A disposable drink-thru lid for a drinking cup including an annular mounting portion for sealingly engaging the drinking cup, an annular trough provided about an inner periphery of the annular mounting portion as well as an annular side wall extending upwardly from the trough to a top land in the form of an annular ridge adjacent an uppermost extremity of the annular side wall is disclosed. The top portion of the lid includes a crown region having a periphery adjacent the annular ridge wherein the annular ridge is asymmetrical having a widened region accommodating a drink-thru opening and a narrowed region diametrically opposed to the widened region of the annular ridge. Further, the periphery of the crown region lies in a first substantially horizonal plane while the annular ridge includes a substantially planar surface with this surface lying in a plane above the planed defined by the periphery of the crown region thereby forming a retaining wall for retaining a container placed thereon.

It is well-known to provide covers for drinking containers to prevent the spillage of the contents of the container. Many prior art covers incorporate an opening in the top of the cover in order to allow drinking of the contents either in the normal drinking fashion or by the insertion of a straw. Some covers utilize a releasable drinking flap in order to prevent the sloshing of the contents out of the containers. Other covers have an opening which is sealed by a depressible tab such that when the tab is depressed, the opening is unsealed for either drinking the contents of the container or for the pouring of the contents from the container.
As discussed hereinabove, lids have been proposed having preformed openings therein which permit the contents of the container to be drank through the opening or the contents to be poured from the container without removing the lid. However, in many proposed designs, the opening is positioned in a manner such that when the container is full, the contents may be readily spilled therefrom if the container is jarred even the slightest. In an effort to overcome the spillage problem, consumption of the contents of the container by the consumer is difficult due to the positioning of the opening. In an effort to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings, the lid design set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,624 issued to Sokolowski discloses a drinking cover for a beverage container including a circular wall and annular side wall which is sealingly received on a respective container. In this instance, the top wall is tapered downwardly from front to back and includes an opening therein which is covered by a sealing flap which is positioned on the inside of the top wall of the cover. When pressure from the user's mouth is placed about the opening in the top wall, the sealing flap is displaced from the opening permitting the contents of the container to be poured therefrom. However, manufacturer of such a lid requiring a two-piece construction is both complicated and expensive and results in a lid design which is cumbersome and difficult to use by the consumer.
In an effort to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings, the lid design disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,569 issued to Clements includes a lid construction having an annular mounting portion for engaging the lip of a respective cup as well as an annular side wall similar to that discussed hereinabove. Additionally, a recess for receiving the lip of the consumer is provided in a top surface of the lid to allow the consumer to grip the portion of the lid adjacent the drink-thru opening formed in the top wall. While the recess makes the contents of the container more accessible by the consumer, the surface for supporting a second cup containing a beverage is significantly interrupted which may permit the second container to easily topple over should a portion of the bottom of the container extend into the recess. Moreover, with a centrally located top surface, the size of the drinking opening is necessarily restricted, thus constricting the flow of fluid therethrough.
Clearly, there is a need for a disposable drink-thru lid which prevents spillage of the contents of the container incorporating the lid while also providing a continuous top surface for supporting a second container thereon. Moreover, there is a need for a drink-thru disposable lid which provides a drink-thru opening which minimizes the restriction of the fluid flow therethrough while permitting the consumer to comfortably drink the contents of the container with the lid in place.


The present invention is a gold pan with classifier which, when used in combination or independently thereof, provides a prospector with an apparatus that enhances metal recovery. The gold pan utilizes an elongated elliptical shape with inclined side walls of various heights with ribs and steps placed along at least a portion of each wall. The elliptical shape allowing a prospector to use the pan as a scoop or a catch basin. The classifier also employs an elongated elliptical or rectilinear shaped base which is operatively associated with the gold pan. In the middle of the classifier is a circular grid being concave and made of a cross hatched type screen wherein all parallel ridges are raised. The classifier sits on top of the gold pan in an interlocking fashion and can be used to shovel slurry into the classifier having a narrow undercut space to prevent slurry from entering the gold pan area directly but allowing water removal by titling the combination in any direction.

The use of a gold pan for removing precious metals from streams and river beds is well known. Prospectors have used the gold pan for over a century, most infamous being the prospectors of the great California gold rush. In reality, prospecting for gold is based upon a combination of luck and definitive scientific principles. Luck being self explanatory, scientific principles include the use of gravity for separation simplified by a circular "pan" to enhance the gravity separation process. Those prospectors astute to the principles of separating heavier matter from lighter matter were usually successful.
The use of the gold pan allowed the prospector create an abrasive environment for breaking up loosely bound solids as well as create a miniature cyclone effect to enhance separation. Typically, gold pans were made of metal having a concave central portion wherein a slurry of water and matter, such as the sand from the bottom of a river bed, would be placed and circulated along the inner surface of the pan. Normally, heavier matter settled to the bottom of the pan, however, unless the prospector knew to first remove larger matter, the separation would not occur as the larger matter would mask or entrap the precious metals. Further, even if larger matter was broken into smaller pieces, the prospector would need to circulate the slurry in a wobbling manner to dislodge the precious metals being careful not to allow precious metals to flow over a side of the pan with discarded slurry. Thus, the successful prospector acquired an exceptional skill to overcome the lack of technology.
Gradually gold pans were enhanced to assist in the separation process. The use of stepped indentations in the side of a pan created laminar areas giving heavier matter a location in which to settle. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,969 issued Jul. 31, 1979 to Lagal illustrates an apparatus for separating material utilizing a round pan having a concave center portion and steps to assist in matter separation. However, while this gold pan assisted in the separation, its circular design exemplifies the problems associated with all prior art employing circular designs including: lack of a means for inducing agitation; inability to use a circular pan for scooping; inability to use a circular pan to trap falling matter; uniform side height prevents ease of matter removal; and the conventional gold pan does not have a means for incorporating a classifier
U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,241 issued Sep. 15, 1981 to Litrap illustrates a rectangular gold pan used in combination with a classifier. Litrap's rectangular pan prevents use of the well known swirling technique and utilizes a flat classifier lacking a means to break up larger matter. Further, the classifier fails to allow the prospector from removing water while the classifier is attached.
Heretofore, no teaching is made of a gold pan that employs an elliptical shape having various wall sizes, employing both steps and ridges, and with which a classifier is operatively associated with the gold pan. The present invention is directed to a gold pan with classifier that overcomes the shortcomings and problems associated with the prior art. It is, therefore, to the effective resolution of these shortcomings problems that the gold pan with classifier of the instant invention is directed.


A system is disclosed for producing images representing radiation dose distributions in order to verify the radiation dose applied to a target area. The system uses a phantom assembly constructed of material that is the radiological equivalent of live tissue. The phantom assembly has slits where radiation sensitive film can be inserted and can include a channel for an insertable radiation generating device. The treatment dose is then applied to the phantom and the radiation sensitive film records the dose. A CCD camera microdensitometer is then used to read the exposed radiation sensitive film. The CCD camera microdensitometer includes a computer system which processes the image to remove artifacts and generates isodose contours for the radiation treatment applied. In addition, several pieces of radiation sensitive film in different planes can be exposed and processed in order to produce images representing the radiation dose distribution in three dimensions.

This invention relates to a device for measuring two and three dimensional radiation dose distributions for radiation generating devices. Specifically, the invention relates to a system for recording the dose of radiation delivered to a target area and utilizing one or more recordings to measure radiation dose distributions for the tissue in and adjacent to the target area.
In the field of medicine, radiation is used for diagnostic, therapeutic and palliative treatment of patients. The conventional medical radiation sources used for these treatments include large fixed position machines as well as small, transportable radiation generating probes. The current state of the art treatment systems utilize computers to generate complex treatment plans that are difficult and sometimes impossible to verify using conventional measurement techniques such as ionization chambers which only record the dose at one point in space.
In order to be able to more precisely control the dosage and area of treatment, it is necessary to accurately measure and verify the dose distribution and precisely calibrate the device. This procedure is further complicated by fact that the radiation dosage is affected by the density of the material, the more dense the material the more radiation it will absorb. Therefore it is desirable to model the area to be irradiated in order to verify the proper radiation dose is being applied.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for measuring the dose distribution for radiation applied to a target area.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for measuring and recording the dose distribution and generating an image representing the dose distribution of radiation applied to a localized area.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for measuring and recording the dose distribution and generating an image representing the dose distribution of a miniaturized radiation source in a target area.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus which is capable of measuring and recording the dose distribution and generating an image representing the dose distribution of a predefined radiation treatment plan applied to a medium having known density and radiation absorption characteristics.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an apparatus which is capable of measuring and recording and generating a three dimensional image representing the dose distribution of radiation applied to a target area.


A klystron tuning mechanism includes a tuning element support mechanism, a preset section, a driving mechanism, and a pitch changing section. The tuning element support mechanism is arranged in a cavity resonator to be coupled to a tuning element, fixed in the cavity resonator, through bellows, and axially applies a biasing force to the tuning element. The preset section has a plurality of screw members axially positioned in accordance with preset tuning frequencies and selectively movable coaxially with the tuning element, and a preset plate having an internal thread portion meshed with the screw members. The preset section is retractably moved with respect to the tuning element support mechanism. The driving mechanism drives the preset section to retractably move so as to bring a selected one of the screw members into contact with the tuning element support mechanism against the biasing force, thereby positioning the tuning element to a preset position. The pitch changing section changes part of the pitch of the internal thread portion.

