A wire-travelling path between feed rollers 111 and an intermediate stripping unit 200 is set by an adjusting unit 100 disposed therebetween so that the distance of a wire 50 from a cutting-off position of cutters 141 to a cutting-into position of cutters 202 is equal to the sum of the length of the cutting-off wire and the distance from the end of the cutting-off wire to one end of the intermediate stripped area of the wire. If the wire 50 is fed by the length to be cut off, the wire 50 can be positioned simultaneously at the cutters 141 and 202. Consequently, it is possible to carry out only one time of feeding and resting of the feed rollers 111 in a cycle of operation and to reduce the rest period from the time when the feed rollers rest to the time of a following treatment, thereby producing a harness efficiently.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for producing a harness, which include a treatment of stripping the cover on an intermediate area of a wire as well as a treatment of working an end of the wire.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
In a harness for a motorcar, the cover on a wire is stripped off at an intermediate area to connect a branch wire to the intermediate area.
Heretofore, such harness has been produced by stripping the cover of the wire at an intermediate area by using a wire stripper or the like by hand after the wire had been worked at the end by a single purpose machine.
For convenience of explanation, a prior harness producing apparatus will be described below by referring to FIGS. 18 to 20.
FIGS. 18 and 19 are side views of a conventional harness producing apparatus, which illustrate operations of the apparatus. FIG. 20 is a schematic side view of another conventional harness producing apparatus.
A prior harness producing apparatus A, as shown in, for example, FIG. 18, is provided along a passing line of a wire 10 with, in order, a pair of feed rollers 11, a pair of draw rollers 12a, a front side clamp 12, a cutter assembly 13, and a rear side clamp 14. The wire is held between both clamps 12 and 14 while the cutter assembly 13 is closed in synchronization with the clamping of the wire by the clamps 12 and 14. Then, a pair of central cutting-off cutters 13a in the cutter assembly 13 cut off the wire 10, while two pairs of cutting-into cutters 13b in opposite sides of the cutter assembly 13 cut into the outer cover of the wire 10. The front side clamp 12 moves in the direction shown by the arrow Q while the cutters 13b cut into the cover, thereby stripping the cover on the end of the wire 10 which is held in the front side clamp 12 (hereinafter referred to as the remaining wire 10). In connection with this stripping process, the rear side clamp 14 moves in the direction shown by the arrow P, thereby stripping the cover on the end of the wire 10 which is held in the rear side clamp 14 (hereinafter referred to as the cut-off wire 10).
Then, the remaining wire 10 together with the front side clamp 12 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 18 and a terminal 2 (see FIG. 19) is pressed on the stripped end of the remaining wire 10 by a terminal-pressing machine (not shown). After pressing the terminal, the front side clamp 12 is returned to the original position.
Meanwhile, the rear clamp 14 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 18 and a terminal (not shown) is pressed on the stripped end of the cut-off wire 10 by a terminal-pressing machine (not shown). Then the clamp 14 releases the cut-off wire 10 at a given discharge position and is returned to the original position.
As shown in FIG. 19, when both clamps 12 and 14 are open and the pair of feed rollers 11 are driven so that the wire is fed toward the draw rollers 12a, the draw rollers 12a are driven with a slight time lag after feeding the wire so that the wire 10 is fed toward the rear side clamp 14 as shown in FIG. 18.
The covers on the opposite ends of the wire are stripped and the cut-off wire (harness) with the terminals 2 pressed on the opposite stripped ends are successively produced by repeating the above processes.
A plurality of the harnesses thus produced are bundled and transferred to the next step. Then, as described above, the harness is stripped at the intermediate area by hand.
In such a harness producing method, however, since the stripping treatment at the intermediate area is effected by hand, the precision of stripping is scattered due to different spersonal abilities and thus it is difficult to stabilize the quality of the harness. Further, an additional step of transferring the wire is necessary to carry a bundle of the harnesses produced by the apparatus A to the next step. This results in an increase in the number of steps.
Accordingly, it has been desired to automatically effect a series of working operations from the wire-end treatment to the stripping treatment at the intermediate area in order to overcome the above problems. As shown in FIG. 20, it has been first proposed to form a unit C by combining the above harness producing apparatus A with an existing stripping apparatus B.
In this unit C, after the wire 10 is set in the stripping apparatus B and in the harness producing apparatus A, the apparatuses A and B are driven. The wire 10 is cut off, the covers on the opposite ends of the cut-off wire are stripped and the terminals are pressed on the stripped ends in unit C.
Then, the feed rollers are driven so that the wire 10 is fed in wire-feeding direction P by a given length. One end of an intermediate area of the wire 10 to be stripped is positioned in opposition to the top of the cutters 21 in the stripping apparatus B. After the wire 10 is held in a clamp 20 in the stripping apparatus B, the cutters 21 are closed so that the cutters 21 cut into the outer cover of the wire 10. Then the cutters 21 are moved along the wire 10 to the other end of the intermediate area to be stripped while the cutters 21 cut into the cover. The cover at the one end of the intermediate area is cut away from the remaining cover and compressed toward the other end of the intermediate area, thereby stripping the cover at the intermediate area.
After the clamp 20 releases the wire 10, the feed rollers 11 and the draw rollers 12a are driven so that the wire 10 is fed along direction P toward the cutter assembly 13. At this time, the length of the cut-off wire (harness) corresponds to the sum of the feeding distances of the wire before and after stripping the intermediate area. Accordingly, the position on the wire 10 to be cut off next is set in opposition to the top of the cutters 13a.
Thus, one cycle is completed. Harnesses stripped at the intermediate area are successively produced by repeating the above processes.
Unit C can automatically carry out a series of working processes from the end treatment, such as the cutting-off treatment, end-stripping treatment, terminal-pressing treatment and the like, to the intermediate stripping treatment, thereby stabilizing the quality of the harness, eliminating the wire-transferring process between the end treatment and the intermediate treatment, and reducing the number of steps.
In unit C, however, since the wire is positioned by driving the feed rollers 11 during the intermediate stripping treatment and the cutting-off treatment in one cycle, the feed rollers 11 should be driven twice in one cycle. In general, it is necessary to set a given rest period from the time immediately after the feed rollers (and the draw rollers 12a) are stopped to the time when the next treatment is started. Accordingly, if the number of times of feeding and resting the feed rollers 11 increase, the rest period is correspondingly elongated, the period for a cycle becomes longer, and it is difficult to efficiently produce the harness.

