A photographic processing solution for processing a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material and a processing method using the same is disclosed. The photographic processing solution comprises formaldehyde and an amine compound having at least one --NH-- group in the --NH-- equivalent amount per liter of the photographic processing solution being greater than the molar concentration of formaldehyde in the photographic processing solution. The photographic processing solution is stable and has a reduced formaldehyde vapor pressure. The processing method provides excellent image stability.

In general, the basic steps for processing a light-sensitive material are a color developing step and a desilvering step. In the color developing step, exposed silver halide is reduced with a color developing agent to generate silver, and the oxidized color developing agent reacts with a coupler to form a dye image. In the following desilvering step, silver formed in the color developing step is oxidized by the action of an oxidizing agent (generally called a bleaching agent ) and the oxidized silver is then dissolved with an agent for forming a complex ion of a silver ion (generally called a fixing agent). After the desilvering step, the dye images thus formed (but no silver) remain on the light-sensitive material.
Usually, after these steps, washing (e.g., water washing) is carried out to remove .residual processing solutions entrained in the light-sensitive material.
In the case of a color paper and a reversal color paper, the processing is finished with the above steps and is generally followed by a drying step. In the processing of a color negative film and a reversal color film, an additional stabilizing step is necessarily provided between the fixing step and the drying step. It is well known that the stabilizing bath at the final step following the fixing and/or washing steps contains formaldehyde to prevent fading of the magenta dye image due to magenta coupler remaining in the light-sensitive material after processing. Some quantity of formaldehyde vapor is generated when the stabilizing bath containing formalin is prepared, and when the light-sensitive material containing stabilizing solution carried out from the processing bath is dried.
Particularly, the preparation of a stabilizing solution is the operation in which a condensate (usually called a kit) is diluted with water. There is a danger in the preparation of a stabilizing solution in contacting formaldehyde vapor of a relatively high concentration due to handling of the condensate having a high concentration of formalin.
It is known that the inhalation of formaldehyde vapor is harmful for humans, and the Japan Association of Industrial Health advises that an allowable concentration of formaldehyde in a working environment is 0.5 ppm or less. Therefore, efforts to reduce the concentration of formaldehyde in the stabilizing bath, and to replace formaldehyde with alternatives have been made to improve the working environment.
A hexamethylenetetramine compound is proposed, for example, in JP-A-63-244036 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application) as an alternative for formalin. The use of this compound reduces the formaldehyde vapor pressure. However, the compound of JP-A-63-244036 restricts the anti-fading function of formaldehyde for a magenta dye, i.e., the reason for adding formaldehyde to the stabilizing solution, and causes a marked fading of the magenta image within several weeks even at room temperature.
Furthermore, use of N-methylol compounds such as urea, guanidine and melamine is proposed in the specifications of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,786,583 and 4,859,574.
These compounds can clearly reduce the vapor pressure of formaldehyde, but the reduction in vapor pressure is not sufficient for practical use.
Furthermore, another aspect is that the incorporation of formaldehyde into a processing solution markedly deteriorates the stability of the processing solution. For example, the formaldehyde added to washing water and a stabilizing solution reacts with sulfite ion carried over from a fixing solution or bleach/fixing solution to thereby form a precipitate of sulfite in the processing solution.
The method for preventing such precipitate due to the presence of formaldehyde is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,583, in which alkanolamine is used. However, this method although effective to some extent is not sufficient, and the above sulfurization takes place to cause turbidity and form a precipitate in the solution when the solution exchange rate is low.
Also in a bleaching solution and a conditioning solution (a bleach-accelerating solution) which is a prebath of the bleaching solution, the incorporation of formaldehyde likewise causes the deterioration of the processing solution. Furthermore, turbidity and the formation of a precipitate undesirably clog the filter of an automatic developing machine and the precipitate adheres to a light-sensitive material being processed.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a technique which provides sufficient anti-fading function to a magenta dye image and reduces formaldehyde vapor pressure.

Photographic processing solution having a stabilizing ability and a method for processing a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material


In the case of a safety device for an accumulator cell, which has an electrode assembly disposed in an elastic cell sheath and at least one electrical connector, a blocking element is provided which blocks at least a first electrical contact associated with the electrical connector with at least a second electrical contact in a releasable electrical connection, the blocking element being configured for the purpose of releasing the releasable electrical connection when the cell sheath expands as a result of a change in volume of the accumulator cell during operation. A separation of the second contact from the first contact is thereby made possible.

Accumulators as a rule consist of a plurality of accumulator cells, which together are connected to packs or modules, from any desired type of accumulator, such as, for example, NiCd, NiMh and Li-ion, and are therefore also designated as an accumulator pack or an accumulator module. In particular accumulators with Li-ion cells are widely used on the basis of their high specific capacity as well as their high specific energy content. Li-ion cells, as they, for example, are used in electrical tools, are typically configured as round cells with a rigid metal cylinder, which is sealed with a cover which forms a terminal of the cell. Because an excess of pressure can arise when gas forms during the operation of such Li-ion round cells on account of electrochemical processes inside the cell, for example in the case of an electrical overload, the Li-ion round cells can be equipped with suitable safety devices. Provision, for example, can be made for a safety valve in the cover of said cells, which opens to blow off vaporizing electrolyte when excess pressure occurs, and/or a bursting disc, which is ruptured when excess pressure occurs and an associated electrical connection in the round cell is interrupted.
The Li-ion round cells have an increase in their overall mass, which does not contribute to providing energy, on account of the mass of their metal cylinder; and their round construction leads to dead construction volume in corresponding accumulator packs or modules. Because of these two factors, it is known from the technical field to revert back to so-called "lithium polymer" cells (LiPo cells) in order to avoid this increase in both mass and dead construction volume. These typically have electrode assemblies, which consist of platelet-like electrodes stacked on top of each other. Said electrodes are respectively separated from each other by suitable separators and are disposed in an elastic cell sheath. Such LiPo cells are as a rule prismatic and can consequently be disposed in the housing of an associated accumulator pack or module in order to save space.
The disadvantage in the technical field is that in contrast to a rigid metal cylinder, the elastic cell sheath expands when a change in volume of the accumulator cell occurs, for example when gas forms as described above, on account of the emergence of excess pressure. This expansion of the cell sheath takes place however without a controllable pressure build-up, which is required to release one of the safety devices described above, and can lead to the damage or destruction of the cell sheath and consequently of the cell, respectively of an associated accumulator pack or module.


The present invention is directed to a map application system that employs an automatic stroll method of strolling through a virtual space into the route and distribution information change according to the interests of a user and the time of day (ie. daytime vs. nighttime, etc.). In the present invention, an article contributed to a contribution server from a contribution terminal is stored temporarily in a contribution DB. Each article is converted to information related to a spatial position by a spatial information structure process and is stored in a spatial information DB. The contribution server returns an article with the relation to the position of the neighborhood according to the input of a region name on a stroll terminal. The stroll terminal starts a stroll on the basis of a region name inputted as an initial value, and automatically sets a route on the basis of the interest information of a user. Information about the route is provided from contribution server and is appropriately displayed.

The present invention relates to a map application system and map display control method that are useful for indicating spatial information sequentially where a great amount of spatial information (information related with each place of a map) collected from various information sources exists. In particular, the present invention relates to a map application system and map display control method that can follow a route according to a user's interests inside a virtual space of existing information by determining a stroll route according to the degree of the interest of the user against spatial information and indicating spatial information sorted by the degree of the interest of a user sequentially along a route.
A conventional electronic map information system and car navigation system are described below.
(1) Electronic map information system
In a conventional electronic map information system, it is necessary to show a portion of an area by using a portion of the data of an extensive area. It is important to indicate which position of the overall figure is represented by the area that is being shown due to the limit in the display area that can be shown. One technique to solve the problem is shown in JP-A-6-252324. This figure display apparatus shows the entire figure combined with a partial figure of a detailed area. That is, the entire figure is displayed on a subscreen, and the partial figure is displayed on a main screen. The area that corresponds to an area segmented and shown as a partial figure is indicated on the illustration of the entire figure.
(2) Car navigation system
A car navigation system is one that shows the current position of a car on a map by using satellite information. For example, according to a car navigation system disclosed in JP-A-5-27680, digital map data is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM (compact disc-read only memory) or a FD (flexible disk), a map is displayed on a display such as a CRT (cathode-ray tube) or an LCD (liquid crystal display) on the basis of the stored data, and a current position of a vehicle is determined using a GPS satellite system and shown on the map.
However, by using the conventional position display apparatus, a great amount of labor and a very high cost, on the order of a million dollars, are needed for creation of the map database of a digital map. The main problem is that the map information displayed on a display screen is remarkably less than the commercially available map book, etc., made of paper due to the limitation such as the size and the resolution of a display screen. Therefore, in order to search a position easily and promptly on the map in a map book made of paper, the current position of a concerned vehicle, the page number of the map book, and the progress locus, etc. of the position are displayed on the display screen of a display device.
Conventional electronic map information systems and car navigation systems suffer from the technical problem of not being able to clearly describe information in connection with spatial information such as a map in the display apparatus whose size was limited. There is, in these prior art, a problem that contents cannot be surveyed efficiently on the display device in case large information resources including positional data are integrated and used.


