absence of a catheter suitable for subselective catheterization of higher order arterial branches.
A catheter suitable for access to remote vascular sites along tortuous vascular passages should possess certain features. For example, the catheter should track well over a guide wire. Another feature that is desirable in a vascular access catheter is pushability. Another desirable feature is a relatively large lumen size in order to infuse drugs, dye, agents, or other materials through the lumen even with a guide wire at least partially in place.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a catheter suitable for vascular access of high order vascular branches.

Vascular access catheter and methods for manufacture thereof


Disclosed is a thermally shrinkable laminated film which is produced by laminating an intermediate layer comprising a block copolymer resin composition containing a specific block copolymer directly between a front layer and a back layer each comprising a polyester resin, and which has good interlayer adhesion strength. Specifically disclosed is a thermally shrinkable laminated film which is produced by stretching a three-layered laminated sheet along at least one axis so that the interlayer adhesion strength becomes 0.6 N/15 mm or more, wherein the three-layered laminated sheet has an intermediate layer and a front layer and a back layer, the intermediate layer comprises a resin composition comprising two types of block copolymers each having a specific structure and a specific composition at a predetermined mass ratio, and each of the front layer and the back layer comprises a polyester resin.

Thermally shrinkable films made of polystyrene resins have been widely used in labels for PET bottles. Additionally, laminated films with front and back layers of polyester resins and an intermediate layer of a polystyrene resin and laminated films with adhesion layers in between these layers have been proposed.
Examples of this type of art include those described in the below-indicated patent documents. However, for laminated films with adhesive layers in between, a step of forming the adhesive layers is needed, and thus the costs were high, and there was also the risk of the adhesive layers being incapable of following film shrinkage, which results in stripping. On the other hand, for laminated films without adhesive layers in between, while a certain degree of interlayer adhesion strength can be obtained by selecting specific resins, interlayer adhesion strength was still insufficient when used under conditions of actual use.


Disclosed herein, among other things, are methods and apparatus for detecting battery chemistry or battery type and reconfiguring a hearing assistance device based on the detected battery. One aspect of the present subject matter relates to a method of operating a hearing assistance device having a battery. A voltage of the battery is detected at a predetermined load current and a battery chemistry or battery type is determined based on the detected voltage. An operating parameter of the hearing assistance device is adjusted based on the determined battery chemistry or battery type, in various embodiments. Examples of adjustments made based on the determined battery chemistry or battery type include gain, feedback cancellation (FBC) filter, self-diagnostic thresholds of the hearing assistance device, indicator loudness, low battery set point, or an end-of-discharge battery set point.

Modern hearing assistance devices, such as hearing aids, typically include digital electronics to enhance the wearer's listening experience. Hearing aids are electronic instruments worn in or around the ear that compensate for hearing losses by specially amplifying sound. Hearing aids use transducer and electro-mechanical components which are connected via wires to the hearing aid circuitry.
Components in a hearing aid require some amount of electrical power to function as desired. Usually, a battery is used to provide power to all of the components in a hearing aid. The size and weight of the battery can be a limiting factor in the overall design of the hearing aid. In addition, the battery typically has a finite life expectancy, requiring frequent recharging or replacement and disposal.
Some hearing assistance devices are capable of operation with more than one type of battery. Batteries with different chemistries can have different charging and discharging voltage characteristics. These different voltage characteristics can affect hearing assistance device performance, as some hearing assistance device functions are based on the provided input voltage from the battery. What is needed in the art is an improved system for battery detection and corresponding device reconfiguration for hearing assistance devices, to provide consistent device performance while accepting multiple types of batteries.

Automatic reconfiguration of a hearing assistance device based on battery characteristics


An optical device for reorienting an optical image from a first optical pathway to a second optical pathway and the method of manufacturing such an optical device. In a preferred embodiment, a housing is provided that defines at least two optical pathways. Both optical pathways align with a common aperture in the housing. Since both optical pathways are generally cylindrically shaped and the common aperture aligns with both optical pathways, the common aperture is elliptical in shape so as to correspond to the plane of intersection between the two cylindrical pathways. A generally rectangular mirror, that is larger than the elliptical aperture in the housing, is placed over the aperture on the exterior of the housing. As a result, the mirror covers the area of the elliptical aperture and redirects any light passing through the elliptical aperture from one of the optical pathways into the other optical pathway. Since a rectangular mirror is used, and the mirror is assembled externally from the housing, cost and labor savings are produced over that available in the prior art.

