In a finder optical system provided separately from a taking lens system, an objective lens system forms a primary image which is an inverted image of a subject, a relay lens system erects the primary image formed by the objective lens system to form a secondary image which is an erecting image and can change the size of the secondary image, and an ocular enlarges the secondary image formed by the relay lens system and can change the enlargement ratio.. The finder optical system is useful for a camera constituting the trimming system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a finder optical system employed in a camera. More particularly, the present invention relates to a finder optical system useful for a camera which constitutes a trimming system.
2. Prior Arts
In the trimming system, an information specifying an area A including the center of an image formation area B on a film 50 shown in FIG. 1a is memorized onto a predetermined portion 51 on the emulsion surface of the film 50. The area can be enlarged to be printed in the area A' on photographic paper 52 shown in FIG. 1b by using the information memorized onto the portion 51. To be more specific, at a trimming mode photographing, the trimming information is taken onto the predetermined portion 51 of a film in the form of a code signal by a code taking unit; the information is detected and read by a reader unit in printing. The area A is magnified by a zooming operation of an optical system of a printer according to the information. As shown in FIG. 1c, in order to take the trimming information onto the film 50, light emitting diodes LED1, LED2, and LED3 are provided which are controlled by the code signal. The light emitted by the diodes LED1 to LED3 is led to the predetermined portion 51 of the film 50 through optical fibers 53, 54, and 55 and the predetermined portion 51 is exposed by the light.
For a camera to which such trimming system is applicable, a finder by which the trimming area (the area A) is seen in an adequate large size at a trimming photographing mode is more convenient than a finder by which the trimming area is seen in small size. It is therefore desirable to fulfill a field frame of the finder with an image corresponding to the trimming area without changing the size of the field frame actually seen in the finder window.
It is hereinafter referred to as "pseudo zooming" to enlarge a trimming area to the predetermined size of the field frame of a finder. On the other hand, when a taking lens system has a zooming function, a finder optical system has to perform a zooming operation in response to the zooming operation of the taking lens system. This zooming operation of a finder optical system is hereinafter referred to as "optical zooming". Many of conventional finder optical systems perform only the optical zooming operation with an objective lens system.
In a real-image-type finder optical system, an image formed by an objective lens system is inverted upside down and rightside left, and therefore if it is viewed only through the object lens system and an ocular, it will seen as the inverted image. Therefore, image erecting system are usually provided between the objective lens system and the ocular. As the image erecting system, a Porro prism has been used in conventional finder optical systems.
When the above-described optical zooming operation and pseudo zooming operation are performed in a finder optical system, the total magnification of the two kinds of zooming operation increases (e.g. when the magnification of an optical zooming is 3.times. and that of a pseudo zooming is 2.times., the total magnification is 6.times.). Therefore, when the optical and pseudo zooming operation is performed only by an objective lens system, the total length of the finder optical system becomes longer, which makes it impossible to realize a compact camera body. That is, since a finder magnification V is expressed by the following equation: EQU V=f1/f2,
where f1 is a focal length of an objective lens system and f2 is a focal length of an ocular, in order to increase the magnification V, the focal length f1 of an objective lens system is increased. However, this also increases an axial length (length along the optical axis) of the objective lens system, which naturally increases the total length of the finder optical system.
The magnification V is increased also by decreasing the focal length f2 of the ocular. To decrease f2, the ocular must be arranged close to the image plane where the image is formed by the objective lens system. However, in a conventional finder optical system where the Porro prism is employed, the focal length f2 of the ocular cannot be decreased so much since the ocular touches the Porro prism.
A finder optical system in which a relay lens system is used for erecting the inverted image is also known. However, with respect to a finder optical system employing a relay lens system, it has not been fully examined which optical system should perform a pseudo zooming operation and which optical system should perform an optical zooming operation.


A system for coupling energy between electrical and mechanical waves includes a mechanical waveguide for propagating a mechanical wave having a mechanical wavelength at a given frequency, and an electromechanical energy converter for coupling energy between electrical and mechanical waves attached to a portion of the waveguide and capable of propagating an electrical wave having an electrical wavelength substantially equal to the mechanical wavelength at the given frequency. The portion has a length, measured in units of coupled wavelength, which is selected on the basis of the reciprocal of the coupling strength of the electromechanical converter and a selected amount of wave energy to be coupled. The function is based primarily on desired efficiency and may also be an odd integer multiple of the coupling strength reciprocal, preferably one. Piezoelectric elements are the preferred electromechanical energy conversion elements. This system is applicable to damping of structural waves, transferring structural waves from one mechanical waveguide- to another, and for creating a linear motor.

Systems for coupling wave energy are commonly available for optical and microwave waveguides. Such systems couple energy of a wave of one type propagating in one waveguide into wave energy of the same type propagating in a second waveguide. The present work relates to such coupling between electrical and mechanical waves in electrical and mechanical waveguides. The closest similar work known to the Applicants is that of Baer and Kino ("A Travelling Wave Ultrasonic Transducer," in Proc. 1982 Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 498-501, San Diego, Oct. 27-29, 1982) who considered coupling an electrical delay line to a piezoelectric stack to generate longitudinal waves in the stack, thus creating an ultrasonic transducer. Coupling into and from a mechanical waveguide was not performed. Hagood and von Flotow ("Damping Of Structural Vibrations With Piezoelectric Materials And Passive Electrical Networks," J. Sound And Vibration, Vol. 146, No. 2, pp. 243-268, 1991) considered tuned L-R-C coupling to vibrating structures.
Known components which are capable of converting mechanical energy to electrical energy include piezoelectric, electrostrictive, magnetostrictive and electromagnetic devices. Such components have been used, for example, for vibration damping, sensing, motors, and transducers. Such systems have not been used for coupling wave energy between electrical and mechanical waves.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for coupling energy between electrical and mechanical waves.

Coupler for electrical waveguides and mechanical waveguides


A data compression system greatly compresses the stored data used by a speech recognition system employing hidden Markov models (HMM). The speech recognition system vector quantizes the acoustic space spoken by humans by dividing it into a predetermined number of acoustic features that are stored as codewords in a vector quantization (output probability) table or codebook. For each spoken word, the speech recognition system calculates an output probability value for each codeword, the output probability value representing an estimated probability that the word will be spoken using the acoustic feature associated with the codeword. The probability values are stored in an output probability table indexed by each codeword and by each word in a vocabulary. The output probability table is arranged to allow compression of the probability of values associated with each codeword based on other probability values associated with the same codeword, thereby compressing the stored output probability. By compressing the probability values associated with each codeword separate from the probability values associated with other codewords, the speech recognition system can recognize spoken words without having to decompress the entire output probability table. In a preferred embodiment, additional compression is achieved by quantizing the probability values into 16 buckets with an equal number of probability values in each bucket. By quantizing the probability values into buckets, additional redundancy is added to the output probability table, which allows the output probability table to be additionally compressed.

Under present technology, human input into computers usually involves typing in instructions or data with a keyboard or pointing to meaningful areas of the computer display unit with a pointing device such as a mouse. However, most people are much more comfortable communicating using speech. Speech communications are particularly important in places where the written language is very difficult to input into a computer, such as Chinese or Kanji. Consequently, the development of a speech recognizer for a computer would greatly expand the useability and the usefulness of computers.
Many computer speech recognizers have been developed with varying success. Difficulties in recognizing speech arise from acoustic differences occurring each time a word is spoken. These acoustic differences can be caused by differences in each speaker's accent, speaking speed, loudness and vocal quality. Even a single word spoken by a single speaker varies acoustically due to changes in the speaker, such as health or stress levels, or changes in the speaker's environment, such as background noise and room acoustics.
One prior art speech recognition system that has achieved some success is the hidden Markov model (HMM) system. In general, HMM systems are based on modeling each speech signal by some well-defined statistical algorithms that can automatically extract knowledge from speech data. The data needed for the HMM statistical models are obtained by numerous training words being spoken together with a typed indication of the words being spoken. Like all statistical methods, the accuracy of the HMM speech recognition systems improves greatly as the number of spoken training words increases. Given the large number of acoustic variables, the number of spoken training words needed to model accurately the spoken words can be quite large. Consequently, the memory needed to store the models necessary to recognize a large vocabulary of words is extensive, e.g., approximately 28 megabytes. As a result, a system for compressing the modeling data would allow more words to be modeled and stored in less space.
In general, HMM speech recognition systems model each word according to output and transitional probability distributions. The output probability distribution refers to the probabilities of the word having each acoustic feature in a set of predefined acoustic features. The transitional probability distribution for the word refers to the probabilities of a predefined portion, known as a state or frame, of the word being followed by either a new state or a repetition of the current state. For example, the word "dog" has a relatively high output probability of including a hard "d" sound. A transitional probability distribution refers to the probability of the "o" sound being repeated in the next frame and the probability of the "g" occurring in the next state. It should be recognized that a word typically includes 40-50 states, much more than the three phones of the "dog" example, but the transitional and output probability distribution concepts are the same.
Prior art HMM speech recognition systems typically employ vector quantization to divide the acoustic space or frequency range spoken by humans into a predetermined number of acoustic feature models that are given labels called "codewords." The output probabilities for each word are represented by probability values for each codeword. Typically, approximately 200 codewords are chosen to allow accurate modeling of the spoken words with minimum distortion caused by an acoustic feature falling between two adjacent acoustic feature models. Because the range of codewords is chosen to represent all of the possible acoustic features of speech, it is highly unlikely that a single word will have a non-zero probability for every codeword. In fact, most words have a non-zero probability value for a minority of the codewords. As a result, the models for most words are stored with a substantial number of repeated zero probability values. These repeated zero probability values take up much storage space with very little relevant information content.

