The present invention relates to a stroller, in particularly a tandem seat stroller, and a unique canopy mechanism and a unique reclining mechanism for use in the stroller according to the present invention. The stroller includes a main frame having a first seat support for supporting a first seat and a first reclinable backrest frame for supporting a first backrest. A first reclining mechanism is connected to the backrest frame and the main frame for selectively pivotally moving the backrest relative to the main frame, which includes at least one pivot mechanism. A first canopy mechanism is also connected to the main frame which includes a first tensioning mechanism, a first canopy frame connected to one end of a canopy and a second canopy frame connected to the other end of the canopy.

Strollers can incorporate a reclining mechanism for tilting the backrest as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,805,928 issued to Nakao et al.; 5,087,066 to Mong-Hsing; 5,257,799 to Cone et al. These reclining mechanisms are rather complex to operate and do not provide the flexibility necessary for use in a tandem stroller where two seats are included. It is desirable to provide a simple easy to operate reclining mechanism that has a plurality of reclining positions.
A stroller can also include a canopy folding mechanism for enabling the canopy to be opened and closed as disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,390 issued to Ming-Tai. Specifically, the '390 patent discloses engaging teeth and indents arranged on exterior and interior peripheries of the two mating portions of the canopy folding mechanism to restrain the canopy support in a fixed position. Other ratcheting mechanisms similar to the ones disclosed in the '390 patent are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,056,805 issued to Wang; 5,062,179 and 5,184,835 to Huang; and 5,168,601 to Liu.
The canopy in a stroller is generally either in a closed position or in a fully extended open position. However, the canopy mechanism of the type described in the '390 patent typically uses a frictional ratcheting mechanism which has a plurality of positively engaging positions. To move from a completely folded position to a completely extended position, it has to move through many of those positively engaging positions. In this regard, it desirable to move from a folded position to a fully extended position by passing only a single positively engaging position.
Moreover, it is desirable to maintain the canopy in the fully extended position with some tension to remove any slack or sag. This not only makes the stroller more aesthetically appealing, it prevents the canopy from flapping around in windy conditions. However, the prior canopy mechanism lacks the ability to apply a positive tensioning force toward the extended position to stretch the canopy to its fully extended position. That is, the ratcheting mechanism only provides a predetermined positive engaging positions. If the ratcheting position does not perfectly align with the position where the canopy is fully extended, sagging can result.

Stroller reclining and canopy tensioning mechanism thereof


Disclosed are systems and methods for providing a casing exit. One method includes introducing into a wellbore a casing section having an outer sleeve and an inner sleeve rotatably received within the outer sleeve, the outer sleeve defining an outer window and the inner sleeve defining an inner window rotationally alignable with the outer window, wherein the inner sleeve defines a first alignment portion engageable to rotate the inner sleeve, advancing the casing section to a wellbore location with the inner window rotationally misaligned with the outer window, extending a deflector tool within the casing section such that a second alignment portion provided on the deflector tool engages the first alignment portion, and rotating the deflector tool such that the inner sleeve rotates with respect to the outer sleeve and moves the casing section into an open configuration where the inner window is rotationally aligned with the outer window.

The present invention relates generally to providing a casing exit for a lateral borehole, and more particularly to systems and methods for providing a casing exit with little or no milling of the casing.
Hydrocarbons can be produced through relatively complex wellbores traversing a subterranean formation. Some wellbores can include multilateral wellbores and/or sidetrack wellbores. Multilateral wellbores include one or more lateral wellbores extending from a parent (or main) wellbore. A sidetrack wellbore is a wellbore that is diverted from a first general direction to a second general direction. A sidetrack wellbore can include a main wellbore in a first general direction and a secondary wellbore diverted from the main wellbore in a second general direction. A multilateral wellbore can include one or more windows or casing exits to allow corresponding lateral wellbores to be formed. A sidetrack wellbore can also include a window or casing exit to allow the wellbore to be diverted to the second general direction.
The casing exit for either multilateral or sidetrack wellbores can be formed by positioning a casing joint and a whipstock in a casing string at a desired location in the main wellbore. The whipstock is used to deflect one or more mills laterally (or in an alternative orientation) relative to the casing string. The deflected mill(s) machines away and eventually penetrates part of the casing joint to form the casing exit in the casing string. Drill bits can be subsequently inserted through the casing exit in order to cut the lateral or secondary wellbore.
Milling the casing exit is a time consuming and potentially harmful process. Milling away the material of the casing creates highly abrasive metallic chips that can cause significant wear on equipment located in the wellbore during the milling process and on equipment that subsequently passes through the area in which the milling takes place. Furthermore, because the mill is only used for milling the casing exit, several trips down the wellbore are required before commencing actual drilling of the associated lateral wellbore.

Wellbore casing section with moveable portion for providing a casing exit


The aerodynamic body, such as an aircraft, includes a lengthwise extending fuselage and a pair of coplanar joined wings extending outwardly from opposed sides of the fuselage. The pair of coplanar joined wings are formed by at least two forward wings extending laterally outward and rearward from opposite sides of a forward portion of the fuselage, and at least two aft wings extending laterally outward and forward from opposite sides of a rearward portion of the fuselage. Each aft wing is joined to a respective forward wing at a common wingtip to thereby form one of the joined wings. In particular, the aft wing can either be joined to the outermost portion of the respective forward wing or to a medial portion of the respective forward wing such that a portion of the forward wing extends outboard of the common wingtip. In either embodiment, the forward and aft wings of the joined wing aircraft define respective planes which are mutually coplanar such that the resulting coplanar joined wing aircraft has enhanced aerodynamic and structural properties.

All successful aircraft designs must address numerous design parameters in order to provide the necessary lift and thrust to overcome the associated drag and weight of an aircraft so as to fly. For example, common design parameters which affect the aerodynamic efficiency or performance of an aircraft include the aspect ratio (AR), weight, the lift coefficient, the drag coefficient and stability factors (typically indicated by yawing, pitching, and rolling moments) both at high speed and low speed conditions.
The central challenge of aircraft design is to maximize the amount of lift generated by an aircraft for the amount of associated drag, i.e., maximize the lift to drag (L/D) ratio. Of course the shape of the aircraft's wings also impacts the distribution of aerodynamic pressure or force over the surface of the wings which, in turn, affects the rotational and structural capabilities and limitations of the resulting aircraft.
As set forth below, the AR is generally thought to be one of the more important aircraft design parameters and can be computed as follows: EQU AR=(span).sup.2 /area
wherein "span" is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip and "area" is the surface area of the wings. Higher aspect ratio wings are generally thought to be more aerodynamically efficient because they provide a better L/D ratio.
Another aircraft design parameter is the sweep angle of the wings which can be described as the angle between a line drawn a quarter of the way between the leading and trailing edge of a wing and the spanwise or lateral direction. Wings with lower sweep angles generally yield higher lift force components, while wings having greater sweep angles are typically more desirable at flight speeds close to the speed of sound in order delay the onset of undesirable compressibility effects.
In order to address the various aircraft design parameters, a number of different types of aircraft have been developed. In this regard, conventional aircraft can be generally divided into two categories--a cantilever wing type aircraft and a joined wing type aircraft. Prior joined wing aircraft configurations employ two sets of wings which are rigidly interconnected or joined. As a result, the joined wing structure is self-bracing. In contrast, a cantilever wing structure employs wings which have no self-bracing feature, but which, instead, extend laterally outward from the fuselage in a manner independent of the other wing. A cantilever wing structure must therefore have stronger supporting struts and, in some instances, requires thicker wings fabricated from stronger materials. In comparison to cantilever wing configurations, structurally speaking, joined wing aircraft can have lighter and stiffer wings. Further, joined wing aircraft can also have improved aerodynamic characteristics such as higher span-efficiency factors which result in lower induced drag.
While there are a number of prior patents describing joined wing aircraft, none of the patented aircraft have adequately addressed all of the various aircraft design parameters. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,684 issued to Wolkovitch entitled Airplane with Braced Wings and Pivoting Propulsion Devices describes an airplane having two sets of wings at different planar positions relative to each other. These offset wings sweep in opposite directions to meet and join at a tip area. The text of this reference is hereby incorporated as if recited in full herein.
In particular, the Wolkovitch '684 patent describes the use of a vertical tail to mount an aft wing higher than a forward wing, thus, forming a triangular braced wing configuration. The tail, while providing inherent stability to the aircraft, must be of fairly rugged construction in order to carry the entire aft wing loads as well as its own load. As a result, the tail would likely be sized thicker than the aerodynamically optimum tail, potentially resulting in a tail-heavy condition. Further, the increased drag introduced by this non-coplanar wing configuration also reduces the L/D ratio.
The triangular braced wing configuration proposed by the Wolkovitch '684 patent is also configured such that the large forward wing and aft wing dihedral creates a significant amount of wing area when viewed from the side of the aircraft. The dihedral angle is the angle between the plane of the wing and the horizontal plane as seen in the front view.
Notably, any side projected area of the wings forward of the center of gravity is directionally destabilizing, although it is at least partially counter-balanced by the side projected area of the aft wing which is stabilizing (like the vertical tail). Thus, the side projected area of both wings does not provide any aerodynamic benefit and would most likely add to the aircraft's drag without increasing its lift.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,773 also issued to Wolkovitch entitled Joined Wing Aircraft also describes a joined wing aircraft which employs a tail and a pair of wings. The first set of wings extend outwardly in opposite directions from a medial portion of the fuselage to join the ends of respective ones of a second set of wings which are mounted to the top of the tail and extend downwardly and forward therefrom. Again, the wings are positioned at different planar levels and require the tail to support the aft wings, thereby creating a heavier vertical tail and aft body. Thus, even though a variety of joined wing aircraft have been designed in an attempt to optimize one or more of the various aircraft design parameters, each of these joined wing aircraft designs still suffers from several deficiencies which limit the aircraft's performance capabilities.

