A disk drive includes a spindle motor, a pivot bearing cartridge, and a laminated cover. The laminated cover includes a first cover layer attached to the spindle motor, and a second cover layer attached to the pivot bearing cartridge. The cover further includes a damping layer disposed between the first and second cover layers for mechanically insulating the spindle motor and the pivot bearing cartridge from each other to mitigate vibration through the cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to disk drives, and in particular to a disk drive including a spindle motor and a pivot bearing cartridge attached to different layers of a laminated cover.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The typical hard disk drive includes a head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) attached to a disk drive base of the HDA. The head disk assembly includes the disk drive base, a cover, at least one magnetic disk, a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly (HSA) that includes a transducer head supported by a slider for reading and writing data from and to the disk.
The spindle motor includes a spindle motor hub that is rotatably attached to the disk drive base. The spindle motor hub has an outer hub flange that supports a lowermost one of the disks. Additional disks may be stacked and separated with annular disk spacers that are disposed about the spindle motor hub. The spindle motor typically includes a spindle motor base that is attached to the disk drive base. A shaft is coupled to the spindle motor base and the spindle motor hub surrounds the shaft. The spindle motor hub may be rotatably coupled to the shaft and therefore the spindle motor base typically via a pair of bearing sets. A stator is positioned about the shaft and is attached to the spindle motor base. A magnet element is attached to the hub flange. The stator with the various poles of the magnet element. Such interaction results in forces applied to the spindle motor hub that tend to rotate the spindle motor hub and the attached disks.
The head stack assembly includes an actuator assembly including the sliders and a flex circuit cable assembly attached to the actuator assembly. A conventional "rotary" actuator assembly (also referred to as "rotary actuator" or simply "actuator") typically comprises an actuator body, a pivot bearing cartridge, a coil portion that extends from one side of the actuator body to interact with one or more permanent magnets to form a voice coil motor, and one or more actuator arms which extend from an opposite side of the actuator body to a distal end of the actuator assembly. The actuator body includes a bore and the pivot bearing cartridge engaged within the bore for allowing the actuator body to rotate between limited positions. At least one head gimbal assembly (HGA) is distally attached to each of the actuator arms. Each head gimbal assembly biases a head towards the disk.
The printed circuit board assembly includes a servo control system in the form of a disk controller for generating servo control signals. The head stack assembly is controllably positioned in response to the generated servo control signals from the disk controller to the voice coil motor. In so doing, the attached sliders are moved relative to tracks disposed upon the disk for reading and writing operations with respect to the tracks contained on the disks.
A plurality of fasteners, such as metal screws, are disposed about a periphery of the disk drive cover and engage the periphery of the disk drive base for attachment of the disk drive cover with the disk drive base. In addition, as support for the actuator, a fastener is used to support the spindle motor and is engaged to the spindle motor also through the disk drive cover.
A topic of concern is mitigating the effects of various vibrations within the disk drive due to the many dynamic components. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved disk drive configuration in comparison to the prior art.

Disk drive including a spindle motor and a pivot bearing cartridge attached to different layers of a laminated cover


A far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace for steel sheets for hot stamping, the furnace including far-infrared radiation heaters having flexibility that are prevented from deflecting even during heating at temperatures ranging from the Ac3 transformation temperature to 950° C. The furnace includes: multiple-staged heating units that accommodate steel sheets, each heating unit formed by thermal insulation materials disposed around the periphery; and far-infrared radiation heaters positioned above and below the heating units. A far-infrared radiation heater is received by first metal strips. The first metal strips are disposed so that their strong axis direction approximately corresponds to the direction of gravity and supported by support pieces so as to be expandable and contractible in a longitudinal direction by thermal expansion or thermal contraction. The support pieces are disposed outside the thermal insulation materials in the heating units and a ceiling unit.

High strength steel sheets are widely used as a blank for making components of an automobile body in order to achieve both a further improvement in the strength, stiffness, and collision safety of the automobile body and an improvement in the fuel economy resulting from the reduced weight of the body. However, the press-formability of steel sheets decreases with increasing strength. As a result, high strength press-formed articles having a desired shape may not be produced.
In recent years, hot press-forming methods (also referred to as hot stamping methods) have been utilized as methods for press-forming components of an automobile body. In hot press-forming methods, a steel sheet (blank) for hot stamping to be press-formed is heated to a temperature equal to or greater than the Ac3 temperature, and immediately after that, is subjected to forming and rapid cooling by a pressing die to be quenched (also referred to as die quenching). In this manner, high strength press-formed articles having a desired shape are produced.
Production of high strength hot press-formed articles in large volumes by a hot press-forming method requires use of a heating furnace for heating steel sheets for hot stamping. Inventions relating to such heating furnaces have been proposed heretofore.
Patent Document 1 discloses a multi-stage heating furnace. The multi-stage heating furnace includes a plurality of accommodation spaces for accommodating a plurality of steel sheets for hot stamping. The plurality of accommodation spaces are aligned in a vertical direction so as to be horizontal to each other. Means for transferring the steel sheets for hot stamping during heating are provided in the plurality of accommodation spaces.
Patent Document 2 discloses a multi-stage heating furnace that includes a box-shaped body and a heat source. Heating chambers are formed within the body. The heat source heats the insides of the chambers to about 900° C. This multi-stage heating furnace is capable of heating a plurality of steel sheets for hot stamping simultaneously and discharging the heated steel sheets for hot stamping separately.
Patent Document 3 discloses a multi-stage heating furnace that includes a body. Heating chambers to be heated by heat sources are provided within the body. Multiple-staged openings arranged in a vertical direction are provided in the front wall of the body. An opening and closing door is provided for each opening at each stage.
Furthermore, Patent Document 4 discloses a heat treatment method. The heat treatment method includes a first step and a second step. In the first step, a steel sheet for hot stamping is heated to an alloying temperature. In the second step, a first region of the steel sheet for hot stamping is held at a temperature equal to or greater than the A3 transformation temperature utilizing thermal energy imparted in the first step while depriving a second region of the steel sheet for hot stamping of thermal energy. As a result, the second region of the steel sheet for hot stamping cools to a temperature equal to or less than the A1 transformation temperature. This heat treatment method can effectively utilize thermal energy imparted in the alloying process and shorten the time for heat treatment.
The heating furnaces disclosed by Patent Documents 1 to 4 use a gas burner, an electric coil heater, a radiant tube, an electromagnetic heater, or another type of heater as the heat source for steel sheets for hot stamping.
These heating furnaces need to meet the following requirements: rapid and uniform heating of the steel sheet for hot stamping over all regions to a high temperature range of equal to or greater than the Ac3 temperature (e.g., from 850 to 950° C.); an improvement in the ability for mass production; and minimization of the area for installation. In recent years, heating furnaces utilizing a far-infrared radiation heater as its heat source have been increasingly used. Heating furnaces of this type have the characteristics a to c listed below:
(a) capable of uniformly heating a steel sheet for hot stamping;
(b) capable of being compact by virtue of the vertically extending multi-stage configuration; and
(c) having a thin planar shape and being capable of heating a steel sheet for hot stamping at both sides thereof.
Patent Document 5 discloses a multi-stage heating furnace using a flexible far-infrared radiation heater as its heat source. The flexible far-infrared radiation heater is constructed of numerous insulators arranged in rows and knitted together to form a flexible panel. The numerous insulators have slits for receiving a resistive heating conductor. A heating conductor that emits far-infrared radiation is inserted and provided in the slits.

Far-infrared radiation multi-stage type heating furnace for steel sheets for hot stamping

NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN TEXENG, CO., LTD.


Biobased diisocyanates are bio-derived derived from biomass natural sources that include rosin acids. The biobased diisocyanates are of the formula 1, 2 or 3:

Polyurethanes are a large class of polymers used in a wide range of applications, such as construction, automotive, furniture, footwear, insulation, coatings, adhesives, elastomer foams, and consumer goods. Polyurethanes are produced from the polymerization reaction between polyols and/or aliphatic diols with diisocyanates. Usually, the polyols are hydroxyl-terminated oligomers or polymers, such as poly (ethylene oxide), poly (propylene oxide), poly (alkylene glycols) or polyester resin with terminal hydroxyl groups. The diisocyanates are usually selected as toluene-diisocyanate, 4,4′-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate and hexamethylene diisocyanate. The properties of polyurethanes vary depending on the structure of the polymer backbone and can be tailored to have high strength and rigidity, or high flexibility and toughness. When a polyol (and or aliphatic diol) reacts with the diisocyanate, it forms a linear, thermoplastic polymer. If crosslinking agents are utilized, such as diethanol amine, polyhydric alcohol or polyols with three or more hydroxyl moieties and/or poly-isocyanates with three reactive isocyanate groups, the varying degrees of crosslinking in the polyurethane product can be tailored to achieve a rigid, cross-linked, thermosetting polyurethane. Additionally, additives are commonly added during the reaction of the polyurethane to improve certain properties, such as chain-extending agents, blowing agents, surfactants, fillers, plasticizers, pigments and flame retardants. Blowing agents will create a polyurethane foam, and surfactants will control the bubble formation and, therefore, the cell formation of the foam. In general, fillers increase stiffness, plasticizers reduce hardness and pigments add colour to the material. Additionally, there are many aromatic and aliphatic poly-isocyanates; however, the most important of these being toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and 4,4′-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), which are used in the production of around 95% of all polyurethanes. TDI is generally used in the production of soft, flexible foams for cushioning, whereas MDI is used in the production of more versatile, rigid polyurethanes. Other less common diisocyanates such as the aliphatic hexamethylene diisocyanate or cycloaliphatic isophorone diisocyanates are known and utilized for polyurethane compositions useful in specialty applications, such as enamel paints and coatings which are resistant to abrasion or degradation by ultraviolet light. The main components of the polyurethane, namely the polyols and the diisocyanates, are mainly derived from petrochemicals, and their production contributes heavily towards greenhouse gasses that negatively impact the environment. There is an overall need for polyols and diisocyanates that are based on renewable resource materials derived primarily from a biomass such that there is less dependency on fossil fuels, which accelerate climate change.
Examples of polyols derived from biobased chemicals are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 10,934,384 describes selection of biobased polyester-polyols used for producing polyurethane resins. The polyurethanes are obtained from biobased polyols, additives and petrochemically derived diisocyanate such as MDI, to result in an overall biobased content of from about 70 to about 85% by weight of the corresponding polyurethane composition.
Rosin based diisocyanates are also known, such as those described by Bingham and Marvel in "Preparation and Polymerization of a Diisocyanate from the Diels-Alder Adduct of Levopimaric Acid", Journal of Polymer Science: Part A-1, 10, p. 921 (1972), in which the Diels-Alder adduct of levopimaric acid and acrylic acid is converted to the ethyl ester diisocyanate.
In co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 17/245,807, there are described biobased diisocyanates derived from 3-pentadecyl phenol, which is derived from cardanol harvested from cashew nutshell liquid food waste.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,950,996 describes biobased aromatic diisocyanates, wherein the starting materials are namely, bis(4-isocyanato-2-methoxyphenoxy)alkane and bis(4-isocyanato-2, 6-dimethoxyphenoxy) alkanes and are synthesized from vanillic acid/syringic acid which have their origin in bio-resources such Lignin. The aromatic biobased diisocyanates are analogous in structure to petrochemically-derived MDI.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,044,166, 9,404,132 and 9,765,369 describe a process for making 1,5-pentylene diisocyanate from bioderived 1,5-pentane diamine obtained from enzymatic decarboxylation of L-lysine. The aliphatic biobased diisocyanates are analogous in structure to oil-derived hexamethylene diisocyanates.
Cawse et al., "Polymers from renewable sources", Die Makromolekulare Chemie, 185 (4) p. 697 (1984), describes the synthesis of furan diisocyanates from methyl furoate and furfuryl-amine which are bioderived from maize, oats and husks. The aromatic biobased diisocyanates are analogous in structure to MDI, and furthermore are obtained from a food-based bioresource.
There is a need to provide polyurethane compositions wherein the biobased content is, for example, from about 95% to about 100% by weight of the polyurethane composition. While the objective is to increase the renewable content of the polyurethane foam, it is also desirable to maintain or improve the performance properties of the polyurethane composition. To achieve a high renewable content of the polyurethane foam, there is a need for biobased polyols, biobased additives, biobased fillers, biobased colorants and biobased diisocyanates.
There is also a need for biobased diisocyanates that are aromatic and analogous in structure to TDI and MDI. Furthermore, there is a need for biobased diisocyanates that are primarily derived from non-food-based biomass or food-waste biomass.
Furthermore, there is a need to provide biobased aromatic diisocyanates derived from food-waste or non-food biomass, with biobased polyols, fillers, additives and colorants for the production of polyurethane composition for many applications, wherein the biobased content is from about 95% to about 100% by weight of the polyurethane composition.
These and other needs can be achievable with the biobased diisocyanates of the present disclosure.

Biobased diisocyanates, and process for preparation of same

Abstract: where:                R is an alkylene of from about 2 to about 12 carbon atoms, and        R′ is an alkyl group of from about 1 to about 12 carbon atoms.


A distance measuring device provided in a camera has: a pair of integration-type image sensor arrays; a plurality of brightness monitors being placed close to one of the image sensor arrays, each independently for measuring the brightness of the subject in a predetermined area and for outputting a signal corresponding to the brightness; a selector for selecting one of the brightness signals from the brightness monitors based on the taking condition; and a controller for controlling the termination of integration by the image sensor arrays based on the selected brightness signal. At least one of the brightness monitors has a measurement width area being large in the direction of the base line of the image sensor arrays compared to a second brightness monitor, and covers the measurement area of the second brightness monitor.

This application is based on the application No. 2002-12701 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image taking apparatus such as a compact camera, a movie camera, a digital camera and a surveillance camera having a distance measuring device according to an external light passive auto focus (AF) method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the subject brightness, there is a light quantity difference of approximately one hundred thousand times between sunlight in the daytime and moonlight in the nighttime. In order that appropriate distance measurement and exposure can be obtained even under taking conditions where there is such a light quantity difference, conventionally, a distance measuring device is used that is provided with a brightness monitor and uses image sensors which are an application of photoelectric conversion.
In this distance measuring device, an image sensor for the brightness monitor placed close to an image sensor for distance measurement is provided, and in accordance with the output from the image sensor for the brightness monitor, the accumulation time (integration time) of charges generated by the image sensor for distance measurement is controlled.
However, since the subject brightness distribution is not uniform over the entire area of the image sensor and dark parts and bright parts are intermingled with each other, when a brightness monitor monitoring the entire area of the image sensor for distance measurement is used, bright parts and darks parts exceed the dynamic range of the image sensor, so that it is impossible to perform control for sufficiently obtaining the contrast of the subject.
That is, conventional distance measuring devices are typically provided with a brightness monitor 73 detecting the brightness of the subject and being placed close to, of a pair of left and right distance measurement image sensor arrays 71 (71L, 71R), the integration-type image sensor array 71L as shown in FIG. 12. An integration control circuit 74 outputs a signal to start accumulation of the charges generated by the integration-type image sensor arrays 71 when receiving an integration start signal, and terminates the accumulation of the charges generated by the image sensor arrays 71 when receiving from an integration automatic termination determiner 75 a signal representative of automatic termination of the integration determined in accordance with the typical brightness of the subject. That is, the brightness monitor 73 transmits a signal representative of the typical brightness of the subject to the integration automatic termination determiner 75, and the integration control circuit 74 controls the image sensor arrays 71 so as to determine the charge accumulation time based on the value of the brightness.
However, since the optical system of the conventional distance measuring device is not interlocked with the taking optical system of the camera, when the taking area is changed by a change in the focal length of the taking optical system or the like, the measurement area of the brightness monitor is not interlocked with the change. That is, under the control of a microcomputer 76, the focal length of the taking optical system 78 is changed by the zoom lens system being moved by a motor 77, so that the taking area is changed. On the other hand, the optical system 72 of the distance measuring device has no mechanism to change its focal length in response to a movement of the taking optical system. Therefore, when the focal length of the taking optical system is short and the image plane (taking area) of the taking optical system is large, the image sensor arrays 71 or the brightness monitor 73 is included in the taking area as shown in FIG. 13(a). In this case, even when a high-brightness light source 81 such as the sun is present in the background of a main subject 80, in an output signal 21a from the brightness monitor 73, the brightness of the part of the subject 80 is high.
When the taking area of the taking optical system is decreased for a reason such that the focal length of the taking optical system 78 is increased, there are cases where parts of the image sensor arrays 71 or the brightness monitor 73 of the distance measuring device extend off the image plane of the taking optical system as shown in FIG. 13(b). In such cases, the brightness monitor 73 is situated so as to overlap with the high-brightness light source 81 present in the background of the main subject 80. Therefore, in these cases, in an output signal 21b from the brightness monitor 73, the brightness of the high-brightness subject 81 is high, and the charge accumulation time of the image sensor arrays 71 is determined by using as the reference (typical brightness) the brightness of the light source 81 not included in the image plane of the taking optical system. Consequently, a typical brightness insufficient for obtaining an image of the main subject 80 is output from the brightness monitor 73, so that the determined integration time is not the one for sufficiently obtaining the brightness distribution of the main subject 80.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a camera having a distance measuring device according to the external light passive AF method capable of responding to changes in taking magnification and not readily affected by a light source in the background.
To attain the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an image taking apparatus comprising: a taking optical system for imaging a subject light; a distance measurement optical system having an optical path different from an optical path of the taking optical system, and not interlocking with a change of a focal length of the taking optical system; a pair of image sensor arrays for receiving subject light imaged by the distance measurement optical system; a plurality of brightness monitors being placed close to one of the image sensor arrays, each independently for measuring a brightness of a subject in a predetermined area and for outputting a signal corresponding to the brightness; a selector for selecting a predetermined brightness monitor from among the brightness monitors based on a image taking condition; and a controller for controlling integration by the image sensor arrays based on the signal from the brightness monitor selected by the selector, wherein one of the brightness monitors has a measurement area being large compared to an other brightness monitor, and covers a measurement area of the other brightness monitor.
According to this structure, since a plurality of brightness monitors having different measurement area is provided, the brightness of the subject can be measured in different area. Therefore, for example, when the taking area is decreased because of a change of the focal length of the taking optical system, by using a brightness monitor having a small measurement area, measurement is never affected by the brightness of a subject other than the main subject. Consequently, the typical brightness based on the brightness of the main subject can precisely be measured. Moreover, since the brightness monitors each independently measure the brightness of the subject and one of the brightness monitors is selected, the control of the integration time is short compared to a case where each brightness monitor outputs a brightness signal and processing is performed one after another.
In the following description, like parts are designated by like reference numbers throughout the several drawings.