The present invention relates to a klystron tuning mechanism and, more particularly, to a klystron tuning mechanism for amplifying a high frequency power in a millimeter frequency region.
A klystron is basically constituted by an electron gun section for generating and emitting an electron beam, a high-frequency circuit section for causing high-frequency power to interact with the electron beam, a collector section for catching the electron beam, and a focusing unit for focusing the electron beam passing through the high-frequency circuit section. The high-frequency circuit section is generally constituted by a plurality of cavity resonators. Each cavity resonator has a resonance cavity main body and a tuning element arranged in a resonance cavity to variably change the tuning frequency. The tuning element is connected/supported to/by a tuning mechanism located outside the cavity resonator such that the element can be displaced in the resonance cavity.
In such a klystron, every time the frequency of high-frequency power to be amplified is changed, the tuning frequency must be adjusted to a proper value while the waveforms of outputs from the plurality of cavity resonators are observed. In order to solve the problem of difficulty in handling as compared with a traveling-wave tube designed to amplify a high frequency in a millimeter frequency region similar to the klystron, a preset mechanism section is arranged to allow the klystron to easily obtain a specified bandwidth by only performing a switching operation with respect to preset frequencies.
A conventional klystron tuning mechanism including such a preset mechanism section comprises a tuning support mechanism, a preset section, and a driving mechanism. The tuning support mechanism has a tuner shaft which is arranged coaxially with a tuning element and connected thereto to support the tuning element at a preset position. In this case, the tuning element is designed to change the tuning frequency by changing the volume of a resonance cavity. The preset section has a plurality of adjustment screws which are adjusted for preset frequencies in advance, and a preset plate which is caused to slide while the adjustment screws are supported thereon, thereby positioning a desired adjustment screw coaxially with the distal end portion of the tuner shaft. The driving mechanism causes the preset section to move forward and backward with respect to the tuning support mechanism so as to bring a selected adjustment screw into contact with the distal end portion of the tuner shaft.
In changing the tuning frequency, the driving mechanism causes the preset section to move backward from the tuning support mechanism so as to free the adjustment screw from the tuner shaft, with which the screw has been in contact, and the preset plate is caused to slide to position an adjustment screw set to a desired frequency to the distal end portion of the tuner shaft. Thereafter, the preset section is moved forward to the tuning support mechanism to be located at a predetermined lock position by the driving mechanism. With this operation, the adjustment screw is brought into contact with the distal end portion of the tuner shaft to push the tuner shaft, and a tuning element coupled to the tuner shaft is positioned to a predetermined position by the tuning support mechanism, thus switching the frequency.
As shown in FIG. 3, in order to prevent looseness of each adjustment screw 13 which is in contact with a distal end portion 7a of a tuner shaft, a groove 13a is formed in the surface of each adjustment screw 13, and a Teflon member 28 is embedded in the groove 13a to be meshed with an internal thread portion 27 formed in preset section 11.
According to a tuning mechanism having this conventional structure, looseness of each adjustment screw 13 is caused by degradation of the Teflon member 28 due to repetitive rotation of the adjustment screw, which is performed for tuning frequency adjustment, and degradation of the Teflon member 28 over time. As a result, the tuning frequency of a cavity resonator deviates from an adjusted value, and the frequency characteristics of the klystron may greatly change within a period of time shorter than the specified service life of the klystron.

Klystron tuning mechanism having means for changing the pitch of an internal threaded portion


An electronic timepiece includes a magnetic sensor that serves as a magnetic detection unit, a GPS reception unit that serves as a reception unit receiving positional information of a current position, a time zone setting unit that sets a time zone, a specifying unit that specifies a declination angle based on the positional information of the current position, a decision unit that decides a direction of a due north based on an output of the magnetic sensor and a declination angle, and an azimuth display unit that displays the direction of the due north decided by the decision unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electronic timepiece that has a compass function.
2. Related Art
In the related art, wristwatches having electronic compass functions contain biaxial or triaxial magnetic sensors, obtain the magnetic north by measuring azimuths of geomagnetism, and point the azimuths digitally or using pointing hands. Such wristwatches can also point the due north by correcting declination angles with respect to the azimuths of the magnetic north obtained with the magnetic sensors. Normally, declination angles are set in accordance with methods in which users input declination angle values written on maps or the like as numerical values or orient timepieces toward the due north (for example, JP-A-2006-250933).
However, in the method of JP-A-2006-250933, it is necessary for users to examine declination angle information or it is necessary for users to know the due north, and thus preparation is complicated. Declination angles can be calculated from geomagnetic models, and thus declination angles can also be calculated by obtaining the positions of devices on the Earth. Accordingly, when the positions of devices can be obtained by GPS or the like, declination angles can also be automatically set. However, in wristwatches in which usable power is restricted, position coordinates may not be frequently acquired due to restriction on power consumption.


A process for coating development of a silver halide color photosensitive material is provided which comprises coating the silver halide color photosensitive material with a color developer to form a thin film. This process is characterized in that a developer containing a p-phenylenediamine developing agent having a group capable of imparting hydrophilic properties which developer has an ionic strength of 0.8 or below and an electric potential of the immersion bath of -280 mV or below is applied to the photosensitive material to form a coating film which is at most 20 times as thick as the dry photosensitive layer of the photosensitive material.

The present invention relates to a process for development wherein a color developer is coated onto a silver halide color photosensitive material such as a color paper or color negative film to form a thin film of the developer. In particular, the present invention relates to a process for development wherein only a small amount of a developer is used.
In the development of silver halide color photosensitive material, attempts have been made at reducing the quantity of the waste liquors by reducing the quantities of processing solutions such as a developer, bleaching solution and fixing solution as far as possible. To meet the purpose, there is proposed a process wherein a developer is coated onto the photosensitive material to reduce the quantity of the waste developer. This process includes Viscomat system wherein the processing solution is applied by a hopper-coating, Bimat system wherein a processing solution is applied to a web to form a thin layer and the web is put on the photosensitive material, etc. These methods are described in, for example, the 11th and the 12th paragraphs of `Neblette's Handbook of Photography & Reprography`, the seventh edition published by Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., N.Y. in 1977 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Published Application (hereinafter referred to as `J. P. KOKAI`) No. 61-202360. Although no waste developer is formed by these methods, a considerable thickness of the coated layer is required and the developer consumption cannot be reduced so much as desired. Other problems are that the developing reaction rate is low because of insufficient stirring of the developer and that the washing load is heavy.

Process for coating development of silver halide color photosensitive material


The present invention relates to an amorphous crystalline chocolate flavored hard candy confection utilizing air-jet milled cocoa powder in which the particles thereof are less than about 15 microns in size and generally have rounded edges to achieve a desirable smooth texture and to the process of preparing the same.

Hard candy confections are very popular in the United States. They are amorphous confections having a relatively smooth and glassy surface. They appear in various shapes and sizes and come in various flavors, such as fruit, mint, butterscotch, peppermint, and the like. Although chocolate is a very popular flavor in other types of confections, it is surprising that chocolate flavored hard candy makes up only a small percentage of the hard candy market. An example of a hard candy chocolate product was sold in Japan and named BLACK and WHITE. It was manufactured by Kanro and was sold as part of a pair of products. The BLACK hard candy contained a chocolate flavored hard candy center, and the surface thereof was dusted with cocoa powder, while in the product called "WHITE", the candy contained a hard candy center and the surface was dusted with milk powder. The "BLACK" product had a rough, coarse, sandy surface--characteristics which are not acceptable for hard candy.
Thus, the present inventors sought to make a chocolate flavored hard candy which exhibits mouthfeel, texture and organoleptic characteristics typical of hard candy. First, they used commercial cocoa powder to make the hard candy.
Cocoa powder is the food prepared by pulverizing the material remaining after a portion of the cocoa butter is removed from the chocolate liquor. Commercial cocoa powders are typically produced by grinding cocoa presscake with pinned disc mills or hammer mill type equipment. The resultant cocoa powder meets particle size specifications which are typically 98-100% through a U.S. 200 mesh screen (75 microns).
However, when the inventors prepared a chocolate flavored hard candy from commercial cocoa powder, the resulting product was unacceptable. It had a rough surface and sandpaper-like feel to the tongue. When viewed under a scanning electron microscope, it was found that the particles from most commercial cocoa powder were larger than 15-25 microns, the threshold widely cited in the literature for sensory perception. In addition, the particles had an irregular shape, with uneven, jagged and sharp edges which accounted for its unacceptable textural sensation.
Thus, commercial cocoa powder, as such, could not be used to make acceptable chocolate flavored hard candy. Obviously, the cocoa powder needed to undergo further treatment before it could be used as an ingredient.
The use of wet micromilled cocoa powder was also considered but was found to be unworkable. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,175 describes a chocolate food product comprised of an aqueous sugar solution of microparticularized cocoa, while U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,786 describes a chocolate chip prepared by utilizing an aqueous sugar paste containing microparticles of cocoa dispersed in the paste. In neither instance was the product produced a hard candy since the micromilled cocoa powder was in water based chocolates, icings, frostings, or other products. Furthermore, the process utilized to pulverize the cocoa powder was not adaptable to the preparation of hard candy since in both instances, the cocoa powder used was wet-milled, i.e., milled in the presence of water. As both patents indicate, cocoa powder can only be wet-milled at water levels above 70%. Cocoa with this much water would be added before the cook. This is undesirable in making chocolate flavored hard candy due to problems with effects on equipment such as sticking and burn-on, swelling of particles and higher viscosities during forming.
The inventors attempted to make chocolate flavored hard candy using micromilled cocoa to prepare the hard candy. When the cocoa particles were milled to a smaller size, the product formed was still unacceptable. For example, when the cocoa powder was further milled on a roll refiner with fat added to produce particles having an average size of 6 microns, the resultant cocoa powder still imparted a rough surface texture to hard candy prepared therefrom. Thus, mere milling of the cocoa powder to a small particle size was not sufficient to solve the textural problems that heretofore have not been overcome.
But, it was found that a key to making acceptable chocolate flavored hard candy was to utilize a cocoa powder which, when micromilled, would produce appropriately small particles having a generally smooth surface. Cocoa powder particles of size less than about 15 microns generally having non-jagged and smooth and rounded surfaces were found to provide an acceptable sensation to the tongue. Thus, when the inventors found a method which produced micromilled cocoa powder particles generally having smooth edges and prepared a hard candy therefrom, the product produced had a smooth textural feel to the tongue as well as the organoleptic, textural and visual appeal of hard candy. This product was therefore an acceptable chocolate flavored hard candy confectionery.


