Footwear includes a heel; an upper; a light source mounted to at least one of the heel and upper; and a light module positioned within the heel, the light module including a power supply for supplying power; a capacitor for storing power from the power supply and for discharging the stored power, the capacitor being connected with the light source to activate the light source; a switch for alternately opening and closing a connection between the power supply and the capacitor upon movement of the footwear, such that when the switch closes the connection, the capacitor charges to a full capacity thereof as determined by the power supply, and the light source is activated to emit light at a first intensity in accordance with the full capacity of the charge on the capacitor, and when the switch opens the connection, the capacitor discharges from the full capacity thereof, and the light source is activated to emit light at an intensity less than the first intensity and which decreases over time, in accordance with the discharge, to produce a fading effect; and a photosensor for sensing ambient light and for preventing activation of the light source when the photosensor senses ambient light of an intensity greater than a predetermined intensity, regardless of whether the switch is open or closed.

This invention relates to footwear, and more particularly, is directed to motion activated illuminating footwear having a light module therein.
It is well known to position a light inside of a heel of footwear, with the light being activated all of the time. In such known construction, the light can be turned off by means of a switch extending from the heel of the footwear. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,253 to McCormick. However, this construction provides certain disadvantages. First, there is the possibility that the switch is not turned off, in which case the light will burn out in a very short period of time. Second, a connection must be made between the switch on the outside of the heel to the circuitry within the heel, which adds to the cost and complexity of the footwear. Third, there is the possibility that the switch can be damaged, for example, by banging the shoe against an object, since the switch is externally accessible.
For the above reasons, it is preferred to position the entire circuitry and switch therefor entirely within the heel of the footwear. In this regard, it is well known to position a light, such as a light emitting diode (LED) inside of the heel of footwear, such that the light is visible from the exterior of the footwear, with the light being activated by means of a pressure sensitive switch. In particular, when the wearer steps down and exerts pressure on the pressure sensitive switch when walking or running, a circuit is closed so as to supply power to activate the LED. When the wearer steps up, relieving pressure from the pressure sensitive switch, the circuit is opened so as disconnect power to the LED. Examples of such footwear are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,188,447 to Chiang et al, European Pat. Application No. 0 121 026, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,133 to Duval. However, the use of a pressure sensitive switch and the associated circuit connections increases the cost and complexity of the footwear.
It is also known to position a light inside of the heel of footwear, with the light being activated by a mercury tilt switch in the footwear. See, for example, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,608,485, the aforementioned European Patent Application No. 0 121 026, U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,922 to Dana, III, U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,009 to Rodgers and U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,247 to Dana, III. However, the addition of the mercury tilt switch and the associated circuitry greatly adds to the cost and complexity of the footwear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,764 to Wut, the entire disclosure or which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of an LED inside of the heel of a shoe, and which is intermittently activated by movement of the shoe. Specifically, when the shoe is moved, the free end of a coil spring which is fixed in a cantilevered manner, is caused to intermittently complete the electrical circuit to supply current to the LED.
However, the LED is activated at all times, that is, even in the daytime. Since illumination by the LED is not noticeable during the daytime, such illumination is wasteful and results in unnecessary usage of the battery.
Further, with all of the above assemblies, the LED is either entirely off or on at a set intensity. In other words, there are no times when the LED is illuminated at different intensities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,724 discloses footwear which uses a photoresistive switch connected between the battery and the LEDs so that the LEDs are only lit at night or darkness for saving power consumption of the battery. However, this device does not disclose illumination at different or varied intensities, let alone in conjunction with the photoresistive switch.

Motion activated illluminating footwear and light module therefor with fading and means for deactivating in bright light


A system includes a first communication module and a second communication module. The first communication module is configured to be disposed onboard a first vehicle of a vehicle consist, and the second communication module is configured to be disposed onboard a second vehicle of the vehicle consist. The first and second communication modules are communicatively coupled by first and second communication paths. The first and second communication modules are configured to communicate first information over the first communication path and second information over the second communication path. At least a portion of the first information includes a first command corresponding to a first operation of at least one of the first or second vehicles. At least a portion of the second information includes a second command corresponding to the first operation.

A vehicle system may include one or more powered vehicles that may be mechanically linked (directly or indirectly) to non-powered vehicles. The powered and non-powered vehicles of the vehicle system may travel as a group along a designated route. In cases where the vehicle system includes multiple powered vehicles, the vehicle system may coordinate operations of the powered vehicles to move the vehicle system. For example, a rail vehicle system may include a powered unit consist that has one or more powered units mechanically coupled to one or more non-powered rail cars. Vehicles in a consist may include a lead powered unit and one or more remote powered units and/or trail powered units. (Remote powered units are those that are spaced apart from the lead powered unit by one or more non-powered vehicles. Trail powered units are those that are in the same powered unit consist as the lead powered unit, and thereby not spaced apart from the lead powered unit by one or more non-powered rail vehicles, but that are subordinate to control by the lead powered unit.) The lead vehicle may control operation of one or more remote vehicles. More specifically, the lead vehicle (e.g., a lead locomotive) may coordinate tractive and braking operations of the different powered units (e.g., remote or trail locomotives) to control movement of the rail vehicle consist (e.g., a train). In some cases, a single train may include a plurality of such locomotive consists. The locomotive consists may communicate with one another to coordinate tractive and braking operations of the train.
In certain conventional vehicle systems, a lead vehicle communicates with remote powered vehicles via a multiple unit (MU) line. The information transmitted over the MU line is limited by the amount of wires or channels on the MU line. Thus, conventional MU communications do not identify a particular remote vehicle for which a command is intended. Instead, a similar command is sent to all remote vehicles. Similarly, conventional MU communications do not include information identifying a particular remote vehicle from which a status is sent. For example, a lead vehicle may receive an alarm, but not information indicating the particular remote vehicle from which the alarm was sent. Further, communications sent using conventional MU techniques may be quite limited in level of detail and/or fidelity.
These and other drawbacks of conventional communications among powered units of a consist may result in poor performance, limited flexibility of control, difficulty in troubleshooting and/or adjusting for changes in status of one or more vehicles, and the like.

System and method for communicating data in a vehicle system


Prioritizing resource allocation for relay nodes that have higher bandwidth capabilities, such as 5G EN-DC, versus other relay nodes that do not have such capabilities. The bandwidth capability can be based on a channel bandwidth allocation for different relay nodes, with the assumption that 5G or higher relay nodes will be able to utilize higher bandwidth channels.

As wireless networks evolve and grow, there are ongoing challenges in communicating data across different types of networks. For example, a wireless network may include one or more access nodes, such as base stations, for providing wireless voice and data service to wireless devices in various coverage areas of the one or more access nodes. As wireless technology continues to improve, various different iterations of radio access technologies (RATs) may be deployed within a single wireless network. Such heterogeneous wireless networks can include newer 5G and millimeter wave (mm-wave) networks, as well as older legacy networks. In some cases, deployment of 5G new radio (NR) access nodes alongside or co-located with 4G long-term evolution (LTE) access nodes utilizes dual connectivity technology (e.g. EN-DC), wherein control information is transmitted using the 4G RAT and data is transmitted using the 5G RAT. There are various potential deployments of EN-DC, such as one-to-one (where a 4G eNodeB is colocated with a 5G gNodeB at the same cell site or radio access network), or one-to-many (where a 4G eNodeB at a first radio access network is coupled via X2 links to many different 5G gNodeBs, each within their own radio access network or cell site). Each radio access network (RAN) or cell site can further include a cell site router, which provides connectivity to other network elements, such as an intermediate or core network. The connection between the cell site router and other network elements closer to the core network may be referred to as a mobile backhaul.
Further, as wireless device technology improves, relay nodes are being deployed to improve service quality by relaying communication between an access node, and wireless devices in the wireless network. For example, relay nodes may be used at the edge of a coverage area of an access node to improve coverage and/or service, as well as in crowded areas having a high number of other wireless devices to increase the available throughput to the wireless devices being relayed. Relay nodes are generally configured to communicate with the serving access node (i.e. a "donor" access node) via a wireless connection, and to deploy a wireless air interface to which end-user wireless devices can attach. Relay nodes can include a combination of a relay wireless device physically coupled to a relay access point (AP). The relay wireless device provides the wireless connection between the AP and the donor access node, and such a wireless connection may be referred to as a wireless backhaul. Meanwhile the relay AP deploys the wireless air interface to which end-user wireless devices can attach. The relay wireless device can include a 5G-capable wireless device, thereby being able to avail of the aforementioned dual connectivity or EN-DC for a more robust wireless backhaul.
However, transitioning to these advanced technologies in today's heterogenous wireless networks can be associated with problems. In particular, since relay nodes serve increasing numbers of wireless devices, it must be ensured that the relay nodes themselves are provided with a high quality wireless backhaul, that is, the wireless connection between the relay node and the donor access node. Such considerations are further complicated in heterogeneous networks with various relay nodes having different capabilities, e.g. 5G relay nodes and 4G relay nodes. For example, a donor access node having a loaded wireless air interface may be unable to allocate resources for multiple relay nodes and, therefore, the service quality for the end-user wireless devices attached to the relay nodes can suffer.

