[Object] To acquire distance information concerning a living tissue through an endoscope with higher accuracy irrespective of the diameter of the endoscope.

In recent years, surgeries are becoming less invasive, and endoscopic surgeries are being performed for intraabdominal organs, joints, and the like. Such endoscopic surgeries are advantageous in that damages to patients can be reduced, while the field of view of endoscopes is limited, and it is difficult to grasp the sense of distance. Thus, the skill of operators is required.
It is preoperatively possible to acquire three-dimensional data of a surgical site utilizing MRI, CT, or the like to push forward a surgical plan, but real-time information at a surgical stage is more useful. However, information obtained during an endoscopic surgery is limited to information that can be obtained in a limited field of view through an endoscope and that does not have a sufficient quantitative nature such as a gauge. Thus, if the size of a site or lesion which is a surgical target and the position from a landmark can be grasped quantitatively during surgery, more correct determinations and treatments can be made.
As a scale for distance measurement to be used in endoscopic surgeries, a graduated probe, bent probe, or the like is used, but is not considered as being quantitative under the present circumstances.
In recent years, as a distance measurement approach through use of an endoscope, a twin-lens stereo system through use of a parallax has been proposed, but it is difficult to apply to a less invasive small-diameter endoscope because space for installing the twin lenses is required.
Thus, a technology that enables distance measurement to be performed also with a small-diameter endoscope is demanded under the present circumstances; however, Non-Patent Literature 1 and Non-Patent Literature 2 below disclose examples of applying a single-lens Time Of Flight (TOF) system in which a parallax is not used to an endoscope.

Abstract: [Solution] An imaging device according to the present disclosure includes: a ranging light source section configured to output ranging light for measuring a distance at a predetermined timing; an image sensor on which an image of the imaging target is formed; a ranging light image sensor on which optical feedback of the ranging light from the imaging target is imaged; a branch optical system configured to coaxially branch incident light into three types of optical paths different from one another; and a distance information calculating section configured to calculate distance information concerning the imaging target on a basis of a result of detection of the optical feedback. In the branch optical system, a first optical path among the three types of optical paths is used as an optical path configured to guide the ranging light whose applied position on the imaging target has been controlled to the imaging target, a second optical path is used as an optical path configured to form an image of the imaging target on the image sensor, and a third optical path is used as an optical path configured to image the optical feedback on the ranging light image sensor. The distance information calculating section calculates a spaced distance to the imaging target by a Time Of Flight method on the basis of the result of detection of the optical feedback.


Disclosed is a method, circuit and system for determining a Lowest Operative Threshold Voltage Level for one or more cell segments/blocks/sets of a NVM array and a corresponding device, adapted to compare substantially native state NVM cells in a block of cells against one or more reference cells/structures or offset values, and to maintain a read error count.

As is well known in the art, by comparing the output of non-volatile memory (NVM) cells with a reference level, different current/voltage levels can be associated with different logical states. Accordingly, a NVM cell's current level may be correlated to the amount of charge stored in a charge storage region of the cell. Prior to the storing of any charge within a charge storage region, the cell may be referred to as "native" or in its "initial" state.
Generally, in order to determine whether an NVM cell is at a specific state, for example erased, programmed, or programmed at one of multiple possible program states within a multi-level cell ("MLC"), the cell's current level is compared to that of a reference cell whose current level is preset at a level associated with the specific state being tested for.
The initial positioning of the different reference levels is accomplished using data extracted from the NVM array during manufacturing. During the manufacturing process, after fabrication, an NVM array may be tested to determine the native current levels of each of its cells. These native current levels may then be used for the presetting of the reference levels.
While native threshold voltage distributions over an entire array may be in the order of 2V or more, the distributions across an array segment may be lower, for example 1V. Thus, establishing a lowest reference voltage to be slightly higher than the highest native threshold voltage of a specific segment within the memory array may result in either a larger or smaller 'Cycle Margin' ("CM"—The margin between the initial NVM cell level and the lowest reference level) for cells in other array segments whose NVM cells have native threshold voltages relatively lower or higher than those in the segment which was selected for the preset of the reference cell.
In order to avoid such a difference in 'Cycle Margin' for the different segments, a lowest reference voltage level for each of the array's segments may be determined. Hence, the lowest reference voltage for each segment may be determined in respect to the highest native threshold voltage of any cell within that given array segment. Still, a need remains in the field of NVM cells operation for methods, circuits and systems for determining a Lowest Operative Threshold Voltage Level for one or more cell segments/blocks/sets of a NVM array.

Method circuit and system for operating an array of non-volatile memory (“NVM”) cells and a corresponding NVM device


A method for inspecting a sealing property of a plastic container having contents. The container has a lid which is deflectable under a negative pressure developed in the container. The contents are charged in to the container so that a negative pressure is developed under a normal temperature or room temperature. The deflection of the lid is measured so as to detect the sealing property of the container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plastic container for contents such as foodstuff and medicines. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method for inspecting the sealing property of a plastic container and a plastic container inspected by the method.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As a container for charging foodstuff or medicines, a metal container such as a metal can, a glass bottle and a plastic container are generally used. These containers are also subjected to a retort sterilization process after the contents are charged into the container. Developments have been made to provide a method for inspecting the sealing-.property of the container which is charged with the contents, the method being appropriate for the property of the container. For example, the plastic container suitable for the retort sterilization includes a retort pouch and in this type of container a visual inspection is carried out by depressing the pouch and detecting leakage. As an alternative method, a proposal is made to put the container in a chamber of a reduced pressure and detect a pressure change in the chamber which may be produced due to a leakage. It should however be noted that the aforementioned methods which have hithertofore been developed for the inspection of the sealing property of a plastic container are low in detecting precision so that they are not widely used in actual practice. Further, no practical method has as yet been developed for the inspection of the sealing property of a plastic container of a bottle configuration, cup configuration or a tray configuration.

Method for inspecting a sealing property of a plastic container


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a display panel, a method for manufacturing the same, a display device and a displaying method. The display panel includes a substrate, a thin film transistor on the substrate, an insulating layer covering the substrate and the thin film transistor, a first electrode and a second electrode on the insulating layer and electrically insulated with each other, wherein an orthographic projection of the first electrode on the substrate does not overlap with an orthographic projection of the thin film transistor on the substrate, an orthographic projection of the second electrode on the substrate overlaps with an orthographic projection of the thin film transistor on the substrate, a light emitting layer on the first electrode and the second electrode, and a third electrode and a fourth electrode on the light emitting layer.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of display technologies, and in particular, to a display panel, a method for manufacturing the same, a display device and a displaying method.
Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) and Quantum dot Light Emitting Diode (QLED) display devices have superior characteristics in aspects of self-luminous, no backlight, high contrast, thin thickness, wide viewing angle, fast reaction speed, being applicable for flexible panels, and wide range of using temperature. Due to the superior characteristics above, the OLED and QLED are recognized as the mainstream technology for next-generation displays and have been favored by major display manufacturers.

Display panel, method for manufacturing the same, display device and displaying method

HEFEI XINSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention relates to a laundry machine and a controlling method, which can remove allergens on the laundry. A controlling method of a laundry machine includes a mite-killing step of supplying seam to a drum to make laundry exposed to a hot environment at or over a temperature and for or over a duration of time, wherein the temperature and the duration are predetermined enough to kill house dust mites on the laundry; a rinsing step of rinsing the laundry; and a spin-drying step of spin-drying the rinsed laundry. The present invention has a advantageous effect of removing allergens including house dust mites, animal hair and pollens efficiently. In addition, if the house dust mites are killed by using steam, energy efficiency is high and an effect of mite-killing is great.

There are conventional laundry machines including steam generators. In case of laundry washers, washing efficiency is remarkably enhanced by using steam to perform washing.
FIG. 1 shows a drum type washer as an example of a conventional laundry machine.
The drum type washer shown in FIG. 1 includes a body 110, a tub 120, a drum 130 and a steam generator.
Here, the body 110 defines an exterior appearance of the drum type washer and the tub 120 is supportably provided within the body 110.
The drum 130 is rotatable in the tub 120 and an opened portion of the drum 130 is positioned toward an opening 111 formed in the body 110.
A door 140 is coupled to the opening 111 of the body 110 to open and close the opening 111. A rim 150 is coupled to an inner circumference of the opening 111 to close airtight between the door 140 and the opening 111.
In addition, a plurality of through-holes may be formed around a circumferential surface of the drum 130 and not only wash water but also steam may pass the through-holes into the drum 130.
The steam generator is employed to supply a predetermined amount of steam to the drum 130.
Such steam generator evaporates water into high temperature hot steam and supplies the hot steam to the drum 130.
The steam generator includes a heating part 210 and a steam supply pipe 220. The heating part 210 evaporates water into high temperature steam and the steam supply pipe 220 forms a steam path to allow the steam evaporated by the heating part 210 to be supplied to the drum 130.
The steam generator further includes a spray nozzle 230 to spray the steam flowing in the steam supply pipe 220 into the drum 130.
The spray nozzle 230 is nozzle-shaped to spray the steam smoothly and an outlet end of the nozzle 230 is toward an inside of the drum 130.
The spray nozzle 230 may be provided to spray steam directly into the drum 130 or into the tub 120, depending on cases. Here, the steam sprayed into the tub 120 may be supplied to the drum 130 through the through-holes.

