A switchable active filter circuit is formed which employs a ground based switch to direct a portion of a feedback current away from a virtual ground terminal of an operational amplifier, thereby providing enhanced circuit Q and greater phase control at frequencies approaching an octave from the unity gain crossover frequency of an operational amplifier used to form the filter. The circuit employs a switchable feedback tee which includes a first capacitor, a second capacitor, a third capacitor and a switch. The first capacitor and the second capacitor form a first series circuit which is connected from the output terminal to the input terminal of the operational amplifier. The third capacitor and the first switch are connected as a second series circuit which is coupled from circuit ground potential to a junction of the first capacitor and the second capacitor. When the switch is closed, a feedback current flowing in the feedback tee is divided with a portion of the current flowing through the third capacitor to circuit ground, rather than into the virtual ground terminal of the operational amplifier. This filter topology is particularly well suited for use in a multi-mode read/write channel of a tape storage system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to active filters and, more particularly, relates to a switchable low pass filter having a multiple feedback topology.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active filters are well known in the art. A variety of circuit topologies exist for performing low pass, high pass and band pass functions. By the selection of circuit topology and component values, a wide range of frequency responses can be achieved.
FIG. 1 illustrates a general form of one such circuit topology, commonly referred to as an infinite gain, multiple feedback realization. FIG. 1A provides the generalized transfer function for this topology and FIG. 1B provides a table illustrating the specific component types required to realize various filter functions. By selecting the appropriate values for the admittances Y1 through Y5, a desired filter cut off frequency and second order filter response is attained.
In many applications, it is desirable to provide a filter which is dynamically switchable from a first frequency response to at least a second frequency response. This is often the case when signals of different frequencies need to be applied to the filter at different times. FIG. 2 illustrates a switchable second order low pass filter known in the prior art which uses the multiple feedback topology of FIG. 1A. Referring to FIG. 2, the circuit includes an operational amplifier A1 which functions as the active element. Signals are applied to the circuit through a first resistor R1 which is connected in series with a second resistor R2 and through R2 to an inverting input of the operational amplifier A1. At the junction of R1 and R2 is a first capacitor C1 which is connected in series with a second capacitor C2 which is connected to circuit ground.
A first electrically controllable switch S1 is coupled across the second capacitor C2. By operating switch S1, the total capacitance of the series circuit is altered. When the switch is in an open condition, the total capacitance is equal to the series combination of C1 and C2, which is stated as: EQU Ct=(C1*C2)/(C1+C2)
where Ct is the total capacitance of the series circuit. When the switch S1 is in a closed condition, the second capacitor C2 is bypassed and Ct=C1. Accordingly, when the switch is closed, Ct is a larger value which results in a lower frequency response of the filter.
The circuit further includes a third resistor R3 which is coupled in feedback from the output of the operational amplifier A1 to the junction of resistors R1 and R2. A third capacitor C3 is also included and is coupled from the output of the operational amplifier A1 to the inverting input of the operational amplifier A1. To complete the circuit, a series circuit including a second electrically controllable switch S2, a fourth capacitor C4 and a third controllable switch S3 is coupled in parallel with the third capacitor C3. When switches S2 and S3 are in an open condition, the total value of the feedback capacitance, Cf, is equal to the value of C3. When S2 and S3 are in the closed condition, C3 and C4 are connected in parallel. Therefore the value of Cf is increased and is expressed as: Cf=C3+C4.
Accordingly, by simultaneously opening S1, S2 and S3, the capacitance values Ct and Cf of the filter are decreased and result in a filter response with a first cut off frequency, F1. When the switches S1, S2 and S3 are all closed, the capacitance values Ct and Cf are increased, resulting in a second filter response with a second cut off frequency, F2, where F2<F1.
While the circuit of FIG. 2 provides a selectable two-frequency response, this circuit topology has several disadvantages associated with the floating or flying configuration of the switches S2 and S3. Because of the floating configuration of the switches S2 and S3, at least a portion of the feedback signal is passed through these switches. Initially, it should be noted that typical electrically controllable switches deviate from that of ideal switches in that when "closed," the resistance is not zero ohms and when "open" the resistance across the switch is not infinite. In addition, the resistance of the switch can be modulated by the applied signal flowing through the switch. These factors result in signal distortion. Also, the switches S2 and S3, which generally take the form of CMOS analog switches, introduce significant parasitic capacitance to the circuit. Further, because the total feedback current is always flowing into the inverting terminal (virtual ground) of the operational amplifier regardless of the condition of the switches S2, S3, the Q and frequency response of this circuit is limited and good phase control without individual adjustment is only attainable at frequencies up to about 10% of the unity gain crossover frequency of the operational amplifier.


The invention relates to a connective link for a conveyor belt, which comprises legs extending in a longitudinal direction from a lateral cross-member at a closed first end and to an open second end, and defining laterally aligned first apertures on each of said legs at said closed end for reception of a rod, and laterally aligned second apertures at said open end for reception of a rod, wherein at least one leg is extended in longitudinal direction over a distance from the second aperture. The invention further relates to a conveyor belt comprising said connective links.

The invention relates to a conveyor belt for a system in which the conveyor belt is spirally wound around a driven drum, said conveyor belt comprising a repeating interconnected arrangement of:                longitudinally spaced rods each extending in a lateral direction defining first and second ends between a central conveying section; and        connective links connecting the rods together, each connective link comprising legs extending in a longitudinal direction from a lateral cross-member at a closed first end and to an open second end, and defining laterally aligned first apertures on each of said legs at said closed end for reception of a rod, and laterally aligned second apertures at said open end for reception of a rod, whereby the first apertures of a first link are aligned with the second apertures of a second link for reception of a rod thereinto; wherein said rods are at least fused to said second apertures on the outside edge of the belt.
Such a belt is commonly used in cooling or heating towers, wherein the conveyor belt is spirally wound around a driven drum. This enables to have a large length of conveyor belt in a relatively small room. This has advantages when products have to be cooled or heated.
Due to this heating and cooling the conveyor belt is subjected to high stresses, which will eventually damage the conveyor belt. In conventional conveyor belts, the rods are welded to the links and this heating and cooling will eventually result in rupture of the weld.
Furthermore, as the belt is driven by the drum a slight speed difference between the driven drum and the conveyor belt will occur resulting in wear of the conveyor belt side as a result of the friction between the conveyor belt and the drum. Due to this wear, the weld between the rod and link on the outside of the conveyor belt will diminish and finally the connection between the rod and the link will disappear.
When the rod and the link are not connected anymore by the weld, the conveyor belt could buckle, which is also referred to as tenting. This could then result in jamming of the conveyor belt causing damage to the complete system.

Link for the connection of rods of a conveyor belt spirally wound around a driven drum, conveyor belt and conveying system with such connective links