Harness producing apparatus and a harness producing method


The present invention provides a method of fabricating a die seal. The die seal comprises a buffer area being adjacent to a die, a buffer space being adjacent to a scribe line, and a seal ring located between the buffer area and the buffer space. The seal ring is stacked by at least one metal layer and at least one dielectric layer. A passivation layer is formed and covers entire the die seal. The method comprises forming an amorphous silicon film on a top metal layer prior to the step of forming the passivation layer, and removing the dielectric layer on the buffer space by applying the amorphous silicon film as an etch stop layer in the step of etching the passivation layer to enhance the robustness of the die seal from damage by a lateral stress when a wafer is sawed. When the dielectric layer is made of SiO.sub.2, a plasma containing CF.sub.4 and H.sub.2. can be utilized in the step of etching the passivation layer. Because the plasma has an extremely high etching selectivity ratio, the SiO.sub.2 on the buffer space can be completely removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor fabrication method, and, more particularly, to a method for fabricating a die seal structure around a chip die for preventing the internal circuit of the chip die from lateral stress induced during the period of cutting wafers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the semiconductor process, a plurality of dies, each of which contains an integrated circuit, are fabricated on a semiconductor wafer at a time. Scribe lines are provided between every two adjacent dies so that the dies can be separated by cutting the semiconductor wafer along these scribe lines.
However, when a wafer is cut into a plurality of dies, lateral stress is induced, thereby affecting the internal circuits via the structure of the IC. Consequently, microcracking may occur which can affect the production yield. One approach for solving such a problem is to form a die seal structure between the scribe line and the peripheral region of the internal circuit. Therefore, stress induced by cutting wafers is generally blocked by the die seal and will not directly affect the internal circuit of a die. FIG. 1 shows a top view of a chip die. It should be noticed that all subsequent figures are not to scale. The die seal is directed to the structure between internal circuit 2 and scribe line 10. The die seal structure comprises buffer area 4, seal ring 6 and buffer space 8. Seal ring 6, which is a stacked structure comprising metal layers and dielectric layers, is usually formed together with buffer area 4 and buffer space 8 in the multi-metal interconnection process. The dielectric layer of the buffer space 8 is made of SiO.sub.2.
FIG. 2 (PRIOR ART) and FIG. 3 (PRIOR ART) illustrate two cross-sectional views of the conventional die seal structures, respectively. It should be notified that the die seal structures shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are formed together with a triple-metal interconnection process. Now referring to FIG. 2, the whole structure is formed on silicon substrate 1. Field oxide 20 is used as an isolation structure and also can be used to separate a die seal structure (comprising buffer area 4, seal ring 6 and buffer space 8) and internal circuit 2. Seal ring 6 comprises three dielectric layers 610, 612 and 614, wherein dielectric layer 612 is formed over dielectric layer 610, and dielectric layer 614 is formed over dielectric layer 612. Each of dielectric layers 610, 612 and 614 is covered with metal layers 611, 613 and 615, respectively, which are formed together with the triple-metal process. Finally, passivation layer 616 is formed and covers all the dielectric layers and the metal layers. In summary, seal ring 6 of conventional die seal structure shown in FIG. 2 is produced by alternately depositing the dielectric layers and the metal layers. It should be noted that these dielectric layers and metal layers are formed during the common semiconductor process and do not require extra steps. In general, seal ring 6 has a width of about 20 .mu.m, buffer area 4 between internal circuit 2 and seal ring 6 has a width of about 25 .mu.m, and buffer space 8 between seal ring 6 and the scribe line has a width of about 5.about.10 .mu.m.
The die seal structure shown in FIG. 3 is quite similar to that shown in FIG. 2, except in the following aspects. In FIG. 3, seal ring 6 includes three metal layers 621, 623 and 625, as in FIG. 2, and further includes metal plugs 631, 633 and 635, located between these metal layers. In this seal ring structure, metal layers 621, 623 and 625 and metal plugs 631, 633, 635 are also formed during the common metalization and plug process and do not require extra steps. Therefore, metal plugs 631, 633 and 635 are usually made of tungsten or aluminum. Such a seal ring structure is utilized in the die seal structure to enhance robustness to sawing stress, thereby preventing the internal circuit from damage.
In the development of process techniques, a technique called global planarization is commonly utilized. The most common one is CMP(chemical-mechanical polishing). When CMP is utilized in the fabrication process of semiconductors, the protection ability of the die seal may be reduced. The reason for this will be discussed in the following detailed description. When an inter-metal dielectric layer is planarized by using CMP, the dielectric layer between seal ring 6 and scribe line 10 may not be completely removed in the etching of the contact window and metal via and passivation, and may accumulate continually on the buffer space. Dielectric material 81 shown in FIG. 2 and dielectric layer 82 shown in FIG. 3 on the buffer space 8 may have a depth of about 12000 .ANG. in the prior art. The residual dielectric material on buffer space 8 may be a path of stress when a wafer is sawed. Thereby, the reliability of the dies may be reduced.


Methods of testing and sorting integrated circuits in clusters are disclosed. Each cluster has power and data terminals connected to common power and data busses providing a common power supply. Each integrated circuit has a first non-volatile memory storing an activation code and a second programmable non-volatile memory that is capable of storing the activation code. If an integrated circuit passes testing, the activation code stored in the first non-volatile memory is written into the second non-volatile memory. An integrated circuit is independently functional upon separation from the cluster if the codes in the first and second non-volatile memories match. Upon separation, integrated circuits are queried to determine which respond. Each integrated circuit includes logic adapted to determine whether the codes in the first and second non-volatile memories match. If the codes do not match, the logic permanently disables the integrated circuit upon separation from the cluster.

The present invention addresses the increasing proportion of integrated circuit testing costs relative to the integrated circuit fabrication costs. For example, thousands of integrated circuits can be fabricated at the same time on a single silicon wafer. However, each integrated circuit generally has to be tested serially (e.g., one at a time). Such serial operations are fundamentally more expensive than parallel operations. The industry has responded to this problem by (1) manufacturing more transistors and functionality onto each integrated circuit in order to amortize the testing cost over a larger number of transistors, (2) incorporating self-testing capability into the individual integrated circuits, and/or (3) testing multiple integrated circuits at the same time by mechanically probing multiple neighboring clusters of integrated circuits with complex probe card assemblies and hundreds of probe pads.
However, each of these solutions has disadvantages. First, many modern electronic systems (e.g., RFID tags, smart cards, or other embedded computer systems) require billions and perhaps even trillions of low-cost integrated circuits. Thus, it may be ineffective to increase the number of transistors and the functionality on each integrated circuit. Second, although integrated circuits may be able to self-test, individual mechanical test probes may still be required to provide necessary power and timing signals. This continues to limit the speed at which small integrated circuits can be tested. In addition, mechanical inking is also still necessary to identify integrated circuits that failed testing so that functional integrated circuits can be sorted after the scribe and dice operation. Third, the process of testing multiple neighboring clusters of integrated circuits using complex probe card assemblies having hundreds of probe pads dramatically increases the cost of the probe card, and also increases the likelihood of a probe malfunction. Furthermore, the number of integrated circuits in the cluster may be limited because simultaneous mechanical contact with each pad within the cluster is required. In turn, this limits the throughput increase to a value in the range of from 2× to 10×. Thus, need is felt for improved reliability of the integrated circuit testing process without increasing the testing costs, or preferably, while decreasing the costs of testing.

Low cost testing and sorting for integrated circuits


A method of manufacturing an optical lens, comprising: providing a lens member comprising a first surface and a first reference system identified by engraved markings on the first surface, providing surface data corresponding to a second surface of the optical lens to be manufactured, providing second markings on the lens member defining a second reference system, providing marking positioning error between the second markings and the engraved markings, providing an adhesive tape on the first surface of the lens member, and a manufacturing step during which the second surface of the optical lens is manufactured according to the surface data and the marking positioning error such that the relative position of the first and second surfaces is respected.

An optical lens is typically made of plastic or glass material and generally has two opposing surfaces which co-operate with one another to provide a required corrective prescription. When the positioning or shape of one of these surfaces with respect to the other is inaccurate, optical errors can be created.
Manufacturing of an optical lens to the required prescription requirements typically includes machining the surface of a semi finished lens or lens blank. Typically, a semi-finished lens has a finished surface, for example the front surface and an unfinished surface, for example the back surface. By machining the back surface of the lens to remove material, the required shape and positioning of the back surface with respect to the front surface for the desired corrective prescription can be generated.
During manufacturing of the lens it is important that the semi finished lens is securely maintained in an accurate position on a blocker during the various manufacturing operations in order to prevent the generation of optical errors.
Conventionally, a semi-finished lens is provided with engraved markings on the finished surface. The engraved markings define a reference system of the design of the finished surface of the lens.
So as to manufacture accurately the unfinished surface of the semi-finished lens, the semi-finished lens is maintained by blocking the finished surface of the lens on a blocker. Various materials may be employed to secure the semi-finished lens to the blocker. These materials include glues and low temperature fusible metal alloys.
The use of such materials requires that the finished surface of the lens be protected prior to being blocked on the blocker. An adhesive tape is generally placed on the finished surface prior to blocking the semi-finished lens.
The adhesive tape can make the viewing of the engraved markings, for example trough the semi-finished lens, difficult. Thus, it may be difficult to accurately determine the position in which the semi-finished lens is blocked. An inaccurate position of the semi-finished lens on the blocker may create optical errors in the final lens.

ESSILOR INTERNATIONAL (COMPAGNIE GENERALE D'OPTIQUE)


The present invention relates to anionic compounds and their application in detergent compositions. The compounds have the dual benefits of surfactancy and suds suppression.

There is a wide choice of surfactants currently available to the detergent manufacturer when formulating compositions in order to achieve the desired performance benefits.
A particularly desirable performance benefit for detergent compositions is good greasy and oily soil removal over a wide spectrum of temperatures. In order to achieve such desired performance benefits, the detergent manufacture has found it necessary to increase the amount of surfactant incorporated into detergent compositions. As a result the compositions have also tended to become more compact formulations, which is also in line with current trends to produce more compact formulations to reduce the environmental impact.
The sudsing profile of a detergent composition is also an important factor to be considered by the detergent manufacturer. It is generally considered that high sudsing is not a desirable feature of a laundry detergent composition for laundering conducted in automatic washing machines. However, high levels of surfactant in a detergent composition usually results in an increase in the sudsing of the detergent composition. This problem is particularly acute if the surfactant system comprises high levels of anionic surfactant. Thus, in order to control the suds profile, such compositions require the addition of a suds suppressor. However, the suds suppressors currently available are generally expensive and also provide no other performance benefit to the composition other than suds suppression. Therefore, it is desirable that their presence is minimised.
Thus, it is an aim of the present invention to provide a surfactant system which provides the dual performance benefits of excellent cleaning performance and providing suds suppression.
It has now been found that this objective can be achieved by the use of certain branched hydrolysable anionic compounds and detergent compositions as described herein. The anionic compounds of the present invention readily hydrolyse in the wash liquor and these hydrolysis products then act as suds suppressors. The hydrolysis products can thus act to suppress the sudsing produced by other surfactants which may be preferred components of the detergent composition. Of particular benefit is that the hydrolysis products tend to be formed in the latter stages of the washing process, when sudsing is at its greatest and suds suppression is most required. Furthermore, another advantage of the presence of the suds suppressing hydrolysis products, is that the amount of additional suds suppressor required in the formulation is reduced. Thus, the anionic compounds of the present invention have a dual function as a component of a surfactant system providing improved cleaning and as precursors of suds suppression agents in detergent compositions.
A further advantage of the anionic compounds of the present invention is that they are also low sudsing compounds per se.
Liquid detergent compositions comprising branched alkoxylated anionic surfactants for use as suds suppressors have been disclosed in European patent application number 93870123.2.

