A flyback power converter with multiple outputs is disclosed. The flyback power converter has a transformer, a first output circuit, a second output circuit, and a secondary side synchronous rectification controller. The transformer has a primary side winding, a first output winding, and a second output winding. The first output circuit has a first output capacitor for storing electric energy from the first output winding. The second output circuit has a second rectifying switch and a second output capacitor. The second output capacitor is utilized for storing the electric energy from the second output winding. The secondary side synchronous rectification controller controls the conduction time of the second rectifying switch according to a detecting signal of a secondary-side conduction period. The electric energy in the first output capacitor may be transferred to the second output capacitor through the second output winding and the second rectifying switch and vice versa.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flyback power converter with multiple outputs; in particular, to a multiple-outputs flyback power converter with a secondary side post regulator.
2. Description of Related Art
Low power converters with multiple outputs have been widely applied to a variety of electronic products such as monitors, mini PC, set-up box (STB), video and music player, game console, etc. Meanwhile, because of the soaring oil price and the increasing awareness of environmental protection, numerous energy-preserving measures have been rolling out.
For the purpose of output voltage regulation, the traditional method is to connect power resistors as dummy loads to each output terminal so that the output terminal may operate with the sufficient load and to have multiple output feedback arranged to stabilize the output signals. Another method is to incorporate linear voltage regulators to achieve the goal of regulating the output voltage at the output terminals other than the main output terminal. However, attending with the awareness of environmental protection, these methods cannot fulfill the demand of power efficiency.
FIG. 1 shows a flyback power converter with multiple outputs utilizing a linear regulator for stabilizing output voltage. Primary side of the flyback application circuit has a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller 11 and a power transistor 12. Secondary side of the flyback application circuit has a main output circuit and a secondary output circuit. Each output circuit has an output terminal VO1 or VO2 for outputting an output voltage. The PWM controller 11 on the primary side detects a voltage level of the main output terminal VO1 on the secondary side through a feedback device 13, and accordingly controls conduction time of the power transistor 12 so as to adjust electric energy stored in the primary side winding 140 of the transformer 14 from the power supplying terminal VIN. A voltage level of the main output terminal VO1 is thus controlled by the feedback circuit.
When the main output circuit utilizes the feedback device to regulate the voltage level of the output voltage, the second output circuit employs a linear regulator 22 to regulate a voltage level of the second output terminal VO2. However, limited by operations of the linear voltage regulator 22, a winding voltage provided by the second output winding 142 of the voltage converter 14 must be higher than the predetermined output voltage of the second output circuit to ensure the voltage level of the second output terminal VO2 could be in compliance with prevailing standards. The high winding voltage causes the increasing power consumption of the linear regulator 22.
Accordingly, how to offer stable multiple output voltages and reduce the power consumption at the same time is a problem to be addressed.

Flyback power converter with multiple outputs and a secondary side post regulator thereof


The optical transfer function of imaging optics is carried out with a plurality of tilted edges with respect to the edge-response detection line. The effect of the tilt is to stretch out the edge response so that fine details can be detected even operating at a spatial frequency below the Nyquist limit of the detector. The use of multiple targets, each corresponding to a sub-region of the field of view of the optics being tested, enables the simultaneous characterization of the full field of view of the test optics with a single measurement without the use of a magnifying objective. The result is a rapid measurement and a simpler apparatus suitable for high-throughput testing. A pair of tilted edges can be used in a target to also determine the sagittal and tangential OTFs (as well as that of any other arbitrary cross-section). All of these data are acquired with a single measurement.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related in general to the field of metrology of optical lenses and electro-optic systems. In particular, the invention relates to high-throughput measurements of the optical transfer function of lenses and imaging systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "optics" is used to designate both the field of optics and optical components or systems, as is commonplace in the art. In the field of optics, where objects are imaged by a lens or a system of lenses and the resulting images are used for further processing, it is very important that the images produced by the optics be as true as possible to the objects from which they are formed. The accuracy with which optics produce the image of an object is characterized in the art by the so-called optical transfer function (OTF). The OTF is a combination of the optics' resolution performance, measured by its phase transfer function (ΦTF), and of its ability to transfer contrast, measured by the modulation transfer function (MTF).
Thus, the MTF of an optical system is a measure of its transfer of contrast from the object to the image at a given spatial frequency. As the object details get smaller (i.e., the spatial frequency of the signal increases) the optics' ability to transfer contrast is reduced. In essence, the MTF is a quantitative assessment of how well the optics maintain contrast level as a function of frequency. The MTF of a lens or system is typically represented by a plot of contrast (modulation) as a function of spatial frequency for each field point as measured at the detector plane.
The phase transfer function ΦTF, on the other hand, indicates how much the detail (frequency information) of an object shifts in position at the image plane relative to the object plane at each spatial frequency. Although an ideal ΦTF would be equal to zero at all frequencies, in fact distortion tends to introduce a linear term which may be important in characterizing the performance of an imaging system. Nonetheless, commercial applications often specify image quality only in terms of the system's modulation transfer function. This practice probably stems from the fact that ΦTF's non-linearity has the most influence at high spatial frequencies, where contrast is quite low. Therefore, since low-contrast conditions are typically not of interest, the impact of phase shifts is less significant under practical working conditions, where contrast must be high.
Within the optics industry, it has been normal practice to calculate the OTF of an imaging system using a variety of illumination sources and targets, such as the pinhole, the slit, and the knife edge. The resolution and contrast performance is measured by how well the imaging system reproduces, for example, a sharp edge illuminated by a light source. The approach is simplified by the fact that, as is well understood in the art, the MTF corresponds to the modulus of the one-dimensional Fourier Transform of the line spread function of the imaging system. The line spread function in turn is the derivative of the edge spread function, which describes the image of a line displayed by the detector on the detector entrance face. Therefore, the MTF is readily obtainable from the edge trace formed on the detector by an object with a sharp edge, such as the straight-line edge of a knife.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the discrete nature of the sensing elements of a pixellated detector necessarily causes the signal to be approximated. The edge trace of the signal received across a sequence of pixels 10 along the edge-response detection line, which in reality decreases progressively with an approximately S-shaped functionality from maximum intensity to zero (shown on the right side of the figure), is reflected at each pixel by intermediate discrete values between a maximum and a minimum (on the left of the figure). Correspondingly, the slope of the edge trace (the line spread function) is characterized by discrete derivative values, rather than by a continuous bell-shaped curve with a single maximum (as shown on the right side of the figure).
One of the problems consistently encountered in this type of measurement is the fact that sampling is often insufficient (that is, the detector is operated below its Nyquist limit of sampling), which produces aliasing in the imaged signal. The traditional method of circumventing this problem has been to use a microscope objective to magnify the region of interest, thereby providing sufficient sampling for operation within the detector's Nyquist limit. FIG. 2 illustrates a typical set up wherein a microscope objective 12 is placed between the test lens 14 and the detector 16 to relay an image of the target 18. A conventional knife edge is positioned on the target 18 normal to the edge-response detection line and a scanning mechanism (illustrated by the bi-directional arrows in the figure) for the objective is used to cover the entire field of view of the optics being tested.
While effective, this solution has the drawback of narrowing the field of view of the detector, which therefore requires that a scanning mechanism be utilized to span the field of the optics being tested. This, in turn, introduces alignment and data-stitching challenges to the process of data acquisition, in addition to the cost of the additional optics and scanning hardware. Most importantly, the use of a microscope objective and the attendant scanning operation greatly affect the speed with which the optical transfer function of an imaging system can be measured.
Current trends in the optics industry require high-precision manufacturing of optical elements and related quality-control processes that are easily adaptable for large-volume production. While production facilities have been able to readily scale up for volume, the quality-control functions have not been able to keep pace with increased manufacturing capabilities. Commercially available instruments for quality control are designed for expensive and relatively slow testing procedures for cost-insensitive low-volume projects. Accordingly, efforts in the art have been directed to improving the quality of the measurements, rather than the speed and suitability of the tests for high-volume quality-control purposes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,241,996, 4,972,451 and 5,748,230 describe various techniques based on this general objective of improving accuracy.
Therefore, there is still a strong need for a high-throughput approach for testing optics produced in a high-volume production environment. The ISO international standard for measuring the spatial frequency response (SFR) of electronic still-picture cameras describes a system wherein a slanted edge is used to eliminate the effects of aliasing. The present invention is based on extending this concept to the process of testing imaging optics with multiple, simultaneously imaged optical targets.

Tilted edge for optical-transfer-function measurement


A method of scheduling one or more virtual machines in a cloud computing infrastructure may include identifying, by a computing device, lag time data that has been collected over a period of time and that corresponds to one or more virtual machines in a cloud computing infrastructure, computing, by the computing device, a cumulative description of the identified lag time data, identifying a target performance level, determining, by the computing device, an estimated lag time that corresponds to the target performance level, and determining, by the computing device, whether to start a new virtual machine based, at least in part, on the estimated lag time.

