Provided is a microneedle unit comprising a case having a space accommodating a fluid and a fluid channel through which the fluid is discharged, a microneedle coupled to a lower portion of the case, a base cover disposed at the lower portion of the case, having a hole through which the microneedle passes, and being vertically movable, a guide pin coupled to the base cover and configured to open and close the fluid channel, and an elastic member configured to impart a restoring force such that the base cover is moved upward by an external pressure and then returns downward again. Therefore, the microneedle unit, which is provided to deliver a fluid into the skin with no pain and no scar, can control injection of the fluid using the guide pin, and repeatedly and conveniently control injection of the fluid using the elastic member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microneedle unit capable of delivering a fluid, and more particularly, to a microneedle unit capable of delivering cosmetics or drugs through the skin tissue, curing the skin tissue, and helping improve a hot-pack effect and skin permeation for improvement of blood circulation.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In general, delivery of cosmetics or drugs through the skin has a disadvantage of a very low absorption rate since the drugs cannot easily pass through a stratum corneum. In particular, when a molecular weight is large, the absorption rate is further reduced. In order to improve this problem, a technique using a microneedle, which may be referred to as a micro stinger, has been proposed.
Fine holes passing through an outer layer or a portion thereof are formed using the microneedle, and the drugs or cosmetics are delivered to the outer layer or a lower layer thereof through the fine holes. In addition, when the microneedle penetrates and stimulates the dermis, a burn or a scar may be naturally cured, and generation of collagen may be induced to maximize skin tone improvement and anti-aging effect.
Korean Utility Model No. 20-0431404 discloses a skin treatment instrument to which a microneedle is attached. In the instrument, when a roller-type apparatus is rolled on the skin after applying nutritional supplement or lotion on the skin, the microneedle forms a micro channel on the skin to stimulate the skin so that the lotion, etc., is evenly distributed to massage the skin surface. However, the instrument may not substantially deliver the drugs into the skin.
In addition, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0793615 discloses a method of manufacturing a biodegradable solid microneedle including coating a biodegradable viscous material on a substrate surface and drawing the material. In the method, a patch, to which the biodegradable solid microneedle is attached, is applied to the skin to insert the microneedle into the skin. However, in order to deliver the drugs in such a method, treatment drugs must be prepared in the form of a biodegradable viscous material, and there may be irritation caused by foreign matter after insertion into the skin.
Meanwhile, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0781702 discloses a method of manufacturing a hollow microneedle in consideration of difficulties of drug delivery or body fluid collection through a solid microneedle. While the microneedle manufactured through the method can deliver the drugs into the skin through the hollow microneedle, a vertical movement of the needle is too inflexible to use the needle for curved areas, in particular, a human's face or head, and the needle may be broken due to direct contact with and compression against the skin.

Microneedle unit capable of controlling fluid delivery

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology


Methods and systems for playing personalized music are described. The methods and systems can automatically play music based on the musical preferences of a user in a vicinity of a music player. The preferences of the user are received or retrieved, and the music played is tailored to the user's preferences. The methods and systems select songs that match or are similar to a musical preference of a user, such as songs in the same genre, style, or by the same artist.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the playing of music based on the preferences of a user.
Related Art
Retail stores frequently play music that accommodate the tastes of a mass audience. Thus, stores do not always play the songs that a listener wants to hear. Studies show that people tend to purchase more from a store when they hear music that they like playing. Therefore, it would be beneficial to personalize the music that a person hears in a store.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.


The present invention provides a pest control agent having a novel skeleton, which can be synthesized industrially, and also has excellent biological activity and residual effects. Specifically, the present invention provides a 1-heterodiene derivative represented by Formula (1) or a salt thereof, and a pest control agent including, as an active ingredient, a 1-heterodiene derivative or a salt thereof.

Numerous compounds having insecticidal and acaricidal activity are known. However, problems still exist, such as ineffectivness, limitations regarding use due to drug resistance-related problems, pesticide injury problems, and strong toxicity to people, animals, and fish, and the like.
As compounds having a skeleton similar to that of the compound of the present invention, Non-Patent Literature 1 describes a compound represented by Formula (2), and Non-Patent Literature 2 describes a compound represented by Formula (3). However, the bioactivity of the compounds described in these non-patent literatures is unclear.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

1-heterodiene derivative and pest control agent


A radiopaque tube for use as a medical catheter is provided. The tube is preferably formed about a wire mandrel which is subsequently removed to form the lumen of the tube. The tube includes an inner wall layer made from a polymer resin defining the lumen. A spiral wound reinforcement layer of a radiopaque material is wound about the inner wall layer. The spiral wound layer can comprise flat wire or a multiple strands wound about parallel to each other. A polymer resin outer wall layer is laid over said spiral wound radiopaque layer so that the radiopaque layer is embedded between the inner wall layer and the outer surface of the outer wall layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to polymer resin tubing especially useful for catheters. More particularly, the invention relates to an ultra thin walled polymer resin flexible tubing containing a reinforcement member within the wall and which member gives the tubing a high mechanical strength, crush resistance, hydrostatic pressure capability, and radio-opacity characteristics while maintaining excellent flexibility and circular cross-section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, small diameter resin tubes have been useful in the medical industry as catheters used for dispensing liquids or placing small devices into a patients vascular system. These procedures include spinal anesthesia, introduction of radio-opaque dyes into blood vessels, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and the like.
The tubes presently used in the medical field are various constructions of extruded fluoropolymers, and non-extrudable resins. These tubes are generally transparent to X-rays and other radiological techniques. For medical procedures requiring radio-opacity these tubes have been made with radiopaque resin compositions. Other tubes have been made with a metallic stylet inserted in the lumen of the tube and affixed to the ends of the tube.
Typically, fluoropolymer tubes are manufactured using a free extrusion. The fluoropolymer is extruded in the form of a hollow tube, then subjected to other processing to cure or sinter the material. This procedure yields satisfactory product, but is difficult to perform for ultra thin walls. Free extrusion of fluoropolymers with ultra thin walls can cause excessive kinking or collapse during processing.
Another method currently employed to manufacture polymer tubes is by coating a metal wire mandrel with the polymer either by extrusion or by dipping in a polymer bath. The tube is formed after the mandrel is withdrawn by elongating the wire to increase its length and decrease its diameter. The tube can then be removed by sliding it off the wire. Tubes manufactured by this technique have excellent interior diameter control. However, tubes with ultra thin wall thickness can still kink or collapse in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,710 to Buck et al. discloses an ultra thin walled sintered fluoropolymer tubing formed by coating a removable sintered fluoropolymer core and then removing such core. It is suggested that once such tubing is formed, it can be surrounded or jacketed with other layers such as braided metal or a rigid polymeric material.
Medical catheters have been manufactured from fluoropolymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene and related fluoropolymers because of their desirable physical characteristics. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,062 to Hampton et al., a guiding member for a catheter is disclosed, which catheter comprises an inner and an outer tube. The inner tube includes a hypotube which is limited to the proximal portion thereof. Secured to the distal end of the hypotube is a high strength polyimide tubular element lined with a lubricous material such as Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,577 to Badger et al. also discloses a guiding catheter with a controllable distal tip utilizing Teflon lined tubular sheath formed of braided or wound aramid fibers. The tubular sheath is surrounded by a polyethylene jacket. U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,139 to Zafiroglu discloses a composite tubing having a Teflon inner layer and a copolymer outer layer of tetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene. U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,284 to Ohkubo et at. discloses a method for producing heat resistant resin tubes by coating a metal wire with a polyimide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,659 discloses a medical tube formed by extruding of a thermoplastic with an integral stripe portion which includes a powdered conducting metal or an X-ray opaque salt dispersed in the integral stripe. A medical tube made of a plastic material having an X-ray opaque pigment uniformly and homogeneously dispersed therethrough is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,555 to Greyson.
Other medical tubing made of radiopaque resin compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,722,344, 4,469,483, 4,581,390 and 4,282,876. U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,637 discloses a catheter whose lumen includes a staff having disposed thereon or therein a predetermined number of spaced apart markings of radiopaque material.
Radiopacity, tube strength, kink resistance, crush resistance and flexibility are desirable characteristics for medical catheters. Radiopacity is desired for traceability in the body via X-Ray in procedures involving long range probing through blood vessels, etc., and for locating a catheter which has broken off while inside the body during such procedures. Tube strength is desired to decrease the possibility of catheter breakage especially during insertion and withdrawal into the vascular system. Flexibility is required for navigation of the catheter through the different passages of the vascular system for many medical procedures. Kink and crush resistance is essential for unimpeded or consistent flow rate in applications where liquids are dispensed (anesthesia, dyes, etc.) and for ease of device insertion where the tube is used as a conduit.
To give the tube these combination properties, the polymeric tubes described have been modified. By introducing a metal wire or stylet into the lumen of the tube, and securing it to or embedding it in the interior wall surface of the tube, the tube will be visible through X-ray and other radiological techniques. The stylet also increases the tensile strength of the catheter tube which helps reduce the chance of breakage during insertion and withdrawal. The size or diameter of the stylet varies, but a compromise between visibility under X-ray, strength, flexibility and fluid flow rates must be considered. To allow more cross-section under X-ray, a larger diameter stylet can be used, giving the catheter more strength, but there are disadvantages of decreased flexibility and decreased flow area of the lumen. This results in a stiffer catheter and possibly requires a larger diameter catheter to recover the flow area of the lumen. A larger diameter catheter introduces more trauma to the patient during such procedures, and therefore is less desirable. A finer diameter stylet would not affect fluid flow as much, would not affect flexibility appreciably, but its low cross-section would cause less visibility by X-ray and give the catheter less of a strength improvement. Further, the stylet inside the tube will hamper applications where devices must be passed through the tube.
Medical catheters, especially those with very thin walls, occasionally experience problems of kinking and collapse during these medical procedures. The typical solution to this problem is to increase the wall thickness to strengthen the tube. This results in a larger tube diameter (for same lumen size) and decreases flexibility, both less desirable characteristics. With a stylet attached to the inside of the tube, although kink resistance is improved, crushing of the tube remains a problem.
The instant invention provides improved mechanical strength, crush resistance, hydrostatic pressure capability and radiopacity over the prior art without a significant sacrifice of the desired physical characteristics for a medical catheter.


