A flow control valve for use in a downhole completion tubing string, where the control valve prevents cross flow between producing zones. The control valve comprises a housing forming a plenum therein, a tubular member having a perforated end disposed in the housing, and a plug assembly disposed in the end of the tubular member having perforations. The plug assembly comprises a shaft reciprocatingly disposed in the tubular member. Produced fluids flow within the tubular member, through the perforations to the plenum, and outside of the control valve through corresponding perforations formed in the disk and housing. When pressure in the completion tubing string exceeds produced fluid pressure, the plug will close thereby preventing fluid flow from the completion tubing to the tubular member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the field of subterranean well completions and controlling flow of production fluid from wells comprising primary and lateral wells.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many instances, a hydrocarbon producing wellbore includes not only the primary well drilled into a subterranean formation, but also one or more lateral wells extending into the surrounding formation adjacent the primary wellbore. FIG. 1 provides a cross sectional view of an example of a wellbore production system 10 installed in a wellbore having lateral wells. In this example, the primary wellbore 5 extends from the surface and into a producing zone within a subterranean formation 6. The associated casing 7 cemented within the wellbore 5 extends substantially along the entire length of the wellbore and also into the formation 6. Perforations 11 formed through the side of the wellbore 5 and through the casing 7 into the surrounding formation 6 provide fluid pathways for production fluid (hydrocarbon gas and liquid) to flow into the wellbore 5. The wellbore production system 10 includes completion tubing 13 coaxially inserted within the casing 5. The completion tubing 13 extends along the length of the wellbore 5 up to the wellhead 14 and delivers the production fluid therein to the wellhead for distribution to a production line 16.
In addition to the production fluid from the subterranean formation 6, the lateral wellbores (3, 4) extend into corresponding production zones within corresponding subterranean formations (8, 9). These lateral wellbores (3, 4) also include perforations 11 providing fluid communication between the wellbore and their associated formation. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the produced fluids from the primary wellbore 5 and the lateral wellbores (3, 4) are deposited into a single completion tubing 13 where these fluids are mixed. It should be pointed out that other configurations exist wherein dedicated tubing is provided to each production zone thereby preventing commingling of fluids within the wellbore 5. One disadvantage of installing dedicated tubing is the presence of additional hardware within the wellbore as well as the difficulty of introducing and maintaining the hardware in these individual circuits.
The producing zones (6, 8, 9) may operate or produce at varying pressures. To prevent an imbalanced pressure situation within the completion tubing 13, chokes (18, 20, 22) are provided in the fluid flow pathway between the respective producing zones and the completion tubing 13. Chokes provide a regulating effect on the fluid by adjusting the flow rate and pressure to compensate for pressure differences between these different producing zones. Also shown in FIG. 1 are packer seals 26 proximate to the junctions between the primary wellbore 5 and the laterals that seal the flow pathway between the annulus between the tubing 13 and casing 5 and forces fluid flow through perforations 24 in the tubing string 13 and through the respective chokes (18, 20, 22).
While existing chokes, or other flow control mechanisms regulate or adjust fluid flow and fluid pressure, these devices do not limit flow direction therethrough. Accordingly, in situations wherein pressure within the production tubing 13 may exceed pressure within a particular lateral wellbore or its associated producing zone, the fluid in the higher pressure tubing string may migrate into the production zone through any one of these known devices. This situation could occur if a flow regular of a high pressure producing zone fails or if the well is suddenly shut in and the respective valves are not closed prior to the shut in. Because migration of producing fluids from one zone into another zone having a different pressure may cause deleterious effects on the lower pressure formation, this is an undesired situation. Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop a device for preventing the cross flow of production fluids from producing zones having different pressures. It would also be advantageous to develop and implement a device that can regulate flow in addition to preventing cross flow of production fluids.

Downhole valve for preventing zonal cross-flow


A spool valve assembly (11) including a valve spool (33) defining a Raise position (R) operable to provide fluid communication from an inlet port (21) to a work port (25), and a Neutral position (N) blocking such flow. The spool valve (33) has a Lower position (L) in which return flow from the work port (25) flows past a pilot operated check valve (77) is then metered by a metering notch (75) defined by the valve spool. The valve spool (33) also has a separate Float position (F) in which the inlet port (21), the work port (25) and the return port (23) are interconnected. In the Float position (F), fluid at the valve spool (33) is in communication with the return port (23) through a back-pressure valve (59), which may be manually adjusted to control the back-pressure on a work implement (15) as it is permitted to "float".

The present invention relates to flow control valves, and more particularly, to such valves which are provided with a "Float" position.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a spool valve which is able to control the flow of fluid from a source, such as a pump to a work port, wherein the flow to the work port is through a pilot operated check valve, and the invention will be described in connection therewith.
Many flow control valves of the type to which the present invention relates are utilized to control the flow of pressurized fluid from a source to a work implement, such as a cylinder, which is used in association with a piece of equipment which, under certain operating conditions, is allowed to "float". An example of such a system would be the mower deck on a large, commercial turf maintenance vehicle. The mower deck is mounted such that its mowing height is controlled by a cylinder, of which the upper chamber is vented to air, and the lower chamber is connected to a three way, three-position flow control spool valve. Typically, the spool valve is provided with three operating positions, including (1) Raise; (2) Neutral; and (3) Lower or Float.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, the Float position of the spool valve is one in which the inlet port (connected to the pump), the work port (connected to the cylinder lower chamber), and the return port (connected to tank) are all interconnected, thus permitting the implement (e.g., the mower deck), to have some vertical movement (i.e., to float) in response to external loads imposed upon the implement.
Many such flow control valves have been provided with pilot operated load holding check valves, the function of which, as is well known to those skilled in the art, is to prevent flow from the lower chamber of the cylinder back through the work port when the spool valve is in the Neutral position, and there is a load on the cylinder. Typically, the load holding check valve has been operably associated with a lockout plunger, the function of which is to hold the check valve open, thus permitting lowering of the cylinder, when high pressure is exerted on the plunger.
Although the above-described flow control valve has been generally satisfactory, the sequence of steps for lowering the cylinder has not been fully satisfactory. In order to lower the load with the prior art flow control valve, the operator would first move the spool to the Lower position, thus permitting lowering of the load, and then when the load was at approximately the desired position, the operator would move the spool to the Raise position. The movement of the spool to the Raise position was required because the lockout plunger was typically equipped with a detent which, after the plunger was subjected to high pressure, was held in the position corresponding to the open position of the check valve. Therefore, it was necessary to move the spool to the Raise position to exert high pressure on the lockout plunger, but now in the opposite direction, to move it out of engagement with the detent and back to its normal position. This movement of the lockout plunger would permit the check valve to close, thus cutting off the return flow of fluid from the implement. The operator would then move the spool to the Neutral position, thus maintaining the load in whatever position it occupied at that time.
Although the above sequence of steps resulted in generally satisfactory operation, the particular sequence of steps would not seem natural to the operator, and in an emergency, when the operator may not have the opportunity to think through the required sequence, it is possible that the operator will not provide input movement to the valve spool which is appropriate for that particular situation.