Procter & Gamble Ltd., Whitley Road, Longbenton


A vaccine for in ovo vaccination against avian coccidiosis produced by a method including obtaining the coccidial oocysts from a fecal suspension, homogenizing the fecal suspension, separating the oocysts from the fecal debris by either salt flotation using sodium sulfate or gas flotation using air, sporulating the oocysts using hydrogen peroxide and air sparging, bleaching the sporulated oocysts, washing the bleached oocysts, concentrating the sterile washed oocysts and combining the concentrates of various species of coccidial oocysts, and producing a vaccine. The method in whole or in part can be applied to other kinds of encysted protozoa to produce vaccines for various types of animals.

This invention relates generally to methods for the purification, recovery, and sporulation of encysted protozoa for use in the production of vaccines. Protozoa are pathogens known to attack the gastrointestinal tract of the host. In a situation where the host has a weak or suppressed immune system, such as very young, very old, and immuno-compromised hosts, infection may be fatal. Such a loss can translate into an economic loss as well. Protozoa are present in the environment in a relatively stable cyst form, also termed an oocyst when the protozoa is a sporozoa. Upon ingestion into the host, the encysted protozoa responds to the conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and infects the host.
In order to prevent or alleviate the problem of these diseases, non-in-ovo vaccines have been developed. These vaccines typically expose the host to a low level of the protozoa in order to develop immunity in the host without causing disease. Such vaccines include a vaccine against avian coccidiosis caused from any one of a number of species of coccidia (U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,292), a vaccine for cats against toxoplasma (U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,313), and vaccines for pigs and other ruminants (U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,404). These vaccines are only partially effective because they must be given by gavage or applied to the water or the food of the animal. Gavage is ineffective because it requires manual vaccine introduction. Also, many chicks die due to handling. Adding the vaccine to the food or water is also ineffective as young chicks eat little directly after hatching; therefore, disease control is delayed. The result is less rapid weight gain and a longer time to reach market weight.
In order to produce the vaccine, a supply of adequately purified encysted protozoa must be obtained. Current separation and recovery techniques employ corrosive, hazardous, toxic materials. Measures must be undertaken to compensate for these materials such as extensive washing operations to remove these materials which results in low product yield. The typical method of obtaining the encysted protozoa includes obtaining a source of encysted protozoa, such as the intestines or feces of infected animals. The intestinal matter or fecal matter needs to be separated from the encysted protozoa, and a flotation method is used. Heavy media flotation or sedimentation processes have been used where the heavy media is sodium chloride (U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,731) or sucrose (U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,104). The heavy media is used in an aqueous mixture. Unfortunately, the use of aqueous mixtures of the heavy media can have adverse effects. For example, aqueous mixtures of sodium chloride can lead to severe equipment corrosion.
Before the encysted sporozoa can become infective, the separated oocysts must be sporulated by mild oxidation. Mild oxidation is accomplished by either placing the suspension on a shaking table or bubbling air through the suspension of the oocysts. Potassium dichromate is typically employed to suppress any unwanted microbial growth during sporulation. But, potassium dichromate is a hazardous material. Its use creates handling and disposal problems. Its removal results in reduced yield and increased costs.
A final bleaching step using sodium hypochlorite is used to eliminate any remaining organic material and undesired microorganisms. The bleached encysted protozoa must be washed to reduce the residual bleaching agent concentration to an acceptable level. Washing is accomplished by a series of dilutions and oocyst recovery operations to reduce the bleaching agent levels while producing an oocyst concentrate. The final encysted protozoa concentrate is made into a vaccine under sterile conditions. Each vaccine may include multiple species of protozoa to provide the greatest amount of protection possible.
A need exists for a more efficient vaccination method. Such a vaccination method would employ a live vaccine dosed at a level sufficient to generate an immuno-response to build immunity but low enough not to cause acute symptoms. For example, an in-ovo vaccine against avian coccidiosis can shorten treatment times and allow a more uniform dosage. This method could also be used to collect and produce human vaccines for protection against protozoa including Cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia. The method would employ a non-corrosive dense media flotation process or a gas flotation process that eliminates the need for salt entirely. This improved method would not use a hazardous biocide such as potassium dichromate. Such an alternative biocide or oxidant could also double as a bleaching agent, eliminating another step in the process and another hazardous compound.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for the purification, recovery, and sporulation of cysts and oocysts


A fistula device is provided for use with fish to gather materials, e.g., eggs, from inside an exterior body wall of the fish. The fistula device includes a body member having a flange at one end thereof. The flange, in use, engages an outside surface of the exterior body wall of the fish to hold the device in place. The device also includes a hollow cylindrical body portion having both internal and external threading. A retaining ring is adapted to be placed against an interior surface of the exterior wall of the fish, and includes internal threading permitting the ring to be screwed onto the external threading of the body member. A knitted plastic mesh is secured to the retaining ring and adapted to be sutured to the inside of the exterior body wall of the fish. A removable plug used to close off the device includes a threaded portion adapted to be screwed into the body member.

The present invention relates to the collection and evaluation of materials such as eggs from the piscine species (i.e., fish) and, more particularly to a fistula device and method used in such collection and evaluation.
In sturgeon culture, the currently accepted practice is to perform multiple surgical biopsies, annually, on individual fish to evaluate and collect eggs for spawning. These procedures are, understandably, extremely traumatic for the fish. The use of repeated surgical procedures causes increased trauma, pain and stress to the fish while increasing the risk of infection and contamination of samples that are collected in this manner.
Fistulas have been designed for use with cattle which allow external access to the rumen of the animal to permit removal of ingesta. A further fistula of interest is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,485 (Beckers). This patent discloses a bladder portal including a fistula threaded on the inside to accept a seatable screw. The fistula includes a flange fitting inside the bladder and a further flange positioned outside the body. The screw is removed to permit urine to flow. U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,244 (Hill) discloses a tubular stoma adapter for insertion into the lumen of a body orifice. The adapter is held in place by tabs formed at the outer edge of a circular lip and by an adhesive sheet which holds the taps against the walls of the corresponding wall of the patient. U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,289 (Kapral) discloses a chamber for implantation into the body cavity of an animal. The chamber comprises a ring having two faces and a pair of membranes which cover the ring faces.
In accordance with the invention, a method and device are provided which enable less traumatic in-vivo evaluation of egg development within fish, and which thereby enable more efficient and less traumatic collective of roe for hatching or marketing as a consumable. The device of the invention can also be used to provide access to the ceolomic cavity for other types of sampling (i.e., biopsies of other organs, sperm collection, and the like). The device can be used by individuals involved in fish production or by researchers in fish physiology, theriogenology and medicine.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a fistula device is provided for use with piscine species to gather material from inside an exterior body wall of the species, the device comprising: a body member including a flange at one end thereof adapted to engage an outside surface of the exterior body wall of the piscine species and a hollow cylindrical body portion including internal threading and external threading; a retaining ring adapted to be placed against an interior surface of the exterior wall of the species, the ring including internal threading permitting the ring to be screwed onto the external threading of the body member; a mesh member secured to retaining ring and adapted to be sutured to the exterior wall of the species internally of that wall; and a removable member including a threaded portion adapted to be screwed into the hollow body portion of said body member.
Preferably, the flange of said body member includes a plurality of holes spaced around the circumference thereof for enabling the flange to be sutured to the exterior wall of the species.
Advantageously, the retaining ring includes a plurality of holes spaced around the circumference thereof and a plurality of sutures received in the holes for affixing the mesh member to the ring. The mesh member advantageously comprises a knitted monofilament mesh, and is preferably made of polypropylene.
The member advantageously includes a flange at one end thereof.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, a method is provided for collecting materials from inside of a piscine species through an exterior body wall of the species, the method comprising: providing a fistula device comprising a hollow body member having a flange at one end thereof, a retaining ring having a mesh member affixed to the outer periphery thereof and a closure plug; placing the body member in a hole created by excision of skin and muscle tissue in a lateral or ventral aspect of the exterior body wall of the species, and positioning the flange of the body member against an exterior surface of the body wall of the species; placing the retaining ring inside the species through a second incision in the body wall and securing the ring to the body member; affixing the mesh member to an interior area of the body wall; and inserting the closure plug into hollow body member to close off the body member.
Preferably, the ring is threaded onto external threads on the hollow body member to secure the ring to the body member. Similarly, the closure plug is preferably threaded into an internally threaded central bore in the body member.
Advantageously, the flange of the body member is sutured to the exterior surface of the body wall of the species to provide further stability.
The mesh member is preferably affixed to the body wall by suturing the mesh member to the interior area of the body wall.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in, or apparent from, the detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof which follows.