Speech recognition system and method employing data compression


A disk drive has a pair of transducers mounted to respective planar flexure seats and electrically connected to respective flexible printed circuit boards for data transfer with the opposite sides of a rotating flexible magnetic disk. One of the transducers, mounted to a pivoted load arm on a carriage, is moved away from the other transducer when the disk is being loaded in and unloaded from the disk drive. In order to prevent the conductive pattern on the circuit board for this one transducer from contacting the metal made top wall of the disk drive casing, the circuit board is shaped to include a major portion disposed on the back side of the flexure seat, opposite to the front side on which the transducer is mounted. The circuit board is further provided with a first pair of flaps which extend in opposite directions from the major portion and which are folded onto the front side of the flexure seat, and a second pair of flaps which extend right angularly from the first pair of flaps and which are folded, after having been folded together with the first pair of flaps onto the first side of the flexure seat, back onto the second side thereof so as to cover parts of the conductive pattern on the major portion. The transducer has its leads soldered to the conductive pattern on the first pair of flaps.

This invention relates to rotating disk data storage apparatus in general and, in particular, to the improved space saving configuration of a flexible printed circuit board, to which a magnetic data transducer or head is electrically connected, on a planar flexure seat resiliently supporting the transducer. The invention represents an improvement of the copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 875,454 filed Apr. 29, 1992, by Nagase under the title of "Improved Connection of Transducer Leads to a Printed Circuit Board in Rotating Disk Data Storage Apparatus" and assigned to the assignee of the instant application.
The three and a half inch flexible magnetic disk and disk drives for use therewith have won widespread commercial acceptance. The disk is rotatably housed in a generally flat, boxlike envelope of relatively rigid plastic material, complete with a metal made sliding shutter, to make up a disk cassette. The envelope has a pair of apertures of rectangular shape to expose radial portions of the opposite sides of the disk. The sliding shutter also has a pair of apertures of approximately the same shape and size as the envelope apertures, which shutter apertures come into and out of register with the envelope apertures with the movement of the shutter relative to the envelope. The magnetic disk has a rigid hub of magnetic sheet metal attached centrally thereto. The hub has defined therein a central opening of square shape and an eccentric opening of rectangular shape.
When positioned in the associated disk drive, the magnetic disk has its central hub placed on a turntable which is much less in diameter than the disk. The turntable has a permanent magnet mounted thereto for attracting the disk hub. Disposed centrally on the turntable, a spindle engages in the central opening in the disk hub for centering the disk on the turntable. A drive pin is disposed eccentrically on the turntable for driving engagement in the eccentric opening or slot in the disk hub, imparting the rotation of the turntable to the disk.
The disk drive has a pair of magnetic data transducers or read/write heads for data transfer with the opposite sides of the disk through the registered envelope and shutter apertures. One of the transducers is mounted via a planar flexure seat on a carriage movable across the annular, concentric data tracks on the disk. The other transducer is mounted via another planar flexure seat on a load arm which is hingedly mounted to the carriage for pivotal motion toward and away from the disk.
Usually, with this type of disk drive, the lead wires or pins of each transducer were soldered to a conductive pattern on a flexible printed circuit board disposed on that side of the associated flexure seat opposite to the one on which the transducer was mounted. Each soldered joint rose to a height of 0.3 to 0.6 millimeters. Negligible as it might seem, the solder of such height represented a serious inconvenience in reducing the thickness or height of the disk drive to an absolute minimum, as is the trend today.
It might be contemplated to dispose the flexible printed circuit boards on the same side of the flexure seats as the transducers. This solution is objectionable because then the circuit boards might contact the envelope of the disk cassette. Particularly in the case where the envelope has the metal made sliding shutter, the conductive patterns on the circuit boards might be thereby short circuited to the destruction of the transducers.
Another solution is found in Nagase U.S. patent application Ser. No. 875,454, supra. In this application each printed circuit board, generally disposed on that side of the flexure seat opposite to the side where the transducer was mounted, was shaped to include a pair of end portions which were bent and folded through openings in the flexure seat onto the same side as the transducer. The transducer leads were soldered to these folded end portions of the circuit board. Consequently, the solder itself represents no bar to the reduction of the thickness of the disk drive.
This solution has proved still unsatisfactory, however. Should the thickness of disk drive be lessened to a greater extent than heretofore, the conductive pattern on tile circuit board for the upper transducer, mounted to the pivoted load arm, might come into contact with the metal made top cover of the disk drive.
An obvious remedy to this problem might be to provide some electrically insulating overlay on the circuit board or on the conductive pattern. The coating of an insulating paint would be one possible method to this end, but it would take too much cost and labor in consideration of coatings of constant, appropriate thickness required. The adhesion of insulating sheet or film would be another practicable method. However, such sheet or film would not only add to the weight of the circuit board but also impair the flexibility of the circuit board and, in consequence, the resiliency of the flexure seat. These inconveniences would be overcome if the small pieces of insulating sheet or film were attached to only those parts of the conductive pattern which might contact the top cover of the disk drive. This method is also objectionable in view of the cost and labor involved.
The applicant has also contemplated to cover with flexible overlays the complete surfaces of printed circuit boards having the conductive patterns formed thereon. Parts of the overlays may then be removed for exposing those parts of the conductive patterns to which the transducer overlays are to be soldered. An objection to this measure is that, flexible as they may be, the overlays would nevertheless lessen the flexibility of the circuit boards. The partial removal of the overlays would also be very troublesome.

Space saving configuration of a printed cirucit board for a magnetic head on a flexure seat for the head


A system for improving digital data content delivery based on real time analysis of one or more network communications states. The networked computing system may include a network service provider device, a user equipment, a network link monitor, a data transfer agent, and a data communications network facilitating data communications amongst all devices of the networked computing system. The networked computing system may be configured to: detect at least one network communications metric, determine a network communications state associated with diminished communications throughput based on the detected at least one network communications metric, and then select an optimal rate for a data content transfer based on the determined network communications state. The network communications state may relate to either a state of network congestion or a state of reduced regional radio communications quality.

