A user may input a motion as a query condition to a motion picture database to retrieve one or more motion picture segments (i.e., motion picture scenes) in which an object moves with a matching motion. A motion information database is built of motion vector sequences extracted from stored motion pictures. A motion is inputted as a query by moving a pointing device, such as a mouse, in a desired motion sequence, rather than as a query expressed in words or as a formula. The inputted motion sequence of the pointing device is converted to a motion vector sequence and compared with stored motion vector sequences to retrieve one or more scenes in which an object moves with a matching motion.

A procedure for describing a query condition by means of a key word, as shown in FIG. 1, is a known method of retrieving a scene, that is to say, a portion of a stored motion image. According to the method, a motion image (a sequence of frames) is stored in a motion image database 12, while, in order to allow retrieval by means or key words, the contents of each scene are described (step 10), and the description of the contents is registered in a character/numeric database 11 together with the storage address of the scene. When retrieving a scene, a query condition using key words is input (step 13), and the key words are matched with the description stored in the character/numeric database 11 (step 14). A matched scene is displayed by accessing the storage address of the scene in the motion image database 12 (step 15). This method, however, involves the following problems:
First, a person must describe the contents of a motion image in words as he/she observes it. This is very time-consuming. Moreover, since not all motion images are described by a single person, individual differences occur in descriptions of contents, resulting in a lack of neutrality and objectivity. Further, since the user, in general, is not the person who described the contents, a user's input description is often inconsistent with the description in the database. This causes a low hit ratio.
Later studies try to describe information on the notions of objects appearing in a motion image instead of describing the contents of a scene. A motion image retrieval procedure disclosed by JA PUPA 1-224875 tries to store the physical states of objects appearing in a motion image in a database and retrieve them by using a logical conditional formula that describes changes in the states of specific objects. Changes in the state of an object are specifically a time series of two-dimensional coordinates of the object, and are stored in a motion information database. All a user has to do is to describe a query condition in words. The query condition is automatically converted into a conditional formula, and a scene that contains an object undergoing state changes consistent with the conditional formula is retrieved. However, it is difficult for a user to express an object's motion in words or in a logical conditional formula.
Assume, for example, that it is desired to accurately retrieve a scene in which an object S that existed at coordinates (x1, y1) on a screen at time t1 has moved to coordinates (x2, y2) at time t2 while tracing a curve. In this case, it is not sufficient to input conditions defining two distinct points in time and space and the fact that the object has moved between them. Transitional positions during the object's motion and its speed must also be expressed. However, it is almost impossible for a user to fully express them in words or numerical values.
The procedure described in the publication also requires the name of the object to be specified in the query condition. Therefore, unless the user knows the exact registered name for the object, he/she will fail in retrieval.
Additionally, although the publication claims to extract the two-dimensional coordinates of an object appealing on a screen for each frame, it does not present any automatic extraction procedure. Even if an environment is established for a retrieval operator to transfer his/her desired motion to a computer, the system is still impractical and requires much labor to be devoted to extracting motion information from a motion image.

Picture query system using abstract exemplary motions of a pointing device

International Business Machines Corporation


Filters used in the beverage industry fouled by polyphenol-protein complexes and carbohydrate polymers can be cleaned by treating the filters either with the following methods:                Solubilization of at least part of the carbohydrate polymers followed by a treatment of the resulting polyphenol protein complex with an oxidative chemical.        Treatment of the fouled filters through a back-wash method using an oxidative chemical. In both cases it is not necessary to rinse the membranes after cleaning with a reductive chemical.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process of cleaning food processing equipment, in particular membrane filters which are used for producing liquid foodstuffs, wherein the filters are contacted with an oxidator.
In the food industry, use is being made to an increasing extent of membrane filters, in particular plastic membranes such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polysulphone, polyether-sulphone and certain types of polyamides, and ceramic membranes for removing undesirable insoluble matter from beverages and other liquids. Such membranes are also used for cleaning surface water. Such membranes ensure an expedient removal of undesirable constituents, in particular micro-organisms such as algae, fungi, yeast, and bacteria
The problem is, however, that such membrane filters become blocked even after a short time so that they become unusable. The blocked filters can be regenerated, for example by rinsing them through in the opposite direction. However, that is a complicated process and no longer effective in the long term because the contamination accumulates. In addition, it is difficult to remove some persistent organic contaminants in this way.
2. Description of Related Art
Enzymatic processes have been proposed for cleaning membranes. Thus, WO 98/45029 describes the use of cellulases and amylases for cleaning beer filtering membranes, after alkaline pretreatment of the membrane. Similarly, JP-A 4-267933 describes the use of proteinases and cellulases for cleaning separation membranes. These non-oxidative processes, however, are usually insufficiently effective in cleaning blocked membranes.
WO 97/45523 describes the use of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO) as nitroxyl compound and hypochlorite and hypobromite as a reoxidator for cleaning beer-settling modules. The presence of halogen residues, especially bromine residues, is highly undesired in equipment used for preparing or treating beverages and other foodstuffs. Moreover, the amounts of oxidator and reoxidator used are high and therefore this method is relatively expensive.
WO 99/15256 discloses the use of cyclic nitroxyl compounds such as TEMPO together with a calcium-sequestering agent for cleaning filters to be used in purifying surface water. This method is not very effective for cleaning filters with heavy residues produced in the beverage industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,988 and JP-A 9-290141 disclose a method for cleaning ceramic membranes used in water-purification plants and the like, by using a back-washing method in combination with an oxidising agent such as sodium hypochlorite, chlorine and chlorine dioxide followed by a washing with a reducing agent.
Research has revealed that during the membrane separation process for cleaning foodstuffs such as beer, the membrane fouling starts with a complexation onto the membrane consisting of a complex of polyphenols and proteins. Subsequently other components such as (poly)saccharides and/or other hydrophilic residues of e.g. yeast adsorb onto the polyphenol protein complex and as a result the pores of the membranes are blocked. The blocking of the membrane pores results in reduced permeability and ultimately in an inefficient filtration process.
In order to clean the used membranes, it was surprisingly found that filters and other equipment used in the food and beverage industry can be effectively cleaned in a TEMPO-free process. The cleaning process is focused on targeting the polyphenol protein complex with an oxidising chemical aid such as sodium hypochlorite, Oxone, organic peracids or a transition metal complex together with peroxide compounds such as hydrogen peroxide or with hypohalous acids. In all cases it is not necessary that after the oxidative cleaning the membranes are treated with a reducing agent. The research has resulted in two embodiments, which are feasible for cleaning the membranes. The two embodiments of the method of the invention have in common, as the inventive concept, that the protein and/or polyphenol-containing residues are treated with the oxidising agent capable of oxidising the proteins and/or polyphenols, while minimising contact of the oxidising agent with the polysaccharides. The reduced contact with oxidising agent has the further advantage that the life cycle of the membranes is increased.

Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO


An apparatus for identifying positions of pixel defects on a display screen, such as a cathode-ray tube or a liquid crystal display, operates to pick up an image signal of a display screen representing a predetermined image with an imaging camera, shift the image signal of the imaging camera by one pixel in one and another directions with respect to the display screen, and obtain a difference of a signal level between a defective portion and a normal portion on the screen, based on the signals obtained when the image signal of the imaging camera is shifted in one and another directions. The apparatus also serves to calculate a relative inclination between the imaging camera and the display screen for obtaining a difference of a signal level between a defective portion and a normal portion of each pixel. The results make it possible to clearly identify the difference of the signal level between the defective portion and the normal portion.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for detecting a defect in an image on a display screen, that is, a pixel having a higher or lower luminance than the other pixels.
One example of a method for detecting a jammed shadow mask of a color cathode-ray tube (CRT) is described in JP-A-63-42454 "Method for checking a Shadow Mask on a CRT". This method is designed to detect a jammed shadow mask based on the difference between an original image and an image where shadow mask holes are shifted from the original image by one pitch.
The foregoing prior art operates to check for an abnormal shadow mask based on an original image and another image where shadow mask holes are shifted from those of the original image by one pitch for the purpose of detecting a jammed shadow mask hole on a color CRT. This arrangement makes it difficult to obtain a difference in signal level between a normal portion and an abnormal portion output from an imaging camera if a hole suffers from a slight abnormality, thereby being making it substantially impossible to realize stable detection. Further, the prior art operates on the assumption that no relative inclination exists between the imaging camera and a CRT to be checked. Hence, the prior art has a disadvantage that it is quite difficult to offset the adverse effect of the inclination.

Method and apparatus for checking defect on display screen


A subject (12) observes an image on a display (10). A control (18) produces a fixation image at a selected position in the display, followed by a stimulus spaced from the fixation image. An eye position sensor (14) detects a saccade movement towards the stimulus. The stimulus is then replaced with a fixation image and the cycle repeated. The time taken to saccade plus the intensity of the stimulus are used to produce a retinal map of field of vision, or to assess other characteristics of the subject.