Fistula device and method for in-vivo evaluation of fish egg development

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior


A heat exchanger tube for condensing steam with the use of cooling air includes an upper steam supply and a lower condensate discharge. The heat exchanger tube has an elongated cross-section in the flow direction of the transversely flowing cooling air. The interior of the tube is divided by a separating wall extending transversely of the flow direction of the cooling air into a condenser stretch whose cross-section becomes smaller in the flow direction of the steam and a dephlegmator stretch whose cross-section becomes smaller in the flow direction of the steam, wherein the condenser stretch is at the lower end thereof connected to the dephlegmator stretch for conducting steam from the condenser stretch to the dephlegmator stretch, and wherein a gas/steam mixture exhauster is mounted at the upper end of the dephlagmator stretch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat exchanger tube for condensing steam by means of cooling air with an upper steam supply and a lower condensate discharge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heat exchanger tubes of this type are usually combined in groups or rows and are coupled to other heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators to form air-cooled condensers. In this connection, the heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators particularly have the purpose of preventing the danger of freezing.
In accordance with the prior art, the heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators, i.e., wherein the condensate flows in a counter-current flow to the steam, are arranged separately from the heat exchanger tubes operated in a co-current flow, i.e., wherein the condensate flows in the same direction as the steam, and the excess steam from the heat exchanger tubes operated as condensers is conducted through collection chambers and pipelines from below into the heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators, or alternatively, the excess steam is allowed to flow through a collection chamber from below into the heat exchanger tubes operated in a counter-current flow. All heat exchanger tubes are arranged in a condenser. This condenser can be combined with additional condensers, particularly in a roof-shaped configuration.
Although the conventional principle has basically proved to be successful, it must be pointed out from practical experience that, in the past, it was always necessary to make compromises particularly with respect to the condenser/dephlegmator ratio. These compromises were due to different weather conditions prevailing over the course of a year, the maximum quantity of steam to be processed, and also the configuration of the heat exchanger tube groups in relation to the different ventilators provided for these groups.
In addition, in accordance with the prior art, pipelines are required for conducting excess steam from the heat exchanger tubes operated as condensers into the separately arranged heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators. Moreover, frequently the phenomenon called "swallowing" of condensate in the heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators must be observed. This phenomenon occurs when the steam velocities when entering the heat exchanger tubes operated as dephlegmators are still so high that the condensate flowing downwardly in a counter-current flow in these heat exchanger tubes is held up in the manner of an umbrella or buffer or this condensate column may even be pressed further upwardly. This "swallowing" phenomenon significantly reduces the efficiency of a condenser.


The tool comprises a body having a top portion within which is formed a generally U-shaped notch with a width and depth that are much larger than the diameter of the wire to be handled. The sides of the notch are outwardly tapered so that the notch is wider at its top. All edges of the notch are smoothed and have a radius such that there is no binding of the wire onto the tool. The design of the tool allows the wire to easily slip across the bottom of the notch without binding. The lower portion of the cylinder comprises a concentric bore for receiving a pole or other lifting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for the expedient and effortless installation and removal of an electrical cord or string of lights on the eaves of a structure.
2. Description of Related Art
When an electrical cord, or string of lights, such as Christmas lights, is installed on the eaves of a home, patio or other structure for decorative purposes, such as during the Christmas season, a ladder is usually required to reach the eaves and some form of hardware, such as staples, nails or hooks, is used to hold the lights in place. The user normally is not tall enough to reach the structure, nor has the means to attach the lights to the structure from the ground. To install the lights, one or two methods is normally employed. In the first method, the user places a ladder against the structure then climbs up the ladder to a point high enough that he can reach the attachment point while holding the lights in one hand and a stapler in the other. While still holding the wire and stapler, he leans over to the attachment point, places the string of lights against the structure, then staples the lights into place. The user then climbs back down the ladder, still holding the stapler, moves the ladder a few feet, and repeats the process until the lights are completely installed. In the second method, a previously-and permanently-installed hanging device, such as a cup hook or nail, is used to hold the lights in place on the structure. The user must place a ladder at the attachment point, climb up the ladder with the lights in had, reach out and place the lights onto the hook, and climb back down. The user must then move the ladder to the next attachment point and repeat the process until all of the lights are installed.
For both methods, the user must have access to a ladder which is tall enough for the user to reach the attachment point without requiring his hands to be free to hold onto the ladder or structure. In the first method, the user must have enough balance to hold the lights against the structure while stapling the lights to the structure. Because the process of stapling requires the use of both hands, it places the user in a precarious position, with a high risk of falling while he is trying to attach the lights. This can be especially dangerous in the case of a two or three story house. The user must have the physical dexterity and strength to climb up and down the ladder and then move the ladder from position to position in order to install the lights around the entire perimeter of the structure.
With the first method, the use of staple is also inherently risky in that it is not always possible to control the depth that the staple penetrates the wood and, in turn, the pressure against the electrical write portion of the lights. The staple may tear through the wire casing and create a risk of electrical shock or fire.
The second method of handing lights by way of a permanently-installed hook is a safer approach than the first. However, the user must still rely on the ladder to reach high enough to place the wire within the hook. A better method is to use a device attached to a pole which will hold the wire so that the string of lights can be raised up to the structure and placed on the hook while the user is standing on the ground, thus making the ladder unnecessary. One such device is demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 340,846 of Nicholas, Jr., xe2x80x9cIMPLEMENT HEAD FOR RELOCATING CHRISTMAS LIGHTSxe2x80x9d, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This device requires the use of a separate hanging device previously attached to the structure to which the Christmas lights would be attached. However, a disadvantage of this device is its wedge shaped opening. The deep-V wedge shape will tend to let the electrical cord of the light wedge itself into the bottom of the xe2x80x9cVxe2x80x9d, trapping the electrical cord such that the wire will not move and may require excessive force separate the wire and tool. This makes adjustments in the placement of the device onto the wire very difficult since the release is dependent upon a fairly strong downward motion of the tool after the lights have been placed on the hook, which may yank the wire, causing damage. Furthermore the narrow opening required relatively precise alignment of the tool in order to capture the wire, which can be difficult in view of the length of the pole on which the tool is mounted. Another disadvantage of this device is the crook structure on the tool head which can be inadvertently caught on the wire or other protrusion from the structure. In the case where the lights are being installed in a tree, the user could be constantly struggling to dislodge the crook from branches and/or needles or leaves. Still another disadvantage of the tool design is the difficulty in manufacture due to its multi-angle construction.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide an easier means for the placement of a string of lights onto a structure, especially where there is a steep pitch to the roof line, or the distance from the ground to the roof line is great, and where small adjustments in the placement of the tool on the lights is required.
It is another advantage of the present invention to eliminate the possible entanglement of the tool with the wires of the string of lights.
In an exemplary embodiment, the tool comprises a body having a top portion within which is formed a generally U-shaped notch with a width and depth that are much larger than the diameter of the wire to be handled. The sides of the notch are outwardly sloped the two sides so that the notch is wider at its top. All edges of the notch are smoothed and have a radius such that there is no binding of the wire onto the tool. The design of the tool allows the wire to easily slip across the bottom of the notch without binding. The lower portion of the cylinder comprises a concentric bore for receiving a pole or other lifting device. The bore can have internal threads for mating with an externally-threaded pole such as a broom handle, or the bore can be generally smooth with a diameter adapted to provide a straight slip fit or a wedge interference fit.
The tool is used for installing a wire such as a string of lights onto hook by capturing the wire in the notch by placing the walls of the notch generally parallel with the wire. The tool is rotated until the corners, or contact edges, of the notch capture the wire in place within the notch. The tool is lifted to a position above the hook and moved into close proximity with the hook so that the wire is immediately above the hook opening. The tool is lowered to place the wire in the hook, then rotated in a direction opposite to the initial capturing motion to release the tool""s hold on the wire. The tool is then lowered away for the wire and the steps repeated at the next attachment location. If desired, the tool can even be slid along the length of the wire to the next location for attachment.

Method for installation and removal of a wire at an elevated location


A display control device, having a processor structured for receiving terrain elevation information and samples of current position and altitude above ground data; and one or more algorithms resident on the processor for generating, as a function of the current position and altitude above ground data, one or more display control signals for causing a display device to display, in a monochromatic scale graduated as a function of terrain elevation relative to mean sea level, a strategic portion of the terrain elevation information extending between a minimum elevation of the strategic portion of the terrain elevation information and a pre-selected strategic altitude threshold less than the altitude above ground data.

