In general, a system and method for implementing DSL support for use by a computer having a PCI bus is disclosed. A DSL modem is allowed to simultaneously communicate data to and from the computer. In a simplified embodiment, a DSL enabling device provides both data flow control and general control functions of the DSL modem. The DSL enabling device comprises a PCI DMA arbitrator, which determines the status of a temporary memory module in response to either a transmit request from a transmit control unit or a receive request from a receive control unit, thereby arbitrating between the two control units in order to access the temporary memory module. A read/write register specifies priority between the transmit control unit and the receive control unit, as well as specifying computer memory addresses to write to and setting memory cell length. A transmit RAM temporarily stores data from the computer to the DSL modem until such time as the DSL modem instructs the transmit control unit that the DSL modem is ready to receive the data. A receive RAM temporarily stores data from the DSL modem for transmission to the computer memory until such time that the PCI DMA arbitrator instructs the receive control unit that the temporary memory module is ready to receive such data after which time a single channel DMA transfers the data from the temporary memory module to the computer.

The present invention generally relates to broadband networks. More specifically, the invention is related to a single channel direct memory access block which provides digital subscriber line support for a computer using a PCI bus.
With the advancement of broadband technology, digital subscriber line (DSL) technology provides high-speed communication access over the existing copper telephone line infrastructure, and relieves congestion thereon. DSL does this by taking advantage of an unused frequency spectrum available on standard telephone lines that can be used to carry information. While DSL technology creates channels for communicating data over the telephone lines, plain old telephone service (POTS) frequencies remain free to handle voice traffic. Therefore, only a single line is needed to transmit and receive both voice and data communication traffic.
A DSL modem provides connectivity to a computer by allowing simultaneous transmission and reception of voice and data on a single line. When the DSL modem interfaces with a PCI bus within the computer, a problem occurs because the PCI bus only allows data to be read or written at one time, and not simultaneously. Therefore, while DSL advantageously allows the simultaneous communication of voice and data, the PCI bus cannot support this simultaneous functionality.
Briefly described, the invention is a system and method for supporting DSL communication in a computer having a PCI bus. The invention allows a DSL modem to simultaneously transmit and receive data to a computer. This is performed by using a DSL enabling device, which provides both data flow control and general DSL modem control.
The DSL enabling device comprises a PCI DMA arbitrator, which determines the status of a temporary memory module in response to either a transmit request from a transmit control unit or a receive request from a receive control unit, thereby arbitrating between the transmit control unit and the receive control unit in order to access the temporary memory module. A read/write register specifies priority between the transmit control unit and the receive control unit, and specifies computer memory address locations in which to write, and also sets memory cell length.
A transmit random access memory (RAM) is used to temporarily store data communicated from the computer to the DSL modem until such time as the DSL modem instructs the transmit control unit that it is ready to receive the data. A receive RAM is used to temporarily store data destined for the computer from the DSL modem until such time that the PCI DMA arbitrator instructs the receive control unit that the temporary memory module is ready to receive such data.
The invention has numerous advantages, a few of which are delineated hereafter as examples. Note that the embodiments of the invention, which are described herein, possess one or more, but not necessarily all, of the advantages set out hereafter.
One advantage of the invention is that it provides for simultaneous communication of data between a DSL modem and a computer having a PCI bus, without incurring loss of data.
Another advantage is that it provides an efficient circuit design, having minimal cost, for using a single channel DMA to simultaneously and bi-directionally communicate between a DSL modem and a computer.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one of reasonable skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional objects, features and advantages be included herein within the scope of the present invention, as defined by the claims.

Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) single channel master direct memory access (DMA) serving two separate channels