Aerodynamic body having coplanar joined wings


This invention is a novel synthesis of BCA-peptides (BCA: bifunctional chelating agents). In this method, the starting material--Fmoc-Thr(ol)-Terephthal-Acetal-Amide Resin is coupled with the various amino acids. The straight peptide-resin of D-Phe-Cys(Trt)-Phe-D-Trp(Boc)-Lys(Boc)-Thr(tBu)-Cys(Trt)-Thr(ol)-Terephtha l-Acetal-Amide Resin was obtained. This compound reacted with iodine to give disulfide-containing peptide resin of ##STR1## Cleavage of the peptide from the resin was achieved by TFA. The cleavaged peptide was protected by the reaction of octreotide with di-t-butyldicarbonate. BCA was coupled to the selectively protected octreotide. This product was obtained by reaction of protected BCA-peptides with TFA. The final product was labeled by radioisotope .sup.111 InCl.sub.3 for tumor imaging radiopharmaceuticals.

Radiolabeled somatostatin analog, .sup.111 In-DTPA-octreotide, this new scintigraphic technique has attracted great interest in clinical nuclear medicine. The radiopharmaceutical has been used successfully for the localization of primary and metastatic somatostatin receptor-rich tumors, such as carcinoid, islet cell tumors of the pancreas, paragangliomas and small-cell carcinomas of the lungs. Octreotide comprises 8 amino acids which has the following structural formula: ##STR2## wherein the sulfur atoms of the Cys at the position 2 and of the Cys at the position 7 are mono-cyclic to form an --S--S-- bridge. When conjugated to the chelate diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and labeled with .sup.111 In, The product of .sup.111 In-DTPA-octreotide is a useful single-photon emission computed tomographic(SPECT) imaging agent for tumors containing somatostatin receptors. Synthesis of DTPA-octreotide can be carried out by two methods. The first method is synthesized initially by fragment condensation solution-phase procedures for octreotide. The synthetic process of octreotide has been described by Baner et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,403 in 1983. The process comprises:
<i>removing protected group from peptide; PA1 <ii>linking together by an amide bond two peptide unit; PA1 <iii>converting a function group at the N- or C-terminal; PA1 <iv>oxidizing a straight chain polypeptide by boron-tristrifluoroacetate. PA1 Fmoc: 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl PA1 Boc: t-butyloxycarbonyl PA1 tBu: tert-butyl PA1 Trt: triphenylmethyl PA1 Thr(ol): threoninol residue PA1 Phe: phenylalanine residue PA1 Cys: cysteine residue PA1 Thr: threonine residue PA1 Lys: lysine residue PA1 Trp: tryptophan residue PA1 TFA: trifluoroacetic acid PA1 EDT: 1,2-ethanedithiol PA1 DTPA: diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid PA1 DOTA: 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N",N'"-tetraacetic acid PA1 DMSO: dimethylsulfoxide PA1 (Boc).sub.2 O: di-tert-butyldicarbonate PA1 DIEA; N-ethyl-diisopropylamine PA1 PBS: phosphate buffer saline PA1 DMF: N,N-dimethylformamide PA1 BCA: bifunctional chelating agent PA1 THF: tetrahydrofuran PA1 HBTU: 2-(1H-benzotriazol-1-yl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyluronium hexafluorophosphate! PA1 DIEA: N,N-diisoprepylethylamine
This process involves a time-consuming, multi-step synthesis, and it is difficult to separate octreotide from the reaction mixtures since all the synthesis steps are carried out in liquid phase.
DTPA-octreotide was synthesized by protecting the N.sup..epsilon. -amine group of the lysine residue of octreotide with a Boc group, followed by condensation of the unprotected N.sup..alpha. -amine group with DTPA.
The second method is synthesized by solid-phase procedure for DTPA-octreotide (J. Med. Chem. 1994, 37, 3749-3757). The procedure reacted DTPA with protected octreotide precursor on resin, before aminolysis with threoninol, followed by deprotection of Boc groups of D-Trp.sup.4, Lys.sup.5, and tBu group of Thr with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). The overall synthetic yield of DTPA-octreotide by this protocol was 5%. The present invention provides a solid-phase synthesis of octreotide using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl(Fmoc) methodology. Octreotide was conjugated with bifunctional chelating agent in solution-phase.

Method for synthesis of bifunctional chelating agents-peptides


In a sealing structure, a seal ring stands between an outer peripheral member and an inner peripheral member installed thereto. A taper-like outer peripheral surface having smaller diameter toward an inserting direction of the inner peripheral member and an installation portion outer peripheral surface extending from the small diameter end portion are formed on an outer peripheral surface of the inner peripheral member. A stepped surface positioned closer to the inserting direction side and directed to an opposite direction to the inserting direction, and an installation portion inner peripheral surface extending from an outer diameter end of the stepped surface in the opposite direction are formed on an inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral member. The seal ring is arranged in a compressed state between the taper-like outer peripheral surface and the installation portion outer peripheral surface, and the stepped surface and the installation portion inner peripheral surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing structure for sealing a gap between an outer peripheral member and an inner peripheral member which is installed to the outer peripheral member in an inserted state, and more particularly relates to a sealing structure preferably used for high-pressure gas sealing, for example, sealing a gap between an attaching hole which is provided in a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, and a leading end portion of an injector, a combustion sensor or a cylinder internal pressure sensor which is installed to the attaching hole in an inserted state.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
An in-cylinder direction injection type internal combustion engine is structured such as to directly inject fuel into a cylinder by an injector, and the injector is attached in an inserted state to an injector attaching hole which is provided in a cylinder head. Accordingly, in the injector, combustion gas is prevented from leaking by a seal ring so as to inhibit the combustion gas leakage from a gap between an inner peripheral surface of the injector attaching hole and an outer peripheral surface of the injector.
FIG. 7 shows a sealing structure between an injector attaching hole and an injector according to a prior art. More specifically, in FIG. 7, reference numeral 100 denotes a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, and reference numeral 110 denotes an injector. The injector 110 is attached in an inserted state to an injector attaching hole 101 which is provided in the cylinder head 100 and is communicated with a combustion chamber (E), and is a device which directly injects fuel into the combustion chamber (E). A gap between the injector attaching hole 101 and a leading end portion of the injector 110 is sealed by a seal ring 120.
For details, on an outer peripheral surface in the vicinity of the leading end of the injector 110, there are formed a taper-like outer peripheral surface 111 which is smaller in its diameter toward an inserting direction thereof (a combustion chamber (E) side), an installation portion outer peripheral surface 112 which extends in the inserting direction from its small diameter end portion (a lower end), and a leading end outer peripheral surface 114 which is larger in its diameter than the installation portion outer peripheral surface 112 via a stepped surface 113 rising up in a diametrical direction from an end portion in the inserting direction in the installation portion outer peripheral surface 112. Further, the seal ring 120 standing between the injector attaching hole 101 and the leading end portion of the injector 110 is made of a synthetic resin material, for example, poly tetra fluoro ethylene (PTFE) having a high heat resistance, and is formed approximately into a rectangular shape in its cross sectional shape which is cut by a plane passing through a center axis, an outer peripheral surface 120a of the seal ring is brought into close contact with an inner surface of the injector attaching hole 101, and an inner peripheral surface 120b of the seal ring is brought into close contact with the installation portion outer peripheral surface 112 of the injector 110.
Therefore, according to the sealing structure, the seal ring 120 approximately having the rectangular shape in its cross sectional shape runs on the taper-like outer peripheral surface 111 from the installation portion outer peripheral surface 112 of the injector 110 while being displaced to an atmospheric air side space (A) side by pressure P of combustion gas in the combustion chamber (E) side, and is compressed in a diametrical direction between the inner peripheral surface of the injector attaching hole 101 and the taper-like outer peripheral surface 111 as shown in FIG. 8, and close contact surface pressure is increased by reaction force of the compression, so that it is possible to effectively shut off the combustion gas (refer, for example, to Japanese Patent No. 4342121 and Japanese Patent No. 3830896).


Bandgap reference current source for generating a reference current (IREF) having: at least two bipolar transistors (T1, T2), the base terminals (B1, B2) of which are interconnected and connected to a fixed reference potential, the collector terminals (C1, C2) of which are connected to a collector current ratio setting circuit (15, 16), which sets a specific current ratio (m) between the two collector currents (IC1, IC2) flowing through the collector terminals (C1, C2), and the emitter terminals (E1, E2) of which are connected via a first resistor (RA) to a current node (13) which adds the emitter currents (IE1, IE2) flowing through the emitter terminals (E1, E2) to form a summation current (ISUM), which forms the reference current (IREF).