A method for sterilizing an implantable sensor for sensing an analyte in a body tissue. The implantable sensor has a sensor part which can be introduced into the body tissue, at least one sensor electrode for sensing the analyte, and at least one electronics part. The electronics part has at least one electronic component and is connected to the sensor part. The method includes (a) introducing the implantable sensor into a package, the package sealing the implantable sensor from bacteria and accommodating a radiation shield, (b) irradiating the implantable sensor in the package with sterilizing radiation from at least one irradiating direction, in particular with electron radiation, the radiation shield shielding the electronic component of the electronics part from the sterilizing radiation, the radiation shield being arranged in such a way that the sensor part is sterilized by the sterilizing radiation.

The invention relates to a method for sterilizing an implantable sensor and to a sterilizing device for sterilizing an implantable sensor. The sensor serves for sensing at least one analyte in a body tissue. The sensor may particularly be an electrochemical sensor, which is set up for qualitatively and/or quantitatively sensing one or more analytes in a body tissue by electrochemical means. Such sensors are used, for example, in the monitoring of blood glucose concentrations. Other areas of use are also conceivable.
The prior art discloses a large number of sensors which can be completely or partially implanted in a body tissue and which serve for monitoring certain bodily functions, in particular for monitoring one or more concentrations of certain analytes. Without restricting further possible configurations, the invention is described hereinafter with reference to a blood glucose monitoring device. In principle, however, the invention can also be transferred to other types of analytes.
In addition to so-called point measurements, in which a sample of a bodily fluid is taken from a user in a targeted fashion and investigated for the analyte concentration, continuous measurements are also increasingly becoming established. Thus, for example, in the recent past a continuous glucose measurement in the interstitium, which is also referred to as continuous monitoring, CM, has become established as an important method for managing, monitoring and controlling a diabetes status. Directly implantable electrochemical sensors, which are often also referred to as needle-type sensors (NTS), are generally used for this. In this case, the active sensor region is brought directly up to the measuring site, which is generally arranged in the interstitial tissue, and glucose is converted into electrical current, for example using an enzyme, for example glucose oxidase, where the current is in proportion to the glucose concentration and can be used as a measured variable. Examples of such transcutaneous measuring systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,888 B1 and in US 2008/0242962 A1.
Present-day continuous monitoring systems are consequently generally transcutaneous systems. This means that the actual sensor part of the sensor with the electrodes is arranged under the user's skin in a body tissue. An electronics part, which is often also referred to as the evaluation and/or control part or else as the patch, is generally located outside the user's body however, that is to say outside the human or animal body. The sensor part is in this case generally applied by means of an insertion aid, which is likewise described by way of example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,888 B1. Other types of insertion aids are also known. The time for which a sensor is worn is generally about 1 week.
Complete or partial insertion of the sensor into a body tissue generally requires that completely or partially implantable components of the sensor must be sterilized in accordance with existing standards for use on a human and/or animal. In the case of enzymatically based electrochemical glucose sensors, the enzyme is directly embedded in the electrode or in contact with the interstitium via a protective layer, i.e. the electrodes are exposed. Chemical or thermal sterilization is accordingly generally ruled out, since in the case of such forms of sterilization the enzyme of the electrodes would be damaged. Therefore, generally only radiation sterilization can be used.
Here, however, there is the problem that electronic components of the sensor generally do not withstand direct exposure to radiation, for example to beta radiation or electron radiation, at the radiation doses that are typically necessary (usually 25 kGy). Particular, semiconductor-based active electronic components, such as for example high-impedance amplifier components or potentiostats, are not usually capable of withstanding radiation sterilizations with beta radiation at the radiation doses mentioned without suffering losses in function.
The prior art discloses a large number of methods by means of which protection of sensor elements during radiation sterilization can take place. Thus, for example, a method for producing integrated, diagnostic test elements is described in WO 2006/005503 A1. The test elements have a puncture region and a detection region. The detection region on the test element is shielded from electron radiation that is used for the sterilization. It is also described, inter alia, that the test elements may be arranged in a package, and that the package may be designed such that the detection region of the test elements is shielded from electron radiation and that irradiation of the entire package is performed.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,302 there is described a method for sterilizing a selected region of a product and for producing a sterile product from two or more components that cannot be sterilized in the same way. This involves using a system of tubes with a sterile fluid, in which one part of a housing is sterilized with electron radiation, while another part is protected from the effects of the electron beams by a shielding.
In US 2008/0255440 A1 there is described a sensor package with an implantable sensor. The implantable sensor has an electrode region and an electrical contact region. The sensor is sterilized by beta rays, the package being designed in such a way that the electrical contact region is sterilized, whereas the electrode region remains protected. The package may, for example, protect a sensor part from the influence of further gases that are used for sterilizing electronic components.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,156 B1 there is described a device for protecting electrical circuits during high-energy radiation sterilization. The device comprises a carrier substrate and a protective housing for electronic components. The protective housing is hermetically coupled to the carrier substrate of the electronic components and protects them from the effects of the radiation sterilization. Also described are electronic circuits which are sterilized with a predetermined radiation dose and in which, after the sterilization, the gain factor is not reduced beyond a certain amount and the proportionality between the collector current and the base current is retained.
The solutions known from the prior art have many technical challenges and even disadvantages. Thus, the known solutions are generally not set up for sterilizing a sensor or a sensor system that can be used on a human body without further complex steps. In particular, it is generally not taken into consideration that such a sensor system has parts coming into contact with the skin which on the one hand must be sterile but on the other hand must be in direct contact with the sensitive electronics. In order that the sensor system is sterilized to the entire extent that is necessary, with known devices and methods a number of successive sterilizing methods are often used, such as for example radiation sterilization and chemical sterilization.
Furthermore, the devices known from the prior art are often of such a complex design that they are virtually unusable in industrial processes. Thus, before and after the radiation sterilization, complex preparation or subsequent treatment of the sterilizing device is generally required, during which re-contamination of the sensors may take place. At the same time, however, the sterilizing devices are so complex that they generally could not be delivered to a final customer as a complete unit, together with the shielding device.