An apparatus and method for electrical shock protection and electrical arc fault protection in an electrical distribution system. The invention consists of a current interrupting circuit that impedes electrical current flow during short time intervals in each half cycle of an AC source. If a shock hazard or electrical arc fault condition occurs during this short time interval, it results in current flow that is sensed at a load center, causing a circuit interrupter to open and preventing current flow to the distribution system for a period of time as short as one half cycle. When the fault is removed, that event is detected within one half cycle and power is restored to the load thus implementing an automatic reset. The invention is well suited for the retrofit of existing electrical distribution systems using the existing wiring.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical shock and electrical arc fault protection circuits for electrical distribution systems and more particularly, to an improved protection system that can detect and eliminate many shock hazards and arcing faults within an electrical distribution system and which automatically resets itself upon the removal of the shock hazard and/or arcing fault.
2. Background of the Invention
Any electrical device ("the load") requires the flow of electrical current in order to operate. An analogy is the flow of water through an aquarium filter. A pump takes in water from the aquarium and increases the pressure (analogous to an increase in electrical voltage) to force the water through a tube (the tube is analogous to the electrical conductor or wire) to the filter (analogous to the electrical load). The flow of water current through the tube is analogous to the flow of electrical current in a wire. Most of the water pressure is "used up" in passing through the filter so that the water coming out of the filter has a relatively low pressure. A hose conveys the low pressure water from the filter outlet back to the aquarium. If the tube connecting the pump and the filter has a hole then some of the water will pass through this hole from the high pressure in the tube to a lower pressure outside the tube. This constitutes a water leak.
In somewhat the same way, an electrical device or load receives electrical energy from one terminal of an electrical outlet or source (the so-called high voltage or "hot" side), electrical current flows to the device through an electrical conductor or wire (the hot conductor), this current passes through the load and is then returned to another terminal of the electrical outlet through another wire called the neutral wire. The neutral wire will have a very low voltage (electrical pressure) because most of the voltage will be "used up" in the act of forcing electrical current through the load.
The two wires that connect source and load may have a coating of rubber or some other electrical insulating material or they may be bare, in which case air, which is a good insulator, functions to inhibit electrical current flow outside of the wire. Since the human body can conduct the flow of electrical current, if a person comes into contact with one electrified object such as the so-called hot wire in an electrical system, while also making contact with a second object having a substantially different voltage, then an electrical leakage current that is proportional to the voltage difference will flow through the person and may cause injury or death. If the second object that the person comes in contact with is electrically connected to the earth (ground) then this is a called a hot to ground fault. If the second object that the person comes in contact with is the neutral wire this is a hot to neutral fault. If the person makes contact between the neutral wire and ground this is called a neutral to ground fault. Since the voltage difference between neutral and ground is generally small (because the neutral line is connected to ground at the load center or breaker box where power is supplied), a neutral to ground fault is generally considered to be less hazardous than a hot to ground or a hot to neutral fault. Faults can also occur through the air. An undesirable electrical current leakage path through the air is generally manifested as a high energy electrical spark or "arc" and is referred to as an arc fault.
Electrical current is the flow of electrons. Electrons are neither created nor destroyed so any functioning electrical appliance will require both an entry path for electrons and an exit path for electrons in order for electrical current to flow. In an electrical appliance, electrons may exclusively enter on one path and exit on a second (direct current or DC operation). This is analogous to the aquarium leak example. For most household appliances that operate from a plug, electrons will sometimes enter path one and exit path two and sometimes enter path two and exit path one. This is known as alternating current or AC operation.
Although the two conductors coming out of an AC power source are often designated as "hot" and "neutral", in an AC system, the hot conductor will cyclically have a more positive voltage than the neutral for half the time and will cyclically have a more negative voltage than neutral for half the time, having a momentary value of zero each time the voltage passes from positive to negative and negative to positive.
A common source of electrical injuries in the home occurs when people place radios or similar electrical devices that are operated using household AC electrical current near their pool or bath tub while swimming or bathing. If the radio is knocked into the water, it can create electrical leakage current through the water to ground creating a ground fault. A ground fault can also occur when a person touches an electrically hot conductor while standing on or touching a grounded conductive surface. When sufficient current passes through a person, electrical burns or electrocution may result. Many electrical appliances such as heaters, hair dryers, electric razors and pumps are used near water and can present this type of hazard. Even a relatively low level of electrical current leakage can be hazardous to a human. Underwriters Laboratories, in their 943 standard for ground fault interrupt devices, requires that listed devices must open in response to any leakage current exceeding six milliamperes.
Another type of undesirable operating condition occurs when an electrical spark jumps between two conductors or from one conductor to ground. This spark represents an electrical discharge through the air and is objectionable because heat is produced as a byproduct of this unintentional "arcing" path. This occurrence is known as an arc fault and is a leading cause of, and contributor to, electrical fires. The electrical current levels drawn by an arcing fault are generally several orders of magnitude higher than the six milliampere standard for the Underwriters Laboratories 943 specification.
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that there were approximately 41,000 fires involving electrical wiring systems in 1992. These fires resulted in 320 deaths, 1600 injuries and $511 million in property losses. The CPSC studies also show that the occurrence of wiring system fires is disproportionately high in homes more than 40 years old [Source: Technology for Detecting and Monitoring Conditions That Could Cause Electrical Wiring System Fires, Contract Number CPSC-C-94-1112, prepared by Underwriters Laboratories September 1995]. The disproportionately high incidence of wiring system fires in older homes may be attributed to poor wiring techniques, outdated electrical components and aged or damaged insulation on conductors. The present invention could be applied as a retrofit to older homes, affording protection against the arcing faults that are a major source of wiring system fires.
Arcing faults can occur in the same places that ground faults can occur--in fact, a ground fault would be called an arcing fault if it resulted in an electrical discharge across an air gap (a spark). As such, circuits that protect against ground faults can also prevent many classes of arcing faults. However, many of the circuits that purport to protect against arcing faults cannot detect low (albeit hazardous) level ground faults.
Protection circuits known as ground fault interrupters or GFI's, are presently required by code for the bathrooms of most new homes and commercial buildings. Similar circuits are also required for Underwriter's Laboratories approval in hair dryers sold in the United States. Of the GFI circuits presently available on the market, all use a current imbalance in a current sense transformer as the means of detecting a fault Such circuits are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,302 (Butler et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,515 (Van Zeeland). One problem with approaches based upon a current sense transformer is that the magnetic core can acquire a residual magnetic state subsequent to one or more differential current conditions. This can result in a circuit which is too sensitive and is subject to nuisance tripping. In order to avoid nuisance trip problems, Underwriters Laboratories, in their 943 standard, requires that ground fault interrupt circuits not trip in response to a fault current of less than 4 milliamperes, thereby reducing the incidences of nuisance trippings. While existing ground fault interrupter circuits can detect and interrupt an arcing fault from the hot conductor to ground, they cannot detect and prevent an arcing fault that occurs between a hot conductor and a neutral conductor, a source of many electrical fires within homes and businesses. The present invention can detect such an occurrence within the household wiring. In addition, the present invention is an improvement over the current sense transformer based approaches in that it does not require the transformer and, since it is has a fast autoreset, nuisance tripping is not as great a concern and the device can be made responsive to a very low level of fault condition.
A spin-off of the conventional GFI circuit that has been applied to arc fault detection/avoidance in an appliance cordset is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,894 (Legatti). This device works by using a conductive metal sheath to surround each current-carrying conductor individually. An arc protection winding is located on the core of the GFI current sense transformer and is connected in series with a resistance between the metal sheath and a neutral or return line. A fault involving any current carrying conductor will involve the shield before it involves any other conductive surface and the fault current will be sensed as a ground fault, thereby tripping the interrupting device in the plug. Problems with this approach, over and above the problems inherent in any current sense transformer based approach, is that this technology (U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,894) requires special wires that have a grounded conductive shield and this prevents its use in a system where it is desirable to use existing wiring.
The late 1980's and early 1990's saw a great deal of effort directed at arc fault detection/protection circuits. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,006 (Mackenzie and Engel) describes a system whereby the magnitude and rate of change of current is monitored. If the rate of change of current has a profile characteristic of a sputtering arc fault, a circuit breaker relay is tripped. U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,144 (Garin) uses a light sensitive arc detector to detect an arcing phenomenon and then trips a circuit breaker. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,658,322 (Rivera) and 4,903,162 (Kopelman) use heat sensing elements to detect an overtemperature condition, such as that occuring due to an arcing fault, in electrical wiring and trigger a current interrupting circuit breaker in response thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,054 (Franklin) discloses a protective circuit that trips a circuit breaker upon the detection of an overload current condition which exceeds the maximum expected during normal transient conditions of operation, such overload current condition said to be characteristic of an arcing fault. The problems with all of the above cited arc fault protection technologies is that they cannot detect a low level (non-arcing) fault current which, although of relatively small value, can still result in a painful or even lethal electrical shock.
Additional arc fault detection circuits have been proposed that look for a specific signature characteristic of the current, voltage or electromagnetic field associated with arcing faults. These technologies concentrate on detecting a specific signature characteristic because many electric devices produce arcing during normal operations. An example is an electrical light switch which may draw a spark (an arc) when opened or an electric igniter for a gas furnace. Another example of a device that arcs in normal operation is a commutated motor which will spark continuously at the brushes when energized. An arc fault detector/interrupter would be useless if it detected and tripped in response to all arcs, both good (corresponding to normal operation) and bad (corresponding to a fault condition). Examples of technologies wherein the current flow is monitored, filtered and processed to detect an arcing fault include U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,817 (Cooper and South) wherein voltage signals are measured between the three phases in an AC three phase network and bandpass limited to the frequency band between 1 and 100 kilohertz, the band which is alleged to contain harmonic frequencies indicative of an arcing fault. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,047,724 (Boksinger and Parente) and 5,280,404 (Ragsdale) reveal methods for detecting arc faults in an electrical circuit by comparing the spectral frequency makeup of voltages and/or currents within the circuit conductors to the spectrum characteristic of an arcing event. Examples of technologies wherein an electromagnetic field is monitored, filtered and processed to detect an arcing fault include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,185,684 (Beihoff, Tennies, Richards and O'Neil), 5,185,685 (Tennies, Beihoff, Hastings, Clarey and O'Neil), 5,185,686 (Hansen, Beihoff, Tennies and Richards), 5,185,687 (Beihoff, Tennies, Richards and O'Neil) and 5,208,542 (Tennies, Beihoff, Hansen). The present invention is an improvement over the above referenced inventions in that the above inventions are directed at detecting an arcing condition but would be unresponsive to a low level fault current which, although not resulting in an arcing fault, could deliver a painful or lethal electrical shock if the fault path was a human body. Furthermore, most of the filtering algorithms proposed by these arc fault directed inventions require a signal analysis over multiple cycles and cannot detect and respond to a fault in less than one cycle of the fundamental AC source frequency.
3. Objects and Advantages
The present invention has the following objects and advantages:
a) requires only two electrical conductors connecting the parts of an electrical distribution system (no ground wire required); PA1 b) does not use a current sense transformer for fault detection; PA1 c) can detect and interrupt arcing faults from the hot conductor to ground; PA1 d) can detect and interrupt shock hazards from the hot conductor to ground; PA1 e) can detect and interrupt an arcing fault from the hot conductor to the neutral conductor within the wiring connecting the load center and the outlets/lights in an electrical distribution system; PA1 f) interrupts current flow within one half cycle from the occurrence of a fault; PA1 g) electrical power is automatically restored to the device upon removal of the fault (auto-reset); PA1 h) can be easily retrofit into existing houses or other installations without requiring a restringing of existing wiring within that house or other installation; PA1 i) can be used to detect and prevent an open ground condition or miswired neutral at wall outlets within a home; PA1 j) can be made to provide short circuit current limiting and protection.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a description of the drawings and ensuing description. None of the prior art patents described in section 2, either alone or in any appropriate combination, anticipates or renders the disclosed invention unpatentable.

Shock and arc protection device for an electrical distribution system


A media broker comprises a communication interface and a controller associated with the communication interface configured to receive a request from a user to record a requested media item. The media broker proceeds to query an aggregated stored content list (ASCL) including information indicative of each of the media items stored on one or more media storage device communicatively coupled to the media broker to determine if the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. If it is determined that the requested media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices the user that requested the media item is informed and the media item is stored on the one or more media storage devices. Conversely, if it is determined that the requested media item is not stored on the one or more media storage devices, the requested media item is recorded.

Traditionally, digital video recorders (DVRs) require a set-top box (STB) with a hard drive contained in it. The hard drive is utilized to record media content item for future viewing. Media item content that is recorded in order to be viewed at a later time is referred to as "time shifted" content. It is further commonplace for a household to have more than one STB each capable of independently recording and playing back media content item.
Unfortunately, because each STB acts independently of other STBs in a home, multiple redundant copies of the same media content item may be recorded on different STBs using up valuable storage space. Furthermore, DVRs are often programmed to record much more content than they are able to store. As a result, recorded content must often times be erased to make space for a new media item before a user has an opportunity to consume the media item.
As such, there exists a need to reduce or eliminate the unnecessary recording of multiple copies of the same time-shifted media item in a home with multiple STBs and multiple media storage repositories, such as DVRs. There further exists a need to store recorded media items in a manner that avoids or otherwise prevents the deletion of unwatched media items.

System and method for intelligent storage of time shifted content


Techniques and systems are described for performing semantic text searches. A semantic text-searching solution uses a machine learning system (such as a deep learning system) to determine associations between the semantic meanings of words. These associations are not limited by the spelling, syntax, grammar, or even definition of words. Instead, the associations can be based on the context in which characters, words, and/or phrases are used in relation to one another. In response to detecting a request to locate text within an electronic document associated with a keyword, the semantic text-searching solution can return strings within the document that have matching and/or related semantic meanings or contexts, in addition to exact matches (e.g., string matches) within the document. The semantic text-searching solution can then output an indication of the matching strings.