Bandgap reference current sources or bandgap circuits are in widespread use in integrated circuits.
FIG. 1 shows a subcircuit of a bandgap reference current source according to the prior art. The subcircuit in accordance with FIG. 1 contains an operational amplifier OP having an inverting input (−) and a noninverting input (+). The output of the operational amplifier OP supplies a voltage (VREF), which is present at the gate terminals of two PMOS transistors PA, PB in order to close a control loop. A supply voltage VDD is present at the PMOS transistor PA, PB. The first PMOS transistor PA is connected to the noninverting signal input (+) of the operational amplifier OP and, via a resistor RA, to a diode DA. The second PMOS transistor PB is connected to the inverting signal input (−) of the operational amplifier OP and is connected to ground via a diode DB. The two diodes DA and DB have a specific current density ratio n.
The offset voltage of the operational amplifier greatly influences the accuracy of the circuit arrangement illustrated in FIG. 1. Ideally, the subcircuit supplies a current
      I    A    =                    U        T                    R        A              .  lnn flowing through the resistor RA. Since the voltage UT·lnn is small and generally has a value of 10 to 100 mV the current IA is greatly dependent on the offset voltage of the operational amplifier.
If the subcircuit illustrated in FIG. 1 is integrated on a chip, the diodes are formed in the form of pn junctions Drain/BULK or Well/Substrate.
FIG. 2 shows a bandgap reference voltage source according to the prior art, as is described for example in U. Tietze, C. H. Shenk, 11th Edition, Springer Verlag (ISBN 3-540-64192-0), on pp. 175–977.
The bandgap reference voltage source according to the prior art such as is illustrated in FIG. 2 likewise contains an operational amplifier OP having an inverting input (−) and a noninverting input (+), the inverting input being connected via a resistor R3 to a supply voltage VDD and the noninverting input (+) being connected via a resistor R4 to the supply voltage VDD. The resistance of the resistor R4 is a factor n lower than the resistance of the resistor R3.
The bandgap reference voltage source according to the prior art such as is illustrated in FIG. 2 contains two bipolar transistors T1, T2, the collector terminal of the first bipolar transistor T1 being connected to the resistor R3 and the collector terminal of the second bipolar transistor T2 being connected to the resistor R4. The base terminals of the two bipolar transistors T1, T2 are connected to the output of the operational amplifier OP. The emitter terminal of the first bipolar transistor T1 is connected to a potential node K via a resistor R1. The emitter terminal of the second bipolar transistor T2 is also connected to the potential node K. The potential node K is connected to ground via a resistor R2.
The reference voltage VREF generated is present at the output of the operational amplifier OP.
The base-emitter voltage UBE2 of the second transistor T2 is used as a voltage reference, although the temperature coefficient thereof is very high with a value of −2 mV/K at 0.6 V. This temperature coefficient is compensated for by adding a voltage with a temperature coefficient of +2 mV/K. In the case of the bandgap reference voltage according to the prior art as illustrated in FIG. 2, said compensation voltage is generated by means of the second transistor T2. The two bipolar transistors T1, T2 are operated with different collector currents IC2>IC1.
A voltage drop results on the transfer characteristic curve of the resistor R1:
                                                                        Δ                                                                                U                  BE                                            =                                                U                                      BE                    2                                                  -                                  U                                      BE                    1                                                                                =                                                U                  T                                                ln                                                                                I                    C2                                                        I                    C1                                                                                =                                                                    k                    ·                    T                                    q                                                ln                                                                                I                    C2                                                        I                    C1                                                                                (        1        )
where T is the absolute temperature, and
q is the elementary charge.
The voltage drop ΔUBE is proportional to the voltage equivalent of thermal energy UT and thus proportional to the absolute temperature T.
A correspondingly larger voltage drop results at the resistor R2 since not only the collector current
            I      C1        =                  Δ                                                            U          BE                            R        1              ,but also the further collector current IC2 flows through the resistor R2.
The operation amplifier OP sets its output voltage in such a way that IC2=n·IC1 holds true.
The following thus results:
                                                                        U                Temp                            =                                                R                  2                                                                  (                                                            I                      C1                                        +                                          I                      C2                                                        )                                                                                =                                                R                  2                                                                                Δ                                                                                U                      BE                                                                            R                    1                                                                                (                                      1                    +                    n                                    )                                                                                =                                                U                  T                                                                                R                    2                                                        R                    1                                                                                (                                      1                    +                    n                                    )                                                ln                                                                                n                                                                                =                              AU                T                                                                        (        2        )                                                                                U                REF                            =                                                U                  Temp                                +                                  U                  BE2                                                                                =              constant                                                          (        3        )
Arbitrary gain factors A can be realized through the choice of the current ratio n and the resistance ratio R2/R1.
The bandgap reference voltage source according to the prior art as shown in FIG. 2 contains operational amplifier OP.
FIG. 3 shows a circuitry construction of a simple operational amplifier with a MOS differential amplifier stage.
Operational amplifiers that are integrated on a chip in CMOS technology have a high offset voltage. The bandgap reference voltage sources according to the prior art as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 are very sensitive toward alterations of the offset voltage of the operational amplifier OP, i.e. small changes in the offset voltage lead to high deviations in the reference voltage. The variation in the offset voltage caused by the production process thus leads to a high fluctuation of the reference voltage VREF output by the bandgap reference voltage source.


A service flow processing method includes obtaining, by a terminal, policy information of a service flow, where the policy information includes at least one of a flow steering policy, a flow steering mode, and link condition information for transmitting the service flow, and a packet data unit (PDU) session to which the service flow belongs supports a plurality of access technologies, and processing, by the terminal, the service flow based on the policy information.

To face a challenge from a wireless broadband technology and keep a leading advantage of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, the 3GPP standard group formulates a next generation mobile communications network architecture (Next Generation System), which is referred to as a 5th generation (5G) network architecture. The 5G network architecture supports a terminal in accessing a core network by using a wireless technology (for example, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or a 5G radio access network (RAN)) defined by the 3GPP standard group, and supports access to the core network by using a non-3GPP access technology through a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) or a next generation packet data gateway (ngPDG).
In a 5G network, there is a packet data unit (PDU) session used to provide a data transmission channel between user equipment (UE) and a data network (DN). A single PDU session may support a plurality of access technologies. As shown in FIG. 1, a PDU session A may support a first access technology, or may support a second access technology, or may support both a first access technology and a second access technology.
When a PDU session supports a plurality of access technologies, a network side may configure a flow steering policy for UE, to indicate the UE to move a service flow between different access technologies. For example, the flow steering policy indicates that a service flow 1 is transmitted by using a first access technology, and a subsequent service flow 1 is transmitted by using a second access technology. However, according to a solution from another approach, refined processing on the service flow cannot be implemented.

Service flow processing method, communication method, and apparatus


Energy recovery during recirculation phases of the phase windings of a multiphase spindle motor is increased when all the MOSFETs of the output bridge stage associated therewith are turned off (tristated) for charging a hold capacitor. This is accomplished by allowing the recirculation of the motor currents through the same MOSFETs of the output bridge stage that are turned on during the current recirculation phases. Recirculation of the currents and the charging of the hold capacitor takes place through fully saturated power MOSFETs.

