Methods for producing stimulated, positive and negative control reference standard for monitoring intracellular cytokine levels and cytokine release in test samples by stimulating cells to produce cytokines in the presence of a cytokine release inhibitor, fixing the stimulated cells with a fixative such as paraformaldehyde, washing to remove excess fixatives and freeze-drying the stimulated, fixed cells. Methods for producing labeled reference standards for cell proliferation assays are also disclosed, in which proliferation-competent mammalian cells, isolated from a human or animal body are labeled with a label, such as a dye, that is divided between daughter cells during cell proliferation (e.g., carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester), the cells are stimulated to proliferate, the proliferated cells are fixed by addition of a fixative and then preserved by freeze drying or cryopreservation.

The detection of cytokine release by ELISPOT assay and the quantification and identification of intracellular cytokines by flow cytometry are both widely used as indices of cell mediated immune responses. In the so-called ELISPOT assay, cytokines released from immobilised cells typically interact with an immunoassay, such as an ELISA assay, to produce a coloured "spot" on the assay plate providing both qualitative (e.g. type of immune protein) and quantitative (number or proportion of cells responding) information. The standardisation of these assays requires the development of reliable reference standards for monitoring intracellular cytokine levels and cytokine release in test samples, thus allowing comparability between different laboratories and assays.
Stimulated (cytokine positive), fixed, cryopreserved cells are available commercially for intracellular flow cytometry (Becton Dickinson, Oxford, UK), and freeze dried unstimulated cells are available either as controls for surface staining or for purposes of haematology analysis (Beckman Coulter UK Ltd, High Wycombe, UK).
For ELISPOT assays, or other assays where cytokine release from cells is monitored, only cryopreserved live cells from individual donors are currently available.
The presently-available approaches to the provision of a standardised reference material have a number of drawbacks: In order to standardise reference materials over a large number of laboratories world-wide, and to provide reference materials that may be used over many years, a large amount of stable material is required. However, live cells from multiple donors cannot be pooled to make large single batches due to mixed lymphocyte reactions, resulting in cell death and over-expression of cytokines.
Cryopreserved cells also require specialised storage using e.g. liquid nitrogen and shipment on dry ice, thus increasing costs. There is also the risk of thawing and refreezing during shipment, in the event of power failure to refrigeration devices, say, leading to deterioration of the material, so rendering it useless as a reference standard. Furthermore, cyropreserved cells must be carefully thawed to ensure consistency of responses. It has proven difficult to obtain consistent results between laboratories using this approach.
Measurement of cell proliferation in mammalian cells is also an important technique for e.g. the assessment of the effects of exogenous agents on a cell's ability or propensity to divide. For example, such assays may be used for detecting the marked proliferation of cells of the immune system following an immune response. A number of techniques are currently used wherein cells are labeled with a detectable marker that is shared between daughter cells following cell division.
One such technique uses the fluorescent dye carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE or CFDA, SE). The technique is described by Lyons, B. in Immunol. Cell Biol 1999; 77(6):509-515 in which the author reports that "The technique can be used both in vitro and in vivo, allowing eight to 10 successive divisions to be resolved by flow cytometry. Furthermore, viable cells from defined generation numbers can be sorted by flow cytometry for functional analysis". Other techniques include the incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine or tritiated thymidine into the cells.
Whilst these assays are well known, a difficulty that arises is the provision of reference standards for cross-calibration and quality control when the assays are used across different analysis laboratories, or are used successively over long periods of time, e.g. during clinical longitudinal studies.
The lack of suitable reference materials for such cytokine and cell proliferation assays hinders robust testing methodologies, especially in respect of comparability between different laboratories and assays. It is amongst the objects of the present invention to attempt a solution to these problems.


The subject invention is a single purpose clothes hanger apparatus and structure having text messaging appendages extending laterally outwardly from the upper neck portion of the hanger. At least one additional horizontal bar from which additional articles of clothing can be attached or hanged, each such bar comprises a linear horizontal extending member equilaterally affixed below the neck portion of the hanger, the customary horizontal bar member being adapted with a receptacle such as a clear, netting, or transparent paper disposable bag for containing and exposing underwear, ties, scarves, socks, and the like. The text messaging appendages are adapted to indicate to the wearer or his or her valet, caregiver, a child, or a childcare provider the day of the week for which the garments attached to hanger are to be used along with related clothing and/or other instructions pertinent to the wearer.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to clothes hangers combining text messaging with transparent storage bags which are especially adapted for use with conventional clothes.
2. Status of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,938 issued to Vasudeva on Jan. 17, 1995 for a clothes hanger with an identification compartment. Vasudeva teaches a clothes hanger constructed of plastic and having an integral identification compartment formed by a tag frame. A hook section adapted to support the hanger in use is connected to one side of the tag frame. Pairs of arms for supporting clothing are also integrally connected to the tag frame, each arm extending from the frame at an equal distance from where the hook section is connected. The outer ends of the arms are connected by a cross-member. A cover, connected by an integral hinge to the tag frame, has a series of peripheral projections each fitting into a slot on one side of the tag frame to hold the cover against that side of the frame. An identification tag is positionable between the tag frame and the cover such that information on the tag is visible in the window of the frame. The hanger may be utilized by an individual wishing to more easily identify his/her clothing, or by an institution wishing to reduce the number of hangers removed from its premises.
Subsequently, related U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,985 issued to Balser on Mar. 28, 2000 for another limited scope structure entitled multiple purpose coat hanger. Balser's invention is a multiple purpose coat hanger member having additional appendages extending laterally outwardly from the upper neck portion of the hanger from which hanger portions additional articles of clothing can be attached, such lateral extensions comprising a plurality of linear extending members affixed to the neck portion of the hanger, such lateral extension members having attachment means for hanging clothing articles on the extreme end thereof.
Related U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,985 was issued to Balser on Mar. 28, 2000 for a multiple purpose coat hanger. The subject invention is a multiple purpose coat hanger member having additional appendages extending laterally outwardly from the upper neck portion of the hanger from which hanger portions additional articles of clothing can be attached, such lateral extensions comprising a plurality of linear extending members affixed to the neck portion of the hanger, such lateral extension members having attachment means for hanging clothing articles on the extreme end thereof.

Clothing hanger adapted for personal use


A lighted, inflatable device comprises a substantially sealed outer shell, an inner inflatable bladder disposed within the outer shell, a valve for inflating the inner inflatable bladder, and an illumination element disposed within the inner inflatable bladder. The illumination element includes a resistor for conserving battery life. The bladder and shell have translucent portions through which light from the illumination element passes.

In the past, it has been proposed to provide amusement balls with interior lights for various purposes. Such past devices, however, leave much to be desired in respect to the amusement function, durability and long life.
A major problem with such past devices is that the illumination element is not self-contained and must be replaced periodically by opening the device. This requires some sort of openable closure which may allow dirt, water, and moisture into the device, which may cause the battery to short out. The presence of such a closure also affects the play characteristics of the device, for example by causing the device to bounce irregularly.
Another problem with such past devices is that the internal illumination element is heavy and is generally placed within a hollow core at the center of the device. In such a position, the illumination element may move around and may affect the balance of the device. This may lead to undesirable play characteristics. For example, if the device is a regulation-size basketball, past devices would not have the weight and balance of a standard basketball.
In some past devices, the illumination element was placed in a membrane structure within the inflatable wall of the device, with wires leading through the membrane structure to lights outside the membrane structure. Such devices had to be carefully designed so that air did not leak out of the device because of the penetration of the membrane structure by the wires.
Another problem with such past devices is that an external switch was necessary to turn on the illumination element. The presence of the external switch produced another possible entry point for dirt, water, and moisture and another potential disturbance of the device's play characteristics.
Still another problem with such past devices was that the battery life of the illumination element was very short, because the illumination element was turned on all of the time that the switch was closed. Therefore, the battery had to be frequently replaced.
There is a need for a permanently sealed, lighted, inflatable device with a self-contained, non-replaceable illumination element for use as a sports ball in low light conditions. The device should also be usable as an inflatable device in water sports and in water safety.
There is also a need for a lighted, inflatable device with a replaceable battery and an external switch that does not affect the play characteristics of the device.


A stator core includes: an assembled stator core formed of annularly arranged, divided stator cores; a fixing member disposed at an outer circumferential surface of the assembled stator core and capable of pressing the divided stator cores inward in a radial direction of the assembled stator core to annularly arrange and thus fix the divided stator cores; and a weak portion provided between the divided stator cores and the fixing member and deformable by a force exerted from the fixing member to press the divided stator cores.