Numerous applications, including word processing applications, web applications, mobile applications, among others, enable users to perform searches for text within documents and/or user interfaces. For example, when viewing an electronic document displayed by an application, a user may be able to open or activate a word search user interface (e.g., by pressing "Ctrl+F" on a keyboard). The word search user interface may allow the user to enter a keyword containing one or more characters, words, phrases, etc. A text-searching system implemented by the application can then identify and return portions of text within the document that match or correspond to the keyword. In this way, the user can navigate to portions of the document relevant to content of the keyword.
Many existing solutions for searching for a keyword utilize or rely on string matching. A string matching solution may return portions of a document that directly match or include a string of text entered by a user. For example, if the user searches for the string "turn," a string matching solution may return each instance of "turn" within a document, including words that contain the string "turn" in addition to other characters, such as "turns" and "turning." While a string matching approach may return relevant results in some cases, the overall usefulness of such an approach may be limited. For example, a string matching solution may not return any results (or may return inaccurate results) if a user spells a search query incorrectly, even by a single letter. Similarly, a string matching solution may fail to return helpful results if a user enters a different version of a word included in a document (such as "color" versus "colour" or "lives" versus "life").
Some text-searching solutions may attempt to expand or broaden the results returned by a string matching approach. For instance, a text-searching solution may implement stemming, which involves truncating a search query (e.g., changing "studies" to "studi"). In another case, a text-searching solution may implement lemmatization, which involves identifying the base or lemma of a search (e.g., changing "studies" to "study"). Further, some text-searching solutions may utilize dictionaries or thesauruses to search for words similar to a text query. However, these text-searching solutions may still fail to return many results that are relevant to a keyword. Specifically, existing text-searching solutions do not consider the semantic meaning or context of a keyword.
Semantic text search based systems and techniques are needed for returning words within documents that are semantically related to an entered keyword.


An electrical conductor covered with an electrically insulating layer and which is required to conduct, for extended durations, a current under high external temperature conditions which can damage the electrically insulating layer, is provided with a thermal protection device for protecting the electrically insulating layer of the electrical conductor, for example, the conducting tubes forming the large inductors of an industrial electroheat furnace. The thermal protection device is formed from at least one layer of a composite refractory, produced as a combination of refractory fibers and a compatible refractory binder, to constitute a heat shield able to withstand external temperatures of between 500 and 1,600xc2x0 C. Refractory tiles, which can vary in density, can also be provided on the outside of the composite refractory layer.

The present invention relates to a thermal protection device for electrical conductors, and more particularly, for the electrical conductors of industrial electroheat, inductive, arc, resistance or radiation furnaces.
The conducting turns of the large inductors of industrial induction furnaces are generally formed as hollow copper, profiled tubes. The copper tubes are cooled by circulating water which removes the ohmic losses and the heat released by the high temperature inductive heating load. The profiled tubes are further covered with a layer of electrical insulation, which maintains its mechanical and dielectric properties only up to temperatures of arounnd 200 to 220xc2x0 C., or perhaps 300xc2x0 C. in the case of the highest-performance insulations.
This electrical insulation is frequently damaged or burnt since the conducting turns are exposed to various potentials for damage, for example, to splashes of molten metal, to very high levels of heat radiation coming from the crucible or from other heated components (heated white hot), or to streams of gases (carbon, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen, etc.) at high temperature in pyrolysis furnaces.
A defect in the electrical insulation can generate inter-turn arcing, arcing between the turns and the structure of the grounded inductor, or between the turns and the grounded load.
A known solution for remedying this problem is to embed the inductor in a cylinder of refractory concrete or cement. This solution applies to induction heaters for billets, but cannot be generalized since it has several drawbacks. For example, such embedded inductors are bulky and heavy. The refractory coating is cast on site, and replacing an inductor in a large furnace becomes very lengthy and expensive. In the event of a minor fault in an inductor (electrical fault, water leak, etc.), it is very difficult to locate the fault, in order to carry out a partial repair, without having to break the entire concrete encapsulation and without damaging the sound electrical insulation underneath. Also, such embedded inductors are difficult to install and to maintain.
The objective of the present invention is to find a thermal insulation which is capable of withstanding heat shocks and which can solve the above-mentioned problems. Such a solution must, in particular, be lightweight, easy to install, inexpensive and dense enough to be impermeable to heat radiation and to any infiltrations, for example, by carbon or pitch particles.
The thermal protection of the present invention will not be limited to industrial furnaces, but can also protect the electrical conductors of machines that have to operate as long as possible in the event of a fire, such as motor-driven smoke-exhausting fans, safety lighting, etc.
The foregoing objective is achieved in accordance with the present invention by a thermal protection device for an electrical conductor covered with an electrically insulating layer which is required to conduct, for variable durations, a current under high external temperature conditions which are potentially damaging to the electrically insulating layer. The thermal protection device is formed from at least one layer of a composite refractory produced by a combination of refractory fibers and a compatible refractory binder, so as to constitute a heat shield which is able to withstand external temperatures of between 500 and 1,600xc2x0 C.
The refractory fibers can be in the form of woven or nonwoven tapes, or in the form of a paste. When implemented in the form of tapes, the tapes are arranged in at least one thickness of overlapping windings around the inductor.
The resulting heat shield can also include a number of refractory tiles tangentially cemented or adhesively bonded to the tubes. Prior taping of the conductor with refractory fibers permits good attachment of the refractory adhesive to the electrically insulated conductor.
The present invention will be more clearly understood with reference to the description given below, together with the following figures.

Thermal protection forming a heat shield


An apparatus for performing in-vivo sonoporation of a skin area and transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of a drug solution includes a container having an end covered with a porous membrane and containing the drug solution and an ultrasound horn having a tip submerged in the drug solution. The ultrasound horn applies ultrasound radiation to the drug solution. The ultrasound radiation has a frequency in the range of 15 KHz and 1 MHz and is applied at an intensity, for a period of time and at a distance from said skin area effective to generate cavitation bubbles. The cavitation bubbles collapse and transfer their energy into the skin area thus causing the formation of pores in the skin area. The ultrasound radiation intensity and distance from the skin area are also effective in generating ultrasonic jets, which ultrasonic jets then drive the drug solution through the porous membrane and the formed pores into the skin.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of drugs by sonoporation and more particularly to in-vivo transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of drugs.
Transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of drugs offer several advantages over conventional delivery methods including oral and injection methods. It delivers a predetermined drug dose to a localized area with a controlled steady rate and uniform distribution, is non-invasive, convenient and painless.
Transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of drugs require transport of the drug molecules through the stratum corneum, i.e., the outermost layer of the skin. The stratum corneum (SC) provides a formidable chemical barrier to any chemical entering the body and only small molecules having a molecular weight of less than 500 Da (Daltons) can passively diffuse through the skin at rates resulting in therapeutic effects. A Dalton is defined as a unit of mass equal to {fraction (1/12)} the mass of a carbon-12 atom, according to xe2x80x9cSteadman""s Electronic Medical Dictionaryxe2x80x9d published by Williams and Wilkins (1996).
In co-pending patent application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of forming micropores in skinxe2x80x9d, incorporated herein by reference, sonoporation has been proposed as a method to facilitate transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of molecules larger than 500 Da and to increase the rate of drug delivery through the SC. The sonoporation apparatus described in the referenced application is not practical for in-vivo drug delivery and in particular for treating humans.
It would be advantageous to provide a method and an apparatus for in-vivo transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of any size drug molecules.
In general, in one aspect, the invention provides an apparatus for performing in-vivo sonoporation of a skin area and transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of a drug solution including a container having an end covered with a porous membrane and containing the drug solution and an ultrasound horn having a tip submerged in the drug solution. The ultrasound horn applies ultrasound radiation to the drug solution. The ultrasound radiation has a frequency in the range of 15 KHz and 1 MHz and is applied at an intensity, for a period of time and at a distance from said skin area effective to generate cavitation bubbles. The cavitation bubbles collapse and transfer their energy into the skin area thus causing the formation of pores in the skin area. The ultrasound radiation intensity and distance from the skin area are also effective in generating ultrasonic jets, which ultrasonic jets then drive the drug solution through the porous membrane and the formed pores into the skin area.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The membrane may have pores with a diameter of 100 micrometers. The membrane may be hydrophobic. The tip may be removable connected to the ultrasound horn and it may have a distal end surface, which is flat or concave. The distal end surface may have a plurality of depressions. The tip may also have a body having markings indicating the amount of the drug solution contained in the container. A removable protective film may cover the membrane. The container may have an outer wall, an inner wall and an absorbent wick placed between the inner and outer wall. The wick absorbs any excess drug solution that is not driven into the skin area through the formed pores and it may be made of highly absorbent and hydrophilic material such as absorbent cellulose material, polyvinyl alcohol sponge, Sodium Carboxy-Methyl Cellulose (CMC), blotting paper and any other spongy materials.
The container inner wall may have first and second grooves and tip may have a body having first and second grooves. The tip is inserted into the container and placed so that the first and second grooves of the tip body are opposite the first and second grooves of the container inner wall. This arrangement defines first and second spaces for accommodating first and second o-rings, respectively. The container may also have an inlet septum for filling it with the solution. The container may be a cylinder made of a transparent material and/or plastic material.
The ultrasound frequency may be 20 KHz and the ultrasound intensity may be in the range of 5 W/cm2 and 55 W/ cm2. The tip may have a distal end located at a distance from the membrane in the range of 1 millimeter to 10 millimeters. The ultrasound radiation may be continuous or pulsed and it may be applied for a period of time in the range of about 30 seconds to 5 minutes, preferably 1 minute for continuous exposure or about 10 minutes to 20 minutes for pulsed exposure with a 5% duty cycle, respectively. The formed pores may have a diameter in the range of 1 micrometer to 100 micrometers.
In general, in another aspect, the invention features a method of performing in-vivo sonoporation of a skin area and transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of a drug solution. The method includes providing a container containing a predetermined amount of the drug solution and having a first end and a second end, the second end being covered with a porous membrane. Next a tip of an ultrasound horn is submerged in the drug solution through the first end of the container and then the porous membrane is placed in contact with the skin area. The ultrasound radiation is then turned on having a frequency in the range of 15 KHz and 1 MHz. The ultrasound radiation is applied with an intensity, for a period of time and at a distance from the skin area effective to generate cavitation bubbles. The cavitation bubbles collapse and transfer their energy into the skin area thus causing the formation of pores in the skin area. The ultrasound radiation intensity and distance from the skin area are also effective in generating ultrasonic jets, which ultrasonic jets then drive the drug solution through the porous membrane and the formed pores into the skin area.
Among the advantages of this invention may be one or more of the following. The apparatus allows a painless and rapid delivery of drugs through the skin for either topical or systemic therapy. The apparatus allows coupling of the ultrasound radiation to a container containing the drug solution without dampening the ultrasound intensity.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and description below. Other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, the drawings and from the claims.

