A telephone (310) and a method for providing outbound audio when the telephone is operating in a speakerphone mode. A first data unit (350) including a first unit type identifier (360) can be received by the telephone. The first unit type identifier can be an indicator of a type of audio data contained in the first data unit. For instance, the first unit type identifier can indicate whether the audio data is music or non-music audio data. If the first unit type identifier has a first value, for example a value indicating that the audio data is music data, unmuted outbound audio reproduced from the first data unit can be provided and voice activity detection can be disabled. Additionally, inbound audio can be muted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telephones, and more particularly to telephones having speakerphone functionality.
2. Background of the Invention
Mobile telephones often include a speakerphone mode in which users can use the telephones in a hands-free configuration without the use of headsets. When a mobile telephone is in the speakerphone mode, the sensitivity of its input audio transducer is increased. The output level of the telephone's output audio transducer also is increased. Thus, a user still can communicate via the telephone even though the telephone may be placed a short distance away.
To prevent outbound audio from the telephone's output transducer from feeding back into the telephone's input transducer, and thus and back to the original source of the audio, a voice activity detector (VAD) is typically used to mute the telephone's input audio when vocal patterns are being reproduced by the output audio transducer. When vocal patterns are not present in the outbound audio, it is anticipated that the telephone user will begin speaking. Accordingly, the VAD then unmutes the input audio and mutes and the outbound audio.
Because muting and unmuting of the outbound audio depends on whether vocal patterns are present in the outbound audio, the VAD must be able to distinguish between vocal patterns and silent intervals contained therein when a person stops speaking and is waiting for a reply. To do so, the VAD typically uses general statistics about vocal patterns, such as energy and periodicity. Oftentimes the outbound audio contains music signals, for example when the telephone user is on hold. Music signals are much more complex than vocal patterns and VADs usually have difficulty distinguishing the music signals from vocal patterns and silent intervals. In consequence, the VADs intermittently mute and unmute the outbound audio, thus creating outbound audio having a very annoying choppy sound.

Speakerphone having improved outbound audio quality


One embodiment of the present invention is directed to an under bump metallurgy material. The under bump metallurgy material of this embodiment includes an adhesion layer and a conduction layer formed on top of the adhesion layer. The under bump metallurgy material of this embodiment also includes a barrier layer plated on top of the conduction layer and a sacrificial layer plated on top of the barrier layer. The conduction layer of this embodiment includes a trench formed therein, the trench contacting a portion of the barrier layer and blocking a path of intermetallic formation between the conduction layer and the sacrificial layer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to semiconductors, and more particularly to under bump structures having reduced inter-metallic formation.
2. Description of Background
A Controlled Collapse Chip Connection, or C4, is one type of mounting that may be used for mounting semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits (IC's), Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) or other components, to a wafer. C4 utilizes solder bumps instead of wire bonds for the connection. The solder bumps are deposited on chip pads which are located on a top side of a wafer during a final wafer processing step. These solder bumps may be used to connect any type of circuit or device to the wafer.
Environmental legislation in Europe has specifically targeted the wide use of lead in the electronics industry. The directives in Europe require many new electronic circuit boards to be lead free by 1 Jul. 2006, mostly in the consumer goods industry, but in some others as well. With lead-free proliferation driving development activities to focus on lead-free solders, other types of solder are now being utilized.
Many new technical challenges have arisen due to utilizing lead-free solder such as tin. For instance, traditional leaded solders have a significantly higher melting point than lead-free solders, which renders them unsuitable for use with heat-sensitive electronic components and their plastic packaging. To overcome this problem, solder alloys with a high silver content and no lead have been developed with a melting point slightly lower than traditional solders.
Lead-free construction has also extended to components, pins, and connectors. Most of these pins used copper frames, and either lead, tin, gold or other finishes. Tin finishes are the most popular of lead-free finishes.
Having to use lead-free solders has given rise to a problem related to the formation of intermetallics. The formation of intermetallics leads to reliability concerns. The amount of intermetallic increase with time and temperature can result in the degradation of the under bump metallurgy (UBM) interface. Many UBM structures now incorporate nickel (Ni) layers to prevent or reduce intermetallic formation by decreasing the diffusion of copper into the solder bumps. For plated UBM structures, the common practice is to sputter a copper (Cu) seed layer prior to plating. During reflow, solder ball wets expose the edge of the sputtered Cu layer. The intermetallic formation is then dictated by the diffusion path and can result in an effective decrease in UBM pad adhesion. That is, if the sputtered copper layer is not effectively separated from an upper sacrificial layer of the pad (typically formed of Cu), intermetallics may be formed and reduce the strength of the bond to the solder ball placed thereon.

Intermetallic diffusion block device and method of manufacture

International Business Machines Corporation


This present invention relates to a lighting device for vehicles which comprises a flat type light conducting body having two opposed flat sides at which light is transmitted from a light coupling or input side of said body to a light decoupling or output side thereof by total reflection, and a narrow side at the light input end along which a plurality of spaced-apart light elements are fitted for light input into the light conducting body, wherein said narrow side extends in at least an extension plane perpendicular to the flat sides and the narrow side is uneven at least in a light input section thereof that constitutes a light input position.

1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to a lighting device for vehicles which comprises a flat type light conducting body having two opposed flat sides at which light is transmitted from a light coupling or input side of said light conducting body to a light decoupling or output side thereof by total reflection, and a narrow side at the light input end along which a plurality of spaced-apart light elements are fitted for light input into the light conducting body, said narrow side extending in at least an extension plane perpendicular to the flat sides.
2. Related Art of the Invention
Prior known from DE 10 2005 018 121 A1 is a lighting device for vehicles which comprises a flat type light conducting body and a plurality of light elements that are arranged in a row on one of the narrow of the flat type conducting body. The light conducting body has opposed flat sides of which one is structured such as to provide a relatively homogeneous illumination face ("light curtain"). The light elements are disposed in one common plane and at constant spacings from one of the narrow sides of the flat type lights conducting body. It is due to said spaced-apart arrangement of the light elements that a light input zone of reduced radiant intensity is created between said light elements in the narrow-side region that has a triangular light input zone as viewed in longitudinal section of the light conducting body. Unless a light output zone of the flat type conducting body is disposed on a flat side like in the arrangement according to DE 10 2005 018 212 A1, but on a narrow side of the light conducting body that is opposite the light input side, then the darkened areas of the narrow side need to be covered up by a masking element in front of them to achieve a homogeneous illumination pattern.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the flux of radiation in the area of a light input side of a flat type light conducting body according to a prior-art embodiment of a lighting device.
It is an object of this present invention to improve a lighting device for vehicles in such a way that light input into a flat type light conducting body is enhanced.


An imaging apparatus includes a prism for separating a first luminous flux into a plurality of second luminous fluxes, a plurality of imaging sensors disposed corresponding to the second luminous fluxes, an image generator for generating image data based on output image signals, and focus controller for executing a focusing operation based on focus detection image signals. The imaging sensors each have a plurality of imaging pixels and a plurality of phase difference pixels disposed in a specific pattern. An arrangement of a first imaging sensor, which is one of the plurality of imaging sensors, is different from an arrangement of a second imaging sensor, which is another one of the plurality of imaging sensors. The specific pattern is such that a position of a phase difference pixel of the first imaging sensor does not overlap with a position of a phase difference pixel of the second imaging sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a multi-CCD imaging apparatus having a plurality of imaging devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-84177 (1995) discloses a 3CCD imaging apparatus for capturing a subject image through three imaging devices. The imaging apparatus is a lens interchangeable type imaging apparatus, and its object is to reduce generation of aberration at a time when an interchangeable lens is exchanged.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-177903 discloses a two-CCD imaging apparatus. This imaging apparatus has a plurality of imaging devices with an imaging pixel and a focus detecting pixel (phase difference pixel).

