An imaging system comprises: a ring of positron emission tomography (PET) detectors; a PET housing at least partially surrounding the ring of PET detectors and defining a patient aperture of at least 80 cm; a coincidence detection processor or circuitry configured to identify substantially simultaneous 511 keV radiation detection events corresponding to electron-positron annihilation events; and a PET reconstruction processor configured to reconstruct into a PET image the identified substantially simultaneous 511 keV radiation detection events based on lines of response defined by the substantially simultaneous 511 keV radiation detection events. Radiation planning utilizing such an imaging system comprises: acquiring PET imaging data for a human subject arranged in a radiation therapy position requiring a patient aperture of at least about 80 cm; reconstructing said imaging data into a PET image encompassing an anatomical region to undergo radiation therapy; and generating a radiation therapy plan based on at least the PET image.

The following relates to the oncological arts, medical imaging arts, positron emission tomography (PET) arts, and related arts.
Radiation therapy has been shown to be effective in treating certain types of cancer. In these techniques, a high dosage of ionizing radiation is applied to the tumor or other malignant tissue. The typically high tissue growth rate and "unnatural" nature of the malignant tissue results in the ionizing radiation preferentially damaging or killing the malignant tissue; however, healthy tissue is also adversely impacted by the ionizing radiation. Accordingly, the ionizing radiation is applied in a tomographic or multi-beam configuration with the beam intensities and, optionally, cross-sectional beam profiles designed to deliver a therapeutic radiation dosage to the target tumor while keeping the radiation dosage received by neighboring critical organs below a design threshold.
Because anatomy varies amongst individuals, radiation therapy is planned on an individual basis for each patient. Anatomical data for the radiation therapy planning is acquired using computed tomography (CT) imaging which measures transmission of a tomographically rotating x-ray beam to enable reconstruction of a three-dimensional image of the internal patient anatomy. CT imaging has numerous advantages for this application—data acquisition is fast (of order a few minutes); it typically provides detailed structural information about both the target tumor and the surrounding critical organs; the x-rays mimic the transmission and absorption characteristics of the therapeutic radiation such that a therapeutic radiation absorption map can be constructed from the CT image using suitable tissue absorption correction factors; and CT scanners can be constructed with large bores.
A typical radiation therapy system has a patient aperture of order 80 centimeters. For example, some commercially available linear accelerator (linac)-based radiation therapy systems have patient apertures of 85 centimeters. Problematically, internal organ positions can shift, rotate, compress, expand, or otherwise differ depending upon the precise patient position. As a result, if the patient has to assume a different position in the CT scanner than in the radiation therapy system due to a smaller patient aperture of the former, then the anatomical images used for therapy planning may not accurately replicate the anatomical configuration during therapy.
By providing a CT scanner with a bore at least as large as that of the radiation therapy system, the patient can be positioned in the CT scanner in the same way the patient is positioned in the radiation therapy system. For example, the patient can have his or her arm or arms elevated or otherwise positioned in such a way as to not impede the therapeutic radiation beam; and, the patient can be positioned in precisely this same way in the large-bore CT scanner. This helps to ensure that organ positions are the same in both the planning CT images and in the radiation therapy system. One CT scanner that has a large bore suitable for radiation therapy planning is the Brilliance™ CT Big Bore™ system (available from Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, the Netherlands), which has a patient aperture of 85 cm.
CT has been, and is expected to remain, a primary tool for acquiring patient anatomical data for planning. However, other imaging modalities could also be useful for radiation therapy planning.
Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging is a good candidate as a secondary imaging modality, because PET provides functional information that is complementary to the structural information provided by CT. In PET imaging, a radiopharmaceutical that emits positrons is administered to the patient. Each emitted positron interacts with a nearby electron in an electron-positron annihilation event that emits two oppositely directed 511 keV gamma rays. These gamma rays are detected substantially simultaneously by a radiation detector ring, thus defining a line-of-response along which the electron-positron annihilation event must (neglecting scattering) have occurred. In "time-of-flight" PET, the slight time difference (or lack thereof) between the two substantially simultaneous gamma ray detection events is used to further localize the annihilation event along the line of response.
The information provided by PET depends upon the radiopharmaceutical and its interaction with the patient physiology. A radiopharmaceutical injected into the bloodstream can inform about blood flow or blood perfusion. Since cancerous tumors tend to have dense vasculature, they are strongly visible in PET images that employ a blood-borne radiopharmaceutical. Similarly, radiopharmaceuticals including glucose cluster in areas of high metabolic activity, such as a cancerous tumor. On the other hand, if the tumor tissue is necrotic (perhaps due to success of previous radiation therapy sessions) then the tumor may be visible in CT images (since it remains structurally intact) but not in PET images (since it is necrotic and is no longer being actively fed by blood flow in the vasculature or metabolizing glucose).
A substantial obstacle to utilizing PET in radiation therapy planning and therapy monitoring is that PET scanners do not have the requisite combination of large patient aperture and high sensitivity. The radiopharmaceutical dosage is strictly limited due to safety concerns. As a result, a PET imaging session can take of order 30 minutes or longer to acquire sufficient data for reconstructing an image useful for oncology. The imaged volume increases with the square of the scanner diameter, which complicates scaling up the geometry to larger size (for example, to an 85 cm patient aperture). Stabilization of the patient in the PET scanner is another issue, especially in some hybrid CT/PET scanners in which the patient is supported by cantilevering in the PET gantry.
A blood borne radiopharmaceutical accumulates in areas of high blood concentration. These areas include the cancerous tumor due to its dense vasculature, but also include the brain and the bladder (the latter being the organ by which the radiopharmaceutical is ultimately excised from the body). The brain and bladder are therefore substantial sources of stray radiation that can lead to false gamma ray counts that degrade image quality. Use of energy-range and time-range filtering reduces these stray counts; however, in human-sized PET scanners these post-acquisition filtering techniques have been found to be insufficient, by themselves, to obtain clinical quality images for oncological applications.
With reference to FIG. 1, therefore, in existing human-sized PET scanners radiation shield rings are included to physically block this stray radiation from reaching the radiation detector ring. FIG. 1 diagrammatically depicts the detector ring 10 in cross-section so as to show the radiation detectors comprising (in this embodiment) a scintillator 12 viewed by photomultiplier tube (PMT) detectors 14. A patient S is arranged with a tumor or other malignancy of interest positioned at an isocenter 16 of the detector ring 10. Side shield rings 20 made of lead or another material with high radiation stopping power extend radially inwardly from the ring of PET detectors so as to block a substantial portion of stray radiation from the brain region B and bladder or kidney region K from reaching the scintillator ring 12. To further illustrate with some typical dimensions, in one commercial PET scanner (the Gemini™ Time-of-Flight PET/CT scanner, available from Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, the Netherlands), the scintillator ring 12 has a diameter of 89 cm, and the shield rings 20 extend radially about 10 centimeters inward, so that the shield rings 20 have an inner diameter of 70 cm. As a result, an exterior housing 22 can have a patient aperture of no larger than about 70 cm, that is, no more than about 79% of the detector ring diameter. A patient aperture of 70 cm is large enough to receive a human subject, but is too small for performing imaging of a human subject in the same position as the subject would assume in the radiation therapy system. For example, the patient could not assume the conventional "frogleg" position used in radiation therapy of the colorectal region.
It has long been believed in the PET imaging arts that side shielding (such as the side shield rings 20) are essential for obtaining oncological quality images. (As used herein, the term "oncological quality images" and the like encompasses images of high resolution and low noise that are suitable for medically acceptable analysis of cancerous tumors and other malignancies for patient health-critical purposes such as radiation therapy planning or other interventional therapy planning or planning decision-making.) For example, Mullani, U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,597 issued in 1985 discloses time-of-flight PET and considers the possibility of operating without side shields (called "septa" in Mullani), but concludes that omitting side shields introduces a substantial amount of scatter in the data and may not be acceptable for a clinically usable system. Mullani concludes that septa of length 12 cm provides optimal performance. Commercial oncology-quality PET scanners today continue to use side shielding of order 10 cm.
Other issues with oncological PET relate to scan time and patient inconvenience. In contrast to CT acquisition which is of order a few minutes, an oncological-quality PET scan can take 30 minutes or longer. Both faster acquisition and improved fusion of CT and PET images could be achieved by using a hybrid PET/CT scanner, in which the CT and PET gantries are arranged coaxially together to receive a subject via a common subject support system. Hybrid PET/CT scanners are available, as exemplified by the aforementioned Gemini™ PET/CT scanner. In most cases, CT is the "primary" imaging modality used in these systems, and hence is positioned closest to the patient loading end. When PET imaging is to be performed, the subject is transferred through the CT gantry and thence into the PET gantry.
However, this arrangement results in cantilevered support of the patient in the PET scanner, with the possible consequence of downward deflection of the patient support and resultant PET/CT image misalignment. Such misalignment can be corrected mathematically during the post-acquisition PET/CT image fusion processing. However, the correction increases computational complexity, and introduces yet another potential source of error in fusing CT and PET images for radiation therapy planning.
The cumulative effect of these issues has led to continued dominance of CT as the radiation therapy planning modality of choice, with PET imaging relegated to an infrequently used secondary planning modality. For example, a recent survey indicates that close to 90% of radiation therapy planning acquisitions employed CT imaging, while less than 10% of those acquisitions also employed PET imaging as a secondary modality. See IMV 2006 Radiation Oncology Census Market Summary Report, March 2007.
The following provides a new and improved apparatuses and methods which overcome the above-referenced problems and others.