Laundry machine and controlling method of the same


Topically administerable compositions are described which contain, in a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle, a combination of a drug whose dermal penetration can be enhanced and a combination of substances, which combination enhances and controls the penetration of the compositions through the skin. The combination contains an antifungal amount of an imidazole and a certain amount of either propylene glycol, specified fatty acid ester(s) or a mixture of propylene glycol and specified fatty acid ester(s).

Topical application of therapeutic agents has received and is presently receiving considerable attention. However, applicants are unaware of any teachings in the prior art of the use of combinations of an antifungal imidazole together with PG or a mixture of PG and IPM or equivalent ester to achieve controlled degrees of penetration of pharmacologically active agents through skin, particularly human skin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,604 which issued on Nov. 3, 1981 describes topical compositions containing the corticosteroid betamethasone dipropionate and, as an antifungal agent, the imidazole derivative, clotrimazole.
European Patent Application 0 270 316 published Jun. 8, 1988 describes topical ache compositions containing 1-substituted imidazole antifungal agents such as tioconazole, clotrimazole, ketoconazole and econazole together with a non-steroidal antiinflammatory agent such as aspirin.
The above identified U.S. patent application Ser. No. 353,890 describes compositions and methods for transdermal penetration of a wide variety of therapeutic agents utilizing topical compositions containing imidazole and certain imidazole derivatives. According to the invention, there is complete penetration of skin with resulting systemic distribution of the therapeutic agent.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 323,727 also cited above describes topical hydro-alcoholic formulations of 17-ester steroids stabilized in the presence of an antifungal agent such as an imidazole compound. The improvement in stability of 17-ester steroids is claimed to be due to the use of hydro-alcoholic compositions consisting of lower alkanol in combination with dihydroxy alcohol or a trihydroxy alcohol or a mixture thereof gelled with hydroxypropyl or hydroxyethyl cellulose. The application also attributes enhancement of skin penetration of imidazole and 17-ester steroid to lower alkanol such as ethyl alcohol.


A reproducing apparatus displays representative images of clips recorded on a recording medium in list form, reproduces part of data after a front end of the clip corresponding to the representative image selected from among the displayed representative images from the recording medium to store the part of the data in a memory, and starts readout of the part of data stored in the memory in response to a reproduction start instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus, particularly relates to the apparatus which reproduces an information signal recorded on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, greater density and larger capacity in a disk-shaped recording medium are rapidly proceeding. A recording and reproducing apparatus in which not only a sound signal but also a still image signal or moving image (video) signal can be finely recorded for long time on the disk-shaped recording medium and a recording signal can be reproduced from the disk-shaped recording medium has been proposed.
In such recording and reproducing apparatuses, since a size of the disk-shaped recording medium itself is being miniaturized, compared with the conventional recording and reproducing apparatus using a tape-shaped recording medium, further miniaturization has been achieved, rapid and random data-access advantage has been realized, and remarkable improvement in functions with respect to easy portability of the disk-shaped recording medium, high reliability, low cost, search readiness in operation, and the like has been accomplished.
Reproducing operation of the recording and reproducing apparatus using the conventional disk-shaped recording medium will be described below referring to FIG. 15. In FIG. 15, a reproduction trigger unit 1101 outputs a reproduction start instruction in response to user's operation. Then, in a mechanical servo control unit 1102, access processing such as seek to a target address on the disk-shaped recording medium is performed by servo mechanism control on the basis of the reproduction instruction. In advance to the reproduction, a reproduction parameter setting unit 1103 optimizes such a reproduction parameter such as reproducing laser power on the like. A data detection unit 1104 performs such processing as predetermined gain control, waveform equalization, digitalization, and clock extraction on the reproduced data. A demodulation ECC unit 1105 performs error correction on the reproduced data after performing predetermined demodulating processing.
After the error correction processing, the reproduced data is sequentially written into a memory 1106. The data is read out from the memory 1106 at a rate slower than writing rate and transmitted to a decoder 1107 of the next stage.
Access operation to the memory 1106 will be described below referring to FIG. 16. FIG. 16 shows time-progression of the amount of data in the memory 1106 and write and readout timing signals. After the reproduction trigger unit 1101 outputs the reproduction instruction at a time t0, the data is written in the memory 1106 between a time t1 and a time t2. The data readout from the memory 1106 is started at the time t2 when the data is accumulated up to a predetermined memory amount "a", and the data readout is continued until a time t3 when the data reaches to a predetermined memory amount "b". Then, the processing, in which the data is written between the time t3 and a time t4 and the data is read out between the time t4 and a time t5, is repeated.
The decoder 1107 expands and decodes compression encoded data which is read out from the memory 1106. A video output processing unit 1108 converts the decoded data into a video signal pursuant to a predetermined output format and outputs the video signal to a display system or an external signal terminal.
As described above, the reproducing processing sequentially proceeds after receiving the reproduction start instruction in the reproducing operation of the conventional recording and reproducing apparatus using the disk-shaped recording medium. However, it considerably takes time to output actually the desired video image. Physical access time to the disk-shaped recording medium by using the mechanical servo control, and buffering time in which an intermittent and high-speed read signal obtained from the disk-shaped recording medium is temporarily stored and decoded at a predetermined transmission rate, are main factors of such the waiting time.
Some proposals for decreasing the waiting time in the reproducing operation have been made. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-194982, there has been made the proposal which decreases the physical access waiting time in such a manner that individual memory spaces are previously secured for a plurality of the information data recorded on the disk-shaped recording medium respectively, the reproduced data having a certain quantity from a front end is accumulated in the memory space, and the selected information data is read out from the memory in response to the reproduction start instruction.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-296862, there has been made the proposal which decreases the buffering waiting time by monitoring an amount of write data into the memory and outputting the data from the memory at a time when the minimum data required for the reproduction is secured.
However, even if configurations described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-194982 and the like are applied to the conventional recording and reproducing apparatus, there are the following problems in the conventional recording and reproducing apparatus.
At first, when the data recorded on the disk-shaped recording medium is the long-time moving image data, unlike music data, a specific start position such as "the front end of a piece of music" can not be previously designated. Further, as the larger capacity of the disk-shaped recording medium proceeds, the conventional recording and reproducing apparatus could not deal with a situation in which the enormous amounts of data to be previously secured in the memory have swelled.
When writing the data in the memory and reading the data from the memory are dynamically controlled as taught by Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-296862, it can not be avoided that quality in buffering function with which the apparatus should be primarily provided is degraded. That is to say, for disturbance such as shock and vibration which are unavoidable for the use of the apparatus in mobile environment, shock-proof function maintaining the continuousness of the data is forced to be traded off for decreased waiting time. Particularly, even if the speed-up is attained only by focusing on readout timing, the problems such as speed-up of the physical access to the disk-shaped recording medium and other functions still remain.


High temperature polymeric materials, which are easily process into void-free components, are needed for use in composites for advanced aerospace applications. These materials could bridge the gap between currently-used polymeric materials and ceramics or metal. Phthalonitrile resins can be used as high temperature polymeric material and 1,3-bis(3-aminophenoxy)benzene can be used as a curing agent to reduce voids and benzene can be used as a curing agent to reduce voids and blisters formed from volatiles during polymerization.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the synthesis of phthalonitrile resins and, more specifically, to 1,3-bis(3-aminophenoxy)benzene used as a curing agent for a rapid synthesis of phthalonitrile resins and a method thereof.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Interest in fiber-reinforced composites for advanced aerospace applications has led to the search for high temperature polymers that are easily processed and exhibit high thermal and oxidative stability. Epoxies and polyimides are now being used but each has its disadvantages. Conventional epoxy-based composites and adhesives have a 200.degree. C. maximum service limit and polyimide resins used in composites matrices have a 300.degree. C. maximum service limit. Advanced design concepts, especially in the aerospace industry, demand even higher temperature requirements for polymeric materials.
A major problem of the polyimide system is the inability to process void- and blister-free components in high yield because of the evolution of volatile components formed during the polymerization condensation reaction. Other problems associated with both polyimides and epoxies include their brittleness, water absorptivity and engineering reliability.
Phthalonitrile resins, such as diether-linked phthalonitrile resins, are proving to be superior in physical and chemical properties to epoxies, polyimides and other plastics as matrices for fiber-reinforced composites. A major advantage of phthalonitrile resins, compared to other plastics, is their ability to withstand temperatures in excess of 300.degree. C. for extended periods without permanent damage to the coatings, plastics or composites made therefrom. Such resins usually contain a substantial proportion of aromatic structures, but cured polymers composed solely of aromatic rings tend to be brittle and intractable. A resin having flexible linkages between the aromatic rings minimizes or greatly reduces brittleness and intractability. Polyphthalocyanines with diether linkages are materials which meet these goals. Examples of these polyphthalocyanines are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,223,123; 4,226,801; 4,234,712; and 4,238,601 issued to T. M. Keller and J. R. Griffith. However, polymerization and cure of these monomers in the neat state generally requires heating for several days at extremely high temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,035 teaches curing of phthalonitrile monomers with a nucleophilic aromatic amine. The monomer, 4,4'-bis(3,4-dicyanophenoxy)biphenyl, has a melting point of 232.degree.-234.degree. C. The aromatic diamines covered in the above patent are somewhat volatile at the required processing melt temperature, causing void problems when used in an amount greater than 5% by weight. It is advantageous for a resin not to produce gaseous products when cured. Also, the chemical makeup of the polymer must be such that it consists of units having known resistance to bond-rupture under thermal, oxidative and hydrolytic conditions.