In recent years, hybrid vehicles and the like employ a permanent magnet type synchronous motor, and conventionally there have been proposed a variety of stator cores contemplated to facilitate assembling stators.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-095645 describes a stator core including an inner stator core having an outer circumferential surface with a plurality of elements each having a coil wound thereon and an annular outer stator core having an inner circumferential surface with the inner stator core attached thereto.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-328965 discloses a stator including a cylindrical fixing member and a stator core with a core having teeth and press-fitted in the fixing member and thus formed annularly.
A core has one end adapted to have a large circumferential length and the other end adapted to have a small circumferential length, and each core is combined such that the end having the large circumferential length and the end having the small circumferential length are alternately disposed to configure a stator core.
Configuring a stator core is not limited to press fitting divided stator cores into a cylindrical housing to configure the stator core, as described for example in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-328965; it is also done by fixing a plurality of annularly arranged divided stator cores by an annular fixing member by shrink fitting or the like.
Any of press fitting and shrink fitting as described above is done generally with each member provided with a tolerance in view of fabrication.
As such, when divided stator cores are annularly fixed to configure a stator core, a divided stator core may project inward in a radial direction of the stator core or be slightly rotated and thus fixed.
Thus the divided stator cores may not have their respective stator teeth with their respective end surfaces, as seen in the radial direction, aligned on the circumference of a single circle and may have a stator tooth projecting radially inward. If a stator core configured as described above has a rotor disposed therein and the rotor is driven, the attraction caused between the rotor and the stator core varies for some position and the rotor may vibrate or contact the stator teeth.
If any of divided stator cores is rotated and thus fixed, the divided stator core and a divided stator core adjacent thereto have a gap therebetween, resulting in a magnetic resistance higher than that between other divided stator cores. This causes variation in distribution of magnetic resistance in the stator core in a circumferential direction and in the fabricated stator core a magnetic flux deviates.

Stator core and rotating electric machine


The invention provides a logic circuit which has a sufficient load driving capacity even in its operation with a low power supply voltage and can operate at a high speed. In a next stage to a differential circuit having an output stage for which an emitter followers are used, a folding circuit in which a pair of transistors of a diode connection are used to raise the signal level of differential outputs of the differential circuit.

This invention relates to a logic circuit such as an OR/NOR circuit, an XOR/XNOR circuit, a selector circuit or a latch circuit, and more particularly to a logic circuit which can operate at a high speed with a low power supply voltage.
A demand to lower the operating voltage of a logic circuit is increasing from the point of view of refinement of a process or reduction of power consumption. Thus, a configuration of a conventional differential circuit which is a basic logic circuit is described first, and then restriction conditions to lower the operating voltage are described.
An example of circuit configuration of a differential circuit wherein a bipolar element is used is shown in FIG. 13. Referring to FIG. 13, the differential circuit shown includes differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 whose emitters are connected commonly, a current source I201 connected between the emitter common connecting point of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 and the ground, and a pair of resistors R201 and R202 connected between the collectors of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 and a power supply line (power supply voltage VCC), respectively.
A circuit of a form which includes the differential circuit or a modification to the differential circuit is generally referred to as ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic) circuit. It is to be noted that the following argument applies substantially similarly to a circuit which employs a MOS element. In the differential circuit shown in FIG. 13, a differential signal AP/AN inputted to the input terminals of the differential circuit determines a differential signal ZP/ZN from output terminals of the differential circuit. Although the logic operation of the differential circuit normally is that of a buffer circuit, actually the differential circuit otherwise operates also as a NOT circuit depending upon the correspondence between the signal levels and the logic values.
For example, if the relationship AP greater than AN between the potentials AP and AN at the input terminals corresponds to the xe2x80x9ctruexe2x80x9d of the logic value and the relationship ZP greater than ZN between the potentials ZP and ZN at the output terminals corresponds to the xe2x80x9ctruexe2x80x9d of the logic value, then the circuit of FIG. 13 operates as a mere buffer circuit. On the other hand, if the logic correspondence of the input or the output is reversed, for example, if ZP greater than ZN corresponds to the xe2x80x9cfalsexe2x80x9d of the logic value, then the same circuit now operates as a NOT circuit.
It is to be noted that this is a common technique used in configuration of a logic circuit which uses a differential signal. In other words, the logic reversal (NOT) can be implemented only by connecting a differential signal reversely.
Since a differential circuit by itself in most cases has an insufficient driving capacity for a load, an emitter follower is often added to an output stage of the differential circuit. In particular, referring to FIG. 14, the differential circuit shown in FIG. 13 additionally includes a series circuit of a transistor Q203 and a current source I202 and another series circuit of a transistor Q204 and a current source I203 connected in parallel to each other between the power supply line and the ground. The bases of the transistors Q203 and Q204 are connected to the collectors of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202, respectively, and a differential output is derived from the emitters of the transistors Q203 and Q204.
Where the configuration wherein the emitter follower transistors Q203 and Q204 are added to the output stage of the differential circuit in this manner is adopted, the output logic level drops by the base-emitter voltage VBE of the emitter follower transistors Q203 and Q204. Since a conventional ECL circuit uses a comparatively high voltage around 4.5 V as such power supply voltage VCC, the drop of such a voltage as mentioned above does not matter very much.
One of advantages of an ECL circuit is that, since it uses a technique of series gating or wired ORing of emitter followers, various logic functions can be realized without so much increasing the delay of a signal. In the following, several examples of such circuit are described.
The first example is a series gate AND circuit, and a circuit configuration of it is shown in FIG. 15. It is to be noted that, in FIG. 15, like elements to those of FIG. 13 are denoted by like reference characters. Referring to FIG. 15, the series gate AND circuit includes differential pair transistors Q205 and Q206 provided on the ground side with respect to the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 and having the emitters connected commonly.
The collector of the transistor Q205 is connected to the emitter common connecting point of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202, and the collector of the transistor Q206 is connected to the ZP side output terminal together with the collector of the transistor 0202. Further, the current source I201 is connected between the emitter common connecting point of the differential pair transistors Q205 and Q206 and the ground.
In the AND circuit having the configuration described above, where the potentials at the input terminals of the A system are represented by AP and AN and the potentials at the input terminals of the B system by BP and BN while the potentials at the output terminals by ZP and ZN, ZP  greater than ZN is satisfied only when AP  greater than AN and BP  greater than BN.
This condition can be written by a logic formula as
Z=ABxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
In the expression (1), the xe2x80x9ctruexe2x80x9d of the logic variable xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d is allocated to the state of AP  greater than AN. This similarly applies to xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cZxe2x80x9d. The mark xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d represents the logic AND.
Here, in order to prevent the transistor Q205 from being saturated, it is required that the signal level of the B system side be lower than that of the A system side. Although multi-stage series gating is possible with an ECL circuit, as the number of stages increases, a correspondingly lower logic level is required. Consequently, the number of stages of possible series gating is restricted.
Where the De Morgan theorem is used, the negation of the both sides of the expression (1) is given by
!Z=(AB)=!A!Bxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where xe2x80x9c!xe2x80x9d represents the reversal of the logic, and xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9d represents the logic OR. The expression (2) indicates that, if the correspondence of the inputs/outputs to the logic values is reversed, then the same circuit functions as a logic OR circuit.
As another method for realizing the logic OR, a wired OR connection or a collector dot is known. An example of OR circuit which employs a wired OR connection and a collector dot is shown in FIG. 16. Referring to FIG. 16, like elements to those of FIG. 14 are denoted by like reference characters, and the circuit shown in FIG. 16 adopts a quite same configuration of a differential circuit as that of FIG. 14 in which it has an emitter follower configuration at an output stage thereof.
Meanwhile, the emitter common connecting point of the differential pair transistors Q205 and Q206 is connected to the ground through a current source I204. The collector of the transistor Q205 is connected to the collector of the transistor Q201. The connecting point between the two collectors is a collector dot. Meanwhile, the collector of the transistor Q206 is connected to the power supply line through a resistor R203.
The base of a transistor Q207 is connected to the collector of the transistor Q206. The collector of the transistor Q207 is connected to the power supply line, and the emitter of the transistor Q207 is connected commonly to the emitter of the transistor Q204. The connection of the emitters is a wired OR connection and connected to the ground through the current source I203.
In the circuit configuration described above, the potential ZP at the output terminal connected to the wired OR connection depends upon a higher one of base voltages at the transistor Q204 and the transistor Q207, but is lower by the base-emitter voltage VBE than the higher base voltage. Therefore, if the state wherein the base potential is higher is regarded as logic true, then the wired OR connection acts as a logic OR circuit.
A wired OR connection can be modified to accept multiple inputs readily, and to this end, it is only required to merely connect emitter follower outputs of n ECL circuits. The number n of ECL circuits may be a considerable great number, and, for example, n=8 can be permitted sufficiently. If an excessively great number of transistors are connected by a wired OR connection, then this gives rise to a problem that not only the parasitic capacitance becomes so high as to make the circuit operation slow but also the DC amplitude becomes small.
Since a reversed signal cannot be produced merely by a wired OR connection, in order to obtain a differential output, a circuit called collector dot described above is used frequently in combination with a wired OR connection. Since the potential at the collector common connecting point of the transistors Q201 and Q205 which is a collector dot exhibits a high level when both of the transistors Q201 and Q205 are off, the negation of the wired OR is produced.
The low level of the potential at the collector dotting differs depending upon whether only one of the transistors Q201 and Q205 is on or both of them are on. If an n-input logic circuit is produced directly in this manner, then the low level is separated into n different levels and has an n-fold amplitude at the maximum. This amplitude variation is unsuitable for high-speed operation, and in order to prevent the low level from becoming excessively low, a diode is sometimes connected in parallel to a resistor. However, the clipping voltage in this instance in most cases becomes excessively high.
A latch circuit which employs an ECL circuit popularly uses a latched comparator circuit configuration. An example of circuit configuration of a latched comparator circuit is shown in FIG. 17.
Referring to FIG. 17, the latched comparator circuit shown includes differential pair transistors Q301 and Q302 whose emitters are connected commonly, differential pair transistors Q303 and Q304, and differential pair transistors Q305 and Q306. The collectors of the differential pair transistors Q301 and Q302 are connected to a power supply Vcc through resistors R301 and R302, respectively.
The collector and the base of the transistor Q303 are connected to the collectors of the differential pair transistors Q301 and Q302, respectively, and the collector and the base of the transistor Q304 are connected to the collectors of the transistor Q302 and Q301, respectively. The collectors of the differential pair transistors Q305 and Q306 are connected to the emitter common connecting points of the differential pair transistors Q301 and Q302 and the differential pair transistors Q303 and Q304, respectively. The emitter common connecting point of the differential pair transistors Q305 and Q306 is connected to the ground through a current source I301.
When the potential CLKN at a clock input terminal of the latch circuit having such a latched comparator circuit configuration as described above keeps the high level, the transistor Q305 is on, and the latch circuit acts as a buffer. When the potential CLKP at the other clock input terminal of the latch circuit changes from the low level to the high level, the gain of the differential pair transistors Q301 and Q302 decreases gradually, and states of the potentials ZP and ZN at output terminals of the latch circuit at the point of time are inherited to a latch circuit (positive feedback circuit) formed from the differential pair transistors Q303 and Q304.
Now, it is examined to which level the power supply voltage VCC can be lowered with an ECL circuit. If the input signal level to the circuit shown in FIG. 13 is at the VCC level, then the emitter potential of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 is VCCxe2x88x92VBE. Where the lowest operation enabling voltage of the current source I201 is represented by VTC, it is necessary to satisfy the following expression (3):
VCCxe2x88x92VBE greater than VTCxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3)
Actually, since a margin equal to approximately one half (depending upon the signal waveform) of the logic amplitude VSW of the input signal is necessary, the condition to determine the lowest operating voltage for the differential pair is given by
VCC greater than VBE+(VSW/2)+VTCxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4)
In the emitter follower of FIG. 14, since the logic amplitude VSW has an influence directly on the operating voltage of the current source I202, the lowest operating voltage is a little more severer and given by
VCC greater than VBE+VSW+VTCxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(5)
However, where the output of the circuit of FIG. 14 drives a differential pair in the next stage, the condition for the power supply voltage VCC becomes severer by an amount corresponding to the base-emitter voltage VBE. The reason is that, as can be recognized from an imaginary connection of the output terminals to the input terminals of the circuit of FIG. 14, the emitter potential of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 becomes equal to VCCxe2x88x922VBE, and therefore, the condition given by
VCC greater than 2VBE+(VSW/2)+VTCxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(6)
is required. In particular, although the emitter follower can operate itself in the proximity of the lowest power supply voltage of the ECL circuit, it can not drive anything. In other words, the power supply voltage of the expression (4) merely allows adoption of a logic configuration of direct coupling of a differential pair.
Now, a series gating of transistors is considered. Referring to FIG. 15, the emitter potential of the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 is VCCxe2x88x92VBE at the highest. The emitter potential of the transistors Q203 and Q204 must be lower than VCCxe2x88x92VBExe2x88x92VSAT if the lowest VSAT (saturation voltage) with which the transistors can operate is assured. Therefore, the condition is given by
VCC greater than VBE+VSAT+(VSW/2)+VTCxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(7)
Where a logic circuit is formed from an ECL circuit, the restriction provided by the expression (4) is very severe because it allows formation only of a buffer. The restriction provided by the expression (7) seems to be a limit for practical use. Quantitatively, for a bipolar element, VBExe2x89xa10.9 V (when the temperature is low), VSAT xe2x89xa10.3 V, VSWxe2x89xa10.2 V, and VTCxe2x89xa10.5 V or so. By substituting the values into the expression (7),
VCC greater than 1.8 Vxe2x80x83xe2x80x83(8)
is determined as an operation limit of a bipolar ECL circuit.
Various means are required to configure a logic circuit which achieves the limit voltage given above. First, in order to use the limit of the saturation voltage VSAT, a potential lower by the saturation voltage VSAT than the power supply voltage VCC is required as an operation point of the B system side of FIG. 15. This can be realized by configuring a level shift circuit which includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, a resistor R204 connected between power supply side end portions of the resistors R201 and R201 and the power supply line such that, where the resistance value of the resistor R204 is represented by R and the current value of the current source I201 is represented by I, Rxe2x80xa2I=VSAT may be satisfied.
In the level shift circuit of the configuration described above, it is required that the differential pair transistors Q201 and Q202 be not saturated with the input potential to the A system side. In order to satisfy the requirement, according to circumferences, it is necessary to connect a plurality of such circuits as shown in FIG. 18 in series gating in several stages to gradually lower the signal level.
It is another problem in achievement of the expression (7) that an emitter follower cannot be used. In order to increase the driving capacity, it is necessary to increase the current of the differential circuit. This, however, increases the number of input fan-ins. In order to drive many loads, after all it is obliged to connect a plurality of buffers of differential pairs in successive stages. This increases not only current consumption but also the number of elements. In this manner, the fact that an emitter follower cannot be used imposes a heavy burden in circuit design.
A logic circuit for a low voltage is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,387. The logic circuit is not up-to-date in that it requires a special element such as a Schottky diode. Further, a systematic logic circuit system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,055. The logic circuit system is characterized in that it operates at a comparatively high speed when the load is low.
However, since the logic circuit system uses two sets of logic levels in its essential part, the circuit operates substantially in single operation. Accordingly, in order to assure a DC margin of a signal, the logic amplitude must be set greater than that of a differential circuit. This is disadvantageous in speed and also in lowering of a power supply voltage. In a circuit wherein the logic circuit system is used for a latch, a rising/falling waveform or phase displacement of a differential signal of a clock has a significant influence on the latch characteristic. Therefore, the circuit is inferior in repeatability of operation and cannot be used readily as a component of a large scale logic circuit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-speed logic circuit which has a sufficient load driving capacity even in its operation with a low power supply voltage.
In order to attain the object described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a logic circuit comprising a drive circuit having an output stage of an emitter follower configuration or a source follower configuration, and a folding circuit including a transistor of a diode connection having a first terminal (for example, the emitter or the source) connected to an emitter follower output terminal or source follower output terminal of the drive circuit and a second terminal (for example, the collector or the drain) connected to a power supply line through a resistor.
In the logic circuit, the folding circuit in which the transistor of a diode connection is used is provided in the next stage to the differential circuit whose output stage has the emitter follower configuration (or source follower configuration) The transistor of a diode connection (the diode of the logic level) acts to raise the signal level of the emitter follower output (or source follower output) by a voltage corresponding to a voltage between the base and the emitter (or between the gate and the source) of the transistor. In this instance, since both of the transistor of the emitter follower (or source follower) and the transistor of a diode connection are normally in an on-state, the folding circuit operates at a very high speed similarly to an ordinary emitter follower (or source follower). Consequently, the logic circuit can operate at a very high speed with a sufficient load driving capacity even in operation with a low power supply voltage.