Cloud computing technologies provide numerous advantages for solution providers. As one example, clouds offer huge reserves of computing power on demand. A service request is usually made to the cloud and, after an interval of time, computing resources are available for use. Often, delivery of customer services is bound to service-level agreements (SLAs) that outline agreed upon service metrics. However, within a cloud-based service delivery model, satisfying SLAs is sometimes a challenge due to lag times in the delivery of virtual resources.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for estimating lag times in a cloud computing infrastructure


A rear axle assembly designed to fit within a predefined rear axle envelope of a transportation vehicle. The rear axle assembly comprising first and second double wheel hubs each supporting a pair of tires, a rear axle offset with respect to a central axis of the rear axle assembly, a rear axle input for receiving a drive input, first and second portal housings which facilitate respectively connecting the rear axle with the first and the second double wheel hubs, a four-point control arm for connecting the rear axle to a chassis, first and second spring carriers each carrying smaller and larger diameter air bellows, first and second longitudinal arms which interconnected the rear axle to the chassis, and first and second shock absorbers each located generally at or adjacent to the central axis and radially between the first double wheel hub and the first spring carrier.

Rear axle assemblies are widely used to enhance public transport, to speed up the passenger traffic, to make the entry to and exit from a public transportation vehicle easier. One advantage of a portal arrangement is in that the floor height of the vehicle can be as low as 320 to 350 mm (12.60 to 13.78 inches), measured from the ground level, so there typically is only one step needed in order for a passenger to step up from the ground onto the bus. However, certain difficulties are encountered with driven rear axles of the vehicles since there must not only be required space for the drive input, but the rear axle must also be sufficient stability and rigid to withstand normal as well as extreme operating conditions.
In the bus construction industry, the bus manufactures typically do not wish to manufacture the necessary support and suspension elements themselves and it is often inconvenient for such bus manufactures to procure the necessary components from outside suppliers. Moreover, the bus construction industry generally desires that producers of rear axle assemblies provide their assemblies as a complete finished and assembled unit which has all of the associated components, connection points, suspension elements, etc., already on the rear axle assembly so that the rear axle assembly, upon receipt by the bus manufacture, is immediately ready for installation.
In addition, due to the design of the bus, or other vehicle, which is to incorporate the rear axle assembly, there is a limit amount of available space, e.g., a rear axle envelope, which is available to receive and accommodate the rear axle assembly. The rear axle assembly must be able to readily and reliably fit and properly function within the available space of the bus, or other vehicle, without requiring any modification of the existing available space and without malfunctioning.

Rear axle assembly designed to fit within rear axle envelope


A permanent magnet module for a rotor of a permanent magnet electrical machine is presented. The permanent magnet module comprises: a stack of ferromagnetic steel sheets (104) having a groove in the direction perpendicular to the ferromagnetic steel sheets, and a permanent magnet (105) located in the groove and arranged to produce magnetic flux that penetrates a surface (106) of the stack of ferromagnetic steel sheets. The surface has a shape suitable for forming a desired magnetic flux density distribution into an air-gap of the permanent magnet electrical machine. The permanent magnet module further comprises a base-plate (102) made of solid ferromagnetic steel. The base plate is located at an opening (116) of the groove and constitutes together with the groove an aperture in which the permanent magnet is located.

One of the challenges in designing permanent magnet electrical machines, i.e. permanent magnet motors or generators, is related to fixing of permanent magnets to a rotor of a permanent magnet electrical machine. Usually the construction of the rotor is a compromise with respect to several factors such as, for example: cooling of the permanent magnets, mechanical strength especially against centrifugal forces, hermetic protection against moisture and other environmental factors, utilization of the material of the permanent magnets without e.g. excessive leakage magnetic fluxes via e.g. supporting structures, simplicity/complexity of the shape of the permanent magnets, fluctuations of produced torque, and factors related to installation and manufacture.
Publication EP1860755A2 discloses a permanent magnet rotor arrangement that includes a rotor having an outer rim. A circumferential array of magnet carriers is affixed to a surface of the outer rim. Each magnet carrier has a surface facing towards the radial direction. An inverted U-shaped retainer made of nonmagnetic material such as stainless steel or glass-reinforced epoxy resin is affixed to each magnet carrier and is arranged to form together with the magnet carrier an axially extending channel. At least one piece of permanent magnet material is located in the axially extending channel. The magnet carrier, the inverted U-shaped retainer, and the at least one piece of permanent magnet material constitute a permanent magnet module that extends over 360/N degrees in the tangential direction of the rotor, where N is the number of permanent magnet modules that are located successively in the tangential direction. Permanent magnet modules of the kind described above can be produced separately and used as building blocks of a permanent magnet rotor. Spatial distribution of magnetic flux density in an air-gap of a permanent magnet electrical machine has to be sufficiently close to a desired form in order to keep fluctuations of torque produced by the permanent magnet electrical machine at a sufficiently low level. In conjunction with permanent magnet modules of the kind described above, achieving a desired spatial distribution of the magnetic flux density requires shaping of the permanent magnets. For example, rectangular prism shaped permanent magnets do not necessarily provide a sufficiently good quality of operation. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the complexity of the shape of the permanent magnets and the quality of operation. The need for shaping the permanent magnets makes the permanent magnets more expensive and more difficult to manufacture.

Permanent magnet module for an electrical machine


In a fast, convenient voice dialing apparatus and method, users efficiently and conveniently apply a telephone number digit recognition engine to number dialing. By voicing only a subset of a telephone number among telephone numbers pre-registered in a telephone number directory, the success rate of number dialing and convenience of users increases. The voice dialing apparatus includes a fast voice dial mode setting unit, a contracted number database, a contracted number detection unit, and a telephone number connection unit. Since a user only needs to voice a subset of a telephone number stored in a telephone number directory, long telephone numbers are dialed with better recognition performance at an improved speed. Since telephone numbers that users try to call are pre-stored in a telephone number directory, the number of combinable numbers equals the number of lists registered in the telephone number directory, and recognition speed and performance are improved.

This application claims the priority based on Korean Patent Application No. 2002-29119, filed on May 25, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fast, convenient voice dialing apparatus and method by which users can efficiently and conveniently apply a telephone number digit recognition engine to number dialing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Related art voice dialing techniques include the following methods: a talker-dependent voice recognition method in which a user speaks voice-registered names; a talker-independent voice recognition method in which a user speaks the name of a person stored in a telephone number directory; and a method in which a user speaks each of the digits of a telephone number. To achieve a convenient telephone connection using mobile phones, the related art talker-independent voice recognition engine, which does not need a voice registration process, is preferred to the related art talker-dependent voice recognizer, which needs voice registration.
In the case of the above related art method in which the user speaks telephone number digits, different lengths of telephone numbers cause very different degrees of recognition accuracy. If a wrong digit appears due to a wrong recognition in the middle of voice dialing, only the wrong digit must be corrected, which causes inconvenience to a user. To correct only the wrong digit, the user must carefully watch a LCD, move the cursor to the place of the wrong digit, and then voice the correct digit or alternatively, press an appropriate digit key. No matter how many digits are wrong, the wrong digit(s) can also be corrected by re-voicing the whole telephone number digits. However, each of these methods causes inconveniences to the user.
Since a voice recognizer cannot know where a voicing error has occurred and how serious the voicing error is, even if a user re-voices the telephone number, the probability of correctly voicing the whole telephone number digits is no greater than as before. Also, since the number of telephone number digits that can be remembered by a user is limited, telephone numbers with 7 or more digits are hard to be voiced, and it is not effective to voice frequently-used telephone numbers. Furthermore, since a voice recognition engine can produce an excessively large number of digit strings, recognition speed and performance are degraded.
When a related art telephone number digit string composed of 7 digits or more is voiced according to the conventional telephone number digit voicing method, a voice recognition engine cannot effectively recognize the long digit string. As a result, the user is inconvenienced when voicing the digits of the long telephone number. Particularly, if a recognition result was wrong because of noise or other factors generated during recognition, the user must re-voice the telephone number that has already been voiced, which is ineffective.
Also, if a user remembers a telephone number registered in a telephone number directory but does not remember the person's name corresponding to the telephone number, the related art talker-independent voice recognition method cannot be used.


