A color display tube having an in-line electron gun. The in-line electron gun has two elongated supporting elements and is secured to the electrical leadthroughs in the neck by two pairs of supports. The distance between the supports is at least 3 mm. By virtue thereof, one or more supports can be connected to a high-voltage leadthrough without the risk of flashover between the supports.

The invention relates to a color display tube comprising a neck having a base with a number of electrical leadthroughs, and an in-line electron gun being arranged in said neck, said electron gun comprising electrodes which are interconnected by two supporting elements of insulating material which extend on either side of and approximately parallel to the in-line plane, and comprising a number of supports which each form a connection between a supporting element and an electrical leadthrough and electrically contact the respective electrical leadthrough.
Such a color display tube is of the customary type, which is also referred to as the "in-line" type. In operation, an in-line electron gun generates three electron beams which extend in one plane, the so-called in-line plane. The elongated supporting elements are generally made from glass and are also referred to as "multiform" rods. In the manufacture of the color display tube, electrical leadthroughs are formed in a supporting plate (the assembly of supporting plate and electrical leadthroughs is also termed "base plate"), the electron gun is manufactured, the supports are secured to leadthroughs, so that the electron gun and the base plate are interconnected, and the electron gun is slid into the neck. Subsequently, the base plate is secured to the neck. The base plate which has been secured to the neck will hereinafter also be referred to as the base.
Ever higher demands are imposed on the positional accuracy of the electron gun in the neck of the colour display tube. A displacement or rotation of the electron gun relative to a mean position is disadvantageous. It has been found that, during sliding the electron gun into the neck, a displacement and/or rotation of the electron gun, and hence of the in-line plane, may occur. Said displacement and/or rotation causes a variation in the position of the electron gun, i.e. deviations in the position of the electron gun relative to the mean position occur.

Color display tube having an electron gun with flashover inhibiting support structure


Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for estimating the floating ambiguities associated with the measurement of the carrier signals of a plurality of global positioning satellites, such that the floating ambiguities are preferably consist for a plurality of different time moments. In one aspect of the invention, a real-time iterative matrix refactorization process is provided which reduces processor load and retains history of the measurements.

Satellite navigation systems, such as GPS (USA) and GLONASS (Russia), are intended for high accuracy self-positioning of different users possessing special navigation receivers. A navigation receiver receives and processes radio signals broadcasted by satellites located within line-of-sight distance. The satellite signals comprise carrier signals that are modulated by pseudo-random binary codes, which are then used to measure the delay relative to local reference clock or oscillator. These measurements enable one to determine the so-called pseudo-ranges (γ) between the receiver and the satellites. The pseudo-ranges are different from true ranges (D, distances) between the receiver and the satellites due to variations in the time scales of the satellites and receiver and various noise sources. To produce these time scales, each satellite has its own on-board atomic clock, and the receiver has its own on-board clock, which usually comprises a quartz crystal. If the number of satellites is large enough (more than four), then the measured pseudo-ranges can be processed to determine the user location (e.g., X, Y, and Z coordinates) and to reconcile the variations in the time scales. Finding the user location by this process is often referred to as solving a navigational problem or task.
The necessity to guarantee the solution of navigational tasks with accuracy better than 10 meters, and the desire to raise the stability and reliability of measurements, have led to the development of the mode of "differential navigation ranging," also called "differential navigation" (DN). In the DN mode, the task of finding the user position is performed relative to a Base station (Base), the coordinates of which are known with the high accuracy and precision. The Base station has a navigation receiver that receives the signals of the satellites and processes them to generate measurements. The results of these measurements enable one to calculate corrections, which are then transmitted to the user that also uses a navigation receiver. By using these corrections, the user obtains the ability to compensate for the major part of the strongly correlated errors in the measured pseudo-ranges, and to substantially improve the accuracy of his or her positioning.
Usually, the Base station is immobile during measurements. The user may be either immobile or mobile. We will call such a user "the Rover." The location coordinates of a moving Rover are continuously changing, and should be referenced to a time scale.
Depending on the navigational tasks to be solved, different modes of operation may be used in the DN mode. They differ in the way in which the measurement results are transmitted from the Base to the Rover. In the Post-processing (PP) mode, these results are transmitted as digital recordings and go to the user after all the measurements have been finished. In the PP mode, the user reconstructs his or her location for definite time moments in the past.
Another mode is the Real-Time Processing (RTP) mode, and it provides for the positioning of the Rover receiver just during the measurements. The RTP mode uses a communication link (usually it is a radio communication link), through which all the necessary information is transmitted from the Base to the Rover receiver in digital form.
Further improvement of accuracy of differential navigation may be reached by supplementing the measurements of the pseudoranges with the measurements of the phases of the satellite carrier signals. If one measures the carrier phase of the signal received from a satellite in the Base receiver and compares it with the carrier phase of the same satellite measured in the Rover receiver, one can obtain measurement accuracy to within several percent of the carrier's wavelength, i.e., to within several centimeters.
The practical implementation of those advantages, which might be guaranteed by the measurement of the carrier phases, runs into the problem of there being ambiguities in the phase measurements.
The ambiguities are caused by two factors. First, the difference of distances ΔD from any satellite to the Base and Rover is much greater than the carrier's wavelength λ. Therefore, the difference in the phase delays of a carrier signal Δφ=ΔD/λ received by the Base and Rover receivers exceeds several cycles. Second, it is not possible to measure the integer number of cycles in Δφ from the incoming satellite signals; one can only measure the fractional part of Δφ. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the integer part of Δφ, which is called the "ambiguity".
More precisely, we need to determine the set of all such integer parts for all the satellites being tracked, one integer part for each satellite. One has to determine this set along with other unknown values, which include the Rover's coordinates and the variations in the time scales.
In a general way, the task of generating highly-accurate navigation measurements is formulated as follows: one determines the state vector of a system, with the vector containing nΣ unknown components. Those include three Rover coordinates (usually along Cartesian axes X, Y, Z) in a given coordinate system (sometimes time derivatives of coordinates are added too); the variations of the time scales which is caused by the phase drift of the local main reference oscillator; and n integer unknown values associated with the ambiguities of the phase measurements of the carrier frequencies. The value of n is determined by the number of different carrier signals being processed, and accordingly coincides with the number of satellite channels actively functioning in the receiver. At least one satellite channel is used for each satellite whose broadcast signals are being received and processed by the receiver. Some satellites broadcast more than one code-modulated carrier signal, such as a GPS satellite that broadcasts a carrier in the L1 frequency band and a carrier in the L2 frequency band. If the receiver processes the carrier signals in both of the L1 and L2 bands, the number of satellite channels (n) increases correspondingly.
Two sets of navigation parameters are measured by the Base and Rover receivers, respectively, and are used to determine the unknown state vector. Each set of parameters includes the pseudo-range of each satellite to the receiver, and the full (complete) phase of each satellite carrier signal, the latter of which may contain ambiguities. Each pseudo-range is obtained by measuring the time delay of a code modulation signal of the corresponding satellite. The code modulation signal is tracked by a delay-lock loop (DLL) circuit in each satellite-tracking channel. The full phase of a satellite's carrier signal is tracked by phase counter (as described below) with input from a phase-lock-loop (PLL) in the corresponding satellite tracking channel (an example of which is described below in greater detail). An observation vector is generated as the collection of the measured navigation parameters for specific (definite) moments of time.
The relationship between the state vector and the observation vector is defined by a well-known system of navigation equations. Given an observation vector, the system of equations may be solved to find the state vector if the number of equations equals or exceeds the number of unknowns in the state vector. In the latter case, conventional statistical methods are used to solve the system: the least-squares method, the method of dynamic Kalman filtering, and various modifications of these methods.
Practical implementations of these methods in digital form may vary widely. In implementing or developing such a method on a processor, one usually must find a compromise between the accuracy of the results and speed of obtaining results for a given amount of processor capability, while not exceeding a certain amount of loading on the processor. The present invention is directed to novel methods and apparatuses for accelerating the obtaining of reliable estimates for the integer ambiguities at an acceptable processor load.
More particularly, the present invention is directed to novel methods and apparatuses for more quickly obtaining such estimates in floating-point form (non-integer form) which are close to the integer values. With these floating-point forms, which we call floating ambiguities, conventional methods may be used to derive the corresponding integer ambiguities.

Methods and apparatuses of estimating the position of a mobile user in a system of satellite differential navigation


Power management for clusters of computers, a cluster including a configuration of computers operating in a power management domain, one or more of the computers of the cluster having a power requirement that differs from power requirements of other computers in the cluster, data processing operations on the cluster effecting a processing load on the computers in the cluster, including selecting, from a plurality of configurations of computers capable of supporting a plurality of processing loads at a plurality of power levels, a configuration of computers capable of supporting the processing load at a lowest power level, the lowest power level defined by comparison among configurations capable of supporting the processing load; and reconfiguring the cluster according to the selected configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for power management for clusters of computers.
2. Description of Related Art
The development of the EDVAC computer system of 1948 is often cited as the beginning of the computer era. Since that time, computer systems have evolved into extremely complicated devices. Today's computers are much more sophisticated than early systems such as the EDVAC. Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software components, application programs, operating systems, processors, buses, memory, input/output devices, and so on. As advances in semiconductor processing and computer architecture push the performance of the computer higher and higher, more sophisticated computer software has evolved to take advantage of the higher performance of the hardware, resulting in computer systems today that are much more powerful than just a few years ago.
Powerful computing systems today are often formed by linking a group of computers into a cluster. Clusters can improve performance and availability relative to a single computer. Clusters also allow data processing operations to be load balanced among the computers in the cluster. For clusters that include a large number of linked computers, the cluster consumes large amounts of power. Such clusters, however, in prior art must be designed for worst case data processing loads, which means that at any given time there will be wasted power output from computers in such clusters that are not working at their most efficient levels. Also, to the extent that computers are available for inclusion in a cluster that are more efficient at particular data processing loads, there is no way in the prior art to take such efficiencies into consideration in configuring the computers to include in the cluster.