In hark disk drives, the ramp loading (parking) of the pick up carrying arm, in case of an external interruption of the power supply to the hard disk drive, is made possible by exploiting the spindle motor as a generator. The voltage of the generator depends on the speed of rotation and the electrical constant of the motor. By rectifying the back electromotive forces (BEMF) induced in the phase windings of the motor, a rectified charge current is forced through a hold capacitor connected between the power supply leaves of the output drive bridge stage of the multiphase spindle motor and a voice coil motor for moving the pick up arm to power the latter for the time needed for safely parking the pick up carrying arm.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical power control device of a hard disk drive. The externally applied supply voltage VCV powers the output bridge stages of the spindle motor and the VCM motor vary according to the application. In desktop applications, it is generally 12V while in lap top applications it is generally 5V.
The power control device, besides integrating the control circuitry of the two motors, spindle and VCM, includes other functional blocks such as the voltage regulators, the power monitor, the serial interface and the ISO-Fet device. The ISO-Fet is an internal element that isolates the internal power supply node from the external supply VCV when the latter is interrupted.
The turning on of the ISO-Fet device is controlled by the POR signal that becomes active when all the internally monitored voltages are at a correct level, thus turning on the ISO-Fet. Therefore, if accidentally the external power supply voltage VCV is no longer present, the back electromotive forces that are induced in the windings of the rotating spindle motor are rectified by the intrinsic current recirculation diodes of the six power MOSFETs of the output bridge stage of the spindle motor. This maintains the inner power supply rail Vmotor at a level sufficient to power the control circuitry of the VCM motor to safely park the pick up carrying arm.
In many desk top applications (12V) and even more so in mobile applications (5V), the voltage obtained by rectifying through the intrinsic diodes of the integrated structures of the six power MOSFETs could be insufficient to provide a sufficient level of rectified voltage to ensure a correct functioning of the circuitry and of the VCM to safely park the pick ups.
To enhance the efficiency of recovery of the back electromotive force induced in the phase windings of the spindle motor, two approaches are commonly followed. They are synchronous rectifying of the BEMF of the spindle motor, and step-up of the spindle motor.
According to the first approach, the rectifying of the BEMF of the spindle motor takes place in an active fashion through the sequential turning on of two MOSFETs of the output bridge stage of the spindle motor synchronously with the three BEMFs that are sequentially reduced in the respective three phase windings of the three phase spindle motor depicted in FIG. 1.
According to the second approach, instead of the output bridge stage being kept in a high impedance (tristate) condition, it is continuously switched from a tristate condition to a condition of braking of the motor at a relatively high frequency, e.g., at 16 KHz or above, so as to be outside the acoustic band.
In this way, when the output stage is in a condition of braking, either with all the low side MOSFETs turned on or all the high side MOSFETs turned on, the windings of the spindle motor are in a short circuit condition. Therefore, all three BEMFs contribute to generate current in the motor windings. Thereafter, when the output stage is driven again to a tristate condition, the motor current generated during the phase of braking recirculates through the intrinsic diodes of the integrated structures of the six power MOSFETs, thus charging the hold capacitor C3 connected to the V motor node.
Referring now to the circuit diagram of FIG. 2, the step-up function of the spindle motor may be obtained by forcing in a stable manner to a low logic level the drive input nodes InU, InV and InW, while the enable inputs EnU, EnV and EnW are simultaneously driven to a low logic value and to a high logic value at the step-up frequency (>16 KHz). In this way, when the enable inputs are all in a high logic state, the output stage will be in a brake configuration with all the low side driver transistors turned on. When the enable inputs are at a low logic level, the output stage will be in a tristate configuration.
By forcing the inputs InU, InV and InW to a stable high logic level, an alternating condition of braking and tristate will always be obtained. But in this case, the brake configuration will be implemented by turning on all the high side driver transistors of the output stage.
FIG. 3 shows the timing diagram of the input and enable signals of the output bridge stage of the spindle motor to implement the step-up. The phase of braking is implemented by turning on the low side drivers.
The diagrams of FIGS. 4a and 4b, respectively show the phase of braking and the phase of tristating to better clarify the step-up function. In the representation of FIGS. 4a and 4b, reference is made to one of the six possible configurations of direction of the currents used in the rotating spindle motor during the phase of braking.
During the braking phase, all the low side MOSFETs are turned on, thus short circuiting the phase windings of the motor. In this configuration, the three BEMFs produce three currents of polarity and value that are a function of the angular position of the rotor. In the representations of FIGS. 4a and 4b, the current of the U phase is entering the motor, while the currents in the phase windings V and W exit the motor.
During the successive tristate phase, all the MOSFETs are turned off, and therefore, the three currents in the windings of the motor start to recirculate through the intrinsic diodes of the integrated structures of the power MOSFETs. More precisely, the outgoing currents from the windings V and W flow toward the V motor rail through the intrinsic diodes of the high side drivers, while the incoming current of the winding U comes from the ground rail flowing through the intrinsic diode of the low side driver. Thus, the recirculation loop of the three currents of the windings of the motor closes through the hold capacitor C3 connected between the Vmotor rail and the ground rail.
Every time the configuration of the output bridge stage switches from the "brake" configuration to the "tristate" configuration, the recirculating motor current charges the capacitor C3. This causes the voltage on the Vmotor node to be incremented.
The intrinsic diodes that are created in the integrated structures of the MOSFETs of the output bridge stage have a sensible conduction resistance that causes a non-negligible reduction of the voltage at which the hold capacitor C3 is charged during recirculation phases of the motor windings currents, i.e., when all the MOSFETs of the output bridge stage of the spindle motor are turned off (tristated).

Enhancement of the efficiency of energy recovery during spindle motor step-up phases for parking the R/W head of a disk storage device upon external supply failure


“Tinkles” (also known as “gotchas”) (see reference number 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2) are portions of knitted metal loops produced when a tube of knitted wire mesh is cut into individual pieces. In the prior art, tinkles have been considered a fact of life and the approach has been to try to shake them out of the mesh or immobilize them on or in the mesh. By producing a knitted tube (11) having alternating segments (12,13) of knitted rows of yarn and knitted rows of wire, completely tinkle-free knitted socks are produced which are used to produce completely tinkle-free knitted wire mesh filters. Knitted wire mesh filters that cannot release tinkles because they do not have any tinkles can be used in such applications as fuel filters and airbag filters.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,515, which issued to Geno Guglielmi on Jun. 8, 1993 and is entitled "Abatement of Tinkles in Wire Mesh" (hereinafter the Guglielmi patent, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference), sets forth a long-standing problem in the field of filters made from knitted wire mesh, namely, the presence of "tinkles" (also known as "gotchas") in knitted wire mesh and thus in filters made from such mesh. The Guglielmi patent at column 1, lines 48-56, describes the source of tinkles as follows:                When knitted wire mesh is cut, it results in the production of loose pieces of scrap commonly known in the wire knitting industry as tinkles. The material making up the tinkles had formally been a portion of the knit. In other words, a tinkle is a knitted loop, or a portion of a knitted loop, which has been cut. Tinkles are of irregular shape and distribution and have no predetermined location, size or shape. However, they do tend to remain near the cut line where they were formed.
FIGS. 1 and 2 hereto are copies of the corresponding figures of the Guglielmi patent which show a knitted wire mesh sock 10 and its associated tinkles 20 formed when the sock was cut from a continuous length of wire mesh (a continuous tube of wire mesh) produced by a circular knitting machine. As described in the Guglielmi patent at column 3, lines 36-39: "Tinkles are portions of cut knit loops. They do not have a characteristic size or shape. Indeed, the act of cutting the mesh can distort the wire to produce shapes not found in the original knit." Having come from the knitted wire mesh, tinkles are composed of metal and are thus undesirable for most filter applications and impermissible for applications where the introduction of small pieces of metal into the gas or liquid stream being filtered cannot be tolerated, e.g., the filtering of the gases produced by an airbag inflator or the filtering of a fuel stream being provided to an internal combustion engine.
As described in the Guglielmi patent, efforts have been made to solve the tinkle problem by shaking the knitted wire mesh sock or picking the tinkles off by hand (Guglielmi patent at column 1, lines 59-61). These are highly labor-intensive processes and do not guarantee that filters made from the socks will be free of tinkles. As an alternative to trying to remove the tinkles, efforts have also been made to try to immobilize the tinkles. The Guglielmi patent represents one such effort in which electric resistance welding is used to bond tinkles to the wire mesh.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,054, which issued on Dec. 15, 1998 to Katsuhide Fujisawa and is entitled "Filter for an Inflator" (hereinafter the Fujisawa patent, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference), shows another immobilization approach in which, in making a filter, the sock is folded upon itself so that the cut ends of the sock end up buried inside the filter. FIG. 3 hereto is a copy of Fujisawa's FIG. 6(b′) which shows a folded sock in which knitted wire mesh 15 covers cut ends 14 of the mesh.
As the Guglielmi and Fujisawa patents illustrate, the mindset of inventors working on knitted wire mesh filters has been to accept tinkles as a fact of life and then look for ways of dealing with the tinkles. Unfortunately, no matter how sophisticated a tinkle control technique may be, at the end of the day, there can be no guarantee that every last tinkle has been dealt with. As indicated above, for a variety of applications, e.g., in-line fuel filters, airbag inflators, and the like, such uncertainty can be unacceptable. As discussed fully below, in accordance with the present disclosure, a completely new approach has been taken to the tinkle problem, namely, to make knitted wire mesh filters without generating a single tinkle. In this way, for the first time, knitted wire mesh filters that are guaranteed to be tinkle-free can be made.

Tinkle-free knitted wire mesh filters and methods for making such filters


To enable maintenance of a control valve in a narrow space, on a slewing frame an engine is disposed at a rear portion, a swivel joint is disposed between a pair of vertical plates, a slewing motor is disposed diagonally behind the swivel joint between the paired vertical plates, and a control valve is disposed diagonally behind the swivel joint between the paired vertical plates and forward of the engine. A detachment direction A of a plurality of spools of the control valve extends obliquely in such a way as to get closer to a right vertical plate as it goes rearward.

There are conventional construction machines that include a slewing frame, a pair of vertical plates disposed on the slewing frame, and an attachment supported on the pair of vertical plates in a raisable and lowerable manner, such as a hydraulic excavator. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a construction machine in which a swivel joint, a stewing motor, and a control valve are longitudinally aligned in a front-rear direction in a narrow area between the paired vertical plates. In addition, an engine is disposed on a portion of the slewing frame located behind the control valve. Maintenance, such as replacement of spools of the control valve, is performed using the space (a space for maintenance or a space for attachment and detachment) defined between the control valve and the engine.

KOBELCO CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD.