With the evolution of modern data communications networks, vast amounts of digital content can now be readily transferred amongst end users, media content providers, and network service providers, at relatively high data transfer rates at almost any location. Whether digital content distribution occurs over wireline networks, such as fiber-optic or cable networks, or over wireless networks, such as 3G, 3GPP LTE, LTE Advanced, or 4G cellular networks, the task of increasing communications service capability and maximizing the utilization of existing network communications resources remains a key objective for most network service providers.
Over the past decade, consumer exposure to state-of-the-art digital media content distribution and playback technologies (e.g., tablet computers, netbooks, multi-function cellular phones, PDAs, electronic-book devices, etc.) has created a significant demand for improved digital content delivery capability, and most service providers have struggled to provide sufficient communications infrastructure to keep up with this growing consumer demand. Presently, there are many different types of data communications networks available that can function independently (e.g., as Local Area Networks or LANs) or collectively as part of a group of interconnected networks (e.g., Wide Area Networks or WANs), such as the World Wide Web. Some of these networks include technologies that facilitate relatively fast, high data rate transmissions (e.g., Fiber-optic, Cable, and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks), while others can only facilitate much slower data rate transmissions (e.g., 3G cellular networks). Regardless of a network's type, topology, or employed technologies, almost all modern-day networks are susceptible to congestion or degradation due to a high demand for transferring an alarming amount of digital content between and amongst various network nodes.
As would be understood by those skilled in the art, network congestion generally refers to a state of data transfer overload (a load that burdens network capacity) between links in a data communications network. These heavy loads typically degrade a network's Quality of Service (QOS) and user's Quality of Experience (QOE). Some negative effects of network congestion, affecting QOS/QOE, may include queuing delay, packet loss, and the blocking of new and existing connections.
Mobile broadband services are also becoming very popular in modern society, where almost every teenager and adult in the U.S. owns at least one wireless communications device (e.g., a cellular phone or PDA). These services can provide a way for individuals to stay connected to the Internet while operating within and roaming between various wireless coverage areas. A concurrent trend is the huge increase in applications and media content distribution services that can facilitate the delivery of large, burdensome media content files to or from user equipment. Large media content file transfers have the signature feature of consuming significant amounts of network resources (i.e., channel bandwidth) over extended periods of time. Methods of enabling and making this particular data type delivery more efficient are very important to end users and service providers alike. The processes facilitating more efficient media content delivery are particularly relevant for wireless networks that have limited bandwidth resources.
Most wireless networks operate using shared communications channels where concurrent, competing requests for channel access is commonplace. In these networks, data transfers can be slowed or degraded during periods of network channel congestion (e.g., during periods of heavy network traffic) or during times when an end user is positioned in an area with relatively poor radio coverage or radio communications quality (e.g., in areas with physical or radio communications interference sources). Each of these problems can negatively impact network communications for an end user, however, congestion tends to more significantly impact a network service provider's QOS as well as the QOE encountered by its collective users. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to distinguish between the two sources of network communications deficiency, by accurately determining if the cause of decreased communications throughput was due to a state of network congestion, a state or reduced radio communications quality, or both.
In general, during a state of network congestion, it would be beneficial to be able to adaptively throttle a large media content delivery session, by adjusting its data delivery rate. This would prevent further congesting a network during periods of network resource exhaustion. By selectively choosing network data delivery times and data transfer rates, providers could effectively utilize network resources when surplus network bandwidth exists, as opposed to allowing a large media content file delivery to compete with unrelated cross traffic during periods of peak network resource use.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have improved systems and methods for data content delivery that could distinguish between network congestion and network link quality (e.g., link quality in the presence of one or more interference sources). This distinction is necessary, because when a wireless communications channel is operating at capacity, large media content file transfers may need to be slowed to avoid negatively impacting unrelated cross traffic that is concurrently sharing the same communications channel. In contrast, when a wireless communications channel is not operating at capacity, but an end user happens to be in an area of reduced radio communications quality, an otherwise uncongested radio channel should proceed with the data content delivery as quickly as the network will allow, because the transfer session will likely not affect cross traffic (even when proceeding at a maximum transfer rate).
There may also be scenarios where multiple media content deliveries for large media content files are concurrently being transferred on the same, shared communications channel. In these scenarios it would be advantageous to be able detect that congestion is arising from multiple media content delivery sessions, as opposed to unrelated cross traffic. This could facilitate real time decision making as to whether or not to reschedule or alter data content deliveries in such a way that would avoid slowing data transfer rates below an aggregate rate that completely utilizes a communications channel. By knowing what data content is being transferred, channel resource utilization can be maximized at all times. This is so, because media content deliveries are generally considered to be lower priority data transfer tasks compared to other, less burdensome types of data communications, such as voice communications.
Another feature of large data content file delivery is that data transfers can occupy significant periods of time and they may be scheduled to start at random intervals. Both of these features may result in frequent communications between user equipment and the network for communications of both control/signaling information and actual media content data. To facilitate efficient deliveries, it would be beneficial if these frequent communications could be coordinated to minimally impact the resident resource (e.g., battery power, processor usage, available memory, etc.) consumption at a user equipment. This could reduce the effect that the media content transfer would have on the user equipment during periods when one or more resident device resources was in a state of resource exhaustion (e.g., low battery power, an overburdened processor, of reduced free memory, etc.). By selectively coordinating data content deliveries towards periods when resident device resources are not in a reduced state, more important processes supported by the user equipment (e.g., voice communications, texting, web browsing, etc.) could be prioritized, until a time when sufficient resources become available (e.g., when a user equipment is plugged into a local power supply) for lower priority media content delivery tasks.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have robust new systems and methods that could align data transfer sessions for burdensome media content away from peak periods of network use (periods associated with high levels of network traffic), towards periods of surplus network capacity, by accurately detecting a state of network congestion that is distinguished from a state of reduced radio communications quality. It would further be advantageous if these systems and methods could operate by automatically detecting, coordinating, and delivering burdensome media content to one or more end receiving device(s), such that a typical user would be unaware of how these underlying data transfer rate optimization/throttling processes functioned. As a result, an average network user's QOE should improve, while the underlying processes facilitating the improvement would remain transparent. It would further be desirable if these systems and methods could discern between congestion created by cross traffic as opposed to congestion created by other media content transfers occurring on the same communications channel. This would allow a service provider to fully utilize its network channel resources at all times and to prioritize some data communications processes over others (e.g., media content transfers would typically be lower priority data transfers). It would also be helpful if these systems and methods facilitated real time monitoring of user equipment resources, such that when local resources (e.g., battery power, processor usage, available memory, etc.) were in a state or resource exhaustion, a media content delivery could be slowed or halted until the resources were replenished or became available at the user equipment. These real time solutions could be used to mitigate situations where large media content deliveries would otherwise degrade or impair communications on a network communications channel for a network's collective users.

Systems and methods for enhanced data delivery based on real time analysis of network communications quality and traffic


This disclosure relates to fractional-N phase-locked loops. A digital filter can filter out quantization noise from a modulator. Separate paths can process an integer part associated with an output signal of the digital filter and a fractional part associated with the output signal of the digital filter. The separate paths can be combined in the fractional-N phase-locked loop, for example, as a weighted sum.

A phase-locked loop is a circuit that generates an output signal having a phase related to a phase of an input signal. The output signal can have a frequency that is a multiple of a frequency of the input signal. Phase-locked loops can be used in a variety of applications, such as frequency synthesizers, clock recovery circuits, radio receivers, radio transmitters, test equipment, other radio frequency systems, and the like.
A fractional-N phase-locked loop is a type of phase-locked loop that implements a division ratio in a feedback path of the phase-locked loop, in which the division ratio has an integer part and a fractional part. A modulator, such as a delta sigma modulator, can switch an integer division ratio of an integer divider in the feedback path of the fractional-N phase-locked loop. This can implement the division ratio with the integer part and the fractional part for the feedback path of the fractional-N phase-locked loop.
The modulator can introduce quantization noise into the fractional-N phase locked loop. There is a desire to suppress the quantization noise. However, suppressing quantization noise from the modulator can involve engineering tradeoffs with having a relatively wide bandwidth for the fractional-N phase-locked loop.

Phase-locked loop with filtered quantization noise


The composition disclosed is a unique formulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) extracts created to reduce the debilitating symptoms of allergies. It combines a number of organically grown, but, non-organically extracted, standardized formulations of natural ingredients which have been used singly for hundreds of years for symptomatic relief of allergies. These include Ginseng and Gan Cao, which provide a natural anti-inflammatory effect; Bai Gao, which prevent the smooth muscle spasms associated with allergic reactions; Suan Zao ren, which provides an antihistamine effect without the usual sedative effect; and Wu Mai, which reduces the local swelling associated with allergies. Combined, it was unexpectedly found that these ingredients provide a natural, non-drying, non-sedating alternative to antihistamines, without inhibiting the natural healing mechanisms.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pharmaceutical compositions and methods for the treatment of mammals suffering symptoms of allergic reactions.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
An allergy is defined as an immune response in a mammal induced by an environmental antigen that has deleterious effects resulting in significant tissue damage and inflammation. Allergies comprise one of the most common medical problems in the twentieth century with some estimates suggesting that as many at 10% of the population may be affected. The antigen (allergen) is a non-parasitic antigen and the immune response is generally a type I hypersensitivity reaction. This reaction, which comprises mast cell or basophil degranulation manifests itself clinically in disorders related to biological effects of mediators released by the degranulation. These mediators are pharmacologically active agents that act on local tissues to increase vascular permeability and inflammation. Primary mediators such as histamine, serotonin, protease, prostaglandins SRS-A and similar substances released during degranulation may actually be more detrimental than beneficial to the comfort and well-being of the affected individual. The biological effects are the symptoms of the hypersensitivity reactions.
The classical treatment of type I hypersensitivity reactions has heretofore comprised administration of, for example, antihistamines or a process termed desensitization. Desensitization involves multiple injections and requires frequent visits to a doctor over a long period of time. Antihistamines are, of course, effective to relieve the symptoms associated with the type I hypersensitivity reaction. Antihistamine treatment suffers from problems including drying of the mucous membranes and sedation as well as manifest side effects of depression and drowsiness. In addition, antihistamines can interact with other medicines. Warnings are given to refrain from operating machinery when antihistamines are administered. Both methods are expensive.
Ideally, the treatment of the symptoms associated with allergic hypersensitivity reactions avoids the administration of antihistamines or blocks the other mediators in the allergic cascade causing a reduction in the symptoms.
It has been observed that traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia includes medicinals which have been time-tested for safety and effectiveness. For example, ginseng has been used in China for over 5,000 years. In a traditional Chinese medical context, ginseng is a "tonic" or "adaptogen" considered by many to be a substance which is not harmful and causes minimal changes or symptoms in the physiological functions of an organism. This herbal root is used throughout Asia to promote an overall sense of well being, stamina and strength. In this regard, it is believed by many that ginseng preparations act to modulate stress, replenish vital energy, improve performances under a wide variety of stressful conditions, increase blood volume, promote appetite, quiet the spirit and provide wisdom. It is, in fact, listed in the Merck Index as therapeutically an "aromatic bitter".
However, even in traditional Chinese medicine ginseng is not considered a panacea. The general practioner, after determining a diagnosis and before prescribing medication, will map a course of treatment strategy. When he prescribes medication, including ginseng, he will always prescribe the ginseng in combination with some other remedy which, depending on the diagnosis, will operate in the same direction or in the opposite direction to bring the yin and yang into balance, even though the condition under treatment may respond to administration of ginseng alone.