Large bore PET and hybrid PET/CT scanners and radiation therapy planning using same


An in-plane switching type liquid crystal display device includes (a) a first substrate on which a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines are formed such that the gate lines are substantially perpendicular to the data lines, and on which at least one pixel electrode and at least one common electrode are alternately formed in each of pixels defined by the gate and data lines, (b) a second substrate facing the first substrate, and (c) a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first and second substrates, wherein when a voltage is applied across the pixel electrode and the common electrode, liquid crystal existing on extensions of the data lines are caused to rotate in a plane substantially in parallel with the first substrate. Both the pixel electrode and the common electrode have at least one bending point at which the pixel electrode and the common electrode bend, and are designed to bend such that both an intensity and a direction of a field generated by the voltage successively vary.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly to an in-plane switching type liquid crystal display device in which a voltage applied across a pixel electrode and a common electrode both formed on a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate causes liquid crystal to rotate in a plane substantially in parallel with the substrate, and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An active matrix type liquid crystal device including a thin film transistor (hereinafter, abbreviated as "TFT") as a device for switching a pixel provides high image quality, and hence, is currently widely used, for instance, as a monitor display of a desk-top type computer.
An operation mode of a liquid crystal display is generally grouped into a twisted nematic mode in which aligned liquid crystal molecules are rotated such that directors thereof are directed in a direction perpendicular to a glass substrate, and an in-plane switching (hereinafter, abbreviated as "IPS") type liquid crystal display device in which aligned liquid crystal molecules are rotated such that directors thereof are directed in a direction parallel with a glass substrate.
In IPS liquid crystal display device, pixel electrodes and common electrodes are formed in parallel with each other on a first transparent substrate on which TFT is also fabricated. A voltage is applied across the pixel and common electrodes to thereby generate a field in parallel with the substrate. Directors of liquid crystal molecules are rotated in accordance with the thus generated field, and as a result, it is possible to control an amount of light passing through a liquid crystal layer.
Accordingly, since directors are rotated in a plane in parallel with a substrate in the IPS liquid crystal display device, the IPS liquid crystal display device will not be accompanied with a problem unlike TN type liquid crystal display device that a relation between an amount of light passing through a liquid crystal layer and a voltage applied across a pixel electrode and a common electrode is not uniform between a case wherein the device is viewed from the directors and a case wherein the device is viewed from a direction of a normal line of the substrate. As a result, the IPS liquid crystal display device ensures high quality images in a wide visual angle.
In the IPS liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal layer is in homogenous alignment, and is sandwiched between two polarizing plates having polarizing axes perpendicular to each other. One of the polarizing axes is directed in an alignment direction of liquid crystal molecules. Thus, in general, when no voltage is applied across a pixel electrode and a common electrode, a display screen displays black, whereas when a voltage is applied across a pixel electrode and a common electrode, liquid crystal molecules are twisted in accordance with a field, to thereby cause a display screen to display white. The IPS liquid crystal display device is widely used, because it can stably keep a brightness low when a display screen displays black.
However, the conventional IPS liquid crystal display device is accompanied with a problem, as illustrated in FIG. 1, that since a pixel electrode 7 and a common electrode 3 are both formed in the form of a line, and liquid crystal molecules are rotated only in a single direction, a display screen is colored when the display screen is obliquely viewed while the display screen displays white.
In order to solve the problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-311334 has suggested a liquid crystal display device in which the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3 are designed to be bent in the form of "<" in a pixel.
FIG. 2A is a plan view of the liquid crystal display device suggested in the above-mentioned Publication, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IIB—IIB in FIG. 2A.
The illustrated liquid crystal display device is comprised of a first transparent substrate 1 on which a thin film transistor (TFT) is fabricated, a second transparent substrate 11 on which a color filter is formed, and a liquid crystal layer 17 sandwiched between the first and second transparent substrates 1 and 11.
Gate electrodes 2 and data lines 6 are formed on the first transparent substrate 1 such that they are substantially perpendicular to each other, and TFTs 4 are fabricated in a matrix at intersections of the gate electrodes 2 and the data lines 6. In each of pixels, pixel electrodes 7 and common electrodes 3 are alternately formed in parallel with each other. The pixel electrodes 7 and the common electrodes 3 are designed to have a bending point at which the pixel electrodes 7 and the common electrodes 3 are bent in the form of "<".
On the second transparent substrate 11 are formed a black matrix layer 12 for interrupting a light to pass therethrough, a color layer 13 for displaying red, green and blue (RGB) colors, and a planarizing film 14 which covers the black matrix layer 12 and the color layer 13 therewith and has a planarized surface.
Alignment films 18 are coated on surfaces of the first and second transparent substrates 1 and 11 such that the liquid crystal layer 17 is sandwiched between the alignment films 18. Liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer 17 is homogeneously aligned substantially in parallel with a direction in which the data lines 6 extend.
A polarizing plate 16a is adhered to an outer surface of the first transparent substrate 1, and a polarizing plate 16b is adhered to an outer surface of the second transparent substrate 11. The polarizing plates 16a and 16b have polarizing axes perpendicular to each other, and one of the polarizing axes is set in parallel with a direction in which liquid crystal molecules are aligned.
By applying a voltage to the pixel electrode 7 through TFT 4 to thereby establish a horizontal field between the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3, liquid crystal in the liquid crystal layer 17 are twisted in a plane parallel with the first and second transparent substrates 1 and 11, to thereby control display.
In the liquid crystal display device illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, when a voltage is applied across the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3, fields are generated in different directions from each other in two regions sandwiching the bending points of the pixel and common electrodes 7 and 3 therebetween, as illustrated in FIG. 4 with arrows X1 and X2. Accordingly, liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 17 are twisted in two different directions. As a result, different colors can be seen in the two regions in a display screen when the display screen is obliquely viewed while the display screen displays white. Since the colors compensate for each other, the above-mentioned different colors can be reduced.
As mentioned above, it is possible in the IPS liquid crystal display device to widen a visual angle and reduce color in a display screen by designing the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3 in the form of "<". However, since it is necessary in the IPS liquid crystal display device to form both the pixel electrodes 7 and the common electrodes 3 such that a numerical aperture in a pixel is kept high, it would not be possible to arrange the pixel electrodes 7 and the common electrodes 3 in a high density, and hence, it would be also impossible to reduce a gap between adjacent electrodes. As a result, a greater voltage has to be applied across the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3 in order to establish a field having a higher intensity, resulting in an increase in power consumption.
On the other hand, if a smaller voltage is applied across the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3, a resultant field would have a smaller intensity, causing a problem that liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 17 cannot quickly respond to the field.
One of solutions to this problem is to select liquid crystal molecules having a small viscosity. Such liquid crystal molecules make it possible to respond to a field when a display screen displays white. However, such liquid crystal molecules is accompanied with a problem that an effectively small field is applied to the liquid crystal layer 17 in half tone, and hence, the liquid crystal molecules responds to a field twice slower than a case in which a display screen displays white.
Hereinbelow is explained this problem with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 illustrates a relation between a voltage applied to liquid crystal and both a transmissivity of a panel and a response. In FIG. 3, a broken line shows a relation between an applied voltage and a transmissivity of a panel, and a solid line shows a relation between an applied voltage and a response.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, as a voltage applied to liquid crystal increases, a direction in which liquid crystal is aligned is twisted towards a direction of a field, and resultingly, a light is more likely to pass through the liquid crystal layer 17. When a certain voltage is applied to the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal is twisted by 45 degrees, and the transmissivity is in maximum. Namely, a display screen displays white.
When a greater voltage is applied to the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal molecules can more readily rotates. Hence, as a greater voltage is applied to the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal can respond to a field more rapidly. Since a smaller voltage is applied to the liquid crystal in a half tone display state than in a white display state, the liquid crystal would respond to a field more slowly in a half tone display state than in a white display state.
In general, a threshold voltage Vth defined as a minimum voltage for driving liquid crystal is represented in accordance with the following equation (1).Vth=π×L/d×(K22/ε0Δε)1/2  (1)
In the equation (1), L indicates a distance between the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3, "d" indicates an effective cell gap, K22 indicates a twist elastic coefficient of liquid crystal existing in the liquid crystal layer 17, and Δε indicates anisotropy in a dielectric constant.
As is obvious in the equation (1), the greater the distance L is, the smaller an intensity of a field is, and hence, the greater the threshold voltage Vth is. On the other hand, the greater the cell gap "d" is, more readily the liquid crystal can be made to rotate, and resultingly, the smaller the threshold voltage Vth is. Accordingly, in order to increase a response speed of the liquid crystal, it is necessary to reduce the distance L, and/or increase the cell gap "d".
However, though the threshold voltage Vth can be made smaller by uniformly narrowing the distance L between the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3 or by uniformly increasing the cell gap "d", it would be still impossible to accomplish quick response in half tone when a small voltage is applied across the pixel electrode 7 and the common electrode 3.
In addition, if the distance L were made smaller, there would be caused a problem that the electrodes in a pixel would occupy a larger area, resulting in reduction in a numerical aperture.

