Baths and methods for the electroplating of tin, tin-lead, tin-antimony, and/or tin-bismuth are described. Specifically, electrodeposition solutions, based on alkanesulfonic acids, soluble metal salts, other additives, and at least one nonionic surfactant terminated with a ketone group, have been developed. The use of ketone (e.g., --OCH.sub.2 COCH.sub.3) terminated polyoxyalkylene surfactants results in electrodeposition solutions with reduced foam, and the tin and tin alloy electrodeposits from such plating baths are of superior quality.

Tin, tin/lead, tin/antimony, and tin/bismuth electrodeposits, known collectively as solder deposits, are utilized in the finishing of electronic components. Plating formulations for the electrodeposition of these solder alloys often employ surfactants as grain refining additives. The choice of the surfactants to be included in a solder plating bath is guided by the need to produce an electrodeposit with favorable surface and mechanical properties. Further restraints on the selection of surfactants are introduced by the need for formulations which can function effectively in "high speed" plating equipment. High speed solder plating can be defined as electroplating where the pace of work requires a current density greater than 120 ASF (amps per square foot) and vigorous solution agitation. The operation of high speed plating baths requires that a minimal foam level be maintained in the operating plating solution.
Low foam surfactants have been commercially available for many years, but not all low foam surfactants are suitable for electroplating applications. The discovery of novel low foam surfactants having a useful function in solder alloy electrodeposition formulations is considered to be an advancement in the field of plating science.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,050 (Sanderson et al.) discloses methods for the oxidation of the secondary hydroxy group in 2-hydroxypropyl (--OCH.sub.2 CHOHCH.sub.3, oxypropylene capped) terminated nonionic surfactants. The oxidation of 2-hydroxypropyl (--OCH.sub.2 CHOHCH.sub.3) terminated polyoxyalkylene compounds yields the corresponding methyl ketone terminated materials (--OCH.sub.2 COCH.sub.3). The advantageous properties of plating formulations containing polyoxyalkylene compounds terminated with ketone (e.g., --OCH.sub.2 COCH.sub.3) have not previously been disclosed. Propoxy terminated nonionic surfactants exhibit reduced foaming after complete or partial conversion to ketone termination. Generally, a conversion (hydroxyl to ketone termination) of at least 5% has an effect in reducing foam, and significant reduction occurs in the 20% to 100% conversion range. Plating formulations containing ketone terminated polyoxyalkylene surfactants produce improved deposits when compared to compositions containing the corresponding hydroxyl terminated materials.

Polyoxyalklene compounds terminated with ketone groups for use as surfactants in alkanesulfonic acid based solder plating baths


A system and method are provided for global transmission power control in a wireless communication device. The method comprises: measuring the received power of a receiving device; collecting the received power measurements, and accepting a received power threshold; and, generating the optimal transmit power level for a transmitting device, in response to the collected received power measurements and received power threshold. The received power measurements of base station can be collected and the method generates the optimal transmit power level for a mobile station in response to the collected base station received power measurements. Alternately, the received power for mobile stations in a network downlink can be measured and collected, and the optimal transmit power level for a base station can be calculated in response to the collected mobile station received power measurements.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for globally controlling transmitter power levels in a wireless communications network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular telephone system, such as that described in Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)/Electronic Industries Association (EIA) Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) entitled "Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System," a common frequency band is used for communication with all base stations in a system. The common frequency band allows simultaneously communication between a mobile station and more than one base station. Signals occupying the common frequency band are discriminated at the receiving station through the spread spectrum CDMA waveform properties based on the use of a pseudonoise (PN) code. The high-speed PN code is used to modulate signals transmitted from the base stations and the mobile stations. Transmitter stations using different PN codes or PN codes that are offset in time produce signals that can be separately received at the receiving station. The high speed PN modulation also allows the receiving station to receive a signal from a single transmitting station where the signal has traveled over several distinct propagation paths.
The path loss in the CDMA mobile radio channel can be characterized by two separate phenomena: average path loss and fading. The forward link, from the base station to the mobile station, operates on a different frequency than the reverse link, which is directed from the mobile station to the base station. However, because the forward link and reverse link frequencies are within the same frequency band, a significant correlation between the average path loss of the two links exists. On the other hand, fading is an independent phenomenon for the forward link and reverse link and varies as a function of time.
In an exemplary CDMA system, each mobile station estimates the total received power of desired CDMA signals on the assigned CDMA frequency channel of the forward link based on the total received power of all signals in the CDMA bandwidth at the input to the mobile station. The total received power is comprised of the sum of the power of a desired CDMA signal received from the base station presently assigned to the mobile station, and the power of various interfering signals that fall within the CDMA bandwidth. Such interfering signals may be received from other CDMA base stations operating on the frequency assigned to the mobile station, as well as from other nearby communication systems. Since the path loss on the forward and reverse links are assumed to be closely correlated, the mobile station uses the estimate of the forward link power to set the transmit level of the reverse link signal. The transmit level of the reverse link signal is adjusted in order to match the estimated path loss on the reverse link, and arrive at the base station at a predetermined level. Such an open-loop power control system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION POWER IN A CDMA CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEM", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
Additionally, the mobile station uses the estimated path loss in determining the power level at which it should transmit access probes, in order to establish communications with the base station on the access channel. The access channel provides communications from the mobile station to the base station when the mobile station is not using a traffic channel (i.e. when a call is not already in progress). Access channel messages provide for call originations, responses to pages, orders, and registrations. Since the access channel in a typical CDMA communication system is a random access channel, multiple mobile stations may simultaneously try to use the access channel. Although the mobile station randomly chooses a PN time alignment to minimize collisions with other mobile stations that are simultaneously transmitting on the access channel, each additional mobile station transmitting on the access channel contributes to the background noise on the channel, which has a finite capacity.
Unfortunately, the presence of interfering signals within the total power received by the mobile station tends to significantly reduce the accuracy of the mobile station's estimate of path loss. When such an inappropriately reduced estimate of path loss is used to set the open-loop transmit level of the reverse link signal, the level may be lower than that necessary to ensure the reverse link signal is received with adequate strength at the base station. Similarly, when an inappropriately reduced estimate of path loss results in an overly favorable indication of channel quality being provided to a user, the user may be unsuccessful at initiating communication over the degraded channel. Additionally, the inaccurate estimate of path loss may lead to the mobile station sending out initially weaker access probes, resulting in multiple unsuccessful attempts to establish communication on the access channel, and therefore unnecessarily wasting some of the access channel capacity and having an adverse effect on the balance of system loading. It should be noted that the above-described problems exist in non-cellular CDMA communication systems as well, such as PCS or wireless local loop systems.
Since mobile stations rely upon the measurement of the wideband total received signal power in estimating path loss to the closest cell-site, interfering signals received from other cell-sites and/or from neighboring cellular systems may result in an inaccurately low path loss estimate. As was previously discussed, this may result in an inadequate level of reverse link signal power being transmitted to the closest cell-site, and an overly favorable indication of channel quality being provided to the mobile station user. This inaccuracy may also result in the mobile station being required to transmit more than one access probe to initiate communication on the access channel. These unnecessary multiple probes clutter the system with undesirable interference that result in performance degradation.
The error in the estimate of the quality of the reverse link introduced by the presence of background interference can be eliminated. A solution to this problem is advanced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,005, SYSTEM AN METHOD FOR DETERMINING RECEIVED PILOTPOWER AND PATH LOSS IN A CDMA COMUNICATION SYSTEM, Samir Soliman, assigned to the same assignee as the instant application. This patent is incorporated herein by reference. Generally, within the communications receiver, a received signal power of the spread-spectrum signal is measured. A relative pilot strength measurement is also made of the pilot signal received with the spread-spectrum signal. The power of the pilot signal is then computed on the basis of the received signal power and the relative pilot strength measurement.
In another aspect, the patent provides a system and method for estimating path loss of a communication channel between a base station and a remote site station. The base station transmits a pilot signal to the remote site station, and also transmits to the remote site station, an indication of the power at which the pilot signal was transmitted. At the remote site station, a total received signal power over the CDMA bandwidth is measured and a relative pilot strength measurement is made of the received pilot signal. The power of the received pilot signal is then computed on the basis of the received signal power and the relative pilot strength measurement. An estimate of the path loss is then made by determining the difference between the indicated power of the transmitted pilot signal, and the received pilot signal power.
The accurate estimation of path loss can be facilitated through determination of the loss experienced by a spread spectrum "pilot" reference signal. In an exemplary CDMA communication system each base station continuously transmits an unmodulated, direct-sequence spread spectrum pilot signal. This pilot signal allows a mobile station to acquire the timing of the forward CDMA channel, provides a phase reference for coherent demodulation by the mobile station, and provides a means for signal strength comparisons between base stations for determining when to handoff. The pilot signal transmitted by each base station in a CDMA system may use the same PN code, but with a different code phase offset, meaning that the PN codes transmitted by neighboring base stations are identical but skewed in time with respect to one another. Phase offset allows the pilot signals to be distinguished from one another according to the base station from which they originate.
The power of the pilot signal received by a given mobile unit from the base station with which the mobile unit is in communication, is determined using a pair of signal measurements made at the mobile unit. In particular, a pilot strength measurement (in dB) is summed with a measurement of the total signal power (in dBm) received by the mobile unit in order to determine the power of the received pilot signal. Specifically:Ppilot=Ec/I0+Ptotal
where Ptotal is the total received signal power (dBm), Ec/I0 is the pilot strength measurement (dB), and Ppilot is the power of the received pilot signal. The term Ec (energy per chip) corresponds to the received pilot signal energy during one chip period, and the term I0 denotes total received spectral power density in the CDMA signal bandwidth. The pilot strength measurement Ec/I0 is thus seen to provide an indication of received pilot signal energy power relative to total received power.
Once the absolute power Ppilot of the received pilot signal has been ascertained, the path loss between the base station and the mobile unit may be determined using an indication of the power at which the pilot signal was transmitted (Ptransmitted pilot) from the base station. In a conventional CDMA system, in addition to the pilot channel, each cell-site also transmits a setup or "sync" channel. This channel uses the same PN sequence and phase offset as the pilot channel and can be demodulated whenever the pilot channel is being tracked. This sync channel carries, among other things, cell site identification, and the cell site pilot PN carrier phase offset. With this information, the mobile station is capable of establishing system time.
It would be advantageous if the optimum transmitted power levels for link transmitters could be calculated based upon cell-wide, or even more global network considerations.
It would be advantageous to the above-mentioned optimum transmission power levels could be calculated using known received power values, measured at the link receivers.