Symptomatic relief of allergic reactions


This disclosure relates to localization and tracking of an object. As one example, measurement data can be stored in memory to represent measured electrical signals at each of a plurality of known measurement locations in a given coordinate system in response to an applied signal at an unknown location in the given coordinate system. A dipole model cost function has parameters representing a dipole location and moment corresponding to the applied signal. A boundary condition can be imposed on the dipole model cost function. The unknown location in the given coordinate system, corresponding to the dipole location, can then be determined based on the stored measurement data and the dipole model cost function with the boundary condition imposed thereon.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
A navigation system can locate an object within a volume. For example, a navigation system can be used to track an instrument during a procedure, such as a surgical procedure. Various systems can be used to track instruments including electromagnetic systems, optical systems, magnetic systems acoustic systems, and the like. On particular approach is to localize an electrical source using a single equivalent dipole model. However, existing techniques tend to be insufficiently accurate or are incapable of real-time applications.


A method and program for a universal Job Description Format (JDF) printer driver. The universal JDF printer driver computer software program product has a computer readable program code embedded in a computer usable storage medium for controlling a data processing apparatus, where the program code is configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for generating a JDF job ticket for printing documents by a JDF compatible printing device. The process implemented by the universal JDF printer driver has the steps of obtaining device capabilities information from the JDF compatible printing device and creating a baseline JDF job ticket based on the device capabilities information, providing a graphical user interface to allow a user to modify the baseline JDF job ticket interactively, and generating a syntactically and semantically correct final JDF job ticket compatible with the device capabilities of the JDF compatible printing device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods for providing printer driver programs, and in particular, it relates to methods for providing Job Definition Format (JDF) printer driver programs.
2. Description of Related Art
Job Description Format (JDF) is a technical standard developed by the printing industry to facilitate cross-vendor workflow implementations of printer applications. It is an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based format for print job order files, often referred to as "job tickets".
A job ticket contains specified values of various print job parameters, and associates itself to one or more source files (i.e. the documents to be printed). A typical job ticket may include a job ticket number, ticket name, and the values of various job parameters such as job information settings, basic settings (e.g. number of copies, orientation of paper, collate, offset printing, original paper size, output paper size, paper type, paper source, etc.), layout settings, cover sheet, finishing settings, inter-sheet settings, tab-paper settings, image quality settings, and customer information.
Various standards have been developed for the formats of writing a print job ticket, including the Print Production Format (PPF) and the Portable Job Ticket Format (PJTF). JDF is built upon these existing formats and provides three primary benefits to the printing industry: (1) the ability to unify the prepress, press and post-press aspects of any printing job; (2) the means to bridge the communication gap between production services and management information systems (MIS); and (3) the ability to carry out both of these functions no matter what system architecture is already in place and no matter what tools are being used to complete the job.
JDF provides a versatile and comprehensive interchange data format to be used by a system of administrative and implementation-oriented components, which together produce printed products. It provides the means to describe print jobs in terms of the products eventually to be created, as well as in terms of the processes needed to create those products. The format provides a mechanism to explicitly specify the controls needed by each process, which may be specific to the printers that will execute the processes.
Many printing devices now are "JDF compatible", i.e., can process a JDF job ticket to perform a printing job. They typically have a print server or other control devices for receiving a JDF job ticket and processing the information specified in the JDF job ticket to directly control the print job. However, a JDF job ticket still needs to be generated in accordance with the device capabilities of a particular printing device, which will determine what JDF entries may or may not be acceptable by the specific printing device.
In a typical printing workflow that involves JDF, a printing application generates and sends a JDF print job ticket to be executed on a printing device. Before sending the JDF job ticket, the application must first know what JDF entries in the job ticket the device will actually accept. This is generally accomplished by first querying the printing device for its device capabilities. The device capabilities will tell the application what specific JDF entries will be accepted and executed on the printing device. The method for achieving this compatibility between the generated JDF job ticket and a device's capabilities are application-specific, as some JDF-based printing applications may not be able to support all JDF compatible printing devices because they may have a particular way of generating JDF job tickets that may or may not be compatible with a particular printing device.
Various methods and programs have been developed to generate printer device-specific JDF job tickets. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0279125 A1 describes a method for generating a JDF job ticket using a printer definition file (e.g., a Postscript Printer Definition (PPD) file, or a General Printer Definition (GPD) file) corresponding to a specific printing system, by defining print parameters from selected available features in the printer definition file. The available features in the printer definition file may be presented to an application program or to a user. The application or user may select desired features from those presented. The JDF elements corresponding to the selected features are output and stored as a JDF job ticket representing a print job to be processed by the selected printing system according to the defined print parameters.
When a printer definition file for a particular printing system is not readily available, a user may have to create a compatible JDF job ticket for a printing device by inspecting its device capabilities manually. But this can be quite a difficult task at times, especially if the user is not familiar with device capabilities and how they work, or if the user is not familiar with JDF, as the JDF job ticket must be created without error, i.e., it must be syntactically and semantically correct in JDF and also in accordance with the printing device's capabilities.
Printer drivers are computer software programs that convert the data to be printed to the form specific to a printing device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,415 B2 describes a printer with a data processing apparatus that uses a printer driver software to set print conditions. The general purpose of using printer drivers is to allow applications to perform printing jobs without knowing the technical details of each printer model.

Method and program for a universal job definition format (JDF) printer driver


Use of a viscosity increasing component (ii) in provided in a composition (i) of a diesel fuel for the purpose of: improving the vehicle tractive effort (VTE) and/or acceleration performance of a compression ignition engine or a vehicle powered by such an engine, into which engine the composition (i) is introduced, or

Density is known to influence the performance power of some light duty (LD) vehicles through its influence on the injection process. Increasing fuel density increases mass of fuel injected where the injection technology meters fuel volumetrically. However increasing density also produces more black smoke and hydrocarbon emissions because it decreases the air/fuel ratio. For this reason the maximum fuel density permitted under the European Standard EN590 (2000) diesel specification was reduced from 860 to 845 kg/m3 in 2000. In Sweden it is already the case that the minimum density specification has been relaxed below 820 kg/m3 for Class 1 (Swedish Class 1 SwC1) and Class 2 environmentally adapted gasoils. Although the specification for SwC1 gasoil permits viscosity up to 4.0 mm2/s (40° C.), fuel samples tend to have a viscosity of 2.0 mm2/s or less.
There is a need to explore new environmentally acceptable ways to improve power performance in diesel fuels.
Generally traditional power performance high density fuels have been associated with a characteristic viscosity. An analysis of worldwide diesel fuels that have had density and viscosity measured in the last four years shows a trend to a characteristic viscosity with higher density, related by a linear trend:
density (kg/m3)=12*viscosity (mm2/s)+797. For this reason it has not been possible from available data to decouple the effects of density and viscosity and explore these independently of each other. It is difficult to change density and viscosity significantly by using standard refinery techniques or standard fuel components, and we have therefore devised a use of a special component blended into finished fuel to change the properties of blend density and blend viscosity.

Power increase and increase in acceleration performance of diesel fuel compositions

Abstract: mitigating decrease in the vehicle tractive effort (VTE) and/or acceleration performance, in the case of a diesel fuel composition (i) to which an additional component (iii) is introduced for the purpose of improving the emissions performance, of a compression ignition engine or a vehicle powered by such an engine, into which engine the composition (i) is introduced.


A pair of electrically conductive regions of ruthenium dioxide are formed on a BPSG film covering DRAM memory cells arranged in a matrix form. The conductive region is extended in a column direction to be connected to one of impurity diffused regions of MOS transistors of the memory cells at contact holes, and also connected to one of impurity diffused regions of MOS transistors of column direction selection. Formed beneath the conductive region (capacitor upper electrodes) are capacitor lower electrodes connected to the other impurity diffused regions of the memory cell MOS transistors and a high-dielectric film. The conductive region is connected to a (1/2)Vcc power supply. Since the upper electrodes and wiring lines of capacitors can be formed at the same time, the number of steps in a fabrication method can be reduced.