Lower and float capability in four position control valve


An ultrasonic probe is disclosed for reducing the influence of electromagnetic wave leakage to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device even when the probe is inside the MRI gantry. The ultrasonic probe includes a piezoelectric material, an acoustic matching layer provided on the ultrasonic radiation side of the piezoelectric material, and backing material provided on a rear side of the piezoelectric material. A transmit beam former is used to control a transmit focal point of ultrasonic waves inside the body of a subject. A receive beam former controls a receive beam focal point of electronic waves inside the body of the subject. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus also includes a switch capable of electrically disconnecting the ultrasonic probe from a transmit/receive switch.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic imaging apparatus which extracts images of the interior of a subject's body using ultrasound, to an ultrasonic probe used in the ultrasonic imaging apparatus, and to an ultrasonic imaging method using the ultrasonic imaging apparatus.
2. Background Art
Minimally invasive therapy is a technique in which surgery is performed without requiring a large incision. Consequently, it has significant merits for the patient including improving QOL (quality of life) after surgery, lessening the risk of infection due to surgery, and shortening the length of stay in hospital. However, if the surgeon is unable to adequately grasp the conditions of the site of operation, the prerequisites for minimal invasion are significantly eroded. Thus, image guidance can be considered as an indispensable part for minimally invasive therapy. In particular, in the case of surgery involving the circulatory organ, since shape variations over time are remarkable depending on the technique employed, in addition to an image taken by an endoscope or the like that provides a localized field of view, guidance by an image showing the overall constitution including the organ of interest and the periphery thereof is necessary. For example, as disclosed in JP Patent Publication (unexamined application) No. 4-312446, in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), an open-type MRI apparatus which allows a surgeon access to the inside of an MRI gantry from outside has been practically applied. Therefore, MRI can be considered as an appropriate means for the above-mentioned image guidance means.
Further, in recent years ultrasonic imaging apparatus have been provided which offer high speed, high definition, and enhanced functionality, in addition to their interactivity. Thus, ultrasonic apparatus can augment an optical endoscope by providing the surgeon with an additional means of visual inspection, as well as augmenting MRI with its real time property with regard to the localized image of the site of operation. With regard to the imaging region also, while MRI involves the entire body, ultrasound involves only the local region. Therefore, as image guidance for minimally invasive therapy, provision of the two imaging means of MRI and ultrasound, whose relationship is such that they compensate for each other, is extremely useful.
In order to obtain a high definition image ultrasonic imaging, it is known that it is desirable that the transmit pulse be short in a time-base direction, that is, that it be broadband in frequency space. In particular, accompanying the evolution of second harmonic imaging technology, the necessity of an ultrasonic probe capable of transmitting a broadband ultrasonic pulse is well established. As a means for the realization thereof, a structure in which an acoustic matching layer is overlaid on a transmitting side of an ultrasonic transducer comprising PZT (lead zirconate titanate) ceramic, and backing material that attenuates an ultrasonic wave is provided on the back thereof is known. The layer on the PZT side of the acoustic matching layer comprising a plurality of layers and the backing material comprise a mixture of polymer material and metal powder, and are used after adjusting the acoustic impedance thereof to a suitable value. The acoustic impedance is an amount indicated by the product of the acoustic velocity and density of the material, and reflection of sound occurs at a surface between two materials whose acoustic impedance are different. As the acoustic impedance of PZT is about 34×106 kg/m2s and the acoustic impedance of a subject is about 1.5×106 kg/m2s, as shown in FIG. 1, an intermediate acoustic impedance material is inserted between the subject and the PZT, and acoustic impedance is gradually altered along the propagation direction of the sound, thereby suppressing unnecessary reflection. Regarding the backing material, by employing a material with a large attenuation factor, such as rubber, as a base, the probe can be made such that sound entering the backing material from the PZT is not reflected from the end of the opposite side and returned, which is the acoustic role of the backing material.
However, there are a further two problems to be solved in taking an MRI image when an ultrasonic probe is placed inside an MRI gantry. Specifically, it is necessary to suppress the influence imparted by the material of the ultrasonic probe itself to the surrounding static magnetic field as well as the influence on MRI image of leakage electromagnetic waves generated by the electric signal sent to the ultrasonic probe. With regard to one part of the acoustic matching layer and the backing material, in our studies up to now we considered that selecting material that is nonmagnetic would serve as a suitable countermeasure, however we found that if even the slightest magnetic impurity is included in the material the MRI image was greatly distorted by the influence thereof.
An object of the present invention is, firstly, to control magnetic impurity in the ultrasonic probe material and provide an ultrasonic probe in which the ultrasonic probe material itself does not impart an influence to an MRI image.
The second problem, that is the influence on the MRI image by leakage electromagnetic waves from the ultrasonic probe, resulting from the ultrasonic probe being connected to the ultrasonic imaging apparatus, will be described. During transmitting of ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic probe to the subject, leakage electromagnetic waves from the probe are strong, and it is thus difficult to perform ultrasound imaging and MRI imaging at the same time. Therefore, as a countermeasure, it is necessary to take ultrasound and MRI images at slightly different points in time.
However, to perform such quasi-simultaneous observation, it is not enough simply that the material of the ultrasonic probe does not impart an influence to the MRI image. Specifically, if the power of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus is turned off during imaging by MRI it is only a problem of the material of the probe. But because current ultrasonic imaging apparatus are controlled by computers, turning the power on and off requires time. Thus, when performing quasi-simultaneous observation it is not realistic to turn off the power of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus each time imaging is to be performed by MRI.
Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic imaging apparatus in which leakage electromagnetic waves are not generated from an ultrasonic probe during imaging by MRI. A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel method of quasi-simultaneous observation by MRI and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus.

Ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic imaging apparatus and ultrasonic imaging method


A medical hair prosthesis for use by a wearer that has had a pronounced loss of hair, where the foundation of the medical hair prosthesis is made of lace that has gone through a cryogenic treatment process to increase durability and comfort. The medical hair prosthesis is formed by a process of harvesting the wearer's own hair to incorporate into the front hairline of the hair prosthesis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a hair prosthesis. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a hair prosthesis for those who suffer from medically related, rapid hair loss.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, wigs and hairpieces were developed for customers purchasing for vanity or fashion reasons. Ready-made or mail order wigs are the most common, and generally come in different sizes to fit a range of wearer head sizes. These wigs are typically composed of a pre-made base and adjustable bands to provide a close fit about the entire head of the wearer. These ready-made wigs often lack comfort, and clearly lack a natural look.
Custom-made hairpieces are made to blend the wearer's actual hair with that of the hairpiece. Such hairpieces have a base and a netting or lace material. The netting commonly involves a "lace front hair system" providing a front hairline made of netting or lace, while the base is made of denser material. The base needs the denser material to have the durability, while the delicate lace is the trim and therefore not relied upon to provide the necessary durability for the hairpiece. Thus, such hairpieces have a more natural hairline, and are made to blend into the natural hair of the user. Accordingly, the hairpiece is altered gradually in order to blend into the wearer's hairline as the wearer's hairline gradually changes.
When one has been diagnosed with cancer and is advised that chemotherapy will be needed to abate the cancer, one of the first reactions is the dramatic change in appearance, namely the rapid loss of hair that will result. It is believed that the loss of hair has an adverse effect on the mental health of the patient that, in turn, impedes the possibility of a recovery. The conventional wig, which lacks a natural look, and hairpieces, cannot address the complete loss of an entire head of hair, and therefore have not been the solution.
Thus, there is a need for a comfortable, naturally-looking hair prosthesis that addresses the quick loss of hair that occurs due to a medical condition such as cancer or alopecia.


A clamping mechanism for mounting a circuit condition monitoring device to electrical cables of various diameters includes a core member comprising a plurality of laminations arranged in a generally rectangular configuration. A spring spanning the core member is anchored at one end to the core at a point near the housing of the monitoring device and at the other end is attached to a bridging member affixed at the opposite end of the core near the housing. This allows the spring to expand less as it transverses the bridge in order to accommodate different power cable diameters.

The present invention relates generally to circuit condition monitoring devices for use in electrical power distribution systems, and in particular to a clamp mechanism for clamping such devices to the various sized cables of such systems.
Electrical power distribution systems typically require the use of a variety of monitoring devices to facilitate the detection and location of system malfunctions. Among such devices are manual and automatic reset fault current indicators, and voltage monitoring devices. These devices are typically either mounted on a test point provided on a system component, or clamped directly onto a cable of the system.
Clamp-on mounting devices typically include a housing which contains the monitoring device, a circuit condition indicator, and some form of clamping mechanism for mounting the housing on a cable. Since power cables used in the industry are routinely of various diameters, it is necessary that the clamping mechanism accommodate a range of cable diameters.
In one prior clamp mechanism, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,873 of the present inventor, a plurality of flexible metallic strips are combined to form a generally square-shaped core for use with a circuit condition monitoring device. One end of the core is fixedly positioned relative to the device housing, and the opposite end is detachably engaged to the one end. In use, the opposite end is displaced from the engagement, allowing the core to be passed around a cable.
Another prior clamp mechanism, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,006, also of the present inventor, includes a pair of clamp members biased for engaging movement toward one another. A compression member between the clamp members ordinarily prevents engaging movement of the members. When pressed against a cable, the compression member deforms to allow the clamp members to move toward one another and encircle the cable and clamp a monitoring device thereon.
The present invention is directed to a clamp mechanism having a resilient core and a device housing having a cable engaging surface wherein a spring extends between the core portions on either side of the conductor to bias the conductor into engagement with the engaging surface. The spring is slidably attached at one end to a bridging element which allows the spring to slide and thereby extend less in accommodating cables of varying diameters. This enables the same clamp and spring to be used for a wide range of cable diameters.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a new and improved clamp mechanism for a circuit monitoring device.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a clamp mechanism for clamping a circuit condition monitoring device to the cable of a power distribution system wherein the cable has a range of diameters.

Clamping mechanism for mounting circuit condition monitoring devices on cables of various diameters


A system for solving an event-dependent multicriteria optimization problem of at least one cyber-physical system, comprising a control device for controlling the at least one cyber-physical system, the control device controlling the cyber-physical system in dependence on a list of prioritized objectives by solving at least one event-dependent suboptimization problem is characterized in that each objective from the list of prioritized objectives is captured as an objective function, each objective function consisting of at least two parts, a first part of which relates to directly capturing the objective and a second part of which describes a condition under which each result of one of the preceding objectives of each of the preceding suboptimization problems is substantially not negatively affected.