System and method for global power control


Apparatus and methods are disclosed for optimizing the transfer time of files in a peer-to-peer network. In disclosed embodiments, a requesting peer desires to transfer a file from a group of supplying peers creates a list of segments available of the file to be transferred available from each of the supplying peers, and orders the list in order of increasing segment size available. The supplying peers are then grouped based on available segments. Then, beginning with the group of supplying peers having the largest portion of the file to be transferred, the requesting peer assigning segments to transfer and a corresponding transfer time to each of the members of the group of supplying peers. The requesting peer then transfers in parallel the assigned segments from the group of supplying peers.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to data transfer, and in particular, to optimizing transfer times in a peer-to-peer network.
2. The Prior Art
One common use of the Internet since its inception is transferring and downloading files. The most common method by which files are transferred on the Internet is the client-server model. A central server sends the entire file to each client that requests it—this is how both http and ftp operate. The clients only speak to the server, and never to each other.
The main advantage of the client-server model is its simplicity—a user logs into to a server and initiates the download process. Additionally, files are usually available for long periods of time as the servers tend to be dedicated to the task of serving, and are always on and connected to the Internet.
However, the client-server model has a significant problems with files that are large or very popular, or both, such as newly released content. In particular, a great deal of bandwidth and server resources must be dedicated to distributing each file, since the server must transmit the entire file to each client. The concept of server mirrors partially addresses this shortcoming by distributing the load across multiple servers, however coordination between sites and much effort is required to set up an efficient network of mirrors. Hence, mirroring is typically feasible only for the busiest of sites.
Another method of transferring files has become popular recently: the peer-to-peer network (P2P), including systems such as Kazaa, eDonkey, Gnutella, Direct Connect, etc. In a typical peer-to-peer network, Internet users trade files by directly connecting to each other, i.e., on a one-to-one basis. Files may then be shared without having to access a central server. Because of the anonymity of this process, there is little accountability regarding the copyright protection of the files, and hence these networks tend to be very popular for the transfer of illicit files such as music, movies, pirated software, etc.
Typically, a downloader receives a file from a single peer source, however newer versions of some clients allow downloading a single file from multiple sources to achieve higher speeds. The problem discussed above of popular downloads is somewhat mitigated, because there's a greater chance that a popular file will be offered by a number of peers. The breadth of files available tends to be fairly wide, though download speeds for obscure files tend to be lower.
Another common problem associated with peer-to-peer systems is the significant protocol overhead for passing search queries amongst the peers, and the number of peers that one can reach is often limited as a result. Partially downloaded files are usually not available to other peers, although some newer clients may offer this functionality. Availability is generally dependent on the goodwill of the users, to the extent that some of these networks have tried to enforce rules or restrictions regarding send/receive ratios.
Usenet binary newsgroups represent yet another method of file distribution that is substantially different from the other methods. Files transferred over Usenet are often subject to miniscule windows of opportunity. Typical retention time of binary news servers are often as low as 24 hours, and having a posted file available for a week is considered a long time. However, the Usenet model is relatively efficient, in that the messages are passed around a large web of peers from one news server to another, and finally fanned out to the end user from there. Often the end user connects to a server provided by his or her ISP, resulting in further bandwidth savings.
Usenet is also one of the more anonymous forms of file sharing, and thus too often is used for illicit files of almost any nature. Due to the nature of NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol), a file's popularity has little to do with its availability and hence downloads from Usenet tend to be quite fast regardless of content. The downside of this method include a extravagant set of rules and procedures, and thus efficient downloading requires a certain amount of effort and understanding from the user. Patience is often required to get a complete file due to the nature of splitting large files into a number of smaller segments. Finally, access to Usenet often must be purchased due to the extremely high volume of messages in the binary groups.
BitTorrent is a newer protocol designed for transferring files in a peer-to-peer fashion. In BitTorrent, users connect directly to each other to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections and does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth. The key philosophy of BitTorrent is that users should upload (transmit outbound) at the same time they are downloading (receiving inbound). In this manner, network bandwidth is utilized as efficiently as possible. BitTorrent is designed to work better as the number of people interested in a particular file increases, in contrast to other file transfer protocols where more users tend to bog the system down.
One type of file that is becoming more common is referred to a progressive resolution files that have lower resolution files embedded within higher resolution files. Such a files are also referred to coded image files. JPEG2000 is an example of such a file in which a lower resolution versions of the same file provides a complete image, just at a lower resolution when compared to the corresponding full-version image file.
Thus, in a P2P network having a progressive image file, some peers will have lower resolution pieces and some will have higher resolution pieces that correspond to the same image file. A challenge therefore exists to determine the optimal transfer pattern when performing a parallel file transfer from a give set of peers that have differing pieces of a desired file.
The BitTirrent protocol breaks files into blocks and attempts to find peers that together contain all of the blocks of a file desired by a peer. In BitTorrent, a 'seed' is a peer that contains a full version of a particular file. Peers, known as 'leeches', request a file and begin to download pieces of the file. As more leeches request the file, the leeches begin to 'swarm' and share various pieces of the file amongst other peers. Bittorrent demands that leeches share the pieces they have downloaded with other peers rather than the seed providing pieces that already exist in the swarm. Thus, BitTorrent forces a swarm of peers to share amongst themselves whenever possible, thus balancing the bandwidth across the swarm. As long as there is one seed with a complete version of the file, all leeches will eventually acquire a full version of the file.
However, as the emphasis of BitTorrent is on bandwidth sharing, there is little emphasis on optimizing the transfer time of files. Rather, BitTorrent aims to saturate a given link through a series of heuristics and rotating transfer attempts.
Some effort has been made in the prior art to examine the consequences of transferring progressive image file files in a P2P scenario. One such example that examines the consequences of a shrinking pool of peers as those peers with smaller versions of a coded file drop out of the peer supply pool is found in X. Su and R. Fatoohi, "Scalable Coded Image Transmissions over Peer-to-Peer Networks," Proc. IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, pp. 493-496, July, 2003.
However, such algorithms tend to either download available pieces from the fastest source first, or from an optimized list of sources ordered from peers having the beginning of the file to peers having the end of the file. However, such algorithms will tend to provide the end piece of the file last, as this is the piece that generally is the least available.
Hence, there is a need for a parallel file transfer algorithm that achieves optimal transfer time in given domain.

