An air bag cushion folded for storage within a vehicle to achieve a predefined folded surface geometry corresponding to a desired storage location for the folded air bag cushion. A portion of the air bag cushion extending along a first lateral boundary edge for deployment inboard of the passenger seating location is folded in a construction inwardly to establish a first lateral edge of the predefined folded surface geometry. A portion of the air bag cushion disposed along the opposing lateral boundary edge is folded inwardly along a second internal lateral boundary line corresponding to a second lateral edge of the predefined folded surface geometry. The top and bottom edges are folded inwardly to finalize the desired geometry. The folding arrangement is such that upon encountering an obstacle during the initial stage of deployment the air bag is deployed in a lateral direction to the side of and around the occupant to be protected.

This invention relates to a folded air bag cushion for use in a supplemental inflatable restrain system of a vehicle and more particularly to an air bag and method of folding such air bag which permits efficient storage of the air bag and controlled bias deployment of the air bag in a lateral direction upon encountering an outward obstruction.
It is well known to utilize inflatable air bag cushions within a transportation vehicle to absorb a portion of the kinetic energy of an occupant during a collision event. Air bag cushions for the protection of a vehicle passenger may be inflated from a storage position substantially opposing the passenger such as from the instrument panel or the like. The air bag cushion is typically stored in a folded condition in fluid communication with a gas emitting inflator within a storage structure commonly referred to as a module. Due to the substantial inflated volume of the air bag cushion, such cushions are typically subjected to multiple folding operations in order to conform the folded air bag structure to the space requirements of the associated module. One such folding procedure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,551 the contents of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
In general, it is believed that compacting the air bag cushion into a smaller area may be desirable for space allocation purposes. However, the desire for a smaller storage area may not override the need for the air bag cushion to exhibit rapid and controlled deployment upon introduction of the inflation gas. Thus, the general space saving benefits realized by having the footprint of the air bag cushion and related module occupy a relatively small area should not prevent the air bag cushion from expanding quickly and efficiently into its desired operative position in substantially opposing relation to the occupant to be protected as the inflation gas is introduced. Moreover, the folding operation utilized to achieve compaction of the air bag cushion should not be overly complex and should be adaptable to a wide variety of air bag cushion constructions of different sizes and shapes.
The need for a highly versatile folding technique is particularly acute in the packaging of air bag cushions for use in opposing relation to a non-operating passenger such as a side or rear seated passenger within a vehicle. While the operator of the vehicle is generally positioned within a relatively well defined space in front of the operating controls, non-operating passengers may be positioned over a much more expansive region. In order to cover such expansive regions, air bag cushions for the protection of passengers may be of substantial volume and take on much more complex shapes than air bag cushions used for the protection of a vehicle operator.
Due to the fact that some passengers such as persons of small stature may be seated in relatively close proximity to the air bag module, it has also been proposed to direct the inflating air bag cushion in a generally lateral direction relative to the opposing passenger during the early stages of inflation in those instances where the passenger is seated within a predefined short distance away from the module opening. Such lateral deployment may provide a more gentle cushioning interaction between the air bag cushion and the passenger which may be desirable for persons of small stature. One such configuration which utilizes a flap element to selectively close off the top deployment opening to bias and divert the deploying air bag cushion in a lateral direction until the top flap is unfolded is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,343 the contents of which are incorporated into this specification by reference as is fully set forth herein.
While the selection of air bag cushion geometry and/or the use of deployment biasing systems are believed to be useful in the achievement of potentially desirable deployment characteristics, the folding techniques used to package the air bag cushion are nonetheless important in the realization of these benefits.
This invention provides advantages and alternatives over the prior art by providing a packaged air bag cushion and technique for folding the air bag cushion into a compact arrangement in a highly efficient manner which promotes controlled rapid straight forward deployment of the air bag cushion if no obstruction is encountered while at the same time biasing the expansion in a generally lateral direction around the side of the occupant if an obstruction is encountered during the early stages of inflated deployment. An easily executed series of folding steps is utilized to achieve a desired predefined folded surface geometry for storage within the available storage facility within the vehicle and to promote the desired deployment characteristics. The folded structure has a concentration of folds along one lateral side to aid in deployment in a lateral direction.
These advantages are accomplished in a potentially preferred form of the invention by providing an air bag cushion folded for storage within a vehicle to achieve a predefined folded surface geometry footprint of a predefined width and height corresponding to a desired storage location for the folded air bag cushion. A portion of the air bag cushion extending along a first lateral boundary edge for deployment inboard or outboard of the passenger seating location is folded in a multi-layer construction inwardly towards a first internal lateral boundary line to establish a first lateral edge of the predefined folded surface geometry footprint. A portion of the air bag cushion disposed along the opposing lateral boundary edge is folded inwardly across the top side of the air bag cushion in a substantially hinging flap-like fashion along a second internal lateral boundary line corresponding to a second lateral edge of the predefined folded surface geometry. The portion of the air bag folded in flap-like fashion establishes a covering flap extending across the top side of the air bag cushion substantially between the first and second internal lateral boundary lines. The application of such lateral folds yields an intermediate folded construction of elongate configuration having a width substantially corresponding to the desired width of the predefined folded surface geometry footprint. The top and bottom ends of the intermediate folded construction are folded or rolled inwardly in a manner such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,551 until reaching the respective upper and lower boundary lines of the predefined folded surface geometry footprint. The resultant folded air bag configuration having the predefined folded surface geometry footprint may thereafter be packed into an appropriate containment housing in fluid communication with a gas emitting inflator. It is contemplated that such a packaged air bag cushion may be used either alone or in combination with a biasing guide member such as disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 5,348,343 to promote lateral movement by the air bag cushion in instances where an opposing obstruction is encountered.
In accordance with other potentially preferred aspects of the invention, the air bag cushion is formed of a highly pliable material such as a woven textile fabric either with or without a permeability blocking coating. Such a woven textile fabric is preferably formed of multi-filament yarns having a relatively low denier per filament linear density rating of about 3 to about 8 denier per filament. Low denier per filament ratings may promote the compact packaging of the air bag cushion using the folding techniques according to the present invention.
Advantageously, the packaging techniques and resulting air bag assembly according to the present invention promote potentially desireable inflation characteristics and are highly adaptable to air bag cushions having a wide variety of geometries. Moreover, the individual folding steps avoid undue complexity which may reduce the opportunity for error. The present invention is thus believed to provide new and useful advantages over the state of the art.


A stationary exercise machine includes a system for electronically controlling a pedal resistance so as to simulate the riding of a road-going bicycle. The exercise machine includes a control system that monitors pedal velocity and that controls the resistive load generated by an electronically-controlled resistance mechanism. In one example, an electromagnetic device may vary a resistive load placed on a flywheel, which, in turn, varies the pedal resistance experienced by a user. When the user increases the pedal velocity, the resistance mechanism increases the resistive load. When the user decreases the pedal velocity, the resistance mechanism decreases the resistive load. In another example, the resistance mechanism varies the resistive load based on a gear selection by the user. The control system may also take into account other factors, such as the grade of the simulated ride, simulated wind resistance, or other frictional forces when calculating the resistive load.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an exercise machine having an electronically-controlled resistance and, in particular, a system and method for controlling the pedal resistance of a stationary exercise bicycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The benefits of regular exercise to improve overall health, fitness and longevity are well documented in the literature. Medical science has consistently demonstrated the improved strength, health and enjoyment of life that results from physical activity. Exercises, such as cycling, are particularly popular and medically recommended exercises for conditioning training and improving overall health and cardiovascular efficiency.
However, modern lifestyles often fail to accommodate outdoor cycling opportunities. In addition, inclimate weather and other environmental and social factors may cause individuals to remain indoors as opposed to engaging in outdoor cycling activities. There are also certain dangers and/or health risks associated with cycling on natural outdoor surfaces. For example, injuries may result from cycling, particularly from falls and/or accidents, not to mention the risk of physical harm from the failure of the bicycle itself. Thus, many exercise enthusiasts prefer the safety and convenience of an in-home or commercial exercise machine in order to provide desired exercise without the attendant inconvenience and risk of outdoor exercise.
Conventional indoor stationary bicycles generally operate with a single-gear drivetrain allowing a user to select the resistance felt while pedaling. For example, in some stationary bicycles having an electronically-controlled resistance, users are able to select a certain workout level or routine that is associated with a predetermined pattern of changes in pedal resistance. In addition, other stationary bicycles are configured to provide the user with a constant wattage workout. A constant wattage system operates so as to produce a constant power, which is often measured by the revolutions per minute (RPM) at which the user is cycling multiplied by the torque exerted by the user on the cranks.

System and method for electronically controlling resistance of an exercise machine


Method and apparatus for recovering in a receiver of a wireless communications system independent bit streams from each of two co-channel frequency modulated carriers. In the transmitter, timing for the two independent bit streams is derived from a common clock. One bit stream is placed directly on the carrier of greater power. An XOR circuit maps the two bit streams into one bit stream which is placed on the carrier of lesser power. In the receiver, an ordinary frequency demodulator provides an output consisting of the bit stream of the dominant carrier having superimposed voltage spikes. A limiter removes the spikes and provides as output the bit stream on the carrier of greater power. The peak value and the rate of occurrence of the spikes each contain information about the bit stream on the carrier of lesser power. A peak voltage detector provides an output signal which indicates the differences in the peak value of the spikes. A peak rate detector provides an output signal which indicates the rate of occurrence of the spikes. A comparator distinguishes the two peak values present and provides as an output the bit stream on the carrier of lesser power. In this manner, the two bit streams are recoverable by the operation of a series connected frequency demodulator and a peak voltage or peak rate detector.