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved single stage snowthrower includes a housing with an open front portion, the housing including two side walls, a rear wall therebetween and a discharge chute. The rear wall includes deflecting ledges that angle upwardly toward the discharge chute, inwardly toward the center of the housing and forwardly toward the open front. The deflecting ledges provide both an inward and an upward component to snow travelling in the housing. The snowthrower also includes an impeller having axial ends and a radial edge. The impeller is comprised of two molded identical body sections that are joined about a shaft. Each body section includes a central portion, two end portions and a pair of helical portions with one helical portion between each end portion and the central portion. A portion of the radial edge of the impeller includes a shovel-like projection that is oriented in a direction extending laterally away from the impeller in the direction of rotation of the impeller.

Single stage snowthrowers are so named because they utilize only one powered implement, the impeller, for picking up and throwing snow outwardly away from the snowthrower. In contrast, two stage snowthrowers utilize two separate powered means for handling snow.
Single stage snowthrowers generally include a housing which is open to the front and an impeller which is positioned in the housing. The impeller must be relatively flexible and wear resistant to endure contact with hard surfaces and clean such surfaces without harm. Most impellers are designed using a planar sheet of flexible material held into a desired shape by metal components.
Single stage snowthrowers in order to have best control of placement of thrown snow must gather snow from a relatively wide path toward a centrally located narrower discharge chute and accelerate the snow to obtain a good throwing distance. For best snowthrowing, single stage snowthrowers must dig into relatively hard snow without recirculating the snow and must have an impeller shaped to gather and accelerate the snow in usually less than one half rotation of the snow on the impeller.
Single stage snowthrowers are generally lighter and less expensive than two stage snowthrowers but they generally do not throw snow as well, as far, or as controlled as do the two stage snowthrowers. Problems typically include overfeeding of the snow by the ends of the impeller to the center of the impeller so that snow is delivered to the center faster than the impeller can remove the snow from the housing via a discharge chute. Snow splitting or throwing of snow forwardly of the snowthrower is a problem with single stage snowthrowers. Further, conventional impellers tend to push snow straight along a surface or push snow upwardly before the snow reaches the center of the impeller.


A method for resynchronizing message traffic in a communication network following network component failure. The failing component, upon restart, establishes a second path for communicating with the still active communication network components. The alternate path is used to query status from the operational components and to inform the failed component of synchronization data. Control information for a primary virtual route is updated based upon the status query. This updated information is used to resynchronize message activity and allow resumption of message traffic without reinitializing the network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the operation of computerized data communication networks, and more particularly, to the recovery of communication network operations after a failure of one of the network components.
2. Background of the Invention
Computer data communication networks are used to transmit information between geographically dispersed computers and between user devices such as computer terminals or workstations and host computer applications. A variety of communication architectures exist. Data communication architectures such as the IBM System Network Architecture (SNA) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Architecture define an architecture in terms of functional layers. The SNA and OSI layered architecture models are shown in FIG. 1. The architecture defines functional layers with well defined interfaces between the layers. This allows interchangeability of a single layer's components without impacting the overall operation of the network.
The two lowest layers of the SNA architecture are Data Link Control (DLC) and Path Control. Path Control is in turn divided into Transmission Group Control, Explicit Route Control and Virtual Route Control. At a higher level, Data Flow Control implements session control. Session control defines the end to end communication between a particular terminal and a system application. For example, a workstation or terminal is operated by a computer user to enter and display data from a host application. A host application, such as a banking system for tracking customer accounts or an airline reservation system for tracking seat reservations, accepts requests for data and returns the desired information to the requestor. The session defines the connection between a terminal and an application and is unconcerned with the physical details of that interconnection.
An SNA network is defined in terms of Network Addressable Units (NAUs). Each NAU has a unique address and can send and receive messages. NAUs are divided into two classes: peripheral nodes and subarea nodes. A subarea node has an ability to route messages, while a peripheral node can only receive and transmit messages from and to the subarea to which it is attached. A subarea is defined as a subarea node and all attached peripheral nodes, if any.
SNA specifies three types of Network Addressable Units: System Service Control Points (SSCP); Logical Units (LU); and Physical Units (PU). The SSCP controls the physical configuration of the resources in the domain, including establishing communications paths and testing resources. Physical units are software entities for managing the physical connection of the network. Logical units perform user or application tasks.
The physical interconnection of a network is defined by the Data Link Control layer. This layer defines addressable devices and the physical paths connecting those devices. The physical definition may include particular communication control units and host processing systems that are to communicate.
Transmission Group Control defines one or more bidirectional logical connections between adjacent subarea nodes. Explicit route control defines bidirectional physical connections between end-to-end subarea nodes. Each explicit route (ER) consists of a fixed set of transmission groups, but can use at most one transmission group between two adjacent subareas. An explicit route can include one or more intermediate subarea nodes.
The virtual route layer defines an end-to-end logical connection between subareas supporting one or more sessions. Each virtual route is associated with an underlying Explicit Route. An Explicit Route can be associated with multiple Virtual Routes. Data flow over the virtual route is controlled by data pacing which defines a minimum and maximum window size and establishes a protocol for controlling the flow.
An example of a network is shown in FIG. 2. The network shown is an example of the use of the IBM Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) operating system to support transaction processing in, for example, a bank or airline application. Application processing occurs in host processor 20 frequently referred to as the "data host". The host processor can be one of a number of computer processors such as the IBM 3090 system. Communications from processor 20 are routed through a communication control unit (CCU) 22, such as the IBM 3745 or 3725. CCU 22 is connected over communication lines 24 to a compatible communications control unit 26 at the remote location. Communications control unit 26 has a plurality of communication lines 28 connected to control units 30. Each of these control units, in turn, can have a plurality of terminal devices 32 including computer terminals, workstations, or printers.
A communication network configuration is typically controlled by a communications management configurator (CMC) 34, which can be an IBM 3090 or similar system. The CMC 34 provides the System Service Control Point (SSCP) for the illustrated network and operates to establish the resource configuration. Additional communication control units 36 can be connected to host 20 and communication management configurator 34. These, in turn, are connected to remote CCUs and devices.
The application host 20, communications management configurator 34, communication control units 22, 26, and 36 are each subarea network addressable devices or nodes. The interconnection of these subareas defines a subarea network 40. The interconnections between subarea nodes are defined in physical terms as explicit routes connecting subareas. For example, Explicit Route 1 (ER1) is shown at 42 and 43, Explicit Route 3 (ER3) at 44 and 46 and Explicit Route 4 (ER4) at 48.
Virtual routes are defined as endpoint to endpoint connections between subareas. For example, Virtual Route 1 (VR1) is shown at 50 connecting data host 20 to CCU 24 and connecting CCU 24 to CCU 26.
A session is created between a terminal or logical unit 52 and data host 20. The session requires data to flow from terminal 52 through control unit 31, CCU 26 and via virtual route 1 50 to data host 20. Virtual route 1 50 carries all session traffic between CCU 26 and data host 20. This is shown figuratively in FIG. 3 where a number of applications A, B, C, and so on, have sessions that are routed through a virtual route to terminals 1, 2, 3, . . . N. The virtual route thus acts as a pipeline for messages between the terminals and the applications.
The communications between a data host 20 and communication control unit 26 over a virtual route can be shown, in simplified form, in FIG. 4. Virtual Route 1 (VR1) carries the two-way communication of messages between the communication control unit and the data host. A data communication architecture requires that some control be exercised over the messages passing between the two devices. Errors in communication or interference introduced on the communication lines may corrupt messages or cause the loss of messages between units. Network integrity requires that the communication over the virtual route be monitored to ensure that no messages are lost.
The SNA architecture controls messages integrity over a virtual route by the sending node assigning sequence numbers to each message and by verifying at the recipient (data host 20 or communication control unit 26) that each message is received in sequence. The architecture also provides data pacing as a method for controlling data flow so that the recipient is not overwhelmed by a number of messages that it cannot process or store. Data pacing defines a variable window as a number of messages that will be sent before waiting for a response from the recipient. The message sender will first send a "Pacing Response Request" asking that the recipient respond when it can accept additional messages. When the recipient has the capacity to receive another window of messages, it generates a "Pacing Response" to the sender.
A series of messages between a data host 20 and communication control unit 26 is shown in FIG. 5. CCU 26 generates the first message over virtual route 1 (VR1) with a sequence number of 1 and a Request for a Pacing Response (RPR). Additional messages with sequence number 2, 3, and so forth, are next sent by CCU 26. After a period of time data host 20 responds to the pacing request with a pacing response (PRSP) and begins sending messages with consecutive sequence numbers as shown. The recipient monitors the sequence numbers as they are received and discards any message arriving out of sequence.
Initial startup and configuration of a large communications network (e.g. 20,000 terminals) by the SSCP can take an hour or more. The communications setup initializes all transmission sequences, determines configuration information, and sends the necessary set up and test messages to ensure that all elements in a network are ready to respond. Once established, the network can operate indefinitely without reinitialization.
The failure of the data host 20 or other component can cause the entire communication network to cease operation. Because of the need to maintain the sequence of messages between the data host 20 and other components, communications with the failing unit can only be restarted if the sequence number information is known or if the entire communications network is reinitialized. Reinitialization of a large network is highly undesirable because of the considerable time required. This lost time can be costly to a business that is dependent upon transaction processing for its operations. Various schemes have been proposed for retaining sequence information so that the network can be restarted without reinitialization. However, data host failure may occur unpredictably and may not afford an opportunity to save the necessary sequencing information. In these situations, a network reinitialization is required. There is therefore a need to have a system or method for resynchronizing data communications without reinitializing the network.
The present invention addresses the technical problem of recovering synchronization information lost during a network component failure. It also is directed to the problem of resynchronizing message traffic between adjacent communication components following a component failure.