Liquid crystal display device and method of fabricating the same


Chimeric proteins containing sequences from MCP and DAF and further containing peptide sequences capable of binding glycosaminoglycans. Nucleotide sequences encoding the chimeric proteins, expression vectors containing the nucleotide sequences, as well as transformed host cells capable of producing the chimeric proteins are claimed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fusion proteins containing sequences from the complement inhibitors membrane co-factor protein (hereinafter `MCP`) and decay accelerating factor (hereinafter `DAF`) wherein the fusion proteins also contain at least one cell surface localizing domain.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Complement is an important defense mechanism for warding off infectious agents. Complement works by targeting microorganisms and other antigens to complement-receptor-bearing cells, recruiting phagocytic cells to the area where complement activation is taking place and the destruction of target membrane.
Complement is a cascade of over 30 proteins and is turned on during inflammation. Indeed, the complement components C3a, C4a and C5a trigger the release of inflammatory mediators from mast cells, induce smooth muscle contraction, increase vessel permeability and recruit neutrophils. In some cases, inflammation and the accompanying activation of complement results in damage to host tissues. Sepsis, Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (hereinafter `ARDS`), reperfusion injury and burns are among the clinically significant conditions in which amplification of complement activation results in tissue damage.
Complement is regulated in part by six proteins with closely related primary sequence structure including Membrane Cofactor Protein (hereinafter `MCP`) and Decay Accelerating Factor (hereinafter `DAF`). The genes encoding MCP and DAF, as well as four other complement regulating proteins have been localized to the long arm of human chromosome 1, band 1q32. All six of these proteins have a common structural motif with an approximately 60-amino acid consensus unit or short consensus repeat (hereinafter `SCR`) and are present in four contiguous copies in MCP and DAF. Although not completely identical in sequence, the SCRs have invariant cysteines at four positions and up to 18 highly conserved positions throughout the rest of the sequence.
MCP (also known as `CD46`) is present on the cell surface of a number of cell types including peripheral blood cells (excluding erythrocytes), cells of epithelial, endothelial and fibroblast lineages, trophoblasts and sperm. MCP has four SCR sequences and serine/threonine enriched region in which heavy O-linked glycosylation occurs. MCP also has a transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain. MCP works by binding to the C3b and C4b present on the cell surface thereby targeting the protein for degradation by factor I, a plasma protease, and thereby destroying any C3 or C4 convertase activity.
Thus, MCP is said to have "cofactor activity". Because MCP is localized on the cell surface, it protects only the cells on which it is present and is therefore said to act in an intrinsic manner. The sequence of a cDNA encoding human MCP has been reported by Lublin et al, J. Exp. Med., (1988) 168:181-194.
DAF is present on the cell surface of a number of cell types including peripheral blood cells (including erythrocytes), cells of epithelial, endothelial and fibroblast lineages, trophoblasts and sperm. DAF regulates complement function via "decay accelerating activity". That is, DAF binds to C4b/C2a and to C3b/Bb and destabilizes the association of C2a or Bb (the protease component) thus destroying the C3 convertase activity. DAF has also been reported to interfere with the formation of C4b/C2a and C3b/Bb complexes. As with MCP, DAF regulates complement in an intrinsic manner, thus protecting only the cells on which DAF is located.
The sequence of cDNA encoding human DAF has been reported by Medof et al, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA (1987) 84:2007, and by Caras et al, Nature, (1987) 325:545-549. The disclosure of both articles is herein incorporated by reference. Like MCP, DAF has four SCR sequences and a serine/threonine enriched region in which heavy O-linked glycosylation occurs. DAF has a cell surface localizing domain at it carboxy terminal end at which a glycophosphatidylinositol moiety (hereinafter `GPI`) is covalently bound. The GPI links DAF to cell surfaces and even allows for reattachment of DAF to cell surfaces after solubilization of cell membranes with detergent. Caras et al report the finding of two mRNAs encoding DAF. One species encodes DAF with the cell surface localizing domain. The second species accounts for 10% of DAF mRNA and appears to encode a secreted species of DAF which is lacking the cell surface localizing domain to which the GPI-anchor is attached.
This cell surface localizing domain appears to be important for the optimal function of DAF. Patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria are known to be deficient in GPI-anchored proteins and this deficiency is known to causally related to susceptibility of their blood cells to lysis by complement. Moreover, Moran et al, J. Immunol,. (1992) 149:1736-1743 have shown that recombinant full length DAF and recombinant DAF which is missing the cell surface localizing domain (seDAF) both protect cells against complement, but that mDAF was 50 fold more potent than seDAF. However, mDAF must be incorporated into cell surface membranes to have the higher level of activity and it appears that serum lipoproteins interfere with this incorporation. This observation led Moran et al to the conclusion that seDAF will be the preferred molecule for clinical applications.
Lublin and Coyne, J. Exp. Med. (1991) 174:35-44 compared the activity of DAF, MCP, and variants of DAF and MCP in which the cell-surface membrane localizing domains of DAF and MCP (the GPI-anchor of DAF and the transmembrane (TM) domain of MCP) had been exchanged. Interestingly, DAF and the DAF/MCP-TM variant showed approximately equal complement inhibiting activity. Likewise, MCP and the MCP/DAF-GPI anchor variant showed approximately equal complement inhibiting activity in vitro.
Hybrid complement regulatory proteins containing DAF and MCP in a single polypeptide have been disclosed. See eg. Iwata et al, J. Immunol., (1994) 152:3436-3444. Iwata et al disclose that MCP-DAF hybrids are more effective than DAF, MCP or DAF and MCP at inhibiting C3 deposition via the alternative pathway. The MCP-DAF hybrid was also more effective than MCP alone at inhibiting C3 deposition via the classical pathway.

Chimeric MCP and DAF proteins with cell surface localizing domain


An integrated circuit (IC) package includes a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate and a plurality of package attachment terminals. The package attachment terminals are used to conduct electrical signals from a die that is attached and bonded onto the PCB substrate. The PCB substrate has a side edge and includes a plurality of electrically-conductive paths. Each one of the plurality of paths includes an electroplated bond pad, a trace, and a stub trace. The die is connected to the bond pad and the trace couples the bond pad to a respective one of the package attachment terminals. The stub trace is used to facilitate the electroplating process. The stub trace extends from the trace and terminates at a distance away from the side edge. The stub trace is not visible from the side of the IC package and therefore prevents access to IC buses on the package.

Integrated Circuits (ICs) are commonly packaged in surface-mount package types such as a Ball Grid Array (BGA) package. A BGA is a surface-mount package that utilizes an array of metal spheres or balls as the means of providing external electrical interconnection. The balls are composed of solder, and are attached to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) substrate at the bottom side of the package. The IC die is mounted on the top side of the package and is connected to substrate bond pads either by wire-bonding or flip-chip connection. The PCB substrate of the package often has internal conductive copper traces that route and connect the substrate bond pads to the solder balls.
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) illustrates a simplified cross-section view of a BGA package 10. BGA package 10 includes an integrated circuit (IC) chip or die 11, a substrate 12, an external solder ball 13, and encapsulant 14. Substrate 12 includes a copper trace 15 and a bond pad or finger 16. As illustrated in FIG. 1, bond wire 17 couples an active surface of die 11 to bond pad 16, and copper trace 15 couples bond pad 16 to solder ball 13 through via 18.
Substrate bond pad 16 is normally electroplated with a layer of gold because of the excellent conductive and mechanical properties of gold. In order to facilitate the electroplating process, manufactures use tie bars to provide electrical paths to the bond pads. FIG. 2 is a top view of a portion of package 10 of FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 2, copper trace 15 extends toward a side edge 20 of substrate 12 and connects to a tie bar 19. Bond pad 16 is electrically connected with other bond pads by tie bar 19 so that all the bond pads can be electroplated at the same time with a layer of gold.
FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of the BGA package 10 of FIG. 1. As illustrated in FIG. 3, copper trace 15 extends to side edge 20 and is visible from the side of BGA package 10. Therefore, this packaging method does not prevent a possible attacker from gaining access to IC buses on the IC chip through copper traces that extend to side edges of the substrate and are visible from the sides of the package. The attacker can probe these exposed copper traces and can learn the data on these buses and may, for example, cause a central processing unit (CPU) of the IC chip to execute malicious code. Some IC manufacturers have developed sophisticated algorithms and data encryption techniques that secure these transactions. However, more and more people are learning the algorithms and encryption methods and are able to break through the security. Therefore, it is beneficial to make it more difficult for possible attackers to access the IC buses. It is especially desirable to secure access to the IC buses designated for security sensitive transactions.