Method and apparatus for in-vivo transdermal and/or intradermal delivery of drugs by sonoporation


An embodiment of the invention provides a manufacturing method of flexible display substrate (10) comprising: preparing a backing layer (2) on a carrier substrate (1); preparing a flexible base substrate (3) on the backing layer (2); preparing electronic components (4) on the flexible base substrate (3); and removing the backing layer (2) from the flexible base substrate (3) back to obtain a flexible display substrate (10).

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a flexible display substrate.
Flexible Display technology has a considerable development in recent ten years, thereby bring great improvements of a flexible display on the dimension of screen and the quality of display. A flexible display is also referred as to a rollable display which is a bendable display device constructed of visible flexible panel made of flexible materials. Both CRT that becomes extinct and LCD which is popular nowadays belong to a conventional rigid display substantially. Compared to the ordinary rigid display, a flexible display has multiple advantages: higher capability for impact resistance and shock resistance; light weight, small volume and more convenience for carrying; and low cost bring by using rolling process similar to a newspaper printing process.
Although the manufacturing methods for the current several flexible displays have respective characteristics, they have some common points. For example, they all need bonding a layer of flexible base substrate on a rigid seat which is hard and flat, producing electronic elements on the flexible base substrate to complete the flexible display substrate, and then peeling the completed flexible display substrate from the seat. To do this because it is needed to accurately fix the position and flatness of a flexible base substrate during the refined manufacture process of the display assembly, and the error can be accounted for the order of microns to ensure there is no misplace between the electronic elements.
The hard seat described above is generally glass materials, which has a rigidity satisfied the requirements, but does not has a sufficient flat surface which usually has undulation. When the electronic elements are produced on the flexible base substrate under a vacuum environment, the bubbles in the space on the glass surface generated due to undulation would raise several bubbles on the back of flexible base substrate which is relatively soft, and even cause the flexible base substrate to have plastic deformation which can not be recovered, i.e. a flexible display substrate would have plastic deformation which can not be resumed. The irregular un-flatness of the flexible base substrate would cause the unevenness of the characteristics on the elements thereon, so as to affect the quality of the flexible display substrate.

Manufacturing method of flexible display substrate


A lid for a liquid sample container is provided which includes an opening for transferring the sample into a further container for conducting the necessary tests and a flexible portion, which allows the sample to be expelled through the opening. The opening is normally closed by a detachable closure which can also be used to re-seal the opening after the desired quantity of the sample has been withdrawn. An apparatus is also provided for obtaining dual liquid samples, which comprises two sample containers, wherein one container is retained within a recess in the other to result in a unitary structure. Further a method of obtaining liquid samples is provided which utilizes containers of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for collecting and transporting liquid samples. More particularly, the subject devices are used for collecting and transporting samples of liquids for analytical testing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The sampling of fluids for diagnostic or evidentiary purposes is very common. Such fluids, which include urine, blood, water, milk etc., are collected in a specimen container and transported to a laboratory where they are analyzed to determine the presence of infections or contaminants such as drugs, alcohol etc. Under such circumstances, the collected sample must be maintained uncontaminated until the various testing procedures have been concluded. Containers for this purpose are common and usually comprise a plastic container having a secure lid.
The first step in analyzing the sample is normally the extraction of an aliquot of the collected fluid. Since the collected samples may pose a biohazard risk, great care must be taken to ensure that the liquid sample is not spilled during the handling of the container or the extraction of the desired aliquot. Further, in order to protect the accuracy of the analytical results, it must be ensured that no contaminants mix with the sample.
It is now preferred for the analytical process to be automated which involves the use of robotics to handle the specimen container and to conduct the various chemical and biochemical tests on the liquid sample. To conduct the desired tests, an aliquot of the sample is extracted from the vial and passed into a testing chamber (a test tube for example). As mentioned above, it must be ensured that the fluid sample is not spilled onto any part of the apparatus and that, during the extraction of such aliquot, another sample or other material does not contaminate the sample. Thus, specimen containers must be designed to be suitable for use in both manual and automated analytical processes.
Another issue arises in cases where biological samples are collected for evidentiary purposes. In such situations, the established protocols call for two samples of fluid to be collected and maintained in separate containers. One of such samples proceeds through the analytical process while the second is maintained uncontaminated for later reference if needed. In these cases it is important to maintain a proper chain of custody of the two samples so as to prevent tampering. Normally, the sample is collected in a collection cup and separated into transport containers, which are attached together, usually by rubber bands, until they reach the laboratory. Although the containers are labeled, they can easily be misplaced rendering further verification of the tests impossible and corrupting the chain of custody.
To address the safe transfer of the desired aliquot of the sample, various modifications to the container lid have been proposed. An example of such modification is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,395,590 wherein Swaniger et al. teach a valved plastic lid for a specimen container. The '590 lid includes a valved opening in the center which comprises a number of slits, which, due to the elasticity of the plastic material, are normally closed. However, upon applying an inward force to the lid, the slits open and allow the contained fluid to pass through. In extracting fluid from a container having such lid, the opening of a second container, such as a test tube, is placed over the opening in the lid and the two containers are inverted. The first container is then forced downward thereby causing the slits in the lid to open and allowing fluid to enter the second container. However, the lid taught in the '590 patent has certain disadvantages. For example, the slits in the lid can be forced open prior to the testing process by applying pressure thereto and thereby allowing contaminants to enter the container. Similarly, the collected sample may also be inadvertently spilled thereby requiring a separate closure until the sample is extracted. Further, the manufacture of such a complicated structure adds to the cost of such a lid.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,867, Jensen et al. teach an apparatus for the collection of dual biological samples. This reference describes a kit comprising a container containing two sample vials and other items to obtain the desired samples. After collecting the samples, the vials are placed back into the main container. Although accounting for the chain of custody during transfer, the apparatus of this reference requires the separation of the sample vials prior to the analysis process thereby resulting in the possibility of one of them being misplaced.
Thus a need exists for a specimen container which overcomes the above-identified deficiencies in the known devices.