A tissue retrieval arrangement for enclosably retrieving body tissue from a mammalian body cavity. The retrieval arrangement comprises an elongated thin walled sheath-like retrieval bag having a proximal end and a distal end. A plurality of receiving tips are arranged on the distal end of the sheath to permit receipt of a grasper jaw in each of the receiving tips and thus permit safe retrieval of a body tissue between the receiving tips when moved by the grasper jaws. The bag is everted over the severed tissue once the receiving tips have grasped the tissue, and the now enclosed tissue and bag may be safely removed from the patient.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices and methods for retrieving mammalian tissue from a body cavity during a laparoscopic procedure.
2. Prior Art
Tissue recovery during a surgical procedure is an important task. This is so because tissue which has been excised should quickly be removed to prevent contamination of the body site by that tissue. Tissue retrieval during a laparoscopic procedure is typically fairly difficult. A laparoscopic procedure is done by pressurizing the peritoneum with a gas such as carbon dioxide, so as to expand the peritoneal cavity, to permit surgical access to the internal body organs. Surgical tools, such as a light source, camera and a trocar, which is a mechanical sleeve that is placed through a slit in the abdominal wall, are inserted into the body cavity so as to provide a video image of the internal organs within the body. Once a portion of the body tissue has been excised, it needs to be removed from within the peritoneal cavity. This excised tissue may contain loose objects which may be spilled into the peritoneal cavity, such objects could be gallstones from the gallbladder, or spilled liquids such as bile from the gallbladder or pus from the inflamed appendix which may contaminate the site to cause medical problems later on for the patient. Access to the surgical site is done through small surgical openings which restrict movement of those surgical tools. Removal of that excised tissue is sometimes awkward or impossible as the tissue is often difficult to grasp, collect and extract due to this limited tool movement and limited tool capabilities.
The prior art contains attempts to capture such tissue in a bag or a sack, for example a xe2x80x9cLapsacxe2x80x9d and an xe2x80x9cEndobagxe2x80x9d. Latex condoms have also been tried. Such devices are introduced into the surgical site through a trocar either by a surgical tool or by a specially designed introducer. However, once a prior art bag is in the closed surgical space, these devices present several different problems. One problem is that the bags are collapsible so that a considerable amount of manipulation is required by the limited quantity of tools so as to hold the mouth of the bag open and steady so that the loose tissue can be brought to the opening before it is stuffed within the bag. Two or more graspers may be required just to hold the bag open also requiring a third grasper to bring the sample tissue to the open end of the bag.
Once the opened prior art bag is held steady a further grasper must be used to grab the tissue, stuff it into the bag, release the tissue and withdraw the grasper, grab the tissue at a new location stuff that portion into the bag, release the tissue and repeat the operation until the tissue is loaded within the bag completely. This operation requires extensive tool manipulation and is very time consuming. As the bag is loaded from the open end, gas may be trapped inside the bag as the bag collapses around the soft, wet tissue. This captured gas may result in stiffening of the bag so that further loading of the bag becomes difficult or impossible. Although the bag""s gas pressure is slight while it is in the pressurized body cavity, once the bag is brought out to atmospheric pressure the captured gas tries to escape from the bag. This may cause expulsion of the bag""s contents, contaminating the sterile field and possibly splattering the surgical team with bodily fluids.
Further more specific arrangements of the prior art are shown for example in the following U.S patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,687 to Hasson et al with a disposable pouch utilizing a rather complicated mechanism to reach within the body cavity to retrieve a tissue therein. A further device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,561 to Graber showing a cone shaped bag with an open end thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,282 to Kieturakis shows an expandable wire cage which surrounds the tissue being sought. U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,716 to Cano et al shows a loose bag on the end of a wire rim for capturing a tissue sample. U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,374 to Hart et al shows an enclosure on the distal end of a shaft of a flat thereon to scoop and contain a tissue therewithin. This prior art shows a rather complicated and somewhat ineffective means for retrieving a body tissue from a body cavity. These devices fail to readily enclose the tissue and prevent it from being captured in a fully enclosed, safe, efficient and convenient manner.
It is the object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tissue retrieval arrangement which will envelop the tissue and enclose it as it is being withdrawn from the body cavity.
It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a tissue retrieval arrangement which will minimize or eliminate the leakage of tissue from the retrieval device.
The present invention relates to an organ or tissue retrieval bag arrangement utilizable in a laparoscopic surgical procedure. The organ retrieval bag in its preferred embodiment, comprises a generally cylindrically shaped, flexible, thin walled member having a first or proximal end and a second or distal end. The material of the retrieval bag may be made for example, from a latex or a plastic material. The first end is preferably open, and the second end or distal end is preferably closed in this first embodiment.
The distal end of the bag may be tapered to a narrower diameter than the diameter of the proximal end of the bag to facilitate eversion of that bag about a tissue sample, as will be explained hereinbelow.
The distal end has a pair of generally tapered tubular-shaped grasper receiving tips extending thereon. The grasper receiving tips are preferably unitary with the wall portions of the retrieval bag. The grasper receiving tips are spaced apart from one another each preferably having a flattened opposed wall facing its adjacent receiving tip. The grasper receiving tips are spaced apart so as to permit a portion of a tissue being retrieved to be received and engaged therebetween. The first or proximal end of the retrieval bag may have an annular band therearound to permit grasping of that end of the retrieval bag and to provide a strengthened end thereat.
A plurality of generally axially arranged ribs, pleats or folds may be molded into the sidewall of the retrieval bag in a spaced apart manner to provide additional volume or expansion for larger tissue sample retrieval
A grasper such as an Endopath(tm) grasper for example, is inserted inside the elongated organ retrieval bag. The grasper device has a handle on a proximal end thereof and a pair of grasper jaws on its distalmost end thereof. Movement of the handle effects opening and closing of the elongated grasper jaws in a manner known in the art.
Before a surgical procedure utilizing the present invention, the elongated grasper device is inserted within the organ retrieval bag, so that the grasper jaws are disposed and mate within the respective grasper receiving tips of the organ retrieval bag. The organ retrieval bag is then inserted through a pre-placed trocar which has been inserted through a surgical incision within the patient (i.e. abdomen). Once an organ or tissue has been properly excised by other surgical instruments, and the surgeon has located the tissue with a video image of the internal organs, the distalmost end of the organ retrieval bag with its opposed grasper receiving tips may be directed toward that tissue to be retrieved. The tissue is then at least partially seized between the grasper receiving tips as the handle of the grasper device is actuated so as to effect the pinching together of the opposed grasper jaws. A second grasper device should be manipulated within the peritoneum of the patient and grab the beading at the proximal end of the organ retrieval bag and pull it distally, so as to evert the organ retrieval bag and pull it off of the grasper device beginning at the proximal end thereof and thence over and about the organ/tissue being grasped by the grasper jaws therein.
Thus the original inner side of the organ retrieval bag thus becomes the outer side when it has been utilized to surround the tissue being retrieved. The original outer side of the organ retrieval bag thus becomes the inner side of the tissue containment bag once it has been pulled distally from the grasper device and about the tissue/organ being retrieved. The tissue then may be safely enveloped within the everted organ retrieval bag and removed through the trocar or surgical opening in the patient, without loss of any contaminated fluid or without contaminating tissue components escaping therefrom.
The organ retrieval bag in a further embodiment, may have a closure arrangement on its proximalmost end such as a draw string or a closure cord extending through a loop or ring, so as to be tightenable by the surgeon after the retrieval bag has been everted and made to surround and envelop the tissue being retrieved.
In a further embodiment of the organ retrieval bag, the second or distalmost end may have an opening thereat, about which the grasper jaws are disposed. The grasper jaws may be received in grasper receiving tip or alternatively in a further preferred embodiment, the grasper jaws may extend distally of the distal end of the organ retrieval bag so as to directly enable the tissue to be grabbed directly and retrieved thereby.
In yet a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the distal tip of the retrieval bag may be comprised of three or more receiving tips for the jaws of a grasper therewithin. Each receiving tip being separated from its adjacent tip by a slot arranged therebetween, and each receiving tip containing a grasper jaw from a multi-jawed grasper device.
Thus what has been shown is a unique arrangement for retrieving tissue parts, body organs or samples of a excised body component while minimizing or eliminating any danger from contaminating adjacent body parts or injuring the patient thereby.
The invention thus comprises a tissue retrieval arrangement for enclosably retrieving body tissue from a mammalian body cavity comprising: an elongated thin walled sheath-like retrieval bag having a proximal end and a distal end; an arrangement of receiving tips on the distal end of the sheath to permit receipt of a grasper jaw in each of the receiving tips and thus permit safe retrieval of a body tissue between the receiving tips moved by the grasper jaws therewithin. The retrieval bag is evertable. The proximal end of the retrieval bag has tightenable closure arrangement thereon. The proximal end of the retrieval bag may have a bead extending therearound. The retrieval bag may have an arrangement of expandable folds or pleats generally axially arranged near a mid portion thereof to permit volumetric expansion of the bag if necessary for a large tissue sample being retrieved. The tightenable closure arrangement may comprise a loop and draw cord arranged therearound. The distal end of the retrieval bag may be closed. The distal end of the retrieval bag may have an opening therethrough. The receiving tips may have a thickened inner surface to facilitate secure receipt of the grasper jaws therewithin. Each of the receiving tips defines a slot with an adjacent receiving tip, to provide a channel for entry of a body tissue therein.
The invention also may comprise a method of retrieving body tissue from a body cavity of a mammalian patient comprising the steps of: placing an elongated grasper device with a jaw arranged on a distal end thereof into an elongated tissue retrieval bag having a proximal end and a distal end, the retrieval bag having receiving tips on the distal end thereof to receive the jaws respectively therein; severing a tissue from a body portion of the patient; grasping the tissue by manipulating the jaws and the receiving tips onto the tissue; everting the retrieval bag about the tissue; and withdrawing the retrieval bag with the tissue now inside, from the body cavity of the patient. The method of retrieving body tissue may also include: pulling the proximal end of the retrieval bag in a distal direction over itself to effect the everting thereof with the body tissue now on the inside thereof; tightening a closure arrangement on the distal end of the retrieval bag to prevent loss of any tissue therefrom; arranging an opening on the distal end of the retrieval bag to permit each of the jaws to extend through the opening so that the jaws may directly grasp the tissue; thickening the receiving tips to permit the jaws to be securably received therein; placing at least three receiving tips in the distal end of the receiving bag for receipt of a jaw therein.
The invention may also include a method of retrieving body tissue from a body cavity of a mammalian patient comprising the steps of placing an elongated grasper device with a jaw arranged on a distal end thereof into an elongated tissue retrieval bag having a proximal end and a distal end, the retrieval bag having receiving tips on the distal end thereof to receive the jaws respectively therein; severing a tissue from a body portion of the patient; grasping the tissue by manipulating the jaws and the receiving tips onto the tissue; pulling on the proximal end of the retrieval bag to evert the bag about the tissue being grasped; and withdrawing the retrieval bag with the tissue now in the everted bag, from the body cavity of the patient.