Amino phenyl containing curing agent for high performance phthalonitrile resin

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


Processes and systems and methods for priming a fluid processing apparatus and for treating a fluid are disclosed.

There are a number of methods and devices for processing and/or treating various fluids. For example, a number of therapeutic protocols for pathophysiological conditions involve the removal of a bodily fluid from a patient, treating that fluid to remove an undesirable component, and returning it to the patient. However, fluid processing and/or treatment need not be limited to therapeutic applications. For example, water may be rendered potable by passing it through a filter that removes substances such as bacteria.
Nevertheless, these methods, and the devices utilized to carry them out, have been inefficient in that they may require extra time and/or effort for priming. Additionally, these devices may waste fluid since a portion of the fluid may be held up in the devices. This may be expensive since the fluid may be unrecoverable and/or incompletely processed. Additionally, an additional labor intensive effort may be required to retrieve the held up fluid. Furthermore, especially when a separate fluid treatment assembly or device is added to the system, the devices utilized may be awkward to use, or may compromise sterility by allowing the introduction of bacteria and/or air.
These problems involving cost, labor, sterility and time are magnified when the fluid is valuable, especially when only a limited amount is available. For example, a number of therapeutic and non-therapeutic protocols involve attaching an assembly to a individual, removing a bodily fluid (e.g., blood), treating the fluid, and returning it to the individual. Since the individual only has a finite amount of that fluid, it may be necessary to minimize loss, preferably with minimal additional effort.
Moreover, during such protocols it is important to maintain sterility without administering inappropriate substances such as air. Furthermore, since patient fluid treatment protocols may present some risk to the patient, the time and operator sophistication required to perform them should be minimized to decrease the risk to the patient.
In view of this, there is a demand for a system and method for easily, simply, and effectively, priming a fluid processing or treating device. The system and method should also provide these same advantages when a separate fluid treatment assembly or device is added to the system. Additionally, there is a growing need for a simple system and method of processing or treating various fluids to deplete deleterious or undesirable substances from these fluids, as well as for a system and method for administering them, e.g., to a patient, while minimizing loss of the fluid, and requiring minimal operator labor and sophistication. Moreover, particularly when the fluid is to be administered to a patient, there is a need for a system and method that minimizes risk to the patient by providing for quick priming and simple operation, while maintaining sterility, and without introducing inappropriate substances such as air.


