The instant invention provides a two-step polymerization process for preparing amphiphilic poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone), (PVP)-block-polyester copolymers and other diblock and triblock copolymers consisting of PVP as one block. The block copolymers of the invention can be used as vehicles for drug delivery.

The synthesis of well-defined polymers with controlled chain end functionalities is important for the achievement of nanotechnology. These polymers have been especially important as potential drug delivery vehicles. In the last decade, the use of various controlled polymerizations have resulted in well-defined copolymers with different designs. For example, nitroxide-mediated polymerization, dithio component-mediated reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) are controlled processes, which offer control over molecular weight and molecular architecture (diblock, grafted or tapered copolymers). However, a few monomers such as vinyl acetate and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) do not form radicals stabilized by resonance and inductive effects, and therefore the polymerization of these monomers has not yet been performed efficiently by controlled radical polymerizations. Matyjaszewski et al. (Am. Chem. Soc. Symp. Ser. 685:258 1998 and J. Polym. Sci. Part A:Polym. Chem. 36:823-830 1998) reported the homopolymerization of VP using Me4Cyclam as a ligand. Chain end functionalities were difficult to obtain using the synthetic pathway described by Matyjaszewski et al.
The instant inventors are interested in functionalized and well-defined poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) as a replacement for poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in diverse drug delivery systems. Although a number of diblock or triblock copolymers can form micelles in aqueous solution, few among them are truly suitable as drug carriers due to biocompatibility issues [Alexandridis et al. Current Opinion Colloid & Interface Science 2:478-489 1997; Rapoport et al. J. Pharm. Sci. 91:157-170 2002; Kabanov et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 54:223-233 2002; Nishiyama et al. Langmuir 15:377-383 1999; Kakizawa et al. Langmuir 18:4539-4543 2002; Katayose et al. Bioconjugate Chem. 8:702-707 1997; Yamamoto et al. J. Controlled Release 82:359-371 2002; Liggins et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 54:191-202 2002; Kim et al. J. Controlled Release 72:191-202 2001; Yoo et al. J. Controlled Release 70:63-70 2001; Luo et al. Bioconjugate Chem. 13:1259-1265 2002; Lim Soo et al. Langmuir 18:9996-10004 2002; Gref et al. Science 263:1600-1603 1994 and Burt et al. Colloids Surf. B 16:161-171 1999]. Many studies have reported the use of polyester-block-poly(ethylene glycol) block copolymers [Yamamoto et al.; Liggins et al.; Kim et al.; Yoo et al.; Luo et al.; Lim Soo et al.; Gref et al. and Burt et al. journal citations, supra]. PEG is widely used as hydrophilic arm on the surface of nanoparticles [Kissel et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 54:99-134 2002], liposomes [Gabizon et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 24:337-344 1997]and polymeric micelles [Jones et al. Eur. J. Pharm. Biopharm. 48:101-111 1999; Kataoka et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 47:113-131 2001 and Kabanov et al. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 54:759-779 2002]. The PEG-based outer shell can actually prevent the nanocarrier uptake by the mononuclear phagocytic system via steric effects [Jones et al.; Kataoka et al. and Kabanov et al. journal citations; supra]. This prevention substantially improves the circulation time of polymeric micelles in the blood stream. In cancer treatment, this prolonged time generally results in a selective accumulation in a solid tumor due to the enhanced permeability and retention effect of the vascular endothelia at the tumor site [Yokoyama et al. Cancer Res. 50:1693-1700 1990; Yokoyama et al. Cancer Res. 51:3229-3236 1991; Kwon et al. J. Controlled Release 29:17-23 1994; Yokoyama et al. J. Controlled Release 50:79-92 1998 and Yamamoto et al. J. Controlled Release 77:27-38 2001]. However, since aggregation of nanoparticles with PEG as corona occurs during lyophilization, it features some limitations. Thus, PEG is not ideally suited for efficient use in drug delivery systems.
Functionalized and well-defined PVP is an ideal component for replacement of PEG in drug delivery systems. PVP has been proven to be biocompatible [Haaf et al. Polymer J. 17:143-152 1985] and has been extensively used in pharmaceutical industry. Particularly, PVP can be used as cryoprotectant [Doebbler et al. Cryobiology 3:2-11 1966] and lyoprotectant [Deluca et al. J. Parent. Sci. Technol. 42:190-199 1988]. Hence, replacing PEG with PVP in drug delivery systems might help to overcome some freeze drying problems.
Torchilin et al. [J. Microencapsulation 15:1-19 1998] pioneered the study of PVP as hydrophilic corona of liposomes. The design of polymeric micelles with PVP outer shell have presented promising features for pharmaceutical uses. Thus, Benahmed et al. [Pharm. Res. 18:323-328 2001] reported the preparation of PVP-based micelles consisting of degradable diblock copolymers. In the work of Benahmed et al., PVP synthesis using 2-isopropoxyethanol as chain transfer agent was inspired from by previous work of Ranucci et al. [Macromol. Chem. Phys. 196:763-774 1995 and Macromol. Chem. Phys. 201:1219-12252000]. However, this synthetic procedure produced a lack of control over molecular weight, and did not quantitatively provide hydroxyl-terminated PVP, which is essential for polymerizing DL-lactide [Benahmed et al. Pharm Res. 18:323-3282001]. Moreover, the removal of 2-isopropoxy-ethanol from the polymer turned out to be difficult because of its high boiling point (42-44° C. at 13 mmHg) and its binding to PVP via hydrogen bonding [Haaf et al. Polymer J. 17:143-1521985]. Alcohol entrapment into polymer might cause problems for subsequent reactions which require anhydrous and aprotic conditions such as the synthesis of poly(D,L-lactide). Sanner et al. [Proceeding of the International Symposium on Povidone, University of Kentucky: Lexington, Ky., 1983, pp. 20] reported the synthesis of hydroxyl-terminated PVP oligomers via free radical polymerization in isopropyl alcohol (IPA), using cumene hydroperoxide as an initiator. 1H-NMR spectra have shown that there were 1.3 end groups of 2-hydroxyisopropyl per chain. It is suggested that significant termination by bimolecular combination occurred, between either a primary solvent radical and the propagating chains [Liu et al. Macromolecules 35:1200-1207 2002].
U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,859 (Leroux et al.) discloses a class of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)-block-polyester copolymers. Such PVP block copolymers represent new biocompatible and degradable polymeric micellar systems which do not contain PEG, but which exhibit suitable properties as drug carriers. PVP shows remarkable diversity of interactions towards non-ionic and ionic cosolutes. Prior to the disclosure by Leroux et al., only a random graft copolymer, poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)-graft-poly (L-lactide) had been described in the literature [Eguiburu et al. Polymer 37:3615-3622 1996].
In the synthesis of the amphiphilic diblock copolymer disclosed by Leroux et al. hydroxy-terminated PVP was prepared by radical polymerization using 2-isopropoxyethanol as a chain transfer agent. The block copolymer was obtained by anionic ring opening polymerization. Although the strategy of Leroux et al. works very well for the preparation of the desired amphiphilic diblock copolymers in the laboratory, several problems remain to be solved in order to achieve a scalable process. The use of crown ether and the need of dialysis and ultra-centrifugation for the copolymer purification are not desirable on an industrial scale. Furthermore, in the process disclosed by Leroux et al., the degree of functionalization of hydroxyl-terminated PVP was not assessed.
What is lacking in the art is a process for preparing hydroxyl-terminated PVP, and using such functionalized PVP to prepare amphiphilic PVP-block-polyester block copolymers as well as other diblock or triblock copolymers consisting of PVP as one block; wherein the molecular weight, polydispersity index and functionality of the PVP can be controlled and wherein the process can be carried out on an industrial scale.

Process for the preparation of amphiphilic poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) block copolymers


A microfluidic device (100) made from glass, ceramic or vitroceramic, comprises an upper layer (122), a lower layer (124) and an intermediate layer (114), the intermediate layer (114) comprising an upper face (114b) and a lower face (114a), the lower face (114a) comprising a first open structured surface defining a first microfluidic channel (126) and the upper face (114b) comprising a second open structured surface defining a second microfluidic channel (112); the lower surface of the intermediate layer (114) cooperating with a first planar layer closing the first microchannel (126); the upper face (114b) of the intermediate layer (114) cooperating with a second planar layer (130), closing the second microfluidic channel (112) in a sealed manner, and the second planar layer constituting an intermediate layer (130) which cooperates, on its face opposite the intermediate layer (114), with another layer (122) comprising on its inner face (122a) a structured surface defining a third microfluidic channel (128).