A hydraulically controlled pressure switch, comprising a spool having an elongate body with a first end and a second end, and an intermediate part between the two ends; a target movably connected to the second end of the spool by means of a spring; means for detecting movement of the target and providing an indication of pressure acting on the spool based on the movement of the target; whereby the spool is configured to cause movement of the target against the force of the spring based on the level of pressure acting against the first end, towards the spring, and also the level of pressure at the intermediate part between the two ends.

Thrust reversers are used in aircraft to provide additional deceleration to the aircraft, for example on landing. A thrust reverser is generally, during flight, stowed or not active. When deployed, the thrust reverser acts to redirect the backwards thrust of the aircraft engine to a forward direction to slow the aircraft.
Generally a thrust reverser includes cowls that, in the stowed position, lie flat. Actuators, such as hydraulic actuators, cause the cowls to lift, on deployment, to cause redirection or reversal of the thrust. A controller, which again is commonly a hydraulic control, controls operation of the actuators.
Thrust reversers should generally not be deployed in flight. Erroneous deployment can be catastrophic and safety systems are required to prevent this. In particular, thrust reversers are provided with locks to secure the thrust reverser in the stowed position.
Commonly, thrust reversers are provided with hydraulic lock systems which are mounted on or in relation to the thrust reverser actuators. Such lock systems generally include an actuator means having a moveable element, e.g. a piston or bellows, responsive to hydraulic pressure to put the lock in the locked or unlocked position. The lock is, for increased safety, default biased to the locked position by means of, e.g., a biasing spring.
The lock is provided with a lock valve, operation of which is controlled by the thrust reverser control circuit. When the control circuit receives a command to deploy or stow the thrust reverser, it will also provide a command to the lock valve to unlock or lock the lock. The lock valve responds to control signals by selectively increasing or decreasing the pressure of hydraulic fluid supplied to the lock actuator to cause the moveable element to move to the locked or unlocked position. Lock systems that operate in this way are commonly known as Track locks. There are also mechanical locks within each of the actuators, which are actuated by the pressure in the piston head volume, and are biased closed by springs as with the Track lock. Track locks are generally referred to as secondary or tertiary locks, because they provide an additional line of defence for the system to account for possible failures within the actuator (primary) locks.
Hydraulic thrust reverser actuation systems typically include a pressure switch for monitoring the pressure state within the system which, in flight, should be isolated from supply pressure at all times to avoid erroneous unlocking of thrust reverser locks.
It is important that pressure switches only respond to 'true' pressure changes. Thrust reverser control systems can (and indeed must) continue to operate properly in the event of momentary transients in return pressure of the system. Such transients occur often in normal operation of an aircraft and switches should not be so sensitive that they are triggered each time such a transient occurs. The switches must, however, be responsive to real pressure changes for correct control of aircraft systems.
To avoid erroneously responding to acceptable pressure transients or fluctuations, absolute pressure switches are typically set to have a high response threshold. This gives rise, however, to the problem that relatively low control pressures are not detected.
Other systems use differential pressure sensors to avoid providing an indication in response to momentary transients in system return pressure. Transients within the system are common to the system and do not, therefore, create differentials in pressure, and differential pressure systems are only responsive to pressure differentials and not, therefore, sensitive to transients. A problem with differential pressure switches, however, is that they only detect differentials and would not, therefore, respond to a high absolute pressure throughout the system. Such pressure could be caused, for example, by a return line blockage. This would be undetectable by differential pressure sensors and could be catastrophic if not detected in flight.
FIG. 1 is a simple sectional view of a conventional pressure switch used in a thrust reverser actuation system of an aircraft.
The pressure switch comprises a hydraulic spool 1 that responds to control line pressure to drive a spring 2 loaded target 3 into range of a pair of proximity switches 4. The proximity switches respond to proximity of the target as it is moved by a sufficiently high control pressure against the force of the spring, to provide a pressure indication.
The conventional switch is arranged to respond to pressure in the control line 5 which is connected to the top of the spool. High pressure in this line could cause unlocking of the thrust reverser locks which, if undesired, e.g. during flight, could be catastrophic.
The lower end of the spool where it pushes onto the spring loaded target is dry, and is open to atmospheric pressure. A seal on the spool prevents leakage overboard at this interface. The central portion of the spool is connected to the system return line 6.
The return pressure connection into the centre spool section does not generate any force on the spool. The only purpose of this connection is to make sure that regardless of the control pressure, the external seal on the spool is only subjected to return pressure differential, minimising its friction and hence improving the switching accuracy of the switch. The conventional switch indicates pressure purely on the basis of whether the control pressure exceeds that required to overcome the spring.
A problem with this operation is that the response of the switch (based e.g. on the spring force) has to be set quite high to avoid undesired response to "normal" pressure transients, as mentioned above. The switch is set not to provide any indication in response to pressures lower than the maximum for "normal" system return transients. As mentioned above, this means that lower pressures, even if not transient pressures, would not be indicated.
The aim of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a pressure switch that is responsive to relatively small differentials between control line and return line pressures as well as to relatively high absolute pressures common to both lines, but avoiding responding to normal pressure transients.

Pressure switch for thrust reverser control


A support or frame which holds eyeglass prescription lenses as well as optical loupes, microscopes, lights, and similar instruments used by doctors, dentists, jewelers, or sportsman. The frame is custom fitted to the facial features of the user and throughout has large surfaces which contact many facial features of the user including the forehead, eyebrows, nose ridge, and cheeks. The large surface contact areas and an adjustable headband system enable the user to comfortably wear the device for extended periods of time despite the weight of the lights, loupes, etc. A special frame for prescription lenses is also provided, as well as methods for manufacturing the device.