Stent delivery systems and associated methods for delivering stents are disclosed herein. In several embodiments, a handle assembly for delivering a stent from a tubular enclosure can include a first lead screw having a first lead thread of a first pitch and first handedness, a second lead screw having a second lead thread of a second pitch and second handedness different from the first handedness, and a housing defining threads of the first and second pitches. The first lead screw can be in mechanical communication with the tubular enclosure, and the second lead screw can be in mechanical communication with the stent. Upon rotation of a portion of the housing, the housing threads can engage the lead screws so as to induce simultaneous translations of the lead screws in opposite directions. The simultaneous translations are configured to deploy the stent from the tubular enclosure.

An aneurysm is a dilation of a blood vessel of at least 1.5 times above its normal diameter. The dilated vessel forms a bulge known as an aneurysmal sac that can weaken vessel walls and eventually rupture. Aneurysms are most common in the arteries at the base of the brain (i.e., the Circle of Willis) and in the largest artery in the human body, the aorta. The abdominal aorta, spanning from the diaphragm to the aortoiliac bifurcation, is the most common site for aortic aneurysms. Such abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) typically occur between the renal and iliac arteries, and are presently one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
The two primary treatments for AAAs are open surgical repair and endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Surgical repair typically includes opening the dilated portion of the aorta, inserting a synthetic tube, and closing the aneurysmal sac around the tube. Such AAA surgical repairs are highly invasive, and are therefore associated with significant levels of morbidity and operative mortality. In addition, surgical repair is not a viable option for many patients due to their physical conditions.
Minimally invasive endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) treatments that implant stent grafts across aneurysmal regions of the aorta have been developed as an alternative or improvement to open surgery. EVAR typically includes inserting a delivery catheter into the femoral artery, guiding the catheter to the site of the aneurysm via X-ray visualization, and delivering a synthetic stent graft to the AAA via the catheter. The stent graft reinforces the weakened section of the aorta to prevent rupture of the aneurysm, and directs the flow of blood through the stent graft away from the aneurismal region. Accordingly, the stent graft causes blood flow to bypass the aneurysm and allows the aneurysm to shrink over time.
Most stent and stent graft systems for cardiovascular applications (e.g., coronary, aortic, peripheral) utilize self-expanding designs that expand and contract predominantly in the radial dimension. However, other system include braided stent grafts that are delivered in a radially compressed, elongated state. Upon delivery from a delivery catheter, the stent graft will radially expand and elastically shorten into its free state. In other words, the effective length of the stent graft changes as its diameter is forced smaller or larger. For example, a stent graft having a shallower, denser helix angle will result in a longer constrained length. Once the stent graft is removed from a constraining catheter, it can elastically return to its natural, free length.
Delivering a stent graft to an artery requires accurate and precise positioning of the stent graft relative to a target location in the destination artery. For example, a misplaced stent graft can block flow to a branching artery. Some stent graft delivery systems utilize one or more markers (e.g., radiopaque markers) to establish the alignment of the stent graft relative to the artery wall. However, the location of the radiopaque markers on the stent graft can move relative to an initial marker position because of the change in the stent graft's effective length upon deployment, as described above. Accordingly, after deployment of a stent graft, the stent graft (e.g., its proximal or distal edge) may miss the target point in the artery. Therefore, there are numerous challenges associated with the accurate positioning of stent grafts that change dimensions in both the radial and longitudinal directions.


A color display device having an electron gun, a display screen, a color selection electrode and a deflection unit. The distance between the electron beams in the x-direction is dynamically varied, whereby the distance in the deflection space decreases as the beams are deflected in at least one direction. The reduction of the distance enables the distance between the color selection electrode and the display screen to be increased in that direction. As a result, the curvature of the color selection electrode is increased, which has a positive effect on the strength and the doming and microphonic properties of the color selection electrode.

The invention relates to a color display device comprising a color cathode ray tube including an in-line electron gun for generating three electron beams, a color selection electrode and a phosphor screen on an inner surface of a display window and a means for deflecting the electron beams across the color selection electrode.
Such display devices are known.
The aim is to make the outer surface of the display window flatter, so that the image represented by the color display device is perceived by the viewer as being flat. However, an increase of the radius of curvature of the outer surface will lead to an increase of a number of problems. The radius of curvature of the inner surface of the display window and of the color selection electrode should also increase, and, as the color selection electrode becomes flatter, the strength of the color selection electrode decreases and hence the sensitivity to doming and vibrations increases. An alternative solution to this problem would be to curve the inner surface of the display window more strongly than the outer surface. By virtue thereof, a shadow mask having a relatively small radius of curvature can be used. As a result, doming and vibration problems are reduced, however, other problems occur instead. The thickness of the display window is much smaller in the center than at the edges. As a result, the weight of the display window increases and the intensity of the image decreases substantially towards the edges.
It is an object of the invention to provide a color cathode ray tube of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph, in which the outer surface may be flat or almost flat, while, at the same time, the above problems are overcome or reduced.
To achieve this, a color display device in accordance with the invention is characterized in that the color display device comprises a first and a second means, which are arranged at some distance from each other to dynamically influence the trajectories of the electron beams, to decrease the distance between the electron beams at the location of the deflection plane as a function of the deflection in at least one deflection direction.
The color display device in accordance with the invention has a first and a second means, arranged at some distance from each other, for dynamically influencing the trajectories of the electron beams. By virtue thereof, the distance between the electron beams (also referred to as xe2x80x9cpitchxe2x80x9d) in the plane of deflection can be changed dynamically in such a manner that this distance decreases as the deflection increases. By dynamically changing this distance, as a function of the deflection, and hence as a function of the x and/or y-coordinate(s), the distance between the display window and the color selection electrode can increase accordingly in the relevant deflection direction. The shape of the inner surface of the display window and the distance between the display window and the color selection electrode determine the shape, in particular the curvature, of the color selection electrode. Since the distance between the electron beams decreases as a function of the deflection, the distance between the display window and the color selection electrode increases and the shape of the color selection electrode can deviate more from the shape of the inner surface of the display window than in known cathode ray tubes, and, in particular, its curvature can be greater. Said greater curvature (in other words, a smaller radius of curvature) increases the strength of the color selection electrode and reduces doming and microphonics.
Preferably, the first means is integrated in the electron gun, that is, the first means comprises one or more components of the electron gun.
In comparison with a separate first means, this has the advantage that fewer components are necessary and that the distance between the first and the second means is increased, thus enabling an increase of the possible variation in distance between the electron beams and hence of the variation in distance between the color selection electrode and the display screen and, consequently, a greater change in curvature of the color selection electrode.
Preferably, the first means comprises one or more components of the prefocusing portion of the electron gun. As a result, the distance between the first and the second means is increased, compared to embodiments in which the first means is situated at the location of, for example, the main lens portion, thus enabling an increase of the possible variation in distance between the electron beams and hence of the variation in distance between the color selection electrode and the display screen.
Alternatively, in embodiments a separate first means is used. The advantage of using a separate first means is that the electron gun design need not be changed. Since the electron gun design need not be changed, the electron-optical functions of the electron gun such as the generation, beam forming and focusing of the electron beams are not or hardly affected by the introduction of the first means, and application of a separate first means is much easier. Preferably the separate first means are situated on the outside of the envelope. The means are then easily accessible, and current can easily be supplied.
Preferably, the second means is integrated in the deflection means, that is, the second means comprises one or more components of the deflection means.
This has the advantage, compared to a separate second means, that fewer components are necessary and that the distance between the first and the second means is increased, thus enabling an increase of the possible variation in distance between the electron beams and hence of the variation in distance between the color selection electrode and the display screen.
Preferably, the distance between the electron beams as a function of the deflection varies at least 2%. As a result, the radius of curvature of the color selection electrode can change so much that a noticeable change in doming and microphonic properties is achieved. In a further preferred embodiment, the distance between the outer beams varies more than 5%. This enables a greater change in radius of curvature to be achieved, which has a strong influence on doming and microphonic properties.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

Color display device with a deflection-dependent distance between outer beams


The Portable Ramp with Pad and Stabilizers makes it possible to turn your wheels right or left while your vehicle is on the ramps and get at work areas of your car or other vehicle that you may not get at easily with a conventional portable ramp. The Stabilizers on the ramp are to help with the flip problem which has happened with conventional ramps. The ramp is portable so you can move the ramp or take it with you to other worksites.