While eye to hand co-ordination and reaction is relatively slow and subject to variability and improvement from practice, and eye to voice reaction time is even slower, the reaction time of the eye itself to stimulus is extremely fast in humans and primates. The eye muscles reflexively react to stimuli without the need for conscious action by the subject. Although this reflex can be consciously overridden, the nature of the stimulus and prior fixation can be engineered by methods disclosed in this invention to ensure that the reliability exceeds 97 percent. Furthermore, because the eye reflex is inherently faster than eye-hand or eye-voice reaction times, any variability in the response has a far lower impact on the accuracy of a reaction dependent measurement. This allows the apparatus to exploit the time information in a variety of ways to increase the data obtainable from each individual test point.
The invention, which is defined in the appended claims, is based on the use of an eye position-measuring device capable of measurement of eye position at intervals of less than 45 ms, of which several types are commercially available, in conjunction with a display unit capable of displaying a multiplicity of visual stimuli and capable of accurate calibration of luminance sufficient to exceed the desired accuracy of the desired test. The device is configured to detect the rapid motion of the eye (known as a saccade) towards a new stimulus and to use this saccade to determine the moment the subject's visual reflex responds to the stimulus. Since the subject need not consciously respond to the stimuli the entire field of view measurement process can be automated. By way of example, a set of stimuli can be presented, each stimulus initially below expected threshold increasing in brightness until the stimulus triggers the reflex saccade of the eye from a fixation stimulus. The time the reflex saccade is detected is used to determine the threshold of the retina for that point. The eye position-measuring device can in a preferred embodiment be used to check that the eye's saccade did in fact occur in the correct direction confirming that the test stimulus and not another distraction caused the saccade. At the moment of the said saccade the stimulus that was the saccade target transforms into the fixation point for the next stimulus. This is an important feature for two reasons.
First, the accuracy of immediate post saccade fixation has been shown to be consistently many times better than long term fixation on a single point, and secondly the visual process of saccading from one stimulus to another in sequence is the normal visual scanning mode of the human and higher primate eye, hence the experience for the patient feels natural and unforced, especially if the frequency of the induced saccade is designed to be equivalent to the normal scanning saccade frequency of the eye. This normal scanning frequency varies from time to time in a given individual and from individual to individual but the invention also discloses a method that allows the practitioner to quickly determine this value accurately. Setting the saccade frequency perfectly is not generally necessary but will help to make the test more accurate particularly with anxious patients.
A major advantage of this method of field of view measurement over the prior art is that it eliminates the need for very large samples to be gathered for each stimulus position and repetitive confirmation of the subject's observation of the stimulus and the reliability of their visual fixation. This vastly reduces the time needed for a diagnostician to establish a subject's field of view.
In preferred forms, the invention exploits a detailed computer model of the human visual system's autonomic reflex timings and uses a response interpolator based on this model to allow more accurate interpretation and extrapolation from data while ensuring that the conditions of the test more closely approximate normal visual tasks. This improves both the comfort of the subject and accuracy of the test results. The invention allows sufficient accuracy to determine progression from one test to another of a fraction of a percent, takes little clinical time to administer and the apparatus itself is economic and easily affordable.
In addition to the above benefits the nature of the disclosed method and apparatus also has utility in diagnosis of other visual disorders not directly related to visual field but still dependent on the exploitation of the computer reflex model. This allows the invention to be applied to the diagnosis of high function visual disorders such as dyslexia and visual "neglect". Dyslexia is a higher brain function disorder, which can be improved by appropriate training, and "neglect" is a symptom of a particular form of brain damage.

Method and apparatus for the diagnosis of glaucoma and other visual disorders


A method for calibrating a vehicle system having multiple interconnected components including an electronic control unit, the method including the attachment of an unpowered, semiconductor-based transponder unit that responds to a radio signal to each component of the system, the encoding of the transponder unit with data pertaining to the component, the excitation of the transponder unit using a radio scanner in order to read the data of the transponder unit and the writing of data into the electronic control unit after the component has been installed in the vehicle system.

The present invention relates to vehicle systems, for example, an automated transmission system or an automated gear shift system for a motor vehicle.
Automated transmission systems for motor vehicles, such as in British Patents 2308413, 2354296, 2354295, 2358443, 0105186.1, 0029453.8, 0026423.4, 0025848.3, 0025847.5, 0029454.6, 0025000.1, 0024999.5, 0026178.4, 0027640.2, 0028310.1, 0031624.0, 0103312.5, whose content is expressly incorporated in the disclosure content of the present invention, include various components, for example an hydraulic pressure supply unit, a valve unit, a gear shift mechanism and an electronic control unit, which are installed in the vehicle either as original equipment or as upgrades and even as spare parts installed during maintenance of the vehicles.
In order to function correctly, the various components for the system must be calibrated, and the electronic control unit must be programmed using the important identifiers of the components. This may be performed after installation of the system in the vehicle. However, it is desirable for individual components to be pre-calibrated by means of bench tests and the identifier of each component to be entered in the control unit when the system is installed or when a component in the system is replaced.
It is also desirable for each component of the system to be identified to ensure that the correct part is installed in the system and to offer protection from imitation parts.
Bar coding of the various components of the system has previously been used for this purpose, the various bar codes being read using a scanner when the system is installed in the vehicle and the data being entered in the electronic control unit.
This method of marking the various components of the system has the disadvantage that the bar code must be visible so it is possible to scan them. This is not always possible when the system is installed in the vehicle. Moreover, it is easy for the bar codes to be covered with dirt or to detach from the components.
The present invention provides an improved method for calibrating such systems.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for calibrating a vehicle system comprising multiple interconnected components, among them an electronic control unit, includes the attachment to each component of the system of an unpowered, semiconductor-based electronic transponder unit that responds to a radio signal, encoding of the transponder unit with data that pertains to the component, and excitation of the transponder unit using a radio scanner to read the data from the transponder unit and write the data into the electronic control unit after the component has been installed in the vehicle system.
Using the electronic marking means according to the present invention, the radio scanner only needs to be disposed in the vicinity of the transducer in order to read the data and thereby overcomes the difficulty of reading data from unfavorably positioned components. Furthermore, the transponders may also be read, even if they are heavily soiled. Electronic, semiconductor-based transponders of the type used are also capable of storing more data than are able to be represented in a bar code.

Vehicle system calibration and vehicle system calibration method

LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG


An abutment (10,10A,10B,10C) for a medical or dental implant has a prosthetic receiving tapered post formed with a locking step (10e) for removably restraining a sleeve member such as an emergence cuff (12,12A). The emergence cuff is receivable on the post of the abutment and has an outer surface configuration which merges confluently with the abutment outer surface. The emergence cuff is formed with a snap on interface (12g) for use with a second sleeve (14,14A) having a complimentary snap on interface (14e). When the second sleeve is open ended, a pin (16) is shown for closing off the outer end of the second sleeve, if desired.

It is known to place an annular cuff formed of suitable biocompatible material on a permanent abutment member at the time the abutment is mounted on the root member and the gum tissue is then sutured over the cuff and abutment member and allowed to heal, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,731, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. After sufficient healing the cuff can be removed leaving a sulcus having a predetermined, optimized shape. The cuff can be formed with an inwardly extending, circumferential lip for placement onto the undercut of the abutment to provide a positive seat for the cuff.
An object of the invention is the provision of a locking mechanism for retention of a first sleeve on an abutment, the sleeve having an outer surface smoothly confluent with the outer surface of the abutment. Another object is the provision of a second sleeve, the first and second sleeves having an interface for locking on to each other. Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a second sleeve having a feature for interlocking with other dental materials.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abutment for dental implant and associated components for use therewith


A data retention methodology for use in electrically rewritable nonvolatile storage systems is disclosed. The methodology collects characteristic data of the storage system (e.g., time stamps, program/erase cycles, sensed temperature over time, and others) and uses at least a portion of that data to associate various data retention schemes with the collected characteristic data. At power-on, the methodology determines a duration of a time during which power was not supplied to the storage system. The methodology also uses the power-on time to trigger the selection of an appropriate data protection scheme (e.g., enhanced ECC and/or read/scrub frequency). Dynamic selection and adjustment of the applied protection scheme may be based on the predetermined and/or calculated association between various protection schemes and the collected characteristic data of the storage system.

The disclosed embodiments relate in general to data protection schemes in storage systems. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to optimizing the selection and application of appropriate levels of data protection in an electrically rewritable nonvolatile storage system by dynamically adjusting a data scrub frequency and/or an error correcting code (ECC) scheme applied to the storage system.
Flash memory, which has no moving parts, is a type of nonvolatile storage system that can be erased and reprogrammed in units of memory often referred to as pages or blocks. Flash memory gets its name because entire sections of memory can be erased in a single action or "flash. An array of flash memories can transfer data to and from solid state drives (SSDs) much faster than electromechanical disk drives.
Because it lacks moving parts, flash memory technology is well suited for embarked systems such as airplane applications. However in such an environment, devices might stay powered off for an extended period of time. This can become a problem with flash memory due to limits on its ability to retain data in high temperature environments or over extended periods of time without power. Thus, the rate at which bit errors within flash memory cells increase is a function of the system temperature and the age of the flash block measured in program/erase (P/E) cycles.
Known approaches to addressing bit errors within flash memory cells include the flash storage controller periodically issuing a memory "scrub" read to the flash cells that are estimated to be at risk. A relatively simple background task may be run on the flash controller's CPU and iterated over all valid RAID (redundant array of independent disks) stripes issuing a flash read to each page. RAID is a way of storing the same data in different places (thus, redundantly) on multiple hard disks. By placing data on multiple disks, I/O (input/output) operations can overlap in a balanced way, improving performance. Using the aforementioned background task, the flash controller periodically scrubs and checks all user data for bit errors no matter how frequently or infrequently the host application accessed the data. If a system is powered off and shelved for an extended period of time, the flash controller itself would have no concept of how urgently a scrub of all physical data was needed.
ECC is another known approach to addressing bit errors. However, the effectiveness of ECC schemes depends heavily on how much correction data is stored. Also, applying more robust ECC schemes can reduce overall system performance. Therefore, the appropriate ECC scheme/level for a particular flash based storage subsystem is heavily dependent on the type of flash and the application needs. In the case of an embarked system designed to sit idle for a long period of time in a hot environment (e.g., in a desert), performance must be sacrificed to allow for a more robust level of ECC scheme. Hence, known ECC algorithms require a design tradeoff between high recovery capacity and reduced overall I/O performance.