Allocating air interface resources to relay nodes in heterogeneous networks


A marine vessel control system that includes at least one primary marine propulsory mechanism providing a thrust vector and being movably attached to the vessel. An actuating system is coupled to the at least one primary marine propulsory mechanism manipulating the orientation of the thrust vector. At least one servo control is linked with the actuating system. At least one attitude sensor provides a signal that indicates the attitude of the vessel. A central control computer is operatively coupled to the actuating system, the servo control and the attitude sensor. The central control computer controls the actuation of the at least one primary marine propulsory mechanism's thrust vector in response to the signal from the attitude sensor indicating the attitude of the vessel. The attitude, stability and motion damping and at least one of the pitch, roll and yaw axes of the vessel is controlled.

Marine vessels typically include propulsion mechanisms that are capable of propelling a vessel through a body of water. Some propulsion mechanisms are capable of being manipulated to steer the marine vessel. For example, a waterjet nozzle mechanism may be rotated around its vertical axis to steer a vessel having the waterjet attached. Some propulsion mechanisms are capable of being manipulated to both steer and trim the marine vessel. For example, an outboard mechanism may be rotated around its vertical axis to steer a vessel and rotated around its transverse axis to trim a vessel having the outboards attached.
Marine vessels may be subject to various dynamic forces generated by its propulsion system as well as the dynamic environment in which it operates. For example, forces from the action of waves or wind against the vessel may apply dynamic inputs to the motion of a vessel. Additionally, the dynamic forces generated destabilize the vessel's attitude as well as affect the overall performance of the vessel.
There is therefore a need in the art for an active attitude control, stabilization and motion damping system for a marine vessel.


The present invention is to ensure that when it has been judged that film-formation areas of a plurality of layers laminated on the same luminescent areas of organic EL devices involve a defect, it is possible to exactly find which layer of the multi-laminated layers is a defective layer. The film formation areas of layers to be laminated on luminescent area are formed in a manner such that overlap deviations e1-e3 are intentionally formed.

This invention relates to an organic EL (Electroluminescence) panel and a method of manufacturing the same.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2004-083076, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
An organic EL panel is produced by forming surface emission elements which are organic EL devices (elements) on a substrate, and forming a displaying area by arranging one or more organic EL devices. Each organic EL device is mounted on a substrate and comprises a first electrode, an organic layer including one or more layers of organic compound materials containing at least one organic luminescent layer, and a second electrode, thereby forming a structure with the organic layer interposed between a pair of electrodes.
In such an organic EL panel, film formation areas of layers (such as organic layer) essential for organic EL device(s) are formed corresponding to single or a group of luminescent areas (which may be pixels if display is dot matrix display) to be formed on a substrate. For example, if it is desired to effect light emission of different colors in luminescent area units in order to effect a color display, it is necessary for material layers related to light emission colors to be formed by different materials in different light emission units. However, in forming films in luminescent area units, it is also possible to select luminescent areas on which film formation is performed using an identical material, by employing a film formation mask having a pattern indicating many openings corresponding to selected luminescent areas, thereby forming film formation areas corresponding to the selected luminescent areas by virtue of mask pattern.
On the other hand, in order to improve luminescent performance and to ensure various luminescent colors for organic EL devices, the above-mentioned organic layer and electrode layers are sometimes required to be formed into multi-layered structures. At this time, the foregoing film formation mask is employed to form laminated layers in the film formation areas corresponding to luminescent areas.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Hei 2002-367787 discloses an organic EL panel shown in FIG. 1A. As shown, on one surface of a substrate 1 there are formed a plurality of first electrodes 2 consisting of a transparent conductive material such as ITO. A plurality of insulating films 3 are arranged to cover the exposed portions (between every two adjacent first electrodes 2) of the substrate 1 as well as part of the periphery of each first electrode 2, thereby dividing the substrate into a plurality of small sections and thus forming a plurality of luminescent areas 45R, 45G, and 45B on the first electrodes 2. Then, a hole injection layer 40 and a hole transporting layer 41 are formed to cover the first electrodes and spaces therebetween, while areas 60R, 60G, and 60B are selected corresponding to different colors, followed by forming in the respective areas luminescent layers 42R, 42G, and 42B, electron transporting layers 43R, 43G, and 43B, and electron injection layers 44R, 44G, and 44B. Finally, second electrodes 50 are formed over these layers.
In this way, the luminescent layers 42R, 42G, and 42B, the electron transporting layers 43R, 43G, and 43B, and the electron injection layers 44R, 44G, and 44B together form the afore-mentioned organic layer in an organic EL panel, thus constituting film formation areas corresponding to the luminescent areas 45R, 45G, and 45B.
In the above-discussed prior art, if only single one luminescent area is considered, since the luminescent layer, the electron transporting layer, and an electron injection layer are formed using an identical pattern of the same film formation mask, it is preferred that the formed three layers are overlapped one upon another without any overlap deviation. However, since the film formation mask and the substrate have to be positioned relatively to each other for forming each film layer, some troubles in positioning operation will occur and thus film formation area in a certain specific layer will suffer a considerable overlap deviation, resulting in a film formation failure.
Usually, it is supposed that various film formation errors will occur in a film formation process using a film formation mask, so that the pattern of a film formation mask should be set such that the length and width of film formation area are somewhat longer than the length and width of luminescent area. However, as shown in FIG. 1B, if a certain specific layer b of laminated layers a-c is deviated from its film formation area and thus located away from a luminescent area s, trouble will occur in the luminescent state of the luminescent area s. As a result, such film formation is usually considered as a film formation failure which must be removed.
Usually, a film formation failure can be detected by an eye-inspection using a microscope or through an image processing. If an inspected state is like that shown in FIG. 1B, it is possible to judge that such a state is a film formation failure. However, it is extremely difficult to judge which layer among the laminated layers has been greatly deviated and thus is a defective layer. On the other hand, in a process of manufacturing an organic EL panel, once a film formation failure occurs at a certain step, similar failures will probably occur in later steps. Accordingly, it is extremely important to detect a specific layer in which a film formation failure has occurred, to re-check a film formation process for forming the specific layer, so as to improve the yield of manufacturing process.

Organic EL panel having film layers with overlap deviations


A catalytic converter for use in the exhaust system of an internal combustion engine having a catalyst coated substrate with an inlet face oriented at an angle less than ninety degrees to the flow of exhaust gas entering the converter and fluid flow channels extending through the substrate from the inlet face to an outlet face and oriented at an angle less than ninety degrees to the inlet face. The mounting configuration within the canister allows for an increase in the frontal or inlet area without a corresponding increase in the converter cross section while the angled flow channels minimize the effect of the angled mounting of the substrate relative to the exhaust flow on the backpressure imposed on the exhaust system by the converter.