The field of the invention is a group of frames for supporting eyeglass prescription lenses (or plain glass for eye protection) and lights, optical loupes, cameras, and small microscopes near the eyes of users such as doctors, dentists, and other professionals during medical or dental procedures, and such as jewelers and others who must work with very small parts or details. The device could also be used with lights by persons engaged in various sports including cave exploring and swimming.
Representative of prior art is U.S. Pat. 4,395,731, Jul. 26, 1983 to Schoolman. This patent discloses a kind of goggles to be worn on the head of a physician or dentist which includes devices in front of the eyes to provide a magnified view for manual manipulations of a patient especially those during surgery.
The invention is a frame for supporting prescription eyeglass lenses (or plain glass for eye protection) near the eye of the user, and in addition various other devices such as lights, magnifying glasses, microscopes, etc. for use by dentists and physicians while performing medical procedures, or for use with lights by those engaged in sporting activities including cave exploring and swimming. The frame on which such lenses and devices are mounted is specially designed to accommodate a wide range of different facial features of various individuals, especially those from different ethnic groups, such as differences in the size, shape, and placement of the forehead, eyebrows, nose bridge, and cheekbones. The invention enables individuals to wear the invention, including heavier attachments such as lights and microscopes, for long periods of time with great comfort because: (a) the shape and contact areas of the frame supporting the lenses and devices is custom-designed for the facial features of the individual who will wear it, and (b) the frame features a large area of contact with various facial features thus reducing uncomfortable pressure on the face of the user and thus distributing the weight of the frame and attached devices over a broad area of the user""s face. This enables the user to wear the frame comfortably for extended periods of time. Another aspect of the invention is the process for a custom fitting of the frame to the particular facial structure of the wearer. This can be accomplished by at least three processes. First, a facial model of substantially all the face of the user can be made by conventional plaster model techniques, and this model can serve as the basis for shaping and manufacturing the frame of the device to fit the facial features of the user and to provide extended areas of contact with the user""s facial features thus avoiding pressure points. In this method, a chemical hardening plastic such as methyl methacrylate available from Dentsply International, P. O. Box 872, York, Pa. 17405-0872, well known to those skilled in the art, is pressed against the model and then allowed to harden. Secondly, the user""s face can be scanned by a laser or other device which is connected to a computer which stores the dimensions and topography of the user""s face in the computer and uses that as a basis for manufacturing a custom device for the user through well-known CAD/CAM (computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing) processes. Typical equipment for such scanning and CAD/CAM design and manufacturing is available from Sirona Company, Charlotte, N.C. Thirdly, a custom frame specially shaped for the face of the user can be produced or selected by the user himself using a kit provided by the manufacturer. The kit contains flexible plastic or similar material in the general shape of a frame which can be custom shaped by the user to his own face in a manner which provides extended surface contact with the facial features of the user. Once the shaping is done, the plastic is hardened by light treatment by processes known to those skilled in the art. Such plastic curable by exposure to light is light curable acrylic resin and is available from Dentsply International, P. O. Box 872, York, Pa. 17405-0872. Alternatively, the user can be sent a set of a number of frame templates of different sizes, so that the user can choose the one with a shape most compatible with his facial features. The manufacturer is then informed which frame is the best fit, and the manufacturer then sends the user a frame, made of flexible light curable plastic, closely resembling the best template. Upon receipt of this frame, the user by finger pressure custom fits the frame to his exact facial features, and then hardens the plastic by exposure to light. In each case the frame received by the user contains the headband retaining pins. The frame is held on the head of the user by means of side arms which go over the ears like conventional eyeglasses and by a headband, and there are large contact surfaces with the facial features of the user, and a flexible headband system which engages the back of the user""s head.
The invention also includes the methods of custom shaping the frame with large contact area against the particular facial features of the user. The means for retaining the frame on the user""s head includes glasses-like side arm means, various headband means attached to the frame and contacting various areas of the user""s head, and resilient top headband means.
The objects of the present invention are:
1. To provide a support or frame for prescription lenses, lights, microscopes, and other similar equipment for use by doctors, dentists, and other health-care professionals in carrying out medical and dental procedures, or by jewelers or others who work with small parts or details.
2. To provide such a support for prescription lenses and lights to be worn by those engaged in sports, including cave exploring and swimming.
3. To provide a support which is capable of securely holding the lenses, lights, microscopes etc. in place on the head of the user.
4. To provide a support which is capable of being worn comfortably for extended periods of time despite the substantial weight of the attachments.
5. To provide a support which is comfortable because of its large area of contact with several facial features including the forehead, the eyebrow area, the nose bridge, and cheekbones.
6. To provide a support which is custom-designed to the individual face of the user, and which provides extended contact area with the facial features of the user thus avoiding pressure points.
7. To provide such a support which is easily custom-designed to the individual face of the user by manufacturing based on a facial mold of the user, a laser or light scan the user""s face coupled with CAD/CAM design and manufacturing techniques, or by means of a kit containing a frame in flexible plastic from which the user can form in perfect conformity with his particular facial features, and with an extensive contact area with those facial features.
8. To provide a support which is easily adapted in a custom manner to widely varying facial features of individuals of different sizes and ethnic backgrounds, in a manner which accommodates different configurations and sizes of nose bridges, etc.
9. To provide a support which is held on the head by various headband configurations, so that the weight of lights or microscopes, etc. does not cause the support to be displaced on the face of the user.
10. To provide a secure and precisely positioned support for an optical loupe or microscope in front of the user""s eyes, so that the instrument does not slip up or down or side to side.

Custom frame for eyeglass lenses and instruments


An image forming apparatus includes vertically connected units, first and second fitting portions, and first and second fitted portions. These fitting portions are provided at a lower portion of an upper unit. These fitted portions are provided at an upper portion of a lower unit downwardly adjacent to the upper unit. The first fitted portion corresponds to the first fitting portion and the second fitted portion corresponds to the second fitting portion. The upper unit is restricted from displacing vertically relative to the lower unit when the first fitting portion engages with the first fitted portion. The second fitting portion engages with the second fitted portion such that the upper unit is restricted from moving horizontally relative to the lower unit, when a user pivots the upper unit downwardly about the first fitting portion while the first fitting portion is engaged with the first fitted portion.

This disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, and in particular relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a plurality of units connected with each other in a vertical direction.
Conventionally, a small image forming apparatus such as a printer can print on sheets of paper of various sizes and on a large number of sheets of paper by selectively connecting units configured for a sheet feed function above or below a unit configured for an image forming function.
A setup is used for connecting the units described above. In this setup, one locating portion (for example, a recessed portion) disposed on a lower surface of an upper unit is engaged with another locating portion (for example, a projecting portion) disposed on an upper surface of a lower unit. A heavy-weight image forming apparatus may also include a connection mechanism operated by a user in addition to the locating portion described above. For example, a setup is known in which units are connected with each other by an automatically or manually moveable hook.
Although engagement of the locating portions as described above can restrict the upper unit from displacing horizontally relative to the lower unit, it is not possible to restrict the upper unit from displacing vertically relative to the lower unit. In this manner, there is a risk that the locating portions may disengage from each other due to an impact caused by such as an earthquake or a body colliding with the image forming apparatus and the upper unit may accordingly separate from the lower unit. When a connection mechanism configured to be operated by a user is provided, there is a possibility that the user may forget to operate the connection mechanism. Consequently, there is a risk of occurrence of a similar problem since the connection mechanism is not always be used properly by the user.
When the units are connected with each other by the moveable hook, a mechanism configured to operate this hook is required. Consequently, it will be difficult to mount the movable hook in a small image forming apparatus due to spatial restriction. Furthermore, there is a risk of an increase in costs due to an increase in the number of components. In particular, when a mechanism for sliding the unit is required in addition to the moveable hook, serious problems further arise in relation to space and cost.