International Business Machines Corporation


A finger imaging system having a linear actuator, a pivot arm mounted to the linear actuator and an energy transducer mounted to the pivot arm is disclosed. The system may include an arcuate platen positioned to receive energy from the transducer. A finger may be placed on the platen, and the position of the transducer may be fixed at a first position relative to the length of the finger. The pivot arm may be moved in order to move the transducer along an arcuate path while maintaining the transducer at the first position relative to the length. As the transducer moves along the arcuate path, energy may be emitted from the transducer and reflected from the finger. The reflected energy may be detected and data corresponding to the amount of time between sending and receiving energy may be stored as data along with the linear and angular position of the transducer. After data is gathered about the finger at the first position, the transducer may be moved to a second position relative to the length of the finger, where the process of sweeping the transducer along an arcuate path and gathering data may occur again. The stored data can be used to create an image of the fingerprint.

Conventional techniques for obtaining an image of a fingerprint apply ink to a finger and then gently roll the inked finger on a piece of paper. The fingerprint image that appears on the paper is a planar representation of a non-planar object. Images produced by such conventional techniques often distort the true finger print, because the rolling process is difficult to execute, and because skin and sub-dermal fat has a tendency to bunch up on the trailing edge of the fingerprint.
More recently, systems for obtaining fingerprint images electronically have been made available. In some such systems, the image is constructed by means of optical scanning. In such optical scanning systems, the finger is placed on a platen and a image is captured. The edges of the finger not in flat contact with the imaging surface platen are reconstructed by progressively stretching the image of the vertical surfaces to extend their projected image out to simulate a rolled impression scanning system. Such stretching and extending of the images introduces in accuracies.
Embodiments of the invention described herein may obtain an image without using paper and ink and without stretching or extending electronic images. In embodiments of the invention, an energy transducer is moved around a portion of a hand, such as a finger, to collect information about the finger that can be used to generate an image without distortion, parallax effects or the use of any image stretching techniques.

Imaging device and method having a pivotable transducer


In one embodiment, a method includes, for each of a plurality of channels at a well site, converting channel data from a source data format to a common data format in real-time as the channel data is generated. The common data format includes a plurality of elements organized into a plurality of sets. Each element includes a minimum collection of fields. The method further includes, for each of the plurality of channels, storing the converted channel data in a data store as part of the at least one element.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data storage and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for storing and retrieving channel data.
2. History of Related Art
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find petroleum-oil hydrocarbons. An initial life of an oil well can be viewed in three stages: planning, drilling, and completion. During these stages, a huge volume of information is generated. This information can be loosely categorized into two types: static data and real-time data. Static data is generated either in advance (e.g., modeling data, cost predictions, and well plans) or after events (e.g., daily reports, mud reports, fracture reports, and casing data). Static data can be delivered either on a regular basis (e.g. daily reports) or on a per-event basis (e.g., fracture reports and completion reports). Real-time data is sensor-derived data that is generated through either analysis of fluids (e.g., mud logs) or through deploying sensor tools in a well hole. Real-time data can be collected immediately via, for example, telemetry, or upon completion of a tool run (e.g., memory data). Real-time data can be, for example, time-indexed or depth-indexed
During the drilling and completion stages, there has been increased focus on remote support and participation. In particular, there is significant value to be obtained from an ability to analyze in real time various data streams that are generated, often through cross-comparison with data from previous wells or with models from the planning stage. A typical oil well can require collaboration from teams based at the oil well, in regional offices, and corporate headquarters. This may mean that people thousands of miles apart need to be sure they are looking at the same data sets. These data sets, in turn, may be aggregated from several different streams of data, from historical data generated in previous wells, or from models predicted during the planning stage.
Benefits can be gained from cross-correlation and analysis of this data. These benefits can include greater value in terms of accuracy of interpretation and lessons learned for future reference. Examples are comparing real-time mud and pressure readings with loss-of-time incidents reported in daily operations reports and analyzing cost information against drilling-performance indicators. Benefits can also be gained by allowing people from different disciplines and sited in different locations to work together around the same data and information so as to provide a holistic approach to data that enables better informed decisions.
Historically this has not been possible due to schisms in the organization of data and the difficulty of sharing many different types of data in the time constraints required for real-time analysis across multiple locations. Further complications have been generated by the requirement to tightly control access to this data to ensure security for what can be extremely valuable information that can have significant market impact upon an oil company.

System and method for storing and retrieving channel data


A comfort control system includes a user-end subsystem and a system-end subsystem. The user-end subsystem includes an environmental control device, a sensor and a communication apparatus. The environmental control device adjusts an environmental factor value of a predetermined area. The sensor senses an activity value of a user. The communication apparatus sends the activity value and an identifier corresponding to the user. The system-end subsystem includes a communication element, a comfort database and a computing apparatus. The communication element receives the identifier and the activity value. The comfort database includes a basic data table having a physiological value and a preference data table having a control parameter. The computing apparatus looks up the basic data table for the physiological value and looks up the preference data table for a corresponding control parameter. The computing apparatus controls the environmental control device to adjust the environmental factor value.

As the environment and climate change, the issue of human living comfort becomes more and more popular. Common devices for adjusting ambient comfort are an air cooler and an air heater. For general operation of the air cooler and the air heater, usually a user sets a temperature, then the air cooler or the air heater adjusts the temperature in a corresponding indoor space according to a control mechanism, so that the indoor temperature is kept around the set temperature.
Secondly, in order to prevent the environment from being continuously damaged, governments and the industry all expect that most basic comfort requirements are met with the least power consumption. Therefore, the industry continuously develops a proper method for controlling the air cooler and the air heater, and proposes a corresponding energy-saving system.
Some technologies provide a method using an air conditioning device to control an ambient thermal comfort level, which are also technologies for addressing the aforementioned issue.

Comfort control system, user-end subsystem thereof, and system-end device thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Phenylquinoxaline copolymers of the general formula: ##STR1## are described where R* signifies a polar unit. The application of these copolymers for producing highly heat-resistant dielectrics is also described.

When applied as dielectrics for multilayer interconnections having a high switching rate, polyphenylquinoxalines demonstrate better thermal and electrical properties than conventional, highly heat-resistant protective and insulation layers based on polyimide (c.f.: 35th Electronic Components Conference, Washington (U.S.), May 20-22 (1985) Conference Report 1985, pp. 192-198); (c.f.: First European Technical Symposium on Polyimides, Montpellier, May 10-11 (1989) - Proceedings vol. 1, pp. B-2/1-B-2/12). In order for the polymers to be processed into the required thin layers, they must be soluble in those solvents which can be applied in production lines without adversely affecting the environment. Another requirement is that the polymer layers must adhere well to the substrates used in microelectronics. However, neither of these two requirements is met by polyphenylquinoxalines. These polymers are soluble only in very toxic, phenolic solvents, such as cresol or chlorinated hydrocarbons, and demonstrate insufficient adherence to typical semiconductor surfaces, such as silicon oxide and silicon nitride.