Method and sterilizing device for sterilizing an implantable sensor


A process for recovery of oxygen from a cryogenic air separation system in which measured data at the input or output of a latent heat exchanger and measured data within a column is compared with preselected data so that any deviation therebetween can be used to produce a signal that will vary the input parameters of the system until there is no deviation between the measured data and preset data thereby insuring that the system will operate under preselected optimum conditioning.

Conventional dual pressure processes are employed to separate air at cryogenic temperatures into oxygen and nitrogen. Air is first compressed to approximately 5-6 atm absolute and then subjected to rectification in a high and low pressure distillation column which are thermally linked to one another. The high pressure column operates under superatomospheric pressure corresponding to the pressure of the air feed. The air feed undergoes preliminary separation in the high pressure column into a liquid fraction of crude oxygen and a liquid fraction of substantially pure nitrogen. The two resulting liquids typically form the feed fraction and the rectification reflux for the low pressure distillation operation.
The relative volatilities of nitrogen and oxygen force oxygen to accumulate at the bottom stripping section of the low pressure distillation and nitrogen to accumulate at the top of the low pressure distillation.
Specifically, liquid and vapor are passed in counter-current contact through one or more columns and the difference in vapor pressure between the oxygen and nitrogen cause nitrogen to concentrate in the vapor form and oxygen to concentrate in the liquid form. The lower the pressure in the separation column, the easier it is to separate air into oxygen and nitrogen due to higher relative volatilities. Accordingly, the final separation into product oxygen and nitrogen is generally carried out at a relatively low pressure, usually just a few pounds per square inch (psi) above atmospheric pressure.
The consistent production of oxygen and nitrogen require that the composition variables of the cryogenic air separation process remain constant throughout the production cycle. It has been observed, however, that disturbance causing a deviation in any one of the composition variables may change the process sufficiently so that inferior quality oxygen is produced and/or a reduction in the rate of production is encountered. This results in the inefficient operation of the cryogenic air separation process and in the production of poor quality oxygen product or reduced product oxygen flow.
To insure that the quality of the product produced and the efficiency of the process is maintained would require constant monitoring of the output rate and quality of product produced. An alternate source of product such as liquid which is vaporized when either the output rate or product quality deviate from a specified value is generally required. This approach is costly and time consuming and thereby an inefficient solution to the problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cryogenic air separation process that can produce oxygen having a desired purity composition on a continuous basis minimizing or eliminating the need for an alternative source of product.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cryogenic air separation process that employs an interstage condenser/reboiler that is automatically monitored and the data observed are compared with preselected data so that any deviation between the measured and preselected data will produce a control signal that can be used to adjust at least one of the input and/or output feeds of the system so that the quality and/or feed rate of the product is returned to its desired levels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cost effective and easy to operate process for producing oxygen and nitrogen from a cryogenic air separation system on a continuous basis.
The foregoing and additional objects will become fully apparent from the following description and drawings.

Process for the recovery of oxygen from a cryogenic air separation system


A fabric for producing an induced electromagnetic field in the presence of a human body to reduce endogenous pain, includes a non-conductive base fabric, a plurality of parallel, spaced apart electrically conducting carbon fibers interspersed in the base fabric constituting approximately 3% of the weight of the fabric, and a plurality of parallel, spaced apart electrically conducting silver fibers interspersed in the base fabric constituting approximately 6% of the weight of the fabric, and being in parallel, spaced apart relation to the electrically conducting carbon fibers.

The present invention relates generally to fabrics and articles of clothing made from fabrics, and more particularly, is directed to fabrics and articles of clothing made from these fabrics that have a beneficial pain relieving effect.
It is known that electrically conductive fibers in a fabric are intended to create an electromagnetic (EM) field or EMF from the electrical signals transmitted throughout a person's body, thereby reducing the feeling of pain and discomfort.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,122 to the same inventor herein discloses a fabric for reducing endogenous pain by application of the fabric to a pain site to facilitate the flow of endogenous electrical current in the body. The fabric includes a knitted stretch fabric having a knit base structure of electrically non-conductive fibers forming courses and wales, a first electrically-conductive carbon fiber knitted into and extending along first selected wales and transversely along first selected courses of the base structure, and a second electrically-conductive carbon fiber knitted into and extending along second selected wales and transversely along second selected courses of the base structure intersecting the first selected courses for contacting the first electrically-conductive carbon fiber and thereby defining a matrix of first and second electrically-conductive carbon fibers that induce an electrical current in the presence of an electrical charge.
However, it has been found that the formation of the two electrically-conductive carbon fibers in a matrix such that the first electrically-conductive carbon fibers contact the second electrically-conductive carbon fibers, inhibits the induced electrical current, thereby reducing the beneficial pain-relieving effect.
Further, because carbon fibers are not highly electrically conductive, the voltage generated in these fibers is not very high, that is, the created EM field is small. Even though carbon fibers are not highly electrically conductive, and therefore not very efficient in creating an EM field, a large reason for using these carbon fibers is because of their low cost as compared to highly conductive metal materials.
It is also known to add silver fibers to fabrics because of the moisture wicking and antibacterial properties of the silver. Silver is also known for its conductivity characteristics in clothing.
Generally, when silver is added to a fabric, it functions as to high level grounding, static discharge, electric field shielding, and radiofrequency (RF) shielding, particularly in anti-static environments. Because it has been used for its shielding effects, silver would never be used in an environment in order to generate EM fields for healing purposes, let alone in combination with carbon.
A problem, however, is that silver is a relatively expensive fiber, so that manufacturing a fabric with a large percentage of silver fibers becomes cost prohibitive.
Further, it has not been known to combine carbon fibers with silver fibers in the same fabric, in view of their very different effects and desired results.


A jump rope is provided to facilitate easier use by people with visual or neurological impairments. The jump rope includes at least one handle having the rope rotatably mounted therein. The handle further includes at least one detector for identifying the rotational orientation of the jump rope relative to the handle. The detector can move outwardly and into contact with the hand of the person using the jump rope so that the person achieves non-visual indication of the position of the rope relative to the handle.

Jumping rope is an exceptional aerobic exercise that enhances the tone of many muscle groups and that contributes to coordination and agility. Unlike many other exercises and sporting activities, jumping rope requires a very low initial capital expense and only a minimum amount of space. Furthermore, jumping rope normally creates few risks of injury. The benefits of jumping rope can be enjoyed by virtually all age groups and all athletic abilities. Young children and professional prize fighters are among the many people who routinely jump rope.
The well documented benefits of physical activity apply to both handicapped people and people substantially free of handicaps. However, handicaps often severely limit the range of physical activities that people can partake in. For example, visually impaired people often cannot jog or partake in sporting activities that require running. Jumping rope also can be difficult for a blind or visually impaired person in view of difficulties in determining precisely where the rope is so that a jump can be timed. People with neurological disabilities or learning disabilities also have problems in many sporting activities that require hand-eye coordination. Jumping rope is one such activity that can be difficult to people with neurological disabilities or learning disabilities in view of the hand-eye coordination required to time each jump. An innate lack of coordination without a specific neurological cause also can make jumping rope difficult. Thus, people having handicaps and people who are merely uncoordinated typically will not jump rope despite the many low-cost benefits that can be achieved from jumping rope.
The simplest jump rope merely consists of an elongated length of flexible material that can be held in the hands of the exerciser. Other jump rope include handles rigidly mounted to the opposed ends of the rope such that the rope can repeatedly pivot about the ends that are fixedly mounted in the handles. Better jump ropes, however, are rotatably mounted in the handles by an array of bearings or the like. Even good prior art jump ropes, however, will not make jumping rope easier for people who are handicapped or uncoordinated as described above.
In view of the above, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a jump rope that can be efficiently used by people with handicaps.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide a jump rope that is particularly useful for people with visual impairments and/or neurological disabilities.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide a jump rope that is well suited to people with poor hand-eye coordination.


A valve assembly includes a valve housing, an engine valve having a valve stem, an armature, and two solenoids. The valve housing has a first end and an opposing second end. The valve stem is located within the valve housing. The engine valve is moveable between an open position and a closed position. The armature is coupled to the valve stem. The armature is moveable between a first and second positions. The first solenoid is adjacent the first end of the valve housing and is operable to move the armature to the first position and the engine valve to the closed position in response to a first digital pulse. The second solenoid is adjacent the second end of the valve housing and is operable to move the armature to the second position and the engine valve to the open position in response to a second digital pulse.