Bit streams conveying sequences of binary words are used to represent a variety of message forms. These include sensor outputs, text, audio signals, video signals. In many applications, wireless communications is the preferred form of transmitting these bit streams from a source to a user. Wireless communications uses sinusoids as propagating waves. These sinusoids are modulated by the bits in the stream. In this way, the bits are carried by the propagating wave. A common form of modulation involves variation of the frequency of the sinusoid to create frequency modulation (FM), sometimes referred to as frequency shift keying (FSK) when the bits in the stream are distinguished by two or more voltage levels.
In all forms of carrier modulation, an increase in the rate at which the bits are sent requires an increase in the bandwidth of the modulated sinusoidal carrier. The proliferation of the use of bit streams to convey messages creates ever increasing demands for additional spectrum (bandwidth).
It has been demonstrated that it is possible to recover messages from each of two or more co-channel FM carriers. This provides a spectrum reuse capability. Circuits previously developed as demodulators of each of two co-channel FM carriers can be used when the message is analog or when the message is a digital bit stream. Consequently, these circuits do not utilize prior information available in the bit stream format. Further, these general purpose circuits require adjustment when parameters of the communication system vary. Therefore, there is a need to develop receiving systems which are simple and robust for the important case of independent bit streams as messages on each of two co-channel carriers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,859,958 and 4,992,747, invented by Glen A. Myers, the inventor of the present invention, are each incorporated by reference in the present application as though fully set forth herein. In these patents, a means for demodulating all of several FM carriers is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,115, co-invented by the inventor of the present invention, is also incorporated by reference in the present application as though fully set forth herein. In this patent, phase tracking of input terminal signals is described. In one embodiment of the phase tracking circuit of U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,115, a phase tracking circuit makes use of two phase-locked loops electrically connected in a feed forward manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,242 invented by the inventor of the present invention, is also incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. In this patent, demodulating a frequency modulated signal using the time intervals between zero crossings of a received carrier signal is described. Averaging and mapping techniques are used to improve estimates of the message signal.
U.S. patent application 08/214,378 by the inventor of the present invention is also incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. This application describes, analytically and geometrically, the effect of adding two sinusoids of different frequency.
U.S. patent application 5,541,959 by the inventor of the present invention is also incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. In this patent are described a method and apparatus for creating a replica of a dominant carrier.
U.S. patent application 5,554,955 by the inventor of the present invention is also incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. This patent describes method and apparatus for removing the effects of co-channel interference from the message on a dominant frequency modulated carrier and for recovering the message from each of two co-channel carriers. The messages can have analog or digital formats.
There is a need for a technique which can use only the output of any type of frequency demodulator to recover independent bit streams from each of two frequency modulated co-channel carriers.

Method and apparatus for recovering the independent bit streams from each of two co-channel frequency modulated carriers


A lamp includes a bulb, a filament, a gas, and a reflective film. The filament is disposed in the interior of the bulb along the tube axis. The gas is filled in the interior of the bulb. The reflective film is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the bulb and reflects a light from the filament toward the interior of the bulb. Further, the reflective film may be formed by depositing a reflective film material containing TiO2, SiO2, and BaSO4 on the outer circumferential surface of the bulb.

Heretofore, a lamp, for example, a halogen lamp is used as a halogen heater that heats an irradiation target body. The halogen heater is used for, for example, heating a preform in a process for molding a PET bottle or heating a resin which is a material in a process for molding a resin.
Meanwhile, when the halogen lamp is used as a halogen heater, many halogen lamps are sometimes used in one facility. In such a case, for the purpose of energy saving, the consumption of electric power used in the facility is required to be reduced. In order to meet this requirement, the improvement of lamp efficiency is demanded.
An object of the exemplary embodiments is to provide a lamp having an increased irradiation intensity.

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation


An electrical connection is formed between conductors (46, 48) on a substrate (36), and pads (42, 44) that are coupled to an electrical component. The conductive pads (42, 44) are arranged in two rows of oversize pads. Two corresponding rows of undersize conductors (46, 48) are electrically connected to the pads by a conductive elastomer (40). A display assembly (26) advantageously employs the electrical connection.

Making electrical connections between conductive pads on an electrical component and the conductors on a substrate such as a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) in a high volume manufacturing process typically requires consideration of factors such as: the pitch of the pads on the electrical component, the pitch of the conductors on the PCB and the means of attachment between the PCB and the electrical component.
In the past, when the pitch of the pads and conductors was large enough, elastomer conductors could be used to electrically connect the pads on the electrical component to the conductors on the PCB. However, more recent alignment requirements of pads with smaller pitches (less than 50 mils) have made the use of elastomer connectors impractical. Thus, only a HSC (Heat Seal Connector) or a TAB(Tape Automating Bonding) type connection has been considered practical for satisfying the more stringent requirements.
FIG. 1 illustrates the use of an HSC for electrically connecting conductive runners 10 on a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel 12 to conductive pads 14 on a PCB 16. The pads 14 are coupled to electrical parts (not shown) on the PCB 16 via conductive runners 18.
An HSC 20 is used as the connecting mechanism. The illustrated HSC 20 has conductive runners 22 bonded by heat sealing to the runners 10 on the LCD panel 12, and runners 24 bonded to the pads 14 on the PCB 16.
It would be preferable if an elastomer connector could be used in place of the HSC 20 to connect the LCD panel to the PCB 16, particularly in applications where the LCD panel 12 is used in a front mount display product such as a pager, but the small pitch (and high pin count) would cause alignment problems as discussed previously.

Component to substrate connection and display assembly using same


A high capacity semiconductor device having a narrowed emitter layer. The semiconductor device includes a collector layer formed on a semiconductor substrate. An SiGe alloy layer is formed on the collector layer. A silicon film is formed on the SiGe layer. An emitter electrode is formed on the silicon film. A side wall film covers the side surface of the emitter electrode. The bottom surface of the emitter electrode is located above the lower surface of the side wall film. Part of the second region of the silicon film is located between the SiGe alloy layer and the side wall film. An impurity region is formed adjacent to the conductive layer. A silicide film is formed along the side surface of the second region, the side surface of the conductive layer, and the surface of the impurity region.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device.
Portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, PDAs, DVCs, and DSCs, have become to be provided with a larger number of functions. Further, there are demands for compact and portable electronic devices. To satisfy such demands, highly integrated system LSIs are necessary.
One example of a module that realizes a high integration system LSI is a high frequency bipolar transistor. To increase the performance of a high frequency high polar transistor, a silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor has been proposed. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-179235 describes the manufacturing of a bipolar transistor in the prior art.
The manufacturing of an SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor will now be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.
Referring to FIG. 13, an n+ type collector embedment layer 101 is formed on a p− type silicon substrate (not shown). An n− type layer 102 (epitaxial layer), which functions as a collector layer, is formed on the n+ type collector embedment layer 101. The n− type layer 102 is etched and removed excluding portions required for use as the collector layer and a collector extraction layer. An element isolation region includes a trench, of which the surface is covered by an oxidation film 103, and a polycrystalline silicon film 104, which is embedded in the trench. After the formation of the collector and element isolation region, a flat oxidation film 105 (embedment oxidation film) is formed on the surface of the substrate. A p-type SiGe layer 106 (SiGe alloy layer), which functions as an internal base layer, is formed on the oxidation film. Then, an n-type silicon layer 107, which functions as an emitter layer, and an n+ type silicon layer 108, which functions as an emitter-contact layer (emitter electrode), are epitaxially grown on the p-type SiGe layer 106. While using an oxidation film 109 as a mask, the n+ type silicon layer 108 and the n-type silicon layer 107 are etched and removed excluding portions required to form the emitter. The outer side of the region functioning as the internal base layer in the residual p-type SiGe layer 106 is etched for a predetermined depth using an oxidation film (side wall film) 110 and the oxidation film 109 as masks. This portion then undergoes selective epitaxial growth to form a p+ type SiGe layer 111, which functions as an external base layer.
In the SiGe base heterojunction bipolar transistor configuration of the prior art, the n-type silicon layer 107 (emitter layer) includes a relatively narrow upper surface and a relatively wide lower surface. The width of the lower surface of the emitter layer is about the same as the outer dimension (We2) of the side wall film 110. Accordingly, the width We2 of the emitter-base junction, which is located below the n-type silicon layer 107, is much greater than the width We1 of the n+ type silicon layer 108 (emitter electrode).
To manufacture a semiconductor device (SiGe base heterojunction bipolar transistor) having higher capacities, the n+ type silicon layer 108 (emitter electrode) must further be processed in a miniaturized manner to decrease the width We1, which would further decrease the width We2 of the emitter layer. However, this would result in the need of a highly accurate exposure apparatus and thus increase manufacturing costs.