Typical automotive vehicle exhaust systems, and an increasing number of non-automotive applications utilizing internal combustion engines, have catalytic converters disposed in the exhaust system for reducing the quantity of regulated exhaust constituents emitted therefrom. A common converter configuration utilizes a catalyst coated ceramic substrate packaged within a stainless steel canister. Openings on either side of the substrate conduct exhaust gas into, through, and out of the converter. The substrate is typically extruded and has catalyst coated passages through which the exhaust gas passes as it transits the converter.
An alternative to the ceramic substrate converter is the metal foil converter which utilizes a stack or coil of catalyst coated, corrugated metal foil sheets which are held together mechanically or by bonding to form a substrate. The metal foil substrate is mounted within a canister in a manner similar to the ceramic substrate. Placement of the sheets in a face-to-face orientation defines fluid flow passages between the sheets through which exhaust gas may flow.
Typical application of the catalytic converters heretofore described place the assembly in an under-body location where space considerations determine converter and, consequently, substrate size. In a common converter configuration described in Hood U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,205 issued Dec. 17, 1985 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the substrate is constructed such that the inlet and outlet faces are substantially perpendicular to the flow channels passing therethrough. The substrate is disposed within a canister such that the plume of incoming exhaust gas flows through the entrance cone with little expansion until it encounters the restriction to flow imposed by the inlet face at which point a portion of the flow passes directly through the substrate while the remainder of the flow is diverted to flow parallel to the inlet face of the substrate. The parallel flowing exhaust gas spreads over the face until it is turned again to flow through outer channels of the substrate. Each directional change imposed on the exhaust gas flow, as it transits the converter, adds to the restriction imposed on the system by the converter assembly.
In order to increase catalytic treatment area, it has been necessary to place multiple substrates in series in a single canister. Multiple bed designs, as such designs may be referred to, while increasing catalyst treatment area, have the drawback of increasing backpressure imposed on the exhaust system since the restriction imposed on the exhaust system by a converter is a function of the flow length and the inlet area of the substrate. Multiple bed designs increase the flow length while maintaining a constant inlet face area.
To reduce the backpressure imposed on the exhaust system by the converter, it may be desirable to increase substrate inlet face area (frontal area) while decreasing overall flow length and limiting increases in converter cross-section. In the case of converters having angled inlets, the entrance is at an angle to the substrate inlet face allowing for improved flow conditions as the gas approaches the substrate and an increase in frontal area with minimum effect on the converter cross section. Flow efficiency continues to suffer however due to the directional change experienced by the exhaust gas since the incoming flow must turn through the angle established by the flow channels, relative to exhaust flow direction, which extend perpendicular to the inlet face of the substrate.

Catalytic converter with angled inlet face


A method and system for IO processing in a storage system is disclosed. In accordance with the present disclosure, a controller may take long term “lease” of a portion (e.g., an LBA range) of a virtual disk of a RAID system and then utilize local locks for IOs directed to the leased portion. The method and system in accordance with the present disclosure eliminates inter-controller communication for the majority of IOs and improves the overall performance for a High Availability Active-Active DAS RAID system.

In Active-Active High Availability Direct Attached Storage (DAS) Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems, two or more controllers may issue IO requests towards the same set of virtual disks. This needs coordination and locking between the controllers. However, conventional locking mechanisms may quickly become a major overhead. Therein lies the need to provide a method and system for IO processing without the aforementioned shortcomings.

Leased lock in active-active high availability DAS systems

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A handheld vacuum cleaner including an inlet, an outlet, and a dust cup having an aperture. The dust cup is in fluid communication with the inlet and the outlet and is configured to retain debris collected by the handheld vacuum cleaner. A fan is configured to draw air through the inlet and the dust cup and to discharge air through the outlet. A door is adjacent to the dust cup and includes the inlet. The door is movable between an open position to allow a user to empty the debris collected within the dust cup through the aperture of the dust cup and a closed position to inhibit debris from being emptied through the aperture of the dust cup and to allow debris to be collected through the inlet and through the aperture of the dust cup. A biasing member configured to bias the door toward the open position.

The present invention relates to handheld vacuum cleaners.
Portable handheld vacuum cleaners can be used to clean a variety of surfaces in homes, offices, cars, and the like. Such handheld vacuum cleaners are often used for relatively small cleaning jobs or for cleaning in hard-to-reach places. Also, these vacuum cleaners are relatively light and have a handle to enable a user to readily use the vacuum cleaner in places where canister, upright, or shop-type vacuum cleaners cannot be used or are inconvenient to use. Often, such handheld vacuum cleaners are battery powered.

Techtronic Floor Care Technology Limited


Web pages are displayed with a simultaneous overview and magnified view. An indicator can show the portion of the overview in the magnified view. Both views can be shown, one above the other, across the full width of the same screen. A user can select between such a split view and another view, including an overview-only view, a magnified-only view, and a view in which selected text is laid out to fit the width of the magnified view. Navigational input can directly move the layout in the magnified view or the cursor, and can scroll both the overview and magnified view. The magnified view can display text with antialiased fonts designed for its resolution. The magnified view can be made to function like a magnifying glass. The width of text in multicolumn layouts can be limited to fit the width of a view window, such as the magnified-view.

This patent application has many aspects that relate to improving the use of computing devices with small or low resolution screens, such as handheld computers, cellphone computers, or computers with wrist or head mounted displays for browsing the World Wide Web or similar media, although some of its aspects could be used on larger screen computers.
At the time this application is being filed there are multiple handheld computers, such as so-called "personal digital assistants," that have approximately 240 by 320 pixel screens that measure approximately four inches diagonally. These include the Compaq ipaq Pocket PC, the Casio Cassiopeia, and the Hewlett-Packard Jornado. Unfortunately such a resolution would be too low to display most current Web pages in the manner they are designed to be viewed. Currently most Web pages can be viewed fairly well with a 640×480 resolution screen (although a few web sites cannot even be easily viewed at this resolution). It would be desirable to be able to view most web pages with such hand held devices in a manner that approximates the ease with which web pages can be viewed on larger screens.
Also at the time this application is being filed there are multiple cellphone that are designed to, amoung, other things allow users to browse web pages. Microsoft Corporation for example is supporting a SmartPhone software standard for cellphones that includes a screen size of 176×220 pixels, and includes web browsing software. Unfortunately, the browser software provided as part of this package does not allow users to browse most web pages on such a small screen with anything approaching the ease with which one can browse such web pages on a larger computer.
Other phone manufactures are offering cellphones with other screen sizes. For example, Nokia is currently selling a cellphones with a 176×208 pixel screen size. But currently there is no software for browsing web pages on the screens of these computers that comes close to making the browing of many web pages as easy as the browsing of such pages on screens of the size commonly found on desktop and laptop computers.
The manufacturers of liquid crystal displays are now capable of making small screens having substantially higher resolutions than those that are currently on the market. Makers of organic LED displays claim they can achieve even higher resolutions. This means that a four inch diagonal screen of the size currently in the handheld computers listed above could have a resolution of 480 by 640 or higher. Although such screens would provide an acceptable resolution for many web sites, even a higher effective resolution would be desirable to view many web pages.
In addition, in order for such screens to be seen at a relatively high resolution, they would have to be held close to a user's eyes. Although this might be satisfactory for many applications, users might often find it tiring or inconvenient to constantly hold a handheld computer close to their eyes.
Such advances in display resolution would also mean that a 320 by 240 pixel screens could be made with a diagonal length of two inches or less. Such a display would be smaller than the size of the display commonly contained in many present-day multi-media cellphones, and could also fit onto a wristwatch. Such displays would make many forms of applications currently used on hand held computers available on cellphones, wristwatches or other similarly small format computers. Unfortunately they would have the problem of both having a relatively low resolution that would tend to make it difficult for them to view most web pages, and of being so physically small that for a user to be able to see their resolution they would have to be held very close to the user's eyes. Again, holding such a device close to a user's eyes might be satisfactory at certain times, but over long periods of time, or in certain situations it might be inconvenient.
Currently there are several companies that provide head mounted displays that enable a person to see an image of a computer screen, either as a result of light reflected into the user's eyes through a device that appears somewhat like a pair of glasses, or from a mirror placed above, below, or off to the side of the user's eyes. To make it easy for a user to interact with their surroundings while using such a head mounted display, it is often desirable to have such projected computer screens take up a relatively small portion of the user's optic field. Thus, users of such displays might face many of the same problems as would users of small handheld screens.
Some aspects of the invention relate to methods for optimizing the browsing of a Web page on a computer with relatively limited computational power, memory, or bandwidth to the Internet. For example, currently a standard Web browser of the type used in most desktop and laptop computers requires many megabytes of memory and a relatively large amount of computational power. They also require a connection to the Internet having at least the speed of a high-speed modem to work at a desirable speed with a type of Web content contained in many of the World Wide Web's more frequently used Web pages. Unfortunately, many handheld computers either do not have the storage or computational capacity to be able to effectively view many such web pages. Also most commonly available wireless systems have a bandwidth that is substantially below that which would be desirable for viewing many Web pages. As a result of these factors, one of the focus of some of the innovations contained in this application relate to methods for enabling computers with limited storage, commutation, or bandwidth to better browse the World Wide Web or similar media.