A luminance/chrominance (Y/C) signal separating device utilizing motion estimation and compensation. According to the device, the image motion is detected in the unit of a 2.times.2 (sample.times.line) block to separate an NTSC television signal into the Y and C signals. As a result of the motion detection, a three-dimensional Y/C signal separation is performed with respect to a still image, while a three-dimensional Y/C signal separation with the motion estimation and compensation in the unit of the 2.times.2 (sample.times.line) block in a predetermined region of the previous frame is performed with respect to a moving image. A two-dimensional Y/C signal separation is performed with respect to the moving image whose motion is not compensated in the unit of a 2.times.1 (sample.times.line) block in the present frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image signal processing and specifically a luminance/chrominance signal separating technique utilizing motion estimation and compensation. In particular, the present invention relates to a three-dimensional (3-D) luminance/chrominance (Y/C) signal separating device which can provide a high quality image by selectively performing one of a 3-D Y/C signal separation, motion-compensated 3-D Y/C signal separation, and Y/C signal separation per block using a 2-D field comb filter in accordance with the detected image motion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, in the composite video signals of the National Television System Committee (NTSC) system which has been adopted in many countries in the world, the chrominance (C) signal is modulated into a chrominance subcarrier and then interleaved in spectral spaces existing between the frequency spectrums of the luminance signal so as to be compatible with black/white television signals.
In order to separate the luminance signal and the chrominance signal interleaved by the frequency multiplication in the NTSC system, a horizontal filter was first introduced, and subsequently a one-line vertical filter and a two-line vertical filter have been used as the Y/C signal separating device. Recently, a motion-compensated 3-D comb filter using frame memories has been commercialized as a large scale integrated circuit (LSI) and gradually applied to a high definition television.
The horizontal filter may be classified into a horizontal low-pass filter and a horizontal band-pass filter. In the Y/C signal separating device using the horizontal low-pass filter, the Y signal is first separated from the composite video signal through the low-pass filter to remove the low frequency band of the chrominance subcarrier, and then the separated luminance component is subtracted from the composite video signal to separate the chrominance signal.
In the Y/C signal separating device using the line vertical filter, the Y/C signal separation is performed utilizing the characteristic of the phase inversion for each line of the composite video signal.
In the Y/C signal separating device using the motion-compensated 3-D comb filter, the Y/C signal separation is performed by properly mixing the output of a 2-D Y/C signal separating filter and the output of a 3-D frame comb filter, based on the value of k which is determined by the output signal of a motion detector. For example, if the k value is "0" when no motion is detected, a 3-D Y/C signal separation is performed, while if the k value is "1" when the detected motion is great, a 2-D Y/C signal separation is performed. with respect to the intermediate values between the values "0" and "1", an adaptive Y/C signal separation is performed. In detecting the image motion, the Y component is detected by the one-frame difference value of the low frequency component of the Y signal, while the C component is detected by the difference values between the Y signal of a high frequency band and the C signals of two frames. Alternatively, the C component may be detected by the difference value between the Y signal of the high frequency band and the C signal of one frame.
According to the conventional Y/C signal separating device as described above, however, the horizontal band-pass filter provides a relatively good Y/C signal separation function in the event that a small change of image occurs in a horizontal direction, but has a drawback that the Y/C signal separation is not satisfactorily performed due to the color interference and luminance interference in the event that a large change of image occurs in the horizontal direction, thereby deteriorating a horizontal resolution of the image.
The vertical filter has a drawback that dot crawling and color interference may occur when a correlation in a vertical direction is lowered. Also, the motion-adaptive 3-D comb filter has a drawback that the motion estimation and compensation are not effectively performed, and thus the separation of the Y/C signal is inaccurately performed, thereby causing the luminance interference and color interference to occur.

Luminance/chrominance signal separating device


A system and method for capturing a plurality of videos and images with a camera of a mobile communication device, editing them and combining them in order to generate a video. The invention provides an application for capturing, editing and combining a plurality of videos and images of a real estate structure with the build-in camera of a mobile communication device and then generating a real estate video for a specific real estate listing.

There are several video capturing and editing systems that use a series of steps to capture a plurality of videos and then generate a composite video by joining them together. Mobile phones equipped with high resolution cameras are frequently used for video capturing. Computer-based video editing systems, such as iMovie, allow users to easily join, edit and revise the videos. However, they still require human intervention for each editing decision.
Accordingly, there is still a need for a video capturing and editing system that is easy to use without the need of human intervention.

System and method for generating a video


The present invention relates to an antibody binding to human intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) where the antibody is able to modulate the differentiation status of dendritic cells and prolong the graft survival. In addition, the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising the antibody, and method of using them for the treatment of disease.

ICAM-1 is a 90 kDa type I cell surface glycoprotein composed of five extracellular immunoglobulin superfamily domains referred to as domains 1 through 5 and numbered from N to C-terminus, a transmembrane region and an intracellular region (Cell. 1990, 61:243-54). ICAM-1 mediates leukocyte/leukocyte interaction such as interaction between T cells and antigen presenting cells. It also mediates leukocyte extravasation into tissue during inflammatory processes (Transplantation. 1999, 67:729-736). In vitro study showed that antibodies interfering the ICAM-1/leukocyte function antigen-1 (LFA-1) interaction are able to inhibit T cell adhesion to endothelial cells and T cell activation also could be significantly reduced in a mixed lymphocyte reaction by these antibodies (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 1988, 85:3095-3099). In monkey studies using murine monoclonal antibodies against human ICAM-1, R6-5-D6 (enlimomab), renal allograft survival has been prolonged and T cell infiltration in the graft was decreased compared with controls (J. Immunol. 1990, 144:4604-4612). Enlimomab also had been proved to be beneficial in depressing disease activity in patient with rheumatoid arthritis (Arthritis Rheum. 1994, 37:992-999; J. Rheumatol. 1996, 23:1338-1344). However, enlimomab induction therapy after renal transplantation in a randomized multicenter study was not able to reduce the rate of acute rejection or the risk of delayed onset of graft function (Transplantation 1999, 67:729-736). Moreover, clinical trial in acute ischemic stroke patient revealed that anti-ICAM-1 therapy with enlimomab was not an effective and indeed significantly worsen stroke outcome and induced more adverse effect, primarily infections and fever compared with placebo (Neurology 2001, 57:1428-1434). The enlimomab functions by blocking the adhesion of T cells as wells as neutrophils to the vascular endothelial cells and thus it has been suggested that interfering with neutrophil emigration potentially increases the susceptibility to infection (J. Immunol. 1999, 162:2352-2357).
Dendritic cells (DCs) are highly specialized antigen-presenting cells that integrate a variety of immune response (Nature 1998, 382:245-252), and include a heterogeneous family of professional antigen presenting cells involved in initiation of immunity and immunologic tolerance. Until now, immature DCs were believed to induce T-cell anergy, whereas DCs transformed into mature DCs by activation stimuli such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were thought to induce primary T cell response (Blood 2006, 108:1435-1440). Furthermore, semimature DCs with a distinctive cytokine production profile might be endowed with tolerogenic functions (Blood 2006, 108:1435-1440).
ICAM-1 is expressed in dendritic cells in high level. Until now, however, ICAM-1 in dendritic cells has been considered to serves as a simple adhesion molecule for LFA-1 binding during T cell-DC interaction.

Antibody modulating the differentiation and function of dendritic cells via binding intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and use thereof


Novel muramyldipeptide derivatives such as [6-0-(2-tetradecylhexadecanoyl)-N-acetylmuramoyl]-L-alanyl-D-glutamamide and [6-0-(2-tetradecylhexadecanoyl)-N-acetylmuramoyl]-L-alanyl-N -methyl-D-glutamamide are provided. The muramyldipeptide derivatives are excellent compound as an adjuvant or a constituting component of virosome vaccine. An influenza vaccine comprises a complex of the muramyldipeptide derivative and an influenza virus antigen. The influenza vaccine has excellent antibody-producing capacity and safety.

The present invention relates to muramyldipeptide derivatives which have adjuvant activity and are useful as a component of influenza virus particle-like artificial membrane vaccine, so-called virosome vaccine. The present invention also relates to an influenza vaccine comprising a complex of the muramyldipeptide derivatives and an influenza virus antigen.
Since the effectiveness of presently used influenza HA vaccines varies due to mutations which occur on hemagglutinin molecule of the prevailing virus, it is eagerly desired to develop more effective vaccines than the conventional ones.
As for the recent approaches in influenza vaccine development, a component vaccine consisted of HA (hemagglutinin) and NA (neuraminidase) as main ingredients or influenza virus particle-like artificial membrane vaccine made from 6-0-(2-tetradecylhexadecanoyl)-N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine, so-called virosome vaccine, are known [see Japanese Patent Unexamined Published Application (hereinafter referred to as "J. P. KOKAI") No. 61-282321]. It is known that particularly the latter exhibits an excellent effect of improving antibody value in the blood and the utilization thereof is expected.
However, this vaccine irritates a part of a human body to which it is applied to cause a redness as an undesirable adverse reaction and it is not satisfactory as a medicine.

Muramyldipeptide derivatives and influenza vaccine comprising the derivatives

The Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute


The present disclosure includes a telescoping hold open rod which is controllably lockable and unlockable for use in holding a panel such as a nacelle open to provide a user access to an opening covered by the panel. The hold open rod is useful in allowing the rod to be unlocked and telescopically collapsed. The rod can be locked into a telescopically extended position to maintain the panel in an open position relative to the opening to facilitate access to the opening without the rod telescoping closed. A retention assembly includes structures and devices to maintain the rod in an open condition although subject to compressive loads.