A liquid crystal display device and a fabricating method thereof that are capable of preventing breakage of a pixel electrode. In the device, the protective layer pattern is provided at the overlapping area between the storage electrode and the pixel electrode to separate the storage electrode and the pixel electrode. Accordingly, the protective layer pattern is formed at the storage capacitor area to improve step coverage of a transparent conductive material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display and a fabricating method thereof that are capable of preventing a breakage of a pixel electrode.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) of active matrix driving system uses thin film transistors (TFT's) as switching devices to display a natural moving picture. Since such an LCD can be made into a smaller device in size than a CRT, it has been widely used as a monitor for a personal computer or a notebook computer, as well as in office automation equipment such as a copy machines, etc. and a portable equipment such as a cellular phone and a pager, etc.
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a lower substrate 1 of an LCD includes a thin film transistor (TFT) T arranged at crossing area of a data line 4 and a gate line 2, a pixel electrode 22 connected to a drain electrode 10 of the TFT, and a storage capacitor S positioned at an overlapping portion between the pixel electrode 22 and the previous gate line 2. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along I-I′ of FIG. 1.
The TFT T includes a gate electrode 6 connected to the gate line 2, a source electrode 8 connected to the data line 4, and a drain electrode 10 connected, via a first contact hole 20a, to the pixel electrode 22. Further, the TFT T includes semiconductor layers 14 and 16 for defining a channel between the source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 10 by a gate voltage applied to the gate electrode 6. Such a TFT T responds to a gate signal from the gate line 2 to selectively apply a data signal from the data line 4 to the pixel electrode 22.
The pixel electrode 22 is positioned at a cell area defined by the data line 4 and the gate line 2 and is made from a transparent conductive material having a high light transmissivity. The pixel electrode 22 generates a potential difference from a common transparent electrode (not shown) provided at an upper substrate (not shown) from a data signal applied via the first contact hole 20a. By this potential difference, a liquid crystal positioned between the lower substrate 1 and the upper substrate (not shown) is rotated due to its dielectric anisotropy. Thus, the liquid crystal allows light applied from a light source to be transmitted into the upper substrate via the pixel electrode 22.
The storage capacitor S charges a voltage as a gate high voltage is applied to the previous gate line 2 and discharges the charged voltage as a data signal is applied to the pixel electrode to prevent a voltage variation in the pixel electrode 22. The storage capacitor S consists of a previous gate line 2 and a storage electrode 30 overlapping with the gate line 2 with a gate insulating film 12 therebetween. The storage capacitor S is electrically connected to the pixel electrode 22 via a second contact hole 20b defined at a protective film 18.
Such a lower substrate 1 of the LCD requires at least five masks for patterning each layer.
The gate electrode 6 is patterned with a first mask while the semiconductor layers 14 and 16 are patterned with a second mask. The storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are patterned with a third mask while the first contact hole 20a, the second contact hole 20b and the protective layer 18 are patterned with a fourth mask. The pixel electrode 22 is patterned with a fifth mask.
FIG. 3A to FIG. 3E are sectional views for explaining a method of fabricating the LCD device shown in FIG. 2 step by step.
Referring first to FIG. 3A, the gate electrode 6 and the gate line 2 are provided on the substrate 1. The gate electrode 6 and the gate line 2 are formed by depositing aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu), etc. using a deposition technique such as a sputtering, etc. and then patterning it with the first mask.
Referring to FIG. 3B, an active layer 14 and an ohmic contact laser 16 are provided on a gate insulating film 12.
The active layer 14 and the ohmic contact layer 16 are formed by disposing the semiconductor layers 14 and 16 after forming the gate insulating film 12 on the substrate 1 in such a manner to cover the gate electrode 6 and then patterning them with the second mask.
The gate insulating film 12 is, formed by depositing an insulating material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiOx) by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique. The active layer 14 is formed from amorphous silicon that is not doped with an impurity. On the other hand the ohmic contact layer 16 is formed from amorphous silicon doped with an n-type or p-type impurity at a high concentration.
Referring to FIG. 3C, the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are provided on the gate insulating film 12. The storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are formed by entirely depositing a metal layer using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique or the sputtering technique and then patterning it with the third mask. After the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are patterned, the ohmic contact layer 16 at an area corresponding to the gate electrode 6 also is patterned to expose the active layer 14. The area of the active layer 14 corresponding to the gate electrode 6 between the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 makes a channel. The storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are made from chrome (Cr) or molybdenum (Mo).
Referring to FIG. 3D, the protective layer 18 and the first and second contact holes 20a, 20b are provided on the gate insulating layer 12. The protective layer 18 and the first and second contact holes 20a, 20b are formed by depositing an insulating material on the gate insulating layer 12 in such a manner to cover the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 and then patterning it with the fourth mask. The protective layer 18 is made from an inorganic insulating material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiOx), an acrylic organic compound, or an organic insulating material having a small dielectric constant such as Teflon, BCB (benzocyclobutene), Cytop or PFCB (perfluorocyclobutane).
Referring to FIG. 3E, the pixel electrode 22 is provided on the protective layer 18. The pixel electrode 22 is formed by depositing a transparent conductive material on the protective layer 18 and then patterning it with the fifth mask. The pixel electrode 22 is electrically connected to the drain electrode 10 via the first contact hole 20a and is electrically connected to the storage electrode 30 via the second contact hole 20b. The pixel electrode 22 is made from a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO), indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) or indium-tin-zinc-oxide (ITZO).
Although such a lower substrate of the liquid crystal display device requires a five-step mask process, it additionally requires at least two masks for the purpose of preventing a hillock that may occur at an aluminum surface when the gate electrode is made from aluminum. Accordingly, a construction of the lower substrate of the liquid crystal displays device requires at least a five- to seven-step mask process.
As the number of masks increases, the number of processes and processing time not only increase when each layer is patterned, but also the productivity and the yield are reduced. For this reason, there has been actively conducted a study for reducing the number of masks.
FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a plan view and a sectional view, respectively, showing a lower substrate of the LCD employing a half-tone mask in a four-mask process.
Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 the lower substrate 1 of the LCD includes a thin film transistor (TFT) T arranged at a crossing area of a data line 4 and a gate line 2, a pixel electrode 22 connected to a drain electrode 10 of the TFT T, and a storage capacitor S positioned at an overlapping portion between the pixel electrode 22 and the previous gate line 2.
The TFT T includes a gate electrode 6 connected to the gate line 2, a source electrode 8 connected to the data line 4, and a drain electrode 10 connected to the pixel electrode 22 via a contact hole 20. Further, the TFT T includes semiconductor layers 14 and 16 for defining a channel between the source electrode 8 and the drain electrode 10 by a gate voltage applied to the gate electrode 6. Such a TFT T responds to a gate signal from the gate line 2 to selectively apply a data signal from the data line 4 to the pixel electrode 22.
The pixel electrode 22 is positioned at a cell area defined by the data line 4 and the gate line 2 and is made from a transparent conductive material having a high light transmissivity. The pixel electrode 22 generates a potential difference from a common transparent electrode (not shown) provided at an upper substrate (not shown) from a data signal applied via the contact hole 20. By this potential difference, a liquid crystal positioned between the lower substrate 1 and the upper substrate (not shown) is rotated due to its dielectric anisotropy. Thus, the liquid crystal allows a light applied from a light source to be transmitted into the upper substrate via the pixel electrode 22.
The storage capacitor S charges a voltage as a gate high voltage is applied to the previous gate line 2, and discharges the charged voltage as a data signal is applied to the pixel electrode to prevent a voltage variation in the pixel electrode 22. The storage capacitor S consists of a previous gate line 2 and a storage electrode 30 overlapping with the gate line 2 with a gate insulating film 12 therebetween. The storage capacitor S is directly connected to the pixel electrode 22.
Such a lower substrate 1 of the LCD requires at least four masks for patterning each layer. The gate electrode 6 is patterned with a first mask, while an ohmic contact layer 16, the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are patterned with a second mask. The active layer 14, the contact hole 20 and the protective layer 18 are patterned with a third mask, while the pixel electrode 22 is patterned with a fourth mask.
Referring first to FIG. 6A, the gate line 2 and the gate electrode 6 are provided on the substrate 1. The gate line 2 and the gate electrode 6 are formed by depositing aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu) using a deposition technique such as a sputtering, etc. and then patterning it with the first mask.
Referring to FIG. 6B, the gate insulating film 12, the ohmic contact layer 16, the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are provided on the substrate 1. The gate insulating film 12 is formed by entirely depositing on the substrate 1 in such a manner to cover the gate electrode 6 and the gate line 2.
The ohmic contact layer 16, the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are formed by depositing a first semiconductor layer 14a, a second semiconductor layer and a metal layer on the gate insulating film 12 and then patterning the second semiconductor layer and the metal layer using the second mask. After the storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are patterned, the ohmic contact layer 16 at an area corresponding to the gate electrode 6 also is patterned to expose the first semiconductor layer 14a. The area corresponding to the gate electrode 6 between the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 at the first semiconductor layer 14a makes a channel.
The gate insulating film 12 is formed by depositing an insulating material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiOx) by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The first semiconductor layer 14a, which is formed to be an active layer later, is formed from amorphous silicon that is not doped with on impurity. On the other hand, the ohmic contact layer 16 is formed from amorphous silicon doped with an n-type or p-type impurity at a high concentration. The storage electrode 30 and the source and drain electrodes 8 and 10 are formed from chrome (Cr) or molybdenum (Mo).
Referring to FIG. 6C, an insulating material 18a and a photoresist 24 are provided on the first semiconductor layer 14a. A half-tone mask 26 that is the third mask having a transmissive part 26a, a semi-transmissive part 26b and a shielding part 26c is positioned over the photoresist 24. The shielding part 26c is defined at an area later to be provided with the protective film 18 of the TFT; the transmissive part 26a is defined at an area later to be provided with the contact hole 20 of the TFT; and the semi-transmissive part 26b is defined at the remaining area.
The half-tone mask 26 selectively irradiates ultraviolet light to the photoresist 24 to expose it to the light.
The insulating material 18a is made from an inorganic insulating material such as silicon nitride (SiNx) or silicon oxide (SiOx), an acrylic organic compound, or an organic insulating material having a small dielectric constant such as Teflon, BCB (benzocyclobutene), Cytop or PFCB (perfluorocyclobutane).
Referring to FIG. 6D, a photoresist pattern 28 is formed on the insulating material 18a. The photoresist pattern 28 is formed by developing the photoresist 24 with a developer such as alkali aqueous solution. The photoresist pattern 28 having a thickness corresponding to approximately 10 to 50% of the initial coating thickness is formed at an area corresponding to the semi-transmissive part 26b of the half-tone mask 26. The photoresist pattern 28 having the initial coating thickness is formed at an area corresponding to the shielding part 26c. The photoresist pattern 28 is removed at an area corresponding to the transmissive part 26a to thereby expose the insulating material 18a.
Referring to FIG. 6E, the active layer 14, the protective layer 18 and the contact hole 20 are provided on the gate insulating layer 12. The active layer 14, the protective layer 18 and the contact hole 20 are formed by exposing the lower substrate 1 provided with the photoresist pattern 28 to an etchant to simultaneously etch the insulating material 18a and the first semiconductor layer 14a. After the active layer 14, the protective layer 18 and the contact hole 20 are formed, the photoresist pattern 28 is removed.
Referring to FIG. 6F, the pixel electrode 22 is provided on the protective layer 18. The pixel electrode 22 is formed by depositing a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO), indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) or indium-tin-zinc-oxide (ITZO) on the protective layer 18 and then patterning it using the fourth mask. The pixel electrode 22 is electrically connected to the drain electrode 10 via the contact hole 20, and is directly connected to the storage electrode 30 with no contact hole.
On the storage capacitor area S of the LCD, as shown in FIG. 6D, the photoresist pattern 28 is remained about 10 to 50 percents. After the contact hole 20 is formed, the area of the photoresist pattern 28 corresponding to the semi-transmissive part 26b of the half-tone mask 26 is removed by an ashing process. After all, the photoresist pattern 28 for forming the protective layer 18 and the active layer 14 are not provided on the storage capacitor area S. In other words, if the storage capacitor area S at the lower substrate 1 of the LCD is exposed to an etchant, then the protective layer 18 is entirely removed by the dry etching while the active layer 14 is left only at the lower portion of the storage electrode 30 formed by the wet etching. Since an eddy phenomenon is generated at the side surface of the active layer 14 when the active layer 14 is etched, the active layer 14 under the edge of the storage electrode 30 is more undercut than the storage electrode 30 to form a step coverage or an overhang, as shown in FIG. 7. If a transparent conductive material is deposited onto the gate insulating film 12 on which the active layer 14 is formed in the step coverage, the transparent conductive material is non-uniformly deposited at the step coverage area. For this reason, the conventional LCD has a problem in that, when the lower substrate 1 of the LCD is dipped into an etchant to etch the transparent conductive material, the pixel electrode 22 is susceptible to breakage at the step coverage area.

Liquid crystal display and fabricating method thereof


The invention relates to (1) a water dispersion for ink-jet printing including a polymer and a pigment mixture of C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 (A) and an azo compound (B) represented by the following formula (1) which is dispersed with the polymer, wherein a total pigment solid content of the components (A) and (B) in the water dispersion is from 15 to 35% by weight; and (2) a water-based ink for ink jet printing including a polymer and a pigment mixture of C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 (A) and the azo compound (B) which is dispersed with the polymer, wherein a total pigment solid content of the components (A) and (B) in the water-based ink is from 3 to 20% by weight,

In ink-jet printing methods, droplets of ink are directly projected onto a recording medium from very fine nozzles and allowed to adhere to the recording medium to form characters and images. The ink-jet printing methods have been rapidly spread because of their various advantages such as easiness of full coloration, low costs, capability of using a plain paper as the recording medium, non-contact with printed images and characters, etc. Among them, pigment-based inks have now become leading from the viewpoints of light fastness and water resistance of printed characters or images, and suitably used in ink-jet printers for domestic use.
In recent years, ink-jet printers have been extensively used in domestic applications, office applications and commercial printing applications, and there is a current tendency that these ink-jet printers are of a high-speed printing type. For this reason, there have been adopted the method of increasing a capacity of each ink droplet, and the method of improving a printing head, etc., to reduce a printing frequency and increase a printing speed.
In the high-speed printing method which is incapable of dual or triple overprinting unlike the conventional printing methods, there is a demand for inks which are capable of producing printed images or characters having a high optical density only by one printing operation.
C.I. Pigment Yellow 74 (hereinafter occasionally referred to as merely as "PY-74") is a pigment having an excellent color developability, but has such a problem that the color developability becomes insufficient when used for high-speed printing, e.g., in business applications. In consequence, there have been proposed improvements in properties of PY-74 itself, and improvements in optical density, etc., of inks containing yellow pigments such as PY-74 derivatives, etc.
For example, JP 2000-169742A aims at providing an offset yellow ink having good transparency, concentration and fluidity, and discloses a printing ink composition which includes a disazo pigment obtained by mixing and coupling a tetrazotized dichlorobenzidine as a diazo component, acetoaceto-ortho-toluidide, acetoaceto-metaxylidide, an acid group-containing acetoacetanilide and a basic group-containing acetoacetanilide with each other, and a printing ink vehicle.
JP 2005-048114A aims at providing a pigment composition for color image recording which is excellent in balance between image reproducibility and image retention property, and discloses the pigment composition for color image recording which includes a yellow-based pigment or the like, and a pigment derivative containing a residue of the yellow-based pigment or the like.
JP 2003-165919A aims at providing a printing ink which is excellent in transparency and concentration, and discloses PY-74 which is produced by subjecting a coupler component containing a specific acetoacetanilide derivative and a diazo component obtained by diazotizing 2-methoxy-4-nitroaniline to coupling reaction.
JP 2003-165920A aims at providing a printing ink which is excellent in transparency and concentration, and discloses PY-74 which is produced by subjecting a coupler component containing 2-methoxyacetoacetanilide and a diazo component obtained by diazotizing an aniline derivative to coupling reaction.
JP 2006-124584A aims at providing a water-based ink for ink-jet printing which is capable of satisfying a high optical density when printed on a plain paper therewith and achieving an excellent gloss when printed on a coated paper therewith, and discloses a water dispersion and a water-based ink for ink-jet printing including water-insoluble vinyl polymer particles containing a yellow organic pigment such as PY-74 and a specific azo compound in which the water-insoluble vinyl polymer contains a constitutional unit derived from benzyl methacrylate, etc.