A device for detaching a tooth root. The device comprises: a lead screw having a threaded point for screwing into the tooth root, and a threaded shaft; a pivoting member including a bore through which the lead screw passes, the lead screw being retractable through the bore by rotational engagement of a threaded member with the threaded shaft of the lead screw; and a platform for supporting the pivoting member such that the lead screw is able to pivot relative to the platform, The lead screw includes a locking surface for preventing rotation of the lead screw during rotational engagement of the threaded member with the threaded shaft.

Any references to methods, apparatus or documents of the prior art are not to be taken as constituting any evidence or admission that they formed, or form part of the common general knowledge.
Tooth extraction is associated with dimensional changes of the alveolar ridge. Bone resorption can occur in both a horizontal and vertical direction. These resorptive changes can continue for the life of the patient.
Fixed crown and bridgework is often the treatment modality of choice for replacement of missing teeth. Crowns can be supported from implants inserted into the actual tooth socket following tooth extraction. Alternatively, bridges can be used whereby the crown used to replace the missing tooth or teeth is suspended from an adjacent natural tooth or an adjacent dental implant. This is called a "pontic" crown.
Removable dentures can also be used to replace a missing tooth or teeth. Patients generally prefer a fixed solution to replace missing teeth as it is more similar in function to natural teeth.
Continued resorption of bone and gum around fixed crown and bridgework can severely compromise the aesthetic outcome of dental treatment. As the gum shrinks away from the teeth interproximally, annoying food traps are created. This inevitable atrophy following tooth loss can be particularly destructive under removable dentures. Pain can occur as the denture impinges on a reduced soft tissue base and retention of this prosthesis can be diminished with time.
This resorption of hard and soft tissues is inevitable after tooth extraction using current extraction techniques. Over the years a number of different approaches have been undertaken to address this problem. The gold standard for many years has been the addition of de-proteinized bovine bone to or adjacent to the tooth socket to offset this resorptive process. Connective Tissue Grafts have also been used extensively to increase the gum thickness to disguise this atrophy.
A newer technique to combat this problem is the "Socket Shield" technique. The socket shield technique involves leaving a buccal root segment that remains in place to avoid resorption of buccal bone and gum. A dental implant is placed behind the buccal root and is used to affix a dental crown.
A variant of this technique known as the "Pontic Shield" technique can be used to preserve the alveolar ridge under a dental bridge. A pontic crown is suspended over the extraction socket with a retained portion of the buccal root.
The present inventor believes that the Socket Shield technique is difficult for the dentist to perform and traumatic for the patient since it typically involves cutting the tooth into sectors and then drilling and levering sectors behind the buccal root segment from the bone. Such operations are time consuming and may be traumatic for the patient; often there is inadvertent damage to the site for the implantation and to the surrounding gum tissue. Mobility of the shield can also result when the sectors are removed causing the procedure to be abandoned. Only the buccal bone is supported by the tooth root and not the palatal bone. This may lead to a future atrophy of the palatal bone and gum. Furthermore, depending on the tooth involved, it is difficult for the dental surgeon to ascertain the desired geometry for the buccal root segment. Infection can develop if this geometry is incorrect and the shield extends to close the root apex. Whilst the Socket Shield technique can be performed on front teeth, it is more difficult to perform on teeth toward the back of the jaw because of limited access and complicated root morphology.
Migration and or exposure of the shield can also occur during the provisional stage of treatment as the shield is not secured to the implant itself.
Furthermore, a problem with tooth root extraction devices that may be used in such procedures is that when used forces may be applied to the screw in undesirable directions, which can cause the screw to bend or break, or cause the tooth root to break, which is clearly undesirable.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that addresses one or more of the above problems.