Dynamic adjustment of data protection schemes in flash storage systems based on temperature, power off duration and flash age

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method of navigating or endpointing a microscopic structure by subsurface imaging using a beam of electrons having sufficient energy to penetrate the surface and produce a subsurface image. For endpointing, when the subsurface image become relatively clear at a known electron energy, a user knows that he is approaching the buried feature. For navigating, a subsurface image can be formed of fiducials or other features to determine the position of the beam on the device.

Modern integrated circuits are composed of multiple layers of conductors, insulators, and semiconductors. Many modern integrated circuits are fabricated using "flip chip" technology in which the circuit is mounted upside-down onto a carrier. To inspect or alter interior layers of such circuits after the chip is mounted, it is necessary to approach the circuit from the backside. Semiconductor wafers are typically several hundred microns thick, so it is necessary to remove a substantial amount of material from the back side of the circuit before reaching the circuit. When accessing circuitry from the backside, there are no reference points for navigation, that is, there is no easy way to determine exactly where a particular feature on the circuit is located. Thus, to access the circuitry on a flip chip, one must determine where to remove material to expose the circuit from the back side and when to stop removing material to prevent damage to the circuit. Determining when to stop milling is referred to as "end pointing."
Removing the backside material is typically performed in several steps. A first step typically includes a process, such as chemical mechanical polishing, that rapidly thins the entire chip, leaving sufficient material to provide mechanical strength for handling the chip. A subsequent step involves making a large hole in the material centered on the estimated position of the circuit feature of interest. Such a process is typically done using a laser or an ion beam. A process that rapidly removes material is typically not capable of stopping at a precise depth, so as the back side hole approaches the circuit, a second, more accurate process is typically used.
One method of slowing approaching the circuit from the backside uses ion beam milling along with an "end-pointing" technique that indicates when the feature to be exposed is near or is reached. In one end-pointing technique, a light is shown into the hole, and the light induces a current as the hole approaches a transistor region of the circuit. As the optical beam-induced current increases, the user knows that he is getting closer to the transistor region of the circuit.
Another endpointing technique, described in U.S. Published Pat. App. No. 2002/0074494 to Lundquist, uses focused ion beam milling to approach an active transistor region of the circuit from the backside. As the ion beam approaches the circuit, it creates charge carriers that cause a leakage current through the transistor. The ion beam is modulated, and a frequency sensitive amplifier amplifies the power supply leakage current at the modulation frequency. When the current achieves a certain level, the user assumes that the ion beam is very close to the active transistor region of the circuit. While this method can tell when a user is getting close to an active transistor region, it does not provide information about where on the surface the ion beam is impacting, other than that it is impacting near an active transistor region.
One common technique for determining when to stop milling, whether on the back side of a flip chip or on the front side of a conventional circuit, is to observe an image of the circuit when a layer has been milled through. Although an optical microscope can be used to form an image, the resolution of an optical microscope is on the order of 0.5 μm, which is insufficient to observe to circuit features, which can be on the order of 0.1 μm. A more appropriate method of observing microscopic devices is by using charged particle beam imaging, such as scanning ion microscopy or scanning electron microscopy.
A charged particle beam, such as a focused ion beam or an electron beam, is scanned across a surface. The impact of the charged particle beam causes the ejection of various particles, including secondary electrons, backscattered electrons, and ions. The number of particles emitted from each point depends on the composition and the topography at the point. An image is formed on a video monitor, with the brightness of each point on the image corresponding to the number of particles emitted from the surface at a corresponding point. An image can provide information to navigate by, if the image can be correlated to known information about the circuit.
The work piece typically is typically supported on a stage. The stage can move in three dimensions, "X," "Y," and "Z," and movement of the stage and beam is specified and controlled using system coordinates. A work piece typically has its own coordinate system used by its designers to specify where various features are formed. By finding registration marks, known as "fiducials," that are incorporated into the work piece, it is possible to correlate work piece coordinates with system coordinates, so that a user can specify a position on the work piece using work piece coordinate, and the system can move the stage and direct the beam, that is "navigate," to that location. Such correlation is referred to as registration. While milling a chip from the back side, the fiducials are not visible and so it is difficult to register the work piece and to find a desired location.
While imaging techniques are useful for navigating in a plane, such techniques have disadvantages for end pointing. When using imaging to determine when a layer is exposed, the layer can be damaged before the endpoint is determined. Moreover, in order to find reference points in an image to determine where on the circuit the beam is located, it would be necessary to expose by trial and error and relatively large area, potentially damaging each area that is exposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,810 to Zaluzec for a "Scanning Confocal Electron Microscope" teaches an electron microscope that can image subsurface features, but because the system uses transmitted electrons, the substrate must be relatively thin and the system configured for detecting transmitted electrons, and so cannot be readily used in existing SEMs.

Subsurface imaging using an electron beam


A wirenut driver includes a ratchet ball which drives a socket. The ratchet ball is formed with a center opening which allows the ratchet ball to receive a stem of the socket in either end thereof for rotation in either the clockwise or counterclockwise direction. The socket is formed with a center bore. The center bore is formed by a plurality of alternating channels and ribs which engage complementary shaped channels and ribs of a wirenut. Rotation of the ratchet ball produces rotation of the socket and wirenut for attaching the wirenut to a plurality of wires for electrically connecting the wires together. A pair of slots are formed in an open end of the socket adjacent the center bore for receiving a wingnut-type wirenut. The inner surface of the center bore may be stepped or tapered to receive various sizes of wirenuts.

1. Technical Field
Generally, the invention relates to a wirenut driver. Particularly, the invention relates to a wirenut driver which is used to attach a wirenut onto a plurality of wires for electrically connecting the wires together. Even more particularly, the invention relates to a wirenut driver which receives various sizes and shapes of wirenuts for easily screwing the wirenuts to the plurality of wires using a ratchet motion.
2. Background Information
Wirenuts are used to conductively connect or tie together a plurality of wires. Typically, these wirenuts are used during the installation of lights, electrical switches, electrical outlets, etc. Conventional wirenuts include an outer plastic cap having a ribbed outer surface to facilitate manual twisting thereof. The wirenut is formed with an open bottom end which provides access to a tapered metal insert. The metal insert is attached to the inner surface of the wirenut and is formed with a threaded inner surface. The user aligns an exposed conductive end of each of the wires and inserts the wires into the open end of the wirenut. The user manually screws the wirenut onto the ends of the wires with the threaded inner surface of the metal insert engaging the conductive ends of the wires to electrically connect the wires together and secure the wirenut to the ends of the connected wires. The non-conductive plastic cap of the wirenut prevents the electrical wires from contacting other wires or metal parts within the lighting fixture, switch or electrical outlet.
One problem which exists when installing these wirenuts is that the user must use two hands to gather and align the wires. The user must then take one hand away from the wires to reach for and obtain a wirenut. While the user is reaching for a wirenut of the correct size, the plurality of aligned wires may separate from one another requiring the user to regroup and realign the wires.
Also, these wirenuts are relatively small size making the wirenut difficult to handle. The user will occasionally drop the wirenut during the installation or removal thereof. This is particularly a problem while connecting wires of a ceiling fan or overhead light, for example. The user must stand on a ladder while reaching above his or her head to group, align and connect the wires together with a wirenut. If the user drops the wirenut, the user must climb down the ladder to retrieve the dropped wirenut or to obtain new wirenut, climb back up the ladder and regroup and realign the wires before installing the wirenut.
Further, these wirenuts must be manually screwed to the wires with the user's hands. When installing a large number of wirenuts at one time, the relatively sharp ribs of the wirenut will irritate the user's hands often causing blistering of the user's thumb and fingers.
Therefore, the need exists for a wirenut driver which frictionally holds a wirenut and prevents a user from dropping the wirenut during the installation or removal thereof, and which allows the user to easily screw the wirenut onto a plurality of wires using a ratchet motion.


The present invention is related to antibodies directed to the antigen PDGFD and uses of such antibodies. In particular, in accordance with the present invention, there are provided fully human monoclonal antibodies directed to the antigen PDGFD. Nucelotide sequences encoding, and amino acid sequences comprising, heavy and light chain immunoglobulin molecules, particularly sequences corresponding to contiguous heavy and light chain sequences spanning the framework regions and/or complementarity determining regions (CDR's), specifically from FR1 through FR4 or CDR1 through CDR3, are provided. Hybridomas or other cell lines expressing such immunoglobulin molecules and monoclonal antibodies are also provided.