Liquid sample collection and transport system


A protective cap for an inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head having an ejection surface in which open ends of nozzles are arranged in a row. The cap includes a mainbody and an elastic lip portion. The mainbody is formed of a first material mainly composed of thermoplastic elastomer and containing butyl rubber. The first material has a hardness of a first degree. The mainbody includes a base portion, and a protruding portion formed integrally with the base portion to protrude from the base portion. The lip portion is formed of a second material mainly composed of thermoplastic elastomer and containing butyl rubber. The second material has a hardness of a second degree lower than the first degree. The lip portion is disposed on at least the protruding portion to cover at least an end portion of the protruding portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a protective cap for covering a row of nozzles open in an ejection surface of a recording head, such that a closed or sealed space is defined inside the protective cap. The invention also relates to an inkjet recording apparatus including the protective cap, and a method of producing the protective cap.
2. Description of Related Art
There is known an inkjet recording apparatus including a recording head and a protective cap. The recording head has an ejection surface in which open ends of a plurality of nozzles are arranged in a row. Droplets of ink supplied from a sub tank are selectively ejected from the row of nozzles to record an image on a recording medium. The protective cap is brought into contact with the ejection surface to hermetically cover the nozzle row.
As such a protective cap, there is used a type as disclosed in FIG. 4 of JP-A-2001-80091, which includes a mainbody and a lip portion that are integrally formed of rubber. The mainbody has a protruding portion configured to have a recess inside thereof, and the lip portion is disposed around the recess. When the protective cap covers the nozzle row, the lip portion directly and closely contacts the ejection surface, and a sealed space is defined inside the protruding portion.
The hardness of the rubber forming the mainbody and the lip portion is set at 30-40 Hs JIS A. Throughout this specification and in the appended claims, hardness is defined in accordance with JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) K 6301. This value is appropriate for preventing occurrence of a clearance between the ejection surface and the lip portion, and deformation of the protruding portion at the same time. That is, when the hardness of the lip portion is too high, the clearance tends to occur. On the other hand, when the hardness of the lip portion is too low, the protruding portion tends to collapse or deform.
Since the mainbody and the lip portion of the protective cap are integrally formed of rubber, when a sucking operation to eliminate or prevent clogging of the nozzles is implemented, a negative pressure is produced in the recess or at the sealed space to cause the lip portion to deform or collapse, thereby closing open ends of the nozzles.
In view of this, there has been proposed a protective cap where a mainbody is formed of synthetic resin and a lip portion is formed of rubber, as disclosed in FIG. 3 of the above-mentioned publication, for instance. The mainbody includes a base portion and a protruding portion extending from the base portion and integrally formed with the base portion. The lip portion is disposed on the protruding portion of the mainbody to cover at least an upper portion of the protruding portion. According to this protective cap, the lip portion of the protective cap does not deform or collapse during the sucking operation, and thus the hermeticity of the sealed space is ensured more stably and reliably.
However, the conventional protective cap is disadvantageous in that the mainbody and the lip portion tend to separate from each other at the interface thereof, since the mainbody and the lip portion are formed of different materials, namely, the mainbody is formed of synthetic resin and the lip portion is formed of rubber.
This disadvantage can be overcome by forming the protruding portion and the lip portion such that the protruding portion has a boss or a hole that engage with a part of the lip portion when the mainbody and the lip portion are assembled. However, this undesirably leads to a complex shape of a mold that is used to form the mainbody.
Further, such a protective cap requires a large number of production steps and pushes up the cost, for the following reasons. That is, since the mainbody and the lip portion are formed of different materials, two molds for forming the mainbody and the lip portion, respectively, should be prepared, accordingly increasing the production cost. More specifically, the protective cap is produced such that the mainbody is formed by injecting a resin material into a mold prepared specially for forming the mainbody, then the thus formed mainbody of resin is taken off the mold and put into another mold prepared specially for forming the lip portion, to form the lip portion by injecting a rubber material into the latter mold. In this way, two production steps are required for producing the protective cap, increasing the number of production steps and accordingly the production cost.

Recording head protective cap, inkjet recording apparatus using the same, and method of producing the same


A fiber bundle confocal microscope or endoscope (200), comprising a light source (142) for providing a beam of light (160), a coherent fiber bundle of optical fibers (152), a scanner (202) for receiving the beam and scanning the beam over a proximal end of the bundle (162), so that the beam is launched into a plurality of the fibers sequentially, a plurality of the fibers thereby acting sequentially as an at least one delivery fiber (204), a spatial filter (172), and a photodetector (174) operatively associated with the spatial filter to receive return light from one or more of the fibers. The return light from the delivery fiber is excluded from the photodetector by the spatial filter.