Image taking apparatus having a distance measuring device


The invention concerns a hearing device having an input transducer and an output transducer with a signal path therebetween, signal processing means connected in said signal path for influencing a signal in the signal path dependent on a PPS (processing parameter set), and a PPS memory accessible by the signal processor means for storing a number of different PPS's for use by the signal processing means. The system has means for monitoring the acoustic environment in a learning mode, where the user chooses the PPS to be used in the signal processing. Later in an automatic mode the hearing aid system chooses the PPS based on a comparison of the current acoustic environment with the monitored environment in the learning phase.

The act of choosing a program can be done discretely by the use of a remote control, or less discretely by touching buttons placed on the hearing aid. In either case however the user is made aware of his hearing disability and in some degree also people around may notice this action. Further this action may take some time, and during this time the attention of the hearing aid user is directed to the hearing aid and not directly at the surroundings, and these moments of less attention is disturbing to both the hearing aid user and to the people who are maintaining a conversation or other kind of communication with him or her.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,050 a hearing aid system is known, wherein a solution to the above problem is attempted. The hearing aid system has a matching arrangement with a first memory for several parameter sets available for selection for each of several hearing situations, an input unit for selecting a current hearing situation and for selecting one of the several parameter sets available for this hearing situation, and a second memory for allocation data that identify the parameter sets selected for each hearing situation. For the determination of an optimal parameter set for each of several hearing situations, an optimal user-specific parameter set is allocated to each hearing situation as it arises during an optimization phase. After the optimization phase, the allocation data are evaluated in order to determine an optimal parameter set for each hearing situation. This parameter set is then programmed as the parameter set which will be called to set the transmission characteristics of the hearing aid whenever the hearing situation allocated thereto occurs.
According to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,035,050 the user needs to select both a hearing situation, which he believes to be in and make a choice as to the processing parameter set, which provides the best performance in the given situation. This leaves the user with many complex choices during the optimization phase, and the risk of confusion is high. Further this prior art hearing aid system prescribes the use of both an auxiliary module and a control module.

Hearing device and method for choosing a program in a multi program hearing device


There is disclosed a client-server configuration including a peripheral device wherein multiple servers interface with both the client and the peripheral. Management software for determining the operating state of the peripheral, known as server agent software, is employed in the multiple servers under control of the client. In order to avoid conflicting information reflecting multiple operating states of the peripheral, a primary/secondary algorithm is used to enable the client to determine only one peripheral operating state while allowing each server to also verify its connectivity to the peripheral and to the client.

1. Field of the Invention
This patent application relates to computer systems, and more particularly relates to management software for controlling one or more peripherals connected to multiple servers.
2. Description of Prior Art
Software may be placed in context by reference to FIG. 1A which depicts a software xe2x80x9cfieldxe2x80x9d and is presented as an aid to understanding the context of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows three basic divisions of software: (1) Firmware or BIOS (Basic Input/Output System); (2) Operating System software; and (3) Applications software. The relationship of these various software categories to each other are generally suggested by their respective juxtapositions in the diagram. The firmware (BIOS) software is needed to get the computer system xe2x80x9cbooted-upxe2x80x9d or turned on. The operating system runs on top of the BIOS and is needed to bring the computer system to life, to enable it to run or operatexe2x80x94kind of the lifeblood of the system. The application software runs on the operating system software, and directs the computer in a particular task of interest. A detailed discussion of each of the entries on the field is not undertaken herein, but each entry is somewhat self-explanatory.
This field of software is not complete and many more software entries could have been made, known by various names such as: daemons, processes, threads, API (Application Programmers Interface), sockets, algorithms, data structures, etc. Each of these software names has special meaning in the software arts. These pieces of software, others shown on FIG. 1A, and others not mentioned can interconnect with each other and firmware, and hardware in a concerted effort to manage or control the overall computer system operation in a manner to provide the result desired by the computer system human user. Regardless of the size or complexity of the computer system or computer system network, with multiple layers of software, in every system electrons ultimately flow over conductive paths and through electrical nodes in a manner that the nodes are either at a high voltage (high) or low voltage (low) at any given computer clock cycle (snapshot in time). It is the controlling of each of these nodes, perhaps trillions of them per computer system, on an individual node basis, to be either high or low at any specific point in time, and the controlling of the sequence of how each one of these nodes changes from high to low and vice versa, which is the job of the various software on the computer system working in concert with each other, which produces the desired result for the human computer user. Future computer systems might employ technology other than electrical, as for example optical or molecular technology. In any event, the present invention falls into one of these categories of software, and relates to memory management software, shown in FIG. 1A in the operating system category.
In the typical client-server relationship, the client needs to periodically determine the state or status of the peripheral device connected from the server. This state determination is typically accomplished in the prior-art by use of management software under control of the client. The simplest configuration of a single client, single server and single peripheral (in this case a disk array) is shown in prior-art FIG. 1. In this instance the client connects to the server by way of a local area network (LAN). The server is running the management software commonly known as xe2x80x9cagent softwarexe2x80x9d or as an xe2x80x9cagentxe2x80x9d. This agent software can directly communicate with the peripheral device via the physical cable connecting the server to the peripheral.
The server agent software, when actively managing the peripheral device, can operate in either one of two modes: as a xe2x80x9cpass throughxe2x80x9d or as a xe2x80x9ccachexe2x80x9d. A cache is a high speed memory, and if operating as a xe2x80x9ccachexe2x80x9d then some information is retained. The cache agent maintains an image of the peripheral state that is occasionally refreshed at a certain polling interval. A pass through agent retains no state information about the peripheral device, but simply serves as a conduit between the client""s application software and the peripheral device.
For many applications the caching approach is preferred, typically for managing large-scale peripherals such as disk arrays or tape jukeboxes. Caching permits quick agent response to multiple client inquiries, in the instance of a multiple -client system. Also, caching has the capability to throttle the number of requests sent to a peripheral if there are multiple client applications flooding the management agent software with requests.
As noted, a cached agent can record information, and peripherals often generate one-time events that they pass to connected servers. This event notification, in a cached agent environment, can be stored and queried in a central location which is very convenient. Further advantage in using a cached agent is logging events: each time the agent software receives a new event from the peripheral, it can also log the event in the server""s system logxe2x80x94SYSLOG on UNIX, or NT Event log on Windows NT. This could be critical for system administrator software which may be experiencing problems on a server and which needs to correlate these problems with what may have happened to the peripheral.
The cached agent architecture works well when there is only one server, as in prior-art FIG. 1 client applications, such as a graphical user interface, (GUI), can monitor the cached agent software by issuing xe2x80x9cchange requestsxe2x80x9d, and the agent can respond by sending those objects in the cache that have recently changed, and thus update any pertinent GUI display windows.
However, when there are multiple servers, as in FIG. 2, managing the same peripheral, traditional prior-art agent caching architectures begin to experience a variety of problems. For example, in a system with four servers connected to a single disk array peripheral, as in FIG. 2, there are four separate server agents maintaining four separate caches. Client application software managing the disk array would ordinarily communicate with all four agents for the purpose of verifying that the connection between each server and disk array is good, meaning that each server is able to effectively use the disk array through its channel. As the client application queries each agent for state changes to its agent cache, a number of undesirable things can happen. Each agent sends over its changes to the client, but only the first agent to do so sends data that is not redundant, unnecessary, and potentially conflicting (or stale). The second, third, and fourth agents will necessarily send data that is redundant, unnecessary, and potentially conflicting (or stale). Redundant data shall confuse the client application software (or potentially the user of the client application software). And, the redundant data will use up unnecessary network bandwidth for the connection between client and servers. The present invention offers a solution to this aforementioned inherent redundancy problem when a client-server arrangement is configured with multiple servers controlling one or more peripherals. This solution permits client management of a peripheral connected to multiple servers which provides for a coherent, consistent view of the peripheral state, as well as allowing for efficient utilization of network bandwidth during an update of the client application.
Within the context of a client-server computer system configuration, the present invention solves the problem of obtaining and resolving conflicting peripheral device state change information, which would normally be obtained when the peripheral device is connected to multiple servers and where each server is running agent software under control of the client. In such computer system which includes a client, a multiple number of servers each connected to the client, and at least one peripheral device managed by the servers, the present invention includes software for initiating a primary request and secondary requests for state changes occurring in the peripheral device. That software further includes the capability, within each of the servers and responsive to the initiating of the requests, to report peripheral state changes to the client, differentiate the primary request from the secondary requests, report a primary level of information detail to the client responsive to the primary request, and a secondary level of information detail to the client responsive to any one of the secondary requests. The primary level of information detail is complete state change information and the secondary level of information detail does not conflict with said complete state change information. Primary level or complete state change information includes, but is not limited to: state of a connection between a particular server and its peripheral, status of all hardware components in the peripheral, logical configuration of memory, disks, or other hardware components, history of events, and serial number identification information uniquely identifying that peripheral or each peripheral (if more than one is employed in the system), etc. By contrast, secondary level information would be the state of the connection between another server and the peripheral, which does not conflict with the aforementioned complete state change information. Secondary level information is thus less than, and possibly a subset of, the primary level information. These various pieces of information are each embodied as a software xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d. (A software xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d can be conceptualized as a xe2x80x9ccontainerxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cbucketxe2x80x9d into which is placed related items of data; more realistically the object is a portion of physical or logical memory which forms the xe2x80x9ccontainerxe2x80x9d.)
In a further feature of the present invention, the secondary level of information detail is limited to particular information associated with a particular one of the servers. The particular information is state-of-connection information with regard to the peripheral device. Under circumstances of a failed connection, the state-of-connection information is a connection-failure-object. The present invention further relates to a methodology to be practiced on the foregoing computer system to assess a peripheral device""s state change status stored in cache memories of the multiple servers employed in the system. The methodology steps include (a) requesting state change status; (b) determining the primary or secondary nature of the request; (c) if primary obtaining complete state change status; (d) if secondary obtaining limited state change status that does not conflict with the complete status; and (e) repeating these steps until each server has been polled and has provided its status to the client. In the circumstance where at least one of the servers has a failed connection to the peripheral, the limited state change status for that one server is a connection-failure-object; under these conditions, the present invention further includes the steps of detecting that status and unless the primary request had been generated, generating the primary request as the next request.
It is thus advantageous to employ the present invention in any client-server computer system which employs multiple servers and agent software for determining the operating state of a peripheral-device, such as, for example, a disk drive or a printer.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved client-server computer system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved memory management software.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a solution to the problem of obtaining and resolving conflicting peripheral device state change information for certain computer system configurations.