1. Summary of the Invention
The present invention is related to antibodies directed to the antigen PDGFD and uses of such antibodies. In particular, in accordance with the present invention, there are provided fully human monoclonal antibodies directed to the antigen PDGFD. Nucelotide sequences encoding, and amino acid sequences comprising, heavy and light chain immunoglobulin molecules, particularly sequences corresponding to contiguous heavy and light chain sequences spanning the framework regions and/or complementarity determining regions (CDR's), specifically from FR1 through FR4 or CDR1 through CDR3, are provided. Hybridomas or other cell lines expressing such immunoglobulin molecules and monoclonal antibodies are also provided.
2. Background of the Technology
Polypeptide growth factors exerting effects in a variety of tissues have been described. Such growth factors include platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF).
The platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) family currently consists of at least 3 distinct genes, PDGF A, PDGF B, and PDGF C whose gene products selectively signal through two PDGFRs to regulate diverse cellular functions. PDGF A, PDGF B, and PDGF C dimerize in solution to form homodimers, as well as the heterodimer.
Expression of RNA encoding the PDGF A and PDGF B subunits of has been reported in vascular tissues involved in atherosclerosis. PDGF A and PDGF B mRNA have been reported to be present in mesenchymal-appearing intimal cells and endothelial cells, respectively, of atherosclerotic plaques. In addition, PDGF receptor mRNA has also been localized predominantly in plaque intimal cells.
The PDGF B is related to the transforming gene (v-sis) of simian sarcoma virus. The PDGF B has also been reported to be mitogen for cells of mesenchymal origin. The PDGF B has in addition been implicated in autocrine growth stimulation in the pathologic proliferation of endothelial cells characteristically found in glioblastomas. PDGF has also been reported to promote cellular proliferation and inhibits apoptosis.
A novel PDGF, PDGF-D, has recently been cloned and characterized. See LaRochelle et al. Nature Cell Biology 3:517 (2001), GenBank Accession No. AF335584, International Patent Application No. WO 01/25433, U.S. Ser. No. 60/158,083, filed Oct. 7, 1999; U.S. Ser. No. 60/159,231, filed Oct. 13, 1999; U.S. Ser. No. 60/174,485 filed Jan. 4, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 60/186,707 filed Mar. 3, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 60/188,250, filed Mar. 10, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 60/223,879, filed Aug. 8, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 60/234,082, filed on Sep. 20, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 09/685,330, filed on Oct. 5, 2000; PCT Application US00/27671, filed Oct. 6, 2000; U.S. Ser. No. 09/688,312, filed Oct. 13, 2000 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/715,332, filed Nov. 16, 2000. Each of these applications is incorporated by reference in its entirety., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Because of its expression profile and sequence homology and/or similarity to the above-discussed genes and gene products, antibodies to the PDGF-D antigen could be useful therapeutically.

Antibodies directed to PDGFD and uses thereof


[Problem] An object of the present invention is to elucidate a novel genetic mutation which is a cause of cancer, and thereby, to provide a method for detecting the genetic mutation, or a protein which has the mutation, a method for detecting the presence of cancer in a subject, a method for diagnosing cancer in a subject, and a primer set, a probe and a detecting kit for the methods.

A fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) is one kind of a receptor tyrosine kinase, and as a ligand of FGFR, a fibroblast growth factor (FGF) has been known. In the FGFR family, the presence of four receptor types, that is, an FGFR1, an FGFR2, an FGFR3 and an FGFR4 has been known. The receptors are made up of a transmembrane protein having an extracellular domain, a transmembrane domain and a cytoplasmic domain. The extracellular domain includes two or three immunoglobulin (Ig) domains. FGFR is a monomeric tyrosine kinase receptor, which is activated by dimerization which occurs on a cell surface in a complex of an FGFR dimer, an FGF, and a heparin glycan or a proteoglycan. For the FGF, 22 kinds of known FGFs are present, and each has an ability to bind to one or a plurality of FGFRs. FGF binds to FGFR, and thereby the receptor tyrosine kinase is activated, and a signal transduction is carried out downstream. Depending on difference in site or period of FGFR expression, complicated biological functions such as a cell migration and a cell proliferation are controlled.
Among the FGFR family, in a FGFR4 gene of human, three human splicing variants (FGFR4 gene variant 1 (GenBank Accession number: NM—002011.3), variant 2 (GenBank Accession number: NM—022963.2) and variant 3 (GenBank Accession number: NM—213647.1)) have been known so far. Among these, the variant 1 and the variant 3 encode an isoform 1 of FGFR4, and the variant 2 encodes an isoform 2 of FGFR4. The FGFR4 isoform 1 is consisting of full length 802 amino acids, and the isoform 2 is consisting of full length 762 amino acids. The isoform 1 and the isoform 2 have a different amino acid sequence in a region in the transmembrane domain, and have the same amino acid sequence in an extracellular domain and a cytoplasmic domain.
It is confirmed that a tyrosine kinase domain of FGFR is present in the cytoplasmic domain, and in various cancers, a point mutation in the tyrosine kinase domain of FGFR is related to activation of cancer. It has been reported that among these, for FGFR4 in rhabdomyoma, an amino acid mutation (N535K, N535D) was found at position 535 in the isoform 1, an introduction of these point mutations causes a constitutive activation of FGFR4, cytoplasmic signals are abnormally activated, and thereby causing canceration and a cell proliferation (Non-Patent Document 1).
However, it has not been reported that an activating point mutation other than the N535K mutation and the N535D mutation is present in the tyrosine kinase domain of FGFR4.

Abstract: [Means for Solution] A method for detecting a fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) mutant in a subject, which comprises a step of detecting the presence of the mutation of glycine at position 183 in a FGFR4 tyrosine kinase domain to cysteine in a sample obtained from the subject.


A doorjamb end cap and method of installation therefor, wherein application of the present invention to wooden doorjambs permits the enclosed or encased portion thereof to effectively resist or avoid the onset of rot therein, and wherein the present invention is effectuated without expensive extrusion processes and/or thermoplastic melt and adhesive applications.

Rain, snow and other harsh weather elements can have a devastating effect on the structural integrity of exterior building materials. Specifically, permeation and infusion of moisture and air into many exterior building materials can often result in the rot or decomposition of same. Wooden building materials, and especially wooden doorframes or doorjambs, are particularly susceptible to moisture and/or air-induced rot due the inherent porosity and fibrous or cellulosic composition of wood in general.
Unfortunately, and in the exemplary context of wooden doorframes or doorjambs, application of expensive exterior paints and/or sealants thereto do not provide sufficient long-term rot-resistant capabilities, as the structural, molecular or polymeric integrity of such paints and/or sealants is often disrupted or broken down by the infusion therein of moisture, air, dirt, dust and other foreign particulates. As such, paints or sealants applied to exterior wooden doorframes or doorjambs eventually peel from the surfaces thereof, and/or deteriorate in areas of greater molecular or polymeric breakdown; thus, exposing the wooden material therebeneath to the destructive forces of moisture, air and foreign particulates. Additionally, application of multiple layers of such paints and/or sealants often only exacerbates the problem, typically causing premature peeling due to the weak molecular bond between the layers, a structural deficiency most aptly attributed to an application process requiring the drying of individual paint/sealant layers prior to application of subsequent layers.
An alternative to the application of paints and/or sealants to wooden doorframes or doorjambs is to securely affix a plurality or an assembly of weathering plates to the exterior surfaces thereof. Such weathering plates are typically formed from plastic, cut or molded to shape, and affixed to the wooden doorframe or doorjamb via nails or wood screws. Unfortunately, because a multitude of such plates are typically assembled over the wooden structures, a plurality of gaps or spaces form between each adjacent or abutting plate, thereby providing several openings for the passage of moisture, air, and/or foreign particulates therethrough; thus, resulting in eventual rotting of the underlying wooden doorframe or doorjamb. Additionally, fastening such plates to the wooden structures via nails or screws create further openings or apertures for the introduction of air, moisture, and the like, therein and therethrough. Examples of such products may be seen with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,510 to Ellingson.
In an attempt to overcome the disadvantages associated with the application of paints, sealants, or weathering plates over wooden doorframes, doorjambs, or the like, many construction materials manufactures often apply or extrude thermoplastic melts and/or other hot melts over the wooden doorframe or doorjamb to provide a more permanent and structurally rot-resistant barrier thereover. However, the materials and equipment requirements of such extrusion processes render the application of such extrusion processes highly expensive, inefficient and, as such, impractical. Specifically, many thermoplastic melts are often extruded onto an adhesive-covered wooden doorframe, doorjamb, or core, and thereafter, permitted to cool. If the application process and curing of melt and adhesive is successful, the adhesive effectively forms a bond between the cooled melt and the wooden core. However, if the application process and curing of the melt and adhesive is unsuccessful, the cooled melt will often prematurely break free or peel away from the wooden core, exposing same to rot-inducing air and moisture elements, and resulting in excess materials waste in the long term. Additionally, even if successfully cooled and cured, such melt-adhesive based extrusions are not immune to fluctuations in extreme temperature, and, as such, may still peel or break free from the wooden core as a result of structural degradation of, or bonding failure between, the adhesive and melt. Furthermore, the extrusion dies and related equipment required to control flow, dimensions, and uniform application and thickness of thermoplastic melt over the wooden core, are often overly expensive, and, therefore, significantly contribute to the overall impracticality and high cost of such an extrusion process. Unfortunately, without such extrusion dies and machines, melts applied too thinly or non-uniformly over a wooden core are subject to cracking, premature peeling, and overall structural failure. Examples of such extrusion processes and products may be seen with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,197 to Serino et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,518 to Endo et al.
Although non-wooden doorframes, doorjambs, window frames, and the like, completely manufactured from extruded plastics or other rot-resistant materials are available, such solid-form extrusions are extremely expensive to manufacture, requiring expensive thermoplastic melts or powders and associated extrusion dies and machinery to extrude same.
An alternative to extruding entire doorframes or doorjambs from thermoplastic melts, compositions, or the like, is to only extrude a lower, non-load-bearing portion of the doorframe or doorjamb from extruded thermoplastics, or the like (i.e., areas of the doorframe/jamb especially susceptible to rot). Unfortunately, application of such products require an overly invasive and laborious method of installation, often necessitating the entire removal or excise of a desired (lower) portion of the door frame, replacement of the removed portion with a suitable extruded and cooled thermoplastic portion, and the securing of same. Still other methods of installation utilizing similar products require the creation of finger-joint connections in the ends of the extruded product and wooden doorframe/jamb, thereby facilitating end-to-end connection of same. Examples of such products may be seen with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,410 to Hagel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,222 to Hagel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,197 to Serino et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,882 to Hagel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,391 to Hagel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,209 to Hagel, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,943 to Hagel.
Additionally, apparently absent from the prior art are protective doorjamb applications with integrally formed end caps that protect or shield the base or end of a doorjamb from the deleterious effects of air and moisture. Instead, some manufacturing processes include the use of end pieces or caps that may be added to the ends of a doorjamb during the extrusion of thermoplastic melts thereover. A product yielded as a result of such a process is seemingly structurally flawed, as the end piece and extruded melt, even with the use of adhesives, may not bond or cure properly, or may be susceptible to extreme temperatures and weather conditions, thereby resulting in the cooled melt prematurely breaking free or peeling away from the end piece; thus, exposing the underlying wooden doorjamb to rot-inducing air and moisture elements. Examples of such products may be seen with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,197 to Serino et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,518 to Endo et al.
As such, it appears that the inherent air/moisture-tight benefits of integrally formed end caps or boot-like enclosures for application onto doorjambs are not disclosed or taught in the prior art, nor is the combination of such closed-end, boot-like enclosures or end caps with the ends or lower portions of doorjambs.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a doorjamb end cap and method of installation therefor, wherein application of the present invention to wooden doorjambs permits the enclosed or encased portion thereof to effectively resist or avoid the onset of rot therein, and wherein the present invention is effectuated without expensive extrusion processes and/or thermoplastic melt and adhesive applications.