European patent application EP 1 964 817 to Corning Inc. teaches a method for fabricating microfluidic devices made from glass, ceramic or vitroceramic, by die casting of the material containing glass with heating to make the material viscous and to shape it to define a sheet having an open structure face provided to constitute a microfluidic channel. To produce the casting of this structured surface to form the microfluidic channel, a rigid mould is used, for example made from a graphite block (see the fabrication method of the mould and of the glass sheet, paragraphs [0044] and [0045]).
This document also describes the assembly of a plurality of microfluidic sheets comprising structured surfaces sealed together at 800° C. in air to constitute the microfluidic device (see paragraph [0047] to [0049]).
This microfluidic device made from glass, ceramic or vitroceramic can be used as a small-volume chemical reactor. The micro-processing chamber defined by a microfluidic channel is obtained by combining at least two glass, ceramic or vitroceramic layers or sheets sealed together.
It is therefore very important for the seal to be perfectly tight and for the two sheets or layers to be perfectly or nearly perfectly aligned during their stacking upon one another.
The sealing between the two glass, ceramic or vitroceramic sheets or layers stacked up on one another is generally carried out by depositing a glass, ceramic or vitroceramic frit on the surface to be sealed, followed by a thermal cycle to produce the viscous flow of the frit layer on the surface of the structures to be sealed and to remove the organic products which are generally present in the frit formulation.
A microfluidic device according to this document is shown in appended FIG. 1.
In addition to a proper alignment of the layers to be sealed, it is necessary to have a uniform coating of the surface to be sealed, in particular at the protuberances defining the sides of the microfluidic channel.
Document WO 2005/090227 also teaches a stack structure and a method for fabricating the same.
According to this document, the stacking of the micro-reactors 2 defining microchannels 2c is carried out by means of the combination of an electrically conducting buffer film and a layer in the form of a metal or metal alloy bonding film, for producing a bond by oxidation of the metal or of the alloy by the oxygen atoms contained in the glass structure 2 (see page 8, line 5 to pages 9 and 11), in particular. This oxidizing method is called an anode bonding method. This document proposes a solution which is very costly and which introduces the use of metals or alloys in a structure of microfluidic devices, whereas in the context of this disclosure, glass, ceramic or vitroceramic compositions are used essentially or exclusively, and the use of metal or alloy is to be avoided.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,558 B2 constitutes another document which describes the fabrication of a microfluidic cell for the optical detection of gas, which combines layers of glass such as Pyrex, which are sealed together, by means of a silicon nitride film by an anode bonding method (see column 8, lines 8 to 53 in particular).
Once again, the present disclosure is aimed to eliminate this type of fabrication which requires bonding by an anode method.
It is desirably to supply of a microfluidic device via a solution that allows an easy alignment of the open structures to be sealed, and which culminates in a uniform coverage of the surface of the protuberances of the processing microchannels.

Assembly of flat on structured glass layers


The invention provides a guide unit in which a slider is provided on a rail. The slider comprises a casing and an end cap provided on one end of the casing. The end cap comprises a raceway path which is constituted jointly by the casing and the rail. A direction changing path is provided in the end cap and a return path is provided in the casing. An oil retaining sleeve of porous structure is inserted into the return path. The slider circulates rolling elements in the raceway path, direction changing path and oil retaining sleeve. In the guide unit, a cylindrical guide member is interposed between the direction changing path of the end cap and the oil retaining sleeve. The ratio of a length in the axis line direction of the guide member to the diameter of the rolling element may be between 0.3 to 3.0.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide unit which slidably guides a slider with respect to a rail by the rolling of a plurality of rolling units.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 15 to FIG. 26 show a conventional guide unit. This guide unit is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-90338 (FIG. 2).
The conventional guide unit shown in FIG. 15 is used, for example, in a straight-line guide part of a machine tool and the like and is constituted by a rail 1 fixed on a fixing part, such as a bed, and a slider 2 which fixes a moving body such as a table.
The above-described slider 2 is constituted by a casing 3, end caps 4, 4 fixed to the casing 3 via spacers 5, 5 before and behind thereof in the sliding direction, and end seals e, e which cover the outsides of the end caps 4, 4. The above-described end caps 4, 4, spacers 5, 5 and end seals e, e are fixed to the casing 3 by means of screws N, N. Also, on the bottom surface of the above-described casing 3 is formed a concavity 2a as shown in FIG. 16. And by inserting the above-described rail 1 in this concavity 2a, the slider 2 is provided so as to cross over the rail 1. Incidentally, the above-described end caps 4, 4, spacers 5, 5 and end seals e, e are also provided with quite the same concavities as the concavity 2a of the casing 3 so as to cross over the rail 1.
On side surfaces 1a, 1a of the above-described rail, there are formed raceway grooves 6a, 6a and holding band clearance grooves 6c, 6c in the axis line direction of the rail 1. As shown in FIG. 16, with the slider 2 crossing over the rail 1, raceway grooves 6b, 6b, which are opposed to the above-described raceway grooves 6a, 6a, are formed on the side surfaces of the casing 3, and these raceway grooves 6b, 6b on the slider 2 side and the above-described raceway grooves 6a, 6a on the rail side jointly constitute raceway paths a, a as shown in FIG. 17.
Furthermore, through holes 7, 7 are formed in the above-described casing 3, and oil retaining sleeves 8, 8 which contain a lubricant are inserted into these through holes 7, 7. The oil retaining sleeves 8, 8 will be described in detail later.
Incidentally, the interiors of the oil retaining sleeves 8 inserted into the above-described through holes 7, 7 constitute a return path c.
On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18, the above-described end caps 4, 4 have circular arc grooves 4a, 4a and are provided with semicylindrical connections 10a, 10a on one side of these grooves 4a, 4a and with guide projections 20, 20 on the other side thereof.
Above the grooves 4a, 4a there are formed screw holes n, n to insert the screws N, N. And around these screw holes n, n, as shown in FIG. 19, concavities 23, 23 are formed and these concavities 23, 23 are caused to communicate with each other via a first oil groove 21.
The above-described first oil groove 21 communicates with an oil feeding hole 24, and a lubricant is supplied from this oil feeding hole 24 to the first oil groove 21. The lubricant which has been supplied to this first oil groove 21 is guided via the concavities 23, 23 to a second oil groove 22 and supplied from this second oil groove 22 to the grooves 4a, 4a.
The above-described spacer 5 is, as shown in FIG. 20 to FIG. 23, provided with a pair of passage component members 5a, 5a and the semicylindrical connections 10b, 10b. The passage component members 5a, 5a have circular arc guide surfaces 5c, 5c as shown in FIG. 21. Furthermore, screwholes n, n are formed in the spacers 5, 5.
The spacer 5 constructed as described above is assembled to the end cap 4 as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25. When the spacer 5 is assembled in this manner, as shown in FIG. 17, the grooves 4a, 4a provided in the end cap 4 and the passage component member 5a provided in the spacer 5 jointly constitute U-shaped direction changing paths 9, 9. The direction changing paths 9, 9 formed in this manner cause one opening thereof to communicate with the above-described raceway path a and the other opening thereof to communicate with the above-described return path c. And by ensuring the communication between the raceway path a and the return path c via the direction changing path 9, the raceway path a, direction changing path 9 and return path c jointly constitute an endless circulation path. A large number of metal balls b are put in this circulation path and the balls are caused to perform rolling motions at the contact point between the rail 1 and the slider 2 to maintain smooth movement of the slider 2 with respect to the rail 1.
When the slider 2 moves as described above, the balls b roll in association with the movement. At this time, each ball b circulates continuously via the raceway path a→one direction changing path 9→the return path c→the other direction changing path 9.
Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 17, holding bands 11, 11 are mounted on the casing 3. The holding band 11 is provided to ensure that even when the slider 2 is removed from the rail 1, the balls b do not come off the raceway path a. This holding band 11 enters holding band clearance grooves 6c, 6c when the slider 2 is attached to the rail 1.
In order to maintain high accuracy movement of the slider 2 with respect to the rail 1 for a long period of time in the above-described arrangement, it is necessary not only to reduce the rolling resistance of the balls b, but also to minimize the wear of the rolls b themselves and the wear of the raceway path a and return path c on which the balls b perform rolling motions. For this purpose, it is necessary to periodically or continuously supply a lubricant to the above-described balls b, raceway path a, etc.
In the above-described conventional guide unit, optimum lubrication is maintained by building the oil retaining sleeve 8 which is impregnated with a lubricant into the through hole 7. That is, the above-described oil retaining sleeve 8 is formed from a sintered resin material of porous structure which can contain a lubricant. And the rolling of the balls b within this oil retaining sleeve 8 causes the lubricant which is impregnated in the sleeve 8 to appropriately ooze to the surfaces of the balls b. The rolling of the balls b, to the surfaces of which the lubricant is supplied, on the circulation path causes the lubricant to be supplied also to the whole circulation path.
When the spacer 5 is assembled to the end cap 4 as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 in the conventional guide unit, the connection 10a provided on the end cap 4 side and the connection 10b provided on the spacer 5 side jointly constitute a positioning cylinder 10.
By inserting the above-described positioning cylinder 10 into the through hole 7, the position of the end cap 4 relative to the casing 3 is determined. When the position of the end cap 4 has been determined in this manner, the centers of the direction changing path 9 and the return path c coincide with each other in their respective connections.
If the center of the connection of the direction changing path 9 deviates from the center of the return path c, it follows that a level difference is produced in a boundary between the direction changing path 9 and the return path c, i.e., the oil retaining sleeve 8. If there is a level difference between the boundary between the direction changing path 9 and the oil retaining sleeve 8, then the balls b strike against the edge surface of the oil retaining sleeve 8 when the balls b pass by the boundary, and the rolling resistance is increased by this striking. The higher the rolling resistance, the more the smooth rolling of the balls b will be impaired, and as a result of this, it becomes impossible to maintain the smooth movement of the slider 2 with respect to the rail 1.
In order to prevent such a disadvantage like this, this conventional guide unit is provided with the positioning cylinder 10 and it is ensured that by use of this positioning cylinder 10 the position of the end cap 4 relative to the casing 3 is accurately determined so that the center of the direction changing path 9 and the center of the return path c coincide with each other.
In the above-described conventional guide unit, the striking of the balls b, which are circulating, against an inner wall part d near the opening of this oil retaining sleeve 8 may sometimes cause the wear of this part. That is, as shown in FIG. 26, a centrifugal force works on the ball b which has passed the U-shaped direction changing path 9 and, therefore, this ball b has a component force F in a direction orthogonal to the axis line A of the oil retaining sleeve 8. Therefore, near the opening where the ball b has rolled into the oil retaining sleeve 8, the above-described component force F remains in this ball b. In this manner, with the component force F caused to remain, the ball b which has rolled into the oil retaining sleeve 8 collides against the above-described inner wall part d near this opening of the oil retaining sleeve 8.
As described above, the oil retaining sleeve 8 has a porous structure because it is necessary to contain a lubricating oil. Therefore, the wear resistance of this oil retaining sleeve 8 is low by the amount corresponding to the porous structure. When the metal ball b collides against this oil retaining sleeve 8, the part where the collision occurred wears. And the wear of the oil retaining sleeve 8 becomes more remarkable when the moving speed of the ball b increases and when the mass of the ball b increases. If the ball b passes the inner wall part d near the opening of the oil retaining sleeve 8 which has worn, the smooth rolling of this ball b is impaired. And when the smooth rolling of the ball b has been impaired like this, this gives rise to the problem that it becomes impossible to maintain the high accuracy movement of the slider 2 relative to the rail 1. There is also another problem that noise is generated when the ball b is passing the worn portion of the oil retaining sleeve 8.
The object of the invention is to provide a guide unit which can prevent the wear of the oil retaining sleeve.