Innovations for the display of web pages


A bit line sense amplifier overdriving method includes a step for reaching a bit line data signal to a full swing level by driving the sense amplifiers in accordance with an overdriving voltage in an overdriving pulse interval, when an overdriving pulse signal is generated at points in which the sense amplifiers are enabled and disabled in a data read operation and a data write operation. The method maintains a sufficiently long refresh interval during a refresh operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sense amplifier overdriving method, and more particularly to an improved sense amplifier overdriving method for entirely restoring a bit line during a read and write operation, by overdriving a sense amplifier at a disable point as well as at an enable point thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional sense amplifier, a PMOS transistor is provided with a relatively small current driving capacity compared to an NMOS transistor, but the size thereof is approximately two times larger than that of NMOS transistor.
In recent years, an ever increasing DRAM capacity has significantly decreased a chip size, and a PMOS transistor provided in a sense amplifier has accordingly decreased down to a size similar to that of NMOS transistor. As a result, a data driving characteristic of a PMOS transistor has been deteriorated, for thereby generating an undesired high bit line data signal amplified in a sense amplifier, and there is further employed a sense amplifier overdriving method for overdriving a sensing data at an enable point of the sense amplifier.
With reference to FIG. 1 illustrating a schematic circuit diagram for a general semiconductor memory structure, a pair of sense amplifiers 12, 13 are disposed above and below a memory cell 11, respectively. On corresponding sides of the respective sense amplifiers 12, 13 there are disposed sense amplifier drivers 14-17 for driving the sense amplifiers in accordance with an over drive pulse signal ODP.
As shown in FIG. 2, a sense amplifier controller 18 outputs a sense amplifier enable signal SAEN in accordance with an active row address strobe signal RAS, and an over drive pulse generator 19 outputs an over drive pulse signal ODP in accordance with the sense amplifier enable signal SAEN.
As further shown in FIG. 3A, when a word line WL becomes activated in a read operation, a cell charge (data) connected to the word line WL selected from the memory cell 11 comes to be loaded on a corresponding bit line, for thereby forming a potential difference between bit lines BL, /BL.
At this time, when a sense amplifier enable signal SAE is inputted in a state in which the potential difference is less than a minimal potential difference Vmin for reading normal data, the sense amplifier tends to output an invalid data signal.
Therefore, when the sense amplifier controller 18 outputs sense amplifier enable signal SAEN as shown in FIG. 3B in accordance with a row address strobe signal RAS, the over drive pulse generator 19 outputs the over drive pulse signal ODP as shown in FIG. 3C at a point in which the sense amplifier becomes enabled in accordance with the sense amplifier enable signal SAEN.
As a result, in an overdriving interval as shown in FIG. 3D, the sense amplifier drivers 14-17 drive the respective sense amplifiers 12, 13 using an overdriving voltage Vb, for thereby causing the sense amplifier to output a valid data signal.
Also, in a write operation, as shown in FIG. 4A, when a word line WL becomes activated, the sense amplifiers in the sense amplifier controller 18 respectively sense the data signal in accordance with the sense amplifier enable signal SAEN as shown in FIG. 4B, whereby the sensed data signal as shown in FIG. 4C comes to be written in the memory cell 11 through a corresponding bit line.
That is, an overdriving operation of the conventional bit line sense amplifier is carried out only when a sense amplifier becomes enabled in a data read operation.
However, since the conventional overdriving method is applied to read data, the bit line data signal in a data write operation does not reach a full swing level until the word line becomes disabled.
Further, an incomplete data signal that has not reached the full swing level becomes stored in a memory cell capacity, for thereby shortening a refresh interval during a refresh operation.

Method for overdriving bit line sense amplifier


An interconnection arrangement includes an input card, a signal distribution board having first and second opposite main faces, and an input connector having first and second releasably engageable parts with the first part of the input connector attached to the signal distribution board at the first main face thereof and the second part of the input connector attached to the input card. A bus driver circuit is mounted on the input card and has a signal input terminal for receiving an input signal to be distributed. The bus driver circuit includes first and second bus drivers. The first and second bus drivers each have an input connected to the signal input terminal of the bus driver circuit and they have separate respective outputs connected to first and second pins respectively of the second part of the input connector. A first signal distribution bus on the signal distribution board extends from a first pin of the first part of the input connector in a first direction and a second signal distribution bus on the signal distribution board extends from a second pin of the first part of the input connector in a second direction, opposite the first direction. The first and second pins of the first part of the input connector are connected to the first and second pins respectively of the second part of the input connector when the first and second parts of the input connector are engaged.

This invention relates to an interconnection arrangement for distributing electrical signals.
In many types of electronic equipment, it is necessary to distribute electrical signals to numerous receiving devices mounted on respective receiving cards.
FIG. 1 illustrates four electrical signal sources 2, each providing a high frequency electrical signal having two distinct logic levels. FIG. 1 also illustrates multiple receiving devices 4 and an interconnection arrangement 6. The purpose of the interconnection arrangement 6 is to make each of the signals provided by the signal sources 2 available to each of the receiving devices 4. As shown in FIG. 1, this may be accomplished by use of signal buses which are connected to the outputs of the signal devices and are selectively tapped by the receiving devices.
If the signal buses are linear, the length of each signal bus will depend on the number of receiving devices, because each receiving device takes up a finite space and each additional receiving device requires an additional amount of bus length. Thus, as the number of receiving devices increases, the length of the signal buses increases. As the length of the buses increases, signal degradation by transmission over the buses may render the interconnection arrangement unsuitable for high frequency digital signals.

Interconnection arrangement for distribution of electrical signal


In a webbing take-up device, a FL lock pawl is actuated by rotation of a spool in a pull-out direction relative to a lock base, coupling the spool and a lock ring of an energy absorption mechanism together by the FL lock pawl. A reduction in number of times the FL lock pawl is actuated is thereby enabled in comparison to a case in which the FL lock pawl always actuates on actuation of a lock mechanism. The occurrence of wear or the like of ratchet teeth of the FL lock pawl is suppressed as a result. Accordingly, improvement of margin for durability of the FL lock pawl that actuates the energy absorption mechanism is enabled.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a webbing take-up device provided with an energy absorption member.
Related Art
In a seatbelt retractor (webbing take-up device) described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2001-347921, after actuation of a seatbelt lock actuation mechanism (lock mechanism), rotation force of a spool in a pull-out direction is transmitted to a first torsion bar (first energy absorption member) and a second torsion bar (second energy absorption member), and the first torsion bar and the second torsion bar undergo twisting deformation, thereby absorbing impact energy.
Brief explanation follows regarding this transmission of rotation force from the spool to the second torsion bar. When actuation of the seatbelt lock actuation mechanism, a main pawl meshes with a lock ring, and the lock ring locks after rotating by a specific angle in the pull-out direction. When the lock ring rotates in the pull-out direction, an anchor tab engages with an internal gear interlocking to the rotation of the lock ring, so locking rotation of the internal gear. The rotation force of the spool is thereby transmitted to the second torsion bar via a planetary gear mechanism, a first pulley, and a second pulley.
However, in the seatbelt retractor described above, the anchor tab engages with the internal gear each time the seatbelt lock actuation mechanism is actuated (each time the lock ring rotates in the pull-out direction by the specific angle) as described above, therefore there is possibility of wear of the anchor tab occurring. A structure enabling margin for durability of the anchor tab to be improved is therefore desirable.