Method and apparatus for achieving optimal transfer times in a peer-to-peer network


A cell bioassay is provided for determining the presence in a fluid sample of a sodium channel-activating toxin wherein (a) a fluid sample is incubated in the presence of a culture of cells which express voltage-gated sodium channels and which are responsive in a dose-dependent manner to sodium channel-activating toxins and a medium comprising an agent which causes persistent activation of the voltage-gated sodium channel; (b) the culture is incubated with a medium comprising an indicator which is acted upon by living cells to generate a discernable result, (c) the culture is observed for an incidence of the result, and an observation of the result is correlated with the presence of the toxin in the sample. A simplified assay where steps (a) and (b) are effected together also is provided, as is a cell bioassay for determining the sodium channel affect of a toxin in a fluid sample. A competitive assay for sodium channel-blocking toxins also is provided wherein the fluid sample and culture of cells are incubated with a medium comprising (i) an agent which causes persistent activation of the voltage-gated sodium channel and (ii) a sodium channel-activating toxin. Kits for performing the assays also are provided.

The present invention relates to an assay for the detection of sodium channel-affecting toxins, particularly marine toxins, based upon mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity in the presence of ouabain and veratridine. More specifically, the present invention concerns a cell bioassay that allows the detection of either sodium channel-blocking toxins, such as saxitoxin, or sodium channel-activating toxins, such as brevetoxin or ciguatoxin.
Commercially important species of shellfish and finfish are known to occasionally present a serious health risk to consumers due to the presence of accumulated marine toxins. A significant number of these marine toxins exert their effects by interaction with voltage-sensitive sodium channels in excitable membranes. These toxins may be sodium channel-blocking toxins or sodium channel-activating toxins. For example, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) is attributed to the ingestion of molluscan shellfish that have accumulated saxitoxins, which selectively block ion transport at the sodium channel, or related compounds from toxic dinoflagellate blooms. Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) is caused by the ingestion of shellfish that have sequestered brevetoxins from the dinoflagellate associated with Florida's red tide. Brevetoxins perturb normal membrane properties of excitable cells by activating sodium channels. Another class of marine neurotoxins, ciguatoxins, a group of structurally related polyethers which accumulate in tropical fish, exert their biological effects through the activation of the sodium channel.
Monitoring programs for marine toxins have depended in large part upon mouse bioassays. Although mouse bioassays have for many years provided a fairly reliable assessment of risk, there is mounting pressure to develop alternative assays to reduce the reliance on animal testing. To this end, Kogure et al. developed a tissue culture assay for sodium channel-blocking toxins such as tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin. Kogure et al., Toxicon 26 (2): 191-97 (1988). In the Kogure assay, a mouse neuroblastoma cell line (Neuro-2a) is treated with a fixed concentration of the sodium channel-activator veratridine in the presence of ouabain, an inhibitor of Na+/K+ ATPase. The combined effect of these agents is an enhanced sodium influx, leading to altered cell morphology, subsequent decrease in cell viability and ultimate cell lysis. Tetrodotoxin, saxitoxin and related toxins which block sodium channels antagonize this effect, essentially "rescuing" the cells in a dose-dependent manner. This phenomenon provides the basis of a sensitive in vitro bioassay for these toxins. Evaluation of the Kogure assay requires the visual scoring of 200 or more cells per sample or well, which makes this assay a potentially time-consuming and operator-dependent task.
Scoring of this assay was improved by the modifications described by Jellett et al., Toxicon, 30 (10): 1143-56 (1992), the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Jellett et al. used a microplate reader for automated determinations of absorbances of toxin-treated cells which were stained with crystal violet. This assay exploits the difference in adherence to the culture well of cells treated only with ouabain/veratridine and PSP toxin-treated cells. The former cells exhibit diminished adherence to the culture well, associated with swelling and lysis, and are readily removed by rinsing, whereas the latter cells which are protected from the effects of ouabain/veratridine, retain substrate adherence. Thus, cells affected only by ouabain/veratridine lose adherence and are removed during rinsing, while cells inoculated with the toxin remain in the well.
In the Jellett assay, wells containing Neuro-2a cells are inoculated with toxin and then with ouabain/veratridine, incubated, and subsequently rinsed. After rinsing, the wells are fixed and stained with crystal violet. The processed plates are then dried, and the stained cells are digested in acetic acid. Finally, the plates are read for absorbance of crystal violet in each well, with the absorbance being directly related to the amount of PSP toxin originally present. While these modifications notably improve the cell bioassay of Kogure et al., the assay still requires numerous steps and involves the mechanical removal of cells and treatment of the plates which are subject to operator variability.
There is a need, therefore, for a simplified bioassay for detecting sodium channel-blocking toxins. There also is a need for a tissue culture-based bioassay which can detect sodium channel-activating toxins. There also is a need for a tissue culture-based bioassay that is amenable to detecting both sodium channel-blocking and sodium channel-activating toxins, as well as an assay for determining the sodium channel affect of a toxin.

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


An implantable support member having at least one adjusting portion operable for adjusting a length or tension of the support member after placement of support member anchors. The support member is operable to provide mid-urethral support for treating urinary incontinence.

There is an estimated 19 million North American adults suffering from urinary incontinence, ranging in severity from partial to complete loss of bladder control. Adults with light incontinence, for example, may experience minimal leakage during the occurrence of a provocative event, such as laughing or coughing, whereas adults with heavy incontinence may experience continuous urine leakage. Moreover, the degree to which an adult is afflicted may change over time.
Generally, urinary incontinence is not considered a disease, but rather a symptom or side effect of another medical condition. For example, female incontinence may be caused by weakened and (or) stretched pelvic muscles, which is associated with child-birth, pregnancy, trauma, prior surgical procedures, and estrogen loss.
Each case of incontinence, however, is unique and no two people are affected by incontinence in the same way. There are, however, well-recognized types of incontinence and various ways to treat the same. Stress incontinence, which is a common type of incontinence, may be characterized as urine leakage during a provocative event such as sneezing, laughing, lifting heavy objects, or when the patient engages in any type of exercise that puts pressure on the bladder. Urge incontinence occurs when the patient wants to urinate but is incapable of exercising restraint until reaching a restroom. Additional types of incontinence include overflow incontinence, which occurs when the quantity of urine exceeds the capacity of the patient's bladder, and functional incontinence, which occurs when the patient has knowledge of the need to urinate but simply cannot access a restroom quickly enough due to a physical obstruction or debilitation.
To treat urinary incontinence, several options are available. The more effective types of recognized treatments include behavioral techniques, such as biofeedback, bladder training, and pelvic muscle exercises, and modifications of the patient's diet and fluid intake. With respect to the latter, it is known that eliminating or cutting back on certain types of substances, such as caffeine and alcohol, can help alleviate incontinence. Additionally, there are medications available, such as dicyclomine (Bentyl), flavoxate (Urispas), hyoscyamine sulfate (Anaspaz), imipramine (Tofranil), oxybutynin (Ditropan), tolterodine (Detrol), and propantheline (Pro-Banthine), phenylpropanolamine (Dexatrim), and pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) that are helpful in controlling urinary incontinence.
Surgery may additionally be an option to treat urinary incontinence. Along these lines, surgical implants are available that provide structural support to the urethra for the treatment of stress incontinence. The implant is operative to provide structural support to the urethra such that during a provocative event, the device will provide structural support to the urethra thus causing the urine to be retained within the bladder and not leak through the urethra. Implants for females, such as the In-Fast Ultra device, produced by American Medical Systems, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minn., is a commercially available surgical implant that may provide structural support to the urethra for the treatment of stress incontinence.
Utilizing these supportive or sling implants to treat incontinence, however, has been known to have numerous drawbacks. Securing suburethral sling implants into position typically requires the use of bone screws, which are well-known in the art to be difficult and time consuming to deploy, and can result in significant patient discomfort, especially within the first couple of weeks following the surgical implantation.
In addition, implanting suburethral slings are often times difficult to secure into position with the optimal degree of tension. Indeed, the implantation of suburethral slings for the treatment of incontinence is well-recognized as complex, time consuming and can produce suboptimal clinical outcomes. Moreover, it is well recognized among surgeons that perform such implant procedures that sutures attached to bone anchors and/or sutures attached to bone screws utilized to secure the sling into position frequently break and that often times additional bone anchors or screws must be secured into position. In fact, each suture attached to bone anchors and or bone screws must typically be re-tensioned two to three times before optimal sling positioning and structural support to the urethra is achieved.
Accordingly, there is a substantial need in the art for a suburethral sling implant for the treatment of incontinence that is substantially easier to surgically secure into position and that can further provide an optimal degree of urethral support to thus effectively treat urinary incontinence. The optimal degree of urethral support varies by patient; therefore, it is desirable that the degree of support provided by the sling implant be adjustable by the surgeon. There is additionally a need in the art for an implant that is of simple construction, easy to surgically manipulate, and can be manufactured at relative low cost utilizing known implant materials, whether it be synthetic materials, natural tissues, or combinations thereof. There is yet a further need in the art for such an implant that can be secured into position such that the implant defines a suburethral sling portion operatively positioned at or distal to the mid-urethral region that remains securely anchored following implantation.


