For lightening or eradicating pigments in human skin, a first conditioning laser optical energy having first optical parameters selected to obtain an ablative effect on the epidermal layer of human skin is provided. A target area of the human skin is conditioned by directing the first conditioning laser optical energy onto the target area and forming in an epidermal layer of the target area discrete pressure and gas release ducts across the target area. A second treatment laser optical energy is provided that has second optical parameters selected to obtain a lightening or eradicating effect on the pigments located within the human skin and to substantially avoid damaging the epidermal layer of the human skin. The second treatment laser optical energy is directed onto the target area subsequent to conditioning, and the pigments within the human skin are lightenmed or eradicated by the second treatment laser optical energy.

The invention relates to a method for lightening or eradicating pigments in human skin, in particular in pigmented skin lesions or tattoos.
Extremely short pulse (ESP), nanosecond or picosecond laser systems can successfully lighten or eradicate a variety of pigmented lesions. Pigmented lesions that are treatable include freckles and birthmarks including some congenital melanocytic naevi, blue naevi, naevi of Ota/Ito and Becker naevi. The ESP laser systems can also selectively destroy tattoo pigment without causing much damage to the surrounding skin. The altered pigment is then removed from the skin by scavenging white blood cells and tissue macrophages.
One of the techniques by which a laser can be made to produce a pulsed output beam is Q-switching (QS), sometimes known as giant pulse formation. The technique allows the production of light pulses with extremely short (in the range of nanoseconds) pulse duration and high (megawatt) peak power, much higher than can be produced by the same laser operating in continuous wave mode (constant output), or free-running pulse mode (0.1 ms-300 ms). There are also techniques by which laser pulses can be made to the even shorter (in the range of picoseconds). The ESP laser systems are effective because they confine their energy to the treated pigments. The time duration (pulse duration) of the ESP laser energy is so short that the extremely small pigments of a size of 10 nm-100 nm are heated to fragmentation temperature before their heat can dissipate to the surrounding skin. This prevents heating of the surrounding tissue that could potentially lead to burning or scarring of the skin.
The most likely cause of pigment destruction when subjecting the pigments to ESP laser pulses are shockwave and/or cavitation damage, the photomechanical physical effects produced from thermal expansion, and/or the extreme temperature gradients created within the melanosome or tattoo pigment. Melanin absorbs and localizes the high-intensity radiation from ESP lasers, thereby creating a sharp temperature gradient between the melanosome and surrounding structures. This gradient leads to thermal expansion and the generation and propagation of acoustic waves, which mechanically damage the melanosome-laden cells. For the selective removal of pigment, the color of the laser light must penetrate far enough into the skin to reach the target pigment and must be highly absorbed by the pigment relative to the surrounding skin. Different pigments therefore require different laser colors. For example, red light is highly absorbed by green tattoo pigments. In current practice, numerous lasers can specifically target pigmented lesions such lasers including red light lasers (e.g., 694 nm ruby, 755 nm alexandrite), green light lasers (e.g., 532 nm frequency-doubled Nd:YAG), and near-infrared lasers (e.g., 1,064 nm Nd:YAG).
Superficially located pigment is best treated with shorter wavelength lasers whilst removal of deeper pigment requires longer wavelength lasers that penetrate to greater tissue depths. For example, green light lasers (KTP lasers; KTP=potassium titanyl phosphate KTiOPO4) do not penetrate as deeply into the skin as the red light lasers and near-infrared lasers because of their shorter wavelengths. Therefore, green light lasers are effective only in the treatment of epidermal pigmented lesions. Caution should be used when treating darker-skinned people as permanent hypo-pigmentation and depigmentation may occur.
Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers produce a 1,064 nm wavelength beam with a pulse duration of typically 1 nanoseconds-25 nanoseconds. In comparison, pulse durations of QS ruby lasers and alexandrite lasers are typically longer, with durations up to 100 nanoseconds. Although the Nd:YAG wavelength is not absorbed as well by melanin as green light and red light wavelengths, its advantage lies in its ability to penetrate more deeply into the skin (up to 4 mm to 6 mm). A laser which produces 1,064 nm wavelength light is also more useful in the treatment of lesions for individuals with darker skin tones. In addition, the infrared wavelength light produced by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser system can be converted into visible wavelength light. The latest devices incorporate an Nd:YAG (1,064 nm) laser as the main laser source from which all other wavelengths are created. The first wavelength converter is KTP crystal which has the ability to double the frequency of the incoming Nd:YAG beam and thus produce the halved wavelength of 532 nm (green light). For further wavelength conversions to 585 nm (yellow) and 650 nm (red), the KTP 532 nm laser beam is used as a source for optical pumping of solid-state dye lasers. Recently, solid-state dyes, capable of generating wavelengths other than 585 nm and 650 have also become available.
Picosecond ESP lasers with various wavelengths are also available. An example is an alexandrite laser with a pulse duration of 500 picoseconds to 900 picoseconds which has been used for tattoo removal.
In addition to the appropriate choice of laser color in order to be best absorbed by the color of the pigment, a laser system must be able to deliver extremely short pulses with very high pulse energy. The fluence (F) is one of the main parameters for treating pigments. It is defined as energy density: F=E/A, where E is the energy of the laser pulse and A is the spot size area of the laser beam at the skin surface. Sufficient laser fluence must be delivered during each laser pulse to heat the pigment to cause fragmentation. If the fluence is too low, the pigment will not fragment and no removal will take place.
Pigment removal is based on a process of pigment disintegration caused by strong acoustic waves generated during the interaction between ESP laser pulses and the pigment particles. The pigment particles are then more easily removed by the body's own immune system. Several treatment sessions are typically required with intervals of three weeks between sessions to allow the pigment residue to be cleared by the body. It is therefore highly desirable for patients and practitioners to maximize the efficacy of each treatment session and to reduce the number of sessions needed.
One way of possibly increasing treatment efficacy is to increase the energy of the produced acoustic waves by increasing the laser fluence. However, with larger energies of acoustic waves, side effects start to appear more frequently. Cavitation bubbles, which are formed around the pigment particles due to their increased temperature, and plasma formation can damage the surrounding tissue. Measurements of acoustic waves clearly show the existence of a laser fluence threshold at which uncontrolled skin perforation and subsequent scarring as a side effect occur. This threshold represents the limit for the applied laser pulse parameters. Occasional side effects such as depigmentation, allergic reactions, ink darkening, and epidermal debris have been reported as well.
Another option for increasing treatment efficacy is to deliver more than one ESP laser pulse to the treated area during the same treatment session. However, applying a sequence of laser pulses is not as effective as using a single large pulse. Since tissue characteristics change following the irradiation with a laser pulse, the pigment removal efficacy is reduced for subsequent laser pulses. During an ESP pulse, temperatures can exceed 1,000° C. The gaseous products of pyrolysis and superheated steam account for the immediate whitening of the treated skin. Whitening results in an optical shield that prevents subsequent laser pulses from reaching the remaining underlying pigments.
There is therefore the need for an improved method of pigment removal which permits the use of higher laser intensities while reducing the probability of side effects.