A system for degreasing the interior surfaces of kitchen exhaust ventilation ducting includes a number of nozzles connected to piping disposed interiorly and longitudinally to the ducting by a framework. The nozzles are supplied by a high pressure pump through the piping and direct a stream of high velocity fluid against the interior surface of the ducting. Selective operation of the nozzles preferably minimizes pump capacity. Sequencing of selective nozzle operation from top to bottom preferably produces a rolling cascade of high velocity fluid directed against the interior surface of the ducting. The resulting effluent is readily collected from the lower end of the ducting and disposed of in any manner desired.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cleansing the interior surfaces of enclosures, more particularly to cleansing the interior surfaces of substantially vertical longitudinal enclosures, and specifically to degreasing the interior surfaces of kitchen exhaust ducts of the type most commonly fed by intake hoods most commonly disposed above stoves.
2. General Background
The use of oils in cooking commonly results in air borne grease and smoke which is commonly vented out of restaurant kitchens with an intake hood and exhaust duct through which the grease and smoke laden air is induced by means of a fan and expelled outside to the ambient atmosphere exterior to the building in which the kitchen is located. This practice is important for sanitary and safety considerations among other factors such as the reduction of offensive odors. If airborne grease is not vented out of the kitchen it will readily result in a conflagration which will readily destroy the kitchen if not the entire building in which the kitchen is located.
The airborne grease, however, in being vented out of the kitchen through a duct, commonly accumulates upon the interior surfaces of the duct walls and creates a fire hazard there, particularly if the duct is connected to an intake hood above a stove which is perhaps the most common arrangement known. In recognition of this fire hazard it is a commonplace in the United States to require periodic degreasing of the interior surfaces of these ducts as a matter of fire code regulation. Restaurants commonly known as fast food franchises are particularly subject to rather frequent degreasing of their kitchen exhaust ducts because of the large volume of airborne grease carried therethrough over time and the high rate of grease accumulation resulting therefrom. Quarterly, monthly, fortnightly and even more frequent periodic degreasings are commonly mandated by state regulations for the interior surfaces of the ducting in many restaurant kitchen ventilation exhaust systems in order to avoid the dangerous fire hazard which would otherwise result.
The current method of degreasing restaurant kitchen exhaust ducts is highly labor intensive. It involves the transport of high pressure nozzles upon hoses several stories high in many instances, opening lateral hatches to the ducts at various elevations, and hand directing the highly pressurized and heated jet of water and steam from the nozzle against the interior walls of the duct. The work is extremely uncomfortable for many reasons including heat, elevated humidity, cramped quarters, and weighty apparatus. Visibility inside the duct is minimal and communication between team members impeded by the structure necessarily interposed between the person wielding a nozzle and the person controlling the pump. The present inventor is thoroughly knowledgeable of this work and has and has had many employees who will readily attest to the arduousness of this work.
The water used in this operation is commonly collected with plastic sheeting disposed beneath the bottom end of the duct, typically disposed under an intake hood and above a stove, and directed into buckets disposed upon the floor of the kitchen and subsequently poured down a drain. The expense involved with this operation is considerable because of the difficulty of the labor involved, because of the expense of the equipment required, and because of the fact both must be transported on site periodically. And the effectiveness of this operation, being wholly dependent upon the people directing the pressurized jets of heated water and steam in conditions of minimal visibility, is open to question. It is effective if properly executed but there is no known manner of ascertaining the level of cleansing achieved nor of confirming that the operation was properly executed.

Kitchen ventilation duct degreasing system


A LED lamp having a good heat-dissipating function includes a thermal radiator of solid metal including a top surface downwardly sloping from a peak point thereof to the border, a plurality of granular bumps raised from the top surface and defining a plurality of flow paths thereamong, a recess curved inwardly from a bottom surface thereof, an eave surrounding the recess and an inner slope located at the inner side of the eave and obliquely upwardly extended from the lowest edge of the eave to the recess, a vapor chamber bonded with the top surface thereof to the bottom surface of the recess, a circuit module bonded with the top surface thereof to the bottom surface of the vapor chamber, and a LED unit mounted at the bottom surface of the circuit module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to LED lamp technology and more particularly, to a LED lamp having a good heat-dissipating function.
3. Description of the Related Art
Conventional outdoor LED (light-emitting diode) lamps (such as LED street lights) are designed for use in the outdoors. In consideration of the factors of wind, rain and sun and other environmental factors, an outer shell will be necessary to protect the internal light-emitting LED chip and the associated circuit board, preventing rainwater permeation to cause short circuits. Further, during the operation of a LED lamp, much latent heat will be produced. Therefore, conventional LED lamps are generally equipped with a heat sink or like means for quick dissipation of heat. However, because the heat sink and LED chip of a conventional LED lamp are mounted inside the outer shell, the air inside the outer shell cannot be effectively dissipated into the outside air, lowering heat dissipation performance and shortening the lifespan of the LED chip.
Some LED lamp manufacturers make radiation fins on the outer shell in a parallel manner (the radiation fins are of the known design and not indicated in the drawings), increasing the heat dissipation surface area of the outer shell so that the internal high temperature can be released, lowering the temperature of every internal component inside the outer shell. However, the heat dissipation effect of this arrangement is limited.
Further, arranging radiation fins on the outer surface of the outer shell tends to cause a dirt retention problem. According to conventional techniques, the radiation fins are arranged on the outer surface of the outer shell at denser spacings. When used outdoors, rainwater will fall to the gaps between the radiation fins, tree leaves, bird droppings and dust, etc. are likely to be stuck in between the radiation fins. When stayed long, dirt can be consolidated and will not be washed away by rainwater. Dirt can obscure the surfaces of the radiation fins that are disposed in contact with air, lowering the heat dissipation efficiency of the radiation fins.


A polymer blend and a method of making the same are provided. The polymer blend includes an ethylene-propylene (C2–C3) random copolymer and a modifier selected from the group consisting of a metallocene-catalyzed polyethylene-based copolymer, a metallocene-catalyzed polyethylene-based terpolymer, and a syndiotactic polypropylene homopolymer. The polymer blend may also include an organic peroxide for visbreaking the polymer blend. An end use article is made from the foregoing polymer blend. The end use article may be, for example, a film, an injection molded article, a compression molded article, a thermoformed article, and a fiber. The end use article is desirably a film having an Elmendorf tear strength of at least about 300 g/ply in the machine and transverse directions.

Film-grade homopolymers have traditionally been used in the manufacture of films, sheets, and similar articles. Recently, a resin blend using a base material of C2–C3 random copolymer and an additive of a Zeigler-Natta catalyzed ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer has been shown to exhibit improved film properties (such as impact strength, tear strength, tensile strength, and tensile modulus) compared to film-grade homopolymers. Since the ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer, for example TAFMER available from Mitsui Petrochemical of Tokyo, Japan, is relatively expensive compared to conventional film-grade homopolymers, it would be desirable to discover alternative additives that cost less than the ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer but provide equivalent film properties. Similarly, the discovery of additives that provide further improvements in film strength with little or no increase in cost would also be desirable. For some applications, it may also be desirable that a film exhibit a lower tensile modulus and thus feel softer. In other cases, improving the clarity of a film might be important. The present application addresses such needs.

Properties of polyolefin blends and their manufactured articles


An image recording apparatus includes an ink cartridge having an ink storage section and an ink outlet port; a holder to which the ink cartridge is detachably attached; a recording section to which the ink is supplied through an ink tube coupled to the holder; a cartridge coupling section being on a bottom of the holder and communicating with the ink outlet port to draw the ink cartridge when the ink cartridge is attached to the holder; a lock arm body provided on the bottom of the holder, the lock arm body having an engagement lug retaining unremovably the ink cartridge; and a urging member formed by a spring elastic body to be engagable with the lock arm body. The forcing member urges the engagement lug of the lock arm body to engage the engagement lug with the ink cartridge attached to the holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an ink supply structure employed when ink is supplied from ink cartridges to a recording section.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when an ink cartridge is disposed on a recording head, an inkjet printer becomes bulky with respect to a heightwise direction. For this reason, a known inkjet printer includes an ink cartridge, such as a cartridge-type ink tank, that is separated from a recording head (JP-A-2003-300330(see FIGS. 1, 6)).
In this printer, the ink cartridge has an ink storage section, and an ink outlet hole formed in a bottom surface of the ink storage section. An ink supply needle which can be inserted into the ink outlet hole of the ink cartridge is provided on a bottom section of a top-face-opened holder (a cartridge placement section) of a printer main body. An ink tube, which is connected at one end thereof to the ink supply needle, is connected to a recording head on a carriage which can reciprocally travel in a main scanning direction.
However, the image recording apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2003-300330 is not equipped with a device for unremovably retaining the ink cartridge attached to the holder. Therefore, when the image recording apparatus is inclined or the like, the ink supply needle might come off the ink outlet hole of the ink cartridge, which in turn causes entry of outside air into the ink cartridge. Subsequently, at the time of supply of ink, air is fed into the recording head along with ink through the ink tube. As a result, there arises a problem of deterioration of a recorded image, such as inaccurate ejection of ink from the recording head during image recording operation.
As described in JP-A-2003-300330, a needle section (needle-like projection section) used for establishing communication with the atmosphere is provided upright on the bottom of the holder in substantially parallel to the ink supply needle.
When ink is sucked from the ink storage section of the hermetic ink cartridge, the ink storage section is brought to a negative pressure (i.e., a pressure equal to atmospheric pressure or less), thereby ink supply operation cannot be continued. For this reason, the ink storage section is opened to the atmosphere through the atmosphere open hole formed in the ink cartridge. In this case, the structure is configured such that, when the ink cartridge is generally attached to the holder, a sealing film affixed to a recess section, or the like, which is formed in the bottom surface of the ink cartridge for opening the ink cartridge to the atmosphere is first broken; and such that, before the ink outlet hole is connected to the ink supply needle, the liquid surface of ink stored in the ink storage section within the ink cartridge is subjected to the atmospheric pressure, to thus smoothly supply ink to the ink tube or the inside of the recording head.
To that end, the attitude of the inserted ink cartridge must be regulated or guided so that, when the ink cartridge is inserted into the holder, at least the bottom surface of the ink cartridge can be inserted in parallel to the bottom surface of the holder and at least the sealing film can come close to the needle section (needle-like projection section) to communicate with the atmosphere, to thus break the sealing film. Such means is not taken into consideration by the related art.