Provided is an electromagnetic acoustic transducer including a main body formed of a non-metal material and having a hollow portion, a magnetic field generation portion generating two magnetic fields parallel to a lengthwise direction of the rod member and in opposite directions to each other, at both sides of the rod member that is inserted in the hollow portion of the main body, and a coil wound around an outer circumferential surface of the main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT), and more particularly, to an EMAT which can generate and measure a bending vibration in a rod member by generating a magnetic field around the rod member and converting wave energy transferred to the rod member into electric energy or transferring a wave to the rod member by inducing a change in the magnetic field.
2. Description of the Related Art
EMATs refer to devices which can operate as a non-contact sensor and an actuator using Lorentz's force, an electromagnetic induction phenomenon, and an electromagnetic phenomenon such as an eddy current. In particular, since the use of EMATs enables a non-destructive non-contact testing of a material, the applicable fields of the EMATs have gradually increased.
However, the applicable fields of the EMATs have been limited to the measurement of axial shear waves or torsional waves in a rod member and longitudinal waves or transverse waves in a plate member. That is, no EMAT capable of measuring a bending vibration acting on a rod member or generating a bending vibration in the rod member has yet been developed.

Electromagnetic acoustic transducer for generating and measuring bending vibration in rod member using anti-symmetric magnetic field structure

Seoul National University Industry Foundation


A diabetes care system for detection of an analyte and method for selective data transmission are disclosed. The diabetes care system has a mobile component and a base station, wherein a data transmission occurring between the mobile component and the base station within a time interval in which a wireless communication link exists, wherein is selectively performed in such a manner that within the time interval, a first partial set of the data is transmitted from the mobile component to the base station. The first partial set is selected using a processor-controlled selection algorithm in such a manner that the data transmitted in the time interval is representative of the entirety of the data stored in the mobile component.

Diabetes care systems are used for detecting analytes relevant for the treatment of diabetes mellitus in the human body and/or for treatment, in particular by injection of medicaments. Important examples are blood glucose meters or insulin pumps. Modern diabetes care systems support their users by logging performed actions and thus providing them for later analysis. In this manner, so-called "history files" are created in the course of a longer usage duration.
Like the log data of executed actions, analysis data may also be stored in diabetes care systems. Especially in analysis systems which are wearable on the body (invasive or noninvasive) and implantable in the body, a frequent, even practically continuous measurement and determination of the analytes occurs, in which a large quantity of measurement and/or analysis data are obtained. The temporarily stored data must be transmitted from time to time to a base station, such as a PC.
For this purpose, wired interfaces or wireless interfaces having corresponding interface protocols are frequently used in devices wearable on the body. In implanted devices, the data transmission is always performed wirelessly, of course. In "classical" data transmission, all of the data material present is typically downloaded. A sequential transmission occurs, the data being transmitted in the sequence of their generation (first-in-first-out) or in the reverse sequence of generation (last-in-first-out).
In this classical procedure, it is assumed that the data link exists at least for the duration of the transmission of all data. It may typically not be interrupted. The user is conscious that the data transmission occurs, because he has actively initiated the transmission and monitors the procedure. The software used for data transmission typically also indicates the course of the transmission, for example, as a graphic and/or as a percentage number.
This transmission of the data is perceived by the users as quite uncomfortable. They see themselves as "bound" to the base station, because the transmission may not be interrupted and they may not move away from the base station during the data transmission.
To increase the operator comfort, systems are required in which the communication between the mobile component, which is wearable on or in the body, and the base station is designed as "on-demand", without having to be initiated or monitored by the user. A wireless communication occurs automatically when the user brings the mobile component in proximity to the base station. The devices recognize the proximity of the particular partner component automatically. Establishing the link is therefore very comfortable and user-friendly for the user.
A data transmission can only be performed when the user stays close enough to the base station. The link duration which is available for a communication of this type between a mobile component worn on the body and the base station changes as a function of the dwell time of the user in proximity to the base station. The time duration usable for data transmission is thus unknown to the system. Using the diabetes care systems known in the prior art, reliable data transmission is not possible in the event of varying and unknown link duration.
In addition, special problems exist with the use of diabetes care systems:                On one hand, these systems assume widely important vital medical functions with high complexity. Intervention in the regulation system of the human body, as can be performed on the basis of the data obtained by such systems or by the systems directly, is otherwise typically performed by highly qualified medical personnel and under their continuous observation, for example, in an intensive care unit. However, the operator of the diabetes care system, such as an insulin pump, is the patient, who is typically a medical layperson and who can not completely oversee the effects of an intervention in the system.        On the other hand, diabetics only have restricted power of movement and reduced attentiveness because of their illness, especially in the advanced stage. This can result in malfunctions and incorrect settings of the device or can result in deviating settings, such as an incorrectly regulated insulin dose, not being noted. This can cause severe health damage in the patients. It is also important for this reason to log the actions of the patient and transmit them regularly to a base station, which can assume analysis and alarm functions.
Because of the problems described above, there is a significant risk that with a wireless communication link between the device carried by the person and the base station, the entire link duration for complete transmission of all data cannot be reliably ensured.

Diabetes care system for detection of an analyte and method for selective data transmission


An automatic coffee machine has a flow heater (1) for preparing hot water, a facility for feeding coffee powder into a percolator, consisting of a percolating chamber (14) formed by a stationary tube section (8) arranged with a vertical axis and two stoppers (12, 13) located at least partly within the flow heater (1), and an axial drive for moving the upper stopper (12) in the direction of the tube section (8) axis, a drive for moving the upper stopper (12) into the parked and stand-by positions relative to said axis, as well as a vertical drive for the lower stopper (13). The upper stopper (12) is mounted on a pivot arm (24) which can be pivoted about a bearing (25) which is fixed in position. The drive for moving the upper stopper (12) into the parked and stand-by positions is an actuator. The upper stopper (12) is constructed in one piece and can be moved in a sealing manner into the tube section (8), by means of the axial drive which is mounted on the pivot arm (24), to achieve the percolating position.