A substrate with a transparent conductive layer (1) of the present invention includes a substrate (11) and a transparent conductive layer (12) disposed on the substrate (11). The transparent conductive layer (12) has a conductive region (13) and a non-conductive region (14). The conductive region (13) contains conductive fine particles (121) and a resin matrix (122). The non-conductive region (14) contains conductive fine particles (123) and the resin matrix (122). A haze value in the non-conductive region (14) is larger than a haze value in the conductive region (13).

Organic electroluminescence (referred to as "organic EL" hereinafter) is expected to be applied as surface emission to main lighting and liquid crystal display backlight. A common organic EL device has a multi-layer structure composed of a transparent substrate, a transparent electrode, a light-emitting layer, and a reflecting electrode. Light from a light-emitting source (light-emitting layer) travels through the transparent electrode and the transparent substrate, is output from the atmosphere-facing surface of the transparent substrate, and is thus extracted to the atmosphere (the outside of the organic EL device). Specifically, due to the difference in refractive index between the transparent substrate and the transparent electrode, about 45% of the light is lost by total reflection at the interface between the transparent substrate and the transparent electrode (substrate-transparent electrode interface) in the form of light propagated in the transparent electrode or light propagated laterally along the substrate-transparent electrode interface. This phenomenon is one of the major factors for low efficiency in the extraction of emitted light to the outside. Various attempts have been conventionally made to avoid such a phenomenon and thus increase the efficiency in the extraction of light from the exposed surface (atmosphere-facing surface) of the transparent substrate.
In general, ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) has been used in transparent electrodes for use in organic EL devices. Recently, however, ultrafine metal fibers such as metal nanofibers and metal nanowires have often been used in transparent electrodes as an alternative to ITO which is a rare metal and the depletion of whose source is causing concern. Various methods have been proposed as methods for patterning transparent electrodes in which such ultrafine metal fibers are used. For example, a patterning method is known in which a transparent electrode containing ultrafine metal fibers is formed on a surface of a transparent substrate, and unnecessary portions are removed by photoetching or laser processing to form non-conductive regions (Patent Literature 1 to 3).

Substrate with transparent conductive layer and organic electroluminescence device

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A withdrawable unit system for an electric switching device, having a housing containing a access door, which gives access to all control elements of the unit and can be closed as tightly as required by international standards, such as DIN EN 60529. The withdrawable unit system optionally has a moveable unit capable of blocking and releasing the electrical switching device in and from at least three defined positions withdrawn, test and plugged-in by using a slide, a lever, and notches with dedicated notch blocking devices.

Several possibilities of resisting such forces of withdrawable unit systems are known in the state of the art. WO 2004/040726 A2 discloses a device for fixing a circuit breaker in an insertion rack. The device includes at least one arresting unit which is connected to the insertion rack and belongs to the power circuit breaker. The arresting unit is connected to a control rod which is movable arranged on the insertion rack in such a way that it is displaceable from a locking position to an unlocking position and vice-versa. The control rod interacts with a system which moves the power circuit breaker in relation to the insertion rack. The device also includes a release device which can be displaced from the locking position of the control rod to the releasing position thereof and vice-versa by way of the power circuit breaker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,949 discloses a withdrawable unit, which includes a movement bracket assembly adapted for mounting to a circuit breaker connecting apparatus, a guide assembly adapted for mounting to a circuit breaker unit, and a drive assembly adapted for mounting the bracket assembly and for causing the guide assembly to move with respect to the bracket assembly.
This withdrawable unit is able to move the circuit breaker from a position, where the main contacts and the usually existing auxiliary contacts for control and information signals are closed, i.e. the operating position, to a test position, i.e. a position, where only the auxiliary contacts are closed, whilst the main contacts are disconnected, and further to a withdrawn position, where all contacts are disconnected, and vice-versa. For the linear movement of the circuit breaker, a side wall of the withdrawable unit contains a spindle drive, which is drivable via a drive tool, insertable from the front of the withdrawable unit.
DE 92 12 149 U1 also discloses a device for fixing a power circuit breaker provided with a partition plate and in which a blocking lever, which is fixed on the withdrawable unit, can be brought by hand into a latched or an unlatched position, and the power circuit breaker is fixed in the latched position by way of a locking hook. The locking hook prevents a possible tipping movement of the power circuit breaker.
Analogous locking for a withdrawable unit equipped with a device for inserting the power circuit breaker does not, however, have to be undertaken by hand, which would then have the hidden risk of locking being forgotten.
The necessity of access to the control elements cause openings in the walls of the withdrawable unit. Therefore such withdrawable units do not pass superior types of protection, like protection against dust or water.

Withdrawable unit for an electric switching device


According to one embodiment, a network is disclosed. The network includes a server computer and a client computer. The client computer accesses an authentication stack during power on self test (POST) that enables authentication of boot code that is to be downloaded from the server computer prior to control being passed to the operating system.

Wired for Management (WfM) Specification Version 2.0, developed by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif., enables computer systems to be universally managed over networks without sacrificing agility or performance. WfM defines a mechanism called Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) that bypasses the operating system transition in the computer system basic input output system (BIOS) in order to find a server on the network (boot server) to download and execute code, instead of loading the operating system from the boot device on the computer system. Another component of PXE technology makes it possible to configure or reconfigure a computer system remotely, even with a blank hard disk drive. The computer system typically has a universal service agent loaded locally in the BIOS and/or LAN adapter.
This agent enables, for example, the system to interact with a remote server in order to dynamically retrieve the requested boot image across the network, making it possible to install the operating system and user configuration of a new system without a technician present. PXE is tamper-resistant through a Boot Integrity Services (BIS) application program interface (API) that offers security-oriented services for the pre-boot environment. BIS is implemented in the BIOS of the target computer system to verify the integrity of a downloaded to the computer system. If the credentials do not match those previously recorded in non-volatile storage, the new boot image is not executed.
A problem, however, may occur in mobile computer systems (e.g., notebooks), or other power-managed platforms where the computer system may be in a low power sleep state. The problem occurs if the platform wakes up from the low power sleep state and has to re-authenticate the user or platform in BIOS. Similarly, the remote server may need to wake up the computer system to perform management services. Since a user may not be present during the wake-up, the client computer has to authenticate the remote server as though the remote server was the local user and verify what the remote server is authorized to do.
WfM PXE/BIS code does not load or get control until the end of the power on self-test (POST) stage of the boot process. As a result, the computer system often hangs up. Moreover, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that when AT attachment 3 (ATA-3) password enabled hard disk drives lose power during the low power sleep state, or in a C3 state wherein the hard disk drive is asleep. In such a scenario the disk drives do not recall the password that is needed to allow access to media commands.

Mechanism to improve authentication for remote management of a computer system


A computer-implemented method for inputting data entries of a service for use with a portable electronic device having a touch screen. By detecting a continuous stroke moving on the touch screen to select desired items among multiple levels of menus which are displayed in a sequence for an object targeting to a service, the data entries according to the selected items are committed for the object when the continuous stroke ends. In addition, multiple items can be selected in one level of menu by using a pre-defined stroke indication in the continuous stroke. Furthermore, the selected items can be corrected by re-stroking back to the corresponding levels of menus.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a computer-implemented method for inputting data entries of a service and, in particular, to a method for inputting data entries of a service for use with a portable electronic device having a touch screen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As portable electronic devices become more and more popular and widely used, a variety of services, such as personal information management (PIM), social utilities, Web search, navigation and so on, are developed for device users. Development in portable devices continues to strive towards user interfaces which are user-friendly and suitable for the variety of services, because an efficient, user-friendly interface is vital for user acceptance of any consumer product.
For a portable device, one criterion by which the user interface is evaluated is the ease with which data entries may be inputted into the services themselves. One of the conventional implementations for users to input data entries is through a complex menu. Users have to get into each of the menu items to set the corresponding data contents by different graphic user interfaces (GUIs) or even by linking into another complex menu.
For example, if users would like to create an event in a calendar service, a list of menu items is provided to users. Users have to select one of the items for inputting topic information which leads users to a text input GUI. After text input finished, users have to select another one of the items for setting a date which leads users to a calendar GUI. After the desired date is set, users need to repeat similar actions for other menu items, until all the necessary data entries for the calendar event are set well.
Another implementation is to flatten the complex menu to generate a plurality of data entry fields and display them on a plurality of screen areas with buttons, text input GUIs and menus. In a typical point-and-touch user interface, a particular data entry field is chosen to receive corresponding data entries by stroking on a screen area corresponding to the particular data entry field. Then the corresponding data entries are entered or set in the respective screen area. A similar procedure is followed to correct or update the content in a particular data entry field wherein the user strokes on the corresponding screen area and corrects or updates the data within the screen area for that particular field.
In summary, the implementations mentioned above usually require a large quantity of complex user strokes and lead to an uncomfortable user experience. Accordingly, what is needed is a method to make inputting data entries of a service more intuitive and efficient.