The Ramp is portable so that it can be used at any location. The Ramp is constructed in such a way that it will allow the wheels to be turned when a car or other vehicle is pulled up on it. Two Ramps can be used and the front or back wheels of the vehicle can be pulled up on the Ramps and rest on the movable Pad on the Ramp. The Pad rests on bearings and rotates, so you can turn the wheels of the vehicle when it is on the Ramps. The fact that the Pad is on bearings even though the vehicle may be heavy permits easy turning of the wheels for easy access to work areas of the vehicle. The Ramp is contructed in such a way as to allow for the turning of the wheels and is not like some Ramps that you pull up on and can not turn your wheels. There are Stabilizer attached to the back and back sides of the Ramp to help keep it from flipping over on uneven surfices. The Pads are constructed in such a way that they can be removed and repaired if necessary. The Ramp and Pad are made of steel. The Ramp with Pad can be used to elevate the front or rear of vehicles to do maintenance work on them.


In some examples, a control module for a voltage converter may have an input for connection to an AC supply having an operating voltage range. A first detector is provided for detecting the operating voltage range of the AC supply and generating a first control signal to identify the detected operating voltage range. A second detector is also provided for detecting the operating voltage range of the AC supply and generating a second control signal to identify the detected operating voltage range. The control module has one or more switches for selectively enabling and/or disabling a voltage multiplier in response to said first and second control signals. The present disclosure also relates to a method of controlling a voltage converter.

The controller according to the present disclosure has particular application for controlling a voltage converter in a power supply for a vacuum pump. However, the controller could find application in a broad range of technical fields.
It is well known to power vacuum pumps from an AC mains supply. However, the AC mains supply conditions differ in different territories and may be supplied with the following conditions: (i) 100-127 Vac RMS, +/−10%, 45-65 Hz; or (ii) 200-240 Vac RMS, +/10%, 45-65 Hz. The different mains supply voltages can prove problematic for systems and apparatus to be used in a variety of territories. If too high a voltage is supplied, the systems and apparatus may be damaged. In order to accommodate the different mains supply conditions, a variety of solutions have been proposed, including:                1. Separate low-voltage and high-voltage variant pumps or pump controllers.        2. Manual voltage selector, which requires customer intervention to be set at the correct voltage.        3. Over designed converter and Inverter Power-Train sub-systems designed to run at the highest possible voltage and current.        4. Active front end devices designed to constantly monitor and output a set voltage.
However, these manufacturing and design solutions can be expensive to implement and have EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) and thermal issues.
It is also known to provide a voltage doubler topology, but the standard approach is to fix the voltage doubler so that it is permanently enabled. Alternatively, a voltage selector switch may be provided to allow a user to select the state of the voltage doubler, i.e. enabled or disabled. If the incorrect state is selected, damage may be caused to the system as a result of the increased voltage supplied.
The present disclosure seeks to address or ameliorate some of the short-comings associated with known techniques.


Process and device to decode a shortened cyclic binary code, able to correct single errors bursts of given length t or shorter, specially for an F(n-b,k-b) shortened Fire code. It is based on the calculation of two syndrome polynomials, s1(x) and s2(x), in two specific registers (SR1, SR2), on the shifting in a first direction of the polynomial s1(x) .GAMMA.1 times until the errors burst is trapped in the t less significant positions of the first (SR1) register and on the shifting of the syndrome polynomial s2(x) .GAMMA.2 times in an opposite second directon in a third (MEL) register until it becomes equal to the t less significant positions of the first (SR1) register. Alternatively the second register can be a bidirectional shift register (SRb) where the shifting takes place also in the second direction. Moreover all computations in the process are made as simple as possible.