Method of knitting a pocket on a knitted garment and reinforcing the upper portion of the pocket by rib knitting. Front and rear knitting needles are provided and the yarn is fed to the rear and front knitting needles as necessary and the stitches are transferred from the front needles to the rear needles and from the rear needle to the front needles as necessary for forming the pocket with the garment.

The present invention relates to a knit fabric and its knitting method in which a pocket is formed, for example, in the front body portion of knit clothes such as a sweater and cardigan integrally, the upper opening part of the pocket being reinforced by rib knitting or the like.
In order to provide a knit fabric having an integrally knitted pocket with a rib knitted portion in its upper opening part and its knitting method without sacrificing the productivity, the present applicant previously proposed those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,242.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,242, a pocket having a rib knitted portion in its upper part is knitted at the same time as a front body portion is knitted. However, in the invention, a heat shrinkable yarn, which is supplied to the knitting needles used in knitting the front fabric at the upper end position of the pocket, needs to be heat treated after casting off from the knitting needles, and therefore, there exists a problem that it is inevitable to avoid high costs and low productivity.

Method of knitting a pocketed fabric with rib knit portion


The determination of the direction of arrival of a radio signal by an antenna array connected to a base station of a radiocommunications system, particularly of an SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access) mobile radio system, is complicated by multipath. A method is known which uses the so-called ESPRIT algorithm and which is especially suited for a reliable estimation of direction, since the receive level (Sm) and the phase position (.phi.m) are measured for each radiating element and entered in a symmetrical matrix (A) in order to then determine the direction of arrival by eigenvalue decomposition.. A simpler and faster method (100) is proposed which involves computing the eigenvector (Wn) corresponding to the dominant eigenvalue (.lambda.1) of this matrix (A), which indicates the direction of arrival (DOA) of the strongest radio signal (S) (steps 130 and 140). The computationally intensive eigenvalue decomposition is eliminated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of determining the direction of arrival of a radio signal distorted by multipath and being received by an antenna array having a plurality of radiating elements, as set forth in the preamble of claim 1. The invention further relates to a radio base station using this method and to a radiocommunications system containing such a base station, as set forth in the preambles of the respective independent claims.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,732 discloses a method of determining the direction of arrival of a radio signal distorted by multipath. The direction of arrival is determined using the so-called ESPRIT algorithm (ESPRIT: Estimation of Signal Parameters using Rotational Invariance Techniques). The radio signals received by an antenna array are evaluated as follows. First, data are collected for each radiating element which specify the receive level and the phase position. From these data, two matrices are formed, namely the so-called auto-covariance matrix and the so-called cross-covariance matrix. Next, by eigen-decomposition of the two matrices, the number of signal sources and the noise variance are determined, from which the so-called subspace rotation operator can be computed, which contains information on the direction of arrival (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,732, at the bottom of column 10). The decomposition of the matrices into their eigenvalues ("eigen-decomposition") is a computationally intensive operation, so that a powerful computer is needed to carry out the method. Since the method is used within a base station which is to receive radio signals from different directions by means of an antenna array, the cost and complexity of the base station are very high.
In an article by S. C. Swales et al, "The Performance Enhancement of Multibeam Adaptive Base-Station Antennas for Cellular Land Mobile Radio Systems", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 39, No. 1, February 1990, pages 56-67, a base station is described which has an adaptive antenna array, a "smart" antenna. To steer the radiation pattern, use is made of a beamformer. The article deals essentially with the design of a cellular radio network in which base stations with such adaptive antenna arrays are used to improve the utilization of the radio resources. This is achieved by reusing one and the same radio frequency for different radio channels in several directions. To avoid interference between neighboring base stations, network planning is carried out with the aid of the "co-channel reuse ratio Q" (see page 59, left column). Nothing is said there about the pointing of the radiation patterns and the required determination of the direction of arrival.
An article by J. S. Thompson, "Smart Antenna Arrays for CDMA Systems", IEEE Personal Communications, October 1996, pages 16-25, describes antenna arrays in which a method of determining the direction of arrival of radio signals is carried out using the ESPRIT algorithm. Accordingly, the computational complexity of this method, too, is very large.

Method of determining the direction of arrival of a radio signal, as well as radio base station and radiocommunications system