DRAM predominantly has memory cells each including a single MOS transistor and a single capacitor. In such a one-transistor/one-capacitor type DRAM as the above, as high integration and miniaturization are demanded therefor in these years, stack type capacitor has been employed in place of conventional planar type one in order to compensate for the lack of the intended capacitance of the capacitor caused by a corresponding reduction in the area of memory cells. FIG. 13 shows a cross-sectional view of a part of conventional DRAM memory cells having the aforementioned stack type capacitors, in which a left side in the drawing denotes transistors for addressing of DRAM memory cells and a right side therein denotes transistors for addressing memory cells (which addressing is for column selection).
A group of M0S transistors 105 shown in the left side of FIG. 13 are formed in the following manner. A group of gate electrodes 104 arranged in a matrix form is first formed through a gate oxide film (not shown) on a P type silicon substrate 101 having an inter-element separation region 151 formed therein. Then areas of the substrate 101 located at both sides of the gate electrode group 104 are subjected to an ion implanting operation with use of, e.g., phosphorus to thereby form a plurality of pairs of impurity diffused regions 102 and 103 as source/drain regions.
A group of stack type capacitors 106 forming the DRAM memory cells together with the MOS transistor group 105 each includes a lower electrode 107 having a polycrystalline silicon film containing an impurity, a dielectric film 108 made of, e.g., a silicon oxide film or a 3-layered structure of an oxide layer, a nitride layer and an oxide layer, and an upper electrode 109 provided opposite to the lower electrode 107 with the dielectric film 108 interposed therebetween and having a polycrystalline silicon film containing an impurity. Connected to the lower electrode 107 of the capacitor group 106 is one impurity diffused region 102 of the corresponding MOS transistor in the MOS transistor group 105.
The MOS transistor group 105 and capacitor group 106 are covered with an insulating film 110 such as a boron phosphor silicon glass (BPSG) film. A wiring 111 for fixing a potential of the upper electrode 109 of the capacitor group 106 is connected to the upper electrode 109 of the capacitor group 106 at a contact hole 110a made in the insulating film 110.
Meanwhile, as shown on the right side in FIG. 13, one impurity diffused region 113 of a transistor 112 for column selection of memory cells formed simultaneously with the formation of the MOS transistor group 105, is connected to a wiring (bit line) 118 formed differently from the wiring 111 at a contact hole 110b made in the insulating films 110 and 119. The wiring 118 in turn is connected to the other impurity diffused region 103 of the MOS transistor group 105 (, which connection is not shown). Further sequentially formed on the wirings 111 and 118 are an inter-layer insulating film 114, word lines 115, an insulating film 116 and a protective film 117. Each of the word lines 115 is connected to the associated gate electrode of the gate electrode group 104 in the MOS transistor group 105 and also to a decoder (not shown).
With the DRAM having a structure as mentioned above, since interconnection between the wiring 111 and upper electrode 109 is established by means of the contact hole 110a made in the insulating film 110 on the capacitor 106, an aspect ratio of the contact hole 110b for interconnection between one impurity diffused region 113 of the transistor 112 for column selection of memory cells and the wiring 118 becomes large, that is, the contact hole 110b becomes deep. This involves the problem that coverage of the wiring 118 at the bottom of the contact hole 110b becomes poor and thus it becomes impossible to form the wiring 118 with a high reliability.
Meanwhile, there has been studied in these years a method in which a capacitor dielectric film for DRAM memory cells is made of a material having a high dielectric constant or permittivity to compensate for the lack of the intended capacitance of the capacitor caused by a corresponding reduction in the area of memory cells. This method, however, involves another problem that the above dielectric material, which is different in property from silicon, causes interdiffusion with silicon at a temperature of, e.g., over 700.degree. C. to deteriorate the element characteristics. In the above prior art DRAM fabricating process, the dielectric film 108 is formed and thereafter thermal annealing operations including the reflowing the BPSG film 110 and the activation of the contact of the contact hole 110b after the implantation are carried out at a temperature of over 700.degree. C. Therefore, it has conventionally been difficult to employ a material having a high dielectric constant as a capacitor dielectric film.
In order to prevent the interdiffusion between the capacitor dielectric film of the material with the high dielectric constant and the upper and lower electrodes of the capacitor, it is also considered for the material of these electrodes to be made of electrically conductive oxide material such as ruthenium dioxide. In this case, however, the problem occurs that interdiffusion takes place between the conductive oxide such as ruthenium dioxide and the silicon substrate 101 during the thermal annealing.
Besides this, it is necessary that the bit wiring 118 of the transistors for column selection be formed only after the wiring 111 is formed and then the insulating film 119 covering the wiring 111 is formed on the silicon substrate 101. Further, for the purpose of eliminating an error in resist dimensions in a photo-lithographical technique, it is necessary to flatten the insulating films 110 and 119. However, this causes the problem that the number of steps for fabricating the semiconductor memory device is increased.

Semiconductor memory device and method for fabricating the same


A radio telecommunication apparatus sends signals to a base station for a first period over radio channels established by a time division multiple access (TDMA) system. The apparatus has a battery whose voltage decreases in response to consumption of the battery. The apparatus measures the voltage of the battery only during a second period other than the first period and determines a remaining energy of the battery in response to the measured voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio telecommunication apparatus used in a radio telecommunication system, such as a motor vehicle radio telephone system or a portable radio telephone system. More particularly, the invention relates to a radio telecommunication apparatus and method capable of providing information to a user on the remaining energy of a battery in the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently radio communication apparatus have been reduced in size and weight. For this reason, a small and light battery is required in such apparatus. Some small and light batteries are known. One of such small and light batteries is a lithium ion battery, referred to herein as a Li-ion battery. This battery has more energy density per volume and weight than a Nickel-Cadmium battery (referred to herein as a Ni-Cd battery) used more frequently in the past. In addition the Li-ion battery has another feature. FIG. 7 shows the variation of the battery voltage of Li-ion and Ni-Cd batteries in response to battery consumption time, if the consumption current flowing in the battery is constant. Referring to FIG. 7, the Ni-Cd battery voltage is substantially constant during discharge, while the Li-ion battery voltage decreases as the discharge continues. Since the Li-ion battery voltage decreases in proportion to the Li-ion battery consumption time, an apparatus with a Li-ion battery can derives a remaining consumption time by subtracting the elapsed consumption time from a total consumption time. The remaining consumption time corresponds to the remaining energy of the battery. Therefore, the apparatus may recognize the remaining energy of a Li-ion battery by detecting the Li-ion battery voltage in proportion to the Li-ion battery consumption time.
However, if this method of detecting the remaining energy of the battery is applied to a digital radio communication apparatus, the following error occurs.
A digital radio communication apparatus utilizes a time division multiple access system (called a TDMA system) as a communication system. FIG. 8 shows the basic concept of the TDMA system. Referring to FIG. 8, a base station BS sends a signal to portable radio apparatus PS1, PS2, PS3 in a service area E. The signal consists of a plurality of slots. Three slots constitute a frame. The signal is sent over a downward radio frequency channel. Each portable apparatus PS is assigned one slot of three slots. Each portable apparatus receives a downward signal during a period corresponding to the downward assigned slot. Therefore, the apparatus extracts information included only in the downward assigned slot. The portable apparatus PS sends an upward signal to the base station BS over an upward radio frequency channel. Each portable apparatus sends the upward signal during a period corresponding to an upward assigned slot. Therefore, the upward signal is intermittent. FIG. 9 shows upward and downward slots between the base station BS and the portable apparatus PS1. Referring to FIG. 9, the portable apparatus PS1 sends the intermittent upward signal to the base station BS using the upward slot #1. Further, the portable apparatus PS1 receives the downward signal during a period corresponding to downward slot #1. The upward and the downward slots #1 are referred to herein as the "transmit" slot and the "receive" slot. During a period corresponding to the downward slot #2, the apparatus PS1 sends and receives no signal. Therefore the slot corresponding to the slot #2 is referred to herein as an "idle" slot. The above three slots repeat in every frame.
FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of a conventional apparatus including the battery. Referring to FIG. 10, the battery has an internal resistance R. The battery is coupled to a battery circuit providing a predetermined voltage to each section and further coupled to an A/D convertor for converting an analog value of an output to a digital value thereof. The digitized battery voltage value V.sub.DET is provided to a control circuit. In this case, when the real voltage of the battery is defined as V.sub.Li and the current flowing through the battery as I.sub.Li, the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET is expressed by a following expression. EQU V.sub.DET =V.sub.Li -RI.sub.Li
According to the above expression, the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET varies in accordance with the current I.sub.Li flowing through the battery.
In the portable digital apparatus, an average current flowing through the battery during the transmit slot period is from 450 mA to 750 mA, while an average current flowing through the battery during the receive slot period and the idle slot period is 150 mA. That is, the current I.sub.Li during the period corresponding to the transmit slot is much higher than that during the periods corresponding to the receive and idle slots. Therefore, referring to the expression (1), the Li-ion battery voltage V.sub.DET during the period corresponding to the transmit slot is much less than that during the periods corresponding to the receive and idle slots. FIG. 11 shows the relationship between the digitized Li-ion battery voltage V.sub.DET and the consumption time of the battery provided in the portable digital telecommunication apparatus. Referring to FIG. 11, the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET during the period corresponding to the transmit slot T in a frame is much less than that during the period corresponding to the receive slot R in the frame and the idle slot I in the frame. For example, assume that, the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET is V1(v) at the time T1 and the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET is V2(v) at the time T2 after T1. A predetermined criterion is established to estimate remaining battery energy. If the above estimation is made between V1(v) and V2(v) to determine the remaining battery energy using the criterion, the following error occurs. The remaining energy of the battery at the time T1 is estimated to be lower than the predetermined criterion, while the remaining energy of the battery at the time T2 after T1 is estimated to be higher than the criterion. That is, in spite of the actual consumption of the battery, the remaining energy of the battery is incorrectly estimated at too high a level. This kind of error occurs if the portable digital communication apparatus derives the remaining energy of the battery from the detection of the digitized battery voltage V.sub.DET at any time.
Further, the battery consumption of current during the period of time corresponding to the transmit slot varies in accordance with a position of the portable apparatus in the service area E. This is because the transmission power of the portable apparatus varies according to the distance of the apparatus from the base station BS as shown in FIG. 12. When the portable apparatus PS is near the base station BS, the transmission power of the apparatus is small. When the apparatus PS is far from the base station BS, the transmission power of the apparatus is large. The transmission power has several values. As shown in FIG. 11, if the transmission power at the time T1 is higher than the transmission power at the time T3, and the battery voltage V.sub.DET at the time T3 is V3(v), a following error occurs. In spite of the passing of time and the reduction of battery energy, the battery voltage V.sub.DET is estimated to be increased between V1 to V3. This results in an estimate that the remaining energy of the battery is higher instead of lower.
Thus, if the battery voltage is detected during a time period including the transmit slot, the above-described error occurs.