A full-automatic washing machine with an electric motor for driving an agitator and a dehydration tub includes an inverter main circuit including a plurality of switching elements connected to windings of a plurality of phases of the motor respectively, and a control device for driving the switching elements of the inverter main circuit. The control device executes an increase rate changing control in which a rotational speed of the motor is changed among a plurality of increase rates during drive of the motor in at least one of operation steps between a wash step and a final dehydration step before the motor reaches a final target speed.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates generally to a washing machine including an electric motor for driving a rotatable tub and an agitator, and more particularly to control of a speed increase rate of the motor in such a washing machine.
2. Description of the prior art
Conventional washing machines comprises a single-phase induction motor of the capacitor type for driving an agitator and a rotatable tub serving both as a wash tub and a dehydration tub. Voltage of a commercial AC power-supply is applied to the motor when the same is energized. Accordingly, a rotational speed of the motor is rapidly increased toward one according to a frequency of the commercial AC power-supply and the number of poles of the motor.
The rotatable tub swings to a large extent being rotated or vibrates to thereby produce noise in a dehydration operation when laundry is ununiformly distributed in the rotatable tub. To overcome this problem, the prior art has provided a washing machine in which the motor speed is switched in a plurality of stages by tap changing or phase control so that the motor speed is increased stepwise. In these control manners, however, the motor speed is increased still rapidly stepwise such that the motor produces electromagnetic noise or the rotatable tub vibrates. Consequently, a desired noise reduction cannot be achieved.


Enhancing image dynamic range is described. An input video signal that is represented in a first color space with a first color gamut, which is related to a first dynamic range, is converted to a video signal that is represented in a second color space with a second color gamut. The second color space is associated with a second dynamic range. At least two (e.g., three) color-related components of the converted video signal are mapped over the second dynamic range.

As used herein, the term 'dynamic range' (DR) may relate to a capability of the human psychovisual system (HVS) to perceive a range of intensity (e.g., luminance, luma) in an image, e.g., from darkest darks to brightest brights. In this sense, DR relates to a 'scene-referred' intensity. DR may also relate to the ability of a display device to adequately or approximately render an intensity range of a particular breadth. In this sense, DR relates to a 'display-referred' intensity. Unless a particular sense is explicitly specified to have particular significance at any point in the description herein, it should be inferred that the term may be used in either sense, e.g. interchangeably.
As used herein, the term high dynamic range (HDR) relates to a DR breadth that spans the some 14-15 orders of magnitude of the HVS. For example, well adapted humans with essentially normal (e.g., in one or more of a statistical, biometric or opthamological sense) have an intensity range that spans about 15 orders of magnitude. Adapted humans may perceive dim light sources of as few as a mere handful of photons. Yet, these same humans may perceive the near painfully brilliant intensity of the noonday sun in desert, sea or snow (or even glance into the sun, however briefly to prevent damage). This span though is available to 'adapted' humans, e.g., those whose HVS has a time period in which to reset and adjust.
In contrast, the DR over which a human may simultaneously perceive an extensive breadth in intensity range may be somewhat truncated, in relation to HDR. As used herein, the terms 'visual dynamic range' or 'variable dynamic range' (VDR) may individually or interchangeably relate to the DR that is simultaneously perceivable by a HVS. As used herein, VDR may relate to a DR that spans 5-6 orders of magnitude. Thus while perhaps somewhat narrower in relation to true scene referred HDR, VDR nonetheless represents a wide DR breadth. As used herein, the term 'simultaneous dynamic range' may relate to VDR.
Until fairly recently, displays have had a significantly narrower DR than HDR or VDR. Television (TV) and computer monitor apparatus that use typical cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD) with constant fluorescent white back lighting or plasma screen technology may be constrained in their DR rendering capability to approximately three orders of magnitude. Such conventional displays thus typify a standard dynamic range (SDR), sometimes also referred to as "'low' dynamic range" or "LDR," in relation to VDR and HDR. As used herein, the terms "standard dynamic range" and "low dynamic range," and/or their corresponding abbreviations "SDR" and "LDR" may be used synonymously and/or interchangeably.
Advances in their underlying technology however allow more modern display designs to render image and video content with significant improvements in various quality characteristics over the same content, as rendered on less modem displays. For example, more modern display devices may be capable of rendering high definition (HD) content and/or content that may be scaled according to various display capabilities such as an image scaler. Moreover, some more modem displays are capable of rendering content with a DR that is higher than the SDR of conventional or standard displays.
For example, some modern LCD displays have a backlight unit (BLU) that comprises a light emitting diode (LED) array. The LEDs of the BLU array may be modulated separately from modulation of the polarization states of the active LCD elements. This dual modulation approach is extensible (e.g., to N-modulation layers wherein N comprises an integer greater than two), such as with controllable intervening layers between the BLU array and the LCD screen elements. Their LED array based BLUs and dual (or N-) modulation effectively increases the display referred DR of LCD monitors that have such features.
Such "HDR displays" as they are often called (although actually, their capabilities may more closely approximate the range of VDR) and the DR extension of which they are capable, in relation to conventional SDR displays represent a significant advance in the ability to display images, video content and other visual information. The color gamut that such an HDR display may render may also significantly exceed the color gamut of more conventional displays, even to the point of capably rendering a wide color gamut (WCG). Scene related HDR or VDR and WCG image content, such as may be generated by "next generation" movie and TV cameras, may now be more faithfully and effectively displayed with the "HDR" displays (hereinafter referred to as 'HDR displays'). As used herein, a statement to the effect that a first color gamut is "greater than" a second color gamut relates to the first color gamut being broader, deeper, larger, or having a greater bit depth than the second color gamut. As used herein, a statement to the effect that a second color gamut is "less than" a first color gamut relates to the second color gamut being narrower, shallower, lower or having less of a bit depth than the first color gamut.
As with the SVC and HDTV technologies, extending image DR typically involves a bifurcate approach. For example, scene referred HDR content that is captured with a modem HDR capable camera may be used to generate an SDR version of the content, which may be displayed on conventional SDR displays. Generating the SDR version from the captured HDR version may involve applying a global tone mapping operator (TMO) to intensity (e.g., luminance, luma) related pixel values in the HDR content. To conserve bandwidth or for other considerations, transmission of the actual captured HDR content may not be a best approach.
Thus, a global inverse tone mapping operator (iTMO), inverted in relation to the original TMO, may be applied to the SDR content version that was generated, which allows a version of the HDR content to be predicted. The predicted HDR content version may be compared to originally captured HDR content. For example, subtracting the predicted HDR version from the original HDR version may generate a residual image. An encoder may send the generated SDR content as a base layer (BL), and package the generated SDR content version, the residual image, and the iTMO or other predictors as an enhancement layer (EL).
Sending the EL, with its SDR content, residual and predictors, in a bitstream typically consumes less bandwidth than would be consumed in sending the HDR content directly in the bitstream. Compatible decoders that receive the bitstream sent by the encoder may decode and render the SDR on conventional displays. Compatible decoders however may also use the residual image and the iTMO predictors to compute a predicted version of the HDR content therefrom, for use on more capable displays. It is the bandwidth economy that, at least in part, has made the two-layer BL/EL approach so ubiquitous in codecs that perform HDR to SDR and SDR to HDR conversions (as well as with HDTV and SVC).
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, issues identified with respect to one or more approaches should not assume to have been recognized in any prior art on the basis of this section, unless otherwise indicated.

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


Methods and apparatus to manage power consumption in wireless devices are disclosed. A disclosed example apparatus comprises performing a first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) scan to determine a beacon interval and a first beacon time for a wireless channel, calculating a second beacon time for the wireless channel based on the beacon interval and the first beacon time, and performing a second RSSI scan for the wireless channel during a time interval that includes the calculated second beacon time. In some examples, the wireless channel is a wireless channel that was previously identified as active, is a wireless channel that previously had the highest received power level, and/or is selected from a list of popular or frequently used channels. Additionally or alternatively, when a wireless channel with sufficient signal level is identified, scanning for additional channels is not performed.

WLAN devices periodically or aperiodically perform received signal strength indicator (RSSI) scans in an attempt to maintain communicative coupling with at least one access point. RSSI scans are often used by a WLAN device in an enterprise environment to locate and/or identify the access point that provides preferable communication conditions for the WLAN device. Additionally or alternatively, RSSI scanning is performed to determine the location of a WLAN device. For example, the RSSI values associated with one or more nearby access points may be used to determine and/or estimate the location of a WLAN device. An example WLAN device is implemented in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11x family of standards (a.k.a. WiFi).

Methods and apparatus to manage power consumption in wireless local area network devices


Provided are safe, non-invasive, non-viral delivery methods for providing a nucleic acid into the neuronal and non-neuronal cells of the central nervous system (CNS) of a subject to protect neuronal and non-neuronal cells from ischemic or traumatic injury, wherein the nucleic acid encodes a therapeutic proteins, specifically providing rapid transient expression and widespread distribution for in vitro or in vivo applications. Further provided are methods for the intrathecal delivery to the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of a neuroprotective gene sequence, e.g., a heat shock protein (HSP), complexed with cationic lipid compositions to achieve such delivery, and the complexes used therein.