A multi-stage optical cross-connect in which sub-switches within the respective stages are spatially distributed relative to sub-switches of adjacent stages such that each input/output of any given sub-switch is respectively optically coupleable with an output/input of a respective sub-switch of an adjacent stage by direct linear optical propagation or by non-interleaving waveguides, such that simple interconnection between stages is provided. The spatial distribution may be accomplished within a single plane or by layering the sub-switches within a given stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical switches for telecommunications and related applications, and particularly to multi-stage optical cross-connects.
2. Technical Background
A cross-connect is generally a big, complex switch, or, more specifically, a device for connecting any one of N signal inputs to any one of M signal outputs. Large cross-connects in practical use today employ complex electronic switching. But because optical signals can carry data for much greater distances at much greater rates than electronic signals, development of optical cross-connects is proceeding in response to ever increasing demand for higher capacity, more efficient telecommunications.
The basic logical structure of a cross-connect is shown schematically in FIG. 1. Any one of the input lines 20 may be selectively connected to any one of the output lines 30. This may be achieved, for example, by a plurality of switching devices positioned at respective cross-points 40 between the input and output lines, where each switching device allows a connection to be selectively established between the associated input and output lines.
In an optical cross-connect, the input lines 20 of FIG. 1 may take the form of waveguides of various forms including those formed on or in a substrate, or optical signal beam paths for unconfined beams propagating in free space or in another medium, or the like. Optical signals entering such a cross-connect along the input lines 20 in the direction A, for example, may be redirected at selected ones of the cross-points 40 so as to exit the switch along desired ones of the output lines 30 in direction B, for example.
Depending on the particular switching devices employed and other factors, the geometry of a typical optical cross-connect may vary from that shown in FIG. 1. For example, the intersection of waveguides or beam paths may be at angles other than right angles, and inputs may arrive in more than one direction A, and outputs may leave in more than one direction B, as shown in FIG. 2, for example. Inputs and outputs may also be interchangeable and/or physically indistinguishable in an optical switch, so one line may function as either or both. Accordingly, while xe2x80x9cinputxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9coutputxe2x80x9d will be used for convenient reference herein, it is to be understood that these are equivalent terms in the context of the optical switches as described and claimed herein, and are understood not to limit the structure and functionality of the inventive devices thus described.
Devices employing frustrated total internal reflection are also known to those of ordinary skill in the art. All these and such other switching devices as known to those of skill in the art may be used in optical switches of the type shown schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2.
One example of such switching devices are small mechanical mirrors known as xe2x80x9cMEMSxe2x80x9d (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) mirrors. MEMS mirrors can be used with either a beam-based or a wave-guide based switch. In either case, the mirrors are positioned at or near the cross-points 40 and are controllably moveable so as to be selectively inserted at the respective cross-points. With a mirror inserted at a selected cross-point, a beam or a guided wave arriving at that cross-point is redirected from direction A to direction B at that cross-point. In a switch employing inputs from two directions A as in FIG. 2, double-surfaced mirrors can be used. An example wave-guide and MEMS-mirror switch is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 99/24,591, filed Oct. 20, 1999, assigned in common with the present application and incorporated herein by reference. An example free-space beam and MEMS mirror optical switch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,132 also incorporated herein by reference.
Another example switching device suggested for use in optical switches of the type shown schematically in FIG. 1 is a fluid injection device. By injecting a fluid into (or removing a fluid from) a cross-point of a waveguide structure, the index of refraction can be varied at the cross-point so as to reflect an incoming guided wave arriving at the crosspoint into the associated output waveguide. The construction and use of such a switching device is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,527 incorporated herein by reference.
Another example switching device suggested for use in optical switches of the type shown schematically in FIG. 1 uses liquid crystals formed within the waveguides at the respective cross-points. The construction and use of such devices is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/604,039 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/431,430, commonly assigned with the present application and incorporated herein by reference.
Devices employing techniques such as photonic crystals or frustrated total internal reflection are also known to those of ordinary skill in the art. All these and such other switching devices as known to those of skill in the art may be used in optical switches of the type shown schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Where waveguides are used (rather than beams) for light propagation within the switch, the crossing pattern of the input and output lines shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be folded back on itself, such as is as shown schematically in FIG. 3. An example of a switch of this design using MEMS mirrors is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,506, incorporated herein by reference.
While all of the above-described switching devices may be useful in switch designs such as those of FIGS. 1-3, as the scale of the switch increases, these switch designs are less practical. The number of cross-points typically increases as the number of inputs times the number of outputs, making large-scale switches, such as 1024xc3x971024 for example, difficult to implement.
It is well known that larger cross-connects can be formed from several smaller cross-connects linked together. One way of linking non-blocking cross-connects together to produce a larger non-blocking cross-connect is illustrated in FIG. 4.
FIG. 4 shows an example layout for an arrangement known as a three-stage Clos network. The network shown, as a whole, provides an Nxc3x97N non-blocking cross-connect. Stage 1 includes multiple cross-connects, each with n inputs and 2nxe2x88x921 outputs, as illustrated for cross-connect number 1 of Stage 1. The N inputs to the network are received by a total of N/n of these cross-connects in Stage 1. For each of the N/n cross-connects of Stage 1, each of the 2nxe2x88x921 outputs are routed to a respective Stage 2 cross-connect, as illustrated for cross-connect 2 of stage 1. Stage 2 includes 2nxe2x88x921 cross-connects, one for each output of the Stage 1 cross-connects. Each cross-connect of stage 2 has N/n inputs and outputs. For each of the 2nxe2x88x921 cross-connects of stage 2, each of the N/n outputs are routed to a respective Stage 3 cross-connect, as illustrated for cross-connect 2 of Stage 2. Stage 3 includes N/n cross-connects, one for each output of the Stage 2 cross-connects. Each of Stage 3 cross-connects has 2nxe2x88x921 inputs and n outputs. The n outputs of all of the Stage 3 cross-connects together provide the N outputs of the network. As may be appreciated from FIG. 4, the interconnections between the stages in such a multi-stage switch can be complex.
The present invention includes, in one aspect, a multi-stage optical cross-connect including a first stage having a plurality of first stage sub-switches each structured and positioned so as to receive inputs along a plurality of first stage input directions and to send outputs along a plurality of first stage output directions, and a second stage including a plurality of second stage sub-switches each structured and positioned so as to receive inputs along a plurality of second stage input directions and to send outputs along a plurality of second stage output directions, and a third stage including a plurality of third-stage sub-switches each structured and positioned so as to receive inputs along a plurality of third stage input directions and to send outputs along a plurality of third stage output directions, wherein, for each first stage sub-switch, each of the output directions of said sub-switch is each aligned with an input direction of a respective second stage sub-switch, and each of the output directions of said sub-switch is each aligned with an input direction of a respective third stage sub-switch. When each sub-switch is configured as a simple Mxc3x97N non-blocking cross-connect of the type shown in FIG. 1, this results in a greatly simplified three-stage optical switch with at most three changes of direction and three switch devices within each optical path. This cross-connect may be implemented all in a single plane or in multiple planes or on multiple substrates according to the various embodiments disclosed herein.
In another aspect, the invention includes a first, second, and third stages each including multiple layers, each layer including a non-blocking cross-connect sub-switch having inputs and outputs. The first-stage layers are arranged such that the inputs of the first-stage layers are arranged in a two-dimensional first-stage input matrix and such that the outputs of the first-stage layers are arranged in a two-dimensional first-stage output matrix. The second- and third-stage layers are arranged similarly, thus providing second and third stage input and output matrices. Each of the outputs of the first-stage output matrix is optically connected to a respective input of the inputs of the second-stage input matrix via respective non-interleaving first-to-second-stage optical connections, and each of the outputs of the second-stage output matrix is optically connected to a respective input of said inputs of the third-stage input matrix via respective non-interleaving second-to-third-stage optical connections. This provides a greatly simplified interconnection scheme for a three-stage optical cross-connect. The optical connections may take various forms including xe2x80x9cpigtailedxe2x80x9d waveguides, or direct coupling of planar waveguides, or free-space beam propagation.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the invention as described herein, including the detailed description which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are merely exemplary of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.


This invention concerns the interpolation of new intermediate images within an existing set of related images, for example views of a scene captured at different times, such as a sequence of film frames or video fields, or views of a scene captured from different camera positions, either simultaneously or in a time sequence. Motion vectors established for pixels or regions in at least one existing image are used to shift those pixels or regions to the output position of the new image. The shifted pixels or regions are combined in dependence on a probability of accuracy measure for the respective motion vector. The probability of accuracy measure may be formed from displaced-field difference measurements. The occlusion of objects is determined and used in forming the probability of accuracy measure.

A well known method of interpolation of intermediate images in a sequence is the use of "motion compensation" in which the changes in position of image features from one image to another are analysed and represented as two dimensional "motion vectors". Typically a vector is associated with a region in an image and the vector describes the direction and magnitude of the change in position of image features within that region from one image in the sequence to another. Interpolated images are then created by taking weighted sums of information from more than one image in the sequence; and, regions of the pictures are moved in dependence upon relevant motion vectors before the summation so as to avoid multiple images due to motion or change of viewpoint.
Although the terms "motion" and "motion vector" are used in this specification it must be appreciated that these terms are intended to relate to differences in position of features in a sequence of images and these difference may not necessarily be due to motion, they could equally be due to changes of viewpoint, or other sources of difference between images in a sequence of images.
A region may include more than one visible object and it is not unusual for more than one motion vector to be created for the same image region. The phase correlation method of motion vector creation is particularly able to identify a number of motion vectors within the same picture region. The process of motion-compensated interpolation is made more difficult when objects occlude one another and new features are revealed, or previously-visible features are concealed, as the image sequence proceeds.
Where several vectors are identified in a particular picture region it is often necessary to make a decision as to which vector to apply to each pixel in that region. For example, several prior art systems choose one of the applicable motion vectors to determine read or write storage addresses for input pixels, and an inappropriate choice may lead to severe problems. Because motion compensated interpolation involves changing the positions of features in the image in response to measured motion vectors, errors in the motion measurement can lead to highly visible artefacts; these can include unnatural hard edges to image features.

Method and apparatus for interpolating an image


In a drive circuit for an electric motor, there is provided a circuit board, at least one semiconductor device mounted to the circuit board and a spacer. The semiconductor device has a semiconductor chip, a chip package incorporating therein the semiconductor chip and comprising a mounting member for mounting on the circuit board, and terminals for connections of the semiconductor chip to the circuit board. The spacer is interposed between the circuit board and the mounting member of the chip package so as to provide a space between the circuit board and the chip package.