Preventing access to stub traces on an integrated circuit package


The invention provides a manufacturing process for MEA that enables sufficient bond strength among an electrolyte membrane and electrode substrates even when the electrolyte membrane comprises a heat-resistant material such as an aromatic polymer.

MEA is an integral assembly generally consisting of an electrolyte membrane (proton conductive membrane) and electrode substrates. Conventional production of MEA has been carried out by sandwiching an electrolyte membrane between two electrode substrates and hot pressing them to form an anode/electrolyte/cathode assembly.
Proton conductive membranes based on sulfonated perfluorohydrocarbon, typically Nafion® membranes, are thermoplastic and can be thermocompression bonded with electrodes. On the other hand, electrolyte membranes of aromatic polymers such as sulfonated polyarylenes have heat resistance so that the thermocompression bonding often fails to achieve sufficient bond strength unless carried out at high temperatures that will cause deterioration of metallic catalysts.
Film casting is a method to make electrolyte membranes by flow casting a solution of a polymer in an organic solvent on a substrate, followed by drying the formed coating. In the film casting method, highly dipolar and aprotic organic solvents are generally used to dissolve highly polar polymers with ion-exchange groups, such as proton conductive polymers. These dipolar solvents, due to their high boiling points, are not completely removed upon drying and as a result remain in the final electrolyte membranes. The electrolyte membranes that contain such polar solvents in high concentrations cannot be adequately thermocompression bonded with electrode substrates, causing poor interlaminar bond strength of MEA.

Manufacturing process for membrane-electrode assemblies

Abstract: The process comprises pressure bonding an electrolyte membrane with catalyzed electrode substrates to form a membrane-electrode assembly, wherein a good solvent for the electrolyte membrane is applied to at least one of facing surfaces of the opposed electrode substrate and the electrolyte membrane prior to the pressure bonding. The electrolyte membrane may comprise a sulfonated aromatic polymer. The good solvent for the electrolyte membrane may be an aprotic dipolar solvent.


An apparatus for controlling air-fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine having: a three-way catalytic converter; an oxygen sensor, which is installed at the upstream side of said catalytic converter in respect to exhaust gas flow direction, for generating a switching signal showing rich/lean relative to a certain air-fuel ratio; and an air-fuel ratio sensor, which is installed at the downstream side of said catalytic converter, for generating a linear output signal corresponding to the air-fuel ratio, wherein the apparatus includes a deviation calculation unit for calculating deviation between air-fuel ratio measured by the air-fuel ratio sensor, and target air-fuel ratio; and a feedback control unit of the air-fuel ratio for carrying out feedback control of air-fuel ratio based on the deviation calculated by a deviation calculation unit, and the output signal of the oxygen sensor.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling air-fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine (engine), and a method for controlling air-fuel ratio, and specifically relates to an apparatus for controlling air-fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine, and a method for controlling air-fuel ratio, wherein fuel control is carried out by means of feedback control of air-fuel ratio in an internal combustion engine equipped with a three-way catalytic converter.
As conventional technology of an apparatus for controlling air-fuel ratio of an internal combustion engine, such one is well-known that is composed of carrying out main feedback control, which features a rapid convergence to target air-fuel ratio, using a air-fuel ratio sensor installed at the upstream side of a catalytic converter, and carrying out sub-feedback control, using an oxygen sensor installed at the downstream side of a catalytic converter, in consideration of controllability of air-fuel ratio at the transitional period of operation of an engine (for example, JP-A-2005-48711).
The main feedback control is carried out in such a way that fuel injection amount is set "rich" when air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing in the catalytic converter is "leaner" than target air-fuel ratio, while fuel injection amount is set "lean" when air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas is "richer" than target air-fuel ratio.
The sub-feedback control is carried out in such a way that fuel injection amount is set "rich" when exhaust gas flowing out of the catalytic converter is "leaner" than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, while fuel injection amount is set "lean" when air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing out of the catalytic converter is "richer" than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio.

Apparatus and method for controlling air/fuel ratio of internal combustion engine


Pro-tPA has a higher affinity for fibrin and better selectivity than tPA and is used for the management and prophylaxis of thrombosis, embolism, and related conditions. A pharmaceutical composition comprises a physiological compatible medium and pro-tPA employed in a couple of 70-100% pro-tPA and 0-30% of tPA.

tPA is the abbreviation adopted in the art for a tissue plasminogen activator, i.e., the 2-chain type of plasminogen activator which has been identified for example in Bowes melanoma cells. Pro-tPA is the abbreviated name given to the precursor of tPA, i.e., a single chain compound having the same molecular weight as tPA and which by certain enzymes is converted into double chain tPA. According to the prior art literature, the single- and double-chain forms were said to both have virtually identical activity. The present invention will be shown to involve a radical departure from that view.
Plasminogen activators are substances which by their action upon plasminogen (a precursor of plasmin) result in the formation of plasmin. Plasmin in turn acts upon fibrin (or blood clots) to liquefy or dissolve the fibrin. Plasmin also causes lysis of fibrinogen which is a precursor of fibrin.
The aforegoing effects play an important role in the natural fibrinolytic systems. They are also put to use in the therapeutic administration of plasminogen activators for the management of thrombotic disease or other conditions where it is desirable to produce local fibrinolytic or proteolytic activity via the mechanism of plasminogen activation.
They may also find use in reagents for diagnostic, pathological or scientific tests involving fibrinolysis in vitro.
Two activators of human plasminogen are extensively used. The first of these is the bacterial protein, streptokinase, which functions by a non-proteolytic mechanism. The second is the protease, urokinase, which is obtained from urine or cultured kidney cells, although it is also known to occur in most other kinds of mammalian tissue. These two compounds have the therapeutic disadvantage that their action is not confined to plasminogen associated with fibrin in blood clots. They act upon plasminogen generally in the circulation and, in consequence, produce widespread plasmin generation with extensive lysis of fibrinogen, the precursor of fibrin. This may in turn lead to a bleeding state as a result of ineffective normal coagulation of the blood. Furthermore, urokinase has had the disadvantage that it is costly to isolate and prepare and is obtained in poor yields by the processes currently in use. This disadvantage also applies to valuable uses of urokinase other than fibrinolytic therapy, and restricts the availability of urokinase as a valuable commercial product for such uses. Streptokinase,being a foreign protein, elicits an immune response from the patient. The resulting antibodies neutralise the action of streptokinase on plasminogen and hence diminish its therapeutic efficacy.
A third plasminogen activator referred to generally as "tissue plasminogen activator" hereinafter referred to as "tPA" is also known to exist. This enzyme is found in most human tissues and is identical to or indistinguishable from an enzyme that is also a characteristic secretory product of human melanoma cells cultured in vitro. Although it catalyzes the proteolytic activation of plasminogen in much the same way as does urokinase, tPA differs from urokinase in a number of important respects. The two enzymes are chemically dissimilar. They have different molecular weights and each fails to react with antibodies to the other enzyme. The catalytic action of tPA is enhanced by fibrin whereas that of urokinase is not. tPA has the important property that it binds to fibrin, whereas urokinase fails to do so. These facts are recorded in a recent article entitled "Purification and characterisation of the plasminogen activator secreted by human melanoma cells in culture" by C Dingeman C. Rijken et alia (J. of Biological Chem., 256, No 13, pages 7035 to 7041). That same article also describes the preparation of tPA from a cultured human melanoma cell line as well as from normal human tissue. The purification procedure consisted of successive chromatography on zinc chelate-agarose, concanavalin A-agarose and sephadex G-150 in the presence of detergent.
The tendency for tPA to bind to fibrin, its greatly enhanced fibrinolytic action in the presence of fibrin and when compared to urokinase and streptokinase, its relatively inefficient function as a plasminogen activator in the absence of fibrin combine to make tPA a plasminogen activator of choice for human thrombolytic therapy. Interactions between fibrin and tPA to a considerable extent localise the plasmin generation to the site of the clot and mitigate or avoid the consequences of promiscuous plasminogen activation as observed when urokinase or streptokinase is used. Furthermore streptokinase is a protein which is immunochemically foreign to man, whereas tPA is not.
A recent report entitled "Specific lysis of an iliofemoral thrombis by administration of extrinsic (tissue type) plasminogen activator" by W. Weimar et alia (Lancet, Nov. 7, 1981, page 1018) testifies to the clinical usefulness of tPA in the management of human thrombotic disease.
According to P. Wallen et al. (Prog. Chem. Fibrinolysis Thrombolysis 5, 16-23 (1981)) tPA occurs in two different forms, one being a single-chain form which is converted by plasmin or trypsin into two chains linked by disulphide bridges, and which those authors consider to be a degradation product of the former. The two-chain form is said to be fibrinolytically more efficient in fibrinolytic test systems (in vitro) than the one-chain form. Aprotinin is said to inhibit the conversion of the one-chain into the two-chain form so that theone-chain form may be recovered as the only or predominating form.
This work is referred to in more recent publication by Dingeman, Rijken, Hoylaerts and Collen (J. Biol. Chem., 257, 2920-2925 (1982), European patent application 0 041 766) who describe both forms as plasminogen activators, whose "plasminogen activating properties . . . are similar". They suggest that the one chain form when it is adsorbed on a fibrin clot is quickly converted to the two-chain form so that the fibrinolysis "occurs mainly via two-chain derivative". They conclude: "this conversion does not seem to play a role in the regulation of fibrinolysis". According to their findings the "two molecular forms had the same activity (lysistime.)", and "the catalytic efficiencies of both molecular forms are virtually identical therefore the one-chain form cannot be considered to be a less active precursor nor the two-chain form to be a less active degradation product". Whether or not the aforesaid conclusions are all correct, it is clear that both "molecular forms" have utility for therapeutic as well as in vitro fibrinolysis.
In actual fact, in the light of recent research results by the present inventors, it is clear that the above conclusions require some qualification. Pro-tPA is indeed in a sense a precursor of tPA, although not a totally inactive precursor. Its inherent activity is about one tenth that of tPA, so that on that basis alone it would at first sight appear preferable to administer tPA for therapeutic purposes rather than pro-tPA which first has to be converted into tPA before it can exercise its full therapeutic effect.
As a matter of fact, although European patent application 0041766 describes two compounds which presumably represent tPA as well as pro-tPA, only the former compound is actually characterized in respect of its fibrinolytic, fibrinogenolytic and thrombolytic effects. There is no such description for pro-tPA, nor any specific description of its use as a pharmaceutical composition. The claims for the pharmaceutical use of the compounds, to the extent that they are specific are directed only to the double-banded form, i.e., tPA. The only published actual therapeutic use of the substance has been the use in the double-stranded tPA form (Weimer et al., The Lancet, Nov. 7, 1981 p 1018-1020).
According to the aforesaid prior art, no method was known which lends itself readily to the manufacture of 2-chain tPA on a commercial scale, nor of the single-chain form herein referred to as "pro-tPA".
According to a recent proposal by the present inventors (RSA patent application 82/9168 and applications based thereon in other countries and which at present are not yet part of the state of the art) a process has been proposed which lends itself readily to such commercial scale manufacture.

