An illuminating device for illuminating a background surface of a surface display has a frame with inner reflecting surfaces. A circuit board with leads closes off the interior of the frame. The circuit board is made of a light-transmissive material and serves as the background surface to be illuminated. The circuit board comprises leads and light-emitting diode chips connected to the leads so as to be controllable. A scattering body in the form of a light-transmissive potting compound containing scattering centers is filled into the interior of the frame. The circuit board is preferably a circuit board with a cover layer of a non-light-transmissive material from which the coating of non-light-transmissive material has been removed by etching. The scattering centers are preferably in the form of glass particles.

The present invention relates to an illuminating device for illuminating background surfaces, especially for surface displays comprising a circuit board, made of a light-transmissive material and covered with a non-light-transmissive material, and light-emitting diode chips arranged on the circuit board and controllable by leads, and further having a housing supporting the background surface to be illuminated, the housing having reflecting surfaces.
An illuminating device of the aforementioned kind is known from PCT application WO 90/13885. In one embodiment of the illuminating device disclosed therein a circuit board with light-emitting diode chips is supported on a plastic frame provided with reflecting surfaces. Opposite to the circuit board the background surface to be illuminated is arranged and is in the form of a diffuser film. The essentially light-transmissive circuit board is coated with a non-light-transmissive metal or other material with the exception of the leads and the light-emitting diode chips so that the light generated by the light-emitting diode chips is emitted only in the direction toward the background surface to be illuminated. With this known design it is said to be possible to produce illuminating devices of a total constructive height of only 2 mm to 3 mm.
However, the known illuminating device has the disadvantage that a further reduction of the constructive height is not possible because the required closer placement of the background surface to be illuminated and the arranged circuit board with the light-emitting diode chips prevents the diffusion and distribution of the emitted light of the light-emitting diode chips. The illumination of the background surface occurs essentially with a point focus with a visible transmission of the chip arrangement onto the background surface, which thus exhibits great light differences.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an illuminating device of the aforementioned kind that is improved with respect to minimizing its constructive height and a uniform illumination of the background surface.

Illuminating device for illuminating background surfaces


A digital wallet that facilitates fast, convenient, and secure commerce using a mobile electronic device (or non-mobile electronic device) and stores information associated with transactions, such as purchase confirmations and receipts. The digital wallet can store information for use in transactions, including information associated with one or more financial accounts, user information, and shipping information. To complete an online purchase, the digital wallet can interact with a merchant's website to obtain information regarding the purchase. The digital wallet provides a user interface for the user to review and confirm the purchase information. The user interface also allows the user to select from multiple payment options, customize shipping information, or provide information requested by the merchant. The digital wallet can transmit user confirmation to the merchant's website and receive a receipt for the purchase. The digital wallet can store the receipt and synchronize the receipt with a remote storage location.

Electronic commerce, such as online shopping, has been increasingly common since the advent of the Internet. Online shopping websites generally provide a user interface for customers to select products to purchase. After the customer has selected products for purchase, the customer typically can choose from multiple payment options to purchase the products. Two conventional payment options generally supported by online merchants are using a financial account (for example, a credit card account or checking account) and using a third party payment processor, such as PAYPAL® or other processor.
To complete an online purchase using a credit card or other financial account, a consumer typically provides a significant amount of information to the merchant via the merchant's website. This information generally includes an account identifier (for example, credit card number, debit card number, etc.), shipping information, and the name, address, and contact information of the consumer. The requirement of entering this information for each merchant from which the consumer makes purchases can be cumbersome and frustrating to the consumers. This requirement can be particularly frustrating and difficult for consumers making online purchases using a mobile device, as many mobile devices do not include a user interface optimized to enter significant amounts of information. This deficiency for mobile devices results in substantially lower mobile browser conversion rates from product searching to product purchase compared to desktop browser conversion rates.
One conventional approach to alleviating the burden on the consumer involves a toolbar plug-in application for web browsers. Conventional toolbar applications are used to automatically populate web forms, such as a web form for receiving payment and consumer information for completing an online purchase, with stored information. However, these conventional toolbar applications often are inaccurate, as they merely attempt to predict which form is presented on a web page and then preload default values for the predicted form.
The use of a third party payment processor to complete online purchases is another approach to alleviating the burden of entering a significant amount of information at each merchant's website. Generally, a third party processor requires a consumer to register for an account and to provide one or more payment options. After registering, the consumer can use the payment options to complete purchases at participating merchants' websites. To complete an online purchase using the third party payment processor, the consumer generally selects a link at the merchant's website and, in response, the consumer is redirected from the merchant's website to a website of the third party payment processor. At this website, the consumer first has to provide login information and then can select one of the payment options to complete and confirm the purchase. After the purchase is confirmed, the consumer is directed back to the merchant's website. The third party payment processor then settles with the financial institution associated with the selected payment option and with the merchant to complete the transaction.
The use of a third party processor has several deficiencies. First, the process is disruptive to the consumer as the consumer is directed away from the merchant's website to the third party payment processor's website and then back to the merchant's website. Second, the use of a third party payment processor limits the amount of information that the merchant receives. For example, the merchant may not have access to information associated with the consumer or information regarding the payment method used. The use of a third party processor also presents an additional cost to the merchant.
Thus, a need in the art exists for systems and methods that overcome one or more of the above-described limitations.


In a first aspect, a method of performing maintenance operations in an electrical machine is provided. The method comprises positioning the rotor in a first position; disconnecting electrical windings, removing one or more segments of an electrical conductor ring and positioning the rotor in a second position without connecting the removed segments of the electrical conductor ring. In a further aspect, a method of operating an electrical machine is also provided. In yet a further aspect, it is provided an electrical machine comprising an electrical conductor ring having a releasable segment.

Electrical machines, such as motors and generators, generally comprise a rotor structure and a stator structure. Large electrical generators may be permanent magnet excited generators (PMG) or electrically excited synchronous generators (EESG).
Such generators may be used for example in wind turbines, in particular in offshore wind turbines. Wind turbines generally comprise a rotor with a rotor hub and a plurality of blades. The rotor is set into rotation under the influence of the wind on the blades. The rotation of the rotor shaft either directly drives the generator rotor ("directly driven") or through the use of a gearbox. Such a direct drive wind turbine generator may have e.g. a diameter of 6-10 meters (236-328 inches), a length of e.g. 2-3 meters (79-118 inches) and may rotate at low speed, for example in the range of 2 to 20 rpm (revolutions per minute). Alternatively, permanent magnet generators or electrically excited synchronous generators may also be coupled to a gearbox which increases the rotational speed of the generator to for example between 50 to 500 rpm or even more.
Electrical machines comprise a rotor which rotates with respect the stator. The rotor may be the inner structure and the stator the outer structure. The stator in this case thus surrounds the rotor. Alternatively, in some configurations it may be the opposite, i.e. the rotor surrounds the stator.
In case of permanent magnet excited generators (PMG), permanent magnets (PM) are generally comprised in the rotor (although they could also be arranged alternatively in the stator structure), whereas winding elements (e.g. coils) are usually included in the stator (although they could alternatively be arranged in the rotor structure). Permanent magnet generators are generally deemed to be reliable and require less maintenance than other generator typologies.
Multiple permanent magnets may be provided in permanent magnet modules, which may be attached to the rotor as a single item. A permanent magnet module may be defined as a unit having a plurality of permanent magnets, such that the plurality of magnets can be mounted and unmounted together. Such a module may have a module base with a shape suitable for housing or carrying a plurality of permanent magnets that may be fixed to the base. The base may be configured to be fixed to a rotor rim in such a way that the plurality of magnets are fixed together to the rotor rim through the module base. The use of permanent magnet modules may facilitate the manufacturing of a rotor.
Electrically excited synchronous generators generally comprise a rotor having a plurality of pole shoes and excitation coils. In use, a current is applied to the excitation coils which create the polarity of the poles. Adjacent poles have a different magnetic polarity. As the rotor turns, the magnetic field from the pole shoes is applied to the windings of the stator causing a variable magnetic flux in the stator windings which produces a voltage in the stator windings. In electrically excited synchronous generators the magnetic field to generate the electrical power is created electrically. As a result, such generators do not require the use of permanent magnet containing rare earth elements.
Elements of the electrical machines may deteriorate during their lifetime and maintenance or replacement of these elements may thus be required. For example, magnets or magnet modules may be occasionally detached from the base or from the rotor rim due to adhesive failure. Windings from the stator and/or from the rotor, as in the case of electrical excited synchronous generators, may also become detached. In addition, external bodies, such as screws or nuts, may accidentally enter into the air gap of the electrical machine and may damage the elements of the stator, e.g. stator windings, and/or of the rotor, e.g. permanent magnets or rotor windings.
Replacement of the damaged elements or parts of the electrical machine may require access to the damaged area. Access to the inner structure of the electrical machine, e.g. the rotor, may be inhibited by the outer structure, e.g. the stator, which partially surrounds the inner structure. For example, in wind turbines, some areas of the generator, e.g. the inner structure, may only be accessible from inside the nacelle of the wind turbine. This may specifically occur in direct drive wind turbines wherein the rotating part of the generator is coupled directly to the hub or the rotor. Accessing the inner structure from the hub is generally very difficult because of the relatively compact size of the hub and because personnel cannot generally pass through the generator.
Moreover, electrical generators may also comprise cooling systems, sensors, winding connections and electrical connections, e.g. electrical rings, arranged on the nacelle side. Such elements may further hinder the access to the inner structure of the generator from the nacelle.
In large electrical generators having the rotor as the inner structure and the stator as the outer structure, electrical rings that connect the stator windings to a converter may be arranged on the stator and may thus block the access to the rotor. One way to access the area to be repaired of the inner structure, the rotor in this case, is to provide a window in the outer structure, to cut a segment of the electrical ring and then repairing or inspecting the part of the inner structure. However, the window needs to be positioned properly relatively to the part of the generator that is to be repaired, or inspected.
In those cases wherein several parts of the inner structure must be repaired or inspected, after cutting and removing a segment of the electrical ring and repairing a part of the inner structure, the plurality of the disconnected windings has to reconnected and the removed segment has to be reassembled to the remaining parts of the electrical ring for rotating the rotor to match the window and the next area to be repaired. When the window and the new area to be repaired substantially match, a segment of the electrical ring has to be removed to allow access to this area. After repairing this area, this segment has to be reassembled to the remaining parts of the electrical ring has to be reconnected. If there are several areas of the inner structure, this long process must be repetitively performed for each of the areas.
This process is time consuming and labor intensive. Such a long repair time consequently involves high costs, in particular in offshore wind turbines.
This size and type of electrical machines is not limited to generators in direct drive offshore applications, and not even to the field of wind turbines only. Electrical machines of considerable dimensions and installed in non-accessible locations that may suffer from the same problems and/or have the same complications may also be found e.g. in steam turbines and water turbines.
The present disclosure provides examples of systems and methods that at least partially resolve some of the aforementioned disadvantages.