Imaging apparatus including two image sensors having a different arrangement

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


The parallel execution processor 100 fetches a piece of instruction data. When the piece of instruction data includes only one instruction, the instruction decoding unit 120 assigns the one instruction to all the PEs. When the piece of instruction data includes two instructions, the instruction decoding unit 120 forms all the PEs into two groups, so as to assign one instruction to each group. By making it possible to execute, in parallel, not only one type of instruction but also instructions that are different from each other, it is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the parallel execution processor 100.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to parallel execution processors, particularly to techniques for improving utilization efficiency of parallel execution processors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In multimedia data processing in which images and sounds are handled, it is necessary to apply one operation to a huge amount of data, for example, putting a filter on a whole image to change the color tone or the image quality. In order to reduce the time required for such a type of operation, an SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) processor has been conventionally used.
An SIMD processor comprises a plurality of processing elements and has the processing elements respectively execute one instruction in parallel. Normally, an SIMD processor is included in a computer as a coprocessor of a CPU (Central Processing Unit). When there is an operative instruction by the CPU, the SIMD processor fetches one operation instruction and a plurality of pieces of data from a memory, and has the processing elements respectively execute the operation instruction in parallel. For example, when an SIMD processor includes 128 processing elements, one operation instruction is executed in 128-way parallel. This way, it is possible to reduce the time required in multimedia data processing.
Although an SIMD processor is effective when one operation is applied to a huge amount of data, it is not suitable for other types of processing. Because of this reason, a CPU uses an SIMD processor only for multimedia data processing and suspends the operation of the SIMD processor while other types of processing are performed. This results in inefficient utilization of hardware resources as a whole computer.
In addition, an SIMD processor fetches a plurality of pieces of data from the memory all at once; therefore, even during multimedia data processing, when a memory stores therein pieces of data that require different types of operation, the CPU needs to change the order in which the pieces of data are arranged before having the SIMD processor perform those different types of operation. The larger the amount of data is, the longer it takes to change the order of the pieces of data, and it could be an obstacle in reduction of the time required for multimedia data processing.

Parallel execution processor and instruction assigning making use of group number in processing elements

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a configuration in which it is necessary to transfer data from a first storage system to a third storage system through a storage system between the storage systems, there is a problem that it is inevitable to give an excess logical volume to a second storage system between the storage systems. A remote copy system includes first storage system that sends and receives data to and from an information processing apparatus, a second storage system, and a third storage system. The second storage system virtually has a second storage area in which the data should be written and has a third storage area in which the data written in the second storage area and update information concerning the data are written. Data sent from the first storage system is not written in the second storage area but is written in the third storage area as data and update information. The data and the update information written in the third storage area are read out from the third storage system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage system, and in particular to copying of data among plural storage systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a technique has grown in importance in which, in order to allow a data processing system to provide services even if a failure has occurred in a storage system used for providing continuous services to customers (hereinafter referred to as first storage system), other storage systems (a storage system a relatively short distance apart from the first storage system is referred to as a second storage system, and a storage system a longer distance apart from the second storage system is referred to as a third storage system) are set separately from the first storage system, and copies of data in the first storage system are stored in the other storage systems. As a technique for copying information stored in the first storage system to the second and the third storage systems, there are techniques disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,002 and JP-A-2003-122509.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,002 discloses a technique in which the second storage system has two copied data corresponding to copy object data in the first storage system, and the third storage system holds one of the copied data.
JP-A-2003-122509 discloses a technique in which the second storage system has only one copied data corresponding to copy object data in the first storage system, and the third storage system can obtain the copied data without requiring a redundant logical volume for carrying out remote copy as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,002.
As described above, in the conventional techniques, the second storage system is provided between the first storage system and the third storage system, which is located a long distance apart from the first storage system, to realize long-distance remote copy while preventing data loss such that a copy of data in the first storage system is obtained in the third storage system.
However, some users may require a remote copy system in which cost for system operation is considered while failure resistance of data is increased through long-distance copying. For example, a copy of data in the first storage system only has to be held in a storage system located a long distance apart from the first storage system.
In order to give a complete copy of data in the first storage system to the third storage system, which is located a long distance apart from the first storage system, in preparation for a failure, when influence on performance of the first storage system is taken into account, it is necessary to arrange the second storage system between the first storage system and the third storage system and transfer the data from the first storage system to the third storage system through this second storage system. In such a case, it is desired to minimize a logical volume that is used in the second storage system as much as possible.
However, in the case in which it is attempted to remotely copy data from the second storage system to the third storage system located a long distance apart from the second storage system, the second storage system is required to have a volume (copied volume) that is the same as a volume of the first storage system. This volume increases as a capacity of the volume of the first storage system increases.
It is needless to mention that, even if the technique disclosed in JP-A-2003-122509 is applied, the second storage system inevitably has the volume with the same capacity as copy object volume in the first storage system.

Remote copy method and remote copy system to eliminate use of excess volume for copying data


A simple hearing enhancement device that takes the normally adequately loud sound levels and optimizes selective frequency gain of the patient's ear passage to improve speech comprehension.

There are many devices and much background material pertaining to hearing aids that increase the amplitude of the sound impinging on the eardrum. Some of these operate by bone conduction. These are external amplifying devices which transmit sound through the bones behind the ears. As external devices, they can be unattractive, and can interfere with eyeglasses. Functionally, such devices have the disadvantage of not providing more normal hearing and taking advantage of what adequate hearing a user has.
Most hearing aids have their amplifying transducer fitted into the auditory meatus (the external auditory canal). This blocks the natural amplitude gain at the eardrum (tympanic membrane) produced by the auditory canal and causes substantial or complete amplitude loss so the user must rely totally on electronic amplification.
One problem with such devices is that its is hard to provide frequency band matched amplification electronically to match the patient's hearing where he still has reasonably normal hearing at least at lower frequencies of the natural sound field around him without feedback distortion and over amplification of the background noise. For good or acceptable voice word comprehension, many patients need only some boost at higher frequencies, which is where most of the hearing loss in later life occurs.
In particular, the hearing loss at higher frequencies is often in the range of 30 db or more. Amplification at such levels often results in whistle and feedback. This is generally dealt with by sealing the hearing aid to the wall of the auditory canal, and natural hearing even in the portions of the spectrum for which there is little or no impairment must be foregone. Vent holes are sometimes provided to allow some normal sound field through but there is still substantial attenuation.
As a consequence, many persons with only high frequency hearing impairment find electronic hearing aids to be unsatisfactory, and simply accept the impairment as an unavoidable consequence of aging.
Some passive devices have been considered. Among these are devices constructed in the form or a Helmholtz type resonator cavity box with a small opening and a small exit that was then inserted into the outer ear and ear auditory canal. For various reasons, however, no commercial use has ever been made of such devices.
It is therefore clear that a need exists for an improved hearing enhancement device usable by those with high frequency hearing impairment for whom existing amplified devices are not completely satisfactory.

External ear insert for hearing comprehension enhancement


A point of use air wand with a built in filtration system may include a wand including a filter body; a filter housed within the filter body; an input endcap attached to a first end of the filter body, the input endcap operatively attached to an air source; and an accumulator endcap attached to a second end of the filter body. Forced air may enter the wand through the input endcap, flow through the filter, and then out of the wand through the accumulator endcap.

The embodiments herein relate generally to cleaning machinery including the use of compressed air, and more particularly, to a point of use micron filtered air wand.
Food plants use compressed air to dry equipment after sanitation. However, conventionally and as shown in FIG. 2, the compressed air is only filtered by a house filter proximate to the air source and, thus, the compressed air is not filtered at the point of use. Rather a conventional unfiltered air wand 17 is attached to the air source. As a result, particularly when it comes to food contact areas, there is a risk of contamination.
Similar systems are used in the medical field, wherein contamination is also a concern.
Therefore, what is needed is an air wand including a built in filter to provide a point of use filtered air wand, preventing or decreasing the likelihood of contamination of the surface being blown off.


A lighting device includes a support structure formed from a thermally conductive material such as aluminum. The support structure or extrusion has a channel for receiving and retaining a circuit board with a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) disposed thereon. One or more fins adapted for dissipating heat produced by the LEDs may be disposed on the support structure. The support structure may also include one or more retaining members for retaining one or more optical elements in relation to the LEDs and a support tray for holding a power supply.