Abstract: wherein R10 and R20 are independently an aryl group with the proviso that at least one of R10 and R20 has a sulfonic acid group and a sulfonic acid amide group.


A piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite is made of a substantially two-dimensional polymer matrix and a monolayer of sintered piezoelectric ceramic granules dispersed throughout the matrix so that each granule has an upper portion protruding from one side of the matrix and a lower portion protruding from the opposite side of the matrix. The composite is formed by partially embedding a monolayer of sintered piezoelectric ceramic granules in a pliable material, then partially covering the granules with a polymer resin, curing the resin to form a matrix and removing the pliable material. A transducer is formed by flattening the upper and lower portions of the granules to form coplanar top and bottom surfaces parallel to, but not coplanar with the surface of the matrix, then electroding the granule surfaces, attaching top and bottom cover plates, and sealing the transducer around the edges.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to piezoelectric transducers and more particularly to ceramic granule-polymer composites for large area transduction and to methods of making such composite transducers.
2. Background of the Related Art
Piezoelectric transducers are devices that utilize a piezoelectric ceramic to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy or electrical energy into mechanical energy. Transducers have numerous practical applications including in hydrophones for detecting underwater acoustic waves.
An ongoing problem in developing hydrophones is finding piezoelectric material in which the desirable properties for underwater transducer applications are optimized. Ideally, the piezoelectric material should exhibit good hydrostatic response, should have a low weight and density, should be homogeneous and should be easy to manufacture in a large area configuration. Single-phase piezoelectrics, such as those made of single-phase lead zirconate titanate (PZT), a widely used piezoelectric material, are not well suited for use as monolytic large area hydrophones because of their weight, density, inflexibility and expense. Consequently, research on materials and structures for large area hydrophones has focused on developing composite configurations such as ceramic-polymer composites. In ceramic-polymer composites, a piezoelectrically active phase, typically a piezoelectric ceramic, is combined with a flexible, piezoelectrically inactive phase, typically an elastic polymer, that has desirable mechanical properties such as strength, low density and flexibility. The composite material is typically formed as a substantially two-dimensional sheet that is provided with relatively stiff top and bottom activation ("cover") plates.
In a two-phase system such as in a piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite, the piezoelectric properties depend on the connectivity of the two phases. Connectivity of the phases of a composite is defined by the number of dimensions in which each phase is self-connected. Under a notation system described by Newnham et al, "Connectivity and Piezoelectric Composites",Mat. Res. Bull. Vol 13 (1978) pp 525-536, ten different types of connectivity are possible in a two-phase ceramic-polymer system: 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 2-2, 3-2, and 3-3, with the first numeral referring to the self-connectedness of the ceramic and the second numeral referring to the self-connectedness of the polymer.
The simplest type of piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composite is a composite with 0-3 connectivity, that is, a composite that has discrete non-connected piezoelectric ceramic particles surrounded by a polymer matrix that is self-connected in three dimensions. Ceramic-polymer composites having 0--3 connectivity are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,547 to Giniewicz et al, in W. B. Harrison et al, "Pyroelectric Properties of Flexible PZT Composites" Ferroelectrics, 1980, Vol. 27, pp 125-128, and in W. B. Harrison, "Flexible Piezoelectric Organic Composites", Proceedings of the Workshop on Sonar Transducer Material, Naval Research Laboratories, P.257, November 1975, all of the above incorporated herein by reference. Piezoelectric ceramic-polymer composites with 0-3 connectivity are relatively easy and inexpensive to make by the steps of mixing the ceramic particles with the polymer and then shaping and curing the mixture to form the composite. The disadvantage of 0-3 piezoelectric ceramics is that since the particles are generally disconnected from one another, the electrical and force field is always in part across piezoelectrically inactive material, and the overall piezoelectric activity is therefore less than that of the ceramic itself.
The overall piezoelectric response is improved in composites having 1-3 connectivity, that is, composites having a piezoelectric ceramic that is self-connected in one dimension (i.e., in the direction that force is applied), surrounded by a polymer phase that is self-connected in three dimensions. Typically, the ceramic phase is in the form of an array of ceramic rods aligned in the poling direction and held together by the polymer matrix. Cover plates may be disposed on opposing sides of the matrix transversely to the rods. Ceramic-polymer composites having 1-3 connectivity are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,480 to Bailey et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,148 to Klicker et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,510 to Bowen, all of the above incorporated herein by reference. A disadvantage of 1-3 composites is that they are more complex structures that can be difficult and labor intensive to fabricate on a large scale. A simpler method of fabricating composites with 1-3 connectivity by covering piezoelectric ceramic spheres with a polymer and then sanding the polymer to expose the ceramic spheres is described in Safari et al, "Flexible Composite Transducers",J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 65: 207-209, 1982.
The 1-3 composites described above typically have the disadvantage of an inefficient transfer of force from the cover plates to the ceramic rods, because some of the force is applied to the coplanar polymer matrix instead of to the ceramic rods. U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,859, incorporated herein by reference, describes a transducer having rods that extend beyond the matrix and cover plates that are disposed so that they touch only the rods and do not transmit force to the polymer matrix. However, the transducer described is a complex structure that is difficult and labor intensive to manufacture.

Tranducing composite of sintered piezoelectric ceramic granules in a polymer matrix


A luggage tracking device, and a method of tracking luggage using the device, the device including a housing configured to be attached to a piece of luggage, a location unit provided in the housing to determine a current location of the device, a transmitter provided in the housing to transmit current location information, and a controller provided in the housing to control operations of the location unit and transmitter.

Air travel has become an increasingly more convenient and cost effective mode of travel over the last several decades, and, with the proliferation of such travel, there have been many advances in corresponding methods and technologies. Even airports themselves have been steadily evolving, offering more and more features and creature comforts to make the travel experience more enjoyable and satisfactory for the customer. However, with all of the advances of the past decades, there still exists the all too frequent incidents of lost luggage. Airlines scan bag tags to determine the location of the bag and match it up with the correct flight. However, one problem with this system is that it is dependent upon the workers' scanning each and every bag per flight, and this fails to occur far too often. Also, the airline industry of today, like many other companies, has gone through quite a bit of downsizing, resulting in less workers to perform the various jobs, making baggage service even slower and less accurate.
In some instances, a traveler may arrive at one destination while that traveler's luggage will arrive at another destination, and the traveler is inconvenienced by the delay in having his or her luggage returned. In other instances, the traveler's luggage may never be located. For example, in 2008 one major airline in the United States reported the permanent loss approximately 6.73 out of each 1,000 checked bags, a number that was up 40% from the previous year. In other words, the customers who checked those lost bags will never see their personal belongings again. Another major U.S. airline reported 10,000 bags missing per day. To make matters even worse, as TSA regulations tighten due to terrorism and other concerns, the amount of people checking luggage is increasing. Also, many pieces of luggage look alike, making it possible that someone may inadvertently pick up a bag from the baggage carousel that does not belong to them. Airlines may typically spend millions of dollars each year on locating and delivery of delayed or lost baggage. One airline reported an average expense of $50 for each delayed bag, and no one seems to have an answer regarding how to do the job better.
Typically, if an airline permanently loses a customer's luggage, the customer may recover up to $2,000 as compensation, but that customer will never recover the personal belongings. Thus, while the airline may compensate a traveler financially for lost luggage, many customers would understandably rather be able to locate their own lost luggage and the items contained therein. Therefore, it is desirable for the traveler to be able to conveniently track and/or locate his or her luggage outside of the system employed by the airlines and airports. As we move into a global information society, it is expected that the desire for improved baggage services advance with the information technology. Such a convenience as allowing real time updates regarding the luggage location sent from the luggage to the user would provide confidence to the traveling public.