Electrical machine and maintenance methods thereof

General Electric Renovables Espana, S.L.


Techniques are provided for use with an implantable medical device for detecting and assessing heart failure and for controlling cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) based on impedance signals obtained using hybrid impedance configurations. The hybrid configurations exploit right atrial (RA)-based impedance measurement vectors and/or left ventricular (LV)-based impedance measurement vectors. In one example, current is injected between the device case and a ring electrode in the right ventricle (RV) or RA. RA-based impedance values are measured along vectors between the device case and an RA electrode. LV-based impedance values are measured along vectors between the device case and one or more electrodes of the LV. Heart failure and other cardiac conditions are detected and tracked using the measured impedance values. CRT delay parameters are also optimized based impedance. In this manner, multiple hybrid impedance measurement configurations are exploited whereby different vectors are used to inject current and measure impedance.

Heart failure is a debilitating disease in which abnormal function of the heart leads to inadequate blood flow to fulfill the needs of the tissues and organs of the body. Typically, the heart loses propulsive power because the cardiac muscle loses capacity to stretch and contract. Often, the ventricles do not adequately fill with blood between heartbeats and the valves regulating blood flow become leaky, allowing regurgitation or back-flow of blood. The impairment of arterial circulation deprives vital organs of oxygen and nutrients. Fatigue, weakness and the inability to carry out daily tasks may result. Not all heart failure patients suffer debilitating symptoms immediately. Some may live actively for years. Yet, with few exceptions, the disease is relentlessly progressive. As heart failure progresses, it tends to become increasingly difficult to manage. Even the compensatory responses it triggers in the body may themselves eventually complicate the clinical prognosis. For example, when the heart attempts to compensate for reduced cardiac output, it adds cardiac muscle causing the ventricles to grow in volume in an attempt to pump more blood with each heartbeat, i.e. to increase the stroke volume. This places a still higher demand on the heart's oxygen supply. If the oxygen supply falls short of the growing demand, as it often does, further injury to the heart may result, typically in the form of myocardial ischemia or myocardial infarction. The additional muscle mass may also stiffen the heart walls to hamper rather than assist in providing cardiac output. A particularly severe form of heart failure is congestive heart failure (CHF) wherein the weak pumping of the heart leads to build-up of fluids in the lungs and other organs and tissues.
In view of the potential severity of heart failure, it is highly desirable to detect its onset within a patient and to track its progression so that appropriate therapy can be provided. Many patients suffering heart failure already have pacemakers or ICDs implanted therein or are candidates for such devices. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide such devices with the capability to automatically detect and track heart failure and various techniques exploiting electrical impedance signals measured by an implantable device have been developed. Techniques exploiting impedance are presented, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,505,814 to Bornzin et al., entitled "System and Method for Evaluating Heart Failure based on Ventricular End-Diastolic Volume using an Implantable Medical Device" and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,272,443 to Min et al., entitled "System and Method for Predicting a Heart Condition based on Impedance Values using an Implantable Medical Device."
More recently, techniques for measuring impedance using hybrid impedance vectors were described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/023,408, filed Feb. 8, 2011, of Min et al., entitled "Systems and Methods for Tracking Stroke Volume using Hybrid Impedance Configurations Employing a Multi-Pole Implantable Cardiac Lead", which is fully incorporated by reference herein. In one example described therein, current is injected between a large and stable reference electrode and a right ventricular (RV) ring electrode. The reference electrode may be, e.g., a coil electrode implanted within the superior vena cava (SVC) or the device case or "can" electrode. Impedance values are then measured along a set of different sensing vectors between the reference electrode and the electrodes of a multi-pole left ventricular (LV) lead implanted via the coronary sinus (CS). These techniques are generally referred to as hybrid techniques since different vectors are employed for injecting current than for measuring the resulting impedance/voltage. More specifically, the techniques may be referred to as "LV-based hybrid techniques" since LV electrodes are used to measure the impedance. The LV-based hybrid techniques advantageously allow impedance signals to be detected that exhibit significant variation throughout individual cardiac cycles to aid in the detection of stroke volume and related cardiac function parameters and to aid in the optimization of pacing delays for use with CRT.
It would be desirable to provide hybrid impedance measurement techniques that additionally or alternatively exploit electrodes of a right atrial (RA) lead for measuring impedance values (based on current injected via the RV.) It is to these ends that various aspects of the present invention are directed.

Systems and methods for assessing heart failure and controlling cardiac resynchronization therapy using hybrid impedance measurement configurations


The present invention discloses an integrated new technique and apparatus for recycling volatile organic compounds of coating printing. The new technique collects a mixed gas of volatile organic compounds produced in the process of coating and drying of a coating machine with a volatiles collecting hood of coating machine, compresses and lead the mixed gas of volatile organic compounds into a condensation system for condensation; the obtained condensate enters a gas-liquid separator to obtain a coating solvent with high concentration; non-condensable lean gas enters a membrane separation and enrichment system to obtain a mixed gas of high concentration organic compounds after membrane separation and enrichment with a complete set of membrane assembly, and then returns to front of the condensation system to repeat the integrated technique. The separation membrane as claimed in the present invention has an extremely high permselectivity for volatile organic compounds of coating printing and can quickly enrich the volatile organic compounds. Recycling rate of volatile organic compounds of the apparatus may reach 90%, and the content of organic compounds in the tail gas emission after treatment is no more than 1 g/m3. This integrated new technique largely reduces the production cost of coating printing industry and at the same time protects the atmospheric environment.

A large amount of organic compounds will be volatilized in the process of coating printing, such as hydrocarbons, alcohols, esters, ethers and nitriles, this is because the coating printing must use high-concentration organic solvents for coating. Taking a coating machine as an example, the consumption of organic solvents is 10 g/m2; supposing coating printing of 100 m (length)×0.8 m (width) is completed per minute, totally 48 kg organic solvents will be consumed per hour. Detection result shows that its volatilization reaches 85%, and the rate of organic compounds in the volatiles is 40 kg/h. The discharge of the organic compounds will not only result in wasting of resources, but also lead to serious environmental problems. At present, few manufacturers in the coated printing industry recycle the organic compounds, while some manufacturers recycle or process the organic compounds by means of burning, active carbon absorption, condensation and etc., but these means are difficult to realize recycling or will face a high energy consumption and cost even if recycling is possible.
In the current market of coating printing packaging in China, every year the domestic sales of printing coating machineries is about RMB 18 billion to 20 billion, with an average annual growth rate of over 15% and approximately a half from import. Taking Guangdong Province as an example, it is not only a major province of packaging industry but also a major province of coating printing packaging, taking a leading position in both the number of enterprises and industrial outputs in domestic. Therefore, due to problems of high energy consumption and high pollution in package print coating industry, energysaving and emission reduction is an inevitable trend of enterprises in package print coating industry. According to statistics from Printing Industry Association of Guangdong Province, up to 2007, there are nearly 18000 printing enterprises in Guangdong, with a total output over RMB 50 billion, accounting for over 33% of the whole country. It is roughly estimated that printing enterprises in Guangdong discharge more than 4 million tons volatile organic compounds to atmosphere every year, worth RMB 24 billion in terms of an average market price of RMB 6000/ton. If 80% of the volatile organic compounds discharged to atmosphere can be recycled every year, it not only brings ecological benefits in significant reduction of air pollution, improvement of air quality and protection of environment but also brings nearly RMB 20 billion economic benefits, which may be expanded to RMB 100 billion considering the whole country.