The present invention relates to a microprocessor controlled camless internal combustion engine that contains a plurality of digitally latched solenoid control valves that control a number of hydraulically driven valves and fuel injectors.
Conventional compression ignition engines contain cams that coordinate the timing of the intake and exhaust valves with the pistons and fuel injectors of the engine. Cams are subject to wear which may affect the timing of the valves. Additionally, cams are not readily susceptible to changes in the valve timing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,370 issued to Kawamura; U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,330 issued to Buchl and U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,332 issued to Kreuter disclose various camless solenoid actuated intake and exhaust valves. The valve stems are magnetically coupled to the solenoids which move the valves between open and closed positions. The mass and inertia of the intake/exhaust valves require energy to move the valves. This power requirement reduces the energy efficiency of the engine. Additionally, the response time for opening and closing the valves is relatively slow, thereby reducing the control of the valve.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,248,123, 5,022,358 and 4,899,700 issued to Richeson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,895 issued to Tittizer and U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,641 issued to Schechter all disclose hydraulically driven intake/exhaust valves. The hydraulic fluid is typically controlled by a solenoid control valve. The solenoid control valves described and used in the prior art require a constant supply of power to maintain the valve in an actuating position. The constant supply of power again consumes more energy from the engine. Additionally, the solenoid control valves of the prior art have been found to be relatively slow thus restricting the accuracy of the valve timing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,200,067 and 4,206,728 issued to Trenne; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,968 issued to Miller et al. disclose hydraulic systems that control the injection of fuel and the timing of valves. These systems incorporate a cam or spool that controls the working fluid which drives the fuel injector and the valves. The components are coupled together so that fuel injection and valve movement always occur in the same time sequence. It sometimes desirable to vary the movement and timing of the fuel injector and the valves. For example, when decelerating a vehicle, it is desirable to brake the engine by allowing the pistons to continually compress air during the power strokes of the engine, an engine mode commonly referred to as Jake braking. Jake braking requires a cessation of fuel injection during the expansion stroke of a CI engine. Additionally, the exhaust valve is typically slightly opened when the piston reaches top dead center of the compression stroke.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,790 issued to Clarke et al. discloses a valve/fuel injection system which contains a separate actuator for each valve and fuel injector of the engine. The actuators are controlled by a central microprocessor. The Clarke system is thus capable of running the engine in different modes such as Jake braking. Clarke is silent as to the actual implementation of the actuators and the valves that control the actuators. It is not apparent whether Clarke provides a responsive, energy efficient camless engine that can operate in a variety of modes. It would be desirable to provide an accurate, responsive, energy efficient camless internal combustion engine than can operate in different modes.
Fuel injectors of the prior art typically contain an hydraulically driven intensifier that increases the pressure of the fuel that is ejected into the internal combustion chamber. The hydraulic fluid is provided by a pump that is driven by the engine. To compensate for variations in engine temperature, rpm""s, and other factors the hydraulic system typically contains a pressure relief valve that opens when the rail pressure exceeds a predetermined value. The pressure relief valve contains a spring that biases the valve into a closed position. The pump must generate work to overcome the force of the spring during a by-pass cycle. The additional work increases the frictional horsepower and reduces the fuel efficiency of the engine. It would be desirable to provide a hydraulic by-pass system that would not require work from the pump.
The present invention is an internal combustion engine that contains a controller which controls different components such as a fuel injector, an exhaust valve and a by-pass valve of a pump with digital control signals. The engine may have an hydraulically driven fuel injector which ejects a volume of fuel into an internal combustion chamber. The flow of air into the internal combustion chamber and the flow of exhaust gas out of the chamber may be controlled by camless hydraulically driven intake and exhaust valves. The hydraulic actuation of the fuel injector and valves are controlled by solenoid actuated latching fluid control valves. The operation of the injector and the valves is controlled by a controller which provides digital signals to actuate and latch the solenoid control valves. The digital signals consume minimal power and actuate the valves at relatively high speeds. The engine further contains a pump that pumps the hydraulic fluid to the control valves. The pump system contains an hydraulically driven solenoid actuated latching by-pass valve which can be opened to couple the outlet of the pump with a return line. Latching the by-pass valve into an open position allows the output of the pump to be dumped to the return line without requiring additional work from the pump to maintain the by-pass valve in the open position. The by-pass valve can be opened by a digital control signal from the controller. The controller can open and close the by-pass valve to control the rail pressure provided to the control valves.

Solenoid actuated engine valve for an internal combustion engine


A trimmer head which receives fixed-length trimmer line segments has a housing with a side wall forming an open end with opposed holes formed therein. The trimmer head receives an insert that is rotated by the main housing. The insert has an arcuate channel from the first hole to the second hole adjacent the opposed side of the insert body when the insert body is in a load/unload position. The insert body is rotatable and movable axially with respect to the housing to an operational position where the line segment is forced to take an indirect path between the first and second holes securing the line segment in place during use of the trimmer head.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of lawn and garden tools and, more particularly, to a fixed-line trimmer device for use in cutting vegetation.
2. Description of Related Art
Rotary string trimmers are commonly used for trimming grass and other vegetation in areas not accessible by conventional lawn mowers. These line trimmers are typically powered by either a small engine or electric motor mounted and have a rotary line trimmer head connected to a drive spindle which is rotatably mounted on the end of an elongated boom. One or more segments of 0.05 to 0.10 inch diameter cutting line extend radially outward from the line trimmer head.
During use, the cutting portion of the line becomes damaged and needs to be replaced. A number of varying mechanisms to achieve line replacement have been developed over the years. The most common technique is to include a spool of line within the head and incrementally advance the line, thereby extending the cutting line to replace the damaged portion. This type of trimmer typically has a bump head in which the line incrementally advances in response to the trimmer head being bumped on the ground. Other trimmer heads are of the automatic variety in which the line incrementally advances in response to a significant change in rotational speed of the trimmer head, i.e., reducing the engine to idle and then resuming full operational speed.
The problem associated with spool-type trimmer heads is that the line may become tangled within the spool or welded to itself during periods of extended heavy use. Therefore, there is a trend toward using trimmer heads which utilize fixed-length line segments which are simply discarded when worn and replaced with a new line segment. While this results in a smaller percentage of the line being actually used, the tangling problems are eliminated and heavier line gauges may be utilized. Heavier line gauges extend the interval of time between line replacements.
A variety of fixed line trimmer heads have been developed. Some utilize line segments which have an enlarged head formed thereon to retain the line to the trimmer head. Others use uniform cross-section segments of line that may be severed from a large spool. Uniform cross-section line enables the replacement line to be easily obtained from convenient low cost sources. Problems, however, occur in simply and securely attaching the line segment to the trimmer head while also permitting the line segment to be quickly replaced.

Fixed line rotary head trimmer with quick friction rotational lock for string trimmer machine


Provided is a display apparatus which allows a user to easily confirm the contents of an image during displaying, when a cover covering a display region is present, even without removing the cover. The display apparatus having a pixel region including a plurality of pixels is configured to, by a display control unit, determine whether the cover covering a part of the pixel region is present, and if it is determined that the cover is present, display the image in the pixels of the remaining part which is not covered by the cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control in a display apparatus which has a pixel region including a plurality of pixels, and to a display apparatus which controls display contents of an image, when a cover covering a pixel region is present.
2. Description of Related Art
Techniques of display panels have advanced, and pixel region in equipment having a display unit has been expanded. Further, the number of equipment which are configured such that the display unit also plays a role of an operation unit (user interface) by embedding a touch panel in a display panel, and which allows a user to intuitively operate by interacting with an image such as an icon displayed on the display panel is increasing. However, there are a variety of problems regarding display control in the equipment having the above-described display unit. A portable equipment has a configuration in which the display unit also plays a role of the operation unit, and in order to increase an area of the pixel region, a portion for holding the equipment is decreased, which may lead to an erroneous operation in some cases. An invention is disclosed in which, when a hold of the display unit of the equipment is detected, the display region is changed within the pixel region so as to exclude the position held by the user.
In addition thereto, as an example of the portable equipment having the display unit, a tablet type personal computer (PC) has been widely distributed. The tablet type PC uses a large portion in a broad surface of a housing formed in a flat plate shape as a display surface. By further technical advancement, a sheet-shaped PC using a flexible display panel may also become to be distributed. In the equipment decreasing in thickness, it is possible to apply a change in the display region within the pixel region. Further, in the equipment that has the display unit decreasing in thickness, it is possible to perform display control so as to prevent a deterioration in visibility due to the reflection of strong environmental light.