Therapeutic treatments to the CNS necessarily require delivery of the requisite biological therapeutic to the target cells and organs to achieve physiologically significant expression levels without toxicity. Gene therapy has the potential, though largely still unrealized, to significantly advance clinical medicine. Long term expression after gene therapy is useful for diseases which require chronic levels of protein expression, such as inherited enzyme deficiencies. However, the risks and duration of gene delivery must also be closely matched to the proposed clinical application.
Gene therapy affecting the CNS has been the target of concentrated research efforts for many years. However, gene delivery and expression to the CNS has focused primarily on long term delivery methods using viral vectors. Nevertheless, while viral vector systems have been used to transfect cells in vitro and in vivo, they have not yet proven safe in a patient. For clinical applications in which only short-term gene expression is required or warranted, the delivery of nucleic acids by means of a non-viral cationic lipid may provide a more favorable risk/benefit analysis. Moreover, cationic lipid-mediated transfection advantageously offers low immunogenicity, ease of preparation, and the ability to transfect vectors of nearly unlimited size (Mountain, Trends in Biotechnol. 18:119-128 (2000)), as compared with the use of viral vectors. However, clinical trials using cationic lipids for delivery have primarily examined applications requiring brief expression of transgenes, such as therapies aimed at direct or immunological killing of tumor cells.
In proliferating cells, the majority of the DNA enters the nucleus through passive movement. This occurs during the nuclear membrane degradation stage of mitosis (Wilson et al., supra, 1995; Melchior et al., supra, 1998). However, the amount of DNA that is able to cross the nuclear envelope in non-proliferating cells by passive movement through the NPC has been assumed to be negligible (Aronsohn et al., supra, 1998), creating an additional barrier in the development of an efficient DNA delivery system (Bally et al., Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 38:291-315 (1999)); Girao da Cruz et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1510:136-151 (2001)); Zabner et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:18997-19007 (1995)). However, trials have not examined cationic lipid delivery methods of gene sequences in vivo for the rapid, transient expression of neuroprotective proteins in the central nervous system, or for attenuating cell death following CNS trauma.
The cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) is an effective way to express gene vectors in the brain. Rennels et al., Brain Res. 326:47-63 (1985)) proposed a rapid perivascular flux from CSF to the extracellular fluid to account for rapid fluid circulation throughout the CNS. Intra-ventricular injection in rats of an adenoviral vector for β-gal and IL-2 receptor antagonist (Betz et al., J. Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 15:547-551 (1995); Yang et al., Brain Res. 751:181-188, (1997)) showed staining for f3-gal confined primarily to cells lining the ventricles. Despite this apparently limited expression, a reduction of stroke size in permanent focal ischemia was seen and the authors concluded that the ependyma does not form a barrier to movement of substances between CSF and brain.
Many investigators have demonstrated the use of viral vectors for transferring genes into various tissues, including into the CNS (Barr et al., Gene Ther. 1:51-58 (1994); Engelhardt et al., Human Gene Ther. 4:759-769 (1993); Hermens et al., J. Neurosci. Meth. 71:85-98 (1997); Shimohama et al., Mol. Brain Res. 5:271-278 (1989)). Leading viral vector systems include recombinant retrovirus (for replicating cells), adeno-(AV) and adeno-associated (AAV) virus, retroviral (RV), lentiviral, and herpes simplex virus vectors (HSV). For example, fetal myocytes (cardiac cells) that had been transfected with HSP70 using a viral vector were protected when subjected to simulated ischemia (Mestril et al., J. Mol. Cell Cardiol. 28:2351-2358 (1996)). Giffard et al. transfected astrocytes using a retroviral vector for HSP70 and reported protection of astrocytes and neurons from oxygen-glucose deprivation (Papadopoulos et al., Neuroreport 7:429-432 (1996)) in the same cell culture, even though only the astrocytes were transfected (Xu et al., Soc Neurosci Abstracts 23:845.1323:845.13 (Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 1997)).
Viral vectors have also been used to protect the CNS by direct injection (Hermens et al., supra, 1997). Fink et al. used a herpes simplex vector to show improved neuron survival in a rat middle cerebral artery occlusion model (Yenari et al., Soc. Neurosci. Abstracts 23:547.12 (Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 1997)), while the use of HSV to transfect non-dividing cells in the CNS has been reported by Naldini et al., Science 272:263-267 (1996)). Retroviral and HSV vectors (Geller et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:1149-1153 (1990)) have been used in experimental trials for the treatment of human CNS tumors (Karpati et al., Trends in Neurosciences 19:49-54 (1996)), but none of these viral-based gene delivery methods teach how to safely deliver gene sequences for CNS neuroprotection without the risks of viral vectors.
Inherent risks associated with the use of a viral vector in a patient are known, and experimental use of such vectors has resulted in at least one well-publicized patient death secondary to liver failure after adenoviral gene therapy in 1999. Inflammation is a known complication resulting from the use of the common adenoviruses for viral gene therapy (Byrnes et al., Neuroscience 66:1015-1024 (1995); Kajiwara et al., Human Gene Ther. 8:253-265 (1997). An ineffective T-cell response in the brain may account for a prolonged response to adenoviral vectors in brain tissue (Byrnes et al., Gene Ther. 3:644-651 (1996)). An adenovirus expressing the herpes simplex thymidine kinase gene was tested in rats and primates in intracranial injections, but a dose dependent localized necrosis, mild gliosis, focal astrocytosis trace meningitis, and perivascular cuffing was described (Smith et al., Human Gene Ther. 8:943-954 (1997)). Undesirable persistence of defective HSV-1 vectors in rat brain has also been reported (Starr et al., Gene Ther. 3:615-623 (1996). Many other drawbacks, including production difficulties, have been reported. For example, in one issue alone of Molecular Therapy, the journal of the American Society for Gene Therapy, several articles reported that significant problems still remained with the use of viral vectors, including: oncogenesis following lentiviral fetal and neonatal murine delivery; inadvertent gene transfer to male germ-line cells following retroviral gene delivery; and encapsulation and in vivo persistence of prokaryotic sequences during the production of AAV vectors.
Moreover, although viral vectors can achieve transduction, producing extremely high levels of protein expression, such high levels of expression and infectivity may be more than is needed to be of physiologic significance in vivo, even if they could be routinely achieved. Viral vectors may, in fact, overwhelm the cellular protein producing apparatus of the cell in vivo (Peltekian et al., J. Neurosci. Meth. 71:77-84 (1997). Despite the recognized deficiencies associated with the use of viral vectors to deliver the gene sequences, the literature also fails to teach how to avoid significant inflammatory and/or immune responses. Indeed, there are no reports of non-viral, rapid, widespread CNS transfection without the requirement of craniotomy or burr holes in the skull, followed by injection into brain or lateral ventricle.
In an attempt to overcome the problems associated with viral delivery, researchers have proposed a number of non-viral methods for delivering polynucleotides into neuronal cells and tissues. Calcium precipitation and electroporation are of extremely limited usefulness in vivo in the CNS. Jiao et al., Biotechnology 11:497-502 (1993) bombarded fetal brain tissue with DNA that had been precipitated onto gold pellets (the Accell device) and demonstrated transfection of isolated neuron and glial cells. Biewenga et al., J. Neurosci. Meth. 71:67-75 (1997) reviewed the specific parameters of the use of biolistics ("gene gun") to transfect neurons in culture. Naked DNA can be transfected into skin (Yu et al., J. Invest. Dermatol. 112:370-375 (1999)) and high ionic strength carriers, such as liposomes, can be used to augment the low baseline efficiency and durability of gene expression in this tissue setting (Chesnoy et al., Mol. Ther. 5:57-62 (2002); Alexander et al., Human Mol. Genet. 1995; 4: 2279-2285 (1995)). However, there are few reports in the literature of widespread expression in CNS using non-viral methods, particularly methods with the potential for clinical usefulness and none are non-invasive. See, e.g., Zhu et al., Gene Ther. 3:472-476 (1996), who reported use of cationic lipid mediated gene transfer of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) gene into glioma tumor cells in vivo in rats, using a continuous infusion pump. However, such non-viral methods involve direct injection into the brain, requiring a surgical procedure (brain surgery) prior to injection
Cationic lipid-mediated gene transfer is particularly suited for transient gene expression, both in basic research and in selected clinical applications. Cationic lipids are used to protect plasmid DNA from DNAse I digestion, from endogenous DNAses in the extracellular environment and CSF (Luo et al., Nature Biotechnology 18:33-37 (2000)). Hundreds of clinical gene therapy trials have been completed or remain currently in progress (updated at J. Gene Medicine Web site at http://www.wiley.co.uk/genetherapy), mainly for the treatment of melanoma, head and neck, and ovarian cancer. At least 22% of the reported human clinical protocols are either non-viral lipid-mediated, or utilize non-viral DNA delivery. Thus, the safety of non-viral mediated gene transfer is no longer an issue, and cationic lipid-mediated gene delivery avoids many of the potential objections to the use of viral DNA vectors. Moreover, the results normally reflect a dramatic improvement over therapies using naked DNA delivery.
Cationic lipids commonly have a polar head group and non-polar symmetric or dissymmetric carbon based (fatty acid) tail, which gives membrane fluidity to the lipoplex. Negatively charged nucleic acids condense and self-assemble into heterogeneous complexes of lipids and nucleic acids when mixed with cationic lipids (Feigner et al., Annals NY Acad. Sci. 772:1126-1139 (1995)). The structure and size of these complexes affect transfection efficacy and vary with temperature, concentration, charge ratio, buffer, time, and lipid composition. Numerous laboratories (e.g., Feigner et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 84:7413-7437 (1987); Byk et al., Drug Develop. Res. 50:566-572 (2000); Niedzinski et al., Mol. Ther. 6: 279-286, 2002)) have investigated the limiting parameters of cationic lipid-mediated transfection with the goal of improving transfection efficiency.
While cationic lipid-mediated delivery is useful for delivery of nucleic acids, either mRNA or DNA, see Feigner et al., supra, 1987), transfection of primary cell lines (including for neuronal and glial cells of the CNS) remains a problem (Wangerek et al., J. Gene Med. 3:72-81 (2001)). There are four general barriers to lipid-mediated DNA transfection: 1) transport of the nucleic acid/lipid complex in the extracellular environment; 2) association and uptake of the nucleic acid/lipid complex by the target cell (Bally et al., supra, 1999); Feigner et al., supra, 1995); 3) intracellular DNA release from the nucleic acid/lipid complex (Girao da Cruz et al., supra, 2001); and 4) translocation of DNA to the nucleus (Mortimer et al., Gene Therapy 6:403-411 (1999)). The primary barrier to DNA transfections in post mitotic cells is assumed to be DNA translocation to the nucleus (Zabner et al., supra, 1995).