Method of inputting data entries of a service in one continuous stroke


A liquid-pressure driving system includes: a pump connected to an actuator through two pressure liquid passages; pressurizing mechanisms interposed on the passages and applying pressure to the operating oil returning from the actuator; a low pressure selector valve connected to parts of the passages and introducing to a cooling passage the operating liquid having lower pressure between the operating liquids flowing through the two pressure liquid passages; a restrictor mechanism interposed on the cooling passage; a cooler apparatus interposed on the cooling passage downstream of the restrictor mechanism, the cooler apparatus cooling the operating liquid flowing through the cooling passage; and a pressure liquid returning mechanism connected to parts of the two pressure liquid passages, each of the parts being at one side of the corresponding pressurizing mechanism close to the pump, the pressure liquid returning mechanism returning the cooled operating liquid to the two pressure liquid passages.

One example of an apparatus configured to supply pressure oil to a hydraulic actuator, such as a hydraulic cylinder or a hydraulic motor, to drive the hydraulic actuator is a hydraulic continuously variable transmission. Known as the hydraulic continuously variable transmission is a hydraulic driving apparatus of PTL 1, for example. The hydraulic driving apparatus of PTL 1 includes a hydraulic pump. The hydraulic pump can switch an ejection direction by changing a tilting angle of a swash plate thereof. The hydraulic pump is connected to the hydraulic motor through two main passages and constitutes a closed circuit together with the hydraulic motor. In order to replace operating oil flowing through the closed circuit with operating oil in a tank, the hydraulic driving apparatus includes a low pressure selector valve, a safety valve, and a charge pump. The low pressure selector valve selects a main passage having lower pressure from the two main passages and discharges the operating oil, flowing through the selected main passage having the lower pressure, to the tank through a relief valve. When the pressure in any of the main passages becomes lower than predetermined oil pressure, the safety valve connects this main passage to the charge pump and introduces the operating oil, ejected from the charge pump, to this main passage.
According to the hydraulic driving apparatus configured as above, when the hydraulic pump is driven, the hydraulic pump sucks the operating liquid from one of the main passages and ejects the operating liquid to the other of the main passages. In this case, the pressure of the one main passage becomes lower than the pressure of the other main passage, and the operating oil of the one main passage is discharged to the tank through the low pressure selector valve and the relief valve. With this, a certain amount of operating oil that is a part of the operating oil flowing through the closed circuit is returned to the tank. Further, the pressure of the one main passage becomes lower than the predetermined oil pressure by the discharge of the operating oil, and the operating oil is supplied from the charge pump to the one main passage. With this, the operating liquid is introduced from the tank to the main passage at a certain amount equal to the amount of operating oil discharged. As above, according to the hydraulic driving apparatus, the temperature of the operating oil flowing through the closed circuit can be prevented from excessively increasing by returning a certain amount of operating oil to the tank.


A semi-rigid cable coaxially includes a brass wire (1) having a silver-plated layer (2) formed by plating silver having a high conductivity, a dielectric body (3) prepared by using fluorocarbon resin, a polymer film (4) having a conductive film (inner layer of an outer conductor) (5) formed by deposition, and a metal pipe (6) having a low thermal conductivity as an outer layer of the outer conductor. The polymer film (4) is inserted into the metal pipe (6) with the conductive film (5) toward the outer circumference so that the conductive film (5) is electric contact with the metal pipe (6). The conductive film (5) has a thickness in a range not smaller than 1 micron and not greater than 10 microns.

Conventionally, a high temperature superconducting filter is used for communication of mobiles, communication of satellites, etc. In this case, the high temperature superconducting filter is used such that it is installed in the interior of a cooler to be cooled at a temperature of approximately 70K (Kelvin). And, the filter in the cooler is connected to a machine positioned on the outside of the cooler by the semi-rigid cable. Accordingly, it is necessary to suppress a heat inflow amount which is inflow from a room temperature to a cold stage (a low temperature portion by the cooler) through the semi-rigid cable, in order to lower a load of the cooler, or make it possible to use a cooler which is of a smaller type and a lower cooling capability, and lighter.
In case of making a long semi-rigid cable to be used to lower a heat inflow amount, or an outer diameter of it small, however, it is not preferable because transmission loss of an electromagnetic wave signal is increased. Further, in case of changing a material of a conductor, although a slight improvement is obtained, it is resulted that loss of an electromagnetic wave signal is increased, as a heat inflow amount is decreased, because a thermal conductivity of a metallic material is basically proportional to an electrical conductivity thereof in accordance with the law of Wiedemann-Franz.
Under such technical background, it is developed for a semi-rigid cable connecting between low and room temperature circumstances that an outer conductor (a conductor provided on an outer circumferential side of a coaxial cable) which is most related to heat inflow is fabricated by plating a thin film of a copper which is well in conductivity on an outside of a dielectric layer of fluoro-resin, as seen in products of Cryodevice Inc. According to this method, a thickness of copper which is an outer conductor is approximately 10 μm, so that it has a sufficient thickness not to invite the increase of loss, because a surface skin of, for instance, copper at 2 GHz (depth necessary for the transmission of signals) is approximately 1 μm. Further, a thickness of an outer conductor of an ordinary semi-rigid cable is more than 0.1 mm, so that a thickness of an outer conductor is made thin by approximately 10%, and a heat inflow amount coming trough the outer conductor is decreased by 10%.
Further, there is "a coaxial cable" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application laid-open No. 9-12904 as a prior application's invention example 1 similar in technical filed to the present invention. This has a double structure of an outer conductor comprising an outside outer conductor of bad thermal conductivity and an inside outer conductor of well electrical conductivity, so that electrical conductivity is ensured, and thermal transmission is suppressed from the outside of the cable to the inside thereof.
In the conventional semi-rigid cable, however, heat is easily transmitted from the exterior of a cold stage (a low temperature portion such as the interior of a cooler) to the interior thereof, because, for instance, copper which is a well conductor and well at thermal transmission is used for an outer conductor, and the outer conductor has a sufficient thickness to consider mechanical strength.
Further, there is a problem in reliability in a semi-rigid cable of Cryodevice Inc. in that a thin outer conductor is especially to be easily cracked or broken in bending process, so that a conductive plane is easily cut. Further, when a tough cable is used in consideration of mechanical strength and durable years, there occurs a problem in that costs increase in ensuring cooling force and an electric power bill for a cooler.
Further, as clearly described in section [0012] of the prior application's invention example 1, the outside outer conductor has no relation with signal transmission, and a purpose of the outside outer conductor is for the suppression of heat transmission into the inside outer conductor. That is, the purpose is for the suppression of the heat inflow toward the inside, so that it is not appropriate for a measure against a heat inflow flowing in the longitudinal direction of a cable or through a cross-section of a cable as intended by the present invention.
Explaining in more concretely, the outside outer conductor is desired to prevent heat from flowing to the inside outer conductor to be as thick as possible in accordance with the purpose of the prior application's invention example 1. For instance, when a stainless steel having a thickness of approximately 1 cm is used, it works largely as a non-thermal conductor to easily provide a temperature difference from several degrees to several tens degrees, although it deviates depending on balance of a heat inflow amount. In the invention, however, thermal shielding in the lengthwise of a cable, that is, a heat inflow through a cable cross-section is suppressed, the cable cross-section is preferable to be thin even at a portion of a non-thermal conductor. In a coaxial cable in the prior application's invention example 1, heat becomes difficult to be flowed from outside to inside, and mechanical strength is ensured, so that the outside outer conductor is preferable to be thick. That is, heat is made easier to be flowed in the longitudinal direction of a cable from the exterior of a cold stage to the interior thereof, and cost becomes high in a cooler. As described above, a semi-rigid cable according to the present invention is not along the object of the prior application's invention example 1, and the prior application's invention example 1 does not solve a problem of the present invention.


A device for securing a roof tile crown or cap to a roof ridge or roof hip is described. The roof tile crown support can be easily and quickly secured to an existing roofing structure. The device contains a main body defined by a plurality of opposing side walls, a top wall, and a pair of leg plate support structures, attached or integrally formed to each of the opposing side walls. Within the interior region of the roof tile crown support, a support structure is secured therein. To aid in shipping, a plurality of like-shaped roof tile crown support units can be adapted to nest within other like shaped roof tile crown supports.