In the cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for a dicing machine, a flow rate adjusting device is provided in addition to a regulator as the pressure adjusting device. The flow rate adjusting device has a flow rate controller, which controls a proportional solenoid valve according to a signal applied from a flow rate sensor as a feedback signal. Thus, even if the pressure of the water supplied from the water supply equipment of the factory changes, the flow rates of the cutting solution and the coolant are maintained. Moreover, the flow rates can be easily adjusted according to the type of work to be processed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying and controlling cutting solution for a dicing machine, and more specially, to a cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for a dicing machine which has a flow rate adjusting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for a dicing machine in a related art. In this apparatus, water supplied from a water supply equipment 60 of the factory is divided into a cutting solution, which is applied to the edge of a blade (a cutting edge), and a coolant (F) and a coolant (R), which are respectively applied to a front side and a rear side of the blade. Each of the divided water supply lines comprises a regulator 31 for adjusting pressure of the water, a solenoid valve 71 for halting the flow of the water, a flow rate regulating throttle 73 for adjusting the flow rate of the water, and a check valve 35 for permitting the water to flow in one direction only. The water is supplied through the lines and applied to a processing part through applying nozzles (a cutting solution nozzle 36 and coolant nozzles 37). To turn on and off the supply of the water, the valve switch 72 opens and closes the solenoid valve 71 according to signals applied from a main controller 50 of the dicing machine.
In this cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus, the flow rate of the cutting solution or the coolant is set with the flow rate regulating throttle 73. The flow rate regulating throttle 73 is a manual throttle that is manually set by the operator and is fixed until adjusted again by the operator, and the flow rate hence fluctuates when the pressure of the supplied water changes.
The water supply equipment 60 of the factory supplies water to many apparatuses, and a supplying capacity of the water supply equipment 60 is not enough in many cases. Then, the pressure of the water supplied from the water supply equipment 60 is easily affected by a state of operation in the variety of apparatuses. If the pressure of the water supplied from the water supply equipment 60 falls, the regulator 31 cannot adjust the pressure to the set value, and the flow rate is reduced as a result. The flow rates of the cutting solution and the coolant greatly influence the processing quality in the processing of the work by the dicing machine, and the processing quality is seriously affected by the fluctuation of the flow rates in the cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus.
If the operator adjusts the flow rates of the cutting solution and the coolant with the cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus according to the type of the work to be processed, the operator must perform troublesome operations to change the setting of the flow rate regulating throttles 73.
In a case where a semiconductor wafer is processed in the dicing machine, when the wafer that has been grooved in a direction (CH-1) is further grooved in another direction (CH-2) perpendicular to the CH-1 direction, it is preferable to increase the flow rate of the cutting solution in order to prevent contamination from accumulating in the processed grooves in the CH-1 direction; however, it is impossible in the cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for a dicing machine in which the flow rates of the cutting solution and the coolant do not change in the case where the pressure of the water supplied from the water supply equipment of the factory changes, the flow rates can be easily adjusted according to the type of work to be processed, and the flow rates for the CH-1 direction and the CH-2 direction can be automatically changed.
In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention is directed to a cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for a dicing machine, in which cutting solution is applied to a processing part of the dicing machine, the cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus comprising: a flow rate adjusting device which adjusts a flow rate of the cutting solution to be supplied, the flow rate adjusting device comprising: a flow rate regulator which regulates the flow rate of the cutting solution to a set flow rate; a flow rate sensor which detects the adjusted flow rate of the cutting solution; and a flow rate controller which controls the flow rate regulator, wherein the flow rate controller controls the flow rate regulator with a detected signal of the flow rate sensor as a feedback signal and maintains the flow rate of the cutting solution to the set flow rate.
According to the present invention, the flow rate adjusting device controls the flow rate regulator with reference to a signal applied from the flow rate sensor as a feedback signal. Thus, even if the pressure of the water supplied from the water supply equipment of the factory changes, the flow rate of the cutting solution can be controlled and maintained to the set flow rate.
Preferably, the flow rate of the cutting solution is automatically set according to type information of a work being processed in the dicing machine.
According to the present invention, the suitable flow rate of the cutting solution for the work to be processed can be set and maintained automatically.
Preferably, the dicing machine performs a first groove processing to groove the work in a first direction and a second groove processing to groove the work in a second direction; the flow rate of the cutting solution is differently set to each of the first processing and the second processing; and the flow rate of the cutting solution is automatically changed according to the direction of the groove processing.
According to the present invention, the flow rate of the cutting solution can be changed automatically according to the directions of the grooving. Thus, contamination does not accumulate in the processed groove.

Cutting solution supplying and controlling apparatus for dicing machine


Aspects of peripheral device sharing for virtual machines are described. In some aspects, a virtual machine requires access to a peripheral device. The virtual machine is executed in a first host computing system. A table is accessed, and includes a list of peripheral devices, an indication that the peripheral device is connected to a second host computing system, a bandwidth requirement of the peripheral device, and a network bandwidth allocated to the virtual machine. The virtual machine is provided with access to the peripheral device based on a comparison between the bandwidth requirement of the peripheral device, and a threshold percentage of the network bandwidth allocated to the virtual machine.

Computer virtualization is a technique that involves encapsulating a representation of a physical computing machine platform into a virtual machine (VM) that is executed under the control of virtualization software running on hardware computing platforms (also referred to herein as "host computing systems" or "servers"). A group of hardware computing platforms may be organized as a cluster to provide hardware resources, such as memory, central processing units (CPUs) and so on, for VMs. Each VM is a complete execution environment, and the server provides a user interface over the network connection so that user inputs and outputs are communicated between the user and the VM.
Further, host computing systems may be attached with one or more peripheral devices such as input devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a graphic tablet, a touch screen, an image scanner, a microphone, a webcam, and a barcode reader), output devices (e.g., a display device, a printer, and a graphical output device), storage devices (e.g., an external hard drive, a flash drive/solid-state drive, a disk drive commonly within a hard drive enclosure, a smartphone or tablet computer storage interface, a CD-ROM drive, and a DVD-ROM drive) and input and output devices (e.g., a modem and a network interface controller). Each such peripheral device requires some host computing system resources, such as processor (CPU) time, input/output (I/O) bandwidth on the various data buses, and physical memory space.
Furthermore, different generations of host computing systems can have different types of peripheral devices. Typically, when a peripheral device is attached to a first host computing system, the peripheral device is available only to VMs that run on the first host computing system and may not connect to VMs that run on other host computing systems in the datacenter.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present subject matter in any way.

Peripheral device sharing for virtual machines


There is provided a driving assistance device. When there is a possibility that weather influences a detection performance of a vehicle detection unit configured to detect a preceding vehicle traveling in front of a subject vehicle and to measure an inter-vehicular distance to the preceding vehicle, a speed reduction control assistance unit enables a speed reduction control unit to perform a primary speed reduction control at a predetermined distance ahead of an entry or an exit of a tunnel-shaped road structure. Thereafter, when the vehicle detection unit detects the preceding vehicle and the inter-vehicular distance is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the speed reduction control assistance unit enables the speed reduction control unit to perform a secondary speed reduction control.

In the related art, regarding an automatic four-wheeled vehicle, a driving assistance system configured to control a traveling speed of a subject vehicle so as to secure an inter-vehicular distance between the subject vehicle and a preceding vehicle traveling in front of the subject vehicle has been suggested.
When detecting the preceding vehicle by means of a radar, detection performance of the radar is lowered under bad weathers such as heavy rain, dense fog and the like. As a result, it is determined that there is no preceding vehicle, so that speed reduction control is delayed and a passenger should resultantly operate a brake. In order to solve the problem, a technology of providing a rainfall amount detection unit configured to detect an amount of rainfall and stopping the inter-vehicular distance control when a detected rainfall amount value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value has been suggested (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H10-081156A
In the vicinity of a gateway of a tunnel, a flow of wind is complicated due to an influence of the wind moving in the tunnel. For this reason, since raindrops, fog and the like move intricately, the detection environments of the radar are temporarily deteriorated, so that the detection performance of the radar is temporarily lowered. As a result, a phenomenon that the preceding vehicle is late detected or is temporarily missed occurs.
When the speed of the subject vehicle is high, even the phenomenon for an extremely slight time period highly exerts a bad influence on a driving assistance. The detection delay and the temporary missing cause a rapid operation of an automatic brake to deteriorate a ride quality, cause a bad influence on a following vehicle, such as a harsh braking, and become an origination of a traffic jam.
The above phenomena become conspicuous when the preceding vehicle is a small-sized vehicle, particularly, a saddle-ridden vehicle.
Patent Document 1 does not disclose the temporary deterioration of the detection environments of the radar in the vicinity of the gateway of the tunnel.


Aspects for increasing control information from a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) mechanism are described. The aspects include establishing a plurality of voltage levels to indicate a plurality of states for association with installed options on a computer system planar. Further included is the determination of which of the installed options is present via the single GPIO. An analog-to-digital (A/D) converter is also included and converts a voltage level signal indicative of installed options on the computer system planar, while a resistor network is utilized to establish the plurality of voltage levels.