Display apparatus for displaying an image outside of a covered region


An automatic lathe includes a main spindle that rotates a workpiece about a shaft center, a cutting tool that processes the workpiece, a feeder that moves the cutting tool, an input receiver that receives inputs regarding an eccentric distance and a radius, and a controller that controls the movement by the feeder such as to set a virtual circle having a radius of the distance, to set an offset virtual circle having a center at a position where a center of the virtual circle is offset from the shaft center of the workpiece in the radial direction of the workpiece by the radius, and to move the cutting tool along an circumference of the offset virtual circle in relation to a rotation of the workpiece by the main spindle. A hole is processed, which has the radius at a position away from the shaft center by the distance.

A machine tool such as a lathe includes a main spindle. The main spindle holds a piece to be processed (referred to a workpiece hereinafter) such as a round bar which extends from the tip of the main spindle. The machine tool processes the workpiece by rotating the workpiece about its shaft center and by contacting a tool such as a tool bit or cutting tool to the workpiece. The tool is moved by a feeder. Then, a controller controls the rotation and/or axial movement of the workpiece, and the movement of tools by the feeder.
The tool is moved in relation to the rotation of the workpiece to form a portion radially eccentric from the shaft center of the workpiece (referred to an eccentric portion hereinafter) in the workpiece by such a machine tool, (See, Patent Literature 1: JP 2002-066802A, for example).
In the turning process for the eccentric position by the lathe disclosed in Patent Literature 1, it is necessary to control a NC lathe with a complicated program which uses positional data obtained by calculating the positions of the tool point by point.
The present disclosure is made in light of the above, and a main object of the present disclosure is to provide a machine tool and a method for processing by the machine tool which can process an eccentric shape or portion with simple settings.

Machine tool and method for processing by machine tool


A control device for a lockup clutch of a vehicle. A slip control device executes slip control to make a rotational speed difference between the input member and the input shaft match a target slip speed according to a state of the vehicle by half engagement of the lockup clutch. A clutch temperature obtaining means obtains a clutch temperature of the lockup clutch. A determining means determines if the lockup clutch should be fully engaged or disengaged based on at least a state of the motor if the clutch temperature becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature during execution of the slip control. A slip control stop means for stopping the slip control by fully engaging or disengaging the lockup clutch according to the determination result of the determining means.

Conventionally, a control device that prohibits slip control of a torque converter via slip engagement of a lockup clutch during a period from the time an estimate of a clutch facing temperature becomes equal to or higher than a slip control prohibition temperature to the time when the estimate of the clutch facing temperature becomes equal to or lower than a slip control permission temperature in order to prevent overheat is known as this type of control device for a lockup clutch (see, e.g., Patent Document 1). While the slip control is being prohibited, this control device causes the torque converter to function in a lockup state where front-rear differential rotation, namely a slip rotational speed, of the lockup clutch has a value of 0. This control device thus suppresses reduction in durability of the lockup clutch due to early wear of clutch facing.

Control device and control method for lockup clutch


Nanofiltration can be used to improve a hydrometallurgical process in which valuable metal is extracted from ore or tailings by leaching with a suitable lixiviant. The process requires at least two nanofiltration subsystems in which raffinate from a solvent extraction process is treated in a nanofiltration subsystem, after which permeate therefrom is combined with a pregnant solution stream and is treated in a second nanofiltration subsystem. This arrangement can lead to advantages in the amount of lixiviant recovered, in the raw materials required, in the effluent produced, in the size of plant, and in overall cost.

Hydrometallurgical processes are commonly used to obtain valuable base metals as well as other metals from ores and tailings containing these metals. Several major operations are typically involved in such processes. Initially, a leaching of the crushed ore or tailings is performed using a lixiviant (e.g. using an aqueous acidic solution such as sulphuric acid solution) to dissolve the metal content from crushed ore or tailings and provide a leach solution comprising the desired metal or metals. The leach solution of course generally also comprises unwanted liquid and solid impurities which are desirably removed. Further, the leach solution is generally quite dilute. Thus, solution concentration and purification operations are performed to produce a more concentrated, purified solution known in the art as pregnant solution stream. Finally then, operations are performed to recover the desired metals from the pregnant solution stream.
A variety of lixiviants may be considered for such hydrometallurgical processing and the selection depends on the metal to be extracted and the type of ore or tailings involved. Aqueous acid solutions are perhaps most commonly employed as lixiviants and include solutions of such acids as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid. Further, various arrangements are commonly considered in order to accomplish the leaching process including heap leaching, dump leaching, tank leaching and in-situ leaching arrangements.
The chemistries and equipment involved in the solution concentration and purification operations can also be quite diverse and depend on the metals and ores or tailings involved. However, a solvent extraction step is frequently employed in which an organic solvent is used to selectively extract the desired metal content from the impure leach solution to the organic phase. This is followed by a stripping of the desired metal content from the organic phase using strong acid to produce the pregnant solution stream which is a strong electrolyte or concentrated metal solution. The solvent extraction step also results in a raffinate stream or waste stream which is an aqueous solution containing low metal content with appreciable amount of residual acidity and traces of organics. The raffinate stream is commonly divided into two portions in which one portion is recycled to the leaching circuit and the other is sent to neutralization where it is treated with lime to neutralize the acidity and to precipitate the metal contents prior to discharge as effluent in order to meet environmental regulatory requirements.
The metal recovery operations separate the desired metals from the concentrated pregnant solution stream. Typical metal recovery processes include electrolytic processing (e.g. "electrowinning" or "electrorefining"), chemical precipitation, and gaseous reduction. In operations involving electrolytic processing, the pregnant solution stream serves as electrolyte in the associated electrolysis. There is generally a need to continuously bleed a proportion of the tankhouse inventory however, as "spent electrolyte", in order to prevent excess build-up of contaminants transferred from the primary leach solution and to maintain the purity of the recovered metal product. This bleed stream is commonly "disposed of" in several ways: (i) is added to the primary feed of the solvent extracting circuit where the desired metal is recovered and sent around again to the electrolytic operation; (ii) is taken directly back to the leaching circuit and cycles back through an even longer path; and/or (iii) is sent as a purge stream for metal recovery and acid neutralization prior to disposal as effluent.
There are therefore two major effluent streams that are typically generated in hydrometallurgical processes that need to be managed properly. These are the spent electrolyte stream in processes involving electrolytic processing and the raffinate stream in processes involving solvent extraction. While the common chemical (lime) treatment of the raffinate stream meets environmental standards, it unfortunately involves a series of complex precipitation and separation steps which are not only expensive to set up and operate but also which generate a large amount of gypsum solids that are often classified as hazardous materials due to its heavy metal contents and thus must be properly disposed of. Further, the acid content in the raffinate is lost and yet this is preferably recovered instead. As for spent electrolyte streams, recycling them in whole or in great part to the leaching circuit would likely overload the circuit and negatively impact the overall leaching efficiency due to its high acid and metal concentration. Further, sending them in the whole or great part to the stripping operation in a solvent extracting circuit would also affect the stripping efficiency as well as increase the capacity requirement of the overall solvent extracting circuit. And purging a side stream of spent electrolyte to metals recovery and neutralization processes would increase acid losses as well as lime consumption. There is therefore a need to better handle such effluent streams in hydrometallurgical processes. The present invention addresses this need and provides other benefits as disclosed below.
Nanofiltration is an example of a pressure driven membrane separation process in which organic molecules or inorganic ionic solutes in aqueous solutions are concentrated or separated to various degrees by the application of a positive osmotic pressure to one side of a filtration membrane. Such a pressure driven membrane process employs a cross-flow mode of operation in which only a portion of a feed stream solution is collected as a permeate solution and the rest is collected as a retentate solution. Thus, in a nanofiltration module, the exiting process stream which has not passed through the nanofiltration membrane is referred to as the "retentate" stream and the exiting process stream which has passed through the membrane is referred to as the "permeate" stream.
NF membranes reject ionic species according to the charge density of the ions and the surface charges of the membrane. Accordingly, divalent anions, such as SO42−, are more strongly rejected than monovalent ones, such as Cl−, and divalent cations, such as Cu2+, are more strongly rejected than monovalent ones, such as Na+. And therefore, nanofiltration can be particularly suitable for processes requiring separation of multivalent anions from monovalent ones.
Commercial NF membranes are available from known suppliers of reverse osmosis and other pressure driven membranes. The NF membranes are, typically, packaged as membrane modules. A so-called "spiral wound" module is most popular, but other membrane module configurations, such as tubular membranes enclosed in a shell or plate- and -frame type, are also known.
During the NF process, a minimum pressure equal to the osmotic pressure difference between the feed/retentate liquor on one side and the permeate liquor on the other side of the membrane must be applied since osmotic pressure is a function of the ionic strengths of the two streams. In the case of separation of a multivalent solute, e.g. Na2SO4, from a monovalent one, e.g. NaCl, the osmotic pressure difference is moderated by the low NaCl rejection. Usually, a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure difference is employed to achieve practical permeate flux.