Technique and apparatus for recycling volatile organic compounds of coating printing


In one embodiment, a hook fastener has a plurality of hooks and a loop fastener has a plurality of loops to secure tissues sections to one another. At least one of these fasteners has a porous surface to allow tissue ingrowth to secure the fastener to the tissue. In another embodiment, only a single fastener is used, with a section of tissue being treated to engage and mate with the fastener. The disclosed tissue fastening systems can be used for a number of applications. One such example includes fastening tissue sections by wrapping a tissue fastener around the tissue and securing the fastener on itself. A suture may also be secured with the tissue fastener.

The vast majority of surgical procedures require suturing or otherwise coupling first and second tissue sections. This coupling process can be difficult to accurately perform and/or time consuming, particularly if a laparoscopic or other minimally invasive approach is used. Given this need, the prior art teaches a wide variety of fasteners. Although some of these fasteners have been specifically designed for medical applications, a number of fasteners were developed for non-medical applications and modified for biological uses.
One such fastener that can be used for different applications is the so-called hook and loop type fastener. Hook and loop fasteners have found use in a wide variety of fields, including surgical procedures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,617 to Meislin discloses surgical repair with a hook and loop type fastener. The '617 patent teaches first and second sheets that are fixed to tissue with fibrin glue, either alone or in association with sutures and/or staples. Although this type of fixation is suitable for initial and short term stability, the use of sheets in combination with glue makes no provision for long term biologic fixation, i.e. integration of the sheets with the tissue. Furthermore, the requirement of two glued sheets for all applications also limits the utility to some surgical procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,113 to Wilk discloses a method for use of a strip of a biocompatible material in performing an anastomosis. The method disclosed includes juxtapositioning free ends of two sections of a resected tubular organ so as to form a continuous lumen through the sections, placing a strip of biocompatible material over the sections at the seam and bonding the strip to the outer surfaces of the sections so as to form a seal about the sections at the seam. An inflatable balloon is used to maintain the sections in position and can be absorbed by the body or excreted. The sections may also be stapled or sutured along the seam prior to the sealing of the strip over the seam, or the seam could be laser welded or sealed with a biocompatible adhesive. However, the use of a balloon, laser welding, or other seals may be prohibited by the size, location, or part of the body that may need to be sealed.
Thus, the need exists for an improved tissue fastening system. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the apparatus and process particularly pointed out in the written description and claims, as well as the appended drawings.

Tissue fastener and methods for using same


Apparatus particularly suited for cutting continuously moving thermoplastic film such as linear low density polyethylene and includes a stationary anvil, preferably a roller of tool steel and a tungsten carbide die mounted for rotation along a circular arc intersecting the anvil. The roller is positioned at a stationary location along a circular arc for cyclicly contacting and rolling across the cutting surface for cutting the plastic film web passing between the roller and the cutting surface at the predetermined locations in the web. The roller is mounted on a support member by an assembly including a bracket mounting a shaft supporting the roller. The bracket is attached to one end of a rocker arm and the other end of the rocker arm is pivotally carried by the support member. A housing for a loading spring is carried by the support member adjacent the rocker arm. The housing has a tubular opening therethrough having an axial extending transversely to the axis of the shaft supporting the roller. A helical loading spring is disposed within the tubular opening of the housing and has one end engaging the rocker arm. A spring adjusting screw is carried in one end of the tubular opening in the housing for engaging the opposite end of the helical spring to adjust the load pressure of the spring applied to the roller. A stop member is carried by the support member on the opposite side of the rocker arm to limit movement of the roller in the direction of the cutting surface.

This invention relates to rotary cutting apparatus and, in particular, an apparatus suitable for high speed cutting of plastic film webs, such as linear low-density polyethylene ("LLDPE") film which is difficult to cut.
It is quite common in manufacturing processes, such as plastic bag manufacture, to punch holes in or otherwise perforate a plastic film web, particularly while the web is moving, to manufacture plastic bags from the web. Manufacturing productivity is generally increased the faster the plastic web can be moved through the manufacturing line. However, increased speed may affect the quality of the cuts being made in the web. In the case of mechanically contacting cutters, wear and downtime for replacing or refinishing of the cutting surfaces also may be significant. A number of devices suitable for automatic mechanical cutting of a moving plastic film are known and have been considered.
A reciprocating punch can be employed to make cuts at the edge of a continuously moving plastic film web. This method has previously been employed in punching semi-circular cutouts in the hem edge of a continuous moving plastic web during the manufacture of draw tape strip bags. See, for example, U.S. application Ser. No. 652,254, filed Sept. 20, 1984, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,654 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
Air cylinder actuated reciprocating punches were used on the draw tape bag manufacturing line disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. application Ser. No. 652,254. Initially, a hemispherical punch reciprocating against a smooth circular die was employed. However, the LLDPE material was so stretchable, that the slightest gap between the punch and die would stretch rather than cut the material. The larger the hole desired, the more likely that incomplete cutting would occur.
A serrated edge circular die was substituted which does not require a close fit with the punch thus avoiding metal contact. The serrated edge die was found adequate for existing cycling speeds (approximately 100 cycles per minute for 24 inch wide bags). At higher speeds, punching the plastic web on the fly produced tension variations within the web which were sufficiently great as to disrupt other web processing operations. Moreover, cutting at higher speeds leaves a more jagged edge. It would be extremely desirable to provide a punch for punching holes in a continuously moving LLDPE plastic film web at cycling rates of at least 120 cycles per minute and web speed in excess of 240 feet per minute.
A commercially available, solenoid powered reciprocating punch having a conical punch head penetrating a circular die was also examined. The punch was found to have a life of about one million cycles through four thicknesses of approximately 1.5 mils LLDPE film. However the punch was noisy and was found to stick or "block" the edges of the layers together making subsequent insertion of a draw tape strip between the layers difficult.
Also examined was a commercially available rotary punch and die formed by a pair of complimentary contacting cutting surfaces in a pair of adjoining rolls. Several thousand pounds of compression on the rolls was required to obtain a cut and quickly dulled the cutting surfaces. The system was found to have a life of only about 5,000 holes or cycles.


The present invention is directed to methods of preparing nanoprobes, including multifunctional cellular endoscope-like devices, comprising nanotubes, nanorods, and/or nanowires.

Nanoscale devices for controlled fluid handling and cell interrogation have attracted a great deal of interest recently. Microfluidics led to major advances in biology and medicine, permitting DNA sequencing and breakthroughs in medical diagnostics. Further progress will require a million- to billion-fold reduction in the volume of fluid samples to the level of attoliters, which will enable probing of individual cells and intracellular organelles. On a single-cell level, glass micropipettes are employed for cellular injection and recovery applications ranging from therapeutic cloning to pharmacology. Difficulties, such as membrane rupture, inaccurate transplant, and fatal damage of crucial organelles, are often encountered using these capillaries to study single cells. Sharpened tubules formed by quartz capillary pulling, usually called "nanopipettes", can be drawn to ca. 25 nm. However, they bend and break easily. Therefore, the size is limited for practical reasons, and glass pipettes with tip diameters less than 500 nm are rarely used in practice. Targeting of the nucleus in fairly large cells (e.g. oocytes) is possible with glass pipettes, but specific organelles cannot be injected into or analyzed using the current technology.
Carbon nanotubes may also be used to interrogate or deliver payloads to cells. Such probes appear to offer significant advantages over sharpened glass micropipettes. But present methods of producing probes based on such nanotubes are limited.

Methods of preparing nanoprobes and endoscope-like devices


An electrical coupling device includes at least one wiring block, and at least one pair of supporting blocks respectively fastened to the at least one wiring block at two opposite ends to support them inside an electrical junction box, wherein each wiring block has two rows of upright posts with retaining notches and T-holes; each supporting block has two mounting members respectively hooked in the retaining notches on the two opposite outer upright posts at either end of the wiring block to stop the wiring block from being moved horizontally, and two T-rods respectively fastened to the T-holes on the two intermediate upright posts at the same end to stop the wiring block from be moved vertically.