A refrigerator lamp on/off switch housing is mounted in an insulating partition of a refrigerator. The refrigerator lamp on/off switch housing is divided into an upper housing part and a lower housing part. The lower housing part has a first magnet and a first plurality of springs, and the upper housing part has a second magnet and a second plurality of springs. A third magnet is mounted on the upper side of a door of a fresh food compartment, and a fourth magnet is mounted on the lower side of a door of a freezing compartment. A fresh food compartment lamp and a freezing compartment lamp are controlled to be turned on and off by a repulsive force between the magnets and a restoring force of the springs as the doors are opened and closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator equipped with a magnet switch capable of turning on and off refrigerator lamps in connection with the opening and closing of the refrigerator doors.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view for showing a general refrigerator having a refrigerator lamp switch. As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerator 1 generally comprises an upper freezing compartment 10, a lower fresh food compartment 20, an insulating partition 30, an evaporator (not shown), a fan (not shown), a door for the upper freezing compartment 70 (hereinafter, "freezer door 70") and a door for the lower fresh food compartment 60 (hereinafter, "fresh food door 60"). The upper freezing compartment 10 is a room for preserving food in a freezing manner, and the lower fresh food compartment 20 is a chamber for preserving food in a fresh state without freezing. Further, the insulating compartment 10 from the lower fresh food compartment 20. The evaporator is mounted in a rear side of the refrigerator 1 and converts air flown thereinto to refrigerated air through heat-exchange. The fan is mounted over the evaporator and circulates the refrigerated air through the freezing compartment 10 and the fresh food compartment 20. The fresh food door 70 and the freezer door 60 are used to open and close the freezing compartment 10 and the fresh food compartment 20, respectively. The refrigerator 1 has a freezing compartment lamp 25, a fresh food compartment lamp 27, and a refrigerator lamp switch 29. The freezing compartment lamp 25 is mounted on one side of the freezing compartment 10 to light the freezing compartment 10, and the fresh food compartment lamp 27 is mounted on one side of the fresh food compartment 20 to light the fresh food compartment 20. The refrigerator lamp switch 29 is mounted in the insulating partition 30 in contact with the freezer door 60 and the fresh food door 70, and turns on and off in accordance with opening and closing of the freezer door 60 and the fresh food door 70. The freezing compartment lamp 25 and/or the fresh food compartment lamp 27 turns on and/or off when the refrigerator lamp switch 29 turns on and off in accordance with the opening and closing of the freezer door 60 and/or the fresh food door 70.
FIG. 1A is an enlarged view for showing a portion of a conventional refrigerator lamp switch, and FIG. 2 is a view for schematically showing a structure of the conventional refrigerator lamp switch of FIG. 1. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 2, one end of the freezer door 60 has a first protrusion 60a which protrudes downwardly, and one end of the fresh food door 70 has a second protrusion 70a which protrudes upwardly toward the first protrusion 60a. The refrigerator lamp switch 29 has a front panel 119. First and second protrusion bars 120a and 120 protrude out through the front panel 119 toward the first and second protrusions 60a and 70a. First and second cylindrical caps 130a and 130b are fixedly inserted into the other ends of the first and second protrusion bars 120a and 120, respectively. First and second cap protrusions 131a and 131b protrude from the outer peripheral surfaces of the first and second cylindrical caps 130a and 130b, respectively. The first and second cap protrusions 131a and 131b have a step portions 132a and 132b thereon, respectively. The first and second protrusion bars 120a and 120 are supported by guiding plates 111a and 111b, respectively. The bottom surfaces of the first and second cylindrical caps 130a and 130b are connected to the ends of first and second springs 140a and 140b respectively. The other ends of the first and second springs 140a and 140b are each connected to one side of a switch box 150. The switch box 150 is mounted in the insulating partition 30. First, second, third and fourth terminals 133a, 133b, 133c and 133d each of which is a metal strip are provided in the switch box 150. The first to fourth terminals 133a, 133b, 133c and 133d are fixed at a certain distance and parallel with one another by a terminal fixing part 141. Two pairs of electric wires 133e and 133f connect the freezing compartment lamp 25 and the fresh food compartment lamp 27 with the ends of the first to fourth terminals 133a, 133b, 133c and 133d. The step portion 132a of the first cap protrusion 131a supports the first terminal 133a, and the step portion 132b of the second cap protrusion 131b supports the fourth terminal 133d. A contact part 118 is mounted between a bent portion 133aa of the first terminal 133a and a bent portion 133da of the fourth terminal 133d. Both ends of the contact part 118 are each bent to form a first bent portion 118a and a second bent portion 118b of the contact part 118. The first to fourth terminals 133a, 133b, 133c and 133d and the first and second bent portion 118a and 118b are elastic.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are views for explaining operations of the refrigerator lamp switch of FIG. 2 when the fresh food door is opened and closed. As shown in FIG. 3A, when the fresh food door 70 is closed, the second protrusion 70a presses the second protrusion bar 120 which protrudes beyond the panel 119. At this time, the second protrusion bar 120 moves in the direction of arrow A. The movement of the second protrusion bar 120 in the direction of arrow A causes the step portion 132a of the first cap protrusion 131a to move inwardly in the direction of arrow A while supporting the first terminal 133a. The movement of the first cap protrusion 131a causes the bent portion 133aa of the first terminal 133a to move in the direction of arrow C so as to disconnect the first bent portion 118a from the bent portion 133aa. Further, the movement of the first cap protrusion 131a causes the spring 140a to contract. Due to the disconnection of the first bent portion 118a from the bent portion 133aa, the pair of electric wires 133e are disconnected from each other which connect the fresh food compartment lamp 27 with the first and second terminals 133a and 133b (referring to FIG. 2). Accordingly, the fresh food compartment lamp 27 turns off. When the freezer door 60 is closed, the freezing compartment lamp 25 turns off by the same operations of the first protrusion bar 120a, and the third and fourth terminals 133c and 133d as mentioned above. Therefore, explanation on the interaction of the first protrusion 60a of the freezer door 60, the first protrusion bar 120a, the third and fourth terminals 133c and 133d, the spring 140b and the pair of electric wires 133f is omitted.
FIG. 3B is a view for explaining operations of the refrigerator lamp switch of FIG. 2 when the fresh food door is opened. As shown in FIG. 3B, when the fresh food door 70 is opened, the second protrusion 70a releases the pressing of the second protrusion bar 120 which protrudes outward from the panel 119. At this time, the second protrusion bar 120 moves in the direction of arrow B. The movement of the second protrusion bar 120 in the direction of arrow B causes the step portion 132a of the first cap protrusion 131a to move in the direction of arrow B while supporting the first terminal 133a. The movement of the first cap protrusion 131a causes the bent portion 133aa of the first terminal 133a to move in the direction of arrow D to contact the first bent portion 118a with the first terminal 133a. Further, due to the movement of the first cap protrusion 131a, the spring 140a is restored from its contraction. When the first bent portion 118a is in contact with the bent portion 133aa, the pair of electric wires 133e are connected with each other so that the fresh food compartment lamp 27 is electrically connected with the first and second terminal 133a and 133b (referring to FIG. 2). Therefore, the fresh food compartment lamp 27 turns on. When the freezer door 60 is opened, the freezing compartment lamp 25 turns on by the same operations of the first protrusion bar 120a, and the third and fourth terminals 133c and 133d as mentioned above. Therefore, explanation on the interaction of the first protrusion 60a of the freezer door 60, the first protrusion bar 120a, the third and fourth terminals 133c and 133d, the spring 140b, and the pair of electric wires 133f is omitted.
However, the conventional refrigerator lamp switch as mentioned above has drawbacks in that the production cost increases since the conventional refrigerator lamp switch has difficulties in the assembling process due to its complicated structure and the freezer door and the fresh food door each have a protrusion for pressing its protrusion bar.

Refrigerator equipped with a refrigerator lamp magnet switch


A seal for sealing a seal groove in a shroud of a turbine vane. The seal may include a cooling system configured to pass cooling fluids through a cooling fluid supply port in a shroud, through a cooling system in which the cooling fluids contact the shroud and the seal, and exhaust the fluids through a gap between adjacent turbine vanes. The seal may include an elongated cooling channel for channeling cooling fluids from a supply to an exhaust channel at a first end. The cooling system may remove heat from the turbine vane shroud, the seal, and other related components, thereby reducing the likelihood of premature failure.

Typically, gas turbine engines operate at high temperatures that may exceed 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. During operation, turbine engines expose turbine vanes, turbine vane shrouds, and other components to these high temperatures. As a result, turbine vanes and shrouds must be made of materials capable of withstanding such high temperatures. Turbine vanes often contain cooling systems for prolonging the life of the vanes and reducing the likelihood of failure as a result of excessive temperatures. However, these cooling systems often do not include cooling channels for reducing the temperature of seals positioned in seal grooves between adjacent turbine vanes in turbine shrouds. Without adequate cooling, these seals are susceptible to premature failure. Thus, a need exists for a cooling system for seals in seal grooves of turbine vane shrouds to reduce the likelihood of premature failure.

Cooling system for a seal for turbine vane shrouds


A layer of a crystal of a group 13 nitride selected from gallium nitride, aluminum nitride, indium nitride and the mixed crystals thereof has an upper surface and a bottom surface. The upper surface of the crystal layer of the group 13 nitride includes a linear high-luminance light-emitting part and a low-luminance light-emitting region adjacent to the high-luminance light-emitting part, observed by cathode luminescence. The high-luminance light-emitting part includes a portion extending along an m-plane of the crystal of the group 13 nitride.

It has been known that light-emitting devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) use sapphire (α-alumina single crystal) as a monocrystalline substrate with various types of gallium nitride (GaN) layers formed thereon. For example, light-emitting devices have been mass-produced having a structure in which an n-type GaN layer, a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer with an InGaN quantum well layer and a GaN barrier layer laminated alternately therein and a p-type GaN layer are formed in a laminated manner in this order on a sapphire substrate.
Patent document 1 describes a gallium nitride layer composed of polycrystalline gallium nitride having many gallium nitride monocrystalline grains, including many columnar gallium nitride monocrystalline grains laterally arranged.
Patent document 2 describes a gallium nitride layer composed of polycrystalline gallium nitride having many gallium nitride monocrystalline grains, including many columnar gallium nitride monocrystalline grains laterally arranged. Further, an average tilt angle on a surface (an average value of inclination of crystal orientation (crystalline axis) with respect to a normal line of the surface) is 1° to 10°.
According to patent document 3, inclusions are contained at a high concentration from a bottom surface to an intermediate position, and between the intermediate position and the upper surface, a plurality of grain boundaries having a low concentration of the inclusions are formed from the bottom surface in a diagonal direction. Further, the grain boundaries are elongated in the diagonal direction of an angle of 50 to 70° with respect to c-axis.
Patent document 5 describes gallium nitride crystals having a low dislocation density by increasing a ratio of Ga in a melt.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Group 13 element nitride layer, free-standing substrate and functional element


The present disclosure discloses an apparatus for estimating temperature of at least one secondary battery in a battery pack including at least one secondary battery. The battery temperature estimation apparatus according to the present disclosure is an apparatus for estimating temperature of at least one secondary battery in a battery pack including at least one secondary battery, and includes a board temperature measuring unit provided on an integrated circuit board provided in the battery pack to measure a temperature of the integrated circuit board, and a calculating unit which calculates a temperature of the secondary battery using the temperature of the integrated circuit board measured by the board temperature measuring unit and an ambient temperature of the battery pack.