Pro-tPA for the treatment of thrombosis, embolism and related conditions


A bicycle brake assembly is disclosed for coupling a bicycle brake device onto either front or rear forks of a bicycle by a brake fixing mechanism. The brake fixing mechanism has a fixing member or plate fixedly coupled to either the front or rear forks and a bracing member or plate coupled to the fixing member such that the bicycle brake device is pivotally coupled between the fixing member and the bracing member. The fixing member and the bracing member are rigidly coupled together at their upper ends by a connecting member. In the most preferred embodiment, the fixing member and the bracing member are integrally formed as a one-piece, unitary member from a sheet material. Preferably, the brake device is a cantilever brake with its pivot pins interconnecting the lower ends of the fixing member and the bracing member.

Bicycling is becoming an increasingly more popular form of recreation as well as a means of transportation. Moreover, bicycling has also become a very popular competitive sport for both amateurs and professionals. Whether the bicycle is used for recreation, transportation or competition, the bicycle industry is constantly improving the various components of the bicycle. One particular component of bicycles which has been extensively redesigned over the past years is the bicycle brake device. Bicycle brake devices are constantly being redesigned to provide additional braking power.
There are several types of bicycle brake devices which are currently available on the market. Examples of some types of common bicycle brake devices include rim brakes and caliper brakes. With respect to caliper brakes, there are mainly three types of caliper brakes: a side pull type, a center pull type and cantilever type. In a side pull type of caliper brake device, a pair of brake arms are pivotally connected together about a center mounting bolt which attaches to the frame of the bicycle. Each of the brake arms has a lever portion which is coupled to the brake wire such that when the rider operates the brake lever of the brake operating device, the lever portions of the brake arms are pulled together, which in turn moves the brake shoes attached to the other ends of the brake arms together against the rim of the bicycle wheel. Return springs are provided for biasing the brake arms away from the bicycle wheel rim when the rider releases the brake lever. Side pull types of caliper brake devices are commonly used in road bikes.
A center pull type of caliper brake device operates similar to the side pull type, except that the brake arms are attached to a brake arm bridge such that each brake arm is pivotally coupled at a separate pivot point on the brake arm bridge. The brake arm bridge is attached directly to the frame of the bicycle. A straddle cable interconnects the two lever portions of the brake arms such that a main brake wire, which is coupled to the straddle wire, pulls the lever portions of the brake arms together.
A cantilever type of brake device is generally mounted on bicycle designs for off road use such as mountain bikes (MTB) and all terrain bikes (ATB). In particular, a cantilever type brake device is designed to provide a powerful braking force. A cantilever type of brake device is equipped with a pair of brake arms which are rotatably supported in a cantilever fashion on the front or rear fork of the bicycle frame, with the brake shoes attached to the upper portions of the brake arms. Typically, the lower portions of the brake arms are rotatably supported on the bicycle frame and the upper portions are linked to a brake cable or wire. The brake shoes are arranged opposite one another on either side of the bicycle wheel rim which is located between the arms. With this cantilever type of brake device, the bicycle arms rotate in the closing direction when the brake cable is pulled by the brake lever, which in turn results in the brake shoes being pressed against the rim to apply a braking force.
Cantilever types of brake devices have several advantages over side pull types of caliper brake devices. For example, with such a cantilever brake device, there is no need to vary the shape of the device with the size of the bicycle as may be the case with a side pull type caliper type brake device. Moreover, cantilever type of brake devices apply a more equal braking force than a side pull type caliper brake. However, one disadvantage of a conventional cantilever type brake is that the locations of the brake arms are fixed to pivot pins which are welded to the frame. Thus, the dimensions of the pivot pins can vary depending upon the frame design. Moreover, the accuracy of the welding of the pivot pin to the bicycle frame often varies depending upon the quality of the bicycle frame. This will affect the performance of the brake device.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a brake device which is less frame dependent than prior brake devices and provides sufficient rigidity and braking force. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs in the art which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


The present invention relates to a device applied to scaling factor of horizontal scan of a scanner and a method thereof. The present invention lets signals be processed by a multiplexer, a shifter, and an adder to achieve the above function, or lets signals be processed by a plurality of shifters and a plurality of adders to achieve the above function. Because a divider or a ROM occupying a too large area in the prior art is not required, the present invention can effectively reduce the occupied area, increase the scanning speed, and enhance the image quality of a scanner.

In the realm of scanner, the scaling function is usually utilized. For instance, when a scanner having a resolution of 1200 dots per inch (dpi) is used to scan a picture having a resolution of 400 dpi, the scaling factor thereof is ⅓. Mutual coordination in the horizontal and vertical directions is required for the above scaling. If the scaling factor is ⅓, the scaling in the horizontal direction needs to be ⅓, and the scaling in the vertical direction also needs to be ⅓.
There are two kinds of manufacturing methods for the scaling in the horizontal direction, one being pixel-abstraction method, the other being pixel-average method. In the pixel-abstraction method, when a scanner scans a horizontal line, only one pixel is taken out from adjacent pixels to represent these n pixels. This method has the disadvantages of discontinuity and inferior image quality. In the pixel-average method, when a scanner scans a horizontal line, the average value of n adjacent pixels is used to represent these n pixels. This method can obtain better image quality, and has no disadvantage of discontinuity. Therefore, the pixel-average method is usually used as the manufacturing method for the scaling in the horizontal direction.
The commonly used scaling factors in the horizontal direction of a scanner are ⅔, ½, ⅓, ¼, ⅙, ⅛, 1/12, and so on. The above scaling factors are all combinations of 2, ½ and ⅓. That is, their functions can be achieved using combinations of (2, ½, ⅓). For instance, when the scaling factor is ⅙, ½ can first be done, and then ⅓; or ⅓ can first be done, and then ½.
During the average process, 2 or ½ can easily be achieved by left-shifting 1 bit (2) or right-shifting 1 bit (½) the added result of pixels. However, the manufacturing of ⅓ is much more difficult. There are two commonly used methods. One is dividing the added result of pixels by 3 using a divider. This method has the disadvantages of occupying a too large area (mainly because the divider occupies a too large area) and a too slow scanning speed due to a slower processing speed of the divider.
The other commonly used method is achieving the function of dividing by 3 through referring to a table. Although this method has a faster processing speed, a read only memory (ROM) thereof will occupy a very large area. With a 16-bit scanner as an example, there will be 16×216 decoders and 16×216 encoders. The more the number of bits, the faster the area increases. Therefore, this method also has the disadvantage of occupying a too large area.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to propose a device applied to scaling factor of horizontal scan of a scanner and a method thereof, whereby a simpler method can be used to manufacture scaling factor of horizontal scan of a scanner, and the area occupied by the device can be effectively decreased.