Such systems are generally known and are already being used in cyber-physical systems. The term "cyber-physical system" uses the word component "cyber" to refer to a control system consisting of a network of informatic software components with mechanical and electronic parts that communicate via a data infrastructure, and uses the word component "physical" to refer to the physical system that is controlled by the control system and can be, e.g., a river system or a road network. An example of an event influencing such a cyber-physical system is precipitation or snowmelt and the impact thereof on watersheds with river channels, canals, detention basins, reservoirs, flood zones, etc., but also wastewater from sewage treatment plants, industrial operations, and households. In this example, a cyber-physical system includes, for example, buildings for regulating water volumes and also the aforementioned water intake and channeling systems. Controlling the buildings, in turn, is performed in dependance on many variables, such as, among other things, water flow rate, width and depth of river flows, intake capacity of catch basins, etc., as well as water levels or pressures in piping systems. The predictive control of the corresponding buildings of the cyber-physical system results in an objective being met upstream and/or downstream. This objective is variable in time but describes a situation determined or to be determined at a certain point in time (e.g., different in summer than in winter), which is allowed to occur or should be maintained in dependance on the event so that the cyber-physical system can weather the event well.
Cyber-physical systems can also be affected by completely different events, e.g., in the field of energy supply, wherein an objective must then also be determined in order to optimally control at least one control device.
The present invention is to be described in more detail using the example of public water systems in order to make the operating principle easier to understand. However, the invention is explicitly not limited to this field of application.
The cyber-physical system in a watershed is intended to control the water quantity of the water systems within the cyber-physical system. Controlling is performed with the support of electronic data processing and with the support of computational programs installed on electronic data processing equipment. The occurrence of an event has a consequence for the cyber-physical system that occurs at different geographical locations of the cyber-physical system at different times. For example, precipitation occurs in a region and the amount of water distributes and moves downstream in the existing water systems. Thus, controlling in such cases should also be anticipatory to control buildings located far upstream and/or downstream long before the local occurrence of the event takes place. For example, intake capacities in catch basins can be increased by releasing water, or weirs can be opened to regulate water flow, etc.
In the case of optimization of one or more cyber-physical systems, there is usually a very different and occasionally also very complex structure of subproblems, which have to be solved by means of optimization in order to achieve the optimization. Thus, there is not only one objective towards which optimization can be performed, but in practice there are very many objectives that have to be considered when optimizing one or more cyber-physical systems. In the embodiment described herein with reference to optimizing a water balance, it is usually not exclusively an optimizing only with the objective of achieving a minimum or maximum of a water level at a certain location of the cyber-physical system that is relevant, but at the same time also an optimizing with the objective of, e.g., generating energy (water energy) or minimizing operating costs when using pumps and other energy consumers. Thus, in a cyber-physical system, there are usually cascading optimization problems which, in addition, differ from optimization systems in other cyber-physical systems. In order to be able to optimize such cyber-physical systems, a large number of variables are required, which strongly increase depending on the number of subproblems that must also be considered. Thus, in order to be able to perform an optimization in the prior art, measures have to be taken to limit the complexity of the computational program. This is usually done by simplifying the subproblems. However, such simplifications also lead to inaccurate results. The quality of the optimization suffers from such simplifications.
The computational programs currently in use either require a very large amount of computing power since considering the large number of variables requires extensive computational operations, or are inexpensive and fast and use heuristic models to solve the problem. However, heuristic models are not a basis for the best possible strategy for solving the problem.
Optimizing a control device or a plurality of control devices in such a cyber-physical system thus presents an enormous challenge to those skilled in the art. As already explained, such optimizations are carried out with the support of computers and computational programs that are set up on such computers and calculate optimization processes. However, the basis for the calculation is always the digital initial data or raw data developed from the measurement data of the event.
Due to the aforementioned circumstances, the computational processes in the prior art are very extensive and require high computer power and, to date, are not applicable to large problems that need to be solved in a short computational time, and in many complex applications, such as the above-described application of water regulation in cyber-physical systems, use mathematically simplified considerations or else use heuristic models, which do not allow optimization of a solution.
Currently, such computational processes are performed depending on prioritized objectives.
An example of this is known from U.S. Pat. No. 9,946,972 B2.
First, an objective with the highest priority, e.g., priority 1, is solved. Then, a new suboptimization problem with the objective of the next highest priority, priority 2, is processed under a constraint which requires that the objective result of priority 1 cannot be worse than that achieved in the suboptimization of priority 1. Then, a new suboptimization problem with the objective of the next highest priority 3 is processed which then has two constraints which require that the objective result of this new suboptimization cannot become worse than that of the previous two suboptimizations from priorities 1 and 2, and so on. In this manner, the prioritized objectives are optimized step by step in the order of their priority, up to a final priority.
An algorithm called lexicographic goal programming is known. This technique uses so-called epsilon constraints to create variables that have a non-zero value when an objective (e.g., level between min and max) is violated, and otherwise are zero.

System for the global solution of an event-dependent multicriteria non-convex optimization problem


Provided is a medical imaging apparatus including: a scanner configured to obtain projection data of an object; a three-dimensional restoring module configured to restore a volume of the object based on the projection data; a volume segmentation module configured to segment a plurality of material volumes corresponding to a plurality of materials included in the object based on the volume of the object; a reprojection module configured to generate a plurality of reprojection images according to the plurality of materials by reprojecting the plurality of material volumes from a plurality of virtual viewpoints; and an image fusion module configured to generate a plurality of fusion images according to the plurality of virtual viewpoints, each of the plurality of fusion images being generated by fusing reprojection images according to plurality of materials obtained from the same virtual viewpoint.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a medical imaging apparatus which images an inside of an object in a three-dimensional manner and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical imaging apparatuses such as, for example, computed tomography (CT) apparatuses, positron emission tomography (PET) apparatuses, tomosynthesis apparatuses, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatuses, radiate radioactive rays onto an object or apply a magnetic field to the object, thereby imaging an inside of the object in a non-invasive manner.
In particular, the medical imaging apparatuses may generate volume data together with a two-dimensional cross-sectional image of the object. Thus, the volume data may provide a volume of the object. The volume of the object enables a user to check morphological characteristics of the inside of the object and thus may be useful in a diagnosis field.
However, in general, the volume of the object is displayed as a two-dimensional projection image from a viewpoint through volume rendering or is displayed as a two-dimensional cross-sectional image of a particular slice. Thus, it may be difficult to check an internal structure of the object or a degree at which materials inside the object overlap each other in a depth direction.

Medical imaging apparatus and method of controlling the same


A jog switch by which a desired position can be confirmed without releasing the finger rotating a jog dial after the desired direction and angle are selected. The jog switch includes the jog dial, which is capable of rotating in a plane and also rocking in the orthogonal direction, a plurality of confirmation switches disposed on a surface behind the jog dial and a jog action detecting part, which is disposed behind the jog dial and can detect the direction and angle of rotation, wherein the operation of the jog dial is confirmed by pressing the confirmation switch by rocking the jog dial.

The present invention relates to a jog switch with a cursor switch, and in more detail, to a jog switch in which selection by the jog switch may be confirmed by a switch with a cursor function.
Jog switches conventionally emit pulse signals according to the rotation of the rotor by rotating a jog dial, and the switching action is carried out by detecting the rotary angle from the pulse signals.
A conventional jog switch 100 shown in FIG. 5 is composed of a jog dial 101 implemented on a printed board PCB, and is rotatably mounted to the printed board. Further, behind the jog dial 101 on the printed board, a jog action detector 102 which can detect the direction and angle of rotation is disposed.
Still further, an opening 103 is disposed in the center of the jog dial 101 in a doughnut shape and a push type center switch 104 is disposed in the opening. The push type center switch 104 includes a switch part 104a, which is implemented on the printed board PCB, right under the opening 103, and a push button part 104b, which activates the switch part 104a and is located on top of the switch part 104a that is in the opening 103.
In the conventional jog switch 100 composed as described above, the jog action detector 102 detects the rotating direction and angle and outputs this information as pulse signals upon rotating the jog dial 101.
The predetermined operation with the jog dial 101 is finished when, for example, a cursor on a display reaches to a desired position being moved by the pulse signals generated from the direction and angle of rotation of the jog dial 102 by the rotation of the jog dial 102, and then the operator presses the center switch 104 confirming the indication by the jog dial 101 to execute the operation of the jog dial 101. Of course, other actions executed by the jog dial 101 to confirm the position and the like may be executed using switches other than the center switch 104 (not shown).
However, in using the jog switch 100 shown in the conventional example, it is necessary to release the finger rotating the jog dial 101 to operate the center switch or other switch (not shown) or the like, when the operation of the jog dial 101 is finished. Thus, in a operation which requires precision of rotating action of the jog dial 101, there has been a problem of deviating from the desired rotation of the jog dial 101 on releasing the finger from the jog dial 101, and the execution of the predetermined operation is impossible or difficult.
Further, at least the conventional jog switch 100 is required to have a confirmation switch such as the center switch 104 and the like, and there is a problem of needing an extra space for the confirmation switch on the operation panel when implementing in a small remote control device.