Recently, there is dramatically growing demand for portable electronic products such as laptop computers, video cameras and mobile phones, and with the extensive development of accumulators for energy storage, robots and satellites, many studies are being made on high performance secondary batteries that can be recharged repeatedly.
Currently, commercially available secondary batteries include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, lithium secondary batteries and the like, and among them, lithium secondary batteries have little or no memory effect, and thus they are gaining more attention than nickel-based secondary batteries for their advantages of free charging and discharging, a very low self-discharge rate and high energy density.
Batteries are used in various fields, and in many cases, large capacity is required in the field in which batteries are used so much in recent years such as electric-drive vehicles or smart grid systems. To increase the capacity of battery packs, methods for increasing the capacity of secondary batteries or battery cells themselves may be used, but in this case, disadvantages are that the capacity increase effect is not so large, there is a physical limitation on the size expansion of the secondary batteries and it is not easy to manage. Accordingly, generally, a battery pack including a plurality of battery modules connected in series and in parallel is widely used.
In many cases, the battery pack includes a Battery Management System (BMS) to manage the battery modules. Further, the BMS monitors the temperature, voltage and current of the battery modules, and controls the balancing operation, cooling operation, charging operation or discharging operation of the battery pack based on the monitored condition of the battery modules.
The temperature of the battery modules, i.e., the temperature of the secondary batteries is a factor that has a critical influence on the performance of the battery pack. In general, the battery pack can efficiently operate when the secondary batteries have an appropriate temperature distribute. For example, when the temperature of the secondary battery is too high, the stability of the crystal lattice of the negative electrode of the secondary battery reduces, and the performance of the battery pack may degrade. On the contrary, when the temperature of the secondary battery is too low, the internal resistance and polarization voltage of the secondary battery increases and the charging/discharging capacity reduces, resulting in performance degradation of the battery pack.
Accordingly, the balancing operation, cooling operation, charging operation or discharging operation of the battery pack needs to be appropriately controlled depending on the temperature of the secondary battery. Additionally, to this end, it is necessary to accurately measure the temperature of the secondary battery, and transmit the measured temperature of the secondary battery to the Micro Controller Unit (MCU) of the BMS.
To accurately obtain the temperature of the secondary battery, the conventional battery pack has a temperature sensor in direct contact with the secondary battery or mounted at a location close to the secondary battery. However, in this case, the energy density of the battery pack may reduce due to the temperature sensor disposed close to the secondary battery. Specifically, to increase the energy density of the battery pack, it is important that the battery pack includes a larger number of secondary batteries therein. However, when the temperature sensor in direct contact with or close to the secondary battery is disposed between secondary batteries, the internal space of the battery pack reduces, thus the number of secondary batteries that can be accommodated in the battery pack reduces.

Apparatus and method for estimating temperature of battery


An analog-to-digital (A/D) converter capable of receiving a differential input for improved noise rejection and having two static resistive ladders for reducing power consumption. The resistive ladders are anti-parallel and have a high impedance, each dividing fixed voltages into a group of reference voltages. A first stage of comparators compares the positive signal of the differential input with each of the reference voltages from one of the resistive ladder, and the negative input signal with each of the reference voltages from the other resistive ladder. The outputs of the first stage of comparators are compared by a second stage of comparators to generate a group of binary outputs in parallel. An encoder converts the outputs of the second-stage comparators into a digital value. Decoupling capacitors are also provided to reduce the AC impedance of the resistive ladders.

Analog-to-digital (A/D) converters are well-known electronic devices that are used in a wide variety of applications for converting an analog signal to a digital signal. A typical A/D converter includes some means for generating a group of reference voltages, a set of comparators for comparing the analog input with each of the reference voltages, and a circuit for encoding the outputs of the comparators as a digital value. FIG. 1A shows a simple A/D converter for generating a 2-bit digital output from an analog input signal V.sub.in. The analog input signal V.sub.in is supplied to a driver 2 for driving the input resistor-capacitor (RC) circuits of the converter. A network of resistors 3 connected in series to divide a reference voltage V.sub.R into three smaller reference voltages, respectively at "tap points" 4, 5, and 6. Each of the tap reference voltages is compared to the input voltage V.sub.in by a comparator 7. In this case, three comparators 7 are needed for the three reference voltages, to produce binary outputs V.sub.a, V.sub.b, and V.sub.c, respectively. For example, the comparators 7 produce a logical value "1" if the input signal V.sub.in is equal or greater than the tap reference voltage being compared to and a logical value "0" if the input signal is less than the compared reference voltage. An encoder 8 converts the outputs V.sub.a, V.sub.b, and V.sub.c into a 2-bit digital value according to some encoding scheme such as the one shown in FIG. 1B. Such an A/D converter is usually referred to as a single-ended or non-differential converter.
One of the problems of single-ended A/D converters is that they are highly susceptible to electrical noise such as that of the input signal, the power supply, and the switching of the reference voltages and comparators. To provide these converters with noise rejection capabilities, some prior art A/D converters were designed to receive a differential input such as the A/D converter shown in FIG. 2. The input stage of a conventional differential A/D converter of FIG. 2 typically includes a pair of drivers 20 for receiving the positive signal V.sub.in.sup.+ and negative signal V.sub.in.sup.- of the differential input. The incoming analog differential signals V.sub.in.sup.+ and V.sub.in.sup.- drive a pair of resistor ladders 21, respectively. Each of the resistor ladders 21 has a number of tap points 22 from which reference voltage levels are provided for comparing with the analog differential input signals. The voltage at each tap point 22 of the resistor ladders 21 follows the analog input signal that drives the respective resistor ladder, and is offset from the input signal by a fixed amount equal to the voltage drop across one or more resistors of the ladders.
The voltages from the taps 22 of the resistor ladders 21 are compared in parallel by a group of comparators 23 to generate outputs 24. Each comparator 23 compares the potential of a tap on a resistor ladder 21 with that of an opposite tap on the other resistor ladder. The outputs from the comparators 23 are then encoded as a digital value by encoder 25, as in the case of the A/D converter of FIG. 1A. These resistor ladders are referred to as dynamic ladders because the tap reference voltage levels vary depending on the differential input voltages V.sub.in.sup.+ and V.sub.in.sup.-, and not on some fixed voltage levels as in the ladders of FIG. 1A.
A major disadvantage of conventional differential A/D converters with dynamic resistor ladders, such as the one in FIG. 2, is that they typically have a relatively high power consumption. This is because the input currents from the drivers 20 must travel through the entire resistor ladders 21, which may include a large number of resistors as in the case of a digital output having many bits. Secondly, because the linearity of the A/D converter depends on how accurately the potential at each tap point follows the input signal, the resistor ladders 21 must have a bandwidth much wider than the analog input signals V.sub.in.sup.+ and V.sub.in.sup.-. Accordingly, the values of the resistors in the ladders 21 are typically kept very small, such as about 10.OMEGA.. The resistor ladders with such low resistance values, however, will dissipate a large amount of power. As a result, prior art differential input A/D converters that are designed to operate at high frequencies tend to have resistive ladders that consume a lot of electrical power, typically about 50% of the total power of the A/D converter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,399 to Gorman et al., issued Jul. 27, 1993, discloses a differential quantizer reference resistor ladder for use in such an A/D converter. The converter receives positive and negative input signals and quantizes the input signals into quantization levels using two resistive networks. The quantization levels from the two networks are respectively compared, with their outputs being encoded into a digital value. Like other prior art differential A/D converters, this converter also employs dynamic resistor ladders driven by the input signals, and therefore consumes a high amount of power during operation.
In other prior art A/D converters, attempts have been made to reduce the power dissipation in the resistor ladders by using static ladders, rather than the dynamic ladders shown in FIG. 2. Static resistor ladders are those coupled to fixed voltage levels and not driven by the input signal, similar to the ladders in FIG. 1A. Another example of an A/D converter with static resistive ladders is shown in FIG. 3. In this case, a resistive ladder 31 divides a fixed reference voltage V.sub.T, with respect to a fixed reference voltage V.sub.B, into multiple tap reference voltages which appear at tap points 32 of the ladder 31. Since the voltages V.sub.T and V.sub.B are fixed, the reference voltages of the ladders are also fixed, or static. A group of comparators 33 compare an analog input V.sub.in with the tap reference voltages in parallel. The binary outputs of comparators 33 are then encoded into a digital value by an encoder 34. Note that the analog input signal no longer drives the resister ladders 31 and can be fed directly to a common input of the comparators 33. The resistors of the ladders 31 therefore can have a high resistance value in order to keep the power consumed by the A/D converter to a minimum. Although such a single-ended A/D converter with a static resistor ladder generally does not consume as much power as the conventional differential A/D converter described with reference to FIG. 2 above, it is still very susceptible to electrical noise as in the case of the A/D converter shown in FIG. 1A.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,612,531 to Dingwall et al., issued Sep. 16, 1986, discloses such a single-ended non-differential A/D converter. The disclosed converter employs a two-step conversion (referred to as a multi-step flash converter) to subdivide a reference voltage into multiple voltage steps using a single static resistor ladder. Although such a multi-step conversion generally reduces the total power consumed by the A/D converter, it increases the time delay in the analog-to-digital conversion and is still susceptible to the electrical noise problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,728 to Matsusawa et al., issued Nov. 17, 1992, discloses another single-ended non-differential A/D converter, but with complementary interpolating voltage dividers. The single input signal and reference voltages are differentially amplified by differential converting circuits, with interpolation resistors between the outputs of the converting circuits, for improved accuracy and speed. Since the resistive ladders are dynamic and the converter only accepts a single input signal, the disclosed A/D converter still suffers the problems with electrical noise and high power consumption described above.
Therefore, there remains a need for an efficient A/D converter capable of accepting a differential input for minimizing electrical noise interference, and using static resistive ladders for generating the reference voltages to achieve a low power consumption.

