The invention relates to an actuation and evaluation circuit for a laser diode (1) and a photodiode (3) for determining the concentration of a gas. The laser diode can generate light in the range of an absorption line of the gas. The circuit comprises a driver (10, 11, 12, 13) for generating a driving signal (17) for the laser diode (1), an assembly (8, 9) for generating a reference signal (20), and a subtractor (5) for subtracting the reference signal (20) from the signal (21) supplied by the photodiode. The invention further relates to a measuring device for determining the concentration of a gas by means of such an actuation and evaluation circuit. Finally, the invention relates to a corresponding method.

Various measurement arrangements and measurement methods are known in the prior art, in which the concentration of the gas in a measuring volume is deduced from the absorption of an absorption line of a gas. Basically, these methods may also be used for analyzing gas mixtures. In this case, at least one measurement in an absorption line has to be carried out for each gas. Ideally, each absorption line should be in another range of the light spectrum. Below, we shall confine ourselves to determining the concentration of a single gas, e.g. O2, CO2, He or N2 in air. With respect to gases which naturally occur to a considerable extent in natural air, that is O2 and N2, possibly also CO2, the term concentration refers to the absolutely present amount of gas. Measuring methods used in medical engineering, in which the concentration of the above-mentioned gases is measured, are described inter alia in EP 1772098 A1 (VI11P).
In order to determine the absorption it is possible, for example, to introduce chopped or pulsed light with a highest possible portion in the range of an absorption line of the gas to be measured into a measuring volume by irradiation. By the absorption the gas in the measuring volume is periodically heated, so that initially temperature differences are created, pressure differences as a result thereof, and thus sound. The louder the sound, the higher is the concentration of the gas.
In other measuring methods the light is generated by a broadband light source, and the light transmitted through a measuring volume is measured by a photodiode. This configuration involves the problem that also the light next to the absorption line contributes to the quantum noise in the photodiode. As is known, the quantum noise increases proportionally to the root of the photocurrent. Apart from cross sensitivities with respect to other gases, such a configuration works, therefore, only with an optical filter, which limits the spectral range of the light to the range around an absorption line or an absorption band. In other circumstances the relative alteration of the photodiode current by the absorption is too small. This methods works the better, the less light is permitted by the optical filter to pass through next to the absorption line.
Recently, tunable semiconductor lasers were brought on the market, whose line width is clearly more narrow than the typical absorption line of a gas of interest of about 1 nm, and whose laser line can be varied by more than 1 nm by the intensity of the current flowing through the semiconductor laser. The alteration of the laser line is particularly due to an alteration of the refraction index as a result of a higher temperature of the semiconductor crystal. The influence of the alteration of the refraction index on the wavelength is stronger by about 20 times as compared to the alteration of the volume expansion of the semiconductor crystal at the same temperature change. Such semiconductor lasers are used for analyses in space aviation, especially for expeditions to other planets. In order to determine the absorption of the gas to be measured, the strongly non-linear characteristic of the semiconductor laser has to be subtracted out from the measurement points by a fit.

Actuation and evaluation circuit, measuring device and method for measuring the concentration of a gas


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for tag cloud prompting in an interactive voice response (IVR) system. In an embodiment of the invention, an IVR prompting method can include loading a set of options in an option set for a caller to an IVR application from over a network, identifying commonly selected options in the options set in a data store of historically selected options, generating a tag cloud for the option set with options in the option set that are more commonly selected being more emphasized than options in the option set that are less commonly selected, and directing a display of the tag cloud in a telephonic device of the caller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interactive voice response (IVR) and more particularly to computer generated prompting for IVR.
2. Description of the Related Art
IVR systems have revolutionized industrial call processing and find wide application across multiple industries—particularly with respect to industrial customer service. An IVR system is an automated call processing system providing self-service interactions with callers through a telephone call. The most basic IVR system provides a sequence of prompts that vary according to caller selections—generally provided in the form of dial tones or spoken choices. More advanced IVR systems handle natural language input from callers in order to properly service caller requests. Even more advanced IVR systems provide an escalation path in which callers ultimately can be routed to a human operator when requested by the caller, or when detected as necessary, but otherwise provide automated responses in the absence of human intervention.
IVR systems usually include a computing system with a call processing gateway between the computing logic of the IVR system and the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In this regard, the call processing gateway generally includes hardware configured for coupling to the PSTN and also to a data communications pathway, either through direct bus connection of the computing system, or a packet switched network connection to a remote server. Some IVR systems include pre-recorded audible responses triggered for playback in response to user input while other IVR systems process scripts such as Voice Extensible Markup Language (VXML) compliant scripts and dynamically generate audible responses—typically by way of a text-to-speech (TTS) engine or through a combination of TTS and pre-recorded audio. Even more advanced IVR systems process spoken user input by way of a speech recognition engine in order to properly select a response to a user inquiry.
The effectiveness of an IVR system often rests with the selection and sequencing of prompts provided to a caller. In response to each prompt provided in a prompt set by the IVR system to the caller, the caller can select a desired option—through the use of dial tone multi-frequency (DTMF) tones to key a selection, or through voice recognition of a spoken selection. In any event, because prompts in an option set provided by an IVR system are spoken by the IVR system and recognized aurally by the caller, in many cases the spoken prompts provided to a caller can be confusing. Consequently, frequently callers select incorrect options in response to the prompts of the option set unintentionally.
Recognizing the potential for callers to select incorrect options in response to aurally recognized prompts in an option set, methods have been proposed to provide for the concurrent visual presentation of prompts in a Web interface. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,324,633 to Gao et al., a web integrated interactive voice response system is described to include an IVR system adapted to different voice menus to a user over a telephone, and a graphical user interface system adapted to provide the different menus in a graphical format to the user over a network connection. Even still, the mere visual display of an IVR option set does not account for the uncertainty faced by callers in making a selection of an option in a prompted option set.

Interactive voice response (IVR) cloud user interface

International Business Machines Corporation


The circuit breaking device 10 includes a plug box 20 including circuit terminals 21 and 22 respectively connected to the respective open ends of two electric circuits, and a plug main body 30 including short-circuit terminals 31, 32 and disposed in such a manner that it can be shifted by a given amount with respect to the plug box 20; in particular, the plug main body 30 is structured such that not only it can bring the short-circuit terminals 31 and 32 into fit with the circuit terminals 21 and 22 of the plug box 20 to thereby close the two electric circuits, but also it can remove the short-circuit terminals 31 and 32 from the circuit terminals 21 and 22 to thereby open the two electric circuits and thus cut off the circuit currents thereof. The plug main body 30 is allowed to shift with respect to the plug box 20 between the actually securing position where the short-circuit terminals 31, 32 can be fitted with the circuit terminals 21, 22 and the temporarily securing position where the short-circuit terminals 31, 32 can be removed from the circuit terminals 21, 22.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit breaking device and, in particular, to a circuit breaking device which, when checking and maintaining an electric car, a hybrid car or a similar car which includes a high-voltage circuit used to drive a motor, can cut off the circuit current of the high-voltage circuit temporarily.
2. Related Art
In recent years, when checking and maintaining a car such as an electric car, a hybrid car or a similar car which is in the spotlight as a low-pollution car and includes a high-voltage circuit used to drive a motor, in order to prevent an operator from getting an electric shock, it is necessary to cut off the circuit current of the high-voltage circuit temporarily.
In view of this, in a conventional electric car or the like, as a circuit breaking device for cutting off the circuit current of a high-voltage circuit temporarily, there is proposed a circuit breaking device which comprises a plug box including a circuit terminal connected to the open end of an electric circuit, and a plug main body including a short-circuit terminal and structured such that it can bring the short-circuit terminal into fit with the circuit terminal of the plug box to thereby close the electric circuit.
According to the above-mentioned conventional circuit breaking device, when checking and maintaining the electric car or the like, an operator pulls the plug main body out of the plug box completely and removes the short-circuit terminal of the plug main body from the circuit terminal of the plug box, there by being able to open the electric circuit and thus cut off the circuit current of the electric circuit.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional circuit breaking device, in a state where the plug main body is pulled out of the plug box completely in the car check and maintenance, on the plug box, there is exposed a terminal insertion hole through which the short-circuit terminal of the plug main body can be inserted. Therefore, there is a fear that the fingertips of the operator or a conductive part (a wire or the like) can be inserted into the terminal insertion hole by mistake to thereby come into contact with the circuit terminal provided within the plug box. In order to prevent the operator's fingertips or conductive part from coming into direct contact with the circuit terminal, it is necessary to work the plug box specially, with the result that the structure of the plug box is complicated.
Also, since the plug main body pulled out of the plug box is separated completely from the plug box, there is a fear that the plug main body can be lost by accident.