Method for lightening or eradicating pigments in human skin


A passive microwave receiver, receiving a WARC protected frequency of 1420 MHz may be used for fire, temperature speed detection and intrusion detection. One or more receiver arrays can be used to provide a plurality of frequency ranges that can be detected. In an interior installation, one or more receiver arrays can be placed inside a wall made of non-metallic substance and capable of passively receiving frequencies at less than 3 GHz. In other embodiments, the receiver and array can be in the form of a hand-held or wearable device. This method and apparatus achieves high performance by exploiting conventional low noise amplification block conversion circuits and provides the detection of thermal signals through clear, smoky, misty, or environmentally untenable conditions as well as the detection of automobiles and intruders via black box emission. A passive microwave detector may be used at a highway where the highway intersects an associated antenna lobe for a distance, mounted on a wall or pole and have line-of-sight view of an intruder or automobile.

Temperature, speed and intrusion detection are important for a myriad of reasons. Fire can cause serious damage to property and persons and can even result in loss of life to persons or animals caught in a fire. Additional damage beyond that caused by flames can be caused by smoke or soot or by water used to fight the fire. Such damage can result in significant financial losses—or worse—to the victims of a fire.
Intruders, whether human or animal, also can cause damage to persons or property, and so it may be desirable to detect and locate such intruders to avoid any problems resulting from their presence. An intruder, for example, may be a living being or an automobile. In addition, in the case of a fire, it can be very important to know whether there are any persons in a burning location and where they are so that fire fighters either can locate and rescue such persons or, if no one is present, do not need to take unnecessary risks to rescue persons who are not present.
Intrusion detection typically involves the active emission of electromagnetic or sound waves and detecting their reflection from the intruder. Ultrasonic intrusion systems are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,183 to Fujiwara and many others. Intrusion detection systems in which a microwave frequency is transmitted and an intruder detected due to reflections of the radiated energy are detected on a frequency range of from 0.5 GHz to 30 GHz. A passive detector detects radiation of a heat source in the frequency ranges of 0.5 to 30 GHz, preferably 2 to 20 GHz. The disclosed system also may comprise a plurality of antennae units, each antennae unit being designed for a particular, different frequency described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,972 to Harrison; U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,988 to Hoseit et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,288 to Peterson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,353 to Whitehead; U.S. Pat. No. 6,188,318 to Katz et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,414 to Fisher et al. The systems described in these patents all require an active emission of microwave radiation from a source, which is reflected by the object (e.g., an intruder) to be detected. For example, as described in the Harrison '972 patent, known objects or living entities may provide baseline signatures against which the reflected radiation can be measured. Movement of an intruder can be detected by use of the Doppler effect, i.e., by measuring a change in the reflected radiation as an object moves towards or away from the source of the radiation. In addition, Fisher et al. describes a plurality of passive thermal radiation sensors adapted to transmit a plurality of sensor signals. The apparatus also includes a distance sensor such that the apparatus can collectively reduce false alarm rates of intruder detection.
EP 1 944 591 A1 describes a method and device for detecting a heat source through a wall or other obstacle. Thus, the invention does not require direct contact between a heat source and a passive antenna operating in a radiation frequency band.
WO 97/14941 (PCT/CA96/00686) describes a method for remotely determining internal temperatures through materials by microwave radiation. In particular, the method comprises selecting a frequency range where microwave radiation at least partially penetrates the materials, detecting self-emitted thermal radiation through the materials for the microwave frequency range in a target beam of a passive receiver, producing signals proportional to the thermal radiation detected in the target beam, remotely scanning the target beam of the passive receiver through a target pattern, comparing the signals for different locations in the target pattern to identify locations emitting higher thermal radiation, and processing the signal to provide an indication of internal temperature for the locations emitting higher thermal radiations. The method is useful for search and rescue missions, natural disaster prevention and early detection. The preferred frequency range is 0.5 to 40 GHz.
FR 2627865 describes a radiometer measurement device that includes an antenna for capturing thermal noise captured by a target. In particular, the radiometer is useful in preventing fires wherein the smoke is thick. The radiometer takes microwave radiation measurements in the band of 34 to 36 GHz.
DE 3147775 A1 describes a method for fire detection using a flame detector to monitor microwave radiation.
Referring to FIG. 19, there is shown a plot of a human body, candle flame, Bunsen burner and sun radiation as a black body. As will be further discussed herein, a black body radiates frequencies in the microwave range including a fire, an automobile and a human body. The depicted graph tends to show relative spectral emission as peaking for a human body in the infrared range at 104 nanometers in wavelength and frequency. The graph also shows that black body radiance from either a flame or a human body follows a straight line decline with increasing wavelength and decreasing frequency into the microwave band from the infrared. The graph is extrapolated from FIG. 2.1 of Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Fire From Images, by S. W. Hasinoff, a thesis prepared for the University of Toronto, Department of Computer Science, 2002. Humans exhibit primarily black body emission. As the graph demonstrates, various fires exhibit black body radiation as well at approximately the same frequency. Moreover, as will be discussed further herein, fire also results in free radical spectral emission at specific frequencies.
Referring to FIG. 20, there is shown attenuation of microwave signals of 0.5 to 2.5 GHz measured through various wall materials: drywall, brick, block, adobe and cement taken from FIG. 5 of Image formation through walls using a distributed radar sensor network, by Allan R. Hunt, of AKLELA, Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., 2005, available from the AKLELA web site. As illustrated from the plot, drywall has a magnitude of −5 dB at 2,000 MHz. Alternatively, concrete has a magnitude of −25 dB at 2,000 MHz. Therefore, the attenuation of microwave signals through drywall is 5 times greater than through concrete.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,724,467 to Billmers et al., describes a system and method for viewing objects at a fire scene by discriminating reflections from an object from smoke and fire. Some limited tests also have utilized acoustic sensors for fire detection.
Such techniques, however, are not infallible and frequently result in false alarms. For example, a thermal sensor in the proximity of a bathroom shower may detect rising air temperature from a hot shower and trigger an unnecessary alarm. In addition, since such thermal detectors do not detect smoke, they can be slower to react to detect a fire than are smoke detectors.
Consequently, thermal sensors are often used in combination with smoke detectors which operate upon the detection of particulate matter from smoke in the air. Particle and smoke detectors use photoelectric, ionization, carbon monoxide, gas-sensing, and photo beam technologies to sense byproducts of combustion. However, these devices also are not infallible, and may falsely trigger from, for example, cigarette or cigar smoke. Moreover, one or both of the thermal and smoke detectors may be slow to react to a growing fire, thus leading to greater risk to property or life. In addition, the presence of smoke can complicate the detection of fires. Studies show that 90% of wood smoke particles are smaller than 1 micron in size. Particles from oil smoke are in the 0.03 to 1 micron range, while particles from cooking smoke from grease are in the 0.01 to 1 micron size, as is tobacco smoke. Consequently, discrimination among types of smoke is difficult, which requires sophisticated pattern recognition algorithms and detector sensors to reduce the nuisance sensitivity (see L. A. Cestari, et al., "Advanced Fire Detection Algorithms using Data from the Home Smoke Detector Projects," Fire Safety Journal, 40 (2005), 1-28).