Primary and secondary management commands for a peripheral connected to multiple agents


In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a localization device is provided, comprising: an ultra-wideband, UWB, communication unit configured to transmit a localization signal to an external device and to receive a response signal from the external device; an angle of arrival measurement unit configured to measure an angle at which the response signal is received; an orientation sensor configured to sense an orientation of the localization device; and a processing unit configured to determine if an angle at which the localization signal is received by the external device, an orientation of the external device, said orientation of the localization device, and said angle at which the response signal is received meet a predefined relationship. In accordance with a second aspect of the present disclosure, a corresponding method of operating a localization device is conceived.

Localization systems are systems in which the position of one or more objects are determined. Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a technology that uses a high signal bandwidth, in particular for transmitting digital data over a wide spectrum of frequency bands with very low power. For example, ultra-wide band technology may use the frequency spectrum of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz and may feature a high-frequency bandwidth of more than 500 MHz and very short pulse signals, resulting in high data rates. The UWB technology enables a high data throughput for communication devices and a high precision for localization devices. For this reason, localization systems often make use of UWB technology. Nevertheless, in certain cases, UWB-based localization systems may not be capable of accurately determining the position of an object.

Localization device and method of operating a localization device


A simple and convenient analyzing apparatus is provided which easily, conveniently, and efficiently collects a material in the state of fine particles adhered to a target object, extracts the object to be analyzed, and analyzes the extracted object. An apparatus for detecting fine particles in a gas which sucks the gas under measurement from the target object by using a suction pump, extracts the fine particles contained in the gas under measurement, and performs measurement by using a spectrometer is embodied such that an inertial impactor for collecting the fine particles having diameters not less than a specified particle diameter is disposed upstream of the spectrometer, the fine particles are collected in the fine particle collector of the inertial impactor, the collector containing the collected fine particles is heated such that the collected fine particles are vaporized into a gas, and the vaporized fluid to be examined is supplied to the spectrometer to be measured thereby.

It has been required to perform mass spectrometric analysis of a fine particle material contained in an atmosphere or another gas in terms of engineering, environmental problems, and the like.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811 discloses removing unwanted fine particles of water vapor and the like in a gas therefrom and analyzing the remaining gas as an object to be examined. U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365 discloses a detecting system for a human body, which is embodied to have a portal configuration through which a person passes and spray an air onto a person standing straight inside the port. U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431 discloses a structure for collecting fine particles, which is embodied to apply a gas stream containing sample fine particles perpendicularly to a disposed filter and collect the sample fine particles.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811
[Patent Document 2] U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365
[Patent Document 3] U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431
However, none of the foregoing embodiments is sufficient to perform easy, convenient, and efficient examination.
Examination is generally difficult in most cases for such reasons that: fine particles are normally an aggregate of molecules and it is impossible to specify the original molecules even though the fine particles can be measured as they are; the concentration of fine particles is low; and it is difficult to remove fine particles when they are adhered due to the strong adhesive force thereof. As part of anti-terrorism measures especially at an airport or the like, it has been increasingly necessary in recent years to detect dangerous materials. It is conceived that, among the dangerous materials, commonly used explosives such as TNT powder and RDX are normally in the state of fine particles because they are low in saturated vapor pressure and less likely to be vaporized. To specify and detect such a fine particle material, it is necessary to gasify the material with the application of heat by any means, introduce the resultant gas into a mass spectrometer, and perform measurement.
Conventionally, the measurement of such fine particles has been performed in such a manner that a person wipes off adhered fine particles by using a wipe-off sheet using a material such as cotton or the like and gasifies the fine particles with the application of heat. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811 only discloses collecting the unwanted fine particles in the gas and measuring the remaining gas flow. In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365, the dangerous material detecting system is formed inevitably in large scale as a portal for a human body. Since a fine-mesh filter is used as a fine-particle collecting filter to collect the fine particles in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431, dust in an air inevitably adheres to the filter unless it is used in a clean environment. As a result, the efficiency of fine particle collection of the filter may conceivably be influenced if operation is performed constantly over a long period of time. In addition, scaling down is difficult if the flow rate is high because of the large loss factor of the filter. In the case where clogging occurs, it becomes necessary to replace the filter and halt the system so that operation efficiency is lowered. If baggage checks for a variety of carry-on luggage at an airport or the like are taken as an example, the checks will conceivably become more stringent in the future as various explosives have been checked more rigorously in recent years as part of anti-terrorism measures. As a result of more stringent checks, influences such as a longer checking time and a delayed flight operation are observed. The number of air passengers and an amount of airfreight circulation are expected to increase in the future on a world-wide scale so that it is necessary to sufficiently reduce a checking time and labor and operation involved in checking.
On the other hand, the wipe-off method involves the operation of wiping off fine particles by a person and the operation of placing the wiped-off material in a heat gasifying mechanism. As a result, the problem is encountered that higher efficiency operation or automated operation is difficult to be performed.
To solve at least one of the foregoing problems, the present invention provides an apparatus for analyzing a fluid containing fine particles. An object of the present-invention is to provide an analyzing apparatus which allows, e.g., easy, convenient, and efficient checking to be performed.

Analyzing apparatus and fine particle collecting apparatus


A light-emitting device which emits light omnidirectionally is provided. A light-emitting device according to the present invention includes: a package which is translucent; an LED provided in a recess in the package; and a sealing member for sealing the LED and packaging the recess; and the recess includes a bottom surface on which the LED is mounted and a side surface surrounding a bottom surface, and light emitted by the LED is transmitted inside the package through the bottom surface and the side surface of the recess and is emitted to outside of the package from the back surface and the side surface of the package.

In recent years, semiconductor light-emitting elements such as LED are used for lamps as highly efficient space-saving light sources. In particular, active research and development have been taking place on LED lamps using LEDs as the lighting replacing conventional fluorescent light and incandescent light bulb. For example, an LED lamp having the shape of light bulb (light bulb shaped LED lamp) has been proposed as lighting replacing the light bulb shaped fluorescent light and incandescent light bulb, and as lighting replacing the straight-tube fluorescent light, a straight-tube shaped LED lamp (straight-tube LED lamp) has been developed.
Examples of this type of LED lamps include a conventional light bulb shaped LED lamp disclosed in the patent literature 1, and conventional straight-tube LED lamp disclosed in the patent literature 2. LED modules each including a board on which LEDs are mounted are used for these LED lamps.