There is described a method for compensating the phase and gain distortions of a transmitter analog front end affected by a leakage of a local oscillator. The method comprises generating a single complex tone signal in a digital front end, wherein the generation comprises compensating the signal gain and phase with gain and phase offsets. The method comprises feeding the compensated signal into the transmitter analog front end. The method comprises feeding a corresponding output signal of the transmitter analog front end into a nonlinear component, thereby generating an inter-modulation between the complex tone signal and at least one tone signal due to the local oscillator leakage. The method comprises feeding the output of the nonlinear component into a measurement receiver analog front end. The method comprises filtering the output of the measurement receiver analog front end with a band pass filter in order to isolate the inter-modulation, which is indicative of the distortions introduced by the transmitter analog front end. The method comprises measuring the power of the filtered signal. The method comprises updating the gain and phase offsets according to the measured power, by reducing said measured power. The disclosure also relates, in particular, to a digital front end, to an analog system, to a telecommunication device, to a computer program, and to a storage medium.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for compensating a transmitter distortion.
2. Related Art
Telecommunication devices typically comprise a transmitter and a receiver.
The transmitter and the receiver are typically not perfect due, for example, to process variation during their manufacturing.
Distortions (due for example to RF imperfections of RF transmitters and/or RF receivers) may be compensated by using external equipment for measuring and computing the compensation values for the transmitter and/or receiver. External equipments are however inconvenient, as they are not necessarily easily available to the user of the telecommunication device embedding the RF transmitter and RF receiver. In addition, long data transfers between the telecommunication device (for example a mobile phone) and the external equipments may be required. In practice such distortions compensations are often configured in a factory when manufacturing a telecommunication device.
It has been proposed to introduce a measurement receiver (distinct from the aforementioned regular receiver) in certain wireless transmitters in order to perform some measurements on the signal that the transmitter is to radiate.
Signals are often represented by in-phase and quadrature components (hereafter referred to as IQ). The transmitter and/or the receiver may introduce IQ gain and phase distortions, which are not desirable.

Compensation of a transmitter distortion


According to the present invention, a connection hole is formed above a substrate by an etching treatment using a first resist film as a mask, and after the first resist film is removed by stripping, the substrate is exposed to a water vapor atmosphere. Thus, an amine component in the film is removed before formation of a second resist film for forming a wiring groove, thereby preventing contamination of the second resist film. The present invention is a method for forming wiring of a semiconductor device using a dual damascene method, in which the resist film for forming the wiring groove can be prevented from being contaminated with the amine component or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming wiring of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
For multilayer wiring to be formed, for example, in a semiconductor device such as a transistor, Cu wiring is applied to realize a high speed semiconductor device. As a method for forming the Cu wiring, a dual damascene method is used in which connection holes (for example, contact holes, via holes) and wiring grooves are formed in a multilayer film structure and then the connection holes and wiring grooves are filled with Cu material at a time. The dual damascene method has an advantage in that it has a smaller number of steps, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
The method for forming Cu wiring using the conventional dual damascene method will be described here using FIGS. 13A to 13I. First of all, for example, a wiring layer 200, an interlayer insulation film 210, and an antireflection film 202 are formed on a substrate in order from the bottom, and a first resist film 203 is formed on the surface of a multilayer film structure composed of those layers (FIG. 13A). Then, the first resist film 203 is patterned into a predetermined pattern by the photolithography technique (FIG. 13B).
In this patterning step, the first resist film 203 is exposed to light under the predetermined pattern, and a resulting exposed portion is selectively removed by development. Subsequently, the antireflection film 202 and the interlayer insulation film 201 are etched by etching treatment using the first resist film 203 as a mask. Thus, a connection hole 204 is formed which leads to the wiring layer 200 from the surface of the multilayer film structure (FIG. 13C).
Then, the first resist film 203 which is unnecessary any longer is removed by stripping, for example, by ashing treatment (FIG. 13D), and a second resist film 205 for forming a wiring groove is newly formed instead (FIG. 13E).
The second resist film 205 is patterned by the photolithography technique (FIG. 13F), and then the antireflection film 202 and the interlayer insulation film 201 are partially etched by the etching treatment using the second resist film 205 using as a mask.
Thus, a wiring groove 206 is formed which communicates with the connection hole 204 and is larger in width than the connection hole 204 (FIG. 13G). The second resist film 205 which is unnecessary any longer is removed by stripping (FIG. 13H), and the connection hole 204 and the wiring groove 206 are filled with Cu material, thus forming a Cu wiring 207 (FIG. 13I) (Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-83869).
Conventionally, the above-described ashing treatment when removing the first resist film 203 has been performed by supplying a nitrogen gas and a hydrogen gas or an ammonia gas into a treatment container to expose the substrate to the atmosphere. Therefore, during the ashing treatment, a very small amount of ammonia component has been sometimes absorbed in the interlayer insulation film 201 exposed due to the connection hole 204. Also in the interlayer insulation film 201 such as a low dielectric constant film itself, which often contains nitrogen atoms in its compositional components, a very small amount of basic amine has been generated, for example, during film formation and remained.
As described above, the interlayer insulation film 201 has often contained the amine component at the time when the first resist film 203 is removed by stripping. Incidentally, there is another conceivable factor of absorption of the amine component into the interlayer insulation film 203, such as use of an ammonium fluoride-based or amine-based treatment solution, for example, when the first resist film 203 is removed with the treatment solution, or generation of the amine component, for example, when the etching for formation of the connection hole or cleaning of the connection hole is performed.
Accordingly, when the second resist film 205 is formed after the removal by stripping of the first resist film 203, the amine component in the interlayer insulation film 201 permeates the adjacent second resist film 205, whereby the second resist film 205 is contaminated with the amine component. In the patterning step of the second resist film 205 to be performed thereafter, the exposure generates an acid catalyst in the resist film, and the action of the acid catalyst accelerates the solubility of the exposed portion to a developing solution, so that the exposed portion is selectively etched by development. Accordingly, if the second resist film 205 is contaminated with the amine component as described above, the acid catalyst in the second resist film 205 reacts with the amine component to lose its function as the acid catalyst. For this reason, the second resist film 205 has not sufficiently patterned, thus causing a portion of the second resist film 205 to remain as shown in FIG. 14 which should be removed normally. In this case, the subsequent etching treatment using the second resist film 205 as a mask has not been properly performed, failing to form the wiring groove 206 in a proper shape.

Method for forming wiring of semiconductor device


Techniques are described for obtaining high-resolution physical locations for a wireless device by leveraging the high-resolution physical location capabilities of wireless peers of the wireless device to provide a peer-to-peer location service and facilitate location targeting. Wireless devices provide location updates to a computing cloud, which stores records associating wireless device identifiers with received location information for the corresponding wireless devices. A wireless device issues a peer discovery request to dynamically identify nearby wireless peers in its network. The wireless device then sends wireless device identifiers for the nearby wireless peers in a location request to the computing cloud, which estimates a location for the wireless device using the previously recorded location information for the nearby wireless peers. The computing cloud returns the estimated location to the requesting wireless device.

A computer network is a collection of interconnected computing devices that can exchange data and share resources. In a packet-based network, such as an Ethernet network, the computing devices communicate data by dividing the data into small blocks called packets, which are individually routed across the network from a source device to a destination device. A variety of intermediate devices operate to route the packets between the computing devices. For example, a computer network may include routers, switches, gateways, firewalls, and a variety of other devices to provide and facilitate network communication.
A wireless communication network includes a collection of cells that each includes at least one base station capable of transmitting and relaying signals to wireless communication devices. A "cell" generally denotes a distinct area of a wireless network that utilizes a particular frequency or range of frequencies for transmission of data. A typical base station is a tower to which are affixed a number of antennas that transmit and receive the data over the particular frequency. Wireless devices, such as cellular or mobile phones, smart phones, camera phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, and tablet computers, may initiate or otherwise transmit a signal at the designated frequency to the base station to initiate a call or data session and begin transmitting data. The base station covers a limited geographic area (a "cell") but may exchange data with wireless devices irrespective of whether the wireless devices within the cell of the base station are moving or stationary.
Many wireless computing devices that access a wireless network include a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that enables the computing devices to accurately determine their physical location. Accurate locations for wireless devices have led to the development of location-targeted network and application services, for example, for wireless devices that can provide such a location.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A switchable finger lever (1) for a valve drive of an internal combustion engine is provided. The inner lever (3) of the finger lever includes a piston (6) on one end thereof, that can be longitudinally displaced, and acts as a coupling element. The coupling element can be partially brought into contact with a driving surface (7) of an outer lever (2), and is provided, for example, with a rising radial profile (13) in the coupling region thereof, and from the front (12) in the coupling direction. The driving surface (7) of the outer lever (2) also has a conical contour which follows the profile (13). During coupling, a contact point (K) of the piston (6) is located on the driving surface (7) in a region of half a depth thereof. In this way, the formation of undesired edge supports is prevented during coupling.