Neuronal cells are regarded as particularly difficult to transfect with non-viral techniques, although adenovirus or HSV have met with some success in the CNS (Krisky et al., Gene Therapy 5:1593-1603 (1998)). This difficulty is generally attributed to markedly reduced or absent mitotic activity (Wangerek et al., supra, 2001). In proliferating cells, nuclear translocation is mainly passive, occurring during mitosis as the nuclear membrane breaks-down (Bally et al, supra, 1999; Wilke et al., Gene Therapy 3:1133-1342 (1996); Nicolau et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 721:185-190 (1982)). Some nuclear translocation also occurs in non-proliferating cells, probably as a result of passive movement through the nuclear pore complex (NPC) (Mattaj et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem. 67:265-306 (1998); Wilson et al., J. Biol. Chem. 270:22025-22032 (1995)). To improve efficiency of lipid-mediated DNA transfer some investigators have used nuclear localization sequences (NLS) (Aronsohn et al., J. Drug Targeting 5:163-169 (1998); Melchior et al., Trends Cell. Biol. 8:175-179 (1998)) to target the non-proliferating cells, and thus to facilitate DNA entry into the nucleus.
Methods for otherwise avoiding the necessity of nuclear translocation of DNA have also been reported, such as delivery of T7 promoter DNA plasmid systems to T7 polymerase expressing cells (Brisson et al., Human Gene Therapy 10:2601-2613 (1999)). However, the T7 system is not useful in most basic research or clinical applications. Lipid-mediated RNA delivery to proliferating cells (Malone et al., Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 86:6077-6081 (1989)), as well as intramuscular injection of naked RNA has been previously described (Wolff et al., Science 247:1465-1468 (1990)). Jirikowski et al., Science 255:996-998 (1992)) reported the uptake of mRNA in vivo by neurons, following direct injection in the rat hypothalamus to correct diabetes insipidus. Kariko et al., J. Neurosci. Meth. 105:77-86 (2001)) demonstrated local expression by in situ and immunocytochemical techniques after injection of RNA complexed with lipofectin (Gibco/BRL) into brain parenchyma. There is also evidence that, at least, some mRNAs may be actively taken up by neural tissue and transported throughout the CNS (Mohr et al., EMBO J. 10:2419-2424 (1991)). However, none of these reports describe methods for rapid and widespread, rapid gene expression in the CNS after delivery of mRNA vectors into the CNS.
The leading non-viral gene therapy method involves the use of mRNA or DNA as a lipid/nucleic acid complex ("lipoplex"), with or without membrane proteins to provide targeting specificity. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,869,715; 5,925,623; 5,824,812, (each by Nantz et al.), and related publications. Hecker et al., Molecular Therapy 3:375-384 (2001) described DNA expression using lipoplexes, and the methods described in the 2001 were used by Anderson et al., Human Gene Therapy 14(3):191-202 (2003) to examine the functional integrity and protection from degradation of mRNA/cationic complexes (lipoplexes) for more than 4 hours in human cerebrospinal fluid (hCSF) in vitro (as compared with rapid <5 min disappearance of non-lipid-complexed mRNA), and preliminary findings regarding expression of these lipoplexes in vivo (in vitro transcribed mRNA vectors encoding Hsp70 and luciferase were delivered to the lateral ventricle of brains of rat models). Expression was noted in coronal sections throughout the rat brain, confirming the potential for lipid-mediated mRNA delivery to the CNS. However, these publications demonstrated results only in the rat brain, and only following direct injection into the lateral ventricle of the rat brain. No evidence was reported indicating success in a non-human primate model or in higher order intact animals, or suggesting the possibility that intrathecal delivery to the CSF would be effective in humans.
A common problem associated with non-viral nucleic acid delivery techniques is that the amount of exogenous protein expression produced relative to the amount of exogenous nucleic acid administered remains too low for most diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. Low levels of protein expression are often a result of a low rate of transfection of the nucleic acid or the instability of the nucleic acid. As a result, despite numerous research efforts directed at finding efficient methods for nucleic acid delivery, most known techniques have failed to provide sufficient cell transfection to achieve the desired protein expression to be of clinical value. While prior art publications have shown rapid uptake, distribution, and expression of exogenous DNA and mRNA in the rat brain using GFP and luciferase reporter gene sequences, the current literature offers no non-invasive method for achieving rapid and extensive gene expression in the brains of human patients or primate models via cerebrospinal fluid administration free from the inherent risks and difficulties associated with the use of viral vectors. For example, although Schwartz et al., Gene Therapy 3:405-411 (1996) described modest expression of the reporter gene enzymes luciferase and β-galactosidase in rat brain after direct injection of up to 150 μg of DNA plasmid, they reported no additional efficacy using several standard cationic lipids, and their peak in enzyme assay signal was not reached until 48 hours post-administration. Primates have more robust and versatile immunological responses.
Heat shock proteins (HSP) are members of a highly conserved family of molecular chaperones that play important roles in normal cellular function and survival. They act as molecular chaperones expressed constitutively and rapidly induced in response to various types of stress, including heat shock, ischemia, oxidative stress, glucose deprivation, and exposure to toxins and heavy metals (Kiang et al., Pharmacol. Ther. 80:183-201 (1998)). The Hsp70 gene encodes a 44 kDa amino terminal ATPase domain, and a carboxyl terminal domain that contains the 18 kDa peptide or substrate binding domain followed by a 10 kDa stretch terminating in the highly conserved EEVD sequence (O'Brien et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271:15874-15878 (1996); Ohno et al., FEBS Lett. 576:381-386 (2004); Rajapandi et al., Biochem. 37:7244-7250 (1998); Wang et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:26049-26051 (1993)).
Whole animals, isolated organs and cells subjected to heat shock are protected against a subsequent near lethal ischemic or hypoxic event. For example, Fink et al. transfected hippocampal neurons with the Hsp70 gene using a HSV vector to show improved neuron survival in a rat MCA occlusion model, and demonstrated what the authors described as "the first published report of protection following heat shock protein transfection in CNS neurons" (Fink et al., J. Neurochemistry 68:961-969 (1997)).
More recently, studies have shown that Hsp70 overexpression protects cells from death induced by various insults that cause either necrosis or apoptosis, including near lethal hypoxia and ischemia/reperfusion, by inhibiting multiple cell death pathways (Giffard et al., J. Neurosurg. Anesthesiol. 16:53-61 (2004); Steel et al., J. Biol. Chem. 279:51490-51499 (2004)). The induction of protective intracellular responses ("endogenous") by heat shock is not clinically useful, but the enforced overexpression with viral vectors, as a transgene, or pharmacological induction of Hsp70, all decrease injury after cerebral ischemia and protect both neurons and glia (Giffard et al., J. Exp. Biol. 207:3213-3220 (2004); Hoehn et al., J. Cerebral Blood Flow Metab. 21:1303-1309 (2001); Lu et al., J. Neurochem. 81:355-364 (2002); Rajdev et al., Ann. Neurol. 47:782-791 (2000)). Nevertheless, the ability of Hsp70 to provide neuroprotection has only been demonstrated in limited viral models on rodent species, but, to date, it has not been reported in non-human primates or in humans.
It has been previously reported that astrocytes expressing elevated levels of inducible Hsp70 are protected from oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure, and hyperthermic insult (Papadopoulos et al., Neuroreport 7:429-432 (1996); Xu et al., Biochemistry 35:5616-5623 (1996); Xu et al., Neurosci Lett. 224:9-12 (1997)). However, it was not clear whether the protective effect of Hsp70 was caused by direct interaction with misfolded protein or, whether it resulted from the anti-apoptotic and anti-necrotic effects of Hsp70. Sun et al., J. Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, 26(7):937-950 (July 2006) (Epublished November 2005), using two mutants of Hsp70, confirmed the importance of protein folding to ischemic protection, and showed that the peptide binding domain of Hsp70 was sufficient for protecting cells from ischemia in vitro (primary astrocyte culture) and in vivo (reduced infarct size and focal ischemic injury as induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, and improve neurological function). These results are consistent with prior reports showing that a deletion mutant, containing the peptide binding domain of Hsp70, but lacking the ATPase domain, is still capable of protecting cells from heat (Li et al., J. Biol. Chem. 275:25665-25671 (1992)), serum withdrawal (Ravagnan et al., supra, 2001) and heat-stress induced apoptosis (Volloch et al., FEBS Lett. 461:73-76 (1999)). Thus, the significant protective effect of the mutants suggest that peptides, such as Hsp70, specifically the carboxyl-terminal domain of Hsp70, could offer a useful therapeutic strategy for the treatment of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases if safely delivered to the target CNS.
In addition, there is strong evidence that Hsp70 can protect cells from toxicity due to misfolded, aggregated proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases (Dong et al. Molecular Therapy 11:80-88 (2005); Muchowski et al., Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 6:11-22 (2005); Tidwell et al., Cell Stress Chaperones 9:88-98 (2004)). For example, overexpression of Hsp70 suppressed degeneration and improves motor function in a transgenic mouse model of SCA1 (Cummings et al., Hum. Mol. Genet. 10:1511-1518 (2001)). Similarly, the overexpression of Hsp70 reduces the toxicity of mutant α-synuclein in Parkinson's disease (Auluck et al., Science 295:865-868 (2002)).
It is evident from the prior art that HSP70 offers great potential as a neuroprotectant before injury, and as a therapeutic solution immediately after CNS or spinal cord injury, if it can be safely delivered to the site and cells where it is needed. However, the reported induction of protective intracellular responses by heat shock proteins is not clinically useful because delivery via a viral vector carries the inherent risks to the patient, and because rapid and widespread distribution that is required for use of the protective HSP gene sequences has not been provided. Sun et al. supra, 2005 provide valuable insight into possible, albeit unproven, mechanisms by which HSP70 may be effective, but no prior art publication has taught how to integrate all of the necessary knowledge, including formulation, synthesis, packaging, delivery, efficacy, safety and methodology to successfully administer therapeutic or preventative compounds to the human CNS. Thus, until the present invention, a need has remained in the art for non-viral, lipid mediated methods, that do not involve surgical intervention needed for direct injection to the brain, for a safe, short-term delivery of nucleic acids, particularly mRNA, encoding therapeutic proteins, e.g., HSP, to cells of the CNS, and for the rapid expression and widespread distribution of the therapeutic proteins for in vitro or in vivo applications, including clinical use. Such methods could promote, for example, nervous system cell repair and regeneration in vivo, and/or prevent or decrease the severity of ischemic damage due to, e.g., spinal and/or brain injury, including damage during surgery.