This invention comprises a method and system for estimating unique visitors for Internet sites that is more accurate than the existing unique cookie/unique address counting methods. The invented method relies on the count of unique user identifiers (such as network addresses or preferably cookies)—I—that can be obtained from an existing cookie tracking/user access logging system. The number of unique visitors U is calculated substantially as a ratio of the count of unique cookies (or unique network addresses) to the number of visits N times the inflation factor X plus constant on that is approximately one (exactly one in the case of cookies). The number of visits is calculated by multiplying the sampling period t to the visitation frequency T1 minus one. The resulting estimate of the unique visitors is stable and does not diverge with sampling time unlike estimates directly obtained from the unique network address or unique cookie counts. The method is also applicable when there are multiple dominant visitation frequencies by accounting to the sum by all significant visitation frequencies. All key parameters of the method can be established before hand by mining a multitude of the site's historical visit logs and/or third party site access logs; the parameters can be corrected/calculated dynamically by mining the site's current access log (or current third party logs) while focusing on unambiguously identified visitors (such as return visitors identified by their login ID or unchanged cookie value).

When we advertise we want to know the size of the market we are advertising to. We want to know how many potential customers our advertisement will reach and we use this number to estimate sales and control the cost of advertising. Since the price of advertisement charged by content providers (such as newspapers, TV networks, radio stations, Internet sites, etc.) usually depends on the reach knowing the reachable audience size is extremely important for determining the cost effectiveness of advertisement and estimating return on investment—ROI—as a ratio of the projected sales revenue to the cost of advertising.
While for the traditional-media advertising (i.e. TV, radio, print, etc.) methods for estimating the reach are well developed, the same methods cannot be applied for the new-media advertising (such as advertising on Internet). The traditional-media advertising uses the number of subscribers as a fair approximation of the reach; radio advertising relies on manual call-out marketing to estimate the audience size. Internet advertisement in general is not delivered to subscribers while expensive and tedious call-out marketing is almost universally replaced with computerized unique visitor estimation techniques based on analysis of site access logs.
The two most popular unique visitor estimation techniques for Internet advertisement include the count of unique network addresses (such as IP addresses) mined from site access logs [1, 2, 3] or the count of unique "cookies" [4] also mined from site access logs [5].
The problem with the first method is that network addresses change over time; therefore the same visitor may be assigned a different network address upon a return visit and thus be misidentified as a new visitor. Furthermore network addresses are also reused; therefore two distinct visitors may share the same network address on subsequent visits and thus be misidentified as one. No formal research in the area has been conducted until now [6] and the obtained results sharply contradict currently accepted notion in the field that the ratio of unique network addresses to unique visitors is constant and is on the order of 1. The research conducted by the author [6] has revealed that the ratio of unique network addresses to unique visitors is not constant and grows linearly with sampling time and with visitation frequency. In other words if an Internet site reports 1,000,000 unique visitors per month basing this number on the count of unique network addresses the actual number of unique visitors may be 30 times less (e.g. ˜30,000) if majority of users—the core audience—visit the site twice daily.
The potential inaccuracy of the network address counts as a measure of unique visitors has been realized before and a new method of unique visitor identification based on "cookies" has been developed [5]. "Cookie" is a persistent and unique token of information that is submitted (typically by Web Browser) to Internet site in order to identify a user on a return visit. When a new user comes in a new unique cookie value is generated to identify the user on a return visit. Currently cookie-tracking methods are considered the most reliable and amount to industry standard in unique visitor identification. Google Analytics, Yahoo, SpyLog and other online content rating providers rely on this method for calculating the unique visitor numbers. Potential problems that negatively impact the accuracy of the cookie-tracking method include cookie clearing by users (both periodic and sporadic, including deletion of cookies by software such as Antivirus or disk cleaning programs) and explosive proliferation of Internet access points and devices such as smart phones, PDAs, pocket PCs, game consoles, notebook PCs, etc. Since cookies are specific to each device, a person that uses 10 such devices will appear as 10 unique visitors to a cookie-tracking system. Currently the impact of cookie clearing and Internet access device proliferation is vastly neglected and unique cookie counts are nevertheless used as a direct measure of unique visitors. The research conducted by the author [6] revealed that cookies are subject to the same "explosion" mechanism as network addresses: the ratio of unique cookie counts to unique visitors is not constant and grows linearly with sampling time and the growth factor increases with the increase of visitation frequency. The author's findings on the cookie clearing impact (which is only one of contributing factors of inaccuracy) corroborate similar data recently reported by comScore [7].
Thus cookies are about just as inaccurate in estimating unique visitors as unique network addresses. This is the new and unrealized fact in the industry that has a direct impact on Internet advertising as currently reported unique visitor/core audience size numbers tend to overestimate the true audience size by a large factor (7-30, depending on the visitation frequency and the sampling period). Also, cookies are not supported by all Internet access hardware/software devices and generally cannot be used with Internet audio/video streams thus further limiting the area of cookie-tracking applicability.
To remedy the problem the author has invented a new, novel and highly unobvious method for estimating unique visitors discussed below.

Method and system for estimating unique visitors for internet sites


First RGB image signals are subjected to an input process. First color information is obtained from the first RGB image signals. Second color information is obtained by a selective expansion processing in which color ranges except a first color range are moved in a feature space formed by the first color information, the first color information that represents each object in a body cavity being distributed in the each color range. The second color information is converted to second RGB signals. A red display signal, a green display signal and a blue display signal are obtained by applying a pseudo-color display process to the second RGB signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device, an endoscope system and a method for operating an image processing device, that generate an image obtained by imaging an object in a subject body.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
In medical fields, diagnoses utilizing endoscope systems have been widely performed. The endoscope system comprises a light source device, an endoscope, and a processor device. In the endoscope system, illumination light is applied from an endoscope to a region of interest (object), and an image of the object is displayed on a monitor based on an image signal obtained by imaging the object illuminated with the illumination light. A doctor detects the presence or absence of a lesion while observing the image displayed on the monitor.
It is known that gastric (stomach) cancer causes atrophy of gastric mucosa, which makes the color of the gastric mucosa to fade. For this reason, there is a difference in color between the atrophic mucosa and the normal mucosa. The stomach cancer is diagnosed by observing the difference in color between the suspected lesion and the normal portion with an endoscope. "ABC method (ABC screening)" is recommended by the authorized nonprofit organization "Japan Research Foundation of Prediction, Diagnosis and Therapy for Gastric Cancer".
In advanced stages of atrophy (for example, groups C or D in the ABC screening), the difference in color between the normal portion and the atrophic portion is clear, so that it is easy to detect the atrophic portion. However, in intermediate stages (for example, groups B and C in the ABC screening), there is little difference in color between the atrophic portion and the normal portion. Therefore it is difficult to detect the atrophic portion based only on the difference in color.
In consideration of the above problem, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0007829 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Publication No. 5647752) performs a color difference enhancing process which increases a difference between first and second signal ratios in a first color range and first and second signal ratios in a second color range to enhance a color difference between an atrophic portion and a normal portion, in a space formed by the first signal ratio between image signals of two colors out of three color image signals and a second signal ratio between image signals of two colors different from the first signal ratio.
However, the diagnosis of the lesion should be made in consideration of vascular states such as vascular patterns, in addition to the color difference between the normal portion and the lesion. Accordingly, in addition to enhance the color difference between the normal portion and the lesion as in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0007829, it is required to emphasize blood vessels in an object and improve vascular visibility.

Image processing device, method for operating the same, and endoscope system


An apparatus includes a body portion and a display assembly coupled to the body portion, the display assembly comprising at least one of a display and a display window. The body portion includes at least one opening defined by a surface extending underneath a portion of the display assembly and being configured to suspend the display assembly. A portion of the body portion is configured to flex and allow movement of the display assembly upon application of a force from at least one actuator to the display assembly. The body portion provides a casing configured to surround electrical components of the apparatus.