The invention relates to a finger lever of a valve drive of an internal combustion engine, which can be switched to different lifts for at least one gas-exchange valve and which comprises an outer lever and an inner lever running between its arms and moving in a pivoting motion relative to this outer lever, with a borehole extending in the longitudinal direction of the lever being applied with a piston to one end of one of the levers, wherein this piston can be displaced with its top side in some sections under a driving surface of one end of the other respective lever, so that when coupled a large valve lift is generated, and when uncoupled a small or 0 valve lift is generated, wherein on the bottom side of the finger lever, a contact for a gas-exchange valve is provided on one end and a complementary surface for a support element is provided on the other end and wherein a force can be applied by at least one large lifting cam on a top side of at least the lever pivoting away in the decoupled case.
A finger lever defining this class is disclosed in DE 103 18 295 A1. Its piston extends as a coupling means in a borehole at one end of the inner element and can be displaced for the coupled case in some sections under a correspondingly shaped complementary driving surface of a crossbar of the outer lever.
The geometry of the coupling (convex in concave) and also production-specific inaccuracies or function-dependent play can lead to so-called "edge supports" during the operation of the cam follower in the coupled case. These are undesirable primarily because one inlet or outlet side edge of the driving surface becomes the main support surface when coupled. These elevated and undesired contact pressures can lead to an impact in the coupling area, so that, in turn, the play of the coupling is increased. However, this play must be held within tight tolerance limits, in order to guarantee proper functioning of the valve drive over its service life. Under some circumstances, the previously mentioned "edge supports" can also lead to the production of shavings, which can lead to the seizing of the respective piston.

Switchable rocker arm of a valve drive pertaining to an internal combustion engine


Disclosed herein are methods and compositions for generation of Bak- and/or Bax-deficient cell lines using engineered nucleases.

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, can be triggered by extrinsic or intrinsic signals, as well as developmental cues. Two major apoptotic pathways have been identified: an extrinsic cell death pathway in which apoptosis is initiated through ligand binding to cell surface receptors expressed on the cell that will subsequently die, and an intrinsic cell death pathway in which apoptosis is initiated within the cell.
Tumor necrosis factor receptor family members are among the best characterized of receptors involved in the extrinsic death pathway. Upon the engagement of ligand, these receptors initiate the formation of a death-inducing signaling complex, which includes an essential adaptor molecule FADD. FADD in turn recruits Caspase 8, which in turn is activated through an autoproteolytic process. Once activated, Caspase 8 initiates both the activation of additional caspases such as Caspase 9 and Caspase 3, and the degradation of intracellular substrates, which eventually results in cell death. The TNF receptor family includes TNFR1; Fas; DR3 proteins such as Apo3, WSL-1, TRAMP, and LARD; DR4; DR5 proteins such as TRAIL-R2, TRICK2, and KILLER; and DR6.
Members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins are characterized by their ability to modulate cell death. Bcl-2 and some of its homologues, such as Bcl-xl, inhibit apoptosis, whereas other family members, such as Bax and Bak, induce or accelerate apoptosis under certain conditions. Bak and Bax, as well as Bcl-xs, Bid, Bim, Bad and Bik, constitute the pro-apoptotic group of Bcl-2 proteins.
The Bax protein shares highly conserved domains with Bcl-2, some of which are required for the formation of Bax/Bcl-2 heterodimers, which are thought to be important for the survival or death response to apoptotic signals. Following its activation, Bax translocates to the outer mitochondrial membrane where it oligomerizes, renders the membrane permeable, and releases several death-promoting factors, including cytochrome C (Scorrano et al. (2003) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 304:437-444). Bax can be rendered inactive in normal cells via interaction with the Ku70 protein, which sequesters Bax from mitochondria (Sawada et al. (2003) Nat. Cell Biol. 5:320-329).
Bak also promotes cell death and counteracts the protection from apoptosis provided by Bcl-2. Like Bax, the Bak gene product primarily enhances apoptotic cell death following an appropriate stimulus. Bak is a potent inducer of apoptosis in various cell types.
Cell lines in which expression of Bax and/or Bak is reduced by introduction of antisense molecules have been described. See, e.g., Mandic et al. (2001) Mol. Cell Biol. 21:3684-3691. In addition, Bax and/or Bak deficient fibroblasts have also been immortalized to create cell lines. See, U.S. Patent Application No. 20030091982. Furthermore, naturally occurring zinc finger proteins (Grimes et al. (1996) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 93:14569-14573) fused to repression domains and engineered zinc finger proteins and nucleases (see, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060063231) have also been described for the inactivation of Bax and/or Bak. Engineered zinc finger nucleases have also been used to inactivate endogenous dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) and CCR5 genes. See, e.g., U.S. Patent Publication No. 20080015164 and PCT Publication WO 2007/139982.
However, there remains a need for methods and compositions for inactivation of Bax and Bak, for example to facilitate generation of apoptosis-resistant cell lines.

Methods and compositions for generation of Bax-and Bak-deficient cell lines


A hand held cutting tool for cutting vinyl flooring material. The cutting tool has a tool body with a bottom surface configured to slide across the vinyl flooring material as it is being cut. The tool body holds a hook blade above the floor level, and angling slightly outward toward the wall, roughly pointing towards the intersection between the floor and the wall. The tool body is beveled underneath the hook blade to provide a space for the vinyl to curve up against the wall. The vinyl is placed on the floor, curving up against the wall with the cutting tool body pressing the excess vinyl against the wall as the hook blade slices through the vinyl.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handheld tools, and more specifically, to a handheld cutter for vinyl floor coverings.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of vinyl floor covering materials is quite common in the construction of both homes and commercial buildings. Vinyl floor covering materials are durable, come in a wide variety of colors and textures, and can be relatively inexpensive. A skilled craftsman experienced in the installation of vinyl floor coverings can generally install the material on the floors of several rooms in a matter of hours. However, inexperienced construction workers, or homeowners attempting the installation themselves, often run into difficulties. It can be difficult to get the vinyl floor covering materials to fit neatly in corners and tight spaces. It can also be difficult to make a straight cut so the vinyl floor covering lies a uniform distance from the wall. Quite often the inexperienced installer will end up with unsightly installation flaws, and will sometimes waste material in repeated attempts to get an acceptable fit.
What is needed is an improved way of cutting and installing vinyl floor coverings.

Handheld cutter and method for cutting vinyl floor coverings


The present invention provides a compound a piperidine derivative having excellent histamine receptor antagonistic action, which is useful as active ingredients of a pharmaceutical composition, especially an antihistamine. The piperidine derivative of the present invention has a potent histamine receptor antagonistic action. Further, the compound of the present invention shows low brain transfer even in a cerebral receptor binding test where a mouse is orally administered with the compound, so that the compound has preferred properties of alleviating side effects in the central nervous system, such as drowsiness. The piperidine derivative of the present invention is very useful as a novel antihistamine having smaller side effects in the central nervous system, such as drowsiness.

Histamines are representative chemical mediators that induce allergic reactions, and the histamines are released from cells such as mast cells and basophils when substances that are causative of allergy are entered into the body. The released histamines are bound to a histamine type 1 receptor (H1 receptor) protein to exhibit pharmacological actions such as hypotension, vascular hyperpermeability, constriction of smooth muscles, vasodilatation, or glandular hypersecretion, and involved in the manifestation of allergic reactions and inflammations. As described above, histamines are related to various diseases of human, and the allergic diseases and inflammations can be prevented or cured by controlling their actions. Agents for controlling histamine release and agents for inhibiting the binding of histamines with receptors (antihistamines) are numerously commercially available, and the agents are used in diseases such as bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, pollinosis, urticaria, and atopic dermatitis.
However, antihistamines that are conventionally known exhibit some undesired side effects such as sedative action, drowsiness, dizziness, and malaise, based on the actions on the central nervous system; and dry mouth, mucosal dryness, and visual impairment, based on the anti-cholinergic actions; therefore, there are some limitations of use such as prohibition of taking antihistamines before driving automobiles, which in turn cause inconvenience in use. For these reasons, antihistamines which are free from such problems and have excellent effects are in demand from the patients and the medical sites. The present inventors have found a piperidine derivative of the present invention having smaller side effects of the central nervous system and potent antihistamine action.
Piperidine derivatives having a thiabenzo azulene backbone are disclosed in Patent Publications 1 to 13, among which those that are disclosed in Patent Publications 1 to 7 are compounds that are different from the compound of the present invention, in that both of R1 and R2 in the following general formula (I) are a hydrogen. In addition, Patent Publication 8 discloses a compound where R1 in the following general formula (I) is an alkyl which may be substituted by an acyl or a hydroxy, and R2 is a hydrogen or a chlorine. Patent Publications 9 to 13 disclose compounds where R1 is a hydrogen, and R2 is a halogen, an alkyl, or an alkoxy in the following general formula (I). However, Patent Publication 8 discloses that the compound has sedative action, and Patent Publication 9 discloses that a compound has antagonistic actions for ptosis and catalepsy, and suppressive actions for abnormal drop in body temperature and tremors, respectively. In addition, the compounds disclosed in Patent Publications 10 to 13 are described to possess antihistamine action, but do not disclose on the amelioration on the side effects on the central nervous system, such as drowsiness, which is a side reaction of conventional antihistamines, as in the compounds of the present invention. For example, ketotifen fumarate disclosed in Patent Publication 10 is widely used as a second generation antihistamine, it is a matter to be remarked upon use on the side reactions that induced drowsiness. As described above, no reports have been so far made on piperidine derivatives having a thiabenzo azulene backbone having smaller side effects on the central nervous system and potent antihistamine actions as in the compounds of the present invention.    Patent Publication 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei-3-294277    Patent Publication 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-519789    Patent Publication 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-6-504992    Patent Publication 4: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei-1-104069    Patent Publication 5: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-57-77673    Patent Publication 6: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho-57-60351    Patent Publication 7: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-3-504855    Patent Publication 8: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-49-69677    Patent Publication 9: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-51-110572    Patent Publication 10: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho-52-17030    Patent Publication 11: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho-55-8984    Patent Publication 12: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-48-81869    Patent Publication 13: French Patent No. 1,437,412


A positioning aid for a stringed musical instrument of the lute family that includes a pair of arms frictionally attached to the instrument and adapted to fit diagonally across the front of a player's body, in such a way so as to maintain the attitude of the instrument with respect to the body without the instrument being held.