Doorjamb end cap and method of installation therefor


A method and system for determining contact angles of porous media, including: in a displacement simulation experiment, injecting a displacement fluid into a actual core sample, and performing computed tomography scanning on the core to determine three-dimensional images at different oil displacing time points; segmenting different phases of the three-dimensional images to obtain segmented three-dimensional images; marking a contact line between different phases according to the segmented three-dimensional images, where the phases are underground fluids or displacement fluids and a rock matrix in the displacement simulation experiment; and determining a contact angle of the porous media at different 3D positions at different time points according to the contact line. The method and system provided can obtain the dynamic changing process of the contact angle at different 3D positions in the core at different displacement time points, reflect the wettability of the real reservoir environment more accurately.

Studying the multiphase fluids flow in porous media (reservoir is one of the porous media) is an indispensable part of the process of oil-gas field development, and wettability is a key factor affecting the multiphase flow in the porous media. Wettability is the characteristic of the surface of a material, which reflects the complex physicochemical reactions of a phase interface, and has an important influence on fluid distribution and phase interface movement in pores. Some key properties in multiphase flow, such as residual oil distribution, relative permeability and capillary force, are affected by wettability. There are many parameters for measuring wettability, and contact angle is one of the important parameters. The solid surface energy of the material can be calculated by measuring the contact angle. Contact angle measurement technology covers a wide range of applications, and can be applied to many fields, such as national defense, agriculture, industry, and scientific research. The technology for measuring contact angle has a long history, but it has limitations, so it cannot meet the needs of various industries. In the field of oil-gas field developments, the wettability of rocks in the reservoir affects the oil-water seepage law, relative permeability, capillary force and other important parameters in the oil-gas production process. Therefore, the fast and accurate acquisition of the contact angle of the fluid in the actual reservoir is of great significance for enhancing oil recovery.
Existing contact angle measurement methods are, for example, the sessile drop method, the suspension method, the Wilhelmy plate method, the vertical plate method, capillary rising method, and so on. These methods are used to select similar solid surfaces for measurement according to the rock properties of the reservoir in actual use, so as to ensure that the measurement results are close to the actual situation. However, the actual reservoir rock is complex in composition and has strong heterogeneity, and the pore wall shape of the rock varies widely and has a certain roughness. In the real reservoir environment, the roughness causes changes in the contact angle, resulting in hysteresis of the contact angle. Therefore, when conventional methods are used for measurement, these complex factors are ignored, and only the solid surface of the reservoir rock with similar property selection is measured. As a result, the measured contact angle does not conform to the actual situation, and the measurement accuracy is low, which is not representative of the wettability of rock in the real reservoir environment (high temperature and high pressure).

Method and system for determining contact angle of porous media

China University of Petroleum (East China)


A switching frequency multiplier inverter for low inductance machines that uses parallel connection of switches and each switch is independently controlled according to a pulse width modulation scheme. The effective switching frequency is multiplied by the number of switches connected in parallel while each individual switch operates within its limit of switching frequency. This technique can also be used for other power converters such as DC/DC, AC/DC converters.

FIG. 1(a) shows a typical adjustable speed drive configuration, where a bridge inverter consisting of six switching devices is used to supply an adjustable voltage of controlled frequency to a three phase Permanent Magnet (PM) motor. For PM motors having sinusoidal back electromotive force (EMF), a sinusoidal current is required to best mach the back EMF. A rectangular wave current is required for brushless direct current (BLDC) motors that have trapezoidal back EMFs. The actual current that the inverter can produce by means of pulse width modulation (PWM) contains harmonic components in addition to the required frequency component due to IGBT's limited switching frequency. The harmonic components in the motor currents appear as ripples and increase as the motor inductance decreases. The current ripple may become unacceptably large as the motor inductance decreases below certain values. The high current ripple also causes additional copper and iron losses in the motor. Other semiconductor devices such as metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) that are capable of switching at higher frequency can not meet the voltage and/or current requirements for the high power PM motors (greater than 10 kWs).
One traditional and obvious way to limit current ripple is to add external inductance as shown in FIG. 1(b). For BLDC motor drives a quasi-current source inverter was proposed, as shown in FIG. 1(c), in which a step-down chopper consisting of a switch, a diode and an inductor is inserted into the DC bus. The chopper regulates the motor current by pulse width modulation (PWM) while the bridge inverter operates in a six-step manner with each device conducting a fixed period of 120 electrical degrees. This topology can reduce the number of external inductors as compared to the previous one. Other existing ways include the series or parallel connection of multiple modular inverters through transformer or inductor coupling, in which special arrangements of transformer windings and/or phase displacement in PWM carriers between the modular inverters are used to eliminate the lower order harmonic components, thus reducing the current ripple and effectively increasing the switching frequency. Disadvantages of adding inductors or transformers include that they are bulky, heavy and require large additional installation space.
These problems can be overcome in this invention by increasing the inverter effective switching frequency while maintaining each individual device switching within its limited capability.

Effective switching frequency multiplier inverter


The present invention relates to radioactive magnetic fluids, process for preparing them and use thereof. Particularly, the present invention relates to the radioactive magnetic fluids for treatment or diagnosis of cancer, process for preparing them and use thereof.

Cancer is a significant problem in human health all over the world. At present, there are a number of methods and techniques for the treatment of cancer. A safe and effective cancer treatment has been the goal of investigators for a substantial period time. A technique for the successful cancer treatment must ultimately differentiate cancer cells from normal cells and must selectively weaken or kill only the cancer cells without affecting the normal cells. Some cancers such as eye cancer and liver cancer cannot be completely treated by a surgical operation.
Chemical therapy, radiate therapy and surgical operation are developed for the treatment of cancer.
In chemical therapy, a chemical material is administered to a body, which kills the cancer cell.
In surgical operation, the affected part of cancer is removed or dressed.
In radiate therapy, the radioactive element which radiates β(beta)-ray is used for treatment of cancer. The radiate therapy is divided into outer and inner radiate therapys. Outer radiate therapy is to kill the cancer cells by the β-ray radiated from outside. However, the disadvantage of outer radiate therapy is that the treatment efficiency is low and the side effect is too large because the radiation kills the cancer cell during treatment and at the same time destroys a lot of normal cells as well. Inner radiate therapy is to inject radioactive magnetic fluids into the body, and to kill the cancer cell by the β-ray radiated from the radioactive magnetic fluids under external magnetic field.
Particularly, in the inner radiate therapy, magnetic nanoparticles prepared with elements emitting the β-ray are coated with the surfactants to form the magnetic fluids which are injected into the body. Under external magnetic field, the β-ray radiated from the magnetic fluids is positioned around the affected part to kill the tumor cells.
The magnetic fluids used in inner radiate therapy is magnetic colloidal liquid prepared by the steps: 1) coating the magnetic powder with various surfactants, in which the magnetic powder is magnetic oxides such as MO·Fe2O3 (M: metal cation of 2+) with a mean size of 100 Å; and 2) dispersing homogeneously and stably the said coated particles into a liquid.
The magnetic fluids as colloidal particles in a suspension are not agglomerated or precipitated by gravity or magnetic force.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,244 suggests the process of magnetic fluids containing the particles coated with photoreactive agent. However, it is restricted within the purpose of drug therapy by a light source using a magnet inserted into the body. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,481 deals with the effective amount and direct injection of a photosensitive compound into tumor, and the application and activation of light source.