Device applied to scaling factor of horizontal scan of a scanner and method thereof


A waist exercising device has a waist cushion, a weight roundel and a centrifugal weight assembly. The weight roundel is mounted rotatably on the waist cushion and has a cavity defined in the weight roundel and a pivot shaft formed in the cavity. The centrifugal weight assembly is mounted in the cavity and has an arm and a weight. The arm is connected pivotally to the pivot shaft. The weight is connected to the arm and generates centrifugal force and has at least one detachable weight element. A beginner may use less weight elements and a skilled user more for tailored difficulty exercise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercising device, and more particularly to a waist exercising device that has an adjustable centrifugal weight assembly so a centrifugal load of an exercise hoop may be adjusted to achieve excellent exercising effect.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional exercise hoops are set loosely around a person's waist and rotated by the person swaying for improved muscle definition and prevent fat accumulation.
However the conventional exercise hoop has the following defects.
The exercise hoop lacks positioning functions to securely position itself on the person's waist. Therefore, beginners incapable of swaying correctly cannot stably maintain the exercise hoop on their waist and become frustrated easily.
Furthermore, due to even weight distribution of the exercise hoop, skilled users need not apply strenuous effort so cannot exercise efficiently without further adding weight to the exercise hoop.
Moreover, the exercise hoop constantly hits and rubs against the person's waist and may injure the waist.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a waist exercising device to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a program for executing a sequence of processing operations including the recording of video data recorded to a first recording medium in a first format to a second recording medium in a second format without user's manual intervention. If the information processing apparatus determines that the recording time of a frame just reproduced by a predetermined reproduction device is earlier than the recording time of a frame reproduced by said reproduction device immediately before the above-mentioned frame (step S89) or an unrecorded area has been reproduced by the reproduction device for more than a predetermined period of time (step S90), the information processing apparatus stops the acquisition of the data recorded to a digital video tape reproduced by the reproduction device (step S92), thereby stopping the reproduction of the digital video tape (step S93). The present invention is applicable to information processing apparatus for recording data from digital cassette video tape to DVD, for example.

The recent widespread use of personal computers (hereafter appropriately referred to as PCs) and digital video tape recorders (hereafter appropriately referred to as DVs) allows users to capture the video data taken through their DVs into their PCs to record the video data to DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs).
Conventionally, however, capturing the video data taken through a DV into a PC and authoring the captured video data (for example, recording the captured video data to a DVD) are separate processes, so that recording the video data taken with the DV requires the user to perform complicated jobs and with a lot of time.
To be more specific, when recording the video data taken with the DV to a DVD, the user must manually start up an application software program for capturing the video data of DV format from the DV into the PC (refer to non-patent document 1) (this program hereafter referred to as a data acquisition program) on the PC and perform operations (manual operations) specified by the data acquisition program, thereby capturing the video data from the DV into the PC, the captured video data being stored in the hard disk drive for example in the PC in the DV format.
Next, the user manually starts up the data acquisition program and then manually starts up an application software program for recording the video data stored in the hard disk drive to a DVD (refer to non-patent document 2) (this application software program hereafter referred to as a DVD writing program) on the PC, performs operations (manual operations) specified in the DVD writing program to convert the format of the video data stored in the hard disk drive into DVD format, records the video data of DVD format to a DVD, and, when this recording ends, manually exits the DVD writing program.
As described, when recording the video data taken with the DV to a DVD by use of the PC, the user must perform a complicated job involving a plurality of manual operations which require a lot of time.
[Non-patent document 1] "DVgate" products description, "online", Sony Drive Home Page, "searched on Aug. 30, 2002", Internet www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/PCOM/Software—02q2/DVgate/index.html
[Non-patent document 2] "Simple DVD Maker" products description, "online", Sony Drive Home Page, description of "Simple DVD Maker", "searched on Aug. 30, 2002", Internet, www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/PCOM/Fun/DVD-RW

Information processing apparatus for automatically recording video data from a first recording medium in a first format to a second recording medium in a second format


A system for determining an entity's security rating may include a ratings engine and a security database. The security database may include a manifest and a distributed index containing security records. Each of the security records may have a key (e.g., a network identifier of a network asset) and a value (e.g., security information associated with the network asset identified by the key). The keyspace may be partitioned into multiple key ranges. The manifest may contain references to segments of the distributed index. Each segment may be associated with a key range and may index a group of security records having keys within the key range. The manifest and the segments may be stored in an object storage system. The ratings engine may determine the security rating of an entity based on security records of the entity's network assets, which may be retrieved from the database.

Key-value databases associate a value or values with a unique primary key. Such databases generally support point queries, such as retrieving the value(s) associated with a single key. Key-value databases may also support range queries, such as retrieving values associated with a range of ordered keys. Further, such databases may support prefix queries, whereby values associated with keys having a specified prefix are retrieved.
Key-value databases are generally implemented using filesystems on low-latency storage media such as solid-state drives or high-performance, magnetic hard drives. These low-latency storage media options may achieve query execution times within an acceptable range for many applications. However, storing large volumes of data on these devices is costly, especially when data replication, fault-tolerance, and read scalability considerations are taken into account.
Object storage systems (e.g., Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, etc.) generally associate a key with a block of binary data (e.g., an object), which may be of arbitrary size. Object storage systems are generally capable of storing large volumes of data at relatively low cost and with extremely high reliability. Such systems are also generally capable of supporting high read request rates for each object stored.
Compared to filesystems, however, object stores may be understood to have several significant limitations. First, requests to object storage systems generally take place over networks, and therefore suffer much higher request latencies and lower bandwidth than requests to local filesystems. For example, a command that a local file system executes in 2 milliseconds may execute in 50 milliseconds on an object storage system. Second, objects stored in an object storage system are generally immutable. Thus, in contrast to filesystems, which generally permit stored files to be modified, an object storage system may not permit any changes to stored data objects. However, an object storage system may permit an existing key (already associated with a stored data object) to be assigned to a new object, and the system may return the new object rather than the old object when queried using the key shared by the new and old objects. Third, the memory consistency guarantees provided by object storage systems are generally weaker than those of filesystems. For example, when a new version of an existing object is associated with the key assigned to the old version of the object, subsequent reads or queries against that same key may return either version of the object.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for rapidly generating security ratings


Provided is a retractable luggage handle in which either tube assembly thereof comprises one or more stop sleeves each secured to a top of its tube by snapping latches of the stop sleeve into apertures of the tube. A plurality of recesses are formed on either side wall of each tube and each stop sleeve by punching for adding structural strength thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to handle of wheeled luggage and more particularly to a retractable handle with its tubes having added strength in construction.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional U-shaped retractable handle 70 mounted on top of a wheeled luggage is shown in FIG. 1. The handle 70 comprises, at its either side, a support tube 80 and a sliding tube slidably received in the support tube 80. A stop sleeve 81 is provided on top of the support tube 80 for preventing the sliding tube from disengaging from the support tube 80 while extending the handle 70.
Currently, thickness of the handle tube is reduced to a range of 0.4 mm to 0.45 mm for saving the manufacturing cost and decreasing weight of the luggage. However, the handle 70 may vibrate strongly when a piece of luggage fully packed with bulky items is being towed on an uneven surface or towed on a stepped floor up and down operation (see arrow in FIG. 1). This may easily deform the handle tubes or cause a separation of the stop sleeve 81 from the support tube 80. Hence, a need for improvement exists.


Control is performed so as to occur SPCCI combustion in which, after an air-fuel mixture in a first area of a combustion chamber that includes an electrode portion of an ignition device is burned by receiving ignition energy, an air-fuel mixture formed in a second area located on an outer periphery of the first area is self-ignited. Control is also performed such that, in a high load operation region of an SPCCI combustion execution region, an air-fuel ratio in the entire combustion chamber becomes richer than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio and that an air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the first area becomes leaner than an air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the second area.

Conventionally, in a gasoline engine or the like, it has been studied to perform so-called premixed compression ignition combustion in which a mixture of fuel and air mixed in advance is self-ignited in a combustion chamber.
In the premixed compression ignition combustion, it is possible to increase thermal efficiency as a compression ratio can be increased or the like. On the other hand, in the premixed compression ignition combustion, the air-fuel mixture starts combustion simultaneously at various places in the combustion chamber, so that a pressure in the combustion chamber, that is, an in-cylinder pressure rises abruptly, and consequently combustion noise tends to deteriorate. Further, in the premixed compression ignition combustion, a start timing of combustion, that is, a combustion start timing is liable to change depending on a temperature inside the combustion chamber or the like, and it is difficult to appropriately control ignition and a combustion timing.
On the other hand, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an engine which injects fuel into a combustion chamber by dividing it into a succeeding injection and a preceding injection and ignites an air-fuel mixture between the succeeding injection and the preceding injection.
According to the engine disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a temperature of the air-fuel mixture can be increased by flame propagation combustion caused by the ignition, and the air-fuel mixture can be self-ignited. Therefore, a combustion start timing can be appropriately controlled by adjusting an ignition timing. In addition, combustion of the air-fuel mixture formed by the succeeding injection and the air-fuel mixture formed by the preceding injection can be started at different timings, so that a rapid rise of an in-cylinder pressure can be suppressed and deterioration of combustion noise can be suppressed.
However, a demand for thermal efficiency and combustion noise is still high, and it is required to realize suitable premixed compression ignition combustion to further increase the thermal efficiency while further reducing the combustion noise.