The rate of digital transmission is getting faster. Errors arising in the transmission channel, due to disturbances such as noise, fading, interferences, and so forth, make the transmission unreliable. Therefore, several techniques are used for the automatic correction of such errors on reception.
This is usually achieved by protecting the information to be sent by means of error correction codes. Considering such information as being divided in words of k bits each, the block code (n,k) follows a relationship law coupling each word of information to a n bit long code with n>k. The n-k difference is called redundancy.
Cyclic codes are class of such kind of codes, where all the words in the code can be obtained starting from a word in the code means by a processes of cyclic shifting.
It is helpful to use polynomials to represent both the information and the code words. So, the information word, a k-tuple (i.sub.o, i.sub.i, . . . i.sub.k-1), will be represented by the polynomial i.sub.0 +i.sub.1 x+ . . . +i.sub.k-1 x.sup.k-1 =i(x), and the code word, an n-tuple (c.sub.o, c.sub.1. . . c.sub.n-1), will be represented by c.sub.0 +c.sub.1 x+ . . . +c.sub.n-1 x.sup.n-1 =c(x). The law of coding itself can be represented by a g(x) polynomial of degree (n-k), the so-called generator, such that the code polynomial c(x) is obtained multiplying the g(x) polynomial by the polynomial i(x). An important class of such codes, able to contrast error bursts that are typical in memory channels (like radio channels affected by fading) is the class of the so-called Fire codes with GF(2), the above notation representing double value (0 and 1) Galois fields. The generator polynomial of such kind of codes can be expressed in a general form by: EQU g(x)=(x.sup.2t-1 -1)p(x) (1)
where p(x) is a m degree irreducible polynomial.
Let ro be the period of p(x), i.e. the smallest integer such that p(x) divides (x.sup.ro +1) and t a positive integer, smaller or equal to m, such that (2t-1) is not divisible by ro.
The code length (the number of bits in each code word) is the least common multiple of (2t-1) and ro, and the number of redundant bits is (m+2t-1).
Below, the Fire codes are represented by the notation F(n,k), where n indicates the length of the coded word, k is the length of the information word and (n-k) is the redundancy.
A code with generator polynomial g(x) given by (1), for which the above conditions expressed or m, ro and (2t-1) are verified, is able to correct any single error burst (i.e. the sequence of bits included between the first and the last erroneous bit in the code word) shorter or equal to t, and also to detect the presence of error bursts longer than t.
Fire codes can be decoded using decoders belong to the family of "Error Trapping" decoders. In such devices, the time required for correcting the errors is equal to n cycles, n being the length of the code word.
In technical literature, there are some known decoders studied "ad hoc" for the Fire codes, able to correct errors in a shorter time. Once of such devices is discussed in IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 30 No. 5 October 1987. This article describes a traditional Fire-Code Decoding technique in which the received code word is considered as a single polynomial from which a single syndrome is computed by shifting in one direction and an error correction is accomplished by shifting in the reverse direction. Another of such devices has been proposed by R. T. Chien in his paper "Burst-correcting codes with high-speed decoding", IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, Vol. IT-15, Nr. 1, January 1969, pages 109 to 113.
This document discloses a process for the decoding of a shortened cyclic binary code, able to correct single error bursts b(x) of given length t or shorter, specifically a F(n-b, k-b) shortened Fire code, with generator polynomial g(x)=(x.sup.2t-1 +1).p(x), p(x) being a prime polynomial over GF(2) with period ro, satisfying the ro>(n-b), condition, where:
the received code word r(x) is buffered in a shift register as a received vector and the syndrome polynomials s1(x) and s2(x) are calculated in (n-b) cycles; PA1 the polynomial s1(x) is cyclic shifted a .GAMMA.1 number of times in a first direction until all zeros are obtained in the (t-1) higher order positions, so to trap the burst b(x) of length t in the lowest order positions. PA1 p(x) primitive on GF(2); PA1 ro and (2t-1) prime to each other; PA1 N=n-b<ro, and preferably <ro/2. PA1 a) As the word in the shortened code is of length N, the constraint n-q<N applies to the generic component of the polynomial representing the received code word and to the burst x.sup.n-q b(x) to be corrected. PA1 b) For n-q=ro-1, .GAMMA.2=1, for n-q=ro-2 it is .GAMMA.2=2, . . . for n=q=ro-k it is .GAMMA.2=k. PA1 c) Being N.ltoreq.ro, let be D=ro-N, the constraint on (n-q) in item a) becomes n-q.ltoreq.ro-D-1. PA1 d) The constraint on n-q in item c), because of the remarks performed in item b), causes a constraint for .GAMMA.2. PA1 e) the shift Register "Error Locator" is a sequential machine, reaching the state at which is .GAMMA.2=D+1 only after the state transitions with .GAMMA.2=1, .GAMMA.2=2, . . . .GAMMA.2=D+1. So, the burst x.sup.N-1 b(x), being (n-q=N-1), is corrected after D+1 cycles, and the burst x.sup.N-.tau. b(x), being (n-q=N-.tau.), is corrected after D+.tau. cycles. Therefore, even if there is a considerable shortening of the code length, Chien's decoder still takes at least (ro-N+1) stages to correct the errors, making it useless to handle a shortened code. Coming back to the above mentioned example concerning ETSI/GSM, even if the code has a length n=224, the error correction process would consist of at least (ro-N+1)=130848 cycles. PA1 the received r(x) code word is stored and the s1(x) and s2(x) syndrome polynomials are calculated in (n-b) cycles; PA1 the s1(x) polynomial is cyclically shifted a .GAMMA.1 number of times in a first direction until all zeros are obtained in the t-1) positions of the higher order so to trap the burst b(x) of length t in the lower order positions; PA1 this procedure is characterized by: PA1 shifting of the remainder polynomial s2(x), in an opposite direction to the above mentioned first one, until the pattern of the t bits of the lowest order becomes the same as that of the already mentioned burst b(x) of length t, and to calculate a .GAMMA.2 number equal to (ro-h), where h is the amount of shift operations performed; PA1 calculate (n-q) by the relation: EQU q=.GAMMA.1.A2.ro+.GAMMA.2.A1.(2t-1) mod(n) PA1 perform the correction adding modulo 2 the polynomial (x.sup.n-q).b(x) to the received vector. PA1 input means for a code word (r(X)); PA1 a first unidirectional shift register, with (2t-1) stages, serially connected to said input means; PA1 a second unidirectional shift register, with m stages, serially connected to said input means; PA1 a test for zero circuit parallely connected to the (t-1) highest order states of said first register; PA1 first modulo (2t-1) counting means, able to compute the number of shifting operations performed by said first register; characterized by further comprising: PA1 a third unidirectional shift register with m stages, parallely connected with said second register and capable of shifting data in a direction opposed to that of the above first and second registers; PA1 a comparing device, parallely connected between the t lowest order stages of said first unidirectional shift register and said third shift register, the output of said comparing device being connected to second modulo ro counting means able to compute the number of shifting operations performed by said second register; PA1 a computing circuit connected to the outputs of said first and second counting means for computing an (n-q) number able to allow, in the case, the correction of the error burst in said code word (r(X)). PA1 input means for a code word (r(X)); PA1 a first unidirectional shift register with (2t-1) stages, serially connected to said input means; PA1 a second shift register, with m stages, serially connected to said input means; PA1 a test for zero circuit parallely connected to the (t-1)) highest order stages of said first register; PA1 first modulo (2t-1) counting means, able to compute the number of shifting operations performed by said first register; characterized in that PA1 said second shift register is a bidirectional shift register, and in that said device further comprises: PA1 a comparing device parallely connected between the t lowest order stages of said first unidirectional shift register and said second bidirectional shift register, the output of said comparing device being connected to second modulo ro counting means able to compute the number of shifting operations performed by said second register; PA1 a computing circuit connected to the outputs of said first and second counting means for computing an (n-q) number able to allow, in the case, the correction of the error burst in said code word (r(X)).
Once the code word has been inputted, Chien's decoder can correct errors in a number of cycles (this being the delay with which the correct code can be obtained) given at most by: EQU (2t-2)+(ro-1) (2)
As for a Fire code, n is the least common multiple of (2t-1) and ro, and as (2t-1) is not divisible by ro, n can at most be equal to ro.(2t-1).
A normal "Error Trapping" decoder would at most take ro.(2t-1) cycles to correct errors. Such value is much larger than the one given by expression (2), and this justifies the given definition for Chien's device as a high speed one.
The basic idea in Chien's decoder is that of using as syndrome a couple of polynomials, s1(x) and s2(x) , where s1(x) is the remainder polynomial obtained by dividing the received polynomial r(x) by the factor (x.sup.2t-1 +1) in the generator polynomial, and s2(x) is the remainder polynomial obtained by dividing the received polynomial r(x) by the factor p(x) in the generator polynomial r(x) by the factor p(x) in the generator polynomial. Above we have used r(x) to represented the received code word that, eventually contains errors.
Chien's decoder basically consists of two loop back shift registers. Both are fed by the bit sequence received in each generic code word. The first register, called "Error Pattern Register", consists of (2t-1) stages and is used to compute the polynomial s1(x), The second Register, called "Error Location Register", consists of (2t-1) stages and is used to compute the polynomial s1(x). The second Register, called "Error Location Register" consists of m stages, and is used to calculate the polynomial s2(x).
If both the polynomials s1(x) and s2(x) are null polynomials, no correction is applied, and the device only performs the decoding of the received code word which is error free.
If just one of the two polynomials s1(x) and s2(x) is not a null polynomial, then the device does not decode but detects the presence of errors (the error burst being greater than t).
Finally, if both polynomials s1(x) and s2(x) are not null polynomials, then the error correction process is started, at the end of which the decoding is performed (for error bursts of length<=t).
The correction algorithm is accomplished in four phases:

Process and device for the decoding of a shortened, cyclic binary code using error correction

Italtel Societa Italiana Telecomunicazioni S.P.A.


Novel processes and compositions are provided for the preparation of foamed, crosslinked polyethylene utilizing cyclic peroxyketal crosslinking/blowing agents. The novel compositions include esters of thiodipropionic acid as activators.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to certain cyclic peroxyketals useful as cross-linking/blowing agents and, in particular, to their use in compositions and processes for the preparation of foamed, cross-linked polyethylene.
2. Prior Art
It is known to form foamed, cross-linked polyethylene using chemical blowing agents by heating an expandable mixture comprising a thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene, a cross-linking agent and a chemical blowing agent. U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,119 teaches a method for manufacturing foamed polyethylene by use of a chemical blowing agent. U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,730 teaches a specific composition for blowing thermoplastic resins.
Chemical blowing agents (CBAs) are generally solid compounds or compositions which decompose at a specific temperature to yield a large volume of gas and a solid decomposition residue. Sodium bicarbonate, the most widely used inorganic CBA has limited use because it decomposes over a broad range of temperatures and because its decomposition point occurs at temperatures below those at which most resins, including polyethylene, are processed.
Organic CBA's tend to evolve gas over a more defined temperature range. Modern Plastics Encyclopedia 1979-1980, p. 186-188 teaches a group of known organic CBAs useful in the production of foamed, cross-linked polyethylene. The blowing composition of U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,731 utilizes azodicarbonamide, a known organic blowing agent, in conjunction with a chromium compound. The use of azobisformamide, p,p'-oxy-bis(benzenesulfonyl hydrazide), diazoaminebenzene dinitrosopentamethylenetetramine, 4-nitro-benzene sulfonic acid hydrazine, .beta.-naphthalene sulfonic acid hydrazide, diphenyl-4,4'-disulfonyl azide, and barium azodicarboxylate as blowing agents is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,470,119. A disadvantage with such azo blowing agents is the production of small amounts of ammonia which can corrode equipment.
The production of crosslinked polyethylene foams generally requires the use of cross-linking agents in addition to the blowing agent. An exception to the requirement of separate cross-linking and blowing agents is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,531 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,464 wherein certain azo esters function as cross-linking/blowing agents. However, as with other azo blowing compounds, small amounts of ammonia are produced.
Many organic peroxides, including cyclic peroxyketals, are known to be effective cross-linking agents for thermoplastic resins. U.S. Application Ser. No. 688,874, filed May 21, 1976 teaches nine-membered peroxyketals useful as cross-linking agents for polyethylene.

Cyclic peroxyketal cross-linking/blowing agents for polyethylene


A chewing gum composition for instant and extended release breath freshening has a gum base, at least one wetting agent, at least one immediate release flavor ingredient, and at least on encapsulation. The encapsulations include flavor encapsulations, metallic ion encapsulations, and organic substance encapsulations.