The present disclosure includes a telescoping hold open rod which is controllably lockable and unlockable for use in holding a panel open to provide a user access to an opening covered by the panel. The hold open rod is useful in allowing the rod to be unlocked and collapsed when subject to a compressive load. The rod can be locked into an extended position to maintain the panel in an open position relative to the opening to facilitate access to the opening without the rod telescoping closed. A retention assembly includes structures and biasing devices to maintain the rod in an open condition although subject to compressive loads.
Prior art devices tend to provide a telescoping hold open rod which can be used to open a panel but which rod employs discreet mechanical locking features to maintain the rod in an open condition. Such locking features may include a removable pin which is controllably inserted into holes which are aligned when the rod is telescoped into an open position.
This background information is provided to provide some information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present disclosure. No admission is intended, nor should such admission be inferred or construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present disclosure. Other aims, objects, advantages and features of the disclosure will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of specific embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The exemplification set out herein illustrates embodiments of the disclosure that are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner. Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.


A distinct cultivar of Anthurium plant named xe2x80x98Fresh Lovexe2x80x99, characterized by its upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit; freely clumping growth habit; durable dark green leaves; white and green-colored spathes with light orange-colored spadices that are positioned above and beyond the foliage on strong and erect scapes; freely flowering habit; and good inflorescence longevity.

Anthurium andreanum.
xe2x80x98Fresh Lovexe2x80x99.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Anthurium plant, botanically known as Anthurium andreanum, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Fresh Lovexe2x80x99.
The new Anthurium is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Schipluiden, The Netherlands. The objectice of the program is to create and develop new freely clumping and freely flowering Anthurium cultivars with strong roots, dark green leaves, attractive spathe color, and good inflorescence longevity.
The new Anthurium originated from a cross by the Inventor on or about Jul. 24, 1997 of the Inventor""s proprietary Anthurium andreanum selcetion code number 97-015 as the female, or seed, parent with the Inventor""s proprietary Anthurium andreanum selection code number 97-010 as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Fresh Love was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Schipluiden, The Netherlands in 1999.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by meristem culture in a laboratory in Belgium has shown that the unique features of this new Anthurium plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.
The new Anthurium has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of the cultivar Fresh Love. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Fresh Lovexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely clumping growth habit.
3. Durable dark green leaves.
4. White and green-colored spathes with light orange-colored spadices that are positioned above and beyond the foliage on strong and erect scapes.
5. Freely flowering habit.
6. Good inflorescence longevity.
Plants of the new Anthurium can be compared to plants of the female parent, the selection 97-015. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Schipluiden, The Netherlands, plants of the new Anthurium differed from plants of the selection 97-015 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anthurium had flatter spathes than plants of the selection 97-015.
2. Plants of the new Anthurium flowered earlier than plants of the selection 97-015.
3. Spathe color of plants of the new Anthuriums was white and green whereas spathe color of plants of the selection 97-015 was white and pink.
Plants of the new Anthurium can be compared to plants of the male parent, the selection 97-010. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Schipluiden, The Netherlands, plants of the new Anthurium differed from plants of the selection 97-010 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anthurium had smaller leaves than plants of the selection 97-010.
2. Plants of the new Anthurium had smaller spathes than plants of the selection 97-010.
3. Spathe color of plants of the new Anthurium was not as pure white as spathe color of plants of the selection 97-010.
Plants of the new Anthurium can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Red Love, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,005. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Schipluiden, The Netherlands, plants of the new Anthurium differed from plants of the cultivar Red Love in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Anthurium had shorter leaves than plants of the cultivar Red Love.
2. Plants of the new Anthurium had flatter spathes than plants of the cultivar Red Love.
3. Spathe color of plants of the new Anthurium were white and green whereas spathe color of plants of the cultivar Red Love were red.


A series of bioactive analogs of (+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3 are synthesized. The bioactive analogs include either iso-CI or iso-CBI (6 and 7) as a DNA alkylation subunit. Conjugated to the DNA alkylating subunits are a variety of DNA binding subunits. The bioactive analogs maintain their DNA selectivity and display enhance reactivity.