Noise generated on a word line is reduced without increasing a load on the word line. A semiconductor device is provided in which a plurality of storage elements each including at least one switching element are provided in matrix; each of the plurality of storage elements is electrically connected to a word line and a bit line; the word line is connected to a gate (or a source and a drain) of a transistor in which minority carriers do not exist substantially; and capacitance of the transistor in which minority carriers do not exist substantially can be controlled by controlling a potential of a source and a drain (or a gate) the transistor in which minority carriers do not exist substantially. The transistor in which minority carriers do not exist substantially may include a wide band gap semiconductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device. In this specification, a semiconductor device refers to a semiconductor element itself or a device including a semiconductor element. As such a semiconductor element, a thin film transistor is given, for example. Accordingly, the semiconductor device includes liquid crystal display devices, memory devices, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one kind of a volatile memory, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is widely known.
On the other hand, in recent years, metal oxides having semiconductor characteristics (hereinafter, referred to as oxide semiconductors) have attracted attention. Oxide semiconductors can be applied to transistors (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Audio systems using a digital audio interface between a sender and a receiver are known. Due to the digital revolution, it is very easy to make copies of copyright protected work. By using a bi-directional control bus in the audio interface, it is made possible to send audio signals with a standard quality to xe2x80x9cnormalxe2x80x9d receivers audio, and higher quality audio to receivers which are authorized to receive higher quality audio.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an audio system comprising an audio interface. The invention further relates to an audio interface for use in such an audio system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Audio systems and audio interfaces are known in the art. For example, such interfaces are used with CD-players, DAT and MD recorders, etc. In a consumer implementation, the quality is, in most cases, restricted to 16-bit linear PCT format, with a sample rate of 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz. However, the latest consumer electronics products can perform at a higher quality, for example, by using 24-bit samples or a sample rate of 88.2, 176.4 or 192 kHz. The present digital audio interface specification can be used for 24-bit samples, however, not for higher sample rate frequencies.
Further, the protection of the rights of the author and supplier of a copyright protected work is a main concern of the suppliers of such work. Due to the digital revolution, making a (almost) perfect copy is becoming very easy. As a consequence, no copyright is paid. The suppliers ask regularly for technical measures to restrict the possibilities of copying and, preferably, to make copying impossible.
It is, inter alia, an object of the invention to provide an audio system and an audio interface that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
To this end, a first aspect of the invention provides an audio system comprising a sender device, an audio interface and a receiver device, whereby the sender device is arranged to receive a first audio signal from an audio source, converting means for converting the first audio signal into a second audio signal, and to supply the second audio signal via the audio interface to the receiver device, and the receiver device is arranged to receive the second audio signal, converting means for converting the second audio signal into a third audio signal, and supply the third audio signal to an audio destination, characterized in that the audio interface comprises a bi-directional bus for sending control signals between the sender device and the receiver device.
A second aspect of the invention provides an audio interface for use in such an audio system.
A third aspect of the invention provides a receiver device for use in such an audio system.
By using a bi-directional control bus, it is made possible to amend the audio signal in the sender device, to make it suitable for the receiver device. Further, in this way, it is made possible to let the receiver device first make a request of allowance to receive high quality audio and, after allowance, to receive it.
When no request is made, the sender device will send, for example, the normal audio quality.
It is mentioned here that European Patent Application No. EP-A-0542345, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,524 (PHN 13,883), discloses an active sound reproducer and control unit which uses a bi-directional control bus as a control channel to supply remote control commands.
In an embodiment of an audio system, according to the invention, the sender device comprises a control unit for sending and receiving the control signals to a control unit of the receiver device.
With both the sender device and the receiver device having a control unit, the control signals will be supplied and received by the respective control unit. The control units further can control the audio signal quality to be sent and to be received.
In an embodiment of an audio interface, according to the invention, a first part of the audio interface is incorporated in the sender device and a second part of the audio interface is incorporated in the receiver device.
By splitting the audio interface into a sender and a receiver part, the devices themselves are all to communicate with the other.


A fishing lure comprising a generally V-shaped wire. The V-shape wire has a truncated flat closed intermediate wire portion. The wire further has wire leg portions extending at approximately 45.degree. angles away from opposite ends of the flat closed intermediate wire portion. One of the leg portions has a spinner attached to an outer free end thereof. Another of the leg portions has a fishing hook attached to an outer end thereof. A metallic hinge piece is provided having an axial bore extending along a longitudinal axis of the hinge piece. The truncated flat closed intermediate wire portion is extended through the axial bore on the hinge piece and with the wire leg portions act as stops to assist in maintaining the hinge piece in 360.degree. rotating assembly on the truncated flat closed intermediate wire portion. The hinge piece has an annular table-like flange located between opposite ends of the hinge piece and with the annular table-like flange extending radially outwardly of the hinge piece. The annular table-like flange has an axially extending table bore extended there through. An axis of the table bore is positioned to be parallel to the longitudinal axis of the axial hinge piece base. A snap is secured with the axially extending table bore on the annular table-like flange for attachment to a fishing line.

There are certain prior art references that are known to me which are believed to disclose inferior types of lures including the following patents:
______________________________________ patentee U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Jahne et al. 186,134 Levake 3,974,587 Pate 4,209,932 Borders 4,625,448 Pingel 4,815,233 ______________________________________
The above listed patents all function in a similar manner but only two are for a solid wire spinner bait. One of the patents is Borders U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,448. The device shown on this patent has three bends in the wire to hold it in place, and this cannot be used with a quick change snap. Another of the patents is U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,932. This patent shows a device which is not as sturdy as my hinge piece on my line in that it requires four bends in the wire to hold it in place. Should the top and bottom arms be slightly bent toward each other, the device will not perform as described.


A remote control support system provides a simple way to allow remote users to access a computer in a variety of circumstances, even when no software installed on the computer. In some cases, the system includes a hardware device to simulate most USB mice, keyboards, storage devices, camera sensors (to capture a screen display), etc. The hardware device can communicate with a remote computer (via a network connection) to allow a user, such as a remote technician, to work on the remote computer as through the user were sitting at the remote computer. Information technology professionals and other users can use the described systems to communicate with a user at a remote computer in a natural way to communicate via voice, video or chat with online messaging.

The concept of computer control from a remote virtual device over the internet is a major concern in many applications, especially in computer networks and in other cases when users cannot directly access and use their computer.
Hardware and software running on personal computers have become increasingly complex. Therefore, normal users cannot handle all of the issues that are happening to their computers. The above-described invention may help users in a way that, instead of having an on-site expert, allows users to have a remote information technology expert dealing with their devices as they are sitting before their equipment. In this regard, it may be important that the IT specialist can communicate with users in a natural way (e.g., with voice communication, online video chat, text messaging (chat), etc.).
Today, the communication between computers or servers to peripheral devices has become increasingly standardized. For example, most devices (like the keyboard and the mouse, as well as other peripherals) have switched to using the Universal Serial Bus (USB) technology. The USB technology standard defines a mode of hardware and software communication for connecting peripheral devices of a computer to the computer (and among computers). Accordingly, this technology creates a standard connection for a mouse, keyboard, and storage devices for each computer, whether the computer runs Windows PC, MAC PC, Linux PC or Windows Mobile (i.e., phones using the Windows operating system, etc.).
At present, there are many solutions as well as patents referring to methods for remotely accessing a computer over a network. Some of these solutions can be summarized in the two following approaches:
First, access to software: This is the most common approach for remote access to computers over the network. This application can be integrated in an operating system, such as a Remote Terminal Service in Microsoft Windows, or run as a standalone application, such as RealVNC or TeamViewer software. Some of these solutions such as TeamViewer can even allow users to have remote access to computers behind a firewall. However, the disadvantages of these methods require the software running on the computer to be managed. If this computer does not have any software, the user may not be able to do anything on that computer.
Second, access to hardware: This approach is intended to address the limitations of the software approach in the case of a problem in a system or without any pre-installed software. Typically, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,636,929 provides a method for simulating composite USB devices intended to simulate any peripherals on the remote computer that is considered as a local peripheral device on the managed device. This method allows the user to re-boot a computer with the software on the remote computer. This solves the problems in the software approach, but there are a few drawbacks, specifically: By simulating the peripheral storage devices, such as CD-ROM with CD-ROM, on a remote console, the response time can be very slow, especially when the network connection is slow. This makes the implementation become unfeasible.
This design requires a special video control hardware video to collect data and video from the inside bus and implement a web server software for this system to be remotely accessed. This causes inconvenience to normal users when installing that system, as well as bearing higher costs incurred to installing the hardware.
So far, all existing solutions are not designed for natural interaction between local users and remote users with the voice or video communication.