Malodorous breath has been a personal hygiene issue for many years. Food particles and other matter which linger in the area of the mucous membranes and between the teeth and gums contribute significantly to this odor problem. Another primary cause of bad odor are the emanaton of various sulfur compounds from the body. Sulfur is generated in the digestive tract as a result of the breakdown of various high-sulfur foods, and is released from the body through the mouth and pores of the individual. Certain food substances, such as garlic and onions, are notorious for generating the sulfur compounds which cause the foul odor. Garlic eaters typically note a considerable amount of belching and burping for several hours after consumption. As the garlic is digested in the abdominal tract, bursts of gas are generated, and with it comes a rather disagreeable smell. With each release of air from the stomach comes a noticeable amount of disagreeable smell as the garlic is dissolved in the digestive tract. Other substances such as tobacco and alcohol also affect a person's oral hygiene as these substances tend to linger around the mucous membranes inside the mouth.
Currently, much breath freshening technology provides freshening protection up to about 30 minutes or so in the mouth. Candies or mints are dissolved by the user to mask the odor of food, tobacco or medicine. Once the candy is fully dissolved, however, breath protection often drops off considerable. Within a few minutes, bad odor can again be perceived emanating from the mouth. Chewing gums have been utilized to afford longer range freshening, but typically the active breath protection ingredient is masticated away rather quickly from the gum.
Several substances have now established roles as breath fresheners in the chewing gum and confectionery industries. These include many metallic ions, as well as organic substances such as the oil derived from cardamon seeds. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,427 is directed to a cardamon seed preparation which is effective against bad breath. Mushroom extract as an active agent is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,470. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,214 a combination of zinc ions and ionone/ketone terpene derivatives is set forth. Terpene compounds are also set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,814,163. German Patent documents 3,610,179 and 3,733,742 are also directed to breath freshening formulations. Many of these substances concentrate their action in the stomach by neutralizing or masking foul-smelling sulfur compounds.
Unfortunately, many of the substances recognized as breath stabilizers are also relatively volatile and therefore present storage stability problems in such delivery mechanisms as chewing gum. In addition, many breath fresheners react quite readily with one another, thereby reducing their overall breath-freshening capacity rather quickly over time. It is this neutralization problem, as well as the aforesaid volatilization of the actives upon exposure to ambient conditions, that has heretofore inhibited the development of a truly long-lasting breath-protection gum product.
Certain references, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,549,917 and 5,556,652, are directed to formulations which seek to encapsulate certain ingredients for use in chewing gums. However, these references fail to suggest a number of encapsulations which would be particularly effective as breath fresheners. Moreover, there appears to be no teaching as to how the skilled artisan could combine rather disparate groups of breath freshening substances into a single chewing gum, while maintaining their effectiveness. In addition, these references evince little or no recognition of the enhanced effect certain encapsulations, as well as combinations thereof, can have on the breath freshening capability of a chewing gum composition.
What is therefore needed in the art is an improved chewing gum for breath freshening which affords the user both instant and long-range breath protection, even after the gum is removed from the mouth. Also needed are breath-freshening encapsulations which can be incorporated into gums, candies and mints etc. to afford enhanced breath protection from both the mouth and the stomach. Additionally, new formulations which can be incorporated in the aforesaid encapsulations are also needed for use in a breath-freshening gum product and other delivery vehicles.

Breath Freshening chewing gum with encapsulations


An electronic device comprising: a communication module; a memory; at least one processor operatively coupled to the memory, configured to: display, on the display, a user interface of a messaging application; detect an input indicating a destination telephone number; transmit, via the communication module, a first message comprising a first content by using the destination telephone number and a first protocol; receive, via the communication module, an error message indicating a transmission failure of the first message; and transmit, via the communication module, a second message comprising a second content at least a part of which is the same as the first content, by using the destination telephone number and a second protocol that is different from the first protocol.

Earlier versions of the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) (e.g., RCS BlackBird (BB)) enable a server to check RCS capability of an electronic device of the other party (or an electronic device of a receiving side) and transmit an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)-based chat message or file.
In RCS 5.x and later versions, since a server supports converged IP messaging (CPM), an electronic device of a transmitting side may only check its own capability so as to transmit an IMS-based chat message or file to an electronic device of a receiving side if the electronic device of the transmitting side is capable of performing RCS transmission. In detail, the server which supports RCS 5.x may transmit, in RCS format, data received from the electronic device of the transmitting side if the electronic device of the receiving side supports the RCS, or may convert the data received from the electronic device of the transmitting side into a legacy message such as a short messaging service (MMS) message or multimedia messaging service (MMS) message using an interworking function (IWF) of the server and then may transmit the legacy message.
FIG. 1A is a diagram of an example of a message transmission environment, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. More particularly, FIG. 1A conceptually illustrates a process of RCS message transmission in an environment supporting the RCS BB. If a number of a receiving-side electronic device 102 is input to a messaging application of a transmitting-side electronic device 101, the number of the receiving-side electronic device 102 is transferred to a network 100 (e.g., a base station or a server) (stage 1). The network 100 then sends, to the receiving-side electronic device 102, a query on whether the RCS is supported thereby (stage 2), and receives a response to the query (stage 3). The transmitting-side electronic device 101 then obtains, from the network 100, information on whether the receiving-side electronic device 102 supports the RCS (stage 4). Then, the transmitting-side electronic device 101 transmits a message of an RCS format if the receiving-side electronic device 102 supports the RCS or transmits a message of an SMS or MMS format if the receiving-side electronic device 102 does not support the RCS (stage 5). However, the RCS BB method has a limitation in that the transmitting-side electronic device 101 is unable to determine a transmission formation of a message for itself and should be dependent on information received from a server (or the network 100).
FIG. 1B is a diagram of an example of a message transmission environment, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. More particularly, FIG. 1B conceptually illustrates a process of RCS message transmission in an environment supporting RCS 5.x. The transmitting-side electronic device 101 only checks its own RCS support capability, and transmits data in RCS format if it supports the RCS (stage 1). The network 100 sends, to the receiving-side electronic device 102, a query on whether the RCS is supported thereby (stage 2), and receives a response to the query (stage 3). If the receiving-side electronic device 102 supports the RCS, the RCS-format data transmitted from the transmitting-side electronic device 101 may be transmitted to the receiving-side electronic device 101, but, if the receiving-side electronic device 102 does not support the RCS, the network 100 converts the data into a legacy message (e.g., SMS/MMS) format using the IWF and transmits the converted data (stage 4).
However, since a message type, a file type, a file size, etc. that is supported by the RCS format are different from those defined by the SMS/MMS format, conversion failure may occur. For example, file transfer (FT) of a 10 megabyte-file is enabled in the RCS, but a transferable file size may be limited to 1 MB in the MMS, and thus conversion of a file transmitted as an RCS message from the transmitting-side electronic device 101 into the MMS format fails if the size of the file is too large. For another example, the MMS enables attachment of files such as images, videos, etc., but do not support attachment of files of some formats such as xml, ppt, etc. If the transmitting-side electronic device 101 transmits such files using the RCS, conversion of the files into the MMS format fails. As described above, when the server that supports RCS 5.x fails to convert an IMS-based chat message or FT message into a legacy message using the legacy IWF, the server is unable to transmit an error message to the receiving-side electronic device 102 and transmits it to the transmitting-side electronic device 101. When such an error occurs, since there is no definition for retransmitting a message from the transmitting-side electronic device 101, completion of message transmission to the receiving-side electronic device 102 is not ensured.

Method and apparatus for transmitting integrated messages


In order to achieve rapid reconfiguration of logic elements in a programmable logic device, a plurality of memory logic modules are arranged in a two-dimensional array. At least one logic element is provided in each of the plurality of memory logic modules. The logic element is provided with a configuration memory into which configuration data can be written to specify logic functions of the logic element. A memory element is provided in each of the plurality of memory logic modules. The memory element stores a plurality of configuration data with respect to the logic element, and one of the plurality of configuration data is written into the configuration memory of the logic element to configure or reconfigure the logic element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a programmable logic IC (integrated circuit) whose logic functions can be determined by the user, and more specifically to such a programmable logic IC which is provided with memories each for storing a plurality of different sets of configuration data, each of which is used to configure or reconfigure the logic IC. Still further, the present invention relates to a method of reconfigurating the programmable logic IC. The programmable logic IC is fabricated using a conventional LSI or VLSI (very large scale integration) technology,
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, a programmable logic IC (or device), such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), a CPLD (complex programmable logic device), etc., is comprised of a plurality of logic elements which are two-dimensionally arranged. Logic operations, carried out by the programmable logic IC, are determined by logic functions of each logic element in combination with interconnections between the logic elements. The information for defining the logic operations of the programmable logic IC is referred to as configuration data. The configuration data, for example, includes a look-up table having two to six inputs for implementing a wide variety of logic functions. The look-up table is used to implement the logic operations of each logic element. Further, the configuration data includes data for determining on/off operations of switches of the logic elements, thereby to specify the interconnections between the logic elements. Each of the conventional logic elements is provided with a memory such as an SRAM (static random access memory), which is referred to as a configuration memory.
When it becomes necessary to reconfigure the programmable logic IC, a part or all of the data, already stored in the configuration memory, should be changed. This operation of data rewriting is called reconfiguration. In order to implement the reconfiguration, new programming data should be transferred to the configuration memory from an external non-volatile memory.
According to one known technique, reconfiguring the programmable logic IC is carried out in a manner similar to writing data into a RAM That is, the configuration memory is supplied, from a suitable external memory, with the addresses at which the new configuration data are to be written and also with the new configuration data itself. Therefore, the reconfiguration can be implemented by successively transferring "data words" each having a predetermined bit-length. By way of example, such a conventional reconfiguring technique is used with a device named XC6200 available at Xilinx, Corporation, as described in a reference manual entitled "XC6200 Field Programmable Gate Arrays" published Jun. 1, 1996 by that corporation.
A programmable logic IC has found extensive use in the case where the time period for circuit design is limited and the logic functions are changed depending on different applications. It is however a recent trend to positively use the ability of reconfiguring the programmable logic IC. Such a logic IC is referred to as a custom computer or a reconfigurable computer. The programmable logic IC, which is used as a custom computer, takes the advantage of dynamically reconfiguring the device's hardware (viz., the device's logic operations) so as to reconstruct the most desirable data processing hardware structure. It is expected that this type of custom computer can effectively be applied to technical fields such as data coding, encipherment and decipherment, etc., which are difficult to adequately be processed using the general architecture available in usual microprocessors.
The prior art has encountered the drawbacks that it takes too long to completely reconfigure the programmable logic IC. The reason for this is that the programmable logic IC is externally supplied with the new configuration data, In addition, it is difficult to achieve a sufficient data bandwidth so as to enable rapid transfer of the reconfiguration data. By way of example, the time, needed to reconfigure all the programmable logic IC, ranges between about 100 ms and about 100 .mu.s, which respectively correspond to a range between of 5-million cycles and 5-thousand cycles in the case where the programmable logic IC operates under a clock rate of 50 MHz. More specifically, assuming that the amount of the configuration data, needed to reconfigure a programmable logic IC, is 256 kbits. This corresponds to a programmable logic IC comprised of a plurality of logic elements, each of which has a configuration memory of 64-bit, and which are arranged in a matrix of 64.times.64. In this instance, if such a programmable logic IC is to be reconfigured using a 32-bit data bandwidth at a clock rate of 50 MHz, then the time interval needed to complete the reconfiguration of all the programmable logic IC becomes as long as 160 .mu.s.
As is known, when a programmable logic IC is used as a custom computer, it is necessary to frequently change (viz., reconfigure) the contents of each configuration memory of the programmable logic IC. The reconfiguration occurs each time the application program is changed, or even during the same application program. Accordingly, as mentioned above, if the reconfiguration time period is as long as more than 100 .mu.s, it is not practical to use such a conventional programmable logic IC as a custom computer in an environment where the reconfiguration is frequently necessary. More specifically, if the time period needed to complete the reconfiguration is about 100 .mu.s (for example), such usage of a programmable logic IC as a custom computer may be limited to the case where the reconfiguration occurs at a time interval ranging from 1 ms to 10 ms (for example).