The invention relates to antitumor antibiotics. More particularly, the invention relates to analogs of CC-1065 and the duocarmycins having DNA alkylation and antitumor antibiotic activities.
(+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3, illustrated in FIG. 1, are natural products having antitumor antibiotic activity through the alkylation of DNA. (Hanka, L. J., et al. J. Antibiot. 1978, 31, 1211; Yasuzawa, T., et al., Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1995, 43, 378; and Takahashi, I., et al., J. Antibiot. 1991, 44, 1045.) Prior studies have shown that the natural products can withstand and may benefit from significant structural modifications to the alkylation subunit and that the resulting agents retain their ability to participate in the characteristic sequence-selective DNA alkylation reaction. (Boger, D. L., et al., Chem. Rev. 1997, 97, 787.) These structural modifications, and the definition of their effects have served to advance the understanding of the origin of the catalysis of the DNA alklation reaction by 1-3. (Harper, D. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 7573; and Warpehoski, M. A., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 2951.)
These structural modifications have also served to advance the understanding of the origin of the DNA sequence selectivity of 1-3. (Warpehoski, M. A. In Advances in DNA Sequence Specific Agents; Hurley, L. H., Ed.; JAI: Greenwich, Conn., 1992; Vol. 1, p 217; Hurley, L. H. and Draves, P. In Molecular Aspects of Anticancer Drug-DNA Interactions; Neidle, S. and Waring, M., Eds.; CRC: Ann Arbor, 1993; Vol. 1, p 89; and Aristof P. A In Advance in Medicinal Chemistry, JAI: Greenwich, Conn., 1993; Vol. 2, p 67). Two models have been proposed to explain the mechanism of the DNA sequence selectivity of 1-3. One model proposed by Boger states that the DNA sequence selectivity of 1-3 is determined by the AT-rich noncovalent binding selectivity of these agents and their steric accessibility to the adenine N3 alkylation site. (Boger, D. L., et al., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1996, 3.5, 1439; and Boger, D. L., et al., Biorg. Med Chem. 1997, 5, 263.) This noncovalent binding model accommodates and explains the reverse and offset 5 or 3.5 base-pair AT-rich adenine N3 alkylation selectivities of the natural and unnatural enantiomers of 1 (Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 4623; and Boger, D. L., et al, Bioorg. Med Chem. 1994, 2, 115) and the natural and unnatural enantiomers of 2-3. (Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 9872; and Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1994, 116, 1635.) This noncovalent binding model also requires that simple derivatives of the alkylation subunits exhibit alkylation selectivities distinct from the natural products. It also offers an explanation for the identical alkylation selectivities of both enantiomers of such simple derivatives (5xe2x80x2-AA greater than 5xe2x80x2-TA), and the more extended AT-rich selectivity of the advanced analogs of 1-3 corresponds nicely to the length of the agent and the size of the required binding region surrounding the alkylation site. This model is further supported by the demonstrated AT-rich noncovalent binding of these agents. (Boger, D. L., et al., Chem.-Biol. Interactions 1990, 73, 29; and Boger, D. L., et al., J. Org. Chem. 1992, 57, 1277.) The model is also supported by the correspondance between the observed preferential noncovalent binding and the observed DNA alkylation of these agents. (Boger, D. L, et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. 1996, 4, 859.) Also the observation that the characteristic DNA alkylation selectivity of these agents does not require the presence of the C-4 carbonyl or even the activated cyclopropane provides further support for the model (Boger, D. L. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 3980.; and Boger, D. L., et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1991, 88, 1431.) The accuracy of this model is further demonstration of the complete switch in the inherent enantiomeric DNA alkylation selectivity that accompanied the reversal of the orientation of the DNA binding subunits with reversed versus extended analogs of the duocarmycins. (Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 4977; Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 4987; and Boger, D. L., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 1443.)
The above AT-rich noncovalent binding model contrasts with an alternative proposal in which a sequence-dependent backbone phosphate protonation of the C-4 carbonyl activates the agent for DNA alkylation and controls the sequence selectivity. (Hurley, L. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 2371.)
Structural studies of DNA-agent adducts, 17-19 the C-4 carbonyl of the natural products projects out of the minor groove lying on the outer face of the complexes potentially accessible to the phosphate backbone. (Lin, C. H., et al., J. Mol. Biol. 1995, 248, 162.; and Smith, J. A., et al., J. Mol. Biol. 1997, 272, 237.) However, the relative importance of the C-4 carbonyl positioning to the properties of these agents has not be determined.
What is needed is a series of analogs of (+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3 which exploit the AT-rich noncovalent binding model and which retain their DNA binding and alkylating activity and selectivity. What is needed is series of analogs of (+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3 which incorporate of iso-CI and iso-CBI (6 and 7). Iso-CI and iso-CBI (6 and 7) are analogs of the CI and CBI alkylation subunits 4 and 5 wherein the key C-4 carbonyl is isomerically relocated to the C-6 or C-8 positions, now ortho to the cyclopropane, as illustrated in FIG. 2. If the AT-rich noncovalent binding model is correct, the relocated carbonyls of iso-CI and iso-CBI (6 and 7) would project into the minor groove inaccessible to the phosphate backbone if participating in an analogous adenine N3 alkylation reaction.
A series of bioactive analogs of (+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3 are synthesized. Each of the analogs includes iso-CI or iso-CBI (6 and 7) as a DNA alkylation subunit. The novel DNA alkylation subunits are then conjugated to known DNA binding subunits to form bioactive analogs of (+)-CC-1065 (1) and the duocarmycins 2 and 3. Preferred DNA binding subunits are disclosed herein and in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/051,264, incorporated herein by reference.
2-(tert-Butyloxycarbonyl)-1,2,9,9a-tetrahydrocyclo-propa[c]benzo[f]-indol-8-one (31, N-BOC-iso-CBI) and 1-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)-4-hydroxy-3-[[(methanesulfonyl)oxy]methyl]-2,3-dihydroindole (19, seco-N-BOC-iso-CI) serve as preconjugate forms to the DNA alkylating subunits, i.e., iso-CI or iso-CBI (6 and 7). The approach for synthesizing compounds 31 and 19 was based on a directed ortho metallation of an appropriately functionalized benzene (13) or naphthalene at (24) precursor to regziospecifically install iodine at the C-2 position. Conversion of these respective intermediates to the dihydroindole skeleton utilized an established 5-exo-trig aryl radical cyclization onto an unactivated alkene with subsequent TEMPO trap or the more recent 5-exo-trig aryl radical cyclization onto a vinyl chloride for direct synthesis of the immediate precursors. Closure of the activated cyclopropane to complete the iso-CBI nucleus was accomplished by a selective ortho spirocyclization.
Resolution and synthesis of a fill set of natural product analogs and subsequent evaluation of their DNA alkylation properties revealed that the iso-CBI analogs react at comparable rates and retain the identical and characteristic sequence selectivity of CC-1065 and the duocarmycins. This observation is inconsistent with the prior art proposal that a sequence-dependent C-4 carbonyl protonation by strategically located DNA backbone phosphates controls the DNA alkylation selectivity but is consistent with the proposal that it is determined by the AT-rich noncovalent binding selectivity of the agents and the steric accessibility of the N3 alklation site.
Solvolysis studies indicate that the iso-CBI-based agents have a stability comparable to that of CC-1065 and duocarmycin A and a greater reactivity than duocarmycin SA (6-7xc3x97). Solvolysis studies indicate also indicate that the iso-CBI-based agents are more reactive than the corresponding CBI-based agents (5xc3x97).
Confirmation that the DNA alkylation reaction is derived from adenine N3 addition to the least substituted carbon of the activated cyclopropane and its quantitation (95%) was established by isolation and characterization of the depurination adenine N3 adduct. Consistent with past studies and in spite of the deep-seated structural change in the alkylation subunit, the agents were found to exhibit potent cytotoxic activity that correlates with their inherent reactivity.
One aspect of the invention is directed to DNA alkylating compounds having a DNA alkylating subunit covalently linked to a DNA binding subunit. The DNA alkylating compound is represented by the following structure:
A preferred DNA binding subunit is a radical represented by the following structure:
In the above structure, A is selected from the group consisting of NH and O. B is selected from the group consisting of C and N. R2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl(C1-C6), N-alkyl(C1-C6)3 and a first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. R3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl(C1-C6), N-alkyl(C1-C6)3, the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. R4 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl, (C1-C6), and N-alkyl(C1-C6)3. R5 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl(C1-C6), and N-alkyl(C1-C6)3 V1 represents a first vinylene group between R2 and R3. However, there are various provisos. If R2 participates in the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring, then R3 also participates in the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. If R3 participates in the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring, then R2 also particlates in the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. If R2 and R3 participate in the first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring, then R4 and R5 are hydrogen. If R2 is hydrogen, then R4 and R5 are hydrogen and R3 is N-alkyl (C1-C6)3. The first N-substituted pyrrolidine ring is fused to the first vinylene group between R2 and R3 and is represented by the following structure:
In the above structure V1 represents the first vinylene group between R2 and R3. R6 is selected from the group consisting of xe2x80x94CH2CH3(alkyl), xe2x80x94NHCH3(xe2x80x94N-alkyl), xe2x80x94OCH3(O-alkyl), xe2x80x94NH2, xe2x80x94NHNH2, xe2x80x94NHNHCO2txe2x80x2Bu, and a radical represented by the following structure:
In the above structure, C is selected from the group consisting of NH and O. D is selected from the group consisting of C and N. R7 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl(C1-C6), N-alkyl(C1-C6)3, and a second N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. R8 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, hydroxyl, O-alkyl(C1-C6), N-alkyl(C1-C6)3, the second N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. V2 represents the second vinylene group between R7 and R8. However, the following provisos pertain. If R7 participates in the N-substituted pyrrolidine ring, then R8 also particlates in the N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. If R8 participates in the N-substituted pyrrolidine ring only if R7 also particlates in the N-substituted pyrrolidine ring. The second N-substituted pyrrolidine ring is fused to the second vinylene group between R7 and R8 and is represented by the following structure:
In the above structure, V2 represents the second vinylene group between R7 and R8. R9 is selected from the group consisting of xe2x80x94CH2CH3(alkyl), xe2x80x94NHCH3(xe2x80x94N-alkyl), xe2x80x94OCH3(O-alkyl), xe2x80x94NH2, xe2x80x94NHNH2, and xe2x80x94NHNHCO2txe2x80x2Bu.
Preferred examples include DNA alkylating compounds represented by the following structures:
Another aspeact of the invention is directed to DNA alkylating compounds represented by the following structure:
In the above structure, R13 is selected from the group consisting of xe2x80x94C1-C6 alkyl, xe2x80x94NHCH3(xe2x80x94N-alkyl), xe2x80x94OCH3(O-alkyl), xe2x80x94NH, xe2x80x94NHNH2, xe2x80x94NHNHCO2txe2x80x2Bu, and a radical represented by the following structure:
A preferred embodiment of this aspeact of the invention is represented by the following structure:
Further aspeacts of the invention are directed to chemical intermediate represented by the following structures:
Another aspeact of the invention is directed to DNA alkylating compounds having a DNA alkylating subunit covalently linked to a DNA binding subunit covalently linked said DNA alkylating subunit, wherein the DNA alkylating compound being represented by the following structure:
Preferred DNA binding subunit are as described above for the iso-CBI compounds. Preferred examples of this aspect of the invention include DNA alkylating compounds represented by the following structures:
Another aspect of the invention is directed to DNA alkylating compounds represented by the following structure:
In the above structure R1 is selected from the group consisting of xe2x80x94C1-C6 alkyl, xe2x80x94NHCH3 (xe2x80x94N-alkyl), xe2x80x94OCH3(O-alkyl), xe2x80x94NH2, xe2x80x94NHNH2, xe2x80x94NHNHCO2tBu, and a radical represented by the following structure:
An example of this preferred embodiment is represented by the following structure:
An other aspect of the invention is directed to chemical intermediates presented by the following structures:

iso-CBI and iso-CI analogs of CC-1065 duocarmycins


New aminoalkoxyimino derivatives at position 3 of substituted B-homoandrostanes and B-heteroandrostanes, processes for their preparation, and to pharmaceutical compositions containing them for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders, such as heart failure and hypertension. In particular compounds having the general formula (I) are described, where the radicals have the meanings described in detail in the application.