Radioactive magnetic fluids for treatment or diagnosis of cancer, process for preparing them and use thereof

Abstract: The radioactive magnetic fluids of the present invention include the component of Cu2+ which radiates a β-ray and γ-ray. The β radiation can effectively kill the tumor cells. Since the γ radiation are easily imaged with γ-camera, the magnetic fluids can be gathered to the treatment site with the radiograph under external magnetic field. Therefore, the radioactive magnetic fluids of the present invention can be used for treatment of cancer with minimal side effects. Also, the tightly bonded decanoic acid and nonanoic acid layer of the present invention not only increase particle-particle repulsion but also take hydrophilicity, to disperse homogeneously and stably the magnetic nanoparticles in water. Also, carboxylic acid of the surfactant is exposed to outside, to prevent the magnetic nanoparticles from being oxidized by air.

Abstract: Therefore, the radioactive magnetic fluids can be used as therapeutic drug or diagnostic reagent for cancer.


An extended pocket type air filter formed of a single rectangular frame enclosing and locking a plurality of parallel header plates each having complementary projections and grooves on opposite edges, the complementary projections of one header fitting into the grooves of an adjacent header and securing pocket type air filter medium between them. A rivet secures ends of the frame to each other about the header plates.

Pocket type air filters for use in industrial, commercial and institutional ventilation air ducts typically have a frame that holds one or more synthetic or natural fibre bags. The frame and bags are oriented in the duct with the openings of the bags open towards the flow of air with the remainder of the bags extending downstream to provide a large surface area filter for use in removing particulates from the air.
In some previous designs, several bags are provided, with each secured to a header, the headers being themselves secured within the frame. The bag material may be glued, riveted, heat sealed, ultrasonically sealed, stapled or the like to the header in a more or less permanent manner.
With these previous designs, there are often numerous components, making construction, maintenance and disposal difficult. Also, with permanent bonding of the bag material to the header, when the bag material is replaced, the header must be replaced as well, thus creating a disposal problem. The present invention is directed towards overcoming these problems.
The invention therefore provides in one aspect a single frame enclosing a plurality of parallel header plates each having complementary projections and grooves on opposite edges, the complementary projections of one header fitting into the grooves of an adjacent header and securing pocket type air filter medium between them. The air filter therefore includes three primary components: frame, header plates and filter medium, therefore allowing ease of assembly, disassembly and disposal, while creating a rigid and secure air filter.
This and other aspects of the invention are described in more detail in the description and claims that follow.


A shaft portion formed at a vertical wall of a sensor housing is formed in a circular column shape, and an abut portion is formed facing a support wall, below the shaft portion. A width dimension of the abut portion is the same as the diameter dimension of the shaft portion as seen in plan view, and the abut portion is formed so as to overlap entirely with the shaft portion as seen from the opposite side of the shaft portion to the abut portion. Foreign objects such as dirt or dust that fall onto the circular column shaped shaft portion therefore readily slide over the shaft portion and fall down from the shaft portion, and foreign objects such as dirt or dust do not stay on the abut portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a webbing take-up device configuring a vehicle seat belt apparatus, and in particular relates to a webbing take-up device suited to installing in a seat back of a vehicle mounted seat with reclining mechanism.
2. Related Art
In a webbing take-up device installed in the seat back of a seat with a reclining mechanism, the webbing take-up device tilts together with the seat back. This type of webbing take-up device is provided with a lock mechanism to detect acceleration in event of a sudden vehicle deceleration and to restrict rotation of a spool in a pull-out direction. A housing, in which is placed a spherical body that moves under inertia in the event of a sudden vehicle deceleration, is attached to a device main body of the webbing take-up device so as to be capable of rotating relative thereto, the housing rotating with respect to the device main body when the device main body is tilted, in an attempt to maintain the same attitude as prior to tilting of the device main body. The acceleration sensor accordingly functions similarly both before tilting of the device main body of the webbing take-up device, and when the device main body has tilted (see for example Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2009-262723).
As described above, the housing of the acceleration sensor is supported so as to be capable of rotating with respect to the device main body of the webbing take-up device, it is preferable that for example dirt and dust do not accumulate on a rotating shaft portion.


A process for manufacturing an inductive component intended to be installed on a printed circuit involves initially winding an electrically conductive wire to form a winding without using a former end connecting the opposed ends of the winding to inner ends of connecting terminals. The body formed of a block of an insulating material is then over-moulded onto the coil and onto the inner ends of the connecting terminals with the body including a central opening that passes through the body along the axis of the coil. Finally, a core made of ferrite is placed on the body such that the core surrounds the body in a center plane containing the axis of the coil with a center core element passing through the opening in the body.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns inductive components, of the type including one or more windings, and which can be used therefore depending on case as inductors or alternating current transformers. Such components, as inductors, are generally used to perform in electric or electronic circuits the filtering, smoothing or energy storage functions, being conventionally traversed by currents with a DC component on which an AC component is superimposed. A current operating frequency range is 10 kHz to 3 MHz. Such components are for instance currently used in switched power supplies or DC converters. Also, these components are conventionally made so that they can be installed on printed circuits in a manner known itself.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known inductors of the type mentioned above generally consist of one or more enamelled copper wire windings made on a toroidal core supported by a base including connecting pins. Conventionally, especially to reduce the overall surface area on the printed circuit, the toroidal windings are arranged vertically on the base so as to extend perpendicularly to the surface of the printed circuit. The ends of the wires are connected to the connecting pins or themselves form the said pins which are intended to be inserted into holes drilled in the printed circuit or soldered to it in a conventional manner. Although it is possible to also adopt a surface-mounted component (SMC) type design which is more suited to automatic installation, the high volume and weight of these components generally prohibits such a design and these components must be mounted manually on the printed circuit before soldering. Also, the mechanical strength in cases of strong vibrations is not very reliable on account of the high weight and the relative distance of the core from the printed circuit when compared with the relatively small dimensions of the base.
Moreover, the magnetic materials used for the toroidal core are generally iron powder based, for example, iron-silicon, when the planned operating frequencies are low, up to 100 kHz, or when the frequencies are higher, up to 200 kHz, made of a ferronickel alloy such as permalloy, for instance the material currently known under the name of Moly-Permalloy or MPP, which is a sintered iron and nickel powder with 80 or 50% nickel.
These two materials have the advantage of supporting a high DC magnetic field which enables the section of the core, and therefore the overall size of the component to be reduced.
However, their losses are high when used at high frequencies, that is around several hundred kHz to several MHz and therefore are poorly suited to uses such as in converter switching power supply circuits which increasingly use very high frequencies.
Another disadvantage of toroidal-type windings is that they are not sealed, the wire being simply wound around the toroidal core without external protection.

Manufacturing process for an inductive component


An object is identified by detecting an object area image of an object to be recognized from a degraded image, converting the object area image to a frequency area, extracting a feature vector which indicates the amount of blur, comparing the feature vector and a classified plurality of blurred images, obtaining a cluster which is the most similar to the feature vector, selecting one point spread function corresponding to the similar cluster, restoring the object area image to the image before being blurred using the point spread function, and comparing the restored image and a target image.

A technology of identifying individuals by face recognition is one of the important fields of study in biometrics. A principal problem which decreases the performance of individual identification is variations in facial appearance in an image. A main cause of the variations in appearance includes illumination, the posture, and degradation of the image. The degradation of the image includes low resolutions, blur, and noises. The blur causes two problems in the face recognition.
A first problem is a case in which a person is not identified correctly although he/she is an original person. The reason is that the facial image is not similar to the original person due to the variation of the image. In other words, it is a case in which FRR (False Rejection Rate) is increased.
A second problem is a case in which a person is identified erroneously as a different person. The reason is that the states of the facial images are similar among different persons. In other words, it is a case in which FAR (False Acceptance Rate) is increased.
In order to solve these problems, two methods shown below are proposed. In a first method, variation of the image is learned by blurring the image artificially. In a second method, the blur is removed by restoring the image for identification.
The first method is performed as follows. First of all, a target image is assumed not to be blurred. Then the target image is artificially blurred to increase target data. Accordingly, the FRR is restrained. However, there still remains the problem of high FAR because the target data is similar to other persons. Furthermore, there arises a problem of increase in storage capacity of the target data.
The second method is performed as follows. The image is restored to a state before being blurred by a method of restoring the image such as blind deconvolution and a super-resolution. The restored image is used for identifying the individual. The second method is applicable to a case in which the target image is blurred and hence is effective for identifying the individual. In the image restoration, the process of degradation due to the blur is represented by a point spread function. In order to obtain a performance of individual identification, it is important to estimate the point spread function from the degraded image with high degree of accuracy.
A method of using an edge width of a contour of an object is proposed in JP-A-2005-332382 (KOKAI) for estimating the point spread function. This method uses a phenomenon such that an edge of the image in focus is sharp and has a narrow width, and an edge of the blurred image is smooth and has a wide width. In JP-A-2005-33238 (KOKAI), a face area or pupil is detected from the blurred image, and then the contour thereof is detected. The edge width is obtained from the cross-section of the edge on the contour and is compared with a histogram of the edge width which is learned from the blurred image in advance.
However, in the method shown above, when the image is blurred, the contour is not clear, and hence the contour is difficult to detect in comparison with the detection of the face area or the pupil. When the result of detection of the contour includes error, the shape of the cross-section of the edge is significantly different.
Therefore, there is a problem such that the edge width obtained from the cross-section of the edge is not a stable feature for estimating the point spread function. In the case where the image includes noises, there also arises a problem that the edge width is an unstable feature.