An automatic coffee machine is understood to be a machine in which the processes of grinding the coffee powder, feeding the coffee powder into the percolating chamber, the percolating process itself and the discharge of the used coffee powder as well as the discharge of the used and compressed coffee block of coffee powder is all performed automatically without needing any one of these or any other procedures to be triggered or supported by manual instruction. However, it is understood that for carrying out a cycle, the automatic coffee machine needs to be activated by pressing a button or similar means. The invention may also be used for percolator a large quantity of fresh coffee automatically.
An automatic coffee machine of the above described type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,333. The upper stopper in the percolator is in this case supported on a slide which in turn can be moved horizontally on a cover section of the flow heater, constructed as a slideway. A linear drive for moving the upper stopper backwards and forwards into the parked and stand-by positions along the axis of the tube section is provided for this. An axial drive for moving the upper stopper in the direction of the axis of the tube section is mounted on the slide and travels with it, whereby these two drives are actuated one after the other. The upper stopper is constructed in two pieces and consists of a carrier part and a partially wedge-shaped centering part which supports a single seal, on the one hand, for closing the percolating chamber, as well as for sealing the inlet of the hot water on the other. The centering part is mounted on the carrier part so that it has limited movement both axially and radially in order to enable self-centering on the upper edge of the tube section, upon which the seal is seated after centering by means of the centering part as a stop and valve seat. At the same time as doing this, the percolating chamber on the one hand, and the hot water inlet on the other, are sealed. The lower stopper, built like a piston and guided within the tube section, also has a vertical drive with a double-action, hydraulically actuated piston. With this known automatic coffee machine the exact positioning of the upper stopper on the axis of the tube section of the percolator is only possible through the two-piece construction of the upper stopper. The linear drive, moving exactly radially with respect to the axis of the tube section, must be built relatively large because the drive elements which engage with the upper stopper, as well as the associated motor, must be mounted on the side of the upper stopper facing away from the tube section in order that, for example, in the parked position, the upper opening of the tube section is not wrongly adjusted so that, for example, the coffee powder may be introduced unhindered into the internal chamber of the tube section. Owing to the large size of the design for the drive and a necessary support it is difficult to transfer the upper stopper into the stand-by position with sufficient accuracy. In addition, differing temperatures, i.e. hot or cold condition, have an expansion/contraction effect on the linear drive. The large amount of space required for this linear drive is a nuisance in many cases, especially in the case of preparing narrow subassemblies for combined machines. The slide also increases the mass to be moved. It must be driven laterally, i.e. outside its center of gravity, meaning a disadvantage, and this troublesome form of construction presupposes that the cover section of the flow heater is designed as a slideway. Further, the hydraulic vertical drive for the lower stopper requires a multiplicity of seals and solenoid valves which can lead to faults. Achieving accurate, reproducible positions for the lower stopper relative to the axis of the percolator and the controllability of these positions is also only possible to a limited degree.
Another automatic coffee machine is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,845. Here too, the percolator has a tube section which is arranged with a vertical axis and partly located already in the flow heater housing so that an essentially constant discharge temperature for the coffee beverage is achieved independently from the chronological sequence of individual percolating cycles. A one-piece upper stopper is used in conjunction with this tube section, whereby said stopper is arranged so that it can move, by means of a single drive, not only radially to the axis of the tube section of the percolating chamber, but also in the direction of the axis of the tube section. The stopper itself is constructed wedge-shaped and provided with a seal which merely fulfils the function of sealing the percolating chamber at the top because the hot water inlet is provided in the area of the lower stopper. The lower stopper is also constructed wedge-shaped and provided with a seal. However, such a percolating chamber with wedge-shaped stoppers has the disadvantage that it is not possible to move these stoppers like a piston within the tube section and, for example, to pre-compress the coffee introduced in loose (powder) form into a block. Compression of the coffee until it is dry and discharge in the dry state are also not possible. By virtue of the wedge-shaped design of the two stoppers, accurate positioning relative to the axis of the tube section is only required to a limited degree.
Another automatic coffee machine is known from WO 82 01 120. The percolating chamber, comprising a stationary tube section with vertical axis, is provided there within a support plate which is connected via a construction comprising guide rods to a second support plate. Hydraulically actuated piston/cylinder units are provided in the second support plate and said units assist in moving into the tube section two piston-type stoppers at each end of the tube section or in moving said stoppers inside said tube section. Consequently, the problem of the accurate axial positioning of the stoppers does not occur here because both stoppers can only be moved axially. In addition, a pivoting funnel piece is provided which serves for introducing the ground coffee powder from the side into the percolating chamber and for discharging the block of used coffee from the percolating chamber.


Methods, electrodes, and sensors for chlorine species sensing using pseudo-graphite are disclosed. In one illustrative embodiment, a method may include coating a pseudo-graphite material onto a surface of an electrode substrate to produce a pseudo-graphite surface. The method may also include exposing the pseudo-graphite surface to a sample to detect chlorine species in the sample.

The present disclosure relates to electrodes for chlorine species detection, and more particularly to the utilization of pseudo-graphite electrodes for the detection of chlorine species.
Generally, some electrodes in a sensor are capable of detecting chlorine species, for example, chlorine species such as hypochlorite in a liquid. The electrodes may be utilized to detect a concentration of chlorine species in the liquid by applying an electrical potential through the electrode and measuring a resultant signal. However, most of these electrodes have high cost and low performance. Additionally, the electrode performance may be reduced due to fouling of the electrode or environmental interferences.

Chlorine species sensing using pseudo-graphite


The invention is directed to a catheter that creates enhanced lesions using a needle electrode and can simultaneously map electrical activity at a plurality of points using an enhanced mapping assembly. The catheter comprises an elongated catheter body having at least one lumen extending longitudinally therethrough. A needle control handle is provided at the proximal end of the catheter body. A needle electrode assembly extends through the catheter body and needle control handle and has a proximal end attached to the needle control handle and a distal end within the distal end of the catheter body. A mapping assembly is mounted at the distal end of the catheter body and comprises at least two flexible spines. Each spine has a proximal end attached at the distal end of the catheter body and a free distal end. Each spine carries at least one electrode. The distal end of the needle electrode assembly is extendable past the proximal end of the mapping assembly upon manipulation of the needle control handle.

Radiofrequency (RF) ablation of cardiac and other tissue is a well known method for creating thermal injury lesions at the tip of an electrode. Radiofrequency current is delivered between a skin (ground) patch and the electrode. Electrical resistance at the electrode-tissue interface results in direct resistive heating of a small area, the size of which depends upon the size of the electrode, electrode tissue contact, and current (density). See Avitall B, Helms R. Determinants or Radiofrequency-Induced Lesion Size in Huang S K S, Wilber D J (eds.): Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias: Basic Concepts and Clinical Applications, 2nd ed. Armonk, N.Y., Futura Publishing Company, Inc., 2000: 47-80. Further tissue heating results from conduction of heat within the tissue to a larger zone. Tissue heated beyond a threshold of approximately 50-55° C. is irreversibly injured (ablated). See Nath S, and Haines DE. Pathophysiology of Lesion Formation by Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation, in Huang SKS, Wilber D J (eds.): Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias: Basic Concepts and Clinical Applications, 2nd ed. Armonk, N.Y., Futura Publishing Company, Inc., 2000: 26-28.
Resistive heating is caused by energy absorption due to electrical resistance. Energy absorption is related to the square of current density and inversely with tissue conductivity. Current density varies with conductivity and voltage and inversely with the square of radius from the ablating electrode. Therefore, energy absorption varies with conductivity, the square of applied voltage, and inversely with the fourth power of radius from the electrode. Resistive heating, therefore, is most heavily influenced by radius, and penetrates a very small distance from the ablating electrode. The rest of the lesion is created by thermal conduction from the area of resistive heating. See Lin J, Physical Aspects of Radiofrequency Ablation, in Huang SKS, Wilber D J (eds.): Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias: Basic Concepts and Clinical Applications, 2nd ed. Armonk, N.Y., Futura Publishing Company, Inc., 2000: 14-17. This imposes a limit on the size of ablation lesions that can be delivered from a surface electrode.
Theoretical methods to increase lesion size would include increasing electrode diameter, increasing the area of electrode contact with tissue, increasing tissue conductivity and penetrating the tissue to achieve greater depth and increase the area of contact, and delivering RF until maximal lesion size has been achieved (60-90 seconds for full maturation).
The electrode can be introduced to the tissue of interest directly (for superficial/skin structures), surgically, endoscopically, laparoscopically or using percutaneous transvascular (catheter-based) access. Catheter ablation is a well-described and commonly performed method by which many cardiac arrhythmias are treated. See Miller J M, Zipes D P. Management of the Patient with Cardiac Arrhythmias. In Braunwald E, Zipes D, Libby P (eds): Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, 6th Ed. Philadelphia, Pa., W.B. Saunders Company, 2001: p742-752. Needle electrodes have been described for percutaneous or endoscopic ablation of solid-organ tumours, lung tumours, and abnormal neurologic structures. See, for example, McGahan J P, Schneider P, Brock J M, Tesluk H. Treatment of Liver Tumors by Percutaneous Radiofrequency Electrocautery. Seminars in Interventional Radiology 1993; 10: 143-149; Rossi S, Fonari F, Buscarini L. Percutaneous Ultrasound-Guided Radiofrequency Electrocautery for the Treatment of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma. J Intervent Radiol 1993; 8: 97-103; and Livraghi T, Goldberg S N, Lazzaroni S, Meloni F, Monti F, Solbiati L. Saline-enhanced RF tissue ablation in the treatment of liver Metastases. Radiology 1995; 197(P): 140 (abstr)].
Catheter ablation is sometimes limited by insufficient lesion size. See de Bakker J M T, van Capelle F J L, Janse M J et al. Macroreentry in the infarcted human heart: mechanism of ventricular tacycardias with a "focal" activation pattern. J Am Coll Cardiol 1991; 18:1005-1014; Kaltenbrunner W, Cardinal R, Dubuc M et al. Epicardial and endocardial mapping of ventricular tachycardia in patients with myocardial infarction. Is the origin of the tachycardia always subendocardially localized? Circulation 1991; 84: 1058-1071. Stevenson W G, Friedman P L, Sager P T et al. Exploring postinfarction reentrant ventricular tachycardia with entrainment mapping. J Am coll Cardiol 1997; 29: 1180-1189. Ablation of tissue from an endovascular approach results not only in heating of tissue, but of heating of the electrode. When the electrode reaches critical temperatures, denaturation of blood proteins causes coagulum formation. Impedance can then rise and limit current delivery. Within tissue, overheating can cause evaporation of tissue or blood water and steam bubble formation (steam "pops") with risk of uncontrolled tissue destruction or undesirable perforation of bodily structures. In cardiac ablation, clinical success is sometimes hampered by inadequate lesion depth and transverse diameter even when using catheters with active cooling of the tip. See Soejima K, Delacretaz E, Suzuki M et al. Saline-cooled versus standard radiofrequency catheter ablation for infarct-related ventricular tachycardias. Circulation 2001; 103:1858-1862. Theoretical solutions have included increasing the electrode size (increasing contact surface and increasing convective cooling by blood flow), improving electrode-tissue contact, actively cooling the electrode with fluid infusion, changing the material composition of the electrode to improve current delivery to tissue, and pulsing current delivery to allow intermittent cooling.
Needle electrodes improve contact with tissue and allow deep penetration of current delivery to areas of interest. Ablation may still be hampered by the small surface area of the needle electrode such that heating occurs at low power, and small lesions are created.
Additionally, it is desirable to map the electrical activity in the heart before, during or after ablation. If the mapping can be performed with the same catheter used for ablation, the user avoids the need for catheter exchange. Moreover, it is desirable to include a mapping assembly on the catheter comprising a plurality of electrodes that can be used to simultaneously map electrical activity at different positions within the heart to provide more efficient mapping.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Catheter with ablation needle and mapping assembly