Cardiovascular diseases are still the first cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world; among these, hypertension and heart failure are two of the most frequent diseases. Hypertension is one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors and more than one third of population over 60 suffer from this disease. Congestive heart failure affects 1-2% of the population and even 10% of the very elderly; the percentage is expected to rise (Sharpe N., et al, The Lancet, 1998, 352, (suppl. 1), 3-17). Beside, hypertension may be one of the most important causes of heart failure in the elderly (Eur. Heart J., 2001, 22, 1527-1560). Although a number of effective drugs are available for the treatment of both hypertension and heart failure, further research is in progress to find more effective and safe compounds. Several drugs are used in combination for the treatment of heart failure, and among positive inotropic agents, digoxin is the most prescribed digitalis cardiac glycoside that can improve the myocardial performance. A very well-known drawback of digitalis drugs is their arrhythmogenic side-effect. Evidence of digitalis toxicity emerges at two- to three-fold higher serum concentration than the therapeutic dose, such as disturbances of conduction and cardiac arrhythmias which are characteristics of digitalis toxicity (Hoffman, B. F.; Bigger, J. T, Digitalis and Allied Cardiac Glycosides. In The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 8th ed.; Goodman Gilman, A.; Nies, A. S.; Rail, T. W.; Taylor, P., Eds.; Pergamon Press, New York, 1990, pp 814-839).
The capability of the natural digitalis compounds to increase the myocardial force of contraction is strictly related to their cardenolide structure having a 17β-lactone on a 14-hydroxy-5β,14β-androstane skeleton.
In the field of 5α,14α-androstane derivatives some groups of compounds are reported to possess positive inotropic properties.
GB 1,175,219 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,905 disclose 3-(aminoalkoxycarbonylalkylene) steroid derivatives which possess digitalis-like activities with "a ratio between the dose which produces toxic symptoms (onset of cardiac arrhythmias) and the effective dose comparable with such a ratio as measured for standard cardiac glycosides". Besides no clear advantage over digitalis glycosides, the compounds with the highest ratio produce the lowest increase in contractile force.
6-Hydroxy and 6-oxoandrostane derivatives are disclosed in EP 0 825 197 B1 as ligands and inhibitors of Na+,K+-ATPase, and positive inotropic agents possessing a lower toxicity when compared with digoxin, as evaluated on the basis of the acute toxicity in mice. The same compounds are also reported by S. De Munari, et al., J. Med. Chem. 2003, 46(17), 3644-3654.
The evidence that high levels of endogenous ouabain (EO), a closely related isomer of ouabain, are implicated in human hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy and failure stimulated the pharmacological research for developing novel anti-hypertensive agents active as ouabain antagonists. The pathogenetic mechanisms through which increased EO levels affect cardiovascular system involve the modulation of Na—K ATPase, the key enzyme responsible for renal tubular sodium reabsorption and the activation of signaling transduction pathways implicated in growth-related gene transcription. By studying both genetic and experimental rat models of hypertension and comparing them with humans, it has been demonstrated that elevated levels of circulating EO and the genetic polymorphism of the cytoskeletal protein adducin associate with hypertension and high renal Na—K pump activity. Ouabain itself induces hypertension and up-regulates renal Na—K pump when chronically infused at low doses into rats (OS). In renal cultured cells, either incubated for several days with nanomolar concentrations of ouabain or transfected with the hypertensive adducin genetic variant, the Na—K pump results enhanced. Moreover, both EO and adducin polymorphism affect cardiac complications associated to hypertension, the former through the activation of a signalling transduction pathway. As a consequence, a compound able to interact with the cellular and molecular alterations, sustained by EO or mutated adducin, may represent the suitable treatment for those patients in whom these mechanisms are at work (Ferrandi M et al., Curr Pharm Des. 2005; 11(25):3301-5).
As reported above, the crucial point of positive inotropic agents is the ability to discriminate between the potency in inducing an increase of myocardial force of contraction and the onset of cardiac arrhythmias.
There is still a constant need to make available drugs showing a better therapeutic ratio and/or a longer duration of action, both of them important factors for the compliance of patients. Preferably, such drugs should be suitable for oral administration.
Different steroids, with the B ring enlarged and/or with one carbon atom replaced by a heteroatom, are reported to possess different pharmacological activities as well as some action on the Na+,K+-ATPase or as diuretics.
3-Hydroxy and 3-keto B-homoandrostane derivatives are disclosed in JP 45023140, as anabolic and antiandrogenic steroids, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,019 and by H. J. Ringold in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1960, 82, 961-963, as anabolic and antigonadotrophic compounds.
Natural or synthetic brassinolides (2,3-dihydroxy-6-keto-7-oxa-7a-homo derivatives) are reported to be plant growth regulators (CS 274530) and some of them are inhibitors or stimulators of Na+,K+-ATPase (L. Starka, et al., Sbornik Lekarski, 1997, 98, 21-25).
6-Azaestranes are claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,328,408 as diuretic and hypoglycemic agents and hence useful in the treatment of congestive heart failure.
Compounds resembling steroidal structures with an oxygen atom in the B ring are reported by R. K. Razdan et al. in J. Med. Chem., 1976, 19, 719-721, as inactive or almost inactive agents in hypertensive rats, even though their dosage was quite high (10 mg/kg).

Amino derivatives of beta-homoandrostanes and beta-heteroandrostanes

Sigma-Tau Industrie Farmaceutiche Riunite S.p.A.


An improved portable cigarette lighter closure device that provides facile pivoting of the cover between open and closed positions, and which securely retains the cover in the closed position is provided. The closure device incorporates a magnet affixed in the cover of a cigarette lighter, for securing the cover to a body of the lighter and to securely retain the cover in the closed position. The magnet exerts sufficient force on the body to retain the cover in the closed position, while enabling one handed pivoting of the cover by the user. Additionally the invention may be provided with an insulating sleeve. The ferromagnetic insulating sleeve prevents the magnetic field radiated by the magnet from passing through the cover of the lighter, for preventing magnetically attracted objects located in a pocket of the user's clothing such as the users keys and change for example, from being inadvertently drawn against the cover of the lighter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to portable cigarette lighters, and more particularly, to an improved portable cigarette lighter closure device.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable cigarette lighters that are dimensioned to be carried in a user's pocket are well known. These portable lighters are useful for lighting cigarettes and pipes, among several other items that may be desired to be ignited by the user. One well known embodiment of these lighters comprises an ignition assembly and a reservoir assembly that contains flammable lighter fluid. The ignition assembly includes a draft guard for preventing a flame created by the lighter from being inadvertently extinguished. A wick extends from the reservoir and into the draft guard. A toothed wheel is typically provided to engage a flint. The toothed wheel is rotated to cause the flint to throw sparks into the draft guard and toward the wick, causing the saturated wick to ignite.
The reservoir assembly may comprise a casing or cell having the lighter fluid retained therein, with a portion of the wick floating in the fluid. Alternatively, a known absorbent material, such as felt, is disposed in the casing and saturated with lighter fluid. The wick again is in communication with the saturated felt, and is ignited as discussed above.
Additionally, these lighters are provided with a pivoting cover. The cover is provided to enable the user to extinguish the flame emanating from the ignition assembly when desired, and to protect the ignition assembly and the users clothing. A lever is provided to prevent the cover from inadvertently opening and closing. The lever is often configured with a laterally projecting toe portion that communicates with a spring biased plunger for resisting pivotable movement of the lever, between a horizontal position of the lever when the cover is open, and a vertical position when the cover is closed. The toe portion of the lever depresses the spring with the plunger for resisting the lever's pivotable movement. The spring also causes the plunger to exert sufficient force on the lever to retain the lever in the vertical position and in the horizontal position.
A number of U.S. Patents have be granted to such portable lighters. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,032,695, to Gimera et al. discloses a pocket lighter that includes a hinged cover and means for retaining the cover in a closed position and an open position. The retaining means disclosed therein is substantially similar to the lever and spring biased plunger assembly discussed above.
Another portable lighter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,929, to Murry et al. The lighter disclosed therein includes a cover pivotably coupled to an insulative case for housing a power supply, such as batteries, and conductors. A spring biased plunger is again in communication with a lever to prevent the cover from inadvertently opening and closing. The lever is configured to communicate with the plunger for resisting pivotable movement of the lever, and to maintain the lever in a horizontal position when the cover is open, and in the vertical position when the cover is closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,940, to Heller et al., discloses a cigarette lighter that includes a cap-type member that is pivotally mounted on the open end of a housing. The cap-type member includes a lug extending outwardly through an opening in the housing. The lug bears against an edge of the opening. The edge of the opening provides a fulcrum about which the lug and, in turn, the cap-type member pivots into the housing. The cap-type member is in engagement with the ignition mechanism so that it actuates the ignition mechanism when it is pivoted into the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,285, to Christmas, is directed to a cigarette-lighter cover that is provided in a generally planar configuration. The cover has an internally formed hinge that enables a portion of the cover to be swung thereabout to expose a portion of the lighter and a protuberance which may be snapped into a recess in the lighter to releasably hold the cover in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,163, to Wright, discloses a lighter assembly that includes means for directing primary and secondary fuels along convergent paths toward an ignition point to produce a lighter flame.
However, a disadvantage common to the prior art, and particularly to portable lighters that include a pivoting cover and a lever which aids with retaining the cover of the lighter in the open and closed positions, is that it is often somewhat difficult for the user to open and close the cover. Frequently, the spring biases the plunger with enough force to prevent facile opening and closure of the cover. Thus, the force exerted by the plunger on the lever often necessitates that the user simultaneously hold the lighter fluid reservoir portion of the lighter along with the cover of the lighter, so that they can rotate the cover relative to the body. Therefore, one-handed operation of the lighter is prevented.
Thus, there exists a need for a portable cigarette lighter cover closure device that provides facile actuation of the cover and which securely retains the cover in the closed position.


An opening operation prevention structure for a door outer handle includes a base plate, a side wall that projects from the base plate, and a handle lever that is rotatably supported by the side wall. The side wall includes an extension that covers the exterior of the handle lever when the base plate is viewed in a side view.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door outer handle opening operation prevention structure for preventing the opening of a back door of a vehicle such as an automobile, due to erroneous operation of a door outer handle attached to the back door.
2. Description of Related Art
For example, in a vehicle such as an automobile, there is one known arrangement where an opening operation prevention structure is employed for a door outer handle, so that a door is not opened erroneously when it receives an impact (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 10-297279).
In this conventional opening operation prevention structure, there is provided a weight that is moved to a lock position by inertial force when an impact acts thereon. By fixing this weight in a position where the weight interferes with the rotation locus of a handle arm of the door outer handle, the opening operation of the handle arm is prevented.
However, in the conventional technique, there is a problem in that since the weight and related parts are required, the structure becomes complicated and the number of parts is increased.
The present invention takes the above problem into consideration, with an object of providing a door outer handle opening operation prevention structure that can reliably prevent the opening operation of the door outer handle, while maintaining a simple structure and without increasing the number of parts.

Door outer handle opening operation prevention structure


An air humidifier including a first container and a second container that can be filled with water from the first container, an atomizer and electrodes. The second container is subdivided into a first reservoir and a second reservoir, the two reservoirs being interconnected with the interposition of a filter. Two electrodes are arranged in the first reservoir, and a component of the atomizer is arranged in the second reservoir in order to atomize the water.