Light-emitting device, light-emitting module, and lamp


This invention provides a padfolio, portfolio or other foldable business accessory that is organized with three hinged leaves (including two main leaves and one overriding leaf that folds over the main leaves when closed together) that may be unfolded and laid flat to expose various internal elements within an overall interior. The elements are organized so that a notepad is provided in a center leaf, while one of the opposing side leaves include a raised clock base having a well or recess for securing a clock having a folding stand that can be raised into an angled, standing position from a flat position. One main leaf also includes a support base that removably supports a personal digital assistant (PDA), that is normally secured flat against the leaf, but that can be hinged upwardly into at least one adjustable angled position whereby the PDA is tilted for easier viewing whilst working in another area of the padfolio, such as the notepad. In this manner, it is more accessible and easier to use. During folding of the leaves, both the clock and the PDA can be secured in a flat orientation for compact storage. The leaves can include, variously, a series of pockets and sleeves for carrying documents, effects and business accessories. In an illustrative embodiment, the a leftmost main leaf can include the pockets the PDA, the center leaf can include the notepad and the overriding leaf includes the clock.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to portfolios, padfolios and other business accessories.
2. Background Information
Portfolios, padfolios and other compact, foldable business accessories are useful for storing and organizing a variety of documents and other personal/business effects. Typical modern portfolios and padfolios include a notepad, a series of pockets and locations for storing various electronic devices including a calculator, personal digital assistant (PDA) and cellular phone.
Arrangements and structures within a padfolio or portfolio that make it more user-friendly and enhance the function of various devices and accessories are always desirable. Many padfolios or portfolios, while containing desirable pockets and attachments, are not organized to effectively use the items carried in the most efficient manner, or while they remain attached to the portfolio or padfolio. Thus, a more effective organizational arrangement with enhanced device attachment features is highly desirable.


The present invention is directed to a terminal apparatus in which the in-frame compression factor of an image obtained by a camera is increased to restrict frame thinning when the camera is moved. A control circuit 60 performs control of a movable table 12. When a TV camera 10 is moved, the quantization table used in a quantization circuit 26 is changed over, whereby a higher compression factor of the coding conducted by a DCT circuit 24 and the quantization circuit 26 is achieved. Thus, a predetermined compression factor can be achieved without performing frame thinning.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a terminal apparatus suitable for use in video conference or video phone system .
2. Related Background Art
Video phone systems and video conference systems which implement the telephone or conference function over remote sites utilizing images and speech transmitted between these sites via a leased or public digital telecommunication line are known. In such systems, the usable capacity of the telecommunication line is limited, and moving images are thus high efficiency compression coded for transmission. There are two types of bandwith compression for image data: in-frame compression and interframe compression. In in-frame compression, the data is compressed by means of the linear transformation, for example, discrete cosine transformation (DCT) by utilizing the correlation of adjacent pixels in a single frame. In interframe compression, the correlation between the pixels at the same position on the screens of consecutive frames is utilized, and data is compressed by replacing the present pixel data with the pixel data of the past frame on which coding has been already conducted.
A high compression factor can be achieved when both in-frame compression and interframe compression are used. Interframe compression is characterized in that the frame-to-frame correlation weakens in a rapidly moving image, thus rapidly reducing the compression factor thereof. Therefore, in a rapidly moving image, only in-frame compression is used. However, the use of in-frame compression alone is not generally enough to achieve a predetermined compression factor suitable to the capacity of the telecommunication line, and frame thinning is thus performed.
In the video phone system, there have been no such demands for thinning frames so far. However, in the conventional video conference system, it has been proposed to change the direction of a TV camera so that it can follow a participant or speaker as the participant or speaker moves in accordance with the image processing process or speech. It has also been proposed to control the position, direction or zooming of the TV camera from the operation panel on the image transmission side and/or image reception side.
In such cases, the compression factor of the interframe compression operation greatly deteriorates during the movement of the TV camera, resulting in an increase in the amount of codes. As a result, frame thinning is performed for the aforementioned reasons, and an awkwardly moving image is thus displayed on the display screen of the reception side. Also, when the TV camera on the transmission side is operated from the operation panel on the reception side, a time delay that cannot be ignored occurs between the movement of the TV camera and the image displayed on the reception side, making the positioning of the TV camera difficult.

Image processing apparatus and terminal apparatus


Metal interconnections are formed in an integrated circuit by forming a wide trench in a dielectric layer. A dielectric fin of a second dielectric material is formed in the trench. Conductive plugs and metal lines are formed on both sides of the fin.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of integrated circuit design. The present disclosure relates, more particularly, to metal interconnections within an integrated circuit die.
2. Description of the Related Art
As integrated circuit technology continues to scale down to smaller technology nodes, the back end of the line connections become very challenging and complicated to implement. Complex patterning schemes such as double patterning are used to provide smaller and smaller interconnection features. Many problems can occur within the integrated circuits as vias and metal tracks within the integrated circuit become smaller and closer together. These problems can include difficulty in alignment of photolithography masks during manufacture, as well as electromigration and time dependent dielectric breakdown during the life of the integrated circuit.
As feature sizes of integrated circuit dies shrink, it also becomes very difficult to maintain large distances between metal tracks of adjacent metal layers in order to keep the capacitance between metal tracks and adjacent metal layers low. As the capacitance between metal tracks increases, the signal propagation speed decreases. Thus, decreasing the capacitance has the effect of allowing for increased signal speeds. This typically entails maintaining large distances between the two metal layers. In order to do this, high aspect ratio vias are used. The making of high aspect ratio vias in technology nodes at or below 32 nm can become very problematic.

High aspect ratio vias for high performance devices


A highly miniaturized biosensor and a sensor unit, which can meet a demand for further miniaturization. With this invention, miniaturization is possible, and the number of production steps including those for assembling individual parts can be reduced. Accordingly, mass production will be possible, and cost reduction and high reliability will be achieved. A light emitting unit (21) and a light receiving unit (22) are disposed in a same recess (24) formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate (23), and a light shielding cover substrate (27) having a first light guide section (25) and a second light guide section (26) is disposed on an upper side of the semiconductor substrate (23). Since the light receiving unit (22) is formed with arrayed light receiving elements (28), the same number of the second light guide sections (26) as the light receiving elements (28) are provided on the light shielding cover substrate (27), and the light receiving surfaces of the light receiving elements (28) are connected to one end of each of the second light guiding sections (26) so as to conform to each other without any gap.

Patent Document 1 is a conventional technology document that describes a structure of a sensor chip used in a conventional blood flowmeter. FIG. 13 illustrates a sensor chip of a conventional blood flowmeter described in Patent Document 1. In the conventional sensor chip illustrated in FIG. 13 includes a semiconductor laser 1 as a light emitting device, a photodiode 2 as a light-receiving element, and an optical waveguide 3 for guiding light emitted from the light emitting device in the form of divergent light, focused light, or parallel light and irradiating it toward living tissue situated outside, all of which are integrated on a single semiconductor substrate.
It further includes a shielding block 4 attached to the substrate so as to individually enclose the semiconductor laser 1 and the photodiode 2 in order to prevent light from the semiconductor laser 1 from directly entering the photodiode 2. The photodiode 2 is an edge-illuminated refracting-facet photodiode, in front of which a second light shielding board having a certain gap may be provided.
A blood flowmeter such as the above-described type measures a blood flow rate, a blood volume, a blood flow velocity, and a pulse rate by detecting interference (by heterodyne detection) between scattered light from living tissue at rest and scattered light from red corpuscles (scattering particles) moving through a capillary of living tissue (scattered light experiencing the Doppler shift Δf in accordance with the blood flow velocity). This measurement principle is described, for example, in a document by M. D. Stern: In vivo evaluation of microcirculation by coherent light scattering, Nature, vol. 254, pp. 56-58 (1975).
In order to achieve miniaturization and facilitate the assembly of individual parts, the inventors of the present invention invented a blood flowmeter equipped with a sensor unit having a structure where a light emitting device and a light-receiving element are disposed in a recess formed on a surface of a single semiconductor substrate, a cover substrate with a light shielding film for shielding undesired scattered light is disposed on an upper surface of the semiconductor substrate, light emitted from the light emitting device is irradiated toward living tissue situated outside through the cover substrate, and scattered light from the living tissue is received by the light receiving element through the cover substrate. The details are described in Patent Document 2.
Furthermore, Patent Document 3 describes a tissue blood flowmeter whose objective is to prevent a disturbance in phase of the Doppler shift due to the bombardment with the cladding of optical fiber of reflected laser light from the sample. In this tissue blood flowmeter, a pinhole is provided coaxially with the optical fiber between the optical fiber and a photoelectric conversion device, and laser light guided by the optical fiber is directed to the photoelectric conversion device through the pinhole.
Patent Document 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-330936.
Patent Document 2: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-229920.
Patent Document 3: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-45342.

Kyushu University, National University Corporation


A root canal filling material for a tooth extraction or tooth non-extraction process can be used clinically because of its easy availability and can efficiently enhance dental tissue regeneration; a method for regenerating dental tissue using the filling material is also provided. A root canal filling material 200 including mesenchymal stem cells 220 excluding dental pulp stem cells, which are inserted into the apical side of a root canal subjected to pulp extirpation or to root canal enlargement and cleaning of an infected root canal and including an extracellular matrix 210 is provided, and a method for regenerating dental tissue, through a tooth extracting or tooth non-extracting process, including a step of injecting the root canal filling material into the apical side of a root canal of a non-extracted tooth subjected to pulp extirpation or to root canal enlargement and cleaning of an infected root canal is provided.