The present invention relates to an electrical coupling device for use in an electrical junction box to connect electrical wires together.
Various electrical coupling devices are known and widely used to connect electrical wires in an electrical junction box or panel. FIG. 1 shows an electrical coupling device according to the prior art, which is generally comprised of a wiring block directly having unitary stands fastened to the electrical junction box or panel and having index strips at two opposite sides, and a plurality of connecting block assemblies respectively fastened to the index strips to join conductors. This electrical coupling device is not satisfactory in function because it is not expansible. For example, if the electrical coupling device comprises four sets of connecting block assemblies and each connecting block assembly is made to couple 25 sets of electrical wires, the electrical coupling device can then couple 100 sets of electrical wires maximum. When there are more than 101 sets of electrical wires to be matched, at least two electrical coupling devices must be used. If there are only few sets of electrical wires to be matched, much vacant spaces will be left for no use. Another drawback of this structure of electrical coupling device is that the electrical coupling device cannot be conveniently dismantled from the electrical junction box or panel when installed, causing the maintenance and inspection works difficult to perform.
There is also known a detachable structure of electrical coupling device which, as shown in FIG. 2, is generally comprised of a wiring block and two supporting block fastened to the two opposite ends of the wiring block at the bottom. The wiring block has two rows of upright posts with mounting holes. The supporting blocks have a respective pair of hooked members at the top. When connected, the hooked members engage the two opposite outer upright posts at either end of the wiring block by hooked joints. This structure of electrical coupling device permits the wiring blocks to be removed from the supporting blocks when the hooked members are released from the respective upright posts, and therefore the maintenance and inspection works can be conveniently performed. However, this structure of electrical coupling device still has drawbacks. When two wiring blocks are connected in parallel by two supporting blocks, the two hooked members of either supporting blocks must be respectively fastened to one upright post on either wiring block at either end. This arrangement cannot keep the wiring blocks stably maintained in place, and the hooked members may disconnect from the wiring blocks easily.

No. 11, Alley 16, Lane 337, Sec. 1, Ta-Tung Rd.


A test pattern generation apparatus includes an input unit, an output unit, and a pattern generating unit configured to, when a source code based on a system description language is created through the input unit, store an execution file created from the source code, generate a test pattern from the execution file according to an external command for testing a semiconductor apparatus as a DUT, and output the generated test pattern through the output unit.

1. Technical Field
Various embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a test apparatus of a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of generating a test pattern, a test system using the same, and a computer program.
2. Related Art
As the complexity in semiconductor integrated circuits, semiconductor chips including the same, and a system integrated with the semiconductor chips is increased, a lot of time and effort for successfully designing semiconductor apparatuses are necessary.
It is desirable to remove errors which may occur in the designed semiconductor apparatuses in a design stage before the semiconductor apparatuses are manufactured as the final products. Therefore, various methods for testing and verifying parts used in the designed semiconductor apparatuses have been studied.
The test apparatuses for the semiconductor apparatus have to perform the test on the semiconductor apparatus at speed corresponding to high integration and high speed of the semiconductor apparatuses.
To ensure reliability for the semiconductor apparatuses as a device under test (DUT), test coverage has to be increased through the modeling for various test cases.

Apparatus and method of generating test pattern, test system using the same, and computer program therefor


In reactors for heterogeneous synthesis, comprising a boiler and a heat exchanger inserted at least partially into the end catalytic beds, and at least an intermediate catalytic bed, two airspaces are now provided in each catalytic bed by introducing couples of annular walls, one of said airspaces being produced between the cartridge's internal wall and the perforated wall inserted close to it.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns the improvements made to reactors for heterogeneous synthesis. It concerns more particularly a system to increase the yields of reactors for heterogeneous synthesis and more particularly for the synthesis of ammonia, comprising a catalytic layer partly connected to a boiler, a catalytic layer substantially run through by a heat exchanger, and at least one intermediate catalytic layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reactors of the type described above are known per se and are the object of Italian patent No. 28961-66.
In order to establish matters straight away and to make it as easy as possible to understand the invention, FIG. 1 (partial cross-section with a plan showing the reactor's axis) outlines a reactor design according to the patent in question.
The synthesis gas GS enters from 10, flows from top to bottom through airspace 21 between the internal wall 22 of the shell M and the external wall 23 of the cartridge CU, flows upwards from the bottom F0 (following arrow F1) running through the inside of tubes Ti of the heat exchanger SC, flows axially (arrow F2) through the intermediate catalytic layer CC, is cooled in the first branch of the boiler CA from the top of which it leaves in order to penetrate (arrow F3) the top catalytic layer CS, through which it runs axially from top to bottom leaving according to arrow F4 and flowing again upwards as F'4 which enters tube BP which takes it as flow F5 directly into the lower catalYtic layer CI from which it flows as F'5 to continue upwards inside exchanger SC from the top of which it is sent downwards as F7 flowing through central tube 25' and leaving this as reacted gas F'7.
Arrow F8 indicates the conduction of water to the boiler and arrow F9 indicates the exit from the boiler of the vapour produced therein by recovering reaction heat. Since the reactor in question is known it is not described in detail herein, such description being available in the abovementioned Italian patent No. 28961-66 which is deemed to be incorporated herein.
Reactors of the type described above, although already remarkably improved when compared to the technology available up to the moment when they made their appearance, suffered from a number of disadvantages which in the long run became an obstacle to the success which it seemed reasonable to expect from them.
Among the disadvantages in question, mention should be made in particular of those connected with the axial flow of the synthesis gas through the catalytic beds, of the ensuing pressure drops and of the need to use a large size catalyst in order to limit the pressure drop in question.


The described apparatus for analyzing a biological sample includes a first analysis instrument fluidly connected to a reservoir for receiving a first flow of the biological fluid and adapted for performing a measurement of a property of the biological sample. A second analysis instrument is fluidly connected to the reservoir for receiving a second flow of the biological fluid and adapted for performing a thermally controlled analysis of the biological sample. The second analysis instrument includes a thermally controlled chamber. A flow stopping device stops the second flow within the thermally controlled chamber in order to allow the second analysis instrument to perform the thermally controlled analysis of the biological sample. The first analysis instrument may include, for example, a hematology analyzer or a flow cytometer, and the second analysis instrument may include, for example, a dynamic light scattering instrument.

In order to perform a complete analysis of biological fluid such as blood, several analyzers are usually used because a single analyzer may not be capable of conducting the analysis of all of the required blood parameters. A technician in charge of blood analysis has first to insert a blood sample in a first analyzer and perform the first analysis. Subsequently, the technician inserts the blood sample in the second analyzer and performs the second analysis.
This is inconvenient and impractical for a number of reasons. The additional time required to transport the blood sample from the first analyzer to the second analyzer increases the overall analysis time. Further, significant extra costs are involved in having two distinct and separate testing instruments and systems, both in terms of equipment, training, upkeep, etc. Additionally, differing sample requirements for each of the instruments may necessitate that separate samples be prepared, perhaps requiring different preparations times, different sample containers, and the like.
Further, certain instrumentation used to perform analysis on biological samples such as blood require a flow of the fluid through the system (i.e. a flow-through system), while others may require that individual samples of the fluid be extracted from the flow and placed into separate and individual sample containers for testing. Therefore, numerous overlapping steps sometimes need to be performed for the two different analysis instruments, which is ineffective from both a cost and time standpoint.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for analyzing a biological fluid.

Dual analyzer system for biological fluid


A secure decentralized storage system provides scalable security by addressing the performance bottleneck of the security manager and the complexity issue of security administration in large-scale storage systems. The storage system includes: an application client for accessing a file system using a plurality of storage devices and transmitting a command to a storage device; a storage device for storing data and access control entries associated to the data, analyzing the command from the client and performing corresponding operations of the command; a metadata server for storing and managing metadata, such as location and length information of data and system configuration; and a security manager for storing and managing global access control entries and policies of the system and performing the access policy and privilege control according to the global access control entries and policies, such as changing the priority and inheritance rule of access control entries, adding and deleting the access control entries.