Some portable electronic devices comprise transducers such as loudspeakers and/or earpieces which are required to be small in size. Transducers are important components in electronic devices such as mobile phones for the purposes of playing back music or having a telephone conversation. The quality and loudness of a transducer in an electronic device are important especially where a user listens to sounds generated by an electronic device at a distance from the electronic device.
Furthermore many portable devices, for example mobile telephones, are equipped with a display such as a glass or plastic display window for providing information to the user. Furthermore such display windows are now commonly used as touch sensitive inputs. The use of a touch sensitive input with the display has the advantage over a mechanical keypad in that the display may be configured to show a range of different inputs depending on the operating mode of the device. For example, in a first mode of operation the display may be enabled to enter a phone number by displaying a simple numeric keypad arrangement and in a second mode the display may be enabled for text input by displaying an alphanumeric display configuration such as a simulated Qwerty keyboard display arrangement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An image generating apparatus capable of effectively suppressing double paper feeding and reducing the number of components is obtained. This image generating apparatus comprises a paper feed roller feeding papers, a push-up member pressing the papers against the paper feed roller and a control portion controlling driving of the paper feed roller and the push-up member. The control portion carries the papers in a paper feed direction by rotating the paper feed roller, thereafter carries the papers oppositely to the paper feed direction by a prescribed distance while lifting the push-up member, and thereafter lowers the push-up member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generating apparatus, and more particularly, it relates to an image generating apparatus comprising a feeder for feeding papers.
2. Description of the Background Art
A feeder for feeding papers and an image generating apparatus comprising such a feeder are known in general, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 02-305727 (1990), 06-64769 (1994) and 2003-26348, for example.
The aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-305727 describes the structure of a feeder capable of suppressing simultaneous feeding of a plurality of papers in paper feeding. In this feeder, a sheet separation roller rotating oppositely to the direction of rotation of a paper feed belt is arranged on a position opposite to the paper feed belt. In paper feeding, the feeder presses papers with the paper feed belt and the sheet separation roller, so that the sheet separation roller carries papers other than a fed one oppositely to a paper feed direction. After separating the papers in this manner, the feeder releases the papers from the pressing force of the sheet separation roller. Thus, the feeder separates the papers one by one from each other, while carrying only the fed paper in the paper feed direction with the paper feed belt. This feeder described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-305727 is provided with a press roller, a rotating arm, a spring, a wire, a solenoid and the like, in order to press the sheet separation roller against the papers or separate the same from the papers (release the papers from the pressing force of the sheet separation roller). The feeder is further provided with a timer for measuring the timing for releasing the papers from the pressing force of the sheet separation roller.
The aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-64769 describes the structure of a feeder capable of suppressing simultaneous feeding of a plurality of papers in paper feeding, similarly to the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-305727. In this feeder, a separation roller rotating oppositely to the rotational direction of a paper feed roller is arranged on a position opposite to the paper feed roller. In paper feeding, the feeder presses papers against the paper feed roller and the separation roller with compression springs, so that the separation roller carries papers other than a fed one oppositely to a paper feed direction. After separating the papers in this manner, the feeder releases the papers from the pressing force of the separation roller. Thus, the feeder separates the papers one by one from each other, while carrying only the fed paper in the paper feed direction with the paper feed roller. This feeder described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-64769 is provided with two compression springs, a support member, a lever, a solenoid and the like, in order to press the separation roller against the papers or separate the same from the papers (release the papers from the pressing force of the separation roller). The feeder is also provided with a paper sensor for sensing the timing for releasing the papers from the pressing force of the separation roller.
The aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-26348 describes the structure of an image generating apparatus comprising a feeder capable of suppressing simultaneous feeding of a plurality of papers in paper feeding. In this image generating apparatus, an inclined member is arranged on a position opposite to a paper feed roller. Compression springs press the inclined member against the paper feed roller. The feeder separates papers carried by rotation of the paper feed roller into a fed paper and the remaining papers due to frictional resistance of an inclined portion of the inclined member. The paper feed roller carries only the fed paper in a paper feed direction. In the image generating apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-26348, therefore, the paper feed roller regularly rotates in the direction for feeding the papers, not to rotate oppositely thereto.
However, the feeder described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-305727 must be separately provided with a large number of members such as the sheet separation roller, the press roller, the rotating arm, the spring, the wire, the solenoid and the like in addition to the members such as the paper feed roller and the feed roller, in order to separate the papers one by one from each other. Therefore, the number of components is disadvantageously increased.
The feeder described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-64769 must also be separately provided with a large number of members such as the separation roller, the two compression springs, the support member, the lever, the solenoid and the like in addition to the members such as the paper feed roller and the feed roller, in order to separate the papers one by one from each other similarly to the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-305727. Therefore, the number of components is disadvantageously increased.
In the image generating apparatus comprising the feeder described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-26348, on the other hand, the paper feed roller, rotating only in the direction for feeding the papers, disadvantageously also carries an extra paper other than the fed paper in the paper feed direction when the extra paper remains on the inclined member and the paper feed roller comes into contact with this extra paper. In this case, the paper feed roller disadvantageously doubly feeds the papers.


A rescue device is configured to permit rapid evacuation of a casualty by easily attaching to a casualty. The rescue device includes a shell comprising a cavity and mechanically coupled to shoulder straps which can secure the shell to the casualty. An attachment strap is mechanically coupled to the shell which can secure the shell to the casualty holding the shell in place. A lower carrying surface can be deployed from the shell that can support the casualty. There are handles mechanically coupled to the shell and handle bars mechanically coupled to the lower carrying surface in order to permit easily carrying the casualty to safety.

The embodiments herein relate generally to tactical gear and equipment.
Prior to embodiments of the disclosed invention, single person rescue of casualties was physically demanding, time consuming, and dangerous. Casualties were dragged on the ground by one rescuer or they were carried by existing clothes, extremities, or equipment. If stretchers were used, they must be carried by rescuers and must be taken to the point of wounding and then the injured person is placed on the stretcher. Further, limited numbers of stretchers are available due to size and weight issues and only a select few may be carried.
Prior art systems rely upon medics to carry equipment to the injured soldier. Likewise, other systems only consist of drag straps and sometimes handles and do not have friction-reducing devices which decrease the difficulty in rescuing the injured soldier. Existing handles are often poorly placed and are not realistic to use in a true rescue. Embodiments of the disclosed invention solve this problem.


A monitoring and control circuit comprises a sense block, a first and a second comparators, and a control module. The current sense block is coupled to a switch for generating a monitoring signal indicative of a current flowing through the switch. The first comparator coupled to the sense block is operable for comparing the monitoring signal to a first threshold and for providing a first signal according to a first comparison result between the monitoring signal and the first threshold. The second comparator coupled to the sense block is operable for comparing the monitoring signal to a second threshold and for providing a second signal according to a second comparison result between the monitoring signal and the second threshold. The control module coupled to the first comparator and the second comparator provides a control signal for controlling the switch according to the first signal and the second signal so as to adjust the current.

The over current protection has been widely used in many systems such as battery charging systems so as to prevent damages to electronic components in the systems. A typical over-current protection method is to sense the charging/discharging current and to compare the sensed current with a threshold. When the charging/discharging current or the sensed current exceeds a predetermined level, a timer will be initiated for blanking the current for a predetermined period so as to reduce or limit the current. If the charging/discharging current still exceeds the predetermined level after the predetermined period, the charging/discharging circuit will be shut down. If the charging/discharging current decreases below the predetermined level within the predetermined period, a controller can resume the charging/discharging process.
However, the current level might not be effectively ensured to be within a safe level by the above mentioned conventional method, which may be an issue in power tools with a heavy duty load, e.g., a circular saw. When a heavy duty job is performed and a relatively large load current is drawn, a transient over current condition might occur. If the blanking period is not chosen adequately, the power tools may be stopped abruptly and get stuck into objects. Even if the blanking period can be chosen appropriately for one specific application, the system protection might be only suitable for this specific application since different power tools may have different load duties. Consequently, the compatibility of the system protection in various applications may not be adequate.

Monitoring and control circuit for adjusting current


A vehicle model is developed for a quasi-static analysis. The quasi-static analysis is performed for the vehicle model under a cornering condition in which a specific lateral force acts. A finite screw axis is determined based on a rigid body displacement of the vehicle model with respect to the ground through the quasi-static analysis. A fixed screw axis surface formed by a migration of the finite screw axis is also determined. The gradients of screw parameters with respect to lateral forces when the vehicle model behaves in an initial cornering state are calculated. Roll behavior is then estimated based on the fixed screw axis surface and gradients of screw parameters.