A bio-assay test system includes a test fixture, a measurement system, and a computer. The test fixture includes a bio-assay device having a signal path and a retaining structure configured to place a sample containing molecular structures in electromagnetic communication with the signal path. The measurement system is configured to transmit test signals to and to receive test signals from the signal path at one or more predefined frequencies. The computer is configured to control the transmission and reception of the test signals to and from the measurement system.

Virtually every area of the biomedical sciences is in need of a system to assay chemical and biochemical reactions and determine the presence and quantity of particular analytes. This need ranges from the basic science research lab, where biochemical pathways are being mapped out and their functions correlated to disease processes, to clinical diagnostics, where patients are routinely monitored for levels of clinically relevant analytes. Other areas include pharmaceutical research and drug discovery applications, DNA testing, military applications such as biowarfare monitoring, veterinary, food, and environmental applications. In all of these cases, the presence and quantity of a specific analyte or group of analytes, needs to be determined.
For analysis in the fields of pharmacology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, molecular biology and numerous others, it is often useful to detect the presence of one or more molecular structures and measure interactions between molecular structures. The molecular structures of interest typically include, but are not limited to, cells, antibodies, antigens, metabolites, proteins, drugs, small molecules, enzymes, nucleic acids, and other ligands and analytes. In medicine, for example, it is very useful to determine the existence of a cellular constituents such as receptors or cytokines, or antibodies and antigens which serve as markers for various disease processes, which exists naturally in physiological fluids or which has been introduced into the system. In genetic analyses, fragment DNA and RNA sequence analysis is very useful in diagnostics, genetic testing and research, agriculture, and pharmaceutical development. Because of the rapidly advancing state of molecular cell biology and understanding of normal and diseased systems, there exists an increasing need for methods of detection, which do not require labels such as fluorophores or radioisotopes, are quantitative and qualitative, specific to the molecule of interest, highly sensitive and relatively simple to implement. Many known targets such as orphan drug receptors, and many more targets becoming available, have no known affinity ligands, so that unlabeled means of detecting molecular interactions are highly desirable. In addition, the reagent costs for many labeled assay technologies are quite expensive, in addition to the economic and environmental costs of disposing of toxic fluorophores and radioisotopes.
Numerous methodologies have been developed over the years to meet the demands of these fields, such as Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA), Radio-Immunoassays (RIA), numerous fluorescence assays, mass spectroscopy, colorimetric assays, gel electrophoresis, as well as a host of more specialized assays. Most of these assay techniques require specialized preparations, especially attaching a label or greatly purifying and amplifying the sample to be tested. To detect a binding event between a ligand and an antiligand, a detectable signal is required which relates to the existence or extension of binding. Usually the signal is provided by a label that is conjugated to either the ligand or antiligand of interest. Physical or chemical effects which produce detectable signals, and for which suitable labels exist, include radioactivity, fluorescence, chemiluminescence, phosphorescence and enzymatic activity to name a few. The label can then be detected by spectrophotometric, radiometric, or optical tracking methods. Unfortunately, in many cases it is difficult or even impossible to label one or all of the molecules needed for a particular assay. Also, the presence of a label may make the molecular recognition between two molecules not function for many reasons including steric effects. In addition, none of these labeling approaches determines the exact nature of the binding event, so for example active site binding to a receptor is indistinguishable from non-active-site binding such as allosteric binding, and thus no functional information is obtained via the present detection methodologies. Therefore, a method to detect binding events that both eliminates the need for the label as well as yields functional information would greatly improve upon the above mentioned approaches.
Other approaches for studying biochemical systems have used various types of dielectric measurements to characterize certain classes of biological systems such as tissue samples and cellular systems. In the 1950""s, experiments were conducted to measure the dielectric properties of biological tissues using standard techniques for the measurement of dielectric properties of materials known at the time. Since then various approaches to carrying out these measurements have included frequency domain measurements, and time domain techniques such as Time Domain Dielectric Spectroscopy. In these approaches, the experiments were commonly carried out using various types of coaxial transmission lines, or other transmission lines and structures of typical use in dielectric characterization of materials. This included studies to look at the use and relevance of the dielectric properties of a broad range of biological systems: The interest has ranged from whole tissue samples taken from various organs of mammalian species, to cellular and sub-cellular systems including cell membrane and organelle effects. Most recently, there have been attempts to miniaturize the above-mentioned techniques (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,653,939; 5,627,322 and 5,846,708) for improved detection of changes in the dielectric properties of molecular systems. These configurations have several drawbacks, including some substantial limitations on the frequencies useable in the detection strategy, and a profound limitation on the sensitivity of detecting molecular systems, as well as being expensive to manufacture.
In general, limitations exist in the areas of specificity and sensitivity of most assay systems. Cellular debris and non-specific binding often cause the assay to be noisy, and make it difficult or impossible to extract useful information. As mentioned above, some systems are too complicated to allow the attachment of labels to all analytes of interest, or to allow an accurate optical measurement to be performed. Further, a mentioned above, most of these detection technologies yield no information on the functional nature of the binding event. Therefore, a practical and economical universal enabling which can directly monitor without a label, in real time, the presence of analytes or the extent, function and type of binding events and other interactions that are actually taking place in a given system would represent a significant breakthrough.
More specifically, the biomedical industry needs an improved general platform technology which has very broad applicability to a variety of water-based or other fluid-based physiological systems, such as nucleic acid binding, protein-protein interactions, small molecule binding, as well as other compounds of interest. Ideally, the assay should not require highly specific probes, such as specific antibodies and exactly complementary nucleic acid probes; it should be able to work in native environments such as whole blood, cytosolic mixtures, as well as other naturally occurring systems; it should operate by measuring the native properties of the molecules, and not require additional labels or tracers to actually monitor the binding event; for some uses it should be able to provide certain desired information on the nature of the binding event, such as whether or not a given compound acts as an agonist or an antagonist on a particular drug receptor, and not function simply as a marker to indicate whether or not the binding event has taken place. For many applications, it should be highly miniaturizable and highly parallel, so that complex biochemical pathways can be mapped out, or extremely small and numerous quantities of combinatorial compounds can be used in drug screening protocols. In many applications, it should further be able to monitor in real time a complex series of reactions, so that accurate kinetics and affinity information can be obtained almost immediately. Perhaps most importantly, for most commercial applications it should be inexpensive and easy to use, with few sample preparation steps, affordable electronics and disposable components, such as surface chips for bio-assays that can be used for an assay and then thrown away, and be highly adaptable to a wide range of assay applications.
It is important to note that other industries have similar requirements for detection, identification or additional analysis. While most applications involve the use of biological molecules, virtually any molecule can be detected if a specific binding partner is available or if the molecule itself can attach to the surface as described below.
The present invention fulfills many of the needs discussed above and other needs as well.
The present invention provides test systems and bio-assay devices which can be used to detect and identify molecular binding events. In one embodiment, the invention provides a test system having a test fixture, a measurement system, and a computer. The test fixture includes a bio-assay device having a signal path and a retaining structure configured to place a sample containing molecular structures in electromagnetic communication with the signal path. The measurement system is configured to transmit test signals to and to receive test signals from the signal path at one or more predefined frequencies. The computer is configured to control the transmission and reception of the test signals to and from the measurement system.
The invention will be better understood when considered in light of the foregoing drawings and detailed description.


An electromagnetic actuator device having a core unit (12;50) having a coil means (16), which core unit is constructed for interacting with armature means (34,36,38,32,30) that are movably guided relatively to the core unit, as a reaction to an energizing of the coil means, wherein the armature means have a plurality of tappet units (30, 32), which are spatially spaced from one another and can be driven simultaneously, to which tappet units, permanent magnet means (34) are assigned in the direction towards the core unit, which permanent magnet means have a permanent magnetization along a respective movement longitudinal axis of the tappet units, wherein the plurality of tappet units that can be driven parallel to one another magnetically interacts with an identically poled end face of the core unit and the permanent magnet means have an axially identically directed permanent magnetization.