This invention is intended as an accessory for certain stringed musical instruments of the lute family. In particular, it is intended as an attachment for a lute of the type wherein the player holds the instrument in front of his or her body, and strums or plucks the strings. The invention is described in connection with a bass cello, but it will be appreciated that it is applicable to many other instruments as well, for example, basses, guitars, etc.
Stringed instruments of the type described can, of course, be played either right or left handed, but in the discussion that follows only right handed operation is mentioned. Left handed operation would generally be opposite, as will be understood.
Conventionally, stringed musical instruments of the type mentioned are positioned with the instrument body approximately adjacent to the player's right hip, and are supported by a strap passing over the player's left shoulder, the strap ends being fastened to the tail and the neck of the instrument. Instrument support in this manner is relatively unstable. Accordingly, some portion of the player's attention and physical attributes must be devoted to simply holding the instrument in the desired position to be played. The present invention reduces that burden on the player.

Positioning aid for stringed musical instrument


A hub apparatus may be provided for distributing a load of a small cell digital unit to a macro cell digital unit in a heterogeneous network. The hub apparatus includes an offloading controller configured to determine a first small cell, as an offloading target among a plurality of small cells based on a load of the macro cell digital unit and the small cell digital unit, to determine a first digital unit processing a load of the first small cell among at least one macro cell digital unit, to that generate a first control signal that requests connection to the first digital unit and a low-power radio unit of the first small cell, a path change unit connected to each of an antenna, having one side installed in the macro cell and a low-power radio unit installed in each small cell, having the other side connected to each of the macro cell digital unit and the small cell digital unit, configured to form a path connecting the one side and the other side, and configured to change a digital unit connected to a corresponding low-power radio unit based on the first control signal.

In an in-building environment, a network is constructed with a femto cell or a repeater using a radio frequency cable. Recently, for the in-building network, a neutral hosting method has been in the spotlight. The neutral hosting method constructs a common network and provides a service to a plurality of communication providers through the common network.
An in-building network may be constructed as a heterogeneous network (Het-Net) that includes a small cell in addition to a macro cell. That is, an in-building network includes a macrocell for servicing a wide region and small cells intensively deployed at a hot spot. Such a macro cell and a small cell may be independently connected to separate digital signal processing apparatuses. In this case, each digital signal processing apparatus processes traffic of only one of the macro cell and the small cell connected thereto. Therefore, it is difficult for the digital signal processing apparatus to perform offloading between the macro cell and the small cell. Therefore, a network operator should design each one of a macro cell and a small cell based on maximum traffic. Due to such requirement, high investment cost is required.
When a small cell is formed with equipment of a third party, such a small cell may not have an interface connected to the macro cell. Therefore, even if traffic explosively increases in the small cell, it is difficult for an adjacent macro cell digital signal processing apparatus to distribute a load of the small cell in which traffic explosively increases.
Particularly, there is a demand for a technology of adaptively distributing traffic load between a macro cell and a small cell according to traffic variation dynamically changing with time in a particular region where requires a plurality of small cells, for example, a shopping mall or a stadium.

Hub apparatus of heterogeneous network and method of offloading the same


A lampstand with self-extinguishing function includes a support bracket, a flame holder, and an extinguishing device. The flame holder is disposed on the support bracket, and the extinguishing device is installed on the support bracket and located above the flame holder to extinguish a flame on the flame holder. Thus, the lampstand can blow the burning flame out thereby avoiding long-term burning, reducing fire risk and improving safety in use.

An imitation candle lamp is a kind of lamp that imitates the real flame burning effect, and it can create a specific atmosphere and visual effect. However, this imitating flame does not produce visual effect of jumping and blinking like real flames, and there is also a big difference from the atmosphere created by actual flames. However, real flames such as candles and oil lamps are not stable when used in indoor places. When left unattended, they are not extinguished until the fuel is used up. They cannot be automatically extinguished. It is too long to burn and wastes fuel. When they are overturned by accidental touch, it is easy to ignite surrounding objects and cause fire accidents; or it is easy to burn the skin when touched by children, so it is not safe to use.

Lampstand with self-extinguishing function


In an embodiment are provided are a differential amplifier, a method of amplifying a differential input signal, a device including a differential amplifier, and a low voltage differential signaling receiver.

A low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) receiver, being compliant with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Alliance (TIA/EIA) standards, is typically capable of receiving a minimum of 100 millivolts (mV) peak to peak voltage swing with a common mode voltage ranging from as low as 50 mV to as high as 2350 mV, while operating on a 2.5V/3.3V supply voltage with a standard variation of about +/−10%. This receiver draws its input voltage across a 100-ohm resistor coupled across its two terminals (e.g. a differential signal with one inverted and one non-inverted input), and coupled to the driver, at a far end, through transmission lines.
The cost of manufacturing such receiver can be reduced e.g. by using thin oxide transistors to design high supply operated circuits. Although the use of thin oxide transistors can reduce the fabrication cost, the risk of oxide breakdown is increased at such high voltages as the thin oxide transistors in the latest technologies are only capable of handling a maximum voltage of around 2.0V between any two terminals of the respective transistors. As a result, the use of such transistors in a high-voltage system demands extra design measures just to ensure that there are no voltages between any two terminals of the respective transistors used in the circuit that are higher than the acceptable limits of the technology. However, the fabrication cost optimization may outweigh the extra circuit cost if the designer can avoid the problem of oxide breakdown.
Moreover, as the input voltage range of an LVDS receiver is up to 2.4 V (as stated in the standards), the LVDS receiver circuit is typically designed to be robust against gate oxide breakdown even if the circuit is in a power saver mode while being present on an active data bus.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram illustrating a conventional self-biased folded cascode differential amplifier 100. Here, the differential amplifier 100 is being biased at a voltage level VDD/2, where VDD is the supply voltage, and VDD/2 is marked as voltage BIAS in FIG. 1. The amplifier 100 includes a biasing sub-circuit 110, which includes n-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (NMOS) transistors NB1, NB2, NB3, NB4, p-channel metal-oxide semiconductor (PMOS) transistors PB1, PB2, PB3, PB4, resistances RB1 and RB2, and output nodes VOP (for non-inverted output) and VOM (for inverted output).
In addition to the bias sub-circuit 110, the conventional cascode amplifier 100 has two sections 130, 120 configured for high and low common mode voltages respectively. Differential input voltages of the circuit, VINP and VINM (where VINP includes the non-inverted input and VINM comprises the inverted input), are applied to each of the sections 130, 120.
The section 120 catering to low common mode voltages includes transistors P1, P2 and PBIAS, and the 'drain' terminals of transistors P1 and P2 are coupled to nodes Y1 and Y2 of the bias sub-circuit 110 respectively. The section 120 is "alive" (i.e. active) at low common mode voltages, and pumps the input-dependent current to the bias sub-circuit 110 for amplification at outputs nodes VOP and VOM. However, the section 120 is "dead" (i.e. inactive) at high common mode voltages.
Similarly, the section 130 catering to high common mode voltages includes transistors N1, N2 and NBIAS and the 'drain' terminals of transistors N1 and N2 are coupled to nodes X1 and X2 of the bias sub-circuit 110 respectively. This section 130 is "alive" (i.e. active) at high common mode voltages, and pumps the input-dependent current to the bias sub-circuit 110 for amplification at outputs nodes VOP and VOM. However, the section 130 is "dead" (i.e. inactive) at low common mode voltages.
The conventional cascode amplifier 100 of FIG. 1 is operable for the entire common mode voltage range, provided that the transistors used are not stressed at higher supply voltages. However, if the maximum stress limit of the transistors is 2.0V, the circuit may be stressed when the amplifier 100 is used to design a 2.5V and/or 3.3V differential LVDS receiver using only thin-oxide 1.8V transistors (capable of handling a maximum of only 2.0V across any two nodes of the transistors). In such circumstances, the supply voltage level VDD is 2.5V or 3.3V, which is at a voltage level higher than the stress limit of 2.0V.
For example, for a low input common mode voltage, while the section 120 including transistors P1, P2 and PBIAS is "alive" when the input common mode voltage is towards ground, transistors N1 and N2 are in the OFF state ("dead") and the voltage level at node VN typically drops down to ground. Since nodes X1 and X2 are at a higher voltage level at that point, transistors N1 and N2 may get stressed, as the voltage across different terminals of the transistors N1, N2, e.g. between drain and source (VDS), between gate and drain (VGD), or between drain and bulk (VDB), may exceed the permissible limits. This stress on transistors N1 and N2 can lead to a transistor breakdown eventually.
Similarly, for a high input common mode voltage, while the section 130 including transistors N1, N2 and NBIAS is "alive" when the input common mode voltage is towards the supply voltage, transistors P1 and P2 are in the OFF state ("dead") and node VP is typically pulled up to supply voltage level. Since nodes Y1 and Y2 are at a lower voltage, transistors P1 and P2 may get stressed as the voltages, e.g. VDS, VGD, VDB may exceed the permissible limits. This stress on P1 and P2 may lead to a transistor breakdown eventually.
Also, when the amplifier 100 is in power saver mode or disable mode, while being present on the active data bus, which is transferring the data at voltages higher than 2.0V, the transistors N1 and N2 get stressed as the voltages between gate and source terminals (VGS) and between the gate and bulk terminals (VGB) may exceed 2.0V.