Methods and models for rapid, widespread delivery of genetic material to the CNS using non-viral, cationic lipid-mediated vectors

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A test machine and a test method for a Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight driver and a manufacturing method for a monitor power board The test machine has a switch-controlled LED-light-bar load that is coupled to an LED backlight driver on a monitor power board. The switch-controlled LED-light-bar load includes a plurality of light bars and a plurality of switches. Each light bar has a plurality of the LEDs which are connected in series. Each switch is connected in parallel to a portion of the LEDs of one light bar such that an effective amount of the LEDs of each light bar is adjustable. The switches are controlled according to a monitor specification that the monitor power board is adapted to.

1. Field of the
The present disclosure relates to test technology for a Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight driver of a monitor power board, and, the disclosure further relates to a manufacturing method for a monitor power board.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, monitors, such as LCD displays, generally require a backlight module for back lighting. Light emitting diodes are commonly used as the backlight source and may be designed into a Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight module. Generally, an LED backlight driver is assembled on a monitor power board to drive the LED backlight module.
Considering costs, all components of an electrical device should be tested before being assembled together. For example, before assembling a monitor, a reliability test for the monitor power board is required. When all components pass the tests, costs associated with disassembly and damage (e.g. damage of the fragile monitor casing) due to problem components are eliminated. Additionally, the LED backlight driver assembled on the monitor power board should also be tested. Professional instruments, such as an LED load, are commercially available from equipment manufacturers to test the LED backlight driver. However, the commercially available LED load is very expensive.

Test machine and the test method for light emitting diode backlight driver, and, manufacturing method for monitor power board


An attachment for a hair dryer has a hollow body portion with an upper end in fluid communication with a lower end, a lip connected to and extending upwardly from the upper end of the hollow body portion, and a nozzle extending through an opening in the lip. The nozzle has a connector for connecting the attachment to a hair dryer and a tip interior of the lip pointing generally downwardly toward the hollow body portion. The nozzle is rotatable such that the tip of the nozzle can be directionally adjusted. A baffle is affixed to an opening at the lower end of the hollow body portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the styling of hair. More particularly, the present invention relates the styling of hair using a hair dryer. More particularly, the present invention the relates to attachments for hair dryers.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Hair dryers are typically used to accelerate the drying time of wet hair. Hair dryers typically have a handle and a tubular blower portion. The handle is used by the user to position the hair dryer near hair that is wet. A mechanical device in the hair dryer accelerates a flow of air through the tubular blower portion. The accelerated air exits an end of the tubular blower portion so as to blow high velocity air past wet hair. The high velocity of the air acts to accelerate the evaporation of water particles from wet hair. Hair dryers typically come with variable speeds. Thus, the user of a hair dryer can control the acceleration of air within the hair dryer, and thus the velocity of air exiting the end of the tubular blower portion of the hair dryer. Hair dryers are typically equipped with heating coils that heat the air passing through the hair dryer. The heated air also acts to accelerate the evaporation of water particles from wet hair. Hair dryers usually have the ability to turn the heating coils on or off as desired by the user.
Over time, people discovered that hair dryers can also be used to style hair. The various methods and techniques for using a hair dryer to style hair can be seen in any local or commercial barber shop. Many hairstylists have had successful and prosperous careers due to their ability to eloquently style the hair of customers. Hair styles have quickly become a way for people to express themselves and even to communicate various values. In fact, the styling of hair has even become a fashion phenomenon causing hair styles to change over time due to trends and popular social values. Thus, there is always a need for new ways to style hair. Various patents have issued relating to devices that control the flow of air while styling a person's hair. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,863, issued on Dec. 16, 1986 to Giordano, discloses a hair dryer outlet nozzle having a slit-like outlet opening that includes a forwardly and upwardly extending arcuate deflector of approximately half-circle form, which directs drying air away from the scalp and forms a vortex of drying air around a cylindrical brush upon which hair is wound during the drying process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,159, issued on Mar. 10, 1998 to Dorber et al., discloses an air directing device for a hair dryer for acting upon the air stream exiting from the hair dryer in which an air directing member is configured as a substantially tubular body having an inlet opening and an outlet area. The air outlet area has individual orifices configured and positioned such that the exiting air stream is split into substantially independent free jets.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,037, issued on May 9, 2006 to Keong, discloses a diffuser for a handheld electric hair dryer that includes a base from which fingers extend. Each finger has a longitudinal through-passage through which hot air passes from the base. A thermal-capacitance element is attached to the base so as to moderate changes in temperature of air exhausted through the diffuser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,673, issued on Sep. 8, 1981 to Wolter, discloses a diffuser attachment which is telescopically assembled to the air outlet end of a hand-held hair dryer and which is characterized by a forwardly flared body portion and by a diffuser plate concentrically mounted within the flared body portion and having a convex surface facing the flow of heated air from the hair dryer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,919, issued on Jul. 16, 1985 to Harbolt et al., discloses an apparatus and method for dividing a flowing multi-phase fluid to provide at least two separate fluid streams wherein each fluid stream has substantially the same ratio of phases. The apparatus includes a fluid inlet chamber in fluid communication with at least two separate fluid outlet chambers. Fluid conduits connect the inlet chamber with the outlet chambers. Each of the conduits has a fluid conduit inlet opening communicating with the fluid inlet chamber and a fluid outlet opening communicating with one of the fluid outlet chambers. The fluid conduit inlet openings are arrayed in groups, wherein each group has at least two members, and the fluid conduits are adapted to provide that each fluid outlet chamber is in fluid communication with only one member of each group of fluid conduit inlet openings.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D260,189, issued on Aug. 11, 1981 to Winkler, discloses a hair dryer attachment that is attached to an end of a hair dryer. The attachment has a tubular portion and a concave portion mounted to an end of the tubular portion. The concave portion has a hole in a wall thereof so that air from the tubular portion can pass through the concave portion. The concave portion has a cross section of a semi-circle.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D380,540, issued Jul. 1, 1997 to Seatvet et al., discloses a portable heater-blower that attaches to an end of a hair dryer. The heater-blower has a first portion that is tubular and is mounted around the end of a hair dryer. A U-shaped portion is integrally formed at an end of the first portion so that air from the first portion passes into a first branch of the U-shaped portion and a second branch of the U-shaped portion.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D265,598, issued on Jul. 27, 1982 to Ridatz, discloses a diffuser for a hair dryer. The diffuser is an ornamental design for a diffuser for a hair dryer that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,673.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that styles hair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that styles hair using a hair dryer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that quickly styles hair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that styles hair by spinning the hair within a hair dryer attachment.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that can dry hair while styling the hair.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that has many configurations for styling hair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that can be configured so as to provide a certain hair style.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.


A three-phase invertor and control is disclosed for synthesizing low harmonic content AC voltage in the non-linear, or overmodulation, region of inverter operation. A field orientation control provides a reference voltage vector representing the desired AC output voltage in magnitude and angle. Three state, two state, and step inverter operations are used individually and in combinations in accordance with magnitude and angle parameters of the reference voltage vector.