Hydrometallurgical process using multi-stage nanofiltration


A first and a second bale speed sensor are provided in a segment of the baling chamber of an agricultural baler. The first sensor is positioned at an upper part, while the second sensor is positioned at a lower part of the baling chamber. Respective outputs of said bale speed sensors being operationally connected to a controller which is adapted to adjust based on said outputs a synchronization between the periodically forming and pushing of a slice of crop material and the reciprocal movement of the plunger.

Agricultural balers typically comprise two main parts used in the formation of the bales, being a pre-compression chamber and a baling chamber. Crop material is gathered and pushed into the pre-compression chamber, where a slice of crop material is formed. Pre-compression chamber is linked to the baling chamber in such a manner that the slice of crop material can periodically be transferred into the baling chamber. In the baling chamber, a plunger reciprocally moves, thereby pressing a square bale from subsequently feeded slices.
The plunger movement is powered via a main shaft driven by a motor. Thereby, the motor can be a part of the baler, or can be a part of e.g. the tractor connected to the baler via a power take-off (PTO). In practice, this reciprocal movement of the plunger is often considered the most dominant movement in the baler, dominant meaning that other movements are made relative to this movement of the plunger. The reason is that the plunger movement requires the highest force (highest relative to other forces needed for operating the baler). Off all movements in the baler, the movement of the plunger shows the highest inertia.
The pre-compression chamber is adapted for receiving gathered crop material. To this end, the pre-compression chamber shows an inlet. The pre-compression chamber furthermore shows an outlet towards the baling chamber. Between the inlet and the outlet, a channel is defined in which crop material can gather into a slice of crop material. The pre-compression chamber comprises a slice pushing mechanism provided for pushing a slice of crop material formed in the pre-compression chamber through the outlet of the pre-compression chamber into the baling chamber. The sliced crop material is typically pushed in a first segment of the baling chamber. First segment is typically located directly behind the plunger (the plunger being in the withdrawn position). Thereby the slice of crop material is pushed in the baling chamber, after which the plunger can propel the crop material into the baling chamber, thereby pushing the most recently entered slice into the baling chamber, making it a part of the square bale.
The pre-compression chamber comprises, for the purpose of pushing the slice into the baling chamber, a slice pushing mechanism. Different types of slice pushing mechanisms are known, among which fingers grasping behind the slice and pushing the slice through the outlet, or a set of conveyer belts in between which the slice is formed, and which conveyer belts are driven to push the slice through the outlet.
The slice pushing mechanism is driven via a driving mechanism that is operationally linked to the plunger driving mechanism. A synchronized movement between the slice pushing mechanism and the plunger is needed to ensure a proper operation of the baler. Namely, only when the plunger is withdrawn, a slice can be pushed in the baling chamber. In practice, different synchronization types are possible among which a one/one synchronization, meaning that every withdrawal of the plunger a new slice is entered into the baling chamber, or a one/two synchronization, meaning that every other withdrawal of the plunger a new slice is entered, thus the plunger moves forth and back two times for each slice. Other synchronization timing such as one/three, one/four, . . . are also possible.
Synchronization is in practice realized by mechanically linking the plunger driving mechanism and the slice pushing driving mechanism. Such mechanical link ensures proper synchronization, as the slice pushing mechanism is mechanically driven by the plunger movement, it cannot move out of synchronization.
A drawback relates to so called top fill. Top fill is a measure for the uniformity of the slice after it has entered the first segment of the baling chamber. It will be recognized that a non-uniform fill, for example where the lower part of the first segment is more dense than an upper part, results in an inferior bale. Such top fill has an effect that a bale is high dense at the lower end, and not dense at the top, resulting in an unstable bale that is likely to show a substantial deviation from the ideal square form. Such bale will bend like a banana resulting in a weirdly shaped bale. A negative top fill also results in a substantial wear of the plunger and baling chamber, as forces are not equally transmitted. The plunger will feel a substantially high resistance at the lower part of the plunger compared to the upper part resistance of the plunger. This will create a torque force exerted to the plunger which has to be borne by the plunger driving mechanism. When the ideal top fill can be obtained, a bale can be formed with nearly ideal outer dimensions and shape, and excessive wear on the baler mechanism can be avoided. In prior art balers, the ideal top fill is obtained by controlling the slice forming process in the pre-compression chamber. By obtaining a slice in which the crop material is evenly spread over the slice, after which the slice is pushed into the baling chamber, an acceptable top fill can be obtained.
A drawback of the existing top fill controlling mechanisms is that a deviation of the top fill can still occur depending on the baling speed and the type of crop material (hay, straw, silage, . . . ).


An action recognition system is illustrated. The action recognition system has an annular body, at least one light emitting unit, at least one light sensing unit and an action recognition module. The annular body is worn on a movable part of a user. One end of the light emitting unit is exposed on an inner side of the annular body, wherein the light emitting unit emits a first light beam illuminating at least a portion of the movable part. One end of the light sensing unit is exposed on the inner side of the annular body. The light sensing unit operatively senses a second light beam reflected by the at least portion of the movable part and generates a light sensing signal. The action recognition module is configured to operatively determine an action of the user according to the light sensing signal.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an action recognition system and method thereof in particular, to an action recognition system operable to determine an action of a user by optically detecting the muscular variation of a movable part of the user and the method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Muscle is one of the important tissues in the human body and mainly classifies into three types: skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle. The skeletal muscle mainly surrounds the extremities of the human body for controlling the basic body movement. More specifically, the contraction movements of the skeletal muscle are controlled by human conscious and stimulated by the never system in a manner that the contraction movements of the skeleton muscle can cause the movement of human skeleton helping the human body to move.
The surface electromyography (SEMG) is used to detect and record the electromyographic signals generated during the contraction movements of the muscle by electrodes placed on the surface above the muscle, wherein each of the electromyographic signals generated is related to a muscular activity and thus reflects the muscular variation during muscle movement. Currently the SEMG not only is utilized for medical diagnostic use but also is utilized for action recognition application.
However, existing SEMG still has issues with action recognition operations, such as the processing speed of a electromyographic signal processing apparatus does not easily comply to the requirements for action recognition due to the limitation of field programmable gate array (FPGA), the circuitry for amplifying the signal at sensing end is relatively complex, the measuring positions are limited only to the chest and forearms, particular hands, moreover electromyographic signals are vulnerable to interference of power source noises and electromagnetic noises. In other words, there still exist many issues with present action recognition systems using SEMG. To the rapidly developed wearable technology, action recognition products using electromyographic signals are still not suitable for consumer wearable electronic product applications.

Action recognition system and method thereof


A steam-resistant optical fiber cable (20) includes a core (21) comprising a plurality of optical fiber ribbons (22,22) disposed within a tubular member (30) comprised of a high temperature resistant material. The tubular member is disposed within a hermetic sealing member (40) which comprises a metal of low electrochemical activity having a sealed seam. An outer jacket (50) is disposed about the hermetic sealing member and in a preferred embodiment is characterized by resistance to degradation in high temperature, high humidity environments. The core may be unfilled or filled with a waterblocking material and in a preferred embodiment, a waterblocking member is interposed between the tubular member and the hermetic sealing member.