The present invention relates to an electromagnetic actuation device according to the preamble of the main claim. A device of this type is known from the applicant's WO 2010/063394 A1 and describes a core unit having a coil means, which core unit is constructed for interacting with armature means that are movably guided relatively to the core unit, as a reaction to an energising of the coil means. The armature means have a plurality of tappet units, which in each case have permanent magnet means at the end thereof that are directed towards the core unit. As a reaction to the energising of the core unit and the polarity chosen for this energising, the possibility therefore arises to selectively drive individual tappet units, in that the core unit repels a respective one of the permanent magnet units by means of the electromagnetically generated flux. Thus, depending on the configuration of the device, a contra-rotating movement of a pair of tappet units for example can also be realised.
An electromagnetic actuating device for camshaft adjustment has become popular, especially in the context of internal combustion engines for automobiles. A technology of this type makes it possible in particular to engage by means of a tappet unit driven in the previously described manner into an adjustment slot constructed in a manner suitable for interaction with the tappet end and thus to effect the camshaft adjustment. In this case, an adjustment groove of this type also enables the retraction of an extended tappet unit back to a stop position on the core unit after ending energisation.
It is additionally to be assumed to be known from the prior art, for example the above-introduced prior art forming the generic type, that a plurality of tappet units is used for camshaft adjustment. Thus, it is for example known to use a first of the tappet units for camshaft adjustment along a first axial direction and a second of the tappet units for axial retraction of a correspondingly adjusted camshaft unit. In this case, it is on the one hand to be assumed to be known to assign each of these tappet units its own electromagnetic actuator, these actuators then being clocked or energised according to a respective purpose. The cited prior art according to WO 2010/063394, which forms the generic type, furthermore already described the possibility, as a reaction to the energising of only a single coil (or an arrangement of coils), of moving a plurality of tappet units simultaneously or together. In particular, the possibility is also disclosed here, of moving the plurality of tappet units (that is to say for example a pair of mutually adjacent guided tappets) simultaneously and in the same direction, wherein this presumes however, that in accordance with the polarity conditions at the described arc- or U-shaped yoke region, appropriate selected or assigned polarity conditions of the permanent magnet means must apply relatively to a respective yoke core section.
Accordingly, realisation of a multiple tappet technology is complex and furthermore entails difficulties in exact assignment during assembly.


A scalable switch, a system of switches and methods, configured to sense a carrier at the output of the respective switch. The invention intelligently, and dynamically, controls the connection of a respective switch input to a respective switch output as a function of a carrier being present, or absent, at a selected output. Alternatively, a control plane is adopted to make request to send and acknowledge clearance to send. These control methods operate on a step-by-step manner allowing fast and parallel connectivity to be established to connect a variety of interfaces, including Ethernet, PCI, SCSI, and FibreChannels. The present invention reduces switch cost, energy cost, and switch volume, while allowing scalability of connection requirements, reduction of delay, and promotion of green IT.

Ethernet switching is provided to interconnect multiple Ethernets for the exchange of Ethernet data frames. Most Ethernet switches require data buffering and Ethernet signal regeneration at the switch which incur the problems of substantial signal processing, power consumption, and transmission delay. In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/148,708, the teachings which are incorporated by reference, we extended the carrier sensing multiple accessing of Ethernet to route through a Multi-stage Interconnection Network (MIN). The invention described in Ser. No. 12/148,708 relieves these problems by allowing Ethernet signals to pass through a multistage interconnection network with fast control and minimum processing and delay, thereby producing a switch that consumes substantially less power. At each stage of the network, carrier sensing is performed in the transmission path. Carrier sensing is performed step-by-step and in-band until an end-to-end transmission path is found.
The present invention described herein provides a new out-of-band control method for an Ethernet switch that solves the same problems.
In conventional Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD), a communication node first senses if a carrier is present in the transmission medium. If the medium is sensed busy, then the attempt to transmit is delayed. If the medium is sensed idle, then the transmission proceeds immediately. However, it is possible that two nodes sensing an idle medium may transmit simultaneously, resulting in a transmission collision. With Collision Detection (CD) by each transmitting node, transmission is aborted and a random time delay is introduced for each node to attempt transmission again via the CSMA/CD protocol.
An alternative Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) employs a handshake procedure instead. The transmitting node issues a Request-to-Send (RTS) signal and must receive back a Clear-to-Send (CTS) signal from the intended receiving node before beginning a transmission. The handshake serves as a notification to all other nodes to refrain from transmitting, thus avoiding collisions. This extension to the CSMA protocol is primarily intended for use with wireless transmission media where CSMA/CD would not work because it is not possible for a node to listen and detect a collision while transmitting.
Both CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA utilize timing (temporal switching) of the transmission to avoid collision. A third technique that utilizes spatial switching to avoid collision in disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/148,708 which extended the CSMA/CD protocol to sense presence or absence of a carrier at random times in a single medium. Through Carrier Sense Multiple Access in Time-Space (CSMA/TS), carrier sensing is performed step-by-step for multiple links in a path and is possible over alternative paths. Hence, carrier sensing is performed not only in time, but also in the space of multiple links and multiple paths.
Carrier sensing for data rate beyond Gigabit per second (Gb/s) speed is difficult technically, and hence is not practiced for 10 GB/s Ethernet. The difficulty comes from two reasons: first, at high data rate, propagation delay relative to packet transmission time becomes significant and second, carrier sensing of a transmission medium may disturb signal fidelity. The present invention employs CSMA/TS using a unique and innovative out-of-band control network for media access and routing. Instead of carrier sensing and collision detection/avoidance, the invention advantageously takes the approach of sending explicit RTS and CTS messages through an out-of-band multi-stage network.
Route control of Multi-stage Interconnection Networks (MIN) is difficult to perform in parallel and fast. Switches built using MN are typically controlled by centralized Stored Program Control (SPC). Route establishment is often performed sequentially and therefore does not scale well with increasing traffic and switch size.
One aspect of the invention, instead of using SPC for routing, employs a separate control plane with parallelism. The invention discloses new and parallel routing and contention resolution mechanisms for an aggregate switch throughput in tens of Terabits per second on a frame by frame basis.
Having a separate control plane also facilitates more connectivity functions which we include in this patent application. The disclosed switch can control connectivity flexibly. Connectivity can be made frame by frame, or semi-permanently such as in establishing Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). The disclosed switch can provide connectivity not only for Ethernets but also for other interfaces including Small Computer Standard Interface (SCSI) and Peripheral Computer Interface (PCI or serialized PCI called PCI Express). This architecture is hereafter referred to as Carrier Sensed Integrated Switching (CSIS).

Control architecture and implementation for switches with carrier sensing

Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of Arizona State University


The present invention relates to compounds that modulate nicotinic receptors as non-competitive antagonists, methods for their synthesis, methods for use, and their pharmaceutical compositions.