Premixed compression ignition engine and method for controlling premixed compression ignition engine


A system, method, and computer readable medium comprising instructions for handling insufficient account balance of subscribers in a mobile communications network is disclosed. A request for communication is received from a mobile station. A determination is made as to whether a subscriber of the mobile station has an insufficient account balance. If the subscriber has an insufficient account balance, the request is withheld and the mobile station is notified by a short message.

In current mobile communications networks, services may be purchased in advance by subscribers from their service providers. These subscribers are known as prepaid subscribers. Prepaid services include not only voice communication services, but also text-based communication services such as email or short message service (SMS). SMS allows subscribers to send short messages across the network to other subscribers in a timely fashion. Typically, short messages originating from mobile subscribers are handled by mobile service switching centers (MSCs) in the network and prepayment information is handled by a prepaid server (PPS).
While prepaid services provide convenience to subscribers, current mobile communications networks fail to handle insufficient account balance of prepaid subscribers efficiently. An insufficient account balance occurs when the account balance of a prepaid subscriber falls below a predetermined threshold. Current systems handle an insufficient account balance by sending a notification to the subscriber via a band signal. However, the notification is sent only when an active voice call or short messaging is in progress and only to the calling subscriber.
Another problem associated with insufficient account balance of prepaid subscribers is missed calls. Typically, prepaid subscribers receive missed call notifications from the system via short messages. However, if the cause of missed calls is due to insufficient account balance, current systems fail to identify this problem and notify the subscribers with funding instructions. Similarly, short messages may be missed, held, or undelivered due to insufficient account balance of prepaid subscribers. Current systems fail to notify the subscribers with instructions on how to recover these messages. Therefore, what is needed is an ability to overcome the problems and limitations of handling insufficient account balance of prepaid subscribers.

Handling insufficient account balance of subscribers


An interlocking device for a transmission is provided, where the transmission includes a pivotable first shift fork for selectively engaging a first gear and a slidable second shift fork for selectively engaging a second gear. The interlocking device includes a pivot arm pivotable between a first position and a second position, and having a first end and a second end. The first end includes a first interacting portion that interacts with a first locking member of the first shift fork. The second end includes a second interacting portion that interacts with a second locking member of the second shift fork. In the first position, pivoting movement of the first shift fork is prevented and relative sliding movement of the second shift fork is allowed, and in the second position, relative pivoting movement of the first shift fork is allowed and relative sliding movement of the second shift fork may be prevented.

Interlocking devices for preventing simultaneous engagement of more than one gear in a transmission have been previously developed.
DE4118931 discloses a transmission having two pivotable shift forks, each being configured for selectively engaging an associated gear. To prevent simultaneous engagement of gears by the first and the second pivotable shift forks, an interlocking device is provided, which mechanically locks one of the shift forks in a fixed position when the other shift fork engages a gear.
However, many transmissions comprise a combination of slidable and pivotable shift forks. It is desirable to provide means for preventing simultaneous engagement of gears 25 also in such transmissions.


A system for reducing structure spurs in multiple modulator fractional-N dividers caused by certain fractional divisors inducing an insufficiently random modulation pattern. The system sums with a first summer a fractional divisor value with an addend that changes periodically. Offset of the fractional divisor value caused by the summed addends is compensated by first subtracting the offset from the fractional divisor value with a second summer. Underflow or overflow of the fractional divisor value is accommodated by incrementing or decrementing an integer divisor value with a third summer connected in series with an integer divisor input of the multiple modulator divider.

Frequency synthesizers utilizing a phase lock loop (PLL) to provide an output signal having a selectable, precise and stable frequency are well known in the art. Typically, a PLL includes a tunable oscillator such as voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), the output of which is locked to a known reference signal by means of a phase comparator. The phase comparator generates an output voltage or current that is proportional to the phase difference between the known reference signal and the VCO output signal. The output of the phase comparator is coupled back to the input of the VCO to tune and lock the VCO to a desired frequency. This forces the VCO output to have the same frequency as the reference signal.
To provide a frequency synthesizer having a variable output frequency, a divider circuit is interposed between the output of the VCO and the phase comparator, wherein the VCO output frequency is divided by a selectable divisor before it is compared with the reference frequency. The VCO output frequency will then be an exact multiple of the referenced frequency. If the divisor, N, is an integer, the smallest increment in the VCO output frequency value is necessarily equal to the magnitude of the reference frequency itself. Thus, in order to provide a frequency synthesizer having a small step size between adjacent output frequencies, a very low reference frequency is required. However use a very low reference frequency introduces unacceptable effects such as limited frequency range and a long settling time for the PLL.
A technique known as fractional-N synthesis is often utilized to synthesize output signals having a frequency which is a rational multiple of the reference signal frequency. Typically, frequency divider circuits are implemented in such a manner that they only divide by an integer value. It is thus necessary to simulate fractional division by changing the divisor integer value temporarily during the course of a division cycle. The noninteger division ratios are realized by dividing by N+1, for example, instead of N on a proportional number of division cycles to provide an average division ratio which approximates the desired rational divisor number. For example, if the desired rational divisor is taken to be N.1, the divide value will be N for nine division cycles and N+1 for the tenth division cycle. Thus, when averaged over ten cycles the division factor equals N.1 and the VCO output frequency will be N.1 times the reference frequency. Such a fractional-N technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,813 issued to Charles A. Kingsford Smith on Dec. 23, 1975.
While such fractional-N dividers are widely used for frequency synthesis, switching between different divisor values results in undesirable phase error or phase "jitter" near the desired carrier frequency. When switching between adjacent integer divide ratios, the average divide ratio is correct, but the instantaneous divide ratio is never correct, which results in phase error at the phase detector output. This phase error phase modulates the VCO to generate spurious signals collectively known as phase jitter.
One technique for reducing jitter in a fractional-N synthesizer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,117, entitled "Multiple Modulator Fractional-N Divider," issued to the inventor of the present invention on Aug. 5, 1991, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. In accordance with that technique, jitter is reduced by employing in the frequency synthesizer a multiple modulator fractional-N divider which comprises a programmable divider and a modulus control circuit. The programmable divider operates to divide the frequency output signal of the frequency synthesizer by an integer modulus value to form an intermediate frequency signal which will be compared to the reference frequency signal by the frequency synthesizer's phase comparator.
The modulus control circuit comprises a first modulator and one or more additional sigma-delta modulators arranged in cascade fashion. The circuit receives as inputs an integer divisor value and a fractional divisor value corresponding to the desired rational divisor and provides the integer modulus value to the programmable divider. A summation circuit forms the integer modulus value as the weighted sum of all the modulator outputs. The first sigma-delta modulator, which can be implemented as an accumulator, accumulates the fractional divisor value. When the accumulator overflows, the first modulator overflow signal changes to a value of one for a single clock cycle, resulting in a corresponding increase to the integer modulus value. This varies the modulus of the programmable divider on a proportional number of division cycles to provide an average division ratio equal to the desired rational divisor number as described above.
The additional sigma-delta modulators are connected in cascade fashion to the first modulator and act to reduce the jitter associated with the fractional N division technique. Each modulator subsequent to the first acts to track out the error of the modulator that precedes it. The conditioned sum of these modulators is summed with the output signal of the first modulator to form the integer modulus value. This added modulation of the integer modulus value acts to reduce the phase jitter or fractional spurs associated with fractional-N synthesis.
Each of the additional modulators has as its input the error signal of the preceding modulator (represented by the contents of the accumulator) and accumulates the preceding modulator's error signal every clock cycle. These accumulations periodically overflow, generating an overflow signal which is taken as the output signal of the sigma-delta modulator. Each overflow signal is coupled via a summer to a differentiator circuit. For each overflow signal generated by a modulator, the differentiator generates a positive pulse and then a negative pulse in the next clock cycle. The output of the differentiator is coupled to the summer associated with the preceding sigma-delta modulator. The thus conditioned sum of the additional modulators produces a zero mean signal which acts to diminish the error present in the first modulator.
The above described multiple modulator based frequency synthesis technique is effective for reducing phase jitter associated with fractional-N synthesis (fractional spurs). However, the technique is only effective if the modulators are sufficiently random. Certain fractional divisor values, 1/2 and 1/4 for example, do not induce sufficient randomness. Instead a deterministic pattern of short length is produced that results in undesirable spurs in the frequency spectrum of the synthesized signal. These spurs are known as structure spurs because they are created by a lack of randomness or over-abundance of structure in the modulator's idle pattern.
Consider, for example, a three modulator fractional-N divider where 1/2 is used as the fractional divisor value. Table 1 below shows the values accumulated in the integrators of the three modulators assuming an initial accumulated value of zero in each integrator. Notice that a pattern forms which repeats every four clock cycles. As a result, when the modulator is used in a frequency synthesizer under these conditions, structure spurs will be created at frequencies of 1/4 and 1/2 of the frequency synthesizer's reference frequency.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Ref. Accum Ovfl Accum Ovfl Accum Ovfl Cycle 1 1 2 2 3 3 ______________________________________ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .5 0 .5 0 .5 0 2 0 1 .5 0 0 1 3 .5 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 .5 0 .5 0 .5 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ______________________________________
Structure spurs can be dealt with in several ways. First, one could simply avoid frequency synthesis of frequencies that have excessive structure spurs. However, avoiding synthesis of certain frequencies can be done only at the expense of system flexibility. A second option would be to seed the integrators with starting values that tend to randomize modulator operation at the expense of arbitrary phase control. A third possibility is that of narrowing the bandwidth of the frequency synthesizer's phase locked-loop to filter all objectionable structure spurs. This last option, however, is done at the expense of switching speed and phase noise.
The present invention provides a simple method for reducing structure spurs. In accordance with the present invention, two or more numbers (addends) are alternately added to the fractional divisor value before it is input to the multiple modulator fractional-N divider. For example, in a particular embodiment of the invention, the numbers 0 and 2 are alternately added to the fractional divisor value. This causes the limit cycle of the cascaded modulators to have maximum length, thus destroying the short term periodicity associated with certain fractional divisor values which create structure spurs.
If the means of the alternating addends is not zero, the fractional divisor value will be offset. In the embodiment described above where the addends are 0 and 2, the fractional divisor value will be offset by 1. If such an offset exists, it is necessary to also subtract the offset from the fractional divisor value before it is input to the multiple modulator fractional-N divider.
Underflow and overflow of the fractional divisor value when the addend is added and the offset subtracted must also be accommodated. Overflow can be accommodated by incrementing the integer divisor value by one. Underflow can be accommodated by decrementing the integer divisor value by one.
Implementation of the structure spur reduction technique is simple. A summer circuit connected in series with the fractional divisor value input of the multiple modulator fractional-N divider can be used to perform the addition of alternate addends. Alternating selection of the addends can be performed by a switch connected to the summer. A second summer circuit connected in series with the fractional divisor value input can perform the subtraction of the offset. Incrementing and decrementing of the integer divisor value to accommodate offsets can be performed by a third summer circuit connected in series with the integer divisor input.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Spur reduction for multiple modulator based synthesis