The present invention relates to a drive circuit for an electric motor used to e.g. generate an assist torque for a power steering, which can avoid various problems (such as malfunction and breakage) caused by heat from a semiconductor chip or chips. The present invention also relates to a method for assembling such a drive circuit.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-2430 discloses a drive circuit for an electric motor in a power steering. In this type of drive circuit, a radiator is provided separately from a circuit board in order to radiate heat from semiconductor chips and prevent chip packages sealing therein the semiconductor chips from thermally expanding. This makes it possible to prevent other circuit components from being adversely affected by the thermal expansion of the chip packages. However, the drive circuit has to be assembled by attaching the chip packages to the radiator so that the chip packages and the radiator are brought into intimate contact with each other, and then, soldering terminals of the semiconductor chips to the circuit board. The process for assembling the drive circuit is so complicated that the manufacturing cost of the drive circuit is increased.

Spacer for mounting a chip package to a substrate


An integrated optical device and method for generating photons by manipulating path entanglement is provided. An integrated optical splitter splits pump light between two interferometer arms wherein each arm comprises a substantially identical photon pair source configured to be able to convert at least one pump light photon into a signal and idler photon pair. An integrated optical combiner device in optical communication with a first and a second optical output path interferes light from the first and second arms and outputs the signal and idler photons by bunching the signal and idler photons together in one of the optical output paths, or anti-bunching the signal photon in one output path and the corresponding idler photon in the other optical output path.

Optical sources are used in a wide range of applications including telecommunications, optical sensing and reading/writing optical device media. Currently, the majority of optical devices are designed on the principles of classical optics, such as physical optics and geometrical optics. Thus, physical and geometrical optics are typically used when modelling the propagation behaviour of light. When light interacts with a physical material, for example by being absorbed, a quantum mechanical point of view of light being quantized photons can be used successfully to model and predict the behaviours of the photons.
The quantum theory of light however also predicts other light behaviours. One such behaviour is quantum entanglement which has no counterpart in classical optics. Quantum entanglement typically occurs when photons, commonly a pair of photons, interact and are together described by the same indefinite quantum state when physically separated. Once separated, the photons are correlated such that when a measurement is made on one of the photons, for example measuring the polarisation as vertically polarised, the other entangled photon immediately takes the appropriate correlated or anti correlated value, for example being horizontally polarised. Photons may be entangled in a variety of degrees of freedom including, but not limited to spatial entanglement and polarisation entanglement.
There are several methods of creating entangled photons. Typical methods use correlated photons created from the nonlinear elastic χ(2) or χ(3) susceptibilities of a medium to an input electromagnetic field where one or more input photons (often termed pump photons) get converted to two or more new correlated photons (often termed signal and idler photons). The signal and idler photons generated by the same nonlinear event are correlated because both are always generated during the event.
An example of creating two correlated photons using the χ(2) susceptibility is parametric down conversion (PDC) or spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) where the probability of converting an input photon to a signal and idler photon pair is linearly proportional to the intensity of the input pump.
An example of creating two correlated photons using the χ(3) susceptibility is spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM) where the probability of converting an input pump photon to a correlated photon pair is quadratically proportional to the intensity of the input pump because two pump photons are required to produce the two new photons.
One application that uses quantum entanglement is quantum cryptography. Quantum cryptography can be implemented using single photons or a pair of polarisation entangled photons. When using the latter technique, polarisation entangled photons are created using a non-linear process such as SPDC whereby pump photons are converted to entangled signal and idler photons. The converted signal and idler photons have the same polarisation but have different wavelengths. The signal and idler photons may be converted to the same polarisation as the pump photon or the orthogonal polarisation, whereby the efficiency for converting to an orthogonal polarisation is typically lower than converting to the same polarisation. In operation, a source of polarisation entangled photons sends idler photons of both horizontal and vertical polarisations to one user and sends the corresponding polarisation entangled signal photons to another user. The two users create quantum keys from the entangled photons.
US2009/0103736 describes a device for generating polarisation-entangled photons using an integrated optical waveguide device. Pump photons are split into two waveguide arms using an integrated optical splitter. Each arm has a Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) structure to down convert the pump photons. The PPLN waveguide arms [are not identical because they] are configured differently to one another so that one arm generates TE polarisation signal and idler photons whilst the other arm generates TM polarisation signal and idler photons. The optical modes output from the two arms are therefore distinguishable from one another. The arms are then recombined and the signal/idler photons are split using a polarisation insensitive wavelength separating device.
WO2008/039261 describes a device for generating polarisation-entangled photons using an integrated optical waveguide device that is similar to US2009/0103736. The arms in WO2008/039261 share a common down conversion device/structure, however one arm further contains a mode converter to orthogonally convert the polarisation state of the polarisation entangled signal/idler photons along that arm such that when the arms are recombined the polarisation entangled signal/idler photons from one arm are in a TE polarisation whilst the polarisation entangled signal/idler photons from the other arm are in a TM polarisation. The waveguide arms in WO2008/039261 are different. The optical modes output from the two arms are therefore distinguishable from one another.
Sources of single photons are useful for a variety of applications other than quantum cryptography such as quantum metrology and quantum computing. Proof-of-principle demonstrations for the generation, detection and manipulation of photons at the single-photon level have been shown however, these demonstrations usually involve large-scale optical elements and rely on un-scalable bulk single-photon sources and detectors. The following publications describe some existing set-ups for generating single photons.
"Telecommunications-band heralded single photons from a silicon nanophotonic chip"; Applied Physics Letters 100, 261104, 2012, Davanco et al; describes a silicon nanophotonic device made up of an array of coupled rings on a silicon photonic integrated chip.
"Evidence for phase memory in two-photon down conversion through entanglement with the vacuum"; Physical review A, vol. 41, no. 1, 1 Jan. 1990, Z. Y. Ou et al, describes a bulk optic experiment. FIG. 2 of this publication shows a pump beam split by a beam-splitter into two LiIO3 sources, each configured to produce signal and idler photons along physically different output optical paths. The idler output paths of each source recombine at a first recombining beam splitter, whilst the signal output paths of each source recombine at a different second recombining beam splitter. The signal and idler photons generated by the same source do not occupy the same mode in the same physical channel.
"Continuous wave photon pair generation in silicon-on-insulator waveguides and ring resonators" Optics Express, Vol. 17 No. 19, 16559, 14 Sep. 2009 describes producing a distinguishable pair of photons in a single silicon waveguide.


A lighted drum or other article may have a LED strip light and a wireless receiver/decoder in communication with the LED strip light. The wireless receiver/decoder may be configured to receive wireless control signals from a remote computer and control operation of the LED strip light in response to the control signals. Some embodiments may include a trigger assembly engaged with a drum head; a wireless receiver/decoder in communication with the trigger assembly; and at least one LED strip light in communication with the wireless receiver/decoder. The trigger assembly may be configured to generate a trigger signal in response to movement of the drum head. The wireless receiver/decoder may be configured to receive the trigger signal and wireless control signals and control operation of the at least one LED strip light in response to the trigger signal and the control signals. Related systems and methods are also described.

Marching bands and other performing arts groups often have drummers who play various drums carried by the drummers. In addition to the sounds produced by the drums, the drummers often march in various formations to create a visual effect that adds another dimension to the musical performance. However, the drums used in such performances generally have not included a suitable lighting feature.

Lighted drum and related systems and methods


A decontamination assembly, for pharmaceutical applications includes at least one chamber to be decontaminated (4) having a decontamination liquid storage tank (36) by which several atomizers (A, B, C. D) disposed in the chamber to be decontaminated (4) for producing a decontaminant aerosol can be supplied with decontamination liquid using valves (27) which can be controlled by electronic control, the atomizers (A, B, C, D) being in fluid communication with a ring conduit (32) having an inlet (33) and a separate outlet (34) by the valves (27), decontamination liquid from the decontamination liquid storage tank (36) being conveyable into the inlet of the ring conduit by a pump (35) and decontamination liquid flowing out of the outlet of the ring conduit back into the decontamination liquid storage tank (36), and a pressure adjustment mechanism (37) for keeping the pressure in the ring conduit (32) at a predefined liquid pressure range assigned to the ring conduit (32). A measuring mechanism (40) for determining a total volume of decontamination liquid dispensed to the atomizers (A, B, C, D) during a decontamination cycle includes a weighing mechanism (41) for determining a decontamination liquid volume in the decontamination liquid storage tank (36).