A severance tool for severing a target is described. The severance tool comprises a housing, a plurality of focused energetics, each focused energetic adapted to release energy in a preferred direction and a trigger mechanism adapted to detonate the focused energetics. The focused energetics are aligned such that, on impact with a target comprising a material, the energy released by one of said focused energetics cooperates with the energy released by another of said focused energetics to establish a separating force within the target material.

During hydrocarbon extraction operations, safety equipment is installed for utilisation in the event of catastrophic failure to prevent damage to human life and the environment. This is particularly the case for sub-sea hydrocarbon extraction where the presence of water can carry contamination from an oil well many thousands of miles potentially causing huge environmental damage.
The primary barrier utilised to shut a well is the blow out preventer which sits on the well head. For a subsea well, a riser links the oil rig to the blow out preventer, the riser allowing the passage of drilling and completion tools from the oil rig to the oil well through the blowout preventer. In the event of a catastrophe, it is beneficial to be able to sever drill pipe and the like within the riser to, first, permit successful detachment of the rig from the well head and, second, allow the severed tubular to drop below the closure mechanism of the blowout preventer, allowing the blow out preventer to close more easily.
The use of charges to sever tubulars has been previously described. These charges are generally in the form of a linear shaped charge which creates a blade of plasticised metal which is directed at the targets to be severed.
It has been found, however, that linear shaped charges, particularly when closing in on a tubular target, lose energy as they pass through the medium between the charge and the tubular element, and coalescence of adjacent charge material as the charge material converge on the target result in uneven impact on the target, with resulting non-uniform and inconsistent cutting. To overcome these problems, high amounts of explosives are required making the procedure more dangerous and costly than it otherwise would be.
Furthermore, where multiple shaped charges are used, there are detonation problems where the charges are in close proximity. Conventional detonation of multiple charges effectively happens sequentially and this can have an adverse effect on the cutting of the target to the extent that severance may not be achieved. The adverse effect may be caused by the jets of material coming together or impacting on the target at different times. Furthermore, non-simultaneous detonation by the trigger mechanism can result in the shockwave generated by one charge reaching and triggering an adjacent charge before the detonation signal has reached the adjacent charge.


A compound sensor device includes a semiconductor substrate having an active electronic circuit formed in or on the semiconductor substrate. A sensor including a sensor substrate including a sensor circuit having an environmental sensor or actuator formed in or on the sensor substrate is micro-transfer printed onto the semiconductor substrate. One or more electrical conductors electrically connect the active electronic circuit to the sensor circuit. The semiconductor substrate includes a first material and the sensor substrate includes a second material different from the first material.

Electronic sensors are widely used in electronic control devices. In particular, machines with moving parts frequently rely on electronic sensors to detect the position of mechanical parts, electrical current, electrical fields, magnetic fields, or other attributes of the environment in which the machine operates. A wide variety of sensors are known, such as magnetic sensors, electrical field sensors, electromagnetic radiation sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, and optical sensors. Information from the sensors is often processed, for example using digital processing circuits, so that the electronic sensors and the information derived from the sensors can be implemented within electronic systems, such as electro-mechanical systems. For example, automobiles and aircraft incorporate a large number of sensors whose input is electronically processed and used for control.
Signal processing, particularly digital signal processing, is most often performed in electronic integrated circuits comprising silicon transistors. Although some sensors are readily constructed in silicon, enabling an efficient integration of sensors and processing circuitry, some sensors are more readily and effectively constructed in other materials, for example compound semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide. Systems of the prior art incorporating sensors using different materials than are used for processing signals from the sensors are integrated by electrically connecting the sensors to a processor on a substrate, such as a printed circuit board.
In conventional sensor packages, such as image sensor packages, the sensor chip is mounted in a chip carrier and electrically connected to the chip carrier via bonding wires. The sensor package is then integrated with and mounted on an external device such as a printed circuit board. In an alternative approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,365,364, a chip-scale package uses a photolithographically formed electrical connection to a substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 7,368,695 describes a multi-substrate structure and U.S. Pat. No. 7,439,750 describes a humidity sensor mounted on a printed circuit board. These arrangements, however, do not more efficiently integrate processing and sensing devices.
In an alternative structure, JP2003243646 describes a method of making a composite semiconductor element. A compound semiconductor thin film is formed on a substrate and an adhesive coated on an integrated circuit. The thin film is adhered to the adhesive and the substrate removed, leaving the compound semiconductor thin film adhered to the integrated circuit. The thin film is processed and then the adhesive is patterned to expose connection pads on the integrated circuit. A connection electrode is provided to wire the connection pads. However, this approach requires that the thin film is processed with the integrated circuit, which is less efficient and can expose the integrated circuit to process conditions for which it is not well suited.
In some cases, sensor size and integration are important system attributes, for example when physical space is limited. There is a need, therefore, for alternative structures and methods that provide improved integration and reduced size for sensor systems.

Micro-transfer-printed compound sensor device


A marker for concrete safety barriers incorporates a hollow, cylindrical body which is bifurcated from one end to define spaced-apart diverging legs, and an end wall on the other end. Inner walls close the legs and allow them to define pockets which can receive granular material. A reflective sheet material can be affixed to at least part of the exterior. All parts are made of deformable materials such as linear, low-density polyethylene.

The use of concrete barriers for the separation of lanes of traffic, or for the separation of traffic from a construction work zone, is wide-spread in North America. The most common type of concrete barrier is based on a design first used in the State of New Jersey, U.S.A. The New Jersey barrier is essentially a reinforced concrete wall composed of units roughly 13 feet in length and 32 inches high. These dimensions are representative only. The barrier profile is designed to deflect vehicles, on impact, back into their lane of the road. Concrete barriers of this type are generally used when the right-of-way of the road is narrow, either due to limitations of the surroundings or due to limitations imposed during road construction.
An important problem attending barriers of the kind just described arises from the fact that concrete tends to blend in with the surroundings due to its daylight colour, and also tends to absorb the light from vehicle headlights at night. In either case it becomes difficult for a driver to determine the position of the barrier.
Because this kind of barrier is typically used when the lane width is reduced, and changes in lane direction are more severe than normal, there is a clear need to enhance the visibility of the barrier.


A system for detecting and locating faults on a power system includes the e of fault detection and transmitting devices on each pole of the system. The fault detection apparatus includes detecting coils mounted on the static line on either side of each pole, and a third detecting coil positioned so as to detect an orthogonal magnetic flux due to a phase-to-phase fault. A microprocessor on each pole analyzes the type of fault from the output of the three coils, and transmits the identification of the pole and pertinent fault data, when appropriate, to a repeater system. Thus, fault information from an entire power system can be fed through the repeater system into a central location.

The present invention relates generally to the detection of faults in a power system, and more particularly to providing an indication of fault location with respect to individual poles or line supports.
Temporary or permanent faults occur on a power line because of flash-over or failure of insulation. Detecting the precise location of such faults on an extended power system is problematical. While general areas under fault can be identified, the precise location of a fault often remains difficult to pinpoint, requiring substantial expenditures in time and manpower.