One of the single most important components of any building or home is the roof structure. The roof is designed to protect the interior section from a variety of environmental elements, such as the heat, cold, precipitation such as rain or snow, or from invasion of insects. Typical roof structures include roof coverings such as shingles or tiles. The shingles or tiles have dual purpose, providing decorative as well as protective functionality, preventing environmental factors from entering the interior of the building. Particularly for structures which include a ridge or hip, such as slanted roofs, protecting the ridge, as well as the roof hip, is vital to the roof structural integrity. A common method of protecting this area is through the use of ridge or hip coverings, such as roof tile crown or cap. Numerous devices and systems have been developed in an effort to provide such functionality.


An electronic module that is activated by the touch of a button for sending a wireless signal to a remote receiver. The module has a housing with an upper portion that is secured in relation to a vehicle. A lower portion of the housing has mating apertures and openings provided therein. A set of staking posts extends from an upper face of one or more buttons. The staking posts have a leading end that is registrable with the mating apertures that are provided in the lower portion of the housing. A set of actuating posts also extends from the upper face of the button. Those posts extend within at least some of the openings that are defined in the lower portion of the housing. Optionally, an array of light pipes is in optical communication with a set of switches. One of the switches can be closed following contact by a leading end of one of the posts when a button is depressed. A printed circuit board is positioned in operative communication with one or more of the buttons so that upon touching a button, a circuit in the circuit board is closed by one of the switches. A signal is then sent wirelessly to a remote receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a button array and optionally a light pipe array for an electronic module that can be used to actuate a remote device (such as, but not limited to a garage door opener) and an assembly method, such as used in the interior trim of a vehicle.
2. Background Art
There are various situations in which it would be desirable to send a wireless signal to a receiver that is located remotely from a sending unit. For example, if the sending unit were located in a vehicle, there is technology presently available by which the sending unit can activate or de-activate an alarm system within a building or open and close a garage door.
Some electronic garage door openers, for example, can be located in a vehicle's overhead console. Ideally, in-vehicle transmitter arrangements are such that the transmitter can be accessible immediately. Preferably, such transmitters can be operated without removal from the vehicle. Some approaches call for attaching the transmitter in the ceiling area of the vehicle, while protecting the transmitter (and a vehicle occupant) from unwanted dislodging from the overhead location.
Among the art identified in a pre-filing search, are the following U.S. references: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,867,498; 5,020,845; 6,003,925; 6,126,221; 6,624,605.
However, some prior art approaches are accompanied by a problem: buttons associated with the transmitter may tend to stick if there is improper alignment. It is known to use light pipes in such mechanisms and assemblies. Those light pipes permit guided transmission of light that emanates from a light source to, for example, an LED that illuminates when a circuit is closed. Conventionally, a light pipe is received in a housing by a snap fit. Assembly of multiple individual light pipes increases assembly costs and opportunities for assembly errors, misalignment, and reliability issues.

Electronic module for universal garage door opener and assembly method


Methods, systems, and apparatus for mass flow are provided. The apparatus can include a housing, an inlet disposed at a first end of the housing, and an outlet disposed at a second end of the housing. The housing can include a first section and a second section. The second section can have at least one tapered sidewall that slopes away from an inner surface of the first section toward the outlet. The apparatus can also include a divider disposed at least partially within the first and second sections of the housing. The divider can have at least one tapered surface disposed proximate the at least one tapered sidewall of the second section. An edge of the divider can be located between the outlet and a point within the second section where the cross-sectional area of the second section is about three times or less a cross-sectional area of the outlet.

1. Field
Embodiments described herein generally relate to particulate flow through a vessel or housing. More particularly, such embodiments relate to maintaining particulate flow through a vessel or housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
As particles or particulates flow through vessels or housings, such as lock hoppers or silos for carbonaceous material, particulate bridging can occur proximate an outlet to the vessel. Particulate bridging can temporarily or permanently block mass flow through the vessel. The likelihood of particulate bridging is particularly pronounced between angled walls of the vessel where the cross-sectional area of the vessel narrows, such as near an outlet.
There is a need, therefore, for new apparatus and methods for reducing or preventing particulate bridging and/or maintaining particulate flow through a vessel.


The present invention provides a suspension assembly including a pair of end links which interconnect the opposite ends of a stabilizer bar to a pair of suspension members. The stabilizer bar has a central segment and arm segments extending from each end of the central segment. The end links interconnect the distal ends of the arm segments to the suspension members. Each distal end of the arm segments includes an axial bore formed therein which is adapted to receive a stud extending from each end link. The stud cooperates with the axial bore to provide a secure attachment between the stabilizer bar and the end link. The axial bore may be internally threaded to receive external threads formed on the stud of the end link. As such, this threaded arrangement permits the stabilizer bar to be attached to the end link quickly and easily and with a minimum of components.

It is a common practice for motor vehicles to be equipped with independent suspension systems for absorbing road shock and other vibrations while providing a smooth and comfortable ride for the vehicle occupants. In suspension systems of this type, a stabilizer bar is often used to increase the roll rigidity and improve the steering stability of the vehicle. Typically, the stabilizer bar is a rodshaped member having an elongated central segment oriented to extend laterally across the vehicle and an arm segment extending longitudinally at each end of the central segment to form a generally U-shaped configuration. The central segment of the stabilizer bar is supported for rotation about its own longitudinal axis by one or more mounting brackets which are fixed to the vehicle body or frame. Most commonly, the mounting brackets are positioned in close proximity to the arm segments for minimizing any bending moments which may be induced into the stabilizer bar. The distal end of each arm segment is coupled to a control arm of the suspension system by an end link. When the vehicle is subjected to a lateral rolling force such as, for example, while the vehicle negotiates a turn, the arm segments pivot in opposite directions with respect to the longitudinal axis of the central segment. As a result, torsional reaction forces are generated which act through the arm segments to urge the control arms to move toward their normal position. Thus, the vehicle body will be prevented from excessive rolling or leaning to either side by the torsional resistance produced by the stabilizer bar.
As noted, each end of the stabilizer bar is typically attached to a corresponding control arm by an end link. Although a number of means have been proposed for connecting the stabilizer bar to the end link, none thus far available has been found acceptable in terms of simplicity and cost reduction. For instance, most stabilizer bars must be manufactured with an eye-form at the distal end for attachment to the end link. One attempt to eliminate the requirement for an eye-form on the stabilizer is to provide an end link including a ring shaped aperture formed therein for receiving the end of the stabilizer bar arm. However, these end links have been found to be costly to produce and also compromise the ride quality of the vehicle by making the ride feel harsher during normal driving conditions.
One trend within the vehicular suspension art is to utilize hollow stabilizer bars for reducing weight without sacrificing driving feel and ride stability. Unfortunately, forming the stabilizer bar as a hollow tube increases the complexity of the attachment mechanisms required to connect the end of the stabilizer bar to the end link. Moreover, the hollow construction of the stabilizer bar can also sacrifice the integrity of the attachment coupling. A second trend employs a direct-acting end link, or direct link, between the stabilizer bar and the lower control arm. The direct link may include a ball and socket assembly for accommodating the angularity between the stabilizer bar and the control arm as the suspension travels through its range of motion while also eliminating the amount of compliance that is experienced before the stabilizer bar begins to urge the control arm to its normal position during vehicle maneuvers. Although these direct links have experienced great success, they still require the end of the stabilizer bar to include an eye-form for attachment. Therefore, the performance advantages gained by the direct link are typically set off by the cost and complexity required for attaching to the stabilizer bar.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a direct link for a hollow stabilizer bar which quickly and easily attaches to the end of the stabilizer bar with minimum complexity.

Plug in direct acting stabilizer bar link


Systems and methods are operable to present audio content of a received media content stream in a plurality of user controllable spot focused sound regions. An exemplary embodiment receives an audio content stream comprising at least a first audio channel and a second audio channel; multiplies the first audio channel into a plurality of first audio channels, multiplies the second audio channel into a plurality of second audio channels; communicates a first one of the multiplied plurality of first audio channels and a first one of the multiplied plurality of second audio channels to a first audio sound region controller; and communicates a second one of the multiplied plurality of first audio channels and a second one of the multiplied plurality of second audio channels to a second audio sound region controller.