A hand-held pipe beveling tool makes the job of manually beveling the ends of plastic pipe very simple and easy to perform. The pipe beveling tool includes a frame that defines an opening for receiving the end of a pipe. One or more pipe forming members are coupled to the frame to contact the end of the pipe when the pipe beveling tool is used. A user uses the pipe beveling tool of the preferred embodiments by placing the opening of the pipe beveling tool over the end of a pipe, grasping one or more handles on the pipe beveling tool, and rotating the pipe beveling tool while pushing the pipe beveling tool against the end of the pipe. As a result, the end of the pipe is beveled, making the installation of a splice on the end of the pipe much easier to perform.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to hand tools, and more particularly relates to hand tools for beveling the edges of a pipe.
2. Background Art
Most plumbing systems today use plastic pipes. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the most common type of plastic pipe in use at the current time to supply fresh water. When a water line breaks and causes a leak, a repair crew must dig a hole near the suspected leak, uncover the pipe at the location of the leak, and repair the damaged pipe by replacing the damaged portion of pipe with a good portion of pipe. This is typically done by uncovering a section of pipe that includes good pipe on both sides of the damaged portion, hand excavating underneath the pipe, the using a hack saw to cut the pipe in two places to remove the damaged section of pipe. A good section of pipe is then cut to replace the damaged section, and splices are used to attach the existing pipe to the new replacement section of pipe.
The process of installing the new section of pipe and the splices is made much easier if the ends of the cut pipe sections are beveled. By beveling the ends of the pipe, a splice goes on the pipe much easier. Most pipe repair crews use a large, hand-held file to bevel the edges of the pipe. This, however, is an inefficient process, because the space in a trench is typically limited, making the use of a large file difficult. In addition, using a hand-held file results in a bevel that is usually not even around the perimeter of the end of the pipe. Without a way to more efficiently bevel the end of a pipe, the repairing of plastic pipe will continue to be a manual and difficult process.


A stadium seat having a seat back structure that is movable from a seat back forward position to a seat back rearward position. The seat back structure has an occupant contact surface. In the seat back forward position, the occupant contact surface has a planar contour. In the seat back rearward position, the occupant contact surface has non-planar contour.

Stadium seats are used in vehicles, especially in second row seating in pick-up trucks or sedans. Due to space constraints in vehicles, conventional stadium seats have seat backs that do not recline. This provides an uncomfortable sitting experience for an occupant since the occupant sits upright and cannot recline the seat back.

Stadium seat having a split back recliner and a vehicle including a stadium seat having a split back recliner


The invention provides a new method for casting alloys containing a finely divided phase. A bath of the molten metal having a melting point is provided. A finely divided solid metal having a melting point greater than the melting point of molten metal is introduced into the molten metal. The finely divided metal is reacted with the molten metal to form a solid phase within the molten metal. The molten bath is then mixed to distribute the solid phase within the molten metal. The molten alloy is then cast into a solid object containing the solid phase. The solid phase is insoluble in the matrix and has a size related to the initial size of the finely divided solid. The alloy of the invention advantageously consists essentially of, by weight percent, about 3 to 40 aluminum, about 0.8 to 25 nickel, about 0 to 12 copper and balance zinc and incidental impurities. The alloy has a zinc-containing matrix with nickel-containing aluminides distributed throughout the matrix.

Several alloy systems rely upon intermetallic precipitates for strengthening of mechanical properties. Intermetallics are especially useful for strengthening alloys at elevated temperatures. Typically, intermetallics are initially formed during solidification and cooling of an alloy. Homogenization and precipitation heat treatments are then used to control the size and distribution of the intermetallic precipitates. When the intermetallic precipitates are insoluble in the matrix, the size and distribution of the precipitates are extremely difficult to control.
As a consequence of relatively low melting temperatures, the strength of zinc and zinc-base alloys drops significantly with relatively small increases in temperature. For example, creep strength as well as tensile and yield strengths at 100.degree. C. are typically reduced to between 65 to 75% of the room temperature strengths (ASM Metals Handbook, 10th Edition, Volume 2, p. 529). Primary creep resistance is generally improved by reducing the volume of primary phase (near eutectic compositions) and by alloying with elements such as copper. Of the commercially available zinc alloys, ZA-8 (UNS Z35636 8-8.8 Al, 0.8-1.3 Cu, 0.015-0.030 Mg, 0.004 max. Cd, 0.06 max. Fe, 0.005 max. Pb, 0.003 max. Sn and balance Zn) has the highest primary creep resistance (in the Zn--Al binary, the eutectic composition is at 6% Al). This effect has been noted for zinc-aluminum alloys containing high volume fractions (30 vol %) of ceramic particles where a near order of magnitude difference in creep rate has been observed for ZA-8 alloy. (Tang et al, "Creep Testing of Pressure Die Cast ZA-8/TiB.sub.2, Composites," Advances in Science, Technology and Applications of Zn--Al Alloys, edited by Villasenor et al, 1994.)
Improvements in creep resistance of zinc alloys has been attained by processing techniques that reduce the size of primary dendrites or by addition of a ceramic dispersion phase. Dendrite size has been reduced by increasing the rate of solidification or by mixing the alloy in the semi-solid state (rheocasting). Rheocasting of semi-solid metals was developed in the 1970s by M. Flemings and R. Mehrabian. Examples of rheocasting are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,902,544 and 3,936,298. Rheocasting involves agitation of partially solidified metals to break up dendrites and form a solid-liquid mush. This solid-liquid mush is thixotropic in Theological behavior which allows casting of high solid volume fractions by injection molding and die casting. The above developers of rheocasting, as well as others, have also proposed incorporating ceramic particles into thixotropic semi-solid metals (Mehrabian et al, "Preparation and Casting of Metal-Particulate Non-Metal Composites", Met. Trans. A, Vol. 5, (1974) pp. 1899-1905). A disadvantage of this technique is that the metal/ceramic system may be chemically unstable. Ceramic particles may react with the metal matrix to degrade the reinforcing phase and form undesirable brittle phases at the particle/matrix interface. A further disadvantage of ceramic addition is that the choice of a suitable reinforcement is also subject to mixing problems associated with density differences or wetting phenomena. Particles such as certain borides or carbides may also be cost prohibitive in relation to the cost of the matrix metal.
The morphologies of materials cast by the above rheocasting processes are typically characterized by primary dendrites with diameters between 100 and 400 microns for Zn--10Cu--2Sn, 304 stainless steel and Sn--Pb alloys. Finer particle sizes on the order of 35 to 70 .mu.m were reported for ZA-27 alloy (UNS Z35841 25.0-28.0 Al, 2.0-2.5 Cu, 0.010-0.020 Mg, 0.004 max. Cd, 0.06 max. Fe, 0.005 max. Pb, 0.003 max. Sn and balance Zn) by Lehuy, Masounave and Blain ("Rheological behavior and microstructure of stir-casting zinc-aluminum alloys", J. Mat. Sci., 20 (1985), pp. 105-113). According to Lehuy et al, clustering occurred for volume fractions of solids that exceeded 35 percent and particle size distribution tended to decrease with increasing melt temperatures.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method to control the size and distribution of insoluble metal phases.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for producing zinc-base alloys containing insoluble metal phases via a semi-solid route or "mush casting".
It is a further object of the invention to provide magnesium-base and zinc-base alloys with improved creep strength at elevated temperatures.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for producing stable magnesium-base and zinc-base alloys to facilitate extended holding and solidification times.

Alloys containing insoluble phases and method of manufacturing thereof


In a detector arrangement for a medical diagnosis apparatus as well as a medical imaging diagnostic method, radiation quanta striking a detector are detected and evaluated with spatial resolution. The use of collimators is thereby omitted, such that radiation quanta that strike at a non-perpendicular angle to the detector are also evaluated. For spatial resolution of the origin of the radiation quantum, the spatial distribution of sensor elements of the detector that emit a signal upon incidence of a radiation quantum is evaluated. A higher efficiency of the radiation evaluation is enabled and, particularly in nuclear medical diagnostic methods, the radiation exposure of the patient can be distinctly reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a radiation detector arrangement for a medical diagnostic apparatus, a medical diagnostic system with such a detector arrangement, as well as a medical imaging diagnostic method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various imaging diagnostic methods are known in the field of medicine, such as, for example, computed tomography (CT), in which the patient to be examined is irradiated with x-rays from a number of different directions and the x-rays are detected by a detector as projection datasets, which are combined for generation of an image.
In addition to this method based on x-ray radiation, what are known as nuclear medicine methods also are known such as, for example, PET diagnostics (positron emission tomography) and SPECT diagnostics (single photon emission computed tomography). In each of these modalities, the patient is injected with a radioactive substance and the radiation emanating from this substance is detected with the detector and used for image processing.
For precise spatial resolution of the point of origin of the emitted or transmitted radiation, collimators are disposed upstream of the detectors, the collimators being formed by a number of individual collimator plates (known as septa (singular: septum) that are oriented so that essentially only radiation portions incoming perpendicularly on the detector surface are detected. Therefore only a part of the total radiation is used for the image generation. In order to have sufficient information for the image generation, the patient therefore must be exposed with a relatively high radiation dose.

Radiation detector and detection method, and medical diagnostic apparatus employing same


A button tool is adapted to assist a person fastening a button through a button hole. The tool includes a handle, a button hook, and a button hole spreader. In one configuration, the handle includes four longitudinally disposed ribs with one of the ribs functioning as a base rib while the other three ribs are spaced apart and disposed perpendicular to the base rib. The button hook defines a button opening and a hook opening with the button opening being larger than the hook opening. The button hole spreader is disposed between the button hook and the handle. The button hole spreader includes an abutment plate adapted to prevent the button tool from being readily pushed entirely through a button hole.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to hand tools and, more particularly, to hand tools designed to assist those who have trouble manipulating small objects such as the buttons and zippers on everyday clothing. Specifically, the present invention relates to a hand tool that is used to pull a button through a button hole.
2. Background Information
Shirt buttons are one of the daily frustrations for those who have difficulty manipulating small objects with one or both hands. The process of aligning a button with a button hole is difficult and time consuming for anyone who has difficulty grasping and manipulating fine objects between the thumb and finger or for those with limited eyesight. Various devices are known in the art for pulling a button through a button hole. Despite the existence of these devices, room for improvement remains in the art.