Many optical devices, such as some microscopes, telescopes and night vision devices, are viewed with binocular vision but only use a single objective lens arrangement. In such systems, when a single source image is viewed the light from the image must be divided into two separate corresponding optical outputs in order to allow for binocular viewing. Traditionally, the division of a single source image into two corresponding binocular images has been accomplished by utilizing a collimator lens assembly, a beam splitter and two diopter cell assemblies. The collimator lens assembly re-images a source image at a substantially infinite conjugate. As such, the rays of light leaving the collimator lens assembly are substantially parallel. The parallel light is then evenly divided by the beam splitter and directed toward the diopter cell assemblies. The diopter cell assemblies provide optical power to the split beam, thereby either diverging or converging the parallel beam path, and directs the split image into the two eyepiece lens assemblies utilizing a mirror, prism or the like. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,553 issued on Oct. 20, 1992 entitled COLLIMATOR FOR BINOCULAR VIEWING SYSTEM by E. N. Phillips, et al. and assigned to ITT Corporation the assignee herein. That patent describes a prior art collimator assembly and related optical elements in a binocular viewing system.
Binocular viewing system that utilize only a single objective lens assembly are common in the design of night vision devices. The use of a single objective lens in a night vision device permits the use of only a single image intensifier tube within the assembly, thereby minimizing the cost and complexity of the system. For instance, in FIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram schematic of a prior art AN/PVBS-7B night vision device 10 commercially manufactured by ITT Corporation, the assignee herein. Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a single objective lens assembly 12 is positioned at one end of the device 10. The objective lens assembly 12 focuses impinging infrared energy onto the image intensifier tube 14, which converts impinging infrared energy into a visible image. The visible image passes through a collimator lens assembly 16 that reimages the visible image at a substantially infinite conjugate. The infinite conjugate image is divided evenly by a beam splitter 20 and is directed toward the left and right diopter cell assemblies 22, 24 respectively. In each of the two diopter cell assemblies 22, 24, the split, infinite conjugate image passes through a lens 26 and is reflected off a mirror 28 toward either the left or right eyepiece lens assembly 30, 32, where the image is viewed with binocular vision. Typically, the left and/or right eyepiece lens assembly 30, 32 are adjustable back and forth in the directions of arrow 33, so as to allow the eyepiece lens assemblies 30, 32 to be adjusted to the specific eye spacing of an individual. For this reason, the diopter cell assemblies 22, 24 are commonly held within slots 36, 38 on a support member 40. As such, the diopter cell assemblies 22, 24 can move back and forth as a unit with the eyepiece lens assemblies 30, 32.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the construction of a typical prior art diopter cell assembly 24 can be described. As can be seen, light enters the diopter cell assembly 24 from the beam splitter through a lens element 26 that adds an optical power to the infinite conjugate beam. Once the light enters diopter cell assembly 24, the light reflects off a mirror 28 that alters the path of the light by 45 degrees. In the shown prior art diopter cell 24, the mirror 28 is flat and has an elliptical shaped profile. The elliptical shape of the mirror 28 is required in order for the mirror 28 to properly fit within the housing of the diopter cell at a 45 degree angle. The mirror 28 is custom manufactured from a segment of glass cut from a cylinder of glass at an angle. The face surface 42 of the glass is then polished and a reflective surface 44 is deposited on the face surface 42. In the manufacturing of mirrors, it is not economically practical to cut small elliptical shaped mirrors from a large flat mirror. As such, each of the mirrors 28 for the diopter cell assemblies are individually made by cutting a glass blank from a cylinder, polishing the face surface of the glass blank, and depositing the reflective surface onto the glass blank. Consequently, the costs associated with manufacturing the mirror 28 add significantly to the overall cost of the diopter cell assembly 24. Once the mirror 28 is manufactured, the mirror 28 is then manually placed within the housing of the diopter cell assembly 24. The mirror 28 is then manually aligned and affixed to the diopter cell assembly housing with adhesive.
The shown diopter cell assembly 24 is from a prior art AN/PVBS-7B night vision goggle device. In such a device each of the diopter cell assemblies include an L.E.D. The purpose of the L.E.D. is to superimpose a signal light over the image being viewed. For instance, a small light might may be superimposed over the viewed image to indicate to a viewer that the battery is low in the assembly or to indicate that an ancillary infrared light source has been turned on. In such a system, the L.E.D. is typically positioned within the diopter cell assembly 24 behind the mirror 28. As such, the L.E.D. creates a lighted figure on the mirror 28 that is superimposed over the image being viewed. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that a receptacle 46 for retaining an L.E.D. (not shown) is positioned on the back surface 48 of the mirror 28. The back surface 48 of the mirror 28 is not polished, as such a hole 50 is drilled into the mirror 28 from its back surface 48 toward its face surface 42, to allow light from the L.E.D. to pass through the material of the mirror. Furthermore, a segment 52 of the reflective surface 44 is removed from the face surface 42 of the mirror 28 in the region of the hole 50. As a result, light from the L.E.D. can pass through the hole 50 and pass through the removed segment 52 on the reflective surface 44 in order to create a viewable image on the surface of the mirror 28. In the prior art, the segment 52 of the reflective surface 44 removed is typically created by masking a small segment of the face surface 42 of the mirror as the reflective surface 44 is being deposited.
The receptacle 46 for holding the L.E.D. is held onto the back surface 48 of the mirror 28 by a double sided adhesive donut 54. The receptacle 46 is manually installed and is manually aligned over the drilled hole 50. The creation of an elliptical shaped mirror 28, the drilling of the hole 50 in the mirror 28, the removal of a segment 52 of the reflective surface 44, the placement of the mirror 28 in the diopter cell 28 and the attachment of the receptacle 46 to the mirror 28 combine to add significantly to cost by which such a prior art diopter cell can be manufactured.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a diopter cell assembly for a binocular viewing system that is less complicated to manufacture, requires less labor to manufacture and is less expensive than prior art diopter cells for a given application.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a diopter cell assembly that can be interchanged with a prior art diopter cell assembly without necessitating and further changes in the overall binocular viewing system design.