Fault detection and location system for power transmission and distribution lines

The Research and Development Institute, Inc. at Montana State University


When data is recorded onto a tape-shaped recording medium using N recording heads disposed on a rotary drum, of first and second series codes orthogonal to each other, the first series code is recorded by any one of the recording heads, and the second series code is recorded across N tracks formed by the N recording heads per revolution of the rotary drum. The redundancy rate of the second series code is set to 1/N or more. As a result, a recording apparatus and method can be provided, which can correct almost all errors at a ratio of one to N tracks even if one whole track of data is completely destroyed without increasing the redundancy rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a helical scan type recording apparatus capable of recording data as inclined tracks onto, e.g., a tape-shaped recording medium, and a recording method therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Magnetic recording systems of a helical scan type have hitherto been used extensively by, e.g., computer data systems or the like in order to back up data stored in their hard disk.
To accommodate errors during recording/reproduction, some magnetic recording systems use a method wherein data is recorded by adding thereto an error correction code (ECC) which can correct erroneous data, so that, e.g., even when trouble occurs in part of their recording/reproducing system, the data can be recorded correctly (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.2001-273096). Some other magnetic recording systems deploy an error correcting device which can record or reproduce data, e.g., even when one of a plurality of helical scan type recording heads fails (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-21657).
Here, a helical scan type magnetic recording system will be outlined. In the helical scan system, a magnetic tape 100 is wrapped at an angle around a rotary head drum 101 as shown in, e.g., FIG. 7. Under this condition, the tape 100 is moved so that the head drum 101 rotates in the direction of the arrow, whereby a head scans at the angle with respect to the tape running direction. In this way, tracks are formed on the tape 100 by recording data at angles with respect to the tape running direction, or data is read from such tracks, as shown in FIG. 8.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned helical scan system adopts so-called azimuth recording. In azimuth recording, a pair of heads is used with their gaps slanted at different azimuth angles A and B, respectively, to alternately form on the magnetic tape 100 a track TkA depicting a recording pattern at the azimuth angle A and a track TkB depicting a recording pattern at the azimuth angle B, as shown in FIG. 8.
To reproduce data from a track recorded by such azimuth recording as mentioned above, a reproducing head 102A corresponding to the track TkA is used, and a reproducing head 102B is used for the track TkB recorded at the azimuth angle B as shown in FIG.9. In this way, signals produced in adjacent tracks can suppress themselves from affecting each other as noise owing to the azimuth effect, whereby a higher density recording can be implemented.
As one data reproducing technique in the helical scan technology, a tracking servo system is widely known in the art, in which the thus formed tracks are read through single scanning performed by a reproducing head. As shown in, e.g., FIG. 10, the tracking servo system controls a reproducing head 102 to keep the head constantly right on a track Tk so that all the data recorded on the track Tk will be read by causing the single head 102 to scan only once.
Thus, the tracking servo system gathers error information, e.g., by comparing a block-based scanning time with a pre-defined reference value in each track Tk, and the scanning position of the reproducing head 102 is controlled based on the error information to maintain the so-called "just tracking state" (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H09-245394).
As another reproducing technique in the helical scan technology, a non-tracking (NT) system is known in the art. In the NT system, data is scanned during reproduction at a track density twice as much as that of the recording period. Two reproduced signals are obtained on the average per track, and the better one is used for the data reproduction.
FIG. 11 conceptually shows the relationship between recorded tracks and reproducing heads in a NT system. Note that a description is given only of reproduction of azimuth tracks A in FIG. 11, and a description of azimuth tracks B will be omitted. Here, the tracking servo system as a reproducing technique would use reproducing heads 103 and 105 to scan tracks TkA-1 and TkA-2 to reproduce data, respectively. On the contrary, the NT system, which scans data during reproduction at a track density double as that of during recording, would cause a reproducing head 104 to intervene for scanning between the scanning operations performed by the reproducing heads 103 and 105.
In an example shown in FIG. 11, the track TkA-1 is scanned by the heads 103 and 104, and both heads provide effective reproduced signals for the track TkA-1. In this case, however, a comparison between the heads 103 and 104 indicates that the head 103 overhangs the track TkA-1 wider and, in addition, is less likely to near the track TkA-2 next to the adjacent track of the track TkA-1. Therefore, the reproducing head 103 will provide a more satisfactory reproduced signal. And only a correctly read portion of the thus reproduced signal is re-arranged to provide stream data. Such an NT system requires neither accurate tracking servo nor accurate scanning angle with respect to tracks, thus making the system free from mechanical tolerances, for example.

Error correction code recording method and recording apparatus using the same


The present disclosure relates generally to a gaming device that facilitates user interactions with multiple games. Illustratively, a method of facilitating a lottery game is provided that includes receiving, from a gaming device, an indication of an outcome of a game that was executed by the gaming device, identifying a user of the gaming device when the outcome of the game occurred, then assigning a lottery number to the user of the gaming device for a next execution of the lottery game, where the lottery number is selected based on the outcome of the game.

The present disclosure is directed toward a lottery game and, in particular, a modified lottery game that is improved by operation of gaming machines, such as slot machines.
Slot machines represent an opportunity to win at a game of chance, sometimes immediately. Lottery drawings, in contrast, normally occur periodically and there is often a delay between a user receiving their lottery numbers and the winning lottery numbers being drawn. A significant attraction to lottery games, however, is the possibility of large jackpots and an extended sense that the user has some control over their output because the lottery numbers can be selected by the user.

System and method for implementing a lottery game


A device for transmitting data includes a data receiving unit, a channel quality measurement unit, and a modulating unit. The data receiving unit is configured to receive first transmission data for a first terminal and second transmission data for a second terminal. The channel quality measurement unit is configured to measure a first reception sensitivity of a channel connected to the first terminal and to measure a second reception sensitivity of a channel connected to the second terminal, and a modulating unit configured to determine a modulation scheme based on the first and second reception sensitivities, to encode the first transmission data and the second transmission data according to the determined modulation scheme to obtain modulated data, and to transmit the modulated data to the first and second terminals.

The present inventive concept relates to a method for transmitting data, a device for transmitting data, a device for receiving data, and a system including devices for transmitting and receiving data.
Research associated with next-generation communication systems has been active in efforts to provide users with various services exhibiting a high communication speeds and a high QoS (Quality of Service). In particular, research has focused on support of high-speed services while assuring mobility and QoS of a BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) communication system, such as a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) system and a WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Area Network) system.

Method for transmitting data, device for transmitting data, device for receiving data, and system including the devices


A cutting guide for use in spinal surgery includes a sidewall defining an internal cavity. A chisel guide, for use with the cutting guide, includes a first block member to be inserted into the internal cavity of the cutting guide to position the first block member adjacent the vertebral body. The chisel guide also includes a second block member connected to the first block member. An apparatus for creating a cavity in a vertebral body endplate and in an intervertebral disc may be a compressor or a distractor having at least one cutting implement thereon. A tensioner determines a proper elongation distance in a prosthesis implanted in a vertebral body.