The present invention relates to general purpose input/output mechanisms (GPIOs), and more particularly to increasing control information from a single GPIO.
A trend emerging in computer system development and manufacturing involves a move toward a building block-based approach, where a system is created by a collection of building blocks. This approach places increasing need on the ability to detect, enable/disable, and customize building blocks to create the desired personality of the system.
The flexibility of varying the system configuration through building blocks requires that the POST (power-on self test) of the planar be able to detect, enable/disable, and configure the various options installed. This is frequently handled with the use of General Purpose Input Outputs (GPIOs). Typically, a GPIO can only detect two states (high/low) and is dedicated to a function or a particular device. For example, if a particular card is installed, the GPIO may detect a low state, while if the card is not installed, the GPIO may detect a high state.
The push to a building block model is rapidly increasing the need for GPIOs to assist in the detection of the building blocks installed. However, some systems have to limit the number of GPIOs due to other design considerations. Thus, a need exists for a manner of increasing the amount of control information from GPIOs without increasing the number of GPIOs.
The present invention addresses such a need.
Aspects for increasing control information from a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) mechanism are described. The aspects include establishing a plurality of voltage levels to indicate a plurality of states for association with installed options on a computer system planar. Further included is the determination of which of the installed options is present via the single GPIO.
Through the present invention, an increase in the amount of control/information that is available using GPIOs is achieved in a straightforward and effective manner without increasing the number of GPIOs. With the simple addition of parallel arrangement of resistors in a resistor network and efficient utilization of an unused A/D already present in the system, multiple states can be detected via the single GPIO. These and other advantages of the aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood in conjunction with the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

Increasing control information from a single general purpose input/output (GPIO) mechanism

International Business Machines Corporation


A display device able to provide uniform display brightness comprises a first substrate and spaced common electrodes which on the first substrate. The common electrodes are used for display and include at least one first sub-electrode and a plurality of second sub-electrodes, an area of each first sub-electrode being smaller than an area of any one of the second sub-electrodes. When the device is in display, a first common electrode voltage is applied to the first sub-electrodes, and a second common electrode voltage is applied to the second sub-electrode, the voltage value of each being different.

Touch display devices are popular. Such display devices include in-cell touch display devices which integrate touch sensors into display panels. To reduce the thickness of an in-cell touch display device, common electrodes of the in-cell touch display device are used as touch driving electrodes or as touch sensing electrodes. In some designs, openings or holes may form in the touch display panel, and such openings or holes may change an area of the common electrodes around the openings or holes, resulting in inconsistent load on the common electrodes. Therefore, the brightness of the display device is uneven, which affects the display quality.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.


A slurry for polishing a metal film of a semiconductor device, comprising alumina-type fine particles having specific properties and composition, a polishing accelerator and water.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polishing composition for selectively polishing a metal film on a semiconductor wafer and a polishing method of using the composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical semiconductor wafer comprises a substrate such as a silicon or gallium arsenide wafer, and a plurality of integrated circuits are formed on the substrate. The integrated circuits are chemically or physically integrated on the substrate by patterning the regions in the substrate and layers on the substrate. The layers are generally formed of a material having any one of a conductivity, an insulating property and a semiconducting property. In order to obtain semiconductor devices at a high yield, it is very important to start from a flat semiconductor wafer. To this purpose, the surface or a certain part of the semiconductor wafer must be often polished.
According to the surface formation by conventional techniques, the upper surface of the wafer is disadvantageously left to have a topography still in a very irregular state such that upheavals, uneven height regions, troughs, trenches and other similar surface irregularities are present. Therefore, the surface must be planalized overall so as to ensure a sufficiently large depth of focus in photolithography and to remove the irregularity and surface defects during various steps in the production process. For attaining flatness on the wafer surface, several polishing methods are known and a chemical/mechanical planalization or polishing (CMP) is used over a wide range in the treatment for rendering the wafer surface flat during various steps in the production of a device, so that the yield, performance and reliability can be improved.
The slurry used for this chemical/mechanical polishing is formed from an acidic or basic solution containing abrasive grains such as silica, alumina, zirconia, ceria or titania.
The CMP technique is essential in the production process of a semiconductor device, particularly in the planalization of an interlayer insulating film for the formation of a multi-layer interconnection, in the formation of a conductive plug which is a metal, or in the formation of flush wiring.
With respect to the slurry for CMP used in the formation of a conductive plug which is a metal film comprising tungsten, aluminum, copper, titanium or an alloy thereof, JP-A-8-83780 (the term xe2x80x9cJP-Axe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cunexamined published Japanese patent application (Kokai)xe2x80x9d) discloses an abrasive composition containing a polishing accelerator such as an aminoacetic acid and/or amidosulfuric acid or an oxidizing agent, and a chemical reagent such as benzotriazole, and JP-A-8-197414 discloses a slurry containing a metal oxide particle such as fumed silica or fumed alumina having specific properties.
Conventional slurries for polishing a metal film of a semiconductor device are disadvantageous in that both the polishing rate for a metal film and the ratio (selection ratio) of the polishing rate for a metal film to the polishing rate for an oxide film (insulting layer) such as silica cannot be increased or, even if the polishing rate is high, a large number of scratches are generated on the polished surface.
The object of the present invention is to provide a slurry composition for polishing a metal film on a semiconductor substrate, which ensures a high polishing rate for a metal film, a high selection ratio, and reduction in the generation of scratches on the polished surface, as well as a method for polishing using the above composition.
As a result of extensive studies to achieve the above-described object, the present inventor has made the present invention.
More specifically, the present invention provides a slurry composition for polishing a metal film on a semiconductor substrate, comprising alumina-type fine particles containing or not containing alumina hydrate, a polishing accelerator and water, the alumina-type fine particles having an xcex1 conversion ratio of from 65 to 90% and a specific surface area of from 30 to 80 m2/g.
By the present invention, the polishing work can be favored with a high polishing rate for a metal film, particularly a high selection ratio, and reduction in scratches on the polished surface.

Composition for polishing metal on semiconductor wafer and method of using same


A bicycle frame including frame struts, an electric motor, one compartment for a power supply unit and multiple supply cables for a front light and a rear light which are fastened by a multiple-part adapter arrangement with a bicycle-side adapter part and a lighting device-side adapter part. The invention offers a new lighting concept for bikes with detachable front and rear lights by use of two adapter parts being each provided with one closure part of a multiple-part closure device, which closure parts are attachable and mechanically latchable together by means of a closing motion, wherein the closure parts each include at least one magnet element or magnet counter-element interacting in a magnetically attractive manner, when the first closure part is placed onto the second closure part, and wherein each adapter part includes non-contact or contacting coupling elements for energy transmission, which are electrically coupled in the closed position.

The bicycle frames of numerous bicycles, in particular of city bicycles, touring bicycles, and bicycles for children, are provided, in the factory, with cabling for a lighting device, and a front light and a rear light are mounted on the bicycle frame by means of suitable holding mechanisms (adapter arrangements) in a manner which is fixed, although exchangeable. The generator for the electrical supply of the lighting device is either likewise mounted on the bicycle frame or is a component of the front wheel. The same applies for electric bicycles, wherein, in that case, the power supply of the lighting device is effectuated via a motor-side DC-DC converter. In modern bicycles comprising a factory-installed lighting device, the cabling is generally at least partially routed through the tube interior of the frame struts.
In the case of bicycle frames for sports bicycles, in particular in the case of bicycle frames for mountain bikes for off-road use, a fixedly installed lighting device is usually dispensed with. Cabling for the lighting device is not provided in such bicycles. Mountain bikes can likewise be equipped with an electric motor and the market share of electrified mountain bikes is increasing, wherein numerous customers do not exclusively utilize such an electrified mountain bike (E-MTB) off-road, but rather also for daily use, for the purpose of which accessories such as kickstands, fenders, luggage racks, and mobile, battery-operated lighting devices are retrofitted on the bicycle.
Electrified mountain bikes (or racing bicycles) also comprise a rechargeable battery, which is suitably sized according to the power requirement, as the power supply unit, and the motor of these mountain bikes is or can be provided with an internal DC-DC converter for the power supply of the lighting device. This would have the disadvantage, however, that the previously common lighting devices that are supplied by a generator or a converter in the electric motor remained on the bicycle frame even during an off-road use of the bicycle and, therefore, could become damaged or could get lost during jumps or falls. If factory-installed cabling for the lighting device is not present, the outlay required in order to retrofit a fixedly installed lighting device would also be disproportionate, which is why only plug-in lighting devices which are battery-operated, removable, and fastenable by means of adapter arrangements have been available so far.
The problem addressed by the invention is that of remedying this situation and of making it possible, in particular for the customer, to utilize the electric motor for the power supply of the lighting device, in the case of electric bicycles as well, if necessary.
This problem is solved, in the case of a bicycle frame or an electric bicycle, in that the front light and/or the rear light are detachable, the two adapter parts are each provided with one closure part of a multiple-part closure device, wherein the closure part on the lighting device-side adapter part can be attached by placing onto the first, bicycle-side adapter part in order to close the closure device and can be mechanically latched together with this bicycle-side adapter part by means of a closing motion, the first closure part and the second closure part each comprise at least one magnet element or magnet counter-element which interact with each other in a magnetically attractive manner, when the first closure part is placed onto the second closure part, in order to effectuate the closing motion for closing the closure device and latching the adapter parts, and the first adapter part and the second adapter part each comprise non-contact or contacting coupling elements for energy transmission, the coupling elements being coupleable to each other during the closing motion and being electrically coupled in the closed position, wherein the coupling elements on the bicycle-side adapter part are each connected to one of the supply cables.