Media systems are configured to present media content that includes multiple audio channels. The sound from the media content is reproduced using a high-fidelity sound system that employs a plurality of speakers and other audio signal conditioning and/or reproducing components. Exemplary multiple channel audio content formats include the Dolby Digital formats, the Tomlinson Holman's experiment (THX) format, or the like. Exemplary media systems may include components such as a set top box, a stereo, a television (TV), a computer system, a game system, a digital video disk (DVD) player, surround sound systems, equalizers, or the like.
However, such media systems are limited to optimizing the audio sound for one best location or area of a media room where the user views and listens to the presented media content. This optimal area may be referred to as the "sweet spot" in the media room. For example, the sweet spot with the best sound in the media room may be located several feet back, and directly in line with, the display or TV screen. The speakers of the high-fidelity sound system are oriented and located such that they cooperatively reproduce the audio content in an optimal manner for the user when they are located in the sweet spot of the media room.
However, those users sitting outside of the sweet spot of the media room (to either side of, in front of, or behind the sweet spot) will hear less than optimal sound. For example, the center channel speaker and/or the front speakers that are oriented towards the sweet spot will not be oriented towards such users, and accordingly, will not provide the intended sound quality and sound levels to those users outside of the sweet spot of the media room. The rear speakers of a surround sound system will also not be directly behind and/or evenly separated behind the users that are outside of the sweet spot.
Further, different users perceive sound differently, and/or may have different personal preferences. That is, the presented audio sound of the media content that is configured for optimum enjoyment of one user may not be optionally configured for another user. For example, a hearing impaired user will hear sounds differently than a non-hearing impaired user. The hearing impaired user may prefer a lower presentation level of music and background sounds, and a higher volume level of the dialogue, as compared to the non-hearing impaired user. Young adults may prefer louder music and/or special effect sounds like explosions. In contrast, an elderly user may prefer a very low level of background music and/or special effect sounds so that they may better enjoy the dialogue of the media content.
Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to provide a more enjoyable audio content presentation for all users in the media room regardless of where they may be sitting and/or regardless of their personal preferences.

Apparatus, systems and methods for controllable sound regions in a media room


An absolute value circuit comprises a first "1" bit detecting unit for sequentially searching input binary data from the least significant bit toward the most significant bit so as to detect a first "1" bit whose value first becomes "1", and a sign discriminating unit for discriminating the polarity of the input binary data. When the input binary data is positive, a data processing unit outputs the input binary data without modification. When the input binary data is negative, the data processing unit outputs data composed of bits from the least significant bit of the input binary data to the first "1" bit detected by the first "1" bit detecting unit, and an inverted bit or bits of a bit or bits of the input binary data more significant than the first "1" bit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an absolute value circuit, and more specifically an absolute value circuit for use in a digital signal processing circuit for converting N-bit data expressed in the form of a 2's complement into an absolute value data (N is positive integer).
2. Description of Related Art
One of typical conventional absolute value circuit has been fundamentally composed of a data inverting circuit, an adding circuit and a data selection circuit.
N-bit data expressed in a 2's complement is inputted to the data inverting circuit and one input of the data selection circuit. The input data supplied to the data inverting circuit is inverted in all bits, and an inverted data is supplied to the adding circuit, where "1" is added to the least significant bit of the inverted data. The result of addition is supplied to the other input of the data selection circuit.
Thus, because of the characteristics of the N-bit data expressed in a 2's complement, converted data which is a negative number of the input data can be obtained by inverting all bits of the input data and adding "1" to the least significant bit of the inverted data.
A relation between the input data and the converted data is that the converted data is ceaselessly a negative number of the input data, which can be exemplified in such an example that if the input data is +5, the converted data is -5, and if the input data is -5, the converted data is +5.
As mentioned above, the input data and the converted data are supplied to the data selection circuit. Namely, positive data and negative data of a given value supplied as the input data are necessarily supplied to the selection circuit. In addition, whether the input data is positive data or negative data is discriminated on the basis of whether the most significant bit of the input data (namely, the sign bit of the 2's compliment) is "1" or "0". Therefore, the most significant bit of the input data is applied to an control input of the data selection circuit, so that the data selection circuit selects either the input data or the converted data, whereby a positive data is ceaselessly outputted. Thus, the input data is converted into an absolute value data. Namely, an absolute value circuit can be realized.
In the above mentioned absolute value circuit, the data inverting circuit is a conventional inverter circuit of N bits corresponding to the number of bits of an input data, the inverter circuit operating to inverting each bit of the input N-bit data in such a manner that "1" is converted into "0" and "0" is converted into "1".
As the adding circuit and the data selection circuit, "The Bipolar Digital Integrated Circuits Data Book PART 1" published by Japanese Texas Instruments Corporation in 1981 discloses specific examples, and therefore, it is here referred to. A specific circuit example of the adding circuit is disclosed on Page 7-42 of the data book, in which a 4-bit adding circuit is composed of 36 gate circuits. In addition, a specific circuit example of the data selection circuit is disclosed on Page 7-170 of the data book, in which a 4-bit data selection is formed of 15 gate circuits.
However, the adding circuit and the data selection circuit of the above mentioned prior art absolute value circuit should be considered to have a bit structure corresponding to the N-bit input data.
In the conventional absolute value circuit as mentioned above, assuming that the input data is of 4 bits, four inverters (gate circuits) are required for the data inverting circuit, and 36 gate circuits and 15 gate circuits are required for the adding circuit and the data selection circuit, respectively. Namely, 55 gate circuits are required in total.
As mentioned above, the conventional absolute value circuit is complicated in circuit construction and large in circuit scale.


Skeletal railing systems are usually formed of metal tubing welded together and/or interconnected by metal T-connectors, cross connectors and elbows. The assembling of such railing systems is often time consuming and expensive. A simple alternative includes tubular plastic, preferably polyvinyl chloride posts and rails interconnected by short lengths of metal tubing which extend through openings in the plastic tubes. A bolt perpendicular to one section of metal tubing extends into a plate or plug on the end of the other section of metal tubing, and a nut is tightened onto the bolt to hold the sections together.

This invention relates to a railing system, and in particular to a skeletal railing system.
Railing systems of the type disclosed herein are usually formed of iron tubing by welding sections of the tubing together, often using elbows, T-connectors and other couplers which are also formed of metal. The building of all metal railing systems of this type is labour intensive and consequently expensive.
Alternate structures are described, for example, in Canadian Patent No. 858,170, which issued to J. B. Schroer on Dec. 15, 1970, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,999,671, issued to J. H. Blayden on Sep. 12, 1961 and 4,461,461, which issued to L. Caron on Jul. 24, 1984. The Blayden connector system relies on a plurality of elements which would be expensive to produce and difficult to assemble. The Caron railing possesses the advantage of using plastic pipe. However, the Caron system requires special T-connectors and cross connectors.


A quick insert nozzle structure has a pipe connector connected to an insert nozzle. An end of the pipe connector has a containing groove for connecting a joint of a quick insert nozzle that has three circular grooves. An external circular groove installs a washer; a middle circular groove embeds balls, and an internal circular groove embeds a dust resisting cover. The balls match the joint for installing the balls and the washer. The wide groove diameter is coupled to the narrow groove diameter to form a guiding cambered surface, and the thickness of the wide groove diameter is reduced to form a thin covering plate. After the joint is installed, the thin covering plate is stamped to limit the balls, and a dust resisting cover is installed to complete assembling the quick insert nozzle. This invention not only makes the assembling process easy, but also prevents possible leaks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a quick insert nozzle for tools, and more particularly to a design for combining a pipe connector with a quick insert nozzle by using the pipe connector that corresponds to a containing groove at the joint of the quick insert nozzle and a groove of a thin covering plate, so that the pipe connector and the quick insert nozzle can be combined by a simple stamping process to overcome the shortcomings and complicated assembling operation of similar traditional products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 for a structural design of a traditional quick insert nozzle for tools, the quick insert nozzle 20 includes a pipe connector 10 and a quick insert nozzle 20, and an end of the pipe connector 10 has a containing groove 11 for connecting a joint 21 of the quick insert nozzle 20, an embedding groove 12 disposed at a predetermined position of the internal periphery of the containing groove 11, circular grooves 22, 23 disposed respectively on both internal and external ends of the joint 21 of the quick insert nozzle 20 for embedding an O-ring 24, 25, an embedded circular groove 26 disposed at a middle section between the two O-rings 24, 25, a ball bearing 27 embedded in the embedded circular groove 26, and a plurality of balls 28 arranged in a circular shape and disposed in the ball bearing 27, such that when the joint 21 of the quick insert nozzle 20 is inserted into the containing groove 11 of the pipe connector 10, the balls 28 at the middle section can be embedded precisely into the embedding groove 12 of the containing groove 11, and the two O-rings 24, 25 maintains a close connection of the two. In this structure, the balls 28 are installed for achieving the effect of turning the quick insert nozzle 20 freely and facilitating the operation of the tools.
However, the structural design of these quick insert nozzles uses a ball bearing for containing the balls and provides sufficient compression on the balls, such that the joint of the quick insert nozzle can be inserted smoothly into the containing groove of the pipe connector to obtain a limit position of embedding the balls with the embedding groove of the pipe connector, so as to maintain the close connection, while the quick insert nozzle can be turned freely. However, when the quick insert nozzle is turned, the balls produce frictions with the internal wall of the embedding groove of the pipe connector, the balls will be worn out after a period of time, and a gap may occur between the balls and the embedding groove of the pipe connector. Furthermore, the ball bearing has provided sufficient moving space, and thus the joint of the quick insert nozzle will be separately from the pipe connector easily, if an external force is applied to them, and such traditional quick insert nozzle has a major drawback that requires immediate solutions and improvements.
Since the pipe connector is connected to the quick insert nozzle, the embedding groove at an internal wall of the containing groove of the pipe connector is provided for embedding and limiting the balls at the joint of the quick insert nozzle, and the balls are installed in a ball bearing, not only incurring a higher cost, but also requires a higher level of difficulty for manufacturing the embedding groove onto the internal periphery of the containing groove of the pipe connector which also causes a higher cost. Therefore, the prior art requires further improvements.