This invention relates to the field of spinal surgery. More specifically, this invention relates to apparatuses for creating cavities in vertebral bodies and in intervertebral discs located between the vertebral bodies. This invention also relates to methods for creating such cavities. Once the cavities are created with the apparatuses and according to the methods of the present invention, an intervertebral prosthetic device, designed to replace a damaged intervertebral disc, can be implanted in the cavities. Moreover, the implanted device may be used in vertebral body fusion or in reconstruction of mobile discs through spinal arthroplasty (i.e., disc replacement).
The human spine is a flexible structure comprised of twenty-five vertebrae. Intervertebral discs separate and cushion adjacent vertebrae. The intervertebral discs act as shock absorbers and allow bending between the vertebrae.
An intervertebral disc comprises two major components: the nucleus pulposus and the annulus fibrosis. The nucleus pulposus is centrally located in the disc and occupies 25-40% of the disc""s total cross-sectional area. The nucleus pulposus usually contains 70-90% water by weight and mechanically may function like an incompressible hydrostatic material. The annulus fibrosis surrounds the nucleus pulposus and resists torsional and bending forces applied to the disc. Thus, the annulus fibrosis serves as the disc""s main stabilizing structure. A healthy disc relies on the unique relationship of the nucleus and annulus to one another. The top and bottom surfaces of intervertebral discs abut vertebral body endplates.
Individuals with damaged or degenerated discs often experience significant pain. The pain results, in part, from instability in the intervertebral joint due to a loss of hydrostatic pressure in the nucleus pulposus, which leads to a loss of disc height and altered loading of the annulus fibrosis.
A conventional treatment for degenerative disc disease is spinal fusion. In one such surgical procedure, a surgeon removes the damaged natural disc and then fuses the two adjacent vertebral bodies into one piece. The surgeon fuses the vertebral bodies by grafting bone between the adjacent vertebrae and sometimes uses metal rods, cages, or screws to hold the graft in place until the graft heals. Other fusion procedures do not require surgical removal of the disc.
Although spinal fusion may alleviate pain associated with degenerative disk disease, it also results in loss of motion at the fused vertebral joint. Lack of motion at the fused site puts abnormal loads on the adjacent discs above and below the fusion. This additional pressure may cause the adjacent discs to degenerate and produce pain, thereby recreating the problem which originally existed. To remedy the problems associated with spinal fusion, various prosthetic devices were developed to replace the damaged disc with a suitable biomechanical equivalent.
Existing prosthetic devices have met with limited success in reproducing the biomechanics of a natural disc. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,769 to Hedman et al. discloses a synthetic disc having upper and lower plates hinged together. Although the hinged disc allows forward bending between adjacent vertebrae, the hinged disc does not allow axial compression or lateral flexion. Nor does it allow axial rotation of the vertebral column at the site of the implant. Therefore, the Hedman et al. device lacks many of the biomechanics of a natural disc.
Likewise, the prosthetic disc device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,777 to Patil does not replicate natural motion between adjacent discs. The Patil device includes two cups, one overlapping the other and spaced from the other by springs. The cups move only in a single axial dimension. Thus, the Patil device does not enable natural flexion of the spine in any direction. In addition, the highly constrained motion of the Patil device can lead to high device/tissue interface stresses and implant loosening.
Many synthetic devices connect to the vertebral bodies by conventional mechanical attachments, such as pegs or screws, which are known to loosen under cyclic loading conditions. Other synthetic devices use plastic or elastomeric components which, over a lifetime, produce debris from wear and possible unknown side effects.
In response to these and other known problems associated with synthetic prosthetic disc devices, U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,328 to Buttermann, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses an intervertebral synthetic prosthetic device designed to replace the biomechanical functionality of a failing intervertebral disc. One embodiment of the Buttermann device includes a first fixation member for implantation in a first vertebral body, a second fixation member for implantation in a second vertebral body adjacent the first vertebral body, and a compressible member that is positioned between the first and second fixation members. The Buttermann device overcomes the aforementioned problems with synthetic devices.
There is a need for improved apparatuses and methods by which cavities can be created in vertebral bodies and in an intervertebral disc. Once the cavities are created, an intervertebral prosthetic device designed to replace a damaged intervertebral disc, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,328, can be implanted in the cavities.
In one aspect of the present invention, a cutting guide is provided for use in removing bone from a vertebral body. The cutting guide includes a sidewall that defines an internal cavity. In addition, the sidewall has (i) a first edge to face toward and to contact a vertebral body in at least three points and (ii) a second, opposite edge to face away from the vertebral body. The first edge includes at least two concave portions and at least one convex portion oriented generally perpendicular to the at least two concave portions.
The sidewall of the cutting guide may be comprised of four walls arranged to form a rectangular cross-section. At least one of the four walls may include a hole extending from the first edge to the second edge to receive a fastener therethrough. Further, the first edge of the sidewall may be concave along a first of the four walls and along an opposite second of the four walls, and it may be convex along a third of the four walls and along an opposite fourth of the four walls. The concave first edge along the first wall may be a mirror image of the concave first edge along the second wall. Similarly, the convex first edge along the third wall may be a mirror image of the convex first edge along the fourth wall. Moreover, although the concave and convex edges may each comprise one smooth surface, they also may be formed by a plurality of adjacent surfaces.
In another aspect of the invention, a chisel guide is provided for use in cutting bone of a vertebral body. The chisel guide includes a first block member to be positioned adjacent the vertebral body and a second block member connected to the first block member. The second block member has a channel, formed on one side thereof, which terminates at the first block member.
In one embodiment of the chisel guide, the first block member and the second block member may be formed as one integral piece. Further, the second block member may extend beyond the perimeter of the first block member in at least one dimension to form a shoulder with the first block member. For example, the second block member may have a width greater than the width of the first block member such that the second block member forms a pair of opposed shoulders with respect to the first member.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a cutting guide and chisel guide combination for use in removing bone from a vertebral body. The combination includes a cutting guide having a sidewall defining an internal cavity. The sidewall, in turn, has a first edge to face toward and to contact a vertebral body in at least three points and a second, opposite edge to face away from the vertebral body. The combination also includes a chisel guide. The chisel guide has a first block member and a second block member connected to the first block member. The first block member is adapted to be inserted into the internal cavity of the cutting guide to position the first block member adjacent the vertebral body such that a passage remains between a first side of the first block member and an inner surface of the sidewall of the cutting guide.
In the aforementioned cutting guide and chisel guide combination, the first and second block members may be formed as an integral piece. Moreover, the second block member may be solid. In addition, the second block member may extend beyond the perimeter of the first block member, in at least one dimension, to form a shoulder with the first block member. For example, the second block member may have a width which is greater than the width of the first block member so that the second block member forms a pair of opposed shoulders with respect to the first block member. Finally, the second block member may include a channel which is formed on one side thereof and which terminates at the first block member.
In yet another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for use in removing bone from a vertebral body is provided. This apparatus includes a shaft and a reamer. The shaft has a first end and a second end, and the second end of the shaft is connectable to a power source. The reamer is connected to the first end of the shaft. The reamer includes at least one cutting member and a collection space to collect bone fragments cut by the cutting member. A slot, through which the bone fragments pass into the collection space, is adjacent the at least one cutting member.
The reamer may be detachably connected to the first end of the shaft. In addition, the reamer may have a circular cross-section. Various power sources, such as a drill, may be used to rotate the second end of the shaft. In one embodiment, the cutting member is positioned on a bone engaging surface of the reamer. The bone engaging surface of the reamer may be flat, except for the cutting implement and slots associated therewith.
In still a further aspect of the invention, an apparatus for creating a cavity in a vertebral body endplate and in an intervertebral disc is provided. The apparatus includes a handle, a first arm, and a second arm movable toward the first arm upon actuation of the handle. The apparatus also includes a first cutting implement that is mounted to the first arm and that has a generally circular sidewall that terminates in a first cutting edge. The first cutting edge faces away from the first arm. In one embodiment of the cavity creating apparatus, the first cutting edge also may face away from the second arm. In another embodiment, the first cutting edge may face toward the second arm.
In addition, the apparatus may also include a second cutting implement mounted to the second arm and having a generally circular sidewall that terminates in a second cutting edge, the second cutting edge facing away from the second arm and facing toward the first cutting edge so that, upon actuation of the handle, the first and second cutting edges move toward each other. The cutting edges of the cutting implements may be serrated. The cutting implements also may be rotatably mounted to their respective arms. Moreover, in an embodiment having two cutting implements, the cutting implements may be mounted to rotate about the same axis of rotation.
In yet a further aspect of the invention, a tensioner apparatus for use in determining a proper elongation distance in a prosthesis implanted in a vertebral body is provided. The tensioner apparatus includes a first arm and a second arm, each having a handle portion and a separator portion. A pivot joins the first arm to the second arm and separates the separator portions from the handle portions. In addition, at least one tension measuring element is positioned on the first arm; the tension measuring element may be a strain gage.
The tensioner apparatus also may include at least one strain gage positioned on the second arm. Moreover, the strain gages positioned on the first and second arms may be part of a Wheatstone bridge and may be positioned on the separator portions of the first and second arms, respectively.
The invention also contemplates a method of creating a cavity in a vertebral body. The cavity creating method includes removably attaching a cutting guide to an outer surface of a vertebral body. The cutting guide has a cavity therein. The method also includes puncturing through the outer surface and cortical bone of the vertebral body along a perimeter of the cavity in the cutting guide, removing the punctured cortical bone of the vertebral body to expose bone in the interior of the vertebral body, and removing the bone in the interior of the vertebral body.
The method of creating a cavity in a vertebral body may also include inserting a chisel guide in the cavity in the cutting guide. In this method, the puncturing step may include using the chisel guide to guide a chisel, having a chisel blade, along a perimeter of the cavity in the cutting guide. Alternatively, the puncturing step may be accomplished by using a motorized sagittal saw. Regardless of whether a chisel and chisel guide or a sagittal saw is used to puncture through the outer surface and cortical bone, the step of removing the bone in the interior of the vertebral body may be accomplished using a reamer.
The invention further contemplates a method of creating an intervertebral disc cavity. The method includes providing an apparatus including a first arm having a first cutting implement attached thereto, a second arm, and a handle. The method also includes positioning the first arm in a cavity in a first vertebral body, compressing the handle of compressor so that the first and second arms move in a direction towards each other, cutting through the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc with the first cutting implement, and removing the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc to create the intervertebral disk cavity. This method also may include positioning the second arm of the compressor in a cavity in a second vertebral body, wherein the second arm has a second cutting implement thereon; and cutting through the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc with the second cutting implement.
The method for creating an intervertebral disc cavity may also include, prior to the step of positioning a first arm of a compressor in a cavity in a first vertebral body, attaching a cutting guide to a surface of the first vertebral body, the cutting guide defining a cavity; cutting through the surface and cortical bone of the first vertebral body along an inside perimeter of the cavity in the cutting guide; removing the cut cortical bone of the first vertebral body to expose bone in an interior of the first vertebral body; removing the bone in the interior of the first vertebral body to create the first vertebral body cavity; and removing the cutting guide from the first vertebral body. Further, the method also may include attaching the cutting guide to a surface of the second vertebral body; cutting through the surface and cortical bone of the second vertebral body along the inside perimeter of the cavity in the cutting guide; removing the cut cortical bone of the second vertebral body to expose the bone in the interior of the second vertebral body; and removing the bone in the interior of the second vertebral body to create the second vertebral body cavity.
In addition, the invention contemplates a method of applying a predetermined load to an implanted device. The implanted device has a fixation member implanted within a vertebral body and a compressible member implanted within an intervertebral disc. The method includes providing a tensioner including a first arm and a second arm each having a handle portion and a separator portion. A pivot pin joins the first arm to the second arm and separates the separator portions from the handle portions. At least one strain gage is positioned on the first arm. The method also includes inserting the first and the second arms into the fixation member, and moving the handle portions toward each other to thereby move the separator portions away from each other until one of the separator portions contacts an upper member of the fixation member and the other of the separator portions contacts a lower member of the fixation member. The method further includes elongating the fixation member with the tensioner, and monitoring a voltage measured by the at least one strain gage, the voltage being representative of the load applied by the tensioner and thus the reactive load experienced by the compressible member of the implanted device.