Image transfer (coherent) optical fiber bundles have been used to inspect the interior cavities of the body for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease. They can also be used as the image optical transfer path component in confocal systems. Unlike in the case of a vibrating single fiber, the cores in the tips of the bundle are not acting as confocal pinholes; this function is provided by a spatial filter or filters, such as in the form of a pinhole, associated with a scanning mechanism outside the subject.
Existing fiber bundle confocal systems generally scan a single laser point in a raster pattern on the surface of the tips of the fibers of the bundle, using X and Y mirrors to effect the scan, although the same principle also works with line-scan, Nipkow disc or other confocal systems.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a basic point-scanning laser confocal system 10 of the background art that employs a coherent fiber bundle as an image transfer element. A beam of light 12 from a laser 14 shines on a beam-splitter 16 and a portion 18 of the light 12 is reflected onto an x-y beam-scanner 20. The scanned beam 22 passes through lens 24 to focus to a spot at the entry of core 26 of a respective optic fiber 28 on the polished proximal face 30 of the coherent fiber bundle 32. The light passes down the fiber 28 to the distal end 34 of fiber 28, from which it emerges as a divergent beam 36 that is completely captured by collimating lens 38. This light proceeds as a parallel, collimated beam 40 to an objective lens 42 that brings it to a focus as a diffraction-limited Gaussian waist 44 within the specimen under examination. If a portion of the specimen within that waist region 44 fluoresces or reflects light then that light travels in the reverse direction (via the same path as the excitation light described above) until it reaches beam-splitter 16. Some of this return light exits the beam-splitter 16 as a beam 46 and is focussed by lens 48 to a diffraction limited Gaussian waist 50 bounded by a spatial filter pinhole 52. The light passing through pinhole 52 impinges on a photodetector (such as a PMT) 54 and generates an electrical signal. This signal is fed into a bitmap in a frame-store 56 and is displayed as a point 58 on the screen of a monitor 60.
A scan generator 62 shifts the x-y beam-scanner 20 and hence beam 22 to a new path 64 so that the light travels through a different fiber 66 (at a considerable distance from the first fiber 28), illuminating another portion of the specimen at a different Gaussian waist 68; this portion is displayed on the screen of monitor 60 at 70. The scan generator 62 also provides an output signal to frame-store 56 so that frame-store 56 can assign the correct instantaneous x and y coordinates to the signal received from photodetector 54. Ultimately system 10 builds up a final image 72.
Coherent bundles have the major advantage in endoscopy of eliminating any need for a mechanical scanning mechanism within the subject. However, as each fiber core is discrete and separate, with six neighbouring fibers, there is the risk of undersampling and a hexagonal honeycomb overlay is imposed on the ultimate images.
Further, the fiber bundle loses a considerable amount of light, which is further compounded by the undersampling, for the following reasons. If the fiber cores were touching and were arranged in a square array, that is, centred on a rectangular grid, then from information theory principles the figure for linear undersampling in one row should be 2.3 (the Nyquist number) and the a real undersampling 2.32. In fact the cores in a fiber bundle are hexagonally close packed, so that the next row of fibers is actually 0.7071 diameters below the first row and the figure for undersampling in this direction is 2.3×0.7071=1.61. This makes the average figure for (linear) undersampling slightly less than 2 (or in terms of areal undersampling, somewhat less than 4).
In this example, if a purely geometric analysis is performed, approximately 9% of the light falling on a hexagonally close packed array of circular fibers will pass into the gaps between the fibers. However the fiber cores are separated by the combined cladding of each pair of adjacent fibers and, as described above, this cladding must be of finite thickness to avoid photon tunneling between the cores; such tunneling would otherwise cause optical crosstalk and image degradation. Photons which arrive at the bundle tip in the cladding region are either absorbed by the cladding within a short distance of the tip or are diverted at such a high angle that they are not guided but traverse across the cores to be absorbed at the outer sheath of the bundle. The cladding does not act as a funnel at the tip for the photons, there has to be a "dead zone" in between the cores to stop tunneling.
Apart from causing light loss, this dead-zone also adds to the undersampling; if the laser input beam were carefully matched to a single fiber in a polished tip of a bundle, it is possible to launch over 80% of light to reach the other end of the bundle. The loss is from tip reflections (˜8%), Raleigh scattering, and glass absorption.
If the laser beam is defocused to cover several cores, the transmission typically drops to ˜20%. This implies by geometric arguments that the dead zone makes up around 75% of the polished tip area. It follows from this that the cores are effectively separated by a full core diameter of cladding and that the linear undersampling figure is approximately double that for cores in close contact. This number will vary slightly with wavelength, bundle type and beam profile. (As a separate issue the dead area also implies that 75% of the scanning acquisition time will not be used, unless the laser spot is scanned along the lines of cores only.)
FIG. 2 is another schematic view of the background art system 10 of FIG. 1, and illustrates under-sampling resulting from the discrete nature of the separate fibers of the bundle 32 when using the illustrated system. For the purposes of explanation the illumination of the specimen is shown as being carried out (successively) by two adjacent fibers 80a and 80b. The respective Gaussian waists 82a and 82b of the light focussed by the objective lens 42 do not overlap. Hence respective portions of the specimen in Gaussian waists 82a and 82b will be imaged as 84a and 84b on the screen of monitor 60, but a portion of the specimen at 86 between Gaussian waists 82a and 82b will not be imaged. This constitutes a high degree of under-sampling.
The most obvious feature of fiber bundle images is the reticulated or hexagonal pattern overlay. In some approaches this is removed by acquiring a (highly oversampled) image of the bundle tip and using it to subtract pixel for pixel from the raw images. The pattern can also be removed by deliberately blurring the image or by filter transform processing. These methods improve viewability but at the cost of some information.
To obtain full resolution with maximum light efficiency, however, it would be necessary to sample at points between the discrete core positions shown. The vibrating tip fiber system is able to sample at as many points as desired during the scan.
Another existing approach avoids undersampling and attains full resolution potential as follows. If the numerical aperture (NA) of the fibers in the bundle is matched to the back NA of the lens (as is done in a scanning tip system), then the optical efficiency is at a maximum but the image is undersampled. Pixel intensity values for points building up the image can only be obtained from one fiber and then from the next adjacent fiber core, but the Nyquist sampling criterion requires measurements from points in between. The finite cladding thickness needed to prevent evanescent coupling and cross-talk (i.e. light leakage) between adjacent fibers further separates the cores, and the total linear undersampling value is then close to 4. Full optical resolution can be obtained by synchronized mechanical movement ("dithering") of the fiber bundle tips at both ends by a few core diameters in X and Y during image acquisition. This allows intensities of pixels to be obtained between the static core positions and eliminate the hexagonal honeycomb overlay pattern of the close packed fibers. From the discussion above it can be seen that it would be necessary to integrate approximately 16 scans (i.e. the square of the linear undersampling figure) to produce one image with full resolution. Mechanical scanning at the distal tip can be effected with piezo actuator elements of the type used to shift a CCD or CMOS chip in a digital camera, to increase resolution or to act as image stabilizers. At the proximal (i.e. laser source) end of the bundle an identical piezomechanical system can be used, or an equivalent result could be achieved in the computer by a shift in the frame register of the image.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating this background art technique for removing under-sampling by simultaneously dithering proximal and distal tips of the fiber bundle, and thereby obtaining samples at intermediate positions. The system 90 of FIG. 3 is generally like laser confocal system 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2, and like reference numerals have been used to identify like features. In addition, system 90 includes mini x actuators 92a, 92b (at the proximal and distal tips of the fiber bundle 32 respectively) controlled by controller 94 and mini y actuators 96a, 96b (at the proximal and distal tips of the fiber bundle 32 respectively) controlled by controller 98; these mini x and y actuators 92a, 92b, 96a, 96b simultaneously dither the proximal and distal tips of fiber bundle 32. When combined with the effects of beam-scanner 20, imagining can thereby be performed at intermediate positions.
Another existing method to obtain full resolution is to deliberately mismatch the fiber NA and the lens back-NA. A fiber bundle with smaller, high NA cores or a longer focal length collimating lens is used, so that the excitation light overfills the focussing lens. With this approach, the Airy discs projected within the specimen from adjacent fibers overlap, thus allowing the specimen fluorescence to be sampled at intermediate positions and satisfy the Nyquist criterion. The confocal light returning from each of these points (which are acting as sources) in the specimen projects its own Airy disc onto several fiber cores, most of which overlap from one pixel to the next. The return confocal pinhole at the proximal end must then accept light from this cluster of cores.
FIGS. 4A and 5 are schematic views of a background art system 100 in which the distal lens is highly overfilled. System 100 can give full resolution by allowing sampling at the Nyquist criterion intervals. In FIG. 4A the optical system is generally identical with that of FIG. 1, and like reference numerals have been used to identify like features. However, system 100 includes a collimating lens 102 of greater focal length than that of FIG. 1. This means that the distal lens assembly (comprising collimating lens 102 and objective lens 42) is further from the distal tip of fiber bundle 32, and the Gaussian waists 104 (which are identical in size with those in FIG. 2) now overlap and give proper sampling within the specimen being observed.
For clarity the illumination of the specimen is shown in FIG. 4A as being carried out by two adjacent fiber cores 106a, 106b in the fiber bundle 32. This does not occur simultaneously.
FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of region 108 of FIG. 4A. As is more apparent in this detail, Gaussian waist 110a resulting from the light transmitted along core 106a overlaps Gaussian waist 110b resulting from the light transmitted along core 106b.
FIG. 5 depicts the same optical arrangement as that of FIG. 4A but showing the return light rays from one point in the specimen. The Airy disc of the return light now falls on a cluster fiber tips 112 of seven fibers 114 at the distal end of the bundle 32. (For clarity, only the three fiber tips in the central plane of the cluster are shown.) The pinhole 52 is enlarged to allow the light emitted from the seven proximal cores 116 to pass to the photodetector 54. This gives full resolution but with a worse signal/noise ratio owing to the wasting of excitation light from the overfilling and the loss of return light in the cladding.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another background art system 120, similar to system 10 of FIG. 1 and like reference numerals have been used to identify like features. However, distal lenses (cf. lenses 38 and 42 in FIG. 1) are not used; instead, the distal face 122 (which is polished) of the fiber bundle 32 directly touches the tissue 124 to be imaged. Excitation light passes along a single fiber 28 of the bundle 32 and light from components 126 of the tissue 124 close to the distal face 122 returns back along the same fiber 28, passes through the beam-splitter 16 and pinhole 52 to a single photodetector 54, and is imaged at 128 on the screen of monitor 60. Similarly (though not simultaneously), excitation light transmitted by another fiber 66 illuminates another portion 130 of the tissue 124, and is ultimately imaged at 132 on the screen of monitor 60. A complete, contact microscopy image is eventually generated. The signal to noise ratio of the image, however, is degraded by Raman, Raleigh and Fresnel noise, and is affected by dirt on the polished bundle face 122.
However, in order to obtain full optical resolution using available bundles and the above techniques that employ distal tip lenses, over 95% of the laser excitation light is discarded. The mismatch also means that, in the return direction, the cladding absorbs about 75% of the return confocal light as the mode fields no longer match. In order to compensate for the poor light budget, the input power must be increased, but this increases the level of Raman scattering within the bundle and hence degrades the S/N ratio.
Hence, both the signal is reduced and the higher laser power generates correspondingly more noise within the fiber cores. Indeed, if full optical resolution with a bundle system is desired in existing systems, the laser power required to achieve the same level of fluorescent return signal will be 50 times greater. That is, the optical efficiency will be much less than 5% (i.e. 1/16th of 25%) of that of a single fiber tip scanner.
This degrades the S/N ratio in three ways:                1) Statistical noise due to photon arrival variation is worse if laser power is limited by medical safety requirement;        2) Noise from Raman scattering in the fiber core is very much worse; and        3) Fluorescence saturates (and fluorescent return tails off) while Raman generation increases linearly with laser intensity. The 25% confocal return figure pushes the fluorophore more into the saturated region.
Of these the noise from Raman scattering is generally the most significant. Spectral filtering can be used to remove some of this noise, but Raman lines from glass are broad because of the range of bond energies in the liquid glass. Methods of removing Raman interference do exist. For example, Raman noise is generated instantaneously so can be removed from the fluorescent signal using a FLIM system, but this requires pulsed lasers and time gated detectors.


An exemplary method of manufacturing a light-absorbing layer and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including the same light-absorbing layer are provided. The exemplary method includes: forming a nanoparticles film by applying a semiconductor nanoparticles solution on a substrate; thermally treating the nanoparticles film at least one time to cause adhesion among the nanoparticles; and forming a light-absorbing layer by applying a light-absorbing solution on the nanoparticles film.

Semiconductor nanoparticles have a feature of being able to control an energy level variously according to size, shape, and composition thereof, and have good electric conductivity and great absorbing cross-sectional areas in comparison to organic matters. Therefore, various researches to apply such semiconductor nanoparticles to a high efficiency solar cell are ongoing.
To implement the solar cell using the semiconductor nanoparticles, processes of removing non-conductive surfactant from surfaces of the nanoparticles and implementing the nanoparticles in a film state are essential. In particular, when the solar cell is manufactured using a hybrid of semiconductor nanoparticles and conducting polymer, the amount of surfactant remaining on the surfaces of the nanoparticles greatly affects characteristics of the solar cell.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a related-art method of manufacturing a solar cell using nanoparticles. As shown in FIG. 1, a hybrid light-absorbing layer is manufactured by mixing surface-treated semiconductor nanoparticles and organic semiconductor material in a conducting polymer solution, and applying the mixture. By treating the surfaces of the nanoparticles which have been synthesized using amine-based material (for example, pyridine, 1-butylamine, etc.), ligands are removed from the surfaces, and a nanoparticles solution based on a non-polar solvent such as chloroform (CHCl3) is manufactured. After that, a solution for manufacturing a light-absorbing layer is made by mixing the nanoparticles solution and the conducting polymer solution at a predetermined ratio, and is applied to a transparent electrode (spin coating, etc.) and is made as a film.
However, such a related-art method has a problem that colloidal stability of the surface-treated semiconductor nanoparticles is low. That is, because there is no surface ligand in the solution of the surface-treated nanoparticles or the ligand has a short length, the nanoparticles are not stabilized and precipitation easily occurs in the light-absorbing layer solution. This undermines long-term colloidal stability and also degrades reproducibility because deviation is great when devices are manufactured. Furthermore, reliability may deteriorate when the solar cell is scaled up afterward.
FIG. 2 illustrates another related-art method of manufacturing a solar cell using nanoparticles. This method is a layer-by-layer assembly method that manufactures a nanoparticles solar cell by stacking nanoparticles of a single layer several times or dozens of times. This method uses a bifunctional linker when stacking the nanoparticles layer repeatedly so that the semiconductor nanoparticles can be prevented from being washed away, and also, reduces a distance between the nanoparticles so that charge transfer between the nanoparticles can be improved.
This method has the merit of maintaining colloidal stability of the nanoparticles, but has problems that it takes much time to manufacture a device since the stacking/washing process should be performed dozens of times in order to manufacture a light-absorbing layer to absorb light sufficiently, and that device characteristics are greatly changed according to a kind of bifunctional linker.