Differential analog-to-digital converter with low power consumption

International Business Machines Corporation


A fastening element for fastening a light source substrate to a support. The fastening element is configured to be seated on the light source substrate, and includes at least one fastening portion for fastening to the support.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show a luminous module which has a light source substrate in the form of a printed circuit board 102 substantially shaped like a circular disk. The printed circuit board 102 is placed having its rear side 103 on a cooling body 104 used as the support and is equipped on its front side 105 with multiple light sources in the form of light-emitting diodes 106 and multiple electronic components 107. The luminous module 101 and the cooling body 104 can together form a luminous apparatus 101, 104 or can be part thereof.
The cooling body 104 has a substantially cylindrical basic shape. The light-emitting diodes 106 are arranged compactly in a central region 108 of the printed circuit board 102, and the electronic components 107 are located in a surrounding region 109 in the form of a circular ring, which concentrically encloses the central region 108.
A ring cover 110, which is open on the bottom side, covers or arches over, respectively, the surrounding region 109 of the printed circuit board 102. The ring cover 110 has an outer wall 111 having a substantially hollow-cylindrical shape and an inner wall 112 concentric thereto having a substantially hollow-cylindrical shape having smaller diameter. The outer wall 111 and the inner wall 112 are connected to one another by a horizontally level cover plate 113 or lid in the shape of a circular ring. In other words, the ring cover 110 has a cross-sectional shape which substantially corresponds to an inverted "U". The ring cover 110 is seated on the printed circuit board 102, and so it is externally flush with the printed circuit board 102. The inner wall 112 encloses the light-emitting diodes 106 and is formed on its side facing toward the light-emitting diodes 106 as a mirrored or diffuse reflector, to form a light channel for the light-emitting diodes 106.
The ring cover 110 has a screw mount 114 to receive a screw 115 seated thereon, the screw 115 leading through a feedthrough opening 116 in the printed circuit board 102 into a screw hole 117 in the cooling body 104 and being screwed therein. By tightening the screw 115, the ring cover 110 is drawn toward the cooling body 104 and thus presses in the printed circuit board 102 to fix it between the ring cover 110 and the cooling body 104.
On an opposite side of the ring cover 110 with respect to an axis of symmetry S, this ring cover is held on the cooling body by means of an elastic bent sheet-metal strip 118 made of metal. The sheet-metal strip 118 is fastened by means of a screw 119 on the cooling body 104 and rests at its other end region on the cover plate 113 of the ring cover 110. The sheet-metal strip 118 is under tension, so that it presses the ring cover onto the printed circuit board 102 under all thermal load states, to suppress incorrect adaptations because of production tolerances, waste heat, and aging processes, etc.
The outer wall 111 protrudes forward beyond the cover plate 113, and does so over the entire circumference. The ring cover 110 thus has an upwardly directed projection 120 (which is formed by the region of the outer wall 111 protruding forward beyond the cover plate 113) even in a region in which the sheet-metal strip 118 arches over it. The sheet-metal strip 118 can thus be prevented from slipping off the ring cover 110 or vice versa.
Instead of the use of the sheet-metal strip 118, the ring cover can alternatively also be fastened by means of two or more screw mounts 114 and screws 115 received therein.

Fastening element, luminous module and luminous apparatus


A probe includes, a substantially L-shaped cylindrical probe body coupled through a cable to a measuring device and a temperature measuring section connected to the probe body. The temperature measuring section includes a flange portion connected to the probe body and an end portion extending from the flange portion and mounting a sensor mirror in the interior. The sensor mirror includes a cylindrical holder having a concave reflection surface in the interior, a coupling shaft extending from the cylindrical holder, a first sensor for measurement and a second sensor for correction supported in a front space of the cylindrical holder by lead wires, respectively, and a cover sheathing a front surface of the cylindrical holder. The respective lead wires supporting the first and second sensors pass the temperature measuring section and probe body and are electrically connected to the cable.