LED lighting systems have been developed for general illumination applications, and LED conversions have been introduced to replace existing types of illumination. However, such systems have principally been focused on the replacement of incandescent or high intensity discharge (HID) sources with white LEDs.
Current industry practices commonly employ fluorescent tubes as a light source for illumination. Fluorescent bulbs are generally available in various standard lengths, sizes, power output, and color temperature. The familiar bulbs typically include standard pin connectors provided at each end that provide for the attachment and replacement of a tube without the need for tooling. Such bulbs typically have a finite life based on hours of use. They also house consumable products, which can lead to a loss of light output over time. Moreover, many conventional bulbs contain mercury as a means for creating a broadband color spectra. Such tubes are also commonly made of glass—a material that is not tolerant to impact.
Solid state replacements for various types of diffuse fluorescent sources typically requires the use of many LEDs in a line and specialized optics to generate the desired beam pattern. Most lighting system will include a light source, a lens, a power source, and some type of housing to protect the assemblage of components. The uniqueness of a lighting system can be driven by the uniqueness in the specifically intended lighting task.


A compact lime slaker has an inner vessel forming an initial slaking chamber disposed in an outer vessel forming a final slaking chamber, with agitators provided In both chambers. Slaked lime from the final slaking chamber is pumped to a collection trough where slaked lime and grit are removed therefrom, while a major portion of slaked lime, with grit removed is returned to the final slaking chamber. The slaked lime in the final slaking chamber, at an elevated temperature due to the slaking exotherm, insulates the lime being slaked in the initial slaking chamber and provides heat thereto to aid in the initial slaking. Removal of grit from the portion of slaked lime recycled to the final slaking chamber prevents clogging or attrition of components of the slaker.

Aqueous slurries of lime, or slaked lime, have many uses where relatively low amounts are required. Such uses include processes for water treatment, removal of contaminants from gaseous streams, and other processing where a continuous supply of slaked lime is required during periods of operation of such processes. Problems exist in the preparation of such slaked lime in that often grit or solids remain after slaking which, unless removed from the slaked lime, can cause clogging of equipment or other problems. For example, where the slaked lime is not continuously removed from a slaking apparatus and grit in a slaked lime is returned to a slaking unit, the grit may accumulate in the slaking unit and cause wear on slaking unit components, clogging of component conduits, and other problems. Also, although the slaking of lime is a exothermic reaction, when relatively small amounts of lime are to be slaked, the exotherm is not sufficient to maintain the desired temperature for slaking and heat must be added to effect a sufficient rate of slaking, which addition of heat is a cost factor that must be accommodated. Thus, due to the problem of heat of reaction, grit buildup, and other factors, the adequate slaking of relatively low amounts of lime has been a constant problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a lime slaking apparatus which can be used to continuously slake lime at a relatively low rate, for example, a rate of about 50 to 750 pounds per hour or less, with removal of grit from the slaked lime prior to return of slaked lime, for additional slaking, to the slaking vessel, which reduces wear on the slaker components, clogging and other problems associated with conventional slakers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a lime slaking apparatus which can be used to continuously slake lime where the heat of an initially slaked supply of lime is used to provide heat to fresh lime slurry being slaked.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for three different stages of mixing and slaking of lime by use of an inner slaking chamber, outer slaking chamber and recirculating pump device so as to provide improved slaking of lime in water.


A device for noise transmission of an intake system of an internal combustion engine to the interior of a motor vehicle has a transmission line having an inlet at a first end and an exit provided with a mouth at a second end. A diaphragm is arranged at the second end to close off the mouth and to enable noise transmission. The inlet of the transmission line communicates with the intake system of the internal combustion engine. A protective device is arranged at the second end to protect the diaphragm.

The invention relates to a device for noise transmission in a motor vehicle from an intake system of an internal combustion engine to the interior of the motor vehicle, wherein the device comprises a housing that has an inlet arranged at a transmission line and an exit provided with a mouth that is closed off by a diaphragm enabling noise transmission. The transmission line is connected to the intake system of the internal combustion engine.
As a drive unit, modern motor vehicles have internal combustion engines that are running very smoothly so that the operating noise can be hardly heard in the interior of the motor vehicle. The operating noise of the internal combustion engine is sometimes drowned by secondary noises generated by the rolling noise of the wheels, a venting system that is switched on or the like. Under certain circumstances it can be desirable to transmit the operating noise of the internal combustion engine to the interior of the motor vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,600,408 B1 discloses a device for sound transmission for a motor vehicle. In this device, the sound is transmitted along a pipe conduit and a chamber in which a diaphragm is arranged toward the interior of the motor vehicle. The chamber that surrounds the diaphragm is comprised of several assembled parts.
The publication DE 101 16 169 A1 discloses a resonator chamber in which the diaphragm is arranged.
The patent DE 44 35 296 discloses a diaphragm for noise transmission in a motor vehicle in which the diaphragm is clamped in a holder.
U.S. publication 2006/0283658 A1 discloses a system for noise increase of an intake system of a motor vehicle. Various possibilities of noise introduction into the interior of the motor vehicle are illustrated wherein the diaphragm is arranged in a pipe conduit for noise transmission.
In the publication DE 199 30 025 A1 a sound transmission body is illustrated in which the diaphragm is clamped between two transmission members.

Device for noise transmission in a motor vehicle


A holster is provided for use with a hot melt dispensing handgun having a nozzle, with the holster including a body defining a cavity and further including a nozzle garage. The body is operable for receiving at least a portion of a handgun within the cavity and for supporting the handgun when the handgun is inactive. The nozzle garage has a housing defining a hollow interior communicating with the cavity and also includes a heating element. The nozzle garage is operable for receiving at least a portion of a nozzle within the hollow interior and for heating the nozzle of the handgun when the handgun is inactive.

Thermoplastic materials include those materials that can be repeatedly melted and cooled to a solid. Thermoplastic material includes thermoplastic adhesives, sealants and waxes, referred to as "hot melt" materials. "Hot melt" materials are used in a wide variety of applications including the assembly of various types of products including furniture, doors, windows, automotive trim, etc., and the closing of boxes, containers, etc.
Typically, solid hot melt material, in various shapes and sizes, is supplied to a melter that includes a heated tank and/or a heated grid to produce molten hot melt material. Solid hot melt material can also be supplied in drums or barrels in which the material is melted by the use of a platen. After heating, the molten material can be pumped through a heated hose, to maintain the molten material at the required application temperature, to an applicator or dispenser, sometimes referred to as a "dispensing gun" or gun, dispensing handgun, or a gun module, comprising a valve and a nozzle.
Dispensing handguns can have various configurations that include top-feed and bottom-feed configurations that refer to the location on the handgun where a heated hose supplying hot melt material is connected to the handgun. Handguns of the foregoing type have been successfully used in many applications but their use can present manufacturing challenges in some instances. For example, it may be necessary to attach a relatively long nozzle to the end of the handgun barrel to apply the adhesive or sealant in "hard-to-reach" locations. Nozzles of this type can be about one to six inches in length for example. The handgun typically includes a heater, which can be a cartridge-type heater inside the barrel where the heated hose is coupled to the handgun. The heater maintains the hot melt material at the desired temperature and resultant viscosity.
The time between successive uses of the handgun can vary depending upon the particular production rate and can be affected by other factors such as lunch breaks, shift changes, etc. In some instances, the time between successive uses of the handgun can be long enough that there is a significant drop in temperature of the hot melt material in the nozzle as compared to the material in the handgun barrel. This can adversely affect the viscosity and flow characteristics of the hot melt material present in the nozzle such that it may not be useable. This problem is often resolved by depressing the handgun trigger for a sufficient period of time that a pump upstream of the heated hose, which is coupled to the handgun, forces the reduced temperature material out of the nozzle. While this procedure eliminates the unusable material in the nozzle, it results in additional material losses due to the nozzle purging and lost production line time, each of which adds to the cost of the production operation.
Also, handguns of the foregoing type, in particular bottom-feed handguns, may be subject to damage as a result of inadvertent misuse. Top-feed handguns may be hoisted upward after use and are less susceptible to damage. However, hoisting bottom-feed handguns overhead between applications is not practical due to the routing of the heated hose coupled to the handgun. If the handgun is placed on a workstation it may be pulled off due to the weight of the heated hose, which may result in damage to the handgun. Placing the handgun on the floor is also undesirable as a worker may inadvertently step on the handgun.