The invention relates to a decontamination assembly, in particular for pharmaceutical applications, the decontamination assembly comprising at least one chamber to be decontaminated, in particular an isolator chamber, preferably a manipulator chamber and/or a plenum chamber separated from the manipulator chamber by a membrane, comprising a decontamination liquid storage tank from which several atomizers disposed in the chamber to be decontaminated and preferably configured as two-component nozzles for producing a decontamination liquid aerosol, in particular a hydrogen peroxide aerosol, can be supplied with decontamination liquid, preferably hydrogen peroxide, using valve means which can be controlled by means of electronic control means, the atomizers being in fluid communication with a (common) ring conduit via the valve means, the ring conduit having an inlet and a separate outlet, decontamination liquid from the decontamination liquid storage tank being conveyable into the inlet of said ring conduit by means of a pump and decontamination liquid flowing out of the outlet of said ring conduit back into the decontamination liquid storage tank, and pressure adjustment means for keeping the liquid pressure in the ring conduit in a predefined liquid pressure range being assigned to the ring conduit.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a system comprising an isolator, preferably for pharmaceutical applications, comprising a chamber to be decontaminated, in particular a manipulator chamber and/or a plenum chamber separated from the manipulator chamber by a membrane for laminarizing an air flow of a circulation fan of the isolator, and comprising a decontamination assembly. The circulation fan is preferably disposed in a circulation generating chamber above the aforementioned plenum chamber. The manipulator chamber is particularly preferably connected in an air-conducting manner to the circulation generating chamber via a backflow channel which is more preferably realized between two transparent panes. For realizing the feature of the establishment of the isolator for pharmaceutical applications, a dosing and/or a filling device for a pharmaceutical ingredient and/or a production device for such an ingredient is preferably disposed in the manipulator chamber. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the manipulator chamber is accessible to an operator by means of gloves for a manual processing from the outside, the gloves or so-called glove ports being disposed or fixed in a lateral wall of the manipulator chamber.
Additionally, the invention relates to decontamination method, in particular for operating a decontamination assembly according to the invention and/or a system according to the invention, a chamber to be decontaminated, in particular an isolator chamber, preferably a manipulator chamber and/or plenum chamber separated from the manipulator chamber by a membrane, being decontaminated by producing a decontamination liquid aerosol from a decontamination liquid, in particular hydrogen peroxide, by means of atomizers which are disposed in the chamber to be decontaminated and which are preferably configured as two-component nozzles supplied with compressed air, said atomizers being supplied with the decontamination liquid from a decontamination liquid storage tank via valve means, the atomizers being in fluid communication with a ring conduit via the valve means, the ring conduit having an inlet and a separate outlet, decontamination liquid from the decontamination liquid storage tank being conveyed into the inlet of said ring conduit by means of a pump and decontamination liquid flowing out of the outlet of said ring conduit back into the decontamination liquid storage tank, in particular while decontamination liquid is being dispensed via the atomizers, a liquid pressure of the decontamination liquid in the ring conduit being kept in a predefined pressure range by means of pressure adjustment means, in particular by limiting a maximum fluid pressure.
Within the scope of the present disclosure, the feature of the supply of the atomizers by means of valve means is to be understood in such a manner that the decontamination liquid has to pass through or flow through corresponding valve means on the flow path from the decontamination liquid storage tank to the atomizers. The valve means can be controlled, in particular opened or closed, by control means (control device). More preferably, the valve means are configured in such a manner that a fluid communication between the atomizers and the decontamination liquid storage tank, particularly preferably a ring conduit which will be described below and which is provided according to the invention, can be interrupted by means of said valve means by a corresponding control by the control means.
WO 2011/085735 A1 or EP 2 719 962 A1 describes a decontamination assembly comprising a pharmaceutical isolator and an H2O2 evaporator. The H2O2 evaporator (flash evaporator) is directly connected via a supply line to a plenum chamber which is separated from a manipulator chamber located below by means of a membrane for generating a laminar air flow when the isolator is operated. During a decontamination phase, hydrogen peroxide vapor is introduced into the plenum chamber via the supply line, the hydrogen peroxide vapor moving through the membrane downwards into the manipulator chamber.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,400 A, a method is known in which circulating air is conveyed through an evaporator, i.e. said evaporator is not supplied with sterile compressed air from the outside, the hydrogen peroxide vapor being directly introduced into a manipulator chamber without using a high efficiency particulate air filter which is impregnated with a catalyst in an area above the manipulator chamber.
WO 2013/003967 A1 describes a decontamination assembly in which the hydrogen peroxide is not vaporized in a conventional manner by means of a flash evaporator, but in which two-component nozzles are used in order to atomize the liquid hydrogen peroxide, i.e. to produce an aerosol. With respect to the known decontamination assembly, a decontamination liquid storage tank (reservoir) and the atomizer are an integral part of a device which can be installed as a whole in the chamber to be decontaminated.
In practice, there are also solutions in which several atomizers are connected to a common decontamination liquid storage tank via a supply line which ends at the corresponding atomizer. A pump and a valve are assigned to each supply line. Before the beginning of a decontamination cycle, the individual supply lines have to be filled using the respective pump; the actual decontamination cycle in which the decontamination liquid in the form of an aerosol is dispensed into the chamber to be decontaminated by means of the atomizers starts after said filling. The air inside the supply lines has to be dispensed into the chamber to be decontaminated by means of the atomizers. After completion of the decontamination cycle, the supply lines have to be emptied into the decontamination liquid storage tank in order to determine the total volume of decontamination liquid which has been dispensed by means of the atomizers; for this purpose, the conveyor pumps are operated in reverse. The total volume of used or dispensed decontamination liquid is determined by defining the difference between the weight of the storage tank before the filling of the supply lines and the weight of the storage tank after the decontamination cycle and the subsequent emptying of the supply lines. Concerning the known decontamination assembly or the known decontamination method, the laborious determination of the total volume of dispensed decontamination liquid which is needed for a validating decontamination process is disadvantageous because all supply lines have to be emptied again. Furthermore, detecting if all supply lines are actually filled completely with decontamination liquid before a decontamination cycle is laborious and prone to error. Additionally, an unintended leakage of hydrogen peroxide through the atomizers before the beginning of the decontamination cycle can occur when filling the supply lines. Due to possible decontamination liquid residue in the supply lines after emptying of said supply lines, the determination of the total volume of dispensed decontamination liquid is also prone to error. Moreover, the preparations and follow-ups of the actual decontamination cycle are time-consuming.
From EP 2 786 811 A1, a device for supplying consumers with cleaning and/or disinfection fluid for preferred use in beverage bottling lines is known, the fluid being conveyed from a reservoir to the consumers via a ring conduit by means of which the excess fluid can return to the reservoir. For the use according to the object of the known device, the determination of the exact volume of the fluid dispensed to the consumers is irrelevant.
With respect to the state of the art, reference is also made to EP 1 764 115 A1 and US 2013/004390 A1.

Decontamination arrangement, system and decontamination method


A method of controlling a communication control entity in a mobile communication network and a corresponding communication control entity are described. The communication control entity is a part of a pool of communication control entities. In accordance of the invention, when acting as a primary communication control entity and receiving a request for adding a new secondary communication control entity to the overall control procedure, the communication control entity of the invention is arranged to determine whether the requested new secondary communication control entity is a part of the pool or not. If it is a part of the pool, then the primary communication control entity established a direct connection to the access part. The requested communication control entity is not added to the control procedure as a relay.