Currently, caries including tooth fractures constitute about half of the causes of tooth loss, and removal of dental pulp is known to significantly increase the risk of tooth loss. The average lifetime of teeth is said to be 57 years at present. To enable a person to chew with the person's own teeth throughout life, the lifetime of teeth needs to be prolonged by 20 years or more. Despite the "8020" campaign (campaign for promotion of retaining at least 20 of one's own teeth at the age of 80), only 21% of present 80-year old people has achieved the goal. In order to achieve a 50%, a target set by the Japan Dental Association, drastic improvement in caries treatment is necessary.
The removal of dental pulp, i.e., pulp extirpation, causes loss of the reparative dentin forming ability and the defense mechanism against infection and loss of the alarm signal of pain, resulting in an increase in the risk of enlargement of the caries. In addition, there are no perfect methods for pulp extirpation treatment, and after pulp extirpation and root canal filling, a periapical lesion may be caused by leakage of the filler from a tooth crown side; or vertical fracture, aesthetic loss, or postoperative pain may occur.
Accordingly, in the super-aged society, it is very important to develop a new treatment for dental caries and pulpitis by regeneration of dentin and dental pulp incorporating technology of dental regenerative medicine in order to avoid unnecessary extirpation of the pulp and to prolong the lifetime of teeth.
Meanwhile, regarding the dental pulp regeneration, it is hitherto known that the dental pulp of a tooth with an immature root is regenerated by extracting the tooth, extirpating the dental pulp, treating the root canal, and then replanting the tooth. Furthermore, it is reported that even in a tooth with an immature root having a lesion in the apex portion, dental pulp-like tissue is regenerated by extracting the tooth, thoroughly enlarging and cleaning the root canal, and filling the cementum-dentin junction with blood clot, and completely sealing the cavity with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA).
It is known that the dental pulp-like tissue of a canine healthy tooth with a mature root is regenerated by extracting a tooth, extirpating the pulp, resecting the apex portion or enlarging the apex portion at least 1.1 mm, replanting the tooth, and filling the apex portion with blood clot (Non Patent Literature 1).
Most of reports on the root canal dental pulp regeneration described above focus on teeth with immature roots, and it is not demonstrated that the tissue regenerated in a root canal is dental pulp intrinsic tissue having blood vessels and nerves. In addition, in all cases, teeth are extracted once, enlargement and cleaning of the root canals are performed in vitro, and the root canals are filled with blood clot after replantation.
A method for regenerating dental tissue by extracting a tooth to be treated, extirpating the pulp, and injecting a root canal filling material into the apex side of the root canal is also known, wherein the root canal filling material comprises cells including dental pulp stem cells and an extracellular matrix to which the cells including the dental pulp stem cells adhere (Patent Literature 1).
The dental pulp stem cells are advantageous in that they can be collected from deciduous teeth or wisdom teeth without much burden on patients. However, it is difficult to isolate a sufficient number of dental pulp stem cells from an elderly patient, and actual clinical application is thought to be difficult. Accordingly, in the super-aging society, it is preferable that dental tissue regeneration is realized using a cell source that can be more easily utilized.

Root canal filling material containing mesenchymal stem cells and method for regenerating dental tissue using the same

National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology


A lock assembly includes a lock body having a hole longitudinally therethrough, a plunger arranged longitudinally in the hole, a single strong spring coiled around the plunger and arranged longitudinally in the hole inside the lock body for returning the plunger to an open position, a key for turning the plunger to a closed position, and a plate for receiving the plunger in the closed position. A hole in the head portion of the plunger and a hollowed end of the key have matching hexagonal cross-sections for engagement with each other. A first roll pin is seated in the hole in the head portion and guides the hollowed end of the key into the hole. A second roll pin is inserted crossways into another hole in a middle body portion of the plunger for retaining the plunger in the open position. Both the first and the second roll pins are hollow and springlike with a slit longitudinally through the side thereof in order to allow the pins to be squeezed into their respective holes and to be frictionally retained therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to locks generally and, in particular, to a bezel lock, key and receiver assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A bezel-type lock has a rim that either holds an outer covering or is rotatable and has special markings. Bezel locks are usually simple to operate and are often designed for special uses, such as for gasoline pumps. The tight security offered by a bezel lock is an important consideration for gasoline pumps which can be dangerous if misused or vandalized.
Bezel-type and similar locks have several common elements, such as hollow keys, pins that are either solid rolls or cotter types, and a plurality of small thinly gauged wire springs. All three of these elements are present in the prior devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,036 which issued to Steinbach on Mar. 4, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,820 which issued to Conger et al. on Sept. 12, 1978, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,748 which issued to Trainor on May 5, 1970.
Although somewhat accepted in the gasoline pump trade, the prior art devices mentioned above all have distinct disadvantages because of the use of these three elements.
In particular, the hollow keys used in the prior art devices have complex shapes, such as the star-like design of Steinbach. Consequently, the machining costs for such hollow keys are very high, thus making the keys quite expensive.
In regard to the pins used in the prior art devices, the solid roll pins cannot give inwardly if the outer diameter of a pin is too closely dimensioned to the inner diameter of the bore into which the pin is intended to be inserted. On the other hand, cotter pins often fit loosely in their bores. However, they can be easily pushed out of these bores.
With respect to the plurality of small thinly gauged wire springs used in the prior art devices, less compression is obtained by small springs which wear out quickly, primarily because the thinly gauged wire used to manufacture them is too brittle to withstand heavy use.
Thus, it remains a problem in the lock manufacturing field to develop a tight security lock with a hollow key that can be easily and inexpensively machined with a pin that can give inwardly but still can be retained tightly in its bore, and with a spring that has good compressive strength and long wear life.


A method of attaching a stepper motor to a throttle shaft provides constant torque transmission by connecting the shafts coaxially with a coupling that accommodates limited shaft misalignment and movement. In the preferred embodiment, the coupling comprises a fork, parallel to, and attached to, one shaft that receives a pin, perpendicular to, and attached to, the second shaft. The coupling permits the coaxial attachment of the shaft without the necessity of maintaining precise mounting tolerances.

1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to electronic speed regulators for internal combustion engines and in particular to throttle actuators for such regulators.
2. Background of the Art
The precise speed control of internal combustion engines is desired for many applications but is particularly important when such engines are used to drive AC generators. The speed of the engine determines the frequency of the generated power and many AC powered electrical devices require accurately regulated AC frequency. In addition, this accurate speed control must be maintained under rapid load variations which may result from nearly instantaneous changes in the consumption of electrical power from the generator. Variation in engine speed with change in engine load is termed "droop".
Engine speed control may be performed by a number of methods. A mechanical governor may sense the speed of rotation of the engine and open or close the throttle to regulate the engine speed in response to imputed load changes. Such mechanical control has the advantage of being relatively inexpensive, but may allow substantial droop during normal load variations.
More sophisticated engine speed control may be realized by sensing engine speed electronically and using an electro-mechanical actuator connected to the throttle to change the throttle position.
Typically, the electro-mechanical actuator is a linear or rotary actuator. As the names imply, a linear actuator has a control shaft which extends from the body of the actuator and moves linearly by a distance proportional to the magnitude of a current or voltage applied to the actuator. A rotary actuator has a shaft which rotates by an angle proportional to the magnitude of the applied current or voltage. In both actuators, a spring returns the shaft to a zero or "home" position when no voltage or current is applied to the actuator. The power consumed by these actuators is increased by the return spring whose force must be overcome.
Neither the linear nor rotary actuators may be connected directly to the rotating throttle. In the case of a linear actuator, a pitman arm must be used to convert the linear motion of the actuator to the rotary motion necessary to rotate the throttle valve through approximately 90.degree.. For a rotary actuator which rotates approximately 15.degree.-20.degree. a "four-bar" linkage is required to increase the angular motion of its shaft. The power of the actuators must be sufficient to overcome the friction associated with these required mechanical linkages.
The power required by the use of a return spring and by the friction of the mechanical linkages increases the cost and weight of a throttle control using linear or rotary actuators. For these reasons, it is known to use a bidirectional stepper motor in place of a linear or rotary actuator for the purpose of electronic engine control.
A bidirectional stepper motor is an electro-mechanical device that moves a predetermined angular amount and direction in response to the sequential energization of its windings. When a bidirectional stepper motor is used to control the throttle, the return spring may be omitted or made weaker allowing the use of a smaller motor with equivalent or better dynamic properties than the linear or rotary actuators. Also, the digital nature of the stepper motor's input signal is well adapted for use with certain microprocessor based engine controls.
The use a lower powered bidirectional stepper motor requires that the connection between the stepper motor and the throttle valve is free of binding and unnecessary friction. The throttle shaft normally fits closely within the throttle body and as a result of the fuel saturated environment, operates without lubrication. The design of the stepper motor also requires that the motor shaft have little play to preserve the close tolerances of the internal magnetic gaps for maximum power. Accordingly, in order to prevent the binding of these shafts without the introduction of excessive rotational play, the stepper motor shaft and throttle shaft are typically joined by means of the four bar linkage used with a rotary actuator. A four bar linkage comprises a connecting rod attached by pivoting joints to two cranks, one crank attached to the throttle shaft and one to the stepper motor shaft. The fourth bar is implicit in the common mounting of the motor and throttle. This linkage provides an inexpensive and easily manufactured connection between the stepper motor shaft and the throttle shaft but one that accepts some misalignment.
The connecting rod of the four-bar linkage also permits the displacement of the stepper motor away from the throttle shaft to permit the attachment of a position feedback device to the throttle shaft. A position feedback device permits the measurement of absolute throttle position which is not determinable from the control inputs to the stepper motor, because the stepper motor may start in any position.
There are two disadvantages to the use of a four bar linkage to connect the stepper motor to the throttle shaft. First, the rotational range of the stepper motor is unnecessarily limited as the four bar linkage has a limited rotational range. Second, a feature of such a linkage is that the torque transmitted by the connecting rod varies markedly depending on the relative angles of the cranks to the connecting rod. Typically at the extremes of travel there is a "dead center" position where the linkage is ineffective. However, the transmission of torque is not constant at any angle. This problem is usually addressed by making the linkage adjustable so that the crank and connecting rod angles are centered to provide peak torque transmission at the angles appropriate for a particular throttle. This solution, however, requires that the linkage be adjustable or redesigned for different throttle and engine types.