Visual display systems for providing an aircraft pilot terrain situational awareness and real-time, dynamic display of any terrain hazards are generally well-known. Typically, such displays show terrain and potential hazards formatted in either a horizontal terrain elevation view or a profile terrain elevation view relative to the host aircraft's position, altitude and heading.
FIG. 1 shows a known terrain situation awareness display 10 that illustrates by example on the upper portion a horizontal or plan terrain elevation view 12, also known as a "bird's eye" or map view, and on the lower portion a profile terrain elevation view 14, as described by Wichgers, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,936,552, INTEGRATED HORIZONTAL AND PROFILE TERRAIN DISPLAY FORMAT FOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Both views are based on a display generated using a Jeppesen supplied database that covers a 300 by 270 mile area of terrain. Scale of the display 10 is indicated by numerals thereon. For example, when the scale of display is a total of 160 miles ahead of the aircraft (triangle icon 16) to the top of the screen, the numeral "80" is shown in the center of horizontal elevation view 12 to indicate the midpoint. The numerals "1," "80," and "160" similarly show the scale at the bottom of profile view 14. The display format scaling is selectable similar to weather radar display scale selections, or is continuously selectable.
The horizontal elevation view 12 uses a triangle icon 16 to indicate the host aircraft's current position. Current aircraft altitude 18 is depicted on the horizontal elevation view 12 as an altitude of 4200 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL). Aircraft heading is indicated by the vertical dashed line 20 extending from triangle icon 16 to compass rose 22 and the selected aircraft heading is 357 degrees as indicated by the triangular heading bug 24 on the compass rose 22.
The horizontal elevation view 12 displays elevation data for the region around the aircraft, the terrain elevation data is supplied by a database as a function of aircraft position. Terrain elevations are displayed relative to the aircraft, rather than absolute elevations. Terrain elevations higher than a pre-selected "comfort zone" below the current aircraft altitude are depicted by illuminating corresponding pixels of the display. See, for example, regions 26 of display 10. The display is monochromatic for terrain elevations below the pre-selected comfort zone.
The profile situational awareness display portion 14 of the display 10 indicates the aircraft present position using triangle symbol 28. Horizontal dashed line 30 represents current aircraft altitude and is useful for determining terrain clearance. Terrain profile 32 depicts the vertical terrain elevation profile of the path directly in front of the aircraft as supplied by the database of terrain elevation data as a function of aircraft position. The terrain profile 32 of the profile display 14 depicts a section view or "slice" of terrain elevation information taken along the aircraft heading, as indicated by vertical dashed line 20 of the horizontal elevation view 12.
The display 10 is color coded (colors not shown) according to terrain elevations relative to the aircraft. For example, the colors red, yellow, and green are used to indicate warning, caution, and all clear, respectively. Accordingly, horizontal elevation view 12 are shown using the color red (not shown), indicating warning, to display all terrain elevations which are higher than the host aircraft's current altitude.
The same color scheme (not shown) is used in profile view 14 to display all portions of the flight profile 32 which are higher than the current altitude as indicated by dashed line 30.
The color yellow (not shown), indicating caution, is used to display terrain that is below the aircraft's current altitude but higher than the selected comfort zone. Those portions of horizontal elevation view 12 and profile view 14 are accordingly displayed in yellow.
The color green (not shown), indicating "all clear," is used to display terrain below the selected comfort zone and is not currently a hazard to the aircraft. Blue (not shown) is used to display large bodies of water. Other colors or symbology are utilized to indicate other database information on the display, such as restricted airspace and airport locations.
By providing detailed data only for terrain elevations above the selected comfort zone, such systems fail to supply information about terrain that is not at present a potential threat. Except for color coding large bodies of water and specific database information, such as restricted airspace and airport locations, details are eliminated below the selected comfort zone elevation, and the terrain is painted a single safe or "all clear" color. Known terrain situational awareness display systems are thus limited to displaying only tactical information to which the pilot must react in the short term.

Display methodology for encoding simultaneous absolute and relative altitude terrain data


An engine start control system of the present invention has a power supply controller which includes an ignition power supply relay activating an electric component of a vehicle and a central processing unit controlling the ignition power supply relay, a communication device communicating with a portable unit to authenticate a validity of the portable unit and performing engine start control. Further, the engine start control system has the a first drive line provided between the communication device and the ignition power supply relay and not routed through the central processing unit. By this structure, the system can obtain redundancy.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine start control system and an engine start control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-254113 describes an engine start control system for improving operability of a vehicle. This engine start control system includes functions to control an ignition power supply, control start/stop of an engine, control an accessory power supply, and control locking/unlocking of steering. Furthermore, this engine start control system is capable of independently carrying out start/stop operations of the engine and a locking operation of a steering lock.

Engine start control system and control method


Various systems, devices and methods for providing variable encoder/decoder mechanisms are disclosed. As one example, a coder/decoder device including a plurality of coder/decoder mechanisms, a coder/decoder selection engine, and a computer readable medium is disclosed. The computer readable medium includes a network statistic. The coder/decoder selection engine is operable to select at least one of the plurality of coder/decoder mechanisms based at least in part on the network statistic. Further, the coder/decoder selection engine is operable to offer the at least one of the plurality of coder/decoder mechanisms.

The present invention is related to systems and methods for facilitating communications via a communication network. More particularly, the present invention is related to systems and methods for operating endpoints in a communication network.
In a typical system 100 depicted in FIG. 1, two endpoints 110, 120 in a communication network 130 communicate information to one another. This information may be compressed or otherwise encoded. As such, one or more encoder/decoders are utilized by endpoints 110, 120 to facilitate the communication. In some cases the encoder/decoders adapt to the information stream being sent/received in an effort to assure transmission success. However, it may be the case that network congestion or other failures cause information loss or even complete failure in the communication.
Hence, for at least the aforementioned reasons, there exists a need in the art for advanced systems and methods for performing communications in a communication network.

Applying a variable encoding/decoding scheme in a communication network


There is provided an aqueous resin composition which does not cause coagulation, can be cured at low temperature, and, by this curing, forms a coating superior in mechanical strength, water resistance, solvent resistance and adhesion to various substrates. The aqueous resin composition of this invention comprises an oxazoline group-containing polymer (A), a carboxyl group-containing polymer (B), and an acidic compound-amine salt catalyst (C). The curing is carried out by a reaction between the oxazoline group-containing polymer (A) and the carboxyl group-containing polymer (B) in the presence of the acidic compound-amine salt catalyst (C).

The reaction between an oxazoline group and a carboxyl group is known in public and used to make a crosslinked polymer. There has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,923 a self-curable latex composition consisting of a latex containing oxazoline groups and a latex containing carboxyl groups. This latex composition cures by a reaction of the oxazoline group with the carboxyl group.
On the other hand, there are known catalysts for producing a crosslinked resin from a bisoxazoline compound and a dicarboxylic acid. U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,942 has disclosed a process to make a crosslinked polymer by heating a mixture of the bisoxazoline compound and dicarboxylic acid in the presence of a catalyst such as esters of organic phosphorous acids, inorganic salts. The inorganic salts are halides, nitrates, sulfates, or chlorates of the metal salts of from monovalence to tetravalence. U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,937 has disclosed a process to make a crosslinked polymer by heating a mixture of the bisoxazoline compound and dicarboxylic acid in the presence of oxazoline ring-opening catalysts. The oxazoline ring-opening catalysts are strong acids, sulfonic acid esters, sulfuric acid esters, or organic halides. Japanese Official Patent Provisional Publication, showa 60-161427, has disclosed a process to obtain highly polymerized polyesters by a reaction of a saturated polyester containing a terminal carboxyl group with a bisoxazoline compound under a melted condition in the presence of quarternary ammonium salts.
The aforementioned latex composition is useful in the fields of adhesives, paints, coatings, printing ink and so forth and its suitability for practical use has been required. The curing reaction of the latex composition, especially, the curing reaction at low temperature is very slow to proceed. The curing reaction at low temperature is generally accelerated by a catalyst.
However, the aforementioned catalysts can not accelerate the reaction between the oxazoline group and the carboxyl group, especially the reaction at low temperature and, in certain cases, they cause coagulation the aqueous resin composition.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an aqueous resin composition which does not cause coagulation and can be cured at low temperature and, by this curing, forms a coating superior in mechanical strength, water resistance, solvent resistance, and adhesion to various substrates.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a curing process which can form a coating superior in mechanical strength, water resistance, solvent resistance, and adhesion to various substrates without causing coagulation of a reacting substance and at low temperature.