A number of additional embodiments and optical constructions of a relaxed confocal catadioptric scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) are disclosed. They improve the functionality of microperimetry (MP), and the integration of the existing instrument with the capabilities of high speed Fourier domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT/SS-OCT). The improvements pertain to enhanced acousto-optic modulation with regard to rise-time and combination of wavelengths, enhanced control of illuminating beam characteristics and separation of illuminating and returned light within the SLO, enhanced electronic control and options for the galvanometer and polygon scanners, additional use of liquid crystal spatial light modulation, and the modalities under which Fourier domain OCT can be integrated within the SLO.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to instruments for examining and treating the eye and specifically to a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) based on a relaxed confocal catadioptric design, in combination with various external light sources, and optimized for advanced non-invasive diagnostic procedures, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and microperimetry (MP).
2. Description of Prior Art
The ophthalmoscope is well known as an important device for examining the eye, and in particular the retina. As a result of great interest in preserving eyesight, ophthalmoscopes of various constructions have been built. The latest version of the ophthalmoscope, a scanning laser ophthalmoscope, is particularly appealing because of its unique capability of combining a high resolution and high contrast infra-red or angiographic 60 Hz interlaced video imaging of the retina with psychophysical procedures such as microperimetry. A precise correlation between retinal anatomy and retinal functioning can be established with the scanning laser ophthalmoscope. This retinal function mapping that includes information about fixation characteristics, visual acuity and retinal sensitivity, is now known to be very helpful to the surgeon when applying various forms of therapeutic laser and for the purpose of low vision rehabilitation.
Van de Velde has disclosed before in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,892,569, 5,923,399, 5,943,117, 6,186,628 and 6,789,900, which are all herein incorporated by reference, different embodiments of the relaxed confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope that use various external light sources for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Such functional extensions of the basic instrument rely to a great extent on its relaxed confocal and catadioptric design, incorporating one or two synchronized avalanche photodetector pathways that feed their signal into a versatile overlay frame grabber board. Additional extended functionality has been disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,543,866, 5,568,208 and 6,000,799, herein incorporated by reference. Such embodiments have been constructed and the results have been reported in the following publications, that are herein also incorporated by reference:                1. Frans J. Van de Velde. Quantitative SLO microperimetry for clinical research in age related maculopathy. In: Noninvasive assessment of the visual system: from the Topical Meeting Vision Science and its Applications, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, 1997, Santa Fe, N. Mex./edited by Dean Yager; sponsored by Optical Society of America; in cooperation with the American Academy of Optometry. Published/Created: Washington, D.C.: The Society, 1997: 4247. ISBN: 1557524718 (Library of Congress).        2. Frans J. Van de Velde. Role of the scanning laser ophthalmoscope in photodynamic therapy of macular disease Publication: Proc. SPIE Vol. 3908, p. 190-201, Ophthalmic Technologies X; Pascal O. Rol, Karen M. Joos, Fabrice Manns; Eds. Publication date: June 2000.        3. Frans J. Van de Velde. Scanning laser ophthalmoscope optimized for retinal microphotocoagulation. Publication: Proc. SPIE Vol. 3564, p. 146-157, Medical Applications of Lasers in Dermatology, Cardiology, Ophthalmology, and Dentistry II; Gregory B. Altshuler, Stefan Andersson-Engels, Reginald Birngruber, Peter Bjerring, Adolf F. Fercher, Herbert J. Geschwind, Raimund Hibst, Herbert Hoenigsmann, Frederic Laffitte, Henricus J. Sterenborg; Eds. Publication date: February 1999.        4. Frans J. Van de Velde et Al. Scanning laser retinoscopy: a new technique for evaluating optical properties of the cornea after refractive surgery Publication: Proc. SPIE Vol. 3192, p. 187-194, Medical Applications of Lasers in Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Dentistry, and Endoscopy; Gregory B. Altshuler, Reginald Birngruber, Marco Dal Fante, Raimund Hibst, Herbert Hoenigsmann, Neville Krasner, Frederic Laffitte; Eds. Publication date: December 1997.        5. Frans J. Van de Velde. Scanning laser ophthalmoscopy: optimized testing strategies for psychophysics Publication: Proc. SPIE Vol. 2930, p. 79-90, Lasers in Ophthalmology IV; Reginald Birngruber, Adolf F. Fercher, Philippe Sourdille; Eds. Publication date: December 1996.        6. Volume 302 Proceedings of the Bull Soc Belge Ophtal, 2006, all papers.

Relaxed confocal catadioptric scanning laser ophthalmoscope


Embodiments of the present invention include an apparatus, method, and system for providing a flow distributive interface for a thermal management arrangement.

Thermal management is of great importance to the operation of semiconductor devices. Thermal management is especially important in the operation of silicon microprocessors as relentlessly increasing frequency targets push power output, and therefore heat generation, to the limits of the cooling capacity of passive air-cooled heatsink technology. Insufficient transfer of heat away from a semiconductor device can result in degradation in performance and reliability of that device or circuit.
Recent focus has turned to thermal management arrangements utilizing fluid flowing through parallel microchannels to dissipate heat. The microchannels each have similar dimensions and each have an input to receive fluid from an inlet coupled to a remote pump, and an output to transmit the fluid through an outlet towards a heat exchanger. This design may result in a large portion of the fluid flowing through the microchannels in line with the inlet and the outlet and a much smaller portion of the fluid flowing through the microchannels at the periphery, which require the flow lines to bend significantly.

Method and apparatus for providing distributed fluid flows in a thermal management arrangement


A system and method for receiving, processing, and storing electronic data transmitted in the vertical blanking interval of a video signal. The system provides a flexible mechanism for reading electronic data from video signals including those in National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) and Phase Alternation by Line (PAL) formats. Some implementations provide for receiving electronic programming guide data transmitted at a single byte rate or at multiple byte rates. The data is stored on a computer-readable medium such as a hardrive for further processing and use.

Two standards for the broadcast and transmission of analog video signals are the National Television System Committee (NTSC) standard used in the United States, and the Phase Alternation by Line (PAL) standard used in many European countries. Under these standards, video images are displayed on a television screen using a video signal to control an electron beam that is scanned across the television screen. When the bottom of the screen is reached, the electron beam moves back to the top of the screen. During this transition, no video data may be transmitted. The portion of a video signal where no video information is broadcast is called the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of the video signal.
In the NTSC format, 525 lines of video are displayed in each frame, with colors transmitted on a sub-carrier frequency of 3.579545 MHz. The NTSC standard defines a frame rate of 30 frames per second, half of the frequency of the 60 Hz electric power used in the United States. Each frame includes two interlaced fields of video data. The fields are displayed at the rate of 60 per second, and each field includes 262.5 lines of video image data. With each pass of the electron beam from the top of the display to the bottom, every other line of the display is updated. Thus, two passes are used to display a complete frame.
FIG. 1 shows the pattern that an electron beam follows according to the NTSC standard. The image begins with display of the first field of a frame at point 101. The electron beam follows the indicated path across the display to the end of row 3, then the beam retraces across the third raster line to the left side of the display. Next, the electron beam travels down to row 5 and then retraces across the fifth raster line to the left side of the display. This process continues until the electron beam reaches the bottom of the screen at point 102. The electron beam then travels to point 103 and begins the process again, this time tracing the even raster lines instead of the odd raster lines. When the beam reaches the bottom of the screen at point 104, the entire frame is complete; the beam retraces to point 101 and begins displaying the next frame.
Under the NTSC standard, the VBI includes the time required for the electron beam to reach point 101 from point 104 and the time required to reach point 103 from point 102. The video signal is ordinarily blanked out during this interval, preventing distortion of the image displayed. Because video is blanked, the video signal can be used to transmit data during this interval, perhaps including non-video information. Under the NTSC standard, the VBI yields 21 lines of data that are not displayed on the screen; however, lines 1-9 are reserved for vertical synchronization and line 21 is reserved for closed-captioning. Thus, 11 lines (lines 10-20) are available for transmitting data that may or may not relate to the displayed image.
The PAL standard uses a format similar to NTSC; however, PAL is used in Europe where the electrical power system is 50 Hz instead of 60 Hz. Consistent with this frequency, the frame rate for PAL is 25 frames per second, each field includes 625 lines of video, with and a sub-carrier frequency of 4.43 MHz is used to broadcast color information. The PAL standard reserves lines 6-22 in the first field of a frame and lines 319-335 in the second field of a frame to transmit VBI data, thus yielding 16 lines of data per frame for VBI information.
One commercial application of VBI data transmission is an electronic programming guide (EPG).
Another application that is being developed provides for the transmission of Internet Protocol packets via the VBI of an analog video signal. This proposal has been published as RFC 2728, an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards document.