Various embodiment include optical and optoelectronic devices and methods of making same. Under one aspect, an optical device includes an integrated circuit having an array of conductive regions, and an optically sensitive material over at least a portion of the integrated circuit and in electrical communication with at least one conductive region of the array of conductive regions. Under another aspect, a film includes a network of fused nanocrystals, the nanocrystals having a core and an outer surface, wherein the core of at least a portion of the fused nanocrystals is in direct physical contact and electrical communication with the core of at least one adjacent fused nanocrystal, and wherein the film has substantially no defect states in the regions where the cores of the nanocrystals are fused. Additional devices and methods are described.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to optical and electronic devices including nanocrystals, such as quantum dots.
Description of Related Art
Many systems currently used for short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) photodetection and imaging are achieved through epitaxial growth of compound semiconductors such as InGaAs, or chemical bath growth of polycrystalline PbS or PbSe. These techniques can result in exceptionally sensitive detectors—normalized detectivity, D*, as high as 8×1010 Jones from PbS at room temperature for example—but their deposition is generally incompatible with established silicon integrated circuit fabrication techniques. In such systems a silicon electronic read-out array and an infrared-sensitive photodetector array are fabricated separately. This non-monolithic process then necessitates a complex assembly procedure, resulting in low yield, poor resolution (e.g., at least 10× lower pixel count than a low-cost commercial silicon camera), and high cost (e.g., at least 100× greater than a silicon camera).
SWIR photodetection and imaging may also be achieved using quantum dots as a photosensitive material; however, imaging systems using quantum dots typically have relatively low gains and sensitivities. Some examples of imaging systems that utilize quantum dots, and applications thereof, may be found in the incorporated references given below.
A schematic of a ligand-capped QD nanocrystal is illustrated in FIG. 1. The QD includes a core 100, which includes a highly crystalline semiconductor region of relatively small size, e.g., from about 1-10 nm, for example about 5 nm as shown in the figure. The core is typically highly or may even be perfectly crystalline, is known to have a substantially homogeneous structure and composition. The QD is surrounded by a plurality of ligands 120 attached to its outer surface. Specifically, each ligand 120 includes a long chain, represented by the jagged line, and an end functional group 150, represented by the triangle, which connects the ligand to the outer surface of the QD.
The fabrication in solution of QDs, stabilized using suitable ligands, and typical QD characteristics such as size-tunable absorbance and emission are known. Solution-fabricated QDs may be referred to as "colloidal," as compared with epitaxially-grown (e.g., Stranski-Krastanov-mode grown) or otherwise deposited QDs. Further details may be found in the incorporated references included below.

Quantum dot optical devices with enhanced gain and sensitivity and methods of making same


Disclosed is a process for driving a network interface card. The process includes monitoring the status of a plurality of ports connected between a computer and a network. Detecting a failure in one of the plurality of ports connected to the network. Re-assigning data transmitted over the failed one of the plurality of ports to an active port of the plurality of ports selected in a round robin technique . The process further including receiving data over one of the plurality of ports designated as a primary receiving port. Preferably, when the failed one of the plurality of ports is the primary receiving port, the receiving tasks are assigned to a next active port selected in a round robin technique .

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer networks, and more particularly to software drivers used for controlling network interface cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers are increasingly being coupled together into computer networks. In typical networks, hardware devices known as network interface cards (NICs) are used by computer systems to enable them to communicate over networks with other computer systems. Commonly, NICs are available as plug in devices that are connected to a computer's interface bus (e.g., PCI Bus), or are built directly into a computer's mother board. Traditionally, a computer's NIC enables communication over a single computer network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), which may include a multitude of switches and network devices. Through these network devices, remote hosts are capable of communicating with other similarly connected remote hosts or to a server computer system. Through these networks, remote hosts are able to, for example, request data from a server computer system, and the server computer system is able to transfer the requested data to the requesting host over the network. In response to the increased demand for resources stored on networked server computers, many NICs are now capable of communicating over more than one network. In this manner, data stored on one server computer system may be accessed by hosts coupled to different networks (e.g., different LANs).
FIG. 1 is a graphical illustration of a server computer system 20 having a NIC 30 that is coupled to more than one local area network. In this example, NIC 30 is a single card having four ports, where each of the four ports is connected to a different network. As such, NIC 30 is connected to a LAN-1 10, a LAN-2 12, a LAN-3 14 and a LAN-4 16, that enables an increased number of users to access data stored on server computer system 20. In this arrangement, each port of NIC 30 is capable of processing received (Rx) data (and requests for data) from remote hosts in addition to transmitting (Tx) data to remote hosts connected to one of the LANs shown in FIG. 1. Another traditional way of connecting server computer system 20 to multiple networks is to install a plurality of single port NICs (one for each network) to the interface bus of the server computer system 20. As is the case in multiple port NICs, each port of each NIC is capable of performing receive and transmit functions over its dedicated NIC.
Because NIC 30 is responsible for providing the communication path between a multitude of remote hosts, the loading experienced by NICs installed on a server computer system 20 are far greater than the typical loads experienced by NICs installed on the individual remote hosts. By way of example, server computer system 20 typically receives a few short requests from the remote hosts and then responds by transmitting out a great deal of data to the requesting hosts. In addition, because NIC 30 is only able to transmit out to each network at a fixed bandwidth (e.g., about 10 Mbps/100 Mbps), the server computer system 20 will unfortunately be tied up responding to data transmit request for extended periods of time.
Another common problem with conventional NICs is that access to server computer system 20 may be completely blocked-off to an entire network whenever one port fails to operate properly. By way of example, if port P1 fails, all hosts connected to LAN-1 10 will be prevented from accessing data stored on server computer system 20. As is well known, port failures are common, and are typically caused by network overloads, NIC software driver bugs, NIC link interface failures, and NIC hardware failures. In any event, when a failure occurs, a large number of users attempting to access or transfer data between the server computer system 20 will be unable to accomplish their networking task. Typically, when a NIC port (e.g., port P1) failure occurs, the server computer system 20 is typically shut down to all network traffic (i.e., LANs 10, 12, 14, and 16) while network technicians trouble shoot and fix the NIC port failure. Of course, network repairs may disable a network for several hours or even days.
As businesses continue to intensely network their operations, port failures will unfortunately lead to substantial losses in worker productivity. For example, many companies use a central server to network their employees that may be located in several remote office locations. As such, when the port servicing a particular office goes down, that entire office will be unable access shared data stored in the central server. NIC port failures are also common in large corporations such as, banks, hotel chains, and airlines that critically depend on real-time access to data stored on a central server computer. Consequently, NIC port failures are commonly to blame for significant yearly losses in revenue as well as lower customer satisfaction.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a network interface card(s) (NICs) that provide increased load balancing transmit throughput to networks connected to the NIC, while providing resilient backup capabilities that enable continues data transferring connections when port failures occur. Further, there is a need for NIC software drivers to intelligently detect port failures and automatically redistribute data transfer loads over functioning NIC ports.

Method and apparatus for network interface card load balancing and port aggregation


A double containment pipe fitting (10) has inner and outer pipes (12, 14). The inner pipe has a polygonal cross section to present a number of edges (12j) which extend parallel with the longitudinal axis (15) of the pipe and engage the inner surface (14c) of the outer pipe to present the double containment feature, namely the central portion of the inner pipe being one fluid flow path and the spaces (18) between the flat outer sides (12c) of the inner pipe and inner surface of the outer pipe forming the second fluid flow path. The outer surface of the inner pipe can be triangular, square, rectangular or otherwise polygonal.

Double containment pipe fittings have been known and used in the past. Typical of these fittings are those found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,903,719; 4,915,121; 5,141,261; 5,141,260; and 4,886,305.
While these fittings have been useful in a number of applications, there still is room for improvement and the present invention provides an improved double containment fitting which relies upon the geometry of the pipe segments to present inner and outer spaces for fluid flow.

Double containment butt weld pipe fitting


A plurality of operating system (OS) components is stored in a storage location on a computing device. A user may selected a set of OS components to use when the computing device boots. A boot location is created and links to the set of OS components are stored in the boot location. The computing device may boot using any one of a plurality of boot locations.

Users often employ various computing devices (e.g., computer systems, smart phones, laptop computers, tablet computers, netbook computers, desktop computers, server computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, smart phones, etc.) to perform various tasks. For example, a user may use a laptop computer and a web browser to access content online. In another example, a user may use a desktop computer and a word processing application to create a document. These computing devices generally use an operating system (OS). An OS may be one or more software applications, components, and/or modules that manage hardware resources for a computing device and provide common services for applications on the computing device. Generally, most computing devices require an OS to operate or function.
New versions of operating systems (OSes) may be released or current versions of OSes may be updated and/or modified to fix errors (e.g., bugs or regressions), to add functionality, to add new features, etc. For example, a library and/or a package in an OS may be updated to use a new communication protocol. In another example, the user interface of an OS may be updated to allow users to perform a task more efficiently. In a further example, a new library and/or package may provide new functionality for the computing device.