Aqueous resin composition and curing process


A level shifting device having an input side operating at a first voltage level, an output side operating at a second voltage level and a level shifting circuit which connects the input and output sides. The input circuit receives an input signal referenced to the first voltage level and provides separate outputs corresponding to transitions of the input signal. The level shifting circuit includes MOSFETS having the gates connected respectively to each output of the input circuit; and the source-drain path coupled between the second voltage and a reference for the first voltage. The output side has a differential topology, and includes a first circuit which samples signals corresponding to the transitions of the input signal, holds the sample between transitions, and an output circuit which receives the held sample signal in differential form and converts it to single-ended form for use by other circuits. The circuit also blocks input signals when common mode transients are present. The device is realized as an integrated circuit using exclusively n-channel MOSFETS in the critical path of operation.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to level shifting devices, and more particularly, to level shifting devices which operate at high frequencies, e.g., up to about 2 MHz, and exhibit low power dissipation and good immunity to transient (i.e., common mode) voltages.
2. Relevant Art
Level shifters are basically interface buffers that couple signals referenced to a first signal level into circuits referenced to a completely separate and different second signal level. For example, portions of an integrated circuit (IC) logic device may be connected between a supply voltage VSUPP and a common signal level COM, but the output of the IC must drive another device connected between a power voltage VPWR and a ground GND. Examples of such applications include half-bridge and full-bridge high voltage topologies used in motor drives, lighting ballasts, class-D audio amplifiers and other floating well system topologies.
In some applications, such as class-D amplifiers and plasma panel displays, the level shifter must operate at high frequencies (e.g., up to about 2 MHz) with minimum propagation delays, and must be immune to false operation by common mode transients due to the high switching speeds. And always, with ICS, low power dissipation is an important consideration.
Numerous circuit designs have been proposed to satisfy these requirements, but all are deficient to a greater or lesser degree in one or more respects. Thus a need still exists for a level shifter circuit design which better meets these requirements.

High speed transient immune differential level shifting device


Systems and methods for network asset lifecycle management are described. Network assets may include ephemeral Internet-accessible assets such as IP addresses, domain names, digital certificates, and cloud infrastructure accounts. A set of addresses associated with a computer network such as the Internet are scanned. Response data is received from one or more network systems connected to the computer network and processed to identify one or more network assets associated with an entity such as an enterprise organization. Asset data indicative of the identified network assets are then stored to build a record of the network assets associated with the entity.

Various computing devices (e.g., computers, mobile devices, server systems, client systems, internet-of-things devices, etc.) can communicate over a network such as the Internet. Internet-connected devices and systems commonly include one or more publicly addressable communication ports, allowing other Internet-connected devices and systems to query the Internet connected devices and systems. Some devices allow a range of connection types (e.g., hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) connections, hypertext transfer protocol-secure (HTTPS) connections, file transfer protocol (FTP) connections, file transfer protocol-secure (FTPS) connections, telnet connections, secure socket shell (SSH) connections, etc.) over the one or more publicly accessible ports. Internet-connected devices and systems can comprise a wide range of different types of hardware devices running a wide range of software including a wide range of configuration options, creating a myriad of possibilities for security vulnerabilities.


Embodiments described herein generally relate to devices, systems and methods for measuring the dose remaining in a drug delivery device that is used for delivering a dose to a patient. In some embodiments, a dose measurement system for measuring the liquid volume in a container includes a plurality of light sources which are disposed and configured to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the container. A plurality of sensors are located in the apparatus that are optically coupleable to the plurality of light sources and are disposed and configured to detect the electromagnetic radiation emitted by at least a portion of the light sources. The apparatus also includes a processing unit configured to receive data representing the portion of the detected electromagnetic radiation from each of the plurality of sensors. The processing unit is further operable to convert the received data into a signature representative of the electromagnetic radiation detected by the plurality of sensors.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to devices, systems and methods for measuring the dose remaining in a drug delivery device.
Many chronic disease patients are prescribed medications that need to be self administered using injection pens or similar drug delivery devices. For example, patients diagnosed with Type I or II diabetes need to regularly check their blood glucose levels and self administer an appropriate dose of insulin using an injection pen. In order to monitor the efficacy of the medication, dose information needs to be recorded. The process of manually logging dose information, particularly in an uncontrolled setting, is tedious and error prone. Patients often forget to log the dose information when administering medicine. In addition, many such patients can be minors or elderly and cannot efficiently keep track of the dose information.
Incomplete dosage records hinder the ability of the patient to self-manage disease conditions and prevent caretakers from adjusting care plans through behavioral insight. Lack of adherence to target dosage schedules for injectable medicine can result in an increased need for critical care, which results in a significant increase in health care costs in countries around the world.
Thus, there is a need for better technological aids to assist patients in improving their ability to self-manage disease treatment. Such aids can not only make the patients more aware and educated about their health condition, but also assist caregivers in better monitoring patient health. In particular, there is a need for systems, devices and methods that facilitate data acquisition on patient behavior and that allow that data to be used to reduce the incidence of hospital visits (e.g., readmission), as well as to inform and educate patients, care providers, family and financial service providers.


A motor control system capable of securing stability and rapidity of motion even in a machine where the stability varies in accordance with a position of a driven member. The driven member and a motor for driving the driven member are operatively connected through a transmission mechanism including a nonlinear element such that a rate of change of the position of the driven member with respect to the position of the motor varies in dependence on the position of the motor. Optimum values of multiplier factors of operation constants with respect to the position of the driven member or the rotational position of the motor for the position control and the velocity control are stored in a data table. The values of the multiplier factors of the operation constants for a present position of the driven member or a present position of the motor are determined using the data table and the determined values of the multiplier factors are multiplied by reference operation constants to update the operation constants. The position and/or velocity control processing is performed using the updated optimum operation constants in accordance with the present position of the driven member or the present rotational position of the motor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor control system for controlling a servomotor for driving an axis of a driving mechanism of an industrial machine such as a robot, a machine tool, an injection molding machine and a press machine.
2. Description of Related Art
In an industrial machine such as a robot, a machine tool, an injection molding machine and a press machine, a driving axis for driving a driven member is driven by a servomotor such that a position and/or a velocity of the driving axis is feedback controlled by position control processing and velocity control processing. Conventionally, operation constants, such as gains, for use in mathematical operations in the position control processing and the velocity control processing have been set to fixed values. The position control processing and/or the velocity control processing is performed using the fixed operation constants even in a control system where stability of the system varies in dependence on a position of the driving axis (a position of the driven member and a rotational position of the servomotor).
For example, in a machine in which a nonlinear element is intervened between the servomotor and the driven member in a transmission mechanism for mechanically connecting the servomotor and the driven member such that relation of a rotational position of the servomotor with respect to a position of the driven member is not proportional, a ratio between the position feedback and the velocity feedback changes in dependence of the position of the driving axis. Since this is equivalent to an effect that a reduction ratio of the transmission mechanism dynamically changes in accordance with the position of the driven member, the control system becomes stable at a position of a relatively large reduction ratio and unstable at a position of a relatively small reduction ratio. Thus, in the conventional motor control system, the operation constants have been predetermined in view of the stability of the system at the position where the dynamic reduction ratio of the transmission mechanism is relatively small. As a result, the operation at the position where the dynamic reduction ratio is relative large to be made slow to delay the whole cycle time of motion of the machine.


An electrical connector includes a cage which defines a wire receiving area aligned with a wire insertion axis, an elongated slot oriented obliquely with respect to the wire insertion axis, a clamp guided by the slot for movement toward and away from the wire receiving area, and a clamp screw rotatably mounted in the cage to move the clamp toward and away from the wire receiving area. The cage includes side walls and top walls, and the top walls are mechanically interlocked to resist separation. The clamp defines elongated ribs that engage the elongated slots, and the elongated ribs are configured to resist rotation of the clamp in the cage. The clamp is configured such that a portion of the clamp cantilevers beyond the free end of the screw when the screw is rotated to bring the clamp closely adjacent the contact surface. The screw is held in place in the cage by transverse slots defined by wings of the cage. These transverse slots intersect the elongated guide slots that receive the ribs of the clamp.

This invention relates to an electrical connector of the type which utilizes a clamp screw to move a clamp inside a cage in order to force the clamp toward a contact surface defined by the cage to terminate a wire.
French Patent Document 2 520 561 describes one electrical connector of the general type set out above. In this connector a sheet metal cage defines a pair of parallel guide slots which receive circular bosses formed on a clamp. The clamp defines a threaded bore that receives a screw, and this screw is captured in the sheet metal cage such that it is free to rotate but is restrained from axially outward movement. The cage defines a wire receiving area and a contact surface on an inside wall of the cage opposite the clamp. By rotating the screw the clamp can be moved away from the contact surface in order to allow a wire to be inserted into the wire receiving area. The screw can then be rotated to urge the clamp against the wire, thereby immobilizing the wire between the clamp and the contact surface.
The present invention is directed to improvements to electrical connectors of the type described initially above, which strengthen the cage against distortion, simplify assembly, and reduce the tendency of the clamp to shift or rotate undesirably when subjected to an eccentric load.