Receiving and processing vertical blanking interval data


A battery pack with a charge control function includes a charge protection circuit and a charge control circuit. The charge control circuit turns a discharge control switch on or off to control a discharge current which flows from a secondary battery to a load and also turns a charge control switch on or off to control a charge current which flows from a charger to the secondary battery. When an abnormal voltage is input, the charge control circuit turns the charge control switch on or off to stop the charging of the secondary battery through the charger.

The present invention relates to battery packs and, more particularly, relates to a battery pack with a charge control function, the battery pack having the charge control function and a charge protection function therein.
Rechargeable batteries (secondary batteries), particularly, lithium-ion batteries each requires a protection circuit (charge protection IC) for detecting an overdischarge mode and an overcharge mode to protect the present secondary battery from the overdischarge mode and the overcharge mode because the lithium-ion battery is weak in overdischarging and overcharging. Each protection circuit (charge protection IC) has an overdischarge preventive mechanism and an overcharge preventive mechanism. The protection circuits (charge protection ICs) include a protection circuit for further detecting an overcurrent mode in the discharge mode of the corresponding secondary battery to protect the battery from the overcurrent mode. This protection circuit (charge protection IC) includes an overdischarge preventive mechanism, an overcharge preventive mechanism, and an overcurrent preventive mechanism. A conventional secondary-battery protection circuit (charge protection IC) will now be described hereinbelow. The protection circuit includes an overdischarge preventive mechanism and an overcharge preventive mechanism.
A battery unit having the above-mentioned protection circuit (charge protection IC) is called a "battery pack". When a secondary battery enters the overdischarge mode, it is necessary to stop the discharging of the secondary battery and charge the secondary battery using a charger. The charger includes an adapter and a charge control circuit (charge control IC). In other words, the conventional battery pack includes only the protection circuit (charge protection IC) and the charger has the charge control circuit (charge control IC).
FIG. 1 shows a conventional battery module 800′ including a charge protection IC 200 and a charge control IC 600. Referring to FIG. 1, the battery module 800′ has a discharging positive terminal 801, a negative terminal 802, and a charging positive terminal 803. A load 400 is arranged between the discharging positive terminal 801 and the negative terminal 802. An adapter 700 serving as a commercial charger is arranged between the charging positive terminal 803 and the negative terminal 802. The negative terminal 802 is called a ground terminal (GND).
The battery module 800′ includes: a secondary battery 300; the charge protection IC 200; the charge control IC 600; peripheral devices (a power transistor Tr, a diode D, and a current-detecting resistor R); a first field-effect transistor FET1 functioning as a discharge control switch; and a second field-effect transistor FET2 operating as a charge control switch.
The charge protection IC 200 is connected between the discharging positive terminal 801 and a negative electrode of the secondary battery 300. The charge control IC 600 and the peripheral devices are arranged between the charging positive terminal 803 and the positive electrode of the secondary battery 300. According to the arrangement, the charger comprising only the adapter 700 can be used.
A conventional battery pack 100′ and a conventional charger 500′ will now be described hereinbelow with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the conventional battery pack and a protection circuit (charge protection IC) included therein. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the conventional charger and a charge control circuit (charge control IC) included therein.
The conventional battery pack 100′ will now be described with reference to FIG. 2. This kind of battery pack is disclosed as a rechargeable power supply circuit in Japanese Patent No. 2872365. The conventional battery pack 100′ will be described on the basis of the description of the above patent. In the patent document, the structure of control means is not schematically shown in accompanying drawings. In the following description, the structure of the control means is estimated by analogy with the specification of the patent. The structure of the control means will be described with reference to the drawings.
Referring to FIG. 2, the battery pack 100′ has a positive terminal 101 and a negative terminal 102. Each of the positive and negative terminals 101 and 102 is called an external connection terminal. The load 400 or the charger 500′ is arranged between the positive terminal 101 and the negative terminal 102. The charger 500′ will be described later.
Referring to FIG. 2, the battery pack 100′ has the secondary battery 300 including at least one lithium-ion battery (unit cell) 301. The secondary battery 300 generates a battery voltage Vcc(ba). The protection circuit (charge protection IC) 200 is connected in parallel to the secondary battery 300. The major features of the protection circuit 200 are an overdischarge protecting function and an overcharge protecting function. The protection circuit 200 includes an overdischarge control circuit 210 serving as the overdischarge protecting function and an overcharge control circuit 220 serving as the overcharge protecting function.
An overdischarge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(od) is predetermined in the overdischarge control circuit 210. The overdischarge control circuit 210 compares the battery voltage Vcc(ba) with the threshold voltage Vth(od). If the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is lower than the threshold voltage Vth(od), the overdischarge control circuit 210 determines an overdischarge mode and generates an overdischarge detection signal at a logical low level. The overdischarge control circuit 210 includes: a zener diode for generating an overdischarge-detecting reference voltage corresponding to the overdischarge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(od); an overdischarge resistive voltage-dividing circuit for dividing the battery voltage Vcc(ba), the circuit comprising a bleeder resistor in series; an overdischarge-detecting comparator for comparing an overdischarge divided-voltage, generated from the overdischarge resistive voltage-dividing circuit, with the overdischarge-detecting reference voltage; and an overdischarge hysteresis circuit arranged between an output terminal and a noninverting input terminal of the overdischarge-detecting comparator. The above components of the overdischarge control circuit 210 are not shown in FIG. 2.
When the overdischarge divided-voltage is lower than the overdischarge-detecting reference voltage, namely, the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is lower than the overdischarge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(od), the overdischarge-detecting comparator outputs an overdischarge detection signal at a logical low level. On the other hand, when the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is higher than an overdischarge return voltage (Vth(od)+Vhy(od)), the overdischarge-detecting comparator outputs an overdischarge-protection cancel signal at a logical high level. The overdischarge return voltage is obtained by adding the overdischarge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(od) to an overdischarge hysteresis voltage Vhy(od), which is defined by the overdischarge hysteresis circuit.
Similarly, an overcharge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(oc) is predetermined in the overcharge control circuit 220. The overcharge control circuit 220 compares the battery voltage Vcc(ba) with the threshold voltage Vth(oc). When the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is higher than the threshold voltage Vth(oc), the overcharge control circuit 220 determines an overcharge mode and outputs an overcharge detection signal at a logical low level. The overcharge control circuit 220 includes: a zener diode for generating an overcharge-detecting reference voltage corresponding to the overcharge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(oc); an overcharge resistive voltage-dividing circuit for dividing the battery voltage Vcc(ba), the circuit comprising a bleeder resistor in series; an overcharge-detecting comparator for comparing an overcharge divided-voltage, generated from the overcharge resistive voltage-dividing circuit, with the overcharge-detecting reference voltage; and an overcharge hysteresis circuit arranged between an output terminal and a noninverting input terminal of the overcharge-detecting comparator. The above components of the overcharge control circuit 220 are not shown in FIG. 2.
When the overcharge divided-voltage is higher than the overcharge-detecting reference voltage, namely, the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is higher than the overcharge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(oc), the overcharge-detecting comparator outputs an overcharge detection signal at a logical low level. On the other hand, when the battery voltage Vcc(ba) is lower than an overcharge return voltage (Vth(oc)−Vhy(oc)), the overcharge-detecting comparator outputs an overcharge-protection cancel signal at a logical high level. The overcharge return voltage is obtained by subtracting an overcharge hysteresis voltage Vhy(oc), defined by the overcharge hysteresis circuit, from the overcharge-detecting threshold voltage Vth(oc).
The first and second field-effect transistors FET1 and FET2 are connected in series between the negative electrode of the secondary battery 300 and the negative terminal 102. The first field-effect transistor FET1 operates as a discharge control switch. The second field-effect transistor FET2 functions as a charge control switch.
When the logical low level overdischarge detection signal is supplied from the overdischarge control circuit 210 to the gate of the first field-effect transistor FET1, the first field-effect transistor FET1 is turned off. On the other hand, when the logical high level overdischarge-protection cancel signal is supplied from the overdischarge control circuit 210 to the gate of the first field-effect transistor FET1, the first field-effect transistor FET1 is turned on. Similarly, when the logical low level overcharge detection signal is supplied from the overcharge control circuit 220 to the gate of the second field-effect transistor FET2, the second field-effect transistor FET2 is turned off. When the logical high level overcharge-protection cancel signal is supplied from the overcharge control circuit 220 to the gate of the second field-effect transistor FET2, the second field-effect transistor FET2 is turned on.
As described in the foregoing patent, the first field-effect transistor FET1 has a parasitic diode Dp1. The parasitic diode Dp1 is arranged such that the forward direction thereof corresponds to the charging direction of the secondary battery 300. The second field-effect transistor FET2 has a parasitic diode Dp2. The parasitic diode Dp2 is arranged such that the forward direction thereof corresponds to the discharging direction of the secondary battery 300. Therefore, if the first field-effect transistor FET1 is turned off, the secondary battery 300 can be charged through the parasitic diode Dp1. If the second field-effect transistor FET2 is turned off, the secondary battery 300 can be discharged through the parasitic diode Dp2.
The charger 500′ will now be described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 3. The charger 500′ has a positive terminal 501 and a negative terminal 502. The positive terminal 501 and the negative terminal 502 of the charger 500′ are connected to the positive terminal 101 and the negative terminal 102 of the battery pack 100′, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 3, the charger 500′ includes the adapter 700. The adapter 700 generates an adapter voltage Vcc(ad). The charge control circuit (charge control IC) 600 is connected in parallel to the adapter 700 through the power transistor Tr, the diode D, and the current-detecting resistor R. The major features of the charge control circuit 600 are a constant-current charging function, a constant-voltage charging function, and a primary overvoltage detecting function. The charge control circuit 600 includes: a constant-current control circuit 610 having the constant-current charging function; a constant-voltage control circuit 620 having the constant-voltage charging function; and a primary overvoltage detection circuit 630 having the primary overvoltage detecting function.
The constant-current control circuit 610 controls the power transistor Tr so as to keep the potential difference across the current-detecting resistor R at a predetermined value in order to charge the battery pack 100′ at a constant current. The constant-voltage control circuit 620 detects the battery voltage Vcc(ba) of the secondary battery 300 and controls the power transistor Tr so that the battery voltage Vcc(ba) does not exceed a predetermined voltage in order to charge the battery pack 100′. The primary overvoltage detection circuit 630 detects the primary (adapter) voltage Vcc(ad). If the primary voltage Vcc(ad) is an overvoltage, the primary overvoltage detection circuit 630 turns the power transistor Tr off, thus stopping charging.
The power transistor Tr, the diode D, and the current-detecting resistor R are arranged in series in that order between the positive electrode of the adapter 700 and the positive terminal 501.
As mentioned above, the conventional battery pack 100′ includes only the charge protection IC 200 and the conventional charger 500′ includes the charge control IC 600. Namely, the conventional charger 500′ exclusively charges the battery pack 100′. In other words, a commercial charger is not available as the charger 500′. To use a commercial charger, namely, to use the charger including only the adapter 700, the charge control IC 600 and the peripheral devices may be built in the battery pack.
For conventional battery protection, the following features are provided. A battery is prevented from igniting in the overcharge mode. The battery is prevented from deteriorating. Further, the battery is prevented from deteriorating and heating in the discharge mode. Even for a unit cell, the safety thereof has been pursued. Thus, the unit cell hardly ignites. In actuality, however, there are many requests to prevent batteries from deteriorating.
Referring to FIG. 2, the above-mentioned conventional battery module 800′ requires the power transistor Tr and the second field-effect transistor FET2, which serves as a charge control switch. Namely, the battery module 800′ requires the two devices in order to control the charging operation. Since the power transistor Tr is included in the charger and the second field-effect transistor FET2 is built in the battery pack, the manufacturing cost is high. Moreover, since the charger is concerned with the charge control and the battery pack is concerned with the charge protection, controlling functional mechanisms for battery protection (the charge control function and the charge protection function) is complicated.
Since the above two devices generate heat, it is hard to perform the above-mentioned control.