The disclosed invention generally relates to a secure decentralized storage system, and more particularly, to a secure storage system in which storage devices store access control lists associated with protected objects and authorize users according to their identities and access control lists associated with the objects being accessed without the service of a centralized security manger, thus achieving scalable security in large-scale storage systems by avoiding the performance bottleneck of the security manager.
Large-scale and high-performance storage systems have gained increasing importance in data-intensive applications in areas such as scientific computing, engineering design and simulation, databases, etc. These systems enable the client to directly access data from the storage devices to improve the performance and scalability of the system. However attaching storage devices to a client-network renders the storage devices vulnerable to network attacks such as eavesdropping, masquerading, data modification, and replaying. Securing such a large-sale and high-performance storage system presents new challenges because these systems may service tens or hundreds of thousands of clients and storage devices that in turn typically generate concurrent accesses of both random I/O and high data throughput.
Challenge 1: Added threat environment. The primary purpose of networked storage is to enable low-latency data transfers directly between the client and the storage device to provide high-performance data access. As storage systems and individual storage devices themselves become networked, they must defend against the attacks not only on the stored data itself but also on the messages traversing an untrusted, public network.
Challenge 2: Rapid authorization. Due to the large number of nodes, the big size of the data sets, and the concurrency of their accesses, high performance computing (HPC) and data-intensive applications generate an extremely high aggregate I/O demand on the storage subsystem. File accesses and I/O requests are often both extremely bursty and highly parallel [39] in high-performance storage systems. The efficiency of rapidly authorizing I/O requests directly affects the overall performance of the system.
Challenge 3: Complex security management. The main task of security administration is to maintain user's identity information and access privilege information. Commonly, the identity information is stored in a local user database and the access privilege information is organized in the form of access control list or matrix. There may be tens or hundreds of thousands of clients and storage devices in large-scale storage systems. The user database and access control list or matrix will become so large and complex that they may become more difficult and costly to maintain and operate.
Unfortunately, existing security solutions for large-scale storage systems are ill-prepared for addressing the above challenges because of their inherent limitations. For example, current large-scale storage systems have largely ignored security. The decoupled design of large-scale systems that separates metadata data path from data path to enable direct interaction between clients and devices for improved the performance and scalability of the system has made it difficult for storage devices to obtain implicit knowledge of access privileges and authorizations. In order to access an object, a client has to acquire a capability from the metadata server (MDS) or security manager. In a large-scale storage system with tens or hundreds of thousands of clients, this imposes an unacceptable overhead on the MDS or security server. In HPC systems, it is impractical for servers to generate and return that many capabilities in a timely manner.
There are redundancies and loopholes in current security mechanisms for large-scale storage systems. Existing large-scale storage systems authenticate clients at a centralized authorization server by utilizing an existing security infrastructure, such as Kerberos. The authorization server grants the client access to the devices and then the devices enforce decentralized access controls, thus separating identity management from access control. This separation makes the system vulnerable to security attacks and incurs additional cost of access control.
Most of the current security schemes have ignored the complexity and scalability issue of security administration. Capability-based security mechanisms widely used in most of the current security schemes maintain an access control list (ACL) at a centralized authorization server. Given the tens or hundreds of thousands of clients and storage devices in large-scale storage systems, this ACL can become so large and complex that it may be very challenging to maintain. Identity key schemes, which store the role-based access control list along with each object on the devices, reduce the complexity of security administration to a certain extent in an environment with a large number of clients. Nevertheless, as the number of and amount of data on the devices further increase as is the technological trend, data update (e. g. write operations) will still result in an enormous number of permission operations.
The traditional access control provided by ad-hoc, single-purpose systems has become outdated and is being replaced by the identity-based access control, as the world is gradually becoming identity based. Identity determines what you are and what you can do. An identity-based access control system would not only eliminate a number of passwords and user accounts, but also achieve the centralized management of network security. There is a need for a storage system to merge identity management with access control to improve security, convenience and total cost of access control by eliminating the aforementioned redundancies and loopholes in the decoupled designs of parallel file systems and large-scale storage systems.

Huazhong University of Science & Technology


The nuclear reprogramming of somatic cells with mRNA encoding reprogramming factors is shown to be greatly accelerated by activation of innate immune responses in the somatic cell. Methods of activating innate immunity include activation of PKR, of toll-like receptors, e.g. TLR3, etc. In some embodiments the mRNA provides the activator of innate immunity.

Seminal studies by Yamanaka and colleagues revealed that ectopic expression of certain transcriptional factors could induce pluripotency in somatic cells. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) self-renew and differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, making them an appealing option for disease- and patient-specific regenerative medicine therapies. They have been used to successfully model human disease and have great potential for use in drug screening and patient-specific cell therapy. Furthermore, iPSCs generated from diseased cells can serve as useful tools for studying disease mechanisms and potential therapies. However, much remains to be understood about the underlying mechanisms of reprogramming of somatic cells to iPSCs, and there is concern regarding potential clinical applications in the absence of mechanistic insights.
The set of factors (RFs) for reprogramming to pluripotency include Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, Klf4, Lin28, and Nanog. Oct3/4 and Sox2 are transcription factors that maintain pluripotency in embryonic stem (ES) cells while Klf4 and c-Myc are transcription factors thought to boost iPSC generation efficiency. The transcription factor c-Myc is believed to modify chromatin structure to allow Oct3/4 and Sox2 to more efficiently access genes necessary for reprogramming while Klf4 enhances the activation of certain genes by Oct3/4 and Sox2. Nanog, like Oct3/4 and Sox2, is a transcription factor that maintains pluripotency in ES cells while Lin28 is an mRNA-binding protein thought to influence the translation or stability of specific mRNAs during differentiation. Recently, it has been shown that retroviral expression of Oct3/4 and Sox2, together with co-administration of valproic acid, a chromatin destabilizer and histone deacetylase inhibitor, is sufficient to reprogram fibroblasts into iPSCs.
To generate iPSCs from somatic cells, viral vectors or plasmids have been used to overexpress some combination of these reprogramming factors. However, these methods result in a low efficiency of reprogramming and fail to provide precise control of the reprogramming process. Furthermore, these methods for nuclear reprogramming inherently raise concerns about potential tumorigenicity and gene-silencing mutations caused by DNA integration. The integration of foreign DNA into the host genome from retroviral infection raises concerns that the integration of foreign DNA could silence indispensable genes or induce dysregulation of these genes. While Cre-LoxP site gene delivery or PiggyBac transposon approaches have been used to excise foreign DNA from the host genome following gene delivery, neither strategy eliminates the risk of mutagenesis because they leave a small insert of residual foreign DNA.
Recently, another form of nuclear reprogramming has involved the transdifferentiation of one somatic cell to another, using a similar approach as in generating iPSCs. However, in this case, most investigators have used exogenous DNA encoding lineage specific transcription factors. One can also employ conditional expression of the Yamanaka factors to induce "partially reprogrammed" cells, and then maintain the cells in medium that favors the generation of the somatic cell of interest. See Ginsberg et al. (2012) Cell 151(3):559-75; and Li et al. (2013) Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 33(6):1366-75.
Another form of nuclear reprogramming is related to telomere extension. Generally, somatic cells do not have telomerase activity. One can employ an activator of innate immunity and the telomerase enzyme and/or its RNA subunit TERC, to increase telomere length. In this case, the activator of innate immunity enhances the telomere extension as it increases endogenous telomerase activity and/or increases epigenetic plasticity so that the telomerase enzyme can interact more efficiently with the telomeric region of the chromosomes.
As an alternative to reprogramming with foreign DNA, approaches have been developed that transfer mRNA encoding reprogramming factors into somatic cells. A mmRNA based approach for iPSC generation or transdifferentiation to a different somatic cell type avoids concerns for integration of foreign DNA, and provides for greater control over the concentration, timing, and sequence of factor stimulation. Cytosolic delivery of mRNA into mammalian cells can be achieved using electroporation or by complexing the RNA with a cationic vehicle to facilitate uptake by endocytosis, or by incorporating the RNA in exosomes, nanoparticles or microparticles. See, for example Warren et al. (2010) Cell Stem Cell 7(5):618-630, review by Mandal and Rossi (2013) Nat. Protocol. 8(3):568-582; and Yakubov et al. (2010) Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 394(1):189-93. To enhance the functionality activity of the mRNA, synthetic messenger RNAs have incorporated modifications designed to bypass innate immune responses. Using In Vitro Co-Transcription capping reactions, synthetic mRNA for these purposes typically incorporates a chemically synthesized 5′ guanine cap which is a structural homolog of the natural 7-methylguanosine [m7G(5′)] cap. This commonly used type of in vitro Transcription (IVT) reaction, however, yields a significant fraction of uncapped RNA products primed with 5′ guanine triphosphates which resembles some viral and bacterial RNAs (see Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, Pa., ed. 5, 2007; and Bieger et al. (1989) J. Bacteriol. 171:141. These RNA products can induce innate immune signaling as they are detected sensors for 5′ triphosphate ssRNA, see Fields Virology, D. Knipe, P. M. Howley, Eds.
Prior art approaches have sought to reduce the immunogenic profile of synthetic RNA by treatment with phosphatase in order to reduce activation of antiviral and bacterial defenses by single stranded 5′ triphosphate RNA. Additional modifications to reduce innate immune responses to transfected RNA can include the incorporation of modified ribonucleoside bases, for example 5-methylcytidine (5 mC) for cytidine, and/or pseudouridine (psi) for uridine. The cells can also be grown in media supplemented with a type I interferon decoy receptor, for example the vaccinia B18R protein.
However significant problems have remained in the actual practice of such methods. The present invention addresses this issue.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Activation of innate immunity for enhanced nuclear reprogramming of somatic cells with mRNA

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A device, method and software program that allows a network device to remain synchronized to a master device while minimizing its own power consumption is disclosed. The network device exits a low power mode at regular intervals in order to receive a synchronous communication from a master device. Once the network device has received enough information to confirm that this synchronous communication is from the correct master device, the network device may then return to the low power mode, even before the entirety of the synchronous communication has been received. This may reduce the time that the network device is in the active state by more than 90% in certain instances.