Method of manufacturing light-absorbing layer having semiconductor nanoparticles and method of manufacturing semiconductor device having the same light-absorbing layer


A control mechanism for a door lock includes an outer cap, an inner cap, a plate fixed in the inner cap, an axle and a tube disposed in the inner cap and extended through the plate and extended toward the outer cap, a slide including a pair of oblong holes engaging with the axle and the tube and slidable relative to the plate. The slide includes two shoulders formed in the upper and lower portion and a pair of protrusions extended toward the plate, and a coupling device engaged between the tube and the axle for coupling the tube and the axle together.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control mechanism, and more particularly to a control mechanism for a door lock which includes a compact configuration.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
A typical door lock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,767 to Lin, issued Dec. 25, 1990; and another typical door lock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,565 to Lin, issued Dec. 1, 1987. Both of the door locks comprise a control mechanism which includes a complicated configuration, this is adverse for manufacturing purposes.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional door locks.


A slimline speaker comprises: a magnetic circuit having a magnet and yoke disposed to form a separating space in the horizontal direction; a bobbin on which a voice coil is mounted and of which the lower side is inserted in the separating space between the magnet and yoke; a base frame for mounting the magnetic circuit; a damper having an inside edge coupled to the bobbin and an outside edge coupled to the base frame; and a diaphragm having an inside edge coupled to a point lower down than the point where the damper is coupled on the bobbin, and an outside edge coupled to the base frame.

A speaker is a device that converts an electrical signal into a sound signal. The speaker has a structure in which a bobbin having a voice coil wound therearound is inserted into a magnetic circuit having a magnet, a plate and a yoke, so that the bobbin and a diaphragm connected to the bobbin are vibrated by the magnetic force generated in the magnetic circuit, thereby outputting sounds.
Hereinafter, a conventional speaker will be described in detail with reference to the drawing.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional speaker.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional speaker is provided with a base frame 10 formed to a thickness of about 1.0 to 1.2 mm using iron (Fe) or synthetic resin. A magnetic circuit part 20 generating a magnetic force is coupled to the base frame 10 at the bottom side of the base frame 10, and a vibration part 30 generating an electric force is mounted in the inside of the base frame 10.
The magnetic circuit part 20 comprises a ring-shaped plate 21, a ring-shaped magnet 23 and a yoke 25. Here, the plate 21 is coupled to the bottom of the base frame 10, and the magnet 23 is coupled to the bottom of the plate 21. The yoke 25 has a support plate 25a coupled to the bottom of the magnet 23 and a pole 25b passing upward through the inside of the magnet 23 and the plate 21.
The vibration part 30 comprises a diaphragm 31, a bobbin 33 and a damper 35. Here, the diaphragm 31 has an edge side coupled to the top side of the base frame 10. The bobbin 33 is formed in the shape of a cylinder having a voice coil wound around an outer circumferential surface thereof so that the upper side of the bobbin 33 is coupled to the diaphragm 31 and the lower side of the bobbin 33 is inserted between the plate 21 and the pole 25b. The damper 35 has an outer circumferential surface coupled to the base frame 10 and an inner circumferential surface coupled to the bobbin 33. In this case, the damper 35 functions to guide the bobbin 33 to be vibrated in a certain direction so that the bobbin 33 is not vibrated in the horizontal direction but vibrated in the vertical direction.
If external power is supplied to the voice coil, the bobbin is vertically vibrated by an action between the magnetic circuit 20 and the voice coil wound around the bobbin 33, and therefore, sounds are generated by vibrating the diaphragm 31.
However, in the conventional speak configured as described above, the inner circumferential surface of the damper 35 should be coupled to the bobbin 33 at a point lower than the diaphragm 31 so that the diaphragm 31 and the damper 35 are not interfered with each other when the bobbin 33 is vertically vibrated. The diaphragm 31 is extended to slope in such a way that the height of the outside edge is greater than that of the inside edge. Hence, there is a structural limitation in implementing the slimness of products, i.e., in decreasing the entire height of the product.
Accordingly, there has been proposed a planar speaker in which a diaphragm is extended in the horizontal direction for the purpose of manufacturing slimline products. However, if the diaphragm is formed in the shape of a horizontal flat plate, deformation such as warp may easily occur when the diaphragm is vibrated. In order to solve such a problem, a planar diaphragm may be bent to increase the strength of the diaphragm or may be formed using a diaphragm material of which the thickness is thick. In this case, the entire thickness of the diaphragm is increased by the thickness of the bent diaphragm or diaphragm material. Therefore, it is difficult to manufacture a speaker suitable for middle/low tone, high power and high sound quality while being thin in thickness.


A queen bee rearing and introduction system which has a base portion that includes a queen bee emerging hole disposed therein and an adjacent cell cup insertion hole disposed on a first side. On an opposite, second side there is a frame retention tab for attaching the queen bee rearing system into a standard wood hive box frame disposed along its length. The base portion also has at least one cage latch. There is a cage portion that has one open end and one enclosed end. The open end has at least one cage latch aperture. When a queen cell cup containing a queen bee cell is inserted into the cell insertion hole of the base portion, the open end of the cage portion is slid over the queen cell cup and firmly snapped into place around the base portion by sliding the cage latch of the base portion into the cage latch aperture of the cage portion.

Queen bee rearing is a nearly century old practice; it is also an art which requires patience, skill and a steady hand. Queen bees (hereinafter referred to as "Queens") vary greatly in size and weight; the greater the weight the more ovarioles a queen has and the more eggs she will lay. The size of the queen is a direct result of how well she is fed and cared for during her growth and development, especially during the larval stage. Better queens are produced when nectar and pollen are available in greater quantity. Larger, quality queens produce more offspring than poor ones. One wants the maximum number of bees in a hive during the honey flow; this means maximum brood production. A standard, healthy colony of bees requires a constant emergence of brood from a laying queen to maintain balance and strength.
A typical method of rearing queens is by the grafting technique which entails the transfer of young larvae from a brood comb to queen cells. It is very important that there be an abundance of pollen- and nectar-producing plants during the time the queens are raised. This may require that queen rearing be restricted to a particular time of the year. However, some queen raisers have been able to grow queens all year using pollen and nectar substitutes.
There are many steps involved in the typical process of commercial queen rearing. As previously mentioned, the larvae is scooped out of the brood comb along with its existing royal jelly and carefully placed into a queen cell cup. Using a standard slotted wooden frame that is typically used for honey production, the filled queen cell cups are hung opening down in the slot of the frame.
The filled frames are slid into a cell draw colony where young worker bees feed the larvae to the point where the larvae are sealed off in the cell. These frames are banked and put into an incubator. During this time, the queens are "pupating" or turning from larvae to insect.
It takes approximately seventeen days for a queen to emerge from her formed cell. Before she emerges, the queen cell is put into a mating nucleus colony, or "nuke", where she emerges as the only queen. Small nucleus colonies (about a handful of bees) result in a higher percentage of accepted queen cells and mated queens. Smaller groups of bees are likely to accept any queen. However, even with a weak nuke colony approximately 20% of queens do not live. When queen cells are introduced into strong colonies, as many as 50% of the queens are destroyed by the other bees that are not familiar enough with her.
A significant problem associated with beekeeping can be pests. A weak colony can be easily overtaken or killed by pests where a stronger, larger colony can be far more resistant. A good pest example is the African Small Hive Beetle that has recently been found in the United States. This beetle has wrecked havoc with the standard grafting method of beekeeping as they ravage and destroy weak colonies. The only colonies able to resist the beetles and keep them in check are strong colonies. However, the survival rate of queens in strong colonies is fairly low. When the queen dies, the remainder of the colony will die as well and there is both a loss of bees as well as a significant mess to clean up before a new colony can be placed in the hive. It is important to have the ability to introduce queens into stronger colonies that are able to survive pests such as the African Small Hive Beetle yet it is also necessary to have queens that can survive the introduction.
One solution is to protect the queen during emergence into a strong colony. Queen cell protectors by Ezi-Queen Systems are hair-roller shaped cages used to cover the queen cells so emerging queens are confined until the bees in the colony have accepted her. Unfortunately there are several problems with these cages. When the queens are placed in the colony in the cage, there is no means of keeping the cage oriented in a way that the queen remains upside down. If the queen does not maintain this upside down orientation, she can be deformed or damaged at emergence or often not survive at all. Another problem with the Ezi hair roller cage is that the cell cup is attached to the cage opposite the emergence hole. If oriented correctly with the queen upside down, debris from the queen's cap can fall into the emergence hole during the queen's emergence not allowing the queen to emerge and she will die. Additionally, the Ezi-roller cage does not have room enough for the queen to move around as it is a narrow tube—the queen can only move forward and backward. This can lead to deformed, weak or non-surviving queens. And finally, the Ezi-roller cage is not suited for high production queen rearing, but meant for the low production, hobbiest.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a virgin queen bee rearing and emerging device and system that will produce healthy queen bees with a near 100% efficiency rate.
It is an another object of the present invention to provide a queen bee rearing and emerging device and system that will allow introduction of virgin queen bees into strong colonies with minimal or no danger to the newly emerged queen.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a device and system that allows the use of standard beekeeping supplies for correct queen orientation during rearing and emergence.