This invention discloses a semiconductor test structure array comprising a plurality of unit cells for containing devices under test (DUT) arranged in an addressable array, and an access-control circuitry within each unit cell for controlling accesses to one or more DUTs, wherein the access-control circuitry comprises at least four identical controlled transmission gates (CTGs), and a plurality of the access-control circuitries are isomorphic.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit (IC) designs, and, more particularly, to a test structure array that can accommodate various types of test structures.
In state-of-the-art Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) logic processes, variations of device electrical parameters resulting from the lithographic proximity, etching loading effect among the various pattern density area, chemical-mechanical polishing non-planarization, etc., are dominating and worsening the variability of circuit performance as well as degrading the product yield. In order to sustain circuit performances and product yields, foundries provide process characteristic related design rule sets, which are often called Recommended Rules (Rrules). The more complex the processes are, the more device and process parameters are needed to be characterized.
Traditionally, production monitoring test chips are placed in small scribe lines between product dies. But its limited space cannot accommodate large numbers of test devices. The space required for large number of test devices is only found on large test chips, usually processed on a single fab lot for characterization purposes. While using the test chips is useful, they provide no assistance for on-going production monitoring nor to help debug actual circuits that are not built onto the test chips.
Although the number of test devices is increasing, field size of photolithography is still unchanged at a limiting 33×26 mm2. To compromise the limited photolithography field size and the need to characterize a large number of test devices, various test vehicle design methodologies adopting addressable array and multiplexed cell accesses have been proposed.
Individual test devices normally occupy a very small area. If placing them in an addressable array, i.e., a test device that forms a part of a unit cell of the array, then a large quantity of test devices can be accommodated in a two dimensional space, yet can still be addressed by a small number of addresses. Multiplexed cell accesses are for switching access to a larger number of test devices through a small number of input/output nodes, which are known as the 'probe pads' on a probe card.
However, as each test device has different connections, if a corresponding control circuit is also different from one unit cell to another, then designing a large array of unit cells containing various test devices will be a substantial endeavor and often not practical. Besides, additional parasitic resistance introduced by the multiplexing scheme can also prohibit many kinds of measurements due to excessive background leakage.
As such, there is a need for a multiplexed addressable test structure array with a common unit cell construction, which can minimize effects caused by parasitic resistance and non-linear characteristic of a multiplexing scheme.

Versatile semiconductor test structure array

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


The balanced vane hydraulic pump designed for automotive power steering applications employs a two-piece aluminum housing construction, a cam ring, rotor flow regulating valve, a high pressure gallery, and a pressure plate, all located in the rear housing section, and a set of needle bearings located in the front housing section for supporting the pump drive shaft from one end only. The pressure plate has a sculpted portion which communicates with the cam ring side of the pressure plate. The sculpted portion is a wishbone-shaped gallery and a low pressure area, recessed within the face of the pressure plate. The pressure plate also includes high pressure windows which deliver high pressure fluid from the cartridge to the high pressure gallery located within the rear portion of the pump housing. An important feature of the pressure plate is that it uses hydraulically balanced low pressure and high pressure passageways which are contoured to efficiently direct the moving fluid within the pump which aides in minimizing the loss of energy within the pump's passageways. The front housing member, rear housing member and also the pressure plate, all employ a common symmetrical wishbone-shaped gallery as a low pressure fluid passageway which causes balanced low pressure hydraulic fluid to be delivered to two pairs of two diametrically opposed inlet windows adjacent to the low pressure inlet sectors of the cam ring. In an alternative embodiment, a thrust plate is located in the front housing member and encompasses similar wishbone-type low pressure galleries.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to hydraulic power steering pumps of the balanced vane type for use in automotive or mobile equipment applications, and in particular to hydraulic, power steering pumps having balanced low-pressure porting and a pressure plate.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional balanced vane hydraulic pumps used in power steering applications have a generally cylindrical steel rotor with multiple vanes rotating within an oval path that is machined into a powdered iron cam ring. This mechanical arrangement is shown in simplified form in FIG. 1, where the rotor 20 has ten vanes 21-30 which rotate under power provided through a splined drive shaft 31. The outer edges of the vanes 21-30 are generally beveled or otherwise sharpened to a straight edge, and follow the generally elliptical machined inner surface 32 of cam ring 34 which is held in place relative to the pump housing (not shown in FIG. 1) by locator pins 36 and 38. The outer shape 40 of cam ring 34 is normally cylindrical. The high pressure outlet ports or "windows" 42 and 44 are shown in dashed lines at the top and bottom of the cam ring diametrically opposite to one another. The direction of pressure outlet ports or "windows" 42 and 44 are shown in dashed lines at the top and bottom of the cam ring diametrically opposite to one another. The direction of rotor rotation is Clockwise as indicated by arrow 45 in FIG. 1. The inlet ports or windows 46 and 48 are shown in dashed and solid lines and are diametrically opposite to one another, on the left side and right side respectively of cam ring 34.
In a conventional balanced vane pump, each vane is pressed outwardly against the inner surface 32 of the cam ring 34 by centrifugal force, and slides in and out within its own radially-aligned slot in rotor 20, as it spins around the cam ring. Hydraulic assist is provided via high pressure hydraulic fluid ported to undervane holes 51-60 in the rotor, which are respectively associated with vanes 21-30, and are part of the undervane porting system, to help ensure that the vanes faithfully track the inner surface 32 of the cam ring 34.
FIG. 2 is a hydraulic diagram showing the fluid circuit coupling the two sets of diametrically-opposed ports or windows. Outlet ports 42 and 44 are respectively connected by conduits 62 and 64 to a common high pressure gallery 65. Inlet ports 46 and 48 are connected by conduits 66 and 68 to a common low pressure gallery 69. High pressure hydraulic fluid discharged from ports 42 and 44 flows as indicated by broad arrows 72 and 74 into one stream of fluid indicated by arrow 75 to a pressure relief and flow control valve (not shown in FIGS. 1 or 2) which is normally built into the pump housing. Low pressure fluid discharged from the relief valve or obtained from a hydraulic reservoir which is indicated by arrow 79, is divided into two flows indicated by arrow 76 and 78 and passed to the inlet ports 46 and 48.
The two discharge ports 42 and 44 are 180.degree. apart, as are the two inlet ports 46 and 48. Thus, pressures radially applied against the generally circular outer edge 80 of rotor 20 cancel each other. In this manner, forces on the rotor are largely balanced in a radial direction. Since two sets of ports are used, balanced vane pumps indicated by arrows 82 and 84 have two discharge or pumping quadrants or sectors 82 and 84, which discharge oil into outlet ports 42 and 44 respectively, and have two inlet quadrants or sectors, indicated by arrows 86 and 88, which respectively draw in fluid through inlet ports 46 and 48.
The displacement of a balanced vane pump, that is, its volumetric output per revolution, is fixed and depends on the width of the cam ring (which is the same as the width of the rotor), and the throw of the cam ring. Balanced vane pumps provide large displacements in a relatively small size package, especially since this type of pump can be operated at high speeds. Vane pumps are popular because of their small size, good efficiency, durability, capacity and speed ranges. Balanced vane pumps produce output pulsations that are low in amplitude, with a frequency corresponding to the number of vanes times the revolutions per second of the pump shaft. Conventional vane pumps are fairly quiet, but are known to whine at high speed.
Power steering pumps of the balanced vane type used in the automotive industry and mobile equipment industry typically include a pump cartridge sandwiched between a pressure plate in the cover of the pump housing and a thrust plate in the body of the pump housing. The pump cartridge consists of these two plates, the cam ring, rotor, and vanes. Internal porting is provided in the pump which allows the high pressure hydraulic flow created by the pump as ft operates to bear against the pressure plate. The pressure plate in turn bears against the cam ring in order to control clearances as pressure output increases. Specifically, this provides hydraulic squeeze which maintains or even reduces the operating clearance provided between the cam ring, rotor and vanes on the one hand and the thrust plate or pressure plate on the other hand as the hydraulic pressure increases. In this manner, pump efficiency and pressures obtainable are increased since significant leakage from one pumping chamber to the next which otherwise would occur is prevented. However, the use of the pressure and thrust plate concept increases the costs of manufacturing a power steering pump since these parts must be machined and assembled.
For the last fifteen years or so within the automobile industry, there has been an intense desire to reduce weight and manufacturing costs while maintaining or improving upon car performance. It is the primary object of the invention described in the co-pending application to provide a simplified balanced vane power steering pump which satisfies these goals. In particular, primary objectives of that invention included the following:
(1) to reduce the weight of the power steering pump by making the pump from fewer parts, and by making sections of the housing from lightweight metal castings or other lightweight materials; PA1 (2) to reduce manufacturing costs of the power steering pump by eliminating some of the machining operations required to make the housing and cover of a conventional power steering pump; and PA1 (3) to reduce the noise levels produced by the power steering pump, particularly at high speeds where conventional pumps are known to whine, by using a radially and axially balanced low pressure and high pressure porting systems. PA1 (1) to provide a power steering pump with reduced cavitation at high speeds by reducing turbulence through the use of a sculpted pressure plate; and PA1 (2) to provide a power steering pump that utilizes a pressure plate and/or a thrust plate for improved pumping efficiency by providing balanced low pressure flow and smooth transition porting on both sides of each of the two low pressure regions within the pump.
Still other objectives of the invention in the co-pending application are to provide a power steering pump with reduced cavitation at high speeds by reducing turbulence through the use of contoured and generally symmetrical galleries and passages to deliver low-pressure hydraulic fluid to four inlet windows.
The primary objective of the invention described in this application includes the following:

Power steering pump with balanced porting


A method for fabricating thick metal integrated transmission lines and circuit topologies for microwave integrated circuits. Microstrip or coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line and circuit topologies may be fabricated on semiconductor or dielectric substrates. For microstrip transmission line topologies, a metal ground plane is applied to the opposite side of the substrate from the thick metal transmission line conductor structures. To fabricate a thick metal transmission line topology, a metal plating base is applied to a substrate surface. A photoresist layer, which may include a preformed photoresist sheet, is then applied over the plating base layer. The photoresist layer is exposed to X-rays, such as from a synchrotron, through a mask having an X-ray absorber pattern that defines the desired transmission line or circuit topology. The photoresist layer is then developed to remove sections of the photoresist layer corresponding to the mask pattern and to expose portions of the plating base layer. Thick metal transmission line circuit structures are then electroplated onto the plating base, into the wells formed by the developed photoresist layer. Transmission line thicknesses of approximately 5 .mu.m-1 mm, may thereby be formed, having highly vertical side walls. The method may be used to fabricate various microstrip and CWT transmission line and tightly coupled circuit topologies, including couplers, low-pass and band-pass filters, and resonators.

The microwave integrated circuit is a miniature form of microwave circuit used in advanced microwave radar and communication systems. Microwave integrated circuit structures represent an alternative to more conventional waveguide or coaxial based microwave circuit approaches that meets the need for miniaturization required by the space and weight limitations of modern adaptive radar and communication equipment. Such equipment uses many active channels to achieve system flexibility and complex data processing capabilities. The microwave integrated circuit concept exploits the small size of solid-state devices and their compatibility with a planar form of transmission line. Microwave integrated circuits are thus able to combine the advantages of conventional integrated circuits, e.g., small size, low weight, improved reliability, and reproducability at potentially low cost, with the bandwidth performance benefits of direct integration into the microwave integrated circuit of devices with low parasitic impedance.
A planar transmission line with acceptable microwave propagation characteristics for connections between circuit elements is a necessary provision for microwave integrated circuits. One type of transmission line commonly used in microwave integrated circuits is the microstrip line. The microstrip line typically includes a strip conductor deposited onto a flat dielectric substrate, the reverse side of which is metalized to provide a ground plane. Another type of transmission line used in microwave integrated circuits is the coplanar waveguide transmission line. The coplanar waveguide line includes a center strip conductor with ground planes located on each side of and in parallel with and in the plane of the center conductor strip. Other forms of microwave transmission lines used in microwave integrated circuits include the slot line, the fin-line, and variations of the microstrip line. The planar microstrip, coplanar waveguide, and other microwave transmission lines, are also ideally suited for the realization of printed circuit topologies such as filters, directional couplers, planar resonators, and other quite complicated circuit topologies.
Planar microwave transmission line circuit topologies, such as microstrip and coplanar waveguide transmission line circuit topologies, are fabricated using either a thin-film or thick-film process. Either process may be used to form metal transmission line circuit topologies on a substrate. Typical substrates can be of an inorganic, (e.g., ceramic), synthetic, semiconductor, or ferrite material.
The thin-film fabrication process may be implemented by what is called a liftoff process, or by a process which utilizes metallization, patterning, and metal etching. In the thin-film fabrication process, vacuum-evaporation evaporation (resistance-heating or electron-beam methods) or sputtering techniques are used to deposit a thin layer of metal on a substrate surface. Metalization of the substrate surface is usually achieved by first depositing a very thin film of chromium or nickel, to provide good adhesion, and then applying a thin film of gold or nickel by a vacuum evaporation technique. For microstrip transmission line circuit topologies, both sides of a substrate surface will be metalized, one metalized side of the substrate forming the ground plane. For coplanar waveguide transmission line circuit topologies, only one side of the substrate will be metalized. The thickness of the deposited metal is normally in the 0.1 to 10 .mu.m range. A photoresist layer is then applied over the metalized surface upon which the transmission line circuit topology is to be formed. The photoresist is typically dipped, sprayed, or spun on to the substrate using a centrifuge. Thin and uniform photoresist layers are obtainable by spinning on the photoresist, but the technique can only be used for small substrate sizes. The photoresist must typically be cured at a high temperature after it is applied to the metalized substrate.
A photographic mask, containing the details of the circuit topology to be fabricated, is then aligned onto the substrate, on top of the photoresist. The photoresist layer is then exposed to ultraviolet rays through the mask. The UV radiation must be parallel, and the photoresist layer thin, to ensure an accurate reproduction of the circuit topology pattern. By developing in a suitable chemical, either the UV exposed part of the photoresist layer (positive photoresist) or the non-exposed part (negative photoresist) is removed, exposing unwanted portions of the metalized surface beneath. The unwanted metal is then removed from the substrate by etching (or by a liftoff process). The structure is exposed to an acid that dissolves the exposed metal, but does not affect the remaining photoresist. In this manner, the transmission line circuit topology is formed on the substrate surface. The remaining photoresist is then removed with a solvent. The remaining metallic layer, now the transmission line circuit topology structure, may be thickened by electrolytic deposition of metal, or by a protective layer (for instance, gold) deposited onto the metal to prevent oxidation. All of the steps in the thin-film fabrication procedure must be carefully separated by rinsing and cleaning operations, sometimes followed by drying in an oven. Drying is particularly critical for synthetic substrates, since some of them tend to absorb water.
The objective of the thin-film fabrication technique is to realize a circuit topology having a pattern as similar as possible to the structure defined by the photographic mask. However, during the etching process, the acid does not remove the metal uniformly, but yields a trapezoidal cross-section instead of the rectangular one desired. This phenomenon of under-etching also takes place in the metal deposition process. Under-etching becomes more significant for thicker metal layers; hence, the thin-film fabrication process is only typically used to fabricate thin transmission line conductors and circuit topologies. As a result, the power handling capability of transmission line circuit topologies fabricated using the thin-film method are limited.
The thick-film fabrication technique is used to fabricate planar transmission line structures, resistors, and capacitors. Typical metals used in the thick-film processing technology may include silver, gold, palladium-gold, platinum-gold, and silver-palladium. The thick-film fabrication technique employs a screen that is covered with a photosensitive emulsion. The screen and emulsion are exposed to radiation in a pattern, and the emulsion developed, to form an image of the required transmission line circuit topology structure on the screen. The metal is applied to the substrate by spreading a paste containing the metal and a binder (typically glass beads or particles) through the screen and onto the substrate. The developed emulsion on the screen prevents the paste from passing through the screen in certain areas. Thus, the desired transmission line circuit topology structure is formed on the substrate in the desired pattern. The film of metal paste is then fired at a high temperature (about 800.degree. C.) to drive off the glass binder.
The thick-film fabrication technique normally results in a line resolution of about 100 .mu.m, which is difficult or impossible to use with coupled transmission line topologies requiring spacings of less than 100 .mu.m, narrow high-impedance transmission lines, or precisely defined circuit elements. In addition, the conductivity of thick-film fabricated conductors tends to be considerably less than the conductivity of similar bulk materials, and this can lead to problems of high transmitted-power loss at microwave frequencies. The thick-film fabrication approach is thus usually not accurate enough for microwave circuits, but is used to realize components like resistors or capacitors. This fact generally leads to a preference for the thin-film fabrication technology for microwave integrated circuit applications.
Deep X-ray lithography involves a substrate which is covered by a thick photoresist, typically several to several hundred microns in thickness, that is exposed through a mask by X-rays. X-ray photons are much more energetic than optical photons, which makes complete exposure of photoresist films feasible and practical. Furthermore, since X-ray photons are short wavelength particles, diffraction effects which typically limit device dimensions to two or three wavelengths of the exposing radiation are absent for mask dimensions above 0.1 .mu.m. If one adds to this the fact that X-ray photons are absorbed by atomic processes, standing wave problems, which typically limit exposure of thick photoresists by optical means, become a non-issue for X-ray exposures. The use of a synchrotron for the X-ray source yields high flux densities, several watts per square centimeter, combined with excellent collimation to produce thick photoresist exposures without any horizontal run-out. Locally exposed patterns should therefore produce vertical photoresist walls if a developing system with very high selectivity between exposed and unexposed photoresist is available. This requirement has been satisfied using polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as the X-ray photoresist, and an aqueous developing system. See, H. Guckel, et al., "Deep X-ray and UV Lithographies for Micromechanics," Technical Digest, Solid State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, S.C., June 4-7, 1990, pp. 118-122.
Deep X-ray lithography may be combined with electroplating to form high aspect ratio structures. To do so requires that the substrate be furnished with a suitable plating base prior to photoresist application. Commonly, this involves a sputtered film of adhesive metal, such as chromium or titanium, which is followed by a thin film of metal which is suitable for electroplating the metal to be plated. In appropriate cases, the use of an initial layer of adhesive metal is not necessary. Exposure through a suitable mask and development are followed by electroplating. This process results, after clean-up, in fully attached metal structures with very high aspect ratios. Such structures were reported by W. Ehrfeld and co-workers at the Institute for Nuclear Physics (KFK) at Karlsruhe in West Germany. Ehrfeld termed the process "LIGA" based on the first letters of the German words for lithography and electroplating. A general review of the LIGA process is given in the article by W. Ehrfeld, et al., "LIGA Process: Sensor Construction Techniques Via X-Ray Lithography," Technical Digest IEEE Solid State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, 1988, pp. 1-4.