Transceiver measuring battery voltage when not transmitting in a TDMA system


A support pillow in two main sections, each section having an elongated resilient foam member each covered with fabric with a portion of the fabric extending outward to define a flexible panel. The top surface of one panel, and the bottom surface of the other panel are affixed with elongated hook and loop fastening strips which allow adjustable overlapping affixment of the two panels one to another in order to affix together the two sections of the support pillow. The two sections of the support pillow when affixed together define an open-ended and open-top vertical walled channel with the panels and fabric covered foam members providing an anti-roll device for the infant. The hook and loop attachment of the two panels provides for adjustability in the distance between vertical side walls of the channel. An infant may be placed on its side, on top of the overlapped rectangular panels with the vertical side walls of the support pillow positioned snugly against the chest and back of the infant, with the infant's torso within the channel. The support pillow assists in stabilizing and maintaining the infant comfortably in a lateral sleeping position. An elongated lengthwise recess is formed into each vertical side wall facing the channel to define a ventilation system which includes an excluding arrangement for excluding an infant's face from fully entering the recess and the infant's nose and mouth from engaging a wall defining the recess.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to support pillows for humans in general, and in particular to a pillow which supports and maintains the torso of an infant generally stationary while sleeping.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
There have been studies in the past which provide some evidence that supporting infants in certain positions during sleep may help to prevent the occurrence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly referred to as SIDS. Some of the most recent information indicates that positioning the infant in a lateral position (on its side) during sleep may be the most desirable and helpful position in reducing the occurrence of SIDS. At this time there is no definitive diagnosis of the cause of SIDS, and it remains a serious problem with no known cure. Some theorize the infants simply suffocate possibly due to their not having enough strength to raise their heads off the mattress when in a prone position in order to avoid whatever obstacle is blocking their breathing. SIDS is more prevalent in the first six months of the infant's life, which adds support to the theory that the infant's underdeveloped motor skills may be a factor in SIDS deaths. Some believe placing infants on their backs can also be dangerous if they regurgitate formula and subsequently aspirate it into their lungs.
In the past, some parents have positioned infants on their sides with the use of bed pillows or rolled blankets propped against the back and or front of the infant, primarily for the purpose of allowing the infant to nurse from a bottle more easily. However, bed pillows and rolled blankets tend to become easily dislodged as the infant moves about, and are generally ineffective in maintaining the infant in a true lateral position. The dislodged bed pillows and blankets also pose the potential danger of covering the infant's face and interfering with its breathing. Another problem with bed pillows and blankets, particularly during warm summer months, is with the infant becoming excessively hot due to the heat trapping capabilities of bed pillows and blankets. None of the prior art support pillow arrangements are properly adjustable to accommodate the various sizes of infants, or are readily portable, machine washable, or provide sufficient heat dissipation capabilities for summer use. Additionally, none of the prior art support pillow arrangements are properly structured to ensure the safety of the infant, particularly in preventing the possibility of the infant's nose and mouth from being blocked by a portion of the pillow and hindering his normal breathing. Therefore there is a significant need for a suitably structured improved support pillow particularly for use with infants.


Novel phosphine-free non-ionic single catalysts, and method for making such catalysts, for the homo-polymerization and copolymerization of olefins such as ethylene, α-olefins and functionalized olefins without the use of additional co-activators, are disclosed. These phosphine-free non-ionic single catalysts are also active for co-polymerization of olefins with monomers with polar functionalities. The catalyst of this invention comprise of a late transition metal with a chelating monoanionic ligand, an R group and a neutral 2 electron donor ligand. Catalysts are prepared by the oxidative addition of benzylhalide (halide=Cl, Br or I) to an appropriate metal source in the presence of a stabilizing agent, such as nitrogen based ligands, followed by the addition of the deprotonated form of the chelating ligand.

In the last few years several catalysts have been reported for olefin polymerization. The polymerization catalysts reported by Brookhart perform in the presence of methylaluminoxanes and Lewis acids (1). Several patents have been filed based on these catalysts, (See WO09623010 and references therein). These catalyst systems are thermally unstable and the activity of the methylaluminoxane activated catalysts decays rapidly at 60° C. (2), and the borane activated catalysts are decomposed at room temperature (3). Another type of catalyst is those reported by Younkin et al., (4). These are neutral species that do not require an activator. However, they are prone to an induction period and lower activity compared with the cationic Brookhart systems. PCT application WO01/92348 describes the polymerization of ethylene and the co-polymerization of ethylene using zwitterionic nickel complexes that require the presence of a Lewis acid. Lewis Acids are deactivated by functionalities and they promote unwanted secondary reactions, e.g., chain transfers that are detrimental to the polymer chain growth.
Despite the foregoing, interest in metal-mediated polymerization of olefins remains unabated in academic and industrial laboratories (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). Furthermore, despite the foregoing, there is a need in the field for single component catalytic systems that offer better control over polymerization reactions and lower overall costs.

Single component, phosphine-free, initiators for ethylene homopolymerization and copolymerization with functionalized co-monomers

The Regents of the University of California


The ophthalmological surgical instrument of the present invention is used for stabilizing a patient's eye to prevent inward collapse during ophthalmic surgery. The instrument generally includes a ring which is adapted to be placed on the surface of the eye surrounding the cornea. A plurality of securing devices are permanently carried by the ring being circumferentially and equally spaced about the ring to temporarily secure the ring to the surface of the eye. With the ring secured to the eye the integrity of the eye will be maintained regardless of any incisions made in the eye or sections which may be removed therefrom.

The present invention relates generally to the field of surgical instruments and more particularly is directed toward an instrument which is used during ophthalmic surgery to prevent inward collapse of the eye during various surgical procedures.
In typical corneal transplant surgery a section of the eye involving the diseased cornea is removed for replacement by a healthy section. Removal of the diseased section is accomplished by performing a circular incision to a desired depth so that a cylindrical or truncated pyramidal section or plug can be removed. After removing the plug or section a bore-like hole remains for reception of a healthy section or plug which is similarly cut from a donor eye. The circular incision to form the cylindrical or pyramidal section is typically accomplished through the use of corneal trephines or other surgical incision making tools.
During the period between removal of the diseased section and insertion of the healthy section there is the possible danger of the walls of the bore-like opening collapsing inwardly.
Similarly, in surgical procedures to remove cataract lenses it is typical procedure for the surgeon to form a semicircular groove in and about the limbus area of the eye which the surgeon then uses to cut through the eye thus forming a flap to provide access to the anterior chamber of the eye so that the cataract lens may be removed. The formation of the flap which is lifted to provide access to the lens again presents possible danger of collapse of the eye.
In order to overcome the problem of eye collapse during the aforementioned types of ophthalmic surgery, some surgeons have adopted a procedure of suturing a stainless steel ring to the surface of the eye prior to making an incision. Rings of this type (sometimes referred to as a "Flieringa ring") are commercially available, such as for example from the Storz Surgical Instrument Company (catalog number E-4034). The commercially available rings are usually of a diameter such that they will be placed in a position surrounding the cornea so that the surgical procedure takes place radially within the ring.
It is generally accepted that the use of the ring facilitates more accurate wound closure and tends to reduce postoperative astigmatism. At present the only means of securing the ring to the eye is to use a plurality of sutures which pass through the surface of the eye and around the ring. However, before the sutures can be placed, either separate incisions through the conjunctiva must be made, or a 360.degree. conjunctival peritomy is made at the limbus or a combination of separate incisions and peritomy must be made. The conjunctiva can then be dissected back by about 5 millimeters. The ring can then be placed outside the limbus and within the conjunctiva, and sutured to the scleral tissue preferably at 90.degree. intervals between the tendons of the four rectus muscles. This will usually allow sufficient room between the limbus and the ring to perform appropriate surgical procedures.
Because however the use of the ring requires additional delicate surgery and suturing many surgeons fail to take advantage of the benefits afforded by the use of preplacing a ring prior to ophthalmic surgery. Additional incisions to the conjunctiva and placing sutures in the sclera with a high risk of perforation are time consuming and present additional dangers to the patient. Furthermore, the areas for suturing are often difficult to reach with a needle holder. Therefore, many surgeons tend to avoid preplacement of the ring.
It is accordingly the principal object of the present invention to provide a surgical instrument which obviates the foregoing disadvantages in using the Flieringa ring.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a ringed type device which simplifies the procedure for attachment to the eye so as to make the use of the ring more acceptable to the surgeon.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a ring having a plurality of securing devices permanently carried by the ring so as to facilitate easy and rapid attachment and detachment of the ring to the eye.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings to be described more fully hereinafter.