Apparatus and method for performing spinal surgery


A medical device includes a tubular body having a first lumen so designed as to receive a fluid from an opening at one end of the first lumen and discharge the fluid from an opening at the other end of the first lumen, and an expandable body attached to the tubular body. The first lumen communicates with the space inside the expandable body and the expandable body expands by the internal pressure of the fluid which is injected from the opening at one end and enters the space inside the expandable body through the first lumen.

The fracture that occurs most frequently without respect to age is the femoral fracture. Reportedly, 150,000 persons suffer from femoral fracture every year in Japan. This is a serious social problem because aged persons tend to need nursing care once they suffer from femoral fracture.
Known methods for curing femoral fracture include replacement of the bone head with an artificial bone head, bonding the fractured parts with an implant, and conservative treatment. The second method (osteosynthesis) is preferred because it employs the patient's own tissue and is minimally invasive. Osteosynthesis in this case is accomplished by internally fixing the femur.
The implant (such as nail, screw, and pin) used for osteosynthesis of the femur is usually designed such that it is arranged in the lengthwise direction of the neck of the femur to stabilize the fractured part. An example of the implant for femoral osteosynthesis is a lag screw screwed into the bone head across the fracture plane in the neck of the femur, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. Hei 11-137566 and 2009-207710.
When the screw type implant is used to fix the fractured part, it is common practice to previously insert a Kirschner wire into the neck of the femur in order to prevent the fractured part from being turned by the torque around the axis along the lengthwise direction of the neck of the femur which is produced as the lag screw is screwed in. The Kirschner wire (called "K wire" for short hereinafter) is arranged to penetrate the cartilage which is called epiphysis line, existing in the bone head. The K wire helps the screw type implant advance to the desired position, and it is then withdrawn after the implant has been screwed into the bone.
Osteosynthesis for femoral fracture with an implant has the possibility of causing ischemic disorder such as bone head necrosis and LSC (Late Segmental Collapse) if the fracture involves the breakage of blood vessels (especially the inside and outside femoral circumflex arteries) which supply blood to the bone head. Unfortunately, there is not any established procedure for preventing and curing such ischemic disorder despite a strong desire.

Medical device and vascularization method


A fixing apparatus is provided with a fixing device which includes a fixing roller and a pressing roller pressed against the fixing roller, the fixing roller and the pressing roller defining a region through which sheets of various sizes pass while being heated, an induction-heating device which heats the fixing roller by induction heating and which includes first and second excitation coil units provided inside the fixing roller and spaced from each other by a predetermined distance in an axial direction of the fixing roller, and a control device which varies an output applied to the first and second excitation coils in accordance with a surface temperature as measured in the axial direction of the fixing roller. The first and second excitation coil units have widths which are greater than those of maximal-size sheets by 20 to 40 mm.

The present invention relates to a fixing apparatus employed in an electrophotographic printer.
This type of fixing apparatus includes a metallic heating roller, and an elastic pressing roller which is pressed against the heating roller. The heating roller contains a halogen lamp or the like and is heated by the radiant heat of this halogen lamp.
A sheet to which a toner image is transferred is made to pass through the region between the heating roller and the pressing roller. At the time, the sheet is heated and pressed, as a result of which the toner image is fixed to the sheet.
In the conventional art, the light radiating from the halogen lamp warms the air inside the heating roller. Since the heating roller is heated in this manner, there is inevitably a loss of energy when light is converted into heat, and the heat cannot be transmitted to the heating roller with high efficiency. Hence, the thermal conversion efficiency is as low as 60-70% and the energy saving characteristic is poor.
Due to the low thermal efficiency, the warm-up operation of the fixing apparatus is inevitably long.
In recent years, therefore, a heater-type fixing apparatus employing a cylindrical heat-resistant film has been put to practical use. The fixing apparatus comprises a heating member including linearly-arranged heating elements, and a heat-resistant film movable in the state where it is in tight contact with the heating member. A sheet to which an image is to be fixed is brought into tight contact with the heating member, with the heat-resistant film interposed therebetween. By moving the heating member together with the heat-resistant film, the thermal energy of the heating member is transmitted to the image through the heat-resistant film.
In the fixing apparatus described above, the linearly-arranged heating elements of the heating member must be controlled in such a manner that the temperature distribution becomes uniform in the longitudinal direction of the heating member. Therefore, apparatuses that have been manufactured must have uniform characteristics, and when operating them, temperature control must be executed with high accuracy. For these reasons, the manufacturing cost is inevitably high. In a high-speed copying machine, the heating member must be a high-power type, and the use of such a heating member is not desirable so as to reduce the power consumption.
In an effort to solve these problems, fixing apparatuses using induction-heating technology have been developed, such as those disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publications No. 9-258586 and No. 8-76620.
In the apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 9-258586, a coil assembly is formed by providing a coil around a core extending along the axis of rotation of a fixing roller. The coil assembly generates an eddy current supplied to the fixing roller.
In the apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-76620, a conductive film is heated by a magnetic field-generating means, and a recording medium is brought into tight contact with the heated conducted film, for fixing. A heat-generating belt is sandwiched between a pressing roller and members with which magnetic field-generating means is assembled, in such a manner as to form a fixing nip portion.
In the prior art, however, the fixing roller or the heat-generating belt is heated uniformly without reference to the sizes of sheets. In other words, it is heated uniformly at any width position (the width being perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction). For this reason, when sheets of various sizes are passed through the fixing apparatus, the surface temperature of the fixing roller or heat-generating belt may not be even, and a reliable fixing operation cannot be expected.
The present invention has been conceived in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the invention is to provide an induction-heating type fixing apparatus which does not give rise to uneven surface temperature distribution and thus ensures a reliable fixing operation for sheets of various kinds.
A fixing apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention comprises: a fixing device which includes a fixing roller and a pressing roller pressed against the fixing roller, the fixing roller and the pressing roller defining a region through which sheets of various sizes pass while being heated; an inductionheating device which heats the fixing roller by induction heating and which includes first and second excitation coil units provided inside the fixing roller and spaced from each other by a predetermined distance in the axial direction of the fixing roller; and a control device which controls or varies an output applied to the first and second excitation coils in accordance with a surface temperature as measured in the axial direction of the fixing roller, the first and second excitation coil units having widths which are greater than those of sheets of maximal size by 20 to 40 mm.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.


Sample tube racks having retention bars to retain sample tubes in the racks during processing of the contents of the sample tubes are described. An example rack for holding sample tubes includes a tube holder to hold the sample tubes in a substantially vertical orientation. A retention cover pivotally engages the tube holder at a first end and locks against the tube holder at a second end. The second end of the retention cover pivots relative to the tube holder about an axis that is non-parallel relative to a longitudinal axis of the retention cover while the first end of the retention cover is pivotally captured by the tube holder.

Automated processing of biological samples typically involves the use of sample tube racks that are adapted to hold a relatively large number of sample tubes for processing within a sample preparation or test instrument. Generally, these sample tube racks are configured to enable the sample preparation or test instrument to hold and/or convey the rack, as well as any sample tubes disposed in the rack, throughout the preparation and/or testing process(es).
Sample tubes containing biological sample material are often sealed with a cap to minimize or prevent the possibility of contamination of the samples, other nearby samples and/or exposing instrument operators processing the samples to the biological material in the samples. However, with many known automated sample processing instruments, such sample tube caps must be removed from each sample tube prior to loading a rack of such tubes in the instruments. Of course, removing the caps can result in contamination of samples and/or exposure of instrument operators to the biological material in the samples.
To eliminate the problems associated with having to remove sample tubes caps prior to processing the sample tubes, some automated sample processing instruments are configured to work with sample tubes having penetrable or pierceable caps. In these instruments, disposable pipettes may be used to pierce the sample tube caps, thereby reducing the possibility of sample contamination and/or operator exposure to biological material. While such automated instruments can eliminate significant amounts of mechanical manipulation of the samples and offer a significant improvement in contamination or exposure issues, proper retention of the sample tubes in the rack becomes an important consideration because withdrawal of the pipettes from the pierceable caps may tend to lift the sample tubes out of the rack due to the frictional forces between the caps and the pipettes.
Further, the use of pierceable caps on sample tubes can also result in pressure differentials between the contents of the sample tube and the ambient in which the caps are pierced. For example, if a sample is collected and capped at a relatively low altitude location and subsequently processed (i.e., the cap is pierced) at a higher altitude location, fluid and/or aerosols containing biological material may be expelled out the pierced opening in the cap, thereby potentially contaminating other samples and/or exposing instrument operators to the biological material.