This invention generally relates to a thermometer that measures a body temperature of an object to be measured and more particularly relates to a clinical thermometer that measures a temperature of an eardrum by inserting a temperature measuring section into an ear.
For convenience of explanation, a typical conventional ear-type clinical thermometer will be described below by referring to FIGS. 17 and 18. FIG. 17 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional ear-type clinical temperature, illustrating a principle of operation. FIG. 18 is a longitudinal section view of an end portion of a temperature measuring section in a conventional ear-type clinical thermometer. As shown in FIG. 17, a probe 10 of a typical conventional ear-type clinical thermometer utilizes a thermopile 11. In general, a thermopile creates an electric potential difference (Seebeck effect) by a difference of temperature between a cold junction and a hot junction on the thermopile. In order to utilize the thermopile as a probe for measuring a temperature, it is necessary to effect a compensation of a room temperature (an environmental temperature), as is the case with a thermocouple. Thus, the conventional ear-type clinical thermometer has used a thermistor 12.
When a temperature in an object being measured is equal to a temperature in a cold junction on the thermopile 11, an output from the probe 10 is zero (zero point). On the other hand, when a temperature in an object being measured is higher than a temperature in a cold junction on the thermopile 11, an output from the probe 10 becomes great nonlinearly.
In the case where the probe 10 measures a body temperature, an output from the probe 10 is a very feeble level. Consequently, a signal amplifier 13 amplifies the output from the probe 10 to a level to which a signal processing can be applied. A linearizer 14a linearizes the nonlinear output. On the other hand, since an output from the thermistor 12 is nonlinear, a linearizer 14b linearizes the output from the thermistor 12.
Under a stable condition of an environmental temperature, a temperature in the thermistor 12 is equal to a temperature in a cold junction on the thermopile 11. A signal linearized from the output of the probe 10 indicates a difference between the temperatures in the thermistor 12 and in the object being measured. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain the temperature of the object being measured by correcting the environmental temperature by a temperature conversion device 17 after correcting the signal linearized from the output of the probe 10 by an emittance correction device 15 and effecting a compensation of room temperature or a compensation of cold junction temperature of the corrected signal and the linearized signal from the thermistor 12 by an adding device 16. This will be displayed on a display 18.
Since the thermopile has an unstable sensitivity in individual differences, the output voltage is unstable, even if there is a certain difference of temperature. Thus, it is necessary to individually effect an adjustment of sensitivity (correcting operation) for a probe using a thermopile. Although an infrared absorption membrane for the thermopile (a portion 116 integrated with the infrared absorption membrane and hot junction in FIG. 18) increases a temperature by absorption of infrared rays from the object to be measured, a package of the thermopile radiates infrared rays onto the infrared absorption membrane. In a common using method, the package is deemed to be at the same as the temperature of a heat sink (heat absorption section) in the thermopile. However, when the package is subject to an abrupt change of temperature due to an external factor, a difference of temperature will be caused between a head portion of the package and the heat sink of the thermopile and the probe will be unstable transiently.
Consequently, in order to apply a uniform and moderate change of temperature to the probe 10, as shown in FIG. 18, a thermopile 110 is disposed in a holder 111 made of a metal having a good heat conduction (for example, aluminum) and the holder 111 is sheathed by a cover 114 so as to enclose the thermopile 110 by an air layer 112 and a resin 113 that serve as a heat insulation material. A metal tube 115 is provided on a front side of the thermopile 110 to reduce affection of heat radiation from the object being measured. The metal tube 115 is plated with gold to reduce an emittance as low as possible and to serve as a wave-guide. Although a semiconductor, a thermistor, or the like is usually utilized as a sensor for compensating a temperature of the cold junction, the thermistor has been commonly used on account of a low cost in production and a high precision.
In the case where a heat coupling between the cold junction on the thermopile and the thermistor is poor, a difference of temperature is caused and it is impossible to effect a precise measurement. A thermistor (not shown) is mounted in a package together with the thermopile to enhance a heat coupling between a heat sink of the thermopile cold junction and the thermistor. Since a B constant (resistant temperature characteristics, that is, a constant for indicating a change of a resistance value obtained from temperatures at any two points) is unstable even if any thermistors have the same standard, it is difficult to maintain a precision within a wide range of environmental temperature. For example, in the case where a thermistor in an electronic clinical thermometer measures a body temperature within a range of 34 to 42° C., a precision of the thermistor may be maintained within a range of 8° C. However, in the case where a range of environmental temperature in the thermopile is set to be within a range of 5 to 40° C., a precision of the thermistor must be maintained within a range of 35° C. (40−5=35).
A structure of the probe 10 shown in FIG. 18 causes a difference of temperature between the thermopile 110 and a distal end of the probe 10 for increase of the environmental temperature. The probe 10 will generate a positive error, since a temperature at the temperature measuring section is higher than that of the thermopile 110. The probe 10 causes a difference of temperature between the thermopile 110 and the distal end of the sensor during decrease of the environmental temperature. The probe 10 will generate a negative error, since a temperature at the temperature measuring section is lower than that of the thermopile 110. In order to reduce such errors, the cover 114 encloses the thermopile 110 to lower affection of a temperature change. However, an oversize of the metal holder 111 is limited on account of the object being measured. A countermeasure against the errors due to the change of environmental temperature takes a correction of an output of the probe by calculating a rate of change per time concerning the thermistor in the thermopile package, thereby reducing the errors.
Under the circumstances, the present applicant has proposed in the previous Patent Application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-071350) an ear-type clinical thermometer that can eliminate affection due to a change of environmental temperature for a short period of time and does not generate an error due to a change of environmental temperature.
The ear-type clinical thermometer in the above Patent Application comprises: a first heat insulation member made of a resin material; a second high heat insulation member made of a resin material that is connected to a distal end of the first heat insulation member; a protection cover that sheathes the first heat insulation member and second high heat insulation member; a thermistor fine lead wire embedded in the first heat insulation member and second high heat insulation member; and an ultrafast responsivity thermistor mounted substantially on a center of a turning end portion of the thermistor fine lead wire.
According to the invention of the above Patent Application, a range of temperature at which the thermistor can maintain a precision is only a range of a body temperature to be measured and it is not necessary to maintain a precision of the thermistor in a whole range of an environmental temperature to be measured, as is the case with a conventional ear-type clinical thermometer using the thermopile. Consequently, the probe of the invention of the above Patent Application is not subject to affection of change of environmental temperature (change of temperature for a short period of time).
In the ear-type clinical thermometer, there are following problems. That is, it is difficult to form a structure in which a sensor itself is inserted into the external acoustic meatus, since it is difficult to downsize a thermopile sensor. In the case where a distance between a sensor and a probe is relatively great, a sub frame is upsized and thus the probe is also upsized (see FIG. 18). This is not suitable for a continuous measurement type probe.
Although a conventional ear-type clinical thermometer is suitable for measurement of a body temperature at a one step for a short period of time, it is not suitable for continuous measurement of the body temperature for a long period of time. An ear-type clinical thermometer that has become widespread at the present is expensive and unsuitable under the special condition of use. For example, under measurement condition of a body temperature for a person in a surgical operation, a relatively long raise time (about ten minutes or so) can be negligible since a preparing step before the surgical operation can take a sufficient time. A great relative temperature and a fast change of temperature can be negligible (it will be better to detect a change of temperature of 1° C. at the maximum for ten minutes). The body temperature should be continuously measured. An environmental temperature is relatively stable.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an ear-type clinical thermometer that can measure a body temperature of an object being measured continuously for a long period of time and is inexpensive and disposable.
When the ear-type clinical thermometer is mounted in an external acoustic meatus in an object being measured, the thermometer may be often displaced or detached by an external force from a connecting cord. In this case, precise measurement of a body temperature cannot be effected.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an ear-type clinical thermometer that can be mounted firmly and steadily in an external acoustic meatus of an object being measured.
In a common ear-type clinical thermometer, a correcting operation will raise a cost of a product. A third object of the present invention is to provide an ear-type clinical thermometer that can significantly simplify a correcting operation.


The surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence includes: 1) a technique of probe passage to avoid injuring the bladder and to provide a more accurate and reproducible capture of the pubocervical fascia lateral to the bladder neck and urethra, 2) anchor fixation of the suspending sutures to the pubic bone to decrease the risk of suture pull through from above and to decrease post-operative pain and 3) a simple and reproducible technique to set a limited tension of the suspending sutures. A description of these methods and results of procedures with some of these methods are disclosed. Novel drill guides, suture passers, suture tensioners, and various related tools and devices for use in the surgical method are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to the treatment of stress urinary incontinence xe2x80x9cSUI,xe2x80x9d and, in particular, to improved methods and surgical devices for the surgical treatment of SUI in females. The devices disclosed herein are additionally useful in a wide variety of other surgical procedures.
Genuine stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine due to a sudden rise in intra-abdominal pressure. It has been estimated that between 40% and 50% of young, healthy nulliparous women admit to occasional mild stress incontinence; however, at least 80% of stress incontinence patients are in the perimenopausal age group and are multiparous. Raz3 has suggested that the female urethral continence mechanism is dependent on the interaction of four urethral factor: urethral closing pressure, urethral length, urethrotrigonal anatomy, and urethral reception of intra-abdominal pressure.
The urethral closing pressure is predominantly a result of the interaction of smooth and striated muscle sphincter activity, but there is also some contribution by nonmuscular urethral factors such as the submucosal vascular plexus, the elastin and collagen content of the urethral tissues, and a sphincter like effect of the mucosa. There has been considerable diversity of opinion regarding the anatomic structure and the innervation of the urethral sphincters, and a variety of views have been expressed in the literature.
Lapides and associates have stressed the importance of urethral length in the maintenance of continence in the female. However, although it certainly interacts with other factors to contribute to continence, a short urethra alone will not produce incontinence. Urethral length varies considerably in normal women, and women with proven genuine stress urinary incontinence do not invariably have urethral shortening.
Urethrotrigonal anatomy, which can be demonstrated by lateral cystourethrography, should fulfill certain criteria. The bladder base should lie above the level of the inferior ramus of the symphysis, and with straining should not descend more than 1.5 cm. There should be a normal urethrotrigonal alignment with an angle normally less than 100 degrees, and the urethral axis should be approximately 35 degrees from the vertical. In the hypermobile situation loss of all of the normal anatomic features may occur, a radiologic finding that correlates with the clinical finding of cystourethrocele. However, clinical experience has shown that the coexistence of cystourethrocele and incontinence does not predict that the incontinence is of a genuine stress variety.
The transmission of intra-abdominal pressure to the intra-abdominal portion of the proximal urethra is also reported to be important in the maintenance of continence. This is a passive phenomenon, and is the result of the normal anatomic configuration just described. Whenever there is a rise in intra-abdominal pressure during such stresses as coughing or straining, the pressure is transmitted not only to the bladder but also to the proximal urethra, with resultant increase in the closing pressure, and prevention of leakage. If the urethral axis is altered, rotational descent will drop the proximal urethra and bladder base from its intra-abdominal location, and will obviously impair such pressure transmission.
A wide variety of operations have been used to correct this condition, generally involving the principles of elevating the bladder neck anteriorly and/or elongating and narrowing the proximal urethra. Two of the most popular operations today for female stress incontinence are the Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz and Birch vesicourethropexies. The Marshall-Marchetti-Krantz technique has at least an eighty-five percent success rate, against which other operative success rates must be measured. Recently, the Pereyra operation and its modifications have enjoyed some popularity, but less than basic techniques.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, there remains a need for an improved treatment for SUI. Preferably, the treatment is as noninvasive as possible under the circumstances, and will eliminate or minimize hospitalization and the use of general anesthetics. In addition, there remains a need for improved medical instrumentation such as drill guides and suture passers for use in connection with SUI treatment and other medical procedures.
There is provided in accordance with one aspect of the present invention a drill guide for directing a drill bit at a selected site on a bone. The drill guide comprises a housing, and at least two chambers extending axially within the housing. Each of the chambers has an opening at the distal end. A plunger is provided in each of the chambers, each plunger axially movable from a first retracted position to a second extended position. A probe is mounted on the distal end of each of the plungers, and adapted for retraction within the open end of the chamber and extension outside of the open end of the chamber. In a simplified embodiment, each of two or more probes is axially movably disposed within the housing, without the use of a distinct plunger. A drill guide channel extends axially through the housing, within a plane parallel to the plane joining the axes of the first and second chambers, and in between the axes of the first and second chambers.
Preferably, one or both of the plungers is provided with a releasable lock for releasably retaining the plunger in the retracted position, thereby minimizing the likelihood of accidental needle sticks. The preferred probe comprises a hypodermic needle or a sharpened solid wire. In a two probe embodiment, the axes of the first and second probes are separated by a distance within the range from about 5 mm to about 15 mm. Preferably, the axis of the drill guide channel is approximately equidistant from the axes of each of the probes.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an alternate embodiment of a drill guide for use in locating drill sites in a patient""s body. The drill guide comprises a body, a handle connected thereto, and one or more bores extending through said body. Each bore has an opening at a distal end. A probe is provided in each bore, the probe being axially movable from a retracted to an extended position. A drill guide bore, which may also act as one of the probe bores, extends axially through the body. A suture slot extends from outside of the body to the drill guide bore along the length of the body. Serrations are provided on the distal end of the body, aiding in maintaining the opening of a drilled hole. In a two probe embodiment, the axes of the probes are separated by a distance of about 5 to 10 mm. Preferably, the probes of this embodiment are a unitary element, such as a wire or needle. Further, it is desired that the drill guide bore and any probe bores lie in a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body.
In accordance with the further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of positioning a drill guide over a drilling site on bone, comprising the steps of providing a drill guide of the type having a housing, at least two axially extendable probes within the housing, and a drill guide extending through the housing. A first probe is extended from the retracted position to the extended position, and advanced through the tissue until it contacts a bone. The second probe is thereafter extended from the retracted position to the extended position, until the second probe contacts the bone. If the first extension of the second probe does not result in a contact, both probes are retracted within the housing, and the drill guide is translated along the sagittal or other axis. The first probe is thereafter reextended and the foregoing steps are repeated until both the first and second probes contact the bone.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of installing a bone anchor in a bone, utilizing the drill guide defined above. In accordance with the installation method, each of the probes is sequentially extended and advanced through tissue as described until each of said probes is in contact with the bone. A drill bit is thereafter advanced through the drill guide channel and a hole is drilled in the bone. The drill bit is thereafter withdrawn from the drill guide channel, and a suture anchor is advanced through the drill guide shaft and into the bone.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a suture passer of the type adapted for releasably retaining a suture. The suture passer comprises a handle, and an elongate tubular probe guide extending in a distal direction straight or curved from the handle. An elongate probe is axially movably disposed within the tubular probe guide, for motion between a first retracted position and a second extended position in which the sharpened distal tip of the probe is exposed. An annular recess is provided on the probe, to cooperate with an opening on the tubular guide for receiving a suture. The probe is axially movable with respect to the probe guide between a first position in which the annular recess is aligned with the opening for receiving a suture therein, a second position wherein the annular recess is out of alignment with the opening, to trap or retain a suture therein and a third position in which the distal probe tip is exposed.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drape and exposure system comprising a vaginal drape, speculum and buttock plate for isolating the surgical field, providing a mounting surface for surgical instruments, and opening the surgical area for access. The vaginal drape comprises a large section of flexible, sterilizable material. Preferably, the drape has a large abdominal drape connected to a moisture barrier. The drape has a transparent surgical window with an adhesive backing for viewing the surgical area. Alternatively, the window may be an opening through the drape devoid of material. An opening is provided below the window to allow a gloved hand access through the drape to aid in placement of the drape. A vaginal flap or stretchable moisture-proof fabric is provided in the drape to allow a speculum to be placed therein.
Adhesive strips or velcro ties spaced around the window provide a means to attach cables or tubes used for other ancillary surgical equipment. Further, a plate pocket is provided in the moisture barrier for placement of the buttock plate.
The buttock plate is a mainly flat support surface. A mounting arm is provided in one end of the plate, extending upwards about 50 mm and being about 50 mm in width. A bore is provided in the mounting arm to accept a threaded knob for securing various tools to the plate.
The speculum is a member having a support stem with a slot therein to allow mounting to the plate, and a concave engaging member attached to the top of the stem. The concave member is an arcuate shaped member for placement in the vagina. Preferably, the concave member is inserted into the vaginal flap of the drape and then extended into the vagina to aid in isolating the surgical field.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a suture support for providing a structure to which sutures may be anchored inside the body so as to reduce trauma to body tissue. In one form, the suture support comprises a circular plate about 15 mm in diameter and less than about 1 mm in thickness, having a small tab mounted on one side thereof for attachment of a suture. In another form, the support comprises a lattice constructed from wire having a diameter of about 1 mm. In another embodiment the support comprises a hub area with spokes radiating outwardly thereto.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a tissue staple and staple applier for use in suspending tissue in transvaginal bladder suspension procedures.
The tissue staples are arcuate elliptical structures preferably made of spring wire. Sharpened ends are provided on the staple for penetration of tissue. The body of the staple is located in between the ends and may have an enlarged center section in order to aid in distribution of forces on the tissue, and it may have openings to allow ingrowth of tissue.
The staple applier comprises a scissor like body provided with two arms having handles at one end, and a pair of pressing support members at the other end. The arms are about 160 mm long and are rotatably attached to one another by a pin located at the end of the arms opposite the handles.
The pressing members extend upwards from the pinned ends of the arms, mounted generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the applier. The pressing members are arcuate in shape, their inside surface shape mirroring the shape of the staples, and their free tips being sharp to allow tissue penetration. The pressing members are designed such that when the arms of the applier are open, the members are a distance away from one another to allow the introduction of a staple therebetween. When the arms of the applier are pressed together, the members move towards one another to press the sharp ends of the staple closed.
An opposing pair of staple removal prongs are mounted to, and between, the pressing members. The prongs are generally U-shaped shafts extending from the members outwardly and then back in between the members perpendicular to the axis of the applier. The prongs may be advanced towards one another or drawn apart from each other by the movement of the arms.
There is a xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp provided in accordance with another aspect of the present invention. The xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp is an alternative to the drill guide and is designed for use with the buttock plate. The xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp aids in locating a drill bit through the pubic region.
The xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp comprises a support arm, attachment member, and guide arm. The attachment member is a plate having a slot therein to allow passage of a knob therethrough for securing the clamp to the buttock plate. The support arm is a primarily L shaped member extending from the attachment member to a distal end where a drill stop is located. The support arm is shaped so that when used in a bladder neck suspension procedure, in use, it extends from the attachment member located outside the body to its distal end located in the vagina. A bore is provided in the support arm near its connection with the attachment member for acceptance of the guide arm.
The guide arm is shaped like an inverted L, having a shaft-like stem which engages the support arm through the bore. The shaft is threaded and may be locked in relation to the support arm by knobs. The drill guide portion of the guide is a wide block. A drill guide bore and one or more probe bores are located in the drill guide. Probes are provided for engaging the probe bores. The probes and bores are similar to those described in the drill guide. The drill guide bore is oriented such that a line passing along its axis encounters the drill step on the support arm.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surgical bladder neck suspension procedure involving use of the tissue staples and drape and exposure system. This method is accomplished entirely transvaginally through a tissue suspension procedure. In accordance with this procedure, the patient is first placed in the lithotomy position and sterily prepared. The vaginal drape is positioned over the abdomen and secured thereto. The buttock plate is inserted into the buttock plate pocket, which lies under the patient and with the guide arm extending upwards between the legs. The speculum is inserted into the vaginal flap and inserted into the vagina. The speculum is secured to the arm of the buttock plate.
A staple is loaded into the applier with the arms of the applier in the open position. The pivot end of the applier is inserted into the vagina. Once aligned to one side of the bladder neck, the staple and support members are pressed into the vaginal mucosa and upwards into the iliopectineal or other ligament. The arms of the applier are pressed together to close the staple. The applier may then be removed and the process repeated in the other side of the bladder neck.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bladder neck suspension procedure involving use of the suture supports, anchors, and the xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp or drill guide or suture passer.
In accordance with this procedure, the drape and exposure system are prepared on the patient as before. The suture passer is passed through an incision made over the pubic bone into the vagina. A suture that is attached to a suture support is captured in the suture channel of the passer at the other. The passer is passed back out of the patient, until the suture is pulled slightly taut. The free end of the suture is then affixed to the pubic bone with a knot, plug, or anchor. The anchor may be placed by pressing it into a hole drilled into the bone, as located by the xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp or drill guide.
Alternatively, the drill guide or xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d clamp may be used to position a drill bit for drilling a passageway from the pubic area to the vagina. The free end of the suture is then passed through the drilled hole up from the vagina to the pubic area. The free end of the suture may then be tied off or affixed by a plug or anchor to prevent it from pulling back through.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surgical bladder neck suspension procedure, for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. In accordance with the method, a technique of creating a suspension web comprising a plurality of lengths of suture is constructed extending between the pubocervical fascia and the pubic bone, on each of the right and left sides of the midline. Sutures are carried through tissue utilizing the suture passer disclosed herein, and sutures are tied down to the pubic bone utilizing a bone anchor positioned on each of the right and left sides of the midline by a drill guide as disclosed herein. Prior to tying, sutures are appropriately tensioned by advancing the suture around the suture tensioner disclosed herein and tying in a conventional manner. Thereafter, the suture tensioner is removed and the surgical site prepared and closed in a conventional manner.
These and additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of preferred embodiments which follows, when taken together with the attached drawings and claims.

Surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence


A distance measuring device includes a first camera and a second camera arranged side by side. The first camera includes a shell, a shaft, a camera module rotatably held in the shell via the shaft, a driver configured for driving the camera module to rotate, and a measuring device configured for measuring an angle that the camera module rotates. The camera module includes an optical axis substantially perpendicular to and intersecting with the shaft.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates distance measuring devices and, particularly, to a parallax based distance measuring device.
2. Description of Related Art
Parallaxes can be used to determine distances. For example, two cameras can be employed to capture images of an object from different viewpoints. Then, the object is recognized and located in the images and thus the parallax and distance of the object can be calculated. The cameras are typically fixed relative to each other and have respective limited fields of view. However, the object must be present in both the fields of view of the cameras, otherwise, the object cannot be located in each of the images and thus the distance of the objected cannot be measured.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a distance measuring device which can overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings.

Parallax based distance measuring device


A sawtooth waveform generator includes an operational amplifier that generates a ramp signal. The ramp signal charges a capacitor connected between the output of the operational amplifier and the inverting input of the operational amplifier. The inverting input is maintained at a substantially constant voltage, which provides a substantially constant charging current through a timing resistor. The connections to the capacitor are switched when the ramp voltage reaches a predetermined level. A control circuit switches the connections to the capacitor in response to a voltage on one terminal of the capacitor to assure that the connections to the capacitor are switched to a configuration to cause the direction of current flow through the capacitor to be reversed as a result of the switching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of electrical waveform generators, and, more particularly, is in the field of sawtooth waveform generators having an operational amplifier with a switched capacitor between the output and the inverting input.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sawtooth waveform is a periodic waveform that has a ramp portion that changes linearly from a starting value to an ending value during a predetermined time interval and then resets rapidly to the starting value at the beginning of the next time interval. Generally, the ramp portion increases from a low starting value to a high ending value during each time interval; however, for some applications, the ramp portion may decrease during the time interval.
Sawtooth waveforms are commonly used in pulse width modulation (PWM) systems, in frequency synthesizers and other systems requiring a signal that changes linearly over a predetermined time interval.
Historically, a sawtooth waveform was generated by charging a capacitor using a constant current source and then discharging the capacitor at the end of each time interval. However, discharging the capacitor at the end of each interval required a finite time and caused the reset transition of the sawtooth waveform to have a slope determined by the impedance in the discharge circuit. Although the time required to reset the waveform may be insignificant for a low frequency sawtooth waveform, the time required to reset the waveform is a significant portion of the overall period for a higher frequency sawtooth waveform, thus causing the sawtooth waveform to have the appearance of a triangular waveform.
More recently, sawtooth waveform generators have not discharged the capacitor to reset the sawtooth waveform to the starting value. Rather, when the ramp voltage on the output of the operational amplifier reaches a maximum value at the end of each time interval, the connections to the capacitor between the output of the operational amplifier and the inverting input of the operational amplifier are rapidly switched while maintaining the charge on the capacitor. The switching of the connections to the capacitor causes the operational amplifier to rapidly switch the voltage on the output of the operational amplifier to maintain the voltage on the inverting input substantially equal to a reference voltage on the non-inverting input. The capacitor is then linearly charged in the opposite direction as the operational amplifier generates an identical ramp voltage during a second time interval. Since the capacitor is not rapidly discharged between the time intervals, the reset transition occurs as quickly as the connections to the capacitor are reversed and the operational amplifier responds to the reversed voltage on the inverting input.
Known sawtooth waveform generators using the above-described switched capacitor rely on flip-flops to switch the connections to the capacitor during alternating time intervals; however, the circuitry controlling the flip-flops is subject to entering an unknown state or failing to switch at the end of an interval such that the sawtooth waveform generator may halt.


A light-emitting device includes: a first planar member having a plurality of light sources; a second planar member being parallel to the first planar member; and a reflecting member reflecting light beams from the respective light sources to the second planar member, the reflecting member being provided on an inner side of a polygon which is defined by the light sources as vertices thereof, wherein the reflecting member having a polygonal pyramidal shape with a bottom surface being parallel to the first planar member satisfies at least one of: a condition that a diffusion distance is from 0.8 to 1.3 when a length of each side of a polygon of the bottom surface is 1; and a condition that an angle between a side surface of the polygonal pyramid and the bottom surface is from 40 degree to 60 degree.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device, a backlight device, and an image display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal panel is a non-self-luminous display panel and thus includes a backlight device as a light-emitting device that emits light to the backside of the liquid crystal panel.
The backlight device includes a light source (light-emitting unit), a reflecting plate, a group of optical sheets, and the like. A direct-type backlight device in which LEDs are used as a light source and are arranged in a planar form and at equal intervals so as to be parallel to a group of optical sheets is known.
Light emitted by LEDs has directional characteristics and tends to concentrate on the front surface. Thus, in order to improve the brightness uniformity of a liquid crystal panel, the distance (diffusion distance) between the LEDs and the group of optical sheets needs to be longer than an arrangement interval of the LEDs. As a result, the thickness of the backlight increases.
However, due to market trends in recent years, the backlight needs to be made thinner.
If the diffusion distance is decreased only to make the backlight thinner, brightness unevenness is visible on the display panel due to the directional characteristics of LEDs.
In order to eliminate the brightness unevenness, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-339148 forms a conical optical member between LEDs. When light emitted from a light source passes through the optical member, the light becomes more uniform. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-196456 discloses an example of CCFL.

Light-emitting device, backlight device, and image display apparatus


An optical velocimeter probe a device to illuminate a volume of measurement in which there may pass particles, and an optical detector to produce an electrical signal x(t) in response to the passage of a particle in the illuminated volume. It also includes a device to extract information representing the velocity v of particles from the electrical signal, including, in particular, a device to convert the electrical signal x(t) into a complex signal .sub.x (t), an apparatus to set up a self-correlation function r.sub.x (m) of the signal x(t), and a device to estimate the velocity v from the computation of the phase .phi..sub.x (m) of the function r.sub.x (m).

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of optical velocimeter probes used to define the velocity of particles in relative motion with respect to the probe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At present, there are optical devices with two laser beams that interfere with each other so as to generate an ellipsoidal volume of measurement consisting of equidistant dark and luminous fringes. When a particle in motion goes through this volume of measurement, the signal collected by a photodetector includes indications on the velocity of this particle with respect to the optical probe. It is therefore possible, by analyzing the signal collected, to define the velocity of a particle considered.
This type of probe can be used to define the velocity of any particle that is small enough in relation to the interference fringes created and especially to define the speed of an aircraft, where the relative velocity of particles in the air in relation to said aircraft equipped with this type of velocimeter probe is known.
Indeed, with advances in terms of the miniaturization and cost of laser sources and especially laser diodes, it is becoming possible to make optical velocimeter probes of this kind, set up on board aircraft whose speed is to be measured.
The performance characteristics of this type of probe directly depend on the means of analysis of the signal collected by a photodetector for the extraction therefrom of the velocity parameter. This is why an object of the invention is an optical velocimeter probe of the type described here above, comprising highly efficient means of determining velocity.


In a system for controlling an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders and connected to the automatic transmission and mounted on a vehicle and the operation of the engine is switched between full-cylinder operation during which all of the cylinders are operative and cutoff-cylinder operation during which some of the cylinders are non-operative, based on at least the load of the engine, a gradient of road on which the vehicle runs is estimated and the cutoff-cylinder operation is prohibited when the estimated gradient is equal to or greater than a threshold value. With this, it becomes possible to generate sufficient deceleration, when the vehicle runs a downhill during cutoff-cylinder operation, while ensuring to prevent the operator to feel excessive acceleration.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a control system for a cylinder-cutoff internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an internal combustion engine having a plurality of cylinders, it has been proposed to improve fuel consumption by switching engine operation, based on at least the engine load, between full-cylinder operation during which all of the cylinders are supplied with fuel to be operative and cutoff-cylinder operation during which the fuel supply to some of the cylinders are cut off or stopped to be non-operative. In this type of engine, since shock is occasionally generated due to the fluctuation of torque during engine operation switching, it has been proposed to eliminate shock by adjusting throttle opening during a transitional period of switching, as taught in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 10 (1998) -103097, for example.
In a vehicle having this type of cylinder cutoff internal combustion engine whose operation is to be switched between full-cylinder operation and cutoff-cylinder operation, when the vehicle runs a downhill during cutoff-cylinder operation, deceleration may occasionally be not enough due to insufficient engine braking effect, or the operator may sometimes feel excessive acceleration depending on the gradient of the downhill.