Apparatus, systems, and methods are provided for optimizing intracardiac filling pressures and cardiac output in patients with heart failure, conduction disease, and atrial fibrillation. The system is able to adjust and optimize intracardiac filling pressures and cardiac output by adjusting heart rate and the effective amount of total body blood volume. The device includes an adjustable member that may create a mean pressure differential in order to manifest an effective “mechanical diuresis” by sequestering extraneous blood volume to the high-capacitance of the venous vasculature. The system is therefore designed to reduce intracardiac filling pressures while maintaining or even increasing cardiac output.

Placing a permanent pacemaker is often the only effective treatment for patients with sick sinus syndrome, atrioventricular conduction disorders, and chronotropic incompetence (where the heart rate does not increase in proportion to the demands of the body). In these circumstances, patients may receive dual chamber pacemakers, e.g., with one pacing lead typically placed in the right atrium (RA) and a second endocardial pacing lead typically placed in the right ventricular (RV) apex. However, RV pacing is associated with increased rate of death or hospitalization from congestive heart failure. The pathophysiology for this is unclear, but growing evidence suggests that an associated increase in intra-cardiac filling pressures is the primary driver of poor outcomes. RV pacing may cause bi-ventricular dyssynchrony, which, in attempts to maintain adequate cardiac output, may result in a new equilibrium of higher intra-cardiac filling pressures, particularly left-sided filling pressures. Higher intra-cardiac pressures result in symptoms of shortness of breath, an increase in the likelihood of cardiac arrhythmias, and a decrease in exercise capacity. The only current alternative in these patients is to place bi-ventricular pacing leads, whereby a third pacing lead is placed typically into the coronary sinus of the heart in order to pace both ventricles. This results in simultaneous bi-ventricular contraction, also referred to as cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). CRT is associated with lower left-sided filling pressures, decreased arrhythmias, decreased heart failure hospitalizations, and decreased mortality. However, approximately ten percent (10%) of patients cannot receive CRT due to heart anatomy. Therefore, an alternative device that is able to pace the heart while maintaining lower intra-cardiac filling pressures would be advantageous.
Heart failure occurs because the body perceives a decrease in cardiac output. The normal homeostasis feedback mechanisms increase total body volume in efforts to increase stroke volume in order to maintain cardiac output by the Frank-Starling mechanism. However, as cardiac performance continues to decline, the ability of the Frank-Starling mechanism is exceeded, and an increasing total body volume continues despite no improvement in stroke volume. The body continues this volume accumulation (via fluid retention), which ultimately worsens cardiac performance and leads to congestive heart failure. In this relatively common situation, a reduction in total body volume via diuretics (against the normal feedback mechanisms) may improve cardiac function and the patient's symptoms.
Heart failure costs over thirty billion dollars annually and is expected to grow by over two hundred percent (200%) over the next twenty years. Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in people over the age of sixty-five and accounts for one-fifth of all elderly admission. Despite advances in monitoring and therapies, the thirty-day readmission rate for congestive heart failure has remained extremely high and relatively unchanged (slightly over 20%) over the last two decades in the United States. In heart failure patients, increasing the heart rate may increase the cardiac output and help with diuresis. However, higher heart rates are associated with higher intracardiac filling pressures, which limit patient exercise capacity. A method to increase cardiac output without increasing intracardiac pressures would be advantageous.
Heart failure results in increased fluid retention. The increased fluid causes morbidity in a variety of ways. Increased fluid in the extremities can lead to edema and tissue congestion, increased fluid in the liver can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure, and increased fluid in the gastrointestinal track can decrease food and drug absorption, and lead to early satiety. Increased venous pressure decreases renal perfusion pressure, which can lead to renal dysfunction and more fluid retention. However, the primary patient symptom associated with admission to the hospital is related to elevated left ventricular filling pressures. Elevated left ventricular diastolic filling pressure backs up into the left atrium and the pulmonary veins. An elevation of pulmonary venous pressure can cause tachypnea, increase respiratory dead space, and worsen oxygen exchange. In addition, elevated left-sided filling pressures can cause pulmonary edema and decreased oxygen exchange which results in shortness of breath, orthopnea (shortness of breath when laying down), and hypoxia (decreased oxygen levels).
Accordingly, apparatus, systems, and methods for optimizing intra-cardiac filling pressures, heart rate, and cardiac output in order to treat patients with conduction disease, fibrillation, and congestive heart failure would be useful.

Apparatus and methods for optimizing intra cardiac filling pressures, heart rate, and cardiac output


A vehicle suspension for connecting an axle to the frame wherein the suspension has a spring which is mounted between the axle and the frame and a reaction bar is connected between the axle and the frame to dampen vibration of the axle with respect to the frame, the reaction bar having an annular end portion with an articulating pin concentrically mounted in the annular end portion with an annular resilient elastomeric spring which allows universal rotation and axial articulation of the pin with respect to the central axis. The reaction bar is connected to the frame at one end through an articulating pin and at the other end to the axle through another articulating pin similarly mounted in the other end of the reaction bar.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to suspension systems for vehicles. In one of its aspects, the invention relates to a resilient reaction bar which dampens low amplitude and high frequency vibrations in suspension systems.
2. State of the Prior Art
Air spring suspensions are currently used to suspend the front steering axle of buses or other vehicles. Typically the air spring is mounted between the frame and a trailing arm which in turn is pivotably mounted to the frame through a frame bracket. The axle is mounted beneath the air spring and deflection of the assembly (or suspension unit) is limited by the trailing arm. Due to inherent looseness caused by wear in the steering linkage, joints and mechanisms, shimmying of the front wheels often results when the vehicle traverses a bump in the road such as a joint or tar strip. This shimmying loosens up bolts and tends to make the problem worse.
In order to overcome this problem, a rigid track bar was connected between the frame on one side of the vehicle and the lower end of the trailing arm in a suspension on the other side of the vehicle. However, the track bar did not damp the low amplitude, high frequency vibrations because of the design problems and looseness in the steering system.
Similar types of low amplitude, high frequency vibrations occur in other types of suspension systems, including leaf springs and torque arm bogie suspension systems.


An implantable pulse generator particularly adapted for implantation in the abdomen. The pulse generator displays a generally flattened configuration having two generally opposed major surfaces and a smaller, circumferential edge surface, and includes a plurality of electrical connectors located in a connector module mounted to one of the major surfaces of the pulse generator. The housing of the pulse generator contains a hybrid circuit mounted generally parallel to the major surfaces of the pulse generator, connected to the electrical connectors by means of feedthroughs passing through one of the major surfaces of the pulse generator, located adjacent to the edges of the hybrid circuit and perpendicular thereto.

This invention relates generally to medical electrical stimulators, more particularly to muscle stimulators for functional electrical stimulation, and most particularly to implantable electrical stimulators for stimulation of muscle employed as a myocardial substitute.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,205 issued to Chachques et al discloses method and apparatus for employing the latissimus dorsi muscle to assist cardiac function. This patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In the method disclosed in this patent, the latissimus dorsi muscle is surgically resected, divided into two parts to cover the surface of the heart, and inserted into the thoracic cavity by means of a resection of the second rib. After or before positioning the muscle, stimulating electrodes are threaded into the muscle at desired locations to affect contraction of the muscle. Stimulating pulses are provided by an implanted pulse generator, preferably implanted subcutaneously in the abdomen. A pulse generator appropriate for such use is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,268 issued to Cox. Timing of contractions of the latissimus dorsi muscle is controlled by the stimulator, which senses natural contractions of the heart, and stimulates the latissimus dorsi muscle to contract in synchrony therewith. Sensing of heart activity, and stimulation of heart contractions in the absence of underlying heart activity is accomplished by means of an additional electrical lead, coupling the heart to the pulse generator.
The pulse generator disclosed in the above cited patent, like most implantable pulse generators, has a generally flattened external configuration with two major, generally planar surfaces and a circumferential edge surface. Mounted to the circumferential edge surface is a connector block which includes receptacles for each of the three illustrated stimulation leads. This pulse generator is implanted with its major surfaces generally parallel to the skin.


A technique for narrowing a linewidth of a plurality of lines of a coherent comb laser (CCL) concurrently comprises providing a mode-locked semiconductor coherent comb laser (CCL) adapted to output of at least 4 mode-locked lines; tapping a fraction of a power from the CCL from the laser cavity to form a tapped beam; propagating the tapped beam to an attenuator to produce an attenuated beam; and reinserting the attenuated beam into the laser cavity, where the reinserted beam has a power less than 10% of a power of the tapped beam. The reinsertion allows the CCL to be operated to output the mode-locked lines, each with a linewidth of less than 80% of the original linewidth. By propagating the tapped and attenuated beams on a solid waveguide, and ensuring that the secondary cavity is polarization maintaining, improved stability of the linewidth narrowing is ensured.