Microwave engineering technologies also have been considered as a means to detect flaming and smoldering fires, particularly when using multi-spectral electromagnetic wave sensing. The premise is that the fire's radiant heat transfer components generate a detectable signal in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Electromagnetic waves are created when charged particles such as electrons change their speed or direction. These electromagnetic waves consist of an electric field and a magnetic field perpendicular to the electric field. The oscillations of these fields are reflected in the frequency and wavelength of the electromagnetic wave. The frequency is the number of waves (or cycles) per second. The energy of these waves may also be characterized in terms of the energy of photons, mass-less particles of energy traveling at the speed of light that may be emitted at certain discrete energy levels. The following mathematical relationship demonstrates a relationship among the wavelength of an electromagnetic wave, its frequency, and its energy:
  λ  =            c      f        =          hc      E      where                λ=wavelength (meters)        c=speed of light (3×108 meters per second)        f=frequency (Hertz)        h=Planck's constant (6.63×10−27 ergs per second)        E=energy of the electromagnetic wave (ergs)
Wavelength and frequency are the inverse of one another as related by the speed of light, and may be used interchangeably herein in the description of embodiments and the claims as equivalents of one another. Note that the energy of an electromagnetic wave is proportional to the frequency and is inversely proportional to the wavelength. Therefore, the higher the energy of the electromagnetic wave, the higher the frequency, and the shorter the wavelength.
The term "microwave" generally is used to refer to waves having frequencies between 300 Megahertz (MHz) (wavelength=1 m) and 300 Gigahertz (GHz) (wavelength=1 mm). Microwave radiation is highly directional, and the higher the frequency, the more directional the emitted radiation. For the purposes of the present application and claims, an emission above 300 GHz up to 1000 GHz will also be considered within the microwave band.
The radiation from electromagnetic waves can be emitted by thermal and non-thermal means, depending upon the effect of the temperature of the object emitting the energy. Non-thermal emission of radiation in general does not depend on the emitting object's temperature. The majority of the research into non-thermal emission concerns the acceleration of charged particles, most commonly electrons, within magnetic fields, a process referred to in the astrophysics field as synchrotron emission. For example, astrophysicists and radio astronomers look for synchrotron emissions from distant stars, supernovas, and molecular clouds.
On the other hand, thermal emission of radiation from electromagnetic waves depends only upon the temperature of the object emitting the radiation. Raising the temperature of an object causes atoms and molecules to move and collide at increasing speeds, thus increasing their accelerations. The acceleration of charged particles emits electromagnetic radiation which forms peaks within the wavelength spectrum. There may be a direct correlation in changes in temperature impacting the accelerations of the composite particles of an object with the frequency of the radiation and peaks within the spectrum. Once an object reaches its equilibrium temperature, it re-radiates energy at characteristic spectrum peaks.
Common forms of this radiation include blackbody radiation, free-free emission, and spectral line emission. A blackbody is a theoretical object that completely absorbs all of the radiation falling upon it and does not reflect any of the radiation. Thus, any radiation coming from a blackbody is from its inherent radiation and is not the result of any radiation incident upon it. Blackbody radiation is a basic form of thermal emission of electromagnetic radiation from an object whose temperature is above absolute zero (0 Kelvin). Practical examples of blackbody radiators include a human body, an automobile, a Bunsen burner, a candle flame, the sun and other stars in the galaxy.
Passive high-gain directional microwave antennas and receivers have been used to measure the temperature of a remote object in the technical field commonly known as microwave radiometry. Typical users of microwave radiometry are radio astronomers scanning extraterrestrial objects and the earth. A microwave radiometer known from the field of the astronomy sciences pointed at the sky can produce a measurable voltage output which is proportional to the temperature of the target. For example, the science of detecting the temperatures of planets is an established technology in the field of radio astronomy, and radio astronomers can use microwave apparatus to measure the temperatures of distant planets and stars. Orbiting satellites pointed back towards the earth may also use microwave apparatus to conduct remote sensing of regions of the earth's surface, for example, to detect volcanic activity or to take temperature readings generally.
Radio astronomy operates in internationally allocated bands of frequencies for research purposes according to the 1979 International Telecommunication Union's World Administrative Radio Conference, also known as "WARC-79," (J. Cohen, et al., CRAF Handbook for Astronomy, Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies, European Science Foundation, 3d Ed. (2005)). These bands are free of microwave active transmission and so are relatively free of noise when used for passive detection for example, from the stars or planets. Use of passive microwave frequencies at these internationally protected frequencies within the microwave radiation spectra may guarantee that reception is free of interference from active microwave radiation.
Some of the WARC-79 allocated bands are reserved as "PRIMARY exclusive." These PRIMARY exclusive bands include 21.850 to 21.870 MHz, providing a 20 KHz wide band; 1.400 to 1.427 GHz, providing a 27 MHz band; 2.690 to 2.700 GHz, providing a 10 MHz band, 10.680 to 10.700 GHz, providing a 20 MHz band; 15.350 to 15.400 GHz, providing a 50 MHz band; 23.600 to 24,000 GHz, providing a 400 MHz band; 31.3 to 31.5 GHz, providing a 200 MHz band; 50.2 to 50.4 GHz providing a 200 MHz band, 86.0 to 92.0 GHz providing a 6 GHz band; 100.0 to 102.0 providing a 2 GHz band, 114.25 GHz to 116 GHz providing a 1.75 GHz band and 116.00 to 119.98 GHz providing a 3.98 GHz band. The 1.400 to 1.427 GHz band includes the spectral hydrogen line which is very important for radio astronomy purposes. In addition, some bands are labeled as "PRIMARY exclusive" but are restricted according to region of the Earth's surface.
Other frequencies also are set aside and require "Notification of Use" when someone wishes to transmit on these frequencies. These frequencies include 4.950 to 4.990 GHz, providing a 40 MHz band. The 1.6 to 1.7 GHz band is utilized for missile tracking radar but the chances of interference in a passive fire detection system would be low. Still other frequencies are "PRIMARY shared with active." The entire band of frequencies between 275 GHz and 1000 GHz require "notification of use" but are otherwise unused for any purposes.
In any of these frequency bands, active microwave frequencies present in a passively received signal may be known to a passive receiver so that the active frequency can be distinguished and ignored. For example, 1.400 to 1.427 GHz provides a protected bandwidth of 27 MHz. The wavelength of 21 cm, corresponds to a hydrogen line radical. A wider band than 27 MHZ may be received at an antenna and block converted in the field of astronomy. Alternatively, the output can be narrowed by a bandpass filter. Also conventional low noise amplifiers may pass a band of interest and provide gain as will be further discussed herein. In addition, passive microwave reception at this frequency range may be combined with reception of microwave radiation at other microwave frequencies outside this range. Moreover, other microwave frequencies including or overlapping the internationally protected bands may be detected over wider bandwidths such as 100 MHz to several hundred GHz.
Range resolution is fundamentally limited by the bandwidth of the transmitted frequency. The change in range resolution, ΔR, is defined by the equation, c/2*BW, wherein c is the speed of light (˜3*108 meter/second) and BW is the bandwidth. Thus, the wider the bandwidth, the better the range resolution. For instance, at 1,500 MHz bandwidth, the range resolution is 0.1 m.
On a similar note, cross range resolution is determined by frequency and the aperture size of the antennae. At longer distances, larger antennas and/or higher frequencies are necessary to maintain the range resolution. For instance, at a frequency of 1 GHz, the range resolution decreases with an increasing detection range and decreasing antenna array aperture size.
Improved devices for microwave detection include, for example, use of metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) for low noise block converters. Such microwave detection devices are described in several United States patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,176 to Stephan et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,024 to Blum; U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,458 to Goff; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,129 to Lee et al. Devices for microwave detection are presently less expensive when detecting radiation in a range of microwave frequencies less than 25 GHz; however, improvements in microwave detection circuitry to practical application at higher frequencies up to the infrared region should not be taken to limit embodiments described herein.