Inverters are used to convert a DC input voltage into poly-phase AC output voltage for application, for example, to poly-phase stator windings of an electric motor. Advances in power bridge electronics, such as fast switching power semiconductor devices, and advances in control electronics, such as digital signal processors, has led to widespread use of high frequency pulse width modulation techniques of inverter control which allows for relatively precise control of stator voltages and correspondingly precise control over stator currents. Additionally, direct and indirect vector control topologies, which rely upon real-time processing capabilities, have advanced particularly well in light of these advances.
For AC machine drive applications, full utilization of the DC supply voltage is critical in attaining maximum machine output torque and high efficiency. This is particularly important in such applications as vehicle drivelines in electric or electric-hybrid vehicles. It is therefore advantageous that inverter controls make use of output voltage capability of inverters into the non-linear or overmodulation regions. Another competing consideration of substantial importance in vehicle driveline applications is purity of the power output or, put another way, the absence of power output harmonics which are generally undesirable.
Heretofore, known techniques for providing AC output voltages through DC power links and inverter controls have had limited utilization of the DC supply voltage due to unacceptably high harmonic content at the output. This is particularly true in the non-linear or overmodulation region of inverter control. Hence, it is desirable to maximize the DC supply voltage utilization while simultaneously providing a relatively harmonically clean AC output voltage.

Method of synthesizing poly-phase AC voltage


Complex edges of workpieces are veneered by stretching a thin flexible veneer strip over the edges and moving the workpiece edge against a yieldably mounted heated bar having a complementary surface to seat the strip and bond it the workpiece edge. The yieldably mounted bar moves in a second direction as it is moved by the workpiece to fully seat the veneer strip before the adhesive previously applied to the edge is heat-set by the bar.

Veneering involves bonding a thin finishing layer to an inferior substratum. Until recently, in fine woodworking, a solid, pre-milled, stiff strap of an expensive wood was placed over a less expensive wood (including particle board and chip core), particularly where the external surface of the edge of the finished product involved a complex surface (surface other than flat for purposes such as finger pulls and the like). Such edge treatment was time consuming and expensive.
In the old process, the workpiece to get the edge treatment is first cut to rough size, and then the edges planed to precise size and a groove cut out of the center of the edge. The groove is to receive the tongue of a piece of solid wood strap to be mounted on the workpiece edge. The piece of solid wood strap is usually prepared from a hardwood having the desired grain and finish properties by suitable milling operations. Glue is then applied to one or both of the surfaces having the groove and tongue, and the solid wood strap placed against the workpiece so that the former's tongue is received in the later's groove and the strip is flush against the workpiece. After the glue has set, the wood strap is trimmed, as by cutting and sanding, at its edges, to matching flatness with the other surfaces of the finished product.
Cutting out the workpiece groove and a tongue on the solid wood strap, waiting for the glue to set, and the sanding, all take time and money.


Comb-shaped element for receiving products supplied by a conveying mat, which comb-shaped element is made of a body with an essentially closed top surface and a plurality of teeth formed on the body and extending parallel to each other, there being provided on the undersurface of the body of the comb-shaped element a first and a second hook-shaped element extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the teeth and being capable of resiliently cooperating with an attachment element mounted on the frame of the conveyor so as to fixedly secure the comb-shaped element, while it can yet follow the movement of the conveying mat when it expands and further is readily exchangeable in the case of damage.

This invention relates to a comb-shaped element for receiving products supplied by a conveying mat of a conveyor, which comb-shaped element comprises a body with an essentially closed top surface and a plurality of teeth formed on the body and extending parallel to each other.
Such a comb-shaped element is disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,237,345 or in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,949, which patent specifications describe an endless conveying mat preferably made up of synthetic plastics modules, wherein at the "end" of the mat, i.e., where it has been passed around driving wheels arranged transversely to the direction of advancement, the toothed projections of the comb engage between the successive upright ribs of the modules to thereby obtain, for the benefit of the products conveyed over the mat, a flowing transition from the moving transport part, the mat, to a stationary transport part, the body or bearing surface of the comb.
The known comb-shaped elements are fixedly connected to a frame of the conveyor by means of, for instance, bolts and nuts. This entails a number of drawbacks. Firstly, for the known fastening means, openings are present in the top surface of the bearing surface of the comb-shaped element to receive these fastening means and to be able to secure them. These openings are easily soiled and cannot be properly cleaned, which is undesirable, particularly in the foodstuffs industry. Secondly, it happens regularly that a tooth of the comb-shaped element is bent, for instance because, in the case of glass transport, a fragment of glass gets stuck under a tooth and presses it upwards. Such a damaged comb-shaped element must be replaced, which, in the case of the known fastening means, is a rather time-consuming operation, in particular when the access openings for the fastening means as described above are soiled. The entire conveyor must be stopped during the replacement operation, which is economically unattractive. Thirdly, when the known fastening means are used, problems can arise in the case where the conveyor and the combs are exposed to large temperature fluctuations, such as for instance when such a conveyor is used in a pasteurizer, in particular when it is periodically disinfected. The fact is that if the chain mat expands or shrinks as a result of temperature changes, the driving wheels, which are mounted on a common shaft, can follow this movement of the mat when, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,285, only the central driving wheel is fixedly mounted on the shaft and the other wheels can shift over the shaft in lateral direction relative to this central wheel. The combs mounted fixedly on the frame, however, can follow the lateral displacement of the modules only to a limited extent, even when the holes for the attachment of the comb to the frame by means of bolts and nuts are slotted. This results in a forcing of the teeth in lateral direction, which is not beneficial to the useful life of the mat modules and the combs.


An image recording method includes applying a reaction liquid containing a first polymer particle onto an intermediate transfer member, forming an intermediate image by applying an ink containing a second polymer particle onto the intermediate transfer member to which the reaction liquid has been applied, and transferring the intermediate image to a recording medium while heating the intermediate image. The first polymer particle softens at temperature T1 and the second polymer particle softens at temperature T2. The transferring is performed so that the surface temperature Ta of the recording medium and the surface temperature Tb of the intermediate transfer member satisfy: (1) Tb<Ta, (2) T2<Ta, and (3) Tb<T1, and so that the elastic modulus Ea of the intermediate image at the temperature Ta and the elastic modulus Eb of the intermediate image at the temperature Tb satisfy 1.5<Eb/Ea.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the variety of information is increasing, more different printed articles are produced in smaller lots. This increases the cost of printing plate making for each printed article and results in comparatively high cost in known printing methods such as offset printing. In addition, immediacy of information has increasingly become important. A printing method requiring a long lead time for preparation for printing including printing plate making cannot respond to the trend of reducing delivery period of time even if the number of prints are small. An ink jet printing method is expected to be a suitable technique for responding to such market demands. More specifically, since the ink jet printing method does not use a printing plate, the cost of plate making does not increase even for a small lot. Also, the ink jet printing method enables desired printed articles to be immediately produced without requiring lead time, thus being considered to be suitable for printing a variety of different articles in small lots.
Unfortunately, the ink jet printing method can produce images with degraded quality in terms of specific properties.
One of the phenomena that cause such image quality degradation is bleeding that occurs when ink is directly applied onto a recording medium having a highly smooth surface. Such a recording medium cannot sufficiently absorb the ink and allows the ink to remain on the surface of the recording medium and mix with adjacently applied droplets. Bleeding thus occurs.
Another one of the phenomena is beading that is a phenomenon in which previously applied droplets are attracted to subsequently applied droplets.
A third one of the phenomena is curling and cockling caused by excessive absorption of the liquid component from the ink into the recording medium.
In order to reduce image quality degradation resulting from these phenomena, an image recording method using a transfer technique (hereinafter referred to as transfer image recording method) has been devised. The transfer image recording method includes the steps of applying a reaction liquid, forming an intermediate image, and transferring the intermediate image. In the step of applying a reaction liquid, a reaction liquid is applied onto an intermediate transfer member. The reaction liquid will come into contact with the coloring material in an ink, thereby forming a viscous intermediate image. In the subsequent step of forming an intermediate image, an intermediate image is formed by applying an ink containing a coloring material onto the intermediate transfer member to which the reaction liquid has been applied. In the step of transferring, the intermediate image is transferred to a recording medium by pressing the intermediate transfer member having the intermediate image on the recording medium.
In the transfer image recording method, in some cases, part of intermediate image cannot be transferred from the intermediate transfer member to the recording medium, remaining on the intermediate transfer member, and results in a defect in the final image. Accordingly, there have been devised transfer image recording methods in which the performance of transfer has been improved.
Japanese Patent No. 3177985 discloses a method using an ink containing a thermoplastic resin. In the method, the intermediate image is heated to a temperature more than or equal to the softening temperature or melting temperature of the thermoplastic resin, and then the intermediate image is transferred to the recording medium.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-45851 discloses a method in which a treatment liquid containing particles is applied onto the intermediate transfer member.


An active transceiver circuit for transmission of a low bitrate data signal over and reception of a high bitrate data signal from a single ended transmission medium is provided. The active transceiver circuit includes an input port for receiving a low bitrate input data signal, an output port for delivering a high bitrate output data signal, a differential input/output port for launching a low bitrate data signal into the single ended transmission medium and for receiving a high bitrate data signal from the single ended transmission medium, a first and second single ended output driver adapted for each delivering, on their respective output nodes, the shaped low bitrate input data signal, and a high bitrate receiver for receiving the signals at output nodes of the first and second single ended output drivers, and for generating a high bitrate output data signal on the output port.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,703 B2 shows splitter circuits for having bidirectional communication using frequency division multiplexed transmission based on passive filtering using magnitudes of impedances without explaining how to achieve device power communication over the transmission medium and without teaching how to achieve this in a way that the transmission line is terminated at both ends, which is of crucial importance for avoidance of transmission line reflections.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,970 B1 shows an active bidirectional splitter for communication over a common coaxial cable and also many other prior art circuits using transformers and chokes. It does not show how to get enough splitter separation or how to integrate a cable equalizer or how to work without these magnetic elements that have limited high frequency performance. Neither does it show how an active splitter can be made that allows to have high bitrate data reception combined with low bitrate data transmission, and having at the same time device power communicated to or from the splitter. Neither does it show how an active splitter can be made that allows to have low bitrate data reception combined with high bitrate data transmission, and having at the same time device power communicated to or from the splitter.