Bluetooth is one of many wireless network protocols that are currently in use. Bluetooth is commonly used to connect smartphones to watches, headphones, speakers, and other accessories. Bluetooth low energy utilizes 40 physical channels in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, each channel separated by 2 MHz.
Additionally, Bluetooth has added direction finding capability to the protocol, allowing properly configured devices to determine the angle of arrival or angle of departure to a specific beacon.
Further, Bluetooth also supports several types of synchronous unidirectional communications. For example, the Bluetooth specification describes a feature known as periodic advertising. In this mode, a master device transmits an advertisement at regular intervals on a predetermined channel. The transmission of this advertisement occurs at regular intervals. These regular intervals may be multiples of 1.25 milliseconds, between 7.5 milliseconds and 81.91875 seconds. In this way, a network device is able to enter a low power state and can wake up at predetermined times in order to receive the next advertisement. Because of clock inaccuracies in both the master device and the network device, the network device must typically awaken for each advertisement in order to maintain synchronization.
In certain embodiments, the periodic advertisement may be used to provide directional information. For example, in Bluetooth, these periodic advertisements may also include a constant tone extension (CTE). The CTE includes a guard period, a reference period, and a plurality of switch slots and sample slots. The duration of each switch slot and sample slot may be 1 μsec or 2 μsec. The CTE is a special extension to the Bluetooth packet that transmits a constant frequency, such as a 250 kHz tone. For example, the CTE may be a string of consecutive "1"'s. In practice, a network device uses a single antenna element of its antenna array to receive the CTE during the guard period and the reference period. The network device may then switch to another antenna element during the switch slots by changing the selection of the analog multiplexer in the radio circuit. The network device samples the tone again with that new antenna element during the sample slot. The network device continues switching the antenna element during each switch slot and sampling the tone during the sample slot. By determining a different in phase between the signals received by the various antenna elements, the network device can determine the angle of arrival. The CTE may be as long as 160 μsec and as short as 16 μsec.
Bluetooth also supports a feature known as isochronous broadcasting. In this mode, the master device transmits events at regular intervals, which may be between 5 milliseconds and 4 seconds, in multiples of 1.25 milliseconds. Each of these events may be divided into one or more subevents. These subevents are typically audio streams. For example, each event may be divided into two subevents, wherein one subevent is an audio stream for a left speaker and the second subevent is an audio stream for a right speaker. The audio stream may be compressed so that there are pauses between consecutive events.
Thus, even though the network device may enter a low power mode for extended periods of time between synchronous communications, the network device may be awake for an extended period of time if the synchronous communication includes a large amount of data, such as a CTE or an audio stream.
Therefore, it would be advantageous if there was a device, method and software program that could allow the network device to remain synchronized to the master device while minimizing its own power consumption.

Packet synchronization information peeking


Disclosed is a display device using a COF operating with a low driving voltage. The present invention includes a display panel, a COF having a connection part on which the display channel is placed and a chip part on which a chip is placed, data lines connected to the COF in a direction toward the chip, the data lines forming curves starting from the display panel, scan lines straightly connected to the COF, the scan lines starting from the panel in the direction toward the chip, scan line connection lines on the connection part, the scan line connection lines connecting the scan lines electrically to the COF, and data line connection lines on the connection part, the data line connection lines connecting the data lines electrically to the COF.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device using a chip on film (COF) operating with a low driving voltage.
2. Background of the Related Art
Lately, display devices having wide image areas are the trend of the times. The display devices have much more data and scan lines in order to improve image quality.
However, if the number of the scan lines is increased to improve the image quality of the display device having a simple matrix structure, there are many limitations on driving the display device.
FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a display device using a COF according to a related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, data lines are connected straight to a chip on film (hereinafter abbreviated COF) from a display panel. And, scan lines, which are arranged on left and right sides of the display panel respectively, extend from the display panel with forming a curve so as to be coupled with the COF.
As mentioned in the above explanation, the scan lines forming curves from both sides of the display panel extend longer than the data lines. Such a structure results in increasing line resistance of the scan lines and further delays a signal response.
In display devices such as EL (electro-luminescence), LED (light emitting diode), FED (field emission display) and the like, the line resistance of the scan lines has a close relation to the driving voltage of the display devices.
Namely, if the line resistance of the scan lines increases, the driving voltage thereof increases as well. Thus, the line resistance of the display device having a low driving voltage is a major issue.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a display device using a COF that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a display device using a COF enabling to reduce line resistance of scan and data lines in a display device.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a display device using a COF according to the present invention includes a display panel, a COF having a connection part on which the display channel is placed and a chip part on which a chip is placed, data and scan lines extending from the display panel, scan line connection lines on the connection part, the scan line connection lines connecting the scan lines electrically to the COF, and data line connection lines on the connection part, the data line connection lines connecting the data lines electrically to the COF, wherein the scan lines are directly connected to the chip on a first line in parallel with an extending line from the COF through the scan line connection lines formed on the COF at both sides of the display panel.
Preferably, the scan line connection lines are straightly connected to the scan lines at both sides of the display panel corresponding to the first line and the data line connection lines are connected to the data lines extending from both sides of the display panel corresponding to the second line. Also, a substrate material of the COF is one of glass and plastic.
In another aspect of the present invention, a display device using a COF includes a display panel, the COF having a connection part on which the display channel is placed and a chip part on which a chip is placed, data and scan lines extending from the display panel, scan line connection lines on the connection part, the scan line connection lines connecting the scan lines electrically to the COF, and data line connection lines on the connection part, the data line connection lines connecting the data lines electrically to the COF, wherein the scan lines are straightly connected to the COF through the scan line connection lines at both sides of the display panel on a first line in parallel with a direction extending from the COF, a portion of the data lines extends toward the chip from both sides of the display panel corresponding to a second line in a direction different from the extending direction of the COF, and the other portion of the data lines extends toward the chip from both sides of the display panel corresponding to a second line in a direction different from the extending line of the COF and is connected to the COF through the data line connection lines.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a display device using a COF includes a display panel, a COF having a connection part on which the display channel is placed and a chip part on which a chip is placed, data and scan lines extending from the display panel, scan line connection lines on the connection part, the scan line connection lines connecting the scan lines electrically to the COF, and data line connection lines on the connection part, the data line connection lines connecting the data lines electrically to the COF, wherein the scan lines are straightly connected to the COF toward the chip through the scan line connection lines at both sides of the display panel on a first line in parallel with an extending direction of the COF, and the data lines are connected to the COF through the data line connection lines from both sides of the display panel on a second line in a direction different from the extending direction of the COF.
Preferably, the scan line connection lines extend straightly on the first line and the data line connection lines form a curve with a predetermined angle so as to extend from the first line to the second line. The predetermined angle is 90xc2x0.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.


An illuminating device for imaging apparatus includes: a light source; plural batteries that supply power to the light source; plural detection voltage generating units that are provided with respect to each battery and generate detection voltages from output voltages of the batteries; a voltage monitoring unit that is supplied with the plural detection voltages, respectively, and determines whether the output voltages of the batteries are equal to or less than a predetermined specified value or not with respect to each battery; and a control unit that turns on/off the supply of the power to the light source based on a determination result of the voltage monitoring unit, wherein detection switches that turn on/off the supply of the detection voltages from the respective detection voltage generating units to the voltage monitoring unit based on the control by the control unit are provided with respect to each battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illuminating device for imaging apparatus.
2. Background Art
There are illuminating devices such as a video light mounted on an imaging apparatus such as a video camera for irradiating a subject with imaging auxiliary light (see JP-A-11-237661 (patent document 1)).
As such an illuminating device, there is provided an illuminating device that operates without power supply from the imaging apparatus but with a battery mounted in the device itself as power supply independent from the electronic equipment.
By the way, when current is allowed to flow in a condition in which the output voltage thereof is equal to or less than a predetermined specified value, over discharge occurs in the battery and the performance is deteriorated due to leak or the like. Accordingly, a function of monitoring the output voltage of the battery and stopping the power supply from the battery to the light source when the output voltage becomes equal to or less than the specified value is provided in the illuminating device.
In order to realize the function, a detection voltage generating unit that generates a detection voltage from the output voltage of the battery and a voltage monitoring unit that monitors the detection voltage generated by the detection voltage generating unit are provided in the illuminating device, and thereby, when the voltage monitoring unit determines that the output voltage of the battery is equal to or less than the specified value, the power supply from the battery to the light source is turned off.

Illuminating device for imaging apparatus


A hot rolled steel sheet is provided, which is excellent in collision characteristics, excellent in anisotropy of toughness, and high in strength. The hot rolled steel sheet is characterized by containing, by mass %, C: 0.10% to 0.50%, Si: 0.10% to 3.00%, Mn: 0.5% to 3.0%, P: 0.100% or less, S: 0.010% or less, Al: 1.00% or less, N: 0.010% or less and a balance of Fe and impurities, wherein a metal structure at position of ¼ thickness from surface in L-cross-section of the steel sheet comprises prior austenite grains of average value of aspect ratios of 2.0 or less, average grain size of 0.1 μm to 3.0 μm, and coefficient of variation of a standard deviation of grain size distribution/average grain size of 0.40 or more, and a texture with X-ray diffraction intensity ratio of {001}<110>orientation for random samples of 2.0 or more, and the steel sheet has tensile strength of 1180 MPa or more.