Bicycle frame, in particular for electric bicycles, electric bicycle and mobile lighting device and adapter parts for bicycle accessories


A high pressure fuel injector installation and removal tool for use on internal combustion engines can be used to precisely locate the fuel injector during installation. The installation tool provides an alignment guide, as well as the mechanical impulse necessary to fully seat the fuel injector in the base cavity. The alignment guide forms a location skirt with projected ears around the perimeter of the fuel injector during the installation procedure and thus provides a means to assure sufficient clearance between the fuel injector and surrounding components without need for visual alignment.

Electronic fuel injectors are frequently used in today's internal combustion engines. The electronic fuel injector provides precise and reliable fuel delivery into the cylinder of compression ignition and spark ignition engines. The precision and reliability of the electronic fuel injector have contributed to the goals of fuel efficiency, maximum practicable power output and control of undesirable products of combustion. These and other benefits of electronic fuel injection systems are well known and are appropriately used to beneficial effect in the design of modern internal combustion engines.
Known electronic fuel injectors, especially those designed for application in compression ignition or spark ignition engines, utilize means to enhance fuel charge pressurization. Enhanced fuel charge pressurization is desirable during the fuel injection event to assure proper atomization and spray distribution of the fuel into the engine cylinder or pre-chamber. In addition, it is desirable to be able to determine the quantity of fuel used and to control injection timing for several reasons, including obtaining full combustion of the fuel to control particulate emissions. This has been of great interest in recent years, owing to environment concern and regulatory incentives. Finally, the proper control of fuel injectors reduces the amount of residual particulate formed in the compression ignition engine cylinder.
Several known types of fuel injectors include a means to enhance pressurization of the fuel charge. These fuel injectors typically have mechanical linkage systems coupled to the engine camshaft and/or cylinder head valve train assembly. Such fuel injectors are configured so that the camshaft or other rotating or reciprocating member acts on an injector link either directly or indirectly through a rocker arm.
The injector body and the integral associated components of the fuel injector are generally installed in cavities provided in the engine cylinder head. The base of each cavity generally is ported directly to the engine cylinder fueled by that particular fuel injector or to a precombustion chamber for subsequent delivery to the engine cylinder.
Once installed, fuel is provided to the injector typically via a fuel rail or fuel supply manifold at a fuel pressure of 150 psi. The injector then draws in fuel according to the operating conditions of the engine, thus metering the fuel charge. After the fuel charge is properly metered, the injection cycle continues with the pressurization of the predetermined fuel charge. At a preselected pressure, an injector nozzle is caused to open and injection into the engine cylinder or equivalent structure begins. Pressurization continues until the predetermined injection interval has passed, upon which the pressure generated within the injector is relieved and the injection cycle is terminated. At the peak of the pressurization process, it is possible for fuel pressure to reach 23,500 psi. Thus, a structure capable of withstanding great mechanical stress is desired within the injector assembly itself and within the base cavity area.
The most common solution to this structural demand is to form the injector cavity so that the injector assembly must be press-fitted within the cavity. A very tight fit between the injector assembly and the cavity creates, initially, a leak proof interface capable of maintaining the very high pressures developed. After installation, the injector assembly is restrained by a holddown clamp which engages holddown clamp ears or projections located on the exterior surface of the injector assembly. The holddown clamp is then securely bolted to the base material, which prevents the injector assembly from becoming loose and thus maintain the initial press-fit.
Various means are employed to obtain the initial press-fit between the injector assembly and the base cavity. A hydraulic or pneumatic press may be used, but mechanical impact tools are most commonly employed. These tools have the advantage of being inexpensive and portable, which is especially important relative to the replacement or repair of the fuel injector assembly. Since these repair or replacement operations are performed outside of the production facilities and at remote sites, a portable hand tool capable of satisfactorily providing the necessary press-fit is preferred.
Recent changes in the layout and design of modern compression engines has created severe difficulties with the use of hand operated mechanical impact devices. As the result of various incentives, such as the need for improved engine efficiency and lower emissions from smaller power plants, manufacturers are trending toward multi-valve engine cylinders. The result of this trend is to reduce the distances between the various components making up the engine head assembly, such as the valves, valve springs, rocker arms, push rods, fuel injectors and associated hardware. Further, the configuration of newer fuel injectors has increased the size of the injector relative to previous versions. Thus, installation or subsequent removal of the fuel injector without damaging adjacent parts has become more difficult. In addition, misalignments and errors in the installation of the fuel injector leading to component interference have become more frequent and often has resulted in the reduced durability of the components involved. Interference is especially undesirable when the valve spring is allowed to physically contact another component, since the valve spring rate may be changed after the spring material wears under the repeated contact with the interfering component. In many cases, the interfering component is the fuel injector.
Often, the misalignments and errors encountered during the installation of fuel injectors are the result of poor visual alignment, which is often difficult when the engine is being serviced as installed in the vehicle after the vehicle is initially placed in service. Existing fuel injector installation tools do not provide guidance features for the proper alignment and orientation of the fuel injector and thereby require visual alignment.

Fuel injector installation and removal tool for an internal combustion engine


The present invention provides a system for detecting leaks in the evaporative emission control system utilized in automotive vehicles. Such control systems include a carbon filled canister having both a vent port and a fuel vapor port. The fuel vapor port, as well as a vapor line from the fuel tank, are connected through a purge valve to the intake manifold of the internal combustion engine. The present invention includes a vent valve which is fluidly connected with the canister vent port. An electronic control system closes both the vent valve and opens the purge valve thereby exposing the evaporative emission control system to the partial vacuum in the intake manifold. After a predetermined time period, the purge valve is closed thus entrapping the partial vacuum in the purge system while a pressure transducer thereafter monitors the partial vacuum in the purge system. Changes in the partial vacuum over a time period, after correction by extraneous factors such as temperature and fuel volume in the fuel tank, greater than a threshold amount indicates a leak in the evaporative emission system. When this occurs, the system generates a fault signal to alert the vehicle operator of the leak.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diagnostic system for detecting leaks in the evaporative emission control system of the type used in automotive vehicles.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Government regulations require that automotive vehicles be equipped with an evaporative emission control system in order to prevent, or at least minimize, the release of volatile fuel vapors to the atmosphere. Such systems typically comprise a carbon filled canister having both a vent port and a fuel vapor port. The fuel vapor port is connected to a vapor line open to the fuel tank head space so that fuel vapors from the fuel tank are adsorbed by the carbon in the canister.
Additionally, the canister vapor port together with the vapor line from the fuel tank are connected through a purge valve to the intake manifold of the engine. The purge valve is typically solenoid operated and is controlled by the on board computer for the engine. In operation, during certain engine conditions which are preprogrammed into the on board computer, the on board computer opens the purge valve and allows the vacuum from the intake manifold to induct vapors which have previously been adsorbed by the carbon in the carbon canister. Such inducted vapors are, of course, combusted in the engine in the desired fashion.
U.S. governmental regulations require that certain future automobiles be equipped with on board diagnostic capability for determining if a leak is present in the evaporative emission control system for the vehicle. In particular, leaks in the evaporative emission control system greater than a preset amount, for example 0.04 inches in diameter, must be detected and reported to the vehicle operator.
There are a number of previously known proposed systems for detecting leaks in the evaporative emission control system. These previously known systems, however, require relatively expensive additional engine components which unduly increase the overall cost of the leak diagnostic system.

Diagnostic system for canister purge system


The present invention relates to methods of using AMG 900, a small molecule pan aurora kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of cancer, including solid tumors, hematologically derived tumors and the like. The invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions, dosage ranges and treatment regimens for administering AMG 900 to treat cancer.