In the field of mobile communications, it is known to provide a network architecture that is schematically shown in FIG. 1a. A mobile communication network may be divided into a communication control part 1 and an access part 2. The communication control part 1 is arranged to manage call communications to and from mobile communication devices, such as the schematically indicated mobile telephone 3. The access part 2 is arranged to manage the access of mobile communication devices to the communication control part 1. As an example, in mobile communication networks operating according to the global system of mobile communication (GSM), the communication control part 1 is referred to as the network and switching sub-system (NSS), and the access part 2 is referred to as the base station sub-system (BSS). Generally, the access part 2 may also be called an access network, and the communication control part 1 may be called a control network.
The communication control part 1 comprises a plurality of communication control entities, which are referred to as 121-125 in FIG. 1a. Furthermore, the access part 2 comprises a plurality of access control entities referred to as 111-118. Each access control entity 111-118 is respectively associated with a service realm 101-108. A service realm is a physical and/or logical area in which service is provided to mobile communication devices. As such, a service realm can be a location area (LA), a cell, a routing area (RA) or anything similar. As an example, in a GSM network, the network control entities 121-125 can be mobile switching centers (MSC), and the access control entities 111-118 can be base station controllers (BSC). In the context of a mobile communication network e.g. operating in accordance with the general packet radio service (GPRS), the communication control entities 121-125 can be GPRS service nodes (GSN) and the access control entities 111-118 can be radio network controllers (RNC).
It may be remarked that the term "entity" as used in the present specification and claims describes a logical unit for fulfilling a given function, where said logical unit may be present in a single physical unit (such as a network server) or spread out over several physical locations, and may consist of hardware, software or any suitable combination of hardware and software.
In the general architecture shown in FIG. 1a, each of the access control entities 111-118 is connected to one or more communication control entities 121-125. Thereby, each communication control entity 121-125 is enabled to communicate with mobile communication devices in the service realm of a connected access control entity 111-118.
In the example of FIG. 1a, the mobile telephone 3 is in service realm 101, which belongs to access control entity 111, which in turn is connected e.g. with communication control entity 121 via connection 130. In this way, the access control entity 111 lets the mobile telephone 3 access the communication control part 1, more specifically the communication control entity 121, which in turn can fulfil its functions of controlling the establishment, maintenance and termination of communications originating at the mobile telephone 3 and/or directed towards the mobile telephone 3.
It is furthermore known to arrange a mobile communication network of the type shown in FIG. 1a in such a way that the communication control part 1 is arranged to perform a control process such that during the duration of a call communication to a given mobile communication device, one primary communication control entity stays in control of said call communication and communicates with a mobile communication device of which a call communication is being controlled either via an access control entity connected to the primary communication control entity, or via a secondary communication control entity and an access control entity connected to the secondary communication control entity. In this way the secondary communication control entity acts as a relay between the mobile communication device being controlled and the primary communication control.
This will briefly be explained by comparing FIGS. 1a and 1b. In FIG. 1a, a situation is assumed in which the call communication by mobile telephone 3 is being controlled by communication control entity 121. Communication control entity 121 acts as a primary communication control entity. As an example, the system can be arranged in such a way that the first communication control entity that handles the establishment of a call communication from or to a mobile communication device is selected as the primary communication control entity for the entire duration of the call communication being established. Naturally, other methods of selecting a primary communication control entity are possible.
FIG. 1b shows an example where mobile telephone 3 has moved to service realm 106, which is associated with access control entity 116. Access control entity 116 is connected to communication control entity 124 via a connection 131 provided by the control part 1. However, due to the fact that communication control entity 121 is the primary communication control entity, it still performs the call control, and uses communication control entity 124 as a relay to the mobile communication device in service realm 106. A control mechanism of this type is e.g. known from GSM, in which case the primary communication control entity 121 is referred to as an anchor MSC, and the secondary communication control entity 124 is referred to as a relay MSC.
In order to allow for the mobility of mobile communication devices between different service realms, the communication control part 1 is arranged to be able to conduct a so-called handover procedure between different communication control entities. During an ongoing call communication, the primary call control entity (121 in the above-mentioned example) also controls the handover from one secondary communication control entity to another.
For example, if the mobile telephone 3 shown in FIG. 1b moves from service realm 106 towards service realm 107, a given handover triggering process will be started once it is determined that service should be provided by service realm 107 in place of service realm 106. In this event, a request will be sent to the primary communication control entity 121 from the secondary communication control entity 124 or the corresponding mobile communication device in service realm 106, where said request identifies the new communication control entity 125 as a destination. Subsequently, the primary communication control entity 121 establishes a communication with the new secondary communication control entity 125, in order to then use this new secondary communication control entity as a relay towards the communication device in service realm 107.
It is furthermore known to arrange a communication network having the architecture shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b in such a way that certain access control entities are grouped together, and certain communication control entities are pooled together, where the group of access control entities and the pool of communication control entities are associated in such a way that each communication control entity in the pool can communicate with each access control entity in the group. This is shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b, where reference numeral 12 refers to a pool of communication control entities 121-123, and reference numeral 11 refers to a group of access control entities 111-115. As indicated in FIGS. 1a and 1b, a connection mechanism 130 is provided, such that each of the communication control entities 121-123 of pool 12 can communicate with each access control entity 111-115 of group 11. The purpose of such pools and groups is to allow that as long as a mobile communication device moves among the service realms 101-105 associated with the access control entities 111-115 of group 11, no handover procedure is conducted between any of the communication control entities of the pool 12. Such pools and groups are e.g. known in the control of service realms having a high traffic load but small, physical extension, such as micro-cells in metropolitan areas.

Method of controlling a communication control entity


A fixing device of the present invention includes a pressure roller and a peeling roller both of which press a heat roller. The pressure roller is disposed upstream to the peeling roller in a transport direction of a recording paper. An outer diameter of the heat roller, an outer diameter of the pressure roller, and an outer diameter of the peeling roller decrease in this order. With this arrangement, it is possible to realize a fixing device which achieves a reduced size and reduced power requirements, while ensuring a fixing property and a peeling property with respect to a recording medium.

Generally, in electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, the volume of toner for use in forming toner images on a recording paper during color printing is greater than the volume of toner during monochrome printing. Therefore, in color printing, for realization of an excellent fixing of toner images on the recording paper, there is a demand for a fixing device for use in a color image forming apparatus, enhancing a property of releasing a toner from a fixing roller and a property of peeling a recording paper, or a property of melting color toners.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3084692 (registered on Jul. 7, 2000) discloses a belt nip fixing device including a fixing roll which provides a nip portion by coming into contact with an endless belt rotatably laying in a tensioned state across the supporting rolls, the fixing device having an arrangement which enhances a property of peeling the recording paper. In the fixing device described in the publication, a pressure roll which presses the fixing roller via the endless belt is provided at an exit of the nip portion. This pressure roll, at the exit of the nip portion, causes a micro slip in an interface between a toner on the recording paper and the fixing roll, so that it is possible to peel the recording paper even in color printing, without using a peeling device.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 42676/2001 (Tokukai 2001-42676; published on Feb. 16, 2001) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 92296/2001 (Tokukai 2001-92296; published on Apr. 6, 2001) disclose fixing devices each having a plurality of nip portions provided when a fixing roller (heat roller) comes into contact with pressure rollers. These fixing devices have a plurality of nip portions, thereby sufficiently giving a recording material the amount of heat required for fixing, without decreasing a speed of a recording-material heating process. With this arrangement, even in color printing, toner images are melted and firmly adhered on the recording paper, thus forming fixing images in an excellent manner.
Further, in a fixing device described in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 42676/2001, the rollers, which provide a plurality of nip portions, are made different in harness between each other, so that no paper jam occurs when the recording paper goes into a second nip portion downstream in the transport direction of the recording paper after the recording paper passes through a first nip portion upstream in the transport direction of the recording paper. That is, in a fixing device described in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 42676/2001, when a pressure is applied to the rollers mutually different in hardness, a roller having a low hardness deforms along the shape of a roller having a high hardness. Therefore, when the recording paper passes between the rotated rollers in a state where the roller having a low hardness deforms, the recording paper is transported along the roller having a high hardness. Paying attention to this property, the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 42676/2001 sets degrees of hardness for the respective rollers so that the recording paper having passed through the first nip portion reliably enters the second nip portion, thus decreasing the occurrence of a paper jam.
Still further, in the fixing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 92296/2001, a pressure applied to the recording paper at a nip portion upstream in the transport direction of the recording paper is lower than a pressure applied to the recording paper at a nip portion downstream in the transport direction of the recording paper. Therefore, a pressure to be applied to a recording material is lowered at an earlier stage of a heating process, and the pressure to be applied to a recording material is increased at a later stage of the heating process so that the occurrence of heat bumps in toners is suppressed, thus realizing an excellent fixing of toner images.
Yet further, a fixing device including a plurality of nip portions is also described in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 63795/1993 (Tokukouhei 5-63795; published on Sep. 13, 1993). The fixing device described in this publication is provided with one fixing roller and a plurality of contact rollers: primary contact roller and secondary contact roller, to perform recording on a supporting body, such as an envelope that is a combination of plural pieces of paper, without causing the supporting body to become crinkled. First, using the secondary contact roller, the supporting body is winded around the fixing roller. Then, by controlling a rotation speed of the secondary contact roller, the supporting body is transported between the fixing roller and the primary contact roller. Thus, provision of the secondary contact roller enhances a property of bringing the supporting body into intimate contact with the fixing roller, and enhances a property of fixing toner images.
In recent years, there is a demand for an image forming apparatus with reduced power requirements and reduced size. With this, there is a demand for a fixing device with reduced power requirements and reduced size, included in an image forming apparatus. Therefore, it is desired that the fixing device achieves reduced power requirements and reduced size while ensuring an excellent property of fixing toner images onto the recording paper. Especially, in recent years, a full-color printing using an image forming apparatus including a fixing device has been increasingly performed, and there is also a demand for an image forming apparatus capable of monochrome printing and full-color printing, with reduced power requirements and reduced size. To respond to such a demand, the conventional fixing device still has a further room for improvement.
For example, conventionally, in order to realize reduced power requirements of a fixing device, the fixing roller is made thin so that a heat capacity of the fixing roller can be reduced. However, the thin-walled fixing roller is susceptible to deformation caused by contact of the pressure roller with the fixing roller. Therefore, in order to prevent damage to the fixing device due to deformation of the fixing roller, it is necessary to control a nip pressure when the pressure roller comes into contact with the fixing roller.
However, under the condition where the volume of toner fixed on the recording paper is large in full-color printing and the like printing, the use of the thin-walled fixing roller does not ensure a sufficient nip pressure, causing the difficulty in ensuring an excellent property of fixing toner images. Therefore, conventionally, the thin-walled fixing roller was not suitable for full-color printing.
In addition, the conventional fixing device do enhances a property of bringing the recording paper into intimate contact with the fixing roller in an area between a first nip portion and a second nip portion (between the nips), but there is no element for pushing the recording paper to the fixing roller in the area between the nips. Therefore, there is the possibility that the recording paper could be transported without intimate contact with the fixing roller in the area between the nips.
For example, in the fixing device described in the above-mentioned Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 63795/1993 (Tokukouhei 5-63795; published on Sep. 13, 1993), when the recording paper is transported without intimate contact with the fixing roller in the area between the nips, a leading end part of the recording paper having passed through the first nip portion which is provided by the fixing roller and the secondary contact roller comes into contact with the main contact roller. This could cause a paper jam.
Therefore, the conventional fixing device having two nip portions still has a further room for improvement that brings an excellent transport of the recording paper in the area between the nips.