The invention relates to a cross antenna comprising linear sub-antennas and to the associated processing. More specifically, the invention relates to an antenna (1) comprising: first (2) and second (3) linear sub-antennas which are equipped with sensors (21-2M, 31-3N) forming first and second line segments and generating a basic signal (Si′, Gj′), the angle between the respective directional vectors of the first and second tangents to the midpoint respectively of the first and second line segments being between 30° and 150°; an antenna processing device (4, 5) forming combined signals (VSi, VGj); a signal-processing device (6, 7) generating combined useful signals (TSi, TGj); a device (8) for calculating the correlation coefficients ([Cij]) between the combined useful signals; and a device (8) for generating a detection signal ([Rij]) when a correlation coefficient exceeds a threshold. The invention can be used, for example, to obtain an antenna having fewer sensors for an equivalent performance level.

This invention relates in general to antennas, and in particular to the antenna structure and the architecture of the processing of data from sensors of such antennas when they are used for reception.
It is known in the field of radar to use surface antennas with beam-forming by calculation, intended to detect, locate and classify targets or sources. Such an antenna generally consists of an array including up to several thousand sensors arranged so as to form a rectangular planar surface. These sensors generally have an identical directivity pattern. This basic directivity pattern does not have a sufficient resolution for the performance required from the antenna in location. A beam-forming device produces a combination (for example, a linear combination) of signals generated by the sensors so as to form the required elevation angle and bearing directivities.
Such an antenna has disadvantages. For a given precision of the location in terms of elevation angle and bearing, this antenna is very expensive and difficult to integrate on a stationary or mobile platform, such as a naval platform, an aircraft, a land vehicle or a spacecraft.

Cruciform antenna comprising linear sub-antennas and associated processing

Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales


The present invention discloses a closed-loop method for recovering a process liquid and eliminating trapped air contained in the process liquid by utilizing a manual pump having generally a bellow construction for transporting the process liquid that contains trapped air back into a liquid reservoir for venting the trapped air.

In semiconductor processing, a semi-conducting wafer must be processed in a multiplicity of fabrication steps, i.e., as many as several hundred, in order to complete the manufacturing of an IC device. These processing steps may include etching, cleaning, deposition and various other processing procedures. A variety of chemicals, including liquids and gases must be used in the various processing steps either to etch a specific feature on the IC chip, to clean after certain processing steps, to deposit layers from reactant chemicals, or to carry out other necessary processing steps.
A variety of specialty chemicals are used for photo and metal cleaning processes. An important requirement for such speciality chemicals, i.e., photoresists, developers, spin-on glass and polyimide is the transporting and storage of the materials. In the case of a photoresist material, the photosensitivity and the lifetime of such a material depends on its storage temperature. It is important to maintain such materials within a specification of 5 to 20.degree. C. for a photoresist/developer and -20 to 10.degree. C. for spin-on glass/polyimide materials.
The transporting of these speciality chemicals, especially liquids, or the delivery from a storage reservoir (i.e., a holding tank) to a processing chamber where the liquid is used is another important aspect of the fabrication process. A process liquid, such as that of a photoresist or a developer, can normally be transported in a fluid passage such as a stainless steel tubing by electrical pump means. One of such conventional liquid delivery system for a photoresist is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the photoresist delivery system 10 generally consists of a liquid reservoir or a holding tank 12, an electrical pump 16, a filter means 18, a needle valve 22, a manual shut-off valve 24 and a drain tank 28. The outlet 32 from the filter means 18 sprays a jet of the photoresist material onto a rotating wafer such that the wafer can be uniformly coated with a thin layer of the photoresist material. The filter means 18 (or a liquid/air separating means) is a device wherein air bubbles trapped in the photoresist solution can be separated from the solution and be released out of the system through needle valve 22. During the process when the photoresist material 14 contained in the holding tank 12 is pumped by the electrical pump 16, air bubbles can be generated and are trapped in the photoresist solution contained in the flow passage 20. When the liquid containing air bubbles passes through the flow passage 20 and enters into the filter means 18, the air bubbles are more likely separated and cumulated to the top of the filter means 18. A jet of the photoresist solution is then released from outlet 32 onto a rotating wafer 26. During normal operations, the needle valve 22 is opened slightly such that the photoresist liquid containing air bubbles can be pushed out of the filter means 18 through passage 30 and needle valve 22 into a waste drain tank 28. The flow of the waste photoresist solution can further be controlled by a manual shut-off valve 24 positioned in between the needle valve 22 and the drain tank 28.
During normal operations, a small amount of air bubbles can be purged out by the above described procedure, i.e, by leaving the needle valve 22 slightly open such that the pressure in the filter means 18 pushes out air bubbles together with a volume of the photoresist solution. However, when a large volume of air bubbles is generated, i.e., during a maintenance procedure of filter replacement or during a photoresist solution change in the holding tank 12, the filter means 18 cannot effectively exhaust the air bubbles unless a large volume of the photoresist solution is purged out and wasted. In other words, the filter means 18 is no longer effective in separating and accumulating the air bubbles when the volume of the bubbles exceeds a critical amount.
When a wafer surface is coated with a photoresist material, the volume of the photoresist material coated and the resulting photoresist film formed must be quantitatively controlled to a high accuracy. Since the presence of air bubbles in the photoresist solution decreases the amount of the photoresist, the amount of the photoresist material available for covering the wafer surface is reduced accordingly. A non-uniform coating and subsequently, a defective pattern can be produced under such circumstances. A poor coating of photoresist film and a poor patterning can result from such a defective coating process due to the presence of air bubbles.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air from such liquid that does not have the drawbacks and shortcomings of the conventional methods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air in the liquid by utilizing a manual pump to return the process liquid containing trapped air back into a liquid reservoir.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a closed-loop method for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air in the liquid by utilizing a manual pump constructed mainly of a bellow structure.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a closed-loop method for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air in the liquid by utilizing a manual pump that is activated only when excessive amount of trapped air is detected in the closed-loop process liquid flow system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air in the liquid such that a waste of the process liquid can be greatly reduced due to the trapped air problem.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air in the liquid which consists of a bellow-type manual pump that can be operated when excessive trapped air in the liquid is detected.

Method and apparatus for recovering process liquid and eliminating trapped air

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for leak detection from a thief hatch. An example thief hatch includes a vent control stem coupled to first and second sealing plates, the first and second sealing plates to control fluid flow through the thief hatch based on translation of the vent control stem, and an indicator extending from the vent control stem to provide a visual indication of a condition of the fluid flow.

Fluid tanks and/or pipes included in a fluid processing system may implement a thief hatch to allow pressure and vacuum venting of a tank and/or pipe, and allow an operator working with the fluid processing system to manually recover a sample of or determine a level of fluid stored in the tank and/or pipe coupled to the thief hatch.
In recent years, emission standards and regulations have driven a need for tighter sealing of pressure and vacuum venting portions of thief hatches. Additionally, this has increased the importance of differentiation between undesired leakage and normal venting of thief hatches, where undesired leakage is associated with fluid flow through a thief hatch when both the pressure and venting vacuum venting portions of the thief hatch are sealed.

Methods and apparatus for leak detection from a thief hatch

Emerson Process Management Regulator Technologies Tulsa, LLC