In recent years, for improvement of the fuel efficiency and collision safety of automobiles, there have been numerous attempts to lighten car bodies through use of high strength steel sheet. However, if making steel sheet high in strength, in general the toughness deteriorates. For this reason, in development of high strength steel sheet, improvement of the strength without causing deterioration of the toughness is an important topic. In particular, in high strength steel sheet used for automobile members, it is important to secure collision characteristics. Here, to improve the toughness, it is generally known to improve the toughness by rolling the steel at a low temperature and imparting a high cumulative strain by the nonrecrystallized austenite.
As opposed to this, PTL 1 proposes cold rolled steel sheet obtained by making the reduction rate and the average strain rate at 860 to 960° C. where austenite becomes the nonrecrystallized region suitable ranges to make the volume rate of the structures transformed from the nonrecrystallized austenite increase and using the fine grain structures created by hot rolling to improve the toughness of the cold rolled steel sheet. However, there is the problem that if making the rolling reduction in nonrecrystallized austenite increase, the aspect ratio of the prior austenite grains becomes higher and the anisotropy of toughness becomes stronger.
PTL 2 proposes a hot rolled steel sheet obtained by making the finishing temperature higher and raising the rolling reduction at 1000° C. or less to promote the recrystallization of austenite and shorten the time up to cooling after rolling to thereby reduce the anisotropy. However, by raising the rolling reduction at 1000° C. or less, recrystallization is promoted, but since the finishing rolling is performed at a high temperature, recrystallization is promoted between the stands and it is not possible to maintain a high strain at the final stand. For this reason, there is the problem that only coarse recrystallized prior austenite grains are formed and the toughness deteriorates.
To deal with this, PTL 3 proposes a hot rolled steel sheet obtained by making the cumulative rolling reduction at over 840° C. 30% or more and making the rolling reduction at 840° C. or less 30% to 75% to keep down the aspect ratio of the prior austenite grains and make the crystal grain size 10 μm to 60 μm. However, when rolling steel at 840° C. or less, no recrystallization occurs and the grains grow by the introduced strain, so there is the problem of the crystal grains becoming coarser.

Hot rolled steel sheet and method for producing same


A motor controller (30) includes three analog Hall-effect sensors (42, 44, 46) for forming continuous-time signals proportional to the sine and cosine of the position of the rotor (24) of a motor (20). The sine and cosine signals are differentiated to obtain signals proportional to the rotor rate times the sine and cosine values. These integrated values are then multiplied by the cosine and inverse of the sine values, respectively, to obtain values equal to the rotor rate times the square of the cosine and the rotor rate times the square of the sine. These latter two values are summed to obtain an output signal proportional to the rotor rate based on the trigonometric identity sin2(x)+cos2(x)=1. Since the motor controller (30) derives a high-resolution value for the rotor rate, it may be used for fine resolution control of brushless motors and the like.

This invention relates generally to electric motors, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for fine resolution control of electric motors.
Electric motors are used in many different types of applications. Some of these applications allow low precision motor control and in these applications low-cost motors and motor controllers may be used. For example one well-known technique applicable to systems that require a constant motor speed performs rate control using low-cost digital Hall-effect sensors. The outputs of these sensors are used to determine motor position and velocity. When the rotor of the motor rotates to a certain position the digital Hall effect sensors change state and trigger the commutation logic to switch the drivers into the next state. The switching can also be used for rate control.
Other applications such as autopilot servo systems require much more precise control. The problem is compounded by the fact that these systems often use brushless motors to decrease the inertia in the rotor for quick speed adjustment. However because of their lower inertia brushless motors are subject to a jerky motion that may be caused by the control loop. This jerky motion can be felt by passengers and is highly undesirable.
There are several known techniques for improving the precision of the motor control loops. The whole control loop may be made as a servo system, but such a system is large and expensive. Additional sensors may be used, such as optical sensors, additional Hall-effect sensors, or tachometers. These additional sensors make the systems more expensive.
Another technique uses analog Hall-effect sensors. According to this technique the analog Hall-effect sensors are used to form the sine and cosine functions of the rotor position. The ratio of the sine to cosine then forms the tangent, and the arctangent of the sine/cosine ratio can be used to calculate motor position and derived rate. However this method exhibits periodic errors and can result in motor speed fluctuations when used in a motor control loop, and thus is not useful in systems that need precise control.

Method and apparatus for fine resolution brushless motor control


A method is provided for producing a solid-state imaging device in which a plurality of pixels are arranged two-dimensionally so as to form a photosensitive region, each of the pixels including a photodiode that photoelectrically converts incident light to store a signal charge and read-out elements for reading out the signal charge from the photodiode, and a vertical driving circuit for driving the plurality of pixels in the photosensitive region in a row direction, a horizontal driving circuit for driving the same in a column direction and an amplify circuit for amplifying an output signal are formed with MOS transistors. The method includes: forming an element isolation region with a STI (Shallow Trench Isolation) structure between the plurality of photodiodes and the plurality of MOS transistors; and forming a gate oxide film of the MOS transistors to have a thickness of 10 nm or less. All of heat treatment processes after formation of gates of the MOS transistors are performed at a temperature range that does not exceed 900° C. In a MOS-type solid-state imaging device having a fine structure, the occurrence of image defects can be suppressed sufficiently.

A solid-state imaging device using an active pixel MOS sensor has a configuration in which a signal detected by a photodiode in each pixel is amplified by a transistor, and has a high sensitivity. In addition, this solid-state imaging device can be produced by adding a photodiode formation process to a CMOS logic process, and therefore has features of allowing the shortened developing times, low cost and low power consumption.
FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration of a conventional MOS type solid-state imaging device. In this solid-state imaging device, a plurality of pixels 6 are arranged two-dimensionally so as to constitute a pixel region 7. Each pixel 6 is composed of a unit cell having a photodiode 1; a transfer transistor 2 that transfers a signal of the photodiode; a reset transistor 3 that resets a signal charge; an amplify transistor 4 that amplifies the transferred signal charge and a vertical selection transistor 5 that selects a line from which a signal is to be read. Reference numeral 8 denotes a portion for the connection with a pixel region power supply. At a peripheral circuit region of this pixel region 7, a vertical selection unit 9, a load transistor group 10, a row signal storing unit 11 including a switch transistor and a horizontal selection unit 12 that supplies a column selection signal are arranged.
Vertical selection transistor control lines 13 provided horizontally from the vertical selection unit 9 are each connected with gates of the vertical selection transistors 5 of the corresponding pixels 6, and determine a row from which a signal is to be read. A reset transistor control line 14 is connected with gates of the reset transistors 3. A transfer transistor control line 15 is connected with gates of the transfer transistors 2. A source of the vertical selection transistor 5 is connected with a vertical signal line 16. One end of the vertical signal line 16 is connected with the load transistor group 10 and the other end is connected with the row signal storing unit 11 that includes a switch transistor for capturing a signal corresponding to one row. A signal stored in the row signal storing unit 11 is output successively in accordance with a selection pulse supplied from the horizontal selection unit 12.
When a row selection pulse is applied so as to set a vertical selection transistor control line 13 to a high level, vertical selection transistors 5 in this row only turn ON, thus constituting a source follower circuit with the amplify transistors 4 in the selected row and the load transistor group 10. While the vertical selection transistor control line 13 is at a high level, the corresponding reset transistor control line 14 is set to a high level, whereby a potential of a floating diffusion layer that is connected with a gate region of each of the amplify transistors 4 is reset. Furthermore, while the vertical selection transistor control line 13 is at a high level, the corresponding transfer transistor control line 15 is set to a high level, which allows a signal charge stored in the photodiodes 1 to be transferred to the floating diffusion layer. At this time, the amplify transistors 4 connected to the floating diffusion layer have a gate voltage equal to the potential of the floating diffusion layer, resulting in a voltage that is substantially equal to this gate voltage appearing across the vertical signal line 16, so that the signal is transferred to the row signal storing unit 11 including a switch transistor. Next, the signal in the row signal storing unit 11 is output as an output signal corresponding to one row in accordance with a column selection signal generated successively from the horizontal selection unit 12.
As one example configuring the above-stated MOS type imaging device, JP 2001-345439 A discloses a method for producing a fine CMOS image sensor. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a MOS type solid-state imaging device disclosed in JP 2001-345439 A. Region A shows a pixel region and region B shows a peripheral circuit region.
On a P-type silicon substrate 20, gate electrodes 23a, 23b and 23c are formed via a gate insulation film (silicon oxide film) 22. Herein, the gate electrode 23a in region A is a read-out gate electrode and the gate electrode 23b is a reset or address gate electrode. Reference numeral 21 denotes an element isolation portion with a Shallow Trench Isolation (STI) structure (hereinafter called STI). The STI structure is used for a finer pattern of 0.25 μm technology or finer.
In region A, a N-type signal storing region 25 of a photodiode and a N-type drain region 24a are formed at a surface region of the silicon substrate 20. In region B, a N-well 26 and a P-well 27 are formed in the silicon substrate 20, and in these N-well 26 and P-well 27, a P-type LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) region 24b and a N-type LDD region 24c respectively are formed.
In such a MOS-type solid-state imaging device, a signal charge stored in the signal storing region 25 of the photodiode is read out to the N-type drain region 24a by applying a positive voltage to the read-out electrode 23a. As a result, a potential of the drain region 24a is modulated. The drain region 24a is electrically connected with the gate electrode 23b of the amplify transistor, so that an amplified electric signal is output to a signal line. In this step, a reset transistor and a reset gate line 23b that are for electrically resetting the drain region 24a, an amplify transistor, an address transistor and an address gate line 23b that are for addressing the amplify transistor are used.
The above-stated conventional solid-state imaging device has the following problems:    (1) Since the MOS-type solid-state imaging device is produced by a method in which a photodiode formation process is added to a CMOS logic process, no specific measures for suppressing image defects (especially typified by white flaws) as one of the properties of a solid-state imaging device are taken.    (2) The production process of the MOS-type solid-state imaging device is based on a CMOS logic process, and therefore this process is tuned so as to realize a favorable basic performance of N-type and P-type transistors. Therefore, if the production process such as a heat treatment is modified, the performance of transistors may deteriorate.
In a fine CMOS logic process, the element isolation is performed with STI, the gate is a dual gate of P-MOS and N-MOS and RTA (Rapid Thermal Anneal) is adopted as the heat treatment. Usually, RTA is carried out at a temperature above 900° C. and up to 1100° C., and may be defined as an anneal carried our for a time period of up to 2 minutes such as a spike anneal carried out in 0.1 second.
According to such a configuration, however, stress due to a rapid temperature change tends to remain, so that it is difficult to suppress image defects when a fine solid-state imaging device is to be manufactured.