Fixing device for fixing an unfixed developing agent on a recording medium and image forming apparatus including the same

Abstract: Further, with an arrangement in which the pressure roller and the peeling roller which press the heat roller are disposed so that, in a cross section orthogonal to central axes of the heat roller, the pressure roller, and the peeling roller, a first orthogonal line being orthogonal to a first line that connects a center of the heat roller and a center of the pressure roller and passing through a nip portion between both of the rollers, comes into contact with a contact area in a predetermined area on a peripheral surface of the peeling roller, a fixing device of the present invention can transport the recording paper without causing a paper jam when plural pieces of recording paper stacked are transported.


A compound for non-linear optics for use at 350 nm and below. The compound includes a material for non-linear optics comprising AxM(1-x)Al3B4O12. x is larger than or equal to zero and smaller than or equal to 0.1, A is selected from a group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Yb, and Lu, and M is selected from a group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Yb, and Lu. The compound is free from a molybdenum bearing impurity of at least 1000 parts per million.

The present invention relates generally to certain compounds having optical properties. More particularly, as an example, the invention provides a specific compound comprising AxM(1-x)Al3B4O12 for use with selected wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. x is larger than or equal to zero and smaller than or equal to 0.1, A is selected from a group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Yb, and Lu, and M is selected from a group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Yb, and Lu. Merely by way of example, the compound is useful for electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength of 350 nm and less, but it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are unusual in that they affect the properties of light. A well-known example is the polarization of light by certain materials, such as when materials rotate the polarization vectors of absorbed light. If the effect on the polarization vector by the absorbed light is linear, then light emitted by the material has the same frequency as the absorbed light. NLO materials affect the polarization vector of the absorbed light in a nonlinear manner. As a result, the frequency of the light emitted by a nonlinear optical material is affected.
For example, when a beam of coherent light of a given frequency, such as produced by a laser, propagates through a properly oriented NLO crystal having non-zero components of the second order polarizability tensor, the crystal will generate light at a different frequency, thus extending the useful frequency range of the laser. Generation of this light can be ascribed to processes such as sum-frequency generation (SFG), difference-frequency generation (DFG) and optical parametric amplification (OPA). Devices using NLO crystals include, but are not limited to up and down frequency converters, optical parametric oscillators, optical rectifiers, and optical switches.
Frequency generation in NLO materials is usually an important effect. For example, two monochromatic electromagnetic waves with frequencies ω1 and ω2 propagating through a properly oriented NLO crystal can result in generation of light at a variety of frequencies. Mechanisms defining the frequency of light using these two separate frequencies are sum-frequency generation (SFG) and difference-frequency generation (DFG). SFG is a process where light of frequency ω3 is generated as the sum of the two incident frequencies, ω3=ω1+ω2. In other words, SFG is useful for converting long wavelength light to shorter wavelength light (e.g. near infrared to visible, or visible to ultraviolet). A special case of sum-frequency generation is second-harmonic generation (SHG) where ω3=2ω1, which is satisfied when the incident frequencies are equal, ω1=ω2. DFG is a process where light of frequency ω4 is generated as the difference of the incident frequencies ω4=ω1−ω2. DFG is useful for converting shorter wavelength light to longer wavelength light (e.g. visible to infrared). A special case of DFG is when ω1=ω2, hence ω4=0, which is known as optical rectification. Optical parametric oscillation (OPO) is also a form of DFG and is used to produce light at tunable frequencies.
The conversion efficiency of an NLO crystal for a particular application is dependent on a number of factors that include, but are not limited to: the effective nonlinearity of the crystal (picometers/volt [pm/V]), birefringence (Δn, where n is a refractive index), phase-matching conditions (Type I, Type II, non-critical, quasi, or critical), angular acceptance angle (radian-cm), temperature acceptance (.degree. K-cm), walk-off (radian), temperature dependent change in refractive index (dn/dT), optical transparency range (nm), and the optical damage threshold (W/cm2). Desirable NLO crystals should posses an optimum combination of the above properties as defined by the specific application.
Borate crystals form a large group of inorganic NLO materials used in various applications, such as laser-based manufacturing, medicine, hardware and instrumentation, communications, and research studies. Beta barium borate (BBO: β-BaB2O4), lithium triborate (LBO: LiB3O5), and cesium lithium borate (CLBO: CsLi(B3O5)2) are examples of borate-based NLO crystals developed in recent years that are being used widely as NLO devices, especially in high power applications. Select properties suitable for generation of laser light from the mid-infrared to the ultraviolet for these crystals are listed in Table 1.
TABLE 1Commercially Available NLO Materials and PropertiesPROPERTYBBOLBOCLBODeff (pm/V)22.214.171.124Optical Transmission (nm)190-3500160-2600180-2750Angular Acceptance (mrad-cm)0.86.50.6Temperature Acceptance (K-cm)557.52.5Walk-off Angle (deg.)30.61.8Damage Threshold (GW/cm2)51010Crystal Growth Propertiesflux or congr.fluxcongruent
BBO has a favorable non-linearity (about 2.2 pm/V), transparency between 190 nm and 3500 nm, significant birefringence (necessary for phase matching), and a high damage threshold (5 GW/cm2, 1064 nm, 0.1 ns pulse width). However, its high birefringence creates a relatively small angular acceptance that can limit conversion efficiencies and laser beam quality. The crystal is relatively difficult to grow to large sizes and is somewhat hygroscopic.
LBO exhibits optical transparency throughout the visible electromagnetic spectrum, extending well into the ultraviolet (absorption edge.congruent. 160 nm), and possesses a high damage threshold (10 GW/cm2, 1064 nm, 0.1 ns pulse width). However, it has insufficient intrinsic birefringence for phase matching to generate deep UV radiation. Furthermore, LBO melts incongruently and must be prepared by flux-assisted crystal growth methods. This limits production efficiency that leads to small crystals and higher production costs.
CLBO appears capable of producing UV light due to a combination of high nonlinearity and sufficient birefringence. The crystal can also be manufactured to relatively large dimensions. However, the crystal usually is exceedingly moisture sensitive and often invariably sorbs water from the air; hence, extreme care usually must be taken to manage environmental moisture to prevent hydration stresses and possible crystal destruction.
In 1981 a crystal called NYAB [NdxY(1-x)Al3B4O12] was reported in the USSR. A laser self-frequency-doubling effect from 1320 nm to 660 nm was realized in a Nd0.2Y0.8Al3B4O12 crystal, but it was found that intrinsic crystal absorption at the second harmonic limited practical use of laser self-frequency-doubling from 1060 nm to 530 nm.
Years later several institutes in China succeeded in improving the crystal growing process and obtained NYAB crystals of good optical quality and reasonable size. Lu et al. developed a multi-functional crystal NdxY(1-x)Al3B4O12 with effective laser self-frequency-doubling conversion. The Nd3+ doped laser gain crystal was pumped with a dye laser, with laser emission at 1060 nm that was then converted to 530 nm within itself (see FIG. 2 of Lu et al., Chinese Phys. Lett. Vol. 3, No. 9 (1986)). NYAB has since been used as a research crystal that often is useful only in the visible spectrum. Recent work with Yb-doped YAB as a self-doubling laser gain material follows the same path as NYAB with small alterations in operational laser efficiency and wavelengths. Laser light is generated within the crystal and self-doubled into green 520 nm. (see Dekker et al., JOSA B, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2005) 378-384). Again, its operation and the historic method of preparation limit its use to the visible and infrared. Hence, it is highly desirable to improve techniques for this family of compounds that enable optical function down into the ultraviolet.
Hence, it is highly desirable to improve techniques for optical compounds.

Method and structure for non-linear optics