Throttle with co-axial stepper motor drive


A device for slicing the tip from an elongated food product having an elongated housing with a longitudinally extending channel open at one end and closed at its second end. The channel is dimensioned to receive the food product through the first open end of the housing. A plunger assembly is slidably mounted to the housing adjacent the second end of the housing and in the direction transverse to the channel axis. The plunger assembly includes a blade moveable between a retracted position in which the blade is retracted from the channel and an extended position in which the blade extends across the channel.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to slicing devices and, more particularly, to a device for slicing a tip from an elongated food product.
II. Description of Relevant Art
In one type of food product, a flavored juice or liquid is encapsulated in an elongated plastic flexible pouch. The food product is then frozen in a refrigerator freezer.
In order to consume the food product, a tip of the plastic pouch is removed, thus exposing the frozen treat at one end of the pouch. The frozen treat may then be advanced out through the now open end of the pouch as desired by merely squeezing the opposite end of the pouch. When doing so, the pouch serves as a handle for the ice treat.
While the tip of the pouch may be easily removed by a knife or scissors by an adult, small children may accidentally injure themselves if they attempt to remove the tip with a knife or scissors.


A side airbag device incorporates an airbag which is fixed to and held by a vehicle so as to be folded in roll form, from a front portion to a rear portion of the vehicle, and which is expanded and developed like a curtain parallel with the inner surface of the side wall of the vehicle by a gas of an inflator when a collision is detected. An airbag support belt is attached to a portion, in close proximity to a top edge of the airbag and close to an attachment position of the inflator, of the airbag. The airbag support belt is wound around the circumferential surface of the inflator and a tip locking hole of the airbag support belt is fixed to a locking projection provided on the inflator, whereby the inflator is integrated with a part of the airbag which is folded in roll form.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a head protecting airbag device. More particularly, the invention relates to a head protecting airbag device in which an airbag expands and develops like a curtain parallel with pillars and door windows arranged in each side wall of a vehicle body from its front end to its rear end between these things and a driver or a passenger when, for example, the vehicle encounters a sideways collision or turns over on its side.
2. Related Art
Among head protecting airbag devices is a device in which a side airbag expands and develops like a curtain. The side airbag is folded and housed, so as to extend in the vehicle longitudinal direction, in a cover mole which is located at the top of each side wall of the compartment so as to extend from its front end to its rear end. In a car which is equipped with this kind of head protecting airbag device, when, for example, the car encounters a sideways collision or occurrence of such an accident is predicted by activation of a collision prediction sensor (hereinafter no reference will be made of this collision prediction mechanism), the side airbag expands so as to cover the front pillar which is located at the front-right or left corner of the vehicle, the front seat window, the center pillar, the rear seat window, and the rear pillar and develops downward like a curtain between these things and a driver or a passenger. Thus, the side airbag restricts a sideways movement of the head of the driver or passenger and thereby protects the head.
This kind of head protecting airbag device is attached to a roof side rail portion of a vehicle body in a folded state. However, since the head protecting airbag device is long even in the folded state, work of attaching it takes time. And hanging-down of those portions, located between hanging points, of the folded airbag lowers the efficiency of attaching work. Furthermore, the airbag might fail to develop in a proper manner at the occurrence of a collision. In view of the above, an airbag device has bee proposed in which a folded airbag is supported by part of an inflator via a support member (JP-A-2003-306119).


The present invention concerns improved methods and compositions for preparing SN-38 conjugates of proteins or peptides, preferably immunoconjugates of antibodies or antigen-binding antibody fragments. More preferably, the SN-38 is attached to the antibody or antibody fragment using a CL2A linker, with 1-12, more preferably 6-8, alternatively 1-5 SN-38 moieties per antibody or antibody fragment. Most preferably, the immunoconjugate is prepared in large scale batches, with various modifications to the reaction scheme disclosed herein to optimize yield and recovery in large scale. Other embodiments concern optimized dosages and/or schedules of administration of immunoconjugate to maximize efficacy for disease treatment and minimize side effects of administration.

For many years it has been an aim of scientists in the field of specifically targeted drug therapy to use monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for the specific delivery of toxic agents to human cancers. Conjugates of tumor-associated MAbs and suitable toxic agents have been developed, but have had mixed success in the therapy of cancer, and virtually no application in other diseases, such as infectious and autoimmune diseases. The toxic agent is most commonly a chemotherapeutic drug, although particle-emitting radionuclides, or bacterial or plant toxins have also been conjugated to MAbs, especially for the therapy of cancer (Sharkey and Goldenberg, CA Cancer J Clin. 2006 July-August; 56(4):226-243) and, more recently, with radioimmunoconjugates for the preclinical therapy of certain infectious diseases (Dadachova and Casadevall, Q J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2006; 50(3):193-204).
The advantages of using MAb-chemotherapeutic drug conjugates are that (a) the chemotherapeutic drug itself is structurally well defined; (b) the chemotherapeutic drug is linked to the MAb protein using very well defined conjugation chemistries, often at specific sites remote from the MAbs antigen binding regions; (c) MAb-chemotherapeutic drug conjugates can be made more reproducibly than chemical conjugates involving MAbs and bacterial or plant toxins, and as such are more amenable to commercial development and regulatory approval; and (d) the MAb-chemotherapeutic drug conjugates are orders of magnitude less toxic systemically than radionuclide MAb conjugates.
Early work on protein-drug conjugates indicated that a drug preferably is released in its original form, once it has been internalized into a target cell, for the protein-drug conjugate to be a useful therapeutic. Trouet et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79:626-629 (1982)) showed the advantage of using specific peptide linkers, between the drug and the antibody moiety, which are cleaved lysosomally to liberate the intact drug. Notably, MAb-chemotherapeutic drug conjugates prepared using mild acid-cleavable linkers, such as those containing a hydrazone, were developed, based on the observation that the pH inside tumors was often lower than normal physiological pH (Willner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,146; Trail et al. (Science 261:212-215 (1993)). The first approved MAb-drug conjugate, gemtuzumab ozogamicin, incorporated an acid-labile hydrazone bond between an anti-CD33 antibody, humanized P67.6, and a potent calicheamicin derivative. Sievers et al., J Clin Oncol. 19:3244-3254 (2001); Hamann et al., Bioconjugate Chem. 13: 47-58 (2002). In some cases, the MAb-chemotherapeutic drug conjugates were made with reductively labile hindered disulfide bonds between the chemotherapeutic drugs and the MAb (Liu et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93: 8618-8623 (1996)).
Yet another cleavable linker involves cathepsin B-labile dipeptide spacers, such as Phe-Lys or Val-Cit, similar to the lysosomally labile peptide spacers of Trouet et al. containing from one to four amino acids, which additionally incorporated a collapsible spacer between the drug and the dipeptide (Dubowchik, et al., Bioconjugate Chem. 13:855-869 (2002); Firestone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,345 B1; Doronina et al., Nat Biotechnol. 21: 778-784 (2003)). The latter approaches were also utilized in the preparation of an immunoconjugate of camptothecin (Walker et al., Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 12:217-219 (2002)). Another cleavable moiety that has been explored is an ester linkage incorporated into the linker between the antibody and the chemotherapeutic drug. Gillimard and Saragovi have found that when an ester of paclitaxel was conjugated to anti-rat p75 MAb, MC192, or anti-human TrkA MAb, 5C3, the conjugate was found to exhibit target-specific toxicity. Gillimard and Saragovi, Cancer Res. 61:694-699 (2001).
Current notions of antibody-drug conjugate design emphasize the use of ultratoxic drugs attached to antibodies using stable bonds that are cleaved only intracellularly. This approach has been used to design conjugates of ultratoxic drugs, such as calicheamicin, monomethylauristatin-E (MMAE), and maytansinoids. Although very stable bonding to MAbs results in stability in circulation, the conjugates are also processed in liver, spleen, and kidney, thereby releasing the toxic drugs in those organs and potentially reducing the therapeutic window in disease treatment applications. While recent regulatory approval of ADCETRIS® (brentuximab vedotin) for Hodgkin's lymphoma and of KADCYLA® (ado-trastuzumab emtansine) for refractory breast cancer are encouraging, the lack of therapeutic efficacy in the maximum administrable dosage of calicheamicin conjugate in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and its subsequent discontinuation, as well as the market withdrawal of gemtuzumab ozogamicin for AML point to the limitations of using ultratoxics in ADCs.
The conjugates of the instant invention possess greater efficacy than unconjugated or "naked" antibodies or antibody fragments, although such unconjugated antibody moieties have been of use in specific situations. In cancer, for example, naked antibodies have come to play a role in the treatment of lymphomas (alemtuzumab and rituximab), colorectal and other cancers (cetuximab and bevacizumab), breast cancer (trastuzumab), as well as a large number now in clinical development (e.g., epratuzumab, veltuzumab, milatuzumab). In most of these cases, clinical use has involved combining these naked, or unconjugated, antibodies with other therapies, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Use of CL2A linkers to attach therapeutic drugs, such as SN-38, to antibody moieties has been disclosed (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,999,083 and 8,080,250, the Examples sections incorporated herein by reference). However, a need exists for more efficient methods of preparing and using CL2A and MAb-CL2A-SN-38 conjugates, including optimized dosage schedules that result in maximal efficacy and minimal toxicity, as well as efficient large scale production of CL2A-SN-38 and antibody-CL2A-SN-38 conjugates.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antibody-SN-38 immunoconjugates with a CL2A linker