Virgin queen bee rearing and introduction system


A photographing control apparatus for controlling a shooting direction of a camera determines as to whether the shooting direction of the camera is controlled or not according to a designation of a position in a display area in which an image captured by the camera is displayed, based on a parameter derived by the camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing control apparatus and a photographing control method, and particularly relates to a control apparatus and a control method for controlling a shooting direction of a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a viewer client application connected to a camera adaptable to a network can control the camera and receive a video through the network. In addition, there is a viewer client application which can control the camera by designating an arbitrary position in an image display area of an application screen, with a pointer of a mouse, or the like.
As described in US 2001/019355 A1, for instance, a viewer application is proposed which controls a camera so that when a user has designated an arbitrary position in a panorama image, the position comes to the center.
The imaging apparatus described in US 2001/019355 A1 controls the camera so that the designated position in a panorama image display area comes to the center of the image, but actually is restricted by its mechanism, and accordingly occasionally cannot necessarily control the camera so that the designated position comes to the center of the image.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating a relationship between a quantity of moving of a lens barrel unit and an optical zoom.
The lens barrel unit 20 is pan driven by a motor. The quantity of moving per one pulse to be given to the motor is determined as characteristics of the motor, and the quantity of moving is relatively small with respect to an angle of view in the approximate boundary 22 of an optical wide, but is relatively large with respect to the angle of view in the approximate boundary 21 of an optical tele. This tendency becomes more remarkable as a zooming ratio becomes higher.
An influence of this quantity of moving on a screen to be viewed by a user on the viewer client application is considered as follows. For instance, suppose that a user designates a position of a pointer 301 in a display screen 300 in FIG. 3, in the case of the approximate boundary of tele. In this case, the user expects that the camera is controlled so that the position designated by the pointer 301 comes to the center as in a display screen 310, but actually such a situation can occur that the marked position results in largely exceeding the center as in a display screen 320.
Accordingly, there have been such problems that the camera seems to have largely exceeded the center or have not been entirely controlled to the user, depending on the designated position of the image display area, and accordingly that the user feels anomalous.

Photographing control apparatus and photographing control method


A single delivery channel is formed by, and between, inner wall 2 and baffle 3. Electrolyte 5 is pumped up the interior of channel 1 and is directed onto substrate 4 being a cathode maintained at xe2x88x9210 volts. The upper part of the inner wall 2 of channel 1 forms the anode such that electrote is forced between the substrate and the upper horizontal surface of the anode 6. A second baffle 7 is provided in order to assist in collecting and removing electrolyte 5 after impingement with substrate 4, possible for re-use. Contact between the electrolyte 5 and substrate 4 is optimised by providing the electrolyte with a swirling motion as it passes up channel 1. Anode 6 is a solid conducting bar 10, alternatively it is formed of solid rods 11 nor tubes 12.

This application is claiming priority to Great Britain Patent application No. 0005886.7 filed Mar. 13, 2000.
The present invention relates to apparatus for electro-plating and to a method of electro-plating.
A major problem associated with electro-plating, especially when high deposition rates are attempted, is the irregularity of deposition.
Another major problem is the need for all areas that are to be plated to be electrically connected.
To obtain a uniform plating deposit using existing methods, the required situation is that given by two parallel, co-axial and equi-potential conducting planes separated by a medium of homogenous resistance. If a potential difference exists between the two planes, then the current will flow between and normal to the two planes with uniform density (see FIG. 1). If the medium separating the two planes is an electrolyte of suitable composition containing adequate, and suitable ions of the material to be deposited, then a uniform deposition of the material will be made on the plane which is at the more negative potential. The amount of the deposit is dependent upon the material type and the total electrical charge.
In practice, the situation described above does not occur, due to surface roughness of the two planes and the lack of homogeneity of the electrolyte. Also, practical difficulties, associated with achieving true parallelism of the planes and the possible irregular pattern of the conductive surface of the negative (target) plane and the restrictions of the electrolyte flow, to some or all of the target plane surface, add to the lack of uniformity of the current density within the electrolyte. This results in irregular deposits of material on the target surface.
FIG. 2 shows the distortion of the current stream, and therefore current density distribution, due to the irregularity of the target (negative) surface. Further distortions due to the irregularities in the positive surface and variations in the electrolyte resistance are not shown.
FIG. 3 shows the accentuation of the irregularities in the target surface due to the unequal current density distribution. The interaction of unequal current density and surface irregularity can be seen to be mutually progressive.
Several techniques have been employed to offset these effects including the use of current diversions (robber bars) at the target surface. Such techniques are only partially successful and are inherently inefficient. There are few, if any, practical techniques for dealing with situations in which the target surface has areas which are to be plated but which are not electrically connected.
The present invention comprises electro-plating apparatus having means to direct electrolyte to a target, and means to control the amount of reduction, and/or rate thereof, of ions in the selected regions of the target.
The electro-plating apparatus may comprise means to monitor the current flow in some or all regions of the target.
The electro-plating apparatus may comprise means to regulate the current flow to each region so that the material deposition rate for each region may be independently varied.
The direction as may comprise a hollow, elongate, body along the interior of which electrolyte passes (e.g. by pumping, or other pressurising methods, or other methods for inducing flow) for exit through an outlet and towards a target being a substrate maintained at a negative voltage relative to part of the body, whereby the target forms a cathode and the part of the body forms an anode. The anode part of the body may be formed of a single element or of a plurality of electrically isolated elements or rods. In a particular, advantageous embodiment, the direction means comprises a plurality of hollow tubes for the flow of electrolyte along the interior of the tubes and towards the target.
Electro-plating apparatus may include any one or more of the following features:
the control means comprises means to regulate the current applied to each of a plurality of separate regions of the target.
the control means comprises means to regulate the size and/or duration of current applied to each of a plurality of separate regions of the target.
the control means comprises means to measure the current flowing to a region of the target and means to control the current applied to that region in dependence on the output of the measurement means.
control means operable to provide a reduction layer of uniform thickness on the target.
control means operable to provide a reduction layer on the target wherein different regions have predetermined reduction thicknesses.
control means operable to provide a target with a uniform reduction thickness in selected regions.
the control means comprises means to control the current flow to each region so that the ion reduction rate for each region may be independently varied.
the control means comprises means to monitor the current flow in all regions of the target.
the direction means comprises a hollow, elongate body for the passage of electrolyte along the interior of the body.
a single element anode.
an anode formed of a plurality of generally parallel solid rods.
an anode formed of a plurality of generally parallel tubes through which electrolyte passes.
means to effect swirling of the electrolyte in the vicinity of contact with the target.
swirling means comprises shaping of the body and/or the outlet such that the vortices are created or enhanced.
serrations in the leading edge of the anode.
The electro-plating apparatus may comprise means to effect movement of the electrolyte in the region of contact with the target, thereby to enhance impingement between electrolyte and target to optimise ion availability. In one embodiment, the shape of the body and the outlet are such that swirling is created or enhanced, typically by the inclusion of serrations in the leading edge of the anode.
The present invention comprises a method of electro-plating comprising directing electrolyte to a target and controlling the amount of deposition, and/or rate thereof, of material in selected regions of the target.
The method may comprise monitoring the current flow in some or all regions of the target.
The method may comprise regulating the current flow to each region so that the material deposition rate for each region may be independently varied.
The method may comprise effecting movement of the electrolyte in the region of contact with the target, thereby to enhance impingement between electrolyte and target to optimise ion availability. In one embodiment, the shape of the body and the outlet are such that swirling is created or enhanced, typically by the inclusion of serrations in the leading edge of the anode.
The present invention also provides a computer program product directly loadable into the internal memory of a digital computer, comprising software code portions for performing the steps of a method according to the present invention, when said product is ran on a computer.
The present invention also provides a computer program product stored on a computer useable medium, comprising:
computer readable program means for causing the computer to control the amount of deposition, and/or rate thereof, of material in selected regions of the target.
The present invention also provides electronic distribution of a computer program as defined in the present invention.

Technology Development Associate Operations Limited