Atomizers have long been in use for air humidification, in particular of interior spaces. Such atomizers make use of ultrasound or fine nozzles in order to generate a cold fog composed of tiny droplets. The known atomizers have the following disadvantages in principle. Lime that is dissolved in the water being used is atomized along with the water and perceived later in the environment as undesired fine lime precipitation. Furthermore, in the case of air humidifiers with two containers that are flowed through in series, there is a risk of germs building up at high temperatures and/or during standstill times. This, too, is also not effectively countered by measures that are taken in the first container against the build up of germs. Thus, particularly given long standstill times, germs form in the second, downstream container and are then immediately atomized as well when the air humidifier is switched on. Finally, the lime dissolved in the water leads not only to the described lime deposits in the environment of the air humidifier, but also impairs the service life and/or functioning of the oscillating plate used in the case of ultrasonic atomization, or of the nozzle used in the case of nozzle atomization. The functioning of the oscillating plate is impaired by lime deposits, in particular. These lime deposits can be removed by a cleaning process that takes place every three to four days. However, in the case of mechanical cleaning there is the risk of damaging the oscillating plate. The atomizing function of the nozzle is influenced, in particular, by an increasing obstruction due to lime deposits. In the known apparatuses, use is made of deliming cartridges in order to reduce these liming problems. However, said cartridges must be frequently changed and, in accordance with new findings, form an optimum feeding ground for bacteria and fungi owing to the large surface of the granulate used.
JP 10-281502 A1 discloses an air humidifier that comprises a first container and a second container that can be filled from the first container, an atomizer and electrodes arranged in the first container. This air humidifier has the above-described problems associated with the lime and the hygiene in the second container.


A fastener for sheet objects may include first and second portions which are positioned or are positionable in an adjacent spaced relationship with respect to each other so as to define a sheet object receiving region therebetween. Piercing means are provided which are movably mounted on the first portion. The piercing means may be adapted so as to pierce one or more sheet objects disposed within the sheet object receiving region when moved into an operative state in which the piercing means extends across the sheet object receiving region between the first and second portions. The fastener may further include retaining means for retaining the piercing means in the operative position when moved thereto.

Various different kinds of fasteners for fastening together sheet objects, such as sheets of paper, are known in the art. One class of such fasteners functions by applying a clamping force to the sheets to be fastened together, typically at one corner of a plurality of sheets. For example, the common paper clip and the binder clip or 'fold-back' clip function in this way. A disadvantage of the clamp type fastener is that it can become dislodged from the sheets by a simple sliding motion. Accordingly, movement of the fastened sheets relative to one another, such as that which may occur when a document is being read, may cause the fastener to slide off the sheets leaving them unfastened.
An alternative approach to the clamp type fastener is a fastener which secures a plurality of sheets together by piercing or puncturing the sheets to be fastened. For example, a metal staple is a well known fastener of this type. Staples are dispensed from a stapler which comprises an applicator portion disposed opposite a plate portion. Sheets to be fastened together are positioned between the applicator portion and the plate portion, and pressure exerted on the applicator portion against the stack of sheets causes a staple to be dispensed. The legs of the staple pierce the stack of sheets and are bent either toward or away from each other upon contact with the plate so as to secure the sheets together.
However, a drawback of the use of staples is that a separate applicator device, the stapler, is required to apply them. Additionally, the legs of the staple are not always reliably bent by the plate such that the sharp ends of the legs are embedded in the surface of the fastened papers. Accordingly, the ends of the legs may present an injury risk to a person handling the stapled papers. Furthermore, in the event that the papers need to be unfastened, a separate staple remover device is usually required to remove the staple, otherwise there is a further risk of injury to a user's hands.
Another type of fastener is the Treasury tag or India tag which generally comprises a piece of string with a bar of metal or plastic attached to each end. A stack of sheets may be fastened together by passing one of the bars through a hole formed in the stack of sheets using a hole punch. However, like stapling, fastening using this technique is inconvenient for the user because a separate device, in this case a hole punch, is required.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a fastener for a sheet objects which substantially overcomes or mitigate at least some of the above-mentioned problems.


A print control apparatus includes: a display control unit that provides a plurality of choices for a type of printing medium and causes a user interface, on which one of the plurality of choices is selected by a user, to be displayed on a screen; and a storage unit that stores history of the choices selected at least twice. The display control unit first provides one or more choices of the plurality of choices on the user interface based on the history.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print control apparatus and a print control program.
2. Related Art
JP-A-2010-42893 discloses a printing apparatus that includes a paper cassette which accommodates two stages of trays. The printing apparatus includes a switching unit that sets one of the two stages of trays as an operable tray and a paper sheet is supplied from the operable tray.
However, in a case where types of paper sheets which are held in a plurality of stages of trays, respectively are set by a user, there is a problem in that operations are complicated.

Print control apparatus and print control program


Disclosed is a method and apparatus for making a prototype injection molded part. An extruder of the type used for fused deposition modeling injects production thermoplastic material into a heated nonconductive plastic mold tool slowly at low pressure in an isothermic process. The mold tool may be built from a CAD drawing by fused deposition modeling or another rapid prototyping technique. Using the present invention, an injection molded prototype part can be made from a digital representation of the part within 24 hours by an engineer in an office environment.

The present invention relates to prototyping of injection molded objects, and more particularly to an office-compatible method for rapidly making plastic injection molded prototypes parts.
In a typical injection molding process, plastic is injected at high pressures, extremely quickly, into a thermally conductive metal mold. The molded part is quickly cooled to a temperature at which it can be removed from the mold. The part is then quickly ejected from the mold so that another part can be made, and so that the part does not become stuck on the mold (due to shrink differential). Cooling of large parts continues on a fixture. The goals of production injection modeling are to produce a high quantity of high-quality parts in a short turn-around time. A thirty second cycle time or less for the making of each molded part is typical.
In order to produce a three-dimensional object in a typical injection molding process, it is necessary to prepare a mold tool that has a cavity which is complementary to the desired shape of the three-dimensional object. The mold tool generally consists of two opposing halves, which mate together to define the mold cavity. The mold tool is normally machined out of steel or other metal which is capable of withstanding high temperature and pressure when hot liquid is injected into the mold. In use, the mold tool is inserted into a frame of an injection molding machine, and held in place with high clamping forces to oppose pressure generated inside the mold. The time and skill required to prepare the mold tool are both significant. The machining must be done by skilled craftsmen, and includes the incorporation of a sprue through which the molding material is injected, a vent, cooling lines and ejector pins. Typically, this process involves placing an order with an outside vendor and waiting several weeks or months for delivery, at high cost.
Before undergoing the expense and long lead time associated with conventional metal mold manufacturing, it is desirable to produce a prototype of the part that will have similar characteristics to the production part. The goal is produce a prototype having characteristics sufficiently close to that of the desired final manufactured part so as to permit a close prediction of part performance. Various additive process rapid prototyping (RP) technologies are commonly used to make prototype parts in the design stages of a part. These rapid prototyping technologies include fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), laminated object manufacturing (LOM) and jet technology. These additive process techniques produce prototypes useful for evaluating the fit, form and function of a part design, to gain preliminary part approval and to accelerate product development. The strength of a final production part is not, however, replicated in prototypes created by these rapid prototyping techniques. The additive processes create layers, layered stress points and voids in the part resulting in a different internal stress structure than that of the homogeneous injection-molded part. Additionally, many materials used in these processes are weak.
Various methods have been developed for creating mold tools used to make prototype injection molded parts, which may be referred to as "bridge tooling" or "temporary tooling." A number of these methods utilize rapid prototyping techniques, particularly, stereolithography. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,622 describes the use of stereolithography to form a mold shell, which is then reinforced with an incompressible material and coated with a thermally conductive material. U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,679 describes a mold tool formed by injecting a strengthening material into cavities within an object formed by stereolithography. U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,018 describes a mold tool, including an ejection valve within the mold tool, formed by stereolithography. U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,448 describes the making of a mold tool by depositing a metal coating onto a plastic mold shell produced by stereolithography.
The use of rapid prototyping to create molds for use in processes other than injection molding are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,056 describes a mold built by stereolithography or fused deposition modeling used to form a vacuum cast part. U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,156 describes the making of a prototype part by pouring a thermoset into a mold formed by a rapid prototyping technique.
Techniques are also known which use a part formed a rapid prototyping process as a master mold pattern to create a prototype mold tool. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,781 describes the use of a prototype part as the pattern for making a sprayed metal mold. U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,578 uses a prototype created by stereolithography as a master mold.
A commercial process known as the Swiftool™ process uses a prototype part, which may be made by a rapid prototyping technique, as a pattern for creating an epoxy mold. The process takes several days. Another commercial process known as 3D Keltool® makes bridge tooling in a period of several days in a metal-powder sintering process, starting from a master pattern made by stereolithography. Yet another commercial system called AIM™ builds mold tools by stereolithography using UV-sensitive materials.
There is a need for a more rapid, easy to use and low cost method of creating a small number of prototype injection molded parts, that is compatible with an office environment.