Systems and methods for a pyrolytic oven for processing waste include multiple zones associated with multiple independently-controlled heating sources. The pyrolytic oven may have multiple sensors also associated with each zone. The pyrolytic oven may also include a fuel management system which adjusts a power level of each heating source for each zone independently based on a reading of the corresponding sensor.

The background description includes information that can be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Waste management and the creation of renewable energy are common problems in many nations. Pyrolysis, which can be used to turn waste into renewable energy, is one solution to both problems. Pyrolysis involves using high temperatures in a relatively oxygen free environment to decompose waste materials (also known as feedstock) to generate a synthetic gas, or "syngas." The syngas can then be burned to produce renewable energy. Common feedstocks include trash, old tires, and other municipal, industrial, agricultural, or domestic wastes.
Pyrolysis is normally performed using a pyrolytic oven. The pyrolytic oven provides the heat and the necessary environment for pyrolysis to occur. A pyrolytic oven's efficiency is achieved by maximizing the heat transfer from the oven to the feedstock to ensure that the feedstock is completely heated and processed. This can be a challenge because feedstocks can vary greatly in composition and base temperature. In an attempt to increase efficiency, some previous pyrolitic oven designs have sought to improve the way that the feedstock is heated and cycled through the oven. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,214 to Walker teaches a pyrolytic converter with a screw and paddle conveyor system, which allows the feedstock to be mixed, lifted, and pushed through the pyrolytic oven. U.S. Pat. No. 7,832,343 to Walker and Bertram teaches a pyrolyzer with dual processing shafts and heat transfer fins to transfer heat to the heating chamber. However, both of these approaches are still inefficient at processing waste.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Another important design consideration for pyrolytic ovens is durability. Pyrolytic ovens generally must be able operate efficiently at sustained high temperatures. The expansion and contraction of metals from heating and cooling can greatly impact the durability of the oven. Increasing the durability of a pyrolitic oven can lower engineering, construction, and maintenance costs.
Thus, there is still a need for improving both the efficiency and durability of pyrolytic ovens while decreasing overall construction, operational, and maintenance costs.

Systems, apparatus, and methods for treating waste materials


A touch measurement system includes a touch probe for detecting touching of a workpiece by a touch probe stylus and including at least one sender for emitting an infra-red light in response to detection of the touching, and a receiving unit including a housing having a window permeable to an infra-red light and provided with an electro-conductive coating for shielding an interior of the housing from electro-magnetic interferences, and an infra-red light receiver for receiving the infra-red light emitted by the sender of the touch probe, and a unit for processing the infra-red light received by the receiver, with both the receiver and the processing unit being located in the housing interior.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch measurement system for measuring a workpiece and including a touch probe for detecting touching of the workpiece by a touch probe stylus and having at least one sender for emitting an infra-red light in response to detection of the touching, and a receiving unit including a housing having a window permeable to an infra-red light, an infra-red light receiver located in the housing interior for receiving the infra-red light emitted by the sender of the touch probe, and a unit likewise located in the housing interior for processing the infra-red light received by the receiver.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Touch measurement systems of the type described above are used for determination of a relative position or surface coordinates of a workpiece or a tool of a machine tool or of a coordinate-measuring machine upon touching. On the touch probe, at least one sender for emitting infra-red light in response to the touching is arranged. The infra-red light, which is emitted by the sender, is transmitted to a spaced from the touch probe, receiving unit that converts the received infra-red light into a trigger signal and transmits the trigger signal to the motion control that controls the displacement of the touch probe.
A touch measurement system of the type discussed above is disclosed in German Patent DE-34 22 180 C2. The receiving unit has a housing the opening of which is closed by a window permeable to infra-red light. In the window, there is arranged an infra-red filter for screening or eliminating visible light.
The touch measurement systems of the type described above should meet higher and higher requirements to their reliability. On one hand, the touch measurement systems should be able to function with the distance between the touch probe and the receiving unit increasing more and more and, on the other hand, the touch measurement systems become subjected to ever increasing influence of interference-creating devices, e.g., powerful motors.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a touch measurement system with an increased functional reliability.


A method of making a ferroelectric thin film includes the step of forming a ferroelectric thin film with a randomly oriented layered structure on a surface of a conductor layer. At least the surface of the conductor layer has a spherical crystal structure.

The present invention generally relates to a method of making a ferroelectric thin film, and also relates to ferroelectric capacitor, ferroelectric memory and method for fabricating the memory. More particularly, this invention relates to a method of making a ferroelectric thin film as a capacitive insulating film for a ferroelectric memory.
Recently, a ferroelectric thin film, exhibiting a spontaneous electric polarization, has been vigorously researched and developed to realize a nonvolatile memory that can operate at an even higher speed with a lower voltage applied. Among various other ferroelectric materials, low-melting metal oxides thereof, containing lead or bismuth, have often been studied widely. Specifically, layer-structured ferroelectrics, e.g., those containing bismuth, in particular, have attracted much attention.
A basic structure of a layer-structured ferroelectric is given by the following general formula:(S2O2)2+(Am−1BmO3m+1)2−where the S site is replaced with a trivalent cation of a constituent material (e.g., Bi or Tl) of the layered structure or a combination thereof; the A site is replaced with a univalent, divalent or trivalent cation of Na, Sr, Pb, Bi, Ba, Ca or La or a combination thereof; the B site is replaced with a tetravalent or pentavalent cation of Ti, Ta, Nb, Zr, Mo or W or a combination thereof; and m is an integer typically between 1 and 5. It is noted that mutually different m values may sometimes be used in combination to improve the property of the ferroelectric. For example, if a composition with m=3 is combined with a composition with m=1, then the distance between two adjacent layers in the layered structure can be changed arbitrarily.
Since the ferroelectric like this has a layered structure, the ferroelectric does not deteriorate so much even after its polarization has been reversed numerous times. Accordingly, a nonvolatile memory, including this layer-structured ferroelectric thin film, can operate with a relatively low voltage applied. In other words, the ferroelectric is effectively applicable as a material for a capacitive insulating film of a nonvolatile memory. Particularly, a layer-structured ferroelectric with its S site replaced with bismuth (which will be herein called a "bismuth layer-structured ferroelectric") contains bismuth, which is a low-melting metal, and can be deposited at a relatively low temperature. For example, SrBi2Ta2O9 is usually heat-treated at about 800° C. To realize a semiconductor process at an even smaller feature size, however, the temperature of heat treatment should be further lowered. For instance, a stacked memory cell structure must be implemented to realize a very densely integrated memory operating at 1 megabit or more. In the implementation of the stacked memory cell structure, the heat treatment should be conducted at a temperature between 650 and 700° C. in view of the thermal resistance of a barrier layer (e.g., iridium oxide layer) provided to prevent reaction between electrode and plug.
A ferroelectric thin film is normally formed by a thermolysis process or a spin coating technique utilizing a sol-gel process. To further lower the heat treatment temperature, however, the sol-gel process is preferred, because this process positively takes advantage of chemical reactions. Specifically, in a sol-gel process, crystals are grown to form a thin film through polycondensation reactions with hydrolysis using a solution containing a strongly reactive metal alkoxide.
In a bismuth layer-structured ferroelectric thin film formed by the known sol-gel process, most of the crystals grown are eventually oriented along the c-axis. Generally speaking, most of the electric dipole moments of a bismuth layer-structured ferroelectric thin film exist in the a- and b-axis planes. In contrast, there are no dipole moments, or very small moments if any, along the c-axis. Thus, if a capacitor is made using a c-axis-oriented ferroelectric thin film like this, then the ferroelectric capacitor cannot exhibit spontaneous polarization strong enough to enable a nonvolatile memory to operate properly.