Control system for cylinder cutoff internal combustion engine


A radio communication system and a traffic channel assignment method for realizing the assignment of traffic channels capable of improving the efficiency of use of frequency in the case where the traffic density is high and improving a radio link quality in the case where the traffic density is low. A base station judges the traffic density from a carrier to interference power ratio (CIR) on each channel capable of being selected as a traffic channel. In the case where the traffic density is low, a traffic channel assignment mode selecting an available channel having a greater CIR is assigned as a traffic channel to a mobile station. In the case where the traffic density is high, a traffic channel assignment mode selecting an available channel having a smaller CIR is assigned as a traffic channel to the mobile station. Thereby, it is possible to structure a radio communication system which can cope with the condition of the traffic density of the neighborhood.

The present invention relates to a radio communication system and a traffic channel assignment method.
One of radio communication systems requiring the assignment of traffic channels includes an analog cordless telephone system. In the conventional analog cordless telephone system, a base station makes a successive search of a plurality of channels having predetermined frequencies prior to the communication in a mobile station so that a channel having a received signal strength level equal to or smaller than a predetermined value is judged as being an available (or empty) channel. If an available channel is found out, it is assigned as a traffic channel.
The IEICE Japan National Spring Conference, B860, 1989 has proposed a traffic channel assignment method in which a base station calculates a carrier to interference power ratio (CIR) on each channel from the received signal strength level of interference wave at that channel and the received signal strength level of transmitted wave from a mobile station to judge a channel with CIR equal to or greater than a specified or predetermined threshold value as being an available channel in order to ensure the lowest communication quality at a radio communication system. In the case where there are a plurality of available channels, a channel having the smallest CIR is selected as a traffic channel.
However, in the traffic channel assignment method as in the conventional analog cordless telephone system in which any channel having a received signal strength level equal to or smaller than the predetermined value is immediately selected as a traffic channel if it is found out, a problem is involved in the effective use of channel frequency as the whole of a radio communication system.
On the other hand, in the traffic assignment method in which available channels are selected as traffic channels in order of smaller CIR, each base station operates so that the selection as a traffic channel is made giving priority to a channel with low communication quality at another base station relatively near to that base station rather than a channel with high communication quality at another base station far from that base station. As a result, there is a merit that the same frequency channel is commonly used by a large number of base stations placed at relatively short intervals and hence the efficiency of use of channel frequency as the whole of the radio communication system is improved. In the latter traffic channel assignment method, however, since available channels are selected or assigned as traffic channels in order of smaller CIR even in the case where the traffic density is low, there is a problem that the traffic channel encounters the interference of electric waves from other base stations and hence a satisfactory radio link quality cannot be obtained.

Traffic channel assignment based on traffic density and signal quality


Techniques and apparatus for identifying the target mobile stations for data transmission in a wireless communication network. Techniques and apparatus can include generating a first N-symbol bi-orthogonal sequence from Walsh functions based on a first portion of a MACIndex and generating a complex preamble signal based on a second portion of the MACIndex. Generating the complex preamble signal can include applying the first N-symbol bi-orthogonal sequence between an In-phase branch and a Quadrature branch channel of a complex signal, which can include switching between the In-phase and Quadrature branch channels based on the second portion of the MACIndex to communicate information.

This application relates to wireless communication networks.
Wireless communication systems provide voice or data services to a plurality of wireless or mobile stations situated within a geographic region by dividing the region into a number of cells, conceptually represented by a hexagon in a honeycomb pattern. In practice, however, each cell may have an irregular shape, depending on various factors including the terrain surrounding the cell and traffic density. Each cell may be further divided into two or more sectors. Each cell contains system communication equipment such as a base station that transmits communication signals to the mobile stations on the forward link and receives communication signals from the mobile stations on the reverse link.
One exemplary wireless communication system designed for high speed packet data services is 1xEV-DO, which is also known as High Date Rate (HDR) or High Rate Packet Data (HRPD) system. 1xEV-DO has been standardized as C.S0024 in the international standard group Third Generation Project Partnership Two (3GPP2) and has been published as IS-856 Revision 0 and Revision A standards in the United States.
In 1xEV-DO system, a mobile station, which is also known as the access terminal or AT, determines and reports the data rate that can be supported on the forward link in the Data Rate Control (DRC) message. The base station, which is also known as the access network or AN, selects one Physical Layer packet for forward link transmission at a particular time slot, based on the DRC messages received from various mobile stations. The Physical Layer packet may be given more than one time slot for transmission. In this case, the transmit slots of a Physical Layer packet are separated by three intervening slots, during which the slots of other Physical Layer packets can be transmitted. If a positive acknowledgement (ACK) is received on the reverse link ACK Channel before all of the allocated slots have been transmitted, the remaining un-transmitted slots will not be transmitted and the next allocated slot may be used for the first slot of a new Physical Layer packet transmission. This technique is known as Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ).
In a 1xEV-DO system, in order to identify the target mobile station of the forward data packet, the base station transmits a preamble on the I-branch, which is the in-phase branch of the complex signal, before the data packet. Meanwhile, no signals are transmitted on the Q-branch, which is the quadrature branch of the complex signal. The preamble contains the repetition of 32-chip bi-orthogonal sequence as in 15-856 Revision 0 standard, or repetition of 64-chip bi-orthogonal sequence as in 15-856 Revision A standard. The 32-chip bi-orthogonal sequence is defined in terms of the 32-ary Walsh functions and their bit-by-bit complements byWi/232 for i=0, 2, . . . , 62  (1) W(i-1)/232 for i=1, 3, . . . , 63  (2)where i=0, 1, . . . , 63 is the MACIndex value and Wi32 is the bit-by-bit complement of the 32-chip Walsh function of order i. The MACIndex is a number, which is assigned by the base station for identifying a mobile station in the system. Some MACIndex values are used as common values to all mobile stations for the purpose to identify the Control Channel, Broadcast, or Multi-User Packet transmissions. The 64-chip bi-orthogonal sequence is defined in terms of the 64-ary Walsh functions and their bit-by-bit complements byWi/264 i=0, 2, . . . , 126  (3) W(i-11)/264 for i=1, 3, . . . , 127  (4)where i=0, 1, . . . , 127 is the MACIndex value and Wi64 is the bit-by-bit complement of the 64-chip Walsh function of order i. The repetition of 32-chip bi-orthogonal sequence is a subset of the 64-chip bi-orthogonal sequence, as Walsh functions can be generated by means of the following recursive procedure:
                                          H            1                    =          0                ,                              H            2                    =                                                    0                                            0                                                                    0                                            1                                                    ,                              H            4                    =                                                    0                                            0                                            0                                            0                                                                    0                                            1                                            0                                            1                                                                    0                                            0                                            1                                            1                                                                    0                                            1                                            1                                            0                                                    ,                              H                          2                            N                                =                                                                      H                  N                                                                              H                  N                                                                                H                  N                                                                                H                      _                                        N                                                                                ,                            (        5        )            where N is a power of 2, HN denotes the Hadamard sequences with a length of N, HN denotes the bit-by-bit complements of HN. Further, in IS-856 standard the Walsh functions are generated by mapping the binary bits (i.e. "0" or "1") of Hadamard sequences to bi-polar symbols +1 or −1 as follows:WN=1−2HN  (6)where WN denotes the Walsh functions with a length of N. Therefore, IS-856 Revision A standard doubles the MACIndex numbers while supporting the legacy mobile stations that comply with the IS-856 Revision 0 standard in an IS-856 Revision A network. The length of the preamble is variable from 64 chips to 1024 chips, depending on the data packet format. A maximum of 128 MACIndex values can be supported in an IS-856 Revision A system.
As 1xEV-DO evolves to provide broadband services, particularly with a multi-carrier based solution, the system may need to support more than 128 mobile stations for each sector. The industry is currently investigating methods that can increase the MACIndex numbers while maintaining backward compatibility in such a way that the legacy mobile stations can be supported in the same upgraded system.

Preamble for identifying mobile stations in a wireless communication network


An apparatus has a surface that includes a two dimensional barcode and a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) antenna printed on the two dimensional barcode. The RFID antenna and the two dimensional barcode are formed from a conductive ink.

Different mechanisms exist for identifying and tracking products. For example, some products include a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag that has an integrated circuit for storing and processing information and an antenna for receiving and transmitting signals. Other products include a barcode that has an optical machine-readable representation of data patterned in two dimensions (2D). An optical scanner reads the barcode to retrieve product identification information.
RFID tags and harcodes can be expensive to produce since they require a variety of different components and processes to manufacture.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.