Cancer is one of the most widespread diseases affecting mankind, and a leading cause of death worldwide. In the United States alone, cancer is the second leading cause of death, surpassed only by heart disease. Cancer is often characterized by deregulation of normal cellular processes or unregulated cell proliferation. Cells that have been transformed to cancerous cells tend to proliferate in an uncontrolled and unregulated manner leading to, in some cases, metastisis or the spread of the cancer. Deregulation of the cell proliferation could result from the modification to one or more genes, responsible for the cellular pathways that control cell-cycle progression. Or it could result from DNA modifications (including but not limited to mutations, amplifications, rearrangements, deletions, and epigenetic gene silencing) in one or more cell-cycle checkpoint regulators which allow the cell to move from one phase of the cell cycle to another unchecked.
Somatic cell division is a complex and highly coordinated process that ensures faithful segregation of duplicated chromosomes into two daughter cells. Deregulation of the cell cycle is a hallmark of cancer, characterized by uncontrolled proliferation and defects in chromosome segregation. Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell segregates its duplicated chromosomes into two identical daughter nuclei. It is generally followed immediately by cytokinesis, which divides the nuclei, cytoplasm, organelles and cell membranes into two daughter cells containing roughly equal shares of these cellular components. Mitosis and cytokinesis together define the mitotic (M) phase of the cell cycle—the division of the mother cell into two daughter cells, genetically identical to each other and to their parent cell.
The process of mitosis is complex and highly regulated. The sequence of events is divided into distinct phases, corresponding to the completion of one set of activities and the start of the next. These stages are prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase. During the process of mitosis duplicated chromosomes condense and attach to fibers that pull the sister chromatids to opposite sides of the cell. The cell then divides in cytokinesis, to produce two identical daughter cells. Errors in mitosis can either kill a cell through apoptosis or cause mis-segratation of chromosomes that may lead to cancer.
Normally, cell-cycle checkpoints are activated if DNA errors are detected (e.g. DNA damage). If these errors to the genome cannot be fixed, the cell normally undergoes apoptosis. However, if the cell is allowed to move through its cell-cycle and progress unchecked, then more mutations can accumulate over time. These gene modifications can accrue and eventually leading cell progeny with pre-malignant or malignant neoplastic characteristics (e.g. uncontrolled proliferation) through adaptation.
Antimitotic drugs that block tumor cell division are a proven intervention strategy in the treatment of cancer. However, the clinical benefits of classical antimitotic drugs may be hampered by development of multidrug resistance (MDR) and collateral damage to non-dividing cells including for example, peripheral neuropathy (Quasthoff S. et al, Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy, J. Neurol. 249: 9-17, 2002).
Aurora kinases are essential mitotic regulators and their potential role in tumorigenesis makes them attractive targets for anticancer therapy (Keen N. et al, Aurora-kinase Inhibitors as Anti-cancer Agents, Nat. Rev. Cancer, 4:927-936, 2004; Keen N. et al, Mitotic Drivers—Inhibitors of the Aurora B Kinase, Cancer Met. Rev., 28:185-195, 2009; and Carvahjal R D. et al, Aurora-Kinases: New Targets for Cancer Therapy, Clin. Cancer Res. 12:6869-6875, 2006). In mammalian cells, the aurora family of serine/threonine protein kinases is comprised of three paralogous genes (aurora-A, -B, and -C). Aurora-A and -B are essential regulators of mitotic entry and progression, whereas aurora-C function is primarily restricted to male meiosis during spermatogenesis. Aurora-A can function as an oncogene and is amplified in a subset of human tumors. Aurora-A and -B expression is frequently elevated in human cancers and is associated with advanced clinical staging (Gautschi et al, Clin. Cancer Res., 14:1639-1648, 2008). The mitotic checkpoint, also referred to as the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), is a surveillance mechanism responsible for controlling proper alignment, microtubule-kinetochore attachments, and segregation of duplicated chromosomes. In tumor cells, genetic depletion or pharmacological inhibition of aurora-A results in abnormal spindle formation and SAC activation. In constrast, depletion or inhibition of aurora-B inactivates the SAC, resulting in aborted cell division without a mitotic arrest. Importantly, dual suppression of aurora-A and -B appears to phenocopy the effects of inhibiting aurora-B alone (Hauf S. et al., J. Cell Biol. 161:281-194, 2003; and Yang H. et al, FEBS Letters, 579:3385-3391, 2005). The silencing of the SAC leads to an accumulation of tumor cells that contain 4N DNA content in the G1-phase of the cell cycle. Continued suppression of aurora-B activity leads to further rounds of genome replication without division, a process referred to as endoreduplication, which ultimately results in tumor cell death (Girdler F. et al, J. Cell Sci., 119:3664-3675, 2006).
The therapeutic window is very important for the success of a drug in treating a patient. Generally, the pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) factors of a given drug will help determine what the therapeutic window for that drug may be, in a subject or in an animal or human. Pharmacokinetic factors include, for example, plasma (blood) drug concentration per unit time; tissue drug concentration (per unit time); drug metabolism including, without limitation, the absorption, distribution (in both tissues and serum); protein binding, clearance, elimination, drug interactions and the like, of the drug; route of clearance; and drug half life, to name a few. Pharmacodynamic factors involve factors relating to the desired therapeutic effect of the drug and/or the duration of action of the drug on the target. For instance, some pharmacodynamic factors include, without limitation, binding affinity or potency of the drug for the receptor(s) or target(s); reaction dynamics between the drug and the biological target; mode of action of the drug on the target.
Other factors influencing the therapeutic window of a drug include and, therefore the successful treatment of the patient with the drug, for instance, body size, age, gender, route of administration, time of administration, tolerance, barometric pressure, gastrointestinal function, fever, liver function, diet; stress, breastfeeding, other drugs, disease, cardiovascular function, starvation, exercise, age, sunlight, pregnancy, immunologic function, kidney function, genetic make-up, immunization, alcohol intake, albumin level in the blood, smoking, and weight. These are but a few considerations that doctors must consider when prescribing a drug with the objective of providing the maximum benefit to the patient.
Each of these factors play a role, complexly interwoven, in attempting to determine whether or not a drug has a therapeutic window in subjects, such as in humans, and if one does exists, how wide or how large that therapeutic dosage range or window of therapeutic beneficial effect it may be. It is known that generally in order for a drug to possess a sufficient therapeutic margin, it must have sufficient target coverage. That is, it must be acting on the biological target at a sufficient concentration and over a sufficient time period, per day, to drive the beneficial/therapeutic effect on the disease or condition, while not inducing or causing an unacceptable level of undesired and/or untreatable side effects. Despite some understanding in general of how many of these factors influence one another in-vivo, every drug, i.e., every molecule per se is a different structure and has its own distinct pK and PD profiles and, to this end, will have a unique and unpredictable in-vivo safety and efficacy profile.
Historically, the task of finding a suitable therapeutic window for a specific molecule, and one that provides sufficient confidence in success to justify the investment and time, has been difficult and very unpredictable in nature. First, therapeutic windows in which to administer a drug is unique to that particular molecule. Second, this window must be shown to be statistically significant and meaningful in human clinical trials, which take years to enroll and complete and required a great amount of time, resources and investment without any certainty of success.
There have been a few aurora kinase targeted therapeutics clinically tested. Each was found to possess a different potential therapeutic window, if one was identified at all. For instance, Danusertib (PHA-739358), a pan-aurora kinase inhibitor, was dosed in a Ph I trial to assess its safety, tolerability, pharamcokinetics and pharmacodynamic profile. Dosing schedule began with a 24 hour infusion every 14 days. It was concluded from the trial that danusertib can be safely administered to patients with advanced refractory solid tumors upto an amount of 500 mg/m2 over 24 hours in a 14 day cycles without GCSF. Within this dose, danusertib was found to provide "prolonged objective response in small cell lung carcinoma and multiple instance of prolonged disease stabilization in other solid tumors (Cohen et al, Clinical Cancer Res., 15(21), 2009). Thus, a therapeutic window was identified for this potential drug.
Another example is the study of PF-03814735, an oral auaroa kinse inhibitor in a Ph I study for pK and PD in patients with advanced solid tumor. In that trial PF-03814735 was administered in a daily dosing schedule of 5 or 10 consecutive days in 3-week cycles. This means that the inhibitor was dosed for either 5 consecutive days followed by 16 days without any dosing, or for 10 consecutive days followed by 11 days without any drug. Patients had various solid tumors, including colorectal, breast, non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, bladder, melanoma, ovarian, renal, and head and neck tumors. A safety margin for PF-03814735 was identified, as adverse events began to be observed during the dose escalation phase. However, the dosing schedule tested provided NO objective response on the tumors. Thus, no therapeutic window for that particular dosing schedule was identified for this specific molecule (Jones et al., J. Clin. Onc. Vol. 26, 2008). The dosages administered were raised in certain circumstances in a hope to identify a therapeutic window.
Yet another example of how unpredictable it is to identify a suitable therapeutic window for a given molecule is that of Renshaw and co-workers. Renshaw and colleagues disclosed some results from the Ph I trial of AS703569 (R763), an orally available aurora kinase inhibitor in subjects with solid tumors. The compounds was administered according to two dosing regimens over a 3-week or 12 day cycle: (1) dosing on days 1 and 8, i.e., dose for one day on day 1 followed by off for days 2-7, then dose again on day 8, followed by no dosing on days 9-21 to complete the cycle; and (2) consecutive dosing on days 1, 2 and 3, followed by no dosing on days 4-21 of the 3-week cycle. Patient solid tumors included uterine/cervical cancer and 2 cases of breast cancer. The drug was found to be tolerable at various dosages in the regimen schedules tested (Renshaw et al., J. Clin. Onc., vol 25, No. 18S, 2007). However, no positive impact(s) on the patient's solid tumors were reported. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that no therapeutic window was identified for this compound due to a lack of any sign of drug efficacy on patient tumors.
Another example of that of MK-5108. MK-5108 is an aurora kinase inhibitor, selective for aurora A kinase. It was clinically tested in humans in a Ph I trial wherein the dosing schedule was as follows: the drug was orally administered every 12 hrs during the first 1 days of each cycle, and the cycle length was 14-21 days. Hence, patients received drug every 12 hours for 2 consecutive days and did not receive drug for the remaining 12 (or 19) days in the cycle (US Clinicaltrials.gov). It was ultimately determined that the product was maximally beneficial if administered in combination with docetaxol (IV; Mol. Cancer. Ther., 1 (9), 157-166, 2010). Hence, as a potential first line, stand alone therapeutic, no suitable therapeutic window was reported, and it is believed that one was not identified, for this molecule.
Another example is AZD1152, a specific-aurora kinase inhibitor, selective for auroroa B, was dosed in a Ph I trial to assess its safety, tolerability, pharamcokinetics and pharmacodynamic profile. Dosing schedule began with a 2 hour IV infusion every 7 days (weekly). It was concluded from the trial that AZD 1152 was safely administered to patients with advanced solid malignancies upto a dosage amount of 450 mg. Within this dose, AZD1152 was observed to "significantly stabilize disease" in patients with rapidly progressive diseases (Schellens et al, J. Clinical One., 24(18S), 2006). Thus, it was concluded that there was sufficient information to continue to develop the molecule, in the hope that a suitable therapeutic window would be identified.
Patient compliance with taking a particular drug is an important factor in the successful treatment of that patient's medical condition, state and/or disease. It doesn't necessarily matter, generally, whether or not that treatment is merely prophylactic or whether that treatment is either acute or chronic. Patients tend to follow treatment schedules or treatment regimens that are convenient, easy to administer and/or easily remembered. For example, oral dosage forms intended to be administered or taken by the patient once a day, with or without a meal, is generally regarded as a convenient regimen with a high likelihood of patient compliance. However, such a once-a-day regiment may not be optimal dosing period to address the patients' conditions, symptoms and/or disease, such as cancer. Thus, there is a need to identify the optimal dosage amount of a drug to be administered in a convenient dosing schedule or regimen, to provide best patient compliance with treatment for cancer.
AMG 900 is an orally bioavailable, potent and selective pan-aurora kinase inhibitor which has anti-cancer properties in tumor cells. Particularly, AMG 900 has exhibited uniform potency across various tumor cell lines, including P-gp and BCRP expressing cell lines. In vivo, AMG 900 blocks the phosphorylation of histone H3, a proximal substrate of aurora-B (Crosio C. et al, Mol. Cell. Bio. 22:874-885, 2002) and inhibits the growth of multiple tumor xenografts, including three MDR xenograft models resistant to paclitaxel or docetaxel. AMG 900 is presently under clinical evaluation in adult patients with cancer, including advanced solid tumors, and in adult patients with myelogenous leukemias, both acute (AML) and chronic (CML).
It is unknown what any specific anti-cancer therapeutic agent may afford with respect to being able to treat, or even improve upon and/or provide superior treatments for, cancer over the standard of care cancer treatment at the time of filing this application. To this end, there is always a need to develop the best, most effective dosing regiment for a given drug, to most effectively treat cancer while minimizing undesired side effects and patient non-compliance with the medication. In addition, there is a need to improve upon the current available treatments or provide better, more efficiaous treatment schedules, and/or more convenient or easier to comply with treatment regimens, for cancer patients.