Programmable logic IC having memories for previously storing a plurality of configuration data and a method of reconfigurating same


A table for a bowling establishment or center having a size and shape for use by patrons during bowling and being positioned relative the lane approach section and the ball return rack to provide space for scoring, eating food, drinking beverages, and allowing ease of access for bowling.

This invention relates in general to a table for a bowling center, and more particularly to an improved table for bowlers and friends that allows them to sit at and which provides for ample space for the consumption of food and beverages while facilitating ease of access to the lanes.
Bowling has been and remains a popular sport or hobby for many people. While the decorum of bowling centers or establishments that have bowling lanes may vary greatly, the layout of the bowling areas is substantially the same in all establishments or centers. The bowling areas are divided into three distinct but interrelated sections: the bowling lanes section, the approach section, and the sitting/scoring section. Persons patronizing bowling centers will generally be referred to herein as patrons, which include bowlers, friends, and other people having bowling interests.
The first or bowling lanes section normally includes a plurality of bowling lanes that are subgrouped into pairs of lanes. Each lane includes a bowling lane or surface and a gutter on each side of the bowling lane. A ball return section including a ball return track is disposed between each lane of a pair of lanes, while a capping is located between each adjacent pair of lanes. The total width of a pair of lanes between the median of consecutive capping sections is about 133xc2xd inches. That width can be broken down into two lanes that are 42 inches wide, four gutters (2 on each lane) that are each 9xc2xd inches wide, a ball return section that is also 9xc2xd inches wide, and half of two capping sections that are each 2 inches wide.
The ball return track extends the length of the lanes and into the approach section, where it extends upward to deposit or return the balls to a ball return rack at a level that allows bowlers to easily pick up their bowling balls. An open area is provided on each side of the ball return rack that represents the approach areas of the approach section. Usually the ball return track is below floor level and emerges upwardly through the floor in the approach area to the ball return rack. The approach section, which extends to the beginning (or foul line) of the bowling lane section, allows a bowler to xe2x80x98run upxe2x80x99 and deliver a ball down the lane without impairments during a bowling turn.
Behind the approach section, generally on a lower level, is a section for the bowlers to sit and keep score. In most centers, a small table is located directly behind the ball return rack for each pair of lanes. The table generally allows one person from each lane to sit and keep score, while offering a few cupholders. The remaining bowlers or friends either stand or sit behind the table in additional seating provided. It has been known that some bowling centers utilize an oval table in the spectator area behind the sitting/scoring section that may seat up to six patrons.
Throughout the years, the services in bowling centers have changed. Instead of merely offering a form of entertainment or sport, bowling establishments now often offer food and drinks as well. Furthermore, it is often common for various organizations or groups to rent out part or all of the bowling lanes for private parties, whereby numerous bowlers might want to bowl on each lane. Generally, only two bowlers or other patrons per pair of lanes may sit at the table. The remaining patrons have to either sit behind the table in whatever seating is available, remain standing, or go to the area behind the bowling area. If the patrons order food or beverages, most have to either hold their food or drinks, or place them in the area behind the bowling platform. This layout is inconvenient for patrons who want to socialize, eat and drink with others at bowling centers.
The present invention provides a unique solution to the problems mentioned above by providing a table in a bowling establishment or center sized and shaped to serve a pair of lanes with ample space for several patrons to eat food and drink beverages on the table and to allow easy access for moving into the approach areas and about the ball return rack when taking bowling turns. The table is preferably substantially triangular in shape and is located with its apex substantially in line with and adjacent to the ball return rack between the lanes of a pair of lanes. The base of the table is about eight (8) feet wide, with sides of about six and a half (6xc2xd) feet. Thus, the location and size of a table allows space for patrons to walk between adjacent tables and along the tables to the approach sections, and around the ball return rack. Each table provides ample space to accommodate at least six patrons.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved bowling table for a bowling area in a bowling center that is sized, shaped and located in the sitting/scoring section to allow a plurality of patrons to sit around and comfortably eat food and/or drink beverages while providing easy access to the approach section.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bowling table that does not interfere with the movement of the patrons in approaching the lanes and movement between lanes.


Tamper-resistant pharmaceutical compositions have been developed to reduce the likelihood of improper administration of drugs, especially drugs such as opioids. The tamper-resistant compositions retard the release of drug, even if the physical integrity of the formulation is compromised (for example, by chopping with a blade or crushing) and the resulting material is placed in water, snorted, or swallowed. However, when administered as directed, the drug is slowly released from the composition as the composition is passes through the GI tract.

Oxycodone, morphine, and other opioid analgesics are successful and therapeutically useful medications, e.g., as pain killers, when administered orally. Unfortunately, they also pose a severe threat for willful abuse due to their ability to alter mood and/or cause a sense of euphoria. Traditional sustained release formulations of such drugs, which contain a relatively large amount of drug meant to be released from the formulation over an sustained time period, are particularly attractive to abusers since the sustained release action can be destroyed by crushing or grinding the formulation. The resulting material (i.e., the crushed formulation) can no longer control the release of drug. Depending on the drug, abusers can then (1) snort the material, (2) swallow the material or (3) dissolve the material in water and subsequently inject it intravenously. The dose of drug contained in the formulation is absorbed immediately through the nasal or GI mucosa (e.g., snorting or swallowing, respectively) or is administered in a bolus to the systemic circulation (e.g., IV injection), These abuse methods result in the rapid bioavailability of relatively high doses of drug, giving the abuser a "high". Since relatively simple methods (crushing, grinding, chewing and/or dissolution in water) can be used to transform such formulations into an abusable form, they provide virtually no deterrent to a potential abuser.
For example, in recent years, there have been numerous reports of diversion and abuse of sustained release formulations of opioids such as oxycodone, oxymorphone and morphine. According to a report from the Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, results from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings (Rockville, Md.: US Dept. of Health and Human Services), showed that in both 2006 and 2007, an estimated 5.2 million persons aged 12 or older (2.1 percent in each year) were current nonmedical users of prescription pain relievers. Additionally, from 2002 to 2007, there was an increase among young adults aged 18 to 25 in the rate of current use of prescription pain relievers, from 4.1 to 4.6 percent. Data from this survey also supports the notion that sustained-release formulations susceptible to tampering methods such as chewing, crushing and grinding likely contributes to the increasing rates of prescription pain reliever abuse. For example, in 2007, there were an estimated 554,000 new nonmedical users of OxyContin® (a sustained release formulation of the active drug oxycodone).
Oxycodone is a controlled substance in Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which is administered by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Despite the fact that Schedule II provides the maximum amount of control possible under the CSA for approved drug products, in practice it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to control the diversion or misuse of legitimate prescriptions. Although abuse, misuse, and diversion are potential problems for all opioids, including Oxycodone, opioids are a very important part of the medical armamentarium for the management of pain when used appropriately under the careful supervision of a physician.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,766 to Shaw et al. ("Shaw"), U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,494 to Hoffmeister et al. ("Hoffmeister"), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,668 to Bastin et al. ("Bastin") describe formulations designed to prevent the injection of compositions meant for oral administration.
Shaw describes the incorporation of an ingestible solid which causes a rapid increase in viscosity upon concentration of an aqueous solution thereof.
Hoffmeister describes the incorporation of a non-toxic, water gelable material in an amount sufficient to render the drug resistant to aqueous extraction.
Bastin describes a tablet for oral administration containing two or more layers containing one or more drugs and one or more gelling agents within separate layers of the tablet. The resulting tablet forms a gel when combined with the volume of water necessary to dissolve the drug allegedly reducing the extractability of the drug from the tablet.
It should be noted that although these compositions allegedly preclude abuse by injection, this approach fails to prohibit rapid dissolution of the drug once the dosage form is crushed into smaller particles or pieces. Thus, these formulations are vulnerable to abuse by crushing and swallowing or snorting the formulation, which are commonly reported methods of abuse.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,773,955 and 3,966,940 to Pachter et al. describe formulations containing a combination of opioid agonists and antagonists, in which the antagonist does not block the therapeutic effect when the admixture is administered orally, but which does not produce analgesia, euphoria or physical dependence when administered parenterally by an abuser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,933 to Gordon et al, describes a method for decreasing both the oral and parenteral abuse potential of strong analgetic agents by combining an analgesic dose of the analgetic agent with an antagonist in specific, relatively narrow ratios.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,277,384, 6,375,957 and 6,475,494 to Kaiko et al. describe oral dosage forms including a combination of an orally active opioid agonist and an orally active opioid antagonist in a ratio that, when delivered orally, is analgesically effective but that is aversive in a physically dependent subject. While such a formulation may be successful in deterring abuse, it also has the potential to produce adverse effects in legitimate patients.
The FDA recently approved two sustained release formulations of opioid active ingredients with tamper resistant features. A sustained release oxycodone tablet, designed to resist crushing and to gel in the presence of water, is currently available. Also, a multiparticulate-in-capsule product containing morphine and a sequestered naltrexone is also commercially available; this product is designed to release naltrexone (an opioid antagonist) to counteract the euphoric effects of the opioid active ingredient when the formulation is crushed, chewed or dissolved. While such formulations offer an improvement over previously available formulations with respect to susceptibility to tampering, there are disadvantages associated with the available products. For example, tablet formulations that are difficult to crush, but not crush-proof, can still be chopped or shredded into small particles and do not address the needs of patients with difficulty swallowing, and formulations containing antagonists have the potential to cause harm to legitimate patients.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition (e.g., a multiparticulate composition) that reduces the potential for improper administration of drugs without the addition of aversive agents or antagonists, which have the potential to cause harm to legitimate patients. Such a formulation significantly reduces the potential for improper administration or use of drugs but, when administered as directed, is capable of delivering a therapeutically effective dose. Methods of making and using such a formulation are also provided.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tamper-resistant pharmaceutical compositions of opioids and other drugs