In metropolitan areas it is not uncommon to run communications cable in underground ducts which are located adjacent to steam lines. The operating condition of the steam varies generally from 0.7 MPa (100 psig) to 2.8 MPa (400 psig). The corresponding minimum temperature of the steam, which is higher if superheated, varies from 165.degree. C. (328.degree. F.) to 230.degree. C. (445.degree. F.).
The rupture of underground steam piping is of great concern to telecommunication operating companies. Optical fiber cables placed in the neighborhood of steam pipes are vulnerable to damage and failure when there is a steam leak or when a pipe ruptures. When a high pressure steam pipe ruptures, adjacent optical fiber cable is exposed to a high temperature, high moisture, and high velocity environment. The values, of course, depend on the distance between the location of the rupture in the steam pipe and the cable. It is estimated from field data that the maximum steam temperature to which the cables may be exposed when there is a steam pipe leak or rupture could be as high as 140.degree. C. (284.degree. F.). The duration of exposure could be as long as a few months. Currently available commercial optical fiber cables have been found to fail in such an environment. The failures are not surprising because cables presently made were not designed for such an environment. The high temperature, high moisture, and high velocity environment degrades or melts the cable materials, resulting in the failure of optical fibers over a period of time.
Because steam may have an adverse affect on the communications cable, it is incumbent upon cable manufacturers to provide a cable having a sheath system which is capable of preventing damage to optical fiber when the cable is in service adjacent to steam piping. The primary considerations for a steam-resistant optical fiber cable are the high temperature and high moisture conditions. These conditions relate directly to the basic high temperature and hydrolytic stability performance of the cable materials. A sheath system of optical fiber cable suitable for use adjacent to steam lines must be such as to meet the high temperature and high humidity conditions. The high velocity condition is more closely related to the structural integrity and mechanical performance of the cable, and should be used as a secondary design consideration of the cable.
In the past, polyethlene-jacketed, lead-shielded cables were used in steam environments. Not only was this arrangement very costly, but the outer layer of polyethylene, when exposed to high temperatures for a long period of time, tended to melt or to develop cracks. Cables having a polyethylene jacket extruded over a soldered seam steel shield also have been used. However, in cables of this latter construction, the soldered seam generally has not been continuous.
In one steam-resistant, metallic conductor cable, a corrugated metallic layer surrounds a core and an extruded covering of polymeric materials surrounds the metallic layer. The extruded covering includes an inner jacket which is intimate contact with the metallic layer and which is interposed between the metallic layer and an outer jacket extruded over and in intimate contact with the inner jacket. The outer jacket is constructed of a material which is capable of withstanding exposure to temperatures of at least 100.degree. C. (212.degree. F.) and the material of the inner jacket has a notch sensitivity substantially less than that of the material of the outer jacket to maintain substantially the structural integrity of the cable notwithstanding corrugation imprint thereof by the metallic layer. Further, the inner jacket has a thickness which is at least slightly greater than the depth of the corrugations of the metallic layer.
What is needed and what seemingly does not appear to be available in the prior art is a steam-resistant optical fiber cable which is capable of providing reliable transmission notwithstanding exposure to a high temperature, high humidity and high velocity steam environment. Of course, such an optical fiber cable must not have an unduly large diameter and must be reasonable in cost.

Steam-resistant cable such as steam-resistant optical fiber cable


A rotary ball for a fluid control valve controlling a fluid stream with a spherical ball control member and a spherically shaped dome containing a plurality of apertures at the ball inlet bore end. The fluid stream is dissipated and broken up into smaller streams by being forced through the apertured dome. One or more apertured discs can be mounted in the bore to obtain the desired valve capacity and noise attenuation. A domed apertured plate may also be used at the bore outlet end. Substantially constant noise attenuation is obtained over the full travel of the valve from the initial open position to the fully opened position.

It is desired to provide full ball rotary control valves for fluid control systems wherein means are provided for reducing both the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic noise within the system. It is especially desired to provide such noise attenuating means movable with the rotary ball control member so as to reduce the construction costs as well as the maintenance costs for such units.
Several combined full ball/attenuator units incorporate noise attenuator devices mounted within the ball bore such that full noise attenuation is obtained upon initial valve opening; a substantial reduction in attenuation is obtained as the valve is continued and zero attenuation is obtained when the valve is fully opened. In the fully opened valve position the flow stream is substantially unimpeded by the noise attenuator devices. Such units are desired where the control valve must handle a high capacity of fluid flow.
In certain applications a high capacity flow handling control valve is not needed. Also, it is desired in certain applications that the amount of noise attenuation should be fairly constant with respect to the control valve position, and in particular it may be desired to have almost full noise attenuation at the full-travel or fully opened valve position.

Rotary ball fluid control valve with noise attenuator


Endoprosthesis, such as a stent, includes at least one annular element defined by a first set of strut members interconnected to define apices proximate opposite sides of the annular element. The annular element further includes a foot extension extending between at least one pair of circumferentially-adjacent strut members. The foot extension has first and second foot portions extending circumferentially from corresponding ends of the circumferentially-adjacent strut members, and are contoured to provide at least two areas of flexure. The first and second foot portions are joined at a toe portion of the foot extension, and define a circumferentially-directed apex between the pair of circumferentially-adjacent strut members. Preferably, at least one or more additional annular elements, each defined by interconnected strut members, are provided. The annular elements are generally expandable between a delivery configuration and a deployed configuration. The annular elements are longitudinally aligned and connected at connection locations. Preferably, each connection location includes a foot extension, such as by an overlapping pattern between the longitudinally-adjacent annular elements or by a connector extending therebetween.

Stents, grafts and a variety of other endoprostheses are well known and used in interventional procedures, such as for treating aneurysms, for lining or repairing vessel walls, for filtering or controlling fluid flow, and for expanding or scaffolding occluded or collapsed vessels. Such endoprostheses can be delivered and used in virtually any accessible body lumen of a human or animal, and can be deployed by any of a variety of recognized means. One recognized indication of endoprostheses, such as stents, is for the treatment of atherosclerotic stenosis in blood vessels. For example, after a patient undergoes a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or similar interventional procedure, an endoprosthesis, such as a stent, is often deployed at the treatment site to improve the results of the medical procedure and to reduce the likelihood of restenosis. The endoprosthesis is configured to scaffold or support the treated blood vessel; if desired, the endoprosthesis can also be loaded with beneficial agent so as to act as a delivery platform to reduce restenosis or the like.
The endoprosthesis is typically delivered by a catheter delivery system to a desired location or deployment site inside a body lumen of a vessel or other tubular organ. To facilitate such delivery, the endoprosthesis must be capable of having a particularly small cross profile to access deployment sites within small diameter vessels. Additionally, the intended deployment site may be difficult to access by a physician and often involves traversing the delivery system through the tortuous pathway of the anatomy. It therefore is desirable to provide the endoprosthesis with a sufficient degree of longitudinal flexibility during delivery to allow advancement through the anatomy to the deployed site.
Once deployed, the endoprosthesis should be capable of satisfying a variety of performance characteristics. The endoprosthesis should have sufficient rigidity or outer bias when deployed to perform its intended function, such as opening a lumen or supporting a vessel wall. Similarly, the endoprosthesis should have suitable flexibility along its length when deployed so as not to kink or straighten when deployed in a curved vessel. It also may be desirable to vary the rigidity or flexibility of the endoprosthesis along its length, depending upon the intended use. Additionally, it may be desirable for the endoprosthesis to provide substantially uniform or otherwise controlled coverage, e.g., as determined by the ratio of the outer surface of the endoprosthesis to the total surface of the vessel wall along a given length. For example, increased coverage may be desired for increased scaffolding, whereas decreased coverage may be desired for side access to branch vessels. Control of the cross profile and length of the endoprosthesis upon deployment also is desirable, at least for certain indications.
Numerous designs and constructions of various endoprosthesis embodiments have been developed to address one or more of the performance characteristics summarized above. For example, a variety of stent designs are disclosed in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,568 to Gianturco; U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,417 to Palmaz; U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,404 to Wolff; U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,732 to Wiktor; U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,331 to Boneau; U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,154 to Lau et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,295 to Lam; U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,386 to Schnepp-Pesch et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,303 to Israel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,771 to Penn et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,161 to Globerman; U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,406 to Gray et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,434 to Borghi; U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,561 to Alt; U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,548 to Roubin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,627 to Jang; U.S. Pat. No. 6,132,460 to Thompson; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,189 to Wolinsky; each of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Although the various designs for endoprostheses that have been developed to date may address one or more of the desired performance characteristics, there a remains need for a more versatile design for an endoprosthesis that allows improvement of one or more performance characteristics without sacrificing the remaining characteristics.