Use of AMG 900 for the treatment of cancer


Aspects of the invention provide a service for data management and integration across a wide range of applications. Clustered computers may be arranged in a cloud-type configuration for storing and handling large amounts of user data under the control of a front-end management server. Communities of distributed users may collaborate on the data across multiple enterprises. Very large tabular data files are uploaded to the storage facilities. The data files are maintained as tables, and a composite table of related information is created and maintained in response to user queries. Different ways of visualizing the data are provided. Depending on the amount of information that can be displayed, features in a spatial index may the thinned for presentation. Spatial and structured queries are processing and results are intersected to obtain information for display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to collaborative applications, including handling of spatial and structured queries in large-scale databases.
2. Description of Related Art
Collaborative tools allow users to work together one different applications and to share data. In many instances users may work together concurrently or share data remotely. This may help productivity and speed up application development and service deployment. However, large quantities of data may not be easy to share or manage among multiple users. This can diminish or restrict the collaborative experience.

Scalable rendering of large spatial databases


An eye implant for treating glaucoma includes a main conduit and a plurality of anchor members formed from a first resilient material. The anchor members are formed such that they are biased to a relaxed condition in a non-aligned position relative to the conduit. To facilitate insertion of the implant into the eye in a minimally invasive surgical procedure, the anchor members are secured together in an aligned condition relative to the conduit with a bonding material. A cutting surface or element is also applied to the anchor members to allow the implant to be inserted directly through the wall of the sclera. The cutting surface is formed of a second material different from the first material. The second material is adapted to dissolve or melt after the implant has been inserted into the eye. Similarly, the bonding material holding the anchor members together in an aligned condition can be made from a dissolveable or heat sensitive material to allow the anchor members to relax to their non-aligned position after insertion into the eye. In the non-aligned position, the anchor members secure the implant to the wall of the sclera. Alternatively, the bonding material holding the anchors together could be made from a material that is ablated away with a laser after the implant has been inserted into the eye.