A golf green repair tool with a depth limiting feature that has an earth engagement surface that has a forward slant to reposition the raised portion around a crater to the center region of the crater. A prong portion is adapted to be thrusted toward the center region of the crater and the repair tool is adapted to do minimal damage to the turf mat and provides a desirable method to repair craters left by impacting golf balls by properly repositioning of the displaced portions.

In the sport of golf, greens are generally comprised of a sand and peat moss composition that is well-suited for an upper plane surface comprised of turf plant that is cut to a low height. This upper plane surface provides a relatively low resistance rolling surface for a golf ball and the gradient of the surface is very gradual so there are a minimal number of localized dips and edges that divert a golf ball in its course of travel during a putt. However, on occasion craters or ball marks are created in the green and the most common form of creating a crater is when a golf ball forcefully lands upon a green and causes a ball mark crater thereupon. Often times, a chip shot is taken with a higher numbered iron whereby the ball has a forward and downward arcing trajectory upon impact. Normally, the forward path of the golf ball creates a raised region in the forward direction. It is normal protocol and a courteous procedure to repair the craters and ball marks after they are created.
Prior art methods of repairing the green after a dent is created comprise two-dimensional tools with extension members adapted to extend into the turf layers and the underlying ground layer immediately therebelow, whereby the prior art lacks a depth limiting feature and a forward surface to manipulate the upper sod layer.
The tool as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,829 shows a method and apparatus to repair dents in a green formed by golf balls. The apparatus is adapted to be positioned onto the upper handle region of the golf putter or the like. It has been found that having a maneuverable apparatus with a handle region and a rearward surface to aid in the manipulation of the golf green is advantageous for fixing a dent thereon.
Tilting and leveraging of the underground and above ground roots, rhizomes and stolons actually kills the grass, but pushing it forward does not. In essence, the teaching of a retrofit to a putter is to have a flat upper surface such that when your putter is in a stored position in a golf bag, the entire surface is resting on the very bottom portion of the floor of the golf bag.

Golf green repair device method and apparatus


A furnace control apparatus is described wherein a flow of gas into a burner assembly is directly dependent on an indicia of burner combustion air airflow, such as heat exchanger pressure drop. According to one embodiment of the invention, a first communication fluid line is interposed between a gas valve regulator and a heat exchanger at a first point, and a second communication fluid line is interposed between a gas valve regulator a heat exchanger at a second point. The main valve of the gas valve is responsive to the pressure differential between the first and second points so that a flow of gas into a furnace burner assembly is commensurate with a present flow level of combustion air.

1. Field of the Invention:
The invention relates in general to an apparatus for controlling gas flow for combustion in a two-stage furnace. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved valve for directly adjusting the gas flow in a two-stage furnace in response to the pressure drop across the heat exchanger system.
2. Background of the Prior Art:
A gas valve in a typical two-stage furnace includes two discreet position settings. Setting the gas valve to a first position results in a gas flow appropriate for supporting a low stage operating condition while setting the gas valve to a second setting results in a gas flow appropriate for supporting a high stage operating condition. The gas valve in general is switchable between a first and second position by actuation of a solenoid, which is energized via a pressure switch that is responsive to the pressure drop across the furnace heat exchanger system.
It has been the object of recent furnace control methods, however, to eliminate pressure switches which sense pressure drop across the furnace heat exchanger system. For example, application Ser. No. 08/602,436 assigned to a common assignee and incorporated herein by reference, describes a furnace control method which, in a dedicated system embodiment, does not require any pressure switches. In a method of the invention, a variable speed inducer motor in a two-stage furnace is controlled by a lookup table wherein torque required to sustain a stable excess air level (and constant heat exchanger pressure drop) is correlated with current motor speed. If low stage operation is required then the furnace operates in accordance with a low stage operating plot stored in the lookup table with the gas valve set to the first position. If high stage operation is required then the furnace operates in accordance with a high stage operating plot stored in the lookup table. When the high stage condition has been met, the gas valve solenoid is energized to change the gas valve setting from the first position to the second position.
There is a potential problem involved in the use of a two position gas valve in a furnace controlled according to a method wherein a gas valve is made responsive to lookup table. If, due to a selection error or other malfunction a lookup table for controlling a furnace inducer motor is selected that is inappropriate for the present furnace size, the present gas flow level may be inappropriate for the present combustion air level.

Modulating gas valve furnace control method


A waveform synthesizer comprises a controllable oscillator for generating an oscillator waveform having an oscillator cycle; a reference input for accepting a reference signal having a reference cycle; and a waveform detector coupled to said oscillator and said reference input. The waveform detector is arranged to sample said waveform in response to said reference input and to determine waveform information about said oscillator. The waveform information is operative to adjust said controllable oscillator.