A harmonic filtering device placed in a high frequency line connecting a radio transmitter to its load with at least one cell in parallel on the line, constituted by an anti-resonant circuit (at the transmission frequency of the transmitter) in series with a resistor, whose value is approximately 1/20th of the characteristic impedance of the line. This cell is made of a coaxial line with four conductors in which inset elements (short-circuit, capacitor, load) form the inductor and the capacitor of the anti-resonant circuit and the resistor. The resistor of this cell has no effect at the transmission frequency of the transmitter and creates insulation between the load and the transmitter for harmonic frequencies.

The present invention relates to harmonic filtering devices intended for use most specifically in transmission stations equipped with high and very high power radio transmitters (over 100 kW and 1,000 kW respectively). High and very high power transmitters are generally equipped with harmonic filtering devices, beyond the anode circuits (or output circuits). The known harmonic filtering devices are reaction circuits with localised or distributed constants, associated with the transmission line between the transmitter and the load. Their function is to eliminate the harmonic signals produced at the same time as the fundamental or useful signal. These harmonic filtering devices can be of very different types, such as low pass, band pass, punctiform rejector, etc. Depending on the type of transmitter and the frequency band to be covered they are fixed or tunable. In all cases they are designed in such a way as to have at their input the rated load with correct matching to the fundamental frequency, if they are closed on the rated load impendance.
In the case of harmonic frequencies, the input impedance, which is to be as close as possible to a short circuit, is highly mismatched. The greater the filtering the greater the extent of mismatching. In this connection it is pointed out that the determination of a filtering device makes it necessary to know the load impedance, which is generally considered as having the same value for the harmonics and for the fundamental frequency in connection with the study of the filtering device. In practice this is far from being the case.
Due to the fact that there are numerous circuits behind the transmitter the load value of the filtering device varies very widely as a function of the harmonic frequency values. Bearing this in mind it is not possible to reliably guarantee a known value of the input impedance of the filtering device for the harmonic signals.
The obvious and well known consequence for designers of transmission stations is the difficulty of providing for the operation of the output stage of the transmitter in the numerous operating configurations offered by switching circuits or other variable circuits positioned downstream of the filtering device. The transmitter is not "insulated" from the load at harmonic frequencies.

Harmonic filtering device for radio transmitter


A data divider divides N-dimensional digital image signals into higher-order bit signals and lower-order bit signals. Reference values corresponding to all combinations of the divided higher-order bit signals are divisionally stored in 2N−1 sub-memories without overlaps. The (N+1) reference values necessary for interpolation processing are read by a reference value reader at the same time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data classifying method, a multi-dimensional interpolation device, a multi-dimensional interpolation method, and a computer program, which are particularly suitably used for executing interpolation of N-dimensional vector signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a scanner, a video camera, etc. have been widely used as input units. Various types of color printers utilizing ink jets, dye sublimation, electrophotography, etc. have been widely used as output units. Those color input and output units have specific color spaces. Accordingly, for example, when a color image obtained with a certain scanner is directly transferred to and printed by a certain color printer, colors of a printed color image hardly match with the colors of the original color image read by the scanner.
Overcoming such a problem with color reproduction between devices handling a color image or the like requires processing (called "color space conversion") for converting a color space of the input unit to a color space of the output unit. To increase a color reproduction capability between the input unit and the output unit, each of the input unit and the output unit includes the color-space conversion function.
The term "color space conversion" practically means the whole of a series of image processing steps, such as input γ correction, luminance density conversion, masking, black generation, UCR (under color removal), output γ correction, etc., or some of those steps. In general, digital image signals of three colors (e.g., red, green and blue that are abbreviated to "RGB" hereinafter) used in the input unit are read at the same time and are converted to digital image signals of three colors (e.g., cyan, magenta and yellow that are abbreviated to "CMY" hereinafter) or four colors (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow and black that are abbreviated to "CMYK" hereinafter) used in the output unit. Also, in the case of an electrophotographic copying machine, because a printer's engine characteristics are changed with the lapse of operation time, periodic calibration is required. In that case, conversion of four colors (e.g., "CMYK") in the input unit to four colors (e.g., "CMYK") in the output unit is also required.
A first known technique for realizing the above-mentioned color-space converting process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,722. According to the first known technique, the three-dimensional cubic (tri-linear) interpolation method or the three-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method is executed at a high speed through the steps of divisionally storing a 3D-LUT (three-dimensional lookup table), which stores the results of the color conversion, in eight memories, and reading reference values from the 3D-LUT in parallel.
With the disclosed technique, the reference values corresponding to respective apexes of a unit hypercube and used for interpolation are all stored in different memories from one another so that access conflicts will not occur when the reference values are read out of the memories. Also, the 3D-LUT is stored in eight memories while being evenly divided without overlaps (when a multi-dimensional LUT is so divisionally stored in a plurality of memories in order to read reference values from the multi-dimensional LUT in parallel, the plurality of memories will be referred to as "sub-memories" hereinafter). The description of the first known technique is limited to the three-dimensional interpolation method. However, when multi-dimensional interpolation processing is executed by using the first known technique, the processing can be executed by divisionally storing the multi-dimensional LUT in a number 2N of sub-memories.
Also, there is a second known technique that executes the three-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method at a high speed through the steps of storing a 3D-LUT in four sub-memories while dividing it without overlaps, and reading reference values in parallel (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-307911).
With the second known technique, when executing the three-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method, four reference values corresponding to respective apexes of a selected tetrahedron are read in parallel to increase the speed of the interpolation processing. Further, in the second known technique, the 3D-LUT is stored in four sub-memories while being evenly divided without overlaps so that access conflict will not occur when the reference values are read out of the sub-memories, as in the first known technique.
In addition, the LUT in the second known technique is divided in the multi-dimensional form. Accordingly, when the hyper-tetrahedron ((N+1)-hedron) interpolation method with N-dimensional inputs is executed, a multi-dimensional (N-dimensional) LUT can be divisionally stored in a number (N+1) of sub-memories.
Thus, the second known technique is superior to the first known technique in point of using a smaller number of sub-memories.
According to the first known technique, the multi-dimensional LUT is divided into 2N by storing a number N of reference values corresponding to respective apexes of a unit hypercube in a number N of sub-memories. Therefore, the first known technique is advantageous in that it can also be realized by using other methods (e.g., the three-dimensional cubic (tri-linear) interpolation method and the three-dimensional triangular-prism (prism) interpolation method) other than the multi-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method.
However, when the first known technique is practiced on the premise of using the multi-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method, a number 2N of memory peripheral circuits, such as memory interfaces, are required to read a number (N+1) of reference values necessary for the interpolation processing from the sub-memories in parallel. Consequently, redundant circuits are increased.
According to the second known technique, the processing is limited only to the multi-dimensional tetrahedron interpolation method, and the multi-dimensional (N-dimensional) LUT is divisionally stored in a minimum number (N+1) of sub-memories. Hence, the second known technique is advantageous in that memory peripheral circuits are also constituted in an optimum scale.
However, when N is not a value of (second power−1), the number of sub-memories is not a value of second power. For example, when N is 4, the number of sub-memories is 5. Then, when the second known technique is practiced in the form of hardware, the processing cannot be handled in binary mode. For that reason, in the case of N being not a value of (second power−1), a divider is required to generate addresses for accessing the sub-memories because the addresses cannot be generated with only shift operation and bit masking. In addition, memories are generally manufactured as products having a word number of second power. Therefore, when the sub-memories are constituted using marketed memories, the second known technique necessitates the use of memories each having a redundant word number.

Data classifying method, multi-dimensional interpolation device, multi-dimensional interpolation method, and computer program