A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of ophthalmic implants, and more particularly to a device for implantation in the eye for treatment of glaucoma.
B. Statement of Related Art
Glaucoma is an eye condition in which intraocular pressure is increased to an abnormal level. The increase in intraocular pressure causes an optical neuropathy to develop, namely death of certain cells in the retina, leading to restriction in the field of view and eventual blindness if left untreated.
A normal eye maintains proper intraocular pressure by means of circulation, within the eye, of a watery fluid known as aqueous humor. Aqueous humor is continuously produced by the ciliary body and passes through the pupil into the anterior chamber of the eye. In a healthy eye, the aqueous humor passes out of the eye through the trabeculum and the Canal of Schlemm. In persons suffering from glaucoma, the aqueous humor excretory pathway becomes blocked, whereby the aqueous humor cannot pass out of the anterior chamber of the eye at an adequate rate. This causes a rise in intraocular pressure, causing the damage to the retina and eventual blindness.
Glaucoma can be controlled in some patients via medications that increase the drainage of the aqueous humor. Where medication is unsuccessful, surgical treatment to provide a pathway for exit of aqueous humor is usually performed. Various surgical procedures have been developed to treat glaucoma and are described in the medical literature. Known surgical treatments have various shortcomings, including possible excessive loss of aqueous humor during the early post-operative period, and blockage of the passageway created during surgery by scarring.
Attempts have been made to improve surgical methods for treating glaucoma, including using opthalmic implants. These implants typically incorporate a drainage tube to provide a pathway for aqueous humor to exit from the anterior chamber of the eye, and various means to secure the implant to the wall of the sclera or surrounding tissue. A number of implants have been proposed in the patent literature. Representative patents include Richter et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,058, Fisher, U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,630, Krupin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,796, Haas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,681, the patents to Baerveldt et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,476,445 and 5,558,629; Molteno, U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,757; L""Esperance, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,020, Lippmann, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,163; Donowitz, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,327, and Wong, U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,210. The above-listed patents are fully incorporated by reference herein.
Many of the implants proposed in the above patents require relatively invasive surgical procedures to install the implant. See e.g. the Baerveldt and Wong patents. A group of physicians led by Dr. Reay Brown have proposed a T-shaped implant composed of tubing that is used to relieve intraocular pressure, but their method of implanting the device requires rather elaborate and invasive surgical procedures. Richter et al. proposes an implant that is inserted directly through the sclera in a rather less invasive procedure. Similarly, Donowitz et al. describes insertion of the implant through the cornea either directly, or through a prepared tract.
In a first aspect, an eye implant for treating glaucoma is provided. The implant includes a tubular body member, preferably made from a resilient elastomeric material, which forms a conduit having a first end and a second end. Aqueous humor flows through the conduit out of the eye. The conduit defines a longitudinal axis. A plurality of anchor members are integrally formed with the tubular body member. The anchor members, which can take the form of hollow tubes, are pre-stressed or otherwise formed in a manner or made from a suitable shape memory material such that they are biased to have a relaxed position in which they are oriented in a non-aligned position relative to the tubular body member, such as forming a T shape.
Prior to installation of the implant, a bonding material is applied to the anchor members to provide a means for retaining the anchor members together in an aligned condition relative to the tubular body member to facilitate insertion of the anchors through the wall of the sclera. The bonding material is made from a material that either melts or dissolves when the implant is inserted into the eye. Alternatively, the bonding material could be ablated by a laser after installation of the implant. In either case, the anchor members are released from their aligned condition and allowed to relax and orient themselves in their nonaligned position relative to the tubular body member, to thereby secure the implant against the wall of the sclera.
To further promote installation of the implant in a minimally-invasive surgical procedure, a cutting or blade element is formed on at least one of the anchor members, and preferably on all of them, either directly or by molding or bonding the cutting surface to the anchor members. The cutting element promotes ease of insertion of the anchor members (joined together by the bonding material) though the wall of the sclera. The cutting element is also formed of a dissolvable or meltable material, such that the cutting element also melts or dissolves after the implant has been installed in said eye.
In a preferred embodiment, the tubular conduit further includes a pressure-controlled valve. The valve is preferably adjustable after installation of the implant to change the flow characeristics of the conduit. In the illustrated embodiment, the valve comprises a section of the tubular body member, the section connected to the tubular body member by a flexible connecting portion. The section moves relative to the longitudinal axis in response to pressure changes in the conduit to thereby control the flow of aqueous humor through the conduit. The surgeon may ablate the flexible connecting portion with a laser to promote more flow of aqueous humor if greater pressure release is indicated post-operatively.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for manufacturing an eye implant for treating glaucoma is provided. The method comprises the steps of forming a conduit and a plurality of anchor members from a first resilient material, the anchor members formed such that they have a relaxed condition in a non-aligned position relative to the conduit, securing the anchor members together in an aligned condition relative to the conduit with a bonding material, and applying a cutting element to the anchor members. The cutting element is formed of a second material different from the first material, wherein the second material is adapted to dissolve or melt after the implant has been inserted into the eye.
The present inventive implant and method is believed to have a number of advantages over many prior art implants. In particular, it can be implanted in a minimally invasive manner. It avoids requiring precise incisions into the outer membranes of the eye, surgical repair and closure procedures, and associated post-operative complications.

Eye implant for treating glaucoma and method for manufacturing same


Display device included in a moving body includes road information acquisition unit that acquires road information about a road in a traveling direction of the moving body and display controller that displays a virtual image illustrating at least one graphic as seen from the moving body on a display medium while superimposing the virtual image on a real space in the traveling direction when the at least one graphic is assumed to be disposed at a predetermined position in the traveling direction. Display controller updates a mode of the at least one graphic using the road information acquired by the road information acquisition unit, and displays the virtual image illustrating the updated at least one graphic on the display medium.

Conventionally, an in-vehicle bead-up-display (HUD) exists as the display device included in the moving body such as a vehicle. For example, PTL 1 discloses a technique of changing a size of at least one icon in an image with movement of the moving body in a navigation system that displays the image such that the image overlaps a scene seen in front of a windshield.

Display device in moving body for displaying superimposed virtual image and display control method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


2,3-disubstituted-2-cyclopenenones (such as cisjasmone) are prepared by (a) reacting an alkl 2-chloro-2,3-disubstituted-3-butenoate with a lithiomercaptan compound, (b) subjecting that product to reductive dehydrosulfurization. Methods of preparing the reactants are also disclosed.

This invention relates to a new method for the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted-2-cyclopentenone. In particular, the invention relates to such a method using lithium-sulfur compounds.
2,3-disubstituted-2-cyclopentenones are useful as fragrances and as pharmaceutical intermediates. For instance, 2-(cis-3-pentenyl)-3-methyl-2-cyclopentenone, commonly known as cis jasmone, and 2-pentyl-3-methyl-2-cyclopentenone, commonly known as dihydrojasmone, are expensive perfume ingredients, and 2,3-dimethyl-2-cyclopentenone is an intermediate useful in the synthesis of the antibiotic methylenomycin B.
2,3-disubstituted-2-cyclopentenones have been prepared by the intramolecular base catalyzed aldol-condensation of acyclic 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (R. A. Ellison, Synthesis, 1973, 397; M. Mikolajcayk, S. Grzejsczak, and K. Korbacz, Tetrahedron Lett., 22, 3097 (1981); M. Miklojczyk, S. Grzejsczak, and P. Kyzawa, Tetrahedron Lett., 23, 2237 (1982); J. L. Herrman, J. E. Richmann, and R. H. Schlessinger, Tetrahedron Lett., 35, 3275 (1973); P. Bakuzis and M. L. F. Bakuzis, J. Org. chem. 42, 2362 (1977); S. C. Subramaniam, P. J. Thomas, V. R. Mamdapur, and M. S. Chadha, J. Chem. Soc. Perkin 1, 2346 (1979)), and by an intramolecular Wittig reaction effected by the treatment of the anion of .alpha.-diketones with vinyl triphenyl phosphonium salts (A.G. Cameron and A. T. Hewson, J. Chem. Soc. Perkin. Trans. 1, 2979 (1983); I. Kawamoto, S. Muramatsu, and Y. Yura, Tetrahedron Lett. 48, 4223 (1974)). Other routes based on dioxocyclopentanes (Y. Yura and J. Ide, Chem. Pharm. Bull, 17, 408 (1969)), cyclopentane-1,2-diones (J. L. E. Erickson and F. E. Collins, Jr., J. Org. Chem. 30, 1050 (1965)) and cyclodehydration of Y-lactones (K. Sisido, S. Torji, and M. Kawanisi, J. Org. Chem., 29, 904 (1964)), but these routes tend to be either very lengthy or involve the use of very expensive reagents. Other routes include (G. Buchi and B. Egger, J. Org. Chem., 26, 2021 (1971); S. C. Welch, J. N. Assercq, J. P. Loh, and S. A. Glase, J. Org. Chem., 52, 1440 (1987); P. Grieco, J. Org. Chem., Vol. 37, No. 14, (1972) p. 2363-2364; and T. Mukaiyama, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 94:24 (1972) p. 8641-8642).

Synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted-2-cyclopentenones via lithiomethylmercapto compounds


Methods and apparatus for generating, distributing, and/or presenting social networking content in conjunction with video content are described. In accordance with various embodiments, social networking related information, e.g., comments, remarks and/or a twitter feed, are displayed in conjunction with the display of video to which the social networking information relates. The social networking related information may be displayed on the same or a different device from that which is used to display the video comments. In some embodiments, the social networking information, e.g., comments on a program, event or broadcast, are displayed on a personal computer or other device such as a mobile telephone, while video content is being viewed, e.g., on a television which is provided video content via a set top box. A knowledgeable moderator can review, supplement, add and delete comments in real time enhancing the overall social networking session.

Social networks such as Twitter allow users to share comments and provide information and insights resulting in a social or communicable experience.
Watching of video content, e.g., TV programs, broadcasts of sporting events, news shows, etc. often serve as a basis for comments and remarks communicated via various social networking networks.
Unfortunately, the exchange of comments via social networks often occurs in a manner that is not synchronized, among a plurality of social network users, with the display of content. Furthermore, comments on many networks are simply received and distributed with little or no input or oversight, e.g., by a individual knowledgeable about the content being displayed.
In addition to the problem of lack of oversight on many social networks, comments which are generated and distributed at one point in time are normally simply logged and while such comments might be accessible, they are normally not available in a manner that is synchronized to the display of content to which the comments relate.
For example, while a user may be able to access a log of comments about a TV program, the user viewing a recorded program lacks of sense of synchronization of how the comments in the log were generated as the program was originally displayed, e.g., in real time or as part of a scheduled broadcast.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need for improving the way in which social network content, e.g., Twitter and/or other comments or discussion, related to video content which may be viewed in real time while an event is ongoing or subsequently from a recording, are created, distributed and accessed. In particular, it would be desirable if at least some embodiments supported playback of recorded content in a manner that allows comments to be supplied in a synchronized manner reflecting the sequence and timing of the comments as they were generated relative to the video content being displayed at the time of the original comment generation. In addition, it would be desirable if at least some moderation and/or human control of comments were supported to improve the overall quality and nature of the comments which are being distributed and/or to remove comments which are off topic or offensive.

Methods and apparatus for presenting social network content in conjunction with video content