A digital system provides a serial bus diagnostic port such as, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) diagnostic port. The USB diagnostic port can include a USB slave device operable to interface to a universal serial bus, a flash memory controller interface coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to a flash memory controller, and a test access port controller coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to a test access port. The diagnostic port can further include a system interface coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to an integrated controller independently of an operating system. Via the diagnostic port, a USB testing tool with testing software can access and debug internal logic of the digital system. As an alternative to a USB diagnostic port, the serial bus diagnostic port can be implemented in a variety of wired or wireless implementations such as, for example, an I.E.E.E. 1394 diagnostic port, an Ethernet diagnostic port, or a wireless Internet diagnostic port. Further, the serial bus diagnostic port can, for example, be used for software development, in-factory testing or in-field diagnostics of the digital system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a serial bus diagnostic port of a digital system.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the growing proliferation of digital systems, which for example include computers, digital televisions, digital camcorders, satellite receivers, digital cameras, digital video or versatile disc (DVD) players, digital cell phones, digital video cassette recorders, digital scanners, game players, set-top boxes, digital monitors, personal digital assistants and to MP3 players, debugging of digital systems is becoming a paramount concern. Debugging of digital systems has typically involved use of integrated legacy devices such as a parallel port, a RS-232 or compatible port, or a floppy drive. For example, debugging of a computer system can entail use of a parallel port, RS-232 port, or a floppy drive. A parallel port has commonly been used to program flash memory in a portable computer system using a Super I/O chip. A RS-232 or EIA232 port, a standard serial port for connecting to serial devices such as a modem or mouse, has commonly been used for debugging of an operating system of a computer system. Before a computer system is shipped, a computer manufacturer has typically programmed BIOS (Basic Input/Output Services) for the computer system utilizing a floppy drive. In fact, a floppy drive of a computer system has typically been used more for diagnostic and debugging purposes than general file transfer purposes. Other examples of integrated legacy devices of digital systems used for debugging purposes include dedicated debug ports and proprietary modules for flash programming and testing.
Digital systems are increasingly integrating more logic, particularly in the case of system-on-a-chip implementations, such that certain internal busses are no longer accessible for debug purposes. Without access to these internal busses, not only have many highly integrated digital systems become less reliable, but also development costs of many highly integrated digital systems have increased.
Recently, with the current evolution of digital systems, there has been a growing shift toward legacy-free digital systems to improve system reliability, lower system costs, and enhance ease of use. As a result, legacy devices, such as a parallel port, a RS-232 port and a floppy drive, which were typically integrated in a digital system are increasingly not being offered or supported on new digital systems. Thus, for many new digital systems, an effective way of debugging a digital system has not been available. Further, since support of legacy devices by digital systems has varied among older digital systems and among newer digital systems, there is currently no industry standard methodology for debugging or diagnosing a digital system.
Digital systems are increasing supporting universal serial bus (USB) ports. USB ports, however, have been ill-suited for software debugging in light of the software-intensive nature of a universal serial bus. Typically, in a computer system having USB ports, a USB master controller is virtualized and embedded in an operating system, such that software debugging of the computer system has not been a viable option. Serial or parallel ports or headers and/or proprietary modules have typically been integrated into digital systems with USB ports to allow for debugging. Debugging of digital systems thus has primarily or strictly been limited to the integrated legacy devices described above.
Briefly, a digital system provides a serial bus diagnostic port such as, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) diagnostic port. The USB diagnostic port can include a USB slave device operable to interface to a universal serial bus, a flash memory controller interface coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to a flash memory controller, and a test access port controller coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to a test access port. The diagnostic port can further include a system interface coupled to the USB slave device and operable to interface to an integrated controller. Via the diagnostic port, a USB testing tool with testing software can access and debug internal logic of the digital system.
As an alternative to a USB diagnostic port, the serial bus diagnostic port can be implemented in a variety of wired or wireless implementations such as, for example, an I.E.E.E. 1394 diagnostic port, an Ethernet diagnostic port, or a wireless Internet diagnostic port. Further, the serial bus diagnostic port can, for example, be used for software development, in-factory testing or in-field diagnostics of the digital system.

Serial bus diagnostic port of a digital system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A system, apparatus, method, and computer program product for detecting and correcting packet losses that adversely affect video quality. This packet loss feature may be employed as part of the secure video conference system, method and computer program product, or be employed in a non-secure system, method and computer program product.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer program products relating to establishing and maintaining high quality videoconferences between multiple nodes in which packet loss may be an issue.
2. Discussion of the Background
Video-conferencing is a ubiquitous form of the information exchange in the modern era. A video-conference includes at least two stations exchanging video, audio, and other data to support of a virtual meeting. The video is a stream of data made up of frames that include pictures and sound. Video signals are typically analog but may also be digital. The digital information may or may not be compressed.
As recognized by the present inventors, a limitation with conventional systems is that by employing data compression in the video signal, and subsequently transmitting the compressed data over a communication link, compressed data may be lost or corrupted and cause noticeable losses in video quality. Moreover, a conventional technique begins by digitizing an input video signal to a format where it is represented by a number of frames per second, and a number of pixels per frame. The digitized video signal is then compressed to reduce the required throughput demand on the communication link. The compression method may be based on dividing each frame into blocks of pixels. Each block in a conventional system is compressed in one of the two following ways:                1) As an INTRA block, i.e. the block is compressed independently of pixel values outside the current frame.        2) As an INTER block, i.e. the block is compressed by forming the residual data (difference) between the original pixel values and the corresponding pixel values in a predicted block, and then compressing the residual data. The predicted block is determined from one or more previously coded frames. The spatial displacement of a block between the current frame and a previous frame is described by a motion vector associated with that block. The benefit of using INTER blocks is the small number bits required to represent the reduced dynamic range of the difference signal. Thus, the compressed data for each INTER block contains two types of information: 1) motion vectors and 2) residual data. (This is valid for many video coding standards including H.261, H.263, and H.264.)
To determine the predicted block, motion compensation is used. For each block in the original frame, a motion vector is used to describe the spatial displacement between the original pixel values and the corresponding pixel values in one of the previously coded frames. The predicted block is constructed from the displaced blocks in the previously coded frames. The motion vectors are determined for each block at the transmitter side by a motion estimation procedure, and transmitted to the receiver side as side information.
The compressed data corresponding the each INTRA/INTER block are then collected into transmission packets containing a certain number of bytes. The data from one video frame are normally transmitted as several packets. At the receiver side, the INTRA blocks are decoded directly. The INTER blocks are decoded by first decoding the residual, and then adding the predicted block using the corresponding motion vectors.
All communication links have some risk of generating transmission errors. In the video frame context, using an IP network for example, the transmission errors will manifest themselves as "packet losses," as illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, a camera 711 produces video frames 701 and applies the video frames 701 to a video encoder 713. The video encoder formats the data in the frames into packets 702, which are then transmitted over a network (such as IP network 715). In the network 715, packets are inadvertently lost or corrupted, such that received packets may contain a lost packet 703. A video decoder 717 is then faced with having to reproduce the video signal despite the fact the one or more of the packets have been lost. Consequently, the output of the video decoder 717 contains some corrupted video frames 704, which appear as imperfect video images when produced on monitor 719. Because conventional methods do not typically employ the packet retransmission techniques, the decoder is faced with having to handle lost packets in a way that minimizes the visual distortion for the end user.
In some situations, there can be two communication links separated by either an MCU or a Gateway as illustrated in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12. The main purpose of a Gateway is to reformat the compressed data between an IP network and a non-IP network, typically an ISDN network. The purpose of an MCU is to allow for several users to participate in the same conference. This implies that an MCU will have several upstream encoders and downstream decoders connected. If the upstream encoder and downstream decoder pair is connected through different networks, the MCU performs reformatting in the same way as the Gateway. However, if the picture resolution needs to be changed between the upstream encoder and the downstream decoder, the MCU also needs to perform transcoding which includes decompression of the incoming data followed scaling of the decompressed video to the new resolution, followed by re-compression of the video with the new resolution. In order to perform transcoding, the MCU will then be equipped with an internal encoder and decoder pair for each upstream/downstream connection.
If the encoder has information about a serious packet loss situation, it could modify its encoding format by adding more redundancy in the transmitted signal so as to avoid video distortion when the video images are reproduced at the destination terminal. As recognized by the present inventors, when there are no packet losses, INTER blocks are much more efficient than INTRA blocks since they normally use fewer bits. INTRA blocks are normally preferred only in case of scene changes and in areas with complex motion where a good approximation cannot be found in the previous frame. However, in the case of a packet loss during transmission, INTER blocks are particularly vulnerable. This is because lost packets in an INTER block affects not only that particular frame, but also creates a propagation of packet errors in subsequently decoded frames. Thus, the error progressively contaminates multiple frames.
Assuming that the lost data cannot be retransmitted, the only way to terminate the propagation of errors is to send an INTRA block, preferably as soon as possible after a packet loss has occurred. As illustrated in FIG. 2, INTRA blocks 807 are interleaved at predetermined intervals between series of INTER blocks 809. If a packet loss 805 occurs in one of the INTER blocks 809, the all subsequently frames 803 are corrupted until the next INTRA block is transmitted. Thus, as recognized by the present inventors, there is a trade-off between compression efficiency using mostly INTER blocks, and robustness to packet loss using mostly INTRA blocks.
On method for intelligently managing the insertion of INTER and INTRA blocks is taught by Thomas Stockhammer and Thomas Wiegand in "H26L Simulation Results for Common Test Conditions for RTP/IP over 3GPP/3GPP2", VCEG-N38, ITU-Telecommunication Standardization Sector, STUDY GROUP 16 Question 6, Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG)", Fourteenth Meeting: Santa Barbara, Calif., USA, 21-24 Sept. 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference. Among the problems with this method, however, is the computational complexity of the encoder required to compensate for a sustained packet loss situation.
Ideally, the transmitter should get instant feedback from the receiver and be able to react instantly by transmitting the INTRA blocks in the areas being affected by the loss. However, in many cases, the transmitter receives limited, stale and/or inaccurate information about packet losses detected at the receiver side. In particular, the transmitter might receive only delayed information about packet losses without any reference to the particular frame, and to the particular blocks. Typically, the decoder sends a notification to the encoder each time a packet loss occurs. However, in order not to overload the system, a filter may be used to limit the frequency of these notifications to a maximum of M notifications per second.
What is required to address this limitation, as recognized by the present inventors, is an apparatus, system, method, and computer program product that based on the limited, delayed, and inaccurate notifications detects that there is a serious and sustained packet loss situation that the receiver is dealing with. Further, what is required, is an encoder that, if this detection is made, can switch to a "robust mode" characterized by the intelligent insertion of INTRA blocks, instead of INTER blocks, to achieve the best possible trade-off between efficient compression and limited error propagation with minimal system complexity.
In case of a packet loss, the task of the decoder is to conceal the lost data as well as it possibly can. If a packet loss occurs, one or more blocks in that particular frame need to be replaced by some generated blocks that make the visible artifacts of the packet loss as small as possible. One such process is to replace the missing blocks by the corresponding blocks in the previous frame as described in Telenor Research, "Definition of an error concealment model (TCON)", LBC-95-186, ITI-TS SG15 Working Party 15/1, Expert's Group For Very LowBitrate Visual Telephony, Boston (20-23) Jun. 1995, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This process is illustrated in FIG. 3, where lines 3001 indicate block data from a previous frame without motion vector information is used to estimate a lost block. Because this approach considers block data without consideration of motion vector information, this approach works reasonably well only when there is a high degree of similarity between consecutive frames (i.e., no motion or almost no motion). However, this approach does not work well when there is a low degree of similarity between consecutive frames (i.e., a large amount of motion.) More advanced conventional systems, therefore, have been developed to take into account motion vector info.
As shown in FIG. 4, concealment based on blocks from the same position in the previous frame can be further enhanced by combining the motion vector from the lost block with video (e.g., pixel) data from the previous block. This is possible in situations where the block data is lost but the motion vector data is not lost. Thus, concealment of a lost block in block position (k,l) in frame n is performed using the lost block's own motion vector, Vn(k,l).
However, typically a motion vector associated with a block is lost with the rest of the data for that block. Thus, the challenge is to find a good estimate V′n(k,l) of the lost motion vector for the lost block, particularly when there is a low degree of similarity between consecutive frames. One method for estimating the motion vectors of lost blocks is taught by Stephan Wenger and Michael Horowitz in "Scattered Slices: A New Error Resilience Tool for H.26L", JVT-B027, Joint Video Team (JVT) of ISO/IEC MPEG and ITU-T VCEG (ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 and ITU-T SG16 Q.6) 2nd Meeting, Geneva, CH, Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2002, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference. In this method, the motion vector of the lost block is estimated from motion vectors of neighbor blocks within the same frame as the lost block with the following equation:V′n(k,l)=ƒ(Vn(k−1,l−1),Vn(k−1,l),Vn(k−1,l+1),Vn(k,l−1),Vn(k,l+1),Vn(k+1,l−1),Vn(k+1,l),Vn(k+1,l+1))where Vn(i,j) is the motion vector for block position (i,j) in frame n, and ƒ( ) is some function. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 5. However, a problem with this method is that the method assumes that neighbor blocks are not lost, which is not always true.
What is required, as discovered by the inventors, is an improved method of estimating the contents of a lost block by finding an estimate of the motion vector for the lost block that does not rely upon the availability of neighbor block motion vector information.