Method of making ferroelectric thin film having a randomly oriented layer and spherical crystal conductor structure


The hardware and software properties of a three-dimensional printer can be queried and applied to select suitable directly printable models for the printer, or to identify situations where a new machine-ready model must be generated. The properties may be any properties relevant to fabrication including, e.g., physical properties of the printer, printer firmware, user settings, hardware configurations, and so forth. A printer may respond to configuration queries with a dictionary of capabilities or properties, and this dictionary may be used to select suitable models, or determine when a new model must be created. Similarly, when a printable model is sent to the printer, metadata for the printable model may be compared to printer properties in the dictionary to ensure that the model can be fabricated by the printer.

Generally, three-dimensional printers execute machine-ready representations of three-dimensional models for fabricating objects. These machine-ready models are typically dependent on the configuration or properties of the three-dimensional printers, e.g., the hardware configuration, software configuration, user settings, firmware version(s) and so forth. While a three-dimensional printer may know its own hardware and software configuration, a service providing machine-ready models may not. There remains a need for providing machine-ready models based on a three-dimensional printer's configuration, and for improved matching of models to printers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detection and use of printer configuration information


A fuel injection and mixing system is provided that is suitable for use with various types of fuel reformers. Preferably, the system includes a piezoelectric injector for delivering atomized fuel, a gas swirler, such as a steam swirler and/or an air swirler, a mixing chamber and a flow mixing device. The system utilizes ultrasonic vibrations to achieve fuel atomization. The fuel injection and mixing system can be used with a variety of fuel reformers and fuel cells, such as SOFC fuel cells.

Fuel cells are an emerging technology that can significantly improve energy efficiency and energy security. Fuel cell technology can provide environmentally friendly electrical energy, producing far fewer harmful pollutants and lower levels of noise than conventional power generation systems. Although various types of fuel cells have been installed for commercial use, high manufacturing costs have largely prohibited them from being accepted for a wide variety of applications.
In addition to high manufacturing cost, the fuel cell industry is faced with several critical challenges that must be resolved before fuel cell systems can be fully commercialized for wide spread power generation applications. These challenges include, for example, a need to identify anode, electrolyte and cathode materials that provide lower electrochemical losses, a need for durable fuel cell interconnects, improved sealing concepts, compatible metallic interconnects, advanced stack cooling, low-cost fabrication processes, understanding soot and carbon deposit mechanisms, efficient fuel processor and regenerative desulfurization systems.
Among various types of fuel cells, the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) appears to exhibit many advantages over other fuel cell systems for power generation. For example, SOFCs have the highest energy efficiency of known fuel cells due to their high temperature operation. SOFCs can also tolerate low-cost catalytic materials. Existing studies indicate that SOFCs are probably one of the most reliable power generation technologies. SOFCs are well suited for integration with conventional gas turbine engines for improvements in fuel consumption and emission pollution. In addition, SOFCs can be supplied with hydrogen gas via hydrocarbon injector/reformer systems that convert hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide, known as syngas, allowing full utilization of the existing refueling infrastructure. Because of these significant advantages, the fuel cell industry has been working diligently to develop compact, efficient fuel processors that can effectively convert the liquid hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen-rich gas for utilization in SOFCs as well as other fuel cell systems.
Fuel processors are a very important component of SOFC systems, enabling them to compete with the conventional auxiliary power units (APU) in remote stationary and mobile power generation markets. Current state-of-the-art fuel processors are limited to using gaseous fuels, such as natural gas, hydrogen and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In the near term, however, liquid hydrocarbon fuels are the preferred choice for SOFC power systems because of their availability, high energy density, and existing distribution networks.
Currently, liquid fuel processing technology is not yet viable for commercial applications in SOFC systems. One technical barrier for liquid fuel processing is reactor durability. The performance of the reforming catalysts quickly deteriorates as a result of carbon deposition, sulfur poisoning and loss of precious metals due to sintering or evaporation at high temperatures. To mitigate these problems, numerous studies are being conducted to optimize catalyst materials and reactor design and operation.
One engineering approach that could alleviate problems associated with liquid fuel processing is improvement of feed stream preparation. Poor feed stream preparation such as inadequate atomization, wall impingement, and non-uniform mixing can easily lead to local conditions that favor carbon deposition and formation of hot spots in the reactor. Because liquid fuels are difficult to reform, a proper selection of injection and mixing systems for feed stream preparation plays an essential role in the development of reliable and durable liquid fuel processors.
In a typical fuel processor, liquid fuel is injected into preheated gas (e.g., steam and/or air) streams near the top of a mixing chamber. The liquid fuel must evaporate and be thoroughly mixed with the surrounding gas within a short distance prior to entering the catalytic reactor. During operation, the injection and mixing system must be able to accommodate varying power demands in a relatively short response time. In most mobile APU applications, there are very limited supply pressures available for liquid atomization and feed stream mixing, making it especially challenging for the design and development of fuel injection and mixing systems.
It is desirable to provide an injection and mixing system that can be easily integrated into various types of fuel processors. The fuel injection and mixing system must demonstrate better mixing capability and be more compact in size with fewer components and lower manufacturing cost than existing systems. It is also desirable to provide an injection and mixing system that requires very low supply pressures and energy power consumption. Finally, it would be desirable to provide an injection and mixing system that can demonstrate extended service life without the problem of carbon or coke deposition.
As will be shown herein, the present invention provides a solution for the problems and needs identified above.

Fuel injection and mixing systems having piezoelectric elements and methods of using the same


Devices and methods are provided for controlling and indicating the deployed length of an interventional element on an interventional catheter. The interventional element may be a stent or series of stents, a balloon, or any other interventional element for which length control is necessary or desirable. Devices for controlling the length of the interventional element include gear driven actuators, motors, and other mechanisms. Devices for indicating length of an interventional element to the user include sensors, detents, visual displays and other mechanisms providing visual, audible, and tangible indications of length to the user. The control and indication devices preferably work in tandem to enable highly precise adjustment of interventional element length.

The present invention relates generally to interventional catheters and prostheses, and more specifically to catheters and prostheses for treatment of vascular diseases, including coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease, as well as diseases of other body lumens such as the biliary tract, fallopian tubes, urinary and digestive tracts, and other structures.
Balloon angioplasty and stenting are widely used in the treatment of coronary artery disease and peripheral vascular disease. In coronary artery disease, one or more coronary blood vessels become narrowed or closed due to the buildup of stenotic plaques on the arterial wall. This blocks blood flow to the heart muscle, potentially causing myocardial infarction. Such narrowing can also occur in peripheral blood vessels such as the carotids, femorals, iliacs and other arteries, blocking the blood supply to other vital tissues and organs.
Balloon angioplasty involves the use of a long flexible catheter having a balloon at its distal tip. The catheter is inserted into a peripheral artery such as the femoral and advanced transluminally into the diseased artery. The balloon is inflated within the narrowed portion of the vessel, thereby expanding the vascular lumen and restoring normal blood flow.
In some cases, however, balloon angioplasty alone is inadequate to treat vascular disease due to restenosis, the renarrowing of the artery following angioplasty. Stents have been developed to provide an intravascular frame or scaffold to maintain patency of the vascular lumen after it has been expanded. Stents are small tubular prostheses designed to be advanced to the treatment site in a collapsed configuration using an elongated delivery catheter. The stents are then expanded at the treatment site into engagement with the vessel wall to maintain vascular patency.
Stents may be either self-expanding or balloon expandable. Self-expanding stents are made of a shape memory material such as Nitinol and can be delivered in a compressed state within the tip of the delivery catheter and allowed to resiliently expand upon release from the delivery catheter. Balloon expandable stents are made of a malleable metal and are mounted to a balloon on the delivery catheter. When positioned at the treatment site, the balloon is inflated to expand the stent into engagement with the vessel.
Stents, however, have also suffered from the problem of restenosis. Restenosis rates with conventional coronary stents have ranged from 30-40%. The causes of such restenosis are not fully understood. However, it is believed that restenosis may be caused in some cases by the excessive stiffness of current stents and their inability to conform to vascular curves, shapes, dimensional changes, and movements. This problem is particularly acute with longer lesions, which may extend over curved and tapered sections of a vessel and may be subject to non-uniform movements along their lengths.
The need has thus been demonstrated for highly flexible stents that may be used to treat long, curved, and tapered vascular regions. In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/637,713, filed Aug. 8, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,350, entitled "Apparatus and Methods for Delivery of Vascular Prostheses," the full disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, highly flexible multi-segmented stents and associated delivery devices are disclosed that enable the treatment of long, curved or tapered vascular lesions. The disclosed delivery devices enable the selective deployment of one or more stent segments at a treatment site to allow the user to customize stent length in situ. Moreover, the device can be repositioned at multiple vascular sites to deploy a plurality of stents of various lengths.
Other custom-length stents and delivery devices are described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/624,451, filed Jul. 21, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,294,146, entitled "Apparatus and Methods for Delivery of Multiple Distributed Stents," which is also incorporated herein by reference. This application describes separable stent segments as well as continuous prosthesis structures configured as braids or coils that allow the user to pay out a selected length of the prosthesis structure and deploy it into the vessel at one or more treatment sites.
Variable length angioplasty devices have also been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,421 to Saab discloses angioplasty catheters having an elongated balloon and an external sheath that is axially slidable relative to the balloon. The sheath can be retracted to expose a selected length of the balloon for expansion at a treatment site. The catheter can then be repositioned and another length of balloon exposed to treat one or more additional sites.
While such custom-length stents and angioplasty catheters have shown great promise, there remains a need for improved ways of controlling and providing indication of balloon and stent length in such devices. Conventional angioplasty and stenting procedures rely upon the use of fluoroscopy to visualize the location and operation of catheters and prostheses. However, fluoroscopy often fails to provide the clarity, resolution, and precision that are required for the accurate control of stent or balloon length, which in many cases must be controlled within a few millimeters. Moreover, even if visualization were adequate, the user is left to control stent or balloon length by manually manipulating the associated catheters, an operation not well-suited to highly precise control.