Other technical fields using detection of electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range include the technical field of cellular telecommunications. Typical cellular frequencies include 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz. Intermediate frequency may be at 70 or 140 MHz. In the cellular telecommunications field, it is conventional to provide an antenna pole or mount on a building or other fixed structure having some height. For example, FIG. 8 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,666 to Dent shows a plurality of antenna arrays 210, 212, each having respective amplifiers 216, wherein each array appears as a plurality of directional elements 224 which may be used for transmitting and receiving.
The use of passive microwave detection in the field of radio astronomy is described in several U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,470 to Stacey; U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,358 to Blume; U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,676 to Solheim et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,756 to Sezai. The '470 patent to Stacey describes a satellite over the oceans of the Earth, their mapping as the satellite passes between land and water and monitoring of the temperature of the ocean below. The '358 patent to Blume describes a problem in the radio astronomy field that measurement of the Earth's surface properties and those of the universe can be very inaccurate, especially in cases of low contrast with the background and describes a Raleigh-Jeans approximation procedure for overcoming such problems. The '676 patent to Solheim et al. describes principles of microwave radiometry especially applicable to detection of water vapor and cloud masses using frequencies, for example, at 50-70 GHz, 19-29 GHz and 40-80 GHz. The '756 patent to Sezai discusses use of a deep space reference temperature of 2.7° Kelvin as well as a hot calibration source.
The principles of radio astronomy also have been applied to measuring energy inside a human body. Such use can be seen in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,552 to Hessemer, Jr. et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,932 to Batty, Jr. (tumor cells); U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,869 to Chive et al. (use of two probes); U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,012 to Ringeisen et al. (hyperthermia); U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,988 to Takami et al. (internal temperature of human body); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,715,727 and 6,932,776 to Carr (heating at 915 MHz and measuring at 4.7 GHz); U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,209 to Klingenbeck et al. (diseased human tissue); U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,176,146 to Chive and 5,688,050 to Sterzer et al. (mammography); U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,933 to Stergiopoulos et al. (the skull); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,159 to Kim et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,121,719 to Lee et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 7,197,356 to Carr (microwave catheter).
Microwave engineering technologies have also been investigated for use in detecting flaming and smoldering fires. In research by the inventors, fire has been demonstrated to actually be "plasma," a phenomenon often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Plasma is an ionized gas that consists of a mixture of electrons (negatively charged particles) and ions (atoms that have lost electrons, resulting in a positive electric charge). Fire can be easily classified as plasma, because it often behaves like a gas, can conduct electricity, and is affected by magnetic fields. Common examples of a plasma fires range from the Sun to the arc formed during electric arc welding, both of which can offer a broad electromagnetic spectrum of radio interference.
Detection of fires by microwave engineering techniques relies upon the fact that thermal radiation from fires generates a detectable signal in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which, like the microwave radiometer, can create a measurable change in voltage output which is proportional to a temperature.
For example, one use of microwave technologies in the field of fire detection appears in a 1995 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report by Grosshandler entitled, "A Review of Measurements and Candidate Signatures for Early Fire Detection," NISTIR 5555, January, 1995 at pp. 13-14. The NIST report suggests that the concept of multi-spectral electromagnetic wave sensing may be applicable to fire detection. The report cites a "modified microwave motion detector . . . for monitoring the presence of a flame within a multi-burner natural gas furnace," citing Berman et al. (1992). (C. H. Bermann et al., "Microwave Backscattering Fuel/Air Ratio Control and Flame Monitoring Device," Fossil Fuel Consumption, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 39, Book G00645, 1992). Moreover, FIG. 2 provides data for fire temperature versus existence of fire products at various temperature ranges. In particular, CO2, H2O, SO2 and HCl dominate across the entire temperature range of a typical fire. Of these, H20 vapour emits microwave at 22.235 GHz, 183.31 GHz, 547.676 GHz and 556.936 GHz. HCl emits a spectral line at 625.040 and 625.980 GHz respectively according to the CRAF Handbook for Radio Astronomy, 2005, pp. 90-92. Carbon monoxide, H2, and NO are formed in moderate levels for fire temperatures of about 1500° K. CO emits at 109.782, 110.201, 112.359 115.271, 219.560, 220.399, 230.538, 345.796, 439.088, 461.041 and 576.268 GHz among other spectral frequencies. Nitric oxide (NO) has a spectral line at 150.4 GHz. Similarly, the free radicals H, O, OH (hydroxyl), Cl and SO appear at these high fire temperatures. The OH radical appears at frequencies of 1.612231, 1.665402, 1.667359 and 1.720530 GHZ and, as indicated above, provides narrow, tall spectral lines, useful for Doppler effect detection.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,426 to Woskov et al., a waveguide may be disposed within a furnace to direct radiation through a window to a heterodyne receiver disposed outside the furnace; this radiation can be used to measure furnace temperatures where the microwave radiation is in the range of 130-140 GHz and converted to 0.4-1.5 GHz for detection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,877 to Baath describes utilizing microwave energy and, as shown in FIG. 5 of Baath, describes detecting certain relevant peaks, for example, SO2, NO2, H2O, and NH3, among other compounds known as products of combustion.
Another use of microwave technology can be used to detect moving objects travelling at relatively fast or slow velocities which emit heat. Early detection can be used as a cautionary measure to ward off unnecessary disasters. Some examples include burglaries, catastrophic events and fires.
A German 2001 NIST paper suggests that Daimler Chrysler Aerospace AG conducted earlier experiments in the detection using microwave energy (T. Kaiser et al., "Is Microwave Radiation Useful for Fire Detection?" Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Automatic Fire Detection, AUBE '01, Volume 965, Mar. 26-28, 2001, Gaithersburg, Md., NIST Special Publication). The purpose of these experiments, which is not further explained, was to detect fires in garbage bunkers. The possibility of using microwave engineering technologies in passive fire detection is also described in the NIST Conference paper in 2001 by Kaiser et al. which further describes the use of microwaves to passively detect a fire using a conventional Dicke switch operated at 1 KHz to compare a reference temperature of a room wall with measurements at 11 GHz in the microwave region and a bandwidth of 1 GHz. (See R. H. Dicke, "The measurement of thermal radiation at microwave frequencies," Rev. Scl. Instr. Vol. 17, pp. 268-275, 1946). The discussed technique relies upon thermal radiation from fires generating a detectable signal in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. To do so, Kaiser et al. further suggest use of a commercial satellite dish and a superheterodyne low noise converter to measure the microwave radiation of a target test fire.
Follow-up tests are described by Kempka et al. in 2006, and expand the frequency range of the initial Kaiser et al. experiments from 2 to 40 GHz (T. Kempka et al., "Microwaves in Fire Detection," Fire Safety Journal, Volume 41, 2006, pp. 327-333). According to this 2006 publication, thermal radiation may be measurable utilizing four broadband antennas to cover four separate frequency bands of operation, i.e., 2-12, 12-18, 18-26, and 26-40 GHz bands of operation and respective bandwidths at 100 MHz each. "For each configuration one sample will be measured in the first frequency band. Then the receiver changes to the next frequency band and takes another sample. After all the selected frequency bands are measured, the receiver will measure the first band again." Kaiser et al. further suggest using a "hot load" having a temperature of 100° C. (373 K) to calibrate their apparatus at a reference temperature. Certain fires were detected 90 seconds after ignition while another type of fire was detected 80 seconds after a heater was switched on. The time difference between samples was about 3.5 seconds.
All United States and foreign patents and articles whose citations are provided above should be deemed to be incorporated by reference as to their entire contents for the purposes of understanding the underlying technology behind a passive microwave fire and intrusion detection system.