An integrated circuit device includes a semiconductor substrate having an interlayer insulating layer thereon and a first junction block embedded in the interlayer insulating layer. The first junction block includes a first plurality of conductive junction traces located side-by-side within the interlayer insulating layer and a corresponding first plurality of pairs of conductive vias connected to opposite ends of respective ones of the first plurality of conductive junction traces. The first junction block also includes a dummy conductive trace located adjacent the first plurality of conductive junction traces and a pair of dummy conductive vias connected to opposite ends of the dummy junction trace. The integrated circuit device further includes a plurality of upper metallization traces routed on the interlayer insulating layer. The upper metallization traces are configured to electrically connect with the first plurality of pairs of conductive vias and maintain the dummy conductive trace and the pair of dummy conductive vias in an unused and electrically floating condition.

Semiconductor devices may include interconnection structures for electrically connecting electronic components (e.g., transistors, capacitors and resistances) to form desired electric circuits. The interconnection structures may include a plurality of conductive interconnections, also known as "traces." For example, an interconnection structure may include lower traces arranged on a lower metallization layer of the semiconductor substrate, upper traces arranged on an upper metallization layer above the lower traces, and conductive vias in a region between the upper and lower metallization layers that electrically connect the lower traces on the lower layer to the upper traces on the upper layer. Conventional interconnection structures are described in "Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era: Volume 2—Process Integration", pages 84–296 of Chapter 3 and 4, by Stanley Wolf, published on 1990 edition by Lattice Press.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating conventional operations for designing, fabricating and revising interconnection structures in semiconductor devices.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a circuit layout for a semiconductor device is determined (block S1), and one or more photomasks are fabricated based on the determined circuit layout (block S2). The circuit layout may include the routing of traces on each layer of a semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor device is then fabricated using the photomask(s) (block S3). More specifically, a photolithography process is performed to copy the determined circuit layout from each photomask to a layer of the semiconductor substrate. The fabricated semiconductor device is then examined for quality (block S4). Devices passing a predetermined examination standard may be sold. If technical defects are found, a request may be made to revise the arrangement and/or routing of the traces so as to correct the defects. The revision (block S5) may also be performed to improve the performance of the semiconductor device.
FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams illustrating conventional methods of revising interconnection structures in semiconductor devices.
As shown in FIG. 2A, lower traces 10 (on a lower metallization layer of the substrate) are connected to upper traces 30 (on an upper metallization layer of the substrate) by conductive vias 20 arranged in a predetermined region of the semiconductor substrate between the upper and lower layers. In particular, FIG. 2A illustrates an embodiment where first and second lower traces 11 and 12 are respectively connected to one 31 of the upper traces 30 by first and second vias 21 and 22. In this embodiment, the upper traces 30 include first to sixth upper traces 31 to 36.
Referring now to FIG. 2B, if the layout is revised such that a second one 12′ of the lower traces 10′ is to be electrically connected to a seventh one 37 of the upper traces 30′, it may be necessary to add the seventh upper trace 37, extend the second lower trace 12′ on the lower layer to vertically overlap with the seventh upper trace 37 on the upper layer, and move the via 22′ to the overlapping position. As such, the routing of the lower traces 10′, the vias 20′ and the upper traces 30′ may require revision. If such a revision is requested, it may be necessary to fabricate a new photomask for each of the affected layers, which may increase the costs of device fabrication.


A dampening device for supplying a dampening liquid to a plate of a printing press is capable of optimize amount of the dampening liquid to be supplied to the plate through a transfer roller irrespective of fluctuation of supply amount of the dampening liquid from the dampening liquid source. The dampening device thus adjusts deposition pattern of the dampening liquid ejected from a plurality of nozzles onto the transfer rollers depending upon a printing speed of the printing press.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a dampening device for a lithographic press. More specifically, the invention relates to a nozzle type dampening device which has a nozzle means ejecting a dampening liquid toward a roller.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lithography employs a substantially flat plate, in which hydrophobic property is provided for an image portion and hydrophilic property is provided for a non-image portion. On the surface of such plate, a water base dampening liquid and an oil base ink are supplied. Then, due to mutual repulsion between the dampening liquid and the ink, only ink can be supplied to the image portion. In order to supply the dampening liquid, a dampening device is employed. The dampening device has generally two kinds of mechanisms.
In one kind of the mechanism to be employed in the dampening device, a roller train from a dampening liquid storage portion to the plate surface is provided. By a peripheral surface of a rotating roller partly dipped within the dampening liquid in the dampening liquid storage portion, the dampening liquid is carried from the dampening liquid storage portion. The dampening liquid thus carried on the peripheral surface of roller is then transferred to the peripheral surface of the adjacent next roller which rotates with contacting with the former roller. Thus, the dampening liquid is transferred sequentially through the rollers. As a result, the dampening liquid is applied on the surface of the plate.
In this type of the dampening device, uniform thin layer of dampening liquid can be formed over the entire axial direction of the roller. However, it is difficult to locally vary supply amount of the dampening liquid per respective portions in the axial direction of the roller. Also, through the sequence of the roller train, the ink on the surface of the plate may be transferred to the dampening liquid storage portion to contaminate the dampening liquid.
Another type of the dampening device has been designed for providing a solution for the drawback in the former type of the dampening device. In this type of the dampening device, a supply source of the dampening liquid is separated from the surface of the plate or the roller train reaching the plate surface, and the dampening liquid is filed toward the plate surface or the roller train reaching the plate surface to enable differentiation of the supply amount of the dampening liquid per portions in the axial direction of the roller. Such type of the dampening device includes a nozzle type dampening device ejecting the dampening liquid from the nozzle as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications (Kokai) Nos. Showa 51-59511, Heisei 1-110146, and Heisei 5-330009 and so forth.
The dampening device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Showa 51-59511 is designed to supply respectively adjusted amounts of the dampening liquid to a plurality of nozzles and to supply air by means of a blower to spray the dampening liquid in atomized form by a high velocity air flow.
In the disclosed device, operation of the driving motor is controlled so that a metering pump may be driven at a desired speed corresponding to a speed of the press.
The dampening device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 1-110146 includes a pump unit for supplying the dampening liquid, a nozzle ejecting the dampening liquid supplied from the pump unit, and a control unit for controlling ejection amount of the dampening liquid from the nozzle depending upon a printing speed of the press.
The ejection amount of the dampening liquid is controlled by adjusting a period to open each of the nozzles at an ejection timing in relation to rotation speed of a plate cylinder of the press, which ejection timing is determined on the basis of a preliminarily set and stored basic value, an adjusting value set by input depending upon the image to be printed with respect to each ejection nozzle and a correction value preliminarily set and stored relative to each printing speed of the press. Namely, in the disclosed device, control is performed so that given amount of ejection of the dampening liquid is effected at predetermined magnitude of angular displacement of the plate cylinder of the press.
It should be noted that, while there is no specific disclosure in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 1-110146, in addition to the control set forth above, the ejection amount of the dampening liquid can be controlled by adjusting the ejection period, i.e. a period to keep the nozzle open, or by adjusting the ejection pressure. In the alternative, the ejection amount of the dampening liquid may be controlled by adjusting an open area of the nozzle by means of a shutter member arranged in front of the nozzle.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 5-330009 discloses the dampening device including a speed detecting means for detecting printing speed of the press, a memory storing supply amount of the dampening liquid to be supplied corresponding to a printing condition and the printing speed of the press, an ejection means connected to the dampening liquid source and an air source through piping for ejecting the dampening liquid in the atomized flow by the high velocity air flow toward the plate cylinder or onto the peripheral surface of the roller contacting with the plate surface, and a pressure control means provided within the piping connecting the dampening liquid source and the ejection means and performing control for the supply pressure of the dampening liquid on the basis of the supply amount of the dampening liquid stored in the memory.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 5-330009, there is a disclosure that supply amount of the dampening liquid is set corresponding to the printing condition, such as the printing speed, humidity, temperature and so forth, the supply amount of the dampening liquid thus set and the pressure value in the piping downstream of the pressure control means for regulating the pressure of the dampening liquid to be ejected at the downstream side of the pressure control means to control the ejection amount of the dampening liquid, in the shown dampening device. Furthermore, a needle valve is provided at the upstream side of the nozzle per each nozzle. The needle valve serves for fine adjustment of the supply amount of the dampening liquid. By fine adjustment, ability of constant amount supply of the dampening liquid can be improved.
On the other hand, it has been confirmed that the nozzle to be used in the nozzle type dampening device tends to slightly vary spreading angle of the dampening liquid ejected through the nozzle depending upon the supply pressure of the dampening liquid.
In general, the amount of fluid (dampening liquid) to be ejected through the nozzle is not uniform over the entire distribution area. It is typical that the amount of the dampening liquid becomes smaller in the vicinity of the circumferential portion of the distributing region. Accordingly, in the conventional nozzle type dampening device in the printing press, interval of the nozzles and distance between the nozzle and the target to which the dampening liquid is to be ejected are set so that the distributing regions of adjacent nozzles can slightly overlap in the width direction of the plate or in the axial direction of the roller so that the shorting amount of the dampening liquid at the peripheral portions of the distributing regions can be mutually compensated by overlap of the distributing regions.
However, through various printing tests utilizing such nozzle type dampening device, while the reason is not completely clear, it has been found that even though the supply amount of the dampening liquid is adjusted depending upon the printing condition, the amount of the dampening liquid becomes excessive at the portion of the printing surface corresponding to the overlapping portion of the distributing region of the dampening liquid.