Method for producing solid-state imaging device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The present invention generally relates to skin-mountable devices. A device in accordance with the invention comprises a skin-mountable unit having a mounting surface comprising adhesive for adhering the unit to the skin of a subject, and a handling unit releasably attached to the skin-mountable unit. The handling unit comprises an interior space at least partially accommodating the skin-mountable unit and has an opening through which the skin-mountable unit can be moved when detached from the handling unit, the handling unit having a portion surrounding the opening. A seal member is releasably attached to the circumferential portion, providing a closed space for the skin-mountable unit. The device allows for easy handling. The user can grip the handling unit and handle the combined device during operation. The handling unit can be designed and optimized for ease of use during manipulation of the skin-mountable unit.

In the disclosure and discussion of the present invention reference is mostly made to the treatment of diabetes by injection or infusion of insulin, however, this is only an exemplary use of the present invention.
Portable drug delivery devices for delivering a drug to a patient are well known and generally comprise a reservoir adapted to contain a liquid drug and having an outlet in fluid communication with a transcutaneous access device such as a hollow infusion needle, as well as expelling means for expelling a drug out of the reservoir and through the skin of the subject via the hollow needle. Such devices are often termed infusion pumps.
Basically, infusion pumps can be divided into two classes. The first class comprises durable infusion pumps which are relatively expensive pumps intended for 3-4 years use, for which reason the initial cost for such a pump often is a barrier to this type of therapy. Although more complex than traditional syringes and pens, the pump offer the advantages of continuous infusion of insulin, precision in dosing and optionally programmable delivery profiles and user actuated bolus infusions in connections with meals.
Addressing the above problem, several attempts have been made to provide a second class of drug infusion devices that are low in cost and convenient to use. Some of these devices are intended to be partially or entirely disposable and may provide many of the advantages associated with an infusion pump without the attendant cost and inconveniences, e.g. the pump may be prefilled thus avoiding the need for filling or refilling a drug reservoir. Examples of this type of infusion devices are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,340,048 and 4,552,561 (based on osmotic pumps), U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,001 (based on a piston pump), U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,148 (based on a membrane pump), U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,895 (based on a flow restrictor pump (also know as a bleeding hole pump), U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,288 (based on a gas generating pump), or US patent (based on a swellable gel) which all in the last decades have been proposed for use in inexpensive, primarily disposable drug infusion devices, the cited documents being incorporated by reference.
The disposable pumps generally comprises a skin-contacting mounting surface adapted for application to the skin of a subject by adhesive means, and with the infusion needle arranged such that in a situation of use it projects from the mounting surface to thereby penetrate the skin of the user, whereby the place where the needle penetrates the skin is covered while the appliance is in use.
The infusion needle may be arranged to permanently project from the mounting surface such that the needle is inserted simultaneously with the application of the infusion pump. Examples of this configuration can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,605,765, 4,340,048 and in EP 1 177 802. Although this configuration provides a simple and cost-effective solution, the actual user-performed piercing of the tissue with the needle is often problematic as people who are not experts in medicine are usually insufficiently practised to place such a needle correctly and they often suffer from a fear of the likely pain.
Addressing the above problem, infusion pump devices have been proposed in which the pump device is supplied to the user with the needle in a retracted state, i.e. with the distal pointed end of the needle "hidden" inside the pump device, this allowing the user to place the pump device on the skin without the possibility of observing the needle. When first the needle is hidden, at least some of the fear is overcome making the introduction of the needle in a second step less problematic. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,858,001 and 5,814,020 disclose infusion devices of this type in which an infusion needle is arranged in an upper housing portion pivotably arranged relative to a base plate portion. In this way the user can introduce the needle by pressing the upper portion into engagement with the base plate portion.
To further reduce the fear and pain associated with the introduction of the needle, many recent pump devices have been provided with actuatable needle insertion means, which just has to be released by the user after which e.g. spring means quickly will advance the needle through the skin.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,895 discloses a liquid drug delivery device comprising a bent injection needle which is adapted to project through a needle aperture in the bottom surface of the housing in a situation of use. A movable needle carrier is disposed in the housing for carrying the injection needle and for causing the injection end of the needle to project through the needle aperture upon movement of the needle carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,814 discloses an infusion device having a housing with a drug reservoir, an infusion needle (or cannula) communicating with the reservoir, means for inserting the needle, and pump means for discharging the reservoir contents through the needle. The needle is fixed relative to the housing and projects beyond the lower skin-contacting surface of the housing to the depth required for injection. The needle is surrounded by a protective element which is moved by spring means from a first end position in which the protective device projects beyond the lower surface of the housing and beyond the needle to a second end position in which the protective device does not project beyond the underside of the casing. An advantage of this design is that the needle is arranged in a fixed position relative to the reservoir. WO 02/15965 discloses a similar infusion device in which a base plate member acts as a protecting element until an upper part of the device, to which the needle is fixed, is moved down into engagement with the base plate member.
In the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,957,895 and 5,931,814 the needle is automatically inserted by the release of pre-tensioned spring means arranged within the devices, whereas in the device known from WO 02/15965 the needle is inserted by the user actively moving the hidden needle. Although the automatic needle insertion means adds convenience for the user and may serve to overcome needle fear, such means also adds to the complexity and bulkiness of the device, the first issue adding to the cost of the device, the latter issue making the device less attractive and convenient to wear.
As the above-described infusion devices all comprise a subcutaneous needle, the devices have to be supplied to the user in a sterile state, i.e. in a sterile package.
Before turning to the disclosure of the present invention, a different type of device relying on the insertion of a needle or needle-like structure will be described.
Although drug infusion pumps, either disposable or durable, may provide convenience of use and improved treatment control, it has long been an object to provide a drug infusion system for the treatment of e.g. diabetes which would rely on closed loop control, i.e. being more or less fully automatic, such a system being based on the measurement of a value indicative of the condition treated, e.g. the blood glucose level in case of insulin treatment of diabetes.
A given monitor system for measuring the concentration of a given substance may be based on invasive or non-invasive measuring principles. An example of the latter would be a non-invasive glucose monitor arranged on the skin surface of a patient and using near-IR spectroscopy, however, the present invention is concerned with the introduction of a transcutaneous device such as a needle-formed sensor element.
The sensor may be placed subcutaneously being connected to external equipment by wiring or the substance (fluid) to be analysed may be transported to an external sensor element, both arrangements requiring the placement of a subcutaneous component, the present invention addressing both arrangements. However, for simplicity the term "sensor" is used in the following for both types of sensor elements.
Turning to the sensor elements per se, relatively small and flexible electrochemical sensors have been developed for subcutaneous placement of sensor electrodes in direct contact with patient blood or other extra-cellular fluid (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,473), wherein such sensors can be used to obtain periodic or continuous readings over a period of time. Insertion devices for this type of sensors are described in, among others, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,390,671, 5,391,950, 5,568,806 and 5,954,643 which hereby are incorporated by reference.
More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,643 discloses an insertion set comprising a mounting base supporting a proximal end of a flexible thin film sensor, the sensor including a distal segment with sensor electrodes thereon which protrudes from the mounting base for transcutaneous placement, wherein the sensor distal segment is slidably carried by a slotted insertion needle fitted through the assembled base. Placement of the insertion set against the patient's skin causes the insertion needle to pierce the skin to carry the sensor electrodes to the desired subcutaneous site, after which the insertion needle can be slidably withdrawn from the insertion set. A similar arrangement is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,806.