Asymmetric full duplex communication including device power communication


A method and corresponding equipment for communicating from a Node B (10) to a UE device (11) a data rate pointer (11a) value indicating a new maximum allowed data rate in case of a current low value for the data rate pointer (11a), based on predetermined rules governing signaling to change the data rate pointer and used by the Node B (10) in responding to a change request from the UE device (11), rules that differ for different current values of the data rate pointer (11a), and in particular rules that allow for a fast ramp up in case of a current value of zero or less than a threshold.

An UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) network includes a core network of various elements and also a radio access network, called UTRAN (UMTS terrestrial radio access network). A UTRAN includes radio network controllers (RNCs) that control so-called Node Bs, that in turn wirelessly communicate with UE (user equipment) devices, i.e. e.g. mobile phones. UMTS networks are provided and operated as specified by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Program) specifications, which are evolving, and which are issued in successive releases.
In the most current evolution, which will issue as release 6, a proposal has been made for a fast Node B controlled scheduling mechanism requiring both the UE and the Node B to individually maintain a data rate pointer indicating the maximum uplink data rate allowed for use by the UE; the data rate actually used (any rate up to and including the rate pointed to by the data rate pointer in communicating with the Node B) is indicated in a transport format combination indicator (TFCI) data object sent by the UE to the Node B. The data rate pointer is updated according to the prior art using differential signalling (increase/decrease); a Node B command to change the current value of the data rate pointer is a command to increase or decrease the data rate pointer, i.e. to change by a step the data rate that is pointed to by the data rate pointer, so as to point to the next higher or lower allowed data rate in a set of data rates known as a TFCS (transport format combination set). (A UE can only request a change of the data rate pointer—using rate request signalling—and the Node B is in control; if it finds a rate request from a UE acceptable, it updates its own pointer entity and signals a rate grant to the UE. If the Node B determines that no change should be made to the data rate pointer, it can indicate so using discontinuous (DTX) signaling or by some other signalling.)
Now in a typical case, initially a UE device is not transmitting data to a Node B, but then data arrives from an application hosted by the UE device and is stored in a transmission buffer within the UE device. If the UE then has a lot of data to transmit and the network could allow it to transmit at a high target data rate but the data rate pointer is set at a low value (or zero), getting to the high target data rate takes several rate request/rate grant cycles, each incrementing the data rate pointer by one step. Such a ramping up can be a relatively slow process and could be seen as sub-optimal usage of uplink resources, causing longer than necessary delays to the end users.
Thus, what is needed—at least in some situations—is a mechanism for changing a UE data rate pointer from a low value to a high value faster than can be done using repeated increments of a single step.

Method and apparatus for fast data rate ramp up in Node B scheduling of UE uplink


New rebamipide complexes and new rebamipide cocrystals are disclosed, specifically a 1:1 rebamipide nicotinamide complex, a 1:1 rebamipide nicotinamide cocrystal, a 1:1 rebamipide 2,4-dihydroxybenzolc acid complex, and a 1:1 rebamipide 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid cocrystal. Pharmaceutical compositions containing a rebamipide complex or cocrystal of the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and methods of treatment are also disclosed.

Rebamipide, 2-(4-chlorobenzamido)-3-(2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinolin-4-yl)propanoic acid, shown below, is an agent that exhibits anti-inflammatory and antiulcer effects on the gastrointestinal tract.
Rebamipide occurs as a white crystalline powder that is odourless and has a bitter taste. It is very slightly soluble in methanol and ethanol but is practically insoluble in water. Rebamipide is identified by CAS Registry Number: 90098-04-7. A method of preparation of rebamipide is described in JP-B-63-35623.
Rebamipide is known as an agent for improving both subjective and objective symptoms of diseases such as gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, gastritis and other like diseases. It has also been disclosed that rebamipide is useful in the treatment of various other diseases, for example, for the treatment a ulcerative colitis (cf., Kazuya Makiyama, "Study of the treatment of ulcerative colitis by enema therapy of rebamipide"), for stomatitis (Japanese Patent No. 2839847), for accelerating salivation (WO/2005/011811) and for inhibiting carcinogenesis of the digestive tract (WO/1997/009045). Rebamipide is also known for having an increasing action of goblet cell density in the eye, an increasing action of mucus in the eye and an increasing action of lacrimal fluid, and it is already known as an agent for treating dry eye (JP-A-9-301866),
Rebamipide is marketed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd under the Mucosta® tradename. It is currently indicated for the treatment of gastric mucosal legions (erosions, bleeding, redness and edema) in acute gastritis and acute exacerbation of chronic gastritis. The typical dosage in adults is one 100 mg tablet three times daily.
There is a need therefore to develop new forms of rebamipide that have improved dissolution, solubility and/or increased bioavailability. The rebamipide complexes and cocrystals of this invention answer such needs.
Although therapeutic efficacy is the primary concern for an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), the salt and solid state form (i.e., the crystalline or amorphous form) of a drug candidate can be critical to its pharmacological properties, such as bioavailability, and to its development as a viable API. Recently, crystalline forms of API's have been used to alter the physicochemical properties of a particular API. Each crystalline form of a drug candidate can have different solid state (physical and chemical) properties. The differences in physical properties exhibited by a novel solid form of an API (such as a cocrystal or polymorph of the original therapeutic compound) affect pharmaceutical parameters such as storage stability, compressibility and density (important in formulation and product manufacturing), and solubility and dissolution rates (important factors in determining bioavailability). Because these practical physical properties are influenced by the solid state properties of the crystalline form of the API, they can significantly impact the selection of a compound as an API, the ultimate pharmaceutical dosage form, the optimization of manufacturing processes, and absorption in the body. Moreover, finding the most adequate solid state form for further drug development can reduce the time and the cost of that development.
Obtaining crystalline forms of an API is extremely useful in drug development but is not necessarily predictable. It permits better characterization of the drug candidate's chemical and physical properties. It is also possible to achieve desired properties of a particular API by forming a cocrystal of the API and a coformer. Crystalline forms often have better chemical and physical properties than the free base in its amorphous state. Such crystalline forms may, as with the cocrystal of the invention, possess more favorable pharmaceutical and pharmacological properties or be easier to process than known forms of the API itself. For example, a cocrystal, if achieved, may have different dissolution and solubility properties than the API itself and can be used to deliver APIs therapeutically. New drug formulations comprising a cocrystal of a given API may have superior properties over its existing drug formulations. They may also have better storage stability.
Another potentially important solid state property of an API is its dissolution rate in aqueous fluid. The rate of dissolution of an active ingredient in a patient's stomach fluid may have therapeutic consequences since it impacts the rate at which an orally administered active ingredient may reach the patient's bloodstream.
A cocrystal of any API is a new and distinct chemical composition of the API and the coformer(s) and generally possesses distinct crystallographic and spectroscopic properties when compared to those of the API and coformer(s) individually. Crystallographic and spectroscopic properties of crystalline forms are typically measured by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and single crystal X-ray crystallography, among other techniques. Cocrystals often also exhibit distinct thermal behavior. Thermal behavior is measured in the laboratory by such techniques as capillary melting point, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).


Disclosed is a light emitting device. The light emitting device includes a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer over the first conductive semiconductor layer, a second conductive semiconductor layer over the active layer, a superlattice structure layer over the second conductive semiconductor layer, and a first current spreading layer including a transmissive conductive thin film over the superlattice structure layer.

Recently, a light emitting diode (LED) is spotlighted as a light emitting device. Since the LED can convert electric energy into light energy with high efficiency and long life span of about 5 years or more, the LED can remarkably reduce the energy consumption and repair and maintenance cost. In this regard, the LED is spotlighted in the next-generation lighting field.
Such an LED is prepared as a light emitting semiconductor layer including a first conductive semiconductor layer, an active layer and a second conductive semiconductor layer, in which the active layer generates light according to current applied thereto through the first and second conductive semiconductor layers.
Meanwhile, in the LED, since the second conductive semiconductor layer has relatively high sheet resistance due to low carrier concentration and mobility, a transparent current spreading layer is required to form an ohmic contact interface with respect to a top surface of the second conductive semiconductor layer.
When the transparent current spreading layer including ITO or ZnO is formed on the second conductive semiconductor layer to form an ohmic contact interface, the transparent current spreading layer may form a schottky contact interface instead of the ohmic contact interface due to subsequent processes such as deposition and annealing processes.
In order to improve light extraction efficiency of the LED, researches and studies for forming a light extracting structure having a concave-convex pattern on the surface of the current spreading layer have been carried out. However, when the light extracting structure is formed on the current spreading layer directly provided on the second conductive semiconductor layer, the LED is electrically damaged, so that a driving voltage and a leakage current may be increased.