A nutritional supplement, functioning as a food for special dietary use, enhances diets and assists persons recovering from addiction to health damaging substance(s). Since cellular damage and deficiencies occur and continue to exist even after the person has stopped abusing the substance(s), use of the nutritional supplement, which contains at least one enzyme activating substance and at least one enzyme cofactor, should be continuous. The nutritional supplement consists of a mixture of nutrients which cooperate synergistically in enhancing cellular metabolic pathways and assists in normalization of cellular functions and optimization of cellular health.. This nutritional supplement consists of minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants, amino acids, herbs and/or other nutrients where the constituents of these nutrients cooperate synergistically to build up the healthy cells of the body and assist in repair of damaged cells producing a Gestalt wherein recidivism and the craving for the addictive substance(s) are reduced.

It is known that some humans may abuse substances such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, tobacco, sugar, coffee and/or colas. It is also known that abuse of such substances results in humans having compulsive disorders, which include but are not limited to alcoholism, addictions to marijuana, tobacco, cocaine, heroin, caffeine, sugar, and/or the like. These compulsive disorders cause changes in the metabolism of human cells in such a way that metabolic voids or errors in metabolism occur. These cellular changes produce an addictive state which expresses itself as the compulsive disorder. This compulsion is created by the cellular changes which makes the human crave the addictive substance(s). Thus, substance abuse results in adverse cellular metabolism which compromises cellular health in the human addict.
Substance abuse affects cellular metabolism throughout the human body. However, the human liver is generally one of the first organs affected. This is especially important because the liver is a highly active, vital organ which is generally known as the "metabolic capital" of the body, performing over 400 essential bodily functions. For example, the liver performs bile synthesis and secretion needed for fatty acid metabolism, while the liver's vascular network and specialized cells filter and store blood. The liver also contributes to carbohydrate metabolism for conversion of galactose and fructose to glucose, conversion of amino acid residues to glucose in gluconeogenesis, formation and storage of glycogen in glycogenesis and the formation of many important chemical compounds from carbohydrate intermediates. The liver further performs fat metabolism which includes fat conversion to transport form--the formation of lipoproteins; oxidation of fatty acids to acetoacetic acid, then to acetylcoenzyme A (CoA) and into the citric acid cycle to yield energy; formation of bile salts, cholesterol and phospholipids; and conversion of carbohydrate and protein intermediates to fat through lipogenesis. The liver still further performs protein metabolism which occurs via deamination of amino acids; production of lipotrophic factors for fat conversion to lipoproteins; formation of plasma proteins; urea formation for removal of ammonia from body fluids; and many amino acid interconversions, transamination and amination and synthesis of nonessential amino acids, purines, pyrimidines, creatine, phosphate et al. Other related functions of the liver include storage of vitamins A, D, B12 and other B complex vitamins as well as vitamin K; production of blood coagulation factors from prothrombin in the presence of vitamin K, and from other blood factors such as fibrinogen, accelerator globulin, and factor VII; storage of iron as ferritin; conjugation and excretion of steroid hormones; and detoxification of certain drugs including morphine and barbiturates.
As a result of substance abuse, these functions of the liver operate at a less than optimal level. If the substance abuse is prolonged or severe, such ailments as cirrhosis of the liver may occur. Evidence of this is found in that cirrhosis of the liver is one of the ten leading causes of death in the United States.
The next major organ affected by substance abuse is the brain, which consists of tens of billions of cells that perform thousands of functions. The human brain is the central organ for coordination and regulation of the human body which controls speech, locomotion, behavior and a broad range of intellectual and emotional functions. Unlike other human organs, the brain cannot regenerate a cell once the cell is destroyed. The brain, however, if properly nurtured can repair compromised brain cells, where, for example, compromised brain cells may result from intoxication. In alcohol abuse many of the brain structures are so eroded by the solvent effect of alcohol that brains of alcoholism are not used in cadaver labs to study brain structures
If a human is abusing alcohol, cells within the liver and brain may be damaged. For example, alcohol abuse causes cellular damage to the brain and liver due to the effects of ethanol and acetaldehyde build up in the tissue. Ethanol starts the degradation process in the liver as acetaldehyde which is broken down by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase. When this enzyme is depleted, a rapid build up of acetaldehyde occurs, which is capable of producing THIQ (tetrahydroisoquinoline) a false neurotransmitter that interferes with though processes. (1) (Cohen & Collins, Science 167:1749-51, 1970; (2) Davis & Walsh, Science 167:1005-7,1970; (3) Sandler, et al. Nature 241:439-43,1973). Toxification of specific enzyme systems occurs when nutrient deficits at the cellular level permits the beginning of destructive cellular changes. Destructive cellular changes alter cell functions in ways that eventually lead to more frequent use and greater quantities of the addictive substance(s) resulting in a psychlogical and/or physical dependency.
Although Alcoholics Anonymous and other "twelve step" programs treat the addiction, they do not address the physical changes on the cellular level. Admittedly, the "twelve step" programs do a very good job of addressing many of the addict's social, spiritual and some of the psychlogical reasons for the addiction. Cellular deficits of nutrients are not discussed nor are they addressed by the "twelve step" programs nor by other methods of counseling.
Treatments for alcoholics, drug addicts, smokers and/or like persons addicted to harmful substances have heretofore included relatively large dosages of vitamins such as Vitamin B1, Niacin, L-Glutamine or other factors individually or in combinations of one or two items at relatively high dosages. In these treatments, the nutrients are sued as if the cells were deficient in only one or a few nutrients. When deficiencies occur, they generally occur in many areas simultaneously. Excessive use of one or more nutrients may alter cellular biochemistry in some undesirable ways that overwhelm or compromise the benefits. These treatments fail to normalize and optimize metabolic pathways in the addictive individual because they address only a portion of the cellular metabolic needs, often at the expense of others. While it is known that the addict relies on the addictive substance(s) as a substitute for a nutritional diet and soon experiences losses in healthy cells especially in the brain, lung, liver and/or pancreas it must be recognized that withdrawal from the addictive substance(s) requires the opening up of normal metabolic pathways to the vital organs in a manner that will bichemically build up the damaged cells of the brain, liver, adrenals, kidneys, pancreas and/or other organ tissues.
Cellular deficiency of a substance abuser has been addressed to a very limited degree. For example, some nutritional therapies have been developed to address one or more nutritional deficity Alkonil was a product utilizing niacin, vitamin C and glutamine at a dose of one gram each per tablet. Although this produced benefits in the alcoholic, it addressed too few of the metabolic compromises in the addict to be truly effective. For example, minerals and B vitamin needs are not addressed leaving a constellation of nutritional deficits in the addict.
Standard medical procedures usually treat one or more signs or symptoms of alcoholism during crisis. Such treatments may include use of intravenous magnesium for delirium tremens; or treat the early stages of cirrhosis of the liver with drugs. This type of treatment does not address the cellular deterioration as happens to the Ito cells of the liver which become fat storage depots. Many of these treatments are useful in crisis intervention and addressing the effects of substance abuse, yet do little to treat the cause of substance abuse or restore normal cellular metabolism.
Therefore, a need exists for a nutritional supplement that effectively treats the general and specific nutrient cellular deficits and subcellular nutritional requirements for normalization and optimization of health at the cell level first, and eventually the health of the whole organism itself--the human addict.

Nutritional supplement for optimizing cellular health