Methods and apparatus are provided for affixing hardware components to garments. Hardware components are provided with an operative component and an adhesive surface. The operative component interacts with one or more other operative components and/or with one or more other features of the garment (e.g. with cords, straps or the like connected to the garment and/or with the fabric of the garment) and/or with one or more external devices. The adhesive surface is bonded to a corresponding surface of a fabric layer of the garment using an adhesive located between the adhesive surface and the corresponding surface of the fabric layer.

Garments, and outdoor/technical garments in particular, may incorporate a wide range of hardware in their construction. In the context of outdoor/technical garments, such hardware typically performs some sort of desired function. Performance of such functions is typically accomplished by an operative component of the hardware which interacts with one or more other operative components, with the garment itself (e.g. with the fabric of the garment), with one or more other features of the garment (e.g. with cords, straps or the like connected to the garment) and/or with one or more external devices. Non-limiting examples of operative components of functional hardware used for outdoor/technical garments include: cord locks and cord management devices (which typically interact with a cord incorporated into the garment—e.g. to control the tightness of a drawstring or the like); buckles, clips, magnets and other closure mechanisms; covers (e.g. zipper garages); ladder locks; reflectors; branding components and/or the like. It is desirable in many cases for these operative components to be securely fastened to the garment to facilitate, or to increase the effectiveness of, their functionality and/or to minimize the potential for damaging the garment through use of the operative component.
One of the most common operative hardware components incorporated into outdoor/technical garments is the cord lock or cord management device. To improve the fit of a garment, multiple drawstrings can be incorporated into the construction of the garment (around the hood, waist and/or sleeve openings, for example). These drawstrings in conjunction with cord lock/management device permit the wearer to adjust the fit of the garment in certain areas (hood, waist, sleeves, etc.). For the cord lock/management device to function effectively (e.g. for the user to adjust the drawstring with a single hand), it is desirable that the cord lock be securely fastened to the garment, so that it stays stationary when the drawstring is pulled/tensioned.
The prior art discloses a number of techniques for fastening hardware components to garments. Examples of such prior art techniques are disclosed in: US patent publication No. 2006/0283907; U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,704; U.S. Pat. No. 7,254,871; U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,202; U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,963; U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,762; US patent publication No. 2007/0044280; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,292.
The hardware fastening techniques evolved in the prior art have a number of drawbacks including, without limitation:                the hardware dangles from the garment and is prone to being snagged;        the hardware appears aesthetically to have been added to the garment as somewhat of an afterthought, which reduces the marketability of the garment; and        the holes created in the fabric from the sewing needle used to fasten the hardware to the garment permit moisture to enter the garment. Accordingly, for waterproof garments, it becomes necessary to seal such holes with a patch or tape or the like. The added step of sealing requires extra manufacturing time and cost. Such sealing also decreases the breathability of the garment (e.g. its ability to vent moisture from within the garment to the exterior of the garment), as the waterproof tape and/or patches are typically not breathable.
There is a general desire for improved techniques for mounting hardware components to garments. Such techniques may overcome or ameliorate some of the aforementioned issues with the prior art.

Methods and apparatus for affixing hardware to garments


There is provided a polycarbonate resin with a reduced volatile chlorine content in which the amount of a chlorinous matter as volatilized from the resin when the resin is heated at 280.degree. C. for 30 minutes and then allowed to stand at room temperature for 3 days is 30 ppb or lower as calculated in terms of the amount of Cl atom. There is also provided a process for producing a polycarbonate resin using phosgene as a raw material, the improvement comprising using phosgene having a chlorine concentration of up to 1,000 ppb as the raw material thereby to provide the resin with a reduced volatile chlorine content.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a polycarbonate resin with a reduced volatile chlorine content and a method of producing such a polycarbonate resin, and more particularly to a polycarbonate resin which, upon held at normal temperatures, volatilizes a reduced amount of a chlorinous matter and so has stable quality, and a process for producing such a polycarbonate resin.
2. Background Art
Polycarbonate resins are generally produced by a two-phase interface polycondensation process wherein an aqueous solution of an alkali metal salt of diphenol, e.g., bisphenol A is reacted with phosgene in the presence of an organic solvent, or by a melt polycondensation process wherein the same reaction takes place in the absence of an organic solvent. So far, many studies have been made of impurities contained in phosgene used as the starting material in these processes.
Among them there are techniques for reducing the amount of chlorine contained in phosgene from the order of several hundred ppm to the order of a few tens ppm.
For instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,230,253 and 3,331,873 disclose a method of treating phosgene with phenols or activated carbon (active carbon) for adsorption and removal of chlorine contained as an impurity in the phosgene. However, these patents are silent as to the use of such a chlorine-reduced phosgene as a raw material for polycarbonate production.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 62-297320 and 62-297321 teach that phosgene contains as an impurity carbon tetrachloride having a higher boiling point than that of phosgene, and that when a polycarbonate resin is produced using phosgene as a raw material, the carbon tetrachloride remaining in the polycarbonate resin causes generation of hydrogen chloride during molding of the resin due to the heat applied. For this reason, these publications propose reducing the amount of carbon tetrachloride in phosgene to a certain low level.
The publications, however, teach nothing about the phenomenon of gradual volatilization of a chlorinous matter from the resin when it is allowed to stand at normal temperatures after molding.
Phosgene is generally produced by the reaction of CO with Cl.sub.2 using an activated carbon as a catalyst. This reaction arrives at equilibrium at its final stage. To reduce the amount of Cl.sub.2 to be contained in the resulting phosgene, therefore, the CO/Cl.sub.2 ratio is to be shifted in such a direction that CO becomes excessive. The use of a large excess of CO, however, leads not only to CO gas loss but also to an unacceptable increase in the amount of the phosgene inevitably discharged as an off-gas together with the CO gas, whereby the production cost is undesirably increased.
Accordingly, in the practical operation in most of phosgene plants, the excessive amount of CO is usually reduced to the limit at which phosgene loss is minimized. Consequently, phosgene products now available usually contain a certain level of Cl.sub.2.
It was discovered by the present inventors that the presence of chlorine in the starting phosgene for the production of a polycarbonate resin correlates with the gradual volatilization of a chlorinous matter from a molded product of the polycarbonate resin.
Thus, it has been found that the chlorine present in the starting phosgene causes some form of chlorination at a certain site of raw materials at an initial reaction stage in the preparation process of polycarbonate, and the thus formed chlorinated portion remains unchanged throughout the preparation process. The chlorinated portion still remains unchanged even during a molding process of the resulting polycarbonate; however, it may be gradually decomposed with time at normal temperatures to cause gradual volatilization of a chlorinous matter from the molded product (this a chlorinous matter can be detected as Cl ion).
On the other hand, when such carbon tetrachloride as mentioned above remains in polycabonate or when there are chloroformate group residues that are formed in the production process of a polycarbonate resin by the two-phase interface polycondensation technique, the generation of HCl is observed during the melt molding of the resin. However, these chlorinated groups must be clearly distinguished from the aforesaid chlorinated portion in starting materials produced by Cl.sub.2 in the starting phosgene.
In this regard, it is to be noted that the above chlorinated groups of very high reactivity change to HCl immediately upon the application thereto of heat on melt molding, and the HCl can be easily removed by washing the molded product with pure water.
In the case of the chlorinated portion in raw materials produced by Cl.sub.2 present in the starting phosgene, on the other hand, it can partly be decomposed due to the heat in the melt molding of a polycarbonate resin to generate and emit a chlorinous matter. However, most of the chlorinated portions remain unchanged through the molding. The remaining chlorinated portions are kept unchanged when the molded product is washed with pure water, but may gradually be decomposed by the action of light or the like to volatilize a chlorinous matter (detectable as Cl ion). Such chlorine is herein called "volatile chlorine".
The presence of such volatile chlorine has in fact been neglected, but now is found to cause various problems in connection with the quality or physical properties of a variety of recently developed molded articles of polycarbonate resins.
An object of the present invention is to provide a polycarbonate resin having a reduced volatile chlorine content, and a process of producing the same.