Passive microwave speed and intrusion detection system


For receiving radar waves entering an antenna horn by the heterodyne method, the system is designed so that one of the local oscillation signals produced respectively by a local oscillator for the X- and K-band radar waves, a local oscillator for the Ka-band radar wave, and a local oscillator for leaked local oscillation waves can be selected to be used as the first local oscillation signal for beating down the radar waves at a first mixer. When a radar wave has been detected in the Ka-band receiving mode with the local oscillator for the Ka-band being selected, a signal processing circuit sets the heterodyne receiving system to the leaked local oscillation wave receiving mode, selecting the local oscillator for the leaked local oscillation waves as the first local oscillator. If a radar wave is detected in this mode, the signal processing circuit inhibits a warning apparatus from issuing the regular warning.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a radar detector for detecting a radar wave transmitted by a "police radar gun" which is a radar apparatus used by a police for automobile speed traps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A police radar gun is an apparatus which transmits a radar wave of a frequency ranging from microwave to millimeter wave frequencies toward a moving car and detects the frequency shift of the reflected wave. The speed of the car is determined via doppler effect. A radar detector, which is placed in an automobile to detect the existence of such police radar gun operating in the vicinity, is designed to capture those radar waves belonging to the frequency bands for the police radar gun.
However, the detector may detect any radar wave as long as its frequency is within the detection target range even if the radar wave is not from the police radar gun. For further discussions on this, a representative configuration example of the prior art radar detector is shown in FIG. 1 and a particular example of the relationship among the frequencies in FIG. 2.
Three radar frequency bands shown below and in FIG. 2 are utilized by police radar guns in the United States of America.
X-band: 10.52.+-.0.025 GHz PA1 K-band: 24.15.+-.0.1 GHz PA1 Ka-band: 34.7.+-.0.5 GHz
Many of the conventionally available radar detectors are designed so that they can detect all radar waves having frequencies in these three bands. In general, the frequency of a wave that is termed a microwave does not exceed 30 GHz and the frequency region exceeding that frequency is designated as a millimeter wave region. Therefore, the Ka-band mentioned above must be included in the millimeter wave region for strict discussions. In the following descriptions, however, the radar waves of the three bands are all referred to as being microwaves for convenience.
Referring now to the configuration of the prior art radar detector shown in FIG. 1, the detector is mainly a receiving system based on a heterodyne method, particularly the double heterodyne method, wherein a radar wave received by an antenna horn 1 is mixed with a first local oscillation signal at a first mixer 2 to "be beaten down" or converted to a lower frequency. The frequency of the beat down signal output from the first mixer 2 is set to around 1 GHz for the input radar waves of any above-mentioned band. Therefore, the signal frequencies of a first local oscillator fed to the first mixer 2 are inevitably defined, and the first local oscillator must oscillate at different frequencies in order to detect the radar waves in each of the respective bands, because each band occupies a respectively different frequency region. In the system of FIG. 1, two local oscillators 6 and 7 are used as the first local oscillator which are switched in a programmed sequence as controlled by a signal processing circuit 10 to operate in turn.
The local oscillator 6 is provided for the X- and K-band radar waves and its fundamental oscillation frequency f.sub.X/K is chosen to be 11.5 GHz for example. When the radar waves in the X-band are to be detected, the output signal of oscillator 6 (i.e. the fundamental oscillation frequency f.sub.X/K (=11.5 GHz) is applied to the first mixer 2 and thus the input signals of the X-band are beaten down to 0.975 GHz with respect to a center frequency.
For the detection of the K-band radar waves, the 23 GHz (f.sub.X/K .times.2=11.5 GHz.times.2) second harmonic wave derived from the local oscillator 6's output signal of the fundamental oscillation frequency f.sub.X/K is advantageously exploited to beat down the K-band input signals to 1.15 GHz with respect to the center frequency. Therefore, instead of providing two exclusive first local oscillators for X-band and K-bands respectively, the fundamental oscillation signal and its second harmonic signal are both utilized so that the circuit is simplified and is reduced in size and in cost.
Another local oscillator 7, which operates according to switching instructions from the signal processing circuit 10, is used only when the Ka-band input signals are to be detected. Its fundamental oscillation frequency f.sub.Ka is chosen to be 16.6 GHz for example to provide the 33.3 GHz second harmonic signal, which is obtained by advantageously utilizing the non-linearity of the oscillator's transistor (not shown) used therein. This 33.3 GHz are signal is applied to the first mixer 2 as the substantial first local oscillation signal to be mixed with the Ka-band signals (center frequency: 34.7 GHz). As a result, the beat down signals of the Ka-band radar waves go out from the first mixer 2 with their center frequency at 1.5 GHz.
In FIG. 2, solid lines indicate the fundamental oscillation frequencies f.sub.X/K and f.sub.Ka of the local oscillator 6 and 7 respectively and dotted lines their respective harmonic frequencies.
The approximately 1 GHz first intermediate frequency signal, which is provided by a first IF amplifier 3, is further converted down at a second mixer 4 and then goes into a detector 9 through a second IF amplifier 5. The frequency of a local oscillation signal applied to the second mixer 4 sweeps in predetermined different ranges depending on the frequency band to be detected. These ranges are chosen so as to make the frequencies of the detected signals output from the second IF amplifier 5 to always be on the order of several tens of MHz generally for the radar waves of any frequency band mentioned above. A second local oscillator 8, which applies the oscillation signal to the second mixer 4, is formed via a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) for example and causes it oscillation frequency to sweep in accordance with the sweep voltage signal from the signal processing circuit 10.
In a particular time sequence, the signal processing circuit 10 first puts the heterodyne receiving system comprising the circuit elements 1 through 9 into operation in an X- and K-band receiving mode. In particular, the signal processing circuit 10 activates the local oscillator 6 for the X- and K-bands to apply the fundamental oscillation signal of 11.5 GHz and the second harmonic signal of 23 GHz to the first mixer 2. The signal processing circuit 10 also instructs the second local oscillator 8 to let its oscillation frequency sweep from 0.95 GHz to 1.25 GHz. After a predetermined time period for the frequency sweeping, the signal processing circuit 10 changes the receiving mode to a Ka-band receiving mode, thereby actuating the local oscillator 7 for the Ka-band instead of the local oscillator 6 for the X- and K-bands and letting the second local oscillator 8 output a signal which sweeps in frequency from 0.95 to 2 GHz. On completion of this sweeping operation, the signal processing circuit 10 sets the heterodyne receiving system to the X- and K-band receiving mode again and thereafter repeats these operations in sequence. Note that the lower limit of the frequency sweeping range of the signal provided by the second local oscillator 8 is, for the simplicity of the design procedure, generally set to 0.95 GHz in the Ka-band receiving mode as well as in the X- and K-band receiving mode, although in the Ka-band receiving mode the limit frequency 1 GHz is suggested to be sufficient according to FIG. 2.
The detector 9 can be designed as a FM discriminator; in any of the receiving modes specified by the signal processing circuit 10, when the aforementioned signal having a frequency on the order of several tens of MHz has appeared at the output of the second IF amplifier 5, the detector 9 informs the signal processing circuit 10 of the appearance of the signal.
The signal processing circuit 10 then activates a warning system (not shown) through an appropriate I/O interface 11. For the warning system, a sound indicator apparatus using a buzzer or the like and/or a light indicator apparatus using a photodiode or the like may be utilized. Most of the recent radar detectors are equipped with both of these apparatus. With respect to the sound indication, many such radar detectors have functions for turning the sound indication on or off depending on the user's switching operation, adjusting the volume, and so forth. Note here that these functions can also be adopted in the radar detector in accordance with the present invention, which will be described later.
The prior art radar detector shown in FIG. 1, which is a multi-band radar detector capable of detecting the radar waves of any of the three bands, X- and K-, and Ka-bands, may erroneously detect the radar waves which are not exactly from the police radar gun if the waves are of the detection target frequency bands as is understood according to the operation principle described above. In some situations, the radar detector attached to a car is sometimes triggered even though there is no police radar gun in operation in the vicinity. Once the detector raises a warning, the driver reflexively slows down the car speed even if driving safely at speeds within the regulatory limits. Such false warnings, which greatly deteriorate the driving environment, are not desirable and should be reduced as much as possible.
The erroneous detection often arises from the external leakage of the local oscillation signals of other radar detectors as well as by radar apparatus, for example, adopted for automatic opening and closing doors of stores and other such equipment. As described above according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the local oscillators in the radar detectors of this type also generate, owing to their non-linearity, harmonic waves having frequencies which are the integer multiplies of the fundamental oscillation frequencies. The oscillation power of the harmonic waves are partly radiated into the air through the antenna horn 1, even though it is intended only for receiving waves. Therefore, the radar detector operating at the frequencies shown in FIG. 2 radiates, as leaked local oscillation waves, not only the fundamental oscillation wave of the frequency f.sub.X/K =11.5 GHz generated by the local oscillator 6 but the harmonic waves whose frequencies are two, three, four, or more times the fundamental oscillation frequency.
As is evident from FIG. 2, among the harmonic waves, the 34.5 GHz third harmonic wave of the fundamental oscillation signal for the X- and K-band signals is at a frequency within the Ka-band and so, may cause an erroneous detection of a radar signal detection, since signals of frequencies belonging to the Ka-band are the target of detection. In fact, when two cars provided with radar detectors of a similar type pass each other, the radar detectors in both cars will most likely be triggered erroneously.