This invention provides a catalytic composite prepared by calcining a zeolite of the mordenite crystal structure containing less than about 5 wt. % sodium as Na.sub.2 O in admixture with a refractory inorganic oxide and an ammonium salt, the method of manufacturing the catalytic composite.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of art to which this invention pertains is catalytic composites, methods of their manufacture, and the use thereof. More specifically, the claimed invention relates to a catalytic composite comprising a calcined mixture of a zeolitic crystalline aluminosilicate, a refractory inorganic oxide, and an ammonium salt, a method of preparing the catalytic composite by calcining a zeolite of the mordenite crystal structure in admixture with a refractory inorganic oxide and an ammonium salt, and a method of using the aforesaid catalytic composite in treating sour petroleum distillates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Crystalline aluminosilicates, or zeolites, of which mordenite is one example, are well known in the art and have found extensive application as hydrocarbon conversion catalysts or as a component thereof. Such materials are of ordered crystalline structure often visualized as a three-dimensional network of fundamental structural units consisting of silicon-centered SiO.sub.4 and aluminum-centered A1O.sub.4 tetrahedra, the tetrahedra being interconnected by a mutual sharing of apical oxygen atoms and arranged to form cages or cavities in open communication through smaller intracrystalline channels of pore openings whose narrowest cross section has essentially a uniform diameter characteristic of each crystalline aluminosilicate variety. To effect a chemical balance, each A1O.sub.4 tetrahedra has a cation associated therewith--usually a sodium or other exchangeable cation. The aforementioned cages or cavities are occupied by water molecules and by the last mentioned cations, both of which exhibit considerable freedom of movement permitting ion-exchange and reversable dehydration.
The crystalline aluminosilicates, or zeolites, employed in the manufacture of the catalytic composite of this invention, are of the mordenite crystal structure, highly siliceous in nature and generally characterized by a silica-alumina mole ratio of from about 6 to about 12 as found in nature. The mordenite crystal structure comprises four- and five-membered rings of the SiO.sub.4 and AlO.sub.4 tetrahedra so arranged that the crystal lattice comprises pores and channels running parallel along the crystal axis to give a tubular configuration. This structure is unique among the crystalline aluminosilicates since the channels of tubes do not intersect, and access to the cages or cavities is in only one direction. For this reason, the mordenite structure is frequently referred to as two-dimensional. This is in contrast to other well-known crystalline aluminosilicates, for example faujasite, in which the cavities can be entered from three directions. Mordenite, clinoptilolite, or mordenite which has been synthesized or acid extracted, caustic extracted or otherwise treated to increase the silica-alumina mole ratio to about 20:1 or more while maintaining the mordenite crystal structure, may be used in the manufacture of the catalytic composite of this invention.
Crystalline aluminosilicate having a mordenite crystal structure have heretofore been utilized composited with a refractory inorganic oxide, typically alumina, as a hydrocarbon conversion catalyst, and are particularly useful with respect to the transalkylation of alkylaromatic hydrocarbons. It is an object of this invention to present a new and useful method of manufacture providing a novel catalytic composite of improved activity, especially useful in the treatment of sour petroleum distillates.
Catalysts manufactured simply by compositing a crystalline aluminosilicate having a mordenite crystalline structure with a refractory inorganic oxide typically have been of relatively low activity. The prior art reveals that methods of manufacturing catalysts of improved activity have required steps in addition to a simple composite step, often involving the use of hazardous chemicals.
The prior art discloses that in preparing a catalytic composite comprising a crystalline aluminosilicate having a mordenite crystalline structure containing less than about 5 wt. % sodium as Na.sub.2 O and a refractory inorganic oxide, activity of the catalytic composite may be increased by the addition during compositing of a peptizing agent such as nitric acid. The prior art also discloses that a catalytic composite of improved activity can be prepared by subjecting the crystalline aluminosilicate to an aqueous ammoniacal treatment at a pH of at least 9.5 prior to admixture with the refractory inorganic oxide and addition of the peptizing agent. U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,086. The prior art further discloses that another method of improving catalyst activity comprises the addition during compositing of a certain quantity of a metal salt convertible at calcination conditions to the refractory metal oxide composited with the crystalline aluminosilicate, and subjecting either the crystalline aluminosilicate prior to compositing or the resulting composite to an aqueous ammoniacal treatment at a pH of at least 9.5. U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,479.
What has been needed, but not shown by the foregoing prior art, is a catalytic composite with activity comparable to or superior to that of the prior art which can be manufactured conveniently and less expensively in fewer steps. Such a catalytic composite has been accomplished in the present invention. Whereas the prior art requires that a strong acid peptizing agent by used in the manufacture of active catalytic composites of mordenite and a refractory inorganic oxide, the catalytic composite of this invention is of superior activity and yet can be prepared without a peptizing agent, using instead a neutral ammonium salt. Thus the use of hazardous peptizing agent chemicals can be avoided. The ammonium salt admixed in the preparation of the catalytic composite of this invention can be in any form, including powder or aqueous solution. Thus, there exits inherently greater flexibility in the manufacture of the catalytic composite of this invention as opposed to prior art catalytic composites which require liquid solutions of peptizing agents. Further, the preparation of the catalytic composite of this invention requires fewer steps than the preparation of catalytic composites disclosed in the foregoing references, since no aqueous ammoniacal treatment of the mordenite or the resulting catalytic composite is required.

Catalytic composite, method of manufacture


A combined nursing bottle and toy assembly is described comprising a nursing bottle having an outer shell, and an inner container supported in the outer shell and separated therefrom to form a space. A flowable medium is supported in the space for thermally isolating the inner container from the outer shell. Preferably, suitable decorative objects are supported within the space and the flowable medium for creating a pleasing visual effect as the nursing bottle is used.

Of the many problems faced by new parents, probably the most difficult one is feeding. This problem is especially acute if the parent and infant are frequently away from home. Typically, a baby's formula is placed in a nursing bottle at a suitable temperature and the bottle is placed in an suitable carrier. By the time the baby is ready to be nursed, however, the temperature of the formula has changed significantly depending on the weather conditions and the length of time. This makes feeding difficult and uncomfortable for both parent and child.
It is known in the prior art to provide a separate insulated baby bottle carrier to overcome this problem. One such carrier is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,908 to Tweeton. Other approaches to the problem include a "thermos " type of container, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,167 to Polazzolo, or a glass bottle having a vacuum chamber, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,785 to Schwaiger. These structures, while suitable for their intended purpose, are prohibitively expensive to manufacture and often unreliable.
It would therefore be desirable to overcome these and other problems of the prior art.