Frequency synthesizers are one of the key building blocks in system-on-chips (SoCs), as well as wireless transceivers. Key requirements of frequency synthesizers are an ability to operate in a fractional operation, which offers flexibility in frequency planning and allows use of a single crystal oscillator clock as a reference clock. This results in a single chip with multi standard solution for wireline applications. Moreover, the integrated jitter or phase noise should be sufficiently low enough to support complex modulation schemes. To achieve low integrated jitter performance, a conventional phase-locked loop (PLL), as shown in FIG. 1, requires wide bandwidth to help suppressing the phase noise of an oscillator. Unfortunately, conventional PLL circuits suffer from a lack of achievable bandwidth, which is typically less than 1/10 of the reference clock due to system stability. Additionally, analog loop filters used in PLLs are not scalable as technology advances. Furthermore, leakage current can cause problems for charge pump design, requiring special attention.
Alternatively, a digital fractional-N PLL can be implemented by means of a single-point edge (i.e., phase) detection in a feedback based frequency synthesizer as shown in FIG. 2. The phase of the oscillator (i.e., variable phase) is calculated by counting the number of zero-to-one transitions at the output, while the reference phase is obtained by an accumulation of the frequency command word (FCW) on every rising edge of reference clock. The reference phase is then compared with the oscillator phase to find the residue phase error by means of a time to digital converter (TDC).
However, to achieve very low in-band phase noise, a highly precise phase digitization is required; however, the resolution of conventional time-to-digital converters (TDCs) are limited to one inverter delay, i.e., not much better than 7 ps for 28 nm CMOS technology (unless much more power is spent). Typically, an in-band phase noise of an All Digital Phase-Locked Loop (AD-PLL) can be computed as:L(f)=10*log((2π/12)2(Δtres/TDCO)(1/fREF))  (1)where Δtres is the resolution of TDC, TDCO is the period of the oscillator, and fREF is the frequency of the reference clock. FIG. 3 shows the theoretical in-band phase noise limitation of an ADPLL for different resolution values of TDC. It can be observed that to achieve an in-band phase noise that is limited by the noise from the reference clock, the resolution of TDC should be lower than 0.5 ps which is a tough specification for conventional ADPLLs. Moreover, for fractional-N operation, the frequency synthesizer requires a sufficient dynamic range which results in high power consumption. Consequently, to achieve ultra-low levels of in-band phase noise and fractional spurs, a different approach yielding a sub-ps level timing resolution is required.
Conventional methods to achieve precise phase detection with large dynamic range using time-to-digital converter (TDC), e.g. an inverter chain, generally requires high power consumption for sufficient dynamic range. This is because, to increase the buffer speed with a suppression of its jitter, it requires high power consumption per stage multiplied by a large number of stages (it grows linearly with the dynamic range). Approaches to improve the resolution of the TDC to below one inverter delay, e.g., delay line, nonlinear time amplifier, requires additional power consumption and area. Moreover, it requires calibration for large dynamic range.
An alternative solution is to use a sub-sampling phase detector in a digital architecture which is composed of two mechanisms. The first step is the conversion from time to voltage domains and the second step is the conversion from voltage to digital domain using an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC). In recent years, an ADC can achieve 8-bit resolution with low power consumption. Therefore, the sub-sampling architecture in digital PLL can achieve fine resolution. However, this conventional architecture is restricted to integer-N operation. In a conventional integer-N synthesizer, the resolution of the output frequency is determined by the reference frequency applied to the phase detector. So, for example, if 200 kHz spacing is required, then the reference frequency must be 200 kHz. It can be difficult to provide a stable 200 kHZ frequency source for the reference frequency, however—higher frequency sources (e.g. circa. 10 MHz) are more easily available. With this in mind, fractional-N approaches allow the resolution at the PLL output to be reduced to small fractions of the reference frequency. It is possible to generate output frequencies with resolutions of 100 s of Hz, while maintaining a high reference frequency. Approaches to achieve fractional operation in the sub-sampling architecture suffer from nonlinear conversion from time to voltage domain, which limits achievable performance.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a waveform synthesizer according to claim 1.
The waveform information is sufficient to allow the oscillator waveform to be reconstructed, together with all the important information pertaining to it.
The waveform synthesizer may be capable of determining any and all of amplitude, frequency, phase, and harmonic level of the waveform. A user may be given the option as to which of amplitude, frequency, phase, and harmonic level of the waveform are determined.
In some embodiments the waveform synthesizer comprises a frequency synthesizer.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a frequency synthesizer according to claim 17.
In this aspect, sampling said reference signal multiple times per reference cycle may refer to sampling more than 1 reference events per reference cycle, for example 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or more reference events.
In such embodiments, the information extracted about the oscillator cycle (as opposed to the reference cycle) may only be frequency information. Alternatively, the frequency synthesizer may be part of a waveform synthesizer, and waveform information sufficient to reconstruct the oscillator waveform may be extracted.
According to an alternative or complimentary aspect, there is provided a method or means of oversampling a first waveform or input signal to extract multiple reference events over the course of at least one reference cycle of a second waveform or reference signal; reconstructing the waveform, typically in the digital domain to form a reconstructed signal; and determine phase, amplitude, harmonic or other relevant information from the reconstructed signal such as by comparing the reconstructed signal to the input signal.
Optional features are described with reference to the dependent claims. It can be appreciated that features described with respect to one aspect can be equally applied to the other described aspects or embodiments of the present disclosure.
Instead of exploiting only a single sample of phase information in the feedback path per reference event, the proposed waveform synthesizer makes use of oversampling and reconstruction of the input waveform in digital domain in order to extract the phase error information. This results in a significant improvement in resolution of the detector part in an all-digital waveform synthesizer. Accordingly, the waveform synthesizer may be considered to be a wave-locked loop.
Whereas a phase-locked loop (PLL) is a control system that generates an output signal whose phase is related to the phase of an input signal, a wave-locked loop is a control system that generates an output signal the waveform of which is related to the waveform of an input signal. As such, it may not be only the phase that is linked, but also at least one of amplitude and frequency (preferably both). Preferably, oscillator waveform information is converted into digital information which includes phase, frequency and amplitude information (waveform information). The input signal can therefore be reconstructed in the digital domain.
The present invention utilises whole-waveform detection rather than a single-point edge (i.e., phase, zero-crossing) detection in a feedback based waveform synthesizer. The oscillator in high-performance systems is typically LC-tank based, hence it will produce a near-perfect sinusoidal voltage. Normally, that sinusoidal waveform is converted to a digital clock through a zero-crossing slicing. Edges of such resulting variable (feedback) clock may then be compared with edges of the reference clock and the phase error signal may be created to drive the oscillator in a negative feedback manner. In this disclosure, oversampling and digitizing of the oscillator waveform may produce enough digital samples to reconstruct, now in digital domain, the waveform and compare against a model waveform y(t)=A sin(wt+phi). Such a comparison can yield information about the input waveform, such as, but not limited to, phase, ϕ, to a much finer precision than currently achievable.
In conventional digital sub-sampling architecture, only a single sample point is used, which cannot determine precise amplitude information. In such conventional architecture, sampled voltage information is used to determine equivalent phase information. However, if there is any change in oscillation amplitude, this can alter the equivalent phase resolution and gain of the phase detector and can cause problems in terms of system stability or phase noise degradation.
Sets of sampled voltages are used to determine both phase and amplitude information. Accordingly, any changes over process-voltage-temperature variations that may alter the amplitude of the input waveform are accounted for almost instantly. As can be appreciated, the proposed wave detector circuit is therefore more robust over such process-voltage-temperature variations than conventional phase detectors, for example when an abrupt change in temperature causes a change in the amplitude of the (digitally controlled) oscillator, because the amplitude change is detected.
In this invention, instead of using only one sampled point per reference cycle, oversampling and digitizing of the oscillator waveform produces digital samples to reconstruct, in the digital domain, the waveform and to compare it against the model or reference waveform. The comparison yields such important information as phase, phi, to a finer precision than currently achievable, and also allows other information to be extracted.
As disclosed herein, firstly, phase information can be determined by a digital algorithm from a set of digital samples that resemble the input oscillator waveform instead of considering only edges. This results in a fine-resolution phase detection and better robustness on PVT variations when compared to prior art sub-sampling-based phase detectors. Secondly, frequency information can be estimated within a small number of oscillator periods of the input signal as shown in FIG. 6, for example, 1, 2 or 3 oscillator periods. This results in high-speed response which can enable faster locking time. Additionally, a set of digital samples of the input oscillator waveform can be used to estimate the amplitude of different harmonics associated with the input oscillator waveform. This can be used to fine-tune low phase noise oscillators by properly tuning harmonic contents of an oscillator as shown in FIG. 8, e.g., class-F oscillators.
Additionally, frequency and amplitude information can both be obtained within a single oscillator period of the oscillator waveform. Since the frequency information and fine phase detection can be achieved in one oscillator period, a much faster locking time can be achieved than by conventional methods. Moreover, the harmonics in the input oscillator waveform can be estimated. This allows additional calibration for an oscillator for lower phase noise performance.
Advantageously, oversampling the oscillator waveform therefore allows the frequency and amplitude information to be computed within an oscillator period. By contrast, in a conventional AD-PLL, a counter is used to sample the rising edges of all the CKV edges from an oscillator which requires at least one reference cycle to process. As such, particularly in cases in which the reference cycle is significantly longer than the oscillator cycle, the invention as described herein allows such information to be determined more quickly.
The claimed invention is NOT merely a phase detector, but a waveform detector. The phase of the waveform is just one of the parameters that is being detected, but not the only one. For example, the amplitude is also able to be detected (due to multiple detection points) as discussed above.

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND


A method for controlling internal combustion engine emissions, including the steps of reading signals from sensors in an engine exhaust manifold and catalytic converter exhaust, an upstream one of the sensors being provided with an air-fuel mixture setpoint, comparing signal values with previous average values and automatically adjusting the air-fuel mixture set point to vary the fuel mixture fed to the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the control of fuel mixtures for internal combustion engines to mitigate exhaust pollutants.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of oxygen sensors to control internal combustion engine fuel mixtures to exact stoichiometry is known. The control is necessary for catalysts, used to mitigate exhaust pollutants, to operate properly on the engines.
The control of a fuel mixture relies upon such oxygen sensors positioned before and/or after a catalyst used to mitigate the exhaust pollutants. The sensor or sensors provide signals to a fuel control system which varies the fuel mixture to achieve the best possible emission levels.
In a known single-sensor system, the sensor is placed before the catalyst (hereinafter termed "upstream" sensor) and its signal is fed back to a fuel control system which then varies the fuel mixture to achieve the best possible emission levels. Unfortunately, the sensors are subject to drift due to aging, environmental conditions, and engine operating parameters and conditions.
To correct for such problems, it is known to place a second oxygen sensor downstream of the catalyst (hereinafter termed "downstream" sensor). The downstream sensor is used to provide further control and correct any drift in the upstream sensor. However, the downstream sensor often sends momentary extreme signals to the upstream sensor, based upon a fuel anomaly in the content of exhaust gases. Such extreme signals cause a marked shift in the upstream controls which, in turn cause a further anomaly downstream
There is thus a need for a method for signal conditioning and reaction which may be used to perform controlling and corrective actions without momentarily extreme changes in operation of the catalyst.

Method for controlling internal combustion engine emissions


A method for communication over a communication link, which includes a transmitter and a receiver, includes transmitting and receiving data, which is encoded using a specified forward error correction (FEC) code, modulated using a specified modulation scheme and transmitted at a given power level.

Various methods for predicting the future conditions of a wireless communication channel are known in the art. For example, a channel prediction method is described by Duel-Hallen et al., in "Long Range Prediction of Fading Signals: Enabling Adaptive Transmission for Mobile Radio Channels," IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, (17:3), May, 2000, pages 62-75, which is incorporated herein by reference. The method computes the linear Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) estimates of future fading coefficients based on past observations.
Channel prediction is sometimes used for adaptive transmission. For example, an application of the method proposed by Duel-Hallen et al. to adaptive modulation is described by Hu et al., in "Adaptive Modulation Using Long Range Prediction for Flat Rayleigh Fading Channels," Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Sorrento, Italy, Jun. 25-30, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,955, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an adaptive data rate modem, which supports multiple data rates. The modem incorporates an adaptive data rate encoder and an adaptive data rate decoder. Soft decision metrics of the decoder are used to provide an estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). An optional predictor receives the SNR estimate from the decoder and predicts the future signal-to-noise ratio, to determine the desired data rate for the modem.

Adaptive coding and modulation based on link performance prediction

Abstract: One or more parameters of the communication link are monitored. A condition, which is based on values of one or more of the parameters monitored at a plurality of historical time instants, is evaluated. At least one feature of the transmitted data, selected from a group of features consisting of the FEC code, the modulation scheme and the power level, is modified based on the condition.