Devices and methods for controlling and indicating the length of an interventional element


Methods and apparatus for recording anonymized volumetric data from medical image visualization software are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an image anonymizer to anonymize a medical image outside of a region of interest based on an extraction parameter by degrading the medical image outside a region corresponding to the region of interest and maintaining a resolution of the medical image inside the region corresponding to the region of interest, the extraction parameter based on at least one of an image capture parameter or an instruction from a remote system; and an archive generator to generate a compressed local archive based on the anonymized medical image.

Imaging devices (e.g., gamma camera, positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, computed tomography (CT) scanner, X-Ray machine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, ultrasound scanner, etc.) generate medial images (e.g., native Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images) representative of the parts of the body (e.g., organs, tissues, etc.) to diagnose and/or treat diseases. Medical images may include volumetric data including voxels associated with the part of the body captured in the medical image. Medical image visualization software allows a clinician to segment, annotate, measure, and/or report functional or anatomical characteristics on various locations of a medical image. In some examples, a clinician may utilize the medical image visualization software to identify regions of interest with the medical image.


An ultrasonic coagulation and cutting apparatus includes: an ultrasonic transducer for a treatment using ultrasonic vibrations on body tissue; a probe for transmitting generated ultrasonic vibrations to the distal end thereof; a movable gripping member for cooperating with the outer surface of the probe in gripping therebetween body tissue; an operation unit operated to move the gripping member; an operation transmitting member for transmitting the operation of the operation unit to the gripping member; and high frequency power supply connecting portions for electrically connecting the probe and the gripping member to predetermined portions of a high frequency power supply for a treatment using high frequency current on the body tissue. At least coagulation of the body tissue using high frequency current is started in a first gripping state. Cutting of the body tissue using ultrasonic vibrations generated by the ultrasonic transducer is started in a second gripping state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic coagulation and cutting apparatus for gripping body tissue and performing coagulation using high frequency current and/or cutting using ultrasonic vibrations of the body tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, observations of body cavities and organs have been performed using endoscopes, an insertion portion of each endoscope being inserted into a body cavity. In addition, various treatments and therapies have also been performed under endoscopic observation. In cutting or coagulation of body tissue under endoscopic observation, an ultrasonic instrument for treatment or a diathermy instrument for treatment is used. The ultrasonic instrument transmits ultrasonic vibrations to body tissue to perform a treatment using frictional heat. The diathermy instrument supplies high frequency current to body tissue to perform a treatment using Joule heat.
Using ultrasonic vibrations, the ultrasonic instrument permits a tool for treatment to generate frictional heat, thus cutting body tissue while coagulating the tissue. The ultrasonic instrument performs coagulation and cutting as one action using frictional heat. Unfortunately, the ultrasonic instrument has a tendency that cutting power is reduced when coagulating power is increased. In particular, tissue cutting involving blood vessel clotting needs high coagulating power. However, reducing cutting power drastically leads to stress on a user. It is, therefore, difficult to realize high levels of both coagulation and cutting.
The diathermy instrument using high frequency current allows an energized electrode to come into contact with body tissue, thus performing cutting or coagulation of the tissue. Diathermy instruments are broadly classified into monopolar and bipolar types. The monopolar type instrument has the following structure: One of two dedicated terminals provided for a power supply unit for generating high frequency current is connected to an active electrode to be in contact with a target area of body tissue. The other terminal is connected to a feedback electrode to be in face contact with a wide range of a body surface except the target area.
The bipolar type instrument has the following structure: Two dedicated terminals provided for a power supply unit for generating high frequency current are connected to two active electrodes arranged in the instrument main body. Accordingly, the bipolar type needs no feedback electrode and is suitable for a treatment, such as blood vessel clotting, because a continuity path for the flow of current can be specified.
For example, when a treatment for blood vessel clotting is performed with the ultrasonic instrument, cutting is performed while coagulation is being performed. In the ultrasonic instrument, therefore, it is difficult to simultaneously realize high coagulating power and high cutting speed.
On the other hand, in the case where a treatment for blood vessel clotting is performed with the bipolar type diathermy instrument, although the bipolar type has high coagulating power, cutting is fundamentally performed using another instrument instead of the bipolar type diathermy instrument. In other words, a user has to often change the instrument. Disadvantageously, the operation is complicated.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-216180 discloses an ultrasonic cutting and coagulation apparatus capable of easily performing a treatment using ultrasonic vibrations and a treatment using high frequency current on body tissue in an appropriate manner. In this apparatus, a movable handle is operated to be closed such that a gripping member is brought into contact with a probe to grip body tissue. In this gripping state, when the treatment using ultrasonic vibrations is performed, a power supply for driving an ultrasonic transducer supplies driving current to the ultrasonic transducer. Consequently, the ultrasonic transducer is driven, thus transmitting ultrasonic vibrations generated by the ultrasonic transducer to the probe. Thus, the gripped body tissue is coagulated and cut.
On the other hand, when the treatment using high frequency current is performed in the gripping state, high frequency current is supplied from a high frequency power supply to either the gripping member or the probe, alternatively, to both of them. Consequently, the high frequency current flows from the gripping member or the probe to a counter electrode plate via the body tissue and is fed back to the high frequency power supply. Thus, the gripped tissue is cut or coagulated.

Ultrasonic coagulation and cutting apparatus


A circuit for detecting odd and even numbered fields of a video signal includes a first counter circuit for counting a clock pulse input to detect a vertical synchronous pulse interval of the video signal, a second counter circuit for counting the clock pulse upon detection of the vertical synchronous pulse interval to generate a window signal and a counting signal having a predetermined pulse width, and an output circuit responsive to horizontal synchronous pulses and the window signal to generate a first logic state remaining for a next vertical synchronous pulse interval or generate a second logic state remaining for the next vertical synchronous pulse interval, whereby the output circuit maintains the first logic state for the odd field and the second logic state for the even field.

The present invention relates to video signal processing and more particularly to a circuit for detecting odd and even numbered fields of a video signal.
Conventionally, a detection of odd and even numbered fields of a video signal is achieved by means of a software program. In this case, it is general to employ a microcomputer and additional peripheral devices to control the field detection. However, the software program is apt to cause a program bug occasionally. Further, whenever the program bug occurs the software program must be reset to restart the program. Thus, the reliability of the field detection of a video signal becomes lowered.