Diopter cell assembly for a binocular viewing system


An indicator adapted to provide a visual indication of an over pressure situation in a system. The indicator (also referred to as a pop indicator), includes a main body, a piston that is disposed in the main body, and one or more O-rings disposed around the piston. Initially, the piston is in a first position where the piston is retracted into the body. However, when an over pressure situation occurs, the pressure causes the piston to move in a direction out of the main body against a friction force created by the O-ring. When the piston is moved, i.e., popped, then end of the piston extending out of the body provides a visual indication.

Pressure relief valves are commonly used in many industries, such as the refrigeration industry. Pressure relief valves are used to control the amount of pressure within systems and containers, and flow through such systems and into and out of containers. For example, if pressure within a system or container increases too high, the pressure relief valve is activated and provides a mechanism for reducing the amount of pressure, thus protecting the system or container from pressure related failure. In general, pressure relief valves are replaced every five years, or sooner if the pressure relief valve is activated prior to the five years. However, it can be difficult and time consuming to identify whether a pressure relief valve has been activated, and thus should be replaced.
Solenoid-type valves are also commonly used in many industries as a type of pressure reduction valve. However, fluid pressure can build up in a system and may require a bleed off operation to be performed. It can be difficult to identify whether a bleed off operation should be performed to remove fluid (liquid or gas) from the system.


A cache memory and a tag memory are included in a banked memory system and used to effectively enable parallel write and read operations on each clock cycle, even though the memory banks consist of single-port devices that are not inherently capable of parallel write and read operations.

It is desirable to provide certain types of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) with significant memory capability, including some combination of large amounts of memory, high operating speed, and high bandwidth. Providing such capability can be problematic. Memory occupies space and consumes power. In an ASIC, it is desirable to conserve space and power resources. A variety of factors place practical limits upon clock speed. Therefore, other avenues for enhancing memory performance may be preferable to simply increasing clock speed. One potential way to increase the amount of memory that is effectively available to an ASIC without actually adding memory to the ASIC design or increasing clock speed is to provide external, i.e., off-chip, memory. However, to provide a significant increase in memory bandwidth, such off-chip solutions generally must consume substantial amounts of power and tie up a substantial number of ASIC input/output (I/O) pins. It would be desirable to effectively increase memory bandwidth without unduly increasing memory quantity or clock speed in the ASIC or resorting to off-chip solutions.
It is known that some aspects of memory performance can be enhanced by dividing physical memory into logical data storage units known as memory banks. Memory banking schemes can be employed in a parallel processing system to allow two or more processes to simultaneously access the data storage. For example, in a memory banked system, a first process may be able to read a memory location in a first memory bank at the same time that a second process is able to write to a memory location in a second memory bank. Dividing the memory into banks reduces the likelihood that two processes will attempt to simultaneously access the same bank, thereby effectively increasing bandwidth. However, for memory banking to work properly, the system must provide some means for solving potential bank conflicts where a first process attempts to simultaneously access the same bank as the second process. One known solution to this potential problem is for the system to space the two memory accesses so that they occur sequentially rather than simultaneously.
Dual-port memory is a type of memory device that allows simultaneous read and write access by two processes during a single clock cycle. That is, during a single clock cycle, a first process can write to or read from the memory while a second process can, independently of the first process, write to or read from the same memory device. However, dual-port memory is relatively uneconomical compared with single-port memory and occupies significantly more space on an ASIC or other integrated circuit chip than single-port memory. It is also known to enhance a single-port memory system by increasing (e.g., doubling) the clock speed to allow a read operation and a write operation to occur sequentially but within a single clock cycle of one another, thereby providing an effect that approaches the simultaneity of true dual-port memory.