Communication networks need to keep up with the growth of today's Internet data traffic. The telecommunications industry needs new photonics equipment to improve current optical networks and for deployment in next generation optical networks. Semiconductor lasers are among the most important generation components in optical telecommunication systems. Optical linewidth of semiconductor lasers is important because linewidth determines the laser's coherence length and phase noise. The maximum data rate in an optical fiber communications link is determined by the ratio of signal power to noise power as per the Shannon-Hartley equation. Narrow linewidth is an essential requirement for lasers used in high data rate coherent communications, since phase noise impacts signal noise by the coherent detection process. Even non-coherent modulation schemes can suffer from a reduction in signal quality when phase noise is translated into amplitude noise. Thus, lasers for modern optical communications systems now require linewidths of a few hundred KHz or less.
Unfortunately semiconductor lasers typically have linewidths on the order of several to tens of MHz. Consequently, techniques for reducing optical linewidth of semiconductor lasers have been of growing importance since the move to coherent optical communications that has been building over the last decade.
Accordingly, there has been a significant amount of interest in optical coherent comb lasers (CCLs) and their benefits as a source of multiple spectral lines (also known as "tones") in coherent optical fiber communications, because CCLs have been used to create the carrier frequencies in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical systems with net data rates exceeding Terabit/s transmission rates and high spectral efficiency [1-3]. Different techniques have been used to generate multi-wavelength lasers: modulator-based comb sources [3], spatial mode beating within a multimode fiber section [4], multi-cavity oscillation [5], comprising highly nonlinear fibers for spectral broadening [6], or high-Q microresonators [7]. However, these techniques either require complex setups with discrete components, high pump powers with delicate operating procedures, or they provide only a limited number of spectral carriers.
For practical systems, a compact, low-cost, energy-efficient CCL is desired. Applicant developed nanostructured InAs/InP quantum dot (QD) multi-band (multi-colour) multiwavelength mode locked laser, and has demonstrated intra-band and inter-band mode-locking (U.S. Pat. No. 7,991,023). Its use as a coherence comb laser (QD-CCL) over a large wavelength range covering C- or L-band has been demonstrated [8-18]. Unlike uniform semiconductor layers in most telecommunication lasers, in the QD CCL, light is emitted and amplified by millions of semiconductor QDs (typically less than 50 nm lateral diameter). Each QD acts like an isolated light source acting independently of its neighbours, and each QD emits light at its own respective wavelength. By providing high efficiency QDs with a desired emission frequency distribution, the CCL is more stable and has much better performance compared to other multi-wavelength lasers. Importantly, a single CCL has been shown to simultaneously produce 50 or more separate lines at spatially distributed wavelengths over the telecommunications C-band or L-band. To achieve these properties we have put considerable effort to design, grow and fabricate InAs/InP QD gain materials and produce CCLs.
More recently Applicant has demonstrated CCLs with repetition rates from 10 to 437 GHz and a total output power up to 50 mW, at room temperature [8-18]. Applicant has investigated relative intensity noises (RINs), phase noises, RF beating signals and other parameters of both filtered individual channels and the whole CCL's output [17-18]. Unfortunately, the single filtered channels of QD CCLs generally exhibit strong phase noise and broad optical linewidths, typically of the order of MHz [17-21]. As a consequence, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) data transmission using these CCLs has been restricted to direct detection schemes [22] or differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), which only uses relatively few (4) symbols. While these CCLs have high symbol rates, their aggregate data rates (up to 504 Gbit/s [23]) are limited by the symbol sets. Coherent transmission can use many more than 4 symbols to achieve higher baud rates, where linewidth allows. The CCLs are not satisfactory for Tbit/s (and higher) coherence optical networking systems.
Furthermore, other uses for CCLs, such as in high precision optical measurement devices or high resolution spectral analysis, are limited by this phase noise.
In order to improve net data transmission rates and spectral efficiency in optical coherent communication systems, researchers have put significant efforts to simultaneously reduce optical linewidth of each individual channel of CCLs. For example, a feed-forward heterodyne scheme has been used to simultaneously reduce the optical linewidth of many comb lines from mode-locked lasers [24-25]. Both [25], and [26] use a local oscillator (LO) and a Mach-Zender Modulator (MZM). The LOs have a narrow linewidth (narrower than the narrowest linewidth achieved by the feedforward system). These references show the difficulty of producing a large set of comb lines (more than 20) simultaneously narrowed to a high degree (below a few hundred kHz), even when resorting to the relatively complex setups.
Prior art for reducing linewidth of single mode lasers are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,804,787 to Coleman et al. claims a particular arrangement for tapping a laser signal from a single mode laser cavity, attenuating the laser signal, and feeding the attenuated (−30 to −80 dB) laser signal back into the laser cavity, where the laser driver provides sufficient drive stability so that a frequency variation of the laser is less than a free spectral range (FSR) of the secondary cavity. This patent specifically identifies as an unexpected result: "that an uncontrolled OPL[Optical Path Length] to the back reflection provided by the first branch provides significant spectral narrowing, which can be several orders of magnitude narrowing". A reduction of linewidth from 118 kHz to 2 kHz was demonstrated for a single wavelength QD laser. "Polarization Maintaining (PM) fiber or non-Polarization Maintaining SM fiber" can be used.
Recent papers [29,30] associated with a European Commission EC-FP7 Big Pipes project demonstrate simultaneous linewidth narrowing of 60 lines in a Quantum Dash mode-locked laser diode using resonant feedback from a secondary cavity, without any LO. The secondary cavity is provided with a freespace optical setup from a backside facet of the mode-locked laser diode that is barely disclosed. Freespace optical waveguides are typically polarization maintaining. Stability of the linewidth is not discussed in any of the prior art references, including these recent papers. Stability is particularly important for commercial deployment of lasers used in telecommunications applications. Given the highly schematic description of the optical system provided in these papers, it is unclear what kind of stability could be provided with their system. Given that "the external cavity length is adjusted to be near a multiple [M] of the optical length of the laser"[30], and a known variably of the laser optical length in operation, it is a safe assumption that the stability is poor outside of highly controlled lab settings. It should be noted that a large OPL for the external cavity (which would be desirable for a large linewidth reduction factor) will require this multiple M to be large. However if M is large, a small variation in the laser's effective OPL (S) will generate a difference M×S in the distance of the reflector from the intended position. The ability to predict or adapt the OPL of the external cavity is not trivial, if possible, and both the OPL of the external cavity and the attenuation have cumulative effects in terms of varying output, leading to a further source of instablility.
Accordingly there is a need for a technique for concurrently narrowing linewidths of a plurality of mode-locked comb lines in a CCL, without relying on a narrow linewidth LO and MZMs, without reducing a number of lines of the CCL, while retaining stability of the narrowed linewidth. Furthermore, there is a need for stably narrowing more linewidths of a CCL, to a greater extent, without complicated and expensive equipment to setup and maintain.

Stable linewidth narrowing of a coherent comb laser


A container for carrying pets which comprises a hollow body with a closeable access provided with at least one opening which is blocked by a grille; the grille is fixed to the rim of the at least one opening by means of rivets, the body being shaped, at the opening, so as to form a perimetric fold for peripherally supporting by abutment the grille which is provided with a plurality of holes for the insertion and retention of the rivets.

The present invention relates to a container for carrying pets.
The container is particularly adapted for small, medium and large pets.
It is known that it is often necessary to carry pets, for example to take them to a veterinarian or when going on vacation or in any case moving to a place other than one's usual residence.
In order to carry pets so as to prevent them from suffering while preventing their escape, with the danger of injury to the pets and to other parties, containers have been conceived constituted by a structurally rather tough hollow body which is spacious enough to contain the pets, has a closeable access, and is provided with at least one opening (although more than one is usually provided) blocked by grilles which are either obtained monolithically from the container or which are applied in a subsequent step.
This type of container, although functionally achieving its intended tasks, currently has structural drawbacks and some inconveniences in operation.
In particular, from the constructive point of view, some components, such as the grilles applied to the openings, require labor-intensive assembly and fixing procedures which are not entirely efficient from the point of view of production.
Some components of conventional containers furthermore force the user to perform particularly complicated and labor-intensive operations.

Marchioro S.p.A. Stampaggio Materie Plastische


An airline distress system is provided for an airplane. The airplane includes a pilot cockpit and a transponder for transmitting signals to an air traffic controller. The airline distress system includes an auxiliary transponder (10) that transmits auxiliary signals to the air traffic controller. The auxiliary transponder is preferably disposed outside of the pilot cockpit and inaccessible to airplane crew and passengers. In one embodiment, a sensor (16) is operatively coupled with the cockpit door, and a switch (20) communicates with the sensor (16) and the auxiliary transponder (10). The auxiliary transponder (10) is configured to be automatically activated by the switch (20) according to a signal from the sensor that the cockpit door has been opened.

The present invention relates to a an airplane distress system and, more particularly, to a distress system to assist in identifying airplanes that have been taken over by presumed hijackers.
Avionics that are currently available and installed in most aircraft include a transponder that transmits a signal to the Air Traffic Control (ATC). Prior to each flight, the pilot is given a discrete 4-digit code. The transponder code is linked to the ATC ground radar system and follows the airplane to its destination. There are certain 4-digit codes that a pilot can tune into the transponder under certain emergency circumstances. Examples include:    7700 Emergency (this code also causes the ATC system to send out an alarm signal)    7600 Communications failure    7500 Hijack situation
In the situation that occurred on Sep. 11, 2001, it is understood that none of the airplanes that were taken over had their transponder tuned to 7500. This would mean that the hijackers gained control of the cockpit without time for the pilot to tune the transponder to 7500, or that the hijackers themselves turned off the transponder.