Polycarbonate resin with a reduced volatile chlorine content and process for producing the same


A solenoid valve (10) for use in an electronic shift control system of an automotive automatic transmission. The solenoid valve includes a body (12) having a cylindrical chamber (34) in which a movable armature (34) is slidably received and which is in communication with an inlet (96) for the automatic transmission fluid and an outlet (104). The body defines a cylindrical valve seat (88) in which a cylindrical valve member (90) coupled to the armature is slidably fitted. The valve member has a control port (92) opening onto the circumferential outer surface thereof and an inner passage (94) communicating the control port with the inlet (96). The solenoid valve is operable to control the fluid pressure substantially proportionally to the axial movement of the armature even in a condition in which a large amount of air bubbles are contained in the automatic transmission fluid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solenoid-operated fluid control valve for use in an electronic shift control system of an automotive automatic transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An automatic transmission of automobile includes planetary gear systems disposed between a torque converter and an output shaft. The gears are automatically shifted in response to car speed and engine load by a shift control system having hydraulic actuators adapted to control clutches and bands associated with the planetary gear systems.
Typically, the shift control system is a hydraulic control system designed to control the pressure of an automatic transmission fluid applied to the hydraulic actuators. The traditional hydraulic control system is complicated and includes a 3-way shift valve, a modulator valve responsive to the intake vacuum, a governor responsive to the car speed, and various other hydraulic valves.
More recently, there have been proposed electronic shift control systems having solenoid-operated valves controlled by electronic control units. The advantage of the electronic control systems as compared with the hydraulic systems is that they are less costly and have a wider flexibility in selecting the best gear shift.
In an electronic shift control system, an oil pump in the transmission constantly feeds the pressure line with the automatic transmission fluid under pressure. The solenoid valve signaled by the electronic control unit operates to relieve the line pressure and the modified line pressure is applied to the hydraulic actuators to produce the shift actions. The conventional solenoid valve used in the electronic shift control systems includes a valve member which is movable perpendicular to the plane of the associated valve seat.
The problem encountered in the electronic shift control systems is that, although added with an anti-foam agent, the automatic transmission fluid contains a substantial amount of air bubbles because the fluid is vigorously agitated as it is circulated through the torque converter, gearsets, and multiple-disc clutches of the transmission. It has been found that air bubbles in the automatic transmission fluid give rise to the chattering of the solenoid valve so that the line pressure as controlled by the solenoid valve is considerably deviated from the desired pressure value.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a solenoid valve which is suitable for use in an electronic shift control system of an automotive automatic transmission and which is operable in a stable manner despite the presence of air bubbles in the automatic transmission fluid.
Another problem of the electronic shift control systems is that the automatic transmission fluid is also extremely contaminated by solid foreign materials such as finely divided debris or fragments of metallic materials resulting from wearing of gears and other moving parts as well as finely divided non-metallic debris or particles deriving from the clutch facings and friction linings of the bands.
The ferrous debris or particles born in the fluid are apt to be magnetically attracted to the component parts of the solenoid and would undesirably alter the magnetic path of the solenoid and, hence, the operating property of the solenoid valve. Furthermore, a deposit of sludge consisting of ferrous and non-ferrous materials would alter the travel of the armature and the movable valve member of the solenoid valve.
Therefore, another object of the invention is to provide a solenoid valve for use in an electronic shift control system of an automotive automatic transmission and which is capable of effectively preventing undesirable accumulation of foreign materials.

Solenoid valve for automatic transmission control system


Disclosed is a process for the production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), comprising the steps of (i) reacting di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4)alkyl terephthalate with ethylene glycol to yield bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate, (ii) adding a sequestering agent based on phosphorus and (iii) polycondensing the bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate to produce PET; wherein in step (i) a zinc catalyst is present and in step (iii) an antimony catalyst is additionally present, the amount of zinc being in the range of from 0.003 to 0.008% by weight (30 to 80 ppm), the amount of phosphorus being in the range of from 0.001 to 0.01% (10 to 100 ppm), and the amount of antimony being in the range of from 0.01 to 0.05% by weight (100 to 500 ppm), in each case such weights being relative to the weight of the di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4)alkyl terephthalate; the molar ratio of the antimony to the zinc being in the range of from 1:0.95 to 1:0.1; and the value, obtained by multiplying the molar ratio of the phosphorus to the zinc by the molar amount of antimony, is 4 or less. The PET produced in the process according to the invention contains a low number of particles, generally less than 400 per microgram, and can be formed into articles having a very smooth surface with only a minimum number of protrusions.

Polyethylene terephthalate is prepared on an industrial scale by one of two processes. The first is the terephthalic acid or TA-process. In this process, terephthalic acid is reacted with ethylene glycol in a direct esterification reaction, producing bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (commonly designated as monomer) and water. The reaction is reversible, hence the water formed during the reaction has to be removed in order to convert the starting materials completely into the monomer. A catalyst is not required in this reaction and conventionally no catalyst is employed. The monomer then undergoes polycondensation to form the PET. In the polycondensation reaction typically antimony catalysts are employed (see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,164).
In the dimethyl terephthalate or DMT process, the dimethyl terephthalate is reacted with ethylene glycol at a temperature of between 150 and 250.degree. C. at approximately atmospheric pressure in an ester interchange reaction (transesterification) to yield bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate and methanol. The ratio of ethylene glycol to dimethyl terephthalate is in general between 1.4:1 and 2.5:1, preferably between 2.0:1 and 2.5:1. The most typical catalyst employed in the transesterification reaction is a manganese catalyst, specifically manganese acetate. In addition, catalysts based on other metals, such as magnesium, lithium, calcium, cobalt or zinc, may also be used alone or in combination. The transesterification reaction is reversible and the reaction equilibrium can be forced towards the bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate only by removing the methanol from the reaction mixture. At the end of the transesterification reaction the activity of the catalyst is sequestered and inactivated by introducing phosphorus. If the catalysts employed in the transesterification reaction are not arrested with phosphorus, the resultant polymer easily degrades upon heating and shows an unacceptable yellow color. For example, this is set forth in the article of S. G. Hovencamp, "Kinetic Aspects of Catalyzed Reactions in the Formation of Poly(ethylene terephthalate)", published in J. Polymer Sci., Part A-1, vol. 9 1971!, pages 3617-3625.
In the second stage of the conventional batch process, the bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate is polycondensed and thus converted into PET. Polycondensation is carried out generally at a pressure in the range of from about 0.01 to 40 mm Hg (about 0.01 to 53 mbar) at a temperature in the range of from about 205 to 305.degree. C. The reaction time is about 1 to 4 hours. The catalyst most frequently employed in the polycondensation reaction is a catalyst based on antimony, such as antimony acetate or antimony trioxide. Additives may be added during the process, for example, antiblocking agents, brighteners, bluing agents, color pigments and opaquing agents.
The conventional continuous process is basically an extension of the batch process in which a series of two or more sequentially connected vessels are used to perform the stages of transesterification and polycondensation. In general, a continuous feed of starting materials is used and the methanol formed is removed as the reaction proceeds, thus enabling the reaction to go to completion. The first vessel in the process is generally at atmospheric pressure and the pressure in each successive vessel is decreasing until in the final polycondensation vessel the pressure is generally in the range of from 0.01 to 40 mm Hg (=0.01 to 53 mbar). The temperature through the series of vessels generally increases from about 150 to 290.degree. C. in the first vessel to 200 to 305.degree. C. in the last vessel. The increase in temperature and the decrease in pressure aid in the removal of excess ethylene glycol. The flow of the reactant stream is continuous through each vessel and from vessel to vessel. In addition, the output of PET is continuous. In the continuous process, the same catalysts and sequestering agents can be used as in the batch process.
EP-A 699 700 discloses a process for the production of polyesters from dicarboxylic acid dialkyl esters by (i) transesterification with an aliphatic diol in the presence of a metal catalyst, in particular a manganese catalyst, (ii) adding an agent based on phosphorus which complexes and inactivates the transesterification catalyst, (iii) adding a cobalt compound and (iv) polycondensing the intermediate product in the presence of 1 to 10 ppm of titanium and in the absence of antimony.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,754 teaches a process for the production of PET in which the transesterification reaction between dimethyl terephthalate and ethylene glycol is conducted in the presence of a catalytic amount of organic or inorganic salts of manganese and cobalt with acetyl triisopropyl titanate, and subsequently a phosphate ester is added before polycondensation. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,145, an antimony compound is additionally present during the transesterification reaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,107 discloses a catalyst which is useful both in the transesterification and in the polycondensation step. The catalyst is a bimetallic compound obtained by reacting (1) a first compound selected from the group consisting of antimony(III) salts of monocarboxylic and dicarboxylic acids, antimony(III) and zirconium(IV) alkoxides and antimony trioxide, (2) a second compound selected from the group consisting of zinc, calcium and manganese salts of mono- and/or dicarboxylic acids, and (3) at least a stoichiometric amount of a third compound selected from the group consisting of anhydrides of mono- and dicarboxylic acids, alcohols containing 1 to 20 carbon atoms and glycols containing 2 to 20 carbon atoms. The molar ratio of the trivalent antimony or tetravalent zirconium compound to the manganese, zinc or calcium salt is from 1:1 to 1:6. The catalyst is employed in an amount of 0.01 to 0.3% by weight, based on the weight of the DMT. The PET produced by this process shows a relatively high number of particles or residue produced from the catalyst system. This is a severe disadvantage in many applications.
The problem to be solved is hence to improve the DMT process in order to decrease the number of particles in the PET, and similar polymers, which are produced from the catalyst system. An article produced from the PET accordingly should have a very smooth surface which shows only a minimum number of protrusions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the production of PET, and similar polymers, starting from di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.4)alkyl terephthalates, or similar compounds. These terephthalates, or similar compounds, are reacted with ethylene glycol (EG), or similar glycols, yielding bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate, or similar compounds, which is then polycondensed to form PET, or similar polymers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide one or a plurality of shaped articles made of PET, or similar polymers, and in particular to provide a biaxially oriented PET film, or similar polymer film, which shows a significantly reduced number of particles in the polymer matrix and, accordingly, also has a very smooth surface with very few protrusions or other surface imperfections.