An interferometric device for position measurement of an element moveable in a plane is disclosed. A laser light source measures the position of the moveable element and emits the required measuring light. A beam splitter splits the measuring light into a first partial beam path and a second partial beam path, which each impinge on a reflecting surface of the moveable element via an interferometer. Herein, at least the beam splitter, which splits the measuring light into a first partial beam path and a second partial beam path, and the beam splitter, which directs the third partial beam path onto an etalon via an interferometer, have a respective beam trap associated with them, which traps the light returning from the respective interferometers.

Since the requirement as to the precision, reproducibility or repeatability of the parameters (position of structures on a substrate or width of structures on a substrate) determined by a coordinate measuring machine has become more stringent, it is now necessary to improve the measuring precision of the interferometer used for position measurement. The interferometers are used to measure the position of the measuring stage which moves in a plane aligned in an X coordinate direction and a Y coordinate direction.
German Patent Application DE 10 2007 030 390.6 discloses a coordinate measuring machine and a method for calibrating the coordinate measuring machine. The coordinate measuring machine is for determining the positions of structures on a substrate. Herein, the substrate is placed on a measuring stage moveable in an X coordinate direction and a Y coordinate direction. The structures to be measured are traversed into the optical axis of a measuring objective by means of the measuring stage. The position of the measuring stage is interferometrically determined. The position of the measuring stage is used to ultimately determine the position of the structure on the mask. For interferometrically determining the position of the measuring stage, at least one laser interferometer is provided.
German Patent Specification DE 10 2005 040 661 discloses a coordinate measuring apparatus. A reference beam interferometer for determining the position of a traversable stage is disclosed. An evacuated tube is inserted into a longer one of the two interferometer legs. The tube is closed off with windows having a negative temperature coefficient of expansion and a coating for reflecting heat radiation. In the shorter beam path, further, thermal compensation plates are inserted. The reference beam interferometers are used for high-precision distance and position measurements and are an essential part, for example, of mask and wafer measuring apparatuses for the semiconductor industry. The structures of current, high-integrated circuits can thus be measured. These apparatuses need a precision in the range of a few nanometers. It is always necessary to measure the reference wavelength since ambient influences have an effect on the wavelength of the measuring light and would therefore lead to an erroneous measuring value. It is well known that the length of the wavelength of a light beam depends on the index of refraction of the medium traversed by the light beam. It varies due to slow or fast changes in temperature, air pressure and air moisture, or due to changes of the air composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,260 discloses the principle of the interferometric position measurement. To increase measuring precision, the measuring and reference beam paths are surrounded by tubes open at both ends, into which air is blown, the temperature of which is stabilized in a defined manner.
German Patent Specification DE 196 28 969 C1 discloses a generic reference beam interferometer for determining the position of a traversable stage. In this two-beam interferometer, the influence of wavelength variations due to the ambient temperature is reduced by introducing a light-permeable closed, incompressible body into the longer one of the two interferometer beam paths so that the portions of the reference beam path and measuring beam path extending outside of the body have equal lengths at a certain positioning of the traversable measuring mirror. By these means, changes in the ambient factors have essentially the same effect on the reference and measuring beam paths and cancel each other out.
European Patent Application EP 0 053 199 A1 discloses a measuring method for the iterative measurement of geometric quantities and an apparatus for carrying out this method. The measuring beam path of a laser interferometer device extends in an evacuated cavity variable in length.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,992, measuring errors due to ambient turbulences or fluctuations are compensated by a dual interferometer apparatus.
The ambient influences on the potential wavelength variations can be handled relatively well. However, the optical feedback of the measuring stage into the laser is an important factor. This optical feedback leads to instability in the laser frequency. The laser frequency is the normalized value for the measurement. If this value is changed or the frequency coming from the laser differs from that at the measuring site, the measuring value determined includes an error.

Interferometric device for position measurement and coordinate measuring machine


In a charge-coupled SPS memory device, in which the transport takes place according to the "pushing" principle, it may occur that during the SP transport charge is injected into the substrate and diffuses via the substrate into the memory mat. In order to avoid this undesired injection of charge, the input is provided with means by which it is ensured that the storage site under the input gate is entirely empty during the SP transport.

The invention relates to a semiconductor device having a charge-coupled memory device of the SPS type formed at a surface of a semiconductor body and including
a series input register comprising a series of charge storage sites, in which data can be stored in the form of charge packets, PA1 a parallel section coupled to the series input register and comprising a number of adjacent parallel registers, which each correspond to one of the storage sites of the series input register, PA1 a system of clock electrodes, which are connected via clock lines to clock voltage sources for applying clock voltages having a first level at which the semiconductor body has induced in it a potential well, in which charge can be stored, and a second level through which charge is pushed to an adjacent storage site PA1 an input stage in series with the series input register comprising an input diode and a sampling electrode, which is located between the diode and the first storage site of the series input register and is connected via one of the clock lines to other clock electrodes of the series input register and by means of which in the semiconductor body a potential well can be induced, in which by means of the input diode charge packets can be formed, which are representative of the data supplied PA1 signal supply means for supplying data which are converted into charge packets by the input stage. Devices of this type are known, for example, from Chapter 4 "Application of CCD's to Memories" by Kosonocky and Zaininger, published in the book "Charge-Coupled Devices and Systems", edited by Howes and Morgan (John Wiley and Sons, New York 1980). A possible application of CCD memories is described inter alia in the article "A digital field memory for television receivers" by Pelgrom et al, published in I.E.E.E. Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. CE-29, No. 3, August 1983, pp. 242/248. This article discloses a memory, in which video signals of one T.V. picture, after having been 8-bit encoded, are read in serially into the input register and are read out again serially at the output of the output register.
It is already indicated in the aforementioned book of Howes and Morgan that clock voltages can be used at which the voltage at an electrode under which charge has been stored is reduced, as a result of which the potential well under this electrode becomes less deep and the charge is transported to an adjacent storage site. Because of the pushing effect occurring during this charge transport, this mode of operation is often designated as "push clocking". Besides this method, also the so-called "drop clocking" method is known, in which charge stored under a first electrode is transported by increasing the voltage at an adjacent electrode, as a result of which a deeper potential well is formed under the adjacent electrode.
Due to the fact that the storage capacity is not determined, as in the "drop clocking" method, by inner potential barriers, the charge storage capacity in the "push clocking" method can be higher. The signal to be read in can be supplied to the input diode or to a separate signal electrode located between the sampling electrode and the input diode. During reading-in, a charge packet is formed under the sampling electrode, which packet is a measure for the data read in. With binary data, this charge can be a quantity q for a "1" and a zero charge for the signal "0". After reading-in, this charge can be transported through the input register by means of the "push clocking" method described above and, when the input register is full, it can be transferred to the parallel section.
It has been found that, when reading out supplied data in the "push clocking" method described here, distortion of the signals often occurs. Further examinations have shown that this distortion is strongest with data transported via parallel registers located closest to the input.