Battery pack with charge control function


A vehicle approach alert device for a saddle-ridden electric vehicle is a vehicle approach alert device for a saddle-ridden electric vehicle that is provided with a sound emitter that is attached on the vehicle body of a saddle-ridden electric vehicle having an electric motor in a power engine, and that emits an alert sound to a surrounding area for notifying the surrounding area of approach of the saddle-ridden electric vehicle, such that sound emission of the sound emitter is controlled, and the sound emitter is arranged so that the direction of sound emission is oriented diagonally downward and forward of the saddle-ridden electric vehicle.

In motor vehicles such as electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, which are being developed in recent years, there is a problem in that it is difficult for pedestrians or other road users to recognize approach of an electric motor powered vehicle due to traveling noise thereof being smaller when it is traveling with an electric motor, compared to traveling noise of an engine powered vehicle, and there is a demand for an appropriate measure to address this problem.
For example, Patent Document 1 below discloses a vehicle approach alert device such that in a hybrid four wheeled vehicle that travels with driving force of an electric motor primarily at low speeds, when the vehicle speed is lower than or equal to a predetermined value and also the brake is detected as being operated, a speaker arranged on the inner side of the bumper at the vehicle body front part outputs an alert sound to thereby notify pedestrians and other road users of approach of this vehicle.

Vehicle approach alert device for saddle-ridden electric vehicle


A wrist-worn phone is disclosed which includes a main housing with a front surface and a rear surface, the rear surface including speaker holes, the front surface having a display. The wrist-worn phone further includes a first strap attached to a first end of the main housing, the first strap having an outer end. A second strap may be attached to the second end of the main housing, the second strap having an outer end, the outer end of the first strap for connecting with the outer end of the second strap. The second strap may be made from a shape retaining material for forming a generally elongated C shape such that the rear surface of the main housing is on an interior of the C shape. The wrist-worn phone may include an ear latch for hanging the main housing upon a human ear. A body-worn data storage device may include a plug mounted onto a strap of the device for insertion into a port of a computing device.

This invention relates to a phone and an electronic data storage device which can be worn on the body, and more particularly relates to a phone that can be used as comfortably as a handheld phone and to an electronic data storage device with simplified connection to a USB port of a computer.
Mobile telephones also commonly referred to as cell phones are becoming smaller and smaller all the time. The miniaturization of circuits is now allowing engineers the ability to package mobile phones in ever more compact sizes. Mobile telephones in the size and shape of a wristwatch are now possible.
Most small mobile phones on the market today allow the usage of a hands-free headset that plugs into a jack in the phone and then attaches around or into the ear. Typically along the cord or on an extension boom projecting downward from the earpiece is a microphone. This is necessary to improve the sound pickup from the mouth of the user.
Most phones also permit usage by holding the phone up to the side of the head directly to locate a speaker within the phone near to the ear and a microphone in the phone near to the mouth as people have become accustomed to with home based corded phones. This is important since it allows usage of the phone without the headset. These headsets typically have a wire that is three to five feet long. This allows the user to talk while the phone is located on a belt-clip or in a pocket. This wire, however, can easily tangle and is difficult to retrieve, unwind, plug into the phone and mount on the ear to answer an incoming call before the caller hangs up or the voice messaging system takes the call.
A phone in the form or a wristwatch has the problem of being very awkward for the user to hold to near their ear for more than a short period of time. The basic watch shape does not locate a microphone close to one's mouth. An extension boom with a microphone could be added but it would create an undesirable appendage and it would not resolve the awkwardness of holding to the ear.
Some attempts have been made at solving this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,818 to Olsen discloses a wristwatch which can be removed from the wearer's wrist and placed adjacent the head of the user for use as a radiotelephone. One problem with this watch is the flexibility of the band which makes it awkward to use and hold in a constant and comfortable position using only one hand. The speaker is located on an exterior portion of the watch so that the exterior of the watch must be held to the user's head thus requiring that the watch be bent in an opposite manner than when it is worn on the wrist.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,560 to Seager solves the flexible wristband problem by employing a rigid wristband. However, this does not allow adjustment to different user wrist sizes and requires complicated manual maneuvering of the wristband before the radiotelephone can be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,253 to Charlier et al incorporates an inwardly facing speaker on a flexible wristband, however Charlier et al requires an additional bulky housing at the inner wrist portion when worn by the user which can interfere with normal daily operations.
While these patents have attempted to solve the problems associated with wristwatch phones that must be spoken into and listen to from one location, and have eliminated the need for long and troublesome headsets, they have neglected the "hands free" aspect of phones which has become very desirable when driving or when phone conversations become lengthy and tiresome on the arms.
The miniaturization of electronic circuits now allows engineers to package sophisticated devices into very compact spaces, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistant ("PDA"), MP3 (MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) audio Layer-3) music player, voice recorder, infrared remote controller, Global Positioning System ("GPS") sensor, and solid-state data storage devices. Data can be downloaded into or synchronized with a computer via a hard-wired connection or an infrared wireless connection. The versions that are hard-wired commonly have a cradle that the device connects to which has a wire that connects to the computer's serial or Universal Serial Bus ("USB") port.
USB provides an easy and fast connection of a vast majority of peripheral devices to a computer. Laptop computers, desktop computers, wearable computers, and PDA's are commonly manufactured with USB ports in order to take advantage of the variety of peripheral devices which are built around that architecture. Many USB peripheral devices, such as printers, scanners, mice, joysticks, digital cameras, web cams, modems, speakers, phones, etc., come with their own built in cable, and the cable has an "A" connection on it. The "A" connector is a connector which heads upstream towards the computer. A USB port on a computer is designed to accept an "A" connector. If the USB peripheral device does not have a built in cable with the "A" connector, then the device has a socket on it that accepts a USB "B" connector. The "B" connector is a connector which heads downstream and connects to an individual device. Since the USB port on the computer only accepts the "A" connector and not the "B" connector, plugging the cable into either or both the computer and the peripheral device is nearly error-proof.
The USB standard provides that in addition to carrying data bi-directionally, A USB cable must also supply electrical power unidirectionally. The power and data passes through pre-defined terminals or pin-outs provided on standardized plugs on each free end of the USB cable. The plugs are defined in the standard as having different forms at upstream and downstream ends. Each plug can mate only with a complementary shaped receptacle or port provided in the USB device to be connected. Thus, the standard ensures that a cable can only be connected to provide power from an upstream port to a downstream port.