Inter-network and inter-protocol video conference privacy method, apparatus, and computer program product


A top shield arrangement for elongated filter traps, comprising an elongated sleeve member adapted to receive through one and thereof at least one filter trap such that the filter trap lies completely inside the sleeve member. The sleeve member is formed at the other end thereof for preventing withdrawal of the filter trap from the other end. A wafer seal is inserted into the sleeve member at the one end of the sleeve member for preventing unauthorized removal of the filter trap from the sleeve member through the one end thereof. The top shield arrangement of the invention protects filter traps against tampering by unauthorized persons.

The invention relates to a top shield arrangement for protecting filter traps of cable television systems from tampering by unauthorized persons. More specifically, the invention relates to such an arrangement which includes security means for preventing such tampering and unauthorized removal of the filter from the arrangement.
It is well known that signals of cable television systems are delivered from the central station to the subscribers by cable. The cables are exposed in aerial installations or run along sidewalls of buildings to make their way to the subscribers.
Cable companies may provide a large number of services not all of which would be subscribed to by each subscriber. Thus, in addition to offering local channels, cable companies may also offer pay channels such as movie network, sports network, news network, etc. As all of these services are carried on the same cable, the services which are not paid for by a subscriber must be filtered out in the cable going to the subscriber. For this purpose, filter traps are placed in the line between the main trunk of the cable television system and the television set of the subscriber.
The filter traps are quite often unavoidably disposed in positions in which they can be accessed by unauthorized people. Thus, the filter traps are typically not disposed in the home of the subscriber where they could be easily tampered with by the subscriber. Instead, they are disposed in the out-of-doors environment where they could conceivably be tampered with by unauthorized persons.


Benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-dione of Formula ##STR1##. or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof wherein R is hydrogen or a protecting group typically used in the art for protecting alcohols and R.sub.1 -R.sub.5 are each independently chosen from H, Cl, Br, F, straight or branched alkyl C.sub.1 -C.sub.8 alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.8 cycloalkyl, heterocycle or bridged heterocycle of 4-9 atoms containing 1-3 heteroatoms, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n OR.sub.6, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n N(R.sub.6).sub.2, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n NR.sub.6 COR.sub.7, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n NR.sub.6 SO.sub.2 OR.sub.7, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n NR.sub.6 SO.sub.2 N(R.sub.6).sub.2, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n OSO.sub.2 N(R.sub.6).sub.2, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n CN, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n (NOR.sub.6)R.sub.7, NO.sub.2, CF.sub.3, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n SO.sub.m R.sub.7, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n SO.sub.m R.sub.7, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n CO.sub.2 R.sub.6, --(CR'.sub.2).sub.n CON(R.sub.6).sub.2, Ph, and any two of R.sub.1 -R.sub.5 may form a substituted or unsubstituted ring of 5-7 total atoms having 0-2 heteroatoms are claimed which are selective inhibitors of bacterial DNA gyrase and DNA topoisomerase useful in antibacterial agents. Methods for their preparation and formulation as well as novel intermediates useful in the preparation of the final products are also claimed.

The chemical and biological literature abounds with reports on the benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-diones (I) due in great part to their cytotoxic and antitumor activities (Proc. 10th. Int. Congress of Chemother., 1977;2:1216; Cancer Chemother. Pharmac., 1980;4:61; Eur. J. Med. Chem., 1981;16:207). Paul, et al. (Arzneim Forsch/Drug Res., 1984;34:1243) performed a retrospective analysis of hundreds of compounds within the benzo[de]isoquinolone-1,3-dione class, and showed that all of their cytotoxic/antitumor biological activity was associated with the presence of an extended amino containing alkyl group at the diimide nitrogen (R.sub.2). ##STR2##
Longer chains or substituted chains were also tolerated. The cytotoxic/antitumor activities of these agents are mediated by their binding to DNA (Biochem., 1982;21:2070;J. Med. Chem., 1996;39:1609). A number of clinical candidates have been studied for the treatment of tumors and leukemia such as mitonafide (II), amonafide (III), and DMP840 (IV) (Cancer Res., 1994;54:159;Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 1995;92:8950). ##STR3##
As cytotoxic and antitumor agents, compounds such as II-IV also display antibacterial activity (Chatterjee, et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 1995;92:8950) and antiparasitic activity (Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 1996;40:706). Because they bind DNA, they are able to inhibit mammalian and bacterial topoisomerases mediating the ultimate death of the cells (Antimicrob. Agents Chemother., 1996;40:706). As antibacterial agents, these compounds lack specificity and are overly toxic to mammalian cells.
Due to the ever increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance appearing around the world, new antibacterials of novel structure have become very important for the treatment of bacterial infections (J. Med. Chem., 1996;39:3853).
The subject of this invention is the discovery that the antibacterial activity of the benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-diones can be effectively separated from the cytotoxic and antitumor activities by the replacement of the alkyl amino group in compounds I-IV with a hydroxyl group (I, R.sub.2.dbd.OH). These 2-hydroxy benzo[de]isoquinoline-1,3-diones (V) do not strongly intercalate or bind DNA, and in fact, are selective inhibitors of bacterial DNA gyrase and DNA topoisomerase IV. Compounds that inhibit two bacterial targets are expected to offer significant advantages in treatment of bacterial infection by lowering the frequency of bacterial resistance (Cozzarelli, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1995;92:11801; Hosino, et al., Antimicrobial Agents Chemother., 1994;38:2623). ##STR4##
Certain compounds of the type V have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,831 as intermediates to Va and as additives in the preparation of herbicidal formulations.
Compounds of type V were reported as synthetic intermediates leading to ring contracted product (J. Med. Chem., 1992;35:663;Zh. Org. Chim., 1977;13:2194). Studies of the base hydrolysis of compounds of type V have also been described (Zh. Org. Chim., 1973;9:171 and 1970;6:1480) X-ray studies of compounds V were reported (Zh. Strukt. Khim., 1970;11:939) as well as acylations of the hydroxy group (Zh. Org. Chim., 1972;8:165).
German patent DE2417789 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,791 describes compounds of the Type V as dyes and brighteners. U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,192 refers to a process of preparing the 6,7-dicarboxylic acids of compound V. U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,859 reports a wide variety of O-alkyl analog (Va) as fiber whiteners. There were no claims or disclosures of any antibacterial activity in any of the references cited above.