A dust collecting device for a handheld power tool equipped with a dust exhaust fitting (12), in particular for an electric handheld power sander, includes a dust collecting bag (14) that has an air-permeable filter bag (15) and a reinforcing plate (16). The reinforcing plate (16) is situated in front of the filter bag (15) and has an inlet opening (17) that fits onto the dust exhaust fitting (12). A support is attached to the handheld power tool and has a filter chamber (20) for insertion of the filter bag (15) and a receiving chamber (21) situated in front of the filter chamber (20) for insertion of the reinforcing plate (16).

The invention is based on a dust collecting device for a handheld power tool equipped with a dust exhaust fitting, in particular for an electric handheld power sander.
Known dust collecting devices for handheld electric power tools such as orbital sanders, eccentric sanders, or belt sanders have a dust collecting bag composed of a flexible filter bag made of filter paper or filter cloth and a reinforcing plate that holds open the sack opening and that is equipped with an inlet opening to permit the entry of dust. This reinforcing plate is composed, for example, of a glued cardboard. The inlet opening of the cardboard is slid onto the dust collecting fitting of the handheld power tool; the cardboard must be rigid in order to overcome the friction forces. The tightness of the seal between the dust exhaust fitting and the dust collecting bag is assured either by the expansion of the cardboard around the inlet opening or by a rubber seal that is situated behind and around the inlet opening, radially encompassing the dust exhaust fitting; its friction forces are oriented parallel in both the attaching and detaching directions. In order to stabilize the flexible filter bag, usually an additional retaining element is used that is fastened to the machine housing.


Disclosed are compositions of laundry detergent bars that do not develop undesirable brittleness during storage. The disclosed compositions comprise alkyl sulfate surfactant, preferably coconut alkyl sulfate, and polyethylene glycol. The polyethylene glycol prevents the development of undesirable brittleness in such alkyl sulfate-containing laundry bars.

Laundry bars containing alkyl sulfate surfactant can become brittle during the storage time between production and use. During storage, the alkyl sulfate and water appear to interact in some manner that causes brittleness by diminishing the water's plasticizing effectiveness. This in-storage brittleness development is especially acute in bars comprising coconut alkyl sulfate.
Coconut alkyl sulfate is a widely used laundry bar surfactant. Coconut alkyl sulfate is based on the renewable resource, coconut oil, and its use is legally mandated in some nations. Its use is especially important in areas where there is a plentiful supply of coconut oil.
Therefore, there is a need for coconut alkyl sulfate-containing laundry bars that do not develop undesirable brittleness during storage.

Non-brittle laundry bars comprising coconut alkyl sulfate and polyethylene glycol

The Procter & Gamble Company, Ivorydale Technical Center, 5299 Spring Grove Ave.


This invention provides an apparatus for use on and carried by a powered vehicle for laying out and taking up a long length, wide width flexible sheeting material as may be used to cover a sanitary landfill site, the apparatus having a framework adapted for mounting engagement on the vehicle and characterized by a pair of transversely extending arms which carry a journalled arbor assembly between them. The arbor assembly is powered for rotational motion and is controlled by an operator in a manner to either load a flexible sheeting material onto a mandrel of the arbor assembly or off-load flexible sheeting material from the mandrel as the vehicle travels over a ground surface area.

While this invention may be applied to various type uses, it is particularly applicable to sanitary landfill sites wherein a requirement exists which forces a site operator to cover a working area overnight or when the site area is not being worked. Conventionally, the working area is covered with a layer of soil but this requires the use of limited equipment and personnel which could be used otherwise. In an alternative method of covering the landfill site, personnel manually position a flexible sheeting material or tarpaulin over an area which must be covered to meet the requirement imposed for this operation. This, of course, requires that the personnel work in contact with the debris or refuse which was dumped into the landfill site. A need exists, therefore, for an apparatus which may be applied to covering a landfill site and which requires the use of a minimal number of personnel and equipment to accomplish the task.
It is, therefore, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention an object to provide an apparatus which may be used in conjunction with presently available powered equipment to efficiently lay out long lengths of a wide width flexible sheeting material over a sanitary landfill site and which may also be used to take up the flexible sheeting when it is desired to work the site.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention it is an object to provide an apparatus which may be carried on a vehicle dozer blade and which has a powered arbor assembly adapted for carrying a long length of a wide width flexible sheeting and which may lay out or take up the sheeting as the vehicle moves over a site area.
According to another aspect of the invention it is an object to provide an apparatus which may be fabricated using conventional techniques and/or materials and which will provide an economical alternative to presently applied methods and/or equipments for covering sanitary landfill sites.

Apparatus for laying out and taking up a long length, wide width flexible sheeting


Brain activity of a user is detected, and a mental state of the user is determined. In one technique, life/work context is automatically presented to the user in a manner that modulates the mental state of the user. In another technique, an entertainment selection is presented to the user, and an entertainment selection list is automatically modified in response to the determined mental state of the user. In still another technique, the mental state that is determined is a negative emotional state, and life/work context is automatically presented to the user in a manner that promotes a cognitive state of the user in response to the determined emotional state of the user. In yet another technique, the wellness of the user is automatically tracked over a time period based on the determined mental state.