Production of polyethylene terephthalate


A system and method for calibrating an RDAC to obtain an expected resistance are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of obtaining an expected resistance from an RDAC circuit includes receiving a digital signal comprising a digital code by an on-chip calibration code engine, automatically deriving a calibrated digital code based on resistance versus digital code characteristic curves of an expected RDAC and the RDAC associated with the calibration code engine, and inputting the calibrated digital code into the RDAC associated with the calibration code engine to obtain an expected resistance. The method also includes forming the resistance versus digital code characteristic curves of the expected RDAC and the RDAC, computing a gain error and an offset error using the formed resistance versus digital code characteristic curves of the RDAC and the expected RDAC and storing the gain error and the offset error in a non-volatile/volatile RDAC memory.

Digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are widely used in electronic systems to receive a digital code and then generate an analog signal related to, or determined from, the received digital code. These types of converters are used most commonly as building blocks in metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) analog-to-digital conversion systems. For an N-bit voltage scaling DAC or resistor DAC (RDAC), the resistor string consists of 2N identical resistors connected in series, and is used as a potentiometer and/or a rheostat, among other applications, in which the voltage levels between successive resistors are sampled by means of binary switches.
In the rheostat mode, the RDAC behaves as a code-dependent resistor. Due to manufacturing process variability, the critical dimensions and process parameters can affect circuit performance and can result in die-to-die variation of absolute output resistance. One such effect is due to systematic offsets in the process parameters, such as doping, oxide thickness, lateral diffusion, vertical implant depth, critical dimension variation and so on, that can result in the variation of sheet resistivity of resistive materials. This variation in sheet resistivity can be as high as 30-50% of normal value. Thus, the VLSI based RDACs when used in rheostat mode cannot compete on performance with a discrete resistor used as rheostat which has about 1% variation over the normal value.
Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

Method and apparatus for calibrating an RDAC for end-to-end tolerance correction of output resistance


A protective cover and radionuclide generator assembly. The cover protecting inlet and outlet connections disposed on the radionuclide generator. The radionuclide generator having a distal end having a generally flat top surface. The protective cover removably fixed at the distal end and positioned over the generally flat top surface. The protective cover engaging with the radionuclide generator and providing an interference fit. The interference fit preventing the removal of the cover from the radionuclide generator, unless so desired by a user. The cover being made from a radioactive resistant polypropylene.

The use of radionuclides for the diagnosis and treatment of various medical conditions is widespread. In diagnostic procedures it is desirable for a diagnostician to be able to clearly view the tissue of interest, such as, for example, a patient's heart. Some radioactive isotopes have an extremely short half-life. Thus, using them is very desirable in diagnosis since they minimize prolonged radiation exposure to the patient, but provide clear images to the medical diagnostician.
In practice, these desirable radioactive isotopes are often provided by a radionuclide nuclear generator, such as Bracco Diagnostic's model Cardiogen 82 (Rubidium RB 82 Generator), model #001500. The radionuclide generators are typically used up to 168 times in a one month time frame.
The generator typically includes an inlet connection and an outlet connection. Since the generator may be used up to 168 times the connections often get crushed or kinked. If the inlet or outlet connection becomes damaged, the generator will be rendered unusable. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a protective cover that prevents the inlet and outlet connections from becoming damaged in combination with the radionuclide generator.

Protective housing for radionuclide generator and combination thereof


An apparatus has a first plate having a first array of holes, with a first plate alignment hole having a smaller size than the other holes in the array, a second plate having a second array of holes to be alignable to the first array of holes, a second plate alignment hole having a smaller size than the other holes in the array, and the first plate alignment hole and the second plate alignment hole having different positions. A method of aligning plates provides a first plate having a top and bottom and first array of holes including a first plate alignment hole having a size smaller than the other holes in the first array, places a second plate having a second array of holes on the top of the first plate such that the first array of holes and the second array of holes align, directs light at the bottom of the first plate, locates a profile of the first plate alignment hole in the second array of holes to verify alignment.

Ink jet printers generally have a 'jet stack,' a stack of brazed steel plates that have manifolds to route the ink from ink reservoirs to an array of jets from which ink is dispensed. The jet stack may consist of several plates and the plates need to align correctly for proper functioning of the ink jet printer.
Current implementations of jet stack plates use a single hole on each plate, with each successive plate from an aperture plate to the diaphragm plate having a hole of a larger diameter. The diaphragm plate resides the closest to the jet, generally a transducer receives a signal to activate, as it activates it depresses the diaphragm and pushes a droplet of ink through a jet. Ideally, as the plates are stacked together, the holes would be perfectly concentric, but variation almost always occurs.
The variation is measured with an automated video system. Poor contrast between the hole edge and the plate to which the current plate is bonded from below results in erroneous measurements. The plates are shiny, stainless steel and the hole and surface quality vary. The automated video system uses top lighting and it becomes difficult for the system to sort out reflections and locate the hole edges to determine if the holes align correctly. Erroneous measurements then occur.
If caught, the erroneous measurements require re-measuring manually, which consumes time and resources. If they erroneous measurements are not caught, the jet stack plates do not align correctly. The jet stack will still operate but at a lower efficiency. Further, the management of the process flow is affected, because the error in the process is not corrected. In some instances, the re-measuring and manual alignment process is skipped entirely, being deemed as too high a cost for the results.


Disclosed is a computer program that provides a secure workflow environment through a cloud computing facility, wherein the secure workflow environment may be adapted to (1) provide a plurality of users with a workspace adaptable to provide secure document management and secure communications management, wherein the users comprise at least two classes of user, including a participant and a subscriber, the subscriber having control authority within the workspace that exceeds that of the participant and the participant having control over at least some of the participants own interactions with the workspace, (2) maintain a secure instance of each communication provided by each of the users such that each communication can be managed, (3) maintain a secure instance of each document interaction provided by each user such that each interaction can be managed; and extending the secure workflow environment to the users through a secure network connection.

Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to computer data management, and more specifically to secure computer-based management of workflow and data.
Description of the Related Art
Computer users want assurance that their computers represent a secure environment for their data and communications with others. In addition, users want to maintain sequence and tracking of distribution while working collaboratively. However, users are currently limited to tools that may allow them to control the archiving of data products after the fact, allow them to create categorized data hierarchies before the fact, or provide loosely controlled collaboration tools, but don't provide a controlled environment or context for their collaboration for the creation and maintenance of a controlled dynamic environment for data and communications. Therefore a need exists for a secure computer-based system for the management of workflow and data that enables traceability, control, and the establishment of a context for collaborative work, while allowing for active changes in the environment to accommodate the evolving needs of users.
While the invention has been described in connection with certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein.
All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

Secure workflow and data management facility


An audio jack connector comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals. The housing has a mating face, and the mating face is joined to a top face and bottom face. The housing defines slots where the openings of the slots are located at the bottom face and extend to the top face. The mating face defines a jack cavity communicating with the slots. The plurality of terminals are disposed in the slots, and each terminal has a base portion. One end of the base portion forms a resilient arm reversely bent toward the top face. A free end of the resilient arm forms a hemispherical contact portion, and the other end of the base portion is bent to form a soldering portion. The soldering portion extends out of the slot and is located within the periphery of the bottom face. The terminals are respectively received in the slots of the housing and are fixed to the slots through the base portions thereof.

Communication devices are being developed to be quickly attachable to other devices while continuing to be portable with reduced dimensions and reduced weight. Therefore, manufacturers are designing every component of the mobile phone to have reduced dimension and weight. At the same time manufacturers must ensure that all the electrical connections are good to maintain the quality of signal transmission. The basic function of the mobile phone is to receive and transmit voice, and, more recently, images and the Internet. As is well known, the mobile phone has an audio connector which receives a connector for an earphone.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional audio jack connector in the prior art includes an insulative housing 5 and a plurality of terminals 7. The outer surface 50 of the insulative housing 5 is flat, and the terminals 7 are bent into different shapes, and received in the insulative housing 5. Each terminal 7 has a plurality of interfering tabs 70 to be fixed to the insulative housing 5. The insulative housing 5 forms projections 52 to limit the position of the terminal 7. The insulative housing 5 further defines a raised opening 51 for the insertion of a mating audio connector (not shown) thereinto to electrically engage with the terminals 7.
To prevent the terminals from contacting each other while still being able to engage the terminals of a mating connector and to be soldered to a printed circuit board, the terminals are bent into different shapes. A plurality of interfering tabs are provided on the terminals to ensure the terminals are firmly held in the housing. The projections 52 used to limit the movement of the terminals increases the dimensions of the insulative housing which increases the cost of manufacture.