Thick metal integrated transmission line fabrication


A mounting arrangement for the key shaft of a musical instrument which has a finger pad and a key attached to the shaft for operating a valve on the instrument when the finger pad is moved is herein disclosed. The mounting arrangement includes a bearing at each end of the shaft, a blind hole in each end of the shaft, an elongated tapered pin in each blind hole, a spring in each blind hole urging the respective pin outwardly, and a tapered bore in each bearing receiving the respective pin. Also, each bearing has an extension to the bore, forming a lubrication passage.

The present descriptive report deals with a request of Patent for an innovative model of joint shaft guide for the mechanism of the musical instrument keys, which has specific characteristics providing a large practicality and utility for the purpose it is intended.
As we know, there is a model of joint shaft guide in the market, which is mounted in the end of a triangle having a rotary movement of the musical instrument keys. The triangle has in its end a cylindrical hole which receives a spring and an articulation part, having a rotation susceptible of sliding within the mentioned hole. The articulation part has in its outside end an empty space which receives coaxially the terminal tip of a screw having a tip fixed within a ball body which is a support of articulation.
The mentioned model has a certain cost in front of the number of pieces that compose it, which are commonly used in the market and further, a certain grade of difficulty in lubrication, and mounting and dismounting of them.

Mounting arrangement for a key shaft in a musical instrument


A connector for coupling non-metallic electrical conduit or tubing within an electrical box opening that is molded of plastic and is flexible and resilient and can be used with either plastic or steel electric boxes. The connector includes a ring, four legs resiliently and pivotally coupled to the ring with adjacent pairs of legs defining a slot therebetween, and four latch tabs located within the slots and flexibly and resiliently coupled to the ring for retaining the conduit within the connector and angled inwardly and extending away from the ring. Each leg has an arcuate groove therein for locking the connector within an aperture of an electrical box, and the legs form a stop wall for limiting insertion of the conduit within the connector. Each leg has a transverse arm which spans one of the slots. As the connector is being inserted into the aperture of the electrical box, each arm slidably engages the next adjacent leg. Once the connector is fully inserted into the electrical box and conductors have been fed through the conduit, the arms protect the conductors from being damaged by the electrical box.

In many commercial or residential facilities, electrical conductors are typically encased in various types of conduits or tubing. The conduit is often corrugated and constructed so that it may be easily bent or curved to facilitate selective directional positioning of the electrical conductors and the conduit as required in the course of installation.
In systems of the type described which include electrical boxes and externally corrugated conduits in which the electrical conductors are enclosed, a means of connecting the conduit to the box is required. Many attempts have been made in the past to provide connectors for this type of corrugated conduit; however, they have several disadvantages. For one thing, steel electrical boxes are preferred in the industry, but some of the prior connectors are not flexible and/or resilient enough to be inserted into steel electrical boxes and can only be used when inserted into plastic boxes. Second, some of the prior devices do not protect the conductors from scraping against the electric box. Finally, many of these prior electrical corrugated conduit connectors do not provide for simple and quick connection of the conduit within the connector.
Examples of these prior connectors are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,420,826 to Irrgang; 2,952,730 to Simonds; 4,248,459 to Pale et al; 4,302,035 to Ochwat; 4,494,779 to Neff et al; 4,578,528 to Borsh et al; 4,616,105 to Borsh; 4,711,474 to Schnell; and 4,864,080 to Fochler et al.
Thus, there is a continuing need to provide improved non-metallic electrical conduit connectors.

Non-metallic electrical conduit connector


There is proposed an annular seal for a pipe coupling, comprising, a lower portion beatable within an upwardly open annular groove in the pipe coupling, an upper portion having an upwardly facing abutment surface, a depending skirt and a stiffening ring. The depending skirt is configured for engagement over a circular upstand of the pipe coupling, which is located inwardly of the annular groove. The stiffening ring is located within the upper portion of the annular seal, and includes an annular portion that is generally parallel with and spaced apart from the abutment surface and at least one circumferential leg depending from the annular portion that provides reinforcement for the depending leg.

Claw couplings are used in various commercial applications to connect lengths of hoses used in the transfer of fluids and compressed air. The use of claw coupling enables the temporary installation of hose systems, or enables the modification of existing infrastructure. It is generally favourable to inhibit the escape of the transferred air or fluid at these junction points since leakage can increase operational costs, as well as pose a health and safety risk.
One application in which claw coupling are commonly used is in the mining industry, in particular underground mines. This is because when new tunnels are dug during the mining operation, new pipe or hose sections need to be installed. Furthermore, the use of claw couplings allows for simplified removal when a tunnel is being decommissioned or modification of the pipe or hose sections are required.
Claw couplings used in the mining industry include the Type A claw coupling developed in Europe, Type B claw coupling developed in the USA, which both have a solid rubber seal, and the claw coupling sold under the brand SURELOK™ (S/L) that was developed in Australia, which includes a rubber bellows type seal. Claw couplings have a robust design and are able to withstand the harsh mining environment, while still providing a means for quick connection and disconnection.
Claw type couplings use two like fittings that can be pushed together and twisted to engage a retaining means, somewhat similar to a bayonet mount. To create an air or fluid seal, two rubber sealing rings are used between the fittings. These opposing rubber sealing rings abut each other when the fittings are joined.
Solid rubber seals have been traditionally used in Type A and Type B claw couplings, however more recently bellows type seals have been developed. These bellows type seals include a truncated toroidal portion at one end that fits into a correspondingly shaped sidewardly open annular cavity in the side of the passageway of the fitting, thereby providing a seal between the fitting and air or fluid path. At the other end of the seal a face abuts the sealing ring in an adjoining fitting. The truncated toroidal portion pushes against the shaped annular cavity to thereby inhibit movement of the air or fluid around the seal, and opposing face of the two adjoining seals abut to inhibit movement of the air or fluid therebetween, to thereby provide a seal for the claw coupling system.
Claw type couplings were designed to be predominately used in the underground mining industry to convey compressed air and water throughout the mine though rubber hoses and steel pipes. However, one of the major issues with the Type A and B couplings is that they are hard to connect, and leak or burst at low pressure. Furthermore, the couplings seals are in the flow path of the flowable substance and therefore the seal restricts the flow of the flowable substance passing through the pipe or hose, causing turbulence and medium hammer.
While the bellows type seal overcomes many of the problems, the seal still caused restrictive flow of the flowable substance and turbulence issues. This is because the seal is position in the side of the passageway and therefore creates turbulence in the flow of fluid or air. This results in inefficiencies in the machinery and higher operational costs. Furthermore, the extent to which the seal is exposed to the medium being transported through the coupling can have adverse effects, such as dislodgment of the seal under certain circumstances.
At low air or fluid pressures, below 345 kPa (50 P. S. I.), Type A and B couplings tend to leak. This can lead to the creation of dust, mud and other problems, which can hinder efficient work practices, increase operation costs and/or increase danger to personnel in the vicinity. At high pressures above 2756 kPa (400 P. S. I.), the seals can blow out from within the junction. When this occurs, work has to be halted and the broken section isolated and repaired before work can recommence. Furthermore, some of the existing seals tend to fold back upon themselves where they abut against an adjacent seal. This can result in a portion of the seal blowing out the side of the coupling or the seal otherwise become dislodged within the fluid passageway.
In the Inventor's previous patent application, PCT/AU2013/000172, there was disclosed a seal including a ring-shaped reinforcement member. The Inventor has however found that the inclusion of a ring-shaped reinforcement member within the seal body is insufficient to provide an adequate seal and to overcome all the problems associated with the prior art.
It should be appreciated that any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification is included solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention and should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art was widely known or formed part of the common general knowledge in the field as it existed before the priority date of the application.


The present subject matter describes processing of objects for imaging in an imaging system. In an example implementation, a visual image of a plurality of objects disposed on an imaging bed of the imaging system is generated. A visual image of the imaging bed divided into a plurality of imaging zones is generated. Each of the plurality of objects are identified within a respective imaging zone from the plurality of imaging zones. Each of the plurality of imaging zones are assigned a corresponding imaging operation, where the imaging operation is one of a scan&print operation and a scan-only operation.

Imaging systems, such as photocopiers and multi-function printers have scanning and printing capabilities. Objects, such as photographs, pages of books, certificates, receipts, identification cards, or the like, may be scanned and printed in order to reproduce them. The imaging systems may produce electronic copies of the objects by scanning and duplicate physical copies by scanning and printing.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.