It is generally known that a person will experience a range of mental states through any given day. While there is universal consensus on the definition of a "mental state," for the purposes of this specification, a mental state may include emotions (e.g., joy, excitement, relaxation, surprise, anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, etc.), cognitions encompassing intellectual functions and processes (e.g., memory retrieval, focus, attention, creativity, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, comprehension and production of language, etc.), and perceptions (e.g., face perception, color perception, sound perception, etc.). Some of these mental states may be considered to be desirable, and in fact necessary for proper functioning in his or her environment, e.g., any of the cognitive states and perception states, but some of the other emotional states, e.g., anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, fear, etc.) may be considered to be undesirable under most conditions, and counterproductive to the well-being of the person.
It is desirable that a person experience desirable mental states over undesirable mental states, not only to promote the general well-being of the person, but also to promote more objective, and thus better, decision-making. It is, of course, possible for a person to maintain a desirable mental state during long stretches of the day. For example, a person may maintain a purely cognitive state for relatively long periods when working at a job, when not tired, or not stressed out. However, when tired or stressed out, undesirable mental states may flare up. It is during these times that such person is particularly vulnerable to make bad decisions (e.g., self-harming, plotting revenge, sending an angry email or text, etc.).
It is also generally known that some of these mental states, particularly those associated with emotional states, may be subconscious, and that awareness of these subconscious mental states may lead to better mental well-being in the form of emotional mood regulation, as well as more objective decision-making. However, the conscious mind typically has only peripheral awareness, or no awareness at all, of these subconscious mental states. Thus, if a person has a negative or unhealthy mental state (e.g., anxiety) within the context of a life or work experience, such person may not be aware of it, and therefore, will be unable to take corrective actions (e.g., modifying or creating a new life or work experience) in order to alleviate or change the negative or unhealthy mental state.
It is entirely possible for the conscious mind to become aware of one's subconscious mental state. Indeed, one of the core ideas of cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy is that if one can shape his or her mental state by consciously being aware of the mental state, this mental state, if negative, can be deliberately shaped to a more positive mental state, thereby not only promoting well-being of the individual, but also promoting better objective decision making, and more importantly, to prevent the individual from self-harming himself or herself—the issue on which dialectical behavioral therapy focuses.
However, performing behavioral therapy can be tedious, requiring the patient to track and record his or her mental state, and may thus result in patient non-compliance, or even worse, cause the patient to feel more overwhelmed, anxious, or self-critical, and thus, be counterproductive.
It is also generally known that the life/work environment of a person may significantly impact the mental state of that person, and thus, one way of modifying the mental state of a person for the better is to modify the life/work environment of such person. However, even if such person became aware of his or her normally subconscious mental state, e.g., through cognitive-behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, or other means, such person, assuming that he or she even knew what to change in his or her life/work environment to modify the undesirable mental state, would still need to take deliberate actions to do so, which may, itself, be tedious, and thus, not worth the effort of modifying the life/work environment of the person.
As one example, there exists several computer applications for presenting different types of media to a user and tailoring that experience to the user in response to deliberate inputs from the user. For example, music streaming applications, such as Spotify®, Amazon® Music, Apple® Music, and Pandora® Radio all provide tailored music to users, while capturing the user's experience by providing the user with "heart symbol," thumb's up symbol," "thumb's down symbol," "happy face symbol," and/or "sad face symbol," that the user can click on to provide positive or negative feedback to the current music selection, which the music streaming application would use to tailor the music to the user. However, this requires the user to actually provide input into the music streaming application, and while it generally is a fairly easy task to accomplish, requires the user to stop what he or she is doing to provide such feedback, and at times, may be impossible or even legal or impractical to do, e.g., if the user is driving a vehicle. Furthermore, the feedback provided by the user is somewhat limited in that it only reflects whether the user's subjective conscious, such as likes or dislikes of the current selection of music, and does not take into account the underlying mental state of the user.
There, thus, remains a need to automatically make a person consciously aware of his or her subconscious mental state in a normal life and work environment, so that such person may better regulate his or her emotions or make more objective decisions. There also remains a need to automatically regulate the mental state of a person to, e.g., automatically tailor the experience of a user of a media presentation system (e.g., a music streaming application) without requiring deliberate input or actions from the user.

Modulation of mental state of a user using a non-invasive brain interface system and method


A safety system for containment of explosion when servicing a tire mounted on a rim includes an enclosure capable of receiving the tire and provided with openings to allow passage of air upon tire explosion, and a support device attached to the enclosure for contacting the tire to secure thereof in a servicing position within the enclosure and without contacting the rim. The system also includes a first energy absorbing unit attached to and located within the enclosure to face a first rim side and capable of substantially absorb kinetic energy of first rim parts ejected upon tire explosion. The system further includes a second energy absorbing unit attached to and located within the enclosure to face a second rim side and capable of substantially absorb kinetic energy of second rim parts and any portion of the tire ejected upon tire explosion.

It is well known that inflating operations required by servicing of tires present a risk for the maintenance personnel in cases of tire explosion. In the past, many systems aimed at protecting operators charged of tire servicing have been proposed, such as disclosed in U.S. published Patent application no. 2005/082013 and in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,240,713; 5,449,031; 4,893,569; 4,742,859; 4,538,659; 4,529,019; 4,479,522; 4,381,027; 4,057,093; 4,036,274; 3,495,647; 2,792,056 and 2,407,049. The typical system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,713 issued to Munroe et al., is in the form of a tire cage including an enclosure made of structural members for receiving tires within its interior using a pedestal for supporting the tire, and one or more layers of an energy absorbing material having a plurality of rigid open cells and disposed between the portion of the interior occupied by the tire and adjacent rigid members. During an explosion of the tire in the enclosure, a crushing of the energy absorbing material is used to absorb kinetic energy of debris from the tire, so as to prevent damage to the enclosure structural member. In an attempt to limit weight of the tire cage, Monroe et al. teaches the use of a light weight energy absorbing material such as an energy absorbing metallic foam to cushion the frame of a tire cage from being damaged by high velocity portions of an exploding tire, and particular, portions of a split rim. However, even using such lightweight absorbing material, Monroe et al. teaches that for typical 8 to 12 foot diameter tires, embodiments of tire cage may be between seven and ten tons or less, which would still represent a significant weight level. So as to safely contain a tire explosion with the tire cage of Monroe et al., the extra volume defined between the portion of the interior occupied by the tire and the adjacent rigid members must be sufficient to house a sufficiently large quantity of energy absorbing material to contain the tire explosion. Accordingly, the frame structural members defining such extra volume made being made of high strength steel, this contributes to increase the overall weight of the system, as well as its manufacturing cost.

CENTRE DE RECHERCHE INDUSTRIELLE DU QUEBEC


The present invention provides a liquid droplet ejection head that ejects droplets of high viscosity ink. A liquid droplet of an electrically conductive liquid in the liquid droplet ejection head is ejected from the head, which is provided with difference in potential between the head and an opposing medium, toward the medium. Electricity is conducted between the head and the medium through a tail of the liquid droplet.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid droplet ejection head, and in particular to a liquid droplet ejection head that ejects droplets of high viscosity ink.
2. Related Art
In liquid droplet ejection devices of currently marketed water-based ink jet printers, dye inks and pigments inks are used with a viscosity generally around 5 cps, and of the order of 10 cps at the most. It is known that printing ability can be improved by increasing ink viscosity, in order to prevent ink bleeding on impact with the printing medium, to increase the optical color density, and to reduce the amount of water contained therein so that swelling due to wetting of the medium can be suppressed and drying times can be reduced, or in order to increase the degrees of freedom in the overall design of such high quality inks.
However, a high powered pressure generation mechanism is required to eject high viscosity liquids, leading to detrimental effects on the cost, an increase in head size and the like.
The present inventors have previously submitted patent applications for liquid droplet ejection heads that impart compression and rotational movement to a beam and that use a sudden up-down movement when a buckling direction is reversed to separate by inertia a high viscosity liquid from a nozzle in the desired direction.
However, a tail of, for example, in excess of 1 mm is drawn out from a liquid droplet during ejection when a high viscosity liquid is ejected. In some cases the length of this tail becomes longer than the throw distance of the ejection head, and there are occasions when a tail is drawn out so as to bridge between the head and medium printed on. Consequently the impact shape of the liquid droplet is not a centrally symmetrical circular shape, but is shaped like a tadpole. In addition there is the problem that the tail remains after impact of the liquid droplet on the medium, delaying the stabilization of the meniscus on the nozzle surface, resulting in delays to the refilling of the nozzle, thereby impeding high frequency ejection.
As a result of investigating the above problems, the present inventors have discovered that by applying a voltage/difference in electrical potential between the head and a medium in a head for high viscosity liquid ejection, electricity is conducted through the drawn out tail portion, this being an effective method for heating the tail of the liquid droplet and positively and selectively severing the tail from the liquid droplet.