A system and method for transmitting data in multiple-branch transmitter-diversity OFDM systems is presented. In one embodiment, an approach is taken where an inverse Fourier transform (IFT) is performed on data prior to encoding the data for transmission in the multiple-branch transmitter-diversity system. In another embodiment an IFT is performed on data prior to encoding the data using a space-time block code (STBC) algorithm.

Wireless communication is characterized as transmitting signals between two locations without the use of a connection cable. In some instances, the two locations may be rather distant from each other. Wireless communication may provide a convenient option for communication between such distant locations.
Equipment for the wireless communication system has typically been rather expensive. However, recently, equipment costs have declined due to recent developments in semiconductor fabrication, wireless communication technology, and digital signal processing. Thus, applications related to wireless communications are increasing. For example, wireless local area networks (LAN) has recently emerged as a viable alternative to traditional wired-LAN.
In typical wireless communication systems, data or information is converted into a radiofrequency (RF) signal prior to transmission to a remote receiver. The remote receiver receives the RF signal and processes the received RF signal to recover the originally transmitted data or information. Many approaches have been proposed to assure proper transmission and recovery of the data or information. Systems and methods relating to space-time block code (STBC) are included among these approaches.
STBC has been proposed to provide transmit diversity gain to a receiver with a very simple maximum-likelihood decoding algorithm. FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration showing the operating principle of STBC. As shown in FIG. 5, an STBC coder 500 is associated with two transmission antennas 502, 504 to achieve transmitter diversity. Once signals have been transmitted from the two transmission antennas 502, 504, a receiving antenna 506 receives the substantially simultaneously transmitted signals. In FIG. 5, the signals, channel impulse responses, and noise are shown in the time domain, which are conventionally denoted by lower-case letters. An input complex-symbol stream of the STBC encoder 500 is grouped into pairs of signals, which are denoted as x1 and X2. Each symbol has a symbol period of T, with x1 being the first symbol and x2 being the second symbol that follows x1. After receiving x1 and x2, the STBC encoder 500 performs a two-step calculation, with each calculation outputting one symbol at each of the two output ports of the STBC encoder 500. At the first step of the calculation, the STBC encoder 500 simply relays x1 and X2 to its first parallel output port 512 and second parallel output port 514, Then x1 and x2 are directed to individual RF transmitters (not shown) to be converted to RF signals for transmission by antennas 502, 504. At the second step of the calculation, −x2* (which is the negative of the complex conjugate of x2) and x1* (which is the complex conjugate of x1) are generated by the STBC encoder 500 at the first parallel output port 512 and second parallel output port 514, respectively. It is presumed, in the STBC model, that the gain h1 of the channel between the first antenna 502 and the receiving antenna 506 is independent of the gain h2 of the channel between the second antenna 504 and the receiving antenna 506. It is further presumed that both channels are static across two consecutive transmit symbols. In other words, it is presumed that the channel gain for the second symbol period is the same as the channel gain for the first symbol period. Thus, if y1 and y2 represent the received symbols at the first and second symbol periods, respectively, then y1 and y2 may be expressed as:y1=h1·x1+h2·x2+z1   [Eq. 1],and:y2h1·(−x2*)+h2·x1*+z2   [Eq. 2],where z1 and z2 are independent additive noise terms. If {tilde over (h)}1 and {tilde over (h)}2 are the estimated channel gains of h1 and h2, respectively, then approximations (within a multiplicative factor) of the two transmit signals {circumflex over (X)}1 and {circumflex over (X)}2 can be approximately recovered in terms of {tilde over (h)}1 and {tilde over (h)}2 as:{circumflex over (x)}1={tilde over (h)}1*·y1+{tilde over (h)}2·y2*   [Eq. 3],and:{circumflex over (x)}2={tilde over (h)}2*·y1−{tilde over (h)}1·y2*   [Eq. 4].
Though the above STBC is described in space-time domain, it is clear to one of ordinary skill in the art that the STBC can also be applied to space-frequency domain. Since the principles underlying STBC are well known, further discussion of STBC principles is omitted.
STBC is optimally designed for systems that employ channels which are flat-fading and time-invariant over two consecutive symbol durations. Since time-invariant flat-fading channels have a negligible variation in channel gain, systems employing flat-fading channels may be modeled as constant-gain systems. Unfortunately, if STBC is employed in a wide-band system, the constant-gain system model is no longer accurate because the channel gain within the bandwidth may vary considerably. Hence, for wide-band systems, inter-symbol interference (ISI) mitigation techniques, such as frequency-selective channels, are typically used.
In systems employing frequency-selective channels, each channel may be viewed as having a constant gain due to the division of the wide frequency band into multiple narrower frequency channels. Thus, while inter-channel distortions may vary across the wide frequency band, intra-channel distortions within the narrower frequency channels may be presumed to be constant. Thus, the ISI may be independently determined for each channel.
In mitigating ISI problems, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) techniques have shown promise. OFDM techniques have only recently gained popularity, due in part to advances in signal processing and microelectronics. OFDM splits data streams into N parallel data streams of reduced data rate, and transmits each of the N parallel data streams on a separate sub-carrier. The sub-carriers are made orthogonal to each other by appropriately choosing the frequency spacing between the sub-carriers. Therefore, since the orthogonality of the OFDM sub-carriers typically ensures that the receiver can separate the OFDM sub-carriers, spectral overlapping among sub-carriers may be permitted.
OFDM operation block diagrams are shown in FIG. 6. Following convention, the signals, the channel impulse responses, and the noise in the frequency domain are denoted by capital letters while the signals, the channel impulse responses, and the noise in time domain are denoted by a lower-case letters. As shown in FIG. 6, the serial-to-parallel (S/P) converter 600 collects frequency-domain serial input signals X(k), where k={0, . . . , N−1}, and N is the number of OFDM sub-carriers. The collected frequency-domain serial input signals X(k) are converted into frequency-domain parallel signals. The frequency-domain parallel signals are then directed to an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) circuit 602. The IDFT circuit 602 transforms the frequency-domain parallel signals into time-domain parallel signals. The time-domain parallel signals from the IDFT circuit 602 are then converted into time-domain serial signals, x(n), where n={0, . . . , N−1}, by a parallel-to-serial (P/S) converter 604. Then, a cyclic-prefixed time-domain signal xCP(n) is generated in the CP unit 606 by adding a cyclic prefix (CP) with a guard period of G. The length of the CP is a value longer than the channel delay spreading. Thus:
                                          x                                      (              n              )                                =                                    1                              N                                                                                ∑                                  k                  =                  0                                                  N                  -                  1                                                                                X                                                        (                    k                    )                                                                                ⅇ                                      j                                                                                2                                                                                π                                                                                k                                                                                n                                            N                                                                                ,                  n          =          0                ,                                          …                                          ,                  N          -          1                ,                            [                  Eq          .                                                    5                ]            andxCP(n)=x((n+N−G)mod N)   [Eq. 6],with CP being a part of the original packet. Since N+G signals are actually transmitted, the signal block becomes xCP(n), where n={0, . . . , N+G−1}. RF unit 608 converts the signal block xCP into the RF signal, which is then transmitted by antenna 610. Antenna 612 at the receiver side subsequently receives the signal. After being converted by the RF unit 614, the received signal yCP(n) becomes:yCP(n)=xCP(n){circle around (×)}h(n)+z(n), n=0, . . . , N+G−1   [Eq. 7]where {circle around (×)} denotes convolution operator, h(n) is the time domain channel impulse response of the channel from the antenna 610 to the antenna 612, and z(n) represents the noise. After removing cyclic prefix at the CP unit 616, the resulting signal y(n) becomes:y(n)=yCP((n+G)mod N), n=0, . . . , N−1   [Eq. 8]Thereafter, y(n) is directed through a S/P converter 618. The resulting signals are fed into a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) circuit 220, which transforms time-domain signals into frequency domain signals. The resulting output Y(k) of the DFT circuit 620, where k={0, . . . , N−1} is:Y(k)=X(k)·H(k)+Z(k)   [Eq. 9]where H(k) and Z(k) are the N-dimensional DFT of h(n) and z(n), respectively. The parallel output of the DFT circuit 620 is then connected to a P/S converter 622, which generates serial signals.
Since the principles underlying OFDM technology is well known, further discussion of OFDM principles is omitted.
While STBC-OFDM technology has been proposed for wireless communication systems, the complexity and cost impediments of implementing STBC-OFDM to wireless communication systems is still relatively high.
In typical OFDM systems with two-branch transmitter diversity using STBC, a data block X is encoded by the STBC encoder into two parallel signal blocks XA and XB, each having N data elements. XA and XB are then inverse Fourier transformed to produce time-domain signals XA and XB, respectively. Cyclic prefixes are then added to each time-domain domain signal to produce cyclic-prefixed time-domain signals XA,cp and XB,cp, respectively. Each of the cyclic-prefixed time-domain signals forms an OFDM block. The OFDM blocks are converted into RF signals and transmitted from their respective transmitter antennas simultaneously. Since two transmitter antennas are employed for the transmission of the signals, each of the signals is altered by channel characteristics hA and hB of their respective channels. As mentioned above, it is assumed that the channel characteristics are time-invariant during the period of an OFDM block. Thus, when a receiver antenna receives the aggregate signal from both of the transmitters, the received aggregate signal y(n) may be seen as:ycp(n)=(hA(n){circle around (×)}xA,cp(n))+hB(n){circle around (×)}xA,cp(n))+z(n) [Eq. 10],where n is the discrete time index, {circle around (×)} represents a convolution function, and z(n) represents noise in the system. The received signal y(n) is produced upon removing the cyclic prefix of ycpp(n) according Eq. 6. The received signal may be represented in the frequency domain as:Y(k)=(HA(k)·XA(k))+(HB(k)·XB(k))°Z(k), k=0, . . . , N−1   [Eq. 11],where Y(k), H(k) and Z(k) are the N-dimensional DFT of y(n), h(n) and z(n), respectively. Eq. 11 shows the received signal Y(k) as a superposition of the two transmitter signals and the noise.
Thus, for two-branch STBC OFDM systems, a first pair of signals xA=x1 and xB=x2 are generated, and, after appropriate processing, are transmitted from the first and second antennas, respectively. Upon receiving these signals, a receiver reconstructs the transmitted signals using well-known algorithms, such as maximum-likelihood estimation algorithms or minimum-mean-square algorithms. Since the reconstruction of STBC FDM signals are well known in the art, further discussion of signal reconstruction is omitted herein. In such STBC OFDM systems, digital data is encoded and transformed into analog RF signals suitable for transmission.
An example of a prior-art STBC OFDM system is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the system has a serial-to-parallel converter 110 that receives a frequency-domain serial data stream 105. The S/P converter 110 converts the frequency-domain serial data stream 105 into an N-dimensional frequency-domain parallel data block. The N-dimensional frequency-domain parallel data block is supplied to a frequency-domain STBC encoder 115 as X1 and X2 according to STBC convention. Upon receiving X1 and X2, the STBC encoder 115 generates two parallel frequency-domain digital signals XA 120 and XB 125 in a two-step process, such that XA=X1 and XB=X2 for the first process, and XA=−X2* and XB=X1* for the second process.
Upon generating the frequency-domain digital signals 120, 125 (or the appropriate complex conjugate signals), an IDFT is performed on the first frequency-domain digital signal XA 120 by an IDFT circuit 130. The IDFT of XA 120 produces a time-domain digital signal xA. The time-domain digital signal xA is converted to a time-domain serial data stream 150 by a parallel-to-serial converter 140. Thereafter, a cyclic prefix is added to the time-domain serial data 150 at a CP adder 160 to produce a cyclic-prefixed time-domain data stream xACP 170, which is relatively immune to ISI effects. This cyclic-prefixed time-domain data stream is converted to an analog RF signal for transmission by a radio frequency (RF) transmitter 180.
Similarly, the second digital signal XB 125 follows a similar path, and is cascaded through an IDFT circuit 135, a P/S converter 145, and a CP adder 165 to produce another cyclic-prefixed time-domain data stream xBcp 175. This cyclic-prefixed time-domain data stream is also converted to an analog signal for transmission by an RF transmitter 185. The two analog signals are transmitted substantially simultaneously from both RF transmitters 180, 185.
As shown in FIG. 1, since the frequency-domain STBC encoder 115 generates two frequency-domain digital signals XA 120 and XB 125 that are cascaded through two parallel paths, each hardware component in one path must have an analogous component in the other path. This duplication of hardware components results in added circuitry for each path, and, concomitantly, results in added computational complexity arising from the added circuitry.
The resulting complexity in computation and circuit give rise to a heretofore unaddressed need in the industry.