Circuit for detecting odd and even fields of a video signal


The present disclosure provides a package for a medical device containing a cavity for receiving the medical device, a first closure having a sealed portal therein and a second closure adjacent the first closure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a package for medical devices, and more particularly, to a package including a first cavity for receiving a medical device, a first closure for sealing the medical device within the first cavity, the first closure including a sealed portal defined therein and a second closure positioned adjacent the first closure, the second closure surrounding the portal.
2. Background of Related Art
Combination medical devices, i.e., medical devices coated with drugs or other bioactive agents, have become more prevalent commercially in recent years. There are many of these combination medical devices known to those skilled in the art. Many of these devices require specialized coatings to facilitate both bioactive agent elution and, more importantly, maintain or enhance the core functionality of the medical device. For example, a suture containing an antimicrobial coating must be able to facilitate the elution of the antimicrobial agent in the coating and also maintain a certain tensile strength, handling ability, knot-tying ability, and degradation rate to ensure the coated suture remains functional as a wound closure device.
Further, with the selection of a new coating, drug or any combination of medical devices comes the challenge of marrying the selected agents with a coating or medical device that can accommodate both technical requirements described above, as well as the manufacturing, sterilizing, and transporting processes involved in producing such products. This often requires the design of new coating polymers, which are specialized to be compatible with a specific agent, as well as new coating, manufacturing, sterilizing and transporting processes. In addition, designing these new coatings and processes creates the added pressures of possibly impacting the shelf-life of the device as well as the end-use of the combination medical device in a negative manner.
Also, medical professionals are limited to using the combination medical device in the dosage and strength produced, without flexibility to alter the product as needed for their respective patients.
Therefore, the present disclosure describes a package for a medical device aimed at simplifying the design and application of combination medical device coatings to provide the following benefits: the ability to choose any bioactive or non-bioactive agent necessary for the individual patient without having to change existing products or manufacturing process; sensitive agents can be delivered without compromising standard shelf or transport conditions; the ability to later combine a specific medical device with agents that were unable to tolerate the required sterilization process for that specific device, under sterile conditions; the medical professional has greater control over product selection; and longer shelf-life of products due to more stable format.


A method for encouraging dialogue between, and promoting transparency of said dialogue, a plurality of telecommunicators is provided. The plurality of telecommunicators may include an end user and an agent. The method includes receiving a request for a dialogue from the end user. The request includes a set of end user log-in credentials associated with the end user. The method further includes identifying the agent associated with a set of agent log-in credentials. The agent may respond to the request. The method also distinguishes the end user from the agent based on the set of end user log-in credentials and the set of agent log-in credentials and then instantiates an instance of telecommunications between the end user and the agent based, at least in part, on the distinguishing. Finally, the method includes monitoring the instantiation and displaying to the agent a live customer sentiment score based on a sentiment model.

Bots, otherwise known as virtual assistants, are virtual and/or hardware devices used to provide various functions. Certain bots have been leveraged to promote communication during electronic communication sessions such as teleconferences.
Certain bots have been leveraged to send messages to one or more participants of a teleconference. Such messaging may include providing messaging to individual telecommunicators. At times, this messaging is provided to individual telecommunicators transparent to other participating telecommunicators.
One issue that arises during bot-assisted teleconferences is that the bot(s) monitor the teleconference in order to provide accurate functioning during same.
This functioning requires accurate electronic record-keeping of the identity of the participants and real-time responsiveness to conversation utterances.
It is an object of the disclosure to provide systems and methods that enable accurate, high-speed, electronic record-keeping of the participants and real-time responsiveness to conversation utterances.
It is a further object of the disclosure to provide real-time messaging in response to monitored conversation utterances.


In a distance estimating system, a first terminal transmits a response request signal and successively transmits impulse signals as synchronization signals, and a second terminal receives the response request signal, generates response data based on the response request signal, shifts a bit, which is a transmission target in a bit string as the response data, by one toward a rear side from a leading bit to a trailing bit each time the synchronization signal is received, transmits the impulse signal in a case where a value of a bit that is a transmission target at a time of reception of the synchronization signal is a predetermined value. The first terminal further measures a round-trip time, specifies a flight time of the impulse signal, and estimates a distance to the second terminal based on the flight time and a propagation velocity of the impulse signal.

Regarding a system in which a first communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as first terminal) and a second communication terminal (hereinafter referred to as second terminal) mutually perform wireless communication, various techniques have been studied for estimating a distance (hereinafter referred to as an inter-terminal distance) from the second terminal to the first terminal based on a condition of the first terminal receiving a signal transmitted from the second terminal.


A system and method for producing spectrally segmented images of object fields. In one embodiment the system includes an optical system that focuses light received from an object field along a focal plane with a field stop positioned within the optical system that has plural apertures for selectively transmitting the light from the object field. A diffractive element is positioned within the optical system to spectrally spread, along the focal plane, the light transmitted through the apertures. The apertures can be parallel slots or geometrically arranges holes. The plural apertures are spaced such that the spectrally spread light transmitted through any given aperture and incident upon the focal plane does not overlap on the focal plane with the light transmitted through any other aperture. The diffractive element may spread light across one or more directions. In one embodiment, a processor is coupled to a plurality of pixels in a focal plane array. A memory for storing image data organized as a hyper-spectral cube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to imaging systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to spectrally segmented hyper-spectral image processing systems and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional hyper-spectral images are constructed by scanning an image field in either time or space to generate information with both spectral and spatial content. The information is then processed and reconstructed into a hyper-spectral cube consisting of spatial and spectral information. A hyper-spectral cube consists of data aligned along three dimensions. Two of the dimensions are the 'X' and 'Y' coordinates of the image field, and the third dimension is wavelength. In many applications, the wavelengths involved are in the infrared and visible bands.
One application of hyper-spectral image utilization is target discrimination. Target discrimination is useful in military applications. By analyzing data between the various wavelengths, targets can be realized that would not otherwise be discernable from single, or blended, spectrum data. That is, a target can be pulled out of the clutter of the various image spectra.
Hyper-spectral imaging is also useful in medical imaging, agricultural mapping, and other image processing applications.
Hyper-spectral image processing typically involves, as a first step, construction of a hyper-spectral cube of image data. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. A typical image field reflects or emits energy over a continuous band of wavelengths. The continuous band of wavelengths is discriminated into plural narrow bands and mapped into the hyper-spectral cube. One approach to wavelength discrimination is to make multiple exposures of the image field, each sensitive to one of the plural narrow spectral bands. Wavelength discrimination can be achieved using narrow-band filters or diffractive elements that are positioned to limit the wavelengths that reach a focal plane sensing element during each of the multiple exposures. Tunable filters are also used to discriminate the plural wavelengths. However, since each exposure takes a finite period of time to allow energy to integrate on the image focal plane, the exposure period can become prohibitively long. This is particularly true in the case of an image field including moving objects, or where the focal plane sensing element is attached to a moving platform, such as an aircraft or missile.
Another approach to generating a hyper-spectral cube of image data is to use a prism or diffraction grating to spread the continuous band of wavelengths onto a focal plane sensing element during a single exposure. This creates an image that is spectrally blurred across one or more dimensions. Given that the degree of spectral spreading is known from the selection of the diffractive element, image data processing techniques are used to mathematically reconstruct the spectral and spatial information that has been blurred together. Thus, the hyper-spectral cube can be filled with data that is processed from the spectrally blurred image exposure. The scanning and reconstruction processes can be very time consuming. In addition, errors can occur in the scanning process if there is movement in the scene during exposure. Using a higher number of diffractive orders reduces errors, however, this results in greater amounts of data that must be processed during reconstruction. While this approach does allow a single exposure to be made of the image field, the data processing amounts to an inordinately large and time consuming task. For example, in the case where a focal plane array that is 100 pixels by 100 pixels in size is used to generate a hyper-spectral cube that resolves 100 wavelengths, the dimension of the cube are 106 data points. The processing involved in generating the hyper-spectral cube is essentially a matrix inversion, which requires processing the square of the data. Thus, data processing in the order of 1012 is required to generate the hyper-spectral cube. As a practical matter, the prior art hyper-spectral imaging systems must gather the raw data in the field and then process it at a later time. In higher resolution system, such as 1000 by 1000 pixel systems, the processing time can extend into hours or even days of computer processing time. Obviously, in a tactical environment, the passage of time renders the ultimately resolved information far less useful than if it were available in real time.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method of producing hyper-spectral image cube data, for use in hyper-spectral processing, which does not require multiple exposures or inordinately large amounts of processing time.