Liquid droplet ejection head for ejecting high viscosity liquid droplets, and liquid droplet ejection device


In general, embodiments of the present invention provide a chip package with multiple TSV configurations. Specifically, the chip package typically includes a backend layer (e.g., metal interconnect layer); a substrate coupled to the backend layer; a set (at least one) of backend side interconnects extending (e.g., angularly) from a side surface of the backend layer to a bottom surface of the backend layer; a set of optional vertical TSVs extending from a top surface of the backend layer through the substrate; and a network organizer positioned in the substrate organizer for handling communications made using the set of backend side interconnects and the set of vertical TSVs. A set of connections (e.g., controlled collapse chip connections (C4s) can be positioned adjacent to any of the vias to provide connectively to other hardware elements such as additional chip packages, buses, etc. Among other things, the use of backend side interconnects allows maximum surface area of the chip package to be utilized and provides increased reliability. These advantages are especially realized when used in conjunction with vertical TSVs.

In electronics, a through silicon via (TSV) is a vertical electrical connection (via) passing completely through a silicon wafer or die. TSV technology is important in creating 3D packages and 3D integrated circuits. A 3D package (System in Package, Chip Stack MCM, etc.) contains two or more chips (integrated circuits) stacked vertically so that they occupy less space. An alternate type of 3D package can be where ICs are not stacked but a carrier substrate containing TSVs is used to connect multiple ICs together in a package. In most 3D packages, the stacked chips are wired together along their edges; this edge wiring slightly increases the length and width of the package and usually requires an extra "interposer" layer between the chips.
In some new 3D packages, TSVs replace edge wiring by creating vertical connections through the body of the chips. The resulting package has no added length or width. Because no interposer is required, a TSV 3D package can also be flatter than an edge-wired 3D package. This TSV technique is sometimes also referred to as TSS (Through-Silicon Stacking or Thru-Silicon Stacking). A 3D integrated circuit (3D IC) is a single integrated circuit built by stacking silicon wafers and/or dies and interconnecting them vertically so that they behave as a single device. By using TSV technology, 3D ICs can pack a great deal of functionality into a small "footprint." In addition, critical electrical paths through the device can be drastically shortened, leading to faster operation.
In conventional semiconductor chips, ICs are formed along active surfaces of the semiconductor chips with conventional electrical terminals such as bonding pads formed on the active surface. In high-density electrical interconnections, 3D chip stacking was developed with electrical terminals not only disposed on the active surfaces but also on the corresponding back surfaces of the semiconductor chips. TSV is the enabled technology to vertically stack several chips to assemble 3D chip stacking packages or modules with high powers, high densities, and smaller dimensions. TSV's are electrically-conductive through holes inside a chip penetrating through the top surface and the bottom surface of a chip to create vertical electrical connections without any interposers nor bonding wires. TSV provides directly vertical electrical connections not go through the sidewalls at the edges of the chips to shorten the electrical paths. TSV technology can further enhance the integration and the performance of an electronic device to greatly reduce the packaging heights and dimensions, to increase the speeds, and to decrease the power consumption of an electronic device. However, each chip will generate heat during operation. Therefore, the induced thermal stresses will cause the chip to deform and even to break the electrical connections of TSV where stresses are concentrated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,091,592 discloses a semiconductor chip. However, when the chip experiences thermal stresses causing deformation, the electrical connections formed by stud bumps located between the chips can be broken due to thermal stresses leading to electrical failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,838,967 discloses a semiconductor. However, the design proposed therein fails to maximize the full area of the semiconductor, or to account for failure of TSVs. As such, reliability remains a concern in U.S. Pat. No. 7,838,967.
U.S. Patent Application 20100182040 discloses programmable and non-programmable TSV in silicon chips. Metal/Insulator/Metal structures are used to switch programmable TSVs between open and shorted conditions while programming is conducted by complementary circuitry on two adjacent chips in a multi-story chip stack.
U.S. Patent Application 20100153043 discloses a TSV monitoring method through the use of inverters, connecting the inverters with the TSV circuit, enabling the circuit to oscillate, measuring the output signal on the inverter output, and determining the characteristics of TSVs based upon the output signal.
U.S. Patent Application 20100013512 discloses an electronic apparatus, systems, and methods to test and/or replace defective TSVs. Repeated measurement tests are conducted to infer an aging rate or failure rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,776,741 discloses a semiconductor electroplating process for depositing copper into through silicon via holes in a substantially void free filling.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,683,459 discloses a bonding method for TSV based wafer stacking. Patterned adhesive layers are utilized to join together wafers in the stack and solder bonding is used to electrically connect through the vias.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,950 discloses a method for metalizing a TSV feature in an IC device substrate. The method utilizes an electrolytic copper deposition immersion in a solution of copper ions and an organic sulfonic acid, or inorganic acid, or one or more organic compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,564,115 discloses a TSV structure being tapered, with a hard mask region extending from the top surface, encircling a top portion of the TSV, dielectric layers over the substrate, and a metal post extending from the top surface of the dielectric layer to the TSV.
U.S. Patent Application 20100178766 discloses a high-yield method of exposing and contacting TSV structures. The electrical vias have conductive cores with surrounding insulator adjacent side and end regions of the cores.
U.S. Patent Application 20090319965 discloses a method and apparatus for thermal analysis of through-silicon via structures in an integrated circuit design layout. This invention is part of the larger IC design layout verification and qualification modeling that takes place before physical manufacturing.
U.S. Patent Application 20090267194 discloses a semiconductor chip. Higher production yields of TSV containing devices is the objective of this invention through the use of extruded rings features.
U.S. Patent Application 20100123241 discloses a semiconductor multi-chip packaging comprised of through-silicon via and a sidewall pad.
U.S. Patent Application 20090321939 discloses an integrated circuit bridge interconnect system with side-by-side die configurations that are electronically connected to each other by a bridge die with TSV connections from the bridge die to the first and second die in the side-by-side die configuration.
U.S. Patent Application 20090102021 discloses an integrated circuit structure with TSV structures with a TSV pad spaced apart from the TSV and a metal line over, and connecting, the TSV and the TSV pad.
U.S. Patent Application 20100187694 discloses a system and method for an improved through-silicon via structure. A low-K dielectric layer if formed on the sidewalls of the traditional vertical through silicon substrate via structure.
U.S. Patent Application 20100171223 discloses a TSV manufacturing process that creates TSVs with scalloped surface inner sidewalls. Additionally, the TSV structures may be sloped with either the circuit side or the backside openings having the larger via critical dimension.

Self-organizing network with chip package having multiple interconnection configurations