The present invention relates to a method for predicting dynamic behavior characteristics of a vehicle using screw theory.
It is quite difficult to exactly predict vehicle motion characteristics. However, these characteristics are very important factors that may affect a degree of a driver""s fatigue, and the drivability and stability of a vehicle. Therefore, when developing a new vehicle, a design target for such vehicle motion characteristics is predetermined, and overall geometry of a vehicle is determined such that the predetermined target can be achieved.
If vehicle development is performed without a prediction of vehicle motion characteristics, development through trial and error is required. This substantially increases development costs and the probability of failure. Therefore, during vehicle development, a suspension system is first designed and its performance estimated before manufacturing the actual vehicle. This development process is repeated until the target criteria have been met. Subsequently, the vehicle is manufactured and the performance of the suspension system tested in actual vehicle tests.
Various conventional methods for estimating the performance of the suspension system have been developed. However, such conventional methods have many drawbacks. For example, typically the front suspension geometry and the rear suspension geometry are independently designed. The performance of the suspension is then optimized by regulating tuning elements of the front suspension system and the rear suspension system.
Furthermore, roll behavior of a vehicle is affected by a relative change between the front and rear wheel suspensions. Therefore, it is difficult to optimize roll behavior of a vehicle through respective estimation of the front wheel suspension and the rear wheel suspension.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to provide a method for predicting roll behavior of a vehicle by simultaneously estimating front wheel suspension and rear wheel suspension changes.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.
Therefore, a motivation of the present invention is to provide dynamic behavior characteristics of a vehicle, using parameters acquired by a quasi-static analysis and change rates thereof, so that driving safety efficiency can be predicted.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method for predicting dynamic behavior characteristics of a vehicle suspension comprises: developing a vehicle model for a quasi-static analysis; performing the quasi-static analysis for the vehicle model under a cornering condition in which a specific lateral force acts; determining a finite screw axis based on a rigid body displacement of the vehicle model with respect to the ground through the quasi-static analysis; determining a fixed screw axis surface formed by a migration of the finite screw axis; calculating gradients of screw parameters with respect to the lateral force when the vehicle model behaves in an initial cornering state; and estimating roll behavior based on the fixed screw axis surface and gradients of screw parameters.
It is preferable that a body of the vehicle model is coupled to a contact patch through a spring such that a tire displacement caused by a vertical load can be expressed, wherein the contact patch is configured such that there is no vertical movement, and an equilibrium of lateral forces acting on the vehicle model exists without a structural restraint in a lateral direction.
Preferably, the equilibrium of lateral forces is realized by applying a lateral force that increases at a predetermined rate at a center of gravity of the vehicle model, and by applying corresponding lateral forces to the contact patch.
It is preferable that the vehicle model is structurally restrained in a forward/rearward direction to facilitate determination of a moment equilibrium according to a force equilibrium.
It is also preferable that a front wheel is configured to be restrained and a rear wheel is configured to undergo a forward/rearward movement such that a wheel base change that is brought about during roll behavior by a forward/rearward movement of the contact patch caused by geometries of the front and rear wheel can be reflected in the analysis.
Preferably, a forward/rearward displacement of a front contact patch is measured while bumping and rebounding the vehicle in a state whereby all forward/rearward restraints are removed, and a value obtained by a sine function approximation is used as a front wheel displacement restraint condition.
It is preferable that in the quasi-static analysis, when comparing a plurality of results of the quasi-static analysis for different vehicle models, a camber change tendency and a toe change tendency are set as similar values between the models, and a roll center at an initial position is set to be the same in each model.
It is preferable that in the step of estimating roll behavior, a point where the fixed screw axis intersects a surface that passes through a center of a front wheel and is perpendicular to a vehicle driving direction is considered as a roll center of the front wheel, a point where the fixed screw axis insects a surface that passes through a center of gravity is considered as a roll center of the center of gravity, and a point where the fixed screw axis insects a surface that passes through a center of a rear wheel is considered as a roll center of the rear wheel, and wherein a tendency of change of the roll center at the three points is estimated.
It is also preferable that the screw parameters include a first position parameter relating to a vertical migration of a center of gravity of the vehicle model, a second position parameter relating to a lateral migration of a center of gravity of the model, a first direction parameter relating to a pitch motion of the vehicle model, a second direction parameter relating to a yaw motion of the vehicle model, and a pitch parameter relating to cornering speed.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the method for predicting dynamic behavior characteristics of a vehicle comprises: determining screw parameters and gradients of the screw parameters of a fixed screw axis through an analysis of a quasi-static vehicle model; and estimating roll behavior of the vehicle based on the determined screw parameters and the gradients of the screw parameters.
It is preferable that said determining comprises: applying a lateral force that increases at a predetermined rate at a center of gravity of the quasi-static vehicle model, and simultaneously applying corresponding lateral forces at each contact patch of the quasi-static vehicle model, so that a force equilibrium in a lateral direction and a moment equilibrium exist; and determining the screw parameters and the gradients of the screw parameters of a fixed screw axis based on motions of the quasi-static vehicle model with respect to the ground.
It is also preferable that the screw parameters include a lateral position parameter that relates to a lateral position of the fixed screw axis, and a center of gravity of a vehicle is estimated to lower if a value of the gradient of the lateral position parameter is negative, and a center of gravity of a vehicle is estimated to rise if a value of the gradient of the lateral position parameter is positive.
Preferably, the screw parameters include a vertical position parameter that relates to a vertical position of the fixed screw axis, and it is estimated that a lateral migration of a center of gravity of the vehicle decreases and a roll angle decreases if a value of a gradient of the vertical position parameter is negative.
It is preferable that the screw parameters include a lateral direction component of a unit direction vector of the screw axis, and it is estimated that a vehicle body slants in a forward direction if a value of a gradient of the lateral direction component is negative, and the vehicle body slants in a rearward direction if a value of a gradient of the lateral direction component is positive.
Preferably, the screw parameters include a vertical direction component of a unit direction vector of the screw axis, and a yaw behavior is estimated based on a gradient of the vertical direction component.
It is preferable that the screw parameters include a pitch parameter relating to a translating motion of a vehicle, and it is estimated that the vehicle moves in a forward direction along the screw axis if a value of a gradient of the pitch parameter is positive, and the vehicle moves in a rearward direction along the screw axis if a value of a gradient of the pitch parameter is negative.
It is further preferable that the quasi-static vehicle model comprises a body, and a contact patch that is coupled to the body through a spring, wherein the contact patch is configured to have no structural restraint in a lateral direction.

Method for predicting dynamic behavior characteristics of a vehicle using screw theory


An occupant protection apparatus is provided with a first airbag device having a window airbag that protects an occupant in a vehicle and a second airbag device having an adjacent airbag that completes inflation to contact the window airbag for which inflation is completed, thereby protecting the occupant. Where the internal pressure of an inflation chamber at the contact site during contact with the adjacent airbag by the window airbag is P1 and the internal pressure of the adjacent airbag is P2, P1<P2 is satisfied. The wrap amount of the inflation chamber with the adjacent airbag is set as a proportion of a calculated value or less of a predetermined numeric expression.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protection apparatus provided with a first airbag device having a window airbag that expands and inflates to cover the vehicle inside of a window of a vehicle, thereby protecting an occupant and a second airbag device that is disposed in the vicinity of the first airbag device and has an adjacent airbag that completes inflation to contact the window airbag, thereby protecting the occupant (including a person on board seated in the passenger seat and a driver seated in the driver seat).
2. Description of Related Art
There are occupant protection apparatuses for a vehicle in the related art that are provided with a first airbag device having a window airbag and a passenger seat airbag device as a second airbag device that is provided in the vicinity of the first airbag device and that has an adjacent airbag that completes inflation to come in contact with the window airbag, thereby protecting the occupant (for example, refer to JP-A-2013-133049).
In the occupant protection apparatus of the related art, there are cases where the adjacent airbag of the passenger seat airbag device, that is, the passenger seat airbag completes inflation to contact the window airbag for which inflation is completed. In this case, even though the window airbag ordinarily has a lower internal pressure than the passenger seat airbag, there are cases where the passenger seat airbag shakes so that the receiving surface for the occupant shifts, and a problem arises in suppressing the shaking.


The present invention is directed to triple combination therapies with anti-TIGIT antibodies, anti-PVRIG antibodies, and checkpoint inhibitors, including anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies.

TIGIT is a coinhibitory receptor that is highly expressed on effector & regulatory (Treg) CD4+ T cells, effector CD8+ T cells, and NK cells. TIGIT has been shown to attenuate immune response by (1) direct signaling, (2) inducing ligand signaling, and (3) competition with and disruption of signaling by the costimulatory receptor CD226 (also known as DNAM-1). TIGIT signaling has been the most well-studied in NK cells, where it has been demonstrated that engagement with its cognate ligand, poliovirus receptor (PVR, also known as CD155) directly suppresses NK cell cytotoxicity through its cytoplasmic ITIM domain. Knockout of the TIGIT gene or antibody blockade of the TIGIT/PVR interaction has shown to enhance NK cell killing in vitro, as well as to exacerbate autoimmune diseases in vivo. In addition to its direct effects on T- and NK cells, TIGIT can induce PVR-mediated signaling in dendritic or tumor cells, leading to the increase in production of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL10. In T-cells TIGIT can also inhibit lymphocyte responses by disrupting homodimerization of the costimulatory receptor CD226, and by competing with it for binding to PVR.
TIGIT is highly expressed on lymphocytes, including Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) and Tregs, that infiltrate different types of tumors. PVR is also broadly expressed in tumors, suggesting that the TIGIT-PVR signaling axis may be a dominant immune escape mechanism for cancer. Notably, TIGIT expression is tightly correlated with the expression of another important coinhibitory receptor, PD1. TIGIT and PD1 are co-expressed on the TILs of numerous human and murine tumors. Unlike TIGIT and CTLA4, PD1 inhibition of T cell responses does not involve competition for ligand binding with a costimulatory receptor.
The immune checkpoint, poliovirus receptor related immunoglobulin domain containing (PVRIG, also known as CD112R) represents a new inhibitory receptor within the TIGIT family of receptors. PVRIG binds with high affinity to its cognate ligand, poliovirus receptor-related 2 (PVRL2, also known as CD112 or nectin-2) to deliver an inhibitory signal through its ITIM motif within T and NK cells. The affinity of TIGIT to PVR and of PVRIG to PVRL2 is higher than the affinity of CD226 to either PVR or PVRL2, suggesting TIGIT and PVRIG can outcompete PVR and PVRL2 from CD226 and providing an indirect mechanism by which TIGIT and PVRIG can reduce lymphocyte function. Thus, two receptors with the same family, TIGIT and PVRIG, deliver inhibitory signals to dampen T and NK cell responses.
Accordingly, TIGIT and PVRIG are attractive for triple therapy combinations with checkpoint inhibitors, including anti-PD-1 antibodies.