An alternator has a rotor having magnetic poles along a circumferential direction and a cooling fan fixed to an end surface of the rotor in an axial direction. The fan has wing portions disposed along the circumferential direction. One wing portion has a fan base extending on or over first and second magnetic poles, first and second fixing members, respectively, fixing first and second fixing portions of the base to the first and second poles, and a fan blade extending from the fan base toward the axial direction. The base or blade has a boundary portion at which a boundary line between the blade and base crosses over a side line of the second pole, and a first distance between the first fixing portion and the boundary portion is substantially equal to a second distance between the second fixing portion and the boundary portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an alternator, mounted in a vehicle such as a motor car or a motor truck, wherein a cooling fan generating a cooling wind is fixed to a rotor so as to be rotated with the rotor.
2. Description of Related Art
A well-known alternator for a vehicle has a cylindrical stator and a rotor disposed within a housing. The rotor is placed within a center hole of the stator so as to face the stator. The alternator electro-magnetically converts a rotational force of the rotor into an alternating current, and the current flows through armature windings of the stator. Cooling fans are fixed to both ends of the rotor in an axial direction of the rotor, respectively. The fans are rotated with the rotor and generate a cooling wind. The wind flows on the surface of field windings of the rotor along the axial direction, cools a rectfier and armature windings of the stator, and is discharged from windows opened in the housing. The alternator sometimes has a fan base between a core of the rotor and each cooling fan, and the fan base adjusts the flow direction of the wind.
Recently, it has been required to reduce the noise in a vehicle compartment, so that an alternator has been required to suppress the generation of sound or noise of a specific frequency zone offensive to the ear. To reduce the noise, Published Japanese Patent First Publication No. H09-154256 discloses an alternator wherein a cooling fan has variable pitch blades arranged at different pitches along a circumferential direction of the rotor. The blades are fixed to seats (i.e., end surfaces in the axial direction) of nail-shaped magnetic poles of a rotor and extend toward the axial direction so as to stand on the rotor. This alternator suppress the generation of sounds of the specific frequency zone by shifting the frequency of generated sounds to frequencies other than the specific frequency zone.
However, in case of the use of the variable pitch blades in a cooling fan, because the nail-shaped magnetic poles are disposed at equal intervals along the circumferential direction, it is required to fix the blades disposed at different pitches to the poles disposed at equal intervals. Therefore, the blades cannot arbitrarily be fixed to the poles, so that it is difficult to weld the fan to the rotor at a sufficient strength. Because the blades standing on the rotor receives a centrifugal force during its high rotation operation so as to be pulled away from the rotor in the radial and axial directions, a welded portion of the fan sometimes comes off from the rotor, or a portion of the fan where stress is concentrated is sometimes cracked.
To avoid these problems, when each blade plate is thickened to be tightly welded to the rotor, the material cost of the fan is undesirably heightened. Further, when ribs additionally added to each blade are welded to the stress concentrated portion, the flow of the wind is disturbed by the ribs so as to increase fan noise. Because positions of the ribs on the seats are restricted, it is difficult to avoid the increase of the noise.
As another technique for tightly fixing a cooling fan to a rotor, welding positions of the fan are adjusted. For example, Published Japanese Utility Model First Publication No. H05-4764 discloses that a welding position of each blade is placed on a line connecting a center position of the blade receiving a centrifugal force during its rotation and a shaft center of a rotor core. Further, a technical publication No. 124-072 published by Denso corporation discloses a fan wherein a welding portion of each blade is placed outside a circular area which has a diameter equal to 68% of an outer diameter of the fan around a shaft axis of a rotor. However, in these techniques, fans having various blade shapes and arrangements cannot be fixed to rotors at sufficient strength, respectively.

Alternator with a cooling fan rotated with a rotor


Tasks associated with backing up the data of a mobile client device are performed predominantly by the mobile client device. A backup server functions as a server with limited functionality that merely stores backup data received from the mobile client device and retrieves the backup data under the request of the mobile client device. The mobile client device functions as a master device, and the backup server functions as a slave device. A backup program for performing tasks associated with the backup operation on the mobile client device may itself be stored as part of the backup data.

The present disclosure relates generally to backing up the data of mobile client device to a backup server, specifically to backing up the data of the mobile client device in a manner that requires performance of minimal tasks on the part of the backup server.
Data stored in a mobile client device is backed up in a backup device either to restore the mobile client device to an operational state after a disaster or to restore some files or data that were accidentally deleted or became corrupt. During a backup operation, the backup data of the mobile client device is sent to a backup device (e.g., a backup server) for its safe storage. The backup data can later be retrieved during a restore operation to restore the mobile client device to the previous state where the backup data was created or to replace the corrupted data or supplant the deleted data.
The backup operation is particularly important in the mobile client devices because mobile client devices are more vulnerable to loss of data compared to stationary client devices. For example, mobile client devices can experience depletion of power source which may wipe out the data stored in volatile memory of the mobile client device. Also, the mobile client device may be inadvertently mishandled or become lost, resulting in corruption or loss of the data stored in the mobile client device. If the data is lost or corrupted, the user needs to restore the backup data to the mobile client device in order to resume his use of the mobile client device from the state before the data corruption or loss. Alternatively, the data may be restored to a replacement mobile client device that replaces a previous mobile client device for reasons such as losing the previous mobile client device, damages to the previous mobile device, or an upgrade from the previous mobile client device.
The backup operation is generally performed by storing the backup data in a backup server physically separate from a client device. The backup data may then be retrieved from the backup server during the restore operation to restore the data of the client device. Conventionally, the backup server performs various tasks associated with backing up and restoring the data of the mobile client device including, among other tasks, identifying the data to be backed up, comparing the backup data received from the client device, encrypting the backup data, performing deduplication to remove any redundancy in the backup data, authenticating the client device, decrypting the backup data, and sending the backup data to the client device.
Requiring the backup server to perform various tasks associated with the backup and restore operation is disadvantageous for at least the following reasons. The backup server must be capable of storing and running backup programs related to the backup and restore operation. If various types of backup servers are used, the backup program must be deployed on each backup server. This may result in waste of the backup server resource, especially if the backup server interacts with multiple types of mobile client devices requiring different backup programs.
Further, the backup data stored in the backup server is vulnerable to unauthorized access by a third party because the backup program for encrypting or decrypting the backup data is running on the backup server. The third party making unauthorized access to the backup data may take advantage of the backup program stored in the backup server to decrypt the backup data. Therefore, storing the backup program and the backup data on the same backup server is vulnerable to unauthorized access.
Another type of backup devices often used is flash memory cards such as Secure Digital (SD) card or memory stick. These flash memory cards are generally inserted into the slots integrated with the mobile client device and stores various data, including the backup data. The disadvantage of using the flash memory cards is that the mobile client device must dedicate already scarce real estate of the mobile client device to the slots. Also, the types of flash memory cards that can be used are limited to the type of card slots implemented on the mobile client device. Another disadvantage of using the flash memory cards is that their cost per unit memory size is much expensive than the backup servers. Moreover, the flash memory cards must be manually inserted into the mobile client device before performing the backup operation, which is inconvenient to the user. The reliability of using the flash memory cards is also questionable because the flash memory cards can be easily lost, stolen, or damaged after being removed from the mobile client device.
Therefore, among other deficiencies, the present art lacks backup architecture and methods that allow more generic network storage devices to be used as backup server. The present art also lacks backup architecture and methods that enhance the security of the backup data stored in the backup server.


A driving device (10) for driving a unit (11) is specified, with a drive shaft (16) on which a plurality of rolling bearings (19 to 21) serving to drive respective functional elements of the unit (11) are arranged next to one another. The rolling bearings (19 to 21) are designed as unencapsulated needle bearings (22 to 24) and are arranged directly next to one another on the drive shaft (16) in such a manner that the inner ring (25, 26) of a needle bearing (22, 23) is in touching contact by means of its end surface (43, 44), which is located on an axial side, with the facing, axial end surface (46, 47) of the outer sleeve (32, 33) of the needle bearing (23, 24) following next axially.

The invention is based on a driving device, in particular an electric motor, for driving a unit, in particular a pump.
In a known driving device of the type mentioned, two rolling bearings are arranged on the drive shaft, said rolling bearings being designed as encapsulated needle bearings and, owing to the encapsulated, self-locking form, do not require an additional run-on surface axially and can therefore be positioned in a freely selectable manner on the drive shaft by means of a press fit. A first disadvantage of this design is the high expenditure for encapsulated needle bearings. Secondly, the driving device has a relatively large axial construction length.

Driving device, in particular electric motor, for driving a unit