Memory banking system and method to increase memory bandwidth via parallel read and write operations

Avago Technologies Enterprise IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A circuit has an address generation circuit to produce a virtual address (VA) and an index signal and a multi-way cache circuit. The cache circuit has a plurality of Random Access Memory (RAM) groups and a hash function circuit to generate a hash output from the VA. Each RAM group includes RAMs respectively corresponding to the ways. The cache circuit selects, using the hash output, a selected RAM group of the RAM groups, and performs, using the index signal as an address, an operation using one or more RAMs of the selected RAM group. Controlling a multi-way cache circuit comprises determining a hash value using a VA, selecting, using the hash value, a RAM group from a plurality of RAM groups, and performing an operation by using one or more RAMs of the selected RAM group. The RAMs of each RAM group respectively correspond to the ways.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
In the description that follows, "byte" refers to an octet, that is, to 8 binary digits (bits). The term "kilobyte" and the abbreviation "KB" both refer to 1024 bytes.
In a computer processor, a cache memory circuit (hereinafter, a cache) may be used to store data corresponding to a location in a main memory. The cache is typically smaller, has lower latency, and has higher bandwidth than the main memory.
The cache may include a plurality of tags respectively associated with a plurality of memory elements that store data (hereinafter, cache lines). The cache compares an address of a memory operation with an address stored in a tag to determine whether the cache line associated with the tag corresponds to the location indicated by the address of the memory operation, that is, whether the location indicated by the address of the memory operation is cached.
A set-associative cache may only check one of a plurality of sets of the cache when determining whether a location is cached. The set-associative cache determines which set to check using bits of the address of the memory operation. For example, in a set-associative cache having 256-byte cache lines and 256 sets, the set to check may be determined using bits 15 through 8 of the address of the memory location (with bits 7 through 0 indicating particular bytes within the 256-byte cache lines). In this example, bits 15 to 8 correspond to a set address, referred to herein as an index.
A set-associate cache may have a plurality of ways. A cache having a plurality of ways may be referred to as a multi-way cache. The number of ways indicates the number of distinct locations in the cache that may correspond to any one memory location.
Caches may be used in processors having virtual memory architectures. In a virtual memory architecture, virtual addresses are generated by the processor and are then translated by a Memory Management Unit (MMU) into physical addresses. In a typical MMU, memory addresses are translated in pages. For example, in an MMU using 4 KB pages, each 4 KB page in the virtual memory space may be mapped to a 4 KB page in the physical address space. A location at an offset within the virtual memory page will be located at the same offset within the corresponding physical address page. The MMU may include a Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB) to decrease the amount of time required to perform the address translation.
A Physically Indexed and Physically Tagged (PIPT) cache may determine the set address using a physical address and compare the physical address to the one or more tags in the set indicated by the set address. As a result, in a PIPT cache the physical address is determined before the data cache can be accessed.
To reduce a latency of load operations, the cache may begin a process of retrieving data before the physical address of the data is fully known. In particular, a virtually indexed, physically tagged (VIPT) cache may begin the process of retrieving data before the MMU completes an address translation between a virtual address and a physical address.
The VIPT cache is a set-associative cache that uses a plurality of bits of the virtual address as the set address, that is, the VIPT cache uses a virtual set address (VSA) as an index of the cache. Once the index has been determined, the VIPT cache compares a plurality of bits of the physical address against the tags in the set corresponding to the index to determine whether the VIPT cache includes a cache line corresponding to the memory location specified by the physical address. Because virtual indexing is limited by the minimum translation page size supported by the instruction set architecture, the VIPT cache may require more associativity than a PIPT cache.
A VIPT cache may perform serial access of its tag and data SRAMs. In such a serial-access VIPT cache, a Virtual Address is used to generate the index used to access both data and tag SRAM banks, with the data SRAM banks being accessed after the tag SRAM banks.
Another VIPT cache may perform parallel access of its tag and data SRAMs. Such a parallel-access VIPT cache is similar to the serial-access VIPT cache, except that the data and tag SRAMs are accessed in parallel, which can result in lower data latency than the serial-access VIPT cache.
The use of a parallel-access VIPT cache may reduce data access latency but may also increase power dissipation. The power dissipation may increase because the parallel-access VIPT cache reads data from all the ways of the data SRAM, as a result of not knowing which way includes the requested data at the time the data SRAM is read.