Segmented spectrum imaging system and method


A photosensitive composition is provided, which comprises (A) 20-65 wt. parts of an elastomer, (B) 35-80 wt. parts of a hydrophilic copolymer consisting essentially of, based on the weight of the copolymer, (1) 1-30 wt. % of units of a phosphorus-, boron- or sulfur-containing monoethylenically unsaturated monomer, (2) 0.5-25 wt. % of units of a phosphorus-, boron- or sulfur-containing diethylenically unsaturated monomer, (3) 40-90 wt. % of units of a conjugated diene monomer, and (4) 0-58.5 wt. % of units of other copolymerizable monomer; the total amount of the elastomer (A) and the hydrophilic copolymer (B) being 100 wt. parts, (C) 5-100 wt. parts of a photopolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and (D) 0.1-10 wt. parts of a photopolymerization initiator. The photosensitive composition is useful for the preparation of a flexographic printing plate.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hydrophilic copolymer, a process for producing the copolymer, a photosensitive composition comprising the copolymer, and a photosensitive rubber plate made from the copolymer. More particularly, it relates to a photosensitive composition having an improved processability, a photosensitive rubber plate capable of being washed with water at a high rate at the step of development, a hydrophilic copolymer used for the preparation of the photosensitive composition and the photosensitive rubber plate, and a process for producing the hydrophilic copolymer.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A flexographic printing plate is made by a process wherein an original film is closely adhered on a photosensitive surface of a photosensitive rubber or resin plate, the film-adhered photosensitive surface is irradiated with an actinic radiation so that part of the photosensitive surface is exposed to the actinic radiation, and the unexposed area is removed by washing to form a relief. It is generally required that a photosensitive material used for the preparation of the photosensitive rubber plate for a flexographic printing plate can be washed at a high rate so that the relief is easily formed.
As a typical example of the photosensitive material, there can be mentioned a photosensitive elastomer composition comprising an elastomer such as a styrene-butadiene block copolymer or a styrene-isoprene block copolymer and a carboxyl group-containing hydrophilic copolymer as the major ingredients, and a photopolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer. This photosensitive elastomer composition has a problem such that the resulting photosensitive rubber plate cannot be washed at a high rate.
To cope with the above-mentioned problem, i.e., provide a photosensitive elastomer composition capable of being washed at a high rate, it has been proposed in WO 94/-23342 to incorporate in a photosensitive elastomer composition a phosphate ester group-containing copolymer as a hydrophilic copolymer comprising phosphate ester-containing monoethylenically unsaturated monomer units as the indispensable ingredient. This photosensitive elastomer composition has good and balanced transparency and strength, as well as enhanced washability at a high rate.

Photosensitive composition from copolymers of ethylenic phosphorous monomer(s) and elastomer


The present disclosure refers to an all-wheel drive system (10) for a vehicle (12), including: an electrical motor (24) being connected to a first axle (26) of a planetary gear set (28) arranged at an output side (30) of a vehicle gearbox (32), and a second axle (34) of the planetary gear set (28) being connected or connectable to the gearbox output shaft (36) or to ground (G) by a coupling (I).

Existing solutions to provide all-wheel drive in a vehicle have been on the market for many years. In the state of the art, for example, so called P3-drive-systems are well known. This type of drive system commonly refers to a drive system for a vehicle, comprising a first motor, such as a combustion motor and a second motor, such as an electrical motor. In P3-systems, the electrical motor is connected to an output shaft of a gearbox of the associated vehicle.
However, as the technology develops there is a need of further improvement, especially with regard to fuel consumption and driving characteristics.
For example, the patent document US 20190061521 A1 discloses a transfer case of an all-wheel drive system for a vehicle. The system comprises an electric motor being connected to a first axle in the form of a sun gear's axle of a planetary gear set. The planetary gear set is arranged at an output side formed by an output shaft of a transmission. Further, there is a coupling and a second axle of the planetary gear set formed by a ring gear's axle of the planetary gear set. Said ring gear's axle is permanently connected to the output shaft and the coupling is selectively locking the rotation of the ring gear to a housing of the transfer case or unlocking the rotation of the ring gear. Moreover, there is a third axle in the form of a planet gear's axle of the planetary gear set. Said third axle is connected to a rear axle of the respective vehicle.
The patent document WO 2017178595 A2 discloses another all-wheel drive system for a vehicle that comprises a differential. There is a first planetary gear set comprising a planetary gear set output, which is connected to a housing of the differential. The housing forms a differential output. Further, there is a second planetary gear set with a planetary gear set output, which is connected to a right output shaft of the differential, forming another differential output. The first and second planetary gear sets are sharing a common ring wheel. The differential is arranged on-axis of a respective front or rear axle of said vehicle.
Finally, the patent document US 20060079369 A1 shows a vehicle drive system, wherein a differential embodied by a planetary gear set is arranged between a transmission, a front axle and a rear axle of the vehicle.


Methods are provided for detecting chemical, biological and/or nuclear attacks in large areas such as cities, states and nations. The system protects the public before significant exposure occurs, utilizing a preventive approach rather than a purely reactive approach. Modeling is conducted to selectively position sensors for the on-going collection of real-time detection data, such as contaminant types and concentrations, weather conditions, terrain data, dispersion data and the like. The detection data is compared to background data and modeled data to detect unsafe contaminant levels and immediately activate a response system. The integrated modeling and simulation component may function to interface with real-time data from the sensors providing integrated real-time plume depiction, prediction, and verification, as well as real-time response and mitigation. This is testable and serves as an advanced redundant scientific control. The response system may implement a variety of protective measures, including, but not limited to, medical response procedures for emergency rooms and hospitals, warning alarms, instructions for personal protection, sealing of buildings, introduction of positive pressure in buildings, and introduction of clean air in confined spaces. An IT infrastructure may connect the modeling, detection and response components.

In an era where chemical, biological or nuclear attacks at one or more locations either globally or within a country or region are possible, it is desirable to have a detection system capable of locating and identifying the type of attack so that a rapid preemptive response can be initiated. Such attacks can occur both as a result of enemy or terrorist activity and as a result of a chemical, biological or nuclear accident at a domestic facility. In such cases, a prompt response with medical treatment will tend to minimize injury and loss of life.
Sensors exist which will detect various chemical and biological agents as well as nuclear radiation, but these sensors are impractical because several thousands are required for effective use in a global, national, regional, or even local detection system. Sensors have been effectively used to detect hazardous airborne agent attacks on very limited areas, such as buildings or compounds, but a problem still remains as to how an attack occurring in a large area, such as a city, state, country, continent or even the world, can effectively and rapidly be identified. To this point, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,539 to Lauterbach et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,952 to Stutman et al., hazardous material and medical alerts have originated from small, specific locations or from specific, affected individuals.
There is a need to coordinate and integrate preparedness efforts against chemical, biological and nuclear terrorism into a regional or nationwide preemptive sensor-based detection system. Of particular concern are weaponized and/or contagious biological agents. The current state of the biodefense industry is focused on obtaining data of ongoing signs and symptoms throughout the country—so called "syndromic detection." The thought is that when abnormal patterns emerge (e.g., possibly indicative of a bioattack) mitigation and prevention strategies could ensue much earlier than before and hence the outcome is improved. However, this fundamental model is flawed and represents essentially little change from the response paradigms of the previous centuries. This is still an after-the-fact reactive approach providing too little too late. Upon analyzing the best possible outcomes using this current methodology, the death and illness rates are still horrible and unacceptable. Such outcomes can be thwarted if a preemptive sensor-based detection system is employed.
The present invention has been developed in view of the foregoing.

Methods for detecting biological, chemical or nuclear attacks