System and method for transmitting data in a multiple-branch transmitter-diversity orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system


A thermoplastic resin composition comprising 100 parts by weight of a mixture of 10 to 85% by weight of a rubber-reinforced styrene resin, 5 to 50% by weight of a saturated polyester resin and 10 to 70% by weight of at least one copolymer selected from the group consisting of an .alpha.-methylstyrene copolymer and a maleimide copolymer, and 0.2 to 50 parts by weight of (D) an epoxy group-containing olefinic copolymer, wherein a content of the rubbery polymer in the composition is from 5 to 25% by weight.. The above thermoplastic resin composition is excellent in sharpness and also in heat resistance, chemical resistance and impact resistance.

Styrene resins such as polystyrene, a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, an ABS resin and an AES or AAS resin which comprises, as a rubber component, an EPDM rubber or acryl rubber have good property balance and dimensional stability and widely used in various fields. Inter alia, the styrene resins find many applications in the automobile field. In this field, the resins should have resistance to, for example, gasoline or a braking oil, and improvement of such resistance is important. As a polymer having good chemical resistance, a saturated polyester resin is known. Since this resin has poor impact resistance, it is proposed to add the ABS resin to the polyester resin (cf. Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 30421/1972 and 25261/1976).
However, a composition of the ABS resin and the saturated polyester resin has insufficient impact strength and poor heat resistance.
In addition, a coating is applied on such composition for the purpose of decoration or improvement of weather resistance. However, sharpness of the coating is poor.


An adaptor for connecting a microstrip line and a waveguide is disclosed that includes a microstrip line part and a waveguide part. The microstrip line part includes a microstrip port pattern and a patch pattern on an upper portion of a substrate, where the patch pattern is joined to an end portion of the microstrip port pattern. The waveguide part includes a waveguide hole, for transferring a signal provided from the patch pattern; a channel hole, which is formed in an area for joining with the microstrip line part, is formed along a first direction orthogonal to a direction of the waveguide hole in correspondence to the microstrip port pattern, and is connected with the waveguide hole; and a stub hole, which is connected with the waveguide hole and is formed in an area for joining with the microstrip line part along a second direction opposite to the first direction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an adaptor for connecting a microstrip line and a waveguide.
2. Description of the Related Art
An adaptor for connecting a microstrip line with a waveguide may be used to provide the signals of the microstrip line to the waveguide or provide the signals of the waveguide to the microstrip line.
For example, an adaptor can be used when signals received at a radar antenna implemented in the form of a microstrip line are to be provided to a waveguide or when the signals of the waveguide are to be provided to a radar antenna implemented in the form of a microstrip line.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a typical adaptor for connecting a microstrip line with a waveguide according to the related art, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a typical adaptor for connecting a microstrip line with a waveguide according to the related art with the upper portion removed, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a typical adaptor for connecting a microstrip line with a waveguide according to the related art as seen from below.
Referring to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, an adaptor according to the related art may have a waveguide part 110 (FIG. 1) joined to an upper portion of a microstrip line part 100 (FIG. 1) and may have a termination member 120 (FIGS. 1, 3) joined to a lower portion of the microstrip line part 100 (FIG. 1).
In FIG. 2, the microstrip line part 100 (FIG. 1) has a microstrip pattern formed on a substrate, and includes a microstrip port 200, for connecting to another microstrip device such as a microstrip antenna, etc., and a probe 202, for coupling to a waveguide. A ground conductor 204 may be formed in other areas of the substrate with a particular distance separated from the port 200 and probe 202.
Referring to FIG. 3, the lower portion of the substrate in the microstrip line part 100 (FIG. 1) can have a ground conductor 206 formed in all areas other than the area where the termination member 120 is joined.
In FIG. 1-3, the waveguide part 110 may be joined to an upper portion of the microstrip line part 100, and the ground conductor 204 may not be formed in the area where the waveguide part 110 is joined.
The signals of the microstrip line part 100 may be provided from the probe 202 to the waveguide part 110. The waveguide part 110 may be structured to have a waveguide hole formed therein, and the signals of the microstrip line part 100 may be transmitted through the waveguide hole.
The termination member 120 joined to a lower portion of the microstrip line part may be closed at the bottom and may have a hole having the same size as that of the waveguide part 110.
The termination member 120 may function such that the signals provided from the probe 202 are suitably coupled to the waveguide part 110. That is, the termination member 120 may function such that the signals from the probe 202 are provided to the waveguide part 110 on the upper portion of the substrate and are not coupled to the lower portion of the substrate. The termination member 120 may have a length that is a quarter (¼) of the wavelength corresponding to the operating frequency.
Thus, an adaptor for connecting a microstrip line and a waveguide according to the related art can be structured to have a waveguide part 110 and a termination member 120 joined to the upper and lower portions of a microstrip line part, respectively.
With an adaptor according to the related art having the structure described above, it may be difficult to join another substrate onto the substrate of the microstrip line part 100, and even if another type of substrate (e.g. a substrate having a circuit formed thereon) is joined, it may be difficult to suitably implement coupling of signals.
Thus, with an adaptor based on the related art, it may be necessary to include the microstrip line part as a single layer, and it may be difficult to implement the microstrip line part in multiple layers.

Adaptor for connecting a microstrip line to a waveguide using a conductive patch and a stub hole