Nicotinic receptors are targets for a great number of exogenous and endogenous compounds that allosterically modulate their function. See, Arias, H. R., Binding sites for exogenous and endogenous non-competitive inhibitors of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta—Reviews on Biomembranes 1376: 173-220 (1998) and Arias, H. R., Bhumireddy, P., Anesthetics as chemical tools to study the structure and function of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, Current Protein & Peptide Science 6: 451-472 (2005). The function of nicotinic receptors can be decreased or blocked by structurally different compounds called non-competitive modulators, including non-competitive antagonists (reviewed by Arias, H. R., Bhumireddy, P., Bouzat, C., Molecular mechanisms and binding site locations for noncompetitive antagonists of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology 38: 1254-1276 (2006)).
Non-competitive modulators comprise a wide range of structurally different compounds that inhibit receptor function by acting at a site or sites different from the orthosteric binding site. Receptor modulation has proved to be highly complex. The mechanisms of action and binding affinities of non-competitive modulators differ among nicotinic receptor subtypes (Arias et al., 2006). Non-competitive modulators may act by at least two different mechanisms: an allosteric and/or a steric mechanism.
An allosteric antagonist mechanism involves the binding of a non-competitive antagonist to the receptor and stabilization of a non-conducting conformational state, namely, a resting or desensitized state, and/or an increase in the receptor desensitization rate.
In contrast, a straightforward representation of a steric mechanism is that an antagonist molecule physically blocks the ion channel. Such antagonists may be termed non-competitive channel modulators (NCMs). Some inhibit the receptors by binding within the pore when the receptor is in the open state, thereby physically blocking ion permeation. While some act only as pure open-channel blockers, others block both open and closed channels. Such antagonists inhibit ion flux through a mechanism that does not involve binding at the orthosteric sites.
Barbiturates, dissociative anesthetics, antidepressants, and certain steroids have been shown to inhibit nicotinic receptors by allosteric mechanisms, including open and dosed channel blockade. Studies of barbiturates support a model whereby binding occurs to both open and closed states of the receptors, resulting in blockade of the flow of ions. See. Dilger. J. P., Boguslavsky, R., Barann, M., Katz, T., Vidal, A. M., Mechanisms of barbiturate inhibition of acetylcholine receptor channels. Journal General Physiology 109: 401-414 (1997). Although the inhibitory action of local anesthetics on nerve conduction is primarily mediated by blocking voltage-gated sodium channels, nicotinic receptors are also targets of local anesthetics. See, Arias, H. R., Role of local anesthetics on both cholinergic and serotonergic ionotropic receptors, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 23: 817-843 (1999) and Arias, H. R. & Blanton, M. P., Molecular and physicochemical aspects of local anesthetics acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-containing membranes, Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry 2: 385-410 (2002).
For example, tetracaine binds to the receptor channels preferentially in the resting state. Dissociative anesthetics inhibit several neuronal-type nicotinic receptors in clinical concentration ranges, with examples such as phencyclidine (PCP) (Connolly, J., Boulter, J., & Heinemann, S. F., Alpha 4-beta 2 and other nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes as targets of psychoactive and addictive drugs, British Journal of Pharmacology 105: 657-668886 (1992)), ketamine (Flood, P. & Krasowski M. D., Intravenous anesthetics differentially modulate ligand-gated ion channels, Anesthesiology 92: 1418-1425 (2000); and Ho, K. K. & Flood, P., Single amino acid residue in the extracellular portion of transmembrane segment 2 in the nicotinic α7 acetylcholine receptor modulates sensitivity to ketamine, Anesthesiology 100: 657-662 (2004)), and dizocilpine (Krasowski, M. D., & Harrison. N. L., General anaesthetic actions on ligand-gated ion channels, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 55: 1278-1303 (1999)). Studies indicate that the dissociative anesthetics bind to a single or overlapping sites in the resting ion channel, and suggest that the ketamine/PCP locus partially overlaps the tetracaine binding site in the receptor channel. Dizocilpine, also known as MK-801, is a dissociative anesthetic and anticonvulsant which also acts as a non-competitive antagonist at different nicotinic receptors. Dizocilpine is reported to be an open-channel blocker of α4β2 neuronal nicotinic receptors. See. Buisson, B., & Bertrand. D., Open-channel blockers at the human α4β2 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, Molecular Pharmacology 53: 555-563 (1998).
In addition to their well-known actions on monoamine and serotonin reuptake systems, antidepressants have also been shown to modulate nicotinic receptors. Early studies showed that tricyclic antidepressants act as non-competitive antagonists. See, Gumilar, F., Arias, H. R., Spitzmaul, G., Bouzat, C., Molecular mechanisms of inhibition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by tricyclic antidepressants. Neuropharmacology 45: 964-76 (2003). Garćia-Colunga et al., report that fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), inhibits membrane currents elicited by activation of muscle or neuronal nicotinic receptors in a non-competitive manner, either by increasing the rate of desensitization and/or by inducing channel blockade. See, Garćia-Colunga, J., Awad, J. N., & Miledi, R., Blockage of muscle and neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors by fluoxetine (Prozac), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 94: 2041-2044 (1997); and Garćia-Colunga, J., Vazquez-Gomez, E., & Miledi, R., Combined actions of zinc and fluoxetine on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, The Pharmacogenomics Journal 4: 388-393 (2004). Mecamylamine, previously approved for the treatment of hypertension, is a classical non-competitive nicotinic receptor antagonist, and is also well known to inhibit receptor function by blocking the ion channel. See, Giniatullin, R. A., Sokolova, E. M., Di Angelantonio, S., Skorinkin, A., Talantova, M. V., Nistri, A. Rapid Relief of Block by Mecamylamine of Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors of Rat Chromaffin Cells In Vitro: An Electrophysiological and Modeling Study. Molecular Pharmacology 58: 778-787 (2000).

Nicotinic receptor non-competitive antagonists


A vehicle speed control system for automatically sustaining a vehicle speed at a driver's setting, and decreasing the vehicle speed with decrease in a distance to a vehicle ahead, includes an input section for collecting information on a road situation ahead and a controller for adapting the speed control characteristic to the road situation. The input section of one embodiment includes an image sensing camera for forming an electronic image of the road ahead, and the controller is configured to detect edges such as derivative edges in the image and determine a correction quantity in accordance with the number of detected edges. The controller adjusts the control characteristic by using the correction quantity.

The present invention relates to a vehicle control system, and more specifically to a vehicle-to-vehicle distance controlling type adaptive cruise control (ACC) system capable of maintaining a proper vehicle-to-vehicle distance and a proper vehicle speed in all driving circumstances.
A Japanese Patent Provisional (Kokai) Publication No. 4-244434 discloses a conventional cruise control system. This control system includes an input or sensor section, a controller section and an output or actuator section. The output (or actuator) section includes a throttle actuator for varying the vehicle speed by varying the opening of a throttle valve for an engine. The input (or sensor) section includes a first subsection for sensing an actual vehicle speed, and a second subsection adapted to be operated by a driver to input a desired set speed. The controller section includes an ACC controller for automatically maintaining the vehicle speed at the driver's speed setting by sending a control signal to the throttle actuator to control the opening of the throttle valve. The input section further includes a third subsection including a distance measuring device, such as a laser radar, for measuring a vehicle-to-vehicle distance between the controlled vehicle and another vehicle ahead. The controller section functions to control the vehicle speed so as to sustain an adequate vehicle-to-vehicle distance. Moreover, the controller section calculates a road traffic density in accordance with the vehicle-to-vehicle distance. The controller section increases a gain for the vehicle-to-vehicle distance control when the traffic density is high, and decreases the gain when the traffic density is low. The vehicle can respond sensitively to the widely changing vehicle-to-vehicle distance when the traffic is heavy. When the traffic is sparse, the control performance is smooth and mild.


A process for facilitating distribution of asynchronous content by a result server includes subscribing at least one client in response to subscription requests for the asynchronous content received at the result server from the at least one client. The process further includes publishing the asynchronous content. The publishing leads to dissemination of the asynchronous content from the result server to the subscribed clients, and removal of the asynchronous content from the result server. The process further includes receiving a subscription request from additional client(s). The process further includes polling the subscribed clients for the asynchronous content and sending the asynchronous content to the additional client(s) upon receipt of the asynchronous content from any client belonging to the subscribed clients.

In an application server environment, a server is generally connected to multiple clients via a communication network. The clients are used at an end user system for interacting with the server. The client may be, for example an interface such as a web browser, a Java-based program, or any other Web-enabled programming application. Usually, the clients request the server for certain information. The server executes some applications that can generate the content corresponding to the client's request.
Generally, for synchronous actions the server sends response content in the order of the synchronous actions. For asynchronous actions, the server aggregates the content and sends a response corresponding to the client's request. Some earlier asynchronous solutions defined the concept of off-loading the responsibility of aggregating the generated content to the client that made the initial request. Currently when the result server maintains include results and distributes them as needed, caching of the content on the server for an indeterminate time period is required so that the server is able to serve other clients requesting for the same content. Moreover, depending on the particular implementation, the client would need to either constantly poll the application server or keep a connection open until the application server finishes processing the request.
This aggregation process may be costly in terms of memory and request processing resources at the server. Moreover, caching requirements on the server burdens available cache space at the server. Furthermore, as the variability of the web content increases, the probability that the majority of the cached web content on the server may be requested again decreases, thereby rendering known caching techniques less effective.
Another existing solution provided a peer-to-peer client web caching system, where end users collectively share their web cache contents, thereby reducing burden on web servers. However, this requires the configuration of a proxy location in the client to handle the proxy requests, or additional software to be installed on the client to handle the normal requests, or both.
In accordance with the foregoing, there is a need for a solution, where the server can offload the responsibility of caching the content to clients and share the content between multiple clients.

Client-side storage and distribution of asynchronous includes in an application server environment

International Business Machines Corporation


An image capture device may capture two hemispherical views of a scene. The two hemispherical view of the scene may be stitched along a stitch line. The image capture device may be rotated to align the stitch line with a mid-line of a panoramic field of view of the scene. Separate exposure settings may be used to capture the two hemispherical views of the scene, with the exposure settings increasing the dynamic range of the scene depicted within the panoramic field of view of the scene. The panoramic field of view of the scene may be punched out as panoramic visual content.

A panoramic view of a scene may be captured by punching out a portion of a spherical image. The punchout may be centered on the field of view of the front or back lens to place the stitch line for the spherical image in the peripheral